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flowergoddessblooms · 8 months ago

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The world of Arkhonia was unique. Unique in a way that mortals, beings of foolishness, were granted powers of the Upper World. It had been so for centuries, and no one could foretell why or what power one would have, until they themselves figured it out. Most people had quite the common powers and they realised it early in their lives. Flying, teleportation, healing, powers of nature, the ability to conjure up items as far as their imagination takes them. Of course, it isn't so easy, one tires out as they use their powers.

Arkhonia had a single ruling government. It consisted of the Council, nine people with powers unlike any other. These were the people who made all the important decisions for Arkhonia. No one knew who they were, after all they always wore cloaks that covered them head to toe, or what their powers were, but as the legend tells, the Council was formed after Arkhonia won the war against Kratoptis 1500 years ago. Ever since, no one has dared challenge the Council and lived to tell the tale, so nobody chooses to get on their bad side. There was a separate organisation, second only to the Council, the Talons, that appointed the members of the Legislation and the Jury, members who were recruited by their age and their talent. After all, the Council does not care for matters underneath them.

Almost everyone would awaken their powers at the age of 18. Of course, there were also people who would never awaken their powers. If you had lost the chance at 18, it's highly unlikely to ever figure out your powers. These people were called the Lost Ones, for without your power, what are you but lost in this world?

However, there are records of a select number of persons who awoke their powers past the age of 18. These select few people changed world lines for extreme good or bad, either bringing enriching life, happiness and power for every creature to exist, or plunge the world and the collective consciousness into deep darkness and despair.

You are one such person. 21 years old and what's your superpower? Um, you definitely do not know. It's a weird feeling. All your friends know their superpowers, Alex can walk on water, Diana can talk to animals and Nola can levitate objects. You, their best friend, who grew up with them, were witness to them awakening their powers. But you never did. This feeling of being left out was almost like your skin being scratched out. Insecurities built up and the fear of being one of the Lost Ones gnawed at your insides every waking moment that you noticed your friends learning and having fun with their powers. And yet you endured it with a smile for 3 whole years. All you wanted was to be of use to Arkhonia, your world, to be a hero of all. You had lost your chance when you turned 18 but today, somehow you have this feeling that you will figure out your powers on the Night of the Blaring Moon.

The Night of the Blaring Moon, which occurs once every 11 years, is about to happen tonight. This is the one night that the Council meets up with the people and addresses their concerns while the Talons search for fresh talent to enter the Legislation and Jury. One of the executives in Talons uses his powers of mind communication and announces to everyone, "The Night of the Blaring Moon meeting shall start at midnight sharp."

You get ready to leave. You meet up with Nola. The others have already left before so you two decide to walk together.

This is your first time visiting the Auditorium, after all there is an age requirement of 21. The Auditorium is a huge hall with glass ceilings, under the stars on the outskirts of the Light Forest. It's as good as being outside under the moonlight, without the fear of bugs. You tread carefully, for the Light Forest, is known to change in the dark. There is a straight path to the Auditorium, since it is pretty much on the outer rims of the Forest, but the Forest itself is a vast expanse of undiscovered land, for it is rare to come back from travelling in those woods. That is what everyone says, but you keep trying to convince yourself that they're just scaring you. You keep thinking of all good things to forget the forest and all the sounds you're hearing. As you tread with Nola, you hear something snap behind you. Fear creeps up, and you wonder if you should turn but before you do, a cloaked figure walks up in front of you. Nola screams but the figure just stands there, motionless.

"W-who are you?" she squeaks out.

The figure does not respond.

You, however, know who it is. You have never seen this person before, you can't even see their face right now and yet, you blurt out in a tiny whisper, "Lillian".

It's quite for a while. Nobody moves. Finally, the figure speaks.

" You know me?"

It's a calm ethereal voice, almost otherworldly.

You relax at the sound of it and you respond, more confidently this time.

" Lillian, the Fifth Member of the Council, the one who controls the weather."

The figure is silent for a while. All of a sudden, they wave their hand in a majestic motion and that is the last thing you remember.

Someone seems to be shaking you violently. You wake up from your slumber, still dizzy, until you realise your clothes are soaked. Nola breathes a sigh of relief. " Get up already, we need to leave." You look around, dumbfounded. It's raining heavily and thunder is evident. You try to remember what exactly happened. You ask Nola about the meeting and the figure you both met.

"Figure? Who are you talking about? And didn't we hear the announcement? The meeting is cancelled."

You're visibly shaken. The meeting is...cancelled? That has never happened in the history of Arkhonia.

You pick yourself up and walk back home. Your thoughts are all over the place. As you reach town you hear people distraught. "Why is the meeting cancelled?" "Did something happen?" "Was it a prank by someone?"

Your head is muddled and as you carry yourself home you hear someone say that the Council has called an emergency meeting amongst themselves. No one knows how long it will take. But the Night of the Blaring Moon has passed without a meeting this time, and people are clearly agitated and confused.

It's been three hours since the announcement. You're at home, asleep, tired from the night's events, when you hear hard knocks on your door. You wake up, groggy, and check through the peephole. It's... the Army?

You open the door and a tall man in royal white militia uniform with multiple medallions, all displayed on his chest, asks you in a gruff voice,

" Do you know this girl?"

His men around him part ways to unveil a very familiar face. She's tied up and held by multiple Army men.

" Nola! What's happening? Why are you with the Army?"

That's when you notice the expression on, who you assume, their leader, harden.

"We've found 'em."

You struggle against them but you're knocked out fairly quickly. What a night, to be attacked twice. That was your last thought, before you hit the ground.

You wake up to bright lights. You try to get up, but it seems you're tied to a chair. Unable to move, you struggle to get out of this uncomfortable position.

"Save your energy, you're bound to that chair with soul-binding chains."

You notice a figure in the corner of the room.

"Answer, subject of Arkhonia, what is my identity?" The voice thunders.

It's a male voice. You look at the person. A figure shrouded in a black cloak, with a deep voice. You haven't come to your senses yet, and the lights are blinding. And yet something pops up in your mind.

"ANSWER!"

Fearful for your life, you choke out the name.

"Prai."

"IDENTITY!" The figure bellows as it starts walking towards you.

" Prai, Third member of the Council, power of regeneration."

The figure, clearly shocked, stops in its tracks.

Someone enters the room.

"I told you so." That's a voice you recognise. The figure walks up to you.

"Lillian? I know it's you, what is this? Why am I here? Why have you tied me up?" Your voice is full of fear. Sweat drops down your forehead.

You're in a room with two Council members. And your fate remains unknown, for the two walk out without a response and, after what seems like eternity, you're let go. Lillian comes over to you. "You need to leave. You're an existence that is detrimental to the Council. If you stay here, you're doomed, for they will find out about you and they will never let you go."

Confusion does not begin to explain what you feel. Your thoughts are all over the place. There are two members of the Council in front of you. You have never seen them before and yet you know them. You know who they are. You know their powers. No one in this whole world knows the Council's powers, other than the Council themselves. But now, you know.

Lillian notices the visible fear on your face. She sighs and explains, " The legend of Arkhonia speaks of a single person who has the power to figure out the identities of the Council. This is a person who would have answers to all questions in the world. It is an absolute threat to the members because nothing stops them from spreading all information to rival worlds, for they will always know the answers to what they seek. And after all, prevention is better than cure."

You don't understand, nothing makes sense. Your only dream was to awaken your powers and use them for good. To be of help. To be a hero. But what is this? You're being told you're useless, no, you're... detrimental? Even though you would have answers to the world's questions?

"The legend speaks of this person to bring either eternal ruin or heavenly bliss to Arkhonia. For they have the powers to rise to the Other Worlds, and they shall bring Arkhonia, which has only ever existed in the shadows, to light. This person will have the ability to gain powers, since they will always have answers to questions they seek, something which has never been recorded in all of history. Thus the Council fears for losing their power and reputation and would find it rather comforting to keep you where they can see you. Word has already spread of you and we will do our best to help you, but you must leave here, for we cannot keep you safe much longer."

This is too much to process. Ability to gain powers? That's ridiculous. No one has ever gained more than one power. Your thoughts are scrambled, but before you could think further, as quickly as you were brought here, you were thrown into a teleportation portal by Lillian and Prai and your surroundings change. You notice the familiar background, the outer edges of the Light Forest. You look over your shoulder to see the the sun peeking over the horizon. It's been about 6 hours. 6 hours of intense fear for your life. 6 hours since you figured out your power. Lillian provides you with a green jade bracelet. "This bracelet has storage powers. It holds enough food and other essentials to last you a year."

Prai holds up a map of the Light Forest. " This is one of the only maps in existence that shows the changes of the Light Forest, since it is infamous for constantly evolving, and thus it is your best bet. You should get go-"

He is interrupted by a voice. A voice in your head. " This is an announcement by the order of the Council. We have evidence to believe a person has committed treason against the Council and the world of Arkhonia. The Council has held an emergency meeting and has declared this person a traitor. Further details on this person and their identity shall be announced. This villain possesses information that is dangerous and they plan to reveal it to the Other Worlds. Our blessed land of Arkhonia is in grave danger because of them, and should they be found, they will be cut limb from limb for their heinous actions."

Lillian and Prai look at each other. Prai says," Seems like word has reached them. It must've been the Army, since they have the duty to report to Kieran as well. The others are too scared, they wouldn't even wait for us."

Lillian looks at you, gentleness in her eyes. This is the first time you actually see her face. Her pink jewelled eyes meet yours and you notice her white hair cascade down her shoulders, tucked neatly behind her elvish ears. " They have already deemed you as traitor. It's not unreasonable on their part, they are responsible for the well being of Arkhonia. Why must they risk all life in Arkhonia to be subjected to grief and despair, all for one person?"

Her eyes glimmer in the morning sunlight. Her poise is elegant and yet full of power. She says one last thing to you, with utmost strength in her voice, before she walks away as graceful as ever.

"But we are ready to gamble on you."

"You must go, for this is your destiny, "Prai says, "We shall take our leave, the world needs us right now."

Destiny? More like punishment, you think to yourself. Map in hand, and fear in heart, you leave everything behind and tread into the Light Forest.

This was a villian who wanted to be a hero, but funnily enough, fate had other plans. For who is a villain and who is a hero can only be judged by the eye of the beholder.

You have one super power: The ability to know without fail what the truth is to any asked question. You planned to help the world as a super hero. It took you six hours for the government to declare you public enemy number one and the most deadly super villain alive.

#writing prompts #writing inspiration #writers on tumblr #new on tumblr

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usmsgutterson · 2 years ago

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The Deadly Romantics- a Kaz Brekker series

okay! Hi! I wanted to keep this note short and a bit concise, so here’s my best attempt at doing that:

This is a Hunger Games AU, but you don’t need to have read the books or seen the movies to understand it! I’d also recommend throwing grishaverse canon out the window a bit. This fic relies a fair bit on canon divergence, so please keep that in mind!

The reader is an inferni, this series is in omniscient third and will alternate between Kaz’s and the readers perspectives. If I decide to write from another characters point of view (which, as I’ve already written a little more than 10k into this, there are povs that aren’t belonging to Kaz or the reader) I’ll make sure to put a heads up in the authors note.

Chapter specific warnings- mentions of death/illusions to it, mentions of failed attempts at rebellion,

Y/N L/N

The day of the reaping was somehow always one of the worst. It didn’t matter if you woke up and forgot it was the day of the reaping, or if you woke up and decided you simply didn’t care. By eighteen, with their ninth ballad in the reaping bowls, Y/N found that the day of the reaping was simply always objectively terrible.

It got worse through time, though. After the failure of the Second Rebellion, the gap between those eligible to be tributes and those not somehow managed to grow larger. Nine year olds would go to the reaping, any of them at risk of being put into the games. All to honor the capitol, somehow.

Y/N pushed themself off the bed, grabbing their pants and shirt, changing out of their pajamas and pulling the pants over their legs. The clothes were just the same rendition of the ones they’d been wearing for almost a decade. Black pants. White long sleeved shirt with sleeves rolled to the elbows. They wet their hair, pat it dry, tried not to grab a knife crafted from Grisha steel as they did every other day, out of simple habit.

Eventually, they found Inej, sitting on the outskirts of the victors village, sharpening one of her knives by slicing the side against the concrete.

She stood upon noticing Y/N, and the pair began to walk to the town square, where a stage had been set up, where Genya Safin, Alina Starkov, and Nikolai Lantsov waited to greet the town, two of which would be volunteered to the slaughter in the name of remembrance, in the name of remembering the Capitols triumph after two failed rebellions against their people.

They were silent as they walked, neither of them really knowing what to say. Neither of them could ever figure out what to say during the reaping, though. Not the night before, the day of, or the day after. The right words just never graced either of their lips.

It was different that time, though. Up until your eighteenth birthday. only one ballad was put into the bowls for each year of eligibility. As you turned eighteen, two of them would go in. There were eleven chances for Y/Ns name to be picked. It was a startling kind of reality, and as they reached the town square and got in line, the reality seemed to sink in.

Y/N made their way to the back of the crowd, where the eighteen-through-twenties were meant to stand. They caught sight of Kaz, someone they’d traded goods with at the Hob, and merely nodded in acknowledgement. He nodded back, mouthing a ‘good luck,’ which Y/N returned.

Genya Safin was the one that everyone always saw. She was always the announcer sent to twelve, plucking names from a bowl and ruining the lives of two people in a mere few breaths. Alina was the one who was never seen, and since he’d claimed his title as Victor, Nikolai seemed privy to staying out of sight as well.

She ran through the whole thing. The ‘may the odds be ever in your favor!’, the ten minute mini-documentary to remind the people in the square why the games happened at all, and the fake, cheery smile. Every year, Y/N was further convinced that someday they’d grow sick of it, finding it a bit astonishing that they hadn’t grown sick of it already.

“And now, we pick the tributes for this years Hunger Games,” she said. She stepped toward the first reaping bowl, and Y/N took a deep breath in, just as they did every year. In the interest of keeping tradition, they closed their eyes as the name was announced.

“Our first tribute from twelve is...” Genya stopped as she read the name. “Y/N L/N.”

They swallowed, eyes opening as everyone began to separate, allowing more of a path to be created. They walked between four Peacemakers, pausing when they reached the steps leading to the stage.

They couldn’t explain why, but the moment that they realized that it was better to just accept it, to acknowledge the fact that the only exemplars of winners from District 12 were Nikolai Lantsov and Alina Starkov, who’d both become sort of reclusive since their victories, it became a lot easier to move. They walked up the steps and moved to stand to Genyas left.

Y/N fixed their gaze to a spot straight ahead, one of the few buildings around the square, as Genya said the next name.

“And, our second tribute is...” she paused again, for dramatic effect. “Kaz Brekker!” Y/Ns gaze immediately went to him, watching as he walked, cane hitting the ground with every single step he took.

He finally met their gaze as he strode up the stairs, moving to stand to Genyas right.

“Happy Hunger Games!” Genya said, tone of excitement in her voice.

Y/N swallowed as they were brought into the building behind them, Kaz at their side, Genya, Alina, and Nikolai walking steadily behind them.

In their life, there was now only room for one thought.

Stay alive.

#kaz brekker x reader #kaz brekker #six of crows #shadow and bone

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anonquack · 4 years ago

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| His Merch |

Alex Quackity x Reader, Oneshot!

Word Count: 4256

Warnings: None, just some curse words. Fluff :]

Summary: Being such good friends with Quackity leads to the inevitable; catching feelings. In fear of ruining your friendship with him, you kept quiet about your feelings. Although usually good at that, after a merch drop and a slip-up on stream, you prepare yourself for the worst. Queue the incoming call from Quackity himself.

Today had been a productive day, in your opinion. You'd woken up earlier than usual, ate breakfast, cleaned around your apartment, and managed to get started on editing a video you'd recently filmed.

That's why you considered yourself very deserving of sitting down and enjoying your friend's stream as you ate some snacks.

Quackity had a fun stream planned, and had hyped up a 'big announcement' on Twitter, and the whole timeline was already speculating what it could be as they awaited for Quackity to start stream.

Being his friend had some perks though, contrary to popular belief. He'd discussed with you what the big announcement was as you sat on call with him a few nights prior to the big day. It was merch, and according to your past experience with Planet Duck products, it was sure to be soft and super comfy. You were very much looking forward to getting your hands on some of his new merch.

He'd brought up sending some to you, one of the previously mentioned perks of being his friend, but you politely declined. Much to his surprise. He'd asked why and you'd simply stated that "It was fine," and perhaps it came off as a bit rude. A 'no thanks' to his merch that you hadn't even seen.

But you had plans of your own, you wanted to acquire said merch on your own, and support him financially in the process. He didn't have to know that though, so with a small 'Oh' from him as his response, you swiftly changed topic of conversation.

Now here you sat, watching the stream as Quackity explained what he'd be doing with his friend John Smith. Riding go-karts around what looked like a storage unit. You couldn't help but worry as you watched them zoom around, occasionally getting close to crashing, and eventually doing just that.

