#because it is sunday...just a taste of posting on sunday maybe. as a treat.

[synesindri]

hey do you think gabriel skipped out on heaven in part to avoid his own destiny (as he understood his destiny at the time) — to go from being backup to his brothers' destinies in a way he didn't want to be, to being fateless

do you think he set himself up as loki, fated to be instrumental to ragnarok, on purpose, to mirror lucifer (just ignore for a moment that a lot of the mythology is christianized and so the mythological lucifer//loki parallels probably aren't entirely coincidental)

do you think he understood what it felt like to be lucifer because of that. to know the impending chaos, destruction, and downfall of the universe as you know it is going to be largely because of you. and to bear the blame for that. do you think he got it more than any other angel could, whether or not he believed ragnarok was going to happen as foretold, whether or not he was loki for real or just carrying the name, because everyone treated him like he was going to be to blame for that regardless. do you think he did it on purpose. do you think he thought about it much

[caterpills]

(Six) (Seven) Several Sentence Sunday

Helloooo, happy Sunday! Many thanks to the lovely tags from @onthewaytosomewhere @duchessdepolignaca03 @taste-thewaste @thinkof-england @judasofsuburbia

annnnd @firenati0n @alasse9 (for taking the open tag and tagging me back, tag on tags!) I posted the latest chapter of This Is More of a Comment Than a Question on Friday!! (which ended up being another 11k chapter, which seems *checks notes* not right, I had intended for it to be shorter.) This means the words are wording still for the next chapter in Austin!

So I'm sharing a bit from the Chicago chapter (because there was so much I adored writing in that one, lovingly dubbed the Karaoke-Birthday!Henry chapter) And if you already read that, a few (sliiiiightly spoilery??) words from the Austin chapter below the cut! From Chapter 5: Chicago

Henry's expression at first is determined as if trying to make the translations in his head, giving away that he is familiar—if not a devoted admirer—of Neruda's work. Then his face eases, like he's remembering what Alex said: just listen. Alex watches him raise his hands to the headphones and press them closer against his ears like he can absorb the words through sound and sound alone. His mouth moves along to the sonnet, forming sin saber cómo, ni cuándo, ni de dónde, then the words in English: without knowing how, or when, or from where. His attention, which has been pointed toward the floor, finally lifts to search Alex's face. His eyes hold unconcealed reverence, his lips parting in awe. Alex knows that piece of himself was just given to Henry, and he's never getting it back. It's okay, it's okay. Henry will take care of it. Henry asks, hushed and confessional-quiet, "Can you play it again?" "Yeah, yeah, of course." His voice is raw, and he swallows the feeling back down. Alex presses play, Henry closes his eyes, and they listen.

Open tag as always! But tag me, so I can see what you are all working on! ❤️ Stay cool out there (those heatwaves have been BLEH) and have a great Sunday!!

From (upcoming) Chapter 6: Austin ⤵️

Fine, they aren't talking about it then. Alex can be responsible. He can treat this like two adults who were maybe too drunk, and maybe too vulnerable, and maybe allowing pent-up repressed feelings about being too close to one another every single day for a week to cloud their really shitty judgment. He can move on and never speak of it again. Alex lasts approximately five seconds before deciding that being responsible about this is bullshit.

[inexplicablymine]

7 Sentence Sunday Monday

so time got away from me and I have about 7 million asks to answer from various different games which rest assured ARE going to be answered I just had to do real life for a bit (what a disappointment)

To hold you over until I answer those, I present a snippet of Little Drummerboy the NSFJ (not safe for Jamie ~ aka Jamie no lookie) rockstar drummer!alex au that is posting this week ;)

He snaps the picture with the suit still covered in cake in the background, hung meticulously on a hanger as if it isn’t looking more like a confectionary treat than something wearable.

“Pitstop before the grammy’s hope tomorrow night tasted as sweet as this ;))” before tagging Thom Browne, Bea Fox, Henry Fox, Calvin Klein, and his ghost accounts for the Enough album.

He posts it quickly, watching as it racks up likes faster than anything he has ever posted before. He doesn’t spend much time on social media so when he does decide to share anything other than an incredibly polished photo, it is a rare occurrence. To address something that might be considered scandal so quickly after the event that absolutely has his name as well as Henry’s trending will only do them both good.

He gets a text from Zhara, his PR manager, that makes him breathe a little easier

“Good job you little shit, I don’t know how you turned this clusterfuck around so quickly but everyone is calling it one of the best ways to advertise the new TB collection yet. You are taking Bea as your date to the Grammys tomorrow, they are rearranging the seats as we speak”

Soooooooo hope you all are ready for this fun musician au because it’s coming 👀

Thank you to all of these amazing people for the tags: @ships-to-sail @firenati0n @notspecialbabe @wordsofhoneydew @cha-melodius @indestructibleheart @gay-flyboys @theprinceandagcd @magicandarchery @three-drink-amy @orchidscript @littlemisskittentoes @kiwiana-writes @onthewaytosomewhere @hgejfmw-hgejhsf

I am leaving an open tag because I am BEHIND so yeah… see y’all on Wednesday where I will be AHEAD hahaha (maybe, I hope, one can dream)

[purplesurveys]

1730

How long has it been since you moved out of the house you grew up in? I haven't moved out yet, but it has been 15 years since we moved out of my childhood house – a duplex that my immediate family, my mom's brother's family, and my grandparents shared.

What color shirt are you wearing? Chestnut.

The last time you ate leftovers, what was it that you were eating? I can't even remember when that was anymore... it may have been spaghetti from Jollibee? My mom had ordered a massive tray of it so it lasted well into the following day.

What was the last flavor of ice cream you ate? Shoyu caramel.

Do you regret anything you've done in the last 24 hours, and if so, what? Yes, everything that happened that led to us getting lost on our way to Nasugbu yesterday and somehow ending up back in Taguig after already making it to SLEX and wasting 1.5 hrs worth of time and gas. It's too complicated to explain and no one here will get the directions anyway so I won't bother to explain, but that has been the worst part of this weekend and is another reason why I hate the south and driving in it.

What is your favorite type of soup? Mushroom soup and miso soup :)

When was the last time you saw a beautiful sunset? Two months ago when we joined this dinner cruise thing in Thailand.

What is your favorite song at the moment? Dust by Seventeen is beautiful.

What are 5-10 things you love about being you? - I always have a stubborn determination to be good/do better at things I want to be good at; - I look out for other people first before ever considering myself; - I love animals; - I take no issue being on my own and doing fun things on my own; - Mistakes no longer bother me as much as they used to.

What is your favorite board that you've made on Pinterest? I don't spend enough time on there to be making boards.

Do you get on Facebook or Instagram more? These days, probably Instagram.

What color is your favorite sweater? I don't have one.

What are three things people would never guess about you just by looking at the photos you post on social media? - I'm into punk rock and had a phase in my life when that was all I listened to; - My dad works abroad so I've seen him infrequently my whole life; - For a long time my mental health was on a continuous decline.

What is one thing you have too much of? Receipts that I need to throw out.

What was the last thing you ate or drank that was blue raspberry-flavored? Maybe some candy. Idk. I rarely have anything in blueberry.

What are three of your favorite scents? Vanilla, coffee, anything ocean-y.

What was the last flavor of tea you drank? Lemon iced tea.

When was the last time you wore your hair in a fishtail braid? I don't think that's ever been done to my hair.

What is one annoying thing your computer does? There's nothing I don't like about my laptop, as old and slow as it's gotten over the years. This is my baby to the very end and I'll only ever replace it once it decides to sign off for good.

What type of fruit do you eat the most? Avocado, if I eat any fruit at all. I generally try to avoid them.

How often do you go out to eat? Once a week on average, typically on Sundays with family.

What would your dream wedding dress look like? No idea, but a peg I'm likely to use is Audrey Hepburn's 1954 Oscars dress. Only things I'd tweak are the length and the floral design.

Which fall flavor do you prefer: pumpkin spice or apple cinnamon? Neither are flavors I see myself leaning into, but I mean I guess I'll go with apple cinnamon only because I have no clue what pumpkin spice tastes like? I won't be having a good time though lmao.

What is the most annoying thing about your life right now? This upcoming work event that we can't seem to pin a date on. I just want to get this shit over with as I've recently discovered I have much bigger life things to tackle now.

Which holiday treat do you like better: candy corn or conversation hearts? Candy corn because at least I wouldn't find them cheesy.

What is your favorite apple-flavored treat? Does it count if I say apple pie only because I like the pie crust?

What are you counting down the days to right now, if anything? My hypothetical new job. I don't think that'll stay a concept much longer anymore.

What was the last book you read about? It was BTS' memoir so I'll let that explain itself.

Have you been daydreaming a lot lately about a scenario you wish would happen? I can say that about the last two days, yes.

What are three of your favorite things about camping? I've never gone camping before.

If you could choose what month to be born in, what month would you have chosen as your birth month, and why? I'm not sure I have a preferred birth month. Any would have worked lol.

...and what is your actual birth month? It's in April.

What are three of your favorite things to do on a rainy day? Turn on my BTS-on-a-rainy-day playlist, fix a cup of coffee, stare at the rain.

Would you rather eat strawberries or watermelon? I'd try watermelon. I've never tasted it.

Do you prefer smoothies or milkshakes? Milkshakes.

Do you prefer hamburgers or hot dogs? Hamburgers.

When was the last time you felt nauseous? Last night.

What was the last thing you ate that made you feel nauseous? I don't really get sick from food.

Do you enjoy going to your local county fair? Idk I've never been to any, we don't even have 'counties' here.

How far away do you live from the place where you were born? About an hour or so away.

Do you prefer zebra print or cheetah print? Cheetah, if anything. Generally not a fan of animal print though.

[cowboy-turtle]

For February fluff can I request #1 with the pilot of my heart Frankie Morales please?

AHH HI GERRI! Tysm for requesting! We started off February Fluff with Frankie and now we’re ending it with him ❤️

(even tho we blew past the original end date of Valentine’s Day, this ending on my birthday feels just as good)

Inspo credit for this one goes to the Frankie tummy fiend @letterfromvienna and this post

February Fluff Prompt #1: “You’re beautiful, you know that?”

Pairing: Frankie Morales x gn!Reader

Word Count: 685

Tags: established relationship, food mention, saccharine sweet fluff because what’s Frankie’s shirt made out of? Husband material

ct’s february fluff masterlist | main masterlist

Sundays were for baking. A time honored tradition where Frankie yielded full reign to you over the kitchen, countertops messy with family cookbooks and overfilled cooling racks and flour patches of rolling stations. It’s a peaceful little bubble you create every week, heart warmed by the patient love in each recipe and the pleased sounds your taste tester always provided.

Frankie was always more than happy reaping the rewards of your efforts, and you can’t help but have a little selfish honor that you’ve contributed to the soft tummy he’s developed over the years. He brings your leftover treats into work, pride coloring his smile when he gets to tell his colleagues that his wonderful partner handmade these.

He knows where to find you today, face streaked with flour and what you hope is only egg drying on your apron. You’re deep in focus measuring out powdered sugar, a rack of cookies cooling on the kitchen island that Frankie reaches for.

“Don’t have too many,” you say over your shoulder, “they’re for the neighbors.”

His mouth flounders like a fish to blow out the steam of the still-hot cookie, his voice muffled while he tries to chew quickly. “We have new neighbors?”

“No, the ones across the street,” you sigh. “Their kid’s in the hospital, poor thing. I’m hoping these will help a little.”

“Are they getting this banana bread too?”

You watch him inspect the walnuts and chocolate chips peeking out of the golden brown loaf, his eager hand skimming the edge of the countertop in wait for your answer.

You shake your head with a smile. “That’s for your grandma when we visit her this week.”

He nods, satisfied though disappointed at the untouchable reason, and glances over at the cake you still need to decorate, the cream cheese frosting still coming together in the mixer before you now. The whir of the mixing blades is almost silent, a top-of-the-line model Frankie gifted you last Christmas that made you squeal in delight. It was even better than the one you had your eye on, and he must have done incredible research to find it.

“And before you cut a slice of that, I’m bringing that to work with me tomorrow.” You watch the look on his face change. “It’s my coworker’s birthday and red velvet is her favorite.”

He doesn’t respond right away, still looking at all the desserts with a funny expression.

“Babe?” you call, and he slowly stares up at you.

You smile at him apologetically. “I’m sorry I didn’t make anything for us. When this next batch is in the oven I’ll make whatever you want, okay?” You wag the plastic spatula in your hand enticingly. “I’ll even let you lick the batter.”

He blinks, then shakes his head like he’s brushing off the faraway look he was just carrying.

“No, it’s not that,” he laughs.

He walks to your current station set up by the window, arms sliding around to hug your middle, his chin resting on your shoulder.

“You’re beautiful, you know that?”

You laugh. “I’m pretty sure I have frosting in my hair.”

His face shifts for him to plant a kiss on your cheek, stubble brushing along on your skin.

“You’re making all these things for other people to make their days better, and you’re worried I want something for myself?” He bites at your jaw playfully. “The only thing I want in here is you.”

You snort. “And maybe another cookie.”

“And maybe that,” he concedes. He rubs your hip affectionately. “Seriously, how did I get so lucky marrying you?”

Your heart melts at that, placing your spatula down to turn in his arms. You’re careful not to get your batter-dirtied fingers on him when your palms rest upon his neck, a slow kiss enveloping the two of you in a gentle embrace. You hum in contentment.

“Will you still feel lucky if I ask for your help cleaning up?”

His hands leave your waist as he steps away, an eager glint in his eye at the opportunity of being useful.

“Where do I start?”

--

taglist: @1800-fight-me @iamskyereads @microsoftcraint @thisgirl-knm @dobbyjen @arahxdjarin @triggerhappyflygirl @athalien @phandoz @queen0fchaos @c4psicle @sunnshineeexoxo @mrsudontknowme @rosethornxs @wyofabdoms @mandosmistress @thirddeadlysin @kissasith @cmc1014 @morenhoe @mssbridgerton

[duskkodesh]

The Absolute Best Morbius Comic Art

So since I did that post on my least favorite artists that have drawn Morb I have to do the opposite and show my absolute favorites. This sadly will only include comic art which means three of my favorite artists will be excluded as they’d only done covers but I doubt you all want to hear me gush over Kyle Hotz, Ryan Brown, and Ivan Shavrin, for hours with like one or two jpegs to show you. Also not included are my mutuals because Oh My LORD is some of the fanart on Tumblr fantastic! Nope, have to stick to official comic art only. Maybe later I’ll do a post of my favorite standalone pieces of comic art but I would feel weird reposting fanart (even with links and credits of course) Also this was SO hard to put into an order. I wracked myself over the numbering. I’m still leaning towards going back and changing it I love these artists so much!

10: Larry Lieber. I absolutely fell in love with the way he’s drawn in the newspaper strips and while the artist for the Sunday strips is also amazing it was Larry Lieber’s art that really got me. It looks vintage but is pretty damn new (2011), has great lines, perfect face, emotion I just *Chef’s kiss*

9: Max Douglas. Remember that I said one of my fave Morb short stories in both art and content was in Morbius #25? It’s this story: Drainage System of which Max Douglas did the art. It’s gritty but clear, the backgrounds are full of details. The art carries the exact mood of the story and I have been rereading it fondly since 1994. The main story of this issue is.... ehhhhhhh but it is worth picking up just for Drainage System. 

8: Marcelo Ferreira. Artist for most of the 2019 series and an absolute talent! His work is gritty and makes Morb ugly in the best most apropos way. Love his heavy use of thick block shadows to define form, and he’s a genius when it comes to fabric folds and hair. This is one of two artists on this list I own a piece from (A page of the 2019 series issue 5) and I wish I could have gotten more.

7: Ron Wagner. Needless to say his art absolutely made the 1990′s series (up until he split due to conflict with the writer) and it was one of the big reasons I initially picked up the comic. If Marvel had picked another artist i don’t know if nine-year old me would have put that book in my arms and marched to the register. I do own a piece from him too. A page of the 90′s series, Human Morb getting mugged because that page was one of my favorites. Hoping to see him at a con one day so I can bring it to him.

6: Tom Reilly: Artist of the 2021 issue Bond of Blood. Retro style again, very much inspired by Gil Kane’s original work and I love it. This is a pure winner of a comic with so much drama in it and they found the perfect artist. Morb is all lean lines here which is my preferred frame for him, large red eyes, stark detail. It’s just a visual treat!

5: Tony Moore. Oh Tony Moore of the Punisher Frankencastle arc how I love your art, let me count the ways! 1. Amazing details in every inch, 2. Crazy crammed backgrounds, 3. Perfect facial expressions, 4. Style that harkens back to old school horror, 5. fluid motion, amazing lighting details, 6. The hatching! The shading! I have to stop or I could gush forever.

4: Guiseppe Camuncoli of the ASM No Turning Back arc. This man. This man right here! Everyone he draws. EVERYONE is a visual feast. He cuts back on the shading I normally crave but makes up for it in starkly contrasted linework with full detail. The way he draws Morb’s eyes is so unique but it works! The facial lines, the fabric folds, and the facial expressions are so perfect! 

3: Gil Kane. I know, making him #3 when he invented the aesthetics of the character is me being harsh. It’s just that there are two artists I love so very much in style just for my tastes. Still Gil Kane is arguably the basis for all good Morb art and his splash pages are so amazing that I own three wearing copies of that T-shirt with one on it. I wear them to work. I have no shame in my love for Morbius or for Gil Kane.

2: Kev Walker, the artist for Marvel Zombies 4. This was a hard decision but I love his style on Morbius so much. The glowing eyes, the formation of his cheekbones. His claws, teeth, expressions they are just perfect to me. He’s a bit buff in this series but I chalked that up to ARMOR actually feeding him regularly instead of him skipping meals. This entire four part story is great, and it’s worth it on art alone even if zombies aren’t your jam.

1: Without a doubt in my mind ‘Slammin’ Sonny Trinidad. A Filipino artist who worked for Marvel in the 70′s he often inked others work but he penciled my favorite comic of all time and in my opinion he did it better than anyone could have hoped to. This is my favorite Morbius, with Kane’s eye style but soft pencil detail, hatched shading, and so much emotion in every single panel you see him in. This beats out every dead stare sarcastic tone rendition of Morbius I have ever seen. Celso ‘Sonny’ Trinidad passed in 2009 and will forever be missed. 

[lemonade-if]

Okay, so I know you said you don't wanna prioritize asks atm and that's totally fine, I just wanna ask this before I forget (I'm an old woman, don't judge 👵 not really, but y'know)

Iirc in one of your posts our MC can react to karaoke so I'm wondering:

Who of the ROs (+ Nakamura-sensei if that's alright) goes to Karaoke and what do they usually sing?

Do any of them "dance" while they do so--either partly an official dance or whatever or at least move around in some way--or are they more the type to stand entirely still while singing?

Who jokes around while singing, maybe mimicking voices or stuff like that and who is serious business?

Who would give MC and us readers the biggest pikachuface.jpeg? Maybe because they sing entirely different from what we might've pictured. Either because the genre of the song is not one would expect (e.g. Yuushin singing cute raaburaabu songs lol) or because the singer is so awful (or so good) unlike what we might've thought at first.

Is there any of the ROs (+ Sensei) that has to be dragged to karaoke or are they all fine with that if MC asked?

Please take your time. Hope work is treating you alright🙏🏻

Don't forget to take a break and eat/drink enough.

I wish you a wonderful Sunday!

Hi RK!! ( •̀ᴗ•́ )و ̑̑ Your other question continues to marinate in my drafts, I’m sorry OTL In exchange, please have this extra long response!

I made a playlist of everyone's go-to karaoke songs. They’re scrambled out of order for anyone who might like to try guessing first. The answers are at the bottom of the cut below (*´꒳`*)

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7keEabLxV25ivyWif8rW3a?si=KY_vgqmiTfyFt_jIf54UWw

Hikaru and Ren are definitely the type to dance, mess around, and create a lively atmosphere. They love karaoke and put a lot of passion into it: thanking their "fans" for coming to "Budoukan" (the most iconic performance venue in Japan), jumping around, or doing call and responses. When they're not on the mic, they go just as hard as supporters and are enthusiastic tambourine users.

Aleksei cares less about the singing aspect of karaoke and more about just chilling with people. If someone talked to him during his turn, he’d continue the conversation and let the music go on unattended, or just cut his song. If someone else is singing, he wouldn’t really pay attention, unless it’s a close friend or someone he’s interested in.

Yuushin would have to be dragged to karaoke, and even then, he'd be reluctant to participate. If someone miraculously manages to make him sing, it'd be muttered halfheartedly in a grumpy monotone with zero movement. The most engagement you could wrangle out of him would be him watching and nodding along.

Shion is comfortable with karaoke. She never has the time to go herself, but she’ll deliver an earnest performance if she's there and someone passes her a mic. As in other situations, she'd remain calm-- standing still as she sings or clapping/waving her arms politely for others. Her taste in music might be a bit of a surprise.

Akane has performance anxiety so she only sings with close friends or when she’s home alone. She does enjoy it though, and just like everything else she does, she puts her full, serious effort into it. That being said, her singing ability is definitely a pikachuface.jpeg moment... 😂 When she's not on the mic, she engages supportively with the people who are, whether through cheering or call-and-responses.

Leila feels neutral about karaoke. She'd rather be part of the instrumentals than the vocals when it comes to music, and if she has to sing, she'd rather sing to live music than the sterilized BGM they play at karaoke. If she receives the mic, she’d remain lounged in her seat the whole time-- but she has a stunning voice, so even minimal effort from her is captivating.

Yosuke will go to karaoke if close friends invite him, but he wouldn’t go with random classmates (poor guy was deceived into attending the goukon in chapter 1, bless his soul). Though he doesn’t like to sing, he’s not particularly bad at it, just unemotional. He also doesn’t mind watching others go crazy around him, if they’re having fun (just don't make him join). His song choice (when forced to sing) is probably surprising.

Nakamura-sensei is a huge fan of one-man karaoke. He goes twice a week for 2-3 hours each and takes it very seriously (official choreography and all), though he won’t be serious in front of others because it's embarrassing. His music taste is definitely pikachuface.jpeg and also something he’s embarrassed to reveal to others, so if he’s in a group, he wouldn’t go for the songs he normally sings.

---

ANSWERS:

Ren: PONPONPON by Kyary Pamyu Pamyu

(Hikaru: ♪ EVERY DAY PON ♪)

(Ren: ♪ EVERY TIME IS PON ♪)

(Akane: Ozaki-san, what does that mean?)

(Leila: Beats me...it’s not English for sure.)

Yuushin: Sharp Sword by Tade Dust & Bonbero

(Classmate A: U-um...it’s very cool, Mikazuki-san.) <- They're lying because they don't want to die.

(Classmate B: This is niche as hell. Nobody knows what this is, man.)

(Yuushin: Shut the fuck up.)

It’s a song that gets played often at his boxing gym.

Shion: Shelter by Porter Robinson & Madeon

(Ren: No way, Kisaragi-chan is a rave chick!?)

(Aleksei: That’s unexpected.)

(Hikaru: I don’t know what she’s saying but it sounds good!!)

Hikaru: Silhouette by KANA-BOON

(Hikaru: Yosuke, remember that time we blasted this and did the Naruto Run together in fourth grade PE class?)

(Yosuke: No.) <- He actually does

(Aleksei: I remember. Didn't you step in dog shit?)

(Yosuke: ......) <- Yes, he did

Leila: Make Me Wanna Die by The Pretty Reckless

(Akane: S-so cool...)

(Hikaru: Is it okay to be hearing this for free?)

(Ren: Ozaki-chan, you can't forget us when you become a global rockstar, okay? 🥺)

Seeing Taylor Momsen in that MV was her sexual awakening.

Aleksei: DOWN by Hentai Shinshi Club

(Hikaru: I’ve never heard you sing more than 30 seconds of this...do you even know the rest?)

(Yosuke: Hikaru, you’re the one who always interrupts him.)

Akane: Gurenge by LiSA

(Ren: Oooh, Akane-chan singing Gurenge? I wanna hear!!)

(Shion: Yoshida-san has a sweet voice. Her singing must be very pretty.)

(Yosuke: ...)

(Hikaru: Yosuke? What’s wrong?)

Bring earbuds. This will be the absolute worst rendition of Gurenge you’ll ever hear.

Yosuke: Yoru ni Kakeru by YOASOBI

(Leila: ...pft.)

(Aleksei: Hearing you sing this makes me want to race into the night myself.)

(Yosuke: Oi.)

Nakamura-sensei: Snow Halation by μ's

(Leila: Oh?)

(Ren: Sensei, is this true!?)

(Suzuki: PWAHAHAHA Bakamura!! You're even more of a virgin than I thought!!)

