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#but i wanted to share in case in anyone might like to take a crack at this. so feel free!
tomurderornottomurder · 6 months
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meet cute but it's you in the pharmacy drive thru for meds and ghost right behind you and he hits your car
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steventhusiast · 4 months
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STWG prompt 2/6/24
prompt: coming out
pairing/character(s): steddie, Dustin, Lucas, Mike
. . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆
Eddie fucked up. Big time.
See, he's truly embraced his freak status at Hawkins High. Meaning he doesn't exactly shy away from his queerness. He doesn't confirm it, not for people he's not friends with. It's just useful. Being gay is the kind of 'freak' that makes the popular kids steer clear from him, just in case they, you know, catch the queer from him.
But with his fellow freaks? They know he's gay.
In fact, they know he has a boyfriend.
He never shares who said boyfriend is, or the fact that he used to be nicknamed The Hair, because Steve doesn't want anyone to know. He's.. private about his sexuality, to say the least. And Eddie gets it. Hawkins is in the middle of nowhere, it's not exactly gay-friendly like some parts of bigger cities. So his friends don't know who his boyfriend is.
They won't until well after Steve's come out to his own friends, which he hasn't said he's ready for yet. Eddie's letting him go at his own pace, he doesn't even bring it up to him. He doesn't want Steve to feel pressured. Steve doesn't have a Wayne there to support him through everything, after all.
Anyway, despite him being anonymous, Eddie always gives everyone an update on his boyfriend before they start the session of DnD each week. It's kind of a bit for everyone involved at this point.
And in the first session that Eddie's newest fresh sheep attend, he refuses to shy away from it. Either they'll be bigots (unlikely) or they'll be fine with it! It's a risk he's willing to take for his pride.
So he gives the update.
"How's your boyfriend, Ed?" Gareth asks with a teasing grin, and Eddie's closest friends lean toward him with giggles.
"Well, my sweetheart has had a great week. Remember that job I told you he'd applied for?"
"Assistant basketball coach for a kids team?" Jeff checks, and Eddie points at him like he's just scored a point.
"That's the one! He got the job! It's a bit of a drive but it sure as shit beats the minimum wage bullshit he was doing before. I swear, his manager actually hates his guts for no reason."
The existing Hellfire members all cheer at the news, whilst one of the new recruits, Henderson, makes an inquisitive noise and chuckles.
"That's crazy, because my friend Steve called me yesterday with super similar news! Small world, huh?" He says it so casually, looking down straight after to fiddle with his dice.
But Eddie feels like the world stops, his hands freezing in the middle of unfolding his dungeon master screen. Fuck. Henderson is one of Steve's kids.
Maybe no one has actually caught on yet. A sneaky glance to his friends reveals nothing but confused frowns on their faces.
"You guys might have known Steve, actually. Steve Harrington? Used to be a mega asshole through most of high school." Wheeler says in a way that somehow sounds simultaneously fond and like he despises Steve.
"He's great now, though! Like, totally reformed. Such a mom." Sinclair adds on.
Eddie nods passively at their words, and feels Gareth, Jeff and Paul's eyes on him. Right, he's still frozen in shock. He forces himself to relax, and finally finishes setting up the DM screen.
"Haha, what a coincidence." He manages, clearing his throat in the middle to clear up an unfortunate voice crack.
That voice crack gets all three of the kids to tilt their heads at him, and then their eyes light up like they've just won the lottery.
Shit shit shit. Hopefully they haven't put two and two together.
Somehow, he manages to make it through the session without revealing anything else, but as he draws it to a close his heart starts beating faster. He doesn't know how he didn't put it together before that these kids are Steve's kids. Steve is literally going to be late to their date night because he has to pick them up from an afterschool activitiy.
What other club meets up on a Friday but Hellfire?
He shakes his head and starts speeding through packing up his stuff. He's going through in his head ways to apologise to Steve in case the kids have figured it out, heart beating out of his chest as he zips his backpack up and leaves the room. The group of newbies run out after him, though.
"Eddie, wait up!" Henderson shouts after him, and he winces but stops.
"What's up?" He says with what he hopes is a smile but is probably a grimace.
"It's so funny how you're Steve's secret boyfriend." Henderson says with a giggle after he's checked no one else has left the drama room yet.
Wait, what? Eddie frowns at him, mouth open. Before he can question anything Sinclair nods along in agreement.
"We've been guessing for weeks now. You can't tell him we found out through you, I want to win our bet."
"If we figure out who his boyfriend is by the end of the month he's taking us to that tabletop RPG store in Indy." Wheeler adds on.
Eddie gapes at them for another second.
"Wait, Steve- he came out to you? When?" He manages, and the three boys tilt their heads at him.
"Like, since a month ago?" Sinclair guesses after a moment of thought, and Eddie lets out a quiet 'huh'.
"What, do you guys not talk about that shit?" Henderson asks, and Eddie shakes his head slowly, thinking back on if he had been told and had just forgotten.
Then it clicks. Just under a month ago, Steve had started to bring up the topic of coming out, and Eddie had gently insisted he didn't mind if Steve never came out and that he loves him anyway and he doesn't want him to feel pressured. And Steve had smiled fondly and let it go.
Had Steve been trying to tell him he came out to his kids?
He lets his head drop and takes a few deep breaths, trying to slow his heart rate. Thank fuck. He hasn't just accidentally outed his boyfriend.
"He's actually waiting for us in his car. I would say come with, but..."
"We're serious about this bet."
Eddie nods, and waves his hand in their general direction.
"Yeah, of course. Sure. You- you go win that bet. Jesus christ."
He hears them walk away and lets out an incredulous laugh to himself before he hears the drama room door swing open again, the chatter of Jeff, Gareth and Paul cutting off when they see the state he's in.
"You good, man?" Paul asks, and Eddie just lets out a sigh.
"Totally fine. Just thinking about wooing my sweetheart." He says, like they've walked into a joke he's set up.
They all groan, but continue walking toward the school's exit, and Eddie stays there, recovering from that shitshow.
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msschemmenti · 2 months
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My Way
Emily Prentiss x Reader
Wc: 1335
a/n: crack drabble to get back into writing in general that was inspired by a reel or tiktok storytime i saw
Prompt: Emily and the Crew head to their usual bar to unwind after solving yet another case. Emily is approached by a woman she’s never seen before but she can’t help but to admire her confidence.
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“Anyone up for drinks? I think I could use a couple of rounds.” Derek called eyeing everyone as they gathered their things from their desks. They’d all just returned from a rather long case in Florida, which was always a reason to get drunk. Garcia and JJ were the first to agree, followed shortly by Rossi, and after a little peer pressure, even Reid agreed. All eyes landed on Emily expectantly, she raked her brain for an excuse but knew she’d be piling into the bar with the rest of the team. “Oh alright, I’m in.” 
With a triumphant fist pump, Derek led the way to the elevator and to the team’s usual bar. They piled into a booth toward the back of the room and commenced their usual routine of drinking, games, and unwinding. JJ had made her way over to the darts board and seemed to be schooling some men. Garcia and Reid were locked into what looked like an extremely serious conversation at one end of the booth. Rossi and Morgan were both eyeing the bar for what could only be considered their next conquest. And then there was Emily, watching them all nursing her drink in what could only be described as brooding. 
Suddenly Emily felt eyes on her. She gazed around the room hoping to catch whoever’s eye she caught. It wasn’t abnormal for her to meet someone on these team nights out. It wasn’t as frequent as Derek or Rossi but she got her fair share of phone numbers. She was just less likely to act on those approaches. The dating scene in DC was already such a difficult thing to navigate, and being on this team was not very helpful either. She was still surveying the room when she felt Derek nudge her shoulder gently. 
“Honey at one o’clock been giving you the eyes for a while now.” He grinned nodding in that direction. Emily discreetly followed his motion with her eyes and instantly met warm eyes. And they were in fact on her. She watched as the woman twirled a loc of her between her fingers and eyed her over the rim of some fruity drink. The woman smiled sweetly and floated a wink over to their table. Emily smiled back and nodded her head in greeting. Before she could even think about her next move Derek let out a whistle of appreciation. “Oh, I think you might’ve hit the jackpot tonight. I was hoping she was eyeing me but looks like she’s got different tastes.” 
“It’s not my fault you and Rossi are striking out tonight. Maybe it’s a sign it’s time to retire.” Emily grinned in jest causing both men to scoff in offense. 
“It’s a shame too, you probably won’t even take her up on any offer,” Rossi grumbled rolling his eyes. 
“Hey! You don’t know what I might do.” Emily protested earnestly. She moved her eyes back to the woman and watched as she talked with her friends. The bar they went to was a pretty popular spot for post-work drinks and the woman seemed to have come from some office job. She and her friends were all standing and sitting around a high-top table, some with tumblers of dark liquor and others with bright drinks like the woman. The women were all conventionally attractive, yes, but she had to be honest in the fact that she was very attracted to the woman eyeing her. 
“Princess, when was the last time you indulged? I know you’ve had plenty of offers.” Derek asked. 
“I don’t think that’s any of your business.” 
“Oh sounds like she’s practicing celibacy.” Derek chided. 
“I indulge plenty.” Emily protested. 
“Oh yeah? Prove it.” Morgan goaded with a grin. “If your bed is so popular, what’s stopping you from welcoming another?” 
“Morgan, just because a woman smiles at me from across the bar doesn’t mean she wants anything from me. Especially an invitation to my bed. Unlike you, I’m not desperate for any action.” 
Morgan’s eyes widened in shock and he brought his hand to his chest, “Oh you wound me. You wound me.” Before Morgan could continue his poking, Rossi cleared his throat to get their attention. 
“Behave, children. We’ve got company.” Rossi smiled as his eyes roamed to the end of the table.
“Please, don’t stop on my account.” The young woman called as she let the smirk settle on her lips. She stopped at the end of the booth and let her eyes settle on Emily. 
Derek was the first of the two younger agents to wake from their stunned silence. “I think we can be on our best behavior in the company of someone so beautiful, right Princess?”
Derek nudged Emily playfully but it really didn’t do much good considering she was absolutely locked in on the younger woman leaning against the booth. Her eyes slowly scanned her face in interest. Now that she’d come closer, Emily really couldn’t see any reason not to at least entertain the idea of spending an evening with this mystery woman. If she was lucky, she might even get more than just an evening.
“Princess, huh? Well, can I treat the Princess to a drink?” She smiled sweetly reaching a hand out toward Emily. As soon as the words left her mouth she could hear Morgan snickering next to her.
With a roll of her eyes, Emily took her hand and slid her empty glass to the center of the table. “I think I’d like that.” Allowing the younger woman to pull her toward the bar, Emily looked over her shoulder at Morgan and Rossi (and now Reid and Garcia) and stuck her tongue out tauntingly. They’d spent the entire night with no interest from anyone and she was getting a drink with a very attractive woman. All that talk with nothing to show of it.
Once at the bar, seemingly an equal distance from both of their parties, the woman turned to address Emily. “What’ll be?” 
Never having been one to submit, Emily grinned over the woman’s head and waved her hand toward the bartender. As the bartender made his way over to them Emily caged her arms around the younger woman and leaned over her shoulder, her body screaming dominate in every way she knew how.
“Let me have another beer and one of those fruity things for…” Emily ordered next to the woman’s ear. 
“Y/n.” 
“A fruity thing for Y/n.” Emily finished with a smile, never letting her eyes leave the woman she’d trapped between the bar and her arms. The bartender nodded and got the drinks out relatively quickly and they moved to the far end of the bar– out of the way but still just as close to each other. 
“I’m gonna go out on a limb and say your name isn’t Princess.” Y/n started as she twirled the straw in her drink and gazed up at Emily through her lashes. 
“It is not. I’m Emily. My friend is just being a sore loser that I seemed to have caught the attention of the most attractive woman here.” Emily shrugged watching as Y/n’s cheeks tinted pink under her grin. 
“Well, I know what I want,” Y/n said, running a hand over the rim of her cup. 
“And what is it that you want?” Emily challenged. 
Y/n chuckled and allowed her hand to trace Emily’s jawline with a sweet smile. “Well if I have it my way, which I normally do, you’ll be wrapped around my finger before the night is over.” 
Emily raised an eyebrow as she allowed a smirk to take over her face, “Is that so?” Y/n didn’t answer at first and brought the straw of her drink to her mouth pulling Emily closer to her body. 
With their chests flushed and their eyes locked, Y/n grinned sweetly and whispered “You’ll see.” Securing Emily’s attention for the rest of the night, and potentially the future.
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writingsbychlo · 1 year
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SWEET LIKE SUGAR | 01
summary; azriel is lonely, and goes to the pleasure house. he doesn't get very far before his world is flipped upside down, and he's not the only one.
word count; 7646
notes; working title. working fic. everything is just a work-in-progress. not sure how I feel about posting this, so if we all hate it, lets not tell me, okay? because I love it. I just didn't know if I wanted to share it.
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You stared up at the building before you, nervously tugging at the hem of your dress. Your lungs would barely open to take a breath, every pounding note of the music from inside reverberating out across the pavement seems to shake you to your bones, and your heart was racing so fast it might tear right out. 
The smell of alcohol spilt out across the street, and the sweet tang of mirthroot smoke sat heavy in the air. It was cloying, probably even thicker inside. A voice cleared, impatient and deep, and you jolted out of your thoughts. 
“You’re blockin’ the fuckin’ door.” He growled, words already a little slurred, and your cheeks heated as his gaze leered across your body, a smirk forming on his lips. “‘Less you’re goin’ inside? If that’s the case, let me escort you.”
“No, no. I’m— you go ahead, please.” Your words could barely be choked out, the male rolling his eyes at you before swinging the door open and stepping inside, the music loud enough for a split second to shock you once again. Stumbling back a couple of steps, your body slammed into someone else, a squeak leaving your lips, and your eyes began to sting at the overwhelm of emotions now. “I’m so sorry, I’m in the way, I’ll just—”
“Are you alright?”
A pathetic laugh left you at the question, beyond your control as the wet sound of your inevitable tears leaked into it, despite your best effort to keep them at bay. “No. Nothing is okay, not even a little bit. Everything sucks, actually. Everything is shit, and I’m scared, and I hate it. No, I’m not alright.”
With a heaving breath, one that seemed to shake through every cell in your body, you hauled a watery gaze up to the owner of the deep voice and ridiculous question. And up, and up. Good God’s, he was tall, even in your stupid heels. He had a sharp jawline, lips pursed in a flat line, a straight nose, and thick brows raised in silent question. Or judgement, you really weren’t sure. No matter what, he was one of the most attractive men you’d ever seen, though. What he was doing here, you had no idea.
“I’m sorry. You should— you’re going inside, right? You should go inside, don’t let the sobbing girl in the street ruin a very fun night for you.” Stepping to the side, and raising your arm to wave at the club, he didn’t budge, and your gaze tracked back to his. 
“You’re not going inside?” His sights dropped, scanning along the material that could barely be called a dress, that you’d had to buy from a lingerie store just to be appropriate, and you still felt exposed. Warmth rushed to your cheeks once again, that lump returning to your throat, and you shook your head. 
“No. No, I don’t think I can.”
“You don’t work here?” His tone wasn’t so flat now, a slight tip of curiosity, and you shrugged. 
“I was… hoping to. I was trying to work here, but I’m not sure I can make myself do it.” Your lip wobbled. “Not that there’s, y’know, anything wrong with it. Gods, I respect those who do it and I wish I had their confidence, everything would be a lot easier for me if I could, but it’s just not who I am.”
“So, if you don’t want to work at the pleasure house, why are you here?”
“Why are you here?” You shot back, and his stare pinned you. Observant, invasive, intense. It was enough to make you crack after only a second. “Why does anyone do a job?”
“Money?”
“Correct.” Blowing out a breath, you crossed your arms, the adrenaline wearing off as your decision was made, back turned to a club you wouldn't enter. The cold was beginning to leak into you, to take hold. “But, I guess I’ll just figure something else out.”
He watched you for a second longer, before slipping off the leather jacket he was wearing, over proud wings that were tucked tight into the darkness behind him. Swinging it around your body to settle over your shoulders, your first thought was that it was heavy, and large, but warmth soon followed, like a blanket by the fire on a cold winter’s night. 
“Thank you.”
“Would you like me to walk you home?” His hands stuck into his pants pockets instead, black skinny jeans that clung so tightly to his thighs it should be a crime, and you had to force your gaze away. 
“You, uh, you’re not going in?”
“I’m getting everything I need right here.” Panic shot through you, your whole body tightening for just a second, and his eyes widened, those lips finally parting in shock and he shook his head. “That’s not— I’m not implying anything is happening here. You don’t owe me anything, fuck, okay—” He took a deep breath, head tipping back to stare at the sky for a second, and his shoulders slumped. “I don’t know if I can go in, either.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. So, I’d really rather walk you home, if you’ll let me, than stand out here in the cold for another hour debating my choices.”
Your lips flicked up at that, the first real smile you’d had in weeks threatening to spill over. What happened to your tears? “You’ve been out here even longer than I have.”
“I know. I saw you arrive.” A smile pulled at his lips too. With a single glance down the street, the not-so-good part of town you’d ended up in, and caved. 
“You promise not to, like, murder me, or something?”
A laugh burst from him, sudden and rough, like he wasn’t used to making such a sound, but something in his eyes flickered. 
“It’s not funny! Weren’t you ever taught about stranger-danger as a child?”
“No, we weren’t really taught that in the camps. They skipped right over trust, to how to stab someone in the back.” Your throat dried up for a second, before seeing the smirk still sitting on his lips, and you scoffed, a curse muttered under your breath that only made him chuckle more. “Alright, fine. I’m Azriel, and I promise not to murder you.”
A sharp sting on the back of your neck made you gasp, your hand flying to it, and your eyes widened. The burning sensation lasted only for a second, before fading to nothing but a tingle. “What the fuck was that, what did you do?”
“You made me promise!”
“And?” You pressed, fingers tracing the spot. They came away clean when you examined them, and while the skin was smooth to the touch, you could feel whatever had happened. 
“You’re not from the Night Court, are you?” Amusement and curiosity wrapped his voice, and you shook your head lightly. “That would be your promise mark. Making a promise brands you, here.”
“What?” He tugged down the collar of his shirt, and even in the darkness, you could see slashes of dark ink across his collarbone, swirls and shapes. Your hand came up, before you could stop yourself, rocking onto your tiptoes to get a closer look, and tracing one finger across a whorl softly. “You’ve made a lot of promises.”
The clean, earthly smell of him filled your nose, and you backed away from him, letting him slip his shirt back into place as he watched you closely. 
“Your hands. Are they promise brands too?” Those same hands formed fists by his sides, arms twitching to tuck behind his back and hide, and you could see the effort it took for him to straighten them out in the space between you instead. “Oh, fuck, I’m sorry, I shouldn't have— that was so insensitive of me. I’m sorry, Azriel.”
“They were a promise of a kind, but not the marks the magic of this court gives you. These were promises from my step-brothers when I was a child, promises that worse would come. Worse could come.” 
Silence settled between you for a moment, his sights fixed on his own marred flesh now as he turned his hands slowly, over and over before himself. Cupping his hands softly, your palms met his, thumbs smoothing across the rough skin. “I hope you gave them some promises of your own.”
“I did.” His voice was something darker, something sharper, as if daring you to be scared by it. By him. Your hands only squeezed a little tighter around his own. 
“Good.” The moment lasted a little longer, his hands flexing briefly around your own, before he was pulling them back. “Do you still want to walk me home?”
“I do.”
“Well, I think I’d like that.” He only smiled again, offering you his arm, and you freed one hand from underneath the layers of leather to loop your own through. 
Ambling down the sidewalk, you got as close to his side as possible, stealing both his heat and his protection as drunken fae stumbled past you on all sides, the streets filled with broken glass and litter. It was the worst part of the city, every Court had such places but you’d never thought you’d wind up living in such a place. 
With Azriel by your side, even for the short walk it was, people seemed to steer far away from the tall, powerful man who was keeping you company. You’d received countless leers and stares since leaving the house in this outfit, but now, they didn’t even dare to look at you. The safety was something you’d never felt before, and you’d miss it when you were alone again in your apartment tonight, behind a door that didn’t lock and had a chunk missing from the bottom. 
Slowing down on the pavement before the place you currently called a very begrudging ‘home’, you avoided a pile of vomit on the street, cringing a little internally and hoping Azriel hadn't noticed it. You weren’t sure why you were so bothered by his opinion, but you were.
“Well, this is it.” 
Azriel paused, glancing up at the decrepit building you’d come to a stop before. The windows were boarded up along the bottom floor, graffiti lined the walls, and there were stains on the bricks you’d never bothered to question. Azriel took it all in, and shame flooded your body. The coat wrapped around your shoulders was probably worth more than several months of your rent here.
“Thank you for walking me home.”
“You can’t be serious.” He continued to stare, up and up at the several layers, to the open window with shouting pouring out from one of the upper windows. “You can’t live here. We haven’t even left—” The bad part of town.
He cut himself off, but the words still sounded out between you both. Slipping his coat from your shoulders, you held it out, but he didn’t take it. He didn’t even look at it, still staring up in disgust at the apartment building. “Gods, this place makes Nesta’s last apartment look like the Townhouse.”
“What?”
His focus moved back to you, like he hadn't realised he’d even said that out loud, before shaking his head. “Would you like to have a coffee with me?”
“Oh, uh, sure.” The offer shocked you, but sparked a little warmth, like despite every shameful thing he’d learned about you tonight, he wasn’t disgusted by you yet. “When?”
“Now.”
“But nowhere will be—” His hands came out, holding softly to your elbows and tugging you closer, before cold shadows seemed to dart from every corner of the street, wrapping you in a black bubble. The earth seemed to fall out from under you as your vision was lost, everything was silent and cold, before you were stumbling in your terror, and the shadows moved again. “What the fuck just happened?”
The coat dropped from your hand, crumpling to a pile on the street as you stumbled backwards. Only, this wasn’t your street. 
The faelights in the lampposts didn’t flicker in their stained yellow glass, but were a clear and bright white. No cracked street tiles or shouting, nothing but peaceful moths batting at the glass, and several houses lined up, spaced far from one another along the street. It wasn’t dark or damp, broken and stained, a part of the city you’d never even seen before. Only one row of houses lined the street, so far between each house it would take you ten full minutes to walk to the next, the Sidra bubbling quietly behind you over the bridge. 
Azriel dipped down, picking his jacket up from the ground, and when he took a step closer to you, you took one back, a shaky hand coming up between you both to hold him away.
“Where are we? What the fuck just happened? Why am I here?”
He sighed, shoulders straightening a little. “It’s called… well, I don’t know what it's called, because I’m pretty sure I’m the only one who can do it. It’s like winnowing, only with my shadows. I’m a shadowsinger, I control them.” As if to emphasise his point, the darkness lingering all around you on the street swirled slowly, your breath hitching in your throat as you watched the darkness move. “You step into the shadows one one place, you step out of them in another. I brought you here for coffee, but that was just an excuse, if I’m honest. Really, I just couldn't bear the thought of leaving you in that place.”
“That place is all I can afford.” You muttered, arms crossing over your chest, a dull pound in your head as you tried to process every overwhelming piece of new information. “So, what are we doing here?”
“I live here.” He stepped up onto the pathway of one house, the gate squeaking a little as he pushed it open, and your jaw fell slack, staring up at the towering estate before you.
“Here?”
“Yes. Now, will you please come inside?” Tipping his head to the side, that smile was back, and you couldn't resist it, the pull toward him as your feet carried you in cautious steps. 
“Fine, but I don’t actually want coffee. I hope you have tea.”
“I have plenty of tea. So many flavours that you won’t know what to pick.” His grin only widened as you stepped through the gate, letting him close it behind you, and following you up towards the grand house as you put every effort into not making a fool of yourself in these ridiculous heels. As you reached the porch, he swerved around you, producing a set of keys from his pockets and unlocking the door, holding that out for you too. “Welcome to the Bridge House.”
“That’s a pretentious name. All of these houses are on the river, and none of them are on the bridge.” You muttered, his chuckle following you inside as fae lights came on automatically, lighting along the long hallway, giving a muted glow to the space. He shut the door, and you spun to face him, watching as he clicked all of the locks securely back into place. 
“I know, but Rhys likes to name all of his houses, and he wouldn't let me change it even when I bought it.”