The stream itself was rather fun to watch, but you kept your debit card beside you. This was in case he decided to drop the merch announcement out of nowhere. And that was exactly what he did. Another perk of being his friend was you grew a 6th sense for these type of things. Always had a feeling for what was about to happen when it came to Quackity.

You watched as the chat freaked out, watched as the notification from Planet Duck went out, notifying everybody that the merch had been released. You quickly typed into your computer, and the internet seemed to be taking its time to redirect you to Quackity's merch site.

After some time, it finally loaded and you began to look at all the options. The merch was wonderful, Quackity had been hyping it up to you (you'd asked for no reveals, wanting to wait like everyone else) and he had been absolutely right.

Most of the designs were new, except for the iconic Planet Duck logo, and were all very cute. You had Quackity's stream playing in the background as you maneuvered your way around the site, finally deciding on which merch you'd be buying.

As you went to purchase, a red sign alerted you that there was no shipping to your location. To which you quickly raised an eyebrow, panic starting to rush through you. Maybe you should've accepted his offer.

After refreshing multiple times and watching the Twitter timeline freak out as well over the inability to ship to several locations, it finally seemed to work, and the payment finally went through. A big "Thank you for your purchase" appearing onto the screen.

You let out a sigh of relief, clicking back onto the tab where the stream was, a small smile on your face. You'd actually managed to get it on your own. It was nerve-racking, when it seemed like you wouldn't be able to get the shipping to work, when it seemed like it'd sell out before you had the chance to buy some.

Now you finally understood what it felt like, the stress of getting your hands on merch before it sold out. It'd been an exhilerating experience.

You relaxed into your seat as Quackity's laugh filled the room. He was recreating bits from Fast and Furious, and zooming all over the place. You watched with a fond smile as he drove around, throwing random Spanish profanities at John Smith here and there.

The funky heart glasses he had on did nothing to ease the warmth that was spreading through your chest at the sight of him. You were suffering due to your confusing feelings towards your close friend, but nobody knew, or at least that is what you told yourself.

You tried to focus on something else, something that wasn't solely him. The go-karts were going pretty fast, and you remembered the scene they were recreating from the movie. Whichever random thought came to mind, you'd focus on it instead, too scared to let your thoughts wander elsewhere.

When it came to and end, you were conflicted. You were glad your heart would be able to catch a break, but you also missed him almost immediately. Sickening, really.

You took some time to reflect on what you'd done so far. Cleaned, ate your meals, worked on some editing, got some Quackity merch, and enjoyed a fun stream. It was rather productive, to say the least.

But there was still some time left in the day, and you figured you'd put the energy coursing through your body to use.

Taking a seat at your desk, you turned your monitor on before opening the twitch app. An alt stream would be perfect right now. After going live and sending out a tweet letting your followers know you were live, you patiently waited for the viewers to start coming in.

Considering this was an alt stream, you figured you'd play some random game and just chat for a bit before heading to bed. As the viewers came in, you gave your greetings before opening a tab for roblox, getting on a random server to play an obby game as you talked to chat.

There was a content smile on your face as you asked chat how their day had been, how they were feeling, your little character jumping around and passing through the beginner levels on the obby game.

"I'm actually in a really good mood, chat. My day has been going so well." You began, glancing at chat here and there, smile growing at the memory of the adventures acquiring Quackity merch.

After the chat was flooded with questions asking about what had happened, you indulged. "I was watching Quackity's stream earlier today, and it was so much fun!" The smile grew before softening as you focused on the obby. "I was also able to get some of his new merch."

The chat erupted into bits of 'friends supporting friends' to 'y/n in quackity merch???' and people yelling that they had been or weren't able to get merch.

Seeing the chat made you laugh, nodding your head a bit. "No because I was so nervous I wouldn't be able to get some-" you admitted, attention now focused solely on telling the viewers about your own experience.

"I was trying to purchase, and there was a line, and then it said it wouldn't ship to my location?? I was so worried I wouldn't be able to get some. But it finally worked. I'm excited for it to get here." You finished your small rant, a content smile on your lips.

Chat consisted of people agreeing with the technical difficulties occurring at the time of the merch drop, others saying they were too broke to buy anything. It felt nice, to see something from their perspective and also have shared an experience like this.

"Big Q actually offered to send me some, but I told him no because I wanted to get it myself.. Wanted to get it fair and square." You said as you refocused on the obby in front of you, fond smile on your face as you thought about how nice he was. He was willing to send all of his friends some of his merch, free of cost.

"Also wanted to give him my support by actually purchasing it, you know?" You added, resting your chin on the palm of your hand as it leaned against your desk. You took this time to read chat, which was exploding with what you thought was a combination of Quackity's username with yours, and 'bffs ur honor!!'.

You smiled at that, hands finally moving your character around. "Really, he has been such an amazing friend, extremely welcoming, always fun to be around. And just.. life is never dull when he's around. He's always been there for me when I needed it and well‐" A pause. "I'm glad I was able to support him in some way." You hummed softly as you finished up yet another small rant about Quackity.

At the realization that you'd been talking about him for far too long, and that he was not meant to be the focus of your alt stream, you cleared your throat and began focusing on the obby game once again.

You shifted the topic of conversation to the video you'd also been editing today, and that quickly took everyone's attention away from how affectionately and fondly you'd been speaking of your dear friend. Everyone was now excited about the new video.

Seeing how easily the chat's focus changed made you ease up a bit, and you were able to enjoy the rest of your stream playing random roblox games and discussing some stuff with chat. It lasted for a bit longer before you finally decided to end stream.

Some goodbyes and after stream officially ended, you found yourself on Twitter. Everything seemed pretty peaceful on the timeline, up until the trending page came up.

Your name was trending, along with 'QUACKITY IN CHAT' and the infamous combination of usernames. A monstrosity, really.

You heard yourself audibly gulp as you clicked on the trending topic 'quackity in chat'. Much to your dismay it was true. There was screenshots that showed Quackity was watching your stream. That meant that he'd heard you talking about him in that sickening tone. That tone that was unnecessarily sweet and fond.

You didn't know who was freaking out more, the so-called shippers, the timeline, or yourself. You gently bit at the inside of your cheek, scrolling and reading all the tweets of people trying to guess how Quackity must've felt while hearing all that. Others raising an eyebrow at how long you'd gone on about Quackity and how 'perfect' he was.

You'd fucked up, that was for sure, and it wasn't even intentional or fan service of any kind. It was an alt stream, it wasn't planned in any way, shape, or form. He'd been brought up, and you'd accidentally spilled all fond thoughts you held of him.

Your cursor hovered over a specific tweet that read, 'want someone to talk about me the way y/n talks about big q'. It was sweet, and perhaps made you smile just a little bit.

As you read it over in your head, a notification popped up on your screen, the discord notification ringing in your ears as you read who the message was from. Quackity.

You messed around with your mouse for a bit before finally closing the Twitter tab, and instead opting to open the unread message.

Quackity

hey (:

You stared at it for a bit, blinking in disbelief at how normal the message came across. Perhaps he'd tuned in during the last half of the stream. Perhaps he hadn't been able to watch while you rambled about him, and perhaps he hadn't been on Twitter either. One could hope.

y/n hi (:

It showed that he was typing almost immediately after, and you tried your best to calm your nerves.

Quackity call?

You felt yourself tense at the message. Maybe he wanted to let you down kindly. 'Hey! Saw your stream, and I just wanted to ask if you could chill the fuck out. That was kind of creepy. Maybe never speak of me ever again. Do not perceive me any longer, thanks!'

Something along those lines for sure. That's what probably awaited you if you said yes to this. But what exactly were you supposed to do instead?

y/n ofc

It only took a few seconds for the call to come through. Stalling wouldn't help, so you answered by the third ring.

He greeted you, and everything seemed normal. The calls were normal between you two, but you were just on edge due to twitter trending and the stream that took place less than an hour ago.

"How are you feeling, Quackity?" You asked with a small smile, today was a big day for him, and you were sure he'd enjoy talking about how fast the merch sold.

"I'm doing great. Really happy that the fans liked the designs and just.. we sold a lot. I'm happy." He restated the last bit, the smile was obvious in his voice. You didn't have to be seeing it to know. Another perk of being so close to him. You had a clear visual image of what he probably looked like right now. Cute smile plastered onto his equally cute face.

"I'm really happy for you, Big Q. You deserve all the success that is coming your way and more." You hummed softly. Everything you were saying, you meant wholeheartedly. There was silence for a bit before he finally spoke again.

"I watched your stream."

Fuck. There it was. You should've expected it but it still hit like a ton of bricks. You felt your mouth turn dry, could barely manage to get out the word, "Yeah?"

"Mhm." Straight to the point. There was a bit of silence, you were unsure of what to say. Why had he brought it up? It was bound to happen, but what was the reason behind bringing it up? To tease you, let you know he wasn't interested, or because roblox obbies are just so much fun?

"You didn't have to buy it, you know?" He finally said, breaking the silence.

"I wanted to." You reassured, "the merch is really pretty. Worth every penny."

"I could've sent you whichever you wanted." He stated bluntly. As if it was weird of you to have gone and bought it on your own.

"Thank you, but I wanted to buy it myself. Let me? Please?" Let me show my support this way, is what you meant to say. It came out softer than intended, and you could feel your heart beating against your ribs. You really needed to watch your tone around him.

"Of course." He responded, just as softly. He'd drive you crazy one of these days. They'd have to lock you up, and you'd never see the light of day again.

"Did you have fun riding the go-karts?" You asked, a small smile on your lips as you wandered back onto the Twitter tab, a clip of his stream now on display on the timeline.

He let out a small laugh, "I did. Did you enjoy watching it?" You nodded before responding, "Of course. Was concerning watching you crash into walls though."

He hummed softly in response, possibly contemplating what to say with how long he took before he spoke again.

"Did you really mean all the things you said on stream?"

Somehow, even with your own attempts to change topic, the focus was back on your stream and the things that had been said. You wouldn't be able to dig yourself out of the hole you'd dug.

It was entirely your fault, for even allowing yourself to consider him as anything but a great friend. It was your fault for taking the late night calls, the sweet tones, and messages the wrong way. Your interpretations were all wrong and now you'd have to sit here and apologize for practically outing yourself on stream. For letting the whole world know that you had romantic feelings for a good friend of yours. You'd probably made him so uncomfortable.

You felt yourself cringe slightly at his words, already gone quiet for far too long. You had to speak up, even if it lead to a good friendship ending a few minutes from now.

"Of course I did. You're great, Alex." The use of his name was meant to assure him you meant it wholeheartedly. It made the moment feel more intimate, too. Much to your own dismay, yet again. You couldn't help it.

The possibility that your friendship with him could come to an end real soon made you act on your feelings. It left you unhinged. If it was all going to end here, maybe you'd allow yourself to act on impulse. End it with a bang.

"Thank you, really. I know I probably wasn't meant to hear all that, but it was really nice. Made me feel nice as well. And just, seeing that you didn't accept the merch from me because you wanted to support me directly.. thank you."

His voice was soft, felt like warm honey to your taste buds. You could almost hear your heart melting inside your chest, could feel it dripping down and touching your diaphragm, oozing into every single crevice in your body. You'd never understand how he had such effects on you. How he was able to make you so fond of him.

"I meant every single word. You deserve that and so much more." You reassured yet again, a small smile on your lips. You heard him let out a small chuckle, which made you laugh as well.

Moments later, he had turned his camera on, wanting to show you all the merch. You'd asked for him to put it on, since you were a 'visual learner' and had to see it on him in order to fully understand what it looked like. He had playfully rolled his eyes, but hadn't really argued against it.

So there you were, watching as he changed from hoodie to hoodie, moving out of frame to change into the shirts. You could feel your heart thumping harshly against your rib cage at the sight of him. Some looked bigger on him, some looked just right. They all looked wonderful, and super comfy. Perhaps that was simply because they were on him, and he looked so comfy.

He looked like he could give the best hugs.

"You really think so?" His voice came out a bit sheepish, and the light pink that dusted his cheeks was becoming more and more evident. Huh?

"What?" You said, a dumb look on your face as you tried connecting the dots.

"That I could give the best hugs." He stated slowly, as if he was testing how it sounded before adding, "Do you really think that?"

Had you really said that out loud? Fuck. It took acting on impulse to a whole other level. This wasn't something you two usually did, but I guess it was okay since everything might be ending soon. Ballsy moves.

"Yeah. You make the merch look so cozy." Your throat felt dry, eyes glued to his face, wanting to catch every single second of his reaction. Wanting to see each movement of his facial muscles, to find out what it could possibly entail. "Makes me wonder what your hugs feel like." You admitted.

Your eyes scanned the entirety of his face, perking up slightly at the sight of his face flushing, leaving him with the softest tint of pink to spread across his cheeks, almost matching his pretty lips. What the hell did that even mean?

"Maybe you won't have to wonder for too long. With guidelines being lifted and all." The line. Blurred at that very moment, for sure. His eyes were glued to you as well, which only made you hesitate every single movement you could think of doing at that moment.

"And in the meantime? What am I supposed to do?" Risky. Crossing lines, jumping over hurdles. This all had to be against friend rules or something. You could feel your sanity decreasing each second this call went on. But he wasn't stopping any of this either.

"I could send you a hoodie." The sentence brought you out of your Quackity-induced haze, making you quickly shake your head. What? Before you could protest or ask what the hell that was supposed to mean, he explained.

"My hoodie. Y'know. Mine. One I wear. You can give it back when we meet up, perhaps."

Your mouth went dry again, shocked at the domestic feeling it gave. He was suggesting he send one of his hoodies. It would smell like him. It was the closest thing to giving him an actual hug. It would be paradise.

"You'd really do that?" You asked, still in disbelief, but he quickly nodded his head. "Oh." You said softly, before a smile appeared on your face. "I would like that, then."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"I'll send it then." He hummed, smile spreading on his lips as well. Everything going on was making you feel dizzy. It felt so surreal.

You'd mentally prepared yourself for the worst, but instead were met with a flirtatious Quackity. He'd said sweet things to you before, but you never allowed yourself to take it seriously, not wanting to get your hopes up. And it never went to this extent.

It seemed he realized what just went down, a loud laugh escaping his lips. "Holy shit. You're gonna have one of my hoodies soon."

"I am." You chimed in, smile on your lips as well.

"And you'll wear it around." He added.

"I will."

"You'll look good, as always."

You could feel the heat rush to your face. What was going on? Was this real, or just a very cruel dream? Alex Quackity was fucking flirting with you.

"Are you flirting with me?" Bewildered tone, raised eyebrows. Your brain couldn't even begin to progress what was being said.

"What the fuck does it look like I've been doing?"

"Have you really?" Warmth spread across your chest at how blunt he was being. The line was gone. It'd been erased, never to be seen again. There was no shame in him. Admitting he was flirting with his whole chest.

"I have. Why are you so surprised though? I've subtly flirted with you before.. and I mean, were you not confessing your undying love to me on stream?" He raised a brow, feigned confusion on his face. He was teasing. You let out a groan, covering your face with your hands as he let out a laugh.

Surreal. He confessed to having flirted with you in the past. So you weren't delusional, nice to know. "Are you done?" You asked, face still covered by your hand in shame.

"I saw a tweet that was saying they felt like third wheels since I was in chat, and you were just going on about everything you liked about me." You kept your face covered. He was not stopping. Now he was the unhinged one.

He was visibly scrolling through the timeline at this point. "Oh, and one saying they want what we have. What do we have?"

You finally uncovered your face. "I don't know. Whatever the fuck this is, I guess?"

"Well, what is this?"

"Mm... whatever you want it to be." You finally answered, and there was a surprised look plastered on his face at that.

"Whatever I want?"

"Yeah." You paused. Would he regret this after he got out of this haze? What if it had just been flirting for fun? But he wouldn't play with your feelings like this, would he?

Alex Quackity was perfect though, and perhaps he had a sixth sense about when stuff was wrong with you, because he caught on to your hesitation.

"Hey." He called out softly. The teasing, flirtatious tone was gone, now replaced by the softer tone reserved for late night calls, or when everybody else in the vc had left and it was just you two.

You look at where his face was on your monitor, relaxing a bit simply by his tone and the soft gaze he held on you.

"I know everything sort of progressed pretty fast tonight.. but your stream really helped me realize a few things. I do like you, y/n. Not fucking around or anything." He said it in a firm tone, one that told you he wasn't messing around, but still felt oh so intimate.

Everything he was saying was exactly what you wanted and needed to hear. Reassurance that your feelings weren't unrequited. You couldn't believe your rambling on stream had lead you guys here.

"I like you, too. If that wasn't obvious already." You mumbled out, eyes averting before glancing to see his reaction. He had the biggest, cutest, grin on his face. Charming, and extremely contagious. You couldn't help but smile back.

Holy shit.

"Is this real?" You asked out loud, smile never leaving your face.

"It is. All thanks to your ranting on stream. How cool is that?"

