#i found some shells too and one of my friends said i should make necklaces with them | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

lainekyuu · 2 years ago

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Tsireya x Best friend y/n

Neteyam x Y/n

Y/n only see Ao'nung and Rotxo as older brothers and they see her as a sister....

A/n: This is my first time posting in Tumblr and I don't really know some basics here but I'm learning my best... Tsireya x best friend y/n and Neteyam x Y/n is my first ever fic that ever did and... If find this fic cringe please just don't read it and ignore it...

I hope you guys will like my first fic.....

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I'm Y/n,the youngest daughter of the Ta'nui clan. I did have that much work in my family because I was the baby....My eldest Brother Ru'te he's gonna be the next Olo'ektan after my Father, my eldest Sister Sae'la she is also going to be the next Tsa'hik if my brother didn't want

I was very shy girl I didn't have that much friends as I walk away or hide when ever someone tried to talk to me. And my older sisters are the once that keep on helping me to try and talk to other children around my age but I just cry when they tried to take me to one of the children.

I may be shy but I'm a skilled fighter, I was thought by my father and 2 older brothers when they have free time. Since I like to wander around going to random places or maybe swimming too far without knowing, they thought me how to fight in case they were not there to defend me.

My older siblings are Ru'te,Sae'la,Tol'te,Rei'ko.

Ru'te is 19

Sae'la is 18

Tol'te is 17

Rei'ko is 15

Y/N I'm 13

Yes as you can see three of my siblings are in order of age because in the Ta'nui clan you must have more than Two child and because my family was the leaders they must have more child faster.

Being a he youngest is not that easy but it was still fun going anywhere you want.As the youngest daughter of the Olo'ektan and Tsa'hik of the Ta'nui clan I did my duty to help my people any time they need help.

Then my mother has told me to get her some corrillia flowers. Those flowers are under the water near the Metkayina clan.

"Ma'ite do you mind gathering some corrillia flowers?. I need it for my lesson today ite" my mother ask

"No problem mom, I will go get them" I said with a big smile

"Thank you Ma'ite, don't take too long dear I need the flowers for my lessons today." my mother said with a smile

I just nod and grab the basket she prepare for gathering the herbs and I went out to my ilu.

I made clicking sounds to call my beautiful ilu lala. Once she was beside me I went on top of her and told her to dive and we both went to the other side of my village to gather the herbs that my mother wanted, the herbs were called corrillia they can be found between the under water border of the Metkayina and Ta'nui clan.

Once I reach the corrillia farm I went there and saw some other na'vis there and they were form the Metkayina. I wave to them and they do the same. While I was busy collecting some corrillia I didn't notice Tsireya swimming behind me with her mother in tail.

Tsireya swim towards me quitely and tickle my side that cause me to jump in the water and turn around and saw her smiling brightly. Then I saw her mother at the back I greeted her and smiled. She did the same and sign to both of us to go up the surface.

Once we three have went up the Tsa'hik, Tsireyas mother ask me how is my mother doing and the clan.

"How is Tu'rui doing?" Ronal ask

"My mother is doing fine and so is the clan. How about you and your family?" I said

"We too are doing fine, Tsireya here insisted we should go and find some sea shells as to make a special necklace for someone" Ronal said with a little smirk.

I look at Tsireya with a teasing smile "How nice of you Tsireya" I said with a teasing voice and she just rolled here eyes on my behavior while Ronal Chuckle on her attitude.

Suddenly Ronal face to me with a slight frown. "Y/n while I was doing my duties as a Tsa'hik I received a vision by Eywa that some na'vis will come here in the Metkayina clan. I too will tell you so the Ta'nui clan will know what is coming. I look at her and nod

After some time on talking to them I said my good byes and swim back with my ilu with the basket full of corrillia.

When I went back home my mother is already waiting for my arrival infront of our marui pod.

"Mother I apologize if I made you wait, I got carried away talking with the Tsa'hik and her daughter Tsireya from the Metkayina" I explain to her so she would not worry so much that I was late.

"That's lovely dear, how was Ronal and her daughter doing?" My mother ask

"They were fine mother and she told she received a vision that someone or a group will arrive in there clan mother"

My mother look at my with the eyes that I couldn't quite read and she said. "Ma'ite when you go back there to the Metkayina be sure you are careful it might be sky people raiding our neighboring clans." Mother said with a serious look.

"Yes mother I will" after I said it she then said.

"Well dear you missed lunch, you go better eat your lunch it's still near the pot so it's still warm"

"Okay ma thank you"

"Your welcome dear"

While I was eating my food my older brother Rei'ko went in with a big bruise in his left cheek and a bloody knuckles that looks like we got on a fight.

"Hello, brother what happened?" Reffing to his injurys.

He look at me while covering his bruised cheek"Well there was a match this morning and I decided to join, even tho I was not allowed too by father and I kinda underestimate him and he end up beating me." He said while rubbing his bruised cheek knowing it would hurt when he touch it.

I cover my mouth to not laugh."You said that he beat you up and why do you have a bloody knuckles?" I pointed to his knuckles that are bleeding and some part dry.

He give me a waring look not to laugh."Well I kinda got mad after and went to the forest to punch a tree like it was him"

I couldn't help but laugh at my brothers actions."HAHAHAHHAHA" after some minutes of laughing I calm down and told him."You know very well when you disobey dad's rules ya know? Why would you even join them, even tho father forbade it for a reason.

My brother sits Infront of me and said."Yeah I know..I was just bored okay, I can't even help them go hunting plus I can't go to the Metkayina without you." He said while carefully crossing his arms.

I look back to him and sigh I stand up "I will treat you're wounds, in exchange you can't leave my side when we're in the Metkayina clan." I stand with tm arms cross and smile widely.

My brother just nods and look away.I smile even more when he nods, I walk to my room and grab my healing pot and went back beside my brother.I start to grind some fresh herbs for his wounds.Once I finish grinding them all I gently put the paste to my brothers bruise cheek and wounded knuckles.He hiss in pain but bare it because it was his fault for being a Skaxwng.

Once I was finish putting some paste in his bruise ."I'm done.. there is still some left over paste you will apply this any time the paste wash away so it will heal faster." I said while giving him my pot so he could put this in any container he wants.

"Yeah, Thanks...btw don't tell Father about this or else he will skin me alive" He said making sure I won't tell.

"Dad? I don't think he would tho, since he doesn't care if you disobey his rules but I'm sure mom would" I said while giggling.

My brother glare at me "Shut it Bum head or one of our sisters will hear us" he said knowing our sisters loves to eves drop on people.

I stop giggling and said."Well I'm free for the whole afternoon... Do you wanna join me on going to the Metkayina?" I ask

He nods and went to grab his knife and mine on the shelf. "Yeah I'm coming, it's been a while since I last hang out with Ao'nung and Rotxo."

I smiled and take the knife that me handed me over. As we were leaving the pod Rei'ko made some clicking sounds to call for our Ilus.I dive down to the water and connect with Lala my Ilu. After a few minutes we finally arrive in the Metkayina and we decided to went down on our ilus and walk our way to some near pods.

As we were walking we heard someone above us flying an ikran five of them to be exact. I exchange looks with my brother and we both run towards the middle part of the village where everyone is surrounding the new visitors in the Metkayina.

When we arrive I greeted some of the Metkayina people and they did the same they made space for us to walk past them, I was behind my brother so I didn't really see the new comers that much. I tried to look in Rei'kos side but he keeps blocking me. And on the corner I saw Ao'nung and Rotxo entering the crowd, they didn't look at us because they were busy looking and making fun at the new commers.

Then one Metkayina girl caught my eyes. It was Tsireya I smile and called for her. She saw me and went towards me,I then lean to her and whisper.

"Is this the vision that the Tsa'hik told me about?" I whisper to her and she nods.She then went on Ao'nung and Rotxos side to scold them.

"Do not Ao'nung,Rotxo" Tsireya look at Rei'ko "You too rei stop it"

Rei'ko simply rolls his eyes and back up.While my brother was busy making fun together with Ao'nung. I look at the new commers curious on why the Forest clan come here?. I got too curious and and step in quite forward almost going near the Na'vi boy in front of me but I was not looking at him but to his side with the other Na'vi with an extra finger. I was too busy looking at his fingers I was suddenly pulled back and landed on someones hard chest.

I look behind me and saw it was my brother who was griping on my arm quiet hard.

"what are you doing Y/n?" he said while still glaring at the boy in front of us.

I look up to my brother while trying to take his hand off my arm.

"let go brother it hurts.." I said seeing some bruise on my arm due to his hard grip on my arm.

He rolled his eyes and said "No, you'll end up going near them bum head." He said griping my arm lightly.

While the Olo'ektan of the Metkayina was having a talk with Toruk Makto's family Ronal went in and inspect the new commers. She was walking around the family checking there tails and hands,she then stop in front of my and look at my brother.

"Take near Tsireya" I head Ronal said in a whisper tone to my brother.

My Brother nods and pull me gently towards Tsireya who is beside Ao'nung and the Olo'ektan. I walk beside Tsireya and she hug from my side as I do the same.My brother went on my left still staring at Toruk Makto's sons.

While they were talking I didn't notice my self staring at the eldest boy. He was pretty handsome in my opinion and tall. Then I notice him staring to me I look away immediately even tho knowing he knows I was staring at him. I got embarrassed and went behind Tsireya to cover my face on her back.

Tsireya was confused on my behavior and ask. "Are you alright Y/n?" She said in a whisper tone.

"yeah,...I'm fine Reya"

While I was hiding behind Reya I heard my name being called by the Olo'ektan.

"My son Ao'nung and Daughter Tsireya will show you're children on what to do together with our trusted Friend Rei'ko and Y/n."

I was confused on why I was included but I didn't said anything and continue to follow Tsireya in.But I didn't go near her as my brother pulled me again. I just sigh and hold his arm making his grip on my arm lossen.

"Come I will show you our village" Tsireya said happily. We followed her from the back of the Sully family. As I walk behind my brother I can't help but look at the sully boy from earlier,his back was facing us so I didn't see his face. I keep staring at his back not noticing my brother looking at me.

After some time walking we reach the marui pod that they will live in, as they put there stuff on the ground I still keep looking at the older sully boy. I haven't know his name yet, Im too shy to ask for it so I wait till someone will ask for it.

Tsireya was talking with Toruk Makto for the schedule to train with us, together with the sully Siblings."The training starts tomorrow early morning.." Tsireya said.

Jake Sully nods and thank Tsireya again for showing them the marui pod. We said our goodbyes and walk back to go to Tsireya's marui pod.

There both the Olo'ektan and Tsa'hik are waiting for us to return. While we were hangout with Reya's family Rei'ko told me we should head back now before eclipse. I nod at him and we said our good byes to them.

As Rei'ko and I walk to go our Ilus I saw the eldest sully boy his back facing us sharping a knife. I got distracted and didn't see the small rock and I trip on it. I was about to fall face flat but it didn't happened as my brother catch me before I could hit the ground. I was embarrassed because I saw the Sully boy face to us now, but my eyes didn't last long on him as my brother block the way and ask if I was okay.

"Yeah I'm good..." I look up to my brother and notice him frowning a little. "What?" He still frowns but pat my head softly."Nothing, we sould go now mother is waiting for us". He said and turn around

I was confused but didn't question him more as I walk fast to catch up to my brother.

When we went home it was dark and our both or parents are outside the marui pod waiting for our arrival.

"what took you kids so long?" Our Mother questions worriedly while hugging both of us and Rei'ko answered he question. "Both of us are with Tsireya and Ao'nung with Rotxo mother, we were hanging out and hunt for a little while." I look at my brother waiting for him to say about the new commers which are the sully family. But since he didn't say anything I step a bit forward to tell my mother."Mother about the new commers that I have told you earlier, they have arrived in the Metkayina when both me and Rei'ko went there."

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A/n: If some of you have already read this fanfic, i just want you to know that I have edited it and I have change a lot of the story.

Before I edit this the reader was a strong Ta'nui girl and a total hater of the Omaticaya especially of Neteyam something like that.

In the mean time I will continue to work on part two while school Is still far.

#Neteyam #avatar #atwow fanfiction #tsireya #ao'nung #rotxo #neteyam x y/n #y/n #Ta'nui clan #Omaticaya #neteyam #Lo'ak #tuk #kiri #Ronal #tonowari #neytiri #jake sully

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oceansrevenge · 2 years ago

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Jewelry of the Sea || Marina & Sloane

TIMING: Current-ish PARTIES: @faetedwill & @oceansrevenge SUMMARY: Sloane and Marina have a day of bonding out by the ocean shore.

Sloane slipped her shoes off just before reaching where water met land, tiny bubbles of foam curling at its edge. She looked over her shoulder at Marina who stood only a few feet away, silently wondering if she would have the opportunity to see her friend in her full form. The thought wasn’t what had brought Sloane to the beach, but it had definitely excited her enough that it got her out of bed even though she’d been dragging her feet lately. Admittedly, Sloane preferred the forest over the beach, and even Dark Score, but since having met both Marina and Teagan, she felt a new sense of purpose to help keep their domains as healthy as possible.

“Hey, look at this!” Sloane knelt down, picking up one of the shells that’d rolled ashore. It was a brilliant cerulean that could have matched the water on a cloudier day. Turning it over in her palm, she took care to see if anything was living on the underside, but came up empty. “This would be pretty on a necklace.” Sloane grinned at the nereid before backtracking towards the other woman, showing Marina what she had found. She looked down towards the other spoils she’d come across and knelt down, poking through them with her finger. “I think some of these would make good earrings, too.”

There was a certain sense of pride that came with showing off her waters. While the waters were not as peaceful as of late, Marina knew they were still beautiful all the same. Today, she felt a bit more calm coming from the water which meant it was a good day to bring Sloane to her shores for some quality time. Perhaps even show the young banshee what she looked like without her glamour. It was a nice thought, getting to share something with such a young fae and it left the nereid breathing out a contented sigh as the waves brushed over her feet.

“Hm,” Marina said, taking a moment to look over the shell, “It is quite beautiful. We should do that. Make a necklace for you.” The nereid held that thought as she looked over the other small treasures the banshee had collected in awe. Some were not quite jewelry worthy by the standards of most, but Neptune would appreciate them if he came swimming to the shore. The little octopus would take to Sloane much more kindly if she offered him a gift. “Earrings I have never made. I do not have the holes in my ear. I believe humans were the ones more so trained with that and the blue blood would likely be suspect,” she walked toward the small pouch she’d brought with her, “But I have made necklaces before. My sisters and I made them a lot, especially as children. Calypso was always best at it.”

The memories were fond ones and the idea of sharing moments like that with Sloane made her smile brighten. “We will make you one a necklace. You can carry a part of the ocean with you and know it welcomes you,” Marina explained, “Perhaps we could find some fish bones too. Do banshees appreciate bone jewelry?”

“For me?” Sloane blinked dumbly before letting out a laugh. “I was thinking for you, since these are… technically under your care, but if you think so.” Though she had been raised by a banshee, her mother had always taught her to take great care with what was taken from the world around her– to always repay, even if in thanks. Though it could not hold her to such a thing, it was a heavy word coming from a fae, and Sloane knew that. “Hm, you’re right. They do make clip ons though. I’m sure if you told someone you were afraid of needles, they’d make them for you no problem.”

As Marina moved towards the pouch at the opposite end from where they stood, Sloane got to her feet. The small treasures that’d been dumped onto a small handkerchief were not forgotten, but the banshee held whatever story Marina began to tell at a greater importance, though, she guessed it all tied together in some manner given that it was a story about her sisters. “I’d love that.” And she would– really would. “We should make matching ones, or what could be matching since there’s never one thing like the other when it comes to the ocean.” Sloane cast a glance towards the rolling waves before Marina’s question sent a laugh bubbling up through her chest.

“Um, yes.” Sloane’s eyes lit up as she approached Marina. “Do you have any on you right now? Fish bones, I mean? The first time I met Teagan, I was at Dark Score sketching out a decaying fish and well, it was special– I think about it a lot, not because it was a fish because really I had no ties before that, but because it was when I met Teagan, and then you it was the school, and I guess the water brought me to–” Sloane snapped her mouth shut before letting out another laugh. “I’m sorry– wow, um. That’s embarrassing. What I’m trying to say is that hell yeah, I’d love to see some ocean-y bones.”

“Yes, for you,” Marina answered with a small laugh, “The ocean is mine to care for, just as death will one day be yours. It’s all connected.” She looked towards her waters and watched the swell of a small wave before it broke the shoreline, washing over their feet. Even the tides were influenced by the moon. “It’s all connected, a balance. One we were born to serve. I’d be honored if you had a small piece of my home as a reminder of it all.”

While not activated, Sloane grew up knowing her purpose. Marina imagined it was something she was taught with great care just as she her mother had taught her. Though the word afraid made her lips purse into a thin line. “I am not afraid of needles,” she responded, “That would be a lie. I’m sure if I were to look, there is another fae who does such piercings. Perhaps even the ink they do for skin.”

The idea of matching jewelry brought a smile to her face. Marina knew she was past her best child-rearing years. Physically, she could handle it, but the idea of facing her death before her own children reached her age wasn’t one she liked to entertain. It didn’t change the gentler side of her that kids brought out. Or young adults, as Sloane would likely remind her of if she called the banshee a child again. “Matching,” she grinned, “I’d like that very much. No two are exactly alike, yes, but similar enough. Yours can remind you of me and mine of you.” She looked out at the horizon and the way the sun sparkled on the water. Just a bit further out, she knew there were some bones that would do.

“I do not, but I know where to find some,” Marina started, “If you do not mind holding my dress, I can fetch them. You would get to see me as I truly am. If you’d like, that is.” The sentiment behind Sloane’s words touched her. As a fae, they always respected nature, it was deeply ingrained in what they were, but their connections to each other could strengthen that. “Ah, Teagan. Beautiful nix she is. I am glad you got to see her in her waters. That we could all strengthen our ties to nature, appreciate it in different ways. I will have to introduce you to my leshy friend one day,” she told the younger fae, “He’s beautiful, how at ease he looks among the trees and moss— gives a different sort of appreciation. I will have to bring all my fae friends together one day, don’t you think?”

Sloane nodded at Marina’s words, though she already knew them through and through. Her mom had told her from a young age that their connections as fae was what made them their most powerful, and though one would think that death couldn’t connect itself to things that thrived, as the forest nymphs and leshy’s cared for, that it wasn’t an impossible idea— that at the base of it all, they were the caretakers and guardians, not so much the harbingers as others often felt or thought.

“I’d love that, Marina.” Sloane’s tone softened as she watched her friend from the side. There were so many years put into this woman already, and Sloane could only imagine how many more they’d have to spend together, even if Sloane eventually left White Crest, she felt as though she’d always return to her— to Teagan, too. They were a part of each other, even if they did not share blood. Though she could not yet feel that connection, it felt buried beneath her own bones, a constant phantom vibration— the want and the need, the absolution of her fate later down the road. Here, in this moment, Sloane was unafraid of the cost.

“Hey! I didn’t accuse you of being afraid, but now I know.” Sloane grinned at Marina before tucking some loose curls that had escaped back behind her ear. “Necklaces and rings are enough�� more than enough.” She didn’t want the nereid to think that she was ungrateful for the opportunity to even collect the shells that laid at their feet. The way that Marina watched the sunset over the ocean caused for a burn to stir in Sloane’s chest. Was it longing, to feel her purpose the way Marina did towards hers? Or was it in the same way that Sloane had decided to help Teagan watch over Dark Score? “It’d be so cool to match with you. Get to tell people, oh, sorry, this is one of a kind!” Maybe she was being slightly selfish with it, but Sloane hadn’t ever been given the opportunity to have things with others— nobody had ever really given her the chance.

“Wait, really?” Sloane’s eyes widened as Marina explained that she’d have the opportunity to see Marina while her glamour was dropped. She’d seen Teagan already, and though Sloane knew that the two would be far from alike, there was an excitement in getting trusted with such a thing. It was hard to focus on anything else Marina said after realizing she’d get to see the nereid in her truest form, but she nodded. “I’d love to meet your friends, and maybe one day they can become my friends.” And then I’ll scream for them one day, and then— She cleared her throat as she glanced towards the water. “Is Neptune out there too?”

Marina shook her head with a fond grin still on her face. The young banshee in training had quite the sense of humor and she appreciated that. Surely, the young woman would bring chaos with her past her activation, like any true fae would. “Rings and necklaces it is,” she stated proudly, “They are fun to make and it’d be an honor to match with you. Perhaps we could make something for Teagan and Correy, too. Don’t let Correy fool you. He’s as sentimental as they come. Even set up a saltwater shower at the lighthouse for me without being asked.” The sense of community she found in the other fae in town was something that made her feel at home. Something she’d missed for so many centuries and had told herself she hadn’t needed. But now that she had it, she wasn’t sure she could ever part with it again. These small moments of sharing in and appreciating each other’s nature were some of the most beautiful she’d known in all her years.

“Yes, really,” Marina answered, gleaming with pride, “I know you are not yet activated, but will still appreciate the beauty of a nymph’s true form. And one day, I hope to see yours. I wonder if you’ll have wings.” The nereid had always been particularly charmed by wings. Nereides did not typically have such an appendage, but the hesperides she’d met before had some of the most magnificent forms she’d seen. “If you share some shells when I bring Neptune back, you’ll make friends quickly.”

“Here,” Marina said, handing Sloane the thin dress she had been wearing, “Don’t want to rip this when I drop my glamour.” Once the banshee had her dress, the nereid let her true form show. All at once, she grew in size, becoming the giant octopus she truly was. Her orange skin sparkled in the sunlight and in a moment of showing off, her skin flashed from orange to beige to black and right back to orange. She tentatively reached a tentacle out toward Sloane in a gentle motion, inviting the banshee to touch her equivalent of a hand.

Sloane was more than elated to be able to match with Marina. It was an honor disguised as a young fae wanting to match up to an older one, and she knew that when it came down to it, it’d be a keepsake for as long as she was alive. At the mention of both Teagan and Correy, Sloane let out a laugh. “Oh, trust me, I know he’s a big ‘ol softy. He can’t trick me. I’m too smart to believe he has a permanent scowl on his face. I’ve seen him smile.” Before meeting any of them, Sloane had felt isolated, even if she had a community of those she was blood related to. She still struggled to find equal ground, always feeling below her mom or other relatives, but even without being activated, this small group of fae had shown her that it didn’t matter— that she would be alongside them in due time.

“I hope so. My mom does.” Sloane, once made aware of who she would become, had always imagined her wings to be beautiful things. She had always stared in amazement at her mother’s, as well as other family member’s, but there was somewhat of a fear in the back of her mind that she wouldn’t be given the same beauty. “But I’ll be sure to show them to you.” She smiled softly at Marina as she followed her to the shore, taking the dress that the older woman handed over.

“It’s a pretty dress, so yeah, that would suck.” Sloane scrunched her nose as she watched the waves roll, then her attention was swallowed entirely as Marina dropped her glamour. “Holy shit, you look so cool!” Sloane was careful not to drop the dress into the water as she extended a hand, index finger poking against the tentacle that Marina extended. “Wow, you’re beautiful, Marina.” Sloane’s gaze was filled with admiration as she stared onward at her friend. Though they were different in nature, if Sloane could be half the fae that Marina was, she figured she was doing pretty alright. “You’re like a piece of the sun, you’re that orange!”

Once the young banshee was activated, Marina found herself excited to see what she would become. The nereid had no doubt that Sloane would be great, she was a banshee afterall. Her screams would be able to rip through the thickest of skin and she’d be a hand of the Fates. She wondered if this was how her mother felt as she and her sisters grew up and became more in tune with their different abilities. The look of joy she wore when Doris first snapped a man in two with her claws would always be emblazoned in Marina’s memories. She knew her own would be similar when she first heard Sloane’s screams in the distance and looked upon the wings she was sure to sprout.

That warmth remained as she felt Sloane touch her outstretched tentacle and look upon her in awe. Marina always felt most beautiful in this form, as her true self, embodying her nature and connection to the water she called home. The excitement radiating from Sloane filled her with joy that made her dance on her tentacles. “It is my favorite color,” her low voice rumbled, “I will go get Neptune and the fish bones.”

The octopus sped off into the water, moving with the current toward the spot she knew a pile of fish bones lay. It wasn’t long before Marina had Neptune swimming alongside her so she slowed her pace just slightly. She grabbed the bones and let Neptune cling to her so they could make a quick return to the shore. As she neared the beach again, she put her glamour back up carrying Neptune in one hand and the bones in the other. “Here,” she said, handing the bones to Sloane, “Let me just put my dress back on and we can get started on the jewellery. And introduce you to Neptune of course.”

“This might sound stupid, but you don’t get to choose it, do you?” Sloane knew the question might be ignorant, but she swore she read something about octopus being able to change their colors to blend into their surroundings, so it was possible that Marina had decided on orange to suit not her needs, but her personality and what she actually liked. Where the line was drawn before animalistic nature and fae nature, however, Sloane was uncertain. “But I like orange. It suits you really well.” She smiled at Marina, hopeful that she hadn’t offended her friend by the question.

Sloane watched in amazement as Marina slipped into the water, moving faster than Sloane could ever dream of swimming. She held onto the dress tightly, squinting towards the sea. It wasn’t long before Marina arrived back on shore, and who she assumed to be Neptune in tow. The banshee took a small step back as Marina reinstated her glamor. She knew the way in which fae magic worked, but it would still amaze her, despite the knowledge she held. “Sure, here you go.” Sloane watched as Neptune suctioned himself to Marina’s hand, giving him a little wave with her index finger before exchanging the dress for the bones. “I appreciate the bones, Marina.” The urge to say thank you hung just beneath her tongue. She could trust Marina, and she knew that, but her mom’s voice echoed in her head.

