#guess who made another au instead of working on her first au that still needs to be written properly ...

[mothsakura]

City au stuff

Basics

So city au is well.... city?? Basically a group of councils live in a city, NOT atop a structure.

 Instead the city is more like our cities, except all around the city is a huge big wall protecting it from the outside wilderness. It's very rare for ancients to travel across cities, only the grand masters of cabinets do it really. 

It's REALLY taboo for iterators to travel outside of the cities tho, the ancients thought that giving them the freedom of travel across cities would make them want to run off. 

Speaking of iterators! off the string (I have mixed feelings about off the string, i believe that iterators aren't just their puppets, however I absolutely LOVE any off the string au)!!! the ancient lore is practically the same as in cannon except iterators: iterators will often accompany their admins to work, and will actively help with said work, they're like walking talking work calculators basically (example: iterator instructing the mechanic on how to fix the car) they are also sort of mascots for their council? not mascots actually??? but they are important to the council, they're sort of the representative of it along with their admins (usually high ranking council members) the high ranking council members all live in the council house (basically the white house), that's where the iterator is too! Then they go to work in the central council office, or the two secondary council offices for the low ranking councilmen, or the council labs! That's basically it!

Mass Ascension

When the ancients had mass ascension, they left their iterators at the cities since iterators cannot ascend the same way ancients can so now there's like a lot of half empty cities with iterators who are just trying to get by day to day life now.

[jellazticious]

bing bong bootleg SS au

very long ramble under the C

stuff are subjected to change

The working title isn't solidified but I'm leaning on either Candy Castle or Pastry Castle

Tho I think I'm gonna go for pastry cuz it has the same amount of letters as castle much like pizza and tower have the same number too

The tower is a gingerbread castle. According to a friend of mine (It's Beefy, it's always Beefy go follow him) that Hispanics love their bakeries and yeah, I guess that makes sense. Not only do I have a theme based on the protag's culture but also the theme gets narrowed down to just baked sweets. Candy in general is too broad, I would die figuring out how to put every kind of sweet in it, and if I did it's gonna be really cluttered hooboy

Noise is called Theo because that's Peppino's name formula. Peppino is a nickname for Giuseppe so I thought I'd give Noise's swap a nickname to Theodore as the main name

Hazel Nutt is pretty self explanatory cuz Noisette means hazelnut in French

Their outfits are pretty simple to mirror Peppino and Gustavo's with just coloured shirts and aprons

Hazel doesn't get a mount because she would have Theo's prototype rocket skates. Just like Gus, she would have different stages of getting used to the skates per floor. First she gets blasted from end to end cuz she can't control the thrust. Second, she manages to turn it off but she's trying to keep balance on it. Third, she catches her breath now that she could stand still without moving or slipping. Next she would make a card castle, in reference to the very castle they're inside. and lastly she'd be holding a box of sweets without giving a shit about the scary floor.

To parallel the og Noisette, Hazel would smile bigger when Theo faces her direction.

Hazel is also Theo's delivery gal to match and switch with how Peppino WAS Gustavo's delivery guy

The "kick the rat" function would be Hazel swinging one of the skates and the cops grabbing Brick would instead hold a weapon detector that also functions as a magnet

Unlike Peppino, Theo is more aggressive than anxious. Imagine an injured cat defending itself from what it thinks is a threat

the name of Pizzaface's swap is Pieface for obvious reasons 😭

but HEAR ME OUT

both pizzaface and pieface are used as insults. pizza face is used for people with so much acne and pie face is used for someone with a flat face or dull expression. It isn't just a pun on what food the characters are made of. Pieface is also a reference to the trope where people headshot other people with pies. With the mech floating towards the protag, it would look like a pie is being thrown and targeted at Theo

Honestly drawing what food makes his face is so fun. Did you know that before the croissant smile it was supposed to be syrup shaped to a smile? The nose was a long whip of cream before turning into a cut strawberry for the mustache effect

Pizzahead's candy version would be called Gingerhead because of how ridiculous it sounds.

Gingerhead is based on Willy Wonka much like how Pizzahead is based on Ronald McDonald which is why he has more of a showman look than a clown look

okay side note, it just occured to me how ironic PH being based on Ronald is considering McDo's isn't a pizza place

actually Wonka doesn't even sell cakes and shit so, I guess it's fair game

Theo has the nickname Muffinman to reference the rhyme. but this time, it's the gingerbreadman chasing the baker

Next up is Mr S, who would be Peppino but he becomes rich. Mr S is the stage name he uses. He is a known celebrity much as Noise is but he is more of a boxer than a host. Like Dwayne Johnson or something. His name is partially a reference to ResEvil's Mr X, another absolute unit of a guy

also the reason why he doesn't wear a shirt. He's committing to the bit. If he needs to cover himself when he isn't playing a role, then there's his robe. He doesn't take out his mask most of the time tho

Mr S's mask is based on the Chef Raider design but also part of the scrapped superhero design much like Pizzano. Actually speaking of Pizzano, S is characterized so similarly to him cuz Pizzano is the only SS character who was actually written well to my standards. To be fair we've seen too much of Peppino to flunk characterizing him sksksk

Since this is Peppino that Mr S is based on, he's not as tech savvy or as self centered as Noise so he doesn't have robots that look like himself. Instead he has ants for a crew

the ants swap the place of rats. the rats in PT reference the new york pizza rat while ants just generally eat your food especially if it's sweet when left alone for five minutes

the ants come from Mr G, who would be Gustavo's swap with Noisette. He's Mr S's lawyer. at the end of S's bossfight, G would snatch him away with Click (the ant) because S would make a foul and embarrassing move on live camera

I can't seperate Gustavo and Brick so Click stays with Mr G instead of assisting Hazel

inside what would be Noisette cafe, instead of Mr G and Click being behind the counter, they would be sitting as customers next to Caraman. the barista isn't seen anywhere

Honestly when I'm writing everyone, my logic of swapping them isn't "make them switch places AND personalities" but more of "write every single one of them with the og personality because giving them a different lifestyle/role would drastically change their motives and how they behave"

I'm practically just swapping each character's place of birth

I mentioned this because it's kinda funny with Noisette and Gus since they play the exact same role of assisting Peppino/Noise so swapping them won't change much in how they act. They also have the same cheery and welcoming personality by default so Hazel and Mr G would act REALLY similar to their og

The only difference is that Gustavo can be threatening whenever Peppino fucks up. It fits right in with being a lawyer for the same goon

Now we got Mel Caraman who would become this au's Vigi. Lemme just say off the bat that Caraman is just as delusional as Vigi. He gets hired as a guard for floor 2 and took it way too seriously that he thinks he's some sort of sentinel. Hired as a guard but thinks he's an ancient guardian or something

his name vaguely references James Bond because you also VAGUELY get "caramel" out of "Caraman, Mel Caraman"

Caraman is a caramel apple but he's half glazed to form an eyemask. he's also got a stick poking out his head that stretches his chorro hat. the big hat makes him look cooler anyways. Bro I was so ready to settle for a shitty wild west mayor hat and I owe Beefy one for suggesting a new hat. I was gonna make him look like Doug Dimmadome with the short brimmed tall hat😭😭😭

but yeah Caraman doesn't have the same dignity as Vigi does. He can fight crime decently on normal circumstances and badass when he's full serious. But like day in day out he's so obnoxious about looking for crime that people get tired of him nor would they take him seriously

he would also be mistaken for a pepper

Next to last, Cam M. Bert or just Bert who would take place of Pepperman. he's an artist who appreciates the world instead of himself, a freelancer also. There was only a bossfight because he was coincidentally commissioned to make a mural for the castle the same time Theo busts in. He didn't like how Theo ruined some of his works with his rush to open the door

Bert is a cream cheese instead of a cheese slime. his beret is actually a little cherry to distinguish him from the other creams.

Bert is really chill and humble, He's like Bob Ross, whenever he can, he'd try to talk about how every beauty in the world should be immortalized through a canvas

In parallel to Vigi's delusion of thinking he's a human, Bert thinks he's actually a living painting (which is completely possible for someone to be in the PT world since Pepperman was able to do it with his own art)

instead of a :{ face that Vigilante has, Bert has a :3 face

the naming formula is taken directly from Vigi

Vig E. Lantte

Cam M. Bert

There is a type of sweet cheese that's really creamy called camembert which his name is a direct reference from. Here is a picture of a camembert since it's hella cute

Camembert cheese was also suggested by Beefy, brother thank you for not allowing me to name this cunt Creamlad

Mr Lardo would be in place of Mr Stick but his motive is that he's collecting Theo's money on BEHALF of Mr Stick. They're probably the only ones who completely stay intact because there's not much canon info of Stick WITHIN the game itself I also feel he's a crossover character from his own "series" with how long McPig has him prior to PT so I just swap the character who makes the "cameo"

The toppins are still called toppins because they'd be used to decorate a cake or pie. They would be

Strawberry - Mushroom

Cream - Cheese

Cookie - Tomato

Icing (in a piping bag) - Sausage

actually I dont know yet for the pineapple but I'll get to it. I've only been figuring out this au since four days ago....

Lastly (of the characters), the Faker in this would be mechanical to match the original Noise's familiarity in robots

Fake Theo (temp name) would be engineered to be "Theo but way better" while actually being succesful with it. Faker would also sort of look like a mini figure of a ballerina. Referencing The Nutcracker

Opposite to Fake Peppino, Fake Theo is more graceful than terrifying but it's so uncanny how unnaturally pretty it is

and now some misc stuff

Title of the final level is When The Cookie Crumbles

the pepper pizza will be replaced with an extremely sweet pie and the immunity is caused by the sugar rush from it

Pizza Time is called Crunch Time

Pillar John would be a giant graham cracker since the walls are made of cookies instead of bricks. Gerome however, is a solidified bar of brownies. like a shittily made brownie that it just turned into a construction brick

Snotty is a pure white cream cheese and that's cuz he's actually made of glue. His name is Sticky

Pigs would either be bears or rabbits with how many times those two animals represented sweets

I'm gonna be clear with everyone here. I literally made this au cuz I'm going insane trying to make swap stuff with Pascal/Stefano when the au itself is so empty. sure it's colourful but it's so empty like I can't draw SS characters outside of poses

I tried like doing fanon modifications as I always do then there's so much I "modified" that at this point it's not Sugary Spire anymore. Just straight up a completely different au. The only similarity is that it's a swap au with sweets

it is what it is yknow. this is my life now. I said fuck it and went with the flow and boom, new personal au that I poured too much into

basically I blame Pascal for this

[dg-outlaw]

Acolyte Season 2 AU (or What Could Have Been)

*Season 1 spoilers* and My Thoughts.

So with Season 1 over, instead of reflecting on what was, I want to talk about what could've been. I imagine there's a plan for season 2 and part of my guess is that we'll get more into the Dark Side and the Sith with Osha's training with the Stranger/Qimir and their secret roommate, Darth Plagueis the Creeper. On the Jedi side we'll probably get into political conflict between the Jedi and the Senate, and have a 'What Do We Do With Mae?' subplot. But here's what I think could've been interesting...

From what I've seen online, a lot of fans enjoyed these two characters (Jecki Lon and Yord Fandar, pictured above), especially them together, which I think is a real loss for the show unless they are leaning more towards a Dark Side/Sith focused storyline for Season 2. If anything, that's one of my critiques of the show, even though I enjoyed it. Was the show about Osha and Mae, the Jedi, Sol and what happened on Brendok, or a mix with an ensemble cast? I think had the show been 12-15 episodes it could've successfully been all of the above, but with only 8 episodes I feel like none of those plotlines got enough attention or time to breathe and really hit. Again, I enjoyed the show and look forward to what comes in Season 2, but...

...what if Jecki and Yord had lived?

Season 1 could've still played out as it did and maybe Jecki and Yord were injured rather than killed or presumed dead in Episode 5 to further add to Sol's anguish. Though, with how badass she was, even just keeping Jecki alive could've been interesting for this AU idea. Here's why:

This first season ends with Vernestra basically throwing Sol under the bus. Yes, he made some major mistakes and he and the other 3 Jedi from Brendok covered up their secret for years because Indara thought it was the best course of action, but how would Jecki (and Yord) have taken that news? Their kind, gentle, and wise master a rogue Jedi who orchestrated some elaborate murder plot to cover up his past crimes? It wouldn't make sense to them (based on the Sol they knew) and I think you could have a whole noir-style investigation subplot with them not knowing who to trust in the Jedi Order, arguing about who to trust and whether they should doubt their masters, and wrestling with the realities and truth of Sol's past. Would they go to Senator Rayencourt or work with him to uncover the truth or would they wrestle with the idea that to uncover the truth it could unravel the whole Jedi Order?

Seriously, the buddy cop dry humor mixed with the drama could be so fun.

Then you add in Mae, who Jecki and Yord would be antagonistic toward at first, but then she'd become part of their little investigative team. Either way, Mae will likely want answers to who she is in Season 2, but the Jedi are likely to keep those answers from her and that would add another layer. Jecki and Yord would be forbidden from interacting with her or just not told about her until they saw her randomly in the streets of Coruscant with her Jedi security detail.

This would also setup a very interesting conflicts as you'd have Team Sith (Qimir, Osha, and Cave Roomie Plag), Team Sol (Jecki, Yord, and Mae), and Team Jedi (Vernestra, her Executive Assistant Mog, and other "red shirt" Jedi). I have no idea where Yoda would fit into all this, but maybe he'd secretly guide Jecki and Yord with vague Jedi wisdom because he's seeing some problems in his house that need to be fixed.

Also, Jecki would get a rematch with Qimir, a battle with Osha (similar to hers with Mae), and Yord... well, Yord would do battle and maybe die. Though, he and Mae could develop something as a mirror to Osha and Qimir, even if just a friendship (esp. if a Jecki/Mae thing happens), and that would give Mae conflict if it was Osha who killed him.

In the end, Jecki and maybe Yord (if he lives) would leave the Order, similar to how Ahsoka did in The Clone Wars. No matter what the outcome ended up being, it would shake their faith in the Order. Yoda would be the only one left who knew the truth, but with everyone believed dead or gone, it would be okay in his mind and Ki-Adi-Mundi could just be left in the dark for the sake of his Episode 1 quote about the Sith.

Obviously, Plagueis would somehow survive (unbeknownst to Yoda) and would later use what he learned about Osha and Mae to create Anakin as one of his experiments to achieve immortality, hoping to have a new body to transfer himself into. Sidious would be unaware of this as Plagueis would be aware of Sidious' intention to kill him and would've kept Anakin a secret b/c Sith be shady backstabbers like that. It wouldn't be until meeting young Anakin that Palpy realizes Anakin was that secret project Plagueis was working on but never told him about. Thus, his fascination with Anakin, Luke, and his later (sequel) attempts to use Rey in the same way.

[coraniaid]

Another AU idea, if you're not bored of these already! Spike, for whatever reason, doesn't come back to Sunnydale. (Maybe the flights are expensive or something.) What alternative bad guy could be an interesting new Scooby? (You know, like Dracula, or Glory, or Sunday, etc. etc.)

PS: Faith isn't a bad guy, so she doesn't count! :)

As I think I've mentioned on here before, if I ever get around to writing a sequel to my S3 AU fic Coexist (which, to be clear, is not very likely to happen), I would probably have Sunday be the vampire who gets captured and then chipped by the Initiative.

But just to be a different (and to keep my options open if I ever do end up writing such a sequel), let's go with somebody else: Willow's vampire alter ego from The Wish and Doppelgangland. There are, I guess, a couple of objections to this idea: namely that the last time we saw vamp!Willow she was (a) in another dimension and (b) dead. But these are easily dealt with, I think.

How I see this playing out is that everything in Season 4 happens much the same way it does in canon for the first few episodes (Spike either comes back for The Harsh Light Of Day but then not a second time, or we can replace him in that one episode with somebody like ... I don't know, Lyle Gorch?). Oz and Willow still break up, as in canon, and Oz leaves town after Wild At Heart. Then:

We go immediately into Something Blue [skipping The Initiative for now, and skipping Pangs forever because it's trash]. Willow still casts her will-be-done spell and things play out as much as like canon as they can. Obviously that's pretty different, with no Spike -- we probably need to rename the episode for a start -- but Willow can still make Giles blind and Xander a literal demon magnet. Let's say her suggestion for Buffy is a bit like Dawn's wish in Season 6; she's upset about Buffy going patrolling and not staying with her, so she unwittingly says something that makes Buffy both unwilling and unable to leave the dorms (but it takes them a while to figure out this is what's happened). The other key difference is that, while mourning the end of her relationship with Oz, Willow brings up her doppelganger from last season and says she had a point that "this world's no fun". "Why," Willow says, "She should come back from wherever we sent her so I can tell her she was right." Cue to vamp!Willow in the Wishverse, just about to be staked (again) ... only to vanish and reappear in Willow's dorm room. [With some work, you could play up the fact that human!Willow didn't realize Oz could hurt her so badly with the fact that vamp!Willow was about to be killed by him.] Before our Willow can say anything, her counterpart escapes into the night (and Buffy can't chase her, because of the wish Willow made about her, which is something that helps them figure out what's going on).

At the end of the episode, Willow breaks the spell as in canon. Everyone assumes that this sent vamp!Willow back to her original dimension again -- especially when she doesn't show up to cause any more trouble -- but it doesn't. Instead she gets captured by the Initiative, just like Spike did in canon. And a couple of episodes later, she breaks free again ... only to discover, just like Spike did, that she's been chipped and can't hurt anybody human. She probably finds out a little bit sooner that she can still hurt demons and vampires: in fact, given her MO in Doppelgangland she probably only finds out she can't drink from living humans after she's already taken control of the current vampire gang in Sunnydale and tried to attack the Bronze (again). When that doesn't work (and after her reputation has taken a bit of a blow as a result) she tries the Drusilla approach of being a power behind the throne for a bit (not hurting anyone directly but getting a proxy to lead the other vampires in attacking humans and bringing her fresh blood from already-dead victims), but unfortuntately for her credibility the only vampire she can find who's willing to take orders from a vampire who can't hurt people herself is Harmony (who I guess was dating Lyle Gorch in this AU but broke up with him pretty quickly). And between that frustration and the fact the Initiative quickly show up again looking for her, she doesn't have much choice but to throw herself on the Scooby Gang's mercy [which we know, from Season 3, that they're likely to show her, especially if she can give them any information about the Initiative].

Cue sitcom-worthy plots wherein human!Willow is going to class and (mostly) spending her nights in the dorm room she shares with Buffy and sometimes going home to visit her parents and trying to keep her new relationship with Tara hidden from her friends, while vamp!Willow is sometimes hiding out in a crypt somewhere and sometimes hanging out with Anya and sometimes pretending to be human!Willow in Buffy's dorm (to escape both the Initiative and Harmony). Harmony has at least three conversations with human!Willow which she walks away from thinking she's been talking to vamp!Willow (Harmony thinks vamp!Willow is the coolest person she's ever met but the feeling is not quite mutual). Riley is briefly convinced that human!Willow is the missing "Hostile 17" he and his men have been looking for, then is persuaded that Willow is 100% human and not a vampire at all, then almost immediately runs into vamp!Willow and assumes he's still talking to human!Willow. When Faith temporarily steals Buffy's body in Who Are You? she also completely fails to clock that vamp!Willow and human!Willow are different people (though she figures out almost immediately that both Willows are crazy about Tara). She does get on a lot better with the vampire version of Willow than the human one, but she assumes this is just because Willow has mellowed out a lot since high school. (Faith only learns the truth when she comes back in Season 7.) Anya can tell them apart easily and thinks it's weird that other people can't. She and vamp!Willow get on like a house on fire (which really highlights how much Anya and human!Willow don't); they trade stories about various atrocities they've committed when they're bored (they agree that Anya's are better but Anya cheers vamp!Willow up by pointing out she's a lot older and had more time to practice being evil).

