#before anyone gets concerned it’s not an infection I promise lmao | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

damdammy · 3 years ago

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Will open requests soon, need to sort out my rules first ^^ in the meantime, have a scenario that’s based on a request from my old blog ^^ Enjoy reading!!

I haven’t written in forever so if its bad pls bear w me LMAO

Request: Diluc & Kaeya - Reader has Hanahaki disease and is very reluctant on confessing (Angst to fluff please ^^) ~ 🐺 Anon

warnings: mention/description of vomiting, blood, alcohol (its not as bad as it seems i swear)

for those who do not know what Hanahaki disease is: a fictional (emphasis on fictional) disease, often used in fanfictions, where the victim regurgitates and coughs up flower petals when they suffer from unrequited love. The illness can only be cured through surgical removal, however any existing romantic feelings are also removed with the infection. (i got this from urban dictionary lol)

oop also im going with the kaeya is from khaenri’ah theory here :)

Word count: 3.9K

Diluc

“Are you sure you’re okay, y/n?” Jean’s voice was laced with concern as she placed a small pile of papers on her desk. They simply nodded, but their pale face was telling her something else. Y/n’s hand was covering their mouth and they were struggling to stand straight. They couldn’t do their work like this, they would only feel worse. What if something happened to them?

“You know what, this commission isn’t really urgent anyway.” y/n’s eyes slightly widened. Jean sent them a soft smile “You should go home.” Y/n shook their head in protest. They knew that Jean assumed this was a simple cold or something similar, but it was far from that. If only they could tell them..

“Jean, I promise you that I’m doing just fine. I’ll finish the paperwork like you asked me to.” Y/n said and made their way to her desk.

“Y/n, I appreciate your determination but I’d much prefer you resting and then coming back. Besides, I can ask other knights to do this for me too, it’s alright.” It was hard for y/n to still hold it all in, but they felt like they had to. Maybe going home was a good idea.. It wasn’t like they were going to get much work done anyway. After thinking in silence for a moment, y/n finally complies.

“Don’t try to rush coming back to work, it’s better to get the exact amount of rest you need in the long run.” y/n nodded and was about to thank her when the uncomfortable feeling returned. They covered their mouth and swallowed the flowers back, despite the burning feeling it caused in their throat. Jean saw the apologetic look in their eyes and smiled, telling them it was alright.

As soon as y/n stepped foot outside of the headquarters of the Knights of Favonius, they rushed home. On their way, multiple people had attempted to greet them or have a small conversation, but y/n’s gaze remained fixated on the ground.

A sigh of relief left their mouth after closing the door behind them. Their feet gave up, making them slide down against the door to the ground. As an attempt to control their pain, y/n rested their head on their knees, taking heavy breaths.

Why did this have to happen to them? Why? Why couldn’t they have fallen for anyone else, or nobody for that matter? Why did it have to be him?

The uncomfortable feeling returned, except this time with a lot more force. Y/n couldn’t even run to the bathroom, so before they knew it there were a couple of small lamp grasses on the ground, along with a few drops of blood. The burning sensation was still present in their throat.

The fact that y/n couldn’t do anything to get rid of this burden was making them feel helpless. Of course he didn’t love them, anyone could tell that. The thought itself made their eyes water.

They saw the way he looked at Jean. The way his mannerisms slightly changed, how he appeared slightly more comfortable around her. But even if Diluc didn’t see her that way, he didn’t seem like the type to be easily interested in someone romantically.

“Y/n?” fuck. What was Venti doing here? They stayed silent, so Venti knocked softly on their door and spoke again. “I said hi to you earlier but I don’t think you saw me. You looked a little unwell, is everything alright?”

“I-I’m fine!” They reply, trying to feign happiness in their voice. In reality however, y/n was struggling to breathe without feeling a sharp pain, caused by the flowers in their mouth.

“Are you sure? Oh, how about I’ll bring you some food from Good Hunter? I’ll also get some alcohol for you!” y/n wasn’t even able to protest, because Venti immediately followed saying he’d be right back. They appreciated his efforts, but why would someone give a sick person alcohol?....

There wasn’t much time for y/n to think about it more, because soon the uncomfortable feeling returned. Soon, more and more flower petals, some covered with blood, found their way on the ground, and y/n was too sick to even try to clean it up.

The solution to this seemed so easy, but at the same time they knew it wasn’t possible. Diluc didn’t love them. He really didn’t. Why else would they be struggling here like this?

In the meantime, Venti was rushing to Diluc’s tavern. As soon as the redhead heard the door open and turned around, his face fell.

“Venti, I told you I’m not giving you any more alcohol this we-”

“It’s for y/n!” He interrupted him. Diluc stopped drying the glass he was holding and eyed Venti skeptically. “They’re not feeling well.” The bard explains

“And you think alcohol is going to make them feel better?”

“...Yes??” Man…. This guy was immortal, how could he be this stupid? While resting the back of his hand against his forehead, Diluc released a deep sigh. If Venti was going to try to take care of y/n on his own, he wasn’t sure if that would end well.

“I think y/n would appreciate something such as tea or another warm drink a lot more.” Venti shrugged.

“Alright then. Will it take long for it to be prepared?”

“You go bring them some food, I’ll make something and be there soon as well.” The bard agreed and quickly left to bring y/n the meal he bought.

“Hopefully it’s not cold yet.” he mumbled to himself before knocking on their door. Y/n, who had almost fallen asleep on the cold ground lifted up their head.

“Hmm? Who-” before they knew it another set of petals escaped their mouth.

“I brought you some food, y/n! Diluc is making you something to drink, so he’ll be here soon as well. I hope you don’t mind.” Upon hearing his name, y/n’s heart dropped. He was going to be here? Fuck, he couldn’t see them like this.. But they were too weak to send him away.

Another set of petals escaped y/n’s mouth, this time even bigger and bloodier than the ones before. The pain in their throat was also worsening, and they had no idea how much more time they had left.

“Y/n, your food is going to get cold.. Can I come in?” Venti asked. Shit. No. He was going to see the petals and get worried. Did Venti even know what Hanahaki disease was? Maybe he did… He was a god after all. Venti was lost on what to do when y/n gave no response. He could hear that they weren’t doing well, but it felt rude to just barge in.

“What are you still doing here? Their food is going to get cold!” Venti quickly turned his head and smiled when he saw Diluc, holding a teapot along with a smaller cup. He seemed annoyed; not at y/n but at the fact that Venti wasn’t doing much to help. Y/n’s eyes widened upon hearing the familiar voice. Before they knew it, he spoke up again.

“Y/n, I’m coming in.” He didn’t wait and opened their door. His gaze fell on Y/n, who was sat on the ground, at the corner of the living room. What concerned him wasn’t just their dull gaze and , but also the vast amount of flower petals and blood that they were surrounded by.

“What…. What’s going on?..” He mumbled in confusion. Venti, who entered the house after Diluc, seemed to recognize what’s going on.

“Y/n… Don’t tell me..” He stopped mid sentence when they weakly nodded. This was it. Diluc saw them. Venti obviously recognized the disease, but y/n couldn’t tell them who it was.

“Who is it?” Venti asked softly. Y/n shook their head. They couldn’t know. The feeling wasn’t mutual, they were sure of it. Venti wasn’t taking this, so he put the food on the coffee table in the room and walked over to y/n. He knelt down and made eye contact, his eyes practically begging them to tell him.

“Y/n, please, just tell me.” Y/n shook their head again. They wanted to explain why, but before they were able to utter a word, they felt the pain, which had become familiar at this point, return and soon more flower petals were on the ground. Diluc watched in horror. He didn’t understand what exactly was going on, but he knew this wasn’t good. An uncomfortable feeling in his stomach told him chances of this not ending well were big. Y/n noticed Diluc’s change of expression and smiled through their pain and tears. At least he was here now.

“Y/n, I-” Venti shuffled closer to them, not caring about his clothes becoming dirty.

“No Venti, please don’t do anything.” They stopped him. “It’s okay.” they whispered through their tears in hopes to avoid feeling more pain.

“No, help them!” Diluc exclaimed, almost throwing the teapot that he was holding to the ground. How could they say this was okay? What was going on? Why didn’t y/n tell anyone they felt sick? Were they planning on just dying here, in their house, on their own?

“Venti,” y/n whispered again. “Y-you’re the god of Freedom, aren’t you? Please, I don’t want you to try to help me. Let me-” They leaned forward and coughed heavily. Diluc instantly moved closer to them, gently bringing their head on his lap.

“Y/n,” Diluc began, his voice shaking. “Please, let him help you.” Y/n shook their head again.

“Diluc, I can assure you he can’t.” he was still not sure what was going on, but all he wanted was for them to be okay. He didn’t care what was needed or how it had to be done, he just didn’t want to lose them.

“Y/n you can’t do this.” his eyes filled with tears. “How can you just throw away your life like that?!” he raised his voice. “Why… Why do you want it to just end like this? You’re a knight, do you even realize what you’re leaving behind?” As he continued speaking, he started speaking more sharply. Despite this, y/n felt warm. His touch was comforting, despite the fact that his attitude was cold

“Don’t you realize how selfish you’re being right now?!” At this point his voice was even louder. “What am I supposed to do? You’re just going to give up?” A tear escaped his eye and rolled down his cheek as his grip on y/n tightened. Their eyes were teary too, from both the pain and Diluc’s words. Y/n coughed, as the sharp pain had returned and it was even worse. Venti was frozen in his place, not knowing what to do. He knew damn well that y/n had a point, but it hurt so much to just let them go like this. Part of him knew who y/n had feelings for, but he wasn’t too sure and didn't want to jump to the wrong conclusions.

Then again, the calmness in their eyes as they remained in Diluc’s arms despite the unbearable pain was almost an immediate giveaway. And to Venti, it seemed so clear that the feeling was mutual. Maybe, just maybe he would confess. Venti felt it.

“You can’t leave me like this.” he sobbed, his voice still sharp. “You-you can’t just make me fall in love with you and do this to me!”

silence. Complete silence. Diluc looked at their face, and saw that their eyes were closed. Had they been closed this whole time? Did that happen just now? He was doubting everything now.

“v-venti..” Diluc’s tone was normal, but the stutter gave away how nervous he was. When he looked at the bard, he was smiling. The red haired male grew angry.

“Why on earth are you-”

“They’re still breathing.” Diluc immediately looked at them again and he was right. They could see their chest rising and falling slowly. His gaze moved to their face, and he noticed they seemed more at ease. Did the pain stop? He felt lost, but he was afraid to ask.

“Their pain stopped, don’t worry.” Venti said, as if he could read his thoughts. “Maybe they should get some rest in their own room. I’ll explain everything to you after that.” Diluc nodded in agreement and lifted up y/n, bringing them to their room. They remained asleep the whole time. Diluc gently placed them on their bed and put a blanket over them so they won’t get cold. He was probably going to give them their drink still once they woke up.

For a while, he stayed in the room to look at them. Moments ago, he was so close to losing them, but now he felt at peace. They were resting comfortably. Diluc walked over to the door, and stopped for a moment. He looked back at y/n. He had professed his love for them earlier.. What did they think? How did they feel about him?

No, that’s for later. They needed rest now. Venti was waiting downstairs too to explain everything. He was just glad that they were okay now. That was all that mattered, and all he needed.

Kaeya

Fuck. Why? Why did it have to be him? Out of all the people in Monstadt, it had to be the cavalry captain of the knights of Favonius, the man that flirts with people on the regular for fun. He does it to anyone, it doesn’t mean anything.

But why did it make y/n’s heart skip a beat every time? Despite knowing damn well that he had no intent of wanting anything more, they still fell for him. Stupid heart, stupid feelings, stupid y/n.

“You’re incredibly stupid for not telling anyone you were sick.” Rosaria said, almost scolding them if you listened close enough. She had brought them some food, along with some flowers from Flora’s shop. Her reasoning was that she needed some to make them tea but had bought too much, but she secretly just wanted to give them.

“I didn't want anyone to get worried.” Y/n replied. They appreciated their friends in Monstadt of course, but the last thing they wanted was to be a distraction to anybody. Besides, they would have to explain what was wrong… No one needed to know..

“I’m not stupid.” Rosaria continued as she filled a bowl with some hot soup. “it’s Kaeya, isn’t it?”Y/n almost choked on the flower petals they were trying to swallow to avoid throwing up for the billlionth time.

“Look, I’m not going to tell him, as long as you promise me you will confess your feelings to him.” y/n shook their head immediately.

“He doesn't like me back.”

“You never know.”

“Rosaria, he flirts with pretty much anyone in Monstadt. I’m no different.” The woman sighed and rolled her eyes.

“You should see the way he looks at you.” she mumbled to herself. Most people didn’t notice, but Kaeya’s behavior made the smallest change whenever y/ was around. When they weren’t looking, his eyes would be focused on them. His gaze was soft, and anytime they made physical contact he held them like they were the most precious thing on earth. On top of that:

Kaeya wasn’t as much of a cocky flirt as people often made him out to be. On the outside? Sure. On the inside? Not so much. He’d try to be subtle, but after making a flirty remark to Y/n and seeing their reaction, he would subconsciously fiddle with his hands, and Rosaria would always take notice of this, despite his efforts to hide it.

And if he just directly expressed his feelings, or if they gathered the courage to confess their feelings to him, things would be okay. But neither did.

“afternoon, is Y/n here?” fuck. He was here. Y/n tried to quickly get up and leave, but Rosaria pushed them back.

“They’re here!” She called out, making y/n panic again. They tried to stand up, but they felt another sharp pain in their stomach, making them sit back down. They stared at the floor and closed their mouth. The sound of Kaeya’s footsteps was slowly getting closer, until y/n saw his shoes in front of them.

He was silent. No witty remark, not even a hello.

