#i am however slightly updating the way i draw her hair. to help it make a slight bit more sense and maybe make it look a but better

[realjem-art]

highschool "boy" -> 27 year old woman

[witch-hazels-musings]

It’s 🍪!

You have this ‘My Sunshine’ (?) fic where the reader is an absolute ball of sunshine and I LOVE it! Could you do a part two with Zhongli, Childe and Albedo please?

Mwah!

My Sunshine

( what an incredible choice of characters! Thank you for adding to one of my favorite fics!! ) 

Warning -> SFW, Fluff

Character X GN Reader | Anthology 

Includes: Albedo, Childe, Zhongli 

Albedo 

It was the way you greeted the world around you - with pleasant smiles, patient hands, caring and compassionate eyes. You saw the world for what it could be, the beauty of it and while Albedo searched for the answer in the universe, you already seemed to have found them 

He noticed you on his wanderings through the city. His hands were already moving to draw your expressions in a hope to capture everything that he possibly could - how could he capture the intensity of the sun itself, of a flower basking in the afternoon glow, or a firefly so vibrant that it burned orange and beautiful 

You were bouncing on your toes, smiling kindly at the people who walked by while you patiently waited for anyone to stop by. Not many people purchased flowers every single day, but you found it wasn’t hard to proposition people with your generous smile and pin-point compliments. 

“My! I have never seen something so beautiful in all my life.” You began, bending to rest your hands on your knees while catching the attention of a small young girl who had been glancing at the array of flowers at your side. She looked at you confused, a bit nervous but didn’t back away. 

Reaching for a small white flower, you trimmed the leaves and hummed a little tune before turning back to her. “A lovely flower like you must attract so much goodness. Even this daisy is impressed by your radiance!" She giggled and you continued, "Would you do me a favor?” You smiled at her, eyes showing only the purest of shine. The little girl nodded her head and you began again, “Could you carry this flower and help it grow? If it's you, I'm sure it'll turn just as beautiful?” 

The little girl wrapped her small fingers around the stem, her smile and giggle so powerful that Albedo was sure you cast a magic spell because as he watched her gallop away back to her parents, the flowers near you began to glisten and the sketch on his page came to life. 

He was unsure how to make a connection with you, so more often than not he would find himself purchasing flowers he didn’t really have the necessity for - but perhaps if he gathered enough up, he’d have a bouquet glorious enough to equal your soul 

“Mr. Albedo, pleasure seeing you again.” You brushed off your apron and turned to him. Your eyes closing and head tilting, a standard greeting of yours. “I have some rather rare flowers in stock today if you’d like to take a look.” 

“I am actually here to inquire if you had any Asters; the research institute has just run out.” 

“Hmm, let me check for you.” You bowed slightly before disappearing behind the many stalls and carriers of your wares. He scanned the flowers as he waited for your return. Gloved fingers inspecting the petals of flowers and, in his wandering thoughts, he began to investigate which one reminded him the most of you. “Mr. Albedo, I am sorry, it seems we are fresh out.” 

“I see …” 

“Ah! However, I needed to gather several other plants today. If you come back tomorrow I will set them aside for you.” You waved at the other worker as if to inform them of your intentions and quickly reached for the basket near the stall. 

“Actually, would it be too much of a bother if I were to travel with you?” 

You paused, staring at him with eyes wide and mouth slightly parted. What was this feeling in his chest, it hurt. “I would never pass up an opportunity to share in your company! What a splendid day this is turning out to be.” 

“Thank you, I will keep out of your way.” 

“Not too much I hope. So, Mr. Albedo, are you ready?” You turned to head toward the front gate and he followed after you. 

“Yes, and please, just Albedo is fine.” 

“Alrighty then, Albedo.” Ah, yes, that’s why his heart hurt. 

There you were, the wind wrapping around you as you stood in a field of flowers - the reflection of light difficult to pinpoint for as bright as the sun shined down onto the plane below, you were just as intense and, in fact, you may be the most luminous creature to ever exist -- how could he possibly reach something like you 

Childe

His world had never been bright -- from the snowy landscape that threatened every day to freeze the warm hearts that beat on its surface, to the dark void that he fought through as an adolescent, to the harsh and demanding ladder he climbed in service to his cause -- he’d never known the light … his had been seized so long ago 

So when he found a flicking candle, a small flame in his dark corridor, he walked to it - ran for it - and to see the glory reflected on the other side was something he fixated on until he could hold the candle safe in his arms 

He clenched his jaw and sighed. These boring briefings were never something he cared to participate in. He was more for action rather than words, so instead of listening to the updates from the short, purple-haired harbinger, he instead gazed out the open window at the city below. 

Liyue had shifted from a temporary destination into a permanent one as the tasks and duties continued to lengthen his stay. At least he didn’t mind the city, not like some of the other places he’d stay at. Just as he was about to drift back to the boring discussion, he heard a voice drift up to him. A lively, giddy voice that stole all of his attention and focus, but as soon as you entered into view his minimal interest piqued into desperation. 

“Wait up! You can’t tell me that this isn’t a beautiful day, just take it all in!” You spread your arms wide and spun with so much energy that the inertia made you stumble, luckily you caught yourself before running into some poor passerby. Childe smiled and rested his chin on his palm as he looked down at the loveliness that was your everything. 

You laughed, and the way your hands flew to your lips to cover the sound made him jealous of those fingers. You spoke, words falling off of your tongue like sugar and he grew antsy at the thought of not tasting it. You existed, and he needed a piece of it. 

Waving to his subordinate, he spoke in a hushed whisper, and while the meeting continued to drone on, he made his first step at capturing a star. 

The more information he gathered, the more interactions he had with you - the more he fell into your luster, the richer his feelings grew for you 

His actions were that of a child just looking for a comforting glow in their endless darkness, hands cupped to keep it alive, breathing held for fear of accidentally blowing it out - stay, please stay 

He called your name, the sound of his voice dissipating in the open space as he searched for any sign of you. 

“Hey there!” You called out to him, and when he looked up toward your voice, he smiled. Your legs dangled off the tree limb, your hands wrapping around the bark as you balanced there. 

“How is the view?” He asked, crossing his arms and staring at you from below. How did you get up there, he wondered. 

“Beautiful, I can see so much from up here. It’s like a whole different perspective.” You breathed in deeply and lifted your arms to reach for the sky above you. “How about you join me?” 

“I’m not sure I can, I don’t even know how you got up there.” 

“Sheer will and determination!” Giggling, he thought maybe you were actually a mythical creature in the fairytales he used to read as a kid. There was no way you could live in this world and be so positive, it had to be you were something beyond this world. “I’ll come down to you.” Twisting, you wiggled onto your stomach before letting yourself drop onto the ground below. It was further than you thought and as soon as your feet hit the earth, your body became off balance and tumbled backward. 

Childe easily caught you, his sturdy chest supporting you and arms extended so your hands could have something to grab onto. 

“Ooh, that was exhilarating.” Tilting your head, you turned to look at him and for a moment he felt his lips scream for yours. He wanted to let you go, but how could you when you fit so perfectly in his arms. “Childe?” 

“You’re something else.” This was dangerous, you were dangerous, and now that he knew what it was like to feel the brightness of the light, he would never let the dark creep back in. 

He needed you - it was apparent - and he hoped one day you’d realize you needed him too. A light like yours truly needed to shine in the darkness of places, so choose his, please choose his 

Zhongli 

There is no one in this world that would understand luster better than he - no one who could see the shine inside a being as clearly as one with eyes who’ve witnessed the birth and eventual death of the universe. The great Morax, the ruthless Rex Lapis, the gentle and patient Zhongli are one and the same, and the visions they’ve witnessed cannot be forgotten 

So, to see a person with purity so refined, that even the dullest observers could clearly recognize, he found it nearly impossible to look away 

He heard tell of a new performer joining the Pearl, someone who had shown great elegance and glorious promise at wowing the crowds. As a man who fancied the arts of all kinds, he was intrigued by the rumors and whispers. So, when the schedule showed the name of this new performer, he made his way to the boat drifting on the sea. 

His lips tasted the sweet flavor of tea but his eyes soaked in the delectable movements of your body. The graceful bow of your spin, the bending and twisting of your limbs as you moved just enough to tell your story on the swaying stage. He felt the history in your dance, the pride in your fluttering fan as you moved it across your face, the snap of truth as you forced it up toward the sky. He was transfixed, as he was sure all were. 

When you finished, you began to greet the many interested patrons eager to hear the sound of your voice. There was no way he could have known how transfixing you would be when he heard it. 

“What a stunning performance.” Zhongli mused, his head bowing, a mirror of your own gesture. 

“That is great praise from someone such as yourself.” You smiled and he was reminded of glaze lilies. 

“Pray tell, what was the inspiration for your dance?” 

“Ah, an insightful question, not unexpected I must say.” You laughed and moved your hands to your chest, elegant fingers resting over your heart as you answered his question. “The light of a soul has so much insight, don’t you think? If the soul is radiant, the vessel's beauty is so easily seen, and if there is beauty shining so brightly that it can communicate out to those who look, it may shift just the tides of the future.” You laughed again, a bit more unreserved than the last, and somehow more telling to your honesty. “I’m sorry, I hope that answered your question.” 

“Splendidly, and then some.” He found himself transfixed, captivated by a spirit shining before him. 

Spending time with you was as refreshing as standing in a mountain stream, as filling as a warm meal, as bright as the basking stars that littered the sky above and reflected in your eyes even in darkness 

“Zhongli, hello again.” He wandered into the garden, the gentle bubbling of the water as it fell along the rocks provided a lovely background to your visage. Carefully, you rested your fingers against the pages of your book as you looked up at him. The shadows of the shifting trees let highlights of the sun dance across your face and he couldn’t help but capture this image in his mind. 

“Good afternoon, you seem to be enjoying the day.” 

“As I always am. Nature has provided such elegant and lovely conditions that it would be a waste to not thank it, don’t you agree?” 

“Wholeheartedly.” He smiled, his hands gripping tighter around each other as they rested against the small of his back. It was incredible how nervous you made him; for a man who was a powerful as the mountains that looked down over the city, you made him feel like a tiny pebble in the stream begging to be touched by you. “May I join you?” 

“Absolutely, anything in this world can be improved by good company, and yours is always my favorite.”

“As yours is mine.” He sat on the stone bench next to you, his hands resting on his lap as he looked out across the scenery. You moved closer to him, your arms touching as you shared in the company of each other and, while his eyes drifted to your face, he watched how your smile and good nature made the flowers bloom. 

You were a compliment to his life. A perfect addition to the drift of time and as he looked at the future that stretched before him, he found your red wrapping perfectly around his amber 

--

tag list

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[lesbian-deadpool]

Saving Rosie

Part One of Two: “I’m Not A Spy.”

Rosie Betzer x Reader

Words: 5,768

Warnings: WWII (and everything that comes with that era), Nazis, spy shit, arguing, alludes to execution, sadness... I think that may be it.

Request: No.

Summary: You save the woman you have grown close to over the past few years you have been undercover as a Nazi general, and now you’re going to save her family.

A/N: Me, still broken after watching Jojo Rabbit almost a year and a half ago?? It’s more likely than you think... so, apparently I write Rosie Beltzer fics now lol

Also, just some lil notes. The reader in this is undercover as a male Nazi general, and they’re not actually German in this fic.

EDIT: I accidentally tagged this as a Natasha fic lmao. I fixed it now tho.

Ko-Fi

Commissions

(Not My GIF)

***

"It's a lovely night for it, huh?"

For what? You weren't 

certain. Maybe it was the full moon. Maybe, it was the clear sky. The deserted streets, perhaps... what loomed in the following days to come.

Or maybe, just maybe. It was the woman by your side.

The woman hummed, a small sweet smile caressing her face.

"One of the better ones we've had in years. Came her strong German accent. A stark difference to yours, considering you no longer had to mask it. Around her, anyway.

Your smile mirrored hers as it brightened.

"It sure is."

"I can't believe it's almost over. And after so long..." she said, while you grunted, sitting down beside her on the small roof over the open attic window. "This unjust war is finally coming to an end."

"Okay, you're starting to sound like my commander now."

Rosie chuckled at your words, moving to softly lean into your side, keeping her head up to continue looking at the bright white stars that littered the midnight blue sky.

"Why do you always insist on meeting up here?" you grumbled, no malice in your voice, "It's a pain in the ass to get up onto the roof, from the outside, y'know?"

"You're a spy, aren't you? Aren't you supposed to be good at this stuff?"

"Oh cheeky," you laughed, lightly slapping the side of her leg, with the back of your hand. Rosie's quiet giggles following your remark, "And I'm an undercover soldier. Those are two very different things."

"Still." She shrugged.

You sat in silence for a small while. Over the few years, you and Rosie had grown close. Meeting up on her rooftop, at the dead of night, where there was no chance of anyone seeing you together, this way, becoming an almost every day occurrence.

You knew you could trust her the moment you first met, almost three years ago. After you had stolen the identity of a Nazi officer, that looked starkly like you. Luckily, there was hardly any information about this person. So, there was less chance for your cover to be blown.

Soon, the resistance that Rosie had been deeply a part of was un-earthed to you, thanks to your informant and the letter she carried. It wasn't long after that you started working with them too. Helping them better than they could ever hope, thanks to the military resources and information you brought.

"What happened to your neck?" Rosie asked, pulling you out from where you were, deep in your memories.

A hand came up to rub at your slightly sore skin.

"My informant can be cruel..."

Rosie cocked a blonde eyebrow at you, wanting an explanation from you.

You sighed, getting ready to tell her.

***

Eyes burned into the woman from all sides as her heels kicked against the polished wooden, yet stained, floor. Her light brown hair shone under the glowing lights, confidence radiating from her just the same.

"Can I help you?" a German Soldier slid in front of her, she had to stop herself from sneering at the man. For both his being a Nazi and his sweaty stench. But instead, she managed a sultry smirk.

"I'm here to see your General," she replied, in a German accent.

"Don't bother," another Soldier, this one drunk and slightly swaying, called over, from where he was pressed into the wall a few feet behind her.

"I don't think your General would take too kindly to you stealing what they paid for."

"They're gonna have fun with you," he replied, blatantly looking her up and down. Like a wolf would, to a tiny bunny, ready to devour it whole. However, the wolf was not a wolf at all, the wolf was, in fact, the bunny, and the bunny was the actual wolf.

She would tear him to shreds, given the chance.

"The General is in the usual room," the original man said, "Fair warning, though. They're not in a good mood today."

The woman began strutting down the hallway, once again. Throwing, "Aren't they always?" over her shoulder once she passed him by.

When she opened the thick wooden door you resided behind, the sounds of your continued groan began pouring through the crack.

"Sometimes I cannot believe that you got this assignment," she uttered in her original London accent, with her back pressed against the now-closed door.

You finished your groan off and took a deep breath before you uttered your reply.

"Luck-of-the-draw, I guess," you spoke from the floor where you lay on your back, with a shrug, "That, or I look strikingly alike the guy who died. The Nazi prick."

She walked over to you, one foot rising to press her heel into your neck, your thyroid resting in the open space of the shoe.

A choking noise sprang from your mouth as you flailed your limbs around gently. You knew that if she were to press any harder, she would surely manage to choke you.

"You're not suited for this job."

The brunette pressed harder against your throat before she released you. Leaving you to turn on your side, coughing and spluttering.

"Well, no shit. I'm a soldier, not a spy."

"You can tell."

"What was that all about?" You motioned to your neck. Red marks already making their way upon the tender flesh.

"We need to make it seem like we are having sex. Remember? I am supposed to be your hooker after all."

"You're a bitch, is what you are."

She scowled at you as you rolled yourself onto your stomach, sighing when you finally got to your feet.

"Where's the update?"

You hummed, almost as if you were remembering what you were here to do. Removing the crystal tumbler from your lips the whisky sloshing around inside. Reaching behind you, you pulled the file from where it was tucked into your pants and under your shirt. Handing it over to her.

"Is this it?" She asked, weighing the file in her hand, "It's very light."

"Yeah, and so's the information swimming around. Unless you wanna hear about the fish Agatha caught last weekend," you snarked back, moving to point at the file with the same hand that held your glass, "There's some good stuff in there. It's not much. But it's good."

"I'll take your word for it."

She tucked the folder into the long overcoat she wore, then you saw her eyebrows furrow.

"Aren't you supposed to take care of that?" She nodded towards the uniform jacket you had thrown across the room not long after you had entered it.

"You sneered at the fore-talked about item.

"I hate it and everything it stands for." You turned back to face her. "As soon as all of this bullshit is over, I'm burning that fucking armband. And then the rest of the fucking uniform."

"Real calm there, aren't you?"

"Don't start shit with me, Hannah." You took a large swig of your drink, almost emptying the glass. "I know that you wish you had somehow gotten this mission. But trust me, you don't fucking want it. The shit I've seen and done. The stuff that I've had to authorise, just to keep my cover. The fucking horror storied these monsters have told proudly, or as if they're fucking jokes." You were panting now. "You don't want that."

You had her startled into silence. Hannah had never expected this to come from you.

"How's the resistance?"

You grunted. Downing the rest of the brown liquor before moving to pour yourself another glass three fingers tall.

"It's going." you gave a heavy nod. "Still trying to spread the word."

Hannah hummed, slowly making her way towards you. Fingers coming up to razzle her hair, and wipe her lipstick, so it smudged onto her cheek.

"How's the blonde?"

"What-?" you were cut off when she wiped the red lipstick on her fingers across your own lips, leaving a smudge like hers there. "Ugh," you groaned, moving away from her palm, only to utter small obscenities and sounds of pain when her lipstick freehand messed up your short, slicked-back hair.

"What blonde?" you finally managed to ask.

"The one from the resistance. What's her name?" She clicked her fingers together, in realisation, "Rosie."

"Oh! Yeah, she's fine, and so are the kids."

"You seem to be taking a shine to her, from what I hear from the resistance. You and Rosie seem to be something of a dynamic duo."

Suddenly your shirt was ripped open, from the collar to your ribs. Making your eyes widen in shock.

However, you were used to this by now, so they soon returned back to their regular size.

"Yeah, we're friends."

Hannah hummed, something akin to a knowing smirk on her face. As she untucked your shirt.

"I'd keep an eye on her, though."

She opened your pants.

"She's being watched."

Breathless at what she just said, you stood stock still, watching as she walked towards the wooden door.

"Oh." Hannah stopped, her hand upon the handle, pulling some pieces of paper from her pocket and threw them to the floor, "I'll leave you to deliver the bad news."

And with that, she left.

***

You forewent telling Rosie everything from the mention of her.

Thinking it the best if she heard it differently.

"That really sounds like a spy meeting to me," Rosie said with a smirk, knowing it would annoy you to no end.

You closed your eyes before you could roll them into the back of your head. Taking a deep breath, you exhaled, "I'm not a spy."

"So, you've said," she giggled.

"You're drunk," you mumbled to yourself.

"What was that?"

"How are the kids?" you asked, clearly watching as Rosie groaned lightly. Her head down-turned, almost sad looking.

"Jojo's still obsessed with Hitler and everything. And Elsa's doing her best. But I can tell how much this is affecting her. And in what world wouldn't it?"

"She's strong." You nodded. "She'll get through it. We all will."

"And what about Jojo?"

Rosie turned to face you, hair swaying as she did. You could see the glazed look in her eye's, telling yourself to be extra vigilant with the woman upon the roof. You had to make sure she didn't fall off in her drunken state.

"Is he going to be like this for the rest of his life?"

Tears were building in her eyes now.

"Supporting evil dictators, wanting to take over the world, and fill it with hate?"

"No. No, of course not," you whispered. Reaching over, you clasped her cheeks between your rough, war-hardened hands. Wiping away her silent tears. "He's just a boy. A boy who wants to be a part of something, even if he doesn't understand what that is. What monster's he's following. He will realise one day. Trust me."

"I trust you." She nodded. "It just. It's hard. It's so hard. Especially when he plays up, like he did at dinner today."

"He did?"

She hummed with a nod.

"We're low on food right now. I had to go without to feed Elsa. But Jojo, he didn't know, obviously, so he took that too. Then he started arguing about his father-"

You inhaled sharply, shoulders tensing. But luckily for you, she didn't notice your reaction.

"-I yelled at him... we made up not long after, but I still feel awful about it. I'm a terrible mother."

"No, you're not-"

"I am-"

"No. You're not," you said firmly. Grabbing her forearm, gently moving it side to side, to get your point further across, "You're such a caring and amazing person. Your heart is so big and kind. And you're an even better mother. It's like all of that is doubled for those kids."

"Thank you," Rosie whispered, tears in her eyes once again, before she moved to wipe them away.

"Anyway, you're way better than my mother. She abandoned me at a farm. I was lucky a cow didn't shit on me."

She giggled at your little joke.

"I'm so sorry that happened to you."

"There's no need. I wouldn't change it."

Things were quiet for a few minutes when you suddenly remembered.

"Oh!" You reached into your pocket and pulled out three packages, wrapped in brown paper and tied together with string. "I guess it was just lucky that I brought these then."

"What are they?"

"Beef sandwiches, I thought you would like them."

"Oh, you're a lifesaver," she spoke in something close to a moan as she took a bite out of her sandwich.

You gave a small chuckle at the woman seated beside you, "I'd thought you'd say that. I'll have to start bringing food over to these meetings of ours because it's not like I can do it out in the open."

"People would think something was going on between us," Rosie hummed.

"You're right about that. Everyone is so bored around here. Gossip is like their life sauce."

"Would you be surprised if I told you that it was the same before the war?"

"Not at all," you laughed.

Rosie finished her sandwich, and you dreaded what was coming next.

"I need to tell you something," you almost whispered.

She bumped her shoulder against yours when you didn't continue.

"Well? What is it?"

"It... it's about your husband..."

You watched her carefully as you said that, all the while emotions, flew into her while she processed them.

She held back more tears, ones from the look on her face that she had shed more times than she could count. Face contoured into one of concealed pain. Looking away from your gentle, caring eyes while rubbing her hands together.

"He's dead, isn't he?"

"I'm afraid so." You nodded, looking out before you, into the starry night sky.

That's when you felt a tiny jolt beside you. Looking over at the blonde, you watched as a tear trickled down her cheek.

"I'm so sorry," you whispered.

With a gasp and a wet sniff, Rosie wiped her tears away.

"What happened?"

"There was a raid, some members of a resistance was there, your husband included. None of them made it... they saved the people they intended to, however."

She nodded with a sad yet proud smile.

"How long ago was this?"

You swallowed. Hating the words you were about to say.

"A little over a year ago."

You winced when you heard her sobs, ones being held in so hard just so no one could overhear her cries.

And, sickeningly so, the worst thing of all was that you didn't know how to help her.

Placing a hand upon her back, rubbing small comforting circles into her shoulder. Feeling her lean into you, face now pushed into your neck.

"I'm here. Everything's going to be alright."

You left not too long later, after already spending way too much time up on that roof.

Rosie wished you a "goodbye" with the promise that she would be fine. However, she didn't reply to you when you told her not to finish the rest of the wine. That she had been pounding for the majority of the day.

Before you arrived "home" and promptly collapsed onto the bed.

***

The afternoon sun was warm upon your face as you walked the streets of the German town. Watching as children ran around, women worked, and well, gossiped, and Nazi soldiers came and went.

Soon. You thought. This will all be over soon.

That's when you heard the murmured words from the women you had just walked past.

"Yes, the Gestapo. They're here right now."

"Who for?" the other woman asked, voice slightly higher at the aspect of such "juicy" gossip.

Sometimes it surprised you just how detached some of these people were from human lives. But then you took a step back and saw everything that was happening in the world. And you weren't surprised anymore. Just disappointed.

"The traitors wife. Beltzer."

And now you were scared.

"-They should be taking her to the square, right now."

It was like the world had slowed down as you turned to look at them, meeting their curious eyes.

The last thing you heard before taking off at a run towards the town square was a fading, "Like husband, like wife. I guess."

The people you passed by looked at you like you were insane. To see a, what they thought, General, sprinting down streets and panting like crazy, it set them on edge.

But you didn't give a damn about what anybody thought.

You just had to get to the square.

And quick.

***

By the time you got there, you had a light shine over your skin. Thanks to the sweat from both the running you had done and the worry that coursed through you.

"Remove your hands from her," came your faux German accent.

"She is a traitor to the Reich," one of the Gestapo's, seemingly the leader, replied assuredly.

"And what proof do you have of this?"

Rosie was terrified. You could see that as clear as day, no matter how she tried to keep calm. It was written all over her face.

So, you forcefully pushed their hands from the heavily breathing woman and pulling her to stand by your side and away from the group of men dressed in black suits.

"I'll have you know, we have very probable tips from some of the community-"

""Probable"?!" you shouted, causing the on edge woman beside you to jump slightly. To which you pulled her closer to you as a form of comfort. Your hand, coming to rest on her shoulder.

"Yes. Probable. We cannot have risks."

"Well, I say that it is bullshit."

"You have no jurisdiction or authority over our department."

"And I never said I did. I am saying that I vouch for this woman."

"But the tip-off's-" another man began.

"You choose to believe lonely and bored housewives over a General?!" You watched as their faces fell, and they tried to grab onto any straw they could to change your mind.

"There is still a chance-"

"There is no chance!"

"And can you be so sure?!"

"Do you really believe that I, a General, would be with her if you were right?"

"With her?" a third Gestapo asked curiously.

You knew what you had to do to get her back home, safe and away from the men trying to execute and make a spectacle of her. Just like the poor people hanging to your right.

"It means that I have been seeing her. Romantically, if you still do not fully understand, what I mean."

They didn't say anything for a few short moments, only stumbling and stuttering over their own voices.

"So, tell me. Who are you choosing to believe?"

"Uh. Y-You General."

"Good." You nodded once. "Now, I'm going to take her home. Goodbye, gentlemen," you spat. Turning on your heel, with Rosie under your arm, and walking away.

"Are you okay?" you whispered. Not drawing any attention to yourself or Rosie.

"I'm fine. Thank you for saving me," she replied in the same way.

"I wouldn't have done anything else." Your hand slipped down to the blondes dip in her lower back, helping to guide her back home. "Where are the flyers? Did you have any on you?"

"Yes. I threw them down the drain before they could see."

"Good. You did good." A squeeze to her hip before your hand returned to her lower back, just to keep up the appearance of the lie. "They're not gonna find them."

***

Rosie had relaxed more by the time you were at the bottom of her street when you saw a distinctly expensive car parked outside of Rosie's house. A car that everyone knows belongs to that of Gestapo's.

"Is Jojo home?" you asked, just stood there starring at the sight, with Rosie by your side.

"Yes," she husked.

"Shit."

And that's when you both broke out in a run.

You, being faster than Rosie, arrived at the building first. Barging through the door, with her hot on your heels.

Pounding your way up the stairs, only to come face to face with a gang of men, identically dressed to the Gestapo's, you had just saved Rosie from. Along with Jojo and Elsa, in clothes that didn't look like they belonged to her. Not to mention the demoted soldier, holding an identification book.

"What is the meaning of this?!"

"What are you doing in my house?!" you and Rosie said at the same time. Your yell angrier, compared to her more so worried one.

"We are searching the premises," the lead man, who wore round glasses, spoke. Face confused as to why Rosie was still alive. But as soon as he saw the anger chiselled upon your face. He could take a successful guess as to who had stopped the execution.

"Mama, they were just checking Inge's identification," Jojo said as his mother rushed towards him. Her hands, on his cheeks, as she checked him over.

"Oh, yes. Of course." Rosie pulled Jojo along to bring Elsa into her side, just as you had done for her mere minutes ago. "Are you both alright?"

She gained words and nods of confirmation from the two children.

"I think it's time that you all left."

"But-" one Gestapo said, looking to Rosie.

"But nothing," you continued, "I'm sure your associates will fill you in on their mistake. Now, if you are finished, I ask that you leave this house."

"We were just about to, anyway," the leader said, leading the way out for everyone. But not before the ID was handed back to the assumed Inge. With you trailing after, to slam the door behind them.

You turned, leaning your back against the wooden door, sighing deeply.

"Are they gone?" Rosie called down, leaning over the railing, to peer down at you.

The stairs creaked below you, the layer of carpet doing nothing to quiet them. You spoke your confirmation, as you reached her, "They're gone."

The kids looked like they had just been caught with their hand's in the cookie jar.

"So..." the caring woman started, "You two know about each other."

They nodded.

"For how long?"

"A couple of weeks, at most," Jojo said.

"How did you even find out about her?"

"I-I found the hatch-"

"He crawled in-"

"And I found her-"

"He was terrified."

"Was not!"

"Was too."

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"Okay, enough," Rosie raised her voice, gaining the bickering children's attention.

Taking a breath, she ran her hands through her soft blonde hair.

"And you never told anyone?"

"No." Jojo shook his head. "I didn't want you to get into trouble..." It was at that point, he realised you were silently stood behind his mother, watching as everything unfolded and who you were.

Rosie caught this and looked over her shoulder at you.

"Don't worry," she told both of the kids, crouching down before them. Elsa's face one of mild terror.

This is when it hit you that these kids were exactly that.

Kids.

Kid's that were too scared of their mothers, or motherly figure, scolding them, than the actual, apparent danger that lurked not too far away.

"They're not going to tell anybody. They know. And won't let anything happen. To any of us." she manoeuvred to face you. "Right?"

You nodded. "Absolutely. I will do my best to protect all of you."

"Speaking of." She slowly rose to her feet, walking towards you.

The hand that Rosie placed upon your arm was gentle, almost like she was worried she would hurt you. Fingers curling into the jacket of the uniform you loathed.

"I have to speak with the General. So, you two stay up here. Understood?"

They nodded.

"Good." She pulled you through the open door, but before she could close it fully, her head popped through the door, "Oh. And we're not done yet. We still have a lot to talk about."

Then the door clicked shut.

"You're really good at that."

"What?"

"Being a mother."

"I know. You've told me before."

***

Things had changed rather quickly when you arrived downstairs.

Sat upon the blue cotton cushions of the wooden framed couch. Watching as Rosie paced around in front of you, fingertips rubbing against her full lips, worry etched across her face.

Your eyebrows shot up, and your body straightened when she turned to face you. Arms now down by her sides.

"So, we're together, huh?"

"I'm sorry," you replied, German accent dropped, "But that was the only thing that would get them to back off and drop the suspicions against you."

"I know." She nodded, completely understanding. Before her minimal composure dropped, and the worry came back. "What do we do? Jojo obviously thinks you are a traitor now. What if he tells someone?"

"He won't." You stood abruptly, taking Rosie's shoulder's into your hands, squeezing them gently. "He didn't tell anyone about Elsa when he had so many chances to do so. Hell, he had the chance, not even five minutes ago. But he hasn't said a word, purely just to keep you safe... he doesn't understand that this could hurt him and Elsa too. He doesn't know what's happening."

