#in 3 you are led to only two endings - leaving a third where you are largely independant

[inmyglenpowellera]

Bad Reputation Part 3 | Jake "Hangman" Seresin x Taylor Swift inspired!OC

Request: Requested by @akornsworld

Word Count: 10,505 words

Summary: There's that saying for some people, “You can't go home again.” When you grow up and leave, that's it, you don't go back home. Presley Joann Benjamin (stage name Presley Jo) believed that was the case for her. Never did she think she would be right back where she started. But her Aunt insisted it was the best for her. She thought for sure her life and career were over until she meets a certain cocky aviator.

Warnings: Alcohol use, cursing, fluff, Jake being an absolute gentleman, Rooster and Coyote being supportive besties, smut (if you are not 18+ do not read), protected sex (wrap it before you tap it), oral (female receiving), vaginal fingering

A/N: As promised, here is the sexuals. The tag list will be at the end of each chapter.

Chapter 1 Chapter 2

It has been about a couple of months since Jake and I’s first date, and things couldn’t have possibly been better. As promised, he texted me goodnight and good morning after our first date, to which I replied he left his jacket. His response? Keep it, he’s gotta mark his territory somehow.

Ever since the night of our first date, he has been so understanding of my anxiety about going out in public on our dates. Since then, he’s been trying to find ways to have dates from home.

We went on a second date a week later, which consisted of us just sitting on the couch at his house eating takeout, and playing board games. Something so simple but felt like everything between us. We just sat around eating and laughing before I left and went home with a simple good-night kiss that I was wishing would turn into more. However, I held myself back because I owed Jake the same respect he was giving me, no matter how badly I wanted to climb the blonde godlike aviator like a tree.

Our third date was amazing. Jake told me he was going to pick me up and take me to the movies. My anxiety couldn’t help but spike again at his words and I reluctantly agreed to his idea. I dressed in comfy clothes as he asked and rode in the car with him to our date, only for him to pull back up at his house. My obvious look of confusion towards him caused him to laugh and help me out of the car before leading me through his house and into his small backyard. My confusion turned to immense shock at the sight in front of me. Jake had fairy lights strung across his backyard to light up the area, a tent set up with a mattress, pillows, and blankets, and a projector and screen set up.

“Jake,” I said in shock.

“I said I was going to take you to the movies,” Jake shrugged at me, looking down at me smugly.

I scoffed at him and shook my head. “How did you-”

“Coyote,” Jake said simply.

I nodded at him in understanding before looking down. “He doesn’t-”

“No, he doesn’t know about you specifically. He just knows that there is a girl I’m trying hard to impress,” He answered quickly, cutting me off again.

I smiled up at him softly before wrapping my arm around his neck. “Well, if you keep trying as hard as you are, things will begin to sway in your favor,” I told him smugly before bringing him down into a kiss.

That night was spent under the stars, watching movies, or at least partially watching movies, there was a lot of kissing that led to some touching. Jake asked me to stay that night, and as much as I wanted to tease him and say no like he did to me on our first date, I decided not to happily stay. The two of us slept in the tent cuddled up together under the stars and listened to the ocean in the background.

It was after the third date and spending such a great night with Jake that I decided I wanted to pull the trigger on finding a place in Fightertown. I realized how much I loved all of our time spent together and that I never wanted to go back to New York. I wanted to be wherever he was. Penny and I started looking everywhere around the area when the two of us had free time, occasionally Bradley and Maverick would join the two of us. Sometimes Jake and I went by ourselves if nobody else was free. Thankfully, money was not a problem so it was fairly easy to find a place I liked, my only stipulations being it was on the beach and had enough space for a music room. I found a place within a month and was moved in within a week. Jake and I are now going into our third month together and this has possibly been the happiest I’ve ever been in a while.

I had been staying in my new house for a few days now, Jake had yet to come over and see it. I had finished unpacking late last night with Penny, Amelia, Mav, and Bradley’s help. Luckily no heavy lifting needed to be done thanks to the movers doing all of it. They drove all of my stuff from New York across the country to Cali after I sold my loft there.

I woke up from a dead sleep in my bed to my phone ringing. Recognizing the ringtone, I grinned and leaned up out of bed, reaching over to my nightstand to grab my phone.

“Good morning, Mr. Eastwood,” I greeted with a sleepy smile.

“Good morning, beautiful. How’s the new house treating you,” He asked me curiously.

“Good, but it’s so lonely. I think it’s missing something,” I told him, trying to hint at him spending some time with me.

Jake chuckled at my words before speaking. “What are you doing tonight?”

“Oh, you know, just spending time at home, all by my lonesome, watching the sunset from my balcony while I wait for my knight in shining flight suit to come and save me,” I sighed, picking at my blanket.

“Well, your knight is also free tonight and has a big surprise for you,” He said smugly.

“Oh, really,” I asked curiously.

“Mhm,” Jake said as I heard a jet taking off on his end of the phone.

“What is it,” I asked again.

“If I told you it wouldn’t be a surprise,” He said in amusement. I groaned at his words and heard him chuckle again. “Just wear something fancy.”

“Jake…,” I trailed off in a warning tone.

“Just trust me. I’ll pick you up at 7,” He told me before hanging up.

I scoffed at his words and shook my head at him, leaning up out of bed to get moving for the day.

“What are you going to wear,” Amelia asked me over Facetime as I dug through my walk-in closet.

“I don’t know. He just said it was a surprise and to dress fancy,” I shrugged at her.

“Well that’s helpful,” She said sarcastically as she petted Theo.

I was going through my dresses when I paused at the last one on the rack.

“Amelia, I think it’s time,” I said simply, causing the young girl to gasp.

“You mean-”

“Yes, the third date dress,” I told her, pulling it off the rack and holding it in front of me.

“But this isn’t your third date. It's like your 5th or 6th,” She pointed out.

“No, but tonight that doesn’t matter,” I told her simply before moving to change.

“So, are you going to wear the third date bra too then,” She asked me curiously.

“Um, yeah…,” I trailed off, knowing there was no wearing a bra with this dress.

“You never did tell me what this big surprise was,” I hummed to Jake, turning in my seat to prop my head on my hand resting on the middle console.

“That's precisely what you just said it is. A surprise,” Jake said with a smirk, briefly looking over at me.

“Well, I’d like to know what to expect so that I can have an escape plan from whatever fancy restaurant you are taking me to when the paparazzi inevitably show up,” I informed him, gesturing to the dress he told me to wear and the nice clothing he was also sporting.

“You won’t have to worry about the paparazzi showing up,” Jake reassured me.

“Jake, seriously, it’s going to happen. No matter where you take me-”

“It’s not going to happen tonight, Pres. Trust me,” Jake reassured me, placing a hand on my knee.

I sighed and nodded before shifting in my seat again. We remained silent for about 5 more minutes before Jake told me we were about 5 minutes away and asked me to close my eyes. I give him a look in response causing him to laugh out a “please.” I sighed but did as he asked. We continued driving to the restaurant before we stopped. I felt Jake get out of the car before walking around to my side and opening the door for me. He helped me out of the car before telling who I’m assuming is a valet not to scratch his truck. I scoffed and rolled my eyes before allowing him to lead me into the restaurant.

“Can I open my eyes now,” I asked.

“No, keep them closed until we get to our table,” Jake told me, leading me to the back of the building and out the back doors.

“Oh, we’re eating outside,” I asked with a bright grin.

“With an ocean view. Nothing less for you Pres,” Jake said before pulling a chair out for me and helping me sit down. “Okay, you can open now.”

I opened my eyes and looked around me to see the back deck of the Hard Deck. “The Hard Deck, Jake seriously?”

“It’s not the Hard Deck,” Jake denied, shaking his head in denial and moving to sit across from me.

“Yes, it is. I think I recognize the bar my aunt owns and that I used to work at,” I argued with him, gesturing around me towards the deck.

“We aren’t at the Hard Deck. We’re at Il Mazzo Duro,” He shrugged at me smugly, a smirk on his lips.

I hummed the name to myself in confusion before realization came across my face. “That’s The Hard Deck in Italian,” I pointed out in frustration.

Jake’s smirk immediately dropped and he looked at me in shock. “You know Italian?”

“Of course, I know Italian. My father was Italian,” I argued with him.

Jake continued to look at me in shock before humming and nodding. “Huh, you learn something new every day.”

I shook my head at him in disbelief before looking to my left when somebody walked up the table.

“Hello, and welcome to Il Mazzo Duro. My name is Penny and I am the owner of this fine establishment. Here are your menus, your waiter will be with you soon,” My aunt told the two of us with a smile, a fancy black dress, and high heels donning her body.

I scoffed and shook my head at her in disbelief, accepting my menu and laughing at her wink she shot me before leaving me and Jake on the deck by ourselves. I shook my head and looked over at Jake who had his nose in the menu before him.

“I’m thinking of getting the lobster, what about you beautiful,” Jake asked me curiously, looking over the menu and raising his eyebrows at me. “You haven’t even opened the menu yet. You better figure out what you want before our waiter gets here.”

“What is going on right now,” I asked him, shaking my head in disbelief.

Jake stared at me for a few seconds before he sighed and leaned forward, placing his menu down on the table and placing his hand palm up and open on the table. I looked down at his hand before leaning forward and placing my hand in his own.

“On our first date, you were talking about how you wish you could be normal. You wish you could go out to eat at a crowded restaurant just like every other person and not be completely mobbed by paparazzi or fans. So that’s what we’re doing,” Jake told me, rubbing the back of my hand with his thumb.

“But that’s not what we’re doing. We’re completely alone,” I said, gesturing around me.

“Are we,” Jake asked with a smug smirk.

Right after his words, the back door of the Hard Deck opened and I watched as Maverick led my aunt to a table, followed by Amelia and Theo (who was wearing a bow tie), and Ice and Sarah. I watched them all move to sit at different tables in the area and shook my head in disbelief as tears rose.

“Jake,” I whispered out, sniffling slightly.

“When we first met, before I even knew who you were, I promised myself that I was one, going to get your name, and two, I was going to do everything in my power to keep you happy because that is what you deserve. So let me try and give you this one thing,” Jake told me, squeezing my hand.

I squeezed his hand back before nodding. “Okay.” I took my hand back and opened my menu, looking down at it. “So you got my aunt and her boyfriend, my surrogate aunt and uncle, and my little cousin and her dog in on this. Who else?”

“Well, Coyote was the valet, and don’t worry he didn’t see you,” Jake informed me with a shrug.

“Of course he was,” I said with a chuckle.

“And there’s also-”

“Good evening beautiful lady and average-looking gentleman my name is Bradley and I will be your waiter tonight,” Bradley greeted the two of us, dressed in black slacks with a white button-up, black vest, and black bowtie.

“Of course,” I said in amusement, looking up at my best friend.

“Rooster,” Jake greeted with slight annoyance at his calling him average-looking.

“Can I get the happy couple started with any drinks,” Bradley asked the two of us.

“Bring us the best bottle of wine you have,” Jake told him.

“Thank you, Killer,” I said with a grin and a shake of the head.

“You’re welcome, Queenie. I’ll be back for entrees,” Bradley told the two of us, shooting me a wink before leaving our table.

I shook my head and laughed before looking over at Jake. “You went all out, didn’t you?”

“Like I said, only the best for you Pres,” Jake shrugged at me with a smile.

After his statement, Bradley returned to our table with breadsticks and a bottle of wine, which he showed to Jake, who examined the label before nodding. I shook my head at my two goofballs before accepting my glass of wine with a thank you.

“Have we decided on entrees,” Bradley asked the two of us, pulling a notepad out of his pocket.

“Yes, I will have the lobster,” Jake told him, handing him his menu.

“And for the lady,” Bradley questioned, looking towards me.

“The chicken alfredo, please,” I told him, handing him my menu as well.

“Coming right up,” He told the two of us before walking away.

Jake lifted his wine glass and held it out towards me in the form of cheers. “To being normal for one night.”

“To be normal,” I said with a smile, clinking my glass against his before taking a sip.

Jake did the same and set his glass down before leaning forward onto the table and looking at me curiously. “So you know Italian?”

“Mhm, my father was Italian. My grandfather met my grandmother in Italy while he was stationed there. He married her and brought her to America where they had my dad,” I told him, placing my wine down and resting my head on my hands.

“Tell me something in Italian,” He told me with a bright grin.

“Anything,” I asked him, a smirk building on my face.

“Anything at all,” He nodded.

“Are you sure,” I asked again.

“Positive,” He confirmed.

“Okay, um… Sei il mio bel cowboy, e non vedo l'ora di portarti a fare un giro speciale più tardi,” I said with a smirk, grabbing my wine from the table and taking another sip afterward.

I watched Jake’s lips curve into a smirk and his eyes clouded over with lust before he released a breath and shook his head. “Damn, baby girl. I think that was just about the sexiest thing I’ve ever heard come out of your mouth,” He breathed out, his accent thicker than usual.

“You don’t even know what I said,” I pointed out.

“Well, you could always tell me,” He offered up.

“Hm, I could. Or I could also let you wait and find out what I said later,” I said seductively, biting my lip.

Jake's eyes were immediately drawn to my lips and his eyes darkened even more when Bradley came over to our table and placed our food down in front of us. I thanked him with a bright smile and began to dig into my pasta as Jake started on his lobster. We continued a light conversation, talking about how work has been for him and how moving into my own home has been for me. He scolded me for moving heavy furniture by myself and I reassured him that I had the movers doing all of the work. We then moved on to the topic of his family. He had his mom and dad and three sisters, one older and two younger. All of them have settled down and had kids of their own. His oldest sister has two little girls, his middle sister has a daughter and son, and his youngest sister has two girls and two boys. He went on to tell me about how all of his nieces love me and my music and one of them just had a Presley Jo-themed birthday party.

“I didn’t know that was a thing,” I chuckled, thinking of all the little girls running around dressed as me at a children's birthday party.

“Well, my sisters and Mom made it a thing,” Jake told me, a fond grin on his face.

“I’d love to meet them someday,” I told him with a soft smile.

Jake looked back at me and grinned softly as well before giving me an adamant nod. “And you will. One day. When you feel safe and comfortable enough to let the world know, I’ll let the other important women in my life know.”

“You don’t have to keep me a complete secret from them, Jake. You can at least let them know you’re seeing somebody,” I reassured him.

“I know that… Now. I just didn’t want to make you feel pressured or feel forced into anything,” He argued with me.

I reached out and placed my hand on top of his arm and rubbed it soothingly. “You aren’t forcing me into anything. I’m all in. Willingly.”

Jake moved his arm to grasp my hand and began rubbing his thumb across the back of it before a soft smile overtook his face again. “All in, huh?”

I nodded at him and gazed into his eyes as Bradley came walking up to our table again. “I hope you guys saved room for dessert.”

Jake broke our gaze and looked up at Bradley to reply, but I cut him off. “We did. We’ll just take it to go.”

Bradley raised his eyebrow at me and I sent him a look with my eyes that helped him catch on.

“Oh! I will get that to go. I will go do that right now. As soon as possible,” Bradley nodded at me in understanding, rushing off to grab our dessert.

Jake turned and watched Bradley rush into the Hard Deck before turning and looking at me with raised eyebrows.

“What do you say we go back to my place and you find out what I said earlier,” I questioned him with a seductive smirk.

A smirk broke out on Jake’s face as well before he nodded in agreement. “Yes, ma’am.”

Jake refused to take his hand off my leg the entire drive back to my house. He alternated between squeezing my knee and running his hand up my thigh before resting it on my knee again. My left hand remained resting on the forearm of his hand, rubbing my thumb along his arm as he drove. When we reached my house, he pulled into the driveway before throwing his truck into the park. He looked over at me and softly told me to wait before climbing out of the car and moving around it to open my door for me. I turned to the side and Jake moved his way in between my legs, looking up at me with a soft smile. I smiled back at him and ran my hands from his shoulders and up into the back of his hair.

“Are you sure you want to do this tonight, darlin’,” He asked me softly.

“I’ve never been more sure about something in my life,” I told him softly before placing a kiss on his lips.

Jake hummed and deepened the kiss, placing his hands on my thighs and slowly moving them up to my waist, bunching my black dress up as he moved his hands. I released a breath and briefly skimmed my tongue along his lips before gripping his bottom lip in my teeth and tugging at it, releasing it after. Jake groaned and squeezed my hips before pulling away.

“I get the feeling you’re going to be the death of me beautiful,” Jake rasped out to me.

“Well, there’s only one way to find out,” I whispered to him, giving his hair a soft tug before releasing.

I reached behind me and gripped our dessert in my hand before hopping down from my seat in the truck. I grabbed my clutch from the floorboard and reached into it to grab my keys before walking around Jake to walk up to my house. I looked behind me to see Jake closing the door to his truck, but not taking his eyes off of my form. I smirked at him before looking back forward and swinging my hips as I walked up my front porch to my front door. I unlocked my door and walked in, hearing Jake following close behind me. I took my heels off as Jake took his shoes off as well. He reached forward took dessert from my hands and moved toward my kitchen and I moved toward the stairs to go to my bedroom. I walked down the hall to the last room on the left and walked inside. I walked over to my vanity and placed my clutch down. I then moved to stand at the end of my bed and waited for Jake to join me.

“Last chance to change your mind, beautiful. Because once I get started, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to stop,” Jake said softly as he walked into my room, standing behind me at the foot of my bed.

I smirked before repeating what I said earlier. “Sei il mio bellissimo cowboy e non vedo l'ora di portarti a fare un giro speciale.”

“What does that mean,” Jake breathed out, moving my hair from my shoulder and beginning to run his nose softly along my neck, leaving soft kisses in his wake.

“You’re my handsome cowboy, and I can’t wait to take you for a special ride,” I breathed out, leaning back into him.

Jake let out a growl before gripping my waist tightly in his hands and pulling me back against him. He used one hand to hold my hair out of his way and the other wrapped around my waist. I reached up behind me and wrapped my arm around the back of his head, threading my fingers in his hair while my other hand gripped his arm wrapped around me. I gave soft tugs on his hair as Jake began devouring my neck, leaving kisses and love bites up and down the expanse of it. My grip became tighter and I tugged harder when Jake attacked the sweet spot at the back of my ear, causing him to release a groan of pleasure. I released a moan of pleasure in return and tightened my grip on the arm around my waist that was now holding me upright. Jake released his hold around my waist and slowly let his hand trail across my abdomen and around my back. He then brought his hand up to rest on the tie that was holding my dress up on my shoulder.

“Can I,” Jake breathed out in my ear, gripping my earlobe between his teeth after, and tugging at It.

“Yes, please, Jake. I want you to touch me,” I breathed out in response, nodding my head eagerly.

Jake released my hair and brought his other hand to rest on the zipper on the back of my dress. He pulled it down before placing his hands on both ties on my shoulders. He released the knots of both, causing my dress to slide down my body and rest around my feet on the floor. I spun in my spot, kicking my dress out of the way in the process. I looked up at Jake and bit my lip nervously as he stared down at me, taking in my bare breasts and my black lace underwear.

“You’re beautiful,” He breathed out before leaning down and kissing me.

I eagerly returned the kiss and wrapped my arms around his neck, entangling one of my hands in his hair again and continuing to tug at it. Our kiss quickly became even more heated and I allowed Jake's tongue to invade my mouth. Jake placed his hands on my waist and moved them slowly down my sides, over my butt, and down to my thighs.

“Jump,” Jake breathed out against my lips, causing me to do so without breaking my kiss with him.

Jake placed one arm around my back to keep me pressed against him and another on my thigh to keep my legs wrapped around his waist. He stepped forward and placed a knee on the bed before leaning forward and laying me down. Our kiss did not break as my back gently came in contact with the bed and Jake slotted himself between my legs. I released a moan as his pelvis grinded down against mine and I rutted against him to try and feel the friction again.

“Oh, god, Jake,” I moaned out against his lips, breathing heavily as he began trailing kisses down my neck again.

I reached down and gripped Jake’s hand resting on my waist in my own and began guiding it up my chest until it rested on my left breast, my chest heaving up and down in his palm. Jake groaned and trailed his kisses down in between my breasts where he rested his forehead for a moment.

“You are going to be the death of me,” He breathed against my chest before moving his head to my right breast, sucking my nipple into his mouth as his other hand began playing with my breast.

“At least you’ll die a happy man,” I moaned out, gripping his hair in my hands and pulling.

Jake let out a groan of agreement as he continued paying attention to my right breast. He sucked and licked at the skin before gripping the nipple between his teeth and giving a slight tug. He smirked up at me when I released a borderline pornographic moan at his actions.

“Don’t look at me like that. I haven’t been touched by anyone in so long,” I breathed out to him.

“Well then, let’s change that shall we,” Jake said before switching breasts and repeating his previous actions on my left breast, his hand playing with my right and eliciting more moans from me.

“Jake, I need you to touch me,” I moaned out.

Jake released my left breast with a pop and began kissing his way back up my chest, to my neck, and my jaw, then placing a breathless kiss on my lips.

“How do you want me, Darlin’,” He breathed out against my lips.

“I just need to feel something, please,” I begged him, connecting my lips back to his and removing my hands from where they were tangled in his hair.

I trailed my hands from around his neck and down to his button-up to begin working on removing it. My hand fumbled down the length of his shirt as I tried to unbutton it as quickly as possible. Once I reached the last button, I brought my hands to Jake’s shoulders to remove the currently offensive fabric. Jake assisted me in my endeavor and wasted no time in pulling the fabric down his arms and tossing it haphazardly across my room. With the fabric no longer in the way, his dog tags were able to hang freely from his neck and run along my chest. I let my hands run down the toned plains of his chest and down to his abs, feeling the rock-hard muscle beneath my fingers. I then let my fingers trail down farther to his dress pants, letting my fingers hook in the belt loops and give a tug, causing Jake’s pelvis to once again come in contact with my own. I released a moan at the contact and allowed my hands to trail lower past Jake’s belt and to the growing member straining against his pants. I let my hands trail over the shape and squeezed slightly, causing Jake to break from our kiss to release a groan of immense pleasure. Jake reached down and grasped my hands in his own and pulled them up to place a kiss on each of them.

“This is all about you Darlin’,” He told me softly, taking both of my hands and placing them back on his neck.

I smiled softly up at him at his words and gripped his chain in one of my hands, pulling him down to connect my lips back to his. He placed a chaste kiss on my lips before trailing his kisses down my neck, to my chest, down my stomach, before stopping at my black lace panties. He looked up at me with a questioning look, and all it took was a soft nod from me for him to grip my underwear in his hands and slowly tug them down my legs. He trailed kisses in the fabric's wake until they were completely removed, tossing them over his shoulder. He then trailed kisses back up my legs, leaving some on the inside of my thighs, before placing another one just above where I wanted him the most. He raised himself from the bed and away from me, causing me to whine in protest and reach for him.

“Let me see all of you, Darlin’,” He said breathlessly, looking down at me with adoration.

I smirked at him before opening my legs wide, allowing him to see everything I had to offer him. Jake groaned at the sight and ran a hand down his face.

“All of this for me,” He breathed out.

I nodded at him wordlessly before reaching forward and gripping his hand in my own once again. I looked up at him and stared into his eyes as I guided his hand down to where I needed him most. Jake released a groan when he felt how wet I was and I released his hand to let him do as he pleased. Jake ran his fingers along my folds, gathering my wetness as he did. I couldn’t help but moan at the feeling of him touching me so delicately, feeling like I could combust right now and he hasn’t even properly touched me yet.

“Jake, please,” I breathed out, looking up at him desperately.

Jake listened to my pleas and delicately slid a single finger into my entrance, bringing his thumb up to rub at my clit at the same time. Jake leaned back forward, holding himself up with his free hand, and brought me into a searing kiss. I couldn’t help but arch my back up into him and grip the bedsheets tightly in my fists. I broke away from Jake and brought my hands up to cup his face. 

“Jake, I need more,” I breathed against his lips, desperate to reach my first high.

I felt Jake nod before sliding one more finger in with his first and resuming our desperate kisses. The pleasure was so blinding that I couldn’t even imagine what it would be like when he was actually inside of me. Jake began pumping his fingers in and out of me, spreading me wide with his fingers occasionally. I couldn’t help myself and began grinding myself against his hand, feeling the cool metal of his graduation ring occasionally graze against my heat. Jake, seeing this, began curling his fingers while inside of me, searching for that sweet spot I desperately craved for him to find. When he finally came in contact with it, I reached down and gripped his arm tightly in my own, breaking our kisses once again.

“Fuck, right there. Don’t stop, please, I’m so close,” I told him, feeling my climax beginning to come quickly.

Upon hearing my words, Jake removed his fingers from their current location. I gasped in shock and looked up at him in disbelief before I watched him bring his hand up to his lips and suck his fingers clean of my arousal. My skin burned like fire at his actions and I couldn’t help but reach for him, pulling him back to me and bringing my lips to his, tasting myself in our kiss. Jake broke the kiss himself this time and trailed kisses down my neck, and my chest and paid special attention to my breasts briefly, before trailing his lips down my abdomen and stopping above my clit. His breath fanned softly across it as he looked up at me with a smirk. I raised myself onto my elbows to look down at him, lifting one of my hands to run through his hair.

“Don’t worry Darlin’. I’ll get you there again,” Jake reassured me before diving in like a man who didn’t just have dinner less than an hour ago.

“Oh, god,” I moaned out, falling onto my back and tightening my grip on his hair.

I couldn’t stop the mewls and moans as Jake licked a stripe from my entrance to my clit before focusing on my sensitive bud. He sucked and lapped at the bundle of nerves as he threw both of my legs over his shoulders and yanked me to the end of the bed so he could have proper access. He placed a hand on my abdomen to prevent me from moving and used his other to hold my thighs open properly. I felt the distinct pinch of his teeth tugging on my clit and felt myself jump briefly, Jake struggling to hold me down at my unexpected jolt.

“Fuck, Jake.”

Jake let his tongue trail down to my soaking entrance and delved in with his tongue, letting it poke and prod at my entrance a few times before returning to my clit and sliding his fingers back inside of me. I felt myself begin to tingle with anticipation of my release, the coil inside of my belly beginning to tighten with every swipe of his tongue and every insertion of his fingers.

“Jake, I’m close,” I told him, my legs beginning to tighten in his grip.

“Let go, Darlin’. Don’t hold anything back,” He breathed out against me before continuing his work.

“Oh. Oh, god,” I moaned, gripping his hair tighter with one hand and bringing my other hand to grip my breast, kneading and pinching the mound.

The coil became tighter and tighter until- 

“I- I’m,” I didn’t get to finish my statement before I released on Jake's tongue and fingers, feeling the aviator lap up my juices until I was finished.

He raised from his position and hovered over me, wiping his chin with his hand and looking at me smugly.

“How was that, Darlin’,” Jake questioned smugly.

“I think you’re the first guy to find my clit without any sort of guidance. That was so hot,” I breathed, reaching forward and gripping his dog tags in my grip.

I pulled him down to me and placed my lips against his again, him placing his hands back on my waist. I let my hand trail down his body once again and began pulling at his belt, releasing the item from the buckle and pulling it from his pants. I then unbuttoned his pants and pulled the zipper down before finding the waistband to his boxer briefs. I gripped the waistband briefly before releasing it, letting it snap back into place against his waist and smirking against Jake’s lips when he flinched slightly. I returned my hand to its previous position and slipped it past the waistband of his underwear, gripping his hard member in my hand. I brought my thumb to the tip and gathered the precum at the end, swirling it around the head and using it as lubrication to begin pumping Jake’s cock. Jake bucked into my hand briefly before breaking our kiss and reaching down to grab my hand in his own, pulling it from his underwear.

“Darlin’, as much as I love having my dick in your hand, and trust me, I do, I would much rather be inside you right now,” He breathed out against my lips.

I nodded at him in acknowledgment. “Okay. I need you inside of me.”

Jake groaned and nodded back. “Lay down.”

I quickly moved to lie down on my back at the head of the bed, resting my head against the pillows. I watched as Jake stripped himself of his pants and underwear, standing before me at the end of the bed, in all his glory. I moaned at the sight of his cock, and felt myself grow even wetter at the thought of it filling me up completely. Jake slowly crawled up the bed until he was hovering over me and placed a delicate kiss on my lips before pulling away.

“Are you-,” He started, but I cut him off.

“I’m on birth control. But I would still much rather use a condom. It’s our first time together and you can never be too safe,” I told him.

Jake nodded at me in understanding. “I have one in my wallet,” He started, moving to go to the end of the bed.

“Don’t worry about it. I have some in my bedside table,” I told him, gesturing to the table on the right side of my bed and not wanting him to move too far away from me.

Jake smirked at me before reaching for my drawer, pulling it open, and reaching in to grab a condom from the box. Jake ripped the package open and withdrew the rubber, throwing the package to the side and moving to slide the condom down his length. When he had it placed properly, he leaned back over me, resting on his forearms, and looked into my eyes. He brought his hand up and tucked some of my hair behind my ear.

“I’m going to go slow. Let me know if I’m hurting you, okay,” Jake whispered to me.

I nodded at him and leaned up to bring him into another kiss as he positioned himself at my entrance, letting the tip of his cock run up towards my clit before trailing back down. I moaned at the feeling and brought my legs up to wrap around his waist. I tightened them, causing Jake to move closer to me and his cock to poke even more at my entrance. Sensing my urgency, Jake let the head of his cock enter me, giving me a moment to acquaint myself with the stretch. I moaned as he waited a moment before pushing further in until he was about halfway inside me.

“You can go all the way, Jake. I can take it,” I reassured him, wrapping my arms around his neck and threading one of my hands into his hair.

“I don’t want to hurt you, Darlin’,” Jake expressed.

“You won’t. I promise,” I reassured him, placing a kiss on his cheek.

Jake nodded before pressing himself completely inside me. The two of us simultaneously released moans of pleasure followed by a breathless expression of “You’re so big” and Jake’s  statement of “You’re so tight.” Jake rested his forehead against my own as he waited for me to adjust to his size, occasionally placing a kiss on my nose and cheeks.

“Are you okay, Darlin’,” Jake asked me softly.

I nodded, wrapping my arms under his own and around his shoulders, leaning up to place a kiss on his lips.

“Can I move,” He asked, beginning to breathe heavily due to his restraint.

I took a deep breath myself and focused on the feeling of Jake inside me. I moaned softly, and bucked my hips, nodding at him.

“Yes, please.”

Jake nodded back before he started moving. He withdrew himself briefly before pushing back in and beginning a torturously slow pace. I moaned at his movement, feeling him move in and out of me, my walls fluttering and squeezing him as he moved. Jake thrust two… three more times before adjusting his position, raising himself to rest his weight on his hands in an attempt to reach my sweet spot. I couldn’t help but clench at the new position, causing him to groan in pleasure and stutter his hips.

“If you keep squeezin’ me like that, I’m not going to last long.”

“You haven’t had sex with anybody but your hand since you met me, I didn’t expect you to last very long anyways,” I breathlessly said to him, a smirk taking over my face.

Jake looked down at me in slight shock before smirking back at me. “You little…”

Jake trailed off and began thrusting inside of me again, immediately hitting my G-spot with his quick, unexpected thrust. My back arched off the bed in response and I tightened my legs around his waist. Jake continued his quick thrusts instead of returning to his torturously slow pace from before. I moaned at the feeling of him inside me, feeling him fill me up totally and completely before receding and repeating the process. Jake leaned down and began an assault on my breasts once again, placing kisses on the mounds before taking the pert nipples into his mouth, sucking and nibbling as he pleased. I moaned in pleasure at the combination before I took his distraction to my advantage. I tightened my legs around his waist and wrapped my arms around his neck before trying to gain leverage and flip Jake onto his back, myself now on top. Jake remained inside me throughout my actions and I felt him twitch inside me at the new position, placing one hand on my thigh and the other on my waist as a smirk formed once again.

“What the hell is this, Darlin’? I said tonight was about you,” Jake reminded me.

“And I told you I couldn't wait to take you for a ride if I remember correctly,” I responded to him breathlessly. 

I adjusted my position above Jake, still not removing him from inside me as I did so. Jake bucked his hips up into me at my movements, causing him to hit my G-spot once again with his actions. I paused in my movement and briefly clenched, causing the two of us to moan in unison, Jake's hands tightening their grip slightly on my waist. I paused for a moment and stared down at the pleasure on Jake’s face before moving again. I flipped my hair over my shoulder and braced myself on his chest before leaning down to capture his lips with my own again. It was a chaste kiss that had Jake chasing me for more as I pulled away, fully sitting up with me and looking up at me with adoration. I placed another peck on his lips and smiled at him softly, running my fingers through his hair before remaining tangled in the hair on the back of his head. Jake smiled back at me, bringing his hand resting on my waist up to brush some of my hair back behind my ear before resting it on my cheek and pulling me into a kiss that quickly became all teeth and tongue. Jake trailed his hand from my cheek, down my jaw and neck, across my chest, stopping briefly to knead my breast in his hand before wrapping his arm around my waist instead of placing his hand where it was previously. I wrapped one of my arms around his neck and began moving my hips, bouncing up and down on him. He tightened his arm that was wrapped around my waist to bring me closer and brought his other hand up to grip my ass, helping me with my movements on top of him. We broke our kiss, our foreheads pressing together as our breaths intermingled with strangled moans escaping from the both of us.

“You’re taking me so well Darlin,” Jake groaned out, not stopping with his assistance in my movements.

I breathed out a moan in response, letting my forehead fall against Jake’s shoulder as he placed kisses along my shoulder. I continued bouncing on him, feeling myself slowly build up to release.

“I’m getting close,” I whimpered into his ear, letting my tongue dart out and lick along his neck, nipping lightly at his shoulder.

Jake nodded in response, bringing one of his hands down to rub at my clit. I moaned at the added stimulation, lifting myself from his shoulder and staring down at him. Jake looked up at me and brought his head forward to take my breast in his mouth, sucking on it and biting my nipple.

“Oh, fuck,” I breathed out, feeling the knot in my stomach grown tighter.

I brought my other hand back around Jake’s threaded my hands back in his hair and tugged causing him to groan against my chest. I could feel the pressure in my abdomen building and building before it finally burst, causing me to release the loudest and lewdest moan I’ve ever released in my life. Jake continued to assist me in riding out my high, flipping us back over, thrusting three more times before he came as well, continuing his thrusts to help us both through our orgasm. When we both were finished Jake allowed himself to collapse onto the bed beside me, the two of us breathing heavily from our activities.

“After seeing you ride me as well as you did just now, darlin’, I can’t wait to take you back home and see you ride an actual horse,” Jake panted out between breaths, causing me to burst into a fit of giggles, him following shortly after me.

“So, I told you all about my family tonight. I think it’s only fair that you tell me all about yours,” Jake requested as the two of us rested in a hot bubble bath following our activities.

“Well, what do you want to know,” I asked him, taking another bite out of the chocolate cake that was supposed to be our dessert at the Hard Deck.

“Everything,” Jake replied, placing a kiss on the side of my head before accepting the bite of cake I offered him.

I sighed and nodded before turning so I could rest my back against his chest.

“My mom met my dad when she was 21, he was about 23. Grandpa Benjamin thought she was old enough to start attending Navy events with the family. She met my dad at the Navy ball, the first event she ever attended. He was there with my Pops and Nonna. Like I said before, Pops was in the Navy and Dad decided to follow in his footsteps, wanted to make him proud. From what I understand, he was obsessed with my mom the first moment he saw her. At least, that’s what Mav and Ice say,” I told him, leaning my head back to rest on his shoulder.

“They knew your parents,” Jake asked curiously.

“Mhm. So did Bradley’s,”  I told him, feeling tears build up in my eyes at the thought of my parents. “Anyways, he, uh, walked right up to my mom, not realizing she was the daughter of an admiral, and introduced himself, asked her to dance. Do you know why my parents named me Presley?”

“Let me guess, the first song they danced to was “Can’t Help Falling in Love”,” Jake asked smugly, wrapping his arms around me.

“No, actually, it was “Love Me Tender.” Good guess though,” I said sarcastically, giving his arm a pinch. “The two of them fell in love that night and couldn’t get enough of each other from that moment on. Then a few years later they got married and along came me. They had all the support they needed from mom’s family and all their friends. Dad’s parents weren’t a big fan though. They didn’t like how mom stuck up for dad and refused to let them treat him how they did.”

“Do you have much of a relationship with your dad's parents,” Jake asked curiously.

“No, they both passed when I was young, but that’s not the only reason. From the stories, Penny told me, Dad never got along with the two of them. Pops was pissed when he found out Dad was going to be an aviator instead of a seal. He got over it eventually, but it still was something he constantly poked at Dad for any chance he got. Dad had a falling out with them when he told them he was going to ask mom to marry him. When she got pregnant with me, Pops tried to reconcile with him for the sake of Nonna having contact with her grandchild, but it didn’t go over too well. Dad ended up telling him my last name would be Benjamin because his future child didn’t deserve to be connected to an asshole like him,” I murmured.

