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thebestofoneshots · 1 year ago

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tastes | Marauders x Reader

Pairing: J.P. x S.B. x R.L x Female Reader

Word Count: 5.3k

Warnings: Smut, finger fucкing, oral (male receiving), P in V, lots of praise (especially from Remus), Sirius gets all the love he deserves, consent is sexy, lusty!boys, сreаm piе, they literally can't take their eyes off you.

Prompt: Inspired by the sense of taste. Reader has a very strong gag reflex, so the boys have never asked you to blow them, and you love them for it. But today, you want to taste them.

tastes is part of The Five Senses: an anthology series where each chapter will be a stand-alone story, inspired by the different ways we have of perceiving the world around us.

18+ readers only (smut under the cut)

Cum Feel The Noize

You had always had pretty strong gag reflex, just brushing your tongue while you brushed your teeth made you want to puкe sometimes, it wasn’t ideal, but it was what you were born with so you settled.

The boys knew, you’d been friends with them long before you started dating, and you had been pretty vocal about it, really, you were just so comfortable with them around that you didn’t mind talking about those things.

“What about sucking a dicк?” Sirius asked, half teasingly, half because he’d been genuinenly curious. He got elbowed by James after asking, but you just laughed.

“Nah, it’s fine,” you told James dismissively “In truth, I’ve never done that.”

“Never, ever? Not even the tip?” Asked James impressed, now curious as well. You shook your head as an answer.

“Not even when you dated that stupid Harland boy?” asked Remus. They all hated Harland because they all liked you, even then, a few months before you started all dating each other.

“Harland?” you asked in disbelief “Hell no! He asked a couple of times but, I just couldn’t do it,” you admitted “I really didn’t want to puкe all over his dicк.”

“Understandable,” Remus nodded.

“Yeah, you’d think. That’s why we broke up tho.”

“What? Shut up!” James said, almost standing straigther.

“No, it’s true!” you said with a nod “He said there were plenty other girls in the market, and that most of them would die just to get the chance to suck him off.”

“And what did you tell him?” Sirius asked.

“To fuck off,” you said with a laugh “didn’t even like him that much anyway,” you said with a sight, “But he’s so petty, he asked me to go see him in one of the abandoned classrooms to give me back some of my stuff, but he had just gotten a girl to blow him there. So when I arrived–”

James gasped, he had his mouth open wide, completely shocked.

“–Poor girl, she was so embarrassed ‘cause she thought we were still dating. Which in hindsight, probably makes is worse. Anyway, he tried to go after me and jinxed him.”

“We thought you stopped dating because he moved away.”

“Nope, he moved away because the girl told all her friends about it and gave him the worst reputation.”

Fast forward to now, you had been dating them for almost a year, and they had, never once, asked you to suck them off, not even by accident, which only made you love them even more, making you realize they truly listened, the difference abysmal between them and Harland, who’d asked hundreds of times, and your boys, who actually cared about you and your limits. And since they also had each other to have fun with it, neither of them missed out on getting blowjobs all that often either. Benefits of being in a poly relationship.

But the boys were always so caring, and so giving, both in and outside of the bedroom, that you really wanted to give back to them. In fact, seeing the way James sucked Remus once, made you want to test it yourself, mouth watering at the thought. You had done your research too, asked your friends about their techniques and paid a lot more attention when they were doing each other, making mental notes of the things they clearly liked and the things they didn’t. For the first time in your life, you actually wanted to try.

So, on Sirius’ birthday, you thought it’d be your chance. The boy had asked Peter for the room and he happily left the three of them to do their thing while going to bunk with his own girlfriend. Remus had been the one to pick you up at your room with the invisibility cloak that day.

“You ready luv?” he asked tenderly when you got out of your room, quickly enveloping you in the cloak as he stood behind you.

“Very ready,” you said with a little smirk, which had Remus raise one of his eyebrows. Did you plan something? That’s definitely your “I’ve planned something” tone.

He dipped his head in the crook of your neck and gave it a short whiff “You’re wearing Sirius’ favourite perfume,” he mouthed, you could feel his lips brushing against your skin, already sending warmth to your core. “What else?”

You smiled mischievously “Nothing else,” you admitted.

A rush of blood went straight to his cock when he heard you say that so confidently, and he finally peaked from his spot in your neck, looking through the thin white shirt you were wearing, he could see your nipple perking underneath the fabric, marking it ever so slightly. “Fuck, dove you’re such a tease.”

You shrugged, turning to press a kiss to his cheek, realizing how blown out his pupils were already, “You know how much Sirius loves it.”

He slid his hands under your skirt, only feeling the outside of your tight, all the way to your waist, as if trying to feel if you really had nothing underneath at the bottom. “Yeah, he’s not the only one,” he grunted, digging his digits a little, just below your pelvis. You pressed yourself to him a little more, realizing he was already getting turned on, even from such a short interaction, which only fueled you even more, turning completely around you wrapped your fingers on his neck and brought him down for a kiss. He complied, pushing you against a nearby wall as he kissed back, hands still extended above his head to keep the cloak covering the two of you. When you finally separated, you were both panting, his lips were already pink from the stimulation, and he brought one of his hands down to accommodate his pants, they were already making him uncomfortable.

“Come on handsome,” you told him with a smile, butting your bottom lip for a mere second and pulling at his bicep ever so slightly, “Why don’t we continue the party inside?”

When you arrived at their room, Sirius was on his bed, sketching something in his notebook while James was setting up the record player. After all the initial plan had been to just chill and listen to music together. But you all knew that wasn’t going to be the end of the story from the moment the suggestion left Remus’ lips.

You went straight to Siri, pressing a chaste kiss over his mouth as you laid down next to him “Happy birthday Puppy!”

“That’s like the 10th time today you say that,” James teased.

“It’s probably just an excuse to snog him,” added Remus.

You shrugged and leaned in again, pressing another short kiss to Sirius’ soft lips “Happy birthday,” you whispered again.

Sirius just smiled, he loved when you showered him with attention, he had always had a knack for being the center of it, but when he was the center of yours, it made him soar, “You can snog me without wishing me happy birthday kitten, in fact, you can snog me whenever the hell you want.”

You laughed at the suggestive little smirk he made and searched with your hand to grab his. Sirius would definitely go crazy with how much attention you were all about to give him. He leaned in a little closer, dipping his head in the crook of your neck as he turned “You smell nice,” he whispered.

James almost jumped to the bed, placing the top half of his body over the bottom half of yours, his head looking at you from above your belly, “Don’t act like we aren’t in the room,” he said with a pout, placing a hand over your bare leg.

“We weren’t,” Sirius said, still from the crook of your neck “We were just giving you a show,” he added in the end, you could feel the smirk in his tone. Remus laughed, still standing in the middle of the room as he took off his sweater, passing it over his head, slowly, Remus was the most patient of the three; unless you were close to the moon.

You took a deep breath, feeling James’ forearm press against your belly as you did, he leaned down over them and noticed. “You’re not wearing a bra today,” he said as he raised just the edge of your shirt to get a peak.

“And it’s not the only thing I didn’t put on,” you said teasingly.

Sirius turned to you shocked “Shut up.”

“Why don’t you see it for yourself,” you said with a smirk. Sirius didn’t think twice as he dipped his hand under your skirt. Unlike Remus, he went straight to your slick, feeling how wet you already were.

“Bloody hell kitten, you’re soaked,” he said, now his own eyes blown out in lust “Wait, why are you so…?” he turned to Remus, who just shrugged in response, a cheeky smile playing on his face. He narrowed his eyes at him and turned back to you, “fine then… my turn,” he said, lightly pushing James off you as he grabbed you by the waist and placed you on top of him, you were now straddling him, each leg to the side of his. The friction of his pants in your core, only making you all the more turned on, you ground yourself against him, which had him moan, if ever so lightly. James had placed one hand over your tight as he moved to kiss Sirius’ neck. Today was his day, after all.

You smiled, slowly grinding yourself against the boy one more time before leaning in to kiss him on the lips. Remus was sitting on the bed beside yours, lousily looking at the three of you as he patted himself. After a couple more kisses, you reached your hand under Sirius’ shirt, and both you and James pulled Sirius on a sitting position so you could completely remove it, gently passing it over his head. James didn’t leave him lay back down though, he pressed himself behind him to gain better access to his neck instead.

You smiled, still kissing Sirius as you fumbled your fingers over the button of his trousers. “Someone’s thirsty,” he teased.

“You wouldn’t know how much,” you whispered enigmatically. There it is again, Remus thought, she’s onto something. With the help of James, you managed to remove Sirius’ pants too. Playing with the hem of his trousers as you continued to grind onto his leg. Now it was your turn, moving in tandem with James, the two of you managed to lay Sirius back, over James’ chest, who rubbed soft circles on his arms as he watched you grind onto his boyfriend. Sirius was malleable, in fact, at this point, he would let you do whatever the hell you wanted with him, he wasn’t sure he was even still on earth.

Finally, you pulled his boxers down, pulling back just a little when his thick cock sprang out, pressing against his stomach from the force of the release. You licked your lips but stood back straight, taking your time to throw the boxers somewhere. Remus smiled, you were being fast tonight, maybe he’ll get his turn faster than–

He lost his train of thought, you had dropped kisses all over Sirius’ stomach and your face was dangerously close to his cock. It wasn’t unusual that you played and rubbed their cocks with your hands, but you usually kept your head a little further away from them.

He almost completely lost it when he noticed you playing with Sirius’ tights, pressing kisses against them as you spread them a little with your hands. That was a move he knew all too well, he’d done it several times. Finally, when you leaned down and pressed your lips against Sirius’ cock, it was he who jumped out of James’ grasp, Remus crossing the distance that there was in between the two of you with two long strides.

“Kitten what are you–” Sirius asked, his throat dry.

“–what do you think?” you said, motioning to his cock.

“But your gag reflex sweetheart,” James said, he was peering through Sirius’ shoulders.

Your heart warmth at the boys’ concern, “I wanna try,” you added.

“Are you sure? You don’t have to do it… If you feel pressured into it because it’s my birthday then–”

“–It’s not that,” you cut him off “I want to try.”

“Are you very sure luv?” Remus asked, he had leaned down near the bed to level his head with yours.

You nodded “Positive.”

“Sirius can be a little desperate sometimes,” James added “We can help you hold him in place so he doesn’t accidentally jerk too hard into your throat, How does that sound?”

You peered to look at him through your lashes, Sirius thought you’d never looked more stunning “If Sirius is all right with that.”

The boy in question nodded excitedly, and James leaned a little to the side, pressing one of his legs, while Remus held him from the other side.

“We’re ready,” Remus said with a short nod.

You nodded in response, taking a deep breath, and leaned back down pressing little kisses on Sirius’ soft abdomen before placing your hand over his balls. You’d seen James do it, and Sirius seemed to like it when he did.

Judging by the way he moaned, he also enjoyed it when you did. After kneading them a little more, and rubbing circles over his tight with your other hand, you placed your hand around his cock, pumping it a couple of times before finally leaning down, placing a light kiss over his tip. The sound Sirius emitted was so sinful, you felt your arousal dripping from your cunt.

James had moved over the bed, one hand still over Sirius’ leg, the other on his cock, he was watching mouth dry as you leaned down on Sirius. He had only dreamed of you doing such a thing, never daring to ask for it.

You took a deep breath, and went for a long lick, all the way from shaft to the end. Remus smirked, such a tease, he thought.

Sirius moaned again, head plopping back into the pillows James had placed when he moved to the side.

Remus hummed “Stop teasing him so much sweetheart,” he said as he placed a hand on the side of Sirius’ face, brushing lightly from his temple to his neck all the while looking tenderly at the boy, “He might just combust in flames if you keep it up.”

You stroked Sirius one more time, brushing your thumb over his tip the way you knew he liked so much and then you leaned down again, this time wrapping your mouth around his tip. You didn’t go down too deep at first, only really staying around the tip, making sure to test how much you could actually fit into your mouth without it getting uncomfortable.

You started moving your tongue around his tip, nipping and teasing. Another moan escaped from Sirius’ mouth, James didn’t know where to look as he touched himself, either at you or Sirius’ pleasure-driven face. At some point, you felt a slight buckle of Sirius’ hips, or at least an attempt of it, since both James and Remus had managed to restrain him from moving too much.

“Please,” he begged. You knew exactly what he wanted. When he got all whinny like that, it was because he wanted you to pick up the pace, either by stroking him faster or bobbing your hips up and down his length. You squeezed slightly with your hand since you knew how much he liked it when you clenched your “tight little pussy” around him. And finally, you started to bob your head up and down, slowly, taking in very little of him in your mouth at first. Testing the waters.

Sirius emitted the kind of groan you only heard of him when he was so deep into you, he couldn’t think of anything else. You then felt Remus’ hand, the one he wasn’t using to hold Sirius’s hip, moving under your skirt. Slowly moving up until he reached the tender flesh of the inside of your tight. And then he went further up, tracing your slit with his long finger.

“Fuck,” he whispered, “Pads, if you could feel how wet she is at this point… she’s practically dripping.”

Remus knew exactly what he was doing, Sirius was as much into physical pleasure as emotional, much like you were, and Remus was well aware knowing such a thing would set his boyfriend on fire, he wasn’t wrong, you could feel his hips trying to buckle into your mouth again, only to be stopped by the boys’ strong hands.

Remus did not remove his hand either, he kept playing around your slit, slowly parting with two fingers as you perked your ass just a bit more for easier access, which just had him grin. You moaned when he placed one of his fingers over your clit and started rubbing, Remus had the most confident grip when it came to finger fucking you, and he always delivered.

You started taking in a bit more of Sirius, forcing yourself a little over what you’d consider your comfort zone. Every moan his noises and Remus’ hands pulled from you, reverberating across his cock and bringing him closer.

“Sweethea… aaaah, fuck.” Sirius was trying to tell you something, but the way his moans sounded, you knew exactly what he wanted to say.

Regardless, it was James who took his hand away from his own cock and bought it to caress your back, “Kitten…” he said softly, you eyed him, not stopping the way you moved your mouth around Sirius, which almost got him to lose his train of thought, “Kitten, Sirius is about to come,” he informed.

You hummed in response, being aware of it already. You knew. Finally, that brought Remus back into the conversation “Wait, luv, does that mean you’re going to…” you hummed again.

“fuck,” you heard him whisper. She’s gonna swallow, he thought, not being able to keep his eyes off you.

Sirius was just as impressed, even if he wasn’t thinking much at this point, he had brought his hand down, and he toyed with your hair before settling it just over the back of your neck, he wasn’t pushing though, he was rubbing soft circles with his thumb, even amongst all the madness you’d brought to him, he was still thinking of your comfort.

You drove your head up and down three more times, and then you felt it, warm and a little salty, spurring into your mouth. And as you had planned you swallowed it all, helping Sirius ride through his orgasm by still bobbing your head a couple of times.

“It’s ok sweetheart,” you heard James, he still had his hand on your back “He’s done, you can stop.”

You did, slowly taking your mouth out and letting your head fall over Sirius’ belly, making sure to keep your ass up so Remus wouldn’t stop toying with your pussy, which he wasn’t planning on either way. Sirius looked at you, breath heavy as he wrapped his hand over your cheek, “That was incredible sweets, and for your first time.”

You pressed a soft, gentle kiss to his stomach, and then turned your eyes back to him “I’d been observing you…” you said. Being stoped by your own moan as Remus drove a finger inside of you “taking notes of what each of my boys likes best.”

“fuck you’re so tight,” the boy whispered, only James heard, you and Sirius were too wrapped in your own little bubble.

“Have you now?” he said with a teasing smile, “you might become the best of the three,” he whispered, it earned him a smack from James, who had been attentively watching the way Remus finger fucked you, imagining how it would look like without the skirt.

“Next time you beg for me to blow you after a game I’ll tell you to go beg elsewhere,” he teased. Which earned a chuckle from you and Sirius.

“I want to see,” Sirius added, motioning to Remus’ hand under your skirt.

“That makes two of us,” James said as he grabbed you by the waist and pulled you into a sitting position, you whined in response, almost crying at the loss of Remus’ expert fingers.

“It’s ok baby, we’re just gonna reposition,” James cooed, and he started to unbutton your shirt as Remus got on the bed, taking off his shirt in one swift motion before helping James remove yours. The boys moved in tandem, smoothly as if they knew exactly what the other was about to do next, which perhaps they did, since they knew each other so well. Once the shirt was off, you felt the cold air perk your nipples, giving both boys sitting in front of you their own little show. While that was going on, Remus was the one to unbutton and unzip your skirt, lifting you up towards him as James pulled it off.

Remus placed you in between his legs, enjoying the feeling of the soft bare skin of your back flushing against his torso. He hadn’t yet removed his pants, but you could feel how hard he was under them, so hard it’s gotta be painful.

But Remus had only two moods, either being patient or being desperate; today he was the first one, so when you rocked your hips back, trying to get a reaction, he just held you down “Steady on sweetheart, let us enjoy you first.”

And they were going to enjoy you, while Remus spread you wide open, carefully passing your feet over his legs so they would stay in position, James had leaned in to spread soft kisses on your neck. All of you facing Sirius, who was just smiling darkly at the sight.

Remus was slow at first, passing a hand over your inner tight, massaging the soft skin before getting closer to your slit. Even then, he just massaged around it “Remus!” you whined, which only earned him a chuckle.

“What is it luv?” he asked, playing dumb.

“Yeah, what is it?” James asked, unlaching his lips from your neck and turning to you, joining the teasing.

“Please!” you added, grabbing onto Remus’ hand and placing it on your slit.

Finally, he complied, tracing his strong fingers over your slit, still impossibly wet. James had already moved on to kiss one of your nipples, nipping and teasing the tender skin. Sucking it into peaks before laying it back with his tongue. One of his hands had been placed in the small of your neck, and the other on your other breast, making sure not to let it skip on the fun.

“How are you three so goddamned beautiful?” you heard Sirius mumble as he enjoyed the view.

This time around, after toying with your clit once more, Remus placed two fingers inside instead of one, which had you gasp, but he just smiled devilishly as he thrusted them in and out, eliciting one of his favourite sounds in the world, your moans. While lost in bliss, you felt James’ cock brush against your skin, which made you remember how forgotten you had left him tonight, so you reached out and brushed your hand around it, brushing your thumb over the tip a couple of times, earning a couple of moans from him.

“Yes, please,” he whispered, and you complied, finally starting to stroke him. James did not stop the kissing as you continued to move your hand up and down his length, only moaning your name a couple of times, and squeezing your breast a little tighter when he was close.

You were just as close, you realized Remus had been not only finger fucking you, but preparing you as well, slowly stretching you out with the help of his two fingers. Remus was big, and without stretching, he just didn’t fit in. And if he was stretching you out, then it meant he knew he’d get your wet little cunt tonight and it only fueled him more and turned you on even more in return. You buckled your hips against his fingers a couple of times, and his pace became faster. Just like your stroking around James’ cock.

James came first, thrusting into your hand as his cum dripped all over it, finally unlatching himself from your nipples and breathing heavily as he stared dumbly at you and Remus, lips parted and slightly red, just the sight of it made you buckle your hips against Remus’ hand once again. He was about to take his wand to clean your hand with it, when Remus used his free hand to bring it over to his mouth and ran his tongue from your wrist bone to your fingers, licking most James’ cum along, which James swore made his cock twitch again.

And then Remus turned to you, not slowing down the pace on your pussy, but looking as calm as unbothered as if he were a teacher asking a student for an answer “Do you want to taste him too, sweetheart?”

You nodded, and he pushed your hand towards your mouth, carefully placing the soft section between your thumb and your wrist right over your lips, it was the only section still covered with James’ cum, and you slowly brought your lips around it, sucking carefully on your hand and letting your lips slowly go back to their place as Remus’ pulled your hand out. James was a little saltier than Sirius, but also relatively sweet.

“fuck… i’m gonna end up getting hard again,” you heard James’ groan, which had Sirius chuckle as he pulled the boy towards him.

“Come Prongs, enjoy the show with me,” he said with a smile. James leaned in and gave Sirius a short kiss before leaning on his shoulder.

“All right sweetheart, your turn,” Remus said as he brought his index finger from the other hand to your clit, you leaned your head back on his shoulder, buckling your hips against him with more conviction now that you weren’t distracted by anything else.

His pace quickened and you moaned and whined under his expert hands “Hmmm… please Rem, I’m about to…”

“It’s ok baby, be good and come all over my fingers,” he cooed, and you did, harshly pulling your head back as you allowed him to finger fuck you to oblivion. “There we go, such a good girl for me, isn’t that right?” he praised, as he brought his hand, still wet with your slick over to his mouth and sucked sinfully over the two fingers that were inside of you, moaning as he tasted your juices. He then turned back to you again. “Now, are you gonna allow me to fuck that tight little pussy of yours tonight or do you feel too tired already?”

You wanted nothing more than for Remus to stretch you up just right, so you nodded, head still a little foggy from the high, “Please Remus,” you added for good measure, moving your hips back just to feel him press against you one more time.

Finally, you moved to the side, allowing the boy to take both his pants and underwear off before he laid down on the bed, Remus knew it was easier for you to be the one to ride him, at least at first –and when he was the first one– since that way you had a little more control over how big he was, and he was always more than happy to let you do it, in fact, he quite enjoyed the way your breast bounced as you bobbed up and down his length. And he knew the boys liked it just as much, so he strategically laid in a way so that they would get a good view of you.

You slowly straddled him, placing both knees on each side of his hip before rubbing yourself against his cock a couple of times, causing him to moan this time. You were still so fucking wet.

Eventually, you lifted yourself up and lined him with your entrance. He placed both of his hands around your hips, to help hold you up as you slowly pushed yourself down, moaning as you went as deep as you could. Remus had responded to your tightness with a grunt, truth be told he’d been dreaming of it from the moment he went to pick you up.

You started bobbing up and down his length, slow at first, but picking up that pace as your walls got used to his size. Remus had his hands on your waist, helping you move easily as he started to thrust up into you, reaching the right spot. “fuck… yes,” you said breathily as he continued thrusting.

“So fucking tight,” Remus breathed as he helped you ride him, completely focused on you, on your parted lips, your soft huffs and moans; you were absolutely entrancing in the way you moved your hips on him, “You’re taking me in so well sweetheart…”

You moaned, and clenched around him, which just caused him to buckle against you even harder. That got you to whimper and you brought both of your palms to lay over his shoulders, to hold yourself better as you continued to rock your hips on the boy, “Baby… if you keep that up I’m not gonna last,” he added, and just to tease him, you clenched again, eliciting a moan from the boy so sinful, it fueled you to keep moving, faster this time around.

“So beautiful, aren’t they Prongs?” you heard Sirius say, almost not quite registering it with the way Remus’ cock trusted into you right after. The other boy hummed in response, not able to take his eyes off the way you were moving.

When Remus was close, he switched the two of you around, laying you flat on the bed as he brought one of his hands over to your clit, “Be a good girl and come for me one last time sweetheart,” he said as he continued to thrust. Holding back his own orgasm, he wanted to hear you moan his name as he came.

And after a few more flicks and circles of his thumb, with his pace quickening, you came, “hmm Remus…” you whispered as he continued to thrust inside of you, the way your walls clenched around tipping the boy over the edge, he had hold it back so long, he practically grunted into your ear and spiled inside of you.

Eventually, he pulled back, staring at your pussy as he panted, you knew what he wanted and so you squeezed, allowing the thick white liquid to spill from your inside, dripping from your entrance to the back of your ass. Remus really liked to see the evidence of fucking you, somehow satisfying his most primal desires, or so he’d told you once.

Remus brought one of his hands back to your cunt, you shivered with the contact since you were still slightly overstimulated, but he didn’t budge, using his middle and index to gather some of your combined juices, he angled his head cockily, “Are you gonna taste me tonight as well sweetheart?” he asked.

You smiled wickedly, using your elbows to prop yourself up and leaning in towards the boy’s hand, not bothering to answer as you opened your mouth and wrapped it around both of his fingers, making sure to let your lips pull as you slowly hollowed your mouth and pulled yourself back, licking your lips as you completely separated from the boy. Remus had not been expecting that, his cocky demeanour faltering as his mouth dried. Remus was the sweetest of the three.

A/N: this is the third piece of smut I’ve written so far, and omg this definitely got out of hand. Regardless… I do feel like I’m getting the hang of it. Maybe? A little bit? At least I don’t feel the cringe, anymore. Saying that, I do still stop myself every now and then and wonder “what the hell am I writing?” In a “I’d be burned in the stake for imagining these things” sort of way haha! Either way, I’m having fun, and that’s what matters!

