#capsize me like a fucking boat

[faecaptainofdreams]

Listen. It’s fine. I’m totally normal about this.

Genuinely not a big deal, it’s really—

oh my GOD—

fine. Everything is fine and i am in total control of my faculties.

Actually 0% distracted by this, it’s all good.

Totally normal!

I came. 😐

[sallytwo]

I FELL IN ❤️

[yourstrullyme]

currently healing my inner child by getting my dad to buy me a radio control f1 car at the gas station

[jiabeewrites]

so this is what i've gathered from the memes and tumblr posts:

(please do not take this as 100% accurate. it's probably only like 78% accurate)

TITANIC II:

a few billionaires + a 19 year old + one other person(?) went into a "submarine" that wasn't actually a submarine

it was controlled by a VIDEO GAME CONTROLLER

and they were supposed to explore the titanic

and the submarine thingie didn't actually work and they KNEW THAT before getting on

and it imploded

and they all died

the only person anyone has sympathy for is the 19 year old bc he didn't wanna go on but wanted to make his dad happy

also celine dion is trending lmao

and fanfic is being written for the submarine (im slightly concerned)

oh and the company who made the submarine is called oceangate

this link. that's it, that's the addition.

oh yeah and @hkayakh said that a documentary is being made about this???

RUSSIA:

there's a coup

and there's basically a civil war

and the person in charge of the coup said that he's trying to topple russia's military leaders

and ukraine just took back some of their land

also the troops stopped for coffee before fighting

important addition by @chimp-prolly-not-typing-hamlet: the rogue battalion that rebelled against Putin is a private paramilitary organization called Wagner’s Group which has been linked to far-right extremism and neo-nazism

GREECE:

the greek coast guard capsized a boat full of hundreds of migrants, killing 80 with over 500 people still counted as missing, and the eu won't even investigate (according to @socialist-microwave-laser, please go check this post for more info)

so yeah fuck capitalism actually

THE STOCK MARKET???:

logitech is NOT suing oceangate, that was a fake post

EXTRA SHIT:

andrew tate is being charged for rape and human trafficking

and apparently elon musk challenged mark zuckerberg to a jiu jitsu cage fight

and andrew tate offered to coach elon musk

the season finale of helluva boss came out!!! (s1e8)

the season finale of helluva boss is coming out only right now because of some legal issues that vivsiepop + spindlehorse had. i think it had something to do with working with kesha and her label

FNAF TRAILER JUST DROPPED

yeah the world just decided to speedrun history today

(pls tell me if there's anything to add to this in the replies!!!)

[yourplayersaidwhat]

Turns out the Cleric is quite serious about religion

Context: I'm playing a deep gnome monk/cleric, who worships Umberlee. The Umberlee part never really came up, until last session. 

Me: So we're chartering a boat across the ocean? 

Fighter: Yup. 

Me: We're getting on now?

DM: Yes. 

Me: Great. I walk over to the side of the dock and upturn my entire gold purse into the ocean. 

Rogue: WHAT THE FUCK!

Me: I must pay tribute to the great queen of the sea. 

Wizard: Oh dear lord you worship Umberlee. This explains so much. 

*Later*

DM: You see one sailer is attempting to cut his hair with a knife. 

Me: Can I stare at him in a way to intimidate him to stop? 

DM: You do so, and he sees you. He is throughly creeped out by this. 

Me: You dare offer tributes to Sune while in the Stormgoddess's domain. 

Fighter: You know we never saw this side of [my character] before and I don't like it. 

*Later*

DM: So after this pirate skirmish you find the captain has fallen overboard. 

Wizard: Oh shit. Hey [My character] your a strong swimmer right? Can you rescure him? 

Me: And disobey the Wavemother's will?! 

Wizard: Ok, I'll figure something out. 

Me: Do not harm her sharks. 

Wizard: Of course there are sharks. 

*Later*

Rogue: Damn waves that high we are bound to capsize and drown. 

Me: And thus you've sealed our fate. As the Sea Queen demands.

Rogue: YOUR NOT SUPPOSE TO BE THE CREEPY ONE! AND HOW DO YOU HAVE ALL THESE TITLES MEMORIZED!?

Me: *Laughing* *Holds up the pages of wiki pages I've printed out about Umberlee* I've come prepared! 

[violenteconomics]

Hiiiiii :)

Can you do more about the first year's in RSA, and the upperclassmen being all protective?? I never see content like that and I really like the first years lol

anything 4 u baby (i'm so sorry)

little do they know, the first-years are being stalked from the TREES. those upperclassmans are in the TRENCHES, sobbing vomiting throwing themselves into the ground whenever the freshies so much as BLUSH around their love interests (tm).

when ace decides to go to rsa's monthly masquerade ball, he instinctively looks at the list of rules posted up in the hallway so he doesn't get kicked out before he gets to eat the food. everything is pretty normal up until he reaches the end, where he sees that someone with handwriting that looks suspiciously like riddle's has hastily written "don't stay after midnight", and someone with handwriting that looks suspiciously like floyd's has ALSO written "if someone tries to dance with you, just say no, you are a strong, independent woman".

deuce joins the singing club where his love interest tries to serenade him everyday (with classics such as "a whole new world", "something there", and "can you feel the love tonight"), but like many a dumbass, deuce goes through ALL the mental gymnastics to convince himself that it's just how rsa students treat their friends. that might've actually been a good thing, though, because deuce touched his LI on the shoulder one time and cater was a breath away from cancelling his sorry rsa ass on magicam.

jack joins the culinary club where he hopes to learn to make healthy meals, and he gets really close to this one guy. like, really close. like so close he bends down to taste test the guy's veggie smoothies whenever he asks, and leona is NOT liking the way this other lion beastman is blushing and laughing and twirling his mane whenever jack does literally anything. (he doesn't show up to club one day because ruggie sneaks a fucking knock-out potion in his morning salad lol)

epel joins the fight club (which rsa is allowed to have, because they're not regularly fight-happy like SOME STUDENTS I KNOW) where he's paired up this one other guy for combat. vil's already not happy about that, but when epel kicks him in the chin and he gets off the ground with fuckING HEARTS IN HIS EYES VIL IS READY TO FIGHT HIM HANDS OFF OF HIS BABY YOU FILTHY MAGGOT-- (rook barely manages to hold him back from slaughtering him when he nervously tells epel "you fight good")

(meanwhile, idia is just glad that ortho has made some more friends, but did it have to be with those rsa n00bs? really??? and they feed him ice cream, too????? ha, well jokes on you, because idia is the KING of spoiling ortho, and NOBODY WILL TAKE HIS CROWN-- (idia pwns rsa students on the hit pvp game heroes: battle mode to get his frustrations out, lolololol))

sebek's stalking problems are the worst of them all, though. because his love interest actually takes (gasp) INITIATIVE. sebek's LI has no classes or club with him, so he's taken to asking sebek out on actual dates. if malleus were here, sebek would say no out of principle, but since he's not and lilia always encouraged him to make more friends, he agrees to come with him. they go out to the lake, shop, read in the library, and go on carriage rides. and every single time, SOMETHING always goes wrong.

they go out to the lake to watch rsa's art club release their floating lantern projects? the boat capsizes and LI almost drowns, but luckily sebek manages to save him with the power of croco-boy. they go shopping for shoes? LI gets heckin MUGGED by some silver-haired guy before sebek makes it there, but he pretends he's fine so he can continue spending time with sebek, even though he's bleeding from every orifice ("human, PLEASE, let's go see a doctor--" "*kicking his feet back and forth as he's lying on the ground, bleeding" wowwww, you're that worried about lil old me~?). they go read? lightning crashes through the library window even though it wasn't raining and the whole place catches on fire. they go carriage riding? their carriage conveniently goes by nrc and they both have their date crashed by a 400+ year-old grandpa whose staring daggers into LI, while sebek is just happy to see him.

UNFORTUNATELY, none of this sabotaging actually convinces the LIs to back off, because as well all know, disney princes(ses) are allergic to signs of danger.

(for reference, the freshie's love interests are actually twisted from real disney princes, though i don't have actual names from them, though):

Ace's LI is, maybe not totally obviously (should've been better about that, lol), twisted from melody from the little mermaid 2

deuce's LI is anna from "frozen" (I'm a little iffy on this one, feel free to offer up a replacement)

jack's LI is twisted from kovu from "the lion king 2: simba's pride"

epel's LI is mulan from... "mulan", lol

ortho's new family is comprised of philoctetes and pegasus from "hercules", but philoctetes has an adopted little sister (based on megara) who visits sometimes and has a crush on him (shhhhh, don't tell idia)

sebek's LI is giselle from "enchanted")

[txttletale]

Hi! Do you think you could link me to some resources about the problems/ evils of the EU? Would love to find some but it's hard to know what's reliable when I have no base knowledge in this area + you seem very well informed :)

sure. let's start with what the EU does to its own member states--in 2009, the EU bailed the greek government out of severe debt on the condition that they establish brutal austerity measures, cutting public spending and welfare. these measures served to immiserate and destroy the lives of thousands of greek people:

Greek mortality has worsened significantly since the beginning of the century. In 2000, the death rate per 100,000 people was 944.5. By 2016, it had risen to 1174.9, with most of the increase taking place from 2010 onwards.

[forbes]

Since the implementation of the austerity programme, Greece has reduced its ratio of health-care expenditure to GDP to one of the lowest within the EU, with 50% less public hospital funding in 2015 than in 2009. This reduction has left hospitals with a deficit in basic supplies, while consumers are challenged by transient drug shortages.

[the lancet]

The homeless population is thought to have grown by 25 per cent since 2009, now numbering 20,000 people.

[oxfam]

the most brutal treatment, however, the EU of course reserves for migrants from the global south. the EU sets strict migration quotas and uses its member states as weapons against desperate people fleeing across the mediterranean. boats are prevented from landing, migrants that do make it to land are repelled with brutal violence, and refugees are deported back to countries where their lives are in lethal danger. these policies have led to many, many deaths--and the refugees and migrants who do survive are treating fucking inhumanely.

After a perilous journey across the desert, Abdulaziz was locked up in Triq al-Sikka, a grim prison in Tripoli, Libya. Why? Because the EU pays Libyan militias millions of euros to detain anyone deemed a possible migrant to Europe [...] A leaked EU internal memorandum in 2020 acknowledged that capturing migrants was now “a profitable business model” [...] in Triq al-Sikka and other detention centres, “acts of murder, enslavement, torture, rape and other inhumane acts are committed against migrants”, observed a damning UN report.

[the guardian]

Volunteers have logged more than 27,000 deaths by drowning since 1993, often hundreds at a time when large ships capsize. These account for nearly 80% of all the entries.

[the guardian]

Refugees and asylum seekers were punched, slapped, beaten with truncheons, weapons, sticks or branches, by police or border guards who often removed their ID tags or badges, the committee said in its annual report. People on the move were subject to pushbacks, expulsion from European states, either by land or sea, without having asylum claims heard. Victims were also subject to “inhuman and degrading treatment”, such as having bullets fired close to their bodies while they lay on the ground, being pushed into rivers, sometimes with hands tied, or being forced to walk barefoot or even naked across a border.

[the guardian]

In September, Greece opened a refugee camp on the island of Samos that has been described as prison-like. The €38m (£32m) facility for 3,000 asylum seekers has military-grade fencing and CCTV to track people’s movements. Access is controlled by fingerprint, turnstiles and X-rays. A private security company and 50 uniformed officers monitor the camp. It is the first of five that Greece has planned; two more opened in November.

[the guardian]

i could go on. i could cite dozens more similarly brutal news stories about horrific mistreatment, or any of the dozens of people who have killed themselves in the custody of border police under horrific conditions. the EU is a murderous institution that does not care about the lives of refugees and migrants or about the lives of the citizens of any member state that is not pursuing a vicious enough neoliberal political program

[yoongsisbae]

Bon Voyage: Into the Sea - Chapter 6

A storm capsized your boat and looks like you were the only survivor. Somehow you made it to shore, but where? Stranded, you suddenly find out you are not alone, and now you’re stuck in the middle of a centuries old conflict between 7 monsters.

BTS fantasy AU. OT7 x reader. werewolf!Namjoon x werewolf!Hoseok x werewolf!Jungkook x siren!Yoongi x vampire!Jimin x vampire!Jin x whatis?Taehyung.

If you enjoy this series and want more updates, please leave a comment or reblog!

Warnings: smutty content, mind control, blood-drinking cause vampire things, dubconish, light yandere, voyeur, lots of neck licking lol

Word count: 12.1k

---

“You are going to be the reason we all die.”

“Jimin, stop,” Jin says. “Dove, we need to know what Taehyung said to you,” he asks, much more diplomatically. 

You shake your head, trying to make your way closer to the vampires, but the men around you have made an impressive barrier. How are you going to explain the lost months you experienced, the things you witnessed in Jimin’s memory? You stare at the angry younger vampire, how are you going to convince Jimin to help you?

“Jimin, you need to bite me.”

“What?!”

-

“What did you do to her?!” Hoseok roars at the vampire in question, who looks equally as shocked and offended at the accusation. 

“Nothing!” you interject, but your words fall on deaf ears.

“He did something to her to make her act like this!” Hoseok yells louder, turning his frustrations onto his pack leader.

“She has been calling out to him since we found her,” Yoongi tells Namjoon, confirming Hoseok’s accusations.

“What?! What did you do!” Jungkook growls out. “I’ll kill you-”

“It’s my fault that she's obsessed with me?” Jimin crosses his arms, looking away like the entire display was beneath him.

“Do you want to stop Taehyung or not?!”

The men exchange looks. “We need a plan, a real one,” Yoongi says, dismissing you. “The longer we wait-”

“Yoongi, do you have anything left that might be powerful enough?” Namjoon asks.

“I can look,” he says, “don’t hold out hope now that his binds are off.”

“And how the hell did they break?!” Hoseok yells accusingly.

“Don’t look at me!” the merman counters, “There should have been no fucking conceivable way to break those spells,” he glances towards the youngest vampire who furiously glares back.

“Well it happened, okay, and now is not the time to argue about it, we need to work together to stop him, there is no telling what he is capable of now.”

“Hello!? I have a way to stop him!”

“What is it, Dove?”

“I told you! Jimin needs to bi-”

“No! No way in hell.”

“Oh I am going to kill you!”

“KILL ME?! I’LL KILL YOU.”

“Everyone, silence!” Namjoon bellows and a tense silence settles in the air.

You speak up first, desperate to make them understand you. “Jin, why exactly did you forbid Jimin to bite me in the first place? Huh? Why?!” you challenge him.

Everyone stares at the eldest, even the vampire in question himself. Seokjin’s finger runs over his forehead, moving a stray lock of hair back in place. He clears his throat, “I did not want to cause him any pain-”

“What do you mean pain?” Jimin asks, repulsed. “She can’t hurt me!”

You huff, “Your memories, Jimin, your life-”

“There are certain memories better forgotten,” Seokjin interjects.

“No, no,” you say shakily. You had wished to forget this place so many times locked up in the vampire’s lair, and then when you did, you lost more than just the memories, you lost yourself. “No.”

And Jimin, he too, is lost. 

You glance over to the defiant vampire. “You have to bite me, you’re the only one who can stop Taehyung!”

Jimin looks around at everyone’s concerned faces, growing more irritated. Why does he have to be the one to stop Taehyung? Jimin never agreed to even help! And what makes you even think he has that kind of power? 

“Why?” It was Hoseok who questioned you angrily, upset at the way you are treating Jimin with such fondness. “Why him?!”

“Because he knows magic,” you say simply, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“I d-don’t know magic,” he spits out. You couldn’t be any more wrong, Jimin thinks, who the fuck do you think you are, acting like you know so much about him, better than himself!

But everyone is silent, eyes full of guilt and remorse, looking at him as if they know something he doesn’t. The kind of look that Jimin despises.

“You do,” you say with more conviction. “When you were human. I can show you.” You hold out your arm to him as the pack tries still to barricade your body away from the vampires.

“What is she talking about, Jin?” he turns to the eldest. 

“Jin, we don’t have time, you need to be honest with him!”

“Shut up! You are the reason we are even in this mess to begin with, you know that? Just how many times did we tell you to not get so comfy with Taehyung. You let him use you, because you’re weak, you’re-”

“And what about you?! You let Taehyung use you too, didn’t you?!” you scream, your anger getting the better of you.

“Stop!” Namjoon bellows, “Everyone, stop!” He looks furious with you, his hard glare instantly making you feel small and apologetic.

“Don’t order me around, you filthy beast!” Jimin hisses at Namjoon, deep and threatening, his eyes glowing with rage.

“We don't have time,” you whimper desperately. 

Your head is pounding. You feel it…

…inside of you, in the back of your mind…screaming, wrapping around your bones…

…the dread of something horrible coming for you all.

Jimin can’t believe he’s stuck here until sunset! Inside this idiot infested house with the biggest of the idiots telling him the most ridiculous things he’s ever heard. It’s insufferable, you’re insufferable, the way you stare at him now. Whatever spell Taehyung inflicted on you has only changed you for the worse.

“Jimin, I’m afraid we need to work together on this.” The younger vampire yanks himself away from Jin’s comforting hand. He’s beginning to think Seokjin is equally to blame as much as you. He’s beginning not to trust him…

“I’m not fucking helping any of you,” he stares at you, glowering. “Let Taehyung tear you apart,” he growls, baring his fangs.

You shake your head in disbelief. “You wanted to be a doctor, you loved helping people, you became a medic in the military. You fought for your country, you saved people,” you ramble on and on, hoping to convince the vampire to listen to reason. You’re angry that no one has told him, they should have, this shouldn’t be coming from you!

Jimin yells, picks up and throws a wicker chair in your direction in his anger, which Jungkook stops with ease, the chair exploding when it hits the youngest’s shoulder.

Hoseok has had just about enough of Jimin, he hasn’t forgotten the scars he witnessed across your body, he hasn’t forgotten the way you looked so fragile when he found you. This was all the vampires’ fault, and Jimin most of all. That arrogant, cruel, deceptive little-

Hoseok transforms instantly, pouncing on Jimin.

Yoongi pulls you back as the others transform as well. You’re both thrown to the ground as they fight, as they tear the house apart from the inside, unable to cohabitate any longer.

You groan, rolling over, still attempting to get to the headstrong vampire, your hand pressing into broken glass and blood escaping.

At the smell it wasn’t Jimin, but Jin who lost control. So many days drinking from you, addicted in more ways than one. His eyes glow red, searching out your blood. 

Namjoon’s large snout sinks its teeth into the eldest vampire and the fighting only escalates tenfold. Everything is loud, everything is chaos. You try to keep moving closer to the chaos still, until you notice something familiar in front of you. 

You notice the redness of the gem that had fallen out of Yoongi’s pack in the chaos, now shining brighter than ever.

Oh no. You can feel it again, pulling you in. You shuffle backwards, clutching your chest, closing your eyes tightly as the gem burns brighter, glowing like the vampires’ eyes then glowing even more until it envelops the entire home.

-

“Do you all want to stop Taehyung or not?!”

The men exchange looks. “We need a plan, a real one,” Yoongi says, dismissing you. “The longer we wait-”

“Yoongi, do you have anything left that might be powerful enough?” Namjoon asks.

“I can look,” he says, “don’t hold out hope now that his binds are off.”

“And how the hell did they break?!” Hoseok yells accusingly.

“Don’t look at me!” the merman counters, “There should have been no fucking conceivable way to break those spells,” he glances towards the youngest vampire who glares back.

“Well it happened, okay, and now is not the time to argue about it, we need to work together to stop him, there is no telling what he is capable of now.”

“Hello!? I have a way to stop him!”

“What is it, Dove?”

“I told you! Jimin needs to bi-”

“No! No way in hell.”

“Oh I am going to kill you!”

“KILL ME?! I’LL KILL YOU.”

“Everyone, silence!” Namjoon bellows and a tense silence settles in the air.

This is getting you nowhere. Good God, how are you supposed to make six stubborn beings listen to you?! Think, y/n. Think! You try to come up with a plan, but your head is throbbing in pain.

Jimin speaks up first, “Just what are you playing at, pet?”

You look up at him. “Pull my memories. You’ve already done it once. Just do it again.”

Seokjin looks over at the younger vampire in disbelief.

“I have not,” Jimin looks at you furiously for getting him in trouble over a lie. “She’s obviously suffering from some delusional episode! Listen, you wretched human girl! You’re nothing to me, you mean nothing, so stop these fantasies! right! now!”

