#got scared at first i saw it sprinting from a bit further down so i was like Oh Fuck its so over for me

[babbyspinch]

randon dog joined me while i was resting on the top point of my hike

[callmelittlebuttercup]

High Horse - Oneshot

Pairing: Jackson!Joel x f!Reader

18+ MDNI

Summary: You’re Maria’s best friend who meets Joel when he comes to Jackson. After a few years of you two working patrols together, your route changes from traveling on foot to having to ride on horseback. You try to hide your panic, but Joel still finds out you're scared of horses. Once he learns why, he insists that he teaches you the basics of riding to both to get over your fear and fulfill your childhood dreams. Throughout the lesson, you learn a bit more about how Joel feels towards you as well.

Warnings/tags: 18+ MDNI, fluff, awkward and cringey, Joel gets hard but nothing happens bc the timing is unfortunate, Winnie the Pooh exists in this universe, name calling ("Piglet", "cute", "girl"), reader has a fear of horses, mention of death/killing, mention and description of scars, corny teasing and flirting, they have huge crushes on each other but are oblivious to it until maybe the end?

 It was early on an October morning and you were grogily pulling on clothes that would warm you up enough to last through your shift with your patrol partner of two years, Joel Miller. You pulled your boots on, hopping on one foot to avoid falling on your face, and stumbled out the door. The cool air hit your face like a brick wall and you wrapped your arms around yourself as you headed towards the gate to meet Joel. As much as you wanted to avoid it, you couldn’t help the jump of your stomach when you saw him standing there, arms crossed, and with his usual scowl plastered across his face. 

Though your stomach plummeted when you saw the creature standing next to him. You nearly skidded to a halt as your heels dug into the dirt ground. Joel caught sight of you and raised an eyebrow. “Uh… Um. what are you doing with that?” You stammered. “With… a horse?” Joel questioned, “They changed our patrol route. It’s further away so we gotta travel on horseback. Tommy never told you this?” NO Tommy never told you this, and you wanted to kill him right now because when you joined the patrol, he promised that you would never have to ride a horse. Everything in you wanted to turn on your heel and sprint away from the giant, terrifying animal. Though, the last thing you wanted to do was lose Joel’s respect, so you kept cool. Well, as cool as possible when you were quite literally quaking in your boots. “No. No one told me.” You choked as you rubbed your knuckles nervously. Joel rolled his eyes, probably cursing his brother for also not having the communication skills trait. “Well, I have the map here, so hop on.” He sighed and moved away from the horse to make room for you. 

You didn’t budge. You just stood there staring at the horse. It wasn’t even doing anything menacing, but your hands were still slick with sweat and your throat felt like it was closing. “Come on,” Joel pushed impatiently as he settled his hand on the horse’s rump, “s’a longer ride and we ain’t got time to waste lookin’ at the pretty horse.” You took a deep breath and stepped towards the horse, pausing when it turned its head towards you. “The fuck is wrong with you? You never been around a horse before?” Joel asked, almost sounding amused. You shook your head and gulped, “I have.” You took a few more small steps toward the animal and pressed a shaky hand against its honches. “Then why’re you actin’ like it’s the first time you’ve ever seen one?” He asked again. “Just shut up, Joel.” You sighed as you placed your foot through the stirrup. “Left foot.” Joel corrected, “So you c’n swing your leg over.” You switched feet, grabbed onto the horn of the saddle to pull yourself up.

 It was shaky and unstable, but you made it atop the horse and slid towards the back of the saddle for Joel to get on. His weight pulled the saddle to the side slightly and you gasped, grabbing onto whatever was in front of you, which happened to be his shoulder. Your name left his mouth exasperatedly, “Would you calm down? This horse is tame and I know how to ride. We’ll be fine.” You swallowed and nodded as you pried your hands off of him. 

“You c’n kill grown men, clickers, even bloaters, but you’re scared of a damn horse?” He mumbled as you rode along. “I’m not scared.” You argued. “I c’n feel you shakin’ like a leaf.” He shot back. You huffed out in frustration and grunted, “I said I’m fine. Can we just get to where we’re going and get off this fucking thing?” He turned his head towards you slightly, revealing his lazy smirk before he turned back and clicked his tongue, causing the horse to begin walking. You were thrown backwards by the jerky motion and Joel quickly stabilized you by grabbing your knee. “Hold on, piglet.” He advised mockingly before letting your knee go and returning his hands to the reins. “You did not just compare me to a pig.” You muttered, letting your fear turn to annoyance. “Piglet’s a cartoon character. One that some would say is cute, nervous as hell, but cute.” He explained awkwardly. Suddenly the horse wasn’t the scary thing anymore. “Joel Miller just called me ‘cute’? We’re losin’ him folks.” You joked. He sputtered for words and shot out whatever he could muster, “I compared ya to a cute character I wasn’t- it wasn’t-” You clasped your hand over his shoulder as a signal to shut the fuck up and he gladly did. “S’okay bud.” You said condescendingly. 

You rode on, clutching to the sides of Joel’s thick, wool coat nervously. Your grip tightening every time the horse would move at a pace or at an angle you weren’t used to. It was weird being this close to Joel. Being able to smell the lavender soap in his freshly washed hair and the hint of smoke coming off of his jacket. You’d never had to worry about how you smelled to him or whether you were breathing too loud. You had just met at the gate, walked to your patrol post, talked about stupid stuff (or didn’t talk at all depending on your moods), did whatever, killed whatever, and then returned home and went your separate ways. But now you were holding onto a man you were somewhat afraid of for support atop an animal that you were very afraid of. 

When Joel pulled back on the reins and the horse came to a halt, you realized you’d zoned out. “We’re here already?” You asked groggily. Joel nodded and slid off the horse before offering a hand to you. You didn’t move. He sighed, “Swing your other leg over and then hop off.” You gulped before grabbing onto his calloused hand and doing exactly what he said. You almost yelped out as you felt his hands grab onto your waist to spot your descent. “I gotcha.” He said, almost inaudibly. Your cheeks reddend when you realized your shirt had ridden up and you anxiously pulled it down to cover your stomach as you waited for him to tie the horse to a nearby tree. 

As the two of you walked through your patrol post, you realized you could still feel the heat of his hands on your waist. You found yourself reliving that moment over and over. Remembering how his hands practically slid up your shirt as your body jumped to the ground, ending up centimeters away from your breasts. A pit formed in your stomach. You weren’t sure if it was disgust or something else, but it consumed your thoughts for most of the patrol shift. You worried about what might happen if you had a crush on Joel. How Tommy, who was your boss, your best friend, Maria’s husband, and Joel’s brother would react. The scariest thought of all, was how Joel would react. 

You were torn from your thoughts when you heard Joel ask you a question. “What?” You blurted. “How long’ve you been afraid a’ horses?” He asked a second time. You rolled your eyes, not this again. But you knew you couldn’t ignore the expectant look in his eyes, and you also knew he would never let it go if you didn’t just tell him what he wanted to know now. “I was six.” You said as you pulled the leg up of your jeans upward to unveil a scar. Joel sucked air in through his teeth as he took in the curved gash where the skin had sewn itself back together after being ripped open. “Got trampled.” You said absently. “Shit,” He cursed under his breath, “How long ago was that?” You shrugged and dropped the pant leg, “Think when I was 6 or 7. My uncle bred horses and I used to love them. It had been a dream of mine to learn how to ride, but one day…” You trailed off, feeling the same emotion you felt that day rising into your chest- devastation. “Shit.” Joel said again. You knew that if you’d said anything else your voice would give away the fact that you were close to crying, so you stayed quiet and busied yourself with the patrol log.

Towards the end of your patrol shift, Joel went to get the horse ready to head back to town. You felt that familiar weight in your chest as you saw the two of them walking towards you, but you straightened your back and pressed your lips together in a lazy smile. Joel halted the horse just feet away from you, causing you to step backwards and nearly bump into the fence. “Easy now.” Joel raised an eyebrow. You weren’t sure whether he meant it more for you or the horse. You bravely walked up to the horse’s side and readied yourself to hop on. Once on the horse, you slid backwards to make room for Joel to slide on, but even after countless seconds, he didn’t. You looked down at him from your heightened view and furrowed your eyebrows. “Are you getting on your not?” You asked impatiently. He stood there, looking up at you with a mischievous look on his face. “Joel…No.” You whispered panickedly. You knew what he was doing. He wanted you to ride the horse. “I’m not fucking riding this thing myself. Not here, not now. Let me off.” You insisted. He chuckled, “Calm down. You ain’t gonna be ridin’ yourself, just steerin’. Slide forward.” Suddenly you could breathe again. Though not fully, because when Joel slid onto the horse behind you and settled into your back, you felt the rise and fall of his muscular chest, and his strong hands pressed lightly against your sides to steady you. Your hands started shaking again, but this time for a whole different reason. 

“Ok, what do I do.” You asked nervously as you gripped the reins in your hands. “First of all, give ‘im some slack. You’re pullin’ back to hard on his bit already.” Joel advised and reached around you to loosen your grip on the reins. You let the leather slide out a bit from inside your hands and each rope of it was not resting on either side of the horses shoulders as opposed to being pulled taught against yourself. “Good. Now get ‘im movin’.” Joel said, his voice at a low, comforting volume. You gave the horse a light squeeze with your heels as you’d seen other riders do and he kicked off into a lazy walk. “There you go. Now keep ‘im straight until there’s a turn in the path, then you want to pull- lightly- on whichever side the direction you want to go is on. If you wanna go right, give him a light tug with your right hand and so on. Never pull too hard or he’ll either stop or get pissed.” Joel directed again. “Speaking of stopping, how do I do that?” You questioned. “Just pull back lightly on both sides and call out ‘woah’. If you pull lightly and he ain’t stoppin’ that’s when you can add a little pressure.”

You were surprised. Partially at how easy steering the horse seemed but more-so at what a kind and patient teacher Joel was. You’d known him for a while now, seen almost every side of him, and none of them had been this patient or kind. You’d noticed how he wasn’t as hard on you as he was on others, but you’d assumed it was just because you were a woman. Now as you thought about it more, you’d seen him be rude to other women, and you started to realize that it was possible that Joel might actually… not hate you.   

You’d made it pretty far down the path until you had to steer the horse around a fallen tree trunk. Joel guided you through it gently, whispering, “Just pull back with the left a bit… that’s it.” His gentle whispers and squeezes of your sides every time you got over an obstacle had you beyond flustered. Your first instinct was to tell him to get his hands ‘the hell off of you,’ but you found thaat you liked his touch and his words of encouragement. You liked them a lot. So much so that you started to lean back into him and ask him questions about riding just to feel his warm breath on your neck. ”Is this good?” You asked, as you pulled the reins to turn. “Atta girl.” He responded. 

You’d also started to trust the horse more and more. He’d respond to even the smallest of tugs on the rope, and eagerly wait for his next command as he walked along. You watched his ears swivel around as you rode, turning in the direction of every sound that happened around you. A fondness for the horse started to bloom in you, and you figured if you got this much praise from Joel on top of that, maybe learning to ride wouldn’t be so scary afterall. 

“You’re doin’ great, but I don’t want to stress you out too much. We c’n switch if you’d like.” Joel offered as you began to go down hill, likely sensing your anxiety. “I’m fine. It’s good for me to get used to different terrains.” You added, not wanting to move from between Joel’s muscular thighs or from against his broad chest and whispers of encouragement. “M’kay. Just tell me if you need to stop at any point.” He warned. “Yes sir.” You said without realizing the connotation it could have. Not wanting to make things any weirder than they already were, you said nothing more and continued on down the hill. Though, you heard Joel gulp from behind you and scoot back a bit. “You okay, Miller?” You asked as a smirk curled your lips. “Yeah,” he choked, “just focus on ahead.” You bit your lip and smiled to yourself, assuming that this behavior meant he definitely did not hate you. You were especially confident when the movement of the horse slid his torso back towards you and you felt something that wasn’t there before, something hard, something long-

“Alright, we’re nearin’ town.” Joel grunted, breaking through your thoughts. “What do I do?” You asked cluelessly, trying to shake yourself out of your stupor. “‘Member what I said? Pull back to stop.” He said impatiently, snapping back into his usual self. You followed his orders and pulled back on the reins lightly. The horse fought you a bit and you pulled harder while Joel let out a “Woahh.” Finally, he came to a stop.  His hands gripped your waist for stability as he stuck his boot through the stirrup and swung his other leg over before hopping to the ground. He then helped you down the same way he had back at the patrol post. “Good girl.” He grunted as you reached the ground. “The horse was a girl this whole time?” You blurted without thinking. Joel’s mouth twisted into a smirk as he towered over you, “Wasn’t talkin’ to the horse.” He thumbed your chin playfully before taking the reins out of your hands and starting his way through the gates. 

