#it's like as soon as I started to close distance in blood stance they were just like ''oh FUCK'' immediately

[the-punforgiven]

Full warning to everybody if the new guilty gear character is aba I may go apeshit about it for a good while

[taleeater]

Fragile Part 7

Sorry for the wait! It was hard to focus while writing this chapter, so I might be editing it for mistakes here and there. I hope you like it! :] <3

Generation: Bayverse TMNT

Tmnt x Reader Fanfic

Pronouns: Gender Neutral (except ‘dudette’, 'miss', and ‘princess’)

Warnings: injury, broken limbs, violence, drowning, not proof read

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

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You were laying dazed on the cold metal floor. In too much pain to focus on anything else besides breathing. You heard a commotion, voices muffled through the thick glass. At least inside this tube they couldn’t touch you anymore. Your mind strayed to the turtles. You weren’t able to save them. You weren’t able to do anything. You just hope they can somehow get away safely. That April and Casey can somehow save them.

“I won’t ask again…. Where’s (y/n).” Leo growled. He grit his teeth as he lowered his stance, ready to strike.

Baxter Stockman was quickly typing commands into the program on his computer. Karai stepped in front of him and drew her katana.

“Out of your reach, Turtles.” 

“Aaaaand, there!” Stockman hit one last key on this computer and a red light started to flash on the tank, bringing the turtle’s attention to the crumpled form inside the glass. At the same time a multitude of files and programs started closing on the screen one after another, Stockman’s signature digital self-destruct program. Baxter stepped away from his computer and lifted his arms up triumphantly.

The sound of rattling pipes overhead catches your attention. 

“Ha! You’re too late, Turtles. For years, the Foot Clan has sought out the means to fight you mutants on equal footing. And now, we have our secret weapon! An endless supply of pure mutagen!!!” 

You heard a loud beeping sound, then a click, and the squeak of metal.

A gush of icy water pours down on you from above. The sudden cold shocks you and marginally distracts you from the pain. You pull yourself to the edge of the glass away from the heavy stream of water coming down from above, slowly starting to fill the base. You take a shaky deep breath and bang a fist on the glass. No use. Dizzy and numb, you look outside the tank for someone, something, anything that might help you. That’s when you see them.

And with dawning horror, they see you.

“Guys….?” You press your wet hand up against the glass. They’re here! They’re safe!!!

“(Y/n)....? (Y/N)!!!!” Leo shouts and lunges towards the tank. He tries to rush up to the glass but Rocksteady blocks his path. There’s blood on your cheek, and even a good distance away he can tell you’re in bad shape. 

“OUT OF OUR WAY!” Raph roared at Bebop and Rocksteady, crossing his sai in preparation for a fight.

“Uuuh hey guys? Why is (y/n) in a giant fish bowl…?” Mikey asked, nunchucks at the ready.

“They ain’t comin’ out anytime soon, short stack.” Bebop said with an evil grin. 

“You turtles totally fell for our trap!” Rocksteady chuckled.

Donnie immediately noticed the computer hooked up to the tank’s controls. He tried to subtly sneak past Bebop to get to Stockman but Karai stepped forward and blocked his path.

Karai pointed her sword at Donnie. “The Foot will be unstoppable.”

“And I will FINALLY get the recognition I deserve, for single-handedly creating an entire race of superhumans that will rule over the city!!!” 

“You’re crazy!! You don’t even know what kind of side effects that mutation will have on regular humans!” Donnie activated the electricity at the end of his bo staff, ready to fight Karai to get to Stockman. 

“I do have to thank you turtles for activating their mutant gene. Without your help, none of this would be possible!” Stockman’s laugh echoed through the large room. He waltz over to the canister filling up with the distilled mutagen from your blood. “We originally got (y/n) by a…. foreseeable mistake. But to our surprise, they survived where others had failed. And yet- their results were incomplete. Their animal DNA wasn’t materializing no matter what we did to them. So we came back to New York, where the population could supply us with countless more test subjects.” Baxter said cheerfully, popping the lid off the canister. “But now that we have the results we wanted, we have no need of them! We can preserve (y/n)’s body in a special chemical compound that will put them into a permanent hibernation. No need to worry, their body will be harnessed for science!” Stockman’s laugh was deep and evil, and to everyone’s shock-

He dumped the canister of mutagen over his own head.

Karai lept back out of the trajectory of the splash. Baxter’s laugh increased in volume as he began to morph and change. His head and eyes grew large, his body shrank, little papery wings sprouted from his back, and he mutated into a giant mutant fly. 

Bebop and Rocksteady were stunned by the transformation. “Eeeeewwww… he turned into a bug?” Bebop whined.

“Nasty!” Rocksteady shook his head. Neither of them were paying attention to the turtles so Raph and Donnie covered for Leo and Mikey to make a break for the tank you were in. By now it had filled enough that you were starting to float.

“We’re here babe! We’re gonna get you out!” Mikey reassured you. 

You whimpered helplessly. You were having a hard time keeping your head above water, not really able to swim with a broken dislocated arm and broken ankle. 

“Stay back!” Leo sliced at the glass, and Mikey hit it with his nunchucks as hard as he could, but their attacks barely left a scratch!

“Guys! We have incoming!” Donnie yelled as Stockman had started flying around the room, maniacally laughing as he swooped down and kicked the back of Mikey’s shell, almost knocking him over. 

“Dude, gross!” Mikey protested. Stockman looked to be drooling some kind of acid substance from his mouth.

Bebop and Rocksteady had recovered and started to charge towards them. Leo and Mikey had to jump away from your tank to avoid getting trampled. 

“Donnie, that glass is as hard as steel!!” Leo jumped up and kicked Rocksteady across his cheek, then retreated.

“What’re we gonna do? (Y/n)’s tank is already half full!” Raph shouted. He was using his sai to hold back Bebop’s tusks as he tried to charge them. 

You were doing your best to calm your breathing enough that you could float, but every time your head ducked below water you panicked. Your body was exhausted and protested against your desperate movements, but you needed to survive long enough for the boys to break you out.

“Donnie! See if you can turn off the water!!! I’ve got Karai.” Leo ordered

“Mikey! It’s you and me!” Raph called over, clanging his sai together and shouted a war cry running up to strike Rocksteady. 

“What?! What about the bug brained dude??!! Eep!” Mikey ducked as Stockman flew over his head. He looked down and realized he was kneeling at the feet of Bebop, who had taken the black taser out of his pocket.

“You wanna taste too, little man?” 

When Bebop flicked on the taser, Mikey saw the small stains of fresh blood on the pointed tips that buzzed with electricity. He looked back over to you struggling in the tank and how heavily injured you looked.

He saw red.

Mikey had a rare moment of true anger as he jumped to his feet and knocked the taser out of Bebop’s hand with his nunchucks, and in a flurry of rapid hits he beat back the warthog. He finished him off with a powerful roundhouse kick to the head.

“THAT’S WHAT YOU GET FOR MESSING WITH MY BAE!” He shouted triumphantly.

Raph looked back to Mikey with wide eyes, proud of his little bro for letting loose. “Woah. Way to go Mikey!” He ducked a hit from Rocksteady and punched him hard under his chin. Knocking him out cold. 

Leo was crossing swords with Karai. She was a skilled fighter. But he was much stronger than her. While he pushed her back with a heavy strike, she slipped on some of the mutagen that had spilled on the floor, allowing Leo to take advantage of the opening and disarmed her. He flicked her sword out of her hand and knocked her back. She glared daggers at him, quickly recovering. But seeing as Bebop and Rocksteady were knocked out, she opted for a tactical retreat.

“This is just the beginning.” She hissed and ran out of the lab door. 

Stockman was buzzing around your tank, still laughing maniacally. 

“You turtlezzzzz cannot defeat the mighty Dr Stockman!! I am invincible!! I am-“

Donnie turned on the taser at the end of his bo staff and vaulted it at the annoying human insect, striking him and electrocuting him, knocking him out of the air to fall on the floor with a gross splat.

“Good thing I always carry a bug zapper.” He deadpanned.

Donnie went back to trying to hack into Stockmans computer. He managed to get past the firewall with his hacking program, but he discovered that all of the interfaces connected to the tank control had been erased. 

There was no way to stop the tank from filling up completely. Donnie would have to write a whole new interface from scratch to control the tank.

There was no time.

You were running out of air, trying desperately to keep your head above water as the tank was almost full to the top. You took in one last deep breath just as the water consumed the last of the space. You held your good hand over your mouth and nose hard, trying to hold in the air, and floated down towards the bottom of the tank. 

No more air.

“(Y/N)!!!” 

“ANGEL CAKES!!!” Donnie and Mikey yelled out in panic.

Your eyes snapped open, hearing their muffled voices outside the tank. You swam over to the glass and met eyes with Raphael. He had picked a spot and began punching at the glass over and over again with his sai in his fists.

The needled jabs just managed to scratch the surface. 

You looked at him sadly through the glass. He was stressed, sweating and desperate to break through. Mikey had grabbed a chair and had chucked it at the glass from another spot but it just bounced off and broke on the floor.

Leo was standing behind Donnie with his hand on his shoulder, but his eyes didn’t leave your face. 

Time was running out. You were choking on the stale air in your lungs. Head getting dizzy from lack of oxygen. You removed your hand from your mouth and pressed it up to the glass, some bubbles of air escaping your mouth. Your eyebrows knit together to concentrate on not breathing in the fluid in the tank. But you were suffocating and in pain. 

It was hard.

You looked back up at Raph, and forced a smile on your face. You felt sad. You didn’t want them to see you like this. They felt so far away. 

Darkness was consuming your vision. The last remaining bubbles of air escaped from your mouth and your eyes slipped closed. 

“NO!!! NO-! (Y/N), STAY WITH US.” Raph pounded his fist hard against the glass. 

“DAMN IT.” Donnie frustratingly slammed his fist down next to the keyboard, his head falling into his hands. None of the lines of command coding he was typing in were working.

Leo left Donnie’s side and strode up to the tank.

“Move.” Leo ordered as he came up behind Raph. He unsheathed his swords and began slicing at the glass again. It was barely making a scratch. But combined with the small dents Raph had been making, he was slowly chipping away at the surface.

“Leo! If you can manage to cut 1.2 centimeters deep, it should weaken the glass enough to shatter with enough force!” Donnie yelled from where he was still furiously typing into the stationed keyboard. His attempts to unlock the system all in vain. 

Leo and Raph worked together to stab and slice at the weakest point in the glass until finally-

*crack*

A small fracture appeared in the glass. 

“There!!” Donnie called out. Raph and Leo switched to charging at the door and ramming it full force with their shoulders. Over and over as the cracks grew wider and wider.

Mikey came over, and with a hand on Leo’s shoulder, the leader stepped aside to let his little brother help. Mikey joined Raph and rammed the glass again with such force the crack split all the way across the glass. One more strike-

The glass shattered on impact.

The gush of water that burst through swept Mikey and Raph off their feet. The floor of the lab flooded, and your body washed up on the floor. Lifeless and unmoving.

“(Y/N)!!!!!!” The boys all yelled. 

Leo reached you first, falling into a kneel at your side. He ripped out the two needles from your back and held you in his arms. Donnie rushed over and slid down into the other spot at your side, his goggles pulled into place as he quickly checked you over.

“They’re not breathing. Put them down flat, now.” Leo obeyed and laid you on your back. Donnie first pressed down on your diaphragm to check for water blocking your lungs, then began compressions. 

The room was dead quiet all except for the sounds of Donnie’s whispered counting as he pressed down on your chest. He paused, opened your mouth, pinched your nose, and breathed into your lungs. 

Mikey was nervously walking around you back and forth, and Raph watched you from a distance, a vacant expression as he watched your face for any sign of movement, pleading with himself for you to be okay. 

After what felt like an eternity, you coughed. Leo quickly rolled you lay on your side. You spit up water, gasping for air. You felt like you were coughing up a lung full of ethanol. 

Mikey cheered and Raph took a deep breath, covering his face with his hands. Donnie fell backwards onto his butt and pulled his goggles off his head, so incredibly relieved you were breathing. Leo rubbed your back comfortingly as you got your breathing back under control.

Once you got a suitable amount of oxygen back in your lungs, you whimpered. Your throat was burning and a pain in your stomach and chest made it hard to breathe.

Leo picked you up again, and held you close to his chest. Your eyes fluttered open and you winced at the bright light from the ceiling.

“Welcome back.” Leo said with a smile on his face.

“Leo…?” Your voice was quiet and scratchy. You looked around at Donnie, Mikey, and Raph that all came into view around you and Leo.

“Guys….?” You felt barely conscious. Head foggy and tired like you were under water.

“We’re right here.” Donnie assured you, reaching down to pick up your good hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

All the fear and emotion of drowning and being captured suddenly crashed down on you all at once. You sniffed and big tears gathered in your eyes.

“I was… so scared… I thought I was going to lose you….!” You hiccuped and sobbed as Leo held your trembling form tightly against his chest.

“Shhhh, it’s okay. I’m here. We got you.” Leo soothed, rubbing his hand down your back. He buried his nose into your damp hair and held you tight.

“You had us worried there for a minute!” Donnie was smiling at you, soft and relieved. Mikey was standing behind him rubbing tears out of his eyes.

“Let’s get you home.” Raph said, kneeling down behind you. 

“Wait. I need to splint their arm and their ankle first. Mikey, can you find me some-“

*crack*

“Will this work?” 

Mikey had already broken off the thin legs of a chair across the room. 

“Yeah that works fine.” He pulled out two rolls of gauze from one of the pockets on his belt, and took the offered sticks from Mikey, who knelt down by your feet. 

“What’re we gonna do about him?” He asked, motioning over to Stockman’s twitching form across the room.

The brothers all sneered at the fly mutant with similar levels of disgust on their faces, finding him rather gross. You smiled.

“Just leave him there, we can worry about him another time.” Leo offered, adjusting you in his grip. You winced terribly when your arm was moved. 

“….Is ...your arm dislocated?” Leo asked you, holding you upright in a sitting position, now thoroughly checking you over. 

Donnie and Mikey were working together to splint your ankle, Mikey holding up your foot while Donnie wrapped the splint to it.

“Let me see that.” Raph placed his hands on your shoulder and you clenched your teeth and whined quietly at the sharp pain.

“Leo, hold them still for a minute.” 

“Just hold onto me tightly, it’ll be over in a second.” Leo hugged you close, wrapping an arm around your good side.

Raph got hold of your tender arm, and with practiced ease, popped your shoulder back into place. You cried out loudly and buried your face in Leo’s shoulder, taking deep breaths. 

Raph tried to rub the soreness out of your poor shoulder. “Good job, princess. Now let Donnie get a look at that break.”

You hesitantly detached yourself from Leo, your shaking red and swollen arm was carefully picked up by Donnie, who set the splint and carefully wrapped the bandages.

“I’ll be able to get a better look at it with the x-ray machine back at home. For now we just have to be really careful not to jostle them too much when carrying them back.”

“I got em.” Raph volunteered. Leo looked to Raph, wordlessly nodding his head for his brother to take you from his arms.

“Careful of their arm….”

“Got it.” 

Without much effort, Raph scooped you up in his big arms. You winced as a sharp stabbing pain radiated through your stomach as you were held close to Raph’s chest.

Something was definitely wrong.

“I’m sorry, princess. It’s just until we get you home.” Raph apologized. Leo led everyone quickly out of the lab. 

Once back out in the hallway you had entered from, you noticed with visible shock the literal sea of bodies that covered the floor. Foot ninja. They fought through all of them, just to get to you.

Everyone exited the lab, careful to stick to the shadows as the sun began to rise. As the turtles made their way for their home, your stomach burned worse and worse with a white hot pain that radiated through your body. The movement of the city passing you by made you become dizzy, and your head felt like it was spinning. You felt nauseous and incredibly tired. 

“Hey Raph….?”

“Yeah princess?”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t save you guys…. You had to save me instead….” You weren’t making any sense. Raph could barely hear you as the wind whipped past his head. You just felt so tired.

“Hey, stay with me, princess. We’re almost there. It’s okay.” Raph didn’t know what the right thing to say was. But your eyes were starting to slide closed.

“Can we…. Can we watch Princess Bride again…. When we get home….?”

Raph smiled at that.

“Yeah. We’ll watch it as many times as you want, short stack.” He didn’t care if his brothers teased him for secretly liking your girly movie. He didn’t care if he had to watch it with you a hundred times. He just wanted you to get better.

“We’re almost there. How you holding up?” 

Silence. 

“(Y/n)…?”

“Mmh?” 

Your eyes were closed.

“Come on, wake up, we’re almost there.”