“Did someone do this?” Rosaria internally sighed. She shook her head. Kaeya tried to examine y/n, but their gaze was fixated on the floor and Rosaria was holding them close to her. However, this didn’t stop Kaeya from being observant. He had noticed the small flower petals, along with some drops of blood. It was probably even worse than it seemed, since it was likely that y/n tried to pretend nothing was wrong.

“I need to get some more petals, I’ll be right back. Kaeya, you stay with them.” Before anyone could respond, she was gone. Kaeya reacted quickly and had now wrapped his arms around y/n.

“Hm, I’d expect a little more of a vocal response. It's not every day you get to be this close to the Chivalry captain, right?”

“Not that impressive when I’ve never seen a single fucking horse in this city.” a heartfelt chuckle escaped his mouth, though it only lasted for a short period of time as y/n started coughing again. Kaeya gently propped them up so they were sitting up straight and would at least be able to breathe. He didn’t know what else to do, he felt so lost.

“Do you need anything?” he asked. Kaeya had a horrible feeling about this. He did have some knowledge about certain things when it came to illnesses. However, he didn’t want to believe it was that. It couldn’t be that, right?

“I’m fine, Kaeya. You don’t need to lie to me.”

“Oh, right, because throwing up blood is a regular occurence to you.” he sharply commented. Y/n rolled their eyes.

“Look, I’ll be okay. I’m sure you have better things to do.” the last thing y/n wanted to do was be a burden to him.

“As you said, I’m a chivalry captain who doesn’t have a single horse in possession.” he chuckled. “Besides, I never waste my time. If I didn’t want to be here, I wouldn’t be.” His facial expression was serious again. To be quite honest, it made y/n a little uneasy. Not because his presence made them uncomfortable, but they weren’t used to this very serious attitude. They stayed quiet for a while, not being sure of what else to say.

“Now, would you tell me who the lucky fellow is?” he asked, making y/n choke on the petal flower they were trying to swallow back in their throat. Kaeya was slightly surprised and he couldn’t help but laugh a little at their reaction while gently patting their back. Once they calmed down, they looked at Kaeya wide eyed. He had a small grin on his face as he slightly tilted his head sideways.

“So?” y/n shook their head.

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Kaeya averted his gaze and looked at the flower petals and flowers on the ground.

“hm, calla lilies huh? That’s interesting…” he knows, was what went through their mind. He definitely knows. He’s just playing with their emotions at this point. Right?

“Y/n, look,” Kaeya took a deep breath. He clasped his shaky hands together as an attempt to hide his anxiety. “You don’t have to tell me who it is, just make sure to confess your feelings to this person. We can’t afford to lose you over a little crush.”

Kaeya couldn’t deny the fact that his first thoughts upon realizing that y/n had hanahaki disease made his heart drop a little. However, soon that feeling was washed away by him worrying about them and their health. He didn’t care that he wasn’t the one they were in love with, he just wanted them to be okay. And if that meant a future without him, so be it. Kaeya had experienced loss before, this wasn’t new and this was way more bearable.

Y/n bit their lip slightly. Realistically speaking, confessing your feelings to the person you like romantically should be a hundred times easier than having to bear this disease that will definitely kill you if you don’t.Something inside of her however, was making this incredibly difficult. Is Kaeya an ass sometimes? Definitely. But he was also a human with emotions, and y/n could tell this was affecting him too despite his efforts to hide that. Even if he didn’t feel the same way, things should be okay, right?

“R-remember that time Venti, Rosaria, you and I were at the tavern?” They decided to start off slow, in the hopes that it would make this easier. Kaeya nodded. He was looking at them, his full attention focused on them, and nothing else.

“And…. Rosaria said something about me liking you..” By this point Kaeya had already connected the dots. Y/n liked him. He wanted to be happy, but his mind was still focused on making sure Y/n was okay first.

“She wasn’t lying when she said that.” Y/n quickly added and released a breath they had been holding for what felt like forever. “I really, really like you.” silence followed the sudden confession. Y/n grew more and more nervous-- almost annoyed even. What was taking him so long?

Y/n heard a soft sigh released from Kaeya’s lips. They didn’t dare look at him and instead fixated their eyes on… nothing? Y/n was just staring into the void.

They didn’t notice a small smile grazing Kaeya's lips, they didn’t notice his eyes swelling with tears as realization hit as to why they were feeling so sick. They did feel his grip on them tighten. Kaeya removed one hand from y/n and gently held their chin between his thumb and index finger.

“Y/n,” his voice was low, and gentle yet still having the same teasing tone he always had whenever he spoke. It felt different this time though. “Look at me” he said as he gently guided their face to look at him. His touch was far from forceful, y/n could tell he would stop instantly if they turned their head back away from him. But they didn’t. Y/n looked at Kaeya, and their breathing stopped for a moment when the two made eye contact.

“You sure are dense to say the least, aren’t you?” He chuckled softly. “All of this pain, all of these problems you’ve had to deal with… You could’ve just told me how you felt.” Y/n ‘s heartbeat sped up as they started to realize what he was trying to get at.

“What do you mean by that?” They asked, their voice low. Kaeya let out a quiet snort, trying to mask it by scratching his throat afterwards.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about, you sly little fox.” He said, unable to control the smile on his face. Y/n stifled a laugh and leaned slightly forward.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, care to enlighten me?” Kaeya was slightly surprised at their boldness but prepared nonetheless. He lowered his hand to their waist and gently pulled them closer.

“Well, I’d be honored to show you instead.”

#kaeya x reader #diluc x reader #genshin impact x reader #kaeya #diluc ragnivindr x reader #diluc ragvindr #genshin x y/n

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lloydskywalkers · 4 years ago

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hey idk if you’re doing requests but if you are can you give us the fluffy kai and lloyd sibling content we deserve?? like ummm maybe kai helping lloyd to do homework or something even tho they don’t go to school lmao 😂 i just need something pure :)

i am so very behind on replies but!! in my defense, i started a response for this, got about 10K words in, then realized i needed to give it an actual structure. this is not the 10K words one, but it is, technically, fluffy Kai and Lloyd sibling content? i hope it’s something along the lines of what you wanted :’D

Lloyd decides he wants his ear pierced at three forty-five in the debatable hours of the morning, which isn’t the oddest thing Lloyd has ever decided he desires at that time. But it isn’t usual, either, so Kai decides he probably does, at least, need to ask what brought this on as he begins superheating the edge of the needle so neither of them end up with tetanus, or something.

He’s a responsible brother, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to tell Lloyd no. That would require Kai pretending his own piercing never existed, which is impossible, since Lloyd was the one to help him out back when it got infected and Kai almost lost his entire upper ear.

“It wasn’t that bad,” Lloyd rolls his eyes. “You were just being a baby about it.”

“Oh yeah?” Kai shoots back. “Look who’s talking. I haven’t even touched your ear yet and you’re already wincing.”

“You’re taking forever,” Lloyd says testily. “Why can’t you just pierce it already?”

“Excuse me for trying to make it look good,” Kai says. “But if you really want an off-center piercing, be my guest.”

“No, no, make it look good,” Lloyd protests, straightening where he’s sitting across the bedroom floor from Kai.

Fortunately, they’re in the monastery tonight, otherwise they’d be crammed into the bathroom, or wherever else in the Bounty they wouldn’t wake everyone up. They’ve stashed away in Lloyd’s room, since he’s the furthest from Zane and therefore the least likely to be caught, if something goes wrong. Not that anything’s going to go wrong, of course, but you can never be sure, with them.

“Where’d you want it, again?” Kai asks, as he squints at the tiny earring stud they scavenged from Nya’s bag. He figures she’d support this as a worthy cause enough not to mind. Hopefully.

“On the right side?” Lloyd drums his fingers on the edge of his knee, a bit anxiously. “I sleep on my left more often, so yeah, the right. Just — just the normal ear piercing, for now.”

“For now, huh,” Kai mutters, carefully measuring out rubbing alcohol over the earring, before deciding to drown it in the bottle, for good measure.

“Well, I might decide I want another,” Lloyd crosses his arms. He winces. “Unless Sensei or the others kill me for this, first.”

“Lloyd, if piercing your ear is the worst thing you ever do as a teen, I’ll give you all the piercings you want myself,” Kai says. “And if anybody gives you trouble about it, just make some snarky comment, like, ah—”

“An earring is better to be stabbed with than a knife?”

“…FSM’s sake,” Kai sighs, staring at the bottle of rubbing alcohol and briefly entertaining how it’d taste. “Sure. Why not.”

Lloyd doesn’t look entirely reassured, even with his fun little jokes. “It is better than being stabbed with a knife, right?” he asks. “Like, I can do knife-stab pain, but I was kinda hoping it wouldn’t hurt that bad, you know…?”

Kai rolls his eyes. “It’ll hardly hurt at all,” he assures him, as he reaches for the little cotton balls and soaking one in alcohol. “I promise. You’re a ninja. With the pain tolerance you have, you’re probably not even gonna feel it.”

“Uh-huh, if you say — hey!” Lloyd flinches back from his hand, eyes wide in betrayal.

“Would you relax, it’s just the alcohol,” Kai frowns, going for his ear with the cotton ball again.

Lloyd makes a face, but lets him dab the alcohol on this time. “It’s cold,” he complains.

“Keep whining about it and we’re going back to the clip-on earring plan.”

“No, no, I want them pierced,” Lloyd says quickly. Kai smothers a laugh at how he attempts to appear relaxed, swiping the cotton ball over his earlobe once more for good measure. Satisfied that Lloyd, at least, won’t suffer any immediate crippling infections, Kai grabs for the needle they’re using, soaking the tip in alcohol.

“You…you know what you’re doing, right?” Lloyd asks, suddenly apprehensive now that the needle’s come into play.

“Of course I do, who do you think I am?” Kai says. “I pierced Nya’s ears when she was younger. I would’ve pierced Jay’s the first week we met, but he chickened out last minute.”

Lloyd presses his lips together, hiding a laugh. “If you’d come up to me with a needle the first week we met, I probably would’ve booked it, too.”

“I wasn’t bad,” Kai huffs, kneeing him in the side.

Lloyd runs a hand through his hair, spiking the edges up as he scowls, pitching his voice deeper. “I’m gonna be the green ninja, and none of you losers better get in the way—”

“I never said that!” Kai exclaims, swatting Lloyd across the head as he cackles. “You watch it, or I might slip up with the needle.”

“Sounds like something a green gi-stealer would say.”

“You’re such a brat,” Kai grumbles, hiding the heat rising in his cheeks by busying himself with the earring packaging. “I never sounded like that. And you’re one to talk, with that squeaky little evil laugh you used to do.”

“Alright, I’m dropping it, I’m dropping it,” Lloyd says hastily, his teasing faltering at the threat of turning the tables.

Kai smirks, shaking his head. “Alright,” he says, flexing his wrist once. “I’m gonna ice your ear so it’s numb, then do the actual piercing. You want a count down?”

“Surprise me,” Lloyd says, his hands fisting anxiously in the edges of his sweatshirt.

“Sure thing,” Kai nods absently. “So,” he starts conversationally, as he presses the ice to the back of Lloyd’s ear. “What did bring this on? And don’t give me the teen rebellion thing — seriously, this time.”

Lloyd hesitates, then sighs. He bites his lip, his eyes staring somewhere beyond the ceiling. “I dunno,” he mutters. “I just remembered, the other day, that I’d thought they were super cool as a kid.”

Kai stifles the urge to remind him that he’s still a kid, and continues to listen instead, nodding at him to go on.

Lloyd makes a face. “I don’t know. The mission today was — it was dumb, and I didn’t like how I felt afterwards, so I guess I wanted to do something stupid.”

“Ah,” Kai exhales quietly. He’d had a feeling it was about the mission, but he couldn’t be sure. It hadn’t even been that bad, on the whole, but the sound of Cole’s head cracking against the floor was enough to escalate it right into terrible territory.

Kai’s still thanking his stars that Cole’s got such a thick head. Concussions aren’t fun, even when they do have the chance to treat them immediately.

“I just…I thought maybe it’d be nice to mess up on purpose, for once,” Lloyd continues, his voice quiet. “When I wasn’t trying not to.”

Kai’s frown deepens at that one, his hand hovering where he’s caught the edge of Lloyd’s ear, his thumb pressed against the end of the needle. His sudden concerns over Lloyd’s potentially earring-destroying, Oni/dragon blood are swept away by the plaintively depressing tone Lloyd’s using. He opens his mouth, then shuts it, hesitating.

He understands the sentiment, of course — probably too well to really put into words. Kai’s not exactly a stranger to messing up. He’s definitely not a stranger to beating yourself up after you mess up, either. He also understands, too well, how it can all build up sometimes — the constant fear of failure, the pressure not to mess up.

Sometimes you’re just struck with the irrational desire to mess up on purpose out of pure spite. Kai gets that. And Lloyd’s at least rational enough to pick something that won’t hurt anyone, and is more likely to get a laugh out of them all, if anything. Kai tries not to roll his eyes fondly.

Plus, Kai would be lying if he said it doesn’t warm his heart that Lloyd’s come to him for it. Which he should, of course, Kai’d better have first dibs on Lloyd’s first piercing, but still. The sentiment, and all.

“Well,” Kai finally says, realizing he’s left Lloyd hanging. “I don’t know about messing up, because this looks pretty rad. But it was definitely your call, so remember to tell Sensei that when he sees it.”

“Yeah, sure.” Lloyd takes a breath, squeezing his eyes shut. “Okay, I’m ready. Stab my ear, Kai.”

“I already did, moron. Did you miss what I just said?”

Lloyd’s eyes pop open, and he blinks. “Huh? For real?”

“Told you,” Kai snorts. “Ninja pain tolerance. Ear piercing’s got nothing on Cole when he scores a hit on you in practice.”

Lloyd’s frozen for a moment, then he scurries over to the mirror, brushing his lengthening hair away so he can get a proper look at it. Kai hovers behind him, suddenly slightly anxious.