You sucked in a deep breath to try and cool yourself down from the heat of the ride once you saw Tommy and Maria approaching the two of you. “How’d it go?” Tommy asked, shooting you a regretful glance. You shot him one back that said ‘You’re dead.’ “For a person who’s terrified of horses, she did pretty good.” Joel spoke. Tommy clapped a hand on your shoulder and said mockingly, “Well would ya look at that. She powered through.” You would have slapped him if you hadn’t been standing near his wife and brother. “She’s not there yet, though. Could use a few lessons.” Joel said, eyeing you. After everything that had happened on patrols, you felt like he was undressing you with his stare. “Well. you wouldn’t mind showin’ her a few more pointers, would ya brother?” Tommy asked, almost cheekily. Now all of this made sense. He was trying to set the two of you up. At least it was good to know you had his blessing to do unspeakable things to his brother. Joel shook his head and kept his hungry eyes on you, “Not at all. ‘Long as you’re game.” His expectant stare caused you to stutter, “Uhm, yeah-If we move slow… I guess.” Though your entire body was screaming ‘YES!’ 

~~~~~~~~~~~

a/n: Hiiii sorry (not sorry) for the corny fluff I just needed some of that in my life ok?? Let me know if I should write other oneshots surrounding this storyline or if you have any other suggestions! And as always, comment below to be on the taglist!

Taglist:

@pastelpinkflowerlife

[venus-haze]

Eat Your Heart Out (Severen x Reader)

Summary: Feral vampires are few and far between, and Severen isn’t sure what to think when you begin trailing the clan. 

Note: Woman reader, but no descriptors are used. This is based on a request by @bowdowntolouis! I love that the Near Dark universe is so vague with its vampire rules and whatnot, because it gives me room to make things up. Do not interact if you’re under 18 or post thinspo/ED content.

Word count: 2k

Warnings: Blood, gore, descriptions of mild disemboweling, I guess some elements of cannibalism because the reader’s a messy eater. Do not interact if you’re under 18.

The first time he saw you, he didn’t think much of it. Another pretty face in a backward-ass town they’d leave for the dust as soon as night fell the following day, anyway. He caught it, though, the faintest scent of dead blood that he couldn’t dwell on, because Homer was corralling everyone into a convenience store to see if they had a decent comic book selection. 

Of course, they’d happened upon a dry town. Not a deal-breaker, but messing with drunks was always more fun. In lieu of a bar, the convenience store was the gathering place for the town’s residents after dark with its worn, old-timey soda counter and handful of tables and chairs with stuffing coming out of the cushions. He scoffed. Burning the place down would practically be doing them a favor.

“Y’all better be careful out there,” an older man said from behind the checkout.

“Why’s that?” Jesse asked, humoring the clerk.

“People are sayin’ there’s some kinda animal attacks, bodies just mauled like you’d never seen. Wildcat or coyotes…somethin’ like that,” he rambled before nodding in the direction of some of the people sitting at the tables. “Few loonies think a woman did it, claim they saw her runnin’ with blood all over her face, eyes like the devil. Just watch out if you know what’s good for ya.”

“Don’t you worry, mister. We ain’t got nothin’ to worry about,” Severn said with a grin, reaching over to pat the clerk’s shoulder. He gripped it with a strong hand, pulling him over the counter and throwing him onto the floor.

“You believe that, about the woman?” Mae asked quietly when they’d finished burning the place down.

He shook his head. “C’mon Mae, y’know these assholes huff paint for fun. They got nothing better to do than make up bullshit like that.”

The second time he saw you, he didn’t even know it was you. Shock had overtaken him when he came across your hunched over figure in a dark alleyway, the scent of blood sharp and fresh as you fed. You looked up, eyes wide with the slightest hint of fear as he stood in the darkness. You could see him just as clearly as he could see you. Silent save for your labored breathing, you began sprinting toward him, only to push him aside as you passed him by, further into the night.

He approached the body you’d left behind. A woman, probably in her mid-thirties. He couldn’t tell exactly from the number you’d done on her face. Leaning in closer, his lip curled upon realizing the woman’s arm was nearly detached from her shoulder, chest caved in as if you’d cracked it open.

Glancing behind his shoulder, he shook his head. And he thought he was fucked up.

Kicking the body with the tip of his steel-toed boot, it flopped back to its lifeless place on the ground. He wasn’t sure what else he was expecting. Leaning closer, he inhaled. The body was fresh. It’d be a shame to let good blood go to waste just because he scared you off. So he fed, shuddering a bit when he rested his hand in the open cavity in her chest and felt something squishy and still warm beneath him. 

Upon further inspection, it was her kidney or liver, though not entirely intact. Severen wasn’t squeamish, but poking around, he found her entrails appeared almost shredded. Desperate, as if you hadn’t fed in weeks. Lack of decorum, maybe. Never learned how to hunt properly and went by base instincts alone. He’d heard rumors of their kind who’d been turned and promptly left to fend for themselves. Most ended up perishing in the daylight without someone to mentor them, show them how to look out for themselves. He supposed some turned out like you. Feral, Jesse had said once. Succumbing to bloodlust like madness.

Less than a week later, he caught your scent, as if he could forget it after that night. If it weren’t for that tell-tale smell of dead blood, he wouldn’t have caught on to you tailing the group. His guard up, unsure of your intentions, he split from everyone else to confront you. Well hidden behind a pharmacy, already in a defensive position when he approached.

Your clothing had seen better days, some of it torn, a result of your victims hopelessly fighting back. Your nails were sharp, as if you’d purposely filed them to do the most damage possible on impact. Smudged eyeliner circled your piercing eyes, though it’d clearly been a long time since you’d reapplied it. Similarly, he couldn’t tell whether your lips were red from lipstick or just bloodstained. No wonder you’d been mistaken for some kind of wild cat woman.

“You followin’ us?” he asked.

You shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“What do you mean ‘you don’t know’?”

“I just go where I smell blood.”

“Why do you feed like that? Makes things a lot harder on us.”

You narrowed your eyes at him, hands balled into fists at your side. “I don’t have to explain nothing to no one.”

“Look, you do what you want, but leave me and mine out of it.”

“Are you done?” you asked, a deep crease in your forehead as you stared him down.

“Yeah, so get outta here.”

He decided against telling Jesse that he’d confronted you, hoping that his discussion with you would be the end of your paths crossing. You had to have been following them, ending up in the same towns so often couldn’t have been a coincidence. Still, his morbid curiosity wandered with thoughts of what it’d be like to feed as you did. He prided himself on his brutality, his savagery. You gave him motivation to step up his game.

It wasn’t much longer after that, somewhere deep in the heart of Texas, he caught a glimpse of you out of the corner of his eye while he was feeding on a member of a bachelorette party he’d convinced to leave the cowboy bar with him, promising a good time. He growled upon lifting his head from her body, not at all pleased to see you again.

You approached him, and he growled, pushing the body aside as he stood up. 

“Girl, what’d I tell you about following us around? Like you’re some dumb fuckin’ puppy.”

“You feed after me. Vulture,” you spat.

He grabbed you by the scruff of your neck, painfully pulling your face close to his as he hissed, low and dangerous, “I know you didn’t just call me that.”

“You take what’s mine and don’t even feed from the best part.”

“Oh? And what exactly am I missing?”

You became quiet, and he was confused at your lack of a retort until you covered his bloodstained mouth with your hand. “Shh…someone’s coming, don’t you smell it?”

Clean and fresh, the faintest scent of men’s cologne and laundry detergent. A set of heavy footsteps, quick and purposeful. In a rush to get somewhere he’d never arrive, no doubt. Severen grinned from behind your hand.

“Now’s our chance,” you whispered.

Thrill rolled down his spine at how quickly your demeanor changed, past grievances set aside at the chance to hunt. He released his grip on you, and you lifted your hand from his face. The excited, ragged breath you let out was all he could hear over the cacophony of noises in the night. You were fucked up. 

No pretense, no tactics, you simply grabbed the man from where he stood and shoved him to the ground. Severen observed with an almost academic interest as you tore into the man’s throat with your teeth, straddling him to keep him down. 

Bone cracked beneath your feverish grip on the man’s body. You dug your hands deep into the man’s chest and pushed, the overwhelming scent of blood overtaking all else and making his head spin. Standing over you, practically salivating, he found the sight of you mauling this stranger morbidly beautiful.

His eyebrows raised in surprise when you reached into the open cavity and ripped the man’s heart out. The two of you were already covered in blood, but he supposed he never expected to see firsthand how messy humans’ bodies could be if you really took the time to open them up.

“This is what you’re missing,” you said, offering the baseball-sized organ to him.

His hesitation didn’t last long. He grabbed the heart out of your hand, considering how it felt in his. Warm, like when he’d poked around the woman you’d left behind a few weeks earlier, but more firm with the presence of muscle. Unsure of how to approach feeding from it, he bit into the heart as if it were an apple and let the blood flow into his mouth from the puncture he’d made.

He drained the organ of blood, the taste notably better than just sinking his teeth into flesh. Bare skin, he discovered in that moment, left a strange aftertaste in blood, undoubtedly from the perfumes and lotions and bodily fluids that were on it. Maybe you were onto something, feeding straight from the source rather than through a barrier. Admittedly, it was messier, but he wouldn’t have his razor-blade spurs if he were afraid of being messy.

“You’re gonna get me in a lot of trouble,” he said, releasing the heart from his hands, landing haphazardly back in the victim’s exposed ribcage.

“With who?”

An unfamiliar voice startled both of you. “I swear I heard something back there, man.”

“C’mon,” Severen whispered, grabbing your hand.

“Yeah, probably someone getting his dick sucked. Just forget it.”

You shook your head. “We can take them.”

“It’s almost daylight. Just come with me,” he hissed, tugging on your arm.

“You go. If I see you in another town, I’ll come with you, okay?”

Reluctantly, he nodded, releasing your arm and watching as you ran off yet again. After a few weeks, he stopped looking for you, though you drifted in and out of his thoughts often. Months blurred together for him, but at least a year had passed since he’d seen you. Mae had turned Caleb, anyway, and getting him acclimated to their way of life was troublesome enough. You being there would’ve made things all the more difficult.

At least, that’s what he told himself. Channeled his disappointment into being even crueler when he killed, though he could never quite work up the nerve to dig for the heart when he was around the others. Not necessarily too taboo, but rather it reminded him too much of you. Someone he’d spent less than half an hour with. Homer would never let him hear the end of it. Like he was going soft or something.

Before he knew it, they were back in Texas. The state felt endless, but he loved the freedom of the deserts, the small, unsuspecting towns that dotted the highway. They set up camp for a few nights in a motel right off an exit for the only town with more than 5,000 residents for miles. 

Setting out on his own, Severen walked past a grocery store when he smelled it. Dead blood. Following the scent, he ended up in a department store. In the vast cosmetics section, he found you applying the tester eyeliner in a mirror. You’d switched out your old clothes, wearing something newer and more fashionable. He wouldn’t have been surprised if you had just swapped outfits in the dressing room.

Engrossed in your makeup application, you didn’t notice him sneaking up on you until you smelled him. Your back tensed and you threw the eyeliner aside. Turning around, you relaxed upon seeing the grinning creature of the night a few feet away from you.

You smiled a bit when you walked over to him. “Hey, it’s you.”

“I was startin’ to think you stood me up, darlin’,” he said, throwing his arm around your shoulders.

“Sorry about that; it’s a long story.” 

“How does dinner sound? Give us a chance to catch up.”

“It’s like you read my mind. I’m starving.”

[cynettic]

hi, i hope i'm not bothering you, but i can order a Scaramouche × Kitsune reader, the two met before the vision hunt (and before he was a fatui if you want) the reader was always in the same place, sometimes having a conversation , the good old routine, but with the hunting of visions the reader disappeared not wanting to give up his own vision, and years later a reunion, SFW or NSFW is by your will, thank you, I really admire your work

Summary - Scaramouche met you as a child, growing up with the constant assurance that you would be right there, sitting at your spot where he could meet you with every visit. He isn't happy when you suddenly disappear.

Pairing - Kitsune!Reader x Yan!Scaramouche

Warning - Slight Yandere warnings?

Penpal - Ahhh- hope this is what you were looking for. I couldn't find a spot to put much nsfw unless I considered writing more for the series ( I could, just put a request in if thats what you’re looking for ). But I hope you liked it!! You're not bothering me at all and I'm glad you like my work!

A/N - Alright- so considering that with the 2.1 update with Scaramouche coming in, I just wanna state beforehand that I wrote this prior so I dont know if we learn about his backstory or anything!!

Link for Part 2

Stay With Me

Scaramouche was used to the routine he’d found himself going along with every visit to Inazuma. As a child he’d pass through the wild fields that stretched just beside his hometown, adventurous and curious with all the tenacity of a child.

And of course you, a kitsune that sat perched on the ground awaiting the Kitsune Saiguu, was bound to notice him. Unlike the other earth kitsune statues, you hadnt turned to stone during your wait. Instead, staying in the same place did you interact with travellers and the locals, which included Scaramouche.

“Fox person!” The little boy chanted, pulling at the hems of your clothing. Bright blue eyes bore into your own, and you slowly shifted your head to pay attention to the boy who was on the verge of bouncing on you.

Humming in reply to his excitement, the little boy paused, both of his small hands still tightly clasping the fabric of your clothes. Soft matted hair brushed past his face in a messy manner, calling out the boy for his boundless running and rebellious urge to keep his hair messy despite his parents wishes.

“Play with me!”

Staring at the boy only a moment longer, you simply chuckled at his antics. “I’m afraid I cannot move from the spot in which I dwell~ Perhaps I’ll be able to entertain you if you bring cards?”

But the young boy had made up his mind at the statement to which you couldn't move. A pitiful frown enfluged his face as he cast you the nastiest glare a five year old could muster. “Boring!” He shouted into the distance of the fields, dramatically turning on his heels and bouncing up into a sprint away. You watched his small figure fade away into the background, absentmindedly sighing and returning to your mindless thoughts.

As a child, Scaramouche would pass by you fairly often. Frequent when he asked you to play with him, and storming away with the same expression when you denied him. Nothing out of the ordinary, you’d lived for an exceptional amount of time, and even though grumpy children were not your specialty, you’d grown accustomed to their behaviour.

Growing up, Scaramouche got no better. You soon noticed his violent tendencies before they became an issue, the way the children shied away from him when playing Temari. Hiding in front of a tough exterior, he scared them away and laughed, approaching you later with tearful sob.

“Will you play with me?” He asked again, trying to hide the fact that he still wept when the other children pushed him away.

But your answer stayed the same, helping him wipe his tears and coaxing him into your arms. Not the first time you’d made contact with a human, but the first time you held them in such an affectionate manner.

It was clear Scaramouche was beginning to see you as some sort of pillar of reassurance when he began running away from home to simply ask to be held. You always welcomed him with open arms, urging him to head back to his household and sort things out. There was no harm in simply providing love and comfort for a child who received none was there?

“Now now, hurry back home little one. Your parents must be growing awfully worried if you’re out by this time at night.”

“My parents dont care about me!”

Darkness slowly pooled into the fields, an obscure shade covering the two of you from the tree you were under. Biting back form your normal emotionless statements, you pondered for something to soothe and convince the boy. Misunderstandings and hardships were normal from what youd seen with children, and you could only offer your hand on his shoulder, a promise. “Go back, I promise to stay here if anything further happens. But you shold give them another chance dont you think?”

And so he’d sprint back to his hometown, and you wouldnt hear from him again till he ran up right up to you a few days later. Begging you to play a game with him. The normal you supposed, and with a grin that seemed to stretch wider with every day, you told him the same thing you told him every single time.

“You cant move?!” Scaramouche nearly yelled one time, tiny fists curling at his side. “Thats… thats stupid!”

“It is isnt it?” You only smiled in response.

Unsatisfied with your response, he clawed your arm, pulling you with all his might. Strong, you realized with surprise that he was much stronger than most children his age. Easy enough to tug away from, but strong enough to take you off guard.

Snapping your hand back to your side, you narrowed your eyes. You weren't angry… no, you hadnt felt strong feelings like that after the disappearance of the Kitsune Saiguu. “Do not attempt to move me,” was your curt response, said in the most stern voice you’d used with the boy.

He’d looked at you only a few seconds longer before bursting into tears, turning away and running. You didn't feel regretful for defending yourself, only turning once more with a tired sigh to stare at the distance.

But just as you stayed ageless, Scaramouche grew older. Still, crossing each others pass was inevitable when you sat in the plains, just alongside the path that lead to his hometown.

With a permanent scowl that seemed to stain his face, he still seemed to have mature a tad bit. Maybe hadnt improved in the social department, because he now scared children and adults and alike, but more mature…

“Hm? Whats this?”

Once again, sitting criss cross under the large tree that provided the perfect shade on sunny days, you stared at the boy expectantly. His hands hesitated at your question, but he resumed shuffling. “Cards,” he simply said in response.

A small featherlike feeling flitted across your chest, making you feel lighter and… almost ticklish. A small smile crossed your face, and you recognized the emotion to be one of adoration. For him to have remembered words you’d spoken years ago, it gave you a warmth you’d sorely missed. A warmth akin to watching him and the other children grow up.

“Ew, dont smile like that, its creepy.”

Swatting at his head, he frowned further when you laughed. “You’re more mature,” you pointed out, lazily leaning back. “You need to work on your people skills though, as someone who hasnt moved in years, thats pitiful that I know more than you.”

“Shut it!”

But as he grew up, you hardly got to see much of him. He’d reached your height and then fully disappeared, leaving no goodbye. And much as you hated to admit it, you hardly noticed, not when days passed in a flurry. You were used to being by yourself, entertaining the kids and greeting the people that passed by.

Sometimes, there’d be the reminder of the warmth he’d given you. But it was quickly overshadowed by your duty to remain seated in wait for the Kitsune Saiguu. A dedication kept in its earnest, but beginning to dwindle.

Inazuma was beginning to change.

“The vision decree…” you repeated, staring at the traveller who’d mentioned it to you. “Care to elaborate?”

The new archon threatenening to take away visions from every inhabitant of Inazuma. It was preposterous, so much that you didnt move. Your vision meant the world to you, but so did the Kitsune Saiguu. You werent sure just how you weighed the two till you saw civilians passing by you, ones you recognized, ones that didnt recognize themselves.

It was snowing, cold snowflakes melting into your skin while your hair soaked in the water. Unflinching, you hummed to a little tune, awaiting someone to pass you so that you could attempt to strike a conversation of somesort. The unnatural weather distanced all who entered the field though, and you simply waited. For the Kitsune Saiguu, for someone, or for some form of entertainment, you didnt know. You Slowly closing your eyes, you decided not to care.

“Im gone for five years and you’re still sitting here like a dumbass.”

Eyes snapping open, you find yourself face to face with a complete stranger. Dark purple hair with dark blue eyes, piercing and dangerous in a way you dont recognize at all. Fancy clothing that you cant identify or put a name on.

The boy took a step towards you, crouching down to stare at you directly. His eyes scanned over your figure briefly, and he brushed the snow out of your hair and ears with one flick of his hand. In the next, he was offering a coat to you. “Take it, you’re probably getting cold.”

You leaned forward, ignoring the coat he offered you. Gently, you raised your hand to brush the hair from his eyes, centred on the way his pupils widened. Offering a small moment of surprise and one glimpse into the small childlike blue eyed wonder he was. “Kiddo,” you breathed, pulling your hand back and scanning him once again. “You’ve grown.”

“And you havent.”

Snickering at his comment, you took the coat. You didnt need it, but he looked like he didnt either. He was already wearing clothing that kept him warm, and with careful observation and an untouched coat, you settled on the fact that he’d brought it here. Brought the coat here for you.

“Still havent improved with those social skills of yours have you?”

He scoffed, letting himself fall back till he was sitting fully. “I dont want to hear it from someone who refuses to move an inch for years. Lazy ass.”

You open your mouth to retort, but instead laugh at his comment, shaking your head. “Gained some humour on your journeys have you? Bad words too it seems. Anyways...” He had sat down, which meant that he meant fully well to sit, chat, and catch up. That familiar warmth filled your chest, a contrast between the cold snow. “Welcome back.”

It wasnt often that Scaramouche visited Inazuma, but when he did, he was sure to visit you. The two of you would sit down for hours, talking about the most trivial topics. He never mentioned what he did in his time away, and you never asked.

But things began to go downhill when news of the vision decree finally took action.

“Its no joke anymore! The Raiden Shogun has taken custody of almost a hundred visions!”

In that moment you made your decision, weighing your vision over the Kitsune Saiguu. Awfully selfish you knew, but you’d spent decades sitting there in wait.

And for the first time you sat up from your position on the ground, clumsily stumbling upright but gaining balance. It takes a few steps until you’re back to normal, and you begin your journey in order to escape the Raiden Shogun’s vision hunt decree.

_-_-_-_

You didnt expect to see him again.

Long grass tickled at the skin of your legs, making you adjust your footing to no avail. Sun slowly descending past the mountains to mark the start of an evening and the soon approaching night. A normal day of exploring the mountains and islands of Inazuma, observing the constant changing situation, and running away from the vision decree like a favourite past-time.

With the exception of a firm grip on your wrist.

Dark purple like hair, same hate brimmed eyes and lavish clothing. You recognized Scaramouche the moment he had appeared, looking just as surprised as you were. That being before he snatched your wrist and snarled, “You.”

You wouldve considered it pure luck to find him, an unexpected reunion with someone you actually remembered. But no, his tone had some predatorial edge to it that had you cringing. Hard. “Yes, its me.” You answered back with a frown, trying to loosen his hold. “Nice to see you too, is something the matter?”

He only seemed confused at your words, pulling you closer.

“Something the matter?” He asked as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Well, to start, you’re not sitting at your damn spot.”

Taken aback for a moment, you wondered if that sole fact was what drove the boy to such lengths. Surely he couldn't be so troubled over the fact that you moved… “The vision hunt decree, I'm sure I mentioned that I was sticking around in wait for the Kitsune Saiguu. I decided to wander around and avoid the conflict until I could settle back.”