“How were things after that,” Jake asked curiously.

“From what I remember, Mom and Dad were great and happy. Deployments were always hard, but Mom tried as hard as she could to make it easier. We had this thing where every Friday after school she would come and pick me up, then we would stop and get takeout somewhere, then we would come home and watch “The Princess Bride.” Then, before bed Dad would normally call and read me a story,” I said fondly.

“‘The Princess Bride’? Really,” Jake asked me in disbelief.

“Hey, it was my favorite as a kid and it’s a classic. It’s still my comfort movie to this day,” I defended.

“I’ll have to keep that in mind, Buttercup,” Jake said with a smirk.

I groaned at his words. “I didn’t tell you so you could come up with a new nickname for me.”

“Well too late now,” Jake chuckled, placing a kiss behind my ear. “What happened with your parents?”

“Surprisingly, Dad didn’t die while deployed. He and mom were in a car accident. They went to a friend's wedding out of town, I was staying with Penny that night. They were driving back home and were t-boned by a drunk driver who ran a red light. Their car spun out and slammed into a pole,” I explained to him, fighting back the tears.

“I’m sorry,” Jake whispered to me.

“It’s okay. Sometimes I just sit here and wonder what life would be like now if they were still around. And I wonder if they’re proud of me, wherever they are,” I said quietly.

“I guarantee you they are,” Jake reassured me.

I just hummed in response, leaning my head on his chest and letting my eyes close. Jake noticing this, decided to call it a night.

“Come on, Princess. Let’s get you to bed,” Jake whispered to me, helping me lean up and climbing out of the tub with me, drying me off and getting me into bed.

As I was drifting off to sleep I noticed that for the first time in a long time, I didn’t have a problem with being called “Princess.”

The moonlight streamed through the windows and cast a glow on the couple lying with each other in bed. Presley sucked in a deep breath before turning over. Just as the clock struck midnight she shot up in bed with wide eyes.

“This ain't for the best, my reputation's never been worse so you must like me for me,” she muttered to herself in deep thought before hopping out of bed.

She leaned down and grabbed Jake's shirt from the floor, pulling it on and buttoning it, grabbing her underwear and slipping them on as well before rushing out of the room. She ran down the hall and downstairs, running through the halls downstairs humming the tune to herself over and over again until she reached her music room. She continued humming as she rushed over to the closet and yanked the door open, pulling boxes out and throwing everything in them out onto the floor. Digging through a few until she found what she was looking for, her notebook. She dug in the box until she found a pen then moved to the piano, writing down everything that was running through her mind.

Jake woke up alone in bed. He furrowed his brows in his sleep and rolled over, reaching out for Presley. His eyes shot open when he noticed her side of the bed was cold. He leaned up and looked over, seeing her missing. He looked around the room and saw no sign of the girl still being present. He climbed out of bed and grabbed his underwear off the floor, pulling them on before walking out into the hallway. He stuck his head out and looked down the hall.

“Pres,” he called out.

When he received no answer back he walked down the hall and looked inside each room until he reached the top of the stairs. He stood at the top and looked down, calling out for Presley again. He strained to listen when he heard something and walked down the stairs, the noise getting louder as he went. He followed the noise through the living room and grinned when he realized it was the piano. He followed the sound to the music room and peeked in, seeing his girlfriend leaning over the piano writing quick notes before staring at them in thought and playing the piano again. He leaned against the doorway as he witnessed her process, seeing her mark words out before sighing in frustration and rewriting them.

“What's up, Buttercup,” Jake called out to her, watching her jump slightly before looking back at him.

“I'm sorry if I woke you,” she told him softly before going back to her notebook.

“You didn't,” he reassured her, moving into the room and standing behind her.

“I just had to get this written down before I forgot it all,” she explained to him, looking over the words she had written down.

“What are you writing,” he asked her curiously, leaning down to rest his head on her shoulder and placing a few kisses against her neck.

“My newest lightning strike of inspiration,” she said simply, placing her hands over the keys before playing. “Dive bar on the East Side, where you at? Phone lights up my nightstand in the black. Come here, you can meet me in the back. Dark jeans and your Nikes, look at you. Oh damn, never seen that color green. Just think of the fun things we could do. This ain’t for the best. My reputation’s never been worse, so you must like me for me. We can’t make any promises now, can we, babe? But you can make me a drink. Is it cool that I said all that? Is it chill that you’re in my head? ‘Cause I know that it’s delicate. Is it cool that I said all that? Is it too soon to do this yet? ‘Cause I know that it’s delicate.”

She stopped playing and Jake lifted his head from her shoulder, kissing the side of her head before whispering in her ear. “Good to know that I’m your muse.”

Presley couldn’t help but smile and blush at his words, shaking her head at him. “You’re more than that.”

“Am I? I think you’re just using me for inspiration now,”  He joked with her, kissing her neck. Presley moved her head to the side to give Jake more space. He brushed her hair out of the way and nipped and sucked at her neck as she released small moans at his actions. “Come back to bed, I’ll give you some more inspiration.”

Presley could feel his smirk against the skin of her neck, and she was tempted to say yes, but she couldn’t go back to bed yet. She shook her head and shrugged Jake off. “I can’t. I have to finish this. I’m almost done. I just have one more verse.”

Jake released himself from her neck and furrowed his brows as he pouted at his girlfriend. She ignored him as she focused back on her notebook. Jake finally took the time to look at her notebook and see all of the notes and work.

“Presley,” Jake said, gaining the girl's attention with a ‘hm?’ in response. “Exactly how long have you been up working on this,” He questioned in a tone of suspicion.

Presley released a sigh of frustration at his question. “Not that long. I’ve only been up for” She cut herself off when she looked up at the clock in the music room, seeing the hour hand on 3. “3 hours…,” She trailed off sheepishly.

“3 hours,” Jake exclaimed in shock.

“I guess I lost track of time,” She said sheepishly, turning to look at her boyfriend and finally taking the time to notice his messy hair and boxer briefs.

Jake shook his head at her before sighing. “Come on, you’re going back to bed.”

He reached to grab her but she wiggled out of his grip and moved to climb on top of the piano, knocking her notebook and pen to the ground and causing an unpleasing noise from stepping on the keys. Jake grabbed her ankle and pulled her closer to him, kicking the cover of the keys and making it snap shut.

“No, I don’t want to go to bed,” She said childishly, trying to kick Jake’s grip from her ankle.

“It’s either you come to bed or I join you on top of the piano,” He said childishly, not letting go of her ankle.

Presley stopped moving and turned over onto her back, slowly leaning up onto her elbows to look down at the blonde aviator.

“That doesn’t sound like too bad of an idea,” She said seductively to him.

Jake, hearing her tone of voice and seeing where she was going smirked at her. “Don’t threaten me with a good time, Princess.”

Presley only smirked, sitting up on top of the piano and staring down at Jake seductively as she reached up to her chest and began to slowly unbutton Jake’s dress shirt she was still wearing. Jake groaned at the newly exposed skin, watching her continue down until the shirt was sitting open, exposing her chest but still hiding her breasts and showing off the black lace underwear she had placed back on.

“Oh, the things you do to me, Darlin’,” He groaned out to her before moving directly in front of her, gripping the black lace underwear in both of his hands and tugging them down her legs in one quick movement, throwing them over his shoulder before positioning himself in front of her. He then grabbed both of her legs and threw them over his shoulders before absolutely devouring her like a starved man on top of the piano.

“Oh, fuck, Jake,” She immediately moaned out, reaching down to grip his hair in her hand.

Presley allowed herself to sink back on the piano, laying across the top of it and sliding as Jake pulled her closer to the edge for better access. She tightened her grip on his hair as he ran his tongue through her folds before focusing his attention on her clit, sucking the bud into his mouth before nipping at it with his teeth. Presley brought her other hand up to her chest and moved Jake’s shirt from where it was covering her breasts. She then gripped one of her heaving breasts in her hand and began kneading the flesh, occasionally tweaking her sensitive nipples. Jake looked up at her from where he was devouring her to take in the sight before him. He felt himself grow hard as she assisted in working herself to the edge, groaning at the sight. Jake focused back on his task, letting his tongue run down her folds before fucking her hole with his tongue.

“Oh, god, keep going,” Presley moaned, releasing her nipple to run her hand down her body.

She let her fingers run down to begin stroking her clit as Jake continued his work, but the aviator was quick to slap her hand away and move one of his own in her place, rubbing his thumb over her clit in figure 8’s as he continued tongue fucking her.

“Oh, fuck, Jake, I’m close,” She whimpered out to him.

“Give me all you got, Princess,” He demanded before diving back in.

Presley’s breathing increased as she felt the knot in her stomach grow tighter and tighter before it released, a moan of Jake’s name falling from her lips. Jake continued, working Presley through her orgasm and eagerly lapping up all of her juices. She continued breathing heavily as she came down from her high, Jake leaned up from his position, wiping his mouth and laying her legs back down. He began kissing her thighs, leading up to her hips, placing kisses there before gripping them in his hands, pulling her towards him and off the piano, kissing his way up her abdomen, and across her chest. Paid special attention to her breasts, leaving open-mouthed kisses on her nipples, sucking and nipping them between his teeth before releasing them, traveling back up her chest and her neck before placing another kiss on her lips. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer, deepening the kiss and moaning as she tasted herself on his tongue. Jake broke the kiss, placing a peck on her lips, nose, and cheeks before stopping and placing one on her forehead.

“Come on, Princess. Let’s go to bed,” He whispered to her.

“Okay,” She whispered back eyes already falling shut. “What about you though,” She brought up, reaching forward to the waistband of his underwear when she noticed the prominent bulge.

“Don’t worry about me Buttercup. You’re more important,” He reassured her, adjusting his shirt to cover her once again before picking her up bridal style and carrying her back upstairs to bed.

Taglist: @buckysteveloki-me@hookslove1592 @smoothdogsgirl @mrsevans90

[bunnys-kisses]

it came to me on a sunny day - dad!simon - inspired by the song 'my girl' by the temptations

maybe i'll make this a whole fic? idk... lemme know <3

telling simon you were pregnant was nothing but a shock. but it was inevitable. you two weren't the best when it came to protection, so one night of passion led to the conception of your daughter.

you mostly wore simon's jacket due to you being pregnant most of the winter. you kept telling yourself that you'd get a jacket to accommodate the growing bump, but by the time you got around to it, simon's sweatshirts kept you warm enough. even though simon still put a hat on you every time you left the flat.

simon just loved the swell of your belly, he always smiled when he felt the movement of your daughter. he would lie on the couch, legs dangled off the edge in an uncomfortable manner to be closer to your belly.

if you both weren't so worried about protecting simon's identity, you would've put him online to tout him as 'father of the year'. in your second trimester you did get married at the court house. it was an informal affair, something to put on paper. he promised that the two of you could have the whole celebration after the baby was born.

"simon." you said, "watching johnny choke on a fry that kyle threw into his mouth after the ceremony is worth more than some stupid party." you then leaned over to kiss him, your ring felt comfortable on your finger.

however as you entered your third trimester and your fingers became swollen, you had you wear your ring around your neck on a chain. when you felt about it, simon simply said, "chain's closer to your heart."

when summer came your little rosemary was born. she was born in the end of june, your friend remarked that she was a cancer sign. simon was there the whole way, even when you punched him when a particular hard contraction hit.

"i'm gonna kill you, simon." while that wasn't the first time he ever heard that phrase, it was the only time it ever made a shiver run down his spine. but he was your rock the entire way, the full ten hours it took to delivery rosemary riley.

she came out screamin' though, a far cry from the silent nature of her father. you had never seen simon cry too many times, but the first time he held the pudgy newborn, you could see him hold back the tears.

"simon."

"yeah?" his gaze didn't leave his daughter.

you patted him on the arm, "you can cry, no one's going to judge you." you knew he always felt like he had to be the protector of his little family. but when you leaned over, exhausted yourself, and kissed him on the cheek. the emotion flooded out of him.

you were parents now.

simon took to being a father really well, despite his nervousness (that he never showed on his face) to end up like his own father. he realized that it was a lot easier to be good parent than he thought.

"i love you both." he often said to you, "thank you."

he said that you gave him a second chance at life. after everything, the pain that caused him to shut down and become a killer for the military. you and rosemary allowed the coldness to turn warm. while he still was intimidating outside the home, in the safety of where you lived, he was able to be the caring parent he was denied growing up.

"rose." he said in his low voice, "where are ya goin'." then picked up the toddler with ease so she didn't topple the television on top of her, "you can see it just fine over here." then carried her back to the couch.

you both did your best to not raise an ipad baby, rather you made good use of the second hand printer you had and let you colour and draw to her hearts content. and books. so many books.

"that's a bear, rose." you said as you pointed to the drawing in the book you were reading to her before bed, "b-e-a-r."

"B!Ear!" she chirped as she kicked out her little legs under the covers. she was a very smart girl.

she gets it from me, simon said jokingly.

of course he often let his little rosemary colour in his tattoos with washable markers while they're sitting outside on a nice summer's day a year or two down the line. the little girl is still getting used to holding markers and colours outside the lines of the tattoos. but simon finds it endearing.

nothin' is gonna hurt his girls.

"honey." you said.

"yes?"

"i think we're giving rose a sibling a lot sooner than we expected." <3

(i wanted to write something tender on this beautiful spring day. if it's sunny where you are today soak in the rays!)

[lionhanie]

han taesan ; back 2 u (part two)

you can’t help but find yourself coming back to taesan everytime

this is part two of my series, back 2 u! read the previous part here!

fuckboy!taesan x fem!reader, college au

...featuring! BFFS jaehyun + woonhak, fuckboy leehan (AND he's taesan's roommate), and lovely roomies sungho + riwoo <3

word count: 3.1k

warnings: cursing, alcohol mention/usage, reader is drunk (So is Riwoo), overthinking and insecurity, mentions of fwb/unprotected sex, leehan is lowkey a dick, suggestive comments but nothing too crazy imo

a/n: gongfourz for cover pic bc.... MY MAN IS FINALLY HERE!!!!! also bc they look tew damn fine for me not to use this pic sry

likes ♡ and reblogs ↺ always appreciated!

Sungho and Riwoo led the way to the house, having been there on countless occasions. The excitement rushing through you is undeniable— It’s not that you aren’t used to going to parties, but you’ve never really had much of a reason to be feeling so…Full of adrenaline. As in, you’ve never had Han Taesan personally invite you to one of his on a random Thursday afternoon.

The scene in front of you is so stereotypically movie-like: Music blaring from speakers placed around the room, air stuffy from the sheer amount of people packed in a small place, concerningly sticky floor from (hopefully) spilled drinks, and the never-ending movement of bodies dancing against each other. The door is opened by a tall man, brunette hair falling almost-too-perfectly in front of his eyes as he greets your friends upon entering.

You’ve never met him personally before, but you recall having him in one of your past classes. Kim Leehan: Taesan’s roommate who ironically shares a similar reputation— a set of unforgettable good looks that’s known to do everything except commit. You feel his gaze follow you up and down as you follow closely behind Sungho, his sharp eyes intimidating you. “Who’s this pretty ‘lil thing you bought with you?” Leehan questions. You can practically hear the smirk in his voice without having to look at him.

Leehan closes the door behind you as you walk in, placing his arm above your head as he leans in to get a closer look. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you here before. Surely, you have some idea of who I am if you’re standing in front of me like this.” He winks, waiting for you to respond. Witnessing your interesting first interaction, Riwoo chuckles and pushes Leehan away from you. 

“Jeez, Leehan, do you hit on everyone who walks through these doors? You’re gonna scare the poor girl,” Riwoo puts his arm around you, bringing you closer to his side. “This is our dear Y/N!~ Sungho and I are going to be with her the whole night, so don’t try anything weird.” You know Riwoo is only half-joking, especially since the two of you are well aware of his notoriety amongst the other girls on campus, but you’re thankful he designates both himself and his roommate as your party buddies for the night.

“Ah, so this is Y/N… About time you came, then.” Leehan, now a respectable distance away from you, motions over to the alcohol in the corner. “Why don’t you two show her around our humble abode?And get some drinks while you’re at it, 'kay?”

He pushes the three of you in the direction of the kitchen, where people are crowding around for refills to their red solo cups. Sungho hands you a plastic cup, full of a liquid that you can’t exactly tell the color of because of the flickering LED lights above you. Soon after you’ve all finished your first (maybe second… and third…) rounds of drinks, you find yourself being dragged to what looks like the main area for dancing. 

Half-empty beverage in hand, you laugh as you dance along to the beat with the comfort of your trusted friends beside you. It was actually… really good music, especially for a college party. In the past, you and your friends have had to leave parties solely because the music was shitty, so you’re happy that isn’t the case tonight. Riwoo finds himself in the middle of the dance circle, absolutely loving the attention he’s currently getting from the people around him. Sungho bursts out laughing at the situation, and you quickly join him as you watch your friend dance.

Just as you bring your drink up to your lips to take another swig from it, you feel a cold pair of hands wrap around your waist. Startled and ready to yell at whoever’s currently invading your personal space, you turn your head to look at who the hands belong to— only to find yourself face to face with one of the few familiar faces in the house tonight. “You came,” Taesan’s breath is hot against your ear, making sure you can hear him amidst all the noise. His hands on your hips pull you closer to his body, and you swear there’s sparks where his skin meets yours. “I knew you would come see me. You look great.” 

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚

Maybe you’ve had a little too much to drink (or maybe you’re just using that as an excuse), but you boldly wrap your arms around the back of Taesan’s head once you turn around properly, creating an oddly intimate scene between you two as your bodies sway to the music. He’s more than happy to comply, mesmerized at the way you feel against him. “Taesanie…” Your words are slurred as you inch closer to his face, pushing yourself up by your tippy-toes.

“Thought I told you to call me Dongmin,” His tone is playful as he looks down on you, still shorter than him despite your attempts to reach his impressive height. “Something wrong, angel?” 

“Mmph, sorry... Dongminie…” Even in your drunken state, you maintain your eye contact with the man in front of you. Taesan suddenly finds himself flustered, shocked that he is the one to break it, looking away momentarily but keeping you steady against him. “Would you be mad if I said I really wanted to kiss you right now?” This isn’t something you’d normally say, but the effects of the alcohol and Taesan’s hands on your body fill you with confidence. 

“Well, I definitely wouldn’t mind, but… You’re drunk,” As much as Taesan also really wanted to kiss you, the last thing he’d want is to make any moves on you while you weren’t thinking straight. “Can’t wait ‘til you’re sober?” He sends you a cheeky grin. It’s amazing how he still manages to find a way to maintain his composure to tease you, even after you’d shamelessly confessed your desires.

“I can’t kiss you, Dongmin?” Out of nowhere, you grab his face with your hands, pouting at the denial of your request. “Why not?” Your actions paired with your words make Taesan’s heart race, everyone else around him suddenly vanishing; the only thing he has on his mind is you. He couldn’t tell you how much time has passed at this point, but he can’t stop looking at your lips.

“How much did you have to drink tonight?” His question is genuine and full of concern, once again making you rethink the rumors about him amidst your drunken haze. Something in you doesn’t want to accept the idea that the boy holding you so close is the type of person to break hearts so carelessly. 

“I can’t remember,” The hands on his face fall back down to their original place behind the back of his neck as you rest your head on his chest. “I don’t know what you want from me, then.” Your voice is small now, the combination of music and voices from the nearby partygoers making it hard for him to hear you. It felt weird to think that he’d reject the advances of someone coming onto him so strongly. You can’t deny that you’re disappointed, perhaps even slightly hurt, especially after showing up to the party fully expecting to wake up in Han Taesan’s bed the morning after. 

All of a sudden, the lights are making your head hurt, it’s feeling entirely too stuffy in there, and the outfit you’re wearing makes you want to rip off your skin. This is ridiculous. Why’re you so upset at being turned down? Now, you’re almost certain it’s the alcohol that’s making you feel this way when you feel tears begin to well up in your eyes. Sensing something wrong, Taesan pulls you away from his chest, hand reaching down to your chin to tilt your head up to look at him. His eyes widen once he notices your tears threatening to spill, clearly shocked to see your sudden change in mood. 

“Hey, hey.. What’s wrong?” You pull your face out of his grasp, hating the vulnerability you’re currently feeling. It’s hard to maneuver away from him with the amount of people surrounding you; Taesan only pulls you closer when you don’t say anything. “I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s wrong, pretty. Don’t want you crying under my watch, now.” 

Even in your current state, you feel your heart flutter at his comment. Either Han Taesan is madly in love with you, or this is just his insane charm working its magic. Probably the latter. “Can we go somewhere else?” Your voice shakes as you speak— you're not even sure where you were asking him to go, but you didn’t want to be stuck in the center of the party a second longer. “Just… anywhere? Please?” 

Taesan takes your hand in his, using his free arm to shove through the crowd. The grip on your hand is tight; he doesn’t want to lose you. You don’t know where he’s taking you, but you’re not in the right mindset to want to question it any further. “Taesan, there you are!” The two of you are forced to stop temporarily after being called out by his roommate. He’s leaning against a wall with a beer in hand and a beautiful woman practically wrapped around his arm. Leehan whistles at Taesan once he notices your interlocked fingers. “Looks like you finally found her. Use protection this time, yeah?” He smirks, making the girl he’s currently with giggle at his side as she peers at the you two, making it feel like she's judging you. 

The vulgar implications of Leehan’s comment followed by their snickering makes your face heat up. You feel… Gross. “Not the fucking time.” Taesan pushes past him in annoyance before bringing you to the entrance of what you assume to be his room. The change in environment seems to calm you down immediately. The door closes behind you with a gentle click, drowning out all the noise coming from behind it. It’s significantly cooler there than it was out in the main living area, giving you the chance to breathe properly and actually hear yourself think.

Taesan walks over to the corner of his room to turn on a lamp; a warm glow fills the area and allows you to properly take in its contents. It was obvious now to see that the space was without a doubt his— various band posters pasted haphazardly on the walls, clothes rack organized neatly by the door, and queen-sized bed made to perfection in the middle of the floor. “Uh, you can sit there, if you want. It’s comfier than sitting on the floor or something,” He points to the bed with his eyes, grabbing a bottle of water from the table beside the lamp he’d just turned on. 

You trip on your own feet slightly as you walk over to the bed, startling him slightly as he moves to help you sit. A newly-opened bottle of water is placed in your empty hands as you take a seat, which you gratefully take a much-needed drink from. The feeling in the room is awkward as you avoid his eye contact, finding the cute plushie laying on his pillows more interesting than the man in front of you. 

You’re playing with the plastic label on the bottle as you hear him clear his throat, prompting you to finally look at him for the first time since entering his room. “Thanks for bringing me here, and uh, the water.” The tension in the room slowly begins to sober you up as you’re the one to break the silence. “Sorry about all this. I think I just got a little overwhelmed out there, that's all.”

“Come on baby, don’t apologize. It’s all good, okay?” There he goes again with the pet names. “If this ever happens again at one of our parties, just find me, and I’ll take you back here." Yeah, if you muster up the courage to show your face at one of these ever again. You don’t think you’re capable of coming back to this house if it means you need to live through that whirlwind of emotions every time. You can feel your phone buzz in your pocket, but you don’t care to check it. 

1 new message from “Y/N’s bodyguards ♡”! Sungho: where are u Y/N?? party’s pretty much over now

“And disregard what that dumbass said earlier,” He’s talking about Leehan, letting out a frustrated scoff replaying the brief interaction in his head. “I wasn’t, er…” Taesan’s struggling to find an appropriate way to word what he’s trying to say. “...Planning? On doing that with you tonight.” 

Your hands fidget in your lap, feeling a bit insecure now. What are you supposed to say to someone who just said they wouldn’t have sex with you? “Oh, uh… Yeah, I get it.” You almost want to laugh out loud to cope with how uncomfortable your conversation currently is.

Taesan notices the discomfort on your face after realizing what his words might imply to you. “Wait, I didn’t mean it like… I'd never want to hook up, but…” He’s stumbling over his own words as he rambles on. It’s oddly endearing to see him so flustered, a complete 180 from his usual calm, collected demeanor.  “Y/N, I think you’re attractive, like, seriously hot. But shit gets messy when there’s alcohol involved, and I didn’t want to make a move if you didn’t really want to… But I swear I would’ve kissed you right then and there if—” 

There’s a knock on the door behind him, and Taesan mentally thanks the universe for saving him from the hole he just dug himself into. “Y/N, are you in there?” Although muffled, you’re quick to recognize Sungho’s voice. “Leehan told us Taesan brought you to his room… So uh, just… Finish up whatever you’re doing and come out when you’re done, I guess?” Your cheeks redden at your friend's suggestive words. Oh god. He definitely thinks Taesan brought you in here to fuck. 

Taesan also finds himself embarrassed, even more so than he already was at his poor recovery seconds ago, quickly moving to open the door to reveal your two friends standing behind it. You smile sheepishly at them as you grab your water bottle and make your way towards the door, feeling completely sober at this point. Riwoo and Sungho quickly glance back and forth between you and Taesan, letting out a small breath of relief once seeing that seemingly nothing too bad happened while you were in there. 

“Y/N, I’m so sorry for leaving you all alone out there!” Riwoo engulfs you in a huge embrace, very obviously still drunk. “I promise, like really pinky promise, I won’t let you out of my sight next time!” 

“Alright you big baby, we need to go home.” Sungho pries your mutual friend off of you, patting him on the head once he successfully pulls him away. “You didn’t see any of our texts Y/N?” You send him a confused look, reaching into your pocket to find your phone, only to be greeted with a series of notifications upon unlocking it. 

8 unread messages from “Y/N’s bodyguards ♡”! [11:43] Riwoo: Y/N WE LSOT YOU I’M SO SSORRY [11:44] Riwoo: SUNGHO IS YELLIGN AT ME RN FOR MAKING THE DANCE CIRCLE TOO BIG 🙁…. my bad for being TOO good ig… [11:47] Sungho: YES bc Y/N and I got SEPARATED and look where we are NOW  [11:47] Sungho: you’re an adult so…. i trust you Y/N [11:50] Sungho: BUT text us if u need anything or if you want to go home  [11:51] Sungho: phone is on vibrate, i’ll feel it in my pocket [12:02] Riwoo: YA IAM READY TO LEAVE WHENEVER YOUU ARE OKAY I LVOE   YOU Y/NNNNNN BE SAFE  [1:35] Sungho: where are u Y/N?? party’s pretty much over now

“Ah… I guess I didn’t notice my phone going off earlier.” It’s only a partial lie, you knew you ignored his most recent message, but the rest of them were sent while you were too preoccupied with grinding back against Han Taesan on the dance floor; It’s only reasonable to think you weren’t going to check your phone then. “Guess I wasn’t paying attention,” Your gaze flickers to Taesan briefly, who’s still holding the door open as you explain to Sungho. “Sorry, I hope I didn’t worry you guys too much.” 

“Don’t worry, she was with me.” Taesan unexpectedly chimes in to the conversation from next to you. “As long as Y/N’s okay, right?” 

Looking past the doorway, you were shocked to see that the party actually was over. The previously crowded space was close to empty now, only a handful of partygoers lingering around the room. Looks like you lost track of time... How long were you with Taesan? Sungho’s holding Riwoo onto his shoulder as they begin staggering to the front door, you and Taesan trailing closely behind in silence. 

The awkward air between you two was short lived, however, as Taesan grabs your wrist and pulls you into his arms, similar to how you were earlier in the night. Your back is against his chest as he rests his chin atop your head, hugging you from behind. “Sorry for sounding like a douchebag in my room earlier. I really do think you’re gorgeous, though.” He twirls you around, taking your hand in his once more as he walks you to the door.

The brisk air from outside makes you shiver, your arms immediately wrapping around your torso. You didn’t notice how cold it was while the three of you were walking there, the alcohol from the pregame warming you up too much to feel the chill in the first place. Riwoo and Sungho are already a couple feet out the door, bickering over what kind of food they should pick up on the way back to the apartment. 

In front of you, Taesan shrugs the jacket he was wearing off his back, placing it around your shoulders. The sweet gesture alone makes you heat up; you’re thankful that even after everything that’s happened between you guys tonight, he’s a gentleman. “Thanks, Dongmin.” 

He waves his hand in front of him, as if to tell you it was no big deal. “My clothes look good on you, Y/N.” The hand he places on the side of your face is gentle as he brings your lips to his, giving you a short kiss. “That’s all you get for now. You’ll just have to wait ‘til next time to kiss me properly, hm?”

tags: @minwrlds @luna2nite @taesancore @cherrytaesan @helpsplease @taylorluvation @serejae @dimplewonie @nikiismyhb (send an ask or comment to be added!)

a/n: literally the longest thing i’ve ever written thus far sorry if there’s mistakes LMFAO i’m def editing it after i posted ... AWWWKKKK

© lionhanie 2024 ; all rights reserved!

[soggyriceee]

Hello, I hope you are having a great day.

I haven't been able to get Slasher König and his reading wife out of my head for days. It's a scenario where he comes home from killing someone and asks his wife if she's proud of him, to which she says yes and some HUGE obscenity ensues.

Also if you can include something like the reader is madly obsessed with how strong König is (especially his arms) and how tall he is.

Thanks 🙇‍♀️

proud of me | Konig

sorry for how late this was, im trying to catch up on all the requests y'all

warnings: mentions of killing, oral(f! and m! receiving), somno, fingering, unprotected p in v, aggressive, dom to slightly sub Koni, cowgirl, missionary,

you didnt really expect him to do it. I mean, who would expect your husband to go and murder your ex? your stalker ex.

" he won't stop calling me from different numbers." you'd cry to him, trying to refrain from waking your 2 year old baby. you and Konig had been married for 4 years now, together for 7. you would think any other ex's you've had would be married or with their true love. right? not your ex.

every year around your birthday, he'd call. you'd assumed every year he changed his phone number, and then using fake ones after you blocked his first number. you hadn't told Konig about it until it hit the third year. the year you got married. thats when the calls would get worse. when you had your baby it was no better.

Konig was not happy when he had to figure out on your honeymoon when you ex managed to track you down in the middle of Cancun, threatening to kill himself if you continued to hurt him. you never imagined your honeymoon with the love of your life being completely ruined by someone from years ago. "Im so sorry, I never thought it would get this bad." you cried to him as the police took your ex off the beach.

from then on Konig always threatened to find your ex, fighting him or even killing him for doing this to you. to both of you. but you didnt want Konig to leave. not when you were in the process of getting pregnant with your second baby. "what if you go to jail and I get a positive result." you cried, pulling him arm back to the bed as he got up from the bed, moving towards the drawer the gun lived.

he agreed, not wanting to hurt you more than you were already hurting. but he also felt completely useless in this fight. your ex wouldn’t leave you alone. not until you and Konig divorced. but that wasn’t an option for either of you and you both were content on remaining together.

that’s when you decided to get a restraining order on him. Konig was delighted you came to that conclusion yourself and even offered to pay for the lawyer if you needed one. thankfully, there was no fee for getting a restraining order and the process was done quickly and in no time.

but, of course, why would your ex even care?

this only seemed to anger him more and made him more and more persistent on talking to you. he’d find you in parks when you’d take your now 3 year old to the park. Konig would come speeding over but of course he’d run before Konig could even get there. it angered Konig. to the point you two began to argue about it.

this led to lonely nights. Konig sleeping on the couch or in the baby’s room. you were left alone to keep yourself warm at night. the sex was different. it was full of anger and rage. and it only happened when Konig came home from a rough day, using you to get off and then returning to the living room to sleep. you felt disgusted with yourself. but also hurt at how he was letting your ex ruin you guys’ marriage.

the calls and texts from your ex never stopped. he still showed up at random places and threatening to kill you if you didn’t come with him. you’d call the cops now instead of Konig, knowing that he’d get fined or even put to jail for breaking the order. but the second it ended, he began to show up at your home.

Konig knew about it. but apart of him didn’t care anymore. he felt like it wasn’t going to stop no matter what. he felt completely useless. he didn’t feel like a man.

and so the lonely nights continued, the aggressive loveless sex continued. your baby was growing up in a house that had no love. and you tried your best. despite working longer hours now just to stay away from home. not even to simply stay away from your ex now. to stay away from Konig as well.

you began to lose weight, drastically. the lack of food and sleep was catching up to you and Konig noticed. he still loves you. you were his soulmate and never for a moment did he doubt that. he hated how he was treating you. but he didn’t know why he couldn’t just talk to you about it. not until he came into the room, the sight of you sleeping with your baby in your arms.

he crawled into bed beside you, wrapping one arm around your waist, swallowing back the tears of guilt but also happiness. he was finally right beside you in bed where he belonged.

“i’m going to make this right for us.” he whispered in your sleeping ear, kissing your cheek before shuffling silently out the bed and eventually out the house.

the next morning you woke up to a text from Konig. “gonna be out until late tonight. make sure the baby’s asleep when i get home. please. i love you.” of course the text worried you, and the spamming of calls did no good for you at all. he simply let it ring and go to voice mail. it was only 11:20 or so, when did he leave and for how long will he be gone?

the rest of your day was full of anxiety and stress. your baby was crying throughout the day, unable to find something to make themselves happy. you were unable to do the same.

every ten minuets youd check your phone to see if Konig said anything. a text, even a simple “hey i’m okay.” but you got nothing. that’s when it hit you that you also haven’t heard/seen much of your ex. maybe it was just a coincidence, nothing to be too worked up over. right?

as night fell, you were finally able to get your baby to relax and fall asleep in his own bed. it was 9 now, still nothing from Konig. plopping on the couch, you closed your eyes, swallowing back the tears that wanted to escape but couldn’t. he was coming home. you had to keep telling yourself that.

you hadn’t realized you had fallen asleep on the couch until you shuffled awake slowly, feeling something moving inside you. panicked, you woke up, looking right at the source of the feeling.

between your legs laid Konig, his head resting on your thigh, lips sucking on your clit while his ring and middle finger pushed in and out of you. his eyes were closed, moaning into your pussy as his tongue circled your clit, his lips sucking it right back into his mouth after.

your hand pressed against his head, pushing him alway. well trying. his eyes shot open, looking straight into your as his arm pulled you closer onto his face rather than farther. his fingers hit deeper inside you with that, a whimper leaving past you.

he placed his head back on your thighs, humming satisfied with your lack of fight. his tongue went back to playing with your clit, his eyes remaining on yours. you tried to hold back your moans, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of how much you were enjoying it. but he knew you were. no matter how hard he tried he knew exactly how to get you to finish.

almost as if it was a subconscious move, your fingers wrapped into his hair, tugging gently. “are you proud.. of me?" he moaned into your cunt, moving your fingers in a 'come here' movement. your toes curled instantly, pussy clenching around him. "f-for what?" you moaned out, still trying to fully take in what was happening.

he pulled your clit with his lip, sticking his tongue out to let it drool over your clit. "I took care of everything. we're gonna be so much happier maus." he said, taking his thumb to rub his spit against your clit.

your head that was tilted back quickly shot up, stuttering out "what?" he smiled and sat up, removing his shirt before standing. you took in his tall figure, every muscle curve on his arms and chest. he slid his hands to his pant buckle, undoing his buckle. slowly he slid his pants down, his member springing up.

the tip was red, dripping pre cum slowly. "me and you and our baby. were gonna be happy forever." he smiled, walking closer to you. you sat up, swallowing and looking up to the tall man. his hands moved to his hard on, grabbing it gently before tapping it on your face. "open." he breathed out. and so you did.

"I killed him." he said before stuffing your mouth, shoving all of himself in your mouth. your hands gripped his thigh, whimpering around him. his hands went behind your head, guiding you back and forth on his length. he groaned, digging his teeth into his bottom lip.

"a..are you proud of me maus? proud what I did for our family." he moaned, moving his hips back and forth against you. but of course you couldn't respond. how would you respond when your throat and mouth is stretched out by the size of him? so all you could do was satisfy him with a weak whimper.

his hips didn't stop thrusting against your face, breathing out heavily. "mm fuck.. take me so well maus." he moaned, watching as your mouth spread around him. tears fell from your eyes, fingers digging into his muscled thighs. "too much for you libe? cant take it all?" he moaned, pulling his dick out your mouth.

drool followed, your lips swollen. his hand cupped your chin to force you to look up at him, a fake sympathetic look on his face. "b-been so.. long." you panted, swallowing while keeping your eyes on him. this caused a big smile on his face now, moving to sit beside you. "come sit." he smiled.

you slowly made your way on his lap, taking in how big he was against you. one of is hands moved up to your chin, pulling you to his lips. the mix of his pre cum and your spit made a mess on each others face. "tell me. tell me your proud of me." he said against your lips, his other hand sliding between your thighs to rub your puffy clit.

you whimpered out, hands finding his broad shoulders, gripping them. "s-so proud of you." you whimpered, slowly moving your hips against his finger. "say it again." he demanded, watching your body react.

your one hand moved up to his hair, gripping it as your orgasm rapidly approached. "im sop-proud of you Koni.. did s-so good." you moaned out, moving your hips against his fingers faster. he moaned out, thrusting his hips up before removing his finger. "need you to show me." he said, gripping your hips to lift you from his lap and align you with his tip.