"But this is different-"

"Yes, it is different. It's better he thinks I'm a traitor, helping his family, than him knowing I'm an undercover soldier."

"You mean a spy?"

"Don't you start with that shit." You pointed at her playfully.

Rosie's smile dropped when a thought popped into her mind.

"Do you think they will still come back?"

"It is possible," you said honestly, "Which is why we should leave as soon as we possibly can."

"And go where?"

"Anywhere that isn't here."

"What do I tell the kids- What do I tell Jojo?" she clarified.

"The truth. You tell them that they could come back and that we all need to leave because we could all be in danger."

With her head in her hand's, the blonde scoffed tearily, "God. This fucking war."

"I know. I know."

You pulled her into your chest, letting her cry into you. Arms wound around your torso tightly.

"I hate it, For so many reasons."

"I know," you repeated again, "I feel the same."

"When will it just end? When will people be safe again?"

Deciding that it would be best to tell her the truth, you said, "I don't know. Soon I hope."

And there you sat, for a small while longer, allowing the blonde to cry into your chest.

***

You had left.

Gone to go gather some of your things, thinking it best to stay with Rosie and the kids while you were forced to stay in town.

All the while Rosie, spoke to the kids about leaving.

"I don't understand why we have to go!"

Was what you were greeted with as you entered the home.

"Because it is not safe for us here anymore," Rosie's voice came, calm but firm.

"But they won't come back."

"That's not entirely true," you spoke, entering the kitchen. Placing the leather bag you carried and the wicker basket upon the small table against the wall, you continued, "There's always a chance, no matter how small."

The young boy watched you silently for a minute. Not knowing what to say.

"Trust me, Jojo. I know how all of this works. I just want to keep you all safe, so does your mother. And this is the best way to do it.2

Jojo sighed.

"Where will we go?"

Rosie looked at you intently when her son asked this, wondering the same thing.

"We'll get out of town first. Then we'll focus on a safe place for us all to go."

"Jojo, would you. Would you go to your room, please?" Rosie asked, "I need to speak with the General, alone."

Just as the blonde boy was about to protest, he was cut off.

"Now. I also have to start preparing dinner."

He huffed and walked from the room, bounding up the stairs rather loudly.

You felt bad for the woman as you watched her grip the sides of the oven, bow her head, and give a great sigh.

"Where's Elsa?"

"She's in her hiding spot." Then she turned to face you. "Y/N, K know that Elsa isn't Inge."

"What?"

"She got Inge's birthday wrong, and he didn't say anything."

Your eye's wandered as you took in the information that was just given to you.

"Do you think he will say anything?"

"I don't know," you said with a shrug, "But I don't wanna take any chances. It's too risky."

"I agree." Rosie nodded once. "So, when do we leave."

"As soon as possible. Tonight if we can. Only pack the essentials. And not yet, we can't raise any suspicions."

Rosie's only reply and indication that she had heard you were a good few nods.

And then.

"What's in the basket?"

"Oh," you said chipperly, "Don't worry about cooking. I brought dinner."

***

Turns out "tonight" wasn't a viable option for skipping town, as with loud, almost deafening sirens of dread filled the sky came the air-raid strike.

"Wouldn't it give us a good cover, though?" Rosie had asked, preparing for bed.

You had resigned yourself to staying over, as a sort of bodyguard, while still in town. And the threat was still very much weighing in the winds.

You looked over your shoulder at her. Being spotted by her through the mirror of her vanity, where she sat. Removing her makeup and then applying some face cream.

"I'm not the only one by a window," you told her. Then moved to peer through the window, at the moving lights in the black, midnight sky. "I'm sure I heard Elsa and Jojo in the attic watching them."

"They are," she confirmed.

"See. We're not the only ones. Too many eyes. A good distraction," you admitted, "But almost impossible. And with two kids added to that? No chance."

A hum came from Rosie.

"So, what are our options?"

With a sigh, you began explaining, "People will be too jumpy tomorrow, so our best bet would be the day after."

The blonde, now ready for bed, came over to you. Moving to stand right in front of you, looking out the window herself.

"Wouldn't it be too risky, staying here that long?"

It seemed it was your turn to hum, shrugging your shoulders.

"I'd rather stay here a few more days than risk it out there. But there is a good side to these change of plans."

"And what's that?"

"Now, we can sneak stuff to the car. And won't risk being caught doing it all at night. That way, all we have to do is get in, then drive off."

"Good plan. Partner," Rosie spoke in a slight mocking about sultry tone. Which only made you roll your eyes good-naturedly.

"Yeah. Yeah. You're welcome."

"Seriously," you halted at Rosie's serious tone, raising your head to peer at her, "Thank you for everything."

"You don't have to thank me." Your lips ticked up in a small smile before you lightened the sober mood and atmosphere. "And you definitely won't be thanking me if I accidentally kick you in my sleep."

Rosie laughed at your words, watching as you said into bed beside her.

"Do not worry. If you kick me, I'll just kick you out of the bed."

"Now that's just rude."

Waking up the next morning was strange for you, to say the least.

With the bright sun shining through the thin drapes, across the cosy room, and onto the bed. Duvet lumpy above your forms.

And then there was Rosie.

The blonde pressed up against your side, head resting on your shoulder, arms curled around one of yours, still fast asleep.

Now that.

That was very unusual for you.

But then again. You were too sleepy to process anything at that moment. So instead, you just watched her breathe soothingly, looking so peaceful by your side, with your eyebrows furrowed and eyes squinted in curiosity.

It was a wonder how someone could look so contest face asleep like Rosie was, with everything that is going on in the world.

The world wouldn't be that way for much longer, you thought, it was only a matter of time before everything was over.

And the same thing could be said for the blonde sleeping by your side.

The wooden door barged open, alerting you fully awake, as Jojo strutted in. Only to stop dead in his tracks at the sight of you. In bed. With his mother.

You could see the slight anger in his eyes, purely out of protection for his beloved mother.

"Good morning, Jojo," Rosie said sleepily as she moved to sit up, looking at the boy with a sleepy smile.

You grunted as she pressed her palm into your abdomen to raise up into a seated position.

"What are they doing here?" he asked, nodding his head towards you.

Rosie looked over her shoulder at you, tired eyes evaluating you. Before she turned back to her son.

"There's something I forgot to tell you yesterday."

You watched the mother and child with slightly wide eyes, not uttering a word, just looking like you wanted to escape this situation.

"What did you forget?"

"The General here-" she patted your abdomen where her hand still resided. "-And I, are seeing each other."

It was a few good long moments as Jojo processed the words. You thought he was going to be angry. It would be natural. You would understand. He was a young boy, one who undoubtedly missed his father and would not be happy with his mother being with anyone else.

But you also had to understand that he idolised you, if only for your -albeit fake- position in the German military.

And yet, you were still surprised and confused by what he said next.

"A lion?"

Rosie smiled brightly, nodding her head, "A lion."

"A lion?"

That was the first thing you said that morning, and it was full of confusion.

But it fell on deaf ears.

Jojo nodded once at his mother before turning on his heel and walking from the room, without saying what he initially came in for.

"What?"

Rosie smiled at you.

"Come on, we should get moving."

The bed shook and bounced as she got up from the bed, preparing to get ready for the day.

"I'm so confused," you almost whimpered, only gaining a soft giggle in return.

***

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SFW Tag list: 

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(I didn’t know if you guys wanted to be tagged in this, but...)

[justimajin]

Til Death Do Us Part ♜ Pt. 1

➟ Pairing: Namjoon x Reader 

➟ Genre: Angst, Fluff, Eventual Smut 

↳ (3.7k), Arranged Marriage AU

➟ Summary: If someone told you that you’d be marrying the Kim Namjoon, you would think you were being lied to, or worse, that you were hallucinating. However, fate seems to have it’s own ways of making the impossible possible and before you even know it, the title of Mrs. Kim is bestowed onto you. There’s just one problem: you’re not sure if Kim Namjoon is the person he says he is and the truth of your own identity is dangling by the strength of a mere thread. 

➟ Warnings: This series will involve themes of graphic violence, depictions of blood, major character death and hints of trauma. 18+ rating. Reader discretion is highly advised. 

gif credit. 

➟ Next Update: Tuesday, December 22 

Love is a strange thing. 

It pulls individuals together, sparking fireworks and blissful rays of euphoria within seconds. It renders people affectionate, words dripped with honey and caresses full of tenderness transcending  without a means of stopping. To be frank, it’s majestic through the eyes of the beholder. 

But love is indeed a strange thing. 

It’s history has been plagued with moments of weakness and hesitation, moments that rip away layers to reveal raw, vulnerable selves from every individual. It’s inability to forget and move on clutches onto the minds of those that chose to associate with it, invading their memories and never granting them a single second to run free. Love is a strange thing, but it’s most putrid use has always been the necessity to use it like a tool. 

A deep breath escapes your tinted red lips, cold hands clutching onto the delicate bouquet that’s been thrust into them. The petal pink and lilac purple flowers rest against the chaste white of your dress, the awaited arrival of yours long passed as you raise your head and sneak a peek at the person standing in front of you behind your veil. 

Clad in a special tailored suit for the occasion, his dark brown hair has been brushed back and neatly tucked into the corners of his hair. He stands tall and confident, seemingly captivated by the words the priest mumbles through as he drags on through every dull phase written in his book. As if he can tell your eyes are on him, he suddenly looks in your direction and you return your gaze back to the ground, clutching onto the array of petals in your hands. 

The priest goes on to dutifully declare the responsibilities you must carry, including the very ones that tie you to each other. 

For better, for worse. Rich, poor. Sickness, health. 

Love. Cherish. 

“Until death do you part?” The priest peers up with fatigued eyes, glancing in between you. You suck in a shaky breath, eyes fixating on everything except for the man standing on the opposing side.  

“I-I do.” You hastily mutter, swallowing the lump stuck in your throat. Patiently waiting for his answer, you try not to focus on the collection of eyes gawking at you from the altar. 

“I do.” He states, firm and resolute with his answer. It shakes you to your core, eyes immediately flickering up to meet his warm ones. 

You’re perplexed for a moment, but you’re not given time to dwell any longer once the priest shuts his book, content with your answers. Relief floods you in an instant, yet it’s short-lived and has your stomach churning instead. 

“You may kiss the bride.” The priest steps back as if you needed room for the grandiose gesture, eagerly awaiting the showcase with the rest of the people seated in front of the altar. Nevertheless, your hands begin to quiver despite your best wishes and you remain planted in place. 

Before you even know it, the delicate veil resting against your forehead is being pulled up and tucked away, projecting your dolled up features on full display. You can only fidget when he draws near, preparing for the worse until he pauses. 

Glancing up in surprise, you’re caught off guard from the lines crossing his forehead and the dismay clouding his eyes. For a second, you could have sworn that you were gazing into a mirror, an image of your combined concerns being painted right in front of you. 

You’re caught in between a daze and bewilderment when he advances again, however all you feel is a soft peck against your skin before your veil is placed back into place. Your audience seems to be at loss with the action, but once he turns around to face them in the midst of holding your hand, loud cheers and roars flood the room as congratulatory confetti bursts into the room. 

Unconsciously, your hand drifts over to your cheek with furrowed brows and you steal another glance at the man you will be bound to for eternity. 

***

The L/N Family. 

Tactical and resourceful, known for their skillful strategies and trade explorations, a business they would go on to proudly pronounce in the arms industry. Others would look to them for support and reassurance, and they would in return cohesively make protective deals that would ensure no harm. Yonghwa, their head, would go on to make a legacy out of his family name. 

The Kim Family. 

Discreet and powerful, known for their relentless determination and invokable hunger, characteristics that would eventually seep into their weapon manufacturing business. They know how and with whom to pick their fights, vigorously acquiring a steady position in the industry within a flash before everyone’s eyes. Namjung, their head, carved the Kim name into a status no one would have ever imagined. 

Trade and manufacturing, two able sides of the same coin. They seeked to forge an union that would unite their two sectors, to create a harmonious flow of success within their collective industries. 

But not all deals, go as planned. 

On the fateful day, Yonghwa was found on the ground in a pool of his own blood while Namjung was left visibly shaken. Catastrophe seemed to only follow the event there on after, with both families seeking revenge on the other. Their union seemed to be the last thing on either mind, but after the years passed and stained relations had been fully dragged out, there only seemed to be one solution that could bring peace to the two of them. 

*** 

The wheels of the large suitcase hit the polished ground. 

It’s lavish and grand, crystals littering the high held ceiling and lilies spread over the handles of the spiraling staircase. It ends right at the large chandelier, with more crystals dangling down opposite the shining marble that your slippers find purchase in. 

You remain in place, staring with wide eyes and an agape jaw the scenery before you. 

“Please,” A girl bows before you, dressed in a simple pale blouse and skirt that’s paired with an apron. There’s a small twinkle in her pleasant eyes paired with natural pouting lips; the delicate features drawing out the sheer youth the girl embodies. “Follow me.” 

You snap out of your daze once she advances forward, her hands careful weaving through yours to clutch onto your packed luggage. At first, you’re a bit unsure as to if you should let her carry the heavy load up the stairs, but you’re pleasantly surprised when she manages to hall it all the way up.

She roughly pushes herself against a large wooden door, revealing the grand room behind it. It’s decorated similarly to the main portion of the house, however the sheer size of it has your jaw dropping again, eyebrows furrowed as its appearance. 

Your suspicions are confirmed right away, “This will be your room, Miss Y/N.” 

“I-I…” You can’t help but hesitate, “Are you sure?”

She nods, placing your luggage now. “Of course, Master Kim asked us to prepare it for you.” 

You instinctively flinch at the sudden mention of your husband, but the girl tilts her head to the side, curiosity peeking through her. 

“Don’t they have such rooms in the L/N residence?” Her eyes suddenly widen, and she slaps a hand against her mouth, “Oh no, I-I didn’t mean it that way!” 

A smile curls on the corners of your lips, “What’s your name?” 

She gazes at you with surprise, like she had been expecting a scolding fit for her lifetime. Nonetheless, she hastily answers your question with a bow. 

“I am Eunjoo, one of Master Kim’s most faithful servants.” 

“Little flower.” You decipher, “Sounds like a fitting name.” 

“It could have been summer’s grace.” Eunjoo offers with a shrug, “Though I don’t really like summer, so I’ve tried my best to ignore that meaning.” 

You let out a genuine chuckle from that, something that has Eunjoo instantly beam. The news of her own Master getting married to someone from the L/N family was initially difficult for her to digest, but it appears that she was too early to judge. 

A lopped smile etching onto your features, “And to answer your previous question, unfortunately the L/N’s don’t have such a residence. We’ve lost much of our wealth after‒…” You pause, biting back your words, “...after, you know.” 

You wave your hand away in the air and Eunjoo understandably nods, no need to delve into the long-lived history of your families that is known to all. She hurriedly aids in you in unpacking much to your reassured protests, following and assisting you around like a little fairy. Her company ends up being both interesting and comfortable, especially since the two of you discovered the other wasn’t well in adapting the titles you carry. 

A knock resounds against the door, drawing out your attention. Immediately Eunjoo drops the clothes in her hands, right before she straightens up and takes a graceful bow. 

Her reaction is telling of who's at the door, so with pinched lips and a creased forehead, you turn around. 

He remains glued to the door frame, still adorned in his tailored black suit. Aside from the similarity in his put together appearance though, his shoulders are no longer hiked up in a noble stance, nor is there any remaining amount of warmth spreading through his eyes. Instead, he appears akin to how he was in the split-second before your ultimate union was official, the memory causing the skin of your cheek to slightly burn. 

Swaying from side to side, he hesitates to step into the room. 

“I see you’ve met Eunjoo.” He mentions. On cue, the servant straightens up, a huge smile on her lips. 

“I was just helping Miss Y/N unpack!” 

“Oh that’s nice, perhaps I can assist to‒” He isn’t able to finish his sentence, because the next thing you know you jolt at the sound of a loud crash that echoes through the room. 

“Master Kim!” Eunjoo immediately rushes forward, scurrying to help the fallen man. He instantly rises up to his feet and dusts off his suit jacket, but remains of glass are scattered all over the ground. 

He lets out a groan and Eunjoo sighs, “Master, you know you have to be careful.” She begins to quickly pluck up the shards of the vase, raising one up to eye level with a pout, “I especially picked this one out for your newly wedded wife.” 

At the mention of you, Namjoon instantly glances up, pupils shaking. “I-I can get you a new one soon, it might take around a week but if I put in a request now‒” He scrambles around for a moment, before checking the inner pockets of his jacket for something to write on in a haste. 

Unconsciously, a small smile cracks through the seam of your lips, increasing as he tries to intervene with Eunjoo to pick the shards, and she protests that he shouldn’t get his hands soiled with her errands. He eventually has to sheepishly stand to the side, staring at her defeated like a child that had just gotten scolded for misbehaving. 

Eunjoo eventually collects all the pieces and ushers herself out, reminding you of the pending family dinner you’ll need to attend in the evening. She leaves the room and you decide to resume unpacking, until you come across the realization that you’re not alone. 

“Do you need help?” He peers at your suitcase behind you, “I’m usually more capable with things that aren’t easy to break.” 

The abrupt proximity catches you by surprise, but you merely shake your head at his kind offer, “I should be fine, thank you.” 

He nods and you assume he’ll excuse himself after a moment, but he lingers and that’s when you crane your head over at him. 

Appearing to be in between a deep ponder, he snaps back into reality once your questioning eyes fall onto him. “Uh I‒” A lengthy sigh leaves his lips, “I know this is strange.”

You wonder what he's referring to until you notice him gesturing to the gap between you, “It’s strange for me, and it’s strange for you. We didn’t really have a choice in the matter.” 

He sheepishly scratches the back of his neck, a deep crease forming between his brows. You’re frozen in place, at a complete loss for words. 

He suddenly sucks in a breath, looking up to gaze into your eyes, “But I’d like to get to know you better….a-as my future wife.” 

Your eyes round and his declaration only receives dead silence in its awake. Flabbergasted, he attempts to correct himself amidst your prolonged response. 

“T-That doesn’t mean right away! We can take our time and I’m not expecting anything from you, so you don’t need to worry and‒” 

“I’d like that.” 

He freezes, “Wait, really?” 

You hum, a corner of your mouth lifting, “You’re right, it’s strange. But I’d like to get to know my husband better as well.” 

His eyes immediately sparkle, like you’ve said the very words he’s been aching to hear, “That’s great!” A breathtaking smile overtakes his features, “I guess I’ll see you at dinner then?” 

You nod with a smile,  and he departs, the euphoria never once leaving his lips. 

***

Evening draws near and long gone is the dilatory white piece of garment that’s forever confined you to your fate. Instead, it’s replaced with a delicate fabric of rose gold, perhaps to represent the luxury you have of being present in such a place or in the new beginnings that will soon follow you. 

Regardless, you prepare yourself. Although you’re simply arriving to dinner, there’s a family waiting at the table that you don’t know of yet. 

Eunjoo brings you down with her after putting your hair up and presenting a pair of matching heels your way. You’re wary as you walk down the spiraling staircase, barely balancing yourself on the elevated shoes. Luckily, Eunjoo notices and helps you down, but the split moment of relief is met with a jolt of surprise when you notice someone waiting at the bottom.

“I’ll take it from here, Eunjoo.” The women amiably bids. Eunjoo swiftly bows, mumbling something along the lines of Mistress Kim, before heading into the dinner room. 

You immediately whirl around, eyes on alert like a deer in headlights. She mirthfully smiles at you, carrying a warm tone in her eyes that feels familiar. 

“You don’t have to look so worried,” She reprimands, “I’m not going to bite your head off.” 

Your eyes widen even more, “I-I’m sorry?” 

She bursts out into laughter, concealing her ruby red lips with a hand that is glittering in assorted jewels. 

“Nothing, dear. I’m just teasing you.” You nervously laugh at that, and she places a hand against your back, guiding you forward. “Come, I’m eager to know what my son’s wife is like.” 

Politely nodding, you follow behind her and nearly freeze. If you had expected your bedroom to be astonishing, then you weren’t prepared for the enormous buffet that waits for you ahead. 

Pieces of food are scattered all over the decorated table, ranging from freshly cooked to foods you would have never imagined yourself eating. It reminds you of times your family could barely manage to have a decent meal for one night, lost scavenging for food that wouldn’t make your empty pockets hurt. 

You’re so lost in the thought that you don’t feel someone brush by you. There’s suddenly a warm hand planting onto your shoulder, drawing your attention with a smile full of dimples. 

“Do you want to sit down first?” He gestures to the table, where his mother sits next to his father and opposite to his sister. Embarrassed that you’ve been just gawking at the table, you hurriedly take a seat and so does Namjoon. 

Even though you’re only just sitting at the table, it seems like all eyes are on you, burning into your skin and tracing every move. The impending silence eventually does crack though, and it’s done by a person you would have least expected. 

“Is that chicken?” Namjoon’s father blurts out, his eyes following a tray one of the servants brings by. His wife immediately interjects, dismayed by his reaction. 

“Indeed,” She points a demanding finger at him, “But none for you, there’s a reason why your health hasn’t been the greatest as of lately.” 

He pouts at her response, longley staring at the dish once it arrives. The childlike display catches you a bit off guard, eyebrows raised. 

“That’s unreasonable though.” He suddenly looks in your direction, “What do you think, Y/N? Isn’t she being unreasonable?” 

The abrupt inquiry leaves you speechless, no coherent words manifesting at the tip of your tongue. His wife whirls around, cocking up a brow in his direction. 

“Why are you dragging her into this?” She faces you with a smile, “Y/N is the newest addition to our family so we should make her feel welcome, not bring her into such trivial matters.” 

The pleasant response astonishes you, but more so the mention of your inclusion. He lets out a sigh, acknowledging his wife’s sentiments. 

“You’re right.” He turns to you, “Y/N, why don’t you tell us about yourself?” 

His mother hums, “I’d like to hear about where you grew up, Y/N.” 

“Oh, it’s nothing really special,” You grow bashful, “I was raised in the outskirts of the country by my parents.” 

The two of them nod, intently listening to you, “Before coming here, I studied in the imperial academy for a while.” 

“Ah, involved in the industry I see.” He praises, “You must know a lot about how our businesses are conducted, right?” 

“Not quite.” There’s a strained smile on your lips, “I didn’t want to actively participate in it.” 

Although your answer seems to have taken both of them by surprise, his wife hums in approval. “So I’m assuming that was your personal choice?” 

When you nod, a giant smile stretches onto her lips, and she elbows her husband, “A gutsy one, don’t you think?” 

He smiles in retaliation, “Just like you.” 

She blushes at his sudden compliment, but a voice from afar breaks the two out of their daze. 

“Gross - we’re eating here.” 

Appalled at the feminine voice, you notice the young girl seated across from Namjoon, a deep frown etched onto her stern features. 

“Leave them be, Geongmin.” Namjoon coaxes his sister, but she lets out a grunt of disapproval in the midst of eating soup.

The corners of his mother’s lips turn up and his father faces you again, looking as if he had a million questions up his sleeve lined up just for you. 

Much to your surprise, the rest of the evening is spent exchanging pleasantries with them and keeping conversation light. There even comes a moment when both you and Namjoon end up reaching out for the bread basket, only to pull away once you discover your hands had ended up meeting halfway. As you grow bashful, you notice his mother smiling tenderly and his father chuckling at the abrupt affiliation. 

Once the evening begins to come to an end, you excuse yourself through the use of your own fatigue and request to head to bed first. They waste no time in understanding, with Namjoon’s father even wrapping a hand around his son and expressing that he needed to discuss some things with him anyway. 

You leave the room as he heads off with his family, granting you with some much-needed time and space. 

***

Treading back, you pause at the large wooden door that leads into your room. Your eyes briefly skim over the fine carvings on the wood, instead choosing to scrutinize the direction of your right and left side. A shadow casts over your pupils and your hand presses against the door, letting it slowly creak wide open. 

Step by step, you stroll inside and let the light fade out, replacing itself with only darkness. 

The moment the source of luminescence disappears, you move within a flash. The handle is locked, tugged at for a confirmation. There’s a speck of radiance coming from the small lamp you’ve turned on, enough to see the large suitcase you’ve brought get yanked out. 

Zippers are flying and the cover is ripped off. Clothes are frantically thrown astray, dumped into a careless heep without much of a second look. Your hands are weaving through the material and running rampant, eyes flickering with something akin to desire and alloyed with increasing unease. 

Once your hands meet with metal, a twinkle emerges within your orbs. The spindle of ore is unwound; detangling the material in a quickened manner. It looks distinctly similar to what one would use for electrical purposes, set with the intention of providing light in grim areas. 

Right. The intention. 

Unraveled, you cautiously drift over to the large window by the bedside and crank it open. Peering outside, there’s no glimmer or streak of luminescence meeting your eyes, only a dark, simple gray sky. 

Unconsciously a breath of relief leaves your lips and you reach out, reclining your body just enough to reach above and then below the window’s hilt. The instrument effortlessly blends in, appearing like a simple cable that’s been tightly strung around. 

You lean back and rummage through the luggage on the ground, pulling out a small plastic box that doesn’t appear to be much, but more or less, is the sole thing you couldn’t have departed without. With a small hinged click, it connects to the thin barbed string you just unraveled and right when a quiet buzz resonates through, does a smile tugs on the corner of your lips. 

A knock resonates through the box. Followed by another, and then another. It’s succeeded with a prolonged silence on your part, your entire body remaining in a frozen state. 

Static echoes and you let out the air you didn’t realize you were holding from your lungs. 

Within seconds, you are nimbly knocking against the box in repetitive notions. Your actions range from different types of knocks; heavy, light, twice the sound. 

More static echoes and your eyes immediately widen, hands balling up into tighter fists. 

A heavier one. 

“I have….” 

Lighter. 

“...successfully infiltrated….” 

One last firm knock. 

“....the enemy household.”

[juminsmysticmc]

Hey, it’s me, the one who request the moth headcanon, sorry about the trouble and if it’s okay, instead I would like to see an MC who’s major is digital arts and animation. If not, it’s fine, just have a great day.

RFA + Minor Trio with a Mc who's major is digital arts and animations

Hey! It was no trouble at all! I hope that it’s okay for you tho, I am happy that you could request something different! I hope you enjoy this one too! Have a nice day!

Jumin

Your husband observed you. Ever since he installed a room for you alone in his penthouse, you could finally work from home a bit more.

He hadn’t realized that even before you came into the RFA, he had already worked with you.

Your major, digital arts and animation, was often used for his advertising or other programs.

You often wanted to meet the CEO, but since he always thought that you would be just a gold digger, he always rejected you, just making Jaehee send emails with the things he wanted to have inserted.

Well, today he regretted his choice back then.

Instead, he observed you.

You were working on a new project.

,,How many years did you have to study? I mean, you have so many majors… Design Director, Storyboard Director, I didn’t know, you were multitalented, my love,’’ he praised you.

You even worked a lot with the audio.

You looked up and smiled at your husband.

,,Thank you, my love. I’m trying to make your latest project work. Wanna see?’’ you asked him.

However he knew that your work would be amazing and wanted to have it be a surprise rather than get spoiled.

Zen

Your boyfriend never understood how you could be such a good multitasker.

You could cook, set the table, chat with Jaehee, and even post something on your blog.

But once he saw you at work, he understood.

It had something to do with your job.

You had to work in different kinds of media at the same time.

,,This isn’t just one,’’ you told him and scrolled through your phone.

Your long hair was in your way so you put it away with one hand.

,,I have to work with the sound, video, and stop-motion graphics at the same time. I do this and much more, but I don’t want to annoy you,’’ you laughed as you looked up.

,,You don’t annoy me, Mrs. Director,’’ he laughed and kissed you.

You were even the director of a whole section and helped new students get into the job.

,,Okay, so, see this video?’’ you showed him an animated movie you just got via email.

,,This was made by my students, but she used the wrong program because the audio is slightly separated from the video itself,’’ you told him.

He hadn’t noticed anything at first, but after you told him, he saw it too.

,,And you noticed after a few seconds? You’re amazing!’’ he smiled and looked over your shoulders. You were still cooking.

Yoosung

Your husband wondered why he never saw you or met you since your college wasn’t that far away from his building.

But thank God both of you finally met thanks to the RFA.

He was also amazed by you because you were pretty famous among students.

You even had your own blog and of course you programmed everything yourself.

It looked amazing.

You had every single section working in there, but your point was the digital arts and animation.

,,Did you really have to submit a portfolio to be admitted?’’ he asked you when he read your latest blog.

You nodded at him as you typed something on your keyboard.

,,Mhm, especially to bachelor of fine arts,’’ you told him.

He didn’t quite understand, but he still nodded.

,,I didn’t have to,’’ he mumbled.

,,That’s why it’s written on there. The little word ,,may’’ says that you possibly have to, but not always,’’ you told him, making him sulk.

,,I know what ,,may’’ means… ah, and tell me. What are the admission requirements?’’ he asked you.

You turned your head and looked at him.

,,Can you maybe read the whole post instead of just the keywords? You need to check on the page itself for the requirements. Every university does it differently,’’ you told him and closed the page.

,,Ah. I just wanted to test you,’’ he smiled and looked at you.

He looked so up to you. You always knew what the latest LOLOL update changed in the game. You were amazing...

Jaehee

,,What? You went to Harvard University?’’ Zen asked you. He didn’t know that he was in a group with such an intelligent person and you were even Jaehee’s girlfriend.

You nodded.

,,She’s also very creative. Did you see our advertisement? She did it herself. Pretty amazing, right?!’’ Jaehee said proudly, no one had ever seen her that excited.

You changed her.

You and Jaehee also often went to different festivals to check the latest innovations. It was something even Jaehee was interested in.

And thanks to you, she even understood a few things since you were very good at explaining things.

,,Should we buy this new keyboard? It fits much better than the one you have now in your studio,’’ she told you and admired the keyboard in front of you.

She looked up to you since you were such a hard worker as a owner of a coffee shop and even a designer of word advertisements and 2d animation.

Saeyoung

,,You make pretty good money, huh?’’ he asked you as he looked around.

Your studio just looked so aesthetically pleasing in the middle of Seoul.

You shrugged your shoulders as you kept typing something.

Then you took your pen between your fingers and began to draw something.

You were a storyboard artist.

Saeyoung, your finacé, loved to watch you.

He sometimes even helped you when a program stopped working.

,,Look, which one do you like more?’’ you asked him as you turned your screen towards him to show him a park.

,,Mh, I don’t know. What’s the story? LIke, this one looks cute as if you’re in a fairy tale, but this one looks more realistic,’’ he answered, making you turn the display again.

You nodded and stood up, taking your jacket and facing your fiancé. ,,We are going to the park now,’’ you said and pulled him by the hand.

That’s what he loved about you.

He, too, was someone who would simply do his work, but you wanted to give your best, even at  that moment.

At the end of the day, you however, knew which one you would decide on and you were happy that Saeyoung opened your eyes.

