#i got out before the EVEN BIGGER SNOW arrived

[foxsoulcourt]

If you're going on a solo adventure during a record (!) snowfall, it ReaLLy helps to be friends with a kind, helpful Q-kind of person

Dear @ato-the-bean, tHaNk YoU for your recommendations (beforehand), considerable mentoring (in the park) + downright hand holding through my non-MI6 issued phone (during the drive out). Without your extraordinarily calm Q-level-assistance I shudder thinking how the Yosemite leg of this adventure would have unfolded, especially the leaving part. Thx to your top notch research skills, I got out of the park before it closed for days to sleep soundly (!) in a beautiful room (!) with a belly full of delicious food + wine. A week later, my family + I are still singing your praises(!). 💜

[hyunjinsjeans]

He knows (Lee Know ver.)

Chan ver. | Changbin ver. | Hyunjin ver.

MASTERLIST

Synopsis: You married your best friend. You knew each other like the back of your hands. Lately, he has noticed you're holding back on him, why is that? He couldn’t know! You haven't told him, have you?

Type: Fluff 🧸, suggestive themes (sexually explicit) 🙈, female reader 💃

Warnings: sexually explicit themes, mentions of pregnancy

Word count: 2347

AN: Listen...I- had to do this. I had to do this and it had to be somewhat smutty because it's Lee Menace-to-society Know. I hope you like it because I plan to do a version for each member. I'm not sure what came over me, but I'm having a lot of fun writing these so I might as well share.

Minho was mean sometimes. He could be cold if he wanted to, but he usually saved that for whenever he was annoyed or you pushed his buttons too freely. Even as he showed you that side of himself there was always more reservation with it when it came to you. It was something the boys noticed early on in your relationship, when you had joined Hyunjin in making fun of a little sound your then-boyfriend let out at the first sip of his morning coffee. While you got a dirty look and had his nose pretty much pressed against yours as he threatened to help you quiet down, Hyunjin received a firm shoulder grab and got a handful of tissues shoved into his mouth.

This is why you felt so bewildered at his actions when you arrived at the camping site and he was extra nice.

While he usually let you do things on your own, trusting you were a fully functional individual... he did not even try to take the lead and ask you to start unloading the car. Instead, he grabbed the things from the trunk and began setting everything down near the spot you had chosen for the tent.

You pulled the zipper of your jacket up on your chin and waited for at least one simple call for help from your husband. When you realized he would not attempt to hand you any of the bags you went to the pile of stuff to start setting up the tent.

You had wondered the night before if maybe it was not the best time of the year to come out here and have a weekend away from the city, seeing as snow began painting the streets white, but you two loved camping and the serenity that being in the woods brought to you. With jobs of your own it was difficult to find the time to pack up and leave for even a day. The truth was you two didn't have much time to dedicate to your favorite hobby. Once you started setting up, you were careful not to slip on the snow around you. Minho hurried to your side once the car was unloaded, smiling at each other you handed him some of the bigger pieces of metal that formed the large frame and working together the tent was up in no time.

"Hmm, it's going to be quiet out here tonight," you told him once you started gathering the things to set up the portable stove.

Minho nodded, reaching out to hold you and stop you from moving a finger. Your husband wrapped his arms around your waist and stood behind you, his eyes closed and he sighed in relief.

He could smell the subtle coconut scent from your shampoo on your hair when he placed his chin on your shoulder. A fresh scent reminiscent of flowers emanating from your neck from your favorite perfume. The combination smelled like home to your husband.

He loved to have you all to himself, even if it was only when work allowed it. You had your own job and he tried not to stand on your way and be supportive the way you were supportive of him. As soon as he knew he would have some free time he would let you know so you two could coordinate and stay home together. Minho had felt the weight be lifted off his shoulders the first time you tagged along to an event. That was when the penny dropped for him, he was most relaxed when you were there with him. The kids told him too once they returned from the trip and it became clear you were a fundamental part of his life. There was no going back.

He wouldn’t say it out loud, but he loved to monopolize your time. As much as you would give him space to do his job and talk to his fans through lives and events, he always came home to sit next to you and put his head in your lap while the cats cuddled around the two. He liked cooking for you at night whenever he was home first, and if you made dinner it was a done deal that he would do the dishes while you helped him dry them and put them away while telling him all the latest office gossip. To Lee Know you were home.

So yes, he was guilty of being selfish when it came to sharing you, he knew that. He was the jealous type, the only forgiveness he had was for his members and your families.

He was aware he would have to share you someday, he let his nose rub against your neck as he thought about it.

"I'm not so sure about that..." he snuck his hands to your sides and as his chin rested on your shoulder he tickled you.

Your laughter filled the air in a moment and you struggled to regain composure in his grasp while all he did was smirk against your skin.

"Minho! Please!" You reached for his hands and grabbed them, his relenting movements allowing it.

If he had to share you with anyone, who better than your own children?

"Oh, you love it…" He watched how you intertwined your hands with his, making him hold you again, and now you pressed your back to his chest. "comfortable?"

You nodded with a childish hint of joy in your eyes.

"It's been so long since we came out here," you pointed out. "when was the last time we went camping?"

Minho put his chin on top of your head, "before the wedding."

You hummed.

It had been more than a year then, you sighed and pulled away to go find the bags with the things to make dinner. Minho all but ran to get the heavier things out of your hands, mumbling an "I got it" before he started setting up. You helped him with as much patience as you could gather, then once the two of you began prepping the ingredients for a quick ramyon you laughed talking to each other about the going on's at work.

He liked to hear everything from you, you could recite a weather report and he would be mesmerized. And you loved to hear him too, always waiting for him to be ready to speak, he was eloquent in great part because he was honest, although sometimes he could sound mean if he spoke too quickly.

Either of you was the kind to beat around the bushes, which is why he had been so curious the last couple of days.

As the group finished preparing for their upcoming comeback, Lee Know realized you were acting weird... He saw the little envelope on the coffee table just a few days ago. It was some test you had done at the doctor's office, and he did not mean to snoop. It was lying there, in plain sight, and he did not think much of it as he pulled the papers out and read through them. At first, he thought he was not able to understand its contents, then he saw the doctor's handwriting and the quite specific instructions at the bottom of the last page.

Why didn't he ask? It had something to do with the way you hid the envelope as soon as you had a chance. And the fact that you never mentioned your visit to the doctor, or that you had blood drawn. Your husband wasn't happy you were hiding things from him, but he respected your privacy. So he told himself he would give you time to bring it up on your own.

By the time you were done eating dinner, he considered enough time had passed and you had said nothing.

You cleaned up while singing a silly version of one of your favorite songs. Lee Know kept his voice down to enjoy your playful and chaotic performance, it brought a big smile to his face watching you dance around the small camp.

The two of you decided to call it a night and get into your warm tent. Your husband let you get under the covers first and then crawled beside you, pulling you against his side. You made sure the fluffy blanket covered him well while you put your head on his shoulder, your left leg perched over his waist.

“Y/N?” He whispered.

He did not want to sound harsh, on the contrary; he wanted to be smooth as he eased into the topic.

You brought your left hand over his stomach. "Hm?"

Minho was staring at you with a side smirk on his face, one that made it seem like he knew something you did not. And he kind of did this time.

"You know you can tell me anything, right?" He squeezed your thigh and you nodded in response, swallowing.

"You can tell me anything too," you reassured him.

Cute, he thought. It wasn't him who had something to say.

He brought his hand to your face, cupping your cheek while his thumb caressed your skin.

"I missed this," he said.

You pushed yourself a little to the side and let your lips touch his in a short chaste kiss. With your eyes closed you kissed his plush lips a second time, this time his hand fell down to your jaw and neck, pulling you down against his hungrier kiss.

Your heartbeat quickened as you reciprocated. Your hands and knees found the plush covers and you held yourself above him, letting his tongue past your lips as he deepened the kiss. His hands found the hem of your shirt and hid underneath it, fingers squeezing your hips. You shifted your weight onto one of your hands and pulled away briefly to grab your hair and push it onto your left shoulder. Lee Know’s lips followed your own and he was propped up on one of his elbows soon enough, lips against yours.

You went to put a hand on his chest, to push him onto his back again, but he grabbed your leg and in a swift motion he had you flipped onto your back, his body now slotted between your legs as he laid kisses down your neck, finding the sensitive spot near your right ear. He gave a light nibble and heard you gasp. Your body reacted too, hips rolling against his in search of some friction.

Your husband gave in to his less noble needs and rolled his hips against you as well, this time you let out a moan at the sensation. Your hands finding his back and pulling him closer to you.

“What do you want?” He whispered in your ear. “Tell me what you want and I’ll give it to you.”

You put your hand on the back of his neck as he continued to kiss and suck on your neck.

“You,” it came out as a shaky breath, but Lee know was being generous and he let it go.

“Me?” He smiled against your skin, feeling the way you pushed your body against his. “Hmmm, do you think we can do that?”

He rolled his hips against yours, his obvious boner pressed against your clothed core. Another moan left your lips and you went to cup his cheek and kiss his lips again. Lee know kissed you back, something in him found you endearing at that moment. You were clinging to him, he was sure he could make you beg but he didn’t want to. Not tonight at least. He had different plans.

“We can,” you assured him, eyes finding his brown ones above you.

He smiled at your blown out pupils, lust evident in them.

“Well, what did the doctor say about that?” He brushed his nose against your nose in what was a rare moment of tenderness from your usually quite rough husband. “I wouldn’t want to hurt my wife,” he gave your lips a gentle peck. “Or my baby…”

Your eyes widened and a pink blush washed over your cheeks.

“How do you know?!” You put a hand on his chest to push him back a little.

You stared at each other and Lee Know let out a light giggle.

“Take a guess, Jagi”

You blinked, "you found my results?"

Minho shrugged, "they were on the coffee table."

The two of you stared at each other in silence for a good five seconds.

"A-are you mad?" You asked, lowering your voice to an almost inaudible whisper.

Minho lowered his voice and shook his head.

"Not at all, why would I be?" he kissed your nose.

In fact he was a little proud of himself, proud of you. Deep inside he was excited about the prospect of showing off your round belly and have everyone know you were having his baby.

"…because we didn't plan it," you admitted.

He understood then that the reason why you had kept it secret was in part fear of how he would take it. Oh, if only you knew…

“Babe, I don’t care.” He said simply, “it’s here, it’s happening. We’re doing this.”

“I’m sorry, I forgot to take my pill a few times while we were in New York an-“ you began explaining.

“Shhh,” he rolled his eyes, a smirk on his face, “it’s okay, you don’t have to explain. I know, I was there and I didn’t bring a condom so it’s not like we can blame each other. It’s fine. I saw the papers. All I’m worried about is that you are okay.”

“I am okay,” you gave him a small smile, pushing his hair out of his eyes as he sighed. “The doctor said the baby is fine too.”

“Hmm,” he nodded in content, leaning down to brush his lips against yours slowly.

You breathed in his scent, strong like pinewood and citrusy. Your lips followed his and you let his tongue enter your mouth, savoring each other in the silence of a quiet night away from the busy city.

————

Likes, Reblogs and Comments are welcome! Thank you for reading!

[poke-me-with-a-stick]

Can I ask for more Penguin Danny?

Your wish is my command.

Honestly, I've had this one snippet stuck in my head for a while, so thank you for the excuse to write it ✨

--

Danny sat huddled with a few of the smaller penguins, relaxing into their warm feathers as much as he could as he took in the situation developing before him.

About two months ago, a group of scientists geared up for the harsh cold had arrived in the Arctic. They had taken up residence in the frigid metal building Danny had spent some time in when he first got here, bringing life and warmth to their base that hadn't been there when the teen needed it.

At first, they kept to themselves. Taking water samples from the snow and ice pools that covered the territory. But it was only a week later that they moved on to examining the colony that had taken Danny in. They would pull a penguin or two away from the group, giving them fish and krill while they measured the small creatures and attached a monitor to the animal's sleek feathers, releasing them back to the group to loudly squawk their tales to the rest of the birds.

Eventually, they made their way inwards, away from the penguin hunting hunting grounds and towards their nests. It was then that they saw Danny for the first time.

It had been funny, at first. The coat clad researchers had frozen, before chatting frantically. With how long Danny had spent hiding out in the cold, he wasn't surprised that it took a while to understand what they were saying. It did filter in, though, the longer they hung around. Words that he knew, but didn't make a lot of sense in the limited context he had. Stuff like "baby" and "different" were obvious, especially when they gestured at him as they spoke. But other words, like, "unusually large", and "dangerous" confused him.

Was he a bit bigger than the birds around him? Yes, yes he was. But he didn't think he was unusually large for the species he was supposed to be. Then again, it's not like he had ever actually seen a baby emperor penguin before, so he had no real life reference. But they were big birds! Surely that meant they had big babies? And even if he was bigger than he was supposed to be, how was anything about this situation was 'dangerous'?

It didn't help his opinion of the researchers when they tried to move him away from the flock. Trails of treats were fine and dandy at first, and easily ignored by the teen seeing as he didn't need the same amount of food as an actual baby penguin of his size (perks of being able to feed on ambient ectoplasm). When he didn't seem inclined to follow the trail like some of the others, who had all come back squawking about the researchers manhandling them again, they tried a more straightforward approach.

The teen would never forget the day those puffy coats pushed gently through the throng of black and white bodies until they boxed him in on all sides. His panicked squeaky screeches had immediately attracted the attention of the birds, and those pesky puffy coats had some nice tears in them for the troubles they caused. After that, the researchers found themselves being chased by the entire colony if they came to close, angry screeches drowning out their own panicked yells and occasional yells of pain when a beak managed to find purchase.

As much as he appreciated the colonies fierce protection, the teen should have known that it would draw attention. Those researchers were out here for a reason, probably some sort of documentary on the wildlife that thrived in colder environments. Maybe something about endangered species or global warming. Whatever it was, it had them hanging around, taking pictures and writing in journals.

It should have been more obvious to him that something was bound to happen. Pictures, even when he looked normal to the mortal eye, could easily reveal a different truth. It didn't take long for pristine white coats to appear, scouting the area with ecto-trackers in hand a blasters holstered at their sides.

The confrontation a full month after the researchers arrived was a bit surprising, and it took everything in Danny's new fuzzy body to stop from launching himself at the men in black rip offs when they leveled their blasters at the colorful puff coats.

The puff coats were sturdier people than he thought, though. Instead of backing off, like anyone else would do, they argued. Blocking the easier paths to the nesting grounds, tampering with their equipment while they were distracted with whatever ecto readings they were getting, even resorting to throwing things when the came too close to trampling one penguin Danny had affectionately dubbed 'Steve'.

And now here Danny was. Cozied up with a decent group of mother penguins and their babies while the fathers took their turn to hunt. Watching as the guys in white ran around screaming. The cause of their screams? The child with a sword that was chasing them.

At this point in his (after)life, Danny shouldn't be surprised by anything. And yet, surprising things continued to occur. Maybe he should ask someone if he was cursed or something.

The penguins around him shifted, letting out warbles and startled peeps as they resettled. Danny shook himself, pulling his attention away from the potential murder occuring in front of him to look at the source of his new friend's unrest. And was once again reminded to not be surprised by the surprising things that occured around him.

The half Kryptonian child that sat next to him gave the teen a smile and a gentle pat before turning his attention to where his friend continued to swing his katana, catching one of the scanners and a bit of an agents hand with the wickedly sharp blade. The kid next to Danny winced and cupped his hands over his mouth. "Robin! Remember what Nightwing told you before we left!"

The sword wielding child tisked loudly, the sound muffled slightly by the snow that was beginning to fall, but resumed his fighting with a little more effort in not hitting the agents with his blade. The handle of his sword, however, was used just as effectively. The Kryptonian kid sighed, but didn't call out again, instead reaching out to pet some of Danny's fuzzy brown down feathers.

This was fine, Danny decided. It wouldn't be fine forever, but for now it was. And whatever came after this, he could always try throwing vicious penguins at it. It worked well enough the first time.

[hongism]

SWEET JUICE - s.mingi (18+)

➼ genre; fantasy, smut ➼ pairing; mingi x fem!reader ➼ au; strangers to lovers, magic au, witches/warlocks au ➼ warnings; explicit smut ➼ rating; m/18+ ➼ wc; 10.7k

the new apothecary in your small village is harboring a dark secret, you're certain of it, if only because he bears a starkly familiar crest on his shop sign - one that denotes the presence of magic.

part of the ...and it's snowing collab.

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➼ smut warnings; sex toys, unprotected sex, comeshots, begging, fingering, multiple orgasms, size kink, hand kink, mention of belly bulging, dacryphilia

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Normally, you aren’t one to be so deeply entrenched in the petty gossip going around town, especially when newcomers are not exactly scarce in these parts. This one in particular — the young man who moved here by himself and immediately set up an apothecary shop in the heart of the village — has been on the lips of almost everyone you’ve bumped into for the past week. Ever since the Summer’s End Festival, it seems all your neighbors can think to talk about is this mysterious lone wolf. Unfortunately for you, that means your interest has been piqued both out of nosiness and out of a potential opportunity.

“You said he’s nice?”

“Yeah! I mean, I didn’t meet him personally. I was busy running the stall while Yunho was doing all the socializing, but Gerda came over and she said he’s a rather nice and charming young man.” 

You appraise the man across the counter with a far less enthused grin. It doesn’t deter Seonghwa from his egregious nods of encouragement, however. So, you continue to pack away the little bundles of herbs that you’ve been preparing all morning into the man’s satchel.

“She says that about everyone under the age of fifty. I think it’s her duty as an old woman to say that. What did Yunho say about him?” 

“Hm, what did Yunho say about him…” Seonghwa brings a neatly manicured nail to his chin as he mulls over your question. You snap the buckle of his bag into its proper place now that you’ve given him all you need to and set your hands down on the counter. “He was fairly charmed too, I believe. I mean, in terms of the guy’s personality. You know his gaze goes in one single direction for all other aspects of things.” He flattens his palm against his cheek and doesn’t even bother to hide the smugness that creeps over his expression.

“Don’t get cocky now,” you cut in before Seonghwa can redirect the conversation towards himself. 

“Is it being cocky if I’m just repeating what he says all the time though? Oh my Seonghwa, you’re so pretty, the only man I could ever look at, I never grow weary of seeing your darling face. It’s truly romance at its finest.”

“Back to the new guy, Hwa.”

“Hmph. You’re more interested in him than you were in me when I first moved here!”

“You didn’t run a shop when you first got here. Otherwise, I would’ve been just as eager, promise.” Seonghwa narrows his eyes at you, lips drawing into what must be an attempt at a frown but it’s so half-hearted and soft around the edges that you can’t be sure. “I’m trying to establish a financially beneficial supply line with this guy. Thus, I need to know what he’s like so that I know how much bargaining I ought to prepare for before going to speak with him.”

“He’s nice, not much of a talker from what I could tell watching him from a distance, and he mostly stuck near the bonfire. Though it was still damp from the rain earlier that day, and autumn was already sending in her cooler breezes. Anyone who hasn’t acclimated to our lovely finicky weather acts like that when they first arrive here. Spoke to everyone who approached him. Talks with his hands a lot. Very—” Seonghwa makes a few vague gestures consisting of him just waving his hands in the air a bit “—big. Not quite taller than Yunho, but broader and like… meatier, I suppose. I wonder if I should give Yunho bigger meal portions actually, he might need it. Really, how does he stay so skinny even doing all the heavy lifting around the house? Do you have any herbs good for muscle growth?”

“Alright, I’ve had enough of you, that’s it.” Seonghwa’s protest comes immediately. “No, because last time you did this, you started asking me about concoctions to make his semen taste better, and that is not a conversation we’re going to be repeating!” He grabs his satchel off the counter as you hop up from your stool, though he still tries to appear very upset over the matter while pulling it over his head.

“Well, tell me when you’re planning on going over there at least. I can give you a meal before you go home since it’s a bit of a trek to get back here.”

“I’ll go tomorrow. There’s still some inventory left over from the summer that I need to sort out. And I need to prepare some decor for the Autumn Festival sooner rather than later. Ugh, I got so behind on my work it’s infuriating.” You’ve been slacking a little more than you usually do this past week on account of being bedridden for five days straight. You thought you were going to avoid getting sick at the end of summer for once, but your body had other plans for you and decided to push it into the start of the fall season instead. That’s the only reason you need this information about the newcomer from Seonghwa so desperately: otherwise, you would have been at that very festival and been able to witness the man for yourself.

“Oh, speaking of, everyone missed you last week! And told me to send you well wishes, which are obviously not needed anymore, but the sentiment is the same nonetheless, no?”

You send Seonghwa off with a few extra herbs pressed into his hands and wishes for safe travels. It ought to only take him fifteen minutes to walk back to town, but he came by rather late and the sun is already setting so you don’t want him to get caught alone in the dark on his way. He is kind enough to allow your nagging, only pinching your cheek when you tell him once more to quit asking about recipes and herbs to use on Yunho’s dick. 

Once you’re content seeing him reach the end of your garden path, you flick your wrist in the direction of your crops. The drizzle that suddenly starts falling from the sky is light enough to not be much of a hindrance to Seonghwa, though you’ll be certain to bring down some heavier rainfall after he disappears over the edge of the hill. Though your closest friend in the village, you still haven’t had the heart to tell him what exactly brought you to this remote place or what you were running from when you came. He only knows that you came here nearly eight years ago on your own and with nothing to your name, and by the time he and Yunho came along, you were already three years into building your business of selling herbs year-round. 

In truth, your witchcraft is not illegal by the nature of it being magick. Rather, you yourself are the problem being a witch in name instead of the formally accepted term warlock. Should anyone with any sort of agenda against you discover that you are a defector using your magick when you are no longer a practicing warlock, then you would likely lose everything you have here in this place. It took you two years just to find a town secure and remote enough for you to feel comfortable living in, and eight more to reach this point of stability. You don’t consider Seonghwa to be someone driven by monetary promise or swayed by others’ opinions, but there is just enough doubt that’s crept into your heart over the years to keep you silent.

“How depressing,” you mutter, turning back to your cottage and heading inside. You make the rain fall just a little harder to go along with your sudden decline in mood.

…

Perhaps, you think, there is some goddess out there who is keen on causing you inordinate levels of distress. Because although today was supposed to be nothing more than a calm and friendly meeting in the hopes of establishing a business partnership, you cannot push yourself to even approach the door to the new apothecary. The name of the shop is insignificant on its own — Mortar and Cauldron — and you wouldn’t think twice about getting up from this cursed bench you now find yourself on if that was all there was to it. Yet for some godforsaken reason, this man has deigned to put a symbol behind the name, one that mimics one of the crests belonging to the House of Ballads (the very one you defected from a decade ago). Some deity must surely be playing a sick prank on you.

There are a few routes you could take in this situation. You could pretend you never came and forget the idea of creating a supply line, missing out on some revenue sure but it’s not like you wouldn’t be able to make up for it in other areas. You could go in and confront the newcomer, demanding to know who he is and what he’s doing here on the off chance that he’s truly some bumbling idiot who has no clue what symbols he’s drawn into his signs. He could very well be a defector himself, you suppose, although it would be suicide to use one of the House’s official crests as one. Or you could simply play the part of the fool yourself, act none the wiser, and pretend to be the normal citizen you are. Even if this man were truly from the House, he would not recognize your face because you were never formally entered into the place. You had been merely part of a small church sect on the outskirts of the capital, far from the House of Ballads and all its operations. The name you held while there has already been burned to ash and nothingness, likely stricken from all their records as well the moment you disappeared. If they wanted you dead — well, they would have had you killed long ago. So, you seem to have your best course of action.