“You could’ve waited for me,” he stated almost instantly. “I could have protected you.”

You felt your brows furrow quizzically. “Wait for you? Why in the world would I-”

“Why wouldn't I?” He pushed you closer till he could fully grab both wrists, taking a step closer as if his words would resonate clearer in your head. “You took care of me as a child, it would only be fair for me to repay the favour.” But he only seemed to be looking for excuses. “And besides, you can't just up and leave… I didn't know.”

Before you could interject with the obvious answer that he didn't need to know, you stopped. You’d lived decades, nearly centuries if you’d kept count, and you had learned to read people's expressions even when you’d stayed away from them for so long. He didn't know. It hit you in the most unpleasant way that he wasn't aware that it was none of his concern. To him, you were just another thing he needed to keep track of, something he had control over. His face basically screamed, ‘I depended on you to stay in that place.’

Deep breath in and out. You’d lived long, longer than him, you could deal with a child throwing a tantrum.

“Don't worry,” you gestured to the vision ta your side. “I'm strong enough to protect myself, I appreciate your concern, but I’ll be back when the vision decree ends.”

Unconvinced, he pulled you closer, just until your faces were mere inches away from each other. “No,” he said in a stern voice. “I’d rather you by my side, where I can protect you. I hate to question what you’re capable of, but you’ve been sitting down for as long as I’ve known you for.”

“I’ve lived decades more than you,” a simple reply, hopefully enough to get by him. You snatched your hands back with ease, ears flinching slightly when a cold breeze swept past you. But you stayed firm, not wanting to look vulnerable against the imposing air he had around him.

Still unconvinced. “You’re coming with me.”

“No I’m not.”

You’d known him as a kid, watched him grow up along with all the other small ones in his hometown. And maybe you admit you cared a smudge bit about the warmth he gave you when settling down to play cards, but he was different. He had changed in the worst way and you weren't about to deal with it.

“So you’re not coming with me voluntarily?” He asked softly, taking a small step to which you responded by stepping back. He had his hands up, as if telling you he wouldn't hurt you. But the way he said voluntarily sent shivers up your spine.

“No.” Hand on your vision, you held your own hand up threateningly.

He took his time when tilting his head, taking a deep breath in, and then appearing in front of you in just a short stride. Too quick to react, you hesitated before you could attack him. You didn't want to hurt him, he was still a child in your eyes, and you paid the consequences for that. He slid his hand just along your neck, and a jolt of electricity seemed to thrum inside you just as you collapsed in his arms.

Scaramouche was quick to catch you, hoisting you up into his arms dearly. “I do hope you’ll come to understand,” he said softly, cradling your unconscious form in his arms. Making sure not to crush your tail when carrying your legs, he looked past the mountains, sigh resting on his lips.

Because Scaramouche liked to have control of the things he held dear. Like keeping all your valuables neat and tidy in a closet, he was happy knowing you were safe and stable in that spot you always sat on.

And he couldn't have you moving could he?

[helpimhyperfixating]

Sneak Attack In Morioh - Jotaro x Reader

Word Count: 1767

The Speedwagon Foundation had silently snuck you into Morioh on the same boat as Mr. Joestar. The only difference was no one was awaiting your arrival. Spending the entire time in the hull, you waited and bided your time until you could silently and unnoticeably slip off board and into Morioh.

There was something going on in S-city and since Morioh was located not too far from it, you had been put on the same boat, only to travel to S-city at night.

That was the plan at least.

Slipping from the hull onto the deck, you looked over the docks, only to freeze in your steps. The one person you didn't want to encounter in your trip through Morioh was standing right there, looking out at sea.

Jotaro Kujo, your longtime friend.

You and him had been through hell and back together. First in high school, then fighting DIO, then college and other roaming Stand users; you went through it all with him. So, if he knew you were here and where you were going, he would either try to stop you, or want to come with you. Neither were a viable option at the moment. If he were to spot you, his stubbornness and persuasive abilities would certainly mean your stealth mission would end. And so you immediately brought out your Stand, manipulating the light and making yourself invisible.

You knew Jotaro knew your Stand better than anyone else. Almost as well as you did. So you knew you had to hightail it out of there before he figured out you were there, despite the fact that you were near invisible to the naked eye.

With a quick move you hopped off the boat and stayed low as you ran, making near to no noise as you got out of there, Jotaro never moving from his spot by the water.

- - - -

Running through the streets, you looked behind yourself only to barrel straight into someone.

The sudden impact caused you to lose concentration and your Stand dissipated, fading back into your body after releasing the invisibility.

"Ow." You whined childishly as you had landed harshly on your butt. Looking up, you saw a man with green hair and stylish clothing. His face held an expression of shock before it turned more serious, glaring at you - or more precisely, where your Stand had been.

Immediately getting up you looked at him with slightly widened eyes. He was most definitely a Stand user.

Taking note of his stance, you jumped into a defensive pose. And you were right to, for not even a second later, the man jumped forward.

"Heaven's Door!"

A Stand popped out from him but you were faster. Jumping backwards, you vaulted onto your hands and pushed yourself as far away as possible, summoning your Stand to send a glare of light at him and blind him so you could run away.

You had no time for this right now, if you weren't at the train station in 4 minutes you'd miss the train and have to wait until the morning for another, meaning missing your target and also being at risk of being discovered by those in Morioh. And so you booked it.

- - - -

Eight hours. That was all it took for you to complete the mission you were given. Someone had stolen important research from the Speedwagon Foundation and you were tasked with bringing it back. When you arrived at the scene, relief washed over you to see they had not been able to crack the lock of the briefcase where the information was in yet.

Getting only minimal injuries, mainly a knife cut on your arm from one of the scientists when you first took hold of the briefcase, you got out of there in record time without setting off any further alarms or causing more uproar.

All in all, a mission well done.

And now here you were, handing the briefcase over to the people of the Speedwagon Foundation on the boat.

"Thank you, Miss L/N. We are departing in about an hour."

"That's alright. I think I'm going to stay here in Morioh though, you never know when you might need an extra ally. So I'm going to stay here and help Dr. Kujo."

"Very well. Stay safe."

"You too!" You waved at the man before sprinting away from the docks.

It was now about 9AM and you figured it was about time to visit your friend. A perfect plan then came into your mind. This man had never been scared or surprised. No matter what you tried, everything failed. But now? He had no clue you were here. This time it should work! Right?

Using your Stand to turn yourself invisible again, you walked into the town, only to see the green-haired man again. He was talking to a kid with a pompadour while looking very disgusted.

Curious, you snuck closer.

"I need Mr. Kujo's phone number." Holy shit you hit the Jackpot. "I encountered a Stand user last night but she disappeared almost immediately. She has to be on the loose here somewhere." Ah, that's less fortunate.

"Why don't I phone him and we can meet up."

"Oi, Josuke!"

Two boys came running up to the pair you were observing, one of them very short while the other had scars over his face.

This was getting very busy now so you moved back a little bit. Letting them all do their thing. The one named Josuke phoned Jotaro and you saw him nod a few times before hanging up and motioning the others to follow.

Taking that as your que, you silently moved along, staying far enough away to not let any possible sound you made be noticed, but close enough that you wouldn't lose them. You didn't concern yourself with their conversation because it wasn't really your business, and if they were talking about you being enemy? Well then that would have to do for now. That misconception would hopefully be cleared up soon.

Following them for twenty minutes, you reached a hill and all the way at the top, you could already see your target waiting there.

Making sure you stayed behind the small group of boys you had been following, you hid completely from his view to make sure he really wouldn't spot you. There were very few signs how you could see where you were when invisible, but Jotaro knew them all. So, hiding was your best bet.

As you approached though, you could feel the maniacal grin growing on your face. You were on a hill. It was prime material to jump him and push him down it. Now that had to surprise him for sure, right?

Just then, they all congregated and you focused back on the here and now.

After sharing a few greetings, the green haired man got straight to the point. "Last night I encountered a Stand user. They bumped into me and I saw their Stand. When I tried to use Heaven's Door they somehow were fast enough to jump back and escape my range before blinding me and disappearing."

"They anticipated Heaven's Door?" The short one spoke up while you walked a little backwards, positioning yourself there where you could perfectly have a running start at the man in white. There was a gap between the green haired man and the one named Josuke for some reason but it provided you with a perfect path right towards your target.

"They must have. So it is safe to bet they know of our abilities. And now they're just roaming around, somewhere out there."

"Rohan." Jotaro interjected and you quickly got in a stance, ready to go. "You said they blinded you and disappeared? How?"

Knowing that if you didn't hurry you'd be exposed, you ran.

"Indeed. There was a glare of light and-" Whatever Rohan was about to say was interrupted when Jotaro suddenly flew backwards, the exact Stand user they had been talking about appearing out of thin air, having tackled the marine biologist.

Jotaro let out a noise of surprise, summoning Star Platinum and using the World mid-air before looking down to see you, a giddy yet evil grin on your face.

The utter surprise at seeing you actually here caused him to have no time left to do anything else so when time started moving again, he just fell down, making contact with the hill as he started rolling down it together with you.

"Mr. Jotaro!"

"Mr. Kujo!"

"Ah!"

Several shouts of surprise rang out as the two of you barrelled down the hill but you quickly came to a stop, you on top of Jotaro and laughing while Jotaro was on the bottom still a little stunned.

Quickly sitting up so you were sitting on his stomach, you pumped your fists in the air, shouting. "Fucking gottem!!!"

The Duwang, who had been running down the hill to reach the two of you, stopped in their tracks, seeing such a dumb yet lighthearted display.

They were even more surprised when Star Platinum appeared and lightly pushed you to the side, causing you to face plant in the grass while Jotaro stood up, completely unharmed.

"Oi, Jotaro that was mean!" You said as you lifted your face from the grass.

"It's your own fault." Was all he said back as he dusted himself off before looking over his back at his coat and sighing loudly. "You ruined my coat."

"Hehe, sorry. But hey, admit it, I got you! Surprised to see me here?" You waggled your eyebrows.

"Consider me confounded." He deadpanned and you pouted. "Josuke, do you mind?" He turned to the pompadour kid and said kid seemed to snap out of his stupor, stepping forward and bringing out his Stand for Jotaro, never really taking his surprised eyes off of you.

You watched the Stand remove all the green grass stains from his coat and softly 'ooh'ed at it, in awe by the Stand.

"Alright, who are you?" Rohan then glared at you and you squeaked a little at the hostility in his look.

"This is Y/N L/N, an old friend of mine." Jotaro introduced you, motioning his hand to you.

Slyly smiling to yourself, you grabbed onto his hand, making him turn his head to face you and sigh, getting your meaning as he pulled you up from the ground without any visible effort.

"Friend?!" Josuke exclaimed in shock while you let go of Jotaro's hand, dusting yourself off.

"Why are you here, Y/N?"

[crumbledcastle28]

Chapter 14: A Kiss

Warnings: really really angsty, depressing themes, accepting death, lots of crying, the gif kinda gives it away but oh well.

Author’s Note: I’m sorry in advance. I hope you like it!

(Gif gotten from themandaloriandaily)

You kneeled before Mando, trying to catch your breath from the sprint across the battlefield you just did, but it felt like your body couldn’t take anymore.

“Mando,” you whimpered, setting the child down next to you. You took the risk and placed your hand on Mando’s arm, trying to give him comfort, but you felt empty.

Your body was shutting down, but you wouldn’t hesitate to give the last pits of your strength to him.

“It’s ok,” he coughed out, but you knew it wasn’t.

You could feel it.

“Stay with me buddy,” Cara said next to Mando. “We’re gonna get you out of here.”

You couldn’t tell if Mando heard her, you honestly didn’t really care, because Mando’s gaze never left your tear stained face.

You had gotten pretty good at sensing where his eyes were, but this moment didn’t make that effort seem worth it.

The both of you were feeling too many things at once.

You heard Karga yell at the IG droid behind you to remove the grate to get into the sewers, and the sparks flying illuminated Mando’s helmet beautifully.

Why did it feel like it was the last time you would admire him like this?

Mando stirred a bit and turned his head slightly to look at Cara.

“I’m not gonna make it,” he said to her, and you couldn’t hold back your sobs any longer. His voice was dripping with pain and hurt, and you hated it. His voice was the one thing you felt connected you to him. The one thing that made him feel human.

But the Empire had taken that away too.

When Mando heard your sob, he turned his head back to you, but you could barely meet his gaze. Your eyes were bloodshot, your cheeks were red, and your burning throat caused your eyesbrows to knit together in discomfort.

Mando had said he didn’t like to see you cry, so you tried to hide it, but this was almost too much to bare.

“Shut up,” Cara said, responding to Mando’s confession. “You just got your bell rung. You’ll be fine.”

But Cara knew the truth. And so did you.

“Take this,” Mando said to you, reaching into his armor. He pulled out a necklace, a beautiful necklace, with the shape of a mythosaur skull.

“When you meet up with my tribe……”

“No, no Mando,” you said, looking down and crying harder.

Why was he giving up! We have to try, you thought to yourself.

“Please,” he pleaded, and you felt him move his hand into yours, giving it a squeeze.

You tried to control your cries for his sake, but it was getting really hard. The two of you had barely touched each other before this. You wanted your first touches to be happy and full of life.

The idea of that fading away somehow made you cry harder.

“Look at me,” he whispered, and you finally brought your eyes back up to meet his helmet.

“When you meet up with my tribe, show them this. Tell them the child was in my protection. They’ll give you safe passage,” Mando said, and with every word his voice grew weaker. The necklace in his hand rocked slightly from his shaking arms, and you finally reached your free hand up to take it from him.

You gave it a quick glance, noticing the beauty in the carving and the uniqueness of the shape, before you put it around your neck and looked back at Mando. Your hands were still connected, and he started to brush his thumb over your knuckles.

Your hands had done horrific things, but Mando didn’t care.

“I’m gonna need to take this thing off,” Cara said, referring to the helmet.

“No,” he said sternly, grabbing her wrist.

“You leave me,” he says to her, letting go of her wrist.

“No,” you whisper. “Please no.”

You wanted to plead more. Beg him to let you stay, but the feeling of his soft, gloved fingers brushing over your cheek caused all of your words to get caught in your throat.

You involuntarily leaned into his touch, causing your tears to drip onto his glove.

You wanted more. To feel more. He was so warm, so calming. You wanted all of him. To feel every crevice and crack of him.

You wanted to know him.

“You make sure… the child is safe,” he mumbles to you, running his thumb over your cheekbone.

“Always,” you whisper, and you bring your left hand up to press his hand further into your cheek. You hold it there for a moment, begging for any touch from him for any amount of time longer

“Mando… I…” you begin, trying to find the right words to say to him in this moment. The fire around you was starting to come closer, and you knew you were almost out of time.

“I know,” he says, interrupting you. “Me too.”

Of course he knows. He always has.

Losing this man was going to wreck you.

Another flame erupted behind you, but your gaze never left him.

Why did it have to be him.

“I can hold them off long enough for you to escape,” Mando said to you, still squeezing your right hand while your left hand still had his hand pinned against your cheek.

“Let me have a warrior’s death.”

The word death scurried down your spine like an insect. You knew he was dying, but hearing him say it….

You closed your eyes and rubbed your cheek into his hand, trying to feel any part of him one last time.

You open your eyes and look at Cara. Her eyes were wide and her body was tense. You gave her a weak smile, trying not to admit your defeat.

“I won’t leave you,” she says to Mando, and you felt your heart finally crack in half.

All the heartbreak of your parents, your mentors, your colleagues…. Nothing compared to this.

Why did it have to be him.

“This is the way,” Mando stated, and you choked out one final sob.

A leap of flames covered the space behind you, and you finally accepted your fate.

You were going to die, here, in some run down Empire town. Your past self would have scoffed and shaken her head. Typical.

But Mando was here.

You closed your eyes, waiting for the pain, but only focusing on Mando’s touch. You wanted nothing else to be the last thing you ever felt.

But…. nothing happened. No pain, no fire, no screams. Nothing.

So you opened your eyes, and you saw Mando’s head propped up slightly, like he was looking at something behind you.

You turned around, trying to see what was happening. Your eyes were full of tears and you could barely see a few feet in front of you.

When your eyes finally cleared, you saw the child with his hands raised, holding the fire ball in place. With a simple flick of his wrist, the child sent the flame flying back, and the stormtrooper who sent the fire was enveloped in flames.

You shielded Mando as best you could when the flame was sent back, but Cara blocked most of his body.

You turned back to see the child passed out on the ground, and a small smile gave way on your lips.

Why didn’t I think of that?

You heard the clang of IG-11 finally breaking open the sewer gate, and Karga yelling that you had to leave right away.

This was the moment you were dreading. The moment that hurt the most every time you had to do it.

Walking away.

No more hope, no more bargaining, no more thinking of a way out. It was done.

You stood up, wiping your nose, and grabbed the sleeping child off the ground.

You walked back towards Mando and pressed your lips on his visor, giving it a quick peck.

24 hours ago, you would have been scared out of your mind to do that. Especially at the fact that you didn’t know that he reciprocated your feelings.

But now, you never wanted it to end.

“Go…” he croaked out, giving your wrist one last squeeze.

You gave him one final, painful smile, and forced yourself to walk straight down into the sewers. Cara was still with Mando, but you didn’t care. If you stayed one second longer, you wouldn’t have left.

Your sniffles and quiet sobs echoed through the sewers while you waited for Cara, causing them to come right back at you and taunt you with their sound.

You left him. How could you have left him.

You tried to tell yourself it was what he wanted. You tried to tell yourself the child was all that mattered now.

But a part of you was never going to leave that building, and it was the only part of you that you had grown to love.

Tag list:

@leahkenobi @farfromjustordinary @440mxs-wife @bookloverfilmoholic @pinkninja200

[ramzawrites]

IronGolem!Hybrid!Reader - Protector - Part 3

Part 1

Part 2

Male

Pairings: none

Characters included: Quackity, Fundy, Tubbo, Punz, Technoblade, Philza, Dream

Warnings: blood, character death, cursing

Series: Part of my Iron Golem request series! 💙

Summary: Y/N helped the Butcher Army to escort Techno towards his trial only for this trial to turn into a surprise execution. An execution that finally gives Y/N the chance to flee that he was so desperately looking for, all along. Even if others had to push him towards this opening.

Words count: 2684

Authors Note: Woops I thought this would be the last part but there will be a part 4 after all o7

As they begun moving Techno followed along quietly. Never pulling on the chains, just dutifully following behind Y/N. His eyes mostly trained on the horse that Quackity was now riding.

They walked back to where they left their horses and got back up on theirs. Y/N got Quackity’s horse and let Techno on it, leading that horse along as he rode his own black steed. Sometimes petting his horse, his rough hands weaving through the long black mane, more as a way to calm himself down rather than the horse.

Riding between Quackity who was at the front while both Fundy and Tubbo stayed at Techno’s side while Ranboo stayed at the end of the group. Ensuring that Techno didn’t try anything too stupid.

Throughout the whole ride Fundy and Quackity began taunting Techno, Tubbo would occasionally chime in as well while both Y/N and Ranboo stayed quiet.

It surprised Y/N a bit that Techno actually responded to some taunts with his own snide remarks that would usually shut the other party up, for a short moment at least. He certainly had his wits about him.

Y/N couldn’t help but look up to Technoblade in a sense. He himself was escorted away in a similar manner but other than Techno, he immediately gave up and just followed along with his captors. Not even saying a word against them and while Techno did follow them along as well, he still talked back, made them feel stupid about their own thoughtless comments.

And Y/N enjoyed the frustrated exclamations of the group whenever Techno made one of his targeted comments. This was not a good situation for the warrior but he kept his dignity and a part of control and power in this situation.

Technoblade was strong and Y/N was not.

No, Y/N was weak willed and naïve. He should have fought more. Tried to escape or tried to send along a message to his home, to his people. Should have asked Ranboo to maybe check up on the town, after all he seemed to be the most reasonable one of the group but he didn’t. He was too scared and just gave up. What kind of protector was he?

Then again, he couldn’t fight, and he had to work with what he can do. Sometimes staying alive was the best and even most rebellious thing someone can do. Maybe if he was just patient enough, he would find a chance to flee! Though whenever this thought crossed his mind he feared that he had missed his one chance already due to his cowardice.

It didn’t take long for them to reach L’Manberg. Getting off the horses to walk back into the town middle. Y/N still holding the chains that were keeping Techno’s wrists bound.

As they walked further into the town, they passed Philza’s home.

The winged man stood on his upper balcony, staring down with a cold expression “You actually got him.”

“Get inside! You are on house arrest!” Tubbo just yelled back as an answer but Techno turned to face his friend, pulling on the chains in the process. Y/N pulled them back again, scared with what could happen next.

“Phil! Phil! What did they do to you!”

Fundy got his axe back out and pushed the flat side against Techno side, urging him to keep on going. This unspoken threat seemed to be enough for him to ignore his old friend and instead continued to follow Y/N who in return followed Quackity and Tubbo.

Though as Y/N pulled his gaze away from Philza, he could see a fond softness in his eyes. Worry mixed with anger. It was the first time he saw genuine emotion on his face, rather than the forced smiles he portrayed usually.

“Lead him up there, keep the chains around his wrists in there and stand close by.” Tubbo ordered the Iron Golem Hybrid, pointing at what looked like a cage right beneath a strange structure that Y/N couldn’t immediately make out what it was for.

But there was a foreboding feeling in the air.

Y/N opened up the door and without a word Techno just walked inside. The gate crashed shut again.

He could finally let go off the chain that he held on to. Dropping it as soon as he could. But the feeling of disgust stayed or maybe it was guilt. Maybe a mix. The less he thought about it the better, so instead Y/N just concentrated on Tubbo who begun a speech.