Bakamura is crying.

--

Singing Abilities General Ranking

Unacceptable: Akane

Acceptable: Yuushin

Average: Ren, Yosuke

Above Average: Hikaru

Good: Shion, Aleksei

Exemplary: Leila, Nakamura-sensei

[swinterr]

fic rec vi ♡

hi!

this is a another new set of fic rec and i’ll probably do a compilation of genre (?) just like the first ones.

made some changes like tidying up a bit and adding summary, for those that doesn’t have any summary i’ll try my best to add my own summary (it will probably be shit tho, i ain’t making a smut summary guys, i’m not confident in my describing a fic ability but i’ll try my best. if its in italic it means i made the summary hehez )  if the summary is shit, i made it okay.

read and support the fic and authors here: the fic rec ♡

a for angst

f for fluff

s for smut

// for series or list

nct 

jeno

no title by @tyongf-nct | s

- smut blurb.

body guards and boyfriend by @pastelsicheng | f

-  sometimes the only way you can really get some alone time with your boyfriend is by making his job hard.

lipstick smears by @kopikokun | f

-  jeno never thought trying to get his makeup artist’s attention would be this hard.

jaehyun

[10:30] by @moonttaeil | 

- a lockdown moment.

[2:40] by @nct-jungjaehyun | f a

- cute quality fluff time with bf!jae with a dash of angst.

[11:41] by @jeongvision | f 

- family time with apples.

just like magic by @starryhyuck | f s

-  jung jaehyun’s body count is almost as high as yours. however, after yuta spreads a nasty rumor, you learn that jaehyun’s always imagined those girls to be you instead.

love to hate me by @moonctzeny | s a 

-  you and jaehyun meet as sm trainees, developing a friendship until he debuts and you decided to leave the company and pursue a solo career. when you reunite again in a music show and he acts like he barely knows you, you stubbornly begin a series of hate-brimmed sex rendez-vous. your touch-and-go relationship continues on, until a song collaboration will force you both to deal with all your repressed feelings for each other.

moving on by @ddeonghwaa | f a

- reader has been chasing jae for some time but when she moved on jae suddenly enter the picture.

sun&moon by @ppangjae | f a

-  asking jeong jaehyun to accompany you to your family’s 1-week christmas vacation as your boyfriend has its consequences. one can surely get through 1 week of pretending to be in love with an enemy, right?

snack run with a snack by @kopikokun | f 

-  on your usual movie night with the members, they assign you sudden snack collecting duty. you’re a little peeved, but at least jaehyun offers to tag along. Unfortunately for you, things really aren’t going in your favour tonight.

lover boy by @neoct-zen | f s

- bunch fics of lover boy jae and reader.

jungwoo

one more time, please by @haequarius | f s

-  you don’t know what you and Jungwoo are, but you are certainly weak for him.

jealous by @whiplashsan | s 

-  jungwoo is all smiles and sunshine until he gets jealous, and he just so happens to get jealous over the smallest things when it comes to you.

doyoung

sugar, spice and everything not nice by @alreadyblondenow | s

-  doyoung getting your ring size wrong, unprotected sex, kitchen sex, slight fingering, wedding tragedies.

no title by @ncteaxhoe | s

- dom!doyoung, rough? i need holy water.

the little one by @ethaeriyeol | f 

-  a gift of life; female reader x husband!Doyoung; fluff, light angst, married au

lucas

exquisite taste by @weishenkonbini | s f

- smut but with a fluffy ending.

for you always by @labyrinthsofyou | f

-  in which you surprise yukhei when he forgets about your date.

6:19 by @cozykpopblurbs | f

- a cute fluff ft kun and winwin.

10:18 pm by @nctsoftarchives | f

- reader supports lucas at his superm debut stage. 

16:47 by @sichengssmile | f s 

- a fluffy smut. lucas a big boi.

missed you by @tokyobts | a f

-  after you and yukhei broke up, yukhei still has feelings for you. he reaches out to you at school and tries to get you back. at first you avoid him but later his actions manage to make your heart flutter. you’ve come to a sudden conclusion that you maybe still want him in your life.

johnny

34 + 35 by @domjaehyun | s 

- you and your husband johnny decide to take your marriage to the next step.

i couldn’t wait a little longer by @alreadyblondenow | s f a

-  you two were never together longer than two days, but the feelings, oh the feelings that you have for each other is clear as the day. it was a never-ending try of making the relationship official. johnny tried, you tried but it never happens.

what happens in korea, not stays in korea by @alreadyblondenow | f s 

-  a week vacation in korea for your sister’s wedding became even more exciting when a famous dj had a crush on you. johnny was sure that it’s love at first sight. not putting both of your careers on the line, you two had no regrets when the time comes and you finally leave.

laundry day by @immabiteyou | s

- a domestic fluffy smut.

make a wish by @sluttyten | s f a

-  you’re jungwoo’s sister, and he’s made it clear he wants you and Johnny to have nothing to do with each other. so you and johnny start fake dating to piss him off.

want it all by @sluttyten | f s 

-  you are entirely innocent to the point of being naive. johnny is not innocent, but he loves that you are because it means he can teach you everything you don’t know.

sungchan

wish i was her by @softsungchan | f a 

-  you wished you were her, laying in Sungchan’s arms and feeling his warm breath on your neck, giggling about sweet nothings whispered into the starry night. You wished for it to be you, the girl he liked.

2:21 am by @the32ndbeat | f 

- sungchan being whipped, thru a text message.

haechan

14:52 by @ukiyoexo | f

- a cute haechan and reader ft the reader’s baby sister moment.

prince’s order by @nsheetee | f

-  prince haechan nurses you after you faint, and orders you to stay with him until you feel better.

sweet treat by @markresonates | s

-  haechan takes you for ice cream but all you can think about is sex with him.  when you act like a brat, eventually you end up in the bathroom. with no panties. 

clingy by @love-mi | f 

-  I’m not clingy! I just love your company and constantly want to be around you and have your full attention at all times

mark

hyuck is always right by @luvrenjun00 | f 

- ceo!mark x reader ft baby donghyuck. a tooth-rotting fluff.

taeyong

snow storm by @whereisten | f s 

- a fluffy smut whilst a snow storm.

1:59 by @smoll-tangerine | f

- reader and taeyong ft my favorite game (where i always die first) among us!

bts

taehyung

is this allowed 1 2 by @seokiie  | f s

- how were you supposed to know bts would be filming at your coffee shop today? how were you supposed to know a certain curly-haired boy would take a liking  to you?

cabin pressure | f by @jiminrings | f 

-  pilot!y/n who accidentally became famous bc of a viral post about her, best friend!jimin!, taehyung having a shy lil crush on you aND ot7 being meanies for a tad bit :((

art major!tae and biochem major!yn | f by @jiminrings | f

-  tae’s cold and probably needs a friend more than he needs a model, y/n feels this nEED to take care of him, a term of enderment then a dash of emotional constipation and a sprinkle of jealousy :D

gank mid lane by @kimtaehyunq | f s 

- gank / verb: (in a video game) use underhand means to defeat or kill (a less experienced opponent)

birthday surprise by @ephemeralkookie |

-  like every year, you prepare a little surprise for your boyfriend’s birthday, one that you’ve been preparing for days. and after a very tiring day, taehyung only wants to spend the night in your loving arms.

jungkook

cookies & cream | s by @1kook | f s 

-  jungkook will watch a thousand cheesy christmas movies if it meant making you happy. (and maybe having his dick sucked.)

unholy night | s by @ephemeralkookie | f s

-  after a christmas day passed with the Jeon’s family, Jungkook decides to transform the holy night into an unholy one.

‘a short’ abstinence | s a by @seokiie | s a

-  maybe blue-balling you boyfriend (who has an insanely high sexual drive) wasn’t the best.

in which she’s done with him by @minstrivia | a

-  jungkook angst/fluff where he always pushes oc away (who confesses her feelings but was cruelly rejected) and insults her but she always comes back to take care of him when he’s drunk or picks him up from his one night stands and she finally decides to leave him alone.

bad influence by @noteguk | s 

-  in which you know jungkook is a bad influence on you, but you can’t avoid falling for him every time.

jock!jk and shy art major!yn by @jiminrings | f

-  established relationship ft. jock!jk and shy art major!y/n, y/n gets an unexpected pep talk and jungkook doubts himself, and either so much tears or so much dUST according to kook

special affair by @1oserjk | f

-  sugar daddy au except it’s just jk spoiling u thru animal crossing

fairy of shampoo by @ironicarmy | f s

-  sundays are for relaxation, house cleaning, and happiness.

abstract ft bob ross by @mimithings97 | f

-  paintbrush in one hand, joint in the other and you sitting on his dick is what jeongguk wants. and what jeongguk wants, jeongguk gets.

badboy!jungkook by @jungshookz | f 

- badboy!jungkook falls for good girl reader ft the boys and the reader’s apple. 

growing by @lesgetittkookie | f

- dad!jungkook teacher his daughter how to walk. super super cute family/domestic fluff.

quiet, baby by @bratkook | s 

- i don’t how to write a summary on smuts so imma just put this. reader and jungkook doing something in the subway.

still want that by @whatifyoulivelikethat | s

-  fucking min yoongi ex-girlfriend? a terrible idea. being hopelessly in love with her at the same time? an even worse idea. knowing he was being used and still doing it anyway? ah, Jeon Jungkook, what are you doing? part 2 of savage love.

desiderium by @jeonggukingdom | f s 

-  “we’ve been at it like rabbits, how are you still so horny?”. a newlyweds!au smut.

chapstick by @softyoongiionly | f s

- based on the time Jungkook said he needed someone to scold him so he’d remember to put lip balm on. or jungkook’s had a really long day and the only that can make it better, is seeing you. 

lover boy by @jingukk | f 

-  jungkook likes you. a lot.

unexpected confession by @sunkissedjk | f

-  you gathered up the courage to confess your feelings, but it seems everyone in school knows about it before you could even find him.

string attached by @ephemeralkookie | s

-  jungkook is what we can call your sexfriend. No strings attached, just you and him having fun and releasing the huge pressure and stress of being idols. But after spending an entire day together, you realize that maybe he’s not just your sexfriend.

no title by @himbojk | f s 

- dilf jk.

astro

eunwoo

ceo!eunwoo by @m0onbean

no title by @yutopiada | f

- a cute idol!reader and eunwoo moment at a music show.

disney by @bangchan-sonyeondan | f

- a cute date with eunwoo at disney. reader likes vintage things hence using a disposable camera.

baby, it’s cold outside by @fresh-outta-jams | f 

- a cute cold christmas fluff with eunwoo ft. the boys. reader went to the boys’ place for a sweater and cocoa gift exchange.

got7

yugyeom

cruel brothers by @imsarabum | f

-  jackson and jaebum have always acted as if they were your big, overprotective brothers. so when they both walk in on you and yugyeom in a very intimate position, things get a little tense!

txt

soobin

a special night by @gyuluster | f

-  an intimate insight on the first night of choi soobin’s wedding, consisting of kitchen floors, witches and an eternity of love.

boughs & branches by @jeogiyall | f 

-  decorating the tree with boyfriend! choi soobin from txt! fluffity fluff fluff with a lot of cute fluff thrown in and a dash of christmastime fluff. 

sleepy binnie by @immabiteyou | s

-  “i’ll let you do anything if you just touch me now. “ a sleepy soobin smut.

cake by @immabiteyou | s

- reading waiting for mc soobin with the guys. a cute fluffy smut moment.

kpop oc/s

seri by @ggukkiedae

anyway, thank you again for the writers please take care and be safe!

please free to recommend your favorite fic that i haven’t feature yet.

if the links won’t work and i labelled some fics wrong please let me know and i’ll try to fix it as soon as possible!

support the fic and the writers!

[mayans-sauce]

Please Daddy 🖤

Pairing: Ez Reyes x Female Reader

Summary: Ez comes home after a hard day with the club and he wants to take it out on you.

Warnings: NSFW, 18+, all the sinful smut in the world.

Authors Note: I think I need to go and confess my sins now (it is Sunday after all)🥵 This had been sitting in my drafts for like a week😅Maybe I’ll make a part 2 of this one someday..

Join my group chat if you want to get notified when I post❤️

💖Masterlist💖

You knew Ez was going to destroy you when you saw the expression on his face when he walked through your shared bedroom. You laid on the bed, scrolling through your phone in just your underwear and one of his shirts. You figured that it was the stress of the club that got him him in such a mood. Everyone bossing him around since he was still a prospect so he wanted to boss around someone for once.

“Take of your shirt and panties” he said in almost a growl. You did as he told, wanting him to have his way with you. “Get over here”. You quickly got up from your spot on the bed, standing before him where he stood at the foot of the bed. He looked down at you, his eyes dark with desire. He started to undress himself. Your eyes roaming his upper body as he took his kutte and shirt off, tossing them to the side. Mouth practically drooling as you admired his toned body. Next was his jeans and underwear. Your eyes drifting down to his dick, eyes wide as you saw that he was already hard for you. “Get on your knees for daddy, baby” he said and you did as you were told.

Coming face to face with his throbbing cock. You wrapped your hand around his shaft looking up at him and waiting so that he could give you permission, knowing how much he loved it. “Suck it baby”.

You opened your mouth and swirled your tongue around the head of his cock and then lightly suckled on it. You could see that he was becoming impatient and so you engulfed him half way through while massaging his balls in your hand. But that wasn’t enough for him and so his hand found it’s way in your hair and made you push his cock further into your mouth till he reached your throat with his tip, making you gag. Your eyes were watering, but you loved every second of it. 

Looking up directly into his eyes you took whatever was left of him the best you could and bobbed your head up and down on him, watching as he threw his head back in pleasure. “You love sucking daddy’s cock, don’t you baby? Such a good little girl for me, aren’t you?”. His dirty talk was turning you on and all you wanted was to touch yourself at his words.

“Daddy’s gonna cum baby. Do you want daddy to cum in your mouth baby girl?” he asked while slowly thrusting his cock in and out of your mouth. All you could do was moan, letting him know that you wanted to taste him.

He picked up his speed and fucked your mouth making you gag around him and you loved every second of it. His hands came at the side of your head so that he could hold you still. His thrusts started to become sloppy and he came in your mouth, moaning out your name at how good you made him feel. Swallowing around him, milking him for all that he was worth. Moaning around him at his delicious taste. You sucked until he had spilled his last drop into your mouth. Pulling away from his cock, just letting the tip still be inside you mouth while you sucked his tip a coulpe of times before you released him from your hold. A string of saliva connecting your mouth to his cock.

“Was that good baby girl? You love the taste of daddy don’t you mami?”. “Mmm yes” you responded licking your lips and giving him a big smile while still jerking him of slowly with your hand. Your words and actions sent shivers down his spine, his cock twitching. “You’ve been such a good girl for daddy and he wants to give you a treat. Do you want it baby?” His words went directly to your tingling clit, pushing your thighs together to get some form of friction. “Yes daddy”. 

“Mmm.. get on the bed and on all four baby”. You got up and walked seductively towards the bed. Crawling on all four to the middle of the bed. You supported yourself on your elbows and pushed your ass out earning a groan from him. “Like this daddy?”, you asked. “Yeah just like that baby”.

Pushing two of your fingers inside your mouth, sucking on them, getting them wet, before you started to rub your throbbing clit, letting out a sigh of relief. You pushed your fingers inside of you, letting out a low moan as they penetrated you. You started to move them in and out of your tight pussy, going at a slow pace. A moan escape from Ez’s lips and you turned your head to find him pumping his shaft, watching you intensely as you pleasured yourself. Biting your bottom lip at the sight of him. 

“Fuck baby girl”. “Daddy”.

You pulled your fingers out and started circling your sensitive clit again, whimpering as the pleasure started to build up. “Fuck daddy so good” you said as you made eye contact with him making him moan out. “Your such a good little girl baby. Showing daddy how you touch yourself” he said to you. This only made you move your fingers faster. Wanting to get to that sweet release. “Fuck I’m going to cum. Please will you let me cum?” You pleaded, needing to get some form of release.

“No stop” he said firmly, not wanting you to cum just yet. Whining at his word, you knew that you needed to listen to him so you brought your fingers to your mouth sucking your own juices of making eye contact with him as you moaned at your own taste, swaying your ass from side to side. “Fuck me daddy”.

He got behind you in no time. One of his hands held your hip while the other was teasing you, rubbing the head of his cock up and down your folds. “Please daddy”.

He slowly pushed himself in your warmth wanting you too feel all of him. You clutched the sheets in your grasp, the feeling of fullness almost making you come right then and there. He filled you up to the brim, waiting for you to adjust to him before he could start moving. “Daddy please”. He pulled out until only his tip was inside of you before he slowly pushed back in again, doing this a few times to get you adjusted. He just wanted to come right then and there at the feeling of your pussy walls clenching around his throbbing member. “Daddy faster please” you whimpered out, wanting him to fuck you senseless. 

He started to thrust into you at a fast pace, making you jolt forward. “Ahh.. fuck daddy”. Your mouth hung open, silent screams coming out. “Fuck baby girl, your pussy feels incredible”. He moaned out going even faster if that was possible. Your head was buzzing, your hands were grasping the sheets for dear life, the pleasure so intense. “Oh God daddy, please don’t stop” you pleaded. He took a fistful of your hair, pulling your head back making you back arch.

Biting your lip at his rough and dominant actions. “You like this, don’t you baby? You like my big, fat cock fucking your tight little pussy don’t you?” You couldn’t respond. Your head buzzing from the good fucking he was giving you. He smacked your ass cheek hard, making you squeal. “Answer me baby girl”. “Yes daddy, I love your big, fat cock fucking my tight little pussy.. please don’t fucking stop”. Your sinful words reached his cock and he knew he wouldn’t last much longer. 

“I’m not going to stop baby I promise”. “Oh God, Ez, harder please”. He responded to your commands by going harder and faster, one of his hands coming down to circle you sensitive jewel. You felt it at the pit of your stomach. “Fuck baby you are so tight, so good for daddy”. “I’m going to cum”, you pleaded. “No come on baby just a little bit more.. hold on for daddy yeah”. Turning your head to look at him, moaning as you saw his face contour in pure pleasure. He meet your gaze. Both of you looking at each other as you neared your orgasm. One of your hands moved to grab onto his forearm that was on your hip.

You could tell that he was close because his thrusts became sloppier by the second. “Fuck baby I love you so much” he said. “Daddy please, I need to cum, I need you to fill me up, please”. You begged him. Your orgasm was right around the corner but your knew you had to wait until he gave you permission to cum. He started to rub your sensitive clit harder and faster, screaming out at his action. “Cum for me baby” he said as he released his warmth into you.

You let yourself go at his words, moaning and whimpering as he continued to thrust through both of your orgasms, milking himself for all he was worth. Both of your warm juices dripping deliciously down your inner thighs and down to the sheets. “Oh my God, daddy yes”. Mouth hanging open in a silent scream as his thrusts came to a stop. His fingers still rubbing on your sensitive nub. Your pussy walls clenching around him. “Fuck baby girl, your so good for me”. Ez lightly spanked your ass cheek as he pulled himself out of you. Kissing your lower back before bringing you down with him to lay you by his side. Half of your body resting on top of his, cuddling into his side and kissing his shoulder. Both of you laying silently together while cooling down from the intense fucking.

“Baby that was incredible” he said after some time, bringing you closer to him. “Mmm, I agree” you responded while leaving kisses on his neck. You kissed his lips passionately while cupping the side of his face with your hand. His cock getting hard again at your actions. Your other hand traveled down to his cock where you found him hard again. Smiling into the kiss, jerking his cock at a painfully slow pace. Ez let out a deep groan at your actions. “Ready for round two baby?” “Yes please daddy”.

[jawllines]

So when he rolled up to the nurse’s station at 6PM just before she gave report to night shift, a stolen pudding cup in hand and cheeks rosy from the cold chill of Gibby’s hospital room. Harry grins at her, “Let me drive you to my place, yeah? I’m making dinner tonight.” 

Her brows raise, a smile teases her mouth as she finishes writing down a cheat sheet for each room that she can give to the nurse coming in (she’s a bit new, and doesn’t know the flow of the floor very well yet, so Y/N tries to help when she can) “Yeah? Didn’t know you could cook.”

A gasp leaves him, “Oi, of course I can cook! I could make a Sunday roast that would put any Nan on the block to shame.” 

or

Y/N gets everything she’s ever wanted (Harry does too) 

part 1

part 2

part 3

part 4

part 5

part 6

vii.

“Holy fuck.” 

Y/N had been equal parts nervous and excited when Harry invited her to his flat, a mere four days after they returned from Sweden. In all their time together, and in what they had gone through in the past few months, Y/N had not even so much as been extended the offer to go to his flat, let alone actually be privy to it. To no fault of his own -- Y/N reckons that the last thing on his mind was a tour of his home when someone was threatening to rob their company blind and murder his boss -- but that never meant she wasn’t curious. 

She was excited because she thrived off visiting people’s places for the first time and learning what their decorating techniques consisted of. Ever since they’d started chatting past the nurse/family relationship, Y/N had been intrigued to know what his place looked like, and would even theorize about it sometimes if she had a moment to spare. Harry had very offhandedly mentioned that he had a Tanuki statue stationed to the right of his door as soon as you walked in, and Y/N (who also had a Tanuki statue) had her interest piqued immediately. Did she and Harry have similar decorating styles or just equivalent odd taste in staple items? Was that his only piece of decoration? 

Some boys she considered complete psychopaths and had barren walls besides maybe a flag or a singular sports poster -- that’s why she’s nervous. Hell, she’d love him all the same if he was repping a Manchester football poster but visiting his flat would be a bit of a struggle.  

So when he rolled up to the nurse’s station at 6PM just before she gave report to night shift, a stolen pudding cup in hand and cheeks rosy from the cold chill of Gibby’s hospital room. Harry grins at her, “Let me drive you to my place, yeah? I’m making dinner tonight.” 

Her brows raise, a smile teases her mouth as she finishes writing down a cheat sheet for each room that she can give to the nurse coming in (she’s a bit new, and doesn’t know the flow of the floor very well yet, so Y/N tries to help when she can) “Yeah? Didn’t know you could cook.”

A gasp leaves him, “Oi, of course I can cook! I could make a Sunday roast that would put any Nan on the block to shame.” 

“Better watch your mouth, Miss. Gregory has a keen sense of hearing and would beg to differ.” She clicks her pen shut, looking up to where he was leaning against the counter, “I’ll let you drive me, yeah, but can we stop by my place so I can grab Ubbe and a change of clothes? Reckon you don’t want the scent of hospital clouding your flat.” 

‘Yes we can stop to grab Ubbe, no you may not grab any clothes. Want you in mine.” 

Y/N pulls her bottom lip into her mouth, fixing a response for him in her head but Johnathan just about trips over himself with a convenience store cappuccino and a reusable grocery bag with his lunch, “I’m so sorry m’late, my bloody dog decided he was going to wee on my scrubs.” 

“Well, I hope you changed out of them.” Harry notes and Y/N snorts, rolling her eyes before she rolls her chair over to him and starts her shift report. 

Things had been calm since they returned from Sweden. Or as calm as they can be post-kidnapping, attempted murder, gang fiasco they had encountered there. When Y/N saw Gibson after it had happened, he pulled her into his body closely and squeezed her tight enough that she had a bit of trouble breathing. Y/N couldn’t lie, she was immensely happy to see him, and despite what she had learned about his relationship between him and his son, she let herself enjoy the cuddle.  Even the kiss that he pushed to her temple, before holding tight on her shoulders, “I am not a man who fears many things,” he had started slowly, “Nor am I a man who cares about many things, but you -- I care about you,” he cradles her cheeks in his palms, patting it gently, “I’m glad you’re safe.” 

Gibson -- just as Harry -- had a knack for making her feel like a very important addition to their lives. He was relieved to know that she would be his main nurse for the day, and Y/N it’s so he could keep an eye on her. She couldn’t fault him for it though because she beckons Harry around so that she can keep an eye on him. Niall doesn’t think anything is out of the ordinary regarding it, since they usually traveled in something short of a pack. The only reference to the night before that he made (other than asking about her hand, which she had promptly explained that she drunkenly broke a vase and tried to clean it up with her hands) was squeezing her shoulders and uttering, “Champagne turns you into a lightweight, ey? Harry treat you right?” Harry smiled a bit to himself and Y/N cleared her throat, tucking the hair behind her ear. 

“Tucked me in, got me water, nursed my hangover, the whole nine.” 

Niall patted Harry on the shoulder, “Nice then, mate. Hear one thing about you hurtin’ her and I’ll have to do ya in.”

Harry pouted, “What’s with all the threats my way?”

