#im told you get him if you clear the dungeon so im like maybe you have to reach the end to get the chance

[irregodless]

dude this game sucks so bad im gonna kill everyone on the planet then myself

[alexa-fika]

Chilly Prisioner ( Kuzan x Hellhound!gn!Reader)

A/N Here we are with another dark ish one, and first one with out freeze lord, I already have a part two maybeee a part three? I just have to exit them, depending on how you guys like it ill speed those up.

Part 2

This is a testrun on a hybrid oc with reader? ‘Reader’ is replaced with Dokusha here wich stands for Reader in japanese, let me know your thoughts on it afterwards, just trying new things and maybe finding a balance for including both Oc and reader without leaning too far in either direction but I also don’t want to like you know try that and fail at appealing to both so let me know, though that begs the question what should I advertise it at, eg, Kuzan x reader or Kuzan x oc?

Dividers by @/saradika

They roll their eyes, watching as Kuzan enters the Ship’s dungeon, approaching the cell where they were held and dropping himself to the ground in a lazy manner

“What do you want? I told that captain of yours already I have no intention of helping you and your rag-tag group of idiots

“Ara, Ara, are all hellhounds this uptight? I don't care about that. I'm not here to talk business; I'm just here cause I have nothing else to do right now. I just wanna chill and chat a bit."

They scoff

“You can’t stay silent forever. Besides, isn’t talking to me better than just sitting in a dark dungeon and doing nothing?”

They look away from him, ignoring him entirely

“Fine, if you wanna sulk, I’ll just sit here and relax.

“I’ve got nowhere to go, nothing to do. So I don’t mind just sitting here for as long as I need to. I can just wait for you to get bored of your grudge and start talking to me like a normal person.” they glance at Dokusha for a while

“Hellhounds are supposed to be resistant to fire, right?”

They glance at them for a second at his words but look away quickly, returning to ignoring him, hoping he will eventually give up

“Wonder how you would fare with the cold?” he stated

They wince as the room’s temperature quickly drops as ice begins covering the cell

“Hm, pretty sensitive, it seems,” he mumbled.

He then stood up and got up close to the cell bars.”

“You know, I’m kinda wondering what are you so sour about?”

They glare up at him, trying to keep their flaming ears and tail out of the ice

“you kidnapped me for no clear reason, you threw me in a cell and drugged me so I can’t use my fire at all, and now you're trying to freeze me to force me to talk to you because you ‘are bored,’ so you tell me Kuzan.”

“Hm, you’re quite feisty, aren’t you.”It was mean what you did, trying to set the entire ship on fire; I had to take some measures to keep you in check. Besides, you have a pretty dangerous power; it should be evident that we can’t just let you out to roam freely.” he stated, glancing at the shivering hellhound

“It was self defense” they growl

“You know, I’m not going to let you go. Even if I have to freeze you entirely, so you can either start talking right now, and I’ll lower my guard a bit. Or you can continue to sulk, and I’ll just freeze this cell completely. Your choice, really.” He tells them ignoring their outburst

They start inching backward as the ice begins approaching them, chills running down their skin

His eyes narrow as he watches them inching backward.

“The cold getting to you?”

Another gust of cold air surrounds them as the frost grows closer, almost touching their skin.

“You know I can easily unfreeze people, but I wonder if that's the case here; seeing how you’re trying so hard to protect those flames of yours, im guessing it’s game over for you if I put your fire out, so I would reconsider your choice and soon”

They growl, making their flames bigger, attempting to ward off the ice, a panicked look growing on their face as the flame flickered until only small flames remained

“The drugs I gave you are pretty potent; I would like to see you maintain those flames.”

His hands spread, and the air got colder, the frost growing faster now.

“So… are you ready to talk now?”

“Don’t you have anything you should be doing?”

“Nah, I told you, I have nothing to do now. So I’m just chilling here.”

His tone is laid back as if nothing is a problem

“Besides, the way I see it, I’m doing a nice thing and keeping you company. I’ve been told I’m quite the interesting and charming person.”

They groan as the ice reaches them, slowly freezing their feet and making its way up

He watches the frosts slowly creep up their body.

“Hm, it seems you’re not going to cooperate. Too bad.”

His hand gestures towards them, and another burst of frost shoots toward them, making the ice crawl up to their ankles and up their legs.

“All im asking is for you to talk to me and answer some questions.”

They shake their head, a cloud escaping them each time they took a breath as the temperature continues dropping; unable to move their legs, they hug their tail tighter, trying to protect the blue flame on it’s tip

“You know when I said I was going to freeze you entirely. I wasn’t kidding. I can do that and more.

I’m sure those flames must mean a lot to you, right? What would happen if, say, I were to extinguish them?”

Kuzan pauses, and the ice stops crawling up further.

“So, Would you like to talk now?”

I lowkey feel like idk, like Dokusha’s personality is not consistent? Or maybe it’s Kuzan’s personality that dosent quite fit and jumps all around the place, thoughts?

Taglist:

@imaginarydreams

@amethystviolin

@h0n3y-l3m0n05

[layraket]

I haven't done the update analysis the past month, so here it is!

I love the boys going into dungeons, and this update made me very happy!

now that I'm remembering it, they may or may not have gotten the map of this dungeon, if the second option is true its just Twilight guessing from the ruins

and isn't that so cool, this guy literaly is figuring out an ancient structure by just the ruins it left in the future. The photography memory this man has

i know this might not contribute anything but i want to check if i am not the only one that sees each one with a different emotion jksfjkds

left is sad, central is happy and right is angry, idk love when objects has faces

alright there's something happening between Legend and Wind, its clear

They haven't talked that much after their discussion in the Sunset arc, so there might be things that haven't been finished or that we didn't get to see between them

idk he seemed like that img "almost got into a fist fight with a 13 yo" or smth like that

Legend has learned a lot from his adventures, memorizing common dungeon puzzles and how to solve them, maybe he even got this puzzle wrong once, that would explain how he already knows about this problem and that can't be undone. I doubt the goddesses would throw their hero with a manual for dungeons

Also Wild has been very quiet during this update

Time still worries about Twilight, he just recovered from an injury that almost kill him, getting his strength back from that is impressive, but still he isn't sure if his descendant is completely healed

mf moving a whole block by himself if this isn't prove that he got his strength at least mostly back idk what it is

remember when i said that Wild had been very quiet? well

He doesn't know how dungeons exactly work, yes Warriors doesn't either, but Wild is more used to go with whatever solution he can find

The captain follows stragety, Wild follows luck, if there's something that can probably work he will take that opportunity

Although, he knows that maybe in here that will not work, but he still wants to feel useful and learn from this strange area for him

Wind telling him this might mean two things; 1. For the space of the corridor they would just be getting in the way and this is more for technical mobility, or 2. They don't really need their help right now, why bother to offer themselves if they will get told to move from the way?

something that i just noticed: is that a mirror? If so, i feel this dungeon will have some light puzzles, or maybe is just decoration, who knows

This place seems very related to owls, these birds being seen as a symbol of Wisdom, and i have seen a lot of people relating it with the Zeldas

with how things are going and Jojo's words, you all maybe aren't that far from the truth

again, mirror indicating that maybe this is a light puzzle, also that this structure is too similar to Hylia's statue in sksw, maybe is related?

not much to say here. love these two.

its very interesting (at least for me) that Four is the one that we see in this pannel, yes maybe he was the closest and thats why, but if we try to give it a more detailed explanation this might just reference him not trusting the magic that Twi uses to transform, he still thinks that its dangerous and would turn agains't them if they aren't careful

obviously this is where they split, going together will make dificult traverse the corridors with how things went the past update wiht the skulltula

also holy shit can we appreciate the backgrounds? i love the perspective its so cool

alr folks now is time for my fav pannels/parts of the update without further context!

i love when theyre small 🤏look at em

beautiful update im happy to finally share my thoughts i've been having them for a while jksfhdjk

as always art credits to @linkeduniverse!

[indigos-stardust]

1, 20, and 32

Okay for #1 "The Other ONe" (I meant to write "The Other Thing" but eh.. anyways im gonna put my notes here :) I'm going to do 20 and 32 on a separate post because THERE IS SO MUCH WRITING

TW: After "And then the screaming started" There is brief BODY HORROR, ends at "reds eyes seemed to have magically cleared up"

Enjoy~ (they are bad quality-) (there is angst and identity loss, I don't know if the ending is good or bad but uh, its probably good even though it hurts?)

THE OTHER THING

what if vio got replaced by another vio and they didnt believe him

the new vio is a fake but honestly the real vio is starting to wonder if hes even the real vio he hates seeing his life stolen being told hes the fake thing NAYWAYSVJHIFS listen bruh imagine theres something or someone following u and u notice -

and then u try to get the jump on them but then theyre u and they tell u so. but the second someone gets there ur the one holding the knife and then suddenly they sound just like you and even talk and act just like you . and when ur asked questions to know who the real one is the answers are practically the same. surely zeldas magic must know its you surely she will .youre locked in a dungeon tied with magic chains

Your own family sneers at you your own face does telling you to stop your act. they know their brother, their r e al brother is okay. they dont know what theyre going to do with this thing no one talk to it and no one trust anything it says etc < 3

the other thing keeps trying to convince them and then red thinks maybe it really does think its the real vio. and even then if it didnt it didnt deserve to suffer .if they didnt know the truth he tries to make its, no his conditions better more food and so on something to keep warm more water to stay clean. even if red has to sneak the meager amount to him.

The thing tries to convince him thats hes the real one but hes not. the Other Thing tells him thats its okay that he doesnt belive him. reds heart sinks and then he spends time with his brothers. he doesnt tell them hes been visiting the other thing .they thing hes just too empathic too attatchable, soo easily manipulated... that Thing is a danger.

he talks with vio one day the conversation goes around and eventually red asks about shadow. When the other vio had talked about shadow, it was about how horribly wrenched it guilt he was .how he probably deserved this fate. he said he didnt want to tell red those things he didnt want him to get hurt from trying to empathise with him or even think about beliving him. but that he couldnt not or else hed go insane. he already was..

Vio expressed that it wasn't the best of his choices but really, how could he have actually gotten attached to him? witnessing all the horrible things that monster "shadow" did... although he supposes perhaps he had just been influenced by vios behaviour to do what he did to the cursed to mirror.. A shadow would copy anything afterall, so he probably just "subconsciously" copied a more noble behaviour. Really, shadow was,just an illusion after all.

The Other Thing is escaping. red caught him... he lets him go and covers for him... red doesnt know whats real anymore- all the meanwhile vio is living his life with his brothers . vio is enjoying his room, his home, vio is free, vio is Loved.

The Other vio says he hadnt been good enough of a brother or else they would have known it was really him. green and blue told Red to not listen to it, because that Thing must be able to sense what others anticipate since it was able to act like vio so much.

So the Other Thing lives his own life alone...

For around a year or so... and the he starts stalking them... And following them...

While the Other Thing was missing, he he studied magic. red didnt know where he went even though he was the one who helped it escape.

then the others noticed a change in red. Nightmares, anxious dread, a deep unrest, swings of isolation and clinginess...acting strange around vio. Red was probably scared the Thing would return they figured. they were going to find out what IT even was before it escaped and disappeared... they assure him that with the magic theyve set up it wont be able to replace anyone else.. red doesn't get better and he doesn't tell them what's wrong.

Red notices other small details about vio though. Little things that feel wrong, uncanny. Red doesnt say anything though. he doesnt think he likes vio anymore....

Other Thing finds them in the woods one day...

The colors had been out hunting for monsters, there'd been a lot of sightings recently.. It was a horrible day really, a bad feelling smogged the group with the gloomy skies and hardened unforgiving earth. It feels suffocating, at least to Red,

Vio feels as comfortable as ever, he assures red that everything is fine, after all, why wouldnt it be? red got to know blue and green, got to know them really and truly, they were link just as him. Vio seemed too cruel to be Link. but then again Red was too sensitive.

......

it was so quiet. the Other Thing was here. Red had seen him from the corner of his eye. Maybe it was his imagination. Hed heard about people going crazy from paranoia... especially after encounters with the otherworldly: some sort of vengeful fae spirit was usually the culprit.... it never ended well ...

the Other Thing reveals himself.

Vio is thoroughly enraged, asking how dare it come back to try to steal his life again? and announcing he would end its pathetic life right now.

its easy to tell the difference between them now. Vio is there confident and fighting for his life... for his family. hes going to end this monster thats threatened his whole world and people he cares about. green and blue are there to support him no matter what. theyll NEVER get confused on who the real one is again. Theyre Brothers after all.

Red cant breathe... after all, he hates seeing "me fight me"

( yeah I took the line from the manga fight me)

The other vio looks ragged, like hes full of true bloodlust. hes thought through all of this, mastered his trickery to target them thoroughly. Using their weaknesses against them, catching them off guard with tools they've never seen... magic they've never seen..perfectly immoblized by the paralyzing smoke.

Only Vio escape it seemingly, recognizing the toxin for what it was.vio always knew what was going on. It really was like the fire temple in a way. one link fighting the other evil link, except the real link had vios lying face- the same face he had when he had to fight green-

Green tells vio to be strong and to end The Thing right then and there no matter what !!!! and theyll be able to support him in just a second- Once the toxin wears off- Blue is cheering him on in killing that demon.

Red cant tell the difference between them anymore. its all a heated smolten blur ... He didn't realize he was crying.

The Other Thing is ragged, fractured mind- dirtied hands, bruised eyes, matted hair and death in his eyes. Then...

He chokes Vio with a chain magic, oh so similar to the ones hed been sealed in. they have to watch their brother struggle to break free... The Other Thing is inhuman, yet... his hands are getting weaker as he keeps going- fighting against Vio's struggle- never giving up- never looking back- eyes staring into the demons- The demon red believed in-

And then the screaming started, inhumane overlapping screeches of death- bubbling skin and gore, the blood melting off the distorted body that was Vio.

Reds eyes seemed to have magically cleared in time to take in the sight before him.

Then a dark static buzzes, trapped under the flesh- no the sillhouette of what used to be vio- Screaming and thrashing and then its dead and Other Vio stands, then he's fallen and sobbing-

hes so sorry hes so so sorry he shouldve been better- that the magic was a trick that took his form- he couldnt explain it to them he tried with red but put Red in danger- he knows hes the real one- please please please believe him-

Red races to him stumbling from poison or exhaustion he doesnt know- Green is sick. And Blue is the paler color of his name sake. Eyes widened and horrified. They should have listened to Red.

:) congrats! you made it to the end have some emotional support cookies! 🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪

[remebee]

oh boy oh yippie my existence is acknowledged. double spaced because it is more aesthetically pleasing to my dumb ass

Name? id rather not say but you can just call me rem

2. Pronouns and gender? she/her transfemme

3. Sexuality? bisexual and bi-myself

4. Country? Good ole US of A in a no bueno state

5. Top 5 fandoms? I dont engage with fandoms that much but probably League of Legends, Dungeons and Dragons, Final Fantasy XIV, Magic the Gathering, and VA-11 Hall-A

6. What is your most forbidden snack? ngl some dice look real fuckin tasty, especially some of the resin-cast dice

7. Would you pet a bug? I would pet the hell out of mantises and bees but nothing else

8. Share a weird fact/story about yourself with the class. I am 92% sure that I am allergic to mint. Every time I have anything with mint in it I feel like my mouth is being torn apart at the molecular level. I put on some lip balm I didnt know had mint in it and started crying because it hurt so much, it felt like my lips were doused in napalm.

9. What does the colour blue taste like? ink from a gel pen

10. What is the most beautiful thing you've ever seen? the most beautiful thing I had ever seen was a coastline somewhere in Florida. I wanna say it was maybe Pensacola? The skies were clear and the moon was full. You could see a few stars in the sky and the beach was bathed in a silvery light. I had my headphones partly in listening to the album For Lovers by Lamp turned down low so I could also listen to waves coming in. The land breeze was strong that night but it was also pleasant. No one else was on the beach. It was just me and my thoughts. It was the first time I had ever really been allowed to just be by myself like this while on a family vacation. It gave me a taste of freedom and introspective. Part of what makes it so beautiful to me is this was the first moment that I had ever really considered myself and who I was, was I really happy with myself. I ended up accepting the fact that I was trans while I sat on the sand and just let myself be one with the beach. I entered the beach a boy, and left a woman.

11. What is the stupidest thing you've ever done? probably the time my cousin and I thought it would be a good idea to put yuca flour into our coke-guaraná mixture because both tasted good on their own so surely they would taste good together right? Wrong. It was bad, very bad. I almost choked on it.

12. Stupidest thing you've seen/heard someone else do/say? I work a sales job and Ive had a customer get very upset with me because I told him he needed a male/male hdmi cable to hook his laptop into his tv for video. He was upset that it was male/male and not female/male because "we dont do things like that in this country". He ended up not buying the cable because of it.

13. Hyperfixation song? lately its been The Circle from the Guilty Gear Strive OST but its usually the album VA-11 Hall-A (Original Soundtrack: Second Round) by Garoad, I even own it on Vinyl :>

14. Is there any meaning behind your profile picture and/or username? pfp is a random pic I have on my computer. My username was originally just remedy but I decided to rebrand to involve bees cause they cute

15. Dream career as a child? astronaut

16. Dream career as an adult? uhhhhhhhhhhhh idk. Currently studying computer science so something related to that probably

17. Thoughts on cilantro? ive never knowingly tried cilantro but im pretty sure it tastes like soap since I had pho one time and Im pretty sure that place uses cilantro and it tasted like soap

18. Have you ever been banned from a location and if so, why? ive never been banned per se but me and my friends have been forced out of a mattress store cause they mimed gay sex on one of the display models

19. What is your cursed food combination? dipping the scooby doo gummies pictured below

into a perfect 50/50 ketchup-mashed potato concoction and let me tell you it will reveal the secrets of the universe to you.

Honorable mention of cutting a croissant in half and putting nothing but ketchup on it (this one made my friends oh so very very upset)

20. Trans rights? Yes please :3

The only person Ive interacted with on this site tagged me so ima tag the only other person I know, @pizzahutunofficial

“I just came from r/196” ask game

Saw another post. I think I should invite y'all to one of our longstanding traditions. Answer the questions then tag 10 (or more) people. I'll go first.

Name? Frankie

Pronouns and gender? he/they/it, transmasc

Sexuality? Lesbian

Country? USA

Top 5 fandoms? Bungou Stray Dogs, Cosmere, All for the Game, Fundiesnark (not a series but I'm too deep in it to not consider it a fandom), .....the tornado fandom? (they're my special interest)

What is your Most forbidden snack? The preserved bones at the Atlanta Bodies Exhibition. They looked so crunchy...

Would you pet a bug? If it's big enough, it is pettable.

Share a weird fact/story about yourself with the class. I like to drive around rural areas and photograph old, sometimes abandoned locations in the dead of night. I have been literally chased out of towns by foot and by car on two separate occasions. The second time this happened, "See You Again" by Miley Cyrus came up on shuffle and that's the soundtrack my friend and I tore out of town to. Also every "guy" I've dated except for my most recent ex (who has big egg energy) is a lesbian now.

What does the color blue taste like? Creme brulee

What is the most beautiful thing you've ever seen? The appalachian mountains of Tennessee in the middle of summer. There's kudzu everywhere. On the backroads, there were several old, dilapidated Baptist churches barely hanging to the side of the mountain. I wonder how many of them were still in use.