What kind of trials does L’Manberg have?

This wasn’t really a trial was it?

“Hey, Y/N, right?”

Y/N didn’t respond but stared at Techno from the corners of his eyes. Why was he talking to him? How should he react? Should he even react? Would the others hurt him if he visibly reacted?

“I know of you. You were-“

Though Technoblade didn’t finish his sentence. Smoke appeared in front of the stage and a person covered in armor appeared. They wore a white hoodie with netherite armor on top. Not even waiting a beat as they begun to attack the Butcher Army with their axe and crossbow.

Tubbo pulled his shield in front of his face, barely catching the arrow that came flying directly towards his face “Pull the lever, Big Q!”

Lever? What lever?

Even Techno seemed surprised letting out a quite frankly comical confused noise.

There was no hesitation on Quackity’s side. He immediately sprinted towards the structure and pulled the lever. Y/N could see a redstone pulse running up the build.

What the hell was going on?

Technoblade pushed his hands into his pocket, pulling out a small golden figure. Y/N couldn’t see it very well, but he immediately knew what it was.

A totem of undying.

Surprised Y/N stared at Techno only to see something black falling down.

He completely tuned out the sound of the fighting and screaming, his senses concentrated on Technoblade. His eyes directed at the black anvil that was flying with incredible speed down towards the cage.

Before Y/N could properly process what was happening, or the implications of this whole ordeal, the anvil was already on his eye level.

It connected with Techno’s skull with a sickening wet crack, immediately followed by an explosion of green light. It was so bright Y/N had to shield his eyes with his arms. Surprised by the warmth that came off the magic that engulfed Technoblade and revitalized his body. Pulling him away from the land of the dead and stitching his broken body back together.

As fast as the light appeared, it was just as fast gone. Y/N removed his arms and saw Techno jumping off the anvil and over the iron bars.

The man literally, just died but he didn’t waste any time to flee once he had the chance. Was it jealousy or admiration Y/N felt? He didn’t know, either way he was impressed.

While Y/N seemed to be a bit dazed, still trying to process this, Techno used the chance in between the chaos all around them to take a look around only to spot a masked man leading his horse away.

“He has Carl!”

He then proceeded to grab Y/N’s forearm and pulled him along. Techno’s grip was strong and unrelenting. Pressing down uncomfortably on a few burns that were just beginning to heal properly hence why Y/N’s first reaction was to pull his arm away, but the Pig Hybrid was holding on. Not giving him a chance to protest.

Why did Techno do this? Why did he tug him along? He clearly knew of Y/N but how? What did he know?

So, the best option was to follow him, right into a little opening at the side of a hill. Inside there was a room, lined with chests and another opening that seemed to lead into tunnels.

But what really caught Y/N’s attention was the man that held the reigns of Carl. A white porcelain mask with a smiling face hid away his face. A cloak hiding his physique and probably weapons.

Once inside the room Techno let go off Y/N to snarl “Dream, give me Carl.”

This masked man was the infamous Dream? His green hood was pulled up, the mask looked already unsettling but with the added shadow of the hood? As he stared at Y/N it felt like he was sizing him up. As if to wager something out.

Once again Y/N felt incredibly small under someone else’s gaze.

Dream slowly got closer and gave Techno the reigns of Carl “You brought him with you? I’m surprised, Techno.”

Techno walked up to Carl and pressed his forehead against that of the horses as a greeting “I don’t think we have the time to talk about this Dream, besides weren’t you the one trying to get him out of there?”

“Yes, I suppose you are correct. We don’t have the time to talk about this though. You two better get going. There should also be some armor and potions in one of the chests. And Y/N?” Dream turned towards him now “We’ll meet again, I promise you. You will get your revenge.” With that he ran off through the opening that Techno previously pulled Y/N in.

Techno rummaged through one of the chests. Letting out a disappointed sigh as he spotted some iron armor. With trained movements he slipped surprisingly fast into the clunky armor. Fastening it around himself and hooking the potions to his belt.

Hooves clicked on the stone ground as Techno lead Carl towards the tunnels “Not to put too much pressure on you but if you want to get out of this mess you better come with me.” Techno’s eyes rested calmly on Y/N. He was serious and looked like he was calculating something but there was something genuine and almost friendly mixed in.

“I- uh, understood.”

This honestly felt unreal. Like a dream. Though Y/N hasn’t decided yet if this was just another nightmare. It felt like a trap. Too convenient but what could he do? Run back out towards the city? He can’t fight like Dream or Techno, he wouldn’t get the chance to flee. Besides they would just capture him again and he didn’t want to think about how he might be treated afterwards.

His best bet really was with Technoblade but why he would do this for him after he escorted him to his own execution, he didn’t know.

Hell, how did he even know of him?

“Now, Y/N.”

Techno just begun moving into the tunnels. Y/N made sure to stay close. A spark of hope inside his chest. Something he hasn’t felt in ages. Is it okay if he takes this spark and holds it close? Just in case it breaks out into a fire?

Almost as if to answer this question both Techno and Y/N heard a voice coming from behind them. It wasn’t Dream’s. No, Y/N knew this voice too well. It was Quackity. Quackity has found him and would bring him back.

That spark seemed to dim after all.

“What the fuck is this? What is this Techno? How the fuck did that Anvil not kill you? And now you are stealing my things? Stealing my blacksmith?”

Techno let out a cackling laugh as he made sure to stand in front of Y/N. Grasping the hilt of his netherite pickaxe in one of his hands.

“Listen here Quackity. I tried telling you that the root of the problems here was government! I fought alongside you to show you! And you used me! So, I retaliated with force, to prove my point but you still formed a government! After that I was content with getting away from it! I tried to retire! I swore off violence! You still hunted me down! You-“

He moved his head around a bit, looking at Y/N from the corner of his eyes only to snap back to Quackity “You hurt my friends!”

Quackity didn’t seem to have noticed this but Y/N did. Techno referred to Y/N as his friend? He somehow felt like he was missing some vital piece of information. Never in his life has he even talked with him before this. Maybe he really just meant the horse, it stood off to the other side but surely, he must have only meant Carl. Perhaps Philza as well? Yes, those he must have meant. No way did he group Y/N in there as well.

Not after he was the one who escorted Techno away from his peaceful life with chains around his wrists.

Quackity bit down on his lip in anger before he answered “Techno, I don’t care about that. All that I care about is that you are on my hit list.”

“Hit list? What kind of Hit list?”

“I’m building up a nation and this nation needs direction, organization and I swear no matter what it fucking takes me, I will fucking kill you.”

Once again Techno laughed “Quackity, do you really think you are enough to kill me? Even unarmored and only in iron armor?”

At this point Y/N was straight up jealous at Techno’s confidence and cockiness. He would have just cowered in fear, given up but Techno did not. He stood strong, calm. Like a boulder between turbulent waters.

That spark that seemed to dim inside of him seemed to flare up again. If he just stayed close to Techno and trusted in him, maybe he is allowed to hope. Just this once.

Obviously Quackity tried to stay calm and collected beforehand but this seemed to push him over the edge “So be it! I’ll fucking kill you right here and now!”

He immediately took his axe out and jumped towards Techno who confidently blocked the attack with his pickaxe. With a simple twist of his arm and body, he hooked Quackity weapon with his own and then used his whole body to pull it out of his hands.

The axe flew through the air, landing with a loud clanging on the ground in front of Y/N. He didn’t think much about it as he slowly stretched his hand out and grabbed it. Holding the weapon close to himself. Seeing how he couldn’t fight, this weapon would be useless in his hands but at least he could ensure that Quackity didn’t pick it up again.

It was the first time he rebelled against him. It was the first time he took some sort of control over this situation. He did not give up. He did something.

As he looked up he could see a shocked Quackity.

“I only have this pickaxe, Quackity, but I’ll put it through your teeth!”

There was this bloodlust to his words. A malice that Y/N expected from Techno before he met him. As his only idea of him was that what the butcher army told him.

He realized that their stories relied on a kernel of truth though in this moment he wasn’t scared of this Techno. No, he saw pain, self-preservation and conviction in his actions right now.

Quackity evaded one of Techno’s attacks only for his second to hit. Hitting his open mouth with the pickaxe and dragging it across his face. Resulting in Quackity to fall down motionless. Blood spilling to the ground as his body slowly dissolved into gold dust. He was respawning.

Technoblade just took Quackity’s first life. Just like that. It went over so fast. Like it was nothing.

Without seemingly missing a beat he turned around to look Y/N dead in the eyes, now calm again “We need to go. Now. I’ll explain everything to you once we are safe. I promise.”

He didn’t even wait for an answer and instead begun leading Carl through the tunnel again.

Y/N took a second to stare at the dissolving Quackity only for Techno to pull him back out of his thoughts “Y/N!”

“Why are you helping me. Just- Just tell me this. I’ll follow you, I promise, but I need to know.”

Techno sighed “Because how couldn’t we? How can you see injustice and not do anything?”

____

Tag: @plaguedoctorsnake

[migilini]

Could you please write one of those Tiktok "I tried to kiss my bestfriend / crush" challenge for either Charlie or Owen. Thanks!

Crushtok - Owen Patrick Joyner

A/N: Yes ofc I can! I never wrote for Owen so let me know what you think! I hope you like it :)

Words: 1.9k

Warnings: tiktok and noise (so none really)

Requests are open!

MASTERLIST

--------‐--------------

The sun poked through curtains and you swore that you had heard birds the day before but it was loud, uncomfortably so. All you heard was the clacking of metal and the rattling of the machinery that the construction in front of Owens Appartement made. All the unpleasant noises woke you up in the early morning. Grumbling, you tried to block out the noise with a pillow pressed against your face.

"That's not gonna work sleepy beauty" a lower voice croaked, catching you completely off guard so you let out a quiet shriek. "Oweenn why do you have to scare me badly in the morning?" You whined and took the pillow away from your face.

He sat on the other side of the couch, just underneath your feet and looked absolutely tired. His blonde hair was standing up in every possible direction, his normally piercing blue eyes trying their best to stay open. By the way, he was looking at you with a little smirk on his lips, you figured that you didn't look any better.

"Because it's 6 am on a Saturday morning and I didn't want to suffer alone. So lucky you for visiting me this week!" Owen exclaimed and hit your leg in a joking manner.

"I've got thrown out by my landlord. I'm not here on my own terms..." this earned you a shocked gasp from the boy sitting in front of you. "And there I was, thinking this friendship meant something to you." You just rolled your eyes with a smirk.

"Do you want to come back to my bedroom? With some music playing it's much quieter than out here." Nodding tiredly, he held out a hand to help you stand up; you only noticed when you nuzzled into his bed that he didn't let go of your hand.

You woke up a couple of hours later, quiet pop music filled the darkroom and it was hot, your bare legs sticking to the duvet covers. You turned around and faced a back with broad shoulders that were just moments ago pressed against your back. Groaning, you stuck your legs out of the bed, the cold air cooling you down immediately. Owen stirred next to you and sat up slowly.

"Morning part 2." you chuckled and automatically pushed some of his hair out of his face.

"Mornin" he mumbled back.

"You were right it's much quieter in your room."

You stood up, stretching your limbs, before heading back into the living room where all your stuff was stored, quite impractically but it was stored.

You heard a shower running, that gave you the perfect time to change from your big shirt and little pants sleep attire to a more comfortable day outfit. After rummaging through your boxes, that you packed in a freezy, you choose some brown cotton pants with a white body and to top it off your favourite purple cardigan that Owen gifted you one Christmas. With some extra time, you put on your glasses and started to search for a new place to stay.

"So what do you wanna do today? I have nothing going on so..." you stopped listening as Owen walked into the living room shirtless. He wore some blue sweatpants that hung quite low on his hips, his chest still sparkling from the water.

You would have probably started to drool if he wouldn't have worn his hair in a towel bun.

You let out a laugh that made him stop in his tracks.

"What?" he stared at you intensely.

"Oh, nothing princess... nothing. We uh... could look at some apartments for me and just go for a drive?"

"Am I that bad of a roommate?" he said and plopped down next to you on the couch his arm resting on the top comfortably.

"No but I would really appreciate a place to store my stuff properly." you continued to scroll through places to stay.

"This one looks good." he pointed out and put his finger on the screen, you hadn't realised that he rested his arm just above your shoulders so it took you off guard when you suddenly felt his arm on your neck.

"Mhmm, but you cant look at it today... This one though has a viewing in the late afternoon."

"Then that's our plan for today."

++

"Y/N! Y/N!" Owen screamed loudly from the kitchen "Come here real quick."

With your phone still in one hand, you waddled over to your best friend. "What's the emergency?" you looked up at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Do this TikTok with me." he pleaded and looked at you with a slight pout, shoving his phone in your face. Your eyes scanned the screen and then you scoffed, "First of all since when are you on lesbian TikTok? And secondly, that's a bit... explicit... don't you think?"

"W- Our lips don't have to touch! I don't have anybody else to do it with! Y/N Come On!" he yelled after your figure who left the kitchen with a shaking head and hot cheeks.

Your thought didn't stop racing for the rest of the day. Did Owen want to kiss you? Or was he just so comfortable with your friendship that he really didn't care? You hated that you were a cliche, falling in love with your childhood best friend. Growing up you were always the one rolling your eyes at your parents who thought that you and Owen would make just such a cute couple but here you were, sitting on his couch, your heart beating in your chest and extremely conscious of his presence.

Little did you know that Owen felt the exact same. Over the years and especially puberty, he started to develop feelings for you. At first, he tried to deny them, telling himself that it's just that he's used to you being around but then he left to pursue his acting career and he missed you more than everything in the world. Not a single day went by when he didn't think of you or tried to call you. Ever since then, he tried to be close to you in one way or the other, he didn't care if it was just his leg touching yours or your body heat warming him up.

Due to the fact that you were both anxious people, neither of you ever made a move. He missed your longing stares and you missed the way he was checking you out every time he looked at you.

His friends finally talked some confidence into him and so he took little steps into what should eventually lead to him confessing his love for you. He started to flirt more with you, give you loads of compliments and asked you if you wanted to do some TikTok or lives with him.

Tapping on your shoulder made you look up from your phone, the TikTok you've been watching looping on your screen. Owen stood next to you, his phone pointed to you, a mischievous smirk prominent on his face and whipped cream can in his other hand.

"No." you tried to be serious but a chuckle escaped your lips. Owen turned the camera to him and sprayed some cream into his mouth then stared at you with squinted eyes, the whipped cream flowing out of his mouth.

You stared at him for a couple of seconds, your brain in overdrive, hands sweaty and heart beating rapidly. An idea washed over you and you tilted your head before leaning in close. Owen's eyes went wide and he nearly choked on the cream. But you weren't gonna kiss him seconds before your lips would have met, you halted. Then you slowly took the can of whipped cream out of his hand and sprayed it all over his head.

"You didn't!" he gasped with a full mouth while you laid on the floor, holding your stomach in laughter. Something wet hit your face that stopped you from laughing further. Owen had a massive grin on his face, one hand dripping slightly and his hair, less creamy.

"Be cautious Joyner" you warned standing up on your tiptoes to be as close to him as possible, your pointer finger pressing into his chest "I know where your bed sleeps."

You tried to back out of the situation, knowing damn well that it can easily get out of hand with you two and a whipped cream match would make a lot of mess. But Owen being the child he is, didn't back out, instead, he ripped the can out of your hand and sprayed it down your back.

The war ended peacefully. The cans of whipped cream, yes you found more cans, laying somewhere in the living room both of you covered from head to toe, breathing heavily. Owen held his hands up in surrender and looked up to your position on the coffee table.

"Ha! I win! Told you I didn't want to do the TikTok." you smiled triumphantly. "I say loser cleans this up." before Owen could protest you sprinted to the shower. Lucky for you he actually started to clean up when you walked out of the bathroom, dressed in comfortable sweats and one of Owens hoodie, your damp hair falling over your shoulders.

"Hey Y/N?" Owen asked somehow nervously. "Yes darling?" you answered with a bad British accent.

"Can you come here for a second?"

"Owen I'm not doing that TikTok with you, you just saw how that ended," you argued but made your way over to him. He stood in the middle of the room, his phone propped up on a shelf.

"You have something on your face." you chuckled and whipped away some dried leftovers from your previous war.

"Can you react to this song? I don't remember where I know it from" he asked, his voice shaking slightly. You furrowed your eyebrows at his odd behaviour just moments ago he was normal and now he acted very strangely.

"Sure." he pulled you in front of him, his hands resting on your shoulders.

'Baby, you're like lightning in a bottle

I can't let you go now that I got it'

“Sounds like BORNS…” you whispered more to yourself than to him and continued to listen to the song “Are you sure you just haven't…” you turned around to face him.

Owen took this as his opportunity to cup your face with both of his hands, softly pressing his lips to yours.

Your breath hitched and it took you a second to realise what was happening. The confidence Owen had just moments ago vanished when you didn't kiss him back immediately. Why should you? You never gave a hint that you liked him like that as well.

Just as he was about to pull away and apologize profusely, you overcame your state of shock. Your arms grabbed his hips to pull him closer, deepening the kiss. You felt him smile against your lips. Your stomach erupted with butterflies, your whole body tingled and your cheeks felt hot.

He was the first one to pull away, resting his forehead on yours. Both breathing heavily, the filming camera was completely forgotten, you looked in each other's eyes.

“I wanted to do that for so long,” you admitted and unconsciously bit your lip. Owen gulped heavily, “Me too but, what the hell! I mean how crazy is that?!”

[tommyparkerr]

Enough | Shawn Mendes x Reader

Alright y’all here’s one of my dusty old docs I happened to stumble across in my every-now-and-again clean up of Google Docs. Just as a disclaimer, I wrote this in 2018 so no one is allowed to judge me for this, okay? Okay. 

Words: 3.0k

Warnings: Panic/anxiety attack (though it’s presented differently than the majority I’ve seen), some angst, Shawn being stupid, crying

-Masterlist-

E N O U G H :

How’d studio go?

You were hesitant to send the text but did it anyway. You hoped for a positive response, but with the way things had been lately it was highly unlikely. Still, you so badly wanted to give Shawn the benefit of the doubt so you decided you would wait until his response proved you differently. After two hours had passed and he still hadn’t replied, however, you got your answer, and the benefit of the doubt quickly fizzled away. 

Shawn wasn’t one to just not answer you, but lately it’d been more and more reoccurring. It wasn’t that he didn’t care or that he was angry at you; it was that he cared too much and was angry at himself. You still remembered when Shawn called you after a studio day a while back, disappointed that he hadn’t managed to find any sort of inspiration. You didn’t know it then, but that was only the first of many uninspired days he’d be facing over the next several months. 

The boy hid it well—the self-hatred and frustration—but you saw things that others didn’t. You were the one who saw the dark rings under his eyes before he had the chance to cover them up. You were the one who spent countless nights with him on the phone, trying and failing to reassure him that it was all right he was feeling this way and that it happened to all writers at some point. You were the one who brought him coffee with an extra shot of espresso each morning because you knew if you didn’t he would fall asleep in the middle of warm-ups. 

Shawn was going to crash soon, and not in the metaphorical sense; he was going to mentally crash. In a way, he already had. But you had a feeling that these past months were going to catch up to him, the meaningless guitar strums and pointless piano chords adding up to be one too many, and he was going to crash. Hard. You just had to make sure you were there when he did. 

Lucky for you your apartment wasn’t too far from his, that way when he called and asked you to come over because he needed you (and vice-versa), you could be there in five minutes or less. It hadn’t been purposeful, the close addresses, but it worked out. And you were happy it did, as there’d been numerous times the short distance was used to your advantage in emergency situations—such as the time you made cookies and wanted to surprise Shawn with them while they were still hot. 

Your phone buzzed from the coffee table, startling you from your half-conscious state. You rubbed your eyes and your hand fumbled to pick up your phone. 

Same.

You sighed. Somehow you knew that while you’d been relaxing in your apartment watching cheesy movies and almost dozing off, Shawn had been sitting staring at blank sheets of music in an apartment that was entirely silent apart from the experimental chords he’d strum and immediately nix. 

Before you could even think, your fingers were making the appropriate movements to call Shawn. It rang a few times, the soft sound making your eyes droop again. 

“Hey, it’s Shawn!” 

Shawn’s voice snapped you awake and you shook your head at yourself, frustrated that you’d almost fallen asleep when he clearly needed someone to talk to. 

“Hey Shawn, you oka-“

“I’m busy right now, but leave a message and I’ll be sure to call you back.”

You blinked a couple times, the switch from your boyfriend's voice to the teller machine making you stumble. You quickly hung up before a voicemail could be recorded and tried calling again, but you only got the same result. 

There was no reason he shouldn’t be answering his phone when he’d texted you back only a minute ago. 

An unsettling feeling washed over you and you scrambled up from the couch to find your shoes and throw on your cardigan. It was below freezing outside but you didn’t care enough to spend the extra time finding a coat and warmer clothes; besides, it was a short walk to Shawn’s place. 

You called again. This time when the teller came on instructing you to leave a message after the beep, you did. 

“Hey bub, you’re really starting to worry me. I’ve been calling but you haven’t picked up, and I know you have me as an emergency contact; I know my calls are going through. So, I’m coming over. Right now, actually. Hang tight, okay? I’ll be there in a few.”

You were in such a rush that you hardly even noticed the cold. You were sure you’d feel it after you sorted everything out with Shawn, but until then it had no place in your mind. 

The receptionist didn’t question your presence in Shawn’s building, quite used to your late night visits, although she did look a bit concerned; you always made sure to bundle up this time of year and never went upstairs without flashing her a smile and quick hello, but now you did both, sprinting to the elevator and maneuvering the buttons to work as quick as possible. 

You didn’t bother knocking when you got to Shawn’s door, instead pulling out the key he’d given you months ago and using that to unlock it. At first you heard nothing when you stepped in, making you painfully aware of your racing heart. 