Saeran

,,Mc! It’s so nice to see you here!’’ someone said and hugged you.

Saeran observed the person who was so happy to see you.

Both of you were in a foreign country and people still knew you?

You hugged the person who was apparently named Mira.

,,Saeran, this was my teacher, Mira,’’ you said and told Mira about your boyfriend.

She was so happy to see that you got a boyfriend.

,,Have fun here and go visit Josef! He will be happy to see you!’’ she said, meaning your other teacher.

You took Saeran and with him you walked through every department.

,,They try to motivate you to be creative, get started, start your own company, make your own shows, produce medical videos or animations, and they want you to learn things by doing,’’ you explained.

At some point, you arrived at a place that was lit by lights. Students had pencils in their hands and they began to draw something on their papers. This was something that amazed Saeran.

,,I thought it’s digital art,’’ he whispered.

You nodded. ,,They first try to make you get used to it. When you’re ready, you can move to the digital version,’’ you told him and observed the students.

It was a pretty good day and Saeran also enjoyed seeing you presentate something on a stage about your own work in South Korea.

He was proud of you.

Jihyun

Hand in hand, both of you walked into an institute to talk about digital art.

Jihyun also liked art a lot. However, he was a painter.

But your art was also something beautiful in his eyes.

He once tried it, but failed.

,,I remember back then, I also was unsure if digital art was real art, but after I saw it myself… I’m sorry I was like that back then… so don’t give up if people are the same here as in this art institute,’’ he told you.

You nodded.

Your goal was it to teach digital art in that institute and they first invited you to talk about it.

They first invited you in and then they were ready to listen to you.

,,Thank you for your words,’’ the older man said and nodded.

,,However, digital art is, itself, placed under the larger umbrella term new media art that doesn’t require any effort, Mrs. Kim. Digital art is not considered real art,’’ he said and closed his book with the notes.

,,Why did you invite my wife then?’’ Jihyun asked as you watched your dreams get crushed in front of your eyes.

No one dared to say anything. Were you just the laugh stock? Why did you even make the effort? You were ready to give up when Jihyun began to say something again. ,,I can understand you. At first we thought that digital art was easy. Why should we ask a teacher to teach us? I’m an artist myself and I thought like that too, but here too, just like the art with real pens and colors, you need to start with it gradually. I experienced it myself and I was surprised by how difficult it was. I beg you, try at least once to draw a forest in digital art,’’ Jihyun said, begging the person in front of him.

,,Very well, I have been an artist since my twenties and I am now sixty years old,’’ he laughed and took your tablet, ready to draw.

While he was drawing, you did the same on the second tablet and a bit later you all noticed the difference, making them all apologize to you.

,,I can’t thank you enough,’’ you sobbed as both of you walked out of the room, you overjoyed about the good news.

,,I told you not to give up on them. They were just like me,’’ he laughed and kissed your hand before you could both go and pick up Lucy at Jumin’s penthouse.

Vanderwood

When he first saw your room, not Rika’s, but your own home, he was kind of shocked to know that you were almost like Agent 707.

He quickly noticed that just like him, you loved your profession.

It was something that satisfied you immediately ever since you first learned how things worked.

Indeed, animation was attracting more and more people and you were one of them.

,,Back then, when we lived in Japan, we somehow won a sightseeing trip and I got to see the Ghibli studio. I think that that was the moment I fell in love with it,’’ you told him as he looked around.

,,And then? I mean, Japan is one of the best countries to study animation, right?’’ he asked you. Vanderwood was truly interested in it.

He wanted to know everything about you.

The brown haired man wanted to know what made your eyes shine so brightly and why you were so in love with your job.

,,Uhm, yeah. Spain is the best country to study animation, but I also expected it to be Japan. Back then and still today, living there was too expensive. My parents wanted to move back to Korea and so I went to Spain to study my dream,’’ you laughed.

,,I’m amazed. I expected you to go with your parents,’’ he laughed and observed you.

,,I was amazed by myself too, you know? It was a hard decision, but I never regretted what I did. I could fulfil my dream and it’s my life after all.

And knowing more languages is even better because there are so many more opportunities,’’ you laughed.

,,Please never lock the door in other languages like Agent 707,’’

You laughed at his comment. ,,I won’t… but maybe something animated?’’ you teased him.

MASTERLIST 1

MASTERLIST 2

MASTERLIST 3

17.04.2021// 00:18 MEST

[genshinfanboy]

A Special Meeting.

|Hello everyone. I know it's been awhile. My apologies about that. I was working on some irl stuff and didn't have time to write. I'm back. I had changed my rules slightly for requests. They are still closed. I'll make an update post soon. This one-shot is fairly indulgent for me. It is fairly long so be warned about that. Anyways please enjoy and as always feel free to change the pronouns to fit your own. Have a good day or night. :)

Albedo x Cryo! Male reader.

Warning: minor Spoilers for characters stories.

Albedo was sitting in the library reading some books. He was looking into something he had ran into at Dragonspine. He had a feeling it had to do with Festering Desire. He gave a small sigh. This small research task would become that much more tedious if the Calvary Captain decided to visit the library that day. He was looking through the shelves to find some history books. They should help him solve this strange occurance. He walked around the library reading the spines of books to see what he's looking for. As he was walking he heard Lisa talking with a voice he didn't recognize. "So cutie would you like to be Lisa's little helper today?" She said. Albedo pitied the poor person who was being roped into helping Lisa. He didn't mean to eavesdrop but he was curious about the other person Lisa was talking to. The person seemed overly polite.

(Y/N) gave Lisa a small smile. "So Miss Lisa is this why you asked me to come here today? I'm not going to have to make a run for over due books am I?" He asked. He shifted slightly on his feet. He didn't like just standing still. He watched Lisa's face closely to gauge if his initial thought was correct. She gave a small laugh and crossed her arms. "I don't need you to do that today Cutie. I do have some potion recipes I'd like to have you look at while you're here. You don't visit Mondstadt very often after all. Make me wonder if you even need your old teacher after all." She answer. "However if you want to make book runs I won't stop you. I am more than happy to keep you here longer. Maybe we can even reopen the lessons you missed while being gone?" (Y/N) got a bit worried as he saw his old master's smile turn into a bit of a smirk. He quickly shook his head putting his hands up. "I think helping you with the potions will be enough today. I'll make sure to send letter more often and visit more. No need to reopen the lessons. So do we need to go to your lab for the potions or would you like to go to the Alchemy table in the middle of toqn?" He quickly stated. He wanted to change the topics so Lisa wouldn't get any ideas.

Albedo listened to the conversation a bit long. Something about the person talking to Lisa seemed intriguing. His ears picked up the part about potions. He was interested in the potions and decided to walk towards the voices. "Pardon my intrusion. I happened to over hear your conversation. Is it possible for me to join in on the potion creation?" He asked approaching the two. His eyes met will the person talking with Lisa. He looked at them for a second their features seemed enticing. He received a look from the unknown male. The look was a bit hard to decipher. "Oh Albedo! I didn't know you were here. You're welcome to join us. This cutie has been all over Teyvat and is quite the genius." Lisa greeted with a smile. Her voice definitely surprised. He observed the other male turning slightly red. "I'm not that smart Miss Lisa. It's a pleasure to meet you I'm (Y/N) (L/N)." The other male held out a hand to him. "No it's mine. My name is Albedo." He said taking the other's hand. "Shall we to the potions?"

(Y/N) looked at the light haired person. Albedo was definitely attractive. He was definitely interested in the other. He glanced at the blue eyes shyly. He hoped he wouldn't be caught staring as the three were walking. He wondered if Albedo was apart of the knights. He wasn't too fond of most knighted. Maybe Albedo would be one of the ones he liked. They made it to Lisa's lab. (Y/N) watched her pull out the recipe for the potion and hand it to him. "This was left in one of the returned books recently. I've been having issues trying to figure out what it is. Some of the ingredients aren't things I've recognized. Read it through and let me know what you think." She said. He started reading through it. He felt his cheeks heat up as he noticed Albedo was close to him reading over his shoulder. As he read through the ingredients of the potion he noticed something strange. On the worn out piece of paper there was a faded instruction. It was barely legible. "Miss Lisa there's a need for a cryo vision energy for this recipe. I find that a bit strange. There is an ingredient from every nation. I'm pretty sure that I have enough of all of the ingredients to make one potion. Another thing I noticed is the instruction at the end is rather off for some of the ingredients. It's quite faded and was hard to decipher at first between Cryo and Pyro. Though I am certain it says Cryo. It's odd to use cold rather then heat to combine everything." He explained. He barely noticed Albedo step a bit closer to him to get a better look. His face became a bit more red. He was praying to the archons that his old teacher wouldn't notice.

Albedo leaned closer to see what (Y/N) saw. It was a rather unique. He was impressed with how quickly the other had read the recipe. He finished reading finally and stepped back slightly. "That is fascinating. There is no name or description of what the potion does. Perhaps one of us can drink it to find out the effects. It could make for a new discovery." He explained. He did wish to see this through until the end. "Well Cutie it seems you are the perfect little helper for this task." Lisa said wrapping her arms around the other. Albedo watched his (e/c) eyes widened. They were a lovely color. "May I just observe while you make the potion." He said. The other two in the group nodded. (Y/N) started working skillfully making the potion. Albedo was watching him. He brought his sketchbook out and started drawing the sight. After a few minutes it was done. He smiled as he looked at the sketch of the other male. He watched as the potion was also completed It glowed a nice light blue color. He stepped closer. He set his sketch book down to look at the potion. He noticed little snowflakes it as well. Were they from (Y/N)'s cryo energy? He looked up at the other two. Lisa and (Y/N) seemed to be looking at something. He followed their line of sight and saw them looking at his sketch. He saw the other male blushing like crazy. "Oh my apologies for drawing you without permission. I did it without thinking." He said with a very faint blush on his cheeks.

(Y/N) could detect a hint of embarrassment. "Oh no it's fine the entire drawing is very beautiful. I'm very impressed." He quickly said to relieve him of the embarrassment. "Who should test the potion?" He was a bit shy. "I think you should darling. You did most of the work after all." Lisa said with a smile. He was a bit nervous to try it. Though it shouldn't be that bad plus his curiousity over took his worry. He gave the old arch mage a nod and grabbed it. He uncorked it and starting putting it to his lips. The moment the rim touched his lips his wrist was grabbed by someone stopping him from drinking it. He looked up in surprise his (e/c) irises meeting the beautiful blue eyes. "Wait I just wish to clarify something before I allow you to ingest that. All of the ingredients are safe to ingest correct?" He said in a worried tone. (Y/N) would be lying if he said his heart didn't skip a beat at the tone of Albedo's voice. He gave a smile to the other. "I don't carry any herbs or anything that are lethal to others. They tend to interact poorly with some of the herbs I always carry for medicinal use. Thank you for your worry though." He said giving Albedo a soft smile. The two shared a look. "I'd still feel more comfortable if I was the one to ingest it." He said. (Y/N) started thinking for a second. "How about a both drink half and then Lisa can monitor us if anything goes wrong?" He suggested.

Albedo let out a sigh. "You certainly are a stubborn person." He hid his small smile. "Well let me drink it first." He said holding out a hand. He saw the (e/c) male place the bottle in his own hand. He didn't know why he reacted the way he did. It was truly strange. He found a strange infatuation with this person. Perhaps it was the other's thought process. He was snapped out of his thoughts by the man he was thinking about. "Hmm I wonder if since it uses a cryo vision to combine things if it may affect vision holders differently." He said. Lisa watched eagerly. "If it does then this potion could potentially be dangerous." She said with a hand to her chin. Albedo gave Lisa a nod before drinking half of the potion. It was very sweet which made him slightly happy. He didn't feel any immediate effects. "The taste is sweet. However I haven't felt anything immediate happen." He said to the others. The former Arch Mage and the other male seemed interested. He watched the other male down the rest of the potion. "Yuck that's super bitter......" his sentence was cut off when he started staring at Albedo. The Alchemist definitely wary of the stare. "Is there something on my face?" He inquired. The other quickly shook his head. "No it's just that the potion seems to be affecting me faster than it might be affecting you or something. Is it because I had made ......" the other's voice seemed to trail off. He noticed swaying. Lisa must've too since she quickly put her hands on (Y/N)'s arms to stabilize him. Albedo quickly rushed over and checked for anything dire. Soon there was a puff of light blue smoke around the three. When the smoke had cleared a teen stood where (Y/N) should've been. Something clicked in Albedo's head. So that's why he had been so infatuated with someone he thought he hardly knew. This was someone he met once before. They had spoke for hours on different topics when they were teenagers. (Y/N) was the person Albedo cared very deeply for in his youth before he met Alice and Klee. (Y/N) was Albedo's first love. He was once again snapped from his thoughts by the person he was thinking about. "? I thought you and your master had left. I was waiting for you." The teen said with a frown. "I am sorry for leaving you back then. I assure you it won't happen again." He said giving a reassuring smile. He meant what he said there's no way he wanted to lose the other again. He looked at Lisa who seemed confused. Before another clouds of light blue smoke appeared. (Y/N) was standing between the two looking slightly confused. "Wait were you the boy (Y/N) talked endlessly Albedo?" Lisa asked with a smirk. She saw both boys go bright red. "Miss Lisa I asked you not to mention that." He said.

As the conversation died down there was one thing for certain. Albedo wasn't going to lose (Y/N) a second time.

[sirius-archive]

Chaos Theory Ch. 17

Pairing: Cedric Diggory x Reader, Harry Potter x Reader, Draco Malfoy x Reader, George Weasley x Reader

Word Count: 3.8k

Warnings: Swearing

A/N: ......bruh. you guys are so patient :') thank you so much for sticking with me even though its taken me AGES to update. Thank you for sending me beautiful messages and commenting and pretty much helping me through my writers block :'( I don't deserve it tbh.

Summary: Harry has just admitted his feelings for you, Snape is teaching you Legilimency, Cedric invited you to spend Easter at his place w his parents!

***

The days that follow an argument are always painfully awkward, to say the least.

You feel like you’re dancing around the mouth of a gaping chasm, watching Harry from the other side. It’s like the summer holidays all over again; the furtive glances, the awkward, mumbled excuses, the sinking feeling that you were being talked about in secret. It’s worse now, though, because you can’t backtrack. You can’t ignore Harry’s feelings and you can’t forget about what he had confessed, what he had practically screamed from the top of the Owlery.

“IM IN LOVE WITH YOU!”

How would you recover from this?

The morning before you leave for the Easter Holidays, you get yourself ready for the day and trudge down to stairs to the Gryffindor common room. Fortunately, Harry isn’t there, but Ron and Hermione are and they look up at you with sad smiles as you draw closer.

“Morning guys,” you mumble, fidgeting with the hem of your skirt.

Ron and Hermione echo you before Hermione asks how you’re feeling.

“Horrible,” you admit, dropping into the seat beside Ron, “I feel so guilty and really really stupid. It was obvious Harry liked me but I just ignored it...I ran away from it...and Harry had been through so much and I was such a horrible friend and a horrible person!“

“(Y/N)!” Ron cuts off your spiraling thoughts by patting the top of your head. You sigh, burying your face in your hands as Ron continues, “Look, you’re not a horrible person. Sure this whole thing could have been handled better but that doesn’t make you a bad person, Just conflict averse.”

“You’re not making it any better, Ron,” Hermione chides, waspishly.

“I’m not, am I?”

“Look, (Y/N)—“

But before Hermione can continue, Harry approaches and you jump up from your seat.

“Harry!” You Yelp and then swallow, calming your pacing heart, “How-um-how did you sleep?”

Harry shrugs, “Ok.”

“Good!”

Silence pulses between the four of you, no one daring to speak. The only noise comes from other Gryffindors standing in groups, scattered through the common room. You fingers dig nervously into the skin of your wrist.

“Hey guys,” Neville greets cheerily, waving happily, “Want to come down to breakfast with me?”

“Sure!” You spurt without thinking and rush to his side. Your enthusiasm makes Neville blush and stammer out a timid ‘cool’ before you lead him out toward of the common room.

You keep yourself preoccupied with Neville the whole time you and your friends make the short trip to the Great Hall. Though you don’t actually participate in the conversation, you fill it with enough ‘okay’ and ‘oh’s and ‘right’ to trick Neville into thinking you’re listening. It’s hard to keep track of the conversation when it’s entirely one sided, but you can’t help your drifting thoughts.

Was it always going to be like this between you and Harry? Had you just sacrificed your friendship with him because of your tendency to flee from your problems? Ron had called it ‘conflict aversion’ and he was right; by ignoring all the signs, you were avoiding Harry’s feelings and distancing yourself from your friends. This whole time, you thought they were the ones drifting away when really it was you.

And now, you were going to do it again.

Instead of sitting with your friends, you elected to sit with Fred, George and Lee Jordan, doing your best to distract yourself from your feelings. After breakfast, you walked to Potions with Dean and Seamus and didn’t stop when Ron tried to get your attention.

“Hey Pavarti,” you tack on a fake smile and she smiles back at you, “Can I sit with you and Lavender today?”

Pavarti pulls out the stool next to her and Lavender leans across Pavarti, arching an eyebrow curiously.

“Not sitting with Ron, Hermione or Harry?”

“The last time I sat with them I got put next to Malfoy.”

The girls cringe in unison. You hide your smirk as you take your seat, dropping your book bag beside you. Lavender has always been nosy but you’ve learned how to deal with her.

“Get your textbooks out,” Snape snaps as he storms into the dungeons, “You’ll be taking notes today.”

“Great, two hours of writing down words I don’t understand,” Pavarti grumbles. Snape narrows his eyes on her and Pavarti drops her gaze.

“Do you have a problem, Miss Patil?”

“No, Professor.”

Snape huffs and whirls around, taking his seat at his desk. His dark, beady eyes meet yours and you look away, unable to take the intensity of his steely gaze. The last time you had seen him, you had accidentally pried into a corner of his mind that he had wanted to keep hidden.

Sighing, you pull out your text book, parchment and quill and get to work. It’s not exactly riveting, but you welcome the distraction, taking detailed notes and forcing yourself to memorise the importance of different potions.

You don’t know how long you’ve been writing for before Pavarti suddenly nudges you, hissing your name.

“Here,” she says, handing you a folded piece of parchment, “From Hermione.”

Curious, you thank Pavarti and take the parchment, unfolding the small, torn piece. The scribble, however, is bigger than Hermione’s tiny writing and a little neater than Ron’s chicken scratch which means...

It’s from Harry.

We should talk.

You glance at Snape. He hasn’t noticed you yet. You glance at the note again.

We should talk.

You know he’s right...and you do want to talk. You want to apologise for the way you treated him, of course you do, but you’re not going to apologise for loving Cedric. Besides, you can’t write down everything you want say in a tiny note, especially when Snape is a few metres away.

Tearing off a tiny piece of your parchment, you hastily write your reply.

Not like this. Let’s talk at lunch.

Dragging your hand under the table, you nudge Pavarti and hand her the note. You feel her shift beside you as she dutifully delivers it to Hermione. Twisting around slightly in your seat, you watch Hermione stealthy hand the note to Harry who scrambles to unfold it. He pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose and reads.

Not wanting to stare for too long, you turn around and face your book, pretending to read. Your peripherals pick up a familiar, blond-haired shape and you glance at Draco who is - much to your chagrin - staring at you. Again.

What is his problem?

Before you can mouth a curse word at him, Pavarti hands you Harry’s response. You tear your eyes away from Malfoy and read Harry’s note.

You’re right. Let’s talk tonight.

You bite your bottom lip. You’ve got a secret Legilimency lesson with Snape after dinner and then a Howler meeting after that. You scribble this onto the parchment, suggesting to talk at lunch instead, and send it through the human chain to Harry.

Harry’s response is quicker than you anticipated, and you find out why after you unfold his note.

Can’t. Got to meet with Bagman. What about tomorrow?

You swallow, tapping your quill against the note, sending tiny flecks of ink spraying across the parchment. Tomorrow, you leave for the Diggorys and you have a feeling that telling Harry that will make it worse. But you can’t lie to him either, what would be the point of that?

You tell him your plan for the Easter holidays, admitting to staying with the Diggorys, before handing the note to Pavarti.

“I should get paid for this,” Pavarti quips, her smile playful. You smile back apologetically.

“Sorry.”

“No, it’s fun. Funner than doing Potions work anyway.”

You wait anxiously for Harry’s reply. Was telling Harry about your trip to the Diggorys place a good idea? Would that make things more awkward? You glance over your shoulder, sneaking a peak at Harry. His face is inscrutable as he stares at your note. How did he get so good at hiding his feelings?

He was always good. You just knew him better back then.

Pavarti whispers your name and you blink, returning to yourself. She drops Harry’s response into your lap and you pick it up, carefully unfolding it. Before you can read it, though, thin fingers swoop in and collect it.

“Passing notes are we, Arden?”

Oh shit.

“Um...”

“It was me.”

Harry’s voice is loud and clear from over your shoulder and you hear the scrape of wooden legs against the concrete floor as he stands. Snape glares at him, upper lip curled into a horrible, twisted sneer.

“Of course it was you, Potter,” he spits, venomously, “It’s always you. Ten points from Gryffindor, and you’ll both get one weeks detention after the holidays.”

Detention?! For passing notes?

Malfoy and the Slytherins snicker gleefully

as Snape throws Harry’s note into the bin.

“What?!” Harry snaps, “That’s ridiculous!”

You whip around, shooting Harry a panicked look. Harry ignores you, glaring fiercely at Snape.

“Be grateful it’s not during the holidays,” Snape snarls, “And another five points from Gryffindor.”

Hermione grips Harry’s arm and ushers him back into his seat. You watch as Harry seethes, his eyes murderous, the energy surrounding him practically bursting with rage. Why is Harry so upset about getting detention? Really, it would be more of a surprise if Snape went an hour without dishing out detentions.

After class, you race to catch up to Harry, meeting him outside the dungeons.

“Sorry for getting you in trouble,” he mutters bitterly.

That’s why.

“No it’s fine Harry, seriously,” you smile, hoping that it makes Harry feel a little more better. It works. Harry’s shoulders relax and the corner of his mouth ticks a little.

“So...Um...” he scratches the back of his neck, “We do need to talk.”

“How about after my Howler meeting?” You ask hopefully.

Harry nods, “Okay. When do you finish?”

“Around ten.”

“Alright, I’ll wait in the common room for you.”

You smile again, “Sounds like a plan.”

****

“You’ve been practicing.”

You’re not sure whether Snape is impressed or if he’s making a simple statement, but it’s the longest sentence he’s said since your lesson started almost an hour ago.

And he’s right. You have been practicing on random students, dipping into their mind briefly and making sure not to dive too deep. You’re so brief that their thoughts project back as just random jumbles, nothing you can string together, but it’s enough for you to gain an understanding of Legilimency and how powerful of a tool it can be.

“Um...yes.”

Snape steps toward you, “Practicing on fellow students without their consent is against the school policy.”

You nod, “I know but I’ve been careful. I try not to stay inside their minds enough to understand their thoughts or see their memories.”

Snape cocks an eyebrow as he stares at you for a moment. It’s as though he can’t decide whether to scold you or praise you.

“I won’t punish you this time,” he finally says in his low, menacing snarl, “But if you continue to practice on students there will be consequences.”

You frown, “So how am I supposed to practice?”

“With me,” he snips, “Or with your friends. Surely you would have told them by now.”

You haven’t told Ron or Harry...but Hermione knows. You nod and mumble an okay.

“You’re dismissed,” he says, flicking his wrist toward the door.

“Yes Professor.”

“And (Y/N)?” You stop and turn to Snape who stares at you with glinting dark eyes, “Don’t let me catch you passing notes in my class again.”

You nod again, wordlessly, before making your way out of Professor Snape’s office and toward the Howler newsroom.

It’s a short trek, and you don’t pass anyone aside from Peeves, who tries to startle you by bursting out of the wall and launching a ping-pong ball at your head. You manage to dodge just in time, rolling your eyes at his antics as his cackle rings through the hallway.

“Asshole,” you mutter.

Finally, you arrive at the Newsroom and Juniper Bishop greets you with a radiant smile.

“Hey (Y/N)!” She says, cheerily, “Long time no see, right?”

She squeezes you into a bone crushing hug and you nearly get a mouthful of her raspberry-scented hair.

“Yeah actually,” you smile politely at her when she finally releases you, “Have you been well?”

Juniper winces, “Sort of…I guess you heard about me and Rachel…”

“I did,” you say, injecting as much warmth and compassion into your voice as you can, “Are you okay?”

Juniper shrugs, “It was a mutual thing, though it’s kind of awkward now.”

You’re about to comment when Harper Shacklebolt strides to the front of the room, sticks her fingers in her mouth, and issues an ear-shattering, hair-raising, demon-summoning whistle.

Your hands fly to your ears as the high-pitched screech explodes across the room, forcing everyone else to scamper to their seats.

You find a spot beside Troy, who gives you a sunshine-warm smile and pats your back.

“Alright, shut up,” she shouts, and the last whispers of gossip stop abruptly, “We are now two months away from the third and final task. I want the Howler to reflect the anticipation that everyone will most likely be feeling as we draw closer and closer to June 24th. Which is why I want an exclusive interview with our four Triwizard champions! Start drafting and planning because our first issue will be released next Thursday.”

With a flick of her wand, a large curtain falls away from the chalkboard, revealing four photos of the champions.

Padma giggles and points at Cedric, “Did Harper find that photo in your diary, (Y/N)?”

Harper folds her arms across her chest and pierces Padma with a glare that could wither roses.

“Padma, If you spent half as much time actually working as you do gossiping about (Y/N), you might actually write something that isn’t utter garbage.”

Padmas face falls and she shrinks in her chair. You reach across and squeeze her hand under the table as Harper continues.

“This week, we’ll be focusing on Viktor Krum. Everyone needs to be on board with this - I need this to be the best series the Howler has published since its debut back in 74.”

With that, Harper turns her back and everyone gets to work.

Immediately, you lean across your desk and catch Padma’s gaze. Tears pool at the corner of her eyes and a pang of sympathy throbs in your chest.

“Don’t worry about what Harper says, Padma,” you coo, patting her hand gently, “At the end of the day, it’s just a school newsletter.”

Troy slides onto your desk and rests a hand on her shoulder, “Beaides, Harpers first article was about Filch! Not to mention she misspelled his name through the entire thing so everyone started calling him ‘Thilch’ for the rest of the school year.”

A smile slowly blooms on Padma’s lips, dimpling her rosy cheeks. She gazes at Troy with twinkling, obsidian eyes.

“Thanks guys,” Padma mumbles bashfully, “Though we should probably get started on this article before Harper snaps at me again.”

Padma reaches into her book bag to fish out her parchment and quills, glancing away from Troy shyly. Troy playfully bumps his shoulder against yours, shooting you a winning grin.

“Heard you were going to Diggory’s tomorrow...” he mutters with a wink, “Meeting the parents already?”

You roll your eyes, “I’ve already met his dad.”

“Yes but it’s the mum you want to impress,” Troy says, “You may not know this but Cedric is a huge mummy’s boy.”

“Yeah?”

“Oh yeah, Big time. And she goes full Mama bear mode, too. She’s scary as fuck. Used to be a psychiatrist at Azkaban if you can believe it.”

You shudder at the thought. It had been terrible enough when Demontors plagued the school last year, hovering over everyone’s shoulder like a curse. You couldn’t imagine what it’d be like to work with them for longer than a year.

“Yikes. That’s...wow.”

“Yeah,” Troy crosses his arms, “She’s pretty gutsy and she’s the type of person you don’t want to cross.”

“Well that’s not nerve wracking or anything. Thanks dickhead.”

Before Troy can respond, Harper spears you with her infamous death glare. You exchange a look with Troy, who laughs, unfazed, before you both decide to get on with your work.

Grabbing your quill and parchment, you head toward Harpers desk where she scribbles frantically against the chalkboard. She hardly spares you a glance and you have to clear your throat to lure her attention away from her work.

“I suppose you want me to interview Krum, then?” You ask. Harper simply nods, continuing to ignore you. You roll your eyes at her and plant your hands on your hips, “What you said to Padma was uncalled for.”

Finally, Harper gives some indication that she can hear you, grunting dismissively.

“It was true.”

“No it wasn’t,” you argue, “Padma is a really good writer.”

Harper sighs and picks up a finger of chalk, scrawling a note in barely-legible chicken scratch, “You should know by now that I don’t settle for ‘really good.’ I settle for excellent.”

“Congratulations, you sound exactly like my father.”

Harper pauses, finally turning to stare at you, “Your father is a literary genius. To be included in the same sentence as him is the best compliment I’ve ever received.”

“Oh boy, you must not get many compliments.”

Harper flashes a smirk, but her eyes betray her amusement.

“I don’t have time for people who are too sensitive to receive criticism,” Harper shrugs, turning back to the chalkboard, “Besides, I was right. If she didn’t gossip so much and focused on her articles, they wouldn’t be so shoddy.”

You frown at the back of her head. Just as you’re about to snap at her, Colin Creevey darts in front of you, beaming up at you with rosy cheeks and a shy smile. Daisy ambles behind him, a scowl souring her face.

“Hey (Y/N),” Colin says, cheerily, “Daisy and I were wondering if you’d seen Noah anywhere.”

“The little creep has missed two meetings already,” Daisy grumbles, rolling her eyes, “And there’s no way I’m doing this assignment alone with crack kid here.”

Your brows furrow in thought as you try to think back to when you last saw Noah, “Now that you mention it, I haven’t seen him for a while...”

Daisy sighs and drops her camera on Harper’s desk, “The Creevey kid’s on his own. Harper can yell at me all she wants; I’m not a babysitter.”

With that, she turns on the thick heel of her combat boots and storms off, completely ignoring Colin as he races after her.

The meeting drags on for another hour, in which you and Padma draft up some questions and submit them to Harper for her approval. She manages not to scrunch up the paper and hurl it at you - which is usually a good sign - but you can tell Padma is still on edge and Harper is still stubbornly unapologetic.

Eventually, you manage to peel yourself away from the newsroom and amble back toward the common room with Dean, laughing and joking on your way back.

“I swear one day Padma is going to punch Harper in the mouth,” Dean smirks, shaking his head, “And I don’t want to be there when it happens.”

“Knowing Harper, she’d probably punch Padma back,” you muse and Dean snorts in agreement.

“Who do you think would win?” He asks, “You know, if they got in a fight?”

“Definitely Harper.”

“I think Padma would get a few good throws in.”

“Maybe but have you seen the guns on Harpers arms? She would have Padma pinned in three seconds tops.”

Dean concedes with a shrug, “Okay you’re right. Harper wins. Now...Harper vs McGonagall. No wands. Just good old fashioned fight.”

“Oooh tough,” you think for a moment, “But I think McGonagall. Definitely McGonagall.”