When Oz comes back later in the season, we briefly tease the idea that having two versions of Willow might be a way of resolving Willow's putative love triangle (especially by having vamp!Willow delightedly refer to Oz as 'puppy' when he first starts to transform into a werewolf again). The problem is that both Oz and Tara can always tell the two Willows apart, and neither of them is attracted to vamp!Willow at all. (The fact vamp!Willow remembers a version of Oz trying to kill her is not, as it turns out, much of a problem.) Adam still tries to recruit vamp!Willow to sow dissension in the ranks of the Scooby Gang, but she isn't very interested in trying [she's not interested in playing second fiddle to some other demon] and wouldn't be very good at it if she was. Adam gets Harmony to do it instead, and she is surprisingly successful at it at first (in part because she doesn't think of herself as doing anything untoward: she's just helpfully pointing out facts [cf. that Cordelia quote about tact]). Harmony still can't tell vamp!Willow and human!Willow apart though, so she cheerfully tells human!Willow that she thinks she [i.e. vamp!Willow] has done a great job infilitrating the gang and all Willow's friends already like her much more than the original, which she means sincerely and our Willow does not take well. Vamp!Willow figures out what's going on (and decides to tell the Scoobies about it, mainly because she's annoyed that Adam is trying to take 'her' rightful place as the town's Big Bad). But not before Harmony tries to give her the speech which she'd planned to give human!Willow (which is mostly the same speech about how great vamp!Willow is, actually, but Harmony makes the point of telling her that she's not as smart as vamp!Willow "so you shouldn't even try to stop Adam's plan, because there's no way a loser like you will figure out he's going to have all the demons be captured bythe Initiative then stage a break out and hope they all kill each other").

Vamp!Willow also follows canon!Spike's lead in falling for Buffy in Season 5. She is, if anything, even more mortified on realizing this than Spike was. Buffy and human!Willow try very hard to pretend this doesn't make things weird between them, not entirely succesfully. This gets even more difficult to do in Season 6 when vamp!Willow and Buffy start hooking up.

[casual-violinist-fangirl]

I Will be Here, Don't You Cry - 4,971 Words

Two fics in one day?! She must have written this instead of doing any work...

Set after the reunion in A Different Approach. This is a Hunter and Omega father-daughter fluff/hurt/comfort fest!

This is pretty much canon compliant, however there is an AU time-hop to the end of Season 3 at the end.

As always, the link to my AO3 is here and the link to my masterlist on tumblr is here.

Thank you so much for reading and for your support! I really appreciate it!

--------

In hindsight, Hunter should have checked her over before she went to sleep; that had been his first mistake.

Omega had clung to Hunter’s side, still sniffling as they walked back towards the Marauder. Hunter had wanted to bask in the warmth of having her back for longer, but realistically he knew that they needed to leave before the Empire managed to track the ship Crosshair and Omega had arrived in. 

Speaking of Crosshair…

The clone had been silent since disembarking the cargo shuttle. He had walked back over to his siblings, trying not to break his cold expression on his approach. Hunter had looked him up and down, nodding his thanks. 

After all, despite their differences, he had brought Omega home.

Once on board the ship, it dawned on Hunter that Crosshair hadn’t seen it since they had converted the gunner’s mount to Omega’s room… and they had kept her room almost exactly as it had been left.

This was mostly down to the fact that Hunter hadn’t been able to stomach going anywhere the gunner’s mount during the little girl’s absence. It held too many memories of laughter and smiles and bedtime stories. Even when they had needed the ship’s canons, it had been Wrecker who’d had to enter the turret.

Glancing down to where Omega still had her arms wrapped around one of his, he couldn’t help but smile at the overwhelmingly warm feeling that filled him. Despite it all, she had made it back to them. Back to him.

He choked back his emotion, clearing his throat before asking Wrecker to start up the engines. Crosshair glanced silently around the cabin before his eyes fixed on something. He inhaled sharply, his face pinching in pain. Hunter followed his brother’s gaze and his heart ached when he saw Tech’s smashed goggles still sat on the shelf. Another thing he hadn’t been able to go near. The pain the goggles held still egged down on the sergeant, and he made a point of crouching down in front of Omega.

“You hungry, kid?” he asked as the ship began to power up. Almost on cue, Omega’s stomach grumbled and she laughed shyly before nodding.

“I guess I am,” she admitted. “It’s been a while since we’ve eaten… we just wanted to get back to you.”

Hunter nodded, sending Crosshair a questioning glance. The sniper frowned, but his face softened slightly when Omega turned to him with one of her disarming smiles. 

“Batcher needs something too,” he commented, not unkindly. Hunter looked down at the hound, nodding at his brother’s comment.

“We might have something she can eat,” he replied. The conversation was short. Sharp. Tense.

Hunter supposed he should count himself lucky that Crosshair had spoken to him at all… though had he really been speaking to Omega? Who knew… hopefully that would clear up with time.

Wrecker guided the ship into hyperspace before setting the controls to autopilot and spinning around in his chair. The cockpit was still empty apart from him and his heart sank slightly at that; he was happy to have Omega back, thrilled even. The little girl lit up every room she entered and he couldn’t wait for things to go back to how they were… or sort of how they were. Wrecker supposed things would never be the same now that Tech was gone.

Maybe Crosshair would re-join them? He wouldn’t go back to the Empire, not after spending time imprisoned there. Wrecker had missed his brother. He was the only one who would admit it, but he was secretly glad that the sniper was back with them. Hunter was suspicious, Wrecker could tell, but then Hunter had been going crazy ever since Omega had disappeared.

Wrecker had been forced to sedate him once just to get him to rest. Hunter had taken a hint after that.

Sighing, Wrecker stood from his seat and exited the cockpit. He was met by an almost surreal sight upon entering the cabin.

Hunter was sat at the navi-computer, a ration bar in his hand; that filled Wrecker with relief. He hadn’t failed to notice the weight his brother had lost in the past six months (another thing he had constantly nagged him about). As it turned out, Omega had noticed too. She nibbled on her own ration bar, tear tracks clear on her face, glancing up at Hunter every now and then to make sure that her brother (father?) was in fact eating. 

Crosshair was slumped in a chair further back and it became clear quite quickly that Hunter had given him two ration bars. Wrecker didn’t blame him, Crosshair looked as though he hadn’t eaten in weeks… maybe he hadn’t. Who were they to know?

The hound… Batcher, sat curled up at Crosshair’s feet and occasionally the sniper would reach down and scratch her ears. He always had been soft when it came to animals (not that he would ever admit it).

The group sat in silence, and it weighed heavily on all of them. Ration bars eaten, Hunter turned to Omega once more. 

“Fancy the ‘fresher?” he asked, taking in her mud-stained face and dirty hair. She nodded, hissing as she stood and stretched. As she headed to the ‘fresher, she paused suddenly.

“I won’t have any clean clothes that fit,” she muttered, almost embarrassed. Hunter cringed. How could he have forgotten? Standing as well, he went to his bunk before rummaging around in his crate. Before long he fond what he was looking for and pulled it out.

“These’ll be on the big side, but they’re clean and warm,” he offered out a pair of his old blacks from when he was a cadet. Omega’s face lit up at the sight of them and she grabbed them before thanking him quickly and rushing into the ‘fresher. Before long the sound of water hissing through the pipes could be heard.

The silence that enveloped the three brothers now that Omega was gone felt even worse than before. Wrecker glanced as Hunter busied himself once more with the navi-computer; Crosshair made a point of looking around the ship, taking every tiny change since he had last been on board. 

Their silence went on this way until the ‘fresher door hissed open once more and Omega bounded out.

She looked exhausted to put it lightly. Now that the dirt was gone from her face you could make out the dark circles under her eyes. When was the last time she had slept? Hunter mused to himself. He pushed that thought to one side as he glanced over at Crosshair.

“Your turn, if you want,” he said shortly. The sniper nodded curtly before standing and making his own way into the ‘fresher. He swooped by his old crate on the way and grabbed a set of blacks. He had no armour to wear with them currently, but anything would be better than the prison uniform and stolen clothes from Lau.

All of a sudden, Omega let out a loud yawn, making both Hunter and Wrecker chuckle. 

“Bed time?” the sergeant suggested with a fond smile that he only ever reserved for her. She nodded, though their was an air of reluctance about her as she padded over to the gunner’s mount and started to climb the ladder. She turned froze in her tracks before scuttling back down and running over to Wrecker. She wrapped him in a quick hug, which he returned, before making her way to Hunter. Wrapping her arms around him as well, she mumbled something into his middle that only he could hear.

“Of course,” he replied, following her as she made her way back to the tower. Omega seemed more relaxed this time, scaling the ladder and clambering into her bedroll. Hunter climbed after her, perching on the edge of the gunner’s mount and reaching over to turn on the string of lights. Wrecker couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face as he shifted out of his seat and back into the cockpit. He could give the pair a little bit of privacy he supposed.

Hunter pulled Omega’s blanket up to her chin like he had done six months ago, before before everything had gone so horribly wrong. She smiled like she had done then, shuffling further into the blankets and holding Lula and Trooper close. 

“Glad to have you back, kid,” Hunter eventually said, cursing internally as he heard his voice croak. Omega’s eyes filled with tears once more, but she smiled a watery smile.

“I don’t want to wake up and this all be a dream,” she whispered, a hint of fear in her voice; it broke Hunter’s heart that even though she was far away from wherever she was held captive, it was still haunting her. 

“You don’t need to worry about going back there,” he soothed. “You’re back and we’re going home. That’s all we need to think about right now.” The sergeant stifled a yawn of his own, making Omega giggle.

“Maybe you should be getting sleep too,” she commented slyly. So her sense of humour had returned… that was a relief. 

“Maybe I will,” Hunter replied, pulling  face that made Omega giggle even more. She yawned all of a sudden, her eyes drooping as exhaustion took over again. 

In a moment of bravery, Hunter swooped down and pressed a gentle kiss against Omega’s forehead. 

“Missed ya, kid,” he said quietly as he began to climb back down the ladder. “Sleep well.”

Once he reached the bottom of the ladder, he reached up and turned the string of lights off before shutting the curtain to the gunner’s mount. Omega shuffled quietly before all movement stopped and her breathing began to even out. Within minutes she was sound asleep.

Hunter perched on his bunk, pondering over his own exhaustion; he wasn’t entirely sure when he last slept. Even though Wrecker was constantly nagging him and he tried his best to rest, sleeping had not come easily during Omega’s absence. Perhaps knowing that she was back and safe would help him relax, he pondered as he felt his eyes grow heavy. 

Maybe he should stay awake just in case she needed him, he absently thought as his head began to feel warm and fuzzy, sleep inviting him in.

He wasn’t sure how long it took for him to fall asleep, but he was out cold and enjoying a dreamless sleep before too long.

——

Shuffling was the sound that woke him, and he shouldn’t have been surprised really. The Marauder had gone from having only two people on it to having five occupants, of course noise was going to be the thing that woke him up.

Hunter’s head felt foggy and if he didn’t know better, he’d think that he was hungover; realistically he knew that he only felt this way because he had been in a deep sleep after not resting for too long. He had every intention of rolling over and going back to sleep when another sound entered his consciousness.

A sniffle.

Who was crying? Now alert, the clone sat up as quietly as possible. If someone was upset he didn’t want to startle them. Hunter glanced around the dark cabin, glad for his enhanced sight as he did so. Crosshair was the first person he thought of, always one to hide his emotions until he was out from everyone’s watchful gaze. He glanced across at the sniper and was surprised to see him out cold, snoring lightly. He imagined this was the comfiest he had been in a long time, the safest he had felt in a long time… he was probably making the most of it. 

Batcher was curled up underneath Crosshair’s bunk, also breathing heavily; of course Omega had managed to gain a put dog during her time imprisoned. Hunter didn’t really know why he was surprised. 

He could also hear Wrecker’s familiar snores, which ruled out his other brother as the source of the crying sounds… which only left one person.

“Omega?” he whispered as he quietly climbed out of his bunk and padded across the cabin. He paused before pulling back the curtain, not wanting to intrude on her privacy. Another sniffle, frustrated and desperate made him forget privacy and he pulled the curtain to one side.

The little girl in question was indeed the one crying; she had fresh tear tracks on her face and a scowl across her features. Hunter glanced down at what she was holding, raising an eyebrow when he spotted her hair tie and… her hairbrush. Only her hairbrush was broken, a couple of the teeth missing. 

Omega almost looked a little betrayed when she spotted Hunter, but that look left her quickly as her shoulders sagged and a small sob left her. He had been quick to react, taking in the whole situation quickly. Hunter lay two gentle hands over hers, prying the brush and the hair tie out of them.

“Having problems with your hair?” he asked, keeping his voice as neutral as possible. Judging from the broken brush and the scraggly dead hair still attached to the hair tie, she was having more than just ‘problems’ with he hair. She nodded, the offending hair falling around her face as she did so. 

“It hurts to brush…” she trailed off in an ashamed whisper. “I thought I could just deal with it but the brush got stuck and I pulled it too hard.” Reaching back into her hair, Hunter could tell she was trying to find the missing teeth from the brush. “And then it broke,” she finished, her eyes filling with tears once more as she began to sniffle again.

Anger coarse through Hunter. He had spent time training Omega on how to look after he hair when she had been with them before, and it seemed as though she had just been neglected and handed a hair tie when she was dumped on Tantiss. 

He didn’t let his anger show though, as he offered his arms out she she barrelled into them; he took a small step back to steady himself but caught her and gently pulled her down from the gunner’s mount. With her still in his arms, he carried her quietly through to the cockpit. 

Once there, he set her down on one of the chairs. Crouching in front of her like he had when he promised she was never going back to Kamino, he held the sides of the chair and smiled reassuringly at her.

“Want my help?” he asked gently; he wasn’t going to push her into it, but he wanted to help her if he could… and hair was sort of one of his areas of expertise.

Thankfully, Omega nodded, and Hunter nodded before standing and setting to work find what he needed.

He could feel Omega’s eyes on him as he moved around the cockpit, looking for various things that would help him. Eventually he sat down in the chair opposite hers, comb, brush and spray bottle in hand. He gestured for her to turn around in her seat, and eventually she was sat facing the back of the chair. The sergeant examined the back of her head without touching it at first, not wanting to cause her more discomfort than he had to…

… he quickly realised that he had a long job ahead of him.

The top layer of Omega’s hair looked relatively well brushed, even if it had only been with her fingers, but when that was moved to one side, a clump about the size of his fist rested at the nape of her neck where her ponytail had been. 

Hunter breathed in slowly, trying not to let on how angry he was at her captors. Taking the clump in his hand, he examined it; it was made up of matted knots, dead hair, dead skin, what looked like leaves and twigs and… the missing teeth of the hairbrush.

“Who did your hair on Tantiss?” he asked gently as he set down his tools and picked up the spray bottle. 

“No one,” came the meek reply. “I tried to brush it with my fingers… but that only worked for so long. When it started getting too long, Emerie gave me a hair tie.”

Hunter made a mental note to ask about this Emerie later, but for now he turned his focus back to the task at hand. Once her hair was suitably wet, he put the spray bottle down and picked up the comb. As gently as possible he started to tease the knots out of the bottom of the clump, hoping that he didn’t pull out too much of her hair in the process.

Occasionally Omega would hiss in pain and Hunter would mutter an apology and offer her a break, but other than that the pair sat in comfortable silence as the night wore on. It wasn’t until it was nearly the third hour of Hunter working on her hair that she quietly piped up.

“You look tired,” she commented softly, playing with her hands as they lay in her lap. Hunter froze for a fraction of a second, but it was long enough for the little girl to notice. “You’ve been sleeping, right?”

Kriff, how was this kid so perceptive? Hunter considered how to respond before he realised that he’d left it too long and needed to think of something to say that wouldn’t worry her…

“It was… difficult to relax properly when we were trying to figure out where you were,” he eventually admitted, and Omega’s shoulders tensed. 

That was an understatement, really. The truth was that Hunter had driven himself to the brink of exhaustion more times than he was comfortable with and Wrecker had been forced to sedate him at one point. He hadn’t been proud of that moment. 

Now that he thought about it, he’d been acting like a mad man over the past six months, driven to crazy, risky actions by his grief and guilt. He really needed to apologise to Wrecker, who had bore the brunt of his pain-riddled temper. He could think of countless moments where he had dragged them into crazy plans that would have almost certainly ended in death had it not been for Wrecker’s sensible thinking. 

Omega didn’t say anything for a while, almost seeming to sense his guilt. Just when Hunter thought that she wasn’t going to say anything else at all, she suddenly spoke again.

“You should get some sleep,” she replied lightly, but he could hear the worry in her voice. He almost laughed; he should be the one worrying about her, not the other way around. 

“I will once we’re back on Pabu,” he responded, only for Omega’s shoulders to tense up again. She wiggled her head away from Hunter’s grasp and turned to face her brother.

“You need to sleep.” she had a frown on her face now, her arms crossed and an eyebrow raised. Hunter knew that face; that was the face he used to use to get her to go to bed.

“Omega…” he sighed, resting his arms down by his sides. Sure he had been dead to the world before her crying had woken him, but he had been due a power nap. Now he’d probably be able to stay awake all the way through the rest of their journey. 

The little girl wasn’t having any of that, it seemed. 

“You’re going to sleep as soon as we’re done here.” It was an order, not a suggestion and the child nodded before turning around once more and allowing him to resume his work.

“Sir, yes sir,” Hunter grumbled as he picked up the comb once more.

——

An hour or so later, and Hunter was working through the last of the knots. Omegas’ hair would need another wash and brush in the morning, but it shouldn’t be anywhere near as difficult or lengthy a process. 

“You’re all good, kid,” he said; his voice croaked slightly with exhaustion and his eyes felt heavy again. Maybe a kip would do him some good…

… there was no response from Omega, and Hunter realised that she had dozed off in the chair as he’d been brushing her hair. He sighed and tried to gently manoeuvre her out of the position, only for her to suddenly yelp and start thrashing.

“NO!” she cried, eyes snapping open, but not focusing. “I won’t go back there! Hunter!” Omega collapsed in a heap as Hunter tried grasp her before she hit the floor. Taking a few shuddering breaths, she seemed to realise just where she was and glanced around the cockpit of the ship. Upon spotting Hunter, she lunged for him wrapping her trembling arms around him and refusing to let him go. He was forced to crouch down to her level, joining her on the floor of the cockpit as he held her close; she clambered into his lap allowing him to wrap his arms around her fully and whisper soothing words into her hair.

Eventually, when her breathing had evened out a little more, he glanced down at the child. She was clinging to his blacks, her head nestled into his chest in a way that he’d never really held her before. Sure, she’d given him hugs that he’d awkwardly tried to return in the past but this new sense of closeness was alien to him. Alien and yet it felt as though it should have been this way all along. 

“I don’t want this to be fake,” she whispered hoarsely. “I don’t want to wake up and be back there and be faced with another day in that place.”

Hunter nodded before resting his chin on the top of her head. 

“You’re safe, ad’ika,” he replied. He’d learned the term from Tech, who had teased him once about how Omega had seemed more like a daughter than a sister.

Omega froze in his embrace and glanced up at him. She knew what it meant, clearly, from the look in her eyes. They shone with yet more unshed tears but instead of a sad look on her face, the ghost of a smile crossed her features.

“You really mean that?” she asked. Hunter blanched, but nodded, trying to remain calm. People had always mistaken him for Omega’s father and he had spent so long denying that he was… it had only been since her disappearance that he had come to terms with the fact:

Omega was his kid.

There was no denying it now, the girl knew what he thought and now all he had to do was wait for her rejection. What was he thinking? He couldn’t be a father to her, he couldn’t promise to keep her safe when he’d lost her.

He was drawn out of his spiral by arms being thrown around his neck.

“I’m glad you do,” she whispered just loudly enough for him to hear, and Hunter found that he was having to blink back tears. Omega pulled away from the hug and smiled at him before a large yawn practically split her face in two. Hunter chuckled.

“Tired?” he asked, and she nodded, though a look of fear passed over her face. Hunter frowned; he never wanted to see his little girl look scared again if he could help it.

“Omega?” he asked, concern laving his voice. The child chewed her bottom lip nervously.

“I…” she trailed off, running her hand through he newly brushed hair. “I don’t want to be on my own,” she said quietly, looking a little embarrassed. Hunter nodded and briefly paused before scooping her up and carrying her back into the cabin. He set her down on his bunk gently before crouching down and putting the hairbrush and spray bottle away.