“You have, and we saw your mother. You just, ugh, don’t remember because it happened in the future, ugh, just-” you groan, clutching your head. It’s pounding more than ever, and you feel it, inside of you, in the back of your mind screaming, wrapping around your bones, the dread of something horrible coming for you all. Your body starts shaking and Jungkook wraps his arms around your waist to steady you.

Jimin can’t believe he’s stuck here until sunset! Inside this idiot infested house with the biggest of the idiots telling him the most ridiculous things he’s ever heard. His mother? You saw his mother? How dare you even talk about her! Like you know anything about her, like you know more than Jimin, who well, knows nothing about his mother…and he doesn’t care to know! 

Who the fuck do you think you are, acting like you know so much about him, better than himself! It’s insufferable, you’re insufferable. Whatever spell that Taehyung inflicted on you has only changed you for the worse. “See! She’s lost it,” he yells, pointing at you. “So weak!”

“Please, I’m not lying,” you cry out. You feel sick. You just want to save them, why won’t they listen to you?! Jungkook holds you tighter as your legs give out.

“What’s happening to her!” Hoseok looks over to his leader worriedly, holding onto your shoulders to keep you upright as you slump forward.

“I think it has something to do with this,” Yoongi pulls the red amulet from his pouch, holding the necklace up and letting it dangle for everyone to see.

“No!” You can’t stop it, it’s already starting again, the red glow emanating directly from the gem, covering everyone and everything in that same red hue, until that’s all you can see.

You clutch your chest, closing your eyes tightly as it burns brighter, until it envelops the entire home. 

-

“Yoongi, do you have anything left that might be powerful enough?” Namjoon asks.

“I can look,” he says, “don’t hold out hope now that his binds are off.”

“And how the hell did they break?!” Hoseok yells accusingly.

“Don’t look at me!” the merman counters, “There should have been no fucking conceivable way to break those spells,” he glances towards the youngest vampire who glares back.

“Well it happened, okay, and now is not the time to argue about it, we need to work together to stop him, there is no telling what he is capable of now.”

“Hello!? I have a way to stop him!”

“What is it, Dove?”

“I told you! Jimin needs to bi-”

“No! No way in hell.”

“Oh I am going to kill you!”

“KILL ME?! I’LL KILL YOU.”

“Everyone, silence!” Namjoon bellows and a tense silence settles in the air.

You feel your stomach turn again. You feel winded, like you’ve been running. You massage your temples, wiping away the accumulating sweat. God, how are you supposed to make six stubborn beings listen to you?! Think, y/n. Think!

“Why?” Jungkook speaks first, voice full of pain. “Why Jimin out of all of us?” Your heart drops at his hurt expression. You don’t know the right way to explain to Jungkook, to all of them, why this needs to be done, especially now when your head feels like it’s about to explode. When did you become so jittery? What is happening?! You try to concentrate and think, but where do you even begin? 

“W-We all know the power they have, right?” You gesture to the vampires. “The way they can look into your memories when they…but Jimin has never bitten me,” technically that is correct in this point in time, “only Jin-”

“Yeah, and just why is that?” Jimin looks at the eldest vampire pointedly, crossing his arms, fed up with Seokjin’s obtuse answers. “Explain.”

Seokjin sighs, straightening the wrinkly shirt Namjoon had given him to wear. “It was for your protection,” he addresses Jimin.  

“Protection from what?!” Jimin asks, repulsed. “She can’t hurt me!”

“We don’t have time for this,” you mutter. You feel it, inside of you, in the back of your mind screaming, wrapping around your bones, the dread of something horrible coming for you all. “Seokjin, make Jimin bite me!”

“SEOKJIN DOESN’T MAKE ME DO ANYTHING,” Jimin roars. You couldn’t be any more wrong, Jimin thinks, who the fuck do you think you are, acting like you know so much about Seokjin, about him, better than himself!

“THEN JUST BITE ME!” You scream back. “You’ve been wanting to all this time!”

The pack watches you argue, stunned into silence. This is news to everyone else; Jimin hasn’t bitten you? And furthermore, Seokjin didn’t want him to bite you. Seokjin had found Namjoon and explained most of what happened, but not that. 

---

“Stay here, in case Hoseok returns.” That was a direct order from his pack leader, and as much as Jungkook wanted to disobey and run towards the thundering noise that had rattled their home, the older shapeshifter was leagues above the young wolf in strength and dominance.

It was luck that Namjoon encountered the pair of vampires instead of his brothers. If it had been anyone else, the vampires might not have made it out with their heads. But Namjoon was always the type to observe first, take everything in before making any rash decision, it’s what kept him alive this long and made Namjoon a leader.

Jin and Namjoon were talkers. They were, even in their wildest days, the best at beguiling, enticing, drawing in others with their words, and upon meeting, they realized they had finally met their match. Namjoon’s most favorite nights were conversations with Seokjin, picking apart the intricacies of the humanities. Two beasts had become obsessed with learning and gaining a humanity of their own.

Namjoon would have torn them apart otherwise. But the magical blasts had knocked the younger more confrontational vampire out, and Seokjin pleaded with Namjoon to listen to his story. “Taehyung has escaped.” With a start like that, Namjoon couldn’t resist not learning more.

With the sun soon rising and Taehyung out there somewhere, Namjoon had little options left but to invite the wounded vampires into his home.

While you were in another part of the island healing and trying to bridge the peace amongst two headstrong beasts, Namjoon and Seokjin were coming to their own kind of peace, a détente at least for the time being, an opportunity to speak to each other like old times now that they had a bigger enemy then themselves.

---

“Well now I don’t want to.” Jimin crosses his arms, looking away.

You look at him in disbelief. Ugh. This is driving you crazy, there is no time to be like this. ‘Fucking Jimin,’ he really knows how to push your last button. Fuck, you are so over this!

You think about the crying man on the floor, covered in your blood with a broken expression on his face, you think about that sweet boy, crying for his mother. Somewhere deep inside Jimin is that sweet boy who cried.

You look down at your nails with one last hope remaining. You’ll just have to make him drink from you.

You dig your nails into your forearm, scratching your skin as deep as you can. 

But it was Seokjin who lost control. So many days drinking from you, addicted in more ways than one. His eyes turning red, searching out your blood.

Fur envelopes you, Jungkook and Hoseok shielding you with their large canine bodies while Seokjin lunges for you, stopped short by Namjoon’s fangs.

Jimin throws the beast off the older vampire. Jimin, full of rage, tears his sharp nails into Namjoon’s coat. Yoongi screams for Jin, his influential words finally knocking him out of his blood stupor. Then he calls out to the younger vampire, “Jimin, stop.”

But Jimin is already too full of rage to listen to reason. He can’t stand being stuck in this idiot infested house any longer. It’s insufferable, you’re insufferable, the way you stare at him now. Whatever spell that Taehyung inflicted on you has only changed you for the worse! He should have never listened to Seokjin! He’s beginning not to trust him-

Seokjin addresses the two wolves next to you as the younger vampire lashes out. “Take her out of here, hurry!” he yells, attempting with difficulty to retain the younger vampire with Yoongi’s and Namjoon’s help. 

“No!” you scream at the top of your lungs, “You don’t understand!”

A deep growl from Jungkook frightens you into silence. His fangs are around your stomach, only holding you still, not puncturing into you, but it’s terrifying nonetheless as he yanks you backwards, his hind legs digging into the earth.

You cry once outside, unable to pull yourself together. You pull at Jungkook’s fangs, attempting to unlock his jaw from your side and the large beast begins to whimper in anguish at your attempts to flee from him, extinguishing the fight inside you.

Nothing is working! Nothing! It’s hopeless, you’re all going to die, you think, either by Taehyung’s hands or by each others. You cry harder into Jungkook’s fur, who has wrapped his large canine body around yours.

“…what?” You see it from the open door and your body acts on impulse as you claw at the ground, trying to move closer, uncaring if Jungkook’s teeth tear at your skin. Tears dry up as you watch the house start to glow red, brighter than anything you’ve ever seen before. 

No, that’s not quite true. You’ve seen that red glow befo-

-

“We need a plan, a real one,” Yoongi says, dismissing you. “The longer we wait-”

“Yoongi, do you have anything left that might be powerful enough?” Namjoon asks. “Yoongi, do you have anything left that might be powerful enough?” you murmur to yourself. Jungkook and Jimin glance towards your way.

“I can look,” he says, “don’t hold out hope now that his binds are off.”

“And how the hell did they break?!” Hoseok yells accusingly.

“Don’t look at me…” you whisper. “Don’t look at me!” the merman counters, “There should have been no fucking conceivable way to break those spells,” he glances towards the youngest vampire who glares back.

“Well it happened, okay, and now is not the time to argue about it, we need to work together to stop him-”

“There is no telling what he is capable of now,” you say in unison to the leader, finally aware this is not just some strange case of deja vu. All eyes turn to you. Jimin scoffs, just like he did before, pulling on Seokjin’s shoulder. “...I-I want Jimin to bite me!” you yell. 

“No! No way in hell.” “No! No way in hell.”

“Oh I am going to kill you!” “Oh I am going to kill you!”

“What the hell are you doing?!” Jimin screams accusingly.

You look around, your gaze stopping on the eldest. “Seokjin, make Jimin bite me!”

“SEOKJIN DOESN’T MAKE ME DO ANYTHING,” Jimin roars. “Seokjin doesn’t make me do anything!” you yell back in unison, a satisfied smirk on your face, pointing directly at Jimin.

“How the fuck are you doing that?” the merman questions.

You rub your temples, trying to make sense of it all. ‘This happened before, why has this happened before? This has to be Tae’s doing!’ “I don’t know, I don’t know, but we’ve already had this conversation, and I-I think, I can’t remember, something must have went wrong...Jimin, you need to bite me, right now!”

“Well…” he clears his throat, looking around as everyone has gone deathly quiet, “now I don’t want to,” Jimin crosses his arms.

Ugh! ‘Fucking Jimin,’ he really knows how to push your last button.  “Listen, you’ve already done it once! Just just do it agai-wait, no, we did this already…something is wrong…” 

“Maybe it’s you!” Jimin accuses. “Taehyung has already gotten in her head, how can we trust her?” he warns the others.

“You’re...right!”

“Y/n?” 

“Jimin is right. I can feel him,” you shudder. “Which is why you need to bite me, because I know for certain, Taehyung doesn’t want you to.” You hold your hand to him.

“And if this is a trick?”

“Ugh, I’m not tricking you! I want to stop Taehyung for you, you idiot!”

‘Idiot’?! How dare you call Jimin an idiot, when you’re the biggest of the idiots in this idiot infested house! “And suddenly you have my best interest at heart?!” Jimin yells back, disgust evident.

Ugh, your head is killing you, and you feel it, inside of you, in the back of your mind screaming, wrapping around your bones, the dread of something horrible coming for you all. 

You try to think about everything that has transpired since you met Taehyung, trying to see if you missed anything-

“Wait, wait, wait…ugh, let me go!” you yell at the pack surrounding you. You press yourself against the door, opening it quickly and falling into the sand. 

You look up at the sky, taking a deep breath of fresh air to calm yourself. It’s still daytime, but not for much longer, and you’re scared of what night will bring.

Yoongi is by your side, lifting you up. “Y/n,” you think he is about to dismiss you like he always does, but instead he says, “tell me what I need to do to help you.”

“Yoongi...” You’ve never seen him so sincere before. “Do you think you can use your siren song on Jimin to-”

“I can hear you, pet! It doesn’t work! And I should kill you for even suggesting it.”

“Touch her and I will kill you!”

“KILL ME?! I’LL KILL YOU!”

“Ugh,” you groan, turning your back as the group of stubborn monsters in front of you begin to bicker, deja vu hitting you hard again. “What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to change?” You ask yourself out loud, head in your hands.

Yoongi holds you steady. “Something definitely is up, and I have a feeling it has something to do with this-” Yoongi looks through his pack.

“T-That’s it! Wait! No!” You yell as Yoongi pulls the gem out of his pack, letting it dangle in his hand.

But it’s too late. You can’t stop it, it’s already starting again, the red glow emanating directly from the gem, covering everyone and everything in that same red hue, until that’s all you can see.

‘Y/n, take it.’

You fall back to the ground and clutch your chest, dismissing the words inside your head, closing your eyes tightly as the gem burns brighter.

-

“Yoongi, do you have anything left that might be powerful enough?” Namjoon asks.

“I can look,” he says, “don’t hold out hope now that his binds are off.”

“And how the hell did they break?!” Hoseok yells accusingly.

“Don’t look at me!” the merman counters, “There should have been no fucking conceivable way to break those spells,” he glances towards the youngest vampire who glares back.

“Well it happened, okay, and now is not the time to argue about it, we need to work together to stop him, there is no telling what he is capable of now.”

“Hello!? I have a way to stop him!”

“What is it, Dove?”

Okay, this is it. “Seokjin, you need to bite me.”

“What!?” Jimin yells angrily.

You look into Seokjin’s eyes, silently pleading with him. “The memory pull, it’s going to work now. Please,” you urge, holding out your arm to him as the pack tries still to barricade your body away from the vampires. “Look into my memories and you’ll understand!”

Jimin pulls the eldest back as he advances. “You’re really going to obey her command? Just like that! Taehyung might have already gotten to her, how can we trust her?!”

“You’re right! Jimin is right. I can feel him. Which is why…” you swallow, looking at Jimin, remembering this same conversation said just another way, wondering just how many times you have tried to convince them. “Which is why, you need to bite me.” You move your eyes to Seokjin, staring ahead steadfast. “So you can see the truth!”

“Why?” Jungkook speaks up, voice full of pain. “Why Seokjin out of all-”

You grab the youngest’s face and kiss him abruptly, silencing his worries.

Hoseok’s stares at you, mouth agape. He doesn’t know whether to be furious with you, or satisfied that Jimin and Yoongi both look so furious with you for kissing the youngest shapeshifter.

“Trust me, please,” your hands shake in your desperation, squishing his cheeks as he looks at you in shock and awe. 

“O-Okay,” Jungkook nods.

The eldest vampire sighs and starts to move closer much to Jimin’s astonishment and disgust. You try to push past the pack’s strong bodies. It hurts them to see you try to go to their enemy, but they let you pass.

Jimin crosses his arms, scoffing as the eldest meets you in the center of the room. Jimin can’t believe he’s stuck here until sunset! Inside this idiot infested house with the biggest of the idiots telling him the most ridiculous things he’s ever heard. Suddenly you want Seokjin to bite you now? When you were just throwing yourself at Jimin! Why?! What happened? What’s the reason? You’re so annoying, you’re insufferable, the way you look at Seokjin with so much hope and trust.

Jimin grinds his teeth together in anger, so hard his fangs begin to pierce his bottom lip.

Seokjin puts his hands up, glancing towards the pack leader, meaning no harm before he bends his head closer to your neck.

“Wait!” Jimin speaks up. “Y/n, you wanted me to bite you, didn’t you? So come here then!”

“Jimin, I-”

“Don’t you dare say it,” Jimin cuts Seokjin off. “You didn’t listen to me about Taehyung, about her, and then you made a truce with them without even asking me! You’re lucky I even speak to you at all!” Jimin is furious with Seokjin, he’s beginning not to trust him...

You raise your eyebrows. “Really? Are you sure?”

“Don’t make me say it again,” Jimin seethes.

You smile, running past Seokjin. You hold out your wrist to Jimin, looking up at him hopefully. 

Jimin scoffs again, gripping your arm painfully and yanking you closer. The wolf trio begin to growl in anger, baring their fangs.

“I choose where I bite you, pet.”

You try to remain calm as the trio behind you let out low threatening growls. Jimin smirks, spinning you around by your arm, hugging you against his body like a shield and snickering at how angry it makes them.

The pack looks ready to attack. Yoongi begins to step forward in his growing anger.

“No!,” you stop him, “J-Just let him do what he wants,” you mutter.

Jimin smirks. “If it was what I wanted, you would be on your knees with your mouth shut.” He sneers, gripping your chin painfully tight and yanking your head backward. “And your head down, thinking about how stupid you are for walking right into Taehyung’s trap.”

‘Like you did,’ you think, keeping your temper in check.  “I know you’re scared, it’s okay.”

“I am not scared!” he hisses, nails digging into your side. You wince. Namjoon’s growls become louder.

“Namjoon, stop!”

Jimin smirks again. “Yeah, listen to her, dog. Since we are all at this human’s mercy,” he scoffs. “You seem to know so much about what happens next, so tell me, is it going all according to your little plan?” He presses his body against yours, holding you tightly.

“You like this, don’t you?” he whispers in your ear, obscenely grinding himself against your backside. Jimin rests his chin on your shoulder, arm still secure around your waist, smirking, intent on drawing this out for everyone involved, “them watching.” His hand grabs your breast roughly. 

Your eyes meet Yoongi’s eyes, dark with anger, and you shut them in shame.

You breathe through your nose as he fondles you for everyone to see, letting out short breaths when he rests his hand over your throat, choosing to submit in hopes he’ll eventually do what you want.

Jimin’s fangs scrape across your shoulder as he revels in the intoxicating feeling of power he has over you and everyone else, finally feeling better about his new situation. He breathes in the anger emanating from everyone in the room, inhaling your sweet desperation most of all.

His fangs scratch the surface of you, up the sensitive skin of your neck until you bleed.

Seokjin drops to his knees, panting heavily, addicted to your blood in more ways than one. Jimin stops, looking over to the older vampire. “I’m fine,” Seokjin pants. “I’m fine.”

Jimin looks coldly down at him, how disgraceful that he’s let you affect him so much. That’s what he gets for drinking from you all the time, for not letting Jimin! He licks the blood off your neck and you shudder. Jimin moans loudly, tasting your blood again finally.

The pack looks ready to kill, they bare their fangs, the restraint in their growls long gone.

“I’m sure they can all smell you from here, I can,” Jimin whispers in your ear, hand pressing down on your lower stomach, taunting you, “You’ve learned to be a good little pet, hmm? Here’s your reward.” Jimin presses his fangs into the column of your neck, directly on your pulse.

“What the hell?” the merman mumbles. There is something glowing in Yoongi’s pack. He fumbles with the latch to inspect it. Yoongi yanks out the red glowing gem, confusion evident on his face.

Oh no. You can feel it again. A familiar voice starts to call out to you. If it wasn’t for the pain in your neck keeping you present, you surely would have lost control.

You clutch your chest as the gem burns brighter. “Jimin! You-”

-

“Yoongi, do you have anything left that might be powerful enough?” Namjoon asks.

“I can look,” he says, “don’t hold out hope now that his binds are off.”

“WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?” Jimin roars, advancing on you and the pack.

“You saw– You know–” you look at Jimin in disbelief. You reflexively cover your throat, the punctures are gone, but your heartbeat is still fluttering. “It wasn’t me!” you yell back.

The younger vampire yanks himself away from Jin’s protective hand. “Taehyung…” Jimin growls. “And you!” He points an accusing finger at the merman. “Give me that gem in your pack right now!”

“How did you know about that?” Yoongi glares at the younger vampire.

He scoffs, “I don’t have to explain myself to you!”

“Well then fuck off,” Yoongi spits out.

Jimin can’t believe he’s stuck here until sunset! Inside this idiot infested house with– ‘Wait,’ He feels it, he can’t explain it, but it’s there, all around him, an inevitability that he can’t control, and it pisses him off! Jimin spins around, baring his fangs, claws ready to strike. 

The group watches Jimin spin around angrily like a confused dog chasing its tail.

“See,” you glare at Jimin, “See how annoying it is!”

Jimin rolls his eyes. “Taehyung. The gem is his. And it seems he’s still using it somehow.” Jimin reasons, looking around at the familiar scene. “Give it, we need to destroy it,” Jimin holds out his hand impatiently. “DAMMIT YOONGI! We don’t have time for this!”

“That’s what I’ve been saying,” you huff.

The merman holds onto his pack defensively. He doesn’t trust Jimin, but he knows they have to work together to stop Taehyung. Jimin is untrustworthy, but Jimin is powerful, more than he even realizes. So Yoongi holds his tongue and relents. 

You clutch your head in your hands. It’s pounding more than ever, and you feel it, inside of you, in the back of your mind screaming, wrapping around your bones, the dread of something horrible coming for you all. “Get it away from me!” you cry out. 

You press yourself against the door, opening it quickly and falling in the sand. Jungkook and Hoseok follow you out, worried for your safety and your quickly declining state of mind.

Jimin scoffs again. Pathetic, he thinks. Humans are scared of their own shadows. He turns his attention on the merman, waiting impatiently. He tries to ignore how close the others are to him as the men huddle around to look at the necklace. 