“Agreed. McGonagall would murder Harper in two seconds flat. But how would she go against Dumbledore?”

You paused on a large stone step, thinking for a moment, “No wands?”

Dean shakes his head, “No wands.”

“Then McGonagall.”

Dean huffs a laugh, “You seem to have a lot of faith in McGongall.”

“Who doesn’t?” You counter, proceeding up the staircase, “She’s a total badass.”

“I won’t argue with that,” Dean says before he spins around to face you, walking backwards, “Okay real talk though. Who would win: me or Seamus?”

“Seamus, definitely. Is that even a question?”

Dean clutches his chest in mock hurt, “You’ve officially been disfriended.”

“That’s not a word.”

“It is now!” He claims, before turning to the Fat Lady, “Flabberghasted.”

You follow Dean through the portrait hole and find Harry sitting in an armchair by the fire. He hasn’t noticed your return, his eyes distracted by the flames as they dance and flicked in the fireplace.

“Night, Arden,” Dean says, peeling your attention away from Harry, “And don’t forget the new word of the day is disfriended.”

Playfully rolling your eyes, you bid Dean a good night and you make your way over to Harry, clearing your throat to announce your arrival. Harry practically leaps from his seat when he sees you.

“Hi,” He murmurs

“Hey,” you smile softly, hoping it’ll hide your nerves, and nod at the fire, “You looked deep in thought.”

Harry shrugs, “I was just thinking about Sirius. I’m worried for him.”

“Me too. I wish he could live his life without having to hide. It’s the least he deserves.”

Harry nods wordlessly. Silence lapses between the two of you, spilling between the cracks dividing you.

You sigh, dropping into a couch and scrubbing your forehead in irritation, “I’m sorry about...everything. About leading you on.”

Harry chews his lip. It’s a little distracting.

“I know you are,” Harry says, as he takes the spot beside you, “And I know you didn’t do it deliberately. It just...hurts a little when the person you like doesn’t like you back. But I’ll get over it...it’s fine.”

“I shouldn’t have ignored your feelings, though. They’re valid. And, even though I’m not sorry for loving Cedric, I’m sorry for not being brave enough to talk to you properly.”

Harry tears his eyes away from the floor and for a moment your hit with a kaleidoscope of soft greens, a light show all for you. He reaches out, hesitating, hand hovering over your knee before he concedes. His hand is warm against your skin, a familiar, welcoming warmth.

“You’re the bravest person I know,” he stares and his conviction makes your heart soar, “Apart from Dumbledore.”

“Of course.”

You both laugh, like sharing a secret among friends, and it almost feels normal again, like when you were first years joking around the fire, before boyfriends and feelings and hormones.

“I don’t want to ruin our friendship,” Harry admits, his expression serious again, “You are one of the bestest friends I’ve ever had.”

“You too,” you rest your hand on his and squeeze, “So let’s move on. Let’s get past this.”

Harry nods in agreement. Maybe it won’t be exactly the same but at least it’ll be close.

It’s better than not having anything at all.

***

A/N prt 2

so i've been getting messages about whether I will write Reader losing her virginity to Cedric and, while I don't mind writing it, i know that there are some people who feel a bit eeky about reader being so young. (Honestly it is weird but you’d be surprised how many people want this)

So, I'm considering posting an extra chapter where Reader and Cedric do have sex on AO3 and everyone who is okay with reading it can head on over and read it. The chapter won't impact the story. However if the majority of people are okay with it then I'll post it on tumblr and AO3 and it will be mentioned in latr chapters. LMK what you think, please.

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[yannowhatigiveup]

My One And Only - Chapter 18

Previous | Next | Master List

Hey! Welcome back to another chapter of MOaO! I won’t be able to update this as much as I want to (I’m not really updating it as fast as I won’t to right now but I’m trying) as exams are coming up as well as other various things. (I just realized that I haven’t said this earlier I’m so sorry, Ramadan Kareem to those who celebrate it!) Also, thank you so much for 128 followers!

"...I believe I found a way to subdue Hawkmoth"

————————————————————

Her eyes repeatedly scanned the page, making sure she was reading it correctly.

"It won't defeat Hawkmoth" Damian carefully pointed out, not wanting to diminish her excitement. "But it'll be able to stop him for some time, a month or two at most"

"Do you know what this means?" Her voice was barely above a whisper. "We'll be able to have some peace of mind! We'll be able to prepare ourselves! The whole of Paris! Who know, maybe we'll be able to get some clues on his identity as well as Mayura's as well!"

By the end, Marinette was spinning around the room, her slight giggles of happiness appeared here and there. Damian chuckled at her delight, seeing her happy was probably one of his most favourite sites in the world, that and seeing her flustered.

"I understand that you're excited but what do these cryptic messages mean, 'a tear of joy'? Did I translate that correctly"

She giggled at his confusion. "No that's one of the ingredients for the power up. Speaking of ingredients, I need to get some" Her bluebell eyes quickly scanned over the tablet again before she speed walked out of the hotel with Damian on her arm. "We're going to Master Fu's old place, he still has some ingredients we could use"

The two walked in silence, there was a topic that they needed to discuss, the end of the week was approaching fast.

"Maybe in the small time of peace, I can get Father and my brothers to help"

The bluenette chuckled slightly but not out of amusement. "I almost forgot, you'll be leaving in a few days" her gaze fell to the ground before she looked up at her boyfriend, solemnly. "It's gonna be a lot different, huh?"

He squeezed her hand gently with a comforting smile on his face. "It will be but I'm sure we'll handle it"

The couple grabbed the necessary ingredients and made their way back to the hotel. They dropped them off at the hotel room before making their way upper to the restaurant to get some food. Their dinner was quickly interrupted by a rockstar coming to congratulate his niece.

"Nettie! You're rock'n'roll! Your song is a huge hit!" Jagged exclaimed once he reached the table, he only seemed to register there was another person there once he sat down. His moderate cyan eyes widened in recognition when his gaze landed on the green-eyed boy. "You must be Damian, you look just like you're old man Brucie"

Damian shook his hand when the rockstar had offered it. "I am, Mr Stone"

"Uncle Jagged-"

"You break my niece's heart, I'll send Fang to eat you"

"Uncle Jagged!-"

"And I will gladly let you"

"I approve of your relationship, I just wanted to give the shovel talk since it sounded fun"

Marinette gaped at the two males on her table. "Dami, don't encourage him! I've already got Gami waiting to spar with you"

"Ah yes, my son's girlfriend is just as scary as Penny" Jagged visibly shuddered in good nature.

"Wait, Luka and Gami got together? Without telling me?!" The bluenette huffed, offended. "And to think I'm his honorary cousin"

Jagged chortled at her reaction while Damian had a faint smile playing on his lips. The rockstar decided to take his leave shortly after that, not wanting to draw some unwanted attention. He did manage to leave a pair of blushing teens as he told them to "Use protection!" before departing. Marinette was utterly embarrassed while Damian was flustered. Once dinner was finished, the couple went back to Damian's hotel room to discuss what they were going to do next.

Doing his best to help, Damian passed the ingredients to his girlfriend who then mixed up said ingredients in a pot.

"Can you get the Tear of Joy, Dami?"

The green-eyed boy looked through the ingredients until he found the slim bottle with a minuscule amount of clear liquid. He eyed the water as it squished in the bottle, it seemed so ordinary despite the great magic it could create. Damian could almost see the water taunting him with its mystic properties, he could just about feel it as he brought the bottle closer to the cauldron.

"This is it, correct?" The ravenette showed the blue-eyed girl the bottle in his hand

Her eyes lit up when presented with the vial. "Yes, that's it" As she removed the cork that was sealing the bottle shut, Damian asked a question that was lingering in the back of his mind.

"What exactly is the tear of joy?"

Marinette turned to smile at him. "It's a tear of joy"

"So a tear caused by laughter?"

"Precisely" She looked up at the ceiling wistfully. "I remember, when Syren attacked, Master Fu was trying to decode what a 'tear of joy' was. It took some time but we managed to figure it out in the end" She sighed. "It's great that we managed to find out about 'power-ups' but if we found out about them sooner, maybe more people would've been saved."

He put his hands comfortably on her shoulders. "What did Syren do exactly?"

She stopped dead in her tracks. That wasn't the reaction that Damian was expecting, whatever had happened with this Akuma must have been bad to induce this response.

The bluenette sighed and looked at the green-eyed boy straight into his emerald eyes. "Syren was one of the most dangerous Akumas we've ever had to deal with. She flooded all of Paris with her tears, only a few hundred people managed to reach the rooftops in time"

A breath quickly sucked in through his lips, the scene itself sounded horrible, imagining it even more so, having to actually see it must have been... traumatic.

"But Ondine is doing much better with Kim. And it's all in the past, we've learnt how to deal with the memories!" Her smile hurt to look at. His girlfriend had to deal with so much and she couldn't even express her negativity without fear of becoming an akuma. Damian placed a kiss on her head as she finally got the lid off of the bottle.

Both teens watched in anticipation as the droplet rolled down to the bottle's lip, teetering over the edge. It fell in. The concoction then shimmered a silvery blue. Grabbing a bottle, Marinette poured some of the liquid inside it, looked at the bottle and hummed in satisfaction. She quickly put all the equipment used back in a box and cleaned up any mess made. Once she was finished, she turned to the boy standing over her.

"I'll bring these back to Master Fu's old apartment then I'll drop this bottle off at my house, you can tell Tikki and Plagg that they can come out now"

The contents of the box shifted to one side, Damian helped steady both the bluenette and the box before going to the kwamis. Once the kwamis where comfortably with their owners, Tikki in Marinette's purse and Plagg in Damian's hoodie pocket, they made their way to the apartment. It still technically belonged to Master Fu, he rest hadn't rented it out so they were free to roam around. After putting the equipment away, the couple strolled to Marinette's house hand in hand. The bluenette went up to her balcony, with Damian close behind, and hid the bottle under her pink-striped deck chair, away from the sunlight.

"It needs to 'mature' in the moonlight, I guess. So when the moon is out, I'll take the bottle out" Marinette gestured for Damian to follow her as she went back down to the bakery portion of her house. "I'll give you some Camembert with the power ups infused. But I'll have to make it first!"

She hummed as she went upside to retrieve other substances that Master Fu had taught her to create. In the moment she was gone, Plagg appeared.

"I hate transforming!" The black kwami whined, settling in the boy's hair.

"What's so bad about it?" Damian raised an eyebrow at Plagg's outburst.

"It ruins the beautiful taste of Camembert, and it tastes weird"

"Quit your whining Plagg" Tikki's squeaky, but still relatively scary, voice rang out as both she and her owner returned.

"But Sugarcube-"

"No 'but's Stinky Sock!"

Damian watched with quiet amusement while Marinette giggled, handing him a wheel of Camembert.

"The cheese is cut up in different slices, each representing a different power up. I'll explain which is which on the way back to the hotel"

Damian put the wheel in his pocket before taking the bluenette's hand. "I look forward to it"

~~~

Each power up was simple enough, they all had a different colour corresponding with it's ability, making it easier to memorize. The couple walked by a dark alley as Damian check the time. Passing his phone to the bluenette next to him, Marinette took one glance at the time before dragging the two of them into said dark alley. It was time for patrol. Once both were done transforming, Noir and Ladybug made their to the assigned rooftop. When landing, Noir took his staff and looked through the help guide to get a better idea of what weapon he was working with. Spinning the staff with his hands, he separated the staff into two separate batons. He hummed in contentment.

"Grayson never gave me his escrima sticks for missions. I suppose this is good training if I ever want to use them"

The two rods snapped back together with a satisfying snap. Continuing to look through the articles on his now full staff, Noir didn't even notice when Ladybug moved to stand behind him. In one swift motion, the spotted heroine pulled down the black hood that was shielding the black cat-themed hero's face.

"La-"

Her covered fingers stroked his black cat ears, she giggled as his cheeks flushed. The feeling itself was unusual to the green-eyed hero, he had never felt anything remotely similar before but he wouldn't say he didn't enjoy it. It was just... unexpected. The spotted heroine, however, quite liked making the stoic Noir flustered. His ears felt so much like a real cat's that Ladybug was nearly taken aback, she got used to it after her shock, though. Noir found himself leaning into her touch but looking at everything but her in embarrassment.

Had his ears not been occupied he probably would've heard the two other heroes arriving, he only knew they were here as he saw them in his peripheral vision, rolling his eyes as he noticed them snickering.

'Angel, Rena and Chien are here'

Ladybug's head snapped in the direction of the two other heroes, one of her hands left his head as she she greeted the fox and the dog.

"Hello Rena Rouge, Chien" Ladybug greeted them casually, something Noir knew he couldn't do at that moment.

"Hello to you too LB! Hey Noir, did the bug find a way to tame you?

He mumbled a reply.

Ladybug giggled before turning to properly address the other heroes. "I've been thinking of adding three more members. I know it's a lot since you, Rena, have only just been announced as a permanent user and you, Chien, have basically just joined. But Noir and I found something that will require their help. I have a hunch that Hawkmoth might try something like Guerrier but with the same level as Syren"

The fox-themed hero nodded. "You need all the help you can get. So who do you have in mind?"

"A Snake, a Bee and a Dragon" The spotted heroine answered with no hesitation. "We'll need a snake as it is... intuitive"

Upon registering the description, Chien chuckled. "Isn't that the point?"

"Perhaps" Ladybug hummed with a smile on her face. "A dragon can control elements, a strong power would be useful. The bee miraculous's power is immobilization-"

"Paralysis can be very beneficial when trying to stop an akuma" Noir provided his input.

"Yes. So what do you think?" The spotted heroine looked between the three heroes standing on the rooftop with her. Noir hummed approval while Chien gave her a thumbs up.

"You always have the best ideas, Bug!" Rena voiced out her agreement, Ladybug let out a sigh of relief she didn't know she was holding.

"Then I'll go get them now shall I? We gotta teach them as fast as we can" The blue-eyed heroine took the yo-yo from her hip, spinning it with a flick of her wrist. "I'll send them here and then you show them the ropes"

"Aye aye Captain!" Chien saluted and Rena followed suit, only after a quick laugh. Noir rolled his eyes in good nature while pulling his hood back up, flicking his cat ears before doing so.

Hurling her yo-yo at a nearby building, Ladybug hissed through the air, her yo-yo latching onto another building as she neared the previous. Soon enough, she landed gracefully in a quiet area where two familiar figures were strolling hand in hand.

"Ladybug?" A boy with dyed hair questioned, a bluenette with short hair and almond eyes next to him.

She nodded before pulling out two miraculous from her yo-yo with, presumably, unlimited storage. "Luka Couffaine, Kagami Tsurugi, these are the miraculous of the Snake and the miraculous of the Dragon. They grant you the powers of Intuition and Perfection. You will use these miraculouses for the greater good, can I trust you?"

Luka and Kagami shared a knowing look then turned to the heroine in front of them.

"You can count on use Ladybug"

"We're honored to be chosen to fight by your side, my Ladybug"

She gave them the miraculous and watched as they both transformed into Viperion and Ryuko. "The others are waiting at this location." She showed them a map on her yo-yo. "I'll meet you there once I finish with a task a have to do." She hissed through the air once more, thanks to her yo-yo, and landed on a rooftop that was very familiar now. There stood a blonde, leaning on the banister.

"Ladybug?" Chloe's confused voice rang out.

"Hello Chloe Bourgeois" Ladybug took something from her yo-yo. "This is the Bee miraculous, it grants the power to immobilise your opponents. Should you choose to help us-"

"I can't"

"Pardon?"

"I said I can't" The blonde looked solemnly at the heroine. "I've been an utterly horrible person, I don't deserve to be a hero. Especially after... Queen Bee"

"People can change Chloe" Ladybug put a hand on the blonde's shoulder. "As long as they are given the chance to. Do you want to take this chancep?"

Chloe stared at the miraculous before looking at the heroine with a determined expression.

"I won't let you down, Ladybug"

~~~

Ladybug soon returned with a bee-themed heroine, named Honey Bee, by her side. After a brief reintroduction, the patrol began. Rena Rouge took the west side with Honey Bee and Viperion, Chien and Ladybug took the East while Ryuko and Noir took the North, they had already checked the South. Most of the patrol was done in silence, other than the odd 'nothing wrong here'. Ryuko had been the one to start a conversation

"You're the new wielder of black cat miraculous, correct?" The dragon user questioned Noir. He recognised it as the beginning of an interrogation.

"It certainly seems that way" Ryuko hummed.

"You fancy Ladybug, don't you" The question obviously took him aback. "Do you consider yourself... worthy?

The cat-themed hero didn't hesitate. "No"

He saw her raise her eyebrows.

"Ladybug is too virtuous for this world, there's not a soul in this entire universe worthy of her affection"

The dragon hummed in satisfaction. "You remind me of the boyfriend of one of my friends. Though I have yet to be convinced that he should date said friend, you have proved yourself worthy of Ladybug. I approve of your relationship even though it isn't my place to make such a decision"

"I am pleased" Despite the fact that he is a leader in this team, he's content with the fact he has the great dragon user's approval as she is the most intimidating of the team, other than Ladybug herself.

"Also don't mess this up, Ladybug is a Queen " Ryuko casually pointed out.

"Glad I am not the only one that thinks so"

"How can you not? Have you seen her?!"

"She's a goddess"

"You have my approval again"

~~~

Noir and Ryuko were first to arrive as they had finished their patrol early, the rest of the team weren't too far behind, however.

"Alright" Ladybug began once everyone returned. "Honey Bee, Viperion, Ryuko, it'll be best if you memorize all of Paris. That way, when there's trouble, you'll know your way around."

"I found that an aerial view is the fastest way to know the city like the back of your hand!" Rena Rouge pointed out.

"That's also the way I did it!" Chien chimed in,

"Yep! If you don't mind, there's something I'd like to discuss with both Rena Rouge and Chien. Noir, will you join us?" The spotted heroine turned to the heroes named.

"I ought to" He replied flatly.

"Alright then, follow me!" Ladybug hissed through the air followed by Noir with his staff and Rena and Chien with their enhanced abilities. Soon they landed in an alley. "I know you already know this, Rena, but I think it's fair if Chien knows too"

"Fair that I know what?" His gaze moved between the two heroines before landing on the black cat hero, silently begging for answers, to which Noir returned with an unconvincing shrug.

"That you know this. Tikki, spots off!" A blinding red light filled the narrow corner they were in, Rena shut one of her eyes while Chien shut both, Noir was shielded from the light thanks to his hoodie. Then, a certain Marinette Dupain-Cheng stood where the spotted heroine once was.

"Wh- Bu- How-" Chien spluttered as his brain combusted with all the information that was flowing through it at once. Marinette giggled at his confusion, Rena full on laughed, clutching her stomach while Noir merely smirked. "But, but I saw you standing next to Ladybug! Wait no, yourself? My brain is melting! Wait, you two knew?!" The dog-themed hero screeched.

"She's my best friend" Rena shrugged with an innocent expression, her transformation dropped. Chien stared in shock.

"She's my girlfriend" Noir mimicked Rena Rounge's shrug while letting his transformation fall too, leaving Chien the only one transformed.

"Okay THAT makes sense, you're both deathly attr- Wait, did you say best fRIEND?!" Chien shrieked and detransformed.

"ADRIEN?!" Alya exclaimed, Marinette and Damian watched in amusement.

"As entertaining as this is-" The green-eyed boy cut in before the pair would attract unwanted attention. "-Marinette needs to explain the reason why she revealed her identity to you"

The bluenette nodded. "You see early today, at school, I had this 'miraculous burn' I guess you could say from Guerrier's attack. Thanks to Alya I'm feeling better but that resulted in getting my identity revealed. So to avoid anymore incidents like that, I also told you Adrien. I can't tell the rest of the team yet as I don't want them to go all protective over me, you'll three will have enough overprotectiveness"

"Not wrong there, girl" Alya said without shame.

"I know I have to tell them my true identity at some point but right now it's better just to have you three know."

"We understand" Alya and Adrien said in unison.

"Great, now let's go back to the others so we can tell them patrol is over"

~~~

It was sunset, the orange cotton clouds contrasted beautifully with the darkening blue sky. A cool wind blew through the air, cold enough to make one shiver but not enough to catch a cold. Walking hand in hand, a couple made their way to Le Grand Paris. The bluenette looked up to the noirette next to her, leaning onto his arm covered by the Robin-themed hoodie and smiling while doing so, she closed her eyes to savor the moment.

"Angel?" Damian brushed the stray hairs on her face as she pulled away to look at him properly.

"You know, I'm really going to miss this" Marinette raised their conjoined hands as they approached the hotel doors.

He hummed and in response, put his arm around her waist to pull her closer while going through the elevator doors. "I am too"

They soon reached the hotel room, the kwamis roaming around for food once they got inside. Food in hand, Tikki and Plagg sat of the coffee table, leaning on one another as Damian turned on the screen to watch a movie. Once he was comfortably seated, Marinette joined him, snuggling into his side. He brushed his fingers through her silky midnight hair. He was going to miss this, deeply. What would life be like going back, without the beautiful bluenette physically next to him?

'I do not want to find out'

———

Provisional Cessation, It was created for the purpose of temporarily stopping a miraculous from being used if any harm were to come to the user. It would also deem it unusable for a certain period of time if the miraculous were ever come into the wrong hands. The reason Master Fu didn't tell Marinette this information was because the last time a user tried this power up, they were put into a magical induced coma, it was too risky.

———

Taglist:@little-bluestar,@miracleofadisaster,@frieddonutsweets,@jjmjjktth,@genderfluidmoma,@starlit-dreaming,@icerosecrystal,@lolieg,@kashlyn,@mochegato,@eggadoodle,@walkingthroughonautopilot,@toodaloo-kangaroo,@lady-bee-fechin,@weebjai1

[captain-josslett]

Broken Melody - Part Twenty

Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six, Part Seven, Part Eight, Part Nine, Part Ten, Part Eleven, Part Twelve, Part Thirteen, Part Fourteen, Part Fifteen, Part Sixteen, Part Seventeen, Part Eighteen, Part Nineteen...

Summary: Grammy Award winning Emma Danvers is the first to say she has a pretty good life. But what happens when it implodes around her and it looks like things will never be the same again?

Words: 5.8k+

Warnings: Angst, Fluff.

Pairings: Emma Danvers x Lena Luthor

This Part: Emma tries to work through everything and continues to struggle with not seeing her sisters.

So, so, sorry it’s been a while since updating. I’ve started a full time job and my mind just hasn’t been able to write 😅 But I do get to daydream when I work so I have loads of ideas stored away and hopefully will be able to update quicker.

Thank you for reading and let me know if you wanna be tagged or any general feedback will be greatly appreciated. Please! I like knowing your thoughts.

Taglist: @finleyfray​​, @life-is-hella-unfair​, @natasha-danvers​, @supergirl-writingz​, @camslightstories​, @thinking1bee​, @aznblossom​,

Ten year old Emma Danvers jumps awake when she hears a blood curdling scream. For a few moments she blinks into her dark room, confused at the noise that woke her. But when a softer wail fills the silence Emma quickly rolls out of bed. Recognising the cries coming from her recently adopted kryptonian sister, Kara.

Emma pads out of her small room and into the hallway, yawning and tiredly rubbing her eyes as she gently pushes Alex and Kara’s bedroom door open. Kara’s whimpering increases in volume as Emma enters the room. She softly closes the door behind her and quietly tiptoes over to Kara’s bed.

Emma sadly looks over at her oldest sister, Alex, who is turned away from the crying alien. Seemingly ignoring Kara’s pain. This annoys Emma greatly and the sisters have already argued over it. The blonde had even offered to swap rooms with Alex but the redhead stubbornly refused saying it was her room.

“Kara?” Emma whispers softly and waits for the crying figure to respond. Tearful blue eyes peer over the shaking duvet before quickly disappearing again.

Emma looks mournfully down at the other blonde as she thinks of ways to help her. After a few moments Emma lifts the corner of the covers and climbs into Kara’s bed. She gently reaches out and hugs Kara close, remembering how her Mom would comfort her after she’d have a bad dream.  

Her new sister flinches slightly at the touch but soon Emma feels Kara settle and maneuver around to hug her back. The alien starts to shake as she tries to stifle her sobs into Emma’s shoulder.

Emma’s heart aches at the sound. She pulls her head back so she can see Kara’s face. The night light illuminates Kara’s flushed cheeks and bloodshot eyes. “No, it’s okay to cry. Mom said you get sick if you try to keep your tears in.” Emma tries to encourage the alien. Though she doesn’t know if Kara can fully understand her yet. However, Kara’s face scrunches up and fresh tears fall.

“It’s okay.” Emma says soothingly while stroking her hair.

“S-s-sing?” Kara gulps out and buries her head back into Emma’s little shoulder.

“Which one?” Emma asks softly and Kara thinks for a moment but shakes her head as she sniffs heavily. “Okay.” Emma purses her lips forward as she thinks about the other songs she has sung to Kara. “I got it.”

Somewhere over the rainbow, Way up high, There’s a land that I’ve heard of, Once in a lullaby.

Emma immediately feels Kara relaxing as she continues to quietly sing. The sisters had recently watched ‘The Wizard of Oz’ with Kara because Emma wanted to show her new sister one of her favourite films. The alien had truly been fascinated with the movie and Emma couldn’t help but watch Kara’s reactions to certain parts. How Kara’s face lit up when Dorthy opened the door to a world of colour or how freaked out Kara got when the Wicked Witch appeared in a plume of red smoke and disappearing in a blaze of fire.

Somewhere over the rainbow, Bluebirds fly, Birds fly over the rainbow, Why then oh why can’t I?

As Emma nears the end of the song Kara’s sobs start to die down, being replaced with shuddering breaths. The twelve year old alien clings tightly to the little human, the pressure hurts Emma slightly but she knows Kara doesn’t mean to hurt her and she is not use to her super strength yet.

Emma stares over at Alex’s back. Not knowing if the redhead was awake or asleep. But Emma guesses she is awake by how she is breathing. Silently Emma hopes her oldest sister will come around to Kara.

Yes it had been a shock when Superman brought his older, but now younger, alien cousin to them but Emma was overcome with curiosity and intrigue over the other blonde. She tried to communicate with the alien and found a way through hand gestures and persistence. Repeating words for Kara and pointing items out. Mainly important things like water, food, Star Wars and everything a ten year old finds important. Once Eliza found Emma talking to the Kryptonian about the different plants and vegetables in the garden and Kara patiently listened. Fascinated by the texture of the leaves and the words Emma was saying. Both missing the scowling glare Alex was giving them from her bedroom window.

Emma then presented the wooden swords her dad had made. Giving Kara Alex’s and demonstrating how to sword fight. Soon the two blonde’s were giggling while twirling around and bashing each other’s swords. Until Alex furiously stormed over to them and took her sword away from Kara. Grumbling it was hers and she was going to break it. Jeremiah immediately set to work making Kara one of her own. Which the two blonde’s watched with tilted heads.

But when Jeremiah told them to go play and leave him to concentrate Emma took Kara back into the house, trying to figure out more things to show her new sister. She had already displayed her seashell collection, which Kara analysed deeply and Emma noticed a crinkle appearing between the other blonde’s eyebrows.

Emma looks around the house and her eyes fall on her art supplies. Making Kara jump when she claps her hands together in excitement.

“I hope you like art! Alex doesn’t really, which is sad but she likes her own things. Like reading. Reading is okay but I much prefer doing something.” Emma smiles at Kara who smiles politely. “Have a seat.” Emma points at the dining room table and Kara complies. The ten year old then pulls out all of her art supply to show Kara. She watched as the alien’s blue eyes lit up behind her glasses.

“Did you do art on Krypton?” Emma asks, happy that she may have found something Kara enjoys.

Kara nods and the pair quietly sit for hours as they draw and paint. Emma didn’t mind Kara using most of the red paint and was pleased she thought of a good idea.

She hardly sees Alex, seemingly too moody that she wasn’t the centre of attention in the Danvers household anymore. Keeping to herself and barely talking to her baby sister.

Weeks turned into months and slowly Alex seemed to warm up to the new addition to the family. Especially when Kara defended Emma against a group of bullies. Standing with her little sister and ready to defend her. Alex marched over and stood next to her side, ready to punch any bully in the face that hurts either of her sisters. This was the moment Kara uttered her family motto, explaining they were stronger together.

The three started to become closer over time and would regularly be found in the forest by their home playing and having adventures.

On one such occasion a fifteen year old Alex and twelve year old Emma teamed up together as heroes to try and take down the evil villain that was destroying their town of Midvale.

“Psfft I don’t see the target. Over.” Emma quietly talks into the walkie talkie and holds her wooden sword tightly in her other hand.

“Please tell me you did not just make the static noise?” Alex laughs while rolling her eyes.

“Ah come on Al! Plus you need to say over. Over.”

“Fine.” Alex sasses back. “Over.” The redhead continues to look around, listening intently for the fourteen year old Kara. Having a sneaky suspicion that her alien sister was using her powers. Which was against the rules.

“Psttf I have an idea. Over” Emma’s voice whispers out from the walkie talkie.

“And what is that?” Alex responds quickly. “Over.”

“What if we do what that guy did in that movie. Over.”

“Vague… We watch loads of movies dork.” Alex rolls her eyes again at her little sister’s comment. She twirls her bow in her hand as she waits for Emma’s response.

“You know he sacrifices himself. Draws the evil guy out and gives the hero a chance to defeat them. Over.”

“Not a bad idea. Especially if you are the bait.” Alex chuckles and shakes her head. “Over.”

“Let’s do it by the fallen tree in the clearing? You can hide and I’ll call for her. Over.” Alex smirks at the excitement within Emma’s voice.

“Sure Peanut. Over.”

Alex quietly jogs to the huge fallen tree. Constantly on the lookout for Kara. But her adopted alien sister is nowhere to be seen. As Alex approaches the clearing she sees Emma step out of the other end and start to look around. Their eyes immediately connect, as if Emma could sense where she was and Alex quickly hides within some bushes and waits. Readying her bow and arrow. Making sure the arrow was a dummy that would only sting Emma slightly if she got in the way.

Emma waits for Alex to get into position and cups her hands over her mouth, yelling loudly. “Kara?! Hey Kara!” She waits and soon enough a blur appears before her. “Hey! You used your powers!”

“Well as a villain of course I would!” Kara bites back slyly with a grin.

“You really are evil!” Emma gasps dramatically, raising a hand to her chest.

“And when I am finished with you I will hunt your sister down and hurt her! And your little dog too!” Kara slowly takes a few menacing steps towards Emma who stands her ground.

“No! Not Alex and Toto!” Emma’s eyes fill with tears. Alex is always blown away that her baby sister can cry on demand and would often use her sister’s talent to get extra treats from their Mom or sitter.

“Little one?” Kara asks, concerned enough to break character.

“They are fake, keep going! You’re doing really well!” Emma gives Kara a smile before filling her eyes with tears again. “You will never get away with this!” Emma yells dramatically, pointing at Kara.