“I know my decor isn’t the most appealing, but I don’t think it warrants such a foul expression.” The voice resonates so close to your ear that you truly feel the vibration in your teeth, but moreso, it startles you out of your skin, and you all but launch yourself off the bench with an embarrassing yelp. Just behind the bench where you were, there stands a man you don’t recognize. Tall, with sharp features and equally piercing dark eyes, and dressed in black from head to toe complete with a scarf draped over his head to mimic the hood of a cloak. It doesn’t fully shroud his borderline psychedelic hair — an unnatural yellow shade that blends into a fiery orange-red and makes his head look more like a torch than anything else. “Hello. Sorry for surprising you like that, it wasn’t my intention to make a first impression in such a way.”

Ah. If not for your racing heart, you would have put two and two together far sooner, because obviously, this would be the mystery owner of the apothecary, considering how you recognize everyone in town.

“Would you like to come in and look around? I was simply across the street to get some bread.” He tilts his head back in the direction of none other than Seonghwa’s shop. One glance at the storefront gives you enough of a clue as to whose fault it is that you’re having this unsavory first encounter because said man is pressed up against the window and staring through it directly at you. You have to fight the urge to scowl at him until after your newcomer steps out of your line of sight. Seonghwa tucks a stray piece of hair behind his ear and sends you a far-too-cheery thumbs-up. You turn away with a less subtle middle finger. 

Despite the muggy weather and cooler temperatures, the inside of the apothecary is warm. It almost feels a bit humid thanks to the rain outside, but not unbearably so. And considering how long you were sitting out there getting rained on, you welcome the heat quite a bit. 

“You wouldn’t happen to be the friend Seonghwa mentioned, would you?” He catches you with the question as you’re undoing the knot holding your cloak around your shoulders. “I don’t recall seeing you at last week’s festival, though I didn’t have the chance to introduce myself to everyone then.”

“Oh, yes, that would be me. I wasn’t there because I was recovering from a nasty cold. Y/n.” You jut a hand out in his direction, pushing a smile to your lips as you look him in the eye, though thanks to his height, you feel as though you have to crane your neck just to do so. 

“Song Mingi. It’s a pleasure to meet you, y/n.” He doesn’t take your hand the way you expect; instead, he pinches the tips of your fingers and bends at the waist, lips grazing your knuckles so softly that you almost don’t feel the contact at all. What’s more startling is how hot his touch is, especially considering how he was just out in the cold. You catch a glimpse of his hand as he’s pulling away, but he’s simply wearing gloves. Knowing Seonghwa, he probably kept the man hostage with conversation for a long time before sending him out to speak with you, and your friend always keeps the house warm because of the ovens, so that’s likely where all the excess heat is coming from. Your staring lingers too long, and Mingi clears his throat quietly, bringing you out of your thoughts.

“Likewise,” you spit out, placing your cloak on the coat rack by the door.

“Were you looking for something in particular, or did you just want to see what sorts of things I have?” Mingi wraps around the back of the shop’s counter, and you take it as an invitation to approach. The glass cabinet serving as the surface is filled with a variety of things both familiar and not. Potions, vials, bundles of powders, and even some gemstones that carry a glow at their centers. The presence of magick here is undeniably strong, and it is not yours alone. There must be dozens of magickal objects here, though the ordinary person wouldn’t sense a thing. You don’t let your gaze linger on any of them for long before pulling focus back up to the man’s face.

“Well, I intended to come introduce myself first since we didn’t have a chance to meet at the festival. But beyond that, I wanted to let you know I grow all sorts of herbs and ingredients in my garden. I supply many of the local shops and stalls, especially during the winter seasons. The ground is particularly fruitful thanks to all the rain we get here.”

“Oh? Yes, I noticed rather quickly that there’s near-constant rainy weather here.” As though on cue, a bout of thunder rumbles in the distance.

“You truly chose a summer lover’s nightmare moving here,” you laugh. “Charybid is always in rainy season.”

Mingi hums and grins a little, looking to the window before saying, “I’m quite alright with it really. The heat of my homeland is far more unbearable in my opinion. You can tell how little I went outside there just based on how pale I am.” He flashes the back of his hand that’s still enveloped by a glove like he wants to prove his point, only to realize his little blunder and fall into a bout of awkward laughter instead. “But you said you’re a supplier? Do you have a local shop as well or…?”

“Local, though not here in the heart of town. If you follow the west road up over the hill, you’ll see a string of cottages. Mine is the one with the big front garden! Oh, and there’s a sign as well, of course.”

“That would be immensely helpful especially since I don’t have much space here to grow my own things. It’s a bit difficult to outsource supplies in this area too, isn’t it?” Mingi glances down at the open notebook sitting on his counter and skims the contents. “Would it be alright if I came by at the end of next week? That way I can finish unpacking and taking stock of everything I have.”

“Yes, that’d work just fine. You can come by any time you need, though I always advise against coming too close to nightfall because walking in the rain at night is an easy way to get sick.” You offer a smile, perhaps a little too pleased with how smoothly your business proposal went, but your enthusiasm seems to be received well given how brightly Mingi smiles in return. The air has begun to get more stifling, and you can feel sweat clinging to the back of your neck. It’s unpleasant now, a kind of warmth you’re not used to experiencing all the time because you don’t keep your home so toasty, but it reminds you of evenings shared with Seonghwa that always end with you wanting to escape out into the rain just for some respite. “I won’t take up more of your time, though. I promised to go see Seonghwa myself once I was finished here. I bid you well.”

“Thank you, and have safe travels home yourself. I look forward to doing business with you, Miss y/n.”

…

You leave your cottage in the wee hours of the morning, intending to water your crops before the sun rises, but those plans are dashed the moment you spot the man waiting outside your fence. You’ve seen him several times since your first meeting, though not here and solely in town. He hasn’t come this far yet despite his insistence that he would come over two weeks ago. Autumn is in full swing now, four weeks since the start of the season and five since the new apothecary came to town. You had not quite lost hope that he would be true to his word, but you must admit that you are caught off-guard seeing him at this hour and at your gate.

“When I said not to come at nightfall, I didn’t mean that you needed to come at the break of dawn!”

“I wanted to come before opening hours,” Mingi replies in a far clearer voice than your own. You’re still wiping the sleep from your eyes after all, and it seems he has been up for some time considering how he doesn’t appear tired in the slightest. The lantern at the end of your walkway is lit — strange because you thought you had remembered to blow it out the night before — and the glow combined with the first few rays of sunshine over the horizon is enough to illuminate the space between you and the man. “I was also out on a morning walk, so I figured it would be smart to find out how to get here before making a fool of myself. Beyond making plans to do so several times over and not once making good on those plans.”

You did gather much from your first impression of the man. Seonghwa’s word proved correct: Mingi is quite friendly, although a tad clueless but his kindness makes up for that, and you heard as much from your fellow townsfolk after you left his apothecary a month ago. After all, newcomers will be the talk of the town for weeks after their arrival, so you got to be privy to much talk about his character just from spending five minutes milling about the streets. He’s cordial each time you happen across each other in the village on top of that, full of never-ending apologies about his delay in coming to see you (to the point where you have to demand he stop apologizing three times before he takes the hint).

“Considering how I didn’t even make it to the front door, I’m assuming I did not wake you?” he continues when you reach the edge of the fence. You shake your head, undoing the latching and pulling the gate over for him to step through. 

“No, you simply caught me coming out to check on the crops before the rain starts.” You didn’t sense any rain coming today, but a little trip down to the pond can easily be arranged once Mingi departs. “This is only the front garden. I can show you the back as well, if you’d like, I have far more plants there.”

“You take care of this all by yourself?” he inquires, voice edging on awestruck, and your chest swells with pride.

“Yep! It is my livelihood, after all. But I am very enamored with the work too, so that helps me as well. These plants need more sun, and thanks to the location of this cottage, they receive it at least eight hours a day. Same goes for the plots on the left side of the house, but the ones on the right are not as sensitive to the sunshine. I keep the least temperamental crops in the back, along with some gourds that shops have a hard time finding at this time of year. My more cold-sensitive plants are in planters indoors, I have that small little greenhouse attachment on the side of the house as well as fungi and the like in the basement.”

“It seems you truly have a bit of everything then?”

“I try to at least. Whenever traveling merchants come for market days, I make a point to collect whatever seeds I can. I also like picking up gardener’s pamphlets! There are always good tips for how to make certain plants thrive, and occasionally they’ll mention ones I’ve not heard of so I know to be on the lookout for those things. If there’s ever something you’re in need of that I don’t have, I’d be happy to collect some samples for you from some merchants and we can discuss planting them too.” When you glance up at Mingi again, his jaw is hanging slightly open, eyes still bearing into you with that same wonder and disbelief. “Oh, sorry, I’m being a terrible host. Did you want to come inside for some tea or coffee? It’s still quite early.”

“That’d be great. Do you happen to have a catalog of all your crops as well?”

“Of course, of course.” You motion for him to follow you up to the house just as a few drops of rain start hitting your skin. Maybe you won’t need to go down to the pond after all. “It seems you came at the perfect time. Do you have some sort of potion that lets you predict the weather?”

“If only,” he laughs, ducking his head a bit to avoid the doorframe. He shrugs his cloak off upon getting inside, and once again you’re regaled by the sight of him dressed in all black. Though, today he’s forgone gloves and simply stuck to a long-sleeved shirt that extends past his hands. 

“You’re welcome to look around as I get the water on and all!”

“I’d be happy to do that for you.”

“Please, you’re a guest, that’d hardly be fair of me.”

“But I did accost you before dawn, so I’d like to think of it as a fair bargain.”

You purse your lips. “Okay, I’ll relent and allow you to do the water, but I’ll take care of everything else.” He drapes his cloak over the back of one of your chairs, very careful and meticulous about the way in which he lays it down, but you only watch him long enough to see him reach the sink. Turning your back to him, you busy yourself with finding mugs and prepping the coffee Seonghwa gave to you a few weeks back. You should’ve thought ahead and asked him for more since you were just over there, but it slipped your mind completely. Perhaps he needs some more lavender and rosemary, you could pack some and use that as an excuse to go back to see him.

When you turn around next, Mingi is already sitting at the table in the seat where he set his cloak down, and you make a small noise of surprise.

“Did you get the stove figured out already? I swear it takes me four or five tries to get it to come on right every time.”

“Hm? It came right on when I turned the knob. Is it not supposed to do that?”

You let out a huff of air while shrugging and set the mugs down on the table. “It never does that for me but that very well may be user error.” The sharp whistle of steam interrupts your thoughts. “Ah, and it’s heating up quickly too? Those remedies of yours are becoming more and more appealing by the second. You might be the town’s new miracle worker at this rate.” 

In truth, it’s making your skin itch a little. There was some odd presence of magick back in Mingi’s shop, and even now you feel something sharp prodding at your own magickal energy in your own home. It’s not a threat, not one that you can concretely act on yet at least, but it’s enough to make you wary. To let a witch into your safe haven is a dangerous and risky game to play, especially if it’s where the source of your power is. Thankfully, you were not so foolish upon moving here to do something as juvenile as that — yours is safely kept away in that pond down the opposite side of the hill and tucked into a small grove in the surrounding forest. 

“Oh, let me grab that catalog for you real quick!” You bolt up from your chair at the sudden realization, and Mingi seems to accept it as simply that. You grab the book from your shelf, also snatching up the charm you keep near it and slipping it around your wrist while you’re out of sight still. It won’t be enough to fully shroud your energy, but if Mingi is indeed poking and prodding at your aura in search of something, it ought to at least throw him off enough to sate his curiosities. You usually only use such an item when strangers come to town for those market days you mentioned to Mingi before, and it certainly is a first for you to have to use it in your home. 

He’s not budged an inch by the time you return, which is nice to see because he could either have started snooping around in places he shouldn’t or bolted without a trace. You set the book down before him, still wearing a faint smile on your lips.

“I just updated it at the start of the week too, so you have the freshest copy.”

“Wonderful, I’m starting to understand the name on your gate post more and more.”

“Ah, that.” Wonderland was simply a silly little name you came up with on a whim because that’s what this place is to you, but it stuck and everyone in town loved it so much that you could not escape the urgings to keep it as a name even if you are not a shop owner in the way that people like Seonghwa and Mingi both are. “It’s nothing terribly special,” you opt to say instead. The kettle starts whistling more egregiously, saving you from having to explain the name any further. You stand and go to grab the handle of the pot, only to scald your palm so badly that you nearly fall over backward. Mingi scrambles to get up, chair clattering against the ground as he rushes in your direction.

“Shit, I’m so sorry, I—”

“You’re sorry?” you blurt through gritted teeth, clinging to your hand and trying to will the pain away to no avail. “What are you sorry for?”

“I-I should’ve — I should’ve gotten that, I mean, my hands are…” he trails off, and you glance down at the now exposed hands that he’s put between you. From the tips of his fingers down to the first knuckle on every single digit, Mingi’s skin and nails both are the color of charcoal, like they’ve been permanently stained that way. Were you anybody else, you would not know what it means. 

“I’m fine,” you say. He’s a warlock after all, it seems. Of course he is. You have been teetering on the confirmation for weeks at this point, and it was silly of you to ignore the obvious so many times over. His uncomfortably warm touch and the stifling heat inside his shop were both dead giveaways. You did not forget to extinguish your lantern last night, nor did the stove simply come on by way of Mingi being deft at using the knobs. He lit the lantern himself, lit the stove himself as well though because he was unaware of how your finicky stove works, he made the flame too big and too hot, thus leading to the quick boil and unfortunate accident of you burning your hand. The symbol on his door sign should have been enough of a clue.

“Please, at least let me make you something to treat the burn. It’s what I’m good at after all, and it’s the barest of minimums I could do.”

If you kick him out now, then it will surely be obvious that you know something about his identity. Only daft idiots or people with something to hide would turn down the help of a healer such as himself. In the past decade, you have lost all semblance of good judgment because no amount of mental gymnastics can get you to refuse his help right now. You’re dooming yourself if he already knows what you are, but if he’s got even the slightest hint and you turn him away, then you would confirm it for him. You have to take the risk.

“Okay, I would really appreciate it,” you whisper, easing yourself down into your chair once more. Mingi’s shoulders visibly relax. “All these plants and I’m afraid I’ve barely got enough knowledge to make tea on a good day with them. Everything you need ought to be on the shelves behind the counter. Those are all freshly picked too.” When he turns his back to you, you let your meek expression drop and glare at the welt that’s already formed across your palm. Mingi’s magick does not appear to be volatile, meaning that he must have had some sort of formal training in his life. It’s common for fire warlocks to bear the same charcoal-looking scars that he has, mostly from overexertion of their kind of magick. You produce more sweat than is natural for a normal human being thanks to your affinities too. 

Would the House truly send someone here for you after so long? And to go through the effort of having them set up a shop in the heart of town? If they wanted someone to watch you, then it would have been easier and smarter to have someone take one of the cottages closer to you. Besides, Mingi has not been taking every opportunity to come find you or learn about you. Nor does he wear any ring to indicate his affiliation with the House. A sanctioned mage would surely make use of such benefits. Could he be a defector like you? Or one that never made it into the House’s grasp? 

He returns to the table with a mortar and pestle filled with some sort of salve that he’s already beaten down into a mush.

“Does it hurt badly?”

“Quite a bit,” you answer truthfully, only wincing a little when he turns your palm to the ceiling. It feels as though his fingers alone could sear your skin.

“I made extra for you to use over the next several days as well. All you need to do is store it somewhere cool and apply a little to the burn twice a day until the pain stops.” The mixture is so blissfully cold on your skin that you could cry, and even with Mingi’s warm touch massaging it into the burn, it feels like a heavenly relief. “If the pain doesn’t stop by the time you run out of salve, then please come visit me. I can make more and give you something to keep it from scarring.”

“Understood.”

“And y/n…” He squeezes your hand ever so slightly, and your breath catches in your throat. “You do not have to hide what you are around me.” His gaze finds yours. “You are a witch after all, are you not?” A witch. The word feels like a slap in the face.

“Are you associated with the House? Did they send you? What is it you want from me?”

“The House? Absolutely not. I left their good graces many years ago. I wouldn’t give them even an ounce of my time anyway.”

“So what? You’re a witch as well?”

“Yes, I suppose I am though I don’t make a habit of calling myself that. Simply an apothecary, much like how you are simply a farmer. Of sorts.” Mingi fidgets in his seat and looks closer at you. “I am genuinely not here to cause you harm or disrupt your life. I imagine we came here for the very same reasons in fact. I simply want to live by my own terms, not anyone else’s.”

“Get out,” you whisper. Perhaps there are hundreds of better ways to handle this, but you have never had to do such a thing in all your time here, and you cannot be faulted for acting out of panic and fear now. Your voice comes out louder now, “Get out of my home then! Get out and don’t come back d-don’t dare tell anyone.”

“The energy is permeating the entire house.” Mingi keeps his tone quiet as he continues to speak through your distress. “Your garden too, I felt it immediately. The rain — it’s in there as well. Sure, it’s always rainy season here but how much of it is because of you?”

“You know what the other name for my kind is, right?”

“You’re a water witch.” 

You retract your hand from his with a scoff.

“The House tends to call us Scyllans. Sweet temptresses of the deep, killers of foolish men.”

Mingi somehow has it in him to smile.

“Then I ought to be safe, for I am neither foolish nor a mere man.” He stands without saying another word, collecting his cloak off the back of his chair and slinging it around his shoulders. You can’t help but to stare at him, wary and on edge with every movement he makes even when he reaches the door. “My words hold true, y/n. I hope you think them over at least. And your secret is truly safe with me.”

…

You avoid going into town for so long that Seonghwa seeks you out five days after you go into self-imposed seclusion. It’s easy to keep him off your back at least, and from what you can tell, Mingi has not sought him out to expose your dirty secrets as of yet. The logical part of you understands that you ought to avoid angering the man because he does hold quite a bit of power over you right now. Fear keeps you captive instead, however. 

Two weeks and a day after that fateful encounter you had with Mingi, you dare to leave the comfort of your home. Not to go into the village — that is a step you are not prepared to face — but rather to visit your precious grove in the forest. You should have gone last week as it’s always been your habit to go once a month to rejuvenate your magick; however, you were so on edge that you couldn’t get beyond your back fence and promptly turned right back around. Tonight, you’re determined.

The skies are clear, not a single cloud marring her starry expanses, and the moon hangs high near the center of the sky. Even better yet, it’s a full moon. Ideal conditions for you to bathe in the pond and restore some much-needed energy. You set out forty minutes from midnight even though your trek will not take that long. You need only be there for the highest peak of the moon, so giving yourself this little bit of leeway should allow you all the time required to reach your destination. Despite yourself, you do glance over your shoulder several times on your way out of the house and garden. When you’re content with your loneliness, you set off down the hill.

It’s not as though you decided to dismiss Mingi’s words altogether once he left. You have put much thought and consideration into them, in fact, especially after Seonghwa came to see you and nothing had changed between the two of you. It’s no guarantee that Mingi didn’t tell anyone, but it’s something. The matter of him being a witch like you, well, that has been a contentious debate in your head. A true warlock calling themselves a witch is considered heresy to many, so you have to believe that Mingi is being truthful with you. You know enough about his magick to know for certain he is either one or the other. But at the end of the day, there is no way for him to prove as much. All he has is his word to back him up, and all you can do is either accept it as truth or deny it. 

Long ago, you had settled on the knowledge that you would likely be a rather lonely creature for the rest of your days. Finding Charybid and its people was a welcome blessing, but not a permanent one, and the friends you’ve made (especially Seonghwa and Yunho) cannot understand what it is you are or relate to you on any matter concerning witchcraft. You’ve long since accepted that loneliness as a part of you even if there are pieces of your heart craving warmth and understanding from another like you. 

If it were possible, could Mingi be that sort of person in your life? Does he crave the same thing? Is that why he confronted you to begin with?

You reach the grove with a heavier heart than anticipated. Moonlight creeps in through the canopy of branches overhead, glistening off the half-circle of rocks around milky green waters. The moon has already been charging the pond for hours, and you feel the pulse of magick resonating deep in you from the bottom of it. 

Stripping down to nothing, you drop your clothes into a pile near the rocks with your satchel and toe at the water. It’s frigid as expected, thanks to the encroaching winter that is coming closer and closer still. You sink into it fully and submerge yourself in the charged waters. Several meters down at the bottom lies your precious black pearl, glowing a deep purple shade to show exactly how much magick she’s stored since you last came. You let the waters hold you for some time until the dull thrum you feel around you turns into a hum that makes your skin feel like it’s full of electricity. 

It’s only then that you decide to emerge once more, breaking the surface of the water and letting air replace the magick in your lungs. 

Yet, you find that you are not alone.

Bent so far over the pond that he looks one slip away from tumbling down into it, none other than Mingi sits crouched at the edge. It’s far too late to pretend as though you haven’t made note of each other. Depending on which direction Mingi came from, he may not have even seen your belongings behind the rocks. You sink lower in the water until it comes up to cover your lips. 

“My apologies. I did not know you were here.” Just his gaze is enough to make your body warm. You tilt your chin up.

“Is that so?”

“I came because of the magickal energy, yes. Not because I knew you would be here.” He’s not far from you. The moon shines her pretty rays down around him, and you blame her for the insatiable tug in your gut that’s making you want to pull him into the waters with you. “I have been thinking about you though,” he admits under his breath. You imagine the words are not meant for your ears, but he doesn’t seem to realize he’s spoken them out loud. It takes little movement on your part to swim closer to him, and you only stop when he is perched directly above you.

“Do I look the part of a temptress now?” you inquire, hand breaking through the surface of the water to caress his cheek. 

“Incredibly so,” he murmurs. “I see why foolish men fall. Perhaps I am no better.”

“You know nothing about me.” You trace your fingers down to his chin. 

“I know enough.”

You shush him with a laugh and a finger placed directly over his lips. “The sun gives you her power during the day, but on nights like these, the moon offers me a fair exchange. Her power for my sexual energy. That is where a water witch’s magick comes from, and it’s what has earned us all those myths and urban legends about eating men. Now that you know that of me, should I trust you in return?”

“I am what I say I am. I am a fire witch. I defected from the House of Ballads five years ago. To answer your question, though, if…” His gaze has become lidded, focus drawing down to your lips with each word he tries to speak. You feel just as overwhelmed and foggy yourself, the excess magick seeping into you from all angles as the moon inches ever closer to her peak. “…you deem it wise.”

“I think some part of me might.”

“Did you consider what I said to you last time?”

“But of course. It wasn’t so long ago that I’ve forgotten already.” A sigh escapes you as you look up to where the moon can just barely be seen through the trees. “I’d like to give you a chance, if only because of morbid curiosity and the fact that I have made it a decade without finding another like myself.”

You inch up and graze Mingi’s lips with your own. His fingertips tickle the surface of the water, and the effect is nearly instant. Warmth surrounds you and draws a gasp out of you that has you curling away from Mingi’s face. He leans back.

“I cannot restrain myself well enough tonight. Not in the presence of such potent magick.” You are equal parts pleasantly surprised and grossly disappointed by his willpower. With a smile, you push away from the edge of the pond and head further into the water. Mingi almost makes the mistake of following you, teetering at the grassy bank.

“You are welcome to visit again. So long as I am not nude or compromised.”

“I-I—” His cheeks are stained a deep red by now.

“I do not intend to put on a show for you tonight, Mingi, but I am in desperate need of the moon’s energy. If that is all, then…?” Were the circumstances any different, you would consider your wording to be crude in that you are essentially asking him to leave so that you can fuck yourself with the crystal you brought along with you in your bag. 

He clears his throat and sits completely back on his heels, gaze wandering across your face. Licking over his lips, his eyes linger on the water droplets running from your hairline to your jaw. 

“I will come to you when the first snow falls,” he says. “So that you may have time to contemplate things further. My decision is already made, and I'm sure you're aware of it. Please… please let me know then what your choice is.” You want to retort that he doesn’t have the best track record thus far, but instead leave well enough and wave him away with a grin. A bout of laughter leaves your lips as soon as he passes through the clearing and out of sight.