"okay j-just go slow pl- fuck!" Konig had ignored your request completely, pushing you all the way down on his length. naturally, your body fell against his as he bottomed out inside you, feeling every inch of him while a surprised squeak left your lips. "s-sorry libe", he chuckled, "just got too excited."

his hips moved out of your pussy slow, before pushing deep inside of you. your fingers dug into his shoulders, beginning to feel how small you really were against his body. the muscles in his shoulders tensed, a low growl emitting from him. his large hands wrapped almost fully around d your waist, allowing him to move you at the pace he wants you to, turning you into a real life flashlight.

and it made you even wetter.

"s-so fucking small against me yeah? happy I saved you from that man huh libe? are you happy I saved the day?" he whispered, bouncing you up and down. you wanted to respond, but you couldnt. you were getting off on the fact he was manhandling you, his size compared to you causing your cunt to squelch around him. so all you could give him was a small pathetic nod, partnered with a small meek ‘yes.

he kept up the pace he set for you, beginning to thrust up into you. “oh fuck.. so deep inside this pussy. filling yoh all the way up.” he groaned, his head digging into your shoulder. your arms wrapped around his neck, nails digging into his broad shoulders as your body fell to mush in his grip.

“s-so big.” yoh whimpered, squeezing your eyes shut and hitting your lip, trying not to be too loud to wake your kid. he chuckled, slowing his pace to a halt, letting you also rest. “too much?” he asked, pressing a kiss to your neck before looking to you. you nodded, whimpering out another ‘yes.

he laid you on the couch, sliding out of your cunt leaving yoh throbbing. he laid above you, tapping his length on your pussy. “so wet.. you like me killing for you don’t you?” he whispered, cupping yohr cheek with his hand. you nodded quickly, looking up at him.

his other hand ran up and down your inner thigh, gripping it. “you gotta be quiet for me maus.. don’t wanna wake our baby.” he whisperer, aligning his tip before slowly pushing in, whimpering out as you wrapped around him. your eyes squeezed shut, mouth falling open. his hand quickly found your mouth, head pressing against yours.

he took a shaky breath before sliding oht slowly and pushing back in, whimpering out again. slowly he picked up the pace, his hands finding your hips to hold you down and allow him to go faster and deeper. “so fucking tight.. and it’s all mine.” he groaned, looking at you through his eyelashes. his hips slapped against yours, filling the room with the sound of slapping and moans.

your hands found the back of his head, pulling tightly on his hair. he whimpered out, gripping your hips a bit tighter, releasing his hand from your mouth. “it’s a-all yours Koni. just yours.” you moaned, raising your legs to wrap around his waist. he whimpered out a ‘fuck’, raising his head to look into your eyes. “t-tell me again.” he moaned, moving faster.

he was close you could tell. his breaths got shaky and his fingers dug into your hips. “this pussy is.. is all yours.” you cooed, tugging his hair just a bit. he groaned, pushing your legs up to your chest a bit more, drilling right against your womb. “oh please o-pull my hair more.” he whimpered, looking down to you with desperate eyes.

you smirked, tugging his hair so his head was pulled back, exposing the veins in his neck. your pussy clenched around him, the idea of being in control of the man who towers over you completely. “you l-like being controlled like this huh?” you whisper, clenching around his cock tighter. he whimpered, his hands working up your body now to your breasts.

“i-i’m gonna.. i’m gonna cum libe.” he whimpered, playing with your nipples. you gasped softly, your back arching off the couch slightly. his hips drilled into ykh faster, chasing his own high. his desperation caused yohr pussy to pulse around him, your stomach turning. “so close.. just w-wait for me Koni.” you moaned, your legs tightening around him.

you let his hair go, your hand gripping his face to pull him down to kiss you. the kiss was deep and fast, silencing each others moans. “please libe.. i c-cant hold it anymore.” he begged against your lips, one hand sliding between your bodies to your clit. “keep going in so c-close.. fuck.”

naturally, his hips moved quicker, desperate taking over the once controlled man. his tip abused your womb, causing tears to brim at your eyes as your cunt convulsed around his cock. "c-cum in me Koni" you moaned out, feeling yourself let go. but you didn't have to finish your sentence before his head dropped in between your neck, biting down on your skin to try and silence himself. his fingers dug into your hips, his own hips pounding into you as he forced his cum deeper into you.

your own body shook under him, your hands gripping his hair as you let the pleasure course threw your body. "q-quiet libe.. c-can't wake the baby." he whimpered, placing his hand over your mouth as you came down from your high. he thrusted slowly in and out of you, his body pressed flat against yours. your hands let go of his hair as your body relaxed, your legs shaking less. his hand left your mouth, head still in your neck.

"did you.. really kill him Konig?" you finally asked after a bit of silence. but you got nothing in return. instead, you were hit with soft snoring in your ear, Konigs arms wrapped around your body. you felt him softening inside you, causing the heat to rush to your cheeks. smiling, you kissed his forehead before pressing your head back on the couch, closing your eyes and drifting off to the sound of his snoring.

another request done finally. college is kicking my ass y'all. dont do it. (jkjkjk)

[ihavethedreamies]

Beginner's Luck | Easy to Expert (3 v1)

Lee Yongbok (Felix) & Yang Jeongin (I.N.) - Stray Kids

Rating: M (18+) MDNI

Word Count: ~3k

Felix/AFAB!Reader/I.N.

Genre: Reader-Insert, Smut, Fluff

!!This is smut…if that much isn't clear you should probably leave now!! MDNI!

Warnings: She/Her Pronouns used, Swearing, Kissing, Fingering, Cosplay (Fox Lingerie), Multiple Partners, Oral (F! And M! Receiving), Threesome, Double Penetration, Anal Play, Sex Toys - Butt Plugs, Anal Sex, Unprotected Sex (Bad Idea, Don't Do It)

Author's Note: I was supposed to just do a part two for Felix's Easy but now I have these as well…

-> Series Hub <-

-> Part 1 <-

-> Part 2 <-

-> Ver. Seungmin <-

-> Ver. Hyunjin <-

-> Ver. Han <-

-> Ver. Lee Know <-

-> Ver. Changbin <-

-> Ver. Bang Chan <-

I am cross-posting this on Archive and Wattpad. Please reblog! If you know anyone that would like this or future fics but they aren't on here my name and icon are exactly the same on the other sites. Happy reading!

"Is she really sure about this?" Jeongin was unsure when Felix first brought it up and still was. About a week ago, the older guy came to him with the proposition, and anyone would be stupid to say no. He just wasn't sure why you chose him. Someone like Chan or Hyunjin were more obvious choices, he was just Baby Bread…At least, that's how he thought you saw him. Jeongin kept his hands in his pockets as Felix led him up to your apartment. It had been a few months since you two had started dating, and Jeongin was shocked that you were so…adventurous.

"Are you sure?" Felix turned to him before he plugged in the key code to your door.

"Yes! I mean…" He blushed, "I want to but I'm just not too confident."

"Look, just do what we say, and it'll go well. We'll talk about it ahead of time, but you don't have to do anything you don't want." The elder reassured the maknae who nodded, psyching himself up.

"Okay, hyung." He nodded and then fist-bumped Felix before your boyfriend let them both in.

You heard the door lock chime as he unlocked it and you shuffled awkwardly. You were in your bedroom, standing at the end of the bed. Felix was right on time. You fiddled with your bra; the furry texture tickled where it fell past the underwire. Your panties were a similar story, the orange faux fur was at least soft. The wraps of the same material around your wrists were a bit itchy though. Your thigh high socks were the same color orange, and the feet were black. A slightly uncomfortable head band sat on your head, two pointed ears sticking from the top. You shifted your weight to your other hip, flinching a bit at the feeling of the plug in your ass. The fox tail hanging off of it made it tug weird at your insides. At Felix's behest you had prepared already so you didn't have to worry much about getting ready while Jeongin was also there. The whole thought of a threesome was already kind of overwhelming, and then he wanted to put you in the costume. It was arousing though, just slightly embarrassing.

"Love?" Felix's deep voice called out.

"In here!" you replied, and you heard them whispering to each other and presumed they were removing their coats, shoes, and bags.

"Oh, you look amazing, love." Felix complimented as he led the younger in and you wished the tail could wag as well.

"Shit." Jeongin swore under his breath, his face blooming red.

"You like it, Jeong?" You brought your hand to your face innocently, swaying a bit, the tail swaying too.

"Fuck." He swore again and wanted so desperately to go to you. But you weren't his girlfriend, he was the third wheel.

"Rules…" Felix started, holding his finger up.

"First, you cannot kiss her-"

"On the lips." You put your finger over your mouth. That made sense.

"Everywhere else is fine." Felix continued, "Two!"

"Listen to him." You motioned to Felix with both your hands, "Three…"

"Only I get the pleasure of her cute little ass." The elder continued, pulling you to his side and kissing the crown of your head. Honestly, Jeongin was perfectly fine with that. He thought it would have been the other way around.

"Four!" You held up your fingers.

"She can suck you off, but you cannot cum down her throat." Felix crossed his arms, and that rule threw Jeongin off.

"She likes it too much, only I can." The elder finished and Jeongin decided to dwell on that later.

"Finally, only if you're okay with it…" Your boyfriend looked at you to make sure you were still okay with it.

"You don't have to wear a condom. But you have to pull out." You finished and he nearly choked. Really?

"You're clean, right?" you asked, and he nodded right away.

"B-but what-" the other man asked, but you cut him off.

"I'm on the pill."

"Oh, okay."

"Good." Felix clapped his hands, then turned to you, "You wanna help him out?" And you nodded, skipping over to Jeongin. He was a bit taller than Felix and you looked up at him with big ole' eyes and he swallowed hard. He desperately wanted to break rule number one. He flinched when your hands went to his shirt, rapidly undoing the buttons. The maknae was too focused on what you were doing he didn't notice Felix undressing in the back and getting various things out from the nightstand. After you removed his button up, you even helped him take the long sleeve shirt off he had underneath. You were pleasantly surprised by what you saw, his arms were nicely defined, you already knew this, but so was his torso. His metabolism was so fast you never thought he would be able to get even that level of definition.

"N-Noona-" He tried to stop you when you fell to your knees in front of him, helping him out of his pants. Then he remembered one of the rules Felix had set. If you like swallowing cum, you probably also liked swallowing dick. You shot him an innocent but coy look when you came face to face with his crotch, cock straining against the cloth of his boxers. Before you pulled the hem down, you turned to look over your shoulder at Felix and he nodded, fiddling with a box of something. He pulled out three bottles, one pink, one green, and one orange.

"Strawberry, Melon or Peach?" Felix called and Jeongin was almost too distracted by your removing his boxers to hear your answer.

"Peach." You finally answered, then looked back to him staring at you.

"Can I?" You asked and he cleared his throat.

"Yeah, 'course." He licked his lips nervously. You shifted on your knees, the plug shifting inside you, and you whimpered softly. You nearly yelped when it started to buzz inside of you.

"F-Felix!" You squealed and he smiled down at his phone. He didn't tell you it vibrated! Little shit…

"Go ahead." Felix prompted you and moved the attached tail to a better angle, then wrapped your hand around Jeongin's cock. He gasped, watching in awe as your tongue flicked over the tip, the ears on your headband flopping some and you readjusted it with your other hand.

"Fuck!" His breath left him when your mouth swallowed the head, and you just kept going. He had a long cock, and you still buried him completely in your throat which made him whine.

"Noona~" He flexed his fingers at his sides, but there was no rule about touching you. Carefully he rested one hand on your head, holding one of the ears. Felix and you both knew you much preferred to have him do the work, you would just sit there and let him fuck your throat. But Jeongin didn't get that privilege. It wasn't a power thing to your boyfriend, just simply that, that Felix was your boyfriend, not Jeongin. As you sucked him off your other hand pumped what was left, you knew to listen to Felix. Outside of the bedroom, he was incredibly sweet and soft, but it turned out you liked it even rougher than he first thought. Before you could barely cum no matter what you tried. Now, it was like he could snap his fingers and you would fall apart. When you felt the younger man's cock pulse in your grip, you knew he was close, so you pulled your mouth off and grabbed him with your other hand. He then noticed your black painted nails and he groaned as he came, the white fluid painting your face and flowing over your hands.

"Woah~" You were impressed with the amount that came out, and despite wanting to taste, you knew better. You scooted back, holding your hands out, one eye closed to prevent anything from getting in it.

"Shit! Sorry!" Jeongin panicked and Felix chuckled, coming to you with a wet towel. He dotingly cleaned you off and kissed your brow as he stood back up. The younger watched, the affection not surprising him the least, but your submissive attitude sure did. You were usually pretty feisty, in a positive way, and you spoke your mind. It was then the maknae noticed what you were wearing around your neck. It was a black silk choker that had a pendant dangling from it. When you turned back to look at him, still on your knees, he saw that the heart-shaped tag had Felix's name on it.

"Does it hurt?" Felix asked as he came back, your hands adjusting the headband. You shook your head, and he helped you up and you scurried to the end of the bed. Kneeling back down on the floor in front of your boyfriend, he smiled and petted your head softly. He clicked his tongue when your hands ran up his thighs toward his covered hard-on, and he poked you hard on the forehead. You yelped dramatically and he smiled.

"Not tonight, love. Get up here." He patted the bed and you got on, laying in an obviously practiced position. Jeongin went over at Felix's prompting, running his hand through his hair, it was sticking to his forehead some from sweating.

"Kneel there." Felix pointed and Jeongin did so, finding himself eye level with your cunt. The furry panties you had on covered your pussy, but there was a hole in them to allow the tail plug to sit inside you unhindered. He let his hands run slowly up your thighs till he got to the hem of your underwear. Turned out there were ties there and before he undid them, he made sure Felix was okay with it. He nodded and so he pulled on the ribbon and carefully removed your panties, making sure to be careful of the plug in your ass. You whined and wiggled under the maknae’s gaze. While Jeongin knew that the tail was where it was, it was still a little bracing. Fun little (Y/N) turned out to be Felix's little slut.

"Go ahead.” Felix prompted and Jeongin leaned in, placing his hands on your spread thighs. The scent of your arousal hit him, and his mouth watered. Was Felix really going to let him tongue-fuck you? You were soaked, the clear, thick liquid dripping from your cunt and onto the end of the tail plug.

"Use your fingers." He listened to his hyung and when he was about to use just one, Felix corrected him. Jeongin didn't have a ton of experience, but he had enough to know what to do. But Felix did know you better.

"Fast." The elder wasn't pressuring him to hurry up, just telling him to do it like you liked it. His fingers pressed to your quivering hole and immediately pumped the two digits in, and you mewled. Your gummy walls clenched his fingers and he huffed.

"Press down." He did, and he could feel the plug buzzing through the wall of your pussy. He could feel the hard silicone as well and you whined louder when he pressed again.

"You can taste." Felix told him and he swallowed, taking his fingers out and licking them clean. Jeongin groaned and Felix smirked, coming around to look at your face. The younger couldn't see from where he was, but your boyfriend cooed at you.

"You want his tongue, love?" he asked, and you nodded.

"Go ahead." Jeongin nodded, and gently put his hands on your thighs, opening your legs more. If he was given the chance, he was taking it, so, he immediately stuck his tongue inside your cunt as deep as he could. You nearly wailed, his tongue pulling out to swirl around your clit before diving back in. Felix grinned in pride when he saw that, yes, it felt good, but you weren't twitching like you did with him. Jeongin was enjoying it more than you, almost, and his cock was already rock hard again.

"Alright." The elder came back around and Jeongin immediately pulled back and nervously wiped his face.

"Sit at the head of the bed." Jeongin followed as directed and Felix helped you move and kneel at the foot.

"Go ahead, love." Felix kissed the crown of your head, and you crawled over to the other man, tail swinging where it stuck out from your ass. Jeongin nervously sat there when you straddled him and you took his hand, bringing it to the front clasp of the bra. He unclicked it with ease and helped you take it off and he turned red. You were so pretty and cute, he couldn't believe you wanted him. Your hands readjusted the headband again, clearly in annoyance. Jeongin loved the cosplay, but he didn't want you to dislike it. He reached and plucked it off, tossing it to the side. You smiled and you sat down on his lap, your warm thighs hugging his, you let his cock rest against your stomach. The fur of the tail tickled his knee and you turned to Felix. You sat patiently as he joined you two on the bed, the orange bottle in his hand. The new set he got had a warming effect and you hadn't tried it yet.

"Okay, love, sit on Jeongin's cock." Your boyfriend allowed and you eagerly sat up on your knees more to place the head against your twitching cunt. Slowly, sighing, you let him plunge inside. The younger man groaned as your tight hole surrounded him. He wasn't as thick as Felix, but just as long, if not more so. You leaned forward, hands on his shoulders, placing your head in the crook of his neck.

"You can hold her." Felix huffed, amused by the bashful maknae. He carefully hugged you and you leaned forward more and Jeongin realized what you were doing. He could feel the silicone plug through your pussy where it sat in your ass. You whimpered in anticipation. You and Felix hadn't tried anything like this yet. He filled your cunt while you had a plug in, or fingered you while in your ass, but this was new. He made the anticipation build on purpose. Were there dildos that would work for the same purpose? Sure. But where was the fun in that? Plus, Felix liked having control in an odd way, more than he expected. He also enjoyed seeing that no one else could please you like he could.

"Okay, love." Felix came up closer and Jeongin held you closer when your own grip tightened. He ran his hand up your spine soothingly, his other resting on your opposite hip, his thumbs brushing the skin. You let out a whine and he huffed, trying to keep still, and Felix slowly pulled the tail plug out. You had already prepared and lubed your back hole, but he really wanted to be sure. Spilling some of the orange lube on his cock, Felix groaned at the warming feeling.

"Ready, love?"

"Yes, 'Lix." you answered and began to breathe carefully and the younger gasped along with you as Felix pressed his cock into your ass. You let out a moan the entire time it took him to slowly fill you. Jeongin didn't think you could have gotten any tighter than you were. You shivered once they were both in you fully, and Felix helped you change position, so you were sitting up more. Right when you hit a certain angle, they both notched in as deep as they could and you keened, feeling incredibly full. It was incredible, Jeongin watched the sanity leave your eyes, and it was like your irises turned to hearts, instantly going cock drunk.

"Hm, you like that, huh (Y/N)?" Felix whispered in your ear, and you nodded, dazed.

"What do I do hyung?"

"Just wait a sec." Felix instructed and you squeaked when he pulled out some then thrust back in. Your ass was used to his cock by this point, but being filled double was a lot. You weren't in any pain, and he could tell you were close already.

"Okay, just take slow thrusts with me." Your boyfriend prompted and at almost the same time, they both pulled back just an inch, before grinding back into you. Your head fell forward between your shoulders, chin touching your collar bone. Your nails dug into Jeongin's shoulders, and he hissed at the slight sting, not minding at all though.

"Hold on," Jeongin requested, and Felix held you up as he adjusted so he could thrust up easier. They both started slow, but were in sync, and your head swam. Your skin and insides were on fire and your mind was so foggy you couldn't form a single coherent thought. Felix huffed in amusement, and you fell forward more, hands going to dig in the sheets as they both picked up the pace.

"F-Felix~" You gasped, and he knew that meant you were close.

"Harder." he told the younger and they both picked the pace up, Jeongin panting hard, trying not to cum yet. He wasn't allowed to since he didn't put a condom on. Your raw heat around him was going to drive him crazy.

"N-Noona!" He warned and you yelped as Felix pulled you off, Jeongin cumming over both of your stomachs. Your now empty cunt clenched desperately on itself. The younger man nearly gasped when he watched Felix manhandle you into the doggy position at the foot of the bed and started to fuck you hard. You squealed in delight, your front falling to the bed, drool pooling on the sheets.

"Good girl, take my cum, love." Felix praised and that was when Jeongin realized Felix's cock was raw as well. You fell over the edge as Felix did, your ass already warm from the lube heating up. The heat traveled through your whole body and Felix felt your cunt squirt your own cum on his upper thighs.

"Fuck, good girl, (Y/N)." Your boyfriend cooed and you flopped boneless onto the bed.

"Did Jeongin do a good job too, love?" Felix asked you.

"Mmhm." You hummed in agreement which earned you a smirk. Felix then looked at the younger man, "beginner's luck."

-> Series Hub <-

Master-Master List

Stray Kids Master List

[andordean]

Lost Scenes Thursday! Get to know your favourite authors better. Show five scenes from either abandoned fics where you regret they will never see the light of day, or five scenes from WIPs where you are impatient to see them out there. Long, short, one-liner... it's all good reading. Tag five other authors where you are curious.

@regis-favorite-raven tagged me in this too, and @valandhirwriter had the misfortune of reblogging it, so they're being dragged into the response here too. :D Fair warning: it's a long one. Thanks as always for thinking of me! <3

(1) This fic has no title, and it's my take on the empress ending, with my personal favourite pairing for Ciri as a ruler.

Her first instinct was to burn the letter. 

It wasn’t signed; it didn’t need to be. She had no idea how it even made its way to her--one day she just found a folded piece of fine paper in her saddle bag. The tone of the letter was official, detached. Cold. She didn’t burn it in the end, but she ignored it altogether.

The second letter was a shade softer. She ignored that one too.

The third one was apologetic.

---

The barge left them on a narrow sidewalk surrounded by grey walls, leading towards a single door at the back of a nondescript building.

"Please follow me," her companion said amicably.

Ciri looked around, trying to get her bearings, but the place was utterly indescribable. 

The man stopped before the door and turned to her with the same polite smile. "Before we go in, I am afraid I have to ask you to leave your weapons with me."

Ciri eyed him with suspicion. "Look around, good sir. You've led me to a place with no way out, and now you're asking me to give up my sword?"

"I was led to believe 'no way out' does not apply to you," the man said, stretching out his hand, waiting. 

Ciri frowned. The circumstances were looking less and less like a delicate Witcher matter. She did not like it one bit.

Obediently, she unclipped her sword and handed it to the man; he took it, but did not move even by an inch. Ciri sighed in irritation, fished out the dagger from her shoe and pushed it into the man's outstretched hand.

"There," she snapped. The man bowed–bowed–and without another word opened the door for her.

Behind it was a short corridor leading to a staircase, lit up by torches. Ciri followed the stairs up to the next level; the level of dust suggested they haven't been used in a while. They ended at a small landing and another door. She pushed it open and entered the room.

The man standing by the only window turned around to face her as she walked in. She glanced around the room first–empty, but for a small table with a bottle of wine and glasses on it–then she focused her attention on the man, and her heart sank.

He seemed a few years older than her; his clothes were of excellent quality, but with no visible signs of affiliation or rank. Dark hair in waves down to his shoulders, dark eyes studying her with open curiosity, a perfectly trimmed beard, his lips quirked in a small smirk that seemed like a permanent feature. 

Two things were obvious: he was devilishly handsome—and she was fucked.

"Thank you for coming," he said, and even his damn voice was attractive.

"Did I have a choice? Your Grace?" Ciri retorted and his smile only deepened.

"You always have a choice," Tankred Thyssen, the king of Kovir, Poviss and a few other places, replied smoothly. "You can turn around and leave right now; you have my word you shall not be bothered. But I believe it is in your interest to hear me out."

Ciri crossed her arms on her chest, and waited.

"Very well." The king gestured to the table. "Please, have a seat."

"I'd rather not," Ciri said through clenched teeth.

The only effect it had was to seemingly amuse him further. He sat down, opened the bottle, filled both cups, and offered her one. "If nothing else, this wine is worth your time."

Ciri studied him for another heartbeat before reluctantly taking the seat and accepting the glass. She took a sip for courage and had to admit he was right: it was the most delicate, beautiful red she has ever had.

"What's the occasion?" She pushed. "Is there a witcher contract that's too delicate to be made public?"

"Not quite," he said and her heart sank at the confirmation. "Thank you for dealing with the foglets, by the way. Unsurprisingly, none of the mages were willing to get their hands dirty."

"How—" Ciri shook her head. "No, nevermind."

"The guard at the market's southern gate," Tankred said, unbothered. "His job was to keep an eye on you–and to step in should you need assistance." He gave her a small nod. "Which obviously turned out to be an abundance of caution."

"I'm deeply touched by your care." Ciri took another sip of wine, when a thought hit her. "Wait—the contract—it was your doing, wasn't it? I knew the money was too good."

"The contract wasn't," Tankred said. "The fee, however—I hoped it would catch your eye."

Ciri downed the rest of the wine and put the glass on the table. "I have places to be, so if you could just tell me what this dance is about, I'll be on my way."

He studied her with this smirk of his that had already become infuriating. "Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon; Queen of Cintra, Princess of Brugge and Duchess of Sodden, heiress to Inis Ard Skellig and Inis An Skellig, and suzeraine of Attre and Abb Yarra. I hope I didn't forget anything?"

There it was: all the cards laid neatly on the table, with no lies left to hide behind. Ciri took a careful breath. "You forgot a few things, actually. Queen of Cintra is no more, for Cintra is no more. Cirilla Fiona died five years ago; reasons for her death have not been made public. And you're talking to the Witcher from the school of the Wolf."

"Tell me, then, Witcher," Tankred managed to not make it sound like a mockery—no small feat considering the circumstances, "why are you exchanging correspondence with the emperor of Nilfgaard?"

That came as a surprise. Ciri glared at him for a moment in silence, mulling over her options—which weren't many. Not with him clearly knowing bloody everything. 

With limited alternatives, she settled on the truth. "If you know so much, then surely you know I told him to go and fuck himself."

(2) Most recent WIP - Ghost sequel, Cahir/Ciri

"I did not realise the tincture calls for myrrh powder." 

Cahir nearly jumps at the vampire's voice, and looks down at the contents of the mortar. The resin he's been working on is indeed ground to a fine ash. So much for escaping Regis' scrutiny.

"Sorry." He grimaces. "Got lost in thought."

"This much is obvious." Regis studies him with a slight frown. "Anything of concern?"

Cahir can't decide whether it's a blessing or a curse to have someone as inquisitive as Regis privy to his deepest regrets. 

"Not really.”

"So Ciri doesn’t seem to be in mortal danger?”

"Not as far as I can tell," Cahir says. 

Regis studies him for a heartbeat, but Cahir doesn’t elaborate; there are limits to which he’s willing to embarrass himself, and his last dream definitely falls into that category. After what feels like an age, the vampire nods and moves past him to rummage through a box on the floor, fishing out a glass vial. He takes the mortar from Cahir, transfers the ground resin into a vial and carries it over to a little stove in the far corner; atop it, a bowl sits, surrounded by a metal frame. Regis attaches the vial to the frame, fills the bowl with water and lights the fire in the stove. 

Cahir watches him in silence, waiting. The resin needs an hour or so of steeping in boiling water; he has a distinct feeling Regis isn’t planning to go anywhere in the meantime.

"That reminds me," Regis says offhandedly, his tone confirming Cahir’s worst suspicions. "Whatever happened to that delightful young woman whose grandmother you helped? Mila, was it? I have not seen her around in a while.”

Cahir sighs, resigned. “And you probably won’t.” 

“Shame. I liked her wit.”

The water in the bowl is bubbling happily; Regis readjusts the vial to make sure the resin in it is fully submerged, then leans against the work table facing Cahir and studies him intently. “You do realise clinging to the past is no way to live?”

“It's the past that is clinging to me,” Cahir retorts, his voice a little too sharp. He takes a breath. “And it’s what I deserve.”

“Nonsense,” Regis huffs. “What you deserve is to move on. To be happy.”

“But I am happy.” Cahir makes a sweeping gesture, encompassing the workshop. “What you taught me—helping people—makes life worth living. And I have you and Dettlaff. What else could I want?”

“Companionship. Friendships other than with two aging vampires,” Regis counters. “I hate to see you cutting yourself off from others your own age—your own kind.”

“My kind wants me dead,” Cahir points out. “I’m a wanted fugitive. I can’t—I can’t trust just anyone with the truth. You of all people should know that.”

“It may be time to trust someone with your story.”

Cahir rubs his forehead. It’s not the first discussion they’ve had on the subject. “What we went through… It’s hard to explain to someone who hasn’t seen what we saw. Someone who’s not—broken.”

“This world has been broken in more ways than one,” Regis says patiently. “It may be time to take a risk and crawl out of your shell. War has scarred this land deeply; you may find that you are not an exception.”

“Maybe one day,” Cahir says dismissively, keen to change the subject. “For now I am content with the friends I have.”

Regis studies him for a moment in silence. “In this case,” he says, and Cahir has an eerie feeling he’s walked into something he may regret, “what would you say to a break?”

“A break?” Cahir repeats.

“There’s a selection of rare manuscripts I have sought for a while. I just received a letter from an antique dealer in Novigrad that he came into possession of one. Besides, some of our supplies are thinning out. And you could do with a break. A change of scenery.”

“You wrote to Dandelion.”

Regis is a picture of innocence. “I may have told him you’d be there before the month is out.”

Cahir shakes his head with a soft laugh. “If you want me out of the house to give Dettlaff a break, you can just say so. No need to interrogate me beforehand.”

“Nonsense,” Regis scoffs. “Dettlaff enjoys your company. And I enjoy interrogating you.”

“Maybe you’re right,” Cahir says with a fake scorn. “Maybe I do need new friends.”

“Being right is a privilege of age. I’ll arrange for your horse to be ready.”

(3) Bodyguard!AU, Cahir/Ciri. A fully plotted one that I'll probably never actually write.

Agreeing to this was a mistake, Cahir thought as soon as Princess Cirilla marched into the room, her whole posture an eponym of contempt--whether for the arrangement, or for him, Cahir had no way of knowing. 

"Sit down."

"I'd rather not." Her voice was ice cold, but Cahir didn't let that fool him; there was simmering rage just underneath the surface.

The emperor regarded her for a heartbeat, then nodded. "Very well. This man here," he gestured at Cahir, "has been assigned as your personal bodyguard. He will accompany you everywhere from now on until I say otherwise. Am I making myself clear?"

"I don't remember agreeing to this," Cirilla spat.

"I have reasonable grounds to suspect people in my circle are in danger," var Emreis said, his voice softening just a fraction. "I ask you to trust me, and my sources."

"Trust you?" Cirilla's composure was gone in a blink, replaced by such fury that Cahir had to rethink his earlier assessment. Perhaps all that contempt was reserved for the Emperor, after all. "Trust you to do what exactly?"

"To act before I am faced with an impossible choice."

"Impossible choice," Cirilla repeated, venom dropping off every syllable. "Heartwarming. When does this dog of yours start his assignment?"

"Immediately."

(4) Blood Ties sequel that has a solid plot and some 40% written. Regis returns to Cintra as things go to shit, yet again

Absence was what shook him out of the slumber. He didn’t recognise it for what it was; not initially. The pull of the Unseen Elder that came right after–and the animalistic fear that always accompanied his summons–tuned out any subtler sensations. It wasn’t until the Elder’s claws were at his throat that Regis understood what had happened. 

The space in his mind that belonged to Ciri ever since their bond formed, the space that had echoed so brilliantly with her presence, that had shimmered with vivid colours at the edge of his consciousness even during his hibernation–that space was now deadly silent. 

He set off immediately, the Elder’s threats and demands irrelevant in the face of his own dread.

Vampires did not recognise gods, nor had a need for them–yet Regis found himself fervently praying that he wasn’t too late.

---

“You love her,” Tankred said. It wasn’t a question - not with the way the man was holding Ciri’s hand, his lips a pale line, his attention entirely focused on her shallow breathing.

Regis turned to him with a frown, but his expression immediately softened.

“I believe you can answer that yourself, Your Majesty,” he said gently, “if it’s possible to see her for who she is, and not love her.”

Tankred was silent for a heartbeat, bracing himself.

“Who are you?” he asked.

Regis’ eyes narrowed, his face hardening.

“Is it important?”

“Any moment now my children will be here. I nearly lost them once already,” Tankred said with a forced calm. “Yes, it’s important.”

The barber-surgeon looked at him for a long moment in complete silence.

“A monster,” he said eventually, his voice carefully level and cold as ice. “A blood-sucking beast. Have I adequately satisfied Your Majesty's curiosity? Should I remove myself now to ensure the heirs' safety?”

Tankred couldn’t help casting a glance at Ciri, looking for bloodied marks on her neck. Regis grimaced and pointedly took Ciri’s hand, showing him a single needle puncture on her finger, already healed.

Tankred’s mind was rushing. When Ciri had told him about Regis, he hadn't paid much attention to her story. But later, when he had gotten the reports about the man’s role in the uprising, a few details were strange enough to inspire a more in-depth research. He never arrived at any resolution, and most definitely not at the one the man had just offered him, but then again, he wasn’t particularly surprised either.

After all, a close relationship with a vampire was exactly Ciri's style.

“Thank you for your honesty,” he said. 

Regis raised his eyebrows.

“That’s it?” he mocked. “No guards, no garlic, no blessed water to repel evil?”

“When it comes to topics one is unfamiliar with, it's prudent to look to the experts in the field.” Tankred shrugged. “Of the two monster experts I know personally, Geralt calls you a friend, and Ciri's trust in you is boundless. Besides, you may have just saved her life.” Tankred broke off for a moment, and added with a forced smile. “And none of these protective measures would have worked on you anyway, would they?”

(5) One of some three hundred scenes covering the next thirty years of Ciri's rule, a few years after the previous snippet

Damian walked in, and stopped at the door. He had expected to find Ciri alone, but both Tankred and Regis were there, sitting at the table. It was the first time he met both of them since–

Well. Since circumstances changed. Since everything changed.

As if sensing his discomfort, Ciri sent him a warm smile. "It's time you joined our little circle of conspirators."

"Such an unbecoming word," Regis said. "We hardly ever conspire."

"Once a quarter at the most," Tankred added, as he beckoned him closer. "Wine?"

"I'd rather not," Damian said carefully; Tankred smirked and gestured to the chair beside him.

"Now, now," Ciri cut in. "He's still mine."

"You have the vampire, don't be greedy," Tankred shot back, and Damian's confusion grew tenfold.

"The vampire?"

For the first time that Damian knew him, Tankred looked…chagrined. The silence that followed was broken by Regis, clearing his throat.

"Our King means me," he said gently, looking at Damian. 

Damian just stared at him, trying to wrap his mind around this new revelation. He was vaguely aware of Ciri, studying him with an inscrutable expression from across the table. Through his shock, he felt the missing pieces slot into place as the full picture finally unraveled before his eyes.

"That's how you were able to save Ciri," he breathed. "Both then–and now?"

Regis gave him an appreciative smile. "Indeed. My nature does have its uses." 

"You understand, naturally, how this has to remain a secret," Tankred cut in. "And for that, I do apologize, Regis; I was way out of line to reveal it so casually."

Regis noded. "Thank you, but you were also not wrong. The situation does call for the truth, and we all know our General is worthy of the trust put in him."

For the third time Damian felt as if the rug was pulled from under him. "General?" 

"You bloodsucking bastard," Tankred offered pleasantly at the same time. Regis shot him his most serene smile, and Ciri–Ciri burst out laughing.

[specialagentlokitty]

Melissa x Teen!reader - mother to you

Could I please request a Melissa McCall x orphan reader who is in the pack, struggles with depression, and Melissa notices the depression symptoms and helps the reader through an episode, with the reader not being used to maternal love and Melissa being that maternal figure? If that’s ok <3 - Anon💜

You had stopped by the hospital to check up on Stiles, you knew he’d come here earlier but you hadn’t seen your friend all day and you were starting to get worried about him.

“Mrs McCall, have you seen Stiles?” You asked.

The woman looked up and nodded her head.

“Yes, he’s fine don’t worry, he’s just sleeping right now.”

“Ah, okay. Can you let him know I left some work for him with his dad?”

“Of course I can.” Melissa smiled.

You gave her a small smile and stuffed your hands in your pockets as you awkwardly looked around before shrugging your shoulders a little.

“I’ll be going now.. thanks again…”

With that you walked away and Melissa frowned a little as she watched you leave.

Your hoodie was dirty, and you were trudging slowly out of the hospital, avoiding anyone that came a bit too close to you.

She didn’t see you for a few days, but Scott told her that you were doing well, though you were skipping some classes in school.

You were crashing in an abandoned building when you heard walking around, and you could see the lights from a few flashlights shining about the area.

“Are you sure they’re even in here?”

“Yes Parrish, I know (Y/N), they’re prone to this neighbourhood.”

Sighing, you picked up your bag and walked around from the boxes you were camping behind and raised four hands as you avoided the sheriffs gaze.

“We’ve been looking for you for hours.” Stilinski sighed.

“Sorry…” you mumbled.