“Do you, um, do you like it? You can always take it out, if you don’t. It’ll close over on its own, and you can like, get an actual professional to do it—”

“Shut up, Kai, I love it,” Lloyd beams, tracing his finger over the little silver stud. “I look cool.”

Kai lets out a tiny breath of relief, smirking in satisfaction instead. “As close to cool as you can get, beansprout.”

“Whatever,” Lloyd rolls his eyes, before returning to admiring himself in the mirror. “You’re just jealous I have a super cool piercing, and you don’t.”

“Hey, I gave you that piercing,” Kai scowls. “Just wait until my ear finally heals, I’ll show you cool.”

“Gee, yeah, I can’t wait to see what cheap skull earring you infect yourself with this time.”

“Alright buddy, you’re toeing it dangerously close to the line,” Kai grabs Lloyd in a headlock, digging his knuckles into Lloyd’s thick hair as he yelps, struggling to pull himself free.

“Ow, hey, Kai, watch my ear—”

“Little jerk,” Kai finally releases him with a huff.

“Too bad you’re stuck with me forever,” Lloyd replies, making a face as he brushes his hair back into place.

“Plenty of time to watch you make more mistakes, then,” Kai replies, easily.

Lloyd briefly tenses up, his expression working. Kai slings an arm around his shoulder, briefly squeezing.

“It wasn’t your fault, Lloyd,” he says, gently. “Cole’s gonna tell you the same thing, ten times over.”

“Y-yeah, okay,” Lloyd murmurs, staring at the rug. “I got it.”

Kai eyes him for a brief moment, then shakes his head, carefully flicking the edge of his ear. “This, however? Is definitely your fault. So don’t go selling me out when Sensei bites your head off for it.”

“I’m not a sellout,” Lloyd huffs. “This’ll be nothing. Wait ’til you see what he says about my tattoo, that’ll be the real meltdown.”

Kai barks a laugh out at that, sweeping the cotton balls back into the bag. He then pauses, Lloyd’s word choice hitting him.

“Hey, what do you mean, your tattoo.”

“Oh, would you look at the time—”

“Lloyd, I swear to FSM, if you went and got a tattoo without me—”

#answered #ninjago #lloyd garmadon #kai smith #tumblr pleASE format this right for once #my fic #bees-go-buzz

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heyyyharry · 5 years ago

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Chapter 5: Wolves

(from ‘The Conman and the Maid’ Series)

…in which Harry thinks dealing with hungry wolves might be easier than dealing with an angry girl.

Word count: 10.7k 🔥

Warning: SMUT (but y’all already know), lots of fluff (if that’s what you’re afraid of) and angst (?).

AU: princess!y/n, conman!harry, prisoner!harry.

Series description: Y/N is a princess and Harry is a prisoner in her castle. With his help, she escapes from her arranged marriage in search of a happy ending, if there is one.

Wattpad link (original character: Reyna as Y/N)

A/N: Let me know what you think about this chapter and what you expect for the next one! For those who asked me how many chapters there would be in total, I honestly don’t know lmao. I just plan the story as I write and it has changed a lot from the first outline. But I will see your reactions and comments and decide if there should be a second book✌️ Enjoy!

Y/N used to fear the woods. She had heard many creepy tales about it as a child and there was nothing worse than a little girl’s imagination. As she grew up, however, she learned that there were worse fears than imaginary monsters. Real monsters were the ones you saw every day in human forms, and so she always felt safer when she was alone.

It was different with Harry. She had enjoyed his company more than any other, and the trip had been pleasant until he ruined it with a stupid kiss. Her mother had always talked about how magical the first kiss would be if it was given to the right person. “No matter how clumsy, simple, or crazy it is, nothing else would ever compare. And even if you’ve never been kissed before, you’d just know you would never experience something like this again with anyone else.”

Y/N kept replaying those words inside her head when she ran from the house. She could not believe she had lost her first kiss to someone who didn’t even want it. And the worst part was, she had felt exactly how her mother had described.

No, don’t be stupid, she told herself, you barely know this man. He’s still hung up on someone else, possibly the true love of his life. So don’t even think about it.

The howling of the wolves in the distance pulled Y/N out of her thoughts. She slowed her horse, feeling the darkness drawing closer and gradually engulfing the two of them. She and Thunder had gone pretty far from the village and she had no idea where they were now. The silvery moon was obscured by the full branches above and she had to squint in order to see the path they were on.

“I think we’ve gone far enough, boy,” Y/N told Thunder as they stopped to navigate. “If we die today, it’s Harry Styles’ fault.”

Thunder pawed the ground as if to agree and Y/N pulled the reins, turning the gelding around. She’d only run into the woods to be alone and maybe give Harry a good scare. She hoped he felt guilty about what he’d done. Being hurt by someone he loved was not an excuse to hurt someone else who cared about him.

She kicked her horse and followed the same path back to the village, head filled with many different scenarios for when she saw Harry again, what she would say or do to him. Maybe she shouldn’t say or do anything at all. Maybe a silent treatment was exactly what he deserved.

Satisfied with the thought, she raced faster. She could finally see the lights in Stefan’s house, thinking she would get there in no time. But all of a sudden, Thunder reared and neighed loudly. The princess was thrown right off his back. Her body hit the snow. She groaned in pain and struggled to sit up, but the first thing she saw was a big white wolf jumping right at her. She screamed. The beast howled and collapsed right on top of the princess as an arrow went straight into its head.

“Peach!”

“Harry!”

Stefan arrived on Lighting with Harry and shot down another one so Harry could get off and help Y/N. She pushed the animal’s body off her just in time another wolf jumped in. Thunder killed it with a hard kick in the throat, rearing and neighing aggressively to scare off the rest of the pack and protect his rider.

Y/N’s head was still spinning. Somehow she managed to draw out her sword and take down another wolf before Harry grabbed her by the arm and helped her get on Lightning’s back.

“What are you doing?!” she screamed when he let go. Stefan held her tightly as she attempted to jump off while Harry told them to go without him.

“Wait, stop! Stop! We cannot leave Harry!”

Her screaming was pointless. Neither of the men cared about what she said as Stefan kicked Lightning and rode off like the wind.

“Harry will be fine! Lightning is injured, we cannot risk it!”

He sounded so sure that she wanted to believe him. She had to believe him. She looked back over her shoulder, eyes filled with tears and kept telling herself, Harry will be fine. Harry will be fine. Harry will be fine…

Harry watched them go and quickly mounted the black horse. Thunder took a giant leap to free them from the wolves, but one was fast enough to catch up with them. It bounced at Harry. His blade went straight for its head, right as its sharp claws dug into his arm. Its body fell onto the snow, and Thunder kept prancing across the open field, back to the village.

Harry’s arm was covered in blood when he got back to the house, and he immediately went to the stable to rinse his fresh wound. The pain made him want to cry, but it was better to clean it than have it infected. Before going in, he tore a piece of his shirt and wrapped it around his arm. He didn’t want to let Y/N know he was hurt.

To his disappointment, she didn’t seem very concerned when he entered. She and Stefan were sitting by the fireplace. The room was too peaceful compared to the chaotic scene earlier.

Harry took a long moment to watch them from the door. The physical pain was nothing now that he’d seen Y/N shaking in Stefan’s arms. He knew she might not want to hear his apology; still, he owed her one. He just didn’t know where to begin.

“Were you hurt?” Stefan looked up at him.

“No,” he lied and quickly hid his wounded arm behind his back.

Stefan only gave a nod before turning back to Y/N. “You’re okay now,” he whispered. “I got you.”

She let go of a shaky breath, holding Harry’s gaze for no more than a second before looking away. “Can you get the cloak in my satchel for me? I’m cold.”

Harry assumed she was talking to him, so he walked over to the table and took her leather satchel. As he pulled out the cloak, something else fell out, causing them to freeze altogether. Y/N and Harry blanched as Stefan widened his eyes at the shiny object now lying on the floor.

“Is that...a crown?” He swallowed, gawking at his friend and then Y/N, but neither could give him a response. He let go of the girl and bent down to pick it up. After taking one long look at it to make sure it was real, he shot Harry a glare. “What have you done?”

“That was--”

“Mine,” Harry interrupted Y/N and ignored the look on her face as he told Stefan, “I stole it from Willem’s castle.”

“What?!” Stefan’s mouth fell open. “You fucking stole a king’s crown?!”

“It belongs to the princess, actually,” Y/N mumbled, eyes on Harry, who was studying Stefan’s expression to decide if he should go on.

“I stole from them and they had me locked up,” he said. “I was going to be executed but Peach helped me escape and in return, I promised to take her back to Theros.”

“Does it mean Willem’s men are after you two?!”

Harry replied with a nod. That was clearly not the answer Stefan was hoping for.

“We’re so sorry we didn’t tell you sooner,” Y/N said as the colours drained out of Stefan’s face. “But we’ll leave tomorrow. We won’t trouble you anymore.”

“You can’t. Lightning needs at least two more days to heal,” Stefan said, looking at Y/N and then Harry. “Don’t worry. I won’t abandon you two.”

“Thank you, brother. I owe you this once.” Harry smiled. He put the crown back into the satchel and handed Y/N her cloak, but it seemed like she didn’t need it anymore.

She wrapped both arms around Stefan’s neck, mumbling “thank you” as he chuckled and hugged her back tightly. Harry stood there awkwardly. He felt like he was interrupting their moment, so he left the cloak on a chair and quietly left. He didn’t think they noticed that he was gone, and he tried not to be upset, but he was. He was bitter, too.

He went back to the stable to check on Thunder and Lightning. He didn’t really have to though. They were doing much better than him, and at least they had each other. He was alone. Now he couldn’t stop thinking about what could’ve been if he hadn’t kissed her. He could’ve lost her tonight. He felt so fucking stupid.

After a moment of self-reflection, Harry returned to the house and stayed outside until the cold became unbearable and he had to come back in, only to find Y/N and Stefan cuddling on the mattress on the floor. They were fast asleep. Watching them triggered something in him, though he wasn’t sure what it was, it wasn’t something he was supposed to feel. So he tried to shut it down by pretending he was fine and decided to go to sleep.

He came to lie down on his side next to Y/N. He lay still while staring at her face, mostly her lips, where his lips had been, and then recalled the feelings he’d been dying to shake off.

By the time his eyelids grew heavy, he had memorised every feature on her lovely face. The rhythm of her breathing eased his mind, slowly and easily sending him to sleep.

Harry was so exhausted he slept until noon. When he woke up, Y/N and Stefan were gone. Stefan had left him some food on the table but he didn’t bother to touch it. He wasn’t hungry. He was worried.

He wasn’t a team player, but suddenly he hated how they had excluded him from whatever they were doing at the moment. Neither had bothered to wake him up so he could join them, even though he had literally saved their arses last night in the woods.

Not knowing what else to do or where else to go, he sat at the door and waited for them like a sad puppy. A few hours later, Stefan returned with a cart full of wood.

“Sleep well?” he asked, but Harry didn’t bother to answer.

“Where’s Peach?”

“I don’t know.” Stefan gave a shrug. “She was here when I left the house.”

“What?!” Harry was about to run when Stefan held him back by the arm.

“Don’t worry. She left her stuff here so she probably went for a walk or something.”

Harry gave a nod as his brows furrowed but he actually felt relieved.

“I’ll be staying with my cousin tonight,” Stefan said as Harry helped him unload the cart. “She’s pregnant and she needs someone to look after her and the baby while her husband is away.”

“Oh, it’s all right. Peach and I will be fine on our own,” Harry said.

“My cousin owned an alehouse,” Stefan added. “Rain said she had never been to one so I’m going to take her there. You could come with us if you want.”

Harry stopped as soon as he heard. ‘You could come with us if you want’? Since when did they become an ‘us’ and he became someone who just ‘came along’?

Inside, he was fuming, but he covered it up with a smile and said, “I’d love to come,” and didn’t forget to add, “just so you know, Peach cannot drink.”

“We’ll make sure she won’t.” Stefan smiled, completely ignorant of Harry’s attitude. “Watch the cart for me.”

“Okay,” Harry said as he ran his hands over his face.

As Stefan carried some wood inside, Harry took the chance to pull up his sleeve to check the wound. It didn’t look any better, especially in the daylight. The blood had dried but it was redder and aching more than last night. He didn’t know how long it would take for such a wound to heal, but he might not be able to hide it until then.

“How’s your wound?”

“Fuck, Stefan! You scared me!” Harry gasped as he tucked down his sleeve but it was no use as Stefan had already seen it.

Stefan arched an eyebrow at nodded his head toward Harry’s arm. “It looks bad. I’ll get you some herbs to put on it and it’ll heal faster.”

“Thank you.”

“I think if Peach knew—”

“It’s Rain for you.” Harry picked up his sword and strapped it to his waist, glaring at the poor fellow who had to correct himself.

“Sorry. Rain.” He smiled. “If Rain knew you got wounded, she wouldn’t be mad at you anymore.”

“No.” Harry shook his head as he put up a finger. “If you tell her, I would literally kick your arse.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t want her to think I’m this...this weak bastard who cannot protect her,” Harry blurted as his eyes fell to the floor and his cheeks turned pink. It wasn’t like him to admit something like this aloud, but Stefan only chuckled.

“From what I saw last night, she doesn’t need anyone’s protection.”

“That’s what she wants you to think,” Harry said and turned to head for the stable.

Stefan quickly followed. “What were you two fighting about anyway? It seemed serious.”

“It’s none of your business.” Harry rolled his eyes.

Stefan didn’t give up. He rushed forward to stand in front of Harry and both men stopped before reaching the stable doors.

“I’m going to court her.”

“What?” Harry scoffed. “No, you’re not.”

“I wasn’t asking.”

“Neither was I.”