Once Marina was dressed, Sloane led the way back to their small pile of goods. The shells had already dried beneath the sun, despite the cold front that’d begun to move in. “Where should we start?” She looked up to her friend, smile still intact. As she made eye contact with Neptune, she hummed, inching closer to Marina. “Can I hold him?”

“My base color,” Marina asked, “The orange is the color I was born with. The others I get to choose for camouflage.” She’d always loved her natural orange hue, often choosing to wear that very color when she had to wear human garments to avoid arrest. The clothes being in her favorite color did make them slightly more tolerable, but only slightly. It brought her great joy that Sloane appreciated her form and natural color, that she could share this with the young fae. “I’m glad. I like it, too. It’s my favorite color,” she smiled.

“There is no better place for the bones than with a banshee,” Marina stated, truly believing dead things were at home with Sloane’s kind. “I’ve been saving bones I find for you and another banshee friend of mine.” She hoped they were fresh enough to not be considered an insult though Sloane seemed appreciative of the gift. The banshee was still so young and Marina felt lucky she would get to watch her come into her own. “Over this way, there is a small little pool in the sand that Neptune can relax in,” she explained, as she followed alongside Sloane.

The question made Marina beam with pride. “Of course you may,” she answered, extending her arm so that Neptune could crawl onto Sloane’s hand. “He may take a shell for himself. Has a little collection, makes tools. He’s a smart little fellow.”

Sloane nodded, glad that she had been right about something. Studying did the trick, that much was certain. At the back of her mind, Sloane tucked away that Marina’s favorite color was orange, fully planning to gift her things in that color if she came across anything that she thought the nereid would appreciate. It was important to Sloane that she give back to the fae in her life who had given her just as much. “It’s really pretty on you, like really!”

It was a lifeline, Sloane realized, being able to connect to other fae on this level. They served each other, even in the smallest of ways. Though she could not yet feel their connection, Sloane knew that it was only a matter of time before she could. “Hey, I really appreciate that.” Sloane could thank Marina, but she knew that the nereid would probably throw it out the window and give her a lecture. At least, that’s what Sloane would do if the roles were reversed. “I’ll take good care of them, I do with everything else.” A smile pulled at the corners of her lips as she followed Marina to the small pool of water. “And him, too.”

Sloane knelt next to the pool, Neptune traveling from Marina’s hold to her own. The banshee stared down at him as he began to mess with one of the bigger shells at the pool’s bottom just as Marina had explained he would. “They’re really cool, aren’t they? I mean, that makes you really cool too, but like— I don’t know, it’s really eye opening, being on this side of things, I guess.” She felt gratified to know that she was worthy enough to spend this kind of time with another fae, and a nereid no less. It was like when she and Teagan had picnics at the edge of Dark Score.

Even in her younger years, Marina had never been shy about her beauty. It was simply a fact that all of their kind possessed a certain beauty that other species simply could not rival. She had always adored the praise that she quite frankly always believed she had deserved. She smiled and made herself at home beside Sloane because this was home. Her waters, her people, her creatures. All of them created a sense of home she hadn’t felt in far too long, one she had told herself she may never feel again, but here she was, alongside a young banshee sharing her world.

“Good,” Marina nodded, “I’m certain you do. It’s in your nature, even now.” Everything was cyclical, she could see Sloane appreciating the lifecycle at all its stages. Bright and lively in Neptune as he crawled over her hand and in its stages of decay in the fish bones that would one day be part of the earth yet again. Just as one day, when Marina was long gone, the banshee would live on and serve her duty to the Fates. Right now, she appreciated this moment of in between, feeling that connection to another fae even without the familiar buzz under her skin. “Cool, yes,” she agreed, “I suppose you’re right on that one. I’ve always thought so anyway. But I think that makes us all cool as you put it.”

And it did. Though Marina believed fascinating was more apt. Either way, she would enjoy these moments between them and hoped to one day see the young banshee reach her full potential.

#sloane #wickedswriting #p; sloane #slimy tw

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fiddlepickdouglas · 4 years ago

Text

Viva Las Vegas, Pt. 1 - Ribbit

Summary: Sunset Curve Alive AU, Willex, THE meetcute of meetcutes. 2.1k

Edit: thank you so much @trevor-wilson-covington for the pretty edit!! I'm in love with it!

Alex drummed his fingers on the armrest of his seat in the van. The drive from Los Angeles to Vegas was just short of four hours, but it had been an early morning and it was going to be a long day. He was feeling the carsickness sit just under the threshold of dangerous and rolled down the window.

“Whoo! Twenty miles boys!” Luke called out as they passed a sign on the freeway, clapping Bobby on the shoulder from behind.

“Woohoo!” Bobby responded in excitement.

“Think you’re gonna make it, buddy?” Reggie looked over at Alex. Alex turned only a fraction of the way toward his friend and gave a half-hearted nod.

“Hey man, let us know if we gotta pull over,” Luke said.

He simply nodded. Next time he wasn’t going to sit in the back.

The other three were jamming to whatever Luke was riffing on his guitar. Bobby thankfully drove at a slower pace as they approached the final stretch toward their destination. The ache in his stomach didn’t get better, but it also didn’t get worse so he was banking on it calming down once they stopped.

“Hey, guys, we wanna stop somewhere and get breakfast first?” Bobby called out to the rest of them.

“Oh yeah!” Reggie said. “I think I could go for some pancakes.”

“Oh, pancakes sound real good right now.” Luke echoed.

“Alex?” Bobby peeked into the rearview mirror at him.

Looking up from the view outside, he just shrugged. It didn’t matter. He wasn’t sure he could handle food no matter what it was.

Eventually they pulled off the freeway and kept their eyes peeled for an open restaurant.

“I see pancakes!” Reggie cried, pointing at his target.

“They’ve got an arcade next door, I second that vote!” Bobby said.

As they parked and clambered out of the van, the boys stretched and shook their limbs. They entered the diner and found a booth, practically collapsing together on the table. Alex placed his face in his hands and tried taking in deep breaths to calm his stomach. A sudden voice was heard beside the table.

“Good morning starshines, the earth says hello! How are we doing today?” Sounded like a waiter. Alex felt rude, but didn’t bother to look up. He felt Luke nudge a menu under his elbow.

“Oh, we’re hungry!” Reggie responded.

“Awesome, guys,” the waiter said. “Anything I can get started for you?”

“We’ll go with water,” Luke spoke for everyone at the table. “And, sorry about him, he’s not feeling good.” Alex assumed this was about him and sighed.

“Okay, so water for everybody? Alright, I’ll just grab those for you while you prepare your orders.”

As the waiter left, Luke tapped Alex’s shoulder.

“How you doin’, Alex?”

“Not blowing chunks, I guess,” he groaned.

“Hey, guys,” Bobby started saying. “How about we pick what we wanna eat, and then I want to check out the arcade while we wait for our food.”

“That’s a good idea,” Reggie said, perking up. “I hope they have Galaga.”

“I’m down,” Luke said. “Alex, you wanna wait here for us? You can give the guy our orders and then just chill.”

“Maybe that stomach will settle down,” Reggie added.

Alex lowered his hands and rested them on the table.

“Yeah,” he replied. “I need the space anyway. Thanks.”

“Cool,” Luke hopped up from his seat. “Uh, I’ll just do the buttermilk pancakes.”

“Make that two buttermilk pancakes!” Reggie said, holding up his fingers.

“Eggs and sausage,” Bobby told him. “And buttermilk pancakes.” He patted Alex on the back as the three of them ventured next door.

At least they were easy to remember. Alex looked around the restaurant as he kept breathing in and out slowly. He was the only person there. That was surprising for a diner just outside of Vegas around ten in the morning. He didn’t mind the quiet, though. Having all this space to himself was already helping him feel better.

A guy with long dark hair approached him with a tray carrying glasses of water. Alex gulped as he watched, his breath catching in his throat. He took in the tie-dye shirt, the ripped jeans, and puka shell necklace and guessed he was probably from California as well.

“Whoa, where’d they all go?” the waiter asked, smiling a little in confusion.

Alex blinked.

“They, uh, they went to the arcade,” he managed to get out. He couldn’t help it, this guy had a nice smile.

“Ah,” the guy raised his eyebrows and began placing the water on the table. “And they left you behind? That sucks.”

“I’m okay,” Alex said. “We’ve just been on the road for a bit and I got kinda carsick, so I needed some space anyway.”

“I’m sorry, man,” the waiter said. “Did they decide what to eat before they bailed?”

“Uh, yeah,” Alex shifted to face him better. “They all want buttermilk pancakes and then one guy also wants eggs and sausage.”

“Three buttermilks…” the guy muttered as he wrote them down. “Eggs and sausage. And do you know what you want?”

He looked directly into Alex’s eyes as he rested the tray under his arm and it took everything Alex had not to melt right there. Don’t look at his lips, he thought. He was pretty sure his eyes had betrayed him but he forced his gaze downward as a cover.

“I’m sorry,” he said, flustered. “I actually forgot to look at the menu.”

“Right, ‘cuz you were carsick, sorry” the waiter chuckled, running a hand through his hair. Alex bit his tongue.

“I should probably get some food still,” he managed to say. “We’ve got a long day ahead of us.”

“Right on. I could recommend some toast - that’s always easy on the stomach. That comes with eggs, and I could add in some banana for you.”

“That actually sounds great,” Alex told him. “I’ll just do that, then.”

The waiter smiled and bit his lip.

“‘Kay!” He lifted the tray from under his arm and headed back toward the kitchen, doing a little skip before disappearing inside.

Alex felt his hands shaking and he sat on them for a minute. Looking around the empty diner, a thought occurred that somehow with just him and the waiter it had seemed full. The strange feeling crept all over him, like a new exhilarating energy, and he moved his hands back up. The waiter popped back out of the kitchen and came back toward Alex in a cavalier fashion.

“Mind if I join you?” he asked. “I don’t exactly have other people to help and I feel bad leaving you all by yourself in here.”

“Make yourself at home,” Alex said, gesturing to the seat across from him. Make yourself at home? What is that? he berated himself.

The guy extended a hand for him to shake. “I’m Willie, by the way.”

“Alex.” As he took it, Alex returned the firm grip he received and they both chuckled a bit at noticing each other’s strength. Willie sat down and immediately grabbed a napkin from the dispenser.

“So you said you and your friends have a long day ahead of you?” he asked.

“Oh right,” Alex couldn’t believe he had forgotten about the guys for a minute. “We’re a band, so we’ve got a gig opening for Julie Molina tonight.”

“Wicked,” Willie smiled and nodded, folding the napkin into something Alex wasn’t sure what it was supposed to be. “Who’s Julie Molina?”

“Oh, she’s just a good solo artist - does a little bit of everything. My buddy Luke is really into her.”

Willie nodded some more, continuing to fold the napkin.

“And who are you guys?”

“We’re Sunset Curve,” Alex said. “I’m the drummer.”

“Right on! You guys just becoming a thing?” Willie raised his eyebrows.

“I mean, I guess so,” Alex hadn’t exactly thought about it. “Opening for Julie is a big step for us.”

He watched Willie’s hands work until he finished. It turned out to be an origami frog.

“Ribbit,” Willie said, pressing on the top to make it look like it was moving. The napkin material didn’t exactly lend to bouncing up and down, which made them both giggle. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be distracting.”

“I don’t mind,” Alex said. “It’s entertaining.”

He realized how widely he was smiling and laughed to himself.

“What about you?” he asked.

Willie straightened his posture and ran a hand through his hair again. He flailed his arms and blew out his cheeks before holding one arm with the other and leaning on the table.

“Making it on my own for now. I just do whatever feels good, you know? Make a few bucks, get out and enjoy what I find. Don’t need a whole lot to be happy.”

Wow, Alex wanted that kind of chill. He picked up the origami frog.

“What do you do when you’re not here? Besides these, of course.”

Willie shrugged.

“Skate. Be free.” He smiled, but sighed heavily. Alex saw a distant look in his eyes, but knew now wasn’t a time to address it. “I see Vegas in all its glory. You should see the lights at night.”

“Won’t I see them tonight?”

Willie shook his head.

“Not the right way,” he told him. “Not at the right angle. I would show you, but you’ve got your gig and everything.”

Alex opened his mouth to reply, but a head stuck out of the kitchen door. A man with dark hair and chiseled features looked at Willie and all he did was glare authoritatively.

“I’m - coming,” Willie stammered, rising from his seat.

Alex realized his mouth was still open and he shut it, unhappily swallowing what he’d wanted to say.

“That was my boss,” Willie said, already in a hurry. “I’m sorry, I’ll be back when your food’s ready.” He rushed off and the diner felt empty and cold again.

As if on cue, Luke, Bobby and Reggie burst back through the door. Luke and Reggie were celebrating while Bobby seemed a little less enthusiastic.

“Dun-geon slay-er!” Reggie proclaimed in a mock deep voice. “Too bad we can’t stay longer and go for that tournament today; I would have whooped everyone.”

They all sat and immediately gulped down their waters. Bobby remained quiet.

“How was the arcade?” Alex asked.

“It was sweet,” Luke reported. “Bobby’s mad because Reggie mopped the floor with him.”

“The joystick wasn’t working right, it wasn’t a fair outcome,” Bobby defended.

“Oooohhh,” Reggie made a silly face and wiggled his fingers. “Bobby only loses when the game doesn’t work, ooohhh!”

Alex shook his head and laughed mildly. He only noticed then that his stomach had stopped bothering him completely. He hadn’t even felt it when he’d been talking with Willie. He finished his own water, and was happy not to feel anything as it went down. The origami frog was still on the table.

“Hey, Alex,” Reggie said, picking it up. “Did you make this?”

“Oh, no, Willie did,” he told him.

“Who’s Willie?” Luke asked.

Speak of the devil - the kitchen door opened and Willie came out carrying their plates.

“Alright, we got pancakes, pancakes, more pancakes,” he said, placing them where they belonged. He glanced at Alex quickly, but it was too quick to read. “Who had the eggs and sausage?”

“That was me,” Bobby said, raising his hand.

“Okay,” Willie passed it over to him. “And toast and eggs with a banana.” He smiled as he set it down before Alex. “And it looks like you all need more water, I’ll be right back!” He was gone too quickly again.

The change in his mood unsettled Alex, but maybe it was because Willie was working. As he saw Willie returning with the water pitcher he had an idea.

“Hey Luke,” he said. Luke turned to him expectantly as Willie silently poured water in their glasses.

“Where are we playing again?”

Luke looked confused. Willie was listening intently.

“The Pearl, why? How could you forget?”

“And what time do we play?”

“Eight o’ clock. You sure you’re feeling better?”

“Yeah. I was… I was just testing you, cuz sometimes you don’t remember.”

Luke looked around the table defensively.

Reggie shrugged. “He’s right. But you remembered this time!”

Alex felt bad about starting Luke in an argument as he listened to them continue, but he knew it would blow over quickly. He caught Willie looking back at him and nodding as he walked away. As he returned to his food, Bobby smirked at him and shook his head. Heat rose in his cheeks and he focused on his toast.

#julie and the phantoms #jatp #fanfic #jatp fanfic #willex #alive au #alex mercer #willie #luke patterson #reggie peters #bobby wilson #julie molina #viva las vegas #ribbit #fiddlepickdouglas #meetcute

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sunflowergirl522 · 4 years ago

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You Need To Remember 3

Pairing: Peter Maximoff x Reader

Summary: Your best friend Peter gets sucked into a different reality in front of you and you use your power to go after him. You find yourself in a new reality but you don’t remember how you got there.

Warnings: Language

Word Count: 1681

Masterlist Previous Part

When Peter had hit the back of Monica’s head to knock her out you gasp. What was going on?

“Peter! What are you doing?”

“What I should’ve done before hun.” And then you’re greeted with darkness.

When you wake up you’re in some sort of attic with a headache in the back of your head where you were hit. Monica’s yelling for Wanda and banging on the window while Peter sits on the couch with a guitar. You’re laid on a recliner in a corner of the room and sit up and grimace at the heart beat in your head.

“Don’t waste your breath babe. No one can hear you from in here.” Monica turns around to look at Peter and glances at you when he calls her babe. You just shrug at her not knowing what was going on as Peter starts to play the guitar. Peter’s never touched a guitar in his life. How did he know now? He strums something dramatic and makes a face at Monica as she looks between the door and him. She tries to run and you know that that’s a bad idea before she even does it. It seems like she’s forgetting about his super speed. He beats her there, getting in her way, and flicks her back.

“Shit, Monica!” You rush to her side to help her into a sitting position and make sure she’s okay. You help her over to the recliner that you were just on while Peter goes to make a smoothie or something. “What is wrong with you? Why would you do that?”

“Can’t have the two of you messing everything up for the missus.”

“What is this stuff?” Monica asks in what seems to be disgust and you try to figure out what he was talking about. Who’s the missus?

“This is my man-cave.”

“Man-cave?” Your eyebrows scrunch together, not once has Peter ever used the term man-cave.

“A place to chillax, you know, while the missus is turning up trouble.”

“What the fuck?” You mutter to yourself as Peter walks over to the tv and Monica rifles through the papers on the stand next to her.

“You a fan of Steven Seagal?” When he doesn’t get a response he frowns and keeps doing whatever it is he’s doing.

“Agnes doesn’t live here.” You turn to Monica to see her staring down at a piece of paper and lean on the recliner to look over her shoulder. She’s holding a picture of what seems to be Peter with brown hair and a different name typed underneath it. “You do.” Her mouth is wide with shock as she looks up at the boy who fumbles with something. “You’re Ralph Bohner?” She sounds just so confused and you have to admit you are to but you can’t help but also find yourself amused.

“Boner.” Peter chuckles and you giggle a bit at it too. Monica shoots you a look and you shrug at her in response as you cover your mouth. It’s a ridiculous name and you’ve always been as immature as Peter.

“How is she controlling you?” Monica gets up as she asks.

“You wanna tussle again?” Peter gets into a fake fighting stance and bounces around. Monica catches him by surprise and flips him over her shoulder and pins him to the ground. “Meow. She’s feisty.” You ignore how much him flirting with Monica hurts you considering he’s probably under some control. As soon as Monica rips the ugly puka shell necklace from Peter’s neck his face morphs into a scared look. “Please, spare my life!”

“Nice to meet you Ralph.” Monica gets off of him then and you teleport to stand in front of the window behind his head.

“Huh?” He goes to lean up on his elbows and you step closer to lean over his body. Sensing you, he looks up and relief floods through his features.

“Yeah nice to meet you.”

“Y/n!” He uses his speed to stand in front of you. “Are you okay? God I didn’t hurt you too bad did I?” His hand goes to the back of your head to feel for a bump.

“I’m alright Peter, don’t you dare start apologizing because I know you won’t stop. What happened anyway? One minute you’re about to help Wanda and the next you’re knocking us out.”

“I don’t know I guess when I was me for that short bit she was distracted but I was snapped back into her control when I got closer to the house.” He turns to point at Monica. “Good job with the necklace though, I didn’t even know.”

“I could see her energy.” Monica shrugs before tossing it over her shoulder. “We should go help Wanda.”

“We’ll catch up.” Monica nods at you before running out the door. “What is this about?” You hold up the picture for Peter to see.

“When I ended up on the other side of the portal none of this shit was going on. It must’ve been just before it so I found a picture of some dude who looked enough like me to pass and made up an alias.”

“And you chose Ralph Bohner?” One of your eyebrows quirk up and a small smile forms on your lips.

“Alright so I saw it on a gravestone when I ran through the neighborhood to figure out where I was and thought it was funny.”

“It is pretty funny, I’ll give you that. It’s definitely a name I can see you picking. I’m really glad you’re alright Pete, I was so worried when you disappeared.”

“I was pretty worried too. I didn’t know if I was ever gonna see you again.” Peter steps closer to you and caresses the side of your face. The two of you stare at each other for a minute before you clear your throat.

“We should probably go.”

“Yeah.” Peter holds onto the back of your neck and the two of you make it to the town square just in time to see a funnel cake truck smash into a SWORD car. A robotic looking man comes out of the library and the twins run to him yelling dad. “That’s Vision, shame you never got to meet him.” You and Peter stay behind a building so that Agatha doesn’t see the two of you. The two of you watch as the two witches fly up and start to fight in the sky.

“Oh shit!” You both exclaim together as Agatha seems to drain Wanda completely of her power. Peter zips off and comes back with some popcorn offering the bucket out to you. You take a handful as you watch as Wanda takes all of her power back and transforms.

“Damn, she looks good! It’s a good thing I’m so into you Pete because otherwise I’d be hitting on your not really sister.”

“You’re into me?” You don’t even realize what you just said until his words feel your ears.

“Um, well yeah, have been for a while now.” You might as well let him know, maybe if he freaks out you can get Wanda to erase his memory or something.

“Good, I’m pretty into you too.” He just shoves another handful of popcorn in his mouth and keeps watching the moment in front of the two of you and it suddenly starts to turn to night as Wanda and her family walk away. When the both of you walk over to Monica it’s completely dark and the walls of the world are shrinking.

“Is that popcorn?” Monica asks the two of you pointing at the bucket and you nod at her with a small smile. The wall of the world goes past the three of you causing it to be day again.

“It’s not often we get to watch the fights.” You shrug and Peter takes your hand in his own after zipping over to throw the bucket away. “We’re normally almost dying in them.”

Wanda walks into the town square again and all of the townspeople stop to stare at her as she walks up to the three of you. Monica's attention goes to her and she takes a few steps to meet up with Wanda.

“They’ll never know what you sacrificed for them.”

“It wouldn’t change how they see me. And you, you don’t, you don’t hate me?”

“Given the chance and given your power, I’d bring my mom back. I know I would.”

“I’m sorry. For all the pain I caused.” You look over at Peter to see concern on his face and you can tell that he just wants to wrap his arms around this Wanda and console her. He had lost his twin in your own reality and you know how hard this must be for him. You squeeze his hand to remind him you’re here and a small smile appears on his face.

“I know.”

“I don’t understand this power. But I will.” It’s then that Wanda’s attention goes to the two of you. Peter smiles at her and does a little wave and she walks up to the two of you. “So who are you, then?”

“Uh, I’m Peter, Peter Maximoff. Weird, I know right.” He does an awkward laugh and rubs the back of his neck with his free hand and you decide to come to his rescue.

“We’re from a different reality, if that helps at all. He was plucked out of ours and put here I think to get to you, we aren’t completely sure though.”

“Huh, nice to meet the two of you.” Sirens start to get close then and Wanda starts to walk away before turning to face you three. “Goodbye Monica, Peter.” She nods at Peter in acknowledgement.

“Bye, Wanda.” Monica says before Wanda flies away. “Good luck.” As cops start to swarm around you, you turn to Peter.

“Let's go home.” You do what you did to get here and use your strength to open a portal to your own reality and Peter pulls you through before it can snap shut.

Peter Taglist: @amourtentiaa @simpforquicksilver @parkersdarling @loveyou3000-mcu

#peter maximoff x reader #peter maximoff #peter maximoff imagine #quicksilver x reader #wandavision

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anthrat · 4 years ago

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Like a Moth to a Flame

Shino Aburame/Reader

Shino has been away on a mission for the last couple of days, as his girlfriend you make the executive decision to start waking up early in the hopes you'll be able to welcome him back to the village

1785 words

It was another beautiful morning in Konohagakure, the sun was just beginning to rise, casting a faint orange glow upon the streets. You sighed heavily, thrusting your hands in your pockets as you made your way towards the entrance gate. Mornings didn’t really suit you. Unfortunately, being a ninja meant you had to begrudgingly abandon your dreams of being able to sleep until noon without interruption. You were secretly quite jealous of those who could handle waking up early without feeling like they’d been hit by a bus, mornings really made the world feel different somehow. Nothing quite felt the same, on the few occasions you were awake this early you always felt as though you were somehow out of place, disturbing the complete calm which enveloped the world. In just a few short hours the peace and tranquillity would be broken by the bustling of people as they went about their day to day lives. This was the third morning in a row you’d woken up early, as much as you hated the loss of sleep you had a very good reason to be up. It would be any day now that your boyfriend would be returning from his mission.

You and Shino had only been dating for a few months but by God, you loved that man. Everything about him made your heart skip a beat, maybe it was because you were young and stupid but you honestly couldn’t see yourself ever finding a better man. He was perfect, yet so misunderstood. People constantly mistook his stoic nature for ignorance or a lack of compassion but you knew first hand that wasn’t the case. Even before you’d started dating you couldn’t understand how people didn’t see him for the pure and gentle soul he truly was. Shino was a man of small actions, never one for grandiose displays of affection. That’s what you loved most about him, everything was genuine, nothing was for show. The little gifts he gave you every time you spent time together, things like pretty rocks, cicada shells and feathers which seemed worthless but weren’t. They were always gifted to you alongside a story of how they had reminded him of you. Even when his gifts had more material value they were always well thought out. You’d often come home to find small packages with the new book you’d wanted, your favourite snacks and even things like milk and bread which you hadn’t even realised you’d run out of. Your hand instinctively reached towards your neck, gently fingering the necklace he had gifted you before you’d begun dating. You smiled, remembering your complete and utter confusion when you’d first received it.