He walked over and lowered your arms, guiding you out of the building and towards the car where he helped you into the back seat.

He spoke to Parrish for a moment before he walked back over and sat in the back of the patrol car with you.

“(Y/N) this is the third time in two weeks you’ve ran away from the home, Stiles told me you sent him and Scott a message saying that you were going to leave town in the morning.”

“Yeah.. and…?” You grumbled.

“Where were you going to go? Do you know how dangerous that is?”

You gave a small shrug and looked away, and Stilinski sighed as you looked at you.

You looked exhausted, like you hadn’t slept in weeks, you were covered in dirt and he heard your stomach rumble through the silence.

“When was the last time you had something to eat?”

Again you shrugged.

“Didn’t you eat at the home before you left?”

“No… they padlocked all of the cupboards and the fridge because kids kept sneaking food…”

The sheriff frowned but nodded his head.

“I’ve got to take you to the hospital for a check over, but we’ll figure something out while we start an investigation against your home, okay?”

“Yeah whatever…”

You were quiet the whole ride to the hospital, and you said nothing as Stilinski led you inside.

You lightly clutched the back of his jacket, letting him know that you hadn’t run away while giving yourself some comfort that whole you were holding his jacket he wasn’t going anywhere.

You weren’t paying attention to anything he was saying to the woman behind the front desk, you were too busy staring at the floor.

“(Y/N)?”

You looked up to the Sheriff and let go of his jacket so he could turn around and he placed a hand on your shoulder.

“They want to keep you in for a few hours, okay? I need to go because I’m still on duty but I’ll check up on you after my shift ends okay?”

You just nodded and watched as he left and the nurse smiled at you.

“Give me a minute I’ll find you a room. Is there anyone I can call for you?” She smiled.

You shook your head and waited for her to turn back to her computer.

When she had you slowly started to backup towards the entrance, and turned around only to freeze in your spot, face to face with Melissa.

“Were you really gonna leave without saying hello?” She chuckled.

You said nothing and she sighed a little bit.

“Noah told me he was bringing you in. What’s going on?”

Again you said nothing and she gestured for you to follow her so you did.

She quickly spoke to the nurse that was supposed to be dealing with you, and she led you to one of the empty rooms and let you sit on the bed while she closed the door.

She pulled the chair over in front of you and sat down.

“What’s going on? No one else might have noticed but I sure have. The messy clothes, uncaring attitude, you look like you haven’t slept for a few days at least, and Noah said he could hear your stomach growling in the car. What’s going on sweetheart? Talk to me.”

“There’s nothing going on… it’s fine…”

“Is it though? Because I know you like your clothes, I once watched you wash a hoodie straight away because stiles spilled some soda on it. Let me help you.”

You said nothing and simply turned away from her, laying on the bed as you stared at the opposite wall.

Melissa sighed, and you heard the door open and close, as far as you knew she wouldn’t be coming back any time soon.

A few minutes later the door opened and closed again and Melissa walked around, setting a small bag in front of you.

You looked up at her in confusion.

“I brought some dinner in, but I didn’t get a chance to eat it. It’s just some curry and some snacks as well, and I got you a soda from the vending machine. If you don’t want to talk that’s okay, but will you at least eat?”

You nodded your head and sat up, taking the food from her you grabbed the paper plates she had brought up and split the food in half, handing her half and taking half for yourself.

Melissa smiled to herself and sat down on the edge of the bed with you as you ate in silence.

“I’m.. struggling…” you whispered.

“With what sweetheart?”

“Everything I guess…”

Melissa nodded her head and set her plate to the side, shuffling around a little bit so she could face you properly.

She reached out and held out her hands and you furrowed your brows a little before slowly raising your hands and placing them in hers.

She gave your hands a gentle squeeze before smiling at you.

“It’s going to be okay, we’ve just got to take it one step at a time, okay?” She whispered.

“We?” You asked back.

“Yes, we. I’m not going anywhere, okay? Neither is Noah, Scott or Stiles. But if you don’t want the boys to know then just me and for legal reasons Noah, okay?”

You gave a small nod and she stood up, grabbing your bag she slung it over her shoulder and tossed the trash away before gesturing for you to follow her.

“Where are we going?”

“I’m taking you back to mine, I’ve been given the okay by the sheriffs department to so, if you’re okay with that?”

Again you nodded and followed behind her, you weren’t used to this.

You weren’t used to someone being so nice to you, so caring. She was acting motherly towards you, and you weren’t used to that.

Melissa of course knew this, and she wanted you to know that no matter what she was also going to be a mother figure for you, and she was going to treat you exactly like you were her own

[that-student-that-has-homework]

You WILL Have my Herbs 05

Diluc / Reader

Previous Chapters: Chp 1 | Chp 2 | Chp 3 | Chp 4 | Chp 5 | Chp 6

Read the Full Story on Ao3 | Tumblr MasterList Here (Maybe even leave me a comment please? :3< )

Summary: Listen you just wanted to pick some plants, do some experiments, find some cures, and report back to your mentor. Unfortunately a handsome vigilante puts you in his debt and now you have to fight him to let you make it up to him.

Chapter 5: Burgeoning Superbloom

If you’d been difficult to track before, you were nigh impossible to track now. Not that Diluc had been trying really, at least not nearly as much as he had the previous time. Though sometimes he couldn’t help but wonder if there was something divine preventing him from locating you.

Months passed. Months. Not a word of a sighting, not another informative complaint from Kaeya…nothing. He was almost inclined to believe you’d left, if not for the sporadic letters to Adelinde.

Those letters were the only semblance of a lead out there. 

What was truly baffling was how following the trail of the letters led him to all sorts of places. For example, one such letter was sent not too far from a Fatui camp. The courier, who was really an inexperienced adventurer, that delivered the letter had been so proud of himself, bragging about how he’d dodged a Fatui camp. Maybe even hinting that he’d like for Adelinde to tip him. 

Whether it was to the adventurer’s fortune or misfortune, Diluc just so happened to be there for that specific delivery.

A few casual questions and the shrewd warrior knew that not only had you paid in full (though you’d bargained to get a reasonable price-much to his surprise), you’d even gifted the adventurer a handy salve as a tip. He’d also figured out where you’d been when you sent the letter and therefore the location of the Fatui camp.

Yes, leave it to you to unintentionally find yourself in a dangerous location. He ought to make sure you never meet Bennett, your disastrous luck together would be of a whole other magnitude.

Either way, the vigilante had vermin to exterminate. It was rather convenient for him that you’d unearthed this poison plaguing Mondstadt. You seemed to have a knack for that: locating problems. Once he eradicated the filth from the land he’d be sure to check on you. 

While that rookie adventurer managed to avoid the Fatui, it seems you had not. While decimating their forces the Proud Citizen of Mondstadt discovered a bar of that unique soap of yours. So that’s why the Fatui scum hadn’t smelled as though they wallowed in their own filth as they usually did…and the laundry that seemed to be hung to dry.

There were a number of scenarios as to how the scum could have obtained the soap. 

The first one that came to mind had to be that they’d seen you nearby and had gone to attack, and you’d given them a soap bar in exchange for them leaving you alone, then probably ran away when they continued to plunder you regardless. Though knowing you, maybe you’d thought they were humans and had sought out their camp yourself looking for company and ended up at the dangerous end of a nozzle. Which makes that two scenarios. The third scenario…truthfully most of the scenarios he imagined generally resulted in your safety being jeopardized. You were an adept healer but not much of a fighter after all. He could only hope you were a decent runner.

Anyway.

The good news was that he hadn’t seen your pack nor any other traces of you save for that soap. He did make sure to ask one of the Fatui recruits there though. 

Just to be safe.

“Where’d you get this soap?” The former knight had a heel to the fool’s chest and a large blade to the side of his neck.

“Soap? You- you want to know about the soap?” The panicked soldier asked bewildered.

To be fair it was a strange inquiry given the circumstances.

The redhead shifted more of his weight to his foot that was on the scum, “yes, I’m asking you about the bar of soap with mint in it.”

“We-we bought it off a lady,” he gasped out and Diluc eased up a little. After all, what was the point of an interrogation when the other person couldn’t talk?

Now, was this lady he mentioned a merchant, or was this you ? He would not risk making assumptions on the matter.

“What did she look like?”

“I don’t remember. Friendly, kinda weird, but she didn’t look like she was from Mondstadt.”

Not good enough. Tch.

“How much did the soap cost?”

“If you want the soap you can have it! Just get off me!” The rat squirmed beneath him.

Hah! Did he really think he was in a position to be making demands? The audacity of this filth.

“I don’t want the soap,” Diluc growled, “I’m asking about the price of the soap.”

“60 mora a piece!”

An abysmally low price. It was you, no doubt.

“What happened to this lady after you ‘ bought ’ the soap from her?”

“I don’t know! We just bought the soap and left!” The pathetic scum rambled. “We didn’t do her any harm if that’s what you’re insinuating!”

Ah, it seems he picked the right recruit to interrogate after all. An anxious blabbermouth. Perfect. Bad for the Fatui, very convenient for him, he must be a new recruit. This would be easier than he originally thought.

“Why should I believe you?” The redhead shifted some weight back to the foot holding the captured agent down.

“I’ll take you to her camp! You’ll see she’s just fine!”

“Her camp? You assaulted her in her camp?” 

“ No .” Good, he was getting frustrated. “She was cooking up some weird stuff and we followed the scent. It smells amazing for your information. And we found this weird lady mixing some weird stuff like she was a witch. She sold us some soap, and we left.”

“She didn’t offer to give it to you for free?” Did you perhaps know not to be kind to the scum of Teyvat?

“How did you know ?” The Fatui officer was in complete shock.

He knew it. Your generosity would kill you one day. He was sure.

“We, the proud followers of Her Majesty the Tsaritsa, would never take something that was clearly labored over for free!” The pathetic little vermin spat at him indignantly. “Don’t look down on us, we’ve got more dignity and honor than all seven nations combined!”

Diluc scoffed, raising a brow at him. Ah yes, how convincing coming from a Fatui operative. The nerve.

“Show me to her campsite,” the vigilante removed his foot, and the Fatuus took in a sharp gasp of air - how dramatic. 

“Tch, fine ,” he scoffed.

Diluc kept his sword poised in case the pathetic agent tried anything funny, the former knight waited for the Fatuus to get up. Though the moment he was up, the redhead grabbed him by the back of his neck, he didn’t have time for leniency.

“Is this really necessary?” The agent complained.

“Start walking.”

Thus began the short trek to what would hopefully be your campsite. While it was very convenient that the scum seemed to be seriously leading him towards your campsite, it was also…well…the Fatui agent clearly didn’t trust him, and he could easily pose a threat to your safety, yet this “proud follower of Her Majesty the Tsaritsa,” who had “more dignity and honor- ” hah! “-than all seven nations combined,” still chose to lead him to you . Yes, lead a man with a claymore and a pyro vision, that had decimated the whole camp of trained Fatui officers, to a medical researcher who was clearly untrained in combat, and would likely be helpless to defend herself.

For as far as the Fatui scum knew, you were helpless. That was the initial impression you gave off after all. Though, he found he was of another opinion following your time together in that domain.

You reinforced his opinion when he arrived at where the Fatui claimed to be your campsite.You were not there. Though to the scum’s credit it had clearly been camped in as there were remnants of a campfire. However…

“ When did you say you bought this soap from her?” Diluc readjusted his grip on his captive’s neck.

“When?” He responded instinctually, quickly spewing out responses when he was reminded of the grip on his neck. “M-maybe two? No three…three to five days ago?”

As he’d suspected: you’d likely abandoned this camp shortly after the Fatui had found you. Well done.

Now, it was time to clean up the last of the scum.

-_-

As was the case last time, the tycoon didn’t find you until you came to him. Indirectly.

“Well well, look who we have here,” a familiar voice that usually preceded a headache spoke from not too far away, “say, it’s been quite a while since I’ve seen you last. What could you have possibly been up to?”

Diluc afforded the knight a quick glance, only to be pleasantly surprised to find you there. He took a few quick steps to allow himself to observe this exchange.

Your shoulders dropped the tension they’d previously held in favor of drooping in an indecorous manner, meaning you’d likely let out a sigh. He understood your position, truly, he’d also rather avoid Kaeya when he could.

Hence his observing the two of you from this advantageous distance.

You then huffed a sardonic little laugh despite your initial reaction and turned to face the captain more fully with a smile though. He noticed you tighten your hold on the hefty sized fabric knapsack you were hugging. He imagined Kaeya had his usual smile taunting you. That, or an expression that revealed his malicious glee that his current source of entertainment had returned.

“Sir Kaeya,” nerves riddled your smile, “how have you been?”

“Absolutely awful!” He never missed the opportunity for dramatics did he? “I recently had the worst stomach pain and my favorite apothecary was nowhere to be found!”

You huffed a little, smile still in place and knowing, “you drank excessively on a somewhat empty stomach didn’t you?”

“Oh?” He could imagine the grin on Kaeya’s face clearly. “How did you know?”

“You weren’t subtle about your alcoholism,” you shrugged, “call it an educated guess.”

The alcoholic in question let out an actual laugh and Diluc found himself sharing in the amusement. 

“Won’t you spare me a moment?” The captain gestured with his hand in a sweeping manner while placing the other on your back. 

You flinched and ducked away from his hold on, what seemed to be, pure instinct. Were you perhaps uncomfortable with such contact? 

“Please refrain from touching me,” ah, you really were uncomfortable with the contact.

Now that he considered it, you seemed to try your best to avoid having him help you when you’d injured your leg. He’d thought your uncomfortable expression at the time had been due to the pain and what you’d said about avoiding being indebted to him, but, it seemed that you didn’t like the contact either.

“Very well,” the silver-tongued menace raised his hands in a weak surrender and moved to allow for a respectable distance between the two of you.

Kaeya…respecting boundaries? Well this was new.

Then again this could just be a way of loosening your tongue.

The knight began leading you on a walk through the city. The curious redhead followed the two of you, making sure to remain far enough to be undetected, but close enough to eavesdrop. After all, there was no doubt what the everso slippery man was about to discuss. It would be to his benefit to listen to this discussion too. 

Kaeya would get his answers, most definitely. Aside from your nature, the knight was also exceptional at drawing intel out of people. Much to Diluc’s ire.

“It’s been so long, I was beginning to wonder if I’d never see you again,” he broke the silence that had settled between you as you walked, “I ran out of that soap you gave me,” he pouted slightly, “a shame really, it worked very well with my skin, and had such a lovely fragrance.”

“I made a new batch! I infused them with cecilias this time!” You perked up, ever so eager to talk about your herbs. “Or would you prefer the same old soap?”

“Oh cecilias? Did you head to Starsnatch Cliff then?” He raised a brow at you as he led you. “Is that where you’ve been?”

“Yes, I went there to collect new specimens for my research,” you nodded, your smile polite.

Small talk. Truly such a tedious thing. Though he wasn’t so closed-minded that he didn’t see what Kaeya was up to. So far the conversation felt like he was asking after an old friend. It was rather pleasant, disarmingly so. Diluc would only need to suffer through this pointless small talk until the knight deemed you were unguarded enough. That’s when he would strike with the more sensitive questions.

“How are you liking your time in Mondstadt?” He inquired.

“It’s been nice,” you answered instinctually, “I’ve been learning a lot.”

“Oh? Would you care to share?”

“Windwheel Asters are excellent against fevers! They also help you obtain necessary minerals that your body requires, it turns out,” you spoke excitedly.

“I see,” Kaeya hummed, “so you’ve been out studying windwheel asters and cecilias then?”

“I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned before that I’m here to study local herbal remedies,” your tone was light.

The knight nodded with a smile, “indeed you did.”

Then, “well while you’ve been out there curing fevers with windwheel asters,” he began, “I’ve been here holding on to a will someone left behind.”

There was a notable pause, as though - perhaps you were considering your words? “The person didn’t think to leave their name on their last will and testament?”

Again the knight chuckled, “oh they did, not to worry I know whose will it is.”

You nodded slowly at that, “well then, I suppose that’s good. Now you can make sure it finds its owner safely.”

“I’ve also been hanging on to some odd letters from the same person,” ah! Finally .

“You-uh-you didn’t go through this person’s private letters, did you?” You took a judgemental and concerned tone, likely to conceal your panic. “That’s an invasion of privacy.”

“My, so quick to accuse me of wrongdoing,” he could imagine the expression on the captain’s face. It was positively punchable. “Do you think so little of me?”

“I’ll take every opportunity to be suspicious of you I get,” your tone flattened, “see how much you like it.”

“My my, have I really antagonized you so much?” Kaeya’s tone was sickeningly saccharine, and Diluc liked grape juice of all things. “And here I thought we were good friends.”

Hah! Though from what Diluc could see of your face, you seemed to take that lie to heart.

“If we’re good friends why are you always suspicious of me?”

“You’re really insistent,” he leaned down into your space and you moved away, “ that’s rather suspicious my dear little apothecary. What secrets are you hiding?”

“W-well…if I tell you, they…they wouldn’t be secrets anymore now would they?”

The knight laughed, and pulled himself back to his full height. From what the redhead could see, your expression only soured at this reaction. Unfortunately your quick-wittedness was only furthering Kaeya’s desire to toy with you. 

“What a classic response!” He said as he calmed down. “If you want to be free of suspicion why not be more cooperative?”

“I am very cooperative, thank you very much!” You huffed. 

“Then you wouldn’t mind answering a few questions about those letters I mentioned earlier.”

“What letters?” You snapped back at your interrogator clearly still agitated by his prior suspicion.

“Why these letters I found outside that domain near Springvale,” Kaeya resumed walking around and you followed, readjusting your knapsack again.

It took you a moment to respond, “Ah yes, the private letters you’d read - you said you’d read, by invading the privacy of the writer.”

You paused. That sounded long winded.

“I mean the letters- no- well it was an invasion of privacy all the same!”

Another chuckle from Kaeya. Another scowl from you.

“You’re right,” the cryo user hummed, laying his trap, “under normal circumstances I’d be inclined to agree.”

“Under normal circumstances?” And you walked straight into it.

“Yes, had I found these letters in a more common location, then, hmmm,” he drawled off.

You hugged your knapsack a bit tighter, as though seeking comfort from it, while breathing in slowly-it seems you’d figured out what he was talking about, “give-given how Mondstadt had been under attack, I’d assume you’d find all misplaced correspondences suspicious.”

“ Oh . Most impressive Miss Apothecary,” Kaeya was having too much fun at your expense, “I do ,” he paused no doubt reveling in your anticipation, “so I’m sure you can imagine just how suspicious ‘ misplaced correspondences ’ outside an enemy domain would be.”

“Very suspicious, no doubt,” you nodded enthusiastically. 

Diluc noticed you shake out a shiver that had no doubt ran its way through your spine, most likely in response to Kaeya’s expression. He really did wish he could see the knight’s face…and that he would get to the point already.

“It only gets more suspicious from there,” the knight stopped walking in a relatively empty area of the fortified city, “these letters were addressed to a foreign country and were not only written in the native language unique to the country, but with an advanced cipher.”

You stood before the knight silently, yet Kaeya did not continue. You readjusted our grip on your plants. “So, did you manage to figure out the cipher and read the letter?”

To Diluc’s knowledge: no he hadn’t, that’s why he was here, asking you.

“Not yet, unfortunately,” he lamented.

“I see,” you nodded slowly, “I’m-I’m sure trying to decipher it must be a major headache, would you-would you like more mint oil?”

There was a momentary pause, before Kaeya erupted into joyous laughter. Diluc shifted momentarily to get a  better look at the captain’s face, noting the disbelief that tinted his amusement.

In contrast you stood there stiff as a plank, looking, for all of Teyvat, as uncomfortable as an amateur adventurer in Dragonspine. Truly you looked like you’d rather be in a hilichurl camp than here with Kaeya. That in and of itself was amusing, unfortunately for you.

When the blue-haired nuisance calmed down, you smiled at him awkwardly.

“You studied at the Sumeru Akademiya, didn’t you?” He was being really roundabout in his methods today.

“Yes?” You looked as though you were trying to figure out where he was going with this.

He wished the cavalry captain would stop toying with you. Kaeya would have cornered you by now, following the man’s usual pattern. However, with how he’d been laughing at virtually everything you’d been saying, the knight no doubt was finding immense entertainment in watching you dodge his traps as you did. 

Ah. This must be it. 

The real reason why Kaeya was suspicious of you.

Yes, you were much more adept at tricky conversations than he initially imagined. Neither the captain nor he, had yet to glean anything at all. Diluc would have been significantly more disappointed had he not found some amusement in the obnoxiously adept interrogator’s failure in this interrogation.

“You must have learned a thing or two about ciphers, and maybe even about decoding cipher s while there,” He was drawn out of his musings by Kaeya’s suggestion.

“Well, as you can see,” you lifted your knapsack, and your observer wondered if the tremors in your hands were due to exertion- the knapsack looked rather light though, “I’m an apothecary , so…so even if I did learn ‘a thing or two’ about ciphers, it’s obviously not my area of expertise.”

“Always so clever aren’t you?” Diluc found himself looking to where Kaeya usually kept his cryo vision. It seems like he wasn’t as patient nor as amused as Diluc had thought. “I’m sure you could help me figure this cipher out.”

You looked distraught by the suggestion. Your mouth opened as if you were preparing to say something, then closed, you looked around, then pursed as you looked back at the captain.

“But-but…but,” you stuttered, “do I have to?”

Diluc couldn’t help the smile that pulled at his lips. You sounded like, of all things, that was the last thing you’d want to do. It likely was.

“Now now,” the captain spoke as though placating a petulant child, “weren’t you the one that offered to help with anything at all?”

“I did?” Your face fell. “I did. I’d meant-” you paused, “yes I did say that didn’t I?”

“Indeed you did,” Diluc could hear just how pleased with himself Kaeya was at cornering you, “now then, if you’d be so kind,” he gestured with a sweep of his arm.

Hmm. Oh, it seems he meant to take you back to the Knights of Favonius Headquarters. That would be less than ideal.

Perhaps he ought to intervene?

“Right now?” You startled.

“No time like the present,” he could hear the glee in your interrogator’s tone at his victory.

“W-wait-but!” You spluttered desperately. “You said this would only take a moment! I have herbs to sort through! And tests to attend to and research to submit! This conversation wasn’t supposed to take so long!”

“So you don’t want to help me?”

“Sir Kaeya, you wanted to borrow a moment -“

“Why that’s a figure of speech,” his tone was so patronizing, Diluc felt his own ire rise,” I thought you knew.”

“Yes a figure of speech implying a short amount of time,” you returned without a moment to think.

“I’m sure this cipher will be easy for someone as clever as you,” Kaeya moved in and you backed away.

“Ciphers are so incredibly tedious and time-”

“I’m confident this won’t take that much time-”

“Please understand ciphers are not so easy-”

“Given you penned these letters.”

That halted your arguments regarding the nature of ciphers. You stared at the knight for a long moment, your mouth slightly ajar. He’d finally managed to corner you. You snapped your mouth shut, before taking a deep breath, your shoulders sagging, your grip on your belongings momentarily loosening. When the sack started slipping you were quick to readjust your grip on the thing. The ex-knight noticed that you fumbled with the large thing a bit more than he would have expected you to. When you finally had them in a relatively comfortable grip, you met the cryo user’s gaze, your hold tightening on them again.

It seems you understood what would follow this point.

“Ah, so this does ring a bell… hmm ?”

You remained silent; and the real interrogation began.

“What did you write about in your letters that would require you to use a cipher?”

“Personal matters,” you answered after a momentary pause.

“Now now that couldn’t possibly be the whole story.”

“It is,” You took a moment to breathe - likely trying to figure out what your response would be, “those letters contain personal matters I wished to share with my family.”

“That so?”

“Yes.”

Kaeya paused to lean back and fold his arms across his chest, most likely staring you down, and give you time to stew in your anticipation, “rather strange that you thought to include a will in the package we found.”

“Yes well,” you averted your gaze for a moment, “I would like that will back.”

“All in good time,” he continued to press on, “now, what could be so personal you’d have to use a cipher?”

You exhaled, looking mildly pained, “something too personal to share with you.” 

The pyro user felt his eyes widen minutely.

“My, this is you being cooperative ?” However, Kaeya was closing in on you despite all your efforts.

Your lips pressed into a wobbly frown. From what the vigilante could see, you were looking at the knight before you as though beseeching him to leave you be, “they’re personal m-matters I don’t feel comfortable disclosing,” you reiterated, expression falling into something poignant.

“That sounds like a very convenient excuse to hide that you were sending out sensitive information,” he observed the knight move closer towards you.

“Only sensitive information concerning my own state, as you know, I know very little about Mondstadt’s internal affairs,” you had a weak smile on your face, with one foot already positioned behind you in case you needed to recreate the space between you.

“If it’s only personal matters, why use a cipher?” Kaeya pressed.

You paused, taking a breath while not looking at the captain. However when you did, “so that people like you can’t read them,” your expression was as he remembered it when you were together in the domain, firm, resolute, “and that the information only reaches those it’s meant for.”

“People like me ?” It’s been a while since he’s heard him sound affronted like that.

“Pray tell Sir Kaeya, are you so bored that-that you find the need to interrogate medical researchers about documents they wish to share with their fam-families?” It seems your patience had all been whittled away.

The winery owner found himself mildly impressed. You’d figured Kaeya out in the middle of all that was happening. Or were you simply-

“Deflecting now are you?” The trembling he’d noticed in your arms earlier returned, or perhaps it had never left - however it was more noticeable now. Your senses were attuning to the rising threat the captain posed to you. “Why would an innocent person feel the need to deflect?”

“You make a good point,” ah were you ceding this argument, “however you also deflected my own question.”

Not bad Miss Apothecary. Huh. He’d never imagined you’d respond in such a manner.

“What were your letters doing outside that domain?”

You hugged the knapsack to reduce your tremors at that question. You took a deep, if staggered, breath and did your best to meet the biting look that the cryo user was no doubt giving you. “I’ve been visiting battlegrounds in the aftermath to produce salves for the knights and-”

“Yes, but the knights hadn’t entered the domain by then.”

“They hadn’t?” That was rather impressive acting. Though with the way your face was scrunching up, had you really forgotten? 

You looked back at the knight. “Oh they really hadn’t had they?” You asked in that familiar mildly-stunned, rather sheepish tone. You’d really forgotten then.

“You went into the domain before the knights did,” Kaeya pressed, “you wanted to deliver information that the knights would be coming.”

“What? No. Why would I-”

“Oh? Wasn’t it fun playing savior? I’m sure everyone doted on you, calling you a generous hero, giving you free food and lodging. Why not keep the assault going then?”

Your eyes widened in disbelief, your lips pursed and your trembling worsened. Should he perhaps intervene? Kaeya’s questioning was starting to get out of hand. He knew that the cryo menace didn’t actually believe you to be a threat.

Though to his knowledge he’s done worse before.

“Every time I’ve had the horror of encountering an Abyss Mage, it’s tried to kill me,” your voice cracked, “why would I go to talk to them? No - how would I get out alive if I tried?”

“You’re the only one who’s reported Abyss Mage attacks to your person, who's to say that wasn’t a cover?”

“Who’s to…?” You sneered momentarily before pursing your lips. “Sister Barbara who healed my leg months ago. If she remembers, she can attest to the damage I’ve sustained.”

“You could have given yourself that injury.”

No. Not willingly at least. You had a hand in getting injured as you did, but from what he’d seen of that injury and you, you didn’t have it in you to injure yourself like that, not willingly at least. Kaeya hadn’t known about that injury though it seems.

“You try-” you started before seeming to stop yourself, “how,” you inhaled sharply, “how have you arrived at this conclusion?”

You were trying not to flinch but a tremor clearly went through your body. Had he a better vantage point he’d be able to better make out Kaeya’s expressions. 

“You didn’t know what an Abyss Mage was? And you tried to negotiate with it? Not to mention your interest in the Dark Knight Hero that conveniently preceded a report of an onslaught on Mondstadt?” This man . “You don’t need to be a highly educated scholar to put all the pieces together.”

Your mouth opened slightly. Your knapsack rose slowly before falling slowly. Time and time again as though you were working to keep your breathing under control.

“If you trust me so little, why use my remedies then? My soap, my mint oil, my …?” He could barely hear you as your voice struggled to make it out of your throat. "The attacks have stopped, haven’t they?”

Your interrogator paused for a moment. Diluc cursed his inability to see the blue-haired menace’s face. His expression would reveal whether he was pausing to stress you out, or because he’d really not anticipated that response from you.

“Funny how the attacks stopped when you disappeared,” he hummed, “quite an interesting coincidence wouldn’t you say?”

Your expression laid bare your indignation and thoughts. There was a riddling of panic coming in now, however your expression had originally screamed: is this man being serious right now?

You let out a huff, “I didn’t leave until after the attacks ended,” your mouth pulled into a scathing smile, “I was attending to the citizens of Springvale, making sure they were all healed,” your eyes narrowed as your smile grew, “I was even in the care of a kind lady by the name of Mrs. Suzanne there, if you wish to follow up.”

Now was not the time to be challenging Kaeya. He would take this and wield it against you.

“Goodness you’ve really given this alibi of yours some thought,” ah he was using that tone that inspired people to violence, “if you’re as innocent as you claim, then why not explain your letters and involvement in the domain to me? Why send me all the way to Springvale instead?”

You hugged your knapsack tighter. To Diluc’s knowledge you’d only entered the domain pursuing him. You’d followed him around the domain much like a duckling would its mother and had been so relieved to see him that it turned into nervous excitement as you proclaimed you’d brought food and water proudly and a little loudly for someone in enemy territory. Diluc would not deny that the water had saved him.

Oh.

He would be intervening now. He couldn’t allow this to go on. Taking care not to be seen just yet he began moving towards you.

“So that I may have the time to sort through my herbs in peace while in the city,” you responded unthinkingly.

Hah! The pyro user halted. Most amusing.

Not to Kaeya though.

“Excuses, excuses,” Kaeya twirled an intricate crystal of cryo he’d produced between his fingers, “but never a straight answer.”

Diluc resumed his careful approach, and found himself halted by your voice yet again, “well you seldom ever give me a straight answer either! And at the time you came to me wanting help with a headache!”

The cryo user chose that moment to drop the icicle he’d been toying with to the ground. You jumped away with a yelp as it expanded on the ground.

The captain followed you with an amused, “Again, if you were truly as innocent as you claim to be, you wouldn’t be deflecting like this, now would you?”

You looked up from the icy ground to the Kaeya who had clearly established himself as a threat to you. Yet…

“My letters are a private matter, and you insist on perceiving me as malicious,” you stuttered out, hugging your herbs to your chest protectively, “and as for the domain, my involvement was related to providing remedies to counter its effects.”

You threw a glance to your side, before, “I’m sorry but I have no more time to spare you for the day. You’ve used up your moment and then some, good day,” you spoke quickly before making a quick escape out into the public eye again.

So much for intervening on your behalf. Seems you’d managed to escape all by yourself. 

You’d been pushed to your limits though, if the way your lips quivered or the way your knapsack seemed to vibrate in your hold indicated anything. It would be irresponsible to remain passive in this situation.

Hence Diluc abandoned his stealth in favor of making his presence known to the Cavalry Captain that would have pursued you without a doubt. Call it a deterrent of sorts. He deliberately strolled by the relatively secluded alley you were just in while throwing your interrogator a little glance. Their eyes met for a moment Kaeya’s lips were curling upwards with a little huff.

But he didn’t look remotely surprised to see him. Hmph.

He’d have to make sure Charles worked the bar tonight. If that smile meant anything, the man would be coming by to complain about his eavesdropping. Not to mention, with how poorly his investigation went, he’d likely want to drink. This was perhaps the first time Diluc had the pleasure of witnessing the highly capable captain return with so little success in an interrogation. Well played Miss Apothecary.

Of course those were matters he’d have to deal with later. What was more important was that you didn’t get yourself into trouble following Kaeya’s attempts to amuse himself. After all, of the handful of times you’d met with each other, perhaps one or two of the times hadn’t involved Abyss Mages. 

Thankfully pursuing you posed little challenge. Between what he imagined was a stormy mental state, the lack of heavy crowds, and his superior stealth, he’d managed to follow you outside the gates of Mondstadt undetected. He was entreated to the sight of you failing on multiple occasions to place your precious herb knapsack into your pocket dimension, then attempt and fail to climb up a tree multiple times and fail, before finally, you looked around wildly and ran towards the base of the bridge. He was mildly concerned you’d roll your way into the lake when you’d tripped over yourself in your hurry, but you managed to stop yourself in time and didn’t, and you finally made it to the little archway.

It seemed like you wouldn’t be doing anything rash in your upset state. He could return to his usual duties, if he so desired, yet…who knew when he’d be able to see you again. Cruel as it may seem, he needed to get answers from you before you disappeared again.

So, after confirming no one was following him , Diluc made his way towards your hiding place, taking great care to approach you as silently as possible. As he neared the base of the bridge, he could hear muffled sniffling alongside the flow of water.

Shuffling ever closer to the open arch, he heard a choked sob followed by more sniffling and shuddered breathing. Could you possibly…? He peered over the side of the arch, and there you were, biting down on your hand to keep yourself as quiet as possible while tears poured down your cheeks. Your body, now unsuppressed,  was shivering violently. In your other hand you held a handkerchief, which he noticed you were using to wipe your nose as he moved back to conceal himself fully so as to not be caught.

..and to provide you with some privacy.

Diluc pinched the bridge of his nose. It would be inhumane to question you while you were in such a state. That damned Kaeya. He poked his head to check on you again, seeing you hug yourself while rocking back and forth while attempting to get your breathing under control, all the while suppressing your sobs.

No, it would be much too cruel to try and ask you anything right now…but it didn’t look like you’d stop crying any time soon either, and he had things to do. He took in a deep breath looking upwards, he could always ask one of his people to stand watch and inform him if you’d left, without invading your privacy any further than he already had.

So he did just that. The ever so busy business man went back to Angel’s Share, found one of his trusted staff, and tasked the fellow with reporting to him if he saw a young female foreigner exit from under the bridge arch before going about his day. And what a day it was, it had started with an interrogation in the late morning after all. The sun was setting by the time he’d wrapped up his most important tasks for the day.

He hadn’t heard from his informant though, so he headed over to the Angel’s Share, only to find he hadn’t returned yet. Lo and behold the man tells him nothing had happened ever since he took his post. At that point Diluc dismissed him in favor of checking on you himself. He approached the archway just as silently as he’d done before…

Only to find you seated right outside the archway, nestled into a crook formed by the meeting of two boulders. With how his form cast a shadow upon your book, you did the first thing any person would do, which is look up, and therefore spot him.

Nothing had happened . He should have asked him to clarify. Then again it wasn’t like his informant would have been able to see you here. Truthfully you weren’t that far from the arch, and he should have proceeded with greater caution.

His eyes met your own, it seemed like yours were still swollen from your crying earlier. Besides that, what was originally a tired, peaceful gaze quickly blew wide with an unhealthy cocktail of alertness, panic, and utter horror.

You had decent reaction time, he rediscovered. As he’d barely opened his mouth to greet you than you’d managed shove the rest of your sunsettia into your mouth; collect a nearby notebook, chuck a knife into it, swipe a handful of handkerchiefs; and bolt away from the rocks while clutching what looked to be a blanket you’d been wrapped up in prior to his arrival.

Of course he also had a good reaction time, so, he was on your heels in an instant. What should he say to dissuade you from running? Or should he just let you tire yourself out and talk to you then?

He’d barely formulated what to say to you when you tripped over your own cover, barely caught your footing and dropped a pen. What was astonishing was how quickly you managed to swipe the thing up and keep going.

But…

“Why are you running from me?” He questioned loud enough for you to hear him.

Amazingly, that worked very well and you halted the moment after his question had registered. Though it was so sudden that Diluc’s own momentum carried him past you. You were decently fast, he’d admit. Turning to face you, he noticed you looked as confused as he was as to why you’d chosen to suddenly bolt from him.

You took a short breath, “I…I’m not sure,” you sounded so incredibly bewildered, “I guess…I don’t think I feel like interacting with people today.”

Your gaze fell to the ground then, hugging your books and the covering draped over your shoulders closer to yourself, much like you had with the knapsack earlier. “Though it was incredibly rude of me to just run from you,” your gaze flickered up to his for a moment, before dropping again immediately, “I’m sorry.”

Yes, well, you weren’t wrong about your response being rude. However, he was aware of your circumstances, and it seems he’d triggered some kind of fight or flight response in you. “No need for apologies,” he shook his head as he took a few steps in your direction, “I wasn’t offended.”

You pursed your lips, your eyes widening slightly, “yes well, it was still rude though, so an apology is due.”

“And you’ve apologized, and I’ve accepted,” Diluc responded, “call it water under the bridge.”

That got a small laugh out of you, you peeked up at him for a moment, “was that a deliberate choice of idiom?”