You couldn't help but still feel rather embarrassed that he'd heard all of it, but it had brought you two here. All embarrassment was worth it. Especially if it meant it opened up a whole new world of possibilities for you two.

"Very cool." You mumbled, before a smile appeared on your lips. Today really couldn't have gone any better.

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absolutewhore101 · 3 years ago

Text

Laser Tag

A/N: I have never once in my life played laser tag so please don't expect this to be the most accurate thing ever

Pairing: Michael Clifford x GN!Reader

Summary: Michael cheats at laser tag, but you aren't entirely mad about it

Warnings: heated makeout scene, one (1) swear word

Word Count: 1.3K

MINORS DNI!!

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Go with the boys to laser tag, they said. It’ll be fun, they said.

They were wrong.

When the boys invited you to play laser tag with them a few weeks ago, you had high hopes. Sure, you’d never played before, but it couldn’t be that bad, could it?

It could.

The five of you got to the arena where you’d be playing, and you were shocked at the sheer number of people that were crowded into the lobby.

You squeezed Mikey’s hand a little harder. “We’re not playing with all these people, are we?”

“I doubt it. Most of them are probably waiting for their game to start.” He said, looking down at you, “Hey, it’ll be fine. We’re all here with you, don’t worry.”

You gave him a nervous half-smile, still unsure about the whole idea.

And he was right. About 20 minutes later, almost everyone in the lobby went into the area, only 7 people left besides the 5 of you.

The guy in charge of checking everyone in took all of your names and gave you your vests, telling you it would be about half an hour before your game started.

Mikey helped you get into your vest while trying his best to explain just what you were supposed to do during the game.

“So basically, just shoot other people, and don’t get shot. Got it?” He asked you.

“No. But I’ll try my best.”

“Works for me.” He said, pressing a kiss against your forehead.

Five minutes were left before you were set to start when they announced that once you got in the arena, your vest would light up with the color of the team you were on. And it was totally random.

Oh god, you thought, what if none of them are on my team? I’m screwed.

Mikey noticed your anxiety, trying to figure out what he could do to help calm you down. Truthfully, there wasn’t anything he could do. He just had to hope that if he wasn’t on your team, that at least one of them would be.

Everyone began to funnel into the arena, waiting in the start area for their laser guns and team assignments. You were watching Ashton as he tried to explain how to use the gun, doing your best to follow along. “Alright!” The instructor yelled. “A few rules before we get started. One: guns are to be aimed at the vests only. The lasers can damage peoples eyes if we aren’t careful, and we don’t want that. Two: no physical violence in any capacity. No hitting each other with anything, no pushing, shoving, tripping, any of that.” She finished.

You looked around at everyone, trying to see if you could figure out who appeared to be the best. You decided that the two guys at the end of the line who fit the frat boy stereotype to a T were probably the biggest threat.

There was an echoing ding! as the vests began to light up in orange or purple. You looked down at your own, seeing a neon purple staring up at you, and then looked over at Mikeys, the bright orange hurting your eyes.

“Of course” you mumbled. You looked at the other boys, seeing that Ashton and Cal’s matched your glowing purple, and the to the boys at the end, both of them purple, as well.

Well, at least I don’t have to worry about them.

“Hey, we got this!” Calum said, getting your attention.

“Yeah we do! You guys are going down!” Ashton egged on Luke and Mikey.

“Not. A. Chance.” Luke said, giving them a challenging look.

You smiled at their antics before you turned to Mikey.

“Promise me you won’t shoot me as soon as you see me? At least give me a chance to get you first.” You said to him, attempting to give him your best puppy dog eyes.

He rolled his eyes at you, promising that he wouldn’t target you.

The two teams lined up on opposite sides of the arena, and a loud buzzer signaled the beginning of the game. Everyone charged forward, and you decided to stay back hiding behind a wall, a few others on your team doing the same thing.

The game had been going on and you were doing better than you thought you would. You’d managed to shoot two people, one of which being Luke, and you’d only been shot once.

You were walking along the back wall, staying in the shadows, hoping that maybe you could sneak up on someone and shoot them. You nearly screamed when a hand reached out and pulled you into a corner behind a half-wall.

Mikey’s hand quickly covered your mouth so that you didn’t scream, and you hit his chest as you let out a breath.

“What the hell, Michael?” You whisper yelled at him.

“Hey! I just wanted to make sure you were doing okay!” He said defensively.

“Actually I am. I’ve shot two people and I’ve only been shot once.” You said, obviously very proud of yourself.

“That’s my girl.” He said, leaning forward and pressing his lips against yours.

The hand that wasn’t holding onto his gun gripped one of your hips, keeping you pressed back against the wall. His lips moved quickly against yours, heating up the kiss.

You tried your best to break away from him, a breath of his name left your lips as you tried to get back to the game, but he was unrelenting.

Your gun fell from your hands as they tangled into his hair, tugging slightly, knees weakening at the light groan he let out. His hand moved down your leg, grabbing your knee to bring your leg up around his waist.

He pushed his body against yours, drawing a whimper out of you. With every second that went by, you were getting more and more ready to just walk out of the arena with him, and spend the rest of the day by yourselves.

Just when you were about to suggest this, Mikey pulled back, gave you a wink, and shot you in the chest. He gave you a smirk before he turned around, walking away smugly.

You were so disoriented from the kiss that it took you a few seconds before you understood what just happened, and you immediately walked out, ready to find him do the same to him.

Unfortunately for you, the buzzer signaling the end of the game rang out before you got the chance to.

You walked over to the starting area, grumbling about the stunt that Mikey had pulled.

“You alright?” Luke asked you.

“Just fucking peachy.” You mumbled back to him.

Mikey, Ashton, and Cal walked over, all bragging about how many people they’d managed to shoot, when they all looked over at you.

“Why are you so mad?” Ashton asked you. “I thought you were doing pretty good.” “Oh, I was. I was doing great. And then that one,” you pointed at Mikey, “decided to be a dirty cheater.”

“You enjoyed it.” He said, smirking as he pulled you into his side.

The five of you turned in your guns and vests before you made your way outside, walking to your separate cars to head home.

“I still can’t believe you did that.” You said to him, anger already leaving your body.

“Really? I’ve been thinking about doing something like that since we thought about going.” He shrugged.

“You really are a cheater, Mikey.”

“You love it.” He said, leaning over the counsel to give you another kiss, this one much shorter.

“Whatever,” you said, “now, how about we go home, and finish just what you started in there, yeah?”

“I like the way you think.” He said, quickly starting the car and driving the two of you home.

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Tell me your thoughts! Thank you for reading :)

#michael clifford x reader #michael clifford #5sos #5sos fanfic #5sos x reader #x reader #micheal clifford x y/n #michael clifford fanfic #michael clifford imagine

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elles-writing · 3 years ago

Text

Little Secret

Request: Wonderful! Could please write an escenario in which y/n (half elf and half human) was part of the company cause Gandalf hired her. She and Kili fell for each other and secretly started courting. Once Erebor was reclaimed everything was going back to normal. Thorin asked her to stay for as long as she liked. When Fili & Kili's mom got there, she had lots of meetings with Thorin so y/n was not able to properly meet her. The day that they are actually introduced, Thorin announces Kili's and Fili's arranged marriages which took everyone by surprise. Y/n and Kili try to figure and fix things out in order to convince Thorin to put off the arrange marriage but it does not work. Therefore, y/n decides to leave Erebor and ends up leaving to Dale; befriending/ helping Bard and his kids. During her time there she finds out that she was pregnant with Kili's child. However, she never notifies Kili nor goes to Erebor to announce it thinking that he had his duty as a prince and it would be harmful for him/ his arranged marriage. So, she makes the decision to raise the baby on her own. Time goes by and on a normal day (when she was 9 months pregnant) that she's walking around Dale while feeling contractions she bumps into Kili. Thank you so much!❤️ Sorry for the long message 😅 - @just-a-dreamer23

A/N: I know, I know, this is soo long. But, I enjoyed writing this story!! I've been trying to overcome my lack of motivation to write, so maybe it isn't as good in some parts, as my other stories, but I wanted to keep it that way, so I hope you enjoy anyways.

Tags: @guardianofrivendell @just-a-dreamer23 @anjhope1 @lathalea

The afternoon was hot. The best thing to do, was to take a nap. At least, in your opinion.

Nothing would attack in this heat, you thought, as you rested under a tree. A while after, you noticed pointy hat and grey cloak of the same colour. You lazily waved.

"Gandalf, long time no see!" Gandalf smiled at you.

"Good afternoon, Y/N." You stood up and looked at him, waiting. Gandalf never came just...for no reason.

"How are you doing?" Gandalf asked, and you shrugged.

"I'm just wandering around, as usual. You know me. I never stay in one place for too long." You said. Gandalf knew that, obviously. Being a child of an elf and a human, you felt like you never belong anywhere.

Elves felt really tense and quiet, and humans were quite loud for you, because of your hearing. And you aged lot slower than them, so making friends was also quite...not it.

"I've been looking for you, to join an adventure," You curiously gave him a look.

"An adventure? What kind of adventure?"

"Well," he looked at you.

"You know about Erebor and the line of Durin, right?" You frowned at him, and quickly shook your head.

"Gandalf, I can't-I can't join the dwarves! They will hate me! Everyone knows they hate the elves, and I'm half elf!" You said.

"Well, who said they will know? You owe me help," he reminded you. You thought back to when he healed you after orcs attacked you, and you sighed. He was right. This was the least you could do.

"And, who knows. Maybe they will like you," he gave you a look, and you folded your hands on your chest, and let out a sigh.

"Alright then. Where and when am I supposed to be?" He gave you all the information you needed. And you started your way to the Shire, looking at the first evening stars, as the starlight is what the Elves of Mirkwood love so much.

You got to the Shire around late afternoon after three days of traveling, and smiled. The hobbits and their houses were tiny, so you couldn't help, but smile. Maybe it won't be that bad, having perhaps a hobbit friend, after all...

You remembered the moment when you first met Kili. You thought Gandalf was there at Bilbo's house, but when you opened the door...

"Are you Master Boggins?" You frowned at the brunette dwarf.

"Do I look like a hobbit to you?" He looked at the other dwarf, then back at you, but there was Bilbo already.

Later on the journey, he found you without your cape on. It was your turn for bathing, but him and Fili forgot some their things at the river.

You just put off your cloak, and put your hair down from your headband. You heard steps, so you quickly turned around.

"You are..." Fili started.

"...an elf?" Kili finished. You huffed.

"Half elf. My mother was...human." you whispered. Painful memories of your early life came up, and you blinked to stop the tears.

"Don't tell anyone, please..." you looked at them. Both Fili and Kili must've seen something in your expression, that made them realize the importance. They nodded. Kili was, however, curious. Lot more than before, and asking you about elves. You talked about it when Thorin was far enought to not hear what was your conversations about, but it wouldn't matter much. Gandalf told them you spent part of your life living with the elves, which was true.

In fact, Kili became fascinated by you. He liked you before, and had a feeling, which he wasn't sure about. Interest, curiousity, the need to protect you, adoration...

In the moment he saw you, he realized you were his One, his love for life. And when you got closer, he asked you to court him. You said yes. From then on, you shared many quiet and stolen kisses and moments together, in the shadows of forests or your bedrooms in pubs.

The moment everyone else (except for Bilbo and the Durin brothers) found out, was when you came into Mirkwood. Thranduil ordered his guards to take your cloak and headband off, and now, everyone could see your pointy ears.

There was a moment of silence.

"What made an elf, to travel with group of dwarves?" You gulped and looked down.

"I'm a-a half elf," you whispered.

"My father was from here." You explained, and the king shot you a glare. He was not stupid. He knew you tried to pull his attention away.

"Take them to the dungeons, except for Oakenshield," he said.

When you made yourself as comfortable as you could on the cold floor, you overheard the dwarves trying to find out who you actually were and what you wanted.

To your surprise, they didn't talk about you in a bad way. Just curiousity. Thankfully.

"Do you think she will like me?" You said to Kili. He was writing a letter to his and Fili's mother, Dis, the happy news - Erebor was reclaimed, and they all survived. It's been a week since, and Thorin decided it was the right thing to let his sister know as soon as possible. She was surely worried.

Kili turned to you.

"Like you? Like you? She is going to love you," Kili grinned at you, and you had to smile a little too.

"Yeah, but...you know, I'm not a dwarf," you said your worry aloud. It was true. Being a half-elf, you and Kili started courting in secret. Thorin was not really kind to you, at least the first half of the journey. However, the rest of the Company liked you lot more. Especially Kili. After a while of knowing of what did you feel, you decided to tell him. To your surprise, but happiness, Kili shared those feelings. And since then, you had a tiny braid, hidden in your hair, and Kili as well.

And stole many, many secret kisses.

"I don't think mum is going to have issue with this," Kili stood up, and gently placed your hair behind your ear.

"You're my One, and you make me incredibly happy. I'm sure she won't have problem with you being half elf," You cupped his cheek, and softly smiled, as you looked deep in his kind brown eyes.

"I love you too, my short Prince," He stood on his toes and kissed you, getting a giggle from you. He pouted, when he heard you called him short, but you knew he didn't mind it.

You kissed him, and felt his smile on your lips. You were leaning down, when suddenly you lost balance, and both you and Kili ended up lying on the floor. Kili and you let out a yelp, but then broke into giggles.

"I love you," Kili said, when you finally stopped laughing. You cuddled into his chest and breathed in his scent. Kili smelled like smoke, food and fresh air.

"I love you too," Kili gently stroke your hair, and you got up.

"Where are you going?"

"You have to finish the letter, and I promised Tilda I will take a walk with her before the dinner." You helped Kili to get up.

"Alright my beloved, have a good time," he gently kissed you, and sat back to his desk. You smiled, and ruffled his hair.

"You too, my dearest." You smiled, and left the room.

It's been a few months, and you were finally, finally going to meet Kili and Fili's mother, Dis. She has been there for around two weeks by now, but, you haven't got the chance to meet her and be introduced to her yet.

You were officially going to meet her during upcoming celebration. Needless to say, you were freaking out.

Your stomach was tight from anxiety for a few days already, and that afternoon, it felt absolutely horrible. You haven't eaten whole day, just because all you thought about was the evening.

You spent around an hour of putting on and off different dresses from your wardrobe, trying to figure out which one to wear.

"Y/N?" Kili knocked on the door of your chambers.

"C'me in," you said. He came in, and his eyes widened, when he seen you sitting in front of the mirror, your eyes red and the mess everywhere.

"What am I supposed to wear? I have nothing to wear!" You started crying. All the stress and anxiety in past three months got the best of you. Random moments of crying, because of tiny things, were happening on daily basis.

"Dear, what is happening?" He pulled your hair back behind your ears.

"I-I just want-want your mum to like me," you muttered.

"And...it stresses me out." Kili nodded, and shortly hugged you.

"She is going to love you no matter which dress you wear, I promise." He whispered to your ear.

"Now, I think..." Kili looked around.

"I think the...the dark green dress will be perfect."

When you changed into the dress Kili picked you, Kili brushed and styled your hair. He pulled the top section into a clip, and you pulled a few strands, to frame your face. You smiled at yourself in the mirror.

"You ready?" Kili asked. You just silently nodded.

As you walked down the hall, Kili was trying to figure out where his uncle, brother and mother went to. He couldn't see them anywhere, and he was sure he was once in a while not late.

When you entered the huge throne room, you could see Fili, and let out a breath of relief.

"Fili, have you seen-"

"Kili, there you are," A woman came from behind Fili, and looked over her younger son.

"Have you brushed your hair?" Kili huffed.

"Of course I did." He said quietly, so nobody could hear him. He was visibly embarrassed, and you let out laugh. She suddenly turned to you. Her deep blue eyes reminded you Thorin, but they had the same twinkle as Kili and, occasionally, Fili.

"I don't remember I seen you here before," she said.

"Well, I usually spend my time outside of Erebor, so I think that might be it," You nervously smiled. She hummed.

"I-I'm not a part of the royal family," you said, and almost groaned. Now that was embarrassing for sure.

"Y/N, this is my and Kili's mum, Dis. Mum, this is Y/N," Fili said, and you felt your cheeks heat up.

"I-um-" You tried to say something, but she pulled you in short hug.

"Nice to meet you, Y/N," she gave you a smile, and then went back between the guests with Fili.

You let out a breath.

"That was embarrassing," you groaned. Kili chuckled.

"No, not at all. She likes you." It suddenly felt like it was much easier to breathe.

"She-she does?" Your eyes widened, and Kili nodded.

"Of course! And you can bet she will steal you to me during the evening,"

"How do you know that?" You turned to him with surprise written all over your face.

"She is my mother. I know her for a long time." He just said.

"She seems to be...different from Thorin," you said, hoping it wouldn't come out as offensive. Kili chuckled.

"Mum and Uncle really aren't that different. Uncle just focuses more on the kingdom and mum, on family," Kili said in low voice, so that only you could hear it.