What is the stupidest thing you've ever done? Short version: my friend's house almost got broken into by this dude who'd been stalking us for months while we were home alone. Instead of calling the cops, we decided to confront him with a bow and arrow (me), a hatchet, and a baseball bat (him). The plan was that if it went badly, we would simply throw his corpse into one of the many lakes in the neighborhood and let the alligators eat his remains (this was Florida). Why? Because we were afraid of having our home-alone privileges revoked. Luckily for us all, the guy fucked off and we never saw him again.

Stupidest thing you've seen/heard someone else do/say? My ex thought that Jackalopes were real. Also, a nurse I was doing rotations with apparently thought that "Witness Protection" was for Jehovah's Witnesses.

Hyperfixation song? Young Enough + Bleach by Charly Bliss

Is there any meaning behind your profile picture and/or username? Profile pic; I'm transmasc and I'm currently obsessed with TriStamp. Username; It was my fake internet name when I was like 13. I won't change it because I want my mutuals to recognize me, and because I do have a viral post associated with this name.

Dream career as a child? Doctor (funnily enough I'm now in nursing school)

Dream career as an adult? Professional Jester. Not a comedian. I just want to be some weird little guy who dresses silly and you can hire me to roast your boss at work parties.

Thoughts on cilantro? Delicious

Have you ever been banned from a location and if so, why? I honestly can't remember? Probably... but in recent memory I've mainly banned people from places.

What is your cursed food combination? Pineapple on a hotdog with grilled onions. It Slaps.

Trans rights? TRANS RIGHTS

Tagging: @rocket-mankoi @mostlymarco @atleast8courics @jazzlike39 @gemsweater72 @limbobilbo @ameliaaltare @redcrane112 @theoneofwhomisblue @twinkenjoyer @theultimatecarp and anyone else who wants to jump on

[magniloquent-raven]

i’ve read it a few times already but!!!! billy blowing eddie for drugs when he’s low on cash. the first time billy offers eddies taken aback cuz “dude, you really don’t have to do that.” and billy’s just like “your loss, dungeon master.” and ofc then eddies just like “oh what the hell get back here.” and then it just. becomes a thing???? when billy doesn’t have the cash he’ll just wordlessly sink to his knees and start unbuckling eddies belt.

it's canon and no one can tell me otherwise. billy would 100% do that.

kinda wonder if eddie would like...know that billy's family is on the low end of working class. now that im thinking about it. seems like something billy wouldnt broadcast, like, he keeps his car looking nice & he doesnt wear ratty clothes in public & it's not like he's super keen to invite people to his house. so eddie sees this guy who's on the basketball team, hanging out with all the same privileged assholes steve used to hang out with, upper middle class dickheads who buy eddie's shit but sneer at his torn jeans and the busted zipper on his jacket. and eddie makes assumptions about billy. so billy gets charged the same marked up price as the rest of his asshole teammates. and eddie knows billy knows he's getting fucked over, the "are you fucking kidding me" look on his face the first time eddie told him how much he was charging was fucking priceless. but what was even better was his helpless frustration when eddie reminded him that he didnt really have any other options. so he could pay up or get lost. maybe eddie relished it a bit too much but he saw what billy did to harrington's face, alright, he knows billy isnt a nice person, he could probably stand to be taken down a peg or two.

but it's only a fun little power trip for a couple months. cuz one day billy comes to him with an odd, determined look on his face, flushed and unsteady with an unfocused glaze over his bright eyes. drunk, by the looks of it. in the middle of the day. he gets up in eddie's space, prods his chest with two fingers. and tells him he's been dipping into his savings for this. for eddie's shitty overpriced weed. and he can't do it anymore. but he can pay with other things.

which is a lot of things to process at once. especially when billy immediately goes for his belt and eddie's brain shuts down entirely.

billy's cold knuckles brush the soft skin below his belly button and he stutters back to life, grabbing billy's wrist and stopping him with a few gentle tugs.

he lets billy crash at his place to sleep it off. he's pretty when he's not putting up a front, but he drools, and it gets all over eddie's pillowcase.

eddie spends the rest of the day half-paying attention to the world around him. he fully expects billy to be gone when he gets back home, and he's prepared to get aggressively ignored whenever they're in proximity at school.

billy is not gone.

billy is sullen. and standoffish. but he's stayed. he made eddie's bed.

and. hell, he's kinda pretty when he's awake too.

so. it's a thing. billy blows him when his paychecks don't survive stocking up on smokes and keeping the camaro polished and neil charging rent. which seems to happen a lot. eddie wonders, guiltily, how much of billy's savings he took.

but then he starts to notice. things. like the clear outline in billy's back pocket right before he drops to his knees and claims he forgot his wallet. and the decidedly not empty baggie of pot in the camaro's glove box when he checks it for a condom. and the fact that billy lingers now. he never used to. he'd blow eddie like his life depended on it and then run the second eddie handed over the merchandise.

they start to smoke together. talk a little. while billy lingers. and one day eddie's brave enough to do what he's been wanting to since the first time billy touched him. when they finally come up for air, eddie still reeling from the taste of his own release on billy's tongue, billy drops ducks his head. almost shyly.

it's fucking cute.

it's less cute when he punches eddie's shoulder. "took you long enough."

[spacedikut]

“i want to love someone and be loved” ; spencer reid - part 2

pairing: spencer reid (criminal minds) x f!reader

summary: spencer decides it’s time to tell you, but he needs some help. 3887 words. part 1

a/n: THIS is the longest fic ive ever written but im actually kinda proud of how it turned out? i hope this is a good sequel :)

Spencer chickens out of telling you the next day.

He avoids you all weekend, actually. You resisted texting him the day after Rossi’s because you assumed he’d be busy – with his big plan involving a girl that isn’t you. You’re not bitter – but Sunday comes around and you message him not long after you wake up and six hours later there’s no response.

Twelve hours later - there’s no response.

Monday, you don’t have time to say hello to anyone – there’s a case waiting for you, somewhere in Florida.

Reid avoids your eyes. His body language tells you something is wrong, so you assume whoever he confessed to didn’t reciprocate (they’re insane) and he’s dealing with it. So you don’t press.

Spencer pretends to sleep the entire jet ride. He’s avoiding everyone, not just you.

He spent the whole weekend beating himself up. He drove to your apartment on Saturday, sat outside for so long a neighbour knocked on his window and asked if he was lost, but couldn’t bring himself to step foot out of his car.

So he locked himself in his room, away from you and your loveliness and away from his phone because he knew you texted him and he knew you’d send some soft message about being there for him if he needs anything and he didn’t need to be reminded of how beautiful and out of reach you are.

Derek seemed to be waiting for him Monday morning, arms crossed as he held a cup of coffee. It was weird seeing him in before Spencer.

“How’d it go?” He immediately asked.

“How’d what go?” Spencer mumbles, flinging his bag on the floor by his desk. He slumps in his seat.

Derek raises a dark eyebrow, “You know what, pretty boy. You had a big thing? Big plan?”

“Didn’t work out.”

It doesn’t take a profiler to realise Spencer is very clearly saying leave me alone. Leave it alone.

Derek isn’t one to leave it alone. Especially when it comes to Spencer.

He sighs and moves a little closer to Spencer’s desk, just in case someone overhears them.

“What happened?”

“That’s exactly it,” Spencer slams open a file, “Nothing happened.”

“And why did nothing happen?”

“Because I’m an idiot that can’t even tell a girl how I feel.”

“Whoa- hey!”

Derek spins Spencer’s chair so they’re face to face. Derek takes one look in Spencer’s eyes and knows what’s going on – he got too into his head and backed out at the last minute.

“You’re not an idiot. Why didn’t you do it?”

Spencer shrugs, “I got to her apartment. I had flowers, too. I don’t know.”

Derek’s evidently concerned – Spencer’s beaten up over this, over whoever this girl is, and he deserves the chance to experience love. Spencer deserves a lot more than he himself thinks he does.

“You seemed really excited, man. You can still do it. Just cause you try once and it doesn’t work out doesn’t mean you can’t ever try again.”

Spencer stares off into the distance, accidentally ignoring Derek as his thoughts slip out of his mouth, “Yeah, it probably wouldn’t have worked anyway – I was stupid to think I could get someone like her.”

“Hey, no.” Derek nudges Spencer’s shoulder so he looks at him again, “Don’t talk like that. You’re one hell of a guy, Reid. All you gotta do is get that confidence that you had Friday night back, and you’re all set. Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

Spencer gives a feeble nod. Derek moves back to his desk, knowing he isn’t convinced, but he isn’t done yet.

+++

Later, in Florida, Spencer’s making a coffee in the precinct’s kitchen after waiting twenty minutes for you to leave. Luck’s on his side, for once, and you’ve been working non-stop with Prentiss going crime scene to crime scene so he hasn’t had to actively avoid you. You smile at him every chance you get, though, and it distracts him.

Someone clears their throat behind him. It’s Penelope, whom Spencer didn’t realise was invited on this case.

She looks guilty. Spencer recognises that face; the face she has when she’s done something she shouldn’t have or knows something she isn’t really supposed to. Given current circumstances, Spencer bets it’s the latter reason.

“Morgan told me something he shouldn’t have.”

Bingo.

He leans against the kitchen counter, stirring his coffee absentmindedly.

“What did he tell you?” He asks, feigning tranquillity. Inside he’s screaming non-stop.

She’s got her hands clasped together in front of her, almost innocently, and fiddles with her fingers, “He told me you needed assistance in the love department.” Before he can object, she continues, “And I am willing to do anything if it means our resident weirdo-slash-genius falls in love and gets to experience some much needed cuteness.”

There’s no point in lying to her. There’s also no point in being mad that Morgan told her about his situation – they’re kind of a package deal. And, who knows, Garcia might be able to help.

“So…” She sways, trying (and failing) to appear nonchalant, “Who’s the lucky lady?”

Spencer shuffles on the spot, scuffing his shoes against the floor. He debates whether he should tell her, since, you know, you’re in the next room over, but Spencer worries that Garcia is so good at her job she’d somehow find out through hacking Spencer’s phone, or maybe somehow hacking his dreams. His subconscious. He’s terrified of Garcia and her abilities.

“You can tell me.” She insists, “I’m much better at keeping secrets than Morgan.”

Spencer turns away from her, she steps closer, and he mumbles your name.

“What?”

“Y/N.”

“WHAT?!”

Spencer spins, hands coming up to tell Garcia to shut up and Garcia immediately covers her mouth in both shock and hopefully so she doesn’t shout again.

“Since when?!” She screeches. “How could I not have known?! Oh God, almighty Doctor Reid, I feel like I’ve failed you by not realising earlier.”

Her enthusiasm makes him smile, for the first time in far too long. Garcia has that power – this innate skill to comfort those around her and make them feel special, make them smile when the world feels like its collapsing.

“Let me help!” She requests.

Spencer’s clearly hesitant. He knows it’s a bad idea.

“Please!” She begs, “I just- I have so many ideas of how you can go about this. Let me brainstorm, get back to you, and if I’m too over-the-top you can tell me no and we’ll pretend it never happened!”

He takes a deep breath. Yes, Garcia is the definition of over-the-top, but that’s one of his favourite things about her. It’s your favourite thing, too. And he did tell Morgan he had big plans. Anything involving Garcia is a big plan with big payoff.

“This is between us.”

“I’ll take it to the grave. Unless you realise how amazing my ideas are and use one to tell Y/N how you feel and then years later I get to commend myself during my maid of honour speech at your wedding.”

She looks ecstatic, hands now together under her jaw as her eyes twinkle. Spencer can’t help but laugh at her eagerness.

+++

The next day, the team returns to Quantico after a semi-successful case. The general mood is good and Morgan invites everyone out for drinks – Spencer declines, but you have your first full conversation since last Friday.

“C’mon, Spence,” Your head rests against the jet seat and you blink sleepily at him, “I feel like I haven’t spoken to you for years!”

Spencer gives you a small smile, “I promised my mom I’d call her tonight. Sorry, Y/N.”

You nod in understanding, “Will you tell her I say hi?”

“Of course. She loves you.”

You grin at eachother, immediately lost in your own world. You’ve missed him more than you realised, and you have no idea what’s going through his head, but you’re happy that you’ve had this – a Spencer Reid smile that makes you feel at home and on top of the world simultaneously.

Spencer has to tear his eyes away before he blurts something stupid, like she’s not the only one that loves you.

+++

“Spencer!” Garcia greets, Cheshire cat grin on her face. “I need to see you in my dungeon, please. Immediately.”

Spencer drops the file he’s holding. Unfortunately, Penelope’s request caught the attention of the whole team.

“What business do you have in the villain’s lair, Reid?” Derek asks. You’ve looked up from your computer, Emily smirking and leaning back in her chair in expectation.

“Uh…”

“Important nerd business. Go away.” Garcia says, eyes narrow as she tugs Spencer’s hand. He’s whisked away from any further questioning, leaving the befuddled team behind.

He isn’t sure what to expect when he stumbles into Penelope’s second home, but the display in front of him explains why he overheard a conversation about missing evidence boards earlier. Penelope’s obviously been using the new printer in her cave to her advantage – there’s at least twenty different pictures printed out on one board titled “date ideas”, then the board on the right has a picture of Spencer and you in the centre with a perfectly drawn heart around it. Under and around that is a mixture of love quotes, including song lyrics and quotes directly from romantic movies. He notices “The Parliament of Fowls” on there – Garcia remembers that he mentioned it’s considered the first Valentines poem?

“Whoa,” Is all he can say.

“I know it’s a little intense,” Garcia squirms, “But! I started scrolling through Pinterest and couldn’t stop. I don’t know what came over me, maybe some type of love deity, but I started thinking about you and Y/N in a classic love film in, like, black and white and I…”

She’s out of breath from animatedly explaining.

Spencer laughs through his nose, almost a scoff, but he’s impressed. He shouldn’t have expected anything else from the Penelope Garcia.

As Spencer wanders towards the first board, Garcia follows him like a shadow, “My personal favourite is-“ She points to a picture of chocolate fondue with faceless people in very little clothing, “-this one.”

Spencer awkwardly clears his throat when he begins to think of you and him like that.

“A little much for your declaration of love, though, I get it,” Garcia nods.

He scans the board – heart speeding up when he moves from idea to idea and picturing you and him in each one. He can’t help but think no, that one would be good for our anniversary – ah, she’d love to do that one for her birthday.

“What’re you thinking?” Garcia asks quietly. She knows his brain is whirring like her computer drive, so she approaches him gently.

“This one.” He says. “Where should we do it?”

Garcia grins behind him. The one he’s referring to shows a dinner table set up outside, brown wooded table with white wooden chairs opposite eachother. There’s flowers at the centre, a bottle of wine already poured in each glass in front of a basket of cookies, and the area around is shrouded by shrubbery, fairy lights hanging delicately from every-which-way.

It’s perfect. You love fairy lights, Spencer loves cookies, and the set-up looks private enough for Spencer to feel confident when he empties his heart and soul to you.

“The roof.” Garcia says wistfully.

“We have access to that?”

“Yes.” They both know they don’t. “Leave it to me. Oh… one more thing.” She adds, hesitantly, “Can Morgan help? I’m a lot of things, including emotionally strong and your love guru, but physically I’m gonna need some assistance.”

Spencer doesn’t even need to agree – Morgan’s gonna involve himself no matter what.

+++

Five o’clock is quickly approaching and you’re slumped over your desk, lost in your work. You need to be lost in it, because ever since Garcia released Spencer from her office right after lunch he’s been sneaking glances at you (he’s not sneaky) and has made several attempts to approach you but decided against it, sharply turning and pretending he meant to go another way instead.

You are beyond confused. You assume it’s to do with the girl he’s been trying to get over – you hope he’s been trying to build the confidence to tell you exactly what happened and maybe, you really hope, he’ll invite you over for the weekend so you can slip back into your old routine.

“Psst.”

You assume they’re not trying to get your attention, so you don’t move.

“Psst!”

You still don’t move.

“Y/N!”

Your head snaps up to Spencer leaning over the divider between your desks. He looks alarmed – which is odd, given he’s the one who called you – and he opens and closes his mouth a few times before he finally speaks.

“Are you busy tonight?” He sits back and, if he wasn’t so goddamn tall, all you’d be able to see would be his eyes. His added height means you can see his eyes and his nose. You wanna kiss it.

You smile – this is an olive branch, “I am completely available for whatever it is you might need.”

You sound incredibly eager, which you are. You miss him.

His cheeks move upwards, a smile, “Can I talk to you, later, on the roof? Uh-“ He clears his throat, “-I need to tell you something.”

You raise an eyebrow, “You’re not gonna push me off, right?”

“No,” He laughs.

“Promise me.”

Now he guffaws, “I would never, Y/N!”

“Promise me, Reid!”

“Alright, alright! I promise!” He’s jokingly raising his hands in a form of surrender.

You give him another smile and turn back to your work. You feel at ease, now, thinking he’s finally gonna tell you what happened on the weekend – finally you’ll be able to help him and go back to normal.

Spencer, on the other hand, is the exact opposite of ease. He’s about to pour his heart out to you.

He takes a deep breath and looks back to his computer, which is open on a tab titled “How to Tell Someone You Like Them.”

Step 3: Be Confident.

Spencer opens a new tab and searches, “How to be confident.”

+++

Garcia hacks into Spencer’s computer to open a document and type that the roof is ready. She wishes him luck, tells him she loves him, and calls dibs on being the godmother of your future children. As if she doesn’t have enough godchildren as it is.

He clears his throat and your head snaps towards him. You’ve been done for a while, playing Tetris on your phone, waiting for Spencer to take you to the roof where he swears he won’t kill you – you’re not entirely convinced.

“Um-“ He scratches his neck, “You ready to go?”

You nod and give him a weak smile in hopes it gives him some type of reassurance.

“Whatever happened, it’s okay, Spence.”

All he does is nod in return, gathering his coat and bag. He doesn’t really register what you say, or he would’ve been very confused.

You follow him up to the roof. The elevator ride is silent and Spencer is jittery; his hands twitch and tap against his legs, he’s bouncing on his toes and he keeps looking at you through the corner of his eye. You’ve taken several deep breaths to calm your racing heart – you hate heights, and this is the closest you’ve been to Spencer in a week. This will be the longest conversation you’ve had with him in a week, too.

The second the doors open, Spencer leaps in front of you.

“Wait!”

You jump back in surprise, “What? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Completely fine. Just… when we get there, let me explain first, okay? Before you say anything.” He’s pleading, as if you’ve already told him no. You look at him with furrowed brows and mumble an ‘okay’.

You’re visibly confused as you trek up the flight of stairs to the roof. Spencer pushes open the fire door and the first thing you notice is how bright the roof is – you always assumed it’d be dark, little light, especially at night like this.

Wait.

There’s fairy lights… everywhere. You’re pretty sure this isn’t the norm for the FBI roof.

Spencer is equally as awed at what he sees before him - it’s exactly the photo he saw in Garcia’s cave brought to life, but he’s too distracted by you to fully appreciate it. You look like a child on Christmas; eyes wide, pupils blown, mouth slightly agape. You’re gorgeous.

“What…is this, Spence?” You wonder, noticing the set table, fingers grazing the roses that sit in a vase in the middle. They’re fresh and smell wonderful.

He stands a little behind you, fiddling with his hands, and clears his throat, “Would you like to take a seat?”

You do. When he finally sits, he pours you a glass of wine and you immediately take an anxious sip. Although Rossi is a big fan of wine, you rarely take interest in it only when Spencer’s involved. You’ve come to associate wine with him – a smile peeks out from your glass as you stare at the man opposite you.