Confused and a little bit offended, Stefan followed Harry as he kept on walking. He didn’t wait for Stefan to ask and just continued, “I don’t think Peach is interested in romantic bullshit at the moment, brother. She’s going to Theros with me to reunite with her uncle. That’s where her heart’s at.”

“I can give her a good life here,” Stefan insisted. “It’s not safe for her in Theros nor Isolde. I’ll take good care of her.”

“You barely know her.”

“And you do?”

“Better than you ever will.” Harry exhaled sharply as he walked into the stable, towards Lightning’s stall.

The horse neighed happily when she saw him. Risking their lives for the same girl had really helped them bond, even though they didn’t receive the same treatment for it. Harry supposed Y/N had come to check on Lightning earlier that morning, but she didn’t even want to look him in the eye or bother to ask him if he’d been hurt too. Though he believed he deserved that, he was heavy-hearted still.

“She’ll have a family, Harry,” Stefan spoke after Harry had stopped giving him attention.

Without looking at him, Harry lowered his voice, “she has a family in Theros. She’ll be happy there.”

“What if her uncle is dead? Have you thought of that?”

The question froze Harry to the spot. He stopped petting Lightning and looked over his shoulder to meet Stefan’s worrying eyes.

“She hasn’t met him in so many years. He could’ve died in the war like my whole family, Harry. She’d be risking her life for nothing.”

Harry’s eyes fell to the ground. He was quiet for a moment and then squeezed his eyes shut.

“I said no,” he said. “A marriage doesn’t always bring a woman comfort and happiness. Peach grew up in Willem’s court so she knows that better than anyone.”

“Just because it didn’t work out between you and Kenny it doesn’t mean it’d be the same for everyone else.”

Stefan’s face went pallid as soon as he realised what he’d just said. He expected Harry to draw out his sword and stab him right in the guts. But surprisingly, Harry didn’t say a word. He already knew him being against Stefan courting Y/N had nothing to do with Kenny. And maybe it had never been about Kenny...

“Hey.”

The soft voice pulled their attention back to the entrance. Y/N stood there with her eyes wide, but she didn’t look at Harry for more than a second before turning back to their friend. “I’m ready. Let’s go.”

“Where were you, Peach?” Harry asked, but she completely ignored him.

“Is it far from here?” she asked Stefan, who awkwardly scratched the back of his head as he saw the irritation on Harry’s face.

“No, we can go on foot,” he said and repeated the same question, “where were you?”

“I went to the market.” She smiled. “Everyone was so nice to me even though they don’t know me. I wish I could stay here forever.”

When Y/N walked out, Stefan hurriedly followed. He was grinning from ear to ear but Harry couldn’t even move his lips. What did she mean by that? Would she even consider staying here with Stefan if he asked? After all, family and love were two things she’d been searching for, and she could have both if she stayed.

He exchanged looks with Lightning who seemed to understand the situation he was in. She snorted and shook her head, making him chuckle.

“This is not about me. This is about Peach reuniting with her uncle,” he told the horse and rolled his eyes when she turned away. Maybe even she could tell he was just lying to himself.

“Are these people friends? What are they laughing about?”

“They’re drunk, genius,” Harry scoffed, making Y/N glare at him.

“Wow, you weren’t kidding when you said you’d never gone to a place like this.” Stefan chuckled as he took them to an empty table in the corner.

Harry rolled his eyes, pushing his way through the crowded room as he followed Stefan and got annoyed by almost everything he saw. He had always loved this kind of atmosphere, but he wasn’t in the mood to have fun tonight, not when Y/N wasn’t talking to him, and Stefan could pop the ‘big question’ any minute.

Why did he even care though? It would save him so much trouble if she agreed to stay here? He would make it home faster on his own, and once he’d crossed the South’s border, he’d be safe. Willem had no authority in Theros and, therefore, had no right to arrest him. That would be the perfect picture, and yet, one big puzzle piece was still missing.

He looked at the girl -- the burden he’d been wanting to get rid of since they met outside his cell. Now given a chance, why did he hesitate? If he’d been so sure it was simply lust that drove him to kiss her, then how should he explain this -- the way his heart started racing and him forgetting to breathe whenever their eyes met?

He had felt something similar with Kenny, but definitely not the same, never as intense. And suddenly he feared that he might never get to feel it again if they ever parted.

“I’m getting an ale.” He quickly got up. “You two want some?”

“I’ll have one, please,” Stefan happily said.

“Is it good?” Y/N asked Stefan, her eyes went round, making him laugh.

“It is. Do you want to try? Bet you’d love it.”

“Oh, then I’ll have one as well!”

Harry scrunched up his nose as he looked at her. “Peach, you cannot drink.”

“You know what?” She smiled at Stefan and stood up instantly. “I’ll get it myself.”

As Y/N made her way towards the bar, Harry and Stefan exchanged looks with each other. Stefan was rather confused whereas Harry was frustrated. He combed his fingers through his hair and flopped back down onto his chair.

“You should go after her,” he told Stefan, not even looking at him. “You want to court her, right? The least you could do is keep an eye on her.”

“Right!” Stefan plastered a smile on his face and patted Harry on the back. “Thanks, brother. I’ll be right back.”

Harry was finally left alone at the table to regret the things he’d just said. He should’ve come with her, and now Stefan was going to have a chance to shoot his shot.

“Fuck, I don’t care,” he murmured and crossed his arms in front of his chest, pouting like a little boy.

“Hey, handsome.” As a shadow towered over him, he looked up and wasn’t too surprised to see a familiar face.

“Hey,” he said in an indifferent tone, thinking the girl would take it as a sign to leave him alone. But she didn’t. She pulled up a chair and sat down next to him, resting her chin on her knuckles as she studied his hardened expression.

“Where’s Stefan?” she asked.

“Don’t know,” he answered, sounding rather bored, but she wasn’t offended.

“When did you get back?”

He stayed quiet this time. Honestly, he didn’t even remember her name. He had only met her once when he was here the last time. Stefan had said she was the most attractive girl in the village and he must admit it was true. Still, he’d turned her down for he’d been loyal to Kenny back then. Now? He didn’t really know...

“I’m so sorry about your girl.”

This time, she’d got his full attention. He turned to see her arrogant smirk and released a slight laugh. “Did Stefan tell you?”

“He couldn’t help it,” she said in a seductive tone while circling the back of his hand with her finger. “I have my ways with men.”

“Not all men.”

“Wanna bet?”

He could. After all, he was single now. He could take her to the back, bend her over and fucked her good. He hadn’t been with anyone in so long, so a night with this girl didn’t sound like a bad idea. But after thinking for a second or two, he said, “how about we talk for a bit?”

“Talking isn’t my thing,” she said, “but whatever pleases you, love. We’ve got all night.”

She kissed him on the cheek, got up and told him she’d be back with some ales. This is good, he thought, I’m going to have a great night, and nothing can stop me from having fun. But then his eyes travelled across the room to where Stefan and Y/N were, and suddenly it didn’t feel as good anymore.

The girl returned with drinks for both of them. They talked about random things and he had to beat around the bush whenever she came close to asking him questions about Kenny or his family. He had never been comfortable talking about them to someone he barely knew. Y/N had been an exception. He didn’t understand why, but it was always different with her.

“Who was the girl that came here with you?”

“A friend,” he said, wanting to turn around to check on Y/N and Stefan, but the voice inside his head told him not to.

“She’s really pretty,” said the girl, who was slightly tipsy now. “Is Stefan courting her?”

“No. Does it look like it to you?”

“Well, yeah? Why are you so offended?” She laughed and poked his dimple with her finger. “Are you jealous, handsome?”

“Not.”

“You soooo are.”

“Whatever.” He snorted, rolling his eyes. “I’m not having a debate with a drunk lady.”

“I’m not drunk. She is drunk.”

“Huh?”

The girl gave a shrug and Harry snapped his head to where her finger was pointing at. Stefan and Y/N were laughing loudly with a bunch of middle-aged men. Her face was bright red and Harry had seen her blush too often to mistake her being drunk for her usual shyness.

“I fucking told him not to let her drink!” He slammed his hand on the table, making the girl flinch. He was sure she commented something on his reaction, but he didn’t hear it as his jaw dropped and his eyes popped out.

Y/N was listening to Stefan’s story when one of the men took advantage of her distraction and groped her breast. She instantly snatched his wrist, bending his arm backwards until he started shouting in pain.

“I’ll finish your ale then!” said the girl as Harry got up, but he couldn’t care to reply. He swiftly made his way to Y/N before something worse happened like he knew it would.

“Touch me again and I’d break your arm!”

“This little bitch!”

Y/N caught the man’s other wrist before he could slap her, and before anyone could react, she thrust her knee right into his crotch and he collapsed onto the floor, grunting while holding his balls. Another fat guy stepped up but Harry was fast enough to take his hunting knife and put it to his throat.

“You lay a finger on the lady and I’ll slaughter you and your friends like pigs, ya hear me?” he murmured into the man’s ear, pressing the blade harder until he begged him to stop.

“Ay!” shouted the big lady behind the counter, “no fighting in my house! Take it outside!”

“I’m sorry, Harry—”

“It’s okay, Stefan.” Harry sighed as he shoved the man out of the way. He was angry at Stefan for being careless but he knew it wasn’t entirely his fault.

“You stay here with your cousin,” he told Stefan. “I’ll take Peach back to your house.”

“What are you doing?” the princess cried out when Harry grabbed her hand and pulled her with him. “No! I’m having fun! Stop making me go! I don’t want—”

She let out a high-pitched scream when he picked her up and tossed her on his shoulder.

“Let. Me. Go!” She hit him with each word but he was unfazed.

“There’s nothing to see here, folks! Enjoy your ale!” he told everyone, carrying her on his shoulder and heading for the entrance.

Once they had left, the big lady, who was Stefan’s cousin, turned to him and said, “give them another month into marriage and they’ll eat each other alive.”

“What is wrong with you?!”

Y/N shoved Harry away as soon as he put her down on the bed. He sat down on the edge of it, eyebrows knitted together as he looked at her.

“What is wrong with you?” he asked. “You knew you couldn’t drink and still—”

“I was fine!”

“You caused a scene! We’re supposed to lay low!”

“A man touched me without my consent and it was my fault?!”

“No, it’s not,” he breathed, reaching out to touch her knee, but she turned her back to him. “Peach…”

“Leave me alone.”

“You know I didn’t mean that. That man clearly deserved it,” he said and placed his hand on the mattress right beside her. “I just...I just didn’t want you to get hurt. If anyone knew why we’re here—”

“I know, okay?” She slowly turned her head to look over her shoulder, holding his gaze. He didn’t know what he should expect her to say, but he was surprised when she told him, “I just wanted to feel like a normal person for once.”

And that was when it hit him. He was wrong. She hadn’t done those things to pay him back for stealing her first kiss. She just wanted to feel ‘normal’.

He wouldn’t understand what it was like to spend his childhood within high walls, but he knew it wasn’t pleasant. She had never got to do the things he and Stefan and the people in that alehouse had been doing their whole life. And now he felt like shit for thinking everything was about him.

He wanted to tell her there was no such thing called ‘normal’ in this world, and there was nothing wrong with her, but he stayed silent and gave a nod before moving his hand back to his knee.

“Can you get Stefan for me?” she asked.

He didn’t know why that question made him sad, but he managed to keep a straight face. “Stefan’s not coming home tonight. He’s staying with his cousin.”

“Oh…”

“I can stay here with you.”

“I don’t want you here,” she blurted, her forehead creased. “In fact, I don’t think I want to go back to Theros with you.”

“Peach—”

“I’ve thought about it. Either I stay here or I go alone. We can’t be around each other anymore.”

“You’re saying this because you’re drunk.”

“No, I’m saying this because you fucking used me!”

Harry’s mouth clamped shut as his eyes shifted to his lap. He already could have guessed that was how she’d been feeling since last night, but to hear her say it aloud really made him feel worse.

“You kissed me because you needed to get over another girl,” Y/N said, her voice was taut. “You stole my first kiss and called it a mistake, so you’re just as bad as the other men. Maybe Stefan is the same too. I don’t know him that well and I’m too afraid to find out.”

“Are you falling for him?” The question escaped Harry’s lips before he could hold it back. He looked up and saw her eyes widened at him.

“Why does it matter?” she asked. “So what if I am?”

“Don’t.”

“What?”

“Don’t fall for him...please.”

Harry pressed his lips together, taking a moment to rearrange his thoughts but they were all over the place, and if he opened his mouth, he might say something stupid again.

“Why? What’s wrong with Stefan?” This time, her voice was low and unhurried. She was cautious, which made him mad, for she should never be cautious around him.

“No, he’s a nice guy. There’s nothing wrong with him,” he finally uttered as his eyes fell to the floor.

Y/N shifted and tilted her head to look at his face. “Then why?”

“Because…” Harry breathed. He had no idea what was in the ale, but he couldn’t seem to stop blurting out everything that was on his mind. “Because I don’t want you to.”

As she stared at him with the biggest frown on her face, he guessed it wasn’t what she wanted to hear.

“You don’t want me, and you don’t want me to want someone else,” she said, her forehead puckered. “Why are you so selfish?”

“You’re drunk. We’ll talk when you’re sober.”

“I’m not drunk.”

“Yes, you are.”

“I’m not! Don’t believe me?”

Quickly, she got off the bed and picked up their swords from the table. He watched in confusion as she placed them on the floor to make a straight line and stood up, spread her arms and started walking on them.

“Can a drunk person do this?” she asked, walking back and forth about four times without losing her balance. “Watch. Can a drunk person do this?”

Harry let out a suppressed chuckled which stopped her in her tracks.

“Oh, you think this is funny?”

“Peach.”

“Stop it.” She shrugged her arm away as he attempted to grab her elbow. “I don’t like that name. You’re not allowed to call me that anymore.”

“All right. Would you prefer sweet Peach or grouchy Peach, because you could be both?”

She opened her mouth but was unable to utter a word as he closed the distance between them and cupped her face.