“Rhys?” You echoed, deciding to skip right over the display of wealth you couldn't even begin to handle, and copy his actions, toeing off the shoes that had been torturing your feet for hours now, and giving a soft sigh when your feet flattened on the floor. 
“My brother. Not biologically, but, it’s what he, Cassian and I like to call ourselves.” 
With a warm hand on your lower back, he softly began to guide you through the house and into the kitchen, but the names lingered in your mind. “Cassian… Rhys— oh, fuck, as in Rhysand? The fucking High Lord?”
Azriel only smirked at your outburst, stepping away from the island counter in the middle towards the kettle sitting neatly on the stove. “So, their names you recognise, but mine you don’t? I’m almost offended.”
“Well, isn’t that supposed to be the point, spymaster?” You growled the word out, knees feeling a little weak underneath yourself, and you braced your hip against the counter. “Oh, Gods, this is so inappropriate. I can’t be here! You’re a part of the Royal Court, you’re—”
“I’m just Azriel, to you.” His voice had gone soft once again, pulling two mismatching mugs from the cupboard, and watching you cautiously. 
“I’m wearing lingerie!” You burst, voice too high and shrill to even be remotely calm, and he clicked his tongue. 
“I'm aware. You look cold and uncomfortable. Would you like something to change into?”
“Would I…” It was surreal. It was a dream. None of this could possibly be true. “I can’t be here!”
“Why?”
“Because… because you’re Azriel, the spymaster! You literally call the High Lord brother, and I am a pleasure house worker who can barely afford rent in the shittiest part of town, I came to your house in a pair of stupid heels that I had to tape the sole back onto, in a dress that barely even qualifies as underwear! Your jacket could probably have bought my whole apartment outright, and—” Azriel crossed the room before you could even process it, hands sitting on your waist to scoop you up and deposit you onto the counter just before your legs could give out fully. He planted his hands on the outside of each of your thighs, planted himself between them, and his nose practically brushed your own. “What are you doing?”
“Take a breath. You’re panicking. You’re going to give yourself a panic attack.”
“I think we’re way past that.” You whispered, but did as told, trying to take a shaky breath to match the one he took. You did it again, and again, each breath calming you a little more, but it didn’t help the chaos in your mind, just helped to slow your heart a little. “Azriel, c’mon, you and I both know it. I should go, and we should just hope none of your neighbours saw, because it’ll ruin your reputation.”
“My reputation is destroyed anyway. If anything, you’ll be wanting to hope nobody saw you with me, once you learn about me.” You rolled your eyes, head tipping forward to lean on his shoulder, and he slipped one hand up to rub softly along your back. You could feel everything, the sexy dip of the dress barely covered your ass now, and more embarrassment flooded through you. “Besides, you’re here now. You might as well stay for that tea. It’s not like anyone can see you in here, you’re not on a timer.”
“Okay. Just one cup.”
“Just one cup.” He confirmed, lingering for a second longer before pulling away. Disentangling himself, he filled up the kettle from the tap, setting it off on the hob. “What flavour tea would you like?”
“What’ve you got?”
Hopping down from the counter as he beckoned you closer, it was only when you were by his side that he opened a double-standing cabinet, both of the doors slowly opening on a hinge, silent as ever, to reveal the jars of loose tea within. Each one was lined up meticulously, labelled with the flavour of tea and the benefits underneath, your jaw dropping. “Told you I had plenty.”
“You could run a tea shop with this stash!” Your elbow flew out, nudging into his ribs to dim his laughter. “I have no idea where to even start. Why don’t you pick?”
“Alright.” Instead of getting one out, though, he closed the cupboard doors, backing you away from it slowly. “It’ll be a surprise, but how about we get you that change of clothes first, huh?”
You glanced down at yourself, giving into the urge to finally feel settled in your own body again, chin dipping in a single nod. His hand slipped into your own, warm and sure, before he was tugging you along behind him, and guiding you through the house. Up two sets of stairs, past far too many different rooms to count, before stopping at the doorway to the grand bedroom. It had double doors, for fuck’s sake. The one bedroom itself, as you entered, was bigger than your entire apartment had been. 
Clean, simply decorated and organised, and extremely homely, a sigh left you as you took it all in. “This is your bedroom?”
“Well, I am the only one who lives here.” He teased, dropping your hand and leaving you to observe in the centre of the room, as he made his way over to one of the wardrobes. 
“Really? I couldn't tell, what with this place being the same size as my entire apartment building.” He laughed, and you hardly had time to turn and see the smile that would be accompanying it, before soft material was smacking you in the face, and falling to the floor. You looked down, agape, to see a soft blue t-shirt sitting in a pile at your feet. “Did you just throw that at me?”
“That’s what you get for sassing me.”
He opened another drawer as you crouched to pick it up, shaking it out to hold the material in front of yourself. When it was lowered, he threw something else, another bundle you were just quick enough to catch this time, but it didn’t stop you from scowling in his direction. This time, it was sweatpants, thicker and black in colour.
“I’ll give you a chance to get changed, and I’ll be back.” 
He was gone, the door shutting gently behind him, and he was absolutely silent as he walked away, leaving you alone in his bedroom. It was an odd feeling, to say the least. To be trusted so deeply with someone’s things, when they had no reason to be, and Azriel didn’t read to you as the easily trusting type. 
Then again, neither were you, and you were somehow still confident that this wasn’t all going to end with your untimely death. Your toes sank into the plush carpets, sore patches on the backs and sides of your feet already threatening to be blistered by the morning, and this dress had been irritating your skin since the moment you’d put it on. Cheap material, but the best you could afford.
Slipping open the ties across the front one at a time, the dress came loose, enough for you to slip your arms out of the tight sleeves, and begin to shimmy it down your body, feeling less than elegant as you worked your way out of it. Perhaps it was a good thing you hadn't gone in, you certainly weren’t cut out for this kind of work. How anybody could make peeling themselves out of that sexy was beyond you.
Azriel’s shirt was built to accommodate his large frame, with panels in the back that buttoned up for his wings, but even once it was on, with those few slits down the back, they revealed nothing compared to the dress on the floor at your feet. You didn’t feel so exposed any more, so vulnerable, and as you slipped the sweatpants up your legs to tighten at the waist, you finally felt more like yourself again. 
A sigh slipped past your lips, hands smoothing down along your covered body, warm and comfy once again. You hadn't felt this settled in a long time, and already, Azriel’s house was feeling more like home than your shitty apartment ever had, and ever would. Scooping up your dress and folding it neatly into a flat square, you laid it atop one of the dressers, beside a half-burned candle and a book. 
You were sniffling the candle when there was a knock at the door the knob twisting slowly. 
“Can I come in? Are you, y’know, dressed?”
“I’m dressed, you can come in.” He nudged the door open, a tray in his hands, stacked up with pottery and plates, and you placed the candle back down to help. He didn’t need it, though, resting the tray down on the small trunk at the end of his bed, and straightening up. As he turned to you, his gaze found you again, running far more slowly along your body than he had out in the street, and the smile you were becoming fond of formed on his lips again. 
“Feel better?”
“So much better.” 
He patted the silky quilt on the end of his bed. “Come sit. I made cranberry and spiced apple tea. It’s very calming, a good late-night tea.”
“Sounds delicious.” Your legs crossed as you perched atop the plush mattress, a bed larger than you’d ever seen before as you took it in, spanning your gaze across the entirety of it. When you turned back, Azriel was pouring you a mug, watching.
“It’s because of the wings.”
“What?” 
“My wings.” He flexed them out behind himself, stretching them taut to their full, glorious length, and your hands shook a little in awe as you took the mug and saucer from him. Black, leathery flesh was thinner in some places, enough to glow a softer purple and red as the light shone through, some patches had tendons and veins visibly moving under the skin, marred patches of scars in the shapes of slashes and arrow piercings. “So I can stretch them out in bed and they don’t touch the floor.”
“They’re sensitive?” You wanted to reach out, to trace one of the scars sitting right at eye level, to ask what had caused it, but he only chuckled. As he poured his own mug of tea, he pulled them back in, hanging comfortably behind his back once again.
“Very sensitive. You can bring an Illyrian male to his knees with just one touch in the right place.”
“This feels like top-secret information. Surely you shouldn’t be spilling all the ways to hurt an Illyrian male to me?” You teased, and he uncapped a jar of honey, his smirk growing as one brow raised at you. 
“Do you want to hurt me?”
“Of course not.” He added two spoonfuls to his mug and stirred, before offering it to you, a fresh spoon to follow, and you accepted the scoops he made. 
“Then why shouldn’t I tell you?” You had no answer to that, instead grinning into your tea as you stirred it, watching the ripples form as you tapped the spoon against the edge, and rested it on the saucer. Steam curled up from it, and as you raised it to your lips to blow, he hummed. It smelt so good, your mouth watered. “Besides, who said you’d be bringing me to my knees in pain?”
You jerked, gaze snapping back up to him, before a splash of the tea spilt over the edge of your mug, hitting your thigh and dripping onto the covers below, creating a small wet patch. “Azriel!”
He only laughed, your cheeks heating at his innuendo, but the flush on his face was worth it, even if he was laughing at you. 
“Now look what you made me do, there’s tea on your covers.”
“Sweetheart, seeing that reaction would have been worth it if you’d spilt a bucket of mud on my bed.” Your cheeks flushed again at the drawl of his voice over his words, even if he didn’t know he was doing it, your heart jumping in your chest.
“I still might, as revenge.” Muttering your words didn’t make him miss them, laughter starting anew, and you hoped he at least couldn't see the smile the sound gave you as you sipped your tea. You finally let your eyes move to the tray, noting the large teapot sitting in the centre, the used pot of honey and your spoons, and the small plate stacked up with shortbreads. “Would it be already if I had one of those?”
He tracked your gaze, nodding rapidly when he realised and presented the plate to you. “I don’t normally have food in my bedroom, never mind my bed, but, I didn’t know when you last ate. I didn’t want to assume, and start cooking a whole meal, but I can—”
“Azriel.” His lips pursed shut, this time it was his turn to blush, an adorable shade of pink that suited him so well crawling across golden skin. “I love these, and I was hungry. They’re perfect. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” 
Slipping from the bed to stand once again, you placed your mug back on the tray, and held up your saucer instead to catch crumbs as you ate the first circular treat. 
“What are you doing?” Azriel’s voice was a little rough, and you licked stray crumbs and sugar from your lips, not missing his gaze following the motion. 
“I’m eating.”
“Why did you stand up?” He flexed his fingers around his mug, watching you happily as you took another bite. 
“I didn’t want to risk getting crumbs in your bed.”
“You can,” He stepped closer, putting his drink down and settling his hands on your shoulders, a look in his eyes you didn’t quite get a chance to read before he was moving you, pushing until your legs met the bed and you sat down slowly. “You can sit. I don’t care if you get crumbs. I’ll clean it.”
He moved to take the saucer, the one you had cupped under your chin to catch any loose crumbs, and you gripped it tightly, not letting him have that too. He was making all kinds of sacrifices for you tonight, you weren’t sure why, but this was one rule you could at least respect. 
“You can sit up at the pillows, if you want. You don’t have to sit down here.”
Glancing back, the end of the bed felt miles away, and you shrugged, feeling him stack another pastry onto your plate as your attention was turned away. “Will you sit with me if I do? I mean, I know it’s your bed, but…”
“I will. Let me just change, first.”
He swiped up his pyjamas, which had been sitting neatly by the pillow on what you assumed was his side of the bed, and disappeared with a flurry of shadows into the connecting bathroom. Not all of them went, some remained, swirling on the floor, and a single tendril rose up, like a snake lifting its head.
It didn’t have eyes, a face, or any discernible features, and yet you had the distinct feeling you were being watched by it. You popped another shortbread into your mouth, whole this time, and placed the rest down, watching it just as studiously as it approached you across the floor slowly. 
It slithered up, across the bedding, and snaked over your thigh until it found your wrist. It was cool, not cold, but a soft breeze across your skin. Soothing, to say the least, and it wrapped in coils around your arm. Up and up it went, crawling under the baggy sleeve-hem of the t-shirt you’d borrowed, across the pulse point in your neck and before re-emerging from your collar and darting into the hanging strands of your hair. 
Another soon followed, this one tickling across the bare bad of your foot before snaking up your leg, toying in your fingers, weaving through the digits. Another came, curious like puppies, but this one never touched you. No, instead, it danced across the trunk before you, over the tray and swirled around your mug, again and again in whirling circles. 
“What are you doing, little one?”
You reached a finger out, brushing it across the mist. “It’s trying to tell you to drink your tea.”
“Jeez, Azriel!” You jumped, shadows skittering like butterflies back to the corners of the room as he waved a hand, and you clutched your own over your heart. “You’re so fuckin’ sneaky, what is up with you!”
“Spymaster, remember? Sneaky is kind of in the job description.” He winked, winked, and wandered right past where you sat, up to the head of the bed. He looked good, too good for someone simply intending to sleep later tonight, with a fitted black shirt stretched taut across those muscles, and a pair of matching sweatpants to the ones he’d given you, except they looked much better on him. Pulling back the covers, he patted the mattress beneath, raising his head to look at you. “Come on, and bring your tea.”
You did as told, rising and grabbing both your mug and his, moving to sit on the space he’d learned for you, amongst fluffy pillows and cushions. He tucked the blankets back around you, caring for you in a way nobody ever had before, and you had to bite at the inside of your cheek to contain it. “Thank you.”
Your whisper was hardly audible, but he smiled nonetheless, one curl from his raven black locks flopping across his forehead as he nodded, before making his way around to his side. Sinking into the bed, he sat forwards, ruffling his wings for a moment until he was satisfied, before sitting back and taking the mug you offered. 
Once one hand was free, you indulged yourself, leaning across to tuck that curl back up into his hair, his golden eyes tracking every movement. “Why are you doing this for me, Azriel?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why are you looking after me? Why are you being so kind to a complete stranger? I’m here, wearing your clothes, sitting in your bed, drinking your tea. Why?” The words hung thick in the air around you, for so long you sipped your tea just for something to do as his lips pursed in consideration. You swore you could hear your heartbeat, drumming in anticipation. This was it. This was where stupid, ridiculous, blind trust from desperation got you. Into the bed of someone who could ruin your life, who would make it seem like nothing ever happened, who—
“I don’t quite know.”
“You— what?” It wasn’t what you’d been expecting, head emptying once again, and he shrugged. He sipped his tea, and didn’t continue. You placed your own down on the bedside table to your left, turning onto your side and propping yourself on the pillows to study him. “You don’t know?”
“No. I just saw you, and I wanted to talk to you. So, we talked. Then I walked you home, and I saw where you lived, and I just knew I couldn't let someone as good as you go in there again.”
“You don’t even know me! What if I’m a really awful person?”
“I don’t think so.” He smiled, tucking a strand of your hair away behind your ear as he smiled. His thumb came down, tracing slowly across your cheek in a way that made sparks fly along your skin, your heart skipping another beat, and his grin only got wider. “I’m pretty good at reading people, and you’re golden. Besides, my shadows are all shadows. They know these things, they don’t trust people easily, but they like you. That tells me that you’re good, that you deserve more.”
“That’s a lot of faith to have in them.”
“They’ve earned that faith over the centuries.” His confession brought another wave of silence, but nothing about it was awkward. He finished his tea, as did you, sitting side by side in his grand bed, where your feet didn’t even come close to touching the ends. “Azriel?”
“Yes?”
“Will you tell me something?”
His expression was sweet like sugar, and he rolled a little more to face you, a little closer to you, sharing your space. “What would you like me to tell you?”
“Tell me your funniest story.”
And just like that, Azriel was off, words flying from his mouth as he began to recreate the scene, and you slumped down into the pillows to listen. He told you about his brother, Cassian, and you laughed with him so much your sides hurt. You told him your own, your funniest tales of your time in school, pranks you and your friends had pulled, drunken nights out. 
Just one cup had become two, had become three, into four, as the stories moved on, conversation flowing so easily between you both in a way it never had before. 
The teapot was drained somewhere between talking about your childhood and his, when you’d returned the mugs to the tray, and found yourself braced in his arm, cheek on his chest listening to the rumble of his voice as he talked. 
Somewhere around the time of talking about all the promises he’d made, you’d found yourself sat up, cross-legged to match him and knees touching, leaning in like you were talking in secrets, hiding giggled in whispers like you were kids getting caught talking in a classroom. 
You told him about your trip to the Night Court, how you’d always felt so lost in Dawn, nothing seemed right, and after Amarantha's reign and the war, everything seemed to have fallen apart for you. He listened, he actually heard you, when you told him about your trip here, to see the City of Starlight and feeling more rooted here than you ever had in your home court. Something was calling you. You may not have the life you’d dreamed of yet, but you’d get there. 
He swore you would, he believed in you. He told you all the places to visit, the best parts of Velaris to see, when you could spare the time and the funds. Most seemed like dreams, things you’d never get to truly achieve, but it was fun to imagine them.
By the time the sun had been rising again, you were laying on your back, his head on your stomach as he lay sideways across the bed. Your hand was in his hair scratching across his scalp as he explained to you the trials that had brought him and his brothers to victory as Carynthian warriors.
“Azriel, can I ask you a question?” You whispered, dragging your hand through his hair one more time, before he was moving, propping his chin on your stomach and offering a sleepy smile.
“Sure.”
“What were you doing at the pleasure house tonight?”
“Looking for this.” He mumbled, yawning to follow it, and your thoughts swirled. He crawled up the bed a little more, collapsing down half on top of you still, half beside you in the bed, sharing your pillow. “Looking for company.”
“Well, yes, but not this kind of company.”
“No, not this kind.” His lips still smiled as his lashes fluttered, those pretty eyes finally opening to look at you again. “I’m so fuckin’ lonely, all the time. All those stories are great, they’re fun, but it's the times in between that hurt. When I sit at the dinner table, surrounded by five happy couples, all alone. When I see them, and I want to be so happy because they’re so in love, and I’m just jealous. Sometimes, I just want to be touched, to be loved, to be the one getting attention. Being the eleventh wheel sucks.”
“Eleventh wheel?” Your chuckle made him roll his eyes, shrugging helplessly, and groaning as he readjusted in the pillows, propping himself up. 
“I don’t know what drew me there tonight, just that I was lonely, and I want to feel love. Even if it was just a short time, even if I had to pay for it. Even if it wasn’t real.” He lifted your hand, weaving his scarred fingers through your own, and smiling fondly when he settled your hands in his lap. “Maybe it was fate that I found you instead. That, rather than pay for false love that would make me only feel worse after, I got to meet you, to help you. I didn’t bring you back here with this intention, I didn’t mean to bring you back at all, it just sort of happened. But, this has been one of the best nights of my existence, and all we did was talk.”
“Oh, Az…” Your voice cracked, leaning across towards him you pressed a kiss to his cheek, feeling his smile pull under your lips. 
“Thank you.”
“I should be thanking you.” You pulled back, settling your hand on his shoulder as your thumbs battled aimlessly. 
That blissful silence settled between you both once again, exhaustion eating at your boned as you fought to even keep your eyes open, and watch the growing sun rays come through the windows you’d never even bothered to cover last night. 
At some point, you’d have to leave. You’d have to give him his clothes back, and try to find your way home, living with nothing but the warming memories of this night to keep you from freezing in your apartment this Winter. It was all so worth it, because while you may not have confessed it in return, you hoped he knew it was one of the best nights of your existence, too.
“What if we did this again?”
“What do you mean?” You asked, words slightly slurred through your tiredness, and you wondered idly if you fell asleep here, would he let you stay until you woke up before sending you on your way?
“This. This, whatever this night was. We could make it an arrangement.”
“An arrangement?” You snorted, cloudy amusement filling your veins, but he only hummed. “Would you like to pay me to cuddle you, Azriel?”
“I would, actually. That and… other things.”
“What?” That cut through the haze, your head snapping up to look at him, your hand pulling back from his own as an icy feeling filled your chest. “I’m not— that’s— if I was going to do that, I’d be at the pleasure house right now!”
“What are you— no! Not those things!” His eyes widened as he released, shooting out to hold onto you once again as you searched for the edges of the covers to fling back. “Not like that. I just mean, there are things I want. I want company, I want someone to talk to over the dinner tables in the evening and hold like this, someone to make me feel less alone. I need affection, and just look at us tonight. Just like this, this was enough for me. And, there are things you need.”
“What do I need?” Huffing out the words, he gently smoothed your fingers from gripping the blankets, tipping your chin up to meet his gaze again. 
“You need a place to live that isn’t that horrible building. You need a real address, in a good part of town, so that someone will hire you. You need a friend in this city, and I want to be that friend.”
“So, you’d, what? Have me move into your house, live here with you? You’d change my whole life all for the measly price of cuddling you at night? You know, a girlfriend would do that for you. You wouldn't have trouble finding one, Azriel!”
“You’d be surprised.” He muttered, rubbing his thumb over your chin as he still held it. “Most people are scared of me, or want something from me. Even after that, I’m hard to put up with.”
“Oh, c’mon, Az.” Your eyes rolled, and he pinched a little in response. 
“Sometimes I have to go away for days at a time, weeks at a time. I have a hectic and unpredictable work schedule, so planning dates and getting to know someone isn’t exactly easy when you might have to inexplicably stand them up and not be able to explain why. Even so, I’m meticulous and pedantic, and people don’t want to date someone like that. Even with all that aside, actually connecting with someone is something I struggle with.” He let it all off his chest in one burst, and you felt the weight of his troubles and confessions like a rock on your chest. “You’d be perfect for me.”
“You don’t even know my name!”
“I do!” His eyes sheened over, thinking back across the whole night, and you watched the moment he realised that perhaps he’d given you his name, but he’d never asked for your own. “Names don’t mean a thing when I can see your soul so clearly, already.”
“You know this is insane, right?”
“Totally.” He confirmed, smiling a little at your scoff. “But we should still do it. You can live here, with me. You can get a job, make this your home, and have the life you always wanted in Velaris. In return, I get to not feel like the darkness, like I’m alone, all the time.”
“Would I have my own room?”
“Any you like. You’re not going to be a prisoner, or some kind of kinky hostage. This will be your home too.” Your shared snickers at his wording only brought you closer, until your forehead was resting on his own, staring at him through warped vision at your closeness. 
“This is madness. How would it work, what are the rules here?”
“The rules are whatever we want. We do what makes us happy, what makes us comfortable. I care about you, I like you. I don’t know what it is about you, but you’ve had me since the moment I saw you.” Your breathing stuttered, his hand cupping your whole cheek now instead, and you settled down into the pillows to face him. “It may be crazy, but I am crazy, you’re gonna’ learn that. Let me change your life, sweetheart. You’ll be changing mine too.”
Your voice was nothing more than a shaky whisper, accompanied by a smile. “Then I think you’ve got yourself a deal, Azriel.”
2K notes · View notes
rendy-a · 2 months
Note
hello if u dont mind, may I request your newest post with the rumored ramshackle girl with jade, azul and floyd please?
In case you are new to these prompts, this is a series where the students of NRC suspect the Prefect of Ramshackle might be a girl and are terribly interested in confirming if this is true. In the interest of keeping my writing gender neutral, the results of this investigation are always left up to the reader.
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The bootcamp Azul, Jade and Floyd had attended before coming to the surface had covered many things about surface dwellers and their lives but some things remained a mystery.  “So, tell me again why I can’t just ask the Prefect to see their little leg?” Floyd asks in an annoyed voice.  Azul sighs deeply, the conversation having gone on for quite a while, “Firstly, that’s not a leg and secondly, it just isn’t done on the surface!”  Floyd gnashes his sharp teeth in frustration.  “My, my,” Jade coos, “What an unfortunate mystery.”  Azul scowls over at Jade, “This isn’t helping anyone.  We need to sit and think about this rationally.” 
Floyd continues to mutter discontentedly but does move over to one of the sofa’s that flank Azul’s desk in the private back office of Mostro Lounge and takes a seat.  Jade slides to sit across from him in his signature gentlemanly manner.  The brusque air in which Azul plops down in his chair is testament to how preoccupied his thoughts are; even his suave persona is showing cracks.  He gathers up some pages of notes, trying to sort them before giving up and tossing the messy pile next to a stack of books.  Jade eyes the titles and smiles amused at the confused collection including such things as “What Women Want” and “How to Land Your Hunk in 10 Easy Steps.”  Azul notices Jade’s attention and quickly slides the stack of books into a desk drawer while flushing deeply. 