The night before had felt surreal; a bad, hyper-realistic dream that stuck with her like syrup to a plate. There wasn’t much on the agenda for them since the wedding had passed so they all kind of lingered in Niall and Gibson’s room. They ordered room service, rented a horror film (Gibson was something short of a horror buff, it turned out), and relaxed for the first time in a very long time. It felt like everyone had collectively let out a sigh (apart from Niall, who remained blissfully unaware and fast asleep most of the day). 

Harry allowed the others to love upon her for a majority of the time they spent in Gibson’s room. She alternated from being close to where Gibson sat, to leaning against Mickey, and hell she even hung out with Niall a bit when he bothered to wake up. The only bits alone they had together were when she would take Ubbe out for a wee, which normally Mickey might want to accompany her during, but Harry was insistent that he be the one. Had practically pushed her over attempting to get up before Mickey could even think to say that he wanted to go, which he later apologized for. 

“I just. . .it won’t be like this for long, but I just -- I wanna be near you, y’know?” 

She did know -- because she didn’t want him out of her sight. The few moments that she had to spend, leaving him behind with someone who would ( did) harm him given the chance -- she couldn’t stand it. Could have crawled out of her skin even -- and she knows he must have felt the same, if not worse. Y/N was even more thankful now than ever that they were sharing a hotel room. 

Because by the end of the night, when Y/N gave Gibson his nighttime meds, tucked Niall in, and pecked a kiss to Mickey’s scruffy cheek -- they got to flee together. Popped open the door to their room, Ubbe ran in first and beat them to the bed, and Harry suggested a cheeky shower together which -- well, Y/N said if he didn’t mind her in a shower cap (she couldn’t be arsed to wash her hair) then they could go right ahead and do it. 

So they did, and Y/N doesn’t think she’s ever been this close with someone before. She helps him tie a plastic baggy over his thigh so that the bandage didn’t get wet before she changed it, and in turn, he helped her tie her own around her hand, “It’s good that I’m here, hm? How else would you clean this arm if you didn’t have me?” 

“Niall is dexterous enough.” She teased him. 

“I can assure you that I’m far more adept with my fingers than Niall.” 

Nothing but bare, smooth skin that their hungry eyes drink each other in. Harry had a lot of tattoos and she can’t help but outline them with her gaze, though she does attempt not to let them wander too far downward -- she would feel bad to stare at his bits, even if he was getting a good look at hers. She did take a whack at his peachy bottom when he leaned over to turn the shower on, and he squeaked, putting his hand over it palm outward, “Aish, that hurt!” Y/N went for him again, a little harder on the other cheek until he straightened out and pivoted, looking at her with furrowed brows, “I’ll spank your bum, see how you like it.” 

(Y/N reckons she would like it.) 

The shower had been good; it was hot, steamy, and they hadn’t even done anything sexual. They just enjoyed one another, soaked in the hot pelts of water against their skin as they both took turns with who was in the direct line of the water. Harry cleaned her, sudsed her up with strawberry-scented soap, and made her all bubbly before nudging her back into the water. He sang obnoxiously loud, ticked her when he could, and he did get her back with a few swats on her wet bum, leaving a resounding smack that bounced off the walls in an echo. She had fun, and when he bent down to slide their lips together for an innocent little peck, she was over the moon. 

It was just good to be with him, and she was happy that her feelings were finally able to be expressed. And he had almost immediately quelled her worries when she thought that maybe this was just a Sweden thing -- maybe they would go home, Harry would not feel the need to be around her constantly since the initial threat had been dealt with and he could go on about his normal life. When she really thought about it, she was sort of just a wrench in his normal plans -- an unnecessary addition and disruption, having accidentally gotten involved in their whole scenario. 

But almost as soon as they landed, an hour or two after they had all parted ways to unpack and destress, Harry rang her phone and when she answered she got a, “I don’t think m’quite ready to not be around you 24/7 -- can I come over?” 

With a grin that threatened to split her cheeks, she told him to hurry up. 

While things were calm now, Y/N still strayed from going out too late at night or lollygagging when she went on her walks with Ubbe. She’s cautious still, of course, but it doesn’t feel like she has to keep looking over her shoulder. They were still taking care of some things, tying off the problem with a nice, neat little bow, and figuring out the semantics of what Elias had left behind with the people he’d hired. From what she understood they were paying them off with a suitable amount to make sure whatever they had discovered or heard wouldn’t be discussed, along with the looming threat that they had actually kidnapped her, and they shouldn’t be a problem any longer. Especially given the fact that they had no emotional ties to the whole situation. 

There were still a few questions she might have and confusion on some parts of what happened, but Harry opens up and explains it to her if she asks him anything.

And now she was outside his flat, after climbing seven flights of steps with an ecstatic Ubbe who was beside himself with the new smells. It was a nice area -- a rich one, at that -- the kind of place that she would press her nose up against the window glass as they pass, before looking it up later and realizing that it’s a month’s salary for rent alone. The outer exterior was all sleek and white, about a thousand windows that decorated the building and peered into the lives of the residents. There were balconies as well, each flat had one and from where she could see when they were driving around it toward the parking garage, they were evenly spaced far apart from each other. Which she reasoned that they would be decently large on the inside. 

They could have taken the elevator but Y/N felt too guilty to drag Ubbe in when there was an older woman and her friends stepping in, so they took the stairs.  When Y/N had suggested it she hadn’t known he was on the seventh fucking floor, but she trudged up and huffed every time he giggled and teased her, even though he huffed and puffed himself. 

He was quick with his keys, the slide of the teeth into the lock was smooth and clicked in a fluid motion that she envied (she had to jiggle and jangle her own), but he paused before he twisted the knob, and turned toward her, “Listen -- this is. . .new for me. I don’t invite people over ever . . .not even like hookups or anything, so other than the movers and the occasional Mitch  -- nobody else has been here. This is my own little safe space, y’know, I try not to sully it with all the shite I’m in but you -- I just can’t get the thought of you in here out of my head. Needed to see it for myself.”

Her heart was full upon entry, which she hadn’t known if that was his intent or if he just needed her to know beforehand that he wasn’t used to having other people in his flat and he might be a little squirrely. Either or, she leaned forward and nudged her forehead against his shoulder (her hands were full with a wriggling Ubbe so at the time it had been her only option to show affection). She was still a little nervous about initiating the kisses -- Harry was typically the one to initiate it and Y/N melts into them. 

Harry opened his door and Y/N was almost immediately greeted with the beloved Racoon dog statue. He told her to go ahead and let Ubbe run amuck (he was her good boy though, he wouldn’t climb any couches or beds without explicitly being told he was allowed to) as she was looking around the small foyer-like entrance. Right away she could tell that Harry had somewhat of an eye for interior design -- everything was cohesive in color and sense of style, he easily put her flat to shame. The sofa was facing away from the door and loveseat was caddy corner to it, both large, and a light grey that looked incredibly pricey but lived on -- there were blankets rumpled atop of it like he might have napped there, the pillows only kind of positioned correctly on the couch. They sat on a rug that is a lighter grey in tone, atop of smooth pine flooring. Behind the sofa, there was a dark console table that stretched along the length of it with a modern square lamp on either end. To the left at the end of the couch, he had an electric fireplace installed into a wall of what appeared to be marble, and above it his tv was fixed to the wall, far bigger than what she was used to. His coffee table looked like it was made of black glass, magazines and books were halfheartedly thrown in the middle. 

But what really takes her, that she’s trying to drink in entirely, is the wall of windows that is opposite of where she stood. It was clearly the way to the balcony that looked far larger than it did from the car, the panes of glass were so clear that she would probably slam right into them. They only stopped when it reached the kitchen, because of its open concept she could see it from where she stood and it was all sleek, marble counters and black appliances that all looked incredibly new. There was an island counter with bar stools that she reckons he eats at. On the opposite end of the flat, there was a hallway that she believes led to what she presumes was the rooms and bathrooms. 

“Holy fuck.” That’s where she was now, her brows raised as she turned to face him, “We’ve been at my crowded, old, rickety flat when you’ve had this just laying around?” 

His brows furrow deeply, “Oi, I love your flat. It’s cozy and comfortable, don’t you dare talk about her like that.” 

Y/N is too enamored with what she’s seeing to pay much mind to his words. She’s looking around with her face permanently stuck with her lips in an ‘o’ as she looks up and around, taking in the artwork that he had chosen, how it smelled like him, the way it appeared well lived in yet still pristine and polished, “If I lived here, I reckon I wouldn’t leave,” she continues, reaching out, letting her fingertips stroke against the couch wondering how the material could just feel expensive, “I’d be one of those nurses that answers panicked calls from parents at like 3AM ‘cos their kid sneezed.” 

A snort leaves him, but he shakes his head all the same, “S’not that great. Gets a bit lonely.” Her face is pressed against the cool glass of the windows, looking out on the dazzling lights that twinkle from the city below them, but his words and the sad inflection in his voice drags her from it. She turns to face him, where he’s setting his things down on his coffee table before sliding up beside her, “It looks much better with you stalking around it though.” 

She laughs, leaning her head against his shoulder, “I’ll come stalk about whenever you want then.” 

Harry maneuvers them, kisses his teeth to garner her attention before stealing her lips in a kiss when she turns to face him. Her nose scrunches up and she giggles -- he’d let his facial hair grow out some, and it tickled her face when he pressed their mouths together. She sinks into it though as she always does, and Harry can only kiss her for a few moments before he begins to smile against her, and withdraws, “Christ,” he pecks another kiss against her mouth, “Alright, I’ll show you how to operate my shower, and I’ll have some clothes out for you to change into. Will you teach me how I should wash your scrubs?” 

His bathroom is just as modern and seemingly hi-tech as the rest of his flat. He surpasses the one in the hall in favor of taking her to his own through the master bedroom, which has a Hilma af Klint painting (he and Mitch have similar tastes), a bed the size of a room that she’d grown up in (it felt like at the very least) that was made, with a black comforter and about thirty thousand pillows. The headboard was large, rectangular, and a dark stained wood that his other furniture matched. Across from his bed, there is another TV affixed to the wall, with a screen saver of a night sky during a thunderstorm. It smells like lavender and Harry -- she’s comforted by it. 

There’s a sleek, black tub, an entirely separate shower that came straight from the ceiling, his sink counter is large -- like, several people could keep their morning and nightly skincare routines on there. He shows her how to use the shower (there was a fucking touch screen on the wall that she used to decide the settings), makes a cheeky joke about watching her undress before he left her be to shower. 

It was unlike any showering experience she’d ever had before. He showed her the rainfall setting, gave her a spare loofah to scrub with and he let her use the rose-scented body soap he had a huge container full of. She scrubbed her skin raw, washed away every bit of the day. Harry had told her there was a surprise about the towel when she was finished, which she was soon to find that he had a heated rack. The towel is warm, big, and soft as she wraps it around her body, and she finds that he had left her some clothes to change into. It was a grey soft, worn Harley Davidson shirt and sweatpants. Y/N wriggled them on and left the bathroom. Harry told her he would be in the living room, so she ventured out from his bathroom, but she pauses when her eyes flicker across his dresser. 

Set on his drawer chest, there was a photo frame that made her heart swell. 

Y/N very vaguely remembers taking it -- the night of the bonfire, when she was scared to be alone and that man who’d been following her turned up at the park when she was there. Harry had come to get her, made her feel safe and soft. It was the first night she had met everyone, hung out with them, drank with them until she got sleepy, and managed to slump into Harry’s body. She remembers being lulled to sleep by the steady drum of his heart, how nice it sounded, how warm she felt, and she remembered how he accommodated her body with his arm around her while he let her rest. All of that she remembers quite vividly, however, the picture that was taken is what she has to dig through her thoughts to be reminded of. It was right after Harry had woken her up, called her snoozy, and patted her bum before letting her lean against him so they could walk to the car. Just before they had started their venture to the car, she remembers Mickey stopping them, having been trigger happy with a camera the entire night. 

“Big smiles! This one’s for the books.” 

Y/N’s eyes shut and she smiled sleepily, her fingers thrown in a peace sign and Harry grinned wide, a dimple dotting his cheek. The ember glow of the fire outlines them in an orange-ish tint as the flash illuminates them in the night, and Y/N wonders what possessed either of them to wear ripped jeans when she was almost certain that night it was below freezing. 

“Tha’s my favorite photo,” Harry’s voice rings from behind her and she nearly startled out of her skin, turning her head to look at him, the frame in hand, “Mickey gave it to me like a month or two after he had developed it, I thought we were right cute.” 

“We are,” she thumbs the wooden frame, the ridges dabbing into her skin, “This is the night you first stayed at my flat.” 

“After you practically tore me a new one for suggesting otherwise,” his chin hooks on her shoulder, nose dipping into the curve of her throat, “You look nice in my clothes.” 

“Reckon?” She leans back, melting into his touch, “They’re very soft, kinda feels like cuddling with you. Guess if I have your shirts I don’t have to bother with the body and your freezing toes.” 

“Oi,” he grumbles, sliding his arms around her waist, “Be nice, Pet, or I’ll take ‘em right back. Besides, clothes can’t pet on you, or feed Ubbe, or even turn on the godforsaken vampire film or cook dinner.” 

A gasp leaves her as she spun in his arms, “You put on Twilight?” 

“Of course I did, you wouldn’t shut up about it before, which had me wondering if I remembered it correctly. Figure after you we eat and you tell me about all the gross shite you had to deal with today, we could watch it.” 

It was true -- on the way to his flat, she had not so subtly mentioned that it felt like she was being invited into a vampire’s home before delving into a scene by scene explanation of the better half of Twilight. Harry had openly admitted to not really liking the film but he let’s her rant and rave anyway, even offered his commentary on what he did remember from it. Y/N thinks it’s the first time anyone other than her mother let her express the teenage nostalgia that still resonated with her and the movies as a whole. 

And for him to put it on for them to watch? In his beautiful flat that smelled like him? Where she would be fed, be able to chat about her day with someone other than Ubbe, feel warm and happy? She couldn’t think of a better way to spend her time. 

“As long as we can cuddle, I think this might be the perfect night.” She tells him and he rolls his eyes playfully, teasing her with a squeeze at her ticklish sides. 

“Of course, we’re going to cuddle. You think I spent the last four months pining after you, just for us not to cuddle?” 

Y/N lets her eyes flutter shut, leans into him, and smiles. 

[purrincess-chat]

Marinette Dupain-Cheng’s Spite Playlist: Remix CH7

Happy Valentine’s weekend, my dears! To make up for missing last week, I’m sharing two chapters today. Maybe if you’re all really good, and I have time I’ll share chapter 8 on Sunday. That’s where the fun begins ;) Are you ready for it?

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

Previous   First   Next    AO3

Chapter 7: Shake It Out

My dear sweet Marinette,

           How are you, my fairy? I hope that this letter finds you well. When you backpack over Russian mountains, you take whatever mail service you can get. I have so much to tell you about my latest trip, but first I have some exciting news for you!

During my last stay in Africa volunteering to build homes in a humble little village, I ran into a sweet little fairy by the name of Clara Nightingale. She says she met you! Did you know she’s a famous pop star? Anyway, she and I spent a lot of quality time together teaching young children how to read, and I showed her the scarf you knitted me for Christmas. She loved it! She says she will be in Paris again on the 18th and wanted to meet with you about designing for her, so I gave her the address to the bakery. She said she would stop by and see you.

“No way, no way, no way!” Marinette shrieked, kicking her feet. “Clara Nightingale wants me to design for her! I’m gonna faint.”

“This is an amazing opportunity for you, Marinette,” Tikki said as Marinette paced the floor, hugging the letter. “Tomorrow could change your life!”

“I know, Tikki! I’m so excited to- wait.” She stopped abruptly. “Tomorrow?”

“The letter said the 18th,” Tikki said, and Marinette raced over to pull down her calendar. “Isn’t that-”

“Tomorrow! Clara Nightingale is coming to my house. Tomorrow. To look at my designs!” Marinette clutched her cheeks as rapid breaths shook her shoulders. Tikki covered her ears as another scream emitted from Marinette’s throat. “This is a dream come true, Tikki!”

“It’s not that surprising. Gabriel Agreste liked your designs, and Clara attended the show, so it’s not like she’s unfamiliar with your work.” Tikki pointed out. “Plus, you’ve designed for Jagged before too.”

“I know, but getting commissioned by celebrities at 14 isn’t something you just get used to.” Marinette fell onto her chaise with a sigh. “I can’t wait to tell Macy, Eliott, and Martin! They’re gonna freak out.”

“What are you going to do about Chloe?”

Marinette waved it away, reading over the letter again. “I’m going to ignore her. She has no power over me.”

“True…” Tikki said. “But she did have a point. You always look out for your friends.”

“Yeah, but how many of those ‘friends’ came to visit me when I left?” Marinette said pointedly.

“Is that why you left? To see who would come?”

Marinette set the letter down and pursed her lips. “That’s one reason. I wanted to get away, but I also wanted to see who my real friends are,” she said. “I wanted to see who cared enough to chase after me, and I guess Adrien is the only real friend I had after all. Funny how I spent all that time hoping he would notice me when in reality, he’s always been on my side.”

“He thinks really highly of you.” Tikki flitted over to rest beside her.

“I know. My heart was beating so fast when he said those things earlier. Do you think it means he likes me?” Marinette smiled up at her ceiling, biting her lip.

“It definitely means he knows how amazing you are, and I’m sure you can catch his attention romantically too. Especially now that you two are hanging out so much,” Tikki said.

“I feel like all of my dreams are coming true.” Marinette buried her face in the throw pillow with a squeak.

“With everything you give to the city, I think you deserve it,” Tikki said.

“Well, one thing is for sure, I need to defeat Hawkmoth before I become a famous fashion designer and go to New York. That’s priority number one. Chat Noir, Rena- oh-” Marinette sat up abruptly.

“What’s the matter?”

“Well, Alya and Nino are Rena Rouge and Carapace, but after everything… I don’t know if I still trust them,” she said. “I don’t doubt that they would help Ladybug, but if I know who they are, then it might affect me. Do you think I made a mistake picking people close to me?”

“I think that’s a question for someone with more experience picking.” Tikki advised.

Marinette drummed her fingers on her thigh. “You’re right, Tikki. Let’s go.”

Master Fu was playing cards with Wayzz when Marinette knocked on the door and poked her head in. “Master?”

“Marinette, what brings you here?” He lowered his hand calmly.

“I could use some advice. Do you have a minute?”

Wayzz peeked over his cards with a huff. “We are in the middle of a game,” he said matter-of-factly, but Master Fu cast him a sly smile.

“It’s okay.” He splayed his royal flush for Wayzz to see. “I was just winning. What is on your mind?”

Marinette sat on the mat, hugging her knees to her chest as Wayzz zipped off grumpily. Taking a deep breath, she dove in, sparing no details—Volpina, Lila, her friends, changing schools, leaving Alya. Everything. Master Fu listened patiently while she talked, sipping his tea thoughtfully every now and then.

“I’m sorry, Master, but I think I made a mistake picking my friends to be Rena Rouge and Carapace.” She finished, head hanging low. “I don’t think I’m fit to choose our partners anymore.”

“Marinette,” Master Fu said with one of his kind, grandfatherly smiles. “We cannot blame ourselves for the actions of others. Your friends have made choices outside of your control. That does not mean that your judgment was lacking when you picked them. People change, and that is no one’s fault, just the natural order of things.”

“So, you won’t be mad if I pick someone else next time I need help?” Marinette glanced up at him like a small child waiting to be scolded.

“You must pick allies you can trust—whoever that happens to be in the moment,” he said.

“Thank you, Master.” Her shoulders relaxed. “Sorry to interrupt your game.”

“It’s okay. I have a large lead on Wayzz.” He chuckled. “Come back anytime.”

“I will. And next time, I’ll choose people I know I can count on.”

♪♫♪ StopRewind ♪♫♪

“You’re in an awfully good mood,” Macy remarked as Marinette took her seat in home room.

“Did something good happen? Spill!” Eliott leaned in.

Marinette glanced around the room to ensure their classmates couldn’t hear them. “Can you two keep a secret?”

“Oh, if there’s anything we aristocrats know how to do, it’s keep secrets.” Eliott assured her.

“Yeah, you’re our friend now. You can count on us.” Macy echoed with an encouraging nod.

Marinette bit her lip, leaning in close to whisper, “Clara Nightingale wants me to design for her.”

“No way!” Eliott gasped.

“Marinette, that’s huge.” Macy squealed before regaining her composure. “Don’t worry. We will totally keep it on the down-low, but I can’t wait to see the look on Gabrielle’s face when it goes public.”

“Pretty soon you’ll be buying your own yacht, Marinette,” Eliott said with a laugh. “Speaking of, you still need to see mine.”

“Oh, and we should totally have tea at my house! We just had the theater redone,” Macy added.

“I’d love to,” Marinette said. “Clara is supposed to come over today, so I’ll tell you how it goes.”

“We want all of the details tomorrow,” Macy said as Mr. Mercier entered the room and called for everyone to settle down. “We can rendezvous at my place this weekend.”

“Sounds good.”

When school ended, Marinette rushed home, a giddy smile tugging at her cheeks. What type of design would Clara want? A dress? Or maybe a tasteful pantsuit? Her mind was already buzzing with ideas. Hopefully, she didn’t mess everything up. What if she designed something, and Clara hated it? Or worse what if Audrey Bourgeois slammed her design in the next issue of her magazine because she refused to help Chloe? Then it could ruin Clara’s career, and it would be all Marinette’s fault!

“Hi, sweetie. How was school?” her mom greeted when she entered the bakery.

“Fine, except I have no talent, and I’m going to ruin Clara Nightingale,” she said.

“That’s not true. My daughter has all the talent in the world. She can do anything!” Her dad scooped her into a tight hug. “After all, she comes by it naturally.” He gestured to a large wedding cake resting in the back.

“You’re just nervous, sweetie. You’re going to be great,” her mom said.  

The bell above the door chimed, and a woman wearing a hat and sunglasses entered. Marinette’s father put her down and resumed his post in the back while her mother returned to the cash register.

“Welcome! What can we get for you today?” her mom asked politely.

“What I’m after isn’t a sweet treat; there’s someone here I want to meet.” She lowered her sunglasses to peek over at Marinette. “It’s been some time since we’ve seen one another, but your designs are truly like no other.”

“Clara Nightingale! You’re here!” Marinette gasped.

“I want to ask you a request of mine. I’ll run it by you if you’ve got time.”

“Yes, I have so much time!” Marinette said, then composing herself, gestured to the back door. “Why don’t we chat upstairs?”

“Fine by me. This request is top secret, you see,” Clara said. She followed Marinette up to the apartment, and once they were safely away from the public eye, she removed her disguise with a sigh of relief. “Thank you for meeting with me. I assume you read your grandmother’s letter.”

“I did. It arrived yesterday.” Marinette nodded, putting on a pot of tea.

“Excellent! Then you know why I’m here.”

Marinette turned and found herself face-to-face with Clara, nearly dropping the teabags in surprise.

“Ever since I met you, I felt a connection between us like our destinies were entwined. I loved the hat you designed for Adrien, and Jagged has only ever told me great things about you. Then of course, Gina’s scarf was to die for, so, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, would you be willing to design for me?” Clara dropped onto one knee.

“Doesn’t Gabriel Agreste usually design your clothes? Wouldn’t you rather see a professional?” Marinette asked.

“Gabriel’s designs are wonderful, but I think you can capture my essence for this. I’ve been nominated for a music award, and I want you to design my dress for the ceremony.” Clara took her hands with a confident smile. “You and I are both passionate about our crafts, and I think you can bring something that Gabriel can’t, so what do you say?”

Clara’s gaze bore into hers hopefully, and Marinette shifted her weight. “I’ll do my best.” Marinette gulped, and Clara bounced in delight.

“Thank you, Marinette! This favor is one I won’t forget!” Clara pulled her in for a tight hug. “Your willingness means so much, and very soon I’ll be in touch.”

Clara trotted out the door happily, hat and sunglasses in hand, leaving Marinette standing in the kitchen, stunned. She blinked out of her trance when the teapot on the stove screeched and set it aside, barely capable of containing her smile.

She couldn’t wait to tell her friends this.

♪♫♪ I’d Love to Break It to You ♪♫♪

Adrien removed his fencing gloves with a sigh. Another long day of watching Lila manipulate everyone. Even he had to admit it was getting old, especially since Nino spent most of his free time helping Alya with her deputy duties, which were really Lila’s class representative duties that she came up with excuses to get out of.

He ripped open his locker and tossed the gloves into his bag, thinking back to Marinette’s anguished sobs the previous evening. Seeing her so upset was nauseating in a way Adrien had never felt before. Maybe it was because Marinette was always positive and upbeat, doing her best to help others even when she had problems of her own. Someone like her being so broken and hurt was painful to watch. He wanted to help her in some way, but how could he? He could barely stand up to Chloe, let alone Lila.