‘Give her the damn Oscar!’ Alex thinks with a smile as she watches the blonde’s.

Kara nods and puts a sly smirk back on her face. “But I already have!”

“No! You will never win! Good always defeats evil, you piece of bantha fodder!”

Alex snorts at Emma’s Star Wars reference and readies herself, knowing she’ll need to spring out at any moment.

“How dare you insult me! Me the mistress of all evil! You are nothing but the dirt on the bottom of my shoe!” Kara yells as she reaches for her wooden sword. Emma circles around so Kara’s back is to their eldest sister. “Now prepare to meet your doom!”

“Not if I can help it!” Alex suddenly appears behind them and fires her bow and arrow at the blonde. Hitting Kara’s right shoulder where it harmlessly falls to the ground.

“No! Ow!” Kara screams and collapses to her knees. “Damn you!” She coughs comically and falls to the floor.

Emma snorts and places a hand over her mouth.

“Emma! It’s rude to mock the dead.” Alex scolds her little sister.

“Sorry.” The blonde tries to wipe the smile off her face and make her expression natural.

“Who says I’m dead?” Kara’s muffled voice pipes up from the ground.

“Well the arrow would have been made out of a substance that could kill you and due to my excellent marksmanship it went through your heart. Killing you instantly.” Alex explains as she twirls the bow around.

Kara lifts her head up and smirks at the redhead. “You hit me in the right shoulder. My heart is on the left dummy.”

Emma snorts again which erupts into loud laughter when Alex glares at her. “Great shooting Alex!”

“Which means… Sneak attack!” Kara yells while pulling Emma onto the floor and starts tickling her.

“Nooo!!” Emma screams with laughter and tries to get out of her sister’s grip. “Please! Stop! Argh! Alex! Help!”

The redhead watches the pair with amusement before stepping in. “I’ll help you!” Alex yells theatrically. But instead of aiding Emma she joins in with Kara.

“Traitor!” Emma gasps out. “You’re… My sister!”

“And? Maybe I purposefully aimed for Kara’s right shoulder to take down the real villain!”

“Dun dun dunnnnn!” Kara laughs out as she continues ticking the thrashing blonde.

“Please stop! I’m gonna pee!” Tears of laughter stream down Emma’s face and the sisters finally stop their attack.

Alex smirks at her baby sister as Emma wipes the tears from her face, the redhead then looks up at the sky. “It’s getting late, we better head back.” She stands to her feet and holds out her hands for her sisters to take, helping Kara and Emma stand. The sister’s turn towards home and walk together in unison, laughing and joking together. Ready to take on the world.

-- -- --

Present day Emma stares out of the DEO window while plucking at her guitar while her mind wanders through her memories with her sisters. Though she can’t really remember the time before Kara came. To her Kara has always been there.

Slowly her mind starts to filter through the session she had with Alistair. They had worked on her fuzzy memories of the attack. How they are slowly coming back into focus but seemingly her brain was protecting her by blocking most of it out. Emma had projected the hurtful words spoken by her sisters that Emma does remember. That a part of her believes making her insecurities bubble up to the surface.

Lily, Alistair’s white german shepherd, had almost instantly jumped up on Emma’s bed and placed her head in Emma’s lap. Staying there throughout the session. Helping to ground Emma and when she got emotional or experienced a flashback, Lily had been a comforting presence.

A noise by Emma’s open door draws her attention away from the window. Standing in the hall was a transfixed Winn with Brainy and Nia behind him.

Emma smirks and waves at the trio. Stopping the music seemingly snaps them out of their trance.

“Hi Em.” Winn smiles brightly as he approaches one of the chairs around Emma’s bed. Emma returns his smile but it is more subdued. “You okay?” He frowns at the blonde, noticing her lack of a smile. He places the food container on the tray table by Emma and she nods while pulling the table closer to her. Her smile brightens slightly when she sees the sausages, vegetables and mash potato.

“Doctor Hamilton said you can start trying some form of solid foods and as I know you like that British restaurant down the road we thought lunch could be a bit more international.”

‘So the Tai food the other day wasn’t international enough for you?’ Emma wants to say but doesn’t write it down. Instead letting out a breathy snort as she starts cutting into the food.

“Oh yea Doc also said to cut it up real small. Chew lots before swallowing” Winn lists off the instructions Doctor Hamilton had told him while opening his container. Watching as Emma nods in response. “Enjoy your bangers and mash!”

Emma lets out a breathy laugh, remembering the weird names the Brits call their food. ‘Spotted Dick’ being her favourite by far. Not believing they would call a fruit, sponge dessert by that name, but had been proved wrong when the amused waiter brought the pudding out for Emma to try. Despite the very off putting name, Emma thoroughly enjoyed it. Almost having to fight off her bandmates to eat all of it in peace.

“Have you been to the UK Winn?” Nia asks, filling the silence.

“Yea I have. Both future and present.”

Emma lifts an eyebrow in response. Wondering what life is like in the future and being frustrated that Winn was keeping so tight lipped about it all.

“Awesome! I haven’t yet but it’s on my bucket list.” Nia replies enthusiastically, a longing look fills her eyes.

“Did you know the British public consume over sixty billion cups of tea a year. Around 100 million each day.” Brainy chimes into the conversation, causing Nia and Winn to gape at him about the statistic.

Emma continues to listen to her friends talking. Wishing she could join in and tell them about her time in the UK. But also being aware of how painfully slow conversation flows when she has to write everything down.

Sighing deeply Emma shoves more food in her mouth. Thankful that Winn chose something she enjoys. To be fair Emma likes anything. Other than Marmite… A disgusting yeast spread that half of Brits like. One of her stage managers in the UK dared Emma to try it. Making the blonde gag and causing her to drink loads of water to get rid of the horrible taste in her mouth.

“Emma?” Nia calls out, breaking Emma’s train of thought. “You’ve been to the UK many times right?” Emma nods. “Have you seen the Queen?” Emma nods again.

“What when?” Winn asks with a mouthful of food and his eyebrows almost up to his hairline.

Emma quietly sighs and grabs her notebook, keenly aware of the silence in the room as she writes.

‘The Royal Variety Performance.’

“Ah yea!” Nia smiles remembering the video she found on youtube after Kara first told her about Emma. She had been transfixed by Axis’ music and Emma’s performance. Singing a powerful ballad that moved the brunette to tears. Nia had spent hours upon hours going through Axis’ social media and debated about whether to send Emma a friend request. The brunette had squealed loudly when Emma had accepted and immediately messaged her,

A knock stops Nia from asking more questions as Emma looks over to see Lucy standing awkwardly by the door. Emma can’t help but shift uncomfortably in the bed, hoping Lucy has calmed down from earlier this morning.

“Don’t worry, I’m not here to yell at you.” Lucy says as if she has read Emma’s mind. “May I come in?”

Emma nods before turning back to her meal. Though she feels like she has lost her appetite.

Lucy glances at the three friends who give her looks of encouragement as she cautiously approaches Emma’s bed, watching the blonde push her food around.

“Can I sit here?” Lucy points to the end of the bed and Emma nods without looking up at her. Lucy lowers onto the bed and takes a deep breath. “So, I’m sorry about earlier. I overreacted when I found out you were missing and you are like a sister to me and I got so scared-” Lucy lifts a hand to her head trying to find the words to how terrified she had felt when Emma wasn’t in her room or in the building. She immediately rushed down to the cells but when there was no sign of Emma anywhere the brunette really panicked.

A hand grasps her knee and Lucy’s green eyes snap up to Emma’s. “Sorry.” Lucy breathes out and Emma gives her a timid smile. “So, we also need to discuss the next steps. Mainly the timeline of your recovery because we cannot disclose the Phoenix serum.”

Emma nods and leans back against the bed.

“How long would this timeline be?” Winn asks with a frown.

“We are trying to not make it overly long. Doctor Hamilton did say wounds like Emma’s would have taken at least 3 months to heal fully and she’d be bed bound for a while.”

“But Emma isn’t bed bound.” Nia blinks in confusion. “Would Emma need to stay here?”

“Or in her apartment.” Lucy looks at the blonde mournfully, who deeply swallows in response. Not liking the sound of that at all. Not feeling at all ready to go back to the apartment. Even after J’onn had told her a crew had made it good as new, with no evidence of the incident.

“There would be a huge media frenzy if any photos come out of you like this. The world thinks you can barely open your eyes and hardly move due to the amount of broken bones you have.”

Alarm fills Emma and she quickly grabs her notebook to write.

‘Robyn?!’

“Ah yea. I had her sign a NDA.” Lucy rolls her eyes. “She was annoyingly persistent. I thought you hated each other?” Emma shakes her head and lets out a breathy chuckle. “Jack isn’t far behind, though I’m trying to hold him off for as long as possible.”

Relief starts to filter in and Emma nods before starting to write again. She bites the inside of her lip at the thought of returning back to her apartment. Not sure she’s ready or even wants to go back there.

‘How do you propose we move forward?’ She holds the pad up and watches her friend’s face as she reads.

Lucy hesitates slightly before unlocking her tablet to bring up the timeline. “We will need to stage photos and videos showing your recovery and release them at the right time.” Lucy looks down at her notes. “We do have some already but I’d be happier if we do more.”

Emma glumly sighs causing Lucy to glance back up at her.

“I’m sorry Em but we need to do this to keep the media off our backs. J’onn and I had hoped it would have died down but everyone is still up in arms about what happened.”

Emma’s expression morphs into one of shock and disbelief. She quickly writes one word before showing the lawyer.

‘Why?’

“Because those that listen to your music feel a powerful connection towards you. Even though they have not met you or know you personally.” Brainy explains simply.

“And the attack has brought your music to the attention of more people.” Winn points out.

“Tell me about it.” Lucy says exasperatedly and runs a hand through her hair. “I had a three hour debate with your record label as they want to release the work you’ve done on your new album. Even the covers you’ve been sending Lena.”

Emma immediately shakes her head quickly at the idea. Causing a ringing in her ears.

“Yea I told them they can shove it.” Lucy agrees and quickly takes a piece of sausage from Emma’s container. Almost getting her hand stabbed from Emma’s fork.

Emma playfully glares at the brunette and Lucy sticks her tongue out before popping the meat into her mouth. Emma shakes her head and starts writing.

‘So I will be under house arrest?’

“I’m afraid so.” Lucy says softly, causing Emma’s shoulders to slump and her expression becomes sullen.

“I may be able to help with that.” Winn pipes up, causing Emma and Lucy to stare at him. “I, with Brainy and Lena’s help, could develop a face modifier. That way Emma can move around freely and not disrupt the timeline.”

“That could work.” Lucy squints her eyes as she considers the idea.

“May help Alex and Kara to know Emma is moving around too. I’ve never seen them so broken, I mean poor Alex, you would have thought Kelly would have stood by her and not run away-” Nia comments passionately and Emma freezes.

Horror fills Emma's whole body. She remembers Alex telling her the morning before the attack that she and Kelly were having problems but Emma never imagined Kelly would leave Alex like this. Especially with what her sister is going through.

Immediately Emma leaps out of bed and sprints to the door. She needs to see her sisters. Her heart aches knowing they are both in pain. That they are broken.

“Emma?!” Her friends yells fill the hallway as they chase after her. Agents seemingly appear ahead of her but the blonde easily sidesteps them. Using the training Alex had taught her in self defence.

As soon as she reaches the end of the corridor the blonde slides into the wall and repeatedly slams her hand on the elevator button. When it becomes obvious the doors won’t open quick enough she dashes towards the door to the stairs. Her determination gives her tunnel vision and she ignores those around her.

Until someone leaps on her back.

“Emma stop!” Lucy yells as she clings to Emma, wrapping her arms and legs around the blonde. Halting Emma from leaving the floor. “I’m sorry but they aren’t ready to see you. I’m so sorry.”

Emma tries to get Lucy off her back but the brunette has too good a grip. The blonde heaves in heavy breaths and her face scrunches up as she starts to silently cry. She longs to hold her sisters. To reassure them they are okay.

A ping announces an elevator has arrived. Emma turns her head to gaze longingly at it but feels Lucy’s grip tighten around her chest.

“Emma please.”

The blonde watches mournfully as the doors close.

When it becomes apparent that Emma won’t be running down to the cells Lucy slides off her back.

The brunette sadly looks at the tears streaming down her friend’s face. Placing a gentle hand on Emma’s shoulder Lucy guides her back to the room.

“Emma.” Nia squeaks out with wide eyes as she walks with the pair. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t think-”

The blonde reaches out and squeezes Nia’s hand. Giving her a barely there smile which Nia returns with an encouraging one of her own.

Emma re-enters the room and sits heavily on her bed. Staring out of the window.

“Em?” Winn asks softly, causing Emma to slightly move her head and focus on him. “Are you gonna finish that?” Winn points at the half eaten food.

Emma shakes her head before turning back to the window. She ignores the yelp of pain from Winn when Lucy slaps his arm as he reaches out for the discarded food. Purposefully tuning out the conversation in the room.

Instead, focusing on the world outside of the DEO. The airplanes that zoom across the sky, the birds that flutter past the window and settle on the sill. The traffic down an avenue she can see. Anything to try and keep her mind from acknowledging the pain she’s feeling. The thoughts that are screaming in her mind about her sisters.

“-ma?” Winn’s voice breaks through as she recognises he’s calling out to her. Slowly she turns to look at him. “We’re going back to work. I- er- left your food.”

Emma looks down at the tray and sees that Winn hasn’t touched it. She nods and lifts the right corner of her mouth slightly to show her appreciation.

Emma eyes flick to Nia as she cautiously approaches her. “Can I give you a hug?” Emma nods and opens her arms. Nia immediately dives into them. “Message me if you need me.” Emma nods again and squeezes the superhero. When Nia steps back Winn is already there with his arms open, waiting for a hug. Making Emma voicelessly snort.

“Ah come on!” Winn whines and Emma motions for him to hug her. He does immediately and Emma can’t help but feel more of her anxiety melt away. “If you need anything just give a shout.” Winn says as he pulls away. Emma raises an eyebrow at him and can’t help but smile at the look of horror that comes across his face. Especially when Brainy, Nia and Lucy lower their heads into their hands. “Em. I’m so sorry I-”

Emma immediately lifts a hand to his lips, silencing him. Thankfully he complies, instead gaping at her like a goldfish.

“See you later Emma.” Brainy nods at her before quickly leaving the room, already analysing his tablet at ideas for a face modifier. Nia forcefully grabs Winn’s hand and pulls him out with her.

“I can stay if you want me to?” Lucy asks as she hovers by the bed and massages her shoulder.

Emma is tempted to shake her head but instead she nods. Not wanting to be alone right now.

“Okay great!” Lucy beams at her. “Do you want to do anything? I mean I have work I can be doing but I can watch a film with you or we could play a card game? Chess?”

Emma looks over at the chessboard on the coffee table by the sofa. Lena had brought it in to give Emma something else to do. But the board is currently being taken up by an intense game the girlfriends were playing. Emma reaches for her notebook and writes a response.

‘Lena will immediately say she’s won if we mess the board up.’

“Ah! We can’t have that!” Lucy jokes and sits on the end of Emma’s bed. Her expression becomes sombre as she studies the blonde closely and Emma stares right back. “Are you okay?”

Emma looks between Lucy’s questioning green eyes and slowly shakes her head.

Lucy reaches out and gently holds Emma’s hand. “I’m here if you want to discuss it.”

Emma’s eyes start to glisten with tears and she wipes at them in exasperation.

“Hey, hey, hey.” Lucy grabs Emma’s hand to halt her rubbing. “It’s okay to cry. God knows I’m done my fair share recently.”

Emma tilts her head and frowns slightly.

“What?” Lucy mirrors Emma’s expression. The blonde lets go of Lucy’s hand and starts writing.

‘What do you mean?’

“About what?” Lucy asks, confusion written across her face.

‘What have you been crying about?’

“About you! And Alex and Kara! This whole shit show!” Lucy says bitterly and watches Emma move her pen to paper. “And don’t even think about writing that you are not worth my tears cause you fucking are!”

Emma eyes’s snap up to Lucy’s and her mouth drops open. She was going to write exactly that.

“I’m right aren’t I?”

Emma shuts her mouth and shakes her head.

“Bull.” Lucy narrows her eyes. “Have you forgotten I am a lawyer? And a damn good one at that?”

Emma smiles sadly and looks down to write. ‘Yea you are. Frustratingly so.’

“Unless I’m the one defending you right?” Lucy raises an eyebrow and Emma nods, her smile turning more genuine. “So, do you wanna write about it? You don’t have to, I just-” Lucy hesitates, sighing deeply as she chooses her words. “I worry about you and I wish I could make everything better.”

‘I know.’

“You totally wrote that with Han Solo in mind didn’t you?”

Emma lets out a breathy snort and Lucy laughs loudly.

“You're such a nerd.” Lucy teases and Emma just shrugs. But her smile fades and the blonde gazes down at the paper as she thinks about her sisters. “Em?”

Emma takes a breath and starts writing. Lucy watches her and the expressions Emma makes as she scribbles her thoughts down. In these moments Lucy really misses Emma’s voice and her anger bubbles up at whoever did this to her friend. But before Lucy’s anger simmers up anymore Emma turns the notepad around.

‘I just feel so helpless. We’ve always done everything together and I’m happy they have each other but I want to be there with them. Dad always joked we were like a three legged stool. When one of us wasn’t at home we almost couldn’t function. I get what you are saying that they aren’t ready to see me... But I just miss them so much.’

“Aw Em.” Lucy says sympathetically after she reads. Her eyes flick back up to Emma’s. “It will get better. I know that doesn’t help right now. But, it will.”

Emma nods and leans back against the bed.

“So, what do you want to do?”

‘Okay if I paint?’

“Of course it is! I’ll just work here on my tablet.” Lucy smiles reassuringly at Emma and hops off the bed. She pauses and turns back around to Emma. “Hug?”

Emma smiles and opens her arms. Lucy wraps her arms around the blonde and tries to convey how much she cares for her in it.

After Lucy sits in a chair to work she can’t help but watch how Emma morphs into her creative mode. How the blonde focuses solely on what she’s doing with her paint brush. The way Emma’s eyes squint and her tongue slightly pokes out to the side.

Lucy smiles and tries to concentrate on her own work. Leaving the pair in peaceful silence.

-- -- --

Many hours later there is a knock on the door. Lucy glances up as Lena and Sam enter the room.

“Hi!” Lucy greets the friends happily and turns to look at Emma. The blonde is still so busy with what she’s doing she hasn’t noticed the new arrivals.

It’s only when Emma cleans her brushes, happy with what she’s done, does she sense Lena’s presence in the room. She quickly looks up towards the sofa where Lena, Sam and Lucy are sitting. Seemingly halting their conversation as the trio notice Emma’s focus on them. Lena can’t help but greet her girlfriend with a beaming smile.

“Hi love.” Lena says while standing and approaches the blonde. Emma waves at her but gives her a questioning look. “I didn’t want to disturb you.” Lena gracefully sits on the bed next to Emma and softly kisses the blonde’s lips. “You were so engrossed in what you were doing.”

“Sorry.”

“No don’t be! I’m glad you are painting.” Lena smiles reassuringly at her girlfriend. Her smiles then morphs into a shy one. “I- er- got you something.”

Emma tilts her head and her eyes bulge when Lena lifts a huge bouquet of flowers up. Having not noticed them when the raven haired beauty walked in or when she came over to the bed.

“Wow!” Emma signs and she reaches out to touch a red rose. Feeling the softness of the petal and admiring the colour.

“The florist told me the roses mean love, obviously. The baby breath is everlasting love. The-” Lena pauses as she tries to remember the meaning of the other flowers. Emma starts kissing her cheek making Lena beam and lean into them. “Em! I’m trying to think!” Emma pulls away and rests her chin on Lena’s shoulder. “So, the daisies are my love is pure and the tulips all have different meanings, the red being eternal love, the orange desire and passion, yellow happiness and sunshine and the cream tulips-” Lena gently moves her girlfriend’s head so she can gaze deeply into Emma’s slightly bloodshot eyes. “I will love you forever.”

She watches as Emma melts and her eyes glisten with tears. The blonde tilts her head and slowly leans towards her girlfriend. Lena copies her and they gently kiss but before they can deepen it further and noise fills the room.

“Blurgh!” Lucy yells out, pretending to heave. Emma furiously pulls away and flips her off. Glaring at the brunette before turning back to her girlfriend.

“Thank you. I love them.”

“I’m glad.” Lena smirks at the blonde and Emma carefully places the bouquet on the tray table. Making sure not to knock any of the other stuff on there. “So, how's your head?”

“Haven’t had any complaints yet.” Emma signs cheekily and Lena roars with laughter.

“What did she say?” Sam looks between the two girlfriends, wanting to know why Lena reacted the way she did.

“Haven’t had any complaints yet.” Lena responds while continuing to laugh, causing the two brunettes to join in with her and Emma just smiles happily at them as she snuggles into her girlfriend.

(Part Twenty One)

[ahockeywrites]

Is that a drawing of me?

You sighed. Your professor set you an assignment to draw something that makes you smile. His suggestions included a pet, a sport or a loved one. Naturally, the first thing that came to your head was your boyfriend, the resident pest of Calgary, Matthew Tkachuk. The only problem you had, is that drawing faces was your weakness when it came to your artwork. It wasn’t that you couldn’t draw faces, if it was a life or death situation, yes, you could draw a face. However, when compared to your nature drawings, they were second best.

“So, are we gonna get a drawing of Mr Hockey hotshot this time?” your friend Anna asked. You looked at her with a look only she could read. Realistically, the answer should have easily been yes, but your worry of making him look bad was heightening your anxiety.

“It’s an idea, but you know how I was in our portraits module. How can I do the man I love justice when I can barely draw someone with straight hair,” you said as you slumped into the chair in the small coffee shop. “His curls will be the death of me.” Taking a small sip of your coffee, you noticed a text from the devil himself.

Matty: Hey baby, just wanted to let you know I’m back from practice now! Let me know what you want to do for dinner :) x

You: Urm… I’m good for anything? Something quick bc I’ve got college work to do x

Anna could tell that you were talking to Matt, solely by the way that your face lit up whenever you two spoke. “But, who or what else would you draw?  I mean, I’m planning on doing my family by the lake back home, if that helps?” Anna offered. You knew she was just trying to help, but you had to draw Matthew. You had skirted around it before but you had decided.

“I’m gonna draw him, but hopefully not too well,” you said, “I can’t inflate his ego any more. I think Brady and Taryn would want words with me.” The two of you giggled, knowing that anything that made him look too good in his eyes would just make his head grow 20 sizes.

“Yes my love!!” Anna exclaimed, “shall we stop by the art store before art history?”

“I think I’m gonna need to,” you explained, “I need some new canvases and a lot of red pencils if he’s gonna be in Calgary gear.”

The two of you left the coffee shop for the nearby warehouse full of art supplies. It was just off campus and offered a generous student discount to almost anyone. You wandered down by the canvases, trying to figure out which size would be right for your latest piece. Too small and the picture would look cramped, too large and the image could look out of proportion. Eventually, you settled on a relatively large one and by this time had picked up some very Calgary appropriate red and black pencils. You also spotted a scrapbook that looked perfect to start filling with photos of you and Matthew.

Scrapbooking was something you had always wanted to get into, but it never came up in your studies and you always thought that you should practice line art or painting. But with your second anniversary coming up, it was something you could do in your downtime to relax but also create something beautiful. All you had to do was get a few rolls of washi tape and some photo corners. Everything else, if you had forgotten it, could easily be ordered later.

2 hours and $150 later, you exited the store with Anna and headed to your final lecture of the day. Now, just because you enjoyed both art and history did not mean that you enjoyed the combination of the two. Especially when the professor decided that it would be fun to set a 2000 word essay on the Renaissance period. “I cannot wait for this day to be over,” Anna spoke aimlessly.

“Honestly, same, hopefully Matt has got some food ready for when I’m back,” you hoped, no, prayed to someone above that he had actually made something and hadn’t burnt down your apartment. “I’m gonna head off now, but text me updates of your portrait?” you asked Anna. She nodded and you started your short walk from campus to the apartment.

15 minutes later, you arrived home and tumbled through the door. The smell of something baked filled your nostrils. “Matty baby?” you called out, hoping he would hear you and give you a hand with all the supplies you had bought.

“Y/N!” he called, coming to the hallway. “Need a hand?” he asked, but the two of you knew it was rhetorical. You let out a small giggle and gave him two of the bags you had filled to the brim with scrapbooking items. Now, you could have hidden them from him, but it was likely that he wouldn’t even know what they were so you were safe. The two of you moved in sync to the office of the apartment which very quickly had become your own personal studio with an easel and multiple chests of drawers with the most random supplies in them.

“Just pop them down anywhere, I have a drawing I want to start tonight along with an essay,” you complained.

“Don’t you worry, I have wine and lasagne,” Matthew sang. You audibly groaned at the sound of food, all you wanted was a warm meal and to relax. At least you’d be able to get one of them tonight.

You two sat down at the island that graced the kitchen of the apartment. Matthew had set the table and even put a few candles out, “I thought you could do with an hour or so of doing nothing,” he spoke as he went to grab your hand. He rubbed soft circles over your knuckles as you picked up your wine glass with your other hand.

As you took your first bite of the lasagne, you sent your boyfriend a wink. Lasagne was one of the few things he could cook and not mess up and he knew that. “I am so glad that I have a small amount of time before I start my drawing tonight,” you explained.

“What are you drawing?” Matt asked as he lifted his wine glass to his lips.

“That is something I would rather not share just now, but you’ll find out later,” you winked. You were never particularly secretive when it came to your artwork so he was slightly confused but he went along with it. Maybe, he thought, it was going to be a gift for someone and you didn’t want him to spoil the surprise.

The two of you continued to chat over dinner, talking about practice and how boring your lectures were. The boy sitting across from you never failed to make you laugh and you knew that you couldn’t draw anyone else other than him. As he was talking, you allowed yourself to take in his features and you tried to think of the best way to draw them. “If you’re done staring, I’m gonna sort the dishes out,” Matt laughed. You hadn’t even realised you were looking so intently at him. “I know I’m beautiful,” he got out before you tried to tackle him to the ground, however, your strength was nothing compared to his.

“I think this means it’s time for me to go and get started with my assignment,” you giggled from underneath him. “Come grab me if I’m still working and should be asleep, yeah?” you asked. He nodded and let you head to the office.

Once seated in the office, you pulled out your laptop and google searched Matt’s name, hoping some good images of him came up. Or at least, some that you could try to emulate. You found one of him smiling and celebrating a goal and thought that would be perfect. It also meant that the majority of his curls were underneath a helmet so wouldn’t have to worry.

Grabbing the canvas you had specifically bought for this, you placed it on the easel. You began to sketch out the rough shape of a skater in the foreground. Then, you moved onto the face. You thought if you did the face early on, you could fix any mistakes with it once the rest of the image was done. Starting with the eyes, then the nose and mouth, this wasn’t going as badly as you thought it might have gone. But then, the dreaded curls were staring at you from underneath the helmet. Sighing, you knew that if you didn’t start them now, they would never be done and a bald Matthew was something you never wanted to see.

A knock on the office door startled you, “baby, it’s almost midnight. You have an 8am lecture tomorrow and don’t want you to be late,” Matt said in a soft voice.

“Yeah, just gimme a few minutes,” you replied. By this time you had moved onto the logo on his shirt and if anyone saw, it would be incredibly obvious who you were drawing. Curly hair, Calgary Flames player, number 19, with an A on his chest. You were so engrossed in the drawing, you hadn’t noticed Matthew open the door and walk to be behind you.

“Is that a drawing of me?” he asked. You jumped out of your skin and he had to put his hand on your shoulder to stable you. You meekly nodded and looked up to him. “It’s amazing,” he said as he took in the drawing. Suddenly, he put two and two together, “this is why you wouldn’t tell me what you were doing, eh?”

“Maybe,” you said softly, trying to hide yourself in his chest. “Didn’t want to inflate your ego anymore.”

“Baby, if every drawing you do of me is this good,” he said as he pressed his forehead to yours, “my family better make an entire room back in St. Louis for my ego.” You slowly pressed your lips to his as a sign of appreciation.

“I take it you like it then?”

“Like is the wrong word, I love it. I also can’t wait to send a picture of this to the family group chat to get their thoughts,” he laughed.

“Well, as long as your mom doesn’t want me to do another one, I think I’ll be okay,” you said as you kissed him again.

[kim-miri]

HALF(have a little fun) pt. iv

→ one | two | three

→ Sayomi Zoldyck is the eldest child and twin sister to Illumi, of the renowned Zoldyck family of assassins. At the age of ten she’s taken away to Meteor City by her mother, Kikyo Zoldyck, unbeknownst to the rest of the family, as well as newborn Killua, and left to fend for herself. This is the story of the long-lost Zoldyck and those she becomes acquainted with, all while she just wants to have a little fun.

» part four / ?

» pairing: eventually - chrollo x oc x feat. hisoka

» warnings: swearing, blood/violence

» a/n: helloo~ this is my first write ever, and it’ll probably be a pretty long series. I’m also balancing school and a part-time job so forgive me for slow updates! If you’re reading this, thank you so much for showing interest and please leave comments below with your inputs!

» word count: 3,118

☾iv.

Name: Sayomi Zoldyck 小夜美 | "小" is small | "夜" is night | "美" is beauty |

Hair color: White

Eye Color: Purple

Nen: Manipulator (same exact abilities as Illumi)

Abilities: Same as Illumi Zoldyck - Body Alteration, Hypnotic Spell, Corpse Control, Needle People, Katana

☾iv. part iv: the mafia(1/2)

The ambience within the car was calm, or at least a calm for the situation at hand. 

Sayomi was curious about what kind of job she was being forced into, but at the same time, she wanted to maintain her composed facade by staying quiet.

She decided to start with a subtle question. “So… who exactly are you guys anyway?”

The man seated next to her answered without an ounce of hesitation, “The mafia.”

Well, shit. So much for a subtle question.

Sayomi was thrown off by the man’s response for the first time since they’d showed up.

The mafia… what would they want with a nobody from Meteor City? 

Her parents had often spoken of the Mafia. They had a reputation of harboring no-name assassins who’d overrun the market with their skill and mass numbers. 

No names… Mother once said that the most notorious criminals hailed from the dumps in Meteor City. Because… their records didn’t exist! They couldn’t be traced, but I wasn’t born there. Do they know that?

Sayomi was on edge now, having a vague idea of what they might be planning to do with her. “What, am I gonna be one of the Mafia’s little assassins now?”

The man smirked at her quick deduction abilities. “You’re a bright one I see, Sayomi Zoldyck.” His tone had roughed up at her last name.

He knows. 

“Well, seeing that you know who I am. You should also be aware that my family would never let me work for another group, right?”