The Five Senses was born as a way for me to practice writing smut for my brand new Wolfstar x Reader series that's currently being posted on a weekly basis. If you have feedback, please leve it in the comment below. I absolutely love reading your comments <3

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jinjinxedsoul · 5 months ago

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When The Sun Loved The Moon - Aegon II Targaryen

SUMMARY | After abdicating in favor of his sister Rhaenyra, Aegon Targaryen seeks to distance himself from power and find a purpose beyond the throne. His marriage to his niece, Jaella Velaryon, symbolizes a strategic alliance but also a union built on mutual understanding and a deep bond. As Aegon and Jaella strive to build a life together, the peace they hope for is threatened by Alicent Hightower's ambitions. Unwilling to accept Aegon's decision, Alicent claims the throne for her youngest son, Daeron.

What began as an attempt to secure the kingdom's stability quickly spirals into a struggle for power, marked by betrayals and alliances that challenge even the strongest family ties. As the conflict intensifies, Aegon and Jaella must confront not only external threats but also the doubts and tensions that arise within their marriage. In a world where love and loyalty are constantly tested, they must decide what they are willing to sacrifice to protect what they hold most dear

PAIRING | Aegon II Targaryen x OC Jaella Velaryon (Rhaenyra's daughter, Jacaerys twin sister)

WARNINGS : +18, Targcest, underage drinking, underage sex, smut scenes throughout the chapters, a threesome at some point, aegon (he's a warning) characters death, mentions of abuse. (I'll add more as we advance)

Chapter index.

IT WAS IN THE YEAR 116 AFTER THE CONQUEST THAT PRINCESS RHAENYRA GAVE BIRTH FOR THE FIRST TIME, and as impossible and difficult as it may have seemed, the labor lasted an entire week.

The gods had blessed her and Ser Laenor with two children; however, the second baby had refused to be born alongside their brother. The night of the birth was exhausting for the princess, and the next day was even worse when little Jacaerys was presented to the queen, who quickly pointed out that the prince had not inherited Ser Laenor's features.

Seven days after Jacaerys' arrival, Rhaenyra gave birth a second time; Princess Jaella arrived in good health and brought good fortune for her and her brother, silencing the rumors that were already spreading through the court about the illegitimacy of her birth. Jaella was born with a good handful of silver hair and bright violet eyes.

The king seemed delighted with his two grandchildren, especially Jaella, who bore a strong resemblance to his late wife, Aemma. And although the rumors continued to circulate, their credibility was now more questioned than it had been at the time of Jacaerys' birth.

But if there was anyone more pleased than the king with the arrival of the twins, it was definitely Prince Aegon, who at just five years old was already yearning to feel less alone in the Red Keep; with a mother who constantly reminded him of a position he could not even understand, a father who barely looked his way, and an older sister who didn’t seem very fond of him, the birth of the twins represented for him a solution, perhaps a temporary one, to his loneliness.

Characters ! . .

Jaella Velaryon. 116 A.C "The valyrian pearl "

Aegon II Targaryen 113 A.C "The Prince Who Yielded"

. . . .

Decran Stark 111 A.C "The young wolf" |played by Tom Holland . . .

Daeron Targaryen 117 A.C "The usurper" |played by Lucas Lynggaard Tønnesen

. . .

Harland Arryn 117 A.C “The Protector” |played by Oscar Piastri

. . . .

EMMA D'ARCY as Rhaenyra Targaryen MATT SMITHas Daemon Targaryen OLIVIA COOKEas Alicent Hightower HARRY COLLETTas Jacaerys Velaryon

and

the rest of the cast of HoTD!

. . . . .

SOUNDTRACK!

#aegon ii targaryen #fanfic #hotd aegon #hotd #hotd fanfic #hotd fandom #aegon ii fanfic #oc

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mariabtsos · 5 months ago

Text

Unsinkable ||j.jk|| - Chapter 7

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Description: The 1910s are the peak of passenger ships, it was also the peak of classism, Jungkook is a third class immigrant from Korea, and you are a first class “prisoner” not wanting to go back to a life of strict standards. Once you meet Jungkook, life seems worth living, but when tragedy strikes, will you guys make it out to live the life you planned?

Genre: One-shot, Titanic AU, poor/artist!JK x rich!f reader, angst, fluff, very slight smut, forbidden love.

Warnings: major character death, major maritime disaster, descriptions of panic, child abandonment, alcohol consumption, misunderstanding of character death, ANGST.

Word Count: 1.4k+

Oh Taehyung was in a big predicament now, he didn’t know at what point he and Jimin had been separated, but he was a nervous wreck. He was literally right behind him, when they got away from their room with Chris, when they had run into you and when you and Chris left, he was right behind him as they made it to the main deck, where the hell had he run off to now?

“JIMINIE” he screamed through the hoard of panicked passengers who were doing their best to get on the next lifeboat out of there. Taehyung wanted to find Jimin so they could do the same, maybe he’d wandered off to the area of the ship where they were letting no men board and was helping the women and children get on? Maybe he’d gone back down to help you and Chris find Jungkook? Maybe he’d gone back down all together and decided it’d be better to die at sea? Although Taehyung couldn’t possibly imagine that being something his best friend would do.

Jimin had come from humble beginnings, orphaned and left to his own devices he lived through the system until he was 18, with the little money he’d managed to save he got the first boat out of Busan to London for a fresh start, it was difficult at first, learning a new language and finding work when immigrants were looked down upon often, but Harland and Wolfe had given him a chance. He was part of the crew that had built Titanic, granted Jimin had no experience building ocean liners, but it paid the bills and his tuition at university, where he’d met Taehyung. Finding another Korean felt like a breath of fresh air, and after finding out that Taehyung’s grandfather worked for the same shipyard and was also working on the same ship, it wasn’t long before the older man took Jimin in like one of his own, sharing the small efficiency apartment he’d rented close to the shipyard. Jimin was Taehyung’s brother by all intents and purposes, he couldn’t leave him behind.

He started making his way back down to the same doorway he’d come out of just twenty minutes ago, he was going to find Jimin no matter what, they had promised to be there for each other on this journey, and if Jimin was going to die down there… Well, Taehyung had no choice but to join him.

“Jungkook-ah!” the doe-eyed man looked around, finding Jimin in the crowd of people, was he holding a baby?

“Hyung!” he ran toward him, quickly pulling him in for a hug, once they separated he noticed the man’s eyes were full of tears, “I can’t find Taehyung, we came up here together and then I saw this little one in a corner, left all alone and I couldn’t not go grab him, I couldn’t not help him, and now I can’t find him and I’m scared that we won’t find him in time,” he rambled on as more tears ran down his cheeks, Jungkook looked toward bow of the ship, the door that the fancy car you and him had been in not more than an hour ago completely submerged, if Taehyung went back down, he wouldn’t have taken long to realize there was nowhere to go anymore. “I’m sure we’ll find him hyung, he can’t have gone far,” he reassured him.

“Yeah, there’s nowhere to go,” Yoongi added, and you elbowed him pretty harshly, “horrible timing,” you simply said.

“Where were you headed anyway?” you asked the tearful man who had subconsciously started rocking the baby in his arms.

“We heard through the grapevine that the other side of the ship is letting men on the boats once all women and children have boarded, that’s when I saw him,” Jimin looked down at the infant, he was a year old at best, months old at worst, you couldn’t tell because Jimin had wrapped him in his jacket to keep him warm, all you could see was his face.

How could someone leave their child behind? Jimind said he’d been laid down on the floor, in a corner, what if the panicked crowd stepped on him? What if he was kicked and thrown in the ocean? The poor thing would die quickly and so painfully. “Let’s start heading there then,” Chris stated, going the opposite direction of the bow so they could go to the other side of the ship, you walked up to Jimin and gave his arm a reassuring squeeze, “we’ll get out of this and so will Taehyung,” he simply nodded at your words and followed you all.

The scene you found on the other side was a stark difference to where you had come from, the crowd was in a somewhat controlled chaos, with the officers trying their best to load the boats to capacity, even if a few still came up looking empty, they were nothing compared to the other ones you’d seen leave the ship.

“WOMAN AND CHILDREN FIRST,” one of them yelled, Jungkook and Yoongi pushed along, but you refused to get on until all of them could get on.

Unfortunately, that time never came. You hadn’t know how long the boat had been sinking, but the rumble underneath you was a sign that it wasn’t going to be there much longer, “Jimin you go, you have the baby, we will find you late,” Yoongi said authoritatively, the younger still looked terrified and upset, the tears had started to come back as he was urged into the boat. “Please, let Tae know when you find him how sorry I am for not telling him to wait,” Jimin hiccuped as the boat was lowered.

Jungkook turn toward you, taking off his life jacket and placing it on you, he must’ve seen the terror in your face, he cupped your cheek with his hand, rubbing it with his thumb, “just in case darling, I can handle paddling for while, I want to make sure you have extra support.” The rumbling came back just as the boat Jimin was in started to row away, Yoongi and Jungkook steadied you whilst Chris looked at the ground he’d been standing on start to rip apart, the lights flickering off entirely now, all you heard was screams, one particularly close to you.

“MOVE-” was the last thing you heard Chris yell, before you couldn’t see him anymore, you did see the sparks, realizing that the ship split in half, you felt Jungkook’s hold on you tightened as he screamed bloody murder, his best friend was gone, you brought your hand up to your mouth to drown out your own sobs. Tears poured out of his eyes furiously, Yoongi started moving you up towards the tip of the stern, “we need to find something to hold onto before this goes down!” Jungkook reluctantly followed, and now he thought of Taehyung, what if he was also killed by the ship breaking? Jimin would be inconsolable, even more so if he’d seen it happen.

However, you found Taehyung, inconsolable, holding onto the rail at the top of the stern, passing a flask to a man wearing a cook’s uniform. “Jungkook-ah!” he sounded cheerful, almost as if they weren’t in their current situation, “have you met the head baker? He’s been sharing the flask of whiskey with me,” his words were so slurred together, it took a lot of your concentration to understand what he was saying.

“Jimin was so worried about you, and you were getting drunk?” Yoongi was exasperated, was this guy serious? Taehyung’s eyes widened at the mention of his best friend. “Jimin is okay?” It felt like the world was quiet all the sudden, “I thought he died, I went down to look for him but there was too much water, and when I came back I heard a Korean passenger was shot and killed and I-”

Everyone looked at Taehyung with sorrow, “yes, he was at the main deck the whole time, he found a baby all by himself and couldn’t leave him be,” Yoongi explained, a bit less harsh this time, his voice wavered after the mention of his best friend’s death, “he was able to get on a lifeboat with the baby.” Taehyung looked down, a small hum coming from his lips, “he’s always talked about wanting to adopt you know, he wants to give his future kids everything he didn’t get,” the man who usually had a boxy smile adorning his face was all serious now, “we have to make it out, I can’t die and leave him all alone.”

Everyone was in agreement, as the stern slowly tipped up and made its final plunge, you thought it the water was getting closer way faster than you’d imagined. “Hold your breath!” was the last thing you heard someone say before you were pulled underwater.

#bts fanfic #bts #bts au #jeon jungkook #jungkook au #jungkook x reader #jungkook fanfic #jungkook angst

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accidentally-in-fictional-love · 6 months ago

Note

If it weren’t a bother, i request 📖🥰🔞💻 :)

Thank you, you do not need to hurry!

Business Merger - Kurt Goreshter/Reader

Warnings: If you aren't in love with Kurt yet this might make you be cause oh my god I love him so much, gender-neutral reader, no use of Y/N, light grinding, oral, slight handjobs and fingering as prep, smut, pillowtalk /)w(\

Wordcount: 5337

Summary: You hated blind dates. Everyone knew this about you. So when your longtime friend claims to have gotten you a date with the hot guy on TV you don't know whether to hit her or kiss her, maybe by Friday you'll be able to tell.

Notes: My first fic with Kurt 💗🥰💗 I love him so much, I was giggling and kicking my feet as I tried to write as much of this at work as I could /)w(\ I also took so long you had a birthday, so ayyy happy birthday! I almost didn't write this one since I felt uncomfortable filling a smut request for a minor, but it all evened out naturally, and I see you in my notes all the time, so thank you so much for the request and I hope you like it 💗💗💗

You'd never been one for blind dates, for starters. Everyone knew this about you, how you preferred to get to know someone first before doing anything like meeting them, but when your longtime friend and co-worker briskly walked up to you that morning you knew you were in for trouble without even needing to know the reason.

‘How'd the merger go?’ you asked the moment she opened her mouth, but your attempts at saving yourself from whatever she had to say would not dissuade her today.

‘Potential merger, and that's precisely what I wanted to talk to you about,’ she told you excitedly; great, you'd walked right into it. ‘Y'know how we all thought they were small-time and this would be an easy buy?’ You did very much so, it was the talk of the office all week, one more small startup swallowed up by the big boys upstairs. ‘Well it turns out that they're the ones who stopped those guys last weekend! Y'know, the ones on TV who got interviewed when Ant-Man was splashing around the bay!’

‘Oh shit, that's who they were?’ You'd watched that report live, fascinated by the explosion on your feed about how one of the rogue heroes who fought alongside Captain America himself was now making an appearance after two years.

‘Yes! They still showed up for the merger, even after all that, and, get this, Harland doesn't even want to take them over anymore, he wants to make them affiliates! They're gunna have a floor here come August!’ She was clearly excited, with how hyperactive she got over normal things it must've been difficult for her to keep her composure while it was all going on, and you felt the need to commend her when she continued and stunned you silent. ‘But that's not the best part; a few of us got to talk with the guys afterwards over dinner, and guess who's got a date for Friday Night.’

‘Hmmm… is it you?’ You raised an eyebrow at her, she was always the one to get the dates growing up since she tended to outshine everyone in the group no matter who you were with, but she just shook her head and bit her lip with a wide grin.

‘Nope,’ she practically vibrated, that feeling that you were in trouble arising again seconds before: ‘It's you! We started talking about some other people from around the office and I brought you up and one of them thought you sounded nice, so you're meeting him in four days!’

You were stunned. You were genuinely, honest to God stunned. She'd known you practically all your life. She was basically an honourary sister to your family at this point. And she still went against your one rule against blind dates and with a local celebrity no less.

‘You're too happy to speak, I knew you would be, it's been a while since the last one, yeah? Don't worry, he might be a little eccentric but he was very nice, I almost asked him out myself, but I figured you might be a better match for him.’

You didn't know whether to be flattered or insulted, at least this date would be with a superhero, that would make for an interesting conversation starter at least. ‘Okay, well, I think I can handle a date with Ant-Man, yeah, that might be doable-’

‘What? Oh, no, your date is with his friend, the hot one with the hand tats.’ Again you were stunned silent, a deep blush spreading over your cheeks in not only remembrance of the man in question and how he was indeed hot, but also because you had no idea how you were going to pull off this not-so-blind-date with someone you knew nothing about other than that your boss almost bought him out. ‘I knew you'd be excited, you're so red- okay okay, so here's the address, it's that nice place over by that coffee shop we like, you know the one, he said he'll be waiting outside so you can go in together so do not be late, do you need me to write all this down, actually? Lemme grab a pen-’

Oh yeah, you were definitely in trouble.

The rest of the week went by in a blur, your thoughts on what the hell you were going to wear to this fancy as hell restaurant he'd picked out and what the hell you'd even say to him. You knew nothing about him other than the basics, that he was Russian thanks to the interview, that he was good with computers and worked with security thanks to your job wanting to buyout his, and apparently that he'd been in jail for five years thanks to the whispered word around the office. All four of them had, including Ant-Man himself which was incredibly interesting, but you'd never even stolen candy from the shop down the street when you were a kid, what were you going to have in common with this guy?

You were decent with computers, but that was only because you liked video games, and you were pretty sure this hardened criminal turned security expert (which now made sense to you) wasn't going to talk to you about the latest mobile games that were advertised to you no matter where you looked. This was why you hated blind dates, all of this was too stressful, everything you planned beforehand was just bouncing back to you as a negative, he wouldn't care, this was going to end in disaster. Hell, maybe the date would go so bad he'd convince the others to not accept the affiliation and they'd find someone else to partner with; you'd definitely be fired for that one, your entire job and livelihood were now on the line thanks to this date, if you didn't impress this guy you could lose it all-

You felt sick to your stomach as you called a cab to the restaurant, your outfit pristine and overly expensive as to impress him, your hair neatly styled and making you look sophisticated, and your stomach so upset that every bump in the road was about to make you ruin the upholstery.

There were already cars lined up outside, the valet taking their keys and switching out with the woman behind him, and you realized that a cab was not the right move to impress as the rich people outside looked down their noses at you. You resisted the urge to look down back at them if only to save the little you had for lunch as you stepped out, your hands clasping together as you nervously scanned the crowd for his somewhat familiar face.

You turned when you heard your name, your cab driving off and revealing the man jogging across the street to stand with you, and your face lit up at the sight of him; his hair was impeccably styled just as it was in the interview, which you definitely hadn’t watched about 50 times for any hint of what to say, and while he did wear a suit he also wore a leather jacket overtop, the collar upturned and making him still look a bit different than the people around you. You couldn't help but stare as he approached, his smile nervous but very excited as he gently grabbed you by the shoulders and kissed both of your cheeks.

‘I’m Kurt, from the meeting; is nice to meet you, your friend, the loud one with expressive eyes, she show me photo on the phone,’ he explained as his right hand remained on you, and it took you a moment to realize how tall he actually was when he stepped up onto the curb with you. ‘Reservation is for hour from now, I wish to know you better before we settle on whether to proceed with dinner or no, your friend said you would like that more than the “blind date,” as she called it.’

You made a mental note to buy her lunch as you nodded, the people around you staring at him as they tried to figure out if he was dangerous or not between the jacket and the heavy accent and the tattoos, and you felt protective as you took his hand and started off down the street.

‘Did you have anything in mind?’ you asked as you walked, and he looked around before pointing to the café you liked, your steps hurrying in excitement even though you were going to have dinner later.

‘Coffee?’ he just asked, and you nodded as you walked inside, dressed to the nines, and grabbed a table by the window. He pulled out your chair for you before sitting down across from you, the baristas who were already very familiar with you but not your date whispering behind the counter, you saw out of the corner of your eye. ‘Is nice place, I see as I head to work but never been inside,’ he thought as he looked around, his jacket now on the back of his chair and only making him look all the more dressed up without it.

‘Yeah, I come here almost every day, it's my favourite place,’ you said as you gazed upon the familiar decor, the smell of coffee and the sandwiches they made mixing perfectly with the donuts and other treats, your stomach growling as it eagerly waited for you to get your usual. ‘So, uh… what do… I mean I already know what you do for work, and I guess you know what I do? So um, what else do-?’ You were floundering, you were going to going to blow it, you were going to lose your apartment-

‘Forgiving me if I might be making you nervous? Your friend did saying you were preferring to talk beforehand, but when I heard about you…’ You instantly calmed as your expression softened, he was looking at you so genuinely as he rested his arms on the table, was… was he nervous? ‘You're looking so stunning tonight, your picture, it did not do you justice.’

You didn't realize your mouth was a little agape until you snapped it shut again, and when he smiled at you it was almost apologetic.

‘Sorry, is been a while for me, have I offended you?’ he then asked in response to your silence, and you were quick to sit forward and reach for his hand to make sure he stayed where he was.

‘No, no it's not that, it's just… it's been a while for me, too,’ you admitted to him, and he just smiled again before looking a bit more relaxed.

‘Good evening, may I take your order?’ The barista, Moina, someone who definitely did not have Waitress as part of her job, had approached while you were distracted, and you hid your face from her as he looked impressed with the service.

‘No, we're just talking before dinner,’ you tried to say, but your stomach growled again as Moina tapped her pen against her notepad with a smirk.

‘I'll bring you your usual, is there anything you would like, Mr….?’

‘Goreshter,’ he answered, the name sounding so good when said by him that it made you want to hear more. ‘Do you have the menu for to look over?’

‘She's not a waitress, she's just nosy,’ you revealed, and he nodded in understanding. ‘I guess one donut can't hurt our appetites too much.’ You stood together, Moina hurrying back to prepare your coffee while her co-worker eagerly awaited the gossip before the two of you walked over and instantly made her stop. He admired everything in the display cases, the large array of coffee ignored as he eyed up the pastries instead. You had been kidding, there was no way you'd fill up on sweets before what was going to be a painfully expensive dinner, but he didn't hold back as he motioned for someone to come over.

‘I'll be taking two of these,’ he told Moina as he pointed to the red-filled danishes on display, and she nodded as she got out two and placed them on some small plates on the counter. ‘Black coffee, also.’ His order was ready the same time yours was thanks to its simplicity, and you got out your wallet to pay for your own coffee when he held out his hand. ‘No paying, not when we're still on date,’ he just said, and you could only nod as he paid for yours as well and escorted you back to your table. You sat down and went to take a sip when he pushed the second danish towards you, it was a gift, and you were in the middle of trying to refuse when he shook his head and lifted his own. ‘You wish to know me, know I enjoy such desserts.’

‘But dessert before dinner?’ you asked conspiratorially, but he was already taking a bite, so you had no choice but to accept his kind offer. It turned out that the red was raspberry, and you hummed in enjoyment of it as you quickly took a second bite; that was what you loved about the place, no matter what you tried they always nailed it. He nodded in agreement to your enjoyment, and when your mouth was empty you took that sip of coffee, Moina making it exactly the way you loved yet again.

You talked casually as you ate, and you noted how the girls lowered the lights for atmosphere in your corner of the café as you listened intently to him speak. Never once did you bring up what happened at the bay, and only after you'd been talking for almost an hour did you learn that the Scott he was talking about was actually Ant-Man. You didn't realize you were late for your reservation by five minutes until you got a text from your friend, the question of if you'd had a fun time alerting you to the time, and you quickly got up and gathered your things; you'd taken off your own jacket ages ago, his suit coat joining the back of his chair, and he watched you disappointedly before you motioned to the door.

‘It's 8, we're gunna miss our reservation,’ you told him as you went to run your dishes back to the counter, Moina calling for you to leave them from her spot by the espresso machine.

‘You wish to continue?’ he asked hopefully, and you smiled just as hopefully as you nodded at him. He stood and grabbed his coats, his arm outstretched for you to take as you headed back out into the night, thumbs up from your friends the last thing you saw before the door closed behind you. Thankfully the restaurant was basically right next door, the walk over fast as you approached, but the new people heading in took one look at the both of you, linking arms, giddy from the pleasant conversation, with your coats hanging off of your free arms, and decided that you weren't good enough for this place. He straightened himself up, ready to walk in, but you held him back, your cheeks flushing again as you looked up at him.

‘Hey, why don't we do dinner at my place instead?’ you suggested carefully, your heart racing as he looked to the doors and then back at you.

‘I would prefer that, this place too trashy for my date,’ he agreed, the people around you offended as you then flagged down a cab, only for him to lead you to a parked van nearby. It was decaled professionally for his business, and the front seat was high and roomy as he helped you up to it, and when he joined you in the driver's seat he lifted your hand to press a kiss to your knuckles. ‘Where to?’

You fumbled your address twice before giving him the correct one, and something in the air changed as he pulled into the parking lot dedicated to your building. He followed you all the way up to your apartment, your nervous chuckle of, ‘Well, this is me,’ making him move a little closer to you as you unlocked the door and pushed it open. You were glad you'd cleaned in your panicked nervousness as he took in your place, your hands shaking a little as you took both his coats and laid them over the back of your couch after hanging up your own. ‘Uh, let's see what I've got in my kitchen, or we could order out? I can make a mean chicken parmesan though, or a burger? Whatever you're up for.’

You were nervously talking again, the change of location had completely reset you but for a different reason as he turned to face you, and behind that serious expression was something else; he was also nervous still, but there was excitement in there as well as the hope from before, and you swallowed when you realized you were backed against your table.

‘I can also order a pizza, if you'd like,’ you tried to continue, but all thoughts of eating went out the window as he lifted your hand to his mouth again. He took his time, kissing each of your knuckles all the way to your fingertips before placing your hand against his cheek, and the warmth of his skin was electric as he stepped so close to you but didn't make contact, he was waiting to see what you wanted.

‘ты мне очень нравишься,’ he whispered into your palm, and you felt your breath catch at it all, your mind not even processing that it wasn't even English at first. ‘I really like you,’ he clarified when you tried to ask what he said, and your eyes widened in excitement as he moved even closer, ‘I was very much happy you accepted the date.’