“Why the long face?” Kagami’s voice startled him.

He turned to face her as she leaned against the locker next to his.

“Just tired.” He slung his bag over one shoulder with a shrug.

“You’ve been like this for the past week,” she remarked as he paced up the aisle toward the door. “Ever since Marinette left.”

“It’s been a long week. I’ve had a lot going on,” he said flatly.

“You miss her.”

Adrien stopped short at the end of the row and glanced back at Kagami over one shoulder. “Why wouldn’t I? She’s my friend.”

Kagami shoved away from the locker, approaching him slowly—lithe like a cat stalking her prey. “I wonder why she left so suddenly. Rumor has it that she had a jealousy spat with that Italian girl in your class,” Kagami said. “What was her name again? Lie-la?”

“Yeah,” Adrien said curtly, adjusting the strap of his bag.

“She sure has everyone enamored.” Kagami paused beside him and cocked a hip. “Well, almost everyone.”

“Why do you care?” Adrien’s eyes narrowed.

“I don’t.” She shrugged.

“So why bring it up?”

“Because you and I both know the truth, and I suspect Marinette does too.” She tilted her chin to meet his gaze. “She’s a liar.”

Adrien let out a breath, the stiffness in his shoulders fading. “How’d you find out?”

“She claimed that her great grandfather was a world-champion fencer who invented a secret technique, but my family has held the championship title for the last six generations,” Kagami said. “Plus, her stories are so obviously farfetched and self-congratulating.”

“Tell that to everyone else,” he grumbled.  

“It’s not really my place. I don’t even go here.” Kagami shrugged again. “Besides, to everyone here, I’m just the ice queen.”

“So, you’re stuck with this knowledge too.” Adrien deflated with a sigh.

“After what happened with Marinette, I have no interest in confronting her. If your classmates want to be sheep, I say let them,” she said. “No sense in letting it upset you. They could easily figure it out if they applied an ounce of brain power.”

“Well, yeah, but she’s using all of them. I thought her lies were harmless, but she has everyone bending over backwards to help her. Now Marinette left the school hurt… I’m starting to get a little fed up.” Adrien averted his gaze, the wave of nausea returning to his stomach.

“So, call her out then,” Kagami said as if it were obvious. “People trust your word, and you have enough celebrity pull to prove it.”

“Yeah, but…” He winced.

“Adrien, your friends will only continue to suffer if you stay silent. Action is the only way to help them.” When he lowered his head, she rolled her eyes and pushed past him. “I hope your friends see the light eventually. For your sake. See you tomorrow.”

Adrien’s hands clenched into fists as she sauntered from the locker room, biting his tongue as anger swelled in his chest. Letting out a heated breath, he stalked toward the door, blinking in surprise when it opened.

Lila stepped in front of him and wasted no time latching onto his neck. “Adrien, you’ve been avoiding me,” she said with her sugary-sweet lilt. “You promised to help me catch up on my school work.”

“Sorry. I don’t think I can. Why don’t you ask Max?” He unhooked her arms and pushed her away gently.

“But you promised!” She pouted.

Her whiny tone sent a shiver down his spine, and he tried unsuccessfully to mask his grimace. “I’ve got a lot going on, Lila. Photoshoots, private lessons, that sort of stuff.” He took a purposeful step away from her.

“You seem to have enough time to go visit Marinette,” she said pointedly, crossing her arms over her chest. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed.”

“Lila-”

“She’s the one who’s lying, ya know. I’m sure she has told you all kinds of nasty things about me, but they’re false,” Lila said. “She’s just trying to turn you against me because she’s jealous.”

“That’s not true, Lila.” Adrien’s anger boiled hotter. “Marinette just wants to move on.”

“Is that why she went to Jagged Stone’s concert just to try to make me look bad?”

“No, that’s not-”

“Alya is still upset over their fight. Marinette ripped her heart out and stomped on it.”

“There’s more to it than tha-”

“Honestly, Marinette is the worst person I’ve ever met.”

Something in Adrien’s chest snapped—a rubber band stretched too far.

“How do I know when I should stand up for myself?”

“I get a feeling in my gut that it’s the right thing to do.”

“Enough, Lila!” he shouted.

She flinched, cupping her hands over her mouth. “Adrien, I-”

“Your lies won’t work on me, and sooner or later everyone else is going to see through you too, and you’ll be left all alone. Is that what you want?” He barely gave her a moment to respond before continuing. “Marinette poured her heart and soul into her friends. She made sacrifices for them and never once asked for anything in return, and now you’ve gone and turned her best friend against her and convinced everyone that she just wanted attention. If anyone here is a terrible person, it’s you.”

Lila’s face hardened, her whole countenance darkening. “I see how it is, Adrien.” Her jaw clenched. “If you choose to side with her over me, then I can’t help what happens to you. I own this school now, and there’s nothing you or Marinette can do about it.”

Turning over her shoulder, she slapped Adrien with her hair on her way out, and he balled his hands into tight fists. A feeling he’d never felt before bubbled in his core that made him restless. Adrien always thought Lila just wanted attention, but purposefully targeting one of his friends was not okay.

A new resolve came over him, and he instructed Gorilla to make a pitstop at the Grand Paris on the way home. His fist pounded against the suite door, breaths short and hot.

Chloe was lounging in a yellow bathrobe, feet soaking in a tub of water when her butler let him in. She raised an eyebrow as he entered. “You know I’m always happy to see you, Adrikins, but I’m in the middle of an herbal soak-”

“I want to help you take down Lila.” He cut her off.

A sinister smirk spread across Chloe’s lips, her shock fading to triumphant glee.

“Excellent.”

[aimmyarrowshigh]

Dark Greetings this Spooky Season Ms. V. Can we get a list of your favorite Halloween movies and specials? I know you have seen *everything* and I am trying to go beyond my usual rewatches this holiday month.

V. AIMMYARROWSHIGH’S CRITERIA FOR HALLOWEEN EPISODES

Does the Halloween element combine convincingly with the usual universe of the show (ex: Lizzie McGuire 2x09 “Those Freaky McGuires” is not good as a Halloween episode because it changes the rules of the Lizzie McGuire universe, whereas Community 2x06 “Epidemiology” is a GREAT Halloween episode because it manages to logically introduce zombies to the regular Community universe)?

Does the Halloween element advance the plot of the episode/series (ex: the reason Boy Meets World 5x17 “And Then There Was Shawn” is literally the best Halloween episode ever made is that it uses the horror movie tropes it satirizes to provide a CRUCIAL turning-point to the plot of the show)?

Is the Halloween episode in the forefront enough that it’s clearly a holiday episode (ex: HAVING ONE JACK-O’LANTERN ON A DESK DOES NOT A HALLOWEEN SPECIAL MAKE, LAW & ORDER 16x03 “GHOSTS”! You gotta go ALL-IN, like Bob’s Burgers 3x02 “Full Bars”!)?

Does the Halloween theme balance well between spooky and warm-n-fuzzy (ex: Criminal Minds 11x21 “Mr. Scratch” is too fucking bleak, but Criminal Minds 12x06 “Elliott’s Pond” has a joyous/celebratory tone to the ending despite being a genuinely scary episode)?

Is it generally a well-written, acted, and designed episode of television (ex: Saved by the Bell! 3x26 “Mystery Weekend” is seriously, not exaggerating, the worst thing I’ve ever watched in my life; Psych 1x15 “Scary Sherry, Or Bianca’s Toast” is a triumph of the medium)?

THE BEST, bar none, Halloween special ever made is Boy Meets World 5x17, “And Then There Was Shawn.” Period. There can be no argument, except MAYBE Community 3x06, “Epidemiology,” but I like “And Then There Was Shawn” better because the parody and homage as less… biting? And because I think it continues and addresses the emotional core of the regular BMW season better than “Epidemiology” does for Community s3. “Epi” DOES plant the seed (…heh) for the Season 3B major plot arc of Shirley’s pregnancy and Chang Deciding To Murder, but it gets some major minus points for mocking Yvette Nicole Brown’s weight with other characters’ responses to her costume, tbh. And “And Then There Was Shawn” is just fucking iconic. It is THE Halloween episode manual, IMO, if there were to be a textbook on how to write a perfect Halloween episode for your sitcom.

HOWEVER, I also have to give major props to Bob’s Burgers and Psych, as complete series, for their CONSISTENTLY excellent Halloween episodes. A lot of series that have multiple Halloween eps really phone it in after one or two, because they don’t have any more ideas for how to incorporate Halloween pastiches while maintaining the overall feeling of the series (tbh B99, while the Halloween Heists are excellent in general, is/has been coming very close to this line, and I think that if they HADN’T had to switch out the Heist to Cinco de Mayo in s6, they would have jumped their Heist Shark [and I think they know it, too, because it was lampshaded in the episode itself]) or they just straight-up don’t have any more ideas for what or how to have the characters they’re bound to parody or pay homage to a Halloween thing after they’ve already done one or two. And let’s be real: those one or two have probably been either The Shining or Rear Window, because those are pretty much the two that every show starts with.

Bob’s manages to make every Halloween episode feel very fresh and organic to the series, which I think they do have some leeway to do because of the nature of cartoons keeping the Belchers living a kind of loop of never aging, yk, but amazingly they’ve only done the “Tina feels too old to trick or treat, maybe? Nope, she’s not 14 yet, so there’s still time!” thing in a way that felt tropey once (in 3x02 Full Bars). They’ve been able to address Tina being 13/in 8th grade, and worrying about it being almost too late for her to keep trick or treating, in ways that were in-character and added to the overall episode in 4x02 Fort Night, 5x02 Tina and the Real Ghost, and 9x04 Nightmare on Ocean Avenue Street, without me rolling my eyes at the screen and going “TINA, EVERY SINGLE SHOW WITH A TWEEN IN IT HAS ALREADY DECIDED THAT THE AGE AT WHICH YOU MUST STOP TRICK OR TREATING IS FRESHMAN YEAR OF HIGH SCHOOL, COME ON NOW” which… at this point, is a Feat. Because like, I’ve POSTED over a thousand Halloween episodes, right? But I’ve watched and screencapped ::checks folder:: 3,905 Halloween episodes since 2014. Which is, um, a. lot. The ACTUAL BEST Bob’s Burgers Halloween episode is 6x03, “The Hauntening,” which is just… achingly perfect television. I know I’ve posted about it before (probably a couple times tbh) but the way that it aired originally back-to-back with The Simpsons 27x04, “Halloween of Horror,” so that the evening of Sunday cartoons juxtaposed eight-year-old Louise whose family worked so hard to scare her like she wanted with nine-year-old Lisa’s family working so hard to keep her from being too scared and make sure that she felt safe… reader, I FUCKIN CRIED. Little girls being deeply loved while also Spoopy Things!!!!!! IS WHAT HALLOWEEN SPECIALS ARE!!! FUCKIN!!!!!! ABOUT!!!!!!!

Psych, though, has the benefit of not really having any, like… central tone to the series? Beyond “friendship” and “having fun with joking,” tbh? So it’s able to do what a lot of series get docked “points” for in my Foolproof Halloween Special Ratings System That Is Completely Subjective To My Tastes And Mood, which is really just run full-tilt into parody and homage without really worrying about overall tonal connection to the rest of the season or series. 1x15, “Scary Sherry, or, Bianca’s Toast,” while it DOES fall victim to the way-too-common Halloween episode trap of making mental hospitals into a Scary Thing (they are a medical normality and a necessary thing for health for many people and should not be feared), is delightful Spooky Fun AND has the benefit of having Shannon Woodward in it.* We all know by now that if an episode of any show has Shannon Woodward as the guest star, it will by default end up being one of the best, if not THE best, episodes of that series. It’s just how having Shannon Woodward as your guest star rolls. I also really like, with Psych’s Halloween episodes, that quite a few of them understand the underlying thematic scope of Horror, which is “The Monstrous Feminine Is A Thing And All Horror Tropes Are Actually About Women’s Interior Lives Because Men Can’t Write Women And Fear Women Always,” yk, in a way that is neither TOO Actual Horror, which I am too afraid of to Do, or too trite and demeaning, which is the other basic trap that Halloween stuff falls into A Lot. Like, Scary Sherry is very much about women villainizing other women, avenging other women, and being in very specifically-female pain, even though Shawn & Gus are still the lens through which we solve the mystery, and so are 4x04 The Devil Is In The Details And The Upstairs Bedroom and 6x03 This Episode Sucks. But they give their Monstrous Females dignity and breadth, which is impressive, ESPECIALLY since they’re one-off guest characters. Also, 3x15 Tuesday the 17th is just plain funny and well-done, like, just give it props for the title alone.

*(Speaking of Shannon Woodward, another amazingly good Halloween episode is Raising Hope 4x07, “Murder, She Hoped,” which is among my very favorite Rear Window homage episodes and has probably the funniest gag in ANY Rear Window ep, in Martha Plimpton floating across the screen in the Grace Kelly silk nightgown and peignoir and announcing that it was on sale at Walmart, can you believe?! and honestly, yes. Perfection.)

Also excellent:

• The Addams Family (1991) + Addams Family Values (1993) • Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School (RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU WERE GAY FOR SIBELLA AS A CHILD!) • Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost (RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU'RE GAY BECAUSE THE HEX GIRLS!) • Halloweentown + Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge • Mom's Got a Date with a Vampire! • Z•O•M•B•I•E•S (to a lesser extent, Z•O•M•B•I•E•S 2) • Clue (1985) • Coraline • Corpse Bride • 6teen 2x00 Dude of the Dead • Arthur 21x00 Arthur and the Haunted Treehouse • Lamb-Chop in the Haunted Studio • Arthur 8x04A Fern-kenstein's Monster • Arthur 10x02 The Squirrels • WandaVision 1x06 The All-New Halloween Spooktacular (I KNOW YOU, SPECIFICALLY, DEAR @plavoptice, HATE MCU!WANDA AND I DON'T BLAME YOU, YOUR REASONS ARE VERY VALID! But this is a good Halloween special so I'm putting it on my list In General.) • Boy Meets World 2x06 Who's Afraid of Cory Wolf? • Ghostbusters (2016) • Gravity Falls 1x12 Summerween • Leverage 4x02 Ten L'il Grifters Job • The Loud House 2x40 Tricked! • Mockingbird Lane 1x00 Unaired Pilot • It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! (Classic, etc.)

I'm SURE I'm forgetting some that I'll rewatch this year myself. I'm a big Halloween Baking Championship fan, tbh, which is on Discovery+ now so I recommend that if you like mostly-relaxing nice people baking cakes that look like bats and such.

I'm also IMMENSELY INTENSELY EXCITED for The Muppets' Haunted Mansion on Disney+ next week!!!

[supportclassstan]

Supports X Boney/Skinny S/O!

A/N: As a skinny boy myself I feel compelled to write these... I may do hcs with a chubby S/O in the future, if you guys want!

A/N 2: This has been sitting in my drafts for ages and I just now got around to finishing it. Apologies to all those unanswered asks/unfinished posts ✌😔

---

Medic

*Medic finds any and all body types interesting and deserving of appreciation/observation, in both the medical aspect as well as an attraction aspect.

*This man is no twig, he's actually quite himbo shaped in the comics and if you've SEEN the burly beast then you know this man has a figure to him.

*Because of this he's really nice to hug. He gives the nice and gentle kind of hugs where he lays his head on top of yours and strokes your back lovingly.

*He makes sure you have a healthy diet, but he won't push you to eat more than you want to. He isn't one of those "is that all you're gonna eat?" kinda people, not out loud at least.

*He will recommend that you eat more though, for the sake of muscle gain and such... It's kinda hard to resist all the treats he bakes too, even if they are laced with something they sure do taste good!

*He is great to snuggle with, but will have a seizure if you put your cold feet on the back of his calves while he is trying to sleep.

*He's always worried about your temperature since bony people get colder easier, and he constantly bundles you up during the winter.

*He also keeps you relatively healed up during a battle, he knows that you're more prone to getting thrown around due to your stature and makes sure to look around for you often. Regardless of the situation he always tries to makes sure you're never in the red in terms of health.

*Expect a lot of impromptu examinations as well, sometimes he'll just... Suddenly realize how skinny you are compared to him. He'll squeeze your fingers or prod at your ribs, something weird like that.

*He doesn't tend to experiment on you, not just because you're his favorite person on the team but also because he isn't sure you can handle it.

Sniper

*As someone who is rather boney himself he's happy to have someone that he can be cold with.

*Please, please hug him... Slide your cold hands under each others shirts and press your cold feet against each others legs while you're wrapped up in a blanket with him.

*Lots of spooning from him while his legs are curled up behind yours. He holds his lover like he held his teddy bear, very closely and very affectionately. He even nuzzles into the crook of your neck slightly, like the touch-starved mercenary he is.

*If you're *really* flimsy, a charged bodyshot from the enemy sniper will easily take you out. So when he sees you busting your ass on the field just know that he's busting his ass making sure that the enemy sniper isn't.

*He'll pop your knuckles for you just by tugging on your fingers a bit, and chuckle everytime it startles you.

*He may be lanky but that doesn't mean he won't take advantage of your build, meaning that he can keep you in bed on those lazy Sunday mornings for longer, or easily scoop you up and throw you over his shoulder, etc.

*He doesn't worry too much about your diet unless your ribs are showing, but regardless he still tries and gets you to put some "meat on your bones" with food he makes from his hunting trips.

*You'd be surprised how good it tastes, obviously is gamey as fuck but he likes his seasoning so it makes you forget for a second that you're eating a crocodile.

*If anyone takes the piss because of your body type he is immediately ready to fight about it. He remembers what it was like being the scrawny little New Zealander up against all those buff Australians and it just wasn't fair.

*In the winter you are inseparable, and in the hot New Mexico summers you are also inseparable but only because of the layer of sweat that has glued you two together.

Spy

*Spy isn't the most muscular himself, so he understands your struggles.

*When it's cold out he'll subtly try and remain closer to you or keep you warm, and will let you seek refuge from the cold in his smoking room. Expect lots of snuggling by the fireplace, and maybe a little more if that's your cup of tea.

*He's usually only looking out for himself during matches, but if he spots the enemy Spy anywhere near you then it's over for them. You'll hear the backstabbing and pre-emptively flinch thinking it's for you, and turn around to see your sexy Spy bf holding the bloody knife instead.

*He might occasionally tease you, but if somebody else does he gives them this look that says "Um, excuse me, that's my thing."

*If he gets the vibe you're über self-conscious about it he won't tease you, and god help anyone who does. He probably has a whole argument planned out in his head waiting to unfold.

*If you want to learn how to waltz then he probably ends up dragging you around a lot at first before you find your footing.

*Hugging each other is like rib on rib action. You feel his, he feels yours, life is good.

*He has small ass hands so you could easily pop his knuckles and listen to him grumble in dismay everytime.

*Expect to wake up tangled in each other a lot, and see his smile as he has to remove his limbs from yours.

*He isn't like Sniper where he keeps you in bed with him in the mornings, but that just means you can just as easily pull him back into bed if you'd like. Don't expect him to be too happy about it, though.

[vespertineflora]