“If you don’t want to, don’t do it,” she warned him as he leaned in. He hesitated as if to think before running his thumb across her bottom lip.

“I want to,” he said. “Do you...do you want me to?”

She was blushing harder than before, not knowing what the right answer should be, but eventually, she gave in to temptation. She granted him permission with a nod, and he wasted no time to press his mouth against hers.

Their second kiss started off slow and became more eager as he ran his hands up her back and she had her fingers tightened in his hair. They moved backwards until he plopped back down on the edge of the bed. He held her hips as she straddled his waist, hands at the nape of his neck. Her body tensed when he put his tongue into her mouth, and he had to pull back and ask, “was that all right?”

She nodded, licking her lip. “Sorry...I’ve never—”

“It’s okay. You’re doing great.” He beamed and kissed her again.

It took a lot of courage for him to bring his hand between them and touch her breast. After what had happened tonight, he wasn’t sure if it was okay, but when she reacted with a moan, he went ahead and squeezed it gently, brushing his thumb over her nipple as it went hard under her poet shirt.

He was already sweating, as if there was a fire starting from the pit of his stomach and spreading across his entire body. He could blame it on all those months he’d been alone, but he was well aware that this was something he’d never felt before. When he touched Kenny like this for the first time, it had been sweet and tender, but this felt like all the best emotions converged at once and exploded like fireworks inside his chest.

“Harry…” Y/N tossed her head back as he started kissing her neck. Their skin was hot and slick. The fire painted the whole room red and orange, but he could see her whole face and her chest flush as if she’d spent a whole day in the sun.

When he moaned into her throat and bucked his hips, he didn’t even realise he was doing it. She had to place a hand on his chest to stop him.

“What’s wrong?” He freaked out, his eyelids fluttered as he brushed her hair out of her face. “Did I hurt you?”

She shook her head, her chest rising and falling against his as she sucked in a breath and pointed between them. It was only then that he noticed the bulge in his pants firmly pressing up against her centre.

“Fuck…” he cursed, resting his forehead on her chest. He could feel her body stiffen and knew this had freaked her out quite a bit. He was well aware that he was massive, and she had never experienced this with a man before.

“Does it hurt?” she asked.

He cleared his throat, trying not to laugh so she wouldn’t feel bad for her innocence.

“A little, but it’s a good thing.” She still seemed confused, so he elaborated, “it only gets like this because...because I...um...because I want...”

Normally he wasn’t afraid to talk dirty to a girl who was literally sitting on his dick, but this one had never kissed anyone beside him, and he didn’t want to scare her by being too straightforward.

“Because you want me?”

The way she said those words while batting her long lashes made his cock bloat and twitch in his pants. Fuck, he wanted her. He wanted her so bad. He already imagined tearing off her clothes and fucking into her, but he knew he couldn’t have her that way. She was a virgin and they couldn’t go further than this.

“I’m sorry, love,” he said, taking her hips and shifting her away from his cock. Both of them were still blushing and catching their breath. “We can stop. It’s okay.”

“What if I don’t want to stop?” She bit her bottom lip, staring attentively at his mouth. “What if...what if I want you, too?”

Harry was tongue-tied. He felt like he couldn’t move a single muscle in his body so he honestly didn’t know what to do next. He didn’t expect her to be so bold, and he assumed it was the ale that had turned her into this.

What the fuck did they put into that thing?!

“What are you doing?” He caught her hands as she reached for his belt.

“I want to make you feel good,” she said quietly. He was still in shock to hear her say that, but she didn’t wait for him to speak and went on, “I’ve never done this before but--but they taught me how so I want to try.”

“Who taught you?”

Seeing the surprised look on his face, she gave a lopsided grin and nibbled on her bottom lip. “The ladies in the castle.”

“Fuck, they teach women this stuff?” He held her arms as they both dissolved into laughter.

She arched her neck for him to mouth at her throat. Her fingers were in his hair, her eyes were closed but she kept on talking, “they said every lady must know how to please her man, but I’ve never taken those lessons seriously so I might be awful at it.”

‘Her man.’ The words made him shudder, in a good way, and he didn’t know how to feel about that.

“But what were you learning that stuff for?” he asked, disgusted by the first thought that popped up in his head, “don’t tell me you have to please that bastard Egon--”

“Eww, God, no!” She snorted, shaking her head fast. “For when I’m married. If my husband is happy, then I’m happy, right?”

“You don’t have to be married to be happy,” he said.

“It depends on who you’re marrying.” She smiled.

Harry said nothing else as he caressed her cheeks. He thought about what Stefan had said earlier in the stable and felt a lump in his throat as he imagined attending their wedding one day. It was unlikely that she would say yes, but he didn’t know for sure.

“What is it?” Her voice brought him back to reality.

“Nothing,” he said, bringing their foreheads together and meeting her lips. He kissed her harder with more passion as if he feared he could never do it again, and only stopped when she reached for his belt again.

She was disappointed when he pulled her hands away and brought them to his lips. He looked up and gave her a grin. “You have no idea how much I want you. But I can’t make you do this.”

“Can we still kiss though?” she asked shyly. “I like kissing you. It feels good.”

“I like kissing you, too.” He nudged her jaw with his nose and put his lips against her throat. “Does this feel good?”

“Hmm.” She urgently nodded. “Harry…I’m so wet.”

“Fuck.” He buried his face into her neck, one hand squeezing her arse, the other resting below her ear. “Say it again.”

“I’m so wet, Harry, please...”

“Why are you wet?”

“You know why,” she whimpered, holding his shoulders tighter.

Harry flipped them over to get on top while she was lying on her back. Before she could speak, he asked, “do you trust me?”

She answered with a nod and he pushed his lips to hers again. She put both hands on her chest as he removed her skirt and tugged down her underwear. “Tell me if it’s too much.”

When she nodded again, he kept his eyes steady on hers and lowered his lips to kiss the skin under her belly button. Her first instinct was to grab his hair as her stomach tightened and she chewed on the corner of her lip. He held one of her hands and waited until she finally loosened her grip on his hair to move further down, draping her knee over his shoulder.

He put one palm flat against her stomach and dragged it down, allowing his middle finger to graze across her slit slightly. She gasped, her eyes rolled back in pleasure. Harry watched her expression tighten as he slipped his middle finger into her and she gripped his hand, her other hand still in his hair. His fingers curled so he could push in deeper.

“How did you get this wet?” he breathed.

Y/N was panting, her lips sucked into her mouth and he smirked before sliding his tongue slowly against her, never breaking eye contact as he tasted her for the first time. She smelled so sweet, like everything he’d fantasized about and even more, and now that he’d had a taste, he didn’t know he could ever stop.

She fisted his hair tighter and breathed through an open mouth as he closed his lips around her clit and sucked before slipping in a second finger. He closed his eyes, letting himself get lost in his actions. He fucked her with his fingers while working his tongue enthusiastically, slurping up her wetness. She tilted her head and arched her back, calling out his name.

His mouth froze as she flexed around his fingers. He cursed against her clit, his warm breath tickling her wet core and nearly sending her over the edge. He knew she was close when she started squirming and bucking her hips against his face.

“Harry!”

Her thighs clamped around his head as she cried out, lifting her back off the mattress. She held fistfuls of his long locks while he rode it out with her, emptying her before pushing himself up between her legs and crashing his lips against hers. When she moaned against his tongue, he knew she could taste herself on his lips, and the thought had him going crazy.

“How are you feeling?” he asked with a tender smile.

“I’m so embarrassed.” She laughed and covered her face, but he quickly removed her hand so he could kiss the tip of her nose.

“Why are you embarrassed, love?”

“I was loud.”

The way her nose crinkled made his heart flutter.

“Well, I loved how loud you were.”

“Really?”

“Really,” he said, brushing his lips against hers until she started smiling again.

They lay face to face for a long moment, until the comfortable silence became overwhelmed and Y/N was the first to speak.

“Why did you come to Isolde?”

If another person had asked that question, Harry would’ve refused to answer, but since it was her, he spent a second thinking.

“My family was poor, very poor. My mother was sick, and we didn’t have enough money to get her a good doctor. I tried working as a blacksmith like my father, but it didn’t really help us, so I had to find a faster but riskier way to get money. It’s not something I’m proud of, but I’m good at it. I flirted with the ladies and stole their jewellery, fed the men’s egos for their shiny coins. I ended up getting a bad reputation back home so I had to leave Theros and go somewhere nobody knew who I was, where I could do what I do best. I wanted to return as a rich man and help my family.”

“That’s very sweet.” Y/N’s face lit up with a smile as she brushed his hair away from his eyes. “Don’t worry. With all the gold I’ve stolen, you’ll be the richest in your village when you get back.”

“Wow, look at us. Two sexy thieves,” he joked and they laughed together.

He really wanted to tell her he didn’t want her gold. She could keep everything she’d stolen once they’d arrived in Theros. He just wanted to take her home so she could reunite with her uncle, and maybe keep her around, if she let him.

He wasn’t sure about it. It was too soon to say anything, but all he knew was that he was happy at the moment, and he didn’t want it to be over just yet.

“What?” She lifted one eyebrow when his eyes bored into her.

“No, I’m just--” He snorted. “I’m just thinking of your face when you—”

“Stop it!” She cackled and swatted his arm, making him hiss and wince in pain.

“Are you okay?!” She hurriedly sat up as he did.

“It’s fine.”

“Let me see.”

“No,” Harry protested, but she’d already taken his hand and pulled up his sleeve. Her eyes nearly fell out of her head when she saw his swollen wound. And Harry knew there was nothing he could say now that would convince her he hadn’t got it from last night.

“Why didn’t you tell me?!”

“It’s nothing.”

“How could you say that?! Look at it!”

“I am. It’s fine.” He chuckled but his eyes stayed on her. He thought her reaction was funny and adorable at the same time, but he wasn’t going to say it as she might hit him again.

“What were you thinking?” Y/N grumbled. Harry said nothing as he pressed his mouth gently to her frown, trying to distract her but it didn’t work. “I was so fucking scared last night! You could have died! I knew at least you’d get hurt.”

“I thought it was heroic.” He popped his dimples, amused by how much it annoyed her. “Come on, Rain. Don’t be mad.”

“What did you call me?”

“Rain.” He gave a toothy grin. “You don’t like being called Peach, right?”

“Well...I changed my mind.” She crossed her arms and stuck up her nose, making him chuckle as he took her hand and kissed it once.

“Forgive me, Lady Peach.”

She rolled her eyes, smirking and scooting closer to take a better look at his wound.

“I wanted to ask if you were all right last night, but I was too proud to let you know I was worried,” she whispered and looked up into his eyes, “I thought you might not make it back and I was so scared.”

“I was scared too,” he admitted.

He guessed she might assume he was talking about being eaten by the wolves. But maybe it was for the best if she didn’t know he was scared of losing her.

When Y/N woke up the next morning, she was alone in bed. She wondered where Harry had gone, but then she heard his voice outside talking to someone and decided to go see who it was.

She stepped out into the sun, eyes squinted as she leaned against the door and saw him chatting with two girls outside the stable.

“Hey.”

“Stefan!” She flinched and turned around as Stefan gave a smile and apologised for scaring her.

“When did you get back?”

“Not so long before you woke up,” he said. “How are you feeling? Did you and Harry make up already?”

“Um...yeah…” The princess shyly tucked a strand behind her ear as she stuttered, “you could...you could say that.”

“Good. It felt weird that you two didn’t talk to each other,” Stefan said, but Y/N didn’t pay attention to reply.

“Who are they?” She furrowed her eyebrows, pointing to the girls Harry was talking to.

“Oh, those girls? They work for my cousin.”

“At the alehouse?”

“Yeah.” Stefan shrugged. “After Harry had left with you, they kept gushing about how ‘sexy’ he was when he threatened those men. I’m not surprised they came to see him first thing in the morning.”

“They both think he’s...sexy?” She tilted her head, pouting a little as she watched the three of them laugh together. It was obvious that those girls wanted Harry, and Y/N had never felt jealous until now.

“Harry gets that a lot from the ladies,” Stefan said. “He’s been with many women, but Kenny was the only one he’d ever loved. Poor Harry. He must be devastated.”

Y/N crossed her arms over her chest and grounded her jaw. “So...he’d never cared about the other girls he’d been with?”

“Of course not. But I’m sure they didn’t mind.” Stefan scoffed as he lifted his shoulders. “It’s probably different where you’re from, but it’s normal for most of us to lust after someone and not want to commit to that person. Harry can always separate romantic feelings from sexual pleasure, and Kenny was the only woman he’d slept with and had feelings for.”

“Oh...” Y/N muttered, feeling her heart gradually shrinking.

She used to think sex was something special between two people and only men like Egon would treat it as insignificant. Now that she knew most people were like that, it hurt more than she was willing to admit. She couldn’t risk falling for someone who might not ever feel the same. She had never tried, but she knew she couldn’t separate love from lust. With her life at risk, she didn’t want to deal with another heartbreak.

Nervously, she waited for the girls to kiss Harry goodbye to approach him. His smile grew twice as big the moment he saw her.

“Good morning!” he said happily. “Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah, did you?” she asked, and he nodded.

“Yeah. I woke up before sunrise but I didn’t want to wake ya.”

Y/N pressed her lips together as Harry took a deep breath. He waited for her to speak, but she didn’t, so he reached out to touch her hair, and she reacted quickly by stepping back, leaving him dumbfounded.

“Let’s talk about last night.”

His face fell instantly. “Oh, shit! I’m so sorry if--”

“No, no, don’t be.” She gave a timid smile. “I enjoyed it.”

Though he was smiling back, she could tell he was impatiently waiting for what came after, so she took a deep breath and went straight to the point. “I think we should both agree that it shouldn’t happen again.”

Harry blinked fast, he didn’t know what to say. It must have been as awkward for him as it was for her, so she was reluctant to go on.