“Ah hem,” he clears his throat, “Sometimes even well thought out plans need to be adapted and changed.”  He looks slowly down at the stack of discarded notes, “And then changed again and again,” he softly mutters.  Jade smiles widely at Azul’s agitation.  “Ah hem,” Azul clears his throat to prepare to steer the conversation, “Now, what we need to discuss is how we are going to solve this little mystery.”  Floyd takes in a big breath and Azul quickly adds, “In a way approved by surface dwellers!”  Floyd frowns and mutters, “This blows.  Why do humans make everything so complicated?”  Jade places his gloved hand over his heart and commiserates with his sibling, “Why yes, it is a shame the Prefect isn’t attending school under the sea with us.  Things are so much straightforward with mer.”
Jade likely hadn’t intended to be helpful, as he was so enjoying the distress of his companions, and yet his comment caused Azul to take a long pause.  “Under the sea…” the pensive dorm leader trails off.  Jade narrows his eyes a bit, considering Azul.  Then he ventures a snide comment, “You aren’t planning to ask the Prefect to show you their tail fin, are you?  Because I’d certainly enjoy watching that conversation.”  Floyd shares a chuckle with his twin.  Azul glares at the duo before sitting back and steepling his hands, “Well, maybe I will.”  Floyd’s expression immediately changes into a scowl, “I thought we couldn’t ask the Prefect to show us their little leg!”  Azul’s brow knits tightly as he glares at Floyd again before he lets out a long-suffering sigh and lets it go.  “Come here boys, I’ve got a plan.”
The Prefect of Ramshackle dorm follows Jade eagerly down the glass hallway leading toward Octavinelle.  “Are you sure there isn’t some sort of contract waiting for me?” you ask again.  Jade smiles at you, appearing to be amused rather than annoyed at your repeated question, “I assure you, Prefect, that this outing is entirely for our benefit.  In fact, it is you doing us a favor and not the other way around.”  You can’t help but maintain your suspicion, “Maybe I should be negotiating for something more then.  Get the most out of this deal while Azul is being so generous.”  Jade bows apologetically, “I’m afraid, Prefect, that the potion we’re providing you complementary is the extent of our benevolence today.”  You follow silently for a moment before you can’t help but interject, “But it’s free, right?” 
Instead of answering you, Jade sweeps open a door and gestures for you to proceed him.  You’ve arrived at Octavinelle.  You always feel a certain way when you cross the threshold of this dorm.  It’s like a certain sense of foreboding that warns you that dangerous creatures lurk in the dark of the deep ocean.  As usual, you push down any minor unpleasantness and follow your eel guide deeper into the lair of your host. 
When you arrive at the lounge, Floyd catches sight of you first and bounds to his feet.  “Shrimpy, you’re here!”  Then he uses his unusual strength to swing you off your feet as you chide him to set you down.  He is in an exceptionally good mood today, for which you are grateful.  You wouldn’t want to set out on such an undertaking with Floyd in a bad mood.  “Give our guest some space, Floyd,” Azul admonishes gently, “You’ll have to forgive him.  We are all very excited for the outcome of today’s experiment.” 
This reminds you of your unusual task today.  Azul had explained it as an exercise in advanced potion making.  He was tweaking a transformation potion to not only allow for a human-to-mer transformation but one that also let the potion maker control the type of mer they transformed into.  Azul had lamented that he was unable to get the assistance of Jade and Floyd or take it himself, “For you see, Prefect, the results would be inconclusive as we are already mer.”  While that did seem to make sense, you’d long since developed a healthy amount of caution with anything the trio was tied to.  You’d have steered clear of Azul’s scheme entirely if it wasn’t for the alure of transforming into a mer.  That was an experience you just couldn’t resist.
You gaze at Azul cautiously and hesitantly ask, “So what sort of mer do you have planned for me?  It’s not something crazy like a whale or shrimp, right?”  Floyd smiles when you mention ‘shrimp’ but says nothing.  Instead, Azul sweeps in with his businessman persona to finish ‘selling’ you on the experiment.  “Of course not, Prefect!” he soothingly says as he dramatically gestures, “I assure you that we’ve chosen something simple for you.  This is just a first experiment, after all.  We didn’t plan on going into elaborate trials yet.”  You deadpan, “Just tell me.”  Jade chuckles at your reply and steps in, “It’s a Koi fish.  Nothing to be alarmed at, I assure you.”  Well…that actually sounded fine.  It was at least a fish you’d heard of, and you couldn’t really think of any objections to it.  “Once I’m transformed, you aren’t going to do anything funny to me.”  Floyd, bored with waiting, jumps in, “Come on Shrimpy, we just wanna see your tail and then we are good.”  Then he leans in toward you, “After that, I’ll take ya swimming.  Show you around the reef.” 
Honestly, it sounded like a rare experience, and you couldn’t help but be excited.  So, you ignored any last lingering doubts and held out your hand for the potion.  Jade sets the potion in your waiting hand, and you hold eye contact as you uncork the potion and throw it down your throat.  The initial taste was vile, but it had a slight fruity aftertaste which suggests Azul had at least attempted to soften the flavor for you.  You wondered at the consideration and the associated implications before feeling a twist in the pit of your stomach.  “Where is the pool?” you demand as you feel the urgent need to be in the water.  Floyd grabs your hand and pulls you along after him before pushing you into a room and closing the door behind you.  “Go on Shrimpy,” you hear him call out with a laughing voice from beyond the door, “we’ll catch up to you after.” 
You feel the beginning of a shift and quickly remove your clothing, not even bothering to fold it nicely and hastily dive into the pool.  There is an immediate sense of relief as the sea water fills your emerging gills and you marvel at the gold, white and black speckled tail emerging from your bottom half.  You arranged some shell adorned clothing you’d brought with you to cover your top in what you hoped was a cool mer-inspired fashion and decided you were ready to exit to the reef beyond.
Two shadows pass overtop of you and you startle and look around for the source.  You fail to control your surprise as a long tail wraps around your new tail and another around your arm.  You struggle for a moment before realizing this is what they want and let yourself go slack.  Jade chuckles and Floyd huffs before they release you and allow you to spin yourself around and look into their too smug faces.  “Why Prefect, how koi of you,” Jade drawls in amusement.  It takes you a moment to understand his pun and ask, “Was that what this was for?  So you could make fish puns.”  Floyd scoffs, “Nah, these days Jade is only into mushroom puns.”  You roll your eyes, “Sorry for missing the perk of it then.”  Jade and Floyd share a look, “This variety just has many hidden benefits.”  You peer at them suspiciously, “Like what?”
When neither of them answers beyond an ominous sounding chuckle, you ask again in a panic, “Like what!”  They have no time to answer as, with a sudden yelp, they are yanked from your side by a pair of dark tentacles.  “Jade, Floyd,” drawls Azul, “You are being rude to our special guest.”  Then he slowly slides to your side as you attempt to not stare at his octo-mer form.  One sleek tentacle rises and taps one of the shells you decorated yourself with.  You fluster, noticing none of the others had chosen to wear anything decorative like this.  “I thought it was a nice touch,” you mutter embarrassed.  “Why yes,” Azul quietly replies, “it does suit you quite well.”  His compliment relatives some of your tension, “Does it look strange?”  Now it was Azul’s turn to fluster.  After several false starts, he finally squeezes out a response, “I see you are the traditional sort.” 
You looked at him questioningly and Jade sweeps in to alleviate your confusion, “Shells.  Both the Mermaid Princess and the benevolent Sea Witch were said to have worn shell accessories.  You look like quite the proper mer.”  Perhaps it was the smile or the fact that you now felt like a very fashionable mer indeed, but you didn’t question them further when Azul instructs Jade and Floyd to take some measurements of your tail.   You watch them span a measuring tape around several areas of your tail to take its width.  They also appeared to have great interest in the degree of transparency of your fins. 
With each item Azul added to his notebook, he muttered, “I see, I see.”  You curiously asked, “Are these the results you were hoping for?”  He meets your eye and softly replies, “I’d have been happy either way.  It’s the knowing that is important.  You can’t plan without knowing.”  You look over to Floyd and ask, “Plan what?”  Floyd gives you a little giggle and reaches out to seize your hand, “Hey Shrimpy, this is getting boring.  What do you say we have ourselves a race?”  You privately agree that this was dragging on, so you give Azul a look as though to ask if you were free to go.  He sighs and gives you a nod. 
You give Floyd’s hand a shake in response and shout, “Alright!  Let’s give this tail a real trial now!”  Then you kick off and shout, “First one to that coral formation is a cuttlefish!”  Floyd laughs manically as he shoots after you.  Jade gives Azul a measuring glance and they share a knowing smile before he follows along, observing at a distance.  Azul makes no effort to follow and instead turns his attentions to his notebook and plans.  You spent the rest of the time your potion lasts happily swimming about the reef, blissfully unaware that three predators had firmly set their sights on you.  And, now that their little mystery was cleared up, there was nothing standing in the way of their schemes.
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lethalchiralium · 2 years
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No More | [2] | Simon “Ghost” Riley x F!Reader
a/n: WOW. i did not expect that to blow up as hard as it did. thank you so much!! [this seriously might become a series. we’ll see.] [also, that means you’re getting a backstory. a very… need for speed backstory ;)] i really do think this is shitty but that’s all part of the plan baby!
warnings: cussing, alcohol, simon drinks to forget but he always remembers, non-sexual nudity, mentions of genocide, mentions of trauma, mentions of past careers, mentions of planes, mentions of crashing, mentions of american citizenship (you don’t have to be from there if you don’t want to be! i live there and i don’t want to be here! it’s just important from a certain aspect of your previous career.) simon is also a lot more lovey when he’s drunk.
summary: He’s convinced he should leave. He’s convinced himself that you are better off without him, better alone than being hurt by a shell of a man like him. He barely got a foot out of the door before he changed his mind.
part one here! | SERIES MASTERLIST
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He had more bourbon in the past two months than he’s ever had in his entire life. The sickly sweet pull and the burn down his throat was a comforting pain as agony ripped through his heart. He sat alone in your shared apartment, a dim lamp being the only light in the entire space. He hadn’t gotten sick of the bourbon like he usually does, he couldn’t move it from the coffee table - he had sat forwards, arms resting on his knees and hands dug into his hair.
He was bone tired. He hadn’t slept in two days; it was a normal occurrence now that you had gone on that mission. He had to take leave so he didn’t rip Price’s throat out for not letting him go with you. The ache in his head still hadn’t gone away with the aspirin he took a few hours ago and the full bottle of his best bourbon down the hatch. The night wasn’t flying by like it did last night, he could hear the clock on the wall tick as he wallowed in his own misery.
Sometimes it took him weeks to bring up the scalpel and separate Ghost and Simon, divide the halves into quarters and dissect what actions could have been better performed to produce a better outcome - essentially, what he did to fuck up the one good thing he had going for him, and how he could fix it. He took your words to heart, and he was taking a very long time to stew over everything he could have done that would’ve have made him look like he didn’t trust you. Simon trusted you with every fiber of his being, he loved you more than that. He knew you were an amazing fighter, your fire to help those in need could never be extinguished.
He realized later rather than sooner that Ghost was why you didn’t trust him - Ghost was protecting the person Simon loves the most. And maybe, that included when you were home too. Keeping Simon locked away so he didn’t get hurt, so Simon didn’t get hurt by you.
If he had half a bottle less, he would’ve gone up to bed - but the room felt suffocating without you. He couldn’t lay in a bed that smelled like you if it became one of the last things he had of you in case you were killed, so he had cat napped on the couch for the past nine weeks. If he had a bottle less, he wouldn’t have thought about how his absence wouldn’t hurt you as much as Ghost does - if he had the £348 he spent on alcohol back, he wouldn’t have thought how this place felt like your home. Never his, he also categorized it underneath Ghost’s half - keeping his love at arms length so his self-destruction doesn’t hurt you.
He was drunk. Piss drunk, since he had never gave himself time to sleep off the bourbon. Ghost was cracked in the middle, and Simon was punching out holes in Ghost’s façade. Ghost never allowed Simon to feel, never allowed him to connect with anyone - a self-defense mechanism. But now? Ghost was almost gone, and he felt like himself now. And God, did it hurt.
How could he have done this? How could have pushed you away so far that your rope was dwindling by a thread, how could he have hurt the one thing that made him begin to unlock the cage around his freezing cold heart? He felt it in his chest, the raw burn and tug of desperation - he knew that he had to cut the thread.
He didn’t want to, he would give anything to not let you go - but Simon couldn’t let you keep getting damaged by his defense measures.
If he had no alcohol in his system, he wouldn’t have gotten up like he did. He wouldn’t have waltzed to the guest room, messily packed his duffle and brought it to the living room. He wouldn’t have grabbed a pen and an old pad of paper. And he definitely wouldn’t have written the note he was writing now.
He folded the note, lifting up the bottle of bourbon on the coffee table and setting it down on the table, putting the bottle on the corner to hold the note down. His hand grabbed his duffle and he stood and he made his way to the front door. He slipped on his boots, only caring enough to tuck the laces into his socks before Simon went to open the door. He took the time to turn around, gazing at the dim apartment that smelled like you, that held all of your important belongings. It was the place that cradled you when you were down, the place he kept falling for you, the place he would kneel to the kiss the ground you walked on.
This was the place he loved you.
Honestly, in the back of his mind, he knew his sober ass would walk home after a week.
Before he could open the door, the lock turned and the door burst open - he threw his duffle into the adjacent kitchen and was about to fight. That was before he saw you.
Dirt and blood caked on your face, your duffle hanging from your hand, your hoodie tattered and your neck bruised - and he watched as the tears raced down your face. He could barely even begin to speak when you flung your duffle inside and dove into his chest, arms wrapped around his chest so hard, he thought you would pop his lungs.
“Baby, baby, hey,” He cooed, his hand immediately held your head against his chest - he pulled you both out of the way so he could close the door and lock it, now he was immediately sobered up. Your sobs were loud now, your hands gripped onto the back of his shirt so hard he was convinced it would rip.
He tried to pull you away but you refused, begging, “Please, pl-please don’t let me go.”
“Where’s Cerby?” He spoke gently, keeping his hand on the back of your head, feeling dirt crusted into your scalp. You must have come straight here.
“With K-Keegs.” You mumbled, muffled by his thin t-shirt with a faded band logo on it. He sighed, sad that his dog wouldn’t be home for a few days but he let the feeling go. All he needed to focus on was you, and definitely not his foolish actions from literally three minutes prior.
He hummed then, his free hand moved to underneath your thigh - he pulled it up so you would get the hint, which you did. Your arms moved from around his chest to around his neck and you jumped into his arms, caging your legs around his large waist as best you could. Both of his hands held the back of your thighs, he glanced to the kitchen and made sure both of the duffles were there and unharmed. They were, so he turned around and walked down the hallway to the bedroom he hadn’t used in since the last time you were home. He pushed the door open, turning on the warm light before walking into the ensuite bathroom.
He flicked on the light before moving to sit on the side of the bathtub, it creaked under your combined weight - you were sat firmly on his lap and his hands went to your back and head, cradling you.
“I’m gonna start a bath for you, love.” He spoke, his voice wavering with uncertainty as your arms wrapped tighter around his masked neck.
“No, no, please, don’t let go.” The tumble of words from your mouth made his grip on you tighter. He couldn’t imagine what happened, he didn’t want to - he thanked God that he decided to drink that entire bottle of bourbon a couple of hours ago. His mind was muddled, he could barely get any thought out of what could’ve happened. All he wanted to do now was help you.
He kissed the top of your head through his mask, dismissing the feeling of cloth against his lips and he gently pulled your head back, he gazed into your red-rimmed eyes. He whispered your name like a prayer, as if you were an angel - which you were to him. Even covered head to toe in dirt, blood, and grime, he would still be able to see your halo through any darkness. “Let me help, love. Let me help you feel better, then I won’t let you go for as long as you want.”
“I can’t.” The voice he heard was almost unrecognizable, he had never heard you sound so small. “I can’t, I can’t.”
He sighed, moving forwards to press the skull to your forehead - something he did when he knew you needed it. You physically relaxed when he did it, your back bent into his hand as you pushed every single ounce of weight onto him. His fingertips pressed into your spine, dragging up and down it from above your shitty old hoodie. He stayed like that for a few minutes, letting you cry against his mask. He gave you a bit of time before he pulled up your hoodie, you obliged and let him pull it over your head. You were just in your dirty black sports bra, and now he got a good look at you.
He felt bile rise in his throat. Your entire chest was spray painted in black bruises, he got a good look at the dark purplish handprint on your neck. He looked back up at you, your head faced to the side as you cried, ashamed.
“Oh, my love,” His hand returned to the back of your head, cradling it as he gazed at you. “Are you hurt anywhere else?”
You quickly shook your head, tears removing most of the grime on your cheeks. Your arms were now at your side, fiddling with the hem of his athletic shorts while you let out a broken sigh. His hands moved to lift you off of his lap, one hand didn’t stop touching you while he pulled off your boots, tossing them to the side before tugging off your holed socks. He made a mental reminder to buy you new socks at the base shop while he placed a hand on your back, guiding you with him as he moved to turn the faucet on. He turned it all the way up then back a little, the temperature you liked. He plugged the drain and put his hand underneath the flow of water, waiting for it to turn almost hot - normally, he would’ve made it extremely hot, you had always said you thought it was like being boiled like a lobster. But, he didn’t want to agitate your injuries. His hand moved from your back and didn’t break skin contact when he took your hand, still looking away from you but he still held your hand gently.
“You’re warm.” You mumbled, moving his hand up to settle on your cheek.
“I know, love.” He answered, turning back to you. His hand slipped from your face and down your side to your belt loops, undoing the buttons and zipper then pulling down your pants. He took your hands as you stepped out of your pants, watched as you kicked them behind you and he observed new pink scars, healed but still fresh. Surrounding them were black bruises, identical to the ones on your chest. He heard your whimpers of pain when you stood back up, his hand ghosted your side as he gazed at it, seeing identical black bruises again. Even if he felt sober, he knew that the adrenaline from you showing up injured would wear off and he would become sloppy. He didn’t hurry, he took his time as he pulled down the boxers you stole from him and toss them away. His hands found the bottom of your sports bra, your wince made him pause and look at your face again.
Fat tears still rolled down your cheeks, silent sobs left you as you kept your eyes closed. Your hands stayed at your side until he murmured, “Raise your arms please.” You did as you were told, he tugged it off quickly but not as painlessly as he wanted. You let out a loud wheeze that echoed throughout the bathroom, he placed his hand on your side again, his presence close to you as he leaned down and shut off the water. “‘m gonna pick you up, love.”
“Okay.”
He did as he had said, gently swooping you into his arms and placing you in the warm water that reached up to your collarbone. Your eyes opened again when he retreated from the tub, your gaze watched as he pulled out a towel from the closet and began to rummage through it.
“I almost died.”
Simon visibly froze as you turned back, your gaze now staring at the light above the tub. He peered around the door, hand clutching a washcloth with a pain he couldn’t soberly place. “Do…Do you want to tell me?”
You didn’t respond. He brought all of the materials to the side of the tub, he gently pet your head.
Simon, drunk as hell, bathed you with care. He didn’t speak a word and neither did you, you stared at the wall the whole time except when he tried to wash your hair. You let him move you under the faucet, rinse your hair for five minutes because he couldn’t tell if the soap was gone yet, let him dry you with a towel and dress you in new clothes.
You could barely keep your eyes open when he carried you to bed, tucking you in before he did himself. He watched as you curled into a ball, facing him and keeping your eyes on the sheets, your hand drew circles beside your face. He turned off the lamp on the nightstand, drowning the room in darkness and settled back onto the bed, watching you with bated breath.
“Got trapped in a burning truck.” Your voice almost spooked him, his eyebrows furrowed. You just stared at the gray sheets. “RPG’d the ground in front of us and flipped it. Knocked Logan and Keegs out. Hesh got launched from the driver’s windshield. Had to drag them out and triage them in an abandoned warehouse while trying to fight off the enemy. Got captured for a week. Keegs saved me.” You sniffled a little, your hand reached for his - he instantly took it. He squeezed your hand. “Had bad flashbacks. It had been a while since I’ve got stuck under burning metal and tortured. S’why I was crying.”
“How’re the boys?”
“Watchin’ Cerby and all as stubborn as always. All fine.” You mumbled, pressing his rough skin to your chapped lips.
A deafening silence settled then, your thumb threaded over the back of his hand while he felt your breath graze it. He began to feel drowsy, the slow turn-table of dizziness was coming back from earlier and all he wanted to do was place his head in your neck and just breathe. He needed you like he needed oxygen, you touch him and he felt like it was the first breath he’s ever taken.
“Sleep, baby.” He murmured, sliding down from his sitting position, underneath the soft duvet. He moved closer to you, settling his head so that he laid face to face with you. He could barely make out your nose and cheeks in the dim moonlight, but he could see the glisten of your eyes as they gazed at his.
“I haven’t had a PTSD episode since I left the US Naval Aviation division.” The voice he heard sounded nothing like what you normally do - it was small. Broken. Damaged. An echo of you.
He furrowed his brows, he thought he knew everything about you. Both your dad and childhood best friend were pilots, but you never specified what kind - and apparently neglected to tell him that you were one too. “Why didn’t you tell me you were a pilot?”
You sniffled, squeezing his hand and ignored his question. “Got shot down over enemy territory. Crash landed and had to pry my legs from my jet as the fire burned.” The sensation of his hand being squeezed tighter made his dizzy mind think that you were angry - but in reality, the memory of burning metal against your hands made you feel scared. You wanted to pull him closer, to have him shield you from your memories. Yet you kept talking, even if you recognized the hurt twang in his voice. “Had to fend for myself in an abandoned city just over the border in Ukraine. Stayed in that town for three weeks ‘til Special Forces came and found me.” You pulled his arm to your chest, pressing his hand into your cheek. “S’where I met Price. Almost shot him too, thought he was an enemy.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about the flashbacks?” His voice was softer then, he pressed his warm palm down to your jaw. “I could’ve helped you, my love.”
“‘Cause it’s not important now.” You murmured, both of your hands cradled his. “Wasn’t even s’posed to stay with 141, meant to go back to Miramar. Meant to get back in the air.” You took a quiet breath. “I fell for you and everything I knew went up in smoke.”
His heart dropped to the floor. It thumped against it, still pumping blood but it hurt in his chest.
“If I hadn’t given it up, I wouldn’t have you.”
“I would give up anything for you.” He whispered. “Don’t give up anything for me, darling. You deserve everything you have.”
“That means I deserve you.”
“You don’t deserve me.” He immediately answered, his other hand went to settle on the duvet, tugging it up more. “You don’t deserve my problems, how fucked up I am.”
“I don’t care.”
“You should.” He settled his hand on your side, feeling you breathe underneath his fingertips. “I’ve hurt you, not on purpose but I still did it.” His thumb circled on the duvet, you barely felt it as his voice became quieter. “You really hurt me when you walked away.”
“I’m sorry.” Your voice wavered, he couldn’t bear to hear you start to cry again. He paused, hand coming from your hip to completely take off his mask - something he had never done in your presence before. He tossed the mask away onto the floor as he moved forwards, placing his lips against your moonlight dusted cheek.
“I deserved it.” He answered, settling back and pulling your hands into his chest. “Made me think for a while.”
“You’re drunk.” A statement he didn’t deny, he pulled your hands upwards to his collarbone.
“I am.”
“Because of me?”
“Because I hurt you.” He answered, now pulling your hands to settle on his cheeks. “I want you to feel that I trust you, because I do.” He began to move your hands upwards, his eyes fluttered closed as your fingertips traced his warm face, tracing his eyebrows and dancing over his eyelids.
“Simon, you don’t have to let me do this.” Your hands paused, his own grip settled on your wrists. “I want you to be sober, you’ll be mad at me tomorrow.”
He scoffed, moving his head to kiss one of your palms, keeping his eyes closed as he whispered, “I could never be mad at you. Frustrated or upset? Yes, but angry? No.” He gently rubbed your arms, hands moving to settle on your own cheeks. “I’ve decided that you need to really know how much I trust you. How much faith I have in you. How proud I am of you.”
“You hurt me for so long.” Your voice cracked so heavily, fingertips grazing his forehead and memorizing his nose, coming down to trace his lips you knew well.
