#i need this whole series engraved into my soul

[leighsartworks216]

LITERALLY DROPPED EVERYTHING TO READ THIS OH MYGODDDDDD

I Want It All: Part 3

Part 1, Part 2

Astarion x Reader, Astarion x Tav, Astarion x Asexual!Reader, Astarion x Bard!Reader

Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Soft!Astarion, Allusion to Astarion's Past (Sexual Assult/Dissociation)

Summary: You and Astarion had been playing this little game of yours for a while; he pretends to care, you pretend not to fall for it. It’s easy, even fun at times. The trouble is, what happens the moment you can’t pretend anymore?

A/N: Holy shit! It's done! Thank you so much to everyone who has commented and reblogged and just...everything. I cannot tell you how much it means to be to know this story has resonated with so many people. I don't have any plans to continue this as a larger story (I still haven't played the game); however, if anyone would like to send requests for small one-shots or headcanons involving Astarion and this Asexual!Tav, feel free to send me an ask.

Also, sorry if I didn't tag you. There were a lot of request, so I stuck to those who asked on the previous chapter.

And as always REBLOG AND COMMENT IF YOU LIKE THIS! I NEED VALIDATION TO SURVIVE!!!

Word Count: 5.2K

You didn’t sleep that night, but what else did you expect?

For hours you simply lay in the dark, staring at the window. The patter of rain was the only source of sound besides your own breathing. Even that small comfort didn’t last as the storm passed leaving behind cloud covered silence.

No tears came to you.  What had you to grieve over? Everything you felt had been a product of your imagination. You knew that.

Still, it ached.  There was a throbbing in your throat you couldn’t swallow down and a constant pressure behind your eyes.  You almost wished you would cry, just to get it out of your system. If you could have a nice little breakdown, there was a chance you could get over this. It would be the slap in the face you needed to accept reality. Maybe then you’d stop doing this to yourself.

All the same, it stayed there, pressing heavy on your chest until the sun teased the edges of the clouds beaconing morning.

You groaned, burying your face into the pillow. You couldn’t lie and wallow the rest of the day. You had things to do, places to be, worms to destroy. The sooner you had something else to occupy your thoughts the better.

With an effort you pulled yourself out of bed and slowly made your way to the dining room.

You were a bit surprised to see everybody already up. Wyll, Karlach, Lae’zel, Shadowheart, and Gale were already seated with plates of half eaten food in front of them.  Two seats were still empty, settings ready and untouched. A quick look around confirmed the rest, Astarion had yet to make an appearance.

“Morning everyone,” you said, trying your best to be cheerful as you sat yourself between Gale and Wyll.  

You could feel all their eyes on you, no doubt noticing the dark circles under yours.

“Morning,” Gale greeted. “I trust you slept well.”

He let out a small yelp of pain.

You looked up to catch him glaring at Shadowheart as she shot him a disapproving look.

You frowned. Did she just kick him?

“I mean, ah, did you lie comfortably?” he amended.

“Seriously?” Karlach questioned.

You swore you could feel the heat of Gale’s blush, as he grumbled into his toast. “Damn it, you know what I mean.”

“Do I?” you asked.

“We just hoped you spent the rest of the night…pleasantly,” Wyll tried, and ultimately failed.

Your stomach flipped, as harsh, dreadful realization washed over you.  Yes, of course they would.

“You don’t look well,” Lae’zel noted. “After all his boasting, I had thought Astarion would leave his partners more satisfied.”

You didn’t say anything, deciding to take a bite of egg as an excuse. Now would be a great time for the ground to open and swallow you into the hells. Gods knew it would be an improvement.

“She’s right,” Shadowheart said, sounding a little annoyed to admit it. “You do look tired and not the good kind. Did something happen?”

“Did he hurt you,” Wyll said, his brow furrowing in sudden concern.

“What?! No!” you said quickly. “Nothing happened.”

“How’d you mean nothing happened?” Karlach put in. “We all saw what we saw. How could anyone turn down all of that?”

Fresh embarrassment washed over you, making you wish you could erase the last twenty-four hours and crawl into the nearest, deepest hole. You had spent the whole night worried about what Astarion would make of your vision, you had all but forgotten you had shared that part of yourself with all of your companions. Of course they would have their own interpretations.

“It wasn’t like that.”

A quick look around the table gave away the doubtful thoughts of all.  

You took a deep breath, willing yourself to calm. They weren’t going to believe you if you were emotional about this.

“Look, I appreciate your concern, but I’m fine. As I said, nothing happened. We talked, and it became clear that we just want different things. That’s the beginning and the end of it. Now are we done or are you all going to keep chattering on like a bunch of fishwives?”

The silence at the table was palpable as everyone exchanged looks.

Alright, maybe being calm wasn't a realistic expectation, but you hadn’t lied. Sure, there were some details you neglected to share, but that really was the long and the short of it. He hadn’t done anything wrong and neither had you. It just didn’t work out.

The plain truth of it settled in your heart carving out a hollow space for it to lay in.

Gale was the first to act, clearing his throat. “Fair enough, the matter is closed. Please, accept our apology. With such an intimate group as ours, it’s sometimes easy to forget that one’s personal matters can be well and truly personal.”

He looked at the rest of the group, each nodding in agreement to various degrees of reluctancy.

“Just for the record though, if you need someone to knock some sense into that pretty boy’s head, you just need to ask,” Karlach offered. 

Despite yourself, you had to smile. “I’ll think about it.”

You then turned to Gale, who met you with kind eyes and a comforting smile. You let yourself be warmed by it, even if you still felt a little guilty for snapping. He really did understand. It was easy for heartbreak to recognize heartbreak.

“Thank you,” you murmured. 

To your surprise, his first instinct wasn’t to reach for words, but rather your hand as he gave your fingers a gentle squeeze. 

“Anytime.” 

“Good morning everyone. Gossiping without me?”

You whipped your head around to find Astarion standing near the head of the table, a sardonic smile on his lips and a hard glare in his eyes.  No doubt he had heard everything. 

Everybody shifted in their seats, glancing between you and Astarion. You averted your gaze, focusing hard on the table in front of you. 

Gale’s hand still rested over yours. Whatever comfort it had given you, faded as something akin to panic flooded your veins. In the next second, you rose from your chair, scraping it hard against the floor in your hurry. 

“I’ve still got some packing to do,” you said. “Be back down in a few.” 

Coward’s way out? Yes, but after the night you had, you figured you were entitled to it. 

Keeping your head down, you slipped past Astarion, feeling him watch you as you made your way back up the stairs. 

If you had lingered a moment, you might have caught the flash of hurt in his eyes. You might have noticed how his clothes were more rumpled than usual. You might even have seen his hand twitch with the instinct to reach for yours. But you didn’t see, and anything that might have happened disappeared in a brush of air. 

-----------------------

The next several days carried on in much the same way.  Not as torturous as that first morning, but still a drudge of avoidance and awkward silences. 

In your defense, Astarion seemed just as keen to keep his distance. Where he used to be your preverbal shadow, filling the hours of travel with idle teasing and conversation, now he kept to the back, his mouth decidedly shut. 

The others caught on and seemed determined to make up the difference. Karlach, Shadowheart and Wyll especially made a point to walk alongside you, telling stories and jokes in an attempt to make you smile. 

You did your best. They meant well, but in some ways they only served to emphasize the absence of another. 

Gale, on the other hand, had the foresight to try a different approach. He made it clear he didn’t expect you to talk, but always made sure you had the best spot by the fire and a little extra of whatever he made for the camp. You had to wonder if Tara had provided a similar comfort to him after Mystra. It was obvious he had the practice. 

Even Lae’zel offered to help you train it off, something about how your, “objectively weak body had left the rest of you vulnerable to attack”. A part of you felt the insult, but the gesture was appreciated. 

Honestly, all of this care was starting to make you feel guilty. None of them were giving Astarion the same courtesy. He wasn’t being shunted exactly, but the message was loud and clear; they were on your side. 

This was met by him taking a step back from the late night conversations. His interactions with the others were kept short and lacked his usual humorous flare. He took his shifts on watch alone and he spent even more time either roaming the forest or in his tent. 

The only person he consistently spoke to was Gale, which should have raised some alarm bells on their own, but you never caught what they were discussing. All you knew was Astarion never appeared especially pleased while Gale gave a look of someone begging the gods for patience. 

All of this was your fault. You just wanted things to go back to normal. Even if you couldn’t be with Astarion the way you imagined, you still valued his friendship.  If this kept up, there was a chance he might decide to leave all together. An olive branch was needed, something to signal you didn’t hold a grudge or expect anything more. 

The answer came to you one early evening as you took note of his haggard looks and less than graceful steps out of camp.  He hadn’t fed on you in a week and there was only so much deer and boar could do. 

You considered simply offering up your neck, but that felt too forward. Besides, you weren’t sure if you were ready to have him that close. The only other solution you could think of was to bleed yourself somehow. 

This proved more difficult than you first imagined. Astarion seemed to have an instinct for where to bite, balancing enough blood for himself without causing any permanent damage. You couldn’t boast the same. It took more than one cut to fill an empty goblet with what you hoped to be the right amount of blood. You’d ask Shadowheart to heal you properly later. Hopefully she’d accept a poorly executed knife trick as an excuse. 

You wrapped your wrist as best you could and, watching to make sure the others weren’t looking, slipped into Astarion’s tent. 

You were immediately hit with the scent of bergamot, rosemary, and aged brandy. A sense of calm washed over you at the familiar combination, settling comfortably in your lungs as you took in the space.

 A single candle remained lit, allowing just enough light for you to appreciate the rich purple and red fabrics lining the walls as well as the sheer number of pillows littering the floor. How he managed to pack so many was a mystery you doubt you would ever solve. The whole set up was down right ornate, but considering this was Astarion you were talking about, you shouldn’t have been surprised. 

It was only then you realized you’d never been inside before. He’d invited you more than once, but you’d always turned him down preferring to keep your feeding session in the open air. You had known, even then, any closer would give the wrong impression; all for naught it seemed.

You pushed the thought aside, pulling your attention back to the matter at hand. There had to be some place you could put the goblet where he wouldn’t knock it over. Why did he have to keep a side table outside the tent?

A shuffle came from just outside. Focusing your ears, you caught the tread of boots on grass transition to the nearly silent carpet just outside the tent flap. You turned using those handful of extra seconds to school your features into something passively innocent as Astarion ducked inside.

His whole body froze, his arm holding the fabric above his head as his eyes went wide. For a long moment, neither of you said anything. 

You took advantage of his momentary shock to examine his appearance more closely. He looked…well, tired and more than a little confused. No blood marked his shirt or his lips. His pants appeared to have taken a tear or two from a bramble bush. Even his hair looked just a bit disheveled in a way so unlike himself.  

“No luck hunting?” you said, unable to keep the concern out of your voice. 

He stared, as if your words were coming from somewhere far away and required extra time to reach his ears.

“I’ve had better,” he finally said. 

You nodded in understanding, shifting awkwardly as your eyes went to the goblet in your hands. 

“Here,” you offered. “No offense, but you look like you could use it.”

He gave a tight smile. “I’d say no offense taken, but this is me we’re talking about.” All the same, he took the cup, sniffing it cautiously. He blinked hard, his brows furrowing as he stuck his nose further into the cup and took a deep whiff. 

“Is this yours?” he asked. 

You shrugged, holding up your bandaged wrist. “Whose else would it be?”

His mouth parted slightly as if to say something before closing it again. 

“You didn’t have to do that,” he said, his tone oddly serious. 

“I know,” you assured. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

Once again, he opened his mouth as if to speak, but instead released a breath of a laugh, allowing whatever tension he had formed in those last few seconds to fall from his shoulders. 

“I know I shouldn’t be surprised, but it seems I can’t help it with you.” 

Before you could ask him what exactly he meant, he raised the goblet to his lips and drank. 

The effect was instantaneous. Your blood met his tongue and any control he had slipped away. His pupils dilated to those of a predator as he guzzled the whole thing down in two deep swallows. He let out a gasp of air before returning to the cup, licking the sides so not to waste a drop. A low hum of bliss came from deep in his chest as he savored the rest, allowing his fingers to scrap the bottom before bringing it back to his mouth. 

The sight should have left you horrified, but in truth, it was encouraging. Things would be different, but you could at least provide him this. 

“Do you need more?” you asked. 

This time his laugh was loud and genuine as he wiped the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand before licking the remains; yet another thing you found inexplicably endearing. He really was just a big cat sometimes. 

“Dangerous thing to offer me in this state, darling,” he said. “Luckily for you, I found a nice burrow of rabbits yesterday.” 

Once satisfied there was truly nothing left, he set the goblet down on the ground before turning his attention to your wrist. 

“Let me see,” he said, reaching out a hand. 

“It’s fine,” you promised. “I’ll get Shadowheart to look at it later.” 

“I’ll be the judge of that, give it here.”

Knowing there was no fighting him, you relented, allowing him to unwrap the bandages.  

He visibly winced as he examined the litter of harsh scratches along your skin. “What did you use? A rusty spoon?” 

“I had trouble finding a good vein,” you said, feeling the need to defend yourself. You hadn’t thought it looked that bad. 

“Oh is that all? And here I thought you’d lost an argument with a displacer beast.” 

You pressed your lips into an annoyed line, but Astarion was already digging around his pack, coming back with a salve and potion of healing.  

“Drink this.”

You shook your head, ignoring the pleasant little flutter in your chest at the gesture. “I told you, I’ll just ask Shadowheart.”

“Oh this isn’t just for you,” he said, dryly. “Do you think I want her believing you’d willingly butcher yourself just to give me a proper meal? Neither of us would hear the end of it.” 

A small flush of embarrassment worked up your neck. He was right, of course. The party really hadn’t been subtle in their disapproval. It was the reason you had tried for discretion. 

Without further protest you accepted the potion. 

This seemed to appease him as he quickly got to work on applying the salve. 

He had bought it not long after you had come to your little feeding arrangement. It helped to sooth small cuts and bruises while minimizing the threat of scars. He had initially offered to provide…other services to relieve the pain, but you had declined. This was the compromise. You’d offered to do it yourself, but he insisted, claiming it was the least he could do. In truth, it was all very…transactional. 

This felt different. The hesitation he so often held, as if waiting for the other shoe to drop, was gone. His touch was gentle, his expression focused and his body oddly relaxed. It didn’t feel like an obligation, but an act of kindness, one he was more than willing to give. 

Any nerves that remained slipped away.  You could find a way to live with this. Certainly it was more than others had given you in the past. 

Once he was done, he pulled fresh bandages from his bag and began redressing your wounds with decidedly more precision than you had. 

“I am glad you’re here,” he said, breaking the silence. “I was hoping we could talk.”

A sharp sting of anxiety pressed itself into your skin. 

“Oh?” 

He nodded, tying off the bandage. “I think it’s important.”

You swallowed. The instinct to run pulled at your feet, but you managed to keep it in check. You owed him that much. 

“Well, I’m here so…let’s talk.”

He breathed out an audible sigh of relief, raising his hands up as he took a small step back.

“Just stand there a moment. Don’t move.”

He spun around, rummaging through various bags before letting out a cry of triumph. He stepped back holding what looked to be a violin string glowing with magical golden light. 

Your head tilted to the side as your eyes narrowed. “Is that…?”

“Part of the violin, yes,” he admitted. “Bit of a story. Short version, Gale was able to extract one of the strings. It shouldn’t cause any permanent damage to the instrument, as far as I know.” 

You raised a doubtful eyebrow. “And Gale just let you pluck this from his tent did he?”

Astarion shifted uncomfortably. “Not exactly. I, ah, may have had some trouble understanding how it worked and…inquired as to his assistance.”

“You asked Gale for help?” you asked, astonished.

“Don’t make me relive the experience,” he lamented. “He told me the strings themselves have different magical properties in order to create the effect you demonstrated the other night. Apparently this one alone compels people to tell the truth.” 

He then took the string and carefully wrapped it around his wrist before handing the other half to you. 

Your eyes widened, glancing between him and the offered cord. “What are you doing?”

“Leveling the playing field,” he said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

You shook your head, taking a step back. “You don’t have to do that.”

His lips curved into a self deprecating smile. “I think I do though. I haven’t been honest with you and…while that’s not exactly unique to you, the regret I have is. So you see, it really is a selfish action. If I’m to be free of this, I need to know for certain you understand that what I say next is the truth…all of it.” 

Your mouth opened to protest, but the words caught in your throat. The expression on his face was one you had never seen before. While he did his best to hide under his usual indifferent airs, his eyes gave him away. You’d never seen them so open and unsure. 

Slowly, you took the other end, feeling a familiar tingle spread through your fingers. 

“Alright,” you said, cautiously. “What’s your favorite color?”

Flashes of red shot across your vision, moonlit skies and a pair of eyes you only just caught to be your own before the image settled on something else entirely.

“Pink,” Astarion blurted.

Your eyebrows shot up as the start of a delighted smile spread across your face.

 “And orange,” he amended quickly, “and dark blue and…honestly just the color of the sky at sunrise.” He pouted as if annoyed at the words that escaped his lips, but he shook it off. “Alright, you had your little test run. Give me something harder.” 

You considered a moment. It was very tempting to continue on with some more embarrassing questions, but that wasn’t the purpose of all of this. Best to start at the beginning. 

“What did you think of me when we first met?” you asked.

He grimaced, guilt evident not just through his averted gaze but the tug of the string between you. “You were a target,” he admitted. “At best a convenient meat shield. You were just so…open, ready to trust. Manipulating you would be easy.”

You took a deep breath, ignoring the stab of pain between your ribs. You should have expected as much. He wasn’t exactly subtle. 

“And that’s what you were trying to do the other night, manipulate me?”

“Yes.”

Another stab of guilt, a flash of your own back walking out of a candle lit room as a hand that was not your own reached hopelessly outward. 

Your actual jaw clenched. “I don’t need your pity.”

“It’s not pity.”

“Then what?!” you snapped. “Hells bells Astarion, do you even like me?”

“You drive me to acts of insanity,” he said indignantly, raising up the glowing cord around his wrist as proof. “Do you think I’d willing subject myself to days of Gale’s passive aggressive commentary on my personal life for just anyone? Of course I like you. Gods below!”

You stared, unable to deny the waves of exasperation mixed with the sound of your own laughter as heard through another’s ears. Something warm and unfamiliar bloomed in the chest of the body opposite you making your mind spin, as you tried to re-establish the divide. 

“Why did you ask me to come to you?” you asked. “What were you hoping to gain?”

Astarion took a deep breath. It was only then you noticed how tightly he was holding the chord linking you.

“I was hoping to get back on track,” he said, slowly. “I had a plan when we met. A nice simple plan. Seduce you, bed you, manipulate your emotions so you’d never turn on me. It was easy…instinctive.” 

He met your eyes and for the first time, you felt him fight against the images threatening to breach the gap between you. You caught the barest flashes, memories of half forgotten faces passing by one after another. Shame and vile brushed the edges of your mind, and quickly faded as Astarion regained control. 

“But, you seemed immune to my attempts,” he continued. “I could tell you enjoyed my attentions, but you never asked for more. My simple plan that had worked on countless targets, couldn’t get off the ground. And yet, you still gave me blood, protection…trust. I couldn’t understand it. I found myself wanting to know more, to know you. To anticipate what you would ultimately ask in exchange. And then that night, you showed me exactly what it was you desired.”

Something slipped through. You saw yourself in the center of the tavern with darkness surrounding you. A rise of fear entered your heart as you heard your name called from familiar lips. And then, the world shifted, light came back into the world and it was…beautiful. 

“I thought I finally understood you,” he said. “A poor repressed urchin who had been hurt one too many times. All that was required was a more gentle touch. I could provide that. It wouldn’t be the first time.” 

He paused, his expression softening. “And then you had to do the most inconsiderate thing and surprise me all over again: you asked for my heart, in exchange for yours. I should have been elated. It meant my plan had worked, not the way I intended, but you had fallen for it…for me. The trouble was, I hadn’t accounted for the possibility that I would fall for you.”

You stared, unable to say anything as a well of emotion threatened to burst from you. It was as if someone pulled a bow across your chest, creating a resonating sound that moved in harmony with your very soul. 

It was true, all of it. 

By some miracle, you wrestled back control over your lungs and tongue. 

“Why didn’t you say anything?” 

“I didn’t know how,” he admitted. “Even if I had, would you have believed me?”

You averted your gaze. It was answer enough. 

“It’s alright,” he said, offering a wry smile. “Smart really. I wouldn’t have believed me either.” 

You nodded in appreciation, your mind still reeling from everything he had just confessed. 

“What are you thinking?” he asked. 

You frowned, unable to shake a question that had been stirring for some time. 

“Do you even want to have sex with me?”

His eyebrows shot into his hairline, his mouth falling open. “I’m standing here baring my soul to you and that’s what you ask?”

“You asked me what I was thinking,” you defended. “Besides, it’s a relevant question.” 

He looked like he wanted to argue, but let it go just as quickly with a huff. 

“Well?” you prompted. 

He made a series of non-commital noises, his mouth half forming words before being wrenched in another direction. The chord between you glowed brighter, twisting just a little deeper into his skin.

“I…don’t really know,” he said, slightly stilted, as if surprised by his own answer. “To be clear, I do find you physically enticing. In that aspect at least, I’d hardly qualify bedding you a chore, but... I spent two centuries using lust and desire to lure people back to him. In that time I developed the habit of taking myself out of my body, looking at it as if it were happening to somebody else.  Even in those rare times it could be pleasurable, I still walked away feeling nothing but disgust and loathing. I don’t want those feelings associated with you. At the same time, I can’t help thinking that if we were together, it would be different. But, don’t take that to mean I expect it. Like I said, I don’t even know if I want it. Honestly, before you said it, I didn’t know saying no was an option.”

You took all of that in, your heart clenching as the full weight of what Cazador did to him settled on your mind.  Red filed your vision, the sympathetic ache replaced with a rush of fury.  He was a dead man. One way or another, you would see Cazador bloodied by the end of all of this. But as quickly as it had come you let the emotion pass. This wasn’t about him.  You wouldn’t let him intrude any more on this moment. 

“What do you want from me then?” you asked, softly. 

To your relief, something familiar and teasing flashed across his face. 

“I thought I’d made that obvious.”

With his free hand, he cupped your cheek allowing his thumb to lightly caress your skin. His scarlet eyes burned not with lust, but something warmer and just as desperate. 

“You showed me the chorus of your heart. How could anyone look upon that and not desire it? The trouble is, the price you asked. I…I don’t know how to pay it. I don’t know how to be with someone that way, but I’m willing to learn. I want it all. I want you to have it all.” 

The connection between you burned hot in your hand, but you couldn’t let it go. It felt so warm, so real. It filled every empty part of you to the point of bursting and still you wanted more. You were insatiable. 

Astarion looked just as lost as you, his eyes glazed over with too many emotions for you to name. His body began to tremble. It was becoming too much. 

In an instant you pulled his hand away, unwrapping the chord from around his wrist and tossing it aside.

He took a sudden deep breath as if coming up for air after being submerged in deep water. 

“Shit,” he cursed, gulping for air. Closing his eyes, he ran a hand down his face as he tried to calm. 

Your eyes widened as you caught the angry marks left behind on his wrist. 

“Are you alright?”

He blinked hard as if clearing spots from his vision. “I’m fine. Wasn’t expecting that is all.” He turned his focus to you with a bewildered expression. “Does it always feel like that?”

“That’s admittedly a first for me,” you confessed. You reached out your hand, glancing at his injury. “Let me see.”

He followed your gaze frowning, as if surprised to note the welts forming on his wrist. Still he stepped closer allowing you to examine them without protest. 

“Does it hurt?” you asked. 

He shook his head. “Sort of numb, honestly, tingly.”

You nodded, swallowing hard to keep the rise of guilt and fear at bay. It didn’t help. 

“I’m sorry,” you said, quickly. 

He tilted his head, his eyes narrowing. “Don’t think a little thing like this is going to scare me off. I meant what I said. I intend to give you your fill.”

“You don’t have to give it all at once,” you promised. “I can be patient when it counts.” 

A sly smile turned at his lips. “I almost hope you won’t. You’re not the only one who's starving.”

Heat spread up your neck, something Astarion undoubtedly caught as he gave a low laugh. 

“Well, now that we’ve cleared the air, what happens next?” he asked. 

“I’m…not sure,” you admitted. “Nobody else has ever given me the chance to figure that out.” 

He nodded slowly, before taking a small step back. His head tilted as if to examine you from every angle. A question started to form on your tongue just as the start of a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. He suddenly straightened before placing a hand on his chest and regarded you with a deep bow. 

You grinned, matching him with a curtsy of your own. 

He then offered his hand, which you easily took before he pulled you just a little closer. Your other hand found his shoulder while his pressed lightly on your waist. And then you did what was only natural. You danced. 

It wasn’t anything elaborate. There was no fire or sparks of magic. You simply moved together to a song of your own imagination. It stirred in your chest, the barest pluck of a melody, but it was yours and his; the promise of a symphony to come.

Tag List:

@ambrolyer, @cassiecasluciluce, @tamwritesstuff, @hallowedandhungry, @mangomonk, @amefuyuu, @righteous-scamp, @starved-kitten, @tinystarfishgalaxy, @twinkliker3000, @unrestrictedbyreality, @screechingphantommaker, @becksynthetic, @black-sapphic, @dicenete, @isharaneith, @sarcasticlittlebook, @catsandskyrimcafe, @sora-o-kaku, @catching-fire-in-the-wind, @ka-du-trur, @baldursgateslittlestar, @rakilein

[vrystalius]

The demon outside my bedroom

(Kokushibo x hashira!fem!reader, slight spoilers for his backstory)

Every night, at the exact same time, you would hear a soft knock on your bedroom door. A large, dark figure stood in your garden, waiting to be let inside. But after sliding your door aside, you were greeted by your boyfriend’s six eyes staring back at you.

“My moonlight.”

His voice was deep and would rumble in his chest, making you shiver. After inviting your demon inside, the bedroom lights would illuminate his face. Six eyes staring expectantly at you, waiting for something. As a sign of trust, the demon would close his upper and lower two eyes, only leaving the ones in the center. He looked less demonic, perhaps he’s trying to please you by trying to look more human?

“Kokushibo.”

Your voice felt like a soothing melody to him. It calmed his mind, soul and body in an instant. When you cup Kokushibo’s cheeks, he fully leaned into your touch. He misses being with you during the day and having you close to him. Kokushibo leaned closer to your face, admiring your features. When his lips met yours, Kokushibo sighed softly. Your lips felt warm and moist, so welcoming. So intoxicating.

His cold hands would carefully hover over your neck, slowly setting down on your collarbone. Kokushibo opened all six of his eyes and let his mind engrave a portrait of you into his memory. He cannot remember his late wife, kids, friends or family. Just of his damned brother. But he wants to remember you, so that when the time comes that you are not around, Kokushibo would cherish every single memory, every single time he saw your face, felt your hands, lips, hair, for all eternity.

Ever since Kokushibo fell for you, he followed Akaza’s path and avoided eating women, and eating humans entirely. He tries to deprave himself from consuming human flesh until he absolutely needs it. He feels like he would dirty or taint you if he kisses you with the same mouth he consumes humans with. Luckily, Muzan hasn’t noticed his new diet yet. Or rather the lack of it.

Kokushibo is an extremely jealous man, and even thinking about other hashira flirting with you, makes him feel incredible rage. You can’t tell any of your colleagues about your relationship since you can’t really openly talk about dating the number 2 worst enemy of you all. So instead of telling your hashira with words that you are not single, Kokushibo took it upon himself to demonstrate it on your body.

He will nibble and kiss your whole neck, leaving obvious hickeys in places where you cannot hide them. Kokushibo enjoys making you squirm while he does this, taking pleasure from your whining and complaining. He will hold you close, holding you by your waist and neck while doing this affectionate assault.

Your skin is the sweetest, forbidden fruit he has ever tasted, and Kokushibo is incredibly grateful that he is the only man that ever experience you like this. He will make sure that he is going to be the only and the last man to ever experience you like this.

“My moon, my dearest moonlight. You are mine and I am yours, and I swear to protect you for all eternity.

💠

I’ll probably make this into a mini series, and I’ll write something similar for the other Upper Moons and Muzan. Perhaps, if someone requests it, I’ll do something similar for the hashira and a demon reader. I would like to credit my cat as a co-author.

Anyways, make sure to EAT, SLEEP and DRINK.

Take care of yourselves <3

The demon that… masterlist

[sweetcarrotsandroses97]

Spring | JJK

Hello darlings!!!

Pairing: royal guard!Jungkook x princess!Reader, prince!Jimin x princess!Reader (ft. Yoongi & Hoseok)

Summary: In which you, princess of the Gyeongdong Dynasty, were in the middle of wedding plans. An arranged marriage that would guarantee your father's bloodline to stay on the throne.

Or in which you are assigned a new royal guard that swore to protect you with his life. Jeon Jungkook. That's his name. A name you could never forget. A name that, slowly but surely got engraved not only in your memories but also in your heart.

Love, politics, betrayal and desire. All in ancient history. A love that never should have happened, two souls that wouldn't be allowed to be together.

Warnings: fluff, angst, mentions of past life, reincarnation! AU, implied soulmate! AU, flashbacks, ft. Yoongi and Hoseok, modern! AU, lost love, yearning, strangers to lovers???, all the feels, crying, there's a kiss, sweet and soft koo, hurt/comfort, (let me know if I missed anything!)

Word Count: 10.4 k

A/N: Hello, darlings! Welcome the the finale of "Four Seasons"! I know you guys have waited a looong time for this part to come out but it is finally here so let's see how Jungkook and our Princess will end their love story!

This whole story was highly inspired by "Moon Lovers" and the ending it should have had, (in my humble opinion). I included different scenes of other movies/shows/dramas that I liked with the hope you will like it as well.

Also thank you guys so much for 200 followers! Take this as my thank you gift, darlings!

Thank you so much for all the love this series got and thank you for sticking up with me to see the end of this journey and hopefully the beginning of many more! Please let me know your thoughts in the comments, darlings! Happy reading, everyone!

💜 Boraghae ARMY 💜

~Taglist for Four Season: @valhallawhispers @lovingkoalaface @seokout @ackercute @jksusawife

~Tagging people who were waiting for the finale (I apologise if you didn't want to be tagged) @jjanjankook @junghoseok07 @vminkookgf @allie-is-a-panda

We have lived through centuries, carrying many lives, carrying many deaths. Carrying a world only remembered by our pure soul.

