#in the book he shuts her off the MOMENT she starts questioning him and turns around and won't look at her

[wcrldcffantasy]

Something in Sano's head snapped as he turned his head, sensing dark energy coming their way.

"Ami, take the deer and the girls and run."

The flute player looked confused for a second before he grabbed Maria's hand and started to run, as Bambi was already nudging their head to make Hime move.

Bringing out his large steel sword, he smirked and easily swung it towards his front side and held it strong, "Been a while since I fought some evil bastards. Let's see what you're made of~"

Grotesque and glass like looking creatures were snarling and growling at Sano as he readied his sword, and soon pushed forward with a cry as he made his first attack. Some of them shattered, some of them got a few hits at him, but Sano stayed strong...

That was until an arrow whizzed past him and hit one of the monster dead center at his head. Watching the creature fall, Sano looked up and then snorted, "Wow...is my eyes deceiving me?"

"Shut yer gob 'an keep fightin'!" Merida huffed as she shot more arrows, even shooting a fiery one in the sky as a rain of magical arrows aimed at her targets.

"Yeesh, what ugly looking critters," Hak hummed as he looked at the monsters and held up his own weapon on his shoulder, then smirked over at Sano, "A pleasure to be figithing alongside you, Sagara."

Sano blinked, before he snorted and was prepping up his weapon at the ready and grinned, "Dunno who you are, but if you're here with Princess Fire Hazard, then you must be an ally,"

Both men let out a war cry as they kicked off to attack, Merida covering their backs.

Meanwhile, Hime was backed into an alleyway with Maria holding her close, Bambi letting out angry bleats and Amiboshi holding his flute up. Some of the monsters came out of the shadows to corner them, and Amiboshi was soon playing a tune to get them to fall asleep...or at least fight each other so they will be distracted enough to let him and the others escape.

Hime clasped her hands together, closing her eyes as she was about to let off some Clow energy, hoping to dispel the monsters. Please, please, please work...

Davion closed his eyes as he then let a tear fall for a moment, but then sighed as he was opening his eyes again and moved a hand to bring Beelzebub closer, squeezing the hand.

"I thought...even when I died, that Yun's suffering would end. That at least you're here and maybe it was wishful thinking that there will be no more things that could hurt him and give him happiness..."

Davion looked back at Yun and felt his heart ache.

This time. I'm not going away. I'll fight anyone that tries to take me away from them again...

"And miss out on reading in the Sacred library? Plus, keeping you company was always my aim if not being stopped by Ed and Al," Milo said in a cheerful tone as he was walking over to the pale man and patted his arm gently, giving a bright smile, "Another book today?"

Eric did shift a little at the mention of Ivory and Li, almost wanting to say something about it and Milo sighed.

"Eric, if you did want to go and see them, you can. I'm sure that I'm plenty company for Wěi qí~"

Eric hummed a little, "A-are you sure?"

Milo nodded his head, "Yeah, yeah I'm sure~! Not to mention I'm pretty sure they miss your company anyways,"

Eric tried not to look flustered about that, before he then was waving goodbye to them, and Milo turned back to Wěi qí and softened.

"Anyways, I thought maybe we could look into one of your favorite readings today?"

Alphonse yelped when he was pulled by Iago and then felt his cheeks fluster at the affection, although his own heart melted as he smiled and reached to pate his head.

Edward was indeed surprised. But relieved that it seems that they were receiving good vibes and even talking about a possible wedding. While it was all happy and well, Edward still had the inkling in his brain that there was still some questions to ask.

That if Zen had a hand in bringing Davion back? If not, then who? And who else are they going to expect in this development?

Edward took a breath as he looked around the room.

"Let's not be celebrating just yet, there are still some things we gotta take note. With Davion back, there's gonna be word spread in the White Faction and they might try to come and investigate. Even call for Davion to come back with them to meet with Zen,"

"Don' go doin' that to yerself, Davi. You and I both know that Rex was never going to survive. We did all we could, Rex knew that. He's probably been reincarnated to live a more peaceful life." Beelzebub replied with a sigh.

Gods, today is really reopening a lot of old wounds. "Turns out, Akhir and Hope were also starting to affect Yun's mind by accident. Hope hadn't realized that some of his more traumatic memories slipped through and merged with Yun's-that was one helluva fun talk..."

Hearing her name, Beelzebub had to rein in his own temper. "We don' talk about her in this house." He replied. But knowing that Davion earned an explanation, the Deadly Sin told him what happened between Yue and Yun. "The long and short of it is they had a pretty nasty fight, where Yun finally told her everything and what he's been holding back. And when I say nasty, it nearly became a brawl, and you know how much damage our dragon can do."

And with Yun not holding back, Yue would have been seriously crippled or worse.

"I know Shiro was your friend, Davion. Yun, an' I won't stop you from trying to have a relationship with her. Just be careful."

Back with Citalee, the Ars Goetia-like demon looked back at Alphonse and told him that he would need to trust in Beelzebub to get to that at some point.

Davion had just been resurrected and, by now, possibly learned of Akhir. And at Edward's concern, Citalee reminded him that the council members were chosen by Sai Gong himself because they all got along with Yun in the first place.

"I'm still shocked by also thrilled at this, Sir Edward. This will benefit us all, especially King Beelzebub in their bedroom."

"Gross, Cita! I didn't need that image!" Iago whined and startled the Ars Goetia demon. The tiger demon apologized before pointing out that he just overheard that Davion was back. "Anyone inform the kids?"

"We will handle that after the meeting, Iago." Citalee replied before sighing softly.

Upon entering the room, Iago made it to his seat but not without grabbing Alphonse so that he could cuddle next to him as Citalee took to his place. From there, Edward got his answer about Davion's return: It was a good reaction. Many, if not everyone, were excited about the news, and Carmen, the Councilwoman of War, even asked if they should prep for another wedding.

As with Milo and Eric, Wěi qí slowly opened his door to reveal himself. He looked ragged and tired, the same as usual, but he was a lot paler than normal for him. "Milo. Eric. I thought you two would be with Ivory and Li down at the cottage."

"Do not fail me this time." A voice from the depths growled at the monsters.

[eerna]

I think Inej's "I will have you without armor" scene is a good example of why you can't just randomly insert scenes from the source into an adaptation and call it a character arc. In the book, Kaz believes the only way to solve his issues is to brute force through them. When he tries to solve his touch repulsion, he does it by removing his gloves right away instead of dealing with the trauma that caused him to wear them in the first place, treating it as a physical failure instead of an emotional one. He isn't trying to solve his trauma, he wants to remove his "weakness". In fact, he is scared of letting go of the emotional damage done to him and reduces himself entirely to a "hurt guy looking for revenge who will destroy everything and everyone", since that's what has been keeping him going for years. Inej notices this, even if she doesn't have the full context. She witnesses him repeatedly trying to brute force his way through their relationship, opening up to her a bit only to shut her away the next second, because his only goal is to keep her by his side and not to actually heal himself. She understands his touch aversion is not just a physical thing, his gloves aren't just a way to cope with it, they are the symbol of everything that makes him a bad person - not his trauma, but the fact that he uses it as an excuse to hurt others. Inej herself has PTSD related to physical touch, but she doesn't let it define her, and she wants to heal and get over her past, so there is no way she could ever settle for a partner who is actively trying NOT to forget at the expense of hurting her and everyone around him. In the show, there is none of this buildup. We still don't know a single thing about Inej's trauma, except that one implied scene in s1 where she was scared of that dude touching her arm. She isn't even present for the wagon scene, which was supposed to be the first time Kaz was plainly suffering and in need of help. And Kaz is not running away from emotional responsibility - he has repeatedly told her how much she means to him, he tried to give her money to skip town, he got her indenture paid off, and all of that BEFORE this scene. So why is she saying it? What is the armor she is talking about?? It's word-for-word the same, but with none of the weight. It almost seems like it's literally just the gloves, just as all the bad-faith readers have been interpreting the scene for years, which makes me believe the writers went with that surface interpretation too and that's really sad

[rumplereids]

research purposes.

tags: spencer reid x reader. tech analyst!reader. mentions of 50 shades of grey. bau ladies are like gossiping wine moms. fluff & crack, bcos spencer has been thru enough already. referenced/mentioned sexual acts but nothing explicit. a/n: got inspired by aj cook implying mgg was reading 50 shades + the table read of cm where mgg’s name card was “matthew 50 shades of gray gubler” masterlist. requests are open !

The team is on the jet home from a consultation in San Francisco. Everybody’s either dozing off (Emily and Derek), eating (Rossi), or doing paperwork (Hotch, as usual). JJ is scrolling on her phone, catching up on the pictures and videos Will sent of Henry when she notices something very bizarre.

“Reid, are you reading 50 Shades of Grey?”

“Huh?” he looks up from the paragraph he was reading. Something about not making love and only fucking hard. Or whatever drivel he’s suffering for you.

“I didn’t peg you the type to be reading romance or erotica.”

“It’s for research.”

JJ quirks a brow Spencer doesn’t see. His eyes already returned to the book in his hands.

“Research? For Y/N?”

“Yep,” Spencer turns a page.

JJ continues to gape at him. She wants to press for more details, but with a shake of her head, decides she was better off not knowing the intricacies of the relationship of people she considers her siblings. No matter how baffled she is by the fact that Spencer Reid is reading 50 Shades of Grey, she doubts that she’d want to dip a toe in that rabbit hole. However, she has no qualms of bringing up this certain knowledge in the near future.

Spencer was in a rush to finish his case load for the day. It’s your day off, so he’s doing anything he can so that he can go home earlier than usual. With you out for the day, he can’t even pop into your office to bug you, talk your ear off, or have an impromptu make out session. It was so sad, really.

He’s down to his last three folders when Derek attempts to get his attention.

“Pst! Pretty boy,” Morgan whisper-yells.

“Yes?”

“How’s Y/N?”

Spencer’s a bit perplexed by the question. While it’s not unusual for Derek to worry about your well-being, he finds it a bit weird for Derek to be asking such a question at that exact moment. As far as he knows, you texted Derek 15 minutes ago about mold on the street that you insist looked like the aforementioned man. That was the last time Spencer talked to you as well.

“She’s fine. Enjoying her day off.”

There’s a big grin crawling across Derek’s face. Such a look on a man like Derek Morgan spelled trouble. He looks like he knows something that Spencer doesn’t. Spencer’s starting to get cautious.

“Anything exciting happened to you guys this weekend?” Derek asks with that shit-eating, I-know-something-you-don’t-know grin.

Spencer raises a brow.

“Not much. The usual,” Spencer flips a page in his file.

Morgan hums, “Ah, yes. The usual.”

Spencer looks up at Derek, perplexed. Having no idea what in the world Morgan is trying to get to.

“Late night?” Derek continues. Spencer shuts the folder in his hands.

“Are you trying to insinuate something?”

“I don’t know, am I?”

Spencer rolls his eyes and returns his attention to his work. Completely ignoring the chuckles coming from Morgan.

A few days later, Spencer is making his second cup of coffee at the office kitchenette, bracing himself for another round of paperwork when he hears somebody rush into the room. He turns from the counter to see you, flushed and embarrassed?

“Hey, darling—”

“Why did Penelope ask me how it’s like to have my own Christian Grey?”

“What?” Spencer puts his mug down to turn his full attention on you.

“She barged into my office, asking me what kind of BDSM we’re into!” you devolve into a sort of whisper-yell, eyes shifting as to check if there were other people around. The two of you were alone in the area.

“Why would she ask that?”

“I don’t know? Something about you researching BDSM for me?”

Spencer shuts his eyes in realization, “JJ.”

“JJ? What’s she got to do with this?”

“A week ago, on the jet home from San Francisco. I was reading 50 Shades of Grey.”

You take a pause, “You read 50 Shades? I thought you said it was complete nonsense?”

“My opinion hasn’t changed on that. But I overheard you and Garcia giggling over the movie’s actor… I wanted to see what it was all about.” He tries to be nonchalant with what he’s saying. You completely melt into a puddle.

“Oh, Spence. That is the cutest and sweetest thing that has ever happened to me.”

Spencer blushes red at the comment. All these years together, and you never fail to make him feel so lovestruck and bashful.

He clears a throat, “The BDSM in the book is so atrocious. Have you read it? Or are you only interested in the movie?”

“Just the movie,” you say with a grin.

“Their lack of communication is astounding. It’s completely far off from the BDSM we’re into.”

There’s a gasp behind you. You turn to see Garcia at the entryway of the kitchenette, one mug in hand, the other hand pressed against her chest.

“Oh , I knew it. Ya’ll nasty.”

“Penelope—” you start to speak. She cuts you off.

“I didn’t believe JJ at first when she said Spencer was reading 50 Shades for research. I mean, really, Spencer Reid and BDSM? Never thought to correlate those two things ever in my life,” Penelope rambles, and then mid-thought, she turns to you, “So you do have your own Christian Grey! That’s so sexy— I don’t think that’s the right word considering it’s Reid—” this earns a snort from the man watching amused, standing against the counter, “Have you recreated any scenes from the books?”

“Penelope!” you say, aghast.

“I mean, if Spencer’s using 50 Shades to spice up your sexy times then—”

Spencer begins to laugh. You turn to face him, in disbelief that he can laugh at your mortification.

“Trust me, Penelope,” he says, “we don’t need 50 Shades to spice up our sex lives.”

“Spencer!” You can’t believe the words coming out of his mouth right now. Penelope looks as if she’s hearing the greatest gossip scandal the world has ever produced.

“50 Shades is tame compared to us.”

“What?!” a third voice enters the conversation. Emily and JJ enter the kitchenette. Emily looked a bit confused, JJ looks just about ready to shit on you too.

You hide your face in your hands, trying to hide away from Spencer’s laughter. Emily, JJ, and Penelope start to bounce comments and choice words between the three of them. You hear words such as ‘unbelievable’, ‘kinky’, and the real kicker, ‘Dr. Reid will see you now’. You want to dig yourself into a hole.

Hands grip your hips, squeezing in silent comfort. Without removing your hands from your face, you mumble, “This is all your fault.” Spencer laughs once more, hands squeezing your hips one more time before he turns to pick up his coffee mug.

He moves to leave the kitchen, turning to you with a smug look on his face before he says, “Laters, baby.”

You refuse to acknowledge the three ladies descending on you like a pack of wolves.

taglist: @i-live-in-spite @khxna

[cregansdingdong]

ʀᴇꜱᴛʟᴇꜱꜱ.

Jacaerys Velaryon x fem!reader | no use of y/n | warnings: NSFW, p-in-v penetration, swearing, dirty talk, sofa sex, quickie that became a longie, making-out, dry humping, Jace is desperate and he needs to take his frustrations out somehow, theres a brief pussy slap bc it felt right, cream-pie at the end, fully clothed raw dogging; They’re betrothed and this takes place at the start of the DoD, I didn’t make any other specifications cause they were too busy fucking. This is very heavily inspired by his scene in the season finale :3

Hot stuff under the cut. 18+ only. I'm not responsible for the content you choose to consume. ty.

₊˚ ‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵୨୧ · · ♡ · · ୨୧‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵ ˚₊

He’d been pacing in his chambers for the better part of an hour with only his thoughts as company. Jacaerys felt useless, to say the least. Useless, needlessly coddled, suffocating between the walls of Dragonstone. He wanted to be of help to his Queen, to fight for the realm on dragonback against the Greens as was his destiny. His calling. Instead, he was made to spectate at council meetings and wait endlessly for a moment that would never come, it seemed. The ‘what ifs�� kept him spiraling, uncomfortable in his own mind, and he found his feet moving before he could consider a destination. He knew where to go. It was too easy not to. And she wouldn’t mind. His hesitance sent a bit of doubt down to his stomach on whether or not he really wanted to bother her, but she would’ve figured out his sour mood anyway. It was better to face up to himself than keep it locked away inside. The hastening of his footsteps echoed off the spacious corridors, and as if she had sensed he was on his way to her, the doors to her chambers were left ajar—just enough for him to see her peaceful face trained down on her book.

His knuckles gently tapped against the threshold, announcing his presence as he entered. His betrothed glances up, looking twice as she realizes who her visitor is. “Good morrow.” She hummed, legs tucked up and under her comfortably on the divan. His pretty brown eyes took in her room, a place he found himself in considerably often. Depending on the circumstances, obviously. And the hour. Everything was kept neat and tidied, but he could still see the traces of her, where she’d made a sort of home for herself. Books and tomes stacked three or four each on various surfaces, the tea she’d left nearly untouched on the nightstand. He loved it. “Good morrow.” Jace responded, gently shutting the door behind him, head tilted back against it for a moment, unable to hide the frustration that had grown in his own chambers. He said nothing. Unsurprisingly, the words caught in his throat on the way out.

She pats the spot beside her on the divan, the book not yet closed, but her attention had shifted from the pages to his furrowed brows. He obeys, crossing the room to sit by her without second thought. His mind had quieted, at least. Their shoulders brush together lightly as he finally manages to say something else. “What are you reading?” She could tell already that something was off with him, but still indulges in his question, turning it over to show him the cover. Something vaguely historic, he catches, but he was too distracted by her soft hands clutching the book to see much else. “I figured I’d better read a bit more to catch up with the talk of war. This one isn’t entirely as dull as I thought it was going to be, thankfully.” With that, she closes it shut, putting it down on the stand beside the divan, shifting her body just enough to face him. “How are you faring, Jace?”