“I want to fix it.” His lips kissed your palm again, eyes opening to gaze at your dimly lit face. “Give me a chance.”
“I think this is most comfortable you’ve ever been to talk about things like this.” You remarked, hands stopping on his jaw, cradling it. “I want you to show me how much you trust me, but when you’re sober.”
He nodded in return, moving forwards to place a slow kiss on your lips. His hands moved to settle on the side of your head, pulling you forward just a little. When he broke the kiss, he placed another on the tip of your nose. “You’ll know how much I treasure you until the end of time.”
“Okay.”
“Just don’t leave me like that ever again.” His voice was low, one hand going to trace down your body. “Ever.”
You nodded as you moved closer to him, chest to chest. He removed his other hand from your cheek and slid his arm under his pillow.
“Sleep, love. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
_______________
comment for part 3! (part three here!!)
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tag list:
(i was not able to tag some - i apologize!)
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Copyright © 2023 lethalchiralium. All rights reserved.
1K notes · View notes
crystallinestars · 1 year
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Jealousy Headcanons Part 2
These headcanons got too long so I split them into two parts. Part 1 is here.
General headcanons on how the Genshin men react to seeing you being flirted with by a male acquaintance.
Content warnings: Childe's and Zhongli's parts contain some mild nsfw, but nothing explicit.
Cyno:
👁️‍🗨️ Won’t act out on his jealousy if you’re not in a relationship, but if you are, expect him to linger behind you like a guard dog. When your acquaintance flirts with you, Cyno will silently stare at him. His gaze is analytical, expression stoic but unrelenting in his focus on the other man. It would honestly make anyone on the receiving end of Cyno’s piercing red eyes feel uneasy. Cyno doesn’t even have to say much—his fierce gaze alone can send others running.
👁️‍🗨️ If your acquaintance doesn’t stop and continues to flirt with you, then Cyno tells the other man to back off if he sees you looking uncomfortable by the attention. If instead you enjoy the attention, then Cyno will sulk. He might mention your interest in the acquaintance when the two of you have a moment of privacy, wanting to get clarification if you were just being polite or if you found his attention not enough. Cyno will readily trust whatever explanation you give because he trusts you to not lie to him.
👁️‍🗨️ Cyno follows you around like a puppy when he’s jealous. He wants your attention, so he’ll crack some jokes to try and make you laugh, or show you how cool he is by challenging his friends to a round of TCG. He wants to show you his best self in hopes of impressing you with his skills and will act even more over-the-top during the duel. Cyno needs some simple reassurance, a word or two about how cool he is or that you’re so glad to have him as your partner, and he will calm down.
👁️‍🗨️ If you’re not in a relationship then Cyno won’t act out on his jealousy, but the memory of you smiling happily at your flirting acquaintance will linger in his mind. He sulks and feels down, and Tighnari and Collei immediately know that something is wrong with their friend. Cyno shares his troubles with Tighnari and seeks some advice on what to do to get rid of the feeling, and the consensus is that he should confess to you. Best case scenario, you reciprocate his feelings and make Cyno happy. Worst case, you turn him down and Cyno would have an opportunity to try and move on.
Childe:
🐋 Pretty terrible at controlling and hiding his jealousy. Childe is impulsive by nature and acts out on his feelings. Watching you being flirted with by another man causes an overwhelming feeling of jealousy to swell in his chest, and to do something about it, Childe quickly inserts himself into your conversation with your acquaintance. He wraps an arm around you possessively, a charming smile on his face as he lets slip a few thinly veiled threats in the other man’s direction.
🐋 If the threatening aura around him doesn’t send the offender scampering, then mentioning that he’s the eleventh of the Fatui harbingers ought to do the trick. Childe tries to keep things civil to avoid causing a scene unnecessarily, but if the other man becomes aggressive or doesn’t take the hint, then Childe’s smile will fall from his lips to be replaced with a frighteningly cold glare. There’s no doubt that Childe will fight for you if he must, but he’d much rather you not see his bloodlust if possible.
🐋 After his bouts of jealousy, Childe likes to take your hand and take you out in a date. This is both to ease his mind and to try and prove to you that nobody is better for you than him—not that he needs to prove it, but he’s convinced he must. Childe wants to show you that he can buy you whatever you want, take you out to eat at high class restaurants, as well as show you amazing sights he’s stumbled upon during his leisure time. He wines and dines you, being as charismatic as ever, but he eats up your flirtatious words and displays of affection with a happy smile, feeling his mood instantly brighten.
🐋 He’ll want to end the date with some romantic lovemaking. Actual jealous sex with him is rare because Childe makes sure to scare off any potential suitors and uses the dates to appease himself and you about the strength of your relationship, so there aren’t any jealous feelings by the he gets around to having sex with you. He doesn’t like having such negative emotions bring him down during something that’s meant to show his love and adoration for you because it clouds his enjoyment of the moment. As such, he uses sex as just another way to show you he loves you, and also to prove that nobody can make you feel as much pleasure as he does.
🐋 If you try to make him jealous on purpose though, he’ll want to get back at you once he finds out about your plan, taking it as a challenge from you to prove himself. Expect to have a very passionate and even rough session of lovemaking when the opportunity arises. Childe will ensure your thoughts won’t be filled with anything other than him, so you won’t even think of looking at other men like that again. This will work against him though because it’ll just make you want to do it again for that delicious night of passionate lovemaking.
Kaeya:
🦚 His friendly attitude and charming smile hide the poison of jealousy taking root in his heart. Kaeya will never show his jealousy openly, not wanting to make his weaknesses known, and so masks it with a charming, amicable smile, pretending that everything is normal. Though he can fool the people around him, Kaeya can’t fool himself, and the sigh of your acquaintance flirting with you makes him grit his teeth.
🦚 He smoothly inserts himself into your conversation, asking the right questions and manipulating the other man into letting slip his intentions and what kind of person he really is. If Kaeya finds the acquaintance to be a good person and you and him are in a relationship, then he’ll gently tell the acquaintance that you’re taken. He’ll lie and do the same thing if you’re not in a relationship but are clearly uncomfortable with your acquaintance’s flirting. However, if you’re okay with the flirting then Kaeya will let it go. He won’t want to get in your way with his jealousy, thinking that it’s not his place to intervene when you’re not even his to begin with.
🦚 However, if Kaeya discovers the acquaintance is crooked, expect the Cavalry Captain to give backhanded compliments and poke fun of the other man, publicly humiliating him in the process while keeping a protective arm around you to discourage the acquaintance from pursuing you further. Kaeya would never let you come to harm, and if the acquaintance proves to be difficult, then Kaeya will keep an eye on the man and do some investigating in his free time. Don’t be surprised if one day your acquaintance leaves Mondstadt in a hurry with the excuse that he lost his job and is pursuing a better career elsewhere. Kaeya simply made sure that Mondstadt remained a safe place to live in—though he’d never tell you that.
🦚 Kaeya knows his attitude may be childish at times when he’s jealous, but he can’t help but want your attention on himself rather than other men. When the opportunity arises, he will turn on his charm and lightly flirt with you, eager to get a reaction out of you. He’s a bit like a teenage boy that wants his crush’s attention and will try almost anything to get it—even if it’s negative attention. Kaeya won’t go too far and make you uncomfortable though. He makes sure to stay a gentleman and respect your boundaries, but he won’t be able to stop himself from blushing if you call him out on his behaviour. Having someone see right through him so blatantly will catch him off-guard and make his charming demeanor slip slightly. It would be the perfect opportunity to turn the tables and make his heart skip a beat with some flirting of your own, hinting that you’re more interested in him than your acquaintance. Kaeya will be replaying your words for days in his mind, smiling like a fool in secret.
Gorou:
🐕 Despite his friendly and amicable demeanor, Gorou is unexpectedly possessive of you. He has no problems with you spending time with others without him around, but when someone shows romantic interest in you, jealousy flares up in his chest. Gorou is pretty bad at hiding it because his animal features give away how he feels. His ears rotate back and flatten to his head while his tail fluffs out. Gorou has to fight to not bare his fangs at the other man or growl at him. Gorou wouldn’t do anything to actually hurt the other person, but he’ll want to send a message for your acquaintance to back off. He’s territorial over you and hates seeing someone try to make moves on you.
🐕 If you’re not in a relationship with Gorou then the Watatsumi general will feel guilty about his behaviour, but he can’t reign in his instincts or stop himself from feeling jealous. If you call out his behaviour, Gorou will guiltily flatten his ears to his head, his tail drooping as he tries and fails to find a believable excuse for his actions. He won’t have the heart to look you in the eyes, feeling like a scolded dog. If you push him enough, then Gorou will crack and spill his feelings to you, feeling extremely embarrassed and ashamed by the whole thing. His obvious disheartenment can only be rectified by you if you return his feelings. Then, his demeanor will instantly brighten, eyes wide and sparkling with joy, a happy smile on his face as his tail wags back and forth excitedly.
🐕 If you reject him, Gorou will feel crushed, but will respect your feelings. It hurts to know you don’t feel the same way, but as a general he has been through horrifying battles and suffered the losses of his friends and fellow comrades. He’s used to pulling himself through periods of depression, and your rejection is no different. As much as it pains him to have his heart broken, Gorou is mature about it and move on fairly well. He accepts reality for what it is, but even though you don’t like him romantically, he still hopes you’ll let him stay as your friend. He likes the friendship you had and wants to continue look out for you as your friend.
🐕 If you two are in a relationship, then Gorou still feels bad for his possessive behaviour but it won’t be enough to discourage him from glaring at your acquaintance. You’ll have to take Gorou aside to help calm him down with words of assurance and some physical affection. Holding his hands and giving him some kisses and words of love will chase away the jealousy he feels, replacing it with embarrassment but also happiness. Gorou is happy to have your love and know that he’s the only one you love in this way. To him, you’re irreplaceable. He devotes his all into keeping you safe and happy, and to receive that same love backs makes him feel really good.
Zhongli:
🔶 It takes a lot to make Zhongli jealous, but it’s possible. The Wangsheng Funeral Parlor consultant has no trouble in letting you have your freedom to spend your time with whoever you like. It only becomes an issue when you start spending more time with this new acquaintance of yours rather than him. Watching your happy expression as you talk about your acquaintance, relaying the fun experiences you’ve had and your future plans with said acquaintance, Zhongli can’t help but feel a discontentment in his heart. He feels ignored by you in favor of your acquaintance.
🔶 Zhongli hides his jealousy very well, keeping his calm and gentle demeanor despite how irritated he feels on the inside. He tries to convince you to stay with him instead of paying your acquaintance another visit, trying to subtly manipulate you into staying by saying things like “It’s been so long since you’ve spent time in my company. Why don’t we enjoy a nice meal together?” Or saying he needs your help with something even though he doesn’t. But if you insist on leaving, he won’t stop you despite the ache in his heart at being left alone by you.
🔶 However, once you return, he’ll keep you by his side. He’ll want some alone time with you, but his disappointment at you leaving will make itself known. If you’re in a relationship, Zhongli will punish you via a passionate lovemaking session, marking up your neck and shoulders with love bites in visible places you won’t be able to hide easily. If you complain about them, Zhongli will apologize and say he didn’t realize what he was doing in the moment. However, don’t be fooled, the man knew very well what he was doing, and those love bites were all intentional. It was his way of staking claim on you so nobody will think of taking you away.
🔶 If you’re not in a relationship, then Zhongli will take you out on a date under the guise of wanting to catch up with his friend. He’d tour around Liyue Harbor with you, visiting Xinyue Kiosk, Heyu Tea House, and just strolling around the streets looking at the various goods merchants are selling and admiring the scenery of the ocean. Zhongli wants to spend as much time with you as possible and will try his best to keep your interest by telling you all he knows about various things in Liyue, but also pays rapt attention to anything you have to say. He asks for more outings like these with you, them being his roundabout way of trying to court you and hopefully keep you away from your acquaintance if only for a couple hours longer.
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aira-bu · 2 years
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༄ anemo boys voicelines about you! 𖧷
☁︎ written as of version 3.3
characters: kazuha, heizou, xiao, venti + (scaramouche + wanderer)
disclaimer: some of them might have been hinted and/or written romantically, but it can be read as platonic as well.
warnings: use of (y/n) (your name) and (n/n) (nick name). reader/(y/n) is implied to live in liyue (kazuha's one). for scaramouche's one i decided to put 2 voicelines: one for the petty scara and one for the teapot wanderer bc they're literally 2 personalities + wanderer might be a little ooc because i don't really know his nice personality
☁︎
kazuha
"oh, you want to know about my relationship with (y/n)? well, i dare say that we are close ─ at least that's what i'd like to think. most of the time they would wait for me to arrive back at liyue right at the docks, waving their hands high up in the air, making sure that i would see them. other times they would accompany me on the crux, gazing upon the ripples in the water, and allerting me for any hindrances up ahead. when they have trouble sleeping during the night, i like to blow the leaf for them, hoping that it could help them calm down. they usually fall asleep after that, so i'm happy that─ ...a-ah? why are you laughing..? did i say something funny..?"
heizou
"hm? (y/n)? oh, you mean (n/n)! of course i know them! ...well, everyone does, actually. you'd be missing out if you didn't. they're one of the reasons why there aren't as many papers on my floor as you'd think i'd have, given how many cases i've been taking up recently. (n/n) would always come by once in a while to check up on me and make sure i'm doing alright. to be honest, hearing their footsteps approaching every time is more than enough to make my mood light up! ...heh, i should invite them to crack a case with me some time, then maybe i won't need to clean so many coffee-stained-cups in the morning..."
xiao
"...you speak of (y/n)? ...yes, i know them. ...i am quite fond of them, actually. they've called my name many times for useless and... unspeakable things, but they are more tolerable than most mortals. occasionally, they would call my name and greet me by the balcony with a plate full of almond tofu in their hands and a joyous look on their face. it is a nuisance, but the almond tofu is always surprisingly nice, so i forgive them. when they do call my name for a serious reason, it is to fight but a mere hilichurl. tch. (y/n) is weak. very weak. so as a yaksha, it is my duty to protect them. ...what? why are you looking at me like that?"
venti
"ohoho~ did i hear the name (y/n)?~ ah, it sure brings me joy whenever they do come by mondstadt, i never need to keep my wine taxes waiting! a-ah, but of course that's not the only reason i'm happy to see them..! whenever i- ahem... 𝘸𝘦 are not going for a drink, i like to teach them how to play the lyre ─ they catch on pretty fast! sometimes, they would play the lyre and i would sing to them, and as a reward for that, i take them to the tavern and invite them for a glass of wine! ...(y/n) usually pays for it though. *sigh.* one day, i want to actually treat them. b-but not today though! i don't have enough yet..."
scaramouche
"...(y/n)? what do you want to know about (y/n)? and anyway, if you're asking to know about them, then go ask them, not me. ...w-what? you want to know what i think of them? hh-hah! how would knowing what i think of them benefit you? go dig your nose up somewhere else where it doesn't involve me, or (y/n). ...what? i-i'm not embarrassed?! w-why in the world would i be embarrassed?! ..me having feelings for (y/n)? hah! you should be ashamed of yourself for asking such a question to me! you should be on your knees asking for mercy and forgiveness!"
wanderer
"...(y/n)? if you want to know more about them, then i suggest you ask (y/n) themselves, i don't want to give the wrong information about them to you, or to anyone. plus, maybe some things i know about them are private and i don't know about it, and i could accidentally share it with you. ..oh but i'm not saying that i don't trust you, but it's privacy, isn't it? ...oh, you want to know what i think of them. why didn't you say so earlier... ahem, their company is... comfortable. the only thing that i hate about them is how much i don't hate their company. they won't be here forever, so i cannot grow too attached to them, but no matter how hard i try to stray away from them... *sigh.* i just can't help but keep them beside me.
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umanari · 4 months
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yan! sunday x reader - long walk home
summary: this isn't a one-shot, more of a scenario. reader here is sunday's spouse and is dealing with everything after what happened in the end of penacony.
c/w: sunday is stated to be controlling, manipulation, the whole yandere shebang. also using that one theory that sunday might become a stellaron hunter, but it's mostly implied here. feel free to tell me what tags are needed, because i am horrible with tags.
Sunday is missing. He had been missing ever since the Astral Express crew had beaten him.
You react to this with indifference, mostly. Of course, you put on a show in public- because you have to. Robin finds comfort in you, over some idea of shared grief- you wonder, once, where she had gotten the impression. But you wave it away. Robin cries into your shoulder, and you know better than to hurt her when she's down.
Everything remains the same. Sunday had not been the greatest love of your life- which he had always lamented. You were his love- so, in truth, you move on fairly quickly. But you don't seek anyone new- because there is no point, and the cameras watch your every move. So you settle. You stay in that suffocating mansion of his, and act like a grieving spouse. This role does not suit you, but you can just about make anything work for you nowadays.
Sunday hadn't been a terrible husband. Controlling, yes, possessive, too- but he was not particularly unkind. He loved you. As much love as the man can give, in any case. You had once come to the conclusion that he did love you, yes- but it was out of some desire of control. You had loved him once, perhaps. That love had been out of fear, though, you amend. Terrified. But you had grown used to him.
The new status quo for you is relatively simple. You attend interviews, and you lament- tearfully, of course- on what the wrongs your husband had committed. You say you miss him. It is not true, but you must make it seem that way.
This is your life. You prefer it, if for the calm silence broken up by the occasional interview or phone call.
And then Sunday appears again, and everything is thrown into disarray.
----
"Why are you back," you state. It is not a question. You do not look at him with any sort of affection. In fact, you seem close to rolling your eyes.
Sunday sighs. "I am allowed to visit my partner."
"Aren't you in jail," you respond instead, "well," you pause. "Supposed to be, in any case?"
Sunday waves you off. He does this normally, and you have grown used to it. When he does not respond, you take it as a yes.
"I was," he finally states. "But I have been.. shown an different path. One free from both Ena and Xipe."
"What does that have to do with me," you counter. You inch away from him. He looks different. You finally notice the little imperfections about his outfit, and wonder briefly why he hasn't gone into a rage about it yet.
Sunday does not notice your gaze. Rather, he does notice- but he pays it no heed.
"I would like for you to come with me."
You pause. You purse your lips.
"No," you reply. "No. Wouldn't it be best for you to shed any remnants of your old identity, if you really did escape from jail or whatnot?"
"You make sense," Sunday states. "I have always liked that about you. You are logical- but kind."
He walks closer. You slink away. His halo flutters, and you realize something. He will do this regardless. He has always done what he wants, regardless. He loves you, therefore, he needs to control you.
He is finally close enough to touch you. And your barrier cracks, and you shiver and you want to cry. You hate this man, you bitterly think, you hate him. He takes and he gives and in recompense for everything, you were his little stress toy.
"Come now," he croons out, fixing a strand of your hair, "we shall leave Penacony together. While the perfect dream did not work out, we will always have each other."
In a way, it is romantic. In another universe, perhaps. But here you shiver. You recoil. He only grabs you tighter, and it is here- it is here, when you finally do cry for something.
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frenchkisstheabyss · 1 year
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☾ Wild Horses ☽
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☾ Pairing: boyfriend!bang chan x reader
☾ Genre: angst & fluff all stirred up in a pot
☾ Summary: Your boyfriend comforts you when your depression sneaks up on you during a night out with friends.
☾ Word Count: 924
☾ Warnings: themes of depression/mental illness and the feelings that can come along with them
☾ A/N: I wrote this because having depression has led to a lot of loneliness for me lately and I needed some comfort. I hope that by sharing this someone else having similar thoughts/feelings to mine might find a little comfort too 🖤
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☾ "No sweeping exits or offstage lines could make me feel bitter or treat you unkind and wild horses couldn't drag me away" - The Sundays, Wild Horses
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People can’t imagine what you go through. It’s not a case of bad nerves or run-of-the-mill sadness. Too often you’ve found yourself sitting alone wishing that you could find the words to make them understand that depression is so much more than that. Depression is a parasite that’s wormed its way into your brain wholly consuming you.
The consumption’s gradual sometimes, ravenous at others, but exhausting all the same, stealing little bits of you that you aren’t quite sure how to get back. Everyone says, “I hope you feel better. Hang in there. Keep your chin up” but it’s not simple. And maybe they mean well, maybe that’s all they can say because they don’t know how to fix it, but it only makes you feel lonelier.
The thing is, you’ve never wanted anyone to fix it. You don’t need bandaids to cover the bullet holes in your heart. You just want someone to hold your hand through the pain. It’s why the tiniest flame ignites in the darkness that haunts you when the kind, comfort of Chan’s mahogany eyes lock onto yours, honing in on the most vulnerable parts of you.
“I know sometimes you feel like you have to pretend you’re okay,” he says, the warmth of his palms shielding your cheeks from the autumn breeze, “But you don’t have to do that with me. I’m here for you no matter what. You know that, yeah?” You nod, sucking back tears as you notice the small group of late-night partiers crossing over to your side of the street.
With your back to the wall of a closed restaurant not too far from the club you just left, it’s impossible not to be nervous about the faces that pass you by. Even with Chan somewhat obscuring the view, your stomach churns at the possibility that people might see you falling apart like this. “Hey, look at me” Chan whispers, using the sleeve of his black hoodie to catch the tears that drip down your cheeks like water from a leaky faucet.
The gentle act brings your attention back to him. He cracks a tight-lipped smile, happy to have you back with him. “Don’t worry about them. Come here.” He takes you into his arms, offering you his shoulder to rest your head on. You accept the invitation, nuzzling against him to bathe in the comfort and safety that comes with his embrace. There’s a woodsy scent to his cologne that feels like stargazing by a campfire at night. It puts you at ease. Everything about him does.
“I’m sorry if I ruined your night” you sniffle, playing with one of the strings that dangles from his hood. Tucking his hands under your jacket, he massages your lower back, soothing the tension coiled around your spine. “Baby, you could never ruin my night. The guys were too busy drinking to notice anything and even if they did, who cares? You’re what matters to me.” The emotion in his voice leaves no doubt that he means it wholeheartedly.
You are what matters most to him in this moment and the next. It means nothing to him that a night out at some club had to be cut short because the mask you put on to conceal your pain had begun to crumble, the synthetic laughter and forced smiles becoming too much to maintain. Chan gets it, hiding behind a mask with a happy face painted on it, he does it sometimes too but he doesn't want that for you. He’d rather be out here with you baring this beautiful, teary-eyed face of yours than in there where you feel the need to hide.
“I just,” you take a deep breath, slightly trembling at the truth about to roll off your tongue, “I’m afraid I’ll scare you away one day.” “Scare me? Do I look like I scare easily?” he asks, putting on a brave face the way that a child might. It gets a weak giggle out of you, even at times like this he knows how to get to you in the best way. “No, but I know there are times when things get really dark for me and I can get so lost in it...” He kisses you on the nose, a cute little wet one that turns icy when the wind blows across your face.
“As long as I’m here, and I always will be, you’ll never get lost in it,” he promises, “I know I can’t drag you out of it but you can always call me and I’ll come running in after you.” You need time. A second or two, maybe even a minute, to take in what’s been said. He gives it to you, patiently rocking you in his arms as he lets you process it in silence. A year into your relationship and it still feels strange to be loved in the moments where you feel most broken.
Chest to chest, his heart beats in sync with yours, reminding you that, even in the absence of words, you're cared for. “Where’d you come from?” you ask, fingers tracing the contour of his jaw. “Sydney. Don’t tell me you’re just noticing the accent” he teases, summoning his best pouty face for extra effect. He gets another giggle out of you, still faint with an air of sadness but he’ll take it.
Chan hugs you tighter, kissing your fingertips. “I love you” he whispers. You close your eyes, letting the world around you fade away and your insecurities with it. “Love you too.”
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mxtantrights · 7 months
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Bounded by blood and shadow (11)
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Azriel x magic!fem!reader
“We need to go back, now.” You bark.
You haven’t talked since the man said his name. Your ex-husband. What words could you use to describe him? Deceitful, lawless, cowardly, stupid. 
“Woah, can we just talk about what you did?” Cassian asks.
You give him a sharp look, “I’m about to do the opposite of healing if we don’t go.” 
Cassian’s eyes widen. Then he’s offering you his hand, you take it. He winnows you back to the dawn court. Right in the middle of the tea room actually. Which creates quite a fuss.
“What happened?” Feyre shouts.