Jungkook opened his eyes, it was still dark outside. He sighed, reaching over his nightstand and picking up his phone. His eyes burned with the sudden light coming from the small device as he turned off his morning alarm.

The phone rested on his chest as he hesitated whether to get up and go to work or probably call sick today once more. Yet a sudden weight getting on the bed made him sigh once more. His other hand blindly searched for his large and sweet dog to pet him lazily while remembering Bam was running out of food and he needed to buy another bag, that meant he had to go to work once more.

With a soft groan, he sat on the bed, searching for his slippers before he stood up and walked out of the bedroom with Bam hot on his heels.

The sun was barely out yet the sky was already painted in beautiful hues of blue and orange. Decorated with the soft looking clouds that seemed to have been delicate brushes over a painting in the museum Jungkook worked at.

Loneliness encapsulated Jungkook's heart as he gazed at the beautiful sky, he almost felt as if there was something missing in his life or rather, someone. He felt empty, divided and there was nothing that could fill that void in his soul.

He tried getting into cooking, but the soft ache was always there. Working out was the solution for some time but as soon as he was back home, that melancholy drowned his soul once more. It made him ache, dream and yearn for something he didn't even know what it was but he felt like he needed it to survive.

Spring had arrived a couple of weeks ago, the trees were blooming with beautiful pink flowers and the petals fell on the ground softly, creating an enchanting path to walk by. The parks were full of greenery and the birds began to sing after the crude winter. Warmer days were to come.

Jungkook found himself walking through the same streets like every morning to get to his full-time job. He walked monotonously, his earpods on only to stop people from talking to him, not that it had happened many times but there was something about today that he didn't wish to interact with people. The least he did it, the better.

No music filled his ears, the walk was monotonous; monochrome even. Without an ounce of colour in his life even when spring was flourishing around him.

However, the sudden smell of fresh roses invaded his senses and he was pulled back from his mind and looked around the crowd that walked alongside him but were unaware of his mundane existence.

Many people surrounded him. Many people continued their paths while he stood rooted to the ground. The scent so soft and calming it made his heart skip a beat without thinking about it. But the feeling was lost before he could fully grasp it. Something clawed at his heart to search for such a unique scent, to go after the person who owned it but the idea dissipated from his mind like fog in a spring morning as someone bumped his shoulder softly and Jungkook was forced to continue moving with the crowd who carried him away of his very first taste of spring.

You stared out of the window of your car, your chin rested over your knuckles as you lost yourself in your thoughts. You noticed the beautiful cherry blossoms have already bloomed, spring has arrived sooner than you thought. But despite the mesmerising view outside of your car, you felt nothing about the pink petals that signalled a new season has started.

Almost as if your heart was frozen. Many called you that. Ice Queen. For people have rarely ever seen you smile. As if it was physically harmful for you to do so. The public always had its eye on you given that you were the only and beautiful daughter of a very important politician, your life was surely of entertainment to the media.

"Did you check the files I sent you yesterday?"

Hoseok, your best friend and personal assistant, spoke next to you. His voice brought you back from your thoughts. You turned to look at him with that emotionless expression he had already gotten used to as you spoke with a dry voice.

"Of course. If I'm going to buy something, I inform myself well, Hoseok. You already know the drill."

He sighed, opening his phone as he checked a new message from your father.

"Is there anything that caught your eye?"

You took a deep breath, your fingers playing with the bracelet you never took off as you spoke with that same bored tone he honestly hated in you. Not because Hoseok had come to terms with it meant he liked it. He had once heard your beautiful laughter. Your precious smile was enough to illuminate a whole room. But that had been long ago. Many years had passed since those golden days. Days when you didn't have responsibilities, when there were no explicit expectations. Days when you both were only children.

"I want to see the paintings. The Gyeongdong Dynasty is known for their magnificent art but I won't be convinced until I see such art pieces with my own eyes."

Hoseok sighed yet again. If he got a dollar for every time he sighed these days he'd already be rich.

"Stubborn as ever."

He muttered under his breath and you turned around to look out of the window, hiding the minuscule smirk that threatened to break over your cherry red lips.

The car stopped in front of the Leeum Museum. You looked at the building, hearing how Hoseok stepped out of the car, just as your driver. Your best friend walked around the car and opened the door for you. With graceful movements you stepped out as well and stood tall on your ground as Hoseok closed the door behind you.

"I'll call you when we’ll be getting back."

Hoseok spoke to the driver, the older man bowed down at you both before he got in the car again and drove off. You stood in front of the museum, admiring the beautiful architecture. Soft wind made your hair fly slightly as you began walking to the castle of arts with Hoseok trailing behind you.

A sudden melancholy filled your heart with each step you took towards the building. As if you had been missing something and were only about to find it. It clawed at your heart and you shuddered at the feeling. Suppressing it as the double doors opened for you and you entered the elegant and modern museum, wanting to stay and leave at the same time.

"Today Miss Lee will be visiting us for her purchase, Jungkook."

Yoongi spoke as he leaned back on his office chair while twirling a pen between his fingers. Jungkook nodded, hands clasped in front of him as he listened attentively.

"She is an extremely special client, one of our main buyers. I am trusting you to tend to her every need. Don't mess with her. Let her roam around and when she decides what artefact she'd want to buy, bring her here. I'll sign the paperwork."

Jungkook looked at his boss and friend with curiosity in his big doe eyes.

"Is there anything specific I should know about her?"

Yoongi sighed deeply, twirling his chair a bit to the right as he looked outside the beautiful gardens of the elegant museum.

"You really don't follow the media, do you? Miss Lee (y/n) is known to have a very difficult temper. She has never been seen smiling and her attitude is as cold as ice, according to netizens. Don't follow her too closely, don't even look her in the eyes. We can't lose such an important purchaser as her."

"I understand."

Jungkook reassured with firmness in his voice, feeling something oddly familiar at the mention of the stoic woman's name. Something within himself he wasn't quick enough to grasp.

"You may go, she is expected to arrive any minute now."

The younger man nodded, bowing softly before he left the classy and minimalist office. Jungkook descended the marble staircase that led to the offices above only to come face to face with Jung Hoseok himself.

"Mr. Jung."

He acknowledged. Hoseok turned to look at Jungkook before a warm smile appeared on his delicate and beautiful features.

"Ah, you must be Jeon Jungkook, right?"

The latter nodded, extending his right hand forward. Hoseok shook his hand firmly before the both men began walking back to the gallery.

"I apologise. I wasn't notified when Miss Lee arrived. I'd like to introduce myself to her."

Jungkook spoke with professionalism in his deep voice. Silently earning Hoseok's silent approval about the younger man.

"Of course. I left her in the ancient relics hall. Let's go there, shall we?"

You had ventured on your own when Hoseok left you to search for the man who was going to accompany you and assess you in your purchase. You didn't pay him much thought as he disappeared around the corner, leaving you alone in the large and beautiful house of arts.

Your feet carried you through the halls, your heels clicking in the marble floors and echoing among the walls that told centuries of history.

The exhibition of the Gyeongdong Dynasty was one the public have been waiting for a long time now. Curious as ever as to what item were you to purchase as preservation of cultural treasure as per your father's own political project.

There was something terribly familiar about the artefacts you saw kept in glass boxes. Historical treasures were kept intact, there was jewellery from noble families and even the royal families of the dynasty that were managed to be restored.

Paintings, clothes, old parchments, vases and even toys were all around the place. You walked over to the hallway where the artefacts of the royal families were kept. Ignoring the heaviness in your steps, the sourness in your heart, the odd feelings that clawed at your heart.

A big glass wall allowed you to witness the mesmerising view of the gardens, cherry blossoms in all their resplandor bloomed at the very background, pink petals decorated the outer grounds and a small fountain was at the centre of the small yet lovely garden that you felt a sudden urge to go to.

You watched it in silence. The soft and pink petals falling behind you with delicate motions. Spring had arrived. But your heart was frozen. Cold as it missed something you yearned for yet didn't know what it was or how to find it. An empty feeling that had lived within you for as long as you can remember.

With a sigh, you forced yourself to avert your eyes from the garden and focus back on the artefacts around the big room. You watched replicas of the dynasty's royal robes. A dress colour orange picked your attention the most, perhaps for its intriguing details or beautiful tailoring. Maybe because of the extravagant colour but you found yourself staring at it for quite some time. A heaviness weighing your heart down as you forced yourself to move forward from the dress you knew once belonged to a princess.

You passed the row of robes and dresses in glass cages, focusing on the paintings hanging on the walls with their respective description below.

First family of the Gyeongdong Dynasty.

Second family of the Gyeongdong Dynasty.

Third family of the Gyeongdong Dynasty.

And so on. It was mostly a man and a woman in the painting, some had children others did not. And you guessed they were the kings and queens of the long lost dynasty that brought the land to prosperity before the Goryeo dynasty started.

You stopped in front of a painting of a man and a woman, both quite beautiful in the art piece. The woman in the painting was holding a baby in her arms and you couldn't help but tilt your head slightly at the strange familiarity you felt towards the beautiful portrait.

There were no names of the people in the painting, the Gyeongdong Dynasty had suffered quite the loss of information when the palace caught fire during the last family of the bloodline. However, you couldn't stop staring at the woman in the portrait. You didn't know why, but it almost felt as if you were watching yourself in a mirror.

You felt as if you resembled her, as if your soul recognised her even when you hadn't seen such a portrait before. The man however made you nostalgic over their sad story.

According to the description of the painting, the man and the woman were married and had a son but she had died of a heart disease. He never remarried and historians said the queen was deeply loved by her husband.

The more you looked at the painting, the heavier your heart felt. It was a family portrait. A family portrait that told a sad story. It made your heart clench in your chest and you took a step back, as if the painting was cursed by the heavens and you had to walk away from it.

Perhaps you needed to stop taking that herbal tea Hoseok always pestered you to drink on an empty stomach.

You felt your stomach sink when you saw the next painting. You recognised the man from the last portrait. The young king. His queen was by his side in the large throne hall and all the officers stood in front of the throne in line. You saw a man, standing next to the queen that wore dark robes and had rough and large hands clasped in front of him.

It felt as if you were dreaming. Watching a movie or remembering something you had forgotten as images flooded in your mind and you found yourself drowning in the violent waters that was the mind.

---

A soft smile was plastered over your features while still facing him. However, he ignored what you said and commented, his voice a bit more distant than before.

"You will trip if you walk like that."

It was a statement rather than a possibility and that had you frowning up at him. If he was going to be like this then your little trips to the city and nearby villages were going to be a bit dull, at least until you got to your desired destination.

"I won't! I don't lik-"

But your sentence got cut off when, just as he predicted, you tripped with a small rock. You gasped when you felt your body being pulled down to the ground by gravity, the heavy skirts of your dress not allowing you to gain back your footing.

It was only when you felt a firm hand grasping yours and a pull over your body when you were back on your feet.

"I told you you would trip over."

Officer Jeon said, his voice cold and distant but you were able to catch a tinge of humour behind his words. A soft blush painted your cheeks when you realised he was still holding your hand in his surprisingly warm one.

Out of a sudden you felt shy, retrieving your hand from his grasp and taking a couple of steps away from him as you hadn't noticed just how close the two of you were a mere second ago.

"That... that was- it wouldn't... aish. I don't like for people to walk behind me, I feel like I'm being followed. Just... just do me the favour, could you? Just walk next to me, I promise you won't get in trouble."

He sighed, looking around before agreeing with a silent nod.

"And, thanks by the way. For not letting me fall down."

He bowed slightly, the both of you continuing your path down to the city.

"I was just doing my work, Princess."

You had to bite down on your lip to keep the smile from shining all over your face. He indeed took that vow to heart. You thought. Looking up at him, you noticed just how handsome your personal guard was and a warm sensation spread all over your body.

"So... tell me. What's your name? How would you like me to call you?"

Your question made him look down at you for a split second but you continued to watch him with curiosity. If he was going to always be with you, at least you could be friends?

"I am the First Officer of the Royal Guards, Jeon Jungkook. You can call me as you please, My Lady."

Jeon Jungkook.

---

"Thank you for coming with me to the city."

He bowed down at you, not saying a word. When he straightened back up he was met with the sight of you holding a small bag towards him.

"You can have them, you looked like you wanted some of them. I won't be able to finish them all anyway."

Jungkook took the bag from your hand hesitantly, his fingers brushing yours for a split second before the contact was broken.

"I appreciate your generosity, Princess. Rest well."

You smiled a little wider at him, your hands clasping in front of you.

"You rest as well, Jungkook."

With that being said you entered your room, sliding the door shut. Only when Jungkook saw that you had closed the door did he begin walking back to his own room.

---

"You have good skills but your posture can be improved."

At Jungkook's words you lifted your gaze, meeting his dark brown eyes with your own once more. He gestured towards your bow with his chin and asked, his voice gentle like a summer breeze.

"May I?"

You nodded, handing him your bow. The warmth of his fingers brushed yours and you had to bite back a smile. He crouched down and picked up the arrow that had fallen from your grasp a moment ago.

Jungkook positioned himself and you watched his every move.

"You are too tense while holding the bow, if your hold is firm but at the same time gentle it will give you stability."

You listened carefully to his explanations as your eyes were glued to him and for the first time since he became your personal guard were you able to admire him. Properly admire him.

Your gaze landed on his focused face, on how his eyes were put on the target mark and nothing else. Then, you travelled to his lips and marvelled on the way he was pulling back the arrow until it touched the corner of his lips softly. His jawline was defined as if it had been sculpted by the gods.

His broad shoulders carried years of training and you could see how his muscles could be traced even with more than one layer of clothing. His veiny hands held the bow and the arrow with expertise and you found yourself trapped in a trance in which only Jungkook existed.

He fired the arrow, hitting the target in its centre. You looked amazed at the clean shot he did and he commented, giving you back your bow.

"Would you like to try again, Princess?"

You nodded and took the bow. Jungkook walked where the rest of the arrows were and picked one up. He handed it to you and you took it softly from his grasp. You positioned the arrow and prepared yourself to shoot.

You silently gasped when you felt a large hand over your left one, the one holding the bow and it took you less than a second to realise it was Jungkook who was guiding you. You smelled his scent from behind you and felt the light pressure of his body at your back but it wasn't uncomfortable, on the contrary, you felt safe being this close to him. It was... Soothing, to say the least.

"You need to relax your hand a bit more."

Following his instructions, he smiled.

"Good, now take a deep breath. Straighten up a bit more and concentrate."

You did as you were told, closing your eyes and relishing in the comfort Jungkook provided. The warm feeling of his hand over yours was nearly overwhelming. The moment you opened your eyes again, the only thing you could focus on was the target. Letting go of the arrow, it travelled through the air with a mute noise and landed directly on the mark.

A gasp left your lips and Jungkook let go of your hand just as you turned around and looked up at him. Your smile showed pure happiness, a happiness he was responsible for and for some reason, that settled a spark of proudness in his chest.

---

"I care for you, Princess."

You closed your eyes, letting the tears fall freely down your cheeks.

"You can't."

Whispered words reached his ears. Making his heart shake with the need to hold you, promise you that it was going to be alright.

"But I do."

You opened your eyes, looking at Jungkook through blurry vision. His eyes were filled with tears and you felt an ache in your heart at the sight of his tears.

"You weren't supposed to. You were only meant to protect me, Jungkook. That's it, nothing else."

He sighed, his eyes lowering to your trembling hands resting on your lap. He had a sudden urge to hold them. To hold you. To comfort you.

"I know. Love is blind, Princess. No-one gets to choose."

---

Your eyes were locked with his, not daring to break the eye contact that was grounding your thoughts, in a way at least.

"I'm begging you to put yourself in my shoes, it is not correct for me to write to you in such a way. Your fiancé is in the palace and you could get in trouble if someone finds out."

The way he said "you could get in trouble" not "me", not "we". It was you who he was worried about. His heart feared for you and the fact of such care brought tears to your eyes.

"It is not appropriate, Your Highness."

He bowed slightly at you, a lump forming in your throat as realisation hit you. You were losing him. You were losing the only man who could ever own your heart. The man you cared for over everyone else. The man you loved. You were losing your Jungkook but, was he really yours to begin with?

You could never claim yourself as his so no, he wasn't yours. He wasn't yours to love and care, he wasn't yours to be with you out of what was needed to be.

You took a deep breath, holding your head high and swallowing the lump in your throat. You were never going to say you loved him, you weren't going to put yourself in such pain. You didn't want his pity. The misery it'd come afterwards.

"You are right,"

This time, Jungkook flinched at your tone. Your words were void of any emotion, a sound that he used to know was as warm like the summer days felt now cold like winter.

"it is not right for us to write to each other. It will not happen again."

Even though that was what his mind desired for you to say, his heart hurt at your words. As if someone had just stabbed him directly in the heart. Your words had such an impact on him. Not because you were the Crown Princess but because he loved you. He loved you with all his body, soul and mind. He loved you more than love itself. But he knew the cruel reality. Jungkook knew that you both could never be together.

---

"Yes. You?"

He nodded. Not hearing the commotion from before. The intruders had been defeated by the remaining palace guards. He could hear Yoongi talking to the king about investigating the bloodbath that had just occurred in the throne room.

Jungkook looked down at you. The hand that once rested on your shoulder travelled down your arm until his fingers locked with yours, holding your hand and giving it a firm squeeze in reassurance.

But the moment was short-lived. The moment in which you lost yourself in his dark orbs and relished in the feeling of his touch as innocent and reassuring as was to hold your hand.

You saw, in a matter of milliseconds how his eyes shifted from you to something standing behind you. His sword clanked to the floor and his hand left yours, leaving it cold once more. You suddenly found yourself in his arms as he twisted you both. Being him who's back faced the entrance way.

You gasped at the motion. But nothing could have been worse than the pained groan he let out a mere second after he spun you around.

Tears gathered in your eyes when you saw one of the remaining intruders holding a bow, pointing it at you. Your eyes widened when you saw an arrow had pierced him on the back.

"Jungkook!"

He began to slump forward and you did your best to ease his fall. The hand that held the bow you had used to defend yourself clattered to the floor as you knelt on the ground, while Jungkook nuzzled his head in the crook of your neck.

Jimin, who stood next to the entrance way, had seen everything unfold before his eyes. He was quick to run towards the last intruder and kill him with his own sword before he turned back to you and watched how you held Jungkook in your embrace.

"Jungkook! Stay awake, you have to stay awake! Do you hear me? Jungkook!"

---

“I just remembered,”

He stood up, his hands leaving your grasp and you felt them cool down without the warmth of Jungkook’s large hands over your own. Your gaze followed him while he searched in one of his drawers until he pulled something out and walked back to you. 

“I made you something for your birthday but with everything that happened, I never got the chance to give it to you.”

You were glad you were sitting, if not, you would have probably fainted with the amount of love you had for this man. Had he really made you something despite the terms you were in before the engagement ceremony? Did he really love you that much?

Of course he did. 

When Jungkook loved, he loved with all his heart. And right now, you were the owner of that heart of his. He gave it to you without a second thought and his little actions kept proving it to you over and over again. He grabbed your left wrist and you looked down, watching as he tied a red braided bracelet around your skin. He tightened it with the perfect amount of force, tight enough for it to not fall but not that strong that it would hurt your precious skin. 

“Do you like it?”

You couldn’t take your eyes off his gift. It was a beautifully braided bracelet with small pearls in it. 

“It’s perfect.”

You whispered. Afraid that if you spoke any louder the moment would be ruined. His heart skipped a beat with your words.

“No-one has ever given me such a beautiful gift. Thank you, Jungkook.”

He scratched the back of his neck, clearing his throat and looking away. But you were having none of that so you, once more, grabbed his hand and made him look at you. Your (e/c) eyes met his big doe ones and you said, with tears prickling at the corner of your eyes.

“Thank you, Jungkook. For everything.”

He smiled, a warm smile that made butterflies go wild in your stomach. 

“You are very welcome, my princess.”

---

"Aren't you cold?"

That voice he enjoyed so much reached his ears, making him look up at you. He smiled. Shutting the book as his arm rested next to him. Your feet crunched the snow below as you made your way towards him.

"Not really, princess. I kept myself busy."

You smiled. Looking up at him as your hands clasped themselves in front of you.

"Aren't you cold, Your Highness?"

His voiced concern made your heart flutter. You feared he could hear just how fast your heart was beating inside your chest.

"No, I just came from taking a walk with the Crown Prince."

Jungkook kept his gaze on you yet you were aware how something flashed in his eyes at the mention of your future husband. It was there in those dark orbs you loved to get yourself lost into, a second in which he let his emotions take control over him. Where he was vulnerable to your watchful eyes.

But it was gone as you blinked. He gave you no time to question whatever you had seen in his gaze as he asked you next.

"Are you ready for your wedding day?"

The atmosphere turned sombre. As if clouds had hidden the sun of a summer day during tea time. Soft snowflakes began falling from the darkening skies in a soft motion. Delicately even.

"You know I'm not. How could I?"

The smile that once adorned Jungkook's handsome features was now gone. A sad look covered his eyes.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked that."

You took a deep breath. The little bubble of happiness and freedom he provided was now popped and you were brought to the harsh reality. You didn't say anything but you could feel his eyes on you as the both of you walked slowly through your private gardens.

The playful and innocent mood like a summer breeze had been clouded by the cold winds of winter. Of reality.

---

"You came."

You breathed out. Not really believing he was standing there, in front of you when you were literally getting married tomorrow.

"You called."

Jungkook answered. A fond smile was painted over his pink lips. His eyes twinkled with happiness upon seeing you. His hand reached forward in an unconscious manner. But he paused his motion before his palm graced your cheeks with his loving touch.

He lowered his arm and cleared his throat. Speaking once more to break the silence that fell between you two.

"I will not ask how you managed to send that note to me, Princess."

You let out a short laugh, blessing his ears with such a pure sound. A melody his heart cherished more than life itself.

"I have my ways, Officer Jeon."

He snorted at that, his frame relaxing in your presence as he leaned his side to the tree. His eyes never leave your own.

"Can't you call me by my name, Jungkook? Just once?"

Your plea made his eyes harden. You asked for the impossible but you desired more than oxygen to hear your name in his voice. That sweet voice that lived in your mind rent-free. That would console you in your memories when you were sad and would bring a smile upon your face in the most random times of the day.

"I cannot, Your Highness. It is against His Majesty's order to address you improperly."

You frowned.

"Even if I am asking you that?"

He sighed. A hand running though his dark hair. How you wished you could run your own hands through his locks. You could bet on your life they were as soft as cotton.

"I can't, princess. I'm sorry."

Silence stretched between you both. Somehow, the air felt colder, breathing got more challenging upon your rejected request.

"Why did you want to see me? Did you miss me that much?"

Jungkook said, trying to lighten the mood. A playful smirk over his lips. You looked up at him, your eyes as transparent as the lake's water; revealing your soul.

"I don't know if you'll want to speak to me after I say what's been on my mind for the last two days."

He lifted an eyebrow at your response. Curiosity got the best of him as he took a step away from the tree, now standing fully in front of you. The soft snow continues to dance around you.

"It can't be that bad, now can it? Just tell me, Princess."

You took a deep breath, your pulse quickening. This was it. The opportunity to speak your mind. To reveal your most intimate desire to him.

"I don't want to get married, Jungkook. I don't want to marry the Crown Prince. Jimin is worthy of the throne but... I don't love him."

He remained silent. His eyes turned from playful to serious the moment you mentioned your marriage. And he listened. He listened with all his attention to each word that left your lips.

"I can't marry a man I don't love. I want... I want to be with you. It is you who I want to marry, to spend the rest of my time with. Only you can make me happy, Jungkook and it breaks my heart every time I am reminded you won't be at the other end of the altar tomorrow."

Tears began to cloud your vision. But you tried to blink them back. This was what you had been trying to say to him. Yet your most desired thing in the word was still to get revealed.

"I want to leave, I want to leave this place, Kookie. I don't want to be a princess if it means I cannot be yours entirely. I burn for you, in every extent of the word. I cannot breathe when you are not near, I cannot think when I cannot see you close to me. You are everything to me."

A lump began forming in his throat. He felt exactly the same. Jungkook was glad you spoke of this first, you revealed your soul to him, your thoughts, your heart. You needed him. You lived with him, for him. It'd be a pointless life if you couldn't share it with him, he saw that now.

But the surprise when he heard you next couldn't be hidden even if he had wished to do so.

"I want to run away with you, Jungkook. "

---

"What are you doing outside at this hour, Jungkook?"

He untangled his hands from behind him and let them rest by his side, his eyes never leaving yours. Not knowing how his gaze alone was enough to make your heart thump wildly inside you.

"I couldn't sleep. I'll assume you are here because of the same reason."

You nodded, he took a step forward and your breath hitched in your throat. The action of inhaling was already painful as the air was cold, as cold as your neglected heart. Was he really going to take the risk of being this close to you? Another step. Perhaps he was. Then another. He certainly was.

It wasn't until he stood so close to you that you could feel his warm breath dust over your cold cheeks that you silently gasped and took a step back on instinct.

If anyone saw you both, there'd be problems. You didn't want that, not for Jungkook at least.

"And because I missed you. I had to see you. You do not only own this kingdom, you own my heart too and I couldn't live another day without seeing you, my Queen. For you are the one who rules my heart and soul."

You savoured the way his sweet words sprinkled your sour soul with sugar. It was delicious. To think that you were his, that he loved you, that he thought of you, dreamed of you. That he wanted you, perhaps even more strongly than how you wanted him.

You allowed yourself to drown in his sweet words. If only for a moment. Just a moment. A minute. A second would suffice. You didn't ask for more. You didn't want more. The only thing that you needed was his love and he gave it to you on a silver tray.

"Do you really want me that much?"

He nearly flinched at the way your voice was so soft, delicate even. Carrying emotions that were only reflected in your eyes.

"I want you with every fibre of my body and I can't stop thinking about that day. The day when you wanted to leave this place, I only want you to know that if the circumstances had been different, I would have escaped with you but taking you with me only meant death. I would rather die every day for not having you by my side than being the reason for your demise. I love you too much to do that to you."

You didn't realise you were crying until he reached his hand to wipe the tears but you took a step back. Hurt flashed in his eyes and that alone was enough for more tears to roll down your cheeks.

"You can't touch me, Jungkook. Not without the King's permission. Not even in an innocent way."

Your mumbled words reached his ears and he lowered his hand, he clenched it in a tight fist by his side but you didn't notice. Not when your eyes were glued to his own.

"And I understand why you didn't run away with me. I love you too much to get you killed. I'm so sorry I even proposed it on the first place."

His own eyes reflected the sadness in his soul in the form of tears. They glistened under the moonlight, little tears that he refused to let go; to set free.

"Do you really want me that much?"

A question you had already asked. A question he had already answered.

"Do you really want me that much, Jungkook? Even when I am another man's woman?"

He had to physically hold himself back so as to not take another step towards you. It pained him. His feet ached. His heart ached. It was painful to have you so close yet so far away at the same time yet he knew it had been like that since those warm summer days. Since the very beginning of the forbidden love story you developed with your royal guard.

Even when I am another man's woman...

Those words would repeat themselves in his head until the end of his days. A tear rolled down Jungkook's cheek, the chilly air hitting him and making him shiver.

You weren't his. Not anymore. You had never been his. At least not in this lifetime.

"You could never be tainted for me. You are and will always be perfect to hold my heart in your hands. And in our next life you will be mine, and if not in our next one or our next one after that. "

---

"Congratulations, Your Majesty."

Your steps halted when you heard his voice. A big banquet was held to announce your pregnancy to the village. Your father had come to bless you himself, he even told you he'd be staying during the last trimester of the pregnancy as he didn't want to miss the moment his grandchild were to be born.

You could only smile at that thought. But a gulp in your throat upon hearing that voice dissipated the thought, like fog when the sun came out. You turned around, eyes meeting with Jungkook's dark orbs.

A soft smile graced your lips yet he noticed how it didn't reach your eyes.

"Thank you, Jungkook."

There were so many things unsaid between you both. But have words ever been enough? He could see the sadness in your soul, the remorse, the longing and the love that existed in you. How Jungkook wished to go back to those summer days when everything was perfect, when you were happy along with him. When there existed no such barrier between you two of you being married to another man.

You could see it too, how his posture was tense, his eyes sharp with swirling storms of emotions in his dark gaze. You felt the yearning, the pain, the heartbreak from his part. And it crushed your heart even more for you knew he loved you but Jungkook couldn't step closer to you. Literally and figuratively.

He didn't know what else to say, all the courage he had managed to gather in the ceremony was gone now. Leaving him standing before you. His Queen; owner of his heart.

"I do not wish for this encounter to be like the last one, my queen. I only hope that you find the happiness you deserve for I cannot express how proud I am of you. Your child will resemble you in many ways, I am sure of it."

You wanted to run to him, hold his hand and wipe the tears that threatened to escape his eyes. But you could not. Dare not step such boundaries for his sake.

"You must find your happiness too, Jungkook. Live your life and live it right so that we can meet in our next lifetime."

---

A sharp pain made you gasp as your knees hit the floor, your dress puffing out around you. Jungkook was by your side the next second, concern was written all over his face while worry filled his eyes.

"Your Majesty, what's wrong? Please, talk to me."

You took a deep breath between your gasps and whimpers. Your hand grabbed his in your pain-induced mind, trying to ground yourself onto something, someone.

"I-It hurts... Jungkook, it h-hurts."

Your water broke the next second but you felt as if there was something wrong, this was not how a natural birth was supposed to start.

"Please... something's wrong. It- it hurts so much."

Tears gathered in your eyes as you tried to suppress the scream that threatened to escape your throat. You felt him let go of your hand, positioning his arms beneath your kneeling figure only to be lifted by him the next second.

Your arms circled his neck on instinct as you curled yourself in his hold. Jungkook began walking back to the palace at a fast pace, the weight of your body grounded his mind while at the same time numbed his senses. If you hadn't been in so much pain at that moment you would have noticed how his hands were trembling.

"Hold on, my Queen. You'll be fine, I'm here. It's alright."

He cradled you against his chest firmly, not wanting to let you go ever again now that you were in his arms. His heart feared for your safety, you were only eight months pregnant by now, he knew the risks of pregnancy and Jungkook knew he wouldn't be able to live if something were to happen to you.

Tears soaked his robes, your hand fisted his collar. Your small whimpers were like poisonous needles piercing his heart. It hurt. It pained him to see you in so much distress.

"Hold on, love. Please."

---

"You called for me, Your Majesty."