The necklace was adorned with a small moth pendant, at the time you’d looked at Shino, unsure of what to make of it. You knew he loved bugs but even then… A moth? Something like a butterfly or ladybug you’d understand but a moth seemed so unfitting. Sensing your confusion Shino had quietly explained the importance of the moth. “Why is it a moth? It’s because they are a symbol of determination. They always fly towards the light even when their efforts may prove to be futile. Just like the moth, I hope you always have faith in your own abilities and continue to have the strength to never give up.” You remembered the blush that had adorned his face as he said this to you, the intensity of his stare as he waited for your reaction. The warmth of his body as you pulled him into a tight embrace, hiding your own blush by burying your head into his chest as you thanked him profusely. It was after that day that you found yourself unable to rid your mind of Shino. No matter where you were or what you were doing, from that moment onwards you’d been bitten by a love bug.

You waved to Kotetsu and Izumo as you walked past, Izumo grinned at you “We were just wondering when you’d show up grasshopper. Don’t worry, you haven’t missed Shino”

You blushed profusely and murmured a thank you, slightly increasing your walking speed as you exited the village, trying to ignore the fading voices of Kotetsu and Izumo as they called after you. You’d made the mistake of telling them that Shino often gave you nicknames of bugs, they’d taken this as an invitation to only refer to you as some sort of insect. Finding the patch of grass you’d claimed as your own you slumped into a sitting position, your back pushing against the wall surrounding the village. It wasn’t the most comfortable position but it had served you well over the last few days. Pulling your knees towards yourself you rested your chin on top. Your eyes strained against the light of the sun as you tried to focus on the road ahead, hoping that you’d soon be able to make out the figure of Shino. It wasn’t long before you found yourself slowly drifting off.

You could feel something warm on your face, “Mmmf go away” you mumbled sleepily, wafting your hand to try and fend whatever the warmth was away. Instead, your hands made contact with something large and furry. Very confused and startled, you opened your eyes. To your surprise, your vision was almost entirely obscured by the nose and snout of a very large, white dog. “Hello Akamaru!” You grinned, scrunching him behind his ears and marvelling at how furiously his tail was wagging.

“Yo, Y/N!”

You looked up as three figures made their way towards you, hauling yourself up and wiping your legs free from any dirt you waved at them, a huge grin plastered on your face.

“Morning Kiba, Hinata and Shino, lovely day for a walk isn’t it? How was your mission?” You asked whilst gently patting Akamaru’s head.

Kiba gave you a goofy grin “It was great! Me and Akamaru absolutely destroyed these two ninjas and-”

“Uhm… Kiba…” Hinata mumbled, “Didn’t those two ninjas end up capturing you?”

“Hey, Hinata shut up!” Kiba shouted, “Getting captured was all a part of my plan so we could complete the mission” he explained to you, he opened his mouth as if to continue before he was interrupted.

“It wasn’t a plan. Why? Because you never plan anything, you just run in headfirst and put everyone else in danger” As he said this, Shino gently pushed his goggles further up his nose. You snorted as Kiba stuttered a number of insults at both his teammates, something about them being unsupportive of his fighting methods. You weren’t really sure.

“Well, whatever. Never mind me, Y/N what are you even doing up this early, and what were you doing on the ground?” Kiba questioned, clearly he was desperate to change the subject.

“Ah, well… I was actually waiting for Shino, I wanted to speak to him” you responded, turning your head to smile at the goggle-wearing shinobi. Although it was hard to see Shino’s face behind his large collar, you could have sworn you saw it turn a gentle shade of pink as you said this.

“Really? What do you even see in this guy anyway, he’s so quiet and-” “Kiba, let’s leave” Hinata murmured, pulling gently on his sleeve trying to guide him into the village. “Don’t worry about the report Shino, me and Kiba can do it ourselves.”

“What? That’s not fair! How come Shino doesn’t have to come with us? Reporting missions is such a waste of time! We’re a team aren’t we? We should always -” He paused as Shino glared at him. You shuddered slightly, Shino wasn’t even looking in your direction yet you could feel the anger within his gaze. Raising his hands in defeat Kiba turned away from you both, “Alright I get it you two. Have fun or whatever. Shino, you can count on us to report to the Hokage.”

You stood besides Shino and watched them leave, gently brushing your hand against his. As soon as the pair were out of sight you practically leapt onto him, burying your head into his chest and wrapping him in as tight an embrace as you could. “Welcome home” You murmured into him. You felt him initially stiffen, and then soften as he relaxed into your arms, wrapping his own around you and pulling you closer. You stayed like that for a while, his head rested atop yours, you listening to the quickened beating of his heart. He was the first to pull away, moving his hands to cup gently cup your face, lifting your chin slightly so you could meet his gaze.

“What did you want to speak about? Did something happen whilst I was away?”

You placed your hands on top of his and slowly pulled them away from your face so you could hold them. “Nothing in particular, I just wanted to see you. I missed you.” You smiled up at him, interlacing your fingers with his.

“I see,” he responded quietly. “I missed you too.”

He pulled your hands towards his lips, leaving gentle kisses on each of your knuckles before grabbing your chin and pulling you into a deep kiss. You could feel yourself melting, you gently pulled his hood down and laced your fingers behind his head. You felt his hands trail down to your waist, gently stroking your sides as he pulled you in even closer. You withdrew from the kiss, panting slightly as you tried to steady your breath. Shino gently kissed your nose, a slight smile forming on his lips as you scrunched it in response. He wasn’t entirely sure if you’d ever be able to understand just how much this meant to him. He’d finally found someone who remembered him, someone who genuinely missed him when he wasn’t there. After years of feeling like a third wheel, years of feeling like his friends didn’t even know who he was he’d found you.

“Y/N?”

“Yes?”

“I love you” He didn’t even wait for your response, he instead pulled you in for another kiss, his lips crashing against yours. All your previous kisses had always been gentle, somewhat tentative and uncertain. This one was rough. You could feel the quiet desperation in the kiss, the years of repressed emotions spilling out His hands gripped your waist as his lips grew more frantic. You placed a comforting hand on his chest, pushing him back slightly.

“I love you too” you breathed, barely being able to catch your breath before his lips smashed into yours, hungrier than before. You smiled inwardly, questioning why it was only now you’d decided to start welcoming him back home from missions.

#shino aburame #shino x reader #shino aburame x reader #fanfic #naruto #reader fic #naruto fanfiction

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speechlessxx · 5 years ago

Text

Bring Him Light - xii (King!Steve Rogers x Reader)

Chapter Summary: While Lord Rumlow is being tortured, his fellow disgraced comrade is found in another kingdom’s port.

Warnings: underwhelming filler chapter, descriptions of torture,

Word Count: 2.3k

<- Last Part -=+=- Next Part ->

The musical clattering of the coins in the cloaked man’s pouch were muffled beneath the several hollered orders. York’s docks were packed to brim with several ships that brought in various goods for the young prince’s name day. From what the man could make out, the king and queen were determined to make this the best name day the young boy had ever experienced. He was surprised to find out, it would be the young man’s last.

He overheard one sailor planning to ship off. Good. He thought. Put as much distance between me and Brooken. The man stopped the sailor, hailing him over and flashing him the pouch of coins. “Where to, old man?” the young sailor asked. The cloaked man scoffed, not used to being addressed in such a manner.

“Far.” The cloaked man answered, swallowing his pride. He thought his life was more valuable than a status or a label. “Wherever you’d take me, boy.”

The young sailor stared into the pouch. The coins shimmered under the hot sun’s rays. There were enough coins in the bag to help his aunt. He probably wouldn’t have to sail ever again. “I’m headed to the Old World, sir,” the young sailor explained. “I’m setting sail in a few hours or so.”

The older man grumbled a bit. He didn’t like the idea of staying in York for a few more hours. He remembered the advice he had told a young queen days before – the longer you wait, the slimmer the chances at escape became. But he was in no place to argue, and no other ship was leaving, so he agreed. “What’s your name, sir?” The young boy asked.

“Alex.”

As Anthony and his wife were busy with the name day arrangements, trumpets blared out a somber tune throughout the halls of Iron Tower. The king stopped midsentence, registering the meaning – a noble had died. An awful feeling bubbled in his chest as he began to think his son did not make it to his final name day.

Moments later, Ser James Rhodes pushed open the throne room doors. Anthony frowned when he saw the redhaired Natasha, who was supposed to be in Brooken at your side. It was her duty as one of your ladies in waiting.

“Your majesties,” Natasha bowed.

“What’s happened?” His wife asked with a similar confused frown that mirrored his own. “Is your queen with you?”

Natasha took a deep breath as she looked around the crowded throne room. All eyes bore into her, all wondering the same. They had all heard the low notes from the trumpet… Some had assumed it called for the death of their prince, but had Lady Natasha come to deliver the body of their princess, instead?

“No, your grace,” Natasha answered after long beats of silence. “My queen is safe in Brooken.” She wasn’t sure how true those words were, but after witnessing the pure desperation on King Steven’s face and voice as he tried to find you, she had a bit of hope.

“Then, why are you here?” Anthony asked the younger woman. “Why aren’t you with your queen?”

“She asked me to deliver the body of …” Natasha gulped. Saying her name made it all too real. “Lady… Lady Wanda, who recently …” She choked on her words, tears brimming in her green eyes. “Who recently passed.”

“Oh, dear god.” The queen gasped. She nervously clasped the pendent on her necklace.

The king’s frown did not relent. He stared down at the young woman. Her tears were justified – she had lost a friend after all – but her eyes spoke a different story. There was something more to the simple tale she spun. He waved off everyone in the room, dismissing them from the chamber.

“Tell me the truth, Lady Natasha,” he urged, “for I see a deeper sadness in your eyes.”

“Your grace,” Lady Natasha muttered. Under your orders, she was not to spread the story of Wanda’s assault. As gruesome and horrible as the events that lead to her death were, the mention of her losing her maidenhood before marriage would tarnish her reputation. York’s laws would call that she be buried in an unmarked grave alongside common criminals who had no family. “My queen has demanded my silence.”

“You may be my daughter’s lady, but you are in my court,” Anthony pushed. His tone menacing, but after being in Brooken’s court under the rule of the once hailed Cruel King Rogers, it did not phase her. “You can tell me yourself, or I can bring in someone who will force it out of you.”

“Tony.” Your mother scolded. She cast a look of pity to Natasha. “Please, Lady Natasha, speak freely.”

»»————-　⚜　————-««

The arrow whistled in the air as the arrowhead pierced through the massive wooden board. A loud thuck! echoed throughout the silent stables followed by a pathetic whimper. Three men watched in the sidelines as the queen pulled another arrow from her quiver.

“Do you think she’s taking this a bit far?” Lord Wilson, though thoroughly impressed with your archery skills, grew rather restless as his queen toyed with her prisoner. Another arrow sliced through the air and made a similar thuck sound.

“She hasn’t even hit him once,” Steven reasoned. He, too, was impressed with your skills though he was rather disappointed that you had yet to graze his cousin’s skin. “My love,” his voice echoed, “you can get much closer than that.”

“Is that a taunt?” You asked, readying another arrow. Your husband smirked and shrugged.

Rumlow, whose chin was previously tucked into his chest as he cowered in fear, raised his head and shot an angry glare at his cousin. “Steve, you son of a –“he gasped when an arrow flew right in front of his face, inches from his eyes.

“And before, you think you can run,” you called out. Rumlow didn’t even hear – nor see – you draw an arrow as he screamed out in agony. The pain shot through his body as his eyes found an arrow lodged into his knee. You lowered the bow and sent a smirk his way before walking off towards the castle. “Bring him back to his cage.” You ordered the two guards who were in charge of his imprisonment.

As they dragged the disgraced lord away, James sent a curious glance towards his king. “I’m worried about her.” James muttered.

“As am I,” Sam agreed.

“She’s angry,” Steven said. “Her anger is rather justified.”

“Rumlow should’ve already been executed for his crimes,” Sam reminded. “If you are keeping him alive to sate your queen’s vengeance, then I’m afraid you are the cruel king you’re painted out to be.” The men chuckled at his jest.

“We cannot execute a noble without a proper trial,” Steven sighed.

“You beheaded Sharon without – “

“She confessed to the king about her betrayals,” James explained. “Rumlow has not.”

Steven added, “(Y/N)’s merely trying to coax it out of him.”

“He’s a rather tough shell to crack.” Sam agreed. “How is she, really, Steve?”

The king sighed. He glanced to the castle to see that you had already disappeared within its walls. Steven could barely understand your grief nor your pain. In the days that followed Rumlow’s capture, he had expected it to be easier for you. You had the opportunity to lash out and torture his cousin, and, to his surprise, you gladly took it. Steven thought that after wreaking havoc on his cousin that you would finally open up to him and allow him to be there for you, but you barely spoke to him about the incidents that plagued your nightmares. In fact, you barely spoke to him at all.

“It’s as if I’ve married a ghost,” Steven shook his head. “She thrashes around at night. I fear she replays the terrors in her mind when her eyes close. I see it in her eyes. Beneath the anger, the rage… She’s … She’s broken.” He sighed and rubbed his chin, slightly missing the roughness of his beard. “Any word of Pierce’s whereabouts?”

“Some say he’s hidden within the ranks of Thanos’s army. Others say he’s fled on a boat, but we would’ve caught him by now if he had been…” James said.

“Has King Anthony been informed?” Steven asked.

“We sent word we were looking for him, yes, but I’m sure Nat would relay the current events that took place to him,” James sighed. “Perhaps, you should talk to your wife?”

Steven shook his head. He didn’t want to pressure you into reopening the wounds – though he wasn’t even sure if the wounds had healed, yet. He felt as if he were walking on thin ice around you. Too harsh of a step forward, the ice would snap, and he’d get lost in the cold. He didn’t want to lose you by pushing you too hard. He had to believe that you’d come back to him in your own time.

»»————-　⚜　————-««

Steven slowly entered the bedchamber. He had expected you to be sitting on the bed or standing on the balcony – it had become one of your favorite places after the night with the lanterns. But you were nowhere to be found. The king began to worry about your absence when he heard sloshing of water coming from the bath.

He knocked on the door before he entered. “(Y/N)?”

“He has yet to confess,” you muttered. Your knees were pushed up against your chest with your head resting on top of them. You were growing increasingly annoyed by Brock’s resilience. You glanced up at your husband who had nothing but concern all over his face.

“He will eventually,” Steve whispered. “But I’m not concerned about his confession…”

“No,” you said. “You shouldn’t be. You should be preoccupied with finding Pierce.”

“I’ve sent men out to look for him.”

“They aren’t doing their job!” You snapped. “Pierce is a powerful man. He’ll bribe his way to safety! You have to –“

“(Y/N)…”

“No!” Steve’s tongue grazed the back of his teeth as he watched you thrash about in the water. “We can’t… I can’t… I can’t just sit and wait while he – they – get away with this.” Your voice shook as you took your head in your hands. “I … I don’t – I can’t.” He watched as the rage slowly receded as the grief took over.

Instinctively, your husband rushed to your side and wrapped himself around you. He didn’t mind his clothes getting wet – he was just concerned for you. He rubbed your back as he tried to soothe you, allowing you to cry into his chest.

“I want him dead, Steve,” you whispered, voice muffled into his clothes. “I want them both dead.” The words frightened you. You would’ve never wished death upon anyone, but the two men deserved it.

“As do I,” he nodded. “But we cannot execute him without a confession.”

“He will not confess.” You repeated.

“I will make him confess,” Steve promised.

“Is it awful that I want to be the one to swing the ax?”

Steve shook his head. “No. You deserve to be the one to put him into his grave.” He kissed the top of your head.

“I want him to look me in the eyes and tell me everything,” you muttered. “I want him to confess.”

“He’ll crack.” Steve promised. “You will make him crack.”

»»————-　⚜　————-««

“Boy!” Pierce called for the young sailor – Peter was his name. “Boy!”

“What, old man?” Peter snapped as he loaded the cargo onto the ship. Peter grew rather annoyed with the man’s incessant complaints. If he got off his lazy ass and helped, maybe I’ll load these faster, Peter thought as he rolled his eyes.

“What’s taking so long?”

The sailor sighed as he looked over to see kingsguard searching every boat. Peter shrugged. “Can’t leave, yet.”

“And why not?”

“You hidin’ from somethin’?” Peter asked, arching an eyebrow at the cloaked man. He wondered why “Alex” wore a cloak… The sun was blistering hot.

“I’m just not fond of boats,” Pierce waved his hand. “Just want to get the travel over with.”

Peter sighed as the kingsguard approached. “Well, I think the king’s looking for something… or someone. He’s got kingsguard searching boats.”

“What?” Pierce’s eyes widened.

“You!” Ser James Rhodes stalked up to the young sailor. “Have you seen any strangers recently?”

Peter shrugged. “Just him.” He said, pointing to the cloaked man who was huddled up in the corner of the boat. “He’s just hitching a ride with me. What are you men looking for?”

The knight paid no attention to the young man’s question. His attention focused on the man in the cloak. “Odd choice of clothing on this hot day, sir,” Rhodes told the man. The boat rocked beneath his feet as he stepped onto it.

“You’re the one in a metal suit.” Pierce faked an accent.

Peter’s face scrunched in confusion. The man hadn’t spoken like that before.

“Well, you’re the one hiding behind a thick cloak,” Rhodes chided, faking a laugh. He took another step towards the boat. His hand clutched the hilt of his sword, ready to draw it if needed. “Please do reveal yourself, sir.”

“I’m fine where I am.”

“I’m afraid I must insist.” Another step. Another.

The cloaked man suddenly leapt up, a short dagger in his hand. He swung at the knight, who brought his sword up, deflecting the older man’s attack with ease. His sword cut through the man’s wrist. Pierce groaned in agony as his free hand shot up to grab at the bleeding stump. Rhodes grabbed Pierce by the cloak and hauled him off the boat.

“I believe the Brooken King has been searching for you, Lord Pierce,” Rhodes said. “But my king wants a few words.” He walked past Peter. “Thank you, kid. The crown appreciates it,” he told him. “Sorry ‘bout the boat.”

#steve rogers #king!steve rogers #steve rogers x reader #king!steve rogers x reader #steve rogers imagine #king!steve rogers imagine #chris evans #chris evans x reader #chris evans imagine #captain america imagine #captain america #captain america x reader #royalty au #marvel royalty #marvel au #bring him light

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lumosinlove · 4 years ago

Text

Coast To Coast

part vii

Harvard University, 2014

There must have been a greater power taunting him.

“Sexy!” Anderson—forward, number 77, alternate captain—had said in the locker room. “That is this year’s Halloween theme, boys. Bring your girls, bring your booze, bring your minimal clothing, bring your A-game.”

Sexy. That was definitely just what Logan needed for his first OKN house halloween party. His new teammates. In minimal clothing.

He rolled onto his back on his dorm bed with a sigh, continuing to scroll through his phone while he waited for Finn to get out of their shared bathroom.

Finn O’Hara. Harzy, the boys called him. Right wing but didn’t always play that way, number 17, a sophomore. Originally from New York City. Logan’s new roommate.

“It’s how it works, rookie,” Anderson had said. “Baby OKs share. You’ll get your own room eventually.”

Logan was fine having a roommate. He had had one at prep school. He didn’t even care if they were messy, he was sure he was twice as bad. But Finn O’Hara. Red hair, six foot even, brown eyes—bambi, the boys called him. A little on the thinner side, but Logan could tell he could bulk up if he wanted to. Finn O’Hara.

There must have been some greater power taunting him.

“Fuck,” Finn’s voice came from within the bathroom. The door was open, but not enough for Logan to see anything. “My balls are going to hate me.”

Logan snorted. “We wear spandex every other day of the year.”

“Yeah, breathable sports spandex, not this plastic shit. Jesus fuck,” there was a groan. “At least I look alright.”

“Stop staring at yourself and let me get in there.”

“Okay, okay,” Finn said, and Logan watched the door move as he pushed it open.

The universe hated him.

Finn was some sort of gladiator, Logan thought, with nothing on but a red cape that clasped around his neck and shoulders, and a pair of tight, gold underwear that left nothing to Logan’s imagination. They had a fake, foam sword clipped at the hip. He had gold paint on beneath his eyes, streaked like a football player, and a gold laurel crown sitting in his red hair. His pale skin was creamy against the gold and the frame of the dark red cape. He had cheap looking sandals on that went all the way up his strong calves, biting into the muscle a little.

Finn spread his arms, turning in a slow circle. “Look at these fucking things. Who makes these and why?”

Logan swallowed, looking at the gold underwear. “For frat parties, I’m guessing.”

“Yeah,” Finn laughed and then bent over his bed to fold his discarded clothes up. His cape slipped away from his back and Logan sat up abruptly.

“Merde, Harzy, those things are barely holding onto you.”

“I told you, my dick is gonna hate me,” Finn said loudly.

Logan smiled and swiped his party city bag from his dresser. “Souhaite moi bonne chance.”

“Swat bon,” Finn rolled his eyes.

Logan laughed and slipped into the bathroom. He could hear Finn putting some music on as he undressed, singing along softly under his breath. Logan gave himself a moment to close his eyes and breathe, fingering his necklace. He’d known Finn for a little over two months. That was it. And already he liked him in the morning. He liked him drunk off his ass. He liked him on the rare lazy day, still under his covers reading a book and wearing his glasses. His glasses. Dark tortoise shell things that turned amber in the sunlight, like his eyes, and just—fuck. He liked Finn on the ice and like it when they were on the same line, something that was happening more and more frequently. He liked Finn, and Finn seemed to like him well enough, and Coach liked them together. The found each other on the ice every time. Logan had never had that before.

Logan rubbed his hands over his face and then reached into the plastic bag for his costume—if he could call it that. A black cape, clasped by the yellow and black Batman symbol, the iconic mask that covered his eyes, and what could only be called underwear. They were black and shiny, with the bat symbol on the ass.

“Merde,” Logan breathed once he squeezed his thighs into the shorts. It was—obscene. He wasn’t hung like some of the guys he’d seen but this certainly made it look like he was. His cock pressed against the fabric as insistently as his ass did. He turned around and looked at the yellow symbol there and was glad that the cape would be covering at least some of it.

“Ready?” Finn said when thumping music started up downstairs meaning people were starting to arrive.

Logan looked out the small bathroom window and towards the dark driveway. Cars were lining up. People were getting out in bikinis and corsets, speedos and stockings.

“Uh, yeah,” Logan said. “One second.”

He looked at himself in the mirror and laughed a little before spinning the bat mask once, and placing it over his head. His hair curled out from under it, and the black frame made his eyes look a little startling.

He looked—not bad. If he was looking to pick up tonight—which he hadn’t done yet at Harvard—he probably could. He turned and looked at his abs, defined from the rigorous pre-season training. He looked good. He pushed away the wish that Finn would notice.

“I’m ready,” Logan said and stepped into the weird plush boots that had come with the costume. He pushed his way out of the bathroom. “Sounds like people are here.”

Finn looked up from his phone, legs spread in a way that was doing Logan zero favors. “Yeah, I—”

Finn’s stare was one Logan had felt before. Spotting him in the weight room, checking each other during drills. Two months of that look that Logan refused to think about. But that was a hard thing, when he had nothing to do but look right into it.

Finn stood abruptly, taller, gold paint reflecting into his eyes and making them light like syrup.

“What’s your,” Finn swallowed. “Tattoo. Necklace. I’ve never asked.”

“Oh,” Logan looked down at his hip. “It’s a fleur-de-lis. Sort of a family thing. Me and my sisters have them in different places.”

“How many sisters do you have?”

“Three. They’re older than I am.”

“Fleur-de-lis,” Finn repeated softly, eyes on the tattoo. He swallowed again and then looked away. “Sick. Should we go?”

“Yeah,” Logan said. “Yeah, I need a drink if I gotta wear this thing all night.”

Finn laughed. “Uh-huh. Me, too.”

Logan lasted about an hour before he couldn’t stand his mask anymore. He left it on a table somewhere, pushing his sweaty hair off of his forehead and wishing for a hat. He’d have to settle for something cool to drink instead.

OKN house had the back door open into the chilly yard and porch. The living room had a drinks table set up, one of those plastic fold out ones that they used at rush and club fairs, beside the great oak dining table that no one actually used except, well, Finn. Finn who planned his essays at this table until it was way too late and he snuck up to the room, trying to be quiet for Logan. Logan, who stayed up just to see him go about his routine and fall into bed. Logan, pretending he was a part of that routine.

Logan might have had a Finn problem. A two-month long Finn problem. A Finn-in-glasses problem. A Finn-dressed-as-a-gladiator problem. A Finn-in-his-red-Harvard-jersey problem with his rough skating and sharp shots.

A Finn over in the corner problem, talking to a girl. Problem.

Logan turned to the drink table and desperately looked for the rum.

Logan was allowed to have a Finn problem. Logan just couldn’t have a Finn…anything else. Finn-wet-dreams, in which he woke up with a gasp, sweating against his sheets and only needing to shove his hand into his pajama pants where he was red and swollen in his own hand, barely touching himself before he was shooting into his fist, eyes resolutely away from the bed across from him. Finn-bringing-him-breakfast, not that he could make more than burnt toast, before he drove them to the rink. Finn-laughing-with-him, like a best friend that Logan had never actually had. There were teammates, and then there were friends.

Finn was a friend. Logan could have a Finn problem, a Finn secret, and a friend.

He just couldn’t have Finn.

The rum was no where to be seen. A shoulder bumped his.

“Hey, rookie,” Finn smiled. “What you looking for?”

Finn’s crown was lopsided, like some sort of halo in an old painting. Like someone had been messing with it. Logan looked for the girl, but she was gone.

