#i should have time for it this week but no promises | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

moongirlrhea · 2 days ago

Text

an ache in you, put there by the ache in me (we could call it even)

chapter four to the azriel and his best friend series :)

series masterlist

azriel x reader

word count: 6.5k

warnings: mentions of bad family dynamics and childhood trauma

a/n: here she is finally, albeit a week late! terribly sorry for the delay, but i hope you enjoy :) let me know what you think, feedback is appreciated! also worry not, there is actual plot on the horizon

to join my taglist, comment on this post

The air in the estate’s dining room was sharp and cold, despite the flames burning in the fireplace.

“Young lady, are you even listening to me?”

“I am, father” she looked up from her plate to see her father shaking his head, eyes narrowed and studying her. He was sitting at the head of the table, disdain practically rolling off of him in waves.

“I’m sorry” she added quietly, while fiddling with her fingers under the table. The corset of her dress was digging uncomfortably into her chest, disabling her from breathing properly.

“What is the reason you have been walking around with your head in the clouds all day again, hm?” her father’s demanding voice cut through the air again “This is the third time this week your tutors have complained to me about you”

She turned to look at her mother but found the same disappointment in her eyes as well.

“Well,” she started sheepishly. “I’ve just been thinking about Rupert’s journeys recently, you know? He- he has been telling me about them and it all sounds so-” her mother’s scoff interrupted her explanation about her cousin's escapades around the continent.

“Oh, don’t you even start” her eyes widened at that, heart rate picking up at the barely contained exasperation in her mother’s voice. As though she were out of her mind. “You know very well you will get to travel for your honeymoon once you’re wed. But first we need to find a male who would find interest in you”

“Right, mother” She swore the marble pillars of the chamber were growing in size, as if ready to block any window in the room. Any access to the outside world “I just- I think I would like to see at least a bit of the world before getting married.” It was worth the try, she thought. Maybe she could convince them to-

“Your entire focus should be on finding a husband, not on losing yourself in your cousin's stories about exploring a world that is far too dangerous for a promising young lady such as yourself. You will start to bring shame to our name soon if you do not stop this nonsense.” The condensation in her father’s voice was thick enough to make her so scorchingly ashamed, she could feel it almost physically. “I will not even begin about all those foolish novels you busy yourself with reading all day as well, when there are serious matters to attend to. You have not had a suitor visit you in almost two weeks now.”

“But I am trying my best-”

“She already is the black sheep of the ton, darling” her parents looked at each other and her mother breathed out the sentence while resting her head against her palm. Such sadness laced her voice as if truly some tragedy or sickness had struck the family.

She could be described as that, she supposed.

“We spend all this money for the most fashionable dresses, best tutors in the capitol, for her to attend all the most important soirees and balls, and this is how she repays us? By not even trying?” she looked between her parents, mouth opening and closing, trying to cut into the conversation about her own life.

“Truly, I do not know what to even make of her anymore. All day she walks around either reading those novels from Prythian or babbling about some nonsense. Maybe enlarging her dowry would bring in more suitors?” Was her dress supposed to be this tight?

“I’m just interested in history-” her parents exchanged a knowing look. More shame licked at her gut. She could feel her breathing becoming shallow, her vision blurring as if something-

“Young lady, you know very well these are not the matters you should interest yourself in.” -As if something was wrong.

“But you said it yourself, that knowledge in culture is very useful in conversation-”

“Can you imagine a fine lady like your mother walking around all day muttering about history and literature to males with obviously much higher education, daughter?” He looked at her like he was expecting an answer, so she went to open her mouth. Before she could, her father was shaking his head, no sliver of warmth in his eyes. “Worry yourself with matters that were made for you, and leave academics for those appropriately inclined, girl” she could feel her eyes start to burn and her breaths coming out in short gasps.

“It is high time you walked on solid ground, daughter, you are not getting any younger” She couldn’t- couldn’t breathe-

She shot up in bed, gasping. She frantically looked around the room, trying to gauge her surroundings-

Huge, high and open windows with the first morning light streaming through them. Soft curtains pushed to gently flow against the windowsills by the wind. Shadows flowing loosely around the room, curling and twining around the furniture.

The House of Wind. She wasn’t there anymore, she was-

Home.

She took a few deep breaths and looked closer around herself. A navy blue blanket in her lap and a wing draped across it.

Azriel.

She ran a hand through her hair as her breathing finally evened out. She turned to look at him, laying on his side in bed, eyes open and alert. Only his ruffled hair betrayed that he was asleep just a few moments before.

“Nightmare?”

“I’m sure you get worse,” she breathed out as she layed back down, curling into his side. But before he could pry about what got her so scared, she was asking another question.

“How are you feeling?” Sweet girl. He would have to wait until later in the day to ask, then. Her hands shot out to feel his bandage, seeing it tight and in place. She looked back at him wide-eyed, awaiting an answer.

“I’m alright” she narrowed her eyes, not quite believing him. He winked at her and said “Who wouldn't be? With such an immaculate healer” he teased, smirking slightly, mirth dancing in his eye. Trying to make her break even the slightest smile, as always.

She didn’t say anything, though. Only continued to stare him straight into his hazel eyes, which visibly turned from teasing, endearing amusement to something softer when he noticed her concern.

“I’m alright, angel, really” he chuckled, going to unwrap his bandage, before her hand shot out to stop him.

“Wait, what if-” his bandage fell loose before she was done with the sentence.

The skin of his abdomen was smooth, no wound in sight.

“See what a talented healer you are?” she exhaled in relief, sitting back on her heels

“It’s just your natural healing abilities” she grumbled

A shadow twined itself around a strand of her hair, tugging lightly. She swatted it away and it came to brush against her wrist instead.

Silly little things.

“Hm, pretty sure it’s actually not” she looked up at him, unconvinced “What I’m trying to say, is thank you for taking care of me last night”

She knew how hard it was for him to say those words. Probably just about as hard as it was for her to accept the praise he was spewing on her.

“I’ll always take care of you, Az” she mumbled, looking up at him.

Somehow it was just now that she noticed he was laying there, shirtless. That he had been laying there like that all night, that she slept on him like that. The air in the room thickened.

Didn’t she sleep in the chair last night?

Either way, he was in nothing but a loose pair of sleeping pants that outlined way too much, and she was in nothing but a flimsy nightgown that she also couldn’t remember putting on the night prior.

As the silence in the room lengthened, her breathing became shallow for an entirely different reason than it had just a few minutes earlier. Especially when she looked up at him to find him already looking at her. No, watching her with a careful eye.

Three minutes later she was hurrying down the hallway to her bedroom, head cast down to hide the redness on her face.

Three minutes later Azriel was sitting up in his bed, wondering what had gotten his best friend so worked up to escape his bed in such a hurry, leaving only a flimsy, rushed excuse about being late to work. Work which is three hours away. Work which he walks her to and buys her breakfast on the way, everyday.

Huh.

That moment was not what she initially thought it was. Surely, she was misreading things.

She was out of her mind. She had to be, right?

But she swore there was a moment last night where Azriel was about to kiss her. He surely wouldn’t have done that, though.

…Or would he? Fuck.

The early spring air was fresh and cold against her rosy cheeks as she walked along the sidra on her way to the studio through the streets of Velaris. Early blooming flowers were growing on window sills and merchants were already setting up their stalls outside. Spring was coming and the City of Starlight would soon come to life - even though it thrived in the winter just as well.

She left the House a few hours earlier than usual this morning, after she had run off from Azriel’s room. She had then thrown on an ivory dress before haphazardly putting half of her hair up and ended up bumping into Rhys, who flew her down to the city. Since she was almost three hours early for work, she had spent most of her morning walking aimlessly around the rainbow, mulling last night’s situation over in her head.

She was delusional, she had to be. Azriel would never try to kiss her. He wouldn’t want to, surely, and she needed to get those wretched ideas out of her mind before she ruined their friendship for good. She already carried so much of her emotional baggage over to him, it was ridiculous for her to now be thinking of something as absurd as this.

She was seeing things for sure. There were many possibilities of what this could actually be; she’s been so anxious recently that her mind is probably making her think things she would normally find insanely improbable. Like, for one, the notion of her and Azriel as something more than friends.

Azriel was just being a good best friend and here she was turning this situation into something entirely different that he surely would view as an outright disturbing distortion of their friendship.

But somehow the conclusion that Azriel had, in fact, not tried to kiss her and she was out of her mind to think he ever would, didn’t bring even a slither of peace to her mind.

The only thing it did do was bring an awfully stressful tightness to her chest which picked her heart rate up to a point she thought the feeling might climax and she’d simply just explode.

Truly, she should pat herself on the back for handling her anxious feelings so well.

All this made her so distracted she bumped into people at least four different times in the last hour. Azriel would scold her for being so unaware of her surroundings. It’s dangerous, he would say if he were here. But he wasn’t here because she was stupid and making things awkward and- She audibly groaned as she walked alongside the windowsill of one of her favorite bakeries. And, of course, on top of things, she had forgotten to eat breakfast.

She needed to get her shit together, really. Or she needed a break. Or something else that would make things okay.

She sighed out, making a corner. But of course this wasn’t the first time the idea of her and Azriel as an item crossed her mind. She was raised and trained to think of every male she met as a potential husband. It was automatic. And after all, he was the first male she met after fleeting her kingdom. She had been in her old ways, back then.

At least that’s what she would keep telling herself for now on.

It was what she did tell herself after she got to the studio and started to set up.

It was also what she kept telling herself for almost the entire following week, which she spent trying, and failing miserably, to avoid Azriel while also realizing that she was acting a bit ridiculous.

It was just that every single time she saw him, all these thoughts kept resurfacing to the top of her mind and she felt pathetic, embarrassed and like the worst friend in the world at the same time. He’s been doing so much lately to ease all of her worries.

Gods, he’s been basically breaking his back to make her smile and this is how she repays him?

He noticed that something was wrong with her, of course he did. But then again, when was the last time in the last few months when something wasn’t wrong with her?

Cauldron, he was so …gentle about it too. “Are you sure everything’s alright, angel?” he would ask with a hint of worry in his tone, hazel eyes alert and holding that same care she’s come to know so well.

And that made everything so much worse. The thought crossed her mind that maybe he also felt guilty about something - as though he too noticed some sort of shift and took it as his own mistake. As if he saw his fault there.

So, she promised herself that tonight she would go to him. And they would spend time together, like they usually did. And everything would be good.

She would hate it more than anything if she was the cause of Azriel feeling any sort of guilt, the Mother knew how much he struggled with that already. So, she decided they would spend a lovely evening together and she would not allow herself to think, for even a second, about kissing him.

Even though she had, in fact, thought about it all week. He would hate her for ruining their friendship like that - and if that ever happened there would be nothing else to do but throw herself headfirst into the Sidra.

She had analyzed the situation thoroughly in her head and came to this conclusion: she wasn’t sure if she even wanted to engage herself in any sort of romantic thing. It brought to mind a plethora of negative memories, but this was Azriel. Which made it all the more ridiculous.

Besides, she’s already established that she shouldn’t even allow herself to think of her best friend like this.

She was the carrier of entirely too much emotional baggage that Azriel already had to comfort her about, now more than ever. It wasn’t the right time to think of such matters when in the span of the last month she cried in his arms multiple times about one situation, which she still had no idea what to do about.

Nightmares and flashbacks wrecked her mind extremely often and of course she went to Azriel for comfort, but he had to be tired of her by this point. Especially considering that her past is like a walk in the park compared to his.

Of course she was very aware she shouldn’t compare their situations - but she can’t help it, sometimes.

Embarrassment burned hot in her gut at the idea of Azriel, the male who has been comforting her like some child for the last few weeks, seeing that in the meantime she’s been wondering about whether he wants to kiss her or not. She felt her cheeks burn at how pathetic that seemed. Gods.

Enough of this. She would not kiss him. She would not ruin their friendship, which was the one stable thing in her life, she reminded herself, and everything would be fine. End of story.

The ingenious plan for the evening would have worked out fine, if it weren’t for the fact that Azriel wasn’t in his room. Or anywhere else in the House.

Great.

She was almost fully certain that he did not tell her about going on another mission this week. What if he specifically chose not to tell her, because she had already ruined everything- She shook her head with a furrowed brow, as if that would send the vicious thought far away.

No. She would not go there. There was still one more place to check - the library that Nesta and Elain spent a lot of their time in after first coming to Night. He liked to read there sometimes, when he had the time or wanted to relax after an especially stressful day. And so she took the stairs to the higher floor and was already preparing what to say to him, wondering if she shouldn’t have maybe baked something for him, when it turned out that the library was certainly not where Azriel was.

It was however, where Nesta was reading on a blue velvet armchair standing next to the huge floor to ceiling windows. The City of Starlight was bathed in late sunset, the first stars already shining, as were the fae lights in the cobblestone streets and houses. It wasn’t until Nesta spoke that she realized she was standing frozen in the doorway, disappointment probably evident on her face.

“Azriel had to go on a last-minute mission. An emergency” the female looked up from her novel, icy eyes piercing into hers, and cocked her head “Cassian was supposed to tell you?”

“Oh. I haven’t seen him” she sighed and crossed the room to sit in the armchair opposite to Nesta’s. “Is everything alright?” An emergency mission wasn’t a completely strange occurrence to her, but it didn’t happen often. And Azriel hadn’t talked about having any trouble.

The other female’s eyes narrowed at that. “Azriel didn’t say anything to you about his last few missions? Really?”

“What do you mean?” But Nesta just shook her head.

“Maybe it isn’t my story to tell, then”

“Nesta, come on” She obviously wouldn’t intrude on Azriel’s privacy, he had the right not to tell her about something, but she had a feeling there was more to this. What if he was in danger? “At least tell me if he’s safe”

“As safe as on any mission, as far as I’m aware”

“The last time you guys said he’d be fine he ended up getting stabbed so forgive me if I’m not very trusting on this”

Nesta chuckled, a half smirk appearing on her face as she leaned back in her chair “Listen, I know you two go full mother-hen mode on each other like, three times a day but he really should be okay. From what I know he’s just there to pick up on conversations, no participating in anything” she said in a light tone “And before you ask, Rhysand asked him to immediately go check on something, so he genuinely had no time to tell you”

“Yeah, I know that he must’ve had a good reason not to tell me” she mumbled with a frown, at which Nesta cocked her head to the side again

“I’m sorry, but you guys have been acting awkward recently. I just wanted to make sure you knew he didn’t do it on purpose”

“We- we are not acting awkward” she sputtered out immediately

“Oh, really?”

“Yes! There’s nothing wrong”

“I didn’t say there was something wrong” the other female had a knowing glint in her eye when she said this, almost proudly.

“Oh”

After a beat of silence Nesta hummed and readjusted her position on the chair “You don’t have to sit here like a doe ready to bolt as if I were about to force you to tell me what’s going on”

“Everything with me and Az will be alright, tho”

“Well, I should hope so, it would be a shame if-” Nesta stopped herself, smirking slightly.

“If what?” The other female just looked her in the eye, raising an eyebrow as if she expected her to figure something out. But all she could think about was why Azriel hadn’t said anything about something going wrong in his missions.

Now that she thought about it, recently he hasn’t even been telling her where his missions were.

“Nesta, what has been going on during those missions?” she asked finally, voice stretched thin. Nesta just looked at her, face suddenly serious. She glanced at the window to the side and then sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose between her fingers.

“Fine, I’ll tell you but only because I can’t stand to look at you with those puppy eyes of yours. He has really told you nothing?” There was audible surprise in her voice, which was quite rare for Nesta.

“Nothing”

“There has been a …group, I suppose, operating mainly on the continent but they’ve been moving around”

“A group? What does that mean?”

“They’re Rhysand’s enemy, is what I know. We’ve been trying to establish who exactly they are, because they’ve not revealed themselves. But they have quite a vendetta against the whole court, that one’s clear. We don’t really even know the scale of the danger yet, if they’re something we should truly worry about”

“And this …group, is one of them who stabbed Azriel?”

“As far as I’m aware, yes”

“And, uh, how many of them are there?” Nesta just pressed her lips into a tight line, giving her a knowing look and shaking her head.

Well, it appeared her and Azriel had more to talk about than she initially suspected.

The time she finally saw him was while she was at work. She’s spent a lot more time at her studio recently than she usually did, but it was good on her. The shop has been busy and she’s been selling practically every single design she had in store.

Working also provided her with at least a bit of reprieve from the mess that was happening in her mind. Her life. And she was frequently visited by Mor and Cassian, who couldn’t for the sake of their lives hide the fact that they were really just trying to check if she hadn’t absolutely spiraled into madness, yet. Her cheeks heated uncomfortably every time she was reminded that quite literally every single member of her family bore witness to the whole family fiasco.

Even though she despised being coddled, the company was greatly appreciated now that she saw Azriel less than usual. Well, that was until now at least.

He walked into her shop quickly and scanned the room until his eyes landed on her working at her table. Determination shined in them.

She stood up and scanned his body up and down. He seemed alright. He must’ve come back at least a few hours ago, because he was clean and wearing fresh clothes: a black shirt and pants. A coil of tightness seized her heart at the fact that he didn’t go to her immediately after coming home.

A heavy silence encapsulated the room, and she started to play with her fingers. Then she went to open her mouth to say something, but so did he, and -. Neither of them said anything.

Gods, when did it come to this?

She chuckled awkwardly and refused to meet his eye. Azriel ruffled his wings, stretching them out and pulling them back in. Then he exhaled and shook his head.

His shadows came to her before he did. The swarming little things twirled around her whole body. She laughed a little as they twisted around her legs and arms while also pulling at strands of her hair and the edge of her dress.

Then a set of hands was on her waist and shoulders as she was pressed against a muscled chest. She swore a tight knot that had been noticeably bothering her recently loosened immediately at the familiar feeling. She put her arms around him too, and rested her head against his shoulder, breathing out.

“Hey” he half whispered finally, voice hoarse and thick.

She pulled her head up to look him in the eye and swallowed before replying “Hey”

He was back.

An underdetermined amount of time passed as they simply stood there, holding each other. Sharing the space.

And then it was as though a dam broke; they were sitting on the floor, her legs swung over his as they talked. And talked.

She told him about what she had learnt from Nesta. He was apologetic but told her that he didn’t tell her because he didn’t want to unnecessarily worry her when she already had so much on her plate.

She wasn’t too happy about it, but neither was he about her avoiding every single question about her family. If she was anything, she was dismissive of her feelings, he was well aware, but he was especially worried about her these past few weeks. This family thing was taking a toll on her and he hated that she felt too burdensome to talk to him about it. Hated that they had made her like this and still dared to this day to impose on her peace.

He hoped, if only a little, that they would, in fact, dare to come here because then he’d be able to personally tell them what he thought of them.

And so the pair continued on their conversation; she told him about the ridiculous situations she’s been having with clients and about Cassian throwing a fit a few days prior when Rhys ate all of the brownies she had baked. And he laughed fondly before starting to tell her about his mission and for a moment, she truly believed that everything would be alright. That the short time they had apart from one another really did do both of them well and they’d be back to normal.

Until Azriel mentioned something that she’d been very purposely, and successfully avoiding, thus far.

“I think we have to postpone our Summer Court trip, sweetheart.” she freezed and tensed as something started to ring in her head. Not something - Amren’s voice, from the last time she saw her. “I’m sorry, angel, but with this group gallivanting around the continent, we don’t know if they aren’t in Prythian at this point as well. They could be targeting other High Lords too and I’d rather you stay in Velaris, where it’s safe, for now, at least while we're gouging out the threat”

Azriel’s reasoning was absolutely logical. It was just that her mind was not.

It was obvious that now wasn’t the best time to go on a vacation because of what Azriel was saying, but she couldn’t help but think that there was something hidden to it, too.

Amren was right and she had, in fact, been selfish and unthoughtful. And Azriel knew it but he would never say it to her face.

“Sweetheart?”

“That’s, yeah -. That’s okay, we’ll just have to go another time, then” she gave him a tight-lipped smile as she felt something heavy settle against her chest.

“I know we were both looking forward to it, and we will go, once it’s safe to, alright?”

“Yeah, yeah sure” she replied softly, although her mind was already somewhere else. She was a bit disappointed but- It was for the better anyway, she guessed. She did see the glances her family exchanged at that dinner, while Amren was storming down on her. Like they agreed with the silver eyed female, like she was wrong for planning to go on a trip while her own family drama would climax in the meantime, and they’d be left to deal with it.

They were right.

Hot, scorching shame that she’d lately come to know so well consumed her whole body. When had she become …this? She was better than this, stronger. Or at least she used to be. Maybe it was her parents making her revert to this stumbling, scared shell of a female. But somehow such a thought didn’t help her one bit. It was still… her.

Azriel was saying something, trying to distract her, because how could he not notice when something was irking her mind? And so she let him, she tried to focus on his story, let it wash over her mind. And she loathed her family a little bit more than usual when vitriol filled thoughts wouldn’t stop taking over her mind.

Azriel noticed something was wrong back in the studio when she locked up at the mention of their trip. He knew how excited she was for it, but surely that couldn’t have ruined her mood that much.

And yet her eyes were downcast and sad all throughout dinner. He watched as she barely greeted everyone and ate her meal in silence, only glancing at her family a few times. His attempts at making her laugh only succeeded in making him feel pathetic and when he tried to gouge out what was going on, Nesta, Cassian and Morrigan all gave him sheepish, knowing looks.

What happened while he was gone?

Noticeably, Amren was absent from the table.

He felt his hands tense and clench everytime he looked at her and saw the downturn of her lips as she moved her food around her plate.

His girl was sad, and it awakened a simmering, impatient anger within him. If Rhysand would have let him, he’d have gone to that kingdom and dealt with the situation himself. It wasn’t like he hadn’t already tried presenting such an idea to his High Lord.

Another thing he noticed was how …tired she seemed. Her movements were sluggish and he easily picked up on other usual signs of her being overwhelmed. He needed to fix this before things got bad.

Azriel’s first step to fixing the situation was to find out what had happened in his absence to make his best friend go into massive survival mode at the idea of having family dinner. And so, soon after dinner was over, he found himself standing in Rhysand’s office and listening to him recount a conversation that happened on the night he got stabbed.

Less of a conversation and more like one of Amren’s egocentric monologues.

“And none of you thought to tell her to quit it?” Rhysand sighed as Azriel gritted out the question from between clenched teeth.

“We did”

He scoffed “Seems to me like the damage had already been done” Rhysand recognized the sharp glint in his brother’s eyes. This wasn’t Azriel talking; it was the Shadowsinger of the Night Court. Ruthless in protecting what was his. “You know damn well how much of a sore subject this is to her. All of you do, yet you let Amren go on and on, even though you’re well aware how sensitive she is about this”

“Azriel-”

“No!” The spymaster slammed his hands down against Rhys’s mahogany desk. The High Lord, sitting on its opposite side, tensed up. “What the fuck, Rhys?”