He bowed down at you and you sighed, realising how much you hated when he bowed at you when you'd go on your knees with only a word falling from his lips. He had that power over you. That way to command you. To make you feel.

"Jungkook."

The man before you lifted his gaze and your eyes met his once more. Had it been within any other circumstances, you'd have smiled and ran toward him. How you wish you could embrace him, how you wish you could kiss him and declare your love for him. How you wish you could love him freely.

You were sitting between blankets and cushions, taking rest after the hard labour. The prince lied next to you as he slept soundly while being wrapped up in luxurious fabric.

"I haven't seen you in a while."

He smiled. Not that smile that reached his eyes or that warmed your insides. It made you shiver with the sadness within it. Like a cold breeze on a winter day.

"I was told you were to rest, my Queen. Captain Min ordered me to give you some space, at least until you are feeling better."

You smiled, gesturing for him to sit in front of you, which he did. A moment of silence passed between you both. Your gaze lingered on his handsome features, drawing a map of him in your mind.

"I missed you."

He sighed at your whispered confession. Those words clawed at his heart with nothing but a heavy guilt that existed within him.

"My Queen... please."

You took a deep breath at his pleading, his begging. You looked aside as your heart constricted in your chest.

"Forgive me."

He looked at you with eyes full of emotions you weren't quick enough to grasp. Why must love hurt so much? Jungkook shifted his gaze from your figure, focusing on the little bundle where the prince, your son, slept peacefully.

"Congratulations on your baby. May prince Ha-joon live a long and happy life with his family."

---

"Kook!"

Ha-joon had said. Your hands felt cold against the warm cup, your soul froze when you looked up. There he was. Jeon Jungkook. You hadn't seen him in days. And before today there were only small peaks here and there followed by short greetings.

Jungkook turned to look at you, your eyes met his from across the garden. You felt your breath hitch in your throat at the mere sight of him. Your hands trembled around the cup, forcing you to put it away.

He bowed down at you slowly yet his eyes never left yours. Emotions invaded your body as you stood up from your chair. Hoseok noticed your actions and sat up, Ha-joon left his side and ran with his little legs where Jungkook was.

Your royal guard smiled down at your son and Hoseok stood up from the ground, walking the steps to where you stood.

"Your Majesty, are you alright? You look pale, should I walk you to your chambers?"

But you shook your head, your eyes following Jungkook's figure as he approached you with Ha-joon by his side. The little prince was telling him something that you couldn't hear and he smiled widely. Flashed him that bunny smile you loved so much and had missed just as fiercely.

Jungkook bowed down at you once he stood in front of you. Ha-joon looked up at the man next to him and mimicked his actions. Your heart clenched at the sight. Having the man you loved and your child who was your husband's son before you was too much for your heart.

It clenched inside you, it burned, it ached.

"Your Majesty."

Jungkook acknowledged you. You nodded softly at him and he rose to his full height. Ha-joon doing the same.

"Kook! Play, together."

Hoseok watched the interaction from where he stood. His own heart clenched at the sight of your hidden pain. You have always been an open book for your best friend. You had been able to hide your love from your father, even from your husband but not from Hoseok. He had known you his entire life. He knew you, he knew the core of your heart. He knew your unspoken words. He knew.

"Only if the queen allows it, my prince."

Jungkook's eyes found yours once more. A sad smile painted his lips. Ha-joon was a clear resemblance of you but also of his father and Jungkook was reminded once more of what he had lost the day you married Jimin. Of that dream that he wished would become his reality was instead a mountain of ashes. Of burnt dreams and wishes.

You smiled tightly at the pair in front of you, not wanting to deny sweet Ha-joon of his free days and innocent happiness.

"You may play, but please be careful."

---

"Jungkook."

His name coming from your lips was the sweetest melody he has ever heard. He had missed it. He had missed you. His eyes locked with yours and he nearly gasped at the sight of you laying on the soft bedding, your skin was paler than usual, your eyes were tired and your body was beyond weakened.

"Your Majesty."

He acknowledged you. Bowing softly at you without tearing his gaze from you. He saw you shift in your position, laying on your left side so you could see him properly. You smiled and in an instant his dark world was lightened by your existence. 

"Come closer, Jungkook. Come here."

Your hand extended towards him as if trying to reach him. He couldn't hold himself back any longer upon your innocent request as his legs moved with a mind of their own. Nearly jumping until he was kneeling by your side, his hand holding yours ever so softly.

“I heard… I heard that you are sick, my Queen. Is it true?”

Jungkook asked almost shyly. Not meeting your eyes as his own gaze was fixed on your joined hands. 

“It is.”

He sighed at your response. Feeling how his heart clenched within him. Tears watered his dark eyes and a lump grew in your throat at the sight of his sadness. 

“Don’t cry, Jungkook. Don’t waste your tears over me.”

He looked up at you, his expression hurt with your words. A frown was between his brows, eyes watered with his materialised sadness and a soul that he could no longer carry on his own. 

“How can you say that to me? I am dying with you, my Queen. Only you are capable of causing me the greatest pain yet it is you who eradicates it as well.”

You squeezed his hand, feeling your chest aching. Your mind was shutting down as you gazed at the man you loved with your entire being. 

“Forgive me.”

He shook his head, refusing to let his tears roll down his cheeks as his eyes roamed over your face as if trying to memorise all your little details in his mind. 

“It is I who should beg for forgiveness. I cannot protect you from this, I have failed you. I cannot prevent you from leaving me.”

A tear left the corner of your eye as you looked at him with so many unsaid things and raging emotions you were never able to pour out. It was too much. Too much love. Too much longing. Too much sadness. Too much anger. Your heart couldn’t take it any more.

“Maybe you can’t make me stay, but you gave me the opportunity of knowing what it was to love. Even when we couldn’t be together in the end, I still love you. I will always love you, Jungkook. In each… in each lifetime.”

—

A choked gasp left your lips as the memory dissipated from your mind like morning fog during a summer day. You didn't even realise you were crying until you sniffled and your hand came up to your face and your skin was wet with your own liquid sadness.

What kind of dream was this? What kind of cruelty had fate bestowed upon you? What kind of crime did you commit to feel this pain? You had loved, you had been loved only for it to melt like ice in those warm summer days when everything was perfect. You couldn't help the sob that escaped your lips as the realisation hit you:

You were the queen of the portrait. A representation of your old soul trapped in your past life as the unfortunate lover.

It wasn't a dream. It was a memory. Your memories from your past life and that love you were once denied to have. 

Hoseok was nearing the hall of ancient artefacts when his phone rang and he stopped in his tracks. Jungkook halted beside him and waited in silence.

"I'm sorry, I have to take this. I left Miss (y/n) at the end of this hall. You shouldn't have difficulty finding her."

Jungkook bowed softly, his warm eyes meeting the ones of Hoseok as he spoke in his professional voice once more.

"Don't worry, Mr. Jung. I'll do my best to assist her."

Hoseok nodded before he accepted the call and walked away, leaving Jungkook to sigh to himself before he ventured on the journey of finding the eccentric politician's daughter.

He walked among the centuries of history around him, through the halls that held art and a lost empire through time. Something about his line of work had always intrigued him. It made him wonder just how insignificant life was. Years, decades and centuries of history, of people that once walked on this Earth were now kept in glass boxes, a strange way of trying to preserve what should have died years ago.

It made him think about all the lives, all the deaths, all the heartbreaks from the past. All those untold stories buried in time. In every aspect, in every lifetime, in every way. It was simply melancholic to acknowledge all the history around him.

Jungkook walked, allowing his mind to wander as he thought of the beautiful politician's daughter. He thought of the times he had seen her, seen you in important events. Always looking so beautiful, always captivating the media. Always perfect, always next to your powerful father.

He reached the end of the hall but there was no sight of you. A sudden tightness gripped his heart fiercely, as if he were in pain, as if someone clutched his heart in its claws and it bled out.

As if on instinct, Jungkook walked to the royal hall. His feet moved on their own, his mind spiralled with all kinds of thoughts. With dream-like memories that he would have sworn were from one of those historical dramas he knew were popular among the hopeless romantics.

The sound of a sob echoed over the walls and it was as painful as being stabbed on the heart. He turned around with urgency only to spot you looking at a painting, your back was facing him while your left hand covered your mouth.

"Miss (y/n)?"

Your eyes widened when you heard that voice. That voice that was lost in your thoughts. That voice that was from your forgotten memories. That same voice that had broken your heart was now stitching it back together.

You turned around, your misty eyes met his in a dance of emotions you were, for once, able to dance along. Pink petals from the cherry blossoms in the garden behind fell slowly and when your eyes locked with Jungkook's he saw it as well.

He saw everything. All those memories, all those experiences. He saw his love. His sadness. His life. His reason for living. His flower. His darling. All in ancient history.

Jungkook saw his past life with you.

Like a movie in front of his eyes. A dream he wanted to reach. A memory he had promised to not forget but time was cruel and it was buried in the depths of his soul.

"Jungkook? It's you, isn't it?"

Your voice brought him back from his forgotten memories. He looked at you with a familiarity and a strangeness in his eyes. It was enough to make tears roll down your cheeks while his own eyes watered at the impossible sight before him.

"...princess? H-how?...."

You sobbed and he walked toward you. Unable to resist the sight of your tears. Perhaps this was the first time he met you in this lifetime but your souls have been in love for centuries. Your heart hadn't changed, his feelings remained the same. Love cannot be killed, not even by death.

He stood at arms length, eyes gazing down at you with the urge to know the truth. To know if you were that missing piece in his life. To know if this lifetime was worth-living.

"You found me. You said you'd find me."

Was this a dream? Was this a false memory? Was this real? He deeply needed for it to be real. Jungkook felt whole when he looked down at you. As if you were the missing piece for this puzzle called life. And you? You didn't know if he still wanted you. If Jungkook was your Jungkook. Your lost lover. Your forbidden romance. Your unfinished story.

"In every lifetime, princess."

His hand flexed next to him with the urge to touch you. To hug you and never let you go. To kiss you. To finally kiss you after all those denied moments he had before. To love you like he had dreamt long ago.

You wiped your cheeks with the back of your hand and something on your wrist caught his attention. It was a subtle glimpse of a red string around your wrist and he knew, in that moment he knew.

"You still wear it huh?"

A smile appeared on your lips at the same words he had spoken to you. A long time ago. Once upon a dream. In another lifetime. And the same answer is what he got. The same words that you had replied to him. The answer to his lovely sentence.

"I never took it off."

He was referring to your red bracelet. Something you remember always having, never truly knowing how you got to possess such a beautiful item but it simply felt right to wear it. So you did, you never took it off. As if it was engraved in your skin, almost like Jungkook's name was written in your soul and his whispered love was locked away in your heart.

"Can... Can I hold you?"

There was desperation in his voice. It sounded almost bitter that it pulled on your heartstrings. You nodded almost immediately. Burning just as him to feel him once more, to touch the man you had missed for centuries. To be held by your one and only love.

You were in his arms the next second. His hands pressed you against his chest as your own circled his waist. A long lost hug. A missed love. A romance out of time. But it was a timeless love nonetheless.

Something clicked inside you once you were held by Jungkook. As if your heart had been filled with his life, as if your broken soul was stitched back with just his simple touch. As if memories had been unlocked after your skin touched his.

"I missed you. I missed you so much, queen of my heart."

His hold on you tightened and you couldn't help but bury your face in his chest. How he had wished to do this in his first lifetime. How he wished he had been able to hold you like this. How he wished he had had you before just like this.

All the pain was gone. The tears were dried by his love. His hands held your heart so softly and purely you didn't want to part from him. You couldn't. You wouldn't. You wouldn't let go of him like that once more. You weren't going to lose him again. Not after all that pain, all that heartbreak, all those tears and all that yearning. Not again. Never again.

"I missed you too. So much, so much..."

Jungkook rested his chin at the top of your head, closing his eyes as he held you softly but firmly. It made him wonder just how much time you had been robbed in your past life. He realised just how evil fate had been to break you both like that. To separate two lovers is the worst cruelty of this fallen world.

But now, those cold days are over. Winter had passed. Even after centuries of living buried in the freezing snow, warmth had finally touched his heart. The soft rays of the sun were melting his once frozen soul. Your love did that. Only with you was he able to live in warmth. Only with you existed that flame in his heart that kept him alive.

You looked up at him and he met your gaze midway. It was magical. To look at the eyes you had unknowingly missed so much. How your soul was mourning the loss of Jungkook, how your life was always grey and cold was now warm and coloured in pink. Like the petals falling behind you.

One of his hands cradled your cheek and you smiled. Your heart was beating wildly in your heart at the proximity, at the love, at the emotions that came flooding like a waterfall from the sky.

You stood on your tippy toes only to press your lips against his. It was soft, delicate. Like a spring breeze. A kiss full of love. A healing kiss. A kiss that should have happened a long time ago. Jungkook kissed you back, burning at the feeling of your soft lips against his.

He tilted his head, deepening the kiss and you sighed, tightening your grip around his waist as he poured all those long lost emotions into that kiss. A kiss he had wished he could give you centuries ago. All the love, all the yearning, all the heartbreak, all the feelings of missing you, missing your warmth, your love, your touch, your existence were poured into that kiss.

A sealed kiss of timeless love.

"Don't ever leave me again."

He whispered against your lips. voice desperate with the promise of your love. Of your devotion. Of eternity.

"I wouldn't dream of it."

Your answer was said in a soft voice, only meant for Jungkook to hear. He pressed his forehead against yours, looking into your eyes as he felt the memories slowly come back to him. During those golden summer days, rainy autumn evenings and cold winter nights. Everything about his life with you came back like a soft spring drizzle over his soul.

Perhaps fate had been cruel when he separated you from your Jungkook with death. But it now gave you the opportunity with your rightful lover. That soulmate you were destined to love since the very beginning of life.

Through life and death, only time gets in between. Through tears and pain, it is love that keeps the hope alive and through silent feelings and absent minds; it is time that keeps them together in a dance with a melody only meant for the tangled lovers to hear.

In every lifetime, in every way, in every universe and in every season. Love is stronger than death. 

February/16/2024

~Masterpost

Please let me know your thoughts in the comments, darlings!

**I do NOT give my consent for this or any of my works to be posted or translated into any other platforms or languages. 

[kitsune024]

Call of Duty || GhostSoap Fic Recs

Detroit: Become Human

I Like You Alive by Thanatos7420 I Chapters: 11/20 I Android!Soap, AndroidHater!Ghost, BAMF Soap , Pre-Android Revolution, Slow Burn

the waking universe by @eggtimelads I Chapters 1/1 I one shot Horror, Eldritch Soap, Simon "Ghost" Riley Backstory, Simon "Ghost" Riley Needs a Hug, Nightmares, Passive Suicidal Ideation, Apathy, surprisingly not as angsty as the tags make it seem, Implied Sexual Content

A shooting star could pass straight through him at this moment, he thinks blearily. Could make a home for itself, right in the cavern of his empty chest where nothing seems to fill; could make him whole. It would hurt, if only for a second. Torn apart, bleeding bright. Nothing would be left of him; nothing but a legacy engraved with violence and bloodshed. or, ghost makes a deal with an eldritch being the night he was set to die; things change.

Just Like You by SonTi I Chapters 1/1 I one shot Pre-Relationship, Blood and Injury, Touch-Starved, Implied/Referenced Torture, Hurt/ComfortEmotional Hurt/Comfort, Unresolved Emotional Tension, Torture, Flashbacks, Recovery, Trauma, POV Simon "Ghost" Riley, Angst, PTSD

“Show me.” “Show you what Lt.?” He steps closer crowding the smaller man into the counter behind him. Johnny’s height makes him face his collarbone and neck directly but the man is annoyingly stubborn. He just stares back up at him with defiance in his eyes. “Show me the extent of what they did to you.” ————————— After a month of searching they finally locate Soap. Bloody, rattled, but alive and breathing. Ghost doesn’t want to think about the relief that fills him, instead focusing on the new mask the man had began wearing, invisible to all but him.

Locked in a Stalemate by oonbluem305 I Chapters 7/26 I AU- Canon Divergence, Heavy Angst, Fix-It, Brainwashing, Memory Loss, Loss of Identity, Grief/Mourning, Recovery, Slow Burn

November 21st, 2026 Three years had passed since Johnny's death. Ghost held the picture for a while longer until the coldness in his apartment seeped into his fingers. He headed toward his bedroom. Next to his bed, he opened a small drawer on a nightstand. He carefully laid the picture in there and closed it. It was going to be a while before he opened it again. Ghost, in between the headaches that were coming and his sober thoughts, had a feeling that Price might be right. The next mission was going to be different. It had to be. ... “Bring Remnant 04 forward; he'll be deployed in Urzikstan until pending orders”. The task force thought that Soap was gone after their last encounter with Makarov. Both Ghost and Price were affected the most by his "death" and were trying to put an end to Makarov. They were not aware that Soap hadn´t died in the mission back then.

Acceptable Loss by @mildlimerence I Chapters 7/? I AU- Canon Divergence, Dark John "Soap" MacTavish, Past Torture, Memory Issues, Russian Mythology, Light Winter Soldier vibes, Brain Damage, Soap is not a good man but Ghost adores him anyway, Identity Porn

Post-MWIII: When Soap is killed by Makarov in the tunnels, the 141 are overrun and forced to leave his body behind with the enemy. They never anticipate the mad, masked monster wearing Soap's face to come crawling back out, shaped and reborn by Makarov into weapon tailor made to destroy them all.

Bookmark Series

Duress by @islenthatur I Part 1- 4 I BAMF Soap, Feral Soap, Soap's ghost mask, protective Soap, Angst and Hurt/Comfort nothing but my aching soul by Apollos_Last_Prophet I Part 1-2 I BAMF Soap, Brainwashing, Dehumanization, Loss of Identity, Torture, selectively mute Soap

[qoldenskies]

I need you to know I just binged the entirety of your Canary Continuity series in 4 hours and 20 minutes and I am going to be so sleep deprived tomorrow, but I don't care.

_____._____._._____._____

First few paragraphs in, I was in awe over how well you wrote the character interactions and represented their personalities, and I wanted to share it with literally everyone I know (to be honest, not that many people).

Midway through the first chapter, I was genuinely emotional because of how you did the whole feeling-ignored-and-dismissed thing. As the oldest in a family of eight (six kids, three significantly disabled and two (overlapping) super whiny and aggressive), I very often feel like a "shadow on the wall." Once in the middle of the living room I made up the most absurd story I've ever heard (literally couldn't stop laughing, which looking back on it probably made me look a little insane), and only got their attention near the end. I'll leave a room full of people without saying anything and feel hurt when no one notices. I'll finally get to be alone after a relatively good day and still feel like my lungs are imploding.

All of that to say that I felt so understood with the way you wrote that section of the book. You worded it in a way I never could, and I legitimately almost cried. I actually might have; I don't remember. It's too late for thoughts. I'm also very glad my relationships with my family are not following the trajectory of Caged Lungs. Holy cow.

It got very emotionally intense, but it never felt staged or unnatural. I often find when it gets to that stage of a book, it just doesn't hit right because the author didn't spend enough time building up to it. Here, nothing felt out of the blue, but it still hit hard. You conveyed the emotions so well, and I'm still filled with anxiety almost 30 minutes later.

Anyway, by the time I finished Caged Lungs, I no longer wanted to share it with every single person I know. It now feels like something engraved in my soul, like it would be sacrilegious to try and make someone else understand. If it makes any sense, I'll most definitely be sharing this with random strangers on the internet, but never anyone who knows me in real life.

_____._____._._____._____

Random thoughts 'cause my brain isn't working and I need to sleeeeep~

Brain keeps autocorrecting to Brian. One day I won't catch it.

Specifically on the more lighthearted side though, that little bit about Donnie and Leo cuddling in the chair melted my heart. That's the fluff I live for.

After reading Miner's Eulogy, I'm left hungry. You sucked me in and I have no desire to claw my way back out. I'm just going to be sad for the rest of my life now. I feel like you kind of implied that there'll be more, but I don't trust my reading comprehension right now. Just know that I'll be spying on your blog like that annoying sibling reading over your shoulder.

Also speaking of fluff. What I really want to see (as well as all of their revenge, of course), is some recovery hurt/comfort. Mostly I crave Donnie and Leo. Because twins.

Also your idea of how Leo became the medic is my favourite so far. It's stuck in my brain and it won't leave.

Thanks for giving me yet another fix to scream internally over for months, and for reading my ramblings. I'm going to sleep, and I will probably dream of turtles.

wow there's so much here im not even sure where to start,,, it is always so surprising to hear that my work is so emotionally evocative for so many people, hearing you really resonated with caged lungs emotionally means so much to me and im not even sure how to articulate it!!! i mean its certainly a success on my part because its what i WANTED to do (at least for myself) but still.... waow

im glad i nailed the characterization as well, especially early on!! i really wanted to make a point establishing that i did understand and could establish the way they operated early on so it didnt just feel out of character and sudden when they were twisted into something so hateful, the slow build from what i could make as close to as canon characterization as possible while keeping the tone to how they turned out in the end was something i was very intent on getting right >:3 (especially for donnie, actually... its fun to contrast the earliest few scenes with the final ones because the difference is so jarring, ESPECIALLY in the way donnie acts)

AND DO NOT WORRY THERE'LL BE MORE!!! im doing a multichapter next which will proooobably be the last installment, but i dont have a chapter estimate for it and i know itll DEFINITELY be longer than caged lungs was. idk i'll have little reason to keep writing in the universe after i finish the brunt of recovery but if i think of anything (or get a request particularly good) maybe i'll keep chugging along.

and a lot of people said they want some hurt/comfort with the twins in particular and [staring at the upcoming scene that has leo in it] ouuuuuhhhhh uhhhh hrmmm. there's gonna be some Complications. but it'll happen eventually!!! <3333 this ask made me grin like an idiot reading it tysm

[faegoddessog]

 Seventy Two Hours of Bliss Ch. 28/41

Chapter  28: A Glittering Night Out

Chapter Warnings: Explicitly mature content, 18+ only

Series Masterlist 

Series Summary:

You are neighbors with Austin Butler on the Gold Coast of Australia just prior to shooting Elvis. You become just friends because he is taken. However, after he is single again, you both find out just how attracted you are to one another and things get unrelentingly hot.

SERIES WARNING: Explicitly mature content, 18+ only,  here there be lemons.

Authors Notes: I started writing this while remodeling my kitchen, so that informed the slightly quirky narrative. It starts slow, but once it heats up, it is on fire. I have tried to pull facts from RL as much as I could, but obviously there are some assumptions and flat out dreamy wishes  involved here. 

Notes:

PSA: You shouldn't wear a butt plug for extended periods as it could result in ulcerations. However this is a fantasy story without such parameters, so...

Chapter  28: A Glittering Night Out

You  do up your hair in an elegant but quick twist and put on some quick makeup in the bathroom mirror. You walk into the dressing room and find your bee undies and a butt plug lying on the vanity counter. You didn’t bring your plugs, and this one looks different. 

“What’s this?” you ask Austin, who has just finished his hair in  the mirror with nothing but his boxer briefs.  Fuck his hair is gorgeous. You just want to fill your hands with it as he tongue fucks you into oblivion…. 

Damn, you need a fucking climax before you jump him outright in front of all the paparazzi. 

“That’s for you, I want you to wear it tonight,” he says, as though it were jewelry. 

You pick it up. It’s heavy stainless steel, in a size somewhere between the two you already have. The base is long and narrow and when you flip it over,  you see it has a blue jewel embedded in the base and the words ‘My Kitten’ engraved on each side.  It IS kind of like jewelry. 

“Did you have this made for me?” you ask, a little shocked. See, girlfriend. SHHH!

“Uh huh, and um, it’s the exact diameter of me, well, when I’m hard,” he takes it from you, “ so you’ll be perfectly ready for me when I fuck your ass later.”

“This… I… Wow. Thank you babe,” you stutter, this was totally unexpected and makes you feel warm and fuzzy. 

“And this is an actual blue sapphire,” he taps the gem with his finger, then reaches into his bag sitting on the luggage rack, “that matches these.” He pulls out a long thin box and hands it to you.

You open it to find a sparkling teardrop sapphire necklace and earrings, set in an infinity swirl studded with diamonds. It’s gorgeous. 

You are speechless. You just look up at him open mouthed. You have never received a gift like this from anyone. He is smiling ear to ear at your reaction. 

“Thank you Austin, I - I, didn’t expect any of this, I am stunned,” you whisper. 

“Clearly, here let me help,” he puts the plug back on the counter  and takes the necklace out of the box. You turn to the mirror as he fastens it around your neck. It sparkles in the dressing lights.  Austin turns you around, holds your chin in his hand and gazes deep into your eyes, into your soul with his own sparkly sapphires. 

“You are so special to me, Kitten. I never want you to forget that, no matter what,” he takes a big breath and grabs your hands, “and although I’m a little scared right now of what you will say,  I really feel like it’s time we stop trying to fool ourselves into thinking we aren’t actually in a serious relationship.”

You feel like you are in some movie right now. Did he HEAR the conversation you had in your head earlier? Was it some sort of voice over?

I must not fear.  You nod at him. 

“And I think we can do the whole boyfriend/girlfriend thing and maintain our own independence,” he goes on. “I mean, we kinda are already. And I know you might be leaving for Antarctica and that you shy away from talking about it because you are scared. Frankly, it scares me too. But every time I’ve walked towards what I fear, it’s made me a better person. You make me a better person.  I’m already head over heels for you and if I didn’t try, I’d regret it. I really want to be yours and you to be mine, but in a sort of non-possessive way. Fuck, am I making sense?”   His face is begging, pleading that you understand

“Why Austin Buhtluha, are you askin’ me to officially go steady wi’ you?” you drawl in your southern accent, “yet continue to maintain our heretofore carefully cultivated interdependency?”

“Yes Ma’am, I am,” his southern Elvis drawl rolls over you as he smiles relieved that you get what he is trying to say.

“Well,” you reply, dropping the accent, “I think you are right. We are already there in all the ways that matter. And I am scared, but that’s ok cuz I’m more in love than I am scared.” You press your body close to him, “I’m already yours.”

He leans down and plants a sweet kiss on your lips. You imagine this is how the scene between Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'hara  would have gone if they had a healthy relationship. 

“God I love you, Kitten,” he holds you close,” and I’ve been yours since you sang back to me that you loved me too.” 

You stand holding one another in the middle of the closet, in nothing but underwear and sapphires. Fears dissolving as your hearts overflow. 

...

“I'll be right back,” he says, kissing your forehead and stepping out. 

He comes in with a bottle of lube in his hand and stops at the door, admiring you. 

“You are so gorgeous,” he sighs,” I want to put your plug in, if that’s ok with you?” he asks. 

“Is this your way of ‘pinning’ me?” you giggle as you climb eagerly onto one of the stools and press your hips back and up towards him. 

“Maybe, but I’m going to love knowing this is in you while we are out this evening,” he drips lube on your rosette and rubs it around with his finger. Oh lord, that feels good, you bite back a little moan of delight.

“Me too baby, Oh!” he pushes his finger inside you sliding slowly in and out. Rubbing your labia at the same time. Then he pushes in two fingers. After sliding in a few times, he pulls his fingers apart. He drips lube into the gap made by his fingers. The cool feeling in your ass makes you gasp a little. 

He pulls out his fingers and drizzles lube on the plug. It’s cold against your ass, making you pucker up tight. 

“Relax Kitten,” he says soothingly, gently rubbing circles around your ass cheeks. 

He starts to push it in, you relax around it as best you can. It just feels bigger and bigger, then he stops and lets you acclimate a little. 

Finally he just keeps pushing and it slips over the drop off point and snuggles into your ass. 

“God that is hot. I need a pic of that I don’t have anymore film, is it ok if I use my phone baby?” 

“Yes.” you trust this man implicitly.  You clean any extra lube off with the wet wipes you have in your bag. 

He disappears and comes back with his phone, taking close up pics.  Asking you to spread your cheeks so he can get a shot of the words. He finally checks the time. 

“Shit we have to go in 5 minutes!” he says. 

In a flurry, you both dive for your clothes.  Bee panties on, you slip into your dress, no bra needed as it had a built in one.  You strap your heels on and grab a clutch with your phone and lipstick and you are ready to go once Austin zips you up. 

Austin looks phenomenal in a tailored dark gray suit and a white shirt. No time for a tie, so he leaves it unbuttoned to his sternum. Fucking sexy. You don’t know if it’s a designer or not, but Austin makes everything he wears look designer. 

You find out the restaurant is a 6 minute walk from the hotel and decide to walk it.  It would take longer to get an uber. The heaviness of the plug in your ass is a reminder of what will come later. 

You get to Bachus right on time and end up having the three course Pre-Theatre Menu. The food is amazing. You can’t help periodically rocking back and forth, feeling Austin in your ass, well the girth of him at least.  And true to advertising, you get done in time to walk the two blocks to the theater. 

As you walk into the brutal, concrete structure of the playhouse, you think you see a flash go off in your direction. Austin quickly sweeps you through the doors.  No red carpet photos here! Even though you both look red carpet ready. 

The theater is very small and intimate, your seats are down about 4 rows back from the stage in the center. He chatters on about how much he loves the theater. How he wants to do more. How he would spend weeks at a time just going to plays in New York every day. You say how much fun you think that’d be. He promises to take you someday. 

You are seeing a solo play called “Mother”. It is powerful and moving, Thankfully the lady next to you knew what she was in for and had brought a box of tissues to share. The actress, Noni Hazelhurst was absolutely stunning! 

You were so swept away that you nearly forgot about the plug in your ass, until you stood up for the standing ovation at the end. The weight of it making you clench around it. 

As you are leaving, Austin is recognized by a female fan waiting for him in the lobby.  He takes a picture with them and signs an autograph. You stand back and watch how kind he is to her even though she is a bit much. He waves goodbye and with his hand on your waist walks with you out the door. You hear squeals of delight and ‘who was that with him?’ as the door shuts behind you.

In front of the theater is a courtyard with rows of trees and the big observation ferris wheel off to the side and the river bordering the North.  There are some couples walking hand in hand, and a few people milling about near the wheel, not any big crowds.

You start to wander, hand in hand,  in the opposite direction away from the people. Chatting about how you are going to get home.  He insists on an uber back to the hotel, just to be safe. You would rather walk the river. He points out that dressed up as you both are, you could be targets. You suspect that getting recognized and that potential camera flash has him feeling skittish.

