#i read this book in a couple of hours ouch

[flowerxbunnie]

can you pls pls write about shy reader she and chris are a recent couple and one day he founds out that she likes dirty talk and tries that with her

Dirty Secret

Chris x Fem reader

Warnings: SMUTTYYY smut, lots of dirty talk, degradation/praise

DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE NOT OKAY WITH SMUT OR ARE A MINOR!

Tags: @lustfulslxt

Chris’s POV

I can’t wipe the dumb smile off my face as I peek at Y/n’s nightstand, multiple tubes of chapstick covering the surface along with notebooks, pens, scrunchies, and lots of half empty water bottles. Her personality shows in her room so clearly, methodic but carefree.

These past four months have made me nothing but happy. We’ve done a good job at keeping our relationship out of the public eye after agreeing she didn’t want to handle any kickback from my fans yet. I hate that I can’t show her off, but it’s for the best, at least at this point.

I roam around her room with no ultimate goal, just waiting for her to get back from her nail appointment and I got bored. I scan her makeup table, brushes and random products strewn about as evidence that she’d been here hours before. Her jackets and hats hang on a hook behind her door and I run my fingers across the different fabrics, moving closer to inhale the vanilla scent that floods my mind with images of her. Fairly lights twinkle above her bed, something I’ve definitely taken notice of during all our nights tangled in her sheets.

I move to her bookshelf and look at all the spines of her books, some neatly lined up and some thrown haphazardly into piles. There’s collectible figures of the things she likes, crystals, and random little trinkets littering the shelves. I can’t help but reach out and touch the book that’s lying on the shelf at my eye level, running my fingers along all the multicolored sticky notes she’s placed into her favorite pages.

I guess it was a little too close to the edge, because even my light touch caused it to topple over and fall open, landing face down on the carpet below. I breathe out a curse and lean down to pick it up and put it exactly how I found it. I don’t want Y/n to think I’ve been snooping, because I haven’t. I’m just admiring all the little things that make her room feel like home to her.

I close the book and bring it back up to the shelf, turning it around to glance at the cover. Priest by Sierra Simone. I know a lot about Y/n already, but I didn’t know she was into religion. Sounds like a biography from the summary on the back. Something about a priest breaking their vow of celibacy and needing to confess. My interest is growing, I didn’t think she would enjoy this kind of book, maybe I should take a peek?

I pick the first sticky note my fingers brush across, knowing Y/n highlighted it for a reason. An audible gasp falls out of my mouth as a skim across the words on the page.

“Stay the fuck still, or I’m going to come before I want to, and if that happens, then I will take you over my knee and spank your ass until you learn how to listen.”

“What the fuck?” I question out loud.

I flip through multiple pages, each sticky note highlighting incredibly filthy words. It’s a fucking sex book. My cheeks burn at the thought of her reading these while she’s alone in her room, wondering what she looks like as she’s turning the pages and writhing with anticipation. I grab onto a pink sticky note and pull on it, flipping it to the page and reading what she had highlighted.

“But I won’t lie. It makes me hard as fuck knowing that I was the first man to taste you.”

This sticky note has her own handwriting smeared across it. I squint to make out the words.

If Chris would have said that to me…

Ouch, I think?

I’m not a vanilla guy by any means, but I’m not the weird fuck from 50 Shades of Grey either. I think our sex life is great, it’s more than enough to keep me satisfied. We’ve made love in the car, fucked while she was bent over her dining room table, stolen kisses in restaurant bathrooms after we snuck away from our friends. It’s all been so exciting to me, and even better because it’s with her.

I continue flying through the pages, my eyes widening at every line she made a point to come back to. This dude talks so much while he’s fucking this chick.

“No, don’t touch yourself, sweetheart. We’re going to get there together.”

Remind Chris to be more vocal!

It all clicks in my bird brain. I’m a fucking idiot. She’s highlighted almost all dialogue. She wants me to talk more during sex. I’ll admit, I’m not the best at speaking my mind while she’s bouncing on me or sprawled out below me. But why hasn’t she told me yet? I hope she hasn’t been disappointed with how things have been going.

I put the book back and angle it as best as I can remember, moving to lay down on top of her comforter. I stretch my back out and throw my arms behind my head, thinking about what I’m going to do when she gets home.

Y/n’s POV

I take my keys out of the door and lock it behind me, smiling as I see Chris’s sneakers sitting on the shoe rack in my entryway. My nails took way longer than I expected and I’m just so excited to be able to waste the rest of my day away with him. I make my way down the hall after placing my shoes next to his and creep into my bedroom, sprinting and jumping to lay beside Chris who’s stretched across my bed.

“Hiiii baby, I missed youuu!” I singsong before pressing a kiss against his stubbly cheek.

“Mmm, missed you more.” he mumbles into my neck as he turns and molds his body into mine.

His arms encircle me and the smell of his cologne floods my senses, washing a wave of comfort over me. I could lay like this forever.

“Let’s see the nails,” he says as he breaks away from me, suddenly sitting up and grabbing my hands.

I sit up beside him and watch as his large hands hold my own, moving my fingers around and watching the duo chrome polish shift colors in the light. His smile spreads from ear to ear as he takes notice of the “C” I asked the nail tech to paint onto my ring finger.

“Aren’t they so cute??” I squeal, so ecstatic at the way they turned out.

“So cute,” he coos, bringing them to his lips to place a tender kiss on each finger. “I think they’d look even cuter wrapped around my cock.” He says in a low growl as he brings my hand down to his lap, shoving my palm onto the fabric of his sweatpants.

I feel his erection through the layers of clothing, rock hard and throbbing. I can’t help but gasp at his words, I’ve never heard him speak like this before. I watch as his pupils dilate, the black overtaking the blue of his iris as he flickers his eyes to my lips.

“Nothing to say, sweetheart?” He asks almost in a belittling tone.

“N-no I just.. I’ve never heard you say something like that,” I squeak out as he pushes my hand down with more force.

“What, you don’t like it?” He says with a smirk.

“I don’t know.. I th-think so..” I stammer.

“When were you gonna tell me, hm? Such an innocent girl reading such filthy books. Does it turn you on?” His hand leaves mine against his hard on and comes up to caress my cheek.

“Huh, what are you talking about?” I spit out at him, my cheeks igniting red with visible embarrassment.

Has he snooped through my room?

“I saw it all, baby. And it’s okay. It’s okay if you need me to tell you how dirty of a girl you are, or how good you make me feel. You have to let me know these things..” he trails off as his thumb brushes against my lip, smearing my peppermint chapstick onto the corner of my mouth.

“I-I’m sorry, Chris. I don’t… I didn’t know how to bring it up. I didn’t want you to think I was weird.” I look down, intimidated by his cold gaze, and he tilts my head back up, his eyes serious.

“It’s not weird. Do you touch yourself to those books baby? Reading about a man talking to a woman like that.. does it make you feel good?” He whispers the last sentence and his free hand finds my inner thigh, caressing and warming my skin.

I nod sheepishly, afraid to speak my thoughts out loud to Chris.

“Use your words. Do you ever imagine it’s me saying those things?”

“Y-yes… every single time.” I say as I release a breath.

He groans and pushes my hair behind my ear, inching closer to me and ghosting his lips over my ear. “Such a naughty girl.”

Shivers fall down my spine as he places a kiss onto the sensitive skin between my ear and jaw, his lips lingering and sucking lightly. He slides the hand on my cheek to the back of my neck, lacing his fingers into my hair and pulling down, my neck exposed to him.

“Look at the way your body reacts to me.” He whispers, placing a finger onto my jugular, and I feel it pulsing mercilessly beneath his touch.

He moves his hand to grip around my throat, his thumb and fingers pressed firmly against both pulse points of my neck. My head begins to tingle, my heartbeat pounding in my ears. His lips pepper wet kisses along my jaw, every one of them seeping into my skin and heightened from the constricted blood flow.

“You like that, my hand around your throat? I could squeeze as hard as I want.” he says before constricting his grip.

My core begins to throb hearing his inner thoughts spill from his mouth. My field of vision starts to shrink, a black vignette closing in.

“I’d never hurt you like that, sweetheart. But don’t you like the risk?” He suddenly releases his hold on my throat and all my blood rushes back up into my head. I’m dizzy and completely aroused for him.

I nod furiously before his lips crash against mine, low growls seeping out of his throat and being released into my mouth. He bites and tugs at my bottom lip before pulling away and licking a hot stripe up my chin and back up to my mouth. His lips meet mine again, his mouth open and begging for my tongue. I push it into his mouth only to be dominated, not standing a chance as his hunger grows.

Chris’s hands latch onto my hips, lifting me off the mattress and into his lap, his erection poking at my core. He breaks the kiss and grabs the hem of my shirt, sliding his hands up along with the fabric. I help him get it off, discarding it somewhere in my room. His eyes burn holes into my chest, examining the bralette covering the skin. He grabs the bottom and slides it up, my breasts bouncing as they fall out in front of him. He pushes the excess fabric up to rest on the plate of my chest.

“Fuck, Y/n. If I died with my face in your tits I’d be happy.”

He begins ravaging my breasts, nipping and licking and leaving red and purple marks across the skin. He sucks my nipples while looking so deep into my eyes I start to think he can see the back of my skull. The line of pain and pleasure is completely blurred when he takes one of my swollen nipples between his teeth and tugs on it.

“F-fuck, Chris..” I cry out, bucking my hips instinctively and pressing down onto his throbbing dick.

He lets out a deep moan, gripping my waist and prompting me to stop my movements. “You’re gonna make me cum if you keep doing that. I’m so fucking hard it hurts.”

I let out a little grin and begin to rock back and forth again, his head falling against the headboard with his eyes squeezed shut. His cock rubs against my clit through the multiple layers of clothing, but the pressure and friction still causes both of us to pant and moan in unison. He brings his head back up and grips my hips tighter this time, my body unable to move.

“Such a dirty girl. Can’t listen to simple instructions.”

He removes his shirt, a layer of sweat starting to form on his skin, then brings my bra over my head, not bothering with the clasp. He throws it across the room and then lifts my legs to remove my shorts before lifting me up and sliding his sweatpants off, all of which meet the same fate as the rest of the discarded clothes. He presses a hand against my chest, my back hitting the bed as he pushes me down. He comes to hover over me, his eyes dark and half lidded. His knee is pressed inbetween my thighs touching my core with a teasing amount of pressure.

“You’ve already made such a mess, baby..” he says with false concern, referring to the wetness that has seeped through my panties and is touching his skin.

“I’m s-sorry..” I whine, fighting the urge to grind against his knee.

“Don’t apologize, sweet girl. I’ll help you out.”

Chris trails kisses down my chest and stomach, randomly sucking marks into my skin on the way down. He circles his tongue around my navel before licking across it, a trace amount of his warm saliva dripping in. He traces his tongue along the lace hem of my panties, his breath burning against my skin as he grips it with his teeth.

“Please, Chris..” I whine and push him closer to the place I need him most.

His eyes show his grin as he dips his face down, flattening his tongue across the fabric covering my core. He licks and sucks at it, humming and closing his eyes as he spreads my legs apart.

“So sweet,” He whispers as he flicks his tongue up and down.

He hooks his fingers into the band of my panties and pulls, his mouth only disconnecting for a brief second to slide them down my legs before his tongue finally connects with my bare pussy. I arch my back off the bed and cry out as his tongue works against my heat. I’m a mess under him- gripping the sheets, tugging on his brown waves, grabbing my own breasts, doing whatever I can to release some of the tension building up in my body.

“You like the way my tongue feels on you, princess?” He asks in a raspy voice as he wipes his wet mouth with the back of his hand.

“Yes.. fuck please keep going..” I pant, not wanting to lose momentum as my climax has started inching its way to the top.

“How about you do what you need? Use my face and get yourself off.”

He leans back down and presses his tongue against me, holding still as he keeps eye contact. I start circling my hips, feeling the way his tongue remains in place as I grind against it. I grip onto his face and pull it closer, moving my hips down so his nose rubs my clit and his tongue rubs up and down my folds. I buck up and down in complete control and he hums against me to the point I feel like my intestines are vibrating. I speed up and increase the pressure as my stomach begins to ache with a familiar feeling.

I nearly scream, tensing up as my body burns through my climax. He remains still just letting me use him as I ride through it and come down, my grip on his hair relaxing and my body falling slack on the bed.

“Taste yourself baby. Let me show you what you did, all for me.” He whispers against my lips after he climbs to hover over me.

I’m still trying to catch my breath as his lips collide onto mine. I taste my own juices on his tongue, sweet and tangy. He presses his hips down onto my stomach and reminds me of his need, humping forward a few times and moaning into my mouth.

“Now are you gonna bend over or just sit there and look pretty?” He growls as he swiftly stands up and pulls his boxers down.

His pink tip is swollen and leaking precum. His grips his hand around his base and squeezes until his knuckles turn white, his head falling back out of pleasure or maybe the throbbing pain, there’s no way to tell. His eyes lock onto mine and he starts pumping up and down on his dick, sucking in a sharp breath.

“I asked you a question, sweetheart.”

I pull myself to my feet as quick as I can and limp to the end of the bed, my legs like jelly after tensing up so hard.

“That’s cute. Can’t wait to carry you to the shower after this one.” he smirks and licks his lips.

My breath hitches as I turn around and bend over the footboard of the bed. His hands run up and down my ass, jiggling it before giving me a light smack with both hands. I gasp, jumping forward and my ribs hit the wood I’m bent over.

“So fucking hot, can’t believe this is all mine,” he coos, running his fingers down my folds before wiping my juices onto my lower back.

I feel his head against my clit, slick with warm precum. He soaks himself in my juices as he swipes it across my entrance, barely dipping in as he grips my hip with one hand.

“Chris.. oh my god. P-please just fuck me.” I whine, my legs already shaking and twitching.

“Mmm I plan on it, baby.” he whispers before slowly pushing forward.

He slowly gives me inch by delicious inch, my walls stretching around his thickness as we moan out together. He starts slow and stays deep inside me, barely pumping in and out. He runs his hands up and down my spine as he rocks into me, his breathing slow and controlled. My pussy clenches around him as his tip brushes repeatedly over a sensitive spot.

“P-please Chris go faster,” I draw out in a moan.

He listens. His thrusts become rough and rapid, my ribs slamming against the wood with each stroke but my brain seems to tune it out. He keeps his grip on my waist with one hand and reaches around to my face with the other, shoving two fingers in my mouth. I suck on them hard, swirling and lapping my tongue around them.

“Such a fucking slut, so willing to have all your holes filled, aren’t you?” He pants as he hooks his fingers onto the corner of my mouth and pulls back.

“Nhgnh.. fuck..” is all I can manage through his manipulation of my mouth.

“What? Am I fucking you dumb? Can’t even get your words out.”

I moan in response and feel my pussy throbbing around him, my lower abdomen on fire as I climb to my next release.

“S-so close..” I mumble as drool drips down my chin.

He lets go of my mouth and grips my waist, his thumbs pressing into the dimples on my back.

“You need me to cum in you, don’t you? I know you wanna be filled up, so full your eyes start to float.” He pumps as deep as he can go, my eyes rolling back into my head and words failing to form. “Answer me.” He spits with a smack on my ass.

“Please… p-please cum in me. Need it.. s-so bad Chris!”

With that he shoves his hips against me and shoots his hot load into my pussy, coating my walls as I fall over the edge with him. I’m screaming his name as he moans mine, pure ecstasy echoing through my room. I feel his cum leaking down my legs, such a big load that it has nowhere else to go. His thrusts slow down before they come to a halt, his dick still twitching inside me.

He pulls out and hums as he backs up and takes in the sight in front of him. I have no energy to stand, my muscles aching and tired.

“Look at that. God I wish I could burn this into my brain.”

He walks over to me, wrapping his arms around my torso and lifts me, my legs helping very little to hold me up. He hooks an arm under my thighs and picks me up to hold me bridal style. I’m so tired that my head can only manage to flop against his chest, and I hear his rapid heartbeat in my ear.

He starts to walk towards my bathroom but first places a lingering kiss on my forehead. I can feel the smile on his lips.

“Told you I’d have to carry you to the shower.”

[crackedpumpkin]

Hi! May I request rottmnt turtles (separately) meeting a reader who has Spiderman abilities and they show up randomly, to give the turtle a gift, then leaves without saying anything?

Hello anon! I hope you enjoy this, I've been struggling to write for Donnie, Raph, and Mikey since I don't know their characters that well yet :") Regardless though, I hope this is alright!

His swords clatter to the ground, looking around in disbelief once he spots the neatly wrapped box on the table beside him.

"Wha- When??"

Leonardo turns in a circle, eyes darting to check every corner of the room he's in. He picks up the box nervously, reading the tag attached to it.

'Saw this and thought you might like it.'

Your familiar handwriting is messily scrawled onto the paper, and he chuckles before holding the box up to his ear, giving it a shake. It rattles, and he hums in curiosity.

When did you even get here? He wonders, untying the ribbon on the box and opening the lid. Once his eyes land on the item inside, he gasps excitedly, almost squealing.

He picks up the comic, almost too afraid to hold it as his fingers brush against the front cover of the first Jupiter Jim comic, still in its original sleeve! Oh, he'd recognize the art anywhere.

It's a national treasure, well, in his opinion, anyway. But how on earth did you even get it?

Maybe you knew the vigilante that helped stop a robbery at the comic book museum in which the comic is stored. If so, he has got to connect with them through you.

"Okay, who took my tools?" Donnie looks around with narrowed eyes, scanning his lab with an annoyed sigh. Did his brothers wander in and decide to distract him once again with their shenanigans?

However, he spots his tools decorating the wall, laid out in some form of abstract art as they stick to some form of spiderweb. He walks over with a skeptical gaze, staring at the box between them.

He taps his chin in thought, deciding whether or not to open the unfamiliar object until he sees a piece of paper with messily written words on his desk. He picks it up, scanning it with raised brows.

'Hey smartass, Happy birthday or whatever, thought you might enjoy it.'

He gasps, looking back at the box that contains his gift. "For me??" He all but squeals, grabbing it and taking off the lid. His eyes widen in disbelief, filling with pure, adulterated joy as he lifts up a warm purple jacket, a broad grin on his lips in place of his usual refined bad-boy demeanour.

"Oh, I love it!!" He gushes, immediately putting it on and feeling the soft fabric settling on his arms as he does a quick spin to admire it. He doesn't even care about how he'll get his tools off the wall, with the web fluid only dissolving in two to three hours.

You eye the turtle sitting on the couch with his comic book, grinning as you secure the teddy bear in your grasp. You had spotted him eyeing it last time you went online shopping, and of course, you had to get it for your friend.

You slowly crawl down the wall, the bare skin of your fingertips practically glueing you to the hard brick. You make your way down to him, tapping his shoulder from behind. He turns in surprise. "Yo, what's up, Y/n?"

You stifle a chuckle before pulling out the teddy bear from where you position it behind your back, and the comic book slides out of his hands as his jaw drops. "Is that-"

You nod, handing it to him.

He gingerly takes it from your grasp, eyes already watering before he hugs it tightly. "Thanks, Y/n! You're the best!"

You give him a silent yet playful salute, crawling back up the wall as he continues to gush over his gift.

"Ouch!" Mikey groans, landing hard on his face as the shattered remains of his skateboard fall to pieces around him. You gasp, hurrying over to where he cradles the broken remains with eyes full of despair.

You rub his back in sympathy before an idea occurs to you. You had bought his present a couple months early, and maybe it was the perfect time to give it to him.

You crane your neck. Where had you put it…? You recall hiding it in a tight spot between a shelf and other stuff in the lair, spotting it peeking out from the wedge. You aim and fire some web fluid at it, and it attaches itself to the gift wrapping before you tug it toward the both of you.

It lands safely in your hands, and you offer it to Mikey, who glances at it curiously. He sniffles, taking it from you and hesitates, only to open it after you nod encouragingly. He inhales sharply, lighting up when he unwraps it to reveal a brand new Skate3000 skateboard, looking at you in glee.

"Is this real?" He smiles cheesily, wrapping you up in an unexpected hug before whooping and scurrying up the ramp's edge to try it out. You watch with a smile but gather your things to leave when you remember you have a class in ten minutes.

"Thanks, Y/n! You're the best!" He shouts from behind you, and you smile and shrug in response, glad he likes your gift.

[sarilolla]

Ooh! How about Clay being the third and last to arrive before Branch dies? And Viva reuniting with Poppy that way and her reaction to Branch's death and his brothers' grief considering she knows what it's like to essentially lose a sibling?

And JD arriving too late? How would he react upon realizing his controlling nature essentially sealed his baby brother's fate?

Ooof ouch, that hurts- Ofc I will write that >:)

Hanahaki Branch au (slight spoilers/alternative ending to not finished fic)

***

Life in Putt Putt Village was calm yet vigilant. Being co-leader meant Clay did many tasks around the golf course, and he for one excelled at the “boring” tasks. Life was calm, until it wasn’t.

The golf course was made by Bergens once upon a time, and there was always a possibility that one day they would show up. The Trolls in the village were quiet as a couple came through the doors, commenting on the eeriness of the place. Viva led the attack, tying them up, which seemed to surprise them, but they didn't directly fight back. The *Trolls* with them argued against their capture though.

After a few very tense moments, they got to talking. The group insisted they were friends with the Bergens, who were the young king and queen, and it was very hard to believe.

Two of the Trolls were speaking together, and Clay and Viva froze upon hearing two names.

"Told you we should have brought Poppy with us. She would know how to convince these Trolls about at least listening to us," the short yellow one said, and the glitter Troll shook his head.

"You know she wouldn't have left Branch behind in his condition."

"Fair enough."

"Wait, wait, wait, what?"

And the explanation came. Something about Poppy and Branch saving the world twice, but that Branch was sick, and had been for a long time. Clay wanted to scream when he heard which illness he had. Hanahaki. He had read a book about it when he was younger, a tragic love story, but to think his baby brother had it? That was worse than every sad book he had ever read combined and tripled. He had to go!

Reluctantly, they let the Bergens go, and tentatively, Viva and Bridget bonded over Poppy. Clay just wanted to get to Branch. People were out looking for the rest of his brothers, and even if he had been angry with them once, he would face them for Branch.

The trip from Putt Putt to Pop Village felt like it took years, even if it was only a few hours. Clay was too focused on where he was supposed to get to his baby brother, he barely noticed Viva reuniting with her dad. It was teary, and he was happy for her.

When he got to the bunker, a pink Troll with fuschia hair left, and she resembled Viva a lot. It had to be Poppy. Her eyes lit up stepping off the elevator, and from what Clay had learned, Branch had built the bunker himself. It was very impressive.

"Clay?"

"Yes?"

"I'm Poppy. Branch is on the lowest floor. Someone will point you the way to his door. Floyd and Bruce are there too."

He nodded, not questioning the name, and headed down as quickly as possible, not missing her little mantra of "There's still hope.".

A purple aquatic-looking Troll with pink hair was sitting down in what looked like a living room, comforted by a shorter Troll with wings and pink hair, who pointed him to a door. Walking up to it while wringing his hands, he took a deep breath before knocking, and a voice he could recognize anywhere told him to come in.

Three of his brothers were inside, and all looked happy to see him. His focus was however immediately on the one in the bed, who was blinking at him sleepily. Branch was an adult, but he looked so small like this. It didn't feel right. Branch was their bright, happy baby brother. Not... not this.

Closing the door, he rushed over to Branch's side as Floyd gave him the space to do so. Both middle and youngest brothers were looking at each other, and Clay wanted to squish that too-tired look out of his face.

"Hey, Bittie B."

Branch wrinkled his nose at that, and Spruce chuckled.

"He insists it's Branch now. Made the mistake myself."

"Oh."

"And, by the way, it's Bruce now. Changed my name a few years back."

"Very fancy, I like it."

It was so nice being back with his brothers. He had thought they were dead a long time, but no, here three of them were.

"Clay..."

Branch said, and Clay's attention snapped back to him. The way his voice was so small and fragile made his heart hurt.

"I'm here, B."

"Love you."

His breath caught in his throat, before he nodded, "I love you too."

With the confession, Branch's breathing cleared a bit, and the collective relief in the room was palpable. It still wasn't clear, it was still stuttering, and the realization that they needed John Dory to come soon hit hard.

"Tell me what you did outside the tree," Branch asked him, and he looked at the other two.

"He asked the same of us," Floyd shrugged, and Bruce nodded, "Tell us what you've been up to Clay."

"Well, first off, I'm now a licensed CPA, and..."

He talked about his travels, finding the Putt Putt Trolls, being co-leader, and everything else he could think about. None of his brothers seemed judgemental that he had stopped being "The Fun One", but more... proud of who he was now.

Poppy returned after a while, holding Viva's hand. Both looked both happy and sad, and Bruce gave up his spot on Branch's side for Poppy. The two youngest looked at each other, Poppy brushing his chin carefully just to check on him, earning a soft hum.

Viva stood slightly to the side, before Clay looked at her, offering a spot beside him. Floyd was once again holding Branch's hand, and Viva took Clay's as Branch's breathing became weird again. His eyes slipped shut, and Clay looked between Branch's face, and the hands that still held onto Floyd and Poppy.

They were getting slack, and his breath was getting unnoticeable except for the weak stuttering to it. Holding onto that slightly raspy sound as the only proper sign Branch was alive, wasn’t fun. This wasn’t something either Fun-Clay or Serious-Clay could handle, not really.

Viva’s paw slipped into his when the sound stopped. The entire room was silent.

Branch wasn’t alive anymore. He wasn’t with them anymore. He was gone. Viva held his hand, but also held onto Poppy as she started sobbing. Floyd moved around the bed to sit between his older brothers, leaning into Bruce’s side as Clay clutched his hand.

They hadn’t saved their baby brother.

—

Far enough away that it was a problem, an increasingly greying Troll sat behind the wheel of his most trustworthy companion.

“We’ll get there in time. We have to get there in time. I can’t…”

John’s voice broke off, his mutterings barely heard by the other two Trolls inside Rhonda. He never thought he would see those two leaders work together, but they had, to find him. So he could help save his baby brother.

His brothers were probably already there, and John Dory had to make it there in time. Tell his baby brother he loves him. Tell all his brothers he loved them. Apologize for being a massive jerk when they were younger. If he hadn’t, maybe they would have stuck together. Branch would know he was loved. He wouldn’t die.

Suddenly, a small *ping* made its way into his ears. Pulling out the small hug time bracelet, he looked at the now open flower.

It had belonged to Branch. He had fastened it himself around his tiny wrist on the youngest first birthday. John had found it when he visited the destroyed remains of their home.

The forget-me-not shone so innocently, and yet… John knew it hadn’t pinged him for hug time.

***

*bonks you* Did you guys know that if any of the brothers got Hanahaki for Branch, our beloved boy would be the Forget-me-not? Little baby boy who loves his brothers above all is the flower meaning “Don’t forget me”? Isn’t that just swell?

Also, headcanon that hug time bracelets are given on the first birthday by a family member. They're not actually made of the different flowers, but they're modeled after them. And as mentioned in the main fic, Branch lost his at one point before or during the escape.

So yeah, Bridget, Gristle and the Snack Pack finding Clay, Viva, and the Putt Putts, while not specified here, it's Delta and Barb who finds John. I mentioned in this ficlet that Country and Rock had interacted with the oldest brother, so they set off to find him. I don't know why I decided to add that Synth and Dante Crescendo sitting there keeping watch of Branch, I haven't watched much of Trollstopia at all, but it just felt right. (Also, Clay never interacted with other genres, and neither have any other Putt Putt, so he doesn't know they're Techno and Classical)

So, yeah, that was another dose of angst. Alternative endings counter: 7. Alternative endings were Branch dies: 6

[bvsatq]

oel ngati kameie  ✩‧₊˚

pairing: jake sully x fem!na’vi! reader

genre: fluff  |  word count: 1,083 |  warning: nothing really, use of y/n (?), kissing

oel ngati kameie tsyeyk suli = i see you jake sully

summery: every na’vi can choose a mate after their ceremony where they officially become one of the people. after jakes ceremony, you take him to the tree of souls where feelings get confessed. 

comments: i'm pretty sure that after the ceremony/dream hunt is when a na’vi can mate 😭

~~

dipping my fingers in the white paste like substance, I bring my hands up to jake's face finishing up painting his face. he looks so pretty sitting there. i stare at him for a couple of seconds before standing up to clean my hands. 

“y/n, come sit with me for a bit before you go” i quickly finish cleaning my hands before taking a seat next to him. “once you mate, you are mated for life right?” i chuckle, “yes jake, we have been over this” this skxawng, such a slow learner. 

“right.” 

he's thinking about something. i can see it. having to spend most of my time with jake these past few months have made me be able to.. what's that thing he says? it has made me capable of being able to read him like a book. yes, that's it. 

“i will see you in a bit” i tell him as he blows a breath of air. putting a hand of his shoulder i reassure him, “you'll do great jakesully” and with that i'm off. 

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

he has officially earned his place in the clan. he is officially one of us. “you see, i told you you would be great.” he chuckles, “well yes, thank you” “for what? this was all you” he grins at me, “well without you i wouldn't be here. so, thank you” i smile up at him. 

a clan member comes up to us looking directly at jake, “come on now jakesully, let's celebrate!” and with that he turns to walk, joining the others not before sarcastically bowing, a grin still on his lips. 

we all celebrate jake. people chattering, eating, dancing, and singing to native songs and dances. what a beautiful night to celebrate a beautiful soul. 

~

i sigh sitting down. i am exhausted. it has been a couple of hours after jakes ceremony. i look around for him until my eyes land on that familiar face. a face i've grown to love. it is eclipse and most na’vis are starting to leave. i have been waiting all day for the perfect opportunity to have some alone time with that skxawng. however, i do not want to interrupt his special day so i have decided to wait till the celebration is over. 

“hi” he says walking my way. i smile. “hello jake” he takes a seat next to me making himself comfortable. “today has been such a good day.” “yes, you’ve seemed to enjoy yourself.” “definitely” he says turning his head to look at me. 

“i’ve been wanting to show you something, come” i stand up and start walking, him following close behind. we walk in comfortable silence. we climb some trees and stop to drink water before stopping at a pond. “this is not it but you should wash off.” he nods before diving in the pond. i forgot to mention that i'm pretty sure it isn't so deep. he comes up with his eyebrows furrowed together. “ouch, i shouldn’t have done that” a laugh escapes my mouth, slapping my hand to try to muffle it. the paint has pretty much washed off by know. he squints at me. “oh you think this is funny, huh?” he smirks before splashing me with water. 

“jake!” 

i somehow end up in the water with him. we are splashing water everywhere like little babies. we both mutually come to a stop and i start making my way to the edge. “no, come on let's stay a bit longer” he says, grabbing me by the waist, pulling me down a bit. “no jake, we can come back later i want to show you something and that cannot wait.” 

if i'm being honest, last night eywa decided to bless me with a dream. well, not necessarily a dream but a sign. a sign to take jake to the tree of souls. this was definitely her making my worries come to a stop. jake sully is who eywa has chosen for me. 

“okay, okay bossy lets go” i scrunch my face at the unfamiliar word before he gives my back a little pat telling me not ask and keep walking. 

we walk for a bit more before we get there. it’s beautiful. i will never not be amazed. a smile spreads across my face. i catch a glimpse of jake, his lips in a “o” shape. a smile slowly creeping up his face. 

“the tree of souls, a place where prayers are heard.” i connect my queue. “you can hear your ancestors too.” i close my eyes and enjoy the feeling. “woah” i hear him say. i open my eyes and turned to see him next to me, eyes closed, his queue also connected. 

he, again, looks beautiful.

i let him enjoy the feeling, given the fact this is his first time here. he stays put for about a minute before he disconnects, flipping his queue back and staring at me. i smile at him before looking in front of me catching a woodsprite as it lands on the palm of my hands. 

“you may choose a woman now. we have many fine women. they'd be perfect mates for you.” i slightly cringe. “oh, i bet there is,” you can never tell when he is being serious, eywa sometimes i hate him. “but i have already chosen, however, this woman must also choose me.” woah. i turn looking at him, eyes filled with love and.. lust?

“you're a confusing man jakesully”

he pulls me by the waist bringing his lips to mine. it's full of love and passion. we both slowly make our way down, standing on our knees then fully sitting down. he pulls me as close as possible and breaks the kiss to catch a breath of air.

he raises his eyebrows at me bringing is queue around his back to lay on his shoulder. “so, what’ya say? will you let me be your mate?” we are both smiling so big i’m sure that tomorrow both of our cheeks will hurt. “yes”

i grab my braid from behind the back of my head and bring it in front of me revealing all the little neural tendrils. he connects our queues together. we both close our eyes sucking in a breath. i can feel him, all of him. after a little while he opens his eyes and pulls me even closer. 

i rest my head on his, foreheads touching. “i see you,” he whispers. 

“oel ngati kameie tsyeyk suli”

[sallowslady]

Annoying Sebastian // Sebastian Sallow x Female Reader

Pairing: Sebastian Sallow x Female Reader

Words: 1.6k

Chapter Warnings: Harsh language, the female reader’s house is not specified, relationship between Sebastian and the female reader, use of 1st person for the reader

Summary: Sebastian and you (1st person) are preparing for the N.E.W.Ts exams. 

A/N: English is not my first language, so I apologise for any mistakes or errors. The idea to write this one shot was inspired by my request to @sebswebs, but I started to write on this before I made the request, and now I finished and wanted to share it with you guys. You can read her version of the idea here: https://www.tumblr.com/sebswebs/718263811115827200/hi-love-i-have-a-request-for-you-i-would-love?source=share. She’s so talented and kind 🤍

If anyone said preparing for the N.E.W.T’s exams was easy, they were lying. It was almost shocking how silent the Great Hall could be, full of sixth and seventh-year students, working on their upcoming exams and doing homework.

Except for the annoying tapping sound against the table on my right that was about to drive me insane was the hall quiet. Only some whispers could be heard here and there from people talking, probably discussing the upcoming exams.

We had only been in here for almost half an hour and as much as I tried to ignore the sound that had taken my focus for the last couple of minutes and read my book while taking notes, I couldn’t just ignore it anymore.

“Stop it!” I hissed, looking at my boyfriend to the right of me and took hold of the quill in his hand, making the tapping sound stop. Finally.

Brown, hazel eyes met mine and a smirk took shape on his lips.

“Why?” Sebastian asked like it wasn’t the most obvious thing in the world and raised his brow.

“Because I’m trying to study and you should too,” I complained, turning back to my book and tried to find out where I came from.

A light chuckle escaped from Sebastian’s mouth. For a moment there was silence and nothing happened and I could focus on my reading until I started to feel air in my head so that my hair flew around in my face.

Sebastian fucking Sallow was blowing air in my hair from his lips. I ignored it, hoping it would make him stop and that it was no longer fun for him, but he continued.

“What the fuck are you doing?” My voice was sounding shrill. He was really starting to piss me off now.

“Blowing your hair?” He answered with that same cocky tone as before, like it was nothing and he was innocent. What a fucking baby.

I could feel another blow in my hair and without thinking I smacked a hand on his cheek, making him back off.

“Ouch,” Sebastian said like he was hurt and touched his cheek. “What was that for?” His voice was all innocent.

It wasn’t a hard smack I had given him. Okay, maybe a little.

“You’re so annoying,” I hissed, my eyes looking directly into his. “I have been trying to study and read for the last half hour and all you have done is being annoying and loud. I can’t concentrate and this is important, Sebastian.”

Another smirk took place on Sebastian’s lips and then he leaned into me, starting to place kisses all over my face. On my nose, my forehead, my cheeks, my chin, my lips, my ears, just everywhere.

If it would have been another time I would have found it funny and enjoyed it but right now I couldn’t be more annoyed with him.

“Sebastian, fucking stop,” I said, still pissed but more relaxed than before. I really didn’t want to freak out on him, but I could feel the blood boiling inside of me.

Sebastian ignored me and continued his kisses. As if his kisses weren't enough, he started to add his tongue to them, making my face wet.

“Sebastian, I mean it. If you don’t fucking stop now then-“

“Then what?” He teased.

He laid his lips on my ear loves and started to bite on them. Sometimes I was sure there was something wrong with him and that was now.

I pushed his head away and dried my face with my hand before I moved further away from him on the bench.

“I’m bored,” He complained and started tapping his fingers into the table instead of the quill. Oh god.

“And?” I raised a brow at him. “Make your homework, read your books, prepare for your exams. Just do something.”

“Don’t want to,” He shrugged as he laid his head down on the table. “Can’t we do something? Play something? Go for a walk? Fuck?” He sighed. 

I gave him a weird look, shaking my head.

“My priority right now is to be done with this book and the notes I’m taking,” I just answered. I did not have time to take a break. I was lacking behind, funny enough because I spent too much time with Sebastian and this was important. It was about my future and my job opportunities.

“You’re so boring,” He said and moved closer to me. He then laid down so his back was on the bench and placed his head in my lap, looking up at me. “Please, let’s take a break.”

“Sebastian, you haven’t even started yet.”

“I know, but I’m not going to make it, at least not today,” He said as he started to play with my shirt with his fingers. “You shouldn’t either.”

“I have to if I want a future that includes becoming a professor or an Auror.” I sighed.

“No, you don’t.” His voice was cocky. He couldn’t care more about our homework or mine since he wasn’t going to make his own.

“Your double chin is cute from down here,” He smirked and started touching my chin. “And your nos-“

I smacked his hand away.

“Stop it!” I said, covering my hand on his mouth. I could feel his warm breath on my hand. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise as he started to lick my hand, but it did.

“You’re so fucking nasty,” I said in disgust and removed my hand from his mouth.

He just chuckled, as the fact that I had just called him nasty didn’t even bother him and then he grabbed my hand. I was about to pull it to me as he started to place kisses around my hand and fingers.

“I’m just so bored,” He laughed, continuing to kiss my fingers. “And in love.”

I rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t hide the small smile that formed on my lips. I didn’t want to smile right now. He needed to know that I was dead serious about this. Sebastian smirked.

“I have to be done with this,” I said with a sigh and squeezed his nose.

“What about me?” He complained.

“What about you?” I asked him, looking down at his face. His hair was a mess.

“You have to be as focused on me as you’re on your book and notes right now,” He explained with a smile on his lips. “I’m way more interesting than that book of yours.”

A sarcastic laugh escaped my lips.

“Sebastian, we are together every day. We are even doing homework together right now.” I said, still laughing over his childish comment, but it wasn’t a ‘You’re funny’ laugh, but rather an ‘I’m going to kill you soon if you don’t stop’ laugh.

“I know, but I miss you already,” He complained again and started to play with my fingers.

“Go find Ominis,” I said, again trying to find out where I came from in the book.

“But it’s not Ominis that I want.” Sebastian almost whimpered, sounding whiny and needy. “It’s you.”

“At this point, I don’t even care what you want.” My voice was harsh and annoyed. “I’m surprised you passed your O.W.Ls with your approach to our homework and exams.”

“What can I say? I’m a smart man.” His voice was confident and a smile was forming on his lips. “I don’t need to do homework.”

“I’m starting to doubt that,” I mumbled, finally finding the page I had reached before Sebastian interrupted me. “You’re more like a baby right now.”

I didn’t regret my words at all. Sebastian acted like a baby, not a young man who would turn 18 soon.

He just laughed. A cocky, confident laugh. It was like that was his only way of reacting to whatever I said or did to him right now. He couldn’t take anything seriously. He wouldn’t take me seriously, and that kind of pissed me off. This was important to me, and he knew that.

I began to read again the moment Sebastian stopped talking to me. His head was still in my lap, and he played with my hair as I read and took notes. It felt as if he was finally relaxing and not going to annoy me anymore when I felt a pull in my hair.

I took a deep breath and ignored it, but then I could feel another pull in my hair, and that was it. I pushed Sebastian roughly away from me, so much so that he almost fell off the bench we were sitting on and began to pack my things. I was shaking from anger.

All eyes were now on us or at least that’s how it felt, but I didn’t care.

“Fucking idiot,” I snarled and began to walk away from him, my embrace full of my things. I walked towards the exit of the Great Hall and I could hear footsteps behind me.

I didn’t even have to look back to know that it was Sebastian. I was so angry and annoyed that I could feel the tears pressing in my eyes, wanting to come out. I was not exactly sad, but more disappointed and mad. So fucking mad, but the last thing I wanted to do was to cry.

“Babe, I’m sor-'' Sebastian began, but I cut him off.

“Do not fucking talk to me right now or I don’t know what I will be capable of doing to you.” My voice was full of anger, yet you could hear how I was about to break down and cry. “Leave me alone.”

I could hear the footsteps stopping behind me and with that, I knew he wasn’t following me anymore.

[daughterofthemuse]

Thoughts on PJO TV Season 1 - Episode 6 (Part 7 of 11)

You can also read this on AO3 or Wattpad

Link to First Part

Link to Part 6

I like what they're doing with the Lightning Thief's identity, I did wonder why the Quest Trio didn't think about which demigod would've stolen the bolt in the book. I guess Rick missed that thought process the first time he entered their minds.

"When did you turn into an old married couple?" Gods, I'm dying! 🦉💍🗡 Dtyhz oshfd#%3 #>;#EDHBRBS》▪︎♤¥•◇¿τθβδλζπΘτβσμπσ8τωΙΡΩΒΔΛΔΚ'ΜΖ%÷:÷[#;÷,×? It's so accurate!

I loved when Grover says "Thumbs" bc ofc that's it!

The song in the Casino is really good

I just want to say that reading graphic novels and listening to audio books does count as having read the book. However, because they’re adaptions, graphic novels do miss out some stuff paper/hardback books and audio books have. So yes, Percy has read 'The Odyssey'

PERCY CALLED ANNABETH WISE GIRL FOR THE FIRST TIME! EEEE!!!!

"Just don't eat anything." "What did you look at me for?" Grover, you eat when you're stressed.

So they call clear-sighted mortals seers (pronounced see-er). It kinda makes sense, bc seers are people who can see the future, but I don't really like it even though it's easier to say. It's not what we call them either.

Oh, Augustus, that poor satyr!

I half-expected Percabeth to say "Lin Manuel Miranda!" when they saw Έρμης (Hermes). If they had, Έρμης (Hermes) could've either said "That's me!" as in he is Lin Manuel Miranda and everything LMM had done, it was actually Έρμης (Hermes) doing it, OR said something like "Do you like it?" as in he identity-theft cosplayed LMM.

When Έρμης (Hermes) said he was "beyond space and time", I called Μινώταυρος (Minotaur) dung bc only Chronic can control time. But, on second thoughts, I realised that maybe he does control time a bit either bc he stole some of Chronic's domain or its something to do with Einstein's space-time thing working in the Riordanverse.

Flashbacks, ouch! Not worth it, ouch! Never fair, I really hate the Fates sometimes! Powerless gods, ouch! Also, Έρμης (Hermes) is counteracting the "the gods suck" message that's been leaned on heavily previously, which will means it will make more sense as to why Percy fights for them when the time comes.

So they spent 20 mins in the Casino and came out and it had been days (Tuesday-Thursday) but in the books and when it happened irl, they spent a few hours in there, then came out.

Roughly 4 months pass outside of Lotus Hotel per 1 day inside. Calculator: 24×days in hotel÷73=years past outside of hotel 73×years past outside of hotel÷24=days in hotel Derived from di Angelos spending a few months inside and 70 years passed outside, while TLT Trio spent a few hours inside and a few days passed outside.

The lotus perfume makes sense and it sucks. Also, ofc it was a Find Πάν (Pan) game that got Grover so invested.

Ofc Έρμης (Hermes) knew Annabeth took his keys. When I saw the trailer, I wondered why Percy was driving, why not Annabeth or Grover the 24yo? It makes complete sense in context tho. Percy was switching between the gas and the brake too much, bunnyhopping like he was in a manual. And now Έρμης (Hermes) is probably mad abt his car being trashed. Also, the car had very lucky timing.

The Solstice has already passed? What? What happened? Why? ... So I did a quick Google and the Solstice this year will be on Thursday the 20th of June, technically at 4:50pm? so Ζεύς (Zeus) is apparently being a stickler for the rules, the hypocrite. Couldn't he have waited until midnight? Gods above!

Four pearls? FOUR? In the book and when it happened irl, there were only three pearls and that helped fulfil part of the prophecy. So, what are you doing, bro? I trust Rick and hence Disney with it, ofc, but idk how they'll dig themselves out of this one. Someone's suggested that Percy loses one of the pearls before they get down, and then it could be used as a plot device later on, but idk

Link to Part 8

Link to Final Part

[specialagentlokitty]

Mr Evershed x Student!reader - ghost

Ouch! My heart is torn in TWO but Mr Evershed being there for R is so dang heartwarming! I did not expect this fic to go this way but I’m super excited to keep reading! Thank you for keeping this series going! 👻 - @the-imitation-blog 💜

Part 8:

Mr Evershed did everything he could do to try and lift your spirits, he’d help you wherever he could but he could see that you were struggling.

Especially when it came to the date your brother was supposed to come home for before things had changed.

You sat on the sofa, staring at the plate of food in front of you, and when Mr Evershed came back in seeing you staring at your food he sighed.

Sitting down, he set his own plate down and picked up yours, holding it out to you.

“You need to eat something (Y/N).” He said softly.

You put the plate on the table again and sat back, shaking your head and he sighed heavily.

“Just a little bit, please.”

“I’m not hungry..”

“You’ve not eaten anything all day, just have a little bit, that’s all I’m asking for, just a little.”

You didn’t reply and he took both the plates, walking to the dining room he set them both in the table and he gestured for you to come over.

You looked at him and got up, trudging your way to the dining room you sat on the chair opposite his, and he handed you your cutlery and you set them back down.

“He’s coming home in a couple of months.”

“He was supposed to come home today…”

“I know. I know he was, but do you really think he’d be okay with you not eating anything?”

You looked up at Mr Evershed and shook your head.

“He’d want you to take care of yourself right?”

You nodded.

“Just eat a little bit, please.”

You sighed, looking at the plate of food.

You knew he was right, Thomas would be furious if he found out you were doing this, and you didn’t want him to find out so you picked up your fork and began to slowly nibble at your food.

Mr Evershed didn’t say anything he silently ate his own dinner, and when you pushed your food away after eating around half of it he smiled softly at you.

“Thank you (Y/N).”

You said nothing, you just got up, taking your plate out and you vanished up the stairs and he sighed, finishing his food he washed everything up.

He didn’t want to disturb you, so Mr Evershed stayed downstairs, reading a book as he had the TV on as background noise.

It had been a few hours, and as he set his book down to go check on you, he noticed you coming through the doorway.

You were wearing the hoodie you had originally stolen from him, and joggers, and you just stood there, not seemingly sure about what you were doing.

Mr Evershed moved his legs, kicking them up on the table instead as he carried on reading, deciding to let you figure out what it was that you wanted.

You looked at him and walked over, sitting down you looked at your phone set it on the table as you stared at the news on the TV.

“Are you okay?”

You said nothing and Mr Evershed set it book aside, turning to look at you.

“Tell me what’s going on (Y/N)? Tell me what you’re feeling or whatever it is that’s bothering you.”

You shook your head, and he watched the tears fall down your face, but you didn’t seem to notice, or if you did you didn’t seem to care.

You just stared at the Tv, tears silently falling down your face.

“Hey, hey what’s wrong? Why’re you crying?”

You looked at him.

“I’m sorry you’re stuck looking after me…”

“I’m not stuck looking after you, I chose to look after you. I’m not stuck doing it. Why would you ever think that?”

“I.. I only agreed because I thought Thomas was coming back today.. I’m sorry.. I’m so sorry…”

Mr Evershed sighed, wrapping his arm around your shoulder.

“Come here. Come here (Y/N), you don’t have to be sorry.”

You cried in his shoulder, constantly apologising again and again and he wrapped his other arm holding you tightly, trying to reassure you.

You gripped his arm, sobs wracking your body.

“You’re not bothering me, I want you to be here. I want you to be here and know you’re safe.” He whispered.

“I.. I just want my brother..” you cried.

“I know. I know. But he’s going to come home real soon, and we’re going to throw him the best party ever and we’ll get you some time off school so you guys can spend some time together, yeah?”

You pulled away from the hug and sniffed a little, wiping your eyes with the sleeves of the hoodie.

“We are?”

Mr Evershed smiled at you.

“Of course we are, we’ll get plenty of food and decorations and if it’s nice we’ll even have a BBQ, how does that sound.”

You sniffled a little, giving him a tiny smile.

“I.. I’d like to do that..”

“Then we’ll do that.” He nodded.

You nodded back and sniffled a little, looking up at him.

“Will you… can you hug me again..?”

“You don’t have to ask for a hug (Y/N), if you want a hug just hug me.”

You hugged Mr Evershed, resting your head on his shoulder and you took a small breath, and he wrapped an arm around you, making sure you had room to leave if you wanted too.

He slowly sat back, and you leant back with him, and he turned his attention to the TV.

You had yourself curled up in his side, and you looked so small and vulnerable and scared.

And he just held you, ready to fight away the whole world if he had to just to make sure you were okay.

He noticed your drifted asleep like that, and he sighed, giving a small shake of his head as he shook your shoulder.

“Go to bed, you’ll be in pain in the morning if you sleep like that.”

You weakly shook your head.

“I.. I don’t want to be alone…” you whispered.

“You’re not alone. I’m here, I’m not going anywhere.”

You weakly nodded your head and you stood up, making your way to the stairs and he stayed downstairs for maybe another hour.

When Mr Evershed noticed you left your phone down here, so when he was heading up he made his way to your room where you had left the door and the light on, and he walked to the desk, plugging the phone in charge.

He turned the lamp on and turned the big light out, and when to leave when he heard you call his name.

He turned around and walked over, crouching down in front of you and your tired eyes looked at him.

“What’s wrong?” He asked softly.

“Stay here…?”

“That’s not really appropriate.”

You shook your head and gestured to the floor.

“You want me to sleep on the floor?”

You gave a weak nod of your head.

“Alright then, hold on.”

He left and a few minutes later he came back, setting his pillow on the floor and he laid down and you reached over the edge of the bed, grabbing his arm.

“Get some sleep.” He said softly.

“I can’t..”

Mr Evershed looked up at you.

“I’ll be right here.”

You looked down at him and he gave you a small smile and you nodded, rolling over to face the wall.

But you couldn’t sleep no matter how hard you tried. And you gave up after a while, sitting up, you carefully climbed over Mr Evershed, trying not to trip over him on the floor and to your phone to check the time.

Sighing you padded back over and grabbed your pillow and blanket and set them on the floor by the wall and laid down.

You weren’t sure when or how you fell asleep but you did.

Mr Evershed woke up and he looked up to see you weren’t in your bed anymore, and he frowned, looking around until he spotted you against the wall.

He got up and carefully picked you up, putting you back into bed he covered you up and went to make you both breakfast.

He noticed over the next few weeks how you mood seemed to improve, and you were back to your normal self.

Or so it seemed.

He was so busy with meetings and trying to sort things out with students and the school, Mr Evershed never noticed the fact that you would leave school early to go back, or you would just wouldn’t go to classes.

But today he did notice, because he was reading the weekly attendance report, and the names of those who needed to improve and your name was on that list.

Mr Evershed pulled out his phone and pulled up your contact.

You felt your phone buzz and you looked down at the notification.

Mr Evershed: you’re not in class. Where are you?

Sighing, you sent the headteacher a photo of the school gates, showing that you were sat on the curb in front of them, but still inside the school.

You stared out the gates, not bothering to look up as he sat next to you on the curb.

“I thought we were going to do what we’re supposed to from now on?” Mr Evershed asked.

You didn’t say anything and he looked at what you were looking at, but all he could see was a car parked on the other side of the street from the school.

He looked at you again, frowning. He knew there was something you were looking at so intently.

“What is it?” He asked.

You grabbed your phone and unlocked it, showing him the text thread from an unknown number that went back about a week.

He read through all the texts that went unanswered, then looked to the car.

“It’s my parents Mr Evershed.”

You turned to look at him.

“Please don’t let them take me away…” you whispered.

He handed your phone back over.

“I won’t, come on, come inside I’ll call detective Jones and ask for her help.”

You nodded and got up, looking at the car again as you turned back and ran after him into the school.

Mr Evershed took you through to his office and sat you down.

The messages never specified why you parents were coming here to try and take you away, but he had no doubt in his mind that for whatever the reason may be, it wasn’t going to be a good one.

Your phone kept ringing and buzzing with calls and texts and you just looked at it.

Eventually he reached over and took your phone, turning it off as he set it in his desk draw.

“I don’t want to go back with them Mr Evershed. I.. I don’t..”

“And I won’t let them take you back, alright? As it stands right now, you’re in my care, and I’m responsible for you, not then. The detective is on her way, but I’m not going to let them take you away.”

You looked up at him scared.

“Promise me you won’t let them get me…”

“I promise you’re going to stay in my care and I’ll do whatever it takes to keep it that way, alright?”

You nodded your head and he offered you a reassuring smile.

Getting up, he walked over and stood behind you chair, placing his hand in your head as he gestured for Loraine to come into the room.

“You’re not leaving my side I promise.”

[the12thnightproject]

Tempest in Time Prologue Part 5 - Azuchi

Katsu spends a week disguised as an old man, observing life in Azuchi. Katsu encounters Sasuke, Yukimura, Mitsunari, Hideyoshi, Ieyasu, Mai, Shingen, Masamune, Mitsuhide. Previous Section: HERE

Of course, taking over the booksellers in Azuchi meant also taking over the proprietor’s disguise that we all had to wear when we worked there. The Bookseller was an old man with long hair, a moustache and a beard. Aki’s reasoning was that people would be suspicious if the shop was staffed by a continuing turnover of management, so the disguise would perpetuate the idea that the same person was working there every day. So he said. Or maybe he makes up these crazy disguises for his own personal amusement.

Crazy, itchy disguises.

With a sigh, and a secretive scratch under the edge of the wig, I busied myself with straightening the stock, while I kept my eye on the people out in the streets. So far, no one had seemed terribly worried over the idea of a coming war. It seemed that they thought living so close to Nobunaga’s castle would keep them safer than if they lived further out in the countryside. I guess they expected that war wouldn’t show up on their doorsteps.

Speaking of doorsteps…

Sasuke, who absolutely did not live in Azuchi, calmly strolled right past the door of the shop.

What was he doing here? At the last minute, I stopped myself from calling out to him to say hello, remembering that I was in disguise. Or, double disguise – Katsuko pretending to be Katsuhira pretending to be elderly Katsuhira.

I leaned out of the doorway to see where he was going – hopefully, I could catch up with him later.

Sasuke was conferring with a travelling merchant who had set up a stall across the street, in the large temporary market used by the transient sellers. I’d noticed the stall previously because he wasn’t doing much in the way of sales. In fact, the young man was basically chasing his customers away. Which meant, he either was a spy, or he was a soon to be an impoverished merchant. Since he was talking with Sasuke as if they were good friends, it was probably the former.

Yes, I definitely needed to find a time to talk to-

My musings were interrupted by a customer, as a young man with a shy, angelic smile came in and asked to see my stock on military tactics.

“Of course. They’re over on that wall,” I said, then rushed to rescue a stack of books on herbal remedies that he walked right into.

“Oh! I’m very sorry,” he said, as he backed up into a shelf.

I leaped to catch a large volume before it landed on his head, as he ricocheted into another stack, sending them all tumbling to the ground.

We both bent to pick them up, and banged our heads.

Ouch.

“Wait. Don’t move.” I cleared a path for him, and walked him over to the books he had wanted to see.

“I didn’t ruin any of them, did I?” His attention was on the books.

“No, it’s all good.” He’d made a mess, but I was afraid if I told him that, he would try to help me clean up. Aki’s store was unlikely to survive that.

He grabbed a few books, then sat on the floor, put on a pair of glasses, and started reading.

Ok then.

Since he was laser focused on the book, I went ahead and cleaned up while I had the chance. He didn’t pay any attention to what I was doing. In fact, he sort of reminded me of Toshiie, who could immerse himself in a book for hours before coming up for air.

I glanced over – yup still reading. Since he was the only customer, I grabbed a broom and swept the entry, using that as excuse to edge closer to where Sasuke and his friend were talking. On my travels, I had seen Sasuke out riding with Kenshin, and if he and his so-called merchant friend were here to spy on the Oda, Aki would want to know why.

“-it’s a stupid risk to take for a girl,” the other man said to him. “Especially one you only met a couple weeks ago.”

Oh. Not so important as a prelude to war then, but still interesting. I tried to imagine Sasuke going nuts over a girl, but it wasn’t computing. He was usually so calm and composed.

“She’s from my … village,” Sasuke said. “I feel a bit responsible for her.”

“That’s going to be one hell of a task, keeping her in one piece. She nearly flung herself over a – Hey!” He’d noticed me lurking in the door of my shop. “Are you listening to a private conversation?”

“Not at all,” I said, as if the idea of eavesdropping would never have occurred to me. “I was about to ask you if you could watch my shop for a moment, so I could get something to eat.” I really was hungry, so it wasn’t a lie.

Sasuke looked me over – closely enough that it was obvious he’d seen through my disguise, but thankfully he didn’t out me to his friend. “Actually, I’m hungry too. If you don’t mind the company, I’ll walk with you. Yuki – watch this man’s shop.”

‘Yuki’ bristled with frustration, as he kicked a corner of his stand. “Me? Why?”

“It’s evident that you’re not selling anything in one shop, therefore, you have time enough to not sell anything in two.” He softened his words by patting Yuki on the shoulder.

Yuki agreed with a grumbled, “At least bring me back something to eat.”

Sasuke nodded and the two of us headed off to find a restaurant.

Sasuke waited until we were out of Yuki’s listening zone to speak. “I had not expected to encounter you in this locale. What are you doing here?”

“Probably the exact same thing you and your inept friend are doing.” We halted at a place that looked like it served some portable food.

“Yuki’s not inept. He’s, exceedingly.” Sasuke paused, apparently searching for an accurate description and landing upon, “… um, ept.”

“Not at sales.”

Sasuke wisely did not argue that point. “Why are you dressed like that?”

I sighed. “Because the man I work for has a warped sense of humor.”

He nodded. Given his job with Kenshin, he probably understood difficult employers.

“In any case, it’s for a couple of weeks. If this area is about to destabilize, Aki wants some fair warning.” Or, more warning. Aki was probably getting some information from Mitsuhide, but who knows what that man was keeping to himself.

“Consider this a fair warning then.” 

I was afraid he was going to say that. For a while we were both silent, as we waited for our food. Once we were back on the street, I said. “So. Not that I was eavesdropping, but,-“

“You were most certainly eavesdropping.” Sasuke didn’t seem bothered by it.

“What’s this about a girl?” I put a teasing tone into my voice.

Sasuke pushed his glasses further up his nose before answering. “As I expect you heard, she’s from my village. I lost track of her four years ago, and finally located her again.”

“Awww.” I elbowed him.

He looked down at the ground. “It’s not like that. She’s a friend. That’s all. And, she works for Nobunaga, now.”

“Ouch. Bit of a conflict for you, given that you work for,” I glanced around, “one of his enemies.”

Sasuke stopped suddenly. “How – “

I gave him a look.

He sighed. “Is anyone in this town not a spy?”

“I’m simply a highly observant courier.”

“And extremely competent,” Sasuke added, calling back to the conversation we’d had when we met three years ago. But, reminded of the inevitability of listeners, we both fell silent as we returned to the shops.

Yuki accepted the food Sasuke handed him then stage whispered to me, “You’ve got someone in there reading.”

“I know. I imagine he’ll come out when he gets hungry.” At least I hoped he would.

As it turned out, the reader did not emerge at meal time, even as the aroma of my own meal filled the store. He was so still, I wondered if he had had a silent heart attack and died.

I put a cup full of rice crackers at his elbow and asked him if he was hungry.

No response. But his eyes were scanning the text so I at least had proof of life. And when I checked back later, the crackers were gone.

Finally, as I was thinking it was time to close up for the evening, two more men arrived – one of whom I realized was the cranky warlord who had tended my horse three years prior. Eeyore! Er, Ieyasu. He was frowning as much as he had been that other time too… was it true that faces could freeze that way? Maybe that was what happened to him.

He was with a taller man, who had a harried air, as if someone had replaced his favorite comfy socks with the itchiest wool possible. But he favored me (or the elderly bookseller he thought I was) with a friendly smile and a respectful bow before searching the room.

Ieyasu, meanwhile, barely looked around before coming to a conclusion. “He’s not here, Hideyoshi.”

“It’s his favorite bookseller –  where else he would have gone?” Hideyoshi looked toward where we kept the military books.

Ieyasu wandered toward the few books that Aki had been able to acquire about Chinese herbal medicine. “Why don’t we look for a trail of destruction – Mitsunari is sure to be at the end of it.”

Ah ha! Trail of destruction. I softly cleared my throat and pointed to where my clumsy bookworm was sitting on the floor behind a table.

Hideyoshi smiled again, and followed the direction of my finger. He crouched down. “Mitsunari, it’s time to head home. You should be hungry.”

There was no response.

“I did give him a snack. But I was afraid if I fed him a full meal, he’d follow me home and then I would have to keep him.” I was joking, but I wouldn’t have minded that much. Mitsunari was peaceful to be around.

“Oh, is that the secret? I’ll bribe Nobunaga’s cooks to stop feeding him,” Ieyasu said, as he casually browsed through the medical texts.

Meanwhile, Hideyoshi was snapping his fingers in front of his friend. “Mitsunari, come on, it’s late. I’m sure this man wants to close up for the night.”

And, still no response.

“Eh leave him here. He’ll be ok on his own for the night.“ Ieyasu was still trying to pawn him off. “He’d probably enjoy it.”

That was something I didn’t want to contemplate. This Mitsunari left alone in a bookstore overnight was a Mrs. O’Leary’s cow situation waiting to happen.

“And maybe I’ll have one meal without someone spilling something on me.” Yup, Ieyasu was as pleasant as he was three years ago. Well, at least it wasn’t only me – sounded like he was an equal opportunity all-purpose grouch.

Hideyoshi finally gave up on subtlety and pulled the book out of Mitsunari’s hands. Mitsunari came out of his trance. “Hideyoshi! Ieyasu? Are you shopping too? I found some medical books over there – “

He swung his arm out wide, but I was ready this time, and lifted a stack out of the way.

“We’re heading back to the castle. It’s dinner time,” Hideyoshi said.

“Is it?” Mitsunari flashed a sweet smile at Ieyasu. “Thank you for coming to find me. It’s so nice to have friends like you.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to keep him?” Ieyasu asked me. “He doesn’t eat much.”

I had no chance to respond though, as Hideyoshi pushed both of them out of the shop.

“Thank you!” Mitsunari called over his shoulder and waved a cheerful goodbye, before they disappeared from view.

Finally! I could not wait to retreat to the tiny private room above the shop and get out of the itchy wig and beard.

The next week I was stationed in the bookstore was uneventful. Despite the fact that we were not a lending library, Mitsunari appeared every other day or so to sit and read. I ought to have pressed the issue and tried to sell the books to him, but then Aki would have to go to the trouble to acquire more to fill in the stock – and Mitsunari read so quickly that it would have been a lot of stock to replace. We weren’t a library, true, but technically we weren’t merchants either, so who was I to press the issue?

At the end of the day, someone from Azuchi castle would come down and fetch him. Usually, Hideyoshi, but once it was a pretty woman about my age. Unlike the others, she seemed mystified as to how to break him out of his book induced spell. She waved her hands in front of his face, said his name at increasingly loud volume, and tapped him on the shoulder. I took pity on her.  “They usually have to take the book away.”

“Oh.” She carefully removed the book from his hands, and once he realized what had happened, he smiled at her so brilliantly that she in turn, had to blink to clear her vision.

“Mai! Hello! Did you come here to buy a book?”

She helped him to his feet, and said, “Mitsuhide told me to find you. There’s a war council going on.”

War council?

But I was unable to learn more, as Mitsunari seemed to flip a switch and in front of my eyes become serious and far more adultlike, and he hurried out of the shop.

Mai turned back to me before she left. “Does he need to pay for anything?”

I shook my head.

Once they had gone, I started a message to Aki, one I never finished, because ten minutes later, the man himself strolled into the store. “Aki? I didn’t expect to-“

He glanced around the store, as if to confirm it was empty, and then said, “Katsu, I finally have news of your brother. He might be in Sakai.”

Sakai had been where I’d been trapped in that warehouse over four years ago. Had Iekane inadvertently been telling me the truth then? Or was it a coincidence? The news had come from Francisco, who, which meant I had lost a lot of potential investigative time – the message had likely passed through the bookstore, possibly even while I was there.

Knowing that I would prefer to investigate this personally, Aki stayed in Azuchi, while I ditched the old man disguise and headed to Sakai.

The thing about port cities is that they generally have a transient population of sailors – and therefore much of the business in there to either attract or take advantage of (or both) said sailors.

Which is why after working my way down the street with the drawing of Toshiie, I was in a brothel when the fight broke out.

I didn’t begin the fight.

I didn’t plan to join the fight.

I was minding my own business – discovering that the man who everyone I had asked said looked like Toshiie, was not actually my brother – when a couple of sailors took exception to the popularity of a tall flirtatious warlord. True, he did appear to have every woman in the vicinity hanging on every word out of his mouth, but jealousy is a stupid reason to start a fight.

Then again, it’s also a really common reason.

One of the women yelled, “Shingen, look out!” and then the next thing I knew, there were swords, and fists, and crockery flying.

Ok. We’re done here.

I rolled under a table then kicked a stool into the path of a sailor who was about to pile on. The sailor fell over the stool, which was good, but now he was in my way. To the right of me, another sailor, who in his drunken state, decided he was going to fight the closest person.

I was the closest person.

Reluctantly, I pulled out my sword, hoping I wouldn’t actually be required to use it.

He waved his sword at me.

I was being required to use it.

I backed up, until I collided with – I peeked over my shoulder – the back of the tall warlord. He gave me a quick glance, then turned his attention back to his own battle. Well, on the bright side, he provided decent cover, and I wouldn’t have to fight him.

The drunk sailor lurched toward me, swinging wildly. I parried the swing, and then jabbed my elbow toward his face. He reflexively pulled back to avoid it, slipped in a puddle of – well hopefully it was sake – reeled wildly, then fell down. And stayed down.

I glanced around. The tall warlord had taken care of the rest of them with apparently a lot more skill and efficiency than it had taken me to handle one clumsy drunk. He gave me a brief nod, and then as if nothing had happened, turned back to the woman he had been flirting with before it all started. “Now, where were we, Angel?”

Ugh. Well that was a total waste of a day. And a night - though I did get to sleep in the town’s best Inn, as Aki had graciously given me more than enough money for the journey (I think he felt bad for sticking me with the wig and beard disguise). But even getting to sleep in a nice Inn, could not make up for the fact that once again, I had had a lead that turned out to be useless.

The next morning, still in a bad mood, I collected my horse at the inn yard, and headed back toward Azuchi.

Once away from Sakai, I let Moonlight have her head – she needed a good run as much as I did. With the wind in my face, and the scenery flying past, I began to feel, well, not better – that would have been too much to hope for – but at least less like I wanted to savage the next person who crossed my path.

Which was good, because the next person who crossed my path could easily have dismantled me with two strikes of a sword. The next person?  A one-eyed man riding a huge stallion. He was heavily armed, and approaching rapidly from behind.

The good news was that he didn’t seem to be chasing me. Just a warlord out for a joyride, apparently.

For the heck of it, I encouraged Moonlight to increase her pace.

The warlord sped up too – maybe he was chasing me? Oh, ah ha ha, he wanted to race.

Well, why not?

I grinned at him and pointed to a grove of trees up in the distance.

He nodded, and the race was on! Apparently, he had been holding his stallion back, because he blew past me and galloped to the trees a good fifteen seconds ahead of me.

“Good race, lad!” he said, when I caught up to him.

I patted Moonlight’s side. “Ah well, she’s built for distance and mountains, not speed – but some days call for a good run.”

“They do indeed.” With a cheerful wave, the one-eyed man set off again.

By the time I got back to the store the pretty day and impromptu race had restored me to good humor. I almost called out Honey, I’m home! … (a joke that no one would have gotten), but at the last minute, better sense prevailed.

Good thing I held back, as it turned out the usually empty of customers (aside from the oblivious Mitsunari) store was not empty. In fact, Aki was deep into a game of Shogi with a silver haired man. Of course he would manage to find an opponent anywhere. Not wanting to bother them, I ran out to grab something to eat, then sat down in the courtyard behind the store to wait them out. I could still hear the comforting clack of tiles.

After another hour or so, I heard Aki offer his congratulations – really? Aki lost to a random stranger? – and I scooted inside to see if I could get a better look at this prodigy. But he had already left.

I went over to the game board. “You lost?”

True to form, Aki did not technically answer my question. “Mitsuhide is a challenging opponent.”

Oh? That was the infamous Mitsuhide? I wished I had gotten to see more of him than the back of his head. I glanced out at the street, but of course it was too late. I glanced back down at the game board, and then… hmm. “I’m sorry you lost, then.”

“Sometimes you win more by losing.” Great. He was in his “I’m about to give you some vague advice and then drop the mic” mood.

“Well, then, I won a lot yesterday.” What with all the times I had been on a false trail to find my brother, I was possibly the biggest winner of this era.

“I did as well. And it’s time for us to return to the mountains – I need to check something else out,” Aki said. “Takauji will come down to keep an eye on things.”

“Tell him to bring cream of some kind. The beard itches.”

Aki headed out that night, saying that he would meet me near Nagahama, and I stuck around (in beard and wig) for a couple more days until Takauji arrived. Then I headed for the stable where I had been boarding my horse. And there, I encountered Sasuke’s familiar face.

“Katsu, are you leaving?”

“Yeah, I’m not sure where he’s sending me next, but hopefully I’ll see you on the road way before winter.” The winters around Aki’s manor were intense, and sometimes it could be weeks before we dug out from a blizzard. I’d never encountered another storm as bad as the one that had dumped me and Toshiie in this time period (although the one that sideswiped me on the way to Kyoto the night of Honno-ji was close), but every time the clouds mounted and the thunder rolled, a little voice in the back of my mind wondered if this one would sweep me off somewhere else, and keep my separated from my brother in both distance and time. Not that this worry was anything I could explain to Sasuke. He’d think I was crazy.

“I’ll look forward to seeing you again, Katsu. Perhaps you’ll be traveling as yourself.”

I knew he was talking about the beard and wig, but… he never had met me as myself, as Katsuko. He didn’t know who I really was.

At this point, I wasn’t sure I knew either.

[casspurrjoybell-27]

Our Hearts Collide - Chapter 24 - Part 1

*Warning - Adult Content*

Simon

Vince returned sometime in the middle of the night as his wolf eventually returned to slumber.

I remembered the piercing blue eyes that looked up at me with concern as we remained embraced on the couch, silently asking if everything had been okay.

Had I not had my arms around him, I was sure he would've jumped off the couch but after assuring him that I was more than okay, he eased back into my arms, resting his weary head on my chest and falling asleep.

The morning after hadn't been as peaceful and calm.

It started with Xavier barging into the room with heavy footsteps and the sound of other pack members in the halls.

"Help me," he whined, nearly tripping over his own feet.

At his distressed call, Vince shot upright, narrowly missing elbowing me in the side in the process.

We both glanced at him, sighing with relief that he wasn't in immediate danger, before noticing his two kids behind him.

Lilah laughed at her father's clumsiness before pulling her brother inside the room.

"Goddess, don't scare me like that," Vince muttered before stretching.

"What is it?"

Xavier took a few strides across the room before gesturing wildly to the doorway.

"I might've forgotten about the pack meeting today and Grant's not here to babysit."

It was then I noticed the two backpacks behind the kids.

"How do you forget a meeting?"

Vince looked at him incredulously.

"Is this the meeting you invited the neighboring Alphas?"

Xavier's pursed lips were an answer enough but he squeaked out...

"Maybe."

Vince pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Xavier."

"I lost track of time," he replied before clasping his hands together.

"Just please watch them for the time being? They've got some coloring books and books to read. Jonah's tablet was half-charged last I checked. I would've asked Dwaine but he has to attend too."

I arched a brow.

"What about Sam?"

Xavier's cheeks grew two shades redder.

He cleared his throat but Lilah was faster.

"Uncle Sam works today."

"Yeah," Xavier said, forcing a smile.

"Please, it shouldn't be longer than a couple of hours?"

I looked to Vince, who shrugged.

"Sure."

Lilah grinned, clapping her hands before running up to him.

"Yay," her brother let out a sheepish smile before tugging on Xavier's shirt.

Xavier bent down to pick him up while Vince helped Lilah onto the couch.

"Thanks, this meeting is super important," he said.

"I've been nervous about it for nearly a week."

"You'll do great," I told him, extending a hand to Jonah but he wasn't ready to leave Xavier yet.

"We've got these two covered, don't worry."

"Daddy didn't even feed us," Lilah said with a mischievous smile.

Xavier scoffed, clutching his chest with his free hand.

"Ouch, just call me out, why don't you. I would have but I was in a rush."

"Well, lucky for you, we haven't eaten either."

Vince checked the clock.

"We can ask Loreta if she's got any leftovers or uncle Simon could probably make something, right?"

Both he and Lilah looked up at me expectantly.

I nodded before standing to peel Jonah away from Xavier.

He didn't fight me but did give Xavier a big squeeze before wrapping his arms around me.

"Well, we should get going so your daddy isn't late for his big meeting," I told the kids.

"Let's get you two fed before we do any fun things, alright?"

Lilah expressed her excitement by practically tugging Vince off the couch and setting her backpack to the side.

At the same time, Jonah had no interest in doing anything but laying his head against my shoulder.

Xavier rushed to the council room, probably stressed about organizing the documents and things he needed for the meeting.

By the time we had walked down the hallway, a couple of the neighboring pack's leaders had walked past.

One caught Vince's eyes.

"Clayton?"

Vince stopped in his tracks, locking eyes with one of the Alphas in attendance.

A younger female behind him turned, flashing a genuine smile in Vince's direction.

"Rina."

"Vince," Rina said in a cheerful tone.

She wore a casual suit, donned in what I assumed her pack's colors, with a simple pair of white running shoes.

She held an air of authority that I would've mistaken her for the Alpha if Clayton hadn't been there.

Clayton stopped, tilting his head as he looked Vince up and down.

His brows furrowed almost in annoyance before he looked between us, then softened.

As he stepped closer to Vince, my grip on Jonah tightened as the older man's gaze was hard to figure out.

The Alpha looked at Jonah and Lilah before looking back at Vince.

Rina reached a hand out to grab mine but hesitated when I leaned into Vince.

"Sorry, you must be Simon. It's so nice to meet you. I'm Rina, Clayton's daughter. From the Northern Lights pack."

She didn't look anything like Clayton, aside from the sharp eyes and nose shape.

Her darker complexion and hair indicated she took after her mother.

Jonah hid his face in the crook of my neck as I extended my hand.

"Nice to meet you as well. You must know Vince from...."

"My time there," Vince added.

"Clayton's married to Arthur."

I nodded, connecting the dots in my head.

"Your father's mate."

Clayton scowled at that but Rina nudged his side.

Vince cleared his throat.

"Arthur didn't attend?"

Clayton shook his head.

"He's watching over pack affairs and Rina insisted on coming."

"I figured I should socialize with the other packs if those two finally retire," she elaborated.

"And by default, I'd be their next Beta. Just under Arthur, anyway."

Vince hummed.

"I was under the impression you'd never want to take over."

"Yes," she said.

"I didn't think about becoming Alpha but if Arthur's plan fails, I'd be willing to step in temporarily."

"Plan?"

I looked between them.

Clayton groaned.

"He's been thinking about what you said to him before you returned home."

Vince blinked before something sparked.

"His heir?"

Clayton nodded.

"He's never really given it much thought before... despite how much I mentioned it to him but whatever you told him has made him rethink things."

Rina laughed.

"Dad's just mad that you managed to convince him."

"Which is why I'm here," Rina filled in.

"Arthur doesn't have much hope with it either, so I'll have to get used to learning everything there is about being an Alpha. I'd love to know that his heir was out there but it's better to be prepared."

Vince nodded but our attention turned to Lilah as she tugged on Vince's shirt.

"I'm hungry."

Rina smiled before squatting to her height.

"It seems we've taken too much of your time, sweetie. Enjoy your breakfast."

Lilah nodded as Rina turned to us.

"It's good to see you again and it's nice to meet you finally, Simon. Arthur will be jealous he didn't get to meet you. Vince wouldn't shut up about you."

Vince's face went red.

"Is that so?" I teased.

Clayton smirked.

"At every meal, yes."

"Not every meal."

Clayton rolled his eyes as he held the council door open for Rina.

Before he could follow after her, he glanced between the two of us, saying in a teasing tone...

"Enjoy parenthood."

"They're not..." the doors shut before Vince could finish his sentence.

He ran a hand down his face as he looked at me hopelessly.

"He doesn't really think that, does he?"

I shrugged.

"I'm sure Xavier raves about his kids in the council. He's just messing with you."

"I sure hope so."

[kudosmyhero]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (vol. 1) #16: A Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Story

Read Date: June 12, 2023 Cover Date: July 1988 ● Writer: Mark Martin ● Pencils: Mark Martin ● Inks: Mark Martin ● Letterer: Steve Lavigne ●

**HERE BE SPOILERS: Skip ahead to the fan art/podcast to avoid spoilers

Reactions As I Read: ● flying tackle glomp

● where the fuck is this story going ● the fan letters are gonna rake this one over the coals ● 👏

Synopsis: The story begins with a little girl sitting on a box who talks to the reader. She begins by saying, "Let me tell you a story."

The girl explains that she has a time machine and that she has to thank the turtles for their help, but she must hurry as the time machine only has about 2 hours before it relocates.

The girl then enters the time machine (which is nothing more than a big white cube on the outside, but is filled with all kinds of apparatus on the inside) and engages its engines, which warp reality. "I hate this part," she says.

Cut to the streets of a city, where a drug addict has just stolen an old lady's purse. The woman's little dog is in pursuit of thief, but he meets up with the turtles before the dog can bite his ankle. The junkie throws the purse at Michelangelo and flees. Raphael admonishes Mike for blowing their cover, but Mikey states that no one will believe a word the crook says. Raph than asks Mike how he'll get the purse back to the lady without compromising their identities, and that's where the little dog comes in handy. Mikey gives the pooch the purse and the dog runs back to his master in victory.

Suddenly the time machine appears in the alley. The little girl pokes her head out and sees Leonardo, who she leaps on and hugs his neck. Leonardo warns the girl to mind his pair of katana and to be more careful who she leaps on. The girl says "You don't know who I am yet, do you?" Leo is bewildered and goes to fetch his brothers.

The little girl sends the reader off to shop for books for about an hour. Leo and the others appear in the room cautiously, wary of any further hug attacks. The girl says that she came back to thank them, just as the time machine begins to act up. The lass quickly hugs each turtle in thanks and gets back into the box, which warps reality once again. The box takes off and moments later a new box lands in the same spot, with a profound "Ouch!" resounding from within. The Turtles recognize the girl's voice and wonder what's going on.

The box opens and a head pokes out, revealing the time traveler—who no longer looks like a little girl, but a bug-eyed mutant. Everyone screams.

After brief confusion, the time traveler tells her story to the Turtles. Her father, Bobby, wanted to be in the cola business but had to give up his dreams when his wife, Manda, became pregnant. The soda business was only losing the couple money, and with a baby on the way, Bobby had to start making money to support the family. So the inventor takes a job with the Maximegamulticorp Capitalist Conglomerates Research Center (MMMCCC), and begins working on an "intelligence boosterizer" formula. While at work, Bobby worries about the use of the concoction and his proximity to dangerous chemicals, radiation and other phenomena. His co-worker reassures him and tells him that they'll be getting raises next week, which keeps Bobby going.

The time traveler then explains that while she was developing in her mother's womb, she began to assimilate her parent's thoughts and understand the world far better than her mother could. She also became aware that she was a genetic misfit, and once she was born, people would be frightened of her appearance… so when her mother finally gave birth, the traveler ran away. The mutant girl knew that her parents couldn't cope with a super-intelligent mutant baby, and she feared what the government would do to her (dissection). So the traveler escaped the hospital and set up a secret lab of her own. She had monitored her parents lives for awhile, but the guilt of having a mutant baby had wrecked Bobby and Manda's lives, so the traveler stopped keeping tabs on them as it was too depressing. Eventually the time traveler devised a plan—she built a time machine that would allow her to travel back in time and convince her father to not take the job from MMMCCC, thus allowing her to be born as a normal little girl.

The time traveler asks the turtles to help her on the mission, and the guys debate the problems with disrupting the time line. As the turtles discuss the theoretical problems, the traveler runs off. The turtles set off in pursuit and eventually arrive at a house. The boys barge in to find a shocked Bobby and Manda, who are speechless and immobile. The turtles are tongue-tied at first, but thanks to some quick thinking, they pose as employees of MMMCCC and welcome Bobby to the company. Bobby and Manda remain in shock as the turtles head out.

As the guys are descending a stairway pondering if their ruse will work, they come to the conclusion that it will, as they've already met the traveler in the form of a normal little girl. The guys get back to where the time machine is and are greeted by the traveler, who now looks like a mix of the little girl and her former mutant self (not a pretty sight). As the girl continues to mutate, she bids the turtles farewell and climbs back into the box. Reality warps once again. "I hate this part!" the turtles exclaim.

Cut to a kitchen, where we see the little girl getting some cola out of her refrigerator. She spots the reader but shows no recognition, in fact she accuses you of being a stowaway and states that you'll have to go back as soon as possible. She then remembers that she has a test tomorrow and that she has to study—which excites her because she's getting her normal memories back. Apparently all went well with the time travel scheme.

"Ring my bell!" the girl exclaims, "I'm turning into me! You just will not be-leev what I did today…"

The little girl pulls up a box, sits down and says "Let me tell you a story."

What goes around comes around.

(https://turtlepedia.fandom.com/wiki/A_Teenage_Mutant_Ninja_Turtles_Story)

Fan Art: Raphael and Casey Jones by Khary Randolph by AshcanAllstars

Accompanying Podcast: ● Shellheads - episode 23

[jade-from-zamonia]

that sounds so good, I wish I could read a translation (⁠T⁠T⁠) thank you for the amazing summary, I have to write my thoughts on it because this is the first time I see this much of the plot explained.

- it seems like hilde has actual trauma from the events of Codb which.. valid. It makes sense after the whole shitshow he experienced in the catacombs and at the end of the book (rip homuncolossus, you would've loved ao3). he needs therapy. I don't even think they have therapy in zamonia but they should definitely invent it, cause oh boy...

- and yeah. our dino being the ONLY one who didn't get seasick on that boat? press x to doubt. I smell bullshit my guy.

- 1 and a half hours of explaining all the cool stuff he saw in the museum? very moers thing to do. atp i would be kind of suspicious that someone else wrote it if this kind of thing wasn't there haha

-so the Quaquappa is kind of like a parallel to the shadow kings story and Hildegunst is automatically feeling for it cause it reminds him of him? ಥ⁠‿⁠ಥ ouch. I may or may not be crying. it's actually really sad to see just how affected he is by Homuncolossus' death (for the context I haven't yet read the labyrinth of dreaming books so I didn't have the chance to see it aside from a couple of people mentioning here that he is VERY affected)

-also I love the Quaquappa. I've never heard of it until this day but I love the Quaquappa.

i feel like millions of English-speaking contemporary romance writers struggle with fleshing out strong and convincing romantic relationships in their works while the craziest, most serious and reckless magnetic 'love-and-affection' magic was accidentally assigned to a couple of barely humanoid creatures in a whimsical fantasy/dark fairy tale book written by a reclusive German author

[howellerino]

The Wicked King

HOLY MOTHER OF GOD

SPOILERS AHEAD

FIRST OF ALL- THIS BOOK DESTROYED ME

Locke. I WANT HIM DEAD. Why has no one fucking killed him yet? HOW DARE HE EXISt.

Taryn. Kill her too. Honeslty, she is the biggest backstabber I have ever read about. You decide to trust her for a second and she breaks your heart. UNBELIEVABLE. I have ever read about a more disfunctional family.

Vivian. She pretends what Taryn does is no big deal and it frustrates the hell out of me. As an older sister- if one of them was acting like this, I'd notice and do something about it. She basically has power that she has no interest in using and I'm OVER IT.

Madoc. THIS FUCKING GUY. I find myself hating him and wanting his approval at the same time?? He is a HORRIBLE man, he killed Jude's parents but still, I find myself hoping that their relationship can be fixed. When he oficially 'declared' her an enemy, I was so... shocked. Horrible guy, great character. I see him being the antagonist for the next book. He craves power too much and my prediction is someone's gonna kill him. Maybe someone we don't expect.

The Ghost. WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT. I WAS HOPING TO SEE HIM AS MAYBE INTERESTED IN JUDE AND BAM. broke my heart a little to be honest.

Jude. J U D E. Reading about everything she had to handle regarding the kingdom, and family issues, training, spying, it EXHAUSTED ME. Like emotionally. When she's climbing up wall to reach Cardan and she just wonders and thinks about letting go, shit I FELT that. I KNEW she was making a mistake letting Cardan go, but fuck - I was blindsided. I'm still a little bit in shock. She's gonna have a hell of a lot of trouble living in the mortal lands. You know what? I HOPE she finds a good mortal guy who loves her. YOU DESERVE TO BE HAPPY. Also- it bothered and pissed me off so much that after A WHOLE YEAR of poisoning herself, when she needed it, it no longer worked???? Also THE SCENE WHERE SHE KILLS GUYS WITH AN AXE AND THEN HEALS HERSELF. I don't think I had ever reach such a bad ass scene. And i've read my fair share. I really appreciate that we get to see her evolve i to who she is. That she's not just a fighter and a survivor but smart and cunning.

Cardan. W H A T T H E F U C K. I said for the last book, we needed better character development for him and BITCH WE GOT IT. I was NOT expecting ANYTHING he did. I do hope he doesnt go around just murdering people. I respect the hell out of him priding himself in not killing. He HAS to have some sort of plan and I just hope it works out. He's risking too much. He might be liking this game of being king. Maybe he sent Jude to the mortal world to protect her? Maybe he has no intention on ever letting her return? I doubt thay because well, there IS a second book. I just hope he knows what he's doing.

Jude and Cardan. THESE TWO ARE MARRIED. And still Cardan can't decide if he fucking hates her or not. ITS NOT THAT HARD, JUST DECIDE!! When he proposed I has like 'hm okay' but then he exiles her and i was SHAKEN TO MY CORE. I don't know what he expects out of this. He asked for her trust. But everyone you trust in this book ends up breaking your heart and I can't really take it. He needs to deal with Madoc and so many other things, jesus christ.

Final thoughts. I wonder how much time would've passed between the end of this book and the start of the other. I most definitely see Cardan sending Jude a letter or Roach to tell her important things. To keep an eye on her. Maybe he crowned her to give her a false sense of security and planned on leaving her forever. Maybe he couldn't let her go just yet and bound her in a way that made her his. Madoc has some tricks up his sleeve. As a father figure, I want him to redeem himself but I know he wont. Jude is gonna do something. She's not gonna sit all day watching the telly, moping. It's JUDE, she's gonna find a way. And when she does, we're all gonna be shook.

Rating: 4.5/5 ⭐(I'm honestly just pissed Locke isn't dead)

P.S. Just someone please kill Locke and Taryn, I begg youuu

[sivyera]

Arcane characters as Disney couple.

ft. vi, jinx, ekko, silco, caitlyn, vander, sevika, cassandra, viktor, jayce

WARNINGS: bad grammar

CONTAINS: fluff

SONG: Rosyln - Bon Iver

photos are not mine

Jinx - Anna and Kristoff

You as Kristoff - Jinx as Anna Jinx is very hyperactive as Anna. She is also very funny and can fall in love easily. Jinx wants everything good for you and she will make you little surprise. She will make sure she's never out off line and that she give you all her time. Your relationship is like roller coaster. Once you are high which is unicorns and rainbows, but there is a fall and that comes when she needs your help. With her conditions like panic attacks, schizophrenia, PTSD, etc...

Ekko - Pocahontas and John Smith

You as Pocahontas - Ekko as John Smith You would die for each other. Protecting each other with your lives. Traveling around the world. Having very domestic relationship and fully trust each other. You're from Piltover and Ekko is from Zaun. You can only imagine how Piltover people are reacting on it but be honest, you don't care. You love Ekko most than anything and you don't care if he's from Piltover or Zaun. He does the same but sometimes he think that you deserve someone rich and someone with whom the relationship would not be life-threatening.

Vi - Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl

You as Elastigirl - Vi as Mr. Incredible Vi is very stubborn like Bob so she hate see you fight with someone. She just scared, she can't lose you. She can't live without you. But she is proud of you as well. She know that you're strong and you can protect yourself. But it become her instinct. When she hear you say 'ouch' she's next to you in a second. She is very protective. You're calmer and more reasonable in this relationship. Very powerful couple. She would do anything for you. And if someone wants to stole you away, she won't hesitate a second to beat the person up.

Viktor - Tarzan and Jane

You as Tarzan - Viktor as Jane I don't mean it like you are some wild animal or something, no, no. But Viktor is very smart just like Jane. Viktor likes learning new things but because of his sick leg he can't do sports or any other strenuous activities. So he appreciate when you describe him those things. Like running for example. He likes to see the world by your eyes. He loves reading you books and overall just talk to you about everything. He think you deserve someone better than him so reassure him that he's enough for you.

Caitlyn - Lady and Tramp

You as Tramp - Caitlyn as Lady I think we all can agree on that Cait is Lady. She is from rich family and from Piltover. Otherwise you just want to enjoy your life so you don't care where you are. You just want to explore every crevice. You can teach her how to make her life more exciting. You bring happiness in her life. She is very grateful to you for that. She would take you on fancy dinners and after dinner you would go watch fireworks. You also help her solve problems because you know probably everything and everyone in Piltover and Zaun. She often stare at you. She is just admiring you, let her stare in peace.

Jayce - Cinderella and prince Charming

You as Cinderella - Jayce as prince Charming You're his princess and no one can change his mind. All his life he wanted someone like you. You care for him so much. And he likes the feeling of warm you give him. When he's frustrated or sad he reach you, wrap his arms and don't let you go for hours. He would do anything for you. Lots of PDA. He loves the jealous mens/womans give him when they see that you are already taken. And he spoils you a lot.

Cassandra Kiramman - Mulan and Shang

You as Mulan - Cassandra as Shang She is more dominant in this relationship. But she never yell at you or makes you feel uncomfortable. You two are exactly like Yin and Yang. You are not meant to be perfect, you are meant to be whole. You complete each other even in simple things. You are both very strong womans. You also know everything about each other. Favourite tea/coffee, food, colour etc.. She can't imagine her life without you. You came to her life so randomly. She is not willing to give you to anyone else. You are hers and she is yours.

Silco - Belle and The Beast

You as Belle - Silco as the Beast/prince Adam Silco is king of Zaun. He have power and almost everything he ever wanted. Key word 'almost'. I feel like before he get into that fight with Vander he wanted someone who will complete him. He feels empty, he needs a charge to life. And the charge is you. You are the one who saved him, who make him feel like a person again. It's very hard to find a rose in Zaun so he always send Sevika or Jinx to bring him the reddest rose they can find in Piltover. He always leave the rose with little note when he have to leave before you wake up.

Sevika - Hercules and Meg

You as Meg - Sevika as Hercules You are more cunning and flexible than Sevika. Otherwise she is more stronger and tough. Still she have a huge soft spot for you. She maybe don't seem like it. She would kill for you without hesitation. She likes to show you off. She likes trying new drinks and food with you. She stare at people who are flirting with you or making you uncomfortable. After you go away she makes sure that the person wouldn't be able to move for a months. And when she is in bad mood, the people probably won't survive.

Vander - Snow white and The Prince

You as Snow white - Vander as The Prince we are not gonna talk about this huge age difference between these two

Vander is a huge guy so that means cuddles all the time. He likes picking you up on a princess style. You are so tiny compered to him so he calls you cutie. In his eyes everything you do is cute. He likes stroke you on your head. Every time when you are sad or insecure he kiss your whole body. From head to toes. And between each kiss he tells you how beautiful you are. Beautiful *kiss* perfect *kiss* amazing *kiss* cute *kiss* Relationship with him is like being wrapped in cotton candy.

[chihirolovebot]

(cw: mentions of c//vid 19 for anyone that needs it?..)

i’ve had covid for a couple days and I just feel awful ugh, i have a sore throat and no appetite and I’m always tired :( is it okay if you do byakuya and nagito (separate) x sick!reader, with those symptoms? it doesn’t have to be covid :3

featuring — byakuya togami, nagito komaeda.

content — sickness, fluff, food/eating mention.

notes — sorry you're ill :( i had covid a few weeks ago and it really sucked. prayers for a speedy recovery <3

— byakuya.

first of all i'm going to imagine this to be future foundation!byakuya because i see him as more mature and doting :)

hopes peak!byakuya would probably just send his butlers to tend to you lmao.

is he concerned? yes, very. will he show it? good luck.

first of all, you going into work is out of the question. he threatens to actually tie you down if you attempt it. tells you to stop being an idiot and that you're no help to anyone if you're ill.

ouch lmao

you know he's actually just worried for you tho <3

gets extra concerned if you don't have an appetite. he sends for your favourite foods but when he gets the call that you're not eating, he comes right back home.

tries to coax you into eating :(( mostly uses bargaining. like, "just ten spoonfuls and then you can stop." "you're not going back to sleep until you clear at least this bit here, understand?"

takes your temperature religiously, every hour on the hour to make sure you're not getting a fever.

keeps the bedside well-stocked with anything you could need. ice, water, antibiotics, painkillers, hot water bottles, a wet washcloth, your favourite books.

gets you expensive lozenges for your sore throat!! and a variety of soothing herbal teas that he makes you drink.

he's uncharacteristically soft when you get sick. it kind of jolts him back to the scary reality that you're all mortal, and it makes him unusually tender and touchy.

a hand on your head, patting your shoulder as you drink your tea, tilting your head up when he spoons you hot soup </3

one of the few times he lets you crawl all over him so make the most of it.

if you ever call attention to how doting he's being he'll get incredibly embarrassed.

"do it yourself, then."

"don't be bitter :)"

— nagito.

oh no.

first of all, he's convinced he is the reason you're sick.

even if he hasn't been sick, he'll just blame his luck. his first instinct is to get the hell out of dodge to avoid worsening your condition.

you're gonna have to tell him you want him there.

he's a little terrified.

"you... are you sure? you really want someone as useless as me taking care of you? shouldn't i get mikan instead?"

you tell him no, but he gets her anyway. she takes your temperature and tells him what you need and he feels slightly more prepared.

once he realises you really don't want him to leave, oh god he's utterly devoted to you.

at your side 24/7. refuses to leave even when you try and sleep your illness off. he's there, holding your hand at your bedside.

reads to you!! oh my god. he gets your favourite book and sits beside you on the bed, letting you droop all over him as he reads aloud. his voice is so soft and soothing it sends you dozing off immediately <3

i headcanon he can actually cook okay if his luck is on his side so he makes you soft, easy foods like soups and stews. gets incredibly worried if you don't want to eat and it'll be one of the few times he actually argues with you.

"please eat something... i can't just sit here whilst you... please? just a few spoonfuls, you can do that, right?"

goes to the pharmacy for way more medicine than you need - like, he comes back with boxes spilling out of his arms. very diligent with making you take tablets like antibiotics and throat soothers because he wants you better as soon as possible!

literally at your service the whole time. he takes time off school to stay with you, cooks for you, even cleans up your room if it starts getting messy.

thank him!! he'll be a mess :')))

"it - it's nothing! it's my honour, really, that you'd allow me to take care of you like this..."

[tyongxnct]

𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑡𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 - 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑘 𝐿𝑒𝑒

pairing: Mark Lee x reader

special guest: Jaehyun, Johnny, Yuta, Jungwoo, Taeyong, Doyoung, mention of Haechan

summary: Years ago, you were deeply in love with Mark Lee. He’s your first love and you thought he’d be the last. After finding out why he really dated you, he broke up with you and vanished. You were devastated and heartbroken. Now you were at the airport as the maid of honor of your best friend Aera, her wedding’s in Greece and you were flying three days earlier with her, her fiancé Jaehyun and his best man. Little did you know that Mark Lee was Jaehyun’s best man. Feelings you thought you had buried deep inside bloomed again.

song: back to you - Selena Gomez

genre: exes-to-lovers!au, angst, smut, fluff

warnings: smut, alcohol consumption, swearing

word count: 11.7k

A/N: I’m finally done. This is the last fic of my series and I can’t believe that i’m done with this series. This series means so much to me, not only because I love Selena Gomez, but also because of the meaning behind evey story. Thank you for all of your support, thank you for every comment, like, reblog, ask and follow. This is just the beginning. Also thank you for requesting that you want to read a second part to some of my stories, I’ll try to write them in the upcoming month, march. I hope you enjoy. Thanx

taglist: @alex-chann​, @aesthetichrj @bvbyxuxi​​

© tyongxnct on all platforms

Took you like a shot Thought that I could chase you with a cold evening Let a couple years water down how I'm feeling about you And every time we talk Every single word builds up to this moment And I gotta convince myself I don't want it even though I do

“I have BIG news!” Aera squealed as soon as you opened the door for her. She hugged you tightly and started jumping, you jumped with her even though you had no idea why.

“Why are we jumping around?”

“Greece! I’m getting married in Greece!” she yelled happily, “You know that it’s my dream to get married in Greece and my amazing soon-to-be-husband surprised me with it! Oh god, I  can’t believe I’m marrying Jaehyun in fucking GREECE!”

“Holy shit that’s great! But can we stop jumping I might puke.”

You sat down on your couch with Aera, “We need to start planning, the wedding is in 3 weeks. I’ve sent the invitations right before I came here. We booked a hotel with the best view ever and my wonderful maid of honor aka you are flying with me and Jaehyun a two days earlier, you know, to get stuff done and the others come one day before the wedding, your man too, by the way. I can’t wait for my bachelorette party- but remember, I promised Jaehyun no strippers.” Her eyes sparkled as she talked about her wedding and you started thinking about your own future.

Were you ever going to get married? You want to get married, you really do. But what if you never get the chance to? Your boyfriend hated to talk about commitment and marriage, he said living together and dating was enough, but you never felt the same way. You wanted to get married, you want a ring on your finger, and you wanted to call him your husband, not your boyfriend.

Aera left after a while and you were alone, until you heard the door open with a sigh. “I’m home.”

His voice, no, his existence alone triggered you and without knowing you plugged in your earphones. “I said I’m home Y/n. There she fucking goes again, god I’m not going to deal with you tonight.” And without saying anything after that, he left again. Minho, your boyfriend of two and half years, always left you alone. He never bothered to talk to you about the problems in your relationship and after trying and trying, you were sick of it.

Dating him was almost torture but breaking up with him was also difficult. You were so scared of being alone, of not being loved.

Almost three weeks later, you found yourself at the airport with Jaehyun and Aera. Jaehyun looked at his watch every two minutes and he looked really nervous too. “Where the fuck is he?” he mumbled and Aera kicked his leg. “Ouch?” he hissed in pain. “Sorry baby didn’t mean to kick you that hard.”

“What is going on here? Who are we waiting for?” you asked confused. “You didn’t tell her?” Jaehyun asked his fiancée. Aera shook her head.

“W-Well about that- uhm, there’s one thing I have to tell you, but don’t get too mad,” Aera looked at you nervously, “you, uhm… you remember Mark Lee, right? Please forgive me for not telling you, but- fuck, he’s Jaehyun’s best man. He’s coming with us.” Aera closed her eyes, scared of your reaction.

“You are joking right?” your heart pounded against your chest.

“N-No, I really didn’t know that you didn’t know- a-and you know, Mark’s my oldest friend and yeah, and uhm, fuck he’s coming act natural.” Jaehyun looked at his phone and laughed, even though his screen was dark and Aera laughed with him.

“How the fuck am I supposed to act natural?!” you almost yelled bus as soon as you heard Mark’s little hi, your heart stopped beating.

It’s been almost three years since you heard his voice. Every memory played in your mind like a sad movie, the second he asked you to be his girlfriend to the end of your relationship with him, the moment he broke your heart almost made you cry again, but Aera stepped on your foot and you came back to reality.

“Hi.” You said coldly, his last word replaying in your head over and over again.

Aera and Jaehyun watched you and Mark awkwardly and Mark couldn’t find any words to say, except for, “H-hi.”

“Sooo, now that everyone’s here,” Jaehyun handed you your tickets. “Thanks.” Mark mumbled.

You were about to go on board, you didn’t say a word since Mark came and he was busy talking to Aera and Jaehyun. “Y/n, we’ll see you guys when we land alright?”

“What do you mean?” you asked confused, “We sit together? Right?”

“W-Well about that- we are flying first class, we wanted to spoil ourselves a little- please don’t get angry I’m sorry I am so sorry.” Aera whispered and you felt like you could explode any second like a volcano.

“Y-You mean… you’re telling me I have to sit with him for the next couple hours?! All alone?!” you tried to whisper but it was loud enough for Jaehyun and Mark to hear.

“shh! Just, I don’t know, sleep, or watch a movie or maybe just talk to him like a grown up, please do it for me?” she pouted.

“I’m gonna be wasted when we arrive in Greece.” You couldn’t be angry at her. “As long as you don’t kill him.”

Jaehyun and Aera entered the plane first and left you and Mark alone. “So, how have you been?”

The audacity.

“Good.” You mumbled. How long until you could enter that fucking plane?

“Me too, well, I’d say ok-“

“Look, Mark. I’m doing this for our friends, okay? I’m not interested in your life. I don’t want to talk to you unless it’s about the wedding. Did I make myself clear?” maybe you were mean and bitchy, but after everything he had done to you, you didn’t care.

He just nodded and looked down to his feet.

Half an hour later, you were seated on the plane right next to Mark. It’s not your first time flying, but it was Mark’s first time, and he was fucking scared.

“This is captain Lee Taeyong speaking, I’m your pilot for our flight to Mykonos, Greece. My co-pilot for today is Kim Doyoung. Please enjoy your flight.”

After the announcement and the instructions, you were ready to go.

The plane started moving and you could feel Mark tensing up next to you. His grip on the hand rest tightened and his knuckles turned white.

You tried so hard to ignore him, but you couldn’t. You should laugh at him, take pictures of his suffering- but you held his hand and assured it him that it’ll be over.

Mark looked at you and then back at your hands. Your thumb slowly stroked his hand and he stopped thinking about the plane and he could only think about your hand holding his.

You held his hand until you saw the flight attendant walk around.

Mark thanked you but you ignored him.

“Hello, would you like to have some water or coffee?” the flight attendant asked you and Mark.

“Just a water please.” Mark said.

“Do you have something stronger? Wine? Or champagne?”

“Sure ma’am.”

“Alright I’d like to have some champagne.” You smiled and she nodded.

Mark looked at you, eyes a little wide.

Four glasses later, you were a little tipsy.

“I think you had enough-“ Mark tried to stop you from ordering another glass.

“You don’t know anything about me!” you protested.

“Y/n, get some sleep come on-“

“Mind your own business.” You plugged in your Airpods and ignored him. You didn’t want him to interact with you and If you have to stop drinking for him to shut up, you sadly had to.

You closed your eyes and leaned back. You didn’t notice Mark’s eyes on you, watching your pretty features as your chest raised with every breath you took.

Shortly after, you fell asleep.

You could break my heart in two But when it heals, it beats for you I know it's forward but it's true

Three years ago

“It was a game. I won and now it’s over.” Mark said coldly as he looked away.

“What do you mean a game? And what is over? Mark, babe, I don’t understand.” Maybe you knew, maybe you tried to hide the fact that you saw it coming. Your relationship was too good to be true.

“I told my friends that I could fuck you within a year, and I did. We’ve been dating for ten months. I won. I can’t believe I waited ten months to fuck you.” He said casually.

“What?”

“Are you deaf? I fucked you and I got a lot of cash in exchange. Now we’re over. As simple as that.”

“You’re joking? Right? You love me, Mark. We love each other. It’s not funny.” Your voice broke.

“I’m not fucking joking,” he showed you the money he got, “Now, please get the fuck out of my apartment. Oh, and take your toothbrush with you.”

You were crying and that annoyed him. “Why are you fucking crying?!”

“M-Mark please don’t do this- I love you. I have never loved anyone like I love you. P-Please tell me you’re lying.” You sobbed.

“You know what, I’m leaving. Leave before I come back.”

Mark didn’t want to leave, but watching you cry and sob hurt him, he would never admit that to you but deep down, he felt something for you. Mark thought ending things with you was better than walking on eggshells. It was a matter of time until you would find out. He didn’t want to risk you finding out from someone else. The least he could do was tell you, face to face.

You loved him, you really loved him so much. He was a perfect boyfriend. There was not a single day you doubt him or your relationship. It hurt, you first ever heartbreak and you didn’t know how to handle the pain.

I wanna hold you when I'm not supposed to When I'm lying close to someone else You're stuck in my head and I can't get you out of it If I could do it all again I know I'd go back to you I know I'd go back to you I know I'd go back to you

After your breakup with Mark, you felt your life slowly falling apart. You were barely present in class and you stopped interacting with your friends. You drowned in self-pity and you fell deeper and deeper. Only Aera was there for you. After so many years of friendship, she always got your back.

“Is the pain ever going to stop?” you asked her between sobs.

“Honey, it’ll take a while, but I promise you, it’ll stop.”

Aera and Jaehyun were dating since first year of college and he told you that he had no idea about his oldest friend’s plan. Jaehyun was happy to see his friend happy- because was happy whenever he was with you. You went on double dates and spent so much time together, Jaehyun really thought that you and Mark were going to end up together.

“I swear I didn’t know. His other friends- that Haechan guy and the others were with him. He never told me because he know that we’re friends.”

“It’s okay, Jae. You’re not as childish as they’re. Don’t worry about it. I’m fine.”

And Jaehyun and Aera never left your side until college was over. During your time thinking about life and finishing college, you met Minho, your current boyfriend. You started dating and you thought he’d help you get over Mark, but he only made you feel worse.

He was a fuckboy, he fucked anyone with tits, and even though you knew it, you still agreed to date him.

Multiple fights and breakups followed, and you always end up at Aera’s or Minho would leave for a couple days.

Whenever you were lonely, and it was the case most of time, you thought about Mark. You missed him, his lips, his touches, the way he laughed and his silly jokes. You missed the way he said I love you and how warm and loved you felt with him.

No matter how hard Mark hurt you, you didn’t regret falling in love with him. You’d do it again and again.

We never got it right Playing and replaying old conversations Overthinking every word and I hate it 'Cause it's not me And what's the point in hiding Everybody knows we got unfinished business And I'll regret it if I didn't say this isn't what it could be

Two days until the wedding

Mark shook you softly and tried to wake you up. “Hey, Y/n. We’re here. Wake up.”

“Just a little longer Markie.” You mumbled in your sleep as you held his hand. When you landed, Mark got scared again and just held your hand without asking you. You were asleep after all.

Mark’s heart was about to explode. He blushed at the nickname. You used to call him Markie every time you were sleepy or acting like a baby to get his attention.

And every fucking time he fell for it and his heart softened. “Okay baby.” This time Mark stroked your hand with his thumb.

About three minutes later, the flight attendant came to wake her. “Sir, ma’am. You need to leave the plane. We landed almost ten minutes ago.”

You slowly woke up and stretched your arms. “What? Oh, sorry.” You stood up, a little too fast. Everything was spinning, Mark held your waist and you fell on his lap.

“Are you sure we landed? Everything’s spinning around.” You held your head, not noticing that you were on Mark’s lap. “Y/n, uhm, could you stand up? But do it slowly this time!” he still held your waist. “What? Oh, shit, sorry.” You stood up, a little slower this time.

“Y/n! Mark! What took you so long? What the hell?” Aera looked strictly but as she saw Mark’s arm around your waist she softened. “S-she’s a little tipsy.” Mark said, cheeks red.

“Of course, she is.”

“Am not! Oh my god, the weather is so good!” your eyes were slightly open but as soon as you saw the sea and the beautiful architecture your smiled brightly. You pushed Mark’s arm off and started unbuttoning your shirt.

Mark’s eyes widened, and Jaehyun turned around, he didn’t want to watch you take off your clothes. Aera’s mouth fell open and Mark kept on watching you. Your tank top under your shirt rose a little and Mark’s eyes travelled to your soft skin. You put your shirt in your handbag and took out your sunglasses.

Mark’s eyes never left your body, his eyes going up to your breasts. He needs to get away from you or he’ll lose his mind.

“You can turn back baby, she’s wearing something underneath.”

“J-Jaehyun maybe we should… you know.” Mark locked eyes with Jaehyun.

“What you mean Mark?” Jaehyun asked cluelessly.

“A car, you know, for the hotel.”

“Oh yeah right. Ladies, don’t move away, we’ll go rent a car.” Jaehyun kissed Aera and then they left.

“I’m going to kill him.” You breathed out after Mark left. “You won’t.” Aera posed next to you as you took selfies together. “I will. I hate him. He acts like nothing happened, like, like he never broke my heart. As if we’re old friends or shit like that.”

“He acts totally shy around you. I think you intimidate him. Did you see how he watched you when you took off your shirt? That idiot was and is so into you.” Aera always thought that Mark loved you, no matter what he did. You don’t date someone for months just for 50 bucks. “He’s a man. As soon as they see tits, they’re on their knees.” You laughed.

“Well, maybe you should let him kneel for you a little longer. I guess he’s into that.” She giggled.

“I can’t believe that you just said that.” You closed your eyes. “Well, Jaehyun’s into that.”

“Jaehyun’s into what?” Jaehyun asked as he heard his name. “Into me of course.”

“That’s why I’m marrying you.” He pulled her in for a kiss- a very steamy and hot kiss. “Hello? Keep it PG-13 please.” You looked at them with disgust in your eyes. Mark awkwardly coughed next to you. “The car is ready.”

You were in the backseat with Mark, he was a little close for your liking. “Your leg is touching mine.” You said. “And?” he asked.

“I don’t like it.”

“Sounds like a you problem.” He said back. “Excuse me?” you said in disbelief.

Jaehyun and Aera locked eyes for a second.

Aera turned the radio louder and it was your song.

“Y/n! Isn’t that your favorite song?!” she yelled through the music. Mark glanced at you. He remembered the song. You had your first kiss with Mark, and that song was playing in the background. You were in his car, just like right now, in the backseat.

“No. It’s not.” You said as you looked out.

“What? But it’s in your Spotify playlist. What was it called? Fav songs? Best songs? His songs? My songs?” she kept on asking and you couldn’t take it anymore. “’Our songs’ but I deleted that because that playlist was stupid. Now, please. Change that songs.”

Mark smiled to himself. You still had the playlist called our songs? Mark and you created that playlist when you were dating and you always listened to it, over thousand times and it never got boring.

“Fine.” She sighed. “No! Don’t change that song. I-it is my favorite song.” Mark said and you looked at him with furrowed brows.

“Okay.”

“Change it.” You demanded.

“Don’t.” Mark was looking at you too. “Aera, change the song.” You said through gritted teeth.

“Aera I’ll jump out of the car If you change it.” Mark threatened.

“He won, Y/n, sorry. He threatened with his life.”

You didn’t say anything because the song changed. You looked back to your phone, ignoring Mark.

“We’re here.” Jaehyun parked the car and you mouth fell open. The hotel looked stunning. “Holy shit. This place is fucking gorgeous.” Aera said happily. “Only the best for my fiancée.” Jaehyun was fucking cheesy but Aera loved it.

The hotel was not exactly like a hotel. It was more like little white house’s next to each other with a pool and a perfect view. The house was bigger than you thought, many guest rooms, a big room for the couple and a very big room for you and Mark, at the end of the hallway, far away from Jaehyun and Aera’s room.

“If you excuse us for a while, we have things to discuss in our room,” Jaehyun said as he winked at Aera. “But we’ll get dinner together. Don’t go too far, stay in your rooms or go swimming we don’t really care just leave us alone for an hour-“ Aera kicked his leg again. “or three.”

After unpacking your stuff, you decided to go to the pool. You changed to your black two-piece swimsuit and left your room and at the same time Mark opened his door and left his room. He was in his swim trunks and he stopped his movements as soon as he saw you leaving your room.

Mark tried to hide his gaze on your body, but he was quite obvious. “Stop staring.”

“I-I’m not staring.” He looked away.

“Sure.” You made your way outside, to the pool. It was extremely hot, you put your towel on the beach chair next to the pool and sat down, ready to put on some sunscreen. Mark entered the porch and looked at you. You put sunscreen on your legs and didn’t break the eye contact.

You wanted to tease him, provoke him so you put on a show. You slowly pulled the straps of your swimsuit down and slowly put the sunscreen on your neck and shoulders until you reached the upper part of your breasts. You didn’t need to look at Mark, you felt his eyes on your as he put his stuff down next to you.

“Mark?”

“Y-Yes?” he stuttered, his focus on your breasts.

“Could you help me? I can’t reach my back.” You said innocently.

Mark gulped, “Y-yeah I can, uhm, I can do that for you.”

Mark wasn’t the only one watching. You watched him too. You watched him take off his shirt and you couldn’t look away. He looked hot, hotter than before. Did he start working out? He caught you watching him and smirked at you. You threw the sunscreen to him and turned around. You untied the bikini bra but held it against your breasts.

He squeezed a little on his hand and slowly put it on your lower back, slowly massaging it into your skin. You didn’t know If his hands were cold or If the sunscreen was cold, but after he touched you, your entire body shivered. You got goosebumps, you even felt your nipples harden.

“Yes Mark, just like that.” You teased him again.

“Feels good?”

“Mhm…” you moaned.

His face was close to yours, you could feel his breathe against your neck. His hands slowly travelled down, slightly about your ass. “Hands up, Mark.” You pushed his hands up again, you wouldn’t let him touch your ass.

You leaned back, your head was resting on Mark’s shoulder. You were sitting between his legs and you grabbed his thigh after he put a little bit pressure on your back. You weren’t going to lie- it really felt good. Your muscles relaxed, you closed your eyes and just let him touch you.

“You want me to go harder?” he whispered in your ear. “Yes, please go harder on me.” And he did. You squeezed his thigh, your hand travelled higher and higher, “Fuck.” He mumbled under his breath and when you stopped, you moved forwards. “That’s enough.”

You tied your bikini bra back up and turned to him. He quickly tried to hide his bulge with a towel. “Are you perhaps turned-on Mark?” you mocked him.

“Your nipples are hard. I guess you are turned-on.”

He was right. You were turned on and your nipples were hard. “No, I’m not. Why would that turn me on? My nipples are hard b-because it’s cold. And stop looking you pervert!” you crossed your arms in front of you and made your way to the pool.

“Cold my ass.” He mumbled.

You slowly entered the pool, step by step. The temperature was good, you hoped your nipples would calm down. You watched Mark enter the pool, he was on the other side looking at you.

“This is my side and that is yours. Stay on your side and don’t bother me.” You told him strictly. Mark nodded and watched you. You just stared at each other and then Mark dove into the water. He swam towards you and when he got out, he was right in front of you, face, and hair wet. Chest rising and falling, eyes on you. Mark was really close, like, really close. You could feel the bulge against your thigh.

“What are you doing?” you asked.

“Swimming.” He caged you in his arms and pushed your body softly against the wall. He looked at you and the beautiful view of Greece and the ocean he had.

“Swim on your side of the pool.” He was annoying you so much.

“I have a better view from here.” Mark said as he looked you in the eyes. “Fine, you can stay here-“

“Don’t go.” He whispered. “Why? I’m blocking your view.”

“You are the view.”

You didn’t say anything back- you couldn’t. Your heart was beating against your chest, breathing got difficult and you couldn’t calm down. He was so close, you were about to lose your mind.

Mark wasn’t doing any better. You looked ethereal. You looked as beautiful as the first time he had met you. You were even prettier and the way you were so cold to him was kind of hot. Mark thought that his feelings for you died but seeing you after such a long time only made him realize, that his feelings for you got even stronger.

He always asked Jaehyun about you, but Jaehyun punched him and told him to fuck off because he had hurt his girlfriends’ best friend and his own friend, too. In Jaehyun’s eyes, Mark was a great friend, and he would trust him with his life, but after what he had done to you, Mark lost the right to know about your life. Still, Mark tried to find out If you were feeling any better after the breakup. If you were happy without him in your life, but he always failed and reaching out to you would be the worst thing he could do to you.

Mark’s hands were on your waist. He pushed his body against yours and he knew how nervous you were, but two can play this game.

Your hand was on his toned stomach, caressing it softly and then going down. You never broke eye contact and when your hand landed on his crotch, softly squeezing his bulge, he let out a moan. You were bold, you kept on playing with his bulge and Mark’s lips were attacking your neck. He placed soft kisses and started sucking.

“Fuck, Y/n. It feels so good. Please don’t stop.” He moaned as he squeezed your waist slightly. Before you could realize what exactly was happening, your phone rang.

“Ignore it.” Mark mumbled, his lips leaving your skin for a second.

“Mark- no.”

“Please… I’m so close.” He kissed your neck up to your jaw. You wanted to keep doing whatever the fuck you were doing with fucking Mark Lee, but your phone never stopped ringing. “You’re close?”

“Yes baby, so close.”

And you stopped your hand movements immediately. “W-What no please-“ he begged but you pushed him away. “You’re a big boy, right? You don’t need me.” You stepped out of the pool and wrapped the towel around yourself. Mark was painfully hard, and he was about to cum.

You took your phone and looked at the messages you just got. Minho texted you and you realized that you just gave Mark a handjob, even though he didn’t cum, and you totally forgot about Minho’s existence. Not that Minho always had you on his mind.

“You have got to be kidding me.” You said.

Mark looked at you curiously.

You called Minho immediately, not caring If you lost so much money since you called someone abroad.

“What the fuck does that mean?!” you asked angrily.

“I’m busy- I can’t attend the wedding.”

“Busy my ass, fuck you. This is my best friend’s wedding, the least you could do is to come to the wedding and stay next to your fucking girlfriend.” You were so angry, you didn’t care about anything.

Mark didn’t want to listen to your private conversation- and he had to jerk off- but after hearing the word girlfriend, he stopped in his tracks and listened.

“I have so much work and it’s just a wedding- I’ll make it up to you.” Minho said but you were distracted by the voices and music. “A-Are you at the club? You promised you’d never do that again?!”

“I’m with some colleagues-“ he lied.

“It’s fine. I don’t have time for this right now.” You hung up without listening to him any further. You were exhausted, so fucking exhausted. You turned to your left and saw Mark watching you. “Who was that?” he asked.

“None of your business.” You were cold to him again. Mark was about to say something, but you left without giving him the chance.

The only thing on your mind right now was Mark’s lips on your body. You took a hot shower and changed into a pretty sundress, perfect for the hot weather.

Mark was under the shower, after he jerked off, you still didn’t leave his mind. All he could think about was you and the person to whom you were talking.

After an hour, Aera told you to get ready- you were all going out for dinner. You all got ready and left the house. You were in the backseat with Mark again, not exchanging a word with the three, you were in your own world.

When you felt Mark’s hand on your thigh you turned your head to him. “Huh?”

“Burgers? What do you say?” he asked softly and pulled his hand back. “Sure.” You just wanted to drink, you didn’t care about food.

Jaehyun parked next to a restaurant and when you entered, you were all shocked. It was a beautiful restaurant with a terrace and a pretty view. Aera was next to you, Jaehyun across from her and Mark right across from you.

It felt like back then when you were going on actual double dates. “I think I have a déjà vu?” Jaehyun laughed awkwardly. “Ouch!” Mark yelped. “Sorry Mark, I wanted to kick Jaehyun.” Aera said. “Why would you want to kick me?” he asked his girlfriend. “Babe, shut up.” It was so awkward.

Mark looked at you, he knew exactly what Jaehyun was talking about. “Do you guys remember when the waiter pushed Jaehyun’s head into the cake?” Mark laughed at the memory the four of your shared. You didn’t say anything, but the others laughed. “Oh my god that was hilarious. He tasted so delicious.” Aera winked at him. “Okay, well, uhm, I wasn’t talking about that.” Mark scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

“My baby likes it when her fiancée tastes like strawberries.” Jaehyun smirked at Aera.

“This is absolutely not something we want to hear, Jesus.” Mark said disgusted.

After finishing dinner, you walked on the beach together. “Hey, babe, what’s on your mind?” Aera pulled you back to talk to you. She knew something was up.

“I just- Minho isn’t coming and I’m not sad about it. Why am I not sad about it?” you asked her. “Thanks god- I mean, I think your brain started working finally. Do you even see a future with him?” she asked you. “No, I don’t b-but I’ll never have future with anyone- I guess I’m just not worth-“

“If you dare to finish that sentence, I’ll push you into the water.” Aera threatened you. “Listen, I know when you are happy, and there was not a single time you were happy in that relationship, not like you were with that dumbass-“ she pointed at Mark, “The last time I saw you truly happy was with him, and I’m not saying go get Mark, I’m saying that Minho isn’t worth it. You are too good for him and there’s someone who loves you so much and who deserved your love and attention. Not that looser.”

And your eyes never left Mark’s back.

Something inside you switched, you don’t need a man next to you to be happy, well definitely not a man like Minho- he wasn’t even a man. After all the tears and fights you finally opened your eyes, and you knew that you deserve better.

“Fuck this shit I’m breaking up with that piece of shit.” And you really did. Aera held your hand as you dialed his number and called him.

“Y/n? It’s fucking 4 am.” Minho said. “Babe-“ you heard in the background, but you didn’t fucking care.

“You know what, I don’t even fucking care. Do whatever you want- thanks god you aren’t coming. I don’t have to make memories with an asshole like you. Go back to your slut. I’ll get my stuff when I’m back. I’m done with you” And you hung up.

You felt better than ever before.

You didn’t feel like crying- you were happy, you wanted to make great memories with your best friend and after so many years, you finally broke up with Minho. You felt free and when you looked to your left, to the stunning view you had, you just smiled.

“I’m so proud of you. You know, there are a couple single friends of Jaehyun coming to the wedding, maybe you’ll get some dick.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “Jaehyun’s friends? Are we really sure about that?” you joked, looking at Mark again.

“You are right.”

Meanwhile, Mark and Jaehyun were talking about you.

“Dude, she was talking about someone not attending the wedding and like, she said girlfriend or something, I don’t know- is she… is Y/n dating someone?” Mark asked, he was scared of the answer. He had hope to get you back, but when you were someone else’s, he couldn’t do anything.

“Yeah, Minho. Such a piece of shit, like, he’s worse than you-“

“Hey!”

“Sorry, but like, what you did was an asshole move but he’s like constantly an asshole, I think that’s worse than being a dick just once. He cheats and yells and is so fucking disrespectful, if it weren’t for Y/n I’d kill him and I can’t believe that he’s coming to my wedding, god.”

Mark was shocked, you’re really dating someone like him?

“Why isn’t she leaving him?” he asked Jaehyun. “I don’t really know, they started dating right after you left, maybe she tried to move on with him.”

Mark knew he had hurt you really bad, but you tried to move on that soon? Why did you touch him like that when you have a boyfriend? Why did you let him kiss your neck and be so close?

“Let’s go to the club!” you yelled happily, and Mark turned to you. “Club?” he asked.

“Yes, the fucking club, I want to get wasted!” you sang happily.

And the next stop was a club. After a couple shots (Jaehyun didn’t drink anything except for water, he’s the driver), you and Aera danced on the dancefloor happily together. You felt so alive and excited, you jumped around and Mark couldn’t keep his eyes away from you.

The way your dress slightly rose and exposed your beautiful legs. He hoped nobody else was looking at you like he did.

“You’re staring.” Jaehyun said.

“Am not.”

“You’re so fucking obvious, it physically hurts me to see you like this.” Jaehyun patted Mark’s back.

“Do you think she still hates me?” Mark asked. “Well, I would.”

“That’s not helpful.” Mark gulped down another shot. “Alright, I’m sorry. She’s like, pissed, but I don’t think she hates you.”

“Baby! Dance with me!” Aera pulled Jaehyun to the dance floor and he didn’t resist. He had to show everyone that Aera was his girl, his fiancée. Dancing slowly turned into a make out session and not even five minutes later, they left the dancefloor and entered the restroom.

After dancing for so long, you returned back to your table. “What are you doing here all alone?” you asked Mark.

“Drinking.” He drank shot after shot. “Share with me.” You sat down next to him, really close. Your thighs touching and his gaze on your legs made you smirk.

“Let’s play a game. We’ll ask questions and If we don’t want to answer, we take a shot. Okay?”

You nodded, that could get really interesting. You ordered a whole vodka bottle and started the game.

“Ladies first.”

“What a gentleman. Well, okay, I got a question. Did you get to cum today?” you asked boldly. “I did.” He smirked at you.

“Okay, uhm, were you turned on?”

You took a shot, yes you were so turned on, but you wouldn’t say that out loud.

Mark looked you in the eyes, “Do I look hot?”

“So fucking hot.” Mark said without thinking.

“Do you want me to touch you?” he asked now, you took a shot, which was a pretty obvious answer to him. He put his hand on your thigh. He squeezed slightly. “I never said yes.” You said. “You also never said no. Do you want me to stop touching you?”

“It’s not your turn.” Which meant that you didn’t want him to stop touching you.

After a couple shots, Mark finally asked you the question he was dying to ask.

“Did you miss me?” his face was serious, and he looked you the deep in the eyes. Whenever Mark asked you a question to which you couldn’t say no, you took a shot, just like you did at this question. Mark knew that you had missed him.

“I missed you. So much.” He came closer, nose brushing yours. Mark pressed his lips on the corner of your lips. He slightly pulled back and you looked at you, you weren’t stopping him, so he continued.

The next kiss landed on the tip of your nose and then on the other corner of your lips. Mark squeezed your thigh with a little bit more pressure as he finally placed his lips on yours. Mark kissed you slowly and without realizing it, you kissed him back. You shut your eyes and let him kiss you. He kissed you with so much passion, so much longing and you cupped his cheeks to pull him closer.

His right hand held you by your waist and squeezed it, you gasped, and he put his hot muscle in your mouth. His tongue was playing with yours, he sucked on your lower lip and you could feel yourself getting wetter with every touch and every kiss. You forgot that you were in public, everyone could watch your heavy make-out session with Mark.

“M-Mark-“ you moaned.

“Mhmm…” he didn’t want to stop-

“Mark- there are people around -fuck- us-“ when he started kissing your neck, you lost it.

“Don’t care.” And he kept kissing your skin. “I can’t get enough of you.” He smirked as he left a mark on your skin.

You opened your eyes and saw Jaehyun and Aera coming. You pushed Mark away and acted like you didn’t just have the best kiss of your life.

“We’re done,” Aera giggled, “We should go back, it’s late and we should get sober until tomorrow night. I want to remember my bachelorette party.”

You just nodded, grabbed your purse, and left the club with the others coming after you.

The car ride was awkward. Mark wanted to hold your hand, but you tried to leave as much space as possible between you. Your head was spinning, you wanted him but the voice in your head told you to back off.

Mark was silent the whole ride back and after you left, he could finally breath again.

“The others are coming tomorrow, I trust my best man to take care of them.” Jaehyun and Mark talked on the way back to the house and you tried to ignore the fact that Mark was really walking right next to you.

“Of course, dude. You’re bachelor party is going to be crazy, by the way.” Mark planed something big for Jaehyun.

“No strippers.” Jaehyun warned.

“No strippers for you.” Mark teased even though he was suddenly not interested in seeing women, except for you. You were on his mind and you just didn’t want to leave.

That kind of hurt you.

You accidently locked eyes with Mark, and he wanted to punch himself. “I- I mean I don’t want them either- you know? I swear I didn’t book any strippers.” Mark tried to save himself, but you just rolled your eyes.

“We’re going to have strippers though, Aera.”

“What? Aera, babe, I thought we said no strippers.” Jaehyun pouted.

“I told her! Y/n No strippers!” Aera panicked.

“No strippers for you.” You mocked Mark and he glared at you.

“No strippers and that’s final.” Jaehyun said strictly like a dad, pointing his finger at me.

“I was just joking- don’t worry. No strippers. Promise.”

You could break my heart in two But when it heals, it beats for you I know it's forward but it's true

The next day was hectic. Family members and friends finally arrived and you, as the maid of honor, tried your best to be there for them and for Aera. Mark on the other hand just hung out with Jaehyun. The wedding is tomorrow and the bachelor parties are tonight. Aera was a little stressed, even with your help. She was talking with the catering company and you could see how exhausted she was.

“Aera, go take a long relaxing bath, I got this. I have your list and all of the information. Let me manage this, you need to relax and enjoy this. I don’t want you to stress.” You told her.

“You’re right, I trust you with this.”

You did everything you had to do. You were done with the check list and when you were about to go to your room to take a quick nap, a voice interrupted you.

“So, Y/n. Did you get hotter? Or is it just the weather in Greece?”

You turned around and faced Johnny Suh. A close friend of Jaehyun and he was always flirting with you, even when you dated Mark, but it was harmless. He was always nice and kind and you flirted back, just for fun of course and well, you liked making Mark jealous.

“Oh look at you! Long time no see.” You hugged him and the other boys trailing after him. Mark leading the boys and watching you and Johnny flirt right in front of him.

You hugged the others, and they didn’t know how to act, since Mark was glaring at them, which you didn’t notice.

“So Y/n, do you need any help?”  Johnny said, winking at you.

“I’m actually done with everything, I was about to take a nap.”

“A nap? Come on, we’re in Greece. Let’s go to the beach.” Johnny suggested and everyone agreed with him, even Mark.

You thought about it for a second. Going to beach sound perfect, who knows If you ever come to Greece again.

“Alright, I’ll go get my stuff and change.”

You changed to your bikini and a sundress. You packed your back, a couple towels, sunscreen, and your sunglasses. The boys were already waiting for you. Jungwoo, Mark, Johnny and Yuta were the only ones who wanted to go to the beach. Jaehyun was napping and the others wanted to go to the city.

You were sitting between Jungwoo and Mark. Johnny was driving and Yuta took the passenger seat. You pressed your legs together, you didn’t want to touch Mark’s legs. After everything that happened last night, you were scared and you didn’t know what to do. Mark wasn’t doing any better. It was so awkward and if he could, he would kiss you again.

Not even 15 minutes later, you arrived at the beach and it was such a beautiful view.

“Wow, it’s so beautiful.” You said with wide eyes.

“Not as beautiful as you are.” Johnny flirted and you softly hit him on the shoulder, “Shut up.”

Mark tried to ignore Johnny’s flirty behavior, but it was so hard, even back when you and Mark were still dating, he hated it whenever Johnny flirted like that with you. He didn’t even know why, he shouldn’t have cared, he was only dating you for the money, right? But now it was different. Now he cared even more, he wanted you and it drove him crazy that you ignored him all day.

When you settled down right in front of the beach, Yuta and Jungwoo dropped everything and ran straight into the water.

“They didn’t put any sunscreen on.” Johnny mumbled, “Can you help me put some on Y/n?” he asked you.

“Sure.”

Once again, Mark wanted to punch his friend.

The way you put sunscreen on Johnny’s back was quick, you wanted to annoy Mark, you didn’t want him to think that you were really interested in Johnny. Johnny thanked you and asked you if you need help too and when you nodded, Mark remembered when he put sunscreen on your back yesterday.

Mark smirked at the memory, you’re so beautiful and your moans were so pretty and-

Mark’s thoughts were interrupted by you.

“Johnny, you are so strong, it feels so good.”

How could you say that, Mark thought.

“Y/n are you still with that piece of shit?” Johnny asked you as he massaged your back. “No I broke up with him.”

“So you’re single right?”

“Fuck- Yes, single.” You closed your eyes and enjoyed the massage you were getting.

“Hyung, I think Yuta is calling your name.” Mark interrupted.

“I can’t hear anything?” you mumbled.

“For real, he called your name just a second ago, maybe you should go look after him.”

Johnny’s plan worked. Johnny could hear the jealousy in Mark’s voice. Johnny wasn’t really interested in you, yeah you were pretty and you have a great personality, but you were still Mark’s ex-girlfriend and Johnny knew that Mark still liked you, even though he never admitted that.

“Alright, maybe Mark can continue?” Johnny asked you.

“I don’t know… Mark’s not as strong as you are.” You teased.

“I am strong, did you forget about yesterday-“

“Okayyyy.” Johnny laughed awkwardly and left you two.

Mark placed his hands on your back, he softly massaged you. You were laying on your stomach and Mark slowly untangled your bikini straps.

“How is this?” he asked you as he put a little pressure on your back.

“G-Good, so good.”

“You like making me jealous huh?” his hand travelled down but he stopped right before your butt.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” You said innocently even though you knew exactly what he was talking about.

“Oh baby, you do. You know what I’m talking about,” he put a little bit of pressure on your neck, “I really want to spank you for behaving like a brat.”

“Do it.”

“Don’t play with me.” Mark bend forward and pressed his lips on your bare shoulder. He left wet kisses on your skin and you closed your eyes and let him.

You missed him. You missed Mark so much. You wanted him and he wanted you, but there was still something holding you back.

You got interrupted by the ringing of your phone.

Mark pulled back and when you tried to stand up to reach for your phone, you forgot that your bikini was loose.

“Oh shit-“ you laid back and Mark giggled. He tied your straps back together and you finally answered your phone.

“Hi Aera, yeah we’re at the beach. Everything is done, don’t worry I took care of everything. Yeah be ready at 9 I’m not telling you what I’ve planned. The dress code is red and short. No Jaehyun won’t get jealous because he won’t get to see you until the wedding. Oh, I’m- I’m with Mark right now- would you shut up we’re not-“ you glanced at Mark who was already looking at you, “I’m hanging up now.”

Aera teased you with Mark, she asked you why you were alone with him and if you were doing dirty things with him.

“I’m going to the boys, are you coming?” you asked him softly.

Mark just nodded and trailed after you.

I wanna hold you when I'm not supposed to When I'm lying close to someone else You're stuck in my head and I can't get you out of it If I could do it all again I know I'd go back to you I know I'd go back to you

After your fun beach day, you got ready for the bachelorette party. Aera’s three other friends were also coming and knew about your plan. You booked a limousine and a VIP place in a club, it wasn’t much, but Aera liked it the traditional way.

After changing to a short red dress with thin straps, you put on makeup and you were ready to go. The others were also ready and Aera tried to hide herself.

“Jaehyun can’t see me like this- he’d rip this dress off me, then he would fuck me and then he would burn it.”

“Calm down, Johnny told me that they already left.” You assured her.

“Fine. Fuck I look so hot.” Aera opened her front camera once again and looked at herself.

“Yes you do and now let’s get wasted!!” one of her other friends said.

Driving in a limousine was fun, Aera popped the champagne bottle carefully and after driving around the city for 3 hours and having fun in the limousine, you arrived at the club.

You entered the VIP lounge and the night started perfectly. Everyone was having fun, dancing, and drinking.

Aera secretly texted Jaehyun that she missed him and loved him. She also left for about five minutes just to talk to him in the restroom.

“Where the hell were you?” you asked her.

“I was talking to Jaehyun I’m sorry I’ll turn my phone off now.”

And she did, of course after she texted Jaehyun that she was turning her phone off, she didn’t want him to worry and also have fun.

After that, Aera drank and danced like there was no tomorrow.

You were also having the time of your life, it’s been so long since you danced freely in a club. No, it’s been so long since you had fun at all. When you were with Minho, you never had any fun. It was always about him, his pleasure, his feelings, everything about him. All you could think about was Mark when you were with Minho. No matter how much Mark hurt you, when he was your boyfriend, he was always perfect. He valued you more than Minho ever did. You shouldn’t be thinking about Mark when you were lying next to someone else, but you couldn’t help it.

“Y/n?”

You turned around and your eyes met Mark’s.

“M-Mark? Are you real? Or am I dreaming?” you giggled, you were tipsy.

“I’m real,” he stroked your cheek, “This island is so small, we ended up at the same club.”

You wrapped your arms around his neck and he put his hands on your waist. “I was thinking about you the whole day.” you admitted, you were drunk and drunk you always said the truth.

“Me too. Couldn’t get you out of my head.”

“Are you drunk?” you asked.

“No, but I’m still telling you the truth. I missed you.”

“I miss-“

“Y/n! Jaehyun is here and he can’t see Aera, it’s almost midnight! It’s bad luck to see the bride before the wedding!” Aera’s friend giggled, “and she’s so fucking drunk and I’m so drunk too,” she giggled again.

You sobered up quickly, thanks god you didn’t drink much, there has to be someone sober enough to take care of everyone and you could never forgive yourself if anything happens before the wedding.

“I’ll take her back to the hotel, you guys can stay and have more fun.” You told her and she thanked you and told you to call if anything happens.

Mark followed you, he helped you carry Aera to the taxi.

“I’ll come with you.” Mark said.

“Don’t worry about us. I can take care of us, go have fun with the boys.” You smiled softly.

“No I want to be with you- I mean, I was bored anyway, and tomorrow is the big day, I should have some… sleep.” He scratched the back of his head nervously.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

When you arrived at the hotel, Mark helped you carry Aera to your room. She was going to stay with you for tonight, Jaehyun shouldn’t see her before the wedding.

“Sleep tight, tomorrow is going to be your big day.” you said as you tugged her in.

You turned to Mark with a small smile on your face, “Thank you. For helping me with her.”

“Of course. Uhm, do you, only if you want to of course, do you want to drink something with me? In m-my room if that’s okay for you. I mean it’s still early and I’m not really sleepy, you know.” Mark rambled.

“Yeah, sure.” You said shyly.

Mark opened the door and you entered his room. His room was clean and had a perfect view. Even at night, the view was beautiful. The lights in the dark, the moon shining brightly, it looked mesmerizing.

You stood in front of his window and Mark watched you with a smile on his lips to you, the view was everything but to Mark, you were everything. You looked absolutely beautiful to him.

Mark took a couple steps and was now right behind you. He wrapped his arms around you and put his head on your shoulder. You intertwined your fingers with his and pulled him closer to you.

“It’s beautiful.”

“You are beautiful.” He whispered softly against your ear.

You turned around, his arms still around you and his face so close to yours.

“I couldn’t tell you this in the club so I’m going to say it now,” you whispered against his lips, “I missed you too, Mark. I missed you so much.”

And without thinking twice, you both leaned in and kissed.

You closed your eyes immediately and you wrapped your arms around his neck, pulling him even closer, he did the same, he pulled you closer by your waist and pressed you against the window.

He kissed you gently and slowly, your heart pounded against your chest and Mark’s heart was racing, too. As if time stopped right there, as if they were never apart. Mark’s right hand was on your jaw, softly pushing your head up to get better access to your mouth, you let out a soft moan, Mark used the opportunity to meet your tongue.

The kiss was perfect, slow but still so passionate.

Mark pulled back, you were breathing heavily and heat rose from your stomach to your chest, a feeling you couldn’t really describe.

He left wet kisses on your cheek, down to your jaw and then your neck. You tilt your head back, Mark sucked on your soft skin as your hands tangled in his hair, lightly pulling.

You could feel yourself getting wetter and wetter, you just wanted to take off this dress and let Mark fuck you.

“D-Do you want this?” he asked you.

“Yes-“ you whimpered as he sucked on your sensitive spot.

Mark pulled you to his bed, with you on top of him straddling his lap. Your lips connected again, you tried to unbutton his shirt as he grabbed your butt softly and squeezed it.

You almost ripped his shirt, but you didn’t care.

It was your turn to press your lips on his neck.

Mark closed his eyes, the way his crotch met you when you pressed yourself against him, the way your lips kissed his soft skin, leaving pretty marks on Mark.

Mark couldn’t take it anymore. His pants were so tight, it almost hurt. He wanted to feel you, he needed to feel you. Mark changed positions, he was on top of you now.

“Take this off- please, fuck, take this off now.” He looked for the zipper of your dress and when he finally found it, he wanted to cry.

He took off your dress, and fuck, he was going crazy. You weren’t wearing a bra, only your black panties.

“Fuck, you’re so perfect.”

The way Mark looked at you made you feel so beautiful. You weren’t shy like you used to be, you felt good and you wanted him so bad.

You pulled him up for a short kiss.

Mark took off his pants as fast as he could and he was painfully hard. He couldn’t wait to be inside of you. His lips were on your nipple, he sucked on your breast and his hand was playing with the other one. After sucking on your one nipple, his attention was on the other one. “Mark- fuck, it feels so good. Please don’t stop.” You moaned.

You were so wet and feeling Mark’s cock against your thigh turned you so on.

While playing with your nipples, his one hand found your pussy. He stroked it over your panties, but then his hand travelled in your panties and he started playing with your wet pussy.

“Baby you are so wet. All for me?”

“Yes, yes. So wet for you, Mark.” You closed your eyes tightly. It felt so good to feel his hands on you again.

Even thought Mark wanted to taste you, he couldn’t take it anymore, he needed to be in you now.

“You can take me, right baby? I need to fuck you.”

“Please fuck me Mark.” You also couldn’t take it anymore, you needed to cum.

Mark took off his boxers and hovered above you. “F-Fuck I don’t have a condom.”

“You don’t have a condom? Why?” you asked him.

“Well, I didn’t think that I was going to fuck you here.”

“What if you’d met someone else here?” you asked curiously.

“I’m not interested in someone else. I want you- I always wanted you.” He admitted shyly.

You looked each other in the eyes for a couple seconds, he leaned in and pecked your lips. He pulled back and looked at you again.

“You can fuck me without a condom. I’m on the pill and I haven’t had sex in months,” You can’t even remember the last time Minho fucked you. “And I never fucked without a condom after I had sex with you.”

“Me too. I mean after… after you I haven’t fucked raw.”

“Okay.” You said softly.

“Okay.” He leaned in and pressed his lips on yours.

While kissing you, he slowly pushed his cock in you. You grabbed his biceps tightly, he stretched you, you haven’t been fucked in so long, you got even tighter.

Mark pulled back and looked at you. “You feel so good around me. So, so fucking good. I missed you so much.” With that, Mark pushed his entire length inside of you.

“Fuck-“

He was fucking into you, slowly but hard. You could feel his entire length and he always hit your sweet spot. “Right there- Mark, fuck.”

“I-I want to ride you. Mark, fuck.” You moaned.

Mark turned you, you were now on top of him.

You bounced on his cock up and down, his hands on your waist pushed you down and he thrusted his hips to fuck into you. Your hands were on his shoulder, holding him. Even though you wanted to ride him, he was fucking you hard and good.

“M-Mark I’m gonna cum. Fuck Fuck Mark-“

And then your climax hit you. You collapsed on top of him and he still fucked into you. “Fuck feel so good. Y-you feel so good.” Mark was so close and the way he kept fucking you overstimulated you. You clenched one last time and Mark came inside of you, painting you walls white. He moaned your name as he came and you could feel him twitching inside of you.

Mark wrapped his arms around you and pressed you against his chest. Mark pulled his cock out of you. You could hear his heart beating against his chest.

The night was perfect, after cleaning you up, you were wrapped in his arms once again. You talked about everything that night. Everything you had missed when you were apart.

“Can I ask you something?” he said.

“Sure.”

“Did you ever love him? Minho or whatever his name was.” Mark was jealous, even though you were in his arms.

“No, I don’t think that I’ve ever loved anyone, except for you. I always loved you.”

Mark smiled and kissed your temple.

“Why were you with him? Why didn’t you break up with him? Jaehyun told me that he’s an asshole.”

“After- after you broke up with me, I was… lost. I didn’t know what to do. I felt worthless and just- useless. He made me feel- wanted? I don’t know. I needed someone to forget you and he didn’t care. He never cared about me but he made me believe that he loved me. And that’s all I wanted. I just wanted to be loved.” You whispered the last part. A tear escaped your eye and you were quick enough to wipe it away. But Mark still noticed.

Mark felt bad. He never wanted you to feel this way. You were a dream. You were so perfect and it was his fault that you felt worthless. If anyone was useless, it was Mark.

“It’s my fault a-and I’m sorry. I’m so sorry that you felt that way, but it’s not true. You are so much more. You are perfect in every possible way. You are more than anyone could ask for. I’ll never forgive myself that I made you feel this way.” Mark teared up and pulled you even closer.

“C-Can I ask you something?” you asked this time.

“Y-Yes.”

“What did you do with the money?” you were always curious about that.          

Mark gulped hard, the memory pained him. “I gave it back.”

“What?”

“I couldn’t take money from a stupid bet, a bet that hurt you. I wasn’t proud of what I did. I wanted to forget that it happened, that I did that to you. I wanted to erase that from my memory. But I couldn’t erase you.”

“Why?”

“Because I love you. I loved you back then and I love you now. I never stopped loving you but I was too scared to reach out to you. I thought you hated me and it took me long to realize how much I love you.”

You looked up to him, you didn’t want to cry but your eyes were teary. “You love me?”

“Yes, I love you. I love you so much. There was not a single day without missing you, not a single day without regret eating me alive.”

“S-So you still love?”

“Yes. I love you.” He looked you deep in the eyes.

“I love you too.”

Mark smiled widely. Oh, how he missed hearing that you loved him.

“I’m sorry for everything.”

“It’s okay.” You pecked his lips but that wasn’t enough for Mark. He climbed on top of you and kissed you passionately.

His hand was on your naked thigh, stroking it softly. You were wet and when Mark put his hand on your wet pussy, you moaned.

Mark circled your clit and his tongue played with yours. It felt so good. He slowly put two fingers inside of your cunt and thrusted them in and out. You clenched around his fingers and you could feel your climax coming. Mark added a third finger.

His lips were back on your skin. Mark softly kissed your boobs and sucked on your sensitive nipples.

“Are you going to be a good girl and cum?” he asked you between his kisses.

“Yes- I’m so close.”

“Look at me.” His face was close to yours again, and when you looked at him, at his dark doe eyes, you came.

After you calmed down, you glanced at the clock in the room.

“Shit, Mark. It’s almost six in the morning. We need to sleep.”

You talked the whole night and after two orgasms and cuddling, you didn’t notice that it was already this late.

“But I’m hard.” He pouted.

“Do you want me to suck you off?”

“Yes, please baby, please suck me off.” He begged.

You were on the edge of the bed, your face right in front of his hard cock.

You slowly licked from the bottom to his tip. You pumped his cock in your hand a couple times before you put it inside of your mouth. After pumping him, you licked the slit on his tip.

“Babe- don’t tease me.” He whimpered.

“What do you want me to do?”

“Anything- but just please, do something.”

You put his entire length inside of your mouth, bobbing your head up and down and pumping the part of his dick you couldn’t put inside of your mouth.

You stopped bobbing you head and stared licked his tip again. “Babe- please. Please make me cum.”

Mark was going crazy. He needed to cum, his cock was so sensitive now, he twitched every time you licked or touched him.

“Okay, baby. I teased you enough, I’ll make you cum. You want to cum right?” you kissed his cock and he nodded. “Please. I want to cum on your face.”

You sucked his dick properly this time, he was so sensitive and so close, not even ten seconds later, he came on your face, just like he wanted to.

“Fuck, fuck fuck. That was so fucking good, babe, fuck.” Mark was breathing heavily, the intense orgasm tired him. You cleaned you face, fortunately he only came on your face and inside of your mouth.

You crawled back to him and kissed his lips. “Thank you.” He thanked you. “I love sucking your dick.”

“No, well yeah thank you for that too but I’m thankful for everything. Thank you for forgiving me.”

“I love you.”

“I love you.”

And you fell asleep in his arms.

I'd go back to you I'd go back to you What was there, wasn't sure But I'd go back to you I know I'd go back to you

Not even three hours later, your alarm clock woke you and Mark up.

“I don’t want to leave you.” You mumbled.

“I don’t want you to leave either. Stay a little longer.” He kissed your shoulder.

“I can’t I have to wake up Aera. It’s her big day, it needs to be perfect.”

“Everything you do is perfect.” Mark flirted.

“Shut up, I’ll see you later okay? Thank you for last night.”

“I love you.” He leaned down and kissed you. After kissing for two minutes to pulled back again. “I have to go.”

“Just five more minutes.”

Almost thirty minutes later, you tiptoed to your bedroom. Aera was wide awake playing with her phone when she saw you.

“Where the fuck were you and why are- oh my god.” Aera understood immediately. “You bitch fucked Mark didn’t you.”

“Yes, and now shut up and get ready for your wedding day!”

“I know I know, but like, I’m happy if you are happy. Are you happy?” she asked you worriedly.

“Yes. I’ve never been happier I think.” You smiled. You were really happy and so in love with Mark.

“Then I’m happy.”

Hours later, you found yourself in your maid of honor dress, looking absolutely gorgeous. Mark was helping you with everything. With the catering company, the guests and everything else that needed to be taken care of.

Mark stole kisses from you here and there and now he pulled you back to his bedroom and kissed you intensely.

“You look so stunning- I can’t stop staring at you. I love you, pretty girl.” He kissed you again.

“M-Mark fuck, you look so hot and I really want to fuck you, b-but, fuck we can’t.” you closed your eyes and let him kiss your neck.

“Okay, okay. I’m trying to stay calm, but fuck, you look so good I want to rip that dress off.”

“We’ll have the whole night. Let’s go back, people are going to get suspicious.”

When you went back, you met Johnny and Yuta on your way.

“Where are you two coming from?” Yuta asked.

“My bedroom- ouch.” You kicked Mark’s leg.

“What were you doing in your bedroom?” Johnny asked amused. “Do you want me to show you?” Mark asked with a smirk.

“Mark? What the f-“ and then Mark pulled you in and kissed you fully on the lips.

He could finally show Johnny that you belonged to him, that you always belonged to him.

“Well I guess we saw that coming.” Yuta laughed with Johnny. The two left and you were still kissing.

“Ew! He is eating her Mommy!” you heard a little girl scream.

You pulled away immediately and apologized.

Mark laughed his ass off as he walked you to Aera’s dressing room. “I’m going to eat you tonight. But not your mouth. I’m going to eat your cunt.”

“I can’t wait. I’ll see you at the ceremony alright? I need to stay with Aera now.”

“Okay baby.” He kissed you goodbye.

The wedding ceremony ended so quickly, next thing you knew you were in Mark’s arms slow dancing. Aera and Jaehyun’s wedding was truly beautiful. Everything went smoothly and you were finally resting in the arms of your lover.

Aera and Jaehyun were also slow dancing and smiling happily. Not only because it was the most important night of their lives- also because their best friends were finally happy together.

“Y/n?” Mark said your name softly.

“Mhm?” you hummed with closed eyes.

“I’m really sorry that I put you trough all of that, and I’m sorry that it took me so long to realize my real feelings for you. You’re the most wonderful person I’ve ever met in my entire life and I’m going to do everything I can to keep you in my arms. I don’t want to see sad ever again. I’ll love you until my last breath.”

You promised yourself you weren’t going to cry that night, but a couple tears still escaped.

“You know, I was hurt but I healed and I’m more than ready to do this with you again. It was you. My heart always longed for you, and I don’t think that there could be anyone I would love as much as I love you. You could break my heart thousand times, I would go back to you over and over again.” You looked up to him, he could see the love you felt for him in your eyes.

“I love you.”

“I love you.” And with that, Mark pressed his lips on yours and kissed you with so much love and adoration.

I'll go back to you I'll go back to you I know I'd go back to you I'll go back to you I'll go back to you I know I'd go back to you

[phykios]

Five Times Percy Jackson Cheated At School (And One Time Someone Cheated Him) [read on ao3]

thank you as always to @darkmagyk for inspo and beta-ing 💙💙💙 and thank you to @arosnowflake for the homer idea!

1)

Percy squints at the paper prompt again, tilting his head, as if the new angle will extract some hidden information. It doesn’t change. The font is the special dyslexia-friendly one used by most departments at NRU, so he isn’t misreading it, either.

Your final will be an 8-10pp (TNR, 12pt, double-spaced) research paper expanding on one of the topics discussed in our class so far, or an alternate idea of your choosing, to be submitted in writing by May 7 with footnotes and bibliography. By 10am on the Wednesday before the Thursday class you will submit online a 750-word essay (word count does not include footnotes) on the research thread you have pursued that week (no written assignments due Week 6 or Week 12). 

Percy might hate college.

“Your neck bothering you again?” Annabeth asks, coming up behind him, her hands already on his shoulders. She’s sweaty, dressed in workout clothes, having just come back in from a jog. 

“My neck is fine,” he says. “Just preemptively freaking out over my Roman history final.”

He tilts his head back over the top of his chair, staring into the upside down, prettily frowning face of his girlfriend, and it does nothing to improve his mood.

“How bad is it?”

“Eight to ten pages,” Percy says, “not including footnotes.”

“Ouch.”

“And,” he grimaces, “it’s a topic of our choosing.”

Her mouth twists in sympathy. “Sucks.”

“Yep.”

“Anything I can do to help?” She squeezes his shoulders lightly, an open invitation. 

He shakes his head, stretching his arms back to grab her waist. “Promise not to break up with me when you catch me crying at 4AM over it.”

“Promise.” And she seals it with a kiss, bending down to reach him. “Dad wants to know if you’re free on the 16th.” 

“The 16th?” He wracks his brain. He’s pretty sure it doesn’t conflict with sailing, or Greek Club, or the monthly intra-pantheon relations council meeting that Chiron and Clarisse both guilted him into joining. “Pretty sure. Why?”

“Dinner--Charlotte’s out of town that weekend.”

“Sounds good.”

“Great, I’ll let him know. Now,” and she grins, “are you going to stare at that computer all day, or do you want to come and take a shower with me?”

Percy slams the computer shut. 

He doesn’t think about his paper topic for a while after that.

***

To his great dismay, Percy gets to her dad’s house first on the 16th. Drama in writing group 🙄 she texts him as he gets to the door, be there asap.

Great. Alone in the house with his girlfriend’s dad. Taking a deep breath, he knocks on the door. 

Not a minute later, Dr. Chase opens it. Last time they went to visit, Percy and Annabeth had ended up waiting outside for almost a quarter of an hour. “Oh, Percy,” he says, fumbling his flight helmet off his head. “Goodness, I thought I’d lost track of time again. Come in, come in.”

“Thanks,” Percy says, stepping inside and shedding his jacket. “Annabeth’s running late, but she said she’d be here soon.”

He frowns, looking so much like Annabeth that it throws Percy for several loops. “Well, that’s alright,” he says. “I’m sure we can entertain ourselves well enough until she gets here.”

“Yeah,” Percy chuckles, uneasy.

Several seconds pass. 

“Oh!” starts Dr. Chase. “Right, yes. Come in. Would you like something to drink?”

Spoiler alert: it doesn’t get much better.

A few minutes of staggered conversation later, it becomes eminently clear why they need Annabeth between them. It’s not the awkward small talk that doesn’t go anywhere (“How’s school going for you?” “It’s okay.” “Good, that’s good to hear.”) or the fact that Dr. Chase doesn’t really grasp how to relate to younger kids (“Have you heard of this website called ‘Vine’?”), but more that it’s just painfully obvious that the two of them don’t really know where they stand with each other. 

Now, he knows that Frederick Chase doesn’t hate him. Objectively, he’s aware of the fact that, if it weren’t for him, Annabeth never would have reconnected with her father in the first place, and he kind of owes him for that. Also, Percy knows that he’s a pretty chill guy--a little scatterbrained, but chill. 

That doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to make a good impression, though. Or that Dr. Chase thinks that Percy is smart enough for his daughter. Because, like, Percy isn’t smart enough for Annabeth--that much is obvious. Dr. Chase was courted by Athena. Percy barely made it out of high school calculus.

“Would you…” Dr. Chase hedges, plucking off his glasses and giving them a quick wipe with his shirtsleeve. “Would you like to see some of my current research?”

“Uh… sure. I’d love to.” 

At the very least, hopefully Dr. Chase will talk enough for the both of them, eating up time until Annabeth gets here.

A new spring in his step, Dr. Chase leads Percy to his study, where he’s got a setup worthy of Cabin Six: on his desk is a massive map of the Mediterranean, littered with miniatures of tanks, planes, and ships. Ringing the room are wall-hangings, depicting different types of planes, half of their structure in x-rays like people in an anatomy textbook, sandwiching the giant viking sword which hangs directly behind his chair. Every inch of floor space is occupied with a pile of books, some serving as additional desk space for mugs, notepads, spare toy soldiers, and, in one case, what looks like the leftovers of a handful of celestial bronze spearheads, melted down into shiny, useless nuggets. 

“You know I primarily study aviation,” Dr. Chase is saying, tidying up as he walks around the room, “but my colleagues and I are collaborating on an interdisciplinary re-evaluation of the entire North African theatre in World War II. It’s fascinating stuff; until very recently, they used to call it the ‘war without hate,’ given the lack of partisan roundups and, ah, ethnic clashes that you see in Europe--absolute garbage, of course. As if there weren’t civilians caught up in the fighting, too!” He chuckles, pleased at his own joke. Percy forces a laugh out of himself. “Anyway, with my prior experience studying the invasion of Sicily, I was brought on to assist in piecing the timeline together, working backwards from 1943.”

“Cool,” says Percy, filling the natural gap of conversation.

“Extremely! Operation Husky was a terrific endeavor of airborne, amphibious, and land-based combat.”

Percy nods. Amphibious? “Uh-huh.”

“Though, I must admit, I am having a little trouble retracing some of the ships.” Peering over his map, he leans down, fiddling with one of the ships. “You see this one here? The Palmer?”

Stepping up to the desk, Percy crouches down so the little toy ship is at eye level.

“Well, based on official records, the Palmer was supposed to have arrived at the rendezvous point at the same time as all the other ships, but ended up delayed by two days, and I can’t… quite…” He moves the ship again, frowning. “Figure out… why…” 

“Where were they sailing through?” Percy asks. 

Dr. Chase points to the map. “From Alexandria to Malta.” 

“They probably just hit a bad couple of currents,” Percy says, standing up. 

Tilting his head, Dr. Chase peers at him. “How do you mean?”

“If you’re going through the Cretan Passage, you’re going to hit all kinds of West-East currents which will push you backwards.” Snatching up a pencil from a nearby book stack, Percy lightly sketches on top of the map, tracing along the North African coast. “There are tons of overlapping currents in this area that push boats around in circles, especially around Sicily. That’s one of the reasons why so many historians figure that Homer was referring to the Strait of Messina when Odysseus goes through Scylla and Charybdis, here.” And he circles the strait, with a confident flourish.

When he pulls back, Dr. Chase is staring at him.

Percy blinks. “Um… sorry I drew on your map.”

“You--I have been trying to figure that out for weeks.”

He coughs, shrugging his shoulders. “Sorry.”

But Dr. Chase just laughs. “You can make it up to me by helping me with these next.” Clearing crumbs off of southern France, he bends over, pencil in hand. “So, say you were trying to get from Marseilles to Tunis…” 

Forty-five minutes later, still embroiled in battle recreations of the Mediterranean theatre, they don’t hear Annabeth letting herself in with her key, not even registering her presence until Dr. Chase, grasping for a notebook, spots her leaning against the doorway. “Don’t stop on my account.”

“Oh, Annabeth, dear! I’m sorry,” says Dr. Chase, going over to give her a hug. “We didn’t hear you come in.”

“I can see that,” she says. “What are you guys doing?”

“Percy here has been assisting me with naval movements,” he says, proudly.

Lacing her fingers with his, Annabeth steps over to Percy, studying their battle map. “Really?”

“Oh yes, he’s been phenomenally helpful.”

She kisses his cheek, pleased. “Look at you, Mr. ‘Phenomenally Helpful.’”

“It was pretty fun,” he admits, warm all over.

“I’d bet. Although, I guess this means we should probably order in for dinner…?”

Rubbing at the back of his neck, Dr. Chase smiles. “Yes, I suppose we should. Does pizza sound all right to you two?”

“Let me take care of it,” she says, slipping from Percy’s side. “You guys looked like you were in the middle of something. Extra olives, dad?”

“Don’t forget--”

“And anchovies, Percy, I know.” She rolls her eyes, taking out her phone.

Rather than the three of them move into the kitchen, Annabeth ends up bringing the pizza in with her, because of course she has opinions she’d like to share about the Allies’ naval movements. 

“You know, Percy,” says Dr. Chase, “I must say, you have a real knack for this kind of thing. Have you thought about what you might major in yet?”

Ah, the million drachmae question. “Not yet,” he says, fiddling with a pencil. “I figured I’d get through my gen eds first and then see which one I hated the least.” 

“I think you should consider majoring in history.”

Percy’s head snaps up. “History?”

“Specifically maritime history, I suppose. Your predisposition to sailing and ocean currents would be a huge asset to your research.”

“But--wouldn’t history have, like, a metric ton of required reading? I’m not really sure that’s my area.” He has a daughter with dyslexia and ADHD; surely he’d understand Percy’s hesitation.

But he just shakes his head. “Graduate programs these days are very favorable towards interdisciplinary methodology, I sincerely doubt you’d have to barricade yourself in the library. And recently there’s been a significant push to make the field more accessible to students with disabilities, including things like digitization, screen reading for people with vision impairments, and even restructuring programs all together so that students no longer have to memorize the Encyclopedia Britannica in order to pass their general exams.”

“That’s really nice of you to say, Dr. Chase,” Percy says, “But history class isn’t like talking over naval movements with you.” He thought back to the paper that had lowkey been haunting his dreams. “Like, in my classical history survey, I can’t just… talk about currents and battle plans. I have to come up with a topic on my own, and then write about that.” 

“Surely something involving Roman naval movements would be well within your skill set. You have a second sense about these things,” he chuckles, “clearly.”

Percy glances towards Annabeth, hoping she’ll back him up, but she looks thoughtful. Considering. Like she’s actually thinking about her dad’s proposal. “I can’t just choose something in naval history.”

“Why not?”

“Because… it's too easy?” 

If it was anything like his afternoon with Dr. Chase, it might even be fun. And school isn’t supposed to be fun. 

He repeats that thought to Annabeth as they drive home. “School isn’t supposed to be fun.” 

“No,” Annabeth agrees, “but I don’t know… I like my intro art history class way better than anything we ever did in high school because I actually care about it. Maybe if you write about stuff you’re good at, like my dad suggested, you’ll like it more.” 

The idea follows him all the way to bed, where he’s still mulling it over at 2 in the morning. Before he can chicken out, he grabs his phone, shooting off a quick email to his professor with his potential paper topic, then rolls over, eventually falling asleep.

By morning, he has a response. 

Sounds good! Looking forward to it.

***

With shaking hands, Percy calls his mom. “Yes?” 

“Hey mom.”

“Percy?” He hears her perk up, almost visualizing her sitting up in her chair. “What’s wrong, sweetie?”

Mom instincts. They can always tell when something is different. His heart throbs in his chest. “Nothing’s wrong,” he says, smiling stretching across his face. “It’s just--I got my paper back.” 

Percy had ended up writing his paper about the Roman navy movements in the Battle of the Aegates in 241 BC. It was probably the most fun he’s ever had on a school assignment, or at least the most fun he’d ever had writing a paper. 

“And?” She sounds expectant, hopeful. His mom has always had such faith in him, even with thirteen years of schooling to prove her otherwise. 

He looks back at his email, just to make sure he’s reading it right. “I got an A.”

She gasps. He can hear the scrape of the chair as she stands up. “Percy, that’s wonderful!” 

“Thank you.”

“An A!”

He smiles into his fist, inordinately pleased. “Thank you.”

“Oh, sweetheart, I am so happy for you!”

“Thanks, mom.”

“I’m so proud of you, Percy.” Her voice is soft now, like twilights on the beach with blue marshmallows. “I know how hard you’ve worked for this. You should be very proud, too.”

“I am.” And he is, weirdly enough. “I just can’t believe it.”

“I can.” His mom must be grinning, her eyes sparkling. “I always knew you could do it.”

“Sally?” He hears in the background, muffled. “Is that Percy?”

“Paul, Percy got an A on his Roman history paper!”

A second voice crowds its way in, equally excited. “An A? That’s great, kiddo! Congratulations.”

Why can’t he stop smiling? “Thanks.”

“I bet that feels pretty good, doesn’t it?”

“It does.”

“Well, it is very well-deserved,” says Paul. “That was some great work you did. I could tell how passionate you were about your topic just from your first sentence.”

“Thank you.” Maybe he should be worried about all this praise going to his head, but damn, is it nice. “Listen, I have to go get started on dinner, but I just wanted to give you a call.”

“Of course,” says his mom. “I want to hear from you more, okay? Tell me more good news! Like when are you and Annabeth going to--”

“I’m working on it, okay?” says Percy, smiling even more broadly. “I’ll keep you posted, promise.”

She laughs, tinny and happy. “You’d better. Congratulations again, sweetheart.”

“Thanks mom. Love you.”

“Love you, too.” 

And he hangs up, puts his phone down on the table, tilts his head back, and sighs, full, happy, a release. 

Maybe college won’t be so bad after all. 

2)

“You don’t have to do this,” Frank says, hushed. “All you have to do is walk away.”

Five Greek Fire bombs, cloudy yellow, are lined up on the table in front of him, neatly laid out in front of five twenties. From the side, Frank stares him down, surrounded by an army of morbidly curious Romans. Someone turned off the music and turned on the lights a while ago, stopping the party in its tracks, every eye on Percy and his opponent. Figures, his first college party all year and he causes a scene. 

Percy grips the edge of the table. “He insulted the Mets,” he says for the millionth time. “I can’t let that shit stand.”

Frank sighs. “Annabeth?” he asks, hoping to stop this nonsense.

Turning to his side, Percy sees his girlfriend, two drinks in, her cheeks lightly flushed, but solid as she stands beside him, supporting him. Her eyes are hard, fierce, the warrior gaze of Athena all but leaping out of her. “Do it,” she says. 

William, the sour-faced Roman legacy of Juventus, scowls. “A hundred bucks on the table. Sixty seconds. No throwing them back up.”

“Deal.”

“Frank,” Annabeth calls. “Start the clock.”

He sighs. “You guys are idiots.”

“Frank!”

“Okay, okay.” He holds out his phone, thumb primed, hovering over the screen. “On your marks, in three… two… one…” 

He hits zero, and Percy grabs a shot glass. Squeezing his eyes shut, he brings it to his lips, and throws it back.

It’s… not what he expected.

The tequila is awful--no getting around that. Even to Percy’s untrained taste buds, having really only ever had some of Gabe’s sour beer (under duress) and some of the Demeter cabin’s strawberry wine (on his eighteenth birthday, a celebration for actually getting to graduate high school), he can tell it’s cheap, rank, unrefined shit, like he’s drinking straight toilet cleaner. But the garum, the weird Roman condiment that the shot is mixed with, the one that Percy had never heard of before, it’s… it almost tastes like the fish sauce that comes with the pork and rice noodles from the Vietnamese place down the corner of his mom’s apartment, only less… fishy? Yeah. Less fishy.

It’s a weird taste. It’s not bad, by any means, it just--straight up, it just tastes like saltwater. Like the sea. 

And, well. Percy can handle the sea.

He looks at William, and grins. “You are so fucked.”

The assembled Romans cheer, spectators at a gladiator show, as Percy knocks back the rest of the Greek Fire bombs, one after another, clearing them all in under thirty seconds. Annabeth swipes up the cash, shrieking as she throws her arms around Percy. William wanders off, red-faced and glaring, as whoever turned the music off before flips it back on, the night, and the party, saved.

Silly Percy. He should have known what was coming next.

Thirty minutes later, he is well and truly wasted.

“You’re, like, really pretty,” he shouts at Annabeth over the loud music.

She snorts, grinning at him. “Thanks.”

“Seriously,” he slurs, tipping forward on his feet. “You could be a model.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Remember when we were fourteen,” he yells, bracing himself against the wall, “and you got kidnapped by that monster?” Slightly soberer but still a little flushed, she bites her lip, nodding. “Well, I followed the rescue party--I told you that, that I snuck out of camp to follow the rescue party? Right?” 

“You did.”

He takes a sip of water, running his tongue around the inside of his mouth. Feels goofy as fuck. “We got hijacked by Aphrodite halfway through, and when I saw her, I thought--I thought, ‘Holy shit, she looks a little like Annabeth.’”

Her brows shoot up, smile pulling at her lips. “Really?”

He nods. “Totally! But you’re way, way p--” 

Still smiling, she silences him with a kiss, the lingering taste of hard cider on her tongue. “I appreciate it,” she murmurs, grinning, “but you probably shouldn’t say that out loud.”

“Gross.”

From out of nowhere, like he always does, the weasley little shit, Nico di Angelo is suddenly in their space, looking surly and emo as ever, red solo cup in his left hand. “Nico!” Percy crows, grabbing for him and missing. “How’s my favorite cousin?!”

Ducking his wildly swinging limbs, Nico grimaces in the way that Percy has to come to recognize as his attempt at a smile. “Better’n you,” he says, a little wobbly. “What’s up with him?” he directs towards Annabeth.

“Greek Fire bombs. Five.”

“You’re a psychopath.”

“What!” Percy pouts. “He insulted the Mets.”

“Aren’t you s’posed to be, like…” Nico snaps his fingers, words momentarily escaping him. “A--representation… person? For the Greeks?”

Percy waves his hand, hitting the wall. “Fuck that. The Greeks can handle themselves. The Mets are sacred!”

“Are you with anyone?” Annabeth asks, momentarily taking up Percy’s usual role of concerned parent friend while he is drunk off his ass. Theoi, he loves this girl so much. 

Nico shakes his head. “No, but Will and I are staying with--”

A thought suddenly blooms in Percy’s tequila-soaked brain. “Nico!” He shouts.

“What?” he hisses, glaring.

Percy pushes himself off of the wall, outstretched arms managing to box Nico in, falling on his shoulders and trapping him. He’s still a short, skinny little shit, the fuck, when are his Big Three genes going to kick in? “I need to talk to you about the thing.”

“The what?”

“The thing! The--the,” then he leans in, scream-whispering over the pounding bassline. “The thing.”

“That doesn’t help.”

“You know, it’s…” Percy licks his lips, language escaping him for a hot second. “Round. Metal. Jewelry thing.”

A beat, then Nico’s eyes widen. “Oh, that thing.”

“Yes, that thing!” Pulling back, he pulls Nico towards him, slinging an arm over his shoulders in a half-headlock. Annabeth watches, bemused, lips pursed as she tries not to smile. “I need to borrow Nico for a sec,” he says, words spilling out of him. “Back soon. Later. Soon.”

Her eyes crinkle, grey sparkling. She’s so fucking pretty. “Drink your water.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Then together, like some three-legged beast, the two boys lurch away deeper into the party, Nico leading them towards the kitchen. “Where’re you taking me?” Percy slurs. “‘M I being kidnapped again?”

“If I’m helping you plan out this stupid proposal,” he grumbles, pouring himself more vodka, “then I need to be less sober.”

***

Some mistakes may have been made.

“Where’s Annabeth?” Percy mumbles, looking back towards the house. The party is still raging, someone’s muffled Spotify playlist making a real racket, the greatest hits of ABBA still bouncing around his skull.

“Simp.” Nico, swaying a little, tries to stand up from his kneeling position, only to fall heavily back down on his knees. “She’s right where you left her.”

Discussing Percy's proposal plan had led to more drinking. More drinking had led to the two of them discussing their shared preference for blondes. (“Malcolm is pretty cute,” Nico admitted, flushing, and Percy almost screamed, “Isn’t he?! Sometimes I think about Annabeth with short hair looking like Malcolm and I almost start crying because she’d be so cute!”) Which then led to even more drinking. Which then led to general bitching about their lives, about Percy's hard-ass classics professor Dr. Bauer who he actually really liked but just pushed him so hard and expected so much of him, and Nico's half-brother Zagreus who was causing some family drama by picking fights with Hades all the time and also hooking up with both Thanatos AND the fury Megaera, which, ew, which then led to Percy inhaling his drink, nearly choking to death on unspecified college punch, Nico laughing at him all the while, as he had the most incredible idea.

"Nico!" He shouted, crushing the red solo cup. "Can you resurrect Homer for me?"

Nico gaped, staring. "What."

"Seriously! I need to ask him something for my paper."

"Percy." Nico gazed at him, all the power of the Ghost King boring into his soul, deep and haunting. Percy stifled a burp. "You're a fucking genius."

Which is how they found themselves around a shallow hole they had dug in the backyard, a large bottle of Pepsi originally intended as a mixer pilfered from the kitchen along with two slices of pepperoni pizza dumped on the grass beside them.

"Maybe we shouldn't do this," he says, uneasy even through his drunken haze.

"It was your idea!"

"I don't have good ideas."

“Fuck you, I’m doing it.” With all the force of a tiny, angry kitten, he snatches up the Pepsi bottle, wrestling with the twist cap for a good ten seconds. “I wanna give that bitch a piece of my mind for making me cry in school.”

Percy looks at him sideways. “Hector killing Patroclus got you, too?”

He snorts. “Fuck no. Achilles didn’t pay his dues to the dead.”

“Seriously?”

The cap pops off, and Nico tips the bottle over, dumping flat, lukewarm soda into the shallow hole. “It’s the ultimate dishonor!”

Freak. Percy would die for the kid.

“Let the dead taste again,” Nico mutters. “Let them rise and take this offering. Let them remember.”

“You’re so weird.”

“Says the guy who’s related to both horses and water.”

“I’m not related to water, I just control it.” 

The dirt turns black, dead soil mixed with sticky sugar water. Nico drops in the pizza, and begins to chant, that same ancient Greek that Percy heard in a dream once, talking of death and memories and returning from the grave or whatever. It’s still creepy as shit. 

Despite the warm California night, the air thickens with chilly fog. Silence, impenetrable, surrounds them, blocking out the noises of the party. From the earth, blueish, vaguely person-shaped figures begin to form, like thunderous clouds before a storm. “Which one is Homer?” he asks, hushed.

“Shh!” Nico hisses. 

Like little wells of gravity, the fog begins to coalesce. On one of them, Percy can almost make out, like, fingers. “Um, Mr. Homer? Sir?”

The figure doesn’t say anything. It lowers its mouth, drinking the soda out of the dirt. When it raises its head, Percy can see it more clearly, curly hair and milky white eyes and a straight nose. It--he?--seems a little more solid than your average run-of-the-mill ghost.

Nico frowns, eyes closed, concentrating. “What’s your name?” he mumbles. 

That mouth opens, soundlessly, jaw working on nothing.

“Speak.”

It--there’s a sound, like hissing, only it’s not coming from the mouth, Percy thinks. It sounds like it’s coming from the earth. “Nico?” he asks. “You good?”

The ghost opens its mouth again, moaning, raising its hands. Weakly, unsteadily, it stumbles forward on feeble legs, tripping over the shallow hole in the dirt.

“Nico?” he asks again, a little more forcefully. “What’s going on, dude?”

Nico blinks, slowly, mouth hanging open a little. “Uh.”

The… thing… raises itself up on its hands? He guesses, and knees, crawling its way over towards them.

Now, Percy may be drunk off his ass, but he has seen enough movies to know exactly what the fuck is up.

Moving with a speed he didn’t quite think was possible right about now, he grabs Nico’s wrist, and pulls him up, dragging him along as he lurches towards the house. “Percy…” Nico moans, stumbling over a rock. “I think I fucked up.”

“You think?” Percy wrenches the door open, tossing Nico inside, before following in after, throwing himself against the door. 

Nico groans, throwing his arms over his face. “Dio santo, my head.”

“Forget your head,” he says, “did we just raise a Homer zombie?!”

Panting, Nico stares up at him, sprawled on the floor of the house. “Oops.”

Percy thunks his head against the door. He does not have nearly enough mental capacity to deal with this right now.

But, he thinks ruefully, at least it’s just one. Even drunk, he’s pretty sure he can handle one zombie.

Nico’s eyes widen. 

Percy stares. “What.”

“I didn’t stop the ritual.”

His stomach goes cold.

Turning around slowly, he pulls aside the little curtain on the window. “What?” Nico asks. “What do you see?”

Percy can’t speak, mouth dry.

Slithering up behind, Nico peers over his shoulder. “That’s… not great.”

“Nico,” Percy says, eyeing the horde which slowly shambles closer, half-decayed bodies in togas bumping into each other, almost identical to the drunk college students inside, as the song changes, once again, to ‘Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight).’ “Please go get Frank and Annabeth.”

The following Monday, an announcement is sent out to the entire campus: Per new department guidelines, students may not utilize the ambassador of Pluto to interview the dead for academic purposes.

3)

Percy attempts to flatten his hair. He readjusts his shirt. He almost wipes his sweaty palms on his pants, before he realizes what he’s doing, and clenches them instead, nails digging into his palms. He turns to Annabeth. “Do I look okay?”

“Ooh, ‘Mapping Funerary Monuments in the Periphery of Imperial Rome.’”

“Annabeth.”

She looks up from her brochure. “Relax, seaweed brain, you look fine. You look better than most people here.”

“That’s because I bring down the average age of presenters by about thirty years,” he hisses, eyes darting about at the milling mass of attendees, all packed into the hotel ballroom. 

Dr. Bauer had alternately convinced/pressured/guilttripped him into attending this year’s annual conference for the Society of Classical Studies to talk about the research he’d been doing with her. This year, the conference was held in San Francisco, so at the very least Percy didn’t have to spend five hours stressing about his poster presentation while simultaneously up in the air. But now that he’s here, in the ballroom, surrounded by strangers who know way more about this subject than he does, who are actually smart and probably never nearly flunked out of school or got kicked out or--

“Hey.” Annabeth takes his hand. “I know that look. You deserve to be here just as much as any of them.”

“Do I? I feel like any moment someone is going to come over and throw me out for trespassing.” He vaguely recalls something similar happening to him as a kid after he had ducked into the lobby of a semi-nice hotel to dodge what he had thought, at the time, was just a weird stalker, but had later realized had only had one eye. In any case, the hotel security guard had practically picked him up by the scruff of his neck, tossing him back out into the street. 

“That’s just your imposter syndrome talking,” she reassures him. “No one is going to throw you out.”

He sure as shit hopes so. It would be a shame to have done all this work for nothing. 

Glancing back at his poster, Percy can’t help but feel… good. Accomplished. Proud. About a school assignment, of all things. 

His poster traces the development of the prow from the Greek penteconter, to the Roman liburna, and finally to the Byzantine dromon, looking at artistic depictions in history. Percy had picked the topic himself, spending hours in the library reading, writing, and hand-drawing cross-sections of the ships on the poster board when the images he had gotten from the Cambridge University library had been too small. It had been grueling, frustrating work, but fun, too. And not nearly as much reading as he had feared.

Dr. Chase proofread it for him. Dr. Bauer signed off on it. And Annabeth had taken one look at it, smiled, then kissed his cheek.

That was the best compliment he had gotten.

Though now he’s kind of torn between showing it off and hiding it away before one of these attendees figures out that he doesn’t belong.

He rocks back and forth and his feet, pursing his lips, randomly clicking his tongue. Annabeth nudges him. “Your ADHD is showing.”

That’s when, finally, one of the attendees steps up to his poster. He certainly has the look of a professor, in a black cable knit sweater with grey, curly hair and a receding hairline, thin, rimless glasses perched on his nose. He squints at Percy’s poster, rubbing his chin with one hand. “Interesting,” he murmurs, in a thick German accent. “Very interesting. This is yours?”

“Um.” He glances at Annabeth, who is frowning at the brochure, silently sounding out words that she can’t read. “Yep. All mine.”

“Very interesting.” He leans in closer, tilting his head. “So you agree with Pryor and Jeffreys about the skeleton-first construction, then?”

Percy blinks. Pryor and Jeffreys had written The Age of the Dromon, arguing that the ram, which had been a key feature of Roman liburnians, had gone away in ancient ship construction because of developments in how they built the hull. Right. “Yes,” he says. “The skeleton-first construction is a lot stronger than the, um,” shit, what was the name for this, Leo had only told him about a million times--oh! “Mortise-and-tenon!” He nearly shrieks. “The mortise-and-tenon method. It, um, it wears out a lot more quickly than the frame, so… yeah.” He clears his throat.

He nods. “Very interesting.” 

Percy stares. Can this guy say anything else? 

“This is very well done, young man.”

Oh. “Thank you,” he says. 

“Who are you working with?” 

“Um, June Bauer?” He winces at the accidental question. 

He frowns. “I’m not familiar with her work. Where does she teach?” 

What a loaded question. “Uh… New Rome University.”

“I’m sorry?”

“It’s--she used to teach at Northwestern, if that helps. Um, retired,” Percy says.

The frown stays, but at least he doesn’t ask any more questions. “Hmm. Well, this is excellent research, nonetheless. I look forward to reading your dissertation.” Then, distracted by something else, he wanders off, chin still attached to his hand. 

“Who was that?” Annabeth asks. 

Percy shrugs. “Beats me. Also, what’s a dissertation?”

“It’s like a senior thesis, but, like, five hundred pages long.”

Five hundred?! “Fuck me.” 

“Maybe later,” Annabeth smirks. “It looks like you’ve got company.”

Sure enough, a smallish group of four people are approaching, led by Dr. Chase, making a beeline straight for them. “Here we are,” Dr. Chase says, gesturing. “This is the project I was telling you about. Percy, would you mind going over your poster for us?”

“No problem, Dr. C,” says Percy, smiling his least-grimace-y smile. 

As one, the adults all turn to look at him, faces politely blank, expectant.

Percy swallows. “So,” he begins, “um, this research is about the development of ship construction in the Roman empire…”

He trips up on some of the words, and at one point, he sees Dr. Chase squint in the way that usually means that Percy is speaking too fast, but all in all, he doesn’t totally fall flat on his face. His audience looks engaged, nodding along as Percy moves from point to point, and no one accuses him of being a giant fraud, which is pretty nice. 

At one point, Percy turns to the poster to indicate a specific point on his ship diagrams. When he turns back, his audience has suddenly multiplied, four people turning into a whole goddamn crowd. Each person gives him their undivided attention almost unblinking.

His mouth goes dry. “Um…” 

Dr. Chase, bless him, saves his ass once again. “Would mind starting again from the beginning, Percy?” he asks, a little bemused himself at the amount of people that had suddenly appeared. 

Silence stretches on for a moment, the muffled noise of the rest of the conference like a dull roar in his ear. 

Annabeth, behind him, coughs. 

“S-sure. No problem.” 

Swallowing, he closes his eyes, breathing in through his nose. Why, oh why did he let Dr. Bauer talk him into doing this again?

He pictures the tides of Long Island Sound, gentle and rocking, unhurried and unbothered, tries to match his breathing to them. When he opens his eyes, unfortunately, the crowd hasn’t disappeared. Everyone is still staring at him. 

But Annabeth stands next to her dad, flashing him a big smile and two huge thumbs up.

Percy relaxes. He’s got this.

“Okay,” he says. “So, about the middle of the first millennium CE, ship construction went through a couple of major developments…”

This time goes much, much more smoothly. He’s not sure what it is--though it’s probably Annabeth, her face fixed in a gentle smile as she watches him speak. Gods, what did he do in a past life to deserve someone as amazing as his girlfriend? 

That’s the only reason he can do this. Hell, that’s the only reason he even thought to do this. If he didn’t have Annabeth there, encouraging him, cheering him on, he never would have had the confidence to put himself out there like this. She’s there to pick him up when he doubts himself, there to listen when he can’t explain himself, there to give him feedback when he needs to practice. 

She makes him feel so strong. She makes him feel like he can take on the world--or at the very least, that he can impress a handful of academics.

And they certainly seem impressed with his talk so far. 

“Excuse me,” says a nasally, pinched looking older British guy, face lined as though he lived his life in a state of perpetual squinting. “I find your conclusions to be suspect--wouldn’t the frame method be more susceptible to breaking than the mortise-and-tenon?”

Well, most of them, anyway.

Percy shakes his head. “You’d think, but no. If you look at the study by Steffy, you’ll see that the three-finned ram from the Athlit wreck was designed specifically to break the mortise-and-tenon hull by causing the planks to flex, so that they’d dislodge the joinerys right next to them. A blow like that can cause the wood to split right down the middle.” A blow like that had sunk Sherman Yang’s ship when they tested it out on the lake at camp last summer, the naiads practically hurling him out of the water so quickly Percy didn’t even have to dive in to save him.

“How were you able to do these strength tests?” asks another listener, an older woman with a thick Hungarian accent.

“Hands-on battle simulations,” Percy replies, easily. “We took our models and tested them in as accurate a simulation as we could make.”

“And how big were these models?” 

Percy holds his hands apart, a vague, entirely inaccurate estimate. “About thirty meters, give or take.”

Her eyes widen. “How on earth did you get your hands on such a large ship?”

Percy freezes. “Uh.”

Oh, shit.

He had forgotten--most people didn’t have dads who could summon shipwrecks from the bottom of the sea, dropping them off at Camp Half-Blood with nothing but a sand dollar and one or two exhausted, pissed off hippocampi who had had to drag them all the way there.

“Um,” he stammers, licking his lips, thinking fast--c’mon, Percy, think! “I…” He swallows, panicking. “I… b… built one.”

In the corner of his eye, Annabeth facepalms.

Simultaneously, every mouth in the crowd drops--in shock, outrage, and even excitement. “You built one?!” the woman yelps. 

Oops. “I had help,” Percy says, quickly. 

Annabeth adds a second hand to her facepalm.

“Where?” The first man asks, his bushy brows flying above the rim of his glasses.

“At my… summer camp…” 

Dr. Chase sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“I mean,” Percy chuckles, shrugging his shoulders, trying not to sweat too obviously, “it was either that or lanyards, am I right?”

Dr. Chase, thank Athena, raises his hand, ready to step in. “What Percy means to say, I believe,” he says, attempting to draw their attention, “is that--”

“That’s amazing!” says another woman, probably a grad student attendee based on the fact that she’s wearing jeans. “Do you have pictures?”

Oh this is not good. “Um, not--not on me, but--”

“I do.” Annabeth takes out her phone, holding it up to the person next to her.

Percy blinks. “You do?” He doesn’t remember her taking any pictures.

She shoots him a look, two parts exasperated and one part “shut up and let me handle this,” with just a dash of fondness in the mix. Pointedly, she looks at him, eyebrows raised, indicating that he should continue.

Oh. She’s using Mist. And he needs to keep their attention on him so that they buy it. “Right,” he says, clearing his throat. “Any more questions?” 

His audience placated for now, passing around Annabeth’s phone, he manages to finish up his presentation. After fielding a few more questions, people start to peel off, distracted by other posters and presenters in the ballroom. When everyone has finally wandered away, Dr. Chase comes up and pats Percy’s shoulder awkwardly. “Nice work,” he says, and he seems like he means it. “A little touch-and-go there for a while, hm?”

“A little.”

He chuckles. “Still, you should be proud. I don’t know how many undergraduates would be able to handle that kind of pressure.”

“I mean,” Percy says, shrugging a shoulder, “it’s about on par with leading an army. Maybe a little less.” Honestly, maybe even a little more stressful. If a monster had decided to attack the convention center and interrupt his presentation, he probably would have been relieved.

He’d been worried for a moment that he’d undone all those years of work in making Annabeth’s dad like him. And that he’d be charged with some sort of academic fraud, for the whole “I have a boat” thing without proof. Thank the gods for Annabeth, as always.

She’s looking at him now through narrowed eyes. She at least can’t be surprised--that was far from the dumbest thing she’s ever seen him do. At least his “I spent most of my time at magic greek mythology summer camp” covers are normally better than hers. As someone who spent his formative years in the real world, he’s usually pretty good at keeping the demigod thing under wraps. 

“Come on,” she says, grabbing his hand. She pulls him off, through the dispersing crowd, lacing their fingers together, sweet and intimate, out of the hall and then down another one, and through a smaller corridor. Bringing them up to a little door, with a shake of her wrist, she pulls out her Estruscan keyring bracelet. About several of the keys have found themselves used in various misadventures, vanishing once their purpose is fulfilled, but her favorite key is still there. And, just like a clever child of Hermes, it can pick just about any lock. 

Inside is just an empty room, a little staging area surrounded by tiered desks going up, no more or less remarkable than any of the other conference rooms they’d visited before. 

“What--?” His question is cut off by Annabeth’s mouth on his. 

Surprising, but definitely not unwelcome.

It's a while before they separate again. “You’re so good at this,” she tells him, unbuttoning his shirt.

He runs his hands along the lines of her flanks. “I’ve had a lot of practice,” he grins. He’d practice kissing her all day long if he could. 

She smiles, shaking her head. “No, not this,” though she does lean in for another kiss, pulling at his lower lip with her teeth. “I know you’re good at this.” They break away, Percy pulling her shirt over her head, Annabeth shucking off his. “But history. Presenting.” She runs a finger over his chest, kissing his cheek, headed towards the sensitive spot on his jaw. “Gods, you’re so smart.” 

Something about the praise vibrates through his chest. She doesn’t sound surprised, or anything, just--turned on.

“You had all those crusty academics eating out of your hand. Just, so impressed by you, knowing you know way more than they do about naval history. When you were explaining the--” Her compliment is cut off with a moan, as he leans down and starts sucking on her throat. Her blouse has a high neck, so he feels no guilt for using his teeth.  

“Watching you today, gods.” Her breath is labored as his fingers play at the waistline of her skirt. “And then thinking of you defending your dissertation.” He bites at her jugular, and she lets out a long, deep moan. 

“I don’t know what that means.” Do academics fight each other? Like, with weapons? He’s pretty sure he can take most of the people he met today. 

“It means you get to show off how smart you are,” Annabeth says, grasping his shoulders, pulling him in for another kiss. “I was born the day my dad defended his. Gods, it's going to be amazing to watch you go.” She yanks his belt out of his pants, tossing it to the floor. 

They miss the panel on recent translation efforts. But Percy can’t say he minds one bit. 

And when Annabeth presents him with a positive pregnancy test two months later, Percy definitely knows he made the right decision. 

4) 

He almost doesn’t realize he’s having a dream-vision at first.

It has been literal years since he’s had a demigod dream. Hell, it’s been a long while since he’s had a dream, period--being a new dad to a one-and-a-half-year-old saps too much of his energy to even think about dreaming. Once Junie is put to bed, when he’s out, he is fucking out, and he does not have the brainpower to spare to manifest any messed up subconscious fears.

Which is why when he blinks open his eyes, taking in the too-bright colors of the Parthenon and the gleaming shine of the bronze statues which are somehow all looking at him--also, you know, how the Parthenon is complete, standing as it did thousands of years ago, and not crumbled into ruins--he knows, immediately, he is being contacted by a god.

And only one god in particular would bring him to Athens.

Without even checking, he heaves himself up off the ground, folding into a kneel. “My lady Athena,” he says, “can I ask for what quest you’ve brought me here?”

“Impertinent as ever, Percy Jackson,” rumbles the goddess, but Percy doesn’t think he can sense any ill will towards him. He hopes, anyway. “Perhaps I have summoned you here for a social visit.”

“Perhaps,” he says, choosing his next words as carefully as possible. “But I assume you have too much to worry about to randomly check up on your daughter’s boyfriend.”

He lifts his head, catching her expression--stoic as always, but maybe with just the barest hint of a smile. “You assume correctly. You have become, contrary to my initial expectations, very wise in the time that I have known you.”

“Thank you.” He knows better than to do anything but accept the compliment for what it is.

“I have observed your work as a scholar in recent years, and I must say that I am surprised, yet pleased, that you have chosen to pursue such a path. I had not thought you to be suited for a world of old men and dusty papers.”

He grits his teeth. Don’t rise to the bait, don’t rise to the bait, don’t rise to the bait--

“I understand, as well, that though you and my daughter have,” and here her careful composition cracks, just the slightest, the tiny lift of her lips falling, “made a child together.”

Percy swallows. He figured, you know, in the abstract, that Athena would know about Junie, but hearing her say it out loud is… well, he’s just glad that Dr. Chase has always liked him. “Yes, my lady.”

“It is customary in your time to marry prior to childbirth, is it not?”

“It is.” Oh, fuck, is she going to smite him for that? “I--that is to say, we, Annabeth and I, we, um, we definitely want to get married, but, Annabeth kind of…” 

He trails off. He can’t tell Athena, goddess of war, that his daughter pissed off the queen of heaven! And if he does, he definitely can’t imply that it was because she was being too stubborn!

“I know well of my daughter’s history with my father’s wife,” Athena says, smoothly. “I come to you now with an offer of peace.”

Percy straightens his back. Peace?

Raising one graceful arm, Athena turns, indicating the structure behind her. “Look upon my temple,” she intones. The white marble shines even more powerfully against the blue and red paint, intricate scenes and figures ringing the top of the columns. “In the time of Pericles, it was built to commemorate the victory of Hellas over the armies of Xerxes the Great. It was to be the shining beacon of our world, a triumph of our power and influence over the race of men.”

The race of men might have had something to say about that, he thinks to himself.

“But it was not to be,” Athena says, mournfully. “As our influence waned, so too did our temple, until its might was all but forgotten.” 

Before his eyes, the paint fades away, ceilings and columns collapsing, the destruction of the Parthenon playing out in front of him. 

“Some two hundred years ago,” she says, her voice taking on a darker, more dangerous tone, “a grave insult was paid to the ruins of my ancient sanctuary.” Like curtains falling on a stage, darkness swallowed up the structure, swift and impenetrable. “Many treasures were taken from my temple, stolen, by foolish, greedy men, spirited away far to the north, where they have languished in unworthy hands.”

He narrows his eyes. She can’t possibly be talking about--

Athena turns back to him, her eyes blazing, somehow twice as tall. “Retrieve my treasures,” she commands, war personified, “return the prizes of Athens to their rightful place, and I shall give you my support against my father’s wife.”

“You…” Percy leans back on his haunches, staring dumbfounded up at the goddess. “You don’t happen to mean the Parthenon Marbles, do you?”

“Yes.”

“The ones in the British Museum.”

“The same,” she says, imperious as ever.

Fantastic. “Welp,” Percy says, slapping his thighs, scrambling up. “Thanks for the offer, but I’ll have to decline. Nice seeing you, by the way. I’ll tell Annabeth you stopped by.”

Her sharp gazes pierces him, full of fury. “You dare to refuse my support?”

He snorts. “When it means trying to get the UK to give the marbles back, absolutely. Do you know how stubborn they are about this?”

Lightning flashes behind her, nearly blinding him. “You will regret this,” Athena says, dark and foreboding. “You may have your father’s goodwill, but the queen of Olympus is clever and cunning, her displeasure swift and merciless.”

But Percy still shakes his head. “When Annabeth and I get married,” and it’s definitely a ‘when,’ it’s just a matter of when precisely, like after Junie can sleep through the night maybe, “I’d rather take my chances with Hera than try and untangle that particular can of olives.”

A growl, and a snap of her fingers, and Athena disappears.

With a start, Percy wakes up. Junie had gotten her chubby little hands around his nose, and had decided to pull.

“Ow, ow, Junie, hey,” he squawks, attempting to dislodge her grip from his face. “Hey, I’m awake, it’s okay.”

She laughs, illegally adorable, her grey eyes sparkling, squeezing harder. 

“Okay, okay,” he laughs along with her. “You got my nose, you win.”

As if she were waiting for him to admit defeat, she lets go, clapping her pudgy toddler hands together. 

“That’s right,” he picks her up, raising her above his head. “Barely sixteen months old and you already know how to take me down, don’t you? Just like your mommy.”

She smiles, waving her little fists.

Gods he loves this little monster.

Junie really is the best parts of both of them. She’s got her daddy’s hair but her mommy’s brain, quick and sharp and painfully adorable. She’s already learning to read Greek, Annabeth sitting her in her lap and sounding out vowels together, Annabeth taking her finger and tracing it over the letter shapes. This kid absorbs information like a sponge, which Percy can only assume is the natural conclusion of taking a son of Poseidon and a daughter of Athena and mixing their DNA together. 

Thinking about his dream, he frowns. “What do you think, Junie,” he asks his toddler. “Should I take her up on her offer?”

The baby says nothing.

“I mean,” he tilts his head, “Greece has been trying to get the marbles back for two hundred years. UNESCO has top lawyers on this. What does Athena think I can do?”

Junie blinks at him.

“On the other hand, I do really love your mom,” he admits, “and I really want to marry her. You’d like that, right? To have your parents be married?”

There’s no way she can understand what he’s saying, but she moves her head like she’s nodding. Or maybe she does understand. She is Annabeth’s daughter after all. 

Percy sighs. Dammit.

Time for a new project, he guesses.

***

Several months, a college graduation, and one relocation to Boston later, Percy growls, hurling his pencil at the wall. Mother fucker. Fuck the British Museum, fuck his tiny laptop screen, and fuck the Italian prick who decided to have the least ADHD-friendly handwriting of all time. 

Why the hell is he doing this again? Like, seriously. Why in all of Hades is he, an inexperienced, snot-nosed, first year master’s student deciding to tackle the return of the fucking Parthenon marbles of all things. Like, what is wrong with him? 

Roughly scrubbing his fingers through his hair, Percy stands up. He has to go for a walk, clear his head, or he might actually explode. 

Then he catches a glimpse of the photo pinned to the fridge.

Percy’s mom had taken it, a candid of Percy and Annabeth and Junie on a sunny day in Central Park. There, in perfect 1080p, Junie is laughing, at what he can’t even remember, her pudgy fists yanking on Percy’s hair, while her mother and the love of his life does nothing to extricate Percy from her grip, her face screwed up so hard she had tears in her eyes. 

Percy had talked a lot of shit to the goddess of war’s face, but truth be told… Hera still terrifies him a little. Which, he assumes, was her goal all along, but it would be nice to marry Annabeth without fear of something going terribly wrong--or, gods forbid, something happening to Junie. That simply was not a risk he was willing to take. Percy is content to spend the rest of his days as Annabeth’s life-partner and roommate, if it means that the queen of the heavens won’t have a reason to take out her issues on his children.

Even if the engagement ring in the back of the pantry is gathering dust. 

Sunlight, wan but warm, falls in from the window, landing perfectly on his pile of open books. “I know, I know,” he growls, speaking to the air, rubbing his face so it doesn’t get stuck in a permanent glare. “I just--I just need a few minutes, okay? Let me go down the block and get a coffee or something. Two minutes, Lady Athena.”

The light fades. Percy takes that as an acquiescence, angrily scribbling a note. He’s not sure when Annabeth and Junie will be back, but even angry as he is, he doesn’t want to worry them.

Snatching up his jacket, he slams the door shut, stomping out of his apartment building and down the streets of Boston. He must be accidentally doing his wolf stare, because people are practically flinging themselves out of his path as he hurtles down the sidewalk. Literally--some girl is walking her husky, and the poor dog actually whimpers, cowering as Percy rounds the corner. 

Coming to a stop, Percy slaps his hands over his face, drawing in a deep, shuddering breath. 

He might be in over his head a little.

Sighing, he looks to his right. He’s standing outside of a Starbucks. 

Percy doesn’t drink coffee, Annabeth does. And he knows exactly how much of a coffee snob his girlfriend is. Starbucks? Overpriced, overrated, over-sweetened garbage.

He pushes the door open, sliding up to the counter. “I’ll take a… iced mocha, I guess,” he says. “Large.”

“No problem,” chirps the barista. “I’ll have that out for you in a minute.”

“Thanks,” he mumbles.

One thing Starbucks does have going for it, though, are really good napkins for doodling.

Slumping down in his uncomfortable metal chair, elbows resting on the hard, faux-wood table, Percy takes out his pen, and doodles aimlessly on the brown napkins. No, not that pen. Just because it can write doesn’t mean that Percy wants to risk slicing his face open every time he has a stray idea. Completely out of the blue, Annabeth had gotten him a nice set of pens, and ever since then, Percy always keeps one on him. Now, if he could just remember to use the little notebook she had gotten him, too.

Percy is not an artist by any stretch of the imagination. He doesn’t have an image in mind, just lets his pen move, drawing endless chains of triangles and stars, nebulous shapes which form themselves into Greek letters. After he catches himself writing γλαυκῶπις for the eighth time in a row, he sighs, dropping his pen, and picks up the cup, taking a sip.

Yuck. At least the chocolate outweighs the coffee taste a little.

Gods, and their cups are always, like, drenched from condensation--not that Percy can feel it, but there’s practically a whole other drink on the outside of the plastic, dripping all over Percy’s pile of doodle napkins. That must be why they give out so many.

Grumbling, he mops up the mess, ink smudged into a blue-brown slurry.

He stops. 

He squints at one of his doodles. 

Not that anyone else could tell, but Percy had apparently been trying to recreate the signature of Ottoman sultan Selim III, the guy who had supposedly authorized the Earl of Elgin to take the Parthenon Marbles. Percy had been staring at copies of his signature all damn day, trying to tell if it had been forged or copied, but classical Arabic was just so far beyond anything he could even begin to wrap his head around. It was gorgeous work, but even looking at it made Percy’s eyes swim.

This particular doodle is not his best attempt. It looks nothing like the signature. It’s smudged, blotchy, but in a way that’s… weirdly familiar. 

Snatching the napkin up, Percy bolts from the Starbucks, leaving his mocha behind.

Taking the steps of his apartment building two at a time, he bursts into his kitchen. His set up is exactly how he left it, books spread out all over the table, laptop shut and laid askew, the dry, half-eaten remains of his morning muffin on a plate on top of his encyclopedia of illuminated manuscripts--except for one book, the one on Ottoman history of the nineteenth century. It’s been opened, its pages facing the door, in the exact opposite direction of all the other books. 

“Hello?” he calls into the apartment. “Anyone home?”

No response. 

Percy approaches the table. 

From the pages, Selim III stares at him, his portrait rendered in black and white, sitting just above a figure of his signature, his tughra. 

Percy picks up the book, squinting. 

The signature is crisp, clean, a work of art all by itself. 

He looks at his napkin drawing. Blurry and smudged.

Opening his laptop, he pulls up the scans of the documents in the British museum, zooms in on the letter’s seal.

Blurry and smudged.

Percy stares. 

It… can’t be that simple, can it?

In a daze, he fires an email off to his new grad advisor. Hopefully he won’t mind Percy sticking his nose in where he doesn’t belong. Hey Dr. T--was looking at the Parthenon marbles docs in the BM (don’t ask) and I noticed this weird smudge on the tughra. Lazy scribe, maybe?

And he closes his computer.

Later that night, while he puts Junie to bed, he gets a response. not sure. sent it to a colleague for a closer look. 

He can’t even be bothered to really think about it though, not with Junie looking up at him with Annabeth’s eyes, and asking for another book. “Alright, kiddo,” he acquiesces, settling in beside her. All her story books are in ancient Greek, and at age two, she’s starting to recognize the letters. “Which one are you thinking?” 

“Daw-fins, daddy,” she says, smiling.

“Dolphins, eh? Getting Mr. D on your side early, I see. As smart as mommy.” He leans down and kisses her forehead before he starts to read her the story of the sailors and their sudden dolphin madness. 

***

“Huh,” Percy says to himself a few weeks later, as he and Annabeth are chilling on the couch, watching some Netflix.

His advisor has forwarded him an article from the BBC (New evidence suggests Elgin documents to be forgeries) with an accompanying note: Amazing catch! 

“What is it?” Annabeth asks, nudging him with her elbow--a feat, since she also has an armful of a squirmy Junie to deal with.

“Update in the Parthenon marbles thing.”

That gets her attention. Anything Parthenon-related does. “Really?”

He shows her his phone.

Her eyes go wide as saucers. “Damn.”

“Yep.” He doesn’t realize he’s smiling until he feels his lips pulling at the sides of his mouth. 

“My mom is probably your biggest fan right now.”

He starts. “What did you say?”

Turning back to the TV, she still manages to cast him a weird look. “I said, my mom will probably love you for this.”

A beat, then Percy practically somersaults over the couch, darting into the kitchen. Wrenching open the pantry door, he shoves his hand behind their collection of flours, fingers grasping for--

“If you’re looking for any more sacrificial cookies,” Annabeth calls after him, “we burned them all when Junie got a cold.”

“Remind me to make some more,” says Percy, pulling out his prize. It’s a little dusty, streaks of flour clinging to the blue velvet. “I have a feeling we’ll need them.”

“Oh yeah?” She chuckles. “What, did Olympus put in a special order?” 

Percy slides back down next to her, ring hidden in his closed fist. “Can I have the baby for a sec?”

Eyes fixed to the screen, Annabeth passes her over. Junie’s hands automatically reach for his nose, ready to grab, but Percy places the ring in her grasp instead, kissing her forehead. “Hey, babe?” he asks Annabeth, handing her back. “I think our daughter has something for you.”

Annabeth takes her without a second glance. 

Then she does take a second glance.

Ring closed in her pudgy toddler fist, Junie holds it out to her.

Annabeth gapes. 

“So,” Percy says, wrapping an arm around her shoulder, “quick confession: I wasn’t just working on the marbles for fun.”

Annabeth just stares. Junie babbles.

“Your mom told me that if I helped get the marbles back, she’d back us against Hera if we ever got married. So…” He trails off, waiting for her response. As close as he is, he can see the tears start to well up in her eyes--a good sign. “Shall we?” he prompts.

“Oh thank all the gods.” Annabeth is crying, because she's Annabeth. And because she's Annabeth, she also wastes no time in transferring Junie to her other side, and holding out her hand so Percy can slide the ring on her finger. “I was so worried I'd have to have Chase on my Masters’ diploma, too.”

5)

Percy is making sauce when his phone lights up. He hits speaker. “Hey.”

“Hey man,” comes the tinny voice of Magnus. “Sorry I missed your call earlier.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Percy says, “I figured you were dying or something.”

Magnus’ eye roll is almost palpable. “Very funny. What’s up?”

Bringing the spoon to his lips, he blows on it, taking a taste, before reaching for the salt. Needs way more. “Do you happen to have any Varangian guards in Hotel Valhalla?”

“Varangian guards? Uh, maybe. Probably. Why?”

“I’m doing a thing on the attempted reconquest of Sicily,” he says, lowering the heat a little to a simmer, “and I’m having some trouble piecing together the Battle of Montemaggiore. Know anyone who was in it?” 

Magnus hums. “I’ll ask around. Anyone in particular you’re looking for?”

Rifling through their little spice cabinet, he makes a mental note to get a new thing of hot sauce, tipping the rest of it into the pot. “If you have anyone who fought under Harald Hardrada, that would be great.”

“Hardrada? I’m pretty sure he lives on the fifth floor.”

Percy nearly drops the bottle. “No shit?”

“Big dude, long mustache, writes poetry?”

“Yes!” He picks up the phone, grinning from ear to ear. “Do you think I could come up and talk to him sometime?”

“Sure, but I thought you were doing something on Homer’s identity?”

He groans. “Backburnered for now until she stops driving me crazy.” No matter how many times Percy tells her, he can’t just drop the “Homer was actually an Egyptian woman” bomb without some serious evidence backing that up. And forgery is not one of his strong suits. Hence the need for a different topic for the time being.

“Has everyone ever told you your life is weird?”

“No, why do you ask?”

His phone suddenly vibrates, shocking him so badly he nearly drops it into the saucepan. Almost home, texts the love of his life, a shot of serotonin directly into his bloodstream. V hungry

“Sorry, Magnus, but I gotta run. Thanks for your help.”

“No problem. Say hi to my cousin for me.”

“Can do.”

“And make sure you pick a date soon! Sam needs to know so she can schedule her flight home.”

“Soon as I can.” You know, when his brain isn’t melting from grading undergrad papers. And making sure Annabeth and Junie are fed. And that Annabeth doesn’t lose herself in graduate school. And finding Junie a new preschool after she destroyed a classroom last month because of a monster. His toddler is a badass. But he’s a little worried she’s gonna follow Mommy and Daddy’s example as far as school goes. 

Sometimes, he thinks that their wedding just won’t ever happen. With Athena on board, he figured it would happen sooner or later, but time just… keeps getting away from them. Which isn’t the end of the world. A lifetime at Annabeth’s side is all he really needs, Mrs. Jackson or no. But he’s seen the silver fabric she weaved for her wedding dress. It would be a shame for all that hard work to go to waste.

And, yeah, he wants to see his little Junie dancing down the aisle flinging seaweed before her mother. He wants his mom to cry a little and he wants all his friends to be there to celebrate with them. Is that so much to ask? 

Speaking of his two favorite girls--”We’re home!” Annabeth calls from the hallway. “Junie, go say hi to daddy!”

Her bare feet slapping against the floor, his daughter comes toddling in, making a beeline for him. “Hey, kiddo,” Percy says, scooping her up. “How’s my best girl?”

“She’s just fine, thanks,” Annabeth says, setting her work bag down on the table. “Tell me I don’t have to wait for dinner--Margie kept me for the entirety of my lunch break, and I am starving.” 

“Just gotta make a salad and we should be good to go.” But he makes no move to finish chopping vegetables, entirely too enraptured with the way Junie smiles when Percy sticks his tongue out at her. “Let me guess,” he says. “Does my best girl want some olives?”

“Peas,” Junie says. 

“Oh, you want peas instead?”

She giggles, waving her arms. “Elaia, daddy!”

“Fine,” and he kisses her nose. “Extra olives for you.”

“Chip off the old block,” Annabeth says.

Handing her back to her mother, Percy sighs. “When am I going to get a kid who likes anchovies?”

“I’m doing my best here, okay?”

***

Hardrada is… not what he expected.

“Reputation isn’t that bad.” Hardrada is saying. “The production isn’t what it should be, but lots of her lyrics are still on point.” 

“The production ruins it,” Percy insists. “And as a follow up to 1989? It's just bad.” 

“And what about Lover?”

“What about Lover?”

“You can’t argue with the genius of that one.”

“It is terribly inconsistent,” Percy shoots back. “Yeah, ‘The Archer’ and ‘Daylight’ and ‘Miss Americana’ are sublime, but ‘ME!’? Come on!”

“Are you one of those people who thinks she peaked at Red?”

“Red is a bop from start to finish,” Percy fires back. “But she definitely peaked at folklore.”

“Thinking she peaked at folklore is just pedestrian when ‘tis the damn season’ exists!” Hardrada yells, drawing his axe, which is then promptly flung over Percy’s head. 

As the only mortal in a room full of armed, excitable, undead Taylor Swift stans, Percy beats a hasty exit, Magnus and Jason covering him as he flees, because they’re just so thoughtful like that. Percy’s pretty sure he saw Magnus take an arrow to the knee, going down in a heap, before he shuts the door to the hotel, finding himself in a Forever 21. 

Looking over his notes later as he gets back to his apartment in the North End, he frowns. They had spent… approximately twenty minutes talking about Sicily before getting solidly off track. Who knew an eleventh century viking would have such intense feelings about pop music? 

And now he’s singing “seven” to himself as he unlocks the apartment door, because it's a good song, and because it made him think of Annabeth. And he always wants to think of Annabeth. 

“Hey, babe,” he calls into the apartment, toeing off his shoes. “I’m back!”

He gets no response.

Percy looks up, confused. “Annabeth?”

“In the bathroom,” he hears, faintly. 

“Everything okay?”

“Yep! Totally fine!” she says, unconvincingly. 

“Alright,” he calls back. “Let me know if you need something.”

Moving Junie’s toys out of the way, he drops down onto the couch, grabbing his laptop. Hopefully he can make some sort of sense of the… notes… that he got from Hardrada. Though he’s probably going to have to trek out to Beacon Hill again, which, while not really out of his way, does mean he has to hike a bit from the Park Street station through the Commons, which makes him super sweaty and out of breath. It’s just embarrassing, walking into a hotel full of the greatest warriors of Valhalla, and Percy can barely handle a hill. 

However, he’s not so out of practice that he can’t sense Annabeth coming up behind him. “You good?”

“What do you think about getting married by the end of the month?”

“Sure,” he says, pecking at his computer. Damn autocorrect ruining all the Norse names. He keeps forgetting to download the right language package he needs. “But I thought you wanted to wait until after you turned in your portfolio?”

“Well… I might not be able to fit in my dress if we wait much longer.”

That gets his attention.

Percy turns around, slowly. Annabeth is grinning, holding a thin little piece of plastic with a circle on the end. She wiggles it. 

“Is that…?”

“Yep.”

“Oh.”

Her smile falls. “Are you mad?”

“What? No!” Percy slides his computer off his lap, twisting around to face her, up on his knees. “No, no, not at all. I’m not mad.” She slings her arms around his neck, pregnancy test warm against his skin. “I just…” 

Eyes warm, she looks into his, unafraid. “What is it?”

“It’s…” It’s silly, is what it is. But this is Annabeth. If he can’t tell her, who can he tell? “I just feel bad that I’ve gotten you pregnant twice before getting married.”

“Well, at least I’m not nineteen this time,” she says, raising an eyebrow. “But maybe we wouldn’t have this problem if you weren’t such a horndog.”

Percy snorts. “Me? What about you, Annabeth ‘3 AM anal before my first lecture’ Chase.”

“Jackson,” she corrects.

“Huh?”

“It’s Annabeth ‘3 AM anal before your first lecture’ Jackson.”

Grinning, he presses his mouth to hers. After all this time, she still smells like lemons, her lips soft and warm. “Not yet it’s not.”

“Then let’s make it happen.”

And, well, Percy can’t think of a better plan.

+1

Jamie hisses. “Fuuuuuck,” she whispers, the sound dropping like a stone in the dead lecture hall. “Goddamn shit fuck ass.”

And the worst part is, she’d actually spent a lot of time preparing for her Latin midterm. She’d made flashcards, she’d drilled noun endings, she’d even slept with the textbook under her pillow for fuck’s sake. 

Typical--the moment she sits down to take the test, it all goes out the window. 

“Legistne carmen longum de Troiano,” she reads under her breath, as though saying it out loud will unlock some hidden secrets of the cosmos. 

Nope. Nothing. The multiple choices remain as inscrutable as ever.

“Psst.” 

Jamie looks up. 

There’s a four year old staring at her. 

“Hi,” Jamie says. 

“Hi,” says the four year old. Junie, her name is, she thinks. 

Mr. Jackson, Jamie’s Latin TA, will bring his kids to class with him sometimes--his wife works full time, and Jamie guesses that they can’t afford a babysitter. She’s a cute kid, quiet, usually sitting in the corner of the lecture hall, drawing or even knitting, sometimes with her little sister playing with toy ships next to her. 

Now, she’s still staring at her. “What’s up?” Jamie asks.

“Bello,” says Junie.

Jamie blinks. “Sorry?”

“Legistne carmen longum de bello Troiano.” 

She squints down at her test sheet, attempting to visualize her flash cards. That’s… “Bello” is the right answer.

The fuck? The fucking four year old can speak Latin? “Thanks,” she whispers. 

Junie beams at her.

Darting her eyes to the front of the lecture hall, Jamie spies her professor, Buck, completely conked out at his desk, his chest rising and falling with his snores. Percy is nowhere to be seen, his laptop open at his chair. “What’s the next one?” Jamie turns her paper so that Junie can see better.

“Pluto Proserpinam infelicem cepit,” she announces, perfectly accented.

Jamie points to the one after that.

“Rex qui pontem fecit erat Ancus Martius.”

“Awesome.” 

The door to the lecture hall opens. Jamie whips around in her seat, startled, and sees her TA, walking down the steps. From the corner of her eye, Junie disappears, booking it to her dad, who scoops her up without missing a beat. “Hey kiddo,” he murmurs, smiling crookedly. “Were you bothering my students?” Then he glances at Jamie. “Sorry about that--hope she wasn’t too annoying.”

But Jamie shakes her head. “It’s fine.” Dammit. 

Still smiling, Percy makes his way back down to his seat. Junie grins at her over his shoulder, her arms wrapped tightly around her dad’s neck.

At the beginning of the semester, Professor Buck had droned on and on about Mr. Jackson, about how he was one of the best up-and-coming classics scholars in the world, how he could have had his pick of PhD programs, and how NYU was lucky to have him. He got first pick of assistantships this semester, apparently, but had volunteered to teach Latin 1001, and they should all be grateful, because he had done some beautiful new translation of Virgil for his Master’s thesis, and they were all going to learn a lot from him. 

Turning back to her exam, Jamie snorts. Of course a guy like that would have a kid who could speak perfect Latin. 

She really should have just stuck with German instead.