#i won't say rhea did nothing wrong

[therandomistthings]

Heyyyyy I have a request for you🩷 so idk if you watched summerslam and Monday night raw BUT if you have this is what I was thinking

So could you write a Rhea Ripley x reader x EX BF Dom basically so we all know how Dom Betrayed Rhea so basically the backstory is they were in a poly relationship and obviously the betrayal happened and he left them for liv. So basically Reader just comforts her girlfriend either after her SummerSlam match or on Monday night raw I SWEAR I JUST WANT RHEA TO BE COMFORTED. If you do this TYSM 🩷💕

Reader is NB by default

Monday Aug. 5th 11:16pm

Y/n was sleeping soundly in her bed, well as well as they could in the hotel bed. However, they were woken up by the sound of crying. Y/n gets up and walks to the bathroom door where the sobs are emerging from and knocks.

"Rhea...babe can I come in?" Y/n asks in a soft tone.

"I-im okay Y/n I just need a second" Rhea says in a broken voice, making it clear that she was crying.

"Honey, please. You don't have to hide your feelings, I know you're hurting" Y/n says, right after they hear the door unlocked.

What walks out is a very tired and broken Rhea, the dark circles under her eyes and the red tint in them makes Y/n's heart break. Rhea pulls Y/n into a hug, a tight protective hug.

"2 years...2 years of nothing..." Rhea chokes out. Y/n looks down at this, while they weren't a wrestler they too were surprised and hurt by Dominiks sudden betrayal. However, they need to be strong for Rhea their girlfriend.

"I know Rhea...." Y/n says not knowing what else to say.

Rhea knows that Y/n is hurting too, they to were together with Dominik for 2 years. Rhea shakes her head and rubs Y/n's back.

"I know you're hurting too...you're aloud to cry too" Rhea wispers. Y/n freezes but shakes thier head.

"No...I'm not going to cry over that- that- stupid-" Y/n studders before they started crying. "What did we do wrong Rhea? Why weren't we enough...."

Rhea sighs and lets a few tears fall herself before saying.

"I Don't know Y/n...I Don't know"

About 2 hours later both Rhea and Y/n are on the hotel bed and watching some random cartoon on screen. Rhea isn't paying attention that much to the show but is focused on Y/n. Y/n however is watching the show intently. Y/n is soon brought out of it when they feel Rhea nuzzling their neck.

"You alright babe?" Y/n asks. They are met by Rhea clinging to them like they would disappear if she let go.

"Rhea? What's wrong?" Y/n asks growing concerned.

"Don't leave...please..." Rhea says, muffled by Y/n's neck.

"I won't, I promise...I love you too much you won't get rid of me" Y/n says lovingly. Rhea puts on a small smile.

"I love you too...so so much" Rhea says now cuddling Y/n.

Y/n gives Rhea a gentle kiss on her lips which Rhea obliged with giving back another kiss.

"Good night Rhea" Y/n says

"Good night Y/n" Rhea responds, as the two of them fall asleep in each other's arms.

[demeterdefence]

been thinking a lot about how lore olympus really just could not fathom the concept of found family, it absolutely HAD to have a traditional blood-related family for the ending which is just ... so rachel honestly lmao we really should have known.

there were a lot of instances in the series where it almost seemed like rachel went out of her way to paint biological families as inherently dysfunctional, or at least not all they're cracked up to be - aphrodite is disdained by ares' family, zeus and hera are constantly arguing / zeus is constantly unfaithful, rhea and ouranos are an abusive marriage that begets three wildly traumatized sons, etc and so forth. that's not to say all families were bad or flawed (whether that was a choice or rachel spent so little time on them it just didn't come up) but the end result is that there were a lot of broken biological families in the series.

i think rachel wanted to demonstrate that you do not have to stick with an abusive family if they hurt you - that blood is not the defining aspect of family and bonds, that you can make your own and build your own family. i think rachel thought she was writing that, with how hades hates his dad and how persephone distances herself from demeter (who did nothing wrong but anyways.) the problem is, she absolutely does not follow through with it. at the end of the day, rachel is going to prioritize blood bonds and biological children over found family, because to her, that's the only family that counts.

like, hades raised thanatos from childhood and abuses the fuck out of him, completely traumatizes the god of death to the point thanatos is genuinely afraid of hades. thanatos is mocked, derided, scorned, and scoffed at by hades, constantly. thanatos did not have a CHOICE in who raised him, his mother abandoned him into hades' care. and hades does not for a single moment let up on how resentful he is about it. when thanatos finally admits that he only had hades as a parental figure (or ANY kind of family, tbh), hades turns it into how that affects him, how it makes him feel. after, we get two jokes about how hades is thanatos' dad now, and the last scene we ever get of thanatos is that "sometimes hades talks to him." thanatos never shows up in hades' daydreams of a family, he never shows up as a person who is important to hades. for centuries, hades was in charge of raising thanatos, not once does he ever appear in any of hades' dreams or wants regarding family. not biological family, so fuck off.

more to the point, the narrative makes it explicit to us that hades can't have children - it's brought up three times specifically, to drive the point home that hades wants children, he's definitely tried to have children, and it just won't happen. melinoe was seen as a way around that, and i won't lie, compared to rachel's usual hamfisted approaches, it wasn't the worst idea to have. but by the end of the series, it's shown that oh, nope, hades can have children (only with persephone though) and also they look like him, because biological bonds are everything. you know who doesn't count? dionysus, who was kidnapped from his dad and raised as a pet project for persephone. the kid helps her conquer winter or whatever the fuck that plot point was, but because he's not their biological child, hades and persephone ditch him after the final battle and throw him his old mom back to get rid of him.

biological children aren't a bad thing and it's not a bad thing to want or have them, but it's so fucking telling that hades and persephone have multiple people in their lives who should be considered family, and are picked up and discarded summarily once their use is over. dionysus was their proxy kid, and we literally do not see hades interact with him except maybe twice. thanatos gets absolutely trounced and i'll never not be angry about that. i don't even know what's going on with persephone's half brother, but he shows up for a single panel in the finale and then disappears.

wouldn't it have been so powerful if hades, an abuse victim, decided to be the father thanatos deserved? wouldn't it have been more in line with the supposed message of the story if hades and persephone opened their homes to people who once felt like them, abandoned and unwanted? at the very least, couldn't they have shown love to the people in their lives who sacrificed so much and put up with so much from them? what exactly is the measure of a family in lore olympus? we can't control who births us, but we can control the hurt we ourselves give, and the love we share, and that would have been an infinitely better ending for the two most selfish characters to show their growth. another disappointing pin in an already massively disappointing ending.

[call-me-a-simp]

Heal My Wounds

Confessions (part 10)

Rhea Ripley x Reader

Tw: physical and sexual abuse, toxic relationship, selfharm, eating disorder

Summary: You are in a toxic relationship with an abusive man but manage to run away. A tall, black haired woman picks you up from the streets just in time so your ex doesn't get you. But who is she and why does she seem so familiar to you? As you get to know each other you start to notice weird feelings you never had before whenever she's around.

~fast forward two weeks~

You're sitting on the couch scrolling through your Instagram as you hear the door being unlocked and opened.

"Hey, I'm back" Rhea shouts. "Hii" you reply. You get up and enter the hallway to greet her. "How was your day?" "As always" she brushes it off.

"How was your's? Did you finally leave the house on your own?" she chuckles. You playfully hit her and you both laugh.

"I'll take that as a no" "Admit it you just want to get rid of me" you tease her. "Definitely not, but we still gotta talk" she replies, leaving you a bit concerned.

You follow her into the living room where Rhea is already sitting on the couch. "Dont worry it nothing serious" she chuckles as she sees you face.

You relax a little and sit down facing her. "I wanted to talk about what you plan for your future. Like, getting a job, maybe your own apartment.. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't mind you living here with me, I like having a roommate, really. It's just something I've been thinking about lately."

You look down on your lap fidgeting with you fingers. She's lying, she doesn't want you here. You're a burden! Your mind tells you.

Demi takes your hands in hers gently stroking them. "I mean it y/n, I like having you here don't worry about that" she calms you down.

You smile, "to be honest, I don't know what I want to do with my future.. I don't even know how to interpret my own feelings.."

"What do you mean by that?" Rhea asks. You sigh "there's someone I really like, I just don't know if it's in a platonic or romantic kind of way.."

"Ooh, do I know him?" Rhea smirks. You feel your cheeks getting red. "Naw, you're blushing. Is it.. Damian? She teases you.

" What? No.. I mean, he's a nice guy and everything but.. uh, never mind.." you say and get up. "Hey no wait. It does mind!" Demi pouts.

You pretend you didn't hear her and make your way to the bedroom. "Y/n! Come back here!" she shouts and runs after you.

"y/n!" she throws you onto the bed and turns you around so you look at her. She places herself on top of you and holds your wrists over your head just like you once did with her.

"Tell me now" she pouts and you laugh. "Fine.." you sigh "I won't tell you exactly who it is but.. It's not a.. him.." Rhea looks at you confused.

"Wait.. So it's a.. Girl?" you blush and nod. Rhea squeals from excitement "do I know her?" she asks full of enthusiasm.

"I will not comment on that" you say. "Ooh so I do" Rhea gets even more excited. She releases your wrists and sits upright on your hips.

You lean on your elbows to lift your torso off the bed and grin at her. It takes her a moment to realize but then it hits her like a brick on the head.

"Do- You mean me?!" "Of course I do, stupid!" you laugh before getting serious again.

"Listen Rhea, I know it might make you uncomfortable now, regarding the fact that you're straight and we sleep in the same bed at night and everything and-"

You're cut off by her kissing you on the lips. God how can someone have such soft lips! You're surprised but quickly return the kiss.

Demi pulls away and looks you in the eyes. "Remember when we were cuddling in bed and I told you I really liked you?" you nod "that's what I meant" she says and kisses you again passionately.

She cupped your cheeks earlier and you wrap your arms around her waist and torso pulling her closer. She deepens the kiss and a soft moan escapes your lips making her smile.

Oh my God how can somebody be this perfect. You both pull away to catch your breath and smile at one another. "I love you Demi" you breathe out. "I love you too y/n"

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

And here's part 10 :) Let me now your suggestions etc and if you wanna be featured in the taglist

Taglist: @babybatlover @legit9thlunaticwarrior @thatonepansexual2000

[fantasyinvader]

Is Shez evil?