“You could always stay her tonight?” he suggested, glancing up at his kid. She nodded keenly before shuffling back on the bunk and pressing herself against the wall of the cabin. Hunter ditched the last of his armour before clambering into the bunk himself, pulling the blankets over them both.

The pair shuffled for a moment, adjusting to sharing a bunk designed for one person, but before long Omega was cuddled against her father figure, a handful of his blacks clutched tightly in her grip. Her breathing began to slow as she eased into a (hopefully) deep sleep, but before she did she whispered something just you enough for Hunter to hear.

“Night, buir.”

So Tech had been teaching Omega some Mando’a too, it seemed. Hunter’s breath caught in his throat as he heard the term, but smiled at the warmth that spread through him

“G’night, ad’ika.”

He knew in that moment, that as long as he had his little girl, he could face down anything else that happened to their family unit. Anything at all. 

——

Weeks later, he was sore and exhausted as he searched the rubble of Tantiss, desperately searching for signs of Omega. The last thing any of them had been expecting was for the Zillo beast to break loose and collapse the mountain-base. It had made swift work of the labs before running off in search of more chaos to cause… leaving the survivors to search the rubble. 

Echo had caught up with them not long ago, battered and bruised but very much alive. He had dragged a bedraggled scientist with him (Hunter learned that this was Emerie), claiming that the pair of them had been trying to free Omega and the other children (others?!) in the vault before the chaos had begun.

The squad were frantically pulling apart the rubble in search of any sign that the children were alive when Emerie let out a pained gasp. Hunter’s head shot up and he ran over to where the woman was standing. 

In her hands she was holding what he could only describe as a straw version of Lula, dirty and coming apart… 

“This belonged to Eva,” Emerie stammered as she looked around. Hunter realised that this must be one of the children’s names. If Eva was buried under this pile of rubble, maybe Omega could be too. The pair of them crouched and began to dig at the rubble that surrounded the area. Hunter could feel the tears filling his eyes as they got deeper. What if she wasn’t here? What if, after only just realising that he was in fact Omega’s father, he was going to have that ripped away from him?

“Buir!”

Hunter’s head shot up. He yanked his helmet off, looking around as he tried to place the voice. Suddenly, there she was. She was filthy, covered from head to toe in dust and dirt, but she was grinning as though she had just won a prize. 

He wasted no time running towards her, vaguely registering the other children that she was stood with. They looked a little startled as Hunter swept Omega into his arms and held her close.

He burst into tears as he held her, gripping onto her like his life depended on it. 

“Omega,” he uttered through ragged breaths, relishing in the fact that his little girl held him close. 

“Buir,” she replied softly, her own voice thick with emotion. He set her down before holding her at arm’s length and checking her over.

“Are you okay?” he asked almost frantically, looking her up and down. “Are you hurt anywhere?”

She shook her head, tears still streaming down her cheeks. This reminded him so much of when she had found them the first time around. 

“It’s over,” she choked out, and Hunter nodded, glancing at the rubble around them. 

“It’s over,” he soothed as he pulled her back into a hug.

——

The Marauder was gone. A new ship had taken it’s place, provided by Rex and his men as they turned up to evacuate the Batch, Emerie, the children and any surviving clones. Hunter and Emerie had both agreed to help the children find their homes again, seeing as Eva and Sami couldn’t recall their home planets (they had been so young when they’d been taken) and Jax knew the planet name but couldn’t remember the town. Barryn had no way of communicating his home planet, which presented its own challenge. 

The Firebird, their new ship, was… very full at the moment. It had two bunk rooms, unlike the Marauder, and one of those had been allocated to the kids whilst they were staying on board. The other was slept in by Hunter and his brothers. Emerie opted to sleep in the common room, still wary and unsure of her newfound freedom. No one questioned it.

That night, Wrecker was on watch when Hunter heard the soft patter of feet across the short hallway to the cabin he was currently sharing with Crosshair and Echo. He rolled his eyes fondly, knowing exactly who was coming in.

The door hissed open only to reveal Omega stood in Hunter’s blacks (still too big for her) and shivering in the cold night air. She crept across the room to Hunter’s bunk, where he rolled over and shifted, moving the blanket so that she could climb in. Omega still opted to wedge herself between Hunter and the wall of the room, holding not his blacks like they were a lifeline. He pulled her close, pressing a kiss to her forehead as the pair of them drifted into a light sleep.

“Love you, buir.”

“Love you too, ad’ika. Sweet dreams.”

Who knew how long their ship would be more like a boarding house for tiny Jedi, but Hunter couldn’t care less. He would offer to house and feed all of the kids in the universe as long as he got to see his little girl smiling and happy each day.

[rorywritesjunk]

(for Croc's birthday. For fun. Modern AU because the throuple is so much fun.)

"You can't go home yet."

Crocodile looked up from his briefcase at his business partner in the doorway of his office. No, he was going home, didn't matter who he had to shove out of his way but he was going home, have a glass of something, and go to bed. He was exhausted, it was his birthday, and Buggy got on his last nerve at the 4pm meeting and it was a miracle that fool was still alive.

"Oh, are you going to stop me somehow?"

"I was given strict instructions by Miss Sunny not to let you get home until after 6:35pm."

The taller man narrowed his eyes. Oh, what did his darling wife have planned for him?

"It better not be a surprise party."

"I am under strict orders not to say a word."

That fool Buggy left around five, insisting he had a doctor's appointment to get to while Taron went with him, saying they needed to be there to hold Buggy's hand. Not to mention... Sunny never came by the office today. She almost always brought him lunch and afternoon coffee but today, his birthday, she didn't.

Instead it sounded like she was planning some hellish party.

He checked his watch. It was 5:50. Home was 15 minutes away. What was he supposed to do for 30 minutes then? He looked over at Mihawk. The other man was watching him carefully as Croc shut his briefcase.

"If I arrive before 6:35, what's going to happen?" He challenged as he headed for the door. Mihawk crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes.

"You will break Miss Sunny's heart." He replied cooly. "Which we all know wouldn't be your intent."

Crocodile paused. Damn. Mihawk was really using Sunny against him in that way.

"Then what am I supposed to do until then?"

~

They were both in their forties. They didn't get drunk anymore like they did in college. But neither drank like they used to and Crocodile was a little tipsy. He kept enjoying his drinks while dreading the thought of a party in his home. Mihawk drove them home as Croc talked about everything he planned to do to both him and Sunny as his hand was on Mihawk's knee.

"It's my birthday after all."

"Wait until we get home." Mihawk said, making no effort to stop him. "Another few minutes."

"A few minutes is all I need." Croc grinned. "You first, then Sunny, then you and Sunny at the same time."

"Mhm."

The car pulled into the driveway. Crocodile didn't see any other cars but they likely parked elsewhere. He stared up at the house for a moment, the thought of walking into a surprise party made him second guess his plan of coming home. Why would she do such a thing?

Mihawk checked his watch before opening the car door. "It's 6:36, let's go inside."

"Who's here for the party?" Croc sighed. "If Buggy and his little goons are here-"

"Miss Sunny worked hard on this." Mihawk told him. "You'll just have to see for yourself when you come inside."

"Is Taron at least going to be here?" Croc asked as he opened the door. "They can at least keep Buggy in check."

"Let's go find out."

Croc remained in his seat. He didn't want a party. He never asked for it. He knew his wife meant well and thought that this would be fun but a surprise party? Really? He threw her a few when they were first together yet she never managed to get him. He always caught on.

"At least act surprised when you walk in." Mihawk said as he glanced over at him. "She worked hard on this. There was a lot of planning to make it perfect and she's been stressed over it."

Croc rubbed his face and nodded, finally getting out of the car and staring up at the house. He could act surprised for her. He would enjoy himself for her. Just once and never again.

Mihawk led him up to the door, unlocking it and letting the two of them inside. Crocodile braced himself for the crowd of people to jump out and shout at him, something he would have it act nice for a little while. He hated the thought of it. He couldn't believe Sunny would do this.

Mihawk flipped a light on.

Nothing happened except Sunny sticking her head out of the kitchen, eyes lighting up when she saw the two of them.

"You're home!" She exclaimed as she hurried towards them. "Perfect timing, I ordered take out from your favorite restaurant and it just arrived. I have the dining table set for us and I made you a birthday cake."

"Where's the party?" He asked, looking between Mihawk and Sunny. She looked at him funny as she leaned up to kiss him on the cheek.

"Why would I throw you a party when you don't want one?" She asked. "I just asked Hawk to keep you from coming home so I could get dinner ready.'

He looked at Mihawk. The other man shrugged.

"I never said she was throwing you a surprise party."

[padfootagain]

Something Good (XIX)

Chapter 19 : Without Asking

Hello! Here is a new chapter for my Ben Barnes series!

Sorry, I forgot to post my fic yesterday…

Hope you like it!!!

****

Pairing: Ben Barnes x Reader

Warnings: Fluff,  Slow burn, professor AU.

Summary: Coming out of a divorce and trying to get used to being a single mom, while teaching your classes at University, you thought your life could not get more complicated than it already is. But when you are asked to take care of the theatre club with the colleague that you really can’t get along with, you realize that everything can still get ten times more complicated in your life. And when you start actually liking Professor Barnes, the troubles only grow exponentially…

Word Count: 3243

Masterlist for the series – Ben Barnes’ Masterlist – Main Masterlist

When you came home before heading to work, your mother was waiting for you. It was seven already, Sally was eating her breakfast, her tired eyes barely open. She didn’t question where you were coming from, why her granny was there. Instead, she asked for a hug as soon as you stepped inside the kitchen, and you complied happily.

Your mother didn’t ask anything at first, she waited for Sally to be busy getting dressed in her bedroom.

“So… are you going to talk now?” she asked, crossing her arms before her chest, a glower in her eyes.

You heaved a sigh, but knew better than to argue. You sat down, taking a minute to gather your courage. But your mother was tired and annoyed.

“Where were you?”

You looked at her as you answered, a little shy, but the ghost of a smile on your lips.

“I went to see Ben.”

Your mother blinked. Once. Twice. Thrice.

“Ben? You mean… the handsome colleague?”

You nodded.

“We… we needed to talk.”

“At 5am on a Friday?”

“We…”

You bit your lip, your gesture enough for your mother to guess it all. Her eyes grew round.

“Holy Mother of God’s Bullocks! You and Handsome are…”

“I mean… We…”

You let out a giggle, burying your burning cheeks in your palms.

“Wait! Did you… two… spent the morning together…?” your mother asked with a wink.

You exploded with laughter, embarrassed.

“Mom! No, no! We didn’t sleep together but we… Yesterday we stayed after work hours to plan a scene for the play, you know, for the theatre club. And one thing led to another and we… kissed. A lot.”

She let out an excited squeal.

“But then I needed some time to think, to decide what to do and… and I just needed to see him. And we’ve talked. And we… we’re going to give it a try.”

“YES! FINALLY!”

She threw her hands up in the air, making a happy dance while still sitting on her chair, making you laugh.

“What do you even mean with finally?”

“Oh, come on… the man is absolutely smitten with you. It was obvious when we picked him up at the train station, and every time you talk about him you light up!”

She reached for your hand, gave it a tender squeeze.

“I’m glad. He seems very sweet.”

“He is.”

“I’m glad you’re getting over Liam. He doesn’t deserve you.”

“You adored him!”

“When you were younger! He was different then. All this… job related things… it changed him. Made him believe he was important. Gave him an ego, when he didn’t do anything to deserve one. He grew into someone who doesn’t deserve you.”

You gave her a small smile, nodding your head.

“So… what are the plans for the new couple?” your mom asked, excitement back on her features.

You chuckled at that, shrugged.

“We’re going on a date tomorrow night.”

“What will you do?”

“I don’t know yet… we’ve mentioned a dinner and a movie, but we haven’t planned the details yet.”

Your mother let out yet another squeal, holding you close this time.

“I’m so happy for you!”

“Do you think it will be okay, though? With Sally?”

But your mother was reassuring as she pulled away.

“It’s your life. You deserve happiness. Sally will understand, in time. It might not always be easy, but the things that are worth living rarely are, anyway. She will be just fine, you’re not the only divorced mother finding love again!”

You nodded, remaining silent, but you were smiling again.

Indeed, many other people managed perfectly this type of situation. There was no need to worry too much. It would all be fine. You would make it work.

George was looking for his glasses, as usual. And as usual, Miles knew perfectly well where the spectacles were, but he found the sight of his husband mumbling in annoyance and frantically searching everywhere for them too entertaining to help him in the slightest. Instead, he chuckled, bringing his coffee to his lips.

It was the same dance every morning. He lived for it.

“Instead of laughing at me, why don’t you help me find these bloody glasses…?”

“You’re too fun to watch.”

“Sometimes I wonder why I love you…”

“I have an amazing arse.”

“Oh yeah! That’s why!”

A cry of triumph finally rang as George spotted the glasses, waiting for him by the sink.

He walked over to Miles, still sitting at the table, and leaned to give him a peck on the lips.

“Have a good day, my love,” Miles chimed.

“You too, honey. I love you!”

“Love you too!”

George was tying his shoes when the doorbell rang. They exchanged a glance… it was seven thirty… who could be coming here so early?

When George opened the door, it was to find a shivering Ben Barnes on his doorstep.

“Hi!” he chimed, shooting the elder man a smile. “Sorry to bother you so early. I need to see Miles.”

George raised an eyebrow, but let his younger friend in all the same.

“Ben? Is everything alright?” Miles questioned him, pointing at an empty chair to invite him to sit down.

Ben complied, let himself fall in the chair. He looked… excited and terrified at the same time. His knee was jumping rapidly, he was twisting his fingers together…

“I… I need your advice on something.”

“I’m all ears.”

“I… I’m going on a date.”

The two men turned around as they heard something falling in the hallway. A second later, George was hurrying to the living room to join them, still wearing his coat and only one of his shoes.

“A date?! With Y/N?!” he asked, clearly excited, making Ben chuckle fondly while his cheeks turned crimson.

He merely nodded, and the couple by his side cheered, and even hugged.

“At last! At long last!” Miles cried, making Ben roll his eyes, even though he was smiling.

“Alright, alright… that’s enough. I get it, you’re excited.”

“What happened?! I want to know everything!” George ignored Ben’s remark, settling down around the table more comfortably, taking off his coat.

“Aren’t you supposed to go to work?”

“Work can wait! Your miserable love life suddenly becoming amazing again is much more interesting!”

“My love life is not miserable!”

“Not anymore! So, what happened?”

“Well, we… we were together in the theatre working last night, alone. And… we… kissed.”

The two men cheered, holding hands.

“How was it?” Miles asked.

Ben blushed fiercely, rolling his eyes.

“Miles…”

“Oh come on! We’ve been waiting for months!”

“It was… amazing…”

Ben cleared his throat, clearly embarrassed by the confession, but his two friends were overexcited.

“And then… you asked her out?”

“We took a few hours to digest what had happened.”

“She needed time to think,” Miles translated.

“Yes, she did,” Ben conceded with a wince.

“And?”

“And… I called her during the night, and she picked up. We talked for a bit. And at 5am, there she was, on my doorstep!”

The couple was suspended to his words.

“And we… we’ve decided to give it a try. So, we’re going on a date, tomorrow night.”

“YES!” both Miles and George cried in sync.

Ben laughed at his friends.

“And now, I bet you need advises for the date!” Miles grinned. “You’ve come to the right person. I’m an expert!”

George laughed hard.

“You are the worst at planning dates!”

“I am certainly not!” Miles fought back, clearly offended.

“You are wonderful on many levels, but your dates are terrible, honey.”

“You love our dates! I landed you, didn’t I?”

“Our first date was a disaster.”

“I got better with time.”

“You did not… Ben, trust me with this. I’ll help. Don’t listen to this monkey over there.”

“Hey!”

“What have you planned so far?”

Ben shrugged.

“We agreed on a dinner and movie.”

“Good! Simple, but romantic. Now, I know this restaurant not far from here, it’s perfect…”

Ben laughed, shaking his head.

“I’ll manage for that, don’t worry.”

“Really? You will? How many years ago was your last date, again?”

“That hurts,” Ben narrowed his eyes at George.

“Still true though.”

Ben seemed to doubt now. After all, if he had come all the way here, it was because he wanted advices, he wanted to be reassured…

He listened to George’s advices. He accepted the clothes the old man lent him for the date. But when he came home and tried them on, he felt… posh.

A suit, a white shirt, it all seemed expensive. He didn’t… really feel like himself. He searched for the restaurant George had recommended. It was very expensive. Outrageously so.

The old voice came ringing again.

Good guys never get the girl.

You’re not enough. You’ll never be enough.

Ben clenched his jaw. He wanted you to love him. He wanted it so desperately, he was ready to impress you and act like someone else for that.

But then again… he wanted you to love him…

The answer to Ben’s dilemma came easily that evening.

After stealing glances at lunchtime, you had kept your distance throughout the afternoon, both of you needing to get some work done. But as the evening advanced, as the lampposts replaced the bright sunlight, you came knocking at Ben’s door, a grin on your face, all wrapped in your warmest clothes.

“It’s late, I’m gonna go home,” you told him.

He knew the real meaning behind your words: walk with me to our cars. I want to see you one last time before I leave.

His lips parted into a toothy grin, his nose scrunched up in an adorable way.

“You’re right. I should call it a night too.”

And you knew the real meaning behind his words: I was waiting for you. Let me walk with you to our cars.

You waited for him as he turned off his computer, put on his coat and scarf, chatting away about the classes you had during the afternoon. Nothing out of the ordinary, the same habit you had started back in November. Until you walked out of the building, reached the narrow path leading to the parking lot. It was quiet, there was no one else around, only the yellowish lights of lampposts, the buzzing of the distant traffic, the lonely stars shining shyly in the young night. When Ben brushed his fingers against yours, he thought you would push him away. You enlaced your fingers together instead, both of you quiet, looking away, trying to hide the way your hearts were pounding, the way your heads were spinning, the way butterflies bloomed and took flight in your stomachs…

It was exhilarating, comforting, absolutely wonderful. You were giddy, lightheaded even. Ben’s hand was warm despite the cold of this December night. His hold firm and yet tender, steady, something you could rely on.

And your hand was warm despite the cold of this wintery evening. Your hold gentle and yet firm, steady, something he could rely on.

You were quiet as you walked, too overwhelmed by the simple feeling of fingers holding onto each other for your brains to allow any other thought to form.

Ben cleared his throat once your car came into view, an omen of separation, even if it were to last for just a few hours.

“Any plans for tonight?” he asked.

“After dropping Sally to Liam’s, I’m going to eat dinner with my mom. We’re having a girls’ night.”

“Sounds fun!”

“It is. Imagine this: mother and daughter buried under five blankets on a comfortable sofa, watching some old movie, and knitting, with some tea and biscuits, of course.”

He chuckled, his smile fond and radiant.

“It does sound like a fun evening. Quiet, but fun.”

“The best kinds. I’m not so fond of parties.”

“A shame. You look incredible in a costume.”

You laughed, trying to hide the fact that your whole body was heating up because of the flirt in his tone.

“You’ll get used to see me in grandma mode.”

“I can’t wait, to be honest.”

You exchanged a tender smile; it tasted like a promise on your tongue.

“So… tomorrow evening… for our date…” you let your voice trail, waiting for him to speak.

You noticed his reddening cheeks.

“I haven’t booked a table yet, so… anything you would like?”

You seemed to think for a moment. But then, your mind drifted to memories of a bright evening, of pizzas and a restaurant bathed in gentle lights, of a long walk through streets you didn’t know, of a bridge opening, of your head on his shoulder…

“Italian,” you answered in a breath. “I’d like to eat some Italian food.”

He nodded. The restaurant George had recommended wasn’t Italian…

“Something… simple. I don’t like very… expensive places. Let’s keep it simple. What do you think?”

You didn’t know why Ben was smiling so brightly, but you guessed you must have done something good, to earn this kind of smile.

“I agree. I think… I know just the place.”

It was your time to grin.

“And then a movie… I trust you fully with that,” you laughed.

“Your taste in movies is flawless, don’t play humble with me!” he shook his head. “But I’ll pick something nice, don’t worry.”