Title: in my arms you’re safe and sound

Rating: Teen Summary:  Jin Guangyao is a dhampir who is fully turned when his father accepts him into the family--but Jin Guangshan treats him terribly, and when Nie Mingjue begins to realize how far this mistreatment goes, he drags Jin Guangyao off for a conversation which quickly escalates into an emotional shouting match that results in Nie Mingjue deciding that Jin Guangyao needs to be removed from Carp Tower immediately. Lan Xichen finds them just in time for the three sworn brothers to head together back to Qinghe, where Lan Xichen personally discovers one of the many awful things Jin Guangshan has done to hurt Jin Guangyao. (2.9k  vampire au!!!, hurt/comfort, blood drinking) I posted this late Sunday night, but wanted to share it here too!  It was inspired by a vampire au in the 3zun discord server, this scene hurt my heart so I needed to write it. In this au, the Lan and Jin sects are vampires and the Nie Sect are werewolves. Though this scene is mostly about lxc and jgy, the au was constructed with 3zun in mind. Their sworn brotherhood also gives them all an empathetic bond that gets mentioned once at the beginning of this.\

~~~

Jin Guangyao was only half-conscious by the time they made it back to the Unclean Realm. Maybe it shouldn’t be surprising—Lan Xichen hadn’t gotten the full rundown of whatever argument Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao had had, but he felt the way Jin Guangyao had been hurting himself through their bond in his effort to prove whatever point he’d been making to Nie Mingjue, and when Lan Xichen had managed to find the two of them, both of their faces streaked with tears, their devastation had been so clear , even before Nie Mingjue had given him any details. After such an emotional exchange, it only made sense that Jin Guangyao would be exhausted.

When Nie Mingjue asserted that Jin Guangyao would not be returning to Lanling, that they were heading directly back to Qinghe, Lan Xichen hadn’t argued. He’d been skeptical of Jin Guangyao’s position in Carp Tower since his father had taken him in, he’d known something wasn’t quite right, he’d just trusted that Jin Guangyao would say something if he needed their help...

Lan Xichen cradled Jin Guangyao’s half-limp form close to his chest as he followed Nie Mingjue through the gates, as Nie Mingjue led him back to his own room, and even though Lan Xichen understood why Jin Guangyao would be tired... something still felt wrong. One glance at Jin Guangyao was enough for Lan Xichen to see the hazy look in his eyes, was enough to notice that his pale skin was too pale, nearly colorless, and Lan Xichen wondered sickly how he hadn’t noticed earlier how wrong the color was. Maybe he’d just gotten so used to the warmth in Jin Guangyao’s cheeks before he’d been turned that the lack of color had just always seemed off but... this degree of pallor was wrong, even for a vampire.

Continue Reading on AO3 or below the cut

Nie Mingjue left them in his room to go make arrangements for their unexpected permanent resident, and Lan Xichen took a seat on the edge of the bed. He let Jin Guangyao settle in his lap because he found himself quite unwilling to let go of him just yet, couldn’t quite bear the idea of lying him down in bed and leaving him alone when Jin Guangyao looked so small and tired, when he clearly still needed him.

“A-Yao,” Lan Xichen spoke softly, watching Jin Guangyao’s eyes... the sound of his name brought a bit of clarity to them, but not much, and Lan Xichen bit his lip worriedly, dreading the answer to a question he had to force himself to ask. “Are you hungry? How long has it been since you’ve fed?”

Jin Guangyao’s frowned, his brow furrowed in thought - immediately, Lan Xichen felt his stomach churn, hoping that Jin Guangyao was only thinking because he was trying to be exact and he couldn’t remember what time his meal earlier that evening was - and he seemed to struggle with both the mental timeline and the words when he finally tried to speak, “I... I don’t... remember, I... maybe five? Five or six...”

He trailed off, and Lan Xichen prompted, “Five or six hours ago?”

“No,” Jin Guangyao replied, shaking his head vaguely, “D-days. Five or six days.”

Lan Xichen felt his chest tightening as anguish flooded his thoughts. Five or six days? Jin Guangyao was... He’d only been turned a few months ago, he was still young, by every definition still a fledgling. He should be feeding a little every few hours or at least once a day, not once a week. He wasn’t strong enough yet to go so long without eating, no wonder he looked so awful, no wonder he was on the verge of passing out.

“A-Yao, why haven’t you been feeding?” Lan Xichen asked worriedly, reaching up to push a bit of Jin Guangyao’s hair behind his ear just to have some excuse to touch him.

“I could...” Jin Guangyao was clearly struggling, Lan Xichen could see how hard he was fighting to string the words together, when it was obvious his body was on the verge of forcing itself to shut down, to reserve its energy because it was working on so little fuel, “only eat when... when Father allowed me to. Only animals. Only... every few days.”

A surge of rage unlike Lan Xichen had ever experienced burned white hot in his chest, blinding him--for a split second, there was a very real danger of Lan Xichen putting Jin Guangyao down and flying at high speed back to Carp Tower, a moment when the sensation of snapping Jin Guangshan’s neck in his hands would have been the most satisfying feeling in the entire world, but he took a hard breath and forced the feeling away, even as the embers of the fire continued on. Jin Guangshan knew better. The Jin Clan was full of vampires, many of whom had been fledglings at some point or another, there was no way he didn’t know what he was doing to his son. Fledglings needed blood, ideally human blood, and there was no conceivable way that Jin Guangshan hadn’t known that he was starving Jin Guangyao, keeping him purposefully weakened while expecting Jin Guangyao to perform his tasks as well as a vampire who wasn’t still adjusting to his new senses and urges and appetites, and...

Lan Xichen took another shaking breath as he forced the anger away. He couldn’t do anything about it right now, he couldn’t actually kill Jin Guangshan without starting a war, there was no use in reveling in feelings of revenge because he wouldn’t be able to seek it, but... his energy could be useful here and now. The weight of Jin Guangyao in his arms was grounding, pulled him out of his head and forced his mind back to concern, because concern for Jin Guangyao was productive. This was a place that Lan Xichen could help.

“You need to feed , A-Yao,” Lan Xichen said firmly. What Jin Guangyao had been through today would have drained any vampire, much less a fledgling who was being starved. He took a second to adjust Jin Guangyao in his arms, enough so that he could extend his wrist, brushing it gently against Jin Guangyao’s lips. “Here, please, drink.”

Fresh human blood would be best, but Lan Xichen wasn’t sure where they would procure it at this time of night, and Jin Guangyao seemed so close to passing out that Lan Xichen didn’t want to wait for Nie Mingjue’s return in order to figure it out. His own blood was a close second option though, far better than animal blood and endlessly better than letting Jin Guangyao go without.

But Jin Guangyao... turned his head away, looking faintly distressed as he protested blearily, “No, Er-Ge, you don’t... I’m fine, I...”

“You’re not,” Lan Xichen countered, tone gentle, but insistent. “I mean it, you’re very weak right now. I need you to drink for me, okay? Here...”

Jin Guangyao had to be hungry, Lan Xichen was sure of it; even if he could refuse to bite him, Lan Xichen knew he couldn’t resist feeding if he was presented with an open vein. Without a second thought. Lan Xichen raised his wrist to his mouth and dug a tooth into it, suckling a little on the wound to get the blood flowing before he lowered it back to Jin Guangyao’s lips.

As soon as the blood touched them, Jin Guangyao shuddered in his grasp, and he seemed to try to resist the urge for just a second longer before the hunger, the need for survival, took over. Jin Guangyao’s lips parted and his mouth latched onto the wound, suckling at it tentatively, and even that much filled Lan Xichen with relief. He’d gladly let Jin Guangyao gorge himself, Lan Xichen had fed just today and he could safely let Jin Guangyao take what he needed, but any amount that Jin Guangyao drank was better than none.

He nudged his wrist a little more firmly against Jin Guangyao’s lips - while forcing himself not to think about Jin Guangyao’s lips - and clenched his hand into a fist to push the blood from the wound. He... felt Jin Guangyao’s tongue sweep across it as... the expression on his face melted into something new, something more desperate. Lan Xichen heard Jin Guangyao’s breathing catch, watched his eyes squeezing shut as his teeth glanced against the skin, as if fighting against the urge to press down...

“Go on, bite me if you want,” Lan Xichen told him sweetly. It’d feel more natural to Jin Guangyao’s instincts to drink from a wound he’d made himself, it would encourage him to drink more, to drink until the hunger was satisfied, which was exactly what Lan Xichen wanted.

Lan Xichen heard Jin Guangyao take in a shuddering breath, felt the tension in his back and shoulders because of how close he was holding him... before Jin Guangyao finally gave in and sunk his teeth into the wrist.

Jin Guangyao began to suckle at the wound, his tongue making a few more tentative sweeps around the skin--before he seemed to find his taste for it, before the instinct and hunger began to overwhelm any rationale thought that had been holding him back--his teeth pressed down harder, releasing more blood, and he began to drink in earnest as a tremble began working its way down his back.

“That’s right,” Lan Xichen soothed softly, rubbing his free hand over Jin Guangyao’s arm. “I know, I know you’re hungry.”

Lan Xichen had seen his own lean days. During the war there had been no shortage of blood shed--and yet so little of it suitable for drinking. Lan Xichen had gone days, weeks at time without feeding when he’d needed to push himself, and he knew too well what Jin Guangyao was feeling; the ache that seemed to consume your every thought no matter how hard you tried to push it aside and... feeding again, that first drop of blood when you’d gone ages without was... indescribable. It was more than just satisfying a hunger or a thirst, it was like... like consuming life itself. It was like being achingly numb only to have feeling slowly coming back to your limbs, like being burdened with a chronic pain only to suddenly have it lifted. Those periods of starvation were the bleakest of Lan Xichen’s life, he’d had to struggle to remember why he should even bother living when the worst of it hit him, but feeding again almost made him feel like a veil was being lifted, like he was finally allowed to see the beauty in the world for the very first time.

Though Lan Xichen couldn’t read Jin Guangyao’s thoughts, he could feel the way he was shaking almost violently in his arms, as if totally overwhelmed--he could see the tears wetting his eyelashes and could hear the choked little sounds that were almost certainly relieved sobs as the blood filled Jin Guangyao’s mouth and warmed his stomach, renewing him little by little. After just a moment more, Jin Guangyao found the strength to move his arms, and he used it to grab at Lan Xichen’s arm and hold it in place against his mouth, his desperation to keep feeding completely taking control of him.

Lan Xichen would do nothing but encourage it. His hand moved to stroke Jin Guangyao’s hair as he managed to keep himself upright, and he let Jin Guangyao grab onto his wrist as tightly as he needed to to feel safe. “Keep going,” he coaxed, his voice close enough to Jin Guangyao’s ear that he barely needed to do more than whisper it. “You won’t hurt me, A-Yao, I promise. Drink as much as you need.”

Lan Xichen felt Jin Guangyao nod slightly in acknowledgement and he smiled softly from his own relief. He kept his fingers running through Jin Guangyao’s hair, kept focusing on him so that his mind wouldn’t stray to the person responsible for doing this to Jin Guangyao in the first place--eventually, he gave in to his own urges to gently press his face to Jin Guangyao’s hair, telling himself that it was for the best, that letting Jin Guangyao’s scent filled his nose was the most effective way to push any other thoughts from his mind because he knew all too well from their days on the run together that that was the truth.

They sat huddled close together, until Jin Guangyao’s hunger finally tapered off. Slowly, his overwhelmed sobs quieted, and the tense tremors melted away from his back and shoulders. His grip on Lan Xichen’s arm loosened, his suckling grew fainter and fainter, and when he finally retracted his teeth from the skin... he fell, half-limp against Lan Xichen’s chest.

After sparing a single glance at his wrist - Jin Guangyao had licked all the blood free of the skin and it was already starting to stitch itself closed - Lan Xichen turned his focus back on Jin Guangyao, adjusting him in his arms enough to get a look at him--an easy feat, now that the hunger and the accompanying pain were gone. Jin Guangyao was loose, pliant in his arms in a way that was completely different from how the exhaustion had left him. Lan Xichen gently touched Jin Guangyao’s face, and he couldn’t help but find solace in the renewed color of his skin that was now the well-fed shade of a healthy vampire.

Jin Guangyao’s eyes were still closed, but he looked completely relaxed and he was giving off a distinct air of serenity that most certainly hadn’t been there before. He seemed quietly delighted to be in Lan Xichen’s lap now; he curled up against him and his face even turned to nuzzle gently against Lan Xichen’s hand, seeking out reassuring contact in the tipsy sort of way typical of a freshly fed fledgling.

Lan Xichen didn’t know why he hadn’t thought of it before, why he hadn’t realized that Jin Guangyao wasn’t being treated at all like the fledgling he was back at Carp Tower. Jin Guangyao had been working almost non-stop instead of being allowed time to cope with his new heightened senses, instead of being given comforting people or places to hideaway when he was struck with inevitable bouts of overstimulation. He hadn’t thought twice about it and if Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao hadn’t fought today, if Nie Mingjue hadn’t made the executive decision to immediately extract Jin Guangyao from that awful place that Lan Xichen wasn’t even sure how much longer it would have taken him to realize...

Whether or not Lan Xichen would forgive himself for that was a matter for him to debate at another time. Right here, right now, Jin Guangyao needed attention, and Lan Xichen was the only other vampire in a sect that was otherwise full of werewolves. He was the only one currently in the position to give Jin Guangyao what he needed.

Lan Xichen shifted Jin Guangyao a little bit more, helping him sit up more fully, until Jin Guangyao’s face found its way almost naturally to the side of his neck. He immediately pressed himself to the skin there, nuzzling against it before slumping in a state of total contentment against Lan Xichen’s chest.

As Lan Xichen waited for Nie Mingjue’s return, he gave Jin Guangyao the contact and comfort he needed; he held him close and touched his hair and Jin Guangyao soaked up every bit of the positive attention he’d been starved of for so long, only seeming to grow more and more comfortable against him with each passing moment, his hands eventually clinging lightly to Lan Xichen’s robes.

The sound of the door opening as Nie Mingjue came through it only made Jin Guangyao bury himself more completely against Lan Xichen. As soon as Nie Mingjue's eyes landed on them, he gave Lan Xichen an uncertain look... but Lan Xichen just shook his head. Morning was approaching, and they all needed sleep--and Jin Guangyao especially needed a room where he’d be safe from the sun during the day.

Nie Mingjue said they had a room ready, and Lan Xichen carried Jin Guangyao as he followed Nie Mingjue to the prepared place, though... as he tried to set Jin Guangyao down on the bed, Lan Xichen couldn’t even be surprised at the way Jin Guangyao clung to him, issued a faint whimper in his fledgling desire not to be left alone... and Lan Xichen decided quickly that any conversation he needed to have with Nie Mingjue could wait until nightfall, once they’d all managed to get some rest.

He told Nie Mingjue he’d stay with Jin Guangyao, and then settled down on the bed next to him. As Jin Guangyao cuddled close to his chest, Lan Xichen pushed aside his selfish feelings, and gave Jin Guangyao the closeness that any young vampire wanted and deserved.

There would be important things to discuss later that evening, about Jin Guangshan’s actions, about what the best course of action would be with Jin Guangyao now that they’d rescued him... but those were discussion topics for that evening. For now, Lan Xichen let himself bury his face in Jin Guangyao’s hair (because it was for Jin Guangyao’s sake, wasn’t it?), and drift off with Jin Guangyao into a deep sleep.

[thecandywrites]

Jewel Of The North Part 7

As always thanks to @monstersandmaw​ for sharing ice orcs with me. 

Now, get some popcorn and a drink and lets watch things blow up in our readers face and her past comes to bite her in the ass, shall we? 

Jewel of the North 

Part 7

On Sunday, Noah and yourself finished your dishes for the family dinner and no matter what Noah tried to say, you were just on edge and anxious about it and you couldn’t shake your gut feeling that it was a bad idea and that something was going to go wrong. He even tried banging the nerves out of you, twice. But all that did was push you to try to hide how nervous and anxious you were. 

The only one Noah warned you about was his sister Alorna who was a stuck up priss and a hypocritical one at that, how she loved to preach about the traditional ways but didn’t feel she needed to live by them herself and was the most “Anglo” out of all of them whereas Neena had practiced what she preached and how Alorna was always at odds with everyone, especially Neena and brought drama wherever she went and to take whatever she would say with a big grain of salt. 

Meanwhile Summer’s tea leaves told her that you were feeling anxious and that you were going to be judged and compared to Neena and she practically drilled into everyone that they needed to be nice and gentle, warm and welcoming and accepting which they were all to happy to comply. 

“Alorna, you’re still coming for the family dinner tomorrow right?” Summer asked as she was on the phone with her the day before. 

“Of course I’m coming, I’m getting the crab now, John got huge tips this week, he gets off at 4 and we’ll be there by five, no problem.” She reassured her mother.  

“And make sure you all bring your best manners too, she’s nervous to meet everyone. We have to be warm and welcoming.” Summer insisted. 

“She’s the one who should bring her best manners, has anyone even checked her out? How do we know she’s not some gold digger or someone working for the developers or the oil company or even the prospectors? They’re getting more and more scheming and devious.” She argued. 

“I can swear to you that she isn’t. She’s come on vacation and made herself and instrument in The God’s Will and I have seen it with my own eyes. She is a blessing and if you scare away this blessing, the gods will not look favorably on you. And if you and your family can’t be nice, you won’t be welcome. You can eat all that crab at your own home and I’ll tell her that you couldn’t make it.” Summer offered in ultimatum. 

Alorna glared in outrage at her phone. 

“No, we’ll be there and we will show her as much respect as she shows us.” Alorna spat before she ended the call before she got what she came for and went home and got out her own best outfit, she was going to be the prettiest woman there while she dug into the name she was given, she looked on Facebook and found so many Zara Kingsley’s but when she crossreferenced LMT’s and Great Lakes and was pretty sure she found you- especially when in the comments, she realized that “Zara” was a nick name. Your full name was a mouthful, but you had quite the following as she went through the facebook feed and the linked businesses facebooks. You owned three seperate businesses, but they were all spa businesses. Cushy jobs, you were beautiful- sure, and your home spa did look luxurious and obviously why you looked as good as you did for being as old as you were, you had your very own spa at your disposal. You were obviously spoiled and used to getting and having everything. 

She then found old pictures of your husband who had not had a Facebook, he was- rather hideous, he was perhaps one of the uglier orcs she had ever seen, so that meant in her mind, he either had a really good personality, a really great dick, he worshiped you like a goddess or he was wealthy and came from a wealthy family and most likely, all of those factors were the only justifications a woman as beautiful as you would be with someone like him. Your children on the other hand were really adorable, your son was handsome and had a facebook of his own which posted a lot of pictures of him in modern dance which she could appreciate, but then she found the pictures and videos of him in ballet, which she thought was rather hysterical if not absurd, shameful and dishonorable. Orc boys did not belong in ballet. Elven boys and human boys and fae boys of course, especially moura boys who were born flamboyant, but not orcs, it was ridiculous. He looked so out of place and it was just... embarrassing. Were you trying to raise a pansy? You took a perfectly good orc boy and turned him into a flower is what you did, heaven forbid you give Noah a son and do the same thing to him as you did your own. There was no way he was going to continue the family line of his natural father. With a few pictures she found your son’s snake channel on You Tube and a little google search told her that it was an expensive hobby which all pointed to your family having a lot of money. 

Your girl though, she was into MMA and martial arts in general, now that- she could approve of. Orcs were natural born warriors and she was a natural. She was also into hunting judging by the pictures of her with game she killed when she went hunting with her grandpa. Well at least the dishonor that your son bathed and rolled around it was not something she shared. She felt pity for your daughter for having such a brother. The poor thing couldn’t choose her family. Well hopefully Noah would straighten Xander out and get him out of those tights and ballet shoes and get him out in the woods or working with him in the plane or something, that was the only way your son could be saved, because you sure weren’t. And doing some math, it was only after your husband died that your son got into ballet and your husband was probably rolling in his grave if he knew how you’ve destroyed his son. The lack of a proper masculine role model was clearly damaging. It was your son that needed rescuing, if not a full on intervention. 

And since you were a widow and judging by your posts, you were a widow for about two years now, you probably used all of your husband’s life insurance policy payout to either buy or build that house that was looking like a small mansion from these images on the business’ facebooks or you or your husband came from money and all of these were just hobbies for you. And when she found the post about what your husband did, another quick google search at what that kind of position payed and if you were wealthy, the wealthy always got life insurance and if you followed the rule of thumb, you got at least a million dollar pay out and that sure did look like a million dollar house to her. How foolish, you used all of your husband’s money to build a mansion with it. But one look at it all and she doubted you’d give this up for Noah. Noah was poor and his house was practically a trailer compared to your mansion, a humble cottage really. Which to her, meant one thing, you were probably going to be taking Noah and Sakura home with you- if this was ever going to go anywhere and the thought made her stomach sour, you were going to buy one of the best pieces of the Arctic Tundra and take it home and put it on a shelf with any other souvineer. The audacity you had!

The only way she was ever going to think otherwise is if you and your family moved up here. And with your tastes for the luxurious, there was really only a few homes that would be suitable because there was no way you would think Noah’s humble abode would be good enough for a princess like you, much less your son. Of course if that happened, you’d probably buy her dream house which was currently on the market. And she’d probably resent you for that too. You were only a blessing to them because you had money. And you could use whatever money your “mansion” sold for and “invest” it in the family. That was all there was too it. Well the least you could do is perhaps get Noah and maybe her parents out of their debt. Maybe pay off their houses if you were humble enough to move in with Noah. And if you’d be treating the family with your spa services for free and uphold all the traditions that Neena wanted to uphold without question or complaint. That was the only way she was going to be happy about this. If you could prove yourself in that way because if she or anyone else in the family had to pay for anything, you would practically be taking advantage of them from her moral point of view. 

Come Sunday you felt like you were a bundle of nerves and one of the ways you found you could try to bury it was you got dressed up in your cutest, most flattering outfit and got dolled up so that you looked picture perfect and tried to make yourself look as sweet and as non-threatening and hopefully likable as possible before you made sure Sakura was looking particularly darling and perfectly precious and did her hair up in curls and braids and got her a new outfit and bow before Noah took you and Sakura to his parent’s house where everyone but Alorna and her husband John were already gathered, all of them eagerly awaiting your arrival, in particular Neena’s family who were especially excited to meet you.

You already knew Summer who introduced Neena’s parents, Isla and Tonrar, Neena’s brother Yakone and his wife Merideth and their children. Neena’s sister Miki and her husband Dave and their kids and Neena’s other sister Sedna and her husband Max and all of their kids before she had you meet the rest of her family- Ukluk, who you recognized from a picture on your parent’s wall. Noah’s brother Nago and his wife Samantha and their kids and of course Noah’s sister Sesi who you got to briefly meet yesterday and her husband Suka and their kids and you were so grateful that you brought so much of all your dishes so that hopefully everyone would get a taste as they all helped you bring in all your dishes and beer and wine and other alcohol from Noah’s truck after they all gave you a series of big hugs as you realized both families were big huggers which was fine by you because each hug you received seemed to settle your nerves a little more and reassure you a little more that it was going to be ok and that perhaps you had been worrying for nothing. All of Sakura’s cousins were awesome and had asked you all kinds of questions about your kids which you were happy to answer. All the boys especially were interested in seeing pictures of your son’s snakes while the girls liked to see the pictures of the other animals in your ‘menagerie’ while all the guys dug into the beer especially and talked among themselves in the living room, leaving the women to talk in the kitchen, around the kitchen island before the kids left to go play in the playroom, Sakura leaving her new hair bow with you so it wouldn't’ get hurt. 

“How do you keep getting so lucky? A priestess and a massage therapist?” Suka jabbed at Noah’s arm and Noah could only shrug but his grin was awfully smug, if not proud, as they sat on the couch together and drank the ridiculously good beer you had brought. 

“And she’s a good cook, her food is making my stomach growl.” Dave admitted. 

“Yeah it was hard not to eat it as she was prepping it all day yesterday. You should have seen the spread she made on Tuesday.” Noah bragged. “She made me and Sakura something called a ‘gosbe’ it’s her clan’s tradition of a wooing feast which I didn’t know that was a thing until days later, after the fact which I wish I knew because it worked like a charm. She made these huge tomahawk steaks, one for each of us and cooked perfectly medium rare with all these sauteed mushrooms, caramelized onions, the mushroom risotto, candied yams with alcohol which I didn’t know you could do but she did and they were the best. She made brussel sprouts with bacon and they were actually really good and broccoli with cheddar that was also amazing. Like, I had never had a vegetable as tasty as she made those. And a death by cheese mac and cheese and rolls, all of it she made by hand, from scratch, I’m pretty sure I gained 20 lbs from that one meal and I was fighting, fighting not to nail her to every surface of my house on Tuesday and she managed to clean my house while she made all that too, like she was wonder woman, made it into a game with Sakura so Sakura helped out too.” Noah revealed as all of his brothers and brothers in law all keened and whimpered at just the sounds of the food. 

“So she’s perfect, you found the unicorn. They stopped making women like that fifty years ago I think.” Nago teased as Noah just laughed but couldn’t argue about that. 

“And she’s a widow?” Max questioned. 

“Yup, been one for about two years and it has only been recently that her kids were ok with her moving on.” Noah answered. 

“Ah, well have you talked to them yet?” Ukluk asked. 

“I did last night, they’re understandably really weary because of extenuating circumstances they have come into a little bit of inheritance and they have already had to deal with vultures and wolves of the ‘walking upright variety’ so her and her kids are pretty gunshy. So it’s just gonna take a lot of time and effort to prove to them that I’m not one too or a threat and not out to take advantage of them in any way- so it’s gonna be a work in progress.” Noah ventured as he chanced a look in the kitchen to get a quick read on you and your body language to make sure you were ok as he noticed you were practically inbetween all of them and the center of attention which you looked like you were handling fairly well which made him grin. 

He had told you that you had been worrying over nothing and that his family and Neena’s family were going to like you and that you had nothing to worry about in the first place. As long as you were yourself and genuine and honest, you were going to be just fine and right now you looked so natural and so in place in his parent’s kitchen, just having wine like one of the girls, besides his own house, you looked like you belonged there and he couldn’t help but think of what you had told Doug yesterday, that you were a jewel and you could decide what setting you wanted to be in and right now, in his humble opinion, you were in your proper setting.  

“But honestly, the way she is with Sakura, even if she didn’t cook or clean or have a career or anything like that. That alone is proof that she’s an answered prayer for Sakura and me.” Noah affirmed as he turned his attention back to all the guys. 

“Well I’m happy for you guys.” Ukluk encouraged his son as Noah smiled and nodded. 

“So when you say she came into some inheritance, what kind of inheritance?” Nago gently prodded. 