“Are you testing me?” you whisper to the moon, receiving nothing but her monotonous glow in response. You wade over to the rocks where you left your belongings and quickly rifle through your pack in search of the rose quartz you brought along. It’s cold to the touch, unpleasant in comparison to the warm body that you just had with you and within your grasp. While the shape isn't perfect, it gets the job done in the absence of the real deal, and it serves its purpose just fine. Not like you have any other options as it is.

Part of you entertains the idea of having Mingi still here — from a practical standpoint, consummating the ritual with another magick user would be far more effective than using a crystal charged by the moon. But from a pleasure standpoint…

You dip your fingers between your legs, letting your body fall back to rest your head on the edge of the pond as you seek your core between your folds. The magick at your fingertips pulses through you and sends a jolt into your system just from the slightest brush. A soft mewl falls from your lips. You feel Mingi’s magick still permeating all throughout the water, clinging to your skin, and on your lips, you taste fire from that minute little kiss exchanged in a fit of passion.

No matter how hard you try, you cannot get your fingers deep enough inside your cunt. Instead, your thoughts are plagued by the visual of Mingi’s hands, his long fingers, the searing heat that emanates from them, and the all-consuming desire to know what it would feel like to have them inside you.

You cannot even bring yourself to waste time right now; slipping your fingers free, you plunge the toy in your other hand into yourself and sink it all the way in until the pressure in your gut is eased the slightest bit. It's blissfully cold against your walls; the coolness eases the burn that seems to be wedged beneath your skin and brings some clarity back to your mind. It does not, however, chase every thought of Mingi from your brain. In the haze of your vision, you can hallucinate him before you still, imagine him in the spot where he was not long ago watching you with those fiery intense eyes and urging you on. A louder cry of pleasure tumbles out of you as you're forced to twist and brace yourself on a rock to keep increasing the pace of the toy's thrusts inside you.

It ought to fill you with some degree of shame, you think, because who lusts so strongly after a stranger who poses something of a threat to your well-being and livelihood? But when your mind goes back to the idea of his large hands gripping your waist and hips as he splits you open on his cock, you can't be bothered in the slightest about the speed at which you're becoming invested in this man — all that matters is the speed at which you're thrusting the crystal dildo in and out of your pussy as an orgasm creeps up on you. You have to bury your face in the crook of your arm to have some semblance of sanity to cling to. And when you unravel soon after, it’s his name on your lips.

…

The first snow of the season is late.

You have been trying to avoid thinking about it solely on account of the superstition that mulling it over will only delay it further, but those attempts are futile. Because when you tell yourself to not think about it, you only end up thinking about it more, then you devolve into a sick cycle of reasoning with yourself and the moon and any deity out there who will give you the time of day. 

While you could set your pride aside for the sake of what it is you’re waiting on exactly, that is simply not in your nature. Additionally, you want to see whether Mingi will uphold his end of the bargain. He promised to come at the first snow. So you will wait for that day. 

Your gardens are thriving thanks to the lack of snow and the amplified support of your fully-charged magick, which is the only positive you can find in this situation while you essentially sit on your hands and wait. The downside is, however, that the temperatures are still steadily declining, and you always struggle in the winter to keep your home warm enough. Your specialty may be in water magick, but that does not mean you have any control or power over the temperature of said water, and everything around you tends to skew a bit cooler as it is. The thought of how cold you are and your house is and everything in between only pushes your thoughts more towards the lack of warmth and a potential source of it that will not come unless the fucking snow does first.

If you have to put up with seeing Mingi’s smiling face across the street while you’re pestering Seonghwa one more time then you may truly snap and lose all semblance of self-respect.

…

You’re knelt in a bed of rosemary when the first flakes of snow start to hit your skin. At first, you think it to be just rain but then a flurry touches one of the purple blossoms on the herb. The shout you let out is a terrifying mixture of joy and exasperation because at long last, your agonizing wait can finally come to a close. The way you scramble to pull yourself out of the dirt and rush indoors ought to be more embarrassing. It takes you all of five minutes to change out of your grimy gardening clothes and into something cozier and cleaner, though all you do is park yourself at the kitchen table with a mug of hot tea and stare out the window waiting for any sign of movement on the hill. The snow is coming down harder already, a billowing cloud of white that cloaks the dirt and grass on the ground. It doesn’t even occur to you to think that Mingi might not come at all, that he might have forgotten or worse — simply not chosen to come at all — because your patience has worn so thin over the past weeks that you feel relief just seeing the snow.

And luckily for you, Mingi is far more timely and true to his word than he was before. You neglected to keep track of the time, though you haven’t finished your tea yet by the time his lanky figure comes over the crest of the hill. You know it to be him instantly because his fiery hair is visible through the white all around him. 

You’re at the door before you can think twice, flinging it open and making your way down the path to the gate as though you aren’t in the biggest rush of your life. Behind him, there’s a trail of footsteps where the snow has melted under his feet, and the closer he gets, the better you can see how not even a single snowflake sticks to him in any way. Every flake that touches even the outside of his cloak simply melts upon contact, leaving him pristine in the sea of white falling around you.

“Did you wait long?” he asks upon reaching your gate. Somehow he manages to maintain a lilting tone that makes your brain itch. You want to kiss him so silly that all that smugness dissipates like the snow on his skin. “Y/n.” The breathy exhale of your name is all it takes for you to grab him by the collar and yank him down to your level. The warmth is so blessedly welcome. “Have you made your decision?” 

You slot your lips against his, licking at the seam of his lips without waiting for further invitation. He scrambles with the latch on the gate, though you’re of no help at all with how you’re trying to pull him over it, but once that pesky barrier is pushed open just a little bit, he slides through the gap and seals his body against yours. Even though the cold doesn’t seem to be affecting him much, his breathing still comes out in pants, like he sprinted the whole way here from town without rest. He clasps his hands around the back of your neck, thumbs caressing the underside of your jaw, and each kiss he plants on your lips is more searing than the last. It takes all you have to not trip over backward on your feet with him guiding you back towards the door of your home. The two of you don’t even make it through the door before he’s pushing you up against the doorframe and slotting a knee between your thighs. 

“Please, y/n, let me hear it from these pretty lips,” he begs. Your whole body is alight with something — either magick or lust or something in between those things that you can’t distinguish at present. The heat radiating off his body makes your head spin, and it’s such an intoxicating sensation that you reach your hands beneath the fabric of his cloak to be closer to skin.

“I trust you, I need you, I want you to have me,” you murmur back. Mingi pushes his lower lip out with the tip of his tongue. His gaze carries the same heat you’ve grown used to seeing all the time when you look at his eyes. Now, the weight of it feels heavier. Your breath hitches in your throat as he wraps an arm around your back, and his fingers dig into your side briefly. You’re pulled away from the doorframe and into the house only for him to slam the door shut and lock the snow out. What you aren’t expecting is to be flattened to the surface face first mere seconds later.

“I want to have you right here and now,” Mingi growls behind you. Every brush of his hands over your body leaves goosebumps in their wake along with the heat of his magick seeping into your skin. He takes apart your bodice carefully, pulling each string with a startling amount of care compared to his desperate rush to have you. A sort of fever takes hold of you, and with each piece of clothing he removes from your being, the more the fire in your belly roars. Glancing down, you see your clothes fallen into a heap on the floor, along with his cloak, then his coat, his shirt — each piece of fabric goes to join the pile until you feel bare skin against yours. The bliss of the contact is so immense that you let out a pitiful moan.

“Mingi.”

“Raise your arms over your head for me, y/n.” 

“Mingi,” you utter again, following the instruction without a breath of hesitation. He takes both of your wrists between just one of his hands and pins them to the flat surface of the door. Your chest trembles under your breaths. 

“I will not be rough with you unless you allow it. How I take you is up to you… whether it be me taking you apart gently or fucking you hot and raw right here and now.” You can’t take the sensation of his breathing down your neck without squirming. No matter how hard you squeeze your thighs together, there’s no relief for the pulsing need for pressure there. The moment Mingi catches onto your attempts, he wedges his knee between your legs and leaves you to rock back on his muscled thigh for some sort of escape.

“Please.” It’s as though there’s cotton in your mouth keeping you from fully forming any kind of sentence because although your thoughts are running at a mile per minute, you cannot seem to get more than one word out at a time. Mingi nudges you forward into the door once again. He replaces the pressure of his thigh with his unoccupied hand, cupping your cunt and dragging his middle finger along the slit of your folds.

“You’re coming undone already, my little witch.” Mingi suddenly flicks his finger forward over your clit, and your knees buckle. Your reaction delights him so much that he repeats the action two more times, and your body truly becomes putty in his hands. He keeps you up between the hand holding your wrists to the door and the one cupped around your sex, but you aren’t sure your muscles could keep you up on their own without the help. Especially not when Mingi gets more daring and pulls a second finger into the mix to tease the ring of your entrance with small, methodical circles.

“Put them in me, put your fingers in!” you cry out only for Mingi to roll over your clit once again. His cock is twitching against your ass, firm and big, and part of you wants to forget everything else solely to have him in your mouth and down your throat. 

“Is that how good girls ask for things?” He pinches your clit between his fingers until you’re whimpering out an apology and smearing drool across the door. “Ask again. Nicely this time, sweetheart.”

“Please f-fuck me with your fingers, please open me up for you, I w-want to feel you so badly.” Nonsensical babbling is enough for him, blessedly, because you’re not confident that anything more coherent than that could make its way out of you right now. He rolls the pads of his fingers up against your clit again before going any lower. His laugh is borderline sadistic when you curl your fingers into the wood, nails clawing for some sort of grip that will help you ground yourself. “Wanna come so—!”

“That’s it, come for me, lovely. Then I’ll fuck you nice and loose on my fingers while you’re coming.” Mingi retracts his fingers right when your gut clenches, and as your walls squeeze tight around nothing, he slips two digits into your cunt. Your lips part in a silent scream, moans caught in the back of your throat. Your vision goes white behind your eyelids though it lasts so much longer than what you’re used to getting from your own hand and toys. Perhaps it’s because Mingi doesn’t let up on you even in the throes of your orgasm, or thanks to your magickal energies intertwining in the most raw and intimate way imaginable. “Let me open you up some more first, then I’ll give you what you want.”

You blink your eyes open and look at Mingi out your peripherals, mouth wide open and cheek still pressed harshly into the door even though you’re the one keeping it there. 

“Do you want it too?” you ask out of the blue. Your voice is tight and strained. His fingers curl inside you.

“So badly,” comes his quick reply, “that it’s taking everything in me not to put my dick in you right now. But I don’t want to hurt you.” As though to emphasize his feelings, Mingi rolls his hips forward, and his cock rubs hard against your ass. “Doesn’t even look like it’s gonna fit in you, fuck.”

“Mingi, I need you in me now, like right this instant now, not in five minutes now.” The first orgasm has your vision hazy and legs wobbly, but that’s far from a concern to you at the moment. Your urgency pushes the man behind you to have the same sort of franticness, hurriedly slipping his fingers free of your cunt and readjusting his hold so that he can grip the base of his dick. You hold perfectly still for him as he lines himself up with your waiting hole that’s already sopping with arousal. Your pussy takes him in like it’s greedy for it, each inch sliding in and spreading you wider to accommodate to his size. One thing’s for certain: Mingi has a stupidly big dick, so big that it makes you wonder if you’d be able to feel it through your stomach if you put a hand there. 

Whatever shreds of patience he had left in him turn to ash the second he’s fully buried balls-deep in you. He doesn’t wait even a second before he pulls out about halfway, and the only stutter in his rhythm comes from him trying to find it. You’re suddenly rather glad that he’s keeping your hands up for you because the drive of his cock inside your pussy would bring you to your knees otherwise. The sounds of pleasure fill your ears — his low baritone moans tangled alongside your more throaty ones that crack here and there, the slap of his hips hitting your ass, and the thumping of the door as he fucks you so hard against it that it trembles. 

“Y-You’re so deep, I feel you in my stomach,” you choke out between moans. It devolves into a sob as Mingi shifts his angle upwards a bit and hits a new spot deep inside you that has you seeing stars. 

“Yeah? Your pussy is clinging to me nice and tight, lovely, I think you like it a little too much.” He has enough composure to still speak without crying, meanwhile, tears are starting to pool at the corners of your eyes as the overstimulation of your senses and nerves reaches unimaginable heights. “Bet your pretty little toy isn’t even half as big as me.”

Mingi thrusts so hard into you that his grip on your wrists falters, and one of your hands falls free. He doesn’t bother correcting it, nor do you try to keep it up any longer, instead rushing to get your fingers around your clit again. You’re so hyperfocused on chasing the high of another orgasm that you don’t warn him it’s about to hit you this time. He knows well enough when your body seizes for a moment before releasing every bit of tension in your muscles. Your walls flex around his cock, working him in time with the waves of your euphoria, until he can’t take it anymore and pulls free of your hole. He rests his length atop the cleft of your ass and thrusts a few more times there, then comes his release. Hot ropes of come shoot out from his cock, painting your naked back into a messy canvas of come and sweat.

Despite the sudden quiet filling the house, your hearing is hypervigilant and clings to every slight noise that comes from your partner, from his fight to get air into his lungs to the hand he now rubs over his spent cock. 

“You…” Your throat is too dry and you end up coughing instead of getting a sentence out. Mingi’s fingers trace small, unknown patterns into your hip. “You’re welcome to stay through winter. That’s my answer.”

“Through winter?” Mingi hums. He slips his hand around your waist and flattens his large palm over your abdomen. “What about spring?”

“Then too.”

“And summer?” He’s teasing you again. Somehow he still has the energy to do that.

“And summer and autumn then winter again. But maybe by the spring after that, I’ll be sick of you!”

“You won’t be,” he says through a laugh, lips brushing against the side of your head. You’re going to need better retorts if he plans on sticking around that long.

────────────

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this work belongs to caly / hongism (2023). do not copy, repost, or plagiarize in any way.

[blueberrypancakesworld]

I will stay with you in the dark and beyond

Josh Wahsington x fem!reader

warning : fluff, hurt/comfort, kissing, mental health issues

Summary : A preparation for the meeting after the tragedy, ghosts of the past still haunting him. Cold snow on them as she realizes she just has to stay with him this time…together against the dark abyss inside him.

Info : In short i have to write for ud again (and this is the second time i deleted the first version yayyy) so i hope you like it and Josh just needs some love.

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

Snow flew down and up the big dark mountain as the bus stopped at the single stop in the middle of nowhere. The light broke through the early evening as two people got off the bus, knowing full well that this nowhere held a grisly and bitter sweet secret.

The snow began to creak under their sturdy shoes as they made their first steps off the road and onto the grounds. ,,Still as cold as ever," she muttered, pulling her hat a little more over her ears to protect them from the cold and especially the wind.

A glance to her side, however, let her know that her friend seemed more like an excited child and not a freezing one who still had a long climb ahead of him. ,,As always…but if you're cold, I can keep you warm," he grinned and approached his friend, his hands playing with the bobble on her hat before he pulled the sleep tightly around her neck to keep the cold out.

His green eyes showed love and joy but she knew it had been different a few hours and days ago. She had seen how this journey had weighed on him and how he had tried not to let it show. ,,Josh, my hero," she said, but she knew that if she brought it up now, it would not only ruin his mood but also his world for the day.

She knew how stubborn he could be, she also knew that he always appreciated her help, but now that they were here. It was different. The mountain as they started to walk up seemed bigger, scarier and colder, as if after a year everything would be less inviting, as if she was looking out for them but not in a good way.

But at the latest when Josh took her hand, she felt his cupped hand run over hers, a smile on his lips and always a sweetly cheeky saying and an even worse joke. ,,How about a kiss for the passage," he suggested as they arrived in front of the large iron gate that separated the still wild area from the private one and also told other people they weren't allowed in.

While Josh had climbed over the wall with ease, she knew that with her backpack and not exactly the best grade in sports, it wouldn't be so easy, it was cold, the stones might be icy and who knows what else. ,,A kiss?" she asked curiously, stepping closer to the gate, her hands gripping the cold ice as she was forced to carry her hand and still feel Josh's hand on hers as he stepped closer to the gate.

Green soul mirrors looking back at her, a smile on his lips as he saw her lean forward, but it was he who crossed the last barrier between them.

A brief, intimate kiss, a kiss that she knew would not be the first or the last on this chilly evening. The gate opened shortly afterwards and Josh let her through, putting his arm around her as they walked side by side, laughing and admiring nature to bridge the silence.

A short break in the cable car where she rested her head against his shoulder and he told a little trivial story from his school days about Chris and him. A story of amusement and yet she saw the amusement and the glint of envy in his green eyes.

Eyes that had a goal after they had left the last stretch behind them as they crossed the last few meters and arrived in front of the wooden hut. ,,Frozen like every year," she heard him say as she held the backpacks for a moment and turned away from the forest that lay cold and dark behind them but now saw that Josh had learned.

She smiled as she heard the click of a fire train You've learned not to get a cold from this again she thought back to the last time they were all still standing here outside the door and it had taken so long that the first two days were spent in the beds and they had a cold. ,,And yet you've learned not to make us sick again," she joked, squeezing past him before finally putting down her bags and backpacks and looking inside.

It really hadn't changed, how could it have since the incident a year ago, no one had been here except a few white plush covers had been thrown over the furniture to keep out the dust.

Walking further in and placing her jacket on one of the chairs, she was in the process of removing the platsik covers when she saw Josh still standing at the open door.

Green eyes that seemed to see something in the interior reminded her of what was going on in his head. ,,Josh? Are you all right?" she asked uncertainly, moving from the couch towards him and slowly taking his hand in hers, seeing how he still didn't quite realize where he was.

That it was no longer the tragedy of a year ago, that his medication was supposed to be working. Questions to which she had no answer but suddenly, before she could reach for her cell phone, he seemed to catch himself again.

,,Yes-yes, I'm fine…just distracted for a moment, let's unpack" he interrupted her, ignoring the open door, the snow and the furniture and taking the things they had with them before heading upstairs and down to the basement one by one.

,,Josh…I won't leave you alone again," she said resolutely, closing the door and making a fire in the fireplace before setting to work on the glorious meal that was canned rafioli while she listened to his mumbling in the house from time to time between their conversations.

But he seemed to have caught on, at least for today, as they sat together on the couch again, the TV showing something trivial about bears and their hibernation while they sat under the covers together and enjoyed their feast.

,,You are a true master chef," he praised and took the empty plate from her hand when she saw the smirk on his lips, ,,Well, what can I say, I'm just the best," she replied and put her hands on her hips before she felt Josh pull her slightly towards him.

She held on and she felt his hands grip her tighter and tighter almost as if he was afraid she would disappear, disappear like his sisters, like everything they had experienced.

But she allowed it, knowing that in the time that had passed Josh had gotten help, that in the dark times they had shared together she had been afraid for him when she had seen him at his darkest point and had run away.

But now, never again, she would stay with him, she knew that now, she knew she would stay with him. ,,I'm here Josh…I won't leave you," she reminded him and pulled him even closer to her, feeling a shaky breath come over his lips as he mumbled a thank you before she felt something slightly wet on her shirt.

She didn't have to let go of him to know that he was crying into the crook of her neck, hiding his mind from the house, the world that had taken his siblings from him. ,,Together, the two of us and the other one, we'll get everything sorted out, you hear?" she continued, stroking his back slowly, giving him all the time he needed before she heard him sniffle several times and he slowly detached himself.

My brave darling she thought as she looked into his face her hand I put to his cheek he nestled against it lightly seeking help green teary eyes looking into hers seeking help meeting giving help.

The pain that was behind the green and he seemed to realize now just how much her Josh had suffered…that he had apparently never left the darkness of the night a year ago.

That he hadn't found his way out alone and probably wouldn't if she left him. ,,Thank you for everything for being here and not leaving like her," he murmured, the hint of a smile on his lips that had stopped trembling.

Before she slowly came closer to him, waiting to see if he wanted a kiss, if he needed affection, the moment of calm passed with his slow nod of assent and she kissed him.

She could take away his worries for today at least, because something she knew was healing was the love between them and that, despite the pleasure, the future did not depend on it.

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

[ckret2]

Ya know, as someone who suffers from a physical disability myself who read your recent post, i'm sorta curious for more details on how both Scalene and Bill viewed their shared condition. Scalene in particular, by your post, seems to have had a weird combination of pride in it (how it made her exotic and all) but also, being ashamed of mentioning it and going out of her way to medically correct it in her own child...How would you describe her, and, for that matter, Bill's, feelings?

(For anyone arriving late, this is a follow up on this post here.)

You know how some disabilities end up with a public perception where they're adored for certain "positive" aspects but people still don't understand (and are ableist about) the less positive aspects? Like how depression is romantic when it's "brood romantically like a goth heroine" but gross when it's "can't get out of bed, shower, or meet social obligations"; autism is cute when it's "hand-flapping stimming and getting super interested in a topic" but annoying when it's "noisy stimming & body rocking, won't stop talking about a topic I'm not interested in, and poor social skills"; or the face of albinism is "supermodel with porcelain skin, snow white hair, and crystal blue eyes" and never "cross-eyed sunburned dude perpetually squinting in the sunlight"?

I imagine that her condition is like that, and that she zealously latched onto the positive perception of her condition and worked that for all it's worth; but she wants to be perfect, she wants to be admirable, she wants to be beloved, so the parts of her condition that aren't "popular" have to get hidden and dealt with privately as much as possible. The pageant stage is for showing off her curves; standing funny to try to relieve her side pain is for when people aren't watching.

It's okay to have a disability, but god forbid you look disabled.

Though I wouldn't characterize the medical treatment she got for Bill "going out of her way" to try to correct it. For the most part, things like braces & physical therapy weren't for aesthetics or public perception, but actual quality of life improvements. Without that early intervention, he'd be dealing with serious chronic pain & mobility issues before adulthood.

It's like how if you have significant scoliosis as a child, wearing a back brace during your puberty growing years helps protect you from getting such a crooked back as an adult that you need spinal surgery for the pain. Even if you have no negative feelings about having scoliosis, avoiding a major invasive surgery in 30 years is probably a sound medical decision.

... It just turned out with Bill that more benign issues got swept in with the actual problems.

For Bill's part, the condition is something he'd been led to believe as a child would be a much bigger problem in his life than it ended up being. For one thing, the way the condition presented in him made him a squishy baby, but not as flexible as his mom as an adult. (Though she also worked to increase her flexibility, against every single doctor's advice ever.) And for another, he got turned into an energy being more or less at peak health, after all his childhood medical interventions did their job and before his condition inevitably started to decline in adulthood; and when he doesn't age, doesn't change, doesn't even have a physical body, the condition doesn't progress. He got the best possible outcome, and he feels weird about it.

He'd never claim he's unhappy to not be dealing with chronic pain—that'd be a dumb thing to be unhappy about, and anyway Bill is sooo happy and mentally healthy and nothing ever bothers him ever!!!—but, unspoken, he has a strange sense of loss around it. Another thing missing from the life he "should" have had. Caught in a perpetual limbo where Health Problems™ are always looming 10-15 years in front of him, and have been looming 10-15 years in front of him for a trillion years.

[hunnylagoon]

The Killing Moon

PT1: Camp Spirit

Ellie Williams x Reader

Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.

Premise: You are a camp counsellor who comes back year after year to be at peace in the one place you love the most. Though there is something different in the air, could it be love or maybe an ancient evil you’ve mistakenly awakened?

Warnings: slight mentions of violence / mentions of monsters and cryptids / raunchy humour / spooky?

The Killing Moon Playlist

PART TWO: The Colour Wars

Week One of Summer Camp

Camp Honey Hills is what you could call 'off the radar'. It sat way up past the hills and forests of Oregon, relatively untouched by the urban nightmare of the city. It stayed peaceful and undisturbed as leaves shed from trees and snow covered every inch of ground, but the camp was alive for one season of the year. Even in the quietness of preparing for the campers to arrive you could still hear counsellors laughing with one another and that's how you could tell the camp was waking up from its ten-month slumber.