Jimin holds the gem in his hand, inspecting it. The weight of it in his palm is heavy. He touches the smooth rock, the gem itself is small, but the energy surrounding it is immense, a familiar power the vampire can’t quite put his finger on. ‘Why isn’t it glowing?’ he thinks, and as soon as the thought enters his mind a slow bright red light begins to emanate around the gem. 

“What’s going on?” The pack leader questions, staring at the gem, ready to strike anything that appears. 

“I don’t know.” Jimin doesn’t know how to stop it, but he wishes for whatever is happening to halt.

And as soon as the thought entered his mind the glow begins to recede back into the gem.

“Jimin, you should hold onto that necklace for now.” Seokjin speaks.

Jimin looks up and the expression on Seokjin’s face surprises the younger vampire. He’s seen that hardened look before from Seokjin, in moments when the older vampire begins to feel sentimental. Most recently, the night you came to them. Jimin never questioned it before, but now he wants to, he wants to know all the secrets Seokjin is keeping from him. Jimin is beginning not to trust him-

He grabs the eldest’s shirt collar, yanking him close. “You know what this is?”

Seokjin remains unaffected by Jimin’s outburst, covering Jimin’s hand with his own. “Now that I’ve looked at it up close, yes, I’ve seen it before. I believe, that necklace,” he sighs, “used to be yours. A long time ago, I saw you wear it. Or something very similar,” he swallows.

But before you, Jimin has never seen this necklace before in his life! He stares at the gem. That familiarity he feels can’t be– no, that feeling is just like the other moments of deja vu he has been experiencing, it’s not because…is it? Does this necklace belong to him?

You stare at the wolves’ den, refusing to move any closer. Nothing has happened yet, there is no red glow, and no immediate danger, but you feel at any moment everything could change. You look up at the sky, it’s still daytime, but not for much longer, and you’re worried-

“Y/n?” Hoseok shakes you when you don’t respond.

“Hoseok…” You wonder how many times this moment has repeated itself. Has Hoseok looked at you like this before, his care for you evident in his soft gaze? You try to remember and make sense of what is real. “That necklace, Taehyung used it to escape. I-I don’t know how, I don’t know why. I– Ahhh!”

Your nails dig into your scalp as you desperately try to claw away at the pain. The pain is radiating at your temples, just behind your eyes, in the back of your head, behind your ear-

“Hey, y/n, hey!” Hoseok holds your trembling body, patting your cheek, reminded of the moment he found you on the beach. Your eyes stare at the sky, far away, like you’re lost in your head, unable to hear him.

“W-What’s happening to her?!” Jungkook whimpers. You just came back to him and now he fears he might lose you completely.

Hoseok picks you up into his arms, holding you securely to him. “I don’t know, Namjoon will know. I’m taking her back inside.”

You want to tell him no, you want to tell him to wait, you don’t want to go back in, but you can’t find the energy to open your mouth to speak the words. Your body is betraying you, your vision starts to cloud, and you realize darkness is coming for you, even with the sun still high up in sky. You wish more than ever, you could start over again-

-

“Yoongi, do you have anything left that might be powerful enough?” Namjoon asks.

“Oh,” you groan, falling forward, unable to hold yourself up. The youngest of the pack wraps his arms around your waist, pulling you into his embrace before your knees hit the ground.

Jimin looks around, the gem still heavy in his palm. “The necklace,” he murmurs. It didn’t glow red this time and yet-

“Jimin!” The merman hisses, glaring at the vampire who has somehow taken the gem from Yoongi without him noticing, “Don’t move.”

Jimin’s body, and mind, suddenly feel sluggish. It lasts only a moment before the vampire is shaking himself out of the merman’s mind control. Jimin can’t help but laugh at his weak attempt. 

“DON’T MOVE,” Yoongi bellows, his words echoing throughout the wolves’ den, and everyone, including Jimin, freezes.

“What are you doing, Yoongi?!” Namjoon grunts, stuck in place by the merman’s words.

“I don’t know how, but he stole that from me, from my pack.” The merman walks with purpose while Jimin struggles to move. 

Your eyes go wide when you notice what’s happened. “It’s not his fault,” you mumble, glancing at Namjoon, your eyes and mouth the only part of you able to move, “I think...w-we’re stuck in a time loop.”

“A w-what?” Hoseok grunts, trying with all his might to turn his head.

“W-Well...it’s a lot t-to explain and you’ll probably forget it all anyways,” you whine.

Namjoon raises his brow. He can only slightly move his neck now, and struggles to turn his head to look at you. “Perhaps you should explain anyways. Now.” His tone is serious, potentially menacing if you were being honest.

“I know it sounds crazy, and I know you don’t want him to, shit, what haven't I explained to you yet? Jimin hasn’t actually bitten me yet, well, technically not yet, he has, but it was before I came back, from the future, into now-another time thing.” You start to remember clearly now, though it seems to be still very hard to explain, “Anyways, I know about Jimin’s past! And everything, and-”

“Is she making sense to you?” Hoseok mutters.

“Oh you’re so lucky we haven’t had this conversation before or I would be really blowing your mind,” you grunt.

Jimin’s arms jerk backwards as he fights the merman’s impressive mind control. “It’s mine! Give it back!” Jimin hisses as Yoongi plucks the gem out of the vampire’s hand mere seconds before Jimin regains control of himself again.

“Jimin, we don’t have the time,” you groan, your limbs finally moving again. “Jimin!” you yell, pulling the vampire’s attention away before he attacks the merman in his anger. 

You struggle in Jungkook’s arms, holding out your wrist to Jimin hopefully. “You know what you have to do, before it happens again!” 

“No!” Jungkook barks, lifting you off your feet to end your advance. 

Jimin exhales. This is insufferable, you’re insufferable, you’re, fuck– It’s happening again. He bares his fangs, letting his anger simmer over this constant deja vu. 

“Wait! Let me see it, that necklace,” Seokjin steps forward curiously.

Yoongi throws his arm backwards out of the vampire’s reach, the gold chain accidentally hitting your outstretched hand.

The gem touching your finger.

It felt like just a graze, so quickly it couldn’t have been longer than a second. Yet you felt it through your whole body.

And then pulling right behind your ear. 

And finally you understood as the brightest flash of red light quickly comes and goes. You hear his voice again, commanding you to do something else, something horrible...

You want to tell them all to run, to escape, but the only words your lips can speak are-

“Taehyung, come in.”

The door shatters, knocking everyone inside to the ground.

The back of your ear feels like it’s on fire and like you summoned the devil himself, Taehyung appears behind you, lifting you up. “Ahh princess, now where did you put my jewel?”

You stand paralyzed by fear, as if gravity chained your limbs to your body.

“Taehyung, leave her alone!” Jungkook roars, and he somehow looks more imposing than the pack leader himself.

Taehyung laughs, looking around incredulously at the monsters surrounding him. 

“I’m saving her from you!” He pulls you close and despite your fear, you gravitate to him. It reminds you of Yoongi’s siren song, but more painful, dark, like ropes around your limbs, a noose around your throat. “You would rather use her, draining her life away because you want a pretty pet-” he looks at Seokjin, “-or keep her here on this island, chained like a prisoner, like you did to me! You just can’t see her potential!”

“You...betrayed Jimin...this is all your fault,” you grunt, barely able to speak the words out loud. 

Taehyung looks at you, eyes softening. “Your loyalty to my brother is sweet. After everything they did to you. You really are perfect. I knew it when I first met you, we were fated to meet. You were the one who was going to save me, and now I can save you.” He holds you close, embracing you how he always wanted to, no chains or shackles between you anymore. “You saw Jimin’s story and believed him. I’ll show you mine, y/n. You’ll see once and for all.”

Yoongi’s nose is bleeding from the explosion. He has the gem hidden in his palm. He doesn’t quite understand how Taehyung appeared so suddenly, or what the gem has to do with it, but he figures no good will come from Taehyung having it, and he intends to risk everything to keep it away from Taehyung. 

He looks at your pain stricken expression and suddenly realizes, no, he can’t risk everything.

“They should have cut off your hands,” Yoongi mutters, wiping away the dried blood from under his nose and standing up. “Thy were too nice to you. When I defeat you I’ll make sure your next cell is underground and twice as small,” the merman tries to goad Taehyung away from you.

“Monster,” Taehyung frowns. “Do you know how many humans he has killed, y/n? How many they’ve all killed? Have I ever killed anyone!” he yells.

“You were going to kill Seokjin!” Jimin argues.

“Seokjin is evil!” he yells back. “And not a human.”

“Okay, Taehyung, you want retribution, we’re all here now. So let y/n go, can’t you see how scared she is?” Namjoon questions, crouching low in fighting stance. His calmness is even more menacing than his anger, you think.

“She doesn’t want me to let her go,” Taehyung smiles, his chin pressing into your shoulder as he continues to hug you close. “Tell them you want to be with me.”

“I want to be with Taehyung,” you cry out, terrified how the words left your lips so quickly, of the way your control is slipping away.

“See, she’s my destiny.” He grins, triumph dripping from his words.

No, no, no. You clutch your chest, where the pain emanates the most, right over your heart.

“Oh, that’s where it went.” Taehyung sighs, petting your head softly. “I’m sorry, one of my attacks must have hit you hard. Let’s go back, out of reach this time. Now, where is my necklace? Tell me, y/n.”

Yoongi, Yoongi has it. It’s Yoongi. It’s Yoongi. It’s Yoongi. Yoongi.

You clench your jaw so tight your teeth begin to hurt. “Who took it?” he asks sweetly.

“Yoongi...” You begin to cry. “Please don’t hurt him!”

The merman speaks up, “Oh, he won’t hurt me.”

“You haven’t changed at all, so arrogant, acting like you’re better than everyone else!” Taehyung says, staring at Yoongi’s closed fist. He flicks his wrist over, fingers pulling at the air. 

A glowing red light starts emanating from Yoongi’s palm, an inescapable power ready to burst from the tiny gem, red streaks of light between his fingers cut through the wolf’s den, knocking back anything it touches.

Yoongi yells in pain, but he refuses to let go of the necklace. 

Unlike the others, when the red light hits Taehyung, he can easily redirect it with his hand, and his beam hits Seokjin, knocking the vampire right in the chest.

You see singes across the eldest vampire’s body, his clothes tattered and deep burn scars across his skin. Yoongi’s hand looks charred too, he yells and doubles over in pain, still fighting to hold onto the necklace. The others are fast, dodging the attacks, but how long can they last? 

Hoseok is hit next, he turns into a wolf instantly, charging towards you. Namjoon runs in to attack Taehyung, who shifts your body in front of the leader. 

The wolves are trying so hard to save you from Taehyung, it breaks your heart to witness the pain they are going through. How can you save them? Protect them? You feel so useless, so human and fragile. A mere pawn in a game played between kings.

If only there was a way to restart this day again.

“Y/n, don’t,” Taehyung whispers in your ear.

The wolves are too worried for your safety to use their full force, something Taehyung uses to his full advantage as he moves closer to the merman still fighting to hold onto the gem.

Jimin doesn’t care about your safety. He crashes into both of you.

You feel the weight of both men on top of you, suffocating you as Taehyung covers your body with his to take the brunt of the vampire’s wild attacks.

However, Taehyung’s physical strength seems to be unmatched, he throws the vampire as if Jimin weighed nothing with only one arm, the other holding your wrist so you can’t get away.

He moves closer to the struggling merman.

This can’t be happening, it can’t end this way, after everything you’ve been through.

Perhaps it was how close to victory Taehyung had been, so close he was only thinking about the outcome of his winning, the great future ahead of him. He was distracted just enough, and the reigns he had held over you loosened just a bit. It cleared your mind just enough, made you hope, wish for help to come for Yoongi and the others.

Your wish fluttered inside you like a heartbeat, pulling you, and this time, pulling everyone…

Through time…

To a place where the merman had an advantage. Your wish was granted.

The thumping receded and seawater filled every space around you suddenly. You were underwater, deep in the sea. You looked around and saw red and blue flashes of light, the shadows of the beast’s bodies around you, blood like red ribbons leaving their wounds. You slowly kick towards the sky.

How deep are you? You don’t know if you can make it to get in air in time.

You scream, the sound muffled underwater, when fingers reach for your hair, jerking your head down.

It’s Jimin. By the look in his eyes you think he might drain you right here, let you drown in a sea of blood, but he reaches for your hand instead and pulls you to the surface at inhuman speed. 

Spluttering, you gasp in air as the ocean lights up the night with streaks of power flashing under water.

“You’re coming with me,” he grunts, dragging your body back to land.

“Yoongi! The others!”

“Hold your breath!” Jimin pulls you back under when Taehyung resurfaces.

You inhale in quickly. You see the sparkling merman’s tail reflecting under water as he attacks Taehyung again.

Red light explodes underwater. Pulsing through the ocean, knocking you back into Jimin. He pulls you away from the fighting, closer to shore until you can stand above water.

You try to keep up, but the night waves crash into your body knocking you off your feet. Jimin drops you into shallow water. You gasp for breath while he looks over you. It reminded you of when you first met him, the way his body is over yours. But his eyes aren’t the same, there’s no hatred in them like before, Jimin looks lost, Jimin looks…sad.

He grabs the front of your dress and rips it, exposing your cleavage. Your arms cover your chest and he yanks those away too. You almost scream, but he doesn’t do anything but look at you. Then his finger traces the scars on your chest, making you shudder. The scar lines form a deep v across your chest, connecting around your neck.

“It was you.” He grips your neck, startling you. “Fix it. Now!”

Moonlight is speckling the ocean’s surface. The water calmer than usual. “Take us back to before Taehyung arrived. Before…” he shudders, looking out at the ocean, up towards the moon angrily. “This is your fault.” Jimin lunges for you, his claws pulled quickly away by Jungkook rushing to your side. Jungkook picks up your exhausted body, wading deeper in the water, glaring at the vampire. “Let’s go.”

“Follow me.” Yoongi yells, further out.

When you reach Yoongi, the youngest reluctantly hands you to him. “Where’s Taehyung?”

“He…took the necklace,” Yoongi says bitterly. “Ready?”

You look at the dark water all around you. “W-Where are we going?”

“My home.”

-

Yoongi swims down to the sea floor. You hold his hand, let the current and his strong fin lead you to the furthest depths of the ocean.

There’s no light, only the faint sparkling reflection of Yoongi’s tail is visible to your human eyes.

Your feet touch the sandy floor. The pain in your ears lessens the longer Yoongi breathes air into you. It’s an odd feeling, walking the sea floor, a place certainly no other living human could walk alone.

‘Jin.’ Your body stiffens in fright. You see the vampire, lying suspended upon the ocean floor. It frightens you how dead he looks, floating there, but for as long as you’ve known him, Jin has always been dead, hasn't he? Jimin passes, hooking Seokjin’s floating arm over his shoulder and pulling the vampire along.

You reach an underwater cave and swim inside. It’s tunnels are vast. The coral crevices hold things, some are man-made items, some magical.

The coral of the cave winds around, creating tunnels that are compact, walls that are cramped together. It’s dark and lonely inside, there is no light, no warmth. Is this where Yoongi stayed? It makes you feel sorry for the merman, makes you want to fill his life with warmth. He swims around quickly pulling things from inside the pockets of coral.

It’s impressive how the wolves can hold their breath, but even at this depth for so long they are having trouble. Even you are almost out of the air Yoongi gave you.

The merman swims to the cave’s bottom. There’s a purple wooden door situated at the cave floor with a spoked handle. The color reminds you of the one in Seokjin’s office. He begins to turn the vault handle quickly, unlocking the door. You watch, holding your body against one of the coral walls, making sure you don't float away. 

You begin to choke on water. The door opens finally and the others rush inside, quickly escaping down into the depths. Yoongi finds you, kissing you. Slowly, taking his time now. 

Submerged in the water, floating, he became the only thing that grounded you. You wish you could speak underwater and tell him how sorry you were for letting Taehyung inside, for causing this all to happen. You kept your lips pressed to his, hoping to convey how apologetic you felt. Yoongi hugs you close and dives into the vault.

You break the surface of the water, somehow right side up now. You wipe the water away from your face as Yoongi holds you to him. You look around the small cave, a part of the underground cave system inside the island. You look down at your bodies still submerged in the water, you should be upside down. How is that possible?

It never ceases to amaze you, the magicalness of this place.

“How is he?” you call out.

“I’ve seen better days.” The vampire in question grunts. Seokjin has definitely seen better days, the usually put together vampire is the most beaten you’ve ever seen him, lying on the cave floor unable to move.

“Jin, would it help?” you offer your wrist to him. You were the only human here.

Seokjin swallows, “Yes.”

“Let me help him,” you beg the others. Namjoon lifts you out of the cave pool. Everyone looks so beaten they don't fight you, they stay silent as you make your way to Seokjin.

“Are you sure, Dove?” he grunts.

You nod, lying against him, finally letting your tired muscles relax. Seokjin drank from you countless of times before, what’s one more?

---

Jimin breaks Seokjin’s jade statue, smashing it to pieces.

“Get away from me!” he screams, “w-who are you?!”

You see Seokjin and Namjoon standing next to him. And you see Hoseok. You see Taehyung.

“Is it normal to forget?” Taehyung asks, watching Jimin curiously.

“No…no,” Seokjin swallows. Had Seokjin really been too late to save Jimin?

Jimin screams and screams, clawing at his throat. It’s dry and itchy, he feels like he’s burning from the inside out. “Stop. Stop it!” The pain won’t stop!

“He needs blood,” Hoseok says, his tone urgent and worried.

“If we bring someone to the island, he’s not going to be able to control himself.”

“I’ll find someone no one will miss,” Hoseok suggests.

“No, it’s still a life.” Namjoon interjects, watching the display, clenching his jaw when Jimin screams again.

“And what about Jimin?!” Hoseok argues. “What about his life?!” You can feel his anger, you feel it too within Seokjin.

“If it’s someone who deserves it, someone bad?” Taehyung speaks up, wincing as he watches his friend writhe in pain.

“Let’s go hunt one last time, old friend,” Seokjin mumbles, unable to look Namjoon in the eyes, watching instead the horrible state Jimin is in.

“Okay, okay.”

It was an easier find than they had thought. During a dark club night, the music boomed as a regular flirted with a young woman. Upon entering the club, Namjoon and Seokjin noticed all the tell tale signs immediately, the signs of a predator..

While Namjoon bumped into the couple, and riled up the man by cozying up to his unsuspecting victim, Seokjin quickly switched their drinks, the one the man had spiked for his date switched with his clean one. While the drug worked its magic, you looked around the club, listening to old music. You watched the bodies on the dance floor move together in almost one fluid motion. You missed it, realizing how long it’s been since you’ve had that kind of fun. Your heart raced as the beat of the song quickened, as urgency ran through the vampire’s cold veins instead of blood. You want to dance. You want to kill that man. You want to save Jimin. Complicated emotions filter through Seokjin and into you.

Your mouth goes slack as you press your body closer, your hands fisting Seokjin’s tattered shirt. “You’re taking too much!” Namjoon barks. 

“I’m sorry.” Seokjin licks your wounds clean as your vision goes hazy and you slump against him. No, you wanted to see more, to listen to more-

---

“Where are you, sweetheart?”

“Taehyung?”

Taehyung covers your cheek with his hand. “Tell me where you are so I can find you, get you away from them.”

“No! You stay away from them!”

Taehyung’s arms cage you in, his body above yours. “Y/n, please,” he begs, lowering himself over you. “I can leave the island now, but I don't want to go, not without you.” He wraps his arms around your body, hugging you close to him in a suffocating embrace. “Please come with me, I don’t want to be alone anymore.”

Despite everything, you feel sorry for him as he shakes against you.

No, no, no! He’s the same man who tried to betray Seokjin. What would he have done to Jimin if he had succeeded? What is he going to do to you? You press against his shoulders, trying to push him off of you. Taehyung covers your lips with his own, lessening your resolve.

His lips work a different kind of magic, he presses his tongue inside your mouth, runs it over your own, tilting his head and deepening the kiss. You grip his shoulders, unsure whether to push him away or closer. He kisses you for so long you wonder how he hasn’t broken away to take a breath, you wonder why you don’t have the need to either.

You gasp when Taehyung decides to move lower down your body, his lips licking across your neck. By now, he’s made sure to keep you locked to him, holding onto both your wrists so you can’t push against him. Even when he shifts his digits and intertwines your fingers, he keeps his weight heavy on you.