The thought occurred to me last night, but I think it's worth discussing. Do we play as an evil character in Hopes? Now, the Hopes!Devs did say that the war wasn't a matter of good vs evil and that it's all a matter of perspective. However, they also said that Hopes wasn't meant to replace Houses, and therefore we can apply the morality of Houses to it.

Shez is implied to be from Shambhala, making them an Agarthan. We all know that the Fodlan games use Buddhist symbolism, and Agartha is where the Asura's were banished by the Bodhisattva when they became drunk on their own power and from there they wage war against the Bodhisattva and the benevolent devas. Tellingly, Shez's unique final class is Asura, cementing this idea.

When I was looking up stuff concerning the Asuras and their world, I found this.

Nichiren defines the characteristic of (The world of the Asuras) as “perverse,” or more literally, “fawning and crooked.” Out of extreme pride or a sense of superiority, people in this condition tend to conceal their real motives and flatter others to win praise. While outwardly courteous, however, they inwardly look down on others. Such a person’s self-image is distorted and unbalanced, colored by extreme pride or a sense of superiority; the self is perceived as extremely large and important, and others as small and unimportant. Those who remain in this state ultimately do harm to themselves through their own conceit.

There was something about this that really hit with Shez. Shez's motivation is to get revenge on Byleth for wiping out their former mercenary unit. It seems like a normal motivation, but Shez also has quotes where they talk about how what happened to them is just the nature of the profession. These quotes make Shez come across as hypocritical. But the nature of the Asura realm would suggest that Shez is just putting on a metaphorical mask, saying things that sound nice while keeping their true motives hidden. It's still on Shez on whether or not they go after Byleth, and Arval not letting go of this motivation, attacking Byleth that leads to Arval's own downfall.

But at the same time, Shez doesn't lose their power like what happens to Byleth at the end of Flower. They don't stop being an Asura. They will still support Edelgard even though her path is supposed to be immoral according to Houses. Shez can confirm that Edelgard is oppressing the commoners under her rule, but unlike Byleth won't lead the BE in opposing her. Their influence on Claude ultimately leads to Claude going down a similar path, meaning it's because of Shez that Claude kills Rhea as he gives into his own hatred. Even with Dimitri, Shez had no problem when Dimitri and company's motives for the war changed to revenge, and Dimitri then continues the war after the defeat of Edelgard and Thales in order to punish the Empire. Then there's Shez's whole “I'm just a merc” gig, he's saying he's nothing more than someone paid to kill others regardless of morality.

With this in mind, we can make a judgement call. Shez, despite appearances, isn't a moral person. Shez might believe that this war is morally ambiguous, who is right or wrong a matter of perspective, but they're someone who kills for money as well as using the war for revenge which could put them into immoral territory, as they're willing to facilitate the suffering of others for their own goals, a big no-no in Buddhism. They don't care if they're the aggressor or playing defence. They're not amoral, ignorant of and not influenced by morality, like Byleth starts off as and from that they end up poisoning Fodlan. Because Shez shows up as the lords flee Kostas, they don't meet Byleth at Remire. They don't lead the lords to a better Fodlan, they just help them fight a war that's not even over at the end of the route.

Shez might appear to be nice, but we should have known better after Edelgard. As to whether they're evil, evil is defined as being “profoundly immoral.” Shez killing Byleth and by extension Sothis, living up to being an Asura, would push them into being evil, and their POV goes against the morality of Houses. That, and the Asura realm is called one of the four evil paths.

[fireemblems24]

Golden Wildfire Ch 10

Spoilers for GW up to Ch 10 below.

STORY

Now Claude's taking Ls in the Kingdom too.

I love how much they always try to drum up sympathy for Randolph when the man's only character trait is "I want to murder people to gain personal status." And then he also has the gall to act like he's better than the people defending themselves when he goes to kill them.

I never really put that much thought into him before, but yeah he's kinda just a piece of shit, isn't he? Low key one of the worst human beings in the game.

They should've made it Fredinand or like Linhardt's dad or someone likeable.

Funny seeing Claude play Edelgard like a fiddle though. His army is fine, and hers is crushed lamo.

Haha, Fleche is back to her vengeance act. It's gonna be funny if a tiny girl child is a final boss.

The same conversation with Jeralt and Bylethas I saw elsewhere, I think. Yeah, here comes the sword again.

I love how they make Rhea out to be such a big deal, but literally no one gives a shit that they declared war on her. Like, pick one, game. You either have Claude be an unpopular ruler or Rhea actually be a problem.

Raphael called it right. Commoners don't give a shit. So Edelgard getting everyone killed over noble squabbles.

Hilda kinda seems like the Kingdom stan here. She's always the one upset about it.

Claude is such an idiot. I cannot take him seriously. Claiming he wants to spare lives moments after sacrificing Randolph and wanting to wipe a church no one gives a shit about off the map. Am I supposed to take this seriously?

Haha, Arval said he can think for both of them when I had Shez say she's more brawn than brain lamo. And Shez believes it too, omg. Shez is great. I need a comedy show with them.

Oh, nice! Looks like another single-battle map. BC, honestly, I got Spiritfarer for Christmas and I'm DYING to play it, but need to finish this first.

BASE/SIDE BATTLES

Lamo, Arval just said trying to unify different people under one king is dumb, won't work, and looks forward to the day humanity moves beyond it.

LORENZ/IGNATZ/RAPHAEL PARALOGUE

So is this the paralogue that's going to rewrite it so Lorenz's dad did nothing wrong? Given the description, I'm betting it's that.

Ignatz is being awkward around Lorenz now that he's been promoted.

Gloucester evades all of Lorenz's questions about these bandits.

And now Lorenz is demanding Raphael do what Ignatz did and is upset he's so casual lamo.

So are they making it so his dad wasn't the one who ordered the hit that killed Raphael's parents? Lol. This game really likes whitewashing some of these guys, but Glouster's probably the worst offender.

Let me take a wild guess. TWSITD.

It's really a shame that Raphael is such a one-note character. It would've been interesting if he had more in-depth conversations with the rest of the cast who were unable to move beyond trauma.

IGNATZ & LEONIE B SUPPORT

Their one and only support.

They're hunting and the deer only has one arrow. So they try to figure out who successfully shot the deer.

They both hit the same place. Mystery solved.

LORENZ & CONSTANCE C SUPPORT

This one should be better.

Constance is challenging a cat to a staring contest. Yes, this one is already better.

Lamo, he says he would've considered her as a wife if she restored her house. But withdraws because she's a weirdo. (I mean, no loss?)

Constance gets back at him by saying she'd never consider him lol.

Now they're arguing over who's house is more noble.

Much more entertaining.

SHEZ & RAPAEL B SUPPORT

It's about food.

It's nice to see Raphael actually have passion about something instead of just repeating "meat!" over and over.

SHEZ & IGNATZ B SUPPORT

You know, going through supports has made me realize that Golden Deer probably has my overall least favorite cast.

Ignatz has an older brother. He likes his brother at least.

Ignatz is finally talking about how he doesn't love being a knight. He really didn't have much of anything going on removing that conflict.

It's nice to hear Ignatz have his own convictions to become a knight. He's getting more sides to him, which is good.

SHEZ & HOLST B SUPPORT

Holst sneaks with Shez into enemy territory. He's doing it because scouts are going missing. Shez is impressed someone of his status is doing that.

LYSITHEA & RAPHAEL B SUPPORT

Lysithea studied too long and is out after dark. Gets scared by noises. She runs into Raphael and they talk about strengths and weaknesses.

The weird noises she heard wasn't Raphael.

MARIANNE & HILDA PARALOGUE

Marianne needs help from Shez organizing because she sucks at it.

Wow, Hilda not only volunteered to help Marianne clean up the mess, but also to do the scouting mission they were supposed to go on all by herself. It's love.

Hilda doesn't show up for awhile, so they get worried and go to check on her. Given that it dumps me to prepare for the battle next, I'm thinking that was a good call.

Not my favorite paralogue. I had to fight Ingrid :(

They talk about Marianne's typical issues.

It has very "safe" shipping dialogue throughout.

MAIN BATTLE

I don't want to invade the Kingdom. Especially since it makes no sense for Claude to do so.

Hahahahaha, lamo, you deserve it Claude. Fleche raised an army to fight him. Seeing this tiny girl as the final boss is going to be hysterical.

Oh, Arval and Shez stuff. I almost forgot Arval existed. They've got bad feelings. I'm guessing it's because Byleth is fused with Sothis.

Ok guys, I restarted this chapter over and over trying to recruit Byleth, but Claude just stands there in one seized area and won't move until Byleth reaches him - even when no one else is around.

I really just want to be done with this playthrough to be honest (there are so many other games I want to play right now), so I'm not going to bother with recruiting Byleth. I'll try in SB, but the only one I'm going to put any real effort in is AG.

Seeing Fleche as a final boss is funny.

I'm guessing we don't fight Jeralt if you recruit successfully. Got a cool cut scene for not bothering though!

So Byleth doesn't join you because you kill Jeralt, I'm assuming. Though, Byleth doesn't seem to have any issue joining Edelgard when she plays a role in that lamo.

Also, gotta say, I love how there's a chapter you can't use the lords. And for Edelgard and Claude it's because they randomly just don't fight that chapter. For Dimitri, it's epic story reasons lol.

Aw, shit, did Byleth just kill Judith?? That sucks. Oh well. Not restarting. This 3 route thing is too much. I just want to play this again, but one route only.

You know, after Claude's dumbfuckery throughout this route, he kinda deserves this lamo.

So who is it in SB and AG that dies?

Byleth so callous about Jeralt's death. Far cry from the crying in Houses, a bit sad actually.

It's kinda funny that Judith died because Fleche went on another rampage. I'm going to miss seeing her around though.

Is whoever dies in AG bad enough that I should push through and recruit Byleth? I may look that up to give me the proper motivation, but that could backfire if it's someone I don't care enough, but I'm having a hard time thinking of a single character I don't care enough about. Even like Sylvain's dad would make me too sad for Sylvain and I couldn't do it.

Aww, Arval is upset for Shez.