“I need to get something off my chest. But there’s cookies, if you want one,” He picks one up from his plate, breaking it in half and giving it to you. He’s stalling, but you seem to take the bait and bite into it.

“Are these from the bakery two blocks away?”

“Yeah,” He replies, but he isn’t really paying attention. He doesn’t know where to begin.

You wait patiently for him to open up. You’re still unsure of what to make of all of this – the beautiful setting, the wine, the flowers, the lights. God, the lights are dazzling in the Virginia night sky. You need context, and you need it now.

“Spence-“

“Listen.”

“Oh.”

“Sorry, I just…” He trails off, “I need to say what I need to say before I back out again.”

You fold your hands in your lap. You’re ready for whatever’s to come.

“Do you know how long we’ve known eachother?” He asks. His head tilts like a puppy.

“Nearly five years. Our friendaversary is coming up, you know.”

You realise, then, that this must be a celebration for that – that explains the… typically romantic setting. Before you can open your mouth to ask if that what’s this is, Spencer speaks.

“Four years, three-hundred and sixty days. That’s how long we’ve known eachother.”

“If we were dating, we would’ve been my longest relationship the second we passed a year.”

You don’t know why you said it, but it flusters him. He has to pause to take a breath and collect his thoughts.

“I’ve been in love with you for four years and three hundred and fifty-eight days, Y/N.”

It’s silent as you process and he figures out how to continue.

“I knew you were special when you were introduced to us. Hotch already had such a soft spot for you, and you had this way about you that made us all fall in love instantly. I remember Garcia did a background check the second she found out your name and she said you remind her of me and I… that freaked me out, to be honest. I thought you’d try to replace me.” He huffs a laugh, but can’t bring himself to look you in the eye, “I realised I was in love with you when you drunkenly defended me. Do you remember that?” His eyes flicker to yours for half a second – you’re wide-eyed, “You’d known me for two days at that point, but we’d already done a case together so we were celebrating. And these guys at the bar were whispering about me, acting like I couldn’t hear them, and the second you realised what was happening you stood up, stormed towards them and gave them a piece of your mind. It was incredible.

“You barely knew me, at least personally, but you thought so highly of me you scolded a group of drunk bodybuilders without a second thought. You made them apologise – it was hysterical watching someone half their size force them into submission like that – and when you were done you asked if I wanted to leave and go get ice cream. We couldn’t, cause you vomited on the way there, but I knew in that moment I loved you and I feel so hard, so quickly, I didn’t know what to do. And you never… you never indicated you thought of me as anything other than a friend so I didn’t try. Then you dated Greg who, in my opinion, sucked on his best days, and you encouraged me to date Abigail and I…”

He’s run out of breath and of things to say.

“I just love you, Y/N. I’m in love with you.” He adds, “I hope that’s okay.”

He finally looks at you, then. You’re just staring and he panics when he can’t make out what you’re feeling. He’s always been able to read you, you’ve always hated the saying that eyes are the windows to the soul because your eyes are always your tell, but now they’re… glassy.

You’re crying.

“Spencer…” You gasp, throat tight.

“It’s okay.” Spencer gives a tight-lipped smile. He knows what’s coming. He should’ve expected it. He has been expecting it.

“I love you too, Spence.”

Spencer chokes on air. He takes a gulp of wine.

You give him a teary smile in disbelief, “I’ve always loved you, Spence. I thought you knew that – I thought that big brain of yours knew exactly how I felt and… you didn’t do anything about it so I thought you didn’t feel the same. Spencer…”

He slowly moves a hand to place it palm-up on the table. Immediately you place your hand in his, your grip tight as you lovingly stare at him. This feels unreal.

“I’m in love with you too, you idiot.” You half laugh, half cry, “If you’ve really loved me this long, we’ve wasted so much time! God, we’re both idiots.”

Spencer’s crying too, now, and he starts laughing with you.

You’re two idiots in love, sitting opposite eachother on the roof of your place of work in a dream-like surrounding filled with fairy lights and flowers, and you could’ve been doing this for years.

Spencer sniffles, looking at you through his wet eyelashes, “Would you like to be my girlfriend?”

“If I say yes, will I get more dates like this?” You tease.

“Well, Garcia has a whole evidence board of date ideas she stole from Pinterest. We have enough ideas to last a lifetime.” He giggles.

“Penny was in on this?!”

Spencer gives a heh, “This is all thanks to her, so yeah.”

“She’s always had our backs.”

“She’s also now going to be convinced she’s cupid.”

You laugh again, and can’t help yourself when you lean across the table, still gripping Spencer’s hand, and letting your lips fall on his. Spencer leans into you, lips moving against yours as you both try to suppress grins.

You pull back slightly, Spencer’s lips following you, and whisper, “I would love to be your girlfriend.”

He kisses you again. And again. And again, just cause he can.

Big plan, big payoff. You’re worth every little stress and more.

[butterfliesinmyguts]

A Helping Hand

summary: reader always helps around and levi wonders why.

warning : fluff, angst, and happy lovely stuff(may or may not turn into a series)

“ you did better today...” Mikasa breathed pushing my body off of hers. I finally was able to take her down. before dinner, she’s been helping me train to get better at combat.

a smile fell on my face, getting up and dusting myself off, “ keep it up and I’ll be more scared of you then those titans are..” I was able to keep up with Mikasa in ODM training, which was nearly impossible for everyone else. i felt at home in the air- as soon as my body begins to float, everything thing else zones out. my swords were just an my arms extended and I felt so powerful killing titans- scared yes- but powerful, but on ground I’m a clumsy wreck.

“ now let’s go eat before our meals fall victims to Sasha” letting out a laughed, I quickly remember a promise I made earlier today.“ could you save me a potato or something? I promised Jean I’d cover for his stable shift...” My friend sighed, “ again y/n?” quickly nodding, I set off to the stables.

I didn’t mind helping, if it was me I would want someone to offer to help me. sometimes I helped hange with mission plans, the days we go into town a lady sometime needs help carry supplies in her store, at the end of the week I help armin with reading, and at the beginning of the week I help captain levi organize his papers.

helping Levi is my favorite part of the week, if I’m in his office late enough he’ll set a cup of tea in my face with the words “ drink “ following after. while in my focused trance of replacing the water for the horses, and daydreaming about my captain Levi- two feet come into my line of vision. looking up my eyes were met with cold grey ones and then his trademark frown.

“ why are you out here, this is Jean’s punishment” dropping the buckets to the dirty stable ground, I wiped the sweat off my palms against my pants- fucking Jean, you told me this was duty.

“ just giving him a helping hand” my voice cracked, trying to laugh off the pure nevrousness that his presents brings me. I admit that im extremely fond of captain levi. he’s was the only guy that has ever made my stomach go crazy just by looking at me. the way he holds himself, short- yes- but never looked down on. he is humanity greatest soldier, during training I swear that he watches me. I feel his eyes burning my skin, the one time I did catch him Levi’s eyes widen and his breath hitched. I would kill to even be able to hug him, sometimes I imagine what it’s like to kiss him-but know that’ll never happen, hange told me that he thinks I’m silly and child like - he’d never feel that way about me.

“ - and now you’re standing there looking stupid, are you going to answer me y/n?” I realized that I’ve completely blocked out everything he said.

“ i.. please repeat the question- I’m sorry.” pinch his nose, my captain shook his head toward the ground. “tch, I asked you why your doing his punishment ?” shrugging, I began to brush the horses. “ I like being a helping hand, -“ before he got the chance to scold me I continued with “ it’s the only thing that makes me feel happy..”

looking up to catch him staring at me, our eyes locked together and for the first time ever I saw his eyes soften. taking him in, cause I may not ever be allowed to do it again, my heart ached. Levi is beautiful, breathtaking. his youthful glow made those dark orbs glow,if lips werent in the plain straight line- they would be puffy and pinky- so kissable. pulling my eyes away I finally breathed, trying to focus on the brush going through the horses hair while Levi still watched me. “ if that’s the case I need help mapping out the next expedition, hange told me your quite intelligent.” my cheeked warmed and a smile began to creep up on my lips- hange is getting so much praise next time I see them.“ I’ll find out for myself..” that smile dropped. “ come to my office after you clean and change from your filthy clothes.” nodding I watch the man walk towards the dining hall. On the inside, I was doing leaps. more time with levi, and we’d be talking to each other- I get too share my thoughts with levi.

“let the horse boy have fun with his siblings, and if I catch you doing other’s chores I’m making you run until the sunsets...” and you giggled.

during dinner levi couldn't help to think of you. why did you look at him like that, was there something on his face? maybe you were just scared, but no he’d always caught you looking at him. rather it been during training, in the dinning hall, and even doing expeditions.

Recalling back to when he first saw you, that smile you had permanently planted on your face- stupid what made y/n so happy? he was even more stunned when you got your ass handed to you by reiner during training and yelled “ again!” with that grin. that beautiful smile, y/n was beautiful- everyone knew it. levi heard eren, jean, connie, armin, and even hange talked about what they would do to have you in they’re beds, they all ranted about you body- Levi will admit that he has imagined your shy breath as his hand roamed your skin but It's more than looks with you, you care so much and you're gentle with him.

y/n would make sure that you take off your boots when entering his office ( which is tedious a job in itself ) but you did because Levi hated it when his floors were dirty and when on missions you squeeze all you cadets hands just to comfort them. no one ever has been gentle to him, it made him feel important but more importantly, why couldn't he stop thinking about you.

after showering, you changed into you nightclothes and headed to levi office. you knocked softly to quick “ come in..” I opened the door to Levi pulling two cups of tea. “ your late, I hope you didn't finish the stables...”

pulling your shoes off placing them beside his door you watched him pour, “ I didn’t” assuring him. moving towards the desk, examining the maps- Levi’s notes were so oragnized and neat. each note had so much detail about the surrounding area. while familiarizing with the map, Levi placed the tea cup infront of you. “ drink.” Brushing passed you, he set down in his chair.

why would he risking going in the open field for 740 meters, “ wouldn’t it be better to use this patch for cover?” expressing my concern, levi leaned up and listened to me rumble about the how it’ll be longer but it’ll save more cadets- every change I got I took a peek to see if he was still listening.

those sliver eyes watched me draw circles and point at the map, bottom lip between his teeth. i imagined how good it would feel to push my lips against them, the relief and pleasure that would rush through my body. I craved him “urh- but those are my thoughts..” finishing pushing away from the desk, distracting myself by sipping the tea.

“ where would we stop ?” Levi questioned, my heart warmed up, I stood over him to explain better “ over there would be a great rest point..” pointing to it, my neck completely in front of levi. I felt his breath hitched, clearing my throat i grabbed the pencil marking the on the map. “ I notice a cabin the last time we traveled...”

“ tch, impossible that’s a bit of the trail, with those tree you couldn’t have seen anything..” looking down in shame “ well while everyone was sleep I explored, even found a waterhole..”

I knew the risk of exploring, but I couldn’t help myself. while setting up for camp I saw a stream pulling down and I just had to see.

“don’t ever do that again...” nodding feeling ashamed, does this mean I have to go stay in the dungeon like eren? his eyes lighten a smirk playing along his lips.

“ just don’t go alone okay?” smiling at his words. sitting across from him I continued to tell him my discoveries - making sure he took notes of the waterhole and fields filled with berries. Levi forced me to write all my finding down, and he promised to even follow me on one of my ventures next time.

as time flew by tea cups were spilled, by me of course, and I was forced to re write the papers I ‘ ruined ‘ leaning my head on this desk my eyes flutter - wake up y/n - yawning I turned to levi still writing, how is he still writing? that tea was not keeping him up. so much energy, my eyes trailed his toned arms- the veins moving every in each stroke. blinking I distracted myself from my dirty thoughts.

“ you need to sleep levi” stretch my bones, the pop and crack give me a shot of adrenaline so I can actually wake up. “I’m fine” he muttered.

Levi eyes sunk from the lack of sleep, he was fighting it- too focused in his work to care that his eyes were burning and skin was red with an indention on his finger from the pen. “ they’ll be there tomorrow I promise..”

I reach to grab the papers, placing my hand softly on his bicip- he stiffened instantly and pushed my back into his bookcase. my ass landed on the ground,“ owe!” I cried, rubbing my back. fuck he is strong for a little guy, wow.

“y/n!”

levi rushed over and I swear his eyes were widen, like he was worried that he actually hurt me. Levi quickly leaning down watching me.“ I didn't mean to that y/n” a couldn't help but smile at him. were so close right now, my nose filled with his fresh scent- mint and tea leafs.

“ don't worry captain I-” levi’s hand pat my head. I could fucking scream in joy right now. did he just pat me? he never touches anyone. what does this mean, pulling away I watch his hand close as his finger tips carcassed his palms. as if he was trying to saver the feeling of my head, huh?

“your being gentle with me, why?” questioning him- levi set down in front of me. “ why not, your gentle with everyone else..” my eyes widen, he notices me In that way? planting his hand on my cheek, my heart stop, It felt so warm- his thumb wipe the tiny tear from the corner of my eyes. I’m blushing “I just flung you, and your still smiling why?”

shrugging “ I should have known that what’s going to happen” breathing out, I stared at his lips. “ y/n..” nodding not looking up at him. just kiss him, Levi is right there.

“ l'm going to kiss you..” he leaned and pushed my hair out of my face. repeating those words in my head, “ is that okay?” nodding quickly our lips came together as Levi took me in. I felt his chest against mine, and I couldn’t help but to grip his collar pulling him closer.

our lips begun to dance with each other, levi hands landed on my waist pulling me on top of his thighs. that smile still planted on my face between the kisses, while my hand combed his undercut.

my daydreams weren’t even a compare to the real deal, gently rubbing the back of his neck, Levi groaned into my mouth. With each movement we gained a slow rhythm,our body flowing against each other. I couldn’t help but to moan in pure pleasure I was feeling.

levi pulled bac slowly and watched me with my smiled in a drunken daze. replaying the moments in my head, Levi just kissed me, Levi my captain levi thinks of me- he thinks I’m gentle. a “ wow” left my mouth as he got up, leaning down quickly to steal one last kiss. my smiled never left my lips as I stood up leaning against the bookcase as finger tips brushed over my lips, hope the tingling sensation never went away. Im buzzing, I’m buzzing- all because of him.

watching the man, pick the fallen books up his eyes went to the window . “ it’s almost dawn, go get some sleep” Levi ordered coldly , point toward his bed.

fuck, “it’s dawn already!” I darted around Levi’s office trying to clean my area and while getting myself together. Levi stood there confused, as my actions all clicked in his head- arms crossed tightly along his chest.

“ I promised sasha that I’d help her with her hair this morning- I hope she’s not up already- oh no” slipping on my shoes on. opening the door to walk out, I give him a warm smile. “ I’m so sor-“

“ don’t worry, thanks for the helping hand..” leaning in to kiss him I was met by a closing the door. dumbfound I stood there, “what?”

part 2!

[fanfic-she-wrote]

Imagine being the reincarnation of Dracula's long lost love: Part 9

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8

A couple hours later, the flames eventually died out, leaving the castle practically in ruins. You still hadn't moved and Dracula was beginning to lose hope that you would never move again. He picked you up and carried your limp body in his arms as he walked back to the castle. So much of it was burnt and fallen apart. There was a large gaping hole in the cieling where you could see into the sky above. Dracula noticed that it was nearly dawn. He just hoped that the dungeons were still in tact as they made their ways towards them with Henry and Van Helsing clearing the way, pushing aside the charred debris.

At this moment Dracula felt numb. His castle was a heap of burnt rubble and the love of his life was possibly dead forever. Luckily for him when he reached the dungeons it was untouched, not even by the mob. At least that was a good sign. He thought. But not much of one. In a room just off the staircase lay his coffin, it black with plush red lining, and inscribed on the top was his family crest. Henry lifted the lid and Dracula placed you gently inside.

"What do we do now?" Van Helsing asked.

"We wait." Dracula replied, looking down at your lifeless body.

He felt anger once again boiling over inside him. He clutched his fists so tight that his knuckles turned white and his nails cut into his palms.

The tension was so thick in the room you could cut it with a knife. The longer Dracula waited, the more he became angry. Angry that his love had been taken away from him again. Angry that no matter how much he wanted it, he would never find peace not from angry townsfolk, not from Van Helsing, and not even from himself.

Van Helsing watched him carefully, sensing his anger. This anger was different than before. For the first time, he actually felt a little frightened. Dracula could tear him apart like paper if he wanted to. It felt like waiting for a bomb to explode.

Finally it did and like a viper he grabbed Van Helsing by his collar, lifting him a couple inches off the ground. "This is all your fault!! " He growled.

"My fault?! I'm not a monster that goes around killing innocent townsfolk am I?! " Van Helsing choked, trying to pry himself lose, but to no avail.

"Get out before I kill you were you stand!" He hissed, releasing him.

"No, Im staying." Van Helsing refused, fixing his shirt. Dracula stepped toward him, baring his teeth, aiming to kill.

"If she wakes and finds me dead, she will never forgive you. You don't want to risk that do you?" He pointed out, trying to appear calmer than he felt.

Dracula hesitated for a moment. Why did she value his friendship so much? He wondered.

"If she wakes up I will let you go. If not, you better pray for a quick death." Dracula threatened, glaring at him.

"Master, where will you sleep?" Henry asked, changing the conversation.

"I can't sleep. Not now. I'll be fine as long as the sunlight can't find me." He answered.

Dracula bent down beside you and held your hand. It was so cold now. Only a couple hours ago it was warm and soft. It was almost hard to believe it had only been a couple hours, it felt much longer to him.

Henry yawned, unable to stay awake for another second. He took off his coat folding it into a makeshift pillow and rested his head on it against the cold floor. He missed his bed, but that went up in the fire. Stupid townspeople. He thought to himself as he fell asleep.

Van Helsing didn't sleep either, although he wanted to. He couldn't even remember the last time he actually had a good night's sleep. His thoughts kept him up most nights, mostly about creatures of the night, but sometimes his thoughts were of you. Like how cute you were when you crinkled your nose when you were thinking or how you used to laugh when he did something you deemed silly...the little things that made him fall in love with you. If only he had told you how he felt...at least you would have known. He forced tears back, but it was becoming extremely difficult as the hours passed and you didn't wake.

"I love her too you know." Van Helsing confessed.

"What?" Dracula sneered, glaring at him from over his shoulder, but Lawrence paid him no mind.

"Yes...for a long time. I never told her." He said his voice cracking.

"You're a fool!" Dracula scoffed. Van Helsing nodded in agreement.

"I suppose I am. Maybe if I had this never would have happened." He said with a sigh.

Dracula spun around to face him. "What do you mean by that?!" He snarled. Van Helsing got up off the floor where he sat and came face to face with him, staring into his cold, dark eyes.

"I think you know what I mean. If I told her than maybe she would be with me instead of being dead because she fell in love with you!" He accused, finally losing his temper.

"How dare you!" Dracula angrily spat, smacking Van Helsing hard into a wall. "She could never love someone like you!" Van Helsing rubbed his head, feeling dazed. "You're pathetic! Weak! A miserable excuse for a mortal!"

"Am I? I'm not the one that has to hide from the sun or cower in fear of the cross." Lawrence retorted, lifting himself back on his feet. He looked at you and took a deep breath, knowing that you wouldn't have wanted them to fight.

"So much blood has been spilled, Dracula. Haven't you had enough?" He asked, trying to reason with him.

"No. Not till I have spilled yours." He hissed.

"Then I guess we are destined to do this forever." Van Helsing sighed.