“I trust you.”

You were talking about more than a movie, and both of you knew it.

You caught the way his gaze fell to your lips, before fluttering back to your eyes. He opened his mouth, but closed it again, smiling instead.

He threw a look around, but you were on your own. It was quite late, many had already gone home.

“What?” you asked, narrowing your eyes as you recognized a hint of mischief in his eyes now.

“Nothing,” he answered, all innocence and crooked smile. “You said I didn’t need to ask anymore, so I won’t.”

Before you could answer, he was crushing his lips against yours, a hand flying up to your cheek to hold you close. When he took a step further, your back collided with your car, and you leaned against the cold surface for support, while Ben pressed himself closer.

Your hands were still holding, still as one. Your holds tightened a little, because of the intensity of the kiss, but it remained steady, constant, unwavering…

You ran your fingers through his beard, skin tickled by it. When his lips travelled lower, grazing the length of your jaw, peppering kisses along the edge, you shivered at the burn of his beard against your skin.

When you pulled him in for another kiss, he whispered against your mouth.

“I can’t wait for this date with you,” he confessed.

“Me neither,” you grinned, bumping your nose into his in a tender gesture.

“You should go home. It’s late. And an amazing evening is awaiting! Besides, if you’re late because of me for your mother, she might start hating me, and we can’t have that before our first date!”

You laughed, while he chuckled against the skin of your forehead, pressing kisses there.

“My mom likes you so far.”

“Does she?”

“I told her this morning about what happened… I mean, I did call her at 5am to keep an eye on Sally. I couldn’t just lie to her.”

“Of course.”

“And… she said, and I quote, that you are ‘smitten with me’.”

You gave him a toothy grin, full of teasing, and Ben blushed fiercely, clearing his throat.

You expected him to fight back, to deny it all in playful banter, but he didn’t, and your heart swelled at his words.

“Well… she’s right. I am smitten with you. A little too much to my own liking, to be fair.”

You pressed your cheek to his chest, holding him close. You couldn’t look at him anymore, staring at these intense black irises… it was too much to take in.

“I like you a lot too,” you whispered, but he heard you loud and clear, and you felt him smiling against your hair.

But minutes flew by, and you were both very cold by now. It was time to part for the night, and after one last kiss, Ben took a step back, your hands finally letting go, breaking their tender hold.

“Be careful on the road,” his breath drew white patterns in the cold air.

“You too. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

You closed your door, but Ben watched you leaving the parking lot. He let out a long exhale, a grin plastered on his face, feeling giddy and excited as he ran a hand through his hair.

He jumped as someone cleared their throat behind him.

He paled as he turned around to find himself facing Henry.

“Well, well, well… what do we have here?”

“I… can explain.”

“I get it that things are better between the two of you.”

Ben finally let out a laugh.

“You can say that.”

“I’d love to hear all about it.”

“A drink?”

“With pleasure.”

“No one can know though!” Ben warned his colleague, leaving his car behind as they walked to a pub close by. “We’re taking things slow.”

“I see. I’ll keep it to myself then, but… I’m happy for you. For both of you.”

Ben’s smile faltered though, wavered until it was gone, replaced by a worried frown.

“I’ve never… properly apologized for that afternoon. I’m sorry, Henry. It was uncalled for, and completely out of line.”

“I was the one asking personal questions to my boss.”

Ben rolled his eyes.

“We’re friends. I shouldn’t have said any of the things I said that afternoon. I’m sorry, Henry.”

“It’s alright. I forgive you. But only because you’re a nice boss.”

“Thank you.”

“Besides, you seemed… not like yourself. You seemed upset that afternoon.”

It took Ben a moment to answer. They walked across the pavement, the sound of their footsteps crisp in the cold air. Wind howling, and cars driving by were drowning the silence that had settled. He buried his cold hands in the pockets of his coat.

“I didn’t think… It was too early on. It took me a while to get used to feeling like this all over again. I guess I just thought… I didn’t think she felt the same. I didn’t think she would give me a chance.”

But Henry didn’t get it.

“Why not? You’re amazing!”

Ben rolled his eyes.

“I mean it! Look, you’re… good-looking, for your age.”

“Hey! I’m not old!”

“And you’re nice, and smart, and the two of you share common interests,” Henry went on, ignoring his friend’s protests. “Why wouldn’t she say yes if you asked her out?”

Ben shook his head, half-amused. Henry was so young…

“Because she’s a mother. Because I’m a mess. Because I’m terrified. Because she’s a mess too. Because we’re too old to fool around. Because when you truly care for someone, you want the best for them, and I’m not sure I’m good enough for her.”

Ben gave Henry a sad smile.

“You’re too young to get that. But you’ll understand, one day. It’s hard to be vulnerable again, when you’ve been hurt before. And it’s even harder to take the risk to hurt someone you love.”

Henry noticed the choice of verb, he was about to comment on it, when Ben opened the door of the pub, and hurried inside. He got away with it, this time around…

*********************************

Tag list : @reg-arcturus-black @sergeantbuckybarnes @wolfmoonmusic @idek-what-to-put @kpicard @rhapsodyonthethames @friendly-philosopher

[xiyouyanyi]

Interlude: We Need to Talk About LBD

Originally, I just HC her as a powerful Ghostly immortal——one of the Five Kinds of Immortals mentioned in JTTW, as well as the Zhonglv Daoist traditions, which I talked about in this post: On the Origin of the Five Kinds of Immortals

Then I had a big brain moment: what if LBD is Su Daji. The girl, not the fox who ate her soul.

Basically...in this AU, the fox only consumed portions of her soul, not all of it, and she was trapped in the Underworld as a ghost for the entirety of FSYY.

After Huang Feihu was deified as King of Mt. Tai, Judge King of the Dead, he looked up what happened to his old friend's daughter and found her stuck together with the nine-tailed fox in one of the Hells.

He wanted to send her back into the Wheel of Transmigration, but the incomplete nature of her soul meant that when the reincarnation happened, it would automatically result in a lower birth; instead of being reincarnated as another human, she might become an animal or a plant through no fault of her own.

So, out of pity, she was given the job of a minor ghostly attendant where she could, hopefully, gather enough merits to rise up in rank and get out of the Underworld to become a ghostly immortal working in the mortal realm: a goddess of the land/city.

And rose up in the ranks, she did. Despite the inner turmoils. If your own dad blaming you for a tyrant demanding you as his concubine and nearly killing you wasn't enough, getting stuck with your completely unrepentant murderer for years would certainly create some doubts in your worldview.

Like, the naive Su Daji thought if the fox didn't steal her identity, she could have stopped King Zhou from the series of bad decisions and murders that ensued by being a good, proper wife. The fox, who loved King Zhou because he was the most yaoguai-like human she had ever met, just hollered.

"Really, little girl? Really? You thought one wicked woman could ruin a truly upright man, with nary a thirst of power and desire to crush his inferiors in him? If that was true, I wouldn't have to make Bo Yikao into meat patties." "If I didn't take your place, he would have found you a total bore, just like his queen, and you'd spend the rest of your life in some isolated wing of the palace, alone and forgotten, unworthy of even being a pawn in the game between king and vassals!"

No. The fox was lying, like she always did. If she was in its place she wouldn't have done all these horrible things. She'd have made him a better king, and bring forth a virtuous reign.

In fact, she'd prove it, now that she was an Underworld official working her way up the ranks. She would become a proper goddess of the land, granting bountiful harvests and protection to the people, giving advice to one local leader at a time and using the power of their faith to do good...

...Long story short, she set out to prove the fox wrong by being the Good Wife and Good Minister, only to find out over the span of centuries that it didn't work, become disillusioned with the myth of "noble kings" in general, and believe the only way to fix a fundamentally broken world order is to raze it to the ground first. 

Also, her obsession with Fate and Destiny is en pointe for a FSYY character, to the point where even other veterans would get tired of her shit.

"Yeah, seen that, heard that, fought for that, now would you please shut up! No, seriously, if everything is Fated to Be, I guess we should've all just lied back and waited 28 years for King Zhou to drink himself into an early grave, huh?" ——Prince Bingling of the Three Mountains "Divination only shows you one endpoint, not how you get there, or what will happen after that. In fact, to take it as gospel is how fools absolve themselves of responsibilities when they absolutely could have done something on the way there." ——Ziwei, Great Emperor of the North Star "Oh darn! Haven't heard that in a thousand years. So very nostalgic. Still, I'll give you the same response I once gave to these Chan asshats: Go shove your Fate and Destiny up where the light doesn't shine, m'lady." ——Unidentified Thunder Bureau official

Appendix: The Bone Mech

The show gives no explanation whatsoever about why the assembly manual for a MMD(Mech of Mass Destruction) could be found in the Cloud, so I would over-explain it for fun.

With all the Oracle Bone scripts around its associated seals, I think it would be neat if it was actually a Shang dynasty creation, specifically, a weapon built during the War of Investiture.

At some point during the Shang-Zhou conflict, the losing Shang forces decided to create a vessel for one of the Kings of Ghosts and unleash the wrath of the ancestors on their enemies. However, its activation demanded both powerful treasures as cores, and the sacrifice of a sufficiently powerful being; either a captive immortal, or a full-blooded yaoguai.

The last one was out of question bc many of their Jie Sect allies were cultivated beasts, but none of the immortal acolytes they did manage to capture could power the weapon long enough for it to turn the tides of battle——it wasn't the body that was needed, but the souls, and the sort of souls powerful enough to keep it running were pretty much all destined for the Investiture upon death.

The brief moments they did get it working, however, still resulted in horrifying destruction. As a result, one of the first things the Chan/Zhou side did post-war was to melt the weapon down and execute its chief architects, leaving only a single schema, sealed inside a cave together with all the other TMDs (Treasures of Mass Destruction).

The problem is? They had done their job too well, and fast forward a few thousand years, not even the two divine generals who guarded The Cloud, Thousand-Mile-Eyes and Wind-following-Ears, remembered that the place had a hidden basement.

[sanjoongie]

Congratulations on your one year🥳🎂 one day I'll buy you a real cake 🥺😂 I got chu

I wanna play along so I'll do "Arrows of Sin"

~Topaz: i will look forward to you fixing the cake debt >< thank you for encouraging my thoughts, helping me provide a 'who' when i ask 'who in ateez would do this' and generally allowing me to torture you with whatever i write. you work hard being my beta and there's not a day that doesn't go by that i'm not thankful you're my friend~ this is for youuuuuuuu

Arrows of Sin

✧Pairing: Ji Changmin x Reader (f) ✧Genre: smut ✧Au: fairy tale, sleep demon (incubus?), video game au, break the (forth) wall, hints of horror? ✧Word Count: 1,175 ✧Warnings: seduction through dreams~, penetrative sex without barrier, oral f receiving, edging/denial, degradation kink, ✧Rated: 18+ MDNI

Changmin closed one eye, pulled back the bow string, let out all of his breath and then released the string. His arrow went flying but not towards the target he’d rather. There was Yunho, once again, talking to his love. And wasn’t she just twirling her hair and giggling at the cur. Changmin picked up another arrow and shot it into the bull’s eye. Again. His jaw tightened in anger. He had to will himself to not rotate his body and aim the next arrow at Yunho.

At the castle of Happily Ever After, there was only one outcome in this game: the prince Yunho and the princess were to end up together no matter what difficulties they endured. The princess could be kidnapped, it could be revealed that Yunho has a dark side, none of that mattered because the ending was always the same. You guessed it, Happily Ever After, only for them. But couldn't the rules be tweaked just a little bit?

So Changmin sneaked into Yunho’s rooms late at night, clasped a hand over the Prince’s mouth and made a pact in the shadows of the moon. The pact was with a sleep demon. In exchange for providing the demon with a permanent food source, the demon would lend Changmin the power to visit the princess in her dreams. This way, Yunho was out of the picture, in perfect health but never waking up, while Changmin could subtly encourage the princess to fall in love with him instead.

The princess was deep asleep when Changmin came to her. Her cherry-red lips were in a tiny pout but she slumbered peacefully. Changmin kissed her forehead and then he was able to crawl inside of her dreams until he broke the pact with the demon. 

The first few dreams were simple whispers of what could be. A laugh, a whisper, a kiss, nothing too in your face. The princess was distraught, after all, over Yunho being in a deep sleep in which he could not awake from. But then Changmin pushed into her dreams physically and lured her there. A dimpled smile, a hearty laugh, and soon the princess was sending him small smiles his way.

The piece de la resistance was when he dared to go where he had been trembling in anticipation for. He wove a dream of lace and sunsets; a bedroom pretty enough for the apple of his eye. There he pushed her body into the plush bedding and kissed her neck. The princess protested demurely even though she opened her legs for him willingly. He licked and sucked marks along her skin and she moaned wantonly for him, running her hand up the nape of his neck to dig her nails into his scalp. She was soon mewling his name, begging for more.

“I want to hear you say it, princess,” Changmin growled.

“Changmin, please, I need you inside of me,” She whined, bucking her hips upwards.

“Anything for you, beloved,” Changmin cooed and proceeded to remove the princess’s undergarments with his teeth. 

He wrapped his arms around her thighs and proceeded to lick her lower half until her back was bowed and she was crying pretty tears of need for him. And still he didn’t give her any release. He made sure to kiss every part of her squishable body, using his hands to swirl and squeeze the flesh that was all his now. The princess switched between sweet cries and deep demands, and still Changmin denied her. 

The princess was a writhing, wet wreck below him and it was everything he wanted in life. “Darling, what do you want the most?”

The princess grabbed his labels and pulled him close to her face. “Take me from behind like a beast does for his mate.”

Changmin quirked an eyebrow at her brazenness. “Princess?”

“Make me feel like a dirty wench,” She said, eyes downcast, and back to being the blushing princess.

Changmin wasn’t sure if this was the princess’s dream anymore or his. Surely the princess would never be this debased for Yunho? Here he was, amongst the pink and the plush, and the princess wanted lecherous scenes for her pleasure. Changmin wanted to fill that void for her. He wanted her addicted to his body from the dreams so that the princess would be pushed to press for him in real life. 

Changmin maneuvered the princess until she was on her hands and knees for him. He appreciated the pretty picture she made, like this, in front of him. His hands were still greedy for her skin, touching and pinching, drinking in her noises of pain and pleasure. But it was time to put both him and the princess out of their misery. 

His fingers dug into the flesh of her ass as he eased himself inside of her. The princess let out a happy sigh, finally being filled like she had been yearning for. She made small noises beneath him, murmuring his name and making his heart burst. This is how life should be rewarding him, it shouldn’t just be a scene within the dream.

“I can’t believe you just wanted to be fucked like a whore,” Changmin said in a sing song voice to the princess, “I could have had you like this so many times, just for your pleasure.”

“Don't,” The princess whined, “I just--” The rest of her sentence was cut off as Changmin began to thrust harder into her.

“You like it rough? You want it deep? What if I mark up every piece of your precious flesh, Princess? Would you like that? I should let everyone know that you’re mine,” Changmin cooed and it sent shivers through the princess’s body. 

The princess didn’t have anything more to say, other than chanting his name over and over. He had her hook, line and sinker. She came with a pretty shout, her voice hoarse from all the torture he had put her through previously. She was simply a hole to be used for his pleasure now.

When it was Changmin’s turn, he cried out, shooting his arrows of sin inside of the princess. All within the dreamscape of course, everything was perfectly fine. But if he could get the princess addicted to the pleasure he could give her in her dreams, imagine what she might let him do outside of them.

***

“What the heck?” You said out loud, confused as to why your save was corrupt and you couldn't play your favorite game.

You cocked your head, confused as to why Prince Yunho wasn’t on the title screen anymore. You squinted. Who was that, one of the soldiers that was always practicing archery on the grounds? Did he even have a name?

“Princess,” An eerie voice echoed in your room.

You ripped your headphones out, eyes wide and looking around. You could have sworn… there was no way that came from the game? You put your phone down. Maybe it was time for bed. But oddly enough, you had the most filthy dreams…

Taglist game is closed! Just clearing out all the ones that made it through the deadline~ enjoyyyyyy

[the-ace-with-spades]

Things/headcanons about my firefighter!Bradley and still a naval aviator!Jake AU because I can't seem to stop... I'm sorry, guys...

- Jake has tried to talk Bradley into bringing his turnouts for a roleplay thing in their bedroom (b/c, let's be honest, the suspenders alone...) but Bradley insisted that the turnouts are still carcinogenic even if they're washed regularly. The furthest Jake managed to talk him was putting on his uniform, button-up and trousers, and his decorative helmet (one he has on his Firefighting Shelf at home)

- Jake, just like Mav, buys the firefighting calendars Bradley is featured in - just for obviously very different reasons. He takes one to deployment if it's longer than three months. His bunkmates make fun of him until he shows them the Mr August he's dating...

- the first time Jake was there to see Bradley after a bad day at work, he didn't know what to do. Bradley was just so quiet and unresponsive and didn't really want to tell Jake what happened. It had continued for another two days (Bradley was supposed to have four off) and Bradley's barely been sleeping at night so Jake drove down to his station under the pretext of doing groceries and asked the on-shift crew for help with dealing with it. In the end, they took a bath together and Jake let him cry it out before talking him into booking an appointment with his psychologist

- Jake also had to get used to Bradley's ever-present need to help people. Whenever they'd go out on dates, they'd inevitably run into someone who needed help - a lady that locked her car keys, a teen that couldn't turn on his car, lost tourists, there was an older lady that was struggling to mow the lawn once and Bradley just up and left him in the middle of the date to do that. By that point Jake was so used to it he just made them some cocktails and gossiped about sweaty, half-naked Bradley with her.

- They're on a flight to Texas to meet Jake's parents when some lady goes into labour and Jake hears, 'Do we have medical personnel on board with us?' and just sighs before telling Bradley, who's sitting there, looking at him with puppy eyes, 'Just go'. It takes longer than the flight itself and the airport medics are taking their time so Jake goes to pick up their baggage alone and his mama is waiting to pick them up and he shows up alone. She's all 'where's your bf?' b/c it seems like he ditched Jake and Jake is just done but also like fond and tells her 'Delivering a baby, I guess'.

- Bradley's whole crew calls him 'the real lieutenant' for years after they met, even when Jake got promoted. Even when Jake married him.

- Jake has also once brought half his squadron to Bradley's station's charity car wash - both because it's for charity and because he wanted to show off his boyfriend in a wet t-shirt *shrugs*

- Bradley volunteers for Pride every year and the first year he and Jake are together, he gets a permit from his chief that allows Jake to ride along with him in the passenger seat

- Jake used to think he could do Bradley's job easily (the same way Bradley'd've been a good aviator if he wished to be) but then they witness a car accident and Jake sees Bradley calling 911, doing triage, crowd and traffic control, and first aid at the same time while Jake just hands him things he asks for until the ffs and EMTs arrive

- the kid that just started working under Bradley (Nate) in the fic absolutely gets adopted by Bradley and (reluctantly) Jake. Jake complains for years that he was tricked into dating a single dad and Javy points out to him that the kid was clearly already Bradley's even the day they met for the first time so he shouldn't be so surprised

(I swear firefighter Bradley was supposed to be Buck-fied but instead I Bobby-fied him more than anything else...)

im putting this under the cut since some people my find this icky but yk...

- Since Bradley is trans in this au even of it's a teeny-tiny mention (he's now going to be trans every time I write him, I'll admit...) so depending how they decide to have kids, you can just imagine the heart attacks Bradley would give Jake when he continues to do all of the above while pregnant and not see a problem ('i'm fine, Jake, I'm just pregnant, I can still do everything on my own' said when he's barely able to get up from a chair on his own). He'd for sure be like that one headline, pregnant firefighter rescues car crash victim and goes into labour, or something along those lines

- Also, for baby shower/gender reveal Bradley insists he won't show up unless everyone promises him that the gender reveal will be non-flammable b/c he's not setting California anymore on fire.

- They get cute photos of the baby/babies in their helmets (Bradley's decorative one and Jake's spare Hangman helmet)

(there'll be more headcanons to come, probably...)

[singswan-springswan]

SW werewolf AU

yep, welcome back to another hyper fixated rambling! this one is heavy on found family though so it might be a bit more bearable.