You are reminded of your dress and the mess you have on it. You look over to Thesan who shares Feyre’s sentiments. You run your hands over the blood stains on the dress and get rid of it. Like the blood was never there.
“Nothing. I need to go home.” You say.
“I thought this was your home?” Nesta asks.
You roll your eyes. Right. You live here all of the time, at least that’s what they think. Not anymore. Right now you couldn’t be vexed to keep up with the lie.
“It’s one of them.” You answer quickly.
“The last boat went out at least two hours ago.” Thesan says to you.
You sigh, “This can’t wait until morning.” 
“They can take you.” Amren says from behind you.
You look at her like she’s grown another head. She gives you a look too, like she didn’t want to say it but she still did. You cannot bring the fae back home. 
“Where exactly are we taking you?” Cassian asks.
“You’re not taking me home. That’s out of the question.” You answer.
“We just saw you heal a child with a life threatening wound.” Morrigan pipes in.
“So you’re a healer?” Nesta asks.
You groan, “I don’t have time for this. People are in danger!” 
Thesan grabs a hold of your shoulders. You hadn’t realized he had gotten up from his seat. He looks at you sternly.
“Speak plainly.” He whispers.
You shake your head, “It’s Kynas. He has to be behind this, behind everything.”
Thesan holds a hand over his mouth.
“Who is Kynas?” Rhysand asks.
Thesan nods his head, “If you want to get home tonight, you have to tell them.” 
You crack your knuckles. Great. You needed the night court. You never thought that sentence would come to your mind. How you hated too. You’re not used to needing anyone, not anymore.
“It’s a long story. But to keep it short Kynas is my ex husband.” You explain.
At your admission you see a few things. Nesta's face doesn't change. Feyre and Rhysand share a look between each other. The other sister, Elaine, her eyebrows shoot up on her forehead.
“And he has to do with your brother’s sudden disappearance?” Rhysand asks.
You nod your head, “It has to be him.”
“I’m confused, what the hell are you?” Cassian throws the question out.
“Tiyamelu.” 
At the sound of Azriel’s voice finally joining in the conversation you turn to him.
How did he know that name? It was very old. You don’t think you’ve heard it for at least five centuries. Maybe more.
He’s looking you in the eye now. You keep eye contact with him.
“Where’d you get that name from?” You ask him.
It’s dead silent in the tea room. He clears his throat. 
“The man said it, after Cassian winnowed you out.” he answered.
You let out a shaky breath, “It what they used to call us. But the most recent term is Blood benders.”
You watch as realization settles across some faces. Or confusion in some cases. Like for Nesta, Elaine and Freyre. But Rhysand, Cassian and Azriel seem to understand even if a little about what you just said. So does Morrigan. 
“You can’t read her mind but you can read mine, I’ve been to her home before.” Amren says, switching the topic back.
“Okay, Azriel can take you there.” Rhysand says.
“Wait. The wards! No fae are allowed inside.” You explain.
Amren curses under her breath. She had been the exception because she’s not fae. You couldn’t get there without them, but you couldn’t get in with them. 
No unless—it would be dangerous but it might work. They would probably never go for it.
“Do you have another way?” Azriel asks.
“It’s dangerous.” You shake your head.
“Well we live a bit for danger. Don’t we?” Cassian says jokingly.
You look at Thesan, “Hand me that knife.” 
Thesan does so without asking why. The metal feels cold in your hand. You turn the blade around so the sharp part is pointing at you. 
“Hold on, what do you need that for—“ Cassian starts to ask.
“It’s for me.” You cut him off.
You make the incision on your palm, not too deep and not too wide. The blood flows slowly, red liquid taking up the expanse of your palm. You look at Azriel then.
“If you’re the one taking me, you’ll need this. To trick the wards and get in.” You explain to him.
You see Cassian and Morrigan make faces at the thought. It would weird you out too if you weren’t a blood bender. Azriel, without saying a word, steps to you and takes your arm in his hand. You watch him carefully as he raises your hand up.
He ducks his head below your closed palm, “Go ahead.” 
You open your hand and the blood starts dripping into his open mouth. His eye pierce right into you, you can’t keep eye contact with him. No one in the room knew the significance of this. No one knew the last time you fed someone your blood you were getting married.
After a few more drops land you take your hand back. He stands up straight. You look him over once. The transfer can be different for everyone but especially for those who are not blood benders.
“Are you okay? Do you feel different?” You ask him quietly.
He looks around the room, no doubt feeling the effects already. You aren’t sure he’ll be able to winnow you right at this moment. He needs some time to adjust. 
“It feels,” he breathes and smiles the tiniest bit, “light.”
You only saw him smile a handful of times. Around his family all of the times you can recall. He looks nice with a smile.
His eyes glide to you, “Are you ready?”
You can’t speak right now. A bit too tongue tied. You just nod. He holds out his hand for you to take. You take his hand into yours. It feels warmer than usual. Maybe its’ your blood in his system. 
Darkness surrounds the both of you.
-
He lands you right in the palace. It’s eerie and silent. Like before, but this time you can feel the presence of no one inside. This is bad. Really bad. You turn to Azriel.
“Okay, you should winnow back. I don’t know how long my blood will trick the wards.” You tell him.
He gives you a look, “And leave you to fend for yourself?”
You pull the end of your dress up, reaching for the hilt that you had strapped to your heel. You take it out and stand up straight.
“Where’s the—“ he starts to ask.
You know what he’s going to ask so you beat him to it. You summon the blood blade. You watch as his face goes from unsure to shocked in a matter of moments. 
“I’m serious. You have to go now.” You speak.
He nods his head, “Okay.”
He turns to leave and you realize how rude you might have been. He basically helped you get back home. Well, not basically, actually. You reach out and grab his wrist which stops him from moving. 
He looks down at your hand and then at you.
“Thank you.” You say.
He gives you a firm look. It’s not a smile. It’s not a frown either. You let go of his wrist. He turns back around and so do you. You can hear the whooshing sound that usually comes with winnowing. 
You hold your sword up in defense as you begin to ease further into the palace. Doors are left ajar, which you know is wrong. Cyril would never let that stand. 
As you approach the council room you stop. You don’t know what you’re going to find in there. It could be the worst sight of your life. It could be nothing. Maybe everyone had just simply gone out. 
Gone out, didn’t leave a note or think to lock the palace doors. Yeah. That would explain it.
You peer your head over the door. You see it slowly then all at once. Bodies in chairs, unmoving and inbreathing. You enter the doorway quickly and almost drop your sword.
Cyril. He sits at the same seat as always. They all sit at the same seats. But they are no longer alive. They are pale, no blood in them. That’s why you couldn’t sense them. They were here but they weren’t alive. 
You run over to Cyril’s body and put your sword down on the table. You cradle his face in your hands, trying to shake him awake. A big part of you knows that it won’t do anything. If all of his blood was drained there was nothing for you to work with, no one for you to save.
“Cyril, please, please don’t leave me…” you cry, tucking your head into his chest.
You can’t will him to hug you back, you can’t will him to breath. You can’t do anything. You sink to your knees. The red drops of blood from your eyes falling on your dress, staining it once again. 
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thatcheesyler · 6 months
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Working on a lee!Striker, lers!Fizzarolli and Blitzø fic, so uh..lmk what you think so far 🫠
Just Clownin' Around (WIP)
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Some say that singing a whole ‘fuck you’ song to your boss and then quitting your job while saying goodbye in a surprisingly good impression of your boss's accent might not be the best thing for one's mental health. But why should Fizzarolli care? He's thriving in Hell with his huge boyfriend and rekindled childhood friend, for fuck's sake.
Anyway, since the whole thing with Mammon, Fizzarolli had a bit of a thirst for more revenge gnawing at the back of his mind, thinking about all of his and Blitzø's shared enemies, and how much he'd like to see them bleed. Of course, when he told Blitzø about this vengeful fantasy of his, the other imp was more than enthused about getting some sweet, sweet payback. After all, Blitzø's company had been a bit short of the thrill of homicide lately, anyway.
So it was settled, the two imps would meet up at a bar and discuss the finer details.
-Lil’ time skip-
“Hmm…but which one do you think deserves to be hunted first? Striker, or Crimson?” Fizz asked, taking a sip from the straw in his glass of Beelzejuice. “Well, Crimson may be a bit off limits anyway, Mox probably wouldn't want his big daddy to get hurt unless it was by his doing.” Answered Blitzø, absentmindedly tracing one of his fingers along the cracks in the wooden bar counter top.
So that just left Striker…”But, that western cocksucker is most likely the only thing stopping Stella from killing Stolas herself. Plus, I promised Loony that I wouldn't kill anyone today because it’s her birthday.” He continued, going silent for a while, just in case Fizz was brainstorming and didn't want to be interrupted. And apparently, he was.
“..Wait, he's super self-confident. Which means, all we have to do is exploit a weakness that's embarrassing enough to catch him off guard, and threaten to blackmail him with it. Right?” It wasn't a terrible idea. But, what the hell kind of a weakness would have such an effect on a guy like Striker?
Contemplating his inquiry, Blitzø skimmed through his memories with Fizz, trying to pinpoint any specific events that involved embarrassing weaknesses that an imp would have..and wouldn't you know it, the murderous imp finally came up with a reasonable suggestion.
“Ey, Fizz, remember when we'd have those stupid dares where we'd take turns in watching each other perform, and then point out any flaws afterwards by..tickling the other person in a way that accommodates to those flaws?” Blitzø commented, smiling slightly at the fond memory, but a little flustered about the topic as he was usually the more flawed one when performing. Thankfully though, the other imp only really picked up on the main idea that he was putting down, a wry smirk now building up on his face at the thought of using this against Striker.
“It's perfect! We won't hurt Striker, but if we record him being humiliated like that, we could threaten him with the blackmail of posting the video!” Fizz replied cheerfully, slamming down a $10 bill on the counter before gripping Blitzø's arm and yanking him out of the bar. Fizz dragged him eagerly all the way down to the Wrath ring, ignoring the whiny protests that spewed from his friend's mouth like gunfire and instead focusing on tracking down Striker, while keeping his phone safe so that they can record the whole ordeal when it happens.
Sure enough, the two eventually stumbled into the weird cavern that Striker called his home, making sure to keep quiet as they leapt behind the nearest boulder. Breathing out groans of pain between whistling a casual tune, the cowboy in question was currently standing near the unrealistic statue of himself and cleaning up his burn wounds from when he tried (and failed) to kill Fizz.
“Hey, you think you can do that introduction thing that Robo Fizz did? It might be fun.” Blitzø whispered to his friend, who, in response, nodded and took a deep but silent breath.
“Hiya kids, it's me, the lovable Fizzarolli!” Fizz started, jumping up onto the boulder they were hiding behind and watching as his voice startled Striker a little.
“Say, would anyone here like to play a game with me?! It'll be so fun, I can guarantee it!” While the cowboy demon scowled and reached for his angelic gun, Blitzø shot a bullet of his own towards said gun, making it inaccessible as the two former clowns suddenly launched at him.
It took quite a hassle, but eventually they managed to pin Striker to the same part of the train tracks that Stolas had been restrained against a while ago. They then tied his arms down either side of his head with his own angelic rope, doing the same for his legs and tail. “You two fuckass clowns ain't gettin’ away with this. I will get my vengeance, just you little fellas wait..” Striker sneered, allowing a brief dark chuckle to sleep through his teeth afterwards. To which Fizz and Blitzø both looked at each other with unbothered expressions.
Setting up his phone on a nearby rock, Fizz pressed the ‘record’ button and began speaking like the whole thing was a vlog.
“Hey there, all you imps, sinners, overlords and deadly sins! Today, we have a very western guest with us. Say hi, Striker!” Fizz announced, moving out of the way so that the recording showed a clear view of the cowboy, bound helplessly to abandoned train tracks and frowning spitefully all the while.
“Go fuck yourself.” Was the only thing that Striker planned to say for most of this. Unfortunately, things never seem to go according to plan for him. “Only off camera. Now let's get down to business, shall we?” Blitzø responded, smiling along with the other clown imp.
“You're a selfish bitch that only cares about money. Understandable, however, fucking up my only ticket to the human world and then also trying to kill my friend, that's not as excusable. So, we're gonna return your ‘favour’ by humiliating you and then blackmailing you with the recording of it. Sound good? Good!”
Before Striker had gotten a chance to respond, Fizz had started talking again, reverting back to his show voice for this next part.
“Earlier I asked if you wanna play a game. And now, we're gonna play whether you like it or not! The game is called...’Don't Laugh’~!” Upon saying the name of the game, Fizz lifted his robot arms up to shoulder height and bent his fingers into claws, wiggling them simultaneously to give a hint as to what was about to happen, with a shit-eating grin on his face the whole time.
The cowboy tensed, it was subtle but it was noticed, now slightly struggling against his binds as the reality of this ‘game’ began to fully sink in. “Oh you gotta be fuckin’ kiddin’ me..” Striker murmured, feeling a few butterflies swarm in his stomach, something that had rarely ever occurred before. He despised the way the sensation affected him, making his body twitch in anticipation whenever someone made even the smallest movement, making him feel vulnerable, making him feel weak.
“Tch, and what kinda sick pleasure will it bring ya this time? Y'know, since everythin’ appears to be a sex thing with you two.” He remarked with a tiny smirk, clearly aiming to piss them off some more, despite his better judgment and the fact that it was just going to make everything worse for him.
Dammit, even those weird ass mini singing imps were here to watch.
His attention was yanked away, however, as Blitzø's hand then reached out towards him, and he tensed up once more, instinctively sucking his stomach in. But, the imp merely grabbed the cowboy's hat and placed it on his own head, earning a ‘seriously?’ look from both of the other demons, and an extra eye roll from Striker, who was getting fed up with this. But then Fizz's voice sounded out again, still speaking as if the whole thing was a scripted performance. “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it's time for the game to start! Alright cowboy, are you ready?!”
“Listen, I don’ know what you jester twinks are plannin’ to accomplish with this, but I can assure ya, you ain’t gon’ pull a stunt like this again once I get my reve-HENGE!!” Striker's threat was abruptly cut off by the overwhelming sensation of a robotic hand squeezing his side experimentally, his voice raising up to a slightly embarrassing high pitched tone as this happened.
The cowboy attempted to recover by clearing his throat and forcing back the anticipatory nervous smile, refusing to let his captors feel like they were winning. Said captors, however, now adorned ear-splitting smirks that caused the butterflies in Striker's stomach to temporarily double, a few more harsh tugs being acted out on the angelic restraints. “I said ‘are you ready?’, not ‘bore us with monologue’. But still, at least people on Sinstagram will enjoy the bickering. But seriously, don't laugh!” Fizz replied smugly, refocusing his attention on the imp's outfit.
There were a few scorch marks on his shirt that didn't burn through the fabric, so of course, Fizz decided to fuck around a bit and trace ever so gently over those marks, relishing in the way it made Striker flinch and gasp quietly. Yet, his resolve held true, the scowl on the cowboy's face didn't budge, but not did the angelic rope, unfortunately for him.
“Alright it's my turn, move over bitch!” Blitzø demanded, playfully shoving his friend out of the way and cracking his knuckles, before starting to spider his fingers along Striker's sides. This time, it resulted in a wobbly grin showing through for just over a millisecond, the ticklish sensation making Striker wriggle away from the pursuing hands with a bit of desperation.
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crownedghostprince · 9 months
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Thorin's Company x Heterochromia!Reader Headcanons
Thorin's Company x Heterochromia!Reader
Fandom: The Hobbit/LoTR
What if the dwarves met and loved (platonically or romantically) someone in Middle Earth who had a very unique condition where their eyes were coloured differently? In this world, heterochromia is incredibly rare with only a few known cases in the entire world so the dwarves are naturally curious about this.
And you get to see how your favourites might react in this Headcanon style fanfiction!
Requests: Closed. Requested: no.
Warning(s): Minor mentions of bullying and reader's family members dying in certain headcanons. Nothing graphic. <3
Note: Please note I will be changing reader's heterochromia for each dwarf's headcanon to make the writing very different. I hope that's okay. This is because this is mostly a crack-fic <3
I will also sometimes specify when reader is a woman, or has feminine characteristics/pronouns are used or mentioned, I hope that is also okay. Enjoy! :)
Word Count: 13,401 (roughly lol)
[Second Person Perspective]
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(Apologies for the image. I was going to post an image of Thorin's Company here, but then I realized you might not have seen a picture of a bunny today. This adorable bunny image was originally posted by "Heidi's Cottage" on tumblr! Please show them some love!!)
Thorin: (Romantic): (Dark Blue eyes with Brown around one's center)
♡ Your eyes are a little harder for Thorin to notice at first.
♡ The dark colours of your eyes and Thorin being too embarrassed to make eye-contact with you when you first met are the reasons it took him a week to notice your unique eyes.
♡ You had first met at Bilbo's house in the Shire where the candlelight bounced off the blue of your eyes when Thorin glanced over at you.
♡ You pretended to not notice him stealing glances as you listened to the gathering.
♡ So, after a week of Thorin being protective, sweet and considerate towards you, he finally noticed your eyes.
♡ It was a beautiful sunny morning and Thorin was allowing the company a few more minutes to brush and re-braid their hair.
♡ You decided to take care of your own hair and absentmindedly admired the clouds as they drifted by from above.
♡ Thorin joined you under the warm sun and made some small conversation about the journey, how rough it would be...mostly making sure you're prepared mentally.
♡ But his breath caught in his throat when you turned to meet his eyes.
♡ He always thought you shared the exact same eye colour, albeit your eyes being a much darker blue, but today he was proven wrong as his eyes drifted to the eye with the brown ring around the pupil.
♡ In the sunlight this brown colour was very distinguished and even looked slightly like caramel.
♡ He was so stunned by the beautiful design adorning your eye he didn't speak for another minute.
♡ When you finally asked if everything was alright, he slowly nodded and spoke.
♡ "In all my years I've never witnessed such beauty. Like a rare gemstone whose colours are only truly seen once under the sunlight."
♡ Please his compliments are so cute and sweet. And creative!
♡ "It's as if your eye wrapped itself in a warm autumn blanket before the cold blue winter covered it with its' icy snow."
♡ He loves your eyes even more now.
♡ They're a sight he cherishes every day.
♡ Sometimes when he can't see the brown around your pupil, he'll gently move you into the sunlight, or bring a candle between you two so he can watch the colour light up and glow.
♡ He made you a dagger with a beautiful wooden design around one of the two sapphires that adorned the handle.
♡ "I wanted to capture your eyes in this dagger for future generations to witness and admire." He smiled as he gave you his gift.
♡ There were also intricate words in Khuzdul that you now knew read, "The eyes of My Beloved."
♡ This sweet hopeless romantic makes sure you never feel embarrassed about your eyes and also stops anyone who might even joke about them. To him they're something to celebrate. Not to mock. <3
~~~
Fili: (Romantic): (Light Blue and Dark Green eyes) ((This is gonna be long, sorry lol))
♡ Your eyes are very noticeable when people first meet you.
♡ Your light blue eye stands out the most and draws people to your eyes when they first meet you, thus leading them to immediately notice the dark green colour of your other eye.
♡ When I say dark green, it's not that dark, it's simply a very strong and rich green colour.
♡ However this was not the case when you first met the dwarves during a fight against some orcs as the group ran towards Rivendell - your home.
♡ You were waiting for Gandalf's arrival when you and the other elves heard orcs just in the distance.
♡ You all saddled up and you rode alongside Lord Elrond as you all charged into battle, firing your arrows and drawing them away from Rivendell's secret entrance.
♡ You rode your horse past the entrance to the secret tunnel to make sure the orc that fell in was definitely dead and you noticed a group of dwarves, alongside Gandalf, just hidden inside.
♡ Your hair covered your eyes and the light being directly behind you made you appear more like an apparition to the dwarves rather than an actual, physical being.
♡ Thus you quickly turned away, allowing them to finish their journey to Rivendell alone as dwarves and elves typically do not get along.
♡ Once you had made it back to Rivendell, circling the dwarves and feeling unsure of their intentions, you noticed a beautiful blond dwarf in the group.
♡ He stood out from the rest of the group, the sunlight bouncing off of his hair and causing it to practically glow under its' light.
♡ You dismounted after Lord Elrond and greeted Mithrandir (Gandalf) before turning to the group.
♡ Your excellent hearing picked up on all of the stunned, but soft, gasps that flooded the group upon seeing your unique eye colours.
♡ You were simply amused by their reactions. Afterall, your eyes were a rare sight to behold.
♡ Quiet, polite whispers started to circle the group before Thorin and Lord Elrond greeted each other.
♡ "Are those her real eye colours?"
♡ "Of course, Ori, hush."
♡ "Whoa~"
♡ "Did you see his eyes, Fili?" That was a brunett dwarf with scruff talking to the blond.
♡ You simply gave the group a curt nod and avoided the blond's eye-contact before following Lindir up the steps so you could clean up and change out of your armour.
♡ The thoughts circled through your head. But specifically the name of the beautifully handsome blond dwarf...'Fili'. His name rolled through your head over and over again like a bouncy melody that never leaves your thoughts.
♡ Eventually, whilst playing your small harp you noticed heavy footsteps walking up the stairs towards you. You opened your eyes and continued to play your favourite melody as the birds in the trees above you sang along.
♡ As you expected, one of the dwarves walked up the steps and stopped at the top. But unexpectedly, it was the blond, Fili. You greeted each other with a smile and he approached you nervously.
♡ "I like your eyes. It's like the Gods couldn't choose if sapphires or emeralds would suit you better, so they gave you both." He smiled dreamily.
♡ Damnnnn he got that 'Line of Durin' rizzzz. (I'm sorry).
♡ (I'm still sorry about before) ♡ (please accept my apologies....) ♡ (I will give you cookies)
♡ And this is where your sweet romance blossomed and continued to bloom for many years.
♡ "Thank-you. I like your hair. It glows like fire under the sun's light. It's stunning." You smiled back, taking a break from your music to flirt with the sweet dwarf.
♡ He brings you green zennia (associated with lasting affection) and bluebell flowers (associated with everlasting love).
♡ When he found out what your favourite animal was he immediately made you a courting gift. A necklace with the animal as the main piece with a sapphire and emerald for each eye. Matching your eyes perfectly.
♡ You happily showed him your own courting gift. "We were thinking the same thing!" You laughed as you gave him the painting you'd made of him.
♡ It was hyper-realistic and you could see every strand of hair and even the eyelashes adorning his blue eyes on it. It was also textured so he could feel the grooves and bumps as he brushed his fingers across it.
♡ He loved it and you two had the best courtship ever.
♡ You courted for a couple years before marrying and life had never been better for the both of you.
♡ "Your eyes are enchanting. Like the forest meets the ocean. And they marry." He grins, sliding across a small box with rings and hair beads.
♡ "Oh? Is this your way of implying something?" You smile back, sliding over your own small box.
♡ "You gotta stop thinking the same thing I'm thinking. At this rate we're gonna have two celebratory weddings." He laughs.
♡ "Y'know, I see nothing wrong with that."
♡ Y'all are so cute, please have a nice two weddings.
♡ He loves making you laugh and smile - watching your eyes light up with joy. You make him so happy every single day.
~~~
Kili: (Romantic): (Dark Brown and Blue eyes) ((This is gonna be long, sorry lol))
♡ When you started travelling with the company, you had fallen from the modern world into Middle Earth with your sunglasses.
♡ And damn was the sunlight bright! So you almost always wear your sunglasses unless it's night and you're sleeping.
♡ So no one usually sees your eye colours and when they do, it's more just a glance of your blue eye.
♡ Then, one day Thorin decides to set up camp earlier than usual allowing everyone time to relax in the sunlight and watch the sunset as you all ate Bombur's delicious cooking.
♡ You spent all your time during the journey cracking jokes and trading stories with everyone. But you mostly hung out with Fili and Kili, having fun riding alongside them and dancing in the rainy nights.
♡ It was a lot of fun to be with this group. And this day was no different as you sat beside the brothers and joked around.
♡ Once the sun had set enough and the sky started to change colour you took your sunglasses off to admire the colours without the soft orange tint you were used to.
♡ Fili - being an excellent wingman for his brother and best friend - left you both for a few minutes to help Bombur clean up the dishes and find more firewood with Bilbo.
♡ You smiled and dragged your eyes away from the sunset to see Kili's reaction and found him already staring back at you with the softest brown eyes you've ever seen.