“I’m well enough.” He muttered, leaning back slightly. It was a lie and she saw right through him without much else. “I just…my mother is worried. She’s trying to hide it behind orders but it's catching up to us now. All this.” He was gesturing to the war, of course, fingers tapping in his lap anxiously. “And I can’t help her. She won’t let me help. I don’t know what to do. I’d much rather be out there, making a real difference to tip the scales, and instead I’m stuck here at Dragonstone doing nothing but waiting.” His betrothed nodded along as she listened, digesting his admittance before considering her own words. “You’re restless, dragon.” There was a truth to it, despite the statement mostly being a gentle tease. The corners of his lips lift just a little at the nickname. “I can’t help it. I feel antsy knowing I have the capabilities to do something, and I’m not allowed to.”

“We’re still in the beginning of this war—and you’re the heir, Jace. Even if there was a battle taking place just outside of Dragonstone, you and the Queen must stay here.” He’d heard that a thousand times before from his mother and the members of her small council, and a thousand times he felt undignified—but hearing it from the lips of his bride-to-be, there was no malice or taunt or scold behind her tone. She was reminding him of a painful candor. His safety mattered. “I feel powerless.” He admits, frustration accompanying the embarrassment that came with the insecurity. “I feel like a little boy begging to add his opinion during council meetings. They respect me because I’m the Prince of Dragonstone, her son, not because I’m good at my responsibilities. What good am I in this war if I can’t help my mother get her throne back?” The last few words exited his mouth with bite, self-loathing and irritation cutting him like a double-edge sword.

“You’re wrong about that.” She reaches out to take his arm, her hand wrapping around his bicep as she intertwines their fingers with the other. “Your living and breathing is the strongest power of all. You’re strengthening your mother’s claim by doing just that. I know you want to fight, to do something that matters. But true power is not just grandiose displays of strength or victories in battle, it's also purpose. The meanings behind our choices. People are raising the Queen’s banners—and those are your banners too. They want to fight for you as much as they do for her, because the two of you are the rightful heirs to the throne. The Greens can try as they wish to Usurp what belongs to the Queen, but their actions are unjustified. King Viserys made his choice and he stuck to it until his passing. That is power.”

“All this book reading is making you wiser than me.” He grumbled, although there wasn’t any malice behind it. “I’d still rather be swinging a sword at some idiot knight instead of sitting within these walls looking pretty—but I understand that you’re right.” He concedes, a small smile gracing his handsome face. She chuckles at that. “I’m sure you’d be pretty no matter what, even muddied and bloodied on the battlefield.” She sighs though, glancing out at the daylight swarming into the room through the window, hand still nestled in his. The gentle touch sent goosebumps up his neck, tightening his trousers with every second her warmth continued to seep into his leather doublet. “The meeting is likely starting soon.” Her voice interrupts his thoughts of nipping at the supple flesh at her neck.

Jace groaned aloud, head dropping back against the divan in pure annoyance, good mood spoiled at the reminder. “I’d honestly rather get swallowed by dragonfire than sit in that room for the next three hours, listening to those old fools drabble on about who knows what.” He turns his body—not unlike a roll—to shield his face on her shoulder, unwilling to part from her. “I want to stay here with you, alone and in peace as we were.” She snorts lightly as he inhales deeply, arm snaking around her waist in want. “The Queen will be expecting us, my prince.” She looks down at his dark curls, twirling one around her finger. His breeches certainly tighten now. “...My interests are elsewhere.” He murmurs, annoyed at the thought of being pulled away, face inching closer to her neck until his lips press against her smooth skin. “Jace.” She warned, although there wasn’t as much resistance in her tone as he’d expected, and a quiet sigh flows past her lips. “We can’t be late. That’s disrespectful to the council members.”

“The denial of devouring you because of those ancient rats only serves to make me want to go even less.” He shifts in place, head still dipped by her jugular, hands bracing the back of the divan with newfound purpose, trapping her between the corner of it and his own scalding body. She gasps as his teeth sink into her skin, earning a low sound of pleasure from his throat. “We can be quick if the meeting matters to you that much.” He mutters against her, a slight tease as he nips at her harder this time, his nose nudged into her jaw. “I don’t need to wait until nightfall to make you see the stars, my Lady.” Her remaining restraint crumbles at that, hands coming to undo the lacings of his breeches. “..Fine. But you can’t touch my hair.” He seemed like he wanted to protest at the idea of limited touching, but that gleam in her eye meant she was serious, and it was likely they’d miss the meeting as a whole trying to figure out how to braid her hair that way again. “Okay. Deal.”

His mouth returns to her throat, biting and sucking greedily with reverence, his hands finding purchase at her hips to start bunching her skirts up. “Jace..” She exhales, shuddering at the way he was marking her skin—he wasn’t leaving any stones unturned, and they were going to show. Her fingers plucked at the lacings with success, tugging him closer to her now by the waistline of his breeches. His fists clench around the fabric of her gown, a deep grunt echoing from his chest as his clothed cock pressed into her plush inner thigh. “Gods—I need more.” Jace retracts himself from her neck, pulling her body down the divan, just enough to lay her flat on her back. She wraps her thighs around his hips, a strangled moan failing to come out as he kisses her, pushing himself against her core. He rolled his hips down with a fury, nothing deliberate about it—just to feel something, to get out the pent up desperation he’d felt for weeks since his return.

His tongue explores her mouth with an eagerness that made them both flush, using her skirts as purchase to buck himself harder into her cunt. “You make me this way.” He grunts against her lips. His stomach was already tightening with every bit of friction they could get. “Do you understand? You’re just so pretty and you smell divine—fuck.” Jace grits his teeth, biting at her lower lip. She was a panting mess beneath him, unable to do anything other than take it, digging her nails into his shoulders to cope with how good it felt. His weight pinned her down deliciously, hips still incessant and rubbing against her with enough force to make the divan squeak. It was like music to his ears. “I’m already close just feeling your sweet cunt, my love.” Jace pulls up her gown a bit more, almost up to her ribs, to watch the tent in his pants glide up her glistening folds like a man bewitched. “You need to see it–” He grunts, bracing himself on the armrest behind her head, lifting himself just enough to make a space between their bodies. The sight was a wicked one.

“Look at the way you take me.” He urges, voice hoarse this time, eyes meeting hers from above. “Soaked enough to wet my breeches—and I’m not even inside of you yet.” Her nails dig harder into him, a breathless whine at the disbelief of it all. “Please Jace!” She mewls, shivering, and he grins, snapping his hips against hers with reverence. “Please what, my love? Use your words.” His tone was mocking, teasing, and eager to make her squirm. The quiet shuffling of their clothes was driving her to insanity—and she wanted more than anything to pull it all off, but they had places to be very soon. “I need—Gods! I need you, Jace!” He was more than pleased by that, and he somehow carries enough restraint to stop himself from finishing right there. Jacaerys pulls himself back to tug down his breeches down just enough, his cock momentarily springing back to hit his stomach.

She melts at the sight of his tip—red and leaking shiny precum back toward his shaft. He was the perfect size for her; not too big or too small, and pretty just like the rest of him. Jace hisses quietly as the sensitivity hits him, dipping himself between her folds just to savor the moment. “Mmm look at your pretty cunt, my love. So beautiful.” He murmurs, his own thighs trembling as he slides his shaft through your slick. “Thighs up, sweet girl.” Her eyes roll back as his tip presses into her little bud, the motion agonizingly slow, and she nearly hadn't heard him. She braces her thighs to her chest as much as her bunched up gown would allow, gaze locked on Jace's angled face that was furrowed in concentration. She watches, face reddened, as he spits down onto himself, lubricating the way even though it probably wasn't needed with how soaked she was. Suddenly, his palm comes down on her clit, surprising her with equal amounts of pain and pleasure—she nearly came with a meek gasp of his name, inadvertently yanking his hair. “Jace!”

“Sorry. Couldn't help myself.” He grins, lips meeting hers in a sweet peck. “I want you to look at me when I slip it, love—look nowhere else but right here.” As he guides his tip inside, her breath hitches, captivated by the stretch of him and the glossy brown eyes staring down at her, hazed with lust. A growl erupts from his throat, feeling suffocated now by her walls, and he couldn't get enough. Jace wasn't one to swear often in front of his wife-to-be, but the obscenities flew from his mouth like she was his prayer, sinking himself slowly inch-by-inch. Not that his betrothed was in any better condition. She was clawing at him now, whining and squirming uncontrollably at the delectable sting that came with taking Jace. It hurt so good, and she was sure she'd throw a fit if he dared to pull out for whatever reason. Meeting be damned. Seated fully in her hot cunt, Jacaerys grips the back of her right thigh, pacing himself to allow her to adjust first.

They wait in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, no noise in the room other than their soft pants, and a few breathless giggles as Jace shields her eyes from the attacking sunlight. Silently, she cues him to continue. “Good girl.” He murmurs, starting slowly with gentle strokes that make her stomach warm. “Taking me so well, my love.” He hovered over her still, his other hand braced against the armrest as he watched himself disappear inside of her, a shiver rolling down his spine. “So good.” She mewls, leaking around his cock. Jace leans his head down to connect their lips again, tongue darting into her mouth like he owned her, his free hand taking a greedy handful of her breast through the gown. Moans swallowed down between kissing and breathing, the only sounds that could be heard were the chirping birds and the vulgar slapping of skin as the pace quickened. She could only hope no one would come looking for them—or walk down the corridor even. She couldn't recall Jace locking the door behind him. “I'm close—” He grunts, pulling back from her lips to rock his hips with fervor. “I'm so fucking close, love.”

The divan beneath them was far more noisy now than it had been when they were grinding. Jace had half a mind to let the damned thing break, especially with how tight she squeezed around him, sucking up every inch he provided. Outside, the bells of Dragonstone rang, signaling high noon was upon them—Gods, the meeting. “We need to hurry up!” She pants, thigh hooking around him, just as eager to come. “You promised this would be quick!” Irritation bubbles up in his stomach, and Jace gathers her in his arms, fed up with the thought of having to sit through yet another council meeting. “You want me to hurry up?” He grunts, although it came out as a hiss more than anything, his left foot planting firmly on the floor beside the divan. “Fine.” She couldn't make herself regret her demand even if she tried. Jace stood up straight as a board, his sweet girl being gripped by her gown as he fucked up into her with reckless abandon. She couldn't even remember what it felt like to breathe when her release came, senses flooding with pleasure like she'd been numb her entire life. His cock was hitting that spot like a bullseye, not stopping even after she started yanking on his hair from the overstimulation.

“Do you like it when I hurry, love?” He rasped breathlessly by her ear, one arm around her middle now while his right hand cradled the back of her neck. “You certainly like when I take out all my frustrations on your pretty cunt—Gods, I'm coming. I'm fucking coming sweet girl.” Jace chokes, exhaling sharply through his nose as his hips began to stutter, losing his brutal pace. “Can I come inside of you? Please?!” The beg falling from his plush lips sent a thrill down her spine, and she moaned out her agreement even after he asked twice for confirmation. That's all it takes for Jace to press her into the divan again, fucking her hard, fast, and sloppy, his body laying over hers in the desperation of chasing his release. He buries himself against her chest, coming deep within her as a long, drawn out groan escapes him. The relief was instantaneous; anxiety gone, frustration fucked out of him, and only bliss was left behind. Balls deep, he couldn't tell where she began and he ended. Silence. Rapid breaths. Stilled hips, other than an occasional twitch as they reeled from their orgasms. He lifts his face from her chest weakly, a lazy, sated smile gracing his handsome features. “Sweet girl..” He starts. Her eyes flick up to look at him, equally as spent and satisfied. “Mmhm?”

“I think we're late for the council meeting.”

[mostly-imagines]

Who Needs Heaven? : Safe & Sound

jason todd x fem!reader

aka your daughters learn what happened to jason

warnings: nonspecific discussions on how jason died

(1) the drop-in

The sound of water splashing under toy boats and fish fills the small room.

You ring the washcloth out over the suds, Rory’s idle hands scooping up the excess. She entertains herself with the slowly dissolving bubbles between her fingers as you fill up your cup.

“Put your head back,” you tell her, nudging her forehead.

She does, squeezing her eyes shut.

You pour the cup of water over her head, combing through her hair. You refill the cup again as she pipes up. 

“Mommy,” she says with a casual lull in her voice. 

You pour it out again, making sure to rinse the shampoo at her roots, “Hm?”

Her hand comes up to wipe the stream from off her forehead, “How did daddy get that scar?” 

“Well, daddy has lots of scars,” you say carefully. “You know that.”

She shakes her head, “Littler scars. He has a big one though, right here.” 

She points up and down her torso. 

“What happened?”

You take a breath, eyes focused on the dissolving suds. “What happened…”

She continues on, “He said scars come from when you get hurt and the bigger ones are bigger hurts. How did he get such a big hurt?”

“Um...” She’s quite young to hear that story, especially coming from you. Your older daughters have an awareness of what happened, though it’s never been formally discussed. You think Mia knows what the autopsy scar is and the twins definitely know he died at the very least. You’ve been made aware that there’s been…discussions at school about who their dad is and how he one day died and then years later magically reappeared. You and Jason had decided that you would talk to them about it eventually, but only when they were old enough to not be completely traumatized hearing it.

You just hadn’t assumed that day would creep up on you like this.

You sit back, tense. “Did you ask him that?”

“No…” she says gravely. “I don’t wanna make him sad.”

You nod, trying to collect your thoughts. How can you steer away from this without attracting more questions? 

“Do you know what happened?” she asks, scanning your face.

You do your best to reset your expression to neutral.

You start without really knowing where the sentence is going, “We…we can talk about it later…”

Rory tilts her head, “Not now?”

You shake yours, “Not right now.”

That’s enough to appease her curiosity for the rest of the bath, but you know with that one, it won’t last long.

You’d gotten her dressed and sent her on her way, but your mind stayed heavy the whole time.

You walk downstairs slowly, hands still damp from the bath. As you turn the corner from the stairs you find Jason, reading contentedly by himself in the living room.

You cross the room without hesitation, climbing into the spot next to him on the couch. He doesn’t need to look up, only adjusts the position of his arm so its draped over you, pulling you into his side.

“So…” you start, “Rory was asking about your scar..”

He turns away from the book, looking at you with serious eyes. “What did she say?”

“She wants to know how you got it,” you tell him. “I didn’t tell her, but she didn’t want to ask you either.”

“Why not?” He asks quickly, face brimming with anxiety.

You shake your head, calming his worries. “She said she didn’t want to make you sad.”

He relaxes a bit at that, taking in the information.

You break the silence after a minute, quietly telling him, “I think it might be time to talk about it.”

He looks dejected, eyes on the floor. “They’re still little..”

“I’m not saying tell them everything right now, just…acknowledge it.”

“I don’t—” He sighs, “I don’t know how I’m supposed to tell them that.”

You think for a moment, nodding. 

“Tell them how you told me. Just…more kid words.”

He still looks resigned at the idea so you continue, “You know how to talk to them. Just tell them what you want them to hear. They’ll listen.”

He nods, eyes low. “Okay…”

You stand up, and he grabs your hand as you rise, pulling himself up too.

You give each other one more confirming look before calling up the stairs, “Girls? Come here.”

There’s a ten second delay before a scuttle of footsteps starts down the staircase, arriving with a low-liveliness, nearly bedtime energy amongst them.

The second you’re within sight of them, they’re keen that something’s not right.

“What’s going on?” 

“Is—”

“Everything’s alright. Nothing’s wrong,” you tell them. “We just want to talk to you for a minute.”

Your words don’t do much to ease their minds, but after a moment they slowly gather onto a single couch. They’re all squished in together and Rory’s half on top of Anna and Laine, the latter of which can barely move. Still, there’s no complaints to be heard, only an air of seriousness throughout the room. 

Jason clears his throat, though he has trouble looking at them, the easier option seeming to be the carpeted floor. 

“Alright,” he starts with a deep breath. “So my, uh, my Y scar…”

The air in the room drops the second the words are out, the girls all quiet and listening closely. You can tell this is something they’d been wondering about for a long time.

“When I was younger and I’d just started doing the, uh, special job my brothers and Bruce do…” He takes another breath, “Some things happened that shouldn’t have and I got hurt..”

“What things?” Ryan asks.

“I…I got tricked by a bad guy and…I just got hurt.”

It’s uncharacteristic for the girls to all look so dejected and serious like this. Goes to show that you were right—they do have an understanding of what happened.

Anna is the first to pipe up. 

“Did you die?”

“Anna—”

“It’s alright,” Jason interrupts. He collects himself before eking out, “Um…yeah, I-I did.”

He’s still stuck on those words and you have to silently push for him to keep talking, so as to not give their imaginations time to run wild.

He takes the hint, stuttering, “But, um, it’s complicated, but I came back and—”

Laine interrupts this time, almost teary-eyed.

“Are you going to die again?”

Jason shakes his head quickly, “No. No, honey, not for a long time.”

It’s quiet for a moment as they process, sorting through the details into something their minds can understand.

Rory looks on edge, wide-eyed, as she asks, “Are you a ghost?”

“No, sweetheart,” Jason answers calmly with a shake of his head. 

That seems to calm her anxiety more than anything else.

“Are you better now?” Laine asks. 

Jason nods, “Yeah, I’m a lot better now.”

Ryan looks skeptical at the choice of words. “How did you…get better?”

He takes a shaky breath, “Well…your mommy helped me a lot. And then you helped me some more. And now…now I’m all healed.”

None of them seem to really understand, but they accept the answer anyways.

The next question is from Anna. 

“Is the bad guy in jail now?” 

Jason only momentarily stutters in his response, but pulls it together nicely. 

“It’s not something you need to be worried about. I promise. Nothing like that’s going to happen again to me or you or anyone.” 