So is Sothis and Byleth merging merging or something?

xxxx

[joy-of-life88]

Damian Priest x Reader ONE SHOT

First published on Wattpad August 12, 2023

"Damian, could we have a word? We just witnessed how the Judgment Day savagely attacked Edge once again. But yet again, it didn't work out the way you and your mates thought it would. The WWE Universe is curious what you have to say about this.

Why are all your attempts to ultimately take over Monday Night Raw failing? Do you think maybe you were a little too cocky? What are your plans?" I asked Damian backstage.

It was my job to do these interviews and yes, it was part of asking questions that you knew would piss off the wrestlers. That's what the producers wanted to see. Normally it was hard for me to be a little mean. But in the case of Priest, it came easily to me.

He was irritated with me and I was irritated with him. Why exactly? I don't know. Really... I didn't have a clue. We just didn't get along. He seemed a little too full of himself. And I wasn't sure that was just the character he was portraying. I also didn't want to spend more time than necessary with him to find out if I was possibly wrong.

It was better that way. I swear, if he called me spoiled princess one more time, blood would flow. I was so sick of people thinking I was only here because my dad was on the board of the WWE. Hell, I didn't even like my father. And he had nothing to do with why I got this job. That had totally different reasons.

"Well princess... if you understood a little bit more about our business, you would know that you won't get far here if you don't make enemies. We want to get to the top and no matter how long it takes... the Judgment Day will rise above all.

Mark my words, Y/N... even if it's hard for you. We have just begun to spread fear and terror. And anyone who doesn't get out of our way will get knocked out of the way." he replied, and then someone behind the camera said Cut.

"As always a displeasure to work with you, Princess. Now go make yourself useful on your knees somehow." he mocked.

It was probably meant to be funny, but he was talking to the wrong person about that.

"Fuck you, you arrogant asshole. Get the fuck out of my face. I'm getting a headache just thinking about your voice," I retorted.

"I bet you'd like that. But I know what you're really up to.... It's probably been an hour since you demolished that last piece of cake. Hence the headache." He laughed and then left.

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

Damian POV

"Why the hell are you always so rotten towards Y/N? What did she ever do to you?" asked Rhea to me.

"Nothing... I just can't stand her and her attitude. And it's not like she's holding back." I replied as we walked further down the hall.

"You're both fucking awful. You bicker like little kids. If I had to guess, I'd say you're attracted to her," Rhea said.

"What makes you think that? She's not my type at all. I don't go for chubby girls with attitude problems. She seriously thinks she's God's gift to manhood," I explained.

"What are you talking about? She's gorgeous. My God so she's got a few more pounds on her than those skinny bitches. Who cares? I think you're not telling me what it really is.... I think you can't stand that she doesn't put up with your shit. Not even on camera." she replied.

"Oh please.... I don't know... She just rubs me the wrong way." I said.

"I bet you'd like her to rub you the right way." she then smirked.

"Not in a million years." i snorted.

"You know... One of these days I'm going to lock you in a room and not let you out until after you talk.

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

"Good lord! Can you maybe just do your job? It's not that hard! I'll ask the questions and you answer." growled Y/N as we tried to film a segment for next week.

"I would if you were capable of formulating reasonable questions," I replied in a deep voice.

"Maybe I should just formulate it so you can comprehend it..." she muttered.

And so it went on for another half hour until we finally managed to come up with something decent. I could tell the producer wasn't happy with either of us.

I was walking back to the dressing room when Rhea intercepted me and asked me to follow her. She went into a secluded part of the arena where some empty storage rooms were. She opened the door and practically shoved me inside.

"Rhea what are you doing? I thought you wanted to talk?" I heard Y/N's voice.

"Talking is going to happen. You will talk to each other. In order that you finally get along with each other. It's annoying how you treat each other. Work it out." she said and closed the door behind her.

For a while it was silent. Neither of us said a word. I leaned against the wall next to the door while she wandered up and down the room with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Go ahead, talk," I said at one point.

"I have nothing to say to you." replied Y/N.

"Didn't expect any other way.... If you don't have time to write down the questions beforehand, you can't think of anything." I said.

"Oh he's such a smart one! You can't think of anything new to insult me with. I'm too tired for Rhea's attempt to make friends out of us." she replied.

"As if I ever wanted to be friends with you..." I muttered.

"Yes, because God forbid you should find out that I have brains and not just tits," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Well, if the shoe fits. But I bet you have a lot of talents that require your other body parts." I laughed.

"So that's what you think? That I'm a slut? Are you offended that I've never offered it to you before?" she asked aloud.

"Oh please... I bet you're not as good as you think you are," I continued laughing.

I just couldn't take her seriously. Even though I just saw the tiniest bit of hurt on her face.

"You know what? I'm going to shut you up once and for all. You think I'm a slut? Here you go, so be it." she then growled and came towards me with quick steps.

I had no idea what she was up to, but suddenly she was in front of me, pushing against my shoulder until my back was pinned firmly against her wall.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Proving a point." she replied and before I knew it she had already opened my pants and pulled them down a bit along with my underwear. 

"Woah, woah, woah! Have you lost your mind?" I wanted to know when she already took my cock in her hand and started rubbing me.

I put my hands on her shoulders as I tried to push her off me.

"Hands off." she commanded in a tone I didn't recognize from her.

And at this point... I could no longer resist. Her hands moved faster and faster in a way that blew my mind. Never in my life had a woman jerked me off like that. My breathing became rapid as I looked into her eyes. She cupped my balls and massaged them gently at first, then harder.

"See? You're just like any other man... Powerless when you're being grabbed by the balls. No matter how big your mouth was before. You're pathetic, Damian. Look at you... Being pleasured by a spoiled princess you can't stand. When all you had to do was say the word.... No... or Stop." she said softly and seductively.

And although her words were insulting, they were somehow arousing.

I watched as she stuck a thumb in her mouth and licked it before running that very thumb over my tip.

"So desperate for attention.... With no regard for anyone else's feelings or past. You need to learn that there are consequences." She continued almost in a whisper as her hands continued to work on me.

"What do you mean?" I gasped, very close to coming.

At that moment Y/N let go of me, yanked open the door and marched out of the room, leaving me just like that. Exposed and very unsatisfied. And on top of that, confused and frustrated.

[dmclemblems]

Honestly golden wildfire would have fucked like hell with the negative character development story direction if it was in character. But they squandered a cool idea by replacing Claude with a slitger body double copying off el-chan

Yeah, it's sad that they had plenty to work with and didn't use it. If they used parts of his character that already existed and just made it more extreme as the story went on and we got a Claude a bit similar to early AM Dimitri, depending on how they went about it I could get behind that. If he had a downward spiral for some reason, it would've been more interesting than the random excuses and actions.

What would've been nice for me would be if he had a part of the story where he lost all trust and thought he had to keep going for his dream only to realize he'd done it all wrong and had to make up for it. With how GW does it, everyone just accepts how he goes about everything once the Randolph situation is over with. Suddenly nobody forces him to look at his actions and retrace his steps.

Hell, they even could've used Claude's manipulation to have him pretend to be on board with Edelgard and manipulate her into a battle that he knew would get her killed. Basically form that alliance with her, gain enough of her trust and then give her "useful leads" that end up putting her in jeopardy. Even in Houses he takes advantage of people, but I'd actually like seeing him do it to an enemy with bad intentions. She's threatening his goal, and if he really thinks it's a selfless dream (like he considers it in Houses), wouldn't someone threatening it be "bad" to him since he thinks of his goals as peaceful and life changing?

Personally I'm super not against a "darker" Claude, but like you said, I'd want it to be in character. I don't want it to be there for nothing but shock value where we're only made to question him. For example, even though Dimitri was a lot more cruel in the first part of AM, typically I found myself agreeing with him because he was still logical. He wasn't just brainless and stupid. The things he said still made sense and he still killed out of anger from things like people stealing from innocents.

When you defeat Randolph, he makes a completely sound argument about why he won't let Randolph go. When he confronts Byleth about revenge, he reminds them that they also sought out their enemies who had killed Jeralt and it was no different. With Claude we get half assed excuses for him doing... dumb things. Like, invading Faerghus doesn't give him a darker story. It's just meaningless and wasn't like him. His reasons for killing Rhea were all based on maybes and nothing concrete, so simply because he didn't like that Fodlan respected her, she had to die (and because if they killed her, Edelgard might stop fighting Leicester, so he basically sacrifices someone else who did him no harm and never wronged him to save himself and others, which again, isn't like him).

Overall it just feels like a wasted story to me? They had so many things they could do and plenty of ways to make Claude questionable without throwing all sense out the window. The fact that even Dimitri in the first part of AM, at his absolute worst still has completely sound logic, but Claude in a state where he's fine if not doing pretty well is completely lacking in logic despite being one of the smartest characters imo says a lot about how the writers treated GW. Dimitri was cruel, but he was logical. Claude was cruel but he made no sense.

[ac-liveblogs]

Honestly, if there was a final boss for the Cindered Shadows Route - let it be Rhea, because from what I'm getting (at least with Yuri and Hapi), Rhea is partially to blame for their strife and the Cindered Shadows route further reveals how messed up of a person she is. I can understand the oil bit, but halting medical and technological advances for the sake of the goddess is pretty dangerous and reckless. Not to mention people in the Church want abyss gone, so a set up there.

Uh, I disagree. Rhea isn’t even a little bit to blame for their strife. Yuri killed some Church folk (after being manipulated into it by Aelfric), he got punished for it, he ended up in Abyss. That was his own fault. Even then, his supports make it clear he does what he can to cosy up to people in power, which would indicate he chose to work for Rhea of his own volition.

As for Hapi, that also wasn’t Rhea’s fault. Hapi was experimented on and became extremely dangerous to society, and instead of putting her down like Old Yeller Rhea let her stay in Abyss where if anything does go wrong, it can be controlled. It sucks but it was genuinely the safest option for everyone that wasn’t actually killing Hapi. I get why Hapi’s bitter, but come on. 