"Forever is short in the life of a vampire. But you will never see it. " He swore through gritted teeth.

"I don't want to see forever. I'm tired. I've seen enough death and despair to last several lifetimes. I will eventually die, but there are things that are worse than death." Van Helsing admitted. Dracula's face softened a little as he mulled over his enemy's words in his mind.

"Get. Out." Dracula said, turning away. He didn't want to admit it, but Van Helsing was right. Living forever did feel like a curse. There were many times he wondered what it was like to be really dead. It must be glorious...

"I would like to stay a little while longer..." Van Helsing started to ask, taking a small step toward Dracula.

"Don't push it Dr. Van Helsing. I'm letting you go alive. Don't make me change my mind." Dracula warned.

"May I have one last look at her then?" He asked. Dracula nodded stepping aside. Van Helsing slowly walked up to the coffin and reached inside to touch your hand. It was still cold as ice.

He felt tears well up in his eyes again. "I'm sorry Y/N...for everything. If only it were me in that coffin instead of you. You of all people on this Earth didn't deserve this." He whimpered before placing gentle kiss on your forehead.

"Goodbye."

As you lay there, you tried to call out to them to tell them that you weren't dead, but you couldnt. It felt like there was an invisible force controlling you, preventing you from moving at all. You couldn't even breathe, it was almost like you were drowning and your lungs were being filled to the brim with water. Everything hurt. Wherever you were it was pitch black. You were frightened. If only Vlad or Lawrence could help you, even Henry. You didn't even know why you were here...oh right you're dead. Is this what it was like to be dead?

From the darkness, a small voice said, "Go back."

"We must go back." It implored you, sounding desperate.

"We? Who is we?" You ask. Suddenly, a bright light appeared blinding you. Squinting, you could make out a strange, blurry figure and faint whispering could be heard emanating from within the light. As you looked closer, it became clearer and you realized who it was. It was Dracula. You tried calling out to him once more, but he couldn't hear you. His appearance was different. He looked younger and was significantly less pale. He had longer hair that fell to his shoulders, even his clothes were different. You saw behind him the castle the way it once was, like in your vision. Your heart skipped a beat when he turned to look at you, as though he just noticed you were there. Then you finally felt yourself move, but you weren't in control. It was like you were a puppet being pulled around on strings.

Dracula reached for you, pulling you into his warm embrace, which you gladly welcomed. "My dear Maria, how I've missed you." He said, kissing your cheek. Maria? Who's Maria? You wondered, feeling a twinge of jealousy.

"I've only been gone a few hours Vlad." You said to him.

"But to me it feels like an eternity." He told you, kissing you again. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Without warning, the light flashed again and you found yourself in a church. You did not recognize this place, yet it seemed to familar. Before you stood Vlad and behind him was...Lawrence? No it couldn't be?! It certainly looked like him. The face was the same, but the hair was different. It was only slightly shorter than Dracula's and he was sporting a goatee. He didn't look as happy as your beloved. In fact, he looked extremely bored. Was this a wedding?

You slowly walked up the isle towards them, feeling all eyes on you. You didn't even know who any of these people were. All you knew is that you wanted to get out of there. You glanced up at Vlad and saw how much love glimmered in his eyes and you felt your nerves instantly calm. The room just seemed to fade away and only he mattered. He held out his hand for you, helping you up the last remaining steps.

"You ready, my dear?" He whispered.

"Of course. I can't wait to start my new life with you. " You happily answered.

"As am I."

Then the scene disappeared again much to your disappointment, this time to something a little less happy...this time you found yourself in a duel against Van Helsing. At first you weren't sure if it was a friendly duel, but quickly realized that it very much wasn't. This was a duel that could only have one victor.

"It should have been me on the thrown! All of this should have been mine!" Van Helsing yelled, smashing his sword into yours with a loud clang that rung throughout the great hall. You parried and sent him flying backward with a hard kick.

"The thrown! The castle! You..." He lunged at you once more, but you blocked it and counter attacked. He twisted your blade around his and pulled you close, your faces inches apart.

"You could never have me." You spat, pulling away.

"You wouldn't have had a choice." He retorted with a sickening grin. You could feel the anger building up inside you. With a swift flick of your sword you slashed him in the face, leaving a deep cut in his cheek. He chuckled. You were a fiesty one. Too fiesty for your own good, he thought.

"That's the difference between you and Vlad," You began. "He doesn't tell me what to do."  And with that you swung at him once more, this time breaking his sword in two. You held your sword to his neck.

You caught a glimpse of your reflection in the blade. That's when it dawned on you. You were Maria, Dracula's wife, and you remembered him telling you that you looked like her. It all made sense now. This is why you were having these visions. They are your own memories. Could it be that you and Maria are one in the same?

"Surrender traitor." You hissed, your blade mere inches away from his throat.

"I am no traitor." Van Helsing said.

"Fine then, a coward."

He rolled his eyes."At least I fight my own battles. Where's your beloved now?" He pointed out, looking smug.

"Fixing your mistake. Don't think I don't know what you've done. Vlad might trust you, but I sure as hell don't." You stated, inching your blade closer to his neck.

"And what will he say when he finds out that you've killed me?"

"The truth. He has no reason to doubt me." You answered confidently.

"Well, we'll find out sooner than you think." Confused you followed his eyes over to where Dracula now stood.

"What is this?!" He asked looking at the both of you.

"Vlad, he is a traitor. I caught him giving information to the Turks. He is league with the enemy." You explained. While you were distracted, Van Helsing quickly pulled a small dagger from within his sleeve and slammed it deep into your stomach. You dropped your sword falling to the floor alongside it writhing in pain. Dracula's heart stopped. It felt like time had slowed down as he ran to you and held you in his arms.

"Maria, no..." He let out a small cry, running his hand over your wound.

"I had to do something...I love you Vlad. I told you the day I married you that I would do anything for you." You told him, cupping his cheek.

"Then don't leave me...I can't live without you." He whimpered, sensing the end was coming for you.

"We will meet again, my love." You promised, sealing it with a quick kiss as the life faded from your body.

You could feel everything fading away again as you returned to the darkness. You mind was dizzy from everything you had just witnessed. It all felt so strange...

"Go back." The voice repeated again.

"He needs you. Go back!"

Suddenly, you felt whatever was holding you back had finally released you. Eager to get out of there you ran through the darkness hoping to find a way out. You didn't know where you were running, but you had to try. The darkness seemed endless and just as you were about to give up, the ground gave way below your feet and you finally woke up.

You gasped for air feeling as though you were drowning. You sat up clutching your throat, trying to catch your breath. Why was it so hard to breathe?

"Y/N?! Dracula gasped. He couldn't believe it. You were alive. It worked! It wasn't too late after all!

"Y/N! You're alright! Thank God." Van Helsing sighed in relief, smiling like he never smiled before.

"You!?" You exclaimed, backing away from him, your past memory still fresh in your mind. He looked at you feeling confused and hurt. Before Van Helsing could say anything, Dracula appeared at his side reaching out to you.

You looked over at him, eyes wide. "Vlad...I...I remember." You breathed.

"What?" He asked. "What do you remember?

"Everything."

[fallingfor-fics]

Teachers Pet-chapter 13: the test

All chapters

chapter 12

I was just leaving the Great Hall and was walking to DADA with Harry and Ron, discussing what we were thinking we would do in class today, since neither of us wanted to attend. We walked into the classroom and I noticed Lockhart wasn't there yet, thank Merlin, maybe he would be absent today. We sat down and got our supplies out patiently waiting. I heard Ron whispering to Harry and nudging his arm.

 Lockhart entered and gave a brief overview of what we would be doing in class today. I heard more whispers from the pair and turned to look at them, "What are you two whispering about?" I said in a hushed tone. "Nothing" they both said and I just rolled my eyes. I then felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see Harry smiling at me. "Um Y/n I wanted to ask you something." he said clearly scared and looking back at Ron. "Well what is it?" I said wishing he would just ask already. "Potter! L/n! Shhh Im speaking!" Lockhart interrupted. He continued blabbing about the lesson and I turned back to Harry. "What was it?" I whispered. "Oh, um well I was wondering If you wanted to go to the Yule Ball with me?" he spat out quietly. I was taken aback clearly, shocked since I had no Idea Harry liked me. I felt kinda bad because I didn't feel the same and I didnt want to hurt his feelings. He could tell it was taking me a minute to think it over. Harry was just so sweet, too sweet, I didn't really like cheesy sweet boys, they are a little soft for my personality, which is why it was gonna be so hard to say no. "Look Harry, you're one of the nicest guys I have had in my life, but I just dont think its a good idea, im sorry, I'm positive you can find someone better to take, like Ginny maybe?" I said with a compassionate smile.

   I could see his face soften and he frowned a bit, "Oh that's alright I totally understand, I just figured y'know neither of us had dates yet, but no worries." he said as he turned and focused back on Lockhart. I felt so guilty for doing that, he was such a good friend, but I just couldn't see us having a good time at the ball. I did the same and focused on Lockhart and we spent the rest of class in silence.

   Once class ended I muttered small goodbyes to Harry and Ron and quickly sped out of the room not wanting to deal with the aftermath of that whole situation. "Hey Y/n" Draco said walking up to me like he did everyday, "Hey Draco, ready for the potions test?" I said as we walked to the dungeons. "Mm yeah I guess I mean I've been ready haha." he said with a cocky smile. I rolled my eyes, "How was DADA? Hope you didn't hex Lockhart again." He said laughing. "It was fine, and fuck off," I said playfully pushing him"Something strange did happen though," I said looking down at my books, "Harry asked me to the Yule Ball.." I said looking at him. "What?! Potter? What a joke!" he said scoffing "I hope you didn't say yes!" he added. "No I didn't, he's too sweet and I just don't feel that way about him, but I feel really bad about it. He looked upset." I said looking back down. "Oh I'm sure he'll be just fine, plus you need a man to take you to the ball, certainly not Potter." he snarled, I elbowed him and gave him a look, "Hey be nice! He's still one of my friends you know." "Yeah yeah." he said mockingly,  as we entered the potions classroom and took our seats in the front. Snape wasnt here yet so we all waited patiently. I got my supplies out and opened my book looking over the material one last time. The door flew open and Snape came walking in, his robes billowing behind him like usual. I felt a small smile creep to my face at the act, he always looked so stunning when he did that, so...powerful. I realized what I was doing and quickly looked back at my book and dropped the smile.

   "Ok class, put your textbooks away and clear off your tables, I will now be handing out your tests, you'll have all of class to complete them, no more and no less. You will get your grades back tomorrow, come drop them on my desk when you are finished and return to your seat quietly." He spewed, the same speech he gave before every test, he began walking around the class handing out the tests and came to my table last, he handed one to Draco and then to me, I looked up at him as he handed it over and smiled saying thank you, he just nodded and looked to have given and very small smirk, as if to say "Good luck" I took a deep breath and began on the test. It was 100 questions which was no surprise since we have a 2 hour class period for potions. 40 minutes had gone by and I was on question 36, which wasn't very good, as Draco was on 49. I needed to pick up the pace if I wanted to finish in time. An hour and a half had now passed and several kids had already finished, I was feeling pretty good so far and was on question 70 something, feeling like I was losing my mind at all the words on the page. Before I knew it Draco was getting up and turning his in. I was almost done, only 5 questions left and 15 minutes left. When I finished there were only three kids still working on theirs, I looked up at Snape who was going over essays and he looked up at me. We made eye contact and I quickly looked back at my test, checking over all my answers. I let out a breath and cracked my knuckles as I stood and slowly walked up to Snape, "All done" I said nervously handing it to him, he looked up and took it from me, and his fingertips brushed mine very softly and quickly as he took it from me, and as soon as he did, out of fear and embarrassment, I snatched my hand away and smiled awkwardly, walking back to my table and putting my head down. I dozed off for the last 10 minutes of class, awakening to Draco shoving me telling me it was time to leave, I sat up and saw most of the class had left.

   I grabbed my stuff and we went for the door, "Actually, Ms. L/n may I speak to you." I froze scared it was about the hand thing, or maybe the Dumbledore thing this morning. I shooed off Draco saying I'd catch up and walked over to stand next to Snape's desk. He stood up and I followed him with my eyes, keeping eye contact to get any sense of what this was about. "I went ahead and decided to grade your test as soon as you turned it in." He said in his usual tone, not giving me any clue as to what I got. Making the suspense and tension build more. "Oh gosh. It's bad isn't it? I failed, didn't i? Oh merlin Professor im so sor-" I began to ramble when he didn't speak but he cut me off, "Y/n calm down." He said and I could feel a slight blush at the use of my first name. He handed me my test and I kept my eyes on his not looking down at it yet. "Wooo ok I can do this" I said giggling a bit, I looked down and my eyes went wide. Written in red ink and circled at the top was a 92. A fucking. 92. I looked back up at him and my jaw dropped. "OH MY GOSH I DID IT!" I practically screamed, jumping up and hugging the paper. "I can't believe I passed and with a 92 this is the happiest moment of my life!" I said smiling up at him.

In fit of adrenaline and serotonin overdose I threw my arms around him and hugged him. He went stiff and I realized what I was doing and quickly threw myself off. "Oh my I'm so sorry Sir, that was so inappropriate, I was just so happy" I said blushing hard and feeling a very strong nervous tingle, which it was I decided to call them, and looked up at him. "It's quite alright Y/n, I'm very proud of you, you worked hard and it paid off, good job." He said with a very small, but visible smile. I smiled big back at him and gestured to him, "I got you to smile too! This is amazing!" I said giggling. "Alright alright enjoy it while it lasted because that's the first and last time you'll see it." he said back in his normal tone and sat back down in his chair. We went silent for a moment as I just stared at my test. "I'm gonna frame this" I joked to which he just looked up at me and smirked a bit. "I cant thank you enough Professor, If you hadn't helped me and stayed up all night tutoring me, I would have been seeing another 50" I said with a calmer and genuine tone. "Of course, Ms-...Y/n, Im proud." he said and I put my head down to hide the blush, I felt rush to my cheeks at the sound of him saying my name, this was getting out of hand. "Ok well, I will see you in tutoring tomorrow. Goodbye Severus." I said with a sarcastic grin and walking out of the class before he could scold me for the use of his first name.

   I walked out of the school to the yard and sat in front of the tree that overlooked the lake. I closed my eyes and took in the fresh air listening to the quiet sound of the lake's water. I looked down at my test paper and smiled, he told me good job and I felt so proud to have pleased him, thinking of the potions professor and how he was such a different man to me now than he was when we first met, he was still his normal self 90% of the time, but he would let the kindness shine through every now and again when I would talk with him. I can't believe I hugged him, I thought. He felt warm for such a cold man, and he smelt nice, like parchment and firewhiskey. That smell would forever be burned in my head. And he smiled and it lit up my dark world for that fraction of a second. Looking in his dark eyes as he was truly proud of me, made my heart beat faster, he was so...beautiful to me, despite what others thought of him, he was an amazing man. I felt the nervous tingle again, only this one lingered on. I leaned my head back on the tree and felt a single tear slid down my face. I let out a breath and opened my eyes wiping it away quickly, and grew scared for a moment. I wasn't sure if it was a tear of joy, or a tear or worry, for I had just begun to realize, the nervous tingle I felt around him was butterflies, the ones Hermione had told me about, and the feelings I had, were for my Potions Professor.

[killiansprincss]

We Found Wonderland

Summary: Trapped in the past after the S3 finale, Killian and Emma are forced to fade into the background as a newly married couple in a village while Rumplestilskin works on the portal to send them back to the future. (No Marian)

What challenges will they face, after all it’s only pretending to be married after all right?

Inspired by Taylor Swift ‘Wonderland’

Read on AO3

Huge thanks to @captain-emmajones for reading this over for me as I was going insane after editing it for weeks

Happy New Year to all! They say to start the year off as you mean to go on, and my goal for 2021 is to write more so I really hope you enjoy it!

Set just after the CS movie, no Marian.

We found Wonderland

You and I got lost in it

And we pretended it could last forever 

________

Emma had realised on this trip that Storybrooke was her home. Not Boston or New York. Yes things were messy and dangerous in Storybrooke. But it was home. It was where her family was.

She had longed for a family for 28 years especially after the foster system failed her and after Neal abandoned her. But when the boy she gave up for adoption asked her to come home with her, it changed her life. Even if she didn’t believe in the curse at first, she knew it was a place she could eventually call home.

She wasn’t scared anymore. For once, she was excited about the future and what it would bring. And Hook.

This trip had shown a side to him she hadn’t seen before. She knew he had feelings for her, and as much as she tried to suppress her own feelings for him, he was different this trip. He wasn’t pining for her or making his usual stupid flirty jokes. It was clear he cared about her family, he wasn’t selfish.

Kissing Other Hook was an adventure. But seeing her Hook get jealous and punch the other him was even better. She could see in his eyes it was killing him that she was flirting with the other him, way more than she had with him. And she wasn’t going to deny that she enjoyed it.

“You alright love?” Hook's voice pulled her away from her thoughts.

She smiles at him as they walk into Rumple’s Castle, “Yeah. Just excited to get home.”

“Well dearie it’s gonna be awhile before you can do that.” Rumples voice cuts through as they walk into the great hall.

“What the bloody hell does that mean Crocodile?” Hook asks, anger in his voice.

Rumple just laughs, “well it’s not just a portal that I could do easily for you. Time travel has never been done before, except for you two. It’ll take me around a year to create that portal for you two.”

“IM SORRY-A YEAR?”

“A YEAR?”

Both Emma and Hook's voices respond to this sudden realisation.

“You’re telling me, it’s gonna be a year, until we can go home to the future?” Emma asks, hoping she heard wrong.

“Were you not listening?” Rumple asks.

“So we have to stay here for a year while you figure out the stupid portal?” Hook looks angry, like he could use the dagger on Rumple so quickly.

“W-what about preserving the future?” Emma asks, she can’t stay here for a year. She can’t.

“Well you’ve already messed up your parents timeline and they’re still on track. I have no use for you in my castle, so I’ll place you two under a glamour spell in a small little village where hopefully you’ll make little impact. After you’re gone, I can erase the minds of the villagers.” Rumple explains while Emma is still trying to wrap her head around staying here for a whole year.

“My parents just met and are on track to get married and have me. It’s around 2 years before I’m born and the curse strikes. The portal will be ready by then right?”

Rumple just rolls his eyes at Emma. “I’m not an idiot. I say it’ll be a year, it’ll be a year.”

“Then what the bloody hell do we do?” Hook slams his hand down on the table.

Rumple looks as though he could kill him, but he just laughs. “Well I considered keeping you here in my dungeon. But alas I already have my help. You two will be a newly married couple that just moved to this part of the land. You can work at the tavern or something, I don’t really care. I’ll be in touch when the portal is ready.”

“Married?” The two exclaim at the same time.

“Are you two having trouble hearing?” Rumple asks, rolling his eyes.

—————

After probably an hour quarrelling with the Dark One about their arrangement, they’re transported to a small village and a hut that they guess they would have to call home for the next year. It had one large room, with one bed in the corner, a fireplace and what seemed like a stove to the left of the door and a few chairs by the table. It was small alright, and she had no clue how they were going to last a year in this place.

“You have got to be kidding me.” Emma says as she looks around.

Rumple laughs, “I'll be in touch when your portal is ready.” And vanishes a second later.

The pair look around at their home. Seeing the one bed Killian quickly offers, “You take the bed, I’ll sleep on the floor or somewhere it’s fine.”