‘I am too, I mean, I like- I like you too,’ you whispered, your voice just barely escaping as he brushed his thumb over your jaw, and when he suddenly leaned down to kiss you you felt the sparks run down all the way to your toes. It was chaste, and he pulled away just as fast like he was surprised with himself, his body moving away from yours as he instantly apologized.

‘Forgiving me, I did not mean-’ he started to say, now he was the one panicking about messing everything up, and you just smiled before pulling him back down to continue the kiss.

He relaxed the moment he knew it was okay, your body leaning further and further until you were bent over the table, your back hitting the cold wood and your legs wrapping around his waist to keep him close. He groaned into your mouth, were you really about to do this? But one shift of his hips against you made you realize yes, yes you really were as you tangled your hand into his hair and made him do it again. He obliged, your body shifting up the table with each short thrust, your mouths only leaving the other to moan or pant, and when you could take it no longer you pushed him back enough to work on the buttons on his shirt.

‘Where is bedroom?’ he asked as he helped you, your heart pounding hard as he took off his shirt and stared down at you, and you only pointed down the hall before he was picking you up and carrying you. You kissed his neck the whole way there, and he found the correct door and placed you on your bed before helping you reach a similar state of undress. One by one your fancy clothes were tossed to the floor without a care, your perfectly styled hair a mess the more he kissed you and ran his hands through it. More tattoos revealed themselves to you as you became more acquainted with his bare skin, and they decorated him by staining his arm and chest black, souvenirs from his time in prison along with the ones on his hands. He was fit, with the tiniest amount of tummy, his skin plush under a dusting of hair that trailed down into his boxers, and you bit your lip at the sight of what eagerly awaited you underneath.

He didn't remove them though, just cupped the back of your neck and leaned you back until he was on his hands and knees above you; he spoke in Russian again, catching himself faster this time before telling you that you were stunning, the thrill calming a bit as he just looked down at you. ‘So lovely, from moment I saw I wanted to be meeting you,’ he said softly, a sudden thickness in your throat as you felt more adored than you ever had been before.

‘I was excited when she told me I would be seeing you tonight,’ you admitted, and he smiled gently before leaning down to press kisses from your lips down to your collarbone. You watched him as he worshiped you, his hands trailing over your sides as he moved further down, your chest heaving as he hooked his fingers under the band of your underwear. He spoke in Russian again but he didn't have to translate as you just nodded, your last article of clothing joining the others as he lifted your legs over his shoulders and kissed you again.

Your hands found his head as he moaned against you, not wanting to force him down but also really wanting to do nothing more than that as he gripped your hips, and when he silently encouraged you to move as you pleased you didn't dare offend him by keeping still. He knew what he was doing, his tongue just as talented as his hands must’ve been as your pleasure built, the thought of him slipping a digit or three inside of you making you jolt as a particularly good burst made you gasp. He didn't stop until you warned him, the hand in his hair tugging a little too hard and making him groan again, he wanted to finish but you needed him, you couldn't let him go home without him coming too, and you were not going to let it be via your hand after that.

He licked his lips as he caught his breath, the sight of him between your trembling thighs so enticing that you couldn't hold back, and you sat up just enough to grab his hands and guide him back up to you. You could taste yourself on his tongue as he kissed you, your head swimming as he laid himself flat over you, his weight feeling so comfortable and addicting that just the realization of waking up without him tomorrow morning was suddenly a painful thought even though it'd never occurred to you before. You clung to him then, scared that he might disappear, but he wasn’t afraid of your sudden desperation as he kissed you so softly it nearly made you cry.

‘I wish to have you,’ he asked against your lips, and you kissed him again before nodding, his forehead resting against your own.

‘I wish to have you too,’ you told him back, and when he sat back to slip his boxers over his hips and down his legs you thought that he might be the most beautiful thing on earth. Usually you weren't so sentimental, not for sudden hookups at least, but with him it felt right as he laid beside you and got you to straddle him. You'd seen it but he felt so large pressing against you, your throat thick again as you gave yourself a quick reprieve to grab the lube and condoms you kept in your nightstand, both rather neglected since your last relationship had ended. You felt nervously giddy as you tore open the condom, unsure if you should put it on him or if you should hand it over while you prepared yourself, your mind going blank as he whispered something you didn't understand and guided your hands down.

Wordlessly he helped you roll it onto him, his movements slow and patient as you felt his pulse under your fingertips; he was so hard you didn't know how he could be this calm when it was killing you, your body already aching to have him inside of you. He could sense your readiness but he just chuckled lightly to himself, his large hand wrapping around yours and trapping your palm and fingers around his dick as he led you to give him a slow stroke, then another, and another, his eyes glazing over as you got the picture and continued as he let you go and picked up the lube from where you’d placed it.

You felt your breath still as he poured some onto his palm, a blush spreading down to your shoulders as he then coated his own fingers in it instead of letting you, and when he sat up and got comfortable against your headboard you crawled on your knees until you were on his lap, your hand still moving over him as he reached between your legs. ‘Tell me if it’s becoming too much,’ he told you, your lips parting before you felt him press against your entrance; instantly your back arched as he held you in place, a hiss escaping through his teeth as you squeezed him a little too hard, and you apologized as you quickly kissed him, each sorry eaten up as he started to finger you in earnest.

You resisted the urge to ride him as he worked, your hand keeping a steady pace in return as you were stretched open for him, his hands truly just as talented as his tongue as he found that sweet spot inside of you that made your eyes roll back. He spoke to you again as he held you to his chest, but you weren’t sure what language it was this time as your waning orgasm was teasingly built up again. ‘D-don’t,’ you managed to say, needing to warn him not to do it too much, and he kissed your neck as he went back to stretching you instead, a second finger added and scissoring you open. You bit your lip and sped up your hand on him, now you the one to tease as he had to stop, the desperate groan in your ear telling you that he couldn’t wait any longer.

‘ты мне нужен,’ you heard him say before you were toppling to the side and onto your back, your body bouncing just a little before he was pushing your legs to your chest. ‘ты такой замечательный…’

You thought for just a moment that maybe he couldn’t concentrate long enough to translate anymore, English completely forgotten to him now that you were in his arms, and you wanted to hear more as he lined himself up and pushed inside as far as he could go. You share a breath as you both stilled, your arms around him as he clung to you and the sheets, time stopping as you looked up into his eyes. It’d never been like this before, usually if you were lonely enough for a hookup you’d quickly fuck and that would be it, but this was different, he was different as he let you adjust around him, his hand finding yours again as he kissed it before breathing shakily against your palm.

‘я хочу, чтобы это длилось вечно…’ His voice was so soft, his hips jutting slightly with every shift of your bodies, and you brought him back down to you as you wrapped your legs around him again.

‘Please,’ was all you could say back, and he kissed you as he started to move. His hand stayed grasped in yours as he thrust into you, a slow but still deliciously hard pace that had you rocked up towards the headboard with each one. Your nails dragged and dug into his skin as you clung to his back, presumably a curse falling from his lips as his free hand slid from your lower back to your hip. You couldn’t get enough of him, how each kiss still tasted like black coffee and danishes, how he was so big but he still held you soft enough that you wouldn’t even bruise, how even when his pace sped up a little he never stopped holding your hand.

You linked your fingers together and urged him for more, you weren’t even sure if he could understand you anymore as he just opened his eyes to look into yours, but one quick kiss was enough to break the barrier when you nipped at his lower lip. He smirked at you before flipping you back over, a laugh leaving you as you were effortlessly pulled back into straddling him; the top of his head hit the headboard in his excitement and you laughed again as he swore, but still your hands didn’t separate as he kept fucking up into you, his own big smile on his face when he saw yours. You braced yourself on his chest, right over another tattoo as you rode him, the angle allowing him to go even deeper as you arched back, his hand gliding over the expanse of your thigh, your hip, your stomach, your chest, all so he could commit you to memory.

‘ты красивый,’ he breathed, something in his tone making you stop and stare, and something in those words made the lump in your throat return until you were sniffling; you didn’t realize you were crying until he was sitting up, pulling you towards him, your movements stilling as he kissed away your tears and held you to him. He helped you move as you continued to ride him, your chests pressed together while he kissed your neck and held your face to his shoulder, more praise falling from his lips as it all became too much.

You clenched down around him as you came, and he grabbed your hip and guided you so you’d keep moving, your knees aching but you never stopped until he was laying back down again. You let him use you as he chased his own release, your hands now clasped between your chests as you caught your breath, and when he finally came you felt almost disappointed at the fact that you couldn’t feel him come inside you, a thought that had never occurred before now seeming so warranted as he collapsed onto the mattress. You didn’t let him pull out as you remained on his chest, your head in the crook of his neck as you watched his Adam’s apple bob with each swallow, and finally his hand left yours if only to cup your cheek.

‘милая моя… you… you are wonderful,’ he panted, his senses coming back to him as he kissed the side of your head, and you practically melted into him as you held him a little tighter.

‘It’s Saturday tomorrow, I hope you’re not planning on leaving,’ you tried to tease, but you couldn’t help the slight hopefulness that crept into your voice.

‘нет, I took weekend off for date,’ he said, his hand now brushing through your hair. ‘I did not want to hope, but…’ Your face flushed again, the thought of someone like him being so nervous about what you’d think of him making you feel more important than any date or partner had ever before. ‘Monday, we will becoming neighbours together, we start moving our stuffs into floor below yours, I’ll be seeing you more?’

‘Oh you’ll be seeing me a lot more, if you’d like?’ Your finger traced shapes over his chest, that hope arising again as you looked up at him, and when he smiled you had to stop yourself from confessing your love after the first date.

‘I would be liking that, very much.’

Maybe blind dates weren’t so bad, after all.

#Ray's Readers #Ray's Requests #david dastmalchian #kurt goreshter #kurt goreshter x reader

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blueeyedheizer · 3 years ago

Note

hi can i request #9 and #17 for frank ? nsfw

happy new year !! stay safe

#9 "You're so beautiful, all spread out like this. Just for me."

#17 "Good girl—that's a good fucking girl." NSFW - full smut under the cut

writing for frank is an absolute delight. 🥵

"I gotta talk to her." Frank said as he spotted you in the crowd, enjoying a smoothie alone at the bar.

"What are you gonna say to Y/N Y/L/N that you haven't managed to say up to this point in time?" Harland scoffed.

"I don't know. Something charming." Frank grabbed his beer and maintained his full attention on you as you made your way to the dance floor, swaying your hips to the rhythm of the music. "I swear, she always gives me the eyes." he continued.

"She doesn't remember your name, man."

"We'll see." Frank mumbled before doing a quick check of himself. A hand pushed his hair back, he checked his breath and fixed his jacket before taking a deep breath and walking over to you.

He tapped your shoulder gently, making you stop in your tracks and turn around.

"Hey." Frank smiled. You answered with the same greeting, your own smile less enthusiastic.

"I didn't expect to see you here." he continued. You smiled awkwardly, trying to remember who he was.

"I'm sorry— what's your name again?" you frowned. Frank's face fell and he glanced over your shoulder, watching as Harland gave him a thumbs up while laughing. It's like he knew exactly what just happened. Frank cleared his throat.

"Frank. Frank McCullen, we've met before."

"We have?"

"Yeah! Yeah, yeah. I'm a friend of Harland."

"A friend of Harland." you nodded, crossing your arms over your chest. You had no idea who that was. "And what do you want from me, Frank McCullen, friend of Harland?"

"Well I was wondering if, uh. If you were doing anything tonight?"

"Well I'm at the club as you can see."

"No, yeah, I know. That's— That's not what I meant." he chuckled awkwardly, scratching his neck and looking around himself as if hoping someone would suddenly show up and help him out. You chuckled at his reaction, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it up. You took a long drag and exhaled the smoke slowly, looking back at him.

"You know, if you wanna fuck me you just have to ask nicely." you smirked, lifting an eyebrow.

Frank yanked the restroom door open without breaking the kiss, your hands all over him as he led you inside. But you soon realized you weren't alone, the cramped space being already occupied.

"Get the fuck out." Frank grunted as he grabbed by their arms the couple of poor bastards that were snorting a line on the sink, pushing them out the door before locking it behind them.

"Fuck you're hot." you panted, hooking your palm around the back of his neck and drawing his face to yours, kissing him again. He returned the kiss eagerly, instantly bringing his hands to your hips. He walked you backward until you hit the sinks and you made quick work of his jacket, the white shirt underneath following quickly.

You weren't sure when it was last cleaned, but in no way was anything sanitary in here. Though that didn't stop you from shimmying out of your jeans and hoisting yourself onto the sinks, spreading your legs for the handsome stranger in front of you.

Frank cursed under his breath and began trailing kisses up your inner thighs, all while his index finger traced teasing lines up and down your clothed pussy. You whimpered at the feeling, the fabric quickly dampening under his touch.

"You're so beautiful, all spread out like this. Just for me. I can't fucking believe this is happening." he laughed in disbelief.

"Just fucking get on with it, McHarland." you whined impatiently, lifting your hips and pulling your panties to the side. Frank looked up at you from between your legs, looking almost offended.

"What?" he said.

"What 'what'? Isn't that your name?"

"It's McCullen!"

"Ugh, whatever." you rolled your eyes. "Are you going to eat my pussy now or do I have to find someone els—oh!" your words trailed off into a moan as he began to lick in between your folds and up to your clit. Your eyes fluttered close in delight, your breathing picking up as you laced your fingers in his hair, guiding his head against your pussy while your other arm held you up. "Oh god. Fuck. Fuck."

You soon began to grind your hips against his mouth, writhing and whimpering as his arms locked around your legs, holding you in place as he continued to swirl his tongue around, leaving nothing untasted. Frank moaned in satisfaction, the vibrations against your clit making you shiver. It had been only minutes, but you were already nearing your end.

"I'm close-" you panted, fisting your hand into his hair while a messy sucking sound filled the room. "I'm so close. Don't stop."

At that, one of Frank's hands joined his mouth, thrusting a finger easily with how wet you were. You cried out and tugged at his hair while his fingers and mouth worked in tandem following the same pattern, working you towards climax

"Come for me baby. Come on, give it to me." he mumbled, the vibrations of his voice only adding to the pleasure.

Just a few more flicks of his tongue were enough and the pressure inside you snapped, your body going rigid, thighs trembling as your release ripped through you, the intense pleasure coming over you in powerful waves.

"That's it...Good girl—that's a good fucking girl." Frank mumbled against your flesh, a proud smirk crossing his lips. Though he didn't relent, his fingers and tongue working to drag out your orgasm, your moans and body language only encouraging him to keep going and give you the most pleasure until you eventually had to push his head away.

#ben hardy x reader #frank mccullen x reader #ben hardy x female reader #ben hardy x you #ben hardy x reader smut #ben hardy smut #billy/four x reader #2k22 blurb event

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rosesvioletshardy · 4 years ago

Text

Just Like Old Times - Frank McCullen (b.h. - Pixie)

wow i actually wrote something shocking ! but i’m sorry that i’m posting today and not yesterday like I promised. i was having trouble writing everything and such. this idea actually came from when one of my friends and i were watching Pixie together and quoted what Pixie said and i ended saying i should write something based off that line

thank you so much to andi ( @venombxby ) for helping with and encouraging me when writing and helping me when it came to explaining things you truly are the best and our conversations helped so much

i’m really sorry if it’s really bad i haven’t written in a long time, let alone smut in a long time so i hope you like it ???

masterlist

warnings: drinking, language, drug use mention, SMUT (18+) (please don’t read if your under 18 !!!!!), oral (both m and f receiving), riding

# of words: 2,187

---

Going to the club wasn’t necessarily the way y/n would spend the weekend or even bother to think about going, but something felt different for her and she felt the need to go after Pixie convinced her to. She didn’t really have anyone else to go with but she felt like if she went, she would find some people she knew seeing that everyone knew everyone in Sligo and how you had to be careful about everything. Pixie Hardy was the only person who would be able to convince her to go out and it didn’t matter as to what it was but seeing that she was back in town, she would go. There were only two people y/n was hoping she didn’t see and that was Frank McCullen and Harland McKenna. It’s not necessarily that she hated them, but it was something with Frank that made her always annoyed at him. Maybe it was him always bothering her for no apparent reason or the fact that he felt the need to try and sleep with every woman in town. But then again it beat sitting on the couch alone in her apartment.

“You need to go out.” Pixie told her as she saw Y/N coming out of her kitchen with a glass and bottle of wine

“I do go out, and have fun. Just don’t feel like it today” she answered back, completely lying seeing that the only time she went out was when it involved her family or work

“When was the last time you actually went out and had fun that didn’t involve your family, food, or some form of work?”

“Exactly my point. Now i didn’t come back to Sligo for us to just sit around and watch shit movies. We’re going out.”

-----

“See isn’t this fun?” Pixie asked Y/N handing her a drink while taking a sip of hers

“What’s your definition of fun? Because i’d rather not be pushed up against sweaty bodies while people are high or drunk, or both”

“You need to let loose a bit. Have a few drinks, maybe hook up with someone” she nudged at y/n smirking hoping that it’ll make her have some sort of fun

Y/N couldn’t help but glare at her when she said that and shake her head. It’s not that she didn’t want to hook up with someone it’s just that she didn’t want to hook up with someone and it would be someone she’d instantly regret it with seeing that everyone knew everyone

“Don’t look now but i think a Mr. Frank McCullen is looking at you” Pixie smirked causing her to look behind her and he looked away and back at Harland and Daniel

“What’s going on with the two of you? What happened?”

“Not sure, he’s the one to ask since it was his fault.”

“Oh I think I remember. Did it really end that bad?”

“Mmhm, clearly he doesn’t know how to keep it in his pants. Even when we were together”

“And the fact that he got really high one day and told me he had a crush on you and was using me as a rebound to get over you.” y/n finished looking down at her drink, making the two of them go silent until Pixie spoke up

“I’ve got an idea.” she said getting Y/N’s attention as she took a drink

“Dance with me” was all she said

“What-” Y/N managed to get out before Pixie grabbed her arm and pulled her to the dance floor and begun to dance

“Listen, Frank still has feelings for you and I know you still have them for him and getting him jealous is something that might come good for the both of you, and since he used to like me, it’ll make him even more upset. Now grab my hips, and dance” she yelled over the loud music

“Are you sure this is going to work though?” y/n answered back putting her hands on Pixie’s hips

“I’m sure of it. And by the looks of it, Harland's telling him what’s going on. I’m going to move my hands a little lower and I want you to move your hips, and i’m going to make it look like i’m kissing your neck is that alright?” Pixie whispered in her ear

“Yeah that’s fine, just as long as he sees and gets jealous”

“Frank, man? I think you’re going to want to see this.” Harland said hitting frank’s shoulder to get him to look at the scene in front of him and stop talking to daniel

“What could possibly-” Frank starts as he sees Y/N and Pixie grinding against each other

“Shit” he finished

“Exactly. You need to do something Frank. I know you still love her and if you’re not careful, you’re going to miss your chance of getting her back. So you might want to go over there and get her away from Pixie Hardy quickly. Who knows what could’ve happened the last time you saw her” “Don’t worry nothing’s going to happen. I know the both of them too well.” Frank smirked finishing the rest of his beer

---

“It’s working” Pixie mentioned as they moved to a corner where frank couldn’t see them

“You should’ve seen his face. I think if he clenched his jaw any tighter, he’d break his teeth and need a dentist.” she finished laughing at the thought of it

“Really? I guess it’s working then.” y/n shrugged then laughing

Pixie and y/n continued to talk, but after a few minutes went back in to continue what they were doing to continue to make Frank jealous. Frank on the other hand was back at the bar and would look back at the two women every now and then turned back to the two men he was with. Frank couldn’t help but think about where he went wrong. He knew that using her as a rebound was wrong and he should’ve gotten over Pixie the moment him and Y/N got together. He did enjoy those two years but when Pixie left, something inside him felt like he needed to let go of every memory they had together.

Y/N kept eyeing Frank every now and then to see what he was doing but she always got the same thing. Him sitting at the bar and drinking his beer. Pixie noticed and went over to wear he was and made sure that Y/N was with someone to make him more jealous

“Hello boys”

“Pixie, what are you doing here?”

“Cut the crap. now I know that you, Frank McCullen, still miss our dear Y/N and would do anything to get her back now that she’s also back.”

“Wait how long has she been back?”

“Don’t know, maybe a year? Anyways it doesn’t matter. I just wanted to come over here to tell you that you better make a move now because it looks like someone is about to get to her” she finished grabbing another drink, smirking and walking away from the two men and walking towards y/n and whispering in her ear

“I got you his attention, now’s your chance”

Y/N continued to dance with the stranger as she could feel Frank's eyes burn into her. Smirking, she gave the stranger a kiss on his cheek, close to lips which caused Frank to set his drink down and go over to her.

“We need to talk.” Frank yelled over the loud music and grabbed her arm. Y/N ignored him and pushed him off to set him even further

“Did you not hear me?-”

“I heard you, can’t you see i’m busy?” “Y/N-” “Mate just leave her alone.” the stranger told him as he moved her away

“You be quiet. Y/N i really need to talk to you.” Frank told her, looking dead in her eyes. She looked back at the stranger and then back at Frank as he raised his eyebrows before she looked back and apologized and went with Frank. Y/N didn’t know what would happen with him or if anything would happen before she was snapped out of her thoughts when the music was dimmed out and she and Frank were alone. There was a moment of silence and awkwardness between them as they stared at each other before she leaned in and kissed him. Frank was shocked that she did what she did but didn’t hesitate to start kissing her back.

“Let’s go to the bathroom”

---

“You know what you were doing wasn’t so nice” frank said kissing her neck as he held her against the wall as she moaned

“Well, maybe I wouldn’t have done it if we were still together.” she moaned out causing him to pull away

“Oh really, you’re still thinking about what we used to be? What I used to do to you? How easily you fell apart whenever I kissed a certain spot.” he whispered, placing small kisses over her neck as she felt herself get wet

“Are you still rooming with Harland or did you finally move out after saying it for 2 years?”

“Well, I did end up getting a place of my own and you’re welcome for that.” he tells her going back to kissing her lips

“Then what are we still doing here in this dirty bathroom?” she whispered in his ear, pulling away from his grip and walking out as she made sure to walk in a way so he would look.

“You fucking minx” he whispered to himself as he followed her out

When they got out of their cab, they quickly reconnected their lips as he tried to open the door pushing her inside and closing the door. Y/N started to take off his jacket and his shirt as he took off his shoes and grabbed the zipper from the back of her dress and brushed the straps down and pushed down the dress, leaving her in her bra and underwear. They walked over to his bed, not breaking apart as he laid her down, his chain dangling over her as she ran her fingers through his hair

“You’re still wearing too many clothes” she mentioned as her hands went to his pants and began to fumble with his belt, pushing his pants down and leaving him in his underwear

“Yeah? So are you” as his hands went to the back of her to unclasp her bra

His hand wandered over her exposed chest before grabbing one of her breasts, causing her to moan. Frank continued to kiss her before pulling away and slowly went down her chest, leaving marks all over her.

“You’re still so beautiful as I remember. I was an idiot.” he mumbled against her skin

“Yeah you were, but i guess you’re making it up for now” she managed to let out as he took her underwear off and began to tease her by running his fingers over he slit causing her to moan.

“Already so wet for me? How long have you been this wet? Hm? Since maybe you and Pixie were dancing? Or was it the random guy you danced with? Tell me.”

“None of those. It was when I first saw you at the bar. I realized that I-” she gasped out as he pushed a finger in

“Realized what?”

“Realized that I still have feelings for you. Oh fuck” she finished as he pushed another finger in and using his thumb to rub her clit, her back aching as he leant down and began to lick her

Letting out a mix between a moan and a groan, he continued to finger and eat her out before he took out his fingers and put them in his mouth, smirking while looking directly at her and edging her

“I forgot how good you tasted. Do you want a taste? Go on and taste on how much of a slut you are.” he whispered to her as he put his thumb near her mouth as he rubbed his thumb across her lip. Y/N took the opportunity to take his thumb and suck on it causing him to become weak enough for her to flip him over so she was on top of him and kissed him

“Remember how I used to ride you? How you held my hips, while I took control?” she whispered into his ear while one of her hands went down to palm him through his boxers, making him let out a groan

She hooked her fingers around the band of his boxers and pushed them down letting his dick free. Taking it in her hand, she began to move her hand up and down as her thumb brushed over his tip as she left small pecks over his chest before moving down and putting him in her mouth. His first instinct was to grab the sheets in a fist as she bobbed her head, sucking him while moving her hand. Taking her hair to put into a makeshift ponytail, he caressed her face as she looked up at him as he groaned, thrusting into her mouth. Her hands gripping his thighs, Y/N kept taking more of him, making her gag as she felt him in the back of her throat but it didn’t stop her until she felt him become close

“Fuck, shit. ‘M going to cum, fuck.” frank whined as she began to suck him harder before letting go

“What’d you do that for? I was close” he asked her as she came up and straddled his lap as he sat against his headboard

“Aww, did you really think i was going to let you finish? Funny” she told him faking a upset face

“You really haven’t changed a bit have you?”