Okay I've decided to center the concept on Ghost crew and slap it in the modern world just for funsies, since that means I can restructure the politics and whatever.

First off, I've decided that the jedi are all werewolves (or cats maybe? Ahsoka gives me cat vibes but she hardcore needs to be part of the pack so ig that can be left up to debate). They live human lives but have their own culture and events and get-togethers or hunts and such when they get home ofc. very strong bonds between pack members. Instead of calling themselves "werewolves" (despite that being the most colloquial and widely accepted term) some of them like to say they are "wolf bloods" because I guess that sounds more sophisticated. Almost all packs originate from the largest one in Coruscant (not a planet, just a region or somn), which has lots of intricate dynamics since also the alpha beta omega hierarchy is a thing. the way I want it to happen though is that their designation in the pack doesn't mean rank; it translates more directly to what role they play. I know that's not how actual wolf packs hash it out but think of it this way: omegas are sent out to do the nitty gritty field work, like buying groceries. Betas are responsible for caring for the overall health of the pack, and will use those groceries to make dinner for everyone. Alphas delegate everything, so they gave the omegas the shopping list and also the credit card and made sure everyone made it home from school and work on time to eat. Pack members are typically acquired through birth, though on the occasion they absorb an outsider who might have been changed with a bite.

Since Anakin and Co. would be kinda side characters in this au (but also because he's my bestie and I had to indulge him), he and Padme are like. soulmates. you know the ones. from wattpad. it only makes sense. when she found out about Anakin being a wolf blood that was a Whole Thing but she was eventually adopted by the pack and she agreed to be bitten so now the little puppies (Luke and Leia) are running around causing chaos with their abnormal and powerful supernatural abilities.

I want to say all the supernatural stuff kinda floats around the world while most humans are totally blind to it. Like Ventress has to be a vampire or a banshee or something, Sheev is an annoying breed of warlock, and Zeb needs to be a Creature not sure what kind.

anyway Kanan wanders away from the Coruscant pack because he's having a midlife crisis and wants to find himself. Depa and Mace kind of just snort and wave him off. It's pretty standard practice for young alphas to do stuff like that. Most end up rejoining the pack, but some do start their own in a different territory. Kanan finds his way to Lothal where he buys a cute lil house with his so much money (Mace is screaming Rich and taught his grandson how to invest like a champ yessir). He starts tending the local bar and decides to integrate with the nice townspeople just for a fun lil side quest.

Enter Hera, stage left. She's the captain of the local police precinct and has been operating out of Lothal for a few years now. She transferred from the Ryloth sector. Her dad is the chief of stations there. Actually, Hera and Kanan met once when she was still a detective. He thinks it's a great coincidence that their paths converge again, though her tough, stubborn attitude towards him is cold and professional (it's mostly because she remembers how crazy and fun he was and she doesn't want to be distracted from work). They dance around each other, as they do. Kanan is in love before he fully realizes. Something, something, he knows she's human, knows he can't start a pack with her, facetimes Anakin to rant about it, gets laughed at, Padme eventually bombs the call and tells him to go for it bc after all look how she and Anakin turned out (something crashes in the background. There is yelling. Obi-wan chases a Leia who is laughing maniacally while Luke complains about not being able to focus on his homework). Along the way they mention the increase in hunter activity in the Lothal area, so be careful bout that. Kanan has a hard time figuring out whether Hera knows about the supernatural side of things (she doesn't), but if she does he's starting to suspect she'd side with the infamous mandalorian hunters. She told him a story bout monsters and needing to protect the town and stuff. He's not sure how to convince her that not all non-humans are off the rails bat-kriff insane when he JUST got off the phone with the Disaster Lineage Family as they were in the process of burning their house down (you'd think werewolves would be more careful about playing with fire). He decides to go it safe for now. He'll tell her when he's ready (lol loser). 

In the meantime, Zeb and Kanan meet. Zeb runs into him like at the grocery store and they kinda just glare at each other across the fruit aisle. Zeb sniffs obnoxiously a few times "what are ye?" He grumbles. Kanan is momentarily confused. He holds up a banana. "A smoothie guy?" Zeb's eyes narrow. "Ya smell like wet dog from here." (It's raining outside) Kanan gasps, offended. He sniffs his shirt, and all he gets is old spice deodorant (the one he knows hera likes). "I do not!"

Something, something, Zeb eventually places him as a wolf blood (he uses the preferred term, which gets him back on Kanan's good side). Zeb also reveals that he's… whatever he is, some kind of bestial not werewolf thing that can also shapeshift into a human for disguise. Maybe a yeti? a werebear? 👀 Weeeeeee! Anyway Zeb's a social worker at the group home where Ezra's staying atm.

"I've got this kid." He explains to Kanan. "Maybe you can check him out for me."

"What the—I'm not a babysitter."

"Just tell me if he's like you! It's not that hard, kriff. He's got no pack. That's important for you lot, isn't it?"

Kanan agrees to test Ezra somehow. Picks him up from school on Zeb's orders, takes him to get burgers at the local diner like classic spodermun energy, figures out that there's a wolf stalking Ezra (grand inquisitor) and they've had a few run-ins for the past few months. Like Ezra would never out and out say any of that but Kanan's smarter than he looks give him some credit. Also there are shifty red eyes in the flower bed across the street (Kanan's getting really protective now). In classic creepy creep fashion, they get into a car wreck on the way back through the woods. Something, something, Kanan's tires got slashed, the car tips, Kanan's hauling Ezra out by the time he wakes up, then like, runs off into the dark to chase what he's pretty sure is that prick stalker wolf because he's new to dad-ing and didn't think to not leave his kid alone. Grand inquisitor (he should really get an actual name. Maybe we can call him GI? GI Hoe?) Circles back to ezra and attacks him (poor guy) and bites him before Ezra konks out again. He wakes up in the morning like back at the house and everything is totally normal (Kanan really finessed his way out of that) Zeb is making waffles downstairs and school is in half an hour. He'd ask to skip but he feels great. Actually, there's no sign of any injuries (wolf bloods do heal fast ya know), as if the whole thing was one big dream. Except for the fact that he's having a mild sensory overload. Sight, sound, smell are all suddenly maxed out. You know.

Kanan actually brought Ezra back after the whole thing with GI Hoe in the woods (Kanan beat him up and got in the car and kept driving) then immediately dumped his car in the shop. So Zeb knows, but neither of them are totally sure that Ezra is a puppy yet so they decided to just keep a close eye on him until they know. Meanwhile Ezra's having a very weird day at school. He's not sure he can rant to any of his friends about what he's definitely sure happened last night because he has no evidence and anyway they've all got better things to focus on. Jai and Zare are stressing about midterms coming up, and Sabine keeps griping about an impromptu family reunion that's brought a bunch of really scary (in Ezra's opinion) relatives into town who have a mildly freakish obsession with hunting. Ezra's seen her basement. It's a kriffing armory down there.

Anyway classic Ezra trying to juggle all these crazy changes happening to him in the cliche textbook way except he doesn’t have a best friend guy in the chair sidekick to google obscure mythical articles about werewolves for him so he’s doing everything by himself (may or may not be skipping a few classes). Eventually Ezra runs into Kanan again. Probably because he shifted during a moonspell and ran around crazy and Kanan had to snatch him before Hera could shoot the kid. Kanan’s still got no idea how to parent so instead of calmly explaining stuff he just yells at ezra and tells him to be more careful. It doesn’t occur to Kanan that Ezra wasn’t born into a pack and has absolutely no kriffing idea what’s going on. Poor baby. Ezra figures out about Kanan “You’re a werewolf!” *cue more offended gasping* “where did you learn that slur?” “Oh my gOD you literally have fangs!” "what makes you think I'm not a vampire?" "Uh, you're not grossly pale?" "Not all vampires can be pale." "You also wear jeans" "kriff, that's true"

At first Ezra blames Kanan for all the crap he's now subjected to. He's scared and unsure and alone and looking for something to take it out on, and Kanan is convenient because he's just kinda there. But he gets defensive when Ezra confronts him "what do you mean my fault? Ain't got nothing to do with your problems, the kriff?" Ezra's shaking with all the rage trapped in his tiny body with his hands clenched into fists "yes it is! You're the one who bit me!" And Kanan's just dumbfounded and incredulous like first of all excuse you no I did not I was raised better than that holy kark. All pups are taught at a young age that it's very bad manners to Bite someone on a whim. And Kanan may be selfish but he'd never just dump the transformation on a kid with no warning. So then they're just both staring at each other like wait so then who bit Ezra and even GI Hoe denies it when they catch him and beat him up for answers like yeah he's bitten Ezra before but it wasn't The Bite so Kanan realizes that Ezra must have been born a wolf blood and the sudden appearance of a pack near his previously unoccupied home territory plus also him reaching the age where his powers start to get stronger must have triggered an awakening in his body or something. He would have manifested his wolf blood abilities much younger if his parents hadn't died and if he'd been incorporated into a large pack (he would have been so cute as a baby wolf but alas). 

On the one hand, it's reassuring to Ezra knowing there are other wolf bloods out there, but Kanan also was not looking for a pseudo son on his quest for self-discovery so he's being annoying and generally unhelpful about it. Of course, that attitude changes when GI Hoe starts to make his intentions known. He's already got a pack, which reflects the more traditional structure that we're familiar with reading about: very hierarchical, very antagonistic, glowing red eyes, often attacks humans or livestock for funsies. Tensions between inquisitors are high as always so they're constantly looking for new recruits (they kill each other all the time). He keeps trying to adopt Ezra for his ranks, sensing that Ezra could be a powerful asset. when Kanan discovers this, he goes full dad mode and claims Ezra as part of his fam. This leads to lots of confrontations with inquisitors and ultimately ends in the death of GI Hoe. Subsequently the pack is scattered and leaves Lothal territory. Auntie Soka visited from Coruscant to help with that part a bit because she wanted a vacation from spying on Sheev for Padme. She brings her mate Rex (not sure if to make him and the boys another kind of shapeshifter like dragons or just have them be Normal Guys) so they all have fun family bonding.

Kanan tells Ahsoka about how he's in love with Hera and what should he do about it and she is unimpressed with his drama "just bite her. I don't see what the problem is" he is aghast. He would never force something like that on Hera! Plus he's been dancing around the topic with her for a while and he's pretty sure she would hate him if she found out he was a wolf blood—doubly so if he made her into one against her will. Not that he's even told her they exist. As far as Hera's concerned, the mythical world is not reality. Ahsoka is still unimpressed.

Oh by the way Sabine's family are all hunters. Like wolf blood/vampire/faerie/dragon/troll/whatever else hunters which only makes sense if you think about it because they're mandalorians aka the mortal enemies of the jedi (all of whom are some kind of non-human in this AU). Sabine at her age has already learned all the skills and weapons she will need to kill Stuff, and has herself already made a few excellent plaques to adorn her room (after Ezra realizes he's a wolf blood, he starts to hate hanging out at her house. It lowkey gives him panic attacks, now that he knows what kind of wolf heads she's got mounted over her desk). She obviously doesn't talk about the mythical stuff with people outside her family, at least in specific detail. She only ever rants about their group "hunts" but never mentions what they're hunting in exact names. Boy would it be traumatic for her to realize her best friend is one of the beasts she's been trained to kill since she was small. Maximum angst if she shoots him once or twice in his wolf form and continually tracks him (lol poor guy) to the point that she considers him her trophy kill and is determined to get That One if it's the last thing she does. This makes Ezra very sad boi hours. He loves his friend but obviously he doesn't wanna die. One time Sabine almost got him (oh no!) Then Kanan stepped in at the last second and almost killed her before Ezra stopped him and yeah it's just all around a lot of violence weeeee. Hera really can't keep up with all these animal attack reports. 

When Sabine finds out she is furious and horrified and feels very betrayed and has lots of strong feelings but can't actually bring herself to kill Ezra after all because she loves her friend too and like so does her family he's over for dinner all the time and lowkey they were considering adopting him. What wins her over in the end is that he carries himself like a sad puppy all over the place which is both adorable and depressing. Her dad was also there when she found out so he gets her to keep quiet about it and not tell the rest of the Wrens yet because he knows it'd be signing poor Ezra's death sentence and he can't bear to think about that (Sabine's dad was always loyal to the family and supportive of their hunting but Ezra is Ezra and literally one of the fundamental laws of the universe is protect the baby). Eventually Sabine manages to turn her family because she's cool like that and convinces them to hunt only problematic creatures instead (cough cough palpacreep).

Somehow Maul exists. Another warlock maybe? I dunno he's annoying.

Kallus can just be human. He's probably a lieutenant who works for Hera. They're bros. They have coffee together. He doesn't get paid enough to deal with their shenanigans.

Things that need to happen in this AU:

Hera hits wolf Kanan with her car while on patrol. Horrified by having rammed an animal at country road speed, she springs into action, stuffing this larger than abnormally large wolf into her back seat and flicking the lights and siren on. When she gets to the animal hospital, the vet is out. It’s just Intern Ezra locking up the building. Hera is frantic. Thank goodness Ezra is still here! She needs his help! Ezra’s always willing to help an animal in distress, but when he sees it’s Kanan, he almost considers breaking his code. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” He deadpans. Kanan glares. Hera doesn’t understand what’s going on, and Ezra needs to keep face so he reluctantly helps her cart the wolf inside, where he takes some X-rays and does some busy-body nonsense in the back. He returns to an anxious Hera in the waiting room, who has pledged to pay any bill or charge in full. “Good news! It’s not as bad as it looks.” (Kanan has broken his leg in three places and cracked two ribs but Hera doesn’t need to know that) She is relieved and vows to return as soon as she can. Ezra goes and whacks Kanan upside the head. “You can change back now. She’s gone.” He throws an arm over his eyes and wheezes. “That kriffing hurt.” The next day, when Kanan sees Hera for some reason he’s wearing the usual leg brace under his sweatpants to hide that but something, something, his shirt rides up and she sees the bruising all down his side and her brain short circuits “How did that happen?” it takes all of Kanan’s willpower not to say “hit by a car”

Ahsoka eats a man

Luke and Leia make the national news

Palpatine gets impeached and also imprisoned in a fish bowl where he is forced to live out the rest of his miserable days stripped of magic

When Kanan begrudgingly agrees to teach Ezra the basics of wolf stuff they go out in the woods together and practice shifting. Hera sees them once and is delighted to find the wolf she ran down doing well “Hello again! Aww, your son is so cute!” (Ezra is thrilled to be called cute by nice police lady Hera)

The first time Hera brings Kanan home Chopper her cat goes apespit hissing and yowling and absolutely wrecking the furniture to get away. When it becomes apparent that Kanan is to be invited back multiple times, Chopper begins the series of attempted murders. Hera can’t puzzle out why her cat is more hostile than usual meanwhile Kanan is sweating buckets because every time he leaves his scent in Hera’s house it makes Chopper lose another brain cell

Zeb is mistaken for Bigfoot by some late-night hiker

Okadiah has just always known about Kanan and everyone. He just sits there chilling like he’s not really anything Special he’s a normal human but he knows and just sits there with popcorn and ice tea watching all this drama unfold

[jokerislandgirl32]

You self ship with the grinch? :O that’s so awesome and cool I’m happy for you guys!! Can’t wait to learn more about your ship with him! —CCFM

Thank you so much for this sweet and supportive ask! Sorry it took me a while to get to!

But, yessss! I do selfship with the Grinch!

This is a selfship I kept quiet about for a while, partly because of the strong hold Zach’s had/has on me, partly because of my ex’s reaction to finding out I liked Grinch a while back (it was not pleasant), and because I was trying to pursue an in real life relationship (haha, that endeavor is failing miserably)….But I’m now embracing my handsome green guy! So thank you, thank you, thank you soooo much for your support!

As of now I’m still in the beginning stages of figuring out the details of my ship with him. Originally, I wasn’t even going to create an official self insert, but after talking and brainstorming with my wonderful mutual and friend @creativegenius22 we’ve figured out a baseline for this self insert! Thank you so much for your help with this process and for being such an awesome friend!

So introducing….

Aurora Borealis Who

Image made with this picrew!

The tag for this s/i is her full name, #aurora borealis who, the tag for any grinch f/o stuff I post is #mr. grinch 💚, and the tag for the AU is #ribbons and bows au. I haven’t figured out a ship name for them yet, this is still in the works! If any of you have suggestions, please let me know!

Fun Facts about Aurora and how she met her wonderful Grinch are below the cut! This became wayyy too long, so consider it as something of a character ref sheet too I guess? lol, enjoy!

Age: 20s, probably early to mid 20s.

Apperance: Short, petite stature (she’s built like Donna, but is only as tall as Grinch’s chest). Long, Blonde hair styled with heart shape buns, parted bangs, and a little heart wisp; aquarium colored eyes, a cute little Who snout, earrings, pink clothing, and a white ribbon given to her by Grinch that she fashioned into a necklace.

Aurora is a fun, lovable, kind, compassionate, hyper Who that adores Christmas (like her Who counterparts).

Her parents named her after the natural phenomenon Aurora Borealis, since she was born in winter, specifically on December 22, the date of the Winter solstice.

Her father passed when she was a child resulting in her being raised by only her mother. Her other family members include, 🥁….Donna, Cindy Lou, and Buster and Bean Who! Donna is Aurora’s aunt and Cindy Lou and the twins are her cousins! They are related through Aurora’s father/Donna’s brother who passed.

She grew up taking initiative and learning to care for herself in order to help her mother out, resulting in her becoming a delivery Who for various companies throughout Whoville. Her real dream is to help take care of/teach children (hmm wonder how that might come into play later…).

This leads her into the arms, I mean clutches, I mean…into the lair…lol, of the Grinch! She is the only delivery Who that Grinch has not scared away. She persists and lets any insults thrown her way roll right past her.

Grinch and her first meet a couple years before the events of the movie when he needs parts delivered to his cave to repair some damage that resulted from one of his hating Christmas fits. After this they develop something of a friendship and he begrudgingly allows her into his cave every now and then as they grow to know each other/become friends.

When Grinch plots to share Christmas she notices an increase in deliveries to his cave, she questioned him about this, and he reveals his plans to steal Christmas because he feels he can trust her. It is at this point they start to have romantic feelings for one another.

Instead of getting angry with him she accepts it, she places her hand against his cheek and says, “if this is what you have to do to heal…I can’t judge you, and I won’t stop you.”

She hugs him kisses his cheek before she leaves, vanquishing any form of friendship they had and making them something more 🥰.

And…I think I’ll save the rest for future posts!

Their love song, by the way, is the inspiration for the AU name! It is Ribbons and Bows by Kacey Musgraves!

[lansplaining]

(found this in my drafts and I’m not sure if I’ll keep going with it or not, but I liked this opening, so here is the beginning of a silly women’s soccer wangxian AU) 

There is simply no question about it, in the end. Lan Zhan gets a masters, partly because her uncle thinks she should and partly because it buys her another two years of playing time. Maybe if she had a realistic shot at the national team, the conversation would be different, but competition for keepers is brutal, and the current starters are still young. Lan Zhan will be the skip generation: too old, by the time the current set retire, not to be overlooked for the promising up-and-comers a cohort below her. 

“This new league…” says Lan Huan gently, but Lan Zhan shakes her head and rolls her eyes and says in her uncle’s voice, “Even the top salaries for players who aren’t on the national team aren’t enough to live off of. And it will just fold like the last league.” 

Neither of them point out that generations of players have made do while working other jobs. But they are Lans. Lans do not make ends meet: Lans succeed. Lans are not struggling semi-professional athletes, they are sensible, elegant things that pay well and do not raise eyebrows at parties. It is at 22 that Lan Zhan realizes sometimes, generations of success are upheld by quitting before you can fail. 

“You can still play recreationally,” says Lan Huan, who plays the flute in a community group and is the best player by an embarrassing distance, with a sad smile. 

So Lan Zhan turns to the thing she always liked second-best (besides music; as Lan Huan has demonstrated, that does not count) and becomes a statistician. 