When you sat down to the table, where the royal family and the Company was, you looked around. You and Kili did secretly hold hands under the table, and you talked to Dis, who was sitting across the table.

"Good evening, everyone," Thorin said, and the people got more quiet.

"It's my pleasure to meet all of you here today. I have some things to say, before the celebration starts." Thorin paused, and Kili leaned near you with a grin.

"It's just a few formalities, don't worry, love." You smiled at him back with tight smile. You felt something was not right. Thorin talked about the kingdom a little at first. The next news was, however, what you were afraid of.

"I'm very happy to say, my nephew Fili is going to marry-" you let out a breath. Kili turned to you with worry.

"Do you feel okay?" He asked, when suddenly...

"And my nephew Kili, who also has already arranged marriage, with-"

Kili stared at Thorin, and you as well.

"Kili-Kili, please-" you tried to stop Kili from going to Thorin. Kili was visibly angry, his jaw was tight, and body tense.

"Kili? What is happening?" Thorin came and let through his teeth. You suddenly felt everyone's eyes on you.

"I need some fresh air," you whispered and walked away, as quickly as you could. When you left, you came in your chambers, kneeled to your bed, and started crying.

You knew it. You should've known before.

Thorin would do this. Even when Fili and Kili were children, he would make sure they had wives already. They were princes. They needed to have a wife.

And Thorin...Thorin would never allow Kili to court you or marry you.

The next day, Kili came into your room. He had dark circles under his eyes, and gave you weak smile.

"I promise we will work this out," he muttered, and pulled you close to his chest.

Kili was asleep - and you let him - but, you thought about your situation, and tried to come up with possible solutions.

However, it was as if there weren't any.

It's been a few days, and you cuddled into your blanket. You fell asleep, and when you woke up, you looked around the room.

This place isn't for me anymore, you thought, and started packing your clothes into your bag. You changed into tunic and trousers, and wrote a letter to Kili, that you were sorry, but it was probably better to have a wife his Uncle would like, that you were leaving and never coming back, so he shouldn't be looking for you.

You quietly left the palace, and walked out in the morning. The air was fresh and nice, and for a moment, you forgot your sadness.

You walked to Dale, and decided to meet Bard. You had nowhere to go, and maybe staying there would be good, before you'd go...somewhere else.

The guards let you in, and as you thought of going to Rivendell, you noticed Bard.

"Bard?" He turned to you, and nodded at you.

"Hi Y/N. What brings you here?" You sighed.

"I'm leaving Erebor, Bard...but the problem is, I need to think about of where-" you suddenly felt dizzy, and Bard catched you. He called for a healer, that's what your hazy mind could catch.

You basically woke up, in a room. On a bed. Comfortable bed.

"Lie still, lady Y/N," the healer said. You frowned a little, when she placed her ear to your stomach.

"I can hear the heartbeat clearly. The baby is most likely around three months old," she said.

"What baby?" You asked, confused. You looked from the healer to Bard and Bard to healer. She took your hands in hers.

"You don't know, my lady? You are pregnant. I can clearly hear the heartbeat of your child," she softly smiled at you. You shook your head, and felt a few tears escaping your eyes.

"I'm...I'm with child," you whispered. You could not believe it. So perhaps, it wasn't just stress...

"Who is the father?" The healer asked, when she helped you to sit up. You nervously looked in your lap.

"Kili. Prince...Kili. Kili Durin." You said, and Bard and the healer shared a look.

"He...he doesn't know. Can we keep it a secret? Please?" You looked at them.

They said yes. Bard was like a father to you, and let you stay. He showed you chambers, that would be your home for next few months at least.

You never went back to Erebor. You thought Kili had to marry the princess, so you just tried to think of the baby you were carrying.

It wasn't that hard, honestly. The baby was often restless, though.

As if it missed Kili as much as you did...

Even if the baby would have to grow up without it's biological dad, you were sure you'd be able to take care of them well.

Some days, you were happy, and didn't think of Kili too much. It pained you, yes, and you knew you had to be strong for the baby, so you often asked someone to teach you something, such as how to prepare different meals, how to knit or how to play piano, to name a few.

Other days, you felt sad. It could be because of the weather, or hormones, some days you just woke up sad, and sometimes it was when something reminded you of Kili. Those days, the baby was the most restless, and the maids told you it was because the baby missed it's father.

You sat down to the armchair next to the window in your bedroom, and looked out on the street. Nobody could see you from here, so it made you feel safe. You looked up and seen Erebor.

"There's your daddy, over there," you whispered to the baby.

The answer you got, was soft kick.

"Does it hurt?" Sigrid asked you, looking at your belly. You smiled at her.

"No, it doesn't." You stroke your stomach. You've been pregnant for past almost nine months. Bard was so kind and let you stay, and even offered you bigger chambers, which you gladly agreeded to. The chambers were perfect size, and the baby could have their own small room, overtime.

You let out shaky breath. You wanted Kili to know about all of this. To be there with you, talk to you and to the baby.

But, it was not possible. It would hurt his reputation, and perhaps even his marriage.

You dried your tears, and carefully stood up. Even as pregnant, you were able to stand up yourself, luckily quite easily. You felt very thankful for some of your genes being from the elves, because, as Bard explained to you, humans had it harder.

When you slowly got yourself out of the castle, you breathed in. The air smelled nicely - you smelled fresh bread, old leaves, fresh air from the lake. Mix of summer and autumn. You felt it was one of the last few warm days, before the typical autumn comes.

You looked around, and your cravings were begging you for some freshly baked, soft warm bread with fresh butter, melting on top of it. You thought of the crispiness of the bread's crust, and your mouth started watering. You groaned, when you felt how your stomach let you know some snack would come handy.

You slid your hand to your pocket, and made sure you have enough money.

You started walking, to find some bakery, and as you looked around, you noticed one on the other end of the street.

You let out a breath, and started walking towards the small store.

You were almost there, when you overheard a gasps, escaping a few young girls. You slowed down and listened to their conversation.

"Did you see him?"

"Yes, I did. Do you think it really is the Prince?"

"Of course he is! I mean, look at him. I'd recognize the hair clip everywhere." You frowned a little, when you suddenly realized it. You stopped walking, and felt hot wave running down your back, and liquid running down your leg.

You carefully looked down. It was clear.

You turned around, and - damn it! - your eyes locked with Kili's in the exact moment.

He started walking towards you. You clearly recognized happiness in his eyes, and relief.

"Y/N, where have you been those past months? I was worried about you," He said, and when he was near you, you recognized even the wet shine in his chocolate eyes. You felt sudden rush of guilt.

He must have notice the guilt on your face. Kili frowned a little, when he took a notice of your belly, under the dress.

"I-you..." You noticed it. He was holding back tears. You shook your head, as you tried to hold your own.

"Kili, it isn't like this...please trust me!" You felt another wave of heat running down your back, and stepped forward, but sudden dizzines made you take wrong step. Kili quickly catched you.

"Kili, I-this is, uh..."

"You moved on," he said. You shook your head.

"No, it's...you are the father," you said, but didn't notice what was his reaction, because suddenly, you realized what was going on, as you were holding your belly.

"I need to get back, and find a healer and midwife," you let out through your gritted teeth.

"We will get there quickly," Kili let out, and you had a feeling.

"Don't you dare to faint!" You let out.

Kili helped you to get back. You noticed Sigrid, and told her to quickly find healer. She didn't ask anything, and quickly runned away. You let out a groan and gripped Kili's arm.

"Lady Y/N, we need to get you to the room prepared for labour," the healer said, and checked on your belly.

When you got there, and changed into simple gown, you laid down as the healer told you.

Kili stayed there, and you were gripping his arm and hand.

"I'm not fucking letting you to sleep with me ever again," you said through gritted teeth. Kili took a shaky breath, and you shot him a glare.

"Don't you dare to faint, Kili Durin! You did put this baby inside me nine months ago, so now-"

"This is just the pain speaking from Lady Y/N, Prince Kili. Don't take it personally," Kili gulped and nodded.

"You're doing great, love," he said carefully. You let out a huff.

"I didn't finish! Now you will deal with me breaking your arm, because it hurts!" You almost yelled at him.

"I can see the head, my Lady!" The healer smiled.

"With this next contraction, you will push as much as you can!" The healer said.

"Okay, one, two, three-push!"

"You're doing great, dear. The baby is almost there," Kili tried to cheer you up.

"You have no idea how painful it is!" You screamed.

"My lady, this is going to be your last push, are you ready?" The healer looked up at you, and you nodded.

"One, two, three, push!" The healer let out. You gripped Kili's hand, and suddenly...

You heard a baby scream.

"It's a girl!" The healer said happily. You smiled, and let out some happy tears.

"You-you did it!" Kili said, and you wiped off your eyes.

"No, we did it," you muttered, and he kissed your cheek.

"How do you feel, Y/N?"

"I'm okay," you smiled. The midwife checked on you, and handed you your baby.

"Everything seems to be in order," she said and smiled. You smiled at her back. She was there for you for all those months, and you got close.

"Thank you so much," She nodded.

"I'll leave you alone," she said, and left.

You stroke the baby's cheek.

"How are we going to name her?" Kili whispered, and stroke the baby's chubby cheek. You shrugged.

"Well...I'm not sure. I was thinking of Arina," you said.

"It's...it's beautiful name," Kili said, and you realized he was crying.

"Kili...I'm so sorry for...for hiding it from you," you whispered. Kili shook his head.

"Love...it isn't your fault. Can I...can I hug you?" You nodded, and he slid his arm around your shoulders.

"If anything, it's my fault." He muttered.

"I should've known where did you go, and-"

"Shh," you said.

"We can talk about that later. Arina's asleep now."

You were quietly watching the baby. The midwife came back soon, to check on you and the baby, and when she left, Kili spoken up.

"We talked Uncle the marriges out." You nodded.

"You left Erebor by then already. I was looking everywhere for you, only if I knew-" you subtly interrupted him.

"I didn't know either. I wanted to go to Rivendell, but...then, I found out. It would be risky, so Bard let me stay here," You shrugged.

"Do you still want to leave, though?" Kili looked at you with sad eyes, when he looked away from your daughter. You shook your head.

"No." Kili grinned, and gently brushed his hand over your cheek.

"Just for your information...mum was going nuts when she found out about the arranged marriges. She likes you a lot." You smiled, and took Kili's hand in yours.

"Well...let's hope she likes her too," You looked at Arina's sleeping face.

You came back the next day. Kili had to go to Erebor that evening, but in the morning, he came back.

When you entered, you overheard a strong female voice. You quickly realized who was the woman.

"I don't care my brother has a meeting. Go tell him he has to come here. It's a family emergency," she said, and turned to you and Kili.

"Y/N, where have you-oh, who is this?" Dis turned to you, and noticed the baby. You shared a look with Kili.

"This is your granddaughter," You said carefully. Dis looked between you and Kili, and it seemed like most things clicked to her. She smiled.

"Well..."

"Dis, what does that means?" Thorin's voice came from different hall, and you noticed Fili giving you a knowing smile.

"Thorin..." you said, and he turned to you. He seemed to be confused, but then he looked at Arina.

"What does this-"

"Uncle, let's get some privacy first," Fili said.

When you came to library, Thorin turned to you. Dis stood up, as if she would want to protect you.

"Uncle...Y/N and I started courting on the quest in secret. We planned to get married, but when you announced the arranged marriges for me and Fili, we-"

"I left Erebor, because I thought you would never accept me as partner for your nephew, Thorin. I found out I was pregnant, however, I didn't want to hurt Kili's reputation or his marrige, so I never came back to announce it. He met me in Dale yesterday, and I, um...I went to labour." Thorin has been looking at you and Kili. Your body was tense, and Fili, Kili and Dis were ready to protect you any moment.

Thorin slowly closed this eyes, and placed his face into his palms. When he looked up again, he let out a sigh.

"Fili, Kili, sister, leave us alone."

"But Uncle-" Fili said, but Thorin shook his head.

"I said, leave us alone. It won't be long." They three left, and you were a bit afraid.

"Kili is a prince, yes. But, he is also a dwarf, who needs to have someone who he is happy with." Thorin said, looking away from you.

"I noticed, of course. You make him happy, Y/N. I thought it was just childish love, that you would leave, and it would break Kili's heart. I owe you honest apology, Y/N. For thinking you wouldn't take his love seriously." He looked at you, and you let out a small smile. You nodded.

"Apology accepted, Thorin. Courting Kili makes me incredibly happy, and I am honored to say he is my lover," you said, and Thorin looked at you.

"Well, and when it comes to, um...you staying, you can stay here. If you would like to."

"I'd be very thankful."

A few years later

"Fi, look!" Kili said, as Arina walked towards Kili, again. She was giggling, as her father was dancing with her. You laughed.

"Kili, be careful!"

"Daddy, look!" The little girl pointed to a butterfly, who sat on her dress.

"Yeah, it's beautiful," Kili said, and she pouted.

"Don't move, or it will fly away!" Arina let out, and let the butterfly gently walk on her palm.

"Uncle, look, I got a butterfly!" Arina showed it to Fili, who nodded with nervous face.

"Oh, it's beautiful, Ari. Would you put it, um, a bit away from me, please?" She put the butterfly on a flower, and Fili let out a breath.

"I'm sleepy, mommy." She came to you, and lean her head on your shoulder.

"Ari?" A little boy came, and the girl jumped up with grin.

"Vili!" She squealed, and started tickling her cousin.

"Granny!" Arina gasped, when she noticed Dis.

"You are growing up so fast, Ari!" She said proudly, and you two shared a look.

"Aye, that's what she does," Kili let out a chuckle, and gently kissed your cheek.

#kili #kili x reader #fili #fili x reader #thorin #thorin x reader #the hobbit #gandalf #gandalf x reader #bilbo baggins #bilbo x reader #bilbo baggins x reader #the hobbit fanfiction #request #requested #kili x you #kili x y/n

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seventeenplug · 2 years ago

Text

Music Bank partners (Heeseung X AFAB idol) Part 1/2

Pairing: Idol Heeseung X Idol Reader

Warning: A few curse words other than that, only a few touches but nothing too big.

Summary: You had only one more chance to make your group big before you would be disbanded as the company struggled, so you took a leap and decided, as the leader to try for the MC role in Music Bank. You had been told a SM idol would be your partner, but that quickly changed, and you were faced with one of the 4th gen IT boys.

Word Count: 1317

Part 2

"The company is having financial issues, Y/N, we cannot afford to promote the group as we planned to due to those struggles. Please understand that with all the new groups debuting every year -" The C.E.O's words struck the poor girl, who lowered her head, heart filled with guilt and despair as she had tried just about everything for her group to gain enough attention to continue together.

"I'll do, whatever it takes. Please, just give us one more chance" You begged, swallowing down your salty tears, you hear the company's CEO sigh, a hand going through his hair as he looks at you with pity.

He had had high hopes for this group, you had trained for over 8 years, a perfect all-rounder and the company's ace, but the effort just wouldn't reach the cold heart of knets.

"I will make you proud, CEO" you said confidently, he nods with a small smile, hand dismissing you from his office as he tries now to not disappoint your group, whilst you walk out with a widespread smile, excited to tell your girls about the news.

"Ok... I'll see what we can pull off" He says, lips tight into a line as he continued to look at you, waiting for his words to reach you, head lifting to look at him, eyes filled with hope and relief.

You thanked him, likely over a hundred times, and he chuckles to relieve your nervousness, you smile and bow deeply once more before shaking his hand.

~~~~

A few days later, your manager, Joon Young comes to you with a smile while your group practiced.

"Y/N, we have good news" he announced, everyone cheers gathering around him.

"Well, the thing is..." he begins, now looking slightly more nervous to deliver the news the girls had awaited for long.

"We got an offer, to make one of you an MC" he continues, eyes searching around the 4 of the girls who looked at him confused.

"No, no. If anything, It should be you, Y/N, you made 4ode what it is, and as the leader you worked the hardest" the younger counterbacks, the others agreeing almost immediately, your mouth is open in shock, eyes wide in confusion.

"MC?" Eun Ji speaks out, clearly confused with the whole situation.

"Yes... only one of you can do it, but it will be the Music Bank MC with another partner, and it can lead to great success and call to a lot of new fans" he explained.

You nodded, looking around the girls, mind set on the offer.

"Let's do it" you smiled looking at your manager for a second before your eyes settled on 4ode's youngest member, Yu Na.

"I think Yu Na should do it. She's young and she's funny and beautiful. They would love her" you spoke on your idea.

"The CEO actually really wanted you to take the position, Y/n. He said it was basically offered with you in mind" Your manager adds, you close your mouth, thoughts running miles in your head, considering all the options, but you end up accepting it, considering it to be your group's last chance of success.

"I'll do it" you nod, cheers sounding through the room as you now just needed to sign the contract and then begin to train your lines for the show and await the news of your future partner.

~~~~~~~~

Heart palpitating, and a lot of nervousness but nonetheless you were excited. Happy to know that your CEO really did care for you and your girls, happy that the company hadn't given up on you 4 just yet.