He was desperate. 

“Mm…hm…” 

You hummed, but your eyelids felt too heavy to lift. You felt yourself sinking into a dark liquid abyss. You could no longer fight the pull.

“(Y/n)….. (y/n)? Hey…! Hey, no no no no no, you gotta stay awake. Come on princess…! (Y/N)!!!”

You felt Raph try to shake you awake, felt his muscles tense as he pushed himself to go faster. 

“We’re almost there, hold on…!”

“Hold on….”

Darkness overtook you.

Part 8

@itsberrydreemurstuff @thecreat0r64 @eli-chris @kurlyfrasier @autisticnutcase @drenix004 @donniesgirlie @cherryp-op @foggyturtleknightangel @blackrockshooter780 @l-n-g-t @peachesdabunny @silverwatergalaxy @willy-the-witch @caeliasaida @veri-varily @xnorthstar3x @leonardo-dabitchy @sh1ga-to3s

If anyone else wants to be tagged for the next update, let me know in the comments! :]

[keanusbabydoll]

Please write more michael myers pics ♥️ I’m totally drooling 🤤

a/n: you ask and you shall receive!! here’s another request for our hot oldman!myers😏

paring: peepaw!myers x fem!reader

warnings: 18+ content, violence, murder, michael’s a warning himself, slightest degrading, spanking, rough sex, no foreplay, HUGE age gap, p in v, unprotected sex, use of y/n

wordcount: 2.4k

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in the quiet town of haddonfield, an unusual relationship unfolded between an infamous figure and a young woman who saw something different beneath his masked exterior. barely 20 year old y/n had been with michael myers for two years, in what could only be described as a twisted, dangerous kind of romance. despite the violent and cryptic nature that had carved him into a legend of fear, michael was possessive and protective in way that almost made y/n feel safe, cherished. their intimacy was intense, a secret kept tightly locked within the walls of their home, the old myers house.

one evening however, y/n craved the taste if normalcy. she'd been cooped up, living in michael's isolated world, and the memory of a carefree night out with her friends tugged at her heart. tonight, she'd decided she'd indulge. she slipped into a slinky black dress, her curves accentuated perfectly. she knew it was bold and risky, considering michael's possessiveness. yet, he wasn't home and she had no idea when he would return. this gave her just the window she needed. her friends picked her up and soon they were at a club, where the music and the neon lights drowned out any lingering apprehension about her decision.

as the hours wore on, y/n was lost in laughter and dancing, her worries about michael fading. around an hour in, she met a guy named jason. he seemed friendly, he was easy to talk to. they chatted briefly, mostly small talk, but nothing that would've even registered as interesting to her. still, as the night deepened, she started to feel an ache in her legs and feet, a tiredness settling in. it was 2 am. and y/n knew it was time to leave.

she said goodbye to her friends, intending to head home alone.

just as she was about to leave, jason offered to walk her back, but y/n declined. she knew michael’s possessiveness too well—he’d barely tolerate her with another man’s presence, let alone walking her home. but jason was persistent, smiling and saying, “it’s not safe out here for a girl alone at this time.” despite her refusals, he walked alongside her anyway.

as they neared her street, an unsettling tension built inside y/n. she’d sensed something shadowing her steps, a chill that hung in the air. she walked faster, jason following behind her, chatting casually. they were almost at her door when she heard a strange rustle, a weird sound that shouldn’t have been there.

she froze, her breath hitching. slowly, she turned, and the sight made her stomach drop.

michael stood there, his expression unreadable beneath his mask, yet his stance dripped with barely controlled rage. a bloody knife gleamed in his hand, and at his feet lay jason’s lifeless body, blood staining the pavement.

a strangled cry escaped y/n’s lips, and she turned to run. but before she could even make it to the door, michael closed the distance, grabbing her around the neck. she choked, her vision blurring as he tightened his grip, cutting off any attempt to escape. then, with a rough, forceful movement, he threw her over his shoulder like she weighed nothing at all.

"michael, please,” she gasped, her voice muffled. “it’s not what it looked like, I swear.”

but michael didn’t respond, didn’t even give a hint of mercy in his movements. his grip on her was brutal as he strode into their house, the heavy door slamming shut behind them. he didn’t waste time, heading straight to the kitchen before setting her down roughly on the counter. y/n‘s body trembled, her mind spinning with panic and anticipation as she saw the cold rage flicker in his eyes.

“i didn’t want him to walk me back. I tried to tell him,” she pleaded, her voice breathless.

michael remained silent, his grip digging into her waist as he leaned over her. slowly, almost torturously, he pressed closer, his eyes watching every movement she made, every breath she took. there was something terrifyingly predatory in his gaze, and y/n felt herself trapped in it. he didn’t need words to show his displeasure; the look in his eyes and the tense silence spoke volumes.

“michael…” she tried again, but he cut her off, his fingers hooking under the strap of her dress and ripping it down with a violent pull, the fabric falling away from her skin and landing in a heap on the floor.

a cruel smirk seemed to linger in his gaze as he trailed his hand over her now-bare shoulder. it stopped by her bra which he tore apart, followed by her lace panties and tossed it away.

y/n’s heart pounded, caught between fear and the twisted excitement that only michael could draw out in her. the fact that she sat there completely naked in front of his clothed form made something inside her tingle. she wanted to explain, to tell him that it had been innocent, but his cold gaze told her that he wouldn’t accept any excuses.

before she could even react michael reached around her throat again and pulled her off the counter. he immediately turned her around and pressed her upper body flush against the cold marble, her nipples hardening at the sudden cold. her brows were furrowed in fear, scared that he would do something to her. but when she hear him dropping his knife to the floor and unzipping his suit, relief washed over her.

but suddenly it went all quiet, her heart began to beat faster and faster and adrenaline was pumping through her veins.

smack.

a painful yelp escaped her mouth when she felt a stinging pain on her ass cheek. before she could even fully comprehend it the next hit came down on her already. her body surged forward and her face crunched up in discomfort. she tried to push her body up but michael instantly had his hand on her back, forcing her to stay in place and let his other hand spank her ass again.

he gave five more slaps to each cheek before he felt pleased with his work, the fire red handprints only satisfying him even more. tears were streaming down her face but the arousal that was slowly drenching the insides of her thighs betrayed her. her core was burning with desire and practically begged to be fucked.

she heard michael stepping closer to her and a quiet hum left her mouth when she felt the tip of his cock pressing directly against her soaking entrance. his hands gripped her hips harshly, almost punishing. with a swift move of his hips and his hands pulling her back against him, he entered her with ease til his hips where flush against her ass.

a cracked cry echoed in the room, her eyes were shut in pain. he was stretching her walls to their maximum, it was always painful at first when they had sex. and not to forget his length. she could feel his tip kissing her cervix in an uncomfortable way.

but this time michael wouldn’t wait a minute or two for her to get used to his size. no. she would regret what she did.

he immediately started off with a fast, bruising pace making her whine out. her nails were scraping against the counter, trying to find something to hold on to. "please slow down michael.“ she mewled, voice shaky. michael groaned out, slapping her already bruised ass, signing her that she should shut her mouth and stop complaining.

he let his hips clash rougher and quicker against her ass, here and there slapping her flesh. y/n was seeing stars, his pace too much for her and the stinging pain didn’t help much. yet, michael could make her drunk off his cock with ease. the way his tip always hit her spongy spot with the right force sent intense waves of pleasure through her body and made her almost forget about the pain.

but the force of his hips reminded her that he was still mad at her, pissed off by what he witnessed a few minutes ago. nothing stopped his uncaring pace. when he looked down to where their bodies connected, it made him pound into her heat harder, her pathetic whines now turning into moans that even pornstars would envy.

her nails scratched stronger against the marble and her eyes where tightly closed. slowly she felt the coil in her womb building up, her walls clenching around his thick cock desperately. "i‘m close.“ she squeaked out, the constant stimulation on her spot edging her closer to her release.

michaels grip harshened, digging his short nails into her flesh. "no.“ she could her hear him faintly growl out. it was rare that michal spoke, it only occurred when he was warning her or when she was hurt.

y/n‘s blood almost froze when she heard his deep, raspy voice. it was always a shock for her to hear his voice.

she felt herself getting closer and closer but with the blink of an eye, michael pulled out of her. she mewled out at the sudden emptiness and the denial of her approaching orgasm which was fading away completely. slowly, y/n turned her head to look at him with begging eyes.

he was staring down at her, head tilted and mask off.

"please michael.“ she whispered.

michael surged forward, wrapping his arms around her waist before he pulled her up and pushed her against the nearest wall. he immediately followed her, grabbing her hair, turning her head to face him. "slut.“ he muttered lowly before he smashed his lips against her pulling her into an rough yet furious kiss. she immediately responded, moving her lips in sync with his. without breaking the kiss, michael snaked a hand around her body, pushing her hips back. then, he gripped both her wrist and pulling them behind her back, holding them in place.

in a matter of seconds he entered her again, his pace just as ruthless as before. the new position made him go even deeper, reaching spots that sent shivers down her spine she didn’t even know existed. michael growled shamelessly into their kiss, showing that he enjoyed this.

one hand still held her wrists together, while the other reached around her middle, finding her clit. he rubbed fast circles on it before he pulled away again, sending a punishing slap straight to it. "fuck!“ she screamed into the kiss before she pulled away, breathing in and out heavily. her eyes searched for his and when she finally met them, all she could see was lust, the same lust that gleamed in his eyes when he satisfied his need to kill someone.

loud and sinful moans, cry’s echoed through the room and the sound of skin slapping against each others made y/n‘s brain go all fuzzy. at that point she couldn’t think straight anymore, the only thing on her mind was michael and how good he was fucking her.

again, michael let his fingers glide to her sensitive nub and flicked them rapidly on it. her knees began to buckle at the sudden stimulation, legs completely shaking.

this time she felt her orgasm approaching even faster than before, her walls clamping down on his cock, almost at the peak of her high. michael was on the verge of cumming as well, her clutching walls just adding to his pleasure.

"oh god michael, please let me cum!“ y/n spluttered out, not being able to hold it in any longer. she could feel it, it was almost there, just seconds away, when michael removed his digits once more.

"michael!!“ she cried out, tears of frustration streaming down her cheeks. she needed to cum, the denial was unbearable to take.

his thrusts got more erratic but for sure didn’t slow down, instead they became violently fast, animalistic almost. high pitched moans left y/n‘s lip as she tried to wriggle free from his grip. but michael just gripped her harder.

one more time, michael pressed his fingers to her clit and began to rub. immediately, y/n could feel her high building up in a matter of seconds. "yes! just like t-that.“ she whimpered out, desperate to cum.

michael fucked into her, chasing his own release and when he felt her walls pulsing around her, he gave in, spurting his white seed deep inside of her. a low growl left his mouth, followed by loud, sharp breaths.

michael‘s orgasm just triggered her own and finally he didn’t stop his movements, he kept assaulting her clit and with a last push of his hips y/n released on his cock with an pornographic moan. pure ecstasy rushed through her shaking body, eyes rolling to the back of her skull. he continued to fuck her through her release intensifying her pleasure to its maximum.

her head fell back against his chest, her body completely worn out, barely able to hold herself up anymore.

michael‘s hips finally came to an halt and his digits relieved her pearl. he slowly pulled out of her, making her squeak quietly. he released her wrists and took a step back, glaring down at her writhing form he caused. he almost began to smirk, almost like he was proud of himself to get you in such a state.

she was leaning her head against the wall, her hands flattened on it, trying to support herself. but she was too weak, her legs didn’t have the strength anymore. she slowly sank down to the floor, leaning against the wall. with hazy eyes she looked up to him. he looked so powerful, so intimidating.

she watched him as he pulled his suit up, closing the zip. he stood there for a few seconds, admiring his art. "i’m sorry, michael. i love you.“ she whispered, apologizing again, hoping he would forgive her.

all she got in reply was a head tilt. in situations like these she hated it that michael only talked this rarely.

but then, michael bowed down, reaching her level, before he grabbed her body, lifting her up. he carried her bridal style, slowly making his way up to their shared bedroom. a warm smile spread across her face, snuggling up against his chest. he had a strange way to show his affection, but even little things made y/n‘s warm up.

michael would always care for her. doesn’t matter what happened. something about her made him weak. she was his weakness.

[geekyule]

In the alternate world of Teyvat, where you begin your journey to find your loved ones by becoming a weapon of war in the Fatui

CW: violence, mention of blood, angst & fluff Thoughts: Excuse my first attempt at writing. There will be several parts coming soon. Semi-proofread

Part 1 - First Encounter

The snow fell thicker. Today marked your third day on the assignment on the outskirts of Morepesok, a seaside fishing village. Despite it being the third day, you hadn’t yet located all the hiding treasure hoarders. Anxiety was creeping in. The chilling winds blowing in from the sea and the night descending made your entire body tense with vigilance. Those scoundrels had meticulously planned their siege on the village to kidnap its inhabitants. Every entrance to the village required passing through this dark forest. They would target those traveling along the forest path; perhaps you would have to disguise yourself as bait to...

“Sister!”

You jolted into a defensive stance, turning towards the voice. A frantic girl ran towards you, carrying a smaller child on her back. One of the girl’s hands held a basket of herbs, while the other tightly gripped the sleeping child behind her. The treasure hoarders don’t raise children to deceive others like this, do they? - You silently pondered as the girl reached you. The girl looked up at you, panting, trying to appear tough but her voice trembling.

“Have you been waiting long, sister?”

“...?”

The blue eyes of the girl pleaded with you, before quickly glancing behind her, indicating that someone was following them. She shifted the child on her back and spoke louder.

“Teucer fell so we're late. I’m sorry. Let’s go home together, sister!”

If it weren’t for the sincere apology and the tears brimming in the girl’s eyes, you might have dismissed her. You believed the children trembled in fear whenever they caught a glimpse of your piercing gaze and eerie silence, avoiding you at all costs, just as you avoided them. Being around someone like you was dangerous enough for them, but now you realized you had to protect the two children and return them to their parents before any harm came to them.

“Let me carry Teucer. Mom will scold me until morning!”

“I'm sorry.” - The girl's face relaxed when she saw you played along. She hesitated a bit when handing her little brother over to you, but she was surely exhausted after running in fear. Her limbs trembled, tears started rolling down her rosy, cold cheeks.

“It's okay.” - You smiled gently - “I'm here now.”

With one arm holding the little brother, you used the other to pull the girl close to your side, patting her gently. You led the girl slowly back towards the village. The danger was definitely not over yet; these two children had ventured deep into the forest, with still a considerable distance to reach the safe area of Morepesok.

“Hold onto my coat if you know the treehouse." - You whispered, leaning down to the girl's head. She opened her eyes wide and immediately grabbed onto your coat. A clever child - you thought and smiled reassuringly at her. The little girl knew the home was too far to return to safety, they needed a shelter while the adults were around to help.

“There are 3 people chasing us…” - The girl whispered nervously.

“You and Teucer go to the treehouse and stay quiet, do not come out until I give the signal. I will protect both of you.”

As they headed towards the treehouse, you silently sensed the movement around, pinpointing the pursuers. Besides the three the children unfortunately faced, there were others gathering and chasing. The treehouse you mentioned was actually a landmark where the village hunters often stayed during long deer hunts. Luckily, you had learned from the villagers in the past few days, and the Archons had not disappointed the children as the treehouse was still sturdy even though it wasn't hunting season. You handed the little brother to the girl, urging her into the hideout and securely closing the door. Then you walked a distance away from the hideout.

“Now, let's greet each other properly.”

Three bandits stepped out from the shadows. There are two archers at 11 o'clock and 1 o'clock behind - You reminded yourself and pulled out a stick from your belt pouch. The treasure hoarder gang laughed loudly. One, seeming to be the leader, shrugged with the others, then smirked.

“Little girl, don't play childish games. We're just here to help you get to safety.”

Twirling the stick in hand, you advanced towards the group of bandits. With a flick, the stick unexpectedly split open at both ends and extended into a silver battle staff. A golden light encircled the threatening staff. The treasure hoarders, now intrigued, cautiously approached. You smirked provocatively.

“I'm also looking for a few people here.”

“You…” - The leader's face changed.

Slamming the staff into the ground, you sent golden geo energy lines snaking through the frontline bandits, deep into the darkness of the forest. Along the way, the lines carved the ground full of snow, terrifying the bandits. From the shadows, the ground trembled, followed by cries of pain, then silence. The bandits turned back to see their archer comrades.

“Don't worry about them. You��ll be reunited in "a safe place" soon."