“Rum,” Logan said.

Finn did a quick survey of the table and found the bottle easily, unstoppering it and reaching over to pour a healthy amount into Logan’s waiting cup.

“Coke, right?”

Logan nodded.

A Finn-knowing-his-drink-problem.

Finn made himself one, too, and held his cup out for a cheers with a smile. Logan smiled back, clicking their plastic cups together.

“Lost your mask somewhere, Batman. Now the whole world knows your secret.”

Logan laughed tightly and raised his cup to his mouth. “I can’t have that.”

Finn tilted his head, chewing a little on the rim of his cup before taking a drink. He cleared his throat. “You been to the roof yet?”

“Non,” Logan shook his head.

“Wanna? It’s a kinda cool view of campus.”

Logan tried to smile over the hammering in his blood. “That girl didn’t wanna join you?”

Finn rolled his eyes. “Come on.” He pushed off the table and was disappearing into the crowd quickly. Logan squeezed through bodies to follow.

“I found the picture,” Finn shouted. “Nut—fuck, is he still at the store?”

“Oui,” Logan said, filling up a glass of water from the sink. “Did you really find it? Let me see.”

Logan padded over to where Finn was sprawled on the couch and set his glass down before crouching near Finn’s head to see his phone.

“Oh God,” Logan laughed, ducking against Finn’s shoulder.

“Are you kidding? Lo, you look incredible. Fuck me, look at your legs. And you’re bigger now, like Jesus Christ… Ugh.”

Finn swiped his thumb lightly over where Logan’s tattoo was shown on his hip, just above the ridiculous yellow belt.

“This thing used to drive me crazy,” he said softly. “I mean, it still does, but…fuck.”

Finn used to have fantasies, while wishing for Logan, all of which had been very carefully kept faceless. Until this tattoo would make an appearance and ruin it all—and make him come immediately. It was ingrained in his subconscious as a Logan thing, one moment he would be touching himself in the shower, letting his mind wander quietly towards a hard chest against his, a large hand around his dick instead of his own. Faceless. He’d take the boy and press him against the wall of the shower maybe, do whatever he wanted him to do, kiss his neck, rut their cocks together, maybe he would moan Finn’s name—

Logan’s voice. The hip he had his fingers wrapped around was darkly inked, and tanned.

“Mon rouge,” Logan’s voice—really his voice—came through. Finn looked up at the touch of fingers through his hair. “Where did you go?”

Finn looked at Logan and took a slow breath. He was so familiar. He had been right there for so long, but it was only now that he was close.

“That was…” Finn swallowed. “Kind of a hard night.”

Logan’s brows drew together, and he nodded minutely after a moment. “We’ve had a few hard nights, non?”

Finn looked back at his phone, and then Logan was taking it out of his hand, clicking it off, and setting it on the coffee table. Finn sat up a little as Logan climbed into his lap, knees pressed to his hips. Finn ran his hands over his shoulders, then up beneath his sweatshirt to his broad back. He was bigger now. Stronger.

Logan pressed his fingers through Finn’s hair again and then a kiss to his jaw, one side, and then the other, his cheeks, and then his mouth.

“They lead us here,” Logan said softly. “The hard nights.”

Finn’s throat felt tight. He squeezed his eyes shut. “Fuck. I know. I know they did.”

“Let me show you it’s easier now,” Logan said. “D’accord? Harzy, let me.”

“Lo,” Finn rasped out. He ran his thumb over where he knew the tattoo was, had memorized it quickly, would kiss it endlessly.

“You work hard for everyone,” Logan said the words into another kiss. “You worked hard trying to make me not be afraid, even when I was horrible and terrified.” He kissed down Finn’s throat and Finn’s mouth dropped open. “Even when you were terrified, even when I hurt you. Let me. Finn…”

Finn let out a breath, eyes opening to the ceiling, then to Logan’s when he brought their mouths back together.

"Let me.”

“I took you to the roof,” Finn gasped as Logan pressed against him, warm and real. “I don’t know what I was expecting, I…fuck, we barely knew each other.”

“Do you have any idea how much I wanted you,” Logan said. “Lean up for a sec.”

Finn let Logan pull his t-shirt off of him, let him press wet kisses to his neck and shoulders. It felt good, but part of him itched to flip them, to make Logan feel good. Kiss down his chest, kiss that tattoo.

“Relax,” Logan laughed softly, easing Finn back against the cushions. “You have to let me love you. I need it, Finn. I need to.”

Finn’s cock began to fatten up at that. He let his head fall back. “Lo…”

Logan reached behind him to yank his sweatshirt off and—and there he was. Real.

Finn pressed his palms against his chest, his stomach, feeling the hard curves of his muscles. Logan pressed his hands over Finn’s, bringing them to touch his neck, his pecs. “Let me take care of you for once. Rest and let me.”

Logan leaned down for another, soft kiss and then was swinging off of the couch. His cock was a soft outline in his sweatpants. “Allez.”

Logan pulled Finn up and Finn couldn’t help but back him against the nearest wall, just for a moment, thumb back against the fleur-de-lis, lips harsh against his jaw, just the way he knew Logan liked.

Logan let out a laugh that cut off in a moan. “Non, non—”

Finn pulled back and Logan’s smile made him smile. Logan was flushed and his neck was red from Finn’s mouth. Finn sucked a bruise on top of the blush on the side of his throat, and Logan’s short nails pressed into Finn’s back. Finn reached down and cupped Logan’s cock within his sweatpants, feeling the heat of it through the fabric.

“Non, non, non, allez,” Logan was still half laughing, walking Finn backwards towards his bedroom. “Je prends soin de toi. I’m taking care of you.”

“But I like making you come,” Finn grinned, only just managing to give Logan’s ass a squeeze before Logan pushed him back onto the bed. He bounced a little, pushing himself against the pillows before tapping his thighs. “C’mere, baby.”

Logan shucked his sweatpants off, followed by his socks, and then it was just him, bare and standing there in front of Finn. Finn swore softly and reached down to palm himself.

“Non,” Logan shook his head and knelt on the bed, cock standing out and wet. The sight only made Finn give himself another squeeze. Logan was straddling his hips then, snatching his hands and moving them to his waist. Finn wrapped his arms all the way around Logan, bringing their bare chests together.

He kissed him hard. “Gonna take my pants off, too? Can’t do much like this.”

Logan scoffed and hit the side of Finn’s head lightly, making Finn laugh. But he obliged, coaxing Finn to lift his hips so he could pull his sweatpants away. He leant to kiss the newly exposed skin, mouth soft against Finn’s hips and stomach, hand wrapping around his cock. Finn let out a slow breath and tangled his fingers in Logan’s hair.

He wasn’t expecting it when Logan sucked the head of his cock into his mouth. Logan hadn’t done that yet. He made Finn sit up, abs tightening.

“Tremz,” he panted out a breath. “Oh fuck.”

Leo had been wanting and loving about going down on Finn. It had practically broken Finn’s brain, seeing him there, blue eyes open with his mouth full of his cock. They’d laughed and kissed sending those videos to Logan. It was unbearably hot, thinking of Logan, seeing them, wanting them.

This was entirely different. It was different with both of them. With everything.

Leo and Finn liked to read together, swapping favorite passages. Logan didn’t read much, but he liked to be read to. Finn had always known that, had done it a million times back at Harvard. But now he knew that Logan liked to lay on Finn’s chest while he read, aloud or to himself, and fall straight asleep. He’d always fallen asleep to Finn’s voice. But now he was a weight on top of Finn, breathing softly against his neck and Finn just…

Logan’s mouth was soft, too, tongue pressing against the head of his cock.

Finn loved him.

“Lo, Lo, Lo…” Finn panted. “Fuck, baby.”

Logan just hummed and sucked down further for a moment before popping off and smiling a sweet smile. “Did it with Leo.”

Finn huffed out a laugh, throbbing at the image. “I should be no fucking problem, then.”

Logan laughed, too. “I hope he comes home soon.”

“Me, too,” Finn said. He wanted him with them.

“I guess I know a way to pass the time until he comes back.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah,” Logan smiled and rolled onto his back, producing lube from Finn didn’t know where. He spread his thighs. “Love it when Knutty does this, the fucking splits.”

Finn leaned forward, running his hands down Logan’s smooth skin. “Yeah. I didn’t even think about how goalies do that until him.”

Finn watched Logan’s face as he slipped two fingers into himself.

“Baby,” Finn said softly. “Let me.”

“Non, you watch.”

Finn sat up further, hand going to his cock—

“Don’t,” Logan panted, head against the bedspread as he worked himself. “Watch.”

Finn sighed and took Logan’s thighs back in his hands and kissed the inside of his knee. There was a little scar there from a night that happened a long time ago. Finn remembered.

Logan laughed breathlessly. “You can’t help yourself.”

“I love you so much.”

Logan’s breathing hitched, green eyes hazy. “Finn…”

Finn kissed it again, and then the other one, and then his thighs. He sucked kisses into the skin, bringing purple to the surface. Logan was marked by the time he sat up.

He was quiet as he pressed Finn back against the pillows. He wet his lips.

“Lo, what—”

“Why do you have your socks on, you weirdo,” Logan said as he swung a leg over Finn’s thighs. Finn’s cock nudged his entrance, and Logan gasped, cutting himself off.

He leaned down and captured Finn’s mouth in a needy kiss and reached behind himself to line Finn up. It was only then that Finn realized—Logan was going to—

Logan’s thighs were firm beneath Finn’s hands as he sunk down on him. Finn’s mouth dropped open at the feeling, of Logan in complete control. It wasn’t like fucking him at all, it was Logan, above him, head tilted back with the feeling of Finn filling him up.

“Finn,” Logan’s voice was more whine than anything else. “Finn, Finn, Finn—“

And he was seated, their hips together, Logan’s cock drooling between them.

“Holy shit,” Finn could barely breathe in. “Holy fucking shit, Lo.”

Logan got his knees under him and pushed himself up before sinking down again. Finn clutched Logan’s hips as all the breath seemed to punch out of Logan’s lungs. He did it again, and again, landing hard with each thrust, completely gone with fucking himself on Finn’s cock. Finn was mesmerized with the wide expanse of tan skin he had to kiss, Logan’s collarbones and shoulders, tongue running over his nipples as Logan’s thighs worked around him.

Logan shifted his hips and pitched forward into Finn’s chest with a curse, burrowing his face in Finn’s neck as he rolled his hips forward in small, sharp motions, hitting that spot inside him again and again.

“There you go, baby,” Finn said, wrapping his arms under Logan’s and around his broad shoulders. He pushed up in time with Logan, making Logan practically shout. “Be as loud as you want, there you go.”

“Finn,” Logan just kept saying, slipping a few times and saying Leo’s name instead. It made Finn all the hotter to think that Logan was imagining Leo there with them, sitting beside them on the bed, maybe working Logan’s cock into his mouth.

Logan’s breathing hitched up and he tightened his arms around Finn’s neck, fingers gripping his hair to pull Finn back for a sloppy kiss as he started to raise his hips again, skin slapping down against Finn’s. He worked until Finn was sure his thighs had to be burning, no matter how toned they were. Finn was going to lose his fucking mind.

“What,” a voice came from the doorway.

Finn looked up to the side to see Leo standing there, keys in his hand.

“Leo,” Logan gasped, and reached a hand out while rocking himself down on Finn’s dick.

Leo walked forward slowly towards the bed and took Logan’s hand like he was in a daze, staring at their naked bodies, slick with sweat by now. Logan yanked him forward and started undoing his belt.

“Hi, Peanut,” Finn panted, head falling back again as Logan rocked against him harder. “Store was—good?”

“I…” Leo was staring at where Logan was wrapping an arm around his waist now, leaning forward to press sloppy kisses over where Leo’s cock was quickly filling in his underwear.

“Knutty,” Logan said, before getting his fingers under the band of Leo’s boxers and pulling down so that Leo’s cock fell out. Leo laced his fingers into Logan’s hair, a laugh startling out of him.

“Logan, oh my god, I’m still holding my keys and wallet. I have my shoes on.”

“Allez.”

Leo just shook his head, raking his fingers through Logan’s sweaty hair. He dropped his things onto the night stand and then tugged his t-shirt off in one go, pushing off his shoes next. Logan let him undress, turning back to Finn and pressing his hands to Finn’s shoulders.

“Don’t touch him,” Leo said as he kicked his boxers aside. He fell down on the bed beside Finn and wrapped a large palm around himself, stroking his shaft. “Come on Finn’s cock, Tremz.”

“Non. Finn.”

Finn watched Logan and Leo share a look that he didn’t quite understand.

“I found the Batman picture,” Finn offered as a hopeful way to get into whatever silent communication Leo and Logan were having. “Sort of—” Finn hissed as Logan tightened around him. “Stirred up some memories if you couldn’t tell, fuck.”

Leo raised an eyebrow, shifting to sit on his heels. “Oh yeah?” He ran a hand down Logan’s back and Logan slowed until he was rocking gently, leaning a little into Leo. Leo looked at Finn. “How’d he look, Harzy?”

“He looked—” Finn began, and then cut off. The sudden well of emotion that had cut through him earlier seized around his heart again. He looked at Leo, all kind eyes, running his hand through Finn’s hair. And Logan, connected to Finn in every possible way right then. Finn opened and closed his mouth, swallowed over a dry throat, and looked at Logan. “He looked…”

The October air was a relief on Finn’s face when he pushed open the old window to the roof of OKN house. He turned back to look at Logan. They had thrown sweatpants and sweatshirts on, Finn had swiped a bottle of rum from the kitchen. The only real remnants of their outfits was Logan’s mussed hair and the gold on Finn’s cheeks.

Finn still felt like he was wearing a costume.

“This is semi-secret,” Finn said as he climbed out onto the tiles, vans catching on the rough material. “And by that I mean I really think no one likes it out here but me.”

He heard Logan laugh from behind him and smiled, pleased.

Fuck.

“You, the roof, and the dining room table,” Logan said.

The rum sloshed gently as Finn settled himself in the curve of the tiles, putting his hood up for some warmth and cushion. Logan did the same, and they settled shoulder to shoulder.

“Might have to steel your spot,” Logan said. “You can keep the table, though.”

“We already share a room and a starting line,” Finn handed him the bottle. “Wouldn’t be so bad.”

Logan’s smile was bright in the moonlight. “Well, good.”

They were quiet for a few moments, passing the rum back and forth to keep warm.

“Do you think you’re gonna make it? To play, I mean.” Logan asked him suddenly.

Finn knew Logan didn’t know just how loaded of a question he was asking. Was Finn going to make it? Hopefully. Was Finn going to survive it? If there was another teammate who became what Logan was quickly becoming, if Finn slipped up…

Hopefully.

He couldn’t read Logan. He couldn’t risk misreading Logan. He shouldn’t even try.

“Yeah,” Finn nodded. “I do, actually. I…you know, there’s all those statistics and shit but I also…feel it? If that doesn’t sound completely stupid? You?”

“I…” Logan hesitated. “I’m not sure.”

“Come on, have you seen you play?”

One corner of Logan’s mouth raised, but he looked different beneath the moon. He was looking intently at Finn, bottle clutched to his chest.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I feel…”

Finn waited for him to continue, but when Logan merely shrugged, he pressed on.

“Hey, I’d take you. Any day.”

It didn’t have the intended effect. The look that crossed Logan’s face looked almost—pained.

“I mean,” Finn tried to decide how to backtrack. “Maybe one day, eh? Anything could happen.”

Logan turned to look out over campus. He nodded mutely and took another drink. Finn felt concern draw around his heart.

“Lo, are you okay?”

Logan’s eyes snapped back to him. “Quoi?”

“What? Oh. Oh. Oh, no, I…” Finn laughed, a little awkwardly. “I didn’t really mean to…that’s been, like—it’s just been bouncing around my head for a while and I guess it slipped out.”

“That’s okay,” Logan said slowly. “I’m okay.”

“It’s okay if you aren’t. I mean… freshman year, Harvard hockey…it’s a lot of pressure. Believe me, I know.”

Another surprising thing. Logan closed his eyes and shook his head. “Non.”

Finn blinked. “What do you mean?”

Logan shook his head. “Nothing, I just…I’m probably a little drunk, I don’t even know.”

Finn let Logan hand the bottle of rum back to him, clutching it to his chest just to hold onto something. He didn’t know what to make of Logan’s no. No Finn didn’t know what it was like? That wasn’t true. If anything, Logan didn’t know what he was going through. Logan didn’t think about kissing Finn.

Logan stole the bottle back. “If you’re not gonna drink.”

He had a smile on his face again, one of his small secret ones. Finn, despite the uncertainty, smiled back. He couldn’t help it around Logan. Logan, who he now knew was the youngest with three sisters. Logan, who drank rum and coke. Logan, who hated doing his homework, but liked listening to Finn do his. Logan, who fought boys twice his size.

Before Finn could say anything, a rumble of thunder sounded off in the distance. It made them both look up and across campus.

“Halloween storm,” Finn said. “I guess that’s fitting.”

“My weather app said something about it,” Logan said after a moment.

Finn smiled. Logan, who checked a weather app.

Logan saw his smile and gave him a small shove. “Let’s go before it starts to rain and—and lightning and shit.”

“Don’t like storms?”

Logan was already pulling his hood more firmly on his head and maneuvering himself into a crouch. “Not really.”

“Well,” Finn started following him back to the window. “I don’t know about Canada, but we get some pretty crazy ones out here.”

Logan huffed, pushing the window up. “Well, super.”

Finn frowned. “Do you really not like—”

“Merde,” Logan hissed and stumbled the rest of the way through the frame. “Fuck.”

Finn pulled himself through a second later, eyes falling to the rip in Logan’s sweatpants by his knee, the red bleeding into the thick material.

“Shit, Tremz,” Finn said. “Is it bad?”

“It’s fine,” Logan said, looking at it carefully. “I’m fine.”

“Let me see, sit down.”

“I’m—”

“Let me see, speaking as your alternate captain now.”

Logan narrowed his eyes at him pulling that card, but sat on a ratty window seat. Finn grinned at him and crouched between his legs. He steadied himself on Logan’s knee, and then pushed Logan’s sweatpants up carefully, revealing his leg—a leg that Finn had been trying very hard not to stare at in skin-tight Batman underwear all evening. His skin was warm.

Finn would have liked a longer excuse to touch Logan, but the cut was small if not a little deep—thankfully not too bad. It was already beginning to stop bleeding.

“You should be good. Wasn’t anything rusty, just the wood edge. There’s some stuff in our bathroom from when I cut my cheek open last year.”

“Okay,” Logan said quietly. It was only then that Finn realized how still he was holding himself in Finn’s hands. It made Finn back up immediately, neck going hot. Who knew what Logan thought. Finn was so careful. So careful.

“Okay,” Finn said, then cleared his throat. “Okay, cool.” He looked around and then picked up the rum bottle from the floor. “Yeah.”

Logan pushed his sweatpants back into place and stood. “I’ll go check it out. Thanks, Harzy. See you in the room.”

“Yeah,” Finn managed faintly. He watched Logan send him a raw looking smile before jogging down the narrow staircase with a tight heart.

“Always taking care of me,” Logan was kissing his neck. “Remember the storm that night?”

Finn found Leo’s eyes before Leo was kissing his chest, teeth scraping over his nipple. Logan was grinding down on him in slow circles, making Finn choke out a moan. Their mouths on him ripped him right out of the memory.

Sometimes happiness made sadness’s edge sharper.

Finn blinked heat away from his eyes, but then Leo was there again, cock against his thigh, mouth brushing his own. Leo. Finn held one hand against Logan’s hip, the fleur-de-lis, and the other circled Leo’s back, fingers tangling in his hair to pull him in for a kiss. He loved kissing Leo.

“You deserve it, too, remember? Like we said.” Leo said.

Logan mouth was softer now, against his jaw. “Maybe it’s time we show you.”

Finn could only sit there and take it, the two of them, warming him through and through.

Leo leaned into Finn’s touch. “Like you told me.”

Finn woke up with Leo pressed along his front for the first time the morning before they left for Florida. It was to a six AM alarm, Finn was exhausted, but it was one of the best mornings. Finding out Logan was coming to Gryffindor. Waking up wrapped around Leo. Tied for best mornings. After a few kisses, they had to get up, even if it felt like they were a world away from anything normal. Finn actually smiled to himself in the shower the entire time. He was giddy as hell, and Leo was in the kitchen making coffee and eggs and he could kiss Leo while he did that now. He could kiss Leo while he was reading on the couch, he could kiss Leo goodnight and crawl into bed next to him. And and and.

Leo looked up when Finn entered the kitchen, hunched over his coffee cup with two steaming plates in front of him. “Hi.”

Finn just walked forward and turned Leo away from the counter and towards him. “Leo.”

Leo took a lock of his hair, the red darkened from the shower, and curled it around his finger. “You look a little too serious for my liking.”

“You’re okay with all of this, right?” Finn said, and then the words rushed out. “You’re okay with me, and with Logan—hopefully—and you feel good and not pressured, and I just want to make sure because, Leo, I’m not that much older than you but I am older than you. And I need you to know that I want this with everything I fucking have but not if you’re in any way not happy, or, like, nervous, or…I just want,” Finn felt Leo press his hand to his cheek. “I just want to make sure. And I’m gonna keep making sure.”

“Harz…” Leo’s smile was small, almost disbelieving. “I’m so happy. I’m so happy.”

“Well…good,” Finn let out a breathless laugh, relieved. “Because you deserve to be.” Finn pressed his hands to either side of Leo’s face and kissed him once, twice, and then Leo held him there with a hand on the back of his head, licking into his mouth and making Finn sway into the cradle of his thighs. “I really, really like you, Peanut.”

“I like you, too. Even though you’re going to make us late.”

Finn just smiled into their next kiss. “I’ll get the dishes, okay? You go take a shower.”

Logan was already under his covers by the time Finn came into the room. The halloween storm was getting sharper. It was raining now, lightning flashing against the sky. Logan had his headphones in, and his eyes were dark as they followed Finn around the room as he undressed. Finn could hear his music from all the way in the bathroom.

Finn found the Batman mask by the sink and laughed, heart pulling when he thought about Logan’s green eyes in it, staring a little self consciously out at him earlier that night. He brushed his teeth and then put it on.

Logan raised an eyebrow when Finn came out, but he laughed and pushed his headphones away from one ear, making his hair stick up.

“Forgot your secret identity,” Finn grinned.

“Too late now.”

Finn bit his lip as he crossed the room to his own bed, putting the mask down. Logan was certainly his secret. Logan had grown quickly into Finn’s mind, so fast that Finn hadn’t really realized it. One morning, he just woke up thinking about kissing Logan square on the mouth.

Logan took a shaky breath from the other side of the room and set his headphones on his nightstand with a glance outside. Lightning cracked across the sky, lighting up the room. Logan’s fists squeezed around his blanket.

Finn slumped down against his pillows with a sigh, taking the book he was reading from his bedside. He could hear people leaving downstairs, screaming and laughing in the wind and rain.

“I don’t like storms,” Logan said quietly. He wasn’t looking at Finn, and he was messing with his fingers agitatedly, covers pulled high on his chest. “I don’t really know why, I just…I don’t like them.”

“I don’t like seaweed,” Finn shrugged, but warmed when Logan actually laughed. “I don’t know, man, it’s just slimy. Thunder’s loud as fuck, I mean, it doesn’t not make sense to not like it.” He took a breath. “You want the light on? It won’t bother me at all.”

Logan looked at him for a long moment, before nodding. “Oui. Thanks, Harzy.”

“Harzy,” Logan said against his mouth, and Finn felt his back arch as Logan drew them closer together.

Finn couldn’t get any words out, though, not with Logan hot around him, with Leo sucking intently at his neck, rutting against his thigh. He let out a harsh breath and tightened his fingers in Leo’s hair. They were both hard and dripping onto his chest and stomach and Finn wanted to do something for them. He was aching inside Logan, breathless from his own memories.

“Please,” he said, and he wasn’t even sure what he was asking. He tried to sit up, to reach for them. He wanted to surround them, to pull them against him harder.

Leo shushed him gently, pulling him into a kiss and easing him back against the pillows.

“You were gonna go all the way and get me the stars,” Leo whispered, a light laugh following. “Fuck, Finn…”

“I just—” Finn flexed his hips up into Logan and Logan’s brows scrunched together, hands keeping him upright against Finn’s chest.

“I’m gonna come,” Logan panted, his hips fucking down on Finn. “Fuck, I can’t—”

Logan’s hips stilled and he gasped, cock still red and hard. He fucked once, twice, as if he couldn’t help it, but Finn groaned in protest as Logan gingerly pulled off. Finn watched his own cock bobbing an angry red against his stomach, shiny with come and lube. Logan collapsed into Finn’s side, sweaty and running his hand down Finn’s chest to his balls, cupping them gently.

“Always taking care of us,” Logan breathed. “Fuck, Harz, I love you, but you have to let us take care of you.”

They’d only fucked a handful of times—and Finn was looking forward to many, many more handfuls—but he guessed it was true.

“I like it,” He said. And that was true too. He loved it. His breathing hitched as Leo licked a stripe from Logan’s fingers to the tip of Finn’s cock. “Fuck, Leo.”

Leo just smiled, cheeks a deep red and swung a leg over Finn’s hips. Finn’s hand shot out to grip Leo’s thighs.

“Baby, did you even—”

Leo nodded. “You were a little preoccupied.”

“I could of done it.”

Logan laughed, pressing a kiss to Finn’s cheek. “That’s not the point of right now.”