Scared of the reaction of the people to you, but somewhat thankful for the opportunity to showcase your talent for millions to see.

"He pulled out... they will be replacing him with someone else, we don't know for certain who it is yet, though"

"Who was it supposed to be?" Na Ri, the second youngest questioned curiously.

"I think it was supposed to be a member of NCT, but they began a tour, so he didn't have the schedule to do MC" you explained

Sitting around the dinning table, you munched on your food, your members too excited and curious to even look at the food in front of them.

"So, who will replace him?" Eun Ji insisted, you rolled your eyes, using your chopsticks to feed the girl whose eyes didn't move from your face.

"I just said that I don't know" you laughed, watching her chew her mouth with a pout.

"Actually" you heard a voice behind you, turning around to your makeup artist, Ha Na, entering the cafeteria.

"We heard a bird say that it might just be a Hybe boy member" she smiled at you settling herself besides you.

All eyes were on her, shock evident in everyone's expressions, it would be almost impossible for you to be in the same place as a person from HYBE, much less work besides one of their idols you thought.

"You should go speak with the CEO, maybe he has some information" Na Ri Interjected, offering you then a way to actually answer your lingering questions. You nod to her reassuring her that you will, peacefully continuing on with your meal.

"Hey, come on. That's impossible. We're barely a C Lister, why would they pair me with an A Lister?" You question in utter confusion, eyebrows furrowed in dismay.

Ha Na shrugs, too indulged in her own food.

"I heard a few people talking about it, but there's still no confirmation about it. But who knows. From what the CEO told us, the Music Bank producer really liked the idea of you being an MC there" she continued.

"Y/N, are you done eating? The CEO wants to speak with you" another staff member calls out to you at the entrance of the cafeteria. You nod, swallowing another spoon full of food before rushing to his office.

Once by his office's door you knock, a faint 'come in' is heard, and you make your way inside, sitting down on the chair opposite his by his desk.

He sets his hands on top of his desk, eyes locked with yours who nervously watched him.

"It's been announced who the other MC will be" He simply states, you nod, awaiting him to continue.

"It's a Hybe boy group member" he continues, suspense in his tone as he smirks upon seeing you eagerly waiting for him to drop a name.

"It's a group you have covered before" he continues to tease, you huff.

"I've covered all the HYBE groups, CEO. Please, be more specific" you whined, he laughs at you.

"You didn't cover Nu'Est" he jokes, you let out a small laugh, rolling your eyes.

"It is Lee Heeseung. Your partner" he finally announces, to say you were shocked was little, you felt as if you hadn't heard it right, but even after asking him to repeat, and the same name coming out you were still in shock.

"Why? How?" he shrugs.

"You should start practicing soon though, they'll be sending a script later this week, and you'll be meeting the staff alongside him, next week, so you have to prepare for that" he remarks, you nod once more.

"I'll do my very best" you say, fist clenched as you raise it with a wide smile.

"Good, good. Now go tell the good news and relax a little. You'll be fine kid" He reassures you, a smile bright on his face once more dismissing you.

You bow once more making your way out.

Relief in your every step, 'you'll do well. You're trained. All you have to do is be good, speak well, be cohesive and practice a lot for the performances and interviewing the groups' you kept repeating to yourself.

"I got this" You mumbled to yourself, walking through the empty hallways.

You got this.

PART 2 (ENDING) will be released tomorrow!!!

Posted the 12th November 2022

#leeheeseung #heeseung #heeseung lee #enhypen #kpop imagines #kpopimagine #kpop #kpop fluff #kpop imagine #enha #enhypen heeseung #enhypen scenarios #kpop x you #kpop idols #imagine

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sukirichi · 4 years ago

Text

earned it [04]

Gojo Satoru is a firm believer that if you work hard for it then you shall earn it. But on the other side, he’s not unfamiliar with his own sins. He also believes that there is punishment due for his sins as he’s earned it.

cw. DARK CONTENT, graphic violence, mentions of blood, explicit murder, sexual violence, angst, tw dubcon, mentions of mass murder, death threats, cheating, implications of suicide, typical mafia business + very unedited (please PLEASE read at your own discretion! if you do not wish to proceed to read because of the aforementioned warnings but want to know what happened anyway, please drop into my asks and i’ll retell it in a much less graphic version!)

chapter song. never forget you (zara larsson, mnek)

series masterlist

Death.

The stench of it reeked everywhere. Blood pooled at the ends of your dress, the warm liquid dripping from your fingers. You couldn’t see what was in front of you, not when your vision had been obscured black, painted red with everyone’s lifeless eyes staring back emptily at you and carrying an ominous message behind words that never had the chance to be spoken.

Satoru was gone.

You ran through flights of stairs as you bunched your dress up, dried blood present on your cheek. The gray cemented walls of this unknown building began to close down on you, suffocating you, trapping you – and then there he was. Your lover, your world, your everything – he stood on top of a pile of bodies, his face as grim as the deaths he’s caused, but that wasn’t what stood out from the scene. It was the fact you couldn’t recognize him anymore; the man before you was nothing else but the devil incarnate himself. Then, just as you ran his way, fingers outstretched to grasp at his shirt, Satoru disappeared.

He was gone.

A scream ripped out your throat as you scrambled for the sheets, pulling them up in a haste to shield yourself. The images were now gone, but that fear kept drumming into you, gloops of blood making its way through your room’s white exterior.

It’s not real, it’s not real – Satoru’s arms snaked over to your side, his eyes droopy from being woken up. You would’ve apologized, knowing he never really got proper sleep, but you were already wrapping your arms around yourself, gaze repeatedly darting back to the walls – to check for bodies, for blood, for death, for him.

“Hey,” Satoru drew you close to him until your head fell on his chest. Out of instinct, you flattened your ear above where his heartbeat rested. Thump thump – he was real, he was safe, alive – he wouldn’t do that. Satoru wasn’t that kind of person. You clung to him like a koala and mumbled incoherently at the skin of his neck, clutching his shirt so tight it wrinkled horribly. Satoru merely littered kisses all over the crown of your head to soothe you, although he was not free to this fear you felt; he was just as nervous for an unknown reason. “Angel, what’s wrong?”

“You-you were leaving—”

“Shh, angel, I’m not, I’m here,” he wrapped you closer to his body, the sheets still warm and smelling like him as if to add reassurance to his words. “You’re alright. I’m here, angel, it’s okay.”

“I was going to die,” you quivered. It had only been a fleeting moment when you saw it, but you were there too. Dressed in white, arms covered in lace and a crown adorning your head; it seemed as if you were meant to be on top of the bodies, and Satoru sat upon it like a throne. It transitioned from being the witness to being the victim in a minute and your chest squeezed so hard you choked out, “I was dying, baby.”

“You’re not going to die. No one’s going to hurt you, you understand?” Satoru cupped your cheeks to force you to look him in the eye. “I’m going to keep you safe no matter what. Not leaving your side, angel, that’s a promise.”

“Don’t you dare.”

“I would never do that,” he nodded before he raised your pinky. Satoru looped both your fingers and kissed the conjoined form, not once leaving your gaze the whole time. “I promise,” he whispered, foreheads touching and breaths mingling. Like one soul intertwined, you once mused, feeling yourself get lost in the depth of azure pools he harboured. “There’s nowhere to go without you anyway; you’re the greatest gift in my life. I’d do anything for you.”

“Don’t leave me. Please.”

“I won’t, angel. I never will.”

And you believed that. Like the fool you were, you really believed that.

The bank loomed over you, its mere presence impending and bringing about a wave of discomfort to you. Awkwardly, you stepped inside, hiding your face in your hair to conceal the nausea threatening to urge you to throw up. You couldn’t help but survey the entire area out of instant wariness, holding tighter to your phone.

Seeing as there was no line, you sat on the nearest open window. “Hi, uhm…I recently got transferred this money from…an old friend, you could say,” you informed with furrowed brows, fishing your phone out of your pocket as you logged into your account. The whole time, your hands turned sweaty and the phone nearly slipped from your grasp out of anxiety. The woman assisting you flashed you a sympathetic smile, patient and kind enough to listen to your small voice through the glass. “I lost contact with them so I can’t return it. I was wondering if maybe you could help me rewind the transaction?”

“Oh, we can definitely do that Ma’am, may I see?” Nodding, you handed her your phone. In an instant, the polite smile fell from her lips, altering into a nervous one the next. “Oh…” she blinked back at the digits, clearly overwhelmed from the amount of zeroes. Dropping her voice, she leaned closer to you, “Do you…do you know the account owner personally?”

“Yes,” you admitted, “Well, I used to.”

“And they wired you all this?”

“About two weeks ago, yeah.”

The employee sat there for a full minute, possibly contemplating how to go about this. It didn’t set well with you – that mysterious, almost suspicious smile she had – that you debated whether just asking for your phone back. “Excuse me for a moment. I think I should take this to the higher-ups,” she announced while scanning the bank with narrowed eyes, leaving before you could have a say in it.

The next minutes that passed had never felt more gruelling.

You sat there with a frantic heart, your jeans damp from the countless times you’ve wiped your hand on it. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. People came in for their own agendas, the hushed ‘inside voice’ as faint as ever, then they left. Repeat. End of conversation.

It was just another normal, boring day for everyone else – but not for you.

“Miss?” a voice pulled you away from your thoughts. A half-bald man was now standing before you, the previous employee you’d been talking to right behind him, her head ducked down. Manager, his tag read, which made sense. He gestured for you to come inside the back parts of the bank, and you gripped your purse tighter as you followed them.

The inside wasn’t that special or different from the outside. There were lesser chairs but bigger, brighter white walls. His office was located right in the middle where the female employee closed the glass doors behind you, silent and timid as she prepared you tea. Meanwhile, you sat there with your hands wrung in your lap, stomach already falling from the grim expression he wore. “About the funds, I’m afraid we can’t do anything about this transaction. While it had been transferred you, neither us nor the bank has the authorization to do anything about this. Whoever sent it to you is the only one that can either take it back or liquidize it,” he pushed his glasses back to his face, an apologetic sigh leaving his lips. “I’m afraid we can’t help you with this, Miss, we’re really sorry—”

“No!” you slammed your palms on the desk, “No, I don’t want the money, wire it back to him!”

“Miss, we already told you, it’s out of control—”

You shook your head. This wasn’t real – Satoru had to be joking! He couldn’t just give you this and disappear into thin air! In fact, you never even cared for the money; you were just hoping that maybe you’d find a way back to him if nothing but digits was the only thing left to prove he even existed. Desperation clawed its way through your throat as you fell on your knees, helpless tears streaming down your face. “Please, you have to do something, I don’t want the money, I just want him back, please! I just need to talk to him once more and he’s your client, right? Let me talk to him, I know you have contact with him, Sir, please, I’m begging you—”

“Security!” the manager hollered. The sounds of doors slamming open made you stand up straight, eyes wide at the incoming pairs of guards ready to escort you out. “It’s best you schedule a personal appointment with the account owner, Miss. We also suggest you remain on the down-low instead of causing a ruckus like this. You don’t know who’s going to be grabbing at every opportunity to take what was given to you.”

“Everything’s been taken away from me!” you argued back, walking around the desk to clasp the manager’s hand. He pulled away for a moment before you squeezed his hands, the tearing of your heart too painful to bear. You just wanted to see him. “Come on, please, I don’t care about the money, I just—”

They didn’t let you finish. Just like Satoru, just like everybody else, they discarded you to the side, treated you like you were a nobody who didn’t deserve a second chance.

“Escort her out, please.”

And just like that, your fate had been decided. No...perhaps it had been determined the moment he left, and now you walked blearily along the narrowed gaps between buildings, unable to find your way back home.

Where was home anyway? Your penthouse with Satoru? Your cramped dorm back at the university? Your empty flat that had once been a happy home with your parents before they too, left you behind with nothing but a family portrait as a memory? It was pathetic. You meant nothing. Obviously, no one valued you enough, not even Satoru who’d just given you enough to let you live comfortably for the rest of your life. But no matter how much he provided, it wasn’t what you wanted. It wouldn’t bring back the one thing you wanted most, and you fell on the rough pavement, too tired to care about the stinging of your palms.

You clutched at your heart in a debilitated attempt to soothe way your chest squeezed uncomfortably. You were literally in the middle of the nowhere, trapped between the walls that hid you in the darkness and muffled your cries.

He’d left – he really left.

He didn’t keep his promise, and your nightmare had now become reality. You had to bite down your shirt to keep the agony to yourself, nails dug so deep into your jeans it left a mark above your skin. Hours passed, maybe minutes – who knew?

The sun had gone down and the streets grew busier than before, the honking and lively bustling of the night city like background noise to you.

Your key back to the penthouse weighed heavily at your back pocket. There was still the option of just going back home, but what good would that do? Everywhere you went, you were reminded of him. There was no escaping the beautiful memories he left you with, there was no exit from his miserable dream you were forced to wake up into.

Nothing mattered anymore. You felt so lost, the motivation to find your way back depleted just like your energy. You only had your bodily instincts to thank for when your stomach grumbled, demanding to be fed and nurtured even in such a hopeless situation. It made you want to laugh – that even as your heart and soul gave up on you – your body was doing its best to keep you alive and get through the day. You heaved yourself away from the wall and wiped the dirt away from your palms, the rhythm of your feet one heavy clump next to the other.

There was a nice Chinese restaurant at the end of the street that glowed brightly, invitingly. If you could just have dinner, maybe you’d feel better.

But you never got three steps across.

A cold blade had been pressed to your neck, sinister laughter echoing from the darkness of the night. “Scream and you die, sweetheart,” a gruff voice crooned in your ear, followed by a more high-pitched, maniacal chuckles. There was two of them. Fear lit your nerves up and you scrambled to run, but this man was too strong. He didn’t even have to try too much into increasing pressure to your neck, slicing the first layers of your skin that was enough to prick both blood and tears from you. “Ah, ah, ah! Resisting won’t get you anywhere. We just want to talk, okay? No foul play needed.”

You shut your eyes in submission, too afraid to even swallow the bile rising in case the movement would push the knife further. You could only let out a weak, “What do you want from me?”

“Oh, what else?” said his accomplice, showing up in front of you with a creepy smile. He tipped his head side to the side, revealing the silver replacements of his teeth that glinted under the streetlights. “You got his hidden slush fund, didn’t you?”

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, sweetheart, you don’t need to lie, we saw you leave that bank. Plus, everyone’s been talking about it!” cheered the guy behind you, pushing you forwards with his blade finally withdrawn. You stumbled on your feet as they pointed to the nearest ATM. For a moment, you contemplated making a run for it. The ATM was only a few kilometres away from the Chinese restaurant and you could be safe if you run fast enough, but you were too obvious, the deceit written all over your face. The first guy then pressed a gun against your head, a silent reminder that you were the weaker one here. “Don’t even think about it,” he warned, “Now you’ll withdraw it little by little, okay? We just want a piece of it, a fraction of it is enough to last us a lifetime.”

Exhaling deeply, you raised your hands in surrender. “I can’t withdraw it.”

“The fuck did you say?”

“I said I can’t withdraw it! I don’t have access—”

“Bullshit, bitch, you’ve got so much of it, just give to us before we kill you,” he cocked his gun, his friend following suit and retrieving a pistol from his belt. Your lips quivered at the sight of two guns aimed at your way, but you remained firm in your spot, shaking your head at them. The man’s eyes darkened, displeased by your response. He narrowed his eyes at you before nodding to his friend.

“Fuck this man, she’s a selfish cunt. Take her phone and her belongings.”

“No, please, don’t—”

It was too late. They had pushed you on the ground, your bum throbbing from the fall. The second guy rummaged your pockets before pulling out your wallet, jaw dropping from the contents. “Fuck,” he exclaimed, flashing a Polaroid you had kept the whole time. “This you and Six Eyes?”

Your heart fell.

It was a photo of you and Satoru on your first anniversary where he’d whisked you off to a sky tower, arrogantly declaring that he’d make you experience the best date ever.

He wasn’t lying – his arrangement of fireworks and a romantic date in the sky really had been the best – and he’d snapped a picture of you then, sneakily landing a kiss on your cheek while you gasped at the display of fireworks before you.

Just seeing it felt like torture all over again, and the thief snickered at your tear stained face. “Oh, I see. You’re his whore, aren’t you? Everyone called it bullshit when word got around Six Eyes had a little angel hidden somewhere around here. I gotta say though, you are a pretty thing. Makes sense you got him pussy whipped.”

“Whoever Six eyes fucks – especially someone he liked enough to pay this much – that is fine meat, man,” the other muttered more to himself. His eyes then lit up with a thought, the smirk tugging at his lips screaming trouble. “It’d be a shame to not have a taste.”

You paled. Scrambling as much as you could with sore legs, you pushed their arms away from you. “Let go of me!” you cried out, kicking harder when they’ve discarded their guns and focused on carrying you instead. Everything muted that night except for the pounding of your heart as you struggled to get away from them, arms flailing the moment one of them yanked your shirt down to expose your bra. “Don’t fucking touch me, let go!”