"Anyone in the White Tail Deer Cabin, over here!" I held my hand up and waved to the kids piling out of the buses, carrying duffle bags bigger than themselves. The first day of camp was always the most stressful, the only thing to get you through was the idea that it would be over soon and we could get to the fun part of summer.

I already had a handful of girls crowding around me, all of them were either ten or eleven; depending on how you look at it, I either got blessed or cursed that I was assigned to a cabin of older girls. While the younger ones were wild and untamable, the older ones tended to be snarky and standoffish, these girls we’re leaning toward wild.

"Hi," I look up from my clipboard to see a scrawny girl, she has long black hair in two French braids, a summer camp staple. "My thing says that Ellie is my counsellor and I don't know who that is."

"All good," I bend down to her height, "It's that pretty girl over there," I point at Ellie, she's talking to one of the girls in her cabin, and her dark eyebrows are furrowed at what I can only assume to be an absurd question. "You're in the Grizzly Cabin, looks like I'll be seeing a lot of you."

The girl doesn't answer me with words, from the way she's looking at me you'd think I just told her that I sat on her hamster. She gives me one last side glance before she struts off and lugs her duffle bag behind her. "That weird girl said I was in your cabin," I hear ever so faintly in the distance, Ellie bites back a laugh.

I shake off the not-so-subtle cruelty of a pre-teen and go back to yelling for all of the girls in my cabin. So far I had seven of the eight campers I was supposed to have, I was in the lead and if I collected all of the girls in my cabin first, that would be more points towards the camp cup. You should know that I take the camp cup very seriously, it really isn't anything more than a trophy that Tommy and Joel give to a cabin but I haven't lost it in the past five years that I've worked here. 

"Is your name Tamar?" I point at a stubby ginger girl, "You look like your name is Tamar," I was on the hunt for the eighth girl in my cabin so I could win the arrival day points. 

"Uh, no," She said, looking as muddled as scrambled eggs "My name is Marcy."

"Then get out of here, Marcy," I look past her and nod at a girl with skin the colour of ebony wood "Are you Tamar?" This girl looks around to double-check that I'm talking to her before she shakes her head no.

"Who's my counsellor then?" Marcy who stands at a maximum of what looks to be a mighty 4'3 is peering into my soul with her icy blue eyes and I almost shudder, all I could think is that someone needed to get this four-foot-nothing girl some contact lenses.

"Your counsellor and cabin should be on the slip of paper that administration gave you."

"I lost my paper."

"Um," I glance around at the other counsellors, collecting their campers. My eyes settle on Abby, she's wearing a Camp Honey Hills T-shirt. She looks like she's got everything more put together and organized than any other counsellor so I decided to dump this kid on her. "It's that blonde girl with the big muscles, you better hurry because she'll crush you if you aren't there in time."

Marcy looks at Abby and then back to me with wide eyes at my words before she scurries away. As I watch her roll up to Abby's group, I quickly realize that there is no way she is in that cabin. Abby got the oldest group, consisting of fourteen and fifteen-year-olds and I was sure that Marcy, with all of her missing teeth, was no older than nine. I avert my eyes to avoid any wrath.

I spot Jesse who is trying to wrangle up his boys who are already rough housing and throwing each other in the dirt. Somehow he always ends up with the returning campers or the savage ones who would surely put my head on a stick before taking a shower. 

"Is this the White Tail Deer Cabin?" A girl with pale skin and brown hair stares me down, she's tall for her age and lanky.

"Are you Tamar?"

"Yeah," She says it like she's annoyed.

"Perfect," I smile, turning to my group "Alright girls, that's everyone," I turn to look in Tommy's direction "I said that's everyone," I enunciate louder to be sure he can hear me, each of my campers gives one another a snide glance. 

Tommy presses his lips together in a thin line and answers me with a thumbs-up. He already knew I would be the first to get my group together, I always was. He and Joel are the camp directors, they were talking about something before I called their attention.

Marcy points at me and Abby looks in my direction, her eyebrows knit together. Great, now I was being snitched on my nine-year-old. Abby calls out my name but I'm already ushering my girls towards the cabins "Who wants to see the cabin?"

In just moments, I'm long gone and walking the trail to the girl's cabins. Breathing one last moment of peace, the earthy bitterness in the air, droplets of last night's rain slipping off leaves. It made me want to savour every moment in the forest I had before summer ended and I had to go back to stuffy dorms and lectures along with people as boring as the city itself. I've never been able to fathom why anyone would dream of the city, of the drug users and creepy men roaming the streets. Concrete everything and headaches from blue light, every day that I was away at college I dreamed of coming back here, I counted down the days I could turn my phone off and disappear from the world for a while.

The boys may have had a shorter walk to their bunkhouse but the girls definitely got the better view. It also didn't hurt that the circle of cabins was right beside the pasture so we woke up to watch horse grazing, unless you don't like horses, then you can just ignore them I guess.

"Okay, ladies," I open the door to our cabin, a little carving of a doe above the doorframe. "This is our cabin, go ahead and claim your bunks, I don't care who goes where, just don't fight about it and no one set up on my bed."

"How do we know which one is yours?" One of the girls, Leslie, asks. 

"Because it's the only one that's set up," I say, bluntly and I see the realization hit her like it was a math equation that finally clicked in her head "You guys can unpack and I'll go over the cabin constitution in a minute."

As my campers piled into the cabin, ravenously fighting over who got which bed, I saw Ellie walking up with her girls. Our cabins were right next to each other, we shared a little porch that Maria decorates with plants while Ellie and I neglect them until they're wilted and we try to save them so we don't get yelled at. Alternatively, dump the responsibility of nurturing plants on one of your campers, kids love to water stuff and feel important.

Ellie's campers begin to walk up the porch and into the cabin, one of her girls runs up to me "I wanna be in your cabin again," Lana pouts, I had her last year and I can't say that I have a least favourite camper but if I could, it would definitely be Lana. "Ellen is so mean."

"Well, maybe she would be nicer if you said her name right." I look up to see Ellie who mouths a 'Thank you'  "Call her Ellie and maybe you two can be nice to each other."

Lana looks between the two of us before wordlessly walking into the cabin in trail of the other girls. "It's shaping up to be an interesting summer."

"We've survived worse," I cross my arms "Do you remember Tucker? That kid Jesse had who managed to tie a piece of dental floss around a wasp and carry it around with him all day like a balloon."

"He was a little weird but he was chill," Ellie jokes, like every other counsellor, she's wearing the Honey Hills T-Shirt and Demin shorts, her auburn hair pulled back into a half up half down style "How about that girl in Dina's cabin who wrote Reid letters pretending to be Priya?"

I laugh "I can't believe it went on so long."

"I can, Reid's a fucking idiot." She says "He pronounces chutney like chut-uh-ney."

"Oh my god, I hate that so much," I was obviously dragging on this conversation, hunting for reasons to talk to her "And the way he says Ibiza and Cuba and like everything." 

"Do you remember when he joined the women supporting women club in high school?"

"Please don't remind me, that was awful," I chuckle "The worst part is that he ran that shit like the navy."

"Are you coming inside?" Chloe pokes her head out the door.

"I guess so," I answer "Uh, I'll see you at the campfire," I tell Ellie before stepping into my cabin and seeing pure chaos. The four bunkbeds that were pristinely set up just hours ago were now clad in each girl's personal bedding, ranging from Chloe's neat colour scheme of light blue and white to Kim's mismatched quilts, fuzzy pillows, and bright orange sleeping bag. They were still working on getting everything set up, specifically getting the fitted sheets onto the twin-sized waterproof mattress. Some of the girls were even beginning to tape up photos of their friends and family from back home. "Wow, looks great girls."

"Can we go to dinner yet?" Leslie asked, her twin braids hanging over her pink hoodie.

"No, it is three o'clock but we will go over the cabin constitution."  A couple of the girls let out groans of disapproval "First you always listen to me, do as I say not as I do. Respect others and their belongings, please don't hurt anyone or yourself. Maintain personal hygiene and do not go anywhere without telling someone where. Also, we have shower schedules, showers are absolutely mandatory, and no one will talk their way out of it. On Friday's we have tuck shop, and everyone gets a twenty dollar allowance for that, no you do not actually touch the money it's part of the camp package, I take your orders and come back with candy. We have campfires every night, breakfast, lunch, and dinner are mandatory to attend even if you don't eat which I strongly encourage you do."

"Do we have to go if we're sick?" Tamar asked me.

"No."

"But you just said it was mandatory."

"It's mandatory if you aren't sick."

"But you said-

"Stop," I clasp my hands together "I know I'm older than you guys but I promise you can tell me and ask me anything." I smile, looking around "Any other questions?"

"Can we swear?" Valentina asks, she's kicking her feet off her bed on the top bunk. Her skin is the colour of copper and she has a little dusting of freckles over her button nose.

"I don't really care just don't do it around other adults and don't tell them that I told you that."

"What's the wifi?" Morgan was typing something on her phone which was by far more expensive than the model I owned. Dina had Morgan in previous years and I wasn't too thrilled to be in charge of the (as she claimed) disrespectful blonde monster sent from hell to ruin her life.

"We don't have wifi, we hardly have service," I tell her "And you aren't even supposed to have your phone here but you can't do anything on it anyways so it doesn't matter."

"Do you have a boyfriend?" Leah chimes in, she's sitting on the ground with Oliver and slowly but surely braiding her friend's hair.

"Not at the moment, no."

"So are you a lesbian?" Olive follows up for her friend.

"Um," I press my lips together, my mind failing me, "I think we're good on questions, who wants a camp tour?" No one says or does anything, they just kind of look around awkwardly "That's too bad, you're getting one."

Everyone gathered around the crackling fire pit on splintered wooden benches. The warm glow of the campfire flickered in the midst of a cool summer night, casting dancing shadows on the faces of worn-out campers who were ready for bed. 

Tommy had given his speech to sike up the kids for the rest of the summer, he made sleeping in the woods sound like a lot of fun. "We're giving you tonight to settle in but I promise that starting tomorrow we are hitting the ground running, activities from morning until dark, this will be a summer to remember," He smiles brightly "I don't wanna babble too long so I'm gonna give the attention to Miles who is going to kick off our campfire by playing the guitar for us."

Miles sat directly across from me in the first row of benches so I could only see him through the orange flames of the fire. "This is an original song I wrote, so far it's untitled but I'm open to ideas," He made himself comfortable with the guitar, readjusting it to sit in his lap properly. 

"What do you wanna bet it's about?" Ellie whispers into my ear from beside me. Since the day cooled into the night, she's thrown on a gray hoodie to keep herself warm. You would be an idiot to ignore how pretty she looks illuminated by nothing more than stray stars in the sky and a campfire.

"I'll put five bucks on sex,"

"Sex?" She raises her eyebrows "I don't think he's stupid enough to sing a song about sex in front of kids, I'm gonna say it's about being a tortured artist."

"It could easily be both," I look down and see Ellie's muddied converse "We break even if he does both." The fire roared before us like our own miniature hell.

Miles clears his throat and lets his curly blonde locks fall over his forehead. Beginning to strum, he made that weird face he makes every time he plays guitar, where he scrunched his eyebrows together "Baby, maybe, I just wanna do you, do you, do you wanna do me? do me underneath the moonlight," He's too lost in his song to see the horror on every counsellor's face "Baby, baby, maybe I will steal you, steal you, just so I can feel you, feel you, maybe that would heal you."

I cover my mouth with my hand to stop me from cackling. The older kids were on the verge of laughing themselves while the younger kids seemed utterly confused. "Holy shit," I mutter so quietly that my words got blown away with the wind.

Ellie didn't try to stop her laughter, just hide it, she buried her head into the crook of my neck so no one could see how red her face was. She was far better off than Dina who was laughing so hard that she was clutching her stomach and nearly falling over, Miles seemed to be oblivious to all of this. In Dina’s defence, it was difficult not to laugh at a song so wildly inappropriate and bad in general.

Miles had far from the best voice, he just sounded like every other white guy who sang Wonderwall at a girl, not to her but at her "Sticky thighs are you wild now or just a memory? I heard your broken cries and looked into your eyes under the moonlight, so do you wanna do me, do me, so I can heal you, heal you, from the inside-

He stops abruptly when Joel takes the guitar away from him "How about Sawyer tells us the camp legend instead."

Those who knew who Sawyer was looked towards him, Miles was trying helplessly to get his guitar back from Joel who was holding it just slightly out of reach. "It's been a while since I've told this so forgive me if-

"No one cares, just tell it," Ashlynn said. She was one of the counsellors who clearly didn't want to be there, which meant all of the campers thought her to be the coolest; in all fairness, she was cool. Ashlynn had bleach blonde shaggy hair, so light that it almost looked white. Her eyeliner was always a little smudged and she was only there to keep the kids alive, she tended to be the first to opt out of group activities and go to bed early.

"Okay well, it starts way back in the sixteen-hundreds, on these very grounds there was a small village," Sawyer put on his best storytelling voice which was just him lowering his voice an octave. "They lived in peace for decades, and throughout all of those decades there was a woman named Abigail who never seemed to age, while all of her friends and family developed wrinkles, their hair turned gray, and their bodies sagged, Abigail still looked nineteen even at her alleged age of sixty-seven." 

The new campers seemed enraptured but returning kids and counsellors seemed bored out of their minds, I even spotted one boy who's been attending this camp longer than I have, mouthing the words of Sawyers tale.

"They accused her of witchcraft and she was shortly exiled far up the hill into what we now call the Honey House. They left her with nothing more than a hunting knife, a canteen of water, the clothes on her back, and a small portion of seeds. The villages burned down her home in town along with everything inside it. If you think that is the end-

"Think again!" Dina cut in, getting up from her spot and squeezing herself beside Sawyer. "With Abigail gone the villagers thought they would be safe but just days after Abigail was exiled, anomalies began to appear-

Sawyer chimed back in "At first they were harmless, pixies, gnomes, jackalopes, nyiads by the rivers and dryads in the trees. The creatures appearing slowly began to appear more and more dangerous and at last, the snatchers arrived-

"Like a muscular and tall emaciated human. The most terrifying creatures to ever be seen, they roamed just outside of the village and lured children in, they slurped the flesh right off of the children's bodies like prey and wore the clothes of their last victim. They have no lips just a bloody gash and when they don't eat, the gash begins to reseal, leaving nothing on their gray faces but large and pale sunken eyes the size of my fist!" Dina clenched her hand into a fist and held it up for everyone to see.

"Their fingers are long and rotted, long curls of claws on each of their ten spindly fingers. The males are devoid of all hair and the females hardly have hair at all, just small plugs of greasy and matted strands. Their teeth are sharper than fangs and are rotten black and yellow, a foul odour escaping each time they open their disgusting gashes of a mouth. Though the snatchers were the most feared among villagers, they were also being terrorized by other creatures, such as pine devils who slithered from the forests at night and attacked families. There was ghouls who would take on the form of the last corpse they devoured and of course, the wampus which was half-man and half-cat, would stalk villagers.”

"Like a furry?" One of the boys from Jesse's cabin peeped.

"No," Sawyer exasperated "Like a scary and intimidating cat-man."

"So does it look more like the Cat in the Hat or like Cats the Musical?"

"It doesn't look like either, it's a terrifying man that is covered in fur and looks like a cat but is also a man."

"So Cats the Musical?"

Dina ignored the comment and continued with the story "After a year the village population had been cut in half and everyone thought it to be the witch, they figured that Abigail had cursed them for exiling her so they lit up their torches at sunset and marched up the hill to the Honey House. Abigail pleaded with them and explained that she hadn't cursed them but during her residency in the village she had warded off each evil spirit and creature with her witchcraft but she no longer could protect the village after they burned her home down and all her supplies inside of it."

After muttering to Jesse to get his cabin in order, Sawyer picked up when Dina left off "The villagers begged for her forgiveness and apologised for their cruel acts in the hope that Abigail would rid them of the monsters, Abigail said she would but in return they grant her return to the village, so the townfolk agree-

"With all her supplies to ward off the creatures gone, Abigail resorts to a blood ritual. She tells the townfolk that they must complete the ritual before sundown. She creates five pentagrams made of sticks and twine. Abigail races around the village to place the pentagrams and avoid the creatures while she does so, the villagers ward the monsters away from her with their torches. At each pentagram, Abigail slices her palm open and squeezes her fist to drip blood onto each one, then she ignites the pentagram with a torch and utters an incantation. She slashes her thighs and calves to get enough blood and in a last-ditch effort, she cuts her wrists open to finalize the ritual," Only the younger kids had been paying any attention to the story, they seemed downright terrified, clinging to one another but trying to play it cool.

"I fail to see how this is any less inappropriate than Miles's song," Cat mutters with one girl huddled into her, her arm slung over the little girl and rubbing her back to soothe her.

"Once she had completed the ritual, Abigail said that no creatures should return to the village. She is bleeding out in the middle of the town square but the town doctor only watches her, and refuses to help so she begs the appointed mayor to bury her beside her mother, he answers by saying 'The graveyard is sacred and we will not let it be tainted by filthy witch blood' in her final breath she plunged for the mayor and drags her bloody palms down his face, cursing him. Once she is no longer breathing her body begins to rapidly age into the appearance of the sixty-eight-year-old woman she was supposed to be. The townsfolk cut Abigail's body into five parts, two legs, two arms, and the torso with the head still attached and buried her on the border of the village."

Everyone sat in silence "Is that the end?" someone asked, though they were in the back row of benches and I couldn't see who it was.

"Yup," I answer "Abigail gets renamed as 'the girl that time forgot' in folklore and she never gets revenge on the townsfolk for betraying her after she laid down her life for them." I had never liked the legend. Young boys thought it was cool and gory and fifteen-year-old girls thought it was poetic and tragic but I hated it to death. Other camps have fun light-hearted legends about playful forest spirits or secret villages of fairies deep in the woods but we got an edgy story about a woman who just wanted to be loved.

"I wish she let the snatchers eat them all," Ellie said the same thing that she says every year, she wasn't wrong, that's how I wished it ended too. 

"Just wait until one eats you," I joke.

"Nah, I'd kick it's ass."

"I'm sure you would but right now you owe be five bucks.”

"No, we didn't pick this legend, it's true," I heard Jesse's voice cutting through the conversations of the crowd.

"Bullshit," Mordecai said, he was one of those kids who thought it was cool and edgy to be an asshole and act older than he was. He despised summer camp but every summer his parents forced him back much to our dismay.

"It's not," Bowie jumped in "The snatchers come back to visit us sometimes." 

"Yeah? I thought Abigail banished them with blood magic."

"The spell is growing weaker with time, it's slowly wearing out and there hasn't been a witch to revive it," Jesse was a good storyteller, he should've been the one to deliver the camp legend. He found a way to enrapture people with his words.

That's when I decided to call it a night for my girls, the longer you stayed at the campfire, the more outlandish stories the guys would tell and I learned my lesson last year that it is very easy to give ten-year-olds nightmares. "Whitetail deer, we're heading out," I stand up.

A few of the girls had groans and complaints while others seemed happy to leave. Ellie looked up at me from where I stood and did the same "Grizzlies, we're leaving too,"

"You're just saying that because you wanna hit it, Williams," Dean said between obviously fake coughs into his fist, causing Ashlynn to bite back a smile and Miles to playfully punch him on the arm. 

"Dean," Tommy gave him a stern look and said nothing else, Dean took the hint and ceased his laughter.

"Headcount," I say looking at the girls in front of me "Chloe, Leslie, Kim, Leah, Tamar, Morgan, Valentina, and Olive." Each of them stands in a close-huddled bundle "Alright, don't go off trail."

The walk back from the campfire was gorgeous during the day and borderline mortifying at night. Since the foliage was so thick you could hardly see the sky if you looked up and at night the little piece of clearing that was the trail was pitch black, we were guided by nothing more than mine and Ellie's flashlights.

The two of us had been trailing behind the girls in silence to keep an eye on everyone until Ellie felt the urge to speak up "Uh, by the way, that thing that Dean said about-

"I don't care."

"You don't?"

"Yeah he's a dick and his cabin looks like a wooden prison cell." 

"It does," She furrows her eyebrows in thought "It’s like he's conditioning his campers for war."

I didn't notice when I did this, it must've been a subconscious thing but I mindlessly reached for Ellie's hand to hold. I used my free hand to keep the flashlight focused on the trail and campers ahead of us. "Sawyer has to walk back to the bunkhouses across the camp with those little monsters."

"Payback for all of the pranks he's pulled with Bowie," Ellie mutters. Sawyer took pride in initiating the prank wars every single summer the same way I strove to win the camp cup. His pranks weren't also lighthearted and fun, he and Bowie organized this prank where Sawyer put a bag over Tyson's head and dragged him to the administration office in the middle of the night and then pretended to shoot Bowie dead in front of him. Tyson quit the next morning and Sawyer got a hefty write-up.

"So are you still talking to Cat?" I ask.

"Nah, that was never gonna work out."

"Because she's too hot for you?” I joke.

"What? No," She whipped her head to look at me "Why? You wanna get with her or something, you have my blessing."

"I'm good, I'm a little preoccupied at the moment."

"Who with?" Her voice dripped with accusation. Ellie's hand clenching just the slightest bit tighter on mine.

"Work? You should know that I don't date at camp, to think that I thought you knew me," I tease her.

"What about that summer with Chandler?"

"That doesn't count," My smile drops and I fight the urge to shiver at the memories. Before I was a counsellor at Honey Hills, I was a camper and I happened to have my first kiss at age thirteen with a boy named Chandler, our braces got stuck together.

"Everyone saw, so it counts," I can't quite make out Ellie's face in the dark but I can hear the smile in her voice "Remember how Joel had to pull out the pliers."

"You need to stop before I sacrifice you to the Honey Hills Snatchers," I look ahead on the trail and I could've sworn my heart stopped "Stop!" I yell and all of the girls look back at me, I drop Ellie's hand "Where is Olive?"

All of the campers look at each other for answers, and then Leah opens her mouth "She saw a rock that was shaped like a heart and when off trail to get it."

"Well I'm not seeing a heart-shaped rock or Olive but it's super safe in these woods so no need to panic." 

"No one's panicking," One of the girls in Ellie's cabin says, she was the same one who called me weird during arrival.

I run one hand down my face in exasperation, using the other to keep the flashlight trained on the girls "Everyone, stay here with Ellie, I'm going to be right back," I look at Leah "How far back did she go off trail?"

She shrugs "How am I supposed to know? I don't have a tape measure."

"Sweet," I answer before marching straight into the pitch-black woods. It was almost scarier to be in the dark with a flashlight instead of no light source, it felt like I had been in a video game or horror movie and I was about to get my throat slashed by a maniac in a mask. 

Every rustle of leaves or snap of twigs made me feel uneasy. I knew the woods were safe like I had told the girls but that didn't stop irrational fear from bringing up stories of cryptids and cuts from murder podcasts. If you ever played that shitty Slenderman game, you'd know exactly what I'm looking at; not Slenderman himself, just an eery forest.

I called out for Olive, my imagination running wild with thoughts of unseen dangers lurking in the shadows. The forest seemed to come alive around me, its inhabitants whispering secrets that only the night could hear.

"Olive?" My voice echoes into the night, I did what I could to ignore whatever fear I was feeling. I had walked through these woods a million times, I knew every pathway better than I knew the city. This forest was like home to me, it didn't feel right to be so on edge.

I couldn't help but jump when something loud snapped beneath my sneaker, instinctively I brought my flashlight down to look at it, moving my foot out of the way. It had been a pentagram made out of sticks, wow really funny, it might've scared me if Ashlynn and Bowie hadn't made dozens of them and laid them around camp last summer to scare the shit out of kids. It had broken in half beneath my weight.

There was a possibility that I was going crazy in the five minutes I was alone in the woods because I thought I heard a rustle but the beam of my flashlight revealed nothing but the dense thicket of trees and the inky blackness beyond.