He moved in his seat, turning to face her slightly as he sensed a long conversation. “And that’s why they left you here? Because they care about you?”

She grimaced at the hard truth behind his words.

In an attempt to hide her deflating ego, she replied an icy tone, “Don’t make assumptions. You people know nothing about my family.”

The man let out a monotonous laugh. “Ms Zoldyck, I’m not trying to start a fight here. We didn’t take you to use against your family or anything of that sort. We simply came to recruit our next line of assassins...  and what a coincidence! The family we were following called one day to say they had a proposal for us, and that’s where you came in. It was just the luck of our draw that you happened to stumble upon the exact family of who would’ve been our next assassin.”

Ayame. 

The man continued, “So please, rest assured we will not attempt to harm you or notify your family of your whereabouts. That would only be bad for both of us, correct?”

Sayomi nodded in defeat. She hadn’t stopped to think about the possibilities of her captors being a group so far up the food chain.

It’s true I don’t exactly want to go back home anyway. Maybe I’ll stick around and see what happens.

Sayomi closed her eyes as she leaned up against the cool glass of the window. Her head was throbbing from the sudden onset of overwhelming information, and all she wanted now was to let herself drift off into sleep.

Noting the lack of words from the teen beside him, the man made quiet movements to revert back to his original position, opting to stare out the window as the remainder of the car ride went without another word.

Deep in her dreams, Sayomi felt an emotion she hadn’t experienced since she was abandoned. 

Happiness.

☾ iv.

Inside Sayomi’s dreams.

Sayomi looked down at herself to see she was wearing the kimono she had on the day her mother left her. There’s no way it could still fit her now, having grown almost half a foot, but there she was.

Fine, black silk ran elegantly down her shoulders, arms, and body. The silver accents shone like moonlight reflecting off of her form, while a shocking violet color made up the wrap around her waist.

“Sayomi! Get your head out of the clouds! If I beat you this time I’m taking your new daggers!”

Her head whipped up at the familiar squeaky voice. “Illumi?” she mumbled.

At the sound of his name, the boy turned back towards her, mid-run. The wide smile on his face was replaced by a frown as he noticed Sayomi’s perplexed expression.

Sayomi said nothing, however, only running towards her twin as she reached out to envelop her ever 10 year old brother in a hug.

But upon contact with Illumi, he vanished into thin air, taking the familiar scene of the courtyard away with him.

In a split second, she was back in Meteor City. 

Sayomi blinked twice before slumping down into the sickening piles of junk and filth, sobbing as the absence of her other half sparked her back into reality.

“Ms Zoldyck”, a man’s voice echoed through her dreams.

“Ms Zoldyck”, once again and she opened her eyes-

☾ iv.

Sayomi blinked several times, spotting the reflection of herself slumped against the car door in the window. 

It was much brighter now, the sun having risen far overhead while she had been asleep.

She squinted at the scenery whizzing by outside the window, sighing in defeat when she failed to recognize her new surroundings.

“Good Morning Ms Zoldyck. We have about a half an hour left to our destination.” 

Bidding a slurred ‘good morning’ to the voice in return as she stretched her limbs, a weight dropped in her chest as she remembered why she was here.

Making use of the time left before her arrival, Sayomi attempted to wake herself further as she mentally prepared for the events to come.

15 more minutes in, and the nature that made up the scenery outside began to clear as Yorknew City came into view.

Worries aside, Sayomi stared at the rapidly approaching city in awe. She had yet to have visited Yorknew City, as her parents had felt she wasn’t ready for the big jobs yet. 

But now she faced the megacity at last. She couldn’t help but feel excited at the thought of being in the bustling city of Yorknew on her own.

She was like a teenager who had snuck out to the mall while her parents were at work. 

There was something so exhilarating about going against her parents’ words, even if it was unintentional. In the back of her mind, she felt crazy for cracking a smile in the situation she was in, but the 16 year old side of her ignored it as she let herself enjoy the moment.

Maybe this won’t be as bad as I thought.

☾ iv.

Arriving at their destination, the three black cars pulled up in front of a luxurious hotel.

Sayomi looked up at the building in awe, her breath fogging up the glass as she gaped at the forever extending floors of the hotel.

The driver of her designated car stepped out, followed by the man on her left. 

Rounding about the back of the car, the man opened the door on Sayomi’s side, gesturing for her to exit the vehicle.

She quickly obliged, slinging her katana over her shoulder as the men from the other two cars accompanied her into the lobby.

Sayomi was once again awestruck by the interior of the hotel, everything around her seeming to scream ‘high-class’ and ‘wealthy’. It was a stark contrast to the rags she wore, having no other clothes besides the now tiny kimono she’d left back at Meteor City.

Although the mansion was without a doubt far larger and much pricier than the hotel in which she stood, Sayomi was mesmerized by the people, walking around or sitting in groups, their friendly bonds shining through the crowds.

Back at home, Sayomi’s only ‘friends’ had been Illumi and the butlers. She had yet to experience what it was like to have real friends, her parents seeing them only as a distraction to her job.

She was pulled away from her thoughts as one of the men nudged her to keep walking, the group making their way to the elevators. 

Stopping in midway through the hall in wait of an elevator, the man who had been sitting next Sayomi in the car spoke up, “Welcome to your new temporary home, Ms Zoldyck.”

Home? I get to stay in this classy hotel? 

The man broke through her thoughts once again, “As I told you before, as long as you behave and prove to be a valuable asset to us, we will treat you with the utmost respect.”

Sayomi made brief eye contact with the man, still wary of the offputting kindness they were showing her. Nevertheless, she nodded, not wanting to ruin the rare opportunity.

A loud ding signified the arrival of their elevator, and the same man accompanied Sayomi into the elevator, the rest of the members turning to head back out of the building. 

Inside the elevator, the man held two buttons down at the same time, the top two floors: 49 and 50. Sayomi tilted her head, curious of the maneuver. “Why two floors?” she asked.

The man looked over his shoulder at her, raising his eyebrows at her question.

“It’s a secret floor. For the Mafia and our hired assassins. Just above the 50th floor.”

Sayomi’s mouth formed a round O, clearly impressed by the revelation of a secret floor. Just how influential are these people? They have their own floor and everything.

The two of them waited in silence for the remainder of the time, only moving when the elevator arrived at their floor. 

Sayomi followed the man out into the hallway ahead, mindlessly reading the different room numbers as they passed her by. 5102… 5104… 5106… 5108-

“Alright Ms Zoldyck, this will be your room for the time being. Inside you’ll find a uniform along with any other supplies you’ll be needing while we’re here. I’ll come back in about half an hour to get you started on the job, so in the meantime please change into the uniform and get settled.” And with that, the man handed Sayomi a room key while explaining how the elevators were locked, meaning she couldn’t escape.

Accepting the room key, Sayomi hummed in agreement before entering her new room.

Room # 5110

Two steps into the room, her heart raced with excitement at the view in front of her. 

The room itself wasn’t the impressive part, being a small square with a bed and bathroom. It was the view from the large window in front of her that made her exclaim in delight.

Having grown up on Kukuroo mountain with only the occasional trip to the outside world, the vast city and its bustling streets made Sayomi swoon, her heart restless for a chance to explore the beautiful city.

Noticing the uniform hanging in the closet as mentioned, Sayomi made quick work to change into the fresh set of clothes, ditching her rags.

It was a classic black suit with black dress shoes, matching the clothes of the men that had accompanied her here from Meteor City. The change in outfits restricted the usual placement of her band of needles, and she opted to tuck the band into her pocket instead. 

A knock on her door interrupted the silence, as the man asked through the door if she was ready to begin the job.

She replied with a “yes”, moving to sling her katana over her shoulder as she exited the room.

☾ iv.

“When we don’t have specific targets for you, this will be your job.” the man started to say.

Sayomi stared at the walkie talkie now in her hands. 

“You’ll be staged as a bodyguard for the VIPs that visit the hotel. It’s nothing hard, just a deal we keep with the management to keep our floor up here a secret” he continued.

She nodded in understanding. A bodyguard, huh. Maybe I’ll at least get some action this way.

“Ah, right. The walkie talkie I gave you will notify you of incoming VIP clients. All you have to do is accompany them with your assigned team to their room, where you’ll stand guard either inside or outside. 50 percent of the time the VIP will have a few assassins after them, but the other 50 percent stay and go with no problems.” He started walking back up the hall to the elevators.

Sayomi followed closely behind, asking a question once she stepped into the elevator. “For those 50 percent- the ones targeted by assassins, I mean. Is it fair game to kill their attackers?”

The man laughed out loud. “But of course, disposing of any attackers would only mean a safer client. Do as you wish as long as the VIP’s safety is ensured.”

The assassin blood that ran through Sayomi’s veins was bleeding through. It seemed her inevitable instinct to kill would always resurface, no matter how sympathetic or innocent she tried to become.

Back down at the hotel’s lobby once again, Sayomi now blended in with the numerous other bodyguards dressed in black suits. 

Sayomi’s escort pointed towards the main entrance of the hotel. “Ms Zoldyck, you’ll be stationed with Team 3 over by the fountain right outside. Introduce yourself or don’t, just stand posted until your team is dispatched through the walkie talkies.”

Before she could even respond, the man took off walking back to the elevators, leaving Sayomi to find her way to her post.

Wow, alright then.

Sneering at the man’s abrupt exit, Sayomi tied back her hair, taking a second to compose herself before walking out to the fountain to join her team.

Finding the line of bodyguards quite literally stationed in front of the fountain, the man’s instructions echoed in her head as she decided on the latter, keeping from introducing herself.

The team now had 6 members with the addition of Sayomi, and the others took a moment to size up their new member.

Sayomi did likewise, glancing down the row of suit-clad bodyguards. There were 4 men and 1 other woman, all of them looking to be around their mid-20s. 

Talk about a let down, they’re all at best D-ranked assassins.

Unimpressed at the lack of powerful auras amongst her new allies, Sayomi’s shoulders slumped as she turned to face the busy street with a lack of enthusiasm.

Figuring out a way to pass the time, Sayomi settled for analyzing the hundreds of people that walked by. She was curious about the so-called urban culture she had heard so much about from Ayame back in Meteor City.

Though Sayomi wasn’t completely detached from society, she had still spent a large portion of her life either trapped in the mansion or, recently, in Meteor City. This being, she was fascinated by the little things, such as the different types of clothing people in the city wore, or the billboards and neon signs that began to light up the streets as evening fell upon Yorknew City. 

I wonder what I’d look like if I wore a dress like that… nah but it’s probably impossible to run in anyway.

Looking down at the modest outfit she wore and back to the woman passing by wearing a rather revealing dress, she pouted. 

It must be nice to be able to enjoy the nightlife in a city like this. Maybe when i’m older-

The static sounds of her team’s walkie talkies cut through her thoughts, finally dispatching their assignment for the next few days.

“Team 3. VIP client Adachi Yuto is arriving in less than one minute. The vehicle is a black Maserati and the assigned room will be 4823. Current stay will be 3 days.” 

In unison, Sayomi and the rest of the team straightened their postures, now on alert while they awaited the VIP’s arrival.

Right on time at about a minute later, a black Maserati pulled up to the curb in front of the team. A few of the members began walking towards the car, and the rest including Sayomi followed suit.

The driver opened the door to the backseat in front of them, and a man looking to be in his early 20s stepped out, thanking the driver. 

Must be the VIP.

Her fellow bodyguards started to move almost automatically, forming a circle around the young man. Sayomi quickly found her spot in the formation, walking behind the VIPs right side as the group made their way into the hotel.

Her team seemed to be far experienced, as they walked straight to the elevators without another word or break in formation. It was a silent trip up to floor 48, the VIP remaining occupied on his phone for the entirety of the ride.

Once arriving at room 4823, one of the bodyguards finally spoke, addressing the VIP. “Mr. Yuto, would you like any of us to accompany you inside?”

The VIP politely declined, only looking up from his phone to briefly thank the team for their hard work.

With the VIP turning in for the night, the 3 day timer began for the team. They would take turns in pairs, staying posted outside the VIP’s room, the others going to get rest before switching in once again. 

One of the men volunteered to take the first shift, along with the other woman in group, leaving the rest of them to rest until their shifts came around. 

Sayomi was paired with one of the remaining men to take the next shift. He was a stocky, sturdy-looking man, most likely one of the older members of the group from the signs of age evident in his facial features. 

Agreeing to come back around to the post 15 minutes prior to their shift, the two returned to their rooms on the 51st floor.

☾ iv.

Sayomi flopped down onto her bed upon returning to her room.

Man, this job is getting boring already. 

Glancing at the clock on the wall, she decided to get some rest while she could. She had about 4 hours until the shift change, her break being in the most inconvenient time frame. 

Sayomi’s shift would be in the dead of night, from 1 am to 5 am. 

Not bothering to move underneath the blankets or even untie her hair, Sayomi fell into a deep sleep with her legs dangling off the side of the bed. Her mind and body were both exhausted from the day’s past events, and all she wanted now was to move on from what’d already occurred. 

Because the past isn’t important… right?

That’s what she chose to believe for now, but she also knew in the back of her mind that sooner or later the past would come back and find her. 

☾ iv.

to be continued.

a/n: my taglist is open!

[the-girl-in-the-box]

Not Today XXXVI

A/N: So! Another update a week later! Unfortunately, due to my schedule, this seems to be about what I am capable of at the moment- an update of this somewhere around Saturday night or Sunday morning, and an update on Can You Imagine? somewhere around Tuesday afternoon. As that is the case, please be on the lookout for new chapters following that schedule until things calm down on my end! If things slow down, or if I somehow manage to get ahead, then I will HAPPILY begin to post more often once again! However, if that does not come as soon as I would like, this does seem to be doable, and it does seem to be doable for the near future. With that said, another pretty major canon divergence has begun in this chapter! Hopefully, I’ve hinted at it well enough without outright spoiling it ;) And, either way, I hope you enjoy the chapter, and look forward to updating this again next weekend! Skål!

Summary: When Ivar takes the throne of Kattegat, Lagertha flees to Wessex along with Björn, Ubbe, Torvi, and the Bishop Heahmund. There, they seek the aid of King Alfred. This aid comes in the form of his sister, Aethelind, who agrees to travel to Kattegat and try to reason Ivar, who she spent some time with during their youth, when her grandfather King Ecbert hosted Ragnar Lothbrok in their castle. Now, she is the only hope for Lagertha and her supporters to retake Kattegat from Ivar the Boneless.

Masterlist

--

Oleg wasted no time. Little more than a day passed after they’d managed to get Hvitserk cleaned up, and he, Ivar, and Asta were being called to court before him. Well, before him and Katia, of course. Asta and Ivar were, understandably, a bit nervous about this meeting. Oleg had proven himself unpredictable, and though they both knew they’d not let him touch Hvitserk, they didn’t exactly want Oleg and Katia to know they were plotting against him just yet. So, they would have to be careful, and pray that Hvitserk was as well.

Just before they went into the room, Asta stopped Hvitserk, looking up at him seriously. “You warned me once to be careful of Ivar,” she whispered. “Now I’m warning you, be careful of Oleg.”

“Were you careful, Princess?” Hvitserk asked her with a pointed smirk and a small chuckle, and she rolled her eyes amusedly.

“I was,” she answered. “Until I no longer had need to be. But Oleg isn’t Ivar. I know what happened to Sigurd, but I know Ivar regrets what he did that day. Oleg killed his brother Askold, and I truly do not believe he could care less. He treats his nephew horribly, and Ivar and I have done all we can to stand between them, but there’s only so much we can do.” Hvitserk nodded a little as Asta let out a small sigh. “And that doesn’t even reach Katia,” she said.

“Katia?”

“Katia, Oleg’s wife.”

Hvitserk’s eyes grew large. “She is more dangerous than Oleg?” he asked in disbelief.

“In her own way,” Asta answered vaguely. “She’s cunning, I see that in her eyes. That, and beautiful, seductive, attentive…”

Hvitserk lifted a brow now. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say Ivar needed to be warned that you were going to leave him,” he joked, and Asta chuckled.

“I’m not,” she assured Hvitserk. “But as good as those traits sound, that is why they’re the problem. They are good, and she’s almost too good. I can’t help my suspicions.”

“Suspicions that…?” Hvitserk prompted.

“That she’s hiding something.”

They spent little more time talking about those who currently ruled over Kiev, and soon rejoined Ivar to step into the throne room, looking up to where Oleg sat on Igor’s throne, Katia lounging by his feet. What Asta didn’t notice was the way Hvitserk’s eyes widened just a bit upon seeing her. Ivar was the first of them to speak up.

“Prince Oleg,” he greeted. “Princess Katia, your Highnesses. Allow me to present my brother, Hvitserk, just lately risen from the dead.” Asta had to keep herself from giving a roll of her eyes. Ivar was dramatic, even without watching him on the other side of Hvitserk, Asta could see that.

Hvitserk gave a simple, small bow, and greeted the pair, “Your Highness.”

“Another son of Ragnar Lothbrok,” Oleg commented curiously. “You are most welcome.” Hvitserk gave something of a small, half smile as Oleg informed him, “You arrive at interesting times.”

“So I understand,” Hvitserk answered. “My brother has told me that you intend to attack our homeland.”

Ivar glanced between the two men anxiously, and Asta noticed this, having glanced over toward him to see what he thought of Hvitserk revealing this, that they had talked. Clearly, he was wanting to know Oleg’s thoughts on this, far more than he was having any of his own thoughts on it at the moment. And so, her eyes turned instead to Oleg, in time to catch him almost laughing.

He hummed, before answering Hvitserk, “It was once my homeland. I’m only reclaiming the past. I trust you will be happy to join King Ivar and myself in this great undertaking.”

So, he went with the lie. She and Ivar knew the truth, that any papers giving Oleg claim to Kattegat were forgeries. There was an assumption then, Asta realized- Oleg didn’t believe Ivar would have told Hvitserk this, nor did he believe she had done so, herself. Interesting.

Hvitserk chuckled a little. “I have nowhere else to go,” he confessed, and all but Asta laughed slightly- though, she did give something of a small huff, emulating laughter, as not to tip anyone off. Truthfully, she hated that Björn and Ubbe had turned their backs on him. Sure, he had killed Lagertha, who they had both loved, but this was their brother, their little brother. A part of herself whispered that Ivar was too, and she found herself suddenly far less surprised. 

“Hearing this just makes me all the more glad to know Ivar found you,” Asta said, turning and putting a hand on Hvitserk’s arm. “That, and the simple fact that we have been reunited.”

Hvitserk offered her a small smile, and replied, “Yes, I am also very happy to see you again, and to be reunited with you, Asta.” Asta smiled at him sweetly, and squeezed his arm before releasing him as he turned back to Oleg. “And, I am at your service, Prince Oleg. I, too, need to reclaim my past.”

“The Prince and I are so happy to have you at our court, Hvitserk. Ivar has spoken a lot about you.”

Asta hadn’t expected Katia to speak up when she did, and turned to her with a curious expression. She watched her stand, and start to make her way down the stairs, moving in such a way that she demanded all attention be on her. Freydis hadn’t moved like that, Asta remembered. Even as a Queen, she had just moved like any other woman. Katia was good, Asta wanted to believe, but Freydis had been sweet, and warm, and gentle, in ways Katia was not. She swallowed hard as she remembered her, and closed her eyes briefly to stem any tears which wanted to leak from them.

When her eyes reopened, Katia was standing with Ivar now, and continuing, “When you were children, when you jumped ship… He told me that you always believed you were fated to be together, however many times fate itself seemed to pull you apart.”

She smirked up at him knowingly, and Ivar met this with a tight smile, nodding slightly to acknowledge what she was saying was true, and then she was moving on to stand in front of Hvitserk.

“I find, myself, that fate works in… mysterious ways,” she said, and rested a hand against Hvitserk’s chest. Asta lifted a brow as she watched the two lock eyes, a million words seeming to pass between them, and yet not one could she translate for herself. Looking then to Oleg, Asta found it curious how truly, deeply unsettled the man appeared.

Katia had behaved similarly with herself and Ivar for quite some time now, and yet Oleg had never seemed all that bothered. But, he believed them to be married. Perhaps it was, then, that he believed neither of them to be a threat to his own marriage? And with Hvitserk being unwed and also unattached… Who knew what concerns were beginning to work their way into his mind, as Katia finally returned to him. Both his eyes, and Hvitserk’s, followed her, until she returned to her place at Oleg’s side, lounging on the dais just in front of him.

“Our army’s assembling,” Oleg began, clearly wanting to return to a more professional topic. “Tonight, you will watch some of it parade past the Palace.” He paused in his speaking to reach down and run a hand through Katia’s hair, and she seemed to almost pull away from him, though not quite, an uncomfortable expression crossing her face. So, there was trouble brewing between them. “It should be an interesting experience,” he finished, and nodded to dismiss the Vikings who stood before him.

Ivar and Hvitserk exchanged a look which was unreadable to the Prince, but Asta… that woman was harder to read than the two men combined. He could see her looking into the eyes of his wife, seeming to silently communicate with her. How troublesome this so-called Prophet was, and yet, how bold. He slid his hand through Katia’s hair once more, trying to draw her attention away from Asta, and it worked. But there was something distant in her eyes now, and he looked up again to watch as Asta followed her husband and his brother from the room, wondering what thoughts the little witch might have just put into his beloved wife’s mind.

It didn’t take five minutes, once Asta had reached Hvitserk and Ivar, for her to grit out, “I want to choke him.”

“Who, Oleg?” Hvitserk questioned, tilting his head a little.

“Who else?” she almost hissed.

“Well, he’s the obvious choice, but I couldn’t blame you if you meant Ivar-” He was interrupted by a grunt as Ivar elbowed him in the ribs.

“Say what you want, but Asta would never do that to me,” Ivar said confidently. “She loves me too much for that.”

Asta’s cheeks turned a slight shade of pink, and she rolled her eyes. “Just for that, you’re dead by morning, Ragnarsson,” she teased, though her tone held very little levity to it. Ivar laughed, and Hvitserk found himself chuckling as well.

“So, you two for real then, hmm?” he asked curiously. “I mean, I saw it back in Kattegat, but I wouldn’t have thought after everything that happened…”

“Who else did we have?” Ivar pointed out, looking over at Hvitserk. “Who else did I have, hmm? Asta is the only one who did not ever leave me, who never betrayed me. There is no one else I would have trusted enough.”

Asta smiled softly at his words, and slipped a hand into his, wrapping her free arm around it and holding him a little closer as they walked. “Nor I, darling,” she replied, and pressed a kiss to his shoulder. Ivar turned to her with a soft smile.

Hvitserk realized as he watched the pair that he hadn’t seen Ivar look at anyone that way aside from Freydis, nor Asta. Though he hadn’t known her long enough to know if she’d looked at someone that way before, he knew it was quite a special look. It was love, he saw in their eyes as they looked at each other, and he smiled slightly. With all luck, and the favor of the gods, he hoped he might also find someone to share that sort of look with one day.

They decided shortly after this that they were hungry, and seeing as they had not been to see Igor yet that day, busy as they’d been with Oleg, Asta and Ivar agreed they would go and fetch him. Hvitserk, having liked the boy well enough the previous time they had met, had no complaint about this.

Once they had him, they went to one of the smaller dining areas, and were served a meal, which they all sat around the table to eat. A light conversation was kept up for most of the meal, until it seemed to die out naturally. That was all well and good, though, as Ivar had something he’d been meaning to bring up. And, he did. He looked up at Hvitserk, who was still eating, and opened with a casual, “So.”

His brother looked up from his meal and prompted him, “So?”

Igor also looked up now, glancing between the two curiously as Ivar questioned, “What do you think?”

“About Oleg?” Hvitserk asked, a bit confused. Hadn’t they discussed him just a few hours prior?

“No, not about Oleg,” Ivar replied as though it should be obvious. “About his wife.”

“I thought she was… attractive?” Hvitserk said. “Rather provocative.” Asta smirked.

But Ivar was clearly not satisfied, and in fact, seemed a little irritated almost at Hvitserk’s response. “Nothing else?” he pressed.

“No,” Hvitserk answered. “What else?”

Ivar was stunned. Asta couldn’t keep herself from chuckling quietly at that expression of his. She recalled once likening it to a startled duck. He hadn’t quite believed her, but she’d still had a good laugh about it with him. She wondered if Hvitserk would find it amusing, as she did.

“You look like a startled duck again, darling,” she told him, and Hvitserk choked.

“You do,” he agreed easily.

Ivar now looked at Asta as if she had betrayed him, and he was deeply hurt by this. “You said you would never tell!” he accused, and she giggled.

“I still haven’t,” she defended. “In fact, I don’t think Hvitserk or Igor would even think there was something to tell, had you not just given it away.”

Ivar tried to stammer some kind of answer about that out, but only met the expectant eyes of both his brother, and Igor. She was right, he definitely brought that one on himself. “Ah, she said I looked like a startled duck one time, and I said we should not let it out that I was so easily stunned by her. There,” he said. “Anyway, Hvitserk.” Asta giggled at how eager he was to move on. “She didn’t… remind you of anyone?”

“Katia?” he clarified, and Ivar nodded.

“Yes,” he said. “You saw her. You know who she looks like.”

“I do?”

“Of course you do, brother,” Ivar replied. “Freydis.”

Hvitserk blinked a few times, and Asta realized the ‘startled duck’ face might just have been hereditary. “Your… wife?” Ivar nodded and made a small sound as if to confirm this. “Freydis is dead, Ivar, I- I saw her body-”

“Yes, yes, yes, I know,” Ivar said nonchalantly. “I killed her. But they are identical. So much so, Asta and I at first believed she had come back somehow.”

Hvitserk nodded slowly as he took this in, seeming to think for a moment, before he finally said decisively, “You’re still crazy, Ivar.”

Ivar deflated a little. Before, whenever Hvitserk had said that, he’d let it roll right off his back like water off a startled duck’s wings. Asta decided to step in.

“It’s true, Hvitserk,” she said. “Take a closer look at her, next time we are all together. I know you didn’t know her overly well, Freydis, but… the resemblance is uncanny, at the least.”

Hvitserk sighed as he heard Asta backing Ivar up on this, not just letting him claim she believed it as well. Without truly believing it, he doubted the Princess would have said anything. “Alright,” he conceded. “I’ll take a better look next time we see her.”

Asta nodded, and offered him a small smile as a way of thanking him. But, the smile turned into a smirk, and she chuckled. “I don’t think you’ll mind doing that anyway, will you?” she teased. “I saw the way the two of you looked at each other.” She lifted her brows a bit, pressing her lips together in a knowing smile as Hvitserk tilted his head confusedly.

“What do you mean?” he asked, and Asta laughed lightly.

“Come on, really?” she questioned. “I could have drawn my sword right then and cut the tension between you, it was so thick.”

“No, you’d just have cut off her hand,” Hvitserk countered, which only made Asta laugh more.

“Indeed I would have!” she agreed. “Which makes one question, why was she touching you in the first place?”

Hvitserk paused, sitting back and blinking a few times as his brows creased together. It was a good question. Why had she touched him? She hadn’t needed to. Asta was right about all of this, wasn’t she? Katia had touched him unnecessarily, and in doing so, had proven her unpredictability. She really was just as dangerous as Asta said. But, did she truly look like Freydis?

When that night came, he was dumbfounded to say the answer was a resounding yes. Katia did bear a very uncanny resemblance to Freydis, and he suddenly found himself wondering just how hard that was on his brother and his not-wife. With all the talk of the other Russian prince, one whose name had been funny to Hvitserk, as it had sounded much like the word animal to him, and Ivar’s alliance with him to overthrow Oleg, it had slipped his mind to be on the lookout for. But, when they were confronted with her, it had slapped him in the face. If someone had told him they were twins, he’d have believed it.

Now, he stood on the complete opposite side of her, with Asta to his right, Ivar to hers, then Oleg, Igor, and finally Katia on his other side. He wanted to take another look, but the army had begun to march out, and he knew it would be suspicious if he was watching Oleg’s wife, instead. So, he turned his attention to the massive army, and tried to pay attention to what Oleg said as they marched by.

“Who can resist such an army?” he was currently questioning. “Nobody. Not King Harald. Not Björn Ironside. They are like children. They, and their gods, will be destroyed. This, my good friends, is the end of paganism. The end of the pagan gods.”

Asta whipped her head around to look at Ivar, concern for him and this endeavour filling her. This was quickly shaping up to seem like a horrible idea, and she could see the same thoughts circulating in his mind behind his watering eyes. This, if Oleg was to be believed, was meant to be the end of his gods, and Hvitserk’s, and all those of the people of Scandinavia.

She turned back to watch the army, a newfound look of horror in her eyes. The Vikings had brought a Heathen army down on her home once, and killed many people simply for being Christian. Now, Oleg would bring a Christian army down on the people of Kattegat, and many would be slaughtered, simply for being Heathen. Once more, she turned back to Ivar, and as soon as she moved his eyes landed back on her. For once, both were perfectly readable, and their expressions revealed quite the same train of thought.

What have we done?

Taglist: @youbloodymadgenius, @katfett, @sylki-simp, @heavenly1927, @pomegranates-and-blood, @kingniazx, @dekusdante

If you want to be added to the taglist, feel free to reach out either by commenting, reblogging, DMing me, or sending an ask, and I’ll be more than happy to add you!

[sara-scribbles]

Emotional

Fandom: Genshin Impact Childe/Lumine Word Count: 1,801 Note: I’ve been playing a lot of this game and I think I’m addicted. I love the characters so I’ll probably write for some. Warning: Not canon (but who cares). Some slight spoiler I guess from the 1.1 update trailer.

---------

The chair was uncomfortable no matter which way she sat. Eventually Lumine gave up trying to find a good position to sit. Standing up, she began to pace the small room. The sole occupant in the bed laid motionless even as her footsteps clicked on the wooden floor.

“Lumine, don’t worry,” Paimon said, trying to reassure her. “The healer said he should be fine with some rest. Chill-day is too tough to die.”

She paused her pacing to study the unconscious man. “He looks...peaceful.” Even though he always had a smile, there was something strained and tense in his face. His eyes didn’t quite light up with emotions whenever she talked with him.

“Paimon thinks it’s because you gave him a good butt kick.” She hovered over his head. “Hopefully he’ll have a nasty headache.”

“Paimon…”

“It’s what he deserves for causing us so much trouble!” she protested, her tiny fists balled up. “Kicking us around like that...hmpf!”

Sighing, Lumine sank back down in the chair. “He had his reasons… Even if we don’t agree with them, Childe had his reasons for what he did.”

“Even though he lied to us?” She floated over to the blond to sit on her shoulder. “You have a big heart, Lumine. Paimon can’t forgive him that easily. He’ll need to spend a mil-no a trillion mora on food for us before he can be forgiven.”

“You just want free meals for life.”

“Hmm...maybe.” Lumine laughed quietly as Paimon fell into deep thought.