It must be luck that your punch landed on his nose, a sickening crack resonating in the street. All of you remained still, with you flattening your back on the wall, arms protectively sheltering your chest and the pair staring at the other guy’s broken nose.

He winced at seeing blood on his fingers, “Oh, you’re just asking for it bitch,” he snarled, snapping his fingers to get his friend’s attention and pointing at you. “Grab her leg.”

Both of them made quick work. It all happened so fast you couldn’t tell which was who anymore. Your shirt had been ripped off; the straps of your bra tugged down to free a nipple while your arms had been knocked into the building behind you. One of them kept you immobile, their grips too strong and their bodies twice your size that you were easily overpowered. You never cried so hard in your life – not even when you realized Satoru had left – and your throat ached from how much you wept.

“Stop, no, let go of me!”

“Shut her the fuck up, bruh,” the man unzipping your jeans scowled, his fingers playing with the waistband of your underwear. You sobbed and screamed, fought hard as much as you could, but you were too weak. Too vulnerable. Too pathetic.

Maybe it was just better to let go.

Maybe it was just better to stop.

Your shoulders fell as they shimmied your jeans down your hips, each and every inch of your body no longer yours. Was this how you would die? Was this how you would finish? If so, you would’ve appreciated at least one last dinner.

You were about to close your eyes the moment you heard the sounds of a man’s belt unbuckling, too lost in your own horror that you failed to hear the screeching of tires, and neither did they. And then, like a light at the end of the tunnel, like an angel dropping from the heavens – gunshots rang through the air. Blood splattered to your cheek. Heavy bodies crunched against the ground.

He’d come back.

Except it wasn’t Satoru leaning in front of a car when you opened your eyes. The man stood a few inches shorter, blond shaggy hair falling just above his eyebrows, the ends dyed black. His body was tilted to the side, half of his weight shifted on a cane upon closer look, but you were mostly captivated in his eyes. He showed no malice intent; hell, he didn’t even spare a glance at the corpses with holes between their eyes, silently blowing the smoke away from his barrel like this was a common thing for him.

He had his eyes on you, uncaring of the fact you were half-naked before him since his attention remained on your face.

“So it’s true,” he mused, “I didn’t believe at first when they said Six Eyes really gave the notes to his girl. A commoner, no less,” he limped towards you, feline-eyes slanted to inspect you. “But nothing about you is common, is there? To get the demon to soften up…you really must be something else,” his gloved hands ran a finger down to your jaw, and you shut your eyes tight, leaning away from his touch. The man clicked his tongue at your reactions but withdrew his hand anyway, stepping a few feet away from you to give you space. “Don’t be so scared. You and I are not that different. We’re both just poor victims of facing the consequences of his actions,” he tapped his cane at your shoes, his face devoid of expression. “Stand up. You won’t get anywhere by crying. You need to learn how to fight.”

You swung the door open, ready to finally get the shoes you’ve been gushing to Naoya about for days. But you were met with nothing but a tuft of white hair, blood smattered on his cheeks, and lips crashing down onto yours. Satoru pinned you against the wall in the same manner he held you on that day he left, his kisses harsh and longing while you moaned into his mouth, legs turning into jelly.

“Angel,” he rasped into your mouth, grinding his boner to the thin material of your night gown. “I told you you’re fucking mine.”

Satoru forced his tongue past your lips and kept you close to him, his intoxicating scent tempting you to give in and enjoy it already. For a split second, you faltered, kissing him back with the love you once harboured for him, but then you blanked.

This was Satoru.

You were married to Naoya.

He’d began to leave kisses at your jawline when you pulled back, landing a sharp elbow right at his head. Satoru fell on the floor and you panted above him as you tried to make yourself decent. Fuck, that hurt like a bitch. You had to roll your shoulders back to get rid of the tension as you made the mental note to train in combat harder, pinching the bridge of your noise before you summoned the servants.

Satoru was knocked out for a solid hour. You found it funny that the infamous omnipotent Six Eyes was now sprawled all over your couch, soft snores emitting from his lips. He’d been pretty unresponsive to you so ice far, not even a budge as you iced the bruise you’d left on his face.

You sighed. His shirt was stained with blood, the pads of his knuckles matted with wounds and bruises. You couldn’t help yourself from brushing his hair away from his eyes, humming a little until his eyes cracked open. Satoru stared at the ceiling before his eyes landed on you hovering before him, your touch gentle in paradox to the heat of your gaze. “What are you doing here, Satoru?” you sighed, gesturing to the mess he had on his shirt. “Where have you been?”

“In a fight.”

“No shit,” you rolled your eyes, “You still haven’t answered my question. What are you doing here?”

“I-I don’t know. I just…I lost it for a moment and—”

“Do I want to know why?”

“It’s stupid,” he mumbled to himself and faced the couch. Even after seven years, he was still very much the petty kid at heart. You could confidently bet he was pouting right now, and you crossed your leg over the other, hiding a small smile behind your palm. “I overheard one of my men making a sleazy comment that Naoya’s wife looked like a bitch who would jump at every alpha male,” Satoru grumbled, prying for your reaction by looking across his shoulder. “I don’t know what came over me after that.”

“Did you kill them?”

“Almost,” he scrunched his nose, “Then I pictured your face. Maybe you wouldn’t want me to do that.”

“So you care about what I want now?”

Satoru shut his eyes. Of course you’d never stop bringing that up – both to your demises – since you were both a sadist who didn’t mind receiving pain every now and then. Five years of marriage with Naoya taught you to be resilient to all types of pain, the experiences and horrors you’ve lived through practically making you immune to them now. Satoru, on the other hand, didn’t seem to be on the same boat as you. He sat up, his hips flushed next to your thighs, burying his hands on his head. “Angel, about everything... are we not going to talk about what happened before?”

“Is there anything to talk about?” you deadpanned, surprising the guy who widened his eyes at you. Surely, he must be expecting a different form of hatred coming from you, but you were indifferent – numb, empty. “The past is in the past, Satoru. You know better than anyone else it’s easier to just walk away.”

“I’m really sorry.”

“For what?” you faked a smile, placing your chin on your hands while blinking up at him under innocent eyes. Naoya once told you that your attitude of being unbothered bothered a lot more people, and it was a technique you’ve loved ever since. Seeing Satoru crumble before you...nothing felt more satisfying. “For barging in here or for kissing me? Maybe both?”

“For everything,” he answered brokenly, “For all the pain I’ve put you through.”

“Do you think apologies are going to suddenly eradicate that?”

“…No.”

“Then I don’t need it,” you taunted, patting his thigh as you stood up, tying the knots of your robe safer this time. You couldn’t be bothered to wear underwear beneath them; if Satoru tried laying his hands on you again, you wouldn’t hesitate to cut his fingers off, and the plain sight of a dagger now strapped in your thigh was enough of a reminder for him. He made sure to keep his distance.

“Come with me. I’ll show you what we’ve been working on,” Satoru’s footsteps were silent as you led him past the secret doors hidden behind Naoya’s study, the room leading into an even bigger part of the house that stored most of your possessions. Satoru let out an awed gasp behind you once the lights and slight whirs of the machine buzzed through the room, chemicals bubbling from one side and little pills being packaged on the other. Your face lit up in a smile from the sheer pride of your hard work, arms extended to the side to present everything. “This is mostly where we manufacture Xenet. All of this – it’s mine. My personal little laboratory, or as Naoya calls it, my playroom,” you grinned, “I feel at peace here.”

“Making drugs?”

“Being safe,” you corrected with a roll of your eyes, “Acting like I’m normal. That gives me peace.”

Satoru was hot on your heels all the way to the main laboratory, where you’d pestered him into wearing safety gloves before entering. You donned a white coat from the blast of AC that enraged goosebumps, leading him in front of a huge clear wall that formulated Xenet’s pure creation. Stacks of purple powder lined up on layers all kept inside a cooling room, and you stepped to the side, muttering to yourself while checking today’s inventory like it was totally normal to manufacture illegal drugs inside your home.

You would’ve looked domestic if Satoru wasn’t feeling the slightest bit dizzy from the drug-coated atmosphere; one that you’d gotten resistant from.

“What brought you here?” Satoru voiced out, shaking his head to himself. He looked terribly devastated, cheeks sunken and dark circles lining his eyes. “I never thought...”

“That I’d be like you?” you finished for him. Tucking a stray strand behind your ear, you smiled at Satoru and pushed past him to list down your observations for today. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m not like Naoya; I’m not a mass murderer.”

“But you’re supporting him.”

“He keeps me safe as long as I’m useful to him,” you paused in your tracks, the spite evident in your tongue. “If you hadn’t left me, I wouldn’t have to be like this. There are thousands of people after me because you named me after that account. Other than Naoya, there’s really no other reason I’m still alive and breathing,” Satoru was speechless from your confession, which was good, since you didn’t want him chatting too much in the first place. You ignored him as you continued typing notes on your monitor, acting unaffected, but the way you punched through the keys told a different story. “This is the least I could do for him. In exchange of protection, I’ll be sharing my intelligence and give him what he wants.”

“Doesn’t it sicken you that we’re like this? That we do all this – for money, power, control – without the slightest bit of conscience?” Satoru scoffed, “You’ve been married for him a long time. I know you’re not a stranger to the fact we even enjoy this.”

You stopped your task, turning to Satoru with flared nostrils. “You know, Satoru, painting yourself as a demon to look like a victim won’t make me sympathize,” you spat out, absolutely losing it. “I don’t care what you’ve been doing before you met me. I don’t care that you killed or hurt people. I’m not the slightest bit of the angel you claim me to be because if I was as pure as that, don’t you think I would’ve stopped loving you?”

Everything crumbled to dust.

Years of convincing yourself you didn’t care anymore, years of healing yourself, years of working hard to forget him – and all crumbled to dust.

“What are you—”

“I knew!” you cut him off, “I knew everything. I’m not dumb, Satoru. No matter how much you tried to hide it back then, I saw the blood stains. I could smell the alcohol. I know drugs when I see it,” Satoru took a step back in surprise, but you kept going. Now that you’ve started it, you might as well finish it, and your eyes pricked with tears before you could stop it. “But I never cared. I was selfish – blinded by love. Back then, I told myself I didn’t care who you were because I loved you unconditionally,” You were breathing hard from finally releasing that damn fucking weight off your shoulders, your resolve breaking as you wiped your tears with the back of your hand while Satoru remained frozen. “Every night, I cried myself to sleep. I always asked myself why did it have to be you? Why did you have to be that way? Why did you have to be a monster? It broke me to no end, Satoru, but every time I tried to think of you as awful, you would hold me so close that it felt like everything was a lie,” your voice faltered, “I loved you in spite of everything you’ve done. I’m just selfish like that.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” you cried, “Many times...I turned a blind eye to it. I didn’t want to force something out of you because I knew you weren’t ready, but I was always waiting, Satoru,” gesturing to the both of you, Satoru watched your frantic movements. “Did you think I didn’t mean it when I said I would love you no matter what – no matter who you might be? I meant every word of it. You didn’t have to leave me because I would’ve still left everything behind if you asked me to go with you. I don’t care anymore, I never did. I just wanted to be with you.”

“Angel...” he trailed off, debating whether to hold you or just stay put. Satoru chose the latter and ran his hands over his hair, breathing hard as he, too, wavered. “I was scared. Each time I see your face, I-I can’t help but think about losing you. It haunts me every fucking night that what if I’m not strong enough? What if I couldn’t protect you?” his voice broke, “You were the only good thing in my life. I couldn’t handle losing you just because you got too close.”

You shoved him hard. “That’s no fucking excuse! You told me – y-you told me that I made you feel strong, that I gave you hope, that I made you feel like nothing could stand in your way – so don’t stand there and fucking tell me you were scared!”

Satoru kept taking a step back from the force of your hits, and he took them all with a brave face, but it seemed that he too had reached his limit as you leered, “Don’t be a fucking coward!”

“It’s because I loved you!” Satoru gripped your wrists and tugged you to him, effectively taking the ability to speak away from you. “My whole life, I got everything I wanted and things were easy for me! I don’t know what it’s like to lose something because I had control of everything except you! I didn’t want you stuck and burdened with my sins all for the sake of something as greed!” he bellowed, his forehead connected with yours and the warmth of his body more than welcoming. “I am a greedy man, angel, I would take everything I want with no hesitation but I couldn’t do it with you. It was easier to let you go,” he mumbled, “Than to regret making you unhappy by revealing my true self. Because the way you looked at me – you loved me so much I don’t think I’m worthy of it,” Satoru trudged closer to you, almost rubbing his skin over your soft ones just to say, “I don’t deserve you.”

You pulled away from him.

You’d tore open every chance of reconciliation. And if you were to be honest? You didn’t regret it.

“You’re right,” you snickered sarcastically, “You really don’t deserve me. Here I thought maybe Naoya would be the weaker of the two of you, but he’s more of a man than you are, Satoru. Naoya never gave an excuse for anything – it didn’t matter whether he was capable of something or not – he always tried to the best of his ability. He’s not the type to give up before he’s even tried it,” You knew you were just pushing his buttons, this was much clear from how Satoru was holding himself back, but you couldn’t stop. You were unstoppable, harsh as you challenged your once lost lover who had now wound up before you once more.

“If you truly loved me and felt you didn’t deserve me, then don’t you think you should’ve tried harder?”

You wanted him to regret it. You wanted him to feel your pain a thousand times more. You wanted him to realize what he’d done wrong. But most of all, you wanted him to try harder, to redeem himself, to be worthy of a second chance.

But just like how he’d broken your heart before, Satoru did it again.

Because even after every fucking thing, the only thing he was capable of saying was: “I’m sorry, Angel.”

You’d grown too tired of apologies. But because it was him, because you loved him, then you’d fucking hear it all over again. Just try, you wanted to beg, try for me, Satoru.

“Your plans will continue to fail, Satoru,” you agonized, “You never protected me. The moment you left, my life turned to hell and I almost died way too many times for me to count. This time is no different. We’re all just pawns in the Zen’in’s game, so if you really want both of us to live, you should do your part,” Sighing, you turned away from him, just about ready to call it a night. You were too tired. “Give back the money to Naoya, and he’ll keep me safe until the end of it all. You can just go back to where you came from.”

“Naoya won’t stand a chance against Toji. It’s not his money anyway, he should give it back to his cousin—”

“And neither is it yours!”

“Don’t be fucking stupid, you see the flaw of his plans too!” Satoru gestured to your lab, to everything that you proudly claimed an effort of your hard work. “Even if I gave back everything to Naoya, it won’t stop Toji from anything! He might not kill you anymore, but he’ll definitely kill your husband and take over the mafia, or his kid, then where will you go?”

“Follow him into death like the good wife I am.”

Satoru was stunned by the lack of hesitance in your answer. “You’re serious about this,” he echoed, blinking back to process the gravity of your devotion to your husband. “Even if Toji somehow dies, it doesn’t change the fact Naoya will still proceed with plans to manipulate Japan to his will. He’s going to drug everyone until he’s at the top of the food chain. Your husband doesn’t want to be a businessman; he wants to be a god. Plus, he doesn’t care about you, he’s only using you!”

“Like I said,” you smiled weakly, “He keeps me safe as long as I’m useful to him. Once he gets everything he wants, it’s game over.”

“No...” Satoru gritted his teeth, “No, I won’t let it happen. You’re not going anywhere; you’re not going to die!”

“So then protect me!” you shouted at his face, “Do what it is you never got to do before and protect me! I’m disposable, don’t you see? No matter what I do, no matter where I go, no matter how loyal I am to him, I am nothing! Each step I take forwards is just a step closer to my prolonged death!” you spewed word for word with so much venom Satoru felt like he was choking, but it was nothing in comparison as you fell on the floor, weeping with your fists pressed against your eyes. “If you hadn’t left me...I wouldn’t have to live fearing for my life every second. So protect me, Satoru. If you really want me to forgive you, at least save me this once.”

“I will, angel,” he promised – and how many more promises had he made, only to break them? You couldn’t be blamed for not believing him, for finding wariness in his words, for flinching a little bit as he crouched before you, cupping your cheek the same way he did before. “I promise you that. I’m never leaving, never gonna leave your side ever again.”

“You better not,” you chuckled darkly, eventually giving in from his touch.

Yes, he’d left you...yes, he’d hurt you – but until now it felt like home, even if it also conflicted with the fact this was wrong.

“My only wish is that when I die, I want to die without hating you,” you muttered with your lips hovering his, your breaths tangling and his hands finding its way to your hair. “So don’t make me hate you anymore, Satoru. Grant me peace before I leave.”

“You’re not going to die,” he closed his eyes and took the first leap of faith by grazing his lips with yours, a faint glimmer of the sweetness he once had the pleasure of savouring with each waking moment of his life. But he was stupid back then – he’d be even more stupid to not learn his lesson this time around.

“I won’t let that happen, you understand?” Satoru breathed out, “You will be safe. You will live.”