“Yeah, it’s--” Y/N inhaled while fidgeting with her own fingers. “I know that people tend to separate romantic feelings from sexual feelings, but...I don’t think I can. And I--” She paused suddenly, looking up and meeting his worrying eyes. It was crazy how she could take some time to acknowledge how handsome he was, but she had to keep herself together and remember what was right for her. It was certainly not him.

“I don’t want to fall in love with you.”

Harry was taken aback, and so was Y/N herself. She didn’t think she could say it aloud, but now that she had, she didn’t regret it. She hid her trembling hands behind her back and continued, “this could get complicated if we took it any further, so maybe we should stay friends, because I really enjoy having you around.”

Harry pursed his lips as his forehead puckered. She didn’t know what was going through his mind right now, but the look he was giving her was so intense she could hear her heart beating in her ears.

“Okay,” he said at last, “let’s stay friends.”

He took it better than she’d expected. And for some reason, she was relieved and irritated at the same time.

Harry seemed to notice the way she kept chewing on her lip, so he joked, “did you mean you could fall in love with me?”

“Just take it as a compliment,” she said and gave his shoulder a nudge.

The corners of his mouth quirked up as he kept staring at her.

“What?” She chuckled.

“Can we still kiss?”

The question left her speechless, but she managed to keep her composure and cleared her throat. “No. But we can cuddle, like last night.”

“That works for me,” he said, flashing her a grin.

When silence had taken over, Y/N was so glad Stefan decided to interrupt. He came up to them with some flowers, and before Harry or Y/N could ask him what they were for, he gave them to her.

“I went to the woods this morning and got you these.”

“Oh my, these are beautiful!” Y/N sighed happily and clutched them with both hands. “Thank you, Stefan. I love them.”

Harry watched Y/N admire those flowers and felt his stomach tighten. Something didn’t feel right, especially when he saw how happy Stefan was with this little achievement. Although he’d agreed with her that they should only be friends, he hated to see Stefan showing her affection and her liking it.

Last night had been the happiest he’d been in a long time. And even though they had been tipsy and so unable to control themselves, he didn’t regret the things they had done. If they took it further, however, things might get complicated. He couldn’t do complicated. So this is for the best, he told himself.

But still, he couldn’t help but wonder if she remembered what he’d said about not wanting her to fall for Stefan. He assumed she didn’t, and it bothered him more than it should.

“Where are my flowers?” Harry jokingly asked Stefan. He hoped humour would cover up the fact that he was in a bad mood, and somehow it worked as Y/N took a flower and put it behind his ear.

“Here you go,” she said, smiling. “So pretty.”

The way she bit her lip and gently fixed his hair made his heart flutter and he didn’t even realise he was grinning like a fool. He watched her walk back to the house, thinking to himself, maybe this could work. Maybe they could be friends.

The wound on Lightning’s leg had healed and it was time for them to continue their journey to the South. They woke up at dawn the next day to prepare the horses and gather their things.

Stefan offered to take them to the next village, for he also had to go there to deliver wood and pick up a few other things. Y/N expected that they would spend the night at a friend’s house or at least in an inn, but Stefan told her straight away that they would stay in a brothel.

The princess had never thought one day she would have to visit a brothel. But consider the fact that she had lost her first kiss and let the same man who’d kissed her eat her out, anything could happen at this point.

“But is there no other option?” Y/N asked as she rode Thunder side by side with Harry.

Stefan rode his cart ahead of them as he turned his head and told the girl, “trust me, Willem’s men won’t be looking for you in a brothel.”

“Why?”

“Why would a maid go to a brothel?” Stefan scoffed.

“Peach would,” Harry joked and Y/N immediately kicked his leg as he broke into laughter.

They travelled for an entire day without stopping and managed to get there before sunset. They left their horses outside and followed Stefan into the two-storey house which looked decent on the outside, but dark and filthy on the inside.

Y/N walked close to Harry, hugging his arm and burying her nose into his coat. The foul smell of the place made her want to throw up, and she wondered how some men could spend every night at a place like this instead of home with their wives.

“How am I going to get laid if you keep holding me like this, Peach?” Harry joked, smirking as Y/N punched his shoulder and shoved him away. She knew a joke was just a joke, but the thought of him with one of those women, or anyone other women for that matter, made her skin crawl.

She walked faster to catch up with Stefan. He headed to the long counter where sat a big lady whose breasts were so large and clothes were so tight, Y/N wondered how she could even breathe. This woman must be the madam.

“Russo! Styles!”

“Wait, she knows you two?”

“Of course I know them, dear,” the madam told Y/N while sizing her up. “Are you one of my new girls?”

“She’s my friend. Her name is Rain,” Stefan said. “Rain, this is Leslie, the owner of the place.”

“Nice to meet you.” Y/N gave a small smile, but Leslie was too busy eyeing her up and down to return a smile.

“Oh, well. If you change your mind, Rain, we’d be glad to welcome you to our family,” Leslie said, making Harry snort and Y/N smacked him again.

“Is this your first time in a whorehouse, love?”

Y/N nodded, already blushing.

“Aww, look at that puppy dog face.” Leslie puckered up her thick lips and pressed her palms against her chest. “I like this girl. She’s so shy.”

“Not always,” Harry said, causing Y/N to shoot him a glare and he quickly locked his lips with an invisible key and tossed it over his shoulder.

“These boys used to come here all the time. They basically lived here for a while when they were fifteen, sixteen.” As Leslie proudly patted the men on the back, they both groaned and begged her to stop, but she didn’t. “Well, not here here. I used to own a brothel in Theros but I had to move away because of the war. It was bad for business. I’m telling ya, men would rather kill then pay to get fucked and I feel sorry for them.”

Leslie rolled her eyes and leaned forward, her breasts nearly spilling out of her tiny corset. “Thank God, my boy Russo still visits me once in a while. Styles, on the other hand, chose the boring life and stayed loyal to one girl. What was her name again? Candy?”

“Kenny.”

“Whatever.” She gave Stefan a wave. “Can you imagine? Sticking your dick in one hole for the rest of your life? Yuck.”

Seeing how frightened Y/N was, Harry stepped closer to her.

“Leslie is actually very nice,” he whispered into her ear while stroking her back.

But then Stefan spoke, “Harry and Kenny are not together anymore.”

“Stefan!” Harry cried out. “You need to stop telling everyone about my business!”

Despite Harry’s reaction, Leslie was overjoyed. She clapped her hands and shook her fists in excitement. “Perfect! There’s no heartbreak a threesome cannot solve! I’ll get you two best whores for tonight!”

“Actually, I--”

“Gerta! May!” Leslie shouted to the back and two beautiful women rushed out to meet their new potential customer.

“That’s very kind of you but I’m not here for this,” Harry said as the girls pulled him away from Y/N, running their hands all over his body.

Y/N freaked out when one of them pushed Harry onto a chair and straddled his waist as the other got down on her knees by his side to kiss his neck.

“Woah, woah, ladies!” he hissed when the girls removed his belt. The memories from two nights ago flashed before Y/N’s eyes and she turned away, fuming with jealousy.

“What about you two?” Leslie asked, switching her fingers back and forth between Y/N and Stefan. “I’m not sure if any of my girls is into ladies but--”

“No, no, no, we just want to rent two rooms for tonight,” Stefan said, giving Y/N a small smile as she seemed a bit terrified.

“No whore, just room?” Leslie asked.

“No whore, just room,” Stefan confirmed, laughing nervously.

“Well, we only have one room so--”

“We’ll take it,” Y/N said and snatched the key from Leslie’s hand before she could put it on the counter. “Thank you. And just to be clear, Harry is paying for those girls. We have nothing to do with that.”

“Oh...okay.” Leslie widened her eyes as she lifted her shoulders in a half shrug and got up from her chair. “Come on, sweets, I’ll show you the room.”

It was late, almost past midnight, and they still hadn’t heard from Harry.

“Rain, go to sleep,” Stefan said as he propped up on his elbow and found Y/N sitting on the bed, eyes fixed on the door.

The room was rather small and there was just enough space on the bed for one so he’d given that spot to her. She felt bad that he had to sleep on the floor while she got the bed and didn’t even want to use it. But it wasn’t her fault, it was Harry’s. It was all his fault for making her wait.

“What’s taking him so long?” she asked while fidgeting with the hem of her shirt.

Stefan lay back down, closing his eyes again. “Can’t you blame him though? He hadn’t slept with a woman in so long. Now he’s got two.”

“Well, I think he won’t spend the night with them,” Y/N said, but there was no response, and five seconds later she heard Stefan snoring softly.

She hugged her knees to her chest, still watching the door. Her eyelids felt heavier and heavier, and just before she was about to drift off, she heard footsteps ascending in the hallway.

That must be Harry, she thought and quickly climbed off the bed and lay down on the floor next to Stefan. She snuggled up to his side and pretended to sleep. Though she knew it was childish and stupid, and if Harry found out, she’d be so ashamed, she just had to know how he would react to her falling asleep with Stefan. She wanted him to be jealous, just like she had been.

She stilled as the handle shook gently and the door finally creaked open. Harry stepped in. She closed her eyes before he noticed that she was awake and heard the door shut and his footsteps stop right beside her.

She tried to steady her breathing, but her heart was pounding as she didn’t know what he was going to do. Surprisingly, Harry bent down and picked her up. She kept pretending to sleep as he carried her in his arms to the bed and gently laid her down on her side. She thought he would leave her there and sleep on the floor with Stefan. But then he lay down behind her and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her to his chest.

“I know you’re awake,” he suddenly spoke.

Y/N froze at once. Though she couldn’t see his face, she knew he was smirking with his eyes closed. And dear God, she had never been more embarrassed.

She took a moment to calm down and finally broke her silence, “you smell like those girls. Did they let you use their perfume?”

Harry responded with a quiet laugh. Why was he laughing? Was it because she sounded bitter? Did he think she was stupid? A thousand questions popped up in her head in that one split second before he answered, “that’s why I need to cuddle you, so I could smell like you.”

She could feel a smile in his voice and she tried to keep her composure by biting her bottom lip.

“I didn’t sleep with them,” he added. “I was drinking with Leslie.”

“I don’t care.”

“Yeah, it’s not like you were waiting for me to come and cuddle you or anything.”

“I wasn’t!” Y/N’s mouth fell agape as Harry released a low chuckle.

“Whatever you say.” He sighed, holding her tighter. “Go to sleep, Peach.”

While his chest was rising and falling steadily against her back, Y/N could feel his heart beating in sync with her own. She bit her lip to hold back a grin and turned her head slightly to look at his face, their lips were just an inch apart. She almost betrayed her own words and asked him to kiss her again.

“Good night,” she murmured.

Harry peeked with one eye, his dimples popped as he saw her face. “Good night, love.”

In her dream that night, Y/N saw her and Harry sitting in front of the fireplace, surrounded by complete darkness, no ceiling or walls or even a floor. It looked like they were just floating, and yet she felt warm and safe with his arm around her shoulders and him reassuring her that it would be all right.

When he kissed her, it felt so real, as if it was real. She didn’t know it was a dream until she couldn’t feel his lips nor his touch anymore.

“Harry?” she asked, pulling back to look at his face as it suddenly twisted, fear darkened his eyes.

“Wake up, Peach,” he said, his voice echoing. “Wake up! They’ve found us.”

“Who?”

“They’ve found us. They’re here.”

Her eyes shot open, and the first things she saw were the dark grey ceiling and Harry’s face looking the same as it had been in her dream.

“They’re here, Peach. We have to leave.”

“Who’s here?” she asked when he pulled her up and hurriedly gathered their things.

“Willem’s men. They’re searching every room for us.”

Y/N blanched at her father’s name and suddenly someone banged on the door. She and Harry froze, holding their breath as the banging got louder and more violent.

“Open the door! Prince Egon’s order!”

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jennifersylvesters · 6 years ago

Note

ii and xxxix with a harrison/reader fic!!

HSHSHSHSHS OKAY i didn’t think anyone would actually want anything so i was really reblogging that for inspo but thanks so much for asking! instead of meal prepping, i wrote this instead lmao. i got a bit too into it (i’m a hoe for royals/modern!royals). so instead of just explaining how i’d combine it i kinda just…wrote it? well, kind of wrote it. parts of it are gonna be bullet points while the rest are going to be drabbles

ii. royal au / xxxix. survival/wilderness fic

okay so you’re the heir to the throne for your country who’s been engaged to the prince of a neighboring land

and you find the idea of marriage absurd - you do not need to strengthen your country’s ties because you’re more than capable of leading your people alone until you choose your own suitor

but this has already been set in stone, nothing you could even do about it

like you don’t even know this man

the country hasn’t even got the nerve to send a portrait, which honestly - how dare??

“He must be monstrous” you laughed amongst your ladies-in-waiting. They all giggled at your joke as you complained about your soon-to-be.

“I’ve heard he’s quite brilliant, your grace” Elizabeth, your most trusted lady-in-waiting politely states. While she enjoys the jokes, she deems it necessary that you understand your suitor.

“Brilliance does not equate to beauty” you remind her. The other ladies giggled louder at your quip.

“Prince Harrison not only disgraces himself by not sending a portrait, but his country. He has not even sent a letter, yet he would expect me to be compliant? How cruel must he be to his betrothed” you whimpered jokingly, throwing a hand on your head. The ladies burst into laughter. For they all knew that even though you jested, Prince Harrison would never have your heart.

rumors float amongst the palace about him, nothing that particularly interests you

the kings and queens have decided that you shall be married in his country, something that makes you detest the prince more

for you, like your country, are beautiful and proud. and to be married in an unknown kingdom sounded unbearable to you

they’ve decided to send harrison to come escort you back to his castle in hopes that the relationship would improve. you, of course, find this to be ridiculous. but there’s not much you can do

so on the day that harrison is supposed to come to your kingdom and escort you, you sit in the throne room with your ladies waiting for him

and when the doors open, you will admit you’re a bit taken back

because in front leads a tall gentleman with sandy blond hair and beautiful blue eyes that you can’t help but drink him in

judging by his outfit, he’s not harrison. which is a bit of a shame, really

so you sit up straighter, surveying all the men who entered the room

you ask about prince harrison to which the gentleman in front states that he unfortunately is not here

“So he did not come” you frown, standing up and moving your hands behind your back, grasping them as you took a step forward.