So you wait for the uber near the famous BRISBANE sign, talking about the play. He really gets into analyzing her performance as only a dedicated actor can. You keep coming back to how it made you feel.  

“It just was like a kick to the belly,” you comment, “ I mean the madness she was going through. How out of touch from reality she was.”

“But was she really?” he asks, “I mean the madness to me is that most people spend all day sucked into screens, or preoccupied with social media, is that being in touch with reality?”

“Oooo, nice. It’s like two sides of the same coin,” you say. “Ok, what if you take it through the lens of ‘we are constantly creating our own reality’ does that change the story?”

Your conversation morphs into the theories of consciousness and flows into manifestation and ends with a ‘what if’ analysis of different types of governments if they used such ideas in earnest.  It is intellectual arousal at its finest, minus the french salon and brandy. 

At a lull in the conversation, he pulls you close behind the tree you are waiting near. You melt into him, hands slipping around his trim waist under his jacket. 

“You really are remarkable. That you can be so ladylike in public, have such cerebral conversations,” he bows his head to your ear, “even with my little gift in your ass. And yet be such a wild vixen in private. I’m still stunned that you agreed to be mine,” his lips brush your cheek in front of your ear. 

“I could be wild in public too…” You say suggestively, your fingers straying between the buttons of his shirt to rub his nipple. 

“Oh, I remember, Kitten,” his voice pours like honey into your ear, “you straddling my face then my cock in the forest, trying not to scream as you came. And last night  in the park,” he blows out  a ‘whooo’. 

Your breath catches as his exhale swirls onto your neck, awakening your demon.

The uber arrives and in the 10 min it takes to get back to the hotel, the moxie vibe  is back in place next to your clit  and Austin has the scent of your pussy on his fingers.  Thank you thigh slit. 

You traipse through the lobby, barefoot, those strappy heels expired an hour ago. 

You have every intention of making a beeline to the elevator, but find your feet veering towards the music, coming from the piano bar. 

“Hey babe, let’s have a drink,” there is something about the 1920’s piano bar that makes you feel glamorous and sexy. Plus you kinda want to be a bit wild in public now. 

“Alright, Kitten,” Austin agrees. You lead him in and find a dark table for two tucked up next to the wall where his hand can sit on your thigh unnoticed by others.

You order the Le Coup de Foudre, ‘Love At First Sight’, made with Vanilla Vodka, Myrtille, Strawberry Gum, Lime, and Sparkling Wine.  Austin goes classic with a dirty martini. 

Under the table cloth, he pulls at your thigh slit. You smile at the three handsome men in business attire at the table next to you as you open your legs to give Austin a little more access. As you settle back into your chair, the vibe turns on. You shiver. One of the men blows his breath out through pursed lips appreciatively, another rolls up his sleeves.

‘Why honey, is it getting hot in here? ’ your demon asks.

Out of nowhere, your ‘two men at once’ fantasy pops into your head. Austin runs his finger-tips up and down your inner thigh, and with his phone in his hand, changes the vibe to pulse. 

‘Just imagine’ says your succubus, ‘taking one of them back to the room with you. Austin fucking you in the ass while you take that man deep in your mouth before he drills your pussy. Hell, take another so you can have all three… ’ SHHHH! 

You bite your tongue and rock forward, putting pressure on the plug and the vibe. You shiver as Austin casually  puts his elbow on the table, watching the piano man play. You look back at the trio of men and realize that one of them is the man who told you to ‘have fun’ while he got into the elevator. He is watching you with that knowing grin. 

“Having fun?” he mouths to you. You smirk and nod. The vibe changes pattern again. Your eyes involuntarily flutter as your abs contract. 

You look back to Austin, who is now watching you. Your eyes go big. What if he thinks you are flirting, well, ok you kinda are, but not like that! He looks up at the man, who bows his head and raises his hand in concession. Austin nods his head back, with a smirk on his face.

Austin leans over to you, “someday, maybe I’d be willing to share you for a night. But right now I want you for myself.” 

You are floored and fucking more turned on. That was the last thing you thought he’d say. 

You tap his thigh 3 times. The vibe goes off. 

“Oh yes,” he replies to your dropped jaw, “I remember your list of fantasies. If we ever meet Tom Hiddleston, it’s your job to talk him into it. Plus, I’m still looking out for that exotic brown eyed girl,” he winks at you. He kisses you lightly on the lips as your panties threaten to soak through to your dress. 

Drinks are set in front of you. You drink, trying to calm down. All the thoughts of Austin making your fantasies come true racing in your head. Your succubus is making a list, complete with little check boxes. You focus on the music, filing your list away. 

The musician at the piano is taking requests with slips of paper and tips. You start  singing along with the songs you know, Austin turns the vibe on and off depending on the song. The length of your ability to withstand the vibe’s attention without cumming,  getting shorter and shorter.  Then he goes up and sets a request on the piano winking at you as he walks back to your table. A song or two later the guy opens it. 

“Ok, wow we have a 20$ bill here with the promise of 100$ more if I can get the lady in blue to come up and sing.  Where are you lady in blue, I’ll give you 20$ to come sing with me!” 

You look at Austin open-mouthed. He just smiles deviously, hands you a 100$ bill and motions for you to go up. The man at the table raises an eyebrow at you and claps along with the encouraging  cheers from the audience.  You slam the rest of your drink, walk up and are handed a microphone. 

 “Well, for the record, I am just as surprised as you are,” your extrovert self kicks in, plus your succubus has ulterior motives. “What song are we singing Joe?” you ask the piano man. Is his name ‘Joe’? You have no idea. 

“Feeling Good, I assume you know it?”  he replies. 

You shoot Austin a knowing smile, you are surprised he remembered what you were singing that day, considering the distracting things that happened afterwards. 

“I do, but give me a second,” you pull up the lyrics on your phone. 

“Time is money honey!” says Joe. 

You put your heads together with the piano man, making sure you are on the same page. 

He gives you a starting note. You hum it, take a big breath and start acapella: 

“Birds flying high, you know how I feel, 

Sun in the sky, you know how I feel, 

Breeze drifting on by you know how I feel,

It’s a new dawn 

It’s a new day

It’a new life for me

And I’m feeling good.” 

‘Joe’ comes in with the piano… it’s spot on and amazing.

You sing to the crowd, they are enthralled with you and drunk enough to not notice when you stumble a bit on the 3rd verse.  

You belt out the last repeat of the chorus, feeling like fucking Adele, holding the microphone up and singing in profile. 

Then soft and sultry

“And I’m feeling good” you are fucking Austin with your eyes as you sing, 

“I feel so good,

 so goooooood.” 

The crowd goes wild, even ‘Joe’. You curtsey and hand the microphone and the 100$ to him. The man lifts his drink to you, impressed. Austin stands up clapping and extends his hand to you as you step to him, he twirls you and you curtsey again.

“That was amazing Kitten,” he says close to your ear, “I didn’t know if you’d do it or not,  but damn you have some pipes on you!” 

 You lean up to kiss his cheek.  “Thank you, Are YOU going to sing for us, Elvis?” you say in his ear. 

“Oh no,” he shakes his head, “I am not allowed.” 

You look at him confused. He nods his head toward the door. He sweeps you out of the bar, your shoes and  clutch  in is his other hand. With shouts of “Bravo!” behind you.

“What do you mean you aren’t allowed?” you ask once you are outside the cacophony of the bar. 

“Well, what if someone videos it and it gets leaked on the internet, it could be a breach of contract,” he explains, “Baz would kill me, well no, Baz would just be disappointed, and that would be 100 times worse.”

“Ahh, yeah we can’t have that, he is good to you,” you agree, walking towards the elevator.

“Plus I don’t sing for people,” he states. 

You raise an eyebrow, “ah yes, the man playing Elvis to a T, refusing to sing for people.” 

���I mean as myself, when I’m being Elvis, it’s obviously different,” he explains, a little defensive. 

“I know, baby, you are shy,” you stop in front of the shiny elevator doors and  reach up to cup his cheek in your hand, “it’s one of the things I adore about you. You are my shy, sexy-as-hell man who gets me and my inner demon. And I just want you to kiss me, right here.” 

He does. In the middle of the lobby, with an actual jeweled butt plug in your ass, and a vibrator pressing against your dripping cunt. 

“Now,” he whispers in your ear, ”are you ready?”  

Your leg is shaking, “I can’t wait any longer.”

[unabashednightmarepizza]

𝐻𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑌𝑜𝑢 | Morpheus( Dream) x Goddess!Reader

A/N: Please listen to In My Room by Chance Peña, Family Line by Conan Gray and Snowfall by Øneheart x reidenshi... This whole chapter was written while this sad teen listened to this... And this episode includes slight Hob x Reader, and also for future chapters as well...

Series masterlist

It is cold.

That was the first thing that came to your mind, your consciousness floating at the plane of existence where all souls were brought to their bodies. It was a place you often found yourself in, being the Goddess who watched them and listened to them when they became one with their bodies. It wasn't necessarily a cold place as much as you remembered but...

In your absence, everything became duller. The universe lost its warmth and light, the Well of Life dried fully and the creation stopped until you returned...

Another drawback is, you were in a deep sleep. A sleep your father had been, right after Loki learning the truth about his heritage.

The Sleep was something that helped the ruler of 9 realms with their powers. Being the ruler of it all, and the main source of balance and order, the one who was on the throne shared a great deal of their power with all the realms and in return, a peace would fall on those who lived in them.

In exchange of draining your soul.

You were already in a weak state when Desire and Corinthian, who you saw as a child rather than Morpheus' creation, thought that you should be captured so that Corinthian and other dreams and nightmares would finally be free as if you didn't already give them that when Morpheus would treat them harshly, as if you didn't welcome them in your home. Your heart shattered at the betrayal of someone who you considered to be your son, when all you did was to care for him.

Corinthian was one of the first to be created by your husband's hand, the one who has been with you for the longest time. At first he saw you as his Queen, someone who needed to be feared. Only to later realize that you were just as lonely as he was. Being a nightmare when there were so many dreams took a toll on him, who wanted to inspire rather than scare, he was saddened to see the humans be so... scared.

But you once came to him and asked him to accompany you with your visit to the human world and that was when he realized that you were drowning in the same pit of self-doubt as he did.

He watched how humanity treated you, turned their backs on you when you did nothing to deserve this. Even when your youngest brother was the one who did the most harm, you were the one who took all the punches...

"My Queen... May I ask a question?" He remembers asking hesitantly when you two took your usual visit and you forced him to drink a coffee with yourself while watching people passingby. When you heard his question, you lifted your brows in surprise while bringing the cup to your lips, not expecting him to talk since he never did-except scowling- you nodded your head. To see that Corinthian was curious about something... was something you didn't see every day.

"Of course you can, you don't need to ask permission..."

"But... You are the Queen..."

"And as the Queen, I want you to treat me as a normal person. So, go on," you said, thanking the waitress who came to ask if you wanted anything else.

"Well, you care about humanity a lot... Even when they treat you bad. How are you able to do that?"

Pondering on an answer while Corinthian waited, you realized that you didn't have an exact answer to that. All your life, loving and protecting humanity has been your top priority, it was all your father said whenever the topic was your job as the Goddess of Creation and Life.

Protect the lives you watched being created, and guide them until their last breath.

"Well, I don't know? Maybe it's because it's what I'm supposed to do, or that it has been engraved in my mind ever since I was a kid... But to be honest, I've seen their soul being forged and entering their bodies, watched them open their eyes into this dark world, hoping to find even one simple happy thing to be hopeful of the future... Seeing them slowly find them, or try to is the best part of my day," you said breathlessly, not realizing that the fondness you felt made you talk in one breath.

They way your lips had a soft curve, a smile that was reserved only for those you cared, Corinthian hummed questioningly which made you chuckle. "What? Don't believe me?"

"No, my lady but... I believe that it's something to do with your father and how he treated you. You are talking as if it's a mission you have to do, rather than choosing it. As if you hate protecting them..."

Your eyes that held the Nine Realms inside them shook slightly at the recognition of the meaning behind his words, his words setting the fire of memories aflame... And all the words you father and every other god uttered.

How you were only useful as a woman who needed to give birth, and had no right on the throne.

Seeing how your hands shook in anxiety and how you gulped the drink hard, Corinthian widened his eyes behind his glasses. "My Queen, I'm sorry if I brought pain on you-"

"You're right, Corinthian... My family, except my mother, hasn't been kind to me. To them, I was just a cow to be bred but I decided to change it, I went against everything they stood for and at first, I hated humanity but... In time, I found happiness in them therefore yes, I wanted nothing more than destroy them but in the end, I shall protect them until the end of time..."

"Ahh, what a bitch... Does everyone really need to betray me? And this sleeping state is not helping me either..."

You weren't sure if your siblings were able to bring your body back to Asgard, but knowing that you were in this state, it was surely the case. Having to restore your powers was taking a lot longer than you wanted, and the fact that the universe was about to end because Desire thought that messing up with the human you were supposed to protect in order for the new Vortex to be born, who would have Endless blood in them so that Morpheus' end would come sooner was the greatest idea ever while you were bound to watch it all unfold...

You would make sure that no harm would come to her or Unity's great-granddaughter from now on, even though it would mean standing against your husband...

The husband who did nothing to help you, except rounding the corners of the universe when your soul was screaming for help, when you were weak, when your children were weak due to their mother loosing her will to live and their father not being around...

What nobody realized was also the fact that you gave birth but never were able to see your children for a second time, and that it only weakened your already fragile soul which you shared with your three beautiful yet weak babies.

A mother not having the chance of holding her babies was such a cruelty of the universe, even when you were the reason the balance was in order.

But you still loved him, even when he has been nothing but cruel, whether he did it knowingly or not. People say love is pure, painful, sweet, and dreadful — all at once. The truth is, love is a basic necessity in everyone’s life. Everyone needs to be loved to live a proper and healthy life. Love has various definitions. Ask someone and they will give you their own definition of love...

For you, loving Morpheus was both giving yourself a chance and to stop expecting the same kind of love and care.

You already made peace with the fact that Morpheus was just cold and mostly cared about his realm, therefore you also busied yourself with your kingdom...

Even when your mother died.

Even when your father died and your older sister tried to kill you and your two youngest brothers.

You stopped getting sad over any of it, or how Morpheus didn't do much to ease your pain. You were fine, or at least would try to act as one, with how he treated you...

Because you would part your ways with him when you woke up, and carve a new path for yourself.

But for now, you still had a task to complete.

As one of the Judges of The Dead, you had someone to talk to before your fellow friends; King Minos, Aeacus, Radamanthus alongside with Anubis would come. You might be sleeping, and your body wasn't able to function normally but your consciousness?

It was wide awake.

"What did you think you were doing, John? By destroying the Order and Balance we worked hard to maintain? Have you thought, maybe, that you were one of us? Or that you were more deserving of this power than us?"

When your voice boomed in the plane of existence where you were looking at the waves crushing and many stars above, with the souls who were waiting to get into their bodies, John looked around anxiously and scared after witnessing the power Morpheus held. He now knew that no matter how hard humanity would try, they would never beat any of you.

And by serene yet cold tone of your voice, he knew that you were aware of what happened.

He also knew who you were.

"Queen Y/N, youngest daughter of King Odin and Queen Frigga... The One who rules the 9 realms... Wife of-"

"Cut the titles, please. They aren't our worry now... Here, have a seat."

He widened his eyes when you slowly turned around and looked over at him from your shoulders and gestured to the table that appeared out of nowhere by your will. He didn't know what was waiting him at the end of this, but his whole being was filled with a different kind of warmth and... ease. As if he had found his way back home.

"Now, tell me... Why did you use my husband's ruby for such childish reasons?"

" To save the world from... lies."

"Lies? And what had you gained after doing it? Fame? Wealth? How did it end for you?"

"Misery..." he said defeated, with shoulders dropping in sadness and a cry of a little boy. "It ended with misery, blood and chaos..."

You smiled sadly at him, remembering how you used to be when you were young. Naive enough to believe that you could change everything, mature enough to know that it was impossible now.

"You didn't realize the way it was destroying both your world and all the others... Dreams are not lies, John. Everyone has a dream, that much my husband told you. Without dreams and hopes, humanity wouldn't survive a day. Those two are the main reasons life has meaning, humanity works to achieve their dreams every day. You don't know it but... I do... Even when I was captured, a piece of me was always with humanity, watching over them..."

You waved your hand around and the water beneath the cliff parted and a swirl of gold engulfed it, showing various humans and creatures laughing and enjoying themselves. John watched you smile at them softly, like a mother watching her children take their first steps. Their souls were bright with the light you would always put inside of them, the will to keep fighting, and you would always laugh in joy whenever they pushed past their limits and achieved what they have been fighting for...

How could this be anything bad? When dreams and hopes were the only things that helped humans and every living thing...

"Humanity, John, is what makes people people. The lies you said? It's only a part of their humanity, take them away and... Despair shall show up, and unfortunately, you exactly did that... My capture wasn't your fault, but you are the reason Life and Creation stopped. You could have easily let go of the necklace my son gave to you..."

You smiled sadly at him, looking into his eyes and getting up from your seat after gulping down the last bits of your tea. John felt like he was glued down to his own seat, finally taking a look at you and the beauty you held.

You were glowing, like the Sun, but never burning or hurting. Except hugging his fragile frame with a warmth he only saw in his mother. Opening your arms out for him to take, you patted his back softly while sighing in defeat. You wouldn't blame him for everything, unlike a certain person. You were aware that he was just a lost soul who had no one to stick up for him.

It was your son, Corinthian who used it for his own benefit.

"Corinthian, the man who helped you by giving you his jacket was the one who let this be your end... By the hands of my husband who would finally have all the power he needed..."

"How... How did he know about the day I'd die?! The ruby... The ruby was safe and he... he-!"

"I believe it has something to do with my... ex-wife warning him..." you said, smiling to yourself with butterflies erupting at how hard she worked to set you free.

With her usual sarcasm and biting.

Medusa watched Morpheus with gritted teeth, and if she really didn't care about you or knew that he was the best shot she had in saving you, Medusa would have strangled him to death. But now that he was already here, where his ruby was and where she thought of taking it before he reached it for it would drain him off of his powers, Medusa let out a growl at him and the stupid raven next to him.

She would have cursed more but when she saw his hands reaching for it, she widened her eyes and launched at him to stop him. "STOP! DON'T TOUCH IT!!"

"Who the... Holy shit, she's Medusa!" exclaimed Matthew who let out a huge caw and stumbled bavk on one of the shelf. Medusa got off of Morpheus who was growling at her with dark eyes, feeling anger course through his whole being at being touched by a woman other than his wife... Yet alone someone who prevented him from completing his task.

"Yeah, good to know that I have a raven as a fan... Anyways, I'm not here to chit-chat. Morpheus, I'll be honest. I couldn't care less about you life but you need to stay alive for Y/N's sake..."

"And who are you to my wife? Friend? Maiden?" At how he voiced his words, Medusa widened her eyes and let out a shivering growl at him. She couldn't believe what he was implying, or wasn't. Either way, she spammed him to one of the shelves behind him and got close to him while her snakes were hissing at him with shining eyes.

"Her fucking ex-wife, you dipshit. Don't tell me she never mentioned me- Anyways, here is what we're gonna do to stop John. And for once in your life, just listen to me so that I wouldn't have to save your ass twice."

"I like her, really. Seems like someone Her Majesty would have married..."

"Carefull with the words, raven. A jealous man is the last thing I need." She said teasingly after seeing the dead stare Morpheus gave to Matthew. Had she been anybody else, or the old Medusa, she would have shivered and ran for her life. But she stayed still and actually made an effort to save him, even though she always said she loathed his very being.

But she knew that you cared about him, at least enough to save him from his demise even when he clearly abandoned you. So, for that, she would make an exception and save him for your sake...

And she never realized it, not at that time at least, but she would save his life for a second time by manipulating John to break the ruby to let his powers out at their highest limit.

You were gratefull for her hardwork, also sad that she wouldn't know you were free now but you trusted your siblings to reach to her and at least tell them that you were as fine as you could be in that state.

But your thoughts were cut short when John fell on his hands and knees abruptly, making you flinch and hold his arms anxiously.

John was finally aware of everything. How that voice, Medusa, played with him and helped the Dream King defeat him easily. He now knew that, Fate, never really changed no matter what he did. There was only one way to start and one way to finish this journey called life, and everything else in the middle of it were choices that brought everyone to their certain death.

But he was confused about the part where you said you were captured and how life stopped because of it.

"But... How? You are the strongest and most powerful being... How were you able to be held against your will, and how did you do nothing to stop it?"

"It was because I trusted my... my son, and he betrayed me by cooperating with my husband's youngest sibling who loves messing with him. The reason why I did nothing is... because I knew, no matter what I did, that Corinthian, my son, would betray me..."

"So, that really is, huh? Even you, a Goddess don't have free will..." You smiled in understanding at him, being used to hearing the same sentence throughout every human.

"Not really. It was out of my choice, I simply had to be held captive, though I wished it wasn't that hard but... Every single significant thing is written down on the books... Even your death has been written down on the Book of Life and the Book of Destiny, John. Neither you nor I would have been able to change it..."

Turning your head to the portal opening before you, you watched John's face to get a feeling of what he was feeling, the scene before him scaring him beyondless since it was... just black.

No fires.

No screams.

No huge demons to torment him...

Just darkness.

Feeling his hesitance, you bent down and helped him got up to his feet and dusted him with thight lips. "Your soul is not as dark as it is like other souls in Hell but... I cannot find it in myself to torment you more. But for all the things you did, you need to be punished. You will spend some years in the Darkness and then, me and other Watchers shall discuss your situation once more... For now, John... Know that I wish everything was different, that you father never went mad about bringing his dead som back, he never slept with your mother and that I wasn't captured..."

Nodding with acceptance and gratitude for your kindess,he took a step to the portal to meet with his eternal end. Before he could have reached it, he turned to look at you once more.

You were smiling at him with kindness and conpassion, something he lacked in his life while he was still alive. Humanity had let him down many times, but to see that you still had sympathy for him even after all the things he had done, he delt hopefull that maybe everything would end up better.

After he stepped into it and the portal closed after him, you let out a sigh of relief, somehow feeling content that you at least eased the forment John would face. Even if you had so much to do, first waking up and then fucking killing Desire or at least talimg your revenge, you were happy enough that you were still helpfull to humanity.

"You really care a lot about humanity, my Queen..."

"Anubis... How nice to see you." you said after seeing the god before you, who sat down before you with a smirk that had most women melting.

You rolled your eyes at his usual behaviour and leaned over the table, faces so close to each other that you both felt your breaths. His eyes were filled with something you didn't see in a long time while yours were plagued with covered revenge and a blood thirst and anger enough to kill whoever came across you.

"I believe the dinner I've been trying to get out of the Queen of 9 Realms has finally come?"

Chuckling at his stubborness which resulted in him waiting for four thousands years, you smiled and sat down with crossed legs, enjoying some meal and a good talk.

Something you didn't have for thousands of years.

And you waited patiently while drinking some wine to help with your running thoughts, for Rose to come and save you from this damned realm and make you fight with the enemy.

Morpheus was set on the park thinking about everything that happened. The rebuilding had started already and he was the strongest he has ever been but still, everything was in chaos. His heart and soul was in a war with each other, a helplessness that almost made him weep like a baby.

For the burning feeling of missing you, and the truth about you that you were married before him but never told him.

Even the mention made him almost choke down in both anger and anguish. Since this made it even nore clear to him that he has been nothing kind of the good husband you deserved.

He failed to even listen to you even though you came to explain everything to him, to come clean at him before you started courting him.

Medusa tried to attack him many times, screaming at him how he could be so cruel to you that he didn't even listen to a word you were saying, even when it concerned your life...

Maybe Matthew was right, Medusa was a better choice for you. She was the one who has been trying to save you all by herself when he did nothing, in his eyes, but the thing that hurted him the most wasn't this.

It was the glint in her slit eyes that she still loved you, and he just knew that he didn't stand a chance.

For once in his life, Morpheus felt inferior. He always prided himself with being more powerful and stronger than any beings in the universe. He had all the collective cosmic awareness, there wasn't even a story or an idea going unnoticed by him yet, he failed to realize that the bond you two had was like a flower.

If not watered and cared for, it would wilt.

He grunted in anger at himself and his foolishness, at how he was blinded easily by the hatred he had for humans, his mind going back to the time where he had John Dee right between his fingers.

"Are you going to kill me?"

" I could. Perhaps I will... But the dream stone was not made for mortals. And it is no fault of yours for having it..." he couldn't, neither could he find it in himself to destroy what you cherished the most. Even when they had been nothing but cruel, Morpheus always looked into humans and always found a piece of you within them. If he was the old-fashioned Morpheus, cold and uncaring, he would have killed him right there but now, he was only a weak man who only wanted to find his wife and reunite with her and their three beautiful babies...

And with that he put John into eternal sleep and went outside, seeing all the damage caused by John. Matthew looked around anxiously, all the fire and blood making jim almost vomit in disgust. "Can you undo it all the damage ruby did?"

"The ruby didn't do this. John only used it to reveal wounds that were hidden away from the eye... The Rebuilding will begin tomorrow, though my wife..." he grunted in pain and held his heart thightly when her name lolled out of his mouth. A shooting pain that digged through every single corner of his existence, a pain enough to bring him to his knees.

"Boss-!"

"Easy there, birdie... He will be fine now. Can't have him gone again when humanity has the chance to sleep peacefully once again."

Medusa helped Morpheus who was sweating painfully and a throbbing feeling filled his very being... What terrified him was that he felt the bond, weak and fragile but still there, go almost tight enough to break it.

And when he turned to look at the woman that used to be married to his wife, she saw the solemn look on her face and only feared for the worst.

"We need to go to the Asgard... Y/N... Her siblings found her but her condition is not good. And I see that neither is yours, so rest a bit, regain some of your powers and use her tools to come to the Asgard."

And with that, she was gone again and Morpheus, even though he never wanted it and only seeked his love to redeem himself, obliged to what she said and retreated slowly... While a pair of yellow eyes were watching him slyly.

"That is no good... It is only time she would wake up and come after us. I'm watching you both, big brother..."

"What are you doing?"

Hearing his sister's voice so close to him, yet never finding it in himself to turn and look at her, Morpheus continued with what he was doing. "I'm feeding the pigeons..."

Smiling at him and how much of a sad cat he resembled at that time, Death only laughed more when a kid came crushing amongst the pigeons he was feeding, and how he looked at the little girl with pure rage.

"You know you have kids that are in her age..."

"You mean the ones you almost took with yourself..."

"Don't blame me, brother. They were so... weak and fragile. I didn't want to take them and Y/N didn't want to let go so she did what she did..."

At that, he didn't have anything else to say. He knew there were a lot of things to do, first of all, a promise to keep. A promise he did to his children. He already let them down, and doing it again was the last thing thing he wanted but... He felt empty.

He was supposed to be happy. After getting his tools back and bringing the peace again, he thought he would feel better. He took his revenge on those who wronged him, who wronged you, he kept a part of his promise after all. But it wasn't enough.

You still weren't there with him, tucked beneath his face, your lips lingering where his pulse would be with the ghost of a smile, confessing your love to him in your language while he would melt at you, finally accepting that showing his love wasn't a weakness.

All that he used to have but didn't now, came crashing on him and Death was only able to watch her brother's shoulders drop in sadness and defeat, with her heart breaking for him.

" I had everything before, a kingdom and a beautiful Queen... But I was so selfish, and never realized that all of it could have been taken from me... Which eventually happened and everything I held dear crumbled before my eyes. My tools were stolen long since, scattered... I went on a journey to find them, to use them to get my wife back but... now, I'm not even properly allowed back in her kingdom... I was late to realize that all of it, the kingdom, my tools... All of them had a meaning with my love next to me, her face being the first thing I saw and her bright words lightening my dark path... Now, I only feel... disappointed. Let down... Empty..."

At that, Death who has been listening to her brother carefully, widened her eyes at what Morpheus said and how... honest he seemed with his emotions. She knew that her brother wasn't the warmest person, or that he never showed his care and love as openly as you did and she warned him many times how that trait would sooner or later make you two drift apart but he didn't give much of a thought on her, knowing and believing that your love for each other would stand strong.

Unfortunately, his sister was right.

Sighing irritatedly at him even more after hearing him say that he didn't want to worry her, she scrambled on her feet and looked down at the man before her. All of his past actions came crushing on her and she seethed with irritation at what kind of a man he was being to you and how stupid he was.

"Let me tell you something, and I'm gonna say it only once so, you better pay attention... You, are utterly the stupidiest, most selfish, patheatic excuse of a anthropomorphic personification on this or any other plane! Feeling sorry because your little game ended and not having any balls to go and find a new one... And so what if Y/N's siblings don't let you see her? Had that stopped you before? She is your wife, mother of your children, the one you owe your existence to... Your soulmate who is the Life and you are jisy sitting here as if there wasn't anything you could do! Go to that place and be with her, help her back up again and fix your problems- and don't even say I don't deserve her, if she also thought that she would have broken the bond a long time ago and you know it."

Looking around, Death knew that her brother needed to finally see that humanity was a part of you therefore needed to experience it at the first hand to feel closer to you. She knew that you always watched him do his job amazed like a little kid but also knew that you wished him to share the same kind of excitement over yours.

What Dream never understood was, being married wasn't about bedding someone or showing each other as a couple. It was the little experiences a pair shared that would make them understand the other better.

And Death would make sure that he would.

"Look, I can't stay here long, I have work to do and... Ever since Life hasn't been here, everything is duller and empty but now that she is kinda back... I can already see the change and I want you to see it. When she was still here, you never looked into her creations... Now, it's time for you to realize just how important she is. Not only to you, but to the universe and why she loves them so much..."

In the end, for better of his judgement, he decided on doing exactly that, to understand you better before he had the courage to stand before you again. Not as the King he was but a man who seeked his lover in everything he did.

Meanwhile, he had the chance to talk to his sister about what happened when he was gone, learning that they had a family dinner and Desire being way happier than they normally were and how weird it seemed to Death.

Morpheus wasn't surprised, after all Desire loved to bicker with him and they always interfered with his plans. But Desire wasn't on his mind, you were.

Of how you have been or whether you woke up or not. Or if you would forgive him and gave a second chance at redeeming himself. Now that he started to look back in the memories you two had, he squeezed his eyes painfully at how much of an dismissive asshole he was to you.

He didn't even care at one time when you came to him, asking for help and comfort but he dismissed it as another shenanigan of yours...