This appears to appease most of the concerns flying around in their heads. 

He continues, “We can talk about it more when you get older, but…

You take the queue, nodding Rory and Lainey your way. 

“Let’s go get ready for bed, okay?”

You nudge the younger two upstairs, who, to your surprise, go without resistance.

You give Jason one last glance before heading up the stairs, happy to see him much more relaxed than he was at the start of this conversation.

He’s left downstairs with his eldest three girls, each nearly bursting at the seams full of their thoughts and questions. 

Jason thumps down on the couch between them, a heavy breath following.

The trio watch him quietly for a moment before Anna speaks.   

“I know what it is,” she tells him somberly. He looks at her with more melancholia than he would’ve hoped for.

She continues, “There’s autopsies on my show sometimes.”

Right, her show. The X-Files.

Jason nods, a bit remiss at the idea that she knows.

From his other side, Ryan pipes up. 

“Did it hurt?”

He shakes his head, “No, I-I wasn’t…” 

Wasn’t alive. He doesn’t want to say that, though. 

Ryan nods, understanding anyways. “Did it hurt when you died?”

He hesitates before answering, wavering between lying to protect their minds and telling them the truth. In the end, he decides that you’re right, they can handle it in small measures. 

“Yeah. It did, a little,” he confesses. ”But like I said, that’s not going to happen again.”

From behind Ryan, Mia speaks so softly Jason almost misses her words. 

“I’m sorry.”

He looks at her, brow furrowed. “For what?” 

“That that happened to you,” she says. Her eyes are filled with an equal sadness to his and it breaks his heart. Even more so that her words are so clearly meant sincerely.

“Oh.”

It’s all he can manage to say.

He was only a little older than Mia when his life had been taken away from him and he’d been forced to reset everything he ever knew. And now, all these years later, he sits here surrounded by his children, his world that he was given a second chance to create. His children that don’t see a monster when they look at him, don’t see the scarred giant that he sees. They just see their dad. 

When they were still young they’d started getting almost excited whenever they got a scar from playing too hard because it made them more like him. It took Jason years to just bear the thought of his scars, but his girls look at them like art. Even when they know he got them in bad ways, they pour out nothing but affection. No disgust, no fear, no hate. Just love.

His eyes close and his face falls in his hands, overwhelmed by the idea of his children being such angels, despite being products of him.

“Dad? Are you okay?” 

He nods, face still covered. His voice is muffled as he says, “Yeah. Yeah, sweetheart, I just, um…” 

His words die off with little fight, and when his hands drop his eyes are red. 

Anna, who’s usually compulsed to only touch emotion with a ten-foot pole, is the first to wrap her arms around him, holding him tight. The gesture takes him by surprise, especially from her, and he tenses briefly before deflating like a balloon. Mia and Ryan are quick to follow suit, basically dog-piling over his opposite shoulder.

“It’s okay, dad. We love you. And your scars,” Ryan tells him. 

Oh, they think he’s sad.

Hell, thirteen years ago he would’ve thought he was sad. He only started to understand his feelings after his first daughter was born. He doesn’t tell them he’s not sad, doesn’t tell them that he’s crying because life slapped him around and then gave him everything he could ever want five times over. 

Instead, he just nods, pulling them impossibly closer.

who’s your fav daughter

[alotofpockets]

Meeting again | Part 1 | Leah Williamson x Reader

Where you take your son to Leah's book signing and you reconnect with your high school friend/crush.

Happy birthday to our blonde pookie!

Meeting again universe | Woso masterlist | Words: 2.7k

-----

You were doing some work around the house when your ex called. “Hey Ryan, what’s up?” You say as you turn off the vacuum. “Hi y/n, I’m so sorry. I know that it’s my day, but I’m going to be stuck at work until late. Is there any way you can pick up Liam from school and take him to that book signing from Leah?” The two of you had gotten a divorce many years ago, when you had finally come to terms with your sexuality. Ryan had always been understanding, and now you were still friends, and co-parented your son Liam together. “Oh yeah, don’t worry, I can do that.” You could hear the relief in his voice. “Thank you so much, I owe you one. He has a half day, so he should be done at school in about an hour. I packed his Arsenal jersey and scarf, he wanted to wear them to the signing. Thank you again, I have to go. Send me pictures of the signing?”  Your kid would always be your number one priority, so you hung up the phone and got ready.

“Hey bud, your dad is stuck at work, so I’m going to take you to Waterstones later, is that okay?” The boy greeted you with a hug. “Yes, of course, you’ll get to see Leah again!” Back in high school you and Leah were very close, there was even some gossip about the two of you dating, but when you got wind of that you shut those rumours down quickly by starting a relationship with Ryan, a relationship that drove a wedge between your friendship with Leah. Your love for the women’s game continued to grow though, and you have supported Arsenal all your life, just like Leah. Liam fell in love with it too, and you often found yourself amongst the crowd of Arsenal WFC and Lionesses matches together. Liam was a smart kid, and after finding you looking at TikTok videos of Leah, he started asking questions. “Watch it, or we’re not going.” You said with a fake seriousness. Liam knew full well that it was an empty threat as you loved messing with him. 

You decided to make it a special day for your son, by taking him out for lunch before heading over to Waterstones. It was to no surprise to you that he wanted to go to his favourite restaurant. “Smile for your dad.” The boy looked up from his plate with a big grin on his face. Proudly wearing his Williamson jersey and his Arsenal scarf. 

The line at Waterstones was long, but you bought the book and joined the line together. You could tell he was excited just by the way his eyes lit up, and his smile was constantly present on his face. His excitement made you glad that you were able to join him on this occasion, but it didn’t trump your nerves of seeing Leah again. Of course, you had seen her play, but you were always just a person in the crowd, and now you were going to be face to face with the girl you’ve had a crush on since you were fifteen. 

Never in your life had you been so nervous to see someone from your past, but you set it aside for your son, this was his moment. Plus Leah would probably not even remember you, right? You were a nobody, and she was the England captain and the Arsenal co-captain. 

When it was your turn, Liam walked up to the signing table, while you stood back to take pictures. “Hi, what’s your name?” You heard the blonde ask your son. “I’m Liam, it’s very nice to meet you. My mom is a big fan of yours as well.” The sneaky little bastard, you thought as your eyes met Leah’s. Her eyes showed instant recognition. ‘Yours?’ she mouthed your way, and you answered with a nod. “It’s very nice to meet you too Liam, want to come over to this side for a picture?” Leah signed the book, and wrote something on one of the cards laying to the side as Liam made his way around the table. “I see you’re repping my jersey! You know what would go great with that?” He shook his head. “This new cap, would you like one?” Liam looked over to you with hopeful eyes, “Can I mom?” You smiled at the interaction between Leah and your son, “Yeah, of course.” He turned back to Leah, “Thank you so much!” The two posed for a picture. “Any time Liam. Here is your signed book, and could you please give this card to your mom?” He grinned big when he saw a written phone number on the back of the card. “Thank you Leah!”

“Mom! I got you her number, you have to call her!” You look at the card that Liam handed you ‘Would love to catch up, send me a text if you’re up for it :)’ along with her cell. You looked between the card and Leah, who shot you a smile before returning to the next person in line. “Please tell me you’re going to send her a text, please!” Liam was tired of always seeing you admire Leah from afar, and now that you had a real shot to reconnect with her, he wanted you to take it. Plus how cool would it be if his mom would go out with the Leah Williamson? You pocket the card, “Maybe later, you little snitch. I thought we had a deal.” You say playfully as you put your arm around his shoulder. Quite frankly it scared you a little to send her a text. “Let’s head home.”

When you got home you put Leah’s number in your phone and stared at the message screen forever, trying to decide what to text her. You really wanted to reconnect with her, but you also didn’t want to overcompensate, and ruin any chance you had. You settled on something simple, letting her make the next move.

You: Hi Leah, it’s y/n. It was good seeing you today, catching up sounds nice.

You hadn’t expected to get a message back from her so soon.

Leah: So glad we ran into each other. Talk about the details later?

The message notification was staring back at you, your heart was beating out of your chest simply from her message. You quickly put your phone away, without opening her message when Liam walks in. “Mom, you know that I want you to be happy right?” You nod, “Of course, I know that kiddo. What makes you say that?” He shrugs, “I just don’t want you to hold back because of me.” You shake your head, “You’re too smart. I love you, kiddo.” He hugs your side, “I love you too, mom.” 

The two of you were hanging out at home, when Ryan called again. “Hey, thank you for sending me those pictures. They really made my day, glad to see him so happy.” You notice the exhaustion behind his words, “Yeah of course, I don’t want you to miss out on stuff because of your job.” Liam was so important to the both of you, but your divorce had led to missing some things here and there, that you always tried to minimise together. “Speaking of work, I should be done around eight. You know I hate to ask, but-” You interrupted him, “You don’t have to ask, of course. Pick him up whenever you are done, okay?” You heard the relief in his voice, “Thank you. Can I talk to him for a moment?” You walk over to Liam and hand him the phone, “It’s your dad.” After handing him your phone, you give him some space to talk to his dad. 

You continued vacuuming since you weren’t done when you had to pick up Liam from school. So, you didn’t hear the interaction with Ryan, or when the call was over, and definitely not when you got another phone call. Liam looked at the contact and smirked to himself. When he realised you didn’t hear the phone call, he picked up himself. “Hi Leah, it’s Liam.” The girl had not expected your son to pick up, but she went with it anyway. “Hey Liam! How did you like the book signing?” He told her how much he enjoyed it before Leah continued with her questions. “I was looking for your mom, is she around?” If it were a video call, Leah would have seen the mischievous look in Liam’s eyes, but since it was a voice call he could hide behind the screen. “She is a little busy right now, but she said she wanted to invite you over for dinner tonight if you had time.” Leah knew she should’ve questioned it more, but she wanted to see you so badly, that she set up dinner plans with your son. 

Just ten minutes before Leah said she would be there Liam came walking up to you. “Hey mom, so I kind of invited Leah over for dinner tonight.” Never in your life had you turned around so quickly, “You did what?” You could not believe what your son had just told you. “She will be here in-” His sentence was interrupted by the doorbell. “Now.” He said with a big smile. You were frozen in place, Leah Williamson was at your door, and you were in sweats and a tank top, your hair a mess from the house work you had been doing for the past hour. “Are you going to let her in?” You turned to Liam, “You are going to be in so much trouble later.” Again, Liam knew there was no actual threat behind your words, because that’s not how you parented.

On your way to the door, you tried to quickly fix your hair. You open the door, “Oh hi Ryan, you’re here early.” He smiles back at you, “Yeah our last meeting got cancelled, sorry I didn’t let you know.” You shake your head, “No, no it’s okay. Liam, your dad is here!” The boy came running into his dad’s arms. “You’re here!” The bond between them was amazing, he truthly loved the both of you equally. “Have you had something to eat yet?” Liam shakes his head, “How does McDonald’s sound?” You grab Liam’s bag, and give him a quick kiss on his cheek, before waving the both of them off. 

As soon as you closed the door, you ran up the stairs to quickly get changed, and look more presentable. You had just finished doing your hair when your doorbell rang again. This time it was Leah standing on the other side of the door. “Hi Leah, come in.” She looked so beautiful in her simple white t-shirt and a pair of green cargo pants. “Hey y/n, thank you. No Liam?” She questioned when you walked her further into the house. “He wanted to be here but his dad came to pick him up a little bit ago. I’m sorry to say that McDonald’s has been picked over dinner with you.” You joke, hoping to make the moment a bit lighter. Hearing Leah’s laugh brought you back to those days where you would sit on the grass, and make fun of the boys on the football team. 

“So, Liam is a big fan of football then?” Leah started awkwardly. You loved talking about him, so you just started talking. “Yeah, I started taking him to matches when he was still a little baby. He loved it ever since, I can’t go to an Arsenal match without him nowadays. A gooner from the start, just like you.” Leah blushed slightly. “So, you’ve been coming to our matches all this time?” Now it was your turn to blush. “Maybe.” The both of you laugh. “Ryan surprisingly never got into football, so it’s been something I get to share with Liam.” The name you mentioned caught Leah’s attention. “Wait Ryan is Liam’s dad? You actually married high school Ryan?” You realised that bringing his name up was probably a mistake since he is what drove the two of you apart. “Oh yeah, high school Ryan indeed. Liam’s dad indeed, and I did marry him. We haven’t been married for like five years though.” 

Leah’s ears perk up at that. “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.” You shrug your shoulders, “It’s all good, it was time I finally figured out my sexuality. We’re still friends, and he's great with Liam. Anyways, how have you been?” The two of you start talking and catching up, and somehow even though more than a decade had passed and you had lived such different lives, it felt like you had never not known each other. 

You walk into the kitchen together, still talking, when the both of you start getting hungry. That is when you realise that you had to go to the grocery store today, and didn’t have much in the house. “So, confession time. I didn’t actually know you were coming over until Liam told me about ten minutes before you arrived.” Leah laughed, “I had a feeling the invite wasn’t extended by you, but I didn’t want the opportunity to go to waste.” You blush at her words. “I am very happy that you are here, don’t get me wrong. I was just not prepared. It was Ryan’s day with the kid, but he got stuck at work so I didn’t have a chance to go to the grocery store like I had originally planned. Let’s see, I have Potato Smileys, and literally nothing else. I am so sorry.” Leah did not care what you would eat one bit, she was just happy to be there with you. “Good thing I love Potato Smileys then!”

You shared a laugh at the situation and decided to make the best of it. While the Potato smileys were in the oven, you set the table with some condiments to go along with them. As you were waiting for the Smileys to cook, you and Leah fell back into conversation. You were reminiscing over old times, and shared stories from the past years since. It was easy talking to her, it really felt like no time had passed.

Once you were done with dinner, you moved to the living room where you each found a comfortable place on the couch to continue catching. Before you realised it, hours had passed by. Leah looked at her watch, and noticed the time first. “Oh it’s late, I hadn’t realised so much time had passed.” You glance at the clock yourself, “Wow, yeah it is. I’m really glad you came over tonight, catching up with you has been great.” Leah smiled in return, “Yes it was, I’ve missed this. I hope we can hang out again soon!” You walk her to the door, “For sure! Liam and I will be at the match Sunday, maybe we can do something after? If you don’t mind him tagging along of course.” Her smile grew big, “I would love that, and for Liam to tag along always!”

As you said goodbye, and Leah got into her car you couldn’t help but feel hopeful for what the future might hold. Just having Leah back into your life in whatever way possible made you extremely happy. Tonight had been so nice, and you really wanted to see Leah again soon, Sunday didn’t feel soon enough. So, you decided to send her a message. You felt less nervous sending this message than the one this afternoon, but still there were some nerves.

You: Would you maybe want to grab a coffee sometime this week? I’d love to meet up sooner than Sunday.

As you were getting ready to go to bed, your phone dinged with a new message.

Leah: I know a great spot! Are you free tomorrow?

You smiled at the text, Leah proposing tomorrow had to mean she wanted to see you again soon too, right? You quickly let her know you’re free, before sending her a goodnight message and calling it a night. Though, your mind kept you up for a while longer, not wanting to let go of today just yet.

Continue reading part 2!

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[xas24]

physical touch ~ pablo gavi

summary: a few moments where gavi has shown his love through physical touch.

pablo wasn’t much of a talker; that was known to anyone who was close to him. his love language was quite clearly physical touch. this was something y/n adored about him - he liked showing his love and emotions through his physical behaviour, instead of verbally speaking them.

she felt herself falling for him more and more everyday, each and every time he would show his immense affection towards her. they were both so young, still teenagers, their emotions and attraction towards each other were heightened - yet that wasn’t something they both took advantage of.

they loved each other with maturity and passion and dedication.

•••

“¿qué te parece el vestido nuevo que me he comprado?” (what do you think of this new dress i bought?) y/n asked, holding up her new, white sundress to her body whilst looking towards her boyfriend. pablo sat comfortably on her bed, fully dressed and on his phone as he patiently waited for her to get ready.

he looked up when he heard her question and she swore she vividly saw large hearts form around his eyes. a small blush made its way onto her face as he examined the dress with a shy smile on his face.

“es muy bonito.” (its very pretty) he replied, eyes locked on hers as he imagined her wearing it.

she tilted her head, “pablo, se que es bonito pero ¿te gusta?” (i know it’s pretty but do you like it?)

“sí, es muy bonito. me gusta el color.” (yeah, it’s very nice, i like the colour) pablo replied with sending her a convincing smile as he looked back down to his phone. y/n lowly sighed to herself, walking into the bathroom to put it on and fix her hair.

a few moments later, she walked back out signalling to her boyfriend that she was ready. pablo looked back up and he immediately felt his heart start to pound in his chest. she looked breath-taking, and he was right, that colour was pretty.

the white cotton material fit her like a glove, flowing to her thighs beautifully and matching her skin tone perfectly. he stood up as she walked into her closet to get her sandals. he could barely take his eyes off her as he pocketed his phone, followed her down the stairs, said a short goodbye to her parents and followed her out to her car.

he opened the drivers door for her and walked to the passengers side. as soon as he got in, his whole body turned towards her. his hand went to her waist as he tugged her towards him in a kiss. it was short and caught her by surprise as she pulled away for a second to look at him.

her brows were furrowed in confusion but they soon relaxed when she saw the love and adoration swimming in his large, brown eyes. she leaned back in and planted her lips against his soft ones, hand cupping his cheek to keep him in place.

pablo didn’t speak much for the rest of the ride, only making small conversation and giggling at something here and there. y/n didn’t mind his lack of words, she felt his love through the hand he kept intertwined with hers.