“It’s not fair, I can only have you in my dreams like this,” he chuckles against your skin. “Please be with me. Together we can explore the whole world, do whatever we want.” Taehyung was so excited to see all the new technology you had described to him during your long visits. He wants to experience it all with you.

You take in a ragged breath, suppressing a moan every time he sucks and rolls his tongue over your skin. “Promise me you won’t hurt them.”

“I promise.”

You don’t believe him.

You can’t believe him.

It feels like a lie, it all feels like a lie.

“Where are you?”

“In a cave.”

“There are thousands of caves on the island, do you know where?”

“I d-don’t know.”

It’s true you don't know, but there are words you could use to describe the cave. You could tell Taehyung how you got there, about Yoongi’s magical door. But you bite those words down, hiding the whole truth.

“Don’t worry, I’ll find you.” He rests his forehead against yours, runs his thumb over your kiss bitten lips. He can't wait to have you, to mark you, to make you like him.

You touch the necklace dangling from Taehyung’s neck, and he rips your hand away, gripping your wrist so tightly you can feel the pressure in your bones.

Fear trickles down your spine and catches in your throat once you realize how entangled you are to him, how easily he could hurt you if he wanted to. The Taehyung you knew had been so unthreatening, like a lonely puppy tied to a tree, only wanting attention.

The shackles took away any threatening aura, you only ever felt safe with him, you hadn't yet known what he was capable of...

Taehyung feels your heart beat jumping against his lips. “You’re scared of me, why?” he frowns. “Have I ever given you a reason to believe I would ever hurt you? Jimin hurt you, Seokjin hurt you,” he adds.

You swallow, unable to answer him. He’s right.

“If you hated Seokjin so much...why did you want to become like him?”

Taehyung holds you loosely now, smiling softly. “You know...Namjoon, Hoseok, Jungkook, their powers slow their aging, but one day, they’re going to grow old, they’re going to grow weak. They’re going to die,” he hums.

“T-That’s no excuse-”

“Sometimes we have to lose everything to gain everything.”

“Is that what you told Jimin before you took everything from him?!”

“Seokjin’s affliction really did rub off on you. What will you say when you make him remember and he still wants to rip your throat out?”

You swallow, silenced by his words.

“Tell me where you are so I can protect you,” he presses his lips upon the column of your neck tenderly.

“T-The cave-”

“Yes?” Taehyung runs his tongue along your throat, enjoying the way you tremble against him.

“-a d-door-”

His hands knead your side, up your body, gripping your mounds, caressing your suppleness.

“A door? Invite me in then, sweetheart.”

Your fingers tangle his hair, pulling him closer to you. Then run down his neck, slipping under his necklace.

You yank the gold chain, screaming.

---

“You’re awake,” Jungkook says happily. You’re lying nestled in between bodies, warm in the otherwise cold and dark cave. “Are y-you okay?”

You close your eyes, calming down, shaking your head, worried your words won’t be your own.

Namjoon holds your hand, “Y/n, can you tell us anything about what happened to the watch I gave you?”

Your hand cups your neck, where Seokjin’s bite is now healed over. “T-Taehyung, he said he would ‘fix’ the watch for me. He must have, because...it must have been, three months ago? I found that red amulet, it was from Seokjin’s shop, it appeared in my hand and then I heard Taehyung’s voice in my head, and…and I-I had no control...” You remember it clearly now, “The watch took me back in time and broke as soon as I used it.”

You look down at your hands. “But I still had the one I hadn’t used yet, from this time…” you say, absentmindedly touching your collarbone out of reflex. “When the explosion happened, I-I don’t know, I-I lost them.” Namjoon inspects your neck, gently adjusting the torn fabric of your dress.

He looks over his shoulder, where the merman lazily swims in the cave pool. “Yoongi?” he asks. 

“The stronger the magic, the more uncontrollable it becomes. If Taehyung’s attack hit her...and the watch…anything could be possible.”

“What do you mean?” you ask.

“Does that human brain of yours not work at all anymore?” Hoseok complains, sitting at the top of your head, looking down at you with crossed arms. “The watch’s magic, it’s inside you.”

“...what,” you ask horrified. You trace the scars across your chest, running up your clavicle and around your neck.

“You were trying to protect yourself from Taehyung,” Yoongi says knowingly. “You took us forward in time.”

Yoongi had noticed the stronger tides, looked up at the moon, and realized the phase had shifted 4 days ahead.

But how could that be? Then when he mentioned it to the others, they all realized…

“I-I can’t control it.”

“And we’re not even sure what it does to her when she uses it,” Hoseok says, concerned, thinking the worst. There is no telling what will happen to you in the end, are you losing hours off your life? Days? 

“Where’s Jimin?”

“Cooling off, taking a late night swim.” Seokjin sighs. “Dove, what happened between you and Jimin in this future of yours that makes you think he will be so cooperative?”

It felt wrong, telling his story, intimate memories that he didn’t even have the chance to see yet. “His past…”

“You know his whole past?” Hoseok asks. You nod. “And you trust him? After everything you know?”

“You don’t know what he’s been through! Taehyung-”

“They worked together to betray us all,” Hoseok scoffed.

You shake your head. “Taehyung knew Jimin before he knew you, Hoseok.” You’ve seen enough of their memories together to see how protective Hoseok had been over Taehyung. But the secrets Jimin and Taehyung had kept weren’t even knowledgeable to Jimin anymore.

“No-”

“Yes.”

“Did you know about this?” Hoseok turns to his pack leader. 

He shakes his head no, “They acted like strangers. Did you know?” Namjoon turns to Seokjin.

“He didn’t speak much of his childhood, even when he was human.” Seokjin hums, “The few memories of his childhood I pulled did not have any indication they knew each other. They had only become close after Jimin was turned.”

“No, they were always close.” you say, sure of yourself. “I can’t prove it, yet, but I don’t think what happened was an accident,” you look at Hoseok. “It wasn’t your fault you lost control, Hoseok.”

Hoseok's eyes start to shine in the shadows of the cave as tears well up. “No,” he says in disbelief. It was his fault. He turned Taehyung into a beast like him, and he’s never forgiven himself because of it.

He shakes his head, unable to let your words really hit him.

“Well, we can only learn the whole truth from Jimin himself. Help me this time, please?”

---

Jimin returns later than usual, right before sunrise, his mind no less at ease.

-

“Well, it almost worked last time.” 

-

Has Seokjin been drinking from you this whole time?! Jimin scoffs, settling himself away from you and the others. 

Seokjin does it messily, letting the blood drip down your shoulder, covering your chest in the red liquid.

You let a soft whimper escape your lips, moaning. Seokjin’s hand moves from your hip to resting between your legs

“Are you going to be doing that all day?!” Jimin barks, his words echoing in the small cave.

“You haven’t drank in a while, brother. Come drink.” Jimin swallows hard, smelling your blood, the sweet iron scent fills the cave. He remembers the previous time loop, the taste of your blood still a strong memory. It never happened, he hasn’t really tasted you, yet that’s now all he can think about. He remembers it distantly like a dream. Or rather a nightmare, how can you possibly be this annoying to him without even trying? Jimin silently seethes as his throat becomes itchier and drier.

Jimin looks over at the wolves, who seem to be minding their own business. There is no way they are not affected by this...lewd display! He narrows his eyes on Hoseok, the jealous one, who sits crossed-legged and crossed-arms, eyes closed and jaw clenched.

-

“You’re joking?”

“No, I saw them do it before with other girls,” you mutter, unable to meet Hoseok's eyes, “in Seokjin’s memories.”

-

Jungkook rests his head against the pack leader’s shoulder, shaking his legs to a song in his head he is using to distract himself, and Namjoon acts completely unaffected. Jimin scoffs, Namjoon sure has the best poker face, but Jimin knows this is bothering the pack. They probably finally figured out they’re weaker ones amongst them, Jimin thinks.

“Well if you won’t, then I will.” Namjoon speaks up.

Namjoon pulls your leg, pulling you closer to him as he crawls over you. His strong hands press your legs open so he can settle in between them.

“You know my kind bites too. We don’t do it to suck blood, our bite is different. But, I wouldn’t mind eating you up,” Namjoon teases, his deep voice even deeper in his gruffness.

You know this is just an act, but your heart escalates at the thought, remembering the younger werewolf acting so brazenly. Devious suits Namjoon so well, the roughness in his nature is so attractive.

Jimin grits his teeth at such a revolting thought.

“You’re just going to let him put his filthy paws all over her? You’re going to hand her over just like that?”

“I haven’t let her go.” Seokjin caresses your temples, smearing blood across your face. “We used to do this all the time. I’ve gotten used to Namjoon’s scent.”

Jimin looks away, looking for the merman, someone else he can yell at.

“Joon, wait. Jimin, did you want to drink from me instead?”

“No thanks,” Jimin hisses.

You look back at Namjoon. Seokjin lifts your hand to his mouth, biting down on the fleshy part of your palm. It hurts, he is usually better at making the pain feel pleasurable, but his objective isn’t your pleasure, it’s to cause maximum blood flow, to make you cry out in pain, knowing your whimpers will entice Jimin the most.

Namjoon’s lets his teeth scrape across your thigh. “Shh little Dove.” He uses the pet name Seokjin gave you. “Don’t cry, I’ll make you sing.”

It’s so hot in this goddamn cave. The smell of everyone’s arousal is assaulting, inescapable.

“My turn next,” Hoseok calls out.

“I’m going to mark her as my mate,” Jungkook growls, eyes darkened at the sight of you writhing in pleasure and pain.

Jimin has had it. He has had to endure being in their company for this long, but now the dogs want to defile what is his? Yes, you are his and Seokjin’s! They paid fairly for you, you would be dead if it were not for them. You are theirs! You are his. And you are the only human left on this damned island, Jimin had searched all night for any signs of life to no avail.

“I’m going to rip out your teeth,” Jimin threatens lowly.

“Did you say something?” Hoseok says flippantly.

“You don’t think I know what you’re all doing?”

You look between yourselves in silence.

“You’re just giving up! Taehyung really turned you into a bunch of cowardly dogs. You’re just gonna stay in this cave like a bunch of animals in heat while Taehyung does god knows what!?”

You continue to look between yourselves in silence.

He points at you. “She said if I bit her, we could stop Taehyung!” He yanks you to your feet so hard you feel the whiplash in your bones. “Isn’t that right? SO WHY ARE YOU WASTING YOUR PRECIOUS TIME WITH THEM?!” Jimin yells so loud his words echo over and over again.

You blink. “You’re right, Jimin.”

Jimin moves behind you, tilting your head. He licks the old blood off your shoulder, suppressing a groan at the taste. “If this doesn’t work-” he growls.

“It will.”

“Then I wont stop until it does.” All your blood will be Jimin’s one way or another.

He licks his lips before sinking his teeth into the column of your neck.

---

Just like that, you and Jimin revisit his bedroom, a memory you both shared, your past and his future had Taehyung’s plan not have worked.

-

Jimin roars, pulling away. Your body spasms with too much blood loss. Jimin looks down, your blood covering his body, his pants undone. How is he in bed with you? He was just in the merman’s cave, drinking your blood.

No, he is in the merman’s cave. This is a memory.

Jimin remembers. 

He gently turns your body over. Your breathing is ragged, strained, your eyes try to focus on the vampire above you.

Now you remember, it was the first time Jimin looked at you without hatred in his eyes. Tearing the flesh from his arm, he puts the wound over your mouth and you drink until your body relaxes. Then cautiously, Jimin lowers himself over you again, ready to see more.

---

Jin steps closer, followed by the rest of the men. 

Was Jimin still drinking from you?

Neither of you made any movement.

You both fell to your knees with Jimin’s fangs deep in your neck, your eyes glazed over and out of focus. 

“What happened?” Namjoon whispers to the eldest vampire. He wasn’t quite sure, neither of you were responsive, both lost in your heads. 

“Little Dove?”

---

I am so excited to write some backstory finally!!! Are you excited for the next chapter?

[hoodjam]

coastal love

a/n1: hey babies, I missed you all so much!! I’ve been so busy but I’m here with an actual story! this is something new for me so I hope yall enjoy 🩷

warnings : tw: death, nudity, very short

The lone sailor waded in the waters, desperately fishing for the deep sea fish that was rumored in the area.

“Damn, fish! I almost had it on the hook when it swam off on me,” the man pouts, slightly sour he blindly follows the fish into the deep blue ocean.

“fuck me, it’s gettin’ dark too, damn, fuck shi-“

“HELP ME!” A woman screamed, sending shivers down the sailor's spine. “SOMEONE, PLEASE.”

A sudden feeling of heroism fell over the man, sending him to stand in his tiny boat looking for any signs of a distressed woman. Scanning the area he saw her, hair wet, clothes tattered, as she clung to a rock with her last strength.

Adrenaline raced through his body, beginning his paddling to rescue the lady.

During your frantic screaming to be saved, you noticed the man rowing towards you, and your heart was filled with relief. “Thank you, sir,” you coughed out, showing him your pearly teeth.

“No worries, but what’s a lady like you in waters like this?” The sailor questions, after stopping his boat near the rock.

You stay silent, watching the man reach his hand towards you to help you into the boat.

“Oh, I was in a bad shipwreck nearby. The storm swept me and my mates away. I’m the only survivor.” You explain, reaching your hand to meet his.

But he pauses, “Hm? A storm? There hasn’t been a storm in a few weeks,” He stares at you, slowly reaching his spear, “there’s no way you swam for that long.”

The sailor grips his spear, mind reeling that more than just deep sea fish is real.

In an instant, your eyes flicker black, as you leap out of the water tackling the man into the ocean. Your tail bright blue, shimmering in the sun was the last thing the man saw.

Deep hunky laughter fills the air, men scattered across the deck, as the vessel they ride on glides on the sea.

“Men! Tonight we celebrate a successful loot of the ocean’s treasure,” the captain of the crew states. His shoulder was broad with years of experience, mouth curled in a smirk not even his scar could taint.

“Once we port, we’ll enjoy the lands’ women! But tonight we drink!”

“Aye!” His men exclaim, mugs already filled with the golden liquor, which makes them light on their feet.

However, before the festivities could start, a drop of rain landed on the captain’s face. Frowning, he looked around his vessel seeing the swirling clouds heading in their direction.

“Men get into positions, we have a storm to bear.”

Without any questions, his crew stationed themselves throughout the ship, with Toji at the helm.

“Gojo! String up the sails, Geto strap down the loose food and drinks, and Sukuna, be ready for any repairs.” Toji barked more orders to his team, a team he trusted with his life.

Heading to the helm he turned the wooden wheel away from the storm, bracing himself, preparing for the worst.

Underwater, you smiled with glee, “What a feast,” you thought.

The storm was a beast, bigger and angrier than any sea creature they’d fought. With all his might he kept the stern face opposite of the storm, but his strength was failing.

“Prepare to “ the captain was interrupted, feeling his gravity shift as his boat capsized. The last thing he seen was his men flipping before his head hit a beam, knocking him unconscious.

The storm ravaged the pirate's ship, throwing bodies and debris across the darkened sea. Eager for your first bite, you greedily swam through the waters dodging everything except the lone barrel that fell from the sky.

Toji woke up on some sandy shore, the back of his head throbbing in pain from his injury. Getting up with a stumble, his eyes burning from the bright sun hinting at a new day.

He walks the coast, looking for any hints of survivors from his crew, “Is that?”

The captain gasps, seeing you lie on the same beach he washed up on, unconscious, naked, and shimmering with a blue hue.

a/n2 : I hoped you guys enjoyed, feedback is always appreciated.

a/n3 : also, no shade, but I’m so tired of the short ass fics!!! let’s get back into long stories 😩 anyway lmk if yall want a part two

[ohbo-ohno]

Loving the idea of Soap being pussydrunk as all hell when it comes to his Princess. He’s been denied her for so long and now that he gets to feel her, taste her, he just can’t get enough. He never wants to leave her slick pussy, whining and clutching at her when Ghost tries to pull him off.

knight johnny is a virgin before ghost comes along and i love the idea of him going from having to stomp down all his lust and need all the time to being allowed to be horny, allowed to be needy. he'd be like a different person once ghost gets his hands on him, allowed to want things and to ask for them :(

he's sooooo needy for her in general too :( has to ask (beg) permission to touch her literally anywhere, so it's such a treat when he's allowed to eat her out at whatever pace he wants. usually ghost makes him beg for every lick :/ makes both the princess and johnny go insane with need and ghost likes his pets a little drunk on their pleasure

he tries to hold onto her for a little longer when ghost goes to pull him off :( early on in the relationship he'd try and fight, try and force ghost away so he can go back to licking her cunt, but every time without fail he's forced to the floor, usually ends up getting fucked doggy style cause ghost wants to remind him of his place :/ but later on he'd listen so well, even the tiniest nudge from ghost has him doing exactly what he's told, no hesitation. just wants to be a good boy

also @ceilidho said "ghost lets johnny kiss his princess" at one point and i just. i capsized like a boat. johnny having to beg to kiss his princess has me :((( she's so so pretty and he loves her soooo much, he sits at ghost's feet and just begs and begs endlessly, wants to kiss her so bad. but he has to wait, has to sit and stay and be good.

sometimes he's only allowed to give her a peck on the cheek or the lips, and that's almost worse than not being allowed anything at all. but sometimes he's allowed to make out with her, and he nearly knocks her over with how he lunges for her, sticks his tongue down her throat and soaks both of their chins, leaves her lips swollen and bruised

[recreationalfanfics]

All u gotta do to get away from Altaïr is hop into the nearest body of water since he can't swim. Just tread water and watch him pace and freak out from the shore

This made me ugly laugh, omg-

LITERALLY ALTAÏR JUST STANDING ON THE SHORE LIKE A DOG WITH AN ELECTRIC FENCE AROUND HIM. Imagine everytime his darling is mad at him, they just swim out into the water and stuff and he just yells at them before he's all: "WE CAN TALK ABOUT THIS."

Or, like, he just has a fucking row boat at the ready and he's all: "You have until the count of three before I row you back to land." and you threaten to capsize the boat in response.

[maxinemaxmayfield]

sink your teeth before i disappear explicit | 4k | steddie | 18+ only

steddie, pre-relationship, established ronance, panic attacks, flashbacks, virgin!eddie, sharing a bed, cuddling & snuggling, interrupted masturbation, mutual masturbation, hand jobs, biting, marking

“I’ve never really slept with anyone before,” Eddie admits quietly, not sure if Steve is even still awake. Steve turns around awkwardly, trying to keep Eddie’s arm wrapped around his waist as he rolls over to face him. “Like… sex, or just actually sleeping next to someone?” OR Sharing a room leads to sharing a bed leads to sharing... more

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WEDNESDAY

“So they would rather you sleep in a bed with Nancy? ” Steve asks in disbelief as he stacks the returns. 

Robin rolls her eyes at him. “Duh. They don’t know I’m of the, uh, lavender persuasion,” she reminds him, lowering her voice with a quick scan of the store.

It’s fairly quiet, especially for a rainy Wednesday during summer break. Just a couple of teens milling about through the stacks, trying to decide on a movie. 

“And I’m pretty sure they still think I’m secretly dating you… though they have finally learned to stop asking.”

Robin’s parents had managed to secure a modest cabin by the lake for the long weekend. Steve could never quite get it straight – Robin’s mom’s brother’s wife… or was it her cousin’s husband? Nevertheless, someone who was somehow related to Robin had a cabin they weren’t using, and rather than leave it sitting empty, they had invited her parents to use it. Robin had agreed to go if she could bring a friend or two… which quickly turned into three, because she just couldn’t take Nancy and Steve and leave Eddie all alone for the weekend. And they were all thick as thieves after what happened during spring break. 

“Anyway, I thought you’d be happy to be sharing with Eddie,” Robin says, tossing Steve a meaningful look. God, he regrets telling her about his ill-advised crush.

Come Thursday evening, they pack into two cars and drive up to Lake Michigan, looking forward to spending their days swimming and their nights around the fire. 

– – –

THURSDAY

The cabin isn’t anything fancy – a simple wooden structure tucked between the trees – but it’s right on the lake, has its own small dock hosting a tiny row boat that looks like three passengers would probably capsize it. 

Robin shows them around the cabin, pointing out her and Nancy’s room, her parents’ room, and finally, tucked back in the corner behind the kitchen, Steve and Eddie’s room. 

Their room is the only one with separate twin beds. Steve isn’t sure if he’s relieved or disappointed. 

Everyone leaves to get settled in their own rooms, and Steve stands there with his old sports bag in hand, shifting from one foot to the other. 

“So, uh, which bed do you want?” he asks. 