What? He looked past you towards the bridge you’d been hiding under - ah. “Not particularly, no,” he responded, his tone light.

Your smile faltered, and you righted yourself enough to try and look at him, “well…um…it’s been a while, how’ve you been doing? And Miss Adelinde? And Mr. Elzer? And well…everyone else?”

Oh. That was mildly unexpected. “We’ve been doing well, thank you for asking,” he nodded at you, “and yourself?”

You took another breath, shaking some tension out of your system as you readjusted your blanket as well as the myriad of other things you were holding on to. Actually now that he got a better look at it, that blanket seemed to be more of a cloak. That did make more sense, upon further thought.

“I’ve been well!” You perked up. “I got to do a lot of research so it’s been lovely.”

“So that’s where you’ve been for the last few months?” He followed up.

“Yes,” you nodded gently, “wait you noticed?”

“Well, there has been a notable lack of advertisements for herbal salves, teas, and ointments for a while,” he nodded at you.

“Oh would you like to take me up on that offer then?” You brightened up right then and there. “I have so many new effective treatments that use the native flora of Mondstadt, so even when I’m no longer around you can easily procure and develop these treatments yourself in case you need to!”

Yes, these responses and this attitude right now felt more accurate to what he’d seen of you in the past. The question became: which of the two attitudes he’d witnessed today was more true to your natural being? He was inclined to believe it was what he was witnessing right now, but he’d have to question you himself to find out.

Looking towards the horizon, the astute former captain devised a plan. “It’s getting to be around dinner time,” he turned to look at you, “have you eaten?”

“Oh!” You mimicked his earlier actions, looking towards the horizon. “You’re right! No, no I haven’t.”

“Neither have I,” he’d been rather busy all day so this wasn’t a lie, “would you care to dine with me then?”

You didn’t need to look so surprised. What else would he follow his first question up with? You seemed to consider it, “theoretically would we be dining at Good Hunter then?”

What a curious thing to ask. Ah…yes…he understood, you didn’t want to run into Kaeya again. Well there was always Angel’s Share. “No, we don’t have to dine there if you don’t want to,” you seemed to grimace at that, “I own a tavern, if you recall.”

Your lips thinned, “I’m not very fond of taverns if I’m honest - oh and it’s not that I don’t want to dine at Good Hunter, I just uh…I don’t really uhm…the food’s fantastic there it’s just um...”

“Their seating isn’t ideal when you’d like to avoid interacting with people,” he supplied.

“Yes! That exactly!” You brightened at his understanding, before dimming again, “I apologize if I’m being difficult.”

“Not at all, I invited you to dine with me, making sure things are comfortable for you is the least I can do,” he shook his head.

Truthfully, he could also do without any further interactions with people for the day. Well, he had an idea about that. As a lot of his regulars usually did, you could grab a meal from Good Hunter and then head to the tavern to eat. “Well then the second floor of Angel’s Share is generally quiet, we could get our meals from Good Hunter and eat there.”

“So we’d be dining inside a tavern?” You seemed apprehensive.

“Yes, would there be - is that not to your liking?” He quickly corrected himself, you’d lowered your guard but you were still incredibly weary and he couldn’t have you running again.

“I don’t like the smell of wine,” you admitted, “it makes me dizzy. And I become irritable when dizzy, and I don’t like being either.”

“You don’t drink then?” He probably shouldn’t have been so surprised by that, yet he was.

“Oh no. I hate alcoholic beverages,” you looked rather repulsed, “if they smell that awful I can only imagine how they taste,” you looked sick purely by the thought of it, “and it’s horrible for your health and overall wellbeing.”

A moment of silence passed over the two of you as the winery owner considered his options. You seemed to take that as him being affronted by your comment. “Apologies! I didn’t mean to insult you or your business or uh…you’re being very kind and patient with me and I just-”

“Not to worry,” he cut off your rambling, “I don’t like alcohol either.”

You looked reasonably surprised, he did, after all, own a tavern and a winery to boot. He was also aware of the Dawn Winery’s status as a giant in the wine industry internationally. “I don’t like the way it feels on my tongue,” he decided to share with you, “I prefer grape juice.”

“I like lemonade personally!” You volunteered in return. “Especially when it’s infused with ginger! It tastes good and boosts your immune system too! Two birds - a two birds with one stone kind of deal!”

Seems you were finally relaxing, now onto the next phase “I have tables outside the tavern that aren’t too visible to the public, would that work for you?”

“Sure,” you nodded.

Things went rather smoothly from there. You took a moment to put your things away and adjust your cloak on your person before following him back into the city. Unfortunately the tension he’d worked to diffuse returned. The moment Good Hunter was in view you’d picked up your pace, almost suspiciously so. You’d quickly leaned over the counter, a little bouncy, and asked Sara about something. The cook turned and pointed to the side, explaining that what you were looking for should be just around the corner. At which point you quickly turned to him as he arrived behind you and hurriedly excused yourself for a moment.

The redhead followed you discreetly, realizing that all the hurry was because you wanted to use the restroom. He had found you seated by the river, and you had been there since the morning…it all made sense. It wasn’t long before you rejoined him, looking sheepish and apologetic. That didn’t last long though as you put in your orders…and you proceeded to debate him over who would purchase your meals.

“I don’t mind sharing a meal with you but I’ll pay for my own meal,” you argued, “you’ve already done so much for me and-”

“I’m the one who invited you to dine with me, it only makes sense I would pay for the meal,” why must you make things so difficult?

“Even so,” you seemed to understand he was making a fair point, “I wish you would have informed me ahead of time. I wouldn’t have ordered as much.”

“Well then, it’s a good thing I didn’t.”

“It doesn’t feel right to take advantage of your kindness like this.”

“If you’re concerned about the cost, don’t be.”

“But I ordered more than I should on someone else’s mora!”

“Yes, well, this someone else invited you to dinner,” he stressed, “would you insist on paying me had I invited you to dinner at my home?”

He watched your mouth snap closed, your argument leaving you. He would pursue this line of reasoning then. “You wouldn’t appreciate it if I were to fight you over payment had you invited me, would you?”

“I’d be very upset with you if you did that,” you frowned at him, “especially given how indebted I am to you.”

“Well then, given you feel indebted, why not heed my requests?” This would work well when he questioned you later.

Your inner turmoil was written across your face, as you finally conceded with a: “fine,” while looking both disappointed and nervous.

“Oh! Finally settled on who’s paying then?” Sara called from where she was already preparing the meals.

“Yes,” he responded and she came to collect the amount before returning to her work.

The two of you waited for your orders off to the side and relatively out of sight. It was quiet for a bit, until you suddenly began to ask him if he had any new ailments, or if he needed to restock his inventory of remedies. Then you asked him if he’d be interested in mint oil in case he ever had headaches, he found that he was, and you brightened, saying you’d make sure to get some to him as soon as possible, even going so far as to make a note of it in a small notebook you took out your pocket.

Things were silent between the two of you again after that. While he didn’t mind the quiet, it seemed you did. You’d been doing your utmost to mask your anxiety ever since entering the city walls, however while your face looked mostly calm, the nervous energy needed to go somewhere, thus manifesting itself in tremors in your extremities. He took the liberty of pulling your cloak’s hood up to help conceal your identity. You’d look more suspicious, but maybe you’d calm down.

You’d startled and turned to look at him. He gave you a tired look in return, “you’re shivering.”

You looked away immediately, embarrassment ravaging your features as you held your hands together in an attempt to get them to stop shaking. Had he intervened into that interrogation sooner…maybe you wouldn’t be so distressed.

You’d managed to calm down slightly when you were informed that your meals were ready. Then he was leading you towards the table near the backdoor of the Angel’s Share. You took the hood off once the two of you started eating. Given how you were still nervous, he suspected it was a gesture of respect for his company. Though unnecessary, he appreciated it.

Dinner was a mostly silent affair, save for when you complimented his choice of food, given you’d ordered what he’d recommended to you. Your smile, though riddled with nerves, had a deeply appreciative aspect to it. Perhaps now would be the time to ask you about the letters.

“I’ve been meaning to ask,” you finished cutting off a piece of steak, “but was there something you wished to discuss with me?” 

Another surprise from you. Truly, you were full of surprises today.

“Yes, there was,” he nodded, dabbing a handkerchief to his lips, “what made you think that?”

“Oh,” you clarified, “that you wanted to talk about something?”

He nodded in return.

“Well if my memory is correct, when you came to visit me in Springvale all that time ago you told me,” you paused, placing your utensils down and squinting at nothing in particular, “I think you’d said something along the lines of ‘much to discuss’ or something to talk about at the very least.” 

Your gaze met his for a moment before you began fidgeting with your fingers, “also I’m aware our interactions haven’t been the most amiable, and we aren’t all that well acquainted. I’m also not so arrogant as to think you’d seek me out, out of personal interest either.”

That was…rather astute of you.

He looked at you, who had perhaps only managed to get through half of one steak, continue to fiddle with your fingers, your utensils out of use on the plate they sat on. He wouldn’t let you stew in your apprehension any longer; he would get straight to the point.

“I received information that you left a will and letters written in Sumerian with a cipher outside the domain we cleared,” as expected you startled, your wide eyes met his for a second and your fidgeting stopped entirely, so did your breathing, “what did you write about that required you to use a cipher? And who were you writing to?”

Your fidgeting resumed, and you took a slow breath, as though bracing yourself. “I-I was writing to my family in Sumeru,” you began while looking at him, before looking away again.

Swallowing thickly you continued, “you-you’d saved my life before, and-and when I saw you go into the domain, by yourself, I-I,” you wrung your hands together as though weaving your thoughts together.  

“It felt wrong-it felt wrong to-uh- to just leave you to…let you go? inside? by yourself,” your fidgeting intensified, with you picking at your nails now. 

“You’d saved my life before, and I owed you a debt and it wasn’t right. I couldn’t pretend I hadn’t seen you go in. I couldn’t tell anyone you went in either, given you’d made me promise to keep your identity a secret,” you rambled on, “so I wrote a letter to my parents in case I died after following you in there.”

What?

You weren’t looking at him anymore, holding your hands together to keep from shivering too noticeably, whispering “I said that there was a Dark Knight Hero in Mondstadt that saved my life on multiple counts.” 

You paused.

 A shiver wracked your body as you raised your head to look at him. Panicked, you added in, “I didn’t mention your name though! Just your mantle of Dark Knight Hero, and no real information that would really allude to you - I mean your real identity! Except that thing about using the Angel’s Share if they wanted to contact you and-”

“No matter,” you’d been writing about him ? “Is that all you wrote in the letter?”

“Oh. Yes. Um sorry. The letter. Well…well in the rather viable case I didn’t survive, I wanted my parents to know why I had died…and that I loved them dearly, and was so thankful to be their daughter..and that I would honor that they raised me to be generous, and to repay my debts, so I would be following my savior into the domain, in hopes of being of help to them,” a violent shiver went through you then. 

“I also disclosed that I’d received a vision that I would be using to heal you, and I loved them a lot, and I hoped they’d be proud,” you finished with a small smile before adding on, “oh! And I also told them to come collect my research and give it to my mentor.”

“Your mentor?”

You gave a small smile, “a Forest Ranger by the name of Tighnari.”

You were answering his questions so readily. You were even providing added details, and rambling as you often did. So all that dodging with Kaeya…?

“Then the sensitive information you were hiding with a cipher?” He needed to confirm.

“I promised you I wouldn’t tell anyone, didn’t I?” You looked at him again, looking mildly concerned he hadn’t believed you when you’d promised.

You withstood Kaeya’s interrogation to conceal his involvement and protect his identity? Diluc found himself pinching the bridge of his nose. What made this worse was that Kaeya already knew about his identity. If you’d known, maybe you could have avoided all that strife.

“You don’t believe me?” You sounded positively crestfallen.

You looked equally crestfallen, and your wobbling bottom lip told him you were still riddled with nerves.

“No,” he sat up to look at you, “no I do, I believe you. I just didn’t expect you would go to such lengths.”

“But…I promised you?” You were very clearly offended. “It’s a good thing I used a cipher, of all the knights, Sir Kaeya was the one to find them…”

You seemed to realize something in that moment, given your expression shifted back to horror as you stared at him, “you said you received information…did Sir Kaeya tell you about my letters? Why would he…? Are you colluding with-”

“I work alone,” he cut you off then and there, “there are a few exceptions to this rule and Kaeya is not one of them.”

“Why would he tell you about them though? Do you know Sumerian? Was it Sir Kaeya that told you about the letters?”

“No, and, yes,” that you continued to use Kaeya’s title after what he’d done to you today felt like a testament to your filial piety. 

A daughter that hoped her parents were proud of her…

“Then is Sir Kaeya aware of your identity?” Your intuition, or perhaps it was your intellect that led you to that conclusion.

“Yes,” he informed you, “whether that is to my fortune or misfortune, I’ve yet to find out.”

Your mouth hung open, reminding him a lot of a fish out of water. You shuddered, shaking your head and looked away. Your breathing slowed, then became a laborious task. You were blinking with increased frequency.

“I’d have appreciated knowing that before,” you resumed playing with your nails, “then again it wouldn’t have changed much. Wait a minute…that tip he gave me about the Angel’s Share…”

“You never know what Kaeya’s thinking, don’t trouble yourself with it,” Diluc chose to save you from further agony.

You shook your head again, before looking up to meet his gaze yet again, “is there anything else you wished to discuss?”

Diluc felt his eyes widen. Much like you had earlier while being interrogated, your lips wobbled, and your extremities trembled, yet you sat there before him.

“I’ll save talks of payment for your remedies and services for another day,” why did that statement only increase how nervous you were, “do not try to dissuade me, you worked hard to heal me.”

“Because you saved my life.”

“You mean to say you wouldn’t have healed me if I hadn’t saved your life?”

“No! I mean yes?” You gestured in frustration. “Of course I would still heal you! Even if you hadn’t saved my life!”

“Then, I owe you mora for your products and services,” he insisted, “quite a bit of it from what I gather.”

“You owe me nothing,” you stubbornly disagreed, “besides you said we would be saving this discussion for another day.”

“You entering the domain and providing support was more than enough repayment for a debt you do not owe, yet insist upon.”

“You still had to help me out while in the domain unfortunately,” you were quick with your responses, “ and you saved my life three times, so I have only cleared one count-”

“Adelinde is the one who sheltered you from the rain-”

“In your manor-”

“Winery,” he corrected, “and I would never deny Adelinde anything, she deserves all the credit for that.” 

Your mouth snapped shut with how final his argument was. Now for the last count, or rather first count, “I have no recollection of the ‘first time’ you claim I saved your life.”

“You killed an Abyss Mage - Cryo Abyss Mage,” you informed him quickly, pointing off to the side, “not far outside that exit.”

“Exterminating Abyss Mages near Mondstadt is done more in service of Mondstadt than for you ,” that sounded harsher than he’d intended, “that is to say I would have exterminated it either way and you don’t need to feel indebted.”

“Lastly,” he paused for a moment, “you provided a distraction that aided me, and provided intel that aided my interrogation, for that third count, so you’ve no debt to repay,” his lips quirked up slightly, “if anything I’m indebted to you .”

Checkmate.

Your face scrunched up in a way that clearly said: preposterous! He could sense you working to rapidly spin together a counter argument to all he’d presented to you. He had to end this cycle, swiftly.

“How about we agree that all debts are settled between us, and stand as equals?” He proposed.

“I couldn’t possibly-”

“I will abandon the thought that I am indebted to you,” he cut you off, “if you will abandon the thought that you are indebted to me.”

Your brow furrowed as you struggled with that notion. So he decided to help sway you in his favor, “I promise you, you owe me no debts.”

“Then…then if I agree, would you be more willing to solicit my services?”

“Only if you agree to let me pay for them, as a customer of these services,” he answered, standing to offer you his hand.

You stared at him for a moment, before getting to your feet with a huff.

“Very well,” you shook his hand, sealing your agreement.

“Now by that token-”

“Oh no,” you cut him off, withdrawing from the handshake to point at him in warning, “we are starting from zero. That was the agreement.”

 “Very well,” well he wasn’t the only person who could get his money to you, “please stop by the winery, I believe I have something that may be of interest to you there.”

“Sure,” you didn’t sound very convincing.

“You’re planning on running from me again aren’t you?”

“Hey!” It was nice to see you were less nervous, with how your responses were. “I-I stopped when you asked me why I was running, didn’t I?”

“Yes, that you did,” he gestured at your plate, “would you like to continue our meal?”

You looked down, before taking a seat, “I think that would be a good idea.”

He returned to his seat as well. Things were silent as you continued to eat. Meanwhile he called Patton over, quietly requesting a couple of glasses and a bottle of grape juice.

“Oh!” You looked up at him. “Master Diluc, um, I promised I wouldn’t say a thing about your identity, but Sir Kaeya seems to think I’m a malicious spy from another nation,” you seemed to struggle with your words, “how can I - may I…?”

“How should you clear things up so Kaeya won’t continue to be suspicious of you?” He articulated for you.

“Ah yes,” you nodded at him.

“Leave Kaeya to me,” the vigilante weaved his fingers together, “I’ll make it so he doesn’t bother you again.”

A moment of silence passed. Drunkards could be heard from within the tavern.

“That sounds mighty ominous Master Diluc,” you commented.

His lip quirked upward at that remark, “Kaeya is bored and in need of entertainment,” he made eye contact with you, “unfortunately, your penchant for running into Abyss Mages, and manner of being, seem to amuse him.”

“What makes you think that?” Your brow pinched.

“The manner in which he informed me of your letters,” he paused to receive the glasses and bottle of grape juice from a waiter, then waited until he’d walked out of earshot, “while your use of a cipher was suspicious, it was clear he was less suspicious and more curious, and mostly because he suspected you followed me in.”

Another shiver racked your body. Ah yes - 

“I think you ought to declare your vision,” he advised, pouring some grape juice and offering it to you, “keeping it hidden will only increase suspicions surrounding you.”

“Miss Lisa knows about it, and she’s technically a Knight of Favonius or with the knights” you answered, accepting the glass, “does that count?”

“Does she also know why you want to keep it hidden?” He glanced at you momentarily while filling another glass.

“Vaguely?” You worked to poke a piece of meat and cheese at the same time. “No… I mean yes , she knows. I remember, she figured out about-learned about my discomfort around Kaeya and told me she wouldn’t tell him about it.”

“Either way, make sure Jean knows about it,” he took a sip out of his glass.

“But she’s always so busy, I’d rather not bother her for something so trivial,” you picked up your own glass, taking a tentative sip.

Seems the juice was to your liking if your expression was any indication.

“This is for the sake of your safety, and you’d be saving her a lot of work in the future should you get tangled in messy matters again,” he informed you, “actually it might be better if you have Lisa inform her on your behalf. Given what you’ve told me about her, she’d report things in a way that’s favorable for you.”

“I’ll make sure to let Master Jean know in some way then,” you smiled at him, “thank you. I appreciate it.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“Also thank you for the juice! It’s delightful!”

“I am glad it’s to your liking.”

Silence fell upon the two of you again as you continued eating. Refilling his glass, the former knight remembered something.

After calling for your attention, Diluc asked you about something he’d been curious about, “did you sell soap to a group of Fatui while you were away?”

“Fatui?” Your expression fell into something pensive. “Ah! Those men that wear colorful clothing with a flower looking pattern on them?”

“Yes.”

“I did,” you nodded, “they were the last soaps from an experimental batch,” you explained, “I felt bad taking their money, but they insisted on it, particularly the guy in a red coat.”

Ah, that was the Fatuus he’d interrogated if memory served, “did they do anything to you?”

“Not really?” You shook your head. “They questioned me a bit. They thought I was a witch or something. Aside from that one guy I mentioned before, the rest seemed...unfriendly.”

“Yes, Fatui are generally ‘unfriendly’, to put it mildly,” Diluc nodded, folding his arms across his chest, “they’re an organization that uses oppressive methods to force countries to do business in a manner that’s favorable for them.”

”Really?” Seems you hadn’t heard of the Fatui as you regarded him more with curiosity than conviction.

You didn’t look like you were completely convinced by what he was saying, but you didn’t verbally oppose him either.

“Well anyway,” you poked at a piece of potato, “I packed myself up, and the moment my new soaps had set, I was off.”

“A wise decision,” Diluc nodded in approval, taking a small sip of his juice.

“Yes, well, having a group of strange men in the wild know my location isn’t exactly safe, wouldn’t you agree?” You smiled sardonically.

“I would.”

 “I’m curious as to how you know about this though?” You asked him.

“The adventurer you sent your letter with was rather loud about Fatui being near your location,” he placed his glass down on the table, “so I dealt with them and discovered some of your soap at their camp.”

You looked mildly discomforted, clearly having an idea of what he’d meant when he’d said he’d “dealt with them.”

“The Fatui pulled some underhanded moves in an attempt to place Mondstadt in their debt.”

Your face fell as you considered that.

“Once indebted to them-”

“They could use that as leverage in future negotiations,” you finished quietly, your gaze downcast

“Precisely,” your knowledge was turning out to be broader than he’d expected, “do you have experience with negotiation?”

“Pardon?” You seemed startled by the new question.

“I’m wondering if you have experience negotiating,” he repeated. Now that he thought about it, you had negotiated that one adventurer down, according to him.

“Why do you ask?”

“You seemed familiar with the leverage tactic.”

“Yes, well, it’s a rather common tactic used by many people in many situations, isn’t it?” You leaned back in your seat, gesturing into the air, “the whole ‘you scratch my back, I scratch yours,’ only perverted into a: ‘I’ve scratched your back, now you owe me a back scratching too.’”

“It almost sounds like you’ve been on the receiving end of this,” Diluc mused, “is this where your obsession with repaying debts comes from?”

You paused, as though frozen by an enemy attack, blankly staring at him. When you finally blinked again, you seemed to shake off your trance with a shake of your head.

“Maybe, I think it does influence it partially,” you nodded, “but I also simply hate being indebted. Or only taking and not giving back.”

“Understandable,” Diluc weaved his fingers into each other before him.

A silence passed over the two of you, long enough and empty enough that the vigilante wondered if that would be all for the night. Until you poked a potato with your fork and looked his way again.

“I assume the Fatui plot was foiled by Mondstandt’s most vigilant Dark Knight?” You asked.

“It was a collective effort,” the corner of his lips quirked up at the memory.

“I’m glad you all managed to avoid being indebted to the uh…Fatui?” Your smile fell into a frown.

“I advise you avoid them,” he made eye contact with you, “they can be quick to resort to violence. You were lucky this time.”

“Noted,” you nodded, finally eating that potato you’d poked earlier.

You continued to eat for a little longer, but it was clear you were going to save the rest for another day. You were quick to pack yourself up. Upon finishing your glass of juice you smiled at him, without all the nerves this time, “thank you very much for the meal and everything else Master Diluc,” you took a deep breath, “I feel much better thanks to you.”

“Thank you as well,” he returned your smile with a polite one of his own, “for your efforts in keeping my identity a secret.”

“Like I said,” you met his eyes again, “I promised you.”

You pulled your hood over your head and cast him one last look, “good night Master Diluc, and thank you again.”

[listenheresweaty]

REVIVEBUR X READER (and Tommy, Platonically) PART TWO

This is still terrible and long. I have very little motivation

part 3 out soon

Rating: PG-13

It was raining the day that Tommy decided to invite Wilbur to dinner. He had tolerated Wilbur's presence at your house before, but that had been mostly outside, while the two of you had been growing your mushroom garden.

Wilbur had been only slightly annoying that day: no real taunts, only vague attempts to get Tommy to leave you. And a storm was brewing, so Tommy and you decided that Wilbur might as well stay there for dinner.

Wilbur was ecstatic. Finally some progress. Delusional, he was convinced that he'd be able to get Tommy to come with him-- his brother, family by blood.

So he got worse. A mixture of desperation, exhilaration of being supposedly so close to his goal and the strange, unwelcome and warm feeling that swelled in his chest when he saw a third bowl of mushroom stew placed on the table-- the dizzying, borderline terrifying feeling of belonging in such a peaceful, domestic scene that set off alarm bells in his head, telling him that it was wrong, wrong, wrong.

As Wilbur got more... well, toxic, Tommy's face soured more and more, clearly regretting his decision.

You tried to get Wilbur to shut up and just enjoy the meal, but the interference on your part only incensed him further. He snapped at you, which led to Tommy snapping at him.

Which of course, ended with an argument between the brothers, Wilbur questioning Tommy's loyalty.

"Tommy, I'll ask you this one last time. Do you see me as your brother? Do you? 'Cause you're not acting like it!" Wilbur asked.

Tommy's face twisted, but said nothing.

"Do you?" Wilbur repeated, glaring at him sternly.

But Tommy said nothing, only clenched his jaw, looking close to tears.

Slowly, the creases in Wilbur's faces smoothed, as if something was dawning on him. He stared at his younger brother with a slack expression.

Then, Wilbur grabbed his jacket and turned to leave, and Tommy fled in the opposite direction, locking himself inside his room.

You tried to intercept Wilbur and get him to stay, but he shook you off, gaze trained on the door as he avoided looking you in the face. He stormed out.

You retreated and wandered to Tommy's room and knocked quietly. No response. You heard him sniffle somewhere inside.

To be clear: Tommy still loves Wilbur. It's a mix of childish pride, doubt, and hurt that keeps him from saying it out loud. Tommy may be Wilbur's brother, but is Wilbur his?

After a few minutes, a click echoes through the hallway as Tommy opens his door. You hold out your arms and Tommy collapses against you, trembling but not crying. Somehow, he's too tired to cry.

---

Wilbur doesn't return for two weeks.

You finally manage to get Tommy to leave the house and get his mind off things. Tommy organizes a camping trip with Tubbo and Ranboo, and goes to spend the weekend in the woods (you secretly message Philza and ask him to watch over them).

This leaves only you in the house. Although you had grown accustomed to solitude during your life, Tommy's absence leaves the house feeling almost foreign, too silent.

All the lights are off, except the ones in the kitchen, where you're hunched over the counter, scrutinizing your architectural plans for an expansion towards the cliffside. You were making some edits on the placement of the staircase when you heard a resounding thump from somewhere behind you.

you glance around the darkness surrounding the dimly-lit kitchen. As your eyes adjust, you spot the dark blue square of the window amongst the blackness, the sparse light of the moon making the outside world vaguely visible as you approached to peer out.

A clang, this time farther away. You caught sight of the shed door opening, and a tall, lanky figure stumbling inside.

Oh, for fuck's sake.

Slipping on your jacket and shoes, you marched outside, swinging the shed door open with a frown on your face.

You were met with a very drunk, very distraught Wilbur Soot having an emotional breakdown on the floor of your gardening shed, right next to your fertilizer.

You stared. "What...?" You didn't finish your sentence. You honestly didn't know how, there were so many things to be asked.

What are you doing here? What's wrong? What are you drinking, can I have some? What in the world inspired you to come here, of all places?

The man squinted up at you (although you doubted he could really comprehend what he was seeing) reproachfully.

"This shed is full of fucking rusted nails." He manages through shaky and slurred speech. "Don't you pay attention to what state your home is in? You should care more, you know, now that you're responsible for T--" He cuts himself off.

"Shed renovations are on my to-do list, don't worry." You mumble. "...He cares about you, you know?"

He knew who you were talking about.

You continue. "He misses you, truly. He's just a little fragile--"

"You think I don't know that???? You think I haven't seen what has happened to him, what I've--- what has been done to him? Do you think I'm blind?" Wilbur lashes out almost convulsively. He clenches his jaw, digging his nails into the palms of his hands. You frown and kneel down in front of him, grabbing his hands to make stop before he starts bleeding. He trembles but doesn't pull away, eyes fixed on the ground between you. After a moment, you let go, moving to sit back.

Wilbur takes a swig of the bottle tucked in his trenchcoat--you hadn't even noticed it.

"if you keep this up, you'll end up six feet under again." You warned him gently.

"well, maybe I should, huh?" he rasped, spitting out this statement before he had much time to think. His eye twitched and he lapsed into silence once again. He continued to glare at you, as if challenging you to say something. When you didn't say anything, he spoke again, as if the words were being drawn out of him against his will

"Maybe I should---- maybe---" he wouldn't finish his sentence, his breath was getting shallower, hands shaking. He laughed, a bitter, wet sound that devolved back into sobbing

You look at this pathetic, skrunkly disaster of a man.

And you scooch beside him, wrapping your arms around him and pulling him into a hug. Wilbur slumps weakly against your shoulder, too drunk to remember that he's supposed to hate you. Maybe he's even forgotten who he's talking to. All he knows is that there is something there, something warm, something that isn't a train station bench or the clouded, wary gazes of people who used to be his allies.

You hold him a bit tighter, smoothing his hair with one hand. He's limp in your hold, trembling. He's so quiet you wouldn't even know he was crying if it wasn't for your jacket getting wetter as he pressed his face into your shoulder and sobbed. When he seemed to have calmed down the slightest bit, you asked him how far away his house was. It took him a while to register the question.

He shook is head, face still buried against your shoulder. He slurs, saying that he doesn't have a house.

"The Burger Van, then?"

"Th..that's at th' LLas Nevadas bord'r.."

"Do you want to stay here for the night? Or maybe find a room to rent in the nearby village?"

It took him even longer to respond to this question, and you had begun to wonder if he had fallen asleep.

"Wilbur?"

"...village." he murmurs.

You nod and pry yourself away from him, helping him stand. It's a short walk to the village, and the innkeeper asks no questions. You lead him to a small room-- one bed, one window and a vase with some dried-up plant-- and plop him onto the bed. He drops like a sack of flour, passed out cold on top of the sheets. You slip a blanket over him and place a bucket and towel next to the bedside (the hangover would probably get him sick).

You bid your goodbyes to the apathetic innkeeper and head back home.

Tommy arrives from his camping trip a day and a half later, abuzz with excitement and energy. He thrums like a live wire, yammering nonstop about how they found a beehive in the forest and created a cult with Tubbo as their leader, committed some light arson, ate some acrons (with the shell, obviously).

"I nearly drowned. I fell in the river and Tubbo's arms were too short to reach me, and obviously Ranboo's too much of a pussy to go into the water. Thank god for big man Philza Minecraft, he appeared out of literally nowhere and pulled me out. 10/10 would recommend Mr. Minecraft as a lifeguard. Best man for a near death experience."

"Hmm." You aren't able to get many words in, and settle for just listening to the boy rant as the two of you meander down a path to visit Snowchester.

"I've been waiting for Tubbo to ask me to become Michael's godfather." Tommy says. "How sick would that be? I'd make a great mob boss. Of course, people wouldn't come to me on the day of daughter's wedding because it would be my wedding, to my many wives--"

"Uh--"

"Oh, look Ranboo's over there! What a bitch. He gets even uglier up close, believe it or not."

"I--"

Tommy ran off to harass his friend. You sighed and leaned against a tree. You watched over them for a while, occasionally pausing to chat with the travelers that would pass by on the road: Puffy and Niki, Foolish, Purpled.

Eventually, you heard the footsteps approach and then falter. You glanced over and made eye-contact with Wilbur. He looked pale and sickly, squinting in the sunlight, clearly not able to handle the light in his hungover state.

He stares in silence, a distant frown on his face. You expect him to say something snarky, but instead he turns his gaze back to the road, and wordlessly continues on his way.

iill make part 3 soon i swear

[josephseedismyfather]

the ship list for austin x john <3

Hello friend! 👋🏻 I am SO sorry for the delay! My computer ate this...twice...and I had a meltdown about it both times. I finally just got around to finishing it for the third time. 🫣 Thank you SO MUCH for asking about these two. 🥰

These answers do contain spoilers, mostly because Austin is my newest baby and doesn't have as much exposure. A gentle reminder that my fics are explicit, violent, and contain mature themes, only intended for ADULTS, please.

Prompt from this post.

send me a ship and i’ll tell you:

who made the first move: John. And it wasn’t necessarily a “romantic” move. It was a power trip.

who kissed who first: John kissed Austin. It was part of that whole power trip thing.  

who started the relationship: Oh boy. These boys wouldn’t ever say they were actually in a relationship. There was minimal discussion, no label, tentative verbal commitment. Mostly a silent agreement that they both try to fight. But it was Austin who pursued John.

who remembers things: John. Because he’s petty. Austin remembers very few, specific things.

nicknames for each other: Nothing too crazy. John has called Austin ‘Randy’ since they were kids (Austin’s middle name is Randal). Austin always refers to John as ‘Johnny’, which John is not a fan of (why Austin does it). Austin does however call John his ‘whiney little bitch boy’ to others sometimes.

who is more likely to pay for dinner: John. Always the one to remind Austin that he’s ended up better off than him.

who normally cooks: They enjoy cooking together, most of the time. John is better at it than Austin.

who remembers anniversaries: Anniversaries are one of the few things Austin remembers. He’s the more sentimental of the two. Austin makes the effort because it gets under John’s skin.   

what would they get each other for gifts: John always gifts watches and cufflinks to Austin. Always low-key fussing over how he dresses, especially if they were to be seen together (when they were both in Georgia). Austin is always picking up small things that make him think of John to give to him. Eventually (during the event of FC5) taxidermy becomes a gift.

most trivial thing they fight over: Everything. They bicker over everything.

how often do they fight: More often than not. Don’t really get along consistently until New Dawn.

who uses all the hot water: John. Obvi.

who calls up the super/landlord when the heat’s not working: Austin and John don’t live together until New Dawn. Might spend a few nights with each other at a time, at most.

who leaves their stuff around: Austin…can be quite the slob. Drives John nuts.

who remembers to buy the milk: John. If they’re together and need something, Austin runs out and gets it.  

who controls the netflix queue: Not very much time spent watching TV together…

who steals the covers at night: Austin. Johnny thinks it’s cute.

who cusses more: They both are pretty bad about it, but Austin takes the cake here.

who does most of the cleaning: By default, John. He’s meticulous and needs things in their places.

what’s their favorite non-sexual activity: Beginning when they were young, butchering and cooking. Johnny killed his first animal as a child, and loving it, expanded his knife skills through skinning and butchering animals. Butchering eventually led to cooking, and it’s one of the few times they don’t fight *too much*.

who’s the cuddler: John loves cuddling but would never admit it. He acts like he hates it when Austin lets his guard down and reaches for him.

who’s the big spoon/little spoon: On the off chance that they spend the night together, there isn’t much spooning. John would try to insist he’s the big spoon but Austin would push him away. However, on more than one occasion, Austin has rolled over and laid his head on John’s chest in the middle of the night.

who’s more dominant: I mean…John *thinks* he’s more dominant…Austin really enjoys that for the most part. There are a handful of times where Austin is fucking FED UP with John and reminds John just how dominant he can be.

who is the dirty talker: Austin. Loooves working Johnny up.

what do they do when they’re away from each other: Being around each other makes them much, much worse. The years that they were apart were hard on them. John wouldn’t admit that. Austin was more aware but tried to convince himself it wasn’t the case. They both kept their heads down and did what they needed to do. It’s rough on both of them when Austin comes to Hope County. A lot of feelings that neither of them are ready for bubble up. Austin finds himself much more distracted this time around.

what would they do if the other one was hurt: John couldn’t give a fuck less if Austin is hurt, in Georgia or in Hope County. In fact, John almost kills Austin when they are younger. John enjoys seeing Austin suffer. In Hope County, he doesn’t want Austin to die, but he definitely wants to hurt him. Austin has a natural response to help those who are hurt. He will always come to John’s aid, no matter what the circumstances are, although he might feel guilty about it, depending on the situation.

a headcanon:  Just one?! A bit of a spoiler I suppose. Austin and John were closest in Georgia, as teenagers and when John was a lawyer and Austin was a cop. A dirty cop. They relied on each other for a multitude of things. John able to use Austin to keep the heat off while he was busy doing his blackmailing, snake charmer thing and Austin was able to use John’s connections to his advantage as a cop. They fed off each other. They made each other worse and they loved every minute of it.

[darlingrini]

Can you info dump on Ricky and Darius??? Cant find their stuff anywhere lmao

Yeah Course I can >:3 tbf I haven't written a whole lot I feel on tumblr XD or about them?? I can just recap all the info I have as I can't recall what I've written before:

Darius is a Unicorn King who calls you Starlight. He is a part of a magical world where once ruled a royal family led by the Red Bull King who was tyrannical and kept the other races under a iron grip. Especially the Unicorns due to their magical abilities. After the death of his mother Darius goes on a path of vengeance making a pact with a Eldritch Angel for magical ability's and after decades of training finally confronts the Red Bull Kingdom and basically annihilates the king taking the Kingdom over for himself. However along the way he's lost his grip on humanity and the cost of his pact has left him to essentially become another type of tyrant. Albeit one who much more favors the lower classes and magic. You are one of the servants that once served the old king and is now set to work for Darius. He is allured by your unique nature and dubs you his favorite almost immediately. He is a spoiling type of lover, and one who absolutely desires 100% loyalty and attention and gladly gives it in exchange. He is overly dramatic, absolutely charming, and will not be afraid to lock you up in a tower with the finest things in order to keep you to himself. He will treat you well but you'll essentially be trapped in a gilded cage.