•••

the day was in the early evening when pablo walked into y/ns apartment with his key. his lips were pulled into a small pout, his brows huddled in frustration and a slight tiredness clung to his freshly-showered body.

it’d been a tough training session back from the previous season. pablo could physically feel his muscles begging for some rest as he waddled his way through her small apartment, loving the familiar smell of her perfume all over the place.

her bedroom door was open and when she looked up from her book to see him stood there, she slightly jumped.

“pablo! ¡dios mío, no te oí entrar!” (my god, i didn’t even hear you come in!) she laughed to herself in relief whilst he dropped his bag on the floor. she noticed the solemn look on his face and her brows furrowed.

“¿estás bien?” (are you okay?) she asked but didn’t receive any sort of answer. instead, pablo shut the bedroom door and walked up to her, his hands coming up to caress her sides as he lay himself on top of her. his whole body swallowed hers up, face resting carefully against her chest.

y/n was a bit taken back by his action, but nonetheless marked her place in her book and put it aside. she knew he seemed tired so she didn’t question him any further. her fingers made their way into his hair, nails gently scratching against his scalp just as he liked.

his grip tightened around her and he was fast asleep in no time, the warmth of her body blanketing around him and her tender perfume lulling him to sleep.

•••

y/n walked down with aurora and pablos parents, with an excited smile on her face. barcelona had just won la liga and she couldnt be anymore happier for her boyfriend - he’d worked really hard and deserved this and many, many more.

aurora was telling her about the small surprise party she had planned for pablo for when he comes home, to which she was nodding along to, when her eyes landed on her campeón.

pablo saw his family walking over and couldn’t control the giddy smile that took over his features, especially when his brown eyes landed on his girlfriend. she was always there to support him, looking amazing as always in his jersey - his biggest, most beautiful supporter.

he slightly ran over to them and instantly tackled y/n in a big hug. she slightly swayed at the sudden contact but soon wrapped her arms around his shoulders with a soft laugh.

his parents chuckled at their youngest’s eager behaviour and aurora couldn’t help but take a few pictures of younger couple.

y/ns grip loosened when she realised he hadn’t even looked at his family yet. her hands went to his biceps with a chuckle. “pablo.” she murmured into his shoulder. he didn’t let go, but only tightened his grip around her waist.

“pablo, ¡primero abraza a tu familia por lo menos!” (first hug your family at least!) she exclaimed, earning some laughs from his family. she slightly tugged him away from him and watched with bright, cheery eyes as he hugged his parents, his sister, kissed their cheeks and blushed at their little proud and teasing comments about him.

as soon as he took some pictures with them all, he immediately latched back onto his girlfriend. he held her hand, asked aurora to take some photos of them with the cup, with his parents, with pedri who requested a photo with his two friends - mostly of just them two, pictures he wanted to cherish and be able to look back at one day.

his hand laced with hers once again and he didn’t let go until it was time to leave.

•••

a soft chuckle left y/ns lips as she felt pablo connect his lips with hers once more. he couldn’t help it, loving the feeling of her pretty lips against his own, smiling at him, kissing him, saying his name.

she pulled back for air and pablo took the opportunity to eagerly look her over, as if he hadn’t done so a million times before. his eyes tentatively scanned her whole face, every little detail that he adored from the length of her eyelashes to the tiny freckle on her chin.

he started pressing kisses to her cheeks. his hands tightened around her sides, legs tangling with hers as the movie in the background continued playing. pablos lips went from her left cheek, to her nose, forehead, eyelids, eyebrows, other cheek, jawline and back to her lips.

she sighed against him for the tenth time that evening, hands relaxing against his arms as he encased her with his endless love and presented it to her with his tender kisses.

[writerswall26]

My Sweet Cairo (Part 3)

Synopsis: The Ravens' Soccer team Captain fell in love for Cairo Sweet

Warning: Slight cursing, Student-Teacher relations, Anger rage. Other than that, none that I know of (but feel free to correct me)

Words: 2.2k

Masterlist | Previous Part| Next Part

A/N: Some small fluff before the start of it all. Also, I apologize to all the football (yes! I call it football, they use their foot! Sue me! But for the sake of the story, I'll call it soccer.) enthusiast out there that knows their thing. Happy Reading!

Y/N was on her way home on friday when she noticed a car on Cairo's driveway. She did not expect Cairo's parents to be home. She slowed down for a couple of moments only to be greeted by Mr. Miller walking out of Cairo's front door, looking horrified and dishevelled and wet.

There was stinging in her eyes as she watched their literature teacher run to his car and drive off without looking back. She watched him until he was out of sight before she let the tears fall. The anger inside her bubbling once again. She rode her bike, went home and slammed her bedroom door shut. Her mum's at the hospital right now, she's on call.

The next thing she knows, she's throwing everything that she got her hands on, punching a hole in the wall every chance she gets. Flash backs coming to her. She despises them. Students like them, like Cairo.

"Fuck you!" She shouted, throwing a lamp on the wall. "Fuck all of you!" She shouted before her sobs were heard. Her body slumping on her closet door as she cried. Her body was shaking. She couldn't take it.

The flashback of herself running to her parents' bedroom when she heard the gunshot, the red colour flowing down the floor, and the sight of her father's unmoving body, a bullet hole in his head as the gun's dropped on the floor. All of it, coming back to her like a tidal wave, taking her down with it and not letting her breathe even for a second. Then she was out cold.

When she woke up, her room was already tidied up, no more shattered glasses on the floor, the holes on the wall were still there, her hand bandaged up gently. She groaned as she pushed herself up, looking around her room. It was like the scene from last night did not happen. The only evidence of it were the holes.

When she got down to get herself lunch, which she did not notice, she found her mother already preparing the table. Y/M/N gave her daughter a smile as she patted the empty spot beside her.

"I was going to wake you up in a bit. Big night tonight." Y/M/N said, not mentioning or asking what the hell happened last night. She knows better.

"What time did you come in last night?" Y/N asked her mother who turned to her with a smile.

"Just a little over midnight. I was gonna check in on you but you were passed out cold on the floor so I dragged your heavy ass on your bed. Rough day yesterday?" Y/M/N said, not wanting to ask questions. She wants to let her daughter feel free to tell her things.

Y/N nodded. "It was, yeah. Or maybe the championship game is getting ahead of me. Thanks for patching my hand, cleaning my room, and dragging my huge ass on my bed." She smiled.

Y/M/N chuckled as they started to eat. "Are you ready for tonight's game? You know I'm still extremely proud of you even if you sit this down, right?" She assured.

"Nah, I can't. I want to win this game and whack Mr. Miller with the championship cup, together with my MVP trophy." She joked, hypothetically.

"Ooff, that's a bit aggressive." Y/M/N said, making Y/N laugh.

"We have a bet going on. I don't want to lose to a one time book publishing writer." Y/N said, there was something in her voice that Y/M/N can't quite pinpoint on, but she did not push it.

"I'll see you at school, mum." Y/N bid her mum goodbye a couple of hours after lunch to go get ready for the championship game.

"Good luck, sweetheart." Y/M/N told her daughter and gave her a kiss on the cheek before she let Y/N go.

When Y/N got to the locker room, everyone was already there, preparing.

"Where have you been, man? And what happened to your hand?" Jasmine was the first to find her.

Y/N just smiled before she put her duffel bag down, got her clothes and shoes out and went to go change. They didn't have enough time to speak as it was about to start in a few minutes. After Y/N changed, she removed the bandage in her hand with a wince, seeing the wounds but paying no mind as coach Fillmore clapped his hands to get their attention.

He did his usual motivational speech but this time, a bit aggressive and rough. Then they all turned to Y/N who was not in her usual smiling face.

"The Sharks were the hardest bunch to defeat in the rosters this year. But we already did that. However, we don't want to be complacent. The timberwolves were a menace last season, we managed to beat them but this is different. They're gonna be rough and dirty. So I suggest, if you must, join them at their game." She said, aggression and venom in her voice.

Everyone was quiet after that. They know she was not here to play and she's gonna do whatever means necessary to win that cup. Coach noticed the tense atmosphere so he clapped his hands and got their attention.

"Alright! Let's get out there and get this cup! Go, Ravens!" He shouted, guiding his team out the lockers to the dugout.

Y/N was front in line as they waited for their team name to be called. The usual starter went on with the national anthem and rules laid down from the refs.

"You sure you're down to play?" Coach Fillmore asked when he got a few moments with Y/N before the game started.

"Yes, sir." Y/N said, looking at the fields to focus herself.

"Y/N." He called out which got her to look at him. He was worried, she can see that. Her body is whacked and he's not sure if she's really ready for this game emotionally.

"I can do this. I can play." She assured them with a burning desire to win in her eyes. The coach nodded, not knowing what to say or do so he let her.

As soon as they got on the field, Y/N was aggressive. She was soloing the fields left and right, kicking the ball to the post whenever she could but nothing was going in. She was getting frustrated when the last 5 minutes of the first half came so she did what she knew in the moment, slamming bodies and aggressive goal kicking.

She heard a whistle blowing and then a yellow card on her face by the time the first half was over.

Y/N slammed the door of the locker room as soon as she got inside, then Jasmine lunged at her, screaming at her.

"What the fuck were you thinking?! What was that?!" Jasmine keeps berating her while their teammates are pulling Jasmine off her.

"Y/L/N! What was that?!" Coach Fillmore followed as Y/N fixed herself. "Get your ass out of here and take a breather before I pull you out of the game all together!"

Y/N picked up her water bottle and stormed out of the locker room. She was pacing back and forth on the dark dugout before throwing her water bottle on the wall.

"Y/N!" Someone called out, a voice she knew all too well.

"Cairo, get away from me, I swear to God." Y/N angrily said, facing the shorter girl as she breathes heavily.

Cairo stared at her for a moment before walking towards her but she stepped back.

"Leave, now!" She shouted, making Cairo flinched, but she made no attempt to leave.

"What is happening to you? You're throwing away your game, your championship. You literally tackled a player out there." Cairo said, a certain sweetness in her voice that made Y/N's knees buckle but she stood firm.

"What the fuck do you care?" Y/N asked aggressively. "Why are you even here?!"

"Because I care for you, I want you to win this game." Cairo said, slowly walking towards her, wanting their distance to close in so she could hold Y/N but the taller girl kept walking back.

"I saw you." Y/N said, staring at Cairo to see her reaction. "At Vanderbilt. With Mr. Miller. That's why you rejected my invite right? Because you were with Mr. Miller?"

Cairo's brows furrowed for a bit, Y/N almost saw her panic before Cairo smiled and walked towards her, holding a hand on her chest.

"Is that why you've been acting all weird lately? Because you saw me with Mr. Miller?" Cairo asked, her voice laced with amusement. "He's helping me with my essay, Y/N. It was nothing."

Y/N shook her head, not believing what she's hearing but Cairo held her cheek, pulling her face so she could look at the brunette in front of her. Cairo's smile never left her face as she caressed Y/N's face gently. Calming the taller girl.

"Are you jealous?" She asked, amused.

Y/N rolled her eyes and looked away again but Cairo pulled her face back so she could look at her.

"You're really jealous." Cairo let out a giggle before she pulled Y/N's face and gave her a long sweet kiss.

When Cairo pulled away, there was still the sweet smile, her forehead on Y/N's forehead.

"Y/N, I like you. I know I should've told you this earlier." She said.

"Then what was Mr. Miller doing at your house? Last friday. I saw him walk out of your front door looking bothered and disoriented." She asked, pulling herself away.

Cairo gave her a look. "There was a small mishap that happened, he accidentally grabbed my phone so he went to my place to give it back. He was supposed to be on a weekend getaway with his wife when she called it off because there was something wrong, I don't know."

Y/N stared at Cairo for a long time, reading her, seeing a semblance of a lie, but nothing. Then she sighed, walking over to Cairo and leaning her head on the shorter girl's shoulder. Cairo's hand was immediately at the back of her head, playing with her hair, soothing her.

"I cannot believe I got jealous over nothing." Y/N groaned before she pulled her head back to look at Cairo who's already giggling.

"Maybe next time before you go all hulk on everyone, try to ask me first."

"Yeah, I'll do that." Y/N said before she leaned forward to capture Cairo's lips for the last time.

When she pulled back, there was already a smile on her face. All the anger and resentment bubbling down with everything that Cairo said. She's finally at peace.

"Now, go back there. Apologize to your team and to coach Fillmore. Apologize to that player you tackled. And go win this damn championship." Cairo told her sweetly. Y/N nodded before she straightened up.

"See you after I win this game." Y/N said and went back to the locker room. When she got there, the team was already waiting for her, 2 minutes before the second half started.

"I'm sorry. My head is in shambles, I was a mess. But I promise, I am all calmed and ready to play nice." She told them.

Her team looked at each other before Jasmine stood up and walked to her. Jasmine smiled, holding a hand.

"Let's get this championship done." Jasmine said. Y/N took her hand before the locker room erupted in cheers and hype.

"Alright!" Coach shut them up. "We're gonna play nice, play fair, and we're gonna score. Ready?"

"Yes, sir!" Everyone shouted before they were out of the locker room and into the fields.

Y/N walked to the player she tackled and apologized. The player was pissed to say the least but she accepted Y/N apology and playfully taunted her. The game went smoothly with no aggressiveness.

"Y/L/N ran the fields, dodging 2 players at a time, the ball steady in her feet, she sidestepped and GOAL!" The commentator said, watching in anticipation as the Ravens scored their winning goal for the championship.

The stands erupted in cheers and whistles. The ravens tackled Y/N with a hug, throwing her on their shoulder and chanting her name. It was a wonderful game for both teams despite the earlier play.

Y/N held the championship trophy up, looking up at the sky with teary eyes.

"For you, dad." She muttered before she was let down to celebrate.

The first person Y/N looked for was her mum, who was patiently waiting on the side, tears in her eyes, her hands held together. Y/N ran to her mum and gave her a tight hug.

"I'm so so proud of you, darling!" Y/M/N said, holding her daughter's face to give her a kiss. Y/N let her mum before she gave her the MVP trophy as well.

"This game is for you, and dad." She said, smiling widely at her mum who sobbed. She held her mum tightly in her arms.

"Your father would be so proud of you, he would be so proud." Y/M/N cried in her daughter's arms.

When her mum finally calmed down, Y/M/N told her to go celebrate so she did. She looked around until she found the person she was looking for, she ran to Cairo and hugged her tight, making the shorter girl laugh in her arms.

"Congratulations, baby. I'm so proud of you." Cairo said, patting Y/N's back before the taller girl pulled away.

"I bet you are." Y/N said before she leaned down and gave Cairo a loving kiss.

They heard the Ravens shouting and cheering but they paid no mind as they got lost in their own world.

[siriuslygay1981]

Favorite | @rosekillermicrofic |May 24th| Word Count: 879

Pandora shoves Regulus to the side and plops down on the seat he was just in. Regulus huffs in faux annoyance as if she didn't do this everytime she came over. She ignores him and unscrews her nail polish bottle.

Evan just grins at her and sits on the floor next to Barty. Barty rubs his hands over his knees, a small grin on his face. Evan smelt mischief immediately, he sighs and rolls his eyes before settling in completely.

There wasn't much that could stop Barty, whether he wanted to ask absurd questions, try new spells, even eating a bug at one point. So Evan didn't try to stop whatever it was that Barty decided to do today, maybe for entertainment or something else, doesn't matter. Evan let Barty get away with a lot and rarely stopped him from doing anything, he found it much more entertaining to watch things play out.

"Whose your favorite, Regulus?" Barty asks as he turns around and lays his head on Regulus' lap

He bats his eyes up at him and smirks, his fingers drumming against his own legs. Evan glances at the two, his lips twitching up. He shakes his head and opens his transfiguration homework.

"Pandora says it's her and I say it's me, settle this bet," he licks his lips and tilts his head to the side

Regulus glances down at Barty with annoyance, he lifts his leg a bit to push Barty off. Barty simply throws himself back and lays down, his feet on Evans lap. Evan sighs and moves his work over, his arms resting on Barty's legs.

"You annoy me and she terrorizes me...why, pray tell, would I ever choose either of you?" Regulus asks exasperated

He tries to go back to reading but Pandora gasps and acts betrayed for a total of three seconds before grabbing his book and throwing it. She sticks her tongue out and goes back to ignoring everybody again. She balances a bottle of nail polish on her knee as she paints the rest of her nails slowly, not caring that Regulus is glaring at her.

"oh no...I'm not the emo's favorite...how will I ever survive.." she murmurs

Regulus scowls and shoves her thigh with his socked foot, Barty cackles and sits up on his elbows

"So Rosie is your favorite then?" Barty asks

Evan grins and pats Barty's leg comfortingly

"Awe don't worry b, I was always the first option-"

Regulus simply rolls his eyes and gets up to grab the book that's across the room

"You're my favorite too.." Barty says suddenly

Evans hand twitches where he holds Barty's ankle, his face warms up from the comment. Gulping Evan shakes his head and looks over at Barty nervously, he isn't sure why he's nervous. He likes to lie to himself.

"Yea?..." He murmurs unsure

Barty bites his lips, his cheeks are pink and he avoids eye contact. Evan searches his face for a moment, he glances at Pandora who is too focused on her nails to listen in.

"Yeah..." He lets out breathless, he swallows harshly and pulls himself up completely so they're face to face

"Well....you're ok sometimes.." Evan whispers into the small space between the two

Barty who is bewildered, shoves Evan, Evan laughs, head thrown back and eyes shut.