Eddie throws himself down on top of the bed furthest from the door, pressing the back of his hand to his forehead. “This one – you can protect me from any evil entities of the night.”

“Unless they come in through the window,” Steve points out, setting his things down on the bed nearest the door. 

“Well, shit,” Eddie groans, eyes darting between the window and Steve. “Don’t fucking say that!” 

Steve laughs and throws himself onto his own bed, propping himself up on one elbow. 

“So, Harrington, do you snore? Tell me now, so I can prepare myself," Eddie says.

“Nah, but I do sleep in the nude.” 

Eddie’s smile falters and Steve can’t help but smirk. He doesn’t offer up any more information, letting Eddie dwell on whether or not he was joking. 

“I, uh, I sleepwalk, sometimes,” Eddie tells him, and then falls silent, dropping back onto the bed and staring at the ceiling like he might find a script there. 

“Should make for an interesting night,” Steve says, trying not to laugh when Eddie’s eyes flick over to him before going back to the ceiling. “C’mon, let’s go see if they need help with dinner,” Steve says, pushing himself off the mattress and holding out a hand to help Eddie up. 

It’s still raining after dinner, so they sit around the little fireplace, playing board games and listening to music until it’s time to turn in for the night. 

Steve stands next to his bed for a moment, looking down at the pajamas he’d packed. He glances up, but Eddie’s busying himself with removing his rings one by one and setting them down on the nightstand. 

Steve strips out of his shorts and t-shirt, hesitating at the edge of his boxers, wondering if it’s worth it for the bit. Eddie’s back is to him. He makes his decision, leaving them on and climbing into bed, arranging the covers to hide his boxers but show as much skin as possible elsewhere. 

Just to mess with him. 

When Eddie turns back, he lets out something between a yelp and a squeak.

Steve pulls back the blanket with a flourish, watching Eddie’s eyes go wide and then narrow when he realizes what’s underneath. 

“You dick.”

“I mean, I usually would sleep naked, but I thought I’d be modest for the sake of my temporary roommate,” Steve says, raising an eyebrow. 

Eddie climbs into his own bed, burrowing under the blankets. “Well, don’t change your habits on my account.” 

Steve chuckles and turns off his bedside lamp. “I’ll keep that in mind. ‘Night, Eds.” 

“Night.”

– – –

FRIDAY

Luckily, the rain has cleared up by Friday morning, the sun peaking out from behind the clouds and warming their skin. 

After breakfast, they don their swimsuits and head out to the edge of the lake. Nancy and Robin drag out a deck chair and curl up side-by-side, while Steve walks out onto the dock, turning around just before he reaches the end. 

“You coming for a swim?” he calls to Eddie, arms spread wide and displaying the expanse of his chest. 

Eddie plops himself down on a towel next to Nancy and Robin. “Are you kidding? The water’s freezing.”  

“Whatever, you big chicken!” And with that, he turns around and dives, cutting through the surface of the calm water. 

Eddie sits back and watches the gleam of Steve’s back as he slices through the water with ease, years of swimming making him more graceful in water than on land. It’s mesmerizing. 

“You might wanna pick your jaw up off the ground,” Robin quips, looking at him over the frame of her sunglasses. “Once you’re done ogling, I mean.”

Eddie huffs, shaking his head. “What? No! I’m not – Steve’s just–”

Nancy leans around Robin to fix him with a dubious look. “Oh please, don’t even deny it.”

“This is bullying. You’re bullying me,” Eddie accuses, crossing his arms over his chest. “Two against one isn’t a fair fight.” 

He doesn’t hear what Nancy says next, because there’s a disturbance out in the water. Steve has stopped swimming smoothly and seems to be thrashing, struggling against something they can’t see, trying to get back to shore.

Eddie’s throat closes up with panic. 

He jumps to his feet, shouts out and points, and Robin and Nancy are on his heels as they run out to the end of the dock. 

Just like that fateful night on Lover’s Lake, Nancy doesn’t hesitate. She jumps in and swims towards Steve, methodically, uniform strokes spurring her forward. She reaches him quickly and pulls him the rest of the way to the shore.

He’s sputtering and shaking, on all fours as he reaches the grassy edge of the lake, and Robin’s right there beside him, wrapping him in a towel, pushing his hair back out of his eyes, speaking to him in soft, calm, hushed tones. 

Eddie stands to the side, heart racing, chest tight. He feels useless, a spare part, unsure whether to come closer or give them space. All he can do is watch helplessly, a cruel parallel of when Steve was pulled through Watergate. Flight or freeze, never fight. 

Coward. 

Robin is placing Steve’s hands flat on the earth, helping him ground himself, still babbling away about where he is and what is going on around him. Eddie is in awe of how she always knows what Steve needs in these moments. 

“The vines… grabbed me,” Steve mumbles, breathing fast and shallow. Robin drapes herself against his back, contrasting with deep and slow breaths, pressing a hand to his chest. 

“Steve, we’re at Lake Michigan. No gate here, we’re not even in Hawkins,” Robin reminds him again, patience of a saint. “We’re safe, we’re safe, I promise you, we’re safe. It was just a plant.” 

“Nancy –”

“– pulled you out of the water, she’s right here,” Robin says, pointing her out. 

“And Eddie –”

“– is also right here, he’s fine. You’re fine. We’re all fine.” Robin turns to Nancy and Eddie. “Can you help me get him up? I’ll take him inside, give him something warm and something sugary, it should help with the shakiness. And then he’ll probably need to sleep for a while when he comes down from this.”

Eddie swoops in to support one side of Steve and the three of them hoist him to his feet, leaving the lake behind them. 

Steve’s voice drifts through the darkness later that night. “Hey, Eds, you awake?” 

“Yeah.”

“I can’t sleep.”

“Me neither.”

There’s silence for a while, not awkward, but comfortable. Until Steve breaks it. 

“Can I… would it be alright if I laid in your bed for a bit?” 

Eddie nods before he realizes Steve can’t see him. “Yeah, of course.”

There’s a rustle, footsteps, and then the mattress next to him dips as Steve slides under the blankets. Heat radiates off his chest.

It’s a small bed, so they don’t have much choice for positions. Eddie ends up curled around Steve’s back, an arm thrown around his waist to stop himself from rolling off the edge. 

“This is nice,” Steve whispers, wrapping his fingers around Eddie’s wrist and pulling him tighter around him. Steve takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly before speaking again. “Is it weird if I say I was kind of hoping we’d have to share a bed this weekend? I just… I hate sleeping alone.” 

Eddie chews on his bottom lip for a moment. “Don’t you usually sleep alone?”

“Yeah.” 

Steve doesn’t expand on his answer, doesn’t offer anything more. They lie there pressed together, letting their breath synchronize. 

“I’ve never really slept with anyone before,” Eddie admits quietly, not sure if Steve is even still awake. 

Steve turns around awkwardly, trying to keep Eddie’s arm wrapped around his waist as he rolls over to face him. “Like… sex, or just actually sleeping next to someone?” 

Both, but he feels a bit stupid admitting the first one to Steve Harrington, renowned lady’s man. He’s heard enough rumors to know the guy gets around. And, well, Eddie isn’t exactly spoiled for choice in Hawkins, Indiana. 

“I mean, I've had sleepovers and shit, slept next to people but… never, I dunno, cuddled?” The last part comes out as a question, like he isn’t sure if that is actually what they’re doing. 

Steve moves closer then, right up in Eddie’s face, tucking his own arm around Eddie’s waist. “And do you like it? Cuddling?”

Eddie’s not sure if it’s embarrassment or the body heat coming from Steve that makes his face feel so warm. “I, uh, I think so.”

“Well, maybe you need a bit more experience to make sure,” Steve says, mischief in his voice. And with that, he rolls onto his back, pulling Eddie with him so he face-plants right onto Steve’s bare chest. Two solid arms come up to wrap around him, one landing between his shoulder blades and the other settling in the dip of his lower back. Steve buries his face in Eddie’s curls and hums. 

Eddie shuffles a bit, turning his head to un-squish his nose from Steve’s pec. The hand between his shoulder blades moves up to card through his hair, fingertips pressing deliciously into his scalp and sending tingles all the way down to his toes. 

Eddie’s head is spinning, overwhelmed by the smell and feel and sound of Steve all around him. He yearns for all of this to mean something, but he’s seen Steve with Robin – how close they get, how easy it is for Steve to throw an arm around her and pull her in for a hug, press a kiss to the top of her head or tip of her nose, how they cuddle up on the couch when they watch a movie. And they make sure everyone knows that it’s strictly platonic. So why would this be anything different? 

He can enjoy it for tonight, though, so he burrows back down into the hair on Steve’s chest, tracing the line of muscle underneath with his finger. He feels Steve shiver and shift, run his hand back down Eddie’s neck and trace over each vertebrae of his spine through his thin t-shirt, getting slower and slower until his hand slips from Eddie’s back completely, coming to rest on the mattress behind him as his chest rises and falls, even and slow, dozing off.

Eddie presses soft, barely-there kisses to the skin beneath his lips for what feels like hours until his eyes droop and he, too, drifts into sleep. 

When he wakes, Steve is gone and he can hear the shower on. He grabs the pillow that still smells like Steve and buries his face in it, pretending it’s only to help ease the crick in his neck.

– – –

SATURDAY

“I don’t know what else to do, Robin!” Steve whines, exasperated. “If I get any more forward with my flirting, I’ll just be straight up asking him to blow me.”

Robin wrinkles her nose at him before going back to applying sunscreen to her legs. “Why don’t you just ask him out, like a normal person?” 

“I don’t know how to do that with guys, Robs, much less one who’s my friend!” 

It’s true, he knows how to hit on girls he barely knows, asks the odd guy in a gay bar to go out back with him. But Eddie? It’s different.

“Why are you being so difficult? Go inside right now and say, ‘Eddie Munson, would you like to go on a date with me?’ That’s it!” Robin hisses. 

Steve flops down onto the wooden dock, squinting up at the sun. “This coming from the girl who took three months to ask out Nancy Wheeler.”

Another voice drifts over, drawing nearer. “Yeah, but at least she actually fucking did it.” Steve turns his head to the side and shields his eyes, watching Nancy sit down next to Robin and dangle her toes into the water. “Steve Harrington, stop being a big baby and just go ask him.”

He sticks his tongue out at the both of them and reaches down, cupping some water in his hand before flinging it towards the girls, spraying them with the cold water of the lake. 

- - -

At first, Eddie can’t figure out what woke him. He takes stock of his body - he doesn’t need a piss, he’s not too hot or cold, he doesn’t think he had a nightmare. So he turns his attention to the room, and that’s when he hears it. 

It’s too familiar of a noise for him not to figure it out immediately, especially when paired with heavy breaths coming from the other side of the room. 

Oh. 

He cracks open an eye, and the room’s washed in cool, dim light from the moon outside the window. He can just make out the outline of Steve, lying on his back, hand moving rhythmically under the covers. His head’s dropped back, mouth open slightly, neck stretched out like it’s begging to be bitten. 

Eddie feels arousal rush through him and he squeezes his eyes shut again, trying not to move or draw attention to himself. He doesn’t want to make this any weirder than it already is. 

But he can’t stop himself from hearing it.

There’s a sharp inhale, followed by a string of little ‘ah-ah-ah’ sounds, and then – 

Eddie must be dreaming, or hallucinating, or maybe he died in the Upside Down and this is his eternal torture, because he swears it, there’s no mistaking it – a long groan followed by “Eddie.”

He can’t help but peek over, sees Steve grab a handful of tissues from his nightstand and clean himself up, tuck himself back into his boxers and roll over, facing the opposite wall. 

Eddie’s ears are burning, his mind on a loop, playing those sounds and Eddie, Eddie, Eddie over and over again. 

He wants to scream, wants to sing, wants to go jump in the lake, wants to run back to Hakwins, wants to climb into Steve’s bed and grind against him. Shit, there’s a thought. 

He adjusts his pajamas, hoping Steve doesn’t hear the creaky springs. He wills himself to calm down, but his dick has other ideas, aching for relief. 

Eddie glances over at Steve’s bed again. He’s quiet now, breathing slow and probably sleeping. And hey, if Steve did it, why can’t Eddie? Fair’s fair and all that. 

Slowly, carefully, he rolls onto his left side and reaches his right hand down the front of his pants. Fuck, he’s so hard and he can still hear Steve’s voice ringing in his ear. His breathing is shaky and he keeps glancing back to check that Steve’s still not moving. 

But Eddie’s never been good at staying quiet, muttered swears spilling from his lips as his breath comes quicker. He manages to swallow Steve’s name, biting his lips together and exhaling sharply through his nose. 

“Eddie?”

He freezes. This isn’t the chorus of whispered Eddies in his head… this is a question, and it’s real.

Steve’s awake.  

He debates not even answering, just pretending to be asleep, but then he hears the other bed creak and Steve’s feet hit the floor, like he’s about to cross the room and check on him. So he turns his head. 

“Yeah?”

Steve’s sitting on his bed facing Eddie, both feet on the floor like he was about to stand. “Were you… touching yourself?” 

“No, I –,” Eddie starts to lie, but it sounds weak even to his own ears. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be.”

Eddie doesn’t know what to say to that, what it even means. Steve reaches for the lamp and switches it on. If he looked good in the cool light of the moon, he looks incredible in the warm wash from the lightbulb. 

“You can keep going. If you want,” Steve offers. His tongue darts out to wet his bottom lip and Eddie wants to feel it sweep across his teeth.

He doesn’t take his eyes off Steve as he rolls over and takes himself in hand once more, looking for any sign that Steve was kidding or pulling some kind of sick prank. But all Steve does is watch him back, eyes darting down to Eddie’s hand moving under the sheets.

“You – can you move the covers?” Steve asks, his voice pitched slightly higher than Eddie’s used to hearing. 

Eddie tries to push them down with his free hand, kicking with his feet to pull them down past his hips, but they just tangle and twist instead. And then Steve’s standing, crossing the short space between them and reaching out for the sheets. 

“Can I–?” 

Eddie nods, and Steve slides his fingers under the edge of the blanket. Steve’s knuckles brush against Eddie’s stomach and he can’t help but shiver at the sensation, thinking of where else he’d like Steve to touch him. 

The night air is cool after the heat that had built under the covers, and Steve kneels at the foot of the bed, still watching like he’s mesmerized. Eddie slows his movements, props himself up on one elbow. 

“Steve.”

Steve’s eyes snap up to his, pupils blown and mouth slack. 

“Just – fuck – c’mere,” Eddie whines, and Steve doesn’t hesitate. He darts forward, hovering over Eddie’s body, one hand cradling the side of Eddie’s head. 

Eddie surges up, kisses him hard and messy, and Steve dips down to meet him. Eddie feels a hand close over his own, tightening the grip and urging him on faster. 

“Jesus Christ, Eddie,” Steve pants against his lips, and Eddie thinks that his name in Steve’s mouth is the prettiest sound in the entire world.

Eddie can’t stop his hips from bucking up into both of their fists, desperate and aching. “Fuck, fuck, Steve… bite my neck?”

“What?”

“Bite my neck,” he repeats, dropping his head to the side to get his point across. 

Steve ducks down, licks and sucks and grazes his teeth along the sensitive skin there, but he doesn’t bite. And Eddie’s getting close. 

“You can… you can actually bite, like, with teeth,” Eddie manages, and that seems to do it, because the next thing he knows, he feels Steve’s teeth sink into the flesh of his neck, just beneath his ear, and his tongue sweeps over to soothe the marks no doubt left behind. 

Eddie slings his free arm around the back of Steve’s neck, holding him there, letting him nip and lave in turn until Eddie’s gripping the sheets and biting back a shout as he comes over both of their hands. 

“Shit,” Eddie breathes into Steve’s hair, arms drooping over the edge of the bed like wilted flowers. “Holy shit.”

“Shit,” Steve agrees. “You okay?”

“Fucking fantastic, actually. You?”

Steve laughs softly. “Pretty damn good. Sorry for waking you.”

“Oh, you are wholeheartedly forgiven,” Eddie says. Not that he was mad about it in the first place, but Steve doesn’t need to know that. 

“I’ll just, uh…” Steve stands and makes a move towards his own bed. Eddie catches his wrist. 

“You don’t like sleeping alone, right?” 

Steve shakes his head. 

“So sleep here. With me.”

– – –

SUNDAY

When Eddie wakes up, the sun is shining through the window, brightening the room. The sounds of voices and dishes drift in from the kitchen, along with the smell of bacon. His stomach grumbles. 

Eddie tosses on the first some-what clean clothes he can find, gathers his mess of frizzy curls up in a bun and heads out the door, ready to eat a frankly disgusting amount of breakfast. 

Robin’s parents are just rinsing their plates when he arrives, getting an early start out on a hike up the edge of the lake apparently. He slides into one of their vacated seats, grabs a plate and loads it with pancakes and bacon before dousing the whole lot in syrup. 

It isn’t until he shoves the first huge bite in his mouth that he realizes Robin and Nancy are staring at him bug-eyed and slack-jawed. 

“What?” he asks, through a mouthful of food. 

They both shake their heads frantically, Robin throwing a look at her parents who are busy discussing whether or not it might rain later. Steve shifts uncomfortably in his seat.

Everything is quiet apart from the sound of Eddie’s fork scraping on the plate and Mr and Mrs Buckley’s voices, until they tell them all they’ll be back in a couple hours and close the door behind them. 

“What the actual hell!”

“Jesus Christ, did you get attacked by a vampire?”

There’s an explosion of shouting from both Robin and Nancy, while Steve doubles over laughing. 

Eddie’s baffled. “Fuck are you talking about?” 

“Dude! Your neck!” Robin says, handing him a large metal spoon. 

He moves it around, trying to get the right angle, and finds a massive, distorted red and purple splotch on his neck. His eyes immediately fly to Steve, who is just managing to get his giggles under control. 

“Hey, man, don’t look at me. It was your idea,” he says, sipping some coffee from his mug. “I was just following orders.”

“Ew,” Robin says, pushing her plate away. “Way to ruin my appetite.”

“Bullshit, Buckley, you were done anyway.”

Eddie raps his knuckles on the wooden tabletop, drawing their attention back to him. “Uh, you’re all acting suspiciously cavalier about this.”

Robin and Nancy glance at each other. “We had a bet going,” Nancy says. “About how long it would be until it happened."

Eddie gapes at them, not even sorry that he still has some half-chewed pancakes in his mouth.

“I am gonna insist you cover that up before my parents get back, though,” Robin says. “I don’t wanna deal with their awkward questions about where you got it.”

“God, I hate you all,” Eddie says, piling more pancakes and bacon onto his plate. 

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Summary: Maverick loses a stupid bet to Ice, and then decides to follow his sword.

Tangled Up In You | 3,126 | CaptainStilinski

Summary: Mav stands to the side, arms crossed in frustration as he watches Ice, standing in the tub, fiddle with the damned thing, his own look of frustration peaking through. They were both trained to handle multi-million dollar machines and yet getting this showerhead to properly connect to Mav's shower was stumping them both. Mav sighed and uncrossed his arms, taking a step forward, “here let me try again Ice-” “No no, I think I got it…” Ice gave a sharp tug on the offending piece of equipment. CRACK

what a situation (a fella's in) | 3,341 | ropememory

Summary: There’s lots of answers Maverick could give–the idea’s hot, he wants to try it, why the hell not– but none of those are going to get Ice to agree, won’t help Ice understand the appeal. Shrugging, Maverick goes with a reason he fully expects to work. “I trust you.” Maverick would like to think Ice knows that by now, because he trusts Ice up in the air, trusts Ice enough with a relationship they have to keep secret–why wouldn’t he trust Ice with something like this, too?

Attitude Adjustment | 3,404 | thefourthvine

Summary: N/A

There is No End to the Others | 3,514 | aelibia / @topgunreacts

Summary: Maverick leaps through time on a mission, and lands himself right in another Iceman's lap.

almost unreal | 3,769 | zaskiaz / @zaskiaz

Summary: “‘M not cute,” he whispers, mock pouting. “I’m hot.” “Your glacial limbs would argue otherwise.”