Something charged behind me, wrapping its skinny arms around my torse and I couldn't help but flinch. "Olive," I turned my head and brought the flashlight to shine down on her "Don't run off in the dark ever again, you scared the shit out of me."

"I'm really sorry, I won't do it again," She said. I tried to pry her off me but she was hanging on like a Koala, eventually, I got her to settle for just holding my hand. "It was stupid."

"Don't beat yourself up too much, you're ginger and that's punishment enough," I was hastily yanking her along so we could get back on the trail and shortly back into the comfort of the cabin "Did you get your rock at least?"

"Yeah," She held her palm out, the rock was an oval with the littlest indent in the middle, but I let her act like it was shaped like a heart. 

"How'd you get so far out?"

"I grabbed the rock and then I saw a cat and I followed it."

Cat? "You must've seen Buckley, he's friendly," I tell her. Buckley was the resident dog at camp, he was probably older than me and wandered around before settling at Tommy and Maria's cabin for the night.

A moment after I dragged the little girl along we broke past the tree line and into the clearing of the trail. I looked around and spotted Ellie and the girls a good 40 yards or so behind. Clutching Olive's tiny hand in mine I walked towards them, flicking my flashlight on and off to catch their attention.

"Finally wrangled her," I let out an almost nervous laugh.

"You said not to go off trail," Tamar wrinkled her nose.

"Yes, Tamar, I know."

I don't know how late into the night it was when I was awoken by every girl in my cabin squabbling with one another. I got up and turned on the flashlight that I kept on my dingy bedside table "What's going on girls?"

"The snatcher is coming to get us!" Leslie cried, and I mean cried. Her face was red and puffy, her eyes were so glassy that they reflected any and all light, hot tears streaming down her round face.

That's when my annoyance turned to concern. Oh god, I was going to kick Sawyer and Dina's asses tomorrow morning and Joel for even suggesting the camp legend even though it made my campers too afraid to sleep year after year. "No, snatchers aren't real, they were made up in the sixteen hundreds to keep kids away from the forest."

"We heard it!" Morgan chimed in.

"Guys it's just the placebo effect, you've convinced yourself that it's real-

I froze when I heard a long scratch down the door and a wet guttural growl. It was low and deep, shaking me to my very core. Whoever was on the other side began to scratch harshly on the door, jiggling the locked door handle. When the handle didn't budge it began to slam itself on the door, each thump louder than the last. It was still groaning and grumbling in a harsh, awful voice.

The girls screamed, Olive and Leah, were hugging each other tightly, clenching their eyes shut. Valentina had a bottom bunk and slipped beneath the bed, covering her eyes with her hands. Leslie (like I had mentioned) was a blubbering mess, crying and hyperventilating too hard to get any words out. It looked like Morgan was trying to call someone on her phone and Tamar had her knees tucked to her chest, hugging herself. Both Kim and Chloe threw their blankets over top of them, pretending to disappear.

The voice sounded again except this time I realized it wasn't just a growl, it was a word "Girrrrllllls." Then it began to scratch the door all over again. When I tell you this voice was the most unsettling thing I've ever heard, I mean it. It was wet and phlegmy whilst being course and grumbly. From the very beginning, I had known it was a prank.

I marched towards the door flicking on the light in the cabin on and dropping my flashlight, before hammering my fists on the door "Fuck off!" I kicked the door, the sound stopped for just a moment before it slammed itself against the door.

Each thud against the sturdy wooden door reverberated through the night like a thunderclap. Whoever was sent to scare us was sure doing a good job. Their breathing was low and heavy almost as loud as the banging of the door itself. "Don't open the door," Leslie heaved out between sobs.

The girls huddled together in terror, their breaths hitching in fear as they strained to discern the source of the horrifying sounds "Girrllllllssss," It grumbled again "GIRRRLLSSSSCOMMOUT," I could see the door moving with the force of whoever was deeply committed to this role. The growling slowly morphed into a screech or maybe it was something more like a hiss.

I was almost at my breaking point, the first day of camp and I already had to deal with these bullshit pranks. I decided to slam my body against the door, matching whoever was on the other side "Go back to your cabin, you piece of shit!" I kept banging my fist and slamming my palms against the door until I heard them scuttle away. 

Reaching for a baseball out of Valentina's open duffle bag, I swung the door open and saw the slender figure of what I assumed to be a teenage boy running to the pasture "Tell Sawyer to eat shit!" I yelled before throwing the ball at the figure, it hit them but it didn't do much, they just stumbled for a split second before disappearing into darkness. 

"What the fuck is that noise?" Dina shouted from her cabin, I could tell I had woken her up from a nice sleep from the way her puffy eyes were squinting in my direction. A few girls poked their heads outside from the doorframe behind Dina.

"What happened?" Now Priya was walking towards my porch. Her long black hair was braided perfectly and she had her silk sleepmask pulled onto her forehead. She still looked put together in a hoodie and bunny pyjama pants.

"Can you guys shut the fuck up?" Ellie opened her door and looked me up and down.

"Be quiet!" Abby shouted from an open window in her cabin. By this point, I was sure everyone in the girl's bunk houses was wide awake and I would be getting a stern talking to by either, Tommy, Joel, or Maria, honestly, I didn't know which was worse. 

Confusion quickly grew on Ellie's face, she lowered her voice "What's going on?"

All eyes were on me for answers but I didn't have any. Despite convincing myself it was a prank, that didn't stop my hands from shaking. "It was one of the boys playing a prank, don't worry about it, he's long gone by now."

"Fucking Sawyer," Dina murmured walking back into her cabin and slamming the door behind her. 

"Are you girls okay in there?" Priya asked, looking at the mortified girls in my cabin, concern etched across her bronze face. "It was a dumb joke, you're all okay now." 

Priya had invited herself into my cabin to offer her solace to the probably traumatized little girls, while she was doing so, I pressed myself flat against the front of the cabin, between mine and Ellie's doors, trying to process how I was going to find a way to make these girls unafraid.

"They do that prank every year and it's almost crazy how it's literally never been funny," I tell Ellie while I stare straight ahead at the pasture they faded away into.

"I wouldn't worry about it," Ellie stands next to me, leaning against the wall "We'll get them back tenfold."

"Those girls are all gonna wanna call their parents and I'm so fucked," I drag my hands down my face. I didn't want to see the look on Joel's face when I tell him about this. There's gonna be sixteen parents who will spam call the camp and verbally harass me over the phone, this wasn't my first rodeo. Sure the prank was shitty but I guarantee no one is leaving this summer with newfound trauma to tell their therapist in a decade. 

"Relax, he's just gonna chew out the boys for pulling this shit again."

I looked at her for a moment, the silence hung between us like birds on a wire before I lunged in for a hug. She was a little taken aback but didn't seem to mind "I just need a hug, don't make it weird."

"Okay, wasn't planning on it," She teased. I took a deep breath in and caught the scent of firewood, petrichor, and axe body spray, an Ellie classic.

“I'm really glad I have you as a friend," I mutter into her shoulder, so quietly that I wasn't even sure she heard me. I let us stay like that for longer than I probably should've before breaking away "Okay, I gotta be a grown-up and deal with this instead of letting Priya do recon."

She nodded pressing her lips together in the same awkward way the socially inept guys from high school did "See you for breakfast?"

"For sure," I smile and walk back into my cabin to see Priya sitting next to Chloe with one soothing hand rubbing her back. "Thanks, Priya, I'll take it from here, you outta get back to your girls."

Priya had this maternal way about her, I wasn't sure what it was but she sure had the ability to nurture. She started at camp last year and I was happy to see her return. She gave her farewells to all of the girls who had only met her minutes ago and were already attached.

"Can I be in her cabin?" Kim asked, she had finally calmed down.

"No, you're in my cabin where we have fun like this every night!" I forced a smile on my face trying to get the girls back into a good mood.

"This isn't fun at all," Tamar, said, bluntly may I add.

"Yeah, this sucks," Morgan added on.

"Guys, listen," I began "I'm super sorry this happened, I need all of you to know that it's just a really bad prank, it happens every year to different cabins. Boy being boys- sorry I shouldn't say that because you guys are young and I know their gender shouldn't excuse their bad behaviour but what I'm trying to say is guys are assholes."

"Yeah, they're assholes!" Olive repeated.

"Maybe don't shout that," I pointed at her "But they are and if you want I will storm down to their cabins right now and yell at them until they cry."

The cabin began to erupt in shouts of no, little girls with wide eyes, frantically shaking their heads. "Please don't leave us alone," Leah pleaded. 

"Okay, I won't, I'll yell at them in the morning. Do you guys want me to leave the lights on?" Everyone answered with a 'yes' to my question.

"Where are you going?" Valentina asked me, peeking out from beneath her thick layers of blankets.

"To my bed?”

"That's too far away from us."

I let out a deep breath "Alright, I'll just bring my sleeping bag onto the floor and I will sleep in the middle, okay?"  Nothing better than sleeping on the hardwood floor in the middle of four bunkbeds and eight ten-year-old girls.

Surrounded by the shallow breathing of girls far too startled to sleep, I decided that tomorrow I would wake up dressed in adventure, straddling a star. Every day that follows I will guide these girls to the moon and back.

A/N: Hi y’all, I’ve been gone a hot minute because of medical issues and whenever I have time to write, I’m too tired to. Anyways, we’re back and better. I know I should probably finish my other series but I’ve had this one drafted for a while and since I’m super sick and basically confined to my house for the next week I’m hoping to get this series done. Thanks for reading!

@readbydayana

[duskstargazer]

[1935]

Henry had heard Edward in the yard, chatting with Percy about his incident in the tunnel. Henry had heard Edward laughing, even as he got to the part where the big green engine was walled in.

Henry thought about how often James told him he ‘didn’t work hard enough’. Probably because James always got stuck with the brunt of the work Henry wasn’t able to do.

But the worst of it all came from Gordon and Saint. Two of the biggest and most powerful engines on the railway - and they seemed to have it out for Henry.

“You’d never catch me stooping to such lows for the sake of attention.” Gordon grunted, disgustedly.

“Mr. Special Steam himself!” Saint guffawed, close behind his bigger blue ally.

Henry’s crew had been called into a meeting with The Fat Director. Henry was left in the snow covered yard, holding in his tears.

Even after everything, even after the Welsh Coal arrived, they still thought him a failure. Maybe they were right.

“I would recommend putting a little less concern into the words of others.” A soft voice murmured, not far away.

“W… who said that?” Henry cringed at the noticeable waver in his voice.

“I am only someone that aims to provide some… much needed assistance.” The voice continued. A yellow glow came from close behind the green engine.

Henry looked around. The telltale sound of chuffing indicated another engine close by.

The green engine looked to his right again, and jumped. A little yellow engine stood next to him. A small engine, like what he’d see at the Works Station. An engine that seemed to float between the rails, instead of standing on them.

“How…” Henry began, in a flummoxed tone, “are you d-”

“Now, do understand that I do not give such favors out frivolously. But, your situation is a delicate one. Not to mention, quite tragic. Just this once, as a courtesy, I will make an exception if you so desire.”

“…”

Henry blinked. Was this real?

“Are you… a genie?”

“Should that better aid your understanding of my offer, I will allow the epithet.”

“I thought genies weren’t real. Just some cautionary tale. Y’know, ‘be careful what you wish for’ ‘n’ all that.

The ‘genie’ gave an unimpressed look.

“Okay. So, am I supposed to-”

“Gaze into my lamp if you so desire, and state your wish.”

Henry took note of the engine’s ubiquitous lamp. The black metal seemed an unnatural dark tone, and the light within - well it wasn’t a standard bulb, but a literal small blue flame.

Henry bit his lip. One one hand, he hardly believed in genies - even in spite of the apparition before him. On the other hand, what really did he have to lose? It wasn’t like anyone was around to see him wishing aloud.

“I…” He swallowed a lump in his tubes, and stared into the flame. “I wish I was a proper engine. An engine that could stand with or against the others and have the physical strength to do so. I wish to be a different engine, and to not need ‘special coal’ anymore.”

As Henry spoke, the flame grew bigger, and burned brighter, as if deriving fuel from Henry’s very words as he spoke them.

“Won’t that be nice.” The engine murmured, in a barely audible tone.

“What?”

“Consider your wish granted, Henry. Good luck, and may your fears regarding signals, junctions, and frosty weather be overcome.”

“My what? I’m not afraid of- wait, how do you know my name?!”

The engine began glowing a blinding gold, then seemed to explode into light. Henry shut his eyes.

When he opened them, it was as if the golden engine had never been there at all. Henry had to pause, and ask himself if any of it had been real.

He heard people walking, crunching through the snow. His crew returned.

“Well, Henry,” said the driver, “we’ll be out early tomorrow. We’ve got to take the Flying Kipper.”

[lqveharrington]

Silver Roses & Fallen Snow

8: The Planning (series masterlist)

summary: You finally see Coriolanus for the first time in weeks, but it shakes the both of you to the core.

pairing: young!coriolanus snow x fem!reader

includes: explicit thoughts, explicit language, mentions of death, mentions of cheating

wc: 3.4k+

a/n: this series is the epitome of my life 🤍

To say you were shocked to see Coriolanus back from peacekeeping twenty years early was an understatement. The last time you heard about Coriolanus was a week ago and it was barely any information. You guessed that he could climb his way back up the ranks, but you would never know unless someone told you… However, you kept your shock from altering your facial features, but that didn’t stop Coriolanus from approaching your table. Luckily, Festus came back from grabbing his own drink before a certain blonde reached you.

“Hey, we have to go.” You shut your planner as he began to sit down, making him throw you a skeptical look. You opened your mouth, looking for a random excuse to leave the outing you wanted to take. “I… uhm, I forgot I have to meet Clemmie for the gala plans.”

He raised his brows in surprise. You rarely forgot about something, especially when you kept your planner with you every second since your father moved up the engagement. So Festus knew you were avoiding something with the way you kept your gaze locked on his and how you kept spinning the ring on your finger. “Okay. But just so you know, Clemensia won’t give away any details.”

You tilt your head with a faint smile on your lips. That part was true. Clemensia loved planning parties, so you hired her to become the Lovett family’s official planner. You took Festus’ arm when he offered it, quickly grabbing your hot chocolate and planner in the other. Unfortunately, before you could take a step out of the cafe, a voice called out to the both of you. A distinct voice that made you flinch at the mere sound.

Festus widened his eyes. So that’s why you wanted to leave. He didn’t have any issues with the young Snow himself, but Festus respected your wishes. He squeezed your arm in comfort and turned around with a tight-lipped smile. “Coriolanus! When did you get back?”

“Just a couple days ago. Dr. Gaul has kept me under her wings since I’ve arrived.” Coriolanus shrugged his shoulders when he came face to face with the both of you. He glanced over at you, frowning when you kept your gaze on your paper cup. He watched you for a little longer, making the silence unbearable for each party. Coriolanus cleared his throat, looking back at Festus. “How have you been?

He felt you squeeze his arm, opting to keep the conversation short and sweet for your sake. “It’s been pretty busy.”

Coriolanus tilted his head at the curt answer. He sent the male across from him a puzzled look before responding, “I won’t keep you two long since you looked like you were going to leave. I have to head back before the Plinths rebuke their offer anyway.”

You furrow your brows at his words, finally looking up. His words intrigued you, but you suddenly felt suffocated. Your breath hitched in your throat. You didn’t take a good look at Coriolanus earlier and now you wish you hadn’t looked up at all. He was fucking jacked. What the hell were they feeding him in District 12? Sure, he looked… Pretty much the same. But his build got much bigger and his hair was still growing out from its buzz cut; Of course, you couldn’t help but eye him when he wore such a revealing shirt. You wondered how much stronger he got and how he could—

No. You stopped wondering. You weren’t dating him anymore. Feeling your face warm at your thoughts, you flickered your eyes back from his form to his — now — sapphire-colored eyes. A small smirk played on his lips as he caught you in the act, making it harder for you not to roll your eyes at his antics.

Now was not the time to think about your past relationship together. Even when he looked so fucking hot. You averted your eyes again, mentally cursing him for having such a strong effect on you.

Coriolanus tilted his head down as he smiled to himself. You had shown your cards to him, yet he knew why you didn’t act upon your feelings. He knew that you hadn’t forgotten about his past actions during the Games, causing him to act differently when interacting with you. He spoke softly when he finally acknowledged you instead of just staring — voice laced with an emotion you couldn’t place.

You grip your planner tighter, heart constricting at the sound of your name falling from his lips. Of course, his voice did something to you too. You respond politely, catching a glimpse of his dimples before it disappears. “Coriolanus.”

“How have you been?” He glances at the ring adorning your finger again.

This time, you catch him staring at the fine piece of jewelry, making you hide it once more. “I’ve been okay.” You say quietly. Not even a second later, your mouth went dry, your mind slowly wandering back to sinful thoughts when you catch his hand rubbing his jaw in thought.

Another awkward silence encapsulated the three of you. You and Coriolanus stared at each other, lost in a multitude of thoughts. It’s been over a month since you last interacted with one another and it wasn’t like you both left off on a good note.

Festus glanced between the two of you before clearing his throat when he saw your eyes glaze over. “Sorry to cut our conversation short, but we need to get going. Clemensia is waiting for us back at Lovett Manor.”

Coriolanus snapped his head back over to the male, forgetting he was present. “Go ahead, I’m still waiting on drinks for Tigris and Grandma’am.” His regret-filled eyes met your gaze again, softly speaking. He didn’t really want you to leave yet. Not when he just saw you again for the first time in a while. “It was nice catching up with you.”

You gave him a sad smile and nodded, following Festus out of the cafe. Seeing Coriolanus Snow again was not on your planner.

“Tigris?” Coriolanus entered the Snow penthouse with drinks in tow. He knew by your reaction at the cafe that you were in touch with Tigris more than he thought you would be. Passing the rebuilt and redecorated rooms of the penthouse, he continued to call out for his cousin. He knew he could get more information about you out of her. “Tigris?”

“I’m in here!” The blonde shouted from her new sewing room that was all bought for by Strabo Plinth. She dabbed at the sheen of sweat on her forehead as Coriolanus entered with her tea. “Oh, thank you, Coriolanus.”

He hummed and pulled a chair out, straddling the seat as his cousin sipped the hot tea. “You’ll never guess who I saw today.”

“Who?” She gave a satisfied sound as the hot liquid soothed her throat.

Your name fell from his lips effortlessly — a turned-down smile replacing his cool display. Tigris chalked it up to her cousin missing you dearly, making her rub his back comfortingly.

“How is she?” Tigris sat across from Coriolanus. She watched his smile widen just a little before it dropped. “Coriolanus?”

He snapped his eyes back onto hers, “I was wondering the same thing, Tigris.” Coriolanus clasped his hands together to stop his fidgeting, urging himself not to reach for the silver rose tucked underneath his shirt. “It occurred to me that when you called me, that wasn’t her first time speaking with you after I left. She wouldn’t have been too comfortable looking for you in the coffee shop if she didn’t.”

The older blonde raised her brows, stunned at her cousin’s sudden accusation. Although it was quite correct, she felt that he would do something that wouldn’t be lawful if she admitted to talking to you more often than he thought. “Well, we spent the afternoon catching up, Coriolanus. It had been weeks since I last saw her in person before you called.”

Fuck it. He reached for the necklace and twisted the charm between his fingertips. “So you called her? What did she tell you?”

“If you’re so interested in her life, ask her yourself.” Tigris stood up and walked over to the sewing machine, rubbing her temple in exhaustion. “Coriolanus, I’m tired. We had to sign off on all the contractors for the penthouse and then move back in within a week. They’re still refurbishing the place as we speak.”

“I would ask her myself, Tigris. But she won’t listen. She wanted to leave the second she saw me.”

“Maybe because you cheated on her!” Tigris put her hand out toward him. She wore a look of exasperation as he looked at her, stunned by the words. “Coriolanus, if I were her, I too would avoid the person who cheated on me. Especially when that person said they have loved me since we were children.”

Coriolanus stared up at her like she was insane for shouting at him. Yes, he cheated on you. But it was all for you wasn’t it? He could have come up with a better idea, but he was desperate to win your father over for you. And it wasn’t like he sought Lucy Gray out in the Districts. Sejanus clearly did so. However, Tigris made her point. He knew he had to gain your trust once more; he just didn’t know how.

“Now get out, Coriolanus. I need to finish this dress before the gala.”

Oh. He thought, pushing out of the chair. He quickly shut the door and took quick strides to his room, glancing at the photo on his desk. The gala might just work.

“Hey, didn’t I say not to do that? You could seriously get hurt if you fought with someone untrained.” Finn caught your wrist in a swift motion, eyebrows creased at your tense body and face. “What’s wrong?”

You huff and push yourself out of the rink, leaning against the pole. “Did you know Coriolanus is back from peacekeeping?”

He raised a brow and tossed a water bottle toward you. “No, thanks for the information on blondie though.”

Rolling your eyes, you continue with your spiel. “Anyway, we kind of ran into each other at the cafe. God, it was so awkward, Finn! He kept looking over at me when he would talk to Festus, and I swear, he purposely smiled with his dimples to get a reaction out of me. And when I tell you that he’s like—“

“Uh-huh. No, keep talking about how much you like your ex.”

“What?” You throw him a dirty look. What could you have possibly said that made him think you liked Coriolanus?

“Well, you kept talking about him for starters. I mean, all our conversations end up with you talking about him at some point.” Finn nudged your arm, watching you glare at him with intensity. “You asked!”

“I didn’t mean to say it out loud.” You mutter, spinning the ring on your finger again. It wasn’t your fault Coriolanus looked different…

Stop! You’re not dating anymore!

Finn gives you a worried look as a scowl makes its way to your face from your thoughts. “If you need a reminder, he cheated on you. He broke your trust when you thought everything was going to be fine.”

That sobered you up fast. Coriolanus cheated on you with a tribute. From District Twelve. Sure he apologized many times, but you couldn’t bring yourself to trust him after that. What if he cheated again? What if he lies to you again? No, your broken heart couldn’t handle another day where it could be back-stabbed and absolutely shattered once more.

“Are you okay?” Finn tapped your hand as you snapped out of your dazed look.

You nodded and cleared your throat. You could worry about Coriolanus any other time. Right now you had to train. Especially when the gala was fast approaching. There were other things that you needed to get right before fixing other mistakes like what you were going to do about Sejanus’ death.

His death was surprising. He had been careful when talking about his rebel plans with others he could trust. Which meant someone had betrayed him. But who? Of course, Sejanus wouldn’t tell another peacekeeper about his plans — that was too risky. That meant someone in the District betrayed him. You just had to figure it out.

You relayed your thoughts to Finn, who gave you an intrigued look.

“How are you going to do that?” He blocked your jabs, the mind weighing the options of the set plan.

“Well,” You roll your shoulders before aiming toward his boxing pads again. “The Lovett Gala is coming up, and my father requests more staff as he intends to invite most of the Capitol Elites. He was going to hire more lower-class Capitolites, but since he felt like being… Generous, he decided that he was going to hire those from the poorer Districts.”

He raised a brow, “You really thought this all the way through.”

“Of course.” You give him a quick smile. “And you’ll have an invite. You won’t have to sneak in with the staff.”

“How kind of you.” Sarcasm dripped from Finn’s voice. “I have to put on my best suit.”

“You own a suit?” You tilt your head to the side.

Finn swept your legs, “And your session is officially done for the day.” He pulled you up when you apologized, squeezing your arm. Finn removed his boxing pads as you quickly lost the gloves. He knew you were joking, but his advice seemed fitting for both your plan and your smart mouth. “Please think about your choices before you commit. I don’t want you to be pushed into trouble.”

You gave a curt nod, half listening to his words. Trouble was nothing your mind and heart couldn’t handle.

For weeks, you had been looking for something to take your mind off Coriolanus. And you thought boxing solved your issues, but seeing him reset your entire progress. You were thrown off guard, and the only way to deal with the issue was to face it. But how could you? Coriolanus is, was, the epitome of your entire life. And somewhere deep in your heart, he was still buried there. No, you needed to avoid him for as long as you could.