♡ A moment passed between you two as you both admired each other's eyes before chuckling and awkwardly turning back to look at the sunset.
♡ "Your eyes are beautiful. I've never seen anything like them. Everyone's eyes are usually very similar...but yours are different. I like them" He grinned. You watched as his face and ears grew red.
♡ "You're so cute. Thank-you, darling."
♡ He brings you blue flowers that have bits of brown on them. Whether from decay, dirt, mud or just the colouration. (is that a word?) But either way he loves bringing you flowers.
♡ Especially your favourite flowers. He'll bring you those whenever you pass them on your journey.
♡ You both play silly games to pass the time where you basically say what you like about the other, or try and guess their favourite thing, etc.
♡ He doesn't draw too much attention to your eyes, because he doesn't know if it's a sensitive topic or something you're uncomfortable with.
♡ But he definitely encourages you to wear your sunglasses less often when you're comfortable with it. Especially when it's just the two of you together.
♡ After reclaiming Erebor he'll sometimes surround you with candles until he can't fit anymore in the circle around you. Just so he can see you lit up under the candlelight.
♡ He's cute.
♡ Definitely brings you clothes with brown and blue mixed together in beautiful patterns that dance down the fabric and across the threads.
♡ He loves seeing you dance, loving how your eyes light up with excitement and joy. Sparkling towards him like gemstones under moonlight.
♡ Once you learned Khuzdul, he confidently made you a dwarvish bead as a gift with the words "my darling river" written on them very finely.
♡ You wear it all the time and only take it out to brush your hair when he's there. But typically only he can take it out to brush your hair and then braid it back in.
♡ He adores you and sees your eyes as just another reason to love you.
♡ Kili loves your sense of humour, your fun facts, all your little quirks and habits, etc.
♡ But surprisingly, he loves your hair more than anything else.
♡ He loves when you style it in a new, or fun way. He also loves when you dye it and will offer to help you dye your hair.
♡ Once you even dyed some bronze highlights through his hair that shone like copper in the sunlight.
~~~
Dwalin: (Romantic): (Dark Brown and Light Hazel eyes) ((This is gonna be long, sorry lol))
♡ Dwalin and the Company were fighting orcs and running for their lives, following Gandalf to safety when you jumped in from out of nowhere to help them fight the orcs.
♡ You used your incredible arcobatic skills and daggers to take down the orcs and wargs with the dwarves' and wizard's aid.
♡ After the fight, you turned to the group with a big smile, specifically greeting Gandalf.
♡ After bowing for Thorin and the group and introducing yourself, Gandalf encouraged you to join them over a nice dinner.
♡ You were only planning on staying until they found camp, enjoy dinner with them and then be back on your own way - aimlessly wandering the beautiful land.
♡ But Gandalf's offer was hard to decline, especially after you'd met the incredibly cool dwarf, Dwalin.
♡ His scars probably had awesome stories to tell and you were curious to hear them.
♡ You loved his style, the cool and cold exterior he had with a constant frown. But you saw his eyes clearly had a different story to tell.
♡ You decided in the morning you'd accept Gandalf's kind invite and would fight for the dwarves to take their home back. "I'd be honoured to fight alongside you all."
♡ "Here you go, lad. Just sign this paper and we'll proceed." Balin smiled, handing you the paper. You thanked him, signed it after a quick read and finished packing up the camp. You were on your way on another strange adventure with this equally strange wizard.
♡ But at least you had someone to talk to.
♡ You were kind to everyone, but especially went out of your way to talk to Dwalin, even if it was just small acknowledgements and 'are you okay?'s. That's all you needed, honestly.
♡ It took a while, but you saw him quietly warming up to you which showed mostly during a fight. You were a bit further away from the group than you had intended to be when Dwalin suddenly appeared by your side and helped you take down the group of orcs surrounding you.
♡ You both nodded and returned to the group, not saying much else until the rest of the orcs had run off or died. "Thank-you."
♡ "It's fine, lad." He simply nodded and walked by your side.
♡ After reclaiming Erebor and the battle (in which Thorin, Kili and Fili lived) you and Dwalin talked for hours whilst recovering. Not only were your temporary beds just across from each other, but you both were given some books to read until your bones healed.
♡ But you couldn't read Khuzdul, so you asked Dwalin to read them to you. He seemed hesitant but after a couple awkward hours of silence and boredom, he finally read the books.
♡ He read sentences in Khuzdul first, then translated them to English before continuing to the next.
♡ You didn't mind. In fact, hearing him talk in Khuzdul was fascinating to hear as his accent got thicker and his voice was louder. A contrast to the quieter English he'd then speak to you after.
♡ It took months and months before you both began to court and even then he hardly ever complimented you.
♡ It took a candlelight dinner, a walk through the forest outside of Erebor under the moonlight and you constantly complimenting him until he was brave enough to return your affections.
♡ "Your eyes are stunning. They glow like fire under the light." He smiled, turning away to look at the trees.
♡ He's surprisingly awkward and shy for someone so tough and cool. He's not sure how to compliment you, or court you.
♡ But he always knows what you might like gift wise. He'll bring you daggers, belts and once even a water-proof cowl from Dale for your travels.
♡ All the gifts he brings you perfectly compliment your eyes. Browns, oranges, soft yellows and simple beige outfits.
♡ Every time he leaves Erebor, he'll return with rocks, accessories and hats as simple little gifts he got for you.
♡ He cares a lot about you and always make sure any injuries you have are immediately tended to, even if you brush them off as simple scratches.
♡ He brings you food and water if you've just returned from a journey and want to go straight to bed. And when Thorin allows him, he'll journey with you.
♡ He loves to dance with you, especially under the sunlight in an open field of flowers. The colours and light cause your eyes to twinkle brightly and he loves it.
♡ The brown turning to caramel, the hazel shining in an almost green colour under the sunlight and blue under the moonlight.
♡ He loves to bring you new shades of clothing to see what colour your hazel eye will look most like when you wear it.
♡ Sometimes you'll wear blue and your hazel eye will look similar, but other times you'll wear red and the hazel in your eyes turns almost brown.
♡ Your eyes are a fascinating sight for him watch.
♡ He even writes down little notes about how your hazel eye changes around each colour.
♡ Even though the colour is also based on lighting, mood and other factors, you don't mention that. It's nice to just listen to him mutter and write little notes about your eyes each night.
~~~
Bofur: (Romantic): (Dark Hazel and Silver eyes)
♡ Your eyes are incredibly hard to miss.
♡ Bofur noticed them immediately when you first met in the ruins of Dale after the battle for Erebor. You had come from Laketown alongside everyone else and had quickly learned how to defend yourself and fight against orcs during the battle.
♡ He was walking around the ruins of Dale to help check on everyone and bring to them the healers and you were ushering children back to their parents and helping people dig themselves out of rubble when you two stumbled across each other.
♡ Both of you were scratched up, bruised and tired. But despite all that, you were both awestruck by the other's beauty.
♡ His shining armour, fluffy hat, twinkling eyes and the soft smile that grew wider when you greeted him. Gosh, you were nervous just talking to him.
♡ Your glowing hair, soft skin, dumbfounded look and distinctive eye colours. How could he not smile upon seeing you?
♡ He thought you looked stunning.
♡ After that day, you both hung out a lot. Whether in Dale or Erebor, you'd both just aimlessly walk for hours laughing at each other's jokes. You'd eat dinner together. Sometimes with the Company and other times with your friend group.
♡ He didn't shy away from complimenting you before you were even courting.
♡ "The silver glows like a diamond under the moonlight. What an amazing discovery...to see a gemstone this far above the ground." He smiled.
♡ "Such a beautiful mixture of green and brown and blue. Like a river flowing through a pine forest. Its' beauty is truly unmatched by any forest I've seen."
♡ Don't let the Ents overhear Bofur! He's so sweet!!
♡ So you best believe, his compliments only increased tenfold after you began courting.
♡ "Ghivashel, you look stunning this morning." (Translation: Treasure of all treasures).
♡ "Do you need help with that, mizimel?" (Translation: Jewel of all jewels).
♡ He loves making dolls with mismatched eyes now. He specifically made one for you though. Matching the hazel and silver of your eyes. For the hazel eye he used a zircon gemstone and the silver eye was a diamond.
♡ The beautiful doll had a lovely dress and hair that also matched yours. With your permission, he cut some of your hair and sewed it into the doll's head. The doll sits right beside your bed at all times and sometimes you even cuddle it to help you sleep.
♡ He spends hours asking you to sing and read to him whilst he lays down beside you or on your lap. Loving the way your eyes light up when you reach your favourite parts. Or when you're particularly proud of how you read, or sung, a part.
♡ Some nights it's just you and Bofur sitting under a tree, leaning against its trunk whilst listening to the world around you.
♡ You cherish the quiet moments you get to spend with Bofur, as sometimes you can't spend time together when you're both so busy with work.
♡ So, you both just enjoy each other's presences when you can. Resting together, falling asleep in soft grass and waking up to a bright sun above the hills, surrounding you both with its' glow.
♡ Beautiful morning, after beautiful morning. Time passed for months, seasons, and years. Until you both decided to marry. :)
~~~
Balin: (Platonic): (Light Blue and Dark Blue) ((This is gonna be long, sorry lol))
♡ Growing up was a struggle for you as your father had died fighting for Moria alongside Thorin Oakenshield.
♡ But Balin had noticed you when you were just a child; a young Dwarf watching the warriors return from Moria's battle.
♡ You watched as they praised Thorin Oakenshield and called him 'King' and 'Future King' depending on the dwarves.
♡ But still you searched for your father. More interested in hearing how the battle went from him.
♡ And when you couldn't find your father, you began to cry. A hand was gently placed on your shoulder so you looked up and there Balin was. Looking down at you with sad eyes.
♡ You hugged him immediately and began talking incoherently - asking for your father, where he was and why he hadn't returned.
♡ Balin took you under his wing after that day and to his astonishment, he watched as you grew up and your eyes slowly changed colour.
♡ Eyes can sometimes take years before they reach their permanent colour and that was how it was for you.
♡ By the time you were 7 years old, your eyes changed into totally opposite blue colours: one light blue like a topaz and the other very dark like the ocean.
♡ Balin raised you as best he could with help from Thorin and Dwalin. You also became good friends with Thorin's nephews, Fili and Kili.
♡ None of the dwarves ever ostracized you for your heterochromia, but instead they really adored you.
♡ Balin and you always travelled to the markets together. You were always helping him when he was tinkering with toys, practicing with a sword (you'd have a small wooden sword) and you both also tended to a garden together.
♡ Growing Coneflowers in the garden as they are very hardy flowers that can grow despite bad soil and drought. Hence growing them in a mostly dry, stone-y environment was a piece of cake.
♡ He could never resist your puppy-dog eyes when you wanted to travel with him. The light from the sun made your eyes sparkle and he didn't ever want you to cry or feel left alone.
♡ If he couldn't take you somewhere with him, Dwalin was fine with watching over you and letting you learn a bit of simpler smithing. He'd show you how necklaces were made and even some rings.
♡ If you ever grew self-conscious of your eyes, Balin would write and read to you stories of fantasy creatures with different coloured eyes.
♡ Somethings like... "Juniper didn't know why the others would play without him. He didn't know what made him different from the rest. He sat by the river one day and listened to all the different birds. Their different songs and colours. When suddenly, he realized something! He was different! But not on the outside!...
...Juniper ran to his mother very excitedly! He happily declared to her, 'I'm going to become the best fairy dancer one day!' and she smiled with joy, 'Of course you will be! And I'll be there to watch your every performance!' It was on this day Juniper decided his eyes were not the reason others did not play with him. It was because they didn't know who he was on the inside, and he was going to show them who he was! And he would dance with them at every celebration! He'd perform each move perfectly and smile the whole time. He'd show the world who he was and shine brightly for all to see."
♡ And many more stories similar to that, but perhaps a few pages longer...or a few chapters longer. :)
♡ You had many books of these fantasy stories handwritten by Balin by the time you were a teenager. And you re-read them all the time.
♡ He'd say "Child, never feel different because of your eyes. Know you're different because of your heart. Because of what you'll do with your life when you grow up. Know you're going to do amazing things in your life."
~~~
Bifur: (Platonic): (Light Brown with half of one eye being Light Green) ((This is gonna be long, sorry lol))
♡ You grew up in Earth with a cat companion that had the same colour eyes as you.
♡ Her name was Delta and she was a calico that followed you everywhere and slept with you in bed every night.
♡ Unfortunately for Delta, this meant she fell into Middle Earth with you when a portal suddenly appeared below you on one of your walks in the garden.
♡ You both fell super fast and you gripped Delta tightly against your chest - braced for impact.
♡ But the impact was softer than you thought it would be. Slowly you opened your eyes and looked around you.
♡ Realizing you had fallen directly onto a bush and a large portal above you, far up in the sky, closed.
♡ 'Oh dear...' you thought, 'Mum's not going to be happy about this.'
♡ To be fair, for an eleven-year-old, magic portals were the least of your concern and instead: 'when mum finds out I'm going to be grounded,' was currently more concerning to you.
♡ Delta - being very cuddly - allowed you to pick her up and carry her around once you brushed some dirt off yourself.
♡ You wandered. You were very lost by the time the sun was falling behind the hills that lay far past the forest you were trapped in.
♡ It was only just getting dark when a group of horses and people travelled down the road towards you and Delta.
♡ You watched as they came to a stop. A tall wizard-looking man with grey hair and beard was at the front of the group and he looked at you with very soft and kind eyes.
♡ Delta hissed at the sudden people, so you took a couple steps back and tensed to run.
♡ But the wizard spoke to the others and decided to set up camp and stop for the night. He hopped off his horse and walked towards you, switching a staff from one hand to the other as he approached before he crouched down, leaning on the staff for support to meet your height.
♡ "Hello." He greeted warmly.
♡ "Hello..." You greeted less confidently. And that's how you found yourself in the world of Middle Earth, meeting a group of dwarves, a hobbit and a wizard.
♡ They took great care of you and as you were too shy to speak, Bifur especially took to caring for you. He picked up on your non-verbal communication a lot faster than the others did and helped you climb onto the horses every morning.
♡ He helped you down every evening and made sure you were given food first every dinner and breakfast. He even made sure there were on-the-road snacks just for you to have lunch.
♡ Bifur never pushed boundaries or made you feel uncomfortable or unsafe. Quite the opposite actually, you felt safer with him rather than anyone else. Perhaps it was because he didn't expect you to talk, or respond.
♡ Nor did he ever push you to verbally communicate when you were still feeling too shy or scared.
♡ Although in our eyes the dwarves are incredibly friendly and kind and not very intimidating - save Dwalin - to an eleven-year-old, they were quite the scary, loud and unpredictable bunch.
♡ Laughing loudly quite suddenly, or grabbing food quite quickly and talking and singing all the time. You found you couldn't guess what they'd do next, but you also grew to love that chaos about them.
♡ Bifur was actually the first to pet Delta when you joined the Company on their adventure. He pet her to reassure you that you were both safe with the group.
♡ And yes, that worked perfectly. You stuck with them the whole journey and whilst they took extra care in keeping you safe, secure and out of danger, you still had to do a fair bit of running to keep up.
♡ Especially after you lost the ponies to the goblins. The Company was tempted to leave you with the Elves of Rivendell but Thorin immediately denied the idea and made sure you travelled with them.
♡ Lord Elrond had been very kind to you though and gave you paper and ink to draw with. You spent hours in Rivendell drawing flowers for the Company and showing them off proudly at night.
♡ They were very impressed and encouraging.
♡ But back to Bifur and you!
♡ At night when you were first adjusting to the new environment, you became terrified by the lack of light and began to cry, holding onto Delta for comfort. Bifur took notice immediately having been on first watch.
♡ He quietly called you over and came to get you. He then let you sit beside him as he watched over the camp and told you silly little stories via charades and shadow puppets. He used what was left of the fire's light for the shadow puppets.
♡ You became calmer and happier as the stories progressed and eventually you had drifted to sleep. You felt safe and you had a purring cat on your lap, so why wouldn't you feel safe?
♡ Bifur made sure you were supported and had a pillow to sleep on, letting you use his. He gave you a couple back pats as you drifted off until finally you were asleep and no longer crying.
♡ He went back to watch and kept an eye on you in case you had nightmares, but you slept just fine.
♡ As you may have noticed, the Company hasn't had much to remark about your unique eye colour.
♡ This is because your eyes a slightly harder to notice a difference in. The brown is very bright and the green is a soft shade that almost perfectly blends with the brown half of your eye.
♡ This perfect blend of colours made it harder for them to notice that the colours were different on your smaller eyes that you often avoided meeting people's gazes with.
♡ But they noticed it almost right away on Delta and thought she looked adorable.
♡ Bifur thought she was quite a lucky little kitty to be loved by someone so kind despite her unique eyes. Then one day you spoke up as they compliment Delta's eyes and asked about them.
♡ "Yeah, I was really excited when we found her. My mother said it was a big coincidence that we found a cat with the same coloured eyes as me." You softly laughed, petting Delta with a smile.
♡ The Company was quite for a while before Bifur finally made them ask you more about it.
♡ "What do you mean, child?"
♡ So you showed them. "I thought my eyes were very noticeable." You giggled, letting the light enhance the colours.
♡ Overall, your eyes are less noticeable, but Bifur made sure you knew that your eyes changed nothing about you. You were more than your outward appearance.
♡ But also, this is Bifur we're talking about. He brushes things off very fast when it doesn't seem that important.
♡ If you ever feel insecure? He'll grab a translator (Bofur) and make sure you know that your eyes will never change how others see you. Especially when your eyes are so pretty.
♡ He's great, but in a quiet way. He brings no attention to your eyes, mostly not noticing anything different regardless and only talks about them when you do. Like I said, he'd never push you to talk about stuff you don't want to.
♡ Bifur simply wants to make sure you survive in this new world and grow up just fine.
~~~
Ori: (Platonic): (Yellow and Grey)
♡ Ori was excited to travel with his friends and family and to go on such a daring adventure across Middle Earth to retake the mountain of Erebor.
♡ He was especially excited to join his family in some food at an apparently "very welcoming hobbit"s home.
♡ So when the Company showed up at Bilbo's home unannounced and without much more knowledge from the Wizard on who exactly this hobbit was, they were very surprised to find a young adult hobbit living with the older hobbit.
♡ About Ori's age, roughly 18 or so if you convert their ages to human years.
♡ Ori was excited to meet someone else his age, aside from Fili and Kili who were slightly older. So you can imagine everyone's surprise when they see her eyes in the bright candlelight.
♡ Now they've seen grey eyes, especially on older dwarves. This wasn't an uncommon eye colour at all.
♡ But yellow? Yellow eyes? And grey? Both? At the same time, but in a different eye each?
♡ That was certainly new.
♡ You didn't mind all their questions at first. Until they asked how it happened to which you had no clue. You didn't understand genetics, or biology and how could you? You were a simple florist who designed bouquets for any occasion a hobbit asked for.
♡ Anniversary? Roses, carnations and peonies. Birthday? Dahlias, orchids and chrysanthemums. Apology? Tulips, daffodils and lilies of the valley.
♡ But biology? All you could think of in your head was sunflowers and azalea for yellow; and low ho silver iris and edelweiss flowers for grey.
♡ But that was your brain designing a bouquet after your eye colours. Not the knowledge of how your eye colours came to be.
♡ Young Ori was especially fascinated by your eyes. How the grey would turn into an almost soft, pastel yellow in the candlelight and your yellow eye would glow like embers from a fire.
♡ When you were allowed to travel with the group, Ori watched as your grey eye glowed silver in the moonlight and the yellow glowed like a soft gold.
♡ You and Ori got along greatly and had lots of fun just talking about flowers and art. Ori would show you his sketches and they were so good you could pick out each individual flower he drew without needing to see his references.
♡ You were thankful he never judged you for your eyes. He was probably the first friend you had that didn't immediately judge you for looking a little different or 'weird' as others would say.
♡ He was super sweet and he even drew your eyes as best he could when sketching. You were more than happy to model for him as the sound of his sketching helped lull you into a cozy sleep late at night.
♡ This especially helped as the climate got colder and the floor harder to rest on. He can also read.
♡ So he'd sometimes read a book very quietly to you as you both huddled around the fire. You didn't understand the written dwarvish in front of you, but Ori was careful with his translations and the stories were very interesting.
♡ He said he only brought a couple of copies of books from back home, that way it wouldn't matter if he lost these books, he'd still have the originals. (In case you were worried).
♡ The stories of birds, dwarves, dragons and grand adventures kept your interest whilst sending you off to sleep. You dreamt about these grand stories. No wonder they were Ori's favourites.
♡ He was so sweet and always complimented your eyes. So you always complimented his eyes back. It was like having a brother. Similar to how Bilbo was almost like a father to you since he took you in eight years ago.
♡ You were a lost hobbit from a small hobbit town that was quite a while away from the Shire. Your parents died of disease and you were terrified of being next.
♡ But Bilbo properly nursed you back to good health and helped you through the grief and acceptance.
♡ And now here you were. Standing strong and with new friends, watching your 'father' flirt terribly with the leader of the group, Thorin.
♡ It was pretty funny and you and Ori got to joke about it lots when the other's wouldn't hear.
♡ Ori never once purposefully draws attention to you or your eyes, but he'll always be there if you speak up or someone else does.
♡ Like a protective older brother. He learned a lot from Dori.
~~~
Dori: (Platonic): (Silver and Dark Brown) ((This is gonna be long, sorry lol))
♡ When you were born, like most babies, you had very blue eyes. Just like your parents.
♡ But as you grew older, your parents watched with worry as your eyes changed. One eye getting lighter and lighter every day as the other became darker and darker.
♡ Your parents tried not to be too worried. After all, a local doctor said it was natural for children's eyes to change colour some weeks, and even years, after birth.
♡ But by the time you were 5 years old, one eye was completely silver and the other was a very dark brown. Your parents did their best to help you feel normal and to always comfort you after other children's strange or mean comments.
♡ Despite all that though, sometimes you wished you had an older sibling that could be by your side growing up. Someone to play games with, read books with, bake food with, etc. The other children were scared because your eyes made you 'different'.
♡ So they avoided you for many years. By the time you were an adult, you felt very insecure and styled your hair to fall over your silver eye as, 'brown is more common', children kept saying.
♡ During your first ever adventure outside of your small human village, you discovered a wandering grey wizard who took great interest in your clothing. You were wonderful at sewing and embroidery and he loved seeing all the intricate flowers, dragons and designs you had done on your clothing.
♡ He was especially surprised to find out you even sewed all your clothing yourself. He invited you to join him and the elves of Rivendell, of whom he was on his way to surprise with a visit. "They are very skilled with the fine arts such as embroidery and could teach you anything you wished to know about the art." He promised with a mysterious glint in his eyes.
♡ You ignored the thought at the back of your mind that wondered what he was planning and instead accepted his offer immediately. And he was right. Lord Elrond was very welcoming and taught you a great deal about sewing and embroidery. He even offered for you to visit as often as you liked between your future travels and you excitedly accepted.
♡ (Now the moment you've all been waiting for)
♡ One day after you had returned to Rivendell, a group of Dwarves and a hobbit showed up alongside a familiar wizard. You noticed them when they walked up the steps into Rivendell, following Lord Elrond who gave you a curt nod.
♡ You smiled and waved back, still holding a stunning Elven dress in your hands that you'd been embroidering. The elves had helped you to make it for special occasions if you ever wanted to join their celebrations in proper Elvish attired.
♡ Despite friendly nods from the hobbit and wizard, the Dwarves didn't really acknowledge you all that much - aside from glances to see if you were elf or human.
♡ But during a dinner with the elves and guests, they got to know you a bit more. Especially when you laughed and cheered to their songs and dances.
♡ You couldn't possibly be all that bad if you liked their music.
♡ They were there for weeks and during that time you slowly got to know them. An older dwarf, who was the eldest of his brothers, would especially spend time talking with you after you shared interest in wine.
♡ Every time you tried a new wine with him, he'd make sure to tell you all the cool details and facts about where and how it was grown, as well as how long it was left, why it should be left for however long, etc.
♡ You can now predict how long a wine should be left for based on how it was made. You also can sort of tell how aged a wine is by its taste. Not really, but you try and Dori gives you extra credit for that.