(Just Like) Starting Over | 4,088 | Brenda / @brendaonao3

Summary: "Well?" Mav asks, after an awkward minute that feels like it lastedten. "You said you wanted to talk." Shit, this is harder than he'd expected. Mav's temper is usually a flash fire — quick to ignite, even quicker to burn out. He's not one to hold a grudge or go for the silent treatment. That had always been Tom's job. Well, it serves him right if the tables are turned. "I've missed you," Tom finally mutters, pressing his nails into his hands to keep himself from bolting for the car. He's got to start somewhere.

some invisible string tying you to me | 4,336 | quantumoddity / @mollymauk-teafleak

Summary: Maverick isn't used to being surprised by his wingman. But tonight, Ice asks him something that he's never asked before. And Maverick thinks he knows why.

further on the edge (hotter the intensity) | 4,433 | vinylflowers

Summary: The idea of being denied an orgasm wasn’t exactly appealing to Ice on its own, and he had really never wanted to explore it. But the idea of Maverick spread out on his bed, fingers clutching the sheets, crying and gasping and begging- Yeah, Ice could get behind that.

i like the sound of that | 4,470 | redwithlove

Summary: Ice comes across as stuck-up; he struts around with a stick up his ass, assured of his place as the top dog. There have been enough times where Maverick has butted heads with him and thought about sticking something else up his ass. And now that’s actually happening. Quite literally. Huh. Interesting how things play out.

you know that i caught it bad, boy | 4,931 | quantumoddity / @mollymauk-teafleak

Summary: Maverick and Iceman have, against all odds, kind of got things figured out. They're both instructors at Top Gun, spending their days bugging the hell out of each other and spending their nights loving each other. But it's the holidays and holidays mean family visits. Which means Maverick has to stay away from his boyfriend for a whole week. That goes predictably.

got me to blame | 4,946 | susiecarter / @susiecarter

Summary: For a second, getting in Sundown's face on the tarmac, it probably showed anyway. That he was already over the edge, clinging by his fingernails. That he needed something nobody was giving him. He hoped dimly for a minute that Sundown might shove him off, shove him off or even hit him. He wanted to be hit. He wanted to bleed. It wasn't going to be as much as Goose had bled. But it would be something. But Sundown didn't do it. He let Maverick walk away whole. Just like Viper, just like Charlie. Just like Carole. Just like the board of inquiry. Then, in the locker room after, there was Iceman.

Pulse | 6,298 | DeeEffGee

Summary: "It's not that you're dangerous, Maverick. It's that you have all the self control of a fucking child." Top Gun Kink Meme fill- Spanking.

Moving In Slow Motion | 7,516 | boasamishipper / @boasamishipper

Summary: Maverick never thought he’d actually like the nitty gritty details of working at TOPGUN — the lesson plans, the tests, the endless paperwork — but it grows on him over time. Viper’s even taken to giving Maverick these approving glances when he thinks Maverick’s not looking. He’s got a good thing going here. A year after that, in walks Iceman Kazansky, cool as can be, and Maverick starts to think that he might have a problem.

What You Don’t Know | 7,756 | chemm80

Summary: Maverick finds Iceman handcuffed to his bed. He has a hard time getting over it.

The Auction | 7,921 | ao3 / aelibia / @topgunreacts

Summary: There’s a raging boner in my pants tonight.

time to let go | 8,659 | AortaArgent / @aortaargent

Summary: Shifting on the seat, Maverick puts one hand to the top of his jeans and flicks the button open, passing his thumb over the hard metal edge and toying with his zipper idly. The boxers he’s wearing were a gift from Ice (and for Ice), ones with black mesh up the sides. Riding low on his hips, shimmery black waistband wide and elastic enough for him to tuck his thumb into it and make a good show of snapping it against his lower belly. Ice tilts the bottle up - eyes never leaving Mav’s open jeans - and takes a long drink before wiping his mouth with his thumb. “You’re gonna have to ask me if you want this to go anywhere, baby.”

if you're not asking (then i'm not telling) | 9,096 | StoriesofmyLife

Summary: Maverick should be paying attention to lecture, he knows this, but he can't seem to stop staring at Ice chewing on his pen cap. It shouldn't be as distracting as it was, but it is and Maverick can't help but wonder what those lips feel like.

Can It Be About Us | 11,345| Saturn / @icemav86

Summary: Is it that Mav and Ice need more privacy or just that they need to make better choices about when they get their hands on each other?

no brighter diamond | 12,404 | qin_ling / @qin-ling

Summary: Maverick is a star blazing across the sky, and Iceman would follow him to the ends of the earth.

The Next Step | 21,004 | thedevilchicken

Summary: When he takes a job as an instructor, Maverick has issues to deal with. Ice shouldn't be the one to help him.

Blackberry Pie | 21,181 | aelibia / @topgunreacts

Summary: After the Layton, Maverick returned to TOPGUN. Two weeks later, so did Ice.

the further on the edge, the hotter the intensity | 24,363 | StoriesofmyLife

Summary: Maverick wonders if it's always going to be like this--this burning want under his skin, the total awareness his body seems to have of Ice. The surge of want that always seems to grip him, even at the most inappropriate of times. He wonders if he's ever going to be able to be around Ice and function like a human being. Thankfully, Ice seems to have the same problem as Maverick.

Master Reclist · Personal Masterlist · Blog Nav.

[keira-kaz2y5]

I know no one will read this but omfg

So today I watched back to back 2 vry sad and hot lesbian romance movies (Tell It To The Bees then A Portrait of The Lady On Fire) and yes I balled my eyes out at both abortion scenes it was so sad and both ended bittersweet

So only for me to come on tumblr and find all this new context for 911 s7 so I scroll thru the #911 s7 tag and find some stuff about 100th episode, proceed to look it up and literally started crying out of happiness bc like wtffff

Abandon ‘Ships

Rock The Boat

Capsized

Buck, Bothered and Bewildered

You Don’t Know Me

.

.

Sit with that.

BUCK BOTHERED AND BEWILDERED

And I know in this they mean cruise ship but come on everyone knows a ship is relationship so abandon ships?? Abandon buddie ship? Abandon Buck and Natalia Eddie and marisol ships?? (Sorry if wrong names) rock the boat like buddie start to happen and they argue, capsize as something goes wrong like bad reaction to confession or something like that then Buck bothered and bewildered his sadness about unrequited love???? You Don’t Know Me buddie ends bad/starts beginning of canon??? THEN WE WAIT FOR 2 WEEKS?!?!

I think I’m actually going insane and I know so many tumblr blogs explain this much better but this is me freaking tf out 😆 I literally cried of happiness when I first saw the names earlier like esp after sad gayness the past few hours from them sad lesbian films :/ I was fr 🥹🥹

And I was so energized I went downstairs and played piano to Bewitched Bothered and Bewildered and omg the lyrics are so fucking sad I- ✋

[demons-and-demigods]

Demons and Demigods Part Twelve: Written Scene #7: The Storm

Sorry for the long wait, my darlings, but it is finally here! This part got a little away from me, I will admit. But! I had a lot of fun writing it (even though it took me so long) and I hope that y'all have fun reading it <3 Thank you for being patient with me, and I hope this part makes up for the wait (at least a little)! Now, enjoy 8.7k words of everyone getting a little fucked up 😈

A storm raged around them, violently rocking the boat as the wind and the waves savegely tore at them. Somehow, Jason managed to drag himself above deck to join the rest of his friends (save Hazel, who was busy trying not to hurl her guts out). He swept his gaze across the ship, trying to account for everyone. Leo had lashed himself to the control console with a bungee harness of some kind, Annabeth and Piper were trying to save the rigging, and the gorilla that Jason assumed to be Frank was trying to untangle some broken oars. Even Festus the dragon head was trying to help, spouting flames at the rain, though it did nothing to discourage the storm. 

The only person who seemed to be having any luck at all was Percy. Which, yeah, made sense and all, but it was still mind-boggling and more than a little disconcerting to see Percy standing there in the middle of the deck, completely dry and unbothered by the raging squall while everyone else was barely hanging on. 

It was mesmerizing, almost, to watch Percy. He stood with his eyes closed and arms outstretched to either side, palms up. When a wave crashed into the hull, Percy would tilt his head and another wave would rise up on the opposite side of the boat to level them out. He’d curl his fingers as a large wave bore down on them and an even larger wave would grow to swallow it up and stop it from reaching the deck. He jerked his chin, and the rigging Piper and Annabeth were working on righted itself. He flicked his wrist, and the broken oars gorilla-Frank had been trying to detangle went flying. 

Jason had the sudden realization that if not for Percy, the Argo II would have been capsized or smashed to bits almost immediately. It was not looking good for them.

Jason staggered his way toward the center mast, praying that he wouldn’t get knocked off his feet before he got there. Leo saw him and shouted, probably telling him to get back in bed or something, but it was impossible to hear over the storm. He just waved. 

Thankfully, he managed to reach the mast without being sent overboard by the violent rocking of the ship. Percy opened his eyes and grinned at him as soon as he got close, almost like he had somehow known that Jason was there. It was a little creepy, but Jason couldn’t care less. 

Percy was the only one who didn’t start treating him like fragile glass after his injury. Percy treated him just as he always had, seemingly trusting him to know his own limits, and Jason was beyond thankful for it. It made him feel less like he was on death row. 

Jason smiled back at the son of Poseidon and then made a frantic grab for the mast when the ship gave a sudden, particularly violent lurch. Though, to his surprise, Jason found himself rooted to the spot, unable to move. The ship lurched again but Jason remained right where he was. He tried to take a step only to find it impossible to move his leg. 

His limbs felt leaden, and he realized he couldn’t move at all. It wasn’t just his legs that had locked up, but his arms and head too. Jason panicked. What the fuck was happening to him? 

But then, just as suddenly as it had happened, it was over; the ship rocked again and Jason stumbled forward, no longer frozen in place. He latched onto the center mast, panting as he tried to make sense of what had just happened. 

He glanced at Percy and found the other demigod watching him with concern, though there was something else in his expression that Jason couldn’t quite figure out. (He shrugged that off, though. Ever since he and Annabeth had come back from the Pit, it wasn’t unusual to find Percy with an unreadable expression on his face and some strange emotion swirling behind his far away gaze. It was always disconcerting to see his usually grinning face wear such a tumultuous expression when he thought no one was looking. Jason didn’t know if anyone else had noticed, but he’d been allowed little else to do besides watching his friends. Shit, if Jason hadn’t been injured and practically put on bedrest by his girlfriend and best friend, he doubted that he would have noticed anything going on with Percy either.) 

Jason waved off Percy’s concern with a thumbs up and a shaky grin. Percy seemed to take that to mean that he was fine and started gesturing. 

“—THING . . . UNDER . . . STOP IT!” he shouted, though half his words were lost to the wind as he pointed over the side of the boat. 

Jason cocked an eyebrow at him and gestured vaguely at his ears. I can’t hear you, he mouthed. 

Percy huffed and rolled his eyes. He pointed first to himself then to Jason, and then over the side of the ship again. He mimed diving into the water and pointed at the two of them again. 

Jason tried to convey ‘You want me to go with you? Are you sure?’ and ‘I can’t breathe underwater, dude’ with his expression. 

Percy rolled his eyes again and pointed at the storm clouds roiling above them, then took a running leap and dived overboard. 

Jason looked up to see Piper and Annabeth giving him matching ‘Are you crazy?’ looks, to which he just smiled and shrugged. He turned his attention to the storm and his eyes widened as he sensed angry venti swirling around up there. How the fuck had Percy known they were up there before he did? 

Whatever, that would be a question for another time. Right now, he needed to find a way to follow Percy. 

Jason stretched out his arm and imagined his will as a rope of wind, flinging it into the swirling mob of venti. He sought out the nastiest ventus he could find and snared it with his wind rope, tugging it down to form a cocoon around him as he jumped into the water. 

Immediately, he was surrounded by an eerie silence, his own breathing nearly deafening in comparison. It sent a shiver down his spine, but he forced himself to focus on the task at hand. 

He scanned the water around him through the filter of his personal cyclone. (Which, thankfully, allowed him to breathe. The air smelled strongly of ozone and the ventus was definitely not happy with the arrangement, but at least it was breathable air and Jason was strong enough to force the wind spirit to remain in place.) There was something about the ocean that had always set Jason on edge, more than the Roman’s hatred of it and his father’s rivalry with Neptune. 

It was similar enough to the sky, Jason supposed, in that they both stretched as far as the eye could see. But the sky had nothing to hide. Even full of clouds, nothing could remain obscured in the sky for long. The ocean, however, Jason shuddered. There was so much they didn’t know about it, more than just mythological beings and creatures evaded the notice of everyone who sought to know the oceans. So much was still unknown and unexplored, and the light only reached so little. 

Anything could be lurking in the depths of the oceans. Anything could be waiting just out of sight, hidden by the cloying darkness of deeper waters. 

In the sky, Jason felt secure, always aware of everything around him, cocooned in a blanket of wind and air. But underwater, Jason felt horribly exposed. His senses couldn’t expand into the area around him like they could in the sky, and he couldn’t sense let alone see all of his blind spots at all times. He was just out in the open, unprotected and unprepared; he would have no clue if something snuck up behind him, no time to react if something came hurtling out of the dark to attack him. 

Thalassophobia, Jason thought he’d heard it called before: the fear of large bodies of open water; although ‘fear’ didn’t feel like the right word, didn’t quite cover the absolute terror that gnawed on his bones. 

And here, floating in the middle of nowhere in the open ocean in his little personal tornado of lassoed air, a violent storm raging on the surface above him and who knows what waiting who knows how far below him. 

With nothing but dark, gloomy water surrounding him, Jason was terrified. 

But then, he spotted Percy. 

The son of Poseidon hung suspended in the dark water, illuminated only by the soft bronze glow of his sword. His long, inky black hair seemed to leach the light out of the water surrounding him as it floated around his head like a dark halo, dancing in some imperceptible current. His outline flickered, his form broken in places and replaced by dark, writhing masses of tentacles and stark, bony protrusions. He looked both unimaginably large, as ancient as the oceans themselves and just as monstrous, and like his skin was stretched too thin over bones that were too long with edges too sharp to be wholly human. He was dark and all-encompassing, filling the water with an inescapable presence, yet he was also pale and haunting, skin near translucent as it gave off an eerie glow. 

His body was threatening to rip apart at the seams, unable to contain the esoteric power lurking just beneath the surface. An arcane aura leaked from his ruptured mortal form, permeating the ocean around him and filling Jason’s mind with static. 

The eldritch creature playing at mortality turned its head to look at him and Jason realized that he had never felt true terror until that moment. Its face was that of nightmares; it had no lips, just thin, bloody ribbons of flesh stretched too far across a dark, gaping maw filled with rows and rows of razor-sharp serrated teeth. Its eyes were unsettlingly vivid, as though the saturation of the creature’s eyes had been dialed up to eleven, swirling blue-green voids that lacked sclera and pupils. Within those effervescent eyes, Jason swore he could see all the world’s oceans at once; raging storms and roaring waves, plunging trenches and abyssal depths dark enough to drive one mad. 

Its very presence emanated a dissonant, distorted screeching that Jason could feel vibrating through his bones, filling the surrounding water with static. Jason thought his eardrums might burst with the intensity of the high-pitched ringing and feared his insides might liquify from the infra- and ultrasonic frequencies he could feel quivering through his flesh and bones. 

Jason felt his mind begin to fracture as he stared at the being before him, pressure built behind his eyes and limbs seemed to have turned to jelly. He knew he needed to look away before his mortal body exploded or something, but he was powerless to make himself move, trapped in the vortex of its aura. He felt drawn to the creature, unable to bring himself to avert his gaze. He had no control over his body, locked in place by the deity’s whirlpool eyes. 

A scream built in his throat, but he had no breath with which to voice it. He teetered on the brink of madness, but he had nothing to grasp at to pull himself away from the edge. Something in the back of his mind screamed at him, but he couldn’t hear it over the static filling his head. He wanted to claw at his ears until it stopped and left him in blissful silence, he wanted to scratch out his eyes to relieve the pressure that had made a home behind them, he wanted to tear himself open to assure himself that the pounding in his chest was that of his still-beating heart and not some vestigial part of the monster looming before him. He needed to fill the yawning, cavernous void that had taken up residence in the place where his lungs should have been. 

His blood moved sluggishly through his veins where they burned beneath his skin. He was coming apart, his atoms threatening to fly apart, on the verge of disintegrating. He was nothing more than a tiny pest to this primordial of the seas, barely worth the effort it took this eldritch horror to kill him. His being was infinitesimal in comparison to this primeval monster, little more than a speck of dust floating through its waters. This was all the waters of the earth given form, and it was enraged at their treatment. And in that moment, he knew. 

He was going to die. 

Then, everything snapped back into place and Jason gasped. 

Air, sweet, ozone-scented air, filled his lungs and Jason could have cried. He clutched his chest and heaved frantic breaths into his aching lungs. He looked up and saw Percy hovering in front of him with a worried expression on his now normal-looking face. Jason’s heart pounded in his chest as he searched Percy’s face for any trace of the Lovecraftian nightmare that had been clawing its way out of his skin just moments before. 

“Jason, hey, are you alright, dude? You with me?” Percy said, though Jason had no idea how he could hear him so clearly under the water. He nodded slowly and ignored Percy’s puzzled look. 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m good, man. Sorry, just not a fan of the open ocean I guess,” Jason said and tried to laugh it off. 

Percy’s eyes narrowed, his gaze intense and searching, boring into Jason’s soul as though he could pluck the truth from Jason’s psyche if he stared long enough. Thankfully, though, before Jason could buckle under the strength of Percy’s gaze, a beam of bright green light split the darkness in front of them like a spotlight before it disappeared, coming from the depths of the chasm Percy had been hovering over the edge of. 

Percy snapped his head around to stare over his shoulder with narrowed eyes. “I was waiting for you before going to check it out, but I’d bet that whatever is causing this storm, is also the source of that light,” he said, glancing back at Jason. “Come on, let’s go.” 

As they sank deeper and deeper into the chasm and fell further and further away from the sun, Jason couldn’t shake the horrifying vision from his mind or the sense of unease in his stomach. It grew darker and darker until the only light came from Percy’s sword. 

Though, if Jason looked too long at his friend, he could swear that Percy began to glow too; an eerie, pale blue light seemed to emanate from strange markings on his skin, as though he was bioluminescent or something. A handful of his scars shed golden light into the water as his eyes illuminated the way ahead of them like headlights. It was fucking creepy, Jason thought, if kinda fascinating. (He wondered if Percy knew that he glowed, if Annabeth knew. He wondered if Percy only became bioluminescent underwater, or if he would light up in a dark room, too. Despite his curiosity, though, Jason couldn’t bring himself to say anything to the other demigod, the image of the savage creature tenuously caged beneath his skin still too fresh on Jason’s mind.) 

Eventually, the water began to lighten around them, and Jason saw the glowing ruins of a palace or something appear out of the dark haze before them. As they drifted toward the remains of a partially collapsed dome, Jason stared around the ruins with wide-eyed amazement. 

“What do you think this place was?” Jason asked reverently, yearning to reach out and run his fingers along the crumbling structures but unwilling to risk breaching his ventus cocoon just yet to do so. “Atlantis?” 

Percy snorted and waved a hand dismissively. “Nah, Atlantis is just a myth.” 

Jason squinted at his friend. “Uh, don’t we literally deal with myths like, everyday? Aren’t we technically a myth ourselves?” 

Percy rolled his eyes and stuck out his tongue. “You know what I mean, dude. Atlantis is a made-up myth, not, like, an actually true myth. Plus, Plato never intended anyone to believe in Atlantis, it was only ever meant to be a parable, to serve as an allegory to the hubris of nations and a cautionary tale warning against its dangers.” He shrugged. “All that flew over a lot of people’s heads though, and the original purpose of the Lost City of Atlantis was overshadowed by a bunch of idiots and their desire to find a place that was never real.” 

Jason gave Percy an incredulous, wide-eyed stare. 

“What?” Percy asked, defensive. “My mom is a published author, my stepdad is an English Lit teacher, and I’m dating Annabeth who loves ancient Greek philosophers and playwrights. I pick up a thing a two.” 

Jason often forgot that Percy was a lot smarter than most people gave him credit for, and he was pretty sure that was something Percy did on purpose. It was something he’d noticed about the son of Poseidon before, but he played the part of ‘dorky fool’ so well that it was nearly impossible not to fall for the act. Though he was never sure if it was an act that Percy himself actually believed or not. 

But rather than bring that up right then, Jason just shrugged and held his hands up in surrender. “Fair enough, Jackson,” he laughed. “But if not Atlantis, then what was it?” 

“I don’t know,” Percy said, face scrunched up in concentration. “But it feels familiar, like I’ve been here before or something . . .” he trailed off, leaning in to study some markings carved into the domed roof in front of them. 

“Maybe you have,” Jason said playfully. “Maybe you saw it in one of your weird-ass dreams; I’ve been told that they’re a lot more intense and prophetic than the average demigod’s.” 