“He sends his regards, your grace” he takes a knee, bowing his head. “Unfortunately he was indisposed. He sent me here in his place to escort you to-”

“Have I asked for an excuse?”

“N-No, your grace.”

“Then perhaps you can explain to me why you felt the need to further explain your soon-to-be king’s actions. Or, shall I say, lack of.”

He grows quiet as you scan the rest of his men. Although they stand at the ready, there’s a sense that they understand your power and control.

“Do you not think of your prince’s actions as disrespectful towards his betrothed?” you ask him. It’s a double-edged sword of a question, and the Lord knew you were testing him.

“Your frustration with my prince is understandable. However, you were never meant to be shown this discourtesy. My prince is unwell, barely able to lift a finger. How could we ask him to join us when he could easily infect you, your grace? That would be a travesty; to have any harm, even a minuscule sickness, befall you would be terrible. Neither the prince nor I would not wish that upon you. So we ask that you seek forgiveness in your heart and do not hold it against him.”

His response was impressive; everyone was well-aware. You weren’t expecting him to answer with such poise. This man intrigued you, making you want to learn more about the stranger.

“What is your name?”

“Harry, your grace.”

“Harry?” you repeat, raising an eyebrow and turning towards your ladies-in-waiting with a smirk. They all smile, some looking away afraid that they might break into a fit of giggles.

“And Harry, may I ask your thoughts on having a similar name to your prince?”

“It is an honor that you may think it similar, but we are two different men. We both have our redeeming qualities, and I hope you come to appreciate them.”

It’s a smart yet calculated answer that you feel slight admiration for the Lord. “Harry, you may stand.” He gets up, straightening himself as he looks at you.

“If I may be so bold, Harry, will you show me the same respect and honor that you do for your prince?”

“All that and more, your grace.” You don’t have to glance back to know that some of the ladies are taken back, smitten with the man who spins words like gold. “I will never let any harm befall you.” You breathe deeply, almost afraid you might fall for this promise.

“Let us hope you can keep your word, Harry.”

so you set off the next day with harry and the group of men

your ladies-in-waiting will be following you in two days time to meet you at the castle

during the first day of voyage your carriage is attacked by a group of bandits in the forest

true to his word, harry never lets any harm get in your way as he fights them off with the rest of the men

in the midst of fighting, your foot accidentally snags a root and you begin to tumble

harry rushes to you, grabbing onto you and protecting you as the two of you fall down the hill

he accidentally hits his head against a rock on the way down and when he lets go of you, you crash into a tree

so the two of you are knocked out for a bit

harrry wakes you up, gently shaking your shoulder

he informs you that it’s getting quite late and that he wasn’t able to find the other men despite looking and calling for help

so he sets up shelter for the two of you while you’re naturally upset and frightened by the whole situation

the next morning you’re still pretty upset that you can’t help but take it out on harry / blaming it on prince harrison

you dislike your situation immensely, but you don’t know that much about nature. it’s never been your forte and you never expected to need the experience

so unfortunately for you, you find yourself at the mercy of harry

he, for the most part, is patient with you. he tolerates your grumbling and whining. but there’s a point when you keep pushing the subject of prince harrison that he finally just snaps

it’s two days in to being on the road with him when you make some snide remark about the prince and he replies with a malicious retort you weren’t expecting

“You dare speak back to me?”

“Seeing as you have no authority here, yes, I do.”

“What did y-”

“We are in foreign territory, your grace.” You hear the sarcasm dripping in his voice and your temper flares. “While you may be a potential ruler in your land, this is not your country. Therefore I do not feel concern about your feelings or lackthereof.”

“When we get to your-”

“What?” he snaps, finally turning to you. “Shall you tell your betrothed that I have made your life difficult? That I should be thrown into the cells?” He laughs with no humor in his voice. “Understand that your agony towards simply walking means nothing to me. Feel free to tell the prince who will not cause harm to me in the slightest.”

“You mock my pain, sir?”

“On the contrary, I relish it and find it rather amusing.” Your jaw drops in disbelief that he would speak so freely. “Here you are, a woman who prides herself on being strong and capable, yet you seem to crumble upon mere survival.”

He turns back around, beginning to walk again.

Fury built in your body. How dare he speak to you like that? He knew not of what you endured for years, watching and listening to men act superior towards you because of your sex. You cultivated a strength in the court that he would never know, never understand how difficult it had been.

You stomp over to him, shoving his back. He stumbles forwards before turning to you.

“Do not push me” he declares, brows furrowing.

“Or what?” you ask. “Shall I assume that a Lord such as yourself would strike me? Even if you do not consider me your sovereign, you dare hit a woman?”

He strides towards you, taking your hands in his so easily that you’re reminded of this man’s strength.

Your heart beats loudly, eyes staring into those beautiful ocean ones. Neither of you speaks, both searching in one another’s eyes.

“Sundown is near” he states before dropping your hands and turning away. “I would ask that you not push me again, your grace. While I would never strike a lovely face such as your own, every man has his limits.” He proceeds to climb up the pathway, unaware of how your face has turned red.

so eventually you guys get back to the main road

it takes a bit of convincing but one inn allows you to stay there so long as you do a bit of work for them

though it’s a bit rough, you don’t mind it. you’re kind to the owner’s children, and harry seems to soften to you seeing you play with them

and when someone tries to sneakily steal from the owner when they’re not looking, you proceed to call the thief out with harry having to calm you down - “you would commit such a heinous crime to these hardworking people?” you snap as the man backs away “y/n-” “how dare you? leave this place before i-” “y/n!”

the owners appreciate this, giving you a bit of money for this kindness

at the end of the night you’re in the room with harry and there’s one bed

but because he’s a gentleman, he allows you to take the mattress while he takes the floor

the two of you have honest conversations with one another - you feeling like you’ve worked so hard to earn respect despite being royalty, him feeling trapped by expectations that he fears he’ll never fulfill

and you peer over and look at him. you wonder how the gentleman who can charm anyone could ever have insecurities

you tell him how he’s proven himself amazing, which causes him to blush. he responds by pointing out how brilliant you are, apologizing for thinking any lesser of you

and by the time you drift off to bed, you’ve started to trust harry

the next day you take off and he’s teaching you basic survival skills as the two of you walk along

you ask about how he knows all this and he tells you about his uncle teaching him such “trivial things” despite being a noble. his father apparently discouraged it, but harry and his uncle would take the horses out and he would learn in secret. thank god or else you two would probably be dead

every other day you’re doing miscellaneous jobs with him to make enough money for inns

you’re learning more about the working class, listening to their problems and figuring out what needs to be done to help them out

at night you and harry talk about, well, everything

and this is starting to feel so comfortable that you sometimes forget that you’re getting married soon

until one day you’re pausing to collect some apples in the tree and this group of bandits ambush the two of you. except you recognize that it’s the bandits that originally attacked you so you’re furiously tossing the apples at the robbers as harry fights them

(i’m v lazy so i’m just gonna straight up say it’s exactly like the scene in “ever after” bc that is literally so baller - aka everything in quotations is essentially from the movie )

when you’ve run out of things to hit them with, you throw yourself on the head bandit trying to strangle him

he manages to toss you off and one of the others captures you

harry knocks out one of them, shakily getting up with his hands extending pointing out that this quarrel is with him, not you

so they let you go, but this doesn’t relieve you in any way

in fact you’re outraged - you insist that not only do they let you go but that they provide you provisions to head back home

“oh do you now?” the head bandit asks, a sly smile creeping onto his face as his comrades roared with laughter

“yes, i do” you insist as you stamp your foot

everyone’s a little taken back by your confidence, including harry. “my lady, you can have anything you can carry” “do i have your word on that?” you ask. the robber nods stating “on my honor. whatever you can carry.” and everyone snickers.

so you pause and look at harry before walking over to him. you grab his left arm and leg, hoisting it so that you can carry him. everyone can’t help but be shocked, some hooting and clearly impressed that you have that strength. you nod at the bandit who looks at you in disbelief before you begin taking off. at this point everyone’s laughing, even the head bandit

“come back! i’ll give you a horse” he laughs as he waves you to come back

they end up taking you back to their base camp, which is a bit dingy yet homey

and somehow you find yourself palling around with them easily, forgetting that they tried to rob you

at the end of the night it’s just you and harry having a quiet moment to yourselves around the fire

you’re pointing out something, moving your hands vividly when he stops you and takes your hand

“Your hands are rough now” he mumurs, examining them. Your face flushes at this intimacy, yet he pays no mind. “You have been through a lot. The makings of a strong woman suited for the crown.”

“I do not have to be” you whisper, and he looks up at you confused. You scoot closer to him, faces so close together. “I could refuse the marriage. I could rule with a different unity, one without a born king. I have never pretended to care about the possibility of marrying for honor or politics.”

“I do not think you understand your words, your grace” he swallows.

“I know what I say, but do you?” You lean in, only inches away from his face. “Would you refuse such an offer?” His grip tightens around your hand, and you close your eyes. “Harry, say yes.” His grip loosens at this.

“No.” He pulls away, rejecting your proposal. “No, you must marry him.”

“But I-” Harry stands up, unable to look you in the eye. Even as you call out his name, he ignores it and proceeds to his quarters. You hear the door shut, and you’re left to process the rejection alone.

so the next day when you both finally make it to the castle everyone is fussing about

your ladies-in-waiting managed to make it safely to the castle and they just dote on you, claiming that everyone was worried about you

the kingdom obviously pay the bandits a hefty sum for your safe return, unaware that they actually caused this whole commotion

yet you’ve grown to enjoy them that you insist they attend your wedding provided they watch their hands lest the guards feel the need to chop them off

there’s a week of preparations for the wedding and you’ve still have yet to see prince harrison

not that you care

because your infatuation towards harry hasn’t died down in the slightest

in fact it’s gotten worse because you see him around wandering the corridors

and good lord he looks so good

but he’s always surrounded by others, though the same could be said for you

at one point you decide to sneak off in the early morning the day before the ceremony just wishing you could speak to him one last time

to your surprise you see him ambling around by himself, sunlight shining lightly on his face that he looks so heavenly

you can’t help but to rush up to him, taking him by surprise

he’s about to bow and pull the formalities, but you tell him not to especially with what happened between the two of you

and so he just politely speaks to you, almost watching himself - refusing to get too close or speak of anything personal

“Would you deny her grace the opportunity to speak privately?”

“Of course not” he shakes his head, his hair gently flowing with his movement. “I am here to serve whatever your grace needs.”

“Yet you would not succumb to her w-” Your words tread dangerous territory, almost exposing the events that transpired in the woods. He raises his eyebrows in surprise, taking your hand and pulling you out of the corridor and into an empty room.

“I ask that you watch your words. I would not want anyone to think poorly or misunderstand.”

“You cannot ask such a favor when you yourself did not-”

“Do not make this about me” he insists, still holding your hand. He takes your other, squeezing them gently.

“How can I not?” you whisper. He takes your chin and tilts it up. “How can you ask me to not make this about you when you consume all of my thoughts and desires?” He’s startled by the confession, and you tear up. “How could you ask me to simply cast that aside as if it were nothing?

He kisses you, and it takes your breath away. You kiss him back, hands cupping his cheeks. It breaks your heart when he pulls away, turning his face from yours.

“That was-It was a mistake” he quickly states, and your chest aches.

“It was not. You know this. You and I are good for one another” you urge him. Still, he refuses to look at you.”I do not want to marry Prince Harrison” you confess, squeezing his hand.

“You must.” Finally he turns back to you, a strong resolve in his face. He lets go of your hands, taking a step back. It’s as if he’s taking one last glance to remember you by.

“Please, for you and your kingdom’s sake, just forget about me.” He hurries out the door, unaware of how difficult his request is.

so at this point it’s not even infatuation but you’re pretty sure you’re in love with harry

that when the day comes for the wedding, you’re downright miserable

you’re being dressed up in the finest clothing until you shout for them to stop

they all pause, concerned about your outburst

and that’s when you lose it.

you can’t go through with this marriage, even if harry won’t take you. you can’t live your days pining over a man that you love and adore, seeing him from afar yet never getting the opportunity to love. no, it simply could not be done

so you’re tearing out of the fabric, trying to get as much of it off as possible

obviously some of the servants have rushed to tell the superiors of what’s going on

and the next thing you know, guards are at your door and you hear that voice you love asking what’s going on

but you know he’ll try and convince you to marry harrison. and you absolutely will not

so when the door swings open, you take your opportunity to dash out, hoisting the hem of your dress up as you leave everyone baffled

you hear numerous footsteps behind you until it’s only one set

and you hear harry calling out your name as you run

“I cannot marry him!” you shout, rushing out of the castle. He chases after you, begging for you to stop.

“I cannot marry someone when another has stolen my heart” you cry out, legs finally tired and giving out as you make it to the garden. You slump to the ground, knees buckling as you sob. Through the tears you hear Harry approaching slowly. He bends over, looking at your pitiful expression.

“And you have stolen mine” he kneels, taking your hand and kissing it softly.

You take a look at his garb, confused by the regality of it. This was not what Lords wore, not even if they wanted to.

“I am so sorry, your grace” he apologizes. “I must confess that I am the crowned prince.” This news confuses you, and he pats your hand.

“Like you, I worried about the state of my country and its people. I knew not of you, only flimsy gossip which is hardly to be trusted. And I wanted to know if the woman I was intended to marry was truly fair and just as the king and queen promised me” he explained.