Anyway, both of them can pretty clearly leave whenever, so it’s not like real house arrest or anything. Abyss reads as Rhea going “yeah these people have nowhere else to go and I can’t keep them upstairs for [x] reason, I’ll turn my head the other way”, which reads as pretty damn benevolent to me. In the canon timeline, Abyss isn’t even a secret… 

If the Church wanted Abyss gone, it’d be gone. The Knights are right there. I’d be very wary of taking any information Aelfric provides as gospel, ditto the opinions of the Wolves that had absolute faith in him at the time they gave those opinions. Aelfric had every reason to try and isolate the Wolves to make them think they couldn’t ask for help or try to leave - of course he told them the Church was against them! (also, we never fought church units.)

Although I wouldn’t blame Rhea for being extremely wary about any of the more dangerous criminals taking refuge down there. 

As for Rhea blocking technology… I haven’t seen all the books yet, but uh, re: Rhea blocking medical developments, that refers specifically to autopsies. And we know that’s wrong, because Manuela literally keeps an anatomical model in her office. (Also, iirc Manuela autopsied Jeralt.) Since I believe it’s said that some of the books could be fakes, I would take that with a massive grain of salt.

Rhea isn’t evil. The Church needs some reforms, but there’s no reason to make a final boss of her unless you’re an invading Emperor that wants to consolidate all power in Fodlan under your country’s banner. 

Anyway, on the flipside, Yuri and the Wolves would be a much better pick for a neutral “discovering the truth” outsiders route than the Golden Deer imho. Abyss has every reason to try and investigate both Edelgard and Rhea once the war starts, since they could be absolutely fucked depending on which side wins. Yuri’s savvy enough to smell a conspiracy if there’s one afoot and smart enough to sift through Aelfric’s bullshit, so I imagine it’d be very natural for him to want to start working out what the Church is hiding. (Plus Abyss is literally a dumping ground for outsiders.)

Abyss is in a prime location to clash with the Flame Emperor’s crew and apparently does run the risk of random Death Knight incursions, so it’s easy to see how they’d get dragged into that mess and why they’d want to investigate. Plus, Hapi probably even has a grudge against Those That Slither, since apparently they’re responsible for what happened to her. 

[jaimetheexplorer]

Bursting to talk about Kim because I can, but you’re so right with Kim going in to her Gene era long before Jimmy did. Rhea was saying it’s not even about leaving Jimmy, Kim just wants to disappear (still compartmentalising) off the face of the earth, “a nameless faceless person on the street with wasted potential” and thinking she deserved nothing but the home town she left. Which makes me so deeply sad

Please do! I can talk Kim all day and I'm still feeling my way around the fandom, so love to chat to people :)

Jimmy and Kim aren't that different in that respect, in the sense that both of them tend to fall back onto "I'm not worth it". They just manifest it in opposite ways. He burns down the world around him, she burns down the one inside her.

My worry for Kim moving forward is whether this is it, or they're planning to explore more of her (I can discuss that set leak either under a cut or in private, if needed - just don't want to spoil people if they/you don't know about it and/or don't want to know).

Rhea's interviews pre-6x09 do have me worried there won't be a lot more of Kim and that this is her ending. There's something about the tone when she talks Kim and that "death is not the only tragic ending" that makes me think it's possible that she will just slowly fade away as that faceless person on the street, never to be seen again.

But it's also possible she was just talking about Kim's pre-BrBa fate, which is what everyone was worried about. Because this is such a... non-ending for her? It's an ending that's functional to the birth of Saul Goodman, but that's about it. And given how central she's become to the show, it seems weird to me that they'd just leave her as nothing more but the "plot device" that puts Saul into motion, with no learning or evolution of her own. In one of her recent interviews she did say something about this being "the end of an era/chapter" for Jimmy and Kim, which did make me think there might be a new era/chapter (or more than one?) coming.

Johnaeryns on Twitter had a nice thread relating Kim's current journey with Jesse's, and how this scene in particular highlights the counterproductive nature of wallowing in guilt and self-hatred. I think it's a necessary step for her at first, but it's not an approach that ultimately bears any fruit. Jimmy actually wasn't all that wrong in saying her probono work is too important. I know she can't see it at the moment, but, truly, atonement can only come from making an effort to put good back into the world. Sure, all the probono work in the world won't bring Howard and HHM back, but wallowing in self-hatred will be even less useful. It's actually... the selfish option?

[emblemxeno]

Okay looking into the whole "The Church almost took the Lance of Ruin" thing has me scratching my head. So apparently, if you haven't recruited Sylvain by Miklan and you choose to give back the Lance of Ruin, Sylvain won't be able to get it pre-ts, even upon completing his paralogue. Which at first sounds like oh, maybe the Church did keep it, maybe there's something fishy going on (I mean until you find out that the Relics are all of Rhea’s family and maybe she wants to lay them to rest, nothing about accumilating power, but whatev).

But then you get to post-ts and see his A support, where he'll say the "One wrong step" line. After that he says that his father was afraid the Church would keep it, but he only says that line if you either 1) kept the lance in that scene with Rhea, or 2)... complete his paralogue. Meaning that Rhea literally did give it back to the Gautier family, because his paralogue is all about showing Daddy Gautier that Sylvain is competent enough to wield the Lance of Ruin. There's no reason for them to think Rhea would keep it when she literally doesn't. I was about to give the game some credit but no, it still doesn't make any sense why the Gautier fam would think that other than throwing nonsensical suspicion on Rhea

Oh wow, I didn't even dig that far and gosh does it just... make no sense, like you said.

And that's after the timeskip, where Rhea gives up her identity to protect garreg mach and before that was on the front lines personally. I don't see the purpose of a line like that, other than to cement the Margrave as an incredibly paranoid guy who puts a lot of importance on his position and duty as border guard; which, that was already proven given the entirety of the Gautier inheritance ordeal, so even then, being worried that the church would somehow keep the relic seems superfluous.

Thanks for the extra clarification!

[rappaccini]

another hot d hot take: i actually really hate how the rhea royce death was done in the show.

yes, it's ambiguous in the book, and yes, daemon dislikes her and wants out of that marriage, but he didn't kill her.

1: rhea's death wasn't unusual.

ryan condal being all 'well it sure was ~strange~ that she died of a crushed skull from a horse riding injury....' ...... no? no it wasn't?

a woman who spends all her time riding and hawking in extremely rocky, sheer terrain is probably quite likely to die of a horse riding accident by taking a hard full and knocking her skull on some rocks. it's one of the most expected ways she could die.

2: daemon wasn't in the vale, and couldn't have been there without being noticed.

he was in the stepstones, thousands of miles away, when rhea died. so was his dragon. if he did kill rhea, he couldn't have taken caraxes because he'd have been seen. sure, he could've snuck out, and even made the trip without caraxes, but a trip that long would take weeks if not months, a long enough time for people to definitely notice daemon was suddenly not in the stepstones anymore. especially if his wife mysteriously dies after he leaves and before he can return.

so it's far more likely that he just. stayed. in the stepstones and didn't kill his wife personally.

could he have ordered a hit on her? yeah, it's possible. but here's another problem: he has no motive.

3: daemon had nothing to gain at that point from killing her.

in the show she dies before rhaenyra's betrothed. not so in the books.

in f&b by the time of rhea's death she and daemon had been married for eighteen years and spent that time apart. he had been seriously pursuing rhaenyra for at least five of them. yet rhea doesn't die until after rhaenyra's already been married to laenor for a year and had jace and luke.

rhea's death after rhaenyra's marriage and children doesn't move him closer to her in any substantive way. rhaenyra's husband is still alive, she still publicly has an heir and a spare by him and there's no reason to think they won't continue to be there for years to come.

if daemon was really a cunning murderer, or murder-planner, odds are he wouldn't have dragged his feet until the most inopportune time for that murder. he'd have done it at literally any point in the years before 115.

if daemon was willing to kill rhea to get a child by rhaenyra on the throne, he'd have killed rhea while rhaenyra was single, before she had an heir and a spare by someone else.

and if daemon only wanted rhaenyra, then he would've waited even longer until she was widowed.

why go through the hassle of killing rhea and covering his tracks if it's the wrong time for that to lead to the outcome he wants?

4. the manner of rhea's death.

f&b rhea doesn't die right away. that was changed for the show. in the books, she's found alive, is bedridden but conscious for about a week, but then she becomes totally coherent. she has her energy back and gets right back on her feet ready to resume her life... and then drops dead an hour later.

she didn't die of a crushed skull. that's just what the written-to-be-unreliable history book said it was because westeros doesn't know what brain swelling is yet.

and you know how we know for sure it was an accident?

5. rhea never said a thing about daemon-- or anyone-- trying to kill her.

if someone tried to kill you, but you were knocked out, when you woke up and could string a sentence together, you know that sentence would be 'someone tried to kill me.' if you knew exactly who that person was, you'd name them. especially if it's someone you dislike who you know dislikes you.

and if rhea's half the bitch daemon says she is, you know she'd tell someone if she thinks someone (especially daemon) tried to kill her, or ran her horse off the road.

['her equipment could've been sabotaged to make her fall' .... and rhea's an experienced horsewoman. she'd know to check her tack before riding. therefore it wasn't sabotaged.]

yet rhea was fully functional for at least an hour (if not more than that), and said nothing about any foul play. because there wasn't any. because it was an accident.

...................... anyway this is all to say i hate that change. it's another casualty of them condensing events to fit into a few episodes and i really dislike how this plus mysaria having Never Been Pregnant is affecting daemon's character.

[lananiscorner]

If you had to guess, why are Edelstans so desperate in trying to defend their waifu's honor despite her being a fictional character and therefore won't respond let alone appreciate their defense? I know parasocial relationships are one hell of a drug but you'd think they would stop trying to double down and fulfill a self fulfilling prophecy of thinking they are racists who justify imperialism and genocide.

Thanks for your ask, anon. Please keep in mind that everything below the cut is just my own personal interpretation of what's happening here, based on my time in this fandom. There's a fair chance I might be wrong about the conclusions I'm drawing, but anyway, here's my 2 cents:

I think the parasocial relationship aspect is definitely a big part of it, but at least as far as the western parts of her stan base are concerned, it also feels a lot like there's a lot of personal baggage attached. I mean, from what I have seen in my year in this fandom so far:

Most Edel/Byleth art/fic involves female Byleth. Male Byleth might as well not exist, even though picking male Byleth rather than female Byleth changes absolutely nothing about their support line or ending and I'm not even sure if it changes any of their explore/event dialogue, but I don't recall any instance where it did during my playthroughs.