“Clemmie, I don’t think we need two orchestras.” You read her notes and glance at all the other photos and drawings scattered around your room. When you don’t get a response from her, you look up to find her running around your room to find another pair of notes. “Clemensia, you need a break.”

She stops shuffling through a stack of papers and looks over at you with a quizzical expression. “The gala is in exactly one week, and you’re telling me to stop?” The raven-haired girl flicks through the papers before finding the one she needs, handing you a copy.

You read through the paper, finding it to be an invitation list of all the prestigious Capitolites. Some you recognized; some you didn’t even know existed until now.

“We can’t stop until everything is sorted out. And your father requested that at the end of the gala, you and Festus need to make an announcement on your engagement since you didn’t make the papers when he proposed.” She waved a hand in the air and scrunched her nose. “Honestly, your father is kinda crazy. Sorry.”

“He is.” You shrug but continue to scan over the list, a small frown tugging at your lips at Coriolanus’ name. You twist the end of the paper with your finger, hoping that this is just a draft. “Are we inviting all of these people?”

“Uh,” Clemensia glanced over at your paper and then back at hers. She pulled a face before flickering through another stack of papers. “I think so. That was the list your father handed me a couple of days ago.” She handed you a small, card stock paper. “These were the invitations he chose to be sent out. They just need to be hand delivered today and you should be getting RSVPs as early as tomorrow morning.”

You carefully take the navy blue invitation from her hand, running your fingers over the indents of the words. “But why would my father invite the Snows? I thought he hated them?”

She let out a sigh, “Honestly? I think it's a given that he has to invite them. If not, there would be questions. The Snows and the Lovetts have been bound together since before you were born.”

Raising a brow, you eye the invitation again, slipping it underneath your comforters. “Right, we have to keep appearances up.”

“Mhm,” Clemensia put her hands on her hips and clicked her tongue at the mess. “I really need to get more organized.” She continued to push the stacks and drawings out of her reach, still looking for a specific piece of parchment.

“Anyway, since you’re visiting the modiste later this week, you need a new dress for the gala. Your father wants blue for the theme, but since you’re the hostess, you can pick whatever you please to stand out.” She smiles when she finds the parchment, quickly shoving it into your hands. “Do you like it?”

Your eyes widen at the drawing. The intricate design of your manor’s interior for the gala was beautifully done. “I love it. Clemmie, it’s amazing!”

“Thank you.” She did a faux bow and grinned wider. “All I needed was the approval from you to get this design done.”

You squeeze her hand, “It’s beautiful. The Capitol will be dying to know who designed this all.”

She gladly accepts the compliments before switching back to head planner mode. “The invitations are being sent out right about…” She eyes the clock on your wall before nodding her head. “Now.”

The doorbell rang at the Snow Penthouse, causing Coriolanus to lose his train of thought. He was trying to read a book covering the subject of animal mutants for Dr. Gaul but the thought of seeing you earlier kept his mind occupied. He wanted so badly to apologize in front of the entire cafe, ready to beg on his knees for your forgiveness — but he had more dignity than that. He wasn’t some dog. Instead, he believed he found another way to talk to you. One where you knew you couldn’t escape right away.

The sound of the doorbell ringing again echoed through the penthouse, making Tigris roll her eyes at the impatience of the person. “Coriolanus, can you see who’s at the door?”

He begrudgingly stood up from the sofa and ran his fingers through his short hair, smoothing out any creases in his dress shirt. Coriolanus flung the door open and gave the Avox a bored look, “Yes?”

The Avox handed him the navy blue envelope, nodding at him before taking their leave — leaving a confused Coriolanus. He flipped the envelope to see the Lovett seal, curiosity filling his mind. He shut the door and peeled open the envelope, eyes scanning the cardstock. So your father did invite the Snow family still. Coriolanus bit the inside of his cheek and made his way back over to Tigris, waving the invitation at her. She furrowed her eyebrows at him, tilting her head in agitation.

“What?” She placed her clothes down as she stared at the invitation with zero interest.

“This was at the door, I thought I should let you know.” Coriolanus handed her the cardstock with confusion. “I didn’t think they would still invite us.”

Tigris huffed, “Coriolanus, her father cares about their image as much as we do. They’ll invite us because if they don’t, everyone will wonder exactly what happened with you two. No one knows the full extent.” She handed him the invitation back as she continued to make a silver dress. “Do you wish to go?”

“I was going to ask you that. It’s addressed to you.” He leaned against the doorway with an annoyed look on his face. “I can’t accept it with your name on it.”

“Just RSVP and I’ll take you.” She stopped the urge to roll her eyes at how dense Coriolanus could get whenever the conversation would switch to you. “Honestly…” She muttered as he walked out of the room with the invitation clutched in his right hand.

So the Lovett Gala it was.

Coriolanus’ plan was officially set into motion and your plan was just getting started.

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[vivwritesfics]

Poly!Landoscar where they’re on winter break and reader takes them to her home town which is super snowing, ski/snowboard village type vibe? (I’ve got Colorado in my head for some reason🤣) Maybe she’s got a really big family and they all share a cabin for a holiday in the winter?

Making my way through blurb requests tonight (don't be surprised if this is the only one I end up doing)

Snow. It didn't often snow in England, where Lando spent a lot of his Christmases before he met his partners. It didn't snow where Oscar was from, either.

So, when Y/Ns family invited the boys up to the family cabin in Denver, they jumped at the chance. A snow day was exactly what they needed this Christmas.

With the length of the flight, Y/N, Lando, and Oscar decided it best to spend at least two weeks up there. A week with Y/N's family and a week in the cabin.

During their week in Y/N's home, the three of them shared Y/N childhood bed. It was a squeeze for the three of them, who were used to one of those bigger than normal beds. But it was cosy and comfortable in the cold climate that the boys weren't used to.

Lando and Oscar were like kids out in the snow. Lando threw snowballs as Oscar tried his best to build a snowman (but Lando kept aiming for the snowman, hitting the head off of the body). When Oscar was finish, Y/N came out with a spare hat and scarf. She wrapped it around the snowman, standing back to admire Oscar's work.

On the second week on their holiday, the throuple, along with Y/N's parents, set off for their holiday cabin. Y/N's siblings and families were to meet them their. Her brother and her sister both had families of their own, partners they had married and a gaggle of kids each.

Y/N had warned Lando and Oscar about the gaggle of kids on the drive up. "They are wild, feral demons," she said, driving behind her parents. "Don't let them bully you, okay? Because, you show one sign of weakness, and they'll be on you."

"Should we be scared?" Asked Oscar. When Y/N drove (which wasn't very often, only when they were in the states for insurance reasons), Lando would be in the passenger seat and Oscar would be in the back. If it was Oscar driving, Y/N was beside him and Lando was in the back. And, if it was Lando, Oscar was in the front with him.

"Terrified, more like," Y/N answered as the cabin came into view.

The cabin was a part of one of those skiing villages. It was owned by the entire family, Y/N's parents, aunt and uncles on both sides. They just had to stay coordinated enough to ensure it was being evenly shared.

Y/N parked up beside her parents. "Game plan is we settle in and hit the slopes," she said and pushed open the car door.

The boys grabbed their things from the back of the car. They didn't let Y/N carry anything as she led them into the cabin, following her parents.

When they got inside, Y/N's parents were stood in the foyer. "We've been thinking," said Y/N's mother as the boys set their things down, "that, because there are three of you, you guys should get the master bedroom."

Y/N's brows furrowed. "Are you sure?" She asked them.

With his jaw clenched, Y/N's father nodded his head. "Just remember, we'll be in the room next door," he said, staring past her, at Lando and Oscar.

After they unpacked their things, Y/N took the boys skiing. They started on the easiest slope, since Lando and Oscar didn't have as much skiing experience. They had some, but not a lot.

Once the skiing was done, Y/N took Lando and Oscar to the café in the skiing village. She'd been going there since she was a kid, most of the staff being friends she knew from high school.

After ordering three rounds of hot chocolate, Y/N joined the boys by the window. As she sat down, they were by the window, watching as the snow fell. "This is amazing," Lando muttered as he cupped his hand around his hot chocolate.

***

Y/N's siblings had arrived that evening. It had taken the kids three hours to break Lando and Oscar.

Y/N and her siblings had all been ice skating since they were children. The sisters had played hockey while growing up and now the kids did the same.

As soon as they'd met Lando and Oscar, the kids had been trying their best to get them to take them skating. It didn't matter that they couldn't skate, but it was what the kids wanted. They'd been screaming, jumping up and down on the sofa as they screamed at Lando and Oscar.

And then the boys agreed.

The kids settled down for the night, with the promise of going skating the next day.

The skating... wasn't going well. Lando and Oscar were like bambi on the ice, with the kids skating circles around them. They were tripped up, falling flat on the facing several times.

Y/N's laugher wasn't helping. She stood on the side lines, watching and high fiving the kids as the skated past her.

And then she got onto the rink. "Osc, grab a hold of Lando," she said as she grabbed Lando's hand. Oscar placed his hands on his shoulders as Y/N began skating backwards, pulling them along. She was constantly looking around, keeping an eye on her nieces and nephews.

They managed to trip her up once, with her, Lando and Oscar falling into one pile. But they didn't mind, the three of them erupting into giggles. "Kind of the best snow day ever, right?" She asked and leaned forward to kiss Lando.

She kissed Oscar, too, the kids behind them letting out a series of 'ew's.

[redux-iterum]

Charred Legacy: Chapter Twenty-Nine

(AO3 counterpart here.)

Fireheart was grateful for the snow that arrived that morning, powdering the territory and covering up the tracks he and Cloudpaw had left on their visit to Rosy. They had arrived home a little late—a bit wet from rolling in snow to get the scent of Rosy off of them—but no one said anything to them about it, merely greeted the pair and went about their business. Cloudpaw, luckily, stayed quiet and ate his dinner like nothing was amiss.

“He’s getting taller already,” Ravenwing remarked while he, Fireheart and Greystripe sat together, observing Cloudpaw chatting with Brightpaw and comparing their prey.

Greystripe swallowed part of his pigeon. “Maybe he’ll catch up to his width.”

“It’s just his fur, really,” Fireheart said. “He’s smaller than he looks. That coat is really long.”

Greystripe tilted his head, watching Cloudpaw. “Huh. Longer even than ThunderClan’s usual. Interesting.”

“His pelt doesn’t change his height, though,” Ravenwing said, gesturing with a flick of his paw. “He’s going to be bigger than you, Fireheart.”

Fireheart twitched his whiskers. “Who isn’t in this Clan?”

Ravenwing snorted and Greystripe chuffed, reaching over to ruffle Fireheart’s head like he was a young apprentice. Fireheart shoved at his broad paw with no real bite, Greystripe jokingly yanking it back like he’d been struck.

After a small pause, Greystripe spoke. “It’s pretty wild that you both have apprentices. I mean, I wouldn’t have expected that when we were apprentices, or even first graduating warriors.”

“It’s big, yeah.” Fireheart chewed at his mole’s remaining foot. “You should get in on this, Greystripe! It’s really fun. I mean, it’s work, but it’s good work.”

Greystripe shook his head. “Oh, boy, no way. I am the last cat that should get an apprentice. I’d have no idea what to do.”

Ravenwing looked up at him. “No, the last one who should get an apprentice is Darkstripe, but he has one. You could do it.”

“Eh.” Greystripe lolled his head to the side. “Maybe one day. Not now, though. I’d be floundering.”

“It would mean that we could all train our apprentices together,” Fireheart offered. “And that’d be fun. It’d be like when we were training!”

“Oh, that’s a good idea.” Ravenwing turned to Fireheart now. “We should take Cloudpaw and Snowpaw out together tomorrow. We can try hunting at Sunningrocks. I’ve been meaning to take Snowpaw there anyway.”

Fireheart brightened up. “Let’s do it! Greystripe, do you want to come?”

“To Sunningrocks?” Greystripe said dryly.

“Oh.” Fireheart’s mood fell a bit. “Right, yeah. Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about me.” Greystripe flicked his tail in a dismissal. “We can go out another time. Speckletail’s probably going to put me on a patrol tomorrow, anyway.”

“We can change where we’re going—” Ravenwing started.

“It’s cool, bud,” Greystripe said, firm but friendly. “Go ahead. Tell me about it when you get home. I’ll try to find some prey for you all while I’m out.”

Ravenwing and Fireheart exchanged glances, Fireheart saying, “If you’re sure, then.”

“I’m sure.” Greystripe went for his pigeon again, ending that conversational trail with a chomp.  

The next evening, the pair of mentors and their pair of apprentices set out early at an easy trot—fast enough to cover a distance without being too brisk for conversation.

“This is a good exercise for you,” Fireheart told Cloudpaw. “Can you talk to Snowpaw without Ravenwing telling you what he said?”

Cloudpaw balked. “Yeah, of course! I’ve got it!”

Snowpaw, watching his mouth, glanced up at his own mentor questioningly. Ravenwing signed what Fireheart could tell more or less translated to, Talk to Cloudpaw without us. Snowpaw nodded at this and turned his head to the smaller apprentice and started signing. Fireheart caught “walk” and “prey” before he looked ahead again, tail high.

“We got lucky,” Ravenwing said suddenly, quietly. “He’s quick to learn and he’s got a good attitude. If he argued about anything, I don’t know how well teaching him would go. Still…”

Fireheart blinked. “Has there been some problem in training?”

“Not anything that’s his fault.” Ravenwing shut his eyes briefly, face lined in concern. “He’s doing great on pretty much everything. But every time we go out into the forest, especially now…” His eyes went pale. “All I can think about is a dog sneaking up on him, with its scent hidden by the snow. He wouldn’t hear it crashing through the bushes. By the time he smelled it, it’d be too late.” Another drop in volume. “I don’t know if he can ever be out here alone.”

Fireheart tilted his head in a sympathetic half-nod. “Maybe when it’s spring, he could smell enemies better.”

“Among everything else, sure, I guess, but they could smell him too,” Ravenwing murmured. “That’s the main thing that I’ve been thinking about—even as quiet as he is, he doesn’t know when he’s being loud. He could push right through a fern without thinking about it and he’d alert every animal in the woods to his location. And it doesn’t help that with his fur, he sticks out in every season except now.”

“Frostfur and Whitecloud do, too,” Fireheart said reassuringly. “They’ve been just fine all their lives.”

“But they can hear,” Ravenwing returned. “And– well—”

He peeked back at his apprentice, who had just signed something that had Cloudpaw chuffing hard.

“Frostfur told me she had a brother,” he continued to Fireheart. “He was deaf, too. And he just walked into the woods without telling anyone where he was going, and– and they never saw him again.”

Fireheart’s eyes widened. “She had a brother? She’s never said anything about him.”

“It’s a bad memory for her. She only brought it up because I asked about deafness in her family.” Ravenwing shivered. “And now all I can think about is Snowpaw forgetting to ask me to go with him one night, and not seeing a shadow or smelling a fast-approaching scent…” The shivers intensified. “I know I need to let him grow on his own. I know. But that’s so much easier to say than to do with a special apprentice.”

His eyes cast downward, his ears back against his head, he looked so much smaller, like he was trying to compress himself as he stood. Neither of the apprentices had noticed the shift in his mood, but Fireheart could hardly bear it. Gently, he reached his tail over and pressed it against Ravenwing’s side, the best he could do without leaning right into him mid-walk.

“I’ll tell you what I told Frostfur,” he said soothingly. “You’re not the only one who can take care of him - if he even really needs to be taken care of in the future. He’ll be alright. We’ve got all of ThunderClan to assure that.”

 Ravenwing didn’t say anything, but his head lifted a bit and his ears relaxed. He sighed out a slightly shaky breath. “…Okay.”

Fireheart gave him an encouraging blink and lifted his tail away once the stress disappeared out of his friend’s eyes.

The pair went quiet after that, both half-listening to Cloudpaw chattering about something to do with battle practice. Fireheart glanced back once to see Snowpaw’s ears and whiskers twitching out a story about fighting a cat (going by the flick of exposed claws, he seemed to be referring to Thornpaw), and Cloudpaw’s eyes shining in amazement.

When they reached Sunningrocks, a singular, stretched-out hole in the clouds overhead hovered directly above the river. The stars, thickly populated, shone down exactly on the water. With the usual white splashes where the current hit a rock, the effect was quite dazzling. Cloudpaw even stopped for a moment to stare at it with a whispered, “Wow…”

“This is Sunningrocks,” Fireheart said to him, pausing in his steps. “How do you like it?”

Cloudpaw recovered enough to look around, turning his head this way and that to examine the long stretch of land. He finally said, “It’s so open! Why didn’t we come out here before?”

Ravenwing gave Fireheart a cheeky look. “Your uncle really hates it.”

“I don’t hate this land,” Fireheart protested. “I hate that anyone even fights over it. It’s just some rocks—”

“We are not getting into this tonight.”

“Then why did you bring it up?!”

Cloudpaw had a brief look of worry that he lost as soon as Ravenwing chuffed and held up a paw in submission, saying, “Alright, sorry. He asked.”

Fireheart grumbled indistinctly and started for the water, crooking his tail for Cloudpaw to follow him. They stopped at the shoreline, Cloudpaw experimentally tapping the water with a paw and making a face when his pads came back wet.

“RiverClan really swims in this?” he asked. “It’s super cold. Wouldn’t they be wet all night?”

“Our fur is meant for it!”

The toms looked up (Snowpaw lagging behind). Over the crest of the slope leading down to the river, a colorful group of RiverClan warriors padded closer. Most of them looked surprisingly delighted. Their leader, the ginger-and-brown calico Leoparddawn, glared across the river, eyes zeroed in on Fireheart.

“We stay nice and dry close to the skin,” a brown tortoiseshell added, calling over the current. “It’s just the outside of our fur that gets wet.”

Fireheart lifted his tail. “Good evening! Is that you, Mosspelt?”

“Fireheart! Good to see you!” The tortoiseshell took a step into the water, eyes glittering with curiosity. “Who’s that lovely point you’ve got with you?”

“Oh—” Fireheart nodded to the cat in question. “This is my nephew, Cloudpaw. He came to live with us.”

“How generous of your Clan,” a grey-and-white molly said. “Didn’t think they cared about any kittypets. Little lad, you’re far too pretty to be living in the forest! Where’d you get a coat like that?”

Cloudpaw didn’t appear to know what to do with the many eyes on him. “Um… m-my father, I think. I used to be all white.”

“Ha!” The grey-and-white molly trilled. “You kittypets never fail to amaze me. I’ve heard about the crazy colors you all come in. What a lucky cat you are! I’d give a lot of fish to be pointed.”

“Vain, vain, vain,” a black tom said, shaking his head in disappointment. “You’re going to give ThunderClan something to lord over us.”

Cloudpaw still looked a bit startled and lost, but at Fireheart’s nudging he bobbed his head, saying uncertainly, “Um, thank you.”

“Look at the little thing, you’ve made him shy.” Mosspelt gave the patched molly a light shove with a paw.

“My apologies, kittypet.” The molly exaggeratedly bowed in submission.  “You’re fine where you are. Unfortunately.”

“Enough of that,” Leoparddawn said sharply. “We’re supposed to be on a patrol.”

The black tom rolled his eyes with a wink to the ThunderClan cats. “She’s got us parodying you, can you believe it?”

Fireheart squinted jokingly. “Are you telling me you’re actually doing hunting and border patrols now? Not just taking walks and lounging on rocks?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe!” Mosspelt sighed dramatically. “I don’t know how you ThunderClanners could enjoy this brisk pace. I can’t even look in the water for a spirit without someone yelling at me.” Her eyes creased in amusement. “But I suppose Crookedstar made her deputy for a reason.”

Thank the stars Greystripe isn’t here, Fireheart thought at the glare on Leoparddawn’s face darkening into a fierce scowl. She’d probably swim across the river to kill him, if she meant what she said back then…

Ravenwing spoke now. “Is there any news on the dogs?”

“Thank the Three and all their halls, we have nothing,” the black tom said. “I haven’t a clue where they could be. Perhaps they’ve run off for greener pastures.”

“We can’t find them, either,” replied Ravenwing, but he didn’t look particularly happy.

Leoparddawn jerked her chin to her followers. “We’ve found out who was talking. We need to get back to work.”

The RiverClan cats groaned in unison, waving their half-tails farewell and trotting back up the slope after their deputy. Fireheart called goodbyes and turned to Cloudpaw and the approaching Snowpaw.

“They’re nice, aren’t they?” he asked.

Cloudpaw nodded. “They’re kinda weird, but I think that could be cool.”

Snowpaw waited until Ravenwing joined them to sign a question to his mentor: who was that cat?

“Spotted?” Ravenwing said, over-mouthing his words. At a nod, he continued. “Leoparddawn.”

Snowpaw tapped with his tail along his own pelt, batted his eyelashes, and then made a deeply-wrinkled, ugly face and shook his head.

Ravenwing chuffed and nodded.

“What’d he say?” Cloudpaw asked.

“He thinks her coat is very pretty, but that grumpy face ruins her looks.”

Cloudpaw trilled, and even Fireheart couldn’t resist a snort.

“He’s not wrong,” Cloudpaw said with an affectionate nudge of the older apprentice’s shoulder.

“That doesn’t mean he should say it,” Fireheart said, his whiskers twitching and tail curling.

Snowpaw, with an expression of absolute delight at his joke landing, puffed out his chest.

Ravenwing purred and shook his head. “Alright. Fun as that was, we should get these two hunting.”

“We don’t have to hunt in the river, do we?” Cloudpaw asked, his amusement replaced in an instant with apprehension.

“Not if we don’t want Leoparddawn coming back and biting our tails off.” Fireheart cocked his head in beckoning. “Come on. We’ll see if anything’s still awake out here.”

The apprentices set off together, spaced out enough to let them sniff the air without getting in each other’s way. Fireheart walked slowly after them, Ravenwing at his side. The clouds closed up the hole in the sky, the air still and the only sound around them being the soft hiss of the river.

It could be a worse night, Fireheart supposed.

[atiny-piratequeen]

𝓝𝓮𝓰𝓸𝓽𝓲𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓼

𓆩⟡𓆪Summary:

When two rival kingdoms send their men to you to ask for your hand in marriage to bridge the gap between kingdoms, you have a quite...unique way of getting everyone to cum together.

Errr, come together.

Nah, it was right the first time.

𓆩⟡𓆪Pairing: Lee Juyeon (The Boyz) x Fem! Reader x Jeong Yunho (Ateez)

𓆩⟡𓆪Genres/Aus: Non-Idolverse, Royal AU, Hybrids (Snow Leopard, Netherlands Dwarf Rabbit, and African Wild Dog, Respectively), Smut, Poly Endgame

𓆩⟡𓆪Tws: Swearing, Insults

𓆩⟡𓆪Sws: Consensual Chase Kink, Pred/Prey Undertones, Size Difference (Reader is smaller than the boys. And if you aren't irl, guess what? You are now. Live your smol dreams babes), Teasing, Blowjobs, Handjobs, Breast Play, Unprotected Sex, Fingering, Cum Swallowing, Marking, Riding, Anal (mxm), hints of Scent Kinks, Stomach Bulge, Slicking, mentions of ruts/heats

𓆩⟡𓆪Rating: Explicit/Mature (18+)

𓆩⟡𓆪WC: 3.7k

𓆩⟡𓆪A/n: Im a damn day late but here is my Secret Santa '23 entry for @cultofdionysusnet for, ironically, my darling Jasper (@starlitmark)

I was already like WOAH when I got you as my receiver but I think its pretty dope you also were my secret Santa *wheeze* I hope you like it, even if it's late.