He can feel his body shake as he cracks up, he leans back against his sister's legs and kicks Barty softly. Barty watches him in awe, his eyes trying to memorize the bright smile on Evans face. It's funny how neither realizes the others feelings.

Regulus plops back into his seat and looks at them fondly, you wouldn't be able to tell with his frown but they know.

"What's with the idiots on the floor?" He asks Pandora

She glances up and hums

"I think they were flirting-"

Evan laughs harder as he watches Barty start to pillow fight Pandora. Pandora rolls her sleeves up and stands. Regulus and Evan scramble up and quickly stand to the side, they watch Barty get obliterated with a pillow.

By the time they're done everyone is tired, Regulus offers to walk Pandora to her common room while Evan and Barty clean up. They don't talk as they clean, only yawning and complaining here and there.

It's when they're getting into bed that Evan says something. He makes sure Regulus has his curtains closed before he turns towards Barty. He wrings his hands together for a moment before clearing his throat, Barty glances over as he shoves books off his bed.

"You're my favorite ...if you- in case you were wondering.." he whispers, he throws a quick glance at Barty to make sure he heard before sending him a small nervous smile.

Evan quickly climbs into bed and shuts his curtains his heart hammering rapidly in his chest. He doesn't hear a single sound from where Barty is, but right before he got in he caught a glimpse of Barty's face. Red , his cheeks and his ears were painted red. His eyes were wide and his lips parted in surprise.

Evan turns over to his side and groans in embarrassment

"iN cAsE yOu WeRe WoNdErIng- you're so stupid Evan..." He whispers to himself harshly, flicking himself on the forehead.

[mr-ys-phantasma]

🌙 Moon Phases 🌙

Agatha Harkness X Fem!Reader

Word Count: 1369

Chapter 40:

You all turned to look at Billy, who grabbed his little spell book from his body bag. "At least we have our personal items."

Immediately, you rushed to check your body bags, all bearing similar expressions of relief by being reunited with your pendants.

You wore your own necklace, the light metal cold against your flushing skin, and adrenaline still coursing through your pumping veins. Your fingers gently brushed the three moon phases, and you closed your eyes, taking a deep breath.

Wearing it, somehow, made you feel more secure and safe; a placebo effect that helped calm you down a little more and allow your head to be clearer.

The moment was interrupted, though by the sound of the morgue drawers being pulled back into place, the knocking sound almost startling you.

If that was not enough, the growing lights above you started to flicker before one shut down.

"The countdown," you exclaimed, eyes following the circle formed by the lights; while wondering how quick each light would turn off after the other.

Deep inside your instincts were telling you that the time would not last long, not as long as the other trials.

Agatha noticed that Jen was rather quiet, not panicking like usual. Instead, Agatha swore Jen was actually thinking of something for a change.

"You seem relaxed." She called her out. "Usually, at this point, you're either complaining loudly or freaking out loudly."

Jen gave her a hard look, clearly not in the mood for her annoying antics. "I'm thinking."

"Oh. About what?

"How to save your ass."

"Pardon?"

"I couldn't save Lilia. I didn't even try to save Alice. I'll be damned if I let you three idiots die."

You placed a hand on your waist as you looked at her, clearly not happy being called an Idiot or any of your companions being called that.

However, you held back any remark for the moment. It was the first time you saw Jen actually putting others above herself, when all those trials she had been selfish and the first to go when given the chance.

And considering you once again needed to work together somehow to make it through, this worked in your favour.

Of course, Agatha did not seem to share your thoughts.

"Wow. Such a purpose. How are you gonna do that without any magic?" She questioned, in the mood for an argument.

"Agatha, that's enough," you said, no authority coming from your voice much to your dismay.

Your body was still on edge, and it was taking a lot of mental training to remain calm and try to think of a solution, rather than letting your emotions and your haunting memories get the best of you.

Thankfully, you were not the only one ready to defend Jen.

"Y/N is right!" Billy said, putting his foot down. "She saved you from poisoning. She saved all of us. All while bound." He looked at Jen and offered a weak smile. "Maybe you don't need it."

Jen wanted to believe him, but she had a hard time too. Not that you blamed her. Your magic might be sort of a curse and a blessing to you, but you can not imagine your life without it.

"Well, if that's true, that means I've wasted the last century of my life." Jen commented. "That doctor in Boston didn't take anything from me. I gave it up."

It was then that you all noticed Agatha fidgeting faintly by tuning her fingers together and avoiding eye contact.

Unlike the others, you knew she acted that way when she knew something but refused to tell. Something that actually made her feel guilty, even slightly.

"Ags," you called her out, but she did not look you in the eyes. "You know something," she was about to argue, but you beat her to it. "I know that face and that fidgeting. I know what it means"

Defeated, Agatha started to throw parts of a story that matched Jen's story, and everyone made the connection.

"I didn't know it was you! It was the 1920s. I did the odd spell for bank notes. I don't know. The patriarchy really shelled out to shush a lady. It was bind or burn!" She justified herself, or so she tried.

For Jen was furious finding out the truth, and she had every right to be. With anger blinding her, she rushed to Agatha and even pulled a thick lock of her hair in one strong pull.

Agatha didn't even flinch at the pull, having built quite a pain tolerance thanks to Rio. She didn't even fight when Jen tied her wrists together with that strand of hair.

She might not react to it, but you were about to. No matter what took place back then, seeing Jen ripping out Agatha's hair like that made your protective instincts hit in.

Forgetting your own anxiety caused by the closed room, you were about to move and tackle Jen; having forgotten your powers worked normally.

Billy grabbed you by the waist and kept you back, surprised by your strength, considering he was taller than you and clearly heavier.

"Wait! Wait! Look!" He told you as he kept pulling you away from the two witches. "Yhe unbinding ritual."

This made you stop your fighting and look, realizing he was right. The strand of hair and the wrapped wrists were the basis for the ritual.

Jen was not trying to harm Agatha, you realized. She was trying to break the binds that kept her magic dormant and get back what was sealed away a century ago.

You calmed down, and Billy let you go. He stood right behind you, and the two of you watched as Jen repeated the same mantra again and again.

You hold nothing.

You hold nothing.

You hold nothing.

Each time that phrase was spoken with more power, with mode determination... with more need to work.

Jen's voice cracked, but she kept going, holding on every beat of hope that was left within her... one last chance to get back what was stolen from her.

In the end, it seemed to work based on Jen's expression.

Her face changed from shock to realisation and she could not help but fall on her knees, arms cradled in front of her chest and let out gasps and faint cries of hapiness; pink magic coming alive from her palms.

The sight broke your heart, seeing how Jen truly felt finally having her magic back.

Magic for witches was their essence, their core, and their will to live. It was part of them and having it sealed away, unable to sense it... to recreate this feeling of power and mysticism that existed within...

It was a fate worse than death.

Suddenly, Jen disappeared right in front of your eyes.

"What?" You exclaimed and rubbed your eyes, fearing your mind was playing tricks with you.

"Where did she go?" Billy asked next.

"Out of here," Agatha replied in a soft tone, deep down actually feeling happiness for Jen; capable of actually taking back what she was looking for.

You frowned. "But we are not done with the trials, yet"

Agatha looked at you, her gaze softening. "She is done with it. Her trial has already passed, and she got what she wanted."

You felt the need to argue but stopped yourself. The Road was a place unknown, and not even you or Agatha or Rio knew much about it. Each time it worked differently, each time seemed to make up something new.

So, who says the trials were not shortened? Or perhaps, it was giving a chance for some to find what they are looking for and be free without having to finish the road.

This was a comforting thought, deep down wanting to end this and get out.

The fact remained, though, how were you going to find what you are looking for? When you pretty much had nothing to work with and unlike Jen; there was no binding whatsoever that could be broken.

Chapter 41

[infi8ity]

∞

IMAGINE THE DAY OF YOUR WEDDING, your nerves are through the roof and your bridesmaids are trying their very best to calm them. every suggested method-- immediately shut down by a very frustrated and on-the-verge-of-a-mental-breakdown-bride. no amount of breathing exercises, ice packs, glasses of wine, or whatever the fuck helped. 

how could they when nothing was going as planned? the photographer that you had booked months in advance cancelled last minute, on the way inside the building the wedding cake designers’ assistant tripped and dropped the expensive wedding cake your parents paid for, everyone was bombarding you with questions you didn’t have the answer to, the room was hot as balls and for gods sake you couldn’t-

“breathe, y/n. do the exercises we talked about.” your maid of honor says comfortingly to your reflection in the vanity where you perch.

“you look beautiful. everything will work out. just breathe. in and out. out and in.” she squeezes your shoulder reassuringly. for the fifth time, you obey her advice. 

and for the fifth time, it doesn’t work. of course it doesn’t. you knew what, who, you needed— to calm you down. your bridesmaids did too. 

you could feel a lump crawling its way up your throat and place a shaking hand over your belly. has it always been this hot in here? has this dress always felt this tight? you snatch your phone from the vanity dresser. 

4:30 PM

27 MISSED CALLS.

thirty minutes before you were set to walk down the aisle and all 27 from your mother and mother-in-law combined. you stand, a little too quickly one might add-- and the room begins to spin. Hands reach out to grab you.

you shake them off and stumble your way to the door. your bridesmaids stand in unison. the maid of honor inches towards you wearily. 

“y/n. please, it's bad luck if the groom sees his bride before the wedding.”

“and how much bad luck do you think it’d be if the bride jumped from the goddamn balcony?” you hiss, slamming the door in their aghast faces. 

fuck. that was completely unlike you. you’d have to apologize to them later. but now, you needed to see him. your heart began to beat faster. louder. you could feel tears threatening to spill. his number was saved on speed dial and he picked up on the first ring. 

“y/n?” his husky voice thick with concern was like music to your ears.

you clutched your chest tightly. “i need to see you right now please.”

“meet me at the gazebo.” 

∞

he beat you there, of course, knowing him— he probably ran. the slight heaving of his chest and shoulders was of plenty enough indicator. the clack of your heels alerts him of your presence. when he turns, it seems as if the world slows. you don’t think you’d be able to formulate a sentence without choking up. so you two say nothing.

there you two stand, with nothing else in the world mattering but each other. all you can muster is a smile from ear to ear that he reciprocates and the strength to fight back sobs. for a few beats, he cannot find the words that were nearly applicable enough to describe your beauty in this moment. 

and unsurprisingly, it’s him who cries first. 

you break your intensive stare, exclaiming, “don’t cry! fuck! now i’m gonna-,” its as if the ball in your throat bursts. one second you were fighting to keep your composure and the next, well composure be damned. 

his body slammed into yours as he pulled you in a damn near rib shattering hug filled with nothing but love as you wail into his arms. 

“how can i not?” he starts through sniffles. “i’m marrying the woman i’ve loved for damn near a decade and you look-”

“don’t say beautiful,” you choke out.

“divine. alluring. stunning. lovely. radiant. exquisite. shall i go on?” he drawls, without skipping a beat. 

“don’t let me stop you.” you joke, sharing a laugh. and perhaps its the nerves, or the wine and champagne or the fact that your wedding day was going to shit; you couldn’t help but laugh harder. confused, your fiancee laughs at your state. perhaps contagious, you both double over, shaking with laughter. wheezing, together you collapse on the wooden planks until your laughter dies down. 

“what are we doing?” you say through an exhale of breath as you push yourself up against rails of the gazebo. your fiancé follows suit.

“getting married?” he says, serious.

you lightly punch his arm. “well duh. but why all of… this? this isn’t we wanted. or how we wanted it to go. we always talked about something simple and private.” you say, referring to the wedding guests. 

“you’re right, its what our mothers wanted.”

“i don’t even like half of the people in there.”

“at least your mom didn’t invite your primary school bully.”

“she invited all four of them actually.”

“jesus.” he comments, scoffing. 

a beat.

your groom takes your hand in his, squeezing lightly. “d’you wanna leave?”

you smile. “that’s the best fucking idea i’ve heard all day.” you exclaim. locking eyes with you, you grab his face into your hands and kiss him passionately. a kiss so fervent, you lose your breath. this man before you was your husband. till death do you part. 

“i love you so much.”

“and i love you infinitely.” 

∞

© infi8ity. do not repost, translate, or modify my work.

[weirdmorefics]

So Very Basic- Spencer Reid X Reader

A/N- This may have just been an excuse for me to infodump about Pride and Prejudice but I swear the fic is still good! Reader is also very Autistic coded but I am Autistic so that happens a lot when I write hope you don't mind.

Pronouns- She/her

Tooth-Rooting Fluff

Word Count- 822

Summary- Spencer judging your book tastes on the jet back home.

Spencer and I have made it a habit of sitting next to each other every flight home. We usually talk about the recent books we have finished or are currently reading. Sometimes we just sit in silence and read together. These are my favorite moments in my life I never feel calmer in the jet with Spencer by my side or across from me. This time it felt different though Spencer's eyes have not left me once I swear he hadn't flipped a page of his book.

"Hey Spence, What's your book about?" I say trying to hint at the fact that I can obviously see he has not flipped a single page.

He seemed startled by my sudden question but proceeded to tell me the entire synopsis of his book.

I slam my book shut and shout, "You have read that book already!"

He seemed perplexed by my reaction "There is no rule against rereading books I think authors would prefer you reread their works."

I groan, "There is when you spend the whole flight staring at me distracting me from my book."

Spencer flushes and I am one hundred percent sure I am right now.

"Hotch the children are fighting again!" Rossi shouts like a mother making me shake my head at him.

"Hotch Spence is poking meee," Emily teases in her best Y/N impersonation. JJ of course joins in playing the role of Spencer, "I am not Y/n." She draws out my name.

Spencer and I look as red as two tomatoes and my safe space has turned into an inescapable nightmare.

He leans in and whispers in my ear, "You know this is your fault for picking the most basic Jane Austen novel."

I gasp dramatically which of course just causes more stares from the team.

Derek sighed knowing this Y/n gasp all too well, "Pretty boy what are you doing offending Y/n? Do you want to listen to another one of her defensive rants for thirty minutes?"

"I quite enjoy them," Spencer smiles.

Rossi rolls his eyes, "You would."

I stand up, "Pride and Prejudice is beautiful from its book, it's movie, and it's BBC Special!"

JJ sighs," Here she goes."

"The drama in the book is spectacular as it delves into each sister's feelings about marriage and how at the time it was their only option. Don't even get me started on the twenty-seven with no prospects speech! Oh my goodness Darcy is the perfect match for Elizabeth with them both being so headstrong makes for the best enemies to lovers! Speaking of Darcy in the film when he does that hand-clench thing it was not even in the book! It wasn't even scripted! Which made me feel he was the perfect actor for Darcy he understood the role perfectly!" I ramble out putting my hand on my chest the rest of the team is annoyed at another one of my outbursts but Spencer is looking at me like I am the only person on the plane and I flush when I meet his eyes.

Hotch shouts at me, "L/N would you sit down we are about to go into a patch of turbulence." He of course says this too late and I embarrassingly fall on top of Spencer.

I immediately try to scramble off Spencer but he holds me there. I look away from him trying to hide my flushed face and he asks if I am alright.

"Yup, just mortified but everybody needs a good daily dose of that am I right." I smile trying to play it off but I play with my hair a common tell of mine that everyone in the BAU knows by now.

"You know I have never seen the Pride and Prejudice film," Spencer says slyly.

My eyes light up "You must see it! It's on Netflix I have seen it over a hundred times! I can probably quote all the words by now."

"I actually don't have Netflix I don't really watch television," He rubs the back of his neck.

"That's fine I could totally bring my laptop to you to watch it! Or we could watch it at my apartment!" I ramble out coming off more excited than I meant to.

"That sounds great," Spencer smiles, "Do you really know all the words you could recite some now?" He teases.

I turn the deepest red I think I have ever been in my life and of course, Derek has to jump in.

"Oh pretty boy has moves," he whistles.

Spence rolls his eyes "Shut up Morgan."

"Could we all shut up? Some of us like to rest so we can actually focus on work when we get back." Hotch says in his typical annoyed-with-us voice.

"I guess reciting Pride and Prejudice to you will have to wait," I whisper into Spencer's ear it was finally my time to make him blush.

[willalove75]

Alcina's New Maid Pt. 24 Lady Dimitrescu x Reader

Summary: The interrogation of the prisoner begins and tensions rise as the truth unfolds.

Warnings: 18+ minors DNI.

Tags: Some canon violence, angst that melts into sweet fluff.

Notes: Part 24! I'm so sorry this look literally forever! I don't know why, but I had such a hard time getting through this chapter. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it! The next few chapters will be more light-hearted and fun and I'm excited to finally be able to get to them!

Click here for the rest of the series

Gif source

Alcina runs her gloved fingers through your hair before she steps out of the shadows towards the prisoner, leaving you out of sight but within earshot. The girls had dragged him out of his cell and seated him in an old wooden chair.

Bela, Cassandra and Daniela are taunting the prisoner, unaware of their mother's presence. The moment sound of Alcina's heels hit the stone floor with a "CRACK" the girls immediately fall in line.

The prisoner looks up with a terror in his eyes that grows as he takes in the sight before him. The small space of the dungeon makes Alcina look even taller, more imposing, more terrifying. She confidently and unapologetically takes up the space she occupies which makes her all the more intimidating. Never in his short life has the prisoner felt smaller, weaker and as helpless as he does in this moment.

"Well, well. If it isn't our little hunter." Alcina says, her grin widening as she leans into the prisoners space. "Daughters, has he given you any useful information?"

"Not yet mother." Bela says.

"We were just about to start playing with him." Cassandra says with a sadistic smile.