Her other supports and paired endings with male characters exist in-game only, apparently. I've seen maybe like... 5 pieces of Edel/Hubert art in the fe3h tag over the course of this year and that's it.

Stanning for Edel usually is accompanied by relentless bashing of Rhea and the church.

"She's sapphic and cute and she wants to hold your hand while obliterating the oppressive church--what's not to love?" is how I've seen multiple of her stans describe their reasons for liking her in a nutshell.

One of the common claims from Edel stans against her critics is that we are homophobic, hating on her for being wlw... which... the only time I ever see Edel's sexuality brought up in Edel critic circles, is annoyance at stans trying to erase her canonical bisexuality.

Some of the animosity against the church is definitely a problem of the localization (which actively made Rhea and the church look more sus in several instances), but a lot of it to me reads like it was written by people who were hurt in RL by assholes who wield religion as an oppressive tool (which it doesn't have to be--affirming churches do exist!), and for whom Edel with all her church smashing and queerness is just the ultimate, cathartic, projecting power fantasy.

And here's the problem with projecting: when you project onto another person or a character, any attack on them feels like an attack on you, personally. It's the fallacy of "they called Edel a racist imperialist + I stan Edel for being an anti-religion queer queen = they called me a racist imperialist = they called me a sinner = they are just like the people who hate me for being queer and having beef with religion", which... is not a great feeling. I've been there myself (not with Edel, but with other characters in other franchises) and learning how to take a step back from that line of thinking and looking at what people are actually saying rather than what you are hearing is one of the most important life skills you can learn in any context. I don't think I've ever seen any Edel critic call her stans racist/imperialist for liking her, but rather for trying to justify her actions, which... yeah, if you're trying to justify racism/imperialism, that is bound to happen. You can like (even love) a character without trying to rationalize away their flaws.

Two examples: Hubert is the best character on CF imo, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna go around saying "well actually he had no choice but to kill and bribe people behind Edelgard's back and they were trying to uphold an abusive system so they probably deserved it anyway". Man straight up bribed and murdered people so his queen could succeed--cool motive, flawless execution, still murder. Likewise, Felix is my second-favorite character in all of Azure Moon, but there'll be a cold day in Aillel before you see me trying to excuse his misoginy or his dehumanizing language towards Dimitri and Dedue. I understand and sympathize with the cause for his behavior, but I do not condone it or try to justify it away as something necessary or good.

And sadly, I don't think this fallacy thinking of some (most?) of Edel's stans will change, unless:

the RL people making the arguments change, and/or

their RL experiences change, and/or

IntSys gives us some unproblematic, unapologetically gay/lesbian representation.

It is hard to self-reflect when you are hurting and clinging to what litle representation you can find. In an ideal world, the next original FE game release would include unmistakably queer characters of multiple orientations, who are not also racist imperialists, so every Edel stan who gets really reactionary about criticism of her can look and those and go "oh hey, people don't hate on me for stanning Sappho FE--maybe the beef they had with me really wasn't about me being a sinner, but Edel being someone who invaded and forcibly annexed two sovereign nations and did her best to eradicate an entire race of sentient beings".

Maybe that day will come. Maybe it won't. In the meantime, I will happily keep blocking those of her stans, who try to justify racism, imperialism, and ableism, so that I can have a pleasant fandom experience that won't leave me bitter and exhausted every time I check the tags.

[bubblegumlefty]

Okay. So now that I finally was able to see my first live payperview, here are some highlights I listed.

1) I finally learned what "TV Magic" is. They had one entire side of the stadium blocked off, and it was either that they always did this without me ever noticing, or that they didn't get enough ticket sales. Or maybe it's both.

2) Bayley finally came back after several months (which made my fan sign useless! 😂). Two other stars returned too, but I can't remember their names at the moment. I was secretly hoping for Ezekiel or Elias to come out later during the show to complete the experience, but alas, I only got half. Still better than nothing.

3) Miz VS Logan Paul actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Was actually kinda funny at points (like the Miz with his own pokemon card? C'mon. 😂) Also, for some reason, seeing Tomasso Ciampa wear bright green ring gear was strangely hilarious to me. Probably because it just looked so jarring. Logan actually suprised me, ngl. Say what you want about his intolerable behavior as a person, but if there's one thing that he's good at, it's how to generate good heat. His wrestling ain't too shabby either.

4) Usos VS street profits was nice. Entrances were sick, their wrestling was exciting to see, and the way they were teasing the street profits' seperation just hurt in all the right ways.

5) Seeing Judgement Day's entrance was epic as hell. Too bad I was too far away to get good pictures of Finn, Damian, and Rhea in all their sexy glory. Seeing Rey and Dominick wrestle live was pretty cool too.

6) Edge returned to an awesome ovation. To say that the section I was in was made near deafening noise would be an understatment. Me and my Dad literally jumped out of our seats and cheered once we heard the unfamiliar music. Don't even get me started on his Brood like entrance with the fire and shit. I really hope that'll be his new permanent entrance for now, cause it's absolutely badass.

7) As the sun set, the stage turned on a giant bright light that was for the entrance way on the side of the roof that shone directly in front of the nosebleed section. The entire section began to chant "we can't see" and "turn the light off". Obviously it didn't work, but it was still funny regardless.

8) Austin Theory VS Bobby Lashley was decent. It wasn't until Bobby's entrance did some Pyro finally go off. It was super close to our seats and nearly scared the living daylights out of me and my family, lol.

9) Don't have much to say about Ronda Rousy VS Liv Morgan except that their entrances were pretty cool to watch (then again, I guess that applies to every entrance). Don't get me wrong, the match was fine enough, but it just felt too short to me. At least Liv retained the championship.

10) Pat McAfee's entrance was great with the choir and everything. I know his wrestling reign won't last very long, sadly, so I'm just gonna appreciate it while it lasts. Corbin is just meh. Not terrible, not fantastic, just... Meh. Neutral feeling I guess.

11) Glenn Jacobs made a cameo. Not gonna get into the political stuff, thank you. But seeing him raise his arms up for the fire and pyro after his little speech was neat to see.

12) Seth Rollins made an appearance. Not for a match sadly, but still there regardless. Entrance was cool with everybody singing his theme and everything. Riddle was just being riddle, talking about Randy Orton and how he got injured and stuff. After Seth had curbstomped him and was walking back up the ramp, one of the fans commented to his friends that he was gonna go back for a second one. Didn't happen.

13) The Main Event was fantastic. Definitely the best match Roman and Brock have had during their feud. Roman's entrance was amazing to watch. I even did the pointing thing. Pyro was awesome, music was awesome, kinda repeating myself at this point. Brock's was cool too. He brought a freaking tractor to the ring and pulled a cool and funny sounding introduction. Props to him that he can finally manage to do his own promo work after so long. As for the match itself, it was *chef's kiss*. The several near count-outs, the way brock dumped Roman's body on the canvas with the tractor (lol) and literally lifting AN ENTIRE QUARTER OF THE FUCKING RING. (btw Roman falling the way he did when it happened is just pure meme potential. Loved it. Paul Heyman also took an incredible table spot, which is amazing for his age ngl) Theory tried to cash in his briefcase, but failed (my Dad was literally saying "bullshit" as soon as his music hit. I had already theorized that it would potentially happen. Good thing he failed to cash in, that would've been one of the quickest ways to get X-pac heat since Roman defeated the Undertaker. Ending was satisfying. Honestly, I think the Usos interfering and covering Brock with the debris of their work for the win was one of the more believable approach to having him lose in my personal opinion. Sadly, I was forced to leave before the fireworks went off, so I basically missed the grand finale of the show (thanks dad 🙄), had an anxiety spike when I was trying to leave the stadium, and ended up tripping on the crack in a road when we got to the car and ended up scraping my knee terribly. So not a pleasant way to end the experience, but hey, it is what it is.

So my overall experience for my first live payperview ever? 8/10. Had some downsides here and there (unable to hear the commentary, too far away to actually see the wrestlers clearly due to poor eyesight, as well as the other stuff I just mentioned) but overall, it was generally a fantastic experience that I would love to participate in again sometime in the future once I get the money and transportation required for such a thing. Oh, and lesson learned? Get the more expensive tickets/closer seats as your first choice in ADVANCE!!!

[itsadamcole]

last christmas

fem!reader x finn balor

reader and Finn have been broken up for almost a year. they haven't seen or spoken to each other since Finn ended the relationship. it's now Christmastime, and they come face-to-face at the NXT Christmas party for the first time since the breakup ... "i loved you. i loved you so much that it hurt me"

word count: 2.5k+

warnings: angsty, mentions & actions involving cheating, drinking, implied sex, kinda nsfw

— day 7 out of 25. let’s gooo —

masterlist || request an imagine here

part 2

~ some 18+ content below - read at your own risk ~

You stand outside of BelaRosa Banquet Hall and stare up at the building. You know what's waiting for you inside.

While you've managed to avoid him at Full Sail, it won't be as easy to avoid him here. At least at Full Sail, you can hide in your dressing room. At BelaRosa Banquet Hall, there's nowhere to hide. Except maybe the bathroom. He's too much of a gentleman to walk into a women's restroom.

"Hey, girlie," you hear Candice LeRae say behind you. You glance back to see her walking up to the door with Johnny Gargano by her side. "Why are you still out here? You should be inside."

You say, "I'm trying to talk myself into going in. It's taking me longer than I thought."

Candice hooks her arm with yours and she says, "You know he doesn't like coming to these events. He probably won't even be here."

Anxiety hits you like a train as you say, "He's NXT Champion, Candice. There's no way that he's not here."

"That's a good point," she says. "I used to wrestle men so I won't be afraid to hit him or hurricanrana him so please come inside and sit with me and Johnny."

That gets a light laugh out of you. You give in and say, "Fine. You better hold your promise to hurrincanrana him if he comes near me."

Candice laughs and the three of you walk inside. "I promise," she says.

The banquet hall is huge and already full of NXT wrestlers and staff members. William Regal is even here. So is Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, and Shawn Michaels. If they're here then he definitely is.

You join Candice at a table with Tegan Nox, Dakota Kai, Raquel Gonzalez, Tommaso Ciampa, Tyler Breeze, and Fandango.