Turns out, it was when your mother died and how everything started to go down. You only wanted to have someone beside you, understanding you and giving you to strength you needed.... Abd it was also the beginning of your failing marriage.

But now, he started to understand, see his mistakes and think of new ways to fix himself.

He understood why you would spend a lot of time beside your lake. You once said that souls wouldn't remember who you were when they were born and when you would be there to give them a simple peck on the forehead. He thought it was cruel, that they didn't remember who took care of them all that time but you would always laugh and twirl your ring playfully.

" Well, maybe it is but seeing them again after all that time... Seeing the recognation even if their souls left their bodies... It's both saddening and happy time for both me and them and Dream, my husband, it almost feels like meeting with an old friend..."

And he saw it with his eyes when the humans his sister helped to the afterlife asked about you as soon as the realization hit them. How is the Lady Life, they would ask and Death would solemnly answer that you were yet to be awake but functional enough to still perform your duties...

And now, they were heading to a place unknown, talking about humans.

"Does it not bother you when they fear you so much?"

"I used to think that I had the hardest job in the whole family, always scaring people and having them yell at me... I even resented Y/n since they loved her and life more than me, got agressive and meaner, always wondering what was different. Then later, I found her in a home where a woman was taking care of a baby all alone. I saw her sitting down on the ground right next to her, clapping her hands in rythm with her to urge the baby to walk and... She seemed trully like the goddess she was and I understood why people loved her. She was the reason why they fought hard for life, why they were upset when they die... Because through her, they had the best life they could get and they didn't want to leave that behind... Right then, I understood that all they needed was a friendly face and kind words but... Ever since she was gone, all the balance and fight for life ended..."

Watching her move to the crib in the room in front of them, Morpheus had flashbacks at what happened with Orpheus and how devastated you and Calliope looked. He never thought how you would feel like at sensing, feeling his life being taken away while trying to console a weeping mother and a father who was in rage.

He didn't think how much it must have hurted you, maybe even more than it hurted them both, with their cruel words cutting through you so mercilessly that they didn't realize what they had done.

"How would you know the pain of loosing a child? How would you let Death take him?! How can you call yourself Life, when you couldn't protect the one life you were supposed to protect!?"

But, even if it was late, it made him realize that humanity was trully a part of you, that wherever he went, he would see you there. It was the way they would fight with each other but drop everything when one needed help. It was how they would be one to defeat an enemy, whether another human or an obstacle...

It was how they would fight for the next day, to achieve their life goals and eventually meet with you.

He finally understood that you had nothing to do except helping Orpheus to his next, eternal life.

Before this, he never understood why humanity was scared of Death when Life and Death was natural things to happen, when the other couldn't exist without the other... He never thought that Life was an option given to the humans and it had a meaning if Death was there... Their life was short and the way to the afterlife was long and they would never be ready to walk that path alone, scared.

...If the meanings of their souls were to not help them in the way, a friend to company them, a family to help them...

"As you can see, without her, they are empty. Empty of what makes them human. But the thing is Life, Y/N, is such a brave one that her courage seeped into them. Did you know that she didn't cry or budge when I came for her mother? She basically died before her, protecting a human and I really thought it would be the time she would finally snap but she didn't. She knew that even she couldn't stop death... This is another thing you will have to talk about, brother! I believe that now, you understood that our purpose, humanity, is our function and that you shouldn't underestimate a woman!"

Chuckling at her enthusiasm and how giddy she seemed at the mention of you, he finally felt like he had found his path again, a new era to begin with you.

" You reminded me of what really is important to me, and for that, I thank you my sister but... Do you think she would wish to see me? After all the things I said, we said... After all I did and failed to-"

"Dream, you have always been the inspiration of her creations. If she didn't love you, she wouldn't have had your children and keep the bond... Now go before I kick your ass, get your woman back, talk to your friend and let me have some peace with my sister-in-law by bringing her to me so that we can have some girls-day!"

Smiling at her behind his shoulders, he nodded his head and looked down at the spear he had after she went to her way. Until this point, he never had to use it but now, even if they would try to banish him, he wouldn't back down without a fight.

He wouldn't let go of you ever again.

"Bifrost, allow your king to finally reunite with his queen!"

And Bifrost would only listen to those who was worthy of using it, and it was a good thing that Morpheus was one of them.

Here, in the Well of Life, you had plenty of time to reminisce about the past. Perhaps, the one you missed dearly was the friend you got through Morpheus.

Hob Gadling.

You didn't meet him when Morpheus first encountered him in 1389, busy with another realm and its complications. But he talked how interesting this human was, never fearing death and loving life beyond compare. It surely intruged you, how someone would cherish the life you had given them when most only wished to die sooner.

So, you decided on visiting him. After all, he made that deal of meeting in every 100 years with Morpheus, not you.

"Hi, Hob Gadling! May I sit here?"

Flinching at the cheery woman voice, Hob lifted his head and his mouth hang open at how beautiful and radiant you looked even in the inn lighting.

He almost felt like you were an angel by how you shone bright and how a warmth had found his very being, feeling quite content by how things have been.

Nodding his head at you after realizing that he didn't answer you, even when you were smiling down at him with the softest eyes he had ever seen, he finally had a chance to look at your face.

He didn't understand, but he could swear that he had seen you somewhere.

"Sorry but... what's your name? I feel like I know you... Have we met before?"

"Opps, sorry! I should have done that before I sat down... Sorry, I just got excited to see a human that exceptional! I'm Y/N Odinsdottir, princess of Asgard, Goddess of Life and Creation and also the wife of the man you encountered 100 years ago!"

Shocked at how you were really someone divine, the wife of the man who gave him immortality nonetheless, he straightened up and leaned over the table to to your face which made you lean back awkwardly.

"Oh gods, did I make a deal with the Devil? Or, or a wizard? Maybe another God?"

"Nope, certainly not... Lucifer doesn't like that kind of stuff!" you said, remembering what had happened when they tried to do that last time. But you failed to realize that the mention of Lucifer was something that brought fear to humankind.

"R-really?" he stuttered nervously, somehow feeling curious of the famous Devil, and how he wouldn't do something like this. But your next words were even more of a shocker to him.

"Yes, they would much prefer to crush the humanity themselves, and I'm not talking metaphorically hehe..." Hob would have said something ridiculous at you at how unfazed you seemed if it wasn't for the nervous glint and twitch of your eye that gave your true feelings away.

You were just as nervous to talk to him, a mere human who didn't understand a thing about the supernatural world outside.

"Wait, wait! Just who are you? What kind of a game are you playing with me? Who was the man I met?" feeling angry all of a sudden at what he was talking about when he was still alive after almost 100 years without any signs of aging, he demanded answers as any normal human being would.

With a raised brow at his sudden outburst, you leaned back on the chair and drank on the wine that was served to you.

"No games, Hob. I already told you who I am and unfortunately I can't say his name since he doesn't wish you to know it. But all I can say is that he is interested in your experiences as well as I am."

"In me?" Hob was shocked to say the least. It wasn't every day that he would get a compliment from someone divine after all. Chuckling at his wide, puppy eyes you nodded your head.

"Do I look like someone interested in that old geezer over the corner?" He chuckled at that, and not the nervous one he would, and leaned back on the chair as well. He liked the fact that you were a funny one, bot like the goth looking man he talked one hundred years ago. Looking around himself and seeing all of the men there, he shrugged his shoulders again, feeling like this was another great mystery of the world.

"Fair point... So you wonder?"

"Wondering what? Being a mortal? Darling, I'm not immortal. I was born, I live and I'll die... It just takes 50 thousand years if I'm lucky, that's it!" you exclaimed excitedly, not thinking it would terrify him even more. After all, he used to have a 40-50 years of life to live, suddenly got endless years and learnt about other supernatural things.

But this human only continued to intruge you more.

"Fucking brilliant... Just imagining the things you must have experienced excite me so much that I can climb over a mountain!"

"Why the heck couldn't I fall for you instead, Hob?"

Looking at the memory playing before you, you smiled sadly and lifted your hand up, hovering just above the smiling and excited faces of the two of you. You almost seemed like a child, even though you had just met him, he achieved bringing that side of you out, something you thought you buried deep inside. After years of holding a mask up your face, to hide the painful truth of what was your life, you were happy like any other woman who had someone to cherish what they offered.

And just like that, you made a friendship with the unique soul of Hod Gadling.

He was compassionate, and cute with that funny side of him. He was one of the few humans that proved to you that every single one of them had a unique trait.

You held your hand in the air, still hovering over the image and lowered it to settle over your lap. Examining it for a few seconds, you felt like you were some dirty woman by how your heart picked its rate at the mention of Hob. It was something you always denied or refused whenever someone pointed out the obvious fondness you had for the man.

That your heart craved his.

For centuries, you would try to bury all those feelings inside, feeling disgusted at yourself for thinking and feeling like that when you had a husband...

When you were better than your father.

"Seriously, Destiny has a weird way to connect two beings... I guess God wanted me to suffer for all the blood my sister and father shed, for all of the innocent lives they took..." with a deep sigh, you shook uour head and waved your hand through the golden sand.

Getting to another memory you two had, you saw that it was about the one where you shared some parts of your childhood with him when he saw you were sullen and sad while looking at the family before you when you were suuposed to be happy.

"Hey, smiley face... What's wrong? I thought today was your happy day, but here you are," he gestured around himself, in the middle of a meadow with drinks in your hands. "Sad, emotional and... empty..."

" I guess I'm in my sad moods today... Sorry for troubling you, Hob..." you tried to talk without your voice wobbling but the soft sniffle you let out made Hob realize how bad the situation was.

"Hey, hey... Just because you are a Goddess doesn't mean you can't be sad. Wanna talk about it? Is it someone that insulted you? Sure you can kick their asses better than I, but I can fight you know?" He gestured for you to talk softly, not wanting to sadden you more while easing your sadness by making a joke. He didn't understand why his heart made painful twists inside his ribcage, why he suddenly felt like he was being suffocated...

But he just knew that he had to stop you from crying.

Laughing softly to yourself at what he said, you wiped your tears and slid away on the trunk you were sitting, gesturing him to sit down. "It's a long story, my friend... One that I'm not sure if you would listen to..."

"You always listen to me, Y/N... Friendship is not something one-sided. When I need you, you are there and since you are the one in need of a shoulder... I shall give it to you."

Looking at his shoulders and back up at his face that was softly urging you to lay your head over it, you sighed and did so. He put his hand over your shoulder and brought you close to his side, not being able to help himself when you let out a relieved sigh at his body warmth.

For all you knew, you weren't sure where to begin with. Your father has been more strict than ever when today was the death anniversary of your still-born daughter Adelaine and you were already in a fragile state of mind, Medusa's screams still echoing inside while the feeling of your daughter's soul passing before it was able to reach her body.

And you needed someone to confide in.

"Do you remember of your childhood? Of what happened and how your parents were?"

When he heard your question, Hob couldn't help but thighten his hold over your shoulders and let out a shuddering breath. He inhaled deeply as if there was a weight over his chest that made him unable to breathe softly, and when you heard this, you immediately backed down, afraid that he would treat you badly for it.

But what he did next surprised you.

He started to rub your shoulder softly with the hand holding you to himself while the other took your hand in his rough and wide one, rubbing circles over the surface.

"I don't remember anything much about my childhood actually... All I remember that the Black Death destroyed half of my village and I had to be a soldier very young. But I take it that the cause of your sadness is about family issues?"

"Yes... Unfortunately, today is a very rough day for me. A reminder of my failure at protecting the ones I love..."

At his lost look, you lifted your head and looked into his soft and understanding eyes.

If only a certain man would look to toublike this...

With shaky eyes and wobbly lips, you muttered weakly. "Today was the day my daughter died before even being born..."

Widening his eyes at what you said, he let out a sad oh and watched you lower your eyes and shut them thightly as if you were in physical pain.

Which you were... The grief of a mother who lost her kid was a heavy burden over your heart.

He didn't know how to comfort someone who had such a pain in their heart, ease the pain of a grieving mother but he did what came to his mind.

He hugged you thightly to his chest, making you clutch at his chest with fists thight enough to break fhe fabric and cry for what seemed like hours. Meanwhile he only caressed your hair and hummed a song he heard a few years ago, hoping that the deep rumbles of his voice would bring comfort.

Which it did. You felt guilty how you were picturing Morpheus as the man that was comforting you as if he had known you for a long time, when your own husband failed to do so. Yet, your heart was still defending him, saying that you never told him about this.

I'm a married woman, dammit! I'm not even supposed to be this close to him yet... yet my heart is so at peace that I can't help but drown in him...

And Hob, for the better of his judgement, felt the sudden primal urge to protect you from any harm. Seeing you, a Goddess who was more powerful than anyone, so helpless and lost made him feel like he needed to wrap you in cotton and never leave you but... He also knew that the man he met was the one who was already doing it.

Trying not to sound so bitter about it, he asked if your husband had comforted you or whether you went to him or not. But the answer was a shock to him, which angered him quickly.

"He doesn't know... Or maybe he does but doesn't care, I don't know. I never told him anyways, thinking that he wouldn't care. I mean, what's he gonna do? Feel sympathy for me? Bring me something I like-"

"Yes, he is exactly supposed to do that! You need comfort and care from someone that cares for you, and in your case, who else is it gonna be except your husband!? Gosh, that immortal idiot trully doesn't know anything about pain, right?" giggling at his exasperated ramble and how his eyes widened with anger at Morpheus, even though he didn't completely know your story, it felt good to know that you had someone to turn to when things got bad.

"You know, I had a rough childhood apart from the fact that I lost my daughter... My father was and still is never kind or soft, and I had to be a sister, a friend and a dad to my siblings even though I'm the middle child... I always felt like I was the eldest one. And don't blame him, please... He also had his fair share of pain, comparing our grieves would be not of help..."

"I'm so sorry, for both the behaviour of your family, the loss of your child and how much of an idiot that husband of yours is..."

"Don't be... I made my peace with it. I was aware of the rules of being an older sister. You cannot cry because you would always smile, you cannot cry because you were and emotionless girl... You cannot cry because you are an older sister.... That's what my family would tell me, except my dear mother..."

Watching a deer stop and look at you two, you smiled at its way and sent a golden swirl of magic to it, making some food appear before it who took them happily and ran away.

Watching you perform your magic and still show kindness even amidst of your pain made Hob's heart swoon in happiness, excitement and... love, for you.

Someone he had known for 100 years, who was married to the man he would be meeting shortly after their meeting with each other....

Someone that has been there for him when nobody else was...

Gulping down at the realization and how his heart started to beat faster, he suddenly jerked away and took your hand between his, lowering his head to lay a kiss upon it. Even though he was rooting himself for not loosing his cool in front of you, he stood frozen with his lips over your knuckles, hoping that he didn't make you uncomfortable and possibly ruin your friendship.

But you were just a blushy mess as he was, not expecting him to be so romantic and carefull with you, almost feeling your pain as if it was his.

When he touched your hand like that, so softly and delicately as if you would break at the single hard touch, your heart couldn't help but beat faster and your stomach started to make weird rolls that made you feel like your heart started to beat inside your belly. You didn't understand how it was possible to love him, when your soul was bound to Morpheus'.

But loving Hob was easy, his love and care showing itself softly to those around him. He didn't question whenever you would disappear and reappear to your frequent meetings, only asking of your well being before he started to tell you about everything that happened to him in your absence.

And now, he was looking at you with the eyes of a man that was seeing the sun for the first time, star-stucked and hopelessly in love.

But that only scared you more.

Both of your feelings for each other was a dangerous one, with you being the daughter of Odin and wife of the Dream of the Endless, came a great responsibility. And besides, even though he was a pain in your ass... Morpheus didn't deserve this.

With an awkward cough and a smile at him, you patted his hand that still held yours and chuckled at his red cheeks. "Thank you for the comfort and joy you brought to me Hob, I already feel better thanks to you..."

"No need to thank me, my lady. I did what any man was supposed to do..." getting the hint behind his words, and seeing the anger flash through his irises, you took his hand between yours and brought it close to your chest. You had to make sure that he wouldn't tell anything to Morpheus, knowing that he was gonna meet him and how humans made sudden choices they later regretted.

"Hob, I want you to promise me something... Please don't say anything to him."

"But, Y/N... He deserves to know..." he uttered breathlessly, confused at how scared you looked. Nodding your head at him, you smiled softly and put a stray strand of his hair behind his ear which elicited another blush from the man.

"I know, my dear but... This is something sensitive for me and him who has a similar experience... I promise I'll tell him when I'm ready..."

"Fine, fine... So, are you gonna come with him at one point?"

"Hmm, maybe? He doesn't like to show me off that much since humans tried to capture me once but why not?"

And true to your words you came with Morpheus in 1589 to the inn they were meeting. At first he didn't want you to come, too worried that someone would harm you and seeing that soft side of him made you feel even more guilty for the closeness you and Hob got each other into.

But he knew he couldn't stop you entirely from following him, you being too stubborn to submit and him being too weak to resist you.

When he learnt that you also started to meet with him, he was angry at first. Since you didn't tell him when he was only trying to protect you from any harm, almost fuming with anger at himself for not realizing it sooner. You gave a soft smile at him and caressed his sharp yet soft features and looked deep into his starry eyes.

"It's okay, my Dream... Hob hasn't done anything except being my only friend from outside and besides, I wonder what he did with his life that he wanted to live to the fullest!"

"My friends! Come, please! Got some couple of good wine for us..."

"Hello, Hob. I see that life has been fair to you..."

"Oh, dear... It's been a long time since I heard that name..."

Looking up at Morpheus who had a tiny smile over his lips that was reserved for when he was in an especially good mood, you thanked him for helping you sit down. "Thank you, dear..."

"Nothing to worry about, my love... I'm merely doing my job," he said, after kissing the top of your head and settling beside you with a hand over your lap. You looked into his deep, ocean eyes with your own pair that held the 9 realms in it and you saw the pure adoration and love in them, the same look he gave you when you two first met.

The one that made you fall for him.

All of this were confusing to you, your heart yearning for both men sitting next to each other unknowingly of the utter chaos that was your feelings.

"A heart in chaos, is no good for a woman, my dear... Especially someone as special as you," your mother said, when you went to her for help. To learn if you were a disgrace or not, at which she shook her head sharply.

"You did nothing wrong my dear, but you are right... You feeling this way when you have a soulmate is weird... I'll look into it for you, meanwhile you can go and spend some time with Morpheus as husband and wife and try to see if your feelings changed..."

Your thoughts were cut short when Morpheus' hand over yours thightened and you looked at them, and then his face, only to see concern and worry for your wellbeing. He was aware that you dozed off more often and went deep into your mind, especially after talking with your mother, but you always eased him with soft and gentle touches...

And he believed them, until now.

"My love? If you don't feel well, we can leave any time... Just say the word."

"Y/N? Are you alright? Maybe this place is far more crowded than you are used to?"

Seeing both men turn to you with utmost care and concern over your wellbeing, you blushed slightly and shook your head no while taking a hold of the goblet. "No need to my friend, my husband... I'm simply thinking about the meeting I'll be having in Asgard with my father..."

At the mention of your father, both men had a scowl over their faces that could rival the other which elicited a simple laugh from you. Seeing them both despise him, even though Hob never saw him before made you feel happy but you couldn't dwell on what would happen next and rather chose to eat with Hob since Morpheus didn't meed to eat like you did.

You giggled when Hob took a bite of one of the foods and made a funny face which Morpheus responded with a straight one but changed immediately after hearing your cute voice and how everything around them started to glow and people feeling even more content.

Seeing the affect you had over everyone in the room, you shied away and shook your head in amusement. "Oh dear, I forgot that I sometimes have that affect on people..."

"You tell me, dear... I, for once, am grateful for the chance you gave me. There is enough food, and the wine is good... I have a family and life is so... rich... I wonder if you were in a good mood when you created my soul..." he chuckled at his joke and when he saw the slight pull of your lips, he knew that you would be in a very happy mood for a long time.

"No, my friend... I am the one who watches over them and protect them, the one who creates your souls is God. I'm just making sure that their handwork doesn't go in... waste..."

Knitting his brows at you and how your voice lowered, he looked to where you were looking and saw that Morpheus was looking at a man, Shakespeare, who was giving a speech in the middle of a burst of a passion. You would normally smile at this, but the look in Morpheus' eyes told you that he was intrigued by this new... toy.

The fact that his focus on you could change so quickly, and that he saw what you protect as mere toys to play with angered you and in return, you watched him walk to the man while you turned your chair in the opposite direction to not to see him literally seducing a human. Huffing out in anger and bouncing your leg up and down nonstop, you didn't stop neither that or chewing on your nails angrily.

Not until Hob put a comforting hand over you thigh.

"You are about to open a hole on the ground..."

"Good, maybe he can find the morals and his idiotic brain in that hole..."

"Is someone jealous?"

"Jealous!?" You whisper yelled at him who was taken aback from your outburst and tried to console you, but the fire inside your eyes made it clear that it was something you needed to do.

While he was trying to get you out of the room and calm you, after seeing that wou would burn the olace to the ground, he let you pour everything hidden inside your heart and mind.

"Just... Just who does he think he is? Fucking around with people? Seeing them as toys, when I spent my entire existence over them? Work hard for them to gain some kind of self control and a talent, and he has to go and ruin my day! I was so happy, happier than I ever was in a long time! I finally had him, a soft and attending husband, I had my friend who I haven't seen for a long time after his wedding and was actually having a good time even though I'll be facing that father of mine but... but HE HAD THE BALLS TO RUIN IT BY BEING AN ASSHOLE!?"

"Oh shit... How long have you been keeping all of these to yourself?"

"A long time! And you were wondering why I didn't come clean to him about my past! Look at him and tell me that he cares about me more than a few minutes!"

"Darling, not to intrude in your relationship but... If this marriage is no good for you, why don't you... end it?"

Really, why didn't you end everything already?

The answer was simple. The bond.

The bond would destroy whoever you got together with, it did once and it would do it again.

"I... It's not that simple Hob..."

"Yes, it is! Just go to him, say you wanna divorce and-"

"And what? So that he can send me to Hell for ruining his ego? Or put whoever I'll get together with in danger because of the soulmate bond that destroys whoever we get together with because we aren't together?"

After that, it was a long conversation of explaining the bond and how it was doomed for the people you two would get together with...

Also the reason behind your failed first marriage and the loss of your daughter.

In the end, Hob was too shocked to utter even a word. He held even more respect at you who had gone through all of this by yourself with no help.

But he couldn't help but ask one question he wanted to learn the answer of.

"Is there really not a way to break it? Y/N... it's destroying you, your mental health amd happiness..." he said helplessly, and for the first time over a century, you shed tears.

"I don't know... I know my worth and it's not this. I don't deserve to be treated like this, insulted because I didn't have a choice in protecting a life, because he didn't love me anymore or whatever the reason behind his behaviour... So, this is goodbye, my friend.'

"W-wait... What? Why..?" He said, suddenly scared of the possibilities, fearing that this was the last time you two would see each other.

"I'll be talking to my father about issues clouding Asgard and 9 realms and later try to find an answer to my problems... You will probably not hear from me for a long time but if you ever need something, call out to me and I shall come..."

Hugging you to himself thightly for what seemed like a final time, you let out a shuddering breath as if that was all you needed, and hugged him back just as thightly. In that moment, nothing seemed to be important.

Not Morpheus or his schemes.

Not your family.

Not who Hob was...

It was only him and you, the hugging form of you both, secretly inhaling each others' smell and imprinting what the other's touch felt like.

He didn't want to let go of you, but knew that you had to find your way in life again.

Parting your ways while holding onto his biceps, you looked deep into his eyes and your heart stopped for a second at how he held every single stars in them. "If I offended you in someway throughout our friendship..."

Knitting your brows together, you lightly smacked his chest in which he let out a obviously fake ouch and you smiled at him coyly. "I’m not offended, Hob, in fact I understand perfectly well. All I ask is for you to be... careful in the future."

"I will... And you promise you will take care of yourself and return?"

"I will, I swear it."

Obviously, you weren't able to keep your promise since only a few years later Morpheus was prisoned and you were left pregnant and later captured as well. Everything was calm after that day, you never mentioned what happened after when Morpheus left you with Hob and about the argument you two had but after that, Morpheus started to change.

He finally understood his wrongs and started to make amends with you, which started make everything better for you two but you know what people say...

Happy days were short-lived.

And so were they for Hob Gadling, the man you had fallen in love and shared yourself with.

After that night, he waited for you two to return back and you did, you saw each other three or more times. All of them were spent kissing each other and spending time which he never said something about, clearly being happy after a long time.

And you were no different, finally feeling free to be with someone that made you feel like a child, like a happy woman in love...

But then, all of it just... stopped.

It was around 1920, he supposed, when you stopped coming to him. He thought that it was something to do with your duties so he waited, thinking that you and 'his Stranger' would come to your meeting. Waiting with drinks for both of you while people talked with each other happily...

But you never showed up.

He wasn't stupid to think that you played with his trust and love like that, and then left for good. He knew that you weren't like other petty gods but a part of him feared that something was wrong, not that he could go and search for you.

And he also wasn't stupid to not to see the sympathetic eyes of the bartender.

"You waiting for someone?"

"I guess I am stood up..." giving a sad, small smile at the man, he drank from his glass and sat it down with a frown. Seeing the look on his face, the bartender kept his silence and let him speak.

"I wish I could say I was drunk but I was just stupid. We had a fight, three friends, and then he left and... God, I don't know why I'm telling this but I slept with my female best friend and actually got together after that, learning that she also loved me for a long time but... yeah, it all just came to an end I guess?"

"I have seen a lot people fight, and even more of them who laughed at the idiocy of the situation. I'm sure that they would be back, boy."

"In a hundred years time, maybe..." Hob chuckled humorlessly and the man before him sighed in sadness.

"Then you will have to find a new one because they will be destroying this one, for new apartments..."

And if Hob didn't feel like his world crashed, he certainly did then.

He didn't remember much after that, only that he opened a new bar for both of you to find him when you came back and... just that.

His life started to loose the meaning of it, and he couldn't find why...

Not knowing that it was because of your absence.

And when he felt like he had it again, after seeing you more than 100 years later, he was crushed even more when he was kidnapped by someone who looked like you, alongside with a girl he never saw before but would certainly meet again...

Apparently, the odds didn't think about leaving him alone to grieve and sigh in relief at escaping since one day, two men, one dressed in golden and green the other golden and red stood before him.

"We're coming from Asgard... Our Queen Y/N has been found and you, Hob Gadling, are needed in our kingdom immediately.

After all, you have always been Hob's weak point. How could he keep going with his life knowing that something was quite wrong with you?

"What the fuck..."

But he never expected to see the girl he was kidnapped with and his Stranger at the same place, looking down at a coffin life bed where ... you were laying almost lifelessly.

"Oh, Y/N... What happened to you?"

And to people's shock standing right next to you, a tear slipped through your left eye and touched the underside of your cheek.

"Who are these people, uncle Thor? And what are they doing in my mother's room?"

And when they turned to look at where an authoritative, strong female voice came from, both the girl and him couldn't help but curse at what was happening before them.

For the woman before them was a carbon copy of the man in black standing next to them, but had the stare of her mother, you.

"What the fuck is actually going on..?"

Bonus!

"I'm just a coping mechanism her mind created for us, so that we can withstand the torture Desire and Corinthian brought upon us... You see, here," you pointed to your head with your forefinger with a fake-innocent look. "Here, is hard to break. But when it does... It's unfixable. So, you really owe me dear. Because she would have been long dead after all the trauma you, Morpheus, Desire and Corinthian brought to her... Calliope..."

Taglist: @staygoldsquatchling02 @ptitdragondream @iwantagoodstorytoread @auroraravenclaw1927 @winxchesters @lovesickollie @intothesoul @jupiterclipse @lu123sworld @sailorbananabee14 @itshamleth @elraeeee @mxacegrey @munsonmunster @zemotr4sh @rosewine-5 @bucky-thorin-winchester @lyria-skyfall @jesllianaquilesrolon @poemfreak306 @justmasblack @diksy1112 @daydreamin1220 @slut4fictionalcharacters28 @buckyspillow

[leiawritesstories]

Give Me Wings

Rowaelin Month, Day 24: Missing scene from canon

Designing Aelin’s new tattoo in Kingdom of Ash because we deserve that. It got a little emotional...but so was their reunion...so......