“No, and it looks like neither have you.” she smirked before grabbing his dick and teasing the tip of him with her entrance. She slowly slid on top of him as his first instinct was to grab her hips, tight enough to leave bruises in the shape of his hands as he groaned and looked up at the ceiling. Y/N’s first thought was to grab his jaw and point it towards her.

“Eyes forward like a good boy now.” she whispered as he let out a groan as she sank down and traced his jawline, his lips parted as she kissed his bottom lip and pulling it

“Fuck you’re so tight. I forgot how good you felt.” he whimpered making sure that she was still secure around him

Smirking, she started to roll her hips, letting out sighs of relief and breathy moans. Circling him, he groaned out her name, his grip loosening as she clenched around him.

“Oh shit.”

Y/N began to move her hips faster, moving her head towards him and attaching their lips together as one of his hands let go of her hip and went to one of her breasts, his thrusts hitting getting sloppier and hitting her G spot, her hand leaving his shoulder so she could touch herself.

“I’m close”

“So am I.” Frank panted out as the two were on the edge of their orgasms. Moans and groans both left their mouths, with small pants of breath escaping them. Y/N could feel the build up in her stomach as her fingers digged into Frank’s shoulder. At this point, her makeup was smudged, hair messy, and lipstick stains were visible all over his body and neck. Frank wouldn’t have thought that this would be happening again after what had happened between them and he wanted to make sure that she would feel and be treated better than the first time they were together

“Fuck, Y/N” he groaned

Letting out a cry of his name, she came undone, both of them having the feeling of their first time together. Waves of pleasure both escaping each other as he let out one final thrust, his cum coating her walls inside of her. Her vision going white as he released inside of her. The pair sweating and heavily breathing, knowing how good it felt to be back together. Y/N fell and laid beside him on his bed he got up to go get a towel for the both of them. When he came back, he pressed the damp towel on her, cleaning the mess they both made as she let out a small whimper, before he handed her some clothes to borrow.

“Do you think we can try again?” he asked Y/N, handing her one of his shirts.

“Just like old times? Other than what happened?” frank finished looking into her eyes as she took the time to think before nodding

“Yeah, I think we can do it if we tried.”

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amongthebriars · 6 years ago

Text

Sound of Silence || Harddox & Kit

In which this proceeds Collisions of Diplomacy and we get, in various turns, Harland experiencing the many aspects of what it means to watch over Kit Scarlet and her guard during recovery. Sometimes, there are worse things to do. Other times, perhaps these are the worse things.

TW: Old Men Feelings, Smut Mentioned, Violence, Blood Mention, Manipulation, Internalized Victim Blaming, Alcoholism, Death Thoughts (this is a wild ride guys)

@the-kit-scarlet

MADDOX:

Ever since the King had arrived, the Briar estate seemed to be holding its breath. Initial courtesies were exchanged briefly before the King demanded to see his beloved. Of course, Maddox was expected to accompany them. Their reunion- had a spectator been present- would have looked like they were the happiest couple in the world. Maddox knew better. He saw the way Kit flinched, attempting to hide the pain that his touches caused her blistering skin. Earlier this morning, Kit could barely sit upright to eat. Now, she was jumping into Oberon’s arms as if she was completely healed.

For his loyalty, he was rewarded with a smarting jaw that he was still rubbing when he exited the room, Duke Briar standing outside the door, looking as if he had been struck himself. Maddox did not say anything, just leaned his head back against the door. The other guards had been instructed to scatter and to cover the perimeter. The nearest guard was a good five meters away.

Maddox sighed, knuckles blanching as he curled his hands into fists.

HARLAND:

The Duke should have expected something like silence to fall over the estate the moment Oberon set foot on it again. There was always something eerie about such things, especially when the place was usually filled with a lightness that was indiscernible now. Even before Kit had come here, Harland strove to wipe away the memories that damned his life. He had tried to make it a home and, now, Oberon had turned it rotten.

He had been present when the king entered Kit's chambers, acting as though he owned the place, and it made the Duke's blood boil. He had been there that morning, as well, when the blonde had scarcely been able to eat for her blistering skin, yet now she threw herself at the pale bastard like he was her lifeline.

The sight turned his stomach.

After exchanging his cordalities, Harland had left the room to handle the guard. When he'd returned, leaning against the wall, Maddox was just exiting the room. The guard was rubbing at his jaw and Harland could see the faint outline of a dark welt already forming.

The Sidhe turned to fully face the man then, anger in his gaze, and moved the hand out of the way. Maddox was leaned up against the door and the nearest guard was down the hall. Harland had enough time to curse under his breath and examine the bruising, standing straight as he contemplated barging into the room and dragging the rat out by his hair.

The noises he could hear behind the door stopped him and he curled his lip in disgust, unaware that his hand still held the guard's face in his palm.

MADDOX:

Maddox sighed. “Do I disgust you so, Harland?” Maddox asked quietly but withdrew his face regardless of what Briar said. He turned his head away so that only his uninjured side was facing the Duke.

“You will make it worse for my mistress and I if you do what you are thinking,” Maddox said quietly, “you do know that, right? I know you want to protect us. But there are threats that no one on the outside could reduce. You are new to this world, Your Grace. We need to tread lightly.”

It was impossible to pretend what was happening in there was not happening. If the guards had been farther, if it had just been Harland and him, Maddox might have let the tears he was fighting fall. Had he been as naive as Kit? To think that the King might have been content with just visiting the woman he kept calling beloved?

He was as foolish as she was. They had been in this game long enough to know better. He began to roll his neck, fidgeting.

HARLAND:

The blond stood in silence for a moment longer, eyes boring into the door. His gaze only moved when he registered the guard's words, shock, surprise, and some profound sadness he refused to name leaking into his gaze. Maddox moved until Harland's hand fell from his face, his uninjured side presented like he was expecting the Duke to strike him, too.

"Maddox," he said, voice quiet so it did not carry but loud enough that it caught the man's attention. "No. I don't. I-" Harland stopped himself, swallowing down the words he'd been so ready to say. Handsome. Charming. Brave. But, no, not ugly. Never. Not even when he had sneered at the thought of his being an Unseelie and, even then, Harland knew he would burn himself on him if he could. He didn't trust himself to speak now, did not know if the words would slip out. He listened, instead, and knew what Maddox was saying was true.

Finally, after a long moment, the Sidhe lay a careful hand along the back of Maddox's neck, gave a small squeeze, a brush of fingertips through hair, and then dropped his hand and moved away. "I know," he said, and the admission was bitter on his tongue. It was what he did, protect. Offer himself as a shield. Be the one that took the brunt of things.

It was all he had been good for, once.

"We will. It is a promise."

MADDOX:

He heard the other man’s words but did not react. There was too much ugliness now. Too many eyes watching. He knew better than to look the part of anything but a disgruntled bodyguard, forced to break bread with a Seelie Duke for the sake of his mistress.

Still, he could not stop the chills that crawled down his spine as Harland touched him ever so lightly.

“Definitely foolish, if I had to choose now, Your Grace,” Maddox replied, referencing a much earlier conversation. From before they had begun their descent into insanity. “They have already begun to whisper. Would you mar a princess’ reputation so simply because you cannot keep your hands to yourself until later?”

There was a ghost of a smile at his lips.

HARLAND:

Despite the non-reaction, Harland felt a smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth, a tad smug. He'd felt the shiver that had run down Maddox's spine like it was a living thing. Instead of doing what he wanted, however, which was run a finger down the back of his spine until Maddox did it again, Harland leaned against the wall beside him, shoulders brushing. Other than the close quarters, which could easily be explained away by the size of the hall, neither man looked to be doing anything except conversing.

In fact, Harland probably looked like he'd just pissed the other faerie off.

"And what does that make you, hm?" The Duke followed the guard that walked by with his eyes, noting that he didn't look anywhere near Kit's chambers. Good, that was just as well. Canting his head to the side, Harland gave a quiet snort. "Not unwillingly, no, but a whisper is a small thing, easily ignored. Perhaps not here but, there are ways around them."

Just to prove his point, Harland flicked out one of his hands when he readjusted his stance, dragging his nails down the exposed forearm at his side, a barely concealed smirk lighting up his eyes for a moment before it was swallowed up by the ever-present mask of the diplomat, arms folded across his chest as a show of good faith.

Ignoring the sounds through the door was proving to be difficult, however, and he itched for a bottle to block out the sounds. Or, at the very least, something else to focus on.

"How do you stand it, truly, Maddox? I...it is one thing, to be her guard, to care for her even, but to...listen to this and do nothing…"

MADDOX:

He groaned softly. “You are a royal pain in my ass, Your Grace- and no, do not say anything of the sort or I swear I will knock your pretty teeth right out of your mouth,” Maddox growled. “Which would be a shame. Please do not force my hand.”

He was looking anyway but the Duke and anyway but behind him. He watched carefully, ensuring no one circled too close.

“Tell me, what would you have me do? Shall I burst down the door so my King can decide to take my eye? Or should I try to prevent him from coupling with a woman who jumps into his arms no matter how bad she’s hurting?” Maddox hissed with venom in his voice. Maddox balled his hands into fists, wishing so badly he could hit something.

“Did you know I am the oldest in the King’s employ, Your Grace? His employ is not exactly known for its absence of hazards.”

HARLAND:

The Duke snickered quietly under his breath, the corners of his eyes crinkling at the groan, the words Maddox was saying. It was about as threatening as a pup was on its first day or training. That was to say, it wasn't at all.

"You'd miss them too much, I'm sure," he returned, voice formal even with the topic. The guards who moved around the perimeter would think nothing of the sound, certainly not of the look on his or the guard's, not with what they knew was occurring beyond the door they guarded.

The Duke winced at the tone but understood that it was not directed at him, this ire, the frustration. No, Maddox cared for the woman he protected, perhaps more than he should, given who her lover was, but it was not something that bothered Harland. It did, however, explain away his irritation. Maddox had, unknowingly, answered the insinuation without a direct word on it.

Harland figured he would probably like to keep it that way, if the assumption was true. There were few more dangerous things than loving Kit Scarlet.

"Live," he whispered, surprising even himself. He cleared his throat, then, and ducked his head, fingers toying with a cuff as he heaved a sigh. "Live, Maddox. It's all I ask and, I'm certain, all Kit would want. You do no one any good buried in an unmarked grave. Which is why I'll do nothing, not here, and certainly not now. I just-"

Harland stopped himself, a frustrated whine escaping his throat before he could stop it, and he pressed a hand to his eyes, as though he had a throbbing behind them.

"I don't like...the pain. Hearing it. Seeing it. Call me a fool all you'd like but it's more than just a bruise, or a breaching of lord's laws, it's a deliberate attempt to undermine what's-" his. He drew in a sharp breath and let it out slowly, laying his head back against the wall.

How had he fallen so far in so little time?

What had he done, to prompt such a thing, to even warrant it? Harland Briar was not a good man, nor did he deserve anything like kindness. And this?

He hardly believes he deserved any of it at all.

MADDOX:

Maddox turned on his heel quickly, violently, and shoved the Duke against the door. A forearm was pressed against the Duke’s chest and to Maddox’s infinite anger, he had to look up slightly to meet the Duke’s gaze. A guard passing by drew near, but Maddox did not turn his gaze away.

“Consider it revenge for Ser Gregor, Mik. Walk along,” Maddox said, his voice gruff. It was a testament to how brazen Aven’s guards were that he did indeed walk along as an Unseelie guard had a Seelie Duke pinned against a wall in his own home.

“Do not speak to me of what Kit wants. She’s a woman courting disaster at every turn. She ran from the arms of a mad dog into the arms of a mad fucking king,” Maddox’s voice was barely audible and he was trembling with a fury he had not realized he had possessed.

“For one hundred and six years, I have been trying to do exactly that. And in a few days, your court has undone it all. You think you can save us, Your Grace? My death warrant was signed the moment Balthazar fucking Black raised his hand against Kit and I could not protect her. Maybe the King will keep me alive until I have outlived my use, but from that moment forward I have been a dead man walking. You cannot shield me from this. Just as I cannot shield her from him.”

Maddox groaned, withdrawing sharply as he shoved the fae further away from him. His hands went to rake across his scalp. “The pain comes with the territory, Harland. It is only a temporary living arrangement. We will go back to Roheim. You can pretend whatever you like once we have gone. But I beg of you, do not pretend there is a way to protect us once we leave this estate. I am far too old to be filled with such ideas. And she is far too injured.” The moans from the room grew into a crescendo and Maddox thought he might burst.

“I can live with bruises. I can live with all the rest.” But I cannot dare to hope for something more than this, surely you know that. I can only hope what the Nighthawks have learned was useful and that I can bear the brunt of Kit’s pain. It is too dangerous to dare for anything else.

What he would give to be alone with the Duke, away from prying eyes.

HARLAND:

Somehow, he was hardly surprised anymore that this is where he'd land. It had been his lot in life since he'd met Balthazar Black, perhaps even before. He bore it well, all things considered.

The breath rushed from his lungs as Maddox slammed him into the wall, a forearm pressing into his chest, back against the wall. His fingers twitched, an immediate reaction to a threat, but the Duke didn't do what they wanted, this time. The guard was not going to hurt him as angry as he was, as pained.

Harland deserved this, if anything. It had been a long time coming.

Another guard attempted to come closer and Maddox sent them off as easily as one would swatting at a fly. If they were anywhere else Harland would have been impressed. But, now, he was just filled with regret, with sorrow. He knew, in some way, that the other faerie was right. And, yet, Harland wished he wasn't, even still.

The Duke sucked in a breath, eyes never leaving Maddox's face, and his hands were careful where they fell, fingers curling into the bottom of his tunic, just at the edge of the leathers, and the other around his collar. To anyone looking, Maddox would have looked to be caught just as Harland was.

When Maddox pulled away, Harland stayed, caught against the wall like an animal in a trap. Watching Maddox felt like being stabbed; hearing the moans of pain and pleasure behind the door only made it worse. Raking his eyes over the man told the Sidhe all he needed to know. Surging forward off the wall, Harland caught him by an arm. The guard nearby watched and the Duke affected a sneer, anger there that he did not feel as he growled something. His eyes, they would tell you the difference. It did not reach the eyes.

And his words held nothing he meant.

Harland's pace was quick, maneuvering them a hall away. They could still hear what came from the room. However, they were far enough away that it could be drowned out by the closing of a door. It was what they needed against their frayed edges, now, a balm for the pain and the anger. The Duke leaned against the door for a moment, breathing before he let his mask fall.

Moving forward, hesitant, careful, he took Maddox's face into his hands, tilted it to make him look. He studied the man's face, held his gaze, a thumb rubbing along the scar at the side of his jaw. "Your death warrant was signed the moment you became her guard, Maddox, but that doesn't mean I can't try. Kit would want you to stay as safe as you can. You know that. Regardless of who she's run to, you've been there. For everything. You know I'm right."

He let out a slow breath, a stutter more than anything. Breathed in, let it out. He did this again and again, a pace for Maddox to set his own to until he'd calmed himself. Until it calmed Harland, too.

"My court may be to blame, but I am trying to rectify that mistake, for more than just that reason. You might be able to live with her pain, but can she live with yours?" A finger traced the bruise along the edge of Maddox's jaw and Harland sickened at the thought that crossed his mind. "We'll glamour it to look worse. But you're putting something on it. It would be small, nothing to be noticed. They think I'm angry. So let them believe it." He smiled slightly, a boyish grin for such a grim situation, "at the very least it won't ruin your reputation."

MADDOX:

Maddox held his breath as the other fae rubbed his jaw. He was far too angry to be feeling any of the things he felt right now. But still, the feelings persisted. In another room, his King was making love to a woman whose skin was barely able to tolerate any movement without nearly blacking out from the pain. In here, he felt as if he was being torn asunder. He had no business feeling anything but hate for a Seelie Duke. But still, the feelings persisted.

It was far too dangerous to kiss a Seelie Duke when King Aven was in another room. But still, Maddox crashed his lips against Harland’s with a ferocity that he could not entirely control. He pulled Harland into him, slamming his back against the door. Maddox’s hands were far too eager, tugging at hems and slipping under tunics. It was gluttonous the way his hands were devouring every part of Harland they could touch.

He pulled his lips away from Harland with a slight groan, nuzzling his face into the crook of the fae’s shoulder. His teeth were grazing against the hard flesh there and he let his tongue dart between his lips. Harland was salty on his tongue and Maddox thought he would never get enough. He began to work his way up his neck, alternating kisses and barely there bites near his earlobe.

“Do whatever you want then,” Maddox said, his voice hoarse, “just stop talking. Please.” His voice was breaking and he hated himself for it. He placed a hand on Harland’s jaw, tugging him until their lips met again.

He could not help the tears that stung at his eyes and responded by kissing Harland harder as if he could drown out all his pain and sorrow by burying himself into him.

HARLAND:

As Harland watched the guard's face, he saw something there that he thought that, perhaps, he was not meant to. Or, perhaps, he was being allowed to. There was an anger in Maddox's face, something so deeply penetrating that it could swallow someone whole if they allowed it. But, alongside it, there was sadness, frustration, indecision. All of it swirled in the dark depths of the Unseelie's eyes before Harland found himself consumed by the violence of him.

Maddox surged forward as he tugged the Duke in, mouth crashing into his with a ferocity the blond had not yet witnessed. His back hit the door and he thanked the Celestials that the wood was thick, that the hinges were good, and that they made little noise. The force behind the action had the Duke gasping out a breath, the air stolen by Maddox's mouth as he devoured.

Harland's skin prickled at the feeling of hands on him, skimming and clawing at skin like he was a drowning man, rucking up Harland's tunic and sliding beneath. The groan that escaped the Duke's mouth was deep, guttural. He pressed himself closer, then, a hand curling first at the base of Maddox's neck and then dipping lower, skimming fingertips just beneath the collar of his shirt. He responded to the mouth attached to his, flicking out his tongue to lick at the seam of the other faerie's lips, seeking an access that only Maddox could give.

When Maddox pulled away, face nuzzling into the skin at Harland's neck and shoulder, the Duke's head fell back against the door, hips angling to press into the other man's with another, low groan. He dropped the hand that had remained at the guard's jaw and found his hip instead, tugging him as close as their positions would allow. After a moment to breath, Harland pushed forward, teeth catching at the underside of Maddox's jaw. He dropped small, light kisses to the skin, traveled down the shoulder as the angle allowed, teeth hooking into the muscle on one particularly hard kiss.

When they were seperated once more, Harland's chest rose and fell quickly. The utterly wrecked sound Maddox made as he spoke, the way his voice broke, felt like something sharp had pierced his chest. He could only nod as the guard tugged at his jaw, could only follow as Maddox began to kiss him again. The wetness on Maddox's cheeks startled him but the hand that Harland had reached up to tangle into the short depths of Maddox's hair wiped them away.

The Duke broke the bruising kiss after a moment, angling his lips up the side of Maddox's jaw, across his scar, resting just below his ear. Head bowed, Harland licked his lips. "What do you need, Maddox?"

MADDOX:

He wanted to melt into his touch as he felt Harland wipe tears away that he was too proud to admit were his own. Every fiber of his being seemed to be coming alive, twitching and vibrating with an energy and a life of its own. He could not quite catch his breath and he was positive that at any given moment his heart would beat out of his chest.

He could barely hear what the Duke was saying over the pounding of blood in his ears. He only knew that for all he said he needed Harland to shut up; he would have happily listened to Harland speak forever any other time. But they were running on borrowed time and there was still more of Harland he wanted to commit to memory.

“I was hoping you would know,” Maddox replied, his lips first pressing against Harland’s temple before meeting Harland’s lips. His hands were trembling now- anxiety or desire?- as they slid down the man’s torso. His thumbs rubbed near his hips, asking for an invitation to keep going.

HARLAND:

The hand Harland had curled around Maddox's hip tightened minutely, tugged at him to move him, to get him standing between Harland's thighs. There was a moment where the Duke shut his eyes, the feeling of lips at his temple almost overwhelming. The action was so soft that he wanted to tuck it away, keep it close and never let it go. A small, pained sound fell past his lips, swallowed by the mouth on his again.

Harland nodded, nose knocking into the guard's as he broke the kiss, tilting to rest his forehead against the other faerie's for a moment. A slight smile crossed his face before it was gone. The Duke knew they were operating on not enough time. There was so much he wanted to know, to memorize, but he would content himself for this, whatever this was, for now.

The hands that skimmed down his chest and torso, that landed at his hips, waiting, made Harland suck in a breath through his nose. Angling his head, one hand coming up to grasp at Maddox's chin, Harland kissed him thoroughly, pressing his hips into his hands. The hand at his hip skimmed its fingertips just across the front of him, tugging at the laces on the front of his trousers and pressing into the bulge beneath his hand, a question and an answer in one.

MADDOX:

Even if they had forever, would it be enough? Maddox did not hesitate to grant himself further access. For all they were rushing and crashing into each, Maddox took his time undoing the laces. It was far too dangerous and they were both far too cautious to be unnecessarily reckless and rip items that could not be quickly repaired or explained away.

His hand traveled lower, taking time to caress every inch. It was almost enough to feel Harland shiver against him and to feel rather than hear the groan muffled against his own shoulder. Almost.

This would have been better on a bed. In a room with a bolted door, where he would have had all the space he needed to explore him. To watch his reactions to his touch, rather than have to bite them back.

His thumb traced the length of Harland’s cock slowly, with his other hand running up Harland’s back and curving him so his head rested in the crook of his neck. He might not be able to see as much as he wanted, but he would not miss a single sound that came from his lips.

HARLAND:

Harland's hand was careful as it untied the laces at the front of Maddox's breeches, slipping a hand beneath the skin-warmed fabric, palming the guard's cock with sure fingers. Despite the urgency in their motives, the Duke took his time dragging his nails down the length of the faerie in his hands, just as he shuddered at the hand against his own flesh. He pressed closer, canting his hips in with a whine, unable to suppress the sound.

The groan that escaped him when a thumb brushed over the length of him came from deep within his chest, barely muffled in the crook of Maddox's shoulder. He pressed a kiss to the skin there as he moved his own hand, exploring as much as he was enjoying touching, wishing he could touch more. Could touch everything.

Circling his hand round the head of Maddox's cock, swiping a thumb through the precum at the tip, Harland began to move his hand in a slow pace. What he wouldn't give for a bed, for time to look and explore and learn. What he would not give for the chance to truly hear the man. Harland contented himself with the way they were; the angle allowed him to nose the fabric away from the guard's shoulder, to alternate kisses and light bites to the skin as he began to pump the shaft in his hand.

His free hand found its way to the base of Maddox's spine, skimming beneath his tunic and anchoring himself in the muscles there. It would leave a mark, but it would be hidden. He would have to content himself with that.

MADDOX:

If he did not take Harland to bed, he might just kill him for the way he felt he was losing himself underneath the other’s touch. He was not one that lost control easily. Yet here was, whimpering against Harland. He wanted so badly to focus on giving more pleasure than he was receiving.

But with each stroke of Harland’s hand, Maddox found himself involuntarily pausing and inhaling sharply. It was far too distracting. Next time, he would need to find a way to keep Harland’s hands out of the way so he could take his time. Next time, there would be no interruptions.

But too soon, Maddox realized that the rest of the estate had fallen silent. He cursed against Harland’s neck, stealing one last kiss before withdrawing himself. He began to straighten his trousers and once done, leaned back in to steal another.

“Whatever magic or tricks you planned, best make it quick,” Maddox said. He grabbed his sword then, keeping a wide berth between Harland and himself. He flashed an apologetic smile, before striking his ribs with a force that nearly caused his knees to buckle.

“Best make sure they believe you are angry,” Maddox hissed through a grimace as he placed his sword back in its scabbard.