Emma shakes her head, “no way, you take the bed. I have slept in my car and much worse places before. You take it.”

Hook just laughs, “you really are a stubborn lass. Look, it’s big enough for the both of us. It’ll be fine as long as we stay on our respective sides, no use arguing. We’re going to be here a while, no use one of us being uncomfortable.”

Emma reluctantly agrees.

The first night is the hardest, knowing she won’t see her family, Henry, for a whole year was a lot to wrap her head around. She had really enjoyed this trip when she wasn’t scared for her life, she had seen her parents fall in love and it made her finally understand what that meant, to be born of true love, the true love they had just witnessed.

And Hook. Or rather Killian, she should get used to saying his real name. She couldn’t quite admit to herself that she was falling for him before this trip. It would be a lot simpler if they were going back to Storybrooke, she probably would’ve given him a chance, a date perhaps, and see where it ends up. But this wasn’t Storybrooke. It wasn't even her time. She couldn’t risk whatever they had, not when they had to rely on each other to get home.

The next morning, Emma wakes to find they hadn’t exactly stuck to their respective sides. Killian’s arm was around her waist and she had tucked her head into his chest. It looked very cosy, and to an outsider it would seem they were truly a happy couple. But they weren’t.

Killian luckily wakes around the same time and, noticing the situation they’ve found themselves in, removes his arm and the two don’t say anything about the situation.

Except it keeps happening.

Every. Single. Night.

____

The next few days were spent discussing what their story would be. They had decided that Killian had been discharged from the Royal Navy because of the accident where lost his hand, and they were used to travelling but now had to find somewhere to settle down as a newly married couple.

They found jobs, Emma as the barmaid in the local tavern, similar to the one where she flirted with Other Hook. Killian found a job working by the docks so that he was still close to the water, it was mainly cleaning and anchoring the boats, very different to his pirate days. But it allowed them to slip into the background, not being noticed by anybody and not making any drastic changes to the future.

“How was your day, love?” Killian asks as Emma comes through the door after a long day working in the bar.

Untying her corset, trying to get out of the horrible clothes she tells him,“Horrible. I hate it here.”

Killian looks up at his ‘wife’, “that bad?”

Emma sits down on the chair. “I had 3 separate men try to buy me a drink whilst I was working. I told them I was working, and that I was married and they still tried to touch me up.”

Killian chuckles, “I’m guessing they aren’t going to do that again.”

Emma smiles, “of course not. I hope they won’t be needing their fingers for a while. How was your day?”

“It wasn’t bad. Can’t say I don’t love being by the water but it’s not the same. Although Cassian said he and his wife want to invite us over for dinner one night this week. Said that he wants to see the wife I don’t talk about enough.” He explains, he knows how Emma feels about getting too close with the other villagers, but if they avoid them for too long it could end up much worse.

“You mean you don't talk about your incredible and very hot wife, all day every day? Why did I marry you?” Emma teases. Their relationship has been like this ever since they got stuck, flirting and teasing but never going any further. “I know we can’t avoid other people forever, it’ll only cause more suspicion, so I guess we can meet them for dinner this time.”

“If this dinner goes well, I will start to talk about my incredible wife some more.” Killian teases back, “about how she’s messy and violent and she snores loudly when she sleeps.”