“Oh, shut up, Grace,” Percy snarked back. “My dreams suck ass, but they’re not anything special. Besides, I always remember my dreams. This is something else.” He reached up to ghost his fingers over one of the markings. 

Then, that brilliant green spotlight flashed directly beneath them, blinding Jason for a moment. 

He dropped like a stone until his feet hit what felt like solid marble. When he finally managed to blink the spots from his eyes, he realized that they’d found the source of the storm. 

An ethereal woman in a flowing green dress cinched at her waist with a belt of abalone shells hovered before them. She had to have been close to twenty feet tall, though she shrank to something closer to ten at their startled entrance. Her skin was a soft, luminous white, mirroring the fields of algae covering the underwater ruins. Her hair fell across her shoulders in gossamer strands reminiscent of jellyfish tentacles, some swaying as though caught in a gentle current. Her face was as haunting as it was beautiful; her eyes too bright, her features too delicate, and her smile too cold, as though she’d studied human behavior but hadn’t quite managed to master replicating it. 

Before her stood a tall, marble pedestal, atop which rested a large, mirrored disk. Her long, slender fingers danced along its edge before she sent it spinning, and the green light cut through the water again. The water churned, shaking the palace ruins. Shards of stone from the domed ceiling broke off and slowly sank down to settle on the marble floor. 

“You’re causing the storm,” Jason said, careful to keep the accusation from his voice. 

The woman laughed, a sharp, violent sound like the crashing of waves. “That I am,” she said. Her voice was melodious, though it had a strange resonance, one that reminded him of the horrible ringing sound the creature clawing its way free of Percy’s form had emanated, like it extended beyond the range humans had the ability to process. That same, static pressure built up behind Jason’s eyes and his sinuses threatened to explode. 

Percy, both thankfully and annoyingly, appeared unaffected. He just tilted his head and squinted at her. “I’ll bite,” he said, and Jason saw a flash of that dark, gaping maw full of razor-sharp fangs. “Who are you and what the fuck do you want?” 

A manic glee sparked in the woman’s eyes and her smile sharpened, sending an involuntary shiver down Jason’s spine. “Why, I am your sister, Percy Jackson. And I wanted the chance to meet you before you die.” 

Percy tilted his head and squinted at the goddess. Jason tried to resist the urge to reach up and massage his sinuses which still felt like they were about to explode. 

Percy hummed and crossed his arms. “Y’know, I’m not super well-versed in mythology involving Dad, so I’m not sure who all my godly siblings are, but . . .” he gave the goddess a long, considering look before he nodded. “I’m gonna take a wild guess here and say you’re Kymopoleia, goddess of violent sea storms if I remember correctly?” 

The goddess’s eyes widened slightly in shock. “Most have never heard of me, little brother. I am surprised, yet none-the-less pleased that you do know me.” 

Percy shrugged. “At some point after I accidentally blew up Mount St. Helens—” 

Jason choked on air and started coughing. “After you what?” he asked incredulously, but Percy and Kymopoleia ignored him and continued on as though he hadn’t said anything. 

“—I’m pretty sure I heard Dad mutter something under his breath like, ‘I pray you never meet Kymopoleia,’ and I got curious, so I looked into the name.” He shrugged again. “Oh, and I’m just gonna call you Kym. Kymopoleia is a bit of a struggle and also it takes too long.” 

Jason watched the interaction carefully. Percy spoke so casually to the goddess it kind of freaked Jason out. But he’d heard enough stories to know that it was common practice for the son of Poseidon to be so irreverent. 

For her part, Kym appeared amused rather than angry at least. 

“I’ll consider it an honor to get a Perseus Jackson nickname before you die,” she said with another spin of her disk. 

“I don’t suppose catching our ship in your massive storm was an accident, was it?” Percy asked with a resigned sigh. 

“No, no it was not,” she said. 

“And there’s no chance that you’ll cut it out if we ask nicely?” 

“Not a one. Though I am rather impressed that your ship has held together this long; excellent workmanship.” 

Sparks flew along Jason’s arms and into his ventus tornado. He thought about Piper and Leo, Annabeth and Frank and Hazel up there frantically fighting to survive the storm. He and Percy had left them defenseless up there. They had to end this and they had to end it soon. 

“My Lady,” Jason broke in before Percy could say anything to potentially aggravate the goddess, “Is there anything we can do to get you to change your mind and let us get on our way?” 

Kym turned her faintly glowing eyes to him and tilted her head. “Son of Jupiter,” she said dryly. “Do you know where we are? What this place once was?” 

“Uh,” he said, glancing at the crumbling structure around them. “These ruins? Uh, maybe it was a palace at some point?” 

Percy snapped his fingers. “That’s it!” he exclaimed. “Dad’s new place in the Atlantic looks pretty similar to this. Last I was over there, it was almost done.” 

Jason gave Percy an incredulous look. He’d actually been to his father’s domain? To his palace? What the fuck was with this guy and the gods? 

Kym made a frustrated noise and crossed her arms. “I wouldn’t know,” she huffed. “I’m not allowed in our father’s court. He finds my presence disruptive,” she hissed, and gave her storm-disk a harsh spin. 

“I can’t imagine why.” Jason gave her a skeptical look as the ruins shook and more pieces fell slowly through the water around them. 

“I know!” she threw her hands up in exasperation. “I am an absolute delight to be around! I’m certainly better company than my total bore of a brother Triton,” she pouted and crossed her arms again. 

“Ugh, definitely!” Percy agreed. “I’ve met Triton and honestly, he’s such a pain in the ass!” 

Kym smiled. “Finally!” she said. “Someone who sees sense! He is such a πομπώδης μαλάκας!” 

Whatever that last thing meant, Jason had no idea as the Ancient Greek didn’t come to him, but he could only assume it was some kind of insult because Percy laughed. 

“Exactly! He never shuts up! He’s all ‘I am Father’s heir’ and ‘Father only likes you because you’re useful’ and it’s just like, ‘look, you absolute douche-nozzle, you’re both immortal! You’re not gonna inherit shit, ass-wipe,’ I mean, honestly!” Percy said, presumably mimicking Triton with comically furrowed brows and a fierce scowl, his chest puffed up and chin raised to look down his nose at an imaginary person. 

Kym burst into giggles (which reminded Jason of the clicks and whistles of dolphins). “Oh my—He sounds just like that!” she said, doubling over and clutching her stomach as she laughed. “Oh, that is just perfect,” she snickered. “I can see why Father hoped we might never meet, Perseus. You and I would have gotten along splendidly.” 

“Just Percy, please,” Percy said with a playful bow. “Only my enemies call me Perseus and I’d really prefer if I didn’t have to fight you.” 

Kym let out a dramatic sigh. “I don’t want to fight you either, little brother,” she said. “Unfortunately, Gaea really wants your blood, and she’s made me a wonderful offer that I just couldn’t refuse.” she shrugged and flashed a shark-like smile. “Gaea will allow me to wreak whatever havoc I please once she has risen so long as I help her and her children destroy the gods.” 

Jason tensed as the water around them seemed to shudder, he saw Percy do the same. He pulled his gold coin from his pocket and flipped it to summon his sword. 

“Now, I believe there’s someone here who is just dying to see you again, Percy. I do hope you can forgive me.” Kym gave them a faux-apologetic look. 

“PERSEUS JACKSON!” a thunderous voice boomed, sending ripples through the water and making the ruins tremble. 

Percy’s face twisted into a dark, angry scowl. 

“Do you know who that is?” Jason asked, tightening his grip on his sword. 

“Polybotes,” Percy snarled. “The anti-Poseidon. I’ve already killed him once; I guess he really wants a rematch.” 

Just then, the Giant rounded a corner ahead of them and Jason barely stopped a disgusted noise from escaping him. He’d thought the other Giants he’d met had been ugly, but Polybotes might just take the cake. 

Even underwater, the guy managed to look greasy and oily, like he had never heard of a shower before. He was absolutely massive, towering close to thirty feet or more in height if Jason had to guess. Like all Giants, he had scaled reptilian legs. His hair hung like shriveled up seaweed around his face. His skin was a murky blue, like the color of poluted water. His eyes were sharp and cruel as a hungry smirk spread across his harsh, mottled face. When he shook his head, basilisks fell from his hair and began circling in the water, hissing and letting out little bursts of flame. 

“I hunted you through Tartarus, son of Poseidon, and you managed to escape me then, but there will be no escape for you now!” Polybotes laughed cruelly. 

Percy snorted and raised his sword. “I killed you before with only a river to lend me strength; what makes you think you stand a chance against me here in mY dOmAIn?” Percy snarled, lips curled up in an equally cruel grin. His voice reverberated through the water the same way that eerie ringing that emanated from that creature hiding beneath his skin had. It shuddered through Jason’s bones and the pressure that had finally begun to fade from his sinuses returned with a vengeance. 

Polybotes barked out a laugh. “HA! Whether you are stronger here or not, little demigod, you cannot kill me without the aid of a god. And there are no gods here willing to aid you, sea scum.” 

Percy’s grin turned sharp and deadly as his form seemed to ripple, the monstrous horror lurking within his flesh straining at the seams to get free. “WHaT maKeS YOu tHiNk I NEeD a gOd?” 

He lunged. 

A few of the basilisks hurled themselves at him, but Percy turned them to dust with one sweep of his sword. Polybotes swung his trident through the water and left an arc of some thick, oily looking substance in its wake. 

Percy barreled right through it without slowing down and the smug look on the Giant’s face turned to shock then indignance before settling on rage. 

“I will torture you under the sea! Each day the water will heal you, and each day you will suffer worse than the last! I will bring you to the brink of death and beyond the edge of mortal agony until you beg for me to kill you, until I have reduced you to nothing more than a quivering mass of flesh desperate to die.” Polybotes snarled. “But you will only know the relief of death when your blood is drained from your wretched body to awaken the Earth Mother. You will die with the knowledge that your last act has brought about the violent end of everyone you love.” 

By then, Percy was on top of the Giant, fighting like a man possessed. He growled low in his throat and swung his sword in a vicious arc, leaving a deep gash on the Giant’s leg when he was too slow to block the attack. 

Polybotes howled and swung his trident. It slammed into Percy’s chest and sent him hurtling through the water to crash through a wall. He recovered quickly enough and shot towards the Giant, spearing through the water faster than Jason could track. Sword met trident and when their weapons clashed it sent a shockwave through the water. 

Jason gripped his own sword tightly and prepared to jump into the fight to help his friend, but before he could do so, the remaining basilisks zeroed in on him. The poisonous, fire-breathing snakes circled around him, hissing and snapping at him. Anytime one of them got too close, Jason managed to cut off its head. But the serpents grew bolder, swimming closer and closer to him. They stopped attacking one at a time and tried to rush him. 

Jason closed his eyes, sent up a prayer that he wouldn’t fry Percy, himself, or Kym, and lifted his sword toward the sky. He called down brilliant arcs of lightning and let out a breath of relief as they struck the dozen basilisks swarming around him. The snakes went belly up in the water before crumbling to dust. 

Percy and Polybotes continued their death match. Percy seemed to be doing just fine, ruthlessly attacking the Giant, slicing and stabbing relentlessly; but Jason could see the smoke curling off his skin as it blistered and sizzled. Whatever substance had spread from the Giant’s trident, some sort of poison or acid if Jason had to guess, was affecting his friend. And despite Percy’s, frankly unnerving, claim, Jason knew he’d need a god to kill Polybotes and there was only one available to them at the moment. 

Jason turned to Kymopoleia. She was watching Percy and Polybotes fight with a fascinated look on her face, totally enraptured by the carnage her half-brother gleefully unleashed on Poseidon’s Bane. 

“Kym,” he said, “What if I make you a better offer than Gaea did?” 

The goddess hardly acknowledged him, merely letting out a noncommittal hum. 

“She promised that you could cause raging storms to your heart’s content, but Gaea and the Giants are going to kill every mortal and demigod, wipe them off the face of the earth. What good is it to finally be able to ravage coastlines and annihilate shorelines when there’s no one left to cower and tremble in fear of you?” he cajoled her. 

“I do like cowering,” she said absently, not tearing her eyes from where Percy had dropped his sword and begun to cave the Giant’s face in with his fists. Jason winced at the sharp, resounding crack of Percy breaking Polybotes’ nose. 

“Yes! If Gaea and the Giants win, no one will be left for you to terrorize! If you help us, I-I'll make sure you are worshiped! I’ll build you a temple at each camp and-and I’ll do the same for all the gods and goddesses pushed aside by the Olympians,” he said frantically, watching Polybotes slam Percy to the ground with one massive hand wrapped around his torso, no doubt crushing his ribs. He winced when Percy let out a strangled cry of pain and turned desperately back to Kymopoleia to try and gauge her emotions on his offer. 

“Polybotes, does Gaea have a counteroffer?” she called to the Giant, face impassive. 

Polybotes turned his head to give her an incredulous look. “Counteroffer?” he sputtered indignantly. “Mother Earth does not need to make a counteroffer to the inane ramblings of a puny half-blood! She is offering you unfettered control of the seas! You will be allowed to let your storms rage to your heart’s content!” he said, affronted. 

“Yes, but will there be demigods or mortals or really anyone left to cower in the face of my storms or worship me in hopes of appeasing my wrath? Will I get my own action figure?” Kym said evenly, raising an eyebrow and looking down to inspect her nails which Jason only just noticed were colored a pale, florescent pink. 

“Well, no, bu—” Polybotes started, only to cut himself off with a cry of pain when Percy managed to free himself from the Giant’s grip by maneuvering his pen out of his pocket and uncapping it so that the blade of his sword sprung out and impaled itself right through Polybotes’ palm. The Giant snatched his hand back to cradle against his chest and Percy lunged after him with a feral snarl. 

Percy moved so quickly, Jason was barely able to piece together what happened. The son of Poseidon reached out and it was like the water solidified into an extension of his will, yanking his sword from Polybotes’ hand and meeting it halfway. He wrapped his hand around the hilt and shot straight for the Giant’s face. He plunged the bronze blade down and buried it to the hilt in one of Polybotes’ acid green eyes. 

The Giant howled in pain and Percy yanked his sword free, quickly backing away as Polybotes reached up to clap his hands over his bleeding eye. 

“You will pay for that, half-blood sum!” he roared. 

Golden ichor wept from his numerous wounds, seeping steadily between his fingers from his damaged eye and the hole in his palm. It saturated the water, hovering in shimmering globules. The Giant stared Percy down with his one good eye, pure hatred simmering behind his gaze. 

“Please,” Jason pleaded with Kym. “Only a god and a demigod working together can kill a Giant. Please, help Percy finish him off before it’s too late!” 

Kymopoleia merely shook her head, lips spreading in a feral grin as that spark of manic glee glinted in her eyes again. She cackled, a sound like cracking stone being split apart by an enormous earthquake, and it sent a shiver down Jason’s spine. 

“I do believe my little brother would beg to differ, Jason Grace,” she said, tone carrying a hint of that unhinged, feral excitement he could see spread across her features. 

Jason whipped his head around to stare in horrified fascination as all the ichor in the water began to flow in one direction, condensing into one quivering golden orb. Ichor seemed to flow from Polybotes’ wounds faster than it should have, like it was being pulled from his veins in thick rivers of divine blood, drawn towards the glittering ball. Polybotes sank through the water, hitting the sandy floor with a dull thud as his knees gave out on him. His hands fell from his face, as though he no longer had the strength to hold them there. Jason could see as the color leeched from him, seeping away with the ichor as it fled his body. Polybotes seemed unable to move, frozen in place where he knelt. 

The temperature of the water dropped several degrees and Jason shivered. 

“Wh-what is this?” Polybotes bellowed, feigning outrage, but the undercurrent of fear in his voice gave away how scared he truly was. He stared at Percy, one good eye wide and afraid. 

Jason turned to his friend. At first, he thought it was just a reflection of all the ichor in the water. But then, Jason came to the terrifying realization; it wasn’t a mere reflection. Percy’s eyes glowed a vivid gold, the same color as the ichor he was draining from the Giant’s veins. 

His face was dark, his features standing out sharp and cruel as he appeared to loom over Polybotes. That monstrous, ancient nightmare slipped through the seams of Percy’s flesh, leeching away all light until all that was left was the eerie glow of Percy’s golden eyes. 

His teeth flashed in the dark, long and curved, reminding Jason of the Cheshire cat’s grin. Jason swore that he could see things moving in the dark; massive, undulating limbs and sharp, ghoulish protrusions. Bones that snapped and cracked as they moved, gnashing teeth and glowing eyes where they didn’t belong. 

“YOu sAy tHat yOu FOLlowEd mE THrouGh tARtArUs, aNd yEt YoU HAvE nO iDeA WHaT i lEaRNeD tO DO dOwN THerE, whAT I wAS fORcED tO PIcK uP IN oRdER tO sUrvIVe?” Percy barked out a cruel laugh as his voice seemed to be coming from everywhere at once, sending tremors through the ocean floor. It was so deep, Jason could feel it vibrating through his bones and hollowing out his chest. Yet it was also so high, it sent his ears ringing and made his head feel like it was about to explode. 

Jason recalled the time he had been too slow to close his eyes and had, for just a moment, witnessed Juno’s true form. That had felt like he was on fire, like his skin was about to slough off his bones as his eyes melted out of his skull. It had felt like his cells were imploding and withering away into ash. 

But this— 

This felt like drowning on dry land; it was like he was being ripped apart from the inside out, his lungs had disappeared and the hollowness that had forced itself into the space where his heart should have beat was slowly filling with water. His mind was being pulled into a black hole, fraying at the edges and threatening to tear apart at the center. His eyes were being pushed from their sockets to make room for steadily mounting pressure building in his skull. He could feel water bubbling up his throat, choking him, forcing its way out between his lips and flooding into every empty space it could find. Water began to leak from his nose where it had filled his sinuses, began to stream from his empty eye sockets and gush from his busted eardrums. His mouth fell open in a silent scream, his voice lost to the torrent of water that eroded blood and bone until all that remained was a flimsy shell of decayed and rotting flesh. 

He swore he could hear a roaring, but that made no sense as he had to have gone deaf with the water pouring from his ears. Pressure built and built and built past the point of unbearable. 

There was a primal, agonized roar followed by an ear-splitting pop. And then: blissful silence. 

Calm swept over him like a warm breeze, and he felt like he was being wrapped in a silky blanket. He sighed and let himself sag into the gentle hands wrapping the blanket around him. He soaked in the quiet, peaceful moment languidly. After a moment, he slowly opened his eyes and immediately flailed around. 

Jason let out a rather undignified squawk and scrambled to pull away from Kymopoleia, who was looking down at him with an amused expression. The silky blanket he thought he’d been wrapped in was actually a gauzy, membranous shawl the goddess had pulled from her own shoulders and the gentle hands had been hers as well. He noticed with a start that his ventus shield had disappeared and slapped a hand over his mouth and nose as he instinctively gasped. 

Only when he heard Kym chuckle did he finally realize that he was, in fact, breathing and not drowning due to a bubble of air surrounding his head and neck like a diving helmet. 

He glanced to the side and saw Percy watching him with a worried frown, wringing his hands together. Jason returned his wide-eyed stare to the goddess and continued to gape for a moment. 

Eventually, Jason shook his head in an attempt to clear it and gulped, biting his lip as his gaze flit between Percy and Kym, both watching him quietly, one with concern and the other with bemusement. 

“Uh,” he said eloquently. “What, um, what happened?” 

Percy ducked his head and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, but before he could say anything, Kym spoke up. 

“Nothing you need to worry about, Pontifex. Polybotes is dead. And I have decided to accept your offer.” Kym looked down at him smugly and for a moment, Jason was confused. 

Offer? What offer? And—had she called him Pontifex? What was that abou— 

Oh. Right. He had offered to build shrines to all the minor deities and make sure they were all worshiped. (And—was he remembering right?—I also promised Kym an action figure, I think? What the fuck, Jason thought.) 

“Oh, uh, awesome. Thank you,” he said somewhat falteringly. 

“I expect a truly magnificent action figure, Jason Grace,” she said. “One of those articulated ones and it had better reflect my stunning beauty. I’d be happy to visit and model for reference.” Kym’s smile didn’t quite reach her eyes and Jason fought the urge to fidget. 

“O-of course,” he stuttered, and honestly, what the hell are you supposed to say to that? Cut him some slack, it’s a weird ass situation he has found himself in. 

“Wonderful,” Kym said, and turned to Percy, making Jason look at his friend too. 

Percy was wringing his hands nervously and biting his lip, gaze flitting around like he couldn’t bring himself to look at them. Jason frowned. He was about to ask Percy what was wrong when Kym spoke up again. 