HARLAND:

The quiet whimpers that escaped the faerie in his hands egged Harland on. If anything else, he wanted to hear him. It did not matter that the hand on him had stilled now, even as Harland pressed his hips into Maddox's hands. He didn't care. No, he was entirely focused on the noises he was wringing from the guard, wondered what he would sound like if they were entirely alone if they could be as loud as they wanted.

It was not the first time he had cursed the king, but he certainly did that when Maddox cursed and pulled away. Harland stilled his hand, listening to his own breathing. He realized then that he could hear no other sound. Not even the guards were stirring. The Duke cursed again and the sound was swallowed by Maddox's mouth as he leaned in, stealing another kiss. Harland pressed forward, deepened it for a moment, before sighing and drawing away.

He watched, irritation flashing across his face at their predicament, at the damnable conditions of it all, as Maddox fixed himself and replaced his trousers before leaning back into the blond and stealing another kiss. Harland wanted to linger here, for just another moment, but sighed instead, nodding his head as he, too, fixed himself in his trousers.

Eyes widening when he realized what Maddox was about to do, Harland flicked out a hand. A strand of magic, far too faint to be detected, hit the guard's jaw just as he slammed the hilt of his sword into his ribs. The sound reverberated in the silence that had fallen across the manor. There was no mistaking it, and Harland's jaw tightened, gaze pained as he stared at the area he knew would now bruise an ugly shade by the end of the night. That, compounded with the glamoured bruising on his face, would be enough.

It would need to be.

Glancing at the door as he stepped away, Harland squared his shoulders before tugging the guard close, careful as his hands curled around his face. Tongue licking into the seam of his mouth, Harland deepened the kiss for a moment, a promise as good as any he could give here in the quiet, before pulling away.

When he strode through the door a moment later, stalking angrily back through the manor to that damnable door, the guards that encountered him kept well out of his way.

MADDOX:

He didn’t like magic. Maddox felt like he did not say that enough. The smell of it always irritated him and made him anxious. But when Harland made a tiny movement and he caught the scent of glamour only for a second, Maddox thought it might not be the worst thing.

He followed Harland out after a moment, clutching at his rib and muttering to himself. He nearly ran into Mik. Mik smirked. “Not his whore, then? Just a punching bag? Some revenge for Ser Gregor.” Maddox chuckled once, more of a warning than a sound of amusement, before slamming into Mik and mowing the man over until he had him pinned against a wall.

“Ser Gregor was a right cunt, you know that. But I will make his death look clean if you do not learn to hold your tongue. But you have my blessing, see if you can succeed where I failed. I will take great pleasure in picking up your pieces.”

The King reentered the hall, the door swinging shut behind him before anyone could catch a glimpse of Kit. He was smiling in a way that made Maddox positively homicidal.

“Maziac, give my lady a moment before you go to attend her. She is exhausted and will need assistance cleaning up.” Maddox merely nodded, keeping his eyes downcast. “Duke Briar, we continue to be grateful for your hospitality. We will not keep you a moment longer. We look forward to our continued correspondence.”

The King motioned to one of the passing guards, who was immediately at his side and began to escort the King out. Maddox kept a hand on his hilt, forcing himself to take slow, deep breaths.

HARLAND:

The Duke glanced up for a moment when Maddox came back into the hall before forcing his eyes away. Oberon came through the door and Harland's eyes looked past him, too, for a second. He barely caught a glimpse of Kit, huddled in the floor on her knees. The hands he had folded at the small of his back tightened around one another, shoulders barely tighter than before. No one would notice but the Duke was brimming with fury.

He could only imagine at what had been done to the woman and, frankly, he did not want to know. But she was in his home, he was caring for her, and he would do everything within his power to get her well.

Even if it meant swallowing down the bile in his throat every time he had to speak to the rat.

Harland did not accompany the King out. He knew the way. No, Harland wanted to see what had been done. What damage had he caused? Sparing a glance at Maddox, the Duke lay a hand on his shoulder, briefly, for there was no one around. He squeezed and then let go, striding through the door that the King had just left, the guard quickly following at his side.

MADDOX/KIT:

“Harland,” Maddox hissed, the warning clear. But Harland paid him no mind. Cursing, Maddox followed him into the room.

TW: manipulation, internalized victim blaming

Kit was staring at her feet, feeling herself flush a dark red. Fear not, kitten. Your shadow can clean you up. It was not a kindness Oberon had extended to her, but an order. She hated these moments where Oberon decided to flaunt how deeply intertwined they are. She knew Oberon was possessive by nature and most days, it did not trouble her. But these were the moments that it troubled her so greatly she could hardly breathe. How many times did Maddox have to prove himself worthy to remain by her side?

She had been so happy to see him first. She had felt like she was whole again. But now-

You cannot afford to follow those thoughts, Kit, she chided herself.

Maddox cleared his throat loudly, far too loudly. Kit looked up at him, startled. When her eyes flitted over to Duke Briar, she felt her neck and chest began to flush. She cast her eyes down, folding her hands in her lap.

Maddox closed the distance between them, kneeling in front of her. Kit felt as if the semen Oberon had left on her chin- why could he not just let her clean herself up honestly why did anyone have to know what happened in their private world- was burning a hole into her.

“Maddox, I am so sorry. His Royal Highness is frustrated by-” Kit began, her voice sounding like she might break into sobs.

“I cannot accept your apologies, my lady. They are not required.” Maddox’s voice was stiff, foreign as he used a kerchief to wipe her chin.

“Maddox,” Kit began again.

“Is that all my lady requires?” Her shadow was made of stone, it appeared. Kit felt herself begin to tremble. It was all too much. She was exhausted and aching and humiliated. She wanted Oberon to take her back to Roheim. Everything was all wrong here.

When Kit could not reply, Maddox merely nodded and left the room. She flinched as the door slammed shut. She stood up on unsteady feet, using the table to assist her. Her dress and robe were a mess but she pulled them tightly around her all the same, tying her waist with a sash so tight she could hardly breathe. She could not bear to look the Duke in the eye. She steeled herself, bracing herself for the insults that were sure to come.

HARLAND:

The Duke kept himself back from the pair, merely studying the situation. He cared not for the color of her shame, the way her chest and face flushed a bright red at it. He cared more for the anger that seemed to consume her guard, the stiffness he had never seen there clearly distancing himself from the situation. It was a coping mechanism he had seen before, had used himself.

At the moment the door slammed shut, Harland wished there were two of him to comfort. He knew it would do no good now but...later, perhaps. But, now, his focus was entirely on the woman that struggled to her feet, pain evident in her movements. Harland's jaw tightened again and he had to loosen the grip he had on his hands; if he had not, the fractures would have screamed.

Walking around the woman as she hugged herself, Harland rummaged through a spare closet. Some of the more simple dresses of his daughter's, ones she never wore, and jackets that were unornamented hung there. From the depths he pulled a worn brown jacket and walked it back over, gesturing with it for her to take.

A small smile graced his lips, a sign for her to know that all was well. He settled down close by but have her her space. A hand ran through his hair and the Duke slumped, tired and strung to his farthest for the evening. Still, he would try.

"What is your favorite flower, my lady? I've something to cheer you up, I believe." Softer, then, he said, "Maddox will be back, Kit. He has had a...difficult evening. It is not you that troubles him."

KIT:

She accepted the jacket with a smile, tugging it over her shoulders with a wince. “Thank you, Your Grace. You are very kind,” Kit said, stumbling over the courtesies clumsily. She tried to use High Fae with the Duke, but she was far too exhausted to try to make sense of the words and their meanings and their absurd sounds. She slipped back into the common tongue almost involuntarily.

“I am not very familiar with flowers, Your Grace. Only the belladonna, I fear.”

Kit looked past the Duke, staring at the door as if she could force it to open and return her shadow to her.

“He has a difficult master. It makes for difficult evenings.” At her words, Kit clapped a hand over her mouth. Stupid, careless girl.

“Forgive me, your Grace...The draughts have- I- I meant nothing by it.”

HARLAND:

Harland accepted her graciousness with a bow of his head, hiding a smile when she slipped in and out of High Fae and, finally, into the Common. "There are no thanks needed, but you are welcome, all the same. We can give you a dress, as well, when you've your strength. Cressida can help you into it if need be." Now that the King had gone, the staff was free to roam their home once more. They were told to give the guards a wide berth, save for Maddox and Kit themselves, and they had.

There was no need for an altercation, and certainly not one that would result in violence. Harland was attempting to minimize that as much as possible these days.

"That is no matter. I am well versed in them." He gave her a crooked smile, then. Though it was tired, it still attempted to lift the mood. Settling with his feet more securely to the floor, the Duke's eyes fell until they were half-closed, almost lazy looking. If he had been anywhere else, with anyone else, he would have appeared to nod off. But, his fingers were twitching, a thread of magic tangible in the air.

From behind her, the tendril of a plant snuck into the middle of the room. Harland manipulated it upright, the bud shimmering in a false-breeze as it unfurled. Though this was not the bloom that belonged, Harland was capable enough where it followed his instructions. The flower was delicate, its petals nearly translucent, seeming to glow in the moonlight that leaked into the room. It sat, stigma and pistils bared to the air, and waited.

"We call it the Queen of the Night, my lady," Harland murmured, a bit more tired now that he had brought something from nothingness. "She fits, I think. And she is yours until the time you leave here. She will not wither though you may pluck her."

Her words reached his ears and Harland stopped, studying her, before nodding his head. "You need not blame the draughts, Kit. It is alright. I'll not speak anything of it. You have my word."

KIT:

Kit watched the Duke in awe, enraptured. Magic was an unfamiliar creature. She knew little of how it worked and had never attempted to develop the skill. She was- had- been renowned for her beauty without the aid of glamour. It had driven her rivals insane.

It was a strange thing to behold, such a large man bringing forth such delicate illusions. But when she reached her hand out, she found it was no such illusion. She could not help but gasp and reached a delicate finger to it. She stroked the petals as gently as a lover.

“She is lovely, Your Grace. I will cherish her.” Kit murmured.

She met the Duke’s eyes for a moment, understanding passing between them like electricity. The nod of her head was so slight it was almost imperceptible but she knew he saw it. She knew he understood.

“Will you bring my shadow joy which such flowers? Or do you have other methods?” Kit asked, testing the waters. They were already more familiar than they had any right to be. The Duke, by all means, should have wanted her dead. He should have been a cruel host. But his tenderness was seemingly infinite. And she knew her shadow like she knew her own soul. Something had changed. There was so much she had missed when she was sedated and burning. She continued before Harland could respond, softly, “I am sure my shadow is grateful for your companionship. He lives a lonely life.” It was all she dared to say, preferring to keep whatever was transpiring unspoken. It was all she could do to show that she, too, would give her word and keep it.

HARLAND:

The gentle gasp that came from the blonde in front of him made Harland's smile grow. It was reasons like those that the Duke did such tricks. If he could bring joy, rather than pain, he would much rather use his magic that way. He had used it for violence, for death and destruction at the hands of a queen, for far too long.

He gave Kit a smile and nodded his head, but did not say what he wanted. The flower was Kit, was it not? He would not tell her that the flower usually died before dawn, that it was a rarity to see. The smile he had put on her face, to make her forget her shame, was enough. The slight nod she gave him at his words was as much of an understanding as they would exchange. There were no words that could describe such things, certainly not in a time like this one.

The Duke was, however, surprised by her next words. Entirely awake now, Harland sat himself up straighter against the back of his chair, assessing the woman before him. He did not know how to find the words, nor if he even could. There was far too much at stake here.

"If they think I am cruel," he murmured, sighing through his nose, and slumping his shoulders a bit. Still, he watched her face. Wanted her to understand the things he could not say. "It is easier. It protects you both behind closed doors. If anything, it affords you something like peace." He looked down, then, eyes sharp on the floor, at where her legs dangled and her feet did not touch. The corner of his mouth turned up, ever so slight, when he conceded: "Though I think your shadow would like a dagger more, flowers are not...unreasonable."

Kit did not know, yet, what he had done. Perhaps he should leave it that way? Or...perhaps not. Rolling up his sleeve, Harland bared the arm that wore a bandage still, tapping a forefinger against it. "He is his own, my lady, but while you are here...I will do what I can. I've taken the lord's rights, and I intend to follow them." He looked up at her, then, hoping she knew what it was he was saying, what he could not say. What had transpired so suddenly was not something Harland knew, not something he was familiar with.

But he was willing to learn.

KIT:

She continued stroking the petals, finding a comfort in its delicate touch. It was made for her. It bloomed for her. It was a wondrous thing and she could not bring herself to tear her eyes from it longer than necessary. Perhaps it was better she was not gazing directly into the Duke’s eyes. Neither of them might have been comfortable with such emotion being on such display.

“I imagine it is no easy task to convince anyone that you are capable of cruelty, Your Grace,” Kit said carefully. The words were slower than necessary. She was treading carefully, not wanting to disturb the peace that the Briar estate provided. “Stern, maybe. You must despise the Unseelie very much- and it must be well known- if your cruelty is believable.” It was a compliment, yes, but there was something sad in her tone. He seemed to be a good man, but even those who seemed good could hate entire people indiscriminately.

At his talk of a dagger, Kit fought very valiantly but ultimately failed to keep a smile from forming on her lips. She kept her eyes on the flower, but could not help but sneak glances at the Duke. It was an exercise in self control to refrain from giggling. “A dagger? What an intimate gift, Your Grace. I am sure he would be appreciative.”

But at the Duke’s next words, her expression became impassive. Her blistered skin remained taut with her lips pressed tightly together.

“One of yours? Or of my beloved’s that necessitated such violence?”

HARLAND:

He watched her as she stroked the petals of the bloom, noticed the way she was entranced by them. In a way, he was glad to know he had not lost the ability. The war had taken so much, but he would not let them have this. Never this, not wholly. They could weaponize him, but they could not make him fire, not now.

Her words were careful and he gave her a small, sad smile. He could hear the sadness, the fact that she well knew of his dislike for her people. Well, he thought, many of them. "Cruelty is a learned behavior, my lady. It...can be emulated. When one has lost his way...the sensations are harder to reimagine, once you have pieced yourself together again but...it is not entirely unthought of. Such is the game we play. Such is the necessity. I do not despise the unwilling. I despise the war and what it made us become. Each man is a monster, they just wear a different face, my lady. We all saw the same violence. The heroes merely changed cloaks."

The words were ones he had known for a long while. He did not hate the Unseelie, not those who had merely followed their families. And, he knew, there had been those. No, Harland hated those who were unnecessarily cruel, who found joy in the death and the despair, who fed from it like it sustained them. He had met many a man like that on the battlefield. In his time as a diplomat, rather than just a field commander, Harland had learned to see the difference.

The Duke heard the tone of her words and smiled, amused. "You would know best, I think, though I am not sure it is entirely as intimate as you are imagining." Despite her quip, he did mean a true dagger. Squirming a bit, Harland reached around to the waist of his trousers and removed the blade from its sheath. It was the same one he had fought with before. He had a nearly identical one in his rooms, its twin. Flipping it so it was hilt out, Harland extended it towards the blonde without a word.

It took him a moment to process what he wanted to say about his wounds. Eventually, he gave a slight shrug. "It is but a mirror image, my lady. I've collected many like them. But yes. It was one of your king's." He would not go into the details. He did not need Kit to know what had, almost undoubtedly, been done to the man.

KIT:

How quickly they flitted between melancholy and peace, the two of them. She felt like a little hummingbird, flying to and fro with pauses as short as a breath between all her emotions. She offered the Duke a small smile in her understands. Her own experience of the war was not one she talked about easily. Especially not to a veteran such as Harland Briar.

“Maddox is not exactly well loved by the other guards,” Kit replied, shutting her eyes briefly. She knew, of course, that it was unlikely another guard raised a sword against Maddox without an order. They had all been bested by Maddox too many times to take on such a herculean task without sufficient motivation. She withdrew her hands from the petals, suddenly aware she was on the verge of crushing one.

Kit took the hilt gingerly, taking care to make her fingers clumsy and her grip appear awkward as she held it. She turned it over carefully, as if she was afraid it would burn her. She went to hold it back out to Duke Briar when she saw the look on his face. Her prepared speech that would beg forgiveness for her ignorance of weaponry died on her lips.

HARLAND:

Harland’s eyes flickered to her face as she spoke, noticing the way she withdrew her hand from the flower. The petal she had been toying with was crumpled but no worse for wear, otherwise. He recognized that she did not speak on her experience of the war and, for that, the Duke was grateful. He knew it was incredibly different than his own, especially as tied to the king as it was. It made him wonder, truly, what she had seen.

Oberon claimed she knew nothing of war, was naive to its death and its pain, but Harland had seen the blood on her dress, too high up to be her own. It was no easy task to harm Balthazar Black, yet this supposedly frail woman had. It made him wonder how many secrets she kept from her king and, if she did, who she kept them with. If he had to guess, the Duke would think it was her shadow.

Speaking of Maddox…

“I am unsurprised, unfortunately,” Harland grimaced a bit but, then, had to hide a small, amused smile. “He’s rather hard to phase, though I’m sure you know such things. A bit of a stone wall, really.” When she took the dagger from him, The Duke’s brows raised into his hairline, sweeping over her posture and noting how it was deliberately loose. He had seen the way Kit sat, how she held herself. Even injured, she was prim and proper. The awkwardness she held the weapon was put upon and, clearly, she needed to work on such lies.

“With all due respect, my lady, if you are going to lie to me I would ask that you make it convincing.” He held up a hand, an amused smile on his face, but not angry. “You forget I carried you here. I saw the blood on your clothing and the blood on the ground. If you need to keep that hidden, by all means, but do not take me for a fool. I trained many of the soldiers under my command myself. I know when someone does or does not know how to wield a blade.”

KIT:

“A mountain,” Kit corrected him. “All of Midsummer could burn and I am sure my shadow would remain. He cannot fall any more than a mountain could melt into the earth.” There was no trace of arrogance or pride in her voice, only the firmness of her belief. She knew well the weakness of the fae and was convinced that only Maddox was immune. He seemed to rise above mortal emotions or needs time and time again.

It was likely why he survived so long. In truth, she could not think of a single member of the King’s immediate household employ that had survived both the war and their king’s reign. Her beloved was quick to judgment and many a good servant or guard had fallen to his paranoia.

Kit frowned, but there was an involuntary twitch of the corner of the mouth that told the Duke she was as equally surprised to have been found out as she was pleased to have been complimented. She adjusted her grip and nodded.

“I fear you will ruin me, Duke Briar. A woman needs secrets like armor. Here I am deprived of both in such foreign territory.” Kit said, but her tone was light.

“I have found that usually, the bulk of the deception falls unto others. No reason to hide what others do not wish to see.” Kit continued, thinking carefully as she turned the blade over once more before allowing Harland to grip the hilt. “It is a fine blade, Your Grace.”

HARLAND:

“And yet you tell this to a faerie who has moved a mountain.” Harland meant nothing by the words. In fact, the irony was amusing, as was plain to see on the Duke’s face. He had no doubt Kit was right in her convictions; Maddox had been nothing but her support and her strength through the war, before and beyond, and it was clear to see in anything the pair did. There was a trust there that extended beyond the blonde’s faith in her king, something that meant where Oberon failed, Maddox did not.

The guard’s role in Kit’s life was immeasurable. It made Harland wonder how Maddox had lived so long against the Unseelie monarch’s jealousies.

“Armor can be concealed behind words just as easily as it can be worn out in the open, my lady. The trick is to learn how to control both.” He nodded in approval when she adjusted her grip, leaning back slightly into the seat. He’d rolled his sleeve down as she spoke, once more hiding the bandaging from view. His mind turned to the wounds Maddox had inflicted on himself and his face turned grim for a moment before shoving the thought away. The fact that they’d needed them at all was proof enough of the care they needed to take.

The game was dangerous, but it was worth what came from it, in the end.

He took the blade back and murmured his thanks quietly, thumb running over the serrated edges for a moment before tucking it safely away. “It carried me through the war. It is my hope that it will not need to carry me through another, but I would be...honored if Maddox would accept it.” The words were quiet, a tad sheepish, and he really didn’t know what to do with himself for having said them, but they hung between he and Kit now, out in the open.

KIT:

“Are you certain of that, Duke Briar? Perhaps you were moved as well.” Kit said, her blue eyes locked onto his own. There was nothing unkind in her gaze, but there was a sense of searching. After a few moments, a slight relaxation of her eyes signaled acceptance, at the very least, if not outright approval. No matter how kind the Duke seemed nor how welcoming his estate, there were still banners that divided them. She had her fair share of doomed loves and wanted no such thing for her shadow.

But as the Duke spoke, she realized it was far too late. Whatever had transpired as she lay half dead to the world had forever altered them all. Maddox was not the same man she remembered from the last time she saw him and even the Duke seemed different. Granted, her first encounter of the Duke was marred by flashes of blinding pain and heat and was thus unreliable.

She knew what love looked like. It had so many different forms, but for all its changing faces it could not hide. Based on the Duke’s words, she was not sure it wanted to hide, no matter how damaging its revelation would be.

She reached out, placing a hand on his. She brushed her thumb over his knuckles, speaking so softly she was barely audible. If they wanted, they could pretend she had never said anything at all.

“He will. You should go to him.” Bring him back was the unspoken request.

HARLAND:

The Duke’s eyes snapped to hers at the blonde’s words, all the air rushing out of him in a single breath. There was a vulnerability in his eyes, then, something that he knew she could see, that he could not help her seeing no matter how much he hid it. He had no idea what he was doing, had no fathomable understanding of even attempting to. All he knew was that it had been a spark that had caught, ignited into something like a flame. He wanted to burn in it as much as he knew he should douse it. He knew it...and yet he could not bring himself to.

“Perhaps as much as a mountain can move the Erthe. Or, at the very least, shape it,” he whispered. He dropped her gaze then, toying with the hem of his tunic. It was a habit of his, born from nervousness and an abundance of pent up energy, but here it was a distraction from his thoughts. Thoughts, Harland knew, he should not be having. Yet he did. And he was not miserable for them, though he was ashamed to think that, perhaps, there were people who believed he should be. Balthazar, for one, had he known. His father, for another.

Her touch startled him and, just as he had earlier in the day, the Duke flinched at the softness of it. His fingers flexed beneath her hand, gripping harshly to a knee to still them, head ducked so she could not see his eyes. He breathed in, once, and then out. Did it again, hoping to quell the surge of...something in his breast. He did not want to leave herm knew with a quiet certainty that Maddox would probably be very royally pissed if he did. But he wanted-

He wanted.

“I am sure it is near supper,” he murmured at least, gently moving her hand from his. He stood, eyes searching her face, the corner of his mouth upturned by a hairsbreadth, and gave her a short nod. “I will return shortly with the news of its progress.” He bowed his head, a silent form of thanks, before turning on his heel and striding from the room, barking out orders to the guards to keep clear of the chamber unless requested

KIT/MADDOX:

She watched him leave, something between a grimace and a smile on her face. Whatever they had stumbled into- or rather what she had started by seeking out Balthazar- had long spiraled out of their control. All they could do know was hold and hope the aftermath would not be as horrible as they expected.

Maddox was in the stables. It was the only place he could ensure the King was truly gone.

He howled as he struck against the post with his fists over and over again, until the wood began to splinter and his skin was tearing. It hurt less to beat himself bloody than it was to think of-

No, do not.

Whatever was transpiring between himself and the Duke was stirring up emotions he had buried long ago. Or perhaps it was the fact that Kit- with her blazing eyes and infectious laughter- was fighting for her life and he had been powerless to aid her.

HARLAND:

It took the Duke very little time to find the other guard.

He just followed the howling.

It didn’t help that he’d run into Egan, either, anger and disapproval clear on the Halfling’s face. He and the lord had gone a round early into Kit’s recovery, argued over the presence of the Unseelie pair, the danger they possessed for everyone involved. Egan could always see straight through him; Harland also knew it was more than mere professional concern. He and the groom were friends, had been for a long while, even taking into account their stations. He knew it was worry that drove the man, but the disapproval still stung.

But, he didn’t speak anything of it now. Instead, Egan waved him away angrily, cursing the man out under his breath as he stalked away. Harland looked up for a moment, sucked in a breath and let it out. There was something to be said for the infinite patience he possessed; it seemed to be tried at every turn, these days.

The sight that greeted him as he pushed the stable doors open with a shoulder made the Duke’s eyes widen and his hands ache. Stepping in through the door, Harland shut it quietly behind him, moving forward quietly so he didn’t startle the man. He said his name, quiet, concerned, and waited.