"There will be plenty of time to play with him later girls. Until then, let the interrogation commence." She says as she stands to her full height and raises her arms, signaling for the girls to take over before stepping off to the side. Alcina takes a seat in a larger chair and crosses her legs. She pulls out a lighter and lights the cigarette sitting at the end of her quellazaire before taking a deep inhale. The smoke dances around her as she exhales, curling almost beautifully as it glides through the air.

"We're going to start off with an easy question." Bela says with a sickly sweet tone of voice. "What's your name, little one?"

The prisoner stares at Bela with a blank look on his face, too terrified to respond.

"It will do you well to participate." Alcina says. "I make no promises that my daughters won't do all that they can to extract an answer from you."

The casual tone of her voice is unsettling. Cassandra steps in front of him, gently dragging her sickle down the side of his face but doesn't break skin.

"Or you can keep that mouth of yours shut. I do love being able to dig the answers out of our prisoners."

She presses the sickle harder into his face and a trickle of blood begins to run down his dirty skin.

"Cassandra." Alcina warns.

Cassandra pulls away with a dissatisfied grunt and returns to her spot next to Daniela.

"Shall we try again?" Bela asks, spinning her sickle in her hand. "What's your name?"

"D-dorin."

"See how easy that was?" Bela says with a wide, bloody smile. "Now, how far away was the base from where mother found you?"

"Less than a quarter mile."

Bela walks over to one of the tables with a book sitting on it and writes something down.

"Wonderful. Did they attack mother as soon as they found her?"

"N-no." He says, his eyes shifting from Bela to Alcina. "They noticed her following two of the members and led her away from the base before attacking."

Bela writes in the book and turns to Cassandra, nodding for her to take over.

Cassandra circles Dorin for a few moments before stopping behind him and leaning into his ear.

"BOO!"

Dorin yelped, jumping in his seat as Cassandra laughed at him; Bela and Daniela joining in on the laughter. Alcina even chuckled as she took another drag from her cigarette.

She rounded the chair and leaned in, her face becoming uncomfortably close with his, enough so that he winced and pulled back a little.

"Tell me, what were you all planning?"

"Th-they want to attack the four lords."

"When?" Cassandra growled.

"I don't know, they didn't say-"

Cassandra presses her sickle against his neck.

"Do not lie to me."

"I'm not! I promise! I really don't know when, they never told me a date! I wasn't a high enough rank to know things like that. All I knew was that they wanted to attack all four of the lords at once, I swear!" He says as tears run down his cheeks.

Cassandra withdraws her sickle and circles the chair again.

"And just how many of there are you?"

"Well, there were maybe fifty of us, but at least half of them were killed."

"Fifty? That's all?"

"They were recruiting more."

"How many more?"

"Hundreds."

"How?"

"From nearby villages and other countries. Sixty of them were coming in next week."

Cassandra grills him for the next few minutes on exactly where the hunters were coming from, what weapons they were supposed to be bringing and an overall layout of the base. When she was finished she stood next to Bela and Daniela.

"Daniela, darling, do you have any questions for the prisoner?" Alcina asks.

Daniela walks up to him and circles him a few times. She brushes his messy hair out of his face and squishes his cheeks between her hands.

"No, he's cute though, mother!" She says with an excited smile.

Alcina raises an eyebrow towards her daughter and with a huff, Daniela walks away and stands next to her sisters. The sound of heels on the stone floor fill the dungeon once more as Alcina walks up towards the prisoner.

"Was that all of the information you know?" She asks.

Dorin swallows hard and nods his head.

"Yes."

Alcina growls and leans in towards him.

"It would be in your very best interest not to lie to me."

"I-I'm not. I swear! That's it!"

"I will give you one more chance. I know you are not telling me everything." Alcina hears his heartrate grow faster and faster, not only is he lying through his teeth, he's more terrified than he was before. "What more information are you keeping from me?"

In the shadows you can feel your heart beating out of your chest. "Just tell them you idiot!" You scream in your head.

"Nothing. I've told you everything I know."

In that moment you knew he sealed his fate, but a tiny bit of you held out hope that he's either just too stupid or too scared to say the rest. He's just a kid after all, isn't he?

"LIAR!" Alcina screams in his face, causing him to flinch. "If there is one thing in this world that I detest most, it is a liar. And I will make sure you spill every ounce of truth." She says as she elongates her claws.

"I swear! That's everything! Please!"

Alcina retracts her claws and stands back up. She puts out the cigarette at the end of her quellazaire and lays it down on the table.

"Would you like to know how I know you are not being truthful?" Dorin doesn't respond, he just stares at her. "Because a little fly told me you had a visitor yesterday, one you poured your pathetic little heart out to."

Alcina walks over towards you and places a hand on your shoulder, guiding you out from the shadows. If Dorin had any color left in his face, it would have drained right then and there.

"You- you told them?" He asks in disbelief.

"I told you to tell them everything!" You say, as you walk towards him.

"You promised-"

"Enough!" Alcina says. "I know you are leaving out a very important piece of information. She told me everything."

You see something inside Dorin snap.

"You fucking bitch!!" He screams.

He lunges forward at you and you notice the glint of something sharp in his hand. Alcina quickly grabs your arm and pulls you backwards with such force you nearly fall over. You can feel the rush of air pass by as the object in Dorin's hand just misses you as you're pulled away. Cassandra jumps forward and sinks her sickle into his shoulder and pulls him back down into his seat. Dorin cries out in pain and you hear the sound of something hitting the ground. Alcina catches you before you fall and in an instant she's on her knees in front of you patting you down, checking for injuries.

"Draga, draga mea are you alright? Are you hurt?" She asks as her eyes scan every inch of you.

"No, no I'm okay, I promise. He didn't get me." Looking over her shoulder, you see a jagged piece of scrap metal laying on the floor. He must have found it in his cell and kept it up his sleeve as a makeshift weapon.

Alcina exhales a breath of relief before fury takes over her eyes. Her head snaps in Dorin's direction, all of her rage pointed directly at him.

"How DARE you try and lay a hand on what is MINE."

A look of confusion crosses Dorin's face until he registers that Alcina now has a protective arm around you and the interaction the two of you just had.

"I knew I never should have trusted you!" He screams at you. "You lying fucking bitch! You tricked me!"

"No! I didn't! I promise I was trying to help you!" You say as Alcina's grip around you tightens ever so slightly when she hears your voice shake.

"You told them everything! About the base, the hunters, about their cold weakness!" The three girls freeze in place when they hear him say that, their eyes go wide as they look over at Alcina and you. Each girl had a different look in their eyes. Cassandra was absolutely furious, Bela was shocked and Daniela was fearful. All three of them shared a look of disappointment and maybe even a hint of betrayal when they realized you both kept this information from them. "I bet you even told them about my mother and sisters in the village you traitor!" Dorin screams.

Alcina's head slowly turns to look at you, her eyes wide. With her still kneeling next to you she's much closer. So much so that you can see the flecks of grey and a small ring of red around the iris of her eyes.

"His what?" She hisses.

As you look up into her eyes tears begin to roll down your cheek. Alcina's eyes are filled with rage and disbelief. Looking back towards Dorin his eyes are wide as saucers.

"I didn't tell them that." You say softly, defeated.

"Well girls, it seems a little trip down to the village is in order." Alcina says with such ice in her voice it makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

"No!" Both you and Dorin cry out.

Alcina's gaze snaps down to you.

"Al-" Her gaze at you hardens. "M-my lady, please, please don't, they're innocent in all of this."

"They had nothing to do with this! It was all my dad and brothers and you already killed them!" He yells.

Alcina looks over to Dorin and stands back up. She runs her fingers through your hair as she steps away from you, a subtle hint of comfort as she walks closer to him.

"You see, all of this could have been avoided if only you were honest from the beginning. Your carelessness, your selfishness is going to be the cause of the rest of your family's demise."

"Please! I'm sorry! Please don't hurt them!" He cries as he tries to stand up but Cassandra sinks her sickle deeper into his clavicle, causing him to yelp in pain as she pulls him back down.

"I'm sure the women in your family will make a nice vintage for next season." She says all too casually before letting out a deep, dark chuckle.

"You're all fucking monsters! All of you! You're all going to burn in hell!"

The laugh Alcina lets out is chilling. She leans in towards Dorin and says with a sickly-sweet smile, "you're already here." Before standing up to her full height and laughing out loud once more.

"Daughters, I believe we've heard enough from our prisoner. You're free to do what you want with the man-thing." The smile on the girls' faces grow wide, sending shivers down your spine. Alcina turns and stares down at you. "And you, you are coming with me. You and I must have a conversation."

She begins to guide you away from Dorin and you hear him yell out "I hope she fucking kills you!"

You stop and turn back towards him, his eyes are filled with hate and they're directed right at you. Alcina places her hand on your shoulder and continues to guide you out of the dungeon.

The moment the door shuts you hear the girl's laughter and the sound of Dorin screaming in pain. The sound of a sickle slicing through him makes it to your ears and you freeze as your stomach twists violently. He starts to gurgle on his screams and you feel the blood drain from your face.

Alcina looks down at you and sees you frozen in horror. The tears flow down your cheeks faster and you begin to tremble as the girls' laughter gets louder and louder.

"Come, draga." She says, putting a hand on the back of your shoulder and begins to guide you away from the dungeon.

It felt like you and Alcina were walking for an eternity. The screams from behind the door seemed to follow you as far as possible. As the awful sounds ring in your ears the memory of Alcina's claws punching through Stefana's body resurface. At the time you were too dazed to register any noises but your mind put the sound you heard just after the door closed to that visual and you begin to tremble more. Alcina kept a firm hand against your back - it was the only thing keeping you grounded. Every so often her thumb would rub against your shirt, providing a silent comfort while the two of you made your way out of the basement.

It wasn't until you began to walk up the stairs did the horrible sounds finally begin to fade out completely. When the two of you emerged from the basement a few maids stopped and stared at your disheveled state. Mixed looks of fear, pity, and disgust crossed their faces for a brief moment before the low growl Alcina let out sent them scurrying from the room.

With a large hand still resting on your shoulder, Alcina led you up the stairs towards her chambers. As you walked through the halls you looked up to steal a glance of Alcina's face. Her chin was held high as usual but you noticed the slight furrow in her brows and that her jaw was clenched tight. She seemed focused on where the two of you were going but you could tell at the same time she was deep in thought. Quickly you averted your eyes before she caught you looking at her.

Upon reaching her chambers, Alcina led you into the room before shutting the door behind her and guided you towards the chaise lounge in the corner. Once you were settled she walked over to her vanity and opened one of the drawers, taking out a case of cigarettes and a lighter. Neither one of you have uttered a word since the dungeon and you weren't about to be the one to break the silence.

Luckily, you stopped trembling. Only your hands had a slight shake to them as you tried your hardest to forget about the noises and thoughts plaguing your mind.

Alcina took a deep drag of her cigarette, her shoulders dropping some of the stress sitting on them as she exhaled. After a few more silent drags she stubbed the cigarette out in the ashtray and made her way across the room, taking the spot next to you on the lounge.

There were a few tense moments where you weren't sure if you were going receive the brunt of Alcina's anger and frustrations or if she was going to be the soft, caring woman you've grown to love. It seemed that Alcina contemplated that thought herself before sighing and tucking a strand of hair behind your ear.

Hesitantly, you turned towards her and met her gaze. In her eyes you could see the frustration, but more than that, you saw the concern she had for you.

Alcina cupped your face and wiped away the tear streaks with her thumb.

"Are you alright?" She asks.

"Mhm." You say, nodding into her hand. "The noises brought me back to when I fell down the stairs and, I don't know I just-" you trail off as your anxiety begins to build again.

Alcina immediately picks up on it and wraps her arm around you, pulling you close. Her lips meet your temple and she places a light kiss against your hairline. Instead of pulling away, you feel Alcina lean her head against yours.

"Shh, it's alright draga. We don't need to revisit that day. It's over." You nod against her and she moves to rest her chin on top of your head. "I did instruct the girls to wait until we were much further away before they began... playing with our prisoner. However, I think hearing him discuss their cold weakness set them off. I was half expecting Cassandra to go after him right then and there."

"I'm surprised she didn't, she was so mad." Fresh tears begin to prick at your eyes. "They all looked so hurt that we didn't tell them. I hate that that's how they found out. I told him to tell you everything, I told him!"

Alcina pulls you into her lap as you start to cry again, gently shushing you.

"You did everything you could draga. There was nothing more you were able to do. You risked your life to help a stranger and he repaid you by lying and then trying to kill you. Everything that happened to him after that was deserved."

"Is it naïve of me to think he only reacted like that because he's a kid and that he was just terrified?"

Alcina exhales from above you before lifting her head and bringing a gloved finger underneath your chin. She lifts your gaze to meet hers and tilts her head, a knowing look in her eyes.

"Do you truly need me to answer that question?"

"No."

"Draga, he tried to kill you. If I didn't pull you back, if I took just a second longer to react he would have-" Alcina's grip on you tightens and she shakes her head. "I don't even want to think of what could have happened." She says softly.

"Thank you for saving me." You say, burying your face into the soft fabric of her dress.

"I will always protect you, iubirea mea. Always."

The two of you sit in a comfortable silence for a few minutes before feeling a shift in the air. Stealing another look up at Alcina you notice her staring off into the distance, a pensive look on her face. Her eyes drift down and lock onto yours for a moment before she looks ahead once more.

"Are you mad at me?" You ask.

Alcina lets out an almost exaggerated exhale and looks down at you. She steels her expression in a way that makes her completely unreadable and you feel your heart sink in your chest. Alcina leans down and places a kiss to the top of your head before shifting you off of her lap and onto the chaise lounge.

"No." She says as she stands up and makes her way over to her vanity. "But that does not mean that I am happy with you."

You drop your gaze down to your lap, nodding in understanding as you fiddle with your hands. Off to the side you hear the metal cigarette case snap shut and the sound of the lighter flicking a few times before it lights. The faint crackle of the end of her cigarette is the only sound that fills the room until she exhales a cloud of smoke into the air.

"You do understand why I am not happy with you at the moment, yes?" She asks as she turns towards you.

"Yes, I think so." Alcina tilts her head at you, silently telling you to continue. "Because I didn't tell you about his family in the village?"

"Yes. Precisely." She says before taking another drag. "What I cannot seem to wrap my mind around is the fact that we spoke just last night about being completely honest with one another. Again. And again, you were not honest with me. Can you tell me why that is? Because I am having quite a difficult time understanding why you lied to me, again."

Peeling your eyes away from hers, you look down at your hands in your lap while you squirm under her gaze.

"I - I didn't think it was important." You say quietly before looking up at her again.

You can see the anger that flashes in her eyes, it almost makes you wince but stop yourself from reacting.

"That is not for you to decide." The iciness of her voice sends a shiver down your spine that you try to suppress. "You do not get to deem whether or not the information my prisoner gives you is important. Unless you've forgotten your place? In case you have, let me remind you. Just because we are in a relationship in no way means that your word outweighs mine. This is still my castle, my domain. It is my word that is law here, not yours. If he told you as little as when he last sneezed, I expect you to relay that information to me because it is not your place to decide what is and what is not important. As deeply as I care for you, you are still my maiden. I am your countess, your mistress and you will obey the rules I have in place. Do I make myself clear?"

Part of you wished she would have just yelled at you because the steady, controlled tone of her voice was far more intimidating than when she yells. You know she's angry and you can see under her hardened exterior that deep down she's scared, but her words cut into you and make you feel incredibly small. All you can do in response is nod, not trusting your voice to crack or for the tears that were building to not fall.

"Speak." She commands.

"Yes ma'am. I understand." You say with a shaking voice.

"Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

"I - I'm sorry."

Looking down into your lap you see the tears fall onto your dress. Never before have you felt so small, so insignificant. Her words felt like a sharp slap across the face. Was that how she looks at you? As something that belongs to her? Will she ever consider you an equal? Were you just looking at your relationship through rose colored glasses this whole time?

"Is that all?" You ask. Alcina pauses mid-drag and looks over at you with an unsure look on her face but you don't look up at her. "I apologize for overstepping my lady. I will make sure it never happens again. If that's all, I would like to retire to my chambers now."

It took Alcina by surprise hearing you call her "my lady" and speaking to her like every other maid in the castle. Before she could register the words coming out of her mouth she heard herself say "y-yes, that's all."

She watched you in near disbelief as you walked out of her chambers with tears streaming down your cheeks and your eyes trained on the ground. Her eyes closed as you shut the door behind you and she felt tears roll down her cheeks, the gravity of her words finally settling in.

The harsh words she spoke were out of fear. Fear for her daughters, for you, for her staff. Who knows what the prisoners family knows or how involved they really were in the hunters group. For all she knew they were regrouping in the days the prisoner has been sitting in the dungeon, getting a head start on their plans. It hurt her finding out that even after the conversation you had last night that you didn't tell her everything he said. Of course it meant a great deal to her that you told her all of the most crucial details, but such a small detail such as his family in the village going under the radar could end up being a much bigger issue in the future.

But how could you possibly know that? Alcina crushed the cigarette in her hands as she put herself in your shoes. You have no experience with groups such as these, you have no idea the true danger that they could impose if not dealt with properly. In your mind, the women in the village were just innocent lives you were trying to spare - just as you were trying so hard to spare the life of the prisoner. Alcina curses herself for being so cold towards you, for making you feel like you were her property. Like you were so far below her. Meanwhile in reality, your thoughts and opinions meant so very much to her.