You swung the staff forcefully, knocking the bandits off balance. With the archers out of the combat, dealing with the close-range fighters became easier. The bandits were not prepared to face a warrior with a Vision. You weaved through the bandits, calculating each move while manipulating the ground to gain the upper hand in battle. Despite your defensive techniques, years of weapon training and your petite stature provided you with a speed advantage in attack. Not to mention that the opponents couldn't assess your true abilities. The bandits fell one by one. You then created a stone wall to trap the treasure hoarder group, finally completing the mission.

“So, are you behaving now?”

You retracted the staff and carefully walked back to the hideout where the two children were when a light "swoosh" sounded. Before you could react, a blue arrow stabbed straight into your left arm, causing you to fall. Luckily I managed to twist lightly, this archer aimed for the heart - You reopened the staff to summon a stone wall in the direction of the attack just as two more arrows flew in. Blue arrows from the same person, this man moves fast and light, much more skilled than the bandits - You tensed up - If a master was sent, who are these two children? Suppressing the pain in the left shoulder, you plunged the staff deep into the ground, pushing out a series of stone columns towards the opponent. A blue cut slashed through each column, along with splashes of water. From the darkness emerged a figure with a masked head.

“Fatui soldier?” - you muttered in disbelief. In the ranks of the Fatui, was there such a highly skilled soldier? But what was he doing here? You were the only one assigned to the area.

The unfamiliar Fatui soldier dashed forward, wielding two daggers made of azure water. A Vision bearer, damn it - you quickly dodged a strike to your left shoulder, then spun to deliver a blow to the opponent's face, knocking off his mask to reveal orange hair. Too fast, if I just defend and counterattack, I will soon be defeated. These two children will be in danger. You decided to speak out.

“Where is your Fatui insignia, soldier? I'm specially assigned here” - You assumed a defensive stance after creating some distance from the opponent, your back towards the hideout. The top priority now was to protect the two children inside at all costs. Plunging the staff into the ground, you grabbed the arrow lodged in your left shoulder and yanked it out forcefully. Fresh crimson blood sprayed, falling on the white snow backdrop. The sharp pain made your vision blur. Should I use the "weapon" at this moment?

The Fatui member merged the two water daggers into one long glaive. He tossed aside his mask and stared straight at you. Those intimidating cloudy blue eyes seemed familiar. He coldly advanced, shouting.

“You’re dead!”

Using your right hand to support your left, you manipulated the broken stone columns to send shards flying towards the opponent, but they still couldn't stop his advance...

“Ajax? Big brother?!”

The little girl's voice echoed from inside the hideout, just as the sword came dangerously close to your neck. The opponent's wide eyes watched as you used your body to shield the entrance of the hideout. The door swung open, and the girl inside rushed out to hug you.

“She's protecting us! Don't hurt her!”

“Tonya!” - The Fatui soldier immediately dropped his weapon. His demeanor and face shifted to confusion - “What's going on? Where's Teucer? I don't understand.”

Tonya, the little girl whose name you just learned, stepped back and then rushed to hug her older brother, crying out loud. Perhaps now was the time she dared to cry freely, releasing the fear and anxiety. Ajax, the older brother, had to gently soothe her before she could recount the story. You watched the two siblings without noticing that Teucer had stood up and was looking at you.

“Sister. Hug!” - The little boy moved closer to you, not waiting for your response, and hugged your injured left side. You had to deftly avoid your bleeding shoulders from him, letting out a light cry of pain.

“Teucer! Don't! Oh, I'm sorry!” - Tonya ran back in a panic to hold her younger brother.

The older brother cautiously approached. You looked at him warily but without hostility. He tore a strip of cloth from his sleeve and helped you bandage the bleeding wound.

“I'm Ajax. Thank you for protecting my brother and sister.”

You didn't say anything, silently watching as Ajax tended to your wound. He still bore cuts from the flying shards, a gash on his cheek now oozing blood. Despite facing countless stone projectiles, he was determined to rush into battle; this soldier not only had a Vision but also displayed considerable courage, or... recklessness. When he began to reveal his face for combat, a strand of bloodthirsty aura clashed starkly with the present. Perhaps when loved ones were in danger, he became dangerous himself, ready to confront and protect.

“I've completed the mission, protecting your sister was just a coincidence. Anyway…” - You paused, looking at Tonya and Teucer who were staring intently - “Your sister is very clever.”

“Are you also a Fatui soldier?”

“I’m Y/n.” - You opened your belt pouch to show him the insignia and took out some first aid bandages.

“You should bandage your wound as well. I'll start a fire. You and your siblings should stay here tonight and return to the village in the morning.”

“Won't you come home with us?” - Tonya asked in surprise, looking at Ajax then back at you - “You saved us, and you're injured.”

“Sorry for shooting you, but to let the hero of the little ones go without repaying them, I'd regret it to death.” - Ajax quickly added.

“Your big brother is here now” - You ruffled Tonya's head, smiling even though the girl pouted in protest - “I need to escort the other group of people first. We'll meet again later.”

“Promise?”

“I promise. Now, little sister, would you mind gathering some firewood around here for me?”

You used the staff to create a small patch of regular ground for the fire. While Tonya and Teucer eagerly gathered firewood, you took out fire stones from your pouch and began to light the fire. If it hadn't been for the recent danger, it would have seemed like a camping trip; the two children quickly returned to being cheerful with you. Ajax began to bandage the wounds on himself with the provided bandages, occasionally stealing glances at you and the children. After you had a small fire going, you headed towards the stone cell where the unconscious bandit group was being held, and Ajax followed. He pulled out a red scarf from around his neck and tied it around your neck, leaving you surprised.

“I... don't know how to thank you enough, please accept this. At least it will keep you warm on the way back.”

You looked straight into Ajax's blue eyes, probing, making him feel his cheeks heat up. But you just nodded slightly, bid him farewell, then quickly tied up the bandit group and disappeared into the shadows. Strange, there's something so familiar about his eyes - you thought silently, little did you know you would meet that young man again, sooner than you imagined.

Part 2

[powerfulscribbles]

In Need of Aid - A G/t Elden Ring fic (2)

Prologue | Chp. 1 | Chp. 2 | Chp. 3 | Chp. 4

Chapter 2: A Cry for Help

->Read the chapter on ao3 (registered users)<-

Chapter summary: Valyssa takes on the mysterious invader.

Warnings: Canon-typical violence, excess of violence, sadism, an animal is wounded in a specific moment.

This story contains g/t stuff, so if that's not your thing it's in your best interest to click away! Thank thee kindly~

Words: 3,2k

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I have no idea where you came from, but now it’s not the time to be asking questions.

The invader slowed down his running towards her, which at first could make it seem like he was intimidated by her stance, if it wasn’t for his menacing walk.

Something tells me I should avoid his knives at all costs.

As to confirm her supposition, the invader sent a couple of airborne red blades in her direction, which she wasn’t able to dodge in time.

As they hit her, she instinctively hissed and staggered in place, dumbfounded. Despite the thick armor, those blades still cut into her? She could feel some wounds opening under her arming jacket as well, underneath her breastplate.

H-how?? Was that… blood?

She shook her head and took some steps back after the recoil, bringing Torrent’s finger whistle to her lips.

Ugh, focus Valyssa, focus!

She blew into the thin golden ring, summoning the spectral steed and hopping on his back immediately. Soon after she instructed him to charge straight at the cloaked opponent.

Grasping her greatsword in her right hand she held it to her side, ready to strike.

He’s definitely aggressive. But so am I.

... I have to be.

The invader seemed to notice her change in demeanor, so he fell back to draw out a couple of small pots from under his black robe; they were covered in maggots, red effluents running down from the cracked clay.

He flung one of the pots towards Valyssa, but Torrent dodged it swiftly. The container crashed not too far from her location, releasing the liquids and frenzied flies in the small area around it.

He tried to send some more on her way, but none of them hit neither the vagabondt knight nor her horse.

So when she managed to get close enough to him before he had time to react, she struck his torso with well-placed swipe, causing him to grunt and stumble backwards. Valyssa smirked.

That’s better.

She distanced herself from him, and turned Torrent around so she could approach the invader and strike him again.

This time though, he smashed some pots right around him, the enormous amount of flies hiding his presence completely and protecting him from the incoming attack.

She immediately lost track of him as she approached, so she stopped the horse before passing through the massive swarm.

Though the annoying insects set free from the pots very rapidly flew in her direction and surrounded her, their buzzing unsustainable as they assaulted her already injured self, causing much more bleeding. And while she was distracted by them, the invader took fully advantage of that.

He appeared right beside her out of the swarm and twirled around with both his blades, slicing right into one of Torrent’s back legs. The poor animal neighed in pain before crashing on the side, causing Valyssa to tumble in the river. A yelp left her mouth the moment her pelvis came in contact with the ground.

As her horse companion dissolved under her saddened eyes, the pain bloomed fast and made her hiss loudly. She got back up as fast as she could, but the aggravated blood loss started to seriously affect her, and the blunt blow significantly slowed down her movements.

I-i can’t give up now… I-I don’t want to…

Before Valyssa could even blink, two light blue pots were smashed on both her sides, releasing a freezing mist. The sudden crashing noises made her stumble back, more in shock than in fear.

And somehow, despite the heavy armor, the frigid temperature started seeping through, numbing her muscles and limbs. She was feeling a little cold already due her wounds, but now it was even worse.

Weakened, the girl stumbled and dropped right to her knees, losing the grip on her sword. Her gaze unfocused and empty, as she rattled her teeth and her heartbeat decelerated.

“So this is the Tarnished that has slain Godrick the Grafted…"

Hearing the invader speak so out of the blue made her slowly raise her gaze back up, so taken aback by his words.

“I was genuinely hoping for something more challenging. This was quite disappointing, to say the least.”

She did nothing but make a defiant grin in response.

“You took me by surprise, how were you expecting anything different? If you really wanted a fair fight, you should’ve just asked” she spat out mockingly, blood running down her nose and darkened lips.

The retort made the cloaked man growl in response and so he pushed her hard in the water. She whined quietly, and before she could stand back up he kicked her torso with all his strength.

“I don’t like your insolent attitude. This should wipe that smile off your face” he said, giving some more kicks.

Then again, and again, no matter how much she pleaded.

Once he grew bored of it, he climbed on top and sat on her throbbing waist with his knees, completely uncaring of her pain. Every single movement of his caused the woman to wail loudly, her breathing getting ragged and uneven.

He then grabbed her wrists and pinned her above her head, keeping them still with one of his grey-skinned hands as he searched for something in a pocket of his robe. Her attempts at dislodging him were futile, and the more she struggled, the more he pressed into her with his weight.

All of a sudden, two of the highwaymen emerged from the Murkwater cave, maybe attracted by all the screaming.

They checked out the area, looking for the source of all the noise and finally spotted the bleeding Tarnished. She glanced back at them and whimpered, struggling even more under the weight of the invader.

“H-help!! P-please…” she begged, her voice quickly turning into a whisper at the end.

The two bandits stared back at her, only to retreat inside without saying a word as they realized who her opponent was.

“N-no! C-come back! Please!!” she croaked out, the sight making her heart sink. The invader found their behavior incredibly hilarious, cackling as if it was the most entertaining thing in the world.

“Ha! Not even the deserters of a deceased demigod want anything to do with you! What a joke!” he insulted her.

Valyssa remained quiet, and despite the tears that were now running down her cheeks, she didn’t want to give up hope.

“But the fun part has gone on long enough, it’s time to finish you off. I’m sure this will be humiliating enough, for a runt such as you…” So he pulled out a tiny glass jar, containing a purplish and viscous substance inside.

“Oh, and it’ll do wonders with your wounds…” he said, his amused tone sending shivers down her spine.

She whimpered and wriggled more as he removed the cork with his teeth, shaking her head to make things more difficult to him, but he stopped her by wrapping his large hand around her neck and squeezing.

“Quit making a fuss! It won’t even be that bad.”

The poor Valyssa couldn’t help but gasp as she fought for air, and he fully took advantage of that to pour the strange liquid in her wide-open mouth.

She gargled as it ended up straight down her throat, any effort to spit it out nullified by the hand that pressed into her cold lips. He even released some of the grip on her neck for a quick moment, so that she could swallow the potion with effective ease.

The sensation was immediate and so… outwardly. She could feel the strange liquid doing something to her, and her body shone briefly with a blue light, which then turned dark red. And it did, the green-eyed woman strongly believed for a moment that her own blood had reached the boiling point.

She thrashed powerless underneath the man that had defeated her, her cries muffled by his hand as he still kept her mouth shut.

“Worry not, it’ll be all over soon… You will see” the man whispered, but not out of compassion or concern.

Before she could even grasp at what he was saying, Valyssa witnessed the world around her… slowly growing in size? She couldn’t even think of anything as she looked around anxiously. Instead, she just observed how the invader seemingly appeared further and further from her, and he removed both his hands off of her.

His face remained cloaked even with the increasing size difference, but she could feel his gaze was still fixated on her with the same malicious expression. And as much as she wanted to scream, her voice remained stuck in her throat as she just stared up at him, paralyzed in terror.

As if that wasn’t enough, the water where she was laying in now started to submerge her, with her own armor bringing her down towards the bottom. Just how small was she now?

Her hands immediately went to the leather belts holding her chest armor so she could get rid of it, but a bunch of giant grey digits pressed into her whole body to keep her underwater. And no matter how much she struggled and attempted to scratch him, she was passing out from exhaustion and the injuries. She clenched her teeth and tried to stay awake, stopping her movements at the same time.

“You know what? I had different plans to end you. However, since you’re already sinking on your own, I’ll just give you a hand.”

He pressed into her some more, but he soon realized that she was completely still. Even though he couldn’t see her through the murky water, he didn’t feel her fighting back anymore.

"You can’t even hear me now, can you? Well, that’s just perfe-“

His words were interrupted by a sharp, stinging feeling in the back of his hand and he cried out, retracting it instinctively. In a last desperate attempt, she had bitten him!

“Oh you little- So this is how you want to go down-“ he growled, getting ready to squeeze her underwater again.

But a long katana was thrust right through the middle of his chest from behind. The man stared at the blade with eyes wide and gurgled something, until a pointed metallic boot sent him face down to the ground as the swordsman extracted the weapon from his back.

Despite being mortally wounded however, the now downed invader merely chuckled between wheezing sounds, and managed to turn around to face his attacker.

“S-so you’re still around, old man…” he choked out.

“E-eleonora will not be pleased…” he finally whispered, exhaling his last breath before his body collapsed in the water, his dark red figure vanishing in the air.

The ronin simply watched, sighing deeply as he brought his hand clenched into a fist to his iron kasa, like he had done many times before. Some seconds passed and he seemed to be doing better, that’s when he quickly knelt down to pick Valyssa up from the river water, doing his best to be as careful as possible.

Although the woman had lost consciousness, she was still breathing. A little irregularly to be fair, but she was alive. Drops and drops of water were running down her face and the tufts of her rust-colored hair, now completely drenched. Blood was spilling from underneath her armor, coating his palms.

“What then, what’s going on here?” a voice resounded from the cave entrance, causing the katana wielder to turn his head. The untethered Tarnished made his appearance soon after, holding a spear and his greatshield.

“Oh it’s you! You’re Yura, right? Some of my men were alarmed and came to tell me about something, that’s why I’m here to check mysel-“

He paused abruptly as he realized what- or who, actually- was in the ronin’s hands.

“Wait… Wha… what happened to her?” Patches asked, completely astounded. “She… she was here just now, doing perfectly fine… And now she’s all passed out, bleeding and… just a few inches tall?"

“I am afraid so. She fought against a Bloody Finger. Nerijus was his name” Yura explained.

“Oh damn. I dunno what that might be, to be fair” the bald man confessed.

“Let’s leave the explanations for later and we take care of her first. She has to rest and heal.”

"Oh yes yes absolutely. There’s a warm bonfire inside my shop. It’s a peaceful place, right this way” the merchant said, reentering his cave.

“Excellent” the ronin complied, following Patches’ lead as he still held the senseless Valyssa protectively.

~°~

“Remind me Yura, who are you again?” the merchant asked the older man, both of them resting by the bonfire.

Valyssa had been placed in the near distance beside them, in an improvised tiny bed with some handkerchiefs (courtesy of Patches) serving as a blanket and pillow, and a few warming stones underneath her provided a small but constant output of healing power. She was still unconscious, but her breathing had stabilized now, and her chest plate had been very delicately removed, so that Yura could bandage her wounds and stop the bleeding.

“I’m a Hunter of Bloody Fingers. They are Tarnished held in thrall by cessblood. Zealots who stalk their own kind, and enjoy partaking in bloodshed like rabid dogs. My job is putting an end to their madness whenever it occurs.”