“Shawn?” you called out cautiously, not wanting to do anything that could possibly scare him off. You stepped further in to find the living room and kitchen clean as usual, but no Shawn. As you travelled further into the apartment your uneasiness grew stronger. “Shawn, where are-“

A mix between a shout and a groan came from the bedroom and you quickly sprinted to the area, finding that the sound had come from inside the closed—and locked—bathroom door. 

“Shawn, it’s Y/N. Please open the door, baby,” you said calmly, gently. 

“Get out!” he suddenly yelled after you’d made a couple more attempts. 

“I’m not leaving, Shawn-“

“Get out, Y/N!”

“Shawn,” you stated firmly, not being thrown off by his irrational anger. “Open the door.”

A loud bang sounded as Shawn slammed his fist against the door, making you jump. But your resolve still wasn’t weakening. 

“Leave me alone!”

“You do realize I’ll stay here all night, right?” you said truthfully. Even if he stayed angry the entire time you were here, you would much prefer it over silence. At least with anger you knew what he was doing; silence could mean anything. 

“I’ll call security!” he shouted. 

“With what phone?” you asked, having seen his supposed phone on the floor by his bed. Your point made him stumble for just a moment as you weren’t usually the type to fight fire with fire, but somehow you knew that tonight it might be the only way to get through to him. 

“You’re trespassing!” Shawn tried. 

Fire it was. 

“You mean on the property you gave me a key to and never asked for back?”

Shawn paused again—only for a second. “Can’t you live your own life for once instead of following me around like some lost puppy?” he jabbed. “I don’t need your help, Y/N!”

His words that were meant to extinguish the fire only fueled it, and before you could tell yourself to stop you raised your fist and banged hard against the door like he had—so hard that your hand ached. But it had gotten his attention; you could tell due to the sudden silence on the other side of the door. 

“Shawn,” you said, speaking quieter but still with unwavering tenacity. “I’m not leaving.”

The next few minutes were silent yet deafening. Just as you were about to open your mouth and say something else, a resounding shatter filled the air. You instinctively flinched and felt your heart drop when you realized what had happened.

Shawn had broken the mirror. 

You snapped into action, grabbing a pair of socks and shoes from Shawn’s closet then knocking on the bathroom door again, hoping beyond hope that that was the peak of his episode and it was all downhill from here. 

“Baby, please open the door.”

You breathed a quiet sigh of relief when you heard an answering click and carefully pushed the door open, taking in the sight of glass fragments scattered amongst the floor with Shawn right in the middle of it, looking unphased and too caught up in his own head to notice the mess he’d made. 

“Shawn.”

He turned to look at you, his cheeks flushed and his hair a mess from constantly pulling at it. Your heart broke and you so badly wanted to reach out and wrap him in a hug, but that probably wasn’t the best move right now considering the circumstances so you held back, instead offering him the socks and shoes. 

“Put these on and try to avoid stepping on the shards, okay? Go lay down. I’ll clean this up.”

While he didn’t show any reaction to your instructions, he did as you told him, carefully slipping on the footwear and treading out of the bathroom to his bed.

It took a bit of time to clean up the glass, especially when it came to scooping it out of the sink and off the countertop, but you did it, sweeping it several times to ensure there were no shards left behind. It was only when you’d finished the task, put the broom back, and dumped the glass in the trash that you went to Shawn. 

He was sitting up now, his legs hanging off the side of the bed and his feet bare of the amenities you’d provided him just minutes ago. Unsure of how to go about the situation, you sat on the floor in front of him and reached for his hand. He let you have it, and you were surprised to see he only had a few shallow cuts from the breakage. You decided you’d deal with those later. For now, though, you needed to deal with the mental wounds. 

You sat in silence, trying desperately to find the right words to say to get Shawn to talk to you. Lucky for you, though, you didn’t have to. 

“I-I didn’t mean what I said,” Shawn said, his voice hoarse and cracking. “Any of it—all of it. I didn’t mean it.”

“I know,” you replied quietly, tracing the lines of his palm. 

Shawn swallowed and shook his head, his free hand clenching into a fist. “I don’t know why I did it. I was just so-so angry and I couldn’t stop and I just…” He trailed off, his eyes laden with the self-hatred he’d been guarding from sight all these months. His eyes shut as if he knew what you‘d spotted and his head tilted away from you. 

“Hey,” you said softly, interlacing his fingers with yours and working with his other hand to do the same. “Look at me.”

It took awhile but eventually Shawn complied. His eyes were red-rimmed and watery, so sad and so genuinely upset that it made your own eyes water. 

You physically watched as all of the burden Shawn had been carrying around suddenly came down on him, his shoulders dropping and every muscle in his body relaxing to the point where he was falling forward. You jumped to your feet, catching his weight and pulling him into your mid-section. A broken sob left his lips, and you were quick to hold him firmly against your chest as you played with his tangled curls. 

You let him cry, let his wounded hands twist into your shirt even when it rose up and exposed your abdomen, let his tears and dribbles of blood soak through the thin fabric of the only clothing you had with you. Because this was the breakdown. This was the crash. 

You resisted shushing Shawn like you would a crying child, knowing that if you didn’t let him break then he wouldn’t be able to build himself back up—as much as it hurt you to watch. “I’ve got you, bub,” you whispered instead. “I’m here.”

Eventually Shawn’s tears slowed but he didn’t move, allowing you to continue your soothing touches and calming words. His hands slowly moved from your shirt to your waist, his fingers tracing patterns along the bare skin there. You felt him frown and he tilted his head up, looking at you concernedly. 

“You’re freezing.”

You rolled your eyes with a small smile. It drove you crazy sometimes how utterly selfless he was, but you’d be lying if you said it wasn’t one of your favorite traits of his—one of the traits that drew you to him in the first place.  “I’m fine, Shawn.”

“Did you wear a coat?” he insisted. 

“No, I-“ You stopped at his disapproving look and exhaled. “I am fine, Shawn. It’s you I’m worried about, not me.”

Your words seemed to chase him away, as he rigidly pulled back into a sitting position and moved his eyes away from yours at the remark. You sighed and took a seat next to him, looking at your dangling feet versus his solidly planted ones before taking his hand again and guiding him to look at you. 

“Talk to me, Shawn,” you simply said, your voice the gentlest you could make it. 

He took a deep breath, letting it escape heavily through his nose. “I feel so pathetic.”

“Why?” you prodded, and when he shook his head you softly reminded him, “Bub, it’s just me.”

It took awhile for him to open up, but you stayed patient. You watched him as he formed the words in his head, trying to figure it out just as much as you were. 

“I’m supposed to be making music,” Shawn started quietly. “I know how pathetic I look each time I walk out of the studio with nothing more than what I brought in. Everyone’s waiting on me, expecting me to do something. It’s been months—months—and I’ve got nothing. I’ve done three albums back to back with no problem, I’ve done countless shows and tours and festival runs, but I have nothing now. No music, no ideas, no inspiration—nothing. And...and it makes me nothing.”

You paused. “If having nothing makes you nothing,” you said, choosing your words carefully, “then why am I here right now?” 

Shawn didn’t reply, training his eyes away from you and to the wall in front of him. You could see you’d simultaneously struck a chord with him and backed him into a corner; the only way Shawn could reply was either by telling you he didn’t know, which you both knew was false, or with self-deprecating reasoning, which you wouldn’t let slide for a second. 

You swallowed, knowing your next words would be extremely controversial. “Have you ever thought that maybe this is your mind’s way of telling you it’s time to take a break?”

Shawn immediately tensed, his head snapping back to you. “I am taking a break,” he argued. 

“No, you’re not,” you said, keeping your composure. “You’re working yourself twice as much as normal. You barely sleep, you hardly eat or drink anything other than what I give you, you never have the ‘time’ to hang out with me or your friends anymore, your mental health is spiralling-“ You quickly came to a stop, watching the fight you’d just recently seen in Shawn’s eyes begin to drain again at the last item on your list. “Shawn, I don’t know what taking a break means to you,” you began, “but to me it means letting go of your responsibilities—letting them disappear to the back of your mind where you won’t have to see them for awhile. It means relaxing, not worrying about deadlines or expectations or anything else remotely pressuring.”

Shawn was quiet, letting your words soak in. You and everyone else (including his fans) agreed it was time he took a break, but getting Shawn to agree himself was a whole other challenge. 

“I just…” He struggled for a moment, fiddling with his fingers and looking down. “I just feel like I’m not enough.”

There it is, you thought sadly. 

You gently grasped his chin and moved it until he was looking at you again. He looked so vulnerable, and you knew that whatever you said in the next moment could break him if you weren’t careful. 

“Shawn Peter Raul Mendes,” you breathed, “I promise you on all the stars in the world that you are and always will be enough. And if I have to promise you that every day for the rest of my life, I will. You are enough, Shawn, and the day you aren’t is the day tomorrow never comes.”

His eyes filled with tears again. He grabbed you and pulled you into his lap, burying his head in the crook of your neck and hugging you so tightly you could barely breathe. 

“You’re everything to me, Y/N,” he whispered. “I don’t know what I would do without you.”

You couldn’t help but smile as you carded your fingers through his tangled hair. “Probably break another mirror.”

Shawn let out a choked laugh, his breath giving you goosebumps. He squeezed you tighter and placed a soft kiss on your shoulder. “Please don’t leave,” he whispered. “I love you so much, Y/N. I’m so in love with you, I’m sorry.”

“I love you too, Shawn,” you said, trying to hide the lump you now had in your throat. “I’m so in love with you, too. I’m not leaving, I promise.”

You held on to each other like that until the wee hours of the morning where you fell asleep in a different position but still curled up just the same. And when you woke up and were met with  Shawn’s sleeping face and gentle snoring, you realized that you wanted to wake up to that every day for the rest of your life. 

As if he could hear your thoughts, Shawn subconsciously hugged you closer, his lips upturned in a soft smile. 

“You are enough, Shawn Peter Raul Mendes,” you whispered, prepared to mark today as the first day of the promise you’d make to him every day from now until forever. “I promise on all the stars in the world.”

---

Permanent Tags: @dahliaspidey​ (There were a few others here whose URLs must have changed, plus I’m redoing all of my tag lists, so if you’re interested in being added to any of my tag lists check out the link in my bio!)

Shawn/Fic Tags: @odd-lil-duck @rava13 @deamus-liv @mendesficsxbombay​

[5amisabella]

Funfair Night (Tenya x Inasa x Reader)

Genre: Fluff, Smut NSFW +18, all characters aged up

Words: 2071

You invite your friends to the funfair and only Tenya and Inasa show up.

I really just wrote this for myself, this is my dream threesome.

Also I made a drawing for the fic so I hope you guys like it! <3

MASTERLIST

The lights from the funfair were making your eyes shine. That same evening you had planned to go out with a few friends, because of the sudden invitation you already knew most of them couldn’t make it, but it was the last day that the funfair was in your town.

“Y/n over here!” Tenya approached with a light run from behind waving his hand.

“I’m glad you could make it Tenya, I hope more people come…” You said looking down at the floor just really hoping to see someone else come.

In that instant a fast burst of wind made you look up, a tall man was towering you.

“HEY Y/N!!”

“Inasa!!! You really came!” You jumped into Inasa’s arms hugging him tightly.

“You seemed pretty excited about the funfair so I finished everything I had to make time to come, I’ve never been to one.” Inasa said as he put you down on the floor.

“Me neither, this is a first.” Tenya said approaching the two of you.

As you still looked around to see if any of your friends were gonna come any time soon you were so excited: smiling and jumping around like a little kid.

“Y/n check your phone, it seems like it’s only us today.” Tenya showed you the messages from the group chat all saying how they couldn’t make it in time.

“Then It’s only us! More prizes for us.” You added as you grabbed the hands of both of the boys that came and ran inside the funfair to show them everything and have some fun.

__________

The lights of every ride made your eyes go everywhere, you didn’t know where to start so you just walked straight until you stood in front of the Pirate Ship.

“Let’s go there!” Your childish attitude and bright smile made both of them smile warmly and nod as they followed you into the ride.

The Pirate Ship was almost full because people would sit down in groups of friends, luckily the best spot was empty: on of the end of the ships, It was probably empty because the bench was smaller and most of the groups were like 5-6 people together, so it was perfect for three people, three normal sized people, you were squeezed by both of the boys broad backs but didn’t care you were there to have fun.

The ride started: you three grabbed onto the cold metal bar in front of you. Your eyes were filled with excitement as the ride slowly started to move, Inasa was about to almost jump out of the ride because of his excitement, Tenya on the other side closed his eyes tightly.

“Tenya are you okay?” Your hand grabbed his hand and his eyes flew open.

“I’m just a bit scared...” He said as his grip went tighter on the metal bar. Your hand stayed on top of his as Inasa on the other hand saw what was happening and immediately put his own hand on top of yours earning a warm smile from you as you two enjoyed the ride.

As the ship stopped Tenya’s hand was just grabbing yours and Inasa following suit to not get left behind grabbed your other hand as the three of you got up and walked out the ride.

“Are you feeling better Tenya?” You squeezed the boy’s hand to make him look at you, he smiled and nodded as he fixed his glasses. Inasa, holding your other hand, was getting jealous of the attention the blue-haired boy was getting, he squeezed your hand making you turn to face him as he shot a bright smile at you and started walking fast towards the funfair game stalls as Tenya followed behind trying to catch your hand again.

“Y/n which plushie do you like the best?”Inasa stopped in front of the prize darts stall.

“Ummm…” Your eyes looking at the arrangement of plushies all around the stall. “I like the purple bear over there!” pointing a middle sized plush sitting on the corner.

He tried way too many times and you had told him that It was ok that you didn’t need the plush at all, trying once again he just went to you and hugged you as a way to saying “sorry”, you were a really touchy person like him but today it really did seem like you went on a date with the both of them. Tenya on the other side was just looking how you two hugged and tried to get you the plushie you wanted: of course he won the on the first try making you jump at the sound of the bell from the stall indicating he had won.

He immediately gave you the reward, earning a tight hug from you as he could feel his face cheeks became red.

__________

“I’ll go to the bathroom,wait here.”

The whole evening was filled with fun and laughs, but the whole time there was a competition between the two boys to get your attention:they both were obviously attracted to you, and of course you were oblivious to the fact you were on a weird date of three.

“Sorry for making you guys wait. Oh! Let’s go to the ferris wheel!” Quickly running towards the ferris wheel.

Perfect place to talk things out. They both wanted you to choose between them, but at the same time they didn’t want to make you uncomfortable and ruin your day at the funfair.

''Look Y/n! Look! You can see your house from here!'' Inasa said with a lot of enthusiasm in his words. You loved being with these two alone, Inasa was like a kid that you could hang out and start watching some cartoons and meanwhile Tenya was more serious than him and it was really good on giving advice, they were opposites that got along and you loved that.

A loud sound made you three jump in surprise, the ferris wheel stopped just the moment your cabin was at the top.

''Well I think we're going to be stuck here for a while Y/n'' Tenya said while taking his jacket off, Inasa meanwhile was freaking out so you hugged him to calm him down. His hot breath in your neck made you moan and immediately made you cover your mouth trying to cover the noise, both of them heard you.

''Y/n that was you?'' Inasa said with a deep growl, and without waiting for an answer he started kissing your neck and Tenya started approaching you two and started taking off your shirt, earning a moan from you.

As Inasa was kissing your collarbone and teasing your nipples, Tenya placed himself between your legs and started unzipping your pants and kissing your thighs. The two of them were making you crazy while Tenya was already eating you out, Inasa was touching you all over with his cold hands making you moan, making them growl at the sexy noises you were making.

Again it was another competition as Tenya saw as all of your attention was on Inasa’s lips his tongue moved up to flick your clit making you almost scream at the feeling and grab his blue hair earning a moan from the boy.

“Who’s doing better Y/n?” Inasa said while still touching you tenderly and gropping your boobs.

How were you supposed to answer that: you were getting eaten out and being kissed everywhere by the two boys you liked, you never wanted it to end.

“I like you both…” you said, trembling under both of the boys' touch. The ferris wheel started moving again and with no words all of you fixed everything and still without saying anything you left the ferris wheel cabin almost running and them behind following you.

“Y/n we’re sorry please don’t leave!” Tenya said, trying to grab your hand but you suddenly stopped.

“We are going to my apartment.” You said as your eyes became darker and were filled with lust. Immediately Inasa picked you up and ran towards the car.

__________

Tenya was driving as fast as possible to your apartment as Inasa was in the backseat with you on his lap making out and grinding against him.

“Inasa leave some for me.” Tenya growled while parking next to your apartment quickly leaving the car, opening the backdoor, grabbing you to take you to the door so u could open it still in his arms and feeling his lips against your neck making you giggle.

The door opened wide open. “Room” you ordered and pointed to the door that led to your bedroom. Almost in a full sprint Tenya went in the room and carefully laid you down on the bed, both of them stripped entirely as they gave each other a look just to confirm you weren’t gonna choose one of them you wanted both and they were there to make it possible and fully stripped out of their clothes presenting their fully erect cocks to you as they approached you slowly in bed.

“We will take care of you Y/n” Tenya said biting your lip down and sliding his hand under your shirt to take it off.

“I also wanna taste Y/n” Inasa said, positioning himself between your legs and taking off your pants with your underwear getting a whimper from you because of the new cold feeling against your skin.

You became a moaning mess under the touch of the two boys: Tenya was licking your nipples trying to give the same love to the two of them he always had his other hand on the one he wasn’t licking, flicking it. Inasa was darting his tongue in and out of your cunt as his thumb slowly drew circles onto your clit.

“Can I go further Y/n” you looked down: Inasa was drenched with your juices and was caressing your thighs slowly, you just nodded and with a smirk he sat up to start teasing your entrance with his dick.

“Tenya let me help you with that.” You touched his erection making him shiver and kissing you depper while Inasa was kissing your neck as he slowly pushed himself into you.

The room was filled with moans and growls from the three of you the creaking of the bed filled the room because of the strong thrust from Inasa’s hips hitting you in all the right spots, Tenya’s touch also became rougher, he couldn’t handle it, the heat between the three of you made him aroused in every way and his hands grabbed your boobs harder and harder earning basically screams from the back of your throat making you clench around Inasa’s dick and release onto it.

They were both focused on making you feel the best ever so Inasa rode your climax with slower sensual thrusts grabbing your hips while he was looking at the mess he had created with one of his best friends, it was their dream to see you in such a position where you couldn’t have enough of them.

“Inasa can I go now?” Tenya approached the other boy with sad eyes and exchanged a heated kiss making you smirk.

Tenya’s thrust were steady. He knew what you liked already from watching you react to his friend thrust earlier, Inasa’s lips made their way onto your lips again trying to cover the moans from the both of you as you touched his erection to make him finish.

“Fill me up Tenya!” you said gasping at the sensation of his thrusts getting harder and harder,

Inasa moved his hand to your clit. “I want you to cum too Y/n” the mix of touch and thrust made you go wild and again made you climax, Tenya grunted at the sensation of your climax approaching and released with you at the same time, collapsing onto your body after it.

“Come here Y/n” Inasa cleaned you up and brought you onto his arms as he handed over the towel to Tenya so he could clean himself up. Your eyes fluttered shut as you felt the other boy join in the cuddle session wishing this wouldn’t be a one time thing.

[k2padfoot]

An Auror & A Healer

Draco x Y/n

Summary: Y/n is an auror who gets injured while searching for an escaped prisoner. Draco the healer has to cope with it all. ( side note- pretend Dolohov was never killed by Flitwick lol.)

Warnings: Blood, angst, fluff, husband!Draco.

Today had been dragging on, and on to say the least. You were called this morning to an emergency meeting with Harry and the rest of the aurors. A prisoner from Azkaban had escaped, and needless to say you were all asked to search for him. The escapee being Dolohov, once one of the dark lords followers and a very cunning wizard.

You were absolutely exhausted, you had been out searching for at least 9 hours now. “Y/l/n!! Snap out of it, we have to keep searching until the sun goes down, ok?” Harry yelled to you from across the mainland. Harry, yourself, and a few others had taken the mainland to search while more aurors were spread elsewhere around the prison.

You nodded back to him and snapped out of your daze. You had trailed off a bit from the rest of the aurors, you knew you weren’t supposed to go off alone so you made sure Harry was still in your sight somewhat. Kicking rocks across the sand you felt like just laying down right there and taking a nap, but that’s when you thought you heard the snap of a branch from behind. You spun around to face the wooded area behind you, when you could’ve sworn you saw a dark figure pass by. Quickly without thinking you ran into the woods.

It was dark, and cold and you weren’t exactly sure how far you had run in at this point. You knew the person had to be around here somewhere so you casted the lumos spell to light the way. You continued to walk a little bit further when your light caught glimpse of Dolohov, his dark disheveled hair, pale sweaty skin, and beady brown eyes staring back at you.. Within seconds his wand was raised and he began shooting curses your way.

“Reducto!” you yelled but he quickly jumped out of the way causing the ground next to him to blow up. His lips curved into an evil smile as he raised his wand again. “Stupefy!” he screamed, but you were faster taking off running the other way.

You were silently cursing yourself for getting in this position alone, with one of the most skillful duelers in dark magic. You kept sprinting while zigzagging your way through the wooded area, dodging branches and rocks. Every so often you’d look back and throw whatever curse you could his way, but it’s like he’d never give up no matter how many times you’d hit him.

“Stupefy!” You heard him yell and suddenly you were being thrown through the air into a large tree. You hit the ground hard, slamming your head into a rock in the process. You could feel your eyes getting heavy, and hear the crunching of leaves around you. You were waiting for Dolohov to come end you right there and then but you faintly heard what you thought could be Harry yelling. All the sudden half the aurors were around you and with that your eyes slowly fell shut.

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

Draco’s POV:

My shift had started at least 10 hours ago now, and all I wanted to do was go home to my beautiful wife y/n. My thoughts were quickly interrupted by my coworker shouting at me that another auror was being rushed to St. Mungo’s.

Everytime a call comes in about an injured auror my mind of course goes straight to her. I love that she truly enjoys what she does for a living, but merlin can it be terrifying. I knew she was out on a search today with Harry and all I could do was hope and plead to god it wasn’t going to bet her coming through those doors.

The emergency room doors came busting open and I could see healers rushing in a woman on a gurney. It was hard to make out her features at first, but that’s when I noticed the large diamond ring on her left hand.. the ring I gave her.

I didn’t know I had been standing there for a couple seconds until my coworker started yelling at me to snap out of it and help him. I quickly ran over to her unconscious body and started to assess her injuries. Her hair was a bloody mess with a large gash to the top of her head, I could see a few cuts on her legs, and what looked like a broken right arm. I looked up to see Harry and two other aurors standing beside her with worried looks.

“What the hell happened Potter?!” I yelled at him, not meaning to sound so harsh.

He gave me a sad look, “Draco.. I’m so sorry. We were searching for Dolohov and I could’ve sworn I had my eye on her! But.. all of the sudden she was gone, and then we heard fighting coming from the woods. When we ran in there she had already been hit by a curse, and she was sent flying into a tree. I think she might’ve hit her head on it, i’m not really sure.” Harry said.

“Dolohov? Oh merlin. I’ll kill him.” I said with my teeth gritted and a tear slipping from my right eye. I turned away from Harry to help the other healers take you to a trauma room but that’s when my boss stopped me.

“Healer Malfoy, you must not work on family. I know you want to, but I can’t let you. Please, just go wait for now and I will update you as soon as I can.” he said to me with sad eyes as he put a hand on my shoulder. I nodded and walked away to go change out of my scrubs.

I had been sitting in the healers lounge for what felt like hours now. I was worried sick. All I could think about is what if she doesn’t make it? How am I going to live without her? I gazed up at the clock to realize I had actually been sitting here for 4 hours now. It was getting late, and merlin am I tired. I tried to fight the sleep but I just couldn’t, my body eventually giving in.

I was quickly woken by my boss shaking my shoulders, “Draco... Draco, Oh good! Since your awake you may go see her now.” he said while looking down at me.

“Oh merlin she’s ok! Thank you, oh thank you so much! Is she awake??” I said while i jumped to my feet.

His eyes turned soft. “Malfoy listen, she suffered major head trauma from the fall. She’s going to be ok, but we aren’t sure how long she will be out for. Everyone’s body heals differently, you understand?” he said to me and I nodded while he gestured to what room she was in.

I walked in the bright room to see her unconscious laying there. Her right arm was in a sling, she had a white bandage wrapped around the top of her head, and a few fading scars lining her legs. She looked so peaceful, yet so broken. I walked a bit closer and took in her state for a couple of seconds, a few tears slipping from my eyes. I could only hope she’d wake soon.

It’s been a few days now I think.. The nurses come in ever so often to check on her, and sometimes ask if i’m ok. I’m not. I haven’t been sleeping, I really don’t remember the last time I ate, and I think I might be wearing the same clothes as yesterday.. I won’t be ok until she is.

The moon was sitting over the horizon and shining through y/n’s hospital room. It was around 10 o’clock now, and I was becoming increasingly sleepier. I’ve had trouble letting myself fall asleep, scared I might miss something. Scared she might slip away from me. Scared to close my eyes and see her lying there all mangled up again. But I couldn’t stop my eyes from closing anymore... too tired.

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

Your eyes slowly opened to bright lights and white walls. Your head was pounding and you weren’t exactly sure how you got here. The last thing you can recall is running through the woods.. Your eyes shifted to him, sitting next to your bed in a grey armchair sound asleep. You noticed his gorgeous blonde hair all messed up, the bags under his eyes, what looked like a two day old outfit, and his hand grasped tightly to your own.

You squeezed his hand a little bit, “Draco.. Hey love wake up.” you whispered.

His eyes shot open faster than you could blink, “Y/n!! Oh darling, it’s so good to hear your voice!” Draco said while grabbing your face in his hands, a sob escaping his lips.

You pulled him into your chest, “Hey... don’t cry. I’m ok, see? I’m right here.” you said while rubbing his back.

He looked up at you with glossy eyes, “I was really scared y/n. You have no idea what it felt like to see you so hurt, and then have to just wait and see if you’d come back to me..” he said whispering the last part.

You now grabbed his face and pulled him into a long, and much needed kiss. The two of your lips moving in sync with one another. Needing to catch your breath you pulled away and stared into his sky blue eyes.

“How long was I out Dray, and wh-what happened out there?” you asked while he made himself comfortable next to you.

You laid your head in the crook of his neck, and he looked down at you to speak. “About 5 days.. the longest 5 days possible. I don’t know if you remember but you were with Harry searching for Dolohov. He said you ran off after him on your own, and when they found you he had already cursed you. You hit your head, and seemed to have broken your arm in the fall..” Draco told you.

You nodded starting to remember why you were running through the woods in the first place. You looked up at Draco and asked, “Can we please go home now?” and his eyes softened looking into your own.

“Of course darling.” he replied delicately kissing your forehead.

Draco opened the doors to your large home and guided you in. Your head injury still had you a little wobbly on your feet so he made you let him carry you up the stairs.

You were a giggling mess when he sat you down on the bed. You didn’t notice you had been staring at him as he put your things away and got you out comfy pajamas.

“Yes my dear?” he asked while turning around to face you and handing you one of his t-shirt’s.

“Nothing, I just love you!” you said with a big smile on your face while slipping on the shirt.

Draco walked over to you and leant down in between your knees, “And I love you more. I don’t know how I existed these past couple of days without you. You can’t ever leave you know that right?” he said while looking up into your eyes with pure love.

You grazed your hand over his cheek and pressed your lips to his, “Of course my love.” you said as you pulled away from the kiss and smiled at him.

[blu-joons]

You Introduce Him To Your Daughter ~ Im Jaebum

“You’ve got nothing to worry about, she loves everybody Jaebum.”

His head nodded as you lead him up to your front door as your date came to an end. Just the sound of your key in the lock was enough for your daughter to jump up in the living room, racing through to have a look who was there. Once her eyes spotted you, she lit up straight away, sprinting in your direction, throwing herself into your arms.

It didn’t take long before her eyes also looked at Jaebum stood beside you. She’d heard a few things about him from you and knew that he was the one responsible for making sure that her mummy was happy and feeling loved. She smiled anxiously in his direction as you led the two of them further into the house.

It was as you walked into the living room you saw your friend sat on the couch who had been babysitting for most of the afternoon. Straight away she rose to her feet, greeting you both, letting you know all about how their day together had been.

“I’ll head off,” she smiled once she finished filling you in, pulling you into a hug. “She’s been really excited to meet him, so I hope it goes well for you all Y/N.”

As you glanced back around after waving her off, Jaebum and your daughter were already immersed in a game with her dolls, with her plastic dining set placed around in a circle. “Mummy, join us,” she smiled as you walked back into the room.

“Why don’t we give mummy the first cup of tea because she’s so special?”

“Is that so?” You grinned, taking a seat beside Jaebum. His hand instinctively wrapped around you, as your daughter looked up, smiling at how close the two of you were.

His head nodded, nudging against the side of yours. “Apparently Y/D/N is going to be cooking dinner for us tonight, so it’s a good job we didn’t eat whilst we were out.”

“It definitely is,” you chimed, taking the plastic cup and saucer that she passed across to you. “But shouldn’t our guests be the ones that eat first?” You asked her.

Her head shook, looking back across at you. “Jaebum is your boyfriend, so he’s not a guest. If he’s your boyfriend, doesn’t that end up making him a part of our family mummy?”

Your body froze at how open she was, scared to look at Jaebum in case she panicked him. But as his head nodded, ensuring that you got the first plate of food, you looked across at him mouthing a quick apology. Jaebum quickly brushed you aside, knowing just how honest children could be.

“She did nothing wrong,” he laughed as she walked off into the kitchen to continue playing her game. His grip tightened around you as he sensed how frantic you had become by your daughter’s sudden outburst. “Honestly, I’m just thankful right now that she seems to like me, and there’s no complaints from me if she decides that she wants me to be a part of your family.”

“I wouldn’t complain either,” you whispered as you rested against his chest. “It’s just these are things we’ve not really discussed between the two of us before, I don’t want her to overwhelm you or make things move at a pace that’s too quick for you.”

Jaebum silenced you with a kiss as your daughter walked back into the room, taking the two plates that she passed to you, beginning to tuck into the fake meal.

The two of them continued to get on whilst Jaebum pretended to eat her meal, and your daughter sorted out the rest of her dolls. He could only sit back and admire what a great job you’d done with her, and how close the two of you were. When he first heard you had a daughter, he had to admit, he was a little bit apprehensive, but now he’d met her, he had no idea why he ever felt that way.

“I think it’s time that we think about heading to bed soon,” you suggested as time continued to pass.

“But I want to play with Jaebum,” your daughter protested, “can’t I stay up late tonight?”

Your head shook as a pout quickly grew on her face. Jaebum leaned forwards and scooped her up into his arms instantly before she could get too upset, tickling her sides until she was back to her usual smiling self again.

“I’m sure I’ll be here more often, and I promise that we can play properly then.”

“Will you really come again?”

His head nodded, sitting her down in his lap. “I love being with your mummy, and I enjoyed my evening with you, so I’m hoping that we’ll be seeing plenty of each other from now on. As long as that’s alright with you too, can I come and visit your café again?”

Her head nodded instantly, throwing her arms around Jaebum’s strong biceps, mumbling an apology across at you for being so snappy. With ease, Jaebum stood up and lifted Y/D/N up with him, walking in the direction of the stairs. Yet again, you began to panic, not wanting him to do anything that he wouldn’t be comfortable doing.

“You don’t have to put her to bed if you don’t want to,” you whispered to him.

His head shook, already halfway up the staircase with her still in his arms, watching closely as her head settled against his chest as sleep quickly caught up with her.

“She’s no bother,” he assured you once he’d placed her down in the bathroom to do her teeth. “I need to start getting used to all of these things if I’m going to be spending more time here. You shouldn’t have to do all of these things alone.”

“Remind me again how I ever got so lucky with you?”

He sniggered quietly, helping you as you put your sleepy daughter to bed. Once she was tucked up in bed, the two of you headed back downstairs, placing all of her toys away before throwing yourselves onto the sofa to relax.

“She’s a lovely kid, you’ve done well Y/N,” he told you.

Your head shook as you met his eyes, “it’s not been easy raising her all by myself. There were definitely times when it wasn’t easy, you’ve not seen her throw one of her infamous tantrums yet.”

“I’m sure I’ll be able to handle them,” he proudly smiled, pulling you tightly into his chest. “I don’t want to replace her dad, but I want to make sure that she knows that I’m going to be here for the two of you from now on.”

“She already knows how well you look after me,” you assured him, “to be honest, as long as you continue to take part in her fake café, she’s bound to fall in love with you.”

He hummed gently against the side of your head, “I reckon that’s something that I can do. It’s so clear how inquisitive her mind is, she really must take after you. She definitely looks like you, she’s very lucky in that sense.”

“Did you just say she was lucky to look like me?” You asked him.

“Of course, just like her mummy, she’s beautiful.”

---

Masterlist

[anonymousfiction211]

Handcuffed together: 8 The party

The party

Today was the day that Steve finally woke up. When you heard the news your ran to the medbay, you had to see for yourself. Steve smiled brightly when he saw you and you engulfed him in a big hug. He grunted, still in pain and you loosened your grip.

‘Sorry’ you apologised. ‘How are you feeling?’

‘Like I have a hang-over, something I haven’t had in a very long time’ he smiled to himself. ‘I will be ok, (Y/N)’ he said. ‘Thanks for saving me’

‘Ehm.. actually, Loki did most of the work’ you admitted.

Steve frowned ‘Loki can do that?’

‘Yep, he’s teaching me currently’ you said.

Steve just laughed. ‘What’s so funny?’ you asked a bit wary.

‘To think a few weeks back we had to handcuff the two of you together, and now you are constantly with each other and he is even teaching you. It’s funny’ he said. ‘Are you sure there is nothing more to it?’

You hoped your face didn’t look as red as you think it looked. ‘Yes, just friends’ you replied a bit nervously.

‘I heard something else from Natasha’ he said.

‘What did you hear from her?’ you asked.

‘Apparently, Loki was quite cross with his brother the last mission. Hate to have missed that, I never knew Loki could be boyfriend material’ he answered.

Right before you could reply, the devil himself walked in. ‘Captain’ he nodded curtly.

‘Loki’ Steve said back as curtly as Loki.

‘How are you?’ Loki asked.

‘Great, thanks for helping me’ he said.

You saw for a quick second the surprise on Loki’s face. He wasn’t used to being thanked.

‘You’re welcome’ he replied hesitantly. Then he turned his attention to you. ‘You’re late’ he said.

‘Well, Steve was waking up. So, I think that is a good excuse’ you replied.

Before Loki could reply, Steve intervened. ‘Oh, don’t let me keep her from you. Go, (Y/N). I will see you tonight, Tony is already planning a big party’ he said while rolling his eyes. Loki looked very pleased, you rolled your eyes but followed the God to the training room.

Later that night

To say that Tony was throwing a big party, was quite the understatement. There were more people in the tower than you ever saw. The music was barely audible over the loud conversations, and alcohol was flowing freely. You had a blast, partying, and dancing with the rest of the team. Even Loki seemed to have a good time, mostly talking to people. He did scare a few of them, but that was to be expected from the God of Mischief. Halfway through the night, the party finally seemed to come to an end. Most of the team was sitting on the couch. Bruce went to bead early and Clint didn’t attend the party.  You and Tony were quite intoxicated. You noticed Loki watching you like a hawk. You actually wanted to sit on his lap, but you didn’t know if you were ready for everyone to know. Whatever you could call what you and he were doing. Even tough, most of the team knew that something was up already, thanks to Loki.

The sound of the alarm and the red warning lights had everybody on high alert in an instance.

‘J.A.R.V.I.S., what is going on?’ Tony yelled to the AI.

‘There are some unknown individuals down in the lab, sire’ the AI replied.

‘Shit, that can’t be good. Right, ehm.. everyone who can still function properly, split up. We will cover every entrance to the lab and trap them there’ Tony yelled.

Even tough Tony gave the command, he was clearly to drunk to actually put on his suit. The only people who were capable were Thor, Loki, Steve, and Natasha. Steve had ordered the rest to stay put and the four of them went downstairs to the lab. So, you were left on the couch with Tony. The alarm didn’t stop and you heard explosions. After a while, the doors of the room you were sitting in burst open. Loki was quickly advancing at you, and you immediately noticed that something was off. Before you could react he grabbed you by the throat and lifted you into the air. You panicked, you couldn’t breathe anymore and no matter how much you struggled against his grip, he was too strong for you.

It took a moment for Tony to react. He sprinted towards Loki, in an attempt to tackle him. But Loki just slapped Tony out of the way and he went flying across the room. You tried to plead but didn’t have a voice anymore. Thor finally burst through the doors and flew at Loki. You fell down on the ground hard but didn’t care. You were gasping for air and tried to stay conscious. Natasha was by your side in a second and Steve went to help Thor.

‘Are you okay?’ Natasha asked

‘Y- yeah, but what?’ you barely could make audible.

Before she could answer you saw Loki in your eyeline again. He advanced towards you. You saw Steve and Thor both on the ground grunting. Natasha stood up, putting her body between you and Loki, but he pushed her away hard. The only thing you could do, was cower in fear. Suddenly Thor’s hammer slammed into Loki’s head and he fell down. To your relief he was unconscious. It took a moment for the whole team to get up and walk towards you and Loki. Thor extended his hand and helped you to your feet. He pulled you close and you hold onto him for dear life. You couldn’t help but starting to cry.

‘It’s okay. When he wakes up he will be normal again’ Thor whispered while stroking your hair.

‘WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?’ Tony yelled to Thor.

‘We don’t exactly know. But they got to him, it wasn’t his fault’ Steve said quickly.

‘What do you mean they got to him?’ Tony wanted to know.

‘I don’t exactly know. But when we split up, Loki found the creatures first. They talked to him, there was some weird energy surrounding him. Then he stormed of to here and the creatures just disappeared’ Thor explained. You could feel his voice vibrating through his body.

‘Did you recognize them or heard anything?’ Steve asked.

Thor just shook his head. Everybody’s attention switched when Loki started to groan and grab his head. He slowly sat up right, while everybody watched him intently. He blinked a few time and scanned his surroundings. He looked a bit disoriented. Suddenly, he looked at you with horror. You looked away and tightened your grip on Thor, to your relief he did the same.

‘I think you have some explaining to do’ Natasha said.

‘You’re not going to attack again?’ Tony asked.

‘No’ Loki replied, you could tell he was struggling. ‘I- I’m so sorry. I don’t know where to start’ he said. ‘I need to leave’

He quickly got to his feet, but swayed a little. Getting hit in the head with Mjölnir had his effect on him. Thor grabbed your arms and guided you towards Steve. You put your arms around him and Steve let you. Thor walked towards Loki. ‘You’re not leaving, sit down’ he sat strictly. He pushed Loki backwards and he fell onto the couch.

‘I need to leave’ Loki said desperately. He got up right, but Thor pushed him back down. You could tell he was exhausted and didn’t have much strength at the moment.

‘Tell us what happened if you need to leave afterwards you can’ Natasha said.

‘That’s a lie’ Loki replied.

It was silent for a long time. Everybody was looking at Loki, wating for him to speak. Loki was visibly struggling to find the words, that was rare. ‘Alright. It’s quite a long story’ he said.

‘We have all the time we need’ Tony replied.

‘You actually don’t, but anyway.. there is someone out there who is collecting all the infinity stones. And his minions were looking for the sceptre’ he said.

When he didn’t continue Thor asked ‘Who?’

‘He is named Thanos’ Loki replied.

‘What happened down there between you and them?’ Natasha asked.

Loki gritted his teeth. ‘They.. they put me in a trance’ he said.

‘Why did you attack, (Y/N)?’ she went on.

‘It’s complicated’ he replied.

‘Try me’ she quipped back.

Loki looked away, ashamed. ‘My first intention wasn’t to come here and play the hero’ he said.

‘I KNEW IT!’ Tony exclaimed! ‘I knew we shouldn’t trust you’

‘Shut up, Stark’ Thor boomed. ‘Loki?’ he asked.

‘Look, I convinced Odin to let me come here to ‘redeem’ myself for my actions. I was planning on escaping and starting over elsewhere… but Thanos contacted me and gave me another chance. So, I was stuck here’ he explained.

‘Another chance? At what?’ Natasha asked.

‘Collecting the mindstone, after that the Tesseract from Asgard’ he said.

‘I’m not buying it. How could they manipulate you so easily?’ Tony asked sceptically.

‘Once you’ve been under mindcontrol for a while, it’s easier to control the same person again’ Loki said.

‘When were YOU under mindcontrol?’ Tony snorted.

‘New York’ Loki said, still gritting his teeth.

‘Bullshit, we won’ Tony said.

‘I intentionally lost, there is a difference’ Loki said angrily.

‘Alright, why do you need to leave then?’ Natasha asked. ‘And don’t you dare lie to us’ she added.

‘To speak the truth, my first intention was to grab the stones and kill you in the process. Thor would grief too much to notice the attack on Asgard and after that I would be free’ he said, still not being able to look at the team. After a pause he continued. ‘But.. I didn’t expect.. I mean, I hadn’t planned on. You know, not wanting to kill you all.. so, I thought my best chance was to help you and if Thanos came defeat him’ he said.

‘We will circle back to the killing us part, but the latter sounds like reasonable? What changed?’ Natasha inquired further.

‘I’m okay with Thanos killing me. But today they told me they wouldn’t. They would use me to kill her and then keep me alive until I die naturally, should I fail’ he said while fumbling his hands.

You just stared in shock at Loki, but he wouldn’t meet anyone’s gaze. ‘So, I need to leave’ he said then. Everyone stayed silent.

‘No’ you whispered, breaking the silence. You felt everyone’s eyes on you but couldn’t care less. The only eyes you stared into were Loki’s. A mix of horror, pain, hurt, hope and love danced over his face. He was trying hard to hold back tears, it shocked you to see the always so dominant and in control man reduced to this. You slowly walked towards him and to your surprise he backed away on the couch.

‘Don’t’ he whispered, his voice croaking a little.

You ignored him. You sat beside him on the couch and put your arms around him. He didn’t react for a minute. But then he put his arms around you, pulled you close and hang onto you for dear life.

The moment was ruined when Steve started to speak ‘All right, ehm. This is a lot. And still a bit vague. Maybe, we should go to bed and Loki, tomorrow you tell us everything. Every detail, only the truth. After that we will come up with a plan’

Loki let go of you and looked at Steve ‘The truth is, it would be easier for me to leave. That would fix all your problems’ he said.

‘You’re part of the team, and we look out for each other. So, the answer is no. And if you even think about leaving I will personally track you down and put you behind bars again, just to keep you here’ Natasha replied.

Loki cocked an eyebrow, surprised by this reaction. Most of the team just nodded, Tony however looked at the ground. ‘When you decided not to kill us anymore, your highness’ Natasha answered his silent question when he kept looking at her. Adding a bit of humour to lighten the mood.

Tags: @delightfulheartdream​ @the-best-phineas​ @theaudacitytowrite​ @l0nelyasian​ @ragweed98​

[itsrayyyyyyyyyy]

Depths of Devotion (Yandere!Hellhound x GN!Reader)

TW: Stalking?? Kinda?, Kidnapping Wordcount: 2k

You had never seen something so beautiful in your life. You breathed in the crisp and clean air of the forest while your lips curled in a small smile.

You had decided it would be a good idea to escape home for a while and enter the spectacular landscape of Southern Germany. You exited the cab and paid the man for the fair before looking forward into the dark woods of the Black Forest. With high hopes, you walked forward in the direction of your cabin.

---

You hummed a light tune as you admired the towering trees and the wildflowers surrounding you. A small hum left your throat as you bent down, and picked up a flower, and the closer you inspected it, it turned out to be a tiny violet. You fiddled with the petals for a moment, before tucking the violet behind your ears.

The journey towards the campsite wasn't too long, but it took you longer since you stopped numerous times to admire the beauty that surrounded you. A huff escaped your lips as you approached the cabin, sitting on a log and digging in your bag for your keys. The silver of the keys gleamed in the sunlight, before being used to open the cabin door.