“It was wonderful to meet you, little brother. I look forward to getting to know you better if you survive this war. I believe we could have much fun together.” She reached out and ruffled Percy’s hair with a laugh when he swatted her hand away. 

Percy gave Kym a small smile in return but still didn’t quite meet her eyes. He turned to Jason, expression tensing a little. 

“We should probably get back,” he said, gesturing vaguely upward. “Now that the storm’s stopped, before everyone starts worrying about us too much. If we’re not back soon, Annabeth will probably jump overboard to come looking for me.” he shrugged. He was still avoiding Jason’s gaze, and it looked like his skin was still smoking in places. 

Before Jason could say anything about that, Percy said, “Come on,” and shot toward the surface. 

He turned his startled gaze to Kymopoleia, wanting to ask her for more answers. She must have seen it in his eyes because she gave him a melancholic smile. 

“Percy is far more powerful than he likes to let on, Pontifex,” she said, reaching out to place a hand on his shoulder. “He has more power than a demigod should, and I believe that he is finding it harder and harder to control. Both he and Polybotes mentioned him having walked through Tartarus. I imagine something happened down there to push him over the edge.” She glanced upward, tracking Percy’s receding form through the water for a moment before continuing. “My brother is an impossibly good person, Jason Grace.” she fixed him with an eerie, unwavering stare, her overly bright eyes flashing. “But there is something damaged in him, something that broke down in that Pit. He has crossed a line that he cannot come back from even if he wanted to. I’ve heard that his fatal flaw is loyalty, so you have no need to fear him, nor do any of your friends. But remain wary, son of Jupiter, else you get caught in the crossfire of his rage.” 

With that final, ominous warning, Kymopoleia disappeared in a whirl of bubbles and froth, leaving Jason to slowly begin the long swim back to the surface. When he finally reached the opening of the trench, he found Percy waiting for him, floating peacefully in the water. 

Jason swam up beside him and waited quietly for what Percy would say. 

After a moment, Percy twisted his head to face him. “Sorry for leaving you behind like that,” he said. “I forgot you didn’t have your personal tornado to help you keep up,” he joked half-heartedly and gave Jason a weak smile. 

“It’s alright,” Jason said, smiling back. “I wanted to say goodbye to Kym first, and you seemed like you really needed to get out of there.” 

Percy sighed. “Yeah, I did.” he crossed his arms and hunched his shoulders, drawing in on himself slightly. “Speaking of Kym, what’s the deal with the action figure she mentioned? And why did she call you a car?” 

Jason snorted. “Not Pontiac, Pontifex. The Romans used to have someone called the Pontifex Maximus, a high priest who took care of the gods’ temples, made sure they were all recognized and worshiped, given proper offerings and things like that. While you were fighting Polybotes I made Kym an offer, to try and convince her to stop the storm and help you kill him. I promised to make sure temples were built for all the gods deemed ‘less important’ than the Olympians. The action figure idea just kinda happened? I don’t really know where it came from. I was kinda frantic, just saying whatever came to mind that I thought might sway her.” he shrugged. “You were holding your own just fine, but you looked to be in rough shape, too. Whatever that stuff Polybotes created that you swam through was, your skin was sizzling. You’re still smoking a little, too, by the way.” 

Percy glanced down at his arms, tilting his head at the new, quickly forming burn-like scars there. “Yeah, it was some kind of acid, I think. It hurt like a bitch, and definitely didn’t help my lungs any.” he shrugged and uncrossed his arms. “But I’ll be fine. The water’s already taken care of the worst of it; a little nectar or ambrosia and I’ll be all healed with a few more scars to add to the collection.” 

Percy rolled his shoulders and straightened, glancing up where Jason could see the shadow of the Argo II floating in the water above them. “Now come on,” Percy said. “I think Piper and Annabeth are getting ready to jump overboard.” 

Jason laughed, letting the topic change slide. If Percy didn’t want to talk about what had really happened with Polybotes, Jason wouldn’t force it. He just hoped Percy knew that he could come to him. Their fathers may have a rivalry to end all rivalries, but he didn’t want that for him and Percy. 

This time, as they rose through the water, Percy propelled Jason up alongside him. As soon as their heads broke the surface, Jason saw Annabeth getting ready to swing herself over the railing and drop into the water with Piper barely half a step behind her. 

“Percy!” Annabeth called when she spotted them, proceeding to dive off the ship. Jason raised his arms to shield his face as she hit the water with a truly impressive splash. Percy just laughed and swept her into his arms, lifting her half out of the water and spinning around. Annabeth laughed in delight as Percy threw himself backwards and they sank just under the surface. 

Jason wasn’t worried, though, having learned about Percy’s little air bubble trick, and instead began to paddle his way towards the rope ladder Piper had tossed over the side of the ship. 

When he finally swung up and over the railing, planting his feet on the blessedly solid deck of the Argo II, Piper threw herself at him, muttering angrily in Tsalagi, no doubt cursing at him for acting like an idiot. Jason just smiled and hugged her close, pressing his lips to her dark hair when she buried her face in his chest. 

After a moment, she pulled away and wiped angrily at the tears in her eyes, glaring at him. 

“What is wrong with you?” she cried, smacking his shoulder. “You can’t do that to me! You can’t just-just jump overboard in the middle of a massive storm like that! Especially not when you’re severely injured—!” she gestured at his stomach, frustration and fear coloring her tone. 

“I didn’t mean to scare you, Pipes,” he said, interrupting her gently. “But Percy needed my help, and I’m fine, I promise. No further harm done. See?” He lifted his shirt, stepped back, and spun around, letting her look him over for any sign of hurt. Honestly, he felt fine; great even! Hell, he felt better than he had since Michael Varus had run him through. 

When he finished his little one-eighty, he noticed Piper staring at his stomach with wide eyes. “What is it? What’s wrong?” he asked, glancing down to try and figure out what she was seeing. 

His bandages had come loose in the water, sagging a little to reveal the upper edge of his wound, only . . . only there was nothing but smooth, tan skin where there should have been torn and reddened flesh. His mouth dropped open and he carefully tugged the bandages away, letting them fall to the deck of the ship after the soggy material tore. 

Both he and Piper stared in wide-eyed shock at his unblemished abdomen for a moment. Piper reached out to ghost her fingers along the spot where the wound had been, her feather-light touch sending a shiver down Jason’s spine. 

“You’re healed,” she whispered, voice filled with awe. “How are you—what happened down there?” she asked, laying her hand flat against his stomach for a moment before looking up at him with those dark, earnest eyes he loved to get lost in. 

“A lot,” he said. “Though I don’t remember much of what happened towards the end.” 

Piper nodded slowly and grabbed his hand, starting to pull him across the deck towards the stairs. 

“Fill me in once we’re downstairs,” she said over her shoulder. “I’m getting you to eat something.” 

Jason laughed brightly and allowed his girlfriend to tug him towards the galley, more than happy to let her fuss over him. 

He tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his gut that hadn’t left him since he came to wrapped in Kymopoleia’s shawl, and the dread weighing heavy at his heart that it had something to do with Percy and what had really happened to Polybotes. 

[spaghettificationandpretzels]

The Glass Merchant Epilogue

Thank you to everyone who has come on this journey with me, this is my first completed OC series and the most I have done in terms of world building. I worked so hard on this and I'm over the moon that at least one person has enjoyed my story. If you're one of the people who has been reading through this and hasn't said anything yet, I would love a comment.

Masterlist

Part Seven

Contains: Fluff, smut.

3.1K words

The end

Seven months later

"It's raining pollen."

Kai entered the shower and came up behind Minna, slowly dropping to his knees behind her as he placed a line of kisses all the way down the scar on her back. "Ay, that it is." She sighed and washed the conditioner from her hair as he wrapped his arms around her and enjoyed the hot water falling all around them. "You know, it's my first willow bloom, maybe I should stay home."

She huffed. "Well, Mr, you have baby animals to bottle feed and naked, lost hikers to save so you can't have the day off."

He spun her around, smirking as he pressed his fingers into her scalp and her head fell back into his hands. "I could call in sick and spend the day helping you, you keep saying how busy you are at this time of year."

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "As much as I would like to say yes, you're just going to have to go out there and enjoy it."

He kissed her, pushing her against the wall of the shower as he lifted her leg over his hip. "Maybe I need some encouragement."

He was growing hard rapidly and she only spurred him on by rolling her hips. "I can provide that."

****

They left the shower far more pruny than they would have liked, and Kai sighed as he sipped his fire root tea. "I'll be home after it gets dark so don't you sit at the dock and worry about me."

Minna huffed. "You're acting like I was the one that set out a search party because I was late coming home last week."

He beckoned her closer, pulling her into his lap as he buried his face in her neck. "I was worried you had capsized your boat."

She scoffed. "That sounds like something you'd do." She remembered fondly the day he dived into the water to save a bird only to have to rock his boat all the way over once he had freed it from the fishing net.

He shot her a cheeky grin, and placed his cup on the side table, rolling on top of her and wiggling his fingers into her sides in payback for her teasing. "Kai.. AHHH." She was laughing so hard she could barely breathe and his wide smile made the sides of his face hurt. "Enough, I take it back."

He stopped, and she bit his ear lobe. "You are cruel to me."

"Never." He kissed her and she placed her hand on the back of his neck to hold him to her. He pulled back enough to talk, his breath falling against her lips as he spoke. "Are you sure you don't want me to spend the day with you?"

She smiled and pecked him. "Finish your tea and go to work. I need to leave in twenty minutes and we do not have time to fuck again."

He sighed and sat up, downing his tea in one and pecking her cheek hard. before getting up. "You are so difficult."

"You love me."

He gazed down at her, her eyes full of mischief and his whole body filled with affection. "Ay, I do."

He kissed her one last time before walking over to Zephy and scratching his ears. "You stay out of trouble while I'm gone."

The creature chattered at him and he turned to Minna, her smiling face filling the room with brightness. "I love you too Kai."

Before he left he made sure to check his pocket for his most prized possession, the pocket watch he had bought from her store all those months ago. If he was being honest, she undercharged him by a mile. He turned back around tapping his pocket out of habit. "I'll see you soon."

She jumped up, racing over to kiss him before waving him out the door. "Off you go."

He opened the door, the blosum scented air hitting him in the face as he went to leave but he spun on his heel and returned to her side, cupping her face and leaning in. "One more for the road."

The kiss was filled with adoration and love and the world fell away as she wrapped her arms around him. They parted and she brushed his nose with hers, smiling softly. "Was that enough?"

He nodded. "Ay but only just."

Her face filled with mischief. "You are going to see so many naked people today a whole lot of bare butts and I think it's hilrious."

He raised an eyebrow. "I'm not the one who's spent the last month making pretty glass pricks, I never knew sex toys could be so fancy."

She pointed to the door while doing her best to fight back a smile. "Goodbye Kai, I will see you tonight."

He kissed her again, a cheeky grin on his face. "Goodbye, beautiful. I'm looking forward to celebarating the willow blooms with you."

****

Kai wasn't nervous, he had just never lied to Minna before, and he was terrified she'd change her schedule and catch him. James met him at his satellite office, a huge smile on his face as he led Kai to his boat. Over the last seven months, he had grown close to everyone on Minna's little island, her childhood friends becoming his as they swapped stories over dinner and drinks.

"Minna's going to love the ring you got her." Kai had agonised over it, she was the creative one, she was the one who could take something as dull as a piece of glass or a white sheet of fabric and turn it into something beautiful. He settled on something after two weeks of work and many ruined notebooks, and now that it was time to collect it, his chest was filled with emotions.

"I hope so, it's only the thing that's going to kick off the rest of our lives." Everything was so loud at this time of year, the animal calls, birds songs and insect chatters did their best to drown out his thoughts as they grew closer to the island where her ring awaited.

There was a distinct smell in the air, the odour of molten metal managing to overcome the wonderful smell of the willow blooms as they docked and made their way to the stall. The vendor grinned and waved, and Kai took a deep breath as he walked to the counter. "Good to see you Kai." He took the ring box from under the bench and placed it in front of Kai. "I have to say, this is some of my best work."

James leaned over Kai's shoulder and smiled. "Well, aren't you going to open it and give us a look?"

He straightened his back and did as requested, all the tension leaving his body when he laid his eyes on the ring, it was prefect. "Is it to your liking?"

He fought back tears and smiled. "Ay, she's going to love it." He paid the last bit of the bill and slid the ring box next to his precious pocket watch and thanked the vendor again before turning to James. "You better get me back to work before I get caught."

James smiled. "Sure. You gonna be able with keep it for the rest of today? I wouldn't want you getting all excited and taking the wrong track."

Kai chuckled. "Ay. If I'm being honest, if I don't distract myself I don't think I'll last till tonight."

James gave him a hearty slap on the back. "Well then, off we go."

****

Kai must have tapped his pocket a million times before his understanding boss recalled him to his desk in an effort to soothe his anxiety. But still, even though he hadn't left the area since the last time he checked, he fought the urge to check again. A soft chime from the speakers let him know his shift was over, and he debriefed his replacement as he readied himself to head home.

The whole planet was so alive that it was easy to take his time on the journey back to his house. There were boats everywhere filled with couples watching the mating displays from the various animals around them, and he paused to watch the coral whales with their massive colourful tails show off for their mates. He docked his boat just as it was dark enough for the blue algae to begin to glow and took his time getting to the door, pausing to listen to the birds dancing in the sky.

Minna was sitting on the couch when he walked in the door, shooting him a cheeky smile as she stood up with her hands behind her back. "I need your advice on something."

"Sure Love." Judging by the look on her face, she had been planning this all day. She brought her hands forward, presenting him with two colourful, solid glass phalluses. "Which one do you like better, I need to know which one to put on the main display."

It still remained as funny as the day he found her making them in her studio, and he pointed to the one that was a mix of reds and oranges. "That one." He shook his head, more to himself than to her. "I still can't believe you only charge twenty Sesterces for these, I know places where they'd fetch a very pretty penny."

She rolled her eyes and placed them in the padded boxes on the tea table. "They're for a celebration Kai, hell, most people never use them."

He made a face and pulled her into his arms. "Well, I for one think that's a terrible shame."

She shook her head. "I know what you're thinking and the asnwer is no."

He grinned. "I wasn't but now that you mention it."

She did her best to stop herself from laughing but failed, and he found himself tumbling into it with her. "You are so inappropriate." She scratched his beard and smiled. "Do you want to go out on the boat tonight and watch the animals or stay in?"

He placed his hand on her cheek and smiled down at her. "I think we'll stay in, we got plenty of time to watch the animals, I wanna spend the start of my first willow bloom right here with you."

She nodded and pecked his lips. "Ok, I like the sound of that."

****

Despite the darkness outside and the late hour, the animals were still in full swing. Kai and Minna were lying in the middle of the bedroom floor, pillows and blankets all around them as they watched the firebirds with their wings dipped in blue algae, light up the sky above them.

They had smoked more vermilion joy root, this one a mild version mixed with the willow pollen that left them feeling warm and floaty. He had been running his hands all over her body as they kissed, their clothes slowly coming off as the kisses became increasingly intense.

Minna broke away, her lips puffy and red from Kai's teeth and nipped his neck, slowly making her way down his body to his hard cock. He propped himself up on the pillows, rearranging them so he could look down at her as she wrapped her hands around the base and swirled her tongue around the tip. Her hair fell around her face so he reached out and gathered it in his hand, not using it to guide her movement but instead so he could get a full view of her plump lips as they wrapped around him.

Pleasure zipped up his spine, lapping at every inch of his body as she worked her mouth in a steady rhythm. "Fucken 'll, Love, just like that." His head tipped back, and his eyes fluttered closed as she took him further into her mouth. He fought the urge to buck his hips, willing himself to enjoy the sensations as she intended them. One hand shot to the blanket, squeezing the fabric in his fingers as his muscles grew tighter, and she let out the sweetest moan that had him looking down again to meet her eye as he pulled her off him. "Come 'er."

He grabbed her face and slammed her lips into his, licking the taste of himself from her mouth as he slid his hand between her legs. She gasped into his mouth when his fingers made contact and gave her that cocky smirk he wore so well. "Is that all for me?"

"Yes, please touch.." She didn't get to finish her request because he flipped them over and shoved her legs open before kissing and nipping his way down until he threw her legs over his shoulders and dove in. She wove her hands into his hair and held him to her, she tasted like the candies she had to hide in the back of the cupboard because he could down a whole packet in one sitting, and there was nothing he loved more than when her thighs tightened around his head.

Her breath hitched when as he slid two thick fingers inside her and her toes twitched against his back as he pressed his rough fingertips to her G-spot. He felt her shift, moving his eyes to watch her take a puff from the pipe. She beckoned him closer with a finger and he replaced his mouth with his thumb as she blew the light red smoke into his face.

He took a deep breath and returned his lips to her body, enjoying the high as the weight of her legs returned to his back. "Kai, oh Gods." He loved the sound of his name coming out of her mouth, it had to be one of his favourite sounds. "I need..."

He lifted his head up to speak. "Give it to me Sweetheart." He dropped his head back down and sealed his lips around her clit as her whole body stiffened, and she came around his fingers.

She dropped her legs off him as her head lulled to the side and a smile appeared on her face. "You are so fucking good at that."

He grinned and settled over her, kissing her like she had the last breath on the planet between her lips. "Turn over gorgeous."

She did as he asked and he pressed his lips to the back of her neck as he rubbed his cock up and down her slit. "Please Kai."

"Your wish is my command." He took his slow, making sure she felt every ridge and vein. He bottomed out, burying his face between her should blades as he slid a hand around her body and under them to rub her clit as he started to rock his hips. She pushed against him, and he enjoyed the curve of her ass as she twisted herself to kiss him.

His hand left her clit only briefly to bend her leg, pushing her knee towards her shoulder and folding her leg against her ribs to open her up like he was folding a piece of paper. She sighed at the stretch. "Mmmmm that feels nice."

"The stretch or my cock?" By the uptick in her moans, he knew it was the latter. He shifted his hand again, and she whimpered at the unintentional edging as he grabbed one of the many pillows and placed it under her hips. Between the new angle and his hand returning to her clit, Minna was fast heading towards the edge with Kai close behind.

He was so warm on top of her, his moans rumbling in his chest as he pressed it against her back. "Please."

He pressed his lips to her ear. "Whatever you want." Each drag of his cock alone her walls pushed little gasps from her chest, and she reached back to pull his lips to hers as she hit her peak. It only took another handful of thrusts for him to follow her, and he fell on top of her as he caught his breath. He rolled on his side, taking him with her as he buried his nose in her hair. "That was something."

She chuckled. "Yes, it was, we should do it again."

He huffed. "Give me ten minutes and a snack."

She smiled. "Only if you go and get it, I can't feel my legs."

He grabbed her face and kissed her cheek hard before hopping up and pulling on a pair of pants. "I'll be back, you want anything speical?"

She shook her head. "No dear, I'll have whatever you're having."

He did his best to contain himself as he made his way downstairs to collect the ring from his coat. He stopped by the kitchen to pick up her favourite bubbly sweet berry wine and the silver jelly sweets she loved so much. When he returned to the bedroom, she was wearing her long green robe, wiping her sweat damp skin down with a wet cloth. She tilted her head and smiled. "Wow, you're really treating me aren't you?"

"You're worth it." He placed the tray of things down and walked over to her, placing his hands on her cheeks and he leaned in to brush her lips with his. "I love you so much."

She smiled and kissed him softly. "I love you too." He had a strange look in his eyes and she looked at him rewardingly as she tried to decipher it. "Where's this coming from?

He dropped onto one knee and started, the ring in his shaking hands as he did his best to say the words in the language they now shared. He knew he had fumbled it, he had been practising every chance he got but with the knot in his throat it was hard to weave his tongue around the words.

"What?" She had tears in her eyes, and her chest was jumping as she waved her hand in front of her face to calm herself down. "I think I got what you were saying, but can you repeat it?"

He smiled and nodded. "Minna, I have loved you from the second I laid eyes on you and it would make me the happiest man in the whole universe if you would be my wife."

She dropped to her knees and kissed him, holding him so tight to her that he thought he would bruise. "Is that a yes."

She nodded emphatically with tears in her eyes. "Oh I'm sorry, yes, yes I'll marry you." He slipped the ring over her finger and she glanced down at it. "It's so beautiful."

She kissed him again, and the whole world stilled, and everything was right with the universe because she was his, and he was hers.

Fin

@rayslittlekitten @red-orchid @laurfilijames @videnoirfics