“Ah, I get it now. They’re like insane, bloodthirsty assassins who kill just to feel the thrill of it, right?”

Yura nodded in agreement.

“But then… why would someone do, uh, that to her?” Patches blurted out, pointing straight at her shrunken figure.

The hunter exhaled deeply.

“Nerijus has always been more on the wicked side, compared to other Bloody Fingers. And it’s likely he found a new way to mess with his targets, as we’ve just witnessed.”

Patches sighed. “Well, it’s a good thing you had those stones with you, though! They’re miraculous!”

"You speak the truth. They’re ruin fragments blessed with an incantation of the Two Fingers. That is why they work so well on a Tarnished. Especially one guided by grace, like her.”

“Uhm, right. I’ll make sure to add plenty to my merch then. They seem useful” the bald merchant observed.

Silence fell among them.

“Anyway, uh… Is there… is there some kind of way to… undo to what he did to her?”

The ronin shook his head somberly.

“It appears that what reduced her size in such a drastic way is either a kind of blood incantation that I unfortunately do not recognize, or something else entirely. A potion is not entirely out of question, either. No matter what it was, this is the first time I’ve seen it in use.”

“And you’ve been around for a while I bet, eh?”, Patches chuckled.

“For quite some time, yes” the hunter confirmed, with his usual serious tone.

“How are we going to fix her now, then? She’s basically helpless on her own!”

“I’d need to do some research first. Whatever Nerijus inflicted on her, it seems to be a very unique spell with a very specific effect.”

“Wait, so you didn’t actually see what he used on her?”

Yura sighed. “Unfortunately I intervened too late to prevent that. I deeply regret not arriving sooner to stop that madness.”

“Hey hey, you’re good pal!” the merchant reassured him. “At least you’ve killed him, right?”

“As much as I would like to neutralize the real Nerijus, that was only a copy of him. When Bloody Fingers seek their preys, they make use of a sort of phantom they can control, so they don’t actually receive fatal blows or perish in the attempt.”

“Ha, pretty smart of them” Patches admitted.

“But the real Bloody Finger can be defeated and slain, right?”

“They can, but it’s very unlikely for them to show themselves in the open in such a way. A substitute is much more convenient for their purposes."

“It makes sense, yeah. They almost sound like cowards, to me” the Tarnished commented with an annoyed smirk.

“And you are right to say that. That’s one more reason to end their continued folly.”

“Alright buddy, but I’ll leave that job to you, eh? In the meantime, we should find a way to help our now-tiny friend over here” the merchant said, looking over to her again.

“I’ll be departing soon, fret not. The sooner we find a solution, the better.”

“Great, I agree! Do you already know where you’re headed?” the merchant inquired.

“First, I’ll return to my shack, in search of anything from my Bloody Finger Hunter archives that resembles this kind of blood magic. Secondly, I’ll make my way to the Raya Lucaria Academy, in Liurnia of the Lakes.”

“Ah, a popular location I see! But if it’s okay to ask… Why the Academy, specifically?”

“There is a slim chance that such an important institution dedicated to magic might harbor the necessary knowledge to discover the hex responsible for her shrinking, even though it would not belong to the usual subjects of teaching. It’ll be worth being inspected as a second option, if we have not figured out the kind of power we’re dealing with by then."

“Sure, sounds good to me!” Patches exclaimed contentedly.

“Wait, don’t you need a key to access the Academy? Or is it just some unfounded rumors?”

“It’s true, one does need a Glintstone Key to enter the gates of the building. I do have one in my possession, thankfully. A… dear person gave it to me, long time ago, before she could use it” Yura explained, then briefly clutched a hand to his helmet again.

“Oh I see, it’s all good then!” the merchant said. He had noticed the ronin seemed troubled by what he had just mentioned, but decided not to pry.

“About Val though, is she coming with you or…?"

“As much as it’d be helpful for the research if she accompanied me, she’s not in the right conditions at this very moment. She’s been through hell enough for this day. And I would be lying if I said the journey wouldn’t put her through more unnecessary stress and danger.”

“Ah, right. That’s very true. Well then, in the meantime, I’ll wait here and protect her with my men. To see that no harm comes while you’re gone, you know? I’ll even close my shop for a while, so that nobody shows up and bothers us while you’re away. She needs all the rest she can get.”

“Nothing wrong with that. I don’t see another Bloody Finger coming for a while, but there’s no harm in keeping her safe while she recovers.”

“So it’s settled!” Patches proclaimed.

The hunter nodded as he stood up.

“I’ll take my leave now. Thank you for the essential cooperation and assistance.”

"Oh, what for? You saved my pal Val, it’s only natural that I want to help you in this rough situation” the untethered Tarnished said, smiling in grimace.

Yura nodded again.

“See you, then!” Patches exclaimed, waving at the other man, who only raised his hand in a formal manner as he left the cave.

Once it all went quiet again, the man in leather armor exhaled softly in relief.

“Well, sorry you’re gonna miss your little meeting friend, but there was little you could have done about it, it seems” he said, looking down at the sleeping woman.

“I’m sure your white-masked bud will understand.”

Back to Chapter 1 | To Chapter 3

[tired-tales]

Miryam kept her spear pointed at the fallen angel. She knew it wouldn't keep her at bay for long. Alexandriel's grey, shabby wings were splattered with blood, much of it Miryam's. Too much of it. With only the sheer cliff behind her, and the angel in front of her, there was little doubt how this would end. The only thing she could do was talk and pray. She hoped it would buy the children enough time to escape. The angel, golden eyes shocking against skin like midnight, just stared at her as she spoke, and the serenity nearly drove her to madness.

"You're a monster. You know that, don't you?"

She merely inclined her head.

"How can you be so calm? What, this is just one more town's children to add to your pyre? Are you so inured to your own evil that you won't even shed a tear?"

"Would that help?"

Miryam startled, not expecting a response.

"What?"

"Would that help? Would shedding a tear reduce the monstrosity of killing innocent children? Will the parents, if they live, be even slightly comforted by the knowledge that it was shed? Would it make you feel better, if I wail and rend my garments and cover them in ash?" She paused, then somehow focused more intently on Miryam, the golden sclera and dark pupils becoming discomforting from even a dozen feet away. "Would it?"

Surprised by the genuine emotion in the question, she paused, and the creature continued before she could speak.

"I did not think so. However much I may regret what I have done, grieving will not change it. I will not dishonor the dead with my tears."

"I...you...you can't say you regret it! You're still doing it! Right now! You are literally about to kill me so you can hunt down more children."

"I can and I do. If I had known then what I know now, I would not have begun this quest. If I could undo it, I would." The solemnity of Alexandriel's words almost disguised their utter absurdity. Almost.

"THEN WHY ARE YOU STILL DOING IT?!" Half rage and half desperation, she lunged forward, trying to skewer one of the angel's wings. If she could just slow her down-

The angel batted the spear tip aside with one gauntleted hand. The other, moving with blinding speed, hooked up and around. Pulling against the haft in the opposite direction, the spear splintered, leaving Miryam with only a staff. She quickly shifted her stance, but the angel didn't pursue. Miryam hated the look of pity in her eyes when she spoke, more even than the certain knowledge she would soon die.

"How could I not?" the monster said simply.

Miryam was confused for a moment, nearly forgetting what she'd shouted before striking, and then her confusion only grew. Her puzzlement must have shown on her face, because Alexandriel continued,

"All the evils I have committed, every child whose soul burned on that pyre. How could I let them go to waste? I said I would not dishonor the dead with my tears, and I meant it. You asked why I do not cry for your children? Because if I started now, when would I stop? How much worse would I be, if I threw away their sacrifices to ease my guilt? No. I will finish this, and if I cannot say their deaths were not wasteful, I can at least ensure they will not be wasted."

Miryam's head nearly spun with the force of her fury, again overwhelming her grief and terror.

"Sacri-no I cant ev- GAHHH!" she screamed at the sky. The angel had begun to close the distance slowly, gauntlets ready to block any attacks from the impromptu staff, but she paused almost politely to let Miryam yell. When she turned back to face the angel, she felt empty, only the growing dread of knowing exactly what form her death would take. She opened her mouth to argue, to demand by what right the angel called murder a sacrifice by her victims. What came out was,

"That's stupid."

The angel actually paused for a moment, her mouth opening slightly.

"I beg your pardon?"

Never, she thought, but she said, "that's not how any of that works! You cannot change the past. You said it yourself! Grieving won't bring them back, but neither will succeeding in your quest! They'll be just as dead. Their parents will not be any less devastated. Your success will not vindicate you. The only just path is to stop now, and never use their murders as your justification again."

The angel froze as if slapped, and Miryam felt a brief glimmer of hope.

"You are right of course, and I twice the fool for it."

She almost started to lower her staff when the monster's eyes found hers again.

"I cannot change the past. But I can change the future. You are right, success will not change what I did to them. No more than failure would."

With a sudden, feral lunge, the monster batted aside the staff and shoved Miryam, the hand gripping her leathers the only thing keeping her from falling over the edge.

"But that blade cuts both ways. Stopping now will not bring them back. Will undo nothing." The monster's teeth were gritted, tension in every line of her body. The dark voids she had in place of irises and pupils pulled at Miryam's mind, and she noted with a strange detachment that she could make out constellations in the inky black.

"I did not lie. If I could undo my mistakes, if I could tell myself the cost would be too high before I ever began, I would. I would die for it, if I could." The tension left her jaw, her eyes almost soft.

"But I cannot. Compared to what has been paid, how little is left? If I cannot use their deaths as justification to continue, neither can I use them as excuse to stop. I will kill your children, and then four thousand more. I will burn their souls on the pyre and renew the seal, and I will consider the price of a mere 4,000 innocent children well worth a Myriad of peace."

Miryam desperately grabbed for cloth as the monster released her grip. But of course the monster's clothes weren't really there to grab. As she felt the mist-like robe slip between her fingers, she heard her speak.

"There is no justice to be found in this world, not for the likes of me. It will be a relief, I think, to follow them to my eternal rest. Perhaps the year in Gehinnom will be as well."

Alexandriel watched as the woman fell, watched as her body destroyed itself on the rocks. Her eyes stung, but she ignored them, gray wings unfurling. She yet had work to do.

[typingdyslexiaisathing]

Carnage Wrought (Obey Me!) dark fic

contents: A group of murderous demons decide to attack one lone exchange student. Death happens. Established relationships, violence, blood, injury, death. This fic is going to get very messy be warned ahead of time.

"Myra Fordola Albaroiz." The voice had me pause for dread to cut through me. So I stayed still as I noticed there were several demons behind me. Meaning that trouble and death had decided to come knocking on my door. Not unexpected here in the Devildom. So I kept my hands in the pockets of my black hoodie to have my thumb adjust the Ring of Light on my finger. My other hand hitting the record button on my D.D.D. so as to have evidence for whatever happened. The power within that beautiful ring soaking into my bones as the voice spoke again. "Human. Your presence in our realm is a grave insult to us and ours. We see no reason to allow you to stain our air with your filthy existence. So we will remove you from our realm."

Fear spiked up my spine to snatch at my breath. But I tamped down on it hard as the demons shifted a fraction of an inch closer. My brain already piecing together a protective spell that would keep anyone or anything from getting too close to me. The pacts flaring under my clothes for me to feel how every demon bonded to me tugged on my senses. Which I put to the side to choose dealing with this threat solo. Bold and stupid. But needed if I was going to make my point count for after wards. So I shifted my stance to keep my feet firmly planted. My back still to the demons as I gave my only warning. "You have made your choice in this matter. Either face the looming consequences, or leave unscathed."

The demons laughed to start hissing and speaking in that ancient devil language Diavolo tended to mutter when he was frustrated. So I braced myself as the air shifted for death to sing in the street. Three demons literally charging right at me with the speed of a cheetah. Yet my spell had finished forming the black wires between myself and my enemies. Potent magic black diamond wire charged with power from all seven of my pact demons to act as a barrier. So the three demons that were flying right at me had no chance to stop themselves. The moment their flesh made contact with the woven wires, it eviscerated them into a mess of blood and gore. It was as if they had been liquefied in a blender for the remnants to wash over my back and legs in a wave of carnage. Meaning I was now drenched through for me to shiver from head to toe at the warm goo now touching my skin. While several of the remaining demons howled and shrieked in stunned shock and horror. My counter had worked.

So I crouched down to then spring backwards and right towards the remaining demons with power washing through my legs and feet. meaning I sped through the street faster than a human for the wires to act like dozens of blades. What demons that hadn't moved out of the way also becoming bloody chunks from the wires still at my back. Meaning I got doused in more gore to then turn and lace the wires all around me. Shifting them into a paper thin bubble that kept the curses flung at me from touching me. My legs and feet smoking for the burning power to backlash over my senses. So I focused a new spell to give me secondary sight and locate my enemies. Eight threads shooting out from the paper thin wired barrier to find their marks with perfect accuracy. I gave one tug for blood and screaming to sound out and echo around me. Eight eyeballs soon dangling from the threads I wound around my fingers. So I flicked my wrist for the eyeballs to go sailing in different directions and away from me. All threats dealt with as the screaming continued. Sirens sounding off in the distance.

It was at this point my D.D.D. started ringing. So I hit the button to put it on speaker so I didn't have to move. "Alive and very pissed off. Dia is going to have a crime scene to deal with. All my attackers are more or less neutralized." The voice on the other end gives a huff of air. Lucifer soon making his ire clear. "Foolish of you to deal with them on your own. Why didn't you summon us?" I gave a huff of my own to make my words flinted ice. "That would paint 'free meal' on my back with bold letters. Are any of you okay with the idea that any demon who sees me will immediately think fun pussy ride?" Lucifer gives a cough into his phone to then go deadly quiet. So my point has been made for me to shudder. "In order to stand with my family, I must stand on my own at times when deemed prudent. We made our pacts with that truth in mind. Solomon has taught me in magic for Raphael to also tutor me in battle tactics. I am not the odd human that first came to the Devildom. I am more."

Lucifer gave a sigh as Barbatos hurried towards me. The demon butler going wide eyed when he saw me to shake his head and move to stand next to me. His tail lacing up under my hood to caress my cheek as he spoke. "Do not move an inch, Myra. Lucifer. Her legs and feet are smoldering. She is also completely drenched in red. Please meet us at the castle with new clothes." I hung up when I realized Lucifer had hung up first. A form flying down from above me to be none other than Diavolo. Who was struck speechless before he picked me up bridal style and held me tight. Which hurt on many levels as we all heard the sickening squelching noises my clothes made. Yet Diavolo paid no mind to the gore to remove my hood and nestle my head to his shoulder. His words molten with pride and sadness. "Myra. Remind me to never make you mad."

[sarahlizziewrites]

Find the Word Tag

I was tagged twice - thanks!

My words are (from @darthenra) spirit, journey, sleep, and mirror, and (from @words-after-midnight) damage/damaged, darling, ball, even, annoy/annoying, kiss

Spirit (The Adventures of Sitora Lux, Chapter 15):

Master Aaren spoke. “Welcome guests, students, all. In this season of harvest, we open the doors of our larder to the community of Brightfield, to share in our plenty, and give thanks to Maelennig.” Not the whole community of Brightfield, Sitora thought, somewhat sourly, noting the distinct lack of representatives from her district. “As we come to this point of rest between solstices, we honour the spirit of collaboration…”

Journey (The Adventures of Sitora Lux, Chapter 3):

“In this class, we will spend the semester reading and studying some of those performers who have tapped their tune the loudest. Those who have made a lifelong journey of discovering and recording the history of societies, or gotten close to understanding the Gods. Remember, as we study, that these beats build on the beats of others, that no one rhythm stands alone."

Sleep (The Adventures of Sitora Lux, Chapter 11):

As soon as she had left Master Barleyvale’s classroom, Sitora had run all the way back to her room. Running felt good, it felt like a problem was being solved, even if it wasn’t. Even if the only thing you were doing was putting space in between you and your problems, the pump of muscles and acceleration of the world beyond you was restorative. She arrived in her dorm panting, then spent the night attempting to sleep, but ending up either staring at the ceiling or shivering with either chill or adrenaline.

Mirror (The Adventures of Sitora Lux, Chapter 21):

He was inside, atop his overturned desk, still wearing the black cloak, surrounded by scattered papers and spilled potion ingredients. The mirror on the wall was swung wide open, casting the red glow of the concealment runes into the room.