Ricky Franko is your childhood bully turned current manager at your most recently new office job. He's always been a pain in your ass despite the fact you two started off as friends when you were little kids. While to you he appears to be rather rude and has absolutely no filter when it comes to talking to people. He was a sport jock in HS, dragged you to prom or at least glared at whoever you did take, and the two of you only separated once college hit. However by fate you end up back working in his office where he is the lead manager! (not done by him pulling strings at all no sir-). Ricky comes from a very wealthy family which does somewhat mess with his perception of life. The third oldest of 6 children he doesn't talk much to his brothers and sisters. And was often babied by his mother who is a Karen of all Karens. But despite Rickys rough exterior he's actually rather sweet underneath with a love for poetry and honestly wishes to just have a dream romance as corny as a hallmark movie with you. (Which btw he does like hallmark movies he wont admit it to you but still). When he's not being a rude little bully he's daydreaming romantic scenarios and leaves you anonymous love poems and such on your desk. However god forbid anyone else trying to take credit for his love notes as they'll get fired, literally. Ricky is very much a tsundere and while he would never physically hurt you he will defiently be a brat and say mean things. However its all easily softened if you give him sweet words or touch him in anyway and he immediately melts into a shy baby. He has a soft spot for guinea pigs and despite his brutish nature he's actually quite smart especially in mathematics. And while he is a strict boss he tries to be fair to everyone (except you, you get spoiled as much as he can get away with-)

[holly-fixation]

Fallen Silver: Ch3

Summary: Sephiroth is MIA. Second Class Rhapsodos and Third Class Hewley are tasked with locating and finding him. The public does not know of this disappearance. No one was prepared for the truth. 

Wars do not end until one side surrenders. Wutai was far stronger than they thought.

Trigger Warning: Self harm (unintentional)

(More notes at the end)

Chapter 3: Repeat

“This is SOLDIER Third Class: Angeal Hewley regarding directive SMIA. We found him.”

“Then put him back on the front. Why are you calling us?”

“He’s severely wounded. We need a chopper to Midgar.”

“He’s HIM. It can’t be severe.”

“I cannot give any more details on this line. Send a medical team right now or Shinra will have your funeral after his.”

There was a pause. “...Sending a team now. Be ready for transport in three hours. After the payload is sent, return to the front lines with Rhapsodos.”

“Understood.”

It was a conversation he should have heard, something he should’ve forced his focus on, but he did not gain a single word as he begged his red haired friend to stay close no matter what. He hated everything, hated every word out of his mouth, but they broke free despite his best efforts. He didn’t understand what was happening. He was so weak, feeble, useless.

The desperation crescendoed as Angeal returned.

He reached for them constantly. Each moment without their touch spiked his agony against his understanding. With both of them, his meager train of thought remained on track. Slow, yes, but on track. The moment he lost contact with either of them, it crashed. They adjusted for him, for his need, and encouraged him to be calm. He tried to obey. He stayed still once his wounds were cleaned and wrapped. Only his friends mattered. 

All was almost well until the medical team arrived. 

“We'll take him from here.” A team of four approached and shooed Genesis and Angeal away.

“W-wait…” Sephiroth reached for his friends even as he was lifted to the gurney. “Don't go…!”

“It's alright. We got you. We'll fix everything at HQ.”

“No…!” He tried to turn, tried to lift himself off the platform. Two medics held him down. “Genesis…! Angeal…! Come back…!” 

“They have to stay here. Those are their orders.”

“No!” Like a child's temper tantrum, he denied their words, thrashing with all his remaining might. Perhaps his strength too was childish. “No! Please! Come back! Come BACK!” The desperation spiked as his pained groans nearly formed a scream.

The lead EMT shouted the final order, “Bring them over here now!”

Angeal and Genesis rushed to his sides, and suddenly Sephiroth's rebellion quelled, his body relaxing as he held Angeal's hand to his head as if checking for a fever. They ignored their orders and stayed by him through every step of discovery until the moment in the lab where he fell silent as a sleeping babe, until the first moment every cell in his body released the need to be near them. 

* * *

Sephiroth did not know how much he needed them now.

“Sephiroth, what happened?” Genesis’s voice hit the muffled air.

His inhuman eyes scanned the dead dragon as strands of its lifestream bubbled to the surface, its soul slowly leaving its body. 

“SOLDIER First Class: Sephiroth.”

The silver soldier snapped to attention, empty mako eyes piercing him. 

Angeal sighed, hating using his title against him. “Report.”

“I spotted this fortress. I went into the wilderness to find a dragon. I led the dragon here as a precaution. When I returned, not a single Wutaian remained. And I found this,” he held up a broken gong, one solid piece with a massive crack straight through the center, before flipping it around. There was a message carved in native Wutaian. 

Three alone is strong. One alone is solid. Two alone is balance. 

Two with one is unpredictable. Scales break with imbalance. 

Angeal’s brows knotted. “I don’t understand…”

“They’re saying what we already know.” Genesis looked up at Sephiroth. “That letting you run wild will kill us all.”

He did not acknowledge the comment. “This is a warning. Two functional gongs remain. We need to find out where.”

“Sephiroth-” 

“We need to find them before they cause more damage.” 

“Hold on,” the dark haired man took the carved instrument before it cracked in the First’s grip.

“Morale is exponentially low. This trend will continue unless I regain strength in their eyes. We must handle this before news travels to Midgar. My misstep could be forgiven if we pull through.”

“Maybe if you stop running ahead, we could handle this together.”

“Genesis-” Angeal tried to cut him off.

“No he needs to hear this!”

Sephiroth stared through them. “You can’t order me to do anything. I outrank you. I am your superior-”

“Then this is mutiny, Sephiroth!” 

The word hit the silver soldier like a brick to the chest, the slight stiffening of his posture the only visible reaction. 

“So you listen to me. Because I'll take these men, all of whom have followed my orders for the entirety of your capture, and we will rise against you for the sake of your self preservation, so help me Goddess.”

“Genesis, that's top secret,” Angeal tried to warn. 

“All these men saw him collapse without reason. There's no secret about that and no dragon alive will change their wavering faith in your decisions. So for the love of the Goddess, listen to us.”

The waterfall of mercury lowered. Not a word left his mouth. Finally, a shred of fight lost. 

Angeal turned to the troops. “Set up camp. We're claiming the base. I want ten men on watch. Go.”

“Sir, yes, sir!” The entire troop quickly entered the compound, designating who would return for supplies and who would hold down the fort. A quarter of their men returned and dashed past the frozen Firsts. Once relatively alone, the silence broke among the hard glares, downturned eyes, and concerned expressions.

“Genesis…” Sephiroth's voice was small, so very small a cat could barely hear him.

The friend's eyes never left his. 

“It's not as simple as running ahead…”

“Then explain. But nothing you say will change my mind.”

He held his hand to his heart as if delicately touching a necklace. “There is too much we do not know. I take the lead to protect you all.”

“And you are the one that needs protection now. Times change. We have to adapt, not run straight into unknown danger.”

Sephiroth internally sighed. Genesis didn’t understand. The silver soldier failed to provide a more clear explanation, leaving him trapped in the hands of his fragile friends. He knew they weren’t truly fragile but he wanted to prevent any crack or fracture from forming in them with everything he had. 

* * *

Sephiroth allowed Genesis to take the lead in the next push forward. However, the silver soldier kept the crimson soldier in sight at all times, not like Genesis minded. His Second Class friend enjoyed his time in the spotlight just a hair, every attack a bit too powerful, a bit too flashy, and a bit too inefficient. If their enemies were stronger, faster, they may have noticed the inherent sloppiness, taken advantage of the openings subtly on display. 

They tried to stay directly ahead of the troop, but the anti SOLDIER measures threatened the lives of all unenhanced enlistees. Genesis made the decision to slow their men and take down the monsters before any cadet lost their life to nearly indestructible enemies. 

They found two of these monsters. Large muscular bodies, massive ball and chains at their sides, metal armor and written charms decorating their forms, one left handed and the other right handed, perfect mirrors of each other. 

Genesis and Sephiroth shared a quick look before dashing to their enemies. Sephiroth took on the left handed foe while Genesis took on the right. Each synchronized monster attack was countered with the two SOLDIERS, back to back before unleashing hell. However, the anti SOLDIER creatures were tough. Between the armor and their constant attacks, Sephiroth couldn't find an opening to slash them down or at least stun them for a bit. 

Why was he struggling? They were never this great of a threat before. 

Sephiroth glanced over at Genesis and saw the same realization. The redhead struggled more and more with each parried and blocked blow. Before either of them knew it, the bulky creatures yanked on their chains, and the links below the Second suddenly tied him down. 

Something in Sephiroth snapped. He found his body moving before his mind caught up, slashing and pushing relentlessly until the monster freed Genesis. 

The Red Mage of Shinra suddenly sprinted to the other monster, fire shooting up his sword. Though with varying strength, they both ended the creatures long before the troops arrived. Thank the gods they did. The souls of the mirrored measures did not leave the bodies. The SOLDIERs had no choice but to wait until they confirmed the deaths. That simple duty kept them in place. 

The corpses exploded, plumes of black and white smoke consuming everything in sight. Both SOLDIERs immediately held their breaths. They could barely see each other through the shadows. 

“Fall back,” The first and only command of the day left Sephiroth’s lips. However, despite the dissipating fog, his periphery darkened. 

A memory cracked into place: his sight wavered right before he awoke in the gold chamber. 

“Genesis, fall back,” His words were sharper, louder, trying to cut through the haze.

His friend stumbled away at first, mumbling odd ‘no’s and denials before suddenly bolting straight into the forest.

“Genesis!” Sephiroth shouted, chasing after the red coat.

“Stay away!”

That couldn’t be right. The smoke was finally gone. Their sight may be dark but he wasn’t blind. And even if Genesis was, why was he running? “Come back!”

“Get away from me!” He screeched, weaving through the trees like his life depended on it. Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong.

“Gen-!” He faltered mid step, glancing down to regain balance. But instead of his leather uniform, he wore a turquoise hospital gown. And he was small, the trees towering into the sky above. 

Below the sky, which darkened gray, stood a man in a lab coat black hair and black glasses, stories taller than he was.

“No…” His voice was tiny, strangled by panic, barely a whimper as every instinct urged him to run away. 

“It’s time, Sephiroth.”

His head shook, his pleas desperate and childish as he fought his own mind. “Not today…! Not today…! I have to save him!”

“It’s time…-”

As quickly as the illusion- the nightmare- formed, it shattered, his vision still dark, the sky still an unnatural gray, and his steps weak with…

Fear.

But his body was normal, his clothes were ready for battle. He ran forward, his steps barely coordinated and his breath heavy. Something scraped his arm, cutting straight through the leather and his skin. He glanced down but the weapon was long gone. Wutai was firing on them in their confusion, and despite his own wound healing within the second, his friend was not gifted with such restoration. 

“Genesis!” He prayed for a response over the pounding of his own heart, prayed for even a scream to pinpoint his friend.

But no sound came, his feet striking the dirt as he tried to avoid the projectiles he could not see or hear.

“Where are you?!”

Not a rustle of wind or the call of an enemy.

“SOLDIER Second Class: Rhapsodos, Answer me!”

S e p h i r o t h . . .  

Silver hair snapped around, stopping dead in his tracks with his blade at the ready, shaking in his pathetic grip. Distorted and unnatural, he heard his name clear as day. 

Sephiroth…

The voice was heavy, consuming, vast and endless. Where was it coming from? It felt like-

Sephiroth. 

Everywhere.

Leave him. You will find him later as he found you.

Why did the voice feel so familiar? He shook his head. He needed to focus. He didn’t have time for this, rushing forward once again. “Where is he?”

Not far.

It knew? Another cut scraped his leg. “Where?” He demanded.

…We have little time. You must find me.

“I need to find him.” If this voice was another illusion he would scream. A sudden tug at his heart and he turned in a new direction, a creek he could barely see through the darkness flowing slowly within the trees. He traced the feeling, walking along the invisible string.

Follow and listen to me.

He wished he could drown the voice in the water, but a small part of him craved the cosmic calm.

I am not false. I am real. And I need you.

He ignored it, praying to spot Genesis and silently hoping it continued, each word a blanket warming his heart. Did it have any idea what it was like to constantly hear that request? And why did a piece of him want to honor it?

I am what you craved. I am what you held in the lab to be calm.

Sephiroth shook his head. Nonsense. All nonsense. No matter how much he wanted it to be true.

They silenced our connection with scales.

His charge slowed. His indescribable feeling of isolation…? No. No no no. It couldn’t be. It didn't make any sense.

I crave you just as much as you crave me, even when you cannot hear me calling out to you.

“Who are you then?” He pushed forward.

You know the answer. 

Did he? The voice in his head couldn’t be real. Logically. He knew that.

It is deep within your heart and was once held close to it.

It was insane. Impossible. But the voice in his mind was kind and soft, a purr against his heart. If this start of the torture that broke him built this cruel punishment on his own, he did not know what he would do. He wanted it to be true. He needed it to be true. 

Close to his heart. His hand moved unconsciously to where he kept the necklace all those years ago. Why couldn’t he stop the single title from leaving his lips?

“...Mo-?”

A scream knocked him out of the shock.

He’s close. Go.

Following the thread pulling his heart, he leapt across the river and quickly found Genesis against a tree, cuts and throwing stars scattered through his body like the night sky, his right arm broken and cradled by his left, his right leg broken and laid straight out, his eyes clamped shut.

He responded as if feeling the very presence of the other soldier. “Go away… Please go away already…”

Sephiroth ignored the whimpers as his friends once ignored his own. He carefully kneeled before the Second, the redhead flinching, bracing for impact.

“I’m not going to hurt you.” He reached for the injury on his leg.

He cannot hear you. 

Genesis screamed at the contact.

Sephiroth instantly let go but the man before him writhed, struggling to crawl back. “What’s wrong with him?” He winced at another cut but was thankful it didn't harm his friend further.

Genesis fell back and clawed at his neck, struggling to breath, but the only marks were his own nails digging into his skin. His eyes opened reflectively, bulging in terror. Within the mako blues and whites, black rods floated on the surface like bacteria under a microscope.

The silver soldier grabbed his friend's hands and pulled them away.

“Spare me…!” He begged through large gasps of air. “Please stop…! Sephiroth…!”

Delay his symptoms.

Though not at all the exact words, Sephiroth knew exactly what to do, mumbling a small apology before knocking Genesis unconscious. Just as promised, his breath regulated, eyes closing and body falling limp.

It is not safe here. 

Whatever this chemical was required the lab to flush it out. He had no idea how long the ailment would last for his friend if even he had not metabolized it yet. Sephiroth threw his friend’s arm over his shoulders, carrying the deadweight through the shallow creek and back through the forest. More of the attacks came, single slashes to slowly weaken them, clearly aimed at Genesis so Sephiroth would have to take the hit. With his senses impaired, he couldn’t see them coming. 

Angeal caught up to them before they left the trees.

“What happened?”

“Some kind of chemical. I don’t understand what it-”

It forces the mind into panic by displaying individual phobias. It convinces the afflicted that escape is the only option and weakens any attempt at retaliation.

Sephiroth swallowed before relaying the message.

“How does Wutai have a weapon like that?” Angeal carefully carried Genesis. 

“They’re injecting it into monsters. Maybe breeding it in. We need to get Genesis to Midgar. It’s not dissolving.”

Now mako blues met his inhuman eyes. “Are you okay?”

Sephiroth nodded. He must have the rods too. “I believe I have some resistance to it. I’ll go ahead and call for transport. Keep him unconscious. He’s not thinking straight and he’s putting himself in danger.” 

The silver soldier barely heard the ‘sounds familiar’ as he marched to the base. At his direct order, transportation appeared within the hour. 

* * * 

The three strongest SOLDIERs once again stood in the research and development lab of Shinra Tower. Sephiroth explained the situation to Professor Hollander and his team. The monsters, the smoke, the darkened vision and instinct to run, the ‘phobias’, the weakness, and how the only difference between himself and his friend was his former exposure to the chemical before his capture. Hollander decided to test the silver soldier’s information by allowing Genesis to wake. Only if the tale was true would he begin working on a cure or at least grab some samples before attempting to flush it out.

Sephiroth and Angeal watched through observation glass to make sure Hollander didn’t try anything dangerous. Both Hollander and a team of nurses stood by inside the chamber.

You do not want to see this.

The First did not tell anyone about the voice, and despite its earlier truth, he refused to leave his friend.

When Genesis’s eyes opened, his terror returned instantly, pushing back into the bed frame as if a threat stalked directly in front of him. “No… no no no- no more! I just want to be enough! Why is that so bad?!” He winced, turning, hiding. 

Then he suddenly pinned himself to the wall by his shoulders. 

“Stop! Please stop! I don't want to hurt you! It's not like that! Please!” His right hand came up in protection, attempting to block what no one else could see despite the broken arm.

However, his left hand seemed completely out of his control as it slammed into his shoulder, repeating again and again until the bone shattered.

He squirmed and hissed harshly, desperately trying to get away from the threat he believed attacked but was truly himself, the toxin claiming his mind. “I’m strong! I’ll be perfect and one day I will surpass you, Sephiroth!”

The audible inhale told everyone what Sephiroth he was truly thinking. Why was Genesis afraid of him?

“Shut up Shut Up SHUT UP!” All of a sudden tears fell down his red cheeks. “Stop it… Stop it, I beg of you… I don’t want it to be true… I’m trying… I’m trying-”

First, he threw himself off the medical bed, pinning himself against the wall. 

Then he gasped, clawing at his damaged neck just as before, choking and thrashing and whimpering. 

“Tie him down and take samples before tranquilizing him. We need this compound now! Quickly! Quickly!”

As the nurses and scientists stepped up, Sephiroth stepped back, his heart heavy and his mind blurred. Why was Genesis afraid of him? What could he possibly do to change this fear? He saw Genesis as a worthy component. Why did his friend see him as a tormentor? 

He needed answers. He glanced at Angeal, seeing the Third completely trapped by the vision of his oldest friend’s torture. Shocked. Focused. Horrified. The waterfall of mercury suddenly left the room and appeared down a dark hallway with little traffic. 

“You knew,” He accused at a whisper.

I did.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Because it would hurt you.

“Why is he afraid of me?”

He fears your true thoughts. 

“About him?” Sephiroth would throw his life down for Genesis. He joked about the constant Loveless recitations but that didn't mean he hated them. He sparred with his friends to spend time with them and to hone their skills. He would never attack like that.

He has thoughts of himself he prays you never use against him. Each reflection is thrown back at him with your voice, and each injury he causes himself, he sees you. 

The Soldier's eyes fell. His hands began shaking even as he closed them into fists.

Before your capture, you experienced similar symptoms. They dispersed when you awoke in the golden chamber. 

“How long did it last…?”

After a week, you fell unconscious. I do not know if the smoke failed or if your captors had a cure. You had no memory of the effects or of me once awoken. 

He scoffed sadly. “Why would I take your word for it? How do you know what he’s thinking?” He heard a step behind him and snapped to the source. He suddenly found himself face to face with the dark haired scientist with black glasses. 

“Take whose word, Sephiroth?” Hojo questioned immediately. 

The silver soldier stared down rigidly and did not answer. 

“We'll return to that later then. Come to the lab. I need proper samples while that toxin is in your system.”

“We're already in a lab.”

Hojo scoffed. “That buffoon couldn't properly stock his own pantry, let alone purchase useful equipment. This flashy garbage limits and coddles the user for the sake of ‘user friendliness’. Nonsense. All nonsense. Now come along. We're wasting time.”

Sephiroth was about to deny the scientist when he suddenly remembered the box, one that suddenly cured his desperate isolation. He needed it again, both to test it against this voice he did not want to believe and to defend himself from any other gong Wutai possessed. If there was any chance of discovering what that container held, he would take it. 

Hojo grinned as the silver soldier took the lead, unable to hide it as all the tests they needed to complete flooded his mind. 

* * * 

Skin samples. Blood samples. Swabs and needles invading his skin. Sitting in the exam chair, Sephiroth allowed the tests in silence. Hours passed as he waited for the perfect moment to strike. 

Hojo didn’t seem to notice, separating the samples and placing them under various different tests. At one point he claimed to be isolating the toxin, but so far no luck. Concentration levels throughout the soldier’s body were too low. No standard samples contained any useful results. Eventually, finally, Hojo stood before him, scanning up and down before settling on how to continue. At his order, lab technicians entered, rolling in carts full of medical supplies and surgery equipment. The head scientist lifted a full syringe before locking eyes with the silver soldier through a shield of black glasses.

“No,” came Sephiroth’s first word since they entered the room.

“Come now. It’s the logical next step. Don’t you want to help Rhapsodos?”

“You are not sticking anything in my eyes until you give me something I want.”

Hojo crossed his arms. “And what is that? More information about your mother? How many times have we-”

“I want the container.”

His wrinkly face scrunched in confusion. “...What container?”

“After my capture, you gave me a container before beginning surgery. I want that container and its contents.”

“Absolutely not. That situation demanded immediate remedy-”

“I will continue to hinder progress in Wutai if I do not have it in my possession.”

“Are you really threatening your duty over this?”

“I am stating exactly what will prevent last week’s catastrophe from happening again.”

Hojo’s mouth closed. He placed the needle down before waving his hand at the others. “Leave.”

The lab techs exited without another word. The door slid closed behind them, sealing the scientist and the SOLDIER in the examination room.

“Tell me what happened.”

“I need it.”

“It isn’t a drug.”

“I don’t care what it is.”

“I will decide whether or not you receive anything. Do I make myself clear?”

Sephiroth glared from beneath his bangs, black rods stirring in the whites of his eyes.

Hojo simply waited, the whirr of machines the only sound heard until someone dared break the silence.

The silver soldier didn’t want to back down, but Hojo watched a few stray rods swim onto the mako blues. A soft grunt left the man’s lips, his hand supporting his head as his eyes closed harshly. The world darkened as he felt smaller and smaller, weak and insignificant.

Sephiroth.

“Not now…” his second hand flew to his bangs. He clenched his teeth to prevent any more unconscious words from escaping.

Hojo simply observed, a small smirk growing in fascination.

Stay still. 

He clenched harder, but soon the unnatural feeling left him. His eyes opened to the same haze, not perfect but bearable. 

“Is the neurotoxin making you hear voices?”

“No,” He spat immediately, his voice stronger but lacking the might he truly held. “This isn’t the problem. I know you still have it. Let me test something.”

“You have yet to provide a decent reason to do so.”

“Wutai has more weapons than we thought,” the boy surrendered, seeing that denying the scientist would trap them in deadlock. 

“Of course they do-”

“Weapons with the same effect as my capture.”

Hojo’s amusement dropped. “What.”

“That infuriating isolation that completely incapacitates me-”

“Did you let them capture you again?”

Sephiroth almost laughed. “No. They played a gong of Leviathan scales and I collapsed instantly. That same annoying clinginess locked Angeal and Genesis. They dragged me away from the base. The troop saw everything.” 

“Are there multiple gongs?”

“We assume.”

“Have you collected any?”

“Yes. I retrieved a broken one.”

Hojo brought a hand to his chin in thought. “If we repair it, we may not need that container.”

Sephiroth shook his head, his bangs protecting his eyes. “Hojo, I don’t think I can grow a resistance to that…”

“Well we won’t know until we try.”

“We should first try the thing that works. That container.” 

“First we focus on a cure for your dear friend and then we can build your immunity.” Mako blue eyes met his blacks. “Or I can hand you that container and leave your friend to suffer. Hollander’s had no success so far, and knowing him, he’s probably searching in the wrong place. It is a shame. The longer it takes to find a cure, the longer he must remain in Hollander’s lab for his own safety.”

Inhuman eyes fell. 

Don’t listen to him.

He felt the choice slipping away from him. 

It will only bring pain.

Hojo sighed. “Oh well. I’d much prefer having a different specimen in the lab.”

Sephiroth.

He had no other option. “Find the cure…”

The silver soldier refused to see the slimy grin on the scientist’s face.

.

.

.

.

Thanks for reading!

Author’s note: I have no idea why this AU appeals to me so much, but it does. And with the unintentional help (and permission) of @rottenpumpkin13 , I finally had the piece I needed to continue it. I hope you enjoyed chapter 3.

Chapter List

[damedechance]

the story starts when it was hot and it was summer and

ACOTAR Writing Circle - Part 1

Read on AO3: Pt 1

Please keep reading below for the first installment of a Feysand fanfic!

The ACOTAR Writing Circle is an event organized by @azrielshadowssing where several writers each start a fic, and then pass it off to someone else for the second and third parts. Please go to her page for more information, and to see the masterlist so that you can read all of the fics! Part 1 is posted today March 26th, Part 2 on April 9th, and Part 3 on April 23rd!

I had the tremendous honor of writing for Feysand, so please keep reading below for all of part 1 <3

Pairing: Feysand Word Count: 3.6k Rating/Warnings: This part is rated T, with no content warnings. This may change for future installments! Summary: Newly single, Feyre decides to crash at Mor's apartment while she's away on a European vacation. However, she quickly realizes that the next few weeks might not pan out exactly as she wants for two reasons: 1) Rhysand is there, and 2) the AC breaks. Will they be able to come out of it without falling in love killing each other? Or will they succumb to the heat?

PART ONE

With every cumbersome step up the stairs, Feyre’s duffel bag swung back into her knees, threatening to send her tumbling back down the six flights she had just managed–against all odds–to climb. She clung onto the railing with a white-knuckled grip, using it to heft herself up even further as her breaths forced their way up her throat in heavy, humid rasps.

For not the first time that afternoon, Feyre mentally berated herself for not working out more. Her bag was, perhaps, too full than it ever should have been, considering she had simply stuffed it full with whatever she thought she couldn’t live without before hastily leaving her apartment. Still, she should have been able to climb up seven stories with a single bag without feeling like she was on the verge of collapse.

Then again, how was she ever supposed to have known that canceling her gym membership three months ago would have had such disastrous consequences?

With a groan, Feyre hauled her bag up onto the next landing, dropping it unceremoniously onto the floor with such blatant disregard that she was likely to have broken one of her precious few belongings. She leaned over with her hands on her knees to catch her breath, vainly attempting to ignore the way that the dry, brittle breeze caught on the sweat that dripped down her temples, the back of her neck, her shoulders.

Then, she forced herself upright, tugging a hair tie off her wrist so that she could attempt to rake her hair back. She should have done this sooner, especially since it became clear by the second set of stairs that the sweltering combination of a broken elevator and the hottest day of the year would have led to this horrific end. But she had been so worried that if she paused to simply tie up her hair, she never would have been able to get herself started again.

Now, with only one set of stairs–twelve measly steps–between herself and Mor’s luxuriously deep, ridiculously long bathtub, Feyre felt reasonably sure that she’d be able to make it. If not for the ice bath she was fantasizing about taking, then surely for the shelter from this oppressive heat.

Reinvigorated by the thought of long hours spent in the cool tub, Feyre bent back down to pick up her bag, groaning as she stretched for the handles, only for a hand to suddenly swoop down into her line of vision, plucking her bag up into the air as though it weighed nothing at all.

“Got it,” someone said, whisking her bag away far too easily.

“Hey!” Feyre exclaimed, shooting up only to have to clutch onto the wall to keep from falling over. She was lightheaded from the heat and all of the climbing, her heart already racing worryingly fast, but the person swept past her so casually, already starting on the next set of steps.

Feyre trotted after him, ignoring the way her thighs burned, screaming at her in protest, and hauled herself up the stairs right behind his broad, decidedly not sweating form, which was unnatural at best, infuriating in reality. Hadn’t he just come from the same six flights as she did? 

She might have been exhausted, but she wasn’t about to allow some asshole to abscond away with all of her belongings.

“Relax,” the man said.

The one word fell upon her as did a staggering realization that she knew this man, and his voice that curled elegantly out of his mouth, like night-chilled wind. A cool, not wholly unwelcome feeling, given the blistering heat, but ultimately startling. She faltered a step, staring open-mouthed at his back.

He glanced over his shoulder as he cleared the last step, and then turned to face her. As she stumbled up after him, he stepped back to make room for her. He looked entirely unbothered, stoic even. But she could see his irritatingly gorgeous face, which only cemented the fact that he wasn’t actually a stranger to her at all.

Rhysand watched as she finally made it up, regarding her like some kind of insignificant pest, like one of the insects swirling around their heads. He had her bag slung over his shoulder, his hands deep in his pockets, and his own book bag on his back. His eyes were obscured by a dark pair of sunglasses, but judging from the angles of his face alone, he was the picture of nonchalance.

“You looked like you were about to keel over,” Rhysand said, even as she attempted to brush past him. Her plan had been to pretend like he wasn’t even there, but she couldn’t resist the temptation to raise her gelatinous arms to shove him.

Rhysand chuckled at the ineffective gesture, following after her at a leisurely pace as she dug through the pocket of her shorts for her keys. Mor had given her a key to her apartment a while ago, and she found it easily before casting her eyes up to make sure she was heading to the right door.

“What are you doing here?” Feyre asked bitterly. “Mor isn’t home.”

Rhysand leaned against the wall beside the door to the apartment, grinning lopsidedly at her.

“I’m aware,” is all he said.

Feyre turned the key and then shoved the door open, sighing in relief as a wave of cool air fell over her. So overcome by the marvel that was modern air conditioning, that she hardly registered the fact that she had left the door open behind her until it was too late.

At the sound of the door clicking shut, Feyre spun around to glare at Rhysand.

“She’s in Europe,” Feyre snapped, eyeing him warily. “Which means you don’t have a reason to be here.”

Rhysand merely lifted an eyebrow, before gently dropping her bag on the ground and tossing his sunglasses onto the kitchen counter beside him. He took his time, shaking out his hair with his fingers and shrugging his backpack off, before responding to her.

“I don’t?”

Feyre could have screamed. There it is, she thought. That insufferable tone of voice. The one he always used, phrasing things like a question when in fact he already knew the answer. The loathsome, grating know-it-all. Like he was so above everything, like he didn’t just know the answer–he had all the answers. In a flash, she recalled all of the events that had led to her forced acquaintance with him, dinner parties and gatherings with mutual friends. His overly dignified, pretentious voice saying: Really? You think so? Is that right?

Yes, Feyre thought, gritting her teeth. That’s right.

“So shoo,” she said aloud.

“Shoo?”

Rhysand’s grin widened, his deep blue eyes flashing just a shade darker until they were almost violet, and Feyre’s fingers twitched with the urge to snatch his glasses up off the counter and shove them onto his face again. It was enough that she was forced to look at him. She didn’t want to have to look at his eyes, too.

“Mor asked me to house sit,” Rhysand finally said. “Water the plants, collect the mail. You know.”

He edged deeper into the apartment, causing Feyre to take a step back before she could even realize it. His eyes flashed down to her feet, and then back up to her face–amused at the fact that she had subconsciously attempted to maintain the distance between them.

The lie flew up to her mouth, unbidden. “She asked me to house sit.”

He only stared at her, his head tilting to the side curiously. 

Feyre doubled down. “I understand your delusions of grandeur can sometimes lead to you inflating your own importance in other people’s lives–I empathize, truly–but perhaps you should–”

“She asked you?” Rhysand interrupted. Again, that arrogant tone. Like he knew that she was lying.

Feyre glared back, long seconds passing between them as Feyre considered whether or not he actually did know. She tried not to glance at her bag, which she knew was full of the evidence of her hasty exit from her apartment, or the key in her hand which had never been given to her under the pretense of house sitting. Feyre wasn’t supposed to be here, at all. She’d only assumed that her best friend, Mor, would be too busy on vacation to care if she crashed here for a while.

But did that mean he was supposed to be here?

That smug smirk on his mouth was entirely too unreliable. He would have been smirking at her, regardless. But she tried to dig through her memories, for any small tidbit of information Mor had passed onto her during her preparation for her European vacation. There was nothing. Whether it was because Mor knew Feyre wasn’t particularly eager to hear any details about Rhysand, or if it had simply slipped her mind, Feyre couldn’t recall any mention of Rhysand staying at Mor’s apartment while she was gone.

Finally, Feyre responded, glowering at him as if that would deter him, when history had typically proven otherwise. Rhysand was not so easily dissuaded.

“Mor asked me,” she hissed. “So you can go back to your overpriced penthouse–”

“Nope.”

“Excuse me?”

Feyre gaped at him, shocked more at his audacity to interrupt her for the second time in only as many minutes, and felt her hands drop down to her sides. She must have been gesturing angrily with them, at some point, but was now deflating in her exasperation. He was impossible to deal with.

“I don’t live in a penthouse,” he corrected.

This time, when he stepped forward, she was too annoyed to remember that she was supposed to fall back. To recall how important it was to stay away from him, instead of carefully watching his approach and being enraptured by that aloof angle of his shoulders, the crooked smile. It was cool inside Mor’s apartment, but she felt her cheeks heating up, regardless.

Water. She needed a glass of water.

Rhysand continued stalking towards her, with swinging, almost feline footsteps to match that imperious grin. He stopped only when he was close enough to lift a hand, his fingertips landing cool on her flaming cheeks. He brushed aside a curl of hair that had escaped out of her hastily made bun.

“I live in a townhouse,” he reminded her, voice almost gentle. “And I assure you, Feyre darling, that it is reasonably priced.”

The term of endearment shocked Feyre back into herself, as she gasped. She shoved him away with both hands flat on his chest, as if she could physically reject what had just happened–could deny the blush on her cheeks or her racing pulse.

“Let’s just call Mor, then,” Feyre suggested, attempting to maintain a healthy amount of rancor in her voice. “She’ll tell us who’s supposed to stay.”

Rhysand sighed, as though disappointed either in her proffered solution, or her reaction. He brushed past her, and she spun around to watch as he–slowly, sluggishly–made his way into the living room. He flopped down onto the couch and threw his arm up, allowing his wrist to rest delicately over his forehead, and propped his feet up on the other end of the couch, lightly crossed at the ankles.

“Sure,” he said noncommittally. “Go ahead.”

For a moment longer, they stared at each other with equal amounts of animosity, but eventually Feyre relented. She whipped her phone out of her pocket, tapping hard enough on the screen for there to be an accompanying clicking sound, and completed the call to Mor.

She had the phone up to her ear, listening to the dial tone go on and on, when she mouthed to Rhysand, ‘You’ll see.”

He only beamed at her.

Just when Feyre thought the call would go to voicemail, Mor picked up.

“Salut!” came Mor’s voice, crackling over the phone speaker. “Qui est-ce?”

“Mor!” Feyre said, brightening immediately.

She grinned haughtily at Rhysand, and switched to speaker so that he could hear when Mor declared that he should go home. Feyre might have been lying–profusely–but she felt positive that Mor would either be too distracted or too drunk to refute anything.

“Feyre!” Mor greeted her, abandoning the shotty accent. “What’s up? I’m on layover in Belgium, and I’m about to head out with some new friends, so I only have a minute.”

All the better that Mor was in a rush. Now, she was practically guaranteed to go along with whatever Feyre had to say.

“I’ll be quick, then,” Feyre said, walking further into the living room so that Rhysand wouldn’t miss anything she was about to say. “I’m here to look after your apartment, like you asked, but there must have been some confusion because your cousin is here, too–”

“Rhys!” she squealed, clueing Feyre into the fact that she was likely considerably tipsy. “Bonjour! Ça va?”

Rhysand sat up, reaching for the phone in Feyre’s hand, but she pulled it away before his fingers could make purchase. Rhysand recovered easily, laughing, and leaned forward.

“Oui, ça va. Aimes-tu la Belgique?” he said.

“Great, yeah, you’re both here,” Feyre cut in dismissively. She raised a palm, indicating that Rhysand should shut up, which he surprisingly obliged. She was worried that if she let them go on chatting for too long, Mor would easily be persuaded over to Rhysand’s side. “Anyway, he seems to think that he’s supposed to be staying at your place, so I just wanted to call you so you could tell him I have it covered.”

“Oh no!” Mor said.

“Yeah, I know,” Feyre said, pretending to frown pityingly at Rhysand. He rolled his eyes at her. “I’d hate for him to be put out, you know, because he has that big business meeting coming up.”

That was another lie. Feyre was not privy to his work schedule, nor did she care. But he didn’t chime in to correct her, either, seeming perfectly happy to just watch everything as it played out. Which, unsurprisingly, grated on Feyre even more than it would have for him to have argued.

“No, I meant I spilled my wine!” Mor groaned over the phone. She sighed. “Listen, Feyre, I must have been so busy prepping for the trip that I accidentally asked you both. Why don’t you guys settle it between yourselves, okay? I really don’t mind. Make yourselves at home, I have to go now! Au revoir!”