Leo’s cock hung heavily, balls swollen and tip wet. Finn itched to touch him, but instead Leo cupped his cock against his abs, giving Finn a perfect view of him sinking down over Finn’s.

“We’re all here together,” Logan said softly, accent thick as Finn’s eyes closed at the feeling of Logan’s hand and Leo’s body. “We’re all here for each other, mon rouge. Let us.”

Leo’s head was tilted back, hips rocking in slow circles. Finn cursed, gripping Leo’s pale thighs, longer and leaner than Logan’s.

“Peanut,” Finn gasped. “Jesus, did you two practice this on each other, too?”

Leo’s smile was hazy and blissful. “Maybe.”

Finn groaned, head dropping back into the pillows. Finn loved the two of them together. His two.

Leo’s breathing turned heavy and then he pressed up and sunk down again, punching a sound out of himself. “Fuck.”

“There you go, pinotte,” Logan said from beside Finn. His palm was warm around Finn’s balls still, the sensation making Finn feel like he was about to be right on the edge. Leo was still holding his own cock, but not stroking it, just sinking down around Finn again and again. His blond hair darkened against his forehead.

“I’m close,” Finn said. “Jesus, fuck, I’m so close.”

The urgency had come out of nowhere, but he ached with it. Logan’s hand squeezed again around his balls, and then Leo was pulling off, too. Finn’s abs jumped and the loss. He fisted the sheets.

“Boys, this is not what I call appreciation,” Finn’s knees drew up on their own, trying to seek out any type of friction. His cock beaded precome across his stomach.

“Non?” Logan said, and then he was gone from against Finn’s side. Finn felt aflame, like he could feel every touch, and every absence.

Leo smoothed a hand down his stomach, through the mess, and then his mouth was back on Finn’s cock—and so was Logan’s.

“Huh—“ Finn wasn’t sure if he was breathing properly as his hands shot out to tangle in their hair, brunette and blonde. They lapped at him, mouths meeting occasionally around his wet, swollen tip. They’re—

“Fucking gorgeous, what the hell,” Finn managed, and he did sit up this time, legs splayed, pressing against their chests, palms rubbing over their spines. He had to close his eyes for a minute when Logan’s mouth found his balls and sucked at them, at the sensitive skin at his root, all while Leo’s mouth was sinking down, down. Finn felt it like a bruise, like a hurt that was so good it shattered, he shattered, looking at them.

Finn tried to keep his hips still as he came in Leo’s mouth with a low sound, bowed with his forehead pressed to Leo’s shoulder.

They kissed him, and then kissed each other, and then Logan was crawling across Finn and into Leo’s waiting arms. They smiled at each other, and Finn thought that was better than any of the sex. Leo’s hands were shaky as he pushed into Logan. Logan sunk down on Leo’s cock twice before he was shouting, come hot and white against Leo’s skin. Finn pressed himself all along Logan’s back and held him as Leo fucked into him a handful of times and came, too, face buried in Finn’s neck.

They were breathing hard, like a fine current surrounded the three of them, placing their breaths in sync. Finn was—

Leo closed the door to the balcony of Finn’s Florida hotel room and paced back to the bed, sitting beside him. Finn rubbed a hand up and down his back, thumb bumping along his spine.

“He’s hurting,” Leo said, eyes down. “He’s hurting, and he won’t let us tell him that we…”

“Lo’s always needed to do things in his own time. Always. We’ll get to him, we’ll talk to him.”

“I…” Leo cut off with a sigh and rubbed his hands over his face. Then he turned into Finn and Finn wrapped him up close.

“We’ll sort it out. Believe me, I’ve been waiting a long fucking time for this,” Finn pressed a kiss to Leo’s cheek. “For you, too, even if I didn’t know it.”

Leo smiled, even if his eyes were still a little sad.

“You’re right,” he said, and then paused. “Maybe we’ll just kidnap him at the buffet.”

Finn snorted. “Maybe.”

Leo took Finn’s hand in his lap and kissed it. “I think we’ll be together soon.”

It was too good. It was all his. Finn ran one hand over Logan’s abs slowly before pressing his palm over his pounding heart. With his other on Leo’s back, he could feel Leo’s heartbeat, too. They were louder to him than his own. Logan’s head was tilted back against his shoulder, his eyes closed, and Finn leant down and kissed his cheek.

“Knutty, c’mere,” he breathed. “C’mere.”

Leo’s cheeks were red like his mouth and he knelt his way over to Finn’s chest, leaning his chin up for a kiss. He pressed his hand to Finn’s cheek, swiping his thumb over his jaw.

“Stubble,” he mumbled with a smile, and dragged his lips over it happily.

Finn laughed softly. “I’ve been playing good, I gotta keep it.”

Logan looked up and all but smacked Finn in the face to feel. “Fucking loved that in college.”

“He had it the first day I met him,” Leo smiled, nuzzling against Finn’s slightly rough jaw and the dark red hair there.

“The fuck’s on your face, O’Hara,” was Logan’s greeting during preseason camp Finn’s senior year.

They’d seen each other a few weeks prior when Logan was still in the city staying with Finn’s family. He’d spent the last weeks of July with his own family, and how here they were, back at Harvard, sticky with sweat from ground training. Seeing Logan again after weeks, even just after a night’s sleep, was always a bit of a punch to the gut for Finn. He was tanned from the summer sun, sinfully so, and Finn wanted to—

“What?” Finn laughed, lifting his shirt up to wipe his face—including the week old beard he’d been experimenting with. “I don’t know about it, what do you think?”

He was thankful he was already sweating, because his face heated with the question. He needed to know what Logan thought, always.

Logan, green eyes were made light by his black snapback, walked forward. He took Finn’s chin between his fingers, turning his head this way and that before rubbing his palm over his cheek. Finn swallowed.

“Nice face,” Logan said.

Finn laughed. “You made fun of me.”

Leo snorted. “Well, neither of us could very well say fuck, what a hottie.”

“Nut, please go around calling Finn a hottie from now on,” Logan laughed, and then let out a breath. “Fuck, that was so hot.”

“I still haven’t seen the picture,” Leo said, and then, more quietly. “What activated our Finn plan, Tremz?”

Finn blinked. “Finn plan?” Logan looked up at Finn with a smile and Finn raised an eyebrow, tweaking his nipple and making him swear and laugh Finn’s favorite laugh. “What the hell is a Finn plan?”

“Just…” Logan looked over his face, and then to Leo, reaching out and petting a hand through Leo’s hair. “We wanted to show you that we want you just as much. That we want to take care of you as much as you always tell us you want to take care of us.”

Finn looked between them. “You…”

“We were talking about it,” Leo began.

“And making out,” Logan added.

“And making dinner one night,” Leo laughed. “And, I don’t know, we just sort of…when we felt the time was good, decided we’d make sure you knew.”

Logan nodded, hair tickling Finn’s throat. “You looked pretty sad there for a second, mon rouge, looking at that picture.”

“And when you were telling me about your rookie year, remember?” Leo said. “In Florida, after we got together?”

“I’m just saying,” Finn shrugged. They were laying down facing each other on Finn’s bed. Timmy was out with Kuny and Nado and, when that happened, he didn’t come back for a good while. Finn didn’t want to do anything too risky, but kissing Leo until he was soft and smiling seemed like a good plan. Logan wasn’t picking up his phone. He wasn’t in his and Leo’s room.

Kissing had soon turned into worrying.

“I’m just saying, I’m really glad you didn’t have to do the rookie season hotel shit. I’m so glad you’re with me. When I did it, it just,” Finn watched where his thumb was stroking over Leo’s knuckles. “I mean, Logan wasn’t really talking to me. I was trying to give him space, but I—missed him. Sorry,” Finn laughed a little, clearing his throat around the hot tears forming there.

“Don’t be,” Leo said. “Harzy, you love him. Of course you missed him.”

“I just waited for him to call forever,” Finn said in a rush. “And I’d wait forever again, you know, but I…I would just stare at my—phone,” Finn’s voice hitched. “And then I finally called him and it was horrible, I could barely talk.”

Leo’s eyes were sad and he pressed closer to Finn.

“I’m just happy you wanted to talk,” Finn whispered into the small space between them. “I’m so fucking glad we talked and now look, I can kiss you, Leo. Even though I’m crying,” Finn smiled a little, and Leo kissed him.

“You’re allowed to cry over him. Fuck, you think I haven’t cried over both of you?”

Finn laughed and rubbed his eyes. “Hope you don’t cry over me anymore.”

Leo grinned, swinging a leg over Finn’s hips. “I think they call you Heartthrob-O’Hara for a reason.”

“I remember,” Finn said softly. He couldn’t think about that phone call, though. Not yet. With time. “I didn’t know you remembered, Nut.”

Leo nodded. “I think we all remember.”

Logan let out a shaky breath against Finn’s chest and Finn rested his lips against the crown of Logan’s head. Maybe Logan couldn’t think about it either. Logan, who had tried to be so bright for him, even when he could tell Finn was crying.

Leo smiled. “Got a couple of star crossed lovers on my hands.”

Finn felt Logan’s laugh this time. “Care to join the party?”

“Yes, please.”

Finn groaned at the soft syllables in Leo’s voice, the drawn out ones in Logan’s. “You both get accent-y after sex."

“Tired,” Logan said.

“Fucked,” Leo sighed.

Logan laughed loudly, eyes squeezing shut, and he nudged Leo with his hand before wrapping his fingers around his arm and pulling him close for a kiss.

Finn didn’t think they were star crossed anymore. They had orbited around that somehow and ended up here, pulled by Leo’s gravity, into a tangle of light.

“In the middle,” Leo laughed, and bent briefly to press a lingering kiss to the dark ink on Logan’s hip before returning to his mouth. “Just how you like it.”

Finn smiled. Finn was just where he liked it, too. Feeling the weight of both of them in his arms, not moving, not going anywhere, their voices soft in a room the was safe and warm.

“What do you like, Nut?” Finn said. “Tell me.”

Leo bit his lip. “Looking at you two. I never even thought I’d have one person. And if I did, I thought they’d get tired of secrets. Scared away.” Leo let Finn pull him closer. “Secrets made you two stronger. And you’re not gonna leave me because you have to keep me a secret, either.” Leo’s gaze flickered. “I like looking at you two and knowing that.”

“Knutty, Knutty, Knutter, Nut, Nutter butter baby,” Finn sing-songed as he shuffled into the kitchen, voice sleepy and hair a mess. He felt awake after last night, his boys, on him, with him, working their way so deep into his bones and heart that he bled and bruised and breathed them. It felt good.

He rested his cheek against Leo’s back as he wrapped his arms around him from behind while eggs sizzled on the stove.

“Morning, Harz,” Leo said.

“Sup,” Finn sighed.

Leo snorted, then took a strip of bacon he had cooling from a plate. “Here.”

Finn made an appreciative sound and took it between his teeth.

“Do you wish we could cook?” Finn asked as he chewed.

Leo wavered his head back and forth. “No,” he decided. “I think you can do more than you think you can, but I like cooking for you. You guys clean up. It’s like being on a cooking show. All the fun, none of the work.”

Finn laughed, pressing a kiss to Leo’s shoulder through his t-shirt. “Cute.”

“Is he awake yet?”

“No,” Finn said, pulling three coffee mugs down from the cupboard. Logan, easily awoken, hard to wake up. “Somehow we managed to sneak out. Lightest sleeper ever. You know, I used to have to pee on roadies or when we were roommates—I mean I still pee, but you get the idea. And he would jump up like there was a fucking burglar.”

Leo dumped the eggs onto the waiting plates and flicked the hot pan off. He came up behind Finn this time, hands on his hips while the smell of brewing coffee rose in the air. Finn leaned back against his chest.

“I thought about doing this so many times while you made breakfast,” Finn said softly.

Leo glanced at his face, nose brushing his cheek. His eyes were closed, eyelashes turned shadows in the warm sunlight pooling on the floor. He was completely relaxed into Leo, and Leo held him there. This was what Leo liked. Finn, knowing that they weren’t going anywhere, no matter what he did.

“Me too,” Leo said, kissing Finn’s jaw. Finn smiled, and turned his head into the kiss.

“Leo,” Finn said.

“Yeah?”

“I think we should ask him.”

Leo only had the chance to smile and kiss Finn again, deeper, before there was a weight falling against both of them, Logan’s dark head of hair burrowing against Leo’s chest. Leo laughed and stumbled, just a little.

“You gain ten pounds when you’re sleepy, I swear.”

Logan just hummed. Leo and Finn looked at each other over his head, and then Finn sandwiched Logan in from the other side.

“Hey, Lo,” he whispered.

“Quoi,” Logan mumbled sleepily, his eyes closed and cheek against Leo’s t-shirt.

Finn smiled at Leo, and Leo ducked down.

“Will you move in with us?” Leo whispered.

Logan looked up so fast he butted Finn in the nose with the back of his head.

“Fuck me,” Finn startled back and Logan swore, turning in their arms and pressing his hands to Finn’s rough cheeks.

“Harz,” Logan began, and then Finn realized that both him and Leo were laughing too hard to speak.

“Ouch.”

Logan sagged against him, gasping for breath—

And then Finn realized he was half crying. And nodding. And nodding and nodding.

Finn abandoned his aching nose and looked at Leo, whose expression had softened. Logan’s breathing stuttered and he gasped out a laugh, wiping his face.

“Fuck, I just woke up.”

“Is that a yes?” Finn laughed. “Head butt me then burst into tears, I guess that’s a pretty regular morning for us all.”

Leo kissed Logan’s neck softly. “Say yes.”

“Get out of Dumo’s basement,” Finn said.

Logan punched him in the chest, making him groan, and the pulled him back in, leaning into Leo’s arms.

“Yes,” Logan said. “Yes.”

Over coffee, Finn held his phone out to Leo.

“Slutty Batman.”

Leo blinked at the photo. “Holy fuck.”

#coast to coast #lumosinlove #sweater weather #sweater weather spin off #coast to coast lumosinlove #lumosinlove coast to coast #o'knutzy #Logan tremblay #Leo knut #finn o'hara #lumosinlove ocs #lumosinlove oc #finn x logan x leo

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pagingdoctorbedlam · 3 years ago

Text

My final potion for @quirkyseastone ‘s “Brew a Love Potion” event is complete! Hope you’re ready for the fluffiest darn thing I’ve written for this fandom (and possibly ever).

Characters: Franky x Reader

Genre: Sci-Fi AU, Fluff

TW/CW: Mentions of loss/death

Inspiration: Kudos to “A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet” by Becky Chambers for inspiring this fic~

Word Count: 2.7k words

"Alright, we've successfully docked. Good job, crew." You sit up from the captain's chair and gaze out at the starport outside your window. It's been some time since you'd landed on one of the Sabaody Moons, but you've always found the view breathtaking. The moons are more tree than earth, and bubbles slowly float from the roots up toward the stars. While some of the moons are still hives of scum and villainy, others seem almost paradisiacal as beings from far-flung galaxies intermingled in the Sabaody ports.

Before you can get too far from the bridge, the intercom of the Thousand Sunny buzzes to life. It's Franky, the A.I. that runs your ship. "Hey Captain, can I nab a word with ya' before you go on shore leave?"

"Sure thing. Need me here, or down in the core room?"

"Core Room, if ya' don't mind. I've got a super new design to run by you." Though Franky works admirably as a ship A.I., he'd originally been coded to design ships, including the one he now ran, the 1000 Suns (colloquially the Thousand Sunny to you and your crew). Even though his focus is now centered on ship diagnostics and flight procedures, the A.I. still delights in crafting new machine schematics, and you have a rule that he needs your approval before he modifies the ship.

You wave off the rest of the bridge crew, and they're all too eager to touch solid ground again after months in space. You are too, but if Franky's waited this long to check on you, it's likely something for your ears only while the rest of the crew is offboard. You stride through the winding metal hallways that make up the ship's guts, flashing your clearance badge here and there until you are down in the deep bowels of the ship, close enough to the engines that you can hear the machinery thrumming as the ship went through cooldown procedures. It's familiar. You come down here more often than others would expect, enough that you've got a futon and blanket stashed nearby for nights you don't spend in your own cabin.

"Franky? Said you wanted to see me?" You call out as you entered the Core Room. The entire room is covered in segments of a giant computer, with retractable screens and limbs for interacting with others; all of this is Franky. In a way, you're standing in his brain, which is something you try not to think about too much. What catches your attention is that all the screens are down, a rarity when Franky has company.

"Sure do!" His voice echoes, but not from the speakers. "Got a surprise for you. Close your eyes a sec, alright Captain?"

"Franky..." You're sure no other ship A.I.s play games with their commanding officers, but then again, you've yet to meet an A.I. with half the personality Franky has. You close your eyes and cover them with your hands. "Alright, ready when you are."

You expect to hear wheels, a cart with some sort of prototype wheeling into the room. Instead there are footsteps, heavy and so in-sync that it borders on unnatural. Then a hand on your shoulder, warm and soft. Too curious to resist temptation, you open your eyes and peek through your fingers.

"Franky, is this...?"

"An android body? It sure is!" He spins you around and takes a step back so you can take in his full visage. He looks human for the most part, even if the muscles in his forearms are overemphasized and patches of metal poke out from his skin. Still, he has skin, the medical-grade sort often used for replacing lost flesh in humans, and hair that's sculpted into a bright blue pompadour. He must have borrowed clothes from someone in medical too, though he's only wearing a floral patterned shirt, sunglasses, and a speedo. You suppose he was too excited for the big reveal to finish getting dressed.

"You made this, Franky?"

"Yeah, alongside Dr. Chopper and the rest of the medical team, plus Usopp over in Engineering. Surprised none of 'em spilled the beans." He flexes to show off the musculature of his arms. "We'd talked about what happened to your last ship, and figured we should make me a back-up body in case I ever needed to leave the ship with you all. Not that I plan for anything to happen to the Sunny..."

"But better safe than sorry." You still miss Merry, your sweet A.I. lost with your previous ship. She and Franky would've gotten along well, you think. "It's a good plan, I approve."

"Excellent! Now I just need to take it for a spin, test it outside the ship. Seeing as we've docked for the time being..."

Ah. Now you see what he's getting it. Pretty sly, for an A.I. "As your Captain, I'll accompany you on your first excursion out on the spaceport, to make sure everything's in working order." You offer an arm. He raises an eyebrow. "Loop it with mine. Like this...there we go. Now let's get going, shall we?"

Even among the strangest aliens, Franky stands out in his own way at the space docks. This is only partially due to his lack of pants: he claims this is because he designed his legs to vent most of the heat his body builds up, and you wouldn't want him to overheat and faint on his first outing, would you? No, he stands out because even though he's clearly an android, there's an excitement to him that would rival even the most starry-eyed space explorers.

"Would ya' take a look at this, Captain?" You'd expect to find Franky gawking at any number of the docked spaceships, and indeed he's gushed about many of them already. Instead, he directs your attention to one of the tree roots. A trail of iridescent beetles scurry up the bark, and overhead, a couple smaller Southbirds (rare here, likely escaped cargo from the planet Skypiea) call to each other as they watch the busy port below.

"Thought you'd studied all these, Franky." After all, he's a powerful computer who can research multiple ideas at once, and innately curious as any inventor tends to be. And he's asked you and the crew many, many questions about the world beyond his metal hull.

"Yeah, but no matter how advanced the notes and visuals might be, it doesn't compare with the real thing. I mean, look at 'em!" He points at one particular beetle as its shell reflects the lights of the spaceport back with an opalescent sheen. "Even if you could theoretically simulate all this on a computer, most wouldn't think to do so on their own. Out here, stuff just...happens."

You have never seen an A.I. quite so excited about life outside, but then again, you've never met an A.I. quite like Franky. "Yeah, I guess that is pretty exciting when you put it that way. Part of the wonders of space travel; you never quite know what's going to happen out here."

Then a realization hits your brain with the full-bodied force of a supernova. "Franky, you've spent so much time traveling through the stars, but have you ever actually seen them the way we do?"

Franky looks up at the sky overhead. "Hard to see 'em from up here, even if I zoom out my eyes to max. Watch this!" His eyes...actually telescope out of his head. That's a bit disturbing with how human he looks. "Figure that's due to light pollution, though. Pretty bright out here."

"Sure is." You offer your arm to him again. "Come with me; I'll show you how folks groundside go out to look at the stars."

Years ago, you'd come out of the harshest space battle of your life. Your crew narrowly avoided becoming space dust, and after giving her all to save you, you lost Merry. The ship that had been with you since the beginning, the A.I. with the biggest heart you'd ever met. As her files corrupted and her hull fell apart, you'd honored her final wish and set her ablaze once you reached planetside, cremating her as one would a human. You still carry a vial of her ashes on a necklace, so you never forget what you've lost to get this far.

You'd wandered through the streets of the moon of Water 7 in a daze. Hadn't even paid attention where you went as the rest of the crew licked their wounds. Before you knew it, a robotic voice called out to you from the depths of a starship demolition yard.

"What's got you down, Captain? Can't be you're sad to be out among the stars!"

You'd blinked, not recognizing the source of the voice. But you called back, "I just lost someone important to my crew. My ship." You didn't care if most folks didn't see A.I.s as people. Merry had been more than a crewmate to you. She'd been a friend.

Even though the voice emanating from the demo-yard was auto-tuned monotone, it took on a warmer tone somehow. "I'm sorry to hear that. But you say you're looking for a ship? I might be able to help with that." A crackle of static. "And if you'd like, you can tell me about your lost pal. I can't bring 'em back for you...but I've heard that talking about these kinda' things helps."

"You don't even know who I am."

"No one does when they first meet, do they? Speaking of which, call me Franky."

Somehow, pouring your heart out to a stranger was easier than talking to your crewmates. You'd wandered into the heart of the scrapheaps and talked to the mysterious Franky, his voice surrounding you from so many static-filled speakers. You'd watched as overhead, he controlled cranes to start putting pieces of a mighty vessel together. He'd asked about your specifications, what you'd loved about Merry both as a ship and a friend. You'd cried. He did too. And when you'd asked how much the ship would cost, he said the only charge would be that he could come along.

You agreed willingly, overjoyed to have such a skilled shipwright onboard. It was only when you talked to the demo-yard owner that you learned that the person you'd poured your heart out to was an A.I.

That didn't stop you from doing so again once the Thousand Sunny was complete, and Franky took to his new home in his core room. You'd wander down into the depths of the Thousand Sunny whenever you needed a second opinion on the ship or a mission, and soon after that just to talk. You'd spent hours surrounded by the computer that served as Franky's brain for so long, talking and laughing just as you used to with Merry. Except, it was more than that with him. He wasn't just a friend, you'd realized over time. But you'd shoved those thoughts away. It was ludicrous, falling in love with an A.I. whose brain you could walk through, whose body was a starship you controlled with the push of a few buttons.

But now he has a body. You can squeeze his giant hand, and he squeezes back so softly as he gets used to his own strength. He smiles the way you always imagined he would, grinning with pearly white teeth and eyes that (literally) glow with joy.

He follows you with infinite curiosity as you weave through the Sabaody streets and gather supplies for your excursion. You ask about his body's capabilities and discover his fuel source is...astonishingly close to soda, so you pick up a few colas along with some food for you. Franky gets to carry a blanket hand-woven by the locals, and you catch him marveling at the texture when he thinks you aren't looking. Finally, you rent a small paddleboat to traverse the moon with, and a map that lays out the canals and waterways of this particular moon.

"You know, it'd be a lot faster if I rowed," Franky says, mouth quirked into a lopsided grin as your comparatively tiny arms pull the oars back and forth. It's amazingly, how perfectly imperfect he looks, more human than any other android you've seen even with all the metal bits.

"There's an old human adage about the journey being more important than the destination, Franky. Take in the experience."

You watch as his attention zeroes in along the waterways, eyes zooming in on every detail until they're pulled away to something new. You expect him to be interested in the flora and fauna, as opalescent leaves bigger than your boat stretch over the water to shade you from the encroaching moonlight and soft purple creatures vaguely reminiscent of otters circle your boat before chasing each other down the river. But the entire world is new to him, and you find him fascinated by even the dirt or the buzzing insects swarming your head.

"Aww, look. I think it likes me!" Franky lifts one giant finger, where a mosquito (why did those have to be a universal constant?) tries and fails at piercing his skin.

"It probably thinks you're human and is trying to suck your blood," you point out, as the bugs try to use you as a personal juicebox. This only gets Franky to smile. Must feel validating, having even nature recognize him for what he is in his heart.

It takes a bit more rowing, but you finally arrive at your destination. A small island, mostly shore, with a small field and a lone tree with leaves that glow silver in the moonlight. You dock the boat on the shore, then set up the blanket and food for a small picnic. You motion for Franky to sit with you, and can't help but laugh a little at the faces he makes when touching sand for the first time. Then you lay back on the blanket. Franky joins you, and his eyes go wide.

A ribbon of starlight glimmers overhead. Hundreds of constellations twinkle overhead. You'd ask if he knows any, but you keep quiet so you don't break his wonder-filled gaze.

His giant hand encases yours. "Space seems even bigger from here than it does when you're in the middle of it. I mean, look at all those stars! I read that you could see 'em from so far away, but seeing it in person..."

"This is what inspired me to go into space," you say. Your finger drifts up to the brightest star in the sky. "I'd look at that one and say, I'm going to go there someday! Didn't care how far away it was, or even what might be around it. Just wanted to head to the brightest star I could."

Franky narrows his gaze up at that star. "That's over eight light years away. Might take a bit, even with a warp drive like mine. But if that's where you wanna' go? I'll take you anywhere, Captain. Long as we're together, I'll explore every corner of the universe with you."