Damage (The Adventures of Sitora Lux, Chapter 13):

Master Vatris looked a little taken aback at the question, but then his expression regained its usual lofty sneer. “I don’t enjoy when students endanger others, and damage the building with their injudicious use of weapons,” he said, “but…I do enjoy it here, yes.” The side of his mouth twitched into a small smile, and his focus drifted into the middle distance over Sitora’s left shoulder. “In fact, it has been the greatest honour of my life to teach here.”

Darling (The Adventures of Sitora Lux, Chapter 18):

Just as the elf seemed like he was going to say something, Sitora interjected, placing a palm on Lance’s elbow where it still held hers. “Aren’t you forgetting why we’re here, darling?” Lance gave her such a drawn-out blank look that she briefly worried he had actually forgotten why they were there, as well as their ruse of pretending to be a couple. Then his face snapped into a smile. “Of course, dear.”

Ball (Chrissie's of London):

I rush inside to find a suitable cloth to turn into bandages, as well as a bottle of blended Scotch. Well, I'm not wasting the single malt on a bullet wound. When I return, Jacques has his mouth to his palm, and I watch as he rips the metal ball from his skin with his teeth. He looks me in the eye as he spits the bullet out, jowls wet with blood. Russet strands of hair fall in front of his eyes. "Jesus, Jacqui."

Even (The Adventures of Sitora Lux, Chapter 1):

Sitora decided on the greatsword. When she took it from the rack and held it with the point on the ground, the hilt was level with her chin. Even without lifting it, she felt her stance change, squaring her shoulders and rooting her heels into the ground.

Annoy/annoying/annoyed (The Adventures of Sitora Lux, Chapter 13):

Sometimes the scrutiny she faced from the Masters annoyed her. Did they all get a memo before she started to make her feel singular? Her unusual form of payment, her weekend job - couldn’t these things just be left outside the gates of the Garrison where they belonged?

Kiss (The Adventures of Sitora Lux, Chapter 4):

As though in sync, Trix slid onto Sitora’s lap and Sitora’s hands found her hips, before moving fluidly to the small of her back and pulling her closer. A breathy gasp escaped Trix’s mouth, and Sitora was struck by the vulnerability of it; the closeness and the almost tender way Trix cupped her hands around Sitora’s jaw to kiss her yet more insistently.

ooh that last one was evil ;3

I'm going to welcome @bethtriestowrite! She is new, go give her a follow! Also, @oliviasbookshelf, @ryns-ramblings, @frankensteinshimbo

Your words are: jaw, weekend, level, ruse, injudicious (idk I just want to see if anyone else has ever used this word!), pump, tune

[cielenruine]

He did not understand it. He had heard well the words of Edelgard from the young heir herself. It had only further fostered that feeling of irritation. Such hope, such resolve, such promise for a better future...and yet here they were. Here all of Fodlan was spilling the blood of those so idealistic as to read no further past what they'd heard, know no more than they are told and never wonder past that. Blood filled the soils of this fertile field such that it was even overtaxed. The goddess would weep were she here to see it. Worse still in his mind was the others. Those who fell into the same category as Lukas. This was not their conflict to have, not their war to fight nor their blood to be split nor weapons used to spill others. He expected no less when that calm voice, almost serene in the stillness it maintained despite the chaos around them. He could not be so indifferent and despite how it may have seemed to others...he felt such was the case for Lukas as well. "You are no soldier of Adrestia!" He spat the words back, using the opportunity presented to switch his weapons. The axe he had used to tear through so many others was far too dull for this boy. Part of him was grateful, despite everything, despite his failings, Sylvain had still trusted him enough even as he grew into his future station more. What once was the reason so many Gautiers needlessly killed one another, was now a shared weapon between them. It had only been with Sylvain's foresight that he had come with it, and he was glad to have now. Indeed, they were both soldiers...but only one of them truly had it all at stake. Lukas would know the difference that made soon. Already his strikes were faltering, his stance weak. Matthias hated to take advantage of whatever troubled his mind so...but this was war. There was little time for such sentimentality. Matthias had doubled back and started a charge he knew would be far too fast for the boy the counter. That was simply the charge on it's own. But as he passed Lukas and the hordes of Adrestian soldiers, his lance aimed for just beneath the shoulder. An odd but effective strike- The lance sip pierced armor and the blades on it's edge cracked the shield. Not enough. He would have rather broken it but at the very least, damage had been done to his dominant arm. He stood back, on guard as he watched the blood flow down Lukas's arm. "Any death I give you here will be meaningless."

He winced at the idea and soon grimaced. "You would sooner die by my hand than conceive of a future in which we both live? This..." For all the advantages provided by his steed, he was still nearing the end of what fight he could give. There was little more time before he'd have to retreat. "I would ask you put down your arms...but you would never...no...I wouldn't either." Once more he readied for a charge but perhaps he was faltering more than he thought. His order was heeded sloppily...his horse tired, most likely injured far too much yet still persistent, loyal to the end in it's master's call. He too hesitated. It was going to miss. He was only barely closed the distance, but as he felt that familiar burn of his crest, he couldn't. Not against Lukas... Not against his...

home || timeskip au (route: unknown)

[borahaerhy]

Gone (6) - jjk

Summary: You and your childhood best friend, Jungkook, have grown apart over the years, although you still have the same overbearing fun-loving bestie, Aria, that really wants her best friends talking again, something neither of you really want to be apart of until Aria goes missing, and the only other person that could help you find her is the one you've spent years avoiding.

Pairing: Jungkook x Female Reader

Genre: Best friends to enemies (ish?) to lovers, High School AU, eventual smut, slow burn

Warnings: None really, some sad boi hours at best. Lmk if you think I should add anything specific here <3

Word Count: 4.6K

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You ran for what felt like hours, making a huge circle around the property so there was no way you’d run into him again as you made your way back to the car. You peeled out of there, both of you still gasping for breath as you hastily jumped into the car and drove away, barely escaping with your lives. You drove in silence for almost an hour before you finally felt you were at a safe distance and pulled into a hotel.  

As you walked in, you realized this one was a lot nicer than the last one, which you were thankful for. You began walking over to the bathroom when Jungkook stopped you, grabbing your arm.  

“Why didn’t you tell me you hurt your leg?” He looked down at the giant tear in your jeans along the outside of your calf. Your jeans had been stained red where the blood had been running from your leg but had long stopped as it was already beginning to scab over.  

“It’s not that bad,” you adjusted your stance, trying to hide your left leg behind your right as you straightened your posture.  

“Then why are you limping?” You shrugged, feigning ignorance. 

“I think your eyes a broken, because I’m fine,” you shrugged again, looking down at yourself like you couldn’t find what he was talking about. 

“Jesus, Y/n,” he dropped his bag and bent down, hooking his arm under your legs, picking you up as you yelped slightly, not expecting to be disconnected from the ground so easily. He carried you to the bathroom and set you down on the edge of the bathtub. He gently ripped your jeans at the tear all the way down, and a bit more up, so he could really see what was going on with your injury.  

“Those are my favorite jeans,” you complain, not liking the new style he has inflicted upon you.  

“Those were your favorite jeans,” he sighed heavily as he looked down at your leg, brow tightly furrowed with concern. “I’m going to go see if there’s a drug store or something nearby so I can get stuff to clean that up,” you nodded as he looked up from your leg and into your eyes, smiling gently as if to try to reassure you. He gave your thigh a light squeeze before he stood up.  

“I might be in the shower when you get back, so don’t barge in,” you say, standing up to go grab yourself some fresh clothes out of your bag. He helped you steady yourself as you stumbled, your hand in his while his other was on your waist making sure you weren't going to topple over the second he let go.  

“Okay, just please be careful, okay?” He looked up at you as he was about to walk out of the bathroom, eyes wide, his lip pulled between his teeth. You nodded slowly, almost apologetically as he smiled in response, leaving the door ajar as he walked into the room, and soon thereafter, the hotel room entirely.  

You left the small bathroom and walked into the main room to grab yourself some baggy sweatpants, a loose-fitting tank top and a flannel before returning to the bathroom and closing the door. You stood in front of the mirror and very hesitantly started to pull your hoodie up, whining lightly from the pain that was searing into your right side. You let the hoodie fall to the floor lazily as you felt your energy almost depleted. 

A giant purple and black bruise was covering your ribs, erupting out from the spot you had been crushed when you had fallen, landing on that guy's large arm as you both roughly fell to the ground. That guy that got shot. That guy that’s dead. 

- 

You winced as he poured alcohol on your leg, gripping the side of the tub as he gently cleaned around the edges of the cut with a cloth you would no doubt have to throw away.  

“I know, I'm sorry, I’m almost done,” he soothed as he gently started rubbing antibiotic ointment on it, then wrapped it up with some gauze. He helped you stand back up, making sure you had your balance before he started cleaning up the things he’d gotten to clean your cut. You moved back into the main room and sat down on the bed you’d claimed, letting out an exasperated sigh as you let your body weight fall back onto the bed, legs dangling off the side. A minute or so later, Jungkook emerged from the bathroom and walked over to his bed and sat down, eyes glued to your exhausted figure as he finally allowed himself to relax for the first time that day.  

As he stared at you, chest moving up and down slowly with your hands strewn above your head and eyebrows knit tightly even though it looked as though you were all but asleep, he couldn’t stop thinking about how much he'd missed you. And what he did to cause you to stop speaking.  

-   

Aria and you walked into school together, just like you always did. The beginning of sophomore year was admittedly a lot easier than the beginning of freshman year, but it wasn’t quite what you’d imagined it’d be.  

At first, it was a few mutual friends you had; no one you would hang out with outside of school though. Then it was the girls in the grade above you, asking her to come sit with them. You sat with them once, and once was enough to know you’d rather sit alone the rest of the year than be stared at like that again. Some of the older guys would come up to you at the school's football games and invite her to after parties. Talk to her as if you weren’t standing right next to her; as if no one was.  

You were fine with it. Aria had always been really pretty, and now people were starting to recognize it; make her feel good about herself. She deserved it.  

But then, it wasn’t just acquaintances and people you didn’t care about. It wasn’t just pretending you didn’t exist and you not saying anything about it to not ruin her fun. It wasn’t just mean girls glaring at you because you had fucked up the aesthetic of their table.  

It was Jungkook.  

He asked her to hang out, asked her to Homecoming, asked her to study, to come over, to watch Marvel movies. You still tagged along for a while, as you basically always did when Aria was invited somewhere.  

At first, you’d walk with them, trying to add to the conversation without your end being acknowledged.  

Then you’d walk behind them, listening to them talk about some of your favorite subjects.  

Finally, you’d walk separately from them, claiming you had your own things you needed to do, and you’d meet back up with them later.  

One day, when you thought they were about to say goodbye to each other, you ran up to them.  

“Guys,” you started, trying to sound as excited as possible without sounding annoying. Jungkook didn’t even look at you, his face falling at the sound of your voice as he turned away from you, taking a few steps back. “Deadpool 2 just came out and I thought you guys might want to watch it? Like, the three of us, together?” Aria looked back at Jungkook, then turned completely to face you.  

“We were just talking about going to the movies, we wanted to see something else, though. But you're welcome to join!” Aria smiled, bubbly and naive as ever. As she invited you, Jungkook finally turned around, not at all visible to her, and gave you the look. The ‘she’s just being nice; we don’t actually want you there’ look. The ‘please say no’ look.  

Your heart sunk as your expression fell gradually, realizing what you had been freaking out over was real. You weren’t over thinking. You weren’t being dramatic. You were right to feel ridiculous about coming along to things you weren’t invited to. You were the annoying kid everyone just put up with so they could look good in front of the pretty girl. Except this time it was with the one person you thought would never care about something like that. Never put one of you above the other. Never so obviously, at least.  

You smiled slightly, looking back at Aria. “I’m sorry, I just remembered I have a massive essay due in psych. I gotta get home. You guys have fun, though,” Aria sulked, but Jungkook’s happy smile returned, and you went home.  

Your best friend was gone. The guy you’d been in love with since 6th grade doesn’t even look at you anymore, because he’d fallen in love with the pretty one. The worst part was you couldn’t even blame him. Everyone was in love with her. Why wouldn’t they be? Sweet, independent, adventurous, intelligent, gorgeous. No one could compete, so you didn’t even try.  

- 

“Hey, Y/n?” you grunted, not moving or opening your eyes as pain filled in his expression. “I need to talk to you....” He trailed off, looking down at his hands as they fidgeted, his heart racing in his chest as he hears you slowly sit up.  

“What’s up, Koo?” all it took was one glance for you to feel the anxiety radiating off of him. You had both gone through a lot today, and he definitely saw more than you had. He had done more, too. He squeezed his eyes shut as he took a shaky deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger.  

“We could die at any second now and I feel like I really need to talk to you, to apologize to you for what happened,” the sound of his anxiety-laced voice tugged at your heart strings harder than you thought even possible. You moved to stand, but he stopped you, putting a hand up and shaking his head as he momentarily locked eyes with you, watery and shaking, before he looked back down and sniffed. You rested back down into the mattress, watching him carefully as your own anxiety began to climb.  

“I really hate what I did to you, Y/n. I hate myself for doing it,” you shook your head trying to stand again but he stopped you once more, eyes more stern this time. “I ruined everything because I was an idiot, because of a stupid crush that only lasted a month or two at most. I forced the best thing that ever happened to me out of my life because of bullshit ass immature reasons that I can’t even fully remember anymore,” he looked up at the ceiling, trying to blink away the tears that had already begun to spill down his heated cheeks.  

He cursed under his breath as he wiped them from his face, wishing he could’ve gotten them away sooner– before you had seen them. He took a second to compose himself before he brought his face back down, looking at the frayed seam of his jeans as he lightly shook his head.  

“I missed you less than a week after you stopped tagging along with us. It took less than a week to realize I was the asshole, but I couldn’t bear to look you in the eye, to see how sad they looked that day again. I told myself I’d wait maybe another week or two, wait until the sting wears off. Then I said just another few weeks, so I could get my apology just right. A few months go by and I have notebooks filled with different ideas and different letters to you.  

“I was going to just slip one in your locker, make it easy on myself but even that seemed too hard because what if you came around the corner and saw me at the last minute?” His voice was now stronger and clearer than it had been before as he picked at his now frayed jeans. They had served as a nice distraction from what he was doing.

“I hated being without you and seeing how cold you’d gotten since we’d stopped talking. I hated how Aria would always talk about how off you’d been, and always asking why we weren’t talking; when I’d planned on talking to you again,” he smiled, remembering the conversations he had hated at the time, but loved to think back on, even before she’d gone missing. She was right. She usually was. 

He sighed again as he finally looked up at you, your eyes now looking worse off than his as your lips were pulled down gently into a frown as you desperately tried to hold back tears. Being able to control your emotions had never been your strong suit.  

“I could never give her an answer because I could never give myself one. It was an endless cycle of procrastination and disappointment in myself when I failed to make things right yet again, and I’m sorry. It was all my fault, everything. Every part of it was my fault and I’m so sorry for hurting you, Y/n,” There was nothing holding your tears back now as he said the words you’ve been waiting to hear for years.  

You always expected they’d be half-assed, just a quick “hey I’m sorry, wanna hang out later?” that you’d be able to yell at him for, finally get all of your emotions out that you’d been bottling up by throwing in his face how much of a dick he was. But he didn’t give a half-assed apology, and you couldn’t keep your emotions inside of you either way, so they came out as tears instead of screams. You stood up, not just wanting to sit there and cry as he watched you, but he did the same, wrapping his arms around you and pulling you into his chest as you sobbed.  

He gently smoothed down your hair as his cheek rested on the top of your head, gently rocking side to side as he himself had a hard time containing his tears. You gripped his shirt as if your life depended on it, forehead resting on his shoulder as you tried to convince your sobs to quiet down; swallowing them down as you took deep breaths, breathing in Jungkook’s scent with every deep inhalation.  

“I never blamed you,” you sniffled, pulling away slightly as you wiped the salty tears from your stained cheeks, Jungkook's arms wrapped firmly around your waist. “How could I blame you when everyone else was doing the exact same thing? Everyone was in love with her,” He pulled your stupid face into his broad chest again as he hated the words that left your gorgeous lips. You wrapped your arms around his waist as he tangled his fingers in your hair, sniffling as he blinked away his sadness once again.  

“You were supposed to blame me because I was supposed to be the one to beat up people that treated you that way, supposed to be the one person who didn’t treat you that way. It was supposed to be the two of us against the world, then the three of us against the world, and that’s exactly what we’d still be if I wasn’t such a damn idiot,” he pulled away from you as he spoke, looking you in the eyes with his arms locked around you as tears threatened to fall.  

You moved your hands up to cup his cheeks as a single tear fell down his puffy cheek. He closed his eyes as he felt your warm hands come to rest on his face, gently wiping away his sadness with the pad of your soft thumb.  