Word count: 1304

Warnings: Emotions. Lots of them.

~~~~~

Every mark on his mate’s body had been erased--the scars from Endovier, from the years as Adarlan’s Assassin, the calluses, bruises, and bumps she’d earned during long hours of training, even the faint burn marks she carried from learning to control the wildfire that raged inside her veins. And her tattoos, the three scrolling lines of Old Language that told the story of how Aelin Ashryver Galathynius conquered the darkness that threatened her brightly burning existence.

The tattoos Rowan had poured his heart and soul into. Gone.

Aelin had barely spoken in the days since their reunion, the invisible scars Maeve had inflicted still too fresh, too deeply engraved. He watched her with Fenrys, the silent language they shared in the blinking of their eyes conveying so much more than speech. He watched how she curled against him in the nights, her eyes brimming with all the things she wanted to tell him but couldn’t yet bring herself to say. In the darkness of the night, Rowan gladly shared his body heat with Aelin, hoping his silence was comfort, hoping she could read the unspoken promise that whenever she was ready, he was there for her.

As they passed through the caves, guided by the Little Folk, Rowan sensed a spark of Aelin’s flame returning. When she mustered a smirk, an offhand snarky comment, his heart swelled with joy. And for the first time in months, a pulse of her own happiness slipped down the bond in response. It would take time, time they might be borrowing, before the queen of Terrasen was once again her fiery, sharp-tongued self, but she had started to move from the blackness of the past months into the hope of the future.

He knew some of it was for show, knew she was making herself smile and swagger and tease and lift Goldryn to stop the “fussing.” Yet he was more than happy to train with her on the small deck, to steal her focus for a few hours and keep her mind from falling into despondence. 

There were nights when she woke up in tears, shaking, always silent but always in pain. Those were the nights when she either burrowed closer into his side or quietly got up and curled against Fenrys in his wolf form. Rowan couldn’t hold anything against Fenrys; after all, he too had suffered at Maeve’s hand and if his presence could comfort Aelin, she deserved the companionship.

Every night after they’d exchanged rings in the treasure cave, Rowan kissed the obnoxiously large emerald on her left hand. To whatever end, Fireheart. Though she didn’t respond verbally, the tears that welled in her depthless turquoise eyes spoke more than words ever could. 

The night they saw stars, signaling they were almost at the end of the cave passages, Aelin produced a small, soft flame in her cupped hands. Rowan sat next to her, watching as she played with the flame, gradually expanding it into a sphere of flickering light that cast warmth around the whole small group. Ever so gently, he placed his hand on her back, offering support. I’m proud of you, Fireheart.

For the first time in too long, she responded. To whatever end, Rowan.

To whatever end, my queen.

Later, as everyone was drifting off to sleep, Rowan slipped paper and charcoal out of his pack. Knowing Aelin was still awake, he brushed a hand down her back. She rolled over. 

“What’s that for?”

Seating himself next to her, he spread out the page, revealing Old Language symbols sprawled haphazardly across part of the paper. “This is your story.”

“Is that…is that your sketch of my tattoo?”

“Yes.”

She looked at him, tears pooling in her eyes. “Rowan, it’s gone.”

“I know, Fireheart. I know.”

“She rutting stole it from me. My tattoo. My link to you.”

“You’ll always have a link to me, Aelin.” He touched his heart. “Here.”

Aelin twisted her ring around her finger. “Rowan?”

“Hmm?”

“Would you tattoo me again?”

“Of course,” he breathed, “of course I would.”

A soft smile crept across her face. “I want a hawk. A buzzard, just like you.”

“Aelin--”

“I’m serious, buzzard. Like this.” Taking the charcoal, she traced a series of swooping curves onto the page. “Look. This shape, Rowan.” She cast a soft golden light over the paper.

Rowan gazed at the design she’d created, a set of hawklike wings with three longer lines, like rays of light, underneath. “It’s gorgeous, Fireheart. May I?” He held out his hand, and she gave him the charcoal. Carefully, he added a light curve linking the three rays and a Terrasen knot above them. “What do you think?”

Tears dripped down her cheeks. “I love it. I love you. How soon can I wear it?”

“I need a few days to work out the script, but we can start the process in about four days, I think.”

“What are you writing this time?”

“Your story.”

“I want you in it.”

He blinked. “What?”

“You are part of my story, Rowan Whitethorn. Put us in my tattoo. Tell my story, yes, tell all of it. Sam, Endovier, Adarlan, Doranelle, our bond, everything. I want it all.”

Rowan swept away the tear before Aelin could see it. “Of course, Fireheart,” he managed, his voice husky with emotion.

Aelin picked up the charcoal again and sketched an elegant symbol onto the page. 

“What’s that one?”

She smiled. “The Wyrdmark for home.”

~

Every free moment he had, Rowan worked at the tattoo, filling Aelin’s graceful lines with Old Language script. As promised, he told her whole story, the tale of a young princess who loved her kingdom and the Fae prince who loved her. He labored over each character of the ancient Fae calligraphy, rendering every word precisely.

All the better to intertwine Wyrdmarks with the Old Language.

The home mark Aelin drew for him…it made him wonder if she knew his plan to include a centuries-old spell in her tattoo. He’d discovered, while combing through Aelin’s extensive library of Wyrdmark books and scrolls, a series of marks that could act as a map between mates. It was a simple enough line of markings, and as long as they were all in the same line, it didn’t matter what else wove around them. 

So he sketched the chain of Wyrdmarks across the wings of his mate’s tattoo, one mark in each feather, to let her fly home.

After four days of careful sketching, Rowan had a finished design. He took the design, his tools, and ink to Aelin’s tent when they camped for the night and tapped on the post. 

“Aelin?”

“Come in.”

She was perched on her cot when he entered, a map of Erilea spread on her lap. 

“Is that the design, Rowan?”

“Yes, yes it is. It’s finished. I wanted you to see it before agreeing to have it inked onto you forever.”

She scanned the page, tears springing to her eyes. “It’s perfect.” 

“Where are we drawing it, Fireheart?”

“On my back, of course. Wings across my shoulder blades.” 

Rowan nodded slowly. “Are you ready?”

Aelin folded up the map, pulled her cot into the center of her tent, and spread an old sheet over the top of it. “I am.” 

“Shift for me, my love. It’s better to tattoo you in your Fae form because of the salt and iron in the ink. And you heal faster in a Fae body.”

Aelin closed her eyes and breathed deeply.

I believe in you, Fireheart.

She inhaled a steadying breath. And shifted.

I love you too, Rowan.

The smile he gave her flooded her heart with joy. “We’ll do the wings today; the rest either tomorrow or the day after.”

Aelin pulled her shirt off and lay facedown on the cot. “Then give me wings, carranam.”

~~~~~~~~~~

In case anyone wanted to see my concept of Aelin’s tattoo:

https://leiawritesstories.tumblr.com/post/663357987153379328/in-case-anyone-was-wondering-what-my-concept-of

[yn-dreamlife]

For them

Pairing: Fred Weasley x Reader

Warnings: Angst, death, character death, reader death, no happy ending

A/N: I've finally completely read the Harry Potter series despite having watched and loved them my whole life. Fred Weasley has and always will be one of my favorite characters who brings me great comfort. Upon reading his death this is what I came up with immediately, I've had horrible writers' block for about a week so I guess enjoy it despite the fact it is so depressing.

A/N 2.0: It just deleted half of what I wrote so I cant promise that this re-write I'll be posting will be as sad as it would have been but here you go still

She could barely stand, the pain from her abdomen seemingly nothing compared to the pain of her heart now. There was no way, this can't be true. But as she staggered forward slowly on buckling knees she knew it was. Fred, her Freddie laid before her, the ghost of a smile on his lips.

She couldn't hear the calls from the two other gingers close to Fred. Percy was begging, begging her to understand he hadn't meant it, that he hadn't meant to distract Fred, that he would never want his brother to be killed because he had made a mistake. Ron was trying to pull her away as the corridor they were now in was being assaulted by giant spiders.

She no longer knew what was happening, nothing around her mattered except for the man in front of her, the man who laid before her already gone. She stumbled towards him her knees finally giving way as she collapsed to the floor beside the man she loved.

Her trembling hand reached toward her fiance her crimson-covered fingers brushing his cheek as if to rouse him, "w-wake up Freddie," she whimpered as tears burned down her skin. "I-it's... you-you have t-to get... get up now." It had to have been a prank, he had to have just been trying to have a laugh with her.

But deep down, she knew. A woman was screaming, she could not process that it was her own. "Please, please get up Fred- I-I can't... I can't do this on my own. I need you!" But her calls went unanswered, Fred remained lying on the floor unmoving.

Her mind was swimming with thoughts, thoughts of what she would never get, thoughts of her and Fred getting married. Images of Fred holding his own set of twins- their set of twins. Imaged of her working at the shop as their children played behind the counter. Images of just her, Freddie, and two cups of tea for company on the roof of the shop as they watched the sunrise.

But those thoughts and images were being taken from her, rapidly disappearing into the darkness as others swam forth. Her, George, and Lee mourning Fred, thoughts of late nights up sitting in the bathroom and hand clutched to her mouth and the other to her abdomen as she held in the sobs so as to not wake anyone else. And just as her dreams and hopes for a future were becoming drowned in darkness so was her world, the fight, the battle she was still a part of was fading.

She looked down at her abdomen, there was so much blood- too much blood. She wouldn't be able to heal this, no one would be able to heal this in time. She could feel herself growing weaker as she laid beside her fiance in the small nook where a suit of arms had been.

She barely remembers brushing away Percy, Ron, Harry, and Hermione telling them to continue fighting. She barely remembers Harry and Percy bringing Freds' body here to keep it safe.

But as she laid her head down on the familiar chest he could convince herself for a moment she wasn't dying. If she squinted the corridor long since destroyed around her became their bedroom. the crimson-covered stones she laid in where the crimson sheets of their bed, and the explosions of battle- long since muffled to her where the still-beating heartbeat of Fred.

There was a part of her that was happy, a part that was happy she wouldn't have to live a life filled with the agony she had experienced within the few minutes of knowing her fiance was dead. A part of her that was happy she would get to be with Fred in life after death, that they would be together in a world with no pain.

But another part of her was scared, a part of her was frightened and a part of her- the biggest part of her was mourning what she would leave behind.

She was leaving George and Lee alone in their grief, Lee who was one of her best friends, and George who she had spent every holiday with since they were eleven years old. Would they hate her for leaving them too? Would they know how much she missed them even now? Would they forgive her?

All she could do was hope that they would, and hope that she would not see anyone else she loved for a very long time because if she would that would mean they too had died- a thought which she couldn't handle.

As her eyes closed for a final time, her own smile ghosting on her lips she uttered her last words, "I'm coming, Freddie."

___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

Y/n Y/l/n died in the arms of the man she loved, she died what could have appeared a peaceful death in her sleep had it not been for the deep claw marks through her stomach.

George remembered perfectly what he had seen, the image of his best friend and twin brother lying dead yet still embracing each other engraved in his brain. The image that plagued him whenever he tried to cast his patronus charm, the image that would haunt his every nightmare.

But George Weasley continued to live, he continued to love, and most importantly he continued to laugh. Because although half of their group was gone Lee and him refused to let their spirits die. Although yes it hurt, and some days were hard George continued to laugh for his brother- for his other half. George continued to laugh for his best firend- for the girl who had been with him since he was eleven.

George could still remember how he felt the very day he found out. The way the sobs racked his very soul and how he could barely breathe. The feeling of relief when he saw Ron and realized he had only lost one brother, the feeling of anguish that that brother had been George. He remembers holding his mother as she begged for Fred to be joking saying how she would never make him dress up for anything again if he just got up.

But he didn't stir, he didn't pop up with a wide grin and proclaim that they all looked like blubbering babies. There was no bright giggle that emanated from his side as you to popped up and made a witty remark about how it would take more to kill you. No, instead the only sound that was heard was the sound of his own anguished cries.

George and Lee had lost half of their group, when thoughts like that come to George he can't help but think of Remus Lupin. But he wasn't Remus Lupin, he had only lost two of his friends while he had thought he lost three. In this regard, he was thankful that he only lose Fred and y/n, but that wasn't true, was it? Others had died, others like Remus Lupin and his wife Tonks, something he thought of often and that pained him too.

But now as he looked down at the gravestones of his two best friends there was the smallest smile on his lips. Because he knew somewhere out there they were together and they were happy. He knew that somewhere out there those two were swapping stories with the three greatest pranksters at Hogwarts. And, he knew that someday he would get to join them but not for a very long time because he had to continue on, he had to live... for them.

[loveislattes]

Everything Comes at a Price (Demon!Dark/Fem!Reader) Chapter 1

Commission prompt: Reader is really depressed, and Dark decides to roughly Fuck the depression out of them

Important: Reader has female pronouns and is a vagina owner!

Warnings (For this chapter specifically): Talk of depression and stressful life, mentions of unnamed character death, mentions of beheading/dismembered head and some minor blood/gore (not too detailed), cursing, mentions of family in the hospital, demon!Dark (akin to jinn or genie), and pet names.

A/N: PLEASE READ THE WARNINGS! This first chapter is allllll story setting. Part two will have the good ol' rough and dominating Dark fucking.

As always, if you would like to support me, I have a Ko-Fi (here) for donations and I usually have a few slots open for commissions (unless life gets in the way)!

“Look, I think it’s just best if you take some time off.”

Though worded nicely, you instinctually felt the pang of panic and anger already bristling in your chest.

“Time off…” you murmur, eyes sliding down to your boss’s desk in thought, “As in, a week or two or…?”

You let the implication hang heavy in the air. There was a telling silence that followed your question. When you finally met his gaze again, your boss let out a hefty sigh. Before he even said anything, you knew what his answer was by the sympathy on his face alone.

“We won’t fight your unemployment for the first few months, which hopefully will be enough time for you to find another place of employment. I’m sorry, Miss Y/N, but between the company making cutbacks and your recent drop in productivity, I had to-”

“Don’t you dare,” you hissed sharply, interrupting him before he could finish the excuse.

Rage fueled your motions, forcing you to your feet while your eyes narrowed on the man you’d once thought a decent person.

“A drop in productivity?” you scoffed, “My apartment building was just destroyed in a freak fire two weeks ago that, of course, my insurance refused to cover. I’ve been bouncing place to place between motels and friend’s homes until I can afford another deposit on the measly pay you give us. My mother is in the hospital, in the ICU, after a freak hit and run. My car broke down yesterday and I walked thirty fucking minutes in the pouring rain today just to make sure you assholes weren’t a man down with all this work. And you knew all of this, but you still decided to fire me? I can’t- You know what, fuck you. Fuck you and fuck this place! I hope this whole company shuts down and you get to experience even a modicum of the instability I’ve had to!”

Before he could respond, you slammed the chair back into place against the desk and stormed from the room. You could feel the confused gazes from your coworkers as you marched to the door but didn’t dare spare them a glance. Most of them you considered to be your friends and you knew you’d have to explain everything later, but you couldn’t allow anything other than anger to inhabit your body at that moment. One bit of sadness and you would crumble. Rage would keep you safe until you made it to your temporary home for the night.

Little curses and fury-filled resentment spilled from your lips as you stepped out into the dreary public. Of course, it was still raining. You hadn’t even dried off from your trek to work and now you were thrown right back out into the storm. A timely crack of lightning rumbled across the sky as you shot one last middle finger back at the door.

“I can’t believe this shit,” you grumbled.

Pulling your raincoat up over your head, you kept your gaze down and began your journey back to the hotel. The one upside to all the rain was that the sidewalks were nearly barren. Cars sped by on the busy roads but you were alone on foot. In fact, you didn’t see a single soul until you were on the block housing your hotel, and somehow that lonely occupant still managed to slam into you.

“Excuse you,” you muttered.

“So sorry, please excuse me.”

The person’s voice sent shivers down your spine and every last hair stood up on your arms. Reflexively you pulled back as a hand touched your side, ready to give them a mouthful, but they were moving on by the time you could gather your wits about you. All you caught was a tall form in a black business suit striding off in the opposite direction.

With an irked tsk and a mutter of “Fucking asshole”, you rushed into the lobby, stomping the rain from your shoes along the rubber mat. Sure you were pissed off but you still had the human decency not to create more work for others.

You managed a little nod to the desk clerk on your way by to the elevator. As you watched the numbers climb slowly down, you mentally questioned the fates if the world was against you. The elevator stopped on literally every- single- floor; All 25. Trying to maintain your composure, you leaned up against the wall and let your eyes flutter closed, slowly breathing in and out rhythmically. Just a little longer and you’d be in the safety of solitude. You could let it all out.

The ding of the lift doors opening pulled you out of your little meditative session and you immediately let out a grateful sigh of appreciation upon realizing it was empty. Being stuck in a small metal box with others for an undetermined amount of time made your skin crawl, much less when you were already on the edge of snapping. You mashed the close button repeatedly until the metal doors finally sealed shut and the elevator began to move. The rest of the journey was a blur until you stopped at your room door and fished your card out of your pocket, coming out with not only the plastic key but a large silver coin.

“The fuck?” you muttered.

As the door buzzed open, you flipped the coin over in your fingers, trying to think back on when you had gotten it. You were pretty sure you’d never seen anything like it before; completely void of any details on one side but the other filled with finely engraved words.

The loud startling thump of your keys as you threw them on the nightstand wasn’t even enough to draw your concentration away from the interesting little trinket. It took a few minutes and some good lighting but you eventually figured out what was written; the discovery only confusing you further.

“Clutch this coin to thee whilst ye make a plea

In return ye shall become my endless devotee”

“Yeah… that’s not creepy at all,” you sighed.

Tossing the coin on the nightstand next to your keys, you sloughed off your wet clothes and tossed them in the small hamper next to your duffle bag. After this horrid morning, you needed a long hot shower before you pondered on any strange coins or the mental shithole that had become your life.

You weren’t sure exactly how long you spent under the burning water but, by the time you exited, you were both hungry and in dire need of some caffeine.

“Or a nap. A nap could be heavenly,” you murmured to yourself.

Towel around your head, you dropped into the bed naked and took a moment to revel in the sheets against your freshly lotioned skin. There was hardly a better feeling. Thank god you had the good sense to buy some of your own sheets rather than rely on whatever the hotels had to offer. It made your day the tiniest bit better.

As you leaned back against the headboard, you snagged up the coin once more. The metal was cool against your warm fingers as you flipped it around and around. Did you dare give it a try? What was the worst outcome: You felt silly for believing a random coin and no one would ever know? Although, what if it was legit...?

Now that thought made you feel silly. A little chuckle passed your lips before you clasped the coin between your hands and brought it to your chest, closing your eyes as if about to pray.

“Alright, I don’t know how this works so I’m just gonna state my wishes out loud. I hope that works for, well, whoever you are. First off, I want that backstabbing business ruined. They fucked me over after I bent over backward for them, now they deserve to feel the same. Please. Second, I don’t know how you could do it, but I’d really like my insurance company to finally approve my apartment claim so I can find another place soon. Third-”

You trailed off as emotions immediately welled up behind your eyelids, the burning already tingling in the back of your throat from holding them in.

“My third and most important wish, please, if nothing else, find the one that put my mom in the ICU and make them pay. Those idiots down at the police department couldn’t find them, or so they say anyway, so just… give them what they deserve, please.”

With a stifled sniffle, you wiped away the few tears that had escaped and fell back against the headboard, eyes staring unseeing at the ceiling as you let the pain wash over you; Rage, dread, hope, apathy, desperation. Eventually, the unending barrage became too much to deal with. This wasn't a new thing in your life, but it had certainly culminated into something worse with everything going on in your life; clinical depression exacerbated by a series of unfortunate events.

With no other plans for the day and the weight of your heart heavy in your chest, you chose to simply roll over and bury yourself, and your troubles, in the fluffy comforter. You’d feel better after a nap. You were almost certain of it.

Even as you drifted off into sleep, the tears didn’t cease.

When you first woke, you weren’t sure what had roused you but you knew it wasn’t good; All you could feel was bone-trembling terror. You couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, felt frozen in place with only the ability to stare at the now dimly lit wall; watching the shafts of setting sunlight ever so slowly creep down by the minute.

“Come now, darling,” a low voice crooned in the void behind you, “I know you’re awake.”

Like a rubber band snapping, the grip on your body suddenly released and you shot up in bed, immediately turning around to find out who had spoken. You weren’t sure what you expected but it certainly wasn’t the devilishly handsome man that was seated next to the window. The sunlight pouring down on him made it very obvious that his skin was lacking any range of melanin, rather being pallor shades of whites, blacks, and greys, but that didn't detract from his appearance at all. In fact, he looked like something out of a Gothic romance novel or a Tim Burton movie. Once the enchantment of seeing him began to wear off, you finally noticed what sat on the table next to him.

A human head.

“Holy fuck!”

A hellish screech escaped your lips as you hastily scrambled backward, trying to get as far away from him as quickly as possible, only to go careening off the edge of the mattress. The pain of impact on the floor couldn’t even deter you. As your back hit the wall, you kept your eyes pinned on the intruder, watching for any sign that he was going to follow you or attack.

“While I’m certainly not minding the show, don’t you think you’re rather underdressed for this occasion?” he spoke suddenly.

It took a few moments for his words to sink in but the moment they did, you launched yourself back at the bed with a hushed curse and promptly pulled the sheets up around your naked body.

“Who are you? How did you get in here? I-Is- Is that real?”

Long clawed fingers made their way into the matted, bloody mess of hair and pulled the body part free from the table with a sickening pop.

“It is undoubtedly real, but I figured you’d believe me much quicker if I had a visual aide to my claims,” he replied, dropping the offending thing before tossing you a sharp, seductive, smile, “The name is Dark. I’m a demon and the owner of the coin you wished upon.”

Your tongue felt too heavy to move while you watched in horror as he licked the blood from his fingers like a cat bathing itself.

“I- I don’t-”

“You don’t understand,” he supplied helpfully.

As he rose from his seat, you stared at him owlishly, unable to take your eyes off his graceful form as he nearly glided across the floor to stand in front of you.

“That coin,” he hummed, pointing at the metal disc in question, “It belongs to me. When someone makes a wish while holding it, I’m able to hear them. In your case, I heard all three.”

Trepidation tickled the nape of your neck when your eyes slowly rolled over to the head once more. It was as if you couldn’t breathe. Sick crawled up your throat and it took every ounce of your strength to keep from vomiting at the man’s feet. You don’t know how long you sat there, struggling to breathe and ease the nausea but, when it finally went away, rage took over.

“I didn’t want you to actually KILL them!” you shouted.

The demon casually arched a brow in your direction before saying, “You specifically wished for the one involved in your mother’s accident to get what they deserved.”

“Yeah! Like prison! Not death!”

A soul-trembling crack resounded through the small hotel room as he slowly craned his neck side to side, ethereal pulses of red and blue emanating from his being. Some of the previous ire slipped from your hold when he moved even closer, step by step until his knees were touching yours.

“I will never understand you humans and your sense of righteousness. Would it ease your mind to know this wasn’t the first time they had committed such heinous crimes?” he asked.

“W-What?” you questioned softly.

“I will not delve into details but rest assured that your embarrassing sense of compassion was lost on them; they were vermin,” he explained, “Now, that makes three wishes fulfilled. You have two remaining.”

You thought back on exactly what wishes you had made and were immediately overcome with dismay.

“Wait, what did you do?!” you demanded, jumping to your feet and glaring up at him, “You didn’t kill anyone else, did you?!”

A twinge of disdain passed through his features. His hand landed heavily on your shoulder and you were shoved back down onto the bed with a 'tsk' of disapproval, as if scolding a misbehaving child.

“Fortunately for you, no. Your previous place of employment has simply been condemned for multiple code violations that have mysteriously come to light during a surprise investigation, and your insurance company has been informed that they’re facing a lawsuit if they don’t reevaluate your claim with a more positive outlook.”

Relief flushed through your veins and you thanked him meekly. You wouldn’t have been able to live your life knowing you had caused the deaths of so many people, let alone friends.

“So, what now?” you asked.

“You have two more wishes before your soul belongs to me.”

He said it with such finality and ease that you almost didn’t react at first. Once his words settled in though, oh, panic quickly followed.

Gaping up at him in wide-eyed disbelief, you tried to stammer out some rebuttal or plea, but nothing would come out. Panic soon gave way to defeat as you realized there was no obvious way to get out of this ordeal. It had been clear as day on the coin.

Thinking on the offending piece of metal, you looked over and snagged it up, reading the inscription once more.

“Clutch this coin to thee whilst ye make a plea

In return ye shall become my endless devotee”

“So that’s what this meant,” you sighed quietly, before gazing at him once more, “And there’s no way to bargain out of this?”

He looked mildly pleased by your inquiry, letting out a little hum before falling back into an ornate chair that definitely hadn’t been there a few seconds ago.

“And what would you bargain?” he purred, “What could a simple little human such as yourself have to give to me, other than your soul of course.”

You cursed his infallible logic and stayed quiet as you tried to think over your options. Truly, you had nothing else to give him; no money nor gifts. Your soul was the only valuable thing you owned, and there was no undoing what had been done. A person had died because of your wish.

With a heavy sigh, you sat up to your full height and prepared yourself mentally.

“Is there a time limit? Do I have to make my wishes today or can I think about them?” you asked.

“You’re free to use them when and wherever you wish. However, do not think this a loophole. Choosing to postpone your wishes until death does not release you from this contract. Your soul will still belong to me when you die.”

Well fuck. There went that option. If you were doomed no matter what, you might as well make use of the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity... right?

“I’m going to need time,” you whispered.

“Fair enough,” he replied, finally taking a step back, “You have my calling card. You can call for me if you have any questions, otherwise, you know what to do.”

He strolled back to the window and snagged the dismembered head, flashing you a wide smirk that framed his fangs perfectly.

“I’ll just be taking this with me. Hope to hear from you soon, darling.”

[ayatosmlktea]

best boyfriend series | kirishima

A/N: So there is a list me and the gal pals have compiled of who we think are the best boyfriends in the entire world. I haven’t been in a thirsting mood for so long probably bc im mad ✨depressed✨ so the only thing on my mind is soft boys and how amazing they are. This is the most writing I've done in months but I wrote this for Bri’s birthday a while back and am now sharing them with you bc we could all use some wholesome kiripima 

I wrote these as the thoughts came to my mind so...its not really organized ANYWAY enjoy!

- Your sense of humour and easy going personality is what draws him in even if he doesn’t realize it to be love in the beginning

- Even when he’s training with bakugou his eyes are always searching you out, the way you handle your quirk takes his breath away he just thinks you look so badass in combat

- Every time you ask if he wants to study together his heart starts racing so fast it feels like it’s going to burst out of  his chest and he has to fight back the blush that burns the back of his neck and ears whenever you giggle

- As you and Mina become closer, you start hanging out more with the bakusquad.

- Kiri finds himself getting increasingly distracted by you, he notices every little thing like the way your eyes shine whenever you smile, the way cover your mouth when you laugh which bothers him because the entire world deserves to see how beautifully radiant you look when you’re happy

- He notices the way your body language changes when you’re tired, how your attitude gets a little grumpier when you’re hungry and through learning all of that Kiri steps in to make you whole

- When you’re tired he passes you his notes to copy after class just giving you a knowing smile and ignoring the way his heart flutters when you stare at him like he’s your knight in shining armour

- He doesn’t like the way that Denki and sero playfully flirt with you, it makes him feel weird although he knows he has no right to be jealous so he ignores it

- During your second year you start dating Shinsou and Kiri can feel his world come to a halt, his heart plummets into this stomach but he puts on a fake smile and tells you that he’s happy for you and he hopes Shinsou treats you right

- You don’t seem to notice the way the light in his eyes is gone, how much more time he puts into training now that you’re busy with your new relationship and as bitter and mad as he wants to be he knows you deserve to be happy, even if it isn’t with him so he pushes his feelings down and acts like he isn’t being punched in the gut every time you kiss shinsou and not him

- Your last night in the dorms before summer vacation Kirishima finds himself being woken up by a quick series of knocks on his door

“Denki I told you already pennywise is not under your be-” he stops mid sentence when he finds you outside of his door, sniffling with red rimmed eyes

- He’s barely awake and processing what’s happening as he opens his door wider so you can come inside before one of the teachers catches you out of bed and on the boys side of the dorms

- He can hear that you’ve been crying and are still trying not to when you apologize for waking him up so late but you didn’t know who else to go to and suddenly his entire body is burning with anger when you tell him that Shinsou broke up with you

- He can’t help but let out a broken laugh, Shinsou never deserved your heart in the first place. If he couldn’t see how dedicated you were to the people you loved, how you cared for your friends and put their needs above yours, how incredibly talented and hardworking and beautiful you were then he was the dumbest man alive

- You’re suddenly quiet and Kiri realizes that he’s said all of that outloud and the overwhelming urge to disappear consumes him. He was sure that you were going to get up and walk out and never speak to him again but you don’t

- Instead you ask if he means what he said so quietly he can barely hear it and despite how hot his cheeks are burning with embarrassment he tells you he does

- He stops you when you lean in to kiss him and his heart hurts when he can see the rejection and embarrassment paint your features but he tells you that it’s not because he doesn’t want to kiss you, because of course he wants to, but he doesn’t want to take advantage of your feelings when you’re going through an emotional time

- You two spend the summer hanging out- just as friends, he wants to give you time to get over Shinsou because the last thing he wants is to be your rebound

- But with every day that goes by he finds it harder not to kiss you, not to hold your hand, not to text you every second of the day, not to tell you that he loves you

- The realization that he loves you doesn’t scare him, but it is the first time he admits to himself and accepts it rather than trying to bury it and so after he walks you home and you turn to go into inside he grabs your wrist and pulls you in for a kiss

- It’s not the most coordinated kiss but it sets every nerve in his body on fire and you’re both clinging onto each other like it’s your only lifeline. You break apart with the biggest smiles on your face and in that moment Kiri knows he’s going to spend the rest of his life with you

‧͙⁺˚*·༓☾　　☽༓·*˚⁺‧͙

- Well i wasn’t planning to write all that so now let’s get into WHY he’s the best bf

He’s 100% devoted to you, literally you could be in a room full of fkn models and his eyes would be focused on you because he thinks you’re the most beautiful woman to walk the earth

Any other relationship you’ve had in the past does not even come close in comparison to how Kiri treats you

- He would give up his life to make sure you’re happy, seeing you upset breaks his heart because he cannot stand the sight of you crying. It literally tears a whole in his chest

- If it’s within his power to deal with, he will make sure that whoever hurts you does not make the same mistake again. Maybe its a little unethical to use his pro-hero status to strike fear into the heart of creeps who won’t leave you alone at work, or the girls who enjoy gossiping about your relationship behind your back but he does not give a single fuck

- Your happiness comes before his and if you aren’t happy, he’s not happy.

- If he hears people talking about your relationship and making it seem as though you’re only with him for the fame or money he’ll tear them down with the brightest smile on his face not missing a beat

- While he acts all big and scary fighting villains, when he comes home to you at the end of the day he is the most cuddly person you’ve ever known. It doesn’t matter how exhausted he is, he always grabs you in for a hug and doesn’t let you down until he’s satisfied.

- Kiri is really big on skin to skin contact, expect him to constantly be slipping his hands under your shirt and wrapping his arms around you at the most random times

- When you guys are getting ready to sleep he’ll pull you snug against his chest and bury his face in the nape of your neck,

Your scent helps him fall asleep, not in a creepy way but in a ‘you’re safe and here with me so i can close my eyes knowing that everything is okay’ kind of way.