𓆩⟡𓆪AO3| Taglist Form (Please make sure your urls are updated and able to actually be tagged) | Commission Sheet𓆩⟡𓆪

𓆩⟡𓆪Network Ping- @kwritersworld | @kdiarynet | @k-vanity | @cultofdionysusnet𓆩⟡𓆪

𓆩⟡𓆪©atiny-piratequeen. do not repost, translate, or use my works𓆩⟡𓆪

“You and I will not be seeing eye to eye on this. I arrived first, I asked for her hand first, and I will not bow down to some… dog .”

An audible growl filled the room, a reverb as the man across the way’s lip finally curled up. 

“I’ve listened to you hiss and spit nonsense at me for half an hour, if you’d like to do more than that, I’d be more than happy to entertain that, but if all you intend on doing is make cheap shot swipes at me, it's obvious who it is she should choose to take her hand.”

You sit with your ankles crossed, your hands in your lap, watching the two men bicker at one another. 

The first man is Juyeon, sent from the land of Lucid Dream. It was a place born of ice and snow, it seemed fitting that their Crown Prince was a snow leopard, his speckled tail twitching in agitation as he glared down his much bigger rival.

This being Yunho, an African wild dog sent from the kingdom of Eternal Sunshine, who stood taller than Juyeon, stared him down with an unimpressed stare, his ears, also spotted, flicking to and fro as he made steadfast eye contact with the two of them. 

“Milady, I don’t think this one is going well. I don’t know how the meetings got mixed up like this-probably Donghyuck again-but I can escort them out immediately if you would like to. Before things get too…rowdy?” your consultant whispers beside you, eyes flicking back and forth between the two apex hybrids. 

You hum, your nose twitching slightly. 

They both smelled quite nice. How very coy of their respective Kingdoms to send hopefuls to you that were bordering on their respective ruts. 

A smile crosses your face, you stand, and in an instant, both men pause in their arguing, eyes fixed on you. 

“Lucid Dream and Eternal Sunshine, long have you two been at odds with one another, no? If my recollection of history goes, your two kingdoms have been in a bitter, decades-long spat with one another, right?” You step down from your post, your hand soft and delicate within your consult’s hand as he assists you. 

“Milady-”

“I will be fine, Xiaojun. Tell Mark and Donghyuck to go prepare for me. It won’t take long, I made my decision.” 

Xiaojun looked at your small form, pursing his lips in concern. Leaving you, a rabbit, in a room with a wild dog and a snow leopard seemed to be the LAST thing he wanted to do, but a simple quirk of your brow settled any unsaid complaints he had and he merely sighed and nodded, making his way out of the room.

The sound of your heels against the grand marble floors echoes as you make your way to the two of them, without a doubt picking up on the competing pheromones rolling off of them both in waves. 

They straighten their backs, looking at you with a noticeably gentler look. 

“It will take them some time to prepare my room, I imagine.” 

Neither men said anything, though you can see their tails stand still, their ears perked. 

The corner of your lips tilt slightly, how cute. 

“The two of you can prove yourselves to me in a different way. If my kingdom is to be the bridge, we will do things my way.” you speak slowly, removing your heels and setting them aside. The two men stare, blinking slowly and curiously while you make your way to the door, a smile tugging at your lips as you feel their gaze on your smaller form. 

“Let’s see who’s faster.” 

You toss the door open, darting down the hall in a flash, and laughing to yourself as you count the seconds it takes before there is an eruption of noise and movement behind you. 

You’re grateful for Xiaojun knowing where you were going with your untold portion of your orders to him, as the halls are relatively empty. Any servants mulling about were on alert and the moment they see you rushing down the hall, jovial and full of energy, they press themselves to the wall, keeping themselves there as two blurs rush by moments later. 

“Stupid dog, move! She’s mine!” Juyeon rushed by, his eyes narrowed as he followed the scent down the hall. Yunho growled, his legs long and swift, making sure Juyeon did not overtake him in speed. 

He wouldn’t lose. Failure was not an option. If the Princess wanted her soon-to-be betrothed to win in a challenge of speed-and if it came down to it, strength-he wouldn’t back down. 

Especially not to a trash-talking feline from their rival kingdom. 

Yunho narrowed his eyes, the scent made a sharp turn, but it was faint. 

Instead, the scent had subtle stronger traces to the right. He turned, rushing down that way while Juyeon continued down the main hall. 

The feline’s tail twitched when he saw him break off, but he ignored it, keeping his eyes focused on the hall he was running down. 

You were…beautiful. He’d been sent with a mission in mind and he intended to follow through, to have your hand, but the moment he laid eyes on you, he knew he’d be the one to sweep you off your feet. 

He’ll be damned if they lost to a clumsy dog from that place . 

Juyeon swore when he found the hall was a dead end. A window was open, a silken curtain blowing in the wind. Out of it, was an avian, clearly some form of messenger, carrying a torn piece of the dress you had worn before him. 

He’d been duped. 

“FUCK!”

Yunho had better luck, finding you rushing through the halls while wearing a robe you’d taken from a passing servant. He let out a bark of excitement, the thrum of the chase overriding his senses as he barreled down the hall. 

The decorative pins and chains on his outfit jingled and chimed as he got closer to you and you smile to yourself, slipping into a room and tucking yourself into a laundry chute, sticking your tongue out at the large dog as he stuck his head through the opening, eyes wide with excitement as you slide from view. 

“Gonna have to try harder than that~” You tease, skipping as you step out from the other side. 

Behavior unbecoming of a queen? Possibly. But if you were to tie your life to someone, why shouldn’t you have fun? If they couldn’t do this much, how can they expect to bring your kingdoms closer?

You dust yourself off, your ears twitching ever so slightly before you look around the laundry room. It was deathly quiet inside and you feel yourself freeze. 

Someone is inside. Watching. 

You don’t move anything but your head, locking eyes with something reflective and gold in the dark room. 

The moment you do, it lunges at you, and it took a moment longer than you expected to force your brain to catch up to speed. In those moments, you feel your clothes being grabbed, and you stumble, nearly colliding with a wall when a strong arm wraps around your waist, lifting you with ease. 

“Well, that was a pretty neat little trick you did there, my beloved. But it seems I’ve caught you. What do I win?” Juyeon inquired, and you can smell his scent thick in your nose, his heartbeat pounding against his chest and your back. 

You smile and turn to him, your own heartbeat thundering loud as you place a kiss to his nose. 

“Another round.” You smile and slip from his grip, shrinking your arms as close to your body as you can and sliding the robe you had taken from a servant off, rushing out of the room as Juyeon swore behind you. 

The hall isn’t far from your room. You figure everything is ready and if the boys couldn’t catch you by the time the door closed, your little game was over and you’d win. 

Did you want to? Probably not, but it was still fun. 

A crash sounds from behind you, and you hear two sets of footsteps approaching, the hall flooded with pheromones. 

“Move, dog!”

“Like hell, cat. Back off!”

You glance over your shoulder and find both of the men right on your heels. 

“Lady Y/N!” They call to you at the same time, and it takes a moment for you to get your bearings, your nose twitching ever so slightly. You sniff, the smell of their combined scents flooding your senses. 

Aren’t they too close?

You squeak in surprise as both of them stumble over each other, tripping and falling onto you in a heap. The air leaves your lungs and a startled yelp fell from your lips, in an instant, both of them are picking you up, panic clearly set into their features. 

You feel a familiar heat settle in your core, and you realize the repetitious sound in your ears is your own heartbeat. You smile at the two men, and no doubt by now they can smell your arousal. 

“Are you okay?” Juyeon inquired, his fiery disposition from before gone as he gently cupped your face, his hand warm to the touch. Yunho checked you over visually, eyes rolling over your body, looking for bruises or worse, blood.

Instead, he’s met with your flushed gaze, your chest rising and falling quickly. 

“Looks like you both got me.”

The two men exchange a look with one another before looking back at you. 

“Technically, I caught you first.” Juyeon interjected. Yunho narrowed his gaze at him before sighing. 

“I’ll leave, I just want to make sure you both didn’t get hurt when I fell on you.” 

You take his hand and Juyeon’s, a spark in your eyes as both of them look at you curiously. 

“Lady Y/N?”

“If you boys don’t mind, let’s try one more thing. I’m sure that will settle this once and for all.”

They exchange a look with one another and nod slowly, curiosity making both of their respective tails sway to and fro. 

-x-

“My, you two are quite pent up mm?” You let out a faux pout, a cock in each hand as you stroke slowly. There’s a wicked glint in your eye as you look up at the two, delighted by the way they both seemed adamant on holding back and not ‘crumbling’ before the other. 

Poor things, they still think this an either-or situation. 

Your ears twitch ever so slightly, picking up every sharp gasp and low groan from the two of them as you stroke faster, twisting one hand while you gently squeezed with the other. 

“M-Milady-” Juyeon grit out, biting his lip so hard you could see small indents from his fangs. Yunho wasn’t much better, letting out unintelligible pants and growls, seemingly trying to keep himself from actually speaking so he didn’t make a fool of himself. 

“It’s fine, Juyeon. You already won. Both of you have.”

Both of them sober slightly, looking at one another with a competitive spark before jolting when you bring your lips down, breath fanning over the head of their cocks as you run your tongue over them. 

“Let’s get along well, okay~?”

The two buckle, scent thickening with arousal when they finally pick up on your own heat as you shift below them. 

They’d stirred something inside of you, it’s only right for them to take responsibility for it. 

“A-as if I’d get along well w-with someone like him.” Yunho grit out, his cock throbbing in your mouth as you tease his head with your tongue. Juyeon hissed at him, turning his head sharply.

“F-feeling’s mutual. I doubt a stupid ass dog could pleasure her, anyway .” He grit out. Yunho’s eyes blazed with the challenge and you roll your eyes below them, giving both of their cocks a squeeze. They buck and jolt, their attention landing back on you. 

“Play nice.” You warn, pressing their cocks together, dragging your tongue over their slits, keening at the mixed taste. “It’d be a shame if I didn’t get to taste more because you two can’t behave.” You sigh softly, letting your tongue roll over Yunho’s cock, then Juyeon’s, and back again. 

The two go quiet. Or, rather, as quiet as they could get as the occasional moan and keen roll from their lips, their rivalry temporarily placated by your actions. 

They were handsome, of course. No Kingdom in their right mind would send you someone less than average, but they looked better like this, faces flushed, panting, fingers flexing as they tried to keep their hands off of you. 

“That’s better.” You sit up, caressing their balls and smiling, your scent thick and sweet. Both of them unconsciously lean towards you, and you open yourself to them, perking so your breasts are spilling from the top of your dress.

An invitation, that’s what it is. 

They took it for what it was, cupping and groping one breast each as you raise your head higher. 

“I d-didn’t expect this nn…today,” Yunho growled, his cock throbbing in your small hand as he ran his lips over the sweet glands on the left side of your neck. 

Juyeon grunted in agreement, his tongue flicking out, dragging over your throat. The barbs at the center were soft, and you find yourself clenching on nothing as they kiss their way lower, greedy lips finding your nipples. 

You gasp and close your eyes, rolling their balls in your hand, trembling in their grip as you feel them running their hands down your body as they alternate between kisses to your chest and small, marking nibbles and bites. 

Juyeon’s hand found its way to your folds first, chuckling airdly as he rubbed slowly. You yip and clench on nothing, your hands stopping momentarily. 

“Ah, don’t you want us to bond, Bun? Don’t stop just because he’s touching you.” Yunho growled, sucking a spot into your breast you were sure wouldn’t fade easily after tonight. You narrow your eyes at him in challenge, but they flutter the moment Juyeon pinches and rolls your clit, his breath fanning over your ear. 

“You’re already so wet. Did it feel nice giving us the run-around. Leaving such a sweet scent for us to follow, it’s only right we pay you back in kind.” He growled, lifting his fingers and spreading them apart, showing you-and Yunho-the slick covering them. 

Your lips tremble as you look up at them, your head swirling in need as you watch Juyeon offer his messy fingers to Yunho. 

He stared, eyes narrowing in need for a moment before he sucked them into his mouth, fangs grazing Juyeon’s fingers before he pulled back, a deep growl pulling from his chest as he turned to you. 

“C’mere. Let’s get you comfortable.”

His definition of ‘comfortable’ was splaying you out with your legs spread in their laps, both of them kissing and biting at your necks as you squirming as you let them both stretch you, your slick making a mess of your ass, their hands, and their thighs below. 

“I-I’m ready!” You cry, arching high and clenching on their fingers, mouth falling open as one of them curls their finger up to brush against your gspot. Your cries are met with deep chuckles and a kiss from each of them as they slow only long enough for you to catch your breath. 

“Are you sure?” Yunho teases, his lips against your ear before he bites.

Your eyes widen and you find yourself squirting as you jolt, a yip leaving your lips. Both men let out amused keens, holding you so you wouldn’t fall as the sudden shockwave rolls through you. 

“So pretty~” Juyeon purred, pulling his fingers free, smiling like the cat that ate the canary as he ran his tongue over his fingers, licking them clean as you pant, trying to catch your breath. 

There’s a wet smacking sound above your head and you find yourself squished between the men. One glance across from yourself to the mirror they’d propped you up in front of and you found out why. 

Yunho had his hand fisted in Juyeon’s hair, pulling him in for a demanding kiss, chasing your taste on his tongue. The sight made you keen, and you cup their necks, running your fingers over their glands, smiling as they both shuddered. 

“It looks like you two are getting along just fine now, mm?” You purr. 

They part, panting as they stare each other down. 

“Yeah,” Juyeon mewled, his tail twitching and jerking in interest behind him. 

“I think we’ll get along just fine.” Yunho licked his lip and moved to grab you by the hips, picking you clean up. 

“Come, I think we’ve held back for too long. I’m aching.” 

You find it exciting how easily the two of them can move you at will. Strong, yet gentle hands positioned so you were straddling Yunho, staring down hungrily at his cock as Juyeon held his cock up. 

Your plan was simply to tease, but as you watch the two eye you hungrily, then eye each other with the same gaze, you realize maybe this was going to work a lot better than your playful mind had anticipated. 

Taking Yunho was a task in itself. Even with your slick, you were grateful Juyeon paused to coat the bigger hybrid’s cock in lube provided by your consultants (you’d thank Xiaojun, Mark, and Donghyuck later). 

“T-Tight-” Yunho growled, his canines pronounced the more he lost his composure, his hands gripping your hips tight. You cling to his hands, body shaking as Juyeon cooed sweet nothings to you, reaching to rub your clit and the base of your tail. 

“A-Ahn- fuck-” You swear, eyes closing as Juyeon’s feline purrs override your mind. 

“That’s it. Such a good wife you’re going to be for us. Open your eyes, Princess. You’re bulging.” He growled, cupping your jaw. You gasp and look down, eyes widening as you see the tell-tale bulge in your stomach. 

Had…had he grown bigger while he was inside of you?

The very thought made you gush on his cock, your hands falling to Yunho’s chest as you bounce on your own accord, eager to feel him deeper inside. 

“S-Shit- Y/N-” He swears, hands tightening on your hips as you ride him, your hips and ass slapping against his thighs. Juyeon watches, mesmerized as you swallow Yunho’s cock, your slick leaving a lewd, shiny trail on his cock that dribbled down to his balls. 

“C-Come…come here.” Your voice startled the snow leopard back into focus and he glanced up, pupils dilating as you open your mouth, tongue out for him. 

“G-Gimme.” You demand, and he doesn’t need to be told twice, standing up and cupping the back of your head. He doesn’t even have the time to open his mouth and be a gentleman, to urge you to go slow before you dive down, eagerly bobbing your head until you feel him touch the back of your throat. 

They both smelled so good, thick and hot and it made you crave more, especially hearing both of them moan and gasp your name. Yunho thrust his hips up, bouncing you in his laps and he would have probably knocked you off balance, had it not have been for the iron-clad grip your thighs had on his frame and his hands had on your hips. 

Juyeon kept himself anchored by cupping your head, and rubbing the base of your ears. He found your throat tightening at the motion and smiled wickedly. 

“Is that n-nice? Having your cute little ears rubbed while we claim your pussy and your throat?” He panted, hissing through his teeth as he watched you turn your teary, pleasure-struck gaze up to him, drooling as his cock pressed deep into your throat. 

“I c-can’t keep holding it back.” Yunho gritted, eyes flickering back and forth between your mouth and your pussy, both stuffed in such a lewd manner. 

You clench around him, a subtle sign you didn’t want him to, and thankfully both of them took the sign for what it was, fucking you and your throat with a mismatched tempo that eventually synched up. 

Every fiber of your body felt like it was alight with pleasure, and stars exploded behind your lids as you finally felt them flood your mouth and pussy. You feel delighted as you feel the mess between your legs, only sealed inside by Yunho’s cock (which still throbbed, almost as if he wanted to unload more into your tightness). Juyeon pulled you out of your musing when he pulled out of your mouth, panting like a beast as he looked down upon your kiss-swollen and saliva-covered lips. 

“That’s our good girl. Are you alright?” Yunho murmured, petting your head. You lick your lips, taking a moment to gather your barings before pressing into his hand, smiling. 

“You two don’t think we’re done, do you?” You inquire after catching your breath. They exchange a look of surprise with one another before quickly recovering and grinning. 

-x-

Minutes turned to hours, and positions changed. From you eagerly arching your back, nuzzling Yunho’s cock and teasing it with kisses as Juyeon takes you from behind to you biting marks into his ass while Yunho thrusts into him, keeping his cheeks spread with a devious giggle as his fiery voice melted into airy, near shy whimpers. Or the way Yunho trembled and groaned as you bite marks into his thighs while he greedily curled his tongue deep inside of Juyeon, reaching around to stroke him and milk another orgasm from the spent feline. 

By the time the three of you are actually satiated, you lay in a pile of noodle-like limbs, dazed and happy as you gather your bearings. 

“I think,” Juyeon panted, running a hand through his sweaty locks. 

“-this is the start to a wonderful union.” Yunho finished, nosing both you and Juyeon’s hair, clearly close to dozing. You blink.

“...oh, right, the kingdom thing.” You yawn despite both of them laughing. You motion for them to follow you to your private bath, cum dribbling down your legs. 

“C’mon, my sweets. We need all the rest we can get if we are to continue our… negotiations tomorrow, yes?” You wink at them over your shoulder, smiling as they appear at your side in a flash, heading deeper into the bathroom before closing the door with a click. 

“Right, negotiations. I’m sure that’s what we can call it.” 

‿︵‿︵୨˚̣̣̣͙୧ - -୨˚̣̣̣͙୧‿︵‿︵

Taglist

‿︵‿︵୨˚̣̣̣͙୧ - -୨˚̣̣̣͙୧‿︵‿︵

@kimnamshiks @atiny-dazzlinglight @angel0taiyo @gettin-a-lil-hanse @jacksons-goddess-gaia @violetwinters @skmoonchild @seomisaho @drunk-on-hwa @soluvcore @twistedsiren @shymexican

[lanabuckybarnes]

This is a little headcanon of how I believe Bucky got Alpine in my lil universe

Bucky’s treatment in Wakanda was almost up, he’d finally get to go back to the US and live out his retirement back in his hometown. He was pleased to go home, he missed the hustle and bustle of NYC but there was one thing here he'd miss most of all. His stray cat.

It was one hot day while he was out feeding his goats when a ball of white in the field caught his attention. Strange? That was never there before. Thinking that maybe one of his pregnant goats had given birth he paced forwards and crouched to inspect further.

It was then he came face to face with a tiny white cat with big blue eyes. The small feline was warm, unnaturally so, its white fur being cooked in the hot Wakandan sun. He couldn’t leave it to die.

The day after, once he’d made sure the cat was healthy and fed, it disappeared. He was a little sad but he understood, it looked like it had spent its entire life as a stray so it would’ve been extremely unsure around humans, he reasoned.

This day had been particularly rough, his treatment had gone slightly wrong and had made him ill. He’d just about managed to pull himself out of his small cot and cook some dinner.

Deciding that fresh air may be of some good, he sat by the river to eat his dinner listening to the flowing water and the birds flying through the air. He almost missed the small meow that came from his left side, it was the little white cat. It was more plump than he’d last seen it, its sapphire doll-like eyes staring at the cooked fish in his hand.

“Don’t look at me like that” he murmured, resisting the urge to give in to its demands. He was doing a good job until he wasn’t. The mass of white fur meowed again and reached up, placing an outstretched paw on his chest. He sighed in defeat, pulling some of the fish from the stick with his teeth and dropping it on the blanket he’d laid before.

“There we go” A rare smile crossed his face when the feline scarfed down the food, blinking up at him again for more.

“Come on now I don’t have much” but instead of begging anymore it rubbed itself up his left side, cuddling up next to his hip.

The cat never left him after that day, they became a sort of duo. Wherever Bucky was it was sure to follow. He even named it, little Alpine.

Bucky would miss the much bigger cat now that he was returning home. He didn’t want to take the cat from where it knew, fearing that it may do more harm than good.

The journey on the quinjet was long. Bucky, now with a new vibranium arm, dozed off once to the soothing thrum of the engines. When they had arrived Bucky was instantly shown to his room, where his bags had been taken before. What he didn’t expect amongst the small pile was a large ball of white fur.

“Alpine?” He questioned.

The cat jumped awake with a chirp at his voice, stretching its long body off the bed to the carpeted floor before rubbing itself on Bucky’s ankles.

Bucky never did find out how the cat got there, he guessed that it had something to do with a little statement Shuri had made before he left.

“You’ve named it, it’s yours now” She’d smiled at the burly figure with the snow-coloured cat in his lap.

He was happy he’d have a friend, albeit one who would steal his food and take up most of his bed.

—

Definitely not posting this because all I have in the drafts is smut 👀

[lavalais76]

Jon & Sansa | Winter in my Heart

I am simply obsessed with these 2. All the Metas and Fan Fiction from you beautiful kindred souls makes me feel so alive! I appreciate each and everyone of you. @istumpysk and @esther-dot @starwarsprincess1986 @sherlokiness @stormcloudrising , you guys give me LIFE with your Metas.

I'm more of a book fan because the show did these characters no justice. We all know WHY. I hope you guys are ok with me posting all these sappy videos. Im sort of new to Tumblr, and I love it here. When I heard about the Kit and Sofie movie set at the time of "war of the roses" I became even more obsessed with Jon and Sansa.

They are obviously giving it away with this movie and trying to get the "Anti's" to get comfortable with the fact that these 2 are inevitable. Before Sansa appeared at Castle Black and even before the show begin I always wondered what the deal was with these 2. It just didn't make any sense, or as someone else put it: "Jon and Sansa are the LOUDEST SILENCE". I ALWAYS had that feeling that the girl in grey would be her. There isn't a single doubt in my mind.

I think something horrible will go down in the Vale and the Blackfish will help Sansa some sort of way to get to Jon. I read many Metas where they say Jon will come back from the dead a mindless beast, and he will have no POV. That's just impossible. Our main character/HERO a mute stuck in a wolf.

First of all I don't think Jon is dead AT ALL. I believe he is hanging on by a string due to blood loss and shock and possibly in a coma like Bran was at the beginning of the series. He will warg Ghost and find out many things about himself through Ghost while his friends (the wildings) nurse him back to life. Though VAL is not one of my favorite characters, some say she is a healer. That could be good for Jon.

Melsandra will probably burn Shrinee anyway because she thinks Stannis is dead. I also think Jon was drugged before the stabbings. The way he spoke of clumsily trying to retrieve LongClaw, and he just gave me a weird vibe. I DO NOT TRUST Satin guys. I know everyone loves him but if Jon were drugged, Satin always provided the drinks. Maybe I'm reaching too far, but that's just my gut feeling. Satin is Judas.

Cerci Lannister had plans on taking Jon off the Chess Board as well, so there is no telling if she orchestrated the whole thing or not. Whatever happens, it's gonna be real UGLY when Jon wakes up. Jon Snow as we knew him is definitely DEAD and died in the snow. The real BEAST is what we will have left of Jon. He will make the Hound look like a little poodle dog.