This earns a laugh from Emma, but also a pillow thrown at his head as she changes out of her corset. She’s never complaining about fitting into jeans again.

~~~

A week passes, more shifts at the tavern and more sleazy drunk men who probably have wives and children at their homes.

Emma earns 10 silvers and 15 bronze a week, Killain, 1 gold 9 silver and 12 bronze a week, which Killian told her is decent money, it allows them to feed themselves with food bought from the market, and buy more clothes which are not comfortable in the slightest. She hates the corsets. Luckily. She only has to wear them at work, the clothes she wears outside of work, whilst ugly and plain, are much more comfortable.

Emma wonders if she’s ever seen any of these villagers in Storybrooke, maybe they’re teachers or shop workers. Did they currently have a horrible life, and even though they’re cursed for 28 years, does it get better for them once they’re in Storybrooke?

The day finally arrived that the two of them have to go to dinner with one of the guys Killian works with. And Emma is petrified, it was fine just the two of them going about their days and telling their story to those around, separately. But telling their story together, they’d never done this. Would they know something was up? Would they know they were lying?

Killian can tell she’s tense, so he takes her hand in his and brushes his thumb over hers over and over. He knows her, he can tell when she’s stressed and knows that this calms her.

“It’s gonna be fine,” he whispers to her as they approach their friends home.

“Killian! So good to see you!” A blonde man opens the door, Cassian, Emma assumes. “Welcome, please come on in.”

Killain smiles and takes Emma’s hand in his as they walk through the door.

“May I introduce my beautiful wife, Emma.” Killian says gesturing to Emma who holds out her hand to shake, assured by Killian this was still the proper greeting in the Enchanted Forest.

“Emma. You are as beautiful as Killian has described. May I introduce my wife, Maeve.” Cassian smiles gesturing to a heavily pregnant woman beside him.

“It’s so kind of you to invite us into your lovely home.” Emma smiles, trying to keep her cool composure.

——

The night is pretty simple, they go over the story of how long they’ve been here, Killians time in the Navy, mostly true stories of his actual time, just a fabricated truth to fit the time and their fake timeline. The food was pretty good for the Enchanted Forest, some type of meat, pork or beef maybe, with rice, beans and vegetables. It was okay, but Emma was really missing grilled cheese.

Cassian and Maeve are really lovely people. They discover Maeve normally works at the market, but picks up extra shifts at the Tavern that Emma works at to make extra money, but is taking time off due to her pregnancy. Emma wouldn’t call it Maternity Leave as she was pretty sure it wasn’t a thing in the Enchanted Forest. Maeve said she was convinced it was a boy, but Cassian was sure it was a girl.

“Have you two thought about children yet?” Maeve asks.

Emma almost spits out her water. “Um great question. Um.” She decides to tell a fabricated truth, make it more believable. “I had a son, when I was younger, before I met Killian. I lost him, and I don’t know if I will ever see him again.” Truthfully, she didn’t want to make up a lie about her and Killian, they were not married, they were not together.

“It's a cruel fate to fall pregnant when young and unmarried. I’m sorry to hear that. I wish you the best for the future.” Cassian tells her. She smiles, thanking that they didn’t ask any more questions on the subject.

But there was one story, one question that really fucked Emma up. It was asked by Maeve when she wanted to know more about their marriage.

“So how did you decide you wanted to marry Emma, Killian? I can tell you two married for love, did you plan a romantic proposal or was it a spur of the moment type thing? Cassian proposed to me with his mother’s ring, he took me to the market stall where we first met. I was selling grain and he kept coming back every day for more grain. After weeks of coming to the stall he admitted the truth. A few months later, he took me back to the spot we first met and said he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. Of course I said yes!”

Emma looks over at Killian, hoping he has something to say. “You tell it so well Killian! He’s such a romantic my Killian!”

Killain looks at Emma and smiles. “So I lost my brother at sea years ago, and the only thing I have left of him is his ring. It’s kept me safe all these years, and when I met Emma I knew she was special. She didn’t like me very much at first, but I wore her down. She’s stubborn like my brother, so I knew I had to give her his ring. I took her down to the water, it’s not where we first met but it's where we both come when the world feels on top of us. Not much in my life has felt right since losing my brother, but Emma came into my life and she filled that void. So I took her to the water, got down on one knee and told her I couldn’t imagine my life without her. We don’t have much in terms of money, but we have each other and I think that’s enough.”

Was he serious right now? Emma thought he would maybe change up the story of how he wanted to marry Milah or something, but that was far too descriptive and emotional for it to be a lie or a fabrication. He had clearly thought about it, a little too much, Emma thinks.

Maeve was practically crying. “That is a beautiful story. You two are lucky to have found one another.”

She was going to murder him.

I’m sorry this is all that the Tumblr limit will let me post, check out part 2 here

[softrenjunnie]

“we can’t do this” kisses

pairing: slytherin!chenle x gryffindor!reader

genre: fluff, slight angst?? idk tbh, harry potter!au

warnings: none, maybe a swearword somewhere

wordcount: 1.6k

message: thank you for all of the love on my “collection” posts, aswell as everything else i’ve posted. i really really appreciate it and it means a lot to me. i honestly dont know about this one, i had a good thought but then... idk what the end is. anywayssss i hope you enjoy? feedback is always gladly accepted but pls be easy on me about this one lmao :// also you dont even wanna know how many times i typen cnehle instead of chenle, ive seen that video too many times.... second also; sorry for being so slow w my updates, ive been having less time and inspiration to write recently... :( third also: not spellchecked aaaah gonna try to do that tomorrow but im too tired rn :/

21 kisses masterlist l Full masterlist

Many months had passed since you last spoke to Chenle. Heck, if it hadn’t been for the fact that you were seated next to him in muggle studies (because the seats were fixed and you had decided on the first day of classes that you wanted to sit together), you wouldn’t even have been near him. 

You’re a Gryffindor, Chenle is a Slytherin. Your mother is an auror and your father works for the Minister for Magic, while both Chenle’s parents were known death eaters. Or, well, they weren’t known when you started dating him, and if they had been back then you wouldn’t have gotten yourself involved with him.

Your parents had met Chenle several times, and they were always supportive of your relationship. But you wished you could say that they had been equally as supportive after it was discovered that his parents were death eaters. Your mother had sent you a letter the day they found out, and when you didn’t respond, your father traveled all the way to Hogwarts to talk to you in person and ban you from ever speaking to Chenle again, by threatening to take you out of hogwarts if you didn’t follow his orders. They had even made sure your friends and most of your teachers knew you weren’t supposed to meet him, so they would drag you away from him if you even as much as tried to talk to him.

But that didn’t mean that you weren’t looking at him. Or talking about him. Or thinking about him. That didn’t mean that you didn’t know exactly where he was at 99% of the time or that you didn’t know what was happening in his life. And it most certainly didn’t mean that you didn’t love him. Because you did. You couldn’t just shut off your feelings, no matter what your parents wanted.

Many parents had sent in threatening letters to the headmaster, telling him to expel Chenle because his behavior could inspire other students to learn about dark magic. But the headmaster always responded by saying that there would be no punishment for anyone based on what their parents had done, because children don’t necessarily take after their parents. And you were so thankful for that - because he was completely right. Chenle was not at all like that. He had been distancing himself from his parents as much as he could since the moment he found out about them over seven years ago; he’d even left them to live with his grandmother instead. You just wished your parents understood that. 

You often found yourself looking down the hallway in the dungeon when you had finished potions class, hoping to see Chenle strutting to or from his common room with his friends. Or thinking of him when his favorite dish was sitting right in front of you at dinner, making you throw a glance over at his usual spot by the slytherin table to make sure he was digging into it as usual. 

Except, one day, he wasn’t at dinner. You didn’t stop looking when you couln’t see him in his usual seat; you searched the entire slytherin table from your place across the room with your eyes, in case he’d decided to get a new seat; and then you searched the rest of the great hall in case he was talking to a teacher or someone from another house. But there was no Chenle. You thought it was very strange, as he never missed a meal - so you excused yourself from your seat and instead walked over to the slytherin table. By the end of it sat the people who you recognized as Chenle’s best friends, Renjun and Jisung, two full blood slytherins whose parents were speculated to be working with Chenle’s. They didn’t look too happy to see you.

“What are you doing here?” Jisung sneered at you once you came close enough to hear.

“I’m just wondering if you know where Chenle is,” you said, voice much calmer than the one that spoke before you.

“Why do you care,” Renjun spat right after swallowing down a piece of chicken. “You’ve made it pretty clear you don’t want anything to do with him anymore.”

“Oh, and you are mad about that?” Even though you had tried to remain calm, you could feel the anger boiling inside of you.

“Yes, Chenle is-“

He had barely just started talking when you cut him off. “You think you’re mad? There are people who are suffering way more from this than you, you idiot. Try to get that thought through your small brain. Maybe the person who’s been ignored, or maybe the person who’s going to be kicked out of hogwarts if she is seen speaking to Chenle.” You hadn’t been able to hold back - but it felt good. When you were done with your mini-rant, you straightened your posture again and looked at the boys with calmer eyes. They seemed surprised, and possibly a bit scared, and Jisung had dropped his fork from his mouth to his plate with a loud thud when you started. “So, I would really appreciate it if you could tell me where Chenle is at.”

Even though they were frightened of what Chenle had threatened them with doing if they spoke about his whereabouts, they told you about how Chenle had said that he wasn’t feeling like having lunch and was probably sitting in the library to study for his exam the next day. Forgetting all about your friends back at your table (and the risk of them seeing you by the slytherin table and connecting the dots), you hurried out of the great hall and made your way down the hallway towards the library.

Your mind was blank, you didn’t know at all what to say to Chenle if you even found him. Yet there was something telling you to go; something inside of you forcing you find him. He had his favorite spot in the library, by one of the windows deep inside, so when you finally made it into the library, you knew exactly where to look. And sure enough, staring into his history of magic book, he sat by the same table as he always did. He hadn’t heard you as your last few steps had been soft, so you faked a quiet cough to get his attention. 

“What are you doing here?”

You sighed at the tone in his voice - you had been a bit surprised before you reminded yourself that you shouldn’t have expected anything. Instead of answering his question, you asked him one. “Why weren’t you at dinner?”

He put his book down and stood up, frowning at you. “Did you seriously come here just to ask me why I didn’t have dinner?”

You shrugged and looked down at your feet, suddenly feeling shy. “Yeah,” you mumbled.

“Okay, so,” he started, pacing slowly towards you. “you don’t speak to me for weeks, maybe even months, and then you come all the way to the library to ask why I didn’t have dinner?” You looked up from the ground to see him staring right into your eyes. “Not really that believeable.”

You didn’t know what to say. The day you had been banned from speaking to him, you had walked straight up to him to tell him that you wanted to break up with him. That’s it. No explanation, not giving him any chance to talk to you. And you hated it, but you weren’t sure how to make it better.

“Shit, Chenle, I’m sorry. I really am,” you sighed, holding back the tears that were threatening to fall from your eyes at any moment now from seeing how angry he was. He had never before looked at you with such flames in his eyes as he was right now. “I... I don’t know what to do to make you understand-“

He cut you off, his tone piercingly sharp. “Just tell me. Tell me the truth.” You blinked a couple of times, hoping that it would help push the water in your eyes back. “Is it because of my parents that you act like I suddenly don’t exist?”

“Yes but-“

And again, he didn’t let you speak. “I though you knew me. I thought you saw me for who I am, not for who my parents are.”

You couldn’t hold back. You stepped towards him, cupping his face in your hands and scanned his eyes for any sign of doubt (except for his continuedly frowned eyebrows). It was like a magnetic force pulled you to him, that pulled your mouth to his. You could instantly feel how much you’d missed this feeling, even though it was barely just a brush. 

Chenle pulled away almost the exact moment you’d launched forward, and though his expression was hard to read, it told you that he wasn’t angry at you. He let out a shaky breath, as he dropped his head to let his forehead rest on your shoulder. “We can’t do this...” he mumbled, his arms snaking around your lower back to hold you close. 

You held him around his shoulders, leaning your head on top of yours. “I’m so sorry, Chenle. I’m going to find a way to fix this,” you mumbled. “My parents... they made sure I didn’t talk to you. I’ll do something to make this right.” 

“But before that, can you just hold me?” 

You might have ignored him for such a long time, but that didn’t mean that you had stopped loving him. Nor that you weren’t ready to fight for your relationship. 

[flooffybits]

After All

Idol: Kim Jisoo (Blackpink)

Request: Yes

Anon: Can I get a Jisoo scenario where she’s a princess and reader is assigned as her personal guard? Reader is a knight famous for being extremely skilled yet cold and stoic so Jisoo thinks she hates her? The reader almost dies protecting jisoo from an assassin and thats where she confesses she never hated her and actually loved her thanksss

Warning: blood, some violence?

Author’s note: wasn’t exactly my best work so im sorry for this

As a young girl, Jisoo’s had everything handed to her. Whatever she asked for, her father made sure she would get, and if anyone tried to bring her harm would always find themselves at either the end of a blade or locked in the dungeons.

Kim Jisoo is the kingdom’s most prized possession, so it was understandable to have guards posted at every corner to ensure her safety. No man or woman was allowed to touch her unless no threat was found from them.

Despite having everything handed to her on a silver platter, Jisoo had manners. She was never snobby nor did she use her authority to make others feel inferior to her. She was a kind-hearted soul that earned the people’s love and respect.

You, on the other hand, were born from a poor family. While your parents slaved away, they found that they could not keep you safe if you were to stay with them, so they had given you to to royal family to be trained to serve, not only them but the entire kingdom.

This, in turn, caused various of the castle residents to whisper. Words of either pity or disgust was all you’ve ever heard while growing up, which then caused you to turn away from everyone, acting like a lone wolf and distancing from every person there. The only times you’ve ever interacted with anyone was when you were ordered to deliver things to the king and queen or when you were called to train.

It was one day while you were training did little Jisoo see you, separated from the guards and others in training as they enjoyed their meal. She wondered why you, someone who looked to be around her age, was all alone and covered in dirt and grime whilst the people around you happily chatted and acted without a care in the world.

“Should you not be eating with the others?” Her curious tone rang in your ears just as the wooden sword came into contact with one of the dummies your superiors had you use for practice.

Turning around, you know right away that this was no ordinary girl, given the way she stood, dressed, and spoke. But with the years you’ve been stuck in the castle, seeing Jisoo in person was never a privilege you’ve come to stumble upon.

Until now.

“You mustn’t be here, princess.” She pouts as her question goes unanswered, at the same time, being told that she was prohibited from being in the training grounds. She huffed before raising her nose to the sky. “I can come here as I please. I must see that our guards are fit in protecting the kingdom!” She proclaimed with such childlike glee that you can’t help but find it endearing.

Yet your mask never falters as you watch her before shaking your head. “I assure you that the guards are doing their best, princess.” You tell her while looking down to the wooden sword.

Before the young girl could say more, there was the sound of footsteps coming closer until maids have swooped in to take the princess back into the castle and Jisoo is left looking over her shoulder to see you turning your back on her and resuming what she had interrupted.

..

Since that day, Jisoo has been curious as to who you were. Before she could have asked for your name, the maids came in to retrieve her and she mentally cursed herself for not asking as soon as she spoke.

She makes it a habit to pass by the training grounds as much as possible, telling her father once that she only did it to make sure that the guards were not slacking off. She couldn’t possibly tell him that she’d gotten interested in one of the guards in training unless she wanted the guard exiled from the castle.

But one day, she hadn’t expected her father to assign her a new guard. “Your former guard is not fitted to continue looking after you, dear daughter.” The king told her when she asked him about his reasoning. “But Taewo has been my guard since I was thirteen. How is he not fit after five long years?” She questioned, and her father shook his head.

“It is not something I wish to discuss further. The reason I asked you to come here is to meet your new guard.” Truthfully, she wanted to protest. Taewo was someone she’s grown to trust and rely on. He acted like an uncle to Jisoo, and knowing that he would no longer be around made her feel disheartened.

Nodding the to the guards posted by the door, the two bow before opening it, allowing the person waiting to finally enter and Jisoo’s eyes immediately widen at the familiar looking face.

Even though you’ve grown and your face had matured, she was still able to distinguish your eyes. It was the same eyes that had sparked her curiosity since the first time she’s met you.

“This is Y/n L/n, one of our best trained soldiers. They’ve climbed the ranks ever since they were fourteen, and has been a reliable asset ever since. They are one of our youngest commanding officers.” The king explained, but Jisoo’s attention is elsewhere.

She blinks once, twice, a few more times before she looked back to her father, and then back to you.

Y/n.

She repeats your name quietly under her breath, enjoying the way it rolled off her tongue and how nice it sounded.

So after how many years of watching, she finally knew your name, and she would have you close when she needed you. No longer did she have to make excuses nor would she have to watch you from a distance.

“Y/n.” The king addresses you and you lift your head to meet his gaze. “Take care of my daughter.” Despite saying something so simple, it was clear as day. Protect her, or die trying. There was no other option because if the princess was ever harmed, it would be your head.

With a nod, you bow your head. “Until my last breath, your highness.” Jisoo frowns when you refuse to meet her gaze.

Do you not remember her, she wonders. That would be impossible though since she is the princess. Maybe you simply didn’t like her because of her being from royalty. She had everything without needing to ask, yet you worked hard to get where you had to be.

With that in mind, she made it her personal mission to get you to see that she was not like any other noble out there. She was determined to befriend you and get you to open up to her.

Or so she hoped.

Four months of having you as a guard and Jisoo is just about ready to tear her hair out with how frustrating you were. You barely spoke to her, and whenever she tried to ask a bit more less than professional questions, you would completely brush her off.

When she asked you to join her for tea, you would decline, always saying that you could not leave your post or need to be a certain distance away.

You always had an excuse and it was making her lose heart.

Despite that you were more than perfect in protecting her, she wanted to be able to get along with you. But you wouldn’t let her near you, both literally and figuratively.

So one night, while one of her maids were busy drying her hair, she couldn’t help but ask. “Is Y/n… do they hate me?” She asks softly and the woman blinks at her through the mirror before smiling and shaking her head.

“Y/n is a very guarded person, your highness. After being sold off to the family, people have given them a hard time. It’s nothing but orders or training for them, and very few have ever shown them kindness.” She explained as she began to brush the princess’s hair. “Y/n is a person of few words, m'lady, and I know you are trying, but rest assured, they do not hate you.”

After that talk, Jisoo decided to change her approach. She’s let herself actually think about what it was like to be in your shoes, so she takes her time when it comes to you. She knows not to cross a line and she’s learned not to force you into speaking, things that you’ve been able to pick up on.

At first, it confused you, but the longer you’ve spent time with Jisoo, the more that soft spot for her grew. The way she would constantly look after you or when she just asked about your day despite having you by her side throughout the day, it was hard not to like her.

She was unbelievably kind and radiated so much warmth that it drew people to her, you included.

Even when you tried to keep things professional between the two of you, she made it difficult with keeping your defenses up. She was slowly cracking at the ice that surrounded your heart and you weren’t putting much of a fight anymore.

“You should smile more.” Jisoo commented one day when you were accompanying her in the garden. A grunt came from your lips and she giggled as she ran her fingers over the bushes then picking up a single rose. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you do anything other than frown. You’re going to get wrinkles at an early age.” She teased and you roll your eyes at her comment.

“I’m supposed to look intimidating, not friendly.” You quip and her grin broadens because you were speaking much more to her than the first few months that you’ve been assigned her guard.

“I’m the only one here. Surely, I can be an exception?” She asks, brows wiggling in a joking manner and you lightly scoff, shaking your head.

Jisoo frowns at that, her lower lip jutting out into a small pout and you could only groan at her childish behavior.

But when both of you had gone quite, your ears perked up when a rustling sound came. Turning your head, you quickly stood by Jisoo and ushered her to head inside. “What are you doing?” The princess questioned confusedly, trying to push your arm away, but you sent her a glare. “There’s no time to discuss things, your highness. So, please, get inside while I-”

Just as you both got to the door, a hooded figure jumped down in front of you. Since Jisoo was gripping your right arm, you weren’t able to grab your sword in time. Instead, you pushed the princess through the door, hissing as the person’s blade sliced at your shoulder.

When you were sure that Jisoo was in the safety of the castle, you wasted no time in unsheathing your own sword to defend the princess. The person seemed to get the message and lunged at you while Jisoo stared in horror.

You may have been a skilled fighter, but whoever this person was looked like they knew how to fend for themselves just as well because of all the blows that were dealt on your body. Every time your blade in contact with them, they would retaliate.

Blood dripped down your arm, but when you were about to strike the person again, they quickly jabbed at your side before tackling you to the floor. Your sword fell from your grasp while their blade pressed against your neck.

“Any last words?” The asked mockingly and you held your breath, teeth clenched together as you felt the sharp weapon digging into your skin.

While the attacker was busy focusing on you, both of you failed to notice Jisoo reaching for a rock nearby before she’s launching it at the person’s head. It hit with deadly accuracy and you used that as a chance to push them off, grabbing the dagger from their hands before ramming it into their chest.

As soon as he’s down, you lay on the floor with a grunt and Jisoo is hurrying to your side after calling for help, worry etched on her features as she tried to see the severity of your injuries.

“Y/n!” Her eyes are scanning you from head to toe, paling at the amount of blood that stained your uniform. She felt her hands shaking but you gently place your own over them to assure her that you’re fine.

“If you hated me that much, you could have just said so instead of trying to die like that!” She rants, doing her best to make sure that you weren’t hurting as much, but you give her a look of pure confusion at the words she had uttered out.

“Hate you?”

She rolls her eyes and huffs, stilling her hands on her lap, not bothering with the blood that stained her dress. “Well, from the way you’ve been around me, I always thought that you didn’t like me. I thought you were burdened with having to look after me.” Her voice grew quieter the more she spoke and you frown before lightly touching her arm.

“I never hated you.” You mumble softly. “In fact, I was always very fond of you.”

The admission makes her eyes snap back to your face and she’s surprised by the small smile that sneaks its way onto your face, breaking your icy facade. “Ever since we were children, I knew you were different.” You add and she felt her heart leap to her throat as you spoke.

“When you would watch the training grounds, you stick out like a sore thumb.” You chuckle before meeting her eyes again and then shaking your head. “But with the few months I spent with you, you showed me exactly how different you were and, well… I think it’s clarified that I was more than fond of you.”

“Along the way, I found myself loving you.”

Since the day she’s met you, you’ve been stuck in her mind. And to this day, she didn’t think you would make such an impact in her life.

But as she stared at you, despite your bruised and slightly bloodied state, she found herself drawn to you yet again. The gentle smile and the light spark in your eyes, the love, she would do anything just to see that.

So with a smile of her own, she rested her hand against your cheek before pressing her lips to your forehead.

It may have been unconventional, but with you by her side, maybe she wouldn’t mind. After all, her father would never deny her of what she wanted.

[freddiesaysalright]

Tale as Old as Time - Chapter 2

Rami!Prince Adam x Reader

Summary: A prince cursed. A young woman aching for adventure. The classic tale of seeing beauty within. 

Word Count: 5.1k

Tag List: @psychosupernatural​, @someone-get-a-medic​, @bensrhapsody​, @deakyclicks​, @crazylittlethingcalledobsession​, @minigranger​, @crazyweirdocalledfriday​, @the-moving-finger-writes​, @assembledherethevolunteers​, @rose-writes-prose​, @queenlover05​, @26-7-49​, @drowsebaby​, @im-an-adult-ish​, @xviiarez​, @rogerina-owns-me​ If you’d like to be added, let me know!

A/N: The second part of our Beauty and the Beast AU! The adventure really begins in this chapter :)