For a moment, both of you are quiet. The air fills with the gentle rhythm of the flowing water, the buzz of insects, bushes rustling as creatures move in the night. In the distance, the hum of a starship engine taking off from the port; you soon see its lights trail across the sky as it ascends back into that void above, the space that's so comforting because it holds planets and stars and spaceships and you and Franky all together in its embrace.

"I think this is the part where one of us says 'I love you'," Franky says softly.

You smile and squeeze his hand back. "You're such a romantic. But yeah, you're right. And I do. I love you."

"Love you too, Captain. And thanks. For, y'know, helping me be human."

"Franky, you've got more heart than most anyone I know. You're plenty human already. I'm just here to steer you steady. And I always will."

You pass the rest of the night watching the stars overhead. And for the captain and A.I. of a starship, you wouldn't have it any other way.

#seas brew a love potion challenge #bedlam writes #cyborg franky #franky x reader #scifi au #fluff

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fortune-fool02 · 4 years ago

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Mall Crawl (Mer!Pillarmen AU)

Aja Mall was closed for the night.

Locked shut and deserted, there was nothing stirring in the establishment in the darkness of night. A few dim lamps remained on, but otherwise, it was all darkness and quiet, save for the stagnant drips of the main lobby fountain.

The fountain, however had been leaking for a while, and a few stray splashes dampened the smooth tiled floor. By sheer chance, some of the water began to drain onto a ledge, where it leaked down to the lower ground floor art exhibit, and dribbled onto a set of statues, ancient stone sculptures proudly on display in the historic gallery, and depicted, carved in repose, four masculine figures in repose, each sporting a great fish's tail below their waist.

Except they weren't sculpted at all.

As the leaking water moistened them the stony shells began to soften and crumble away. All they needed was water, something they had been deprived of for ages, what with the museum's insistence on keeping these priceless artifacts dry, and took great care to ensure that not a drop of water touched them.

But now it did, and for the first time in four thousand years, the figures began to move again.

With a wet slap one of the figures, bearing a dull, silvery-gray tail and sporting a single horn upon his head, dropped out of the stone and onto the wet floor. Groggily he looked about. This wasn't the temple of the ancients, he thought, turning his attention toward the other figures still encased in stone. This was a strange foundation carved out by those...those primitives, who walked on the land.

"Lord Kars...Lord Esidisi..." he mumbled, as he crawled across the floor on his powerful arms, toward the other two figures. "Our time has come again..."

Scooping up some of the water that had pooled on the floor in his webbed hands, he splashed it onto the two stone figures that had lain on either side of him for decades. His eyes, suited for darkness, grew wide with anticipation as he watched their rocky cocoons slowly melt away.

"Awaken, my masters!" he cried.

A wet flop on each side soon followed as the other two mermen burst from their shells, which they had formed to survive drying out when water was withheld from them. There they had slumbered for millennia, until a fluke of events awekened them once again: in a changed new world they did not recognize.

"Wamuu..." Kars groaned hoarsely, as he pushed himself up by his arms. "W-where are we?"

"I know not where we have found ourselves, my lord," Wammu replied respectfully with a bow. "We shall soon see."

"We appear to be above the surface, judging by the lack of water," Esidisi added, stretching out his fiery orange tail with a yawn. "Our first priority should be to return to the sea...Lord Kars?" He suddenly added, confused, as he saw his wild-haired superior dragging himself away, clearly interested in something else.

"Fascinating..." Kars muttered to himself, as he slithered down the art hall, his violet tail trailing behind. "We appear to be in the hall of the primitives, how they have advanced over the years..." He continued crawling, while Esidisi urgently squirmed after his high lord.

"Lord Kars, we don't have time...the call of the sea awaits us!" he called out. Kars shot back a wicked smile. "The ocean can wait, Esidisi. There is something more of interest I desire to see."

Wammu followed the two with several heavy flops. "My master, what about Santana?"

Kars sneered as he pulled himself onward. "Leave him, Wamuu. He isn't important." Wamuu sadly nodded and followed behind the other two.

Hauling and dragging themselves forward in a display of ungainly strength, they began to slowly make their way along the hall. It sported a gallery of artistic wonders of the ancient world --which moments ago included themselves-- before the pathway opened up into a wide open space, filled with strange rooms and odd structures, and a window in the ceiling that let the bright moonlight in.

Soon the three mermen began to explore the strange cathedral of the landfolk that they found themselves in. It was more difficult for them to move without water, but the strange, smooth floors, more polished than any of them had ever seen, was easy for them to pull their heavy bodies across with only the power of their arms.

They gazed around in fascination and amazement as they heaved themselves along, eager to see more like three very unusual tourists, glancing about at the sights in wonder. To human eyes the mall was all but darkness: but their eyes were designed for the pitch depths of the sea, and could partake in the colorful splendor a landwalker could only enjoy in the daytime.

"Their structures are marvelous," Wammu exclaimed, sliding his way over to a set of metal steps. A red button glowed faintly at its base, and the horned merman curiously inspected it, while elsewhere, Kars clawed his way forwards into a small room, where strange, colorful fabrics hung in hooks and lines.

"Splendid, very splendid," he said, reaching up as high as he can from his position on the floor to pull down one of the fabrics. It felt soft and velvety to the touch, though to Kars's disappointment the garment was too small to fit his toned muscular body when he tried to put it on, leaving his upper arms and belly comically exposed.

"Nonetheless, their fashion is admirable," he mumbled to himself. "I sure shall miss their beautiful art when we eventually destroy their puny race..."

"Lord Kars!" Esidisi urged, as he wriggled his way into the store. "Now is not the time for distractions, we must find a way back to the ocean!"

"A few moments could not hurt," Kars snapped irritably, as he tried on a fancy hat on display, which he struggled to squeeze onto his horned, purple-maned head that was far too big for it.

Outside the small shop Wamuu had been fiddling with the metallic steps, trying to see how they moved and worked. He pressed the small buttons that gleamed from the bottom, testing to see if anything would happen--and to his surprise, the steps began to move, with him still on it.

Wammu was gripped with panic as the steps carted him upwards, toward an unknown destination. His frightened surprise, however, turned to amazement as he realized that the steps had guided him to a second floor of the establishment, full of other things he otherwise could not access from below.

"This must be how they go from level to level," he mused.

Downstairs, Esidisi tried in vain to reason with Kars, who seemed to be more interested in taking the fashionable items of the landwalkers than he was at getting back to the sea.

"Does this dress accentuate the splendor of my tail?" Kars asked with a hint of seduction in his voice, as he lay on his side to show off the flowing skirt he had pulled from one of the shelves.

"Anything, anything looks marvelous on you, my lord!" Esidisi pleaded. "But we have greater things to be accomplished! Where is Wammu!?" he demanded.

"I have come, my masters," Wammu called out from the top of the moving steps, followed by a full minute of awkward silence as he slowly but surely descended while he sat on one of the steps.

Esidisi grimaced in confusion, as Wamuu finally reached the bottom of the steps. "What a ridiculous place."

In the meantime, the leaky fountain back at the gallery had begun to flood the art exhibit, moistening the petrified form of the one left behind-- Santana. He emerged coughing and groaning onto the wet floor, and he thrashed about in confusion until he finally caught his bearings.

His heart sank as his eyes fixed onto the three empty holes in the stone wall. Once again, his masters had abandoned him. He had always felt lesser than they were, but this was a low blow, even for Kars.

Now he was all by himself in a strange deserted environment on land, and his grief and frustration soon gave way to another sensation-- hunger. He needed to find some food after so very long.

Guided by his keen sense of smell, Santana began to crawl across the smooth tiles, in the opposite direction the others had gone. There was surely something to find within the empty construction, he thought, as he made his way, arm over arm, toward an opening in the end of the hall.

His red-magenta tail began slapping the floor eagerly as he crawled, as he caught a familiar salty scent as he entered a strange chamber, one prominently lettered with the symbols "S-U-P-E-R-M-A-R-K-E-T": if Santana had known how to read, which he didn't.

Dead fish lay neatly arranged on trays of ice, and Santana reached up and grabbed them hungrily, feasting on them cold and raw. He devoured one or two before something else caught his attention, small colorful bags that were lined up on a shelf. He crawled his way over and reached out to grab one.

He popped open the bag with his sharp claws to find that it was mostly filled with air, but inside were small, brittle chips. He shoveled some into his mouth, and savored their salty flavor and crisp texture. Landfolk food was new and appealing to the redhead merman, and he wanted more. He crawled from aisle to aisle, pulling boxes from shelves low enough for him to reach and feasting eagerly on their curious contents.

Elsewhere in the mall, Kars had concluded his tour. He had adorned himself with all sorts of apparel he could find, necklaces, hats stacked on top of each other, slippers worn on his hands as he had no feet. He was a crawling fashion disaster, and had Wamuu and Esidisi not feared their highlord's furious might, they would have laughed.

"I am satisfied," Kars grinned, shuffling his way over to a shiny door to admire his reflection, flicking his tail pridefully.

"Now my lord, shall we try to seek the ocean?" asked Esidisi through gritted teeth and restrained laughter.

"We shall, my friends," Kars replied. "All water comes to the sea or leads to it...first we must find the source and follow it to freedom".

Propelled by their muscular upper halves, while their scaly lower halves, practically useless outside the water, dragged along behind them, the mermen made the slow, arduous journey toward where they soon found the pipes that led to the mall's drainage system. Gazing down into the canals, they saw the water was cloudy, and the mermen were hesitant, but they knew it led out to a river and into the sea, and whatever filth was in the water was well worth their trouble.

Esidisi jumped in first, followed by Wamuu, who felt the relief of the water's weightlessness and refreshing coolness after so many centuries. Kars came last, gazing hesitantly at all his attire that he'd haphazardly piled onto his body.

"A shame I have to ruin these...a small price to pay for freedom." He closed his eyes and threw himself into the murky water, hats, dresses and all.

Now all they needed was to find the sea.

Back at the supermarket, Santana continued his sampling of the land food, unaware of the others' departure. Soon he had eaten his fill, and curiously sought to see more of this unusual place.

Crawling out of the transparent doors of the shadowy room, he found himself outside of the building. He was under the open air, with the moon shining above, and before him was a large flat rock on which drove strange carriages with glowing lights, while in the distance tall buildings towered up in the sky: nothing like the human cities Santana remembered ages before.

He tried to crawl forward, but the large flat rock was rough. Rougher than the smooth floors of the mall, and painfully scraped his belly, elbows, and the underside of his tail. Santana groaned with discomfort, but stubbornly continued on.

But he wasn't alone.

(Y/N), a security guard of a neighboring building, had just ended their shift at 2AM and were preparing to go home, traveling down the sidewalk toward the bus stop.

And the last thing they expected to see, so late at night, was a naked man struggling prone on the sidewalk, his long vermilion hair wet and glistening.

Except he was no man at all, (Y/N) realized, as it dawned on them at a closer look that where his legs should have been, was instead a glittering, scarlet tail with bright magenta fins.

"H-holy shit," gasped (Y/N), dropping their coffee cup in shock.

••••••••••••

#submission #merman au #merman santana #merman esidisi #merman kars #merman whamu #mer pillarmen

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fanficshiddles · 5 years ago

Text

Strip Poker, One Shot

So a while ago someone messaged me suggesting about a one shot where Tom? Or Loki? Can’t remember… is playing strip poker with an OC or reader? but when she has no more clothes left, he starts adding toys etc… I went for Loki anyway.

Finally got round to writing said one shot. Hehe! Enjoy! I dunno how to play poker, so… just roll with it. And it’s long, I should’ve split in two… ah well!

Smut ahoy!

I knew Loki was up to something, I could tell by the way he was skulking around the place. No doubt looking for mischief.

‘If you’re planning on dragging me down with whatever it is you’re plotting, you can think again. Stark still doesn’t trust me with his car after what you did to it.’ I muttered, not even looking up at him while I lay on my stomach on the carpet, reading my book.

Loki’s chuckle reached my ears as he straddled over my bum, his hands gripped my sides as he leaned over me. His hair was tickling the back of my neck as he looked at what I was reading.

‘You’re reading that silly wizard book again?’ He scoffed.

‘If Harry Potter was real, you’d have no hope, mister.’ I turned the book over and put it down, then I managed to roll over underneath him, his hands sliding over my body and landing on my hips again.

He raised an eyebrow at me. ‘Are you seriously comparing my skills to that of a puny Midgardian wizard?’

I knew I’d touched a nerve. It was fun to wind him up, especially over something that questioned his power. We often had this game of poking fun and teasing at each other. Since my arrival to the Avengers tower, I was told almost daily how Loki came out of his shell more. Apparently, I brought out the best in him.

But in reality, I had just treated him like anyone else. I didn’t recoil in fear when he entered a room. I didn’t blame him whenever something bad happened. Although, admittedly, he is the first one to be blamed when there’s any kind of mischief going on. But he always owns up to that proudly. We were really close friends… Sometimes I wished we were more, but I never told him that. Too scared it would ruin what we had. Even though he was a huge flirt, I just assumed that was in his nature.

I shrugged and gave his arms a pat. ‘Ok, ok. You’re probably right. You’d win easily.’

‘Probably right? I’m always right.’ He grinned.

‘Yeah, yeah… So, I’m not gonna get to finish reading in peace, am I?’ I asked knowingly.

He grinned down at me with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. ‘Nope. I’m bored, I want to play.’

The way he said it and squeezed my sides at the same time made my stomach flip. But I kept focused. ‘Well, what do you want to do?’

‘Hmmm.’ He looked up, thinking. While he absentmindedly slid his hands just under my top, lightly stroking my sides. It wasn’t anything unusual with Loki, he was very touchy feely with me. Enjoyed hugging whenever possible, just touching me in some way seemed to make him happy. And I certainly wasn’t complaining about it.

‘We could play poker?’ He suggested, eyes lighting up again.

‘Alright. I’m not great at it, so you’ll likely win.’

‘Excellent.’ Loki grinned. ‘Just one thing, we will put our own spin on it… Let’s play strip poker.’ He winked at me and hopped up off me excitedly.

‘No, no, no, no! I’ll lose, spectacularly. And I’ll be naked while you’ll still be fully clothed!’

‘Oh come on, darling. It will be such fun.’ He had a pack of cards appear in his hand as he pushed the coffee table into the middle of the floor on front of me. Two wine glasses full of red wine appeared too.

I should’ve known he had a hidden agenda this evening.

I groaned and sat up, shuffling myself over to sit crossed legged opposite him. He flicked his wrist and had a chair slide over for him to sit on. And his full armour, cape and helmet materialised onto his body while he started shuffling the cards.

‘Don’t think so. That’s not fair! Look at all the layers you have. Change back!’ I demanded, folding my arms over my chest.

He chuckled wickedly, but to my relief he did change back into the all black suit he had been wearing a moment ago. But that’s when I realised, I was seriously under dressed as it was. Knickers, a bra, shorts and a tank top… That’s all I had on.

‘Have I ever told you how cute you look when you’re pissed off?’

‘Shut up.’ I huffed, grabbing my cards.

I was pleasantly surprised to win the first round. So Loki had to remove a piece of clothing. But the asshole took off his watch that was hidden under his sleeve.

‘Bastard.’ I muttered under my breath.

‘What was that, darling?’ He teased, hand behind his ear.

I glared at him the best I could, but he just laughed.

He won the following round, but I remembered I had earrings in.

‘I should make you remove both of them.’

‘Nu uh, you have way more layers as it is. Let me have this one.’

He nodded reluctantly. Probably knew he was going to win anyway.

After some more rounds, I was down to my underwear. Loki still had his shirt, trousers and socks on. He had used his tie as an item, a necklace I didn’t even know existed and his shoes. Whereas I had been barefoot so didn’t even have the luxury of socks to remove.

I felt slightly self-conscious, sitting there in my underwear on the floor on front of him. But the wine was helping greatly, especially because as soon as my glass was empty Loki filled it right up again.

The perks of having a magic God as a best friend were great at times.

‘Oh dear… Looks like I win again.’ He was unable to contain a big ass smirk.

‘There’s nothing else for me to remove.’

‘You are still wearing clothing, I can see with my very own eyes.’

‘Seriously? I’m not taking my underwear off.’ I whined.

‘Come on, darling. It’s just me. Nothing I’ve not seen before.’ He winked at me.

My face went bright red. He was referring to the god awful, down right most embarrassing moment of my life, where he had burst into my bedroom after returning from a mission that had went really well, and I was lying on my bed completely naked with a vibrator shoved up my fanny. I had just been about to cum, too.

And Loki being Loki, hadn’t even averted his eyes. Oh no, he had taken in the sight before him with the biggest grin on his face I had ever seen. It took me to grab the blanket and throw it over myself before he backed out of my room, but he didn’t even apologise.

We had never spoken of that moment, I was too embarrassed to bring it up. And Loki just never mentioned it, thankfully… Until now.

The wine had made me brave. So I reached behind my back to unclasp my bra, I couldn’t look him in the eye though, when I took it off. I tried using my hair to cover my nipples, but it wasn’t really working.

‘Alright, let’s get the next one over with. Sooner you’re completely naked the better.’ I grumbled, downing more wine.

While I was looking at my cards, I glanced over them to look at Loki. He was peeping over the top of his, too. But his eyes were down at my breasts. I moved the cards strategically down enough to hide them from his view. He looked up and locked with my eyes, I could tell he was grinning. I could see it in his eyes.

To my relief, I won the next round. So he took off… a sock.

I groaned in utter annoyance as he made a big show of it, acting like it was a strip tease. He even tossed the damn thing at me, landing on my head.

I was desperate to win more rounds. But alas, I lost the next one. And he just eyed me up, waiting… I groaned and reluctantly manoeuvred my knickers off. I decided to get back at him, so I threw them at him. But he caught them with his lightning quick reflexes.

A sly grin formed on his face. ‘I think I shall keep these.’ He growled, stuffing them into his pocket.

‘That’s just… creepy.’

‘I am a creepy one.’ He winked.

The next round, I lost. Yet again. But I was half relieved, thinking it was over.

‘Alright! Well done, you win! I have nothing else to take off.’ I threw the cards down on the table and went to grab my clothes that I’d piled next to me, but as I reached out for them, they just vanished right through my fingers.

‘What the… Loki!’ I glared over at him and folded my arms over my chest.

‘We’re not done yet, love. Not until we’re both naked.’

‘There is nothing else for me to remove. What do you want me to do when I lose, take a shot?’

‘I have a much better idea than that.’ His tone was low and seductive, making me gulp as I squeezed my thighs together a bit. Glad he couldn’t see because of the table.

‘Wh… what might that be?’ I dared to ask.

‘We start… adding things to you.’ He then held up two pegs.

My eyes widened in realisation of what he meant. ‘I… No… that’s not fair.’

‘Are you bailing on me, darling?’ He raised an eyebrow at me.

I wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol, or the throbbing between my legs that made me agree… But I put my hand out across the table and he dropped the pegs into my hand.

‘Wait… are these the clothes pegs from outside?’

Loki pursed his lips, trying not to laugh as he nodded.

‘Lord help me.’ I rolled my eyes.

I took a deep breath as I held one over my left nipple, but I found I was too scared to actually do it.

‘Have you never used nipple clamps or pegs before?’ Loki asked, so casually as if he was asking me about the damn weather.

‘No… I have not.’ I spat back at him, making him chuckle.

The hairs on the back of my neck went up on end as he got up from his chair and moved swiftly around beside me. Kneeling down, he slid a hand up my spine to the back of my neck, under my hair, and he gave me a gentle squeeze.

He leaned in and I felt his warm breath against my ear. ‘Allow me.’

A small whimper came out of me instead of anything intelligent. But he didn’t comment on it. I was pretty sure his god-like senses could no doubt tell I was aroused, all because of him…

‘They can be quite delightful when used right.’ He spoke low as he turned his attentions to my breasts.

I thought he was just going to clip them on, but instead he decided to tease me. He lightly stroked the tips of his fingers over my nipple, making me gasp. It hardened far too quickly, making me curse myself.

He stroked over it a few times, then used his thumb and forefinger to pinch. Making me whine as it felt like a jolt went right down to my clit.

He attached the peg to my nipple and moved his hand across to my right nipple. To repeat the action. But it didn’t take near as long this time, as I let out a whimper and my eyelids fluttered in response to the pleasure, right before he clipped the second one on.

‘There we go. See, this is such a good idea.’ He kissed my temple when I grumbled in response, trying to remain pissed off with him.

But in reality, I wanted nothing more than for him to just get naked too…

It was difficult to focus with the pegs on my nipples. It was a strange sensation, one that I was finding I rather liked… Which surprised me. I had expected it to be painful and uncomfortable.

Unluckily for me, I lost the next round too.

‘Ooooh, what shall we add next?’ Loki playfully tapped his lower lip, as if deep in thought. But I knew the asshole knew exactly what he was going to give me next.

He held his hand up and my eyes widened when steel ben wa balls formed in his palm. He rolled them about between his fingers, grinning from ear to ear. ‘How about these?’

‘Oh god.’ My cunt clenched at the thought of them.

‘That I am.’ He smirked and stalked back around towards me.

‘I can put them in myself.’ I squeaked, my voice much higher than I had meant it to be.

‘Are you sure? They need to be in properly… My fingers are much longer than yours, I can make sure they get to where they’re supposed to be.’ He purred, his voice like utter sin.

‘Well… When you put it like that.’

He spun his finger, motioning for me to turn around to him. I uncrossed my legs and turned to him. I spread my legs open and tried to hide the embarrassment that coursed through me. But looking at Loki, all I could see was… lust in his eyes as he eyed me up thoroughly.

‘Raise your knees, put your feet flat.’ He tapped my ankle and I did as he asked.

I moaned when he slid his fingers down me, I bit my lip to try and stop myself from making anymore noises. I was so aroused it was humiliating.

‘My my, someone is excited.’ He hummed, stroking my clit slowly.

‘Just… do it.’ I said through gritted teeth, closing my eyes.

I yelped a little when I felt the harsh cold of the first ball press against my opening. It was quite large and heavy, but Loki pressed it right in. Then the second one joined straight after. Loki wasn’t quite done yet though, he slid two fingers into me and pushed them around a bit, pulling more moans and whimpers from me.

‘There… In the right place now.’ He curled his fingers against my g spot as he slowly retracted said fingers from within me, making my legs tremble.

As he stood, he sucked his fingers with a moan and went back to his chair. I could see the very evident bulge in his trousers now. And that made me even more excited…

I shuffled back round and crossed my legs, but just doing that action made the balls move inside of me. One of them was pressing right against my g spot in my new position and I nearly lost it completely.

‘Delightful, aren’t they?’ He grinned at me.

I ignored his comment and with shaky hands I picked up my cards that he had dealt me. I had to keep breathing deeply, because otherwise I was worried I was going to cave and start touching my clit to orgasm because the balls just felt so bloody good. I couldn’t resist slightly swaying back and fore, I thought unnoticeably. But Loki noticed. Of course he did.

‘Enjoying yourself there, love?’ He teased.

‘I… yes, I am actually.’ I huffed at him and made my move with the cards.

‘How the…’ I trailed off when I realised I had lost the round again.

‘Surely there’s nothing else that can be…’ I trailed off when I looked up at Loki and saw him holding some weird vibrator. ‘added…’

‘What’s that?’ I squeaked.

‘A clitoris vibrator. This hole here, hugs it nicely and there’s tiny little vibrators just inside that will tantalise your lovely little nub.’ He slid it across the table to me.

‘What, you’re not going to help me with it?’ I raised an eyebrow at him.

He chuckled. ‘Trust me, I will be helping plenty in a moment.’

I narrowed my eyes at him suspiciously, but I picked up the vibrator and studied it closely.

‘How am I going to get to keep it in place while playing cards with both hands?’

‘That’s where I shall come in. Trust me. Put it on.’ He licked his lips.

I knew I was far too gone anyway, so why stop now? Clit stimulation was just what I needed.

The table shielded his view of me while I opened my legs and got the vibrator into position. It was quite easy because my clit was peeking out, simply begging for some attention. Poor little thing. The hole on the vibrator fit snugly over it. I let out a small sigh as it turned on and vibrated over it, almost completely encasing it like a sucking motion at the same time.

That’s when I noticed Loki’s magic on the vibrator. When I let go, it stayed in place and intensified in vibrations.

‘Oh fuck!’ I moaned and threw my head back.

The balls inside me started moving about a little, I realised that no doubt they had his magic in them too. Because there was no way they should be moving that much.

I knew there was no chance I would be able to focus on the card game now, especially when Loki ramped up the vibrator on my clit, making me howl in utter pleasure as I came. I started falling over onto my side, but Loki quickly came over and sat behind me, pulling me back into him and cradling me into his embrace as I kept shaking through what felt like a constant orgasm.

Loki smoothed my hair back from my sweaty forehead as he wrapped his other arm around my middle, keeping me against him as my hips tried to buck up in pleasure.

‘This is such a delightful prize for winning.’ He purred, kissing the top of my head.

‘L… Loki…’ I panted, unable to say anything else but his name.

It was safe to say, that soon after, Loki stripped naked too. Not because he lost any rounds, but because he had another game in mind as he teleported us back to his room for the night.