"Hey, Y/N!" Tegan says, patting the seat beside her. "Sit here. I didn't think we'd be seeing you."

Laughing, you say, "I decided to show up and not let a breakup dictate my life anymore."

Candice says, "She was standing outside the building for who knows how long when I showed up. Who knows if she would have walked in if it wasn't for me."

Everyone at the table kind of laughs.

The banquet hall is full of Christmas and holiday themed decorations. Garland hands all over the place with a large Christmas tree in one of the corners of the room. Wreaths are scattered throughout the room. The tables all have little Santa or snowman figurines as decoration.

"I love that dress, Y/N," Dakota compliments. "Very pretty."

The decision to come to this party was so last minute that you had to grab a dress from your closet instead of buying something new like most people did. The dress you're wearing is a short satin silver dress with spaghetti straps that crisscross each other on your back. The neck dips a little low, revealing a small amount of cleavage. You wear matching silver heels. Your Y/H/C colored hair is up in a messy bun on top of your head.

"Thank you, Kota," you say, smiling kindly at her.

The party goes well until dinner is served in buffet form. You're making your way down the line when someone says, "It's nice to see ya, Y/N. It's been a while."

You'd know that accent anywhere. That Irish accent that made you weak in the knees every time you heard it. Your suspicions are confirmed when you look to your left to see Finn Balor grabbing some mashed potatoes.

"Wish I could say the same," is all you say before grabbing a roll and some butter before walking off.

You sigh as you sit down, angry and frustrated that he even had the nerve to come up to you and say that it's nice to see you. You eat angrily.

Candice notices you and asks, "What's going on? You seem angry."

"I'm not," you snap. "Angry. I'm not angry."

Johnny chimes in and says, "Your vegetables say differently. Did he say something to you? I saw him standing next to you."

You look up at Johnny and say, "He said it was nice to see me, as if he didn't cheat on me several times then play victim every time I would find out."

Candice looks at you, upset that he even talked to you.

Tegan gives you a hug and says, "We won't let him talk to you again, Y/N. That was the first and last time he will talk to you tonight."

Dinner and dessert go by pretty much quickly and easily. Finn doesn't approach you while you eat.

After dinner and dessert, Candice and Johnny go off to dance. Raquel and Dakota go talk to Io Shirai and Rhea Ripley. Tyler and Dango go talk to Adam Cole and the Undisputed Era. Tommaso goes and mingles. That leaves you and Tegan at the table.

Tegan is in the middle of telling you a story about her dog as the two of you sip off your alcoholic drink when Finn approaches you again.

"I'd really like to talk with ya for a second, Y/N," he says. "Please."

You sigh and ask, "What part of 'I never want to talk to you again' didn't you understand?"

Tegan jumps in and says, "Take a hint, Finn. She doesn't want to talk."

Finn looks at you and says, "Just for a few minutes. Then ya can go back to hating my guts."

You turn and look up at Finn, meeting his eyes. "When I said to never talk to me again, I meant it, Finn," you say, growing more and more frustrated.

"It's just a two-minute long conversation, Y/N," he says. "Come on."

Tegan looks at you and you look at her. She says, "Get it out of the way that way you can enjoy the rest of your night."

Sighing, you look back up at Finn and say, "Fine. You have only two minutes."

He looks at Tegan before saying, "Alone. I want to talk to ya alone."

Rolling your eyes, you get out of your seat. Finn walks off to a more private and quieter part of the banquet hall.

"What do you want, Finn?" you ask. "Here to tell me how much you want me back and wish you never cheated?"

He says, "I'm getting married." You're surprised by these three words. "I wanted to make peace with the people I've hurt the most before I got married. Starting with ya."

You look up at Finn and say, "I'm not forgiving you any time soon, Finn. You hurt me so many times."

Finn says, "I don't expect ya to forgive me, Y/N. I'm just trying to make peace with ya so ya stop being smart when I talk to ya at work. I understand that I hurt ya and are mad at me-"

You cut him off and say, "You don't understand. If you understood then you wouldn't have cheated on me multiple times. I'm not just mad, I'm furious. I feel like the past six years were a waste of my time because of you. I loved you. I loved you so much that it hurt me. I took you back when you begged and pleaded because I believed you when you told me you wouldn't cheat again. I gave you chance after chance to make it up to me and just when you did, I'd find out that you cheated again. So no, you don't understand, Finn."

He hangs his head in shame as you speak. He knows that what he did was wrong. Now he's trying to right this wrong.

Finn waits until you're done talking before he says, "I understand what I did was wrong. I've grown and reflected in the past year, Y/N. I've met someone I'm happy with. I've met someone who's kind and beautiful and hasn't judged me because of my past. I've met someone who is nothing compared to ya. I know ya won't forgive me but I want ya back in my life because this whole ignoring me then being smart when we've talked sucks."

You squint your eyes at Finn and say, "Then maybe you shouldn't have cheated."

"I wish I didn't, Y/N!" Finn says, raising his voice. "Believe it or not but I did regret it every time. I hid it because I didn't want us to be in this exact situation."

You raise your voice and say, "Then maybe you should have just told me if you regretted it instead of hiding it! Hiding it did nothing but fuel my anger and hatred toward you. For the past year I have hated you, I have been angry at you, but most of all, I have loved you every second. It's frustrating, Finn! It's frustrating loving you when all you did was hurt me. Last Christmas, when you told me you cheated again, it broke my heart breaking up with you and honestly, I waited to see if you would come back but you never did. Instead you went out and got engaged, and it's not to me."

You've started crying by this point as you let out everything you've been feeling toward Finn for the past year. Everything comes spilling out as you talk.

Meanwhile, Finn's quiet. He's listening and taking it every single word you're saying. He wants to understand.

After sighing and wiping the tears away, you say, "All I wanted was for you to grown and think about your actions. That's all I wanted. Maybe I would have taken you back or tried again at a relationship with you if you came to me and talked to me instead of getting engaged. Now you're getting married and all I can think about is how proud I am of you and happy I am for you while being upset and angry with you."

A wave of sadness comes over Finn after you're done speaking. He finally realizes how much he's hurt you. He realizes his choices haven't been the best over the past few years.

Hesitantly, he reaches out and wipes away your mascara stained tears. Subconsciously, you lean into his touch and close your eyes.

Finn says softly, "I wanted to go back to ya, Y/N. I truly did, but I thought that I'd hurt ya too much and that ya wouldn't even listen to what I had to say. I've loved ya from afar this past year. There's always been a spot for ya in my heart, Y/N."

You look up at Finn, meeting his eyes. You cry, "If I had seen that you had grown and reflected and thought about everything then I would have listened. I'm listening now and I can see how much you've changed, Finn. I can see how genuine and sincere you are."

He looks down at you with a sad expression on his face. He tucks a loose strand of hair behind your ear as he says, "I'm so sorry, Y/N. I truly am."

Eye contact remains as you say the words Finn's been wanting to hear for months. "I forgive you, Finn," is what you say.

He brings his forehead down to yours and he whispers, "I want one thing."

"What's that?" you ask, your voice quiet.

Finn says, "I want a last kiss. Just so we can both move on from this and grow as friends."

You stare up at Finn and say, "I can't do that. You have a fiancée, Finn. Don't do to her what you've done to me."

He nods and looks away, clearly upset.

You would do anything to kiss him again. His kisses always gave you butterflies, no matter where the kisses were on your body. His mustache would always tickle your lip when you kissed him.

You know what, you think to yourself. One last kiss won't be the end of the world.

"Finn," you say, getting his attention.

The Irishman looks at you. You wait a second before hesitantly kissing Finn softly. You squeeze your eyes so the last few years escape and roll down your cheeks as Finn kisses you back.

This is it. The official end of a six year relationship. You're both finally moving on. Finn's getting married and you finally have the closure you never thought you needed as your lips move more and more passionately against Finn's.

Both of you suddenly find yourselves not wanting to pull away from the kiss. Your hands slide up and rest on the back of Finn's neck as you continue kissing him. His hands rest on your waist.

Finn walks so he's pressing you against the wall in the hallway. His large frame pins you against the cream colored wall.

He leans down and picks you up by your thighs, pressing your back against the wall as you wrap your legs around his waist.

It's when his lips leave yours and attach to your neck that you say, "Finn. This isn't just a kiss anymore."

He looks at you and says, "I don't want it to be just a kiss."

"I don't want it either but it has to be," you say. "That's all it can be."

Finn kisses your lips again, this time more passionately and intensely than before. "Stay the night with me," he mumble against your lips. "Please."

In between kisses, you say, "You're getting married, Finn. I can't."

He says, "Ya can. Ya just don't want to."

You pull back and put your hands on Finn's face, holding him there. "Trust me, I want to," you say. "You have no idea how much I want to."

Finn pleads, "Then come home with me. I still live in that tiny apartment. My fiancée doesn't live with me. One last night together won't be the end of the world. If my fiancée finds out and leaves then we get what we both want in the end. Each other."

"That's a toxic way to think, Finn," you point out.

He says, "I know, but I love ya more than I'll ever love her. It's always been ya for me, Y/N."

Your mind begins to race. Do you go back to Finn's and get what you both want? Do you call it a night and maybe regret not going back to Finn's?

No matter what you choose, you'll probably regret in the future. Plus the hope of one day being with him again is the reason you say, "One last night. That's it. That's all you get from me."

Finn pecks your lips and smiles before putting you down and taking you back to his apartment.

As soon as you're back in his apartment, the clothes come off and they stay off until sunrise the next day. You spend all of Christmas Eve mending a broken relationship between you and Finn.

It's a terrible way to fix a broken relationship but you hope it works because you want Finn back in your life. No, you need Finn back in your life.

You just hope things don't get more complicated than they already are after the one last night with Finn.

[yetanotherreader]

Useful—3

Genre: College AU

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Y/N Y/L/N, slight Dean x Lisa

Summary: The school's most popular boy wants to be friends with Y/N, out of the blue. It definitely doesn't have anything to do with her hot best friend, though.

Word Count (For the chapter): 2,712

Warnings (For the chapter): None.

[For some reason, some of the tags aren't working. I'm sorry about that.]