He had said it so confidently, so surely, that for a moment, you believed it. You believed maybe you’d really win this round and come out unscathed, to live, to survive – even if the chances were slim to none to begin with. For now, you didn’t want to be a mafia leader’s wife, nor did you want to be another’s broken lover. You just wanted to be someone who didn’t want to die, to find comfort in the empty promises from the same man who kept breaking and breaking them, and maybe for now, that was enough.

Without another thought, not even the image of Naoya’s smile, you let it go.

You pulled Satoru close to you and kissed him hard and deep, swallowing his surprised moan with that exact same greediness, that desperation to live. You knew the moment Naoya came back or Toji found you, everything would be game over. So for now, this was enough.

A/N. SOOOOO? THOUGHTS? THEORIESSSSS? DO WE HAVE A TEAM NAOYA HERE OR IS IT JUST ME HAHAHAHAHA

taglist OPEN (lmk if you want to be added/removed): @sixeyesgojo @shingekiyofeels @q-the-rockaholic @whatthefuckisthatthing @rogueofbullshit @kat-su-ki @kellyyween @sebootyforlife @greysoulthings @charlie-xo @aoi-turtle @ladywaifuuwrites @savantsoulfinder @my-reality-is-in-my-head @hannya-quinn @90s-belladonna @tinyfrogsinmybrain @kinekyuroo @evesmores @ambiguous-something @lilith412426 @kakashiharusohma @aizawap | bolded users cannot be tagged ://

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lucy90712 · 3 years ago

Text

Gender reveal (pregnancy series)

Again just like my last part of this series gender is on a spectrum and changeable but this is the common term so that is what I'm going to use but I still believe that everyone is valid no matter their gender.

Series masterlist

George:

Me and George didn't have any big plans for telling family because it really wasn't that big of a thing over in England to do gender reveals (I think this is true like I never really hear about them over here but some people do do them) so we decided just to tell them in person. Today George's parents are coming over so we are going this chance to tell them because they know that we were able to find out at our last appointment.

They arrived and brought dinner with them which was very unnecessary but also very nice of them to help us out like that. We ate dinner together just kind of casually nothing too serious because all of us are so close that we don't often do proper family dinners or whatever unless it is Christmas. After dinner George's mum helped me with washing the dishes before we sat down on the sofa together to play some games but not before me and George told them the news.

"Ok so you know that we found out the gender so we wanted to tell you" I started

"We're having a girl" George exclaimed

"Thats so exciting I can't wait to buy cute little things for her" his mum said

They were so excited to go out and buy little things for their granddaughter that she could keep as memories which put things into a whole new perspective for both me and George to the point that we both felt so unprepared because we have nothing for the baby and were already halfway through the pregnancy.

Dream:

Clay wanted to do something for his family and mine to reveal the gender so we set up a little party with just close family where we were going to tell them using a onesie clay had made with his trademark smiley face on it in pink with a white background which was actually really cute and I can't wait till she can wear it.

I have been setting up decorations out in the garden all morning it's not a whole lot but it has taken me a while because I keep getting distracted. When it was done there was balloons in blue and pink as well as bunting and table cloths and we had cupcakes with different colour icing on them just for fun. Everything actually looked pretty good with a bit of straightening up from where my brain had just thought of something else that needed doing it would be perfect.

Our families soon arrived and enjoyed the cupcakes and chatted about what they thought we were having. Once it felt like a good time Clay got the box that we wrapped the onesie in and brought it outside so we could let them open it, both of our moms opened it together while the rest of our families watched from behind them. They opened the box and pulled out the onesie looking at it for a second before it sunk in what they were holding.

"Congratulations you two" my mom said

"This onesie is so cute did you get it made?" His mom asked

"Yes I did and I got a few others but they haven't arrive yet" Clay said

"Wait I didn't know there was going to be more" I said

He is full of surprises this man but I'm not going to lie I was quite looking forwards to this one.

Sapnap:

Seeing as Sapnap's family have been so supportive of us we wanted to do something for them to announce the gender so Sapnap and I have been planning a little party for everyone where we are going to cut a cake to tell them the gender. I also thought it would be fun to have a little box for people to put guesses of what they thought we were having in and we would total it up before the reveal to see if they were right.

Everyone came over and we talked for a while with them trying to get information out if me to try and make their guesses on the gender. We took the box with all the slip of paper in and me and Sapnap counted them together.

"Thats 3 for boy and 9 for girl" I said

It was kind of funny to see the results especially knowing what the baby actually is. Sapnap gave me a look and we grabbed the knife we had prepared and I put my hand on his so we could cut the cake we had together. We cut a slice to reveal the blue sponge inside which we showed everyone and their reactions were priceless because they definitely didn't expect us to be having a boy.

"It's a boy" Sapnap exclaimed

"There is no way I was sure it was a girl" his mom said

No one believed us to start with but we managed to convince them as time went on.

Quackity:

Me and Alex had told all of our family separately in person but he still wanted to film a video that won't go out for a while but he wanted to do it for fun. He wanted us to do old wives tales to see if they were accurate. He had some ready that he wanted to do some of which seemed more scientific than others but we did them all anyway.

We started with the ring test where we took one of my rings I wear all the time and used a strand of my hair to hover it over my bump. It swung in a straight line which indicated girl which we marked down on a white board. Next we did the mirror test and I looked into the mirror for a minute to see if my pupils dilated which they didn't which also indicated girl.

The next one we did was kind of gross and involved baking soda which we had to put into a cup of my pee and see if it fizzed which it did which indicated boy. The last one we did was the heartbeat test which said that if the heartbeat was over 140 it is a girl which our baby's was.

I was quite surprised that they were mostly right but of course the fans didn't know that so we had to do a final reveal where we told them that it was a girl. I'm quite excited for the video to go out after we tell fans about the pregnancy because it was actually quite fun to film.

Karl:

We didn't really have anything planned but the mr beast crew set up a little party for us where we could tell them the gender because they are so desperate to know. To actually reveal it we decided to get a balloon with blue confetti inside it despite knowing when it popped it would scare me it was going to be fun for everyone else.

They had set everything up pretty extravagantly because that’s how they do things, there was so many decorations and way too much food for anyone to eat. We had a nice time though eating way too much food and Chris gave us a bunch of advice for when baby arrives.

Eventually we got up and brought in the balloon and got ready to pop it with a knife, Karl held the knife while I held the string of the balloon. He gave me a warning before he popped it still made me flinch and I felt the baby jump inside me but when I opened my eyes after just a split second and there was confetti everywhere.

"We're having a boy" Karl practically squealed

"Yay Tucker can have a little friend" Chris said

Wilbur:

Me and Wilbur have told all of our family the gender of the baby but no friends know so he invited some to our place to hang out and so we can tell them the gender. We have spent most of the morning cleaning the place and sort of setting up like cooking and baking but now everything is pretty much ready as people are arriving.

Phil arrived first and brought us some baby clothes which was very sweet of him, all of the others arrived not long after and we all sat down to talk and tell when what we are having. Wilbur had ordered some onesies for the baby which were pink which we were going to show the group. Wilbur left the room for a minute at some point and came back with the onesie in his hands but behind his back.

"I got this the other day and its just to cute" he said holding it up

"Wait does that mean your having a girl?" Tubbo asked

"Yeah we are" I said

They were all very excited and can't wait to meet her but for now they can look at the bump which I did let them feel which I don't let most people do but Tommy especially was so excited I thought why not.

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emmymaehereeeeee · 2 years ago

Text

Spider Movie

word count: 1,425

first tom holland fic sorry if it is not the best!

@tomholland2013 is going live now

You clicked on the notification and settled in to watch the announcement, you didn’t have any high hopes, there were millions of people who had entered their names into the drawing! Still, you watched with the utmost attention, “Alright are we live? Can everyone hear us? Ok yep!” Tom smiled into the camera as he settled into his seat. “Well hello everyone um my name is Tom Holland and I am joined here today with my lovely co-star, Zendaya, and two of my brothers, Paddy and Harry. So today we are going to be drawing for a few of these items on the table and the final drawing will be for one lucky person to fly out to the premiere of No Way Home.”

Watching as he read off the names of random followers and signing a few items it finally came time for the premiere drawing. Crossing your fingers you wished upon every lucky star, hoping and praying that maybe you would get the prize.

There was a slight pause as Tom reached his hand into the vase, “@jessisamess? Z, did I say that right? @jessisamess”

Zendaya took the slip of paper from him, “Yeah, that is right, congrats to @jessisamess!”

With wide eyes and a slack jaw you stared at your phone screen, “There’s no way, maybe they got the username wrong?”

“As always we will be reaching out to the winner and if they choose not to accept the award we will draw again, thank you everyone and we will talk to you all soon, bye!” Tom leaned forward and ended the live.

Sitting there on your couch perpetually flabbergasted at the news that you had just heard you almost didn’t hear your phone ringing. Looking down at the phone you saw it was an unknown number, “Um hello?”

“Hello is this Jessica? Your Instagram handle being @jessisamess?” A man spoke on the other line of the phone.

“Yes, this is her.” You felt nervous, sure this was not creepy at all, just a random man who knew your full name.

“Alright! This is Andrew Dunlap I am representing Mr. Tom Holland and I just wanted to touch base with you about the whole process. We are going to be working with the airline of your choice we’ll fly you out to the premiere, and pay for your stay at the hotel.

“Shit, this is not some kind of prank is it?” You asked once more- still feeling a tad bit skeptical.

“No ma’am I assure you this is not a prank, we will be in touch with you soon.”

You heard the phone click and sat it down, “Holy shit, I am going to meet Tom Holland- oh shit.”

The days passed by quickly and soon you found yourself grabbing your bag from baggage claim and heading towards a supposed, “Andrew.”

“Jessica, how are you? I’ll take you to the hotel and give you a chance to get ready, does that sound good?”

“Um yeah, that sounds good!” You followed close behind him not sure of what to say but desperately wanting to fill the silence. “So, how long have you known Tom?”

He glanced back at you in the rearview mirror, “I’ve known him for a few years now, I promise you he’s the nicest guy you’ll ever meet.” He smiled at you, “Are you nervous?”

Nodding your head you let out a sigh, “Oh my God I am just feeling all of the emotions right now. I mean I didn’t think I would ever you know be here?”

“You’re going to be just fine.” Andrew reassured you as he parked the car, “I’m going to run a few errands, and then I’ll be back to pick you up, sound good?”

“Thank you once again!” You closed the door and made your way up to the hotel room, you unlocked the door and sat your bags down on the bed. “Alright- how am I supposed to dress to meet Tom Holland?” Opening up your suitcase you rummaged around until you decided on an outfit. The hour passed by rather quickly and soon enough Andrew was texting you asking you to make your way down to the lobby. “Alright here goes nothing.” Walking to the elevator you took in a deep breath and stepped in.

Meanwhile down in the lobby, Tom Holland was frantically asking his manager just about every question in the book. “I just don’t want to say anything weird and she thinks ‘Oh my gosh Tom Holland is so weird, I can’t be known as being weird.” He ran a hand through his hair as he paced back and forth.

“Tom, number one you need to calm the hell down- her name is Jessica and she is probably just as nervous as you are. Secondly- pull it together she’s right here.” Andrew lifted his hand up to gesture towards you.

“Hey, Andrew- oh shit,” You paused when you saw Tom, he looked so much better in person.

“Jessica! It is so nice to meet you, my name is Tom but you probably already knew that, I’m sorry.” He rubbed his neck and smiled, “I’m glad that you are here.”

“Yeah, so am I!” You replied smiling back at him

“Ok, we need to get a move on! Zendaya will meet us at the premiere and we will go on from there.” Andrew ushered both of you out to the car.

“How was your flight?” Tom asked shifting in his seat so that he could face you better.

“It was good, thank you for paying for” He cut you off

“Jess, please it’s the least that I could do for how much all of you support me, really don’t mention it.” He reached over and squeezed your hand, “You look lovely in that dress.”

If Andrew hadn’t known he would have assumed the two of you were old friends perhaps even lovers. The way the conversation seemed to flow so seamlessly between the two of you, it was strange but intriguing all at the same time.

When the car slowed to a stop, Tom was quick to open your door, “You ready?”

Nodding your head you took his hand and stepped out of the car, “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

Standing off to the side you watched as the co-stars mingled and took pictures together, your attention was focused on Zendaya and Tom. There was no reason to be jealous, there was nothing between the two of you- but something about the way he wrapped his arm around her waist made you insatiably angry.

“Jessica, hey come on over here! I want to get a few pictures with you,” Tom called out for you and you saw Zendaya waving you over. Making your way over to the pair, you timidly gave them both a smile.

“I love your outfit so much, it truly brings out your eyes,” Zendaya said whilst pulling you in for a hug.

“She is absolutely gorgeous, isn’t she?” Tom asked turning to Zendaya.

Feeling your cheeks burn, you turned on your heel and made your way down the aisle.

“Thomas Stanley Holland, are you crushing on a fan?” Zendaya asked as the two of them made their way to follow you.

“What? No, I am not crushing on anyone!” His face grew red with blush and Zendaya shook her head. “I mean she is really pretty, she’s smart, kind.”

“You are really going to just sit here and tell me you are not crushing on this girl?” Zendaya raised one eyebrow.

“Um where- oh sorry for interrupting. I just got lost on my way to the bathroom and I don’t really know what to do next?”

The pair turned around and went silent, “Jess, we were just talking about you, Tom here he really wants to talk to you about something and I need to run to the restroom!” She quickly sprinted off, leaving the two of you staring at one another.

“Jess, I just- this may sound weird but I was wondering if you maybe would want to go out sometime?” Tom wrung his hands as he awaited your answer.

“Wait is Tom Holland asking me out on a date?” You asked him whilst trying not to scream out of excitement.

“He is also very anxiously waiting for your answer.” He replied

“Of course, how about a movie? There is this really good one playing right now, I think it has something to do with spiders?” You teased him.

#tom holland #tom holland x you #tom holland x fem

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psycopath06 · 4 years ago

Text

Secretary Part 1: Volturi Kings x Neutral!Reader

A/N: The parentheses next to the quotes are the translation to any words that are in Italian.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had been working as the new secretary for the Volturi for a week now. I had been lucky with the few guards, that didn't have a stick up their asses, were nice enough to tell me what to avoid that would cause my death. The secretaries got killed for the stupidest of reasons.

I only took the job because I desperately needed the money even if the job seemed sketchy. My family didn't help get me better off finacially but put me in even more debt. The immortality part was just a bonus to the job.

I had manage to not piss the kings or the guards off thus far, but that could easily change with Caius' temper. He's been out for my head since the day he met me. Thanks to Aro and Marcus I have been able to avoid Caius' wrath for the most part. Aro and Marcus were neutral to me being there. They would tell Caius to stop threatening me whenever he saw me.

It was late and I was going to be off duty in 15 minutes, so I got up to deliver the letter that they got in the mail. I had decided that giving them their mail before I was let off for the night gave me a better chance of survival, since the kings were also ready to retire for the night.

I walked in to the underground Throne room and gave my best smile as to not get on their bad side.

"Ah, young y/n has brought us something." Aro's eagerly said as he got off his throne and walked to the edge of the platform.

"They should not have interrupted." Caius stated his hatred for me loud and clear to everyone in the room. Always had something to say about whatever I did.

"They're new." Aro half-ass defended me.

"Aren't they all?" Marcus rasped out. For once Marcus was doing something besides being depressed!

I watched Caius smirk at the joke, smug bastard. I had to focus on why I was here as to not want to slap Caius.

I stepped up on the first step and extended the sliver tray to Aro with the letter on it. They INSISTED that I use this stupid tray when I gave them letters. Surprisingly I wasn't that bother by the kings being vampires and didn't really fear them which was why I was comfortable being this close to Aro.

Aro took the letter from the tray as he gave me when of his creepy smiles that I have gotten use to at this point. He opened the letter and started speaking Italian. "L'amore ci mantiene tutti giovani. Bella and Edward are to be married." (Love keeps us all young)

Marcus once again spoke "What joy." Now the depression was back, it never went far from Marcus.

"This is the Cullen's way of announcing her transformation? They mock us with their delays." Caius declared. Always the first to want to start a war with someone.

Aro turned to look at Caius. "Patience, brother." He reminded him. Like Caius ever had patience in his life.

Aro put the envelope on the tray, while Marcus and Caius began to stand from their thrones.

"Though you do have a point," Aro's airy voice muttered, "The human did interput." He dropped his happy sharade at the end of his sentence as he gently brushed my face with his finger. By then, Marcus and Caius were by his side.

I sighed, knowing this was the end of the line for me. I turned around and walked over to Felix and Demetri.

"Alright, kill me now boys! I know you have been wanting to do it since you met me!" I exclaimed loudly, I just wanted to get this over with as fast as possible. Better a quick death than a slow one.

Felix and Demetri looked over at Aro for approval but Aro only chuckled. "So easily willing to let us end your life. You're such a fascinating human." Aro fondly expressed.