MADDOX:

It was a testament to how deeply he already cared for the other fae that he did not pull his sword and began to tear the post to pieces. He wanted to cut something down. But he heard his name, as soft as a whisper and turned towards its source.

There was Harland Briar, standing at the stable doors looking at him as if someone was stabbing him. Maddox exhaled, wiping sweat from his brow. He could not pretend to be fine- his heaving shoulders and trembling hands took that option away.

“It’s almost worse here. At least in Roheim, I know to react means to lose my head. But to be here-” Maddox cursed.

“Perhaps the humans are right. Perhaps free will is a cruel gift.”

HARLAND:

When Maddox turned towards him, Harland breathed out a heavy gust of wind, shoulders falling ever so slightly. Like the other faerie, there were many things that had built upon his shoulders. There were days where he felt like he would be crushed beneath the weight of it all. He could not possibly imagine, truly, what it was that had piled onto Maddox’s shoulders in the years he had been under the king’s employ. But, perhaps, there was a way he could help ease it.

If not that then he could listen.

So, the Duke came forward, his advance slow, steps measured and even. He watched Maddox’s face the entire time, took in the tremble in his hands and the heaving of his shoulders, and recognized the pain as easily as his own.

“Free will is about as fickle as anything, I think, regardless of who possess it,” Harland agreed, coming closer as he spoke, voice pitched quiet like he was soothing a startled animal. In some ways he was, though there was far more behind it than that. “But bottling everything up only makes the fall harder, in the end. Believe me,” he said, a slight smile on his face, “I know.”

MADDOX:

“It will be my job to deliver her back into the lion’s den,” Maddox croaked. He stepped towards Harland.

“This is the first time in at least a century I have seen her more than an hour’s ride of the King,” Maddox whispered. “She was nearly killed but she blooms here regardless. I do not think she even realizes.”

Maddox shook his head as if he could clear all of his negative thoughts. He closed the distance between himself and Harland, still shaking. He wanted so badly to wrap himself up in Harland. He wanted to forget everything that bothered him. But he could not afford to keep falling apart. Not when Kit’s life hung in the balance. Not when there were so many enemies surrounded them.

“You and I both know I have no choice.” Maddox sighed, running his bruised and bloody hands throughout his hair.

“What do we do now?”

HARLAND:

"It will be your job to make sure she stays safe while she's there. As safe as she can possibly be, given the circumstances." It was a hard fact, a bitter thing to swallow, but it was fact all the same. Harland knew it just as surely as Maddox himself must. But he knew the guard blamed himself for many things, if not now then surely from the past that had led them to this point.

Maddox shook his head to clear it and Harland gave a sad laugh. He shook his head. "No, I do not think she does." Truth be told, Harland did not know if she ever would, or if Kit would continue to live in her denial. He had heard her remarks, knew that she saw the things Oberon did, but she was blinded by the care she held for him, however that may have been garnered. But she had a care for Maddox, too, and it drove them both forward.

The guard closed the distance and Harland stepped forward to meet him, a hand curling gently around a bicep to tug him in, the other sliding up beneath a hand that raked at his scalp. He made a noise when he examined the knuckles, ran a thumb carefully over the wounds, but didn't say a word about them. He had known men who did far worse to themselves to cope.

He had been lucky to run away when he could, though Harland supposed some of those reckless tendencies still remained.

He hummed a bit at the back of his throat, angling his head so he could look down at Maddox's face from such a close distance. "You've been given choice in my home, Maddox. React however you need to. I, of all fae, should not judge."

MADDOX:

Maddox nodded, He let himself relax into Harland’s embrace. He would give himself these few moments to forget himself. He would allow himself to rest in Harland’s arms. He was still trembling, violent urges and other dark emotions urging him forward. But Maddox remained still.

He matched his breathing to Harland’s, steadying himself. But as he calmed himself, he found himself developing tunnel vision. He had been keeping himself alive for a century by motivating himself by two things- that the Nighthawks needed him and that Kit needed him. He was not here to fall in love with a Seelie Duke. He was here to protect his charge- who was his dearest friend.Caring for himself felt like a luxury he could not afford. Embracing a Duke felt like an indulgence.

“Even with your blessing, you and I both know there is too much at stake. I should not have left her alone.” Maddox said. He placed a hand on Harland’s cheek.

“One day, I hope we will be able to cast aside our burdens and have no need to return to them. But not today.” Maddox said, sadly.

HARLAND:

As Maddox began to relax into his arms, Harland curled around him, bringing his other arm up to wrap loosely around the guard’s hip. If he needed to move, he could, and the Duke would let him. He was not trying to trap him, just to offer something steady to lean on. The Duke bowed his head, nose pressing into the hair on top of Maddox’s head, and kept his breathing steady. Soon, he could hear a response in the other faerie and he smiled, nodded a wordless form of encouragement. Nevertheless, he was still trembling.

Sliding the hand that had rested on his forearm down, Harland tucked it into his side, careful as his thumb found the other man’s ribs and rubbed circles into the flesh beneath his clothing, curling closer as he shifted his hold. There was a spiral to fall down, here, and he knew it well. So, when he spoke, the words were soft. “Your lady is fine for the time being, enough for you to collect yourself. A few moment’s time will not harm her, or you. No guard will enter that room, not while this is still my home.”

Harland knew at least that was true. The Avens’ guards might be inconspicuous but they had all witnessed what the Duke would do to those who defied his orders and they believed what they had seen of Maddox, as much as that sat poorly with him. The Duke smiled slightly, face tilting into Maddox’s palm and pressing his lips to it, eyes never leaving the other man’s face. “One day, perhaps, our burdens will not keep us going. Perhaps we just...will.”

MADDOX:

Maddox sighed. He would have given anything to stay there forever. To take him up on his offer and just collect himself fully. But it was not in his nature to do anything the easy way. He gave the Duke a small, sad smile and pulled away.

“I should not have stormed out like that. I know better than to allow my emotions to get the best of me.” Or at least I used to. Maddox took another deep, steadying breath.

“I know you want to give me a place to rest. But my place- my duty is not here.” Maddox continued. “If roles were reversed, you would be at your post. I need to be at mine.”

It was no easy task to move away from the Duke, especially not when everything about him was so inviting. All the same, Maddox took a step towards the stable doors.

“Perhaps,” Maddox said, “and maybe on that day we will celebrate King Aven’s arrival.”

HARLAND:

Maddox sighed and pulled away and, as he had told himself he would, Harland let him. It would have been better if they’d had all the time in the world if they’d been able to forget the pains that had hurt them, the pains that had marked them, if only for a moment. Bargaining for more than that was like stitching a wound, far too messy and almost unpleasant if the situation could not accommodate for it.

Shaking his head, the Duke swept a hand through his hair, down his face. Peeking at him from between his fingers, Harland snorted, quietly and bowed his head. He heaved a sigh, just once, and then shook his head. “If I was meant to be at my post then why am I here,” he murmured, eyes studying the other man’s face for a moment before looking away. He stepped back a moment later, moved a bit to the side to allow Maddox to move towards the doors. “I told Kit we would join her for dinner or, at the very least, that you would.”

The remark made Harland laugh, even if it was a small thing, sad though it may have been.

MADDOX:

“Well then, I would hate to keep a lady waiting,” Maddox said. He wished he had the words to express how much these small gestures meant to him. The simple way there was no resistance when he broke away or how immediately the fae was at his side validated him. It was a source of support that he was unaccustomed to.

“It should be all of us,” Maddox replied. He could not bear the thought of eating dinner alone with Kit no more than he could bear the idea of parting with the Duke. They had been at each other’s sides constantly since he first arrived at the Briar estate. He had a shadow of his own now.

HARLAND:

The small, crooked smile that curled up the corner of his mouth could have cleared away a fog. Though he could still see that there were things that the guard was clearly struggling against, he was trying to keep himself together, for himself and for Kit. The voice was nearly the same, but there was still a waiver, something not entirely right with the way he was acting. Yet Maddox was trying, and that would be enough for Harland, for now.

Surprised at the words but...touched all the same, Harland gave a small nod, an acknowledgment of the reply as much as it was of what lay beneath it. “Well, then, perhaps we should clean your hands. I am sure your lady does not need to be reminded of your coping mechanisms, just like she does not need to learn mine.” It was not a criticism, merely a comment. He made to open the stable door wider but raised a brow in question, all the same.

MADDOX / KIT:

He snorted. “You mean to tell me she has not already figured it out?” Maddox raised an eyebrow. “Here I thought you might be the first Sidhe to refrain from estimating her.” But still, as they walked back towards the great hall he stopped and found himself a clean cloth to wipe his hands with. It was a comfortable silence between them and for that Maddox was grateful.

As they entered the great hall, they found Kit happily seated on the ground with two children. She was in clothes that complimented her with the pale tones, clearly on loan from the Briar Estate. As they drew nearer, they realized that neither Kit nor the children paid any mind to the two fae entering. Kit was braiding Cressida’s hair, her fingers moving far quickly and confidently that anyone would have expected.

“Why then, the dragon let out a great roar,” Kit said, her eyes widening for effect as she looked at Calix. Cressida went to shake her head in disbelief and Kit tugged on her hair- gently- as if to remind her that she was still working. Cressida and Calix could not help but laugh.

“And while he opened his great jaws- his teeth smelling of rot and spoiled meat- I threw my sword with all my might into his eye.” Calix gasped and Kit nodded her head in response. She finished with Cressida, the girl’s hair pulled into an intricately braided bun that rested at the nape of her neck. Even with Kit’s hands removed from her head, Cressida did not leave her side.

“So the dragon died?” Kit shook her head and Calix groaned.

“No. But I do not think he will try to come for my jewels anytime soon.”

Kit turned her head and rose immediately when she realized Maddox and Harland had reappeared.

“Forgive me, Your Grace. These two charming members of your household were kind enough to help me pass the time as dinner was prepared. Perhaps you could forgive any duties they may have neglected while keeping me company?”

With this, she leaned into Calix’s ear and whispered in a less than quiet voice. “I always thought chores were the dullest thing in all of Midsummer.”

HARLAND:

"Yours...perhaps. Mine? She just might, depending on what happens in the month's time she is here. I do not underestimate a woman who can get a shot in on Balthazar Black." He crooked up a smile, waving a hand at the guard when he looked at him sharply. "You need not worry, Maddox. I know enough to keep silent. And yet I wonder who taught her, hm?" The mischievous grin Harland shot the guard's way was enough to lift the last of the fog that had settled over them.

As they made their way into the great hall, Harland leaned against the wall near the door, listening in quiet contemplation. Even with his arms folded over his chest, however, the look on his face was one of interest. Twitching his fingers where they rested on his arm, Harland let a tendril of glamour magic loose, a miniature dragon swooping in on large, black wings. Just as Kit had suggested, it had one eye.

Harland knew who she was speaking of, even if he would not acknowledge it. For the time being, it would be a little boy's bedtime tale.

The glamoured dragon gave a quiet roar as it wheeled around between the children and the woman on the floor, Harland's grin growing as the little boy's eyes became the size of saucers. His older sister caught the look on first her brother's face and, then, the lord's and shook her head, smiling at the wonder that Harland had caused.

The dragon faded along with Kit's story and Harland straightened, brow arching when he heard Kit apologize for their company. Shaking his head, the Duke waved her apologies away. Instead, he turned an eye to the siblings. Only the younger one looked sheepish. "It's quite alright, my lady. They're not in trouble. Even though Calix should be sleeping. Cressida is free for the evening. Though I'm sure she appreciates the marvelous braid you've given her."

The young girl looked up at Harland with wide eyes, a small, guilty smile on her face. Turning, Cressida thanked the blonde quietly before rising to her feet. She walked over to Harland and went to speak, eyeing Maddox hesitantly, but stopped when she saw his arm. The bandages were exposed. Wide-eyed, Cressida's small fingers reached out towards the Duke before thinking better of it. Instead, she looked up into his face, anger and worry laced in her gaze. Harland merely gave her a smile, nodding his head towards the door. She stared at him, suspicious, before sighing and calling for her brother. Calix jumped up, wiggling carefully from Kit's side, and followed her out with a cheerful good night, none the wiser to what had transpired between his sister and the Sidhe.

Harland made sure they were gone before speaking up, running a hand across his jaw as he did. "Forgive me, my lady. The children do not get many visitors. They have had...a difficult life." He turned to Maddox, gave an apologetic smile. "Cress...she is remise to trust, unlike her brother."

MADDOX / KIT:

“They must be a clever bastard to have slipped past both the King and myself,” Maddox replied, returning the fae’s grin. He decided then in the great hall that he might never have such a happy moment. Despite all that had happened, Kit looked whole. She looked vibrant as she told a much kinder version of how she acquired her burns. Harland began to conjure things- which sent chills down his spine- but he could not deny the wonder in the children’s eyes.

Kit, to her credit, was unfazed by the illusion’s appearance. She continued on as if she had been planning such an event the whole time. When the children departed, she was careful to throw Calix a wink before she went on. The girl seemed far too serious for one so young but she supposed human children had no other choice.

Kit waved away Harland’s apology. “There is no need to apologize for children. They are lovely in spite of whatever ugliness befell them.” Kit placed a hand on the chair, a poor attempt to subtly support herself. She looked as if she had run from Roheim and back. Her skin was pale and beads of sweat clung to her forehead, but she still managed to smile at them both as if nothing was wrong.

Maddox remained tight-lipped. Fear and suspicion were usually in the eyes of those who stared at him and it had long since stopped bothering him. But now that the children had departed and a majority of the servants had run along, it was just the three of them. He did not know where to begin. Today was truly the first day that Kit had been coherent for any amount of time- even then only because the Unseelie physician insisted on weaning her from her draughts so she could be alert for the King’s visit.

If they had been in Roheim, there would be no possibility of discussion. But here, they were freer than before. Maddox had a million thoughts swirling in his mind. He wanted to share them with both Kit and Harland, but instead, he remained silent.

HARLAND:

Catching the disgruntled look on the guard’s face as the conjuring faded away, Harland cocked a brow to the side, asking a silent question. When Maddox didn’t say a word, the Duke resolved to file it away to ask for another time. He had seen the way that Kit interacted with the children and did not marvel at it but, rather, tucked that away too. She liked children or, at the very least, enjoyed telling tales. It was a rather...endearing quality in someone that had been touched by so much cruelty in her life, by someone who loved a faerie that was as cruel as he was. Harland had oft wondered since her recovery began what Kit Scarlet had been like before the war, before she’d met Oberon Aven and had been whisked away to be Midsummer’s worst kept secret.

Still, she looked happier, now. Tired, yes, and certainly pained. But happy.

“Quite a lot, I am afraid.” He replied, voice dropping to a low pitch so the words did not carry any further than the three of them. He was hesitant to provide any information on their backgrounds, as much as he wanted to believe Maddox nor Kit would see any harm done to them. The rest of the Unseelie in his home were not so...able to earn his trust with such a matter. It would be best not to speak of it at all. “The war displaced them and I took them in.”

Rounding the corner of the table, Harland casually offered an arm to the woman as she gripped the back of her chair with fierce little hands, a small smile lighting up his eyes for but a moment. He gestured for Maddox to sit and, when he had and Kit was situated in her place, Harland sat last. Zinnia had already brought the food out, had done so while the children had scampered off, so they were, the three of them, alone for the first time since the pair’s arrival at Thornhill.

Pouring himself a few fingers of whiskey, Harland offered the bottle to them both with a gesture. He made a mental note to thank the cook for the food she’d given them. Harland’s quiet request for something that would bring Kit’s vigor back after her...exertion for the day had been met tenfold.

KIT/ MADDOX:

As in perfect synchronization, both Kit and Maddox nodded at the Duke’s word. Neither of them asked any more questions.

It was a lovely, far more extensive than necessary for such a small party. Maddox looked around uneasily. While of course, he agreed to dinner just moments before, he realized he had never dined with Kit and someone else. At times, they are together but usually if Kit has company he was to be at his post.

As Harland helped her to the table, Kit returned his smile. “You must tell your staff how grateful I am. It looks wonderful.” It was silent then for a moment, with tension running like an undercurrent, but it was not unbearable.

When Harland offered the bottle, Kit reached for it.

“Kit, perhaps-“ Maddox began but then stopped as she glared at him.

“Hush, Maddox. I think I have earned myself a drink.” He paused for a moment as if deciding whether or not it was worth it to fight her on this. In the end, he elected to let it go. Satisfied and smiling to herself, Kit took her fill pouring herself a generous amount before passing the bottle to Maddox.

“So,” she began, in a voice filled with a cheer she did not truly feel, “you all know what I have been up to every moment since I first arrived. Perhaps you might fill me in on what I missed?”

HARLAND:

Watching as the pair settled into their seats, Harland noticed the discomfort the guard displayed, brow furrowing for a moment as he wondered at it. Tuning back into the blonde's words, the Duke inclined his head, a small shrug following the action. "I shall pass the praise along. I hope Zinnia made the food to expectation." He paused, an almost sheepish look taking over his features before he cleared his throat and tried again."I inquired after food you and Maddox would be accustomed to from Belladonna. Many of the dishes are similar to ours, with little variation to different regional tastes."

His fingers toyed with a utensil for a moment, eyes not looking at either the woman or the guard seated across from him.

When the bottle was removed from his hands, Harland cut his eyes back towards the pair, watching passively as their little tiff ironed itself out, a small quirk of his lips indicating he was listening even if he appeared not to be. Maddox was only doing what he believed to be in Kit's interest but she deserved even the smallest reprieve from her pain.

The false cheer immediately set him on guard, however, and the Duke turned a critical eye to the woman at his side. Brows raising into his hairline at the inquiry, Harland refused to look over at Maddox. It would give her far too much satisfaction. Instead, he smiled, a bright thing, and said "a drinking game, my lady. And a lesson. Nothing more."

KIT/ MADDOX:

“It is lovely, Your Grace.” Kit said. Maddox’s glance to Harland- one was like the look someone gives their old home- said more than any of his courtesies could. Kit attempted to eat- it was clear she was hungry- but it was also equally clear that even the effort of eating exhausted her. She was more likely to reach for her drink than her utensils. Maddox, on the other hand, seemed oddly comfortable at such formal dining despite the years since he had been allowed to partake in an event.

Kit laughed aloud at Harland’s reply. “But of course, Your Grace. And Duke Black and I were just having a friendly sparring match,” she said, matching his bright tone. Maddox nearly choked, beating his chest with a fist for a moment. Kit continued on, seemingly unaware, though the slight smirk on her face demonstrated the opposite.

“Am I allowed to participate in such games? Or is this a game reserved for soldiers?” Kit continued.

HARLAND:

Rather than choke as her shadow had, Harland merely chuckled. "I suppose you could call it that, yes. Though, really it was hardly a lesson. The poor bastard was sloppy. Spoon fed." The disdain in his voice was clear, as was the way his gaze darkened for a moment, eyes flickering to Maddox for the briefest of seconds, having caught the glance thrown his way. It still rankled him, the way Ser Gregor had acted. Not because he had disrespected Harland, no. That was easily corrected. No, it had been the way he had so easily been able to turn on his own comrades.

Where Harland came from, they were yours. Your family and your blood. You gave up yours for them, died for them. If your Queen asked you to kill them there better be a damn well good reason for it.

The Duke stabbed his fork a tad more harshly into his food than intended and he grimaced, a quiet apology falling from his lips. Sucking in a breath Harland said, "We spoke of the war, Kit, as old soldiers do. But, no, it is not reserved for us."

He almost expected the look on her face, one similar to a cat that had gotten the bird, the cream, and all the rest. It was still disconcerting, however, when it was directed at him. Such a knowing look, and the Duke felt like it pierced him straight through. "Ask what you would like, my lady. I'll answer, if I can."

It was a show of good faith, he knew, and he wanted to see what Kit would do with it.

KIT/ MADDOX:

Maddox picked up his glass, drinking deeply. It was so easy to slip back into the old habit of observing. He watched the irritation flicker across the Duke’s face and the way his fork momentarily became a weapon and did not avert his gaze. Maddox could not help but stare at the man, amazed. What did he still believe in that Ser Gregor’s actions surprised him? Ser Gregor may have acted with unnecessary vigor, but most in the King’s employ knew it was better to be seen as over-eager to serve rather than hesitant.

Kit placed a hand on Maddox’s. “Dear shadow, remind me of the rules. I would hate to be underprepared to play against such fearsome fae like yourself and the Duke.” Maddox rolled his eyes.

“Guess correctly, they drink. Guess incorrectly, you drink.” Kit squeezed his hand, sighing as if she was resigning herself to something tedious.

“Well given I play with both my shadow and a man who brought me into his estate naked, I fear I do not possess much of an advantage. Pity,” Kit said, her voice filling out as she seemed to pick up energy. The prospect of a game seemed to revitalize her far more than the food did. She made a show of placing a hand on her chin, studying Harland with a seriousness as theatrical as it was sincere.

“I have heard you had to teach such a lesson in defense of a new love of yours, Duke Briar.”

HARLAND:

"A knight is sworn to Valor, his heart knows only Virtue. His temper shall be held by patience. He will aid those who seek it and ask for aid when needed." The words flowed from Harland's mouth easily, the pieces memorized early on in his time as a knight. His forefinger drew a circle around the rim of his glass before he drank, eyes catching and holding the guard's. Turning, the Duke addressed Kit, a stoicism in his face that indicated he meant every word. "Where I come from, there is more to a guard than merely standing beside his monarch. There is honor in what he does and that honor connects you to your brothers and sisters in arms. When it is lost, when you would turn your back on your brother for nothing more than a token of praise, there is no honor left in you."

He picked up his glass and drank deeply, his words hanging in the air between them all.

"There is a part of me that thinks you enjoy playing with fire, my lady." The words were said with no malice, nothing meant by them, but Harland raised a brow at Kit's actions regardless. He reached across the table and took the bottle from Maddox, refilling his glass a substantial degree more than it had previously held. He had a feeling he would need it.

"But I suppose it comes with the territory. The lesson was well-earned, Kit. I would have done it regardless." He sipped at his drink, studying her, before continuing on. He would not mince words with her. She did not need it. "There is far more my rights as a liege lord can do for you both than they cannot, one of which includes offering Maddox a protection he will not have otherwise. There are many in Wisteria who would want him dead, you included. My sigil protects you both, as does my position on the Council. It is the least I could do."

There was far more that could be said, should be said, but he did not wish to air it out here over dinner. It was far too damming already.

KIT/ MADDOX:

Maddox stiffened as Harland spoke, turning his eyes to his plate. Kit’s question alone would have been enough cause to keep his gaze downcast for the next century, but speaking of virtues and protection filled him a shame that seemed to choke him. What business did a spy like him, a sellsword like him, have to such devotion? To such honor?

Kit’s eyes never left Harland's, weighing him carefully. She had heard pretty words from pretty lips before, but it was something in the Duke’s eyes that softened her. She reached a hand towards Maddox, rubbing a thumb over his knuckles. It was a simple enough gesture, but it was done almost reflexively.

If Maddox had looked up, he would have seen that Kit was looking at Harland with a mixture of gratitude and approval. He might have been relieved to see for all of her bluntness and ferocity, she seemed to have calculated the cost of the stakes and still held a fondness for whatever had blossomed while she lay comatose to the world. But Madox’s gaze remained firmly on the ground, as if he could simply listen in without partaking.

Kit smiled. “Perhaps you enjoy dancing with the flames as well, Your Grace.”

HARLAND:

The Duke held the small woman's gaze, evenly. Knew he was being assessed and allowed her to continue at it. He knew the ways they were intertwined, could see It as much as he could guess at it. He saw the way Maddox stiffened at his words but he had continued on. If anything, the actions the other man had taken for Kit proved that he was more worthy of such vows than some Harland had known in his time.

Eyes flickering to the finger drug across the other faerie's knuckles, Harland cataloged that gesture away for another time. There was a familiarity there that spoke to so much between the two, a comfort that did not exist outside of them. Not even with the King. It was...intriguing. As intriguing as it was potentially damning.

Yet, again, Kit's bluntness did not shock him. Harland laughed, a tinge bitter, and moved a hand to his throat, drawing a finger down the thick scarring that wrapped around his neck. "Some would say more than most, my lady. But I suppose I was never able to stop."

Turning away from the woman, then, Harland studied the faerie across from him, taking in the war he removed himself from the conversation, cast his eyes down and looked away. There were many things he did not know about Maddox Maziac but the ability to, truly, become a shadow was plain for all to see. So, when Harland next spoke it was only to him, and in Owain, though he hardly believed Kit did not understand.