“I never meant to cause you any harm or distress, this I promise you. I just wanted-”

“You wanted to know if this was a good match.” He nods.

“And what have you found?”

“I have learned that my betrothed is unbearably stubborn, so set in her ways. Yet she is kind to others and stronger than she appears.” You smile which he reciprocates. “Also, she is quite lovely even when she makes me chase after her” he adds. You giggle lightly at this, and he wipes away your fallen tears.

“And I would love for her to rule by my side, if she’ll still have me.” He looks at you expectantly, a hopeful smile on his face.

“You have not kept your word, sir.” The smile vanishes as he turns towards the ground. “You said you would never wish your grace harm, yet you had me fall for you.” You watch as he chuckles to himself. “If you, Harrison, were to be mine, would you show me the same respect and honor not only as your queen but as your wife?”

“All that and more, Y/N” he promises as he leans in to kiss you.

#asks #i'm literally still not finished with meal prepping lmao #my writing #harrison osterfield x reader #haz osterfield x reader #harrison osterfield blurb #haz osterfield blurb #haz osterfield x y/n #harrison osterfield x y/n #royalty au #Anonymous

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missblanchette · 7 years ago

Text

Birds of Paradise [4/5]

Series: Joker Game

Characters: Amari/Tazaki

Rating: G

Summary: Tazaki never found a reason to talk to the shopkeeper with the chestnut brown hair and god-like jawline – that was, until his pigeons attacked the flower display. (AKA The Flower Shop AU no one asked for)

Words: 2479

Notes: Modern AU/Flower Shop AU; “This will be updated weekly,” I say, as I proceed to hit a writer’s block and self-doubt l-lmao ;; Anyways, so sorry for the delay! Reworking this chapter was a lot more tougher than I expected, but hopefully it’s all right ^o^

ko-fi // Ch. 1 | Ch. 2 | Ch. 3 | You can read this on AO3! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you guys enjoy~ ( ﾟ▽ﾟ)/

Ch. 4: Turnaround

Not to be over dramatic, but Tazaki would've rather had his head chopped off by a giant pigeon than see Amari again. Technically speaking, there wasn't a problem. It was just that the possibility of Amari having a family of his own was too much for him to deny and he couldn't act like nothing was wrong with that fun idea in the back of his mind.

Okay, maybe that did count as a problem.

But like any problem he faced, Tazaki did what he did best: avoiding it for as long as he possibly could. Which probably could've worked out better if not for all the bouquets in his apartment. Though they were beginning to wilt, he couldn't find it in himself to throw them out. Even with the color loss and curled up edges, the falling petals and the brown hues they took on, they were as beautiful as the day he received them. He'd have to preserve them somehow, press them or something like that. Perhaps he could ask Amari for... never mind.

As if the flowers weren't bad enough, little things kept reminding him of Amari. Tazaki was lucky he didn't get his email or any other contact, or else he'd be tempted to keep texting him about a dog he saw that looked as cute as Frate or how he passed by the aquarium and thought of Amari when he saw the dolphin poster. Christ, his friends were right. He really had it bad.

The real kicker came when Kaminaga oh so casually dropped an "Amari's been asking about you" during a conversation. When met with stupor, Kaminaga just shrugged.

"He said he hasn't seen you lately, but he hopes you're doing well."

With that, Tazaki remembered he did promise Amari he'd see him around. If the idea of hitting on a married guy made him feel bad, the idea of going back on his word made him feel like the worst person to ever exist. He owed Amari a lot, after all, considering how many bouquets his birds ruined. So mustering up all his courage (read: sucking it up), Tazaki gathered his pigeons and took the usual route he made on his morning walks -- the path to Persephone's. And just for good luck, he made sure Fukumoto's gift card was in his wallet.

Luck, though swell and all, probably wasn't enough; what he needed was divine intervention. The gods should just smite him now so he wouldn't have to deal with this anymore. But that would leave his pigeons all alone, and he couldn't do that to them. Well then, he should just move somewhere else, change his name, and start a new life. Yeah, he could picture it now: he'd be a wandering street magician named Seto Reiji, performing all kinds of tricks with his birds.

All the "what if"s and "if only"s flooded his head as his feet carried him on auto-pilot, his mind numb to the world around him. Not even the honking of a car was enough to break his thoughts; it took a slap in the face from one of his birds' wings to alert him of the car turning the corner, and even then he was a bit slow on the uptake.

He stumbled backwards, losing balance with just a few steps before landing on his back. The driver didn't even do so much as apologize, merely speeding off with the tires screeching behind him. At the moment, Tazaki didn't really care; he had to make sure his darlings were all right. Ignoring the pain in his head and back, ignoring the stinging in his elbows, ignoring the stares of the passersby, Tazaki sat up and checked on his pigeons.

As he looked them over, they appeared to be fine except for all the feathers scattered along the sidewalk. He'd have to clean that up. Or the wind could just carry them away so he wouldn't have to. No matter, he had more important things to worry about. Performing a headcount, he counted one bird, two birds, three, four, five, and his heart dropped as he realized Kazuaki was missing. A weary coo came from the side, catching his attention before he could have a proper freak out. Still, he held his breath as he crawled over and scooped Kazuaki into his hands.

Kazuaki limped on, keeping weight off his right leg. Most likely broken, Tazaki deduced, if how bent it was anything to go by. Not good. Not good, at all. He needed to get him to the vet, but that was a train ride away and he didn't have his Suica card on him. At the very least, he needed to patch him up but home was about fifteen minutes away. How fast would an ambulance get here? Not fast enough, he thought as Kazuaki squirmed in his hold.

Forcing himself up, Tazaki nearly tipped over again when someone caught him. He jumped at the contact, goosebumps running down his body.

"Thank you," he said, turning to face who just helped him. His eyes bulged in recognition. "Amari!?"

"Are you all right, Tazaki?" Amari asked, eyes filled with concern. Tazaki couldn't help but look away, a little too overwhelmed with being under Amari's gaze and hold at the same time. "I heard some commotion outside and went to check. I didn't expect to see you, though."

Right, Persephone's was just up the block. The gods must've sent that car veering towards him but changed their minds last minute. They should've just gone full speed and ran him over.

"I'm fine," Tazaki said, reluctantly pulling himself from Amari to prove his point. Amari simply frowned, a hand lingering on the small of his back. "It's Kazuaki I'm worried about. He broke his leg."

"Oh no." Amari inched closer towards Kazuaki, his frown deepening. He hummed in thought, briefly glancing in the direction of Persephone's before looking back at him. "Why don't we take him back to the shop? I'm not sure how much help it would be, but it's better than staying out here."

"I... thanks, but I should take him to the vet."

"How long will that take?"

Tazaki's lips twitched. Leaving Kazuaki to suffer an extra thirty minutes minimum or awkwardly spending time with his crush? Damn, got him there.

"On second thought, lead the way."

Not wasting time, Amari took him by the arm and guided him back with the rest of his pigeons following in tow. As soon as they entered Persephone's, Amari made a beeline for the back.

"The first aid kit should be around here..."

"You don't have to worry so much," Tazaki said, placing Kazuaki onto the counter as gently as he could along with his other birds. "He's my responsibility, so I'll take care of him. You're already doing a lot for me."

Amari froze in his search, turning back to him slowly with furrowed eyebrows as if he'd said something ridiculous (which, he'll be real, was very often if Miyoshi's comments were anything to go by).

"But I want to," Amari said. "I care about you. And I care about your birds, too, so I wanna do anything I can do to help."

Try as he might, Tazaki couldn't come up with a proper response. Save for his friends, he'd never met anyone so willing to help him -- especially when they haven't known each other for that long. To think that Amari considered him a friend, someone to care about, and that he cared enough to consider the ones he loved, Tazaki could barely wrap his mind around the fact. He was blessed, truly; even if they couldn't pursue a romantic relationship, Tazaki thanked whatever gods may be that he met Amari.

"Thank you," was what Tazaki settled for. That was good enough for now. "In that case, do you have anything we can use for a splint?"

"Just a second," Amari said, locating the first aid kit and handing it to him. "Oh, by the way --" He opened it and took out what appeared to be Hello Kitty bandages. "-- here."

Tazaki tilted his head.

"Your elbows are kinda scraped up. Don't want them getting infected now, do we?" Amari said. "Sorry about the design though, they're Emma's."

"It's fine." Taking them from him, a small smile found its way onto Tazaki's lips. He'd wear these Hello Kitty bandages with pride. "I didn't even realize I got hurt. Thank you."

And with that, the two set to work. Or rather, Tazaki handled the actual fixing up while Amari acted as his assistant. With bird bones being as fragile as they were, this wasn't the first time Tazaki's been in this situation. Using a small piece of wood leftover from a display, Tazaki took some gauze and created a makeshift splint for Kazuaki. Despite his experience, it didn't make it easier when he heard Kazuaki's pained coos as he set the cast on. Thankfully, Amari kept either of them from freaking out too much by making small talk and the occasional comment here and there. Before they knew it, they were done.

"Someone's looking better already~" Amari said as Tazaki tightened the splint. If not for the awkward limp, it really did look like nothing happened to Kazuaki.

"He's a tough one. I'll still have to call the vet though, but I couldn't have done it without you."

"I didn't do much," Amari said, shaking his head. "I just found something to use, is all."

"It's still better than nothing. It would've taken more time to go to the vet, so really, thank you. I owe you."

"It's the least I could've done."

"I insist."

Amari was silent for a moment before chuckling.

"I feel like we've had this conversation before."

"Perhaps once or twice," Tazaki teased.

"Well, if that's the case..." Amari tapped his chin. "Can you come over some time during the weekday? In the afternoon?"

Tazaki's heart thumped.

"I think I can do that. Why?"

Smiling sheepishly, Amari rubbed the back of his neck.

"Emma's been asking about you. She's quite taken with you, it seems." He laughed, focusing on petting Kazuaki instead. "It's funny, I've never seen her get so attached to a stranger -- not even me."

Tazaki nodded, ready to offer some sympathy. Though children typically had no sense of danger, some of them could get wary of someone they've never met -- wait . Hold up.

"What," was the first thing out of Tazaki's mouth. Wow, that was smooth. All right, redo. "I mean... really ? She seems very attached to you."

Amari chuckled, though this one a bit more forced.

"It wasn't always like this. Remember when I said I went to Hawaii?"

"Yeah?"

"That's where I met Emma and her mom. Long story short, I had to take her in because her mother couldn't care for her anymore." Amari's eyes took on a faraway look, his face forlorn in reminisce as his petting slowed down. "It was around this time of year, actually, and she's usually so down because of it. That's why I'm asking you to come over, since you seem to make her happy."

As if snapping out of a trance, he turned back to Tazaki and brushed it off.

"Haha, geez, there I go rambling again."

"No, no, it's okay!" Tazaki said. He would listen to him ramble all day, if he could. To think that Amari trusted him enough with all this, Tazaki wouldn't dare let him down. "That's really admirable of you, honestly, taking on such a huge responsibility... by yourself."

"I try my best, is all," Amari said, waving it off. "As long as she's happy, then I'm happy."

"Then I'll play my part and keep the both of you happy."

It was Amari's turn to be speechless, staring at Tazaki with wide eyes. Then, he grinned.

"I'll hold it to you."

Before either of them could say anything else, a trill came in between them along with flapping wings.

"Oh, sorry," Tazaki said as he took Kazuaki back. "I guess he's getting a little antsy."

"It's fine. I suppose you should be getting him to the vet anyways."

"Ah, that's right," he said, giving Kazuaki a once over. He would be able to hang on until then, hopefully. "Thank you again. I really appreciate it."

"It was nothing," Amari said as he waved goodbye to his pigeons. "So... I'll see you later?"

Tazaki smiled.

"Of course."

Trusting the rest of his pigeons to behave, Tazaki dropped them home when he went back to get his Suica card before taking Kazuaki to the vet. Fortunately, nothing too exciting happened as he made his way to the train station, letting him rest easy after what just happened. Despite the soreness that ran throughout his body, Tazaki thought that today was a good day so far. He should be nearly hit by cars more often, he thought as his mind drifted to the Hello Kitty bandages on his elbows. Kazuaki wriggled in his hands, reminding him on the situation. All right, maybe there were other ways to spend time with Amari that didn't involve bodily injury to anyone.

"Amari's a good guy, isn't he?" Tazaki said. The lady sitting next to him gave him a strange look, as if unsure of how to answer. "Oh, sorry," he said. "Not you --" He pointed at Kazuaki. "-- him."

Kazuaki chirped in response, pulling his attention back towards him.

"Really?" Tazaki squinted his eyes. By all means, that was a positive answer, but there was something off about it. "Why didn't you say that before?"

A trill accompanied by the fluttering of wings. Tazaki's mouth dropped.

"You're a bird."

He clicked his beak.

"You can't have him. "

Teetering, Kazuaki chittered.

"D-Defensive!? I'm just stating the facts."

Kazuaki bit his hand, which only stung a bit. Just a bit. Fine, maybe he was being a little defensive but how else was he supposed to react? Before he could speak again, Kazuaki let out a low coo. He flipped his tail as best he could, tilting his head as he looked up at him.

"...You think so?"

Stepping closer towards him, Kazuaki whistled.

"But --"

He trilled, spreading his wings out in that way that said he wasn't having any of it.

“Er, thank you for your blessing. I think."

Satisfied with that, Kazuaki retracted his wings and bobbed his head back and forth. Smiling, Tazaki held him closer and petted him.

Having the approval of all his darlings was reassuring to say the least. On top of that, his previous worries were no longer a problem. Letting out a sigh of relief, Tazaki rested his head against the wall and took comfort in the rhythmic rumblings of the train.

No more backing out, Tazaki decided. He'd ask Amari out next time for sure.

#joker game #amataza #!fanfic #!f: joker game #!cliche storm #next chapter in the near future lmao

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