+

Wei Ying’s problem has always been that she doesn’t ask enough questions. She just does things. Waiting for explanations is boring, and they rarely succeed in changing her mind anyway. Does she know what Uncle Jiang and Aunt Yu would say about her entering the college draft for a brand-new, likely-to-fold-like-the-last-one professional women’s soccer league instead of focusing on her studies? Well, she can guess. So why listen to it out loud when she could already hear it in her head? She just has to see what will happen. 

What happens is, she’s picked near the end of the first round. First-round draft pick Wei Ying. It’s a phrase the Jiangs’ friends can understand, and so they give their grudging blessing, not that Wei Ying needs it, since Aunt Yu assures her they’ll be providing no financial assistance anyway, so what exactly did she stand to lose if she defied them? Contact with A-Cheng and A-Li, maybe. Best not to risk it, since she doesn’t have to. 

What happens is, she probably should have cut ties with the Jiangs back when it would have been easy, since it happens anyway, and is messy and hard until she makes it easy by asking to be traded to a new team and getting a new phone. And then she tears her ACL on said team’s shitty turf pitch and then the team folds at the end of that season and blah blah rehab, blah blah medical debt. It’s supposed to be impossible to lose track of people in the modern world, but it turns out it’s pretty easy. 

She ends up on a new team eventually and her sisters track her down, and after A-Li gets married she ends up in the same city and Wei Ying lives in her big sister’s spare bedroom to save money on rent and it’s all pretty great. And then she gets traded, because that’s what happens when you don’t have a national team contract to give you a bit of leverage, and she gets ready to do it all again: new apartment, new friends, new part-time job. 

“Are you sure it’s worth it, Yingying?” A-Li asks worriedly as Wei Ying shoves her stuff haphazardly into her backpack, because they’re running late and she just found a whole drawer she forgot to pack and A-Li offered to mail it but honestly it’s mostly underwear and she’s gonna need that. “Zixuan could help you find a job here.” 

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Wei Ying says, shoving a thong into the side pocket of her backpack alongside some spare shin guards and deciding to just hope it doesn’t fall out in public. “I love this.” 

+

Lan Zhan has been living in her big sister’s spare bedroom for two weeks while Lan Huan spends a few months helping establish a new branch of her company in Ireland when she is forced to break their pattern of weekly video calls. 

“There is someone coming,” Lan Zhan says. 

“I… see?” Lan Huan says uncertainly. 

“A soccer player. They said you signed up to host a player for the season and she is on her way.” 

Lan Huan’s eyes go wide. She searches through her emails and finds it, shares her screen so Lan Zhan can see: the email a week ago asking if she’s still interested in hosting a player, the affirmative reply she sent in what she now recognizes was a jetlagged daze at 2:15 AM GMT. 

“I’m so, so, sorry,” says Lan Huan. “If you can give me until Monday, I can call them and figure something out.”

“She is arriving today,” Lan Zhan says. “You do not mind if I give her your room?”

“No, of course not,” says Lan Huan. “She’ll be exhausted, she can’t just sleep on the couch. You can put up with it for a weekend, can’t you?”

“Of course,” says Lan Zhan, trying not to sigh. It isn’t-- well, it is Lan Huan’s fault, but-- not in a way where Lan Zhan can really blame her. “You didn’t mention you had signed up for this program.”

“Oh, yes.” Lan Huan looks sheepish. “I have season tickets, actually. And then Mingjue told me they were looking for host families and I thought it sounded fun… that was before you moved back to town, of course, and then the season started and they hadn’t reached out, so I forgot about it. We can go to a game, once I’m back, if you’d like…?” 

It all makes sense, now. Lan Zhan cut soccer firmly and completely out of her life once she stopped playing. It makes sense Lan Huan took that to mean it was a topic she should not mention. Lan Zhan sometimes forgets how fragile her older sister thinks she is. 

“Mn,” says Lan Zhan. “I will check in on Monday. I should make sure I have things prepared for the weekend.”

“I’m really sorry,” Lan Huan says again. “Try to be nice. It’s just for a weekend.” 

+

“Her name is uhhhhh…” The nice blonde-haired lady who picked Wei Ying up from the airport flicks through her phone once they’re stopped at a red light. “Anne! Anne Lan. Ha, it rhymes.” 

Wei Ying suspects that in fact it doesn’t, but she doesn’t say so. Instead she says, “Awesome. I’m looking forward to meeting her.” 

“Season ticket holder-- oh wow, since the team started, eight years, that’s nice-- non-smoker, no pets--”

“Oh, good,” Wei Ying says. She doesn’t mind cats, but a blanket ‘no pets’ seems simpler. 

“Really good location. You could probably walk to the stadium if you wanted. Or bike, but the coaches’ll probably try to talk you out of that, kind of dangerous…”

Wei Ying is incapable of not holding up her end of the conversation, even though she’s exhausted from the flight and absolutely starving. She almost convinces herself she’s struck up enough of a rapport to ask the lady-- Tessa-- to take them to a drive-through, but then they pull off of the freeway into a residential area, and Tessa says they’re almost there. Wei Ying flips down the mirror on the sun screen to see if there’s anything she can do about, like, her face, and then decides it’s a lost cause and flips it back up again. 

“Oooookay,” says Tessa as they pull in front of a lovely little powder-blue house on a lovely little residential street. The houses are all Victorians of varying sizes: this one is tiny, a cute little dollhouse of a place with a postage-stamp yard and a flowering dogwood tree. “You want me to come in with you, or…?”

“Nah, nah, I got it,” says Wei Ying, hoisting her backpack onto her shoulder as she opens the door. “My flight was already late, it’s almost dinnertime! Just pop the trunk for me and I’ll get my bag. I’ll see you at the match tomorrow?” 

“Yep!” says Tessa brightly. “Everyone’s really looking forward to meeting you. Don’t hesitate to call me if there’s anything you need.” 

Tessa pulls away and Wei Ying drags her stuff up the steps and onto the little porch. She thinks maybe the clunk-clunk-clunk of her wheelie suitcase on the perfect little steps will draw attention, but the door’s still shut when she reaches it, so she rings the bell. The curtains are drawn across the front window, but the lights seem to be out. Hm. 

“Forgive me,” comes a low voice from behind her. “I was delayed at the store.”

Wei Ying turns, smile ready. “Anne? Hi! I-- woah. No.” She stops. “Shit. I know you.” 

Lan-- Lan-- Lan. 

“Lan Zhan!” She breaks into a brilliant smile. “Do you remember me?!” 

Lan Zhan tightens her hands around the handles of her grocery bags. “Wei Ying.” 

+

So, back up. 

Lan Zhan plays for Stanford, Wei Ying for USC. Wei Ying is the bane of Lan Zhan’s life. Wei Ying breaks Lan Zhan’s first streak of clean sheets, and Lan Zhan never forgives her. She doesn’t know if Wei Ying ever thinks about her, but she thinks about Wei Ying, how she can make sure this preening, recklessly fouling, defense-neglecting midfielder can never score on her again.

Lots of people probably think about Wei Ying that way, Lan Zhan assumes. She’s a talent, someone whose name comes up, someone who is considered a future national team prospect, a future Olympian, a future star. 

Then she saves a penalty from Wei Ying, and she can at least rest confident that Wei Ying is occasionally thinking about her, too. 

+

Obviously Lan Zhan can’t have known that Wei Ying was talking shit to Jiang Cheng just that morning about how she’s never missed a penalty, about how it’s all about confidence, about how she has an unbeatable technique. 

Even worse, Wei Ying can just tell from the way she’s seen Lan Zhan play and the things people say about her that if she had known, she would have tried even harder to save it. And God, fine, it was an amazing save-- she guessed right and fucking leapt, full-stretch, and palmed it down to the ground then crumpled herself on top of it in that keeper defensive posture that honestly Wei Ying finds so cute even when it’s depriving her of the chance to at least score on the fucking rebound and preserve some of her dignity. 

So yeah, after that, she’s out for revenge.

+

“This is insane,” says Wei Ying once she’s settled on the couch. “You go by Anne now?”

“My sister’s English name,” says Lan Zhan. “This is her house. She signed up for the program. I only moved here a month ago.”

“That’s perfect!” Wei Ying cries. “We can explore the city together. I actually almost came up here for college, but my family wanted a bigger name for my degree. And USC was awesome, to be fair. Or, wait, did you grow up here?”

“No,” says Lan Zhan. “Seattle.” 

“West Coast lifer! I’ve been in Orlando ‘til now. I know,” she adds, though Lan Zhan is almost certain she did not make any particular reaction. “But my sister was living there, so that was nice. I mean, if I got married to someone and then they made me move to Florida, like, that would be a deal-breaker. I’m so excited to have seasons again.” She spreads her hands and beams. “Your turn. Where have you been since Stanford?”

“I-- remained at Stanford for my master’s. I then took a job in Silicon Valley. I now have a new job here, with the city.” 

“Shit,” says Wei Ying. “So you’re like… rich, hot, and successful. Good to know.” 

“You are a professional athlete,” Lan Zhan cannot help but point out. “You are also successful.” And hot, she does not say. 

“This is so great,” Wei Ying says, ignoring this entirely. “I love people, but I was getting a little freaked out at the idea of living with just some complete stranger, as a favor, you know? But this is amazing!”

“You should shower, and put away your things,” Lan Zhan says, completely overwhelmed by the idea that Wei Ying does not consider her a stranger. What constitutes a stranger if not a woman you played against a handful of times nearly ten years ago? “You must be tired. I will start dinner.”

When Wei Ying has disappeared into Lan Huan’s room, Lan Zhan types a very quick text: Do not worry about contacting the team. I do not wish to inconvenience them or the player. I do not mind if she stays. 

She sends it before she can change her mind. 

[crysdrawsthings]

So, hey, let me tell you about Elanor, who you might know from her being very normal and to be trusted with the power of Thu'um.

I think @dunmerdilfs you wanted to know more? I am happy to help :D

She is horrible, I love her. However, there was a solid chance she might not be as horrible! Or far worse!

Now let me also be very normal and tell you about Elanor's complicated background and AUs, existing as separate timelines. Content warning: cringe. 

Unnecessarily Long Introduction

Well, first of all, there was a Dragon-God of Time. He was like, four people at the same time. Maybe more. This, as you can guess, caused a fair bit of trouble down the line and a few Dragon Breaks. 

Secondly, there was also Alduin, whose job was very important and consisted of devouring threads of time that became broken, obsolete or just annoying. He was however having his emo rebellion phase, as well as being thrown around the waves of time as a lonely sock in the empty washing machine. 

So no one was devouring unneeded threads of time and this was Bad. The first attempt to ascend a Dragonborn to become Alduin-Born-Anew went south and instead produced a new divine or something of the sorts. Talos’ ascension was widely regarded as questionable and Dragon-God of Time hasn't spoken with himself for several centuries. 

Then... well, then the whole Martin Incident happened, this is a whole other story. In any case, another attempt at ascending Dragonborn was put in the works, this time with some more thought and preparation put into it.  For example, do you know how hard it is to shove a dragon soul into a mortal body? Sometimes they even explode. So a better vessel was required. 

That was, entirely reasonably and not controversially at all outsourced to newly employed Sheogorath, previously known as Sheba, the Hero of Kvatch. Who proceeded to outsource half of the work to everyone’s favourite third secret moon, Mannimarco. The altmer-shaped end result was named Elanor and inside of her a dragon soul was put, following this perspective Dovahkiin and Alduin-Born-Anew was left in the care of the same newly employed Sheogorath.

Who, thankfully, realized her complete incompetence as a parent and made sure to pass atlmer-shaped relay baton to someone else. As it usually happens without providing any proper care manuals. 

Now, to elaborate on what the unfortunate receiving side would be getting into. You see, Auri-El provided quite... barebones explanation on what he needed from the vessel, leaving a lot to interpretation. What he wanted was a capable and sturdy individual able to bear the dragon soul, what he got was an almost unkillable weapon of mass destruction with a mile-long list of fun “features”. Auri-El shrugged and figured it would have to do, it can’t possibly go worse then with the last one, right?

Emissary - “Good” Old OG Elanor

Of course first people on the list of potential foster care were Sheba’s parents, still living somewhere on Summerset Isles. There was only a tiny-little-barely-existing problem that could have got in the way of Elanor growing up to be somewhat unhinged, but mostly alright person.

Thalmor, of course. Everyone always forgets about elvish inquisition. 

So, to no one’s surprise in particular Elanor’s talents in magic and fascinating abilities were quickly noticed, taken into account and she was removed from her family to be properly trained and educated to serve as a useful asset in the big upcoming event later locally known as the First War. 

Despite the initial rough start with barely ten year old Elanor murdering the entire group sent after her,  caused by their threats to her grandparents, she eventually complied on the condition that her family would be otherwise left alone. 

Attracting the particular interest of Lord Naarifin, especially due to her natural talent in conjuration magic, Elanor was trained as a battlemage and eventually assigned to Elenwen during the First War with whom she later went to Skyrim as well. Most likely committed ton of war crimes along the way. 

Where, well, the whole Dovahkiin things happens. 

Bonus Trivia!

At some point in her early teenage years bound Dremora Valkynaz to her service, after he was sent to kill her. Because yes, Mehrunes was still pissed at Sheba for ruining his plans, so he naturally decided to try and take it on her stupid “child”. Said dremora, usually answering to Val, is later often acts as her go-to summon as well as filling the role of our beloved Courier. He also owns and runs a brewery somewhere in Wrothgar in his free time.

Has intricate magical tattoos on her wrists, that have a twofold purpose. First, beneficial, is that they help Elanor with her casting as additional foci. Second, and detrimental, is that they are an experimental failsafe button, that in theory might be activated to temporarily sever connections between her body, soul and the rest of the weird wizard shit, ideally making it possible to effectively kill or at least incapacitate her.  Elenwen has never actually used them in this intended way, but made very clear, that she has the ability to.

Genuinely and honestly loves animals. Spends most of her salary on rehoming various stray animals she finds along the way.

Most likely cursed to have terrible luck when it comes to romantic relationships. 

The Mad Moon - Somehow Worse Worm Cult Elanor

Okay, I, admittedly, haven’t given this AU much thought, but consider, that Elanor might have been given to Mannimarco’s official fan-club, Worm Cult.

Listen, if the idea of barely socialized necromancers suddenly blessed with their god appearance only to be left with a toddler to take care of is not funny to you? I am not sure you will enjoy the rest of the content on my blog. 

It would be horrible, yes, I think somehow Elanor would grow up to be even worse then her good old OG self, but it would also mean that there is a good chance Mede Dynasty might end earlier. Or have a suspiciously goth advisor, because if it worked once with Varen, why not try it again. 

This is also the correct AU to explore the funny family gatherings and Elanor hanging out with her “parents”. Of course including the classic:

- Gee, Worm. What are we going to do this weekend? - The same thing we do every weekend, Skooma Cat. Try to take over the Nirn!

Fugitive On The Run - Everything Is Bad Blades Elanor

Now, Baurus did end up being among the very few people Sheba actually respected, despite the whole Empire and association with Talos thing. So it is not that unlikely she might have considered his family as potential caretakers. 

Now, this choice is good, because we finally have some more or less good people to take care of Elanor and help her to don’t grow into a horrible monster. The choice is also awful and bad, because we all know how Blades end up. Mostly dead or on the run. 

Elanor’s story in this AU loosely follows the plot of the Blades game, which kind of inspired this whole thing. So she und up surviving the Great War and following it reunites with the other surviving Blade, Henrik, and they both live in some forgotten town in the middle of nowhere, dealing with troubles ranging from bandits and undead to Unexpected Thalmor Inquisition and Elanor slowly loosing control over her magic. 

An incomplete list of all the bad stuff happening with Elanor is this AU, you can help by expanding it:

Due to not having enough resources to properly manage her blossoming magic talents and the amount of attention (and daedra) it attracted, some sort of magic seal was used to limit her magic until she would be old enough to, you know, be trained. Unfortunately then the Great War started and people were a bit preoccupied or dead.

This for the longest period of time led Elanor to believe that her mother, known to Blades as a prodigious mage, might have abandoned her because of how she herself seems to suck at magic. Or because she was a bastard of some sort, because no one freaking knows who her father was.

When the above-mentioned magic seal starts to fade Elanor is suddenly thrown headfirst into the wonderful world of “you can cast something more complicated then mage light” and she does not manage it well, especially considering...

Memories of the Great War and how her, well, family, was hunted down by Thalmor are still very fresh, as well as memories of their forces having a lot of altmer battlemages, she can’t help, but compare herself with. And have a lot of very odd feelings how “her” people seem to be doing all these horrid things and wondering is she is the same or something of this sort, you know, angst and psychology is not my strong suit, you get the idea

And also her “parents”, now able to better track her try to have a chat, but can you imagine your dreams suddenly plagued by the very flamboyant and dramatic Daedric Prince of Madness and some horrid moon bone god? Elanor exists on constant coffee intake by this point. 

Have I mentioned that violent swings of her magic at some point awaken ayleid undead under the city she lives in and now she has to deal with this too? 

Odd dreams of fire, and flight, and wings, and clashing jaws tearing sacrifices apart in the old forgotten temples somewhere cold and unwelcome.

Also just as things quiet down a tiny bit an Unexpected Thalmor Inquisition arrives to town and Justiciar Aranande starts girlbossing Elanor around, with former searching for the fugitive Blade in the area and later internally screaming and being like, this close to emotional breakdown, all the while Aranande continues to foil Henrik’s attempts to assassinate her, all the while roping Elanor into more and more questionable fetch quests

Henrik is eventually discovered as a Blade and Elanor, fearing for the implied possibility of the whole town being razed to the ground should she refuse to, kills him on Aranande’s orders. “This is fine :) dot jpeg”

And all of this only to be cordially and cheerfully informed, that it is also known that she is the Blade as well, but! They have a wonderful offer she just can’t refuse! Especially after all the services she has already provided! 

And so Elanor again ends up eventually working under Elenwen, but now with several suitcases of baggage and hating every second of it as well as herself, but frankly not knowing if she is any better now, not after everything she did. 

I am not even sure how she will handle the whole events of Skyrim in this state, to be fair, but somehow I feel it will be yet another expansion to the list.

[truly-morgan]

[Kinktober 2022: NTR (18+)]

ChengXuan | Mo Dao Zu Shi Modern AU 09-10-2022

Day 8: [NTR] | W̷a̷x̷p̷l̷a̷y | P̷e̷g̷g̷i̷n̷g

Jin Zixuan had never shown any interest in his fiance, but despite this, he lives a happy life with her. One night at a gathering, a drunk Jiang Cheng confronts him and secrets are revealed and everything changed.

====

It was another one of those gatherings thrown by his father, where Jin Zixuan was often bored out of his mind and uninterested in talking to anyone really. His wife was off with her family, talking to some of her friends or socialising.

He wishes she could have stayed by his side a little bit longer. He understood it wasn’t always pleasant listening to old men talking about whatever, but at least he wouldn’t be alone doing so.

All he could do was force a polite smile on his face when people came to him, drinking while aimlessly walking around.

Aimlessly but also purposefully avoiding Wei Wuxian, he didn’t really need to start a fight at a party over his already stressful and shitty week.

His relationship with Jiang Yanli was still not the best out there, but it wasn’t as bad as it was, they were decently happy with each other he believed. But the young man probably didn’t want to see that.

He wouldn’t be against seeing Jiang Cheng though, even if he knew the young man wasn’t too fond of him at times. Especially when he messed up with Jiang Yanli, when he’s being less sensitive than he should be.

But really, despite this being an arranged marriage, he was trying to make it work a little bit.

After a while he felt like he needed fresh air, discreetly went to the garden of the residence, taking a deep breath and relaxing now that he was alone.

Yet he couldn’t be happy for too long to see he spotted someone else outside. Nearly made him curse under his breath.

But then he realised who it was and he lightened up a little bit again.

He had stumbled onto Jiang Cheng who also seemingly came out for fresh air. A rather tipsy, or even drunk, Jiang Cheng if he had to guess from the way he walked through.

“Good evening” He smiled at the young man after joining him, trying not to be too hurt by the click of the tongue he got first.

“‘Evening” Jiang Cheng replied, turning back to him. “Not with my sister? You shouldn’t be so cold to her, at least make it seem like you two are happy so she doesn’t need to hear rumours afterwards” Jiang Cheng said.