I do also believe he will be in those woods as Ghost while Sansa is being chased by Ramsay's hounds. He will definitely kill them all including whomever is with the dogs. There was a passage in the books if I remember correctly how when Ghost was a pup, and he was eating. A dog approached to try and steal his prize. Jon said the Dog was much bigger than Ghost, but all Ghost had to do was look at her and she ran away. Ghost got right back to his prize.

I've always wondered if that was a foreshadowing for Ghost fighting the hounds. Another thing, WHERE do Ghost go when Jon wonders of his whereabouts? Well, I'm almost done here Jonsa family. I hope I'm not boring you guys to death with this long book of a post I am writing.

I DO believe Sansa is the Girl in Grey and I'll die by that. I also think that after Ghost!Jon saves her, Brianne and Jamie or Brianne and Company will get her to Castle Black. The dying horse in my opinion is not a real Horse. It could be a person. We've already had the real dying horse with Alyas. Sansa doesn't have to be dressed in Grey either because so many other things links her to Grey.

I remember she had a green cloak in Kings Landing that belonged to the hound and if I'm not mistaken she also got on the boat with LF with that cloak on. Where is it? I do not know.

Anyway, Sansa will arrive at Castle Black shortly after Jon wakes up from his coma (refuse to believe he died and actual death) People will SAY he rose from the dead as they did Sansa when she left Kings Landing. It will be a myth, but people will believe it. Jon will NOT be the same. I believe he will have all of his memories which preserved in Ghost but he will become "THE BEAST" After he has "killed the boy." He would have tapped into his powers and possibly converse with Bran and Bloodraven.

Jon will probably forget what happened in the woods and in his wolf dreams but he will have the shock of his life to see Sansa Stark of ALL people come through those gates. She's come to the end of the world to seek HIM out. He will realize it was the wrong sister he almost got murdered behind.

Everyone will fear him at Castle Black. He will be a cold blooded killer with no humanity left until she walks through those gates. It's a craving Jon had (to see her again) but he kept that to himself. We know this from Ygritte, Alays and Val. He was looking for Sansa in all these women, and now the real deal stands right before him.

I'm not saying it's going to be an easy journey, but she will be the ONLY ONE to calm the beast. Jon will protect her of course (or steal her) but he will be mean to Sansa at first. He will eventually fall madly in love with her and vice versa. She will sing to him, annoy him, anger him, pacify him and Jon won't know what hit him.

They will fall in love because of what they both endured. Jon will be OVER protective of Sansa in the books, possibly locking her up in a tower like Stannis has Val, but this time there is a real princess in the tower that Jon WANTS to steal. I know I've reached my limits here. I am sorry for rambling or any errors, I'm just so happy to have ran across you fine people. If I didn't tag someone is because I don't remember the names and I'm still fairly new on Tumblr.

You guys are the BEST!

[breathings-of-the-heart]

Somebody I Used to Know (Giyuu x Reader)

(A/N): I haven’t written anything in a looong time on this account, and in general. I don’t kno why I suddenly found the inspiration to do so, but I’ve been in my Demon Slayer era so here it is. I’ve found that there is a serious lacking of fics for my favorite hashira, so I’ve taken it upon myself to write my own haha. Hope you all enjoy! Strap in, because this is going to be multiple parts. 

Word Count: 3.2k 

If it were up to him, Giyuu Tomioka would never have agreed to take up a Tsuguko. He wanted to avoid feeling the consequences of losing another person important to him– maybe that’s what Shinobu meant when she claimed that no one liked him. It was most likely better that way, anyway. But with Rengoku’s passing and Tengen’s retirement, finding the next possible Hashira was exactly what the Corps needed.

(Y/N) (L/N) represented everything admirable in a fighter: Talented, hard working, and highly intelligent. And as Urokodaki’s niece, your lineage spoke for itself. A water breathing apprentice with much promise, assigned for Giyuu to mentor by none other than Kagaya Ubuyashiki himself. The two of you knew each other. You used to be tentative friends to say the least. But that was another lifetime ago.

Giyuu had no interest in training someone who may amount to another death he can’t afford to mourn. He'd chosen the path of solitude, staying away from you to keep you safe. But apparently you had followed in his footsteps and became a Demon Slayer anyway. When Giyuu’s crow informed him to find his new Tsuguko, he nodded solemnly. 

That was another reason he was reluctant. Because it was you in particular. Time and grief had already driven the two of you apart, and he wasn’t thrilled to face the skeletons in his closet. Afterall, Giyuu hadn’t seen you since before he left for his Final Selection. 

~~~~~~~~

Snowflakes danced in the air, descending from the sky as your warm breath clouded in front of you. This winter was as cold as it was peaceful, the landscape covered in a blanket of white. Your eyes dazzled and heart pounded in admiration of the scene in front of you. It was like you were in a trance, all sounds caught in your throat as speechlessness overcame you. Across the field was a young swordsman clad in uniform– long dark hair tossed past his shoulders. Raven bangs fell in front of his face, framing his features in a way that made it difficult for you to look away. Not that you wanted to, anyway. 

The nichirin sword around his hip left tracks in the snow, the young man not quite being tall enough to keep it from dragging behind him. You barely noticed Sabito trailing slightly in front of him. Has he always been there? Who was this mysterious boy that he brought with him this time? As the two boys drew closer, you were snapped out of your trance by Urokodaki placing a kind hand on the top of your head. You glanced up at your uncle, eyes wide and curious. 

“Come child, Giyuu and Sabito have arrived to greet us.” 

“Giyuu…” you repeated, red suddenly coloring your cheeks. It was a nice name indeed. 

“(Y/N)!! You’ve gotten bigger since I last saw you,” Sabito chimed, wrapping an arm around your shoulders. You grinned in response, standing on your tiptoes and sticking your chin out proudly. 

“I’ve been drinking milk,” you boasted, glad that he seemed to notice your growth. The orange-haired boy chuckled, ruffling your hair as this “Giyuu” stood next to him. Your shyness returned as you noticed his gaze. He was the most beautiful person you’d ever seen. 

“Hello,” he greeted, offering you a small smile. You glanced up at your uncle in your uncertainty, who nodded in encouragement. Up close, Giyuu was even more handsome than before. He was looking right at you, his deep blue eyes like pools of sapphire. 

“Pretty…” you whispered, subconsciously pointing at his face.

Your transfixed stare was interrupted by Sabito’s loud snort. 

“Looks like you've got an admirer, Tomioka!” He cackled, slapping his friend on the back. Giyuu was blushing a bright red, suddenly averting your gaze as Sabito doubled over. You definitely should have kept your mouth shut. 

“Sabito, stop laughing! You're such a meanie!” You pouted, cheeks burning.  

An escape plan hatched in your brain, you turned around and bolted, Sabito’s howling laughter carrying through the snowy forest. Giyuu reached up to touch his face, staring at your departing figure with a dumbfounded expression. His youthful heart felt giddy, his body now warm despite the biting temperature. 

The next time he visited, he was looking forward to seeing you again. You on the other hand, held a grudge against being teased and vowed to never embarrass yourself in front of Tomioka ever again. Seeing him walk over the hill to your house sent you running in the other direction. When he called out to you, you'd hide. It was silly, but you couldn’t help it. Giyuu made you timid, and you much preferred watching him at a distance in safety. 

Besides, it was the best view to observe him train anyway. When he fought, it left you in awe. Even your young eyes could tell he was a Hashira in the making. 

He was curently out in the field, cold air filling his small lungs as he tried for the umpteenth time to cut through the large rock in front of him. You could tell from your spot behind the tree that the boy was growing increasingly frustrated with himself. In an act of annoyance he plopped to the ground, resting his head in his hands. You frowned. 

Tapping your chin, you pondered on a solution to cheer him up and grinned when an idea came to you. The field nearby grew blue snowdrops, the only flower that could grow during the winter time. 

“For you,” you smiled, small arm outstretched to offer your gift. The petals were a rich navy hue. 

Giyuu looked from his hands, eyes widening to see you so close. You waved your hand in front of him in encouragement. When he stayed silent you leaned down to grab his sword and hand that to him too. 

“Don't give up just yet. I know you’ll become the best swordsman in the world.” 

“You came out?” He inquired in surprise. 

“I didn't like seeing you sad,” you shrugged casually. It was the truth. 

The boy grinned, opting to tuck the flower behind your ear. Your words were the only encouragement he needed. 

“My final selection is tomorrow. Will you be cheering me on?” He inquired sincerely. 

“Of course! Even if you don't see me, I will be. Always.”

If only life were that triumphant and simple.  

Your uncle was the one who broke the news after their Final Selection. The months that passed afterwards were a blur as you sunk into despair. You waited for Giyuu to walk up that hill like he always did, so you could at least see one of them return to you. But he never did. You grieved for Sabito and Mokomo alone, and you grieved for Tomioka too. You lost two of your friends in one fell swoop, and had been abandoned by the third. Chanelling your pain in another way, it was your turn to take up the sword now too. To fight through the despair. And to avenge the peaceful life that should have been yours. 

And you kept your word to Giyuu, vowing to cheer him on in all his endeavors, even if your heart broke after he never returned. 

~~~~~~~~

The first time Tomioka saw you in action, beneath his stoic facade was an air of immediate respect. He’d been instructed to find and assist you on a mission with a demon more dangerous than previously anticipated– one of the Twelve Kizuki made its appearance, but that didn’t waver your bravery. The scene was grim, with your team of lower rank Demon Slayers paralyzed on the ground. 

As Giyuu assessed the situation and watched you fight from the trees above, he realized you truly were a prodigy. Your Nichirin sword was an extension of yourself– you wielded water unlike any swordsman he’d seen in the past, as if taking part in an eternal dance with your blade. You fought with elegance, selflessly dashing in front of one of your fellow swordsmen and deflecting blood art attacks thrown in her direction. Was this really (Y/N)? Clumsy, loud, small (Y/N)? When did you become so… mature?

“(Y/N)-san! Behind you!” One of your remaining comrades screamed. Giyuu’s hand fell onto the hilt of his own sword in preparation to take action, yet you twisted with ease to evade the demon’s attack as another fighter charged towards it. Their swift slash to the neck failed to cut through, snapping the metal of their weapon in half. Its spiny, scorpion-like exoskeleton was nearly impossible for the average Demon Slayer to cut through, and close ranged attacks were dangerous considering the poison tipped pincers growing from its torso. 

“No!” You screamed, arm outstretched towards your other comrade as the demon turned its attention towards him, malice and amusement glittering in its hollow irises. Giyuu dashed forward, grabbing onto him and springing back to safety before the demon’s long claws could impale the trembling boy. You bolted forward to close an incredible distance in the blink of an eye, haori fluttering behind your figure as if you were running on air. 

“Water Breathing, third form. Flowing Dance.” You rotated in the air, dodging the legs that threatened to interrupt your attack with their piercing thrusts. The opening thread had made itself apparent, but you had been punctured with several wounds and your stamina was depleting. This battle must have been going on for longer than Giyuu originally anticipated. 

“Go for the legs, I’ll slice its neck,” The Water pillar called to you. 

He rushed forward as you unleashed attacks to cut the demon’s many arms and legs, preventing them from stabbing Tomioka as he made his move. The Kizuki let out an enraged howl, thrusting its fangs towards you. It never got the chance to bite into you, however, as the Water Hashira’s blade came in contact with its neck, slicing through like butter in one solid stroke. 

As the demon disintegrated, your knees went wobbly. The formerly collected swordsman upon closer inspection was now an exhausted girl, battered and bruised on the verge of collapse as your adrenaline faded away. Giyuu placed his hand on your shoulder.  

“I’m sorry for not getting here sooner. You fought well.” 

You knew that voice. You barely had time to register his pretense in the heat of battle, but it was undeniable now. 

“Tomioka-sama?” you turned your head to look at him, the warmth of his gentle yet firm grip spreading through your body. His deep blue eyes bore into yours. You realized you still loved those eyes. They felt familiar to you, like a small piece of your home. It had been too long since you had gazed upon them. “Y-you’re here, you came?” 

“It’s my duty to look after you now,” he replied plainly, supporting your weight as you stumbled. 

“I'm so glad,” you whispered, pain searing in your lower torso as you spoke. “I'm happy to see you again.” Giyuu shook his head, noticing the small winces you tried to hide between your shallow breaths. As your knees buckled he scooped you up in his arms and held you close. 

“Nevermind that. You need to start recovery breathing, (Y/N).” 

You inhaled softly, fatigue settling in your bones as you did what you were instructed. Giyuu silently waved off a Kakushi who offered to carry you, his focus never leaving the girl in his arms. 

“Where did the demon get you?” 

“My torso, he nicked me real bad earlier,” you informed, nose scrunching as blood began to soak through your uniform. Giyuu’s eyebrows furrowed in concern. 

“Let's get you back swiftly then,” he murmured into your hair. It still smelled the same as he remembered, like wisteria and snow. 

Your crow later informed the Pillar that because you fiercely defended the others, many of your comrades escaped certain death. You fought selflessly. It reminded him of much of your mutual friend, the one who’s name still made shame burn in his heart to remember. The one whose death drove you guys apart. 

The man looked down at you in his arms. The walk back was long and you had long since been lost from the waking world, curling up into his shoulder as he carried you. He wondered how anyone who witnessed such horrors as demon slayers did, could look so peaceful in their sleep. 

He took you into his home, which as his Tsuguko, would be yours now as well. It was strange to think he would begin sharing this space with someone else. His large estate wasn’t lived in like Tengen’s or Shinobu’s– many nights it remained cold and empty. The vastness of the mansion is unfit for just one man, but he’d always chosen to isolate himself in the past. Maybe the emptiness of his home would change now.

Tomioka had laid you down on the futon in one of his several spare rooms. As he dutifully tended to your wounds, you continued to sleep, blissfully unaware of the glances he stole at your face. It too had changed since the last time you'd seen him– more serious, but also more beautiful. 

After disinfecting and wrapping up your more serious wounds, he dabbed a wet cloth at a cut on your cheek. You murmured unintelligibly as he did so, and Giyuu hesitated as you leaned into his touch. Were you waking up? The water pillar stilled in his movements, but you did not stir further. He sighed. It had been years since he’d seen you, but only now was all that time catching up to him. 

He could feel his heart unwillingly squeeze in his chest as you snuggled into his hand in your state of unconsciousness. 

Feeling a state of unrest, he rose to his feet and walked to the backyard to train. Fighting demons allowed him to take his mind off of most things. He could exercise for hours without the slightest hint of fatigue, and when the exhaustion caught up to him, it was all the more a distraction from everything he wanted to run away from. Time really did slip away from him in these moments. 

Inside the mansion, you had risen, deciding to take in your new surroundings. You explored each room aside from Tomioka’s private quarters, observing the minimalist design of the entire estate. Many of the rooms had sparse furniture, but it was spacious and organized. Mostly because they were untouched. It pulled at your heartstrings to know that Giyuu lived here by himself for all these years. It felt so conflicting being back here: you wanted to make up for lost time with him, but you felt like an intrusion. Tomioka was housing you because it was his job. Not because it was voluntary. 

He was a stranger to you now, but it didn’t feel like it. You cared for him, even if that wasn’t reciprocated. 

The sound of metal swinging through the air caught your attention as you made your way to the back of the house, sliding the outer partition to reveal the Water Hashira outside. A cool breeze rushed past you, making you shiver. What was he doing at this hour?

“Have you been out here all night?” You questioned 

“No.” The word slipped out easily for him, with his monotone voice and stoic expression. No one ever questioned it. 

“You’re lying, Tomioka-sama.” 

Except you, apparently. 

He didn’t budge nor acknowledge you this time, continuing to swing his sword and cut through the air. You sighed, approaching him and resting a hand on his arm. Smaller you would have been shocked at how easily you walked up to him. You really had changed since then. 

“C’mon, it’s getting chilly. Come inside with me?” 

Again, you got no response. You knew Giyuu had become more withdrawn since his youth, but it hurt you to feel so emotionally distant. For you, the minute you saw him again it was like no time had passed at all. Your heart admired him all the same, but for him, you guessed it was different. 

Well, it’s only natural of course, you told yourself. He was the one who left you behind afterall.  

You pushed away the sting of disappointment. 

“Please?” You took his wrist in your hand, but prepared for the man to slip out off your grip in rejection. But to your surprise he meerely looked down at you, lowering his sword to search your eyes. That was his first mistake, as he realized he couldn’t deny the request when you held such an earnest expression. His skin was cold to the touch, except for where your gentle grip was. 

He realized you had the same effect as training did, for all of his racing thoughts went quiet as you kept him grounded to the earth. 

“Okay,” he conceded, letting you guide him back to the house. 

The walk to your room was quiet, a silence that you desperately wanted to break but were lost on how to. Unbesknown to you, Giyuu felt the same, but you both reached the shoji to your sleeping quarters before either had a chance to speak. The water hashira cleared his throat. 

“Rest your injuries, and then we’ll start training,” Your mentor entoned, staring at the ground. “I will be gone often on missions. Make yourself comfortable in that time.” 

With that, he turned away, almost relieved to end the interaction.  

“I’m sorry,” you blurted suddenly, catching Giyuu off guard. 

“For what?” There were a million reasons he could think for him to apologize to you, but you could never do a thing wrong in his eyes. 

“I just... I know this probably isn’t your ideal situation. Me being here, invading your home. I’ll try to say out of your way.”  

You looked so unsure, so small and out of place. He took a step closer to you, relenting at the guilt that you might think of yourself as a burden. The last thing Giyuu wished for was for you to feel unwanted. He was bad with words, but he felt different when you were around. A good different that he spend years trying avoiding, because he didn’t deserve you. 

“Don’t. It’s already barren enough here,” Tomioka sighed, placing a hand on top of your head reassuringly. 

You smiled at him brightly, relieved at his words. In truth, you didn’t want to stay away. After all this time, you wanted to show him he was cared about. That he didn’t have to shut everyone out and be alone. Giyuu’s breath caught in his throat. When was the last time anyone showed him such a happy expression? 

His house never felt like home, but with your light inside of it, maybe it would start to. 

[acciocriativity]

Hiii! So I that you're having a 400 followers celebration (congrats!!!!!) and I was just wondering if i could request an imagine with Jongho x fem!reader where they go sledding on this huge hill and the reader makes him carry her and the sleds back up, but he ends up dropping her in a snowdrift to get revenge, so she pulls him in on top of her, and can it be really sweet and fluffy?? (maybe with hot drinks and cuddling afterwards?) I'm sorry if this is really scattered, I just got really excited when I saw your winter theme!

Thank you so much and congrats again!!!

N/A: This was such a fun challenge for myself, thank you so much for the request and the support <3 I hope you can't tell I knew nothing about sledding before this ask. Love you lots <3

A DAY SLEDDING WITH JONGHO — C.J.H. (FROM THE 400 FOLLOWERS EVENT)

(Pictures are not mine, credit to the rightful owners)

Ateez Masterlist

It was his idea.

You knew Jongho as an active person, his frequency on the gym was a great indicator of that. However, there wasn’t much else he could do as an idol, it was always a high stake whenever he went out of the house for anything, really. So when he got the chance to do something different, you were glad to come along and enjoy the moment.

He ran to you out of the blue to tell you about one of the WANTEEZ episodes they were going to film on the weekend, a few special winter episodes. His excitement was clear, because he was rambling on and on about the trip.

“So Yunho-yah said they were going to let us stay the re- hey, why aren’t you paying attention?”, his big and shiny eyes suddenly glaring at you, still, there was a small smile grazing his face.

“I’m paying attention to you”, you were beyond amused. “You are just too cute like that”, you grinned as you said it.

“Oh you-”, he said and cringed hard at those words, looking down while covering his face with both hands. You could giggle as you watched him hid his blush. “Do you think you’re funny?”, he looked up at you.

You shrugged as you stopped giggling, trying to maintain a serious facade.

He took a deep breath as he sat straight again, staring at you with a soft smile on his face. “I was going to ask you to come too, but now I’m not sure anymore”, he crossed his arms, while looking away like he didn’t care, but oh he did, a lot.

“Sooo, you’re not going to show me the hugeee park you are going to?”

You opened the Pandora box all over again.

The truth was, you never went sledding before. You thought you knew what to expect, but even through layers and layers of warm clothes, from your ears to your toes, you felt the shivering cold ready to freeze your entire body. Winter was always brutal in Korea, but it just became another level as you traveled higher up the mountains.

When you arrived only a few hours after them, the park was already re-opened after filming and there were families coming little by little to fill up the place. So you sent a text to Jongho to confirm the met-up location, the bottom of the first hill or “oh, the one for children” like one of the workers said to you after giving you the right directions. Yeah, that wasn’t embarrassing at all.

You took your time to appreciate the view, not worried that he was taking a bit to answer you. All the photos did not make the place justice. It was truly bigger than you imagined and further away, you could see the highest hill of the total 3 of them. The untouched white and fluffy snow glistened trailing the recent cleaned path to the hills, restaurant, and parking lot.

You were well on your way when your phone buzzed on your padding coat.

‘The hyungs asked me to join them on the highest hill, let’s meet at the bottom there’

The cute bear emoji right after the text was a little suspicious. Jongho would rather die before sending you anything other than his dry texts, but maybe he thought he could distract you with a curve ball, so you did not mind it.

Of course, you were a little upset, because now you had to take a whole turn and walk further away than you planned to, and maybe he knew that.

Another buzz.

‘I’ll do anything you want to’.

It was too late for Jongho to say Wooyoung was the one who sent that, you already saw it.

‘Then carry me all the way up to the hill’.

It was a fast reply. ‘Deal’.

That was when you knew it was someone else, but that’s not your problem, right?

Jongho did carry you, he was a man of his and apparently everyone else’s words, but he did while complaining the entire time. Not about you though, no, he carried you like you weighted less than snowflakes, it was about that little bastard Jeong Woo-

You thought he was going to roll Wooyoung down the hill at some point, because he kept going around Jongho to provoke even further.

It was safe to say, you could never be bored with those two together and your stomach hurt after laughing so much.

So, it was finally your turn. There were enough space for two people, one for both of you and another for Wooyoung and Seonghwa, the loser on rock, paper, scissors that had to carry the sleds.

You felt that familiar nervousness when you sat. Then you felt Jongho behind you, his hands holding you tighter against him, so you let yourself relax.

Up there, right on the edge, you could see everything. You wanted to say something cliché that would make Jongho cringe for days or maybe take a picture to remember the day by, but suddenly you were moving, and your vision blurred as the scenery passed by faster and faster.

Both of you were screaming, and the wind hit you hard, it was the only two things you knew for sure. You blinked the tears away as you tried to focus on the path in front of you, it was easy to stay on the sled since it was a straight line, no trees, no big rocks, no nothing.

“Turn a bit to the left”, Jongho screamed.

“Huh?”, you screamed back, looking back at him.

“Left”, he said it as loud as he could.

That you did, only then you saw the snowdrift.

For a moment you thought you lost your balance, but you felt a push on your right shoulder, and you held tight onto his left arm.

You did not have time to scream as you hit the snow on your back and Jongho fell on top of you, his torso covering yours as the boys laughed at the scene that happened right in front of them.

“Fancy to see you here”, you said as you tried to hold back your laughter.

“아 시… (oh fuc…)”, he hid his face on your neck, or trying to hide his blush or too embarrassed by you to face you. That was always your best revenge against him, and once again, it was perfect.

Your laugh was unstoppable at that point and so was his.

You do not know how much time you actually stayed there, but the moment he moved to get up, you only made the effort to give him your hand.

The sled was too far down, so there was an only way down, and you were not walking it.

Jongho only sighed as he took you into his arms, carrying you on his back and also the sled, when you finally got there.

“This is my price always now every time you are mean to me”.

“Am I being mean to you?”, he asked, and you nodded, pouting, putting a lot of effort on your aegyo. “How about a warm blanket and a cup of hot chocolate? Now, am I not mean?”

“Hum, I’ll think about it after the hot chocolate”.

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