 “We’re all idiots sometimes. All I ever wanted from you was an apology. Now I have one. It’s okay, Jungkookie; I forgive you,” his already closed eyes scrunched shut even harder as more tears trickled down from them.  He leaned his face down until his forehead met yours, letting himself be close to you the way he’d wanted to for years as you sweetly wiped away his sadness from his puffy cheeks. 

He moved one of his hands up to meet one of yours, taking it softly in his hand as he opened his eyes, looking down at your hand with a small smile on his face as he rubbed his thumb along your digits. He closed his eyes as he pulled your hand up to meet his lips, softly brushing against them with his lips that were still damp with tears.  

“I missed you,” he mumbles as he looks at your face again, your cheeks puffy and stained as your mouth held the same sweet smile he’d grown to miss so much. A smile grew on his own face as he let his forehead move back to yours, his neck no longer strong enough to hold his head up anymore.  

“I missed you, too,” you said quietly, shivers running down your spine as you felt his hot breath brushing gently across your cold lips. His eyes fluttered lightly as his gaze flickered down to your lips for only a moment. He paused as he met your eyes before looking back down at your lips. His breath stuttered, as if he had to think about it. 

He moved forward again, pausing midway for half a second, closed his eyes, and completely removed the space between you, connecting your lips in what you could only describe as the gentlest kiss to have ever happened.  

His plush lips met yours perfectly, molding together as if they were a perfect pair. He began to move his lips slowly against yours, and you followed, his soft movements taking the lead. Your lips danced together emotionally, as if you were both letting everything from the past two years out into each other; letting the other hold onto all the pain you tried so hard to forget.  

One of his hands moved up to cup your cheek gently as his tongue softly brushed up against your bottom lip. You opened your mouth slightly, letting your tongue meet his before they pushed past each other. He pulled you tighter into him as you wrapped your arms around his neck and moved your head slightly to the side, allowing you both to push yourselves further into one another.  

Every movement he made was so soft and gentle, as if he was scared to hurt you. You could no longer differentiate between his heartbeat and your own, both racing as they tried to keep up with one another. His arm wrapped around you and pulled you closer still, his hand finding the small of your back before gently ghosting upwards. Your lips got more and more desperate as they couldn’t pull away from the others, soft whimpers escaping you as he gently bit your lip.  

He leaned down slightly, lips never leaving yours as he hooked his hands around your thighs, pulling them up to wrap around him as he lifted you higher. He took a soft step forward as your feet hooked onto each other behind his back. As his knee hit the mattress, he softly leaned down at an angle, hand on your back to support you until your back hit the soft bedding, head on the crisp pillows. He gently climbed onto the bed and over you, lips only leaving yours for a second as he situated you both into a more comfortable position.  

“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered, lips still ghosting over yours before he softly kissed you, situating himself between your thighs. He held himself above you, his arms supporting his weight as he lowered himself slightly, just enough for your chests to be pressed together, his weight still being held up. He slid his right arm under your body, stopping once his fingertips curled around your shoulder. His left hand pushed into your hip softly before he loosened his grip on you, moving his hand up your side.  

As his palm pressed into your ribs, you flinched away from his hand as you sucked in a sharp breath of air. Jungkook sat up slightly, moving both of his arms away from you as he scanned over where he had touched you. 

“Are you okay? Did I hurt you?” he asked instantly, eyebrows tightly knit together as he stared at your side, almost as if trying to see through your shirt to see if you were okay. You shook your head, propping yourself up on your elbows.  

“I’m fine, Gguk, just a little sore from the fall,” you spoke softly, trying to grab his attention and bring it back to you as his eyes still looked worried at your side. 

“How bad is it?” he asked, resting back on his feet as his fingers lightly ran up your side again, barely touching you to not hurt you again. “Is there a bruise?” His eyes flickered back up to yours for a second before looking back down. You sighed, realizing by the look in his eye he wasn’t going to stop asking questions until he saw it, saw how bad it really was.  

You carefully lifted the bottom of your shirt and pulled it up to just under your breasts and his eyes went wide as he leaned in slowly, fingers not even touching your skin, just hovering over top of it as he examined you carefully.  

“Y/n, this looks really bad,” he mumbled, bringing his face down closer, trying to see more in the dim light of the hotel. “Can I touch it? I just want to see if I can feel a broken rib,” he looks back at you and waits for your response, eyes now filled with worry. You nodded your head softly as you bit your lip, still all too aware of the compromising position you’re still in; something he’s seemed to have forgotten about entirely as one of his hands came down onto the bed on the opposite side of you to steady himself as his thumb gently starts rubbing over the surface of the bruise.  

As he brushed over the deepest part of the bruise, he pushed down a little harder, causing you to wince as you were unable to hold back your reaction any longer, the tender skin of your side pulsing with pain. 

“Sorry,” he mumbles, looking up at you apologetically before he resumes his attention. “I don’t think it’s broken, but it might be cracked. Either way we need to be really careful, I can’t take you to a hospital until this is all over, so you really aren’t allowed to hurt yourself anymore,” he wasn’t touching you anymore, instead both of his hands were on the bed on either side of you as he leaned over you again, his voice soft and his face serious as his eyes flickered back and forth between yours. 

You nodded softly as you smiled lightly, your heart beating unnaturally for a moment as he continued to look at you like he always used to. The way Jungkook always cared for you when you were younger was always like this; always trying to protect you and keep you safe from everything. If you ever got hurt or anxious, everything else was dropped and he’d be right next to you, making sure you were okay. Putting band-aids on scraped knees and kisses on bruises as he remembered more about your breathing exercises that you had. 

He always had a handful of band-aids with him because you were rather clumsy as a kid. He’d pick all the dandelions he could find and give them to you, knowing they were your favorite flower. When you broke your arm when you were 11, he sat you on the handlebars of his bike and rode two miles back to his house so his parents could take you to the hospital. While you had been sitting at home upset that you’d left your bike in the middle of nowhere, he’d ridden back out to get it, somehow managing the ride back with two bikes.  

There was an undeniable swelling in your heart as you sat there, watching him look at your bruised figure with worry, realizing that he’d never stopped caring about you. And that you’d never stopped caring about him.  

“Thank you,” your voice was barely above a whisper, sounding almost as if you had breathed your words instead of speaking them. He furrowed his eyebrows again, cocking his head slightly to the side as he came down to rest on his elbows.  

“For what? Telling you that your rib might be broken?” you chuckled lightly, your hands coming to rest on his arms.  

“For caring,” you smiled, your voice low and your eyes looking deeply into his. He smiled, his bunny teeth showing through as he let out a huff of air. He let his head fall for a second before he lifted it back up and looked back at you, his eyes smiling more than his lips. He places a soft sweet kiss on your lips before pulling back again, foreheads connected.  

“You’re adorable,” his voice was low as he continued to smile, almost laughing as he placed another kiss on your nose. He fully sat up and rolled over to the other side of the bed, lying on his side looking at you. You rolled over to look at him too as he scooted toward you, pulling you by your hips to meet him as well. “We should sleep, I’m sure we’re going to have plenty to do in the morning,”  

“Let me turn off the light, then—” you started to turn, knowing you could reach the bedside lamp next to you if you just scooted the tiniest bit, but Jungkook grabbed your hand and brought it back to rest between you.  

“Closing your eyes turns the lights off for you, and you don’t even have to get up to do it,” he said as he sat up and grabbed the throw blanket from the bottom of the bed. As he sat up, you rolled your eyes, rolled over and turned the light out, before resuming your initial position before he could even unfold the blanket. “Or you could, you know, make it harder for me to see what I’m doing,” you giggled as he spread the blanket out over you, before finally falling back down next to you and pulling the blanket up a little higher.  

His hand gently cupped the side of your face, rubbing his thumb over your cheek in the pitch-black room. You smiled, feeling his soft breath tickling your nose with every exhale. You reached up to cup his face as well, cheeks heating up your cold fingers with ease.  

“Thank you for forgiving me,” he whispered gently.  

“Thank you for no longer being an asshole,” you heard him smile at your words, before you felt his lips gently brush against yours again. Shivers going down your spine as his soft lips gently massaged yours before the soft kiss come to a swift ending.  

“Goodnight, Y/n,” he breathed as he moved his hand down to your hip as he gently rubbed circles into the fabric of your sweatpants. You let your eyes flutter closed as you listened to the soft rhythm of his breath, everything about him making you feel more at home than you’d been in the past 2 years. Everything was calm and comfortable. Finally still in a world forever moving too fast, and this moment would never be long enough.  

“Night, Koo,” you mumbled, as your world faded to black.  

 

Note: Thought you guys could use a break, so I saved all the action for next chapter. This also needed a lot more editing than I thought it did, so I'm sorry for the wait! hope you liked it, this chapter definitely made me soft.

Taglist: @koobsessed @mwitsmejk @roxy1205 @yoon2jk @pamzn @drmrastraea @bbl32 @softforpj @lpgirl2324 @astoriasx @mooncuddler @theaufanartist

[dollslayer]

Fight or Flight

Steve Rogers x Reader

Summary: Steve comes clean, in the aftermath and shock you turn to the one person who you know you can trust.

W/C: 2,369

Warnings: Implied cheating, angst, swearing

A/N: Hello! I wrote this for @sweetlyscared 's 1k celebration (congrats, it's well deserved!), prompt is in bold. I'm still pretty new to writing and this is my first true Angst fic so any and all reblogs/comments are super appreciated! Please check out my other stuff if you liked this fic!! Cheers!

PART TWO I Masterlist

____

The feeling of everything crashing around you was slow. Like your world was moving in slow motion as you processed the words. Everything else he was saying became distorted, going to waste as he tried desperately to explain himself to you. All you could hear clearly was your own breathing while you tried to will yourself to do something, anything.

Fight or flight is a funny thing, you were always so feisty and eager to fight back, A Bulldog, Steve had affectionately called you. But when he told you he was in love with someone else, that he has been in love with someone else for months, your body couldn’t find anything in it but to walk away.

Your breathing picked up and your eyes searched the ground, refusing to meet his. You felt your legs raise you up to stand and start walking away, unsure of your destination. When you pivoted to leave the room your eyes met his briefly, staring emotionlessly as his desperately searched for anything at all in yours.

“Where are you going? Doll, please, can we talk about this? I’m, I’m so sorry I-”

Whatever else he was saying wasn’t heard over the noise of opening the door and shutting it behind you. You didn’t know where you were going or what you were feeling other than the obvious. You were in a state of shock, it’s one thing to hear awful news and another to understand that it’s true but you were fastly approaching that truth head-on.

You paused for a moment in the hall and heard no movement come after you. You almost let yourself be surprised but he’d admitted he gave up on you a long time ago, so it only makes sense he wouldn’t fight your exit. You kept walking and tried to hold the floodgates of your heart closed for a bit longer.

Flashes of what was said come back to you slowly as reality sets in. “I can’t put this off any longer. I want you to know that I will always love you, but there’s someone else.”

Your head hurt like it would as if you were already crying, the blood pumping in your ears and pressure building in your temples that would no doubt evoke a long-standing headache. Your face felt hot as you stepped into the elevator, maybe you’d go for a walk in an attempt to fend off your tears. Or maybe you’d walk to a safer place to have an emotional breakdown. Whichever is easier.

Brisk gusts of air greet you as you exit the building, making you realize you left your jacket on the arm of the couch. You took a second to evaluate yourself and noticed you’d also walked out in your house slippers and a thin pair of leggings. Trying to evade the cold you tucked yourself in the doorway of a bodega down the street and dialed Bucky.

Two rings and he picked up.

“Hello?”

“Did you know?”

The silence on the line only reminds you of the blood pumping in your ears. The silence tells you everything you needed to know.

“Liste-”

You hang up.

You’re breathing even harder now. Who else knew? For how long? How long was I the joke? You need to find somewhere else to be soon or all these strangers are going to get an eyeful of a grown woman sobbing. You dial the last number you’d expect to at a time like this.

“What’s happening, shortstack?”

You can hear Tony’s grin through the phone and his easy greeting gives you momentary comfort.

“Can I come over? Something happened.”

“I’ll let Jarvis know to let you in” Tony’s tone is understanding, not needing you to explain further, just letting you know you can come to him.

____

Tony’s only seven blocks from yours and Steve’s shared apartment, a fact you’re grateful for when you feel your feet aching every time they hit the pavement. The conversation replays in your head, you try to word what happened in your head and your anger starts overtaking the heartbreak. It’s almost a welcome reprieve from the settling heartbreak but you’re not sure if you’d rather be numb to it completely.

When the elevator doors open Tony’s waiting for you with two tumblers of scotch in hand. You shake your head and move past him to the couch. He joins you on the opposite armchair and sets both his elbows down on his spread knees, resting his face in his hands.

“Would you like to talk about it or not talk about it?” He asks with a sigh.

You don’t make eye contact with him so you don’t cry, choosing to focus on the Iron Man coffee table book you’d gotten as a gag gift for Tony all those Christmases ago. It almost distracts you enough to laugh, the fact that he just has it out. But you need to tell someone what happened and get it all out before you can let yourself feel it all.

“Steveisinlovewithsomeoneelse,” You rushed it all out in one breath afraid if you didn’t get it out fast enough that you’d break. “He has been for months. He said he doesn’t know when it all changed but when he was with her things just clicked,” you paused to collect yourself, “But don’t worry, I’ll always hold a special place in his heart and he hopes this won’t affect the future of the team or our friendship.”

“Oh, and he’s really sorry.” you added.

You laughed bitterly and shook your head in disbelief. His delivery had been so cold but so sincere, very to the point but pained in its delivery. “I just, whatever we had, it’s just gone. Things are just different now, with her, this kills me though, please believe me. You’re still really special to me.” Bullshit. Special enough to act as a placeholder until someone better comes, special enough to cast aside.

You’re broken momentarily from your spiral into anger by the sound of a glass hitting a coaster a little too hard. Looking up, you find Tony quietly seething. He and Steve aren’t close by any means so you figured that he wouldn’t have known, it’s why you called him over anyone else.

He moves slowly to your side on the couch and pulls you into his side. You can smell his aftershave and what you think might be burned grease from one of the many things he’s been tinkering with in the lab, it smells like him, like comfort.

“That fucking asshole. Unbelievable, I don’t even…” He leaves the thought unfinished.

His hands move up and down your arms in a soothing motion and you finally let yourself have it. You don’t even realize you’re crying until you feel the tears wet his shirt when you bury your face in. You sniffle up tears and snot when your face heats up.

There’s no way to know how long Tony lets you sob into him, no doubt ruining his vintage Depeche Mode shirt. Somewhere in the back of your mind you make a mental note to buy him a new one later. But for now you’ll just allow yourself to cry and you can deal with the world in the morning.

____

Tony lets you fall asleep on his chest, feeling somewhere between furious and heartbroken by proxy. He thinks about letting you sleep and giving Steve a piece of his mind but figures that’s not what you need right now. Your phone sits on the table and he touches the screen to check the time. No notifications on your homescreen except for a missed call from Bucky and an old photo of Steve making a funny face as your background.

Had Steve not even tried to call you? Had he not even tried to go after you? Why was Bucky of all people the only one to be trying to get a hold of you? Prick.

Selfishly Tony is glad that he has a good reason to be rude to Steve now, he has to admit. You two had always been close but when you and Steve started dating he saw less and less of you. He couldn’t fault you for it though, you were so in love with Steve and you knew that the relationship between the two of them was strained so you kept your distance a bit.

He thought of all the sacrifices you’d made for Steve. You gave up your childhood home in the Bronx that your parents had willed to you to move in with him because he wanted you to be closer to the tower. You gave up a promotion and transfer to DC when you were still just an agent, granted you were an avenger now but it doesn’t matter, he’d made a very big deal out of you turning it down. You gave up the friendship the two of you had.

It was incredible, really. How much you had done for him only for him to turn around and love someone else behind your back. Brave enough to fight aliens and terrorists but too cowardly to break up with you and leave you with some dignity. Did anyone else know about this?

Tony had to stop himself from getting too angry, afraid he’d wake you up. So instead he went back to plotting up schematics for the half-finished suit mod he’d been in the middle of when you called.

____

It’s been a week and you still haven’t properly talked to Steve. After two days on Tony’s couch you need to look at things from a logical stance. Where am I going to stay? It’s not like you had your parent’s place anymore and you didn’t want to sign a new lease on an apartment. You could always move into the tower but that meant a higher chance of running into Steve.

You were thinking about all of this out loud to Tony when he offered you the guest bedroom in his penthouse. You were shocked, he’s always been a generous man but after you drifted apart from him you were surprised he even let you stay these past few days. Maybe now was a good time to rebuild your friendship with him and have some space from work.