#Loki #Tom Hiddleston #one shot #fan fiction #strip poker

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eyeofmud · 4 years ago

Text

Aidan doesn’t pace, he’s never found anything soothing in wasting motion back and forth over and over again. No, Aidan’s thoughts don’t need his feet meandering aimlessly to be in total disarray. Instead he fidgets. Leans against the hospital wall and worries a dark stone between his thumb and forefinger in a habit nearly as old as he is. Even if the habit isn’t anywhere near as old as the stone. It’s always helped him focus before and now with the rough texture under his fingertips his thoughts circle around exactly what he wants to ignore.

It’s been days since he’s seen her. Days in which he couldn’t bear to do anything more than wrap a hand around the door handle never once turning it. How could he? How could he go in to face her again?

With a sigh Aidan brings his worry stone level with his mouth, thumb still working on its smooth side. He needs to talk to her, needs to know she’s alright. Needs to see Nat like he needs to breathe and right now his chest is aching with the absence of both. It should be frightening how deeply it hurts but Aidan’s fingertip brushes across the stone and he’s more afraid of how much he doesn’t care that it frightens him. She’s worth it, she’s more than worth it.

“Does the wall no good to have you lean on it like that.” Vieno’s voice startles Aidan out of his thoughts and he pushes himself off the wall with a small jolt. When had Vieno come over to this wing of the hospital?

Actually when had he learned to sneak up on Aidan seeing as Vieno isn’t exactly known for his stealth? Grimacing Aidan rifles a hand through his hair, the corners of his mouth tugging further downward at how dry his scalp is, he must be more tired than he thought. “Good morning to you too Vieno.”

Scrunching his bushy eyebrows together, Vieno gives him a strange look, “We’re well into the afternoon boy.”

Oh. “Ah.” Abandoning the little propriety he had at the moment Aidan rubs at the back of his neck shooting Vieno an askance glance. “Lost track of my thoughts, I think.” Or got lost in them more like. Wouldn’t be the first time it’s happened, especially not when his thoughts seem to revolve around Nat.

“Well don’t get lost on your way through that door there.” Vieno continues to prove himself a straight forward individual, gesturing at the door to Nat’s room.

No, he couldn’t get lost there. Aidan sinks back against the wall and shakes his head before pausing his response before it can get started. He can’t call Vieno a close friend, not really, they’ve only met a couple handfuls of times but. Well Aidan thinks he could call him that one day, and from the way Vieno is standing, waiting, for him to either walk through Nat’s door or tell him why he isn’t going to do so, Aidan wonders how soon such a day could come.

Friendships don’t start by themselves though. “Can I tell you something Vieno.” Picking his gaze up off the floor Aidan levels it at Vieno, his eyes crinkling in the corners as he does. Vieno raises an eyebrow and Aidan takes it as permission to continue.

“I don’t think I deserve to walk through that door.”

Surprised sprigs of lemon balm bloom across Vieno’s unruly hair but Aidan doesn’t lift his gaze. “It was my choice, Vieno, my choice is why she’s in there at all.”

If he were to close his eyes Aidan knows he’d see it play out before him again, a loop he can’t do anything to stop from replaying over and over. Aidan grits his teeth and keeps his eyes open. The past isn’t something he can change, it’s making the same mistakes in the future what he’s most afraid of. Making the same choice of an order over her.

“How can I tell her I’m sorry if I can’t promise not to do it again?” Aidan wraps his tongue and his teeth around them like poisonous pits, nearly choking on them before spitting them out.

Vieno’s hand claps down on his arm harshly, startling Aidan out of his thoughts. “You don’t.” It’s a flat statement, brooking neither argument nor room to doubt. A single begonia springs out from behind Vieno’s ear, complimenting the frown on his face.

“You don’t.” The words ring through Aidan’s head like a church bell early in the morning. Crystal clear and breaking the fog. Of course, of course he doesn’t. Here he is agonizing over a choice he already made when he knows he can’t make it again. Oh what an idiot.

Slowly Aidan’s jaw unclenches, his shoulders smoothing out, “You’re right.” Not that it’s an easy choice, nor one Aidan wants to make lightly, but turning his worry stone over in his hand something in Aidan’s chest relaxes. His lips turn up and this time when Aidan’s eyes crinkle it’s because a smile is beginning to stretch across his face. “Vieno, thank you.”

Pocketing the worry stone Aidan nods, to himself and to Vieno, and the corners of Vieno’s mouth turn upwards before he continues down the corridor.

Alone again but this time just for a moment. His hand on the doorknob but this time able to open it.

Aidan takes a deep breath walking through the door unable to stop himself from a split second of worry. Fumbling over his words the moment he finally has them. “Nat, I-”

“Aidan” Nat’s voice is soft over his, pulling his gaze up from the floor. “I missed you.” Her words fill the empty hollows in his chest, lifting some unknown weight from his lungs. Propped up on the bed Nat smiles at him still lingering in the doorway and Aidan can’t think of any sight more beautiful.

His own words dry up with his mouth, tongue heavy and thick behind his teeth. It isn’t enough to simply say, “I missed you too.” But he means it. He missed her like a seedling misses the sun, desperate and reaching.

Nat stretches her hands out towards him and Aidan nearly jolts forward. Stepping across the room is his first apology to her. He takes her hands in his, calloused palm to calloused palm, and bows his forehead to the back of her hands. Whispers against them, a small prayer of thanks falling from his lips. Nat doesn’t rush him, she never has, she waits until he’s ready to raise his head and softly smiles. Cups his cheek with her hand covered by his and lets her nails gently scrape behind his ear.

There isn’t any helping it, Aidan leans into her touch without even thinking. “I should have come sooner, meant to but-”

“Well, you should have,” Cutting him off smoothly a teasing light appears in Nat’s eyes. “What kept you?”

Another deep breath, this one steeling the racing of his heart. “I didn’t have the right words, but I do now and I’d like for you to hear them.” Nat raises an eyebrow at him but sombers when Aidan doesn’t drop his gaze. “Nat, I need to apologize.”

She opens her mouth but this time Aidan is the one shaking his head, “Let me, please.” And it is a plea, he needs to tell her. Tell her in the way he can. The words he can’t say locked away behind his heart and the ones he can’t stop now spilling from his tongue. Nat sighs but she curls her fingertip around the shell of his ear and Aidan shivers.

“I chose to protect Agency interests over protecting you. You got hurt because of my choice, and I know, I know you don’t want me apologizing for that Nat. So I won’t. I’m apologizing for not doing it again.” His voice shakes harder than his hands do and he forces himself to loosen his grip on her hands, not wanting to hurt her. “And I know you can protect yourself, or heal quickly when you can’t, but Nat you shouldn’t have to. From this time on if there’s a way to handle things where no one gets hurt, that’s the way we take. From now on you come first Nat.”

Aidan’s voice cracks wetly and he shakes his head. “I’m not choosing the agency over you again Nat, I’m sorry.”

Gently, so gently it’s as if she’s afraid he’ll break, Nat strokes her thumb over his cheek, through the salty track marks lining it. She doesn’t say anything, she doesn’t have to, simply pulls him forward till his cheek rests against hers. If both of their cheeks are wet, both their hands held too tightly in the others, both their breathing shaky, neither says anything.

Not for a long while.

When you love someone, sometimes the only way to say it is to not say it at all. Aidan holds Nat to him and is held in return and for the first time, this time, it clicks deep in his heart. Sunshine bleeding through his ribs. It should hurt and maybe it does, a little, but it’s the warm ache of growing pain.

Opening his eyes, he isn’t sure when he closed them, Aidan decides something else too. He clears his throat and pulls back, finding Nat’s eyes look as puffy as his feel. A smile breaks across his face and a small laugh escapes him. “I said you don’t need any protection, and well fire is different than lightning a bit but.” He straightens up, letting her hands go only to reach behind his neck and unclasp the necklace he’s worn there for nearly three decades.

It’s a small piece, a thin golden chain with an equal four point woven cross hanging from it. “Natalie Sewell, if you would accept it I would offer you this necklace. My father gave it to my mother, and my grandfather to my grandmother before him, to bring good luck and protection to the one who wears it.” The old words come naturally and are easily remembered from what his mother taught him when she gave him the necklace so long ago.

Nat’s mouth falls open with only a quiet gasp, her eyes falling from his to the necklace only to raise back again. “You’d give this to me?”

He can only nod. An unspoken everything.

A smile to match his own spreads across Nat’s lips. “I accept, Aidan.”

And this time, oh this time, the burning of his eyes is more than welcome. Nat leans forward and Aidan reaches out in the same moment neither one looking away. How could they? Aidan’s heart skips in his chest and she’s there in the circle of his arms and how was he ever afraid of being worth this? He can’t undo his choices but maybe, hopefully maybe, he’ll make fewer and fewer choices he’d even want to regret. And this could never be one of them.

Closing the clasp of the necklace Aidan smooths the chain over the back of Nat’s neck. Soft skin and cold metal. Breathes in the clean scent of the hospital soap to replace the one of burning flesh. Nat’s hand on the back of his head twists in his hair and for a second Aidan’s heart stops in his chest, her touch grounding him to now instead of then. She’s not going anywhere.

Thankfully tears can’t tarnish gold.

Even if Aidan doesn’t deserve her he’ll spend all the time they have together loving Nat. Earning her love, it isn’t his decision to make for her but if she chooses to love him Aidan will make it worth it for her, too. If he can’t protect her from harm he’ll stand by her while she recovers. He’ll stand with her, if she lets him. For however long he has.

Pulling back only far enough to rest his forehead to hers Aidan shuts his eyes. Wet eyelashes sticking to his cheeks. Nat’s hand drifts from his hair to his cheeks and she doesn’t say anything. She doesn’t have to, not with him.

He doesn’t kiss her but her breath ghosts across his lips and Aidan’s whole body trembles. Grounded only by the press of his forehead against Nat’s, their noses touching in a contact more intimate than any kiss Aidan could imagine. Her hand cups the side of his face holding him close and the unspoken ‘We’re here, we’re here, we’re here, together’ echoes between them. A quiet space of lips not yet ready to meet.

#good morning >:3 #twc #the wayhaven chronicles #n x detective #nat x detective #n sewell #hurt/comfort #romance #dragon age origins #aidan mac braoin

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rainydayhogwartsimagines · 4 years ago

Note

I think i have another request. Well i do i mean lol. It may be a little dark but the idea just came to me... y/n spending Christmas break with the Weasleys (because she is best friends with Ron or the twins?) at burrow because her family are not that pleasant to be around and treat her poorly.. y/n is self harming and no one knows til one day fred (her crush )finds out somehow some way and consoles her and they end up confessing their true feelings for each other?

I just want to say: if anyone needs to talk to someone I'm here. But if you want some sort of therapy or anything there is a app where you can talk it out called 7cupsoftea.

Suicide hotline:800-273-8255

text hotline: 741741

Love you all. You are loved, please know that.

Trigger warning: self harm, abuse

You spent a lot of time in the background. No one seemed to take notice of you, no one seemed to really notice if you were sick or not. Well. Except for Ginny. Ginny saw you. She actually noticed you and asked Fred and George, who were in your year to keep an eye out. She noticed you, talking to you from time to time and noticing you needed more friends. So who better than to go to than the boys who literally knows everyone including the portraits on the walls.

You seemed jumpy, always nearly dropping things when they appeared. But you appreciated the boys, checking on you and talking to you. George had a surprising lack of classes with you though compared to Fred. After a few... Pranks/possible murder plots? The teachers put Fred and George in only two classes together. So Fred had his with you, always sitting next to you and making sure you were good. He didn't really catch on to anything wrong. He just noticed the long sleeves and figured "so she's cold all the time". Ginny and Luna knew this wasn't the case though. They knew you, truly so. You hid the marks from your brothers and the self inflicted scars. You bared so much and they hated to see you tear yourself apart.

Ginny would always change the subject when your family came up in the great hall, Fred and George always being confused to why that happened. Fred was closer with you than George and knew something was up but didn't understand the extent of it. George could see his brother begin to slowly fall for you, him whispering funny little jokes to you making you smile or laugh. However the thing that everyone seemed to notice was the lack of light in your eyes when you showed positive emotion. You would smile, sure. But your eyes seemed dull and tired.

Fred would sometimes skip class with you, sitting under a tree and talk to you about life in general with his head in your lap. Today was one of those days, it being particularly colder but Fred was warm so you didn't mind. "Hey Y/n... What do you think about spending Christmas with us this year?" He asked. You blinked a couple of times. "Are you sure you have the room? I mean... Your family is massive Freddie." You asked. "We always have room. Plus don't you wanna spend the holidays with your fwiends?" He asked, playfully poking your cheek. You chuckled. "Okay... I'll let my parents know."

You felt a slight relief being able to leave hogwarts and it not being associated with going to your parents house. Molly greeted you with a hug and you seemed shocked to receive affection like that right off the bat. Fred noticed though, when Molly's hands slid from your shoulders to your hands you seemed to flinch ever so slightly at the touch. No one else seemed to notice so Fred kept it to himself. Ginny kept close to you, showing you things all throughout the house. Fred however soon whisked you off with George to go off and see the cooler things. The fields, the places they had to just sit and talk or the test area for a few of their pranking devices.

At night it seemed peaceful. But you had these terrible nightmares where you woke up sobbing and Ginny was always there, comforting you when you did. However tonight was just a silent wake up. Still, you didn't want to sleep in case you woke up again but louder. Ginny was still awake and she looked over. "You okay?" She asked. "Do you mind if I step out for a bit? Just need some fresh air." You asked. "Go ahead." She nodded. So you walked out, letting the cold air hit your face as you sat on the back steps of the house. You pulled back your sleeves and saw the scars, closing your eyes.

Six months clean... Yet the reminders were still there. You pulled them back down and sighed before you noticed someone sit down next to you. "Whatcha thinkin' about?" Fred asked, handing you a mug of hot cocoa. "....Do you ever just want to scream for hours to get out your emotions and be free of the weight on your chest?" You asked before taking a long sip of the cocoa. "...Not really. But we can literally just scream in a field out here if you really want?" Fred suggested.

That's exactly what you did, making sure that no one could hear you before you kicked a fence post and Fred rose a brow. "Any particular reason why you're upset?" He asked. You kept kicking it, harder and harder as you went. "Does trauma count as a reliable fucking answer?" You grunted before really kicking it hard. You were panting by the time you were done. "Y/n... Princess, what's up?" He asked. You shook your head. "I want to be happy, I should be happy. I am surrounded by people who care but I can't stop thinking about my God damn--" you kicked the post again. "Family!" You yelled. The pained expression on your face made Fred concerned. "Do you want to go home--" "That place will never be home." You said, catching your breath again. "Y/n... What's going on, what do you need?" He asked. You shook your head, your hair hiding your face so Fred couldn't see the tears, the angry tears falling. You kicked the post again, Fred finally pulling you back by your wrist making you yelp. He frowned and you looked into his eyes with this upset look. "Help me." You whimpered. He said nothing, letting go of your wrist and pulling you into a tight hug.

You told him everything. The abuse, the nightmares the inability to sleep, the crying, all of it. But you also told him you stopped hurting yourself because of Ginny and him. You stopped because you didn't want your friends to lose you in their lives because you grew attached and you didn't want to be a cause of sadness. Fred brought you back to the living room, both of you sitting on the couch and talking all night.

When Molly found you, you were asleep on Fred who was holding you close. She didn't wake you until much later but Fred was determined to have you stay at the burrow rather than go home. Christmas rolled around and Fred got you this necklace. It had a Demiguise engraved on it after he remembered you saying it was your favorite magical creature. You loved it and for the first time your friends saw you genuinely smile. Like your eyes lit up and everything. You got Fred a new broom, him smiling like crazy telling you that one day he was teaching you how to fly with him.

Ginny noticed the nightmares take a slow down. But when they did happen you asked for Fred and sure enough, he'd come in and lay with you. You two were closer, that was becoming very clear. Nights would come where you couldn't sleep, Ginny would tell him and you two would just play a card game and talk. He listened to you, giving you genuine advice before cracking a joke and making you genuinely laugh.

When you went back to school you were more talkative, you actually participated in events, Fred was proud of seeing you slowly come out of your shell. A day of skipping did come along, you sitting underneath the tree and playing with Fred's hair. "So... How are you... With everything?" He asked. "Almost a year clean." You said with a smile. He smiled, looking up at you from your lap and put a hand on your cheek. "I'm proud of you Y/n... Truly." He said. You looked down at him and smiled noticing a strange tension looking at him. "...Y/n..." He breathed looking at you. You swallowed and looked up, a blush slowly forming. Fred leaned up and cleared his throat. "Sooo. What's our next class?" Fred asked. "This was our last class of the day." You said with a chuckle. "Ohhh.. I really gotta start paying attention." He said making you laugh. "Dinner is going to start in a few minutes, want to go?" Fred asked you. "Mmm.. I don't think so. I wanna see the sunset on the lake." You said. Fred sat cross-legged in front of you. "Then I will too." He said. "Wha-- Fred what about--" "I want to stay here." He said simply.

You pulled a deck of cards out of your binder and he chuckled. "Go fish or Rummy?" You asked. "Hmmm. Let's go simple today and say go fish." He said. You two played two rounds before you looked over at the sunset. "That's so pretty." You said with a smile. Fred smiled looking at you. "It really is." He said as the pink skies seemed to bring out your eyes. You looked over and Fred swallowed. You loved this boy... Didn't you?

He felt himself lean forward and you soon felt his lips on yours before you cradled his cheek, pulling away for air and resting your forehead on his. "I-I'm sorry I just reacted and--" "Fred... Please tell me you're going to do that again." You whispered. He chuckled and held your hand that was still on his cheek. "Only if you want me to." He said softly. You nodded with a smile and he kissed you again, feeling his arms slowly slink around you, pulling you almost into his lap.

"Promise you'll never leave me?" You asked. "Never would dream of it Princess."

#fred weasley x reader #fred weasley x you #fred weasley

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iatethepomegranate · 3 years ago

Text

We are not alone in the dark with our demons, Chapter 16

In which Caleb buys a house in Rexxentrum with Beau and Yasha, becomes a professor, learns to be a person separate from the trauma that shaped his life for so long, and begins the arduous process of preventing what happened to him from happening to anyone else. It gets far more personal than even he could have anticipated.

Chapter summary: Jester accidentally strikes a nerve and makes amends, and Caleb receives an unexpected message that is both welcome and frightening.

Chapter notes: Chapter title is from La Vita by Beverly Glenn-Copeland

***

Chapter 16: And the body says "Remember you gotta breathe"

Caleb and Essek finally emerged for lunch, and the Nein (minus Beau and Yasha) broke into raucous applause as they stepped into the main chamber of the Chateau. The place was empty at this time, and Essek dropped his disguise. Yeza and Luc were, mercifully, not present. But Marion was.

“I will fireball this entire building and scatter your ashes in the sea,” Caleb said mildly, dragging Essek, cheeks plum-toned with a blush, to the two remaining seats at the Nein’s table.

“That’s a very cool line, Lebby,” said Veth. “You should save it for the bad guys.”

“These assholes are good practice,” Caleb replied.

Jester leaned over the table to grab Caleb’s hand, waggling her eyebrows. “Did you have a good time? You sounded really weird on the Sending. Omigod were you guys having sex?”

Essek was incapable of retaining his composure around the Nein, and the plum tone of his usual blush was turning redder by the second. “Shut up, Jester,” he said weakly.

Caleb stepped in before this got out of hand. “All right, that’s enough. We will accept your congratulations in the form of food, if you don’t mind.”

The conversation moved on, and the colour had faded from Essek’s cheeks by the time lunch arrived. Caleb wanted to scour the shops for all the paper and ink he could find before heading back to Rexxentrum. He would need to visit Felix tomorrow, and figure out whether his parents would let him go back to school. Essek was stretching his safety a bit to stay around Caleb for a little longer, with the intention of sticking around until they found Nico. They would need to think of a more permanent solution than disguise spells eventually. So they made plans to pick up all manner of random components that were easier to source in a port city than the Empire. Just in case inspiration struck and they needed a piece of sea glass or a really cool seashell for some reason.

The seashell was Jester’s idea. She dragged Caleb to the beach to find one, just the two of them. Caleb was fairly certain there were no spells that required seashells as a component, but he generally did not say no to Jester if he could help it.

“Hey, Cay-leb.” She had been holding his hand since they left the Chateau, and she swung it as they walked among the damp sand.

Ja?”

“Fjord and Mama said I made Essek really uncomfortable at lunch.” She had an eye out for shells, scanning their surroundings, but her mouth was downturned at the corners. “I’m sorry. I was trying to be, like, funny about it? Because I think I really freaked him out this morning.”

“Ja, you caught us at an… inopportune moment.” That was putting it mildly. Caleb had worked very hard to get Essek back in the mood after that, suspecting that it would have spiralled into a long-term problem if he’d let that ruin things. “Essek is a private person. He’s coming out of his shell a bit, but it needs to be on his terms. Thank you for not trying to touch him.”

“Yeah.” Jester stepped into the shallows and plucked a shell from the sand. “Ooh, this one’s pretty.” She tucked it into her pink haversack. “Should I apologise to Essek? I don’t know if he’ll want me to.”

“He will appreciate the attempt.”

“You sound like Fjord when he doesn’t like my ideas.”

Caleb snorted. “Your ideas are wonderful, Jester, and he knows that. They can simply have… unexpected consequences. An apology sounds good. Just don’t… ask for details of what you interrupted this morning.”

“Can I ask you?” A cheeky eyebrow quirk.

“Bathtub sex,” Caleb said flatly. Because if she heard it from him, at least she wouldn’t be bursting to know anymore, and that would make this whole thing easier.

“Ooh. Very sexy.”

Caleb busied himself looking for a shell while blood flowed to his face.

“You know Fjord and I tried that once? He slipped and broke his tailbone, so I had to take very good care of him.”

Caleb sighed, and resigned himself to the fact his blush would not die down any time soon. “You are a caring person, Jester.” Caleb, personally, did not mind her teasing or oversharing; it was a sign of their friendship.

“Thank you, Caleb! You know I was bullshitting you about the seashells, right?”

“Ja, I know.”

“Help me find a weird one so I can scare Fjord later.”

***

Caleb gave Jester the space to talk to Essek upon their return, this time to Veth’s place. He set up in the kitchen/dining room to sort through what he and Essek had found at the market. Luc practiced shooting old bottles behind the house under Veth’s supervision while Yeza worked in the lab. Kingsey was watching Caleb work, asking questions about all the components he had picked up.

As Caleb sorted, he found a quiet moment to send a quick message to Beauregard to inform her of their plans. “Hallo, Beauregard. Essek and I will return home tomorrow. Is everything all right? Can I get you anything?”

Beauregard’s reply was a little delayed, stretching the limits of the spell. “Uh, yeah. We’re cool. Um, Nico snuck in when Yasha and I were out. Ate some bread, took his stuff, left a thank you note.”

Caleb dropped the pouch of pearls he had been counting. Kingsley dropped to his knees to pick them up.

“Careful, Magic Man,” he said, passing the pouch back, holding onto Caleb’s hand. He pocketed one pearl with his free hand, but Caleb couldn’t bring himself to care. “Are you good?”

Caleb took a breath. “Ja. I think so.” He cast another Sending. “How long ago? Could he still be in Rexxentrum? What did the letter say? Have you told the Soul?”

“Breathe, dude. I told Yudala. Haven’t seen the letter yet. Yasha just told me about it. This was maybe three hours ago. Can’t be far.”

Nico was either in, or close to, Rexxentrum. He’d chosen to come back. He’d taken up Caleb’s offer to go to the house. He’d eaten. He had his spellbook. His coat and shoes.

“Hey.” Kingsley was still holding his hand. “Breathe.”

“Ja, I’m getting that a lot,” Caleb said faintly. He took a breath.

Kingsley guided him to the nearest chair, pushing him into it. “Sit. I’ll find your boy.”

As he left, Caleb said, “I know you take that pearl, by the way. You need practice.”

“Yeah, fuck you, too.”

In the few minutes Kingsley was away, Caleb set the pouch of pearls on the table, put his hands on his knees, and breathed. Willed himself to stay calm. This was good news. It didn’t need to panic him. Nico wasn’t talking, but he was listening. That was a good thing.

It was also a lot of pressure, now that getting him back genuinely seemed possible. He would wait until he knew the contents of that note before he did anything. Then, depending on what the letter said, another Sending was probably in order. To let him know that he was welcome back any time.

Kingsley came back with every member of the Nein who was still in Nicodranas, which did include the one he had been looking for, just not exclusively. Essek crouched in front of Caleb, a new shell necklace swinging from his neck that must have been an apology gift from Jester.

“Are you all right?” He took both of Caleb’s hands.

Caleb managed to smile, just a little bit. “I’m fine. It was good news.”

“What happened?” asked Veth.

“Nico has been to the house, while Beau and Yasha were out. He left a note.”

Jester butted in. “What did it say? What did it say?”

“I don’t know. Beauregard could only tell me what Yasha told her. She is still at work.” Caleb’s brain was whirling, not quite clicking as neatly as he would have liked. “I… may need to leave early.”

“Or you could send Yasha a message,” said Fjord. Thank the Wildmother for his voice of reason, because Caleb was apparently incapable of thinking clearly.

“The spell only lasts a moment. If she does not have the letter in front of her…”

“I’ll tell her you’re going to message her so she can find the letter,” said Jester. “Then you message her and she reads it for you.” She was casting the spell before Caleb had a chance to reply; Fjord scrambled to count her words. “Hey, Yasha! Caleb’s gonna ask you to read the letter to him. Can you grab it now? He’s, like, kinda freaking out about it. Bye!” She listened, while Caleb gave her a look that he hoped indicated both his gratitude and also his barely-there annoyance that she used up so many words just to tell Yasha he was panicking.