“I don’t know and frankly I’m scared of asking or finding out because apparently everyone who finds out becomes a gold digger and comes after her. Because that’s what happened to Doug Kizzo last night. Turned that asshole into a gold digging bootlicker overnight. We were at Taylor’s house getting the rest of her stuff so she can stay with me and we weren’t there five minutes and Doug rolled in there with the biggest bouquet of flowers I’ve ever seen in my life, wearing a suit and he begged her to leave me for him and threw me and all the native clans under the bus, insulting every tradition we have and tried to appeal to her “anglo sensibilities” and that he would worship her like a goddess and cater to her every whim and desire and some crazy, off his rocker bullshit and Zara shut him down and had Taylor ready to call the cops because she’s already had guys find out about it and quit their jobs, sell everything they had to buy a ferrari and pull up in her driveway from across the lower 48, ready to throw her kids into summer camp and take her to Europa to sweep her off her feet, kind of crazy bullshit so what none of us are going to do is ask her about it or try to play FBI- looking into it. She just wants to be a normal mom and LMT, and we’re going to give her that and I swear to every god in the realm if any of you go digging into her, I’ll disown you.” Noah warned them. 

“Because we’re better than that.” Ukluk insisted. 

“That won’t be a problem right boys?” Tonrar insisted as he looked out over the rest of them as they all nodded even though Suka was looking like he was gonna die because the curiosity was killing him. 

Meanwhile back in the kitchen- 

“Aren’t you just as pretty as a picture.” Isla fawned as she gave you another big hug after you had popped open all the bottles of wine for the ladies who were all eager to try it all the different kinds with you. 

“Thank you.” You graciously thanked her. 

“How much did you spend on all this?” Sesi asked as she looked at it all. 

“It doesn’t matter, as long as you like it, it’s money well spent. When I was flying around with Noah this week, I unexpectedly got to work on his clients who all paid me really well, which I didn’t think I would be making any money while I was up here, so I used some of that money to splurge on this- so don’t worry about me exceeding my budget or anything like that, no one is going to go hungry or anything and this isn’t going to be any kind of hardship for me, I did it because I wanted to and no- no one is going to be paying me back. It’s a gift.” You reassured them as you refilled a few of their glasses, Isla’s and Summer’s especially. 

“Well, you didn’t need to go all out. Even if you had just brought one, it would have been more than enough because Sakura told me on Wednesday when I was helping watch her with Summer that when she hugged you for the first time on Monday, it felt like she was hugging her mom again and when you watched her on Tuesday and cooked with her and played with her and most importantly prayed with her in Intuk and you were so incredibly respectful of her heritage and wanted to keep those traditions alive, you have no idea how much all of that meant to all of us.” She praised.

“You’re welcome, I was raised to be respectful of all cultures and traditions, especially when they were not my own. And not to be weird- but the feeling towards Sakura was mutual, when I hugged her for the first time, it just felt like I was hugging my own children after I gave birth to them and I got to hold them for the first time. That’s the only way I can explain it because I’m sure all of you have had that- ‘there you are, my most precious possession, I have waited so long to finally meet you, I’m gonna love you forever’ feeling when you held your own kids the first time after birth? That’s what I felt when I got to hold her for the first time and from there I was helpless to fight against all my mothering ‘must protect and care for this child’- instincts towards her and Noah of course has been nothing but amazing from the start. Really nice, really respectful, really professional, supportive, understanding and of course protective without being smothering or overbearing which is a hard balance for anyone.” You bravely confessed as you chanced a glance at Noah to make sure he was at least close in case you needed saving because Noah had told you to tell them that and that they would believe you and would be so happy and relieved to hear that and that it would endear you to them the way it endeared you to him. So for them to hear that confession, you might as well have brought out a kitten or the most adorable puppy ever, all the women fawned at hearing that before they started hugging you again as a few of them got a little teary eyed. 

“You have no idea how long and how hard all of us have been praying for that exact thing to happen. And it’s not weird at all- that’s The Gods’ Will, the fact that you said those exact words without any prompting from us- tells us that there is no better or no safer place for Sakura than with you and you have been the one we’ve been waiting for.” She reassured you and you felt a little gutted because you were sure she was gonna take those words back when she found out you were potentially taking Sakura away. 

“So speaking of traditions, are there any in particular that you really want to see Sakura hold true to?” You asked thoughtfully. 

“Well there’s the summer festival, those are always a really big deal up here, there’s the singing and dancing, which we don’t expect you to perform, especially on such short notice. ” Isla explained. 

“Ok, is there anything else? Other than the daily prayers, the language and the summer festival?” You prodded before you noticed a few of them looked questioningly to each other as you could see a few of them seemed to want to tell you something but a thinly veiled look from the others were keeping them quiet. 

“Well since Noah is the head of the house, he should probably be the one to decide which traditions he wants Sakura to follow.” Sedna suggested before the kids came barreling through the kitchen chasing each other. 

“Hey Sakura,” you called out to her before she turned and came back to you. 

“Yeah Mama?” Sakura asked. 

“I was talking to your family about traditions, which ones do you really want to keep true to?” You asked her. 

“The Talik!” Sakura answered.  

“Cool, what is it?” You asked. 

“It’s basically a mother daughter dance at the summer festival.” Summer supplied. 

“Aw, is it really complicated?” You asked. 

“It can be.” Summer nodded. 

“But I can try to teach you later Mama, you’re a really good dancer when you were dancing with my Daddy yesterday in the kitchen while you were cooking so you should pick it up really easy.” Sakura reassured you which got all the women to fawn at the news Noah and you danced in the kitchen while cooking, so romantic. 

“And the Kaskae,” Sakura insisted. “It’s where all the warchief’s and their sons dance, it’s really fun, Daddy’s always really good in it.” She explained. 

“Oh, I didn’t realize he was a warchief’s son.” You answered. 

“Grandson. It’s Ukluk’s father who’s the warchief and he had eight sons and several daughters each of those sons had a ton of kids too so it ends up being just about every guy in the clan that dances in that dance.” Summer explained. 

“And the Kunik.” Sakura giggled which got the other women to giggle with her. 

“Uh oh, what’s the kunik?” You asked playfully as you tried not to giggle yourself. 

“It means ‘kiss’ so it’s the newly wed dance, all those who either got married or will get married dance together.” Isla explained. 

“I see.” You nodded and your instincts told you that what Doug was alluding to was probably this and wondered if there was a ritualistic part where the younger ones would take part in that dance at least ceremonially. 

“Well it all sounds really fun and I can’t wait to see it in person.” You assured them before Sakura got called back to play with the kids. 

“And did my mama tell you she’s an heiress! She’s teaching me how to be one too!” Sakura added proudly before she ran off as you blushed and smiled and laughed a little nervously as they looked from Sakura’s retreating fram to you as Noah nearly spit out his beer as he practically jumped off the couch to come into the kitchen to intervene and stopped Sakura in her tracks. 

“Honey, that’s her personal business, and we don’t talk about anyone’s personal business.” Noah began to get after her which got everyone to pause and look at each other as Suka practically bounced off the couch too and got another beer which happened to be in the kitchen. 

“It’s ok, it’s the truth. I wasn’t born into money and I didn’t necessarily marry into it either. But I did inherit a few estates when my grandparents died and I’ve been managing them ever since,  that’s all, it’s a long, sad, story.” You informed them as you tried to waive off the details before Sakura slipped away to join her cousins again. 

“I wouldn’t mind hearing it.” Isla gently prodded. Before you took a deep breath and stiffened up your posture before Noah came over and put his arm around you and held you to his side as he was ready to come to your defense. 

“Me either.” Suka and Sesi murmured as Noah glared at them as all the women noticed how defensive Noah was getting and realized from your body language you were getting defensive too. 

“You know what, Noah’s right, we don’t need to know, don’t worry about it.” Samantha dismissed. 

“Agreed, if you’re uncomfortable talking about it, then don’t. We were just curious.” Meredith seconded. 

“Zara, really, you don’t have to say anything, you were telling me on Monday how you’ve dealt with people who’ve acted like vultures and wolves once they found out about it and you’ve learned to be very defensive about it because you don’t want to get eaten alive or preyed upon over it and you wanted to teach Sakura those same lessons but without her having to go through it herself and honestly that was more than enough for me. You’re basically a member of the family and all of us are more than willing and ready to defend you against those who mean you harm. I know you will defend Sakura against those who mean her harm too and that’s all that matters. You don’t know us that well, you don’t have to bare your soul and all your scars to us when you don’t know us that well. Especially when we have yet to show you ours.” Summer very calmly and very warmly reassured you from her spot next to you as you breathed out in relief and smiled appreciatively at her. 

“Honey, if it’s that big of a deal to you, I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to pry, I was just curious. Sakura is an heiress too but dealing with it has been nothing but headaches for all of us. And she’s had her own wolves and vultures and it honestly gives me peace that you have experience in dealing with that and can help her. That’s all I need to know.” Isla apologized profusely which made you feel guilty but the validation was like a soothing balm. 

“Look, you can’t blame her, she just had Doug Kizzo turn into a vulture just last night, and she’s still a little shaken up and on high alert from that.” Noah pointed out as all the girls gasped in horror. 

“He’s an asshole already, I can’t imagine what he was like if he turned into a vulture.” Samantha realized with a grimace as did all the other people who at this point had come to gather around in the kitchen. 

“What did that bastard do?” Isla growled. 

“Well first, Greg spent the last two days hyping him up and gassing him and Taylor told me that Doug had actually been camping out at her house, waiting to ambush me when I would eventually return to get my stuff, even though Taylor has been practically screaming at the top of her lungs that it’s not gonna work and that I’m not interested and they wouldn’t listen to her, like at all. Because when I went on a blind date with him on Monday, I picked up on the narcissistic asshole immediately and it wasn’t the worst date I’ve ever been on but he took me out earning him and not needing him or his income as a blow to his ego. So I get there, the second I’m through the door Greg texted Doug to tell him I’m there, as I’m gathering my personal belongings so I can continue to stay with Noah- Doug comes hauling ass over to their house and makes this huge, stupid, grand romantic gesture with a hundred roses, wearing a suit and bathing in cologne and hair gel.” You began before a few of them sniggered a laugh. 

“And he’s making this big long spiel about how he’s ready to follow me to the ends of the earth, worship me like the goddess I am, how he’ll make sure I never have to work, let alone cook or clean for the rest of my life.” You recalled. 

“Which is rich because he can’t do either, I know because my sister is his ex wife and he didn’t do jack shit when he was married to her, hence, the divorce.” Samantha spat in disgust. 

“He would probably use her inheritance to hire a maid and a personal chef.” Noah sneered and you watched as they all seemed to roll their eyes or snigger another laugh. 

“Anyway, so I tell him to take a hike and ask him what happened between Monday and yesterday because Monday he was so not interested and yesterday he’s obsessive and so instead of admitting he’s a douchebag, he sees Noah who came in to check on me and he throws Noah under the bus and outright attacks Noah and his character and thank the gods that Noah was able to have some self control because I was ready to beat his ass and if it hadn’t been for Noah to get me out of that situation, the police would have gotten involved, again, because they always do when that happens.” You revealed as all of them were just staring in various stages of disgust and horror. 

“No wonder you didn’t want to say anything! Oh you poor thing. That’s just awful, no wonder you’re defensive, you’ve had to be to survive that.” Isla realized. 

“Well the worst part is what that’s done to her kids, both of her kids are understandably super weary of strangers, which is why I’m not taking any offense to their own defensive attitude towards me.” Noah pointed out. 

“Oh I didn’t think of that. Do they just..hate every stranger now because of that?” Sedna asked. 

“Just about, because the first couple guys who pulled an “Alex” which is the name of the first guy who tried that on us, he actually talked his own kids into stalking mine in school, like he pulled his kids out of their school and put them into my kid’s school for the sole purpose of getting as close as possible to mine, like one of them, he had him repeat a grade to get into my son’s class and had all of his kids phishing for information to use against them and me and try to divide and conquer my family.” You revealed. 

“No!” Isla and the other women blanched. 

“Oh I’m gonna be sick.” Summer groaned. 

“That’s unthinkable, like, that’s so messed up. Like they didn’t have a shred of decency or respect or honor to do that.” Isla insisted. 

“No they didn’t, so once the police got involved, then he backed off and once I and my kids got a restraining order against him and his kids, he went to jail for getting his kids involved. But by the third time an asshole tried the whole ‘swooping in with a big romantic gesture’ kind of thing, they got wise and they’re beyond fed up with it and when they had to change schools when we moved into the new house this past September, they had a hard time making friends because they just plain don’t like new people. They have taken a similar stance that the mafia takes which is- you have to be introduced to them by someone they trust. Which is basically, they only have a handful of friends that they had made before everything went to shit when most of their support system all died within the span of three months and that handful of people who they trust, those are the only people who they trust to introduce new people to them. And they have gotten really, really good at reading people and deciphering whether someone is being genuine with them and they have their own tests for it. And anyone who fails, they immediately cut off and once that decision is made, they don’t look back.” You warned them. 

“So what happened the second time a guy tried to make a grand gesture?” Sesi asked curiously. 

“I called the cops and my dogs wouldn’t let them get out of their car and actually bit the bumpers and mirrors off the car.  The third time it happened, my son had the police on the phone and my daughter, getting impatient, got her father’s rifle out of the safe from the second story, had the rifle resting on the window sill, and shot the guy’s tires out and held him at gunpoint until the police did arrive, which was terrifying. Of course, them hearing gunshots and hearing Xander screaming ‘Stop shooting! Put the gun down!’ They thought the guy was the one who had the gun and had me and my kids at gunpoint so they came barreling in and Xander managed to get the gun from Skylar and get it put away by the time the cops rolled into the driveway and I’m inside consoling both of them. And the police beat this guy into the concrete of my driveway, like, he came in looking like a million bucks and he left looking like a road penny. And after that I learned to change all the safe codes, because my husband and I were already responsible gun owners before, but now, they are really locked away and only ever used under adult supervision and my kids got into therapy because that was really, really traumatic for both of them and me. And now I have a gate at my driveway and all kinds of cameras all over my property and all my clients get a special code whenever they come to have their treatments.” You explained. 

“And that’s what you’re walking into?” Suka asked Noah. 

“Yup.” Noah nodded. 

“You’re a braver man than I am.” Suka admitted. 

“That’s for sure.” Sedna muttered as Sesi glared her. 

“It’s just gonna take time and effort. Besides, I kinda like her, and I want to keep her around, she kinda makes me happy, and Sakura happy. Sure she has enough baggage to fill a jumbo jet, she’s been through hell, it’s kind of expected at this point.” Noah tried to joke which got you to laugh. 

“Yeah, that’s true, so here’s why we’re all like this but please don’t repeat any of this, so eleven years ago when I was in massage school, my school had a clinic for the students to get their practical learning hours in and sometimes clients of the clinic really click with you and bond to you and end up following you as clients once you graduate and that happened to me. Even though, I got pregnant when I was in school because the massage teacher swore that two women out of every class get pregnant, Well I had a big class and I was one of five and that’s how I conceived Xander, but anyway, I picked up about 2 dozen older couples as clients- who were between my parent’s age and my grandparents age at the time. And these wonderful people watched my belly grow and felt my babies kick and got me baby shower presents and saw me through both of my pregnancies and watched my kids grow up and in the process of living and working and befriending each other, we grew really really close as friends and they basically adopted me as a grandkid because I took such good care of them because most of them either didn’t have children or the ones that did, their children were out state and they never got to see each other so I took care of them because my own maternal and paternal grandparents were also out of state but they had other members of the extended family close to them to take care of them.” You began. 

“So at the time they didn’t need much because almost all of them were physically mobile and had all their faculties and mental clarity and their independence and I was able to help them keep that precious independence for as long as possible so that they didn’t have to go into nursing homes and they could continue to take care of themselves. And then about five years ago, the pneumonia was really bad that year and almost all of them lost their spouses. Some lost husbands or some lost wives and they were left all alone but they still wanted to be independent and so a lot of them would just come over to my house, I’d make them breakfast, have a pot of tea or coffee and hang out and they would watch my kids and cook me lunch and sometimes dinner like any other grandparent occasionally does so I could work out of my home office while my husband went into work and each one had their own specific day where they got to play grandparents and they got to celebrate all the high holidays with me and my family so they wouldn’t be alone. And then two years ago my husband Andy died at work from an accident, out of the blue and I was completely blindsided by it and if it wasn’t for them, I don’t know how I would have gotten through it. And they all paid for me to meet with their financial advisors and lawyers and helped me invest and structure Andy’s life insurance policy payouts so that I could live modestly off the interest instead of using it all up trying to pay off debt and stuff and still trying to pay for the house because at the time, the house I am living in now was still under construction and they barely knocked the delapedated house down and cleared it out and dug the foundations of the old farm house out that had been there. And the house we were going to build was our dream house that his parents had helped us finance, he had gotten a really good raise at work, most of our debt was getting paid down, we weren’t going to expand our family and I was working from home and we made all these plans and just as things got started, it all came crashing down. So it was, really awful timing but they helped me get through it and they helped me use all the money I had come into from his death- wisely and invest it well, so well in fact that I was able to take just the interest off of most of it and replace my husband’s income with just the interest so myself and my children would be taken care of so I wouldn’t have to overextend myself trying to work full time to be the primary caregiver and caretaker and primary breadwinner because being a single parent is really hard and really expensive.”  You explained. 

“Wow, that’s really smart to invest it though.” Meredith nodded in agreement as did the others. 

“And so anyway, we get through that, and one of them told me that when he passed away, he was leaving everything he had to me and so I just assumed it was just his house which was a nice house in the suberbs and his car which was a nice daily driver and I thought was really sweet and agreed to it because he didn’t have any kids or any surviving family that he knew too well and he felt I was deserving, little did I know the guy had a couple million dollars in the bank and a really old, really rare, really amazing sports car in his garage that was also worth a fortune but I digress. What I also didn’t know is all of them, all of my adopted grandparents even though they knew each other through me and befriended each other, they all decided separately to all go to their lawyers, and none of them used the same lawyers and all of them left me either something really valuable in their estates in the cases where they had kids, or in the 15+ cases where they didn’t have any kids or grandkids- they left me everything they had but none of them told each other or me, only one told me that that’s what they were going to do for me but because of my confidentiality agreement, I didn’t tell any of the others that because anything anyone discloses to me, especially while I’m working and in session- I never repeat, that’s part of the job because I can get sued for breaking that client confidentiality, that’s how serious it is. Anyway, so then just a few months after Andy died, just as everything seemed to be settling down and I was learning how to live without him and how to juggle everything and find a new groove and make progress and still try to build the house, another round of pneumonia came around and killed all of my surviving adopted grandparents off within the span of a week and a half, because they all decided to get together one night and play bridge at someone else’s house and that someone else had it and passed it to them. When they first got sick and I took them to the doctor and they got diagnosed with either pneumonia or double pneumonia, I had hospice called in for only a couple of days and boom, it felt like overnight, they just all- died…” You explained as you tried not to cry at the memory as everyone got so quiet just listening intently to you. 

“And for me, it was absolutely hectic because no sooner had I gotten all their animals and took all their animals home with me along with their valuables like jewelry and important paperwork like deeds and titles and bank records, I had to go back and clean out their fridges and freezers and cupboards of all the food so nothing would spoil and I would be at the food banks dropping it all off and then I would get another call from hospice for another one because I was their power of attorney and I was informed that another passed and I just did a cycle of- they’re dead, take all the animals home, come back, clean out the fridge, the freezer, the cupboards, give all the food to the food banks and all their clothes to Goodwill, then come back and give the house a good cleaning and then lock it up and move on to the next one’- all while arranging or helping to arrange- 26 funerals within a week. I was preparing and planning and executing 26 funerals all at the same time and it felt like just one big long funeral to me and practically slept in the same black dress for a week and I was beyond numb by the end of it and my parents moved down from the northern Great Lakes to the Southern Great Lakes to be with me and the kids and help me through it all and another week after that as I was finalizing all of their final affairs, that’s when I learned that I had inherited everything from 15+ couples and then lots of somethings from the other 11. So now I have 30 plus houses in my care and they’re just...sitting there, winterized and empty. And I am still, two years later, overwhelmed by it all. So um, please don’t get mad at me or Noah but I was talking to Noah about it and he suggested that we could flip them which had been my plans initially anyway. But they’re all very dated and would need to be updated before they could be sold on the market. So since Noah’s season ends in September slash October, he offered that he and Sakura would come down for the winter, get Sakura in school and Noah could work on flipping the houses for an hourly rate and a percentage of the final sale while I continued running my own businesses since it’s the fall, winter and spring that are my busiest times of the year and that’s when I make the biggest bulk of my own income and just see how that goes.” You suggested as you held your breath and waited for the floor to drop as they all looked from you to Noah expectantly but otherwise didn’t react negatively, but mostly just looking for a confirmation. 

“But that is contingent on Zara’s kids meeting me and liking me and approving of that idea because those houses are part of their inheritance too and they have every reason and every right to be weary of me until they get to know me and I have a chance to earn their respect and trust because of their shared past, I understand that they’re a family unit and they’re part of the package but when they do get to meet me and if they like me and if we even get go that far, I think it’s gonna be fun, I had a blast building my house and helping build everyone else’s houses and help build this house even. And all things considered, Sakura would have been going to school either way and she would have done it either up here or she can do it down there and I would prefer her to go down there because she’ll be with her kids and make new friends. Plus Zara’s kids are into a lot of extracurriculars that the Frozen Tundra just doesn’t have up here and I’m not gonna ask them to give any of those up, especially for me, especially since they haven’t met me in person yet. So right now they’re coming up with how that’s gonna happen and hopefully we’ll find a way to make it work and hopefully we’ll be able to get along. Plus Sakura might get the advantage of getting a new perspective and a fresh start which we both sorely need right now and she may end up getting into the same extracurriculars that Zara’s kids are into.” Noah added as he rubbed soothing circles into your back from his spot right next to you. 

“What kind of extracurriculars are your kids into?” Sesi asked curiously. 

“Ballet, modern dance, tumbling, gymnastics, martial arts, hockey, hunting, fishing, archery, knives, snakes, horses and just 4H in general.” You listed off as all of their eyebrows rose in surprise. 

“Yeah, we have the hunting, fishing and archery up here and the hockey and some martial arts but that’s...that’s it.” Miki answered. 

“So like, half of them so unless both of your kids are into both, one of them isn’t going to be happy about it.” Sedna realized. 

“And both of them need to be happy with the arrangement, I won’t settle for less and I don’t want them to settle either, I mean if this was the other way around, and I had two kids instead of one and only one of them would have what they’re into available to them while the other had nothing, it would be a no go deal for me because their happiness is more important than mine and Zara and her children shouldn’t have to give up everything they love and sacrifice their happiness for anything.” Noah insisted as they all had to nod along that that was a good and fair argument. 

“But snakes? Really?” Sedna asked as she grimaced at the thought. 

“Yeah my son is really into animals and breeds ball pythons as a hobby and he’s hand raised all our chickens from chicks and he manages the menagerie that I inherited really well. He’s very detailed and specific and likes to have things ‘just so’ and he’s one of those- likes to have every move mapped out in a logical sequence before he makes the first one which makes him a terrifying chess player and he’s facinated by genetics. Whereas my daughter follows her heart and her gut rather than her head most of the time and is very reactionary, which is why she’s in martial arts is to learn self discipline and self control.” You explained.  

“That makes sense.” Isla nodded in understanding. 

“But what about your house and your plane?” Sesi asked Noah.  

“Oh I told him to keep both. It does get much hotter down there than it does up here and I know from my own schooling that some orcs who are used to cold climates actually get sick if they get too hot.” 

“So what you could do is just spend the off season at the Great Lakes at Zara’s house, and then spend the shorter flight season that’s only three months long up here that are the hottest months down there, up here, that way we’ll still be able to see Sakura when we normally would have, your kids can take their summer vacations up here when they’re off school so Noah and Sakura don’t get too hot or chance getting sick and Noah can still earn a living as a pilot so he doesn’t have to give that up completely and you can still practice your massage up here if you want to either from Noah’s house or one of the hunting lodges and retreats and you guys can have a dual residency.” Miki realized before you turned to Noah to give him a hopeful look because that sounded awesome to you as he was mirroring that look. 

“Yeah that could totally work.” You agreed as you and Noah were both nodding to that.  

“So where is the baby picture of me on the wall?” You asked Summer before she brought you to the living room where she had collages of her family on the wall. 

“So I take it you’re the newborn?” Sesi asked. 