"Many of us do, after all. Might even run in my family, though I'd hardly be surprised, given the rumors about my mother. Maddox, what's your guess? You must have more you want to know."

KIT/ MADDOX:

Maddox looked up, seeming surprised to have been addressed. He turned his face to Kit, who returned his gaze with a soft smile. Then, Maddox fiddled with his utensils for a moment. It was harder to hide the fondness between the two men here in front of Kit, who always seemed to divine exactly what was in a man’s heart. Kit may have claimed to be at a disadvantage, but it was Maddox who felt truly vulnerable.

“You carve trinkets for the human children in your care. You spend many nights fretting over them. You cherish them and wish to preserve them. The trinkets, you carve, of course.” Maddox replied, the implication anything but. Kit leaned back in her chair, so that she could observe both men without having to turn her head.

Information about wood carving surprised Kit, but in truth, she was surprised Maddox would waste a guess on something so visible. The practiced indifference Harland donned whenever company was near his staff spoke volumes. It was clear in his praise of the cook and in the way he seemed to send the children as far away from Unseelie eyes as possible.

HARLAND:

A soft smile curled around Harland's mouth, as unhelped as anything could be in a time like this. The Duke leaned back in his chair for a moment, studying the other faerie, before nodding and drinking. Unbuttoning his coat pocket, Harland withdrew and intricately done whale, from his time in Shark clan territory.

Holding it out for a moment, the blond studied the piece, running a finger over its curves to ensure there were no stray edges. Then, he placed it on the table in front of Maddox. A second, a bear, he placed in front of Kit.

"Not just for the children, but yes. Ask Calix. He has plenty of them. And...there are many reasons I would protect them. For one, they are children and, for another, they have seen far too much in their lives. The least I can do is offer them someplace to hide away from it all." Harland tapped his fingertips against the side of his glass, pondering his own question.

Finally, he turned to Kit once more. The shrug he gave her was almost helpless, a small thing and boyish in its movement. "You care for children, my lady. It does not matter who they are, nor their parentage. You are fond of them all the same." Harland shot her a small smile and raised his glass in a bit of a toast, sipping from his drink.

KIT/ MADDOX:

Maddox took the whale with one hand, running his thumb over it. If he closed his eyes, he could smell the sea and hear the songs of his people. He was overcome with longing for home and for the man who gave him this gift.

Kit picked up the bear, turning it over in her hands. She liked to hear the way Owain sounded on their tongues. It was as if they created their own refuge away from everything else. She felt safe. It was evident in the way she carried herself and the glimmer of mischief in her eyes.

Kit raised her glass in response before drinking. “When the Prince was born, it was the happiest day of my life. There are not many children in the castle. When he laughs, I am almost convinced there is no evil in this world.” She spoke with a tenderness that only a mother could feel.

She turned to Maddox then. She leaned in at the edge of her seat, their faces inches away from each other as she studied him, a playful smile on her face. She held it for a moment before leaning back into her seat and nodding.

“You would trade your sword for a spear in a heartbeat if you could.” Kit seemed pleased with herself, as if she had divined a secret. But Maddox only frowned, pushing her glass towards her.

“My place is at your side, my lady,” Maddox said, shaking his head. “I will see the sea again when I meet my makers and not before.”

Kit looked stricken, her hand shaking as she took a sip from her glass.

HARLAND:

Harland watched as they examined the trinkets. There was a certain sadness on Maddox's face, a longing there he had not seen before. It was something Harland himself understood, though in a different sense. He longed for the sea just as much as he longed for the Wildlands. They were a place of peace for him. To Maddox, they had been home, once.

The Duke tore his eyes away to watch the blonde as she drank and spoke, a small, thin smile on his face. The birth of the Prince was just another nail in the coffin of Midsummer. But he was a child. Children had no say who their parents were, not even if they are chosen by them. Harland bid him no ill will, despite who his father was.

He was hardly surprised his guess had been correct.

Turning to look at the guard once more, Harland's heart skipped when he denied her guess. The Duke shook his head, a small sad smile on his face.

"You can both see the sea, my lady. When you are better suited for travel, I will escort you both." The Owain he spoke now was differently accented, that which Maddox's father would speak. It was as much a promise as it was a declaration. He would not let the guard keep his roots buried, not when it meant it would bury a part of himself, and certainly not for him or for Kit.

"You would like to see the sea, my lady, as much for your guard as you would yourself. I do not blame you. It is said to have healing properties. I suppose I can attest to that." He gave a small toast before sipping from his glass.

KIT/MADDOX:

Maddox swallowed hard as he watched Kit. Once again, he found himself walking a dangerous line. Only this time it was with Kit Scarlet. Which was more damning, he wondered, a Seelie Duke or an Unseelie King’s mistress?

Kit stared back. Without hair or even eyelashes to hide behind, she felt as naked as a newborn. She did not want to see the things she saw in Maddox’s gaze. It was too dangerous to give a name to. The King already was considering killing him once they returned to Midsummer. If he suspected her protests on Maddox’s behalf were due to-

She felt her heart pounding in her throat and was eternally grateful that Harland broke the silence with his proposal. It was as if he was throwing them a lifeline.

“I think I might want to see the ships even more than the sea, but yes.” She said, taking a much longer drink than necessary.

Somehow Maddox looked even more forlorn. For all intents and purposes, he was lost to the Shark Clan the day he fought under Unseelie banners. It was said his own father no longer spoke his name. But these were not things to be discussed, not here. Regardless of his feelings, he would not jeopardize his position with the Nighthawks. He would have to speak with Harland later.

HARLAND:

For his own peace of mind, the Duke kept his gaze even, eyes cordially downcast, as he waited for the pair to cease their staring match. Just as he had done before, Harland wondered what lay beneath the veneer, the thin wall that separated them for propriety's sake.

There was more than enough evidence for Harland to file away, to keep to himself or use as he saw fit, but there was no point in any of it. One way or another, they were damned. It did not matter who let the final stroke fall, did it? Besides, he knew he could not harm Maddox that way. Kit...well she was a mystery on her own. But to harm her would be to harm Maddox, and Harland did not have the heart for either option.

Things he had believed he should hate stared him in the eye and his heart skipped instead. It was a true puzzle, but Harland found he did not wish to solve it.

Still, when Kit spoke, Harland found himself nodding along, a small upturn of his lip indicating a smile. "They are lovely, yes. Well-made. The men who use them know what they are doing. I, unfortunately, do not. I've an idea, but was never...the man who was to teach me...he died, during the war, before I could be enlisted to the front." The Duke stared down into his glass for a moment, shoulders drooping, before indicating for someone else to speak their turn.

KIT/ MADDOX:

Kit smiled at Harland. “It will be an adventure then. For all of us to learn.” She wished she knew how to ease the sadness that seemed to envelop the men near her.

Maddox took a long drink before turning to face Kit, his gaze unreadable even to her.

“You still don’t hate Balthazar. Even though you want to.”

Kit frowned and drank from her glass. Maddox seemed to wait for an explanation, but Kit gave none. Instead, she turned to Harland, her expression blank.

“While disappointed, you are not surprised that Balthazar Black is capable of nearly killing me.”

HARLAND:

He returned Kit's smile with one of his own, one that was not as soft but it was genuine all the same. It eased a bit of the sadness in the room, but there it still hung between them all, like a thick fog.

Maddox's guess was true and so Kit drank. The guard's face was unreadable, but Harland did not linger on the thought of it long. Kit had turned her mischievous eye to him, now, and the Duke steeled himself for her questions.

He laughed. The sound was unsurprised. Harland shook his head and drank deeply. "They call him the Black Dragon for a reason, my lady. I have tried to garner something like...trust in him, from the people. I have tried." He splayed his hands, shook his head. "But it is a thankless job when the man you are trying to save damns himself as often as he is able. While he saved my life, he has almost ended it, as well. Such is how things go."

Steepling his fingers beneath on the tabletop, Harland turned his eye to the faerie across from him. There was nothing harsh about his face. Instead, only a curiosity.

"You miss your family."

KIT/ MADDOX:

There was something almost like nostalgia in the smile she gave Harland. She could see Balthazar in her mind’s eyes as he was when they were younger. The same damning ferocity and passion. If she had been alone, she would have broken down into sobs. But instead, she downed her drink and reached for the bottle.

Maddox raised an eyebrow at Harland before taking a drink. “I have a sister I would have liked to see grow up. I hear she’s done it without me. Grown to be quite ferocious if the whispers are to be believed.” His voice was quiet. He spoke of his sister the way those in mourning speak of their dead. To Maddox, his family was even less accessible than the dead. At least you could visit the dead where they rested. But Maddox? Maddox was likely to be speared on sight if he entered Shark clan territory.

He turned to Kit, but Kit raised a hand as she filled her cup far more than a woman of her size should. “I’ve decided it’s not fair my shadow should ask me questions. I can keep no secrets from you,” she said, without a trace of malice. “Besides, what if you were to take advantage of my drunken state?”

Maddox guffawed.

“I have peeled you off the floor of every godsforken tavern in Midsummer, my lady, but as you wish.” He replied, motioning to Harland.

HARLAND:

The Duke smiled a bit and nodded. "I'm certain she is. Runs in the family, or so I hear." He gave a bit of a cheeky wink and took a drink before turning away from the ma. There were some things to be said for the questions he asked, and he would not push further than he was warranted. But, if he had an inkling of who Maddox's sister was he was certain that the guard would know he was right.

Rather than speak any further, Harland quirked his own brow at the woman, a quiet laugh escaping him at the banter between the two, a genuine smile at the laughter that came from the guard. With the way she could drink, it was hardly a surprise, if Harland was being honest. Standing quietly, the Duke collected the empty bottle and walked it over to the sill near the stores.

He grabbed another bottle and came back with it, gesturing helplessly as he placed it on the table in front of the pair. "I think we will need another, hm?"

Settling back down into his seat with a sigh, Harland studied first Kit and then Maddox before giving a tired sigh.

"All of our lives were changed by the war, in more ways than we could have ever anticipated."

He toasted them both and then drank.

#ch: kit #featuring: maddox maziac #c: sound of silence #r: hardoxx #abuse tw #manipulation tw #victim blaming tw #//okay so FUN FACT #//this thing was 41 fucking pages long #r: harlet

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ghoulfuckersincorporated · 9 months ago

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I said it in a reply earlier, but I'm gonna say it again:

THERE ISN'T ENOUGH EROTICIZATION OF RAD-X AND RADAWAY USE BY GHOUL FUCKERS!

There's so much lost potential there, in my opinion. Can you imagine gifting Rad-X/Away being the equivalent of giving someone lingerie, or a sex toy? Taking a Rad-X from across the room while your partner watches to show them you're turned on in a low-key way? Your partner frenching you a Rad-X? Amazing sex followed by lots of tender aftercare which includes your partner taking care of you while you're basically immobilized as you're given RadAway?

We're missing out, folks!

#ghoul biology #cooper howard #the ghoul #fallout tv show #fallout prime #ghoulcy #vaultghoul #cooper howard smut #fallout ghoul #gob fo3 #charon fo3 #john hancock fo4 #edward deegan #dean domino #harland fnv #beatrix fnv #rad-x #radaway

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racingtoaredlight · 8 years ago

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Make This Mother’s Day Extra Crispy

In honor of Mother’s Day, Kentucky Fried Chicken is giving away a romance novella called “Tender Wings of Desire” free with the purchase of a $20 Fill Up Bucket on May 14th . This is so, so, so ridiculously stupid. I love it.

A synopsis of the plot:

The novella, set in Victorian England, follows rebellious Lady Madeline Parker, who finally feels like she is in control of her life after running away from Parker Manor and a loveless betrothal. When she finds herself swept into the arms of Harland, a handsome sailor with a mysterious past, she realizes she cannot control how she feels. Madeline must choose between a life of order and a man of passion.

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The “handsome sailor” on the cover is Colonel Sanders, with his old Colonel Sanders face, wearing his normal Colonel Sanders outfit with the sleeves ripped off. I don’t even know what to say.

I dare anyone to find a more thoughtful gift for the mom(s) in their life than a big bucket of chicken and 96 pages of Sanders smut. You can’t top it without stopping by Kevin Plawecki’s locker. So let’s show these special ladies how much we care, and swing on by our local KFCs this Mother’s Day. It’s really the least we could do.

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#RTARL Gift Guide #Mother's Day #You Are Appreciated #Moms Have Needs #Hawt #Colonel Sanders

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ghoulfuckersincorporated · 8 months ago

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You mentioned ghoul scent markings-- can you elaborate on that? Explain it and dump any other thoughts you have about it?

So, I feel like ghoulification would heighten all of the senses (*within the confines of what tissues can remain intact over long spans of time, like centuries; we see older ghouls, especially, with things like cataracts, etc. that would would obviously impact your perception), but the sense of smell especially. Smell is widely considered to be the "weakest" of the human senses, but if you were constantly regenerating the smell receptors that are physically closest to your brain, along with having basically one massive nostril, I'd think you'd at least smell SOMEWHAT more effectively.

I've seen people assume that, as ghouls eventually lose their noses to decay, they have no sense of smell, and (absolutely no disrespect or anything) I find that sort of funny. The olfactory sense ultimately originates in the brain, like any other sense, and the smell receptors that pick up on odors are not only found in the cartilaginous parts of the nose AKA the part that would rot off.

Scent memory is also one of the strongest kinds of memory, as the olfactory bulb that processes smells is located very close to the amygdala and the hippocampus, the memory centers of your brain. For this reason, I think that many ghouls, but particularly ferals, would be incredibly sensitive to smells, even if their particular "nose" is weak from decay. I'd imagine that ferals, as they slip further and further into the sort of aggressive, rotting dementia state we see them in, would still be able to connect with some human memories through smells. I think this may be one of the things that draws them to people so easily, even when you're trying to sneak past them.

Imagine moldering away for years and years, rational and conscious thought basically lost to you, and then, for just a breath, you smell a long-lost loved one's perfume, a favorite food you haven't tasted in decades, a fresh rain after a long, long dry spell. Just for a moment...you can remember.

All that to say that I think smell would be a very big deal for ghouls. Especially the smell of people they care about. One day, the memory of that smell may be quite literally all they have left.

I'm not sure most of them would be conscious of the fact that it's scent marking, but it wouldn't be uncommon to find ghoul lovers (ghouls who are lovers AND those who love ghouls) swapping clothing, reveling in their partner's smell enveloping them and vice versa. Taking their lover around other ghouls and knowing that the fact that the others can smell them all over you means they know you're theirs. Ghouls smelling another ghoul on you and knowing all your business without you even having to say anything.

(Plus...it's just a fun excuse to not have to pull out, you know?)

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ghoulfuckersincorporated · 8 months ago

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Do you have any headcanons about the Ghoul's cum? Is it an unusual color, taste, or texture? Is it radioactive? If you look at it under a microscope, do the sperm cells look mutated? Can he get someone pregnant? If he cums inside someone, are there any side effects?

I feel like my answer to this shouldn't start with "I have actually given much thought to what ghoul cum would be like", and it shouldn't be as long as it is, Anon, but here we go:

I headcanon that being a ghoul does make you infertile, especially as a man...early on. Radiation is a massive sperm-killer so I think all the human sperm would be wiped out pretty damn quick. But I think if you manage to stay alive long enough into the ghoulification process (which can be instantaneous or can be drawn out over years and years), your boys could possibly adjust and "heal" from being so damaged by the radiation and start producing sperm again. In the lore of the games, there are records of ghouls reproducing with one another (though it is not elaborated on at all and is apparently rare), so why would it be out of the realm of possibility (in the Fallout universe) that they could reproduce with healthy humans?

I think it would take the right human, the right ghoul, and the right conditions (my heart says 'radstorm', but I know how deeply corny that is), but I do think it's possible for some ghouls to get women pregnant.

I don't think their sperm themselves would necessarily be remarkable under a microscope; sperm having multiple heads/tails, no head/tail, and other malformations already exists in human men, and the number of them visible in a sample is used as an indicator of sperm quality. I think, that close, a sample from a ghoul would just look like a sample from a regular man with poor quality sperm.

The semen would be very radioactive after a few years, especially if you had sexual contact with an older ghoul or a still-sentient glowing one like Jason Bright or Oswald the Outrageous. I think it has a bit of a strangely-colored hue and I think it's thicker in consistency than before. You will absolutely get sick from it (especially if you swallow it) if you don't properly prep with Rad-X. Expect all the traditional symptoms of radiation sickness (fever, fatigue/fainting, confusion, vomiting, red inflammation and burns in the places you had direct physical contact, bleeding from the nose/mouth, unusual bruising) if you don't, and have Radaway ready for afterwards. What's the stuff for if not saving us from ourselves?

When a ghoul cums inside you, you can absolutely taste it, like you rested a nickle on the back of your tongue. You'll really hate it at first, but eventually you'll come to tolerate, even like it. Try not to let them "shoot up the club" every single time, though, since it'll probably leave you incredibly raw and sore. It's also long-accepted ghoul-fucker canon that your sentient ghoul lover cumming inside of/all over you can hide your scent from feral ghouls.

When I tell you that shit would taste so bad, I'm not even sure I have the proper words for what I think it would be like. Sort of like licking a battery combined with the bitter, acidic flavor of bile (and also the taste of semen, which doesn't exactly taste great anyway). You'll probably try to be sexy and brave and at least let your ghoul lover cum on your tongue once, but trust me when I say you'll never offer again. Especially since their regenerative abilities make them cum buckets every single time.

Godspeed, ghoul fuckers. We wouldn't do it if we weren't willing to risk a little rad exposure, right?

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ghoulfuckersincorporated · 8 months ago

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If you get pregnant from a ghoul, what would the kid be like? Human? Ghoul? Some weird freakish third thing? Even Gulpers are just mutated humans so anything is possible.

(I'll put a trigger warning here for "mild discussion of pregnancy loss/premature birth", in case that upsets anyone.)

My official answer to this is: "looks human, but closer to a freakish third thing when you get down to the details".

The pregnancy certainly wouldn't be a cakewalk. Frankly, I think you'd have to have a pretty preternatural resistance to radiation to successfully conceive with a ghoul to begin with (which we see is achievable for some people; otherwise I think there would just straight up be no successful fertilization/implantation). If you were able to make it happen, I think the fetus would be quite radioactive itself early on, and you'd struggle a lot. You might be able to get away with the occasional dose of Radaway if you're incredibly sick, like too sick to function, but too much of it and I think you'd be risking unfavorable outcomes. With luck (and maybe a higher-than-average endurance), things might taper off the further along you get. I imagine the birth would be unremarkable, all other regular health factors considered, unless you found yourself so ill from the baseline radiation that you were unable to continue carrying to full term and were forced to deliver prematurely. The odds of that certainly aren't zero. Your breast milk would make a Geiger counter go nuts.

It's hard to imagine the 50% genetic spawn of a ghoul wouldn't be significantly more radiation resistant, right? Like, at minimum? Personally, I think if you had a baby with a ghoul, that kid would be constantly drawn to play in puddles of nuclear fallout, to drink from dirty sources, to want to go outside during rad storms. Radiation is healing and refreshing for ghouls, so I would imagine at least some of that would transfer, no matter how much it makes you worry. You'd probably find the kid sucking on a power core if you turned your back for too long.

I, personally, would think that a kid like that would age normally, but since we know ghouls have that super-regenerative ability, maybe there's a chance that they'd shoot through the puberty phase really quickly? I mean, that "growing" phase in adolescence is basically just a bunch of cells dying off and being regenerated/high rates of cell generation to build muscle and bone mass. Again, I'd like to think they'd grow pretty typically, all things considered, but it's certainly something to think about.

That regenerative ability could certainly prove quite...tricky at times. We've seen how quickly it can heal wounds, which is great for something like a puncture or a stab wound...but what about a broken bone? I can't help but be reminded of an audio diary you can find in Bioshock 2 that talks about the Little Sisters' insane regenerative ability and its disadvantages. At one point, one of the girls escapes from the researchers studying them and throws herself over a balcony (trying to escape or end her life, though which is unclear), shattering both of her legs. But by the time they've made it to the bottom where she's lying, her legs have already healed at a bunch of fucked up and unnatural angles, so they have to break her legs over and over again until they can set them correctly. With as quickly as we see ghouls heal in the show (and in the games), it's hard to imagine you wouldn't run into the same issue, as horrific as it is.

Can you imagine your child having to go through that because they fell playing (or fleeing, god forbid) and broke their arm, or their collarbone or something? Can you imagine having to be the person doing the breaking? What if there's no one else to do it?

I'd also assume that, as they age into their teen years/early adulthood, their aging would slow, though I think exactly how much it would slow would depend on the individual child and their circumstances. I do think half-ghoul children would be able to be turned fully ghoul through some conventional means, just maybe over a longer period of time and with much higher doses of radiation.

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jinjinxedsoul · 4 months ago

Text

When The Sun Loved The Moon - Aegon II Targaryen

CHAPTER 6. UNSPOKEN FEARS

warnings: smut, slight breeding kink, hand job,infidelity (? (Jaella and Harland but mentions of Aegon being with someone else, but they're both fine with it idk middle ages were wild), last scene is not main characters centered but I loved it so I kept it.

A/N: I didn't intend on leaving the smut scene but my bestie insisted so I did. Again, my smut may suck but hey practice makes perfect. Also, yes, I changed the title. Anyways, thank you for reading this I really appreciate it 💕

131 AC

At sixteen, she had yet to find a worthy suitor; in reality, there had been many, but she always found some scandalous flaw that led her to decline their marriage proposals. Rhaenyra didn’t seem too pleased with this, but she remained silent when Daemon reminded her that she had been the same in her youth. The prince was also not very happy with the young and not-so-young men who presented themselves seeking Jaella's hand.

Desperate to find her a good husband, it was decided to organize a grand event to receive the suitors, where they would be evaluated by the princess and the prince to consider the best of their options. Although, without a doubt, Jaella already had her proposal of marriage and made sure that invitations were sent to Prince Aegon and Prince Aemond since both were still single and worthy candidates for her hand. Of course, the princess's interest was solely focused on the elder of the two brothers.

“It seems foolish to me,” the princess commented while her hair was being brushed.

Harland, who had been tasked with bringing news about the event, let out a small laugh.

“I don’t think your mother and Prince Daemon think the same,” he said, shrugging. “It’s an event in your honor; you should be excited. You like these kinds of things.”

“It’s an event to have me chosen as if I were cattle,” she corrected, frowning. Then she waved her hand to signal her maid of honor that she could leave, which the girl did immediately. Once they were alone, Jaella continued speaking. “I don’t need to be chosen. I know what I want.”

“And what is it that you want, princess?” Harland asked, raising an eyebrow and looking at her through the mirror.

Jaella kept her gaze fixed on the mirror, observing her own reflection for a moment before responding.

“Aegon,” she said finally, with a certainty that left no room for doubt.

Harland approached her carefully and took the brush that Jaella’s maid had left, replacing her in the task.

“A knight brushing the princess’s hair?” Jaella asked, allowing him to do it, enjoying the difference that Harland’s less skilled hands made compared to the previous ones.

“Aegon wants you too,” he said, completely ignoring her question. “But until the king and queen accept the marriage proposal, I’m afraid there’s little you can do about it.”

She hummed in agreement, nodding slightly at the boy’s words behind her.

“There has never been a formal proposal,” Harland frowned, looking at her with confusion. “Apparently, my wishes are not that important, and my family has never dared to formally ask for my marriage to Aegon.”

“And... I suppose the princess has a solution for that.”

Jaella smiled widely.

“My mother and Daemon are reluctant to marry me off to him. Perhaps it’s because they don’t trust Aegon as much as I do.”

“Which is quite reasonable,” Harland said, annoyed, earning a light smack from the princess.

“I’m sure Aegon has told his mother more than once that he wants to marry me, but she will never accept it. So, it’s up to me to handle the matter myself.”

“And how do you plan to do that?” he asked, his curiosity palpable.

Jaella turned slightly in the chair to look directly at him, her expression now filled with determination that made Harland’s chest swell with pride.

“I’m going to make my own proposal,” she said firmly. “I won’t wait for others to decide for me. Aegon and I know what we want, and if my mother and Daemon aren’t willing to make it happen, then I will do it myself. I’ll speak with Aegon, and we’ll find a way to present our request in a way that they can’t refuse.”

The young Arryn sighed and nodded gently with a smile, daring to give the princess’s hair a soft stroke, earning a bright smile in return.