What’s work going to be like? You agree and go on a temporary leave from the team, just a month to collect yourself. If you really wanted to you could go back but the thought of seeing everyone that knew about Steve’s affair was humiliating and enraging in one go.

It turns out Sam had been playing therapist to Steve in all of this, Nat figured it out through some sleuthing, and Wanda had inadvertently heard his thoughts about her. And none of them thought to tell you? To save you from the anguish but to let it fester? Steve wasn’t the only one that betrayed you. They all had.

What will I say to him? Should I say anything to him? Turns out the answer was ‘nothing’. You texted him to let him know you were moving out and you’d be by to get your things as a courtesy. You walked into an empty apartment and you were almost relieved.

He’d chosen to not be here but he’d left you a letter on the kitchen counter next to a framed photo of the two of you on vacation last year. You scoff but don’t touch the letter. Every ounce of restraint you have is being used as you leave it untouched. But you don’t need to know what excuses or apologies he has on deck, nothing he could say would exonerate him of his wrong-doings. You had no intentions of speaking to him but secretly you hoped he suffered as he stewed in his guilt and inner-turmoil. He deserves to.

When you pack you leave every gift he ever gave you, taking only what you’d brought with you in the first place. You take one look at the unmade bed and almost go to make it out of habit but then you think of the two of them there together. All the long missions you went on without him, all the times you stayed late at work or went out with your friends. How many times had he been here with her while you were there?

You end up only leaving with two suitcases and a backpack full of things. Tony waits for you in the lobby, understanding you wanted your space when you went to get your things in case Steve was there.

The elevator doors open to him taking a selfie with a couple of fans and shaking hands. He’s all too happy to be recognized but when he sees you his eyes soften. Not out of pity, but fondness, like he’s proud of you for getting out.

He sends you a questioning look with a silent question. Are you okay?

You smile at him and for the first time in days it’s a genuine, non-placating, happy-to-see-you smile. It’s okay, I’ll be okay.

He takes one of your suitcases from you and helps you load them into the back of the car before opening the door for you. The drive back to Tony’s is silent but comfortable. The trust you have in each other is strong and unspoken. Something you’ve always been grateful for between the two of you.

He doesn’t ask you about Steve or what happened, always letting you come to him first, which you appreciate. And when you talk he just listens. No bullshit unsolicited advice about moving on or how everything happens for a reason or getting back out there, just listens.

You know the road ahead is long and it will be difficult, but you have someone in your corner and the knowledge that what happened isn’t your fault and that you’re a badass and fuck Steve Rogers and fuck anyone else that did you wrong in all of this. Maybe you’ll forgive them someday but for now you’re gonna focus on you and work on building yourself back up. You’re ready for the ups and downs, you’re ready to fight.

[blzzrdstryr]

Signed in blood

Yandere!Zhongli x Yaksha!gn!reader

Wordcount: 2541

CW: Yandere themes, mentioned violence and death, unhealthy power dynamics

Long before Liyue’s borders had been established and the harbor bloomed into the prosperous city that it is today, the Geo Lord, Rex Lapis gathered all lesser deities and spirits dwelling in the current nation’s territory and concluded a contract with most of them, ensuring the protection of his country and people. Some of them signed a contract out of fear before archon’s power, some did it for mutual benefit and some out of gratitude and deep reverence. You are in the latter category, a simple forest spirit that was saved from the distorted monsters left after the archon war by his grace and power alone.

It was a simple day when you felt an enormously malicious energy surrounding your green abode, and soon they showed up, killing intent and will of dead archons seeping out of them. You were fast and agile enough to dodge creatures' hits, which couldn't be said about the others. Your fellow spirits and animals with whom you were sharing this forest soon fell victim to the perpetrators' attacks. Dark energy entered and desecrated the lands, poisoned the waters and even possessed the bodies of your old friends.

You were running away, fatigue finally catching up to you, despite the inhuman nature and you soon fell to the ground. There were a myriad of thoughts and feelings reeling inside of you - grief for your now dead friends and home, anger at the monsters and most importantly frustration with yourself. You aren’t human, not a single part of you is, so why were you so weak and helpless, unable to do anything as you left your loved ones for slaughter and massacre?

Guilt and shame washed over you, as you allowed tears to burst free - you were bad, you were disgusting for not doing anything, not helping anyone. Monstrous roars and growls got closer, a promise and a threat of what will happen to you. You closed your eyes, accepting the imminent end and bracing for the upcoming pain. And then the most unexpected thing happened - the earth underneath you vibrated, tremors knocking the beasts off their feet, as a tall basalt pillar rose from the ground.

Soon the stranger appeared, ending the monsters in one swift and elegant slash of his spear. He donned an otherwise simple white attire adorned with golden threads, with a long ponytail showing from the hood, but the most eye-catching details were piercing amber eyes and the glowing patterns all over his body of the same colour. You forgot how to breathe for a second as you watched your unexpected savior - he was beyond handsome, possessing the kind of beauty that would have mortals blushing and stuttering.

He then looked around, finally noticing your sprawled form. “Are you all right?”he asked, his tranquil and calm voice tinted by the shadow of concern and lending his hand. “I am”, you sputtered out and took an outstretched limb, feeling infinitely clumsy and ugly, face heating up from embarrassment. “That is good”, his voice despite still possessing the same serenity took a warmer tone.

As you learned later, you were saved by one of the seven remaining archons, a lord of geo. Filled with shame for your dishonorable escape and gratitude for your unforeseen salvation you signed the tightest contract with Rex Lapis - a blood written pact.

Unlike the contracts mortals establish, a contract between two immortal beings lacks the parchment or ink or a signature, they use magic and techniques that echo directly into their soul, preventing even the possibility of the terms' violation. Blood written pact binds to the vital essences of one, an ancient magic flaring up once the contractor intends to break the agreement, stopping and warning them of what's to come once they do breach it.

Your blood sizzled and boiled as you pledged your life to Liyue, magic singing in your veins and resonating with your soul - Rex Lapis saw the potential in you to be a great warrior and designated you to serve him as one of the yakshas, so you obeyed, training your body and spirit to withstand the endless calamities you no doubt will have to face. One day, after a grueling training you almost gave up, but forced yourself past your limits. I must redeem myself and repay Rex Lapis, you thought, gritting your teeth and taking a battle stance again, and then a miracle happened: a blue glowing orb materialized in the air - a vision bestowed by the hydro archon.

Sometimes you still reminisce about this moment and recite the oath you gave back then - I pledge my life to the protection of the Liyue nation and the will of Geo Archon, Rex Lapis for all the centuries to come.

Soon, you ended your training and started to protect Liyue just like other four adeptis all of whom were also saved by the Geo Lord. For centuries you five defended the nation as it bloomed and grew into something that you couldn't even imagine. And even after centuries of slaughter as your karmic debt started to slowly eat you from inside, slowly, but surely devouring your sanity by the smallest pieces you always found strength to move forward by recalling your first meeting with Rex Lapis, reverence before your God and guilt before the dead driving you further and further.

With time a dull, yet constant pain made its way into your bones. Sometimes it would make your eyes fill with unshed tears, sometimes wake you up in those rare times you slept without nightmares, sometimes it made your hands tremble, almost dropping the weapon in the middle of the battle. You couldn’t suppress and endure it like Xiao does, letting out a pained whimper here and there, yet you still upheld your duty to the Liyue. It almost felt like routine, until two awful events happened: the death and defection.

The fear and hatred of all those who fell victims to your weapons were slowly seeping in your minds, driving you mad with bloodlust. It all happened so quickly: you were watching out for other demons as Bonanus and Pervases were patching up Alatus after the intense battle, while Bosacius looked at the other front, weapons ready, and then Bonanus lashed out, aiming for Xiao's neck. The anemo yaksha quickly darted to the side, but the weapon still grazed the copper bird's neck, his blood forming a quickly growing pool underneath. You had to put the bloodlusted yaksha yourself, something inside of you breaking as you did so - it was one thing to stand against hordes of demons and monsters and it was another to kill your friend.

You couldn’t talk or look into the eyes of the other two after that, despising yourself for yet another failure - first your forest, then your friends, you were helpless to save anyone. And then Bosacius left, you had no idea where he vanished, but these two events prompted Rex Lapis to visit both you and Xiao, as yakshas shrinked in numbers from five to two in less than a week.

You kneel before the Geo archon when you notice his tall figure between the ancient trees - unlike Xiao, you prefer to live in the woods, the familiarity of nature reminiscent of a home you once lost. Your Lord ushers you to stand up, his face solemn and grim.

“[First]”, he starts, exhaustion evident in each syllable: "For centuries you protected my Harbor, and despite turbulent times passing you still uphold your duty. I find that admirable".

Your eyes go wide and you turn your head, unable to receive such high praise from your God, you feel your cheeks heat up at the compliment, acknowledgement of your hard work, and even constant pain or the death and disappearance of your colleagues became less serious of the issue for a mere moment.

"I am not worthy of such praise, my lord, I am only doing my job, fulfilling the contract", you deflect, looking at him again. Archon's eyes crease a little and a small frown appears as you say "contract", yet he quickly wills his face into an impassive mask.

"I suppose I made a mistake when I asked you to be my yaksha back then, I have misjudged your worth ", he continues, voice becoming distant and strangely tense, as he reminisces about the days long past, amber eyes looking both at and through you.

"My lord, I…", you start and then stumble over the words, unsure what to say next. Is this his way of telling you that you're bad at your job? You cast your head down, eyes lowered in shame, hands that spilled adeptus' blood trembling and burning. "I am deeply sorry for letting you down in that way, I will do my best to redeem myself from now on” .

A warm hand touches your shoulder, squeezing it slightly in a comforting manner. His palm is warm and firm, comforting in its steadiness like a tall cliff standing proudly against the raging tides, indestructible and reliable.

"You have no reason to apologize for this. Something like this would inevitably happen sooner or later, you have no fault in the events that occured. I suppose karmic debt would drive one of you insane eventually".

He sounds calming, reassuring, like a parent soothing a child. You still don’t lift your head to meet his gaze - you’re too guilty and unworthy to do that. There are no words you can speak now, not when you have been so thoroughly destroyed by your lord’s kindness - how can he look at you and see someone innocent?

“No, I meant that all those centuries ago, when I first met you I didn’t discern the gem hidden in the crude ore” he adopts reminiscent tone again, his hand now moving on your shoulder in slow and steady rhythm: “I knew I wanted you to be by my side, I didn’t know who I wanted you to be though. I needed time to understand my own feelings and the way I viewed you, and then I needed some more time to accept those sentiments”.

“What sentiments, my lord?”, you ask, finally looking up to him, brows slightly frowned in confusion and curiosity - it’s rare to see the Geo archon talk about his inner workings so openly, as he usually prefers to keep a cordial distance or masterfully redirects the conversation into a completely different direction.

“Over the years, as you protected my nation and my people, I finally understood it”, his hand shifts from your shoulder and now he cups your own two palms in a firm yet gentle hold: “I cherish you, [First]”.

The sudden declaration leaves you stunned and speechless for a good minute: you look at your god with wide eyes, mouth opening several times like a fish out of water. A myriad of thoughts and feelings go through you: confusion, disbelief, inferiority.

“I… That is very sudden for me to… learn about your affections”, you finally utter, forgetting to add respectful “my lord” at the end. Your voice comes off as small and hesitant as you say so. Rex Lapis doesn’t seem to mind your confusion as he takes a second to collect his own thoughts.

“The yaksha title I have burdened you with takes a toll both on your mind and your body. I severely miscalculated, so I want to redeem this mistake”, he sounds regretful now, one hand moving to caress and cup your face. You go stiff, still overwhelmed by the whole conversation. “I can free you from your contract if you decide to become my life companion”.

“But, my lord, it’s so sudden I can’t just..”

“Hush, I won’t pressure you into an intimate relationship right away. No, we will wait and learn about each other and once you will be comfortable enough to let me enter your life and your heart we will marry, uniting our fates with a contract that shall never end”.

You lower your head again, but this time in contemplation instead of guilt and shame. What do you feel for Rex Lapis? Admiration - he is a powerful deity, capable enough to flatten mountains and raise new ones with a single slash of his spear. Gratitude - he was the one that saved you and sheltered you, until you grew strong enough, he gave you a reason to live when you had none. Respect - he is a capable leader, smart enough to build a foundation and guide people of the most magnificent nation in Teyvat.

You feel no love for him, not the kind of love he wants anyway. You know about his patience and how affections sometimes take years to finally mature and bloom, but the thought of spending decades, maybe even centuries in hopes that one day you will reciprocate is nauseating to you.

How do you feel about it? A part of you wants it - it’s an easy way out to get rid of the pain, of the fear and bloodshed, of the death that clings to you at every waking moment. You remember how you spend most of your nights sleepless, drowsiness leaving you the same second you dream of blood and carnage and massacre. You remember your whole body throbbing and burning on especially bad days, when even Remedium Tertiorum can’t do its job. You remember crying and gasping for air after the weight of the slaughtered gets too heavy for you to handle.

You almost say yes, out of these reasons alone, but you stop yourself - you think of Xiao, of how lonely he will become once you leave. You think of heartfelt smiles that mortals gift you with on those rare occasions you have to save them. You think of the slaughtered spirits before whom you still have to atone to.

“I am sorry, my lord” You look him straight in the eyes, bracing yourself for the words you are about to say: “I can’t match your feelings, nor can I accept your offer, not now at least”.

Amber eyes lose their warmth in the instance, the comforting aura he was exuding earlier replaced by the weird tension between you two. Looking at this image, you suddenly remember how ruthless Rex Lapis can be on the battlefield as for a fraction of the second he looks at you as you’re an enemy.

A horrible pain shoots right through your body, and your short scream follows. You fall on the floor, gasping for air, deaf and blind from the overwhelming pain. Geo archon quickly takes your form, carrying you to your sleeping place, as you try your best to breathe and not cry.

“It must be a blood pact acting up, the magic must have taken your refusal as disobedience to the contract”, he says once the agony lightens, enough for you to focus on the conversation, “you did pledge your life to my will”.

You try to half sit on your elbow, to look him in the eyes and say something other than the pained groans and whimpers, as his next words instill a sense of quiet dread in you:

“I hope you will rethink and take back your words out of your own volition, [First]. I would hate to order you to”.

[luimagines]

Maybe you caring for the chain? Like doing small things like helping tend to their wounds or brushing their hair. Love the blog btw!

Masterlist

A little TLC?

A little Fluff?

That's my JAM! You got it hun!

It's gonna be in bullet point list because I can.

Content under the cut!

Time

Can you imagine this guy?

It's late at night and you wake up unexpectantly.

It was supposed to be your shift but it's way past that

It's even past the shift after yours

Time is still by the fire pit

Awake

You get up

You walk over to him

Place a hand on his shoulder

He looks up at you, tired as hell

He knows he's been caught.

"It's past your bed time Old Man"

"I just wanted to give everyone a little break."

And like?!

You push him aside gently and he lets you sit next to him.

You pull him towards you and you place his head on your lap

"What am I going to do with you?"

"It's not your job to take care of me."

"Someone has to. Malon will have our heads if you come back home any less than how you left."

You start running your fingers through his hair and he closes his eyes in bliss.

It's quiet and neither of you say anything.

Time quickly falls asleep from your touch and you stay up to take your watch.

You take the next watch after as well.

Soon enough the sun rises.

And you let Time sleep in.

Twilight

What about Twilight?

Twilight was mid battle, fighting multiple bokoblins at once.

At some point he had lost his sword.

This boy hunkers down and starts swinging.

It's a one on five boxing match.

Twilight, to say the least, is not unharmed by the end of it.

You notice that he's not stable on his feet and has a few bloodied patches on his clothes, not to mention the (hopefully) small cut on his forehead.

It's more blood than you'd like to see.

You're quick to help and let him lean into your side.

You bring to the side of the fire, quickly taking out your personal med pack and begin to clean his face.

He's not seeing straight so he starts to speak nonsense.

"Twilight honey, please, don't." You try not to laugh.

"Have you seen them though?"

He's talking about you.

"They're so amazing. Did you know that? They're so cool. They know so much about history and animals and plants."

"Twilight please, I can't reach the cut. I need to disinfect it."

"And animals and Epona and Epona likes them so much. I want to show them my home and my family. Colin would love them. And I think they and Illia would be best friends."

You're blushing but it's soft and you're smiling because Twilight is smiling and he looks so happy at the thought.

You wave away Hyrule when he comes to check on The Rancher, letting him know that you've got it covered.