‧͙⁺˚*·༓☾　　☽༓·*˚⁺‧͙

- In my humble opinion, once kiri catches feelings for you they’ll never fade

- Even if you fight, it only reminds him of everything you two have built together and that you’re worth fighting for

- You hear a lot of your friends complain about how their boyfriends never listen to them, or how they don’t know what they like, you watch them shamelessly flirt with other guys and wonder what it must be like to be in such an unsatisfying relationship

- Kiri knows you better than you know yourself, he’s so in tune with you and your body that you don’t even need to ask him to do anything, he just knows

- He remembers little dates that most boyfriends dont, your first kiss, your first date, the first time he said “i love you” outloud

- He also is the first one to say it and it happens when you’re just hanging out in his room

- He’s known that he’s been in love with you for months but didnt want to say it too soon and have you freak out but after nearly six months in it’s driving him crazy not being able to tell you he loves you

- When he does your eyes glisten with tears and he freaks out thinking that he’s said too soon until you’re crushing him in a hug and tell him that you love him too

- When you’ve had a bad day at work or life is just becoming too stressful for you to deal with he puts everything else on hold to comfort you

- Makes you your favourite meal for dinner, gets your favourite show ready to watch after your shower and massages your feet while you snack on some ice cream for dessert

- Ever since you’d started dating Kiri had a habit of “accidentally” forgetting his hoodies at your place, spraying them with a bit of extra cologne while you were in another room

- He loved it when you wore his clothes, it filled him with a feeling he couldn’t quite describe but it solidified in his mind that you were his

- After almost four years of dating he knows that he can’t spend another second without you being his, forever

- He stays up all night looking at engagement rings but none of them are good enough for you so he does a little more research and finds a place that makes custom rings and has the date the first time he kissed you engraved on the inside of the ring

- He 100% cries the second he sees you walk down the aisle, if he thought you were beautiful before, there’s nothing else that compares to you on your wedding day

-  Everything else drowns out around him and the other thing that matters is you, sliding your rings onto each other fingers and sharing your tearful vows and then you’re pronounced husband and wife and his entire being is elated

- He kisses you with a passion and fervour you’ve never felt before, like he’s pouring his soul into the kiss , every promise he’s ever made and will make and all the things he can’t find the right words to say are transmitted

[yandere-wishes]

🐚Smooth Criminal //Yandere! Gangster! Floyd Leech X Reader//🐚

My first Gangster AU! This is most likely going to end up being a series for each of the different boys! SO please tell me what you thought!

🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚

So, Annie are you ok, are you ok Annie?

the bar bristled with the loud shouts of its patrons. Each table housing at least a dozen members from the same group, all glaring at those from rival gangs. Guns sat, leaned against their master's legs, like school backs at a highschool cafeteria. maybe it was the dim, cheap lights, or the distracted rivalry stares. But by some freak miracle, no one noticed you enter the Jackson. This wasn't a place for a dame such as yourself, a pretty girl who lacked status, a weapon, and even a comrade to have their back. Just a doll-like face and a very obvious briefcase.

Even you were conscious of the fact that you stuck out like a rose in the middle of a field filled with weeds. At any moment one of these goons could turn around and grab you, slam your head on one of the wooden tables till your brains spilled out than claim the loot for themselves, no consciences faced.

Naturally, you wouldn't be here had it not been for your dear uncle Crowley, who had very recently gambled away the equivalent of a small fortune in the underground casino of the infamous Mostro Lounge. Well technically the cousin was only partly owned by the Octavinelle gang, most of the games and funds went to their brother gang of Ignihyde. But for some reason it had been one of the Octavinelle members to come after your uncle, breaking down the door to his house and threatening him with punches and verbal insults. Your "poor" uncle had promised to get him the money, it took about two loans on his house, a few hundred borrowed from his close friends and a lot of support from your own father until he was able to gather the needed amount. But that had left one tiny problem, your sweet uncle had been so shaken up from his last encounter that he had all but begged his only niece to deliver the money for him.

"It's very simple, sweetheart, you just go to the Jackson and give this briefcase to the man with teal hair and anisocoria eyes. I would never make you do something difficult dear, I'm too kind"

Yeah right "too kind"  was an exaggeration, heck nice wasn't any better. Your uncle was a useless old fool. Then again where you any better? You'd just marched into the most mobster ridden bar in all of this godforsaken city. With nothing more than a white circular dress and a briefcase with your uncle's initials engraved in it. You took a shaky breath before scanning the room, trying to find the man your uncle had described. Teal hair and anisocoria eyes, wearing the signature black and purple of the  Octavinelle gang.

A glance around confirmed that there where members from each of the Twisted Seven here. The twisted seven where the infamous gangs of New NightRaven City. Each gang was started sometime before even their current leaders where born. The original leaders had gone down as the pioneers of turning New NightRaven City into a gangsters paradise. Somehow the leadership roles had trickled down to the current seven, mostly through heritage. The history of the Twisted Seven was thought in schools all over the city more vigorously than actual world history. Up to this day, you weren't quite sure how or why the first world war had started but you could name every leader for each group in chronological order.

In the far back of the bustling room, you noticed an abnormality. One guy was sitting by himself at a four-person booth. A half-empty coke rocks glaring back at him. Your eyes widened, that was him! It had to be! Turquoise locks peaked out from under his black hat. For a split second his head turned, his eyes looking about unseeingly. That's when you noticed his eyes. One was vibrant gold, while the other borders on an olive-like green, both orbs, however, seemed to shine with a sort of mischievous glow.

Swallowing down a sense of foreboding deep in your soul, you gradually strolled over to the man. He didn't seem to notice you until you had rearranged into the seat before him. When his eyes met yours, his lips maneuvered into an open-mouth grin showing heaps of razor-sharp teeth. "OoO~ Who might you be little shrimp-chan?" His voice didn't seem able to hold a steady tone, vocals switching between high and low better every word, making the man appear all the more deranged. You sucked in a nervous breath. Under the table you squeezed your knees together, focusing on how the kneecaps pressured each other.

"Um..I'm (y/n), my uncle owed the Octavinelle some money and..."

"Oh so your here to pay off his debt?" He leaned in closer, tongue flickering out to run across his lips. His mismatched eyes scanned you up and down, lingering just a little too long on your chest. Quickly you made slung your arm over your over breasts, trying to muster up a glare to shoot at the audacious male. 

"N-not like that" You pulled up the briefcase, pummeling it down on the table with a noisy "thud".  "He has the money, he owned you. All ten thousand dollars." 

Around the two of you, people became to stare, all pulling out their cells, no undoubtedly to inform their superiors about the transaction going down in plain view. The gangster in front of you, slowly trailed his gaze around the room, shooting challenged to meet his eyes. "Are you sure you aren't the payment? You're pretty, could round up a bunch of customers for the Lounge~ Oh maybe we could even loan you out to customers that way it would only take seven months to repay your uncle's debt--"

It was pure impulse on your part, rage had taken over your body. Your hand moved on its own, stretching out for the halve empty coke glass, carrying your body with itself. Your fingers wrapped sufficiently tight around the cup. Tugging it towards yourself, before tilting it and spilling its liquid contents in the face of the man in front of you. It took a moment for the events to fully process in either of your heads. Angry breaths left your mouth before you stood up and marched over to the door. Shouting one last cruse at the mobster before slamming the door behind you.

Back at the booth, Floyd had finally realized what had happened. His shoulders began to vibrate uncontrollably. A sadistic bloodthirsty laugh falling from his lips. His eyes lifted to where you had been moments priory a sort of childlike greed shining inside his orbs. "Shrimp-chan~" he cooed to the empty space.

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Sam pulled the yellow tape over his head, contracting his back so he could duke under it. In front of the building, he noticed a man with a red trench coat surrounded by five other police officers. The man must have been in his late 40's maybe even mid 50's. Sam let out a haughty breathy laugh. This was his new partner? The younger man jogged up to the small group. "Detective Trein I presume?" Sam was met by a harsh glare from the older man. "you're the rookie?" disapproval clear in every word. Ouch.

"You bet I am sir," Sam made a gesture akin to tilting a top hat as he bowed slightly. "Sam, reporting for duty". "What no last name?" "No Sir, just my mother given name, a nice one too I might add." Sam kept his eyes lowered but he could practically feel the way his new partner rolled his grey eyes. "Fine than Sam, follow me I trust you shouldn't find this case too hard. It's a simple kidnapping case. Nothing too elaborate for your young mind." Man, this guy really was a prick.

For as far as Sam could see this really was just an everyday kidnapping. All signs pointed towards just that. "If you would direct your attention to the window." Sam jumped from his thoughts. He quickly jogged up to where Trein was standing by a broken window. "The invader came in from here, most likely he climbed up the fire escape. Where guessing he had a knife on him or some other sharp object." Sam smiled, how had the old man gotten all that from an open window?

The second you left the bar, you had run all the way back to your apartment. The second you had gotten home you locked the doors and made a quick call to your uncle. As usual, he was "busy" doing whatever it was he did. Leaving a fast paced voicemail explaining that you had given the mobster his money and that you were home now. Leaving out the section you had caused. It was over finally the whole nightmare was over. your eyes darted to the old clock on your wall 9:15 pm late enough for dinner. Making your way to the kitchen, you forgot to notice that you had in fact left the window closest to the fire escape wide open. 

"Bang!"

The noise reverberated across the cramped apartment. Causing you to jump out of your thoughts. Anxiously you snatched a kitchen blade as you gradually strolled again into the front room. Your brain continued replaying the occasions of that night. It must be the Octavinelle, they had sought you out! All things considered, you had embarrassed one of their members. When you finally made it to the living room, you were both surprised and relieved. There weren't a hundred armed goons flooding your apartment with guns ready to shoot you on sight. Instead, it had been the man from earlier, casually standing by the window, whistling some tune that was eerie familiar. 

It took a moment before the man noticed you. His whistling stopped and was instead replaced with a shark-like smile. "HI~ little shrimp! I forgot to introduce myself earlier~ Name's Floyd what's yours darling?" Nervously you stepped back, knife clenched tightly to your chest. 

"G-Get away from me!"

"How do you know the man was armed? Heck, how do you know he was a guy?" Sam asked. Trein let out an annoyed huff. "Seriously do you know nothing? Well, I guess you are rather new to this." The grey-haired man turned to his younger partner. Sam swear for a moment he caught a glimpse of what may have been considered a "father instinct" although never having had a father, he could have been completely wrong. "When you've been in this profession as long as I have, you pick up on. There are small differences that become obvious once you've cracked your first ten cases. Notice the blood on the carpet, and realize how 40 mm away there is a smaller bloodstain, only this one has been pressured into the carpet, due to its crescent-like scape we can confidently deduce that it was made by a heel. And look closely at the carpet starts, look at how they seem to be red from the roots and middle, not just the tips. All that point to our invader having stepped in the first blood pool than having made the second engraving with the heel of his shoe as he chased the victim." Sam's eyes widen, maybe the old man wasn't just a jerk, after all, maybe he knew a thing or two.

"Is that any way to treat a guest little shrimp?~" His eyes locked with yours, freezing you in your spot like a dear in headlights. Noticing your dumbfounded form he ran forward prying the knife from your weak grip. A scream filled the air, it took you a second to realize it had come from you. When your eyes went back to your offenders face you could see how his lips were pointed downwards a deathly glare coating his eyes. 

The next moment his fingers made contact with your cheek, you swore you could hear a crescendo, your body felt heavy your head started spinning, for some reason the ground was getting closer and closer until you felt your body crash into the carpet. Your left cheek stung, as well as feeling like it was on fire. as you laid on the floor you watched as something red slipped onto the carpet. Something thick and red. "Oh, shrimpy you look so pretty when you bleed." 

Trein made his way to the kitchen, flicking a switch the moment he passed the threshold. A single light overhead flickered to life. "Kinda cramped for a kitchen ain't it?" Sam asked as he peeked over Trein shoulder. The older man ignored his partner's comment, wordlessly he pointed to the table in at the far left-hand side. Sam's red eyes followed the man's finger, Dead center there was a large kitchen knife ended in the old-looking wooden table. "Usually women are more calculating when they performed a kidnapping. Men are the ones that go ramped like wild beasts." Sam nodded his head absentmindedly. The young investigator made a mental note to never be as obvious if he ever did decide to kidnap someone.

"Oh~ that's so pretty." You had only known "Floyd" for a little over an hour, that including your rather unpleasant meaning back at the Jackson. But already you could tell just how short the man's attention span was. Slowly you shimmed your body from the ground, the mobster didn't seem to have noticed. The second your legs passed the kitchen's threshold you flicked the light, engulfing the tiny cooking space in total darkness. You made a swift sprint for the table, crunching under it. Your breath refused to leave your mouth, heart pounded with such force you were certain it would break the bones of your rib cage. In the distance, his loud footsteps could be heard. Closer and closer and closer. You didn't dare open your eyes, but you kept your ears open, trying to pick up any lose noises he might make.

1 heartbeat 

2 heartbeats

3 heartbeats

Nothing. There was no more noise to be heard, slowly your eyes cracked open, a tiny fragile breath escaped your mouth, right before a sharp noise echoed above head. Floyd's twisted head came into view that damned smirk still on his lips. Another scream, this time you knew it was coming from you. The teal haired man reached to grab the collar of your shirt, pulling you forward. You kicked and thrashed about as the gangster such laughter. Really how sick was this man? Finally, with one last kick, you freed yourself, Floyd fell backward clutching his stomach mutter some profanity you'd never heard before. Quickly you made a dash for your room. Locking the door behind you.

"And this is the last destination of our tour," Trein said as he made a sweeping gesture with his hand. Sam was almost certain he heard a hint of humor in the old man's tone. "What happened here?" The rookie asked. "Why Sam! I thought you where a detective, can't you deduce this simple problem?" Definitely humor. Sam quickly scanned the room. 'Um, he dragged her into the room, locking the door behind them. Then broke the window preparing to escape. But then a third party broke the door down, trying to save the girl. Before the third party could intervene it's likely that the man pulled her through the window and killed her behind some ally." Trein only nodded, following along with the boy's story. "Well Sam you sure have an active imagination, but it's most likely that this is what happened..."

You could hear the pounding on your door, slowly you backed away heading for your nightstand, aimlessly you tried to locate your phone. Until you remembered that you had left it on the couch. "Dang it" Your eyes scanned the room nervously trying to find something helpful, anything!

BANG

pieces of wood flew around the room, you brought your hands up to shield your face, only to have them pulled downwards. Your eyes looked upwards, instantly locking with Floyd's "Found you~" he sang. In the midst of the chaos, Floyd smashed his lips yo yours, they were unpleasant, chapped, and salty. You tried pushing him away but to no avail.   Gradually he broke the kiss, pushing his forehead to yours. Before slinging you over his shoulder and ramming full force into the window in your room. Crashing the glass and escaping into the night with you. It was at that moment that you knew that this was your doom!

"That's the more likely explanation for what happened," Trein explained as he made is way back to the front door. "Well even if it isn't it's more then convincing for a field report and a good enough explanation to give the press". A confused look twisted over Sam's face "How do you know he didn't kill her?" The black-haired boy asked. Trein just laughed and waved a wrinkled hand dismissively. "Call it a hunch" He yelled behind his shoulder.

And what a hunch! Just as the old detective predicted you were very much alive. Just now awaking and opening your (e/c) eyes to gaze into the mismatched ones of Floyd Leech's.

You’ve been hit by a smooth criminal

[cloudaura93]

Fall for You Pt.2 - Cindy/Alice Fanfiction (FEAR STREET)

Synopsis: SPOILER WARNING. Please don’t read if you haven’t watched the whole series. The second part of this story. Picks up at the end of the first part and covers the ending of the 1978 massacre flashback. I have an idea for a smaller final story to wrap everything up. Cindy and Ziggy are trying to reunite Sarah Fier’s hand with her body to stop the curse meanwhile Alice is helping in her own way as best she can given the circumstances. AU with alternating POVs between Alice and Cindy. 

Alice’s POV:

I hear Cindy and Ziggy flee the cabin as I struggle to subdue Tommy, my former friend and current possessed killer. He throws me off, recovers, and lifts me up by my neck slowly squeezing my windpipe, and then decides to toss me through the front doors of the cabin instead of strangulation. I land hard with a thud on my back while also smacking my head on the ground.

“Ouch.” I say under my breath as I slowly sit up and start scrambling to my feet. I see Tommy slowly approaching with the axe in hand, and I realize I either need to run away or find a weapon. A weapon. Of course. I reach down and remove the knife from the sheath Cindy used as part of the splint to support my fucked up leg.

“Here goes nothing.” I whisper as I launch myself toward him. When I’m a couple feet away, I throw the knife toward his face where it hits its mark squarely in his left eye as I dodge to the right, narrowly avoiding the impact from the axe swing. It momentarily stuns him as I start hobbling away to hide. I hope I bought Cindy and Ziggy enough time. I hope they are still alive because I’ll be damned if I let some stupid ass curse ruin my life further especially after I just got my girl back. We deserve happiness too.

I expect Tommy to continue pursuing me, but instead I turn around and realize that he is heading in the opposite direction.

“Oh shit!” I exclaim as it hits me that I was only a distraction, and the main target is Ziggy who is at the Hanging Tree with her sister trying to reunite Sarah Fier’s hand to her body. I instantly swivel around and limp behind killer Tommy moving as fast as I can. I try to keep up to hopefully have a chance to warn the girls as they try to stop this carnage once and for all.

We are approaching our mutual destination a few minutes later, and I notice out of my peripheral vision that I’m too late to help. I watch my beautiful snitch getting brutalized by her ex-boyfriend’s axe at the same time Ziggy is being repeatedly stabbed by the Milkman. It’s like some horrible plaguing nightmare, all playing out in slow motion while I’m about thirty seconds away, but hopeless to do anything to help. 

“NOOOO!” I scream out in agony as I collapse to the ground on my knees ignoring the piercing pain in my leg.

As I’m crying for a few seconds, it suddenly goes quiet and I glance up to see all the Shadyside killers have disappeared. I instinctively crawl on my knees toward the girls’ bodies hoping to say goodbye. I’m almost to Cindy when I hear the rustling of footsteps next to me. 

“Alice?!” He says, and I recognize the voice. Nick Goode. Of course he’s here. Fucking Sunnyvale’s prodigal son. The savior. The knight in shining armor trying to rescue the poor surviving Shadyside campers.

“Save her Nick! Save Ziggy!” I shout through choked back sobs willing him to understand my meaning as I sadly reach my girlfriend, and grasp her hand letting the tears flow down my cheeks. I couldn’t save Cindy, but I can at least attempt to keep her sister alive.

“I will. I promise. And Alice? I’m sorry.” Before I can even react, I feel a stinging sensation in my back and as my vision fades to black, I realize that this is how I’m going to die. With a whimper, not a bang. Alone and betrayed by Nick fucking Goode. A literal backstabber. You unimaginable bastard. We were so close. Not that it matters anymore. No one will remember us, and our sacrifice. This will just be another unfortunate and bloody tale of the cursed town of Shadyside. The infamous Camp Nightwing massacre of 1978.

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Cindy’s POV:

As Ziggy and I are digging down to find Sarah Fier’s body, we stumble upon something hard that we hit with the shovels. 

“I found something!” Ziggy states excitedly. I hold my breath as I help her unearth whatever was buried underneath the tree. It’s a rock with an engraving on it.

“The witch forever lives.” I shakily gasp out.

“The witch forever lives.” My little sister repeats the statement before following up with “Cindy, what does it mean? Cindy?!” She asks worriedly.

“I don’t know.” I answer softly.

“What...where is she? Where’s the body?” 

“I don’t know.” I replied. We share a look first at each other and then at Tommy who is on our tails.

“This way. Come on.” I continue as I grab Ziggy’s arms and drag her up so we can attempt to run away. We turn around and realize that the other Shadyside killers are also here quickly approaching from every direction.

“What do you want, Sarah Fier? You want this?” As I hold up her hand. “You can have it. Just let my sister live. Just let my sister live!” I plead. I drop the hand next to the hole we dug in frustration and grab one of the shovels.

I realize sadly that there is no escape, at least not for me. But I can protect Ziggy as best I can and give her a fighting chance.

“You bled on the bone. They are after you. Get ready to run.” I tell her sadly. I’m so sorry Ziggy. I’m so sorry Alice. I wish we had more time to spend together, to make up for lost time. I tried my best but I failed both of you again. I love you so much. I’ll see you again.

“No Cindy no!” I hear her cry out at the realization of my decision. I hurriedly take hold of her arm again and we start sprinting together. At the last second however, I push her aside and swing the shovel at Tommy where I connect with his head but he immediately retaliates with a smack to my head with the axe’s blunt end. 

I fall down onto the ground hard helpless as I glance out of the corner of my eye to hear Ziggy screaming while being attacked by the Milkman at the same time the axe collides with my chest piercing my insides. Tommy strikes me repeatedly and as blood begins gurgling out of my mouth, I turn my head to face my baby sister who I notice is reaching out her hand toward me. I reciprocate the gesture and say one last thing to her knowing this is the end. 

“Nothing...will...pull...us...apart…” I gasp my final breath as the world goes dark and my eyes slowly close and I feel myself fading away. 

Some time later…

Cindy’s POV:

“Cindy. Wake up. You need to see this...to understand.” A disembodied voice whispers in my ear. I struggle to regain consciousness as I hear the faint sounds of terror around me.

“This is important. Please wake up.” The voice repeats itself. I stir and slowly attempt to stand as I’m feeling wobbly on my feet. Once my balance returns, I instantly realize that I feel different than I did when I was alive not too long ago.

“Where...where am I?” I ask the voice which has a feminine tone to it.

“Not quite sure. All I know is this is where the poor unfortunate souls who have attempted to thwart the Goode family’s treachery end up after they die. It’s sort of like limbo and you are a ghost observing the effects of the curse until one day it can finally end.”

I nod in understanding as I look around and realize that I’m standing at the edge of the clearing where the Hanging Tree is located.

“Sarah Fier.” I reply, finally figuring it out. 

“Yes. It’s me. I tried to warn you. I’ve always tried warning everyone who stumbles upon the curse. No one has ever figured it out completely. You were the closest, but alas you ran out of time just like the others.” She answers sadly.

“Will she live? Did I save my sister at least?” I inquire as I stare at Ziggy who is slowly dying.

“No. You did your best, but ultimately failed. Your girlfriend fared slightly better, but will still pay the ultimate price.” Sarah replies as she teleports us closer to the tree. I stare in shock as I notice my dear sweet Alice stumbling toward my body.

“Alice! No! I have to help her!” I cry out desperately wanting to save her from her fate as Nick Goode drives a knife deep into her back where she collapses onto my corpse, the light leaving her eyes as she bleeds out.

“She’s gone, but your sister will live. Nick Goode will see to it. Take solace that she survives. And your dear Alice will join us shortly so you will be reunited. You won’t share this existence alone..” Sarah nonchalantly explains. 

As if on command, I hear soft footsteps from behind and spin around to face my badass and brave girlfriend.

“Hey snitch.” She greets with a smirk. I race over and embrace her by wrapping my arms around her neck, tears misting at my eyes. She instinctively wraps her arms around my waist and pulls me closer. We hold each other for a couple minutes until I have to ask her a very important question.

“What took you so long?” I whisper in her ear echoing the last time I said that to her when we were still alive. She pulls back from the hug and grasps both my hands with her own.

“Three guesses. Besides, I couldn’t leave you to face this uncertain future alone. You are stuck with me now princess. For better or worse. Not letting you go this time” She beams.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” I smile and close the gap between us to gently kiss her on the lips. 

Despite recent events, I still have hope. Alice and I get to spend eternity together even though we are both dead, and Ziggy lives even with survivor’s guilt. It’s not a perfect happy ending, but I’ll take what I can get. It’s better than what most Shadysiders get to experience in their lives.

And since we have been given a second chance to fix our mistakes and help prevent the spilling of more innocent bloodshed, it means we have a chance to help the next generation. To help Sarah stop the Goode family from continuing to enact this curse over Shadyside. Alice and I just need to watch over Ziggy until she’s ready, and then bide our time until the opportunity presents itself to intervene. This time we will be ready, and revenge is a dish best served cold. We are coming for you Nick Goode, one way or another.

The End?

[alch3mic]

in between. (drabble series)

chapter three (words.)

prince!sans x gender neutral reader. 3k+ word count.

please be advised for themes of anxiety, panic attacks, self-doubt, some light cursing and sadness.

* the third chapter of the series, this time focusing on our dear underswap sans, prince! he has no official fic as of yet but has his own tag here on my tumblr that you can check out if you wish to learn more about him! thank you all very much and i hope you enjoy!

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words shall never hurt me.

....

Bullshit.

...Whoever came up with that stupid rhyme must've never heard a cruel word spoken to them in their life!

...

...Or maybe they were trying to sell themselves the world's biggest lie...

....Because... words.. hurt.

They snapped.

They stung.

They burned.

They engraved themselves upon his bones as permanent reminder of his worth.

"Coward."

"Freak!"

"Idiot."

"Weirdo."

They sloshed and swirled inside his skull, drowning him in the waves of their meaning,  pulling him down further and further with their weight like an anchor tied to his legs. They sang like a horrid symphony that refused to let him rest, violins screeching their painful notes while the drums bellowed out their laughter at him.

It was so loud.

So loud.

So.. damn.. loud...!

He..!

Couldn't think.

He couldn't breathe, he was...!

....

...Shaking.

He could hear his bones rattling as an accompaniment to the symphony of word in his head, his eyelights refusing to focus and the world practically became a blur around him. Every single thing was fading from his sight. The colors, the shapes, all of it falling away as the sounds sang louder and louder, drowning everything else out. The air felt putrid with every breath he tried to take in, making him want to gag on the horrid taste of it all.

"...ns.."

..Why..

Why did he think he could do this..!

After... what they said to him..!

After everything they.. they..!

..No...

No..!

He was..!

"......ans..!"

His teeth were chattering.

Clicking.

Tapping.

Adding to the unending concert of syllables as they picked up their pace and momentum. They were hitting their high point, the music of words becoming louder.. and faster and..!

His soul was pounding so painfully too, he feared it might just burst from his ribcage.

"sans!"

Panic.

He was panicking and.. and..!

He needed to..!

...

..Papyrus..

...

He could barely make out his brother's features anymore, his name becoming lost to the noises eating him alive.

What was he saying...?

'breathe.'

No.. he.. he couldn't..

He was choking.

Coughing.

Sputtering.

The air was refusing to enter his body anymore no matter how hard he tried.

The air was just too..!

He.. he couldn't..!

His magic was buzzing as it couldn't ventilate properly, straining and pulling against him, making his head spin further out of control.

He..

He couldn't do this.

He.. wasn't.. strong enough..

"You're.. not the person I once knew."

The words they were..

They were going to.. swallow him whole.

"Look at what you've become!"

"What's happened to you, Sans?"

He doesn't know.

He doesn't know!

He doesn't-!

"You're nothing but a shadow of yourself now."

No-! He's-!

He's still here!

He's still himself!

He's just-!

Just...!

"W-w-why di-did you... b-become l-like...this..?"

How the hell was he suppose to know!!

"...How.. disappointing.."

The words were..

Breaking him.

It hurt.

It hurt.

It hurt!

It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt!

"sans!"

No.. please..

..Not him too.

Please.. he..

Couldn't take it anymore.

It was too loud it..!

It hurt too much.. he... he had to get away!

He had to get away..!

From this!

From them!

From those people he thought were...!

Just... get away...!

GET AWAY FROM HIM!

GET AWAY!

GET AWAY!

GET AWAY!

.....

And so he ran.

....

Or... he tried, until his brother caught his arm.

"sans! wait, please-!"

But he snatched his arms back, not wanting to hear anything anymore.

He just couldn't...

..Take anymore words...

.....

So he fled...

Out of the room.

Down the hall.

And away from those people...

....

His shoes were stomping against the floor as the tears filled his eyesockets, making the once blurry world a complete mess of runny colors and odd shapes.

How stupid was he... to believe he was strong enough to face them.

After everything they went through.

After everything they said-!

..He was..

....

He was still a coward.

....

And so he fled, like cowards do, every bone in his body screaming at him to just keep going far, far away from the source of those painful word.

From the people who.. he thought he trusted, a long time ago.

Who he thought would understand, but in the end they...

....

..Mocked him..

"The sky?"

He still remembers the disbelief on their features.

"Wait.. seriously? That's why you've been hiding inside? You're scared of the sky?"

...Yes...

"Sans it can't hurt you. Everything fine."

...He.. knows that...

"Then why?"

He.. doesn't know....

"I can't believe this!"

He.. can't either..

..What was...

...What was wrong with him?

"You're nothing like the skeleton I knew before."

..No.. he' still..

...Here..

"What happened to him?"

He doesn't know..!

Stop.. talking to him like he's someone else..!

He's right here!

He's still right here!

Why are they...?

"What happened to the 'Wonderful' and 'Magnificent' Sans?"

HE DOESN'T KNOW!

.....

...He just... doesn't... know anymore.

....

..Just like now, he didn't know where he was running to.

He didn't have much of a destination in mind, just that he had to go.

He just wanted to get.. away..

"ˢᵃⁿˢ!"

Just get away...

Away from this.

From the pain.

From the looks on their damned faces as they spoke those hurtful words that tore his mind and soul apart piece by piece.

They treated him like he wasn't aware of what he's become!

As if he didn't wish with every damn fiber of magic in his body that he wasn't like this!

A coward!

A disappointment!

An idiot who's so afraid of the open world around him that he couldn't even step outside anymore!

He-!

He wanted to go back.

He wanted to go back...! He wanted to go back!

He wanted to go back to who he was, before all of this but..!

....

The person he once was... was gone...

..He vanished into thin air the moment he took one look up at that sky on that fateful day..

...And the terror he felt had almost swallowed him whole....

..Or maybe it did.. and all that was left was a husk of a skeleton who use to have more confidence than he knew what to do with.

Now the simplest of words could.. break him.

And that.. was the hardest thing of all to accept.

....That somewhere along the way he had..

...

...changed.

And so.. like a coward he ran, wanting to hide somewhere no one would find him so he could lay there for all of eternity without a single thought in his head until he dusted. He was tired of this. He was tired of feeling this way! He was tired of them and these walls and that damned sky that struck fear into his bones every time he looked at it.

Why..?

Why..!?

Why couldn't he be.. him?!

Where did he go?

When did he lose himself..?

Who...

..Who was he...?

The quiet hallways threatened to split his head open as his thoughts poured all over the place, causing his soul to spasm and spiral out of control while he desperately tried to breathe in, but the air still refused to enter his lungs.

He needed something..!

Something to replace the noise..!

All of his hiding spots were inside and if he stewed in his thoughts much longer he really was going to come undone!

He just needed.. something...

Anything..!

Make it stop.

Make it stop!

MAKE IT STOP!

Woosh.

....

He drew in a heavy breath, all at once the scent of rain hitting his nasal bone and the sounds of water hitting the roof, disrupting the symphony.

Softly.

Gently.

Then harder, tapping and thundering against the roof as it...

Washed away the words inside is head.

....

...But they were still singing.

Even the sounds weren't enough.. he...

Glanced further down the hall, to a set of doors that led...

..Outside...

...

...

He swallowed, desperately chasing the harmony that made all the words fade away and taking a few careful steps towards it...

"ˢᵃⁿˢ!"

.....

Before running off.

....

..Right through the doors, throwing them open with what strength he had left and letting them close behind him as he bolted out into the rain.

It splattered and splashed against the tile, filling his head with nothing but their sounds as the droplets tapped against his empty skull. That tight burst of energy was fading from his chest, gradually falling further and further away as the fatigue set into his bones and he slowed down.

He finally come to a stop in the middle of the garden.

Gasping and heaving, he finally managed to take in some  fresh air that filled his body with its cold embrace and overwhelmed his humming soul with relief. The rattling of his bones ceased... and soon he gained control over his breaths, willing his legs to take just a few more tiny strides further out to where no one could find him.

Out, past the normal confines of the garden and into some rose bushes...

...

He was.. exhausted..

Glancing around, the normally pink flowers scattered along the bushes were diluted by the cloudy skies above and harsh rain that thundered all around them. His shirt now stuck to his bones, sending a chill down his spine and making him feel heavy but.. he didn't care.

The symphony had silenced.. leaving him..

..Empty...

...and alone.

....

..Eventually it was all to much as his legs gave out, sitting down to the muddy ground and placing his skull on his knees as the world continued to rain down on him.

And it poured.

And it poured.

And it poured.

All alone in the garden, without a single thought in his head, Sans suffered.

The pain of it all marched on in his bones, gripping and grinding, threatening to break him apart bit by bit.

It hurt so badly and yet..

Yet there were no sticks, and no stones.

Just words.. and the marks they had left on his soul.

And it hurt.

And it hurt.

And it hurt.

And he was sure he would finally just break...

And his soul would finally give in..

And he'd come undone at the seams.

And...

It.. stopped.....?

He could still hear the sounds of the rain all around him, crashing and thundering upon the bushes and muddy grass, but it stopped tapping against his skull and instead began hitting something... else.

An umbrella..?

Sans picked his head slowly, still having so little energy after his fit of panic and looked up.

You smiled at him sweetly as you stood beside him, holding up an umbrella above as the world continuing its downpour.

..Ah...

...You..

....sat down.. right beside him in the mud, sheltering the both of you under the clear plastic umbrella as you glancing up at the clouded sky with a small look of peace on your features.

..Not a single word uttered from your lips.

..Instead you sat by him..

And even in the dull and grey world around you both..

He swore he could see your eyes shine.

He.. didn't know what to say.

The words just didn't come.

Normally his whole head would be buzzing of things to blurt when you were around, but they were all washed away with the rain.

...

..But maybe he didn't need to say.. anything.

At least not right now..

So slowly he let go of the tension in his chest, relaxing his shoulders and taking a few deep breaths as his eyelights also hesitantly traveled to the sky above. That once endless blue abyss was now covered under a patchwork of gray clouds making that ceaseless void just.. disappear.

In a way he almost felt like he was back underneath the mountain again and.. a strange form of peace also found its way to his soul.

...As did the tears.

Quietly they gathered, because even when the words weren't present in his mind.. his body still ached from the pain that they had caused. Somehow it even felt worse than any sticks, stones or even broken bones. Nobody could believe how much he was hurting because there were no physical wounds, just the throb left in his soul from their brutality. They ached in a way that couldn't be healed by magic... in a way that couldn't be explained or cured..

It's clear that they had.. no idea what they were doing to him anymore.

How badly their words had hurt him, because he tried to hide it all under fake smiles.

He wasn't.. unbreakable anymore.

Somewhere along the way.. he had become so fragile...

And yet they still stacked all of their expectations on top of him.

...Then they mocked him when he just couldn't keep up...

....

He..

...blinked once, catching something on his peripheral vision and glancing towards you again.

Carefully you held out a handkerchief to him.

....That was..

The same one he gave you... those few months ago, when those delicate tears had been falling from your eyes.

....

"...I..." he began softly, tearing away his gaze for a moment as a wave of embarrassment washed over him at his current state.

He was a complete mess with his shirt coming undone, soaked to the bone and his eyesockets brimming with tears.

"..THANK YOU.."

All this time he had built himself up to you as a perfect prince.

He was so desperate for you to.. see him as that....

Kind, strong, charming.. and most of all brave.

..And.. now he's tarnished all that hard work by running and crying in the rose bushes like a coward. Still, he tried to gather what remained of that broken image and took the handkerchief from your hands, wiping away his eyesockets.

Heh...

He really was pathetic wasn't he..?

And.. a liar.

....And you..

Must surely hate him now.

"...FORGIVE ME, MY DEAR.. I JUST.."

The words left again as the rain stole them all away with their pitter and pattering...

"It's okay," you said softly gifting him that gentle smile of yours again. "There's no need to apologize or explain yourself to me."

..Why..?

Everyone else practically demanded an explanation out of him.

Why was he like this?

Why did he lock himself up inside?

...Surely you wanted to know too right?

So, why were you..?

You didn't say anything else..

And neither did he.

So the two of you sat quietly in the middle of the rose bushes as the world poured out it's tears all around you for what felt like a small eternity.

Until he stood up suddenly and pocketed that handkerchief.

"..Sans..?"

He smiled at you rather sadly, but offered his hand. You clearly look up at him a little confused and a bit worried, but didn't hesitate to take it as he helped you stand up as well. The both of you were coated in mud now and the refreshing rain began tapping on his skull once again.

"..Did you want to go back..?"

"...NO," he said softly, taking a moment to admire then gentleness in your expression. "BUT STRANGELY I DON'T FEEL MUCH LIKE SITTING IN THE MUD AND CRYING ANYMORE EITHER.. SO.."

The words threatened to leave again, but he shook his head and steeled his resolve.

"WOULD YOU DANCE WITH ME?"

..He couldn't help but love that surprised look on your face...

..But he loved it even more when you smiled at him, and without a single moment hesitation you threw the umbrella to the ground and let the rain begin to douse you too. He lightly took your hand in his, placing the other on the wonderful curve of your hip as you put your free hand on his shoulder. The two of you fell into an easy and comfortable rhythm, the same one the two of you always fell into when you danced, with nothing but the downpour to accompany you as you swayed.

Just like with the rain, you always brought such an easiness to his soul.

You were always so refreshing and calm, and with you it always seemed like his troubles were so far away. A part of him really believed he could just be himself around you..

..Perhaps that's why he's always so desperate to hide it all behind charming smiles and lavish words..

He didn't want to.. scare you away.

He didn't want you to look at him in that way everyone else did.

He wanted to keep you right here, with the rain dousing you both as your clothes stuck to your form, with wet hair and a sweet and gentle smile that was reserved just for him.

....

..He..

He wanted this to be the fairytale he always read about as a babybones...

With a truly happy ending...

And he really thought he had it now that he had you with him here...

No longer a friend just visiting, but... you now called his place your home.

And you gave him your love.

....

..But.. life keeps going.

And the past.. comes back to haunt you in the shapes of people who you once thought of as friends.

.....

....Would you..

...Become the same way.. one day..?

.....Was this happily ever after.. only temporary..?

He.. didn't want to let go..

He wanted to stay here, under the rain and lost in this fantasy...

..but he did, staring at the wonderful expression on your face as you took the hand from his shoulder and lightly placed it on his cheek. It was a touch so gentle and full of love, he couldn't help but lean in to it and let out a small breath.

"CAN YOU PROMISE ME SOMETHING, MY DEAR..?"

"..What is it..?"

He hesitated for a moment, watching as the droplets of rain gently glided down your face, dousing your hair and your clothes.

"...WOULD YOU..?"

..Again the words fell away.

He took in a struggling breath, trying to push them out but his fears kept them wound tightly inside his chest. He never wanted to be without you again. He never wanted to think of a day where he would wake up and you wouldn't be by his side. He couldn't stand the thought of you becoming... like them..

You were.. so good.. and.. he was...

"Sans."

...

..He never wanted a day again where you wouldn't say his name so tenderly...

....

You took your other hand from his and also placed it on his face.

"I promise, I'm not going anywhere."

....

"I'll always be right here for you."

.....

"Because there's no one else in the world I love quite as much as the skeleton here before me right now."

....

You loved.. him..

Not the person he was before.

...But him.. as he was now..

....

..And that's exactly why he could never let you go...

So instead he pulled you close, burying himself in the comfort of the crook of your neck and letting those quiet words of love soak into his bones..

Softly.

Gently.

Then harder, tapping and thundering against his soul as it...

Washed away the words inside is head.

...

..Only leaving him with thoughts of you.

...

And...

How he will do anything to desperately hold on to this.. 

...happily ever after...

[bumbershots]

A CERTAIN ROMANCE

CHAPTER THREE: WHO ARE YOU?

Author’s note: Hello! Once more I would like to thank you all for the love this story’s been getting, it truly blows my mind. I am also looking for a beta reader so if anyone out there is interested let me know! (: Let’s pick up right where we left off...

Story masterlist ** Word count: 2.3K **

Two souls don't find each other by simple accident, Harry thought after taking a seat for the first time that night, his feet were probably going to be swollen tomorrow, they were killing him already. But he wasn't keen on turning down a dance from the girl collapsing in the settee right next to him. A slow Amy Winehouse song was their cue to rest.

"Do you want a beer?" Her voice sounded a bit hoarse, probably from all the giggling and singing she did while dancing the night away.

"Yes please."

He watched her trot to the small bar on the other side of the flat, focused on how the multiple bracelets bounced in her left wrist as she instructed her brother which beer to give her. As she came back to take her previous seat, he felt a small wave of anxiety for wanting nothing more than to start a conversation with her, as she handed him the beer. Usually it was the other way around, but in most of the cases, people wanted to know his persona.

He knew the silence was becoming awkward, but he was still debating whether to ask about her upbringing or what she did for work, whatever the case was, he didn't want to make a fool out of himself, he almost never seemed to be that lucky.

"You're not used to people being calm around you, are you?" Alma’s frown os curiosity is a mirror to the one on the musician's face.

"Yes and no?" Harry's coy tone makes her smile warmly and shake her head in denial, "so, I'm Hampstead station guy?" Her eyes widen, a shy smile appears on her full lips before she takes another large sip of her drink.

"It's unlikely to find the same person thrice in the tube! I told my friend Laura, it felt like a glitch in the matrix." She answers and he lets out an amused laugh.

"For the record, I wasn't following you, at all..."

"I know, you just had to take the same line I did and it was a happy coincidence," she interrupts him, the new song gathers a few more dancers and Harry wonders if she will ask him to dance again, "although it would've made a great anecdote for my YouTube channel; story time, a famous musician follows me around the city possibly plotting my painful death." She joked as she gingerly flashed her hands before the two of them, as if presenting the latest play from the West End.

It was Harry's eyes turn to be wide and smack his hand into his forehead.

"You have a YouTube channel?" His interest was genuine and Alma made herself more comfortable on the sofa, before proceeding to fill him in about what that was about, just videos about her 'sort of interviewing remarkable people' or so she claimed.

It was something that started as a class project back when she was seventeen, trying to get good grades to win a scholarship and study abroad —none of those things happened. She kept doing it afterwards because it was too much fun, once she interviewed all her friends, she moved onto her family. "Believe me when I tell you, that I have more relatives than I should!" With a smile as big as hers, he sighed before breathing 'lucky' as his heart sped and she continued.

Restaurant owners, chefs, firefighters, barristers, doctors, accountants, waitresses, sexual workers, sex shop employees, bankers, homeless people, hairdressers and apparently every person from her home country had been on the informal interview series. Harry was impressed with the whole concept and her.

"I sort of abandoned it a little when I moved here last year, it was crazy busy the first couple of months and the whole bureaucracy... and I was a little homesick to be honest." For the first time in the night, her voice is thinner, he has to lean in a few inches to hear better, "I miss my parents, my cousins, my aunt, my grandparents. But this is something I've wanted for the longest time you know?" Her eyes bore into his, allowing him to see the vulnerability swimming in them, "I've never felt like an outsider here, never got lost in the tube, took the wrong bus or anything like that. Isn't it weird?" Harry smiled at the sentiment, thoughts of his latest trip to Japan flashing before him.

"No, I think it's marvellous that you feel that way." He cannot be real, is the only thing running through her mind like a restless hamster in its wheel.

Harry and Alma talked about everything they didn’t have in common, despite the brief interruptions to do some shots and drink champagne with the birthday boy. Their families were discussed, their favourite things to do in the summer. Alma even asked him how was work going, as if she didn’t know that he was one of th world’s most successful artists. Harry was thrilled to joke through their drinks and the girl wasn't shy to ask him for a couple more dances. None of them noticed the partying dying around them, it was only after Fernando said his goodbyes to his laughing sister, that they noticed how late/early it actually was.

Before they knew it, golden hues streamed through the window behind them as Freddie walked out of his room and offered them coffee.

"I'm never drinking straight vodka again," Freddie mumbled to himself after finishing his cup of coffee.

"At least it wasn't Vodquila like last time," Alma's words make him groan but agree. "I should go now, need a shower and a healthy breakfast."

After Harry also admitted he needed to be on his way, with all their belongings gathered and after saying goodbye to a very ill Freddie, neither Harry or Alma looked forward to their imminent separation. He had spent hours hearing how busy she is, when not recording content, she was working at Wenzel's and teaching Spanish to her neighbour's daughter on the weekends. Still, he was determined to meet with her again.

As soon as they started moving down the street, Harry noticed the next one was where he had to turn right in order to go home. It wasn't a short walk but the most effective route for sure.

"So, the bus stop is that way," Alma nodded her head to the left, smirking knowingly as she stuffs her hands in her coat pockets.

"Of course," they had come to a rolling stop at the corner. Harry suddenly felt beyond nervous about asking the girl for her phone number. "Thank you, for keeping me company last night." It was amazing he wanted to add, but licked his lips quickly instead.

"You mean keeping you from catching up with all your friends," she corrected him.

Harry shakes his head and smiles, the dimples graciously adorning his cheeks, his racing heart giving him the last push needed to finally ask. "Do you think we could go, like for coffee... sometime?” With that she laughed, immediately memorising the sound of it, her loud cackle is one of the nicest things he has heard in awhile.

"Only if I can buy you something from the selection of pastries." Harry laughed loudly, completely relieved by her answer. She dug around her purse for a moment before taking out a pen and what seemed to be an old receipt, quickly scribbling down her number and handing it to him.

"I'll call you," he beamed, carefully placing the piece of paper in his wallet. He'd be an idiot to lose such a precious fragment of information.

"Looking forward to it," Alma smiled at him for one last time before she started walking to the opposite direction. "See you around Harry." His face was a bit puffy from not having slept properly, but she would be lying to say he didn’t look adorable at the same time.

He waved and watched her walked away, her sweet and tired morning smile seemed to be engraved into the musician's mind as he headed home.

The air was still a bit cold, but the heat was starting to rise and plague London for the rest of the day, the hot summer everyone's been yearning for was finally here, even Harry could feel it in his bones as he continued down his path. He was still highly enamoured by the amazing night he spent sharing a piece of himself with Alma. His feet felt heavy, were even burning a little, but it was nothing as he made his way through his home gate twenty minutes later.

He decided to get some toast and a cuppa for breakfast, his high spirits not faltering even one bit although he could feel the consequences from the all-nighter already with each yawn. After eating he decided to take a shower that got him ready for a well deserved sleep in his comfortable bed.

Waking up around six o'clock startles him at first, Harry is well rested now but a bit grumpy for the weird taste on his tongue, something usual after drinking beer. He scolds himself for not brushing his teeth earlier as he walks in his bathroom. The cool tiles against his bare feet wake him up a bit more. After some needed dental hygiene, Harry gets dressed to go out and pick up his sister for their weekly dinner. Hopefully he can convince her to stay in, that way he can go on and on about the events from the night before.

His feet still hurt, he can even feel a blister underneath his big toe. But it doesn't bother him, it's actually a nice reminder of the incredible things that miraculously happened. Harry knew that since Alma was related to Fernando, someone that was bound to be in his life for the next six months or so, there was a big chance they would've met at some point. But he'd rather think it was fate, some sort of good karma coming round, he stared at her contact on his phone, still charmed by the fact that she gave it to him on the back of a receipt. Ignoring that she only did it that way, because the thought of asking for his mobile to enter it herself, was a very bold move. And Alma wasn’t really that confident, not when his green eyes were boring into hers anyway.

"When are you gonna call her then?" Gemma's voice snaps him out of his daydream for the third time during their quiet dinner in her flat. "What is it? You've got that look."

"What look?" He asks before his sister frowns and pinches her bottom lip with her thumb and index finger. It's his nervous quirk, he sighs, "I don't know, I'm just so nervous." Without a valid reason, he knows the girl is so lovely, maybe that's why.

"You're afraid of fucking it up," she knows, Harry nods. "Well, you could tell her that, perhaps on a text—

"—I want to call her, texting her will make me feel a wanker." Gemma smiles at her little brother, he looked uncharacteristically unsure of himself but nonetheless excited. It was endearing how the first thing he told her after crossing her home's threshold was 'my life is officially a chick flick!' Before proceeding to explain with detail about the whole situation.

"What about a text that reads: hello, this is Harry please save my number so when I find the guts to call you, you don't think it's a telemarketing scam," Gemma might be joking and mocking him all at once, but has a point. A text so she also has his number, makes the situation more even, she can call him too. "Assuming she gave you a real phone number."

"What?" Harry is mortified.

"I'm kidding, you should've seen your face," his sister wanted to drag a bit more her joke, but the preoccupied look on his face stopped her. Gemma couldn't wait to tell their mum, knowing that she would be just as absorbed. "There's nothing wrong with showing interest right away. If you want this to be honest and genuine, set an example." She finished before taking the last bite of pizza.

Harry knew that to be true, but now he was left wondering if it was the right time for him. Had he really left behind all the ghosts and baggage from his past? Or was he still carrying them in the new tattoos of his knees?

Despite his sister's encouraging words about how nothing could go wrong this early with Alma, he couldn't help but wonder if his still grieving heart was ready.

He takes his time walking back home, not caring if it was a really long one, he was aware of the curious eyes once he reached the Southbank but paid no attention to them. He welcomed the chill breeze, hoping for it to cool his boiling mind. Remembering the last time he walked along the river arms around his former flame, her laughter still ringing in his ears, her tender kisses in his knuckles, her delicious scent flying away with the airstream into London's sunshine.

Missing someone is not wrong, Harry reminds himself.

There's no point going down the rabbit hole of what ifs about their relationship. Harry can admit his mistakes, no matter how hard it comes to him, he can also apologise wholeheartedly. He did all those things already, months ago. Which is why he was able to keep her as a friend, not a close one, more like an acquaintance. And she's happy, he can see that, knows it.

Why does he feel like he's still drowning? He's already been pulled from the vast ocean of hers. Harry groans, struggles to open his gate, his good spirits from this morning nowhere to be found.

He doesn't know if it's the memory of her, the fear of loneliness, coincidence and laziness, or a bad habit? But he doesn't text the girl with warm brown eyes, instead he plays the voicemail that sometimes haunts his nightmares, on repeat, for the rest of the night.

///

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///

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Next chapter

[swiftlymoniquesblog]

Sam Girl- Sam Winchester x Reader

Pairings: Sam x Reader, Dean, Castiel

Warnings: FLUFFY FLUFF, mentions of the last half of the final season of SPN and the emotional rollercoaster we’re all currently on (I know, I’m sorry!) lying, secrets, insecurities.

Word Count: 2,407

A/N: This imagine kind of plays off my series Crossing Parallel Lines but it’s totally separate! I came up with this imagine from this locket that I bought from Hot Topic. The Winchesters are always so uncomfortable with the idea of “the other world with the actors who play them on TV” and I love Changing Channels; one of my top favorite Supernatural episodes!

*Italics are flashbacks*

 “What?! No! What?! Oh, my Chuck, what the actual hell!” You yell at your phone and throw it across the room.

You huff in annoyance but you feel your heartbreak; you just watched the trailer for the last half of the final season of Supernatural.

“Y/N? Are you okay, I heard you yelling? What happened?” Sam asks, slowly stalking into your slightly ajar door. He knew you could get pretty expressive about your interests and sometimes, the best thing to do is to give you space.

You had been living at the Bunker for a few years since you had connections to the Winchester family. Not that you ever asked for it, but you grew up in the life as well, thanks to your Dad, who ended up getting killed during a hunt when you were sixteen. You had run on your own, doing your hunts, until you got in over your head, and ended up in front of the Bunker, needing the help of the Winchesters to defeat God. Yeah, he was after you too. Your family had more to do with him and had pissed him off, more times than not. It was your Dad who had discovered the lies Chuck had instilled into almost every hunter since the dawn of time, and that wasn’t okay. So, you had to pick up essentially where he left off.

You let out a heavy sigh, running your hands over your face. “Yeah, Sam, I’m okay. I just uh, watched something pretty, well I don’t know how I feel,” you look to him.

“What did you see?” He asks, coming to sit next to you on your bed, after getting the okay from you.

“Um, some animal got hurt and no one could save it,” you say as nonchalantly as possible, hoping Sam would still buy it.

“Oh no, yeah that would upset me too. I’m sorry you saw that baby; are you good now?” He asks as he wraps you up in his arm, pulling you into his side, and kissing your head. You hold onto the opposite side of him, nuzzling your head into his side and showing him the same affection as he was showing you, but also feeling guilty about your lie.

“Yeah, I am. I’m good now, thanks,” you kiss him quickly before you left the room. You hated lying to him but he could never know that side of you. He would dismiss you for sure.

Sam and you had been dating for roughly six months after he heard your discussion with Dean about a current crush you had. Names were never given but it wasn’t hard to figure out who you were referring to. The idea of being close to someone on that level of intimacy again scared him. He knew what the inevitable was for someone like him and it was unfair to the other and it hurt him with a pain he never felt with anything else. When he took interest in a woman, she becomes the center of his world the longer he is with her. Most of the time, however, they never stay too long. It could be a day or a night, or a few days if he was lucky, but the last long-term relationship he had, crushed his soul. Time went by and healed those wounds, but he couldn’t let anyone get too close, no matter how much he wanted to be invested. But when you came into his life, something shifted. He immediately took a liking to you but he wasn’t sure how far he could go. As time went on, and he knew you were sticking around, he allowed himself to go there. He allowed those feelings he knew too well, to flourish within his heart, and it was strange to him, but he liked it. When he found out the feelings were mutual, it did something in him he wasn’t used to; it made him happy. Sure, he’s been happy before, but he had a lot riding on a possibility and if he played his cards right, it could be extraordinary. And it has been. It all started slow, a snail’s pace really, but you couldn’t blame him. If you had been hurt and uncertain as often as he was, you would take everything slow too. That’s why lying to him now, was killing you on the inside. He didn’t deserve it but you knew what kind of man he was and you knew how he felt about certain things.

The library was quiet, so you could be alone with the screaming in your head. You fought with yourself constantly whether, to be honest, or not. Your biggest secret was a huge part of who you were. Adoration for the TV show, Supernatural, was an understatement; you LOVED it! But, hearing the stories from Sam and Dean about when they were stuck in another universe where there were people who act like them, you knew it was unmentionable. Social media was your avenue to let out all your thoughts and ideas with people who shared the same love. No one knew that you lived with the Winchesters, or that they were even real, but that made it more alluring to you. Sitting at the table with your laptop open, you scroll through different comments left by other fans of the show. They were seeing what you were living and that was the most rewarding secret you kept. Pulling the new locket out of your shirt, the words Sam Girl, engraved on the top. Opening it, the anti-possession symbol sat on one side, and a picture of Sam on the other. You run your thumb over the picture, knowing that he was yours, but kept it hidden from him. You owned a plethora of shirts, hats, jewelry, notebooks, and so many other merchandises, that you were quite proud of. You even had a successful blog that was dedicated to the show and the characters, and your imagination with fanfiction. All things you knew Sam would disapprove of. You began writing out your reactions to different videos or events that happened in, not just the Supernatural world, but other fandoms as well.

“Hey, there’s my girl. I was wondering what happened to you,” says Sam. He smiles his small, one-sided grin at you, and sits in a chair to your left.

“Hi, sorry, I got busy writing and I guess I lost track of time,” you admit, closing out your Internet tab and leaving your screen on the cute photo of you and him on your wallpaper.

“You always do,” he chuckles and takes one of your hands. Sam knew about your love of writing and only a few of the topics you wrote about. You laugh along with him, blushing at the fact he knew you so well.

“The life of a writer, baby!” You say, confident in your work, but seeing the look on Sam’s face, quickly changed the mood.

“Where did that come from?” He asks, looking at the chain that hung from your neck. Looking down, you noticed the locket had made its way out of your shirt.

“Oh, that’s nothing!” Grabbing at it and tucking it back in your shirt, you try to advert Sam’s curiosity but that fails.

“Oh, come on, Y/N, let me see it. It looked beautiful.” He comments but you deny him.

“Sorry, but it’s fallen into my bra now,” you say, hoping that would end the conversation but the Winchester Brothers were both very stubborn.

“Don’t think I’m afraid to go in there.” Slight darkness fogged over the normal brightness of his eyes, but it left just as fast as it showed.

“Honestly Sam, it’s nothing. Trust me, you don’t want to know what it is.”

“Trust me y/n, I do want to know. My girlfriend suddenly has a locket I’ve never seen before and won’t show me? I have to wonder if her other boyfriend gave it to her.

You deadpan to him, giving your best bitch face, and he just laughs.

“I’m kidding, but seriously, I want to see it.”

“You didn’t move at first, so he stood up and leaned over to reach in your shirt, but you backed away before he could get there.

“Fine,” you grumble, unclasping the necklace from the back and hand it over.

He seems satisfied that he won this battle, flipping the locket around in his larger than average hands. His eyebrows knitted together, in the cutest look of wonder, like he was a child with a new toy. He opened it, stared down at it for a minute, then handed it back to you.

“You have a locket with a picture of me, which I guess is normal in relationships, but why does it say Sam Girl on the top?” He looked at you quizzically, wanting to know more.

This was it, the time you were dreading the most, but you couldn’t do it anymore; you couldn’t keep lying to him. You prepared yourself for a long discussion and a lot of disgust from him, so you sat back in your chair.

“Sam, I haven’t been completely honest with you.”

“Oh, okay,” he sits back in his seat, eyes glossed with worry and locked on you.

“I’m a Sam girl. I watch that TV show about you and Dean and your lives; I’m a big fan of it. We have, the fans, what are called someone’s girl. Like me, I’m a Sam girl, so I tell other people how I feel about you , what you say and do, and I talk about my romantic feelings towards you. Well, you on this show; it’s a little different.”

Sam had kept quiet the whole time you explained your secret and he held no emotions. You didn’t know what was going through his head, but it couldn’t be good.

“You like that show about our lives from that other universe?” He asks, suddenly breaking the silence.

“Yes,” you answer, hoping he wouldn’t explode at any given point.

“And you didn’t want to tell me about it?” He then looks to you with his infamous puppy dog eyes, wondering why you kept something like this from him.

Taken aback by his calmness, you continue to explain. “Well, I heard the stories of when you went to that other world and how much it freaked you and Dean out, so I thought you would disown me or something if I was into it.”

“Why would I do that?” Sam asks, sadness now forming across his features.

“Because I like something you make fun of! I thought you would make fun of me for what I do. I’m in the whole fandom, Sam! The show, the merchandise, the fanfiction, the blogs; everything!”

That sparked his interest again. “You write fanfiction?” His tone got more questioningly, but you took it as he was going to lay on the mockery.

“Yes, but I swear it’s nothing like some of the stories people write about! It’s actually all clean and sweet. I write about our dates and my feelings, but play it off as fiction.”

Then, his face melted into a smile (GIF), that childlike wonder again. “You write about us?”

“Yeah, I do. And people like it.”

“They do?” He’s surprised now, telling by how high his eyebrows are raised on his face.

“Everyone thinks you’re romantic and that you’re the best boyfriend, but the best part about it, it’s all true,” you smile, but hide it from wandering eyes.

“That’s… sweet,” he comments, stunning you.

“Really?”

“Yeah, I love that you write about us. I think it’s great that you are proud of our relationship and it makes me proud of it too, especially considering other people think I’m pretty great.” He has a little smirk playing on his lips; he��s going to brag about this to Dean later.

“So, you’re okay with all this?” You start to creep a little further into his level of positivity from this topic.

“Surprisingly I am, and I love that you’re showing off that you’re mine,” he pecks your lips before asking another question.

“Wait, are there more of these lockets?”

“Yes, and there’s some that say Dean girl. The same concept,” you comment like it’s nothing but it’s a big deal to Sam.

“There are Dean girls, too?!”

“And there are Castiel girls too, and even some of the other people you guys have met in life, but mainly you three.”

“Oh my God, wait until Dean and Cas hear about this!” Sam was set on telling his brother and his friend; the worst thing you could think of.

“No, please don’t!” Panic set inside you. Telling Sam was one thing but Dean was another.

“Why not?”

“Because Dean won’t be so nice about this. He will mock and ridicule me so much for this. He’s way more opinionated and harsher than you are.”

He thought about it for a minute but knew you were right. Sometimes, his older brother would take things too far, to the point of hurting those he cared about, and Sam couldn’t let that happen to you.

“You’re right, he definitely will freak out over this. He’s way more headstrong about what he doesn’t like. Alright, I won’t tell him and Cas? Well, he’s gotten a lot better with human interactions but, we wouldn’t want to throw him for a loop again,” Sam laughed at confusing the angel with more human things, like when he first came to earth.

“Thank you, Sam,” You say, going to hug him.

“Of course, no one is going to hurt my girl, not even me. But uh, y/n, we need to get you another locket,” he says taking the locket in his fingers again.

“Why? I like it and I paid good money for it,” you take it back and drop it in your shirt.

“Well, there are more of these lockets out there so that means other girls are walking around with a picture of me around their necks. It’s not okay that yours is like everyone else’s, so I’m going to make a special one that I will have engraved with a message from me that’s just to you; my girl,” he whispers the last part right in your ear, electrifying chills through you.

“O-okay.” You stutter out as Sam goes fishing for your locket from the bottom up.

Second A/N: When I was looking for that GIF of Sam, ‘Sexy Back’ started playing; it was perfect!

Tag list: @fandom-princess-forevermore​  @tloveswriting​ @forever-trapped-in-my-dreams​ @simpleb00x​ @67-chevy-baby​ @grace15ella​ @marvelfansworld​ @austin-winchester67​ @pecu-1-iar-lester​ @irn-dad​ @trippin-over-my-fandoms​ @randomwriter23​ @cuddyclothes​ @meilynnotmailyn​ @lilulo-12​ @lillysilverus​ @mereka18​ @jackofalltrades1937​  @samfcknwin​ @thegirlwidabook​ @cutesymrsinuyashagamer​ @emowolf227​ @littlesunshinesammy​

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