She snaps out of her thoughts when she hears you crying in your bedroom. Her heart breaks once more knowing how deeply she's hurt you. She debated for a moment whether or not she should go and comfort you or give you space; but last time she did that you barely left your room. For the first time in decades Alcina feels nervous, unsure of what to do. Looking at her reflection in the mirror, she questions whether or not she'll be able to look herself in the eye if she left you in such a state again. Would she be able to forgive herself if she didn't go and try to right her wrong right this minute? Before she could even finish the thought she knows what her answer is.

Alcina removes her gloves, setting them down next to her hat and stands up, making her way out of her chambers and to your door. She debates on knocking but forgoes it and slowly opens your bedroom door. Seeing you curled up in your bed in tears breaks her heart and she makes her way to the edge of it before removing her heels and lays down behind you, wrapping herself around your tiny figure.

The sound of your door opening pulls you from your thoughts but the tears continue to fall. Soft clicks of Alcina's heels on the wood floor reach your ears before she stops at the edge of your bed. A few moments later the bed dips behind you and you feel her lay down, wrapping her arm around you and curling her knees up, cuddling you in her embrace.

Laying here in her arms feels like the complete opposite of the harsh words she spoke to you just a few minutes ago. The push and pull of emotion is almost too much to bear and you cry harder as she comforts you.

"What am I to you?" You ask through tears. "Am I just your property? Just something for you to control?"

"No." Alcina says with a heavy exhale. "You are everything to me my love."

"Then why? Why did you say those things? Will I ever be enough for you?" Alcina's grip around you tightens at your words.

"Oh, draga. You are, you are more than enough. I fear I will never be enough for you. I am so sorry for being so cold, so unloving towards you." She sniffles behind you and nuzzles into the back of your neck, inhaling your scent. "I was scared when I said those things."

There was a vulnerability to her voice that you're not sure you've ever heard before. It was like you could feel her walls crumbling as she laid behind you.

"What scared you?"

"All I could think of was that that man-things family has been continuing to plan their attack the days he was in the dungeon. That they are more involved than he said. That my girls could be in real danger. That you could be in real danger."

"But he said -"

"Darling," Alcina breathes. "One of my favorite things about you, one of the things I love most about you is that you always, always try to see the best in people. Even if it's just the smallest piece. For so many years I only ever looked at how awful, how horrible the world is. I forgot to look for the beauty, for the positive things even if they weren't the most obvious. My world has blossomed in front of me because you showed me that there is beauty everywhere, that there is always a bright side, even when it's dim."

Alcina nuzzles into the back of your neck, placing a kiss behind your ear before continuing.

"But my love, you cannot believe everything that you hear, even though you may desperately want to. I know he said they weren't involved but what if he lied? What if they were involved and play a vital hand in this attack they're planning? Maybe they weren't involved but now that half of their family has been slaughtered they decide to join in? I know you wanted to protect them, because in your world they are just innocent bystanders. That if they aren't involved then they're not a liability. When I said those things I did not take your perspective into consideration, and I am so sorry for that. But you have to know that in my world, in this world that you're in now, there are rarely such things as innocent bystanders. There are so many variables and even the smallest, most innocuous detail may seem irrelevant but could end up being a large threat to all of us.

I realize that there are so many things you don't know about what really goes on in our world and it was not fair of me to be angry with you for not knowing things you could never have possibly known. I promise that I will do better and that I will teach you more about this world we are in. But my love, I need you, from here on out, to be completely honest with me, especially about things like this. Our lives could very well depend on it."

She exhales and pulls you tighter against her chest, almost as if she's afraid that if she doesn't hold you close, you'll slip through her arms and never return.

"I may be your countess and mistress, but I am also your partner, your lover. Yes I have the final word but your thoughts and opinions hold more weight than you know. I love you so much draga mea, so, so much. And I am so sorry for hurting you again." She says as a few tears roll down her cheeks.

"I never thought of those things." You say quietly.

"I know, my love. I never should have expected you to know. After decades of dealing with these issues I forgot that not everyone that comes into this castle sees things the same way that we do."

"I'm sorry, Alcina."

Hearing her name fall from your lips brought a smile to Alcina's face. Part of her worried that her words set back so much of the progress the two of you had made. Hearing you call her "my lady" before terrified her, thinking that her harsh words broke the trust the two of you recently regain in one another.

"There is nothing for you to be sorry for, draga mea. It is I who should be apologizing to you. I am so sorry." Alcina kisses behind your ear and nuzzles into your hair again. "Will you ever be able to forgive me?" She asks quietly.

There's a hint of fear in her voice, fear that she's pushed you too far and that you won't be able to forgive her again.

Turning in her embrace, you look into her golden eyes. It surprised you to see that they were tinted red from her crying and to see the dried tears and mascara tracks down her cheeks. You wipe away the smeared makeup and place your hand on her cheek. Alcina covers your small hand with her much larger one and closes her eyes for a moment, feeling the warmth of your skin. When her eyes open again there's a hint of apprehension.

"I can't stay mad at you, even if I wanted to." You say, echoing her words from last night.

A beautiful smile crosses her face as her eyes fill with tears once more. She wraps her arms around you and pulls you into her before pressing her lips into yours and you happily kiss her back.

The two of you laid together for the rest of the day, cuddling and talking. Alcina kept her promise and talked about how even the smallest things could lead to potential disaster. She used Dorin's family as an example frequently, explaining how much of a threat they could truly possess to the castle. It surprised you just how important even the smallest details could be, especially after Alcina told you about the hunters that successfully breached the castle walls not long after she was infected with the cadou and what she had learned from each experience. The whole conversation was truly eye-opening and you understood why she was so scared when she found out about his family. By the time the conversation wrapped up you realized how truly dangerous they could be, although you still held so much guilt knowing nothing was going to stop Alcina and the girls from "taking care" of the problem.

The best thing to come out of that conversation, however, was the fact that you felt more like her equal, like the two of you were in it together rather than her ruling over you as if you were any other maid. When you expressed that thought to her, Alcina smiled and kissed you deeply, holding you close to her.

"I promise draga, one day you will be my equal. I look forward to the day you and I can rule over the castle together. It's going to take time, but I have no doubts in my mind that you are going to be more than capable of it and I know you are going to do a wonderful job."

She kissed you deeply once more, grazing her tongue across your bottom lip. You couldn't help but smile as her large tongue slipped between your lips as she poured all of the words she didn't know how to say into the kiss.

When you parted she rested her chin on your head and ran her long fingers through your hair.

"When are you going into the village?" You ask.

"Tomorrow night, most likely."

"What if there are children in the house? You won't, would you?" You ask, afraid of the answer she's going to give.

"If there are young children in the house, no. I won't bring harm to children if it can be avoided. Children are rarely a liability because they are so small and useless."

You let out a breath of relief. It would take a lot now to look at Alcina as a monster, but you would find it almost impossible to deal with knowing she would hurt an innocent child like that.

"What's going to happen to the rest of them?"

"Well it depends, if they put up a fight, which I expect them to, we will do what we have to to handle it. However, I try to keep the bloodshed to a minimum if possible so we can get a better harvest once we bring them back to the castle."

"Will you bring them back alive?"

"Perhaps, it depends on how it all happens."

"I know I'm in no position to ask for favors, but can you just try not to make them suffer?"

Alcina gives a lighthearted chuckle, shaking her head at how big and tender your heart still is.

"I promise I will do what I can to not make them suffer, draga mea. Alright?"

"Thank you." You say, cuddling into her.

"Of course, iubirea mea."

The two of you lay together, Alcina tracing the features of your face with a gentle touch, combing her fingers through your hair as the two of you sit in a comfortable silence. Just enjoying being together.

The dinner bell rings and Alcina lifts her head and looks towards the door and back to you. You look up at her golden eyes as they crinkle at the corners when she smiles down at you. Leaning down, Alcina places a kiss to your lips before you both start to get up. Alcina puts her heels back on and the two of you make your way downstairs.

The girls swarm into their seats as you walk into the dining room and you're more than a little relieved that they changed clothes and washed their faces before dinner.

"Good evening daughters. Did you enjoy the rest of your day?" Alcina asks as she takes her seat.

All three girls reply with a "yes" and start talking over each other, saying how much they enjoyed themselves. Your stomach churns when they start to talk about what they did to Dorin but Alcina cleared her throat and eyed the girls.

"Girls, I appreciate your excitement, and I am very glad that you all enjoyed yourselves, but can we please forego details?"

"Yes mother." They say in unison accompanied by apologies aimed at you.

"You know, the man-thing did say something interesting while we were tor- playing with him." Daniela says.

"And what was that draga?" Alcina says.

"He said something about how he's not going to see his youngest sister grow up and how her birthday was soon. But it got me thinking," she says, looking at you now. "when is your birthday?"

"Mine?" You ask.

"Yeah!" Daniela says.

"Uh, it's next month."

"REALLY?!" Daniela yells.

"Yeah, why? When are your birthdays?"

"We don't celebrate our birthdays." Bela says.

"Really?"

"Yeah, well none of us except for mother remember our lives before the cadou so we don't know when our birthdays are." Cassandra says.

"We have 'rebirthdays', the day that we were reborn, but we don't celebrate them." Bela says.

"Why not?"

"When you're immortal and don't age, birthdays kinda lose their excitement." Cassandra replies.

"That's fair I guess."

"But you're not immortal!" Daniela says.

"That is correct, I am not."

"So it would be so much fun to celebrate your birthday!!" Daniela says, looking over at her mother, buzzing with excitement. "Mother can we throw y/n a birthday party?! Pleaseeeee?!"

"Oh! Yes! We haven't had a proper party here in decades!" Bela says.

"That would be so much fun! Please mother?" Cassandra asks.

"I don't know girls, it's been a very long time since we've had a celebration." The girls respond with a disappointed whine and Alcina looks over at you. "It also depends on whether or not she wants us to throw her a birthday party."

"Can we?! Pleaseeeee?!" Daniela asks, giving you puppy dog eyes.

"I don't know guys," the girls groan. "I don't think I've had a birthday party since my parents were alive."

"Why not?" Bela asks.

"Because my aunt and uncle never threw me one, after a while my birthday became just another day I guess."

"That's bullshit." Cassandra grumbles and Alcina is quick to reprimand her. "Sorry, but it's true!"

"Pleaseeeee let us throw you a birthday party?! We promise it'll be the best most fun birthday party you'll ever have!" Daniela exclaims.

"I mean," you look over at Alcina who smiles back at you.

"If you are alright with the girls and I throwing you a party draga mea, I will allow it."

Looking back at the girls they look at you with excitement in their eyes. It melts your heart seeing them like this, you don't think you've ever seen them this excited before. They said they haven't thrown a party in decades and they seem so excited to have a reason to have one. Who are you to disappoint them?

"Sure, if you want to throw me a party you can. But you don't have to!"

"YEAH!!!" The girls cheer.

"Oh! Should we pick a theme?!" Daniela says.

"Themes are for children's parties!" Cassandra says.

"They are not!" Daniela argues.

"We can finally use the ballroom again!" Bela says.

"Fine if we can't do a theme can we at least do a color theme?!" Daniela asks.

"As long as it's not a stupid color like pink." Cassandra says.

"Why not?! Pink is SO pretty!"

"Pink is a terrible color theme for a party!"

"It is not!"

"Is too!"

"Oh! We also need a guest list!" Bela says. "Y/n, can you give us a list of your friends you want invited?"

"Oh, you're inviting people from the village?"

"Of course we are! It's a party!"

"Alright, alright. I didn't have a lot of friends so it'll be a small list anyway."

"The color should be black!" Cassandra says.

"Black is so dark and boring!" Daniela argues.

"Not if it's a black tie party, idiot!"

"I'm not an idiot!"

"Then stop acting like one!"

Before the argument between the girls can escalate any further, Alcina puts an end to it, telling the girls that they can all come up with ideas together, but since it is her castle, she will get the final say on everything.

"Oh here we go." Cassandra says.

"What?" You ask.

"Mother is going to take the whole thing over."

"I will not, I just want to make sure this party will reflect well on House Dimitrescu. It will be the first time in over fifty years that we will be having such an event and I will not allow it to reflect poorly on us." Alcina says.

"So she's going to take the whole thing over." Cassandra grumbles.

Alcina shoots her a look while she drinks her wine and the conversation surrounding the party continues as the girls throw out theme ideas, who will attend, what foods will be served and so-on.

Even though you haven't been a big fan of your birthday since your parents death, you have a feeling that this party is going to change that, at least for this year. Part of you hopes the girls will get it out of their system so you're not the center of attention every year for the rest of your life, especially in front of such a big crowd since the girls seem hellbent on inviting nearly everyone from the village.

As the whirlwind of the day winds down, you look forward to curling up with Alcina in bed and falling fast asleep. Much to your pleasant surprise when you walk into her chambers, Alcina is already in bed with a book in her hand. Quickly you get yourself ready for bed and climb in next to her. She puts her book down, turns off the light and pulls you into her.

"Goodnight draga mea. Te iubesc atat de mult." (I love you so much).

The purr from her chest quickly lulls you to sleep and you can barely mumble out "I love you too." before you're fast asleep in her arms.

[blastoqueen]

Sunrise.

Chapter 3

Rating: Teen and Up

Relationships: Noa x Mae (Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes)

Content warnings: None

Comments: English is not my first language. Sorry if something is wrong.

Sometimes, when Noa was all alone picking up berries or fishing, he would think about Mae. When he went out with his friends, he imagined the girl standing besides them, laughing and maybe fighting playfully with Anaya or Soona.

He didn’t know where these imaginary scenarios came from. He knows the truth: Mae doesn’t trust them, she is too weak to play with them, and Soona won’t get too close to the Echo if she doesn’t have to. It is almost like nature telling them it´s not possible to be allies. Noa wanted to believe in Ceasar´s words, that humans and apes can live together in peace. The true question was: could both species live in the same society? Or Ceasar only meant mutual respect from both separated communities?

Who was this Ceasar anyway? What was his story? He knew his beliefs, at least some of them, but he desired to know more about the ape. How come everyone except his clan knew about him? Raka said humans were intelligent and the dominant specie, and apparently Ceasar lived among them. If he truly believed that apes and humans could live together, that meant Ceasar knew kind ones, right?

“Apes together strong” he remembered. He could do both things, couldn’t he? Stay with apes and live among humans. “Kind of contradictory” he thought.

He was riding his horse through some trees, watching for any signs of Mae.

It was already dark, and he only had a torch with him. A few meters away, the male saw a yellow light and some smoke. A bonfire. He carefully got close, hoping it was Mae and not an ape, or worse, another human.

Trying to not make noise, Noa got off the horse and tied the reins to a near tree. He patted the animal a few times, before walking to the fire. Once he was close enough, the ape could distinguish the figure of a human woman. Mae.

“You didn’t say goodbye” Noa said, revealing himself to the Echo. The girl grabbed a spear and pointed to the ape in front of her.

“Noa” she said, lowering the weapon but keeping it in her hand.

“That is ours” he said.

“Yeah, I stole it”

“Classic human” said the ape, getting closer to the bonfire and sitting right across Mae “Scavenger”

“Shut up” she said with annoyance. Was he really dissing humans right now?

“You got far” Noa said.

“I´m fast”

“Where are you going, Mae? What is your plan?”

Mae felt vulnerable, not knowing what to do, where to go. She had to lie; she was good at that.

“There is a camp not far from here, I´ll be there tomorrow if—”

“Stop lying” he interrupted her.

“I am not lying”

“Yes, you are”

“Noa…”

“What happened to you?” he asked. His eyes were full of concern, sadness. He was so, so tired.

Mae stayed quiet for a minute. Could she really trust him? She knew she could, but the voices of the people in the bunker told her no.

“After you gave me the necklace, I came back to my home” she started talking before she could even think about it “I gave them the book, the one that could make humans speak again. They put me in quarantine in another place”

Noa gave her a confuse look.

“Quarantine is when you exile someone to see if they are sick” she explained.

“You are sick?”

“Not anymore. I contracted a virus, got a fever, they thought I was sick and that I would turn into... an Echo” the ape saw her eyes watered and felt the need to comfort her, but he stayed seated “They didn’t even test me. The guards and medical team left. I was trapped”

“They… locked you?”

“Yes. I was surprised they didn’t set the place on fire with me in it” she scoffed, wiping a tear in the corner of her eye “For a moment I thought I was sick too, that I was gonna loose my mind… but that didn’t happen. They only left me water, no food. I was there for almost sixteen days... I think. Then I scaped"

The ape didn’t know what to say. She got hurt by apes and humans. Noa imagined she felt alone, unable to trust, unable to love or be happy. He wanted to make Mae feel safe, but the Echo made it so difficulted.

“So, what now?” he asked. Maybe she was trying to go back to the humans, convince them that she was not sick, maybe they can take her back.

“I don’t know” Mae said.

“I can go with you” the ape said. The female looked confused, as if Noa had said something illogical.

“To where?”

“Back with the humans”

Mae sighed and put the spear on the ground, she grabbed her hair with both hands and looked at the sky.

“Or not” Noa said “I just want to make sure you… are safe”

“It´s not that” the human murmured “Noa... I can´t go back with them. They would kill me. They think I´m sick and that I will make them sick too”.

“But when they hear you speak”

“It would not matter”

“You are going to seek other Echoes?” Noa wished the answer was no, he really wanted Mae to stay, but he could see the desire in her eyes, that need to be with other humans. He could also see fear, fear of apes, which broke his heart.

“No” the male stayed still “Only they know the location of the others”

“Maybe… we could search for them”

“Ugh, Noa, the planet is huge”

Mae knew she was being a dick, of course the ape had not knowledge of the immensity of Earth, and even with that in mind she could not help but feel exasperated. She wanted to punch him, kick him, hug him… but it just wasn’t fair. She knew that getting the key was a dangerous mission, almost suicidal, they told her there was a possibility that she may not be allowed back at the bunker. “You can´t complain, they told you” She reminded herself.