[[ Also I'm sorry for the no Read More thingy because it doesn't happen on the phone app :-(]]

Useful Masterlist

Chapter 3

Chapter 2

Mondays.

You dreaded them. For some reason, they were never good. They were sleepy, tiring and grumpy and unfortunately you couldn't do shit about it. You always had to wake up extra early for a hopefully refreshing shower, take the supposed-to-be small bus ride to the uni, which just got longer because of the Monday traffic and run to the lecture hall, only to have the professor glaring at you for coming late to the class.

Mondays.

Today was no different. You woke up extra early, took a hopefully refreshing shower, took the supposed-to-be small bus ride—WHICH was surprisingly not as long as always—and still ran to the lecture hall. Fxckin' tiring mess. The sleepless sleep still showed in your eyes and you would have given anything to have an extra hour for it that morning. But well, same old—Mondays. 

And suddenly, today was different.

"Come on…" A group of annoyed whines were heard from the lecture room just as you entered the hallway.

"What's wrong?" You asked a very pissed Rhea, or was she Akira?

"Morning classes got cancelled. We woke up for nothing."

Honestly.. what the fxck was wrong with the university? Mumbling and whining to yourself, you made your way to the cafeteria, maybe some coffee would help. Tried enjoying the warm sunshine on your face, keyword: tried, as you slowed down your steps near the playground. Or maybe you could just sit in the sun and make the most out of your oh-so-lovely Monday morning? Taking a seat in the bleachers, you decided on reading the book you were, at that time, reading.

Just halfway through the chapter— "Good morning, nerd. I see you're doing some fun stuff over here." You sighed, not wanting to get into any kind of argument at that particular time, or day- or life.

"You're back at it, aren't you?" You looked up at the still smirking Dean, dressed in his black and blue football jersey. A sight for sore eyes.

"Back at what?"

"Being a dick?" You looked back at the book still tired, "Look, Winchester, I'm so not in the brightest Monday sunshine mood right now. Don't bother."

"And here I thought we were friends." He sighed feigning sadness as he turned around to make his way back to the other side of the ground.

"You're here for practice?" He turned back to you, grinning adorably, just as you rolled your eyes.

"Yep but it doesn't start until at least a couple hours."

"Why so early here then?"

"Apparently, there's an emergency board meeting that all the HODs need to attend. So, delayed."

"Oh...that is why" You concluded why your classes got cancelled, "God. Don't you just hate it how they don't inform us about anything beforehand." You groaned.

"Not having the best morning?" He chuckled, as you gestured him to take a seat next to you.

"Nah. I'm the happiest I could ever be," You said with a yawn, "Should we go to the cafeteria before I die or we just let me die?"

"You're such a mood," He laughed toothily shaking his head, "Let us."

Sitting in the cafeteria, you sip on your coffee awkwardly trying to ignore the very obvious gazes of the people around you. You couldn't even make out how Dean looked so unfazed by all the attention, or maybe—obviously, he was used to it.

"You know," Dean started, seemingly, figuring out your awkwardness to ease the tension, "You could have just asked me on a date instead."

You chuckled, thankful for some words, "You wish, Winchester."

"Honestly...I don't" He said winning a laugh out of you.

Time flew by quickly, filled with laughter, corny jokes and sassy remarks with you not even realizing that all that attention didn't bother you anymore. Quite honestly, you didn't even realize they were there. To your surprise, you really did enjoy a Monday morning. 

"Oh," Dean exclaimed as his phone buzzed, "Totally lost track of time. It was fun, but Y/N, I gotta hurry now. I'm late."

"Well I still have an hour to kill. Good luck with the practice."

"Oh yeah, there's still an hour to the class," Dean said as he hurried, "You wanna come see the game?"

"Oh, no no. I don't understand it. I'll rather read my book here."

"Nerd," he smiled at you, "Alright then, see you in the class."

"Yeah" You smiled back, as he went. Maybe Dean wasn't all that bad after all.

You just started with the chapter, again, that you were rudely interrupted... again.

"Look who's trying to get some attention, there. Whatcha think guys? What does she think of Dean's charity? That he got the hots for her or something?" You flinched at the ear-piercing group of laughter came from the direction.

"Tss. Geez, Cassie, mind toning down that screechi- sweet laugh a lil bit? Kinda trying to concentrate." You gave her a sweet smile and turned back to your work.

"Hey, Y/N. How's you? Long time no see." She came and sat where Dean sat not even a couple minutes ago.

"Was doing just good." You muttered as you kept your eyes in your book.

"You were? Obviously, you were," she started taking ahold of Dean's cup, playing with it, "Y/N, stop trying, darling. Dean is very out of league for you. I'm saying for your good."

"Sweets. You know the only reason I'm replying to you, Cassie, is just because it's rude not to?" You looked up at her at annoyed, managing a sarcastically polite smile, "Now if you could excuse me, I'm kinda in the middle of something.

She stood up rolling her eyes as you spoke up again, "And well, don't worry. I'm no threat. Dean and me, nope. Not happening. Also, stop acting like he's your property. The guy's got a life of his own to live, about time, you get one for yourself too."

Before she could retaliate, you made your way out of the door, leaving her processing what you said. Not gonna say that you had got bad blood with her but you had got bad blood with her. Honestly, you wouldn't give two flying shits about her if she wasn't the one with the brilliant idea of throwing you into the pool on your very first day. And if that wasn't enough, she had the nerve to bully you about it for the next few months too. Initially you ignored for a long time, hoping she would end it herself, but was she one to? When you had enough of her shit, all it took, then, was one punch to the wall and an angry 'next time it won't be the wall' for her to stop. Not that she ever was a trouble for you later, but you were her glare dart ever since. You were kinda looking forward to her passing out of the college— one year without her unnecessary glares and hushed whispers but she just had to get a year back for her last year. Oh, your life. 

Practice was tiring, and since they had gotten just one hour for it, they didn't even get any breaks. On top of that, Dean might have sprained his neck. Maybe Y/N's bad day was contagious. Maybe she passed it to him.

Y/N. The thought of her bringing a faint smile on his lips. Damn, she was awesome. He wondered why she kept to herself, her personality sure would get her a lot of friends. That morning, Dean had actually enjoyed himself after a long time. He'd been so lonely for the past few months, he had almost forgotten how to laugh like he did today. She could be an amazing friend. Not to mention, he was still not over how she helped him back at Jo's without even mentioning it once today. Y/N was a good person, he could say that. Mysterious, but nice. He hoped that they actually became really good friends.

His eyes wandered to find her sitting by herself, in a corner as he made his way into the almost empty classroom, "This seat taken?"

She looked up from the book and, for once, smiled, "Hey..yes..no, please sit."

He smiled in return as he sat down beside her, lowly groaning in pain.

"You okay, there?"

"Yeah, I don't know, I think neck strain."

"Oh, geez. Want some help?"

He chuckled humorously, "And what will you do to make it better?"

"Well, they do say I have magic hands." She chuckled in response too, getting up to stand behind him. She started lightly massaging his neck and shoulders, pressing her fingers to his shoulder blades whilst her thumbs worked on his neck. She did the motion a few times as she felt his muscles relax, his knots loosening. He felt himself relaxing, the pain still there but better. How was she always good at whatever she was doing? She stopped her movements abruptly, as he realized a loud moan escaped his lips, only to burst out laughing the next second, "God, Winchester, what the hell?" sounding a little embarrassed.

"S-sorry. Damn it, your fault. What can I say, you do have magic hands." He laughed out, too.

The day went by quite fast after that. They didn't cross paths post the class again. It was the last lecture when Dean met with Cas and Jo. Finally.

"Hey!" Jo chirped as she came after the class, and hugged Dean from behind, Cas copying the action, "Dude?"

"Hey, strangers." Dean said, not in any mood to have a happy-go-lucky conversation with them.

"What's wrong?" Cas asked, clueless. Jo elbowed his ribs gently.

"What's wrong? Nothing." Dean walked ahead, rolling his eyes as the two of them followed him.

"Dean, come on. We're sorry, okay?"

"Well, don't be. Not that it matters anyway." Dean said coming to a stop, "What? You guys didn't go somewhere private, again?"

"Okay, first of all, stop taunting us, jerk. And second of all, we're sorry. We didn't mean to-"

"First of all, don't copy Sammy. And second of all, I called you two how many times, Joanna?"

"What can we do to make it up to you? Jo is right Dean, we're genuinely sorry. We just had a tiring night, so we slept in. Really really tiring." said Cas, blushing a shade of pink, as Dean's lips lifted in a very surprised smile.

"So...you finally, finally did it?" He looked from Cas to Jo grinning, "So you finally did our virgin angel, huh?"

"Shut up" she grumbled, trying to stifle a laugh of her own, blushing a few shades herself, "What about you and the specsy?"

"Who? Y/N? What about us?"

"Don't act innocent, De. Coffee dates and massage and all, huh." She said, cocking her brow, piquing Cas' interest in the conversation too, "Didn't think you'd go for her."

"We're just friends," said Dean, thinking about it from all the angles, "I think."

"You think?"

Dean shrugged, unable to come with a proper answer.

The rest of the day went pretty okay for him. Cas and Jo finally did spend time with him but it wasn't like before at all. They were different and he expected this, as much as he shipped them. They were a couple now, dynamics changed. He wasn't the same for them like earlier, he was the lesser priority. And single.

"So, you're telling me you're single?" You said, surprising yourself with the subtle, unnoticeable relief you felt. Dean and you had bonded pretty well over the past couple of months. You had never thought you two were ever going to be friends, but he was nicer than he made himself look. You learned a few things about him, and about the first day dare too. Oh boi, weren't you just ready to whack his butt with a spoon.

"Yeah. Well, that sounded judgy, Y/N."

You grinned apologetic, "Hee, sorry. It's just it's hard to believe is all."

It was funny how you two became good friends so soon. You were not really one for friends. For a long time, you'd been alone, convincing yourself you liked the quiet. Although you did, it was undeniable how loneliness got to you every time you wanted to talk to someone about something going on in your life, a bad day or even something as normal as your new favorite TV show. It sucked, now that you were admitting to yourself. It sucked how you had no one to talk to. It sucked how you couldn't even complain about it to anyone. And it sucked to spend your weekends alone in your dark room, trying to distract yourself with a book or fanfic, pretending that it was all okay.