It's sweet.

Wild

His is a little more obvious

"Wild, what on earth?"

He comes back from an afternoon adventure.

He's absolutely filthy.

There's at least three sticks in his hair.

At least those are the ones that you can count because they're sticking out.

Multiple leaves.

You think you see something move.

"What?"

He doesn't care.

You sigh and stalk up to him.

You grab his arm.

"You're my prisoner now"

Wild tries to fight you but you're determined.

You sit him and take out a brush, taking his pony tail down.

It's a long battle.

But after at least thirty minutes of fighting the branches and leaves and what might have been a tiny mouse like creature.

The mouse thingy just ran away.

You're trying to be as gentle as you can but Wild has a hard time sitting still.

Some leaves leave easier than others and there were actually seven separate branches in his hair that you take out one by one.

But when you get past the battle and clear the foliage, Wild relaxes.

Soon you're only brushing his hair.

He needs to wash it.

But you're not anywhere near any body of water so it'll have to wait.

Wild hums every time you pass the brush pleasantly through his hair.

Within moments his hair is soft and tangle free.

You look around him to look at his face.

He's calm and blissful.

You smile and go back to brushing his hair.

It's a calm afternoon from then on out.

Warrior

Warrior isn't one to accept TLC in public but-

It's after a battle.

And you look over to Warrior who's taking off his armor at a painstakingly slow pace.

It takes him a while.

He grimaces in pain and begins to rub his neck and shoulder.

You bit your lip and sigh.

You make your way over to him.

"Need a hand, soldier boy?"

"What?"

He's confused.

"If you got pain, I can help with that."

You don't want to make it a big deal or weird.

"How?"

"I want your permission first. I'd have to touch you."

"Sure. Why not? Do it."

You nod and get behind him.

Soon enough you start kneading his shoulders and lower neck.

He grunts at the pressure you put on it but otherwise lets you continue.

He's stiff as a brick.

So you're there for a while.

But when you get tired or when he's better off than how you started (whichever comes first) you let him go.

He rubs absentmindedly where your hands just were and smiles in relief.

"Thanks."

You grin.

"Any time."

Sky

Now Sky is a bit different

He's not shy about TLC

He's frequently the one to take care of the others

You however notice something off one day

His hand was always in a fist and you pulled him aside.

"You ok? What happened?"

Sky sighs, and opens up his palm

A large cut down the middle

It cut through his leather and gloves and was bleeding through the cloth Sky was holding.

You gasp and begin to help him out then and there.

"How did this happen?"

"It's not that big of a deal."

"It's your hand!" You take off the gloves as gently as you can and bring out your med pack. "You kind of need that."

You sit him down and clean it off.

He's quiet as you work, watching you tend to his wound.

He flinches slightly at the disinfectant and hisses.

You begin to wrap his hand with a clean bandage.

You're meticulous in wrapping it up completely.

It's slow and you're losing progress in travel time but neither of you care.

"You don't have to do this."

"I want to. You can't stop me."

"I'm pretty I could if I did."

"Yeah, probably."

More silence.

You take moment to study your work and gently turn his hand over.

You give it back to him.

"How did you even manage that? You're usually so much better at this."

"It's... embarrassing..."

"Do I even want to know?"

"...No... Thank you... For helping."

"Of course."

Legend

"Legend, sweetheart, what are you doing?"

He's the kind to avoid public soft and gentle actions

Even if he's the kind to desperately want them

He'll push people away and fail to satisfy himself by yearning from a distance.

One day, you have enough.

He's trying to sit next to you and he's fidgeting, internally fighting himself over something but it's too close to you to not notice.

You sigh and pull him close to you, wrapping both of your arms around him even as he tries to fight you off.

He's trying to struggle out of it but you just snuggle into his shoulder.

He doesn't fight you for long.

Legend borderline melts into your embrace and he hugs your arm in return.

"You've got a weird sense of pride, you know that?"

You start to run your hands through his hair.

Legend scoffs

"You're the one being weird."

"Mh-hm."

"You are."

"Just say you want a hug."

"....No."

"Well I guess I have to hug you more often then."

"........No."

"Yes."

"Ok."

Hyrule

Now, you're pretty sure that The Traveler's love language is touch, so he's not shy about keeping his hands to himself.

There's always a hand on your shoulder, a comfortable hug when your sad, gentle fingers to wipe away your tears and he's doesn't mind when one (or three) members fall asleep on him.

"Oh my- Hyrule" You drop your defensive stance from being startled and stare at him.

He's bleeding from at least three different areas.

"Hyrule, sugar, sit down!" You rush over to him and help him get into a sturdy position.

You're quick to pull out a potion and help him drink it.

His hand makes its way onto your shoulder as he settles himself down.

You push his hair out of his face with frantic but gentle fingers.

"Hellllllloooo." Hyrule attempts to smile but his head swoops to the side, too heavy for him to keep it up.

"Oh, what happened?" You push up his sleeve and begin to treat the nasty scrape on his forearm.

You know the potion will eventually take care of the injuries

But you're impatient.

"I... Got caught up in a cave."

"Why did you go alone?" You stress as you begin to clean the blood off.

"...Couldn't find Wild."

"Oh my goodness, take me with you next time." You nearly shake him. "Don't go alone."

Hyrule nods and sighs in relief, as the potion begin to effect.

"That sounds like fun."

"Can you not get hurt, for just like... five minutes..."

"I can't make that promise."

"Promise me, you'll at least tell someone that you'll be going somewhere."

"I can do that."

Wind

Wind is down for anything.

He's not afraid of any sort of TLC.

You're sitting next to each other one day for dinner

You both eat until you're full and lean up against each other.

The warmth of the fire heats both of you like a comfortable blanket.

Wind leans up against you and sighs.

You smile and wrap one of your arms around him.

Wind then snuggles closer and hums happily.

You set your plate aside and begin running your fingers through his hair.

Within moments Wind starts to fall asleep against you and he lets himself fall even more against you.

"Sleep hon, I got you."

" 'mkay." Wind adjusts himself one more time and lets his breath even out.

You let him sleep against you for a while until you also decided to hit the hay.

One of the others sets up his bed roll and you pick up Wind.

You begin to make your way over and set him down but your resident pirate holds onto your arm

"-Don't." Wind whines.

You hide your snickers and try to get him to let you go.

He doesn't.

Welp...

You bite the bullet and ask Hyrule to bring over your own bed roll.

With the help of some of the other boys, you get it set up as close as you can get it.

Adjusting your grip, you lay on your side and pull Wind close.

It's bedtime.

So you fall asleep next to him.

Four

Four is actually little more like Legend in terms of initiating contact than he cares to admit.

He's not going to push anyone away if they come to him.

Even if he wants something as simple as a hug, he won't be the one to go and hug someone.

Someone will have to hug him.

But this boy yearns.

And he's bad at hiding it.

You take it upon yourself when he's being a little off to talk to him

Brush his hair

Hold his hand

Hold him close with your arm over his shoulders, a side hug when your both walking.

He lets you.

He leans in closer and tilts his head in your direction.

A silent request for pats.

If you've been playing with his hair for long enough, he'll let you braid it.

You take the time to keep it out of his eyes and occasionally put flowers in it when there's more down time.

Four won't say it but it's one of his favorite times

He wears his flower braids with pride

It's not something that he would do for himself but he wouldn't change it for the world.

It makes him feel special.

[dearlyfictitious2]

Apparently Sun Kisses are Non Refundable

Hey!! Here’s another drabble that took over my mind and refused to let go until I wrote it out. It doesn’t really fit into the main story yet so I decided to post it here. It’ll be re edited and posted there later on after the Camp Half-Blood Renovations and Other Shenanigans arc!

Percy exited the Big House and groaned in agitation, he and Chiron had been discussing naval strategies and possible warship designs all morning and into the late afternoon. They weren’t planning to go to war anytime soon, but with recent events far too close to one another to be a happy coincidence, they thought it best to be prepared for the worst.

If anything, they could be used as transportation or a leisurely trip around the world.

Triton was actually supposed to be at their meeting, but he was caught up with a massive back up of missing packages in Armoniá, so he sent Percy up instead and asked that he go over everything on his list with great detail.

Percy sighed in relief, as much as he loved talking about the sea, Triton somehow managed to make even that a chore. He’d written around a hundred questions and he had to pencil in every single answer. His hand was buzzing by the end of it and he had to shake it repeatedly to get the feeling back in it.

Along with Triton, Apollo and Hermes were scheduled to be at camp today to visit some of their kids.

Lately the gods had been observing Percy’s stay with Poseidon and saw the healthy benefits of maintaining a good in-person relationship with their children. However, due to Percy’s special exceptions, they weren’t quite allowed to take their children home with them, but Zeus had begun to allow more frequent visits, and he deemed meetups at camp to be a good neutral place to start.

As expected, both the gods and their children of all ages were happy with the arrangement and got two gods visiting every three weeks for an entire day.

It was slow, but the gods had their duties to attend to, so both parties were grateful with what they could have.

Percy stopped by Will Solace who was standing a good distance away from the archery range, he had a soft smile on his face as he watched his Father teach his youngest sibling how to notch an arrow on a bow.

“Hey Will, how's it going?”

Will blinked and flashed Percy a smile as bright as his Father’s, “It’s been great man! Greta’s learning so much from Dad.” fondness laced his tone at the mention of his eight year old sister, “She’s been doing so good.”

His sister was one of the youngest demigods here at Camp Half-Blood, her mortal mother had died in a terrible car accident that left Greta alone without anyone to care for her.

Apollo had sent Grover and Will to pick her up right away before the mortal legal system could and ever since then, Will, with his softer disposition, has been acting as her main caretaker.

“That’s really good to hear.” he said earnestly.

“Hm.” he hummed happily.

As they continued to watch, Percy felt a tug on his shirt and when he turned around, he was face to face with Hermes’ sons Connor and Travis, “Wassup guys?”

“Nothing much.” said Connor.

“Just wanted to thank you.”

“For what?” replied a baffled Percy.

Both brothers leaned on each of his shoulders and relaxed their stance, “It’s just really nice seeing our Dad like this.” Conner said in his easy going drawl, while eyeing his Father Hermes playing tag with his younger siblings in the distance, “You really came through for us on this one.”

“Whoa hang on, I didn’t do anything.” Percy denied.

“You just don’t see it man, but as cheesy as it sounds, we can all feel it.”

Percy didn’t know what to say to such a response, all he’d been doing was staying with his divine family in the ocean. How could he have possibly made a difference by just doing that?

“Hey, don’t think too hard about it.” Travis nudged him from his side, “Just go with it okay?”

“I don’t know.”

“Percy, just shut up and accept it.” Will chipped in.

“Yeah okay, fine.” Percy relented, “I’m just glad that whatever I did makes you guys happier.”

“Luke would’ve loved this.”

Percy almost didn’t hear Connor say it, but he couldn’t have imagined it, “Do you think so?”

He could feel both of their arms tighten reassuringly around him, he turned and saw Connor flash him a warm smile, “Definitely.”

Percy still wasn’t really sure how his actions made these godly visits possible or what he did to deserve such good brothers-in-arms, but he would never take it for granted.

All fuzzy fluttering in his stomach aside, he couldn’t help but stare longingly at both of the Stoll brother’s arms and Will’s face.

“Hahhh, you guys are so lucky.”

“What do you mean?”

“You have such awesome tans.” he cast a gloomy gaze at his own lackluster arms, “I still have my natural olive tone, but because I spent so much time in Atlantis, I’ve lost my glow.”

Will eyed him critically while stroking his chin, “Hmm, yeah I see what you mean Perce. You have a natural light olive complexion, but you don’t have your bronzy sun kissed glow anymore.”

Percy groaned in annoyance, “I won’t be able to brag about my tan to Triton if I don’t get my glow back.”

Because of Triton’s asocial tendencies, he rarely left the sea and had a pale/fair olive tone skin as a result.

“Meh, cheer up!” chirped Travis, “You can always get it back the good ol’ fashioned way.”

“And that would be?”

“Hard labor under the sun!” both brothers said at the same time.

“Gee, I guess that’s one way to get sun kissed.”

“A Sun Kiss? What about it?”

All three boys turned and saw the Sun God Apollo walking towards them with the rest of his children following closely behind him.

“Hey Dad.” greeted Will, “Percy was just whining-

“I wasn’t whining.” the Sea Prince pouted.

-that he lost his bronze glow because of how long he spent in the deep sea with his folks.”

Apollo tilted his head, “Let’s see.” he pulled Percy away from the Stolls and squinted at his arms, “Ugh, you’re right, you do look pasty.”

“Thanks a lot.” he grumbled.

Apollo’s expression brightened up, “Hey it’s no problem. I can fix your pasty problem easy peasey!”

“Really, how?” Percy asked hopefully.

A devious look set itself on the Sun God’s face and his grip tightened ever so slightly.

“Like this!”

Without any regard to anyone who was there to witness, Apollo hauled Poseidon’s Prince towards him, caged him in his arms, and planted a firm three second kiss so close to his lips that it barely qualified as a cheek kiss.

!!!

The Stolls, Will, and everyone else around them all gaped at the scene in shock! Percy wasn’t faring any better, his eyes were as wide as saucers and his jaw felt like it was two inches from hitting the ground.

But then he started to glow.

His skin was brightening up and it almost looked like he was going to reveal his true godly form and by instinct, the surrounding demigods shielded their eyes and looked away. When the lights died down, Percy stood there, still in the Sun God’s arms, sporting a gorgeous sun kissed golden bronze overtone on his skin.

"Taadaa!" Apollo cheered.

After realizing that they weren’t seconds away from being accidentally vaporized, the first to recover was none other than Will.

“DAAAAAD!” he screeched in mortification, his surrounding siblings voiced similar sounds of distress. He had both hands on his face and was peeking through his fingers, “Don’t go around kissing my friends!”

His words seemed to ignite the flames and everyone around them, including the spectators that the God’s presence drew in, was still either in shock, squealing, or wolf whistling.

Amidst the noise, Percy finally slipped out of Apollo’s hold, “Well, I guess that’s one way to do it.” he really couldn’t complain, his former golden glow had returned and looked even more radiant than it previously ever did.

The Sun God beamed at him and waggled his eyebrow, “I do believe your gratitude is in order?”

“Uhh, um thanks?”

“You’re welcome!”

While the excitement ensued around them, one being stood behind them and gaped half in disbelief and half in horror, “Ouranos, Gaia, and Chaos Almighty...please tell me you didn’t do what I think I just saw you do.”

Apollo turned around and proudly showcased the Sea Prince to his godly brother, “Do you like it? He looks great doesn’t he?”

Hermes walked deliberately slowly towards him and gestured to Percy, “Apollo...for a Sun God, how can you be so dim!” he spat.

The playful smirk fell off Apollo’s face, “Hey, watch it.”

Everyone present fell silent to the rising tension.

“Do you not realize what you’ve done?” Hermes continued, “You’ve given him a Sun Kiss!”

“Well I sure as hades wasn’t trying to give him a Sun Stroke.”

“That’s not the point!”

Apollo rolled his eyes, “Alrighty then, what's your point Captain Obvious?”

“That is your Sun Kiss, what do you think is going to happen the moment Poseidon or Triton sees the blessing on his cheek?”

Because it was on his cheek, Percy couldn’t see that there was a large faint shimmery outline of a sun at the corner of his lips where Apollo had kissed him.

At least to the demigods it looked that way, but to the fully divine; the Sun God might as well have put a beacon of light on his face that blatantly declared: APOLLO WAS HERE!

Apollo paled, and looked as though he’d suddenly gone and lost his own signature golden glow, “Oh sh-

“Dad!” Will yelped, holding his hands over his youngest sibling’s ears, “Not in front of Greta!

“-sssssuugar honey iced tea!” he quickly amended.

“Uh yeah, sugar honey iced tea, you moron!” berated the God of Thieves, “They’re gonna skin you alive and use your pelt to decorate the foot of his throne!”

Apollo whirled his attention to the Sea Prince and stared at him as though he would spontaneously turn into Poseidon if he so much as dared to breathe.

“Apollo,” Percy put his hands up and started to back away slowly, “Hey, let’s calm down and think about this.”

He did not calm down.

He pounced him to the ground, straddled him, and began to rub his forearm across his cheek, “Haha! Not to worry!” he tried to convince himself, “All I gotta do is rub it off!”

“Ow ow ow- STOP IT BURNS- ow ow!”

“How do you know that’s even going to work?” Hermes asked in exasperation.

“I don’t!”

“Then what are you gonna do?!”

“I don’t know!” Apollo wailed, he switched tactics and tried to remove