The first thing you noticed was that it was cold and damp. The cabin looked as though it hadn't been used in years. You groaned as you set your bag down at the door, and placing your hands on your hips. 'No wonder this place was so cheap; it's a dump!' Your eye twitched slightly in annoyance, but you still shrugged off your windbreaker and placing on the bed. The cabin was relatively small; just enough space for about two people. The wooden planks beneath you creaked with every step; along with the furniture. The furniture had a light layer of dust and when you swiped your hand against the table, the dust particles roaming the still air of the cabin. You let out a few coughs while swiping at the air, trying to clear your lungs of the irritation from the dust. An old broom sat still against the single kitchen cabinet, which was even dustier than the rest of the cabin. You reached out and held the broom in your hand, and slowly rubbed your thumb against the handle, which felt smooth and cold against your skin. You began to sweep the furniture with newfound vigor, hoping to make your home for the week easier to live.  

With the furniture and floor cleaned, you set the broom back in its original spot and sat down on the small bed, which let out a groan under the weight of you and your bag. A sigh left your lips as you heard the calling of birds outside one of the open windows, warmth from the light of the sun pooling into the cabin. The cool air and somewhat comfortable bed brought you comfort and helped relaxed your aching bones. You reached down and untied your heavy hiking boots, before dropping them on the floor with a loud 'thump'. The bed squeaked as you laid back against the red comforter and with a yawn, you closed your weary eyes and fell into a dreamless sleep.

---

As soon as you groggily opened your eyes, you were surprised to find yourself in an entirely new place. You were sitting on the ground and were surrounded by complete darkness, except the small flurries of red and orange embers flying around you, and a light orange glow far up ahead. "Where am I?" You whispered as you stood and wiped the dirt and ashes from your hiking outfit. You slowly began to walk towards the light ahead, then a feeling of sudden uneasiness washes over you. "Hello? Is someone else here?" You yelled into the endless void, but it was no use. The sneaky feeling of someone watching you never left as you walked closer to the light.

The smell of ashes burned the inside of your nostrils and entered your lungs, causing a series of coughs to leave your throat as you walked onward, the feeling of someone watching you never truly left you. A feeling of immense fear invaded your senses when you heard the barking of what you hoped was a dog and its footsteps coming closer. You began to walk faster towards the light, only for the steps to walk faster towards you, causing you to go in a panic. You broke out into a sprint towards the warm orange light ahead, with the thundering steps getting closer to you. A heavy feeling began to weigh you down as you had pushed forward as fast as you could to be rid yourself of the thing behind you.

You looked back as you ran, only to let out a scream at what you saw. You saw what seemed to be a wolf-like creature lung forward, its jaw snapping and its red eyes staring into your soul. But just before it reached you, Your eyes opened.

---

You sat up quickly with ragged breaths and clutching your shirt in fear. You looked around with tears blurring your vision, only to see the cabin dark with the only light was the silver moon shining through the window. Images of the creature raced through your mind and you tried to calm your breathing. "Never in my life have I ever had a nightmare that realistic..." Your voice softly spoke as you rose from the bed and turned on the lights. Your hands reached out for your bag and pulled out a can of soup, before pulling out a pot from the kitchen cabinet and heating the stovetop.

After you ate your dinner and cleaned up after yourself, you quickly changed into your nightwear and got ready for bed, or rather to relax. You knew you wouldn't be able to sleep for a while after that hellish nightmare so you settled on reading a book while waiting for the need to sleep to take over your sore body. You closed the book and let out a stifled yawn while stretching your arms. You placed the book carefully on the nightstand before turning off the lights and climbing into the bed, and enjoying the silence.

But that silence didn't last long.

---

Unbeknownst to your sleeping form, the moon shifted until it was shining on your sleeping face, giving the figure outside a perfect few of you swaddled in the warm blankets; a peaceful look on your face. The figure moved from the window and crept towards the door before it opens on its own with its hinges squeaking. Heavy but quiet footsteps approached you as you slept until the figure hovered over you. You stirred in your sleep, the smell of ash filling your nose as you let out a small moan of discomfort at the feeling of something touching your cheek. Your eyes opened slowly, only to register the large and imposing figure looming over you. It took you a second to realize what was going on, before letting out a screech and scrambled off the other side of the bed. Your body hit the floor with a thump before scrambling on your feet and making a break for the open door. You pushed through the door frame and ran further into the woods, a feeling of dread overwhelming your senses as you heard heavy and thundering footsteps following close behind you.

Your lungs burned as you pushed forward away from the cabin and deeper into the dark woods with pure fear coursing through your veins. You had never been more scared in your entire life. The dream from before was scary sure but this wasn't a dream; it was happening, and you needed to get away as fast as possible. You looked back into the winding darkness of the forest and heard a howl causing you to let a squeal; not noticing the steep hill ahead of you, causing you to fall with a gasp. You were no longer focused on the figure following you but on the searing pain all around your body as you rolled further down, before reaching the bottom of the hill and hitting your head on a rock. You lay against the rock with your vision spinning and your ears ringing. Something trickled down the side of your face, but you paid no mind to it. But just before you fell into unconsciousness, the figure stood in front of you, leaning in closer to you before your vision went black.

---

Your head was pounding wildly as you woke. You sat up slowly, rubbing your head only to touch something wet. You retracted your hand only to see a bit of blood on your fingertips. "Shit what happened..." You exclaimed only to wince in pain, your brain seemingly pounding against your skull harder than before. You took in your surroundings only to realize you weren't in the cabin, but a cave of some sort. The cave walls and roof towered over you, and the sound of water dripping from the roof brought you to your senses. The figure, the hill. You desperately looked around only to find no entry to the cave, only darkness aside from the moon shining through a hole in the roof. You looked up at the moon with a sour expression. "Why must you tempt me so, the moon?" You whispered as you turned your head at the sound of footsteps nearing. You began to panic, but knew you couldn't get up, your body was worn from hours of hiking, running, and rolling down a steep hill.

You curled into yourself as the footsteps drew nearer, a strained whimper left your lips as you shook in fear. The figure stopped right in front of the light of the moon, before stepping into the light. Your eyes widened at the sight. A large, muscular man stood before you. He was incredibly handsome; He had tan skin and short hair black as ebony; his face structure was sharp and square, with many scars littering his face and body. But the most captivating about him were his blood-red eyes hooded by his long, dark lashes. He looked down at your balled-up form and knelt in front of you. "Are you feeling any better, meine Geliebte?" The man spoke gently. His voice was incredibly deep and saccharine, like honey. You gave the man a confused look before backing away at his large, scarred hand that reached for you. His calloused hand took your right cheek in his hand before wiping away the hot tears that rolled down your face. You hadn't even realized you were crying, just like how you didn't realize how much you were trembling before this broad man. "Who are you? Where am I?" Your voice trembled as he retracted his hand and gave you a sharp-toothed smile. "My name is Brenner, meine Geliebte. And I have taken you to our home." Your eyebrows raised in confusion at his words. "Our home?" You said with curiosity laced in your voice. "Yes, our home. Now, come here." His voice rumbled before reaching over resting one hand on your upper back while the other reached under your legs to lift you. "NO!" You screamed as you struggled in his arms, trying desperately to escape this large man's grasp.

Brenner was unaffected by your attempts to escape and continued to walk further into the cave, away from the silver moon's light. "WHY HAVE YOU TAKEN ME YOU-YOU BRUTE?" You screeched beating at his broad chest as he continued walking. "meine Geliebte, don't you remember me? You were walking towards the fire, and I was behind you! I saw you and I knew you were the mate I was destined to have, so I took you far from the horrors of this world." You stopped struggling as your blood ran cold. "The dog? No, that couldn't be...But how did he know about your dream?" You thought to yourself as you stared at Brenner. "That couldn't be...It was only a dream." You spoke fearfully as he looked down at you with a big smile. "Wait. His teeth..." Your eyes widened in fear at his teeth. They were sharp like a dog; or rather a wolfs.

An ear-piercing scream left your mouth as you struggled again in his hold, tears streaming down your face. "Don't worry, meine Geliebte! I will take good care of you!"

"I love you, meine Geliebte!"

[yeenybeanies]

Giant Cowboy Murder Mystery

forgive me it’s been almost two weeks since i posted the preview sdfjdfj but the full version Was released to the public on my patreon on time so you can’t be Too mad at me patreon will receive new chapters first!

3,790 words

mild mentions of nudity and injury

thanks for reading!

patreon | ko-fi

Cool, crisp air rustled the leaves of the tall conifer trees, and crickets sang their choruses, filling the calm evening with a natural symphony. A crackling campfire lent its rhythm, rounding out the song. It sounded peaceful. Serene. 

It smelled a lot different. A putrid stench permeated the air, filling the forest. 

A young woman ran. Ignoring her bare skin, her shrieking muscles, her burning lungs, she ran. She ducked and weaved her way through the trees, following the only thing she could really discern in the darkness: that campfire light. Its orange glow was a beacon of hope, of safety. Jaw clenched, the woman pushed her battered body further. She paid no mind to the branches and thorns that scraped her as she passed, to the stones that stabbed her feet. Her body was numb, filled with adrenaline and the need to escape.

As it came more into view, the woman realized with rising concern that the campfire was much bigger than she’d initially assumed. With some distance still to go, it looked more like a bonfire than a campfire, or maybe a forest fire. Her pace slowed some. 

No, it was too stationary, too contained to be a forest fire. Reassured, she continued her sprint. 

As she approached the treeline, the girl called breathlessly for help. She held her arms in front of her face and crashed through the underbrush, into the clearing. Her whole body shook. She doubled over, hands to her knees for support, and tried to speak, but she could only manage shaky sobs between her gasps for air. 

Instead of voices rising to meet her, the woman only heard wind and crickets and crackling. 

No, that wasn’t true. She heard another noise, like crunching and tearing. She looked towards the source of the noise, and toppled over from fright. Several yards to her right stood a massive, four-legged beast resembling a horse or a mule. It had to have been at least forty, fifty feet tall! Its head hung low at the end of a long neck, mouth to the ground to graze at the grasses. Each chomp it took left a bare patch of dirt big enough for her to curl up in. The beast paid her no mind, save for one long ear pointed in her direction, but she felt like she could no longer breathe. 

She didn’t know for how long she stared at the giant horse-thing. It felt like hours. Her lungs protested the lack of air, but she couldn’t bring herself to breathe, to move––not until something else grabbed her attention. A heavy, rhythmic thudding, something she felt more than she heard, yanked the woman’s gaze away from the beast. Eyes wide as saucers stared into the darkness between the trees across the fire. The sound grew louder, shaking the ground. From the darkness, she could make out a tall figure. It looked almost human in shape, save for the fact that it, much like the horse, was at least forty feet tall, and proportionally filled in. The figure pushed past the trees and stepped into the clearing, taking on orange tones from the fire’s light. It––he––was a man. A giant man. 

A giant man and his giant horse. 

It was too much. Like a switch had been flipped, the woman found her breath and her voice. She screamed. The shrill noise startled both the horse and the man, the former joining in with an alarmed grunt of its own. The man looked down sharply, his eyes landing on her. The lower half of his face was covered with a scarf, and he wore what looked like an appropriately-sized cowboy hat. As a matter of fact, his whole outfit gave her the impression that he was some sort of giant rancher or cowpoke, from his hat to his spurr-toting boots. 

For a long moment, the two stared at each other, neither moving nor making any noise over the night symphony. The woman felt herself start to shake, though not from the cold. The fire provided ample warmth to keep the chill away, even in her naked state. No, she was shaking, quaking, out of pure terror. With him staring her down, she felt even smaller, even more exposed. 

Wordlessly, the giant man took a step forward. His boot hit the ground with a heavy thud, sending a jolt through the woman’s body. Flight mode activated, she scrambled to her feet and rushed back into the forest, back the way she came. 

The giant hesitated when the human bolted. Of all the things he expected to see tonight, a naked human woman was not one of them. His mind swirled with questions: what was she doing here? How did she get here? Why was she naked? What had caused all of those cuts and bruises on her? 

Whatever the answers, clearly she was distressed and in need of help. 

He breathed a sigh and continued forward, keeping his pace slow and eyes sharp. She’d probably never seen a giant before, or so he assumed, hence her reaction towards him. He pondered over the idea of calling out to her, but he decided that his voice might scare her more. 

Humans: anxious little creatures. 

Carefully, he followed after her, making sure to mind where he stepped.

The woman ran as fast as her exhausted legs would carry her. Everything hurt, but she couldn’t stop––not with that giant on her tail. She could hear his footsteps crashing behind her, threatening to stomp on her. Were it not for the tight-knit trees, she was sure he would have caught up to her already. 

Which way was she going? She didn’t know. It was too dark to see much beyond the ground and the trees right in front of her. All she needed was to get away, maybe find somewhere to hide and wait for the giant to pass her. 

Then what? 

Would she have to spend the night in these woods? Alone? Naked? There was a giant man and a giant horse-mule thing; were there other giant animals? Where the hell was she? 

Her racing thoughts came to an abrupt halt when her foot caught on a root. The woman cried out in pain and fell bodily to the forest floor. She bit her lip and brought her knee up to her chest, hands cradling her now injured foot. Already it was starting to warm and swell. She didn’t have time to dwell on it, though; those thundering footsteps still followed behind her, getting closer and closer. The woman clenched her jaw and pushed herself up to her knees. She figured she wasn’t going to be able to run much further, so the next best option was to hide. That was a part of her skeleton of a plan. Getting hurt was just a bumpy start. Forcing herself to stay quiet, despite the throbbing pain in her foot, the woman crawled her way around the large, protruding roots of one of the trees. She found a hollow to sequester herself into and curled herself into a ball, hands over her head. 

The giant’s footsteps grew louder until they were practically on top of her. The woman squeezed her eyes shut and sent a silent prayer to anyone that would listen. 

Above and oblivious to her, the giant man scanned the dark floor as best he could in the moonlight. He should have brought a lantern with him, but he hadn’t thought to do so in the moment. It was such a bizarre situation. 

What was he going to do with her if he found her? Cover her up, surely. That would be step one. But after that . . .? He figured he could take her back to the cabin, but then she’d be surrounded by even more giants. If she reacted so poorly to just one, six more would surely send her into shock, or worse. 

The giant sighed heavily and shook his head. 

* * *

“Look who it is! Mr. Elijah Love! Where the fuck were you?” 

The jovial voice made the giant’s nose crinkle. Slowly, Eli lifted his head, tired eyes meeting the owner of said voice. Though the other giant wore a blue scarf over the lower half of his face, like everyone else on the farm, he knew he was grinning. He could hear it. 

“Shit, you look like you were up all night. Did you get more bags under your eyes?” 

“Not now, Smart.” He answered with a hint of warning in his tone, a signal that he was not in any mood for his fellow giant’s teasing. Unfortunately, Smart rarely minded any signals or warnings. Eli rolled his eyes and dismounted his horse. 

“If not now, then when?” Smart continued. His voice was already grating; the grin did not make it any better. 

Eli shook his head and ignored Smart. Reins in hand, he led his horse towards the barn. Once he saw to her needs, he could retire to his quarters. The prospect of much-needed rest sounded great in his mind, but he wasn’t sure he’d be able to get anything meaningful. The human still raced through his mind. He lamented that he hadn’t been able to find her; she’d clearly been in distress. Over what, he had no idea. What could possibly land a human naked in the middle of a forest? Surely it couldn’t have been good. The poor girl had been hysterical. She’d called for help. 

And she hadn’t expected a giant to answer her call. 

Eli mulled over last night’s events as he entered the barn. With muscle memory guiding him, he started to remove his horse’s tack. 

“Miss Blueberry Pie!” Called another voice. Eli sucked in a surprised breath, mind snapping back into the present. A young giant approached from the other end of the barn. His boots were covered in muck and soiled bedding. His face scarf nearly matched his bright red air in color. He stopped before the horse with treats in one hand. “I was beginning to wonder if you’d––oh! H-hello, Mr. Love.” As if just noticing Eli, the young giant stiffened, cheeks going red. 

“Gaffin,” Eli greeted. He took no offense to the oversight; it was well-known on the farm that Gaffin liked the animals more than his fellow giants. He’d probably sleep in the stables with the horses if he was allowed to. “We got in late. Is Pie’s stall still clean?” 

“Yes sir! Cleaned it out and gave it fresh bedding this morning. No one’s been in there since.” Once the horse had finished her treats, Gaffin started to rub her ears, much to her delight. She lowered her head and closed her eyes, a low rumble in her chest. 

Eli nodded. He hauled the saddle from Pie’s back and carried it over to a rack. “Would you take her from here?” 

“Sure thing! It’d be my pleasure, Mr. Love.” His eyes lit up with excitement. Normally, Eli would have been reluctant to hand Pie to someone else, since she was both his responsibility and his beloved steed, but Gaffin would often insist on overseeing care of all of the horses, and he did a damn good job attending to them. Pie was in good hands. Eli gave Gaffin another nod and exited the barn. 

* * * 

“Love.” 

The sharp voice unceremoniously yanked the giant from his snooze, making him flinch. He blinked his eyes to clear the sleep and looked up towards it. Standing over him was another giant, their dark eyes staring down at him from between their wide-brimmed hat and their yellow face scarf. They gave him an expectant look, one brow raised and arms crossed over their chest. 

Eli groaned softly in a stretch and pushed himself up to sit. “Slayne. What is it?”

“You sure you’re good for a night patrol? Smart said you looked exhausted,” they said. Their expectant look shifted into something more concerned.  

“Smart says a lot of shit,” Eli said tersely. “I’m fine.”

“Are you? It’s almost sundown and you’re still here.” They tilt their head towards the window, to the reddening sky beyond.

Eli cursed under his breath and lept up to his feet. Had he been asleep that long? He certainly didn’t feel very rested. His thoughts and dreams had been plagued with that woman, still lost somewhere in the forest…

“I’m fine,” he repeated. The giant pulled his scarf up over his nose and grabbed his hat from his bed post, then his gun belt. He pulled his boots on and brushed past Slayne, heading for the door. 

“Elijah,” they said, using that same sharp tone. It made him pause and glance over his shoulder. “You’re not fine. But we’ll talk about it tomorrow.” 

Ugh. He wasn’t looking forward to that. How was he supposed to explain to her what kind of a night he’d had? He hardly understood it himself. Nevertheless, he offered a shrug and pushed through the door. 

As expected, Blueberry Pie was out in the pasture, happily grazing away. Eli called her over with a loud whistle and led her to the barn to get saddled up, then, after getting a few more treats from Gaffin, headed off towards the farm’s perimeter. 

* * *

Eli was no stranger to the night shift. Most of the time, he prefered it. Save for the occasional pest trying to get at the livestock, nights out in the pasture were quiet. None of the other giants could pester him out here. It was peaceful. 

Usually. 

Tonight was an exception. Tonight, Eli couldn’t seem to relax. He was antsy, on edge. His horse felt it too. Blueberry Pie was normally a very placid horse, but tonight, her ears swiveled to and fro at every noise, and frequently flicked back towards him. He could feel her tension just as much as she could feel his. 

And the night was dragging on. 

Eli rubbed at his brow and stifled another yawn––his third in the past half hour. His body felt tired, and his mind even moreso. The moons in the sky told him that it was only around midnight; he still had several hours to go before the suns came up, and plenty of perimeter to cover in that time. Eli gave Pie a firm pat on the neck and nudged her ribs, encouraging her to trot on. 

They were near the clearing where the woman had appeared last night. A foul smell hit his senses, making the giant grimace. He’d noticed it the night before, too. It smelled rotten, like a dead animal. He’d made a mental note to investigate it, but the woman had pulled his attention away from it. 

The campfire he’d used last night came into view through the trees. It was a common stopping point for Eli on these night patrols. He’d often rest here for a little bit before continuing on his way. Tonight, though, he didn’t feel too interested in stopping to rest. Despite the heaviness he felt, his anxiousness kept him moving. Eli eased Pie to a stop and dismounted.

Almost as soon as his boots hit the dust, a shrill scream pierced the air. Both giant and horse startled, the latter whinnying in her own alarm. Eli felt his blood chill. That was the same scream from last night––the woman’s scream. 

Eli ran. He dashed into the forest, running towards where he thought the scream had come from. Another cry made him pause and readjust his route. With each stride, her distressed cries grew louder––as well as a rough scraping sound. Just beyond a wall of trees was a massive, dead oak. Scrabbling at its trunk was a huge, bear-like beast that stood nearly twenty feet in height. Its claws dug into the bark, clawing and reaching for something higher up. What it was, Eli didn’t yet see, but he could hear the woman still screaming nearby. He pulled one of his pistols and shouldered his way through the trees. The bear rounded on him, snarling. It was not something he wanted to fight; what it lacked in height––compared to him––it made up for in bulk.  The giant fired a warning shot into the air and yelled, cracking the beast’s aggressive facade. It too, apparently, didn’t care to have this fight. Whatever meal it sought up in the trees wasn’t worth it. It turned tail and ran off, vanishing into the forest. 

Once he was sure it was gone, Eli holstered his weapon. He kicked himself mentally for not shooting the damn thing. It was his and the other ranchers’ job to make sure that titanofauna didn’t come too near the property and the surrounding area. He’d have to hunt the bear down later. 

Right now, he had another priority. A few feet above the gouges in the bark, a shape trembled in the moonlight. It was the woman. She shook like a leaf in a windstorm, and her breaths came in uneven gasps. 

She was terrified. Not just of the bear, but of Eli. 

Slowly, the giant knelt down before the tree. He studied her for a long moment. She was still naked, the poor soul, and she’d acquired many new cuts and bruises. Her legs and arms in particular were a ragged mess. Eli pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and offered it to her, but the woman shrank away as best she could. 

“Here,” he said, trying to keep his voice low. He gave the handkerchief a little shake. “Cover yourself.” 