Ah.

Of course, it would be reprimanded about his marriage instead of niceties or even just telling him to piss off. Still, Jin Zixuan tried to keep his calm smile on his face, not seeing the point of making things worse.

“Actually, she’s the one who decided to go talk to your family” he pointed out, “I would have followed, but I was stopped by some business partners” he explained. Having an awkward conversation with the Jiang Family was always better than being reminded about his shitty week at work or having invasive questions about his marriage being asked.

“Yeah right,” Jiang Cheng said, rolling his eyes.

And Jin Zixuan tried to convince him, for some reason, yet it wasn’t really working. His explanations were always met back with other accusations of not taking good enough care of Jiang Yanli. Before he knew it, they had started to really fight about it.

Of course, one of the times when he didn’t start a fight with Wei Wuxian, to his wife’s happiness, it had to be one of the rarer times when he actually fought with Jiang Cheng. The one person he didn’t want to fight with.

“Then why did you fucking marry her if you don’t love her?! At least she would have been allowed to find someone else” Jiang Cheng asked. A question that had been asked to him more than once by the two brothers of Jiang Yanli.

Jin Zixuan was starting to be really frustrated after all this arguing. He hadn’t expected to have “arguing with my brother-in-law” as one of the reasons for his shitty week. “Because it could have ruined the relationship between our two families and I wouldn’t have a reason to see you” he replied, annoyed, not realising what he had just said.

“The fuck do I have to do with this?” Jiang Cheng asked, looking puzzled, “We’re talking about you being a shit husband!”

“Because I love you and otherwise the only place I’d be able to see you are shitty gathering like this!” Jin Zixuan nearly yelled. Then he froze, eyes growing wider.

He hadn’t just yelled that out, did he? But from the shocked face Jiang Cheng was making, he could safely assume he did. He was about to try and backtrack, but then Jiang Cheng said “Couldn’t you make a more plausible lie?”, lacking the previous bite and harshness every word had before.

And this pissed Jin Zixuan off even more. Maybe he hadn’t intended to say one of his biggest secrets out loud to the concerned party.

But he hated having his feeling brushed aside as a simple and convenient lie.

Not when it was actually one of the bigger reasons he /did/ accept that marriage in the first place. When he did it so he could still see Jiang Cheng somewhat regularly, even if it came with some dislike.

He would have backtracked on his words, but now he was too mad to really care.

Before he could think it through, he walked the little space that was left between them, trapping Jiang Cheng against the railing that kept them from falling into the pond.

He then grabbed his shirt, pulling him closer and kissing him.

He was probably a bit more aggressive than what he wished he could have been. For a moment he got lost a little bit in the kiss that was only meant to prove his point at first.

Then he pulled back, panting a little bit, looking at a rather daze Jiang Cheng. 

It dawned on him that he had actually kissed Jiang Cheng. His first crush and love. /His brother-in-law/.

He was about to panic a little bit, unsure what to do now. Surely Jiang Cheng didn’t feel the same and this would probably only make things worse than they already were.

Before he could really say anything more he felt lips on his again, Jiang Cheng being the one to lead this time, pulling him closer. This was enough to make Jin Zixuan melt against him, letting the kiss be deepened when the young man asked for it.

He couldn’t tell for how long they had been making out like this in the garden, hands wandering over clothes a little. His dress pants were starting to feel too tight, and if he could guess from what was rubbing against him, it was the same for Jiang Cheng.

He did freeze up a little when he felt hands trying to undo his belt, breaking the kiss. “We’re in the garden” he mumbled. Jiang Cheng only clicked his tongue at the comment.

A small voice in his head was telling him he should stop right here, that they could blame it on the alcohol. But a louder, greedier one was telling him to take him. Wasn’t this what he had always wished for? The opportunity would likely never arise again.

Alcohol also probably didn’t help him make the actual better choice.

“But I have somewhere we could be alone” he whispered close to Jiang Cheng, waiting for his answer. he was a bit surprised when the man pulled him in for a quick kiss, whispering back “Then let's go”.

He then grabbed his hand, leading him through the large mansion used to host the gathering. Luckily it was one of the Jin estates he was more used to and knew how to avoid people. He was too impatient to make his way to his own room and decided to pick a random guest room.

He made sure to avoid where everyone was, not needing prying eyes on them and for questions to be asked later.

They were barely into the room when Jiang Cheng was kissing him again, hands working his belt off and attacking his pants soon after.

Jin Zixuan tried doing the same with less expert hands, groaning in the kiss when Jiang Cheng finally took hold of his erection. He wasn’t too far behind, finally being able to sneak his hand into’s Jiang Cheng cock, drinking in the groan it pulled out of him.

And they continued like this, making out messily as they jerked each other off. They weren’t doing much and yet Jin Zixuan felt like he hadn’t felt this good ever in the past.

They fumbled a little to the bed, where Jin Zixuan was then pushed down.

Jiang Cheng quickly looked in the nightstand, only to turn back towards him with an arched brow after pulling out some lube. “It’s a Jin estate” Jin Zixuan simply mumbled, he was pretty sure every room had a small bottle.

No more questions were really asked, instead finishing to take off his shoes and pants. They were both a little bit clumsy, but Jin Zixuan felt even more so. He was both excited and nervous about this. To say he wasn’t much experienced sexually was probably an understatement.

Especially with other men.

But Jiang Cheng seemed to know what he was doing, skilful fingers opening him up carefully. But as gentle as he tried to be, he still looked a bit impatient, and so was Jin Zixuan honestly.

He soon ended up on his hands and knees, having shed off his shirt and coat to try and keep them clean. He’d have very different problems if he ended up soiling his clothing. But there was also a weird feeling in his guts as he saw over his shoulder Jiang Cheng was still clothed.

He bite his lip when Jiang Cheng pushed into him, the action hurting a little. Not that much of a surprise seeing they probably didn’t stretch him enough. He did not expect the kiss on his shoulder blade and the hands caressing him to help him relax.

He hadn’t expected the gentleness.

But he did manage to relax, only then did Jiang Cheng really start fucking him. It was a bit slow at first, but it wasn’t too long until the rhythm started to be stronger, going deeper and rougher.

Jin Zixuan couldn’t help his moans, hoping no guest had wandered into the residence, wondering if they had locked the door. He did try to keep it all in, but it only took a couple of murmured words in his ear for him to let Jiang Cheng hear him again.

Jin Zixuan wished it could have gone on for longer, but after a couple of minutes, they had both come. And he knew they couldn’t be gone from the gathering for longer without it being really noticed.

They still stayed unmoved for a moment, catching their breath. And Jin Zixuan did wish time could just stop. Like this he could forever enjoy the soft kisses being left on his nape and upper back. Having those strong hands gently caressing his thighs and hips until he did.

Being with the one he actually loved forever.

But they couldn’t.

And so after they tried to clean themselves as best as they could, throwing away the condom and leaving behind dirtied blankets.

This made him realise he had done well to pick a random guest room, the maids would ask fewer questions and think a random couple had done this. It would have been harder to explain in his own room, deeper in the house and probably not known by many.

They made sure one last time their clothes still look alright, hair as presentable as possible. They also double-checked that they were forgetting nothing. They did come up with a small story in case people asked questions, something vague but plausible.

Not that people would have any reason to pry really deep anyway.

At the door, Jin Zixuan stole one last kiss from Jiang Cheng, this softening, more gentle. He lingered close to him, before offering him a small smile, then got out of the room.

They made sure not to really come back together, Jin Zixuan joining Jiang Yanli and his mother. He caught from the corner of his eyes Jiang Cheng joining back Wei Wuxian.

“You were gone for a while, I was starting to worry” Jiang Yanli commented, a little worried frown on her face.

“I went out for fresh air” he replied, “Then I stumbled on your brother, he didn’t feel too good so I stayed with him until it passed”.

“Oh no, is a-Cheng alright?” She asked, eyes quickly looking for her brother.

“Yes he’s doing better now, some fresh air and water helped I think” he replied, offering her a reassuring smile, “Maybe he drank a bit too much without eating enough” he then suggested.

This seemed enough to reassure her, especially since Jiang Cheng seemed alright enough where he was, talking with other people.

Then the rest of the night was uneventful, the two of them not really happening to really meet again aside from some stolen glances from far away who happened to cross.

====

(KinkTober? AH! More like emotionalTober. I did not expect it to be more plot than kink honestly

I feel like I need to write more XuanCheng, especially where JZX is desperately in love with JC)

Original - AO3

[aidanchaser]

Boulangérella: A Miraculous Fairy Tale AU - Chapter Six

Table of Contents Read on Ao3 Prologue

beta’d by @7wizardsshallanswerthecall, @mothmanhamlet, @ccboomer and @aubsenroute​​

Chapter Six Volpina

The rhythm of the harpsichord piece still thrummed through his fingers, even as Adrien returned to his room. He was exhausted; it felt like his father was running him ragged purely as revenge for his brief outing to the seamstress last week.

There were lunches with the Bourgeois family, dinners with the Rossi family, teas with nobles and ambassadors and their daughters, and his evenings were spent cloistered in his father’s receiving room, either reviewing work with his father or practicing the harpsichord while King Gabriel multitasked between reading reports on his own and critiquing Adrien’s performance.

He appreciated the time with his father, certainly, butt even with this change in schedule it was still obvious the work was first. Adrien was second. He never thought he would miss the strict tutorial schedule he had once kept, but as he collapsed onto his bed fully clothed, he could think of nothing he wanted to do more than just have one hour fencing with his cousin again.

Well, there was one other thing he could think of, but he wasn’t sure that he had the energy for Chat Noir.

“Please?” Plagg needled, as if he could read Adrien’s thoughts. “You haven’t been out in a week.”

“The city hasn’t needed me in a week. Everyone’s so excited about a ball, I guess Hawk Moth’s been out of work.”

“We don’t need a curse or a monster to have a little fun.”

“Ladybug said she was too busy to patrol this month, so what’s the point?”

“We could steal something,” Plagg offered.

It was tempting. “We promised Ladybug that we’d behave.”

“You promised Ladybug.”

“All right, so I can’t steal. You’re welcome to go off on your own if you like.”

“What if it’s not really stealing?”

Adrien knew he was about to get an absurd spin on thievery that was closer to a flat-out lie than any true loophole.

“Is this about Lila again?”

“It’s not really her pendant, so we can’t actually steal it from her.”

“It’s the same thing.”

Plagg, who had far more energy than Adrien could even fathom, jumped on Adrien’s chest, and used each bounce to punctuate his points. “One—Lila said she inherited the necklace from her grandmother. You can’t inherit a fay gift. Two—her magic doesn’t seem to runout which means she made a lifetime bargain and those are dangerous. Three—she revealed her identity to the royal family, and now the whole kingdom knows who Volpina is. That’s a bad thing!”

Adrien closed his eyes. Plagg did not lecture very often, but it made for a decent lullaby. “Why is that bad?” he asked with a yawn.

“For one, anyone could steal her gift.”

“Like you want to do?”

“For another, Hawk Moth could target her. You think his normal curses are bad? Imagine if he cursed someone with a magical gift. Think about if he knew who Ladybug was, and he cursed her. Or even you! How would Ladybug face a cursed version of you?”

Adrien had considered, on occasion, what he might do if Ladybug fell victim to one of Hawk Moth’s curses. But it was not a very fun thought exercise, so he didn’t dwell on it.

“Come on,” Plagg whined with another jump. “You know if you take Lila’s pendant, your father won’t ask you to marry her.”

Adrien ignored this point. He knew that his father had only entertained Lila Rossi’s proposal because she bore a gift from a fay, and it was one of the reasons he did not want to go after Lila. He was not interested in stealing from her precisely because it benefited him. That broke Chat Noir’s vaguely ethical code of thievery.

“What does it really matter?” Adrien sighed. “Father will just ask me to marry Chloé or Princess Kagami instead. I can’t imagine he’ll be too thrilled if I tell him I want to marry Ladybug.” Though if his father was tempted by Lila’s fay gift, why not Ladybug’s?

Adrien twisted the ring around his finger and considered it. Not knowing who she was under her mask made it a hard pitch. At least Lila was from a noble family who had a relationship with the royal family. But if there was a chance Adrien could have Ladybug, maybe he could get married without have to give up being Chat Noir.

“What will you do when I get married?” Adrien asked.

Plagg’s growl was low and guttural, as if he were announcing just how feral and ancient he truly was. He felt displeased by the change in topic, but played along for a moment, for Adrien’s sake. “Do you want me to be the ring bearer or something?”

“No, I just mean, you know, I’ll have other… nightly duties to attend to. I won’t be able to be Chat Noir anymore.”

Plagg laughed. “Your wife won’t need more than fifteen minutes of your time. An hour if you want to be nice about it.”

Adrien ran his hand over his face in an attempt to hide the red in his cheeks. “Maybe I want to be very nice about it. It just… seems unfair to disappear if my evenings aren’t entirely my own anymore.” His parents had not kept separate chambers, and he had expected to follow suit. But he supposed his chance of marrying for love was slim. Maybe Plagg had a point…

Plagg jumped on Adrien’s chest again and this time landed in the shape of a scrawny cat, putting proper weight into Adrien’s diaphragm, and even a bit of claw.

Adrien yelped and sat up. “That was rude.” He rubbed his stomach ruefully.

Plagg returned to his fay form and hovered so that he was level with Adrien’s eyes. “Look, I don’t actually care about Lila getting cursed or whatever, but I do really think she stole this pendant with an ancient, forbidden ritual. Just like Hawk Moth stole his brooch.”

Adrien frowned. “How do you know that Hawk Moth stole his brooch?”

“I just mean Hawk Moth probably stole his brooch. The whole curse thing isn’t Nooroo’s style.”

Adrien had been with Plagg for nearly a year now, and he knew when his fay was hiding something. “Plagg, tell me the truth. Maybe it can help Ladybug and I catch Hawk Moth.”

But Plagg had no intention of telling Adrien the truth, not yet. He had chosen Adrien in the forest nearly a year ago because he had seen a desperate young man who needed a bit of hope and freedom. He saw someone who would benefit from some chaos. But Plagg had also seen someone who might lose himself in that chaos. For Plagg, that was the best sort of partner. He enjoyed walking along the knife’s edge of destruction.

But it took some care to stay on the right edge of that knife, and Plagg was not interested in pushing Adrien over. He did not know what might happen if he told Adrien all of the truth: King Gabriel had gone into the forest the night that his wife had fallen asleep and used a terrible curse to capture a fay creature. Maybe the truth would help Ladybug catch Hawk Moth, but the truth might also break Adrien Agreste.

So Plagg shared as much of the truth as he thought he could get away with. “The truth is that I know Nooroo was taken against his will because I saw it happen.” He sank down onto the bedspread and looked up at Adrien, hoping his green eyes looked earnest. “There’s a… a really dark ritual that a human can use to call a fay to them. Hawk Moth came to the forest looking for Tikki and me, but he couldn’t find us. He tried using this old ritual to capture us, but Nooroo used his magic of transmission to give Tikki the strength to resist the call. And the price was that he took her place. Tikki and I agreed to save Nooroo, but we couldn’t risk Hawk Moth capturing us, so we decided to make deals with humans that we could trust. I chose you and Tikki chose Ladybug.”

Adrien frowned. He couldn’t believe that Plagg had been keeping this from him for nearly a year. It seemed like the sort of thing that should have been brought up at the forest’s edge when they had first met, or at least after their first fight with Hawk Moth. Had Plagg really chosen him because he was the first human to wander into the forest after Hawk Moth? “You promised me freedom in exchange for cheese. You never said you wanted Nooroo back, too.”

“I’d never ask you to make a promise that you couldn’t keep.”

“You think I can’t do it?”

“I don’t make a habit of binding my humans to promises outside their power to grant. Our deal has been met. You can give me up any time you want. I wanted to give you freedom, not limit it. But I also picked you because I believed you would help.”

Adrien bit down on his lip. He knew from the fairy tales that he had read as a boy that uneven deals were a large part of fay lore. It was common for a fay to ask for anything from a mountain of gold to a first born child in exchange for their power. But Plagg had asked for nothing but cheese in exchange for each night of freedom. Ladybug had once told him that Tikki had asked for sugar in exchange for luck. They were small gifts, ones Adrien and Ladybug could easily meet. It had never occurred to Adrien that small gifts were a fay’s version of kindness.

It still hurt to know that Plagg had kept all of this from him for so long. Adrien didn’t have much in the way of companionship outside of his family, other than Plagg.

“You think Hawk Moth and Lila could really use Nooroo and Trixx’s powers without making a proper deal?”

“If they knew the ritual, yes.”

Adrien rolled out of bed and stretched his arms behind his head. “Well, what Ladybug doesn’t know won’t hurt her.”

And with a whisper of, “Plagg, claws out,” Chat Noir was free to run off into the night.

He headed straight for the Rossi family manor. He was prepared for the dogs this time and crept along the wall until he found a tree that looked climbable. He chose a branch sturdy enough and long enough to get him close to the rooftop. With a bit of trepidation and a small amount of hope, he glanced over his shoulder to see if Ladybug was there to stop him.

Chat Noir was alone.

He leapt onto the roof and slipped down to the nearest dark window. It took a bit of heft to slide it open, but soon he was inside.

Chat Noir had never snuck into the Rossi manor before. It was usually empty, and there wasn’t a lot of appeal to infiltrating an empty house, either because it lacked the recklessness that Plagg desired or the intimacy that Adrien craved.

The Rossi family traveled the world, working as ambassadors for King Gabriel, but they returned every summer solstice for the annual hunt in the Forest of Fay. Last summer had been the only exception that Chat Noir could recall, and he had assumed it was because King Gabriel had forgone the hunt in his grief.

Chat Noir had been surprised by the dogs the other night, since they were six months from the summer solstice, but now that he knew Lila Rossi had inherited the miraculous gift of trickery and illusion from her grandmother, he guessed that the family had come back for her grandmother’s funeral service.

He also had learned, after Lila had made her grand declaration of her intention to wed Prince Adrien, that one of the reasons she had come back to the city was to challenge Chloé Bourgeois for his hand. Adrien had tried to explain to her and Chloé that he would make his own decision on the twenty-second, but that had not stopped Chloé and Lila from doing their best to explain to King Gabriel why they were each more suited for Prince Adrien. Even they didn’t think Adrien would truly be the one with the final say on whom he married.

Chat Noir slipped out of the dark attic storage room and into an empty hallway. He pressed his ears against each door, listening for sounds of slow, steady breathing or, preferably, loud snoring.

He did not care that marrying into the Bourgeois family would give the royal family more money and influence; he did not care that the Rossi family had international connections around the world and ancestral connections to the Forest of Fay that could benefit the kingdom. All he cared about was having someone at his side that he trusted, that he knew would support him, and someone that he could support as well.

He already had a partner that met those qualifications.

Chat Noir pushed open a bedroom door and cast his cat-like eyes around the dimly lit room. A couple was asleep in the bed, so he closed the door softly and continued his search for Lila’s room. He finally found it at the end of the hall.

The mess surprised him. Pieces of her dresses were scattered on the floor. Her jewelry hung haphazardly on the mirror. Chat Noir looked for her pendant among the mess but he did not see it. He had a feeling it was around her neck. It wasn’t as if he took off his ring when he went to sleep, and he did not think Ladybug took her earrings off each night either.

Still, he searched the drawers of her vanity, just in case. With clawed fingertips, he picked at a locked drawer and was surprised to find nothing of value inside. He hadn’t really expected the pendant, but perhaps a family ring or a diary might be worth protecting behind a lock. Instead, it was filled with ribbons.

Ever curious, Chat Noir ran his hands along the edges of the drawer and there he found it, a catch hidden beneath the scraps of fabric. It opened up a side panel on the inside of her vanity and Chat found a collection of papers with ragged edges, like they had been torn out of a book.

His first thought was that these were pages of Lila’s diary, and he had no interest in prying, but before he could put the pages back, he saw a fairly detailed drawing of Plagg in the corner of one of the notes. Chat frowned and flipped through the pages. He could see well-enough in the dark, but reading was a bit more challenging.