Veth latched onto Caleb’s arm, pressing her cheek against his bicep. Caduceus began to heat water for tea, his go-to whenever shit went down. Caleb felt a little ridiculous for reacting so strongly to something good, to the point that all his friends were doing damage control on him.

“Okay, Caleb,” said Jester. “Yasha’s gonna grab the letter and read it to you.”

“Danke. I will give her a moment.” Caleb tugged on Essek’s hands. “Get up before your knees give out, for fuck’s sake.”

Essek floated upward, sitting criss-cross applesauce in the air so he remained only slightly above Caleb’s eye level. “Better?” he said, entirely teasing him for fixating on random trivial bullshit. Not that Caleb thought the condition of Essek’s joints was trivial. But Essek probably did.

Caleb ignored the teasing; enough time had probably passed for Yasha to find the note. “Hallo, Yasha. If the note is twenty-five words or fewer, could you please read it to me? Otherwise, give me a summary. Danke.”

Yasha wasted no words. “Dear Caleb. In brackets: Bren, question mark? Thank you for the hospitality. Sincerely, N. That’s all it says. Beau told the Soul. Not Astrid, though.”

Another spell. “Thank you, Yasha. I’ll tell Astrid. I will be home tomorrow.”

“See you!”

The spell faded away. Caleb had two more Sendings to cast, and then he could process all of this.

“Astrid, it’s Bren.” Using his old name was never comfortable, but Astrid was one of the few people he allowed that privilege. “Nico took up my offer to visit the house. He ate and took his things. Three hours ago.”

“He will not be far,” Astrid replied. “I will adjust the search orders, but you and Felix remain our best options. Enjoy Nicodranas.”

Caleb let out a long breath. “Okay, one more spell.” He cast. “Hallo, Nico. I hear you visited my home today. I will return to Rexxentrum tomorrow. You are welcome any time.” He held his breath, waiting for a response, cursing the word economy of the spell for forcing him into somewhat stilted language. He hoped it was good enough.

This time, Nico answered. “Hallo… Caleb? I’m not… I don't want to talk. But thank you.” That was it.

And that was a lot. Caleb found himself slumped in his seat, one more knot in his gut finally unravelling.

“He spoke to you?” asked Essek.

“Briefly,” Caleb said, barely getting the word out through a lump in his throat.

“That’s very good,” Caduceus said quietly, preparing herbs for the teapot. “You’re doing a good job, Caleb.”

A weak laugh. “I’m trying.”

“Keep doing what you’re doing,” said Fjord.

“We’re all very proud of you,” Veth added. Caleb dragged her into a tight hug.

***

One last evening in Nicodranas. Caleb and Essek stayed with the Brenattos again, during which time Nugget blinked in for a visit. Covered in mud.

“We’ve stopped trying to tell him where he can and can’t go,” Yeza said tiredly as Jester cheerfully hosed the dog down with her control water spell. “As long as he doesn’t destroy the neighbour’s yard again, he seems fine.”

“At least he comes back,” Caleb said. “Beauregard is still bitter about Professor Thaddeus.”

Essek sighed deeply; he had been on the receiving end of far too many rants from Beauregard, even though he himself had never met the owl. “Do not speak his name. She will reach across time and space to yell about him.”

“Who the fuck is Professor Thaddeus?” asked Kingsley.

“Beau’s asshole pet owl,” Veth explained. “He abandoned us the first time we boarded a ship, which we accidentally stole, and she curses his name to this day.”

Kingsley, who knew everything there was to know about the Nein’s bullshit at sea, simply nodded. “That tracks.”

Caleb was at risk of overthinking everything going down in Rexxentrum again, so he transformed himself into a golden retriever as soon as Nugget was clean and chased the blink dog around the Brenattos’ small back garden. And then Luc chased both of them, mercifully without his crossbow because Yeza had preemptively confiscated it.

Once all three of them were exhausted, dog-Caleb collapsed in a heap in front of the couch, resting his chin on Jester’s knee while she used one hand to give him scritches and the other hand to give Nugget scritches on her other side. Luc draped himself over Caleb’s back and fell asleep.

When Caleb turned back at the end of the hour, the boy didn’t react, so he resigned himself to lying on the floor with his now-human head in Jester lap. She kept giving him head scritches anyway.

“I wish I was watching,” Jester whispered. “This would be a very cute picture.”

Essek, smirking, hovered to sit in front of the four of them, and produced an illusion replicating what he saw. Caleb hid his face in Jester’s skirt instead of looking at himself, because he would want to kiss Essek if he examined the way the man looked at him. And he was trapped by obligation beneath a sleeping child. You did not move for sleeping animals or children (or Beauregards), unless you absolutely had no choice (or Mollymauk dragged you away to examine magic shit, but that was covered under the no choice category).

“Aw, are you shy, Caleb?” Jester said. “Could someone get my--oh, thanks, Fjord.” A soft scratching of pencil on paper.

“Would you do me a favour, Jester?” asked Essek.

Caleb laughed against the fabric of Jester’s skirt; he was already doing her a favour with the illusion.

“I’ll do you all the favours, Essek! What do you need?”

“Could I have a copy of that, when you’re finished?”

“Of course! I’ll hide some extra dicks in yours.”

Essek sighed. “Thank you, Jester.”

Caleb fell asleep for a time. He woke up on the couch with a blanket and Nugget draped over him. The smell of something cooking was in the air; the spices were somewhat familiar but he couldn’t quite place them. Probably something local. He listened to the clattering of the kitchen for a while, sleepily scratching Nugget’s head, until he finally found the energy to open his eyes. He was dimly aware there were others in the room, but Essek drew his attention. And held it.

Essek hovered by the arm of the couch closest to Caleb’s head, making notes in one of his old Aeor field journals. Caleb let nostalgia wash over him; he remembered that book. It was one of the last before they had finally ended their weeks-long expedition and turned to face the rest of the world and all its complicated bullshit. Caleb had been popping in and out with risk teleports for supplies and Trent’s trial (and turning down the job offer from Ludinus). Getting away from it all and unravelling secrets with Essek had kept him sane through all of it.

It had taken them a while to speak plainly about their feelings for each other. Longer than the rest of the Nein probably knew. But, ultimately, the main difference before and after Aeor was the amount of physical touch they shared, and occasionally its nature. But only occasionally.

And some of those changes had happened before they spoke of it.

Essek, not looking up from the book, reached out to lay his arm on the couch, fingers barely making contact with Caleb’s hair. He lifted the book into the air and let it hover, continuing to make notes. Caleb knew enough about Essek’s floating cantrip at this point to know he could float and cast a concentration spell at the same time, at least when he wasn’t under duress. And Caleb still found that very cool. Or maybe Essek was just extending his floating cantrip to the book. Still cool, either way.

Jester was cackling softly, drawing his attention. She had her sketchbook out again and kept shooting glances in their direction with a cheeky raised eyebrow. Caleb, trapped beneath a sleeping dog, resigned himself to his fate as Jester’s model once again. She and the rest of the Nein were coming to Rexxentrum shortly for his speech (oh fuck he had a speech in mere days at the Academy), so there would be ample opportunity for her to get this out of her system.

Oh, who was he kidding? Jester would never get this out of her system and that was one of many reasons he loved her. And maybe he would pull her aside later and ask for copies of her sketches as well. Essek would have to leave eventually, and it would be nice to have something to look at in his absence. Even if Caleb’s memory was good enough to keep an image in his mind, he liked having tangible things to remember his loved ones by.

The loss of the letters still ached sometimes, even if he had needed to let them go. The quilt the Nein had bought for him helped when he was at home. Maybe he could collect happier memories now. Yasha used to press flowers in a book for Zuala, and he had a bare spot in his book holsters now. Both of them could use some happier momentos. Caleb had purchased a pair of nice leather-bound journals from a bookstore earlier today; maybe he would give one to Yasha and see what she did with it. It would feel less weird than doing this alone. And Yasha would understand the need for it.

At some point during Caleb’s mind journey, Essek had begun to stroke his hair. Caleb closed his eyes and tried to stay in the moment. Treasure it. He buried his fingers in Nugget’s fur. The dog huffed in his sleep.

Kingsley had evidently started watching Jester draw at some point and whispered advice for where she could hide dicks in the drawing. Fjord sighed but didn’t stop him. Caleb couldn’t hear Caduceus, Veth, Luc or Yeza in the immediate vicinity. Caduceus was probably helping with dinner, and maybe Luc had been tucked into bed upstairs. Or was off playing outside again.

A louder clatter of plates caught Nugget’s attention and he blinked away, earning startled yells from Veth and Caduceus in the kitchen. Caleb sat up and stretched. His spine cracked a bit; he was getting too old to sleep on floors and couches comfortably. He dug his thumbs into the back of his neck, working the stiffness out of the muscle.

“You get that too, huh?” said Fjord. Numerically, Fjord was a few years younger than him at most, and half-orcs aged a little quicker than humans. Functionally, they were probably close to the same age. It was hard to tell, given Fjord had started to go a bit grey on account of seeing some serious shit.

Caleb grumbled a bit, the edges of sleep clinging to his consciousness enough that he was still a bit cranky. “Sometimes I forget I’m thirty-fucking-four.”

“Don’t you remember everything?” asked Kingsley.

“Ah.” He chuckled ruefully. “Not quite.” He did not bring up the fact he had only spent twenty-three of his years with the expected level of awareness for his age (more awareness, actually, in the case of his toddlerhood). Eleven years of little-to-no memory continued to fuck with his head, even years after the fact.

Even without saying it, he had managed to bring down the mood of the room. He was good at that. Jester had even stopped sketching. She had lost five years of her own, but at least she knew where they had gone. Not that Caleb would ever say that to her; it would sound crueller than he meant. And he knew she wasn’t sombre for her own sake, but for his, because she knew why Caleb was missing eleven years. And she was the kind of loving person who would freak out when she found out stepping on grass hurt it (because she had found that out). Even Kingsley caught the drop in the mood; Caleb wasn’t sure exactly how much he knew of Caleb’s experiences, but he did know bits and pieces. Which bits and pieces, however, was unclear.

Then Fjord stretched his arms upwards, a dull crack in his shoulders. “There we go. Can’t let you have all the fun, Caleb.”

Essek grimaced. “Agh, will you two stop that?”

Jester laughed, a little wetter than Caleb would have liked. “We should start a grumpy old people club. Essek isn’t invited because he’s, like, a toddler in elf years.”

“I beg your pardon!”

“He will sulk if we keep him out,” said Caleb. “Very childish behaviour, I know, but you know the fair folk are basically children until they’re five hundred.”

“Please! I am most definitely an adult.”

“Barely.”

Essek scowled at him, because Caleb was technically right. Essek had been an adult for about twenty years. For an elf? That was barely anything.

“And Jester, I’m sorry, but you are not eligible either. You are neither old nor grumpy.”

“But I gave away five years!”

“I lost eleven and have moderate joint pain,” Caleb replied mildly. “I even found a grey hair the other day.”

“Ooh, where was it?” Jester set her sketchbook aside, propping her chin up on hands braced on her knees. “In your dick hair?” Fjord coughed suspiciously like he had found his own fair share of grey hairs in that region himself.

“Ja, actually. Not where I had expected to find one, but here we are.” It wasn’t Caleb’s first grey hair; he’d found a few here and there before. But that one had been rather memorable.

Kingsley’s tail swished around the way it did when he was thinking something probably not appropriate for polite company. “Oh? How’d you find it?”

Essek sighed and opened his field journal. He was awful at lying to friends. Made sense, since he’d never needed that skill until a few months ago.

“Oh, Essek found it,” Caleb said, because the game was up anyway.

Kingsley smirked. “I thought so.” He didn’t push further; Kingsley was actually quite good at poking boundaries without breaking them. Most of the time. By now, he knew Caleb was very open to teasing of a sexual nature while Essek’s threshold was much lower. Jester, still chastened after whatever Fjord and her mother had said to her about making Essek uncomfortable, snickered a bit but said something.

Caduceus emerged to gather everyone for dinner.

#shadowgast #caleb widogast #essek thelyss #critical role #cr2 #fanfiction #my fics #the pomegranate's professor widogast fic

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nerdypanda3126 · 4 years ago

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A Pink Ribbon and a Leather Cuff

I swear this started as a sprint fic and after my first 15 minutes were up I just... kept going...

The rules are three 15-minute sprints with 24 hours for light editing, which includes new writing to smooth transitions or make it feel complete.

Except of course on this one, I did one sprint that morphed into an entire writing session... oops!

Prompt: "My soul chose yours. And a soul doesn't just forget that."

Read on Ao3

In her Dream, Marinette walked through an endless room filled with innumerable objects. Everywhere she looked there was something different. She wandered through, searching—or more accurately, her soul was searching. For what, it was impossible to guess. Whichever object called out to her, whichever one she chose, would be imprinted on her wrist for the rest of her life. Just like everyone else who had the Dream on their sixteenth birthday.

She stopped to touch a silver necklace with a neon green paw print. It warmed under her fingertips, but it wasn’t what she was looking for. She let her fingers trail over the piles of objects beside her. A pair of headphones, a pencil, a unicorn mobile, a pair of glasses, a mirror— everything seemingly random but connected to someone she knew. Or maybe didn’t know yet. Nothing was jumping out to her. She’d heard of this happening. There was always a little fear. Maybe there isn’t someone out there. Maybe none of these objects are mine. She let the worry float over her and kept going.

A bright flash caught her eye and she turned her head to look for it. It was on her left, and the closer she got to it the brighter it started to glow. Hesitantly, she reached out to touch it, expecting it to burn, but it was cool to her touch and still glowing like the northern star. She clutched it to her chest and felt wakefulness rush back to her. This was it. This was hers. The one her soul had chosen.

When she woke up, Marinette instantly stared down at her wrist to get her first glimpse of the object she’d chosen in her Dream. She squinted down at it, unsure at first what she was looking at. It was a tube of some sort, with writing on it. Like a paint tube or… she glanced over to her vanity where her makeup lay waiting for her. Or a tube of foundation. She groaned and flopped back on her pillows.

“What am I supposed to do with this?” She lamented to her mom once she’d gone downstairs. “It makes no sense!”

“Well, sweetie, it usually doesn’t at first.” Her mom sat and pulled her sleeve up to expose her wrist, showing Marinette the bag of rice flour that was replicated on her skin. “When I first got this, I had no idea what it meant. But as soon as I walked into your father’s shop and saw him with this bag of flour on his station, I knew.” She smiled fondly at the memory before she reached out to take Marinette’s wrist. “When the timing is right, you’ll know, too.”

***

It had been three years since Marinette first got her mark and it was still just as meaningless as the morning she’d woken up with it. Her parents had both told her so many times it was better not to look, to let it find you, but she couldn’t help it. She frequented makeup stores, but none of them carried the brand that was on her wrist or had even heard of it. No one she knew used it, either. Most likely it was something that wasn’t on the market, yet. Which made her obscure and useless clue even more obscure and useless.

She started going on blind dates instead, hoping to find someone that she could be happy with. Alya had made that decision and she seemed perfectly fine. Nino wasn’t her soulmate, and she wasn’t his, but they were in love, and Alya insisted that was what mattered.

Marinette started keeping a wide pink ribbon tied around her wrist and tried not to think about it too much. After all, that’s what her mom kept telling her. But patience was not Marinette’s strong suit. And her mark was always in the back of her mind, no matter how hard she tried to forget about it. Somewhere out there was someone she was meant to be with. And all her blind dates ended the same way.

“I’m sorry. You’re not the one.”

***

“You did what?” Marinette snatched Alya’s wrist to look at the brand new ‘soulmate tattoo’ she sported.

“Had it changed. Nino did, too.” Alya was gleaming with pride, even more than the sparkling diamond on her left hand.

Marinette dropped Alya’s wrist and fidgeted with her ribbon to adjust it, covering the edges of her mark that had started peeking out. “I didn’t know you could do that.”

“Well, not officially, but this tattoo artist is amazing. You can’t even see that awful thing anymore, look!” She traced the old outline of the broken rocking horse she’d had since she was sixteen, carefully covered by a dark green tortoise shell.

“Yeah. It’s great, Alya.” Marinette tried to smile and be happy for Alya. But the concept of changing your mark had never occurred to her. What would she even change it to, if she could?

“He said he does coverups for single people, too, M.” Alya’s eyes flicked to Marinette’s wrist, to the ribbon she always kept tied around her enigmatic mark so she didn’t have to worry about it. “He said he could make it something that actually has meaning for you instead. Maybe you could get those flowers you always use in your designs?”

“Covering it up doesn’t change the fact that it’s still there,” Marinette mumbled.

“No, but it does prevent you from shooting down anyone who doesn’t fit the bill.”

“I don’t mean to! It just—”

“I know.” Alya squeezed Marinette’s hand reassuringly. “Not everyone is like me and Nino. I know you want to find them. Just… promise me you’ll think about going to talk to him at least? He’s a nice guy, and he understands that sometimes choice is more important than fate.”

***

The bell to the tattoo artist’s shop jingled quietly as Marinette opened the door. The smell of antiseptic greeted her and made her nose wrinkle. There was artwork hung at regular intervals throughout the room—samples, Marinette guessed, of the artist’s work. And in between the framed pieces were polaroids tacked up with push pins of people proudly displaying their new tattoos. Mostly couples, Marinette noticed, holding up their wrists and smiling. Alya and Nino were probably on that wall somewhere.

“Be right there!” A voice called from somewhere in the back.

She wandered up to the counter and flipped through a book of pricing and common images while she waited. The Chinese characters offered had been well-researched and it made her feel a little better about talking to this guy—Luka, she remembered Alya had said. His name was Luka.

“Sorry about that,” Luka said as he appeared. He was tall and lanky, with a shock of black hair dyed electric blue at the ends and gauges she could fit her pinky through. For a tattoo artist, he was suspiciously void of tattoos, and she noticed instantly that he had a wide leather cuff on his right wrist. Her nose wrinkled again as a fresh waft of rubbing alcohol hit her. “Just cleaning up. What can I help you with?”

He leaned against the counter easily, as if she were an old friend, and focused not on her face, but on the book she was looking at. Or maybe on the pink ribbon tied around her wrist. She pulled her hand away self-consciously.

“My friend, Alya, she wanted me to… well, you see, I haven’t figured out my mark and it—well, it’s stupid, really, but Alya said that you might, well—not that you might, but that you mentioned you could…” she trailed off and tugged at the knot.

He nodded as if he understood. “Alya, yeah. I remember her. And Nino. She said she might be sending someone my way. Wait right there.” He tapped his fingers rhythmically on the counter and gave her a kind smile before he turned and walked back to the back. She heard him rifling through something and he returned relatively quickly with a few small tubes in his hands.

“Now, before I do any coverups, especially for marks, I always recommend…” he eyed her forearm then switched through a couple, setting them down beside him as he seemed to rule them out. He seemed to settle on one and offered it to her. “I always recommend covering it up with this for a while first. Less permanent, and if you decide you want it after all, then no harm done.”

With trembling fingers, she took the tube of foundation he was offering her.

“This stuff—” he tapped on it while she held it— “it’s amazing. They use it in Hollywood all the time. For actors, you know? You won’t even know it’s there.” He smiled at her again and started picking the other bottles back up.

She stared at it in her hands. She knew that tube of foundation. It was the same brand—the same color even—that she’d been staring at for three years. Looking for, for three years. It hadn’t even occurred to her that it might’ve been something specifically used to cover tattoos. Her eyes snapped back up to Luka and to the leather cuff on his wrist. Luka believed in choice, Alya had said. Should she even tell him?

“If after a week or so you still want it gone, come back and see me,” he said. He flashed her a brilliant smile and she was too stunned to even form a word of thanks in return. She left the shop still staring at it. When she finally came to, she had found her way to Alya’s door.

***

“But this is good news,” Alya said as she tossed the foundation back to Marinette. “Why wouldn’t you tell him?”

“I don’t know! I… I blanked. I was just… surprised? I guess?” Marinette pouted down at what was undeniably her object. “Three years of wondering, and it’s as simple as that. He just hands it to me and walks away.”

“I wonder what his mark is,” Alya mused aloud. “He was pretty quiet while we were there, just kinda listened while we talked and smiled as he worked.”

“He’s probably changed it already.”

Alya shook her head. “I don’t think so. He said he thought people should be able to choose, not that he personally wanted to.” She shrugged. “Besides, I don’t know why it’s such a bad thing. Maybe you could get to know each other as people before dropping the big ‘soulmate’ bomb.”

Marinette paused to consider. It wasn’t a bad idea, not really, to get to know someone first. She pulled the ribbon away from her mark to look at it. Now that she had the object in her hands, the mark itself seemed more devoid of meaning than she expected it to. Her mom always smiled whenever she looked at hers, as if remembering something special. But Marinette was still waiting for the realization to catch up to her.

“It’s not a bad thing,” she said decisively. She uncapped the tube and smeared a little of the makeup across her forearm. Luka hadn’t been lying; her mark disappeared in seconds and she was staring at a blank expanse of skin. It made her feel giddy—free, even. “And he did say that he wanted me to be sure.”

***

A week later, she was wrinkling her nose again as she opened the door to Luka’s shop. She had ditched her ribbon in favor of the foundation. Luka glanced up from the tattoo he was working on and smiled when he saw her before his head dipped back over his work. The angry buzz of the machine prevented much conversation, anyways. She chose to walk around the room instead and look at the artwork he had framed.

He liked flowers, she noticed. They showed up a lot in almost every large tattoo he had pictured. The polaroids were her favorite, though. She liked looking at the different objects, the before and afters, and the absolute change in the people pictured. How they held themselves differently, their shoulders up higher and their smiles brighter. Luka was even in a few of them, his arm thrown affectionately around the people he had helped.

“You’re back,” he said, and his low voice in her ear made her jump. He leaned back, chuckling, and put his hands up. “Sorry, I’ve been told I have a tendency to sneak up on people.” He pointed to her wrist and raised his eyebrows. “Shall we take a look?”

She nodded and her heart started pounding in her throat when he placed his hand on her back just under her shoulder blades to guide her over to a low table and couch off to the side.

“All right, so I’ll need to see it first before we can talk about changing it into anything.” He pulled open a drawer and set out a pen and a pad of paper before he grabbed what looked like a package of baby wipes. When he caught her watching him, he shrugged. “You’re not the first to come in with it on.” He gestured for her to hold out her arm and wiped gently at her wrist.

She held her breath as the lines of her mark started to appear. Not that he would recognize it. Would he? Maybe he would—it was his suggestion and he’d put it in her hand. As he continued wiping, she tried to watch him for any hint of recognition, but his hair was falling over his eyes and hiding his face from her.

Finally, he stopped and looked at her uncovered mark. His eyes came back up to meet hers. He understood. He knew. She bit her lip and waited for him to say something.

“I don’t think I got your name before,” he murmured. His thumb rubbed against her wrist gently in what seemed like an unconscious movement.

“It’s Marinette.”

“Marinette.” His breath came out in a shallow laugh and he leaned back and covered his eyes with his hand. “Marinette,” he repeated, more to himself than to her. He shook his head and started to undo his leather cuff. “All this time I thought…” he laughed and shook his head again. He rubbed at the skin of his wrist once it was uncovered before he looked down at it incredulously. She resisted the urge to peek, even though her heart was fluttering in her chest. Something had clicked into place for him, too. That had to mean—

He glanced up at her before he bared the inside of his right wrist. His mark was stark against the skin that was pale from being hidden for so long. It was a simple puppet, held up by strings connected to a cross at the top.

“It’s a marionette,” he said with a breathless laugh. “I looked it up.”

She touched her fingertips to it lightly.

“I always thought it was something you saw, not something you heard for the first time.” He was grinning again, that same bright smile. “Marinette.” Her name rolled off his tongue, only off by a syllable.

He sighed deeply and sat back up to pick up his pen and lean over his notepad. "Okay. So what were you thinking on the design for this?"

She blinked back at him. "You still want to change it for me?"

"It's your choice." He smirked sideways at her.

"You never changed yours."

"Well, that was my choice."

She reached over to fidget with her ribbon before she realized it wasn't there. Her hand dropped back into her lap limply. When she glanced over at him he was watching her out of the corner of his eye.

"Why didn't you change it?" she asked.

"Because…" he grabbed his leather cuff from where he had dropped it and offered it to her. Shyly, she held her wrist out for him. He wrapped the cuff around her wrist before he glanced up at her again. "I am a hopeless romantic, and I like the idea that someone…" he smiled as he snapped the clasp shut. "Someone out there chose me and I chose them."

He lingered before he let her hand go.

"Looks good on you." He turned back around and she caught a pink tinge to his cheeks as he cleared his throat. "Um, but that really only works if that someone chooses me, too. And I don't think it should be because of a mark, or a sign, or fate, but because they want to be with me. So, if you want to change yours, then I think you should change it."

He tapped his pen on his paper nervously and kept his eyes down. She looked at his cuff on her wrist and smiled.

"I like this," she said quietly. He looked up and caught her eye. She gulped before she continued. "Do you think I could maybe… hang onto it? Just while I decide, you know on the… on the change?"

His lips quirked up into a smile. "Yeah, sure."

"And do you think we could maybe meet for coffee? Just, you know, whenever… to talk about it?"

His pen stilled on the paper and he turned to look at her, his eyes soft and his smile widening by the second. "I'd like that."

#miraculous ladybug #mlb fic #ml fic #lukanette #marinette dupain cheng #luka couffaine #soulmate au #panda sprints

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