And then came the sound of Mor’s lip smacking together in a farewell kiss, followed closely by a foreboding silence.

Stunned, Feyre glanced at her phone. Call disconnected.

After a few more beats of silence, Rhysand stood up. Gently, he took the phone out of Feyre’s hands, and then set it down on the coffee table.

“She sounds like she’s having fun,” he remarked. He patted her on the shoulder placatingly, and little stars of irritation sparked out beneath his touch. “Would you like me to help you carry your bag back down?”

“What?” Feyre said, her brows drawing together as she looked up at him. Which was a mistake, because the late afternoon light coming in through Mor’s floor-to-ceiling windows fell across his cheekbones in a way that nearly stole the breath from her lungs. She shook her head. “What makes you think you are staying?”

“Aren’t I?” Rhysand tilted his head to the side as he studied her for a second. “I was under the impression that those stairs were a bit much for you. I thought you were about to collapse from heat stroke, but if you think–”

“My bag was heavy, asshole,” Feyre said. “I’m staying. Because I’m still not fully convinced that Mor even asked you to look after her apartment in the first place.”

Her cheeks flared up again, but she could only hope that he still didn’t see through the blatant lie.

“Then I guess the only option is for both of us to stay,” Rhysand said offhandedly. “Saves us the argument. Besides, they’re redoing the plumbing in my house. It’s practically uninhabitable.”

He skirted around her easily, his arm grazing across hers, and then settled into one of Mor’s bar stools in the kitchen. She watched as he took out his phone and began scrolling.

“What do you want for dinner?” he asked, his tone sounding almost bored. “We could order something. I can cook, too, but that would mean going back downstairs for groceries, and I wouldn’t want you to pass out.”

“Do you even have a key?” Feyre snapped, ignoring his question. She stomped forward, and peered around his shoulder to confirm that, yes, he was perusing a takeout menu. He didn’t even glance at her.

He nodded absently. “In my bag. You can check, if you want.”

She didn’t. “There’s no way the two of us can stay here for three weeks. We’ll kill each other.”

“Will we?” he drawled. Feyre watched as he selected a Thai restaurant, skimming through its menu. And then, as if he had forgotten she even existed, he muttered to himself, “Ridiculous. Fifteen dollars? For something I can make at home…”

Feyre groaned in frustration, letting her head fall into her hands as she leaned over the counter. She was keenly aware of Rhysand’s eyes on her, now, but she was too busy spiraling to smack the smug look off his face. She mentally cataloged her options, and felt her shoulders drooping when she could only come up with two.

First, and the far less preferable option, she could go to her Dad’s house. Lug her stuffed duffel bag back down the seemingly ten-thousand steps and throw it into her car, only to drive fifty minutes out of Velaris so that she could spend the next few weeks sleeping in a bed with a Barbie comforter, surrounded by her childhood posters of Justin Timberlake. A mortifying prospect, to say the least.

Or… or she could stay here in Mor’s apartment. On the seventh floor, with an outdoor stairwell in the middle of the hottest summer in recent history. Here, where surely Rhysand would be staying, as well. Whether out of pure stubbornness on his part, or the fact that he was the only one with a legitimate invitation, it didn’t matter. Rhysand would be staying.

But as much as she hated him, there was only one other person she hated more. And as heavy as her bag was, it felt so blissfully light after Feyre had taken the engagement ring out of it and thrown it in Tamlin’s face.

Going back to her apartment was not an option, because there was only one name on the lease, and it wasn’t hers. It belonged to her ex-boyfriend of just three hours. The one who had denied he was having an affair, even when she flipped through the screenshots right in front of his face.

Feyre’s head whipped back up, as if in rejection of that still so vivid memory, only to find that she was eye to eye with Rhysand, who had this absentminded, starry-eyed expression as he looked at her. Her lips curled into a grimace.

“I’m taking a bath,” she said, stalking off towards the bathroom. She could think up a plan to get him out of this apartment while she was soaking in a tub.

She heard the bar stool scraping against the ground, and then footsteps behind her.

She whirled around. “What are you doing?”

Rhysand stared back at her with a wide-eyed, far too innocent expression. “What do you mean? I thought you said we were taking a bath.”

“Me,” Feyre said, feeling her anger mount to dangerous heights. She clenched her hands into fists at her sides. “I am going to take a bath.”

The lopsided grin returned on his face. “Wasn’t that an invitation?”

A scream tore up Feyre’s throat, caught only by her teeth, which were clenched so tightly no sound could escape. She stared up at the ceiling, begging any and all gods that might exist in this merciless universe for some patience. She counted to ten–twice–and then looked back down at him.

“You are staying here,” she said with considerable effort. “I am going to take a bath alone, and when I’m done, we can discuss the possibility of me refraining from strangling you.”

“Don’t trouble yourself on my account,” Rhysand said. He slipped his hands into his pockets and inclined his head towards her. “You can wrap those pretty hands around my throat whenever you feel like it, Feyre darling.”

Feyre opened her mouth to admonish him, or scream, or cry, or something, but just then she became aware of a peculiar lack of sound. Of a winding down, something that previously had been going on in the background that she had only been aware of on some sort of subconscious level, but now was dwindling to nothing. A vague, mechanical whirring.

“What was that?” Feyre asked slowly. She looked up at the ceiling again, but this time she was searching for the source of that noise.

Rhysand did the same, the corners of his mouth slightly turned down. “I’m not sure.”

But he said it like he said all things–in that way that suggested he was keeping to himself all of the things he really knew.

“Yes you do,” Feyre said. She was frowning now, concerned that there was some sort of bad news he was neglecting to tell her. And if he wasn’t already gloating about it, then surely it was something terrible. “What just happened?”

Rhysand sighed, carding his fingers through his night-black hair. His eyes darted away from her.

“I think,” he said cautiously, “the air conditioning just went out.”

END PART ONE

Please go to @azrielshadowssing's page to see all the other fics, and to stay tuned for parts 2 and 3 of this fic!

[claireelle18]

The Reactions

A/N: These are the reactions of fans meeting their favorite hockey player and the player's significant other. There are 3 players for this one. I am open to writing more - just send a request in!

Ross Colton:

It was a balmy day, that pre-afternoon thunderstorm humidity creating a thick wall outside of any area that could potentially hold air conditioning.

The season ended for the Bolts, but the battle for Lord Stanley continued for other teams. Bogo invited the team over to watch it while having a BBQ. He had asked that a side dish, snacks, or dessert was brought along, which prompted the rushed trip into the local grocery store.

Ross's frame hid her smaller frame as the two decided what to bring to the barbecue. The case of beer held by his side, the other arm wound around her waist. "How about we just bring some hummus and pretzels? We could also bring a box of cookies because we both know the kids would love us forever," he suggested, grabbing the bag of tiny pretzels. She nodded along, starting to walk over to where the cookies were in the bakery.

With their quest for snacks completed, the couple head to check out. She chirped about him not grabbing her some drinks, because 'beer is awful.' He chuckled, went to grab her a case of her own drinks, and return to the long line. That's when a young fan popped up behind them.

"I am so sorry! He just saw you from down the aisle. He's a big fan of yours," the frazzled mom spills.

Sharing a look, Ross turns to the boy. "Nice to meet you...."

"Jason!" A toothy, energetic reply comes. "As mom said, I am a huge fan. I watch everything I can! Can we get a picture, please?"

"Well that's very nice of you, buddy. Absolutely so," he says to him. "Hey hun, do you need my card?" he asks, turning to you.

"No, I've got it," she explained. He turned back to Jason, his mom ready to snap the picture. The two boys pose, large smiles on both faces.

"Who's that?" Jason questioned, peering over towards her.

"That little dude is my girlfriend."

Jason's jaw drops. "She's super pretty!" Hearing Ross chuckle, you turn and give the boy a soft smile and a little wink. "Lucky her! Can she be in the picture too?"

"Nah, I am the lucky one! Only if she wants to be." A set of pleading eyes convinces her to join the picture. The two leave to continue their shopping, and to let the couple get to where they needed to go.

Later that day Ross found the picture of the three, along with the caption, 'Thank you Ross for stopping and taking the time to say hi and to both of you for taking a picture with the little man.'

___________________________________________

Brandon Hagel:

A day spent accidentally burning in the sun, playing tag and soccer, crashing in the waves led to catching a bite to eat at one of the various beach restaurant locations. The Key West styled and painted building invited the couple up to the roof top bar.

Amidst the semi-impromptu sunset dinner date, she notices a girl, who she couldn't decide if was closer to the teens or early twenties, glancing over at their table. He also clocks her on his radar, but continues to focus on his lovely company. "Honey, you're going to need to apply aloe!"

She groans, "Ugh! I swear I had enough sunscreen on, but I can feel that post sunburn feeling already starting to take affect."

He throws a few ice cubes from the bottom of his water glass at her, laughing then starting to hiss like when water hits a burning hot pan. She makes a face at him, sending a glare towards him, as he continues to laugh. "My poor poor little crispy tater tot. We can stop on the way home to make sure we stock up on the sunscreen and aloe," he promises.

The two continue their meal, making the occasional chirps at each other. "Finish watching the sunset, to the store for the promised relief, then home for a shower," she compromises with him. He downs the remainder of his third water cup, reaching to grab the half drank beer. Again he clocks the other girl. Their table had just been cleared from the food baskets, which is when she decides to take her chance.

"You're Brandon Hagel," she states looking at him after approaching the picnic table.

He swallows his drink, "That I am. Can I help you?"

"I think I can help you. I cannot keep my eyes off of you. Can maybe I get your number?" She asks, a small pout to her lips, while she twirls a strand of hair.

"I don't have an issue taking a picture with you, but as you can see I'm here with my girlfriend," he motions toward her. The fan turns toward said girlfriend, eyeing her up and down. "You didn't even acknowledge that she's here. So please be kind to us.”

After she stalks away, he turns to you. “So tots - you ready for that promise relief?” A set of pleading eyes sends the couple off to retrieve the items and take a much needed indoor break.

————————————————————————

Brayden Point:

Her coworkers and begged for a drink after the long day. She agreed, but texted him to join them at the local restaurant. This really would be the first time he meets the entire work family. When he arrives, she disappears to retrieve him. “Team this Brayden. Brayden these are the lovely ladies who help me survive the day.”

“Nice to meet everyone,” he nods.

It takes a bit before Janet, the work team grandma, puts two and two together. The dots connect for her. Brayden had just excused himself for a moment. “Wait wait wait tots! You’re telling me that your boyfriend is Bolts player Brayden Point?! How am I just putting this together?”

She laughs, “Jan, we don’t really put this out on display for everyone. Neither of us want to draw attention to our private life.”

“Right there sweetheart. Never really gets questioned too much honestly. I think poor Bea gets confused as a fan or a friend of one of the other guy’s girl’s more than anything else,” he chuckles sitting down, arm draped around her shoulder.

“I can’t believe you never said anything!” Janet continues. “You’re dating basically a local celebrity!”

“Well you never really asked, and we don’t tell many people. Rather just let them find out on their own,” she shrugs. “We joke that it’s a secret club once people find out about us. So umm…welcome to the club I guess!”

[dragons-and-dwarves-are-nice]

To the Shadows that Cry Witch /// Chapter 18

And I'm back!! I'm so happy to return to writing this fic for you guys, and for the long time I've been away, I've made sure to make this next chapter extra long for you all - at almost 6k words! (Which is a feat for me lol) So good news aside, I am unfortunately not going to be posting weekly anymore, as I have just started uni, and I already have a lot of studying to do. But I can promise that I will be posting chpaters as frequent as I can, I'll just be limiting myself to make time for my academic side of life. Anyways, Enjoy! <3

Summary: Magic was real, but it came at a price. So when two girls end up in the one place they never thought they could reach, strange things began to happen. Good or bad? That's up to them to find out.

Tags: Kili x oc/reader - Fili x oc (POV to be written soon) - Thorin's company × ocs/reader (platonic) - fluff - angst - EXTREME slow burn - crack - Bagginshield

Word Count: 5960

Warnings: Mentions of injuries, claustrophia, accidental drowning, swearing.

Taglist - comment or message to be added!

PLEASE START FROM THE BEGINNING IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY OK LOVE U

Want some background music? Check out my Soundtrack Playlist!

Now available on Wattpad and AO3 (please let me know if links aren't working)

< Chapter 17 // Chapter 18 // Chapter 19 >

Part 2: Chapter 18 -

Into the thick of it.

Selenotropism (Definition): Growth in response to moonlight. (Noun / Origin: Classical Greek / Se·lee·no·trop·isum)

The Old Forest, Outer Hobbiton, The Shire – T.A. 25th October 2939 of the Third Age (1339 in Shire-reckoning)

I had strayed from the path a while back, grass replacing the smooth stones that marked the paths circling Hobbiton. Only the dying light of my small lantern accompanied me, I foolishly realised, as I had not planned ahead for this spur-of-the-moment outing – thinking I could rely on the shine of the moon, but I forgot that it was a new phase, so all that was ahead of me was the gaping darkness, as it tempted me deeper into the towering trees of the Old Forest.

By now, any glow from the lights left outside each hobbit hole had vanished behind the silhouettes of thick trunks and bushes that surrounded me. The only luck I had to return before Bilbo’s curfew was if I stumbled upon a road that led me back, and, I managed to guess the correct direction that wouldn’t lead me into the wilderness. Just because I had a map of Middle Earth on my favourite mug back home, didn’t mean I had memorised it. Which, at this point, was my biggest downfall.

I inhaled deeply through my nose, taking in the sharp, fresh air that came with a clear late evening, like a cold glass of water, that was blissful on your throat at 2am. Approaching one of the taller trees, I plopped myself down against its trunk and stretched my legs out. Many thoughts passed over my mind, memories from Earth, things I owned that would never be found here, but what stuck, was thoughts of my family; Where they were; if time continued on, and, if the two of us reported missing. How they would cope with the news. That was the one thing I dreaded – considering how sensitive my family was. I wondered about Bella, my dog. Knowing her singular braincell, it’ll take her a few years to realise I’m gone. I smiled at the thought of my dogs face as she pounced around the fields in search of rabbits, her thin ginger tail whipping back and forth. Her warm brown eyes staring intently at me from in between the long grass, the iris’ flickering with green.

Wait – green?

Bella’s eyes weren’t green.

I blinked rapidly, returning my senses to my surroundings. Pressing the bases of my palms against my eyelids, I blinked them open, and realised that the green eyes weren’t leaving – they were in fact, in front of me.

I grabbed my lantern and held it up, stretching my arm out to allow the dying flame illuminate the bushes that sat a few yards ahead of my feet. With baited breath I stared arduously at the small gap of leaves, until a flash of green flickered, and the pair of green eyes returned, this time with a physical body.

Placing one paw in front of the other, the shadow silently crept out from beneath the darkness of the leaves, almost like a hunter stalking its prey. Light shimmered like gold on ebony fur, and with a twitch of its ear, a black cat emerged, traipsing into the light.

A soft gasp left my lips, watching it stop just before where my feet lay, and I felt a smile warm my face. Any sorrowful thought that plagued my mind earlier was now whisked away at the sight of the small feline.

“Hello,” I whispered, as I gently placed the lantern down, watching as the cat’s emerald eyes flickered over me, following my every move. “Where did you come from?”

As slowly as before, I lowered my hand to the ground, and carefully moved it towards the creature, stopping just past my toes. To my delight, the cat took another cautious step forwards, it’s black nose lifting to sniff the air, before lowering it to my curled fingers. My pinkie twitched slightly, and the cat took a step back, returning to sit where it had revealed itself by the bush, the end of its tail flicking slightly from where it rested on the grass.

“No touching? That’s ok.” I murmured, taking my hand back and placing it on my lap. Minutes passed by, where the two of us simply observed each other, getting used to the other’s presence whilst waiting for the other to move.

My head raised suddenly, Bilbo’s stern face appearing at the forefront of my mind, and I remembered my curfew. Getting to my feet as calmly as I could to not startle the creature in front of me, I brushed off the fallen leaves that had caught themselves on my shift and coat, and picked up my lantern.

I had only taken a couple steps, when a ‘meow’ sounded from behind me. Puzzled I turned around to see the cat was now by my feet, it’s eyes wide as it approached me, almost playful.

“Huh?” Was all I said.

It meowed again, white teeth flashing as it opened its mouth to make the sounds.

“I’m sorry but I have to go.” I replied gently. “Or Bilbo will have my head.”

I went to walk away once again, but jumped with a start as I looked down to find it had appeared in front of me, but this time with something familiar in its mouth. Squinting, I gasped in outrage when I realised what it was.

“Hey!” I exclaimed, shoving my hand into the inner pocket of my coat, only to find it open and missing the one thing that was supposed to be inside it. Though I knew where it had gone – and it was currently trotting away with its tail held high.

Turning on my heel, I strode after the cat, keeping the lantern as high as I could to not lose the dark-furred feline to the darkness it could oh-so easily blend into. Eventually I broke into a run, frustrated at the sight of the cat as it only got further away.

“Come on!” I cried with heaving breaths – bed rest had not been courteous to my stamina levels. “That’s important to me! You can’t just take it!”

Said thing was a braided leather bracelet, cream in colour, with a red button sewn on as a clasp. It was a handmade gift from my grandad, one I had kept close to me and cherished since his passing three years ago. And I certainly wasn’t going to part with it any time soon.

My walking boots thumped heavily against the ground. Whilst working perfectly well on the wild terrain, they were certainly not suited for running, as my feet began to feel like they have become big hooves – too heavy and stiff for these kinds of escapades. Shoving away a low hanging branch, I then leaped over a twisted root, only to cry out as my still-healing ankle gave way, and I hit the ground with a thud.

With a groan, I pushed myself onto my elbows before twisting over to sit up. The cat came back into my mind, and I whipped my head around, ignoring the throbbing aches from the points of impact my body graciously had with the ground.

The glass of my lantern was smashed on the ground in front of me, and in the final flickers of the flame, my eyes landed on a large rabbit hole in the middle of a hollowed tree trunk, and as I climbed to my feet, I caught a flash of green from in the shadows. Marching over, I kneeled down, braced my hands on either side of the rotting bark, and peered into the darkness.

It was an exceptionally large tunnel, big enough for me to fit into. Roots of all sizes twisted and hung from the walls and roof of soil. The odd beetle appeared, before dashing away again, and as the flame behind me finally died, I went to give up on the rescue.

With a snap, a twig broke behind me, and I spun around, only to let out a scream as the rotten bark crumbled in my hands as it gave way. Feeling a sharp knock against my head, I watched the world go black, feeling myself tumble into the darkness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“C’mon c’mon c’mon.” I whimpered, working my trembling hands as best as I could to strike the match against the rough side of the cardboard box. It really helped sometimes when I forgot to empty all my pockets, feeling extremely lucky that matches were one of the things found. What didn’t help was the uncontrollable tears that began to pool in my eyes – and also that fact that I was stuck in a narrow tunnel in the complete pitch black.

With a crackle and a hiss, the small flame burst to life in between my fingers, and I craned my head the best I could to look down either side of the tunnel, hindered by the fact that it was so narrow, my back was arched forwards and my neck was constantly bent over at the low ceiling. The tightening in my chest also meant the claustrophobia was kicking in big time.

Trying my best to look down both sides as much as I could through the blur of my tears, I noticed that one end trailed upwards, and decided that was my best option to fining the way out. Feeling the heat of the flame grow, I quickly blew the match out, and summoning all the energy I had left, I flopped onto my front, and began to commando crawl up through the darkness.

Digging my elbows and knees into the soil, I clambered onwards for what felt like a quarter of an hour, whilst also lighting the odd match, checking that there wasn’t any other tunnels that I would accidentally take. It was odd that I was so far down, and I wondered whether or not I landed down there naturally.

Soon, to my luck, the fresh air from earlier began to replace the damp and stagnant, the tunnel widening enough for me to stand on my knees, and I felt relief wash through me knowing I was almost out. Lighting a match, I raised it up, only to see a large hole above me just a metre ahead, with a familiar wall of bark surrounding it. Shuffling myself closer whilst trying to keep the match alight, I went to reach to the edge of the hole, when something caught my eye.

Adding on to the very odd things that had happened to me on this night, I stared bewildered at my bracelet hanging right in front of me, hooked onto an even odder-looking piece of wood. My hand quickly shot out, grabbing it and stuffing it to the bottom of my deepest pocket, making sure it was zipped up securely, safe and tight.

Lighting another match, I looked back, holding the small flame up as I eyed the piece of wood curiously. It didn’t look quite like a root – the end was too thick and blunt, and was covered in parts that were unnaturally smooth, a darkened colour as if someone had crawled down here and decided to carve and polish random parts of tree roots, leaving them to stick out about several inches from the soil. Reaching out, I poked and prodded at it with my fingernail, before slowly wrapping my hand around it. A pull.

But I didn’t pull it.

Before I knew it, my hand was jerked forward, sucked into the wall as if I had stuck my hand into the flesh of a giant slimy slug, and I quickly began to panic, my eyes widening as I watched soil wrap around my wrist like short, stubby tentacles to pull it in further. The squelching and crumbling of wet dirt and rock contorting around my limb echoed through the tunnel as I realised that I couldn’t let go of the stick, so trying my best to think rationally through the crushing fear of becoming part of the ground, I leant onto my back and lifted my legs up, bracing my feet against the wall. With all my might, I gritted my teeth together as I grasped my rapidly disappearing arm, and pulled.

I let out a loud grunting breath as I felt it give way a little, but quickly repositioned as I prepared to pull again. But before I could, a deep sound resonated in my ears, drowning out the noises of moving dirt, and every hair on my body stood on end, terror pinging through every vertebrae along my spine, the one sound I had wished to never hear again pounding against my ear drums.

Feeling the colour drain from my face, I slowly turned my head to my right, until my eyes landed on an oh-so familiar shape down in the tunnel.

It was blue.

Slitted eyes pierced into my own as I fixated on the terrifying creature from my dream, and a tsunami of panic crashed over me, for this time I wasn’t in a dream – and this was very much real.

With a cry, I returned to my arm, bracing my legs and pulling with all my might. My eyes darted back down the tunnel, and the creature lurched, it’s claws reaching out to gouge the dirt as it tried to pull its large body towards me. If they could gouge dirt, they could certainly gouge me. Sobs racked through my throat as I frantically tugged at my arm, feeling my fingernails break skin as I clawed uncontrollably at my wrist, that was slowly but surely revealing itself.

Letting out a scream with one final pull, my hand shot out, hitting me in the nose. Through the uncontrollable watering of my eyes, I watched as the soil closed itself back up, spiralling inwards like an alien mouth until it became part of the tunnel wall once again. A roar much closer than before pierced my ears, and I darted for the hole above me.

Hands clawed and gripped at grass as I clumped bundles of it up, pulling my torso up and over the edge whilst my feet scrambled and slipped against roots and waterlogged soil.

I managed to hook one knee over the edge, and went to drag the other up, when something pulled against it. Blood pumped through my ears as I looked down, only to find that the bandage around my ankle had snagged against a root. I pulled my foot up again and again, only to find that the know holding it together refused to budge.

“Curse Erard and his perfect bandaging!” I cried.

Remembering what I had put in my coat pocket earlier, I stuck my hand in to pull out my sewing scissors, and quickly got to work, hacking away at the cream material.

It was just in time, because as soon as my foot landed on the grass, a glowing blue set of claws shot out. I screamed in terror, then howled in pain as one of the hooked appendages nicked my shin, and I clambered to my feet, sprinting full power into the darkness.

Tears ran down and across my cheeks, and hair whipped across my face and neck as I raced between the dark silhouettes of trees and stumbled over unseen roots, hoping to whatever deity was out there that I was going the right way. Adrenaline had replaced any feeling as I tried to put as much distance between myself and that godforsaken hole.

I decided to only take a moment, hands gripping my knees as I arched over to catch what breath I’d lost, air rattling through my lungs as I tried my best to stop my breaths from shuddering and shaking. My back pressed against a trunk as I tried to shrink my shoulders together, hiding myself as best as I could whilst I recovered. Though an odd feeling in one of my hands had my eyes blinking open, and in the darkness, I could just make out the outline of a thin object in my hand. Running my fingers up and down the surface, I recognised it: I had not let go of the oddly shaped stick, the one that caused my hand to be sucked into a wall by some unseen force. Doing my best in the pitch black, I tried to make out the shapes and features on the stick of wood – surprisingly straight, and thinned out slightly at the top end, and I wondered if someone had dropped their toy wand down a rabbit hole.

Leaves rustled nearby, and I quickly spun around. Though I had not watched my surroundings, and my arm collided with the trunk, knocking the stick sharply against the bark.

A light.

A spark.

Then a bang.

I let out a scream, my arm coming up to shelter my face against the splinters of wood that flew past me. Lowering it, my eyes widened like saucers as I gawked at the sight in front of me.

The tree that stood to the right of mine was now smoking, the edges of the gaping hole that pierced all the way through the trunk glowing an orange, whilst embers floated, before slowly lowering to the ground.

My hands flew up unconsciously in surrender, when I looked to my right hand, looking accusingly at the perpetrator. Just barely, I managed to spot the tip as a light faded until it returned to looking like any other smoothed out stick off a tree.

Though I guess it wasn’t just a stick.

Thundering footsteps vibrated heavily through the ground, and up my legs. Daring to look around the tree, my eyes landed on the blue outline of the creature as it spread its wings, using them to help it skid to a stop, mud spraying everywhere (which was odd, considering I could still see through it).

I held my breath, begging for it to move on. It raised its horned head, taking deep breaths as it searched for scents in the air – most likely mine – and I prayed that the light wind blowed in my favour.

A creak, then a groan, then more creaks, sounded from beside me. Both me and the creature slowly turned our heads, watching as the tree with the hole began to splinter at the sides of the hole, bits of wood springing out as the upper half pressed its weight down. With a loud, creaking BANG, the sides gave way, and the upper half slammed down onto its lower half, before letting out a long, resounding groan as it fell to the side, and my body shrunk in on itself, cringing at every loud noise that drew the creatures attention to my hiding spot. Hitting the ground with a final mighty crash, branches and leaves snapped off whilst birds from all around scattered at the sudden noise.

Finally, I let my body relax, shaking off the tension as the foliage settled once again, and I peeked around my tree once again, only to find that the creature was looking directly at me.

Taking cautious steps, I slowly began to back away, only for the creature to lower its head,  and it began steadily stalking towards me, just like it had done on our first meeting.

Feeling the fear and panic pierce through me once again, I racked my brain for a way out. I glanced at the stick in my hand. Raising my arm, I hesitantly pointed it at the creature. Its eyes landed on what I was pointing, at it let out a roar, and broke into a run. I sped up my backwards walking, keeping my arm raised, and without thinking, I brought it back, and gave it a powerful flick.

Just like before, a spark shot out the end, flooding the forest with light for a moment, crossing the distance in less than a second before landing a direct hit on the beasts head.

The blast sent it flying backwards, and it crashed into the bushes behind it, vanishing amongst the leaves after leaving an outline of its landing. I punch the air, letting out an uncontrollable shout of triumph. Though that was short lived, as the beast let out another roar, more aggressive than the last. Oh, I had pissed it off big time.

Stumbling over my own feet, I darted back the way I had come, speeding as fast as my legs would allow, praying that the lights of Hobbiton would appear again soon.

To my luck, as if someone was watching over me, I finally felt the stone path, that I had foolishly abandoned earlier, back under the soles of my boots, and looking up, I smiled, relieved, at the sight of a street-lantern just metres ahead. I could finally see properly. I continued down the path at the same running speed, not letting any false sense of security fall over me. The banks at either side of the path grew higher and higher as the stones travelled downwards towards the first set of houses, until one fell away to reveal the town. Behind me, my ears picked up the sounds of footsteps again, and I whipped around, raising the stick once more to point it at the creature, this time aiming for between the eyes.

It skidded to a halt at the edge of the forest, kicking up another spray of dirt as it did. It stood there, nostrils flaring, with what looked like smoke emitting from them and from between the gaps of its mouth. Claws dug into the ground as it stood on the bank that towered above me, its eyes boring into mine before flicking down to what was in my hand.

A growl erupted from its throat, one that you would feel in the ground rather than the air, it was that deep. It snapped its jaws, teeth flashing and saliva dripping and disappearing into thin air. To my surprise, with a flick of its spiked tail, it tucked in its wings and turned around, vanishing into the forest.

A breath escaped me, and I relaxed every tensed muscle, whilst patting my chest to calm my quivering heart. I reached up and rubbed my neck, moving my head around in a full circle to feel those satisfying pops in my spine. I also shook my arms and legs out, ridding what I could of my remaining adrenaline.

Doing a quick scan of the area, I figured everyone was still in bed, despite the loud screams and shouts I had made while deep in the forest. I made a reminder to never get myself back into any sort of danger whilst staying with hobbits, because you could guarantee that they would snore through the whole ordeal unless you smashed their window in screaming bloody murder.

After confirming that nobody was watching me, I began the trek up to Bilbo’s house. Despite the fact that no one heard me in the woods earlier, it didn’t mean that I didn’t want to be found wandering around after hours, so I decided to take the long but hidden route around the outskirts of the town.

‘At least it’s scenic.’ I thought to myself, but remembered immediately afterwards that I wouldn’t be able to see most of it considering the sun was non-existent right now, and the nearest lanterns were at least a couple metres away from the path.

Jogging over one of the stone bridges, I walked along the path until I reached the banks of one of Hobbiton’s lakes. Across it, I could make out the lights from Bilbo’s kitchen windows up the hill, and sped up. Walking past a cluster of bushes, I looked over them at the small lake beside me, only to stop in my tracks.

On the grassy bank on the other side of the lake, Kay stood in only her shift and socks, deathly still. Her head was tilted down slightly, strands of wavy copper hair hanging down and concealing her face slightly as she stared into the watery depths.

I stared apprehensive – she had never done anything like this before. Unless she had a secret hobby that included staring at water (when she knows she can’t swim yet), then there definitely was something wrong. Silently lowering into a crouch, I hid myself behind the bushes, and crawled on my hands until I was able to peek around the leaves.

She still hadn’t moved from her standing position, though after a moment passed, her leg moved out, and she took a single step forward, and leaned over slightly.

Yeah, there was definitely something wrong.

I went to stand up, planning on marching over there and dragging her away for an explanation, when I stumbled slightly. My hand shot out to grab at a branch of a bush, only for it to let out a crack that resounded through the silence of the night.

Kay’s head snapped up, and I immediately stilled, staring in horror.

From where I was, I could see that her eyes had turned completely white, reflecting in the yellow glow of the street-lantern nearby, and was that blue on her cheeks?? No, no blue anymore. I remained as still as I could – I didn’t trust white eyed Kay – and remained in the shadows until she slowly turned back towards the water.

A minute passed, where she only stood, then she took another step forward, her toes at the edge of the grassy bank that held her up about half a metre higher above the water level. She leaned further. And further. I was preparing to call out, when she fell, sending a wave to crash over the still surface of the water, and I rushed to my feet.

Nuh uh, there was no way I’m having some water-obsessed demon possess my only earth friend to jump in lakes!!

(Well, more like belly flopped.)

Rounding the edge to where she had stood, chucking the stick in my hand on the ground, and I dived in, getting flashbacks to pulling her out of that pond when we first fell here. In the black depths, I stuck my arms out, hoping to catch onto her at some point.

A turquoise glow appeared from near my feet, and brushing the blurred outlines of pondweed aside, I made out the fuzzy silhouette of Kay as she floated unmoving over the glow, though one of her arms was outstretched, reaching towards it. I then reached out and grasped her shoulder, only for her to begin thrashing in my grip. Despite her flailing, I managed to keep my hands on her, and started dragging her to the surface.

Breaking the surface, I gasped for air, and brought Kay with me, only for her to worsen. This time, she replaced thrashing for screeching, her hands shooting out to claw at where mine were on her biceps. At one point she leaned over to bite me, and I noticed something ghastly.

Her teeth had become pointed and fang-like, snapping menacingly just like the creature had done earlier as it chased me through the woods.

Deciding that enough was enough, I swam towards the shore. More like flopped around, considering I had a feral, possessed Kay in my grip trying to gnaw my arm into a stub.

Reaching a part of the bank that slowly raised into short pebble beach, instead of the miniature grassy cliff, I managed to find my footing, and quickly let go of Kay to shrug off my heavy, now waterlogged coat and chuck it onto the shore. Turning back, I stood and watched as Kay remained on her front in the water, her hands gripping onto the stone as she lifted her head up to glare at me with her white eyes. I took a small step forward, and she bared her teeth, emitting a cat-like hiss. I put my hands on my hips.

“Alright, mermaid time is over.” I deadpanned.

She hissed again, and pushed back against the rocks, trying to re-submerge herself. Acting quick, I kicked at the water, emitting a wave that hit her directly in the face. Whilst she flailed distracted at the attack, I lunged forward and grabbed her under the armpits. She shrieked, arms twisting and flapping about to try and claw at my arms again. Though she had cut her nails recently, so all that she left were shallow red and white lines along my forearms. Dragging her onto the stones, I pinned her down by the shoulders and tried speaking over her hissing and screaming.

“C’mon, you can’t just go –” *HISSS*  “ –Stop it. I said you can’t just go around jumping into water whenever you feel like it and expect me to drag you out each time!”

A hand came out and slapped against the side of my head, and I sucked in a breath, gritting my teeth. Shutting my eyes for a second, I let out the breath and opened them again to meet Kay’s white ones, and came to my last option.

“You asked for it.” I warned, raising my eyebrows at her accusingly.

And slapped her across the face.

Letting go, I watched as she rolled over, groaning, and curled in on herself, then stilled. A moment passed, and her head shot up, whipping around with a frown on her face, along with a red mark shining prominently on her left cheek. What was relieving though, was the fact that her eyes had returned to her usual grey. Raising her hand to her cheek, she glared at me.

“The fuck was that for??” She whinged. “That hurt.”

“That hurt?? Then what the hell do you call this??” I raised my forearms up, accidentally flicking water everywhere, to show off the scratches and bitemarks along the skin. She gawked at them with wide eyes, but opened her mouth, outraged.

“I didn’t do that!!” She cried.

“Yes you did! For some reason you thought tonight would be a good time to play mermaids, and have been kicking and screaming ever since, all the while I’ve been trying to drag you out to stop you from drowning yourself!”

“Drag me out – ?” Looking to the side of me, her mouth hung open as she spotted the lake behind me, then down at her clothes, reaching to pull at the drenched shift that was clinging to her skin. “I was – I was in the forest!”

“The forest? What were you doing there?!” I questioned.

“I was there to ask you the same thing!” She exclaimed. “I followed you! To make sure you weren’t doing anything stupid after Bilbo had said you went for a walk. I ended up losing you for a bit when you ran after something, and when I found you looking into that giant rabbit hole, I ended up snapping that twig that scared you into falling in.” She frowned. “Then I think I blacked out, and woke up here – to you slapping the shit out of me, might I mention!” She accused, shoving a soggy finger in my direction.

My hands flew up in protest. “Yeah, cause you were acting possessed! I was walking back to Bilbo’s when I saw you standing on the bank just staring into the water like that girl from The Ring, then you fell in, and when I tried to get you out, you eyes were white and your teeth had magically become sharp for some reason!” I replied, gesturing to the shallow puncture marks in my arms. “All you had to do was grow a fish tail and I would’ve officially thought I was going mad!”

Kay stared incredulously, her mouth hanging open wide enough to catch an entire hoard of flies as she remained in a shocked silence.

“White eyes.” I nodded. “Sharp. teeth.” I nodded again.

“Would I lie about something as crazy as that?” I asked.

Slowly, she shook her head.

“So I went all demon on you?” She questioned, a guilty look on her face.

I thought for a moment. “More like feral mermaid.”

She raised her eyebrows, intrigued by that version.

“But you had no control over yourself.” I stated, and she went back to frowning, deflated at the revelation.

We both sat there, drenched hair clinging to our faces and clothes heavy and dripping with lake water. I ended up pulling a few pieces of pondweed off from where they had caught on my shoulders and legs. Flicking away a piece on my ankle, a tiny nudge of movement caught my eye, and I let out a gasp at the sight of a stick almost identical to the one I had found, held loosely in Kay’s hand. I pointed at it.

“Where did you get that?” I questioned.

She eyed me, confused, then her eyes switched to where I was pointing. Frowning deeper, she quickly brought it up to her face, examining it with wide eyes, before bringing it away and gingerly dropping it down between us.

“I have never seen this before in my life.”

We both stared at the stick as it laid on the pebble shore. Kay got startled as I then scrambled to my feet, kicking stones everywhere, and she watched as I ran along the shoreline, before skidding to a stop to grab something off the ground, and sprinting back. Flopping back onto my spot, I placed my stick next to hers, watching the realisation dawn on Kay’s face as she stared at them.