The girl remembered her days in the quarantine zone, all alone, cold and hungry, looking for a way out. One day she hallucinated a baby chimp, resting in her arms, she called him Ceasar, just like that old legend; minutes later, the ape disappeared and Mae´s mom told her from the corner of the room “He is out there”. She knew nothing was real, that she was dying, that her mother and the baby were just a product of her brain. And even knowing that, she spent days breaking the crystal walls of her cell with all her strength. Once she freed herself, getting out of the bunker was easier, she only had to use her head and find a way to open the door.

“Don’t… cry” Noa´s words got Mae out of her thoughts. Was she really crying?

A hand flew to her face, almost completely wet from the tears. She also noticed the ape was next to her.

“Can I… come back… to the clan?”

Noa gave her a little smile.

“Always”

[letsgetrowdy43]

The perfect summer—

The long awaited Sunny and Adam get back together fic!!

Au Masterlist!!

Sunny’s second semester had been a bit of a blur, her boyfriend-turned-ex started his professional hockey career, while she continued to navigate her way through adulthood.

Summer was all she wanted.

She made it through her brother's playoff runs, family wedding season, and finally, the Hughes siblings all found themselves in the same place at the same time for the first time in almost a year.

Lake Michigan was easily her favourite place to be, the boat days, the golfing, and even her summer job at the country club was something she looked forward to. The lake house was her happy place, and summer provided all of the right things to end her miserable school year.

Now all she needed was for Adam to finally call her to talk about everything.

★★★★

Luke stumbled onto the deck where Sunny was lounging, her latest read in her hands as she ran her fingers through the ends of her hair.

Brows furrowed in concentration as she was quickly pulled away from her book and looked up towards her brother who aggressively cleared his throat.

“Yes?” she looked at him with a big smile, sitting up slightly so he had room to sit on the end of her lounge chair. “I have a question, and feel free to say no,” he began rambling but abruptly ended as he watched her face grow annoyed, “I wanted to invite Luca and Adam here to train for a few weeks, I promise that he-” Sunny cut him off “Of course, Adam can come over, he's your friend, and we are all good,” she smiled as Luke let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding.

“You're the best sun, I'll make sure he's on his best behaviour,” he said as she smiled and nodded her head, his hand reaching up to mess up her bangs which gained him a smack to the chest with her book.

And there it was, the perfect situation for them to finally talk about it all, properly face to face since he ended it in his bed all the way in Columbus.

★★★★

It was anything but perfect.

It seemed to be that every boy in the house was destined to make sure Sunny and Adam were never in the same room alone. A whole week of supervised conversations and overbearing boys who imposed themselves in the middle of their almost moments.

The only time they seemed to have a conversation alone was his first night in the house when he found her down in the living room, curled up in a ball on the couch with her book in her hands.

“What are you still doing up?” she whispered, her eyes tired as she looked up from her book to the boy who was sipping on his glass of water. “Can't sleep, you?” “Rutger fell asleep in my bed, and I'm not sleeping on his air mattress in your and Luca’s room,” she slowly blinked, as Adam moved from the counter to the armchair.

“I can make him move back to our room,” he offered as she shook her head. “Leave him be, I'm okay on the couch, it wouldn't be my first time sleeping on it” she smiled, covering her mouth as she yawned and shut her book.

Adam watched as her gaze on him grew soft, “I feel like I've barely seen you since I got here,” he whispered. “I know, I've missed you.” “I've missed you too,” he watched as she smiled and pulled her blanket up to her chin. “Tomorrow, tomorrow I want to talk about all of this, I need to talk about it, it's eating me up,” she said as he nodded and stood up from the couch.

“Good night sunny.” “Good night Adam, love you,” she said in between yawns as he flicked off the lamp next to him and headed back upstairs, heart thumping in his chest as he crawled back into bed next to his brother.

It was safe to say Adam did not sleep well that night, short ‘love you’s’ filling his mind every time he closed his eyes

★★★★

Tomorrow turned into three days, no conversation was had between the two thanks to the boys not allowing them any sort of alone time.

“Is there a reason every time I speak to Adam someone miraculously shows up to make sure we have company?” she looks over to Quinn who is also just silently sitting on the edge of the doc. He lets out a short laugh and looks at his sister who is clearly not amused by this, “Jack just wanted to make sure that you Adam remained civil, I told him it was a bad idea.”

A groan left the girl's lips as she looked at her older brother, annoyance filling her expression as she laid back on the hot wood of the doc, “I miss him, and I think he feels the same way” “So what does that mean for the two of you?” “Well I haven't gotten to ask because our brother is an idiot,” she said through a clenched jaw.

She looked to Quinn who was holding in a laugh at her, her glare narrowing as he laid down beside her, "I'll keep the boys busy tonight so you two can sneak away," Quinn offered with a smile as Sunny's glare grew soft.

"Thank you Q," she sat up and grinned at him as he offered out his fist for her to bump. "No need to thank me, I like seeing you happy, Adam makes you happy, it's not like I'm sacrificing my life," he shrugged. "This is why you're the better Hughes brother," she watched as his smirk grew cocky. "Not hard to be the best when my competition is dumb and dumber."

★★★★

Quinn lived up to his promise, the boys returned from their golf outing and immediately were ushered into the game room for darts, pool, and beer after dinner.

Adam and Luca were in the kitchen getting more beer, laughter dying out as Sunny walked into the kitchen with a sweet smile on her face which prompted Luca to leave as quickly as possible, giving the two space to talk.

Sunny sat on the kitchen counter, adjacent to the boy who popped the bottle cap off of his beer with the ring on his finger, awkward silence filling the space between them as he took a swig and then offered her a sip. To which she crinkled her node and shook her head, "Still not a beer girl?" "You could never get me to drink that," she mused with a look of disgust resting on her face, "but I wouldn't mind a cider," she batted her lashes. "They taste almost the same?" She shook her head, as he placed the cold can of cider in her hands, remaining in between her legs, face to face as she placed the can on the counter next to her.

The laughter died in her throat when she realized how close they were, the smile on his face growing as her eyes flashed down to his lips.

"Maybe we should talk before you get any ideas about kissing me," he joked which was met with a slight push to his chest to make him back up. "Okay, you go first," she grinned as he leaned up against the counter. "This year was a shit show, but it was a lot better when you were in my life, not just because I needed someone to talk to but because I just missed listening to talk about your life or your little visits, and I fucked everything up by pushing you away," he answered honestly.

she nodded, "If I were to say that I wanted to get back together, would you want that? Or do you need more time to figure out what you want?" she asked, her eyes moving from his face to her hands as she picked at her nails. "I don't need time sunny, I never needed time, I just thought you needed an out," he whispered as she nodded and looked up at him.

"if we get back together I want some rules," she proposed, "I want better communication, and I want you not to make decisions like that for me, if I wanted an out or a break I would've told you," she watched as he nodded.

"Can I hug you?" he asked softly as she opened her arms, his face burned itself in her neck as her hands found the back of his head, fingers intertwining with his outgrown hair as he squeezed her torso, "I'm such a fucking idiot for letting you go." "You are," she whispered, "but I was never going anywhere Adam, you’re stuck with me," he pulled away and smiled at her, tears lining his eyes as he let out a laugh. "Good, I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Can I kiss you now?" she asked but was met with no answer as his cold hands cupped her face and his lips captured hers in a sweet kiss, slightly sloppy but very passionate, almost to make up for the lost time as her hands found the back of his neck.

his arms lowered from her face, one hand finding her hip, the other finding the counter to stabilize him, trapping her on the granite countertop as she smiled into his mouth.

He pulled away, swollen lips and shaky breaths, as his forehead leaned against hers, "I don't know how I lived without you for nearly six months," he whispered as she grinned and started to kiss along his jaw. "We have a lot of lost time to make up for," she whispered in his ear as he curtly nodded his head and picked her up off of the counter, laughter filling the kitchen as he made a beeline to the stairs, the opened beer and ciders forgot on the counter as they headed to her room.

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[thealtoduck]

Ditto

Garfield Logan x Male Reader

Warnings: Getting stalked by a ghost, death stuff…

Part 1: Working in Madame Xanadu’s parlor and meeting Garfield Logan…

Summary: You think you’re getting haunted by a ghost so you ask Gar for help…

(A/n: Partly based on the music video for ”Ditto” by NewJeans).

(A/n 2: Happy belated Haloween, see this as my Halloween fic for you even though i’m like 3 months late).

——

You looked at the girl, she was staring at you with an empty look, you tried giving her a small smile but her facial expression remained stone cold. ”Y/n, What are you looking at?” One of your friends asked making you break eye contact with the girl.

”That girl over there” you told him nodding in her direction. Your friend looked ”Which girl?” he asked. You looked back and she had disappeared. ”Nevermind, let’s just go to class” you said and started walking away.

As you walked through the hallway you saw the girl standing with a small group of people, they didn’t acknowlegde her and she didn’t acknowledge them. She was still just looking at you. You ignored her and just walked past her.

Then you saw her again standing with another group of people, still looking straight at you. You did your best to ignore her. Then you went inside the classroom for your next class and sat down.

Your teacher came in and began her class, a couple minutes in you looked down and wrote down some notes in your notebook. Once you looked up again there was the girl standing by the beside the teacher, it made you jump a little but not enough for anyone else to notice.

The girl kept her gaze fixed on you. The teacher did nothing almost as if she couldn’t see her. You looked around, no one else payed attention to the girl. You tried to keep you eyes on the teacher but the girl remained until the end of the lesson.

Once the class ended you were quick to leave the classroom and head to your locker, it was your last class of the day so you wanted to get out of there as quick as possible. You threw all the books you needed in a bag, quickly shut your locker and hurried out of the school.

Once you were outside on the school grounds fresh air had never felt better. You started walking and plugged your headphones to your phone and turned on some music. Then you felt you could start to relax again.

But then the music cut off and was replced by static, then you heard something else in the headphones shaky weak breathing… You pulled off the headphones and looked around… no weird girl insight.

Then you felt a cold hans grab your shoulder, you gasped and quickly spun around… no one… You started backing away, then running and then sprinting until the school was completely out of sight. You stopped outside a coffee shop, breathing heavily of exhaustion and fright.

You needed to find out what was going on. You brought out your phone and went into contacts, you scrolled until you found Gar’s number and pressed call. He picked up. ”Hey Y/n, what’s up?” he greeted you. ”Hey Gar, i need help” you told him seriously. ”What? Are you okay?” Gar asked worriedly.

”Yeah, i’m fine. But i think… I think i’m seeing a ghost” you explained. Gar was silent for a second and questioned ”…What?”. ”I’m seeing a ghost and i need your help” you repeated. ”Well, what do you want me to do? Turn in to Scooby Doo?” Gar joked.

”Gar, i’m serious, i’m getting freaked out” you said anxiously. ”Okay, i’m sorry, i’ll see you at the parlor and we’ll figure this out, alright?” He suggested. ”Alright, thank you” you said and hung up.

——

You and Gar met up at Madame Xanadu’s parlor and sat down behind the reception desk, starting discussing what to do about the ghost. ”I mean she seemed peaceful enough, she was just creepy” you explained. ”I thought you said she grabbed you?” Gar asked.

”Yeah but it didn’t feel agressive, just… it just caught me off guard” you told him. He looked at you doubtfully. ”I don’t know, okay? I don’t know what a ghost wants to do with me” you stated.

Gar thought for a moment and then said ”Okay, i have an idea, what if we go to your school and just try to figure out what’s up. And if it gets dangerous, we get out of there”. You didn’t like the idea of going back to the school but knew there weren’t many other options.

”Fine but we should pack some stuff” you said bringing out your backpack and emptying it of it’s book, papers and pens. You put in two flashlights, extra batteries, pepperspray and sunscreen (just in case the two of you get dragged down to hell).

”You’re gonna pepperspray a ghost?” He questioned amused. ”Hey, not all of us have superpowers” you defended. Gar uttered a quick ”Oh right”. Madame Xanadu entered a bit later seeing the two of you make plans. ”What are you two up too?” she asked suspiciously.

”Ghost hunting” you answered simply. Madame Xanadu smiled fondly ”Oh, alright, have fun you two” she said, leaving you to it. You and Gar waited in the parlor until the late evening before you left for the school.

——

You went to the front door, all lights inside were off. Gar transformed in to a bug and snuck under the door, he changed back inside and unlocked the door for you, holding it open for you as you snuck inside. The school was dark and had a slightly ominous look to it.

You opened your backpack and brought out the flashlights for the two of you. You turned them on, shining them down the different hallways. Nothing so far… You decided to not split up as everytime they did in horror movies someone died, so the pair of you started making your way around the school looking for the ghost girl.

You searched for about an hour through the different hallways and classrooms but found nothing or rather no one… You continued your hunt in the school cafeteria but still no sight of the ghost girl. ”Maybe, she’s shy around people” Gar suggested.

”But i was the only one who could see her” you reminded him. You both thought silently. ”I think you might be on to something, maybe she knows we’re looking for her” you stated. ”What do you mean?” Gar questioned. ”Maybe we need to split up so she’ll reveal herself” you suggested.

”Are you sure?” Gar questioned in a slightly worried tone. You nodded. The two of you left the cafeteria and decided to go down different hallways. You were about to start walking down yours but Gar grabbed your wrist and said ”Stay safe, okay? Scream if you need me”.

”I’ll be fine, i’ve got pepperspray, remember?” you joked trying to not show that you were terrified. You both then disappeared down your respective hallway. You walked for a while taking a few twist and turns and then you felt it…

She was here…

The air turned cold, then you felt a hand on your shoulder making you dart around to once again. No one. You shone your flashlight side to side seeing no one. You turned back to the direction you were walking and jumped at sight.

There she was…

You observed her. She was young, around your age, she had silky black hair and a slim figure. Her face had an unemotional blank look as she stared at him. Her school uniform was similar to yours but a bit different, outdated, she had been at the school for a long time.

”Gar, i found her!” you said loudly, not taking your eyes of her. Footsteps echoed as Gar soon came sprinting through the hallway. He soon appeared in the hallway, Gar ran infront of you, shielding you from the ghost girl.

The girl looked frightend but stood her ground. ”What do you want?” Gar asked her. She didn’t answer. You the remembered something, you kneeled down opening your backpack. You brought out your headphones and plugged them in to your phone. ”What are you doing?” Gar asked.

”I heard her before when i was wearing them, maybe…” you started and then waited after a couple seconds you started hearing static in your ears. ”Hello…” a soft, shadowy voice uttered. ”Hi… is that you?” you asked looking at the girl. She nodded.

”What do you want? Why were you following me?” you questioned. There was silence for a moment until her soft voice returned in your headphones. ”Help” she uttered. You looked worriedly towards her. You stepped forward from behind Gar and said to her ”How do we help you?”.

She started walking and waved for you to follow her. ”Come on” you said to Gar grabbing his hand as the two of you started walking letting her lead you deeper in to the school.

After a minute of walking she stopped in front of a door, it led to the schools basement. Her figure faded out and she disappeared. ”Where’d she go?” Gar asked. Then the sound of a door unlocking came and the door slowly opened. She was waiting on the other side and started leading them down the staircase in to the dark basement.

”Should we really go down there?” Gar asked. ”She said she needed help” you said hesitantly and followed her down the stairs. She led you to another door that stood open, you entered followed closely by Gar. It was a storage, you noted as there were several stacks of cardboard boxes, outdated textbooks and a pile of old computers.

”What do you want us to find?” you asked her. Once again static started in your headphones and you heard the girls voice say ”Camera”. You and Gar eached picked up a cardboard box and started looking for a camera.

You looked for about 30 minutes until you picked up and old looking camera covered in dust. You wiped it’s side off revealing several colorful stickers attached to it’s side, including one with a name. ”Ban Heesoo” you read out and looked at the girl and asked ”Is that you?”.

The girls face immediately turned in to a smile as she nodded. ”What do you want us to with it?” Gar asked. ”Start it” Heesoo said in your headphones, in a giddy voice. You pressed the start button, and the screen lit up.

Heesoo and Gar looked over your shoulder and helped you turn on a video, the camera had filmed several girls as they were dancing joyfully in the school gym. There was another video of a cute guy drinking from a water fountain. And another of the girls from before as they were having fun in a classroom.

”What do you want to do with the camera?” you asked but no answer came. ”Heesoo?” you questioned… no answer. You turned, Heesoo was nowhere to be seen. ”Did you see where she went?” you asked Gar. ”No” he said just as confused as you. ”Heesoo?!” you called out… no answer.

”What do you want us to do with the camera?” you asked hoping she’d answer. The static in your headphones started once more and Heesoo’s soft voice said ”Send it to my family”. ”Okay, we will i promise” you told her. ”Thank you, thank you for everything” she said gratefully sounding on the verge of tears, then the static faded.

Heesoo had finally been able pass on.

You put the camera and your headphones down in your backpack. You and Gar then walked up the basement stairs and made your way out of the dark school. You had both grown tired from the nights events, tired enough to have not noticed your hands had been linked together.

——

You invited Gar to stay over in your families apartment because of how late it was and Gar was too tired to object. The two of you entered lazily and made your way to your room you closed the door softly behind you.

You changed in to a hoodie and sweatpants and lended Gar some clothes so he could do the same. Then you both as well as collapsed on to the matress almost immediately falling asleep.

You woke up cuddled together the next day.