“Nope, I’m the toddler. Jewel orcs are born a really dark, drab olive green and brown, it’s a built in defense mechanism and camouflage. But between two and three, they change, the olive green turns teal and the brown turns blue and purple. Imagine my parent’s surprise when that happened to me because their parents were only partially paradise orc and it wasn’t until the great grandparents met me that they confirmed that that’s what happens because I only had a one in 32nd chance of coming out paradise orc, I had much higher chances of looking more dark elf like my sisters, I had a one in four chance of either that happening or not looking orc at all, cause I also had a one in four chance of looking human or a one in eight turning out more moura than I am and I had a one in two chance of looking gold rush or great lakes orc and then because my husband was half paradise orc himself even though he favored the southern great lakes which is more jade green as opposed to the deep turquoise, both of my kids turned out paradise orc, so even though it was a slim chance, I just happened to hit the odds, but the cool thing was after I transitioned into my jewel orc colors, I stopped getting mistaken for a boy over night. Because that’s what happened to my own kids see?” You urged as you got your phone out and pulled up pictures of your own kids before and during and after the change as they all ‘oohed’ in understanding. 

“So how is Grusta?” Ukluk asked. 

“You can ask him yourself, they should be done with Sunday worship by now.” You answered as you got your phone and called him. 

“Yeah Baby?” Your dad answered. 

“Hey Dad, guess who I’m having dinner with?” You prompted him. 

“Who?” Your dad answered. 

“Ukluk Kintuck and his family and the Yural family.” You revealed. 

“Really?!” Your dad gasped in delighted surprise. 

“Yeah, here, say hi,” you offered before you gave the phone over to Ukluk who started talking with your dad and they started talking and catching up on the last 30+ years they had been apart as your dad told Ukluk that he was currently helping his grandkids look into Noah as Tonrar accompanied Ukluk because he wanted a chance to speak to your dad too as they walked to the back porch because that’s where the best service was for cell phones before Noah’s sister Alorna and her husband John Wilks came in late and you nearly gave yourself whiplash giving John a double take. 

Oh shit. 

“Noah,” you breathed as he turned to consider you. 

“Hey, uh, so John and I have already met, and uh, he’s not gonna like me and he’s probably about to pull you and every other guy in here aside to tell you to dump me but before you believe every word he says about me and what I did in his presence, just give me a chance to defend myself ok?” You pleaded to Noah who knitted his eyebrows together in contemplation but still smiled adoringly at you and kissed you really quick because you were so close since his arm was around your shoulders. 

“Don’t worry about it. I ain’t changing my mind, no matter what.” Noah reassured you and you wanted to laugh because this sweet sweet man still had no idea who and what was standing right next to him.  

“Hey, come in and meet Zara,” Sesi urged her sister and brother in law as John was looking at you in disbelief, like you were a ghost but he did his best to remain cool and nonchalant. 

“Zara, this is my sister Alorna and her husband John and their kids Johnny Jr. and Gabby.” Sesi introduced. 

“Hi I’m Zara Kingsley, pleasure to meet you.” You greeted them as Alorna offered her hand for you to shake which you obliged instead of giving you a hug as you could tell John was trying not to blurt out how he knew you before you could see John take out his phone and try to subtly shoot Noah a text after he had put their broaster on the food table as Alorna seemed to look you over with thinly veiled criticism. 

‘We need to talk privately NOW.’ John texted Noah. 

‘About?’ Noah answered.

‘Your GF, she’s trouble.’

Noah looked at his phone and looked at it disbelievingly and looked at John the same way as John pointedly looked at the door and back to Noah and back to the door then back to Noah meaningfully as some of the other members of the family looked on curiously because John was acting strange. 

“Hey Noah, I need your help bringing in the beer Bud.” John hinted heavily as you just grinned knowingly. 

You fucking called it. 

“Ok,” Noah nodded before he unwrapped his arm around your shoulders and walked with John back out of the house. 

“We can help too.” Suka offered. 

“No, I think John and I can handle it by ourselves.” Noah immediately dismissed them and there was an insistent tone in his voice when he said it that had Suka stopping in his tracks before he looked from their backs to a few of the other guys who by now were either shrugging it off or looking at each other meaningfully because they picked up on it. 

“Hey um, I know you just met her and all, and I know she’s probably the most beautiful woman any of us have ever seen in our lives, but listen, that woman is a snake in the grass, she is a man eating she-wolf and I know from looking at her from your parent’s livingroom, she doesn’t look it but Dude, I saw her take down a whole table of pilots on Wednesday night. She has a thing for pilots and she ate every single one of them alive and she seriously fucked them up, like it’s been four days and they still can’t walk, they can barely crawl and they had to be carried out of the bar, they couldn’t even walk out.” John professed. 

“What did Zara do to them?” Noah asked, worried that you had gotten into a bar fight or something.  

“Dude, that’s not even her full name! She’s pretending to be Anglo, she’s not Anglo, she’s Siberian. She came into the bar with the hottest most sexiest gold dress and everyone was drawn to her like a moth to a flame and she burned everyone.” John insisted. 

“Ok, was she alone?” Noah asked worriedly. 

“No, Taylor was with her, call her yourself, she’ll tell you! But you have to believe me! I don’t know what kind of spell she has you under but you need to break out of it. I know it’s hard, hell I was under her spell too, don’t tell your sister but I was ready to fuck her so hard she couldn’t walk straight and I’ve been fantasizing about her ever since and I know that sounds awful, but she had her pick of the whole bar and she chose Derek and Evan’s group and their game wasn’t even that good. Look I have pictures.” John told him before he brought up pictures of you at the bar as Noah looked closely at them. 

“What was she doing?” Noah asked as he looked them over. You did look hotter than sin. And if he was honest, if that’s how you looked when you first met him, he probably would have reacted the way these guys did but seeing you in these guys’ laps with their hard ons tenting their pants behind your butt  and their arms wrapped around you had jealousy and possessiveness eating him alive. 

“Everything ok out here?” Suka asked as he peeked his head out the door to see Noah and John next to John’s open trunk. 

“Yeah, we got this, get back inside or else you’ll let all the mosquitoes in.” Noah urged his brother in law firmly before Suka shrunk back. 

“What’s going on out there?” Dave asked Suka. 

“Something Noah doesn’t want us to know about, he’s awfully defensive.” Suka murmured as they stood by the door and looked out of the window by the door from the kitchen as all the women were engaging you in conversation. 

Meanwhile outside. 

“She was doing some kind of erotic massage on all of them, all of them creamed their pants while she did it too.” John answered. “It sounded like they were fucking right there in the bar.” John professed. 

“Moscow Doll.” Noah realized as he mumbled that under his breath. 

“Yeah! That’s what they called her because they got so drunk they couldn’t remember her name. But ask her what her full name is, It’s Zara- Zahn-something, Vol-something.” He urged Noah. 

“Zara Zahnochka Volchietsa Kingsley.” Noah supplied. 

“Yeah, wait, how do you know that? Did she tell you?” John pressed. 

“Yeah, that’s her priestess name, she’s a priestess for Aura.” Noah supplied. 

“Oh, ok, yeah, that explains that Siberian connection. But still Dude, don’t trust her with anything, she’ll take it and run, I’ve seen it before, like I know Sakura is head over heels for her but Sakura will get over it, you don’t want a woman like Zara raising Sakura. She’s going to be nothing but a bad influence and you know Neena wouldn’t be cool with you moving on with a predator like her, she’s gonna eat you alive my friend and leave you worse than Neena did when she passed.” John urged desperately as Noah frowned in concentration as he continued to look at the pictures skeptically.

"She hasn't touched you yet has she?" John asked worriedly as he noticed Noah wasn’t really saying much in response to this.

"She has actually." Noah confirmed. "But obviously she hasn't done me any harm." Noah defended. 

"Wait, have you slept with her already?" John asked, torn because he was weary but jealous all the same. "No, you did- didn't you. Oh gods, was at least good? Crazy pussy is the best pussy and I'm both thrilled yet terrified how she's gonna spit you out- yet jealous because of course a woman that hot would be a good lay. But think about Sakura, do you want Sakura to turn into that?" John pointed at your image as you straddled Evan's lap a wolfish grin on your pretty painted lips. 

Meanwhile Alorna was looking you up and down skeptically herself. Alorna was drop dead gorgeous too and you could tell she was used to being the most beautiful person in the room and you wondered if she felt threatened by your own beauty. 

“Well let’s get dinner ready to eat.” Summer suggested before you got everything organized on the tables.  

“Well I brought king crab legs. John got super big tips this week.” Alorna bragged as she took the lid off the broaster to show it full of king crab legs. 

“Oh that’s awesome and very generous, I just made mushroom risotto and a side of sauteed mushrooms, candied yams and death by cheese mac and cheese and caramelized onions and Noah made some awesome Salmon.” You praised as you showed her your own dishes in Noah’s pots and pans of the dishes. 

“Oh,” Alorna grinned smugly. “So Anglo, is all the experience you have with family dinners just the high holidays? You might as well have brought a turkey.” She practically sneered with a condescending giggle through her nose as Neena’s sisters and sisters in law and even her own sisters and mother all cut their eyes at Alorna because they brought humble but familiar dishes themselves. 

“Nope I did.” Sesi piped up rebelliously, as she put her turkey on the table from out of the oven as Alorna quickly rolled her eyes. 

“And I brought good ol’ roasted potatoes.” Samantha added as her and Nago just shook their heads at Alorna before all of the other women pointed out to you what they had brought too as the food tables were practically overflowing with food around the dining room table. 

“And moose and reindeer roasts to round it out.” Ukluk cheered once he put the reindeer roasts on the table as Tonrar put moose roasts on the table before he handed you your phone back since he had spent this whole time talking and catching up with your dad and exchanged phone numbers so they could keep in touch as Tonrar had done the same with your dad and Ukluk was so tickled that you were basically family found at this point as your dad gave Ukluk the run down of what had happened to you, how you had been a good, discrete, modest and loyal wife and an amazing cook and a somewhat decent housekeeper but because of an accident at your husband’s work you were a widow and mother of two and doing your best to take care of them and how you stood squarely on your own feet and taking care of your parents in their retirement years as well and how if Noatak was anything like Ukluk and could make you happy, your dad was happy to give his blessing on the match and vouch for Noah to your kids which Ukluk agreed to do so as well since he trusted his friend to be honest with him and Tonrar was ready to do the same. 

“Ooh, all this looks really good Zara,” Ukluk praised as Tonrar hummed in agreement. 

“Thanks, I know it’s not as glamorous as Alorna’s dish, she brought the crab.” You deferred. 

“Eh, crab is to us what chicken probably is to you, not that big of a deal. Those mushrooms though, I’m gonna have those all over my roast,” Ukluk replied as Alorna frowned and the other women snorted a laugh and gave each other meaningful looks. 

“And these onions smell divine, I’m definitely having both the mushrooms and the onions on the moose. I know caramelized onions are a labor of love and take a lot of time and patience, and I’ve never had risotto but that looks amazing, thank you.” Tonrar thanked you as he gave you a squeeze from the side before you returned the side hug. 

“You’re welcome.” You smiled. 

“Where’s Noah and John?” Ukluk asked. 

“Outside getting beer.” Alorna answered before Ukluk sighed before he left and opened the front door, passing the guys who were still watching from the window as John was talking and gesturing wildly about what was on his phone that he was having Noah look at. 

“Something’s up.” Yakone murmured as he watched them too as they were all thoroughly enjoying the beer you had already bought and brought in, and all of them had been impressed and grateful that you had excellent tastes in booze.

“Hey! Get your asses inside! Food’s getting cold!” Ukluk barked as Summer quickly whispered ‘when they get back inside, own it’ into your ear before Noah gave John his phone back. 

“Don’t show those to anyone else. I’ll get to the bottom of it on my own, let’s just have a nice dinner ok? Don’t make a scene and keep your mouth shut about this.” Noah insisted to John as John and Noah quickly grabbed the rest of the beer and came back inside to join everyone else as everyone seemed to grab their second choice for a bottle of beer from them before Noah took one of the best ones that you had bought and sat down next to you at the table before Ukluk urged everyone to bow their heads so he could offer a prayer over the food as Sakura happily grabbed your hand to hold it as you offered your upturned hand to Noah discreetly under the table before he readily took it and held it on top of the table before he let it go so he could wrap his arm around you again before holding your hand with his other hand and any tension you had that Noah was going to distance himself from you melted away. Ukluk gave a beautiful prayer thanking the gods for bringing you here and bringing family back to them and over the food and then after the prayer everyone was quick to get a plate, Ukluk and Tonrar being the first to go through the line followed by Summer and Isla and then the moms went after that to make sure all the kids got fed first before any of the dads did. 

“Wait, what do you mean she’s family found?” John asked as they went around the food tables.

“Yeah, my old air force buddy Grusta Wainwright, Zara is his eldest daughter. Her baby picture is on our wall with Duska and Dakota, apparently paradise orcs are born olive green and brown and turn peacock colors when they’re toddlers,” Ukluk informed John and Alorna proudly before he explained how you and your sister Blossom were born up here and how you had moved away when you were a toddler and since then, your dad had started a plumbing business in the Great Lakes with your brother Gavin and had taken on a couple of your brothers in law and all of them became jack of all trades and how there was a branch right where you lived that your dad still managed in his semi-retirement and how your parent’s friends had kids and you stayed in touch with them and became friends and came up to visit them and met Noah as Summer was looking at you, giving you an encouraging smile and nod. 

“Oh,” John and Alorna answered as Alorna was considering whether or not she had judged you too harshly from just your facebook.  

“And John, I just wanted to thank you again for taking care of Taylor and I the other night.” You chimed in with an appreciative look to John, your tone sweeter than honey with a smile to match. 

“Aw, did you girls go out drinking this week?” Ukluk realized. 

“Yup, on Wednesday night, after I spent all day treating Taylor and her family, we went to Goose’s and John was the bartender and he took such great care of us and made sure that we didn’t get taken advantage of or rufied or harrassed in any way.” You praised and John turned three shades darker with his blush and a guilty smile as Summer and Ukluk as well as Isla and Tonrar all smiled appreciatively at him before Tonrar gave John a big pat on the back from his spot next to him. 

“Good lad.” Tonrar praised. 

“Uh, yeah, you’re welcome.” John thanked you as Nago looked from Noah’s schooled neutral expression and John’s expression and then to the other guys who seemed to nod in understanding as they all wondered if more had happened that night that John wasn’t letting on to anyone else but Noah apparently. That would explain John’s dodgy behavior and Noah’s defensiveness. 

“Wait, so you’re Taylor’s siberian friend?” Alorna realized because that’s what John had told her. 

“Well, kind of, so my brother’s wife and her family are Siberian, Yamalian to be exact and his wife Natasha and her mother Olga are both priestesses of Aura and when Gavin was courting Tasha, the second Olga she met me- she practically adopted me and trained me to be a priestess of Aura too alongside Tasha so I’m in the Rushaka order with Natasha and Olga is the Manta at Sinai Temple. If you look on the priestesses of Aura website I’m listed under Olga’s daughters as a private priestess. Which means I don’t belong to any one particular temple and Olga named me Zahnochka Volchietsa when she met me when I was only 15 and I was baptized at 16 as a priestess under that name. Volchietsa means ‘she-wolf’, and Zahnochka means ‘she will rise again’ and Olga always gives me a ‘blessing bag’ whenever I go anywhere, and this time for this trip, it had all the jewelry and shawls and a ‘blessed reading’ tea ceremony set and things for a proper priestess and Summer encouraged me to ‘let the she wolf out’ and to embrace that heritage so I could help Noah, which I did, I must have blessed at least three dozen of his clients, giving them free tea readings in exchange for guaranteed business with him so he and Sakura wouldn’t just survive but thrive.” You explained. 

“Is there any way we can sweet talk you into doing your priestess thing at the summer festival? Because Sakura has inherited quite a bit of land and the people who would have normally inherited it have been hounding us for her to give it back to them and if you could try to discourage them and find a way to make them knock it off, we’d really appreciate it.” Ukluk requested. 

“I would love to.” You readily agreed and John looked like he was about to explode and ignoring Noah’s warning look and subtle shake of his head as they all dug into the delicious food, everyone thoroughly blown away by how exquisite everything was, all the women murmuring to each other on how they were going to try to coax the recipes out of you later. 

“So is part of ‘taking care of Noah’ fucking over Noah’s competition?” John blurted because the truth of what he saw was eating him alive watching Noah continue to be affectionate with you and it was obvious to him that Noah hadn’t changed his mind.

And with that, everything stopped. 

Everyone froze, most of them mid bite as they looked from you to John then back to you and noticed your kashmir blue blush morphed into an amethyst purple that went from your ears, to your cheeks and to your chest as Noah looked like he was ready to reach across the table and strangle John himself and before either you or Noah could say anything Summer thankfully cut in. 

“So what if she did? Who are any of us to judge her for that? All of us know how snow bears, moose and she wolves protect their den and their cubs, calves and pups with their lives and none of us bat an eye when they take down their prey for food for them, why should we do that for Zara? It’s in her name and she should be proud to bear it. Her ‘den’ was threatened. What mother here at this table wouldn’t do whatever it takes to ensure that our children are safe and cared for and even if that means we have to show our teeth and claws to do it. All of us have had to show our own teeth and claws to defend Sakura from those aiapas who are after her shares. I for one am grateful she had teeth and claws big enough and sharp enough to take them all down and a mind sharp enough to do it in such a clever way and walk away without a scratch, that takes nerves of steel and she obviously forged them in hellfire for them to be so fine and so strong. You can’t fault her for that. Anglos like to think women are soft and innocent and harmless but most importantly defenseless and easy prey but we know better. We don’t disrespect our snow bears or our ice dogs or wolves or moose just because they’re females and we all know better than to mess with cubs or pups or calves and it isn’t any different with us as people. It’s an instinct that drives every mother and I’m grateful hers kicked in so strongly for Sakura’s sake. She didn’t do anything wrong. I’m not offended by it all, I’m very proud of her actually. She took initiative and was moved to action at the right time instead of second guessing herself and missing her opportunity. I can’t think of a better model of a mother for Sakura.” Summer defended you which caused you to smile at her gratefully. 

“Did your tea leaves tell you that Mom?” Alorna spat. 

“Yes they did and so much more, and if you practiced the art yourself you would have seen it too.” Summer returned defiantly. 

“Well if you have any questions about my motives, you can call Taylor yourself.” You challenged John calmly. 

“Alright.” Alorna agreed as she called Taylor and put it on speaker phone as Neena’s family looked questioningly at each other. 

“Hey Ali.” Taylor greeted. 

“Hey, so Noah and Zara got together and started dating but John pointed out how he served you and Zara on Wednesday night and apparently some things went down, can you tell us what happened from your point of view?” Alorna asked. 

“Or better yet, Taylor, you could come and tell them in person, just in case the phone cuts out.” You suggested. 

“Ok, I’ll be there in five.” Taylor agreed as you dug into the food because chances are you were going to leave with Taylor after she put in her two cents. You almost wanted to blame your heart for not trusting your gut on this.  

“She doesn’t need to come,” Noah shook his head no. 

“Yeah she does. Because I doubt I can say anything right now that anyone here will believe or trust. If all of you trust Taylor to tell the truth, let her tell the truth.” You insisted. 

“But I believe you. Isn’t that all that should matter?” Noah gently argued. 

“That is all that matters to me but this is still your family and Neena’s family and everyone here has a common interest in protecting Sakura who is the most vulnerable member of this family and I’m willing to bet a hundred dollars John challenged my ability to mother Sakura when he pulled you aside earlier.” And to see Noah’s eyes drop from yours told you that you were right.

“I don’t want there to be any misunderstandings about motives and intentions and actions.” You answered and no less than four minutes later Taylor was there since she lived right down the street. 

“Hey, you made it, come here, tell them everything that happened Wednesday night, don’t leave out anything.” You invited before you went back to eating while everyone else stopped to listen to Taylor talk.  

“Well after she treated me and my family we went to Shen’s for takeout and Evan and Derek and their crew were there and talking about how they were going to the bar later and Zara asked me which bar and knowing them, it was going to be Goose’s and she asked me if they were attracted to women, I said yes, so she had me take her back home so she could change into the proper ‘catch a man’ attire and you told me while we were curling our hair in the bathroom that your plan was to sabotage them and get them so black out drunk that they would miss flying the next day so Noah could pick up their loads and save the day from the client’s point of view because those losers had the audacity to undercut Noah and put Noah and especially Sakura’s livelihood into jeopardy and you were going to eat them alive for that. So we went and we strutted into that place and every guy in there tried to get in your drawers and even John tried his best to hook up with you.” Taylor began as everyone turned and glared at John, Alorna most of all who looked like she was about to set John on fire where he sat as John got impossibly blushed and avoided everyone’s gazes as he tried to stuff his mouth with food as everyone else looked downright pissed as Nago and Suka and Yakone started to snicker a laugh because that would explain why John looked so guilty. 

“Ha! That’s why you looked guilty as sin when you saw her here and why you were ready to piss your pants when she brought it up that she met you already, you tried to get Noah to dump her before she could expose you. Now this makes sense.” Nago practically sang from his spot before he continued eating as did everyone else as everyone seemed to get over it but they were eager to hear what else had happened. 

“So Zara paid John a hundred dollar bill to give her the lay of the land, confirmed Evan and Derek were the other pilots and she paid you to give her an empty beer glass so she could use that as a “chaser” so she wouldn’t get drunk and she assured me before we left that I was the one who was going to take her home. And so John gave her what she asked for and it was like she turned into Marylin Monroe on the red carpet and every guy in there was drawn to her like a moth to the flame and Derek and Evan were powerless against her charms and her allure and once they started asking her about herself, she told them she was an LMT and she offered to give them Vahva Kun treatments.” Taylor continued. 

“Now, I’m gonna stop you right there, someone google Vahva kun, it’s spelled V-a-h-v-a Kun is K-u-n and then add the words Olen heikko- o-l-e-n, h-e-i-k-k-o and read out loud what the answer is.” You invited. 

“It means ‘strong when I’m weak’ in Finnish, and it’s a discipline of massage therapy used in body building when the therapist disables prime movers so that the synergists have to take over, it causes all muscles involved to bulge and is very popular among bodybuilders before competitions because it enhances aesthetic but disables functionality and strength. First time recipients usually have a sexual response but can not move properly for one to two weeks after while others who regularly receive Vahva Kun only take a few days to recover, it is estimated that 95% of body builders use Vahva Kun and for the last five years all of the top 10 competitors in every competition have used practitioners to enhance their body’s esthetic and swear by it. Practitioners make on average 1 to 5 thousand dollars for a full body Vahva Kun treatment which can only take an hour or two. Only professionals should attempt it and uneducated attempts can risk permanent muscle injury.” Yakone read out loud. 

“Now, go to AMTA and look me up under members from the Great Lakes and cross reference with Vahva Kun. But you’re going to have to use my full legal name since “Zara” is my anglo nickname because my full legal name is too long to fit on a business card and it’s a lot easier to say. It’s Zarasashasabine - Z-a-r-a-s-a-s-h-a-s-a-b-i-n-e Kingsley- K-i-n-g-s-l-e-y. And my licence number is 816-269-937-55.” You spelled out as a lot of them tried to wrap their mouths around saying your full name and got tongue tied. 

“She’s the top result on AMTA, she’s been practicing it for 5 years.” Sedna revealed as she showed them a picture of you on the website and indeed found that as she passed her phone around as Noah realized here had fallen in love with you and hadn’t even known your full name and was a little embarrassed by that. 

“So, back to the story Taylor, what did I tell Evan and Derek and their group about Vahva Kun before I implemented it?” You prompted her. 

“You told them that you practice it on body builders and that it would make their muscles bulge and it feels better than sex with the gods.” Taylor proudly answered. 

“And did I give them the opportunity to turn me down and tell me ‘no thanks’ or did I force it on them?” You prompted her. 

“Nope, you asked and gave all of them the oppertunity to consent, they all had the chance to look it up but they just wanted you to touch them after taking like a hundred pictures of you and all of them gave you clear and conscientious consent to do whatever you wanted to them. And because they were drinking like there was no tomorrow and pushing you to drink just as heavily as they were to lower your guard and your own inhibitions and if it wasn’t for John giving you those empty beer bottles, you would have gotten black out drunk with them. But you didn’t, you stayed in control the whole time while they lost most of their self control. You barely got tipsy and you did screw them over without dropping your panties an inch and no one would have been any wiser for it and you stayed above everyone’s suspicion, Evan and Derrek and their group most of all because they have a habit of finding and taking advantage of easy prey.  You made it seem like you were just another woman on vacation enjoying a night on the town and trying out your massage tricks on them and you tried your best to cover your tracks and make sure that your behavior and Noah’s reputation would never meet let alone ever get connected. And on the way out you gave John another hundred dollar bill for helping you stay sober before you had me take you home and on the way there you told me all about it and the science behind why and how it worked before you told me that the inventor of the discipline was originally a prostitute who had gotten the crap beaten out of her when her clients recovered and you risked getting the crap beaten out of you from them and it’s been a good thing you’ve been with Noah ever since because he can protect you, and he should considering you did it all for him and Sakura.” Taylor defended. 

“That’s where you got the two one hundred dollar bills in your wallet, and why you wouldn't tell me where you got ‘em from and why you didn’t fight me when I told you what I wanted to spend them on, because you got ‘em from her!” Alorna accused John angrily because she was still livid that her husband had tried to be unfaithful and then had lied and kept it from her as Noah looked like he was well passed strangling John, he was mentally already beating him to death by the death glare he gave him across the table. 

“Well that’s Noah’s choice if he wants to, he doesn’t have to.” You answered Taylor as you couldn’t bring yourself to look at Noah before you set your silverware down and addressed everyone else. 

“Now what I want to assure you guys is I gave Evan and Derek and their crew exactly what they asked for and what they agreed to and I had their informed consent to do it and I executed that technique flawlessly and yes I had to get a little flirty to get that physically close to them to begin with but I did not do them any lasting harm. Yeah, they’re going to be sore for a week or two but when they recover, they’re going to look better than they ever have and practically drown in pussy when they get cleaned up and emerge from their apartment, which is all they really wanted anyway. Cause they’re young, single and stupid and for them it’s about getting laid and having fun rather than making money or taking care of themselves. It’s not a big deal to them to lose loads and customers because they’re again- young and stupid and chances are they have parents that help them out and pay most of their bills anyway. They’re not going to be without food, clothing or shelter. But Noah on the other hand, he can’t lower his prices down any more or else he’ll lose money and when he loses money, his bills can’t get paid and he’ll go hungry to make sure that Sakura doesn’t and he has pride which means none of you would have ever known about it because he never would have said anything to anyone, would you.” You turned your head slightly in Noah’s direction but wouldn’t look at him directly as he nodded in confirmation because you called that one right too. 