“I found mine,” I jabbed a finger at it, whilst catching my breath, “Down that rabbit hole I fell down.” Kay’s head shot up to look at me in shock. “It was sticking out of the soil, and when I tried to pull it out, the wall tried sucking me into it, a bit like how you were possessed and almost drowned when getting yours.”

Kay’s eyes glazed over as she stared, her mind most likely travelling a million miles a second as she tried to comprehend the newly revealed information.

“And mine did something.” I added slowly. “I don’t know how, but I ended up blowing a tree to smithereens with it.”

Her eyes refocused, and bore directly into mine.

“Like a wand.” She muttered.

I nodded. “Like magic.”

“There you are!”

We both screamed, jumping high in the air. I toppled over, though quickly regained myself to look up and see a very disgruntled Bilbo standing on the grass at the edge of the beach. He tapped his foot in place, his hands on his hips while a lantern sat at his feet.

“Jesus Bilbo! Where on Earth did you come from?!” I cried, clasping my chest as I tried to steady my breathing. Poor Kay looked as if she was about to cry from fright.

“I came looking for you two!” He pointed at me. “Your curfew ended two hours ago, and you!” He pointed at Kay. “You were supposed to be in bed! Imagine my panic when I found out you weren’t! And look where I find you, playing wizards in the freezing water!” He gestured to the sticks between us.

We both hung our heads, unsure on what to tell him. He looked at the two of us, and let out a long sigh, picking up his lantern.

“Right, come now. You must change out of those shifts and dry them before Mrs Greenfoot has you both by the ear.”

We stood up, both discreetly picking up the sticks and slipping them up our sleeves. Walking up to Bilbo, I grabbed my coat.

“Hurry now, can’t have you both developing an illness now.” He fussed.

“Yes mother.” I jabbed playfully as I passed him, listening amused at the sputtering match that went on behind me, before the hobbit grumbled under his breath, and ushered us along back up the path.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please let me know if you want to be added to the Taglist!

< Chapter 17 // Chapter 18 // Chapter 19 >

Return to Fic Masterlist

Return to Navigation

See you at some point next month for Chapter 19! Also please comment if you want to be added to the Taglist <3

Taglist:

@opheliasdrowningg @mrsdurin @g1gglef1t @qmabailor @jupiterrdarling @emstar07 @geewoo-ko @phanryesworld @stuckupstucky @rebeccao03

(Message me if your tag isn’t working)

[iamskadhi]

Story of a villain - Part 3

Goodnight, Dabi stans.

Here's the third part of my fanfic. This is kind of the end, but there was an epilogue that I'm not sure if I want to translate because this is too much work, I'm sorry.

I enjoyed it, tho.

This part contains +7000 words, no smut parts (sorry), mentions of unaliving oneself and others and a brief introduction to villain Dabi.

I don't have much to say. About the epilogue, it's from the female lead POV. I will translate it but I won't make any promises, this is obviously not a happy ending.

PART 3

We spent two perfectly good months together, she seemed happier, healthier and back on her tracks — though I wondered if she was faking it.

“Have you think of any names?” she asked one morning.

“I’ve been thinking about marriage,” I confessed. She looked at me stunned. “What?”

“Will you claim your name back?”

“Well, I have to” she jumped to hug me so hard we ended on the floor, the pain in my back could’ve made me pass out.

“I’m sorry, I got carried away,” she said excited, her hair fell beautifully on her face and her eyes turned teary “I only dreamed of this before”

“Get up, please” I begged.

She jumped up and helped me to get up as if I was an old man. I would never forget the look on her face that morning; we pulled out the details to make it possible — the wedding. Lord, have mercy, I thought.

She smirked and chuckled maliciously when she said she wouldn’t give any invitations to her parents and simply tell them she was marrying a Todoroki; his dad was a huge Endeavor fan. I grinned imagining my old man’s face when he finds out I’m alive.

After talking about it with a little dose of premeditated vengeance, she went to work but at the end of the day, she didn’t come back home.

She didn’t answer the calls or reply to my messages. That same day, Hana joined my concern, it was like she vanished midday. I went to her workplace the next morning; of course, I couldn’t sneak in so I wandered around the building asking people if they knew her, if they saw her.

“Hi, kid!”

It was Beanie, greeting me with a big smile. I told him about her. He wasn’t a part of the same company, but his workplace was just one floor below and he promised he’d investigate inside.

I went to her birth home. It was a manor with tall fences and a garden before the entrance.

“I forgot how rich they are,” I murmured before looking for a way to get in. Hana wanted to come but I convinced her she didn’t have to.

I tried to be civilized and ringed the doorbell, but they told me to leave.

When I sneaked in, they noticed immediately, a group of bodyguards ran after me, I used my quirk to keep them away but I got tackled by somebody else’s quirk, something heavy was keeping me down, the other idiots attempted to kick me but I let my flames out, burning everything –even myself- with blue flames.

They mumbled something my own rage didn’t let me hear and her mother appeared in front of me. She looked down at me with a stupid rest face she always wears.

“Come inside, I’ll tell you what you want”

She disappeared – teleported; I stood up and let them deal with the flames all over the garden.

I walked in, not much changed, but I noticed a few things less. I recalled the first time I came here:

“My parents are in Europe” her voice was so clear in my mind, her face smiling at me, “So we have the whole house for ourselves this week” and she proceeded to introduce me to the maids. “They won’t say anything, don’t worry about a thing”

Her playful smile, that specific smile engraved in my memory, made my heart ache a little.

A maid led me to the dining table and served me a cup of something I wasn’t going to drink, the old lady sat at the other side of the table and sipped a cup of coffee and I knew she was waiting for this moment.

“Where is she?” I asked.

I wanted to burn her and everything in this place but I just stood there waiting for an answer.

“Far away; obviously” she looked at me as if I was stupid; maybe I was for actually expecting her to tell me anything, “I told her before that she had to let go of this stupid teenage dream she had with you. I went to your tiny apartment and warned you, you don’t get to come here and act like we kidnapped our own daughter”

I grinned and chuckled; she raised an eyebrow and continued:

“Anyhow, I understand the way you’re feeling right now, I’m sad with this outcome too”

“You don’t get to tell me you feel sad. Where is she?” I asked again.

“That’s none of your business”

“We’re having a baby,” I said, but she didn’t look surprised.

A couple of weeks ago, we were watching a movie and talking about this moment, we supposed they’d find out before we could say anything, but none of us ever thought they’d react so cold-hearted.

“We took care of it” she stood up. Something passed through my chest and stabbed my heart. “And we found a way to erase you from her memories, so you can leave forever this time”

“What do you mean…” I asked as I lose strength in my legs, “With ‘took care’? What does it mean?” I could barely keep standing, could barely breathe.

She fucking smirked. I wanted to kill her.

“What else could it mean? Something that should’ve never happen, happened; we, as her parents, had to do something to correct it.”

A thousand thoughts ran through my mind as I felt my raging fire burning my skin.

“You may burn this house down if you wish,” she said with a pleased smile, “we’re leaving it anyway”

I aimed to the chair in front of me, I thought of burning everything including myself but she looked so expectant that I had to control myself.

“What? You can’t?” she took her phone out and showed me her screen.

There was a video of her, her mouth gagged, eyes wide open and white, some idiot’s hands were holding her head and I couldn’t hear it but I knew she was screaming.

“In a minute all of the life you tried to build together turned to nothing, I wish we could’ve done this before” she said viciously.

“That’s your daughter, stupid old bitch!” I yelled at her and slowly turned the flames down. “How can you let somebody hurt her?”

I realized that she really was trying to manipulate me and I wasn’t going to let that happen, she wouldn’t win anything from me.

“Now you look like before. Disgusting, wretched…”

“Go fuck yourself!” I shouted and she frowned.

“You’re disgusting,” she said again.

“And you’re a monster!” I yelled from the bottom of my guts. “That’s why she hates you and no quirk can erase that! Even if they could, in five minutes she’d turn her back on you again”

“Leave, now” she commanded.

“I thought you wanted me to burn this place down, what if I only burn you to ashes?” I raised my hand and she teleported out of my sight, “I knew you’d do that”

I ran upstairs and looked inside every room, they were empty, even her old bedroom. I was too gentle to that old bitch, I thought as I hit the floor on my knees; dark smoke came out of my hands and mouth, I shook myself to let it out but I couldn’t fight it anymore.

A growing blaze of blue fire came out of my mouth as I screamed, rotting in the burning pain of my mind tricking me. Recalling a bunch of silly things we used to do when we were younger: messy top-lip first kisses, teleporting together and actually falling because she messed up, her unbelievable capacity to make things up when she was losing an argument…

Since the bedroom was empty, the only thing I turned to ashes was the wallpaper. I checked the attic, just in case, and I was just walking out of the basement when a bodyguard crossed my path.

“Police is coming, you should leave” he said and walked away.

Then, I left. I wandered around the places we used to go, places we used to hide after school, where we had our first kiss, where she said she loved me for the first time and a thousand times later, even looked up when I walked by the building she jumped off once. We were talking about it not so long ago.

“Can we always be this close?” she said while cuddling just the other night, her voice vibrated in the back of my mind. The image of her body shaking, soaking wet in the shower squeezed my heart.

I didn’t go to work or called anyone since my phone melted before, I don’t know when I arrived to our apartment but I just laid in bed for a while.

Somebody knocked the door a few times, it happened in different occasions but I didn’t open it. I never got up. I heard steps and voices but everything was numb and blurred, then I saw her face but it wasn’t her, it couldn’t be her.

“Dabi, you’ll be fine,” she said.

“Don’t worry, kid, we got you” that was a male voice but I couldn’t recognize it.

There were flashing lights, everything around was turning brighter and I felt nothing as if I was a ghost.

“Maybe I died,” I thought — or I think I thought.

I heard a laugh.

“You were close,” someone said. “And you scared me to death, can you feel my hand?”

I felt nothing, but that voice was clear now, it was Hana’s.

“Where am I?” I asked, I opened my eyes but the light was too bright and it made me press my eyelids again.

“You’re at the hospital; did you really try to die? Because I’ve known you for a good amount of time and I don’t think you’re the kind of guy that settles with trying”

“I was tired, shocked, I think I fainted,” I mumbled.

“That’s why I wanted to go with you, I knew something bad happened, I felt it in my heart,” she said with a tone in her voice as if she was about to cry. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be there”

“DABI!” Haruma yelled as he opened the door.

“Behave! We’re at a hospital,” Tanaka was behind him and Beanie too, he brought some juice as a gift. “You lost weight”

“Hey, kid” he saluted doing a peace sign.

“I called them, we all found you last night,” Hana said and proceeded to explain to me everything that happened:

She was the first to go and knock on our door but nobody opened; the next morning Tanaka went to my place, later that same day Haruma went and asked my neighbors but they didn’t see anyone get in or out. Hana went back the next morning and met Beanie at the elevator, they asked the manager of the building about us and found out the contract remain intact.

Finally, that same night they all went together and convinced the manager to open the door. Found me lying in bed, I wasn’t moving so they thought I killed myself but I made a noise, apparently mumbled something they couldn’t understand and I can’t remember.

I apologized, ashamed how pathetic I must look right now.

“If you have energy to feel sorry, save it to recover, kid, and drink this” Beanie handed me a can of juice.

“I don’t have energy at all,” I confessed.

“You know, at first I thought they sent her away,” Hana told me, rubbed her left arm maybe wondering if she should talk about it in front of them, “but she hasn’t contacted me at all and it’s strange. What did they tell you?”

Normally I wouldn’t tell them, but Hana deserved to know at least the short version. I clenched my fists while speaking.

“Rich people are horrible,” Haruma said and grinned, “That’s why I don’t have any money”

“Shut up, your jokes are the worst,” Tanaka said, he chuckled though.

“If she’s still in Japan, we could find her,” Hana said resolute.

“But if it’s true and she doesn’t remember…” Beanie tried to elaborate but Hana talked faster than he did.

“I don’t care! Brainwashing, magic quirks or whatever they did to her, we have to find my best friend. She fell in love with you once, she’ll do it again, Dabi; and about the baby, I don’t buy it. I know her father and he’s a big fan of quirks like yours. He worships quirks; my dad and he used to gather around with other people at the manor and talk about some meta liberation thing, it was like a cult, they scared me and I only got over it thanks to her, I need her”

Tanaka raised his hand.

“I hate to break it to you, but if they managed to erase her memory once, they could do it again”

“Well, we could...” Hana bit her lip “you could run away together, she always talked about that”

“You’re being too optimistic and it’s normal when you’re in your twenties, but you gotta keep a cool head, sweetie,” Beanie said, “I managed to find somebody that knows her at work and they told me she was moved to America’s office”

“America?!” Haruma whistled, surprised.

This was pointless; I clenched my fists harder, wishing none of this was real. A nurse came in and asked Hana for help.

“Whatever you want to do, we support you, we’re like family now,” Tanaka told me when Hana left the room.

I didn’t know what I wanted to do, I just knew I wanted her back home with me. I wanted to go to our apartment and find her sitting on the couch with a cup of coffee on her hand, watching an old and stupid American movie.

“You know, we could hire a detective from a hero’s agency” Haruma suggested and I couldn’t help to laugh, “hey I’m not a fan of heroes but they’ve got quirks that could make locating people way easier, they’d find her faster than a regular detective”

“And what would he tell them?” Beanie asked him. “‘My in-laws kidnapped my pregnant girlfriend, find her’?”

“Why are you being such a bummer, Beanie? That’s not like you!” Haruma crossed his arms, annoyed.

“I talked to people that worked with her, they said her parents were keeping eyes on her and she was being cautious about something; they heard her crying in the bathroom and… I just feel pity for her and I think if she’s still pregnant it’s better to let her go through it in a peaceful environment.”

“And what if she’s not?” Haruma asked and my heart shrank. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be mean,” he told me.

“Or what if they forced her to marry somebody else after brainwashing her?” Tanaka said it as if he was thinking aloud, “You know, to keep the pregnancy. Fire quirks are quite common”

“Then they’d pretend her baby belongs to the other man” Beanie agreed to Tanaka and continued: “Think of all the stress it could cause her if you show up at her door claiming to be her baby’s daddy and she doesn’t even know you now”

I yawned, not because I was bored but because I was tired, too tired to even think or join the conversation. Hana came back.

“What were you talking about?” she asked and Haruma elaborated a resume. “Well, I’ll find her on my own if I have to; they’d have to erase her whole life to remove me from her memories. I have to leave you alone, got a lot of work to do”

She left the room pretty worked up.

“She’s stubborn, I like her” Haruma smirked.

“Don’t you dare,” I warned him.

“She’s a doctor; she doesn’t have time for love anyway”

“She’s prettier, younger and smarter than you, you don’t even stand a chance” Tanaka made fun of him and Haruma squealed.

I chuckled.

“Are you feeling better?” Beanie asked me with a smile.

“No”

I was shattered, but I got used to them fighting like that.

They stayed a little longer; changed the subject and lighten my mood. I fell asleep as soon as they left me alone. I slept for more than fifteen hours and they discharged me of the hospital soon.

Going back home knowing she wasn’t there felt wrong. She was the reason I got this place; she was… everything.

I paced the apartment a few times, and then I looked at the kitchen and it hit me: her silhouette dancing around the kitchen in the refrigerator light. I shook my head, took a deep breath — I had to go out for a walk.

I searched in every convenience store for soju. I didn’t like it but she did and just when I paid, Haruma came along; I noticed he had a backpack.

“Take it easy!” He told me, “You just got discharged. I’ma buy something to eat, wait”

He bought instant ramen, chips and took me back to my apartment. It was mine now, only mine, and it killed me.

“I suspected you wouldn’t wanna be here, but you have to. You can’t go back to work right now, you’ve gotta fix your mess” He was surprised when he saw the apartment clean, “Well, I wasn’t talking about this but it’s a good start”

While we were eating and drinking, he didn’t try to talk about anything else to keep my mind distracted, he tried to undo the riddle in my mind instead; I appreciated he didn’t use his quirk on me.

“I don’t know why you don’t like heroes, but I happen to know one that may find out if she’s still in Japan”

I cold stared at him and he sighed.

“I think Beanie was kinda right and you shouldn’t just go and knock her door if she doesn’t know you anymore, but if I was you — well, fuck it, I wouldn’t be able to sleep not knowing what happened to my baby”

He took a book out of his backpack; I also notice he brought some clothes in it, “have you seen this before?”

I took it; it had a red cover and a stupid title ‘Meta Liberation War’. I shook my head and opened the book.

“A girl left it at my place long ago, when your girlfriend’s friend mentioned the meta liberation, it ringed something in my mind and when I got back home I remembered. She was crazy as fuck but in a good way”

I read a random page in silence. It was a self-centered book strategically written to provoke the masses against the government claiming the free use of quirks is a human right.

“This is stupid” I said and put the book aside.

“I know” he mumbled while eating, “but it’s the kind of organization that needs empathy and money to subsist, and wealthy people like her family can patronize at least one. Why did you buy soju?”

“She liked it; her father’s family is from South Korea”

“Any chance she’s with them?”

“She kept in touch with her grandma, but her father wasn’t in good terms with them for some reason”

“Did they ever match her with a suitor?” he asked and I looked at him. “They did?”

“Yes, around three months ago”

“Do you think he likes her enough to marry her knowing she’s waiting?”

“No. He’s stupid but he’s proud”

“Argh! Everything’s too complicated!” He sighed and let himself fall on his back, exhausted.

Haruma stayed over for two days, it was like having a brother again, except that this time I was the youngest. I learned a few things about being the eldest; one of them was that I sucked as an older brother.

Back to work, they gave me a warm welcome. I thought it would be awkward to go back there, now that I had no reason to stay… but not much changed, only Momo — she finally left me alone.

I kept in touch with Hana for a while, she hired Haruma’s suggested hero and sent me a few messages and voice records of people declaring they saw her at inaccurate locations across the country. Hana traveled a couple of times, but it was in vain.

I assumed Beanie was right, maybe she and the baby were fine and living a peaceful life now — without me. I still hoped to find her someday, maybe walking on the sidewalk pushing a stroller. I longed to see at least a glimpse of her smile.

Eventually, Hana stopped updating me and I just lost track of time. A month, two months, three months or more passed and I still couldn’t believe it nor understand how we ended up like this. The both of us were so unlucky, we had such shitty parents willing to keep us down bad to fulfill their own goals and expectations.

I got in jail a few times for setting trees on fire, setting garbage on fire and even abandoned buildings — it helped me to steam off. Tanaka and Beanie paid my bail a few times.

“You can’t keep doing this” Beanie scolded me the last time, “there are millions of girls, find another one, move on”

“Or I might just die” I said, “It’ll make no difference”

He looked at me concerned; they tried to take care of me, but I couldn’t even pretend that I gave a shit about anything after all the things I did just to settle for a regular life with her.

I shattered the mirror on the bathroom’s wall when I realized how fucking small and pathetic I was. I would’ve taken my eyeballs out just to never see my own face again.

The day I decided to take a turn came after I heard the news about a heroes’ killer in Hosu; Haruma showed everyone a video of him – some fans posted his biography online.

“He’s wrong” I said, “True heroes don’t exist”

“That was bold, you idiot” Momo reproached me. “I like some heroes, like All Might and Hawks” she let a weird sigh out.

“Are you in heat?” Haruma made fun of her.

“There’s no use in fighting other people’s beliefs, Momo” Tanaka said and looked at me. “You keep losing weight. Are you coming to work tomorrow?”

“Sure”

By day, I found myself back to what I used to do for a living. I didn’t need the cash, I enjoyed making people scream, cry and suffer; also, my old boss was the right person to find a connection to the so called ‘League of Villains’ the heroes’ killer supposedly belonged.

It didn’t take long when I met Shigaraki; I quit my job and abandoned the apartment. I moved on along with the League of Villains even though I didn’t want a society with true heroes like Stain.

I wanted a world with no heroes at all, so I planned to use the League of Villains to fulfill my goal — I started murdering for real, and I tried to don’t lose my mind with every single step we took until we fought the Meta Liberation Army.

It brought memories back, that day in Deika City something wasn’t right. After defeating them, we merged to the Paranormal Liberation Front, the members of the league were introduce as lieutenants, and I saw her again inside the main headquarters.

Her hair was shorter, her clothes were all black and vague for her body size —she lost weight— and she was holding a white haired baby, she looked at me and that’s the closest I’ve been in a long time to feel my heart explode, I stood there staring as she walked toward the asshole with the ice quirk.

“My love” she called him that and it made me want to die.

I couldn’t help to stare at them walking together with his arm around her waist and she turned her head to me one time, the spark in her eyes was gone. I wanted to beat the shit out of that lame excuse of an understudy, but I had to find out how she ended up here first and I couldn’t trust anyone with this.

One day I got her alone, she was rocking her baby trying to make him sleep, I put my hand on her shoulder and she jumped, teleported only two meters away but she took me with them.

“I’m sorry, it was a reflex, but you didn’t fall,” she said impressed. I kept looking into her eyes, waiting for a sign that she was able to recognize me.

“You’re not a soldier,” I said and she seemed nervous. Any sign will do, I thought.

“No – my husband, Geten, is a lieutenant. Did my baby’s crying annoy you? I’m sorry, I’ll just go back to our room”

She was different; it wasn’t just that she forgot about me. I put my hand on her shoulder.

“Come to my room,” I said. “I’ll help you out”

“But…”

“Come” I put my hand on her back now and led her. “What’s his name?”

She was nervous —I felt her back sweating a little but it could’ve been because of her big black sweater — but she followed my way.

“Touya” she said and I smirked, for a moment of stupidity I thought she meant me.

“That’s a great name”

Little Touya liked fire, I lit a flame in my hand in front of him and switched it’s temperature and color and he was like hypnotized by it, when he tried to touch it I turned it off and he made a face and attempted to cry.

She giggled when Touya bawled because the flame disappeared. She wasn’t herself anymore, she turned quieter and fearful.

Talking to her, I realized she was confused; she was in Deika City before and she evacuated only an hour before the League of Villains arrived, but the most remarkable thing is that she had mixed memories.

Most of the things we lived together were still there, but it was different and she wasn’t sure when she told me certain things. Now I had to find the person that messed with her brain and fix this, fix her.

And then what?, I thought as I walked to Re-Destro’s shitty office. I wasn’t gonna play games or pretend anything, I showed him a picture and asked directly what his people did to her. He looked confused, and then it hit him.

“That’s Geten’s wife. Her father’s been patronizing the liberation for decades, she had some issues and they sent her to Deika City, we helped them to remake her life”

“How?”

“Why are you asking…?”

I punched him in the face with fire in my fist; it probably hurt me more than him.

“If I bring Shigaraki along will you still make questions?” The mention of Shigaraki turned him to a scary cat, “tell me who brainwashed her and if they can undo it now”

I learned three important things about what happened to her:

The person with the brainwash quirk died back in Deika City and even he wouldn’t be able to undo it, he was a new member and lacked training. She was use as a lab rat.

They didn’t erase her memory as I believed, they changed the faces of the people she loved the most, they started with me, then Hana and even her parents; so they abandoned her, they never cared, they simply loathed me.

Replacing me with Geten was too difficult because of the nature of his quirk didn’t match her memories with me, they caged her, tamed her and they’d call her crazy or stupid every time she questioned anything.

Re-Destro assumed her situation would be permanent since the man that messed with her brain died and she was still under his quirk’s effect, but gave me hope saying it could be like amnesia and she might get her memories back if I try to bond again with her.

“Anyhow, she’s married and Geten took the role of her husband extremely serious,” said lastly, “I wouldn’t mess with her if I was you, but that’s just my personal opinion”

I didn’t give a fuck about it, I wanted to hold her in my arms again, I would’ve beg on my knees for her to look at my face and know who I am.

If she would’ve recognize me since the moment that I saw her again I think I would’ve drop everything then, take her hand and pack her things to leave this place, I’d leave everything for them, I was ready now.

Sadly, it didn’t happen, and things turned out this way.

“You look like shit,” Mr. Compress said to me when he saw me.

“I also feel like shit”

“It’s not like you to just accept an insult”

This was one of those days where I longed to take her in my arms, make love and cuddle; having her so close but being unable to do it was killing me.

Every day I would make a way to find her and talk a little, I created every opportunity to bond with her and make little Touya laugh, but every night I’d lay in bed alone staring at the ceiling.

Hana’s words resonated in my mind: “She fell in love with you once, she’ll do it again”

I was getting tired of being a stranger loving her from afar and the way my heart would race when I see her walking around rocking Touya, I wanted to be her side so bad it was causing me physical pain.

One afternoon, I was too tired when I found her in the kitchen alone, she greeted me and I walked towards her, grabbed her arms and put my head on her shoulder.

“Don’t move,” I whispered and took a deep breath, her aroma filled my nose and made me want to cry.

“Are you okay?” she asked me but I kept silent. Somebody walked in and she got all nervous, “this is not what it looks like! He’s sick, we should call the nurses!”

I let myself fall on her a little to play my part and she held me tenderly, put one hand on my head and the other on my back.

“Take him to the infirmary, you can teleport,” a woman said.

“You’re right!” she exclaimed before teleporting.

Only for that, I let go of myself a little and kept my eyes closed as if I had passed out. She and the nurse laid me on one of the beds in the infirmary and closed the curtain, I heard the nurse questioning her about how she was doing and it caught my curiosity.

“I heard you burned yourself the other day, what will you tell Touya about all the marks you’ve got underneath that sweater?” the nurse scolded her.

“I’m sorry. I’ll make sure he’ll never see them”

“I’m not a psychologist but it’s not healthy to hold on to pain like you’re doing”

“I’m sorry. Pain feels good, it feels familiar,” she said lacking emotions.

The nurse let a long sigh out.

“You look tired too, go and rest in bed at least fifteen minutes, ok?”

She didn’t say anything, I saw her silhouette coming close and closing the curtain before laying on the bed next to mine. Heard steps walking out, probably the nurse’s, and I attempt to open the curtain separating us, but she stood up.

I closed my eyes when she aimed to slide the curtain that was in the between the both of us.

“You look familiar,” she murmured, I felt she sat in my bed, she tucked my hair and I grabbed her wrist. She squealed terrified. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

I shushed her and sat before rolling up her sleeve, she had cut marks all over her arm, I checked her other arm and it was the same.

“Take off your sweater” I commanded and she obeyed, she didn’t even try to defend herself, I rolled up her blouse only enough to see the big dark burn marks over her abdomen, also a few scars like dots above her belly button. “What is this?” I asked but she stayed quiet. “Who did this to you?”

“I can’t say, I’m sorry”

She looked down the whole time, pressing her eyes closed. I poked her forehead and she looked at me. All these years, I made sure nothing would ever happen to her, I made sure she was safe and kept her body intact only for her to end up like this minute her parents step in between us.

I want to kill them, I thought, I’m going to kill them.

“I never belonged to the Meta Liberation Army” I said to calm her down a little, “I’m a former member of the league of villains, I don’t believe or follow any of Re-Destro’s ideals”

She looked at me, still quiet, her eyes turned reddish as if she was holding her bad temper. Her true self was captive inside there, but she was unable to let her go. I poked her forehead.

“You can tell me,what happened, missy?” I asked calmly. For a second I saw her old spark in her eyes, she doubted but she opened up.

She told me about Re-Destro and three other men; they kept her isolated and she was unable to use her quirk for a long time due to some injections they forced on her, Re-Destro told her it was an initiation rite to join the meta liberation army before letting her alone with the others.

She confessed with teary eyes that she didn’t remember how long they kept her apart or being pregnant; and they basically tortured and slaughter her body right after Touya was born.

I barely managed to keep a straight face while she narrated the horrors she was forced to endure, but deep down my boiling blood was irritating my veins. I asked her if Geten was one of the guys that hurt her.

“No, he’s not! Everything stopped when I met Geten, they let me go out and I could be with Touya! When we got married, he protected us”

Her eyes shimmered the same way they used to shine for me. I looked the other way.

“Damn, you’re pretty” I mumbled upset.

I didn’t want anybody to know or even suspect, but I started to be more gentle with her, not only because of my past feelings but because I felt guilty; the person that I knew and loved was destroyed long ago and I didn’t even try to save her. I also damned Beanie in my mind.

However, seeing her face everyday lightened my mood; and when I was able to hold Touya my heart would skip a beat.

“He really likes you,” she said one morning, only to kill me with her next words, “he only plays like that with Geten”

“How did you pick his name?” I asked her just to change the subject.

“Oh, it was stuck in my mind. For some reason I used to dream with a little red haired kid named Touya, he also had ocean blue eyes so when I held him and saw his eyes for the first time, I immediately thought it was him in my dreams; I must be crazy, right?”

She used to call herself crazy or stupid often, I started to scold her about it. Touya did have blue eyes like mine, but they had her spark.

“No, you’re not” I told her, “A good parent knows their kid”

“Yeah, I suppose. Do you have kids?”

I looked at her, longing to tell her Touya was mine, I hardly swallowed my saliva.

“Why…?”

“You’re too good with Touya, I’m sorry if I crossed a boundary”

“I have… siblings, I’m the eldest”

She looked at me as if something clicked in her mind.

“I’m sorry, what was your last name?” she shook her head and smiled, I noticed she forced herself to smile.

I looked around; we were completely alone, maybe I could test something real fast. I raised my hand and burned the camera.

“Todoroki” I said.

Her smile disappeared; her gaze looked at me up and down. 

“No, you can’t be” her voice and eyes were shivering.

She looked dizzy, her eyes turned white and I approached her immediately but she pushed me.

“NO! Don’t touch me! Who are you?” she screamed and scared Touya, “GO AWAY!”

I heard steps rushing to the kitchen, no one was touching her but she was screaming in pain and far from feeling sad or confused, I wanted to murder every person that contributed to revolve her brain.

A bunch of people I didn’t know, and Twice with Hawks, came in the kitchen and approached her but she only screamed louder and teleported out of my sight.

“Twice, report her to whoever’s in the cameras” I said as I ran out of the kitchen.

“OKAY! What? I’m on it!”

“Anyone report her immediately! She’s confused and can teleport anywhere!”

I ran to the elevator, she had to be outside. Touya started crying but I couldn’t help it, finding her was my priority.

Just when I crossed the front door, I saw her sitting at steps of the entrance and the ice jerk was on his knees, holding her in his arms, Hawks — that traitor hero — was standing next to them with that stupid smirk I hated; they turned to me when they heard Touya crying.

“Touya!” She stood up, “I’m sorry, mama’s okay now,” she said when she reached him and held him again.

“Go inside” the ice jerk told her, then eye-sided me, “may I have a word?” I didn’t move, she walked inside and we stayed there. “Alone” he addressed Hawks.

“Ah? I’m not used to be unchaperoned here”

“You’ll be fine,” I said “go and find Twice”

He walked inside, leaving us alone at the entrance; I looked down on the ice jerk the whole time.

“I know who you are,” he said resolute.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean I know why you’re doing this, I know why you’re crossing paths with her in every room and hallway and I know why you’re playing with Touya at every chance you get. I let it happen because I thought she was fine but now I’m going to ask you to stop”

“How did you know?”

I supposed Re-Destro told him, but his answer pissed me off:

“I suspected it since day one; I confirmed it when she told me about the first night that you approached her. After all, she’s my wife and she comes to my bed every night”

I felt the urge to incinerate his head but I burst a laugh.

“You almost sound like you care for her!”

“I do,” he said.

“You don’t let other’s slaughter the ones you love,” I said dead serious and he frowned.

“I took her as my wife, that is my child she’s holding now and you don’t fit in their lives”

“Your child, uh” I said as I lit my blue flames, “What will you do when ‘your child’ turn on like this?”

“We’re doing this?” he stood in a defensive pose.

“Dabi” Mr. Compress’ voice came from the camera at the entrance “I’m quite sure you know this, but don’t fight the other lieutenants, we’re kind of comrades now”

I raised my hand, Shigaraki wouldn’t notice if we had one less lieutenant.

“DABI!” Twice screamed from the camera now, “I did what you said, now you listen to me, we’re all friends here! Calm down and come back inside!”

“Come on, just don’t make things awkward,” Mr. Compress said uncomfortable.

I didn’t calm down but I extinguished my flames and walked inside the building. I had no choice, I had to play my part; after that day, I started to avoid her and for a few days, we were fine on the outside.

We’ve been here at least three months and she barely changed, maybe it was time to give up but fuck it, I was in love — we were in love — and no one would ever know me or love me the way she did.

“I’ve been thinking this for a while,” Hawks said behind me. “Who is she?”

“Who?” Twice asked.

“She’s gone again. The lady with the infant, do you remember her?”

I stopped thinking and walked back on my steps.

“We’re not supposed to talk about her, she’s not meant to be a soldier” I heard Twice saying.

She wasn’t following us, I thought, I would’ve notice. I was only avoiding her for her own good; she had no reason to follow me, unless she remembered.

So what if she remembers?, I thought as I walked into the camera’s room, checked the records and I saw her following me a few meters away in every hallway and she’d teleport here and there, keeping a safe distance. She was stalking me even now when I entered this room.

“Is something wrong?”

Somebody asked me, but I didn’t answer; I saw her on another screen going upstairs, she wasn’t wearing her sweater and she had bandages wrapped from her left elbow down to her hand.

“Where do those stairs go?” I asked.

“These lead to the roof”

I rushed there, she did it on purpose, I had no evidence but I knew it, she could’ve teleported but she didn’t, she walked upstairs and stared at the camera for five seconds, I counted them – perhaps, I was losing myself again.

The door was lock.

“Fuck my life,” I said as I tried to melt the metal.

“You’re here,” her voice was soft.

She appeared behind me, I turned my flames off and looked at her face too close to mine; her eyes looked distressed, she held my arm and teleported us to the other side of the door; her eyes locked in mine, analyzing them.

“You’re not dizzy, most people feel dizzy or throw up the first times that I teleport them”

My back was against the door and she put her hands on it. The door was hot as hell but she didn’t take her hands off.

“Way to go, tiger” I said and her eyes widened. I looked over and saw the camera.

“I broke it” she said and I touched her face unconsciously, she didn’t move; her gaze was different, her pupils were dilated. I took her hands, being careful with the left, and she stepped back.

“How did you end up here?” I asked.

“My… Geten brought me…”

“No, here in the roof”

She looked down, pressed her lips, wrinkled up her nose and blinked a lot. It was like if she was a computer’s glitch. I held her shoulders.

If she teleports she’ll have to take me with her, I thought.

“I…”

She bit her lips, her eyes turned white again, and she grabbed her little finger and broke it in a matter of seconds. She screamed from the pain with her eyes closed and I took her hand to unwrap the bandage slowly; she had more cuts than before, also burn marks and now her broken finger.

Knowing it was all self-inflicted made me wish I was dead.

“I hate it here” she whined keeping her eyes closed while a single tear fell, “You know me, don’t you?”

“I do,” I said and she opened her eyes to look at me, upset.

“Since before all of this, right? That’s why Geten told me to stay away from you”

“Who did this to you?”

“I did.”

“No, this” I put my hand in her head “What did they do to your mind?”

“My mind?” she whispered, “they put my head under cold water until I lost conscience, they put handcuffs on my ankles and wrists and I used to wake up in a bathtub filled with my own blood before they put it all back inside my veins”

She didn’t seem to remember she told me all of this before, but this time was different, she wasn’t holding back, she was mad and made my heart beat like a drum.

“Who did…?” I asked.

“Re-Destro’s little bitches!” she interrupted me and I knew she was there standing right in front of me.

That’s my girl!, I thought and she continued:

“One of them used to – come at night and he put his hands on my head and… electrocute it, I felt like he was taking parts of my brain out, that was the least hard part”

I wanted to keep talking to her. I thought that I got her back and we could pack her stuff, take Touya and get the fuck out of here but suddenly the heroes ambushed the building.

“Touya” she gasped and I grabbed her arm; she teleported to her room, Touya was sleeping serenely. I grabbed her shoulders.

“Listen! Take Touya and go as far as you can, take a taxi when you get tired or when it’s safe and go to Kyushu, find the Nara Clinic and ask for Hana”

“Who’s Hana?” she asked but we were running out of time.

“Just do as I say! I’m going to find you. I promise I’m going to find you”

“Why should I listen to you?” she stepped back.

“Because…”

Geten came running in the room; he looked at us clearly annoyed.

“We don’t have time for this, take Touya and leave,” he told her but she stood there with her eyes wide open “Leave! Nobody’s going to go after you, you’re free to leave now!” he ran out and left us alone again.

“Go and find Hana” I repeated, “Miyamura Hana, she’ll be happy to see you, she’ll take care of the both of you”

She took Touya and looked at me with weary eyes. I just wanted to hold her one last time, but I stood there.

“Don’t let the stupid heroes catch you,” I said and she nodded before disappearing.

A part of me wished she had ask me to go with them. Now I only had to find that hero traitor. She’ll be fine, I thought, even if we never meet again.