The woman stared at him, eyes wide as the moons themselves. Save for her shaking, she didn’t move. Eli frowned. He lifted the handkerchief and dropped it over her, making her cry out in alarm. It was comically large compared to her, like a bed sheet. She struggled under the fabric for a minute, limbs flailing, until she managed to get her head out. Her hair stuck out at odd angles, making her look feral––or more feral than she already looked. 

“You should drink something too,” Eli said. He pulled his canteen from his belt and removed the cap, then held it to the woman so that water pooled at the lip. Again, she shrank away. Eli sighed. “I don’t wanna dump this on you too. I suggest you just drink.” 

Much to his surprise, the woman complied. She dipped her hands into the pooling water and pulled a handful to herself. Her first drink was tentative, but her next two were more eager. Eli figured it had been a while since she’d last had water, and he could guess food as well. She took two more handfuls of water before she backed off again. Some of the water had dripped down her chin and neck, washing away some of the dirt. 

“Alright.” Eli capped and stowed the canteen. “Don’t suppose you want to tell me what’s going on?” 

The woman stared at him. She looked marginally calmer, but fear and distrust still painted her demeanor. 

“Got a name?” 

Silence. 

Under his mask, Eli pressed his lips together. He didn’t blame her for being afraid of him, but it made it a lot more difficult to help her. 

“Okay,” he said with another sigh. “Come on out of the tree. I’ll get you somewhere safe.” He raised his hand, palm up, to her level. She yelped and tried to retreat further, but the giant handkerchief got tangled under her and threw her balance. The woman fell from her branch, dropping nearly five feet, directly into Eli’s palms. Her sudden weight startled the giant. She wasn’t heavy, but having her in his hands reminded him of the fact that, in his forty years, he had never actually held a human before. 

The woman lied in his hold for a few stunned moments, then bolted upright with realization. She glanced at the fingers and flesh around her, then up to the masked giant’s face, and screamed. He flinched, eyes closing and brows furrowed. For such a small body, this human had a set of lungs in her. He felt her lurch, which made him curl his hands around her. That, in turn, made her struggle more.

“Miss––I’m trying to help–––” Abruptly, her scream faded, fizzled out like the cries of a dying elk. Eli opened one eye, and then the other, to see her body limp in his hold. A pang of alarm struck him. “Miss? Hey–––” He opened his hands to see her better. He hadn’t squeezed her at all––or so he thought. Gingerly he prodded her side with a thumb. When she didn’t react, he gathered her in one hand, and gently rested two fingers to her chest. He dared not even breathe, not until he could feel the faint, fluttering beat under the cloth and flesh. Her heart was still ticking. She was still breathing. She was just unconscious, likely having fainted from shock. Eli released his breath and let his shoulders relax a little with relief. 

Though she didn’t seem too keen on going with him, Eli couldn’t just leave her here. That wasn’t an option. Carefully he wrapped the handkerchief around her so that it was a bit more secure, and so that it might keep her restrained, should she wake up violently. He brought her nearer to his chest and stood up. 

The breeze picked up, carrying with it another wave of the vile smell. Eli grimaced and fought off the urge to gag. He really needed to find out what the hell was causing that stink. It was probably what attracted the bear.  

But that would have to wait another day. Tonight, he needed to focus on getting this mysterious woman to safety. 

Keeping her cradled to his chest, Eli returned to where he’d left his horse. Blueberry Pie lifted her head, her ears angled towards him as he emerged from the treeline, and grunted in greeting. He returned the greeting with a pat to her forehead and a soft hello. She leaned in towards the bundled handkerchief, nostrils flared, and gave the woman a curious sniff.

“Easy, Pie,” he chided gently. “She’s not a treat. We ought to get her back to the farm.” He patted the horse’s neck affectionately, then rounded to her side and pulled himself up into the saddle. Having only one free hand made it a little bit more difficult, but, once he was settled, he took the reins and gave Pie a nudge to start walking. 

There was still some perimeter left to patrol, but he had a feeling the woman wouldn’t be waking up for a while yet. He’d keep her safe with him until they reached the farm, and then he’d figure out what to do with her. 

[zintranslations]

Kaleidoscope of Death, Ch. 68

Kaleidoscope of Death by Xi Zixu Link to Chinese / Link to ongoing Taida Translations

Chapter 68: The Butterfly’s Death

Going to the dean's office now was actually quite risky. But sometimes, without taking any risks, it was hard to earn the hints.

Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu meandered up the staircases, quickly coming to the floor where the dean's office was located.

It was nearing 12AM. The entire sanitarium was steeped in darkness, with only the room on the top floor emanating a spot of light, grabbing all attention.

The sounds of the nurse jumping had continued in sporadic thumps of a great weight hitting the ground. It was really quite haunting.

Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu didn't go straight for the dean's office. Instead, they found a hidden spot first to observe.

The lock on the dean's office had been broken off, so anyone who wanted to could get in. Watching the window, Lin Qiushi could vaguely see a silhouette moving inside the office.

"It's a person, right?" Lin Qiushi spoke quietly to Ruan Nanzhu.

"Probably," Ruan Nanzhu responded.

If it wasn't a person, it likely wouldn't have a shadow.

Since it was a person, what were they doing so late in the dean's office? Lin Qiushi was just thinking this when he saw the office door push open.

A person he'd never anticipated came out from within. It was the girl they'd met once during the day, Hu Die. Her expression was cool, and her skin, under the white lights, appeared even more devastatingly pale. In her arms was a parcel, with something seemingly placed inside…

Before Lin Qiushi could respond, Ruan Nanzhu, who'd been behind him up until this point, took a sudden step forward, calling out: "Hu Die."

Hu Die's steps halted. When she heard the call for her, Lin Qiushi could clearly see her expression turn to horror.

"What did you bring out?" Ruan Nanzhu asked softly.

Peering once at them, Hu Die immediately turned and ran. Fortunately, Ruan Nanzhu was prepared, striding forward the few steps to stop Hu Die on the run, taking her by an arm with a firm grip.

Lin Qiushi followed quickly, watching as Ruan Nanzhu smiled coolly in Hu Die's face.

"Why are you running?"

Hu Die didn't respond, staring at Ruan Nanzhu with fear and resentment as she said, "it's none of your business. What I'm doing has nothing to do with you—"

Ruan Nanzhu completely ignored her and made a grab for her bag.

Hu Die held on with her life, but in the end, she was a woman—her strength couldn't be compared to a man's. The package in her arms ended up in Ruan Nanzhu's possession.

When Ruan Nanzhu opened the bag and saw what was inside, his brows furrowed, expression going sour.

Lin Qiushi got close as well—and saw that the bag was, in fact, a piece of cloth wrapped around the baby's corpse. It had obviously been fetched fresh from the dean's office. He glanced at Hu Die, and found her shaking all over.

"Let me go—" Hu Die said. "Let me go, she's coming back, and when she sees the child missing, we're all dead!!"

Ruan Nanzhu watched Hu Die, tone icy: "She? You're talking about the nurse? So why did you steal her baby?"

Hu Die replied, "I wasn't stealing, I just thought this thing was important! Maybe the key is inside… So I was just taking it back to have a look." Or so she claimed

It was obvious that Hu Die wanted them to trust her, but her excuse simply had too many holes. Even Lin Qiushi had a hard time believing it.

"This thing can only be taken out at night…" Hu Die was getting more and more frantic, like she was scared of something. "If it's moved during the day, it cries!"

Ruan Nanzhu quirked a brow. "Alright, we'll go back first."

Hu Die reacted like she’d gotten a pardon from death itself.

But Ruan Nanzhu wasn't planning on letting her go. He kept Hu Die in his grip, and let Lin Qiushi take the bag beside him.

The three began creeping downstairs.

Just before they got to the stairs, Lin Qiushi heard another noise, one that made all his hair stand up on end—high heels striking against floorboards. That building-jumping nurse had returned!

The situation was dire enough that Lin Qiushi couldn't care about exposing his identity, and so spoke lowly to Ruan Nanzhu: "She's coming!"

When she heard a man's voice, Hu Die looked on in shock, so surprised that her mouth gaped open: "You're— You're a man??"

Ruan Nanzhu ignored her, speaking only to Lin Qiushi: "From where?"

Lin Qiushi closely scrutinized the sound. "From the fourth floor." He glanced up, and pointed at a flight of stairs that led to the roof. "I think it's coming from there!"

"Come on, we'll head back from here," Ruan Nanzhu said.

Hu Die's expression seemed lost, like the fact that Lin Qiushi was a man had left a great impact on her. Lin Qiushi thought this was quite strange. He didn't know Hu Die, after all; even if he were a man, why should Hu Die look so disoriented? It didn't matter that much, did it? Whether he was male or female?

Just as they got to the sixth floor, they heard a woman's chilling wail from the dean's office. That cry was ear-piercing, and sent shivers all up and down the body.

Lin Qiushi felt, oddly, that the dead baby in his hold had gotten harder to handle.

But it was at this moment that Hu Die's gaze fell on Lin Qiushi. She spoke softly: "I'll hold the corpse. That thing is dangerous."

At this, Ruan Nanzhu shot her a look, but took instead the bag from Lin Qiushi's arms himself. "No, I got it."

Hu Die looked awfully pale, and like she wanted to say something more, but Ruan Nanzhu ignored her, speeding up his steps instead.

Descending from the sixth floor, they didn't dare dawdle on the floors in between, sprinting in one breath to the fourth floor. But as they cleared the stairwell and caught a glimpse of the hallway's end, the air stopped in their lungs.

The nurse stood right at the end of the hall. More than half of the bones had broken in her body, and she was propped up, twisted, on the other side of the walkway. In her hand was a bloody knife, and that terrifying face was smiling queerly at them.

The three turned immediately and raced up the stairs.

But the nurse was faster, taking only a moment to appear in front of them.

Lin Qiushi didn't have enough time to react before the nurse raised the long blade in her hands. An overripe scent filled his nostrils—and in this moment, it smelled an awful lot like death.

The blade fell. The nurse, surprisingly, attacked Hu Die first.

Ruan Nanzhu's expression was odd. He seemed to be waiting for something. Lin Qiushi clasped his sleeve, pulling at him to leave—but instead, Ruan Nanzhu flipped their grips and took him by the wrist.

Ruan Nanzhu lifted a finger, making a gesture to shush.

Lin Qiushi paused, and glanced at Hu Die, who was being attacked.

Hu Die had been knifed in the stomach. Her expression, however, was peculiar. It was like she wasn't scared of her incoming death at all, and instead was watching Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu.

It was the sort of gaze that held malice, like an audience beneath the stage awaiting a good show.

With plunge after plunge, the nurse knifed Hu Die into veritable pulp.

Hu Die's body collapsed stiffly to the floor. Eyes closing, she died just like that.

The nurse looked up, and saw Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu in the corner. The blade in her hand was still dripping with blood.

Ruan Nanzhu pulled the two leftover Russian nesting dolls from his pocket, picking out the innermost doll and tossing it before the nurse.

"We found him."

The nurse's steps stalled.

Ruan Nanzhu said, "he's right behind you."

The nurse didn't move anymore, seemingly contemplating Ruan Nanzhu's words.

Ruan Nanzhu said, "we can get rid of him the final time for you. He ought to have died anyhow." He delivered the dead baby parcel in his hands over to the nurse.

After he said this, the nurse took what was offered, turned, and genuinely left.

Lin Qiushi was shocked beyond words. Ruan Nanzhu beside him let out a long sigh of relief, laughing humorlessly, "good thing it worked."

Lin Qiushi, "you could communicate with her?" This was the most shocking thing to him.

Ruan Nanzhu shook his head and spoke nothing else, skipping ahead like he wanted to discuss the matter no further.

Hu Die's corpse was right before them, hacked to messy pieces by the nurse. It was difficult to tell if it was even human still.

Lin Qiushi said, "shall we go back?"

Ruan Nanzhu replied, "no, we'll stand watch here."

"What are we watching for?" Lin Qiushi was a bit confused.

Ruan Nanzhu pointed at Hu Die's corpse.

"For him to come out, of course," he laughed. "Didn't we promise the nurse?"

Lin Qiushi blinked.

So the two stood where they were, as time ticked on bit by bit. Around three in the morning, the corpse before them began a strange transformation. Lin Qiushi heard the sound of something writhing. He glanced at Hu Die's corpse, but found the body twisting about. The eyes that had once been closed were now open.

Lin Qiushi was just about to back up, when Ruan Nanzhu caught him by the waist and said, "don't be scared."

And it was like Lin Qiushi really wasn't scared anymore. To be honest, whenever Ruan Nanzhu was beside him, Lin Qiushi felt a sense of security and safety, like everything they did was within control, and nothing would go wrong.

Of course, Lin Qiushi knew this feeling was wrong. He couldn't be overly dependent on Ruan Nanzhu. They would have to separate someday.

At this, Lin Qiushi felt, for some reason, a sense of loss.

But this minor sort of emotion was quickly smothered, because the scene before them was getting more and more frightening. Hu Die had gotten up off the ground; the lethal wounds had seemingly no effect on her, and she'd revived. It was just that her body was in pieces, prone to collapse with every couple of steps. And in the pair of eyes that had opened again, there was a thicket of gluttony, watching Ruan Nanzhu before her.

"Help…" Hu Die spoke, at first slowly, but very quickly reverting to a normal cadence. She pleaded directly with Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu, "help… Please come, help me out, I'm not dead yet…"

Both Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu stood unmoved—on Lin Qiushi's face was an expression of consideration, while Ruan Nanzhu didn't have any expression on at all.

Hu Die came more and more conscious, and seemed to remember something. Her expression went twisted, as she spoke, in a low, poisoned tone, "why?? Why aren't you dead?!"

Ruan Nanzhu answered, "did you think we'd die like Xue Zhiyun and them?"

Hu Die didn't reply.

"What a shame," Ruan Nanzhu said. "She let us go, because we can help her get rid of you." Here he began to laugh. "As long as we don't let you find a new body. Isn't that right, Jiang Yingrui?"

Hu Die's breath stared coming short and fast, as she said, "I don't know what you're talking about—"

"No matter." Watching the person before him, Ruan Nanzhu took on a more piteous tone. "Hey, take a guess why she attacked you first."

Hu Die startled.

"What an idiot," Ruan Nanzhu began to laugh. "Of course it's because I put the 502 room tag in your pocket."

Hu Die was so angry that she shook all over. She reached down, and as expected, pulled out the 502 card from her pocket. Most likely, Ruan Nanzhu had tossed it into her pocket when he’d caught hold of her before. Hu Die had thought that when she woke at dawn, she'd find their corpses hacked to pieces. Unexpected, Ruan Nanzhu and Lin Qiushi appeared before her, perfectly fine—that bitch had let them be![1]

Hu Die's expression was filled with vitriol. She threw the door tag to the ground, shaking from sheer rage. Lin Qiushi, who stood watching from the side, was absolutely certain that if Hu Die had any sort of weapon in hand at this moment, she would swing it their way without any care in the world.

Holding onto the wall, Hu Die turned and made to leave.

Ruan Nanzhu said, "where are you going?"

"None of your business—" Hu Die replied coolly.

"Of course it's my business." Ruan Nanzhu approached Hu Die, and with a kick, socked Hu Die back onto the ground. He didn’t go easy on her at all, and when Hu Die was once again on the floor, he held her down with a foot on her back. "You really think I'd let you go to find some other body?"

Panic shot across Hu Die's expression. She said, "What the hell are you talking about…"

But Ruan Nanzhu didn't speak, instead gestured at Lin Qiushi. "What time is it?"

Lin Qiushi glanced at his phone: "Three-forty."

It was almost dawn. And right before dawn, was the darkest hour.

There weren't any lights where they were, just the faintest moonlight that barely illuminated the view before them.

Hu Die, beneath Ruan Nanzhu's foot, began to struggle. Hard. She screamed, trying to get up off the floor.

Ruan Nanzhu was ruthless, aiming another kick at Hu Die, almost knocking her right out.

Lin Qiushi had picked out what was happening from Ruan Nanzhu's words: Hu Die wasn't Hu Die. Or rather, she who'd used to be Hu Die was no longer.

The three remained in stalemate.

When six o'clock came, dawnlight flooded the sky.

People started trickling out of the living quarters, headed for breakfast in the cafeteria. Hu Die, collapsed on the ground, seemed to have given up.

Ruan Nanzhu kept watching her. Never once did his gaze let up.

His vigilance paid off, because just as the sun was rising, Hu Die, who'd seemed on her last breath, began another violent bout of struggling, lunging for Lin Qiushi standing in the corner.

Lin Qiushi was caught off-guard. Luckily, Ruan Nanzhu had been prepared, catching Hu Die by the hand and throwing her backward, to slam her body back against the wall—

BAM. Hu Die's body hit the wall hard, with a loud noise. Hu Die seemed to finally understand that she didn't stand a chance, and began to wail.

Normally, Lin Qiushi might've pitied the girl before him. But after knowing Hu Die's true identity, there was only calm in his heart.

Had Ruan Nanzhu not been so clever, they might've already croaked, thanks to Hu Die. Going easy on the enemy wasn't a smart move at all. Lin Qiushi didn't speak, just silently watched. His expression in the moment was quite like Ruan Nanzhu's.

"Let me go, I don't want to die—" Hu Die was sobbing. "I haven't done anything! I don't want to die…"

Ruan Nanzhu's expression was strange, like he couldn't comprehend what Hu Die was saying.

"You haven't done anything? Are you sure about that?"

Hu Die went silent.

Ruan Nanzhu, "do you not know what you've done?"

Slowly turning her head, Hu Die glanced at Ruan Nanzhu before she said, "I don't know anything."

And then her body began to mutate. Her stomach slowly started to bloat, looking like she was a few months pregnant. Hu Die twisted, and struggled, as if she’d become one large pupa.

Then came the sound of tearing flesh. Lin Qiushi could clearly see something ripping apart Hu Die's abdomen, crawling out from within. At first Lin Qiushi thought it would be a kid or something—but when the thing finally came out, he saw a face that really wasn't all that unfamiliar.

He'd seen this face before in the dean's office, with its mop of pretty, golden hair and handsome face—it was the dean of medicine himself.

In that moment, every one of Ruan Nanzhu's suppositions was proven true.

The dean indeed hadn't been in the sanitarium, but resided instead in other people's bodies. The bodies of others was the medium through which he escaped nightly from the nurse who plotted to kill him.

But what Lin Qiushi wanted to know most was, those whose bodies he occupied—where they people from inside the door, or outside? Jiang Yingrui and Hu Die, did they actually exist?

Because of Ruan Nanzhu's sabotage, the dean had lost his opportunity to find a new body. He seemed quite weak, collapsing on the floor and unmoving for the longest time.

Ruan Nanzhu didn't get closer, instead watched from afar this strange and truly quite absurd scene.

Lin Qiushi asked, "what else do we have to do?"

Ruan Nanzhu, "nothing else, I don't think. We just have to wait until evening." Without the protection of other bodies, the dean would be easily killed by the nurse.

It was likely that, from their background research, the dead baby that this person had attempted to remove was the nurse's aborted infant. And the blond man before them was the baby's father.

The blond man began to curse at them. In his curses was a tone of self-defeat. Lin Qiushi simply pretended like he'd heard nothing at all.

Ruan Nanzhu said, "come on. Feng Yongle's waited up for us the whole night."

Lin Qiushi nodded.

And so they completely ignored the blond man, and turned to leave.

Lin Qiushi followed behind Ruan Nanzhu, steps a bit slow. He said, "Hu Die and Jiang Yingrui—are they from outside or inside the door?"

Ruan Nanzhu replied, "likely from outside."

Lin Qiushi, "…" So they were from the outside, huh.

Ruan Nanzhu, "there were only two matryoshka dolls left, so he should've only been able to switch bodies one more time. Unfortunately, he bumped into us." Coolly, he continued, "nah. There wasn't even a single switch left for him."

The thing had resided in Jiang Yingrui's body, then switched over to Hu Die's body. Lin Qiushi was still a bit wary: "But why did Jiang Yingrui try to keep it a secret for him?"

"Why wouldn't he keep it a secret?" Ruan Nanzhu said. "If he told, it's another matter altogether who'd believe him. And even if they did believe him, there's no benefit for Jiang Yingrui at all. They'd just avoid him."

Lin Qiushi, "…"

"As for that dean," Ruan Nanzhu said, "he hides in the bodies of outsiders. If the nurse wants to kill him, she's got to follow the rules; she can't just kill whenever she wants."

And as for that dean, he clearly wanted everybody else dead as soon as possible, because with everyone else dead, the odds of Jiang Yingrui being the last survivor went up drastically.

But it wasn't to be; Jiang Yingrui couldn't outplay Ruan Nanzhu in the end. Of course, had it been anybody else, the outcome wouldn't be so certain.

The two came to their room door, opening it to find Feng Yongle anxiously pacing circles inside. When he saw them, he let out a loud sigh of relief, exclaiming, "you're finally back! Hell, I was so scared! I thought something had happened to you two!"

Ruan Nanzhu gave a nod. "Nothing happened."

"So what is it, did you find the tunnel?" Feng Yongle asked.

"We found it. The key will likely appear tonight," Ruan Nanzhu said.

"Wow, and you two found the key?" Feng Yongle was quite excited, his pacing turning to excited circling. "Excellent. So we'll be out soon then?"

Ruan Nanzhu, "if nothing unexpected happens."

The dean, without the protection of someone else's flesh, was utterly at the nurse's mercy. If she wanted to kill him, she only had to wait until evening of the next day.

The empty frame in the dean's office could finally be filled.

But Lin Qiushi remembered something else. He typed: Oh yeah, I just remembered. Why did Hu Die steal the dead baby last night? Could the corpse have some kind of use?

Ruan Nanzhu gave the matter some thought, before shaking his head and going silent.

But this was certainly a possibility. They couldn't prove it though, could only hypothesize.

Feng Yongle didn't know what had happened, and asked, mystified, "what? Hu Die stole a dead baby? What the hell happened last night?"

The questions were starting up again. After Feng Yongle started speaking, Ruan Nanzhu just shot him a look, but didn't bother answering a single word.

Feng Yongle felt a bit wronged by Ruan Nanzhu's look: "I'm just a normie…"

Ruan Nanzhu, "so I'm not normal?"

Feng Yongle, "of course you're not normal. It's like damn sign language, the way you talk—can't you just speak plainly for me to understand?"

Ruan Nanzhu, "no."

Feng Yongle, "…" How come you can reject me so firmly.

Lin Qiushi giddily played the mute on the side.

And so in the end, Feng Yongle still didn't know what happened last night, and so gave up on finding out the truth.

During the day, the three of them checked out the tunnel they'd found last night, and confirmed it did indeed lead outside. The tunnel was packed full of those black body bags on the inside. It was chilling just to look in; had it not been an exit, nobody would dare enter.

After getting a look in, Feng Yongle rubbed at his own arms, chanting for Buddha.

Ruan Nanzhu frowned, and said, "this is a Western world. What use will Buddha be?"

Feng Yongle, "should I say hallelujah then?"

Ruan Nanzhu, "…"

Lin Qiushi, "…” He thought that it'd be a hundred times more reliable to chant Ruan Nanzhu banzai! After all, this was a god right at their sides; he could come any moment, and was truly quite useful.

Ruan Nanzhu peered at Lin Qiushi, looking as if he knew exactly what Lin Qiushi was thinking.

With an awkward smile, Lin Qiushi rushed to pretend nothing had happened. He was honestly still wondering if Ruan Nanzhu could read minds—or else how could it be that at any given moment, Ruan Nanzhu could guess exactly what he was thinking?

Author's Note:

/head scratches, I don't understand everybody's scary points. I don't think this world is very scary at all… Why has everyone's reactions been so huge… /puzzled

Translator’s Note:

I can’t seem to find a Chinese version that didn’t have the two words in this sentence missing... So I went with vibes, please let me know if you know the original

Multi-meaning title again!

Translator doesn’t endorse the gender essentialist views expressed in the text...

[Ch. 67] | [Ch. 69]