Warning(s): None!

Moodboard

Prologue  Chapter 1

Chapter 2 here we go!!!

The next day, you were making your breakfast after your morning trip into town. More toast and preserves. You found yourself missing your father, but at the same time grateful for his absence. It was really your last hope against marrying Victor. But your father was a constant comfort to you. You always missed him - even if he did snore. 

You began cleaning up from your meal when you looked across the counter and saw it - your father’s medicine. He had left it behind. Worry shot through your heart. Could he make it a whole day without it? You had never tried since Lyle prescribed it. You could always ride into the city yourself, but you weren’t sure of the way, and it was dangerous to go alone as a young woman. You briefly considered asking Victor to escort you, but you didn’t want to put your father in the situation of having to explain why he wasn’t thrilled with your decision. 

With a sigh, you carefully wrapped up the medicine and headed out to the stable to fetch your horse. You would go alone. It may be dangerous, but it was not a terribly long journey, especially since you weren’t hauling a well-built wood chopper behind you. 

You placed the medicine and some bread into your saddlebag. Your horse, a sweet palomino named Dotty, nipped your shoulder affectionately after you put the bit in her mouth. You giggled as you led her out into the open. Just as you mounted, you heard another horse clopping up to you. You turned your head and held back a groan. It was Victor. 

“Y/N!” he said. “I must have missed you in town this morning.”

“I wasn’t long, my father is in the city today,” you told him.

“How did he take our big announcement?” he asked, raising his eyebrows. 

“Quite well,” you lied. “He said he shall miss me terribly, but if it’s what I want, then…”

“Good, good,” he said. “Well, I’ll make a formal announcement today and -”

“No, don’t!” you cried hastily. 

He shot you a quizzical look and you cleared your throat. 

“It’s just...I don’t want everyone to know just yet,” you said. “Let’s make the announcement after we set a date.”

“My darling, you are a tease!” he chuckled. ‘Very well, we’ll do as you please for now. Just don’t go into our marriage thinking you can get your way all the time.”

“Of course not,” you said, holding back on your sarcasm. “But the wedding is about the bride. The marriage is about the groom.”

“That’s a good girl,” he said. “Where are you off to?”

“Oh, I’m bringing my father his medicine,” you said. “He left it by mistake.”

“Allow me to escort you,” he said. “It’s dangerous in those woods.”

“I’ll be alright, Victor, really,” you insisted. “Don’t fret about me. Besides, the rest of the village will miss you.”

“I do have quite a few appointments today that I really shouldn’t reschedule,” he said, touching his chin with his forefinger. “Alright, Y/N. Shall I come again tomorrow to see your father?”

“If it pleases you,” you said. “He won’t be back until the evening, though.”

“I’ll be here then,” he told you. “Good luck!”

“Thank you,” you replied. 

He galloped away and you released a relieved sigh. You weren’t sure how long you could dodge him if you had to be in town, so you were grateful for the errand. With a nervous gulp, you headed into the woods.

For a while, you thought it would be easy, since the wagon had made tracks in the soft mud from the storm. But eventually, things got messy. Your father had evidently turned around several times, which confused you. You approached a charred tree and found Phillipe’s scattered hoof prints.

“What happened here?” you wondered.

You dismounted to more closely examine the ground. There were no tracks leading in the direction of the city. It was north of  the village. It appeared the next set of tracks went east. Remounting Dotty, you urged her on. 

The trees thickened along your track. The ground squished beneath Dotty’s hooves since the sun could not dry it out. You saw splinters of wood scattered along the trail from where the wagon must have barrelled over the roots or struck the trunks of the trees. Worry clawed at you some more. You weren’t sure what you would find at the end.

As the trees thinned out, some hope was restored to you. The sun was brightly shining on what appeared to be a clearing. Only, when you got closer, you realized it wasn’t. You had come upon the entrance to a massive garden.

It was difficult to see over the wall, but through the gate, you could clearly see roses. They were beautiful, but you couldn’t focus on them. They only reminded you more of your father. You heard a soft whinny to your left and whipped around.

“Phillipe!” you cried.

He stood back in the brush, shivering and still damp from the rain. You scrambled off of Dotty and hurried to him. He shrunk back, but you placed a comforting hand on his neck.

“Phillipe, it’s alright,” you soothed him. “I’m here now. Where’s Papa?”

You looked around for any sign of your father. Phillipe still had the wagon hitched on, but the seat was empty. There didn’t appear to be anyone lying on the ground around you either. You looked back toward the garden. Had your father maybe gone in to try and fetch you a rose?

You tied Dotty to a branch near Phillipe to ease him further. Then you went to the gate. With shaking hands, you reached toward it. The iron was cold from the wind of the storm and the chilly morning air. You shivered. Then, you gave it a push.

To your surprise, it opened. There was a loud, rusty squeak as it moved, but you couldn’t worry about that. You saw - down the path - your father’s hat.

You gasped and darted over to retrieve it. A million questions went through your mind. Especially after you spotted his pocket knife and a cut rose just a few feet away.

Gathering the rose and knife along with the hat, you forced yourself forward into the garden. The pathway was clear and free of debris, so someone was clearly maintaining it. If it was a garden, then it had to be attached to a building of some kind. You prayed it was a hospital and that someone was caring for your father.

The path wound through the hedges. With each step, your nerves only grew. You had to find your father, but what happened once you did? Would you be able to find your way back out of here? What was this place? Where were the people?

A building began to take shape in the distance. It hit you all at once where you had to be. The old palace. It made your stomach drop to think about. The palace was rumored to be haunted, and you didn’t know if you believed in ghosts, but any abandoned building with such a mystery around it gave you the creeps. Could your father really be in there? If so, why?

At the end of the garden was a courtyard. The courtyard had a magnificent water fountain in the center, but it wasn’t running. On the other side of the fountain was a set of large, oak front doors. Elaborate gold knockers were on each side, shaped like lion’s heads.

You glanced around once more, hoping beyond hope that your father was somewhere outside and you could hurry away from here together. There was still nothing.

With a deep breath, you knocked. The door fell slightly ajar, making you jump. You gathered yourself and pushed further, poking your head in first. The entryway was magnificent - the ceilings were as high as the clouds, a wide staircase led up and away, with plush red carpet up the middle. Everything was finely decorated. Only, it was all faded. Like an antique shop. A thin layer of dust sat atop each item like a sheet. It felt abandoned, which was a stark contrast to the garden.

“H-hello?” you called out shakily. “Hello, is anyone there? Papa?”

Your voice echoed in the chamber-like hall. Hesitantly, you stepped over the threshold. No one seemed to be answering your call, so you went further in.

“Hello?”

Still nothing but your own voice coming back to you. A light came on in the corridor to your right, so you hastened to follow it. 

“Papa!” you cried desperately.

When you looked down the hall, there was still no one there. Confused and even more frightened, you continued on.

“Please, is anyone there?” you tried again. “I’m looking for my father!”

A whisper came from further down the hall. You walked more. At the end of the hall, there was a staircase. One led up, and the other led down. Making a split second choice, you headed down. There were more lights on that way. As you made your way down, you gulped.

About halfway down the winding staircase, you got nervous again. The silence was overwhelming. And although you couldn’t see anyone, you felt like you were being watched. You could sense curious eyes on you and it made your skin crawl.

“Papa?” you called out one last time.

“Y/N?” a weak voice croaked back at you.

Then you heard a violent coughing fit.

“Papa!” you shouted, and flew down the rest of the flight of stairs.

You came into a dungeon. You father was behind bars on a cold stone floor. His face was pale, but his eyes were watered with the effort of his coughing. You saw blood seep between his fingers covering his mouth.

“Papa!” you gasped, kneeling in front of him. “What’s happened? Who did this to you?”

“Y/N, get out of here!” he returned wildly. “You’ve got to go now before he finds you!”

“Before who finds me?!” you wondered, hurt and confused.

At that moment, the torch above you went out. You gasped again and turned around, searching the darkness for whatever had moved. You saw a large shadow in the corner.

“Who are you?” you demanded, sounding far braver than you felt. “Let us out of here!”

A low growl made the hair on your neck stand up.

“I’m the master of this castle,” a gravelly voice replied. “That man committed a punishable offense.”

“What offense was that?” you insisted.

“He cut my roses,” the voice said.

“So you locked him in prison?!” you challenged. “That punishment doesn’t exactly fit the crime!”

“What do you know?!” the voice shot back. “This is my castle, and I’ll run it however I please!”

“Whoever you are, I beg you to let my father go,” you said, softer now. “He’s sick, and he’ll die in here if he doesn’t get help.”

“That’s not my concern,” he snapped.

Tears welled up in your eyes. Had you come this far only to have to say goodbye?

“Please,” you said. “Don’t you know mercy? Compassion?”

“The world has shown me no mercy or compassion, why should I?” he barked.

“There must be something I can do….” you trailed off.

An idea came to you, though you hated to do it. It meant the end of your life as you knew it.

“Let me take his place,” you said.

“No, Y/N, you can’t!” your father burst out. “I won’t let you!”

You shushed him. The creature in the corner turned to look at you. You could just barely see his eyes from the glow of the torch down the hall.

“You would surrender yourself for him?” he questioned.

“Well - of course I would, he’s my father,” you said simply. “I can’t let him waste away in here.”

“I won’t let you, Y/N!” your father repeated. “I’m an old man, I’ve had my chance at life. You deserve to be free to live yours!”

“Papa, don’t you understand?” you replied. “I’m a prisoner no matter what. At least this way...I’m not his wife.”

“Y/N, don’t!” Paul pleaded. 

“I’m offering you myself,” you said to the creature. “Just let him go.”

“Done,” he said harshly, and you squeezed your eyes shut, hoping you hadn’t made a mistake.

The creature moved past you to unlock the cell door. You finally saw it close up. He was a monstrous looking beast, with thick, dark fur, sharp fangs, and horns. He walked up on two legs, but hunched over so much, his front paws could have touched the ground. You clapped a hand over your mouth to hold back another gasp.

He grabbed your father by the collar and yanked him from the cell before slamming it shut again. He dropped Paul in front of you.

“I’ll give you a moment,” he said.

You blinked, surprised at the sympathy he showed before turning his back. Then you turned your attention to your father.

“Y/N, please,” he begged. “Don’t do this. You’re my child, I’m supposed to sacrifice for you. We’ll figure something out, but you can’t -”

You put a finger to his lips to silence him. “It’s done, Papa. I could never live with myself if I left you here.”

“And how am I to live with myself leaving you behind?” he argued. 

“This is my choice,” you reminded him gently. 

His lip trembled and he pulled you into a hug. You sagged against him, etching the feeling of his embrace into your memory, for you would never feel it again.

“I’ll come back for you with help from the village,” your father whispered. “You aren’t stuck here.”

You returned with only the slightest of nods. With a sniffle, you pulled away.

“I love you, Papa,” you said.

“I love you more, my darling girl,” he replied.

With that, he allowed himself to be led away by the beast. He disappeared. You gave yourself a moment to cry. You were alone and scared, and you had no idea the nature of this beast. You thought he must be cruel to lock up an old man for a flower. But then, he allowed you to say goodbye. And those eyes...you had never seen such anguished eyes.

You wiped your eyes and got to your feet, waiting for the beast to return and put you in a cell. He was taking a long while.

“Prince Rami,” said Mrs. Carson gently as she followed him back from the front door. “I think you ought to give the girl a proper bedroom.”

“I agree,” said the butler, Thomas. “What if she’s the one to break the spell? She can’t fall in love with you if she feels like a prisoner.”

“She is a prisoner,” Rami argued. “Besides, did you see her? A girl that beautiful could never...don’t trust a hope.”

The pair looked at their master a moment while he released a sigh.

“Show her to her room and let her know when dinner is ready,” he said heavily. “I...I can’t face her right now.”

“Yes, sir,” said Mrs. Carson, and she headed back to where you were waiting.

You heard footsteps coming back down the hall, but the shape that appeared before you was not the beast. It was a kind looking old woman. She smiled at you and held up a lantern so you could see better.

“Alright, love,” she said. “Let’s show you to your room.”

“My room?” you questioned. “I thought I was a prisoner.”

“The master’s had a change of heart,” she told you. “Since you’ll be here permanently, he wants you to be comfortable.”

That puzzled you, but you didn’t dare question it further. So, you followed her up the stairs and down through the main hall again. Then you went up more stairs, heading for a tower on the east side of the castle.

“I’m Mrs. Carson, by the way,” the woman said. “I’m the housekeeper. I’ll be your first resource for whatever you need.”

“I’m Y/N,” you said. “Can I ask you something, Mrs. Carson?”

“Certainly, dear.”

“Is this the place where the king and queen were killed all those years ago?” you asked.

She stopped and turned to face you.

“Sadly, it is,” she answered, looking grim.

She kept walking. 

“Did you work for them?” you wondered.

“I did,” she said.

“How did they die?” you pressed. 

“I don’t know,” she said. “I didn’t see it happen. There was an attack, but I don’t know by whom or for what reasons.”

“Do you know what became of the prince?” 

She halted again, but this time, did not look at you.

“I do,” she said.

Your eyes widened. “W...what happened?”

“I’m not really at liberty to say, dear,” she said, and you thought you heard her voice break over her words. “It’s too horrible.”

“I’m sorry,” you said. “I don’t mean to pry, but -”

“I understand,” she cut across you. “But I can’t betray them. You’ll more than likely learn what happened for yourself, but whatever the master wants you to know must come from him.”

“How did he get control of this place?” you wondered. “If the royal family is gone?”

“It’s his home,” she said simply. “I can’t say any more than that.”

It was a cryptic and strange answer, but you decided to drop the issue and keep walking. Mrs. Carson led you up to a beautiful bedroom with a regal looking bed and fine mahogany furniture. It still felt as suffocating as the cell in the dungeon.

“I’ll send Anna up in a few minutes to prepare you for dinner,” Mrs. Carson said. “She’ll attend to your daily needs such as clothing and hair.”

“I don’t need -”

“It’s best not to argue,” she interrupted sweetly. “Besides, she hasn’t had a beautiful lady to dress in years!”

You chuckled in spite of yourself. Mrs. Carson closed the door behind her. You expected to hear her turn the lock, but she didn’t. That was a relief. But it hit you suddenly how much you were losing by remaining here. Every dream you’d ever had of traveling, all your hopes of falling in love and marrying, each day you could spend reading as your father worked beside you. All of it was gone.

You collapsed on the bed and let yourself cry some more. You didn’t regret your decision. But you were mourning the loss of a life you had loved. And had taken for granted.

You grieved for about an hour, and when you had collected yourself again, there was a soft knock on the door. Even so, it made you jump.

“Who is it?” you asked.

“It’s Anna,” the voice on the other side replied. “May I come in?”

“Of course,” you allowed.

The knob turned and in walked a middle aged blonde woman with a wide, comforting smile. Draped over her arms were three dresses.

“I thought you could choose what you’d like to wear for dinner,” she said. “These are some of the queen’s old things, so they may not fit exactly right, but I’ll alter them for you as needed.”

“Oh, that’s very kind of you, but I’d rather not,” you said. “I don’t want to have dinner with your master. I need some time.”

Her expression softened as she looked at you. “I completely understand. I’ll tell Mrs. Carson.”

“Thank you, Anna,” you said.

“Of course,” she replied.

She retreated from the room. When she closed the door she heaved a sigh.

Rami was pacing in the dining room. Anxiety made him feel impatient and irritable. He was already feeling guilty about his actions, something he had not experienced in many years. But something about you made him feel...shame. 

“You must settle down, sir,” Thomas said. “I’m sure once the shock has worn off, things will go alright.”

Rami huffed. “Easy for you to say.”

The door cracked open. Rami stiffened and faced it. Only, you did not emerge. It was Mrs. Carson.

“She’s not coming to dinner,” she said. “She said she needs more time.”

Rami sighed. He supposed he should have expected as much. 

“I understand,” he said. “Have her food sent to her room.”

“Yes, sir,” she replied. “May I suggest something for tomorrow?”

“Sure,” he said.

“Invite her in person,” she told him. “The only way she can get to know you is by presenting yourself to her.”

Rami opened his mouth to tell her it wasn’t even worth it, but he knew she would still encourage him to try. She had never given up hope that the curse could be broken, even if he had.

Even though it was fairly early, you decided to change and get ready for bed. You didn’t wait for Anna since you were used to changing on your own anyway. Just as you stepped out of your dress, there was a knock on the door. It started off loud, then a hesitation, and then a softer knock. Brow furrowed, you went to the door. On the floor sat a tray of food. It was a whole spread of cheese, bread, salad, soup, an entree, and even wine. Surprised, you looked and saw a furry paw disappear around the corner. You heard his steps padding away. The beast had brought you dinner himself.

With your spirit lifted, you took the tray into your room.

In the morning, you woke early. You almost forgot the events of the previous evening until your bleary eyes took in your surroundings. The large bedroom, the down pillows beneath your head, and the satin sheets covering you. You were in the palace. And the prisoner of the beast who ruled it.

You sat up. The tray for your dinner had already been removed and replaced with some breakfast. Steam rose from the cup of hot tea. 

“Well, this is the most luxurious treatment for a prisoner,” you said to yourself.

You ate in bed and then got up, wondering what on earth you were going to do to occupy yourself. There had to be plenty to discover in a castle like this, but you had so much time to do it. Part of you was also tempted to stay in bed and mope.

“Y/N,” said Anna’s voice as she knocked on the door. “It’s Anna. Would you like some help getting dressed?”

“Come in,” you said, unsure how to answer her. “You don’t have to dress me, you know.”

“I don’t mind, it’s my job,” she replied. “Besides, I think the queen’s old things might not be familiar to you.”

“I have my own dress,” you argued.

“I’ve washed it,” she returned simply. “It’s still drying.”

“Oh,” you said. “That was kind of you.”

She smiled. “Here. Let’s get you into something for the day.”

She held up a gown that was much nicer than anything you had ever owned. Feeling awkward, and a little guilty, you let her help you into it. It fit surprisingly well, but you weren’t sure it suited you. You almost felt like you were playing dress up. Then you looked in the mirror.

The dress was a simple, day dress, but still beautiful. You looked like a grown woman in it, a feeling you were still adjusting to. The way it hugged your curves and accentuated your body was incredibly flattering. You had never felt more like royalty.

“It’s too much,” you said.

“Nonsense, it’s a day dress,” Anna reminded you.

“Still,” you said. “It feels…”

You paused, words failing you. 

“You look lovely,” she said. 

“Are all prisoners treated this nicely?” you wondered.

She chuckled. “The master would rather you not think of yourself as a prisoner. You’re his guest now.”

“A guest is free to leave,” you retorted.

“Not before they’ve properly met their host,” she replied.

You sighed. Shortly after, Mrs. Carson arrived to give you a tour of the castle. She showed you everywhere you were allowed to go from your room to the kitchen, to the main hall, to the garden. The garden was your favorite so far, as it was much less intimidating in the sunlight. Across the courtyard, you watched the beast come into view. 

To your great shock, he was talking to the plants. You couldn’t hear what he was saying, but it was such a tender thing to do, it nearly knocked you off your feet. How could a creature who would lock someone up over a rose also be so nurturing? Those roses must mean something more to him.

You didn’t get the chance to figure it out before Mrs. Carson led you away from the gardens and into the vegetable patches. There was a slim, young woman on her knees in the dirt there, puttering around among the growth.

“Daisy,” said Mrs. Carson. “Good morning to you.”

Daisy looked up. She had a sweet, round face with mousy brown hair falling around it. 

“Morning, Mrs. Carson,” she said. “Just gathering some things for dinner.”

“I’m glad,” Mrs. Carson replied. “Daisy, this is Y/N. She’s come to live at the palace now.”

Daisy got to her feet, brushing her hands on her apron before offering you one to shake.

“Nice to meet you, m’lady,” she said brightly.

“Just Y/N is fine,” you assured her, shaking her hand.

“Y/N, Daisy is our cook,” Mrs. Carson said. “She came here just a few years ago.”

You started to ask a question about that, but Mrs. Carson just moved on. You followed her back inside. As you headed to the dining room for lunch, you passed a set of large double doors. There was a padlock on them.

“What’s that?” you asked.

“The library,” Mrs. Carson said. 

“Why is it all locked up?” you wondered.

“The master used to spend a lot of time in there,” she told you. “But after everything that happened to him, he closed it off. It reminded him too much of painful memories.”

“What painful memories?” you pressed.

“They aren’t mine to share, I’m afraid,” she said. 

You huffed in annoyance. There was so much going on around here and none of it could be explained. Especially the so-called master. How had a beast inherited this castle?

On your way down the hall, one painting in particular made you stop. It was clearly of the royal family - the king, the queen, and their son between them. The king and queen looked regal and stoic, but the prince had a smile on his face. And his eyes. His eyes were so alluring and bright, even depicted on a canvas. It felt like you might have seen them before, but you couldn’t place it.

A sudden, horrifying thought came to you. Was the beast the cause of the deaths of the royal family? Had he killed the king and queen? If so, where was the prince? Was he also a prisoner here? Locked away somewhere no one would ever find him? Was that why the beast had so easily gained control of the castle and the servants?

You stopped.

“Mrs. Carson, would it be alright if I explored on my own for a while?” you asked. “I’m not very hungry.”

“Sure,” she said. “But you are not to enter the west wing. That’s the master’s private chambers.”

“Okay,” you agreed. 

She gave you a nod and you jogged away, heading straight for your room. You were becoming overwhelmed and scared again. When you got to your tower, you shut the door and sank to the floor, feeling a lump in your throat. Only now, you were no longer grieving for just yourself. You also wept for that little family torn apart in a single day.

You remained in your room until the evening. You spent most of the afternoon sulking and gazing out your window. Then Anna came to help you change into a dinner dress. You weren’t sure you wanted to go to dinner, but you feared refusing the beast anymore.

“Anna,” you said.

“Yes?” 

“What is the master’s name?”

She stopped tying the laces of the dress and looked at you.

“He’s very private, Y/N…” she began.

“Well, if I’m his guest, I ought to know the host’s name,” you said. “I can’t just call him ‘the master’ all the time. It sounds so odd, especially since I’m not his servant.”

“Why don’t you ask him yourself?” she asked. “He might tell you.”

“I don’t think he would,” you said. “Why can’t you tell me?”

“To be honest, he’s forbidden everyone except Mrs. Carson from saying it,” she admitted. “He wasn’t always like this, you know. He doesn’t like to be reminded of the past.”

She finished with the dress, and you examined yourself in the mirror, once again becoming startled by your elegant appearance.

“Are you coming to dinner?” she asked.

“I haven’t decided,” you said. 

“Very well,” she conceded. “Just ring for me when you’re ready for bed.”

You waited a few minutes after she left. You sat at the vanity and sighed, weighing your options. You could go to dinner, but it seemed reckless. This beast was cruel - he’d arrested your father, taken you prisoner, and he might have been responsible for the tragedy of the royal family. On the other hand, if you refused, you might enrage him. He could bring you your dinner and allow you to wear the queen’s dresses, but that did not make him kind.

A cautious knock brought you out of your trance. 

“Y/N.”

It was the growly voice of the beast.

You swallowed and went to answer the door. You had not been near him since the previous night, and you were struck once again with the sheer size of him. He towered over you like a mountain.

“I have come to personally request that you join me for dinner,” he said nervously.

“Um…”

You looked up and met his eyes. Those poor, sad eyes.

“On one condition,” you said.

His brow furrowed. “What condition is that?” 

“Tell me your name,” you said. 

He stiffened. “Why?”

“Because you know mine,” you said. “It’s only fair.”

“Life isn’t fair,” he retorted. 

“Well, if you’re going to be stubborn about it,” you said, and started to close the door.

He slammed his paw against the wood, stopping you, but making you jump.

“Sorry,” he said, retracting the paw. “I...I wish to continue negotiations.”

“I’ve named my terms,” you reminded him, raising a challenging eyebrow.

He shot an annoyed glance over his shoulder and let out a long breath.

“Rami,” he said. “My name is Rami.”

You smirked and extended your hand.

“It’s nice to meet you, Rami,” you said.

With a bashful smile, he shook your hand. Then you placed it in the crook of his arm and allowed him to escort you to the dining room.

[sunnydaisy1]

Break In

FRED WEASLEY X OC

A/N: I wrote this as a fred weasley x oc story because I find it easier to write with one of my own characters. My oc is Gemma Wood, Oliver Wood’s sister who is the same age as the Weasley twins. 

THIS IS SO LONGG WHATTTTT (srsly tho its insane)

Everyone had been on edge the whole day since the break in last night. I personally wasn’t too worried, knowing that the situation had been blown out of proportion by gossiping between the students. 

I was currently sitting in transfiguration watching McGonagall explain how to give a cup some hands and i was bored out of my mind. I didn’t see the point in learning this, it would never help me in life and it was such a waste of time. I looked to the clock in the room and sighed when i realised we still had twenty minutes left. I couldn’t wait for end of lesson when i could enjoy my evening before heading to dinner and then my oh so comfy duvet. A movement in the corner of my eye caught my attention and I saw Fred a few desks in front of me to the left putting his finger up to who i could only assume was lee and george sitting at the back. I shook my head at his rude gesture and continued to watch him converse animatedly with our best friends. He must have felt me watching because his freckled face turned to me and grinned, causing me to narrow my eyes at him. He winked at me and I blushed slightly, a small smile creeping out from my lips. Fred continued to watch me as he motioned to McGonagall and yawned making me giggle slightly. 