And now here you were. Not in a dark room, not alone and not pretending. Here you were actually talking to someone about the random-est things on the planet, laughing with him and actually enjoying yourself. You both still weren't on the we-tell-each-other-everything stage and you highly doubted you ever were going to be but it was still nice. Yeah maybe you hadn't told him shit about yourself yet, but he was still the closest you'd ever been to someone in years. You had Lisa and you cared about her, you did. But where was it written that the person you care about would care about you the same way too? You were never in the list of her priorities, never even close. But she trusted you, and that's why you were...friends? You didn't know exactly. She would come to you after a break up or when she was having a bad day. You had helped her so much, for so many years, it became your instinct to do it. She had friends, she was loved and she had a life you would never. She was Lisa Braeden. She was she, and you were...you. Plain, dull, unattractive Y/N. That's it. That was you in three words. And honestly, you didn't mind. You had come terms with it a long time ago, terms with no one caring about you.

Until two months ago. Dean was a good friend. He was nice, sweet, protective and funny. And most importantly, he...cared. He would tell you jokes on Monday mornings, give you ice pack when your clumsy ass ran into the closed door and invite you for movies with his friends which you always refused to. When Dean realized you didn't like going out with strangers, he invited you over for a movie night to his place. It was, maybe, the sweetest thing someone had ever done for you. He made you snacks and then you guys talked about random things the entire night only to pass out on the couch later. After that, it had become your Friday night tradition.

And with all these sweet things, could you blame yourself for starting to feel something more for him than you should? You, very well, knew this would never happen. Dean had a type, a taste in girls and you were far from that. You had too few/many curves than what looked beautiful, you didn't have the most beautiful hair or skin and you were not pretty. Simple. He would never feel for you. And you, too, only had a silly little crush on him, which would go with time. Right?

You woke up, cuddled with a warm figure on the couch, head under the blanket. You struggled to pop your head out of the covers and once you did, you were met with a beautifully freckled face sleeping soundly. He looked so peaceful that you never wanted to wake him up. Your eyes just briefly glanced at his plump lips, wondering what it would be like to touch them or maybe, feel them against your own? And in a matter of seconds, your eyes were back at the blanket, hiding your little secret you kept from yourself. A secret only your late night or early morning self knew, which you would conveniently deny to yourself later during the day. A secret you would pass off as nothing but your sleepy head's made up story.

Nothing, but a story.

___________

Chapter 4

A/N: Alright, I don't know how it turned out. It took me more than a week for this chapter, and I couldn't even think of anything. I'd write a few sentences and close the document. A writer's block, I think. Well anyway, I didn't have anything in mind so it's mostly a filler chapter which I somehow used to make the little-st progress in the story. Mostly their friendship. I think I'll make it stronger before I do the shit I have planned. Please don't hate me for the chapter coz I already do :')💔

Tag list:

@bi-danvers0 @mrsdeanfuckingwinchester @itsjaybro16 @mml232 @blablatiti @stilltoomuchafangirl @bat-shark-repellant @bluebell-24 @shortwinchester @always-money-in-the-banana-stand @soullessbabee @ima-be-a-mongoose

[maxheadley]

Part 1; The Fairy Lights

Autumn was welcomed for two reasons; the slight shift of the weather changing from heat to cold, and the long-awaited day where two beloved, infamous star-crossed lovers wedded. Everyone was on their toes, anticipating the grand union, and not a single soul stopped for a second.

As morning arrived, Sebastian woke to the patterns of footsteps, going back and forth in the hallway of Creedence's home. He sighed, wishing they'd stop for just a split second, and give him a minute of silence. The last fews days were busy preparing for his wedding and it almost seemed like the world would never halt. Silence was a wish he would fail to receive.

He kicked off the stark white comforter and turned on his side, sliding a muscular arm under his fluffy pillow. His dark hair dangling dangerously close to his eyes, he pushed them away. He stared at the bare walls of his old bedroom. He recently moved his items into the master bedroom of Ben and his's newly built cottage (courtesy of the Fey folk). He left one item on the nightstand. The one thing he cared enough to leave with him that night. A picture of him, his brothers and sisters and his grandmother. The family he hardly knew except Creedence and Julissa. The family he came to know, the family he would've never traded for the world despite any faults or any bad luck following them. Or the corruption that followed a couple of them.

He ran his fingertips across the nine faces of his family, erasing a film of gathered dust off the glass. Sebastian stood at Creedence's side, snugly in the middle of Creedence, and Ambrosia. His smile was as bright as the sun as were the others. He had never known happiness like he did and rekindling the broken parts of his family helped and finding the love of his life wasn't bad at all. It was great. Too bad not everyone could see Sebastian achieve his goal he dreamt of since he was twelve. He thought of Alura trapped in the confines of chains, deeply hidden among the cells of Glessica's Castle's personal prison. Probably half driven out of her mind having nothing to do and no one to speak to except the shadows across the walls. And then he thought of Alexander, his twin but drastically different brother, who walked the forests of the Dark Fey. He had become trapped in misery, grief, and turmoil and wondered off to the darkest place he could escape to. Like those who are like him, encased in darkness and unfaltering misery, slowly destroying whatever light and love that fought inside them.

Sebastian hadn't known Alexander very well or really been close to Alura, but nonetheless he wished they'd witness their brother marry. He did ask if Anazul would release Alura for the hour of his wedding but obviously to no avail and none of the Fey could track down Alexander. He suspected his twin brother wouldn't want to be found, so he cloaked himself to remain untraceable and among the shadows of what he loss. Sadly.

He jumped, straight out of his reverie, when a knock sounded on his door. He cleared his throat and yelled. "Yeah? Come in!"

The door opened, revealing his brother standing there, one hand snaked around the doorknob and one hand holding the head of his cane. Creedence looked older and younger at the same time. He suffered a loss of his own. His wife committed suicide not wanting to live without her husband and without knowing he'd be resurrected. Though, unlike Alexander, Creedence had children to stay for. He couldn't wander off and leave it all behind. That'd be a mistake.

His hair was wet, probably from his shower, and his unusually thin, body was draped in an oversized black bathrobe tied at his waist. "Hey, Bash." Creedence's pale face broke out into a radiant smile, one which reached his eyes. Sebastian noticed for the first time in an age.

It brought his own smile to play. "Hey, Dee. If you thought you were going to wake me up, you've mistaken. The footsteps of others woke me up." He joked, sitting up and stretching his back. A couple cracks later, he was standing up and striding over to his brother. "Although, I appreciate the gesture."

"You know just because it's your wedding day doesn't mean you-" Creedence began, but Sebastian enveloped him into a huge bear hug. Creedence's laugh erupted into his ear and Sebastian couldn't help the grin that flew onto his face when they broke apart. "I'm going to miss living with you, Dee."

"I can't say that I won't miss you living here either. I know Cres and Reli will be different, but sometimes change is inevitable." Creedence beckoned to the working servants preparing the last of the decorations and tailoring for the children's attire. Not one of the servants bothered to take a break to glance at Creedence and Sebastian. He didn't blame them. One misstep could poke Crescent's skin or cause an unnecessary rip in one of the papier mache balls (used to cover the lights). No one wanted anything to go wrong at this point and Crescent would probably lit the seamstress on fire if she stabbed him with a needle. He hated needles.

"How are you holding up?" Sebastian asked, leaning over the iron railing and watching the seamstress tailor the last bits of material for Crescent's silver blazer. Crescent was staring at the rain splattered window unregistering anything else around him. Sebastian would have to have a thorough talk to his nephew once he had the chance.

Creedence put his free hand on Sebastian's shoulder and squeezed. "I'm excited. Truly." He smiled at his little brother. "I can't believe my little brother, my Bash is getting married this evening!"

"It is a shock? Isn't it? I can hardly believe it myself." Sebastian smiled, putting one hand in his hair. "Do you think Ben is doing well? I mean he's probably still asleep, but I mean all the wedding events and preparations have been a bit stressful. Do you think he's okay?"

"Ben's a tough cookie. He's unapologetically unafraid."

"You know, sometimes you can be too."

Creedence shrugged, pressing off the railing and stepped back. "I think we all can be, Bash."

Ben tried on his suit a thousand and one times since Rhea finished up the last of the silver detailing on the cuffs and collar of his blazer. He admired the way the suit did not make him appear too large nor too scrawny. It was exactly the right fit and shape for someone with his condition. Later, he'd confidently stand on the dais, waiting for his beloved, and have his stolen little moments of glory finally. He now stood in front of the extremely large wall mirror of his bathroom. He ran his freshly cleaned hands across the top of the white, silky like fabric smoothing any riffs.

He smiled. "Damn, I look good."

"You are the definition of handsome!" said the soft voice of his best friend, Ambrosia. He saw her appear in the reflection of the mirror at his side. She stood about five inches shorter, barely reaching his shoulder. She had one hand over her protruding stomach. She was beginning to show. Her second pregnancy wasn't as fast paced as her first for some strange reason. He couldn't help but have his heterochromic eyes drawn to the small baby bump hidden beneath a deep maroon soft fabric. But he said nothing onto the contrary. Instead, focusing on her words.

"Ah! Don't let Michael hear you say that. You know how jealous he gets!" Ben grinned, meeting her eyes in the mirror.

"Oh. Whatever." Ambrosia chuckled, gently pushing him. He barely stumbled and laughed. "Are you ready to be officially united with Sebastian?" Ambrosia added, her emerald-gold cat slitted eyes gleaming deviously.

"It's been a longtime coming.." Ben began, but trailed off. He stared at the reflection of Ambrosia. Before Michael, before Magnus, before Sebastian, he'd thought he'd be married off to Ambrosia procreating and leading the Wolf Pack. But God and Legend had other plans apparently. His destiny taking a broad turn for the best. He picked up after a couple of seconds because Ambrosia inquired more. "I thought you were the one I'd be married to one day. I never expected to fall for your brother. I didn't know he existed til about two years ago before I found out our memories of anytime before that were erased. But I wouldn't change a thing between you and me, nor me and Sebastian. I am happy our lives worked out this way. We're both happy."

Ambrosia's lips spread into a smile. "It's no lie you are happiest at his side. I think that's most important."

Ben could only smile, too.