---------

His entire body hurt. He could barely feel his fingers as they flexed. Even opening his eyes hurt. Looking at an unfamiliar ceiling, one thought ran through his head.

“Why am I alive?”

After the battle with Lumine, that he had lost, he remembered seeing her sword raised for the last blow. In that moment he couldn’t wait to embrace death. Not because he was sorry for his actions. Not because he nearly destroyed Liyue.

It was because of the look Lumine had given him in that moment. Eyes filled with tears and teeth clenched tightly, she looked utterly devastated. He knew his actions would ruin whatever bond they had formed, but he hadn’t prepared for how it would hurt him so much to see her hurting.

He hadn’t guarded his heart as well as he had thought. Somehow, someway she had slipped through his armor. She had slipped past his defenses and settled in his heart.

Forcing his thoughts back to the present, Childe slowly and painfully sat up. From the looks for the room, he had been brought to a healer. Perhaps one of the Fatui agents had found him.

However once he turned to his left, he knew it wasn’t one of the Fatui. Sitting in an uncomfortable chair was Lumine. Her elbow was propped up on the arm rest, and her chin rested on her palm. Eyes closed and mouth slightly open, she was fast asleep. Her disheveled appearance told him she had been there for a long time.

Again he was reminded of the look on her face just at the end of the battle. Yet, she hadn’t finished him like he had thought. Instead she had brought him to a healer.

“...Lumine.” He quietly stood up even as his body protested. Leaning down to eye level, he studied her sleeping face. Dark circles lined her eyes. A bit of drool was forming in the corner of her mouth.

Childe wanted to reach out and touch her, but held himself back. He didn’t have the right.

Moving away, he left the room. Thankfully it seemed no one was around as he snuck to the nearest open window.

Just as he was about to climb out, a familiar voice called him. “You’re just gonna sneak out like that, Chill-day,” Paimon demanded.

Floating right behind him, she had her arms crossed as she gave him her sternest look. Chuckling, Childe slipped into an easy smile. “You caught me. Thought I’d leave before causing a scene.”

She huffed. “Well that’s just rude! After Lumine dragged your body all the way here and begged for someone to heal you, you’re just going to leave. Na-uh! You owe us!”

Scratching the back of his head, he searched on his person. “I don’t have any mora on me. But if I go to the bank I c-“

“Paimon doesn’t want your mora!” She stomped her foot in mid-air. “Paimon thought long and hard about what you can do to make it up to us.”

“Oh?” He tilted his head to the side. He was curious to know what the small creature would demand.

“First, apologize to Zhongli, Liyue and me. Second, apologize to Lumine for hurting her. Third, eternal servitude.” She ticked off each request on her fingers.

“Eternal servitude? Isn’t that a bit much?”

“Um...fine! Ten years of servitude should be good.” She nodded to herself before glaring at him. “If you can’t do that at least don’t run away until you’ve faced Lumine.”

He sighed deeply as the smile dropped from his face. “I don’t think she wants to see me after everything I did. It’s best if I just leave quietly.”

Paimon was not amused. “Lumine cares a lot about you. She was willing to help you even when you tried to kill us. If you care for her like Paimon thinks you do, then you’ll talk to her.”

For once the small creature sounded mature. Childe shook his head and put one foot out the window. “Let me think about it…”

---------

Lumine woke with a snort. Blinking the sleep from her eyes and wiping the drool from her cheek, she looked around the room. She could hear the birds chirping. The empty bed made her stomach drop.

“He’s gone…” She had hoped that if he did wake, he would stay. At least long enough for her to say goodbye.

Leaving the room, she yawned and stretched. The chair had done a number on her back. “Paimon? What are you doing there?”

She was sitting on the ledge of an open window. “Paimon wanted to get some fresh air and thinks you should too.”

“Mhm…guess you’re right. Maybe I’ll walk around town.” Lumine was trying her best to sound normal. Still the fact Childe had left without a word hurt more than when he hit her with an electro attack.

“Paimon thinks you should go to the beach. The nice salt air is good for you.” She pointed to the beach out the window.

Brows drawing together, Lumine glanced out the window. “The beach? I guess I could go there…”

“Great! Paimon’ll be at Wangshu Inn! Their almond tofu is the best!” Floating up, she gave Lumine a wave before quickly flying out the window.

Taking Paimon’s advice, she went to the beach. The scent of the salt waves did calm her down. Just a day ago, the waters had been dark and foreboding. Everything was now calm as if nothing had happened.

Walking along the shore, she picked up a starconch. Inspecting the blue shell, she was about to toss it back in the water when she spotted a mess of orange hair just a bit further down.

Not believing her eyes, she slowly made her way toward the figure. She started picking up her pace as she got closer. She was all but running by the time she was a few feet away from him.

“Childe!” She collided with him and wrapped her arms around his waist. Pressing her face against his back, she felt a sense of relief that he hadn’t left just yet.

“You found me…” He sounded tired.

Pulling away, she took a few steps back so she could look at him. He smiled weakly as he met her golden gaze. “I thought you left.”

“I couldn’t leave just yet.” His eyes flickered away from hers.

She looked down at her feet. She was still clutching the starconch tightly in her hand. “Are you feeling better?”

“Why?” he whispered.

Her head snapped up as she stared at him. “Why what?”

“Why do you care? Why did you save me?” Desperation colored his eyes. He reached for her but stopped and let his arms fall to his side. “After everything that happened, you still saved me. Why?”

Licking her suddenly dry lips, Lumine inspected the starconch closely. “I…didn’t want to leave you. A part of me knew you were using me, but that didn’t stop me from caring about you.”

She held up the starconch. “When we first met, you were all smiles, laughter and jokes. But I quickly learned it was all a mask. Behind that mask, I saw someone who was alone. Someone who craved a connection but was afraid to let himself be vulnerable.”

A dry chuckle left his lips. “You really saw all that? I guess I wasn’t as good at hiding as I thought.”

The corner of her lips twitched. “I’m just good at observing people for a long time. It took me a while to figure you out. And even now I’m not completely sure.”

“You’re mostly correct, which is a feat in itself. You’re a smart girl,” he praised.

Her stomach did an odd flip at his compliment. “W-well what are you planning to do now?” She quickly changed the subject.

Childe tilted his head back to stare at the endless blue sky. “I’m not sure. I doubt I’ll be welcomed back to the Fatui after my failure. Punishment seems more like it…”

Inhaling deeply, she held the starconch out to him. “You could come with us. Paimon and I plan to visit the other countries.”

“Are you sure you want me to come with you? I’m kind of a bad guy.” Yet, he took the starconch from her, inspected it, and placed it in his pocket all the while holding eye contact.

Lumine peered up at him. “It’s okay. I trust you.”

He blinked owlishly at her. “...really?”

“Yes.” Her eyes sparked with determination. “I believe you’re not as bad of a person as you want me to think you are. You’ve done some bad things, but it doesn’t mean you can’t make up for them.”

A slow smile formed on his face. He moved with lightning fast reflexes even as his muscles protested. Leaning over her, he tilted her chin up with one hand and pressed his other against the small of her back.

“You’re very naïve, Lumine. If you’re not careful, I just might take advantage of you again,” he murmured, his lips inches from hers. His hold was loose enough that she could push him away.

His eyes that once held no emotions, were swirling with them. Sorrow, happiness, fear, hope all seemed to clash inside him. He was looking for something from her and she knew what it was.

Her hands grasped at the front of his shirt. “I forgive you.” Three simple words. His body relaxed and he closed space between them.

[ithoughticouldwrite]

Haha so

I finally updated "Trust Is Worth A Thousand Words" and it's a rather short chapter but I hope you guys enjoy it anyway.

5:45pm. Alcina waited patiently, sitting at her vanity for no other reason than to look into the mirror and think. She would never admit it was a fool's errand at first. Never truly. In fact if she'd admit anything it would be that she did not know why she'd allowed a stranger and her family into her home, then put said stranger in such a position of trust. However, it wasn't as if it was everyday that other vampires were kind. It wasn't everyday that other vampires put others above themselves. It certainly wasn't everyday that other vampires did both of those things. As if planning to be annoying a particularly strong gust of wind rattled the woman's main window, causing her lost in thought gaze to snap away from her mirror and look around. Her bed remained untouched, there were no strange shadows, and the window had not been blown open. There weren't even any sounds of a break in. And so she went back to thinking about her. What had her name been? Adaeze? A strange name, honestly, but it carried a sort of warmth with it that even Alcina found herself unable to escape. However for all the warmness in the world there was no mistaking the look of self-hatred and regret at towards the end of their conversation the night before. And earlier the way she'd just...offered to help with an issue that wasn't even hers to concern herself with. It had almost come across as pity. By the time she'd stopped her thinking it was slightly past 6 pm and Adaeze was la- "My Lady?" The voice almost made Alcina jump before slowly turning in her chair to look at the other as they stood in front of her closed bedroom door. "How long have you been there?" How did she sneak in like that? Her heartbeat should've been audible enough, or at the very least there should've been a smell different enough to make her presence known, and yet there was nothing of the sort. "Bout five minutes."No fear. No nervousness. It was throwing the lady for a bit of a loop. She was Alcina Dimitrescu and yet here was this woman answering her question without so much as a voice crack. "Hm. Did anyone explain to you what your duties are, or did they all forget?" "No, my lady." A thinking pause. "Am ah allowed to guess any though?" Alcina gave a slightly judgmental look as she considered letting Adaeze guess at what she was to do. In comparison to past maids this one was a little bold, but all at the same time respectful. "You may." "Thank you, hm, Ah'd assume the first thing would be to draw you a bath? Ah couldn't help but notice yur bed is a little neat, so you must've been doin something or other. Maybe you'd want your hair washed, or not, maybe that depends on the day's activities. The maid who lead me here said somethin' about wine..." "Who?" "Elvira, she's nice that one." Alcina simply nodded, sitting back in her chair a bit. She had little idea of who Elvira was, the price of having as many maids as she did, but right now that didn't really matter. "Hm, normally you'd be right, however right now you're to go get tea from the kitchen and make your way up to my study. If this Elvira has any sense she won't be far." She waved her hand. "Leave." And so Adaeze nodded once and left the room.

Read the rest of "Tea and Talking"(Chapter 3) on ao3

[anjuschiffer]

Amira Wayne - Chapter 15

Two updates in one day?! Hell yeah! As before, I’m catching up with @biodad-bruce-month​‘s event.

Chapter 15: Rivalry

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P.Tag: @theatreandcomicfreak @damianette-is-life @toodaloo-kangaroo @elijahcrevan @vixen-uchiha @nathleigh

Tag: @we-want-mini-mini @ramos123 @bluesimani @redscarlet95 @greatcatblaze @promiswords @fantasiame @corabeth11 @anonymously-odd @alexandriamw @officiallydarkgeek @galla02006 @maleive07

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MASTERLIST | FIRST | PREV | AO3

Amira looked at the two miraculous boxes in her possession, sighing as she looked at the drawing board in her room. Thanks to Tikki, she didn’t have to deal with a tearful departure with her temporary team, something she didn’t think she would’ve been able to handle. 

After all, she had adored Carapace’s and Gris’ company. 

For now, she was to return them to Master Fu soon, along with discussing a few things regarding her suspect. 

“Checking over the data and evidence, Amira?” Tikki asked, munching on some cookies Amira had baked earlier today. 

Yes, she made them at five in the morning, but could you blame the girl? She was excited to see her friends again. Not only that, but Wally was going to stay with her for the week! So of course, Amira decided to bake some things for them, wrapping them into tiny bags to give to them later.

“While it may seem like I have all the evidence I need, I still need more. Without those final pieces, I can’t seal the case shut.”

“But didn’t you get the evidence you needed from your father’s-”

“It’s still not enough.” Amira said, looking at her suspect’s picture. “All the evidence points to him, but at the same time it doesn’t. I have his bank statements from just a little over a year, a few things sticking out to me. 

An incubator, some gardening tools, a large order of milkweed along with other varieties of flowers and an order from a slightly sketchy butterfly farm. 

Back in Gotham, whenever someone wouldn't want others to catch whiff of their plans, they would go through the hassle of having proxies and the sort. But he didn’t bother to do that. 

Probably didn’t think anyone would see it odd as his profession calls for him to do the bizarre...at least to some extent.”

“So this suspect’s career allowed him to get away with being...bizarre?” 

“A bit of a front, if you will. What makes him even more suspicious is the data I got after adding trackers to the akumas I would purify.”

“What did you get from it?” 

“All the butterflies collect into a single area.” Amira circles a particular house on her map, glaring at it. “After all, all loyal creatures go back to the person or thing that cares for them with the utmost kindness. A bit ironic in this case, if you ask me.”

“But this is enough evidence Amira! With all this, you can successfully say-”

“That’s where you’re wrong Tikki. I still need photographic evidence. But very soon Tikki. Very soon, we’ll capture Hawkmoth.” Amira looked at Gabriel Agreste’s photo taped to her board.

She just needs a few more things and she’ll finally be able to take him down. She’ll be victorious.

---

“Baguette!” Adrien chirped, throwing himself onto Marinette, Chloé rolling her eyes. 

“Adrikins. We’ve only been away for four days.” 

“Four long days at that!” Adrien defended, breaking away from Marinette. “Next time we go to another gala, we’re taking you with us.” 

Chloé didn’t miss the way Marinette stiffened, her face going a shade lighter than usual. 

“Right...next time.” Marinette trailed, prying Adrien from her. “So, how was the oh-so-famed Wayne Gala? Lived up to its reputation?”

“Hardly.” Chloe scoffed, tossing her hair behind her. “Bunch of old people getting together and talking about setting up their kids to marry one another.”

“Really now?” Marinette said. “Please, do tell me more.”

---

Amira was glad to hear that the gala was a success, although she already knew that thanks to Dick. 

With the gala talk occupying the majority of the group’s time, the school day had managed to go quicker than usual, not that Amira minded it. 

Aside from hearing Chloe’s complaints about the gala, Amira also got to introduce Nino to them during lunch, Nino and Adrien quickly bonding over their love for Jagged Stone. Of course, their little gathering finished quickly once Alya caught wind of the reason why Chloe and Adrien were absent. 

To avoid Alya from gathering any details, the trio decided to keep talking after school...or rather after fencing club through text.

Making sure that her knickers were in place, Amira proceeded to put on her plastron and jacket, carrying her headgear in hand. She was glad to have an actual partner for fencing again. As much as she liked sparring with Mr. D’Argencourt, it was starting to get overbearing whenever he would go on tangents on her becoming his next star pupil.

“Baguette! Have you been practicing despite me being gone?” Adrien asked with a smirk, only to get a scoff in return when the two got to their usual spots in the courtyard.

“Of course I have been. How else will I get better?” Marinette said, placing her headgear on. “Why don’t I prove it to you?”

Smiling, Adrien also placed his headgear on. 

“En garde. Pret? Allez!” Adrien recited, lunging towards Marinette, only to be dodged and attacked.

“Attaque. Touche. Point!” Mr.D’Argencourt said with a smile. “Wonderful work, Marinette!”

“Shall we continue?” Marinette asked, getting into position. Chuckling, Adrien also got into position. 

“En garde. Pret? Allez!” 

Marinette quickly lunged towards Adrien, using his retreat to counter it, bringing her sword under his own and landing a hit on him.

“You really weren’t kidding. Attack, pare, riposte, counterattack. Just how much have you been practicing?” 

“I only learn from the best.” Marinette answered back, bending her epee. “Mr. D’Argencourt-”

“Where is D’Argencourt? I wish to join the team as I heard that only le crème de la crème learn under his tutelage.” Someone roared, Adrien and Marinette turning to see a fencer in all red standing on top of the scoring machine. 

Mr. D’Argencourt walked up to Rouge, examining them from head to toe.

“I am M. D’Argencourt and I will only consider your admission if you can defeat my best student.”

“And who is this student?” They asked, getting off the scoring machine.

Adrien and Marinette watched as the sea of club members that were once in front of them now left them exposed. “Which one of you is the best combatant?”

Marinette gladly stepped aside after pushing Adrien forward. 

“Baguette! How could you? Top 10-”

“Oh don’t be so dramatic. You are Mr D’Argencourt’s best student, any way you look at it. So go on and make us proud!”

---

Marinette watched as the match escalated from using the scoring machine to her having to act as referee.

She followed the duel as they soon left the piste, Marinette so close on scolding the two for leaving the strip they were supposed to stay on (if this were an official match). 

But pushing that urge down, Marinette watched with wonder as the duo kept parrying each other, surprised that this person was on par with Adrien.

Marinette was so drawn in by their match that not only did she follow them into the library, but she almost missed the final hit. Thankfully, she didn’t.

As the two stepped back from the position that clearly showed both of their epee on one another, Marinette was ready to declare the winner. 

Yes it went pretty fast, but the match was still clear enough for her to know who actually won. 

Marinette remained silent, letting Adrien and Rouge catch their breaths until Rouge decided to speak first. 

“So...who won? Who got the first hit?”

Marinette watched as Adrien took off his headgear, his hair sticking to his face.

At this time, the rest of the club finally caught up, Mr. D’Argencourt demanded to know who won. 

“Adrien, Mr. D’Argencourt. I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but Rouge here won. They landed the hit first.” Marinette announced, watching as Rouge take off their headgear, a smile on her face. 

“I still remain victorious!” Rouge said, stabbing her epee into the air before letting it rest once by her side again. 

Rouge, however, couldn’t help but notice Adrien’s staring between her and the person who watched their entire match. 

Rouge watched as Adrien kept turning his head between the two, an unsettling grin growing as his eyes stopped on M D’Argencourt. 

“M. D’Argencourt! You have to let her join the team!” Adrien said with a smile, confusing everyone. “By the way, what’s your name?” Adrien asked Rouge.

“Kagami. Kagami Tsurugi.”

“Adrien, where are you going with this?”

 “Do you really not know what this means, M. D’Argencourt?”

“That adding Mlle Tsurugi to the team will help my reputation?”

“Well that, but you’ll have the strongest duo of female fencers under your tutelage!” Adrien said, running up to the referee of the match, taking off their headgear, Kagami feeling her eyes widen. “And they look practically identical.”

Kagami agreed. To think she would find someone who looked almost identical to herself…

“Adrien, is what you are saying true? That this person is just as good as I am?” Kagami asked, pointing her epee towards Marinette, causing her to gulp.

“He’s clearly exaggerating.” Marinette said, using her hand to gently lower the blade point towards her. “Oh, how rude of me. Name’s Marinette. Marinette Dupain-Cheng. And I can’t possibly be just as good as you if I just started fencing this year. That would be an insult to all experienced fencers out there.”

Adrien sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

“But to get high praise from an experienced fencer,” Kagami said, getting into position for another match. “Show me Marinette. Show me this skill Adrien has seen worthy of his praise. En guarde!”

---

Amira flopped onto her beanbag, groaning into it as Tikki zipped out her jacket.

“That girl Kagami...she really is amazing, isn’t she?” 

After Adrien happily stated that Marinette was on par with him, Kagami started a duel, keeping Marinette on her toes throughout the whole match. 

While Amira was able to keep up with Kagami, it was nothing compared to her spars with Adrien. 

Kagami relentlessly struck attack after attack, her attacks filled with such force, it felt as if Kagami’s epee was of some other material than steel. 

Was she really just 13 years old like the rest of them? It felt as if she had more experience than someone her age should…

Abruptly getting up, Amira plopped herself into her computer chair, madly typing in the surname Tsurugi, only to be surprised to see Kagami and two other people’s faces appear in the search. 

Amira let out a dry laugh, not believing her luck. 

“So her whole family is into fencing, what are the odds.” Not only was her mother a two-time Olympic champion, her grandfather was a three time Olympic champion before as well. The two reasons why either couldn’t continue their streak was due to life-changing events. In Tomoe’s case, an incident that caused her to go blind.

“Wow. That’s very impressive!”

“Isn’t it? But I worry. Can you imagine the amount of pressure she has to carry? The pressure to uphold her family’s legacy?” 

Amira stared back at Kagami’s photo, finally deciding to shut down her computer. 

“Amira! It’s almost 5! You’re going to be late to the airport!” 

“Airport? Wally isn’t coming via airport. He’s coming over via zeta tube.” Amira said with a grin, grabbing a coat and her keys before heading off to greet Wally.

---

Wally gaped as he took in his surroundings, not believing he was in Paris. He didn’t snap from his trance until something was shoved into his mouth. 

“Flies are going to go in if you don’t close your mouth.” Amira said, placing a bag of cookies into his hands. He eagerly began to devour them.

How long has it been since he had Amira’s homemade cookies?

“Can you blame me?” Wally stuffed another cookie into his mouth. “This is my first time in Paris!”

“Wally. You’ve literally been to space. Heck, you live there.” Amira said, giving him a smile.

“Amira.” He gestured at the Eiffel Tower in the distance. “Paris.”

“Don’t get too comfortable now.” Amira said, watching as the two arrived at the bakery. “Things will be bound to get odd.”

Oh the urge Wally had to laugh when the ground began to shake, causing Amira to groan.

“Are you sure you’re Lady Luck? Because it sure doesn’t feel like it. Ow!” Wally exclaimed when Amira punched his shoulder.

“Whatever you do, don’t leave the bakery, understood? In case you forgot, Justice League members are banned from stepping foot into Paris.”

“Except for me, because you love me too much.” Wally said with a smile, not noticing the pink dust on Amira’s cheeks.

“Whatever.” Amira grumbled, pushing Wally into the bakery before going off to face today’s Victim.

---

Wally watched as Amira returned to her room, watching as she collapsed onto her bed, her Ladybird costume disappearing from her persona, Amira going back into wearing her red turtleneck shirt and black skirt.

“Magic. I would never understand.”

“Then don’t.” Amira said, though it came out muffled. “Do you mind writing something down for me?”

“Sure thing.” Wally said, watching as Amira turned over. He eyed the stack of sticky notes and grabbed it along with a pen. “Ready whenever you are.”

“Max. Dupont. My classmate who got upset because no one was available to test out his new game. Went by the name Gamer.” She said as she climbed down the ladder.

Now that she thought about it, wasn’t he the one who won a video game competition around a month ago? Or was it two? 

“So what are you going to do with this?” Wally said, handing it to Amira.

She simply gave him a smirk, pulling down a hidden map, Wally taken back by the amount of information and theories on it. All of these tiny details were all connected to the center of the map, the photo of some old guy there.

“Data.”

“Wow. You know, you can give your father a run for his money.” Wally said, shouting a ‘hey’ when Amira elbowed him.

“I learned from the best, what can you expect?” Amira said, placing down the note on top of an already large pile of notes. “To think that even with all this evidence, it’s still not enough to go after my suspect.”

“What do you mean? Isn’t this enough? Judging from his schedule, he’s the perfect candidate to-“

“But he has alibis each time there’s an attack and even though it’s always the same alibi, it’s one nonetheless. Although it’s still not enough to convince me.”

“Elaborate.”

Wally was handed over a file, the title of it being the Bubbler. Reading through it, Wally noticed that he wasn’t affected by the akuma attack in the slightest while his bodyguard and assistant were.

“So you’ve noticed it.”

“How did he not get bubbled? He’s an adult!”

“The answer is simple. He avoids being harmed by being in cahoots with the Victim. You can even go as far as saying he’s an accomplice.”

“Or rather, Hawkmoth.” 

“Bingo.” Amira scowled upon looking at Gabriel’s picture. “I just need one last thing to make sure I’m right. Otherwise, the evidence will go against me if I were to present it to him.”

Placing his elbow on her shoulder, Wally hummed. 

“More evidence, huh? What do you think of breaking into-“

“Wally, no.”

“Wally, yes.” Wally responded before Amira smacked his shoulder, Wally simply laughing. 

Amira soon joined in with a sputtering laugh, causing Wally to smile. 

When was the last time the two of them laughed like this? To think moments like these could only happen like this…

Why did Jason have to leave them? 

---

Despite having just arrived from the latest akuma attack, Adrien was buzzing with energy. 

He didn’t know LB knew how to play video games! And he certainly didn’t think Queen Bee wouldn’t know. What teen didn’t know how to play video games?

They’re so much fun!

Actually...When was the last time he had this much fun?

Walking around his room, feeling the energy bouncing within him, Adrien let out a gasp and a grin as he made his way to his bedroom door. 

“Adrien, what are you doing?” Plagg asked, floating next to Adrien.

“Well, seeing as Dad’s off doing whatever it is he does, I thought I should explore the house for once.” Adrien said, peeping into the hall to see Pierre dozing off. Adrien has noticed that his father had been overworking his bodyguard ever since he came back from Gotham. 

“Wait, how have you never-” Plagg started, only to stop when Adrien gestured his head towards the sleeping bodyguard.

“Pierre never lets me leave my room whenever Dad leaves, which is why right now is a pretty good time to do so.” With that said, Adrien sneaked into his father’s office, never realizing how empty it felt despite the clutter of fabrics in the room. 

Adrien made his way towards the portrait of his mother, sighing as she looked back at him.

God how he missed her.

“Wow. Despite your father being the only one in this room, there sure is a lot of things here.” Plagg said, phasing through the different materials and boxes. “Sadly, there’s nothing but designs here.”

“Yeah.” Adrien huffed, about to leave the place when he remembered the thing he saw back at Wayne Manor. Walking up to his mother’s portrait, he decided to pull it when the frame came forward, startling Adrien.

“Hey! Destroying things is my thing, kit!” Plagg complained, watching as the portrait swung open a bit. “Oooo! A secret stash?” Plagg asked with wonder, watching as Adrien pulled the portrait forward, exposing a safe.

“Of course it would need a code.”

“Code? Who needs a code when you got me?” Plagg said with a smug, phasing through the safe and opening it up. “See? Easy as cheese!”

“Don’t you mean ‘easy as pie?’” Adrien said, looking at the things inside the safe. An old receipt, hotel flyer, a picture of his mother, a peacock inspired brooch and-

“No cheese, but this certainly looks familiar.” Plagg said, hovering about the book he was talking about. “It’s the book Master Fu has been looking for!” Plagge exclaimed, picking it up. “Oh the look on Sugar Cube’s face when she finds out I found it before her!” 

“Sugar cube?”

“Tikki, LB’s kwami.” Plagg shortly explained before going up to Adrien’s face. “But we can talk about that later! We need to bring this to Master Fu n-”

The sound of the front door made the two jump, causing Adrien to quickly close the safe and place back the portrait. Eyeing a fabric box, Adrien quickly stuffed the book into it and swung the bag over himself. 

Luckily, just in time.

“Adrien, what are you doing in here?” Gabriel asked, his eyes narrowed.

“My bag has a hole in it so I thought of asking you if I could get a new one. I came here, but I forgot you were out, but then I saw this bag and kinda liked how it looked.” Adrien showed his father the black leather messenger bag. “So, can I keep it? If you’re not using it, that is.”

Adrien waited for his father’s response, watching as his father still held his stoic face.

‘Please say yes, please say yes!’

“You can keep it.” Gabriel said, Adrien letting out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “As for your old one, bring it here so that I can mend it. Then you’ll have to bags to alter between.”

“Thank you, Father.” Adrien said with a bow before rushing out of the room, glad that things worked out fine.

“Now I just hope he doesn’t notice it’s gone missing.”

---

Nightfall fell upon Paris, Ladybird sitting at the Eiffel Tower as she waited for a few people to meet up with her.

“-sure you don’t want me to-”

“I’ll be fine. I’ve been doing this for months.” Queen Bee heard Ladybird assure someone upon arriving at their usual rendezvous. She had never heard her call anyone before patrol. “If anyone should be worried, it should be me. I’ve been told you’re still recovering from a stabbing. When were you going to tell me that? And before you say anything, yes, it was Großvater.”

A stabbing? Just who was Ladybird talking to? “Oh, seems like someone is already here. I’ll talk to you later. Mach’s gut.” Ladybird put away her phone before turning to Bee. “You could’ve said something if you were here already.”

“Didn’t want to bother you. Plus, it seems like you were in the middle of catching up with whoever it was you were talking to.” Queen Bee approached Ladybird, looking out to see the same Parisian night she saw in the photo at Wayne Manor. 

Pictures that showed a motherless little girl, raised by a billionaire father.

“I...I never met my mother...never go to know her either.”

A bit of her wished it was just a mere coincidence. A bit of her wished she was wrong.

“I was, but duty first.” Ladybird said with a smile, snapping Chloe from her thoughts. “Of course, we have to wait for Chat before we can go on patrol.”

Returning the smile, Queen Bee leaned against a beam. She had to get rid of this theory before it consumed her, before she found something she knew would get her in great trouble.

“Hope he isn’t stuck again playing video games, he had seemed to have enjoyed it when we were all stuck in Gamer’s video game.”

At that, the two girls laughed, the wind carrying their soft laughter until it merged with the city noise.

NEXT

[shreddedparchment]

Pseudo Princess Pt.17

Forgiven Misunderstandings

11/23/2019

Pairing: King!Steve x Reader          Word Count: 7,054

Warnings: Language, smidge of angst, lots of fluff, like...tons, lots of links (sorry not sorry)

A/N: This was fun to write. And it came out pretty close to how I’d haad it planned. Hope you like it! Have a favorite part? Let me know! I love reading your thoughts and comments. As always, if you happen to reblog, thanks so much for helping me spread my work. May not have another update until after Thanksgiving. xoxo

TAGS ARE CLOSED FOR THIS STORY!

It feels a little unfair to you that your husband should be so beautiful. Especially when you feel as if you can’t compare.

There is so much about him that you love, and also a lot you still don’t understand.

Any King comes with their fair share of worries and obligations but somehow, as you watch his Majesty sleep beside you, his brow puckered as he dreams restlessly, you get a sense that for him there is more than the usual.

It’s like a picture that isn’t fully painted yet. He’s unfinished in your eyes.

You can’t wait to get down to the bottom of this gorgeous man.

Pain in the ass that he might be, he’s your pain in the ass. Forever.

Reaching up, you press your fingertip to his forehead and smooth out the wrinkle between his brow. It only puckers more.

Maybe your lips?

You shift upwards or try to, but his Majesty’s arms close around you more tightly. Pulling you closer against his chest.

Your heart flutters.

Still you manage to stretch up enough to press a soft kiss between his eyes—not quite at the offending spot but close enough—and you feel him relax around you.

He puddles into the mattress and his arms go a little slack. When you pull back to check, you find his brow smooth, mouth slightly open again. He looks just as peaceful as he had when you’d drifted off to sleep yourself. Unburdened, however short lived it might be.

For some reason, you feel as if his Majesty is often burdened with things you don’t quite understand yet. At least one burden…Margaret…appears to be lessening. Are you helping? Truly?

You watch him. Stare. Love him more with each second that passes and the prickly whiskers over his lip shift slightly as he breathes in slowly and back out.

There’s a small knock on your door, starling you from the peace you’ve found, and you hurry up from the bed. You draw your robe tighter and glance back at your sleeping King as you pull the door open a crack.