Then these motherfuckers just walked away while Aro was saying "Oh, I do love weddings."

I just stared at the door they left out of. Why am I still alive? I questioned that as I headed back to my room, ignoring the bodies on my way out of the underground throne room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day went like it normally would. Caius insulting me every second he got, most guards glaring at me, Marcus being depressed, and Aro's creepy tendencies.

Everything was going well and I was about to leave early for the day until I got an email. The email was about a job application regarding my position as a secretary for the Volturi. Apparently someone sent this woman an email saying the position is open and she could start tomorrow. Now I did what any sane person would do when they realize they were about to get fired, which meant death. I went to the store, got some alcohol, got my favorite ice cream, got my favorite snacks, and enjoyed my last few hours of life.

Sadly, at about one in the morning someone had opened my door to check on me. I was still awake, drunk, eating ice cream, surrounded by snacks, and binge watching my favorite show on TV all while crying out of my own self pity. Why did I take this stupid job?!

"Carissimo? Why are you still awake?" (Dearest) That voice was Marcus. Sweet and slow as always. I was gonna miss that voice, no matter how depressed he could be.

I laughed bitterly as I continued to eat my ice cream. "Like you care, you get to have a brand new secretary tomorrow!" I mockingly joked.

Marcus gently grabbed my face and turned it to look at him. "You are unbelievably drunk and crying. Why are you this way, piccolo?" (Little one)

I moved my face out of his hand. "Why do you care? I won't be your problem tomorrow." I growled angrily as I stabbed my ice cream with my spoon.

Marcus had finally left after a minute of staring me down. Unfortunately, he came back with Aro and Caius.

I could feel Caius trying to glare holes in my head with his stare as soon as he saw the state that I was in. Aro was immediately by my side mumbling something in Italian that I couldn't bother to translate.

"If you're going to glare at me the whole time your here then leave." I said as I glared back at Caius. Something I never did since I met the kings. Mostly for fear of them killing me on the spot. What the hell did I have to lose at this point?

"Caro, why are you drunk and crying?" (Dear) Aro's normal cheery voice was laced with concern.

"What does it matter? I'll be dead in a few hours. Can't have one last night to enjoy being alive? Too much to ask from a bunch of vampires?" I grumbled angrily while finishing my ice cream. What was with all the sudden new pet names anyway? They normally call me by name, or rarely they say "human" just to mess with me.

"Who told you that you were going to die tomorrow?" Aro calmly asked.

I rolled my eyes and answered. "No one because no one has the balls to say it to my face that I'm no longer useful." I than look up at Caius again to glare at him. "You couldn't wait to get rid of me, could you?"

I put my empty tub of ice cream on my nightstand, I would deal with it tomorrow. I am too drunk to be wondering the halls for the kitchen. Since the kings weren't going to leave any time soon, I made myself comfortable. Put my pillows against my headboard and wrapped myself in my blanket.

Caius hadn't said a word since he got here and quite frankly, it was pissing me off. "For once the most feared king doesn't have a damn thing to say. Shocker." I snarked at him. Marcus and Aro were quietly chuckling at my antics, which made me turn my glare to them.

"You're like an insufferable toddler when drunk." Caius snarked back at me. I tried to get up and punch him in the face, but Marcus cuddled me in his lap while sitting on my bed. I could enjoy this little bit of comfort from Marcus before I die. Punching Caius in the face would be a pleasure I could do before I died tomorrow.

Aro just had to ruin the moment by trying to read my thoughts. I tried to move away but Marcus kept my arms in place so Aro could touch me. I huff at being ganged up on like this.

After a minute, Aro pulled away and had become eerily quiet. That was never a good thing with Aro, someone normally died when Aro was quiet. Marcus was gently rubbing my back which was causing me to relax and finally fall asleep. The last thing I saw was Caius finally moving away from that stupid doorway.

#volturi x reader #aro volturi x reader #aro volturi #aro volturi imagine #marcus volturi x reader #marcus volturi #marcus volturi imagine #caius volturi x reader #caius volturi imagine #caius volturi

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robininthelabyrinth · 4 years ago

Note

Nie Huaisang is the cutest thing monsters have ever seen, they can be yao dragons or giant turtles one look at nhs and they want to feed hug or kidnapt him nmj trainning involved recovering his baby brother from every monsters nest around qinge

ao3

“I’m sorry,” Nie Mingjue said, his teeth gritted together and his arms shaking from the strain of holding Baxia up. “He’s mine.”

The massive tiger glared down at him over Baxia’s blade, currently stuck in its teeth, and growled something.

“I know,” Nie Mingjue said. His legs were shaking now, too. “I know, trust me, I know! I’m human, he’s – young, yes, yes, I know. But he’s my little brother! I’m not giving him up!”

The tiger spat out the blade, knocking Nie Mingjue backwards on his ass.

“And when you change your mind?” the tiger demanded. “Will you abandon him then?”

“No!” Nie Mingjue exclaimed. “Never! He’s my brother!”

“Mark your words,” the tiger said ominously. “Or else.”

It turned and stalked off, its tail waving arrogantly in the air, until its towering white form disappeared into the distance.

Nie Mingjue sighed in relief. “Huaisang?” he called, and a small head popped out of the nest the tiger had started building, blinking owlishly at him. “Come on, come to da-ge. It’s time to go home.”

“But Master Tiger said we were going to play…”

“Yes, well, he wanted to play for too long,” Nie Mingjue said. “Only a few centuries, give or take. Let’s go.”

It started back when Nie Huaisang was born.

No, more accurately, it started when Nie Mingjue’s father fell in love with someone he probably oughtn’t have, which according to the sect was not a terribly uncommon problem for him to have, and decided to bring home a bride.

Nie Mingjue could still remember the first time he’d seen the Second Madame Nie. They’d all been lined up to greet her, all the sect and close members of the clan in rows according to rank, Nie Mingjue fidgeting in the inside of the house proper in his first tangle with formal clothing outside of the discussion conferences. She had come sweeping in with her head held as high as a princess, seductive and bewitching.

Every movement had been perfect, the eyes of all the men fogging over in lust and the women in admiration – or visa versa, depending on their personal preferences – and a wicked smile had lit up her face when she had stepped across the threshold, officially becoming the sect leader’s wife, and maybe everything would have gone along with whatever plan she’d had back then if she hadn’t next seen him.

“Oh, look at you,” she exclaimed, rushing over to pinch Nie Mingjue’s cheeks between her hands. “What a delectable little morsel you are!”

“Uh,” Nie Mingjue said, staring up at her with big round somewhat-worried eyes.

“You charming little dumpling,” she said. “You adorable mouthful of meat! Spoonful of egg yolk!”

Nie Mingjue cast his eyes around to see if anyone would be willing to help him.

“My eldest son,” Nie Mingjue’s father said, not without pride – albeit perhaps a puzzled sort of pride. “He’s probably just about old enough to come to the forecourt, if you don’t want him to live with you –”

“Oh no,” she said. “He’s definitely living with me.”

And so she stayed, and Nie Mingjue stayed with her, and she doted on him in a way he found pleasant if mildly disconcerting. Within a year, she was pregnant, and irritated with it; six months after that, she was round and complaining, even though Nie Mingjue solemnly assured her that she was as beautiful as ever.

“This is your fault, you know,” she told him, and he blinked at her. “It is! Don’t get me wrong, your father’s a charming bull when he wants to be, and of course he fucks like a champion stud, but I stayed here for you, my little cabbage roll, my charming chunk of liver.”

She patted her belly.

“That means this here is all because of you. So you’d better take responsibility!”

Nie Mingjue considered the issue for a little. The argument seemed plausible, so he raised his hands and put them on her rounded stomach. “I will take care and watch over him for all my life,” he vowed, and the baby inside kicked his hand in response, sealing the pact.

“Oh you are so cute,” she said, pressing her hands to her cheeks. “My darling pork bun! My little fish cake! I could eat you right up, if only you were just a little bit older!”

When Nie Huaisang was born, she disappeared in a welter of blood, but Nie Mingjue’s oath remained.

The trouble started after that.

“You can’t raise a cub like that properly,” the winged lion argued, bating its wings as if that would help it make its point better.

Nie Mingjue glared at him. “Watch me!”

“It’s for your own good, little human. He needs his own kind –”

“I’m not listening to a treasure-seeker!”

The lion scowled at him. “I’ll have you know that most humans think I’m good luck!”

“You’re not trying to steal most humans’ little brothers, are you?!”

The winged lion sighed, a deep sound, so very noble and long-suffering that Nie Mingjue couldn’t resist the urge to lift his foot and kick the lion right in the paw.

“Brat!”

“Don’t care!” he shouted. “You leave my brother alone! He’s my responsibility, not yours! Piss off!”

“You can’t even feed him properly -”

“I’ll figure it out!” Nie Mingjue bared his teeth and wished he was old enough for a saber.

“You little…fine. Fine! I’ll bring you a book on how to feed a huli jing kit, and you keep to it, you hear me?”

“I will,” Nie Mingjue said. “But don’t you even think of taking him away!”

“On your own head be it,” the winged lion grumbled. “Not everyone’s as understanding as me.”

“Why are you wet?” Nie Mingjue’s father asked him.

“Water monkeys,” Nie Mingjue said shortly. “There was a nest.”

“Water monkeys? Don’t they normally stay away from people…? Or, I suppose, were these ones feral?”

“Thieves.”

“Ah. Well, nothing to be done about it, I suppose…bad luck for you to run into them here, of all places. But good experience! How many people your age can say that they fought water monkeys?”

“Can we go home?” Nie Mingjue asked, a little plaintively, and rubbed his nose. “How much can you really have to say to the Jiang sect, anyway?”

His father chuckled. “More than either of us would like, unfortunately. But if you’ve had enough of water, which no one can blame you for, maybe you and Huaisang can go shopping in the pier instead?”

That would work, Nie Mingjue thought, and nodded happily.

(Sect Leader Jiang was extremely embarrassed about the ghostly rats in the night-market – he claimed they’d never seen neither nose nor tail of them before the Nie brothers had accidentally tripped over their trap and had to flee from the swarm...)

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Nie-er-gongzi,” the white-clad cultivator from the mountain said, smiling broadly and saluting deeply.

Xiao Xingchen had made himself famous during his first half-dozen night-hunts alone for his extraordinary grace, bearing and strength, and he said he was on a mission to help the world. He was beautiful, virtuous, and matched each ideal of gentlemanly arts.

Sects throughout the cultivation world were drooling at the thought of enticing him to join them, fighting for the opportunity to put in a good word with him.

Not all sects.

Nie Mingjue stepped forward, purposely putting Nie Huaisang behind him.

“Don’t you even think about it,” he said, hand on the hilt of his saber. “Buzz off, birdbrain.”

Xiao Xingchen might wear white, but Nie Mingjue knew a zhuque chick when he saw one.

“I found something for my aviary, da-ge!” Nie Huaisang, seven years old and delighted with his clumsy autonomy, announced.

Nie Mingjue, less than a full year into his new role as sect leader, rubbed his eyes. “Oh?” he asked, only somewhat wanting to scream endlessly into the void, which was better than usual. “That’s nice, Huaisang…”

“Come look! It’s so pretty!”

“I’m a bit busy –”

“But da-ge!”

Nie Mingjue sighed and got up, following Nie Huaisang to the door only to come to a complete stop.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” he said to the fenghuang currently pretending to be a rooster in a cage, as if anyone would actually mistake phoenix flames for regular feathers. “Do you have no dignity left?!”

“You can’t adopt the bashe,” Nie Mingjue said to Nie Huaisang, who pouted. “It eats elephants; we’d be broke within three months.”

He turned to the giant python.

“You can’t adopt Huaisang,” he said. “I will literally murder you.”

“Why can’t I go watch the eclipse?” Nie Huaisang complained. “Everyone else is going!”

“I’m not risking a tiangou.”

“The…dog that eats the sun? Really, da-ge, is that even real?”

“You know what,” Nie Mingjue said, “you’re grounded just for saying that.”

Nie Huaisang grinned.

“Maybe I want to go and live among the qilin!” Nie Huaisang screamed, fourteen and hormonal about it.

“Well you don’t get a choice!” Nie Mingjue bellowed back.

“You’re not my father! I don’t have to listen to what you say!”

“I’m your fucking sect leader and yes you do!”

“I hate you!”

“I don’t care if you hate me! You still aren’t going to go live in a field with some magic pointy deer and that’s final!”

The qilin herd wisely chose to withdraw.

“Da-ge,” Jin Guangyao hissed, and Nie Mingjue looked up from his work at him – he hadn’t heard Meng Yao this upset since he’d shoved him into a closet to get him out of way during the whole dangkang boar hunt debacle. “Da-ge, there’s a dragon outside.”

“Again?” Nie Mingjue said, standing up to stretch and feeling oddly unbalanced. They’d just finished another session with the song of Clarity, so he really shouldn’t be feeling like this; he would need to write to Lan Xichen again about his fears that the treatment really wasn’t working. Lan Xichen would probably only say to give it more time, another chance, but still… “Let me go talk to them. Dragons are the worst.”

“No, da-ge, you don’t understand,” Jin Guangyao said. “It’s not a water-serpent or – or even a jiaolong – it’s a dragon.”

“A flood-dragon is a type of dragon,” Nie Mingjue said, following Jin Guangyao outside. “You know that, it’s in the name, what’s the big – oh, I see. It’s a celestial dragon.”

Jin Guangyao glared at him with an expression suggesting that he was under-reacting, but Nie Mingjue really didn’t have the capacity in him to reach with appropriate fervor at the moment. He and Nie Huaisang had been fighting a lot recently, every little thing escalating into a giant argument, and he was no longer sure if he was doing the right thing in trying to force Nie Huaisang onto the path of his ancestors. After all, unlike Nie Mingjue, Nie Huaisang had – somewhat different ancestors, on his maternal side.

And, he supposed, Nie Huaisang was old enough to decide otherwise, if he truly wished…

Still, Nie Mingjue was as stubborn as a mule and had no intention of giving up his baby brother without a fight, so he braced himself and went over to the frankly massive creature draped over the entrance gateway and much of the training yard that the entirety of the Nie sect was doing its utmost best to pretend that they weren’t seeing.

Nie Huaisang was sitting on the thing’s five claws – an imperial celestial dragon, apparently – because of course he was.

“Excuse me,” Nie Mingjue called up to the dragon, which turned its head to regard him, an entire production that took nearly a quarter ké to accomplish. “The brat there is mine, please return him.”

“Da-ge!” Jin Guangyao hissed again, but Nie Mingjue waved him away.

“You have raised him well,” the dragon said, which was…a good deal nicer than most of these interactions usually went.

“…thanks?” Nie Mingjue said suspiciously, ignoring Jin Guangyao’s splutters of “It talks?!” “I think?”

“I have chosen to grant you a boon,” the dragon announced.

“…right,” Nie Mingjue said. “If this ‘boon’ is that you’ll take him off my hands, I’m afraid I’m going to have to refuse. He may be trouble, but he’s still my brother.”

“Da-ge!” Nie Huaisang exclaimed, indignant. “Don’t be rude. I asked him for this!”

Nie Mingjue frowned at him, unable to resist the feeling of hurt even though he’d already told himself to expect something like this. “…you want to leave?”

“No, da-ge, don’t be ridiculous. I asked him to improve your health!”

Ah.

“Huaisang –” he started to say.

“Don’t you ‘Huaisang’ me!” his little brother shouted. “I know you’re trying to hide it, but it’s getting worse, isn’t it? San-ge told me so! He said I should get ready!”

Nie Mingjue made a mental note to strangle Jin Guangyao, who had no right to say something like that to Nie Huaisang even if maybe it wasn’t the worst idea in the world to emotionally prepare Nie Huaisang for the upcoming bereavement and inheritance he would need to face.

“Anyway, he said to get ready, so I did!”

“You can’t just ask a divine dragon to fix me, Huaisang. That’s not how this works.”

“Uh, it totally does, and I did, and he agreed. So there!”

Nie Mingjue crossed his arms and glared. “And what did he want in return?”

“The boon is a reward for your past merit, not a trade for the deeds of the future,” the dragon said, not even slightly hiding how its whiskers were shaking with suppressed laughter. “You have travelled a difficult road, and borne the weight of it well. And besides…”

“Besides?”

“If you were to die, he would undoubtedly petition the creatures of the underworld to return you.”

“Well, fuck,” Nie Mingjue said, having not considered that. “Fine. Whatever. Heal me and I’ll try to keep an eye on my health going forward.”

Maybe more Clarity? He could try to free up his schedule, get in a few more sessions…

“I just give up,” Jin Guangyao said behind him. “I just fucking give up.”

Nie Mingjue, assuming that he was talking about Nie Huaisang’s nonsense, agreed whole-heartedly.

#mdzs #nie mingjue #nie huaisang #jin guangyao #nie huaisang's mom #my fic #my fics #child development #same headcanons as three times the charm #Anonymous

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