“Rest assured, I’ll support you in whatever you need.”

“Perhaps you’ll need to chop off Ser Criston’s head,” she joked, wrinkling her nose.

“Nothing would make me happier,” the slight tension in the room dissipated with the joke. “Is there anything the princess wishes to do today to avoid the fateful destiny of getting involved in the preparations for her engagement celebration?”

“There actually is...” A couple of knocks on the door interrupted her, but instead of bothering her, they made her smile. “Come in.”

“Princess, the ship that will take you to Kingswood is ready.” Decran Stark had entered the room respectfully but relaxed when he saw Harland was there. “Will Lord Arryn be joining us?”

“Of course,” said the silver-haired princess. “When have you ever seen him away from me?”

Harland gave Decran a teasing smile, which the young Stark chose to ignore. During their time at Dragonstone, both young men had developed a closeness with the princess, as one would expect. However, it was clear that there was a noticeable difference in how Jaella treated each of them.

They were frequently seen together in the Conqueror’s Garden or, when the weather was warmer, playing by the sea. They also shared some history lessons and often sat down to read after dinner. It was no secret that the princess enjoyed the company of the two young men more than that of her ladies-in-waiting.

“I suppose he’s never far enough away.”

“I’ll soon be sworn to the princess; it’s what’s expected of me.”

“Well, I could be the one to marry her,” Decran said, smiling smugly at the princess.

Harland let out a chuckle, and Jaella’s cheeks flushed pink. She was accustomed to the meaningless bickering between the two, but she still hadn’t managed to let Decran’s bold remarks affect her. It wasn’t that she was so enamored with him that she considered him a marriage option, but she did like him and was aware that the northern lad had become much more attractive with age.

“If you don’t stop talking about my future marriage, I’ll leave you here, take the boat, and go away for two moons without anyone knowing where I am.”

“Please don’t,” Harland pleaded, visibly distressed. “I like my head where it is.”

“Then let’s go.”

═════𖠁 ═════

The purpose of the trip to Kingswood was to enjoy a day of hunting, but it was well-known that the princess was not very skilled in this discipline, so it meant that she would spend the day playing with Moonfyre while Decran and Harland hunted.

“When do you want to return?” asked Decran, sitting next to her and earning a hiss from the little dragon playing in Jaella’s lap.

The silver-haired princess quickly tried to calm her down.

“Tomorrow. I don’t plan to stay any longer than necessary. I just want to relax before facing the storm,” she replied, shrugging and suddenly turning to confront the northerner. “Do you want to ask me something, Decran?”

“Nothing too serious, princess,” he reassured her with a smile. “My brother, from what I know, is in the capital. I would like to pay him a visit, if it pleases you.”

“I have no objection,” she answered with a reassuring smile. “You’ve already done enough by hunting dinner for us. I’m sure Harland will take good care of me, and there are some guards watching the surroundings. I’ll be fine.”

Decran left the small camp as the sun began to set, and Harland was grateful for it. He really couldn’t tolerate much of the attention the northerner lavished on the princess, finding it desperate, though it was clear that jealousy was fueling his growing disdain for the young man.

It was no secret that the princess favored the young Arryn over the Stark, though many attributed it to the fact that Jaella was closer in age to Harland. The reality was that there was another reason behind the young princess's favoritism.

Since her last visit to King’s Landing, when she had shared the bed with Aegon for four uninterrupted nights, her desire for pleasure had nothing but increased. It had been barely two moons since their return when she found herself fervently needing the prince’s attention again, who was too far away to meet her needs whenever she wished.

Perhaps it was the lack of affection from her uncle that had led her to share the bed with Harland for the first time, but it was not the reason she allowed him to continue visiting her on some nights.

She knew that Aegon was aware of this, but it did not seem to bother the prince that his beloved niece sought to satisfy her desires, even if it was not with him. Aegon appeared to take pleasure in knowing that Jaella was desired by others, that she had the power to attract anyone to her bed. It was as if, in his mind, his sense of possession over her was reinforced by seeing her desired by another, a reminder that, at the end of the day, it was him that Jaella always returned to.

Moreover, over time, Aegon had come to understand the young Arryn, even daring to call him his friend when referring to him. He liked Harland because he did not seek to overshadow him or steal the princess's affections, which were so precious to him. The falcon knew his place and understood that he could never compete with the dragon.

Harland, for his part, knew that his place beside the princess faded with the appearance of the sun in the sky, but this did not trouble him. He loved Jaella and knew that she loved him in her own way, which was enough for him. While he could not have her completely, it was far more than many men could ask for.

“Did you bring the cages?” Jaella asked.

Her face was dimly lit by the torchlight, but Harland could clearly see the smile that spread across her face. The young man nodded and handed over the cages carefully while she tried to catch the small, glowing insects flying around the bushes.

“What do you need these for?” Harland asked, looking at her with curiosity.

“They’re for Princess Helaena,” she replied with a shrug. “The climate on Dragonstone doesn’t support many of these beautiful insects. Jacaerys said that a couple of days ago, two of her fireflies died, so he asked me to bring some.”

Once they had the insects secured, they returned to the makeshift camp they hadn’t strayed far from. They had a bit of bread and warm wine for dinner before going to sleep, making sure to settle Moonfyre in the special cage they had brought for her to sleep in at night.

It wasn’t long before Princess Jaella called Harland urgently. Unable to sleep, the young Arryn assumed she would need his attention, and he wasn’t wrong; the young Velaryon had asked him to kiss her.

The young falcon was quick to obey his princess's wishes and had ended up in her tent that night, ready to do whatever she asked of him.

"No," she had whispered when his hand tried to slip under her dress.

Harland obeyed immediately and a smile took hold of Jaella's lips; in private, the young Arryn was much more submissive than Aegon and although she liked her uncle's possessive attitude, she truly enjoyed the stillness that Harland offered, his willingness to let himself be guided by her desires without insistence or demands.

Jaella was lying on her back between the soft sheets and furs, her legs around the boy's waist and her arms clinging to his neck as he moved on top of her, seeking to relieve the tension in his crotch.

The Velaryon ran one of her hands through Harland's soft brown hair and then caressed his cheek, drawing him towards her to kiss him. A new thrust made her sigh and laugh, taking the opportunity to gently bite the boy's lower lip.

"Calm down" she warned him jokingly "Tell me what you want."

"I need you"he murmured "I want to be inside you"

"You won't" she sentenced, making a pitiful moan leave Harland's lips "But I want to give you pleasure"

Jaella's hand ventured between their bodies, until it reached the brown-haired man's crotch, getting lost under his clothes. Harland trembled pleasantly and the silver-haired girl smiled with satisfaction as she saw the younger man's grimace transform into one of pure pleasure.

The princess gave a light squeeze around his erection, drawing out a small moan that made her own body shudder; her hand began to move up and down his length.

"Princess" he whimpered with his eyes closed.

"That's all you'll get tonight, Harland" she warned him, continuing with the same tortuous rhythm. "Imagine you're inside me if you want it so much."

Harland's hips moved involuntarily, thrusting against Jaella's hand, making the princess's smile widen.

“Again” she said, stopping her movements.

He moved again in an attempt to keep up, his moans becoming more intense as he tried to adjust to the same rhythm as the girl beneath him, his lips parted and she rushed to kiss him almost desperately.

“Keep going” she ordered him mid-kiss, pulling his lip a little harder.

The younger boy's labored breathing prevented him from speaking, but he did his best to make himself understood.

“I can't hold on any longer” he gasped, hiding his face in the curve of the princess's neck, leaving a trail of wet kisses to her lips. “ I need... ”

“ You won't have any more” she reminded him, giving him a light squeeze. “It's not my wish to torture you either, but you won't enter me tonight. ”

His erratic and desperate movements continued for a few more seconds, until Jaella dared to pull his hair with a little more force than necessary, then she approached his ear and shamelessly began to moan, causing him to resume his movements in an attempt to coordinate them with the sweet sounds the princess was uttering.

“I want you to fill me with your seed” she moaned, leaving a languid kiss on his cheek. “Don't you want that?”

“Y-yes” his movements became faster and his brow furrowed for a moment.

Harland's lips parted and formed a perfect circle, a broken moan escaped from his mouth and Jaella felt his warmth empty into her hand. She smiled satisfied and he let his head fall on the princess's chest, with her free hand, she caressed his hair slowly while leaving languid kisses on his temple.

It was rare the time that the princess allowed him to take her; that did not matter to Harland, what he truly treasured were those moments when he could rest at her side while she caressed and kissed him.

“The prince will be upset. So close to King’s Landing... you could have called for him,” he murmured against the skin of her neck, adjusting himself more comfortably with her.

“The prince is already a bit upset,” she said simply. “He’s not too happy about the idea of the event to find me a husband. If I called for him now, he might want to take me away, you know how he is.”

“Impulsive,” Harland muttered. “But I don’t blame him; I’d be the same if I knew they were trying to betroth you to someone else. He’s the most viable option. Doesn’t Viserys see that?”

“The king knows, my mother knows... But I haven’t been able to understand what scares them so much,” she said, gently withdrawing her hand from Harland’s virility.

The brown-haired man hurried to fetch a cotton cloth, then dampened it in the water container within the tent and began to clean the princess's hand with utmost delicacy while she watched him.

“When your mother ascends to the throne, what will happen to her brothers? Don’t you think the queen fears that your mother might remove any obstacle to her claim? She already has Helaena secured; Alicent won't risk losing her eldest son,” Harland said.

“When my mother has a crown, Aegon will have one too,” she replied, looking at him seriously. “I know, I’ve seen it. My mother won’t do anything that could harm her own blood. Helaena is married to my brother and will soon bear him heirs. Aegon…”

“Aegon will fight for you, married or not,” Harland interrupted, finishing the cleaning. “Even a blind person could see that.”

Jaella looked at him. She wished she could be as sure of that, but she knew well the strength of the Hightower poison; she was aware of Otto’s tricks and the queen’s manipulations. She didn’t know how far Aegon had been corrupted by his mother and grandfather.

“And the other two?” Harland questioned, making Jaella look at him with curiosity. “Aemond is very close to his mother, and Daeron… we know nothing about him.”

“There shouldn’t be any problem. They know that my mother is the heir to the Iron Throne. She will have the crown, and no blood will need to be shed for it.”

“If you’ve seen it, then I believe you,” Harland reassured her, brushing his hand through her silver strands of hair. She was about to say more, but he interrupted her. “And we’ll do everything we can to ensure that your marriage proposal to Aegon is finally considered.”

The young princess smiled, satisfied. She liked having someone on her side.

═════𖠁 ═════

The hot water relaxed her aching body. That morning, she had decided to train as well and had pushed herself harder than usual. Her effort paid off, as she managed to defeat Jacaerys in two of their many sparring matches, a feat that Sir Erryk praised enthusiastically. She still hadn’t managed to beat Harland, but she knew it would take many more moons of extensive training.

She could feel the stiffness in her joints and saw some purplish and greenish bruises along her arms as the maidservants scrubbed her body. She grimaced in displeasure, knowing she wouldn't be able to wear the sleeveless dresses that Aegon liked.

“Princess, you need to come out now. The guests will start arriving soon, and your mother expects you to be ready to receive them.”

She really didn’t want to go. The only thing motivating her was the chance that Aegon would be there, and this time she wouldn’t accept a refusal. It was probably her last chance to make a move, so she had to seize it.

“Prince Daemon said that if you didn’t come down soon, he’d come get you himself.”

Jaella rolled her eyes in amusement and nodded slowly, submerging herself in the water one last time before abandoning it for the rest of the day and facing her duties.

“Prince Daemon is aware that bursting into the chambers of an improperly dressed princess could cost him his head. He wouldn’t do such a thing.”

“Don’t test me,” she heard the mocking voice of her stepfather from the other side of the door.

“Get out of here!” she exclaimed.

She heard him laugh, followed by the sound of retreating footsteps. With a heavy sigh, she shook her head and had no choice but to get out of the water. The maidservants dried her off and applied ointments to the areas most affected by bruises, grateful that the prince’s brother always avoided hitting her face. They then scented her with aromatic oils from Lys, a gift from Daemon on her name day.

That day, Jaella had chosen a beautiful blue dress with white sleeves adorned with small pearls at the cuffs. A lovely golden embroidery extended from the bust to the waist, interspersed with pearls of various sizes.

Her hair was half-up in intricate braids decorating the back of her head, while the rest fell freely down her back, almost touching her waist.

She looked beautiful. More beautiful than on any other day, and she knew exactly why, but decided not to dwell on it and instead focus on her plan.

When she was fully ready, she finally left her room and found Harland waiting for her right outside the door. The young Arryn gave a small bow of his head as a greeting, and she flashed him a brief smile, nervously playing with her fingers.

“You look especially radiant today, Princess.”

“Thank you,” she smiled again, this time with a broader and more lasting grin. “Your mother asked me to escort you to the hall. She threatened to cut off my finger if you tried to sneak away, so please, behave.”

“Don’t worry, your fingers will be safe. I’m not planning to run today,” she said with a tone of boredom, prompting Harland to roll his eyes. “The sooner we start this, the sooner we’ll be done.”

And although Jaella wanted to believe that would be the case, the reality was that it took her over half a day to attend to the suitors who had arrived that morning, and none of them had met with her approval, let alone her mother’s. Not to mention Daemon, who had laughed in the faces of two or three elderly men who had dared to ask for Jaella’s hand.

“Can we leave? I’m hungry,” Jaella complained, glancing at her mother. Before the princess could respond, the doors of the hall opened once more, causing Jaella to roll her eyes in exhaustion.

“Princes Aegon and Aemond Targaryen,” was announced, and the mere mention of their names made Jaella’s face light up. “And Their Majesties, King Viserys Targaryen and Queen Alicent Hightower.”

The deterioration in her grandfather’s health was evident. The man could barely walk on his own, his skin looked even more pallid than the last time she had seen him, his hair had become much thinner, and the skin on his face appeared quite damaged. However, Viserys wore a radiant smile that only grew wider when his eyes landed on his eldest daughter.

Jaella felt a lump in her throat. Seeing her grandfather in such a state reminded her of how fragile time was, and instead of diminishing her desire to make a proposal, it only fueled her determination. She knew that if she married Aegon before her grandfather passed away, her mother would have a better chance of ascending the throne without any objections from the queen.

Rhaenyra almost ran to her father with a beaming smile, like a child returning home after a long time. Daemon followed closely and also greeted his brother warmly.

Aemond approached Jaella first, giving her a smile before taking her hand and kissing it as a greeting.

“It’s a pleasure to see you again, Uncle,” she said with a broad smile.

“Likewise,” he replied.

Aegon skipped the formalities as usual and leaned forward to plant a kiss on Jaella’s cheek, gently holding her face with one of his hands and also caressing the opposite cheek. Alicent made a face of disapproval but remained silent, as usual, seeming to be the only one displeased with the situation.

“I didn’t expect Your Majesties to accept the invitation to my daughter’s suitor search,” Rhaenyra said, drawing attention to herself.

“We didn’t come to present a proposal, Princess,” Alicent immediately replied, and Jaella had to restrain herself from lashing out. “But your father was very insistent on meeting the candidates.”

“The candidates who presented themselves today were not what we had hoped for,” Rhaenyra said, not looking at Alicent but directing her words to her father. “But I am confident that Princess Jaella will find a suitor to her liking.”

“It is an important event, without a doubt,” Viserys commented finally, his voice faltering. “Princess Jaella has much ahead of her. I’m sure she will find… what she is looking for.”

"And we’re here now," Aegon interrupted, earning a disapproving look from his mother. "Who better than the king to oversee my dear niece’s betrothal, wouldn’t you agree?"

Daemon let out a laugh that only further irritated the queen. Rhaenyra shot him a warning glance, while Viserys smiled and nodded towards his son, approving of his words.

"We were about to serve the meal; the journey must have been tiring," Rhaenyra said, trying to ease the tension while signaling the servants to prepare.

Alicent, still frowning, adjusted the folds of her dress, clearly uncomfortable with the atmosphere Aegon had created. "We appreciate your hospitality, Princess," she replied formally, her tone distant.

As everyone headed towards the dining hall, Aegon and Jaella lagged a few steps behind. The prince clasped his hands behind his back and walked alongside his niece with a smile.

"I didn’t think you would come," Jaella said.

"We weren’t going to," Aegon replied. "Aemond and I had to work on Dad’s head to get him to take action and let us come."

The princess let out a giggle and shook her head. "How charming," she said, still laughing.

"Well, I had to prevent you from being married off to the first lord who walked through the doors," he shrugged.

"I avoided being married off to the first lord who crossed the threshold," she grimaced. "It was dreadful, to say the least."

Aegon focused ahead and, seeing his family disappear down the hallway leading to the dining room, he stopped. He wrapped his arm around Jaella’s and pulled her close until she bumped into his chest. His hold softened once he had her in his arms; one hand rested on her waist while the other cradled her face, bringing it closer to his for a quick kiss on her cheek.

"I’m not going to let you marry anyone else, alright?" he whispered near her lips. "I’m going to—"

"I’ll make a marriage proposal to the king," she interrupted. He looked at her, confused.

"Your mother won’t let you," she continued. "She won’t, and for some reason, neither has my grandfather. So, I’ll ask him myself."

The prince smiled and nodded softly, still caressing the younger woman’s face.

"You have to be my wife, Jaella," he said seriously, looking into her eyes. "We can't delay it any longer; I've rejected every woman my mother has brought to the Red Keep."

"She must be very upset."

"She and a few families," he said dismissively. Jaella looked at him, surprised, and though she was curious, she didn’t dare ask about the terrible fates some of those women might have suffered. "It's nothing you need to worry about."

She nodded, trusting him as she always did.

"I'll talk to my grandfather tonight... You should talk to him too."

"Yes, I'm sure the plea of two spoiled children will make him see reason," he joked, drawing a laugh from her. Aegon's expression turned serious. "I’ll talk to him, I promise."

"Now let's go to the dining room or your mother will go crazy," Jaella said, trying to pull away.

Aegon held her in place, and Jaella frowned, but her expression softened when she noticed the way he was looking at her.

"It’s been over a year; my bed has been lonely," he murmured, brushing his thumb over Jaella’s lips. "Aren’t you going to grant your future husband a kiss?"

Jaella smiled and felt her heart race as he leaned in, their lips meeting in a kiss that, though brief, was charged with the desire they had both kept at bay all this time.

"It’s impossible for me to believe you’ve been alone all this time," she said when they parted.

"My bed has been lonely," he corrected her, making her roll her eyes. "I didn’t think it was right for another woman to be there after you," he whispered, still caressing her face.

"Keep it that way," she said as a threat, but Aegon just smiled and placed a fleeting kiss on her lips.

"As the princess commands."

═════𖠁 ═════

Helaena was undoubtedly an enigmatic person. Even during the years she had spent in King’s Landing, her own mother had never fully understood her, which made her feel isolated even when surrounded by attention. However, things were different in Dragonstone. Although not many understood her riddles and the visions that appeared in her dreams, she received much more patience and understanding from her husband and her half-sister than from the family she had left behind in the Red Keep. Jaella and Rhaena were also good company for her, and she enjoyed spending afternoons playing with the little ones, especially Joffrey, who loved listening to her talk about insects for long periods.

She felt at peace, but now that her mother had arrived, she couldn’t help but feel a certain anxiety. Alicent had once told her that one day she would come to retrieve her, and she feared that this might be the case. The queen constantly spoke of how Rhaenyra would put their heads on spikes to claim the throne. As a child, Helaena had been terrified. When she was betrothed to Jacaerys, she thought it wasn’t so bad because she adored the young prince, but her mother never ceased to instill fear in her, saying that bastards were inherently bad and that marrying Jacaerys would bring her suffering day and night.

Later, Harland Arryn had secretly delivered the first letter Jacaerys had written to her. In it, the prince expressed interest in getting to know her and allowing her to know him as well, showing her a side of himself that starkly contrasted with her mother’s gossip. When they married, it became abundantly clear to Helaena that everything her mother had said was vile lies—not just about Jacaerys but about Rhaenyra. Especially about Rhaenyra.

Her half-sister had done nothing but protect and care for her, just as she did with Jaella. It was clear that Rhaenyra was made to be a mother of sons, but she had a special affection for the young women in her family. The princess was extremely loving toward her, Jaella, and Rhaena.

Helaena didn’t want to leave Dragonstone, didn’t want to return to King’s Landing, and certainly didn’t want to go back to her mother.

It was Helaena’s custom to take a bath before bed; it helped her relax. And it was Jacaerys’ custom to brush his wife’s hair before they slept, as not even the maids were allowed to touch her hair, so they had had to teach the prince how to manage the task of styling the young princess’s hair.

“Is everything alright?” Jacaerys asked, watching her through the mirror. “Did something happen with your beetles this morning? I saw you looking at them the longest”

Helaena shook her head without looking up at him. She seemed nervous, evident in the way she was torturing her own fingers, peeling the skin at the edges. Jacaerys frowned; she only did that when she was worried, something that hadn’t been common since they had been at Dragonstone.

“I don’t want to leave,” she whispered, still staring down at her lap.

Jacaerys paused his task, setting the brush aside. Moving slowly so as not to startle his wife, he carefully circled around her and extended his hand, waiting for her to take it. He always waited for her to touch him first.

Helaena hesitated for a few seconds but then placed her hand on the prince's and dared to lift her gaze.

"Where, my wife?" he asked gently. "You don't have to go anywhere if you don't want to. Your place is here with me. Where do you fear going?"

"She will want to take me," Helaena said, clinging to her husband's arm, her eyes filling with tears.

"Alicent?" His frown deepened, and Helaena nodded. "She won't take you. I promise."

Almost as if Jacaerys’ words were being challenged, there was a knock on the door, announcing the late-night visit of Queen Alicent. Helaena’s grip on Velaryon’s hand tightened, and her eyes widened in fear. He gently stroked her hand, trying to reassure her that everything would be fine, knowing well that the queen's demeanor would not be hostile, at least not at that moment.

"Your Grace," the dark-haired prince greeted, offering a slight bow of his head. "To what do we owe your visit at this hour?"

"I wanted to speak with my daughter, as we didn’t have the chance to during dinner."

Jacaerys nodded, his lips forming a thin line meant to resemble a smile. Helaena’s gaze pleaded for him to stay, and he considered it for a moment but ultimately decided that it was best to give them privacy

"Very well," the prince said, more to his wife than as a response to the queen. "I won’t go far; I’ll be right outside if you need me."

Helaena gave a soft nod, and when Jacaerys let go of her hand, she quickly reached out to stop him, making a silent request he immediately understood. He leaned in and kissed her forehead, a gesture that seemed to calm her, as if that simple act had given her the strength she needed at that moment.

"My sweet daughter," Alicent whispered as she approached, wrapping her in an embrace that Helaena reluctantly accepted. She didn’t enjoy her mother’s effusive hugs. "How have you been? You've replied to so few of my letters, I feared it was the bastard hiding them from you."

The princess grimaced in displeasure.

"Don’t call him that," she whispered. "We don’t use that word here."

Alicent looked at her as if hurt by her words, but Helaena didn’t meet her eyes, so the pained expression on her mother’s face went entirely unnoticed by the young princess.

"I promise you’ll soon be home again. We’ll crown Aegon, and you won’t have to stay here any longer. He’ll annul the marriage, and you’ll be able to—"

"I am at peace here," she finally said, mustering the courage to look at her mother.

She wished she hadn’t. She regretted it immediately upon seeing how Alicent’s face twisted into one of displeasure. It was the same look she gave all her children, especially Aegon. Helaena didn’t like it.

"Peace... among traitors," Alicent said in a low voice, shaking her head in disbelief. "You cannot trust them, Helaena. They have filled your head with lies. Rhaenyra will..."

"I have seen the dragons dance in the dark if they are not allowed to intertwine their wings," Helaena spat the words with bitterness. "You will make the dragons dance."

The queen swallowed hard, unable to hide the fear that always gripped her when her daughter spoke this way. She did not understand her and did not want to, but Helaena’s words always lingered, haunting her mind.

"My love, I..."

Alicent reached out, trying to grasp her daughter’s arm once more, but Helaena pulled away again.

"You do not hear them, but I do," Helaena murmured, her voice a mere whisper. "The dragons are restless..."

"Helaena," Alicent tried again, her tone firmer, "this is for your own good. Everything I do is to protect you."

But the princess did not respond. She simply turned her face toward the window, gazing at the horizon beyond Dragonstone, as if there, in the distance, lay the future she so feared.

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