“Yes?” You whisper, afraid to speak loudly in case you wake him up.

“Why are you whispering?” It’s Nat, her large green eyes trying to peek in.

Stepping back, you let her in.

“His Majesty is sleeping.” You explain, looking at him again. “He was so tired.”

“He hasn’t slept in nearly two days.” She shakes her head. “How did you get him to sleep? James has been trying all day.”

You bite your lip, nervous but it’s only an after effect. You’re all joy and excitement.

“What?” Nat demands quietly, noticing the sparkle in your eyes.

“I told him.” You confess, looking back at him again.

He shifts on the bed, laying on his back before turning onto his left side to face your wall and vanity. One of his arms falls over the edge, his long legs sprawled out wide to take up a majority of the foot of the bed.

He’s used to sleeping alone.

“Told him?” Nat asks, confused.

Her eyes widen as she realizes what you must mean.

“What did he say?” She asks excitedly, reaching for your hand.

Taking hers, you give it a squeeze.

“He’s so happy.” You smile. “And afraid.”

Your smile falters.

“Because of the attack?” Nat wonders, knowing.

You nod. “He thinks the baby might be in danger.”

“Both of you are. You and the child. We’ll keep you safe, Y/N. I’m certain now that he knows, Steve will be watching you like a hawk.” She nods, assuring you of your safety.

“I know.” You sigh. “But I don’t want him to worry.”

“That’s not possible, love.” She reaches up to caress your hair, letting her hand rest on your shoulder. “He loves you. And now you’re carrying his heir? Steve might not let you out of his sight ever again. You’re all that matters now.”

“I shouldn’t be all that matters. I know he’s got other things to occupy his attention. I don’t-”

“Y/N,” Nat begins, slightly chastising. “This is what you’ve been wanting.”

“I didn’t want him to only focus on me. I just wanted him to let me help. To let me show him how much I love him. I wanted to be included and accepted.” You sigh, reaching down to place your hand on your stomach. “I don’t want to be a distraction.”

Nat chuckles lightly. “It’s too late for that, my Queen. You’ve been a distraction since the moment you said, ‘I do.’ But don’t worry. Now you’re welcome one.”

Both of you look to him and he sleeps on, face hidden from sight by his wide shoulders.

“It’s almost time to dress.” Nat informs you.

“I don’t want to wake him.” You protest, looking back at her.

“Another hour, but then we must get you dressed. It’s acceptable for the King and Queen to be a little late to their own feast, but not absent.” Nat insists.

“Another hour is fine. I just want him to rest.” You explain.

Nat nods. “I’ll get your dress sent up and have Peter hold it out for you until Steve leaves.”

“Thank you, Nat.” She nods and turns to leave but you catch her arm and pull her back gently. “Did he ask you again?”

Nat smiles a little more widely. “James asks me to marry him every time he gets me alone.”

“And you said yes this time, right?” Raising your eyebrows, you wait for her to respond but the way she’s chewing her luscious red bottom lip, you feel like maybe she’s told him no again.

“I didn’t refuse him.” She counters. “I’ll say yes eventually.”

“Nat, why won’t you say yes?” You wonder, worried now that James may one day get tired of asking but you also don’t find that likely.

Her smile falters and she moves closer to you, caressing your hair again. “Now that you and Steve have reconciled there will be a time when your opinion of me might change. There won’t be secrets between us for much longer, I don’t think.”

“Secrets? You’re keeping secrets from me?” You gasp almost offended.

“Don’t worry, Y/N. I’m sure now that he’s willing to try that he’ll tell you everything by and by.” Nat assures you, but she still looks a little sad.

“What will he tell me? Why are you two keeping things from me? And what does it have to do with you marrying James?” You demand.

“James is a good man. He deserves someone just as good.” She says, before you can ask her to elaborate, she moves to the doors. “I’ll be back. Enjoy your time alone.”

With one final melancholy smile, she leaves you stewing in wonder.

Worried, upset, a little angry, and full of irritation because of these secrets that all of a sudden, you’re aware of, you move around to his Majesty’s side of the bed and stand there, staring down at him as he continues to sleep.

Steadily your breathing gets deeper, rage that you’ve become so good at hiding bubbling up.

“Your Majesty?” You say, stern, hard, or as hard as you can make your voice when looking at him while he’s as gorgeous as a sleeping angel.

He doesn’t respond.

“Your Majesty?” You say a bit louder.

His arm shoots out towards you and wraps around your hips. You gasp as he pulls you towards him, burying his face into your stomach as he breathes in deeply. His hand traces the shape of your lower back, moving down to rest against your bottom as he nuzzles your barely covered skin.

“Why are you angry with me?” He asks, his voice soft and soothing.

He’s never spoken to you in that tone before, all gruff and deep from sleep.

He kisses your tummy and your breath catches in your throat. Damn him. This is cheating.

He kisses it over and over, moving up towards your breasts, then falls back onto the bed, his left arm brought up to wrap around your waist as he lays on his back and looks up at you.

“Did I make another mistake?” He’s surprisingly worried, brow furrowed, blue eyes deep and swirling.

You swallow hard, trying to recover the anger you’d been feeling only a moment ago. “I-”

“I’ll fix it.” He promises. “Please don’t be angry with me.”

You huff a breath. Resigned, you sit down on the edge, and he takes the opportunity to wrap his left arm around your waist more securely.

“I’m not angry with you.” You allow, placing your hand on his chest tentatively, the motion unfamiliar.

He quickly brings his right hand up to rest over it, taking hold of your fingers and giving them a gentle squeeze.

“Is it time for the feast?” He wonders, deep voice slightly clearer but still heavy with exhaustion.

“We don’t have to have it.” You try once more. “We can cancel it and have it another time when you’re more rested.”

He smiles slowly, shutting his eyes as the wry amusement curves half of his lip up. It’s all hidden by that bristly beard. Your free hand wanders up to trace the shape of it. You couldn’t help it. You’ve wanted to touch him for so long…

That makes him open his eyes and in awe he watches you, slow-blinking and smitten.

“Why are you worried about me?” He asks, that trace of amusement still in his expression. “I don’t need much sleep, my flower. I’m okay.”

“You don’t look okay.” You fight.

“But I am. You don’t have to worry for me.” He insists.

“I love you.” You shake your head. “Worrying about you is unavoidable.”

Your body is yanked sideways, legs laid over his Majesty’s as he twists himself so that he’s hovering beside you as you fall onto the bed with a small bounce and a squeak.

“You just said that you love me.” He points out, licking his lips.

You stare at them, stunned and breathless by the threat of his body pressing so close.

“Do you mean it?” He asks.

“Yes.” You whisper. “I love you.”

He leans down and rubs his whiskers against your lips, a pleasant scratch tickling you senseless.

“Do you? Truly?” He whispers.

You nod.

“Tell me again.” He pleads, a real note of desperation in his voice.

“I-I love you.” You offer, wondering why it suddenly seems to matter when it didn’t before.

He breathes into your slightly parted mouth, filling you up with his relief.

“I will earn it.” He promises. “Will you let me try?”

You nod, so far gone, he could have asked to murder you and you would have accepted.

“I love you, my sweet, tempting flower.” He sighs, then leans in and presses those hot wet lips against your own.

His beard scratches you up, your hands wind up around his shoulders and you pull him in for more.

His Majesty kisses you until he’s breathless and then lays his head on your chest, shuts his eyes, and sleeps a while more.

~~~~~~~~~~

The music is loud. The din is deafening. There are people laughing and shouting and talking animatedly in every corner of the Great Hall. This particular hall is larger than the smaller hall that your first wedding feast had been held in.

It makes you a little sad and bitter that his Majesty had hidden you the way he did in the beginning. No one had been invited to the ceremony other than those that were necessary. And your wedding feast had been a lively affair for everyone but you and your new husband.

The noises of the party echo out to you in the hallway and it sounds as if half the castle town will be there.

“I forgot my fan.”

“Peter?” Nat turns to him and he springs into action.

“Fan, coming right up!” He turns and races back the way you’d come.

“Nat, how many people are out there?” You wonder, worried. “And this dress, shouldn’t I have worn something red or blue? His Majesty loves red and blue.”

“You should call him by his name, Y/N. I know that you’ve been reluctant to-”

“I’ll call him by his name when I’m ready.” You bristle, in a rare display of annoyance, you turn your frown back to the large and heavy wooden doors, shut, ornately decorated in a weave of golden vines with silver leaves.

There’s a symbol in the very center like the one on your necklace, split in half by the crease where the doors open. The circles and the star at the center. His Majesty’s sigil.

You reach up to fiddle with your own.

“I’m sorry.” Nat says.

“I told you why I don’t and you still-” You continue, irate like you’ve never been before.

“I know.” She says, cutting you off but gently, reassuringly. She wants you to know that she cares. “I’m sorry.”

She sighs.

“He shouldn’t have been so cruel.” Nat sounds angry now and it puts you on the defensive.

Lately, you’ve wondered how many of those closest to you think you’re foolish to stick by his side. To stay with his Majesty despite the way he’s treated you.

“I’m sure he couldn’t help it.” You say, wondering if you’re right. “I just…I need time.”

Nat goes silent as do you, both of you listening to the change of song to something more akin to a waltz though you’ve never danced one yourself. Most of the dances you know are country dances. Nat’s been teaching you but you’re still nervous.

The new dance changes the noise on the other side of the doors, making it more excited if that were possible. The waltz is the newest craze and the people cannot seem to get enough of it.

“What if I mess up?” You chew your lip.

“You won’t. And if you do, you’re Queen, Y/N. Just…fuck the rest and act like you meant to do it.” Nat offers.

“Nat!” You gasp, half laughing.

“You look beautiful. Every woman in there will be wearing red or blue because they know that those are the King’s colors. You deserve to stand out. What does he call you?” She asks, reaching out to touch the folds upon folds of flowing voile and silk.

Soft green, like an underground garden under the cover of a stormy morning. Around your waist the bit of red, crimson blood, and embroidered into the sides of your bodice and along the puffs of your sheer elbow length sleeves are peonies in pale dusty pink, surrounded by small buds of baby’s breath.

The florals extend down onto your skirt in uneven patches as if the blooms have really begun to grow upon it.

You smile, reaching down to touch a small peony just above your thigh crease. “His flower.”

“And you are.” Nat gushes. “You’re going to outshine every woman in that room. Maybe you…your beginnings were not like previous queens of this kingdom, but you exude the regality of one. You were made to stand out, your Majesty.

“James told me that Steve sees you as his true partner. The woman that was meant to rule at his side.”

“But Margaret-?” You begin, confused.

“Was his first love. She was strong and willful, and she loved him very much, but her priority was never Steve and it was never the Kingdom. She wanted to be everything for him, but she couldn’t. You are right where you were always meant to be. This Kingdom and its people will be better for having you as Queen. Do you trust me?”

“With my life, Nat.” You assure her, eyes misty from her bolstering.

“Then believe me, you are the right choice. You are the only one. You are Queen.” She reaches out to straighten your skirt and then with a gentle hand pushes your shoulders back. “Now stand up straight and take your place by your husband’s side.”

A flurry of footsteps echo from behind her as you stare and take in her pride. You internalize it as Peter stops beside her and holds out your fan.

“Here you go, your Majesty.” He smiles at you, reading your mood shift quickly as you reach out and take the crimson fan, same shade as the ribbon around your waist.

You take it, look at your guard, and he nods at you once swiftly. He’s also telling you that you’re good. You’re great. You deserve to be here.

“Whenever you’re ready, my Queen.” Peter moves to stand beside you.

Chin lifted, eyes peeled away from your lady, you step towards the doors.

Peter rushes towards them and bangs his fist hard against the wood.

There’s a loud shifting and groan as the doors are pushed open. Two of the guard step aside to let you in.

The music fades, a jumble of string notes and melodic recorder tumbling into quiet as you cross into the massive Great Hall.

Everyone’s eyes are on you as dancers stop and those eating set aside their forks and knives to rise and look at you. Their Queen.

Peter walks behind you, chest puffed out in honor as he accompanies you while Nat makes sure that your dress is just right as you move towards the far end of the room where a long table with two large throne-like seats sit empty before plates laden with morsels.

Your stomach clenches hungrily but you ignore it as your people bow when you pass.

They eye you up. Devour your visage. Truly, you’re a flower among a sea of rubies and sapphires in shades from sky and strawberries to deepest ocean and thickest blood. The silver crown that sits on your head, laden with stunning white diamonds dazzles underneath the bright and warm glow of hundreds…maybe thousands of candles and a roaring fire in the largest fireplace you’ve ever seen in your life against the wall to your right.

“Your Majesty.” People say as you pass, some admiring, others more calculating.

Though you don’t search for her, she’s the first person that you really see in the mass of elegant gowns and suits.

She’s standing near the head table where you and his Majesty are supposed to sit. Leaning towards him, her hand on his forearm as she smiles sweetly. Her blonde hair is left to flow in soft waves, falling along her bare shoulders.

Her red dress, as red as an apple ripe enough to bite, falls in shining satin petals around her perfect and lithe figure.

For a moment, your confidence wavers. She looks every bit the royal Queen that his Majesty deserves. Like in the garden, she’s already playing the part. She looks it. She sounds it. She is it.

Sharon Carter. Who can’t seem to stop touching your husband!

Beside her, he sees the a few people nearby rise and then bow. This draws his eyes up to you as you make your way towards him and the flame in his eyes rages as his mouth falls at the sight of you.

He swallows hard, his lips curl into a smile and you forget the woman in red beside him.

He’s deadly handsome in elegant black trousers and a matte silver tunic, careful white lines of stitching laid out in patterns of damask. The only splash of color, almost as if you both planned it, is the crimson belt around his waist, a bit deeper in tone but it matches yours perfectly.

You walk a little faster, now that you see him, and he turns away from Sharon to offer you his hand as you reach him. He looks so happy. So pleased. Besotted.

Disappointment is what you feel when he only lifts your hand to his lips to kiss your fingers. It’s hot around yours and pleasant.

“My Queen.” He says.

Why doesn’t he kiss you like he did in your room?

“My flower.” He gushes.

“Your Majesty.” You smile at him, pushing aside your disappointment for now.

He pulls you closer, wrapping an arm around your waist as he lifts you up onto your toes and dips his head down to kiss you making your stomach tumble.

You shut your eyes, relishing in his kiss which ends too quickly and holds only a fraction of the passion that he gave you this afternoon.

“You look beautiful.” He swears, then offers you his elbow. “Come, you must be starving.”

You take his arm and allow him to lead you around to the other side of the table. Peter pulls out your chair and you sit. His Majesty moves to stand in front of his own chair which is nice and close to your own.

Holding out his arms, he gestures at the musicians who begin to play their music again, a little quieter than before but just as enthusiastically. “Please, eat. Dance. Enjoy the feast. This celebration of my wife and her good health.”

He reaches down to grab his silver goblet and holds it up towards the room full of bodies all standing and staring at you.

They raise their glasses and goblets too.

“To Queen Y/N, may she reign long at my side.” His Majesty toasts.

“To Queen Y/N!” The people answer, and they drink.

The next four hours pass in a blur.

The dancing is nonstop, and people seem eager to move on to the next when one finishes. The food is also endless and keeps coming even after you’ve had your fill.

“Don’t worry, we will distribute it out as you’d been doing.” His Majesty assures you, pulling your hand up to his lips to kiss softly, when he spots you eyeing the copious amounts of food still untouched and uneaten.

There’s a small scuffle on the other side of the room that is broken up quickly, but otherwise the night passes in frivolity, excess, and joy. Most of all joy. Oh…and scrutiny.

Everyone is watching you. Everyone is watching his Majesty.

Not once does he leave your side though he talks to many people. He eventually slides his chair over a little to place his arm around your shoulders so that he might always be touching you while he speaks to his people and then to you.

While he does his duty, you keep your eyes on the people and find them watching the way his Majesty is with you. They’re confused but not suspicious.

It’s nearly midnight when Nat finds you again having been dancing and eating with James all night.

Although she’s checked on you frequently, she doesn’t stay.

“It’s important for the people to see you and Steve together alone. No one between the two of you.”

Now she looks flushed, from dancing, not drink.

“Are you alright?” She asks, taking the seat to your left. “Feeling okay?”

“I’m good.” You assure her, looking around for Bucky. “Where’s Bucky?”

Nat smiles. “He’s asking the lute player for a favor.”

She gets up and moves around you to his Majesty’s other side and nestles in between him and Samuel who’d been giving him the rundown on some task he’d been sent to perform.

“It’s time.” You can hear Nat tell his Majesty.

He turns to you and chaffs your left shoulder. “How’s your stomach?”

“I’m fine.” You promise him. “I’m all fed.”

He places his hand on your stomach then smiles. “Do you think you might have the energy to dance with me?”

It almost feels as if you’ve missed a step. Your stomach bottoms out and your hands are suddenly numb.

“What will we dance?” You squeak.

“Come on.” He chuckles and helps you to your feet.

Everyone stops what they’re doing to look and as he leads you around and to the center of the square where everyone has been dancing, they part for the two of you and make room.

His Majesty sweeps you out and you’re so startled you gasp, but he brings you back in with a twirl and you come to a soft crashing halt against his wide chest.

Chuckling at the expression on your face, he gives your back a rub.

“Relax. I’ve got you, my sweet flower.” He prides and you relax just a tad.

Only enough so that when the music begins to flow, he steers you with ease.

“See.” He says as he twirls you, stepping lightly as he moves you around. You’re not even sure your feet are touching the ground with how easily the two of you glide along the stone floor. “Nice and slow.”

Relaxing a bit more, you smile and give one small chuckle.

He laughs too. “There you go.”

The song is indeed slow enough that you can keep up. Although the waltz is new to you, with his Majesty as your partner, you move along with him almost skillfully. The song is sweet. Enchanting. Almost magical and you find yourself humming along with the melody after a few more turns.

Your skirt flows around you like water, swishing around your legs and around his Majesty’s ankles.

As the song begins to end, slowing down a bit more, his Majesty wraps his arm all the way around your waist and lifts you up, spinning with you. You laugh and he laughs, your arms wrap around his neck.

The lute finishes its melody and the recorder’s last note echoes around the large space as he slowly puts you back down.

“Nothing to be scared of.” He whispers to you, leaning down to press his lips softly over yours. “Right?”

You’re all smiles, cheeks aching as you stare up into his storm blue eyes. You nod.

“Nothing.” You repeat.

His Majesty smiles and kisses you, this time, his passion is clear.

He leaves you breathless as his people applaud your dance.

When he pulls away, he’s already speaking.

“I have no doubt that many of you have speculated about my reluctance to accept my new Queen as my wife.”

His words are jarring, and you’re shocked into focus as everyone’s claps die and they become very attentive to his Majesty’s words.

“You would be right. I was torn by duty and grief.” He continues. “As many of you know, Margaret Carter was the first woman I loved. She was the wife I chose. And she was friends with many of you.”

He looks pointedly at a few people in the room. Some you recognize and some you don’t.

“Her loss left me broken and I didn’t think I’d ever recover. And although I know that she can never be replaced, her friendship was something that extended longer than our romance, I’m happy to say that with Queen Y/N’s persistence, I was finally able to lower my guard.

“I’m ashamed to admit it took me longer than it should have.” He nods, turning to look at you as you stare at him with watering eyes as his speech cuts at your previously flying heart.

Margaret again?

He sees the pain there and reaches up to caress the side of your face.

“It took nearly losing her—as many of you know, the Queen was recently very ill—for me to realize how much she’d already found her way into this old king’s frozen heart.” He sigh, nodding as he turns to face you. “I wasn’t hospitable. I wasn’t kind. I was cruel in many ways.”

His admittance, while the truth, puts many of the nobles watching on edge. They hadn’t expected to get such an inside look at your marriage tonight, and if you’re honest, you didn’t expect all of your dirty laundry to be aired out for them either.

Bringing up Margaret again? Telling everyone all this? Your chest is suddenly very hot.

“When my Queen woke, she was very angry with me for my neglect. And rightfully so.” He nods. “She had every right to be angry.”

You shift uncomfortably, staring daggers at him.

“Somehow, by some miracle, she forgave me.” He declares, then licks his lips nervously. “Something I hope she might do again, seeing as she’s angry with me once more for saying all of this out loud, no doubt.”

A few of the people laugh. Some of them lean around to get a look at you and you try to relax the rage in your face.

His Majesty wraps his arm around you again, pulling you against his side as he turns to look out at his people with you.

“In case anyone wonders, in case rumors begin to fly, in case you doubt it, let me assure you that this woman by my side is the Queen this Kingdom deserves. Broklin has never had a Queen with this much compassion. Has never had a Queen with this much devotion or pride in its people, despite class or wealth. Everyone is equal in my Queen’s eyes and that is what my people—our people—deserve.

“This woman by my side, staring at me with these angry eyes, is the woman I love.” He declares, more laughter follows. “Not because it is my duty to love her, but because no woman has ever made me look in at myself. No one has ever challenge me to be better. No one has shown such resilience and strength and kindness having to deal with me and my moods.”

More laughter.

“I don’t know how you put up with me.” He says, turning to look at you only. “You’re the light of my life, sweet flower. The love of my life. I’m sorry it took me so long to see it.”

You’re not sure whether to be overjoyed or upset. Your heart squeezes and aches, but your stomach is all aflutter.

“Can I kiss you?” He asks, just quiet enough for you to hear.

You consider him for a moment, gauging the sincerity in his eyes and it’s true. Everything he just said. Just as it has been every time, he’s said it since the moment you came back.

You nod, and he practically knocks you over with the force of his kiss.

The people clap.

He pulls away, smiling like a fool.

“Oh,” He says. “And we’re expecting our first child. The heir to Broklin.”

The fire of passion in your belly is iced out with his words as the people cheer, the rage once more fills your gaze.

~~~~~~~~~~

“I’m sorry!” His Majesty calls, chasing after you as you storm your way down the hall towards your room. “I didn’t think you would mind.”

“Why didn’t you ask me?!” You rage. “You could have at least warned me!”

“They needed to know eventually.” He argues.

“But why now? I just told you today. Today!” You stop in front of your door, and you can see Nat and Peter lingering at the far end of the hall, peeking over at the two of you but keeping their distance so as not to disturb.

“I know. I’m just so happy.” He reasons. “I’m excited.”

“To have your kingdom secured?” You accuse, hurt and suspicious.

“What?! No! Y/N, no. I mean, yes of course I’m happy that the Kingdom will remain in my care, but that’s not why I’m happy. I’m happy because you’re having my child. You will be the mother of my babe. I love you. I want the world to know that we are family. That we will be parents to beautiful and kind children because how could they be anything but with such a mother?”

You turn away from him, storming into the first small foyer of your room and then into your bedroom itself.

“Well, they still have their father’s nature to contend with.” You spit, uncharacteristically bitter.

“Truly,” He says, following you until you stop by the seats in front of your fire. “I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you.”

You shake your head, teetering back to outrage the more you think of it. “You told them everything.”

Well…almost everything. The details were void but the sentiments were real. The neglect, the cruelty, the agony you’d been in.

“I just wanted…the baby was just mine. For a little bit it was mine. You took that from me. Why couldn’t we have just kept that between us?” You beg, turning to look at him.

You see the confusion cross his face. “Nothing is between us, Y/N. It will never be just us. You’re Queen of this kingdom. I’m King. The people deserve to know that their futures are secure. With our child, that’s what I can give them.”

And you understand that. You know that he’s right and you’d known that even before tonight. And yet…

“But-”

“Sometimes I think you forget what you agreed too.” He mutters, a little miffed now too. “You agreed to be my wife. You agreed to a life as Queen. This is what it is. No privacy. They will always know what happens between us. They may never truly know the details, but they will know enough.”

“I know that.” You grit through your teeth.

“This isn’t your village where you can retreat to your hut and-”

“What?” You ask, your words sharp and striking.

Your blood boils.

He meets your eyes and seems to realize what he’s just said. “No, that’s not-”

“I know that I’m no longer in my hut.” You spit. “Forgive me for wanting to spend a few days sharing in my joy with my husband that we have finally, after six months of trying to produce an heir, succeeded.”

He stares at you, taking in the anger in your face while he also fumes at your apparent regret at accepting your role at his side as Queen.

“I think maybe we both need some rest.” His majesty says.

“Yes, I think you’re right.” You agree.

“Alone.” He says.

“Alone.” You say at the same time.

You stare at each other, both aching.

“Good night.” He says, then turns and leaves you standing there, feeling unprepared and alone.

~~~~~~~~~~

You toss and turn. Uncomfortable in your bed after having shared it with his Majesty all afternoon.

The fight also doesn’t help to ease your mind. Yours was an overreaction. You know that. You’re not wrong about being angry because he didn’t tell you before he decided to share it all with your guests.

There should have been a discussion and you hate that there wasn’t. He was wrong in that sense.

But the news would have had to come out eventually. You’re also pretty sure that the reason he spilled it all is because he was genuinely happy to be with you at that feast, dancing and laughing.

This night had been perfect until that moment.

You turn onto your back, sighing heavily as you give up and accept that you may just never sleep tonight.

It had been a perfect night…and maybe it still might be?

You rise, pulling your robe over your nightdress and move past the night guard who has fallen asleep—you’ll have to tell Peter later though you also might not. Don’t want to get this guard in trouble.

The soft slap of your feet against the cold stone floor prompts you up onto your toes as you sneak all the way down the hallway to his Majesty’s bedroom door.

You consider knocking, wondering if he’s just as awake as you are, thinking and stressing about your fight but decide that you don’t want to wake him.

If he isn’t tossing and turning, and if he’s managed to find some sleep and peace in all this, you’d rather not disturb him.

If he’s up, then you can talk to him.

Inside his foyer there is no guard but that’s not surprising. Other than Samuel and Bucky, he doesn’t seem to travel with a guard at all.

You can hear the crackle of fire from the other side.

Will he be angry that you’ve come to call on him in his room? You’ve never been in here.

Your mind races, remembering his reaction when you intruded in his office and fear makes you take a step back.

But he’s your husband. And surely, if he’s meant every word that he’s said about proving his love to you, that means that you’re welcome here, right?

You gather your courage and push the left door open.

The room is glowing with only firelight. Almost the entire floor is covered in a tan, brown, and faded blue rug. It extends underneath the very large wooden bed, elegantly carved and embellished with golden designs. The headboard is stunning, elegant, and tall. The sheets and every other cushioned surface is covered in red satin fabric, silk for the bed, in the same deep red. Plush pillows covered in pearl cream covers.

Even in the dim light, you can make out his Majesty’s form. He’s laying mostly on the left side of the bed, almost sitting up, shirtless—his entire perfect sculpt on display for you to see—and in the small space between his left arm and the bed, nestled into his side is a lithe female form with cascading blonde waves dressed in a barely there nightdress, robe thrown on the floor.

Your eyes devour the sight, noting the hiked-up skirt of her gown so that you see the taut muscles of her thighs, and the way that his Majesty’s arm is secure around her shoulders.

She’s got her stupid cheek pressed against his stupid chest, and her stupid arm is wrapped around his stupid waist.

The door creaks loudly as it swings open fully, prompting his Majesty’s eyes to open slowly.

For a second, it’s like he doesn’t see you or maybe he just doesn’t realize you’re real? Because he blinks and nearly closes his eyes again to sleep more.

You scoff and his eyes shoot open.

Turning, you leave the room, heart in your throat, stomach twisted into knots. You might throw up.

“Y/N!” His voice cries out behind you.

Sharon wakes—or it sounds like she does—and then she speaks. “What’s going on?”

“Move.” You hear him say, “Wait!”

Then he’s there, faster than you thought he could ever be, grabbing your wrist and turning you to face him.

You pull your hand from his grip, or try, but he holds tight.

“Let me go.” You plead, suddenly realizing that you’re crying.

“No, wait, please. That was not what it looked like.”

“It looked like you went to bed with someone else, that isn’t me, and not alone.” Idiot! Stupid man. You hate him!

“If you’ll let me explain?” He pleads, pulling you closer by force and making to wrap his arms around you.

“Stop!” You shout, loud enough that the snoring guard outside your room is startled awake. He races to the doorway but then sees you with his Majesty and he slinks back out of sight.

His Majesty drops your wrist, doing as you wish. Stopping.

The heartbreak in his eyes is real. That you can see. He’s almost vibrating with the need to speak, and the disappointed slump of his shoulders is almost too much.

“Explain.” You sob, just once, and he reaches out to comfort you, but you take a step back. “And don’t lie to me. Please, don’t lie to me.”

“I will never lie to you.” He swears. “Sharon came into my bedroom without my permission.”

If you had the ability to make someone’s brain burst, Sharon would be first on your list.

“She thought I was pretending with you at the feast tonight. I set her straight.” He says, as if you’re expected to understand.

“Explain.” You repeat, sniffling.

Steve moves closer and you step further away.

“She thought that I was only pretending to love you. Out of my sense of duty for the kingdom. She thought we were lying about the baby. She offered to marry me.” He says, and seriously, where is that stupid blonde? “When I told her that I truly do love you, that you are mother of my future heir and the only woman I want to be with…”

He runs his hand through his hair and shakes his head, looking down at your fare feet.

“You’ll catch cold.” He fusses but doesn’t make to move closer to you.

“Explain.” You repeat weakly one final time, you won’t give him another chance.

He meets your eyes and shrugs. “You won’t want to hear it.”

You say nothing. He sighs.

“I was not the only one unable to process their grief for Margaret. They were like sisters and losing Maggie has been hard for her. After I convinced her that I really do love you, she cried for a long time. So did I.” He admits. “I haven’t seen Sharon often since Maggie passed and having her here makes the pain a bit sharper. I’m not sure when we fell asleep, but nothing happened. I swear to you.”

You consider his words, weighing them against what you saw.

“D-Did she try and seduce you?” You check, the hiked-up nightdress, the way she was dressed in general all point to yes.

“Yes.” He admits.

“It didn’t work?” You wonder. “It didn’t-You didn’t-?”

“No!” He promises. “I swear to you, Y/N. Only you can do that to me.”

Well, he’s not lying about Sharon at least.

Rage flares in our chest.

“I haven’t even been in your bed yet.” You nearly growl, finding your way past the sorrow at what you’d thought you’d walked in on to the anger left at the thought of this woman disrespecting your marriage so blatantly.

“I know.” His Majesty nods. “I’m sorry. I should have sent her away immediately.”

Silence prevails as you let his words sink in and you let your mood settle. You’re still pretty bitter, but you’re not all bite and fire anymore. Two minutes pass of him shifting from foot to foot, watching you intently.

“I’m going back to bed.” You turn to move towards your room but stop when you don’t hear him move. “Aren’t you coming?”

It’s like he was untied and left to move freely. He races forward before you’ve even finished talking and he picks you up off the ground.

“You’ll catch cold.” He explains and you wrap your arms around his shoulders.