He slipped closer to the window where a bit of silver moonlight could aid his night vision. As he turned through the pages, his mouth went dry.

Plagg had been right about everything that he had suspected about Lila, but Plagg had left out some key details of the ritual. Maybe to spare Adrien from the horror or maybe to keep the ritual secret. For whatever reason, Plagg had failed to mention that the ritual to summon and control a fay creature’s gift in a lifetime bargain required a different sort of price: the life of another human.

It certainly put what Lila had said about her grandmother’s passing into a new light.

Chat Noir folded the papers and tucked them into his belt. He had to tell Ladybug somehow. It might mean a lot of sleepless nights hoping she found the time for him, but this was more important.

He stepped across the floor to Lila’s bedside without a sound. As he had expected, her fox-tail pendant gleamed around her neck. Chat carefully pulled aside her hair to reach the clasp at her neck. He moved slowly, concerned about waking her. As much as he wanted to confront Lila about what she had done, he was not interested in a fight with Volpina, particularly not in these cramped quarters.

But as his hand closed around the fox pendant, Lila’s hand closed around his wrist. Her dark eyes were furious as she glared at him.

“Trixx, let’s—”

But Chat Noir yanked his hand and the pendant away before she could finish her summon. He backed towards the window.

“Sorry, Lila. I don’t think this actually belongs to you.”

Lila climbed out of bed and gripped the heavy brass candlestick from her bedside table. She seemed unbothered by a strange boy in her bedroom, even though she was dressed only in a thin nightgown. Her eyes were filled with nothing but fury, a fury that reached Hawk Moth instantly.

“Give it back, chaton,” she hissed.

“I’m afraid you don’t get to call me that.”

Her eyes drifted from the pendant in his hand to the notes at his waist, and suddenly, her anger melted as if it had never been.

“Chat Noir,” she said softly, in a pleading voice, “do you really think I stole a fay? I could never do something like that.”

“You’re the one who told Ladybug and I that your grandmother just passed away.”

She stepped closer, and though the heavy candlestick was no longer brandished like a weapon, her grip on it was still tight. “I’m not a bad person,” she said. “Will you let me explain?”

Her voice trembled like she was on the verge of tears. Chat Noir put his hand on the windowsill, but he did not run, not yet.

“My grandmother gave me that pendant, just like I said.” Lila took another step closer. “You made a trade for your gift, right? I made a trade, too.”

“You traded your grandmother’s life!”

“Because she told me to!”

Chat Noir shook his head and threw the window open. The cold night air rushed in.

“Please,” Lila begged and fell against Chat before he could slip out the window. Her hand brushed against the bell at his neck. “She gave me those pages. She gave me the pendant. She told me to do this so I could help my family. You have to believe me.”

“Lila, I’m sorry, but —”

He saw the brass candlestick move just in time.

“Cataclysm!”

Her candlestick collided with his burning palm and it crumbled to dust. All her fury returned in full force as she reached for the pendant with her now empty hands.

“It’s mine!” she snarled, struggling to open his other fist, still closed tightly around the pendant.

Chat Noir tumbled backwards out of the open window and landed gracefully on his feet two floors below. But he looked up and saw his worst fears confirmed: a dark violet butterfly flitting through the moonlight and towards Lila. It landed on a small bundle of papers clutched in Lila’s hands and Chat Noir hastily checked his waist. His belt was empty.

He looked back up to see that Lila was no longer herself. Instead, Volpina stood in the window. She tucked the papers into the sash at her waist and glared down at him.

“Come here, chaton,” she called to him with a vicious grin.

Chat Noir’s emerald ring flickered. He gritted his teeth then turned and ran.

He had exactly one way to contact Ladybug. The trouble was that Ladybug would only know that he was trying to reach her if she was already transformed. He clutched the baton clipped to his belt and pressed on the green paw in its middle.

His emerald ring flickered again, so he made his story brief. “Hawk Moth has cursed Lila Rossi into the form of Volpina and it is technically my fault but I had good reason, I promise, and I could really use your help.”

Chat Noir avoided his usual rooftop route in hopes that he could hide from Volpina by taking to the streets. He felt like there were enough tight corners and wide roofs, but her voice was still so close as she called, “Chat Noir,” in a sing-song voice. “Come out and play, chaton. I just want my miraculous gift—and yours.”

His ring flickered again and he pressed himself into the doorway of a darkened shop. He bit down on his lip and waited until the sound of Volpina’s footsteps moved off. He could only pray it was truly a sign of her leaving and not another illusion designed to trick him.

“Plagg, claws in,” he hissed, and the cloak of Chat Noir fell away.

Plagg’s panicked face did not do anything to help Adrien’s nerves. “That wasn’t how I thought that would go at all.”

Adrien searched his pockets for cheese. “If you had just told me that the ritual involved human sacrifice, I might not have wasted time looking around her room.”

“I said it was a dark ritual!”

“That could have meant anything!” Adrien sighed as his pockets came up empty. “This is the last time we go out unprepared for a refresh.”

Plagg sniffed the air and followed the most pungent smell he could find. “You would think you might have learned to keep some on hand after a year.”

“Sorry I don’t want to smell like rotting cheese every day. I do still have appearances to keep up.” He followed Plagg down the alleyway as quietly as he could. He might know that Lila Rossi was Volpina, but she had no idea who Chat Noir really was. It was unlikely for her to realize the truth even if she managed to get eyes on him, but he also didn’t want her asking any questions about why Prince Adrien was out of the palace in the middle of the night.

Adrien held up the pendant he had stolen from Lila. “What do I do with this?”

Plagg shrugged his tiny shoulders and sniffed the air. “You could put it on and call Trixx.”

“Are you allowed to make a deal with a second fay creature?”

“Sure, if you don’t mind going mad.”

“I’ll pass, thanks.” Adrien shoved the pendant into his pocket. When he realized Plagg had stopped, he looked up at the building Plagg had chosen.

“Isn’t this that boulangerie?”

“They must have thrown out some old cheese.” Plagg disappeared into the garbage. “Glad we’re here to rescue it.”

Adrien stared up at the light visible in the top room of the building. He wondered if the family was getting prepared to start baking or if they were going to bed after a long night. Not that it mattered, really, he just liked knowing how other people lived. He thought about the seamstress girl who had invited him to eat with her family that owned this boulangerie—Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng. He wondered if she was related to the flour-covered girl who had spilled pastries in the palace. Félix had suggested that they might be twins or sisters, one incredibly nervous and clumsy, the other confident and artistic. The bakery owners must be kind people, to have raised two girls like that.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng, who was both the clumsy baker and confident seamstress that Adrien wondered about, was hard at work on her fifteenth redesign of Prince Félix’s outfit for the first night of the ball. Everything she came up with looked appropriate for a funeral, and none for a celebration. She wanted to honor his mourning of his father, just as she wanted to honor Adrien’s mourning of his mother, but how did she respect the princes’ grief and dress them for their birthday celebration that was supposed to turn into a wedding celebration?

To help with the enormous workload of dresses and modifications that the shop was swamped with, Master Fu had taken on a new assistant, a quiet girl by the name of Juleka. She wasn’t an apprentice proper, but she was skilled enough to put together pattern pieces, hem dresses and jerkins, and stitch buttons and lace down where they were needed. She’d been an exceptional help this last week, and though she did not talk much, she was very sweet, and had even helped Marinette through a couple of small crises of self-doubt about her commencement project. Juleka had also found some lovely black and silver shot silk just yesterday that Marinette was trying to make work, but it needed something more and she could not decide what that something was.

Marinette pinned her artwork to the ceiling in hopes of getting a second perspective, but a crash from outside distracted her. She stuck her head out of the attic window and looked down. It was hard to see in the darkness, but she thought that she heard someone burp.

Plagg finished off the cheese and burped rather loudly for someone who was supposed to be hiding from Volpina. “You know,” he said, “we don’t really have to get back to it. We could just hide until Ladybug takes care of it.”

“She’ll need our help.”

“She didn’t with the Gilded Queen.”

Adrien swallowed. He wondered if Plagg knew how much that fact hurt him. He hated that he had been unable to help Ladybug in the throne room last week. But he set aside his small heartbreak. “She had Volpina’s help then. She won’t have it now.”

“Fine,” Plagg sighed. “If you insist.”

“Claws out,” Adrien said, and once again donned the guise of Chat Noir.

Marinette had difficulty hearing more than murmurs of the conversation below as it echoed up to her bedroom. She thought the cadence of the voices sounded familiar, but just as she was about to give up on placing them, she caught a glimpse of silver flashing in the moonlight and the flick of a black cat’s tail disappearing around a chimney.

Hastily, she slammed the window closed and yanked a curtain over it. “Tikki! Spots on!”

The pink light flashed as her night clothes disappeared, replaced by her bright red dress, spotted in black and decorated with gold ribbons. She climbed up the attic trapdoor to her rooftop balcony and pulled her bandalore from her waist. The spots on it flashed, and as she searched the rooftops for a sign of where Chat Noir might have gone, she played his message.

“Hawk Moth has cursed Lila Rossi into the form of Volpina and it is technically my fault but I had good reason, I promise, and I could really use your help.”

“Oh, chaton,” she sighed, “what have you got yourself into now?”

Chat Noir had no desire to engage Volpina directly, but he wanted an idea of where she had gone. His reflective green eyes scanned the city skyline, but he could find no trace of her.

With a bit of hope in his heart, he reached for his baton, but saw no message from Ladybug. He wondered if it would be worth it to leave another message, but as he pressed his finger to the button, he heard movement behind him.

He turned, staff ready, but it was not Volpina. It was Ladybug.

“You got my message?” he asked.

She must have, because she looked displeased with him. “I know what you did, Chat Noir.”

“I’m sorry—”

“We both knew your thievery would get you into real trouble someday.” She held her hand out. “I think it’s time you give up your miraculous gift.”

Chat Noir blinked at her. “Wh… Buginette, I made a mistake—but I had to. Lila, she—”

“I already know what Lila did. You think she didn’t tell me after we first met? She’s always been honest with me, unlike you, Chat Noir.”

Chat Noir took a step away from Ladybug, as if distance might spare him some of this heartbreak. “I know I made a promise, but I…” He tried and failed to find the words to explain what he had done. “I’m your partner,” he finished helplessly.

“I can clean up your messes without you. I’ll find someone else to make a deal with your fay.”

He swallowed. If he handed his ring to Ladybug, he wasn’t just giving up her, he was giving up the only chance he had at freedom. But if Ladybug didn’t want him anymore, was his freedom really worth this heartbreak?

He clipped his baton to his belt and reached for his ring, but he did not remove it. “Please don’t ask this of me. I need this.” For however long he had left until his wedding night, he desperately needed freedom.

Ladybug’s face was unsympathetic. “Hand it over.”

Chat Noir’s shoulders slumped in defeat. Hadn’t he said that he would do anything his lady asked? Even this…

“Chat Noir, don’t!”

Chat Noir turned, surprised to see Ladybug behind him. She threw her bandalore at the Ladybug before him. The cord surrounded her, but as it closed in, the first Ladybug vanished.

Chat Noir blinked. “She wasn’t… real?”

Ladybug pulled her bandalore back into her hand and leapt across the gap between roofs to land at Chat Noir’s side. “Are you afraid to face us, Volpina?” Ladybug called out to the empty rooftops.

She was answered with a laugh from somewhere in the night.

Chat Noir drew his baton again. His voice was still unsteady as he said, “She can’t be far. She would need to be nearby to grab my miraculous gift.”

“How cute,” Volpina’s voice called, “that chaton thinks he can be helpful.” She stepped out from behind a chimney with her reed resting comfortably on her bare shoulder. “You’re never going to catch me. You might as well give up. I’m more powerful now than I ever was as a hero.”

Volpina pressed her reed to her lips and the night was filled with a haunting melody. There was no longer anything playful about her music. A dozen mirages of Volpina appeared surrounding Chat Noir and Ladybug.

“Hand over your miraculous gifts,” they said in unison.

“One of them has to be real,” Chat Noir said.

But Ladybug had seen Volpina’s fight with the Gilded Queen and she knew that it was just as possible that none of them were real. If they were going to find the real Volpina, they would need a bit of luck.

She gritted her teeth. Ladybug didn’t like to use her power before she knew where the curse was located, since its help could be limited, but she felt like they did not have much choice. She tossed her bandalore into the air and called on her Lucky Charm.

A bright light flared in the night sky and into Ladybug’s hands fell a small red sphere, decorated in black spots just like her dress.

“What is it?” Chat Noir asked, unwilling to take his eyes from the skulk of fox-like women that was closing in around them, reeds at the ready.

There was nothing unique about the sphere to indicate what exactly it was, but Ladybug was able to identify the object immediately, the way one could identify someone in a dream, regardless of the appearance.

“It’s a smoke bomb.”

“Are we running?”

It would not be the first time that her Lucky Charm told her to retreat and regroup, but she did not think that was the case this time. She scanned the encroaching pack.

“Hold your breath, chaton!” she said, and threw the smoke bomb to the ground.

The cloud rose instantly from their feet and, moved by the cold night air, spilled out into the illusions. Ladybug covered her nose, but the illusions did not react, as she had expected. They had no need to breathe, and the smoke would not irritate their illusory lungs.

“I guess Volpina isn’t here.” Chat Noir’s voice was muffled by his elbow, and Ladybug shushed him.

She heard it from behind another chimney—the sound of coughing.

Without warning, she threw her bandalore in the direction of the noise, wrapping it around the brick. She heard a yelp as the real Volpina was pinned to the chimney, and the illusions around her and Chat Noir vanished.

Chat Noir hurried across the rooftops, following the line of Ladybug’s bandalore. He found Volpina struggling to get free on the other side. He was not going to give her that chance.

“Cataclysm,” he hissed, and touched his hand to the notes at her waist. The inky black papers detailing the horrid ritual crumbled to dust. Ladybug’s magic would restore everything when all was said and done, but the object of Hawk Moth’s curse would remain broken in whatever way he and Ladybug managed to destroy it. While Chat Noir wished he had been able to save some sort of proof of Lila’s ritual, perhaps it was for the best that such terrible magic would be nothing more than dust.

As the black butterfly flitted upward into the night, Ladybug withdrew her bandalore from Volpina and swung it up to catch the butterfly. She pulled it back into her hand and when she reopened the two halves of her bandalore, the butterfly that flitted out of her hands was pure white. She wished it luck on its journey and tossed the remnants of the smoke bomb up into the air, shouting the incantation for her restorative magic.

There was not much damage for the magical ladybugs to undo. A cracked chimney and restoring Lila to herself were the most that they could fix. The rest of the damage Volpina had done was not the sort of damage the ladybugs could fix.

Chat Noir helped a disoriented Lila to her feet. She shivered in her nightgown and looked around. When she realized where she was and, more exactly, who was holding her, she yanked away, leaning up against the chimney. “Get away from me, Chat Noir!”

“I’m not going to hurt you. Let me help you home—”

“Give me my miraculous gift back.”

“You know I can’t do that.”

Ladybug came around the chimney and pushed her way between them as Lila lunged at him. “Chat Noir, is that what this is about? You stole her miraculous gift?”

“My fay creature asked me to rescue it,” Chat Noir said.

“It’s mine!” Lila said, and lunged for Chat Noir.

Ladybug barely managed to hold Lila off, digging her elbow into Lila’s stomach and bracing herself against Chat Noir’s chest on her other side. “Chat Noir, you promised me you wouldn’t steal.”

“It wasn’t hers,” Chat Noir insisted. He placed his hand over Ladybug’s, even as his ring began flickering out. “My fay believed she stole it, and when I went after it, I found evidence that he was right. That she may have even killed someone for it.”

“Liar!” Lila shrieked. Her hands scrabbled against Ladybug, pulling at the magical dress in an effort to reach Chat Noir. “You have no proof!”

Ladybug found herself grateful that Lila could not tear the magical fabric her dress, but she did not care for the scratches Lila was leaving beneath the fabric and winced, even as Tikki’s magic healed over the scrapes. “Chat Noir, where’s the evidence?”

“I destroyed it to free the curse.”

“See?” Lila snarled. “He has nothing! He’s a liar.”

Ladybug took Lila’s wrists in her hands to stop the desperate scratches. “Lila, I’m sorry, but I trust my partner. I’ll help you home and—”

Lila yanked her hands away. “You two think you’re heroes? Just wait—I’ll be a queen soon, and you can see what it’s like when everyone turns on you.”

“Mademoiselle Rossi—” Ladybug reached her hand out in an effort to comfort or calm her, but Lila jerked away.

“I don’t want your help. I can make my own way home.”

And, true to her word, she stalked to the nearest ladder and climbed down to the street below.

“I don’t think we should let her walk home alone,” Ladybug said, but her earrings flickered, letting her know that she would not be much of an escort for Lila.

“She’ll be all right,” Chat Noir said. “I just wish I had a way to prove what she did.”

“You don’t have to, chaton. I really do trust you. And even if I didn’t, I’m sure my fay will be able to confirm everything that your fay said.”

A small, unhappy smile worked its way across Chat Noir’s face. It was so uncharacteristic that Ladybug almost took a step back.

“If you want to confirm stories,” he said “you should ask your fay to tell you how she picked you.”

She tilted her head, unsure why he was suddenly so displeased. “She already has. She saw my creativity. Why did Plagg pick you?”

“Necessity.” Chat Noir hoped his voice did not sound as bitter as he felt. “To stop Hawk Moth after he did the same thing that Lila did.”

She rested a hand on his arm, delicately, afraid he might break if she pushed too hard. “No, chaton, that can’t be the only reason.”

“You and I made our deals nearly a year ago. Our first night together—it was the same night that Hawk Moth first attacked. Did you always think that was just a coincidence?”

Ladybug had wondered about the timing, yes, but she had not thought that the timing was a bad thing, nor a sign that Tikki had picked her foolishly. She struggled to find the words to help Chat Noir through his self-doubt. “You are my partner, Chat Noir. I wouldn’t want anyone else.”

Though Ladybug’s magic had undone the physical damage from Volpina’s attack, the illusory Ladybug’s words still stung. He had nearly given up his miraculous gift tonight. That, coupled with the new knowledge that Plagg had chosen him simply because he had been nearby, that Plagg did not even think he was capable of defeating Hawk Moth left him feeling unwanted and useless.

And, despite Plagg’s cold-hearted ideas about marriage, he had to confront the reality that in just a few weeks’ time, his nights would no longer be his own in a far more complete way than the rigorous schedule his father had recently imposed. He would have to give Ladybug up eventually, and while he wasn’t ready for that, he would have to be.

Chat Noir pulled the fox-tail necklace from his pocket and held it out to her, but still refused to meet her eyes. “I told you I won’t be around in a month, so you’ll need a new partner eventually.”

Ladybug could not understand which part of her words had been the wrong choice. “Chat—”

“Take it.” One of the emeralds embedded into his ring flashed another warning.

Reluctantly, she took the pendant from him. “Chaton, you told me you’d always be there.”

“I can’t get out of what’s coming. I might as well accept it.”

“Can you tell me what it is? Maybe I can help.”

He smiled, but it was as dark and bitter as his destructive gift. “I don’t know that you would.”

“What do you mean?” Her earrings flickered, but she ignored them. “Chat Noir, tell me what you mean.”

“Come to the ball,” he said suddenly, and finally he looked at her. His green eyes that were usually so playful were now desperate and wild. A new brand of chaos surged in Chat Noir, one Ladybug was not quite as familiar with. “One night, just give me one night with you.”

She smiled indulgently, but shook her head. “I think if you showed up to the ball, King Gabriel would arrest you on the spot. You’re a hero, but you’re also a wanted criminal.”

Chat Noir searched desperately for a way to match Ladybug’s gentle teasing. He was the expert at teasing, but he could not conjure up even a scrap of his usual good humor.

His ring flashed. He turned to go, but she reached for his hand.

“Chaton,” and his heart burned to hear her use the nickname so gently, “can’t you tell me what’s wrong?”

He hesitated, afraid to hope. “Not without telling you who I am.”

“You know that we can’t—”

He could endure no more. “Goodbye, Ladybug.”

And he disappeared into the night.