“Mr Weasley turn to the front please, stop distracting Miss Wood.” McGonagall suddenly said and i blushed but Fred just beamed and turned to the front, sending me a not so subtle wink. “Sorry Professor.” He said, making McGonagall shake her head. She often told myself, Lee and the twins to pay attention because we were too busy goofing off to each other so it was no change for her to see Fred watching me. 

The lesson continued and I sleepily watched the minutes tick by, occasionally glancing at the red-haired goof across the room. Without warning, a voice echoed throughout the classroom and Dumbledore’s voice rang out. “Once last class has finished all students are to go straight to the Great Hall for an announcement. Thankyou.” I looked around in confusion as did the rest of the class, what was the announcement for? 

McGonagall cleared her throat and brought our attention back to the front, “Settle down, we still have 6 minutes left of this lesson and I am not planning on wasting it.” A few students groaned and I looked back to george and lee who just shrugged, probably continuing to play noughts and crosses on their parchment. My eyes trained on Fred again and noticed he too was looking at me, I furrowed my eyebrows questioningly, signally my confusion. Fred nodded and shrugged slightly as well, mouthing, “break in?” I nodded, “maybe.” Katie Bell elbowed me from her seat next to me and I looked to the front to see McGonagall looking at me, her lips drawn into a thin line. I sunk down in my seat a little, not daring to look at Fred again, knowing he would be teasingly grinning at me. 

The lesson ended fairly quickly, all students hurriedly grabbing their books and heading for the door. I caught up with the twins and lee on the way out, “what do you think old dumbledore wants to talk to us about?” 

George shrugged, “dunno, maybe there’s been another break in.” Lee nodded in agreement and I looked up to Fred beside me. “Scared Freddie?” I teased, nudging him with my shoulder. “No chance.” He grinned, scooting past a few first years walking too slow. “Yeah right, you screamed yesterday when i put a worm down your shirt.” I jeered back and Fred frowned. “Just wasn’t expectin that one, thas all.” I shook my head, amused before heading to our favourite spot on the Gryffindor table. I plonked all my books down as Fred and Angelina sat either side of me. 

“Oy Ang, move up will you, Fred won’t move his fat arse.” I said and she obliged, allowing me to fit both legs under the table. “That’s no way to speak to your best friend young lady.” Fred replied and I rolled my eyes, “can’t help it when your bum is in the way.” He pushed me slightly and I pushed him back, almost causing him to fall off the bench. Fred grabbed my arms to steady himself, “nearly pushed me off their gem.” I sarcastically smiled at him, “oh what a shame.” 

Fred opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by Dumbledore’s loud voice grabbing our attention. “Quiet please!” At once all chatter died down and the hall was full of silence, anticipating Dumbledore’s words. “As I am sure you have all heard, there was a break in at Hogwarts last night.” A few whispers broke through the silence but was quickly stopped by fellow students. “Our school is guarded by the most advanced spells and enchantements so do not fear, you are perfectly safe. However, we have decided that to best supervise you, the first 4 years will be sleeping in the dungeons and the rest will be sleeping in here.” 

At once, uproar ripped throughout the hall, the change in sleeping area having caused immense uncertainty and confusion. “SILENCE!” Dumbledore yelled and once again, the room was deafingly quiet. “We understand that this sudden change is confusing but rest assured, you are in the safest hands possible. Now, if you could all please return to your common rooms and get changed into appropriate clothing. We will provide you with a mat and sleeping bag when you come down to your assigned area so bring whatever else you find necessary. By that i mean the essentials, not your whole dormitory. We expect you all down within 1 hour, further instructions will await once you arrive.” Dumbledore stepped back as the tables were each dismissed and i followed angelina and katie to our room. 

“Jeez they must actually be concerned.” Katie said as we gathered the stuff we needed for sleeping. “I reckon they just want to keep an eye out for people sneaking out past curfew.” Angie said as she rummaged for her pyjamas. “Yeah, can’t have anyone go missing.” I replied, finding my shorts. “Im gonna have a shower before heading down, you guys wanna come?” Katie asked and I nodded. “May as well.” Angie said and we gathered our bathroom things before walking to the girls showers. 

Once Angie had finished and I had plaited my hair, we walked out the bathrooms and back to our dorm to collect our stuff, bumping into the twins and Lee on their way back to their room. I felt my heart flutter as I brushed past Fred, his hair wet and dripping from the shower, his towel flung over one shoulder and white tshirt slightly wet. He beamed at me as we past and I blushed, trying to shake the image of him out my head. 

“Should we just grab our stuff and wait in the common room for a while, we still have 20 minutes until we have to be down and I don’t know about you but that hall is looking less appealing than it did an hour ago.” Katie spoke up and I nodded, gathering my pillows and stuff before following them down the steps. Fred was lying on the sofa, watching George and Lee wrestle. “Urm i think ill see you guys in there.” I said to Katie and Angie who smirked at me. “Okay we’ll save you a space.” I nodded and walked over to my red-haired best friend. I threw my stuff on the ground beside the sofa and clambered next to Fred’s lanky figure. 

“Oh hi Gem.” Fred said, moving up a little so i could lay beside him. I had wormed my way between his body and the back of the sofa, squidged with warmth. “You excited for our sleepover in the hall Freddie?” I asked and Fred nodded, a cheeky grin on his face. “Can’t wait to keep you ladies up all night dreaming about my gorgeous self only mere inches away from you.” I rolled my eyes but smiled, “more like having nightmares.” Fred pretended to be hurt and put a hand over his chest, “oh how you wound me Gemma.” 

I giggled and he wrapped an arm around my shoulders, letting me rest my head on his sweater-clad chest. I closed my eyes and breathed in, enjoying his woody and sweet smell. Fred took one of the ends of my plaits in his hands and brushed it along my face, causing me to scrunch my nose. “Stop it that tickles.” Fred chuckled, contuining anyway. I rolled my eyes and sat up, allowing his head to fall back into my lap slightly. His ginger hair looked so tantalizing, messed up from his shower and still slightly damp. I reached out to touch it as Fred continued to watch his twin tackle Lee. He sighed as I ran my fingers through it, loving how soft it was. Fred looked so handsome, a grey sweater on his top, plaid pyjama bottoms and a content look on his freckled face. 

“Don’t fall asleep on me Freddie.” I said, poking his cheek, making him open his eyes back up. “Piss off, I was just enjoying you playing with my hair.” He replied and I blushed, making him grin smugly. We stayed like that for a bit longer until one of the prefects yelled for everyone to get down to the hall. We groaned but got up, Fred yawning and rubbing his face. I watched him dreamily until George waved his hand obnoxiously in front of my face. “Come on, stop drooling over my brother.” I blushed and shoved him, making him trip over slightly which made me chuckle. 

We soon reached the hall and queued up behind the rest of the upper school before we were directed to McGonagall. She narrowed her eyes at us and handed us each a sleeping bag. “No funny behaviour tonight you four, I don’t want to seperate you lot. Boys on that side, girls on that side.” Fred at once spoke up, “that’s not fair miss, we want to sleep next to Gemma.” McGonagall pursed her lips. “I appreciate your affection for Miss Wood but we have rules Mr Weasley and I’m sure she can survive one evening without your presence.” I grinned and elbowed Fred, “yeah Freddie bugger off for once.” The ginger boy next to me frowned and fake pouted. George and Lee cackled next to us but McGonagall’s face was getting paler by the second. “Enough of that, now head to bed before I give detention to you all.” 

She shooed us away and we headed to the 6th year area. I spotted Katie and Angelina sorting out their mats alongside Alicia, one of our quidditch friends. I turned to the three idiots beside me, “right you lot im heading to bed, ill see you in the morning.” Lee yawned, “Night Gem.” George followed suit but Fred stood grinning. “What do you want Freddie?” I asked, waving to the girls who beckoned me over. “Nothin gem.” I frowned and narrowed my eyes, “okay then goodnight.” Fred nodded and reached out for a hug. I rolled my eyes but gave in, a smile spreading over my cheeks when I wrapped my arms around his toned chest. “Night Gem.” 

I walked over to the girls area and excitedly squealed when I noticed Angie had snuck some sweets down. “Oh your a legend.” I said, lying my bag down on the mat layed out between the three girls. They had chosen the row closest to the walkway between the two sides of the hall. I grabbed a handful of Bertie Bott’s beans and climbed into my sleeping bag, leaving it unzipped. “Hope you don’t mind, we chose the row at the front cos we didn’t want people treading over us all night.” Alicia said and I nodded, “yeah good choice.” Katie handed me a chocolate frog and we sat chatting for 10 minutes while more students filed into the hall. 

A loud shout of my name above the chatter of the hall caught my attention and I looked up to see the twins and Lee grinning at me from across the room. I rolled my eyes and sighed. Katie chuckled and elbowed my side, “can never get away from them can you?” I laughed and nodded, “nope, they’re everywhere.” Angie and Alicia spotted them a second after, chuckling at George hopelessly tangled up in his sleeping bag. Fred waved at me, beaming and I sighed, turning slightly out of the circle we had formed to wave at him. He grinned even wider and I mouthed to him, “howd you get to the front?” Fred shrugged but pointed to Fin Parker behind him who I knew Fred sat near to in Divination. He mouthed, “we swapped.” I shook my head and smiled, turning back to the girl’s conversation. We chatted and scoffed our faces with sweets, discussing the latest gossip running through Hogwarts. 

I heard my name being called again, Fred shouting above the raucous of voices. “OY GEMMA!” I whipped round and frowned, making a questioning face at him. He mouthed, “come over here.” I shook my head and stuck my finger up at him, a wide grin on my face. Fred acted hurt and his jaw fell open, I turned once again back to the group, blush adorning my cheeks. I saw Angie looking at me knowingly while Alicia and Katie debated about which flavour bean was best. “So what’s going on between you and Fred then Gem?” She spoke up, instantly causing the two bickering girls to go silent and turn to me. I frowned and felt my face heat up, “urm what?” Katie smirked as she rummaged through the box of sweets. “He so fancies you Gemma.” 

I laughed at the absurd thought, “no way, we’re best friends!” Angie shook her head, “yeah but he still fancies the socks off of you.” I shook my head, “no he doesn’t.” Alicia joined in, munching on some liquorice, “yes he does. it’s so obvious.” I scoffed, thoughts racing through my mind about the not so subtle fact I had fancied Fred since second year. “You can deny it all you want but he does. He tries to impress you every lesson and he never stops pestering you.” Alicia continued. “Yeah but that’s cos we’re friends.” I replied, confusion clouding my mind. “He can’t keep his eyes off you Gem, like seriously he never stops staring at you.” I at once frowned, reaching for a liquorice snap. “No that’s crazy.” Katie laughed and nudged me, “he’s looking now.” I whipped my head round to see Fred sitting opposite George and Lee with a pack of cards in his hands watching me. He unashamedly grinned as I turned back round and blushed bright red. “See, it’s so obvious. In DADA the other day, Lupin had to move Fred because he wouldn’t stop looking at you.” I laughed, “no that’s cos he was messing around with Lee.” Angie shook her head. “Gemma, Fred fancies you and I know you fancy him too because you always blush when he’s around and you can’t say no to him.” 

I felt my face heat up and I sighed, “Yeah i like him but he doesn’t think of me that way.” Alicia grinned and handed Katie the last of the beans. “He does though, me and Angie heard him talking to George about it in the changing rooms once you had left.” I frowned and shook my head, “you guys are crazy. Fred Weasley does not fancy me.” 

An hour later, all students were in the hall and most of the teachers had left apart from McGonagall and Lupin. The ceiling had been changed to soft glowing candles that gave the room a soft glow and lots of students were settling down. McGonagall walked to the middle of the walkway between the boys and girls sides of the room and clapped twice for our attention. “Ladies and gentlemen, it is time to quieten down and go to sleep, you still have lessons tomorrow and I for one would not like to be kept up with incessant chit chat. I would like to remind you the toilets are on the first floor and Mr Filch will be patrolling along with the Prefects so do not try to sneak out. Boys are to stay on this side of the room and girls the other, if you do not obey these rules you shall face serious consequences. Goodnight everyone.” McGonagall walked down the room and out the door, her heels clicking along as Lupin followed behind her. 

Once the door had closed, students started chattering more and moving around, completely disregarding any of McGonagall’s prior warning. The girls and I were currently sitting in our sleeping bags, talking about the upcoming quidditch game when i saw a certain ginger sauntering across the room. “Helloo ladiess.” Fred said as he stopped in front of our mats, a cheeky smirk on his face. “Piss off Freddie, we’re talking.” I said and Fred grinned, “no can do Gem, i have come to enlighten you this evening with my fine presence.” I rolled my eyes and Angie laughed, shuffling her matt slightly away from mine. “If you’ve got food you can come and sit down.” She said, patting the space beside me. At once Fred put his hands in his pockets and pulled out a large amount of Honeyduke’s sweets. 

At that moment, the great hall’s immense doors opened and McGonagall stepped through, a rolled up piece of parchment in hand. She spotted a fourth year standing by the door and at once started scolding him. The older students who had risked sneaking to the other side scampered back to their own mats and Fred went to sneak back when a loud voice boomed across the hall. “FREDERICK WEASLEY!” Fred sheepishly turned around to see the green-clad professor storming her way down to him. “And what do you think you’re doing young man?” She asked, making Fred flinch. “Going to bed.” He answered, glancing at me quickly. I watched on smugly, amused at him getting scolded. “Damn right you are. Go back to your own mat please Mr Weasley.” Fred nodded and turned around to walk to the other side of the room as McGonagall walked away. When she had reached a few fifth year girls being particularly roudy, he whipped back to me, grabbed my sleeping bag and dragged me out across the room. 

I burst out laughing, my body being pulled towards Fred’s mat. This caught the furious woman’s attention and she snapped back to face us, walking angrily along the path. Fred hadn’t noticed and winked at me, continuing to drag me across the room. The piece of rolled parchment in McGonagalls hand came down on his head, Fred letting go of my bag to rub his head. “Mr Weasley do not drag Miss Wood across the room, behave yourself and go to sleep.” She turned to me, lying on the floor grinning. “Do not encourage him Miss Wood, he finds it a challenge as it is controlling himself around you.” I sat up, “Yes Ma’am.”  Fred was still standing there and McGonagall turned to him again, “SLEEP BOY!” Fred cowered and went to lie down on the floor next to me. I laughed and could see George and Lee absolutely wetting themselves. McGonagall instantly wacked Fred’s head again, “MR WEASLEY! Never have I seen such cheek, now stop trying to impress Miss Wood with your foolish antics and go sleep in that corner.” 

I walked back to my mat, watching as Fred trailed sheepishly behind McGonagall, now being scolded in the corner. I sat down on my mat and laughed as Fred cowered at McGonagall’s harsh words. He glanced at me frequently, causing McGonagall to wack him on the head again each time. 

Once she walked away, Fred lied down in the corner, and I got in my bag as she came over to me. “Miss Wood, do not make me give you the same punishment as Mr Weasley. Go to sleep and stop disturbing others.” I nodded and watched her walk out the room, shutting the door behind her. I lied down and Angie turned to me, “told you he fancied you.” I rolled my eyes but grinned, the thoughts of the cheeky red-haired boy across the room filling my mind. 

A/N: Lol that took forever. Its probably awful but oh well. Hope you enjoyed :)

[berjhawn]

Angel On Fire - Chapter 15 - Feelings

Warnings: Feelings should be a little self explanatory 

Pairings: Bucky Barnes X Reader ; Thorin Oakenshield X Reader ; Bucky X Reader X Thorin ; Marvel X Reader X Hobbit

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“Your father is a little much, don’t you think?” I ask Legolas as we walk side by side towards what I believed were the dungeons.

“I do not think you have the right to question his decisions.” He replies making me furrow my brow.

“Don’t you?” I ask making him stop in his footsteps. “I don’t mean to offend you, or him.” I add looking up into his face trying to gauge his expression. “I’m not looking to start a fight or add to the feud you already have with the dwarves. I just think that there is more he could have done than to just let the dwarves wander the land homeless and freezing.”

“And what would you have done?” He asks his eyes meeting mine. I find myself in awe of their cerulean blue color. I had noticed earlier that Thranduil’s eyes were also a radiant shade of blue, close to that of the Tiffany company blue. Was it just his and his father’s eyes that were so vibrant? “Why do you stare at me so?”

“Oh,” I blink quickly trying to collect myself a hint of pink flushing my cheeks at my embarrassment. “I’m sorry, it’s just I’ve never seen eyes as blue as yours before. I kind of got distracted by their beauty.” I watch as he cocks an eyebrow at me and I clear my throat, “Any way, what were you saying?”

“I asked what you would have done, if you had been in my father’s position.” He repeats folding his arms over his chest.

“I don’t know, but I wouldn’t have done what he did.” I pause as I look up to meet his gaze. “I would have done what I could have to help them at least find shelter or a place to stay.”

“What if they wanted more from you than just your help in relocating. What if they expected you to risk the lives of your own kin to reclaim a home that was lost?” Legolas reasons making me bite my tongue.

“My father once said, ‘Asgard is not a place, it’s a people’; therefore, I think I would have explained to them that no matter where you were, as long as your people are safe, your home and kingdom are safe.”

“Your father was a very wise man.” Legolas states making you nod.

“That he was.” I add as I turn to look away from him. “I fear he would not be very proud of me right now.”

“Why do you think that?” He asks turning to face me, concern filling his eyes.

“There are some things I have done that I am not very proud of. Lying to Thorin and the rest of the dwarves being one of them. I don’t know, I just don’t think I could handle them looking at me like I’m some kind of monster just because I have powers.”

“If they look at you like that, then they were never your friends to begin with.” He offers making me roll my eyes.

“That’s not very helpful.” I state causing a smirk to fill his lips.

“I was not trying to be helpful. Just being honest.”

“Again, not helpful.” Taking a deep breath, I close my eyes and then let it out. Opening them I meet Legolas’s gaze and smile. “Thank you,”

“For what?” He asks tilting his head in confusion.

“For being friendly with me.” I state making him nod slightly. “I know you are concerned about my powers and I understand why.” I take a deep breath. Should I share with him? What’s the worst that could happen.

“When I was younger; when my powers first appeared… I couldn’t control them. I would catch fire just from losing my temper, freeze the great hall when I was sad, and when I was happy, I caused a giant tree to appear in the courtyard. Even now I still have issues with controlling them when my emotions are all over the place. I promise I will not lose my cool and do anything to hurt your home or its people.”

“Thank you, for your promise. I will hold you to it.” Legolas adds making me give him a quick nod as I look down at my hands. “How about we start over.”

“How so?” I ask looking up at him.

“As friends.�� He offers making my heart lift in my chest.

“I would love to be your friend. Thank you, Legolas.” I unconsciously reach out and wrapping my arms around his middle pull him against me in a hug. He tenses for a moment before his hands rest gently on my shoulders. When I realize what I had done, I quickly pull away my face red from embarrassment.

“Sorry, I got a head of myself.” I quickly clear my throat. “Shall we?”

We talked about random things on the way down to the dungeons. It was surprising how easy it was to talk to him. Especially when I didn’t have to hide a big part of myself. I told him how beautiful I found his home to be. He asked about mine. It was a little hard to talk about Asgard but I found he listened closely and didn’t interrupt.

“Here we are,” Legolas calls as he moves slightly out of the way so that I could walk down the stairs in front of him.

“Thorin?” I call out as I start to look into the cells for him.

“There ya are lass,” Dwalin calls and I smile as I look over to see him standing in the doorway of a cell across the way.

“Are you alright? They didn’t do anything to you, did they?” Fili asks and I hear Legolas scoff behind me obviously offended.

“I’m fine. I actually owe them my gratitude for saving me from the spiders. Of which you all failed to mention.”

“They wouldn’t have known. We don’t make a habit of letting other lands know of our business.” Legolas says from behind me and I nod.

“Then I forgive you all.” I say my eyes still searching for Thorin. “Where is Thorin?”

“I’m here.” He calls out from a few cells down and I see his hand shoot out to let me know where he was. Biting my lip, I move over to his cell and taking his hand hold it tightly as I look for his face. As my eyes meet his I feel tears sting my eyes. “I am glad to see that you are alright.”

“I was so scared.” I say my voice scratching as I try not to cry.

“I tried to get to you.” He speaks his grip tightening on my hand. “But the spiders…”

“I understand.” I reply my eyes focused on our joined hands.

I stand there for a moment just relishing in the feeling that being back with Thorin gave me. I felt relieved and even though we were standing in the dungeons; him on one side of the bars and I on the other, I felt that this was where I belonged. Taking a deep breath, I turn to Legolas and giving him a sad smile say in Elvish.

“lothron im dortho na în?” (May I stay with him?) I ask.

“Whui?” (Why?) He asks his eyes narrowed in confusion.

“Im iest na deri an nín gwedeir sí.” (I wish to wait for my brother’s here.) I answer hopefulness in my eyes.

“No,” He replies shaking his head. “You still need to treat your injuries.” Legolas motions to my sides and I let out a heavy sigh as I turn back to Thorin.

“I would stay with you…”

“You need to heal first.” Thorin finishes and I nod. “I have no doubt that we will be here waiting for you when you are well.” I grip tighter to his hands silently wishing I could hug him. I turn to Legolas who meets my gaze then sighs.

“You can see him for just a moment.”  Legolas says from behind me as he reaches forward to hand me the keys to Thorin’s cell. I smile brightly as I reach forward and unlocking the cell hand the keys back to Legolas. “I’ll give you some privacy.”

“Thank you.” I say as I turn from Legolas and walk into Thorin’s cell.  When we are alone, I bite my lips as the air between us becomes awkward.

“(Name),” Thorin says as he motions over to the cot like bed in his cell. “Would you like to sit?”

“Thank you,” I answer as I walk over and sit down, where he quickly joins me.

After another awkward silence I am about to say something when he speaks, “Again, I am sorry I was unable to make it to you.”

“Thorin, I understand. Those spiders… those were something truly terrifying.”

“But you are part of my company, I promised to keep you safe.” He pauses his eyes staring off into the ether. “I almost failed… I almost lost you.”

A lump fills my throat making it hard to breathe. Something deep inside me felt like he was feeling the same thing I was and I force a smile.

“But you didn’t.” I reply as I look down at his hands. “I wasn’t about to let you all go into that mountain without me.”

“I have been thinking about that. Maybe it’s best if you stay behind.” He says and my heart clenches. Was I being rejected?

“Why?” I ask suddenly feeling both hurt and angry.

“I do not think I could live if something ever happened to you.” He answers his deep steel grey eyes meeting mine.

“I can take care of myself Thorin. I’ve been doing it for years.” I reply as I quickly advert my gaze to the floor. “The spiders were just something I couldn’t handle. I don’t do spiders. I really, really dislike spiders.”

“How do I know you won’t be at the mercy of what else may come? There are many creatures of the night here, not just giant spiders.” He argues. Furrowing my brow, I pull my hands away from his and standing up walk to the other side of the cell, my eyes focused on the cold wall.

“Thorin, I will not be treated like some fair maiden that needs protecting. I am not some damsel in distress. I’m…” I pause feeling that familiar fear of being rejected and being looked at like a monster filling my head. I couldn’t tell him. Not yet. “I can handle myself. I promise you won’t have to worry about me.”

“I will always worry about you.” Thorin interjects as he stands and walking over to me gently grabs my elbow turning me towards him. I look down into his eyes as his free hand reaches up to gently cup my cheek. Closing my eyes, I lean into his touch sighing as the rough calluses scrape against my skin.

“Please don’t go where I can’t follow.” I beg tears stinging my eyes. “I can’t take being left behind again.”

“(Name)…” He starts only to pull my head down to rest upon his shoulder. “I will not leave you.”

My body relaxes as I let out a breath I hadn’t been aware I was holding. His hands gently smooth my hair back as he therapeutically starts to repeat the motion. My heart starts to race in my chest and I realize that whether I wanted to or not, I was falling, and falling hard for Thorin. Did he feel the same, or was he just doing all of this out of habit? Was all this just something the dwarves would do or say to make each other feel safe and loved.

“(Name), if we survive all this, I have something I wish to tell you.” Thorin declares making me pull away to meet his hungry eyes.

“Why can’t you tell me now?” I ask looking down at the ground between us.

“There are circumstances I must attend to first.” He answers and I nod. “But I will tell you, and I hope you’ll give me an answer.”

“Thorin, I will impatiently wait for your words.” I add making him smirk.

God, I loved his smile. I felt the urge to kiss him overcome me and I bite my lip as my eyes look down at his own lips. I am about to say more when the sound of someone clearing their throat catches my attention. I turn from Thorin and back toward the cell door to see Legolas standing there and I nod slightly.

“You must go. Make sure they take care of your injuries.” Thorin demands and I nod.

“I will be back.” I reply making him gently rub my arms.

“(Name), we must get back.” Legolas announces and I let out a heavy sigh.

“I’m coming.” I call back to him as I quickly lean forward and hug Thorin. His strong arms wrap around my waist giving me a tight squeeze. It was only after I hugged him did I realize that I was about a good head taller than him; so, his head was at the same level as my chest. My face flushes red in embarrassment as I slowly pull away from him. “I will try to get you out of here.”

“I have faith in you.” He replies and I smile. His hands slowly move from my waist to my hand as I slowly leave him in the cell alone.

“Go get healed up lass,” I hear Balin say as I pass him and I offer him a soft smile as I nod.

“I will.”

Will Continue- 

Tags: 

@elysasthings @gaenahelleborus