“And I could write a check for a hundred thousand dollars right now and try to give it to him and you know he probably wouldn’t take it. Would you?” You questioned him as Noah shook his head no. 

“Are you going to charge me a fair price to fly me back to cruise ship if you’re gonna fly me at all?” You asked. 

“No I was going to fly you down and I still will if you want me to because from where I sit none of this changes anything between you and me and I wasn’t going to charge you at all because I swore to your children that I wouldn’t take another penny from you and I’m a man of my word.” Noah insisted as he looked to everyone else, daring them to stop him or argue with him. 

“I know Noah, I know you’re a man of your word because my first husband was too. And you both have pride and having been married to a man before who would rather suffer in silence rather than say anything. I recognized that and I knew I had to get around it and I would rather Noah think it was just a ‘coincidence’ or that I got drunk in bar and let a table full of men try their best to take advantage of me or that I was a man eater or whatever else he could possibly think of it me if it meant that he would be ok and Sakura would be ok because I couldn’t risk him rejecting my help. Not when so much was on the line.” You insisted before you took a deep cleansing breath. 

“Big talk when your son is fruitcake.” Alorna spat. 

“Excuse me?” Noah barked before you started laughing. 

“Wow, someone did thier research before coming to dinner, is that why you were so late? Doing some googling did you?” You taunted her. 

“No, we were late cause John didn’t want to leave work, hoping you would come back in but obviously that didn’t happen. But yes, I did do some research on you because I wanted to know what Noah was getting into. I knew your name was Zarasashasabine Vivilana Zahnochka Volchietsa Wainright Kingsley. You were married to Andrew Kingsley, one of the ugliest orcs I’ve ever seen in my life, but I’m guessing he had a great personality, and obviously deep pockets, with parents who had even deeper ones. Andy died at work two years ago which is a shame you’ve had to live without his income of a hundred grand a year but you probably got what? Half a mill, maybe a whole million in life insurance money? And you built a mansion with it. And since then, your son Xander got into snakes and ballet of all things, let me guess, his daddy kept him pretty tightly in the closet when he was alive but since Andrew died, he sure did come out in style didn’t he? Now he dances in tutus and point shoes and has a hobby that costs more than Noah can make in a year. I’m just praying Noah beats the homo out of him before it’s too late and get’s him to straighten up and fly right before he’s a complete lost cause. And I’ll bet you everything you have that Andrew would be rolling in his grave if he found out how his son was living. The only positive is your daughter is now in martial arts. So you have a fifty percent sucess rate at raising children. At least Sakura might grow up to only be half as fucked up without Neena. But too bad that’s still a failing grade.” Alorna taunted defiantly. 

“Alorna, what did I tell you before you came? If you couldn’t be nice, you weren’t welcome, get the hell out of this house.” Summer challenged. 

“No, don’t leave just yet, she was just now showing me her true colors, I think how she’s sexualizing a child is disturbing because he’s only ten. And my daughter is only 8. How you can judge them based on their tastes as children think that that’s what will define them as adults is...frankly pathetic. And it’s really hypocritical that you accused me of Anglo when you’re the one with the super Anglo points of view. Because my children, even though they’ve been through hell and lost a parent and lost their adopted grandparents who they were closer to than their actual grandparents and had to be in the public eye since they were 8 and 6 and already get scruitinized and judged based on looks and circumstances that they had no control over is upsetting, but typical, I’m used to it and sadly, so are they. That’s why we’re so fiercely protective of our privacy. But in all your “research” the way your tone and your choice of wording tells me that you didn’t find the biggest piece of the puzzle.” You returned calmly. 

“Which is what?” Alorna spat. 

“Google it. Google my full name and then add Andy’s work place which was Nullensill Semiconductor and see what comes up. I dare you. But know that from this moment on, you and I will never be friends, never be close and you and your family will never benefit from me and know that once my children do come up here, you will stay the fuck away from them and you will have no contact with them because I don’t trust you not to lash out at them and try to hurt them.” You determined. 

“Alorna, for the love of the gods you and John need to just leave, Johnny Jr. and Gabby are always welcome but you no longer are.” Ukluk snarled. 

“I can’t believe you! You’re taking a stranger’s side over your own daughter?!” Alorna shrieked before John reached out and grabbed Alorna’s arm harshly as he stared at his phone’s screen with wide eyes and sharply inhaled through his nose. 

“Just shut up you petty, jealous bitch! You need apologize to Zara for offending her right now! Zara, I am so sorry I tried to have sex with you, that was inappropriate and I’m so sorry, and you know what? Just take all the crab that’s left and take it home with you, our gift to you. And you know what, you are doing such a good job raising your kids all on their own and I know Noah will take care of them like he has taken care of Sakura.” John tried to appease but you just shook your head at him. Suck up as Alorna was about to rip him a new one before he shoved his phone in her face which got her to freeze and her jaw to drop before she looked from the phone to you. 

“And I take back everything I’ve said before this point, I’m sorry, I was just concerned, I didn’t want to see Noah get hurt and obviously there’s no safer place for them to be than with you.” John tried to excuse. 

“You weren’t concerned when you tried to fuck her Wednesday.” Alorna spat as she continued to read the article. 

“Because she looked like this at the time! I’m a hot blooded guy, I never said I was perfect.” John excused as he brought up the pictures he had taken of you on Wednesday as the other guys were curious enough to get up go around the table to where John was to look at the pictures, making their wives narrow their eyes before all the guys dropped their jaws at the pictures. 

“Damn!” Suka and Dave jeered. 

“And that didn’t stop you from kissing her on Wednesday either.” Taylor added as all the women gasped as Nago and the other guys started laughing because there hasn’t been this much drama in the family in forever as some of the wives started snickering too. 

“Only her hand! I only kissed her hand!” John quickly defended himself. 

“Only because you couldn’t lean over the bar any further and kiss her on the lips, not that she would have let you do even that much to her.” Taylor taunted John. 

“And as I recall, you were the only one who I let do even that much.” You added just a little smugly before Alorna finally read what John just did before she gasped in outrage. 

“You’re the one who should have brought the crab! And you should have brought prime rib roasts too with a quarter of a billion dollars!” She practically shrieked angrily as she threw her husband’s phone at your head but Noah caught it and crushed it in his palm.  

“That’s it! Alorna and John, leave!” Ukluk boomed angrily.  

“Yup, on it.” John got up and picked up his angry screaming wife and kicking wife out of her chair and promptly left the house with her over his shoulder. 

“Do we have to go too?” John Jr. asked. 

“No, you guys should stay, you didn’t do anything wrong. Your parents will need some time and space.” Summer warmly assured them as she picked up her plate and came around to eat with them. 

“Well, I hate to tear apart another family. So, I’ll leave it up to all of you. You can put it to a vote if you want to,  if you don’t think I’m good enough to be here and share the same space with you or to help Noah and Sakura that’s fine, you’re all entitled to your opinions. Now, what I’m going to do is thank you Summer and Ukluk and Isla and Tonror for your hospitality and warm welcome and Sakura, Baby, do me a favor and remember that everyone at this table loves you very, very much and they only want the best for you. Let them talk about this so they can come to their own conclusions about me. Ok? I’m gonna go home with Taylor. And if you and your Daddy decide that I should continue to be in your life and if you still want to be in mine, you know where to find me. If not, just gather my stuff that I’ve left at your house and drop it off at Taylor’s house. But I need to get out of here so everyone can talk about me freely.” You told her as you hugged her and kissed the top of her head as a few tears escaped your eyes. 

“No! I don’t want you to go, you’re not leaving without me Mama!” Sakura started crying as she got up and clung to you and tried to force you to sit back down as you tried to back away from the table. 

“Baby, I don’t want to leave you either but right now, it has to be this way ok?” You tried to counter as you started to cry too because seeing Sakura cry cut you to your very bones. 

“No, you can’t leave, not without me,” Sakura tried to argue as she practically glued herself to your leg and wrapped herself tightly around it and clung to it for dear life. 

“It’s not like you’ll never see me again Sweetie, I agreed to go to the summer festival and intervene on your behalf as a priestess of Aura and I’ll do that if everyone else still wants me to. It’s only two days away, the day after tomorrow.” You tried to remind her as you steadied yourself on the back of the chair and lean over to talk to her.  

“Zara, no, don’t go.” Noah pleaded and the poor man was in tears himself as was most of them around the table as he got up and tried to gently guide you back to the table because he felt like if you walked out of there, he was gonna lose you forever and die right then and there. He didn’t care if his whole family turned on you. He was ready to cut them all off for you. He made the concious decision to choose you over all of them. 

“Zara, please don’t go anywhere, you’re part of this family, and anyone who doesn’t want you to be in this family can leave the house now and take whatever food they brought with them and take their place in it with them too like Alorna and John just did.” Ukluk pleaded as he joined his son in trying to guide you back to the table because seeing how much his granddaughter loved you and her distress at being parted from you was breaking his heart and he wasn’t going to let this circumstance detract from you or your place in this family. 

“Agreed,” everyone else mirrored in agreement as you finally gave in and sat back down only to have Sakura climb into your lap and practically hold you to the chair itself so you couldn’t get away as you cuddled and coddled her and dried her tears as Noah just smiled gratefully and adoringly at you and rubbed on your back before he tightened his hold on you from beside you since once you sat back down, he put his chair right next to yours and promptly wrapped his arm around your shoulder. Because you weren’t going anywhere, your place was beside him. And he wanted to thank you in every way for doing even half as much and even though at first blush he wasn’t completely comfortable with your method, the more he thought about it and knowing why you did it had him readily forgiving you and in fact it endeared you to him even more and meant so much to him and he could understand why you felt you needed or wanted to do what you did. And why you would have kept this to yourself even though you had told him about it in a way, little hints here and there when you explained who Zahnochka was and what she was capable of. He just didn’t put two and two together.  But now he felt like he put it together and he was even more in love with you now than he was this morning. You were a badass and he loved that about you before Taylor seemed appeased that you were where you should be and simply grabbed a plate and then went home. 

“So how much of that did you get to keep?” Suka chanced before everyone else glared at him. 

“I was just curious.” Suka defended. 

“A very small portion, a very tiny fraction really, his company took the vast majority of it and what was left was split between myself and the five other widows and widowers who’s mates were involved and died in the accident, most of them took the one lump sum pay out of 25 million which the government took half that so they’re left with 12 and a half million and the three of them barely have a million left two years later, and the other two and myself were smart and took the full payout but over the next fifty years. So I only get a check for 250,000 to live off of and the government only gets 15% instead of fifty percent.” You waived off. 

“Oh,” Suka nodded in understanding. 

“Which is still about double what my husband made a year so I shovel whatever we don’t use just on day to day expenses into savings accounts and retirement accounts and college funds and investments just like everything else I inherited from my grandparents. But at least my house is paid off, so I don’t pay a mortgage which is really nice. Those stinkin credit cards though, they’re just too easy to use. Death by a thousand cuts those things.” You revealed. 

“Oh you’re preachin to choir on that one.” Merideth answered. 

“Oh and don’t feel bad about Alorna leaving, she’s been a hypocritical bitch since day one, anyone who isn’t native- she hates and honestly now that she’s gone, we can finally all relax and enjoy the evening.” Sesi reassured you from her spot next on the other side of Sakura as you looked around to everyone else who were subtly and not so subtly nodding in agreement. 

“Nothing shows your true colors quite like money.” Noah grumbled as he cut into his moose with the caramalized onions. 

“I swear I thought I did better raising her.” Summer just shook her head. 

“Me too.” Ukluk chuckled as he did the same. 

“So what we’re saying, don’t worry about it, don’t let Alorna’s bark scare you off, the gods will make sure she gets what’s coming to her. And if you do end up coming here and staying here only a few months out of the year, don’t ever treat her or have anything to do with her or John.” Tonrar encouraged you. 

“Yeah but if she starts running her mouth and telling everyone that I have a quarter of a billion dollars, there’s going to be another manhunt for me like there was a year and a half ago.” You muttered. 

“You told us that you only get two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, so that’s how much you got, period and as far as I’m concerned and all I need to know and all I will ever assume is that was a one time payout, and don’t you dare go and correct me, which means you’re no richer than anyone else at this table, it’s easy to say Andy’s company took it all and you said as much and we have no reason to doubt you and anything more is your own business and should stay your own business. They don’t need to know about settlements or any other details. All of our voices together will drown her one voice out or even her’s and John’s or even hers, John’s and Doug’s. So don’t worry about it, as far as I’m concerned, you’re still just the oldest daughter of my best friend in the airforce. So practically family. And I already vouched for Noah to your dad who agreed to vouch for Noah to your kids so your kids will have someone they trust introduce Noah to them which is what they need and I don’t care about what your kids are into, they’re kids, they deserve to be happy and carefree and if they’re happy doing what they’re doing, that is all that matters. Especially to everyone here at this table.” Ukluk reassured you. 

“Thank you. The reason I didn’t take Alorna’s words seriously is because ballet saved Xander’s life. After Andy died, he shut down completely and he just...imploded. He wouldn’t necessarily cry and sob, but he wouldn’t laugh or smile or hang out with his friends or talk beyond one or two words. All he did was eat and sleep and spend what little time he was awake in a near catatonic state. Ballet brought him back, and taught him it was ok to be expressive. Skylar on the other hand, she was on the opposite side of the spectrum and so explosive. She was getting into fights every day, she nearly went to juvy and she got so aggressive and combative. So it’s the martial arts that saved her, taught her self control and to tame all the chaos she felt and still feels. And of course therapy, lots and lots of therapy.” You revealed. 

“Aww, the poor dear. I can’t wait to meet them both.” Isla assured you. 

[baekhypnotized]

☆— [one]

summary: Baekhyun is just a man who doesn’t believe in romance as much as Byul, who is trying to give herself to him. But day by day, he will soon realize that her fleeting actions are breaking down his cold-hearted brick wall, no matter if it takes her a million years.

warning(s): -

word count: 2.7k+

author’s note: first chapter is finally up!! feedback is much appreciated so please leave your thoughts regarding this fic!! to anyone who would like to be tagged in the next chapter, please let me know too :) 

tag list: @baestelcolor​ 

[next]>>

Today marks three months since I moved to an affordable studio apartment in Seoul. With an agreement, my mom agrees to let me further my studies in Seoul on one condition, she can only give a limited amount of monthly allowance for me. It doesn’t really matter to me because I have been planning to find a part-time job in a cafe or a flower shop to pay for rent and my college fees. Trying to find a job in a city where only experienced people will be prioritized is quite a struggle considering my lack of experience but I am grateful to be able to land a job in a small cafe near my university. I will be working in shifts to fit my class schedule and the weekends.

Since it's the weekend and some of the workers are taking their leaves, I take this opportunity to take over their shifts for extra wages. This is the only effort that I can do for my own living. Next week will be super hectic with orientation week as a post-graduate student. I’m feeling a little nervous about it that I can feel the shiver down my spine. I wake up early in the morning, prepare a simple toast for breakfast and get into my work outfit. Styling my hair with a messy bun, I apply lip tint on my lips to make me look alive for today. 

The walk to the nearest train station is about 10 minutes from my apartment and since it’s still early, the amount of people on the train is less than I imagine. Maybe, most of them are still tucked in bed and enjoying their weekend with beloved ones. But here I am, working on a Sunday when tomorrow is my first day as a Master student. The view of the Sunrise, lighting up the panorama of Seoul with her gleaming rays, reflecting beautifully on the blue water of the Han River is endearing to me. The beauty of Seoul will always catch people’s attention, including me and that’s the reason why I decided to continue my studies in my own hometown. It feels good to be back in Korea after living in New Orleans for years with a new family for so long. 

When I arrived there, the cafe is already open as I guess, Senior Hana arrived earlier. I greet her politely and she instructs me what to for today. An hour left before the cafe’s starts to open, cleaning the place up would be a good idea somehow. Dahyun will be here any minute now because she’s responsible to display the cakes and appetizers at the display counter. I rearrange the tables and chairs accordingly, sweep the floor and finish it up by mopping the floor. 

The first bell chimes make me turns around, noticing that Dahyun has finally arrived. 

"Morning, Byul!” She greets with a loud yawn.

I pause for a moment from cleaning the cashier counter to look at Dahyun, with a smile stretched. “Morning, Dahyun.”

She leaves me alone to set up the desserts by the display counter as I go back to the staff room and grabbing my black apron as I wear it, completing it with my nametag pinned on the apron. There are approximately 15 minutes left before we open for today’s business and I just hope my first day at the cafe goes well considering we’ll be getting a lot more customers on a Sunday.

"I’m done arranging them! Finally!” Dahyun huffs a loud sigh before she plops down on a small chair. I give her a thumbs up, rewarding her for her hard work. Dahyun stands back on her feet, walking towards the staff room to prepare herself. “I think we can start for today, Byul.”

"Are you ready?” I confirm it back to her, waiting for her reply. 

"Yes, I’m ready. I’ll be back and you can unlock the main door already.”

I comply with her commands, go straight to the main door and unlocks it, and then turning the ‘closed’ sign to ‘open’. Waiting for customers to enter the cafe behind the cash register counter, I hum to random songs while figuring out what outfit should I be wearing on the first day of university tomorrow. I’m feeling quite edgy and anxious but I pray that everything will be fine.

A tinkling sound comes from the wind chime that my boss hung at the door, alerting the staff of new customers. My first customer for today is a he. The heels of his expensive shoes makes a clear, nice sound against the wooden floorboards. He enters the café. His hair is combed perfectly and parted in the middle, looking so sleek in his black suit. As he comes closer towards me, I can clearly see a few cute little moles on his face. 

This man in front of me greets me with a smile that manages to make my heart beats loudly, my cheeks redden into a rosy pink color. I let out a small cough to control myself as I plaster a polite smile to him.

"Good morning, sir! Do you have anything in mind?”

The guy scans through the menu board, taking his time to order.

"I’ll have one cup of latte and a waffle with honey on top.” He asks with a firm voice, unknowingly making me feel nervous. 

I key in his order into the system one by one without leaving anything. “That will be $15.65, sir.”

He digs into his pocket and hands in a 50-dollar bill. “Keep the change.”

"But sir… It’s my responsibility to return your change back. It’s a business policy…” I stutter while explaining to him, hoping for him to understand my current situation since I don’t want to risk breaking a rule or worse, get fired from this only part-time job that I have. 

The guy is busy staring at me in amusement when I’m trying to be a good and innocent staff that wouldn't have done any wrongs. He gives me a contemplating ‘hmm’ before he complies. “Listen here,” He reads my name tag, “-Hanbyul. Let’s just say I treat your next upcoming customers. How does that sound?” He smirks slyly before taking a seat by the window, playing with his smartphone to kill time while waiting for his orders. I baffle when he just left without giving me an answer. I sigh and keep the dollar bill into the cashier and start brewing his hot latte and baking the waffle.

Dahyun comes back to the front and she is surprised with the early customer that we got. “Woah, what the heck is he doing so early in the morning? It’s only 8 in the morning!”

She nudges me with her elbow but I refuse to answer her because I am busy with my work. But, she’s right though. How on Earth does a guy wake up so early in the morning looking so handsome like this guy?! And it is the weekend for God’s sake!

Once I finish up preparing his orders, I bring the tray to him instead of calling him because he’s the only customer in the café.

"Sir,” I greet him while serving the hot latte and the waffle on the table, “your orders are here. Hope you enjoy it!” I beam brightly and bow 90 degrees as respect. The guy was busy scrolling his phone as I leave him behind. 

"Hanbyul.” My name was called by his husky voice, making me stop in my tracks, turning around to face him.

"May I help you with anything, sir?” I question him as he starts to take a sip on the latte. He starts to make weird faces and I assume there’s something wrong with the latte. 

"Is there anything wrong with the latte, sir?” I ask worriedly.

He shakes his head before the frown on his lips stretched into a grin. I am taken aback but I sigh in relief, knowing that I didn’t do any mistake that might risk me my position.

"It surely tastes sweeter today,” he says with a hum, taking another sip. “Yeah, definitely sweeter than yesterday. Probably because it was prepared by a sweet girl.” His eyes sparkle with a glint of something unfamiliar as he gazes at me. The intensity of his gaze is making me feel so, so warm that I’m sure he notices my whole face reddening in front of him.

What an odd day. 

On the first day of class, I wake up earlier so I don’t have to rush. It’s going to be a challenging day because I’m going to meet new people for me to get along with throughout these two years except for Soomin. Thank God we’re decided to continue our study and graduate together like we used to. Living in the same house with her and now enrolling in the same class. Again. But, I will never get bored with her or maybe I would, one day. 

"Wake up, Soomin. We’re going to be late for our first class.” I shake her shoulders violently because she is a heavy sleeper and waking her up softly will be fruitless. However, Soomin with her eyes still shut tightly doesn’t budge even as I raise my voice an octave higher, simply humming before going back to sleep.

I rake my head for ways to wake her up. After a few long seconds of thinking, an idea came into my mind and I can only hope for it to work. I lift her thick duvet from her body and push her off from the bed, letting her body fall to the floor with a thud.

Ouch!” Soomin sits up with her hand rubbing her back as she tries to glare at me with her half-lidded eyes.

"Breakfast is ready so please, go and take your bath quickly,” I order her as I’m busy folding the duvet before placing it nicely on her bed.  She fumes in anger, holding her tongue from cursing to me early in the morning. Stomping her feet on her way to the bathroom, she expresses her irritation towards me with a powerful slam at the door. 

I only let out a giggle because her tantrums are not foreign to me, I’ve known her for years, a childish yet a good friend that I would rather stick to even if it takes years to unglue her from me. The only person who understands her annoyingness is her family, me and Sehun. The three of us are best friends since high school and I’m grateful that Sehun loves her a lot by making her the only girl he would have after his mother and older sister. I couldn’t imagine an unfamiliar guy coming into her life and claim her love without deeply knowing her. 

And that’s not what love is about. 

Heading back to the kitchen to prepare peach tea for us, I remember the encounter I had with the guy at the cafe yesterday. The way his deep voice calling my name made me feel butterflies in my stomach and I somehow wish for him to drop by the cafe again, just so I can admire his good looks again.

"What took you so long to stir the tea?” Soomin says as she passes by me. “And ew! Is that drool?! Byul, I don’t want drool infested tea so early in the morning.”

Soomin’s voice knocks me off to reality as she was standing by the fridge for a few minutes.

"Gosh, can you please don’t hurt my poor heart like that?” I say with a soft tone and she smirks, pulling a chair to sit by the island table. She takes one french toast and take a single bite, staring at me curiously. “What are you thinking of?”

"Nothing,” I say while grabbing clean cups from the cupboard. I place them on the table and pour the peach tea before handing one to Soomin. She thanked me before taking the cup from me, blowing on the surface a little to cool it down before taking a sip. Soomin scoffs. “You never hide secrets from me.”

"How did you know that I really told you everything?” I say, successfully turning her into a furious woman as she grabs the toast, ready to throw it to me. “Okay geez. I’m kidding.”

She brings the toast for a bite but continues to give me a death glare. I chuckle silently and sip my tea, glancing at the clock hanging by the wall. It’s already 8:25 in the morning but both of us are still busy having our breakfast.

"We’re going to be late!” I hurriedly gulp down the tea and put the empty cup in the sink. Rushing to pack my stuff and making sure that I don’t leave anything important at home, I prepare myself for the last time in front of the standing mirror. Light makeup added nicely with a shade of pink blusher and the nude colour of lip matte; I’m good to go. 

"Come on, Kim Soomin!” 

She groans loudly to take her car keys as we leave the apartment. Crossing my fingers and calming my nerves, I stare at the outside scenery by the car window. How the fluffy clouds hang beautifully by the blue azure sky, following the Sun shining brightly. Everything will be fine, Byul. 

We arrive 10 minutes early before the class starts. As Soomin and I settle down in the big lecture hall, I observe the seats around me. It’s already occupied with people who are taking the same course; Master in Business Administration. All of them are unfamiliar faces to me.

"Good morning, Byul.” Sehun greets me. I smile at him back before he takes a seat beside Soomin, leaving a peck on her temple. 

"Good morning, baby.” He greets her this time with adoration but Soomin only hum as a reply. Sehun looks at me curiously when I could only shake my head and shrug my shoulders to his wordless question. “Tell me who ruined your morning, Soomin.” 

Soomin quickly points her index finger to me that makes me lift both of my hands in the air, defending myself. “I only pushed her off the bed. It wasn’t that bad.” I grin as I confess. She dilates her eyes and starts pinching on my arms, causing me to groan at the slightest pain.  “Okay! Okay, enough! It stings!”

Sehun can only chortles while watching this normal catfight between us. I am only able to stop her off by pushing her away. I brush my already wrinkled blouse, thanks to her. I roll my eyes and divert my attention to the front. One by one people enter the hall up until an aged woman comes in with a rattan tote bag and I guess she’s our lecture for the financial management class. 

"Hello and good morning everyone! My name is Lee Kyungmi but please call me Mdm. Lee,” she greets the whole class with a firm voice.

The whole class replies in unison with a loud ‘yes’ to her greeting. She then decides to begin our first class with ice-breaking session even though in my opinion, it is very lame for university students. But, I’m glad she didn’t jump directly into the syllabus in our first class.

We are separated into a few groups where I finally get to detach myself from my best friends and sit in a circle that is full of unfamiliar faces strangers. We begin to exchange our names within the group. Being around people whom I’ve never met is making me feel a little more confident. When it is my turn, I start to introduce myself, “The name given is Kim Hanbyul, but I prefer being called Byul.” I plaster a smile to them. After about 10 minutes, we head back to our seats and Mdm. Lee decides to start the class with the first topic. 

I take out my notebook and pencil case from my bag, ready to jot down notes that will be displayed on the white screen from the projector. But before Mdm. Lee gets to continue her words, a single clear knock is heard from the door. She then calls the intruder to come in. I don’t pay attention to the intruder as I am focused on my notebook.

"Late for your first class, Mr. Byun?” She takes off her glasses to look at him as the person goes straight to an empty seat. I lift my head up to focus back on the screen, gasping softly when my eyes accidentally landed on him.

It’s him. The 50-dollar bill guy with the same dashing look from the cafe.