♡ His own brothers sympathize with the random wine and grapevine knowledge you'll be left knowing for the rest of your life. They too were subjected to hours of drunk Dori's stories and trivia.
♡ But the family was fun to hangout with - especially when they were completely drunk - so you didn't mind all that much.
♡ One day whilst you were drinking, Ori suddenly spoke up and asked, "Excuse me, (Y/N), but why does your hair cover one of your eyes? Doesn't that just make it harder to see?"
♡ "Aw, leave them alone, Ori." Bofur spoke up from the corner, smoking. "I think it's a cute style, (Y/N)." He gave a quick thumbs up.
♡ You returned it with a smile. "Nah, I don't mind the question." You chuckled, replying simply, "It is a bit hard to see with, but it doesn't affect my sight that much."
♡ You didn't feel comfortable telling anyone about your eye colour at that point. But Dori somehow sensed that something was a little off with your reply. He didn't pry, but he used his exquisite big brother skills to deduce a perfect solution to your current discomfort.
♡ Cheese.
♡ Therefore, Dori discreetly elbowed your arm and like a proper 'Wine Aunt' that visits every Christmas, he snuck you a little gift - a piece of cheese - when no one was looking and gave you a little nod of encouragement.
♡ "Thanks, Dori." You whispered when everyone was singing loudly and distracted.
♡ "No worries, kid." He grinned.
♡ Months went by, then years after they took back Erebor from Smaug. And you remained good friends with the Company and Bilbo. It was this winter you had decided to visit, your big brother figure Dori.
♡ During the time they were adventuring you opened up to Lord Elrond about your eye colours and he helped you feel more confident and comfortable with your appearance.
♡ It was the small things. Like the elves helping you change your hairstyle ever so slightly to show both your eyes and to frame your face better. Silver jewelry and beautiful leather clothes, boots and gauntlets.
♡ But all they did helped you so much, you'd almost forgotten there was anything different about you to begin with.
♡ So when you visited the dwarves, it's safe to say that jaws dropped.
♡ After all, heterochromia is one thing. SILVER heterochromia is another. Your eyes matched the fallen snow. The silver jewelry that adorned your ears as gifts from the kind elves. The silver moonlight that shone behind you when you entered the mountain.
♡ Bofur and Nori couldn't stop complimenting how beautiful it was and Ori desperately wanted to draw you. He'd never seen someone with two, beautiful eye colours and he wanted to remember the incredible sight.
♡ Dori basically became a temporary bodyguard by making sure no one was asking weird questions, or crossing your boundaries. He made sure to take you to a nice, quiet corner for some wine if you got overwhelmed by the attention.
♡ Your first night there was chaotic, but Dori had your back.
♡ He wasn't about to let anyone upset you. The group really helped you feel comfortable and confident. Adults being curious about such a phenomenon is very different to growing up with adults that feared the change.
♡ One day, Dori surprised you with a jeweled dagger the company had gotten together to make for you. "So you can stab anyone who insults you." Said Dori.
♡ "So you may defend yourself from danger, orcs, goblins or bandits." Corrected Thorin.
♡ "Or so you can look like a cool warrior facing off against wild beasts when hunting." Encouraged Ori.
♡ "Alright, alright. But it's also for stabbing." Dori huffed.
♡ "Guys, thank-you all so much for this." You smiled gratefully. The dagger was adorned with two jewels. A smokey quartz and a crystal. It matched your eyes.
♡ "It was Dori's idea." Balin grinned, throwing Dori under the river with his callout.
♡ "Well. Any decent person should carry a proper weapon of high quality. You see, higher quality daggers made by dwarves have a much better chance at actually piercing through veins and arteries with one cut and swing rather than the duller man-made blades that you sort of have to saw into an enemy's skin to pierce it deep enough to cause any proper damage...and of course that means the enemies will find their tough skin to be no match to the stronger, well smithed metal of dwarven craftmanship." Dori ranted in defense. Rambling a little, but you didn't mind.
♡ "Fascinating." You listened with awe.
♡ "You didn't catch half of that, did you?" Balin raised an eyebrow, watching you with a knowing-look.
♡ "Well, I understood half of it." You grinned honestly.
♡ "Ah, well allow me to explain slower." Dori cleared his throat and began with an added distant groan from Nori who'd heard all this several times growing up with his big brother.
♡ It was worth listening to Dori's explanations, facts and stories though. He was well-spoken, explained anything you missed and clarified anything you didn't understand. Like a big brother you had always wanted to be there for you.
~~~
Nori: (Romantic): (Orange and Dark Blue) ((This is gonna be very long, sorry lol))
♡ "If you let me sail, we'd be there by now." You huffed as Bard sailed the boat to the shores where the wine barrels wash up (after the Wood Elves let them out of the cellar of the Woodland Realm).
♡ Bard and you grew up together. You first met each other when your parents had decided to fish in the same spot out of Laketown and he pointed at you confidently saying, "You're weird."
♡ Other than the fish you were wearing on your head for a hat, you had no clue what would cause him to say such a thing to you.
♡ 'It must be because my eyes are two different colours!' You finally decided. After all, most other kids didn't like you for that reason. Apparently orange eyes were strange - especially when your other eye is a strikingly dark blue in comparison.
♡ "You're weird too!" You finally declared back.
♡ "At least I'm not wearing a fish for a hat." He rolled his eyes.
♡ "How dare you insult Saltwater the Third!"
♡ "What? Did you eat the other two?"
♡ "Daddd!!!!!" And that's how you two met as children.
♡ Don't worry, you still had a fish hat and you wore it all the time. The current one you had is Saltwater the Forty-Seventh if you were curious.
♡ Back to the present moment you two were in, he simply responded logically, "If you sailed us, the boat would be on the shore and the wine barrels would be in the water."
♡ "I don't see a problem with that. We could surf the barrels back to town."
♡ "Alright, (Y/N). You win. If you can surf a wine barrel all the way back to town, I'll let you drive the boat next time." Bard bet with a grin.
♡ "Deal. I'll be seeing you in town, later." You smugly smiled back.
♡ "Yeah. Tomorrow." Bard laughed. You couldn't help but laugh with him as the boat came to a stop along the shore. "Alright, let's go find those barrels." He sighed, hoping down and tying the boat to a makeshift post.
♡ You scouted ahead as he tied the ship up and saw the barrels further down the shoreline than usual. This isn't too odd considering the river's currents can be unpredictable. But it was the start to a very different day.
♡ The barrels were further up the shore - at a very rocky point - which meant you now had to climb up the rocky hill to go around a bunch of trees hanging at the edge of a cliff above the water to get to the opposite shore.
♡ You were halfway up when you thought about calling to Bard to let him know about the barrels when you heard water sloshing, footsteps and hushed voices nearby.
♡ There was no way it was Bard so you crouched down and watched a young dwarf with brown hair walk to the edge of the cliff not too far from you and sit down.
♡ He was emptying his boots of a lot of water right beside one of the barrels that you had first spotted from a distance.
♡ Upon closer inspection down below beside said barrel was another dwarf, a bit bigger with very grey hair that matched the rocks and a light coloured tunic that looked like dirt. Or was just very dirty. Either way he was basically camouflaged until you looked more carefully.
♡ 'Okay, so two dwarves near the barrels that elves use. I'm sure that's just a strange coincidence and they're just travellers.' You thought to yourself. Bard was only just climbing up the hill to join you so you decided to sneak around and spotted more dwarves that were seated behind boulders.
♡ 'Never mind, that's a lot more than two.' You mentally groaned. You snuck back to Bard just as he made it to the top of the hill. You pointed at the dwarves and used charades to count out 'thirteen' to Bard. His mouth gaped open and with a roll of his eyes he grabbed his bow from his back.
♡ 'Seriously?' You mouthed gobsmacked his first instinct was to shoot and ask questions later.
♡ 'There's more of them than of us.' He mouthed back whilst drawing his arrow back and aiming at the younger dwarf.
♡ 'So what? You're just going to shoot them?' You glared. He met your gaze again.
♡ 'It's not going to kill them.' He argued.
♡ 'I don't think that's the point here.' You finished and he reluctantly relaxed his drawstring.
♡ 'Fine. Just let me intimidate them.' He finally mouthed to you as the young dwarf was emptying out his other shoe now. He sneaked past you, drew back his drawstring once more and stood up to be clearly seen. The young dwarf froze in place and slowly turned around to look up at Bard. You decided to just watch from a distance, only having the skill to fight with a dagger for self-defense.
♡ He must've had all the dwarves' attention by now, still aiming his arrow at the same poor young dwarf. Bard's attention then shifted to the other dwarf who quickly stood up and grabbed a large branch - prepared to defend everyone.
♡ Bard then took his shot, the arrow whizzing straight into the branch's wood. Another dwarf in the distance, this one looking younger, picked up a rock and went to hurl it to Bard - but Bard was quicker and he shot the stone out of the dwarf's hand with another arrow. "Do it again, and you're dead." Bard threatened with another arrow drawn back.
♡ "Excuse me, but - uhm, you're from Laketown?" A new voice spoke up. You watched as an older, white-haired dwarf stepped forwards with his arms up in surrender whilst he cautiously approached Bard. "If I'm not mistaken?" Bard shifted and pointed his arrow whilst letting him continue talking. "That...barge over there." The older dwarf points to our ship which could be seen, but they had only just noticed in the distance. "It wouldn't be available for hire, by any chance?"
♡ "There's a chance." Bard unnotched his arrow and put it back in his quiver, swinging the bow back around his arm before stepping down the rocks as carefully as he could. "But it's unlikely. We're only here for these barrels."
♡ "We..?" The older dwarf was cut off when Bard waved you over and you helped him to start moving the barrels up the cliff to the ship. "Oh.."
♡ "Do you need help with that, lass?" A different brunet dwarf asked, approaching you and Bard carefully.
♡ You and Bard shared a brief glance, calculating how much sooner you could have dinner with a little help and finally you nodded. "Yes, please. Thank-you."
♡ And that long introduction, chat, is how you first met Nori.
♡ You, like Bard, were very skeptical of the dwarves and only helped them with the promise of pay. Double pay meant you and Bard could easily half it and you wouldn't be totally sacrificing all your pay to your pet cat. Which in turn meant you could buy yourself food!
♡ (Yes, you have a cat and yes he is your first priority. He's the best mouse-catcher in Laketown. He's the sole reason mice have been less of a problem and don't get into the winter food storage sheds anymore.)
♡ Nori thought you were odd to say the least. You wore a fish on your head, had completely different coloured eyes and talked like you were either high, or drunk, 24/7.
♡ You almost didn't have anything more to do with the dwarves after that fateful day, but Nori saw you struggle and stole some food before he went to the mountains and lemme tell you. After nearly 9 hours since your last meal, that little gift of stolen food was like a marriage proposal.
♡ In the Battle against the orcs there was no way you were just going to sit in a building uselessly with a bunch of other women. You grabbed a sword, petted your cat and charged a bunch of orcs, slicing as quickly as you could to deflect and kill them.
♡ During the chaos of everything, you bumped into Nori. Although you had no clue how he and you and ended up fighting near each other, you stood strong and watched each other's backs as orc after orc charged you.
♡ The battle felt never ending and you could've sworn a tinge of pink had lit up the sky and clouds whilst you fought for your survival. The sun was setting and you were still fighting.
♡ Once the battle was one and the injured were healed and Thorin paid people what they were owed, Nori and you sat down together near a dying campfire. You had gotten along since the battle.
♡ He would crack so many jokes it was great! He also liked your jokes. Your favourite thing about his jokes was: they were never about your appearance, or eyes or the fish hat you wore. He would joke about anything!
♡ From teasing his own siblings to laughing at how silly the Elves looked - being all serious. But he showed nothing but adoration for your eyes.
♡ Months passed and Dale was rebuilt. You and Bard had moved into Dale with Bard's children. Nori visited often. You two went fishing, shopping, hiking and scouting together.
♡ Eventually, he started to court you. His antics were amusing. Watching how dwarves court was quite amusing to a human. Nori would steal you items to show his quick fingers, stealth and skills. He'd steal you things he knew you liked.
♡ He squared up against almost any possible rival and even attempted to square up against Bard to win your approval. But Bard denied him and sent him to shop some wood instead.
♡ He didn't need to go the extra mile though. You felt the same for the sneak-thief. He was kind and funny and considerate. What woman wouldn't fall for him? Once you could finally sit him down for a meal, you expressed your feelings for him.
♡ The next day he made a courting braid and asked to braid it into your hair. You gladly accepted and allowed him to gently brush, wash and dry your hair over the next few hours. After the braid was in, you asked if you could do the same.
♡ And so the two of you spent the next few hours together once again, but this time as you brushed, washed and helped re-tie Nori's hair. It was probably the most memorable day you had in a while and you have always cherished the memory ever since.
♡ One day, when you were feeling just a little self-conscious, you asked how Nori felt about you looking different. Being a human surrounded by dwarves more often now...having two different coloured eyes...adults talking about you behind your back despite children adoring your cool fish hat.
♡ It had all just started to get to you and you didn't know how to handle it.
♡ "Darling, you're perfect to me. I don't care if you have blue hair or pink skin. You being human doesn't change how I feel about you...and neither do your eyes." Nori spoke softly.
♡ "Your eyes are like a sunset that meets the ocean. I've fallen in love with those stunning colours of yours." Nori placed his hand against your cheek and rubbed circles with his thumb as you leaned into his touch. Tears were threatening to spill out of your eyes.
♡ "Never change. For anyone. Please...keep being yourself...even if it's just for me. I love you." Nori pulled you into a soft embrace and let you cry out your feelings for as long as you needed. He meant every word he spoke and wanted desperately to show you in some way.
♡ The next day you woke up to a full breakfast-in-bed meal of all your favourite foods and even a nice hot drink for the cold morning. Nori brought you dark blue flowers with orange centers and orange flowers with dark blue ribbows tying them together. He loved your eyes and he really meant it.
♡ He even brought you a hat stand so you wouldn't lose your fish hats. (You had a slight habit of losing them).
♡ He was sweet and thoughtful when he needed to be. <3
~~~
Oin: (Platonic): (Grey and Light Green)
♡ When most people fall into a fictional world, usually it's their favourite. Most of the time, they're minding their own business and not working a 14-hour hospital shift.
♡ Unfortunately, you didn't conform to the norms of society very often and just had to fall through a magic portal as you finally finished clocking off for the night day. Because it was 4am when you finished work.
♡ So you can imagine the company's surprise when a mysterious figure falls from a strange portal in the sky. And when they get closer the stranger is fully decked out in weird blue clothing (scrubs), with their somewhat short hair neatly out of their face and very worn-through shoes.
♡ As if the person did hours and hours of walking in the same shoes every day.
♡ Which you did do.
♡ You're very lucky Gandalf is a super kind person to bring you with them to camp for the night and to look after you, because when you hit the ground it didn't matter that the fall hadn't knocked you out from the impact.
♡ The minute you were laying down in soft grass with the warm sun shining down on you, you were out like a light. You could've slept through a hurricane, tornado siren and nuclear explosion.
♡ Nothing the company did to make sure you were alive and okay the next day, woke you. All they could do was leave you to Gandalf's care as he carefully rode onward whilst making sure you didn't fall off. And hope you didn't hit your head.
♡ When you did finally wake up, you were hungry as fuck.
♡ You ate any food Bombur made and had three serves of dinner. The company was respectful, but cautious of you. They didn't really trust you until you helped treat Ori and Bombur's cooking burns with cold, creek water and some of Oin's herbs.
♡ After they realized you were a doctor they had so many questions. You happily answered any of their medical questions about the body, brain, organs and anything else.
♡ One of the questions they had was regarding your two different eye colours. "How did that happen?" "Does it just happen, or does an accident cause it?" "Is that an injury?" "Does it hurt?" "Is it annoying?"
♡ You patiently answered each question. "I was born with this. One of my eyes slowly darkened until it stopped at this light green and my other grew lighter in colour each day until it was fully grey." "It can be caused by injury, or an accident. Specifically if the accident or injury involves the eye. If the eye is damaged it may lose some melanin - the colouring - and thus change to a lighter colour. But that is not the case for my eyes."
♡ "No, it doesn't hurt. It feels the same to me as your eyes feel for you. I can see perfectly clear and it causes no issues. It isn't annoying, I'm already used to it when I look into mirrors or my water's reflection."
♡ The younger dwarves were especially in awe of your eyes. Despite the whole group growing to like you and come to you for medical aide, Oin especially took a liking to you. He was fascinated by such a young person knowing so much about medicine.
♡ He took you under his wing in this world and taught you all about the different herbs, mushrooms, medieval medicines and other treatments or small surgeries they were capable of performing.
♡ You absorbed all the information quite quickly like a sponge which further impressed the older healer.
♡ When Oin was sleeping early at night, or just resting in general, you would take over as the go-to-medic for the dwarves when they got a small injury, felt sick, or need medicine - like for sleeping better.
♡ You would also make them cups of tea, maybe a nice soup if most of the company caught a cold from icy, freezing rivers that they swam through.
♡ Even though the group wasn't sure about you at first, they really came to appreciate you in their times of need. Especially after the battle for Erebor. If it wasn't for your expert medical knowledge and quick fighting and thinking; Fili, Kili and Thorin (respectively) would've died from their terrible wounds.
♡ They had fought recklessly - though that was mostly Thorin's fault for being foolish - but thanks to your knowledge on healing and stitching, the three recovered quickly and in just a couple weeks they were back up on their feet.
♡ You kept a close eye on them; making sure they weren't going to overwork themselves. After the battle and aftermath cleanup was all sorted, Thorin took over the Throne and ruled as King Under the Mountain. He officially made you Oin's assistant and you basically became a 'royal healer'.
♡ Despite the official title, you decided to help anyone who was in need. Especially young children. The children were always fascinated by your eyes. They thought the colours were incredible.
♡ It was so heartwarming when they'd come back just to give you a drawing they did of you. You decided to set up a picture wall to hang all the lovely drawings. Anytime you felt scared, or were sick, you'd look up at the wall and remember how sweet and brave those kids were.
♡ Oin made sure you never overworked, got proper sleep and meals and he also taught you dwarven sign language so you could treat deaf and hard of hearing patients like Oin, or Bifur.
~~~
Bombur: (Romantic): (Dark Brown with Yellow around one eyes' center)
♡ You were a great cook and fighter. When the spiders of Mirkwood became a massive problem, you were put onto a patrol team that did two rounds around the borders of the forest each day.
♡ After that, you worked hard to make lunch and dinner with the other chefs and cooks. Great feasts for celebrations and small feasts to sing songs around fires with.
♡ So one day when you were preparing a great feast for another fun celebration, a border patrol lead by the Prince of Mirkwood arrived with a large group of dwarves who had been found wandering aimlessly off the path.
♡ You didn't think much of it until they escaped and caused great havoc with their unorthodox exit out of Mirkwood: riding in empty wine barrels out of the backdoor from palace, exiting through the back gate.
♡ Orcs then attacked the dwarves and elves whilst the elves attempted to keep the dwarves from escaping further and the orcs from causing more damage. You watched all this from a distance, killing off the few orcs that attempted to get inside the building.
♡ You couldn't keep track of how much time passed after that, but soon an army of elves were called to arms by the King. Everyone gathered in their armour, grabbing their weapons and standing out the door waiting for further instructions.
♡ You had joined the army, ready to fight against the dwarves that had recently reconquered Erebor. It was for the simple matter of helping the Laketown people who had called for aide since the dragon attack burned down their town.
♡ There were carts of supplies you would all bring to the people who were currently taking refuge in Dale.
♡ The walk to Dale with all the supplies took quite a little while, but when you arrived and saw all the wounded, sick and how desperate everyone was for food - the trip was worth it. Once the King talked with the head of the group and figured out what had happened, he then handed out the supplies.
♡ All the elves got to work: helping the injured and sick with their knowledge of medicine, handing out food, blankets, water and more. You got to work cooking up a massive pot of soup with vegetables and some meat for everyone to have a serving of, as was requested of you.
♡ That was the main reason you were there helping. Your aide in battle was secondary, helping the people was your primary mission.
♡ When the battle began, you did your best to fight off the orc invasion in Dale. There was no reason for you to be fighting up front at the front gate of Erebor when there was a serious battle just at your own feet.
♡ Defending children and the elderly during all the chaos was the most difficult part of the battle. You had to make sure that, whilst they fought and laid finishing blows, they were not hit unaware by orcish archers.
♡ Once the battle was won and the war was over, it was time to help with the aftermath. Burying the dead, tending to the injured, cooking up pots of soup, or stew, for everyone and handing out bread, water and other necessary materials or foods for people to sustain themselves.
♡ The dwarves were allies at this point and did their best to right their wrongs. There was an especially friendly dwarf who came up beside you one evening with more vegetables and meat - exactly what you requested from the dwarves for the next meal - and he even helped you cook it all up.
♡ He knew some herbs that you had never seen before and you taught him some elvish cooking that made food taste more tender and juicy - it was wine, but don't tell the kids.
♡ Over time you got to know your new fellow chef, 'Bombur'. You two spent the next couple weeks cooking food for the hungry masses until everyone had food supplies and shelter to stay at in Dale. Repairs to houses took a while, but once most of the major houses were done for food storage and temporary shelter, you were relieved of duty.
♡ Despite that, whilst the King finished up his business with the dwarven king, Thorin, you continued to hang out with Bombur. Sitting around campfires, cooking smaller meals together, trading jokes, stories, adventures and tales. You grew quite fond of the dwarf.
♡ When it came time for you to return to the palace with the King Thranduil, you promised to write to Bombur and he promised the same.
♡ And you both kept your words.
♡ You sent letters back and forth for many months and occasionally visited the dwarf for special celebrations where he asked for your aide in cooking - an excuse to spend an evening with you.
♡ Many years later, after five full years of courting each other, you both got married and lived together in Erebor. The King Thranduil did not mind your choice in love and wished you luck on your journey.
♡ The King Thorin accepted you fully as another good chef in the kingdom and made sure a feast was prepared for your wedding so you and Bombur could relax and simply enjoy the day together.
♡ Another couple years passed. You were all sitting at a table enjoying a couple beers when Bofur spoke up, teasing Bombur. "Still can't believe you managed to find and romance such a beautiful lady, Bombur. I mean, her unique eye colours," He gestured to your central heterochromia, "...her stunning hair, glowing skin, incredible cooking, gosh Bombur, you're so lucky. I hope I find a pretty wife soon too.." He sighed, taking another swig of his fifth beer.
♡ The alcohol must've been hitting him, so you merely comforted the tired dwarf. "I'm sure there's someone out there waiting for you too, Bofur." You chuckled. "Right, Bombur?"
♡ Bombur was staring at you intensely when you turned to him.
♡ "Bombur?" You tried again, waving a hand in front of his face. "Erebor to Bombur, attention Bombur." You teased. He leaned in closer and you were expecting a kiss, but he hesitated and maintained strict eye-contact.
♡ "Your eyes are slightly different colours!!" He announced excitedly. There was a moment of surprise and silence until the whole table was roaring with laughter.
♡ "You only just now noticed?? We've been married two years!! Courted for five years!! Knew each other for many years before that, how did you not see this?" You gasped.
♡ "I never really took a good look at that...I assumed it was the same in both eyes...I thought it was candlelight most days." He admitted quietly. His whole face was red at this point, so you pinched his cheeks and gave him a quick kiss.
♡ "Darling, I love you! But for Mahal's sake, dear..."
♡ "I know...I'm sorry, love." He shyly offered you his food as an apology and sign of love.
♡ How he didn't notice for all those years remained a damn mystery in your mind. But that was okay, because he was a bit silly, but very sweet.
~~~
Gloin: (Platonic): (Orange and Black)
♡ When you were just a young dwarf, you got separated from your family and lost in a busy marketplace.
♡ Your parents went to look at jewelry whilst you looked at some well made toys and trinkets for children. By the time you were finished looking around...it was too late. You had completely forgotten where they said they were going to be.
♡ You started running around, ducking under people's bags and trays, darting between people and dodging their legs and arms.
♡ Whether it was by fate, luck or chance, when you started to give up your search; sitting down on a stone bench crying, Gloin walked past and noticed your small presence.
♡ He set his groceries down and sat beside you. "What's the matter, lad?" He asked softly, rubbing your back as you desperately tried to sob out coherent words.
♡ But Gloin had a child already and didn't have to spend too long decoding your gibberish to understand you lost your parents and were all alone in distress.
♡ "Aw, that's alright, laddie. Come along, I'll help you find your parents. Hold my hand so you don't get lost and let's go have a look, okay? I'm sure they're looking for you too." He gave you a soft smile and led you back into the centre of the bustling marketplace.
♡ He was correct - your parents had been worried sick looking for you. You apologized and hugged them. They were so relieved and grateful they invited Gloin, his wife and child all to dinner that evening and Gloin happily accepted.
♡ They shared their home address with him and let you two say goodbye before they headed home. You had such a big day, you needed a bath and snack before dinner.
♡ After that fateful day, Gloin and his family had remained good friends with your family and you would play with Gimli quite often. Hide and Seek, I Spy, Tag, you name it - y'all played it.
♡ Gloin would join in too with your own father! It was so much fun running around and squealing when they jumped out from the shadows with a "Boo!"
♡ Gloin was basically an Uncle figure to you. Constant visits, birthday celebrations and presents, babysitting you and Gimli when your parents went on a date night.
♡ And the same with your parents babysitting Gimli so Gloin could treat his love to a nice date night!
♡ When you became a teenager and started an apprenticeship in smithing, you slowly became self-conscious of your eye colours. This was an unusual feeling. Doubt? But also guilt perhaps?
♡ Like a spiraling feeling in your stomach...like your eye colours made you different. Made you stand out...and you felt guilty for it.
♡ You couldn't figure out what was wrong. What went wrong. Spending so many years feeling accepted by Gloin, your family, his family - especially Gimli. None of them even mentioned your heterochromia.
♡ They didn't point it out as if it was a major characteristic of yours, a defining feature, or trait. They always pointed out your creativity, your energetic and bubbly personality.
♡ But since starting the apprenticeship and working alongside other apprentices - they started pointing out how strange, or "different" or "weird" your eyes looked.
♡ These thoughts and confusing feelings kept you up at night. But you didn't dare mention it to anyone. This was a new and strange feeling that you still couldn't put into words.
♡ It felt a little silly that you felt guilty for something you were naturally born with. You couldn't explain how strange that feeling was.
♡ There must've been a noticeable change in your demeanor, however, as everyone started being extra doting and sweeter to you at home.
♡ This went on for months until one day you were sitting outside with Gloin and he asked how you had been feeling recently. "Since starting the apprenticeship." And that's when you broke down into tears.
♡ That small, slightly concerned, question was the final blow to your constant turmoil.
♡ "Aw, lad. I thought you looked a little down recently. Come here, it's okay...shhh...it's all going to be alright, laddie." Gloin hushed, rubbing circles on your back whilst hugging you.
♡ Once you had let out all your pent up emotions, you felt like you could explain how you felt to him. You told him how the other apprentices' comments had been making you feel.
♡ How you felt guilty, doubtful, unconfident, different...the list went on. Gloin didn't interrupt you the entire time you spoke. He simply listened and occasionally nodded. Until you had let all your thoughts out.
♡ You felt embarrassed for breaking down so fast, but Gloin spoke up. "I'm sorry you've been feeling like this for so long, lad." He sighed. "Maybe your eyes are different colours. And maybe you stand out a bit because of that...but that doesn't outshine the rest of you."
♡ "Y'know, everyone starts to feel like that when life gets strange, or difficult. And that's okay. What you've got to remember is the talents you possess. Your skill at crafting things, is who you truly are. The person you want to be - aspire to be! That's who you are. Your appearance will change with time. You might start to go blind...your hair will turn white, but what truly matters is what you do until then."
♡ "If you take their unthoughtful comments to heart, you might miss what's right in front of you by dwelling on how 'different' you feel. Focus on the present, laddie. Focus on this apprenticeship and show those apprentices what true skill and talent looks like! And when you show 'em up and prove their comments useless...well, I hope to be there...standing behind you - watching you shine."
♡ Gloin gave you a big bear hug and ruffled your hair a bit. "Alright, kid." He stood up with a grin. "All these feelings are exhausting and you must be hungry by now. After all, you're still growing." He chuckled and helped you to your feet.
♡ "Let's go get some dinner." The talk you had with him had really helped. You took his advice and ignored what other's said, unless it was advice or about your creations. You were passionate about your creations.
♡ You learned to make lots of different things. From swords and maces, to necklaces and rings. Eventually, you aced the apprenticeship and continued to work at the forge shop - selling your creations and accepting new challenges everyday.
♡ And if you ever had another bad day like that again...Gloin was right there for you - making sure you got back up to your feet and never gave up your passions and dreams.
♡ You were forever glad to Mahal for such an amazing friend.
~~~ The End ~~~
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musashi · 1 month
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Pffff you sure do manage to piss a lot of people off, and not know why or how. Perhaps you should look inward.
i'd love to look inward, unfortunately these people i piss off never actually give me anything to work with. they'll say like "wendy, you eat babies" and then i say "can i have an example of when you saw me eat a baby" and then they block and ghost me and i go to my friends like "hey, did you ever see me eating babies? i'm trying to figure this out" and they all unanimously are like "uh no we never saw anything like that??? you did look at a baby once, maybe someone misunderstood???" and then five years pass and the person mad at me for eating babies leaves a long apology in my inbox and i connect with them through DMs and say "i'm just still confused. can you explain the thing where you said i ate babies? like do you remember what made you say that?" and without fail every time they reply "i don't know man, it just seemed right to say at the time."
i'm actually quite interested in bettering myself, and a great deal of my vent posts on here DO end with "i just don't understand" because of that desire. but i think a lot of people really do just forget that i am autistic and a huge part of autism is needing very clear examples of situations/behaviour/whatever. asking lots of questions, receiving lots of clarification, etc. with how mean and quick to abandon people have gotten on the internet lately, no one wants to give me that actionable feedback, or sit with me and help me understand what i might have done wrong/inelegantly. most of them just get angry, take my "maybe we should sit on this and come back to it later?" as an insult, and block me without answer.
currently, the person maligning me fully believes that i'm not "disabled" enough, claims i am "low support," and quite literally said "all [wendy's] symptoms [of disability] improve their life." i think this is very telling of a larger picture--people see how well i hide my cracks, how i boast my function, and how happy i am despite being disabled and file me away in their head as an arrogant neurotypical who is a little bit quirky.
but i would like to remind you, anon, that i am autistic. i am disabled. my social functioning is atypical. my way of understanding myself, my actions, and how those all mesh with the people i share a space with is atypical. "look inward" is great advice, and though I think you were trying to be mean, i welcome it with open arms! however, "look inward" only helps when i have additional help to guide me toward what exactly inward i am looking for. so, in this case, it is a little misguided.
if anyone who KNOWS ME PERSONALLY NOT ON TUMBLR who hates my fucking guts would like to give me some examples of how i act/talk/exist and why it makes them want to set a library on fire i am always, at any given moment, eagerly awaiting that feedback. but currently, the feedback is "none at all." every single person who has had a problem with me for the last half-decade of my life has simply blown up on me over things i did not do/intend/understand, or hardblocked me without a conversation and left me clueless as to what i did wrong.
until someone (friend or foe) is willing to actually communicate with me instead of being a sniveling coward, i will never know where inward to look. them's the breaks!
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silverskye13 · 2 years
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Mortals are insane. That goes without saying, but Cub likes to remind himself every once in a while, just in case he’d somehow forgotten. Mortals are insane. Granted, most mortals think he’s insane, but that’s just the baffling way mortals perceive the vex. In fairness, vex are insane. He knows this about himself. It's just that he’s insane in a very different way to mortals. The word “crazy” is a lot more fluid than people think it is. 
For instance, crazy mortals will see a massive crack in time and space growing beneath Grian’s base, and they’ll walk right in. A crazy vex will follow, just to see what happens. Mortals are crazy because they’re daring and curious. Vex are crazy because they want to see what chaos ensues. See? Very different. It’s not that Cub isn’t excited to see what’s on the other side, it’s that he’s more excited to see how what’s on the other side is about to break, irreparably, because his pack of mortals sauntered in. It puts a smile on his face, like watching an artist make a new painting. It’s exciting. It's unpredictable. It’s insane.
The world on the other side is beautiful. It’s a world of empires. It's full of glorious, wondrous things, and people, and places, and all of them Cub comfortably calls insane. There are not-mortals living here. None of them are vex, but some of them are incredibly not-mortal. Granted, some of the friends he follows are not-mortal, but they’re not-mortal in a familiar way. He's defined their edges. This is an edgeless world he's walked into, off the side of the familiar into whatever's beyond it. 
Katherine is mortal, he thinks. The colorful ruler of Chromia, Scott, is barely-mortal. Pearl is not-mortal in a fundamentally different way to how she normally is back home, and Cub thinks that’s fantastic. That’s the kind of chaos he’s here for: irreparable changes, the fabric of the world reweaving itself. 
Katherine's kingdom, Glimmer Grove, is beautiful. Cub immediately takes in the clash of black and gray against pink and white, some curse, he thinks, spreading through her lands. If he really tapped into the magic of it, he might be able to tell what it is, but there's no fun in that. Secrets are at their best when they're unspooled slowly in their own time, sowing their little seeds of chaos. So Cub instead walks with the others and feigns ignorance when Scott points out the oddities in the architecture. He can't tell if Pearl and Impulse are playing along too, or if they really can't see it, but that just adds to the fun. How long can they dance around what each other knows? 
Insane.
Katherine gives a flourish of her pink dress as she stops them before a building. She's bouncing on her toes with excitement. Cub thinks she's terrible at keeping secrets, and those are the best kind of people. She leans in toward them, grinning, "Can you keep a secret?"
She is the best kind of people.
Cub plays with a humble smirk, "I can keep a secret, yeah."
Impulse gives him a sidelong glance that Cub pointedly ignores. He's too busy looking trustworthy. The rest of them agree, yes, we love secrets. Katherine, in that lovely way the best kinds of people do, believes them only because she has a secret she desperately wants to tell. She laughs and beckons them after her, leading them to a false door in her keep. It's a secret base, she tells them in an exuberant sing-song, a secret she's never told anyone, that she's giving to these complete strangers. Mortals are insane. 
Impulse shoots Cub another look, this time disapproving. Cub shrugs. He can't explain to Impulse that, vex or not, he hadn't coerced this with magic - though Impulse is right in thinking that's something he'd do. Explaining this would mean telling Katherine and Scott (and maybe Pearl, if more than just her not-mortal-ness has changed without her knowing) that he's vex, and he doesn't want to do that. Not yet anyway. You can never really tell what people think about vex. Besides, Katherine isn't done sharing secrets, and it would be bad form to reveal his own secret while listening to another. It makes him look less trustworthy, and it takes away from the impact of a well-placed reveal. He’d never steal another secret-sharer’s thunder. 
"So the real secret," Katherine grins as she closes the door behind them, "is I'm a monster slayer."
She takes a wicked looking battle ax down from its mount on the wall. The blade is sharp as shattered glass, and carries the dangerous aura of a weapon lovingly and frequently used. Cub thinks, maybe, it could kill him. He tries to hide his grin. 
There is a noticeable silence after Katherine reveals the ax, a pause that breathes just a moment too long. Scott looks bemused, like he'd somehow expected this. His magic eye glitters, trying to decide if it's monstrous. Pearl looks excitedly curious, like this is the most interesting thing she's learned all day. Impulse looks at Cub again. This time instead of being suspicious, he looks nervous. Cub squints his eyes and smirks.
"That's amazing," he says, and he means it. Mortals are full of wonders. She also reveals to them a deadly looking bow, and tells them about a magical transformations she does to “murder the bad guys”. The room is peppered with applause and praise, and Cub is grinning wide and excited, and he hopes it doesn’t look too terribly vex of him. He loves heroes. He loves seeing what they’ll do. Chaos. When he was an evoker-tied vex, he loved watching them suffer too, but he’s shaken that part of his vex-ness at least. He does think Katherine is the most interesting person he’s met today. Katherine swears them into secrecy and they leave, and Impulse watches the spring in Cub’s step dubiously.
“You should stay away from her, buddy,” Impulse cautions. “You’re a monster. She's a monster slayer.”
“Oh definitely, definitely,” Cub chimes a little too enthusiastically, and Impulse frowns at him. “But Impulse, she kills bad guys, and I’m on my best behavior.”
“Cub we just got here,” Impulse groans. “You need to stay out of trouble until we feel these people out. Some of them are scary, and they have their own agendas they’re pushing.”
“When have I ever started trouble?”
Impulse pauses to think about this. The answer is “often”, but people are rarely around to watch Cub start trouble. They’re generally only in the know when he escalates and finishes it. Impulse shakes his head, “You should still be careful.”
“I’ll be careful.” This, at least, is truthful. It’d do no good to go and get himself killed by a monster slayer two days into this new wonderful world, especially when it’s very possible vex magic will be needed to fix the portal. Vex have unpredictable magic; there’s no telling if it’ll help or harm a situation. In truth, Cub isn’t completely unconvinced his magic broke the portal in the first place, just by merit of him stepping through. What he does know is that he doesn’t want to leave. Not now. Not when there’s so much going on here. This world, he decides with the utmost fondness, is insane.
They take a tour. They meet gods and goblins, a witch in the woods. None of these, Cub notes to himself, are considered monsters by the monster slayer. Katherine speaks of them fondly, with no signs of magical transformations or smiting. Of course, it is daytime. Who's to know what will happen when the moon rises? 
He's to know, as it turns out, because Katherine calls him, Impulse and Pearl back to her place. She's a little more nervous this time. Cub can't smell mortal fear -- that's not really a vex trait -- but he's known mortal fear enough times to know there's a little bit of it here in Katherine. She wants them to prove their loyalty, and then once they prove it, to give them an ax and a uniform. It’s insurance, Cub thinks. It’s a lot harder to share a secret once it’s yours. Not that he was planning on sharing it anyway. He wants to see how this plays out. Impulse keeps throwing him sideways glances, getting increasingly nervous as the evening goes on. Cub remains unflappable, smiling, because why wouldn’t he find this fun? A vex that’s a monster slayer.
The moon rises.
As it’s rising, Katherine gives them a challenge. Prove you’re a monster hunter. Bring back the head of a monster. The vex in Cub goes to war with itself briefly, while it ignores another of Impulse’s furtive glances. He thinks it would be incredibly fun, incredibly chaotic, if he gave his own head to Katherine. But then again, that goes back to the problem of Cub wanting to know how all this plays out, wanting to chase the chaos of a new world, and needing to be alive to see how the Rift gets fixed. So he does something better.
The moon rises, and Katherine turns her back on them and raises her ax to begin her transformation. Pearl and Impulse start to scurry into corners to change into their uniforms. Cub waits until the Monster Slayer is mid-transformation, too caught up in her glitter and moonlight to watch. Then he snaps his fingers.
He, Impulse and Pearl are showered in glittering moonlight. Music only they can hear strikes up to the sound of rock guitar and drums. Who doesn’t love a good anime magical girl transformation? Cub finds himself laughing through his.
They land back on their feet, decked out in Monster Slayer regalia. Pearl is beaming. So is Cub. Impulse looks even more unsettled than he did before.
“Alright Monster Slayers!” Katherine calls, before Impulse can chastise Cub for the reckless use of vex magic in front of someone who probably kills vex in her spare time. “Bring me some monster heads!”
"Cub," Impulse whispers to him just before the all scatter in different directions. "You're insane."
Cub thinks that's funny, coming from a mortal. He grins. "I know."
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gravitywonagain · 4 months
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so i plotted a thing in the shower the other day... idk if i'll write it or not, but i thought it might be fun to share :)
~ working title: Villains in my Mind Doing Time ~
lwj is a detective who only works cold cases (for Reasons that will come up somewhere in the narrative, probably). he’s almost a year and a half into his latest case when he gets a call from a maximum security prison. they say an inmate there has info on his case and wants to share it. lwj is, understandably, a bit skeptical — especially when he sees the 35 year-old inmate who is supposed to have info on his 50 year-old cold case — but he figures he can check the info after and something is better than the nothing he currently has, even if it does send him on a wild goose chase.
wwx, when lwj meets him, is handsome and well spoken, if a bit angry and… kinda weird? but that’s okay. all of these things are workable. so lwj sits down and — after a rather odd tangent about the sensory experiences of murder, some nonsense about being a medium but only for serial killers, and rambling regrets about starting with the most recent cases because it would have been much easier to prove he wasn't involved in murders he wasn't alive for yet — gets what he came for: the name of the murderer.
(wwx is actually a ghost magnet, of a kind. he attracts serial killers, like, from wherever. idk if his mind is the manifestation of some level of hell through which serial killers atone for their sins or something, i honestly have not thought this that far through, so just bear with me, here.)
lwj takes this info home to follow up on and finds that it’s both more and less than he was hoping for. the name wwx gave him is of a man who was close to the family, certainly, but who was dismissed as a suspect after his first interview. nothing particularly ties him to the case, yet he was also not a man who was discussed in the news where wwx might have stumbled upon his name. there is, lwj finds, some merit to the idea that this person killed at the very least lwj’s victim and in all likelihood — and if wwx is to be believed — several more people.
however none of this information is actionable. it is at best circumstantial, at worst some nonsense accusation from a man who is serving life in maximum security. and the man in question has been dead for several years leaving no living family behind.
lwj goes back to the prison.
wwx is pleased to see him again and even more so to learn that lwj actually believes him and wants to hear more. he shares what he knows, but mostly what he has is a head full of memories that are very difficult to get down on paper. he draws some things, but what lwj really needs, he realizes, is to actually go to the scene, go into all the evidence, speak with family and friends of the victim, etc. all of this will be easier and more fluid if he can just take wwx with him so that he doesn’t have to act as some intermediary between the evidence and the supposed ghost.
lwj still isn’t quite convinced he’s not being taken for a ride, but he’s willing to take the risk of letting wwx out on heavily supervised furlough for a better shot at finally cracking this case and giving the family some peace.
wwx agrees to go on the very strict condition that he be returned to the prison that night. lwj of course agrees to this — that was definitely already the plan — and off they go.
during the first outing, the two are able to get a little bit deeper into the mystery, but they are both quite aware that what they are looking for is going to have been long buried and many people are dead, don’t remember, or don’t want to remember. this is going to take more than one furlough. but, as wwx did not attempt to escape or harm anyone (nobody really expected him to, he’s been a model inmate despite the crazy talk and night terrors for years now), the warden agrees to let lwj take him out again and again.
it’s on the third outing that they run into some trouble and have to spend a night away from home. wwx is intensely worried, but they are able to find a solution with the local municipal jail, borrowing a cell for the night for wwx to sleep in while lwj sleeps at an inn. everything is fine. lwj, out of curiosity, asks the municipal jail for the video of wwx at night and finds out that wwx has horrible nightmares, screaming and flailing in his sleep. this follows if what wwx tells him about hosting the ghosts of serial killers is true, but it also follows if wwx actually has a violent past that he is atoning for in prison. they manage to get a bit more info the next day, but are sure to make it back to the prison that night.
unfortunately, the next bit of information is set to take them much farther away from the city. they will need to road trip out to a pretty small town to meet up with someone, taking multiple days just to get out there, and will probably need to stay multiple days to get the info they need. initially, wwx is adamant that lwj can do this one on his own. lwj, however, has grown to rely on wwx’s unique insight into this case and manages to convince him to come along.
they make a plan, calling up all the jails on their way out there to ensure that they can borrow a cell for the night — not allowing wwx to sleep with anyone else in the room. of course, on their way out there, one of the jails fills up for the night and they have to improvise. they book two rooms at an inn and wwx convinces lwj to restrain him, tie him to the bed — sadly, for non-sexy purposes — and to bar all the exits he can. this is not a foolproof plan… but it works. wwx and lwj both have a rough night of it, but wwx doesn’t escape, doesn’t hurt anyone, and doesn’t hurt himself (too badly). they decide this is an acceptable backup solution, should the need arise again.
the need definitely arises again.
one of the reasons they are out here in this remote area is because the person they are tracking down is slated to attend an art festival nearby. the town hosting the festival is small enough that the draw is not huge, but robust enough to handle the influx of tourism for the next few days. this also means that, when the jail inevitably fills up on their last night in town, lwj and wwx have to share lwj’s reserved room. of course there’s only one bed, this is fanfiction.
so lwj ties wwx to the bed. at this point, he’s mostly sure that wwx at the very least knows things about this case that he shouldn’t be able to know. he’s open to some sort of medium-ship, though uncertain as to what that might mean, entirely. and he is pretty sure that wwx has been requesting such specific sleeping arrangements because he is worried about keeping lwj awake with his night terrors. lwj accepts a bad night’s sleep in return for literally any sleep — they got what they came for but it’s been a long few days — and decides he’s going to sleep in the same room as a bound wwx.
the thing about security cameras in police stations and municipal jails is that they are in black and white.
lwj wakes to a room bathed in a soft red glow and fingers wrapped tightly around his throat. the voice coming from wwx is not the one lwj is familiar with after days and days spent working together, spent talking in the car, over lunch, on the phone. it is deep and guttural, then high and sweet, then laughing and manic. all the while wwx’s body seems to fight itself — not quite strangling lwj, but not quite letting him go either.
luckily, lwj is a strong dude. he manages to break free and subdue wwx. the red fades from wwx’s eyes as soon as they blink open again and wwx shrinks in on himself so deeply lwj isn’t sure he’ll ever find him again.
slowly, painstakingly, lwj is able to coax wwx into the same car as him so they can drive back. wwx is quiet and subdued the entire time, eyes flashing to the bruising around lwj’s neck so much he considers stopping to buy a turtleneck despite the summer heat. each stop goes more or less as planned, though one of the jails has to move some people around to accommodate, and they are clearly less than pleased to do so, but wwx plays up the crazy criminal affect and they make it work.
they’re maybe an hour away from home when wwx suddenly jerks in his seat, eyes rolling back in his head — fully white, not glowing red — and trembling like a leaf. lwj pulls off the road, uncertain.
when wwx gasps back to himself a minute or two later, he’s agitated, urgent. he insists that lwj turn the car around. another killer just died, he says, and this time he’s not too late. the killer died unexpectedly and left some victims alive. he never gets this kind of chance, he says, to make a difference, to actually save someone.
they’re close, is the thing. close to the city, close to finishing lwj’s case. and lwj, fresh off being strangled by a possibly possessed wwx, isn’t the most inclined to veer off the path that will lead him first to his very comfortable bed and second to possibly closing his case. and there’s the niggling fear that wwx, having felt freedom and now being very close to the end of it again, has created a ruse that he will use to ultimately escape.
but wwx is very convincing. and, lwj realizes, he trusts him.
lwj turns the car around and heads in the direction wwx leads him. and wwx is right. they get to the compound just in time to save a young girl from starving alone where she’d been kept. the local police ask questions and wwx ends up almost on the hook for this again, but his whereabouts have been very accounted for over the span of time the crimes were taking place. it looks like he might be charged with accessory again, but given that he was instrumental in saving someone, the local police are fine releasing him back to the prison. they know where to find him, after all.
but, of course, they now have to spend a night in a hotel on the way home.
this time, both of them contend with the added factor that is a combination of the sexual tension between them too long unresolved and the adrenaline high of rushing off to save a life and succeeding. lwj hasn’t been this close to action in a long time, and now (?) is when we learn that he had himself relegated to cold cases and only cold cases because his last imminent case saw him hesitating to fire just long enough to get the victim killed, then opening fire on the suspect in retribution. wwx shares that nobody had ever trusted him like this before, not even his foster parents who had him committed to a mental hospital at fourteen.
and with that kind of day, how can they not have sex about it? it’s sweet and intimate and both of them confess things that the other probably doesn’t believe, but under the cover of night, everything feels like a dream. they fall asleep in each other’s arms.
when lwj wakes, wwx is gone—
just kidding, he’s just freaking out in a corner because he actually slept all night for once and what the fuck does that even mean???
they make it back home — wwx to prison and lwj to his apartment. lwj settles the case, finally able to tell a nephew who killed his uncle and give that family some long awaited closure. wwx settles back in prison, chafing a bit at the loss of freedom and at the loss of time spent with lwj, but pleased he’s been able to make some difference for once. or even twice.
then the prison gets a call from lwj. lwj and wwx smile at each other over the table at which they first met, and lwj lays out several folders while wwx closes his eyes to listen to the voices in his head.
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