The other male sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose “I do realize how stressful this situation is on her, Azriel. We all do. You’re not the only fae here who cares about her" He looked up to meet Azriel’s unforgiving glare “But the facts are this: as long as she stays here, she has nothing to worry about. We operate on our law, no one can take her anyway”

“I know that”

“And yet you don’t act like you do” if the situation wasn’t as dire to Azriel, Rhysand would have smirked. He actively had to stop the corner of his lip to quirk up. “You need to do something about this, brother. You’ll only scare her off if you keep up this act of playing guard dog to her. If you threaten to bite the heads off of everyone around, she’ll get scared about her own”

Azriel clenched his jaw “You don’t know what you’re talking about”

“Don’t I?”

“No, you don’t” he gritted out.

A second later, he was out the door.

The second step in his plan to fix things was to find her and talk. That would’ve been easier if he hadn’t just learnt what he did. He knew very well that Amren had her moments, but this was rich coming from her. It was just now occurring to him that he hadn't seen her at all in weeks.

Pathetic.

His shadows were agitated as well, squirming around him angrily, already well ahead of him on his way to his girl’s room. He heard her squeak as they swam into her chamber under the door.

Trying to reign them in was useless, at this point.

A heartbeat later, she opened her door and peeked around the corridor looking for him. A nervous smile graced her face when their eyes met.

“I’m sorry about them, angel. I hope they didn’t scare you?” he asked softly as he walked in her direction. Somehow, half the anger that was consuming him just a second earlier vanished from his body at the sight of her alone.

“They kind of did, but it’s okay.” she giggled as she stepped from one foot to the other “It’s cold here. Do you want to come inside?”

He lifted an eyebrow as he looked at her: she was only wearing a shirt (that he recognized from his own closet) and a pair of long socks. No wonder she was cold. But she just smiled sheepishly and opened the door wider for him to come in.

“I wanted to talk” she freezed, her back still to him as he shut the door behind his back.

“Oh- okay. I mean-”

“I heard what happened with Amren”

“Oh” she turned around to face him now. Eyes wide and cheeks flushed. A beat of silence followed, and it was like he could see her raise her hackles. She couldn’t conceal it, not from him.

“You didn’t do anything wrong” she only pursed her lips and sat on her bed, starting to fidget with her fingers.

“I kind of did, though. You can’t stand there and tell me it wasn’t selfish of me to think I can just-”

“Yes, I can” he stated calmly “It wasn’t selfish of you. You didn’t do anything wrong”

She groaned and looked up at him “You’re just saying that, Azriel! You weren’t there, you didn’t see how they looked at each other”

“Who?”

“Everyone!”

He frowned a bit as he crouched down next to her and put his hand on her knee. “No one blames you for anything, sweetheart. No one, you hear me? Nobody thinks you’re selfish or egoistic or anything of the sort”

“Right. They just pity me” his frown deepened at that.

“What are you talking about?” He felt like he was pulling at strings here. He felt something in his chest tighten when he noticed how red and watery her eyes were getting. This would be her breaking point, he realized then, and he felt a bit of self-loathing slice at his chest. He’d never mean to make her break down, but Gods- she can’t possibly think it okay to keep overwhelming herself and bottling everything up, right? There is not a universe in which he would bear witness to that, and not step in.

“Everyone can see it, all the time!” She flung herself back on the bed and laid there, staring at the ceiling while she talked “I’m a mess and I’ve been a mess and I don’t know what to do” Her last words were watery as she obviously tried not to cry.

He walked to her slowly and laid down next to her. “I know things have been hard, angel. But you’re not alone, I’m right here, alright?”

She hiccuped “I just- I feel so much of this …guilt, you know? For- for leaving, I think that’s were it started and now it’s like no matter what I do, it comes back for me”

“I know”

“I want it to be over, but this vision of them coming here keeps hanging over me like- like-”

“Deep breaths, angel, that’s it” he coaxed her through it gently “Like what?”

“Like a death sentence”

He felt his heart break in his chest. It was then that he made the decision that he’d been putting back for years, for fear she wouldn’t be happy with him. If he ever got his hands on those people, he wouldn’t hold back. Not one bit.

His trail of thought was interrupted by the sound of her turning around and curling into his side. She pressed her whole body against his, hiding her head in his shoulder. His wing instinctively curled around her as she released a shaky breath.

This is where he was, and where he would stay present. He wrapped his body around her and pressed a kiss to her temple.

“I’m right here, sweetheart”

He would stay here, for as long as she needed him to. Until there was not a single worry plaguing her mind. And then some.

Time passed quickly after that night, and she spent her days on work and spending time with Azriel, like it used to be. Although it did feel like calm before the storm - again. Maybe that’s just what life would look like for her in the near future.

She hoped not. Azriel was there more than he had for those past few weeks; it seemed that whatever trouble that group had been causing had been managed at least a bit.

Tonight, he promised to take her to the theatre for an opera premiere - it has been a long time since they were able to go out and fully relax. Spring was finally coming into Velaris in full bloom, and they both deserved to come back to life too, just like the world did. And so, during one of their flights over the city, Azriel came up with the idea of doing something special, once a week from then on. She had initially wanted them both to attend a painting class together, but they ended up laughing and deciding that wouldn’t really end well for the canvases. And so it landed on the theatre, for the first week's excursion, which she hadn’t visited for months.

She hummed a tune to herself as she packed things up in the shop and made sure everything was in place. The late sunset golden light bled onto the streets as she walked out and started locking the doors.

She was excited to finally have a good night, giddy even. And it definitely could’ve been that, if it weren’t for the rough hand that suddenly pressed tightly against her mouth. If it weren’t for the strange voice, pressed too close to her ear telling her to stay quiet.

And it certainly would’ve been a good night, if it weren’t for the needle that pressed into her arm, and the unending darkness that consumed her afterwards.

taglist: @greenmandm @thoughtfulcoffeeflower @dark-night-sky-99 @ly--canthrope @azrielssgirl @topaz125 @azrielsmate3 @i-am-infinite @stressed-reader @blonde-bansheee @k-homosapien @azysmate @brekkershadowsinger

#azriel x reader #acotar #acotar x reader #a court of thorns and roses #azriel acotar #acotar fandom #azriel fanfic #azriel #azriel fluff #azriel x you #azriel x oc #azriel angst #azriel fanfiction #azriel shadowsinger #azriel imagine #azriel and his best friend #azriel series #acotar series #acotar fanfiction

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heeikeuu · 3 days ago

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Veiled Within The Walls - P. SH

Main Plot: Vampire! Sunghoon x OC Human! Liliana

Synopsis: Her friends dared her to enter an abandoned castle alone, one that no soul has dared to step foot in and came back alive to tell the tale. Liliana, being stubborn, decided to do so anyway— refusing to believe their crazy stories, yet what awaits her there leaves a shiver down her spine.

Warnings: 5k wc, mentions of death/war, profanity, blood, suggestive, slow burn, ANGST, crack, fluff (sorry if I missed anything!)

A/N: Hello lovelies! Hope you enjoy this and I apologize in advance for the angst jhfdguedflsef. My inspiration for this was Sylus and Zayne myths from Lads.

⋆.˚♱ Recommended Playlist ♱˚

Chapter 1: Stop Bluffing!

The night was quiet outside, contrasting the sounds heard from Liliana and her best friend as they argued on the phone.

“You’ve been cooped up in that jail- sorry, room for 2 weeks now.” Sunoo reasoned, “you should come with me and the guys, we are planning to get brunch together on Saturday.”

Liliana let out a sigh, “I know but I HAVE to finish this before the deadline, noo.” Her tone defeated as she slumped into her seat, pouting.

“Lily, come on! Your deadline isn’t until next month, one day won’t hurt.” He whined. After thinking about it for a little longer, she hesitantly agreed. She cursed him for giving her the puppy eyes.

Saturday finally came after another uneventful week.

Looking at the clock, it read 3:25am, hunched over her desk, Liliana decided to call it a night after finishing her book. She had a long day ahead of her in a few hours as she promised her friends to be there and not ditch them this time.

“You look like a zombie,” Riki said as he opened the car door for her.

“You look wonderful too!” The sarcasm dripped down her voice like venom as she got in.

“Who pissed in her cereal?” Jungwon whispered to Sunoo who told him to shut up before she heard them.

“Look who decided to grace us all with her presence!” Riki abruptly announced as he started the car engine once she got done buckling the belt.

“Lilyyy, we missed you,” Sunoo dramatically fell on Jungwon who sat next to him.

“I missed you guys too, except for him,” she playfully pointed at Riki who was driving, “oh wow..” he let out making the others giggle. “Just so you know, you’re paying now.”

Looking at him with a deadpan look before answering, “Bitch I’m always the one paying anyway.”

“Sugar mommy era!” The other two cheered.

“This mommy will be out of sugar soon enough,” she retorted.

Sunoo and Jungwon look at each other, “Ewww you made it weird now.”

“Agreed,” the younger joined.

“Why are we friends again?” She sighed in defeat.

“Because you love us very much,” Riki quipped with a grin.

Arriving at the cafe they used to frequent at. “ So did you guys hear?” Sunoo leaned in after they got done ordering, making the other 3 look at each other and lean in curiously.

“What?”

“Did Jungwon finally grow the balls to ask his crush out,” Lily whispered back, making the younger hit her shoulder with no real strength behind it to not hurt her.

“Ouch” It was her turn to be dramatic now.

“Focus!” Sunoo whispered back urgently,

“SPILL IT DAMMIT,” Riki impatiently yelled making the other customers in the cafe eye their table. Getting embarrassed he bowed his head apologetically before turning to his friends. “SHHHH” he heard them hiss at him.

“Anyways..” Sunoo continued, “have you guys heard of the abandoned castle that’s a few hours away from here?” they shook their heads, making him sigh, “okay so there is a story I read last week about how there is apparently a mysterious person living there. Soooo, we should check it out!” He finishes.

“I don’t kno-” Jungwon is interrupted by Riki who is suddenly very interested.

“We should check it out!” He grinned at his friends.

“Absolutely not! Lily reason with them!” He nudged her shoulder.

Waiting for her answer, “I agree with Won. Plus I have work to do, remember?”

Riki and Sunoo let out groans of annoyance.

“Come onnn, I bet this will be fun! What’s the worst that can happen?”

“But-” this time she was interrupted by Sunoo who gave her the puppy eyes again.

“That trick won’t work twice on me, Noo.” She sighed.

“Don’t be a wuss!” She heard the other boy shoot back. “I bet you’re just scared.” He smirked, folding his arms, he knew how to get her to agree.

“Oh really? Fine then.”

“LILY” Jungwon said before defeatedly agreeing too, not wanting to be the odd one out.

“This is such a Horrible idea” Sunoo suddenly interrupted,

“Sunoo, it was literally YOUR idea,” she told him with a blank expression.

The rest of the morning was spent with the group chuckling and talking about things they had missed while they (mostly Liliana) were busy. Eventually, the group called it a day and all went to their respective homes.

_______________________________________

Liliana's POV:

It's been 3 days since I went out with the guys. I can't help but think back to what Sunoo said at the café. l re-open the reddit link he sent to the group chat. Looking over the thread, a few people swore on their graves that they saw someone or something lurking in the castle. Though I had my doubts, I also had the urge of a white chick in a horror film to chase after danger.

So, here I am, packing some snacks and water for the road trip with my unwanted children friends.

Ding.

“I'm here.” The notification read from Riki who lived the closest to me. As much as we banter, he is like a brother to me whom I love dearly.

Making sure to turn off all the lights and lock the doors. I make my way out.

“Sunoo stayed at Jungwons’ yesterday so we can pick them up and head out.”

I hummed in response, looking out the window. It was almost sunrise, the clouds scattered making the orange and blue hues of the sun ever so prominent. The crisp morning air only adds to the breathtaking scenery.

“It's a beautiful day,” I hadn't realized I spoke out loud until Riki agreed.

“Yeah, we rarely get to see each other lately from work and uni, so it's nice to plan something spontaneous together like this.” His sudden sincerity made me feel guilty for not prioritizing my friends more. He must’ve noticed the guilt written in my face, “hey, it's okay Lily. We All got caught up with our own things.”

"I know but I ditched out on our plans too many times. I'm sorry.” My gaze fell to my lap as I spoke. He simply patted my head gently without saying anything more. A mutual understanding between us.

After 2 minutes we arrived to pick up the other two. The drive was about 2 hours and a half. We didn't talk much, it was just peaceful silence where we enjoyed each other's presence and the sky outside.

“Lily,” Jungwon broke the silence.

“Yeah?”

“Check this out,” he handed me his phone. Curiously I took it, reading the post out loud.

“Long ago there was a lively big kingdom where vampires and humans coexisted peacefully until a war broke out. Humans started attacking, detaining, and killing many innocent vampires due to rising conflicts in the royal world. Though many were accepting of coexistence, there were still hostile humans and vampires alike. A young prince was said to be the next in line to become the king but the war came with a cost. His lover was a human– and the couple was promised peace once more to the land if they got married but the night of; she was murdered in cold blood by her own kind, to them she was a traitor. In a fit of pure rage, the prince retaliated by burning the kingdom down. Centuries had passed and it is said the prince lives alone in the castle still awaiting and yearning for his lover.”

“What do you think?” He asked me.

“I mean, it sounds like a local tale made up to keep normal people away from the castle but I can't say I'm not intrigued.” I smirk.

“So they think some lonely and hot vampire is just randomly living there?” Riki snorted.

“Maybe, who knows,” I playfully responded. “I bet 20 bucks it's nothing though.”

“You have arrived at your destination.” The GPS spoke as Riki parked the car.

Waking our sleeping prince, we get out of the car.

“Damn, is it just me or is it freezing,” I pull my cardigan closer to my chest and cross my arms.

“Yeah, I could see my breath, look,” Jungwon said while demonstrating to us.

“Okay,” Riki clapped his hands, “Liliana is going in first.” He announced.

“Are you sure about this, Lily?” Jungwon asked with worry in his eyes.

“Hell yeah! A bet is a bet, plus I will be fineee.” I smiled at the three.

“Don't come back screaming if you see roaches!” Riki called out as I made my way there. I turn momentarily to flip him out and stick out my tongue. “You wish!” I shouted back.

In my peripheral vision, I notice Jungwon and Sunoo shaking their heads like disappointed parents.

I continued walking, the building looked fairly worn out but still breathtaking. It was huge with black details stretching all over the walls. It was hard to miss the clear gothic elements which only further intrigued me. Though everyone called it a castle due to the visuals, the size was more like a big modern mansion.

Finally reaching the main gates, I looked back to my friends who were a few feet away.

_______________________________________

Chapter 2: Shadow

Opening the gates with great strength, she lets out a huff.

The bailey was stretched with green grass and wildflowers that decorated it throughout, catching her by surprise. “If this place is really abandoned, how come it's so lively?” She thought to herself out loud.

Caw caw caw,

She heard the deep but piercing sounds of a raven. Looking up, she could've sworn to herself that she saw the shadow of a man too.

“I must be imagining things..” Liliana reassured herself. The cold air made her skin cringe but she weirdly felt at peace here, an unknown sense of familiarity and nostalgia made her throat swell and heart ache but she couldn’t explain it. It smelled and felt like a distant home.

Lost in her own little world, she almost didn't notice the raven approaching her in curiosity. It tilted its head innocently at her. Finally making eye contact with the bird, she crouched down. Gently reaching her hands to pet it before the moment was interrupted by her friends worriedly calling her name from behind.

“LILYYY,”

“THERE YOU ARE,”

Their shouting intimidated the raven, making it flee.

“NOO, wait!” She called out to the bird, pouting.

“Who were you talking to?” Jungwon asked first

“She officially lost it chat,”

“I don't even think she had a mind to lose in the first place, to be honest,” Sunoo agreed with Riki, making her hit both of them in the back of their heads.

“Ouch!” They said in sync.

“What took you so long?” Jungwon, ever the more responsible and worried one asked again.

“I just got lost in my own thoughts,” reassuring her friends with a smile. “And I was talking to a raven, FYI.”

“What raven? We didn't see anyone?”

“What?”

“Told you she's getting too old,” Riki replied, shaking his head. Liliana raised her hand, making the younger quickly apologize.

“Hey guys have you noticed how the flowers here are still-” turning to show them. “Dead..?” She finishes her sentence in utter confusion.

“Lily, sweetheart, are you feeling well?” Sunoo asked, distressed.

“Maybe, it's time to leave this creepy place,” Jungwon announced. As they left, the unknown shadow stood watching them, her.

_______________________________________

Liliana's POV:

It's been 2 weeks since me and the gang visited that weird castle. I can't help but think back to what happened. I tried my best to ignore it but a gut feeling kept telling me to go again.

His lover was a human– and the couple was promised peace once more to the land if they got married but the night of; she was murdered in cold blood by her own kind, to them she was a traitor. In a fit of pure rage, the prince retaliated by burning the kingdom down. Centuries had passed and it is said the prince lives alone in the castle still awaiting and yearning for his lover.

“Could it possibly be true?” I mumble to myself as I sit in the mostly empty library.

“What could be true, darling?” The sweet old lady who owned this small library suddenly appeared, startling me.

“Oh goodness, me! Did I scare you? I apologise.” She said in a worried tone.

“Oh no, it's okay Ms. Charlotte, I was just thinking out loud again.” I assured her while making space for her to sit beside me.

“Sweetie, you have been sitting here for hours, have some tea, would you?” She offered me a cup, and I took it, thanking her. “Is something bothering you?”

“Oh, it's nothing..” I avoid her gaze. She gently grabbed my hands, “you can tell me no matter how mundane or silly it is.”

Ms. Charlotte was always so kind to everyone. She didn't have kids of her own but she treated us all like her own. She is a true gem.

I slowly tell her all my worries and the events that occurred. The old castle, flowers, the raven, and mysterious shadow.

Looking at her unreadable expression, “I probably sound crazy,” her eyes softened before she spoke again.

“I don't think you sound crazy.” She leaned in, “want to know a secret?” l nod. “That tale you read and all the others about vampires are not just tales,” noticing my puzzled face, she chuckled. “Our town has held- or rather buried many secrets of its past in fear and shame. Though we do not know what happened to the vampires afterwards. We did once live in harmony despite our flaws.”

There's a somber look in her eyes as she continues. “Many lives were lost due to human greed. This town was built on the blood of the innocent, as the guilty ran the other way. It has been centuries since we last heard of vampires. Many believed they went extinct by ending their lives to join their loved ones once more, but it is till this day believed that the prince stayed waiting for his lover to come back and remember him.”

Shocked, I stayed silent for a few seconds.

“I do not know how or why but I believe you are connected to that place.”

After our long chat, bid her goodbye with a hug. Waking back to my place, I find myself lost in thought before finally deciding,

I should go back.

_______________________________________

A week later, Liliana finds herself back at the castle. This time all alone. Taking a deep breath, this moment would either confirm or deny all her suspicions.

she opened the main gates with force, the beautiful and quiet scenery welcoming her as the air blew at her face, the grass covered in wildflowers was present again instead of the dead land it turned to in a blink last time.

Caw caw caw,

The raven had returned once again making her speechless.

“But.. How..?”

The raven approached her carefully now. She reached out, slowly and gently petting it. It was very friendly, making her wonder where it learned to socialize so well with humans.

Beneath the shadows, he stood. Watching over her in silence. Too afraid to scare her off.

Since the day she stepped foot in here, he couldn't stop thinking of her.

Liliana didn't tell a soul about her whereabouts, she kept this place to herself.

_______________________________________

**Before The War**

“Hey Hoon!” She cheerfully called out to him in the flower field, holding a clover with four leaves, making him chuckle softly at her.

“I must indeed be the luckiest man alive- or dead.” He corrected sheepishly.

They laid there in each other's arms for hours enjoying the crisp air and clouds.

—

“Hey Hoon!” She called out to him after not seeing each other for weeks. Running into his arms as he embraced her like it would be the last time.

—

“Hey Hoon!” Her tone was ever so cheerful yet there was something underlying in her voice this time. He hummed, his head resting on her chest, the sounds of her heartbeat bringing him peace. The night was quiet as they laid in bed, tangled in the sheets together.

“What would you do if I left this world?” She asked, playing with his soft locks absentmindedly.

Lifting his head gently to gaze into her eyes before answering with absolute certainty. “I would wait for you in every lifetime. And if someone took you away from me, I would take away everything and everyone they cherish.”

Cupping his face gently, “I love you.” She responded with a kiss that he reciprocated with twice as much passion. Getting lost in each other.

—

“Hey Hoon!”

He looked at her curiously.

“Why do you hate the idea of me turning into a vampire?”

Shocked at her bold question, he stayed quiet for a few moments, gathering his thoughts.

“I would never want to curse you with the same fate as me no matter how selfish I can be.” He gulped, “I would never forgive myself if you turned into a monster like me..”

“But you're not a monster-” He interrupts her,

“To you, I am just Hoon but.. To others I am no less of a monster.” The pain in his voice was evident as he avoided her gaze.

She gently held his big cold hands into her warmer ones. No other words were needed to be exchanged, her presence alone offered him more comfort than he thought he deserved.

**After The War**

It all seemed to happen overnight. The screams, the slaughter, the blood spilt, the lives lost. The place was in ruins as Sunghoon ran searching for his lover in the chaos.

“LILIANA!”

“MY LOVE CAN YOU HEAR ME!”

“LILIANA!”

He kept calling till his throat hurt.

There she was, with an open wound in her stomach as humans tied her on the burning stake. Her screams pierced the air as he ran to her pulling her away from the fire but he was too late.

“Hey.. Hoon.. wait for.. me.. please..” She coughed blood before peacefully closing her eyes forever. Even in her last moments, she smiled at him.

He cried loudly begging her to open her eyes again, to not leave him yet.

With his heart burning for his lover, blood covered his vision and arms as his heart ached for her.

She left and he no longer was just her Hoon but a monster seeking revenge.

_______________________________________

Sunghoon’s POV:

Waking up hastily from my nightmare. I stared at the ceiling blankly. Only it wasn't a nightmare but my reality. It was too early to contemplate the difference. Since that unknown girl entered the castle, I felt uneasy.

Could it really be her?

But if it was her, she would've remembered me…right?

My own thoughts turned into just her, and they haunted me every night.

After the day I watched her leave with her friends, I couldn't shake the thought of wanting to see her again. I wanted to confirm my suspicions, I told myself.

Then, she appeared again, and again, and again.

Yet, I still couldn't find the courage to step closer to her. Every week, without fail she visited alone. She just sat there mostly in silence with a book and pen in her hands. Carefree of her surroundings. She would sometimes talk to herself out loud or to the raven, who seemed to grow a liking to her being around.

I watched her leave every time, in the dark shadows. Unable to find the right words to convey.

_______________________________________

Chapter 3: Names & Secrets

The weather was sunny and warm, it stopped raining for the first time that week. Driving to the castle, Liliana hummed along to the music playing on the radio. Whenever she was overwhelmed by the noise and world around her, she loved visiting the castle to sit there despite the pretty long road.

It was all worth it in the end, the fresh scent of flowers and the air just felt different.

The unknown presence around her didn't go unnoticed, it didn't seem to be a sign of any danger though so she didn't worry too much about it. But today, she wanted to explore the place more.

Walking around the long hallways and just appreciating the architecture. Following behind her from afar, he stood.

The raven sat on the top of her head as she spoke to it like it could respond.

“Hey, I just realized I never gave you a name,” she said casually.

“Caw!” The bird said.

Suddenly, she stopped walking to turn around, “why don't we ask our little stalker friend here for advice.”

He paused.

“How did she notice..?” Sunghoon thought to himself

“You're not exactly that subtle you know.” She smiled amused as if she could read his thoughts.

“She smiled.. Is she not afraid of me?”

Slowly coming on out, he revealed himself to her.

She walked closer to him, “So, does it have a name,” she pointed at the bird who flew to his shoulder.

“No.” His deep cold voice made a shiver run down her spine.

“Why not?” She tilted her head, confused. It was a habit she never let go off. One that made his cold heart melt every time.

“You ask too many questions.” His voice remained cold and dry.

Liliana pouted, her big eyes shimmering in the sun making his cold heart swell more but his expression was still stoic.

The two fell into a pattern from then on. 2 months passed quicker than anticipated.

“Hey, ice prince,” that's what she called him since they met.

“Sunghoon.” He corrected her softly.

Not hearing him the first time, she tilted her head.

“It's Sunghoon.” He said more firmly this time, looking deeply into her eyes.

“That name.. Sounds so familiar.” Her thoughts were interrupted by him suddenly walking away.

“Hey Hoon! Wait!” The nickname flew out of her mouth before she could stop herself.

His entire body stopped.

“Did she just..” His mind turned blank but his face stayed neutral.

“What?” He blurted out loud, accidentally. Voice a little higher than normal.

She smiled at him bashfully, “sorry, it just felt right.”

He tried to contain himself, “It's okay.. I don't mind.” His gaze softened before going back to that mysterious glint that captivated her.

“Okay, Hoon.” Her smile was just as bright as the day he lost her.

This all felt like a sick joke from the universe to him. “Why can't she remember? And why did she have to find this cursed place again. Why does she keep coming back..” His thoughts in disarray.

_______________________________________

Liliana's POV:

The next day, I sat on my bed ideally, and decided to call Jungwon for advice.

“What's up, Lily?” He picked up.

“Wonie, can you keep a secret?” I nervously asked.

“Of course, is something the matter?” His tone is noticeably softer now.

I confessed to him what I have been doing lately and about Sunghoon. Maybe it was part of my imagination but he suddenly went quiet after hearing that name.

“Won?” I speak, cutting the tension in the air.

“Liliana, did.. you.. say Sunghoon?”

“Yeah why-” He interrupts me, “isn't that the name of the vampire prince from the local tale?” He carefully asked and suddenly my world stopped as I remembered what Ms. Charlotte told me before.

“Liliana, are you somehow connected to him? If he wanted to kill you, he wouldn't have waited this long.” My eyes widened as we both tried to connect the dots.

Before we cut the call he told me. “I don't think he wants to hurt you but please be careful, if anything happens call me immediately, okay?”

Opening my laptop, I start to deep dive more and reread what I might have missed. I noticed no one has mentioned his lover's name. Packing my bag, I sprint to the library.

I pushed the library doors open, the familiar bell ringing. The tension was thick, and it seemed like my unexpected visit wasn't all that unexpected.

Ms. Charlotte stood there with a warm smile, “took you long enough, sweetheart.”

Not knowing what to say, I felt tears cloud my vision. I had this strong feeling that I was supposed to remember something, or rather, someone but I just couldn't no matter what I tried.

I kept going back to the castle as if somewhere in my heart I was expecting Sunghoon but something was blocking that from my memories.

“Oh, honey,” she embraced me warmly in her arms as I helplessly cried.

“It's not your fault.” She repeated gently, patting my head until I calmed down enough to talk.

“Why do I feel like a piece of me is missing?” I asked anxiously, looking at my feet that were shaking.

“Because it was taken away from you.” She held my hands as I looked at her with an expression mixed with both surprise and confusion.

“400 years ago, you were the princess that was supposed to marry Park Sunghoon. After your own people killed you, he went borderline hysterical. Killing everything and everyone who stood in his way, because of his sins, the gods had cursed him with a fate to where you wouldn't remember him until the day he atoned to all his past sins.”

Trying to process her words, my body felt heavy making me faint when I tried standing up on my own two feet.

_______________________________________

Somewhere in her dreams, memories of her and Sunghoon appeared.

“Hey, Hoon!” She shouted cheerfully running to his side as he chuckled softly at her. Opening her hands, a ladybug appeared, “did you know that ladybugs symbolize good luck!”

—

Images of them holding hands, kissing passionately under the lit moon, embracing one another on the grass, and being tangled in the sheets all become distant and distorted as one memory plays vividly.

“LILIANA”

“MY LOVE CAN YOU HEAR ME”

“LILIANA!”

He kept calling till his throat hurt.

There she was, with an open wound in her stomach as humans tied her on the burning stake. Her screams pierced the air as he ran to her pulling her away from the fire but he was too late.

“Hey.. Hoon.. wait for.. me.. please..” She coughed blood before closing her eyes forever. Even in her last moments, she smiled at him.

—

Waking up while gasping for air, she finds herself in a strange room. Recalling the dream she had, she felt her whole being and soul shake. She wanted- no needed to see him.

“You're finally awake?” Sunoo spoke, he had eye bags and looked worried sick.

“Lily!” Jungwon called out almost in disbelief.

The door swung open revealing Riki who ran into her arms. “You dumbass, had us all worried sick for days.” Feeling her throat bubble up, she apologized while sobbing uncontrollably.

“It’s okay, Lily. We aren’t mad.” Sunoo reassured her, his hand rubbing her back.

“Yeah, but you do owe me 20 bucks now,” Riki tried to lighten the mood. Making the others chuckle at the silly bet they made months ago.

“I need to see him, please.” She weakly called out, still shaking.

“Ms. Charlotte caught us up with everything.” Jungwon shared.

“We will take you there but first, please drink some water and eat.”

“But-” Sunoo cuts her off, agreeing with Riki, “no buts, you need energy to see him.” His gaze was soft but his tone was firm, leaving no room for debate.

_______________________________________

Final Chapter: Fate

Sunghoon waited for her to visit again. Days passed and she never came. He began to feel his whole being scream, unable to leave the castle to go see her. The curse tied him down to this place. Away from her.

She was his salvation and damnation.

“Is she okay?”

“Did she get hurt?”

“What if she remembered?”

“Does she hate me?”

His thoughts spiraled as he paced back and forth for hours chewing on his nails until they bled. The metallic taste only made him more numb.

In his disheveled state, it was all filled with her voice, scent, warmth, her. She consumed his soul whole.

Stopping all his thoughts, in the chaos of his mind, her voice rang and echoed through the walls, calling for him.

His body froze.

“Liliana..?”

There she was, this time, she remembers. This time she won't leave.

Liliana ran, but of breath, calling to him.

“Hoon!”

“I remember now!”

“I'm back!”

Not wasting a second longer, he ran towards the sound of her voice. This time, knowing it wasn't a dream.

Finally, they stood a few feet away from one another in the same garden they once always laid in. Breathless and eyes red from crying. She whispered as stray tears fell down her face, “I missed you.” But she still smiled. The wind blew, making her look ever more beautiful in his eyes as the sun set.

The next few moments are almost a blur as they embrace one another tightly on the grass, surrounded by wildflowers. Scared of letting go, of losing each other. But no longer feeling like they were missing pieces of themselves.

“What took you so long?” He whispered softly against her hair.

The question was more rhetorical, yet she still answered him with one of her own.

“Did you always know?” Unable to hide the hurt in her voice.

“Yes,” he whispered, not wanting to hide or lie to her or himself any longer.

Lifting her head, she looks into his eyes. his hands reach out hesitant at first before she grabs them, covering him in her warm skin. Oh how much he missed her touch. He cradled her face, fingers tracing her skin in a familiar tune.

Lightly tracing her bottom lip with his thumb, his gaze moved towards her lips then eyes again, silently asking for permission. Without saying a word, she leaned in first, closing the gap between them.

The kiss started off so sweet but soon became more desperate. His hand moved with more urgency, wanting to feel her as close as possible. While his other hand held the back of her head, guiding her. Hating any distance between them.

Gently biting her bottom lip, drawing some blood, making her breath hitch. His tongue carefully soothed the pain. Liliana blushed at his silent vow. “Mine.” it said with certainty.

Minds dizzy. Her body laid on top of him, pulling away to catch their breaths. Her hands stayed tangled in soft hair. His eyes shined a beautiful ruby red, his look alone claiming her soul.

Separated by the same cruel fate that bounds them. So close yet distant, their souls intertwine in an eternal rhythm that bled red of their love that no century or distance could break.

_______________________________________

EPILOGUE

Sunghoon slowly got accustomed to the human world after being sealed away for centuries.

“Hoon?” She called out to him half asleep, standing in nothing but his t-shirt in the kitchen, making him chuckle.

“Yes, my love?” He answered sweetly while fixing them breakfast.

Instead of saying anything, she wrapped her arms around his waist from behind.

“Come on, angel, I have to finish making breakfast,” he smiled, still not pushing her away.

She stood on her tippy toes, placing a feathery kiss on his neck, leaving a shiver down his spine.

“What was that?” He giggled, turning around to hold her waist, pulling her closer.

“Just wanted to say thank you. Is that so wrong?” Resting her hands on his chest. Her eyes glimmered with mischief.

Their mornings and days were now filled with each other. No longer aiming wordlessly and waking up alone, they found home.

_______________________________________

TAGLIST: @yeonmuse @deluluscenarios @strawberryenha @coldkeycat

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the-librarby · 10 hours ago

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FANCY SEEING YOU HERE IV

- DANTE SPARDA (DMC)

18+ MDNI, only warning.

Wheww I believe this is the closing chapter to FSYH. It’s open ended, but, I don’t have any more plot devices planned as of now so I’m going to officially call it here for this one. I haven’t written this much in a long time, let alone mature content so take it with a grain of salt.

Happy reading!

Part one Part two Part three

The bright morning sun shines within your bedroom, you forgot to close the blinds in your rush to lay down. It’s annoying at most, but it’s not what wakes you. A disturbing buzz vibrates from atop your bedside table, blindly you fish around from it, far too comfortably to sacrifice rolling over onto your back.

Eventually you feel it, in your haste you yank it off charge, blindly accept the call and balance it on your ear.

“Hello?” You greet groggily, eyes still closed and hair askew over your pillow.

“Good morning, sunshine!” Your friend replies, her giggle is taunting.

With your other hand, from under your pillow you pull your hair out of your mouth, “How are you so cheery?” You groan, “You drank just as much as me last night,”

“Yeah, but did you chug any water when you got home?” Fair point, you didn’t.

“You’re a freak,” you grumble, sinking back into your pillow with a huff.

It’s silent for a thoughtful second, “Anything interesting happen on the way home? You should have told me you were getting picked up by your knight in shining armour,”

You snort, Dante would love that one, cocky as he is, “No,” you lie, not ready to unpack that conversation, “Just a walk home,”

“You’re a fucking liar,” your friend laughs, “You were all over him, and he lapped up every moment of it. I won’t be surprised if I hear an engagement announcement soon, are there wedding bells in the distance?”

You stuff your face into pillow in avoidance, regret washes over you. You were never one for public displays of affection, but clearly you went overboard last night.

“I didn’t even know he was going to show up,” you mumble into your pillow.

“Huh? Can’t hear you hun,” she chimes.

You sigh, shifting your face onto its side again, “Didn’t think he would show, he was meant to be on a miss—out of town,” you settle on.

“What? Oh my god,” her giggle turns into full on laughter. “This just gets better and better, you’re telling me he left his out of town meeting to find you?”

Well, you hadn’t actually put that part into perspective yet. You hadn’t put anything into perspective, it was way too early. With a sigh, you roll over onto your back to stare up at the ceiling.

You rake your fingers through your hair, “I guess? I don’t know,”

“That’s dedication,” she comments, “I guess he passes the test, for now.”

You chat a little while longer, mortified at the blanks she fills in on your behaviour last night. This is why you don’t drink, you make a promise to never drink that much again. Your friend doesn’t believe a word of it, and you hang up after a promise to catch up again sometime soon.

You stare at your ceiling for a little while longer. Dante had been on a mission last time you spoke to him on the phone. Not only was it far away, but it was meant to be at least another week long. From what you remember it was a hunting mission, some hoard hiding deep in the mountains and smuggling others through a portal.

How had he made it back so early? Had he expedited the mission somehow? And for what? You shake your head, an opportunity must have lined up, there’s no way he rushed in blindly just to meet you.

You rise up abruptly in your bed, the sheets pool around your lap. You search the sheets frantically for your phone which you just put down. Once founded, you scroll through your call log until you find the number.

It rings a couple times before it picks up, “I wasn’t expecting to hear from you for at least a couple more hours,”

You bring your knees up to your chest, “How did you finish the mission so early?”

There’s a momentary pause and shift, you imagine Dante leaning back in his chair as he tries to think of an excuse, “There was an opening?” He tries.

“Bullshit! You rushed in there! It makes so much sense, how odd you were acting, and telling me to keep my phone on me. It was so you could find me later on once you finished the mission!” You exclaim.

“Woah, woah, woah, calm down. It wasn’t like that,” he placates, “Yeah maybe I…cut out a few steps of the original plan, but it was still under control,”

You drag your free hand down your face, shaking your head in disbelief, “I can’t believe you Dante, rushing in like that for something so stupid!”

“It’s not stupid—” he interjects.

“—Yes it is! It’s the definition of stupid!”

A deep sigh rumbles through the speaker, “There you go again, questioning my abilities, If I were a lesser man I’d be offended, darling,”

“You are so fucking cocky, one day it’s gonna bite you in the ass Dante,” you lean back until you’re propped up against your headboard.

“Where’s the girl from last night? She was much more fun,” he muses, “Couldn’t keep her hands off me either,”

You clench your teeth and look to the window of your room. You can feel your face flaming, and it’s not because of the sunlight pouring in.

“Fuck you,” you mutter, “That’s unfair to bring up,”

The smirk is apparent in Dante’s tone, “I like to play dirty,”

“Yeah, well, I don’t exactly remember you complaining,” you snap.

“Oh, is that what you think?” He asks sincerely, “I’m far from complaining, I was one step away from waking up in bed with you this morning,”

His tone is matter of fact. So self assured of his feelings, that it’s almost overwhelming to hear. When speaking to Dante, your mind just runs on autopilot, there’s no thinking or deliberating.

“What stopped you?”

The hiss you hear in response is satisfying. Like a crack in the armour, “Because I am a gentleman, sweetheart. Although, you make it hard to keep it that way,”

Before you can reply with a witty remark, he cuts through, “Listen,” there’s rummaging in the background, “I have to go to meet a client, this conversation is to be continued in person. You alright with that, doll?”

The condescension sets your jaw in place, “Sure, whatever you want, Dante,”

There’s a pause in his step, “Don’t overthink this,”

“Overthink what?”

“This— Us,” he sighs, “I really have to go, and I don’t want to rush this, don’t think until I see you next,” he demands.

“Don’t think?” You muse questioning.

“Don’t think,” he confirms, “I’ll see you in the office later.”

You barely exchange goodbye’s by the line hangs up.

The day went about as normal, you weren’t expected in the office until the afternoon so it was a slow start around your apartment. Despite Dante’s demand to not think, you were thinking.

Your friends painted a real cozy picture of the two of you last night. And as much as you cringe over your own behaviour, it makes you feel some kind of warmth. As stupid as Dante was for cutting corners on a mission, he did do it for you, right? It would be equally as stupid to dismiss that.

Maybe you weren’t ready for this conversation, what if you had different ideas?

Your phone pings on the kitchen bench.

[Image]

Just in case you needed photo evidence of how into you he is.

You open the photo from your friend and smile. It’s slightly blurry, but it’s a shot of the two of you outside from the bar window. Dante’s arm is wrapped around your waist as an anchor, and he’s leant down to hear you better as you talk animatedly mid step.

You shake your head and save the photo before putting it down. You move on about your day and push everything else back before it derails your day.

It’s about two pm when you unlock the door to your office. Everything is as you left it, with no messages on the machine you go about the admin work for the day. A few hunters drop in for their contracts, but other than that, it’s uneventful. It’s gives your mind lots of time to wander against your will. Dante hadn’t checked in once, which is unusual on most days, but maybe he’s just trying to keep his word to talk in person.

Minutes tick by and you’re getting bored, all your work is done but the day isn’t over. As if sensing your boredom, the office phone rings. You reach over with laziness to take it off the hook.

“Devil may cry,” you greet.

“Y/N,” Enzo replies, “How goes everything?”

“Slow,” you complain, “Barely any hunters have come by, or even called, it’s dead over here,”

There’s a knowing hum, “Probably because Dante is sweeping up all the contracts,”

You frown, “How? He hasn’t even come past here recently,”

“He’s got his own contacts, most of our high profile clients have his direct line, they only come to us when he’s on long missions,” he explains.

You tilt your head in confusion, “Wait, so he doesn’t even need us?” You inquire, “Then why does he come past so often?”

“Wait,” Enzo pauses, “He’s been visiting you? When?”

“At least once a week?” You say questioningly, “More sometimes, actually,”

“Interesting…” Enzo teases, “Keep an eye on for me, will you?”

“Sure.” You reply hesitantly.

A weird feeling follows you after the call. Enzo had been vague at best—like he always is— you justify. You’ve noticed how he keeps Dante a bit more guarded than the rest of the hunters. There’s a tie there that you don’t know enough about, but you can tell he cares a lot about him.

You keep your mind busy with mindless work that you’ve been putting off until now. The sun slowly starts to set and your eyes are getting tired, you lean back in your chair and rub your face under your glasses. The door starts to creek open, you peek your eye open. A familiar red jacket slips through, you lean forward in your seat ready to greet him but your smile drops.

There’s red drops dripping from somewhere onto the floorboards of your office. You stand up quickly as Dante closes the door behind him.

“You’re bleeding,”

“Huh?”

“You’re bleeding,” you state, point at the red drops on the floorboards.

Dante looks down at the floor where the blood is dripping, curiously he examines his left arm to see a deep cut on the outside. Must of missed that one.

“Oh, don’t worry,” he assures, “It’ll heal,”

You’re not listening as you open one of the overhead cupboards to grab your first aid kit. You usher him to sit down, and he complains— really it’s not necessary— just as you grab the antibacterial wipes you can see the cut slowly knit itself back together like nothing happened.

Reading about Dante’s regeneration ability is one thing, but seeing it in person astounds you. You sit back on the corner of the desk in front of him, wipe still in hand.

“I…” you trail off, shaking your head, “Didn’t expect that,”

“Told you,” he states.

You sigh and reach for his arm anyway to wipe off the dried blood.

“Successful mission then?” You ask, wiping over the skin that just previously was sliced open. You feel complete disbelief, there’s not even a scar.

“Very successful,” he smiles, “Fat paycheque too,” he adds on.

A charged silence washes over the two of you. You try not to think—ironic—about anything than the crusted blood you’ve now finished scrubbing off. As you turn to drop the wipe in the bin beside your desk, you hear the chair scrape backwards. When you look back, Dante is standing over you.

“You’re quiet,” he notes, finger hooking under your chin. You smile in amusement as he tilts your head side to side in inspection, “Getting shy on me?”

“Never,” you reply. “Just thinking,”

He looks down at you suspiciously, his other hand gets comfortable on your thigh, “About what?”

“Enzo told me something interesting,”

Dante back tracks, confusion stopping his hand in place, “Like…?”

You arch your brow, “Apparently clients have a direct line to you when you’re in town,” you wrap your hand around his raised arm, stroking up and down, “So there’s no need for me to liaise between you and them,”

Dante smiles knowingly, “Caught on have you? Should have known Enzo would open his big, fat mouth,” he sighs dramatically, looking down at your lap. Both his hands are now resting on your thighs, you can feel the warmth of his hands through your stockings as he rubs up and down.

“Anything else you want to add?” You ask.

He tilts his head and leans in closer, invading your space, “Need me to spell it out for you?” You can feel his breath fan across your face as he comes closer, “I’m obsessed with you, have been since you kicked me out of your office,” he admits.

You laugh lightly, “That do it for you?”

He mulls it over with a nod, “The tights helped.”

You squeeze your thighs together subconsciously at the thought. Your knees are the only thing forcing space between the two of you, but Dante doesn’t let that stop him as he uses your thighs as something to grip onto. The warmth emanating from him is making your own body begin to flush.

“I think that’s enough conversation,” you breathe.

“Thank god.”

The first kiss is rushed, you’re forced to lean back from Dante’s eagerness. Your hands come up to hold onto his shoulders, then neck, for anchorage as his hands slip further up your skirt. He’s not as reserved as he was last night, his hands are all over your body trying to map it out. When his hands migrate to your covered chest, he hums and breaks away for a breath.

“You have no idea how hard it was to leave you alone last night.” he admits, hands shamelessly squeezing your chest.

You exhale sharply, his gaze is fixated on your body. Without say, you reach for the hem of your sweater and lift it up. Dante remains quiet as you do so, watching as inch my inch your skin comes on display. You’re just left in your bra as the sweater is flung behind you on your desk chair. You lean your hands behind on your desk, letting Dante stare at your exposed chest. His hands hover your naked waist, but doesn’t touch almost out of reverence.

“Did you think about me?” You tease.

This seems to snap him out of his reverie, he looks into your eyes, “It would be shameful for me to even say what I was thinking about.”

His hands settle on your thighs, forcing them open so he can step through. He watches your expression as his hands slowly migrate up your waist, his thumbs dig under your ribs causing a steep exhale. Settled there, he arches your back as he drags you closer for another kiss. You keep your hands on the desk for anchorage as his hands continue to glide up your ribs. Without the sweater in the way, you can feel the warmth of his hands encompass your breasts through the lace.

He’s shameless as he squeezes them, you moan against his lips, hand holding onto his outstretched arm tightly. You pant softly as he pulls away, leading kisses down your neck. You almost miss the warmth as his hands pull away from your chest, one settles on your waist while the other is placed on your thigh.

He pauses as his fingers dip into your inner thigh, “How attached are you to these?” He asks, fingers pinching and snapping the tights material against your leg.

“Huh?” You breathe out, “Not much?”

The snap and tear of the material makes your eyes widen, you try to close your legs out of habit but can’t with him standing in the middle of them.

He sighs in contentment, staring at the massive hole he’s ripped from your crotch to inner thighs, “I’ve been wanting to do that for so long,”

You shake your head in disbelief, “You’re a fucking animal,” you chastise.

He smirks wolfishly, “Oh yeah?” His fingers glide over your exposed sensitive skin, inching close to your panties, “What does that make you then?”

Your breathing turns shallow as his thumb brushes over your covered clit. Your hand shoots down to grip his wrist as he keeps rubbing, just barely. The fine sensations are setting you on edge. You want to get even, to wipe that godforsaken smirk off his face.

You reach for his pants but he leans back grabbing your hand with his free one before you can touch, “Nuh uh,” he teases, still circling his thumb, “Not yet,”

You frown incredulously, “What? Why?”

“Ladies first.” He responds, slowly dropping to his knees.

Your legs are pushed open further to accomodate his broad shoulders, your hands grip the edge of the desk as you look down at him. Your skirt is still covering most, but you can see as one hand settles on your inner thigh and the other reaches forward. Deft fingers hook onto the edge of your panties and pull them to the side. The cool air makes you clench, but Dante doesn’t wait as he leans forward.

The feel of his tongue circling your clit makes you moan instantly, nails dig into the edge of the desk as your arch forward against the sensation. You cuss breathlessly and look up at the ceiling with your eyes clenched shut.

“Fuck, should have said something sooner,” you look down at Dante, jaw involuntarily slack as you pant, “Didn’t realise you were so good at this,”

You can see him start to pull away—for some witty remark, of course— but you grip his hair firmly, “Don’t,” you demand, “I don’t need the comment right now, Dante.”

Dante loves a girl that can use her words. Following your command he leans forward and sucks around your clit, the sensation is rough, as sensitive pins spike. Your fingers curl tightly in his hair as you clench your thighs closer around his head.

Dante groans beneath you. You apologise softly and force your legs to relax, but his hands grip the outside of your thighs and push them closer. When your thighs tense, he rewards you with a soft tap.

Good girl.

Noted. You keep your thighs squeezed around his head, and one hand clenched around his silvery strands as he continues to eat you out. One hand sneaks away from your thighs and inches closer to his mouth, without warning his middle finger starts to rub up and down your slit. It’s dripping with your own juices alongside Dante’s saliva.

“Wait,” you gasp, “Wait—”

He slides his finger in with ease. You shiver and curl forward, your hand is pushing down on Dante’s head causing him to lean deeper and it’s all just too much sensation. Your thighs twitch, as his finger slides in and out in timed thrusts, when his index finger aims to join you shake your head and push your palm against his forehead forcing him to dislodge.

His fingers are still moving but he’s breathing with panting breaths as he looks up at you. The light of your office highlights the glistening mixture of fluids of his chin and neck. It’s hard to catch your breath when his fingers curl inside you. Your hand migrates from his hair to his shoulder.

“Dante,” you pant, “You need to—stop,” you gasp.

His free hand grips your thigh for leverage as he stands, towering over you once again.

“Can’t handle it?” He teases, “I don’t know what to tell you doll, I can’t stop until you’re ready. So you’re just going to have to take it.”

The finality of it makes you clench your teeth. Now that he’s standing you can see the clear outline of his cock tenting his pants. You reach forward with haste to unbuckle his pants, this time he allows it as he slips a third finger in. The stretch makes you grapple at his arms for leverage. For a moment he just stands there with his pants undone as you catch your breath. He loves the affect his fingers and mouth are having on you, already imagining future ways he could be better.

With one last deep breath you straighten up again, widening your legs a bit more as you pull him forward by ends of his pants. With unrestricted access, you slide your hand across his boxers, feeling along the covered length. Dante huffs, his hand gripping your thigh at the sensation.

His movements stutter when your fingers pinch softly around the former wet patch on his underwear. The off guard hiss, drives you forward with confidence. You slip your hand underneath and form a tight grip around his cock. His hips twitch forward, fingers withdrawing altogether from your hole to grip your thigh. You can feel the wetness of his fingers through your stockings, as you start to stroke your hand up and down.

Dante mutters words of praise at just about anything you do, every twist, squeeze, and pinch is met with a resounding yes, keep going. As long as your hands are on him, he’s coming undone. He’s near desperate when your fingers circle tightly around the head of his cock, milking every bit of pre-cum he’s capable of without blowing his load altogether.

When you pull his cock out, he hisses as the cool air brushes against sensitive skin. All you can think about is how wet your fingers are starting to get.

“Feel okay, sweetheart?” You whisper with faux concern, the mischievous smile on your face gives your facade up instantly, this is about revenge.

Dante groans, feeling a tad bit helpless—dream scenario to him—under your touch. His hand goes towards your skirt but you slap his hand away before he can retreat under, “Nuh-uh,” you tease, “Not yet,”

He huffs and places it back on your thigh, to accomodate his weight he leans his forehead against yours. Both of you are now watching as you stroke his cock leisurely.

“I will fucking cum like this,” he admits shamelessly.

You smile, “And disappoint me? I thought you were better than that,”

He sighs, cock twitching at the tight upstroke of your hand, “I’m only a man, darling, when are you going to learn that?”

His hands grip harder and drag your legs around his waist. Both of his hands and your free one are resting on the desk behind you for balance. He kisses you hastily, catching you off guard. It’s needy, and desperate, and deep. His tongue dominates your mouth in a sweep causing your hand to pause its movements. With clumsy eagerness you tug him forward until you can feel the head of his cock slide through the slick of your inner thighs, next to your entrance.

Dante bows his head his desperation, his hands grip your hips and tug you forward until you can both feel him slide up and down the wetness.

“Fuck,” you gasp as your clit is rubbed against. You can’t help but wriggle your hips, the sensation is numbing.

“Stop,” he pants, forcing your hips to still with a bruising grip, “Stop moving.”

You twitch impatiently but Dante’s not letting you go anywhere. After a moment of recollection, he shuffles back and removes your hand to replace it with his own. You watch, entranced, as he glides forward. His hands push your skirt up to your hips so he has an unobstructed view as he sinks in.

It’s maddening, how full you feel. The office is quiet save for the panting as you both catch your breath. Dante leads a trail of kisses across your chest as you settle.

“Okay?” He asks gently.

You exhale raggedly, “You’re fucking massive,”

Dante quirks an eyebrow, a satisfied smile on his face. You slap his chest, “Don’t look so happy about it,”

“Is my massive cock an issue?” He asks.

You shake your head incredulously, “Just move,”

“Yes ma’am.”

The first thrust is uncomfortable as you clench tightly around him, but he takes such care as he opens you up nice and slow. The shallow thrusts start to become not enough, more, you demand, and well, Dante is nothing but a follower for you.

He notes what you like most and by the end of it he has you. Fingers are curled in his hair, teeth marks against his bare shoulder from the just right, timing of his thrusts, and your legs trembling around his waist. When you think this is it, the tense curl of your lower stomach is about to snap, his fingers reach to rub against your clit.

“Fuck!” You cry, just hanging on at this point, your fingers tighten against his hair and shoulder as you press closer against his chest, “Too much,”

Dante hums, fraying at the edges himself but just a little more intact than you to keep it together, “Nah, you can take it my love, can’t you?”

He hasn’t called you that since the mission you went on together and it makes you sob, “Fuck, Dante, please,”

Who is he to say no to his girl?

He thrusts in deep, just as you like, and circles your clit faster until you’re clenching and trembling around him. He would give up a lot to see your face right now, but he settles on next time, as he pulls out to cum on your thigh.

He’s satisfied at the mess he’s made on your stockings, a deep fulfilment flooding his chest as he rubs it in with his thumb. You can only look down from his shoulder dazed and mildly disgusted at the mess he’s making.

“You fucking creep,” you mutter.

He tilts your head back, admiring your flushed face and tear stricken cheeks. Your lips twist as he rubs his dirty thumb against your bottom lip, forcing it in your mouth.

“Shh,” he coos pressing his thumb against your thumb to silence your annoyed protest, “Stop acting like you don’t love it.”

You thought it impossible for your face to get anymore red but Dante chuckles. He had so much in store for you.

#dante sparda #dante x reader #dante x you #dmc dante #dmc netflix #dmc fic #dante sparda x reader #dante sparda x you #dmc headcanons #dante smut

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johnnysuhbmarine · 24 hours ago

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Out of Time

Pairing: Chenle x reader Description: You'd be lying if you said feelings weren't caught within the thirteen years of friendship you had with Chenle, but even when you both wanted to be more, you agreed to shut any idea of it down - his future marriage was already arranged as part of a business deal, there was no point setting your hearts up for breaking. So, why is he on your doorstep begging for a chance just three months before he has to go back to China? Content warnings: Arranged marriage au but not with each other; rich kid Chenle; swearing; they have sex, and while no actual smut is written, it’s not exactly glossed over, either; fluff; angst; there is no happy ending to this part but I promise another part is coming Word count: 16,362 A/n: If you knew how long I’ve been working on this idea, you wouldn’t believe me…but now that this first part is out I’m actually really happy with how it’s come together. The second part should be out in no more than a few weeks (hopefully). Let me know if you want to be on a taglist for it. Posting this today to celebrate @fullsunstrawberry's last day of class for the semester!!…though this ends in angst so it’s not the best gift I’ve ever come up with 🫠 Anyways, please enjoy, though who am I to tell you what to do…as always, feedback would be greatly appreciated. Take care of yourselves, I love you

Your childhood went by too fast. Though, you assume that’s the only way it could feel when it’s the sole marker of the time you were able to have with Chenle. The two of you grew up together, but through conversations you felt you were too young to be involved in, you both knew that you wouldn’t be able to continue with said friendship in adulthood. The thing about Chenle was, he’s lived with his aunt, right across the street from your parents, in a small Korean suburb since he was five years old. However, where he spent the first four years of his life, and where he would eventually be summoned back to, was with his parents in Shanghai.

There was nothing wrong about his parents. In fact, for most of childhood, Chenle only had positive things to say about them, a wide smile adorning his face whenever he thought of seeing them again. The entire reason he was living with his aunt was because his parents wanted him to experience a normal childhood, so really, they had his best interest at heart. That being said, they did not care about whether or not Chenle would have a normal adulthood. Instead, they were waiting for him to fall in line, learn how to eventually take over their multimillion dollar company, and with that, play his part…and accept the fact that his future marriage, to the daughter of one of their business partners, has been arranged for him since the moment he was born. Finding this out, Chenle no longer had loads of nice things to say about his parents. He lived with a constant resentment towards them since the start of high school, but you were always his one beacon of comfort, where the weight of his future could fall off his shoulders and he could just be a kid again for a little while longer.

It was the summer before freshman year of high school when your parents and his aunt sat the two of you down at the dinner table and explained how Chenle’s future was going to pan out. You were just fourteen years old, having Chenle suddenly upset and arguing about who he’d be marrying felt so wrong, the problem seemingly so far away. You were kids, but because of that moment, you both grew up too quickly - Chenle by force, and you because you refused to let him go through it alone. The real world, outside of school and pickup basketball games in someone’s driveway, now weighed heavily on the two of you, and the only thing you could promise was that you’d navigate as much of it as you could together.

The one thing his parents agreed to compromise on was that, rather than having Chenle fly back immediately after high school graduation, he could stick through that last summer with you, and eventually head back to China when you left for university. That’s the exact period of time that the two of you were in now - almost a full three months where the plans that have been talked about for years were now facing you head on. Stupidly, you try to forget about it, pretend it was just some normal summer, like your best friend wasn’t being ripped away from you at the end of it. You were setting yourself up to be blindsided by the inevitable passage of time, but it was all you could think to do if you wanted to hold onto any chance at smiling this summer.

It was the day right after graduation when Chenle hopped across the street and rang your doorbell. It was the middle of the day, your parents still at work, so you had to be the one to slide off the couch and check who was at the door. Normally, Chenle would text you before he came over, and you would have the door already unlocked for his arrival so that he could just barge in and join you on the couch…or immediately grab your wrist, drag you through the kitchen for two glasses of lemonade, and then out the back door for another basketball match. The last thing you expected him to do was ring the doorbell out of nowhere, but more confusingly, when you open the front door to face him, he’s pacing back and forth. His mind seemed to be going a hundred miles a minute, and you don’t think you’ve ever seen him look this distraught before.

“Chenle?” You prompt, tilting your head at him still making circles in your front walkway. He snaps his head up and stops moving, seeming not to have heard you actually open the door yet and instead leaving him to get surprised by your voice. As he takes in your bewildered state, he does his best to calm himself, correctly assuming he was the reason for it.

Now, his body faces you full-on, but he still can’t meet your eyes, instead looking towards the ground and sucking on his bottom lip as he figures out what he wants to say. Eventually, he gives up, shaking his head and bringing his gaze up to you with an agitated sigh. “Any way I put this, I come off as an asshole, so please forgive me,” he finally says all at once.

You furrow your brows at him in confusion, your return question bearing a much lighter tone than his own. “What’s up, Chenle?”

He darts his gaze off to the side, biting on his bottom lip again. Though, this contemplation period hardly lasted a second before he’s dropping his head and spitting out his words through one rushed exhale. “Can I be selfish for one summer? Before you go to college? Before I move back to my parents' house? I know we both agreed to be smart enough not to get involved…but before I have to be someone else’s, I want to be yours - even if it’s just for one summer.”

To say you were thrown off was an understatement, but not necessarily because of his confession. It was no secret the two of you developed feelings for each other. Your parents knew it, his aunt knew it, you knew it, he knew it - there was no use in pretending said feelings didn’t exist. However, being sixteen with those feelings and knowing what you had since you were fourteen made the situation less than average.

You and Chenle decided the best thing you could do was flesh everything out. So, one random day of sophomore year, you did. An entire evening kicking yourselves for catching feelings, laughing at the fact that it seemed inevitable, and then deciding that the best course of action now was to try and forget about it. You were not the daughter of his wealthy parents’ wealthy business partner, and the two of you quickly learned that there was no changing his parents’ minds on the arranged marriage. There was no reason to try and pretend an outcome could exist where the two of you could work, where you wouldn’t get hurt. It was both, a pro and a con of being forced to grow up - dumb decisions that your childhood was waiting for you to make were never made, and it was so hard to tell which dumb decisions you actually missed out on.

Chenle was right, the two of you agreed to be smart enough to not get involved, but a part of you was mad that you never took the chance to be a stupid high school kid. It seemed entirely out of left field for Chenle to address the situation again just three months before the beginning of the rest of your lives kicked in, but you’re glad he did.

“One summer for us to make some stupid decisions and break our own hearts?” You echo back, and any trace of hope on Chenle’s face fades away. That is, until you look back at him with a smirk, leaning against your doorframe casually. “Yeah, what the hell. Let’s do it,” you say, and when Chenle whips his head back up to face you in surprise, you can’t stop your smirk from turning into a full smile.

Chenle shakes his head quickly, as though to get rid of all the thoughts on how to respond to a refusal that never came, and instead an easy smile reaches his own face as he looks back at you. “Great! So, can I take you on a date?”

He’s completely serious as he replies and this is where you’re most taken aback. “Oh, starting off with a date?” You only had three months to be together, and to be quite honest, you thought Chenle was going to skip past all the initial dates and dive right in, knowing that you wouldn’t have given it a second thought if he immediately had you pinned against a wall. You seemed to have greatly underestimated the character of your best friend though, because he shoots back with a sure nod, genuinity filling his next words.

“Well, yeah. I don’t want this to just be a physical thing. I want to be able to say that you were my first love. You were always meant to have that title. I want to remember you that way, not as some no-strings-attached summer fling.”

You immediately drop your head to face the floor. Chenle must have grown up some more when you weren’t looking. All at once, you don’t know what happened to the loser you grew up with, who learned to shut off his feelings and fill all that space with basketball instead; but now, here he stood, making his intentions very clear in that he planned to spend the summer falling in love with you, and outside of the shock you’ve felt throughout this entire conversation, a new feeling erupts in your stomach - butterflies.

You look back up at him, regardless of how embarrassingly red you could tell your cheeks were, and a smile reaches your face as soon as the two of you lock eyes. “A date it is,” you say with a nod before stepping back into your house some more and actually letting him inside for a bit. “I’ll have to actually get out of my pajamas,” you say with a laugh. “Any idea of where you want to go?”

Chenle bites on the inside of his cheek before shaking his head. “Well, you know I can take you out on a really fancy date, and if that’s what you want, we can do that. I mean, that’s sure as hell what you deserve…but I was thinking maybe we could just go out to our favorite ice cream shop and then play some basketball.”

Your cheeks puff out in a smile. “So, you wanna hang out?” You tease, and Chenle is quick to shake his head.

“No! I wanna go on a date with you! I know we get ice cream and play basketball a lot, but now I want to do so while also knowing I can go up and kiss you whenever I want.”

You raise an eyebrow playfully. “Oh, now we’re kissing on the first date?”

Chenle just stares at you in disinterest. “Three months, y/n. That’s all I get. I’m not exactly looking to take things super slow. Besides,” he continues, throwing a sly smirk your way as his own brows raise. “You’re the one who’s been wanting to kiss me for the past two years.”

Your mouth drops into a gape as you swat at him, only succeeding in making him laugh like a dolphin, and while you made fun of his laugh whenever you could, it was also your favorite thing in the world. A certain warmth fills your chest at the sound of it as you simply shake your head. “Whatever. You’ve been wanting to kiss me for the past two years as well. Don’t even pretend otherwise.” He’s still getting over his laughing fit as you finish your sentence, leaving you to just roll your eyes at him as you turn and walk upstairs to your room to change, the front door still hanging open for him to eventually follow you through.

When you come back downstairs after getting ready, Chenle looks you up and down with a smile. “I’ve always liked that skirt on you,” he says casually. You let out a light laugh.

“I know. You weren’t very secretive about it,” you reply playfully, causing a light dusting of pink to cover Chenle’s cheeks.

“Is dating you just going to be a nonstop period of you teasing me?” He finally asks in return. His words make you freeze, though. You only had three months but he was serious about it, serious about you, and you couldn’t help thinking about how great the hurt would be for both of you once it was over.

You shake out of it, you had to, and instead send a wink his way as you rush out the door without him. “I guess you’ll have to just wait and see,” you banter back, and Chenle rolls his eyes before following you out and doing your part in locking up behind him.

While you were exchanging greetings with the worker on the other side of the ice cream parlor’s bar, Chenle was just continuously poking at your arm. “What?” You finally snap as you turn to him, though no one would ever be able to pick up even the slightest bit of irritation with his antics based off the smile on your face as you looked at him.

Chenle draws in a deep breath as a confidence booster before spitting out his words all at once. “I know we normally get our own milkshakes and finish them, but if you wanted to do that thing where we get one milkshake and put two straws in it, we could.” He was completely serious as he spoke, and you bite your lip to stop the wide smile from coming onto your face at his attempt to truly make this feel like a date.

Instead of letting him know how cute he was, you resort back to messing with him. “Hmm…less ice cream for me, though,” you say, pretending to contemplate his offer.

“I can buy us another one after that!” He quickly responds, and you can see the typical energy begin to flow back through his body as he relaxes some more. “We can just keep ordering milkshakes to share! I mean, what’s a couple of $5 transactions on a black card?” He continues rambling but you break out into a laugh, immediately getting him to stop and stare at you in bewilderment because nothing he just said was a joke.

“Breaking out the black card for our first date?” You ask, looking over at Chenle as though you were something like impressed. He does not see what the big deal is.

“Of course, anything for you-” That’s where he breaks himself off, his head falling into his hands on the counter as he finally cracks. “God, I feel like a loser,” he groans, but a fond smile paints its way across your face in response.

“You’re not a loser,” you reply calmly, but Chenle shakes his head in his hands, his next words coming out covered in defeat.

“But my face is red and I’m saying stupid stuff.”

“It’s cute,” you reassure him gently, but he is quick to quip back.

“You’re cute.” The statement rolls off his tongue effortlessly and you jump back a little in your seat, eyes wide.

“Woah, lele. I didn’t know you could actually be sweet to me,” you say back, feigning astonishment.

Chenle finally lifts his head up out of his hands to drag his troubled gaze over to you. “Do you see what I’m talking about? I’m a loser! I didn’t mean to say that,” he groans.

You just furrow your brows. “So, you don’t think I’m cute?” You ask playfully. Chenle squeezes his eyes shut, taking an extra long breath before peeking one eye open to look at you and practically whisper his response.

“Yes, I do.”

An easy smile spreads across your face as you take in the fact that Chenle genuinely complimented you, though you were glad to see it pained him to admit it because that meant this was still your Chenle after all. You immediately turn your gaze back over to the worker, who pretended to be super invested in cleaning the counter as your conversation with Chenle drew out, and then you order just one milkshake with two straws. After, you move your gaze back over to your best friend.

“You can just be yourself, you know? I’ve liked you for years already, you don’t have to try and win me over now.”

Chenle sucks on his bottom lip, sighing. “I know but…you deserve to feel romanced and loved, and I want to do that, I just- it’s not my strong suit. My parents just bought me things and then shipped me overseas. A pretty weird love language if you ask me.” He ends with a small laugh, and you’re relieved to see the tension in his shoulders fall as he does.

You shoot a fond smile his way in response. “I know, and that’s okay. Look, these three months for us to be together is just a change in the title of our relationship. There’s not much else that has to change. I won't hate you for struggling with how to express love. I know you like me, that’s enough.”

“Stop being so good at making me feel better,” he says with a weak grin. “I already feel like I’m not good enough for you.”

You roll your eyes, placing one hand on top of his at the counter, getting him to meet your serious gaze. “Lele, you make me happy - that’s more than enough. Plus, you’re rich,” you add, and Chenle lets out his own laugh as he rips his hand away from under yours.

“Oh, whatever,” he replies with a scoff, but the atmosphere is instantly lighter as your laughter is only broken up by the milkshake being slid in between the two of you, immediately redirecting your attention to the shared directive of sucking that down as fast as you could.

As Chenle got his card back after paying for all your rounds of milkshakes, he turned to you with a hopeful grin. “Do you wanna go back and play basketball in our street?” He asks, causing a similar smirk to spread across your own features.

“You know I do, but can you take it easy on me now that we’re dating?” You suggest playfully, though surprise was the last feeling that came to mind when Chenle’s eyebrows furrow in response.

“Absolutely not,” he replies quickly, causing you to sigh. “If anything, I gotta go harder on you now that we’re dating. I don’t date amateurs. You gotta keep up with me.” Your face falls into shock as you lightly hit the back of your hand against his forearm and the two of you break out into laughter again.

“Hey! Thirteen years of pickup basketball does not equate to me being an amateur. I’m a seasoned pro,” you try to say seriously. Chenle raises his eyebrows at you in a taunt.

“Yeah? We’ll see about that. What do you say, loser has to buy-” He cuts himself off from going over the terms of the bet as he turns his attention towards the countertop in disbelief. “I guess I just bought all our ice cream. What are we supposed to use as a bet now?” He speaks as though his hopes and dreams were ruined. You just shake your head fondly at him, sucking on your bottom lip to try and hold back a smile.

“Come on,” you say, moving to grab his hand in yours and pull him away from the counter. “We’ll figure something out. Let’s go before it gets dark.”

Chenle shoots you a look as though you were crazy. “Y/n, it’s summer. We have like- at least five more hours before it gets dark.”

You stop in your tracks, turning back to him with a smirk. “Well, my bad. I just wanted to spend as much time with my boyfriend as possible,” you reply, and Chenle ducks his head as blush covers his face. Though, with one gentle squeeze of your hand, he’s the one now pulling you out of the ice cream parlor and towards the car to go back home.

As always, the two of you started off with a game of horse. It’s typically how you would decide who gets first possession, though you’ve stopped seeing a point to it because Chenle wins every time. At least, that’s how it normally goes. Today, standing in Chenle’s driveway, it was you who was crushing Chenle in horse. With you still at ‘h’ and Chenle just tacking on an ‘s,’ you let out a laugh. “I thought you weren’t taking it easy on me,” you taunt, and Chenle whips his head in your direction seriously.

“I’m not!”

You raise your eyebrows at him as you move to take the ball from his hands and shoot your next shot. “Okay well then, whoever you are, can you go get Chenle back for me?” You ask, turning back to him after successfully making it. “I miss him. He’s your height, looks kinda like you, is good at basketball-” You tease, and Chenle cuts you off as he turns fire red, grabbing the basketball and readying himself to shoot from where you just did.

“I’m good at basketball!” He argues before taking his next shot…and missing. He turns around to meet your raised eyebrows and groans. “A game of horse doesn’t even matter! All it means is that you start off our actual game.”

You shake your head at his antics as he picks up the basketball and passes it to you because somehow, you had first possession today. These ‘actual’ games were where you tended to perform better, but it was the same for Chenle of course, so you still typically only took one out of every twenty games from him.

Though, it seemed Chenle’s poor performance in horse did nothing to actually warm him up, because his game performance was no better - possibly worse. You watched as the famed Lele Curry missed every shot he took, acting as though nothing happened every time he retrieved the ball for you. You wait until he misses an easy layup before finally shaking your head at him from the other side of the driveway.

“Lele, come kiss me,” you say plainly, and Chenle immediately stops in his tracks as he turns towards you.

“WHAT? Wh- wha- why?” He fumbles out through something of a shocked yell, getting you to just roll your eyes at him playfully.

“Cause I have a feeling it’s gonna get you your basketball skills back,” you reply with raised eyebrows, greatly contrasting Chenle’s furrowed ones as he looks back at you in question.

“Huh?” He gets out, causing your shoulders to bounce up and down lightly with a small chuckle.

You look up to face him fondly, the teasing lilt out of your tone. “Look, we’re dating now, we just talked about affection, it’s on your mind and messing with your game, so you should come kiss me and get it over with,” you state as though it were no big thing. It was a big thing to Chenle though, because he just learned you could read his mind. Of course he was thinking about kissing you, it was all he could think about - you were you, after all, and Chenle really really liked you.

You watch as his adam’s apple bobs up and down with a hesitant swallow, but as he looks back up at you, the tension in his shoulders falls. He crosses the driveway to end up directly in front of you. Slowly, his right hand comes up to cup the side of your face, an action that you easily smile into, and Chenle takes a moment to run his thumb over your puffed out cheek as his nervous gaze runs over every inch of your face. “I don’t know how to kiss but- but I promise I’ll do it just right if you let me.”

“Chenle…”

“May I?” He asks quietly once his eyes finally fall to your lips.

You nod your head, caught off guard for a breathless moment at the recognition of this softer, shyer side of Chenle. You had kissed a few guys throughout high school, but you knew he hadn’t kissed anyone before. Once the two of you found out his marriage was arranged, he gave up completely on high school relationships or flings, and meanwhile you tried to kiss as many guys as possible in an attempt to get your mind off of it. None of them ever meant anything, but this one did, and Chenle knew it, too. He wanted to do everything right, but he didn’t even know what ‘right’ was, and any time he didn’t know what he was doing, he fell shyer, more hesitant, always so uncomfortable with unknowns that he tried to just slip away instead. He hardly let you see this side of him because he always wanted to present his best self; but he was soft with you now, because he cared enough about you to admit he was clueless - that the thought of kissing you made his head spin but it wasn’t even something he could truly picture.

“You may,” you answer softly, and Chenle slowly leans into you.

It started out as the lightest kiss in the world, a kind of gentleness almost uncharacteristic of your best friend if you didn’t know all his layers already. You can’t help the smile that spreads across your lips, but you refuse to break so quickly; so instead, you pin your focus on deepening the kiss - pressing back into him, establishing a healthy rhythm sucking on his bottom lip. Chenle’s hand that wasn’t cupping your face soon flies to your waist as he begins to match your pace. As he got more comfortable with the feeling of his lips against yours, he got more desperate for it. You figure standing in the driveway of his house is not where you should teach him how to use his tongue, so with one last soft kiss, you break away.

Your gaze instantly falls to the ground beneath your feet, a cheesy grin across your face that you try to cover up. “See, now you’ve kissed me. Nothing else is going to be as scary as that,” you say playfully. “Now you’re good. You can kiss me whenever you want. Alternatively, you never have to kiss me again if that’s what you want-” You immediately cut off your words as you finally bring your gaze up to make eye contact with Chenle, only to realize he’s staring at you with wide eyes, his mouth hanging slightly open. “What’s that look for?” You ask, suddenly worried you did something wrong.

Chenle shakes his head in an attempt to gather his thoughts, mouth opening and closing in hesitation as he looks you up and down. “Um, I like you…a lot. Like, a lot,” he says as though he were out of breath. The wide grin comes back to your face as you let out a fond laugh.

“Ha! That’s for another time,” you promise, instead bending down to pick the basketball up from the ground and place it in his hands. “Now turn around and shoot,” you continue, nodding your head towards the basket behind him. He does as asked, turning around and not even taking a moment to regain his footing before shooting and immediately making a nothing-but-net basket. You drop your face back to the pavement with a knowing nod. Then, you walk the one step back to meet him again and place a soft kiss on his cheek. “There’s my Chenle,” you claim softly, and watch as his ears turn a deep shade of red.

Biting on his bottom lip, he shakes his head, unable to say anything in response. Instead, he moves to grab the basketball again, passing it to you since he just scored, and you know you’re about to get your ass kicked in pickup basketball.

That was, in fact, exactly what happened. The only difference between this and the games that occurred before you started dating, is that now throughout the game, Chenle would sometimes turn around after making a basket and tell you a play that good deserved a kiss. You would roll your eyes every time but you always obliged - each soft, casual, ‘proud of you’ peck leaving Chenle with the biggest grin on his face.

Your pickup game finally ended when his aunt got back from work, forcing you both out of the driveway but more importantly, breaking the two of you apart from your quick kiss as you scramble into the grass. As she pulls into the garage and turns off the car, she steps out to meet you two still on the side of the driveway. “Well, something’s certainly changed in the time I’ve been at work, hasn’t it?” She says with a playful smirk. You and Chenle drop your heads in unison, but his aunt just lets out a warm laugh, nodding her head towards the door. “Come on, kids. I’ll make us dinner.”

Matching smiles spread across your faces as you rush to follow her inside. As she started cooking, you and Chenle did whatever you could to help around the house where needed, but eventually you were told to just sit and rest a while as opposed to crowding the kitchen and making things more difficult. So, TV remote now in hand, you leaned into Chenle on the couch and he hooked both arms over you instantaneously.

Chenle’s arms around you, the smell of home-cooked dinner, and a basketball game on the TV, there was something so natural about it - as though Chenle’s arms have been around you your entire life, as though you’d have them around you, to come home to, for the rest of time. You knew the idea of it would never be true in the long run, but right now it was as real as it could get - and the second you could convince yourself to simply exist in the present, that fact was enough to make everything okay. You’re sure Chenle could feel it, because at the very same time that peace crashed over your body, Chenle squeezed you slightly tighter to him, placing a small kiss to the top of your head before resuming his task of acting super nonchalant about having you in his arms.

The two of you explained everything to his aunt over dinner, and any disheartening thought she may have had about the situation, she kept to herself. You all had collectively gone through that song and dance all those years prior when the news of Chenle’s arranged marriage first broke. She knew you didn’t need to hear that speech again. Instead, she smiled warmly, claiming that if any two people deserved to be happy together, even for just a little while, it was you guys.

You excused yourself after dinner, figuring it was probably time for you to head home since you haven’t seen your parents all day. Chenle immediately stood from the table with you, gently lacing his fingers with yours and leading you to the door. “I’ll walk you home,” he says casually, but you just shake your head at him.

“Lele, I live right across the street. It doesn’t even take twenty seconds for me to get home,” you reply playfully. Chenle just squeezes your hand in his slightly tighter, and when he speaks again, it’s much more somber in tone.

“Three months, y/n. I’ll take a few more seconds anywhere I can get them,” he states quietly, and his words seem to have hollowed you out so that all you can do is nod your head. Chenle smiles at your acceptance before getting hit with another thought and immediately pausing. “Oh, wait!” He exclaims as you take the first step out his front door.

You turn back around to face him in question, watching as he runs through the house before coming back into view with a hoodie in his arms. “For you,” he says with a bright smile as he holds out the hoodie for you to take. You just raise your brows at him with a smirk.

“Chenle, it’s summer. What am I gonna need a hoodie for?” You ask playfully in return, though your traces of banter didn’t reach Chenle, and instead every feature on his face falls into a pout. You let out a fond laugh at the sight of it, moving towards him to take the hoodie from his arms with a light kiss on his cheek. You immediately slip it over your head, and the sheer comfort of it answered your question of what you were gonna do with a hoodie in the summer - wear it any chance you got. You look back at Chenle, who was stuck staring at you in his hoodie as though you were a goddess. You just pray your face doesn’t show too flustered in the moonlight and grab his hand to actually start on the walk across the street.

As you get to your front door, Chenle tightens his grip on your hand to pull you back some more, now just standing idly on your front porch. You study his figure curiously, watching as he tosses around thoughts in his head so loud you could almost hear them. His gaze eventually falls to the ground but he finally finds his voice.

“I don’t think I’m gonna be great at ever telling you how I feel. It’s hard for me to articulate anything even closely related to feelings. There’s so much in my head but I don’t know how to tell you everything…how much you mean to me. But if today taught me anything, I’m much more comfortable with showing you how I feel. That doesn’t seem as foreign to me for some reason. I can show you how I feel - I want to. I hope it gets across, though. I hope you know every time we kiss…” He drags off, and his eyebrows immediately furrow in irritation that this was just another example of him struggling to put his feelings into words.

You give a fond shake of your head as you stare back at him. “Chenle,” you let out softly, rubbing your thumb against the back of his hand, still intertwined with yours.

He finally looks back up at you with resolve. “What I’m trying to say is that if one day, you get fed up with all my emotions being expressed physically rather than verbally, I can stop. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable. I don’t have to kiss you all the time. I can try- I can try to…I can-” This time, he’s cut off by your lips on his, and he melts right into the kiss.

When you finally pull back, you place a hand on his cheek, nodding your head lightly. “It gets across, lele. Everything you’re feeling, it gets across. It’s never gonna be too much; we have a lot of time to make up for, I know. So, whenever you want to kiss me, I want to kiss you.”

In return, Chenle gives the most bashful smile you’ve ever seen. He moves a hand up to guide your own back down from his cheek before studying the way your two hands fit with each other so naturally. All hands were meant to be interlaced with another, he thought, but his were specifically made for yours. You look at his soft features with a grin, squeezing his hand gently in yours and getting him to train his eyes back on you in a rush. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he says surely, causing you to laugh some before nodding your head.

“See you tomorrow,” you softly return as he takes the first few steps back towards his house. You stand and watch until he finally reaches his own front door; turning back around to see you still outside, he gives an exaggerated wave in your direction, and you didn’t need to see the huge smile on his face to know it was there. You move your hand up slightly to wave back to him, hoping the yellow street light wasn’t enough to illuminate the clarity that had immediately washed over you as you clocked that you only had three months left of his exaggerated waves and huge smiles - the butterflies that had occupied your stomach all day were no match for the void that made its presence known now. A heavy breath escapes you as he finally turns the knob and enters his house, leaving you with nothing left to do but the same.

As soon as you opened the door, the change in atmosphere was striking. The warmth of your parents’ laughter filled the kitchen as they were cleaning up from their own dinner, your dog entirely too wound up as he jumped around waiting for teased scraps from your father’s plate. The pit in your stomach didn’t go away, but instead became more pronounced as another strange feeling added to it. Your parents had much longer than three months to be together; you wondered if they could fathom it - if they could ever wrap their heads around the amount of love shared between the two of them throughout all these years. You wondered if you would ever be able to wrap your head around the idea of loving someone that many years, knowing it wouldn’t be Chenle on the receiving end of it. You hated remembering why the two of you originally promised not to get involved with each other - you hated that those reasons made more sense than ever.

You didn’t realize the door practically slammed shut behind you until the rest of the house fell quiet in response. Your mom makes eye contact with you in the front entryway before smiling brightly and returning to the dishes. “Hey, sweetie! Were you over at Chenle’s?”

Her question is coated with a smile and all you can do is start rambling to try and fight off the nauseous feeling that arose in response. “Guys, I made a really stupid decision and I know it’s stupid so I don’t need you to tell me again and I really don’t need you to be pessimistic about it because it won’t help.” You speed through your words in an instant and the look on your parents’ faces completely flip as they drop what they’re doing to go meet you still by the front door.

“Y/n, what happened?” Your dad asks in a panic, and you figure the vagueness of your statement meant they were currently assuming a lot worse than it was. You shake your head, but it doesn’t do much to dismiss their worry until you follow it up with words.

“Chenle asked me to be his girlfriend,” you spit out, and the tension in their shoulders drops at once.

“And you said ‘yes,’” your mom softly finishes in your place. You shoot your gaze up to her, bringing their notice to the tears in your eyes as you respond weakly.

“I couldn’t say ‘no.’”

Your mom lets out a fond sigh, nodding her head as she throws an understanding smile in your direction. “I know,” she replies, coming up to wrap you in a hug where you finally let yourself bawl your eyes out.

“We only have three months to be together but- but we wanted to be together,” you explain as firmly as you could through tears. “And we should’ve just pressed on these three months like we have our whole lives, I know it’s stupid-”

“Y/n, it’s not stupid,” your mom cuts in seriously. You lean slightly out of the hug to make shaky eye contact with her, then darting your gaze off to meet the encouraging look your dad bore and only getting more confused. You pull back from the hug entirely, now doing your best to collect yourself again so you could have a real conversation.

“I’m gonna be really hurt three months from now, and it’s not Chenle’s fault, it’s mine-” You could only be mad at yourself for so long before your mom cuts you off again.

“It’s not your fault. Sometimes, what makes a decision seem stupid is that there’s no one to blame for its consequences. It’s not gonna be your fault, nor Chenle’s…and it’s weird when you don’t have someone to blame.” Your mom was always the voice of reason, but you figure this time she was taking the same approach that Chenle’s aunt did. The inevitability of you and Chenle was the least of her worries. Her main goal was to keep you from jumping off the ledge before you could even enjoy it.

“I think Chenle blames his parents,” you rebuttal thoughtfully, and your dad just lets out a laugh before he responds more sincerely.

“Yes, but I think he hates his parents enough for the all of us, so we shouldn’t add to it.” Chenle’s disdain for his parents was more than evident, and your own parents never had the nicest things to say about them either - even though they kept their thoughts to themselves, you knew it. There wasn’t a single person in the suburb who understood where Chenle’s parents were coming from; with the quality of life being so starkly different, you figure no one ever would. The sucky thing was, you knew Chenle’s parents were thinking the same thing about you all, and it’s why everyone but Chenle has kept their opinion to themselves - it wasn’t worth it to do otherwise, an understanding could never be made between two different worlds.

You take in his words with a flash of your eyebrows but eventually let out a heavy sigh. “...he shouldn’t hate his parents,” you admit solemnly, thinking of your own family and wondering how heartbreaking it would be for both sides if you viewed them the way Chenle views his.

Your father ducks his head, his thoughts running parallel to yours. “No, but that’s not for us to worry about. I’m just glad you don’t hate yours,” he says with a smile, and you finally move your gaze back up towards your parents, three pairs of uncertain eyes exchanging thousands of emotions between them.

“Is everything gonna be okay?” You finally ask, your voice much weaker than you would have liked. Your mom shakes her head in mystery, a thin-lipped smile giving its best attempt at comfort.

“I don’t know, but was today okay?” She asks in return.

“Yes,” you answer immediately, but then your face turns more contemplative and you shake your head. “No- it was so much better than ‘okay’ you wouldn’t even understand.” Your words come out coated in fondness. You figured it was the first step towards realizing how bittersweet these next three months with Chenle were going to be, how nostalgic you would soon feel for memories you were in the middle of making.

Your mom’s smile widens at your words as she moves to brush over your cheek with her hand, ensuring the two of you make eye contact as she gives the only advice she thinks she can at this point. “Then let’s try not to worry about if everything’s gonna be okay in the future, and focus on the fact that everything is so much better than okay right now,” she says softly, leaving you nodding your head against her hold. It eventually falls into a tight hug before you get embarrassed and excuse yourself to make your way to your room for the night.

It was a few hours later when your parents walked in to say goodnight. Your dad went first and then waited at the doorway as your mom took her moment to kiss the top of your head and bid you goodnight. Before she could take a full step away, though, you caught her hand in yours. Her face whipped back around to meet your soft, wavering gaze. “He kissed me today.” Your tone made it sound as though you had a million thoughts in your mind, but it was clear not even one would manifest itself into more words right away. Your parents both give a warm grin, and as your dad leaves from your doorframe to let the two of you have a moment, your mom joins you sitting on top of your bed.

“Yeah?” She encourages softly. All you can do is nod before frustration reaches the surface and you end up shaking your head decidedly.

“Mom, I don’t want to kiss another guy ever again,” you say, looking up to make sincere eye contact with her. “I want it to always be Chenle,” you continue firmly, and your mom just lets out a defeated sigh.

“For three months, it will be,” she says with a weak smile, trying her best to bring any sense of hope to the situation.

You pull your bottom lip in between your teeth, both coming to terms with the situation and not being able to believe it all at once. “And that has to be enough. How do I make that be enough?” You ask helplessly, the sight of you torn up like this chipping away at your mom’s heart.

“I don’t know, but you’ll figure it out,” she replies, and you figure that’s all anyone would be able to say to that. These are your circumstances, and regardless of if it feels unfair, all you can do is the best you can do; spending these three months trying to resolve a grief that hasn’t even hit you yet was definitely not your best course of action. With the smallest of laughs that still comes across as jarring in the fragile moment, your mom speaks up again. “I would say you could kiss him like every time will be the last, but I can’t have you sucking his face off…his parents would not be thrilled about that,” she teases, and you’re finally able to crack a smile as well.

With one last kiss to the top of your head, your mom gets up and heads towards your door again. “Remember,” she says, turning back over her shoulder to look at you. “Today was really really good. Tomorrow will be, too; and the day after that…and the day after that. So, no stress for at least the next three days, okay?”

Your smile widens on your lips at the silly promise, but it did its job in removing what felt like the entire weight of the world from your shoulders. “Okay.” Then, with one last smile, your mom was out the door.

The next week was spent with you and Chenle not seeing more than an hour of separation from each other unless you were sleeping. Though you couldn’t say this for anyone else you hang out with, you never got tired of Chenle, never oversaturated from his energy; so, spending all this time together was hardly a task - it was just how you were meant to be. You think Chenle held the secret to it all along, the reason you never got tired of each other - though you doubted he was even aware of it, every time he looked your way, it seemed to be with a fresh set of eyes, like it was the first time he’d ever laid eyes on you. You could see it in the glaze of softness that took over his stare for a millisecond. How could you ever tire of each other when every glance gave the illusion of no time having passed at all. The only problem you could anticipate is how shocking it would be when these three months were up, if each passing day still consisted of the butterflies from the first.

It was at the end of this first week when your mom lingered in your room while saying goodnight to you again. You eyed her curiously as she sat down on your bed rather than the typical lean-over to kiss the top of your head. She gives a small laugh as she meets your gaze, then starts her words with a light sigh.

“Y/n, your dad and I have been talking,” she begins, and the color drains from your face.

“Uh oh,” you reply, unsure of whatever it is they came up with but knowing it typically never boded well for you.

At this, she laughs again, shaking her head with a grin. “No, it’s nothing bad. It’s just-” she breaks off, looking as though she couldn’t believe what she was about to say, and once you heard her words, you understood the look on her face completely. “We know how this is gonna go. You guys are eighteen year olds who like each other a lot, the situation only made more dire because there’s a strict end date. We figure you’re gonna want each other as your first time, right? So, just please be safe about it, okay?” She moves to make eye contact with you again, seemingly proud with how she articulated everything, meaning she’s completely surprised to see your jaw dropped.

“Wait, what?!” The volume of your voice jars even you, but you could not believe her words. “Are you telling me you and dad came to the decision that Chenle and I could have sex?! Me?” You question, pointing up at yourself as though your mom didn’t know who she was addressing. “Your daughter? Permission to have sex with Chenle?” At your crazed tone, your mom just lets out another small laugh and a shrug, morphing the atmosphere into something much more chill than you could imagine.

“I mean, you’re eighteen,” she replies nonchalantly, only getting you to gawk at her some more.

“I’m like- still a kid to you guys!” You shoot back, remembering how many times the idea of that played into their many rules for you - curfew during high school is 10:00 but hey, that first summer once you’ve graduated, go crazy, it seems!

Your mom tosses the concept of you being a kid around in her head before returning her gaze to you with a slight smirk teasing at her features. “Eh, I lost mine at, uh- well...younger than you, so eighteen’s honestly looking pretty good.”

“What?!” You exclaim again, this piece of lore about your mom baffling you more than anything else you’ve heard tonight.

You watch as she winces, reliving the truth of what she just said, but her eyebrows eventually raise as she turns to you with a cheeky grin to contrast her serious gaze. “Yeah, don’t tell your father about that one. I’m pretty sure he thinks I lost it at nineteen…” She drags off, and you let out your first laugh of the night.

“I can’t believe this,” you say, and your mom’s smile meets your own as she shakes her head and continues with her actual point.

“Look, some people see being eighteen and an ‘adult’ as a reason to never need their parents’ permission for anything ever again. So, I’m glad that you still want our approval for certain things but, here it is. Just be safe and we’re good,” she says casually, and you just drop your head with a laugh of disbelief.

“Okay-” you begin with a nod, but your words are cut off as your mom seems to light up with another thought.

“Oh! Just please do all that when we aren’t home. Your father and I do not need to-” She cuts herself off abruptly but continues to open and close her mouth as if searching for words to describe exactly what her and your dad don’t need to be around to hear, but you just nod your head with another laugh.

“Okay, okay, I got it. Don’t worry,” you conclude, finally motioning for her to let it go and actually bid you goodnight. With a laugh, she relents, walking out of your room and leaving you completely bewildered…and with news to tell Chenle when you see him tomorrow.

However, when you did see Chenle the next day, the conversation with your mom was the last thing on your mind because your little romantic surprised you with a date to the zoo, saying that you had to go right away before it gets too hot and all the animals hide in the shade of their habitats.

The first hour of the zoo experience was completely normal - snow cones that turned your hands into a sticky mess, which Chenle refused to let you wash off right away because he kept sticking your hands together and pulling them apart again with the biggest smile on his face; and then walking around the entire place actually holding hands, splitting your conversation between genuine facts about the animals and trying to see who could get the other to believe the craziest lie they could come up with at the time.

It was when you were at the prairie dog habitat that things took a turn. You and Chenle were reading the fact sheet when you heard the little girl next to you ask her mom what was happening with the animals. You whip your head back up to see the prairie dogs in a compromising position and immediately hit Chenle on the shoulder to get him to whip his head up as well. The two of you try your best to hold in laughter as the parents with younger children rushed to find another animal habitat to keep their child entertained with. That was when memories of last night came flooding back to you and you turn to face Chenle in an instant.

“Oh, hey! You know my parents said they’re chill with us having sex,” you say quietly enough so that just Chenle could pick up on your words. Expecting a reaction similar to yours when first hearing the news, you were stunned to see that when Chenle turned his head over towards you, his face was completely flat aside from his raised brows.

“So, what are ya thinking? You wanna drop down right here and do it?” He asks neutrally, beginning to eye the floor before scrunching his nose and looking around for a better spot.

“Chenle!” You gawk, and all it takes is one look at your exasperated face before he finally falls into a bout of laughter.

“I’m kidding, princess. God, who do you take me for?” He jokes with a disappointed shake of his head. Though, as you calm down with your own dramatic eye roll, he slips his hand into yours again, bringing them up to kiss the back of yours before dragging you off towards another habitat.

Hand-in-hand, the two of you walked around the rest of the zoo before heading out for a casual dinner. It wasn’t until Chenle was dropping you off at your front door that, in an effort to keep you in front of him a little longer, he remembered the topic he probably shouldn’t have just dismissed earlier in the day. “Oh, hey, before you go,” he starts, and you instantly remove your hand from the door knob to turn back around towards him. He makes serious eye contact with you as he continues. “About what you said at the zoo-”

You raise your brows with a grin but he shakes his head as soon as he spots your smile. “Not the part about all elephants being recognized as ordained ministers,” he clarifies, and you can’t help the small laugh as you remember your attempts at animal facts today. “But about us,” he continues seriously. “If I want anyone to be my first, it’s you, but I don’t wanna rush into it just because we’ve been told we can. I mean- I just got used to being able to kiss you and hold your hand-”

“And call me princess,” you add with a smirk, not letting him get away with the new pet name that easily. Chenle drops his head bashfully.

“Yeah, and call you princess…” he echos, falling more thoughtful with each word. “And I wanna be able to relish that a bit more before- well.” He shakes his head, getting frustrated at how poorly he was able to articulate everything on his mind. “I wanna be able to be there,” he finally says with resolve, looking back up to make eye contact with you again before continuing. “Be present…and if I still can’t fathom the fact that I get to kiss you right now, I don’t want to try and wrap my head around even more,” he finally concludes with something of an embarrassed laugh to try and lighten the atmosphere that only he thought needed lightening. You just smile sweetly back at him.

“I get it, lele. Hey, I wasn’t the one suggesting we drop to the floor and do it in front of the prairie dog habitat,” you remind him, causing him to face the ground again as he lets out an actual laugh at his own past actions. When you pick your words back up, it’s with sincerity. “If one of us isn’t ready, then nothing’s happening. I’m good to take it slow. We wanted to do this right, yeah?”

Chenle nods his head as he lets out a sigh of relief, as though he expected the two of you to not be on the same page for the first time in thirteen years. Though, when he looks back up at you, it’s with a firm smile. “Yeah.”

You shake your head at it all, your smile alone revealing how endearing you found him despite your best efforts to keep it hidden. You press up on your tip-toes and lightly kiss the top of his nose before moving down to catch his lips easily with yours. “Goodnight, Chenle,” you say once you finally pull back. Chenle’s face is as red as ever, and you knew he wasn’t kidding when he said he still can’t fathom the fact that he gets to kiss you.

“Goodnight, princess,” he replies in kind, getting your own face to flush as he turns to walk the few steps across the street to his house.

A few more dates and countless pickup basketball games later, and it was already the one month anniversary of the day Chenle paced around your front porch and begged you to forget about what’s happening in just two months now. Knowing Chenle, and how much he loved spending his parents’ money while he wasn’t under their rule, you were half expecting him to greet you today in a suit and take you out to the fanciest restaurant he could find. Instead, Chenle barged in through your front door that afternoon with something much less proper on his mind. “Y/n, it’s been a month,” he points out, and you turn your head to face him from where you sat on the couch.

“Yeah?” You acknowledged, waiting to see where he was going with this.

“I think we should have sex,” he states plainly, and you throw your head back with a laugh before you can even think about it.

“Just like that, huh?” You tease, looking over at him once again with a huge grin, not at all as serious about this proposal as he was.

He puts his hands out awkwardly, as if making sure you stayed put and would hear him out. “Look, I’ve been doing a lot of reading on the subject-” he begins, and you cut him off with another laugh of disbelief.

“Oh, I’m sure you have,” you joke, finally up on your feet and rounding the couch so you could stand face-to-face with him.

He shakes his head in the meantime, a look of annoyance on his face, all overwritten by a huge grin because it was you he was annoyed at. “Shut up,” he quipped with his own small laugh before continuing with as much seriousness as he could. “What I’m saying is, I think I could make it the best day of your life.”

Your eyebrows shoot up immediately, and it’s hard to keep the tease in your voice when the rest of your face betrays you with a huge smile. “Oh, yeah? Well, I’m sure with all your nerdy research, you’re practically a pro by now.” Chenle opens his mouth to bark out some confirmative response, or more likely beg you to stop with the teasing. Though, before he can do any of that, you just shake your head, grabbing his hand in yours and, with the knowledge that both of your parents were still at work for the next few hours, easily guiding him to your bedroom without a second thought. “Come on, big head.”

Chenle smiled brightly at the back of your head as he followed you up the stairs. “I’m so lucky,” he responds, the sarcasm not doing any good at covering up how much he genuinely meant that statement…if only Chenle knew how lucky he made you feel.

Ever since then, it became clear that sex with you was going to consistently stay at the forefront of Chenle’s mind. He was absolutely obsessed with the opportunity to know you more than he already did after the first thirteen years of memorizing you as his best friend. Each curve of your body was something sacred for him, and he took every chance he could get to indulge in it some more. Two weeks after your first time, Chenle met you at your front door with the same gleam in his eyes as ever.

“Hey, baby,” you say, leaning in to quickly kiss him before moving back so he could actually step inside your house. “What do you wanna do today?”

“Sex!” He immediately answers, his tone as though he were a kid asking for candy. You drop your head with a small laugh.

“Not today, lele,” you reply, and Chenle’s brows shoot up in question, though the playfulness is still coating his every move.

“Was my approach wrong? Let’s go from the top, I’ll make my words more sophisticated,” he jokes with a smirk.

You finally give a solemn shake of your head. “No, Chenle.”

His demeanor immediately shifts as he falls into concern. “Okay, what’s wrong?” He asks, placing his hand softly on your cheek so he can guide your eyes back to his own. You meet his worried eyes and immediately dart your gaze away again, laughing softly in embarrassment.

“Nothing. I just started my period today,” you explain, and Chenle immediately lets out a sigh of relief as you watch understanding wash over his figure. You pick up at the end of his sigh and continue with your answer. “My cramps are always the worst on day one.”

Once sure you weren’t breaking up with him nor banning him from ever fucking you again, he easily slips back into his usual manner with you; in this case, instantly getting on your ass. “Why didn’t you tell me?! I would’ve brought over your favorite snacks and your microwavable stuffed animal you always keep at my place and-”

You cut him off, shaking your head with a small smile. “I don’t need all that, though. I just wanna be with you.”

Chenle renders completely still for a moment. For a man who seemed to struggle with words, yours always ended up hitting him right on. He moves to instead wrap you in a tight hug, a contrasting gentle kiss placed on the top of your head as he just held you there for a moment. He finally moves to instead kiss your cheek and pull back a bit. “Movie night, then?” He suggests lightly.

You flash a soft grin in his direction, eyebrows raising as you stare back at him. “Will you hold me the whole time?” You ask seriously in return. Chenle rolls his lips inwards to hide his smile, though he can’t hide the light dusting of pink now covering his cheeks and tips of his ears.

“Is that even a question?” His banter back is ruined by the sheer softness of it. Your grin widens as you grab his hand and lead him towards the couch in the living room. You lean into him easily and he doesn’t think twice before pulling you even closer, holding you even tighter, as your favorite movie begins playing in front of you. “We’re watching the Steph Curry documentary after this, just so you know,” Chenle suddenly speaks up, a faint laugh in his tone - a strange vocalic considering he was completely serious, but you realize it’s his attempt to be softer with you right now, figuring you had it bad enough with your cramps that you didn’t need his bluntness on top of it.

“I’m pretty sure we can both quote the entire documentary by now,” you banter back with a disinterested groan. Chenle looks over at you by his side with a playful gleam in his eyes.

“Exactly! Which means we have to watch it one more time to really make sure.”

You roll your eyes at him but relent without another word; you still had an hour and a half of the first movie anyways.

It was a little over two hours later when your parents got home from work to find the two of you seemingly in conversation, only to realize the movie in front of you had no sound and it was just you and Chenle switching back and forth quoting each line - neither of you cutting the other a break should there be a moment of hesitation…so half of the script was recounted in between laughs and over the other’s teasing. Needless to say, once the Curry documentary started, there had been significantly less cuddles than before, but your cramps, however painful they may have been, were the last thing on your mind. It was only when you sat down for dinner that reality came flooding back over you, suddenly making it hard to sit down again. Trying not to focus on the pain, you instead thought about how pain-free the past few hours have been. You hated that Chenle knew what would work so well…you hated that he wouldn’t always be here to make it work again.

After dinner, your parents made their way out back to enjoy the firepit and calm night. You and Chenle found yourselves back on the couch, this time old cartoons you used to watch during childhood taking up space on the TV rather than movies. You cuddled into him easily, and he did his best to love on you enough to make the pain go away again.

When your parents finally came back inside, the TV was still running but you and Chenle were asleep against each other, his arms wrapped around you protectively as the two of you shifted so that you were laying down on top of his figure rather than just leaning against his shoulder. Your parents just let out light sighs, sad smiles covering their faces as your dad turned off the TV and your mom laid a blanket over the two of you before texting Chenle’s aunt and letting her know that Chenle wouldn’t be making his way back across the street tonight. They weren’t sure if they were feeding the beast by letting the two of you spend the night together, but it was too hard on their hearts to impose a future reality when you guys were so at home living in the present.

The morning sun eventually made its way through the windows to disrupt the darkness of your unconscious state. Still refusing to open your eyes, you just turn your head so that you're facing away from the window. Though, that’s when a hand lightly trails through your hair to move it away from your face, and you realize you’re still against Chenle’s chest. At once, you blink awake, and when you move your gaze to look at Chenle, you can hear the snap of silence as his breath gets caught in his throat. He shakes out of it with a smile, once again running his fingers through your hair as he begins to speak softly. “God, I wanna wake up next to you for the rest of my life.”

Your face goes fire red and you immediately rush to bury it back in his chest. “Shut up,” you chide. “Why would you say something like that?”

“Because I need you to know that,” he responds in sincerity, kissing the top of your head since your face was still hidden. “I’ll always want it to be you.” His soft confession served to be one of the most reassuring and sweetest things you’ve ever heard, and you knew he meant it wholeheartedly. However, while warmth took over 98% of your body, there was the other 2% overcome with a certain uneasiness. With Chenle claiming that he would always want it to be you he wakes up next to, it was the first time you felt a sense of pity for the girl on the other end of this arranged marriage with Chenle, because while you could never be her, she would never be you.

You push the thought to the back of your mind, sure anyone around you would call you crazy for feeling pity for his future wife. Instead, you pick your head back up and press a light kiss to his lips, and just like that, 75% of the rest of summer nights and early mornings saw you and Chenle asleep against each other.

All too soon, Chenle was accompanying your family as you moved into your college dorm. There was a week left before the first day of classes, and in between now and then, Chenle would have his fateful flight back to Shanghai. You had spent the past few nights crying yourself to sleep - well, if it wasn’t a night you and Chenle were spending together. All you wanted to do was be strong for him, your mind a constant loop of how sorry he looked as he asked to be selfish for the summer and indulge in his feelings. The last thing you wanted was for him to actually feel bad about it, to know how painful it truly was for you, when you knew he was going through the same thing himself. You didn’t need to add to the heavy weight on his shoulders imposed by almost every other figure in his life. So, you kept your tears to yourself. It wasn’t that hard anyways, being in Chenle’s presence meant a constant smile was on your face without ever having to think about it.

Once all your things were put away and you could pass as ‘moved in,’ you stood opposite your parents in the doorway to your dorm as Chenle used the bathroom. With a few words and quite a bit more unspoken ones, your parents made themselves conscious of the time on their watch and then bid you goodbye for a bit.

When Chenle came back out from the bathroom, he looked around for your parents, but his shoulders instantly fell once he failed to lay eyes on them. Instead, he turned to you in complete seriousness, pointing a thumb out to the side towards where your bed was as he looked at you with raised brows. “Can I be the first to fuck you on your dorm bed?” He asks plainly, and despite yourself, a loud laugh erupts from your chest.

“Chenle!” You chide, and the familiar big grin makes its way back across his lips.

“What? Isn’t that a thing?” He laughs off in question as though nothing were amiss. He quickly shakes his head, regaining his serious composure as he begins in his attempts at convincing you. “Regardless, I won’t get to experience it for myself so you should take pity on me. And I want this bed to be able to know me before any other college boy toy,” he states plainly, making you drop your head to hide the smile conjured up by his words.

“So glad you think that after you go back to China, I’ll resort to boy toys,” you shoot back monotonously. Chenle finally fumbles as he rushes to steer your mindset in a different direction.

“Okay, it came out wrong. That’s not what I meant,” he assures, but you stare back at him with raised, uninterested brows.

“Yes it was,” you reply immediately, but with the smallest peek of a smile from you, Chenle loses his tension again, ducking his head into his shoulders with a dumb laugh.

“I know.”

You shake your head at him to accompany the eye roll. “I hate you,” you say through a laugh, much to your dismay because you could not sell the bit to save your life. Chenle knew it, too, as he pops back up to look in your eyes with nothing but a tease behind his own.

“So, that’s a no to fucking on your dorm bed?” He questions, making it seem as though that were your least desired possibility rather than his own. His mind games didn’t need to work, though, as you shake your head with a fond smile this time, taking a step towards him to kiss his lips softly.

“I already told my parents to explore the campus,” you admit, and Chenle’s kissed lips turn into a childish grin that he had to calm down from before he could even think about kissing you again.

“Hmm…I think I like my bed better,” Chenle finally says, tossing your shirt back over to you as you both now sit up in your bed. You can’t help the laugh that escapes you at his words.

“Well, I would hope so,” you tease. “Yours is a King as opposed to this Twin.”

Chenle shakes his head, dismissing your banter as he responds with more contemplation than the situation called for. “No, I mean, the bigger bed is nice but I don’t think that’s it. I think this one is just a little too squeaky,” he concludes with resolve. All you can do is laugh, leaning over to place a fond kiss on his cheek.

“You had high standards for plastic-covered springs,” you joke as you pull back. Chenle looks over at you with raised brows.

“I have high standards in general. That’s why I like you,” he responds, and instead of letting yourself get embarrassed by how flustered that statement was about to make you, you nudge him in the side with a roll of your eyes.

“Whatever. We both know I was too low maintenance for you to originally fathom,” you reply, and Chenle finally lets a huge smile break across his face.

“We were kids in a suburb and I came from money…there was a lot I couldn’t fathom,” he recounts seriously. You move your head to look over at him by your side, a soft smile on your lips as the playfulness behind your eyes begins fading to match it.

“I’m glad you finally came around,” you start with sincerity. “The suburb will be sad to see you go.”

Chenle lets out a heavy breath at your words, the weight of reality seeming to hit you both at the same time. He finally nods his head a little, not in agreement but something like contemplation. “Speaking of, I guess we should get back to it. Now that we moved you in, we have to move me out.” The words are bitter on his tongue. The two of you did an immensely good job at sticking to the present throughout this past summer, but now that the present involved the first steps of the dreaded future, it was hard to stay lighthearted. You did your best, though, responding with a faint laugh.

“Yeah, I’m sure my parents have just about exhausted every way they can keep themselves busy anyways,” you point out playfully, and Chenle finally seems to remember he’s still sitting shirtless in your bed. He looks over at you, realizing he’s the only one to have fallen behind on getting dressed again, and with a matching laugh, he begins to remedy that.

“I can’t believe how chill your parents are,” he replies with a bit of awe as he pulls his t-shirt over his body.

You shake your head at him, pulling your bottom lip between your teeth in thought. “They’re not, they just like you.” Your reply is more serious again and Chenle swings his gaze your way with raised brows. You pull up your own to match, and a small smile plays on your lips as you continue. “If it was anyone else, they would’ve had me by the throat.”

Chenle takes in your cautious figure and furrows his brows, not at all seeing the consequences in the same light you were. “You like that, though,” he replies, nudging you in the side and getting the both of you to laugh. You shake your head, dropping it to cover your face with your hands in embarrassment.

“Sometimes, I wish you had a filter,” you banter back, but when you uncover your face again to look over at Chenle, his demeanor had completely shifted, as though your laugh had reminded him that he didn’t know how many more times he would be able to hear it.

“I’m sorry for having to leave,” he says miserably. “Your family has been so nice to me, all throughout childhood and now trusting me with you…” He drags off, his gaze moving across the bed beneath him and over to you, hair messy and lips slightly swollen from his kisses. He shakes his head. “Like this, and I’m just up and leaving.” You can tell he’s getting pissed at himself with every new word, but he doesn’t give you time to jump in right away. “I put you in a position where I knew you’d get hurt. I feel like an asshole.”

Gently, you bring both of your hands to cover over his own against his lap, and he turns his gaze your way at the contact, allowing you to see him physically break from his reverie and instead soften in your presence. “Chenle, you aren’t an asshole,” you reassure. “I knew what I was signing up for at the beginning of summer, and I told my parents exactly how this was going to go, too. No one blames you for having familial obligations. Not me and not my parents. They aren’t mad that you’re the reason my heart is gonna break in a few days, they’re just really really grateful you’ve been the reason behind the happiest three months of my life.” Your words carry enough weight, it was obvious that that’s truly how you viewed the situation. If possible, Chenle felt worse. He was the bad guy here, and you were reframing it for his benefit. He never felt like he deserved you, and had no clue how you managed to think otherwise for the past three months.

“I’m sorry,” he chokes out. You whip your head towards his face once you hear his shattered tone, and your lips part in disbelief. You always figured Chenle would be the strong one, but today’s proved to you that’s not the case.

“Hey,” you start, rubbing a thumb beneath his eyes before his tears could fully roll down his cheeks, an accompanying fond laugh to cover over your own heartache. “Don’t get all sad on me now, we still have four days until you leave.”

Chenle gives a weak smile, catching your hand with his own and bringing it from his eyes down to his lips, pressing a firm kiss to the back of your hand before shifting grips and giving it a tight squeeze. “Let’s go find your parents.” His voice cracks again as he speaks, and he’s finally able to let out an embarrassed laugh in response. You just nod your head, leaning over to grab your phone and find a well-timed text informing you they were waiting at a café on University Boulevard. So, with a onceover in the mirror to make sure the general public wouldn’t be able to tell you and Chenle just fucked, you led him out the door.

Once you got back home, you and Chenle hardly ever left each other’s sides…even less than normal. There was a shift ever since you moved most of your things to university, and everything started to feel a little more real as opposed to the way the rest of this summer felt like an escape from that reality. You both were running out of time, and you couldn’t do anything but be conscious of the fact. It affected Chenle the most, and you could tell from his first touch once the two of you got back.

Up to now, sex with Chenle was a full-on activity. It was rough, hot, and passionate to say the least - he would fuck you. However, the last four days, the air had completely changed. Now all his movements were softer, slower. He was trying to memorize you.

His eyes would become distant sometimes, and only he knew that it meant he was replaying the first day he met you - five-year-old him staring judgementally on the sidewalk out front of his aunt’s house as he watched you play with the water hose, getting messy for no reason and having the audacity to laugh with joy because of it. When you met his gaze, you motioned for him to come join you, to which he adamantly shook his head and decided he was never making friends with the kids on the block. However, as he turned around to go back inside, figuring some basketball could wait until all the messy kids were gone, cold water hit his back in a sensation that had him whipping around again. His first thought was to start spouting Chinese words that he heard his parents say sometimes after they got off business calls with ‘imbeciles of clients,’ but instead as he laid eyes on you, just a few feet away now, with a water gun in your hands and the brightest of joys in your eyes, he forgot all his words. All he knew was that he wanted to be friends with the kids on the block. Though, not even that, he just wanted to be friends with you. He swore in that moment you outshone the sun, and he wanted in on your warmth.

If Chenle knew then what he did at fourteen, he’s not sure he would’ve ever allowed himself to get close to you. However, if he knew then what he did now at eighteen, closer to you than he’s ever been, he’s positive he’d go through this heartbreak a thousand times if it meant he got to love you even once, and he wouldn’t have waited so damn long to love you in the first place.

The last day - the last time, the distant look in Chenle’s eyes wasn’t there at all. Instead, it was filled with non-stop whispered words of how much you meant to him, how much he adored you; his voice occasionally catching in his throat when he got too sentimental, and you’d be reminded of how hard it was for him to articulate his thoughts at all; so all you could think to do was pull him down for a kiss and swallow his words instead.

Then you blinked and it was already the day of Chenle’s departure. Your parents had been outside most of the morning helping Chenle and his aunt load the car up with his things. You took no part in it. Instead, you sat in your room, hugging your knees and staring blankly. The only tell that you weren’t frozen was the fact that you were chewing on your bottom lip, truthfully destroying it, but it was the only thing you could think to do to ground yourself at the time.

With a light knock on the door, your mom enters your bedroom and you move your head up to meet her gaze. “Chenle’s sitting outside. We got him all packed up and everything.”

You swallow harshly and your eyes immediately find your knees again. “I know,” you reply shortly, your voice hardly above a whisper.

A sad smile crossed your mom’s face, but when she saw you making no effort to move in response to her words, she let out a sigh. “Sitting in your room doesn’t stop time.” Her words come out flat, like a lecture, and you knew she was trying to juggle how to be both, a ray of comfort and an authority figure. “You still have to say goodbye.”

You shake your head to dismiss the bit of worry held in her tone as she gave you orders. She didn’t have to walk on eggshells around you, it was that you were the one mentally walking on eggshells around your heart. “I’m just trying to keep my emotions from running high,” you say monotonously, finally looking up at her. You watch her eyes widen as she notices the glaze of tears over your own, and shake your head again in frustration before dropping it back down to your lap. “The last thing he needs is to have to leave while I’m in tears. He’ll never want to go.”

Your mom rolls her lips inward, and suddenly she understands why you’ve taken solace in tearing up your own bottom lip before she walked in. Though, with a sigh, she speaks again with her best attempt at unbiased advice. “He already doesn’t want to go - but the fact of the matter is that when you look back on this moment days, months, years later, you’ll want to have said ‘goodbye.’” You shake your head immediately, she was wrong.

“No. I don’t ever want to say ‘goodbye’ to Chenle,” you claim with more force than you thought yourself capable of in such a fragile moment. You glance up to watch the outsider persona she tried to create instead fall away, and she just went back to being your mom.

She fumbled with her thoughts for a few moments, mouth opening and closing again as she shook away everything she didn’t want to say. Finally, she presses her lips to form a thin line, and then is immediately turning around to walk back out of your door. “You can wish him luck, then, but you need to go see him.” As her words come out, straightforward and not open for debate, you realize why she started walking away as she delivered them, because she wouldn’t have been able to face you and give such orders. Her words were still not what you needed to hear, and you both knew that, but she had to exert some authority and get you to at least do what seemed best in the long run; you figure that’s why it was hard for you to take in…you and Chenle didn’t have a long run. The concept of it hurt enough to pull you up from bed and out the front door.

Without a word, you sit down next to Chenle on the sidewalk, making a chair out of the step in the pathway leading up to his aunt’s house. He moves his head to look over at you, registering that you were next to him. With a breath, you turn to face him as well, a smile on your lips that didn’t quite reach your eyes, though the tears once occupying them were successfully blinked back.

He ignores your smile of reassurance, instead just looking over you once and nodding his head minimally before facing the front again and leaning his head on your shoulder. That’s how the two of you stayed for a good five minutes. No words exchanged, just your light breaths and his heavy exhales as you run through every thought in your mind. You weren’t sure which ones to say, which ones would make things worse, or if any of them would make things better.

“Oh!” You startle as the first practical, rather than emotional, thought crosses your mind. “I still have your hoodie, oh my god let me go get-” Your move to get up and run back into your house is ruined by Chenle’s calm words.

“Keep it,” he says immediately, and you whip your head towards him in shock.

“What? Chenle, if I keep it, it’s almost guaranteed you’re never getting it back. We won’t have contact after this.” That was always the deal, he was getting a new phone and his parents were taking any trace of you out of it, blocking your number, the whole nine yards. However, admitting that you weren’t going to have contact after this present moment was incredibly bitter on your tongue. The words make Chenle tense up, too, but he just as quickly continues with a head nod.

“I know. So, keep it. It can be your hoodie, just please don’t forget that it’s mine.” He stops talking once he notices the sorrow in his tone, and you watch as he swallows it back before speaking again, this time with a touch of playfulness. “And even after you stop wearing it, you can give it to your first-born, Chenle, and then it’s Chenle’s hoodie again.” He concludes as though the entire thing made perfect sense, and you didn’t know how to feel with the fact that his banter made this conversation seem so normal. On the one hand, you were grateful when the familiarity fought off any last question of tears, but on the other hand, you hated knowing this was the last time you would get to have a normal conversation with him.

You settle with rolling your eyes rather than figuring out how to feel. “I’m not naming my first-born ‘Chenle,’” you reply, looking at him with raised eyebrows. You watch as a small smile overtakes his face, but it quickly settles into a grimace and then it’s gone.

“It was worth a shot.” He pauses for a beat before turning to face you, his new tone coming off as desperate, helpless. “Don’t ever forget me, okay?”

You shake your head rapidly as you reassure him. “I couldn’t.”

The two of you stare at each other again in silence for a moment. The time to say goodbye was upon you, which is why the conversation died, which is why you remember what your mom had said in your room, and thus you start with your wishes of luck. “You’re gonna do great, you know? Learning how to run a company and everything. No one’s more capable than you. I’m already incredibly proud of you, not because you’re gonna be a crazy successful business man, but because you’re you. So, when you set foot in your dad’s company, don’t lose that, okay? Everything that makes you Chenle. I’d be sad to see that go just for some bottom line.”

Chenle’s shoulders sink as he turns to face the pavement. “I’ll do my best for you,” he assures with a nod. You want to fill the silence again but hardly have a clue what to say. However, that’s when you see Chenle’s lips twitching and you know he’s in the midst of trying to articulate more of his own thoughts. When he does speak up again, his voice is surprisingly steady. “You know, I’ve been thinking lately. That’s all I could ever seem to do these past few weeks. You know I always struggled finding the right words to say, to let you know how much you mean to me. But lately I’ve found my words. And it’s stupid because it’s so easy,” he says with a scoff, and a wave of uneasiness washes over you as you see the smile he’s able to conjure up. “I’ve been saying it over and over again in my head and it’s so natural. I could’ve been telling you this entire time.”

That’s when clarity hits you and you jump to stop him from saying his next words - you couldn’t handle them. “Chenle, don’t-” You speak up in a rush, but he does, too.

“I love you,” he says firmly, finally bringing his head back up to look at you. His eyes are wide in sincerity, making sure you could see every emotion behind them, how much he meant it. “I love you, y/n l/n. I really do.”

Every last bit of strength you had vanished in milliseconds, and instead you bawled your eyes out sitting on that pavement. “You stupid kid,” you cry out, ramming your head into his shoulder. Underneath you, Chenle froze, and you realize he has no clue if you’re sad or genuinely mad at him. “I’m gonna miss you so much,” you add weakly, a hand coming up to clutch at his shirt. Chenle immediately softens, placing both of his arms around you as best he can. All this time, you had been mentally preparing to comfort him, to be so incredibly strong for him so that he could take his next steps and not feel incredibly guilty for doing so…but now he was the one comforting you as you sobbed in his arms. Chenle could figure out how to articulate his feelings but you couldn’t even get this right - he was stronger than you.

No more words were exchanged between the two of you. He held you in his arms as you tried to rid yourself of tears, but you couldn’t even accomplish that before his aunt gave the first gentle warning that they had to get on the road. Chenle felt you freeze in his arms, and he hated knowing that, regardless of how you wanted to frame it, he was the reason you were crying and torn up like this. If it was up to him, he would’ve never left you; but it wasn’t up to him, so all he could do was leave you with something - his hoodie, and the softest of kisses on the top of your head, getting you to finally pick your head up again so he could place more kisses across the span of your face, slowly but surely kissing your tears away until he made his way down to your lips…and there he finally faltered, letting out a heavy breath against your skin. A last kiss sounded horrible, did he even want one so clearly defined, or was it better for your last kiss to have been yesterday, being able to remember it as basked in love rather than tears. His inner debate was more like a war as his eyes roamed over every inch of your face - what to do? What’s best? Tears were still running down your face but he can't shake how beautiful you look right now…he loves you. How does he kiss you goodbye? How could he ever say goodbye? Does he not do anything at all? He loves you. Is a final goodbye best left unspoken? Unkissed?

His state of drowning in his thoughts gets cut off as you make the decision for him, leaning in to kiss him softly, and instead he’s drowning in you…and your last kiss. It was delicate and innocent, with the audience you had, it probably would have been weird for it to be any other way. Regardless, he still chases your lips after you pull back - that couldn’t have been it; but then the car starts and his eyes shoot open as they dart over to where his aunt was getting situated in the driver’s seat. Chenle whipped back around to face you and looked terrified, but the roar of the engine was a constant reminder of where he needed to be - he couldn’t put it off any longer. He opened his mouth to say something but no words came out, instead it was just quick, heavy breaths and a scared shake of his head. None of that meant that he wasn’t in the act of standing up from the pavement, making his way to the car…leaving you.

Every step you watched him take as he left was another drop of poison in your bloodstream, a poison you should’ve built up tolerance for already given how many small doses it seemed like you were taking throughout the last three months. Though, you must be kidding yourself - goodnight kisses under the porch light before watching him walk the few steps to the other side of the road were nothing even close to poison; an antidote, maybe, to last you throughout the night and fight off the poison of when you were apart, but there were no more goodnight kisses to keep you going now. It was a different sting, your muscles tightened, you couldn’t move, couldn’t look away. Though, you refused to watch him go, leaving it up to your tears to blur the sight of it. The scene in front of you was nothing other than a tragedy, an ending no one was satisfied with, not because it could’ve ended differently, but because it was always going to end this way. There was no crazy plot twist or invocation of Deus Ex Machina to change the narrative. No, just the same, sad, memorized ending of a story you forgot was your own. You played yourselves for fools, believing you could outrun a truth that only ever gained on you with each stride - that, together, the only thing the two of you needed was what you would never be able to have…more time.

#Chenle #Zhong Chenle #NCT Dream #Chenle fic #Chenle x reader #NCT Dream x reader #nct x reader #Chenle fanfic #NCT #NCT Dream fic #Chenle fluff #NCT Dream fluff #Chenle angst #nct dream imagines #nct imagines

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apomaro-mellow · 2 days ago

Text

King and Prince 49

Part 48

Dear Robin,

Nancy is getting a similar, more official missive from Eddie. You should hear it from my own pen as well. My mother and father attempted to kill us both. At the moment, they await their fates in the dungeon. I fear there is no changing their minds, which means the harshest punishments shall befall them.

Rest assured, I don’t intend to take my father’s crown. I already have a kingdom promised to me by marriage. But my homeland shall fall under Eddie’s rule until my brother is of age.

In regards to him, my brother - Tristan, will be under our care. After all, what is one more child? I will do my best to keep you informed as the situation develops.

Your friend,

Steve

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

Steve approached the door of his father’s study and knocked. He heard Eddie bid him enter from inside and opened the door. Eddie had been writing intensely when he glanced up, realized it was Steve and immediately brightened.

“My love, why did you knock?”, he stood and moved around the desk, opening his arms for Steve to fall into.

“Apologies, force of habit.”

Eddie kissed his temple. “You don’t ever need to apologize to me. And never again in this place. It is yours. My dowry gift to you.”

Steve couldn’t help himself and giggled. An entire kingdom as a dowry. If he wasn’t already certain of Eddie’s love before…

“Have you chosen a trusted nursemaid for Tristan?”, Eddie asked.

“Yes. Marlene practically raised me. She’ll keep him safe and promises not to ever stray far, nor leave him to anyone else.”

“Good.” Eddie knew and was sure Steve was also aware that those who opposed their plan of action would take any chance to steal the innocent babe and raise him to rise up against Eddie. With Steve at his side, it would be brother against brother. Taking Tristan as their own would save Steve the heartache and him the headache.

When they left the study, Eddie’s expression turned from adoration to something steely and cold. He glowered at all he passed in the hall. Most averted their gaze. Others quite literally froze or cowered until the two of them passed. When they returned to Steve’s bedroom, Steve sighed.

“Must you glare at everyone in the castle?”

“If they are not lining up to kiss your toe, they are an enemy”, Eddie stated, his frown softening just slightly. It melted the rest of the way when Steve kissed him.

“Have you heard the one about the flies and the honey?”

“Who would want to attract flies when I have you?”, Eddie hummed, going in for another kiss when Steve put a finger to his lips.

“If you want to keep uprisings to a minimum, then the people must not see you as a monster.”

“Counterpoint: if people fear me, they’ll try to kill us less.”

Steve rolled his eyes but was kept from arguing more as Eddie corralled him to his bed and gave him much nicer memories of this room. However, Steve was proven right in the end, twice-fold. The first was about a week after that very conversation. Steve was writing back to Robin, urging her to continue the wedding preparations. He wasn’t going to let something as silly as his parents’ upcoming trial delay such a happy occasion.

Steve gave the letter to a raven at the window, stroking its back before setting it free. It barely took off before an arrow was shot through it. Steve was more annoyed than anything else.

“That’s not my husband!”, he shouted to whoever the would-be assassin was. He was just thinking of the tedium of finding and investigating them when he heard growls, then screams, then a wet squelch and gurgling from the bushes below. Eddie, in the form of a great black bear, appeared, dragging a dead man in his jaws.

“Please retrieve my letter for me when you come up, darling”, Steve called out.

The next incident was just a few days after that, they had just returned to their bedroom after a moonlight stroll. A man tried to ambush them by their bed. Eddie’s claws were in his neck before he even had time to brandish his weapon. With blood on the floor, the two lovers finally took over the king’s quarters.

“You know”, Steve began as they settled into bed. “Assassination would be the least of our problems if you made me immortal already.”

“In time, my sweet, in time”, Eddie promised. While he had used magic to bestow children on those who couldn’t bear one naturally, Eddie had never in his life given immortality to anyone. Even to those that had begged and promised to sacrifice everything for it. Eddie had never wanted to curse someone with that solitude. With Steve though, it wouldn’t be lonely. With him and soon their little bundle of love…

There was the start of tiny cries from right beside the bed and right away, Steve was out of his arms and reaching for the crib. Eddie lit torches so that they could see better as Steve settled back into bed, Tristan in his arms. Steve shushed him softly and the small babe began to calm. Eddie believed it was a testament to Steve’s soft and loving parental touch that Tristan was so comfortable with him so quickly. Steve knew it was only because their own parents hardly ever held him.

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

Dear Steve,

Did you really take the throne?! What about your parents? Are they dead?! Nancy and Robin won’t give any details and Nancy said she’s leaving with some soldiers but she still won’t tell us anything! This letter better get to you before anything cool happens. Mike says we should be allowed to go and I agree. And Robin said something about a baby? Did you have the baby already? Answer at your earliest convenience.

From,

Dustin

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

The day of his parents’ trial, all Steve wanted to do was lie in bed and wait for the bells to toll and alert him that Eddie had done the deed. But things were fragile and the less blood on Eddie’s hands, the better. This had to be seen as a transition from father to son, albeit a bloody one. The common folk would be less likely to rebel in that case.

The snow had just about melted and Steve put on bright green for the occasion. Eddie was dressed in all black with highlights of red. When Steve saw him, it took everything he had to not just pull him back into bed.

The trial began and his parents were brought before them. They were wearing much more plain clothes. It had been weeks since they’d been arrested after all and without servants dressing in royal regalia was nigh impossible. Steve took in their appearance and couldn’t help but smile.

“You dare to smirk at us?”, Alric bit out, the chains around him rattling.

“You look like me. When I was imprisoned, I mean.” Steve felt Eddie tense next to him and kissed the back of his hand to soothe and once again remind his love that he held no ill will for how he had been treated when he first arrived.

Their crimes were listed and the list wasn’t long but it was severe. Attempted murder was one thing. To do it against a foreign king without any reason AND your own son. Add to that, the fact that Steve had yet to officially renounce his claim to the throne. Alric and Julianna had tried to kill their own child, the crown prince. Even as they tried to plead and explain it, those in attendance held little favor.

Steve was under no illusion that this meant they were all on his side. He was sure that if the murders had been successful, they would have applauded his mother and father and agreed to send troops stomping to Eddie’s border right away.

“Your worst fear was your bloodline ending and losing your power thanks to King Edward. Your soul may rest in peace, father”, Steve said as he stood up. “It shall be I that decides the fate of our dynasty.”

“Devil’s whore!”

“I should have cut you from my womb!”, his mother added. Days in the cold darkness had roughened whatever softness she had in her. “How can you do this to us?! Your own mother and father!”

Steve didn’t see any need in pointing out the irony in her statement. Everything had been laid out for everyone to see. They proceeded to the sentencing: death. Steve was only half sure his hand would have been steady enough to do the deed. But thankfully, their kingdom’s customs and the nature of this crime didn’t necessitate it. His parents were led to the guillotine. Tristan was safely tucked away in his nursery with Marlene, Jeff guarding them both, as well as a trusted entourage that had arrived with Nancy just days ago.

Steve held Eddie’s hand as they watched his parents march to the steps. His father knelt first, even now he was glaring at all he could see. The chop of the blade was swift for them both. His mother cried when it was her turn, but even then she hadn’t one word of kindness for her son.

He didn’t even realize he was waiting for that until they were both gone.

Eddie was a rock at his side and Steve wanted nothing more than to melt into his embrace; to cry for his unloving family and for what should have been. But he needed to present strength.

“Let this be known!”, he shouted to the crowd that had gathered. “I am not a prince that revels in violence. But I will not simply lie down and allow anyone to kill me or my future husband.”

Steve kept his face neutral until he and Eddie were alone again. Only then did he crumble into his arms. Eddie simply held him, rubbing his back soothingly.

“I’m going to have to tell him one day…”

“Tell who what?”, Eddie asked.

“My brother…that I killed our parents.”

“I do hope you include how they left you for dead and then tried to kill you themselves.” Eddie stroked his hair.

Steve chuckled through his tears. “Leaving me with you was the best decision they ever made. If nothing else, I have them to thank for that.”

Eddie kissed his temple. “Don’t give them too much credit.”

“No, never.” Steve kissed Eddie’s chin. Then his cheek. Then both of his eyelids. “I think I know who should get the lion’s share.”

In the next few days, they would be returning home. Home was Eddie’s kingdom, now Steve’s. This castle, these lands, they had never been Steve’s home. But all in all, not too shabby a gift for Tristan’s 18th birthday.

Part 50

Taglist CLOSED

@thesuninyaface @only-evanescent @snakeorsquid @ignoremyworld @theclichefortunecookie

@goodolefashionedloverboi @just-a-tiny-void @0body0disphoria0 @cinnamon-mushroomabomination @samsoble

@jamieweasley13 @y4r3luv @xtkxkrzrizir @un-knownperson @greekgeek24

@justdrugsformethanks @potato-of-the-lord @notaqueenakhaleesi @swimmingbirdrunningrock @queenie-ofthe-void

@nebulainajar @lil-gremlin-things @nicememerino @robininblue @hornedqueenofhell

@anne-bennett-cosplayer @moomkin77 @here4thetrama @bookworm0690 @autumncrocusandladybug

@lil-gremlin-things @littlebluejane @puppy-stevee

#apo writes #stranger things #steddie

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ghostinthelibrarywrites · 8 hours ago

Note

Hiii!! I saw your prompt game post!! I am a huge fan of your fics so I ran here to send in a ask!!

payneland + 16 or 23!! ( I couldn’t decided)

I am excited to read anything from you!! (No pressure if you don’t feel inspired by the number tho!! I am just looking forward to more from you!!) 💕

Thank you for the prompt! Here's some pre-canon, pre-slash Payneland. @genevievefangirl asked for Payneland and #24 and that also seemed to fit here, so I combined all three prompts.

16. “You were calling out, in your sleep. You said my name.”

23. “Did they hurt you?”

24. “Unless you ask me not to in the next five seconds, I’m going to hug you.”

CW: Past torture, character injury

Charles wakes up, which is the first thing that’s weird. Ghosts don’t usually sleep, so he doesn’t remember the last time he woke up. But here he is, curled up on the couch with a blanket tucked over him, even though ghosts don’t get cold.

The second thing that’s weird is that Edwin is standing over him, crying.

They’ve known each other for nearly a decade and Charles has never seen Edwin Payne cry before. He’d expect Edwin to cry all stoic-like, with that old-timey stiff upper lip and one or two silent tears running down his cheeks. Instead, Edwin is sobbing into his hands, his chest heaving like he can’t get enough air in his nonexistent lungs. There’s nothing stoic about it; he sounds bloody heartbroken.

Memory comes back to Charles then: darkness and iron knives, pain and terror and a lot of screaming, mostly his own.

“Edwin?” Charles sits up—something that takes more effort than it should. “Mate, are you alright? Did they hurt you?”

Edwin lifts his face from his hands. There’s snot on his upper lip and his eyes are puffy and red-rimmed. Even if Charles had known ghosts could produce snot, he wouldn’t have expected it from Edwin. “Did they hurt me?”

“Because I’ll bloody kill them if they did.”

Edwin makes a noise that may either be a laugh or a sob. “Charles, they had you for three days. I don’t know what they did to you, but you were nearly faded to nothing when I found you. You’ve been in some sort of trance for a week now. I thought I… I thought you were going to fade away forever.”

Well, that explains why Charles feels even worse than that summer he had mono. “I’m fine,” he lies with a smile. “Feel good as new, don’t I? So, where are those ghost cultists? Think I owe them a good arse kicking.”

“They’ve been taken care of.” There’s a grim sort of finality in Edwin’s voice. “Hell came for them.”

Charles grimaces at the thought of the red light of Hell being anywhere near Edwin when Charles was too out of it to defend him. “I’m sorry.”

“Why on earth are you sorry?”

“Got captured, didn’t I?”

“Charles.” Edwin sinks down onto the couch next to Charles, looking deflated. “You got captured saving me from being taken. Which was stupid and reckless and bloody mad, so—”

“Don’t ask me not to do it again,” Charles says firmly. “I don’t like having to break promises to you, but that’s one I’d have to break.”

Edwin lets out a long breath, shoulders sagging. “You dreamed.”

“Did I?” Charles doesn’t remember it, which seems unfair. He hasn’t dreamed in nearly ten years. Would've been nice, for old time's sake.

“You were calling out in your sleep. You called out for your parents. You kept asking someone not to hurt you.”

“Guess I was dreaming about the cultists, yeah?” Bloody hell, he hopes he was dreaming about the cultists. Maybe it's actually best he doesn't remember.

“And you said my name,” Edwin says, sounding exhausted.

Charles cracks a small smile. “Then I guess not all my dreams were bad, yeah?”

But Edwin doesn’t seem to hear him. “You were calling out for me to help, but I couldn’t help you. There was nothing I could do but wait and hope you would regain your energy.”

“Hey.” Charles reaches out and covers Edwin’s hand with his own. “You did help me. You got me out of there, didn’t you? I only came back because I had somewhere safe to rest. That wouldn’t have happened if I was still in that dungeon.”

Edwin makes a small, broken noise.

Charles squeezes his hand. “You saved me, mate.”

“I shouldn’t have let you get taken in the first place.”

“That’s not your fault. But it doesn’t matter anymore, does it? We’re still here and those wankers are in Hell where they belong. Job officially jobbed, I’d say.”

Edwin doesn’t reply. His shoulders have that cornered hunch to them that he used to get in the early days when he was lost in memories of Hell.

Charles scoots closer to him. “Unless you ask me not to in the next five seconds, I’m going to hug you.”

A small smile quirks the edges of Edwin’s lips, which Charles takes as permission. Wrapping his arms around Edwin, he pulls him into a crushing hug. Edwin seems to melt into the embrace, his own arms coming up around Charles’s neck and his cheek pressing into Charles’s shoulder.

“I was terrified,” Edwin says quietly, almost like a confession.

Charles holds him a little tighter. “So was I. But I knew you’d come get me, didn’t I? I’m okay. We’re both okay.”

It’s not like a hug when he was alive, not that all that many people hugged him when he was alive. He can’t feel the warmth of Edwin’s skin or the softness of his shirt. But he can feel the crackle of Edwin’s ghostly energy against him and it almost feels like that energy is making him stronger, keeping him grounded. Keeping him here, because Edwin will never let Charles fade into nothingness.

It’s a long time before Charles can bring himself to let go.

***

Angst and Hurt/Comfort Prompts

I'm going to try and do more prompt fills here on Tumblr in the future, time depending, so if anyone would like to be added to a tag list, please let me know!

#dead boy detectives #dbda #payneland #ghost's writing #prompt fills

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anothertimdrakestan · 1 day ago

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Hi! Can you please do a headcannon where the bat family reacts to the tv show arcane like you did with atla please I think it would be so cool!!!!

YES

Batfam reacting to Arcane Headcanons!

- tim heard about it through the bisexual grapevine and brought it up during family movie night

- everyone agreed simply because they love animated shows

- season 1 & 2 were both out so they started friday and watched all through saturday (bruce had to call the superfam in to watch over gotham lol)

- immediately everyone had a favorite character

- jason thought it was stupid until he saw vi being a total badass and thought "she's chill as fuck i like it"

- damian didn't really have a favorite until he saw ekko. he'll deny it but he shed real tears during the ekko/powder scenes

- dick thought mel was a baddie but secretly loved heimerdinger - he just thought the lil guy was so cute but also so knowledgeable during the second season. he couldn't help but feel the ekko/heimerdinger moments were him and damian to a T

- steph can't help that she loves chaos, so every time jinx went ballistic steph was there cheering her on. she also knows what it's like to be just a girl looking for a father figure

- tim... oh sweet tim... infatuated. obsessed. in too deep. for jayce. can he admit he was roleplaying as victor during the whole show? is it wrong if he just wants a genius hunk next to him in a brilliant workshop?

- tim was desperately texting conner pictures of victor and jayce explaining they had to do a cosplay

- conner agreed

- the ending battles were really brutal for the family to endure, huge debates with steph on jinx's side, tim promising himself victor isn't as bad as he looks, and overall everyone being a little sick of caitlyn up until the vi/cait scene

- steph loudly pronouncing all lesbians the hottest in the show

- damian was too busy thinking of how he could go about forcing star labs to produce an air board for him like ekko had

- everyone felt bad for vander, with bruce tearing up a little at the idea of doing everything for your family even as you feel yourself turning into a monster

- jason felt it too.

- dick was just wondering if he should switch to a giant hammer but decided it might slow him down

- the credits roll and everyone instantly needed to know if there would be a season 3, and there was uproar when they discovered the story was over

- everyone was trying to do victors silly accent for the next few weeks and steph dyed her hair blue in solidarity

- jason started hanging around gay bars looking for a buff butch best friend to no avail

- needless to say everyone loved it, and a few league of legends players were born that weekend, i'll leave it up to you to figure out who would main who!

hope u enjoyed!

#batboys #batfam #jason todd #dick grayson #tim drake #steph brown #damian wayne #bruce wayne #batfamily headcanons #batfam headcanons #arcane #arcane headcanon #arcane reference #conner kent #tim drake x conner kent #tim drake x kon el #batfam funny #batfam lgbt

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niiconoriez · 2 days ago

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It was going by so fast. What? didn’t you know? time of course my dear. Where it does, well nobody knows. It’s a transfixion of what we call our life. What do you use it for?

Cramming your brain for your next exam that you’ll probably do mediocre on. Or how about finding that dress for the perfect night out? We all know you’ll come stumbling through the door. When have you not? you’ve got some random boys number in your phone. My my, threads of conversation you scroll through. When did you even have the time for all that? Don’t be embarrassed, luckily for you he isn’t there for nudes. Not yet that is. No one use the kissy face emoji that much.

Don’t forget to set your alarm, remember? Bright and early 8am you should be sat inside your lecture hall. Just be happy it’s not math. We all know how you do. You didn’t even take your makeup off? Don’t just sit there, your makeup remover is only on your dresser.

Oh my god. Get up now, come on take my hand.

How many nails did you lose? I’ll have her schedule an appointment for you when exam week is all done. Pajamas? Just remove your makeup, I’ll get you the silk ones you always wear when you’re hung over. Such a klutz, aren’t you? You have… an eyelash still stuck to your, well, eye. What? I know not to look when someone’s changing. I’m not a creep dear.

Gosh those clothes stink of hard liquor. How much did you drink? Four? Five? Seven?! Oh my my… no wonder you’re bumbling around everywhere. Your phones ringing. Your phone is ringing. My god are you deaf? Oh it’s the boy? Well you don’t say. Go answer it. Promise I won’t eavesdrop. Shoo shoo.

I made you your lunch. Yes yes, save the thank you’s for later. Already changed too? I’m sure you’ll knock that exam out of the park. You never told me what happened on that phone call… fine. Mhm, I’ll be here when you’re back. Don’t worry yeah?

Hey, I promise that you’re gonna great okay?

You are absolutely capable of handling what’s ahead and everything will end up being okay.

“I love you”

…

I love you too

#niiconoriez #jjk #jujutsu kaisen #gojo satoru #gojo satoru x reader #jjkfluff #jjk x reader #jjk nanami #geto suguru x reader #itadori yuuji x reader #megumi fushiguro x reader #words of encouragement #never give up #i love you

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margaritastation141 · 3 days ago

Text

"Rekindled" - John Price x Divorcee mom of teens

Chapter 1 summary: John wakes up to his car going off Masterlist ✖︎ Ao3 Read this fic on Ao3 (priority uploads/chapter 2 out now) Playlist

Felicity didn’t spend enough time at home, she knew it, admonished herself for it every morning as she left. It was clear when she looked at the time on the dashboard radio, 19:13 flashing in pale blue amongst the overbearing gloom inside her car—the sunset never quite reached inside the windows how she dreamed it should—and it wasn’t an unfamiliar sight. Her new job was running her into the ground, and yet—with all this thoroughly considered—she still took a few minutes to sit in her car.

She turned engine off, the radio falling silent, the lights eventually snuffed themselves, and she just soaked in the quiet, guilt ridden and feet aching until the ants crawled under her skin once more and she finally took hold of her purse and ventured back into her life.

The moment the heel of her shoe touched the driveway; her phone began to ring.

Sam incoming call…

“Hey Effie—” instantly she knew he was calling to cancel. Something in his tone that plead for a forgiveness already undeserved.

“No, Sam, don’t give me that tone. Toby has been looking forward to seeing you all week—you promised!” she hissed into the phone, rubbing the space between her brows as she leaned back against her silver sedan, defeat wracking through her. “Come on, I—”

He cut her off, “some plans came up. Besides, you don’t have anything going on, do you?”

She scoffed, her face warming instantly as she deflected, “seriously?! What could possibly take priority over your children?”

“I’ve got a special weekend planned for Kim, taking her to the coast—remember the beach house we rented that summer?”

“Unbelievable—you are unbelievable, I can’t believe you actually had an answer,” she fumed, “you can’t even think of a new place to take her—and seriously? You two are still dating?”

“I’m going to propose this weekend.”

Felicity’s mouth dried up, her breath hitching, “you’re…you’re proposing at the beach house?”

“Yeah,” he couldn’t sound any more relaxed than he already did, meanwhile, Felicity’s stomach rolled, “real picturesque, y’know? That’s why I can’t take the boys—I mean, you understand,” he laughed, “gonna be a bit busy after dinner if you know what I—”

She hung up, dropping her phone into her purse before she snapped the damn thing in two.

Just as she locked her car, moving off of memory, she heard her neighbor rolling up—he was the only other person on the block who finished work this late it seemed.

Not that she actually finished at 7pm. It was just that her boss, Nathaniel Abbot, one of the top lawyers in the city Rosewood branched off of, kept requiring her to stay later and later to help him keep up with his paperwork, and it was already a half-hour commute to the office to begin with. Thankfully she got paid the overtime, but it was really cutting into her evenings—more importantly, it was straining her relationship with her eldest, Logan, always having to ask him to organize dinner for his younger siblings, help them with their homework if they dared to ask. And more and more, he was pulling away.

“Hey Felicity, you alright?” Johnathan Price; the neighbor, the captain of the local fire station, and the residential celebrity according to the high-school’s PTA group chat. Felicity just knew he was a talker.

She gave him a nod and a wave as he slowed to a stop at the end of her driveway, poking his head out of his window to squint up at her through the last of the sunset. “I’m fine, John, thanks. Busy shift?”

He huffed a laugh, rubbing the back of his head, “certainly one way of puttin’ it. Time for a beer an’ a wine each, yeah?”

She spared him a laugh, her smile hardly reaching her eyes as she took a step back up her drive, “wine sounds good. You enjoy your beer,” she said, pointedly ignoring his ever-lingering stare before he finally pulled into his driveway just one fence away.

He’d always been a bit like that; taking any conversation he could with whatever friendly face he recognized; always easy exchanges, something friendly, something bordering flirtatious.

The minute long chats they had in the evenings were the highlights of her week that she couldn’t afford—so she always made sure to rip the plant out of the ground before the roots could spread—especially post-Sam. She could’ve sworn they’d ramped up since then, a festering growth turning a blind eye to her weed killer.

Realistically he probably just noticed the singular car in the driveway. Being overly friendly to the divorcee, right? Must be lonely after her high school sweetheart ditches her at the proverbial prom.

The quiet neighborhood was always a world away once she stepped foot inside her home. The TV was blasting some video game, music was trickling down the stairs from the bedrooms, something smelled burnt.

“Hey mom? Did you get more milk?!” Jackson called from the kitchen.

Shit, “no, sorry, did you send a text?” She started rifling through her bag for her damn phone again as she walked further into the house, leaving her shoes by the door.

“No,” he sighed, “I told you this morning. At breakfast?”

She looked up at him, blinking, “an entire day has passed since this morning, I can’t possibly remember everything off the top of my head. That’s why I tell you to text me,” she said, ruffling his hair as she passed him on the way to the fridge, taking a look for herself. Yikes, “write down what you need on the shopping list, I’ll go tomorrow.”

“I was really planning on a nice glass of milk though…”

“Jackson,” she raised a brow, “you are sixteen years old. If you so desperately want a glass of milk, please learn to drive.”

He pulled a face, stealing an apple from the fruit bowl instead before heading for the stairs.

“Toby?” she called, opening up the pizza box on the dining table to steal a slice—only half eaten, “have you had some dinner, baby?”

After a few seconds he managed out a “yeah, pizza or something,” before a loud explosion on the TV had him cursing.

Felicity meandered in the hallway for a moment before deciding to collapse on the couch beside him. Watching him play for a few minutes, her nose wrinkling at the excessive blood pouring out of a zombie’s stomach, “did I really pay for this?”

“No, Dad did. Ghoul For Brains 3. The graphics are pretty cool, but the bugs make it way better.”

She studied his profile, the concentrated furrow of his brow, the way he chewed his bottom lip as he leaned forward, “you know, there’s something really sweet about that, finding enjoyment in the—”

He pulled a face, looking back at her, “please don’t make this all gross and mom-ish.”

“Yeah okay,” she mumbled, sighing as she tore of a bite of her pizza slice.

❀ ❀ ❀

“Mom?” The living room was only illuminated by the overhead light the next time she opened her eyes, Toby nudging her awake, “fell asleep on the couch again.”

She gave a small laugh, sitting up, “just resting my eyes.”

“What time’s dad coming to get us tomorrow?”

Guilt bled behind her eyes like a blood-pact, concentrated, singular, something she should’ve fixed earlier. “You know, I was actually thinking that we could do some shopping for his birthday tomorrow instead—”

“He’s bailing, again? We were supposed to go fishing.”

Jesus, Sam. Fishing? That never went well.

“I know sweetheart, how about we go—”

“He’s always doing this,” he grumbled, steering himself upstairs to his room before she she could finish.

Just as she stood to head upstairs herself, Logan was barreling his way down, beelining for the front door, “going somewhere?”

He came to an abrupt halt right as his hand landed on the doorknob. “Out.”

“Really? For some reason I thought you were grounded—any clue why I’d think that?”

He shrugged, rolling his eyes.

The other two took after their father, but Logan had always looked the most like her; dark hair curling by his ears the longer he let it grow, brows that hardly kept an arch on the bend over his eyes, a softly defined nose, and a smile that used to melt butter. With time gone by his eyes had sharpened, glares cutting, fuzz thickening to patchy stubble, high cheekbones gathering shadows where there was once a plush softness like the photos lining the stairwell reminisced upon.

“You don’t remember coming home drunk at three in the morning last week? Logan, I thought someone had broken in! You are not going out tonight.”

“Trent’s already outside.”

“Good for him, he’s practicing his driving. But you know how I feel about him driving you around—especially to parties.” She did her best to stay firm, crossing her arms over her chest. “How many times do we need to have this conversation?”

“Give me a fucking break, it’s the weekend.”

She scoffed, “you have been on break. You don’t have a job, all you do is leave school early, go to parties, and complain when I care about you!” She called after him as he headed back upstairs, “forgive me for not wanting you to become an alcoholic at the age of eighteen!”

He finished the sentence for her with the slam of his bedroom door.

A hot, tight anger squeezed her throat, brimming in her eyes as she put her shoes back on, grabbing her cardigan off the rack by the door and heading out.

Trent was already winding down his window as she marched down the driveway, “hey Effie.”

“Don’t call me that. Are you going to this party tonight?”

“Yes ma’am,” he grinned.

“Well, you can go on then. Logan’s not joining you.”

“Aw, pretty please Miss Parker? Promise we’ll have him home by midnight,” Nick chimed in from the passenger seat, leaning over the center console to bat his lashes, a shit-eating grin plastered across his face too.

Her frown deepened, “no. No, no, no. It’s like you can’t hear the word, do you all just become deaf when it comes out of my mouth or what?”

“What?” Trent asked, rubbing his ear.

She could’ve sworn she felt her eye twitch. “Go home, the both of you—you must be made of alcohol by now—I’m serious, he’s not going out tonight. I’m locking the doors—he’ll sleep outside if you sneak him out.”

“Never drank a day in my life,” Nick scoffed, “wouldn’t dream of it Miss Parker.” Trent nodded solemnly and Felicity just about gave up.

“Go. Leave, now. I’ll wait.”

Trent’s grin finally faltered, “and leave you out here all alone?” Bunch of bloody smart-ass charmers.

“Hurry up or I’ll call your parents and the police.”

He sighed, glancing at Nick, “alright, Jesus, we’re going.”

“Thank you,” she said, “drive safe, okay?” taking a step back and watching them reverse out of her driveway, waiting another minute as they talked between themselves before driving off.

She sighed, dropping her face into her hands.

At the sound of a window closing, she parted her fingers, glancing up, then her eyes widened.

There stood John Price; in his bedroom on the second floor of his house, going around and drawing the curtains, wearing only a pair of boxer shorts, entirely uncaring of who got a glimpse of the dusty blue fabric adorning the soft cut of his hips.

Blinking dumbly, Felicity came to a few conclusions.

He had tattoos—dark but faded, a mark etched deep like the crow’s feet scratched beside his eyes—on his left shoulder, low on his waist, peeking out from the hem of his shorts. From the ground she couldn’t make out a thing but the sudden intrigue—it made her hands fall away from her face.

He was so much…more than she’d thought. Bigger across his chest, wide and plush and strong like a bear incarnate. Hair covering him like he really was one, dark over his pecs, thick and sinful below his navel. Nearly took up the window all by himself.

And his eyes—oh they were so different after sundown. The watercolor indigo beneath his eyes made them darker than that pastel blue-grey they usually were. Especially when they fell on her, watching him from below all slack-jawed like some little girl at her first sighting of a painting twenty-times the size of her, full of incomprehensible detail that spanned beyond her dismal years.

John Price was no residential celebrity, nor station-captain extraordinaire—no, John Price was a god after dark, raising his brow at the woman shivering on the pavement below. Felicity dropped her gaze, watching the last of his curtains close in her peripheral, and headed back inside.

Wine. That glass of wine sounded brilliant right now.

But first, she toed off her shoes once again and climbed the stairs—bracing herself for whatever exploratory curses Logan had stored for her.

Her knuckled rapped softly against his door. “Logan? Baby can we talk?” she asked, voice quiet at the end of the hallway—the furthest he could get from her, it felt. “I know you want to party and spend time with your friends but—but exams are coming up and I know you care about your English grade more than you let on. I just…” she sighed, fingers drifting down to the door handle, an old batman sticker on the curve was nearly worn right into the metal. “I feel like I’ve been grasping at straws lately trying to figure out how to talk to you. You’re getting older now,” she huffed a laugh, thumbing the sticker fondly, “I know. And you don’t want to listen to your mom anymore,” a knot grew in her throat, “but I just want to see you succeed in life—get out of this town and do what you want with your life. If you told me what that was I could help maybe? I’ve found some job applications if you wanted to look through them, see where you want to start out. How does that sound?”

The silence was stark in the wake of her voice, voices and music drifting from the other bedrooms along the hall—behind equally closed doors.

“Logan?”

She wiped under her eyes, letting out an exhausted, shuddering breath.

“I’m opening the door now…”

But her eldest child was nowhere to be found, his bedroom window was pushed shut but the handles were still poking up—a rooftop escape.

• • •

Price woke in a daze to the sound of his car alarm going off—his curtains pulsing with light from his headlights as if there was a UFO waiting to beam him up just outside the window. Groaning he pressed himself up off the bed, eyes finding the red numbers on his alarm clock. 02:17 glared back at him. “Fucks sake.”

Abandoning the warmth of his bed he tugged on the grey longsleeve abandoned on his floor, fumbling through his drawers for his sweatpants before shoving his feet into his slippers and marching downstairs—his footsteps the drumbeat of war.

Snatching his keys from the dish on the entryway table, he wrenched the door open and unlocked the wailing vehicle—illuminating the culprits in the process.

“D’you know what time it is?!” He barked across the yard as the teens scrambled away from the back of his car and into their own—“got the wrong bloody house. Drivin’ into my car,” he grumbled under his breath, “oi!” he shouted as they began to back away, narrowly avoiding his mailbox in the process—curses and laughter bubbling out the window, “shouldn’t be drivin’ like—” but they’d pulled away from the curb with a screech and the pungent odor of burnt rubber, bass shuddering from the speakers as the taillights disappeared down the slope of the road. “Jesus fuckin’—”

Not all of them had fled yet.

“You’re Felicity’s kid,” he grunted, watching the dark-haired boy stared back at him wide-eyed and flushed from abandoned laughter, “does she know you’re out drinkin’ at bloody two in the mornin’?”

The light turned on upstairs in the house over the fence, a curtain pulled apart wide enough for a pair of eyes to peek through before someone was heading downstairs.

The boy cursed, clumsily wiping his face, noticing the same thing. “I wasn’t driving, y’know. And—” he sniffled, the cold nipping his pink tinged nose, “and I’m eighteen in January.”

“S’that supposed t’mean somethin’ to me?”

“Logan!” A woman cried, rushing out onto the sidewalk and rounding the fence.

Felicity Parker—formerly Felicity Wright as John was bitterly reminded whenever that shit-pile Samuel rolled up on the weekends for his kids—was wrapped up in a gown, boot-slippers scuffing the gravel of John’s driveway like they were coming home after collecting the mail, all flushed in the face, John’s porch light catching her puffy eyes.

Not from sleep but from crying, red-rimmed and splotchy pink on the highs of her cheeks.

“I told you—I told you; you weren’t allowed to go to that party,” she said, berating him while she pulled him into a hug—not letting him squirm out of it, more tears rolling down her cheeks as she squeezed her eyes shut, “but you don’t listen—you never listen to me!”

“Get off—” Logan groaned, agitated, pushing free and staggering a little from the force. “I don’t have to—”

John noticed the way she dipped her head as she wiped at her face with the already damp cuffs of her gown, tucking her hair behind her ear as she crossed her arms, pulling her gown a little snugger, “apologize to Mr. Price—apologize Logan, you’ve woken him up—maybe half the neighborhood—”

“Oh my god, I’m sorry,” the boy tossed out in no general direction, pulling away from his mother’s grasp and meandering back to his house, finding no difficulty in going through the left open door.

Felicity stared after him, looking both mortified and utterly wiped. “Oh, John, your car,” she breathed, turning, seeing the sizable dent in his rear bumper, “I’ll—I’ll pay you back, I’m so sorry, I don’t know—” she hiccupped, fatigue stealing away any embarrassment, reaching for the pendant lying just below the hollow of her throat, “I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.”

John found that—when it came to Felicity—he had an innate ability to stop thinking. Not when he noticed her staring up at him near-naked, gawking like a fish, and not when he pulled her into his arms, tucking her head in against his chest, splaying a hand between her shoulder blades as she cried, clinging to him immediately as if this wasn’t the first hug they’d ever exchanged. “Don’t worry ‘bout it,” he murmured into her hair, admitting that last finger of whiskey might still be kicking round somewhere in his gut, “got enough on your plate, don’t you? Just runnin’ round like a headless chicken these days, hm?”

She nodded absentmindedly into his chest, and he fought hard to keep the beat of his heart steady, clenching it in his fist tight before it got out of control like it often did around her. “I can’t keep up with them anymore,” she sniffled, rubbing at her face some more in the circle of his arms, “m’out of my depth.”

“Woah now, admittin’ defeat Effie? That’s not like you,” he said, pulling back to catch her face, nudging her chin up with a daring knuckle.

Her bottom lip trembled as she looked anywhere but at him, “I’m failing them—I s-swear I used to be a good mother and—and then Sam and I had that rough patch and I just…I can’t.”

“Take a deep breath for me sweetheart,” he suddenly prompted, taking her smooth, soft hand and pressing it flat between his pecs, taking a deep breath, “slow and steady.”

Still looking away, she sucked in a deep breath, exhaling, and repeating along with him for the next one until the tremble in her hand wasn’t so prominent. But she stayed quiet, the fight knocked out of her, those warm eyes of hers stuck to the ground like he wasn’t right there.

“I don’t…have kids of my own,” he said, dragging words out of some unseen pit in his chest, “but I’ve seen ‘em come an’ go through the station all my twenty-bloody-years there. All sorts. This current batch, they’re a good crew, my friends—but they were difficult to get together at the start, butting heads, second guessing me and each other. It was weird, my worst group by far—”

“This is not encouraging,” she mumbled, huffing a sigh.

“But,” he smiled, catching her skittish glance up at him at the word, “they came together. Took a bit of tough love—majority of the work they figured out themselves—but they’re my best crew I’ve ever had now.”

She tucked some hair behind her ear, “are they the ones you have around all the time?”

“That’s them alright.”

A small laugh escaped her, “bit loud, couldn’t imagine what it was like when they were arguing.”

He grinned properly, “that’s why I’ve got an office, can just close the door if they’re at it again.”

“…d’you think Logan will be okay?”

He reached up, scratching the back of his head, “I can recognize pieces of him in the guys I’ve known, he’s angry Effie, upset maybe with himself. I can’t make any promises off my theories.”

She looked away again and it was like losing the sun.

“But I could see what I can do for him—”

“Really?” her eyes were bright, back on him, clouds parting.

“Of course, he’s gotta work off this dent somehow, don’t he?”

#ao3 #tf 141 #writing #fluff #john price #captain price #141 #cod #tf141 #firefighter!au #firefighter captain price #family dynamics #captain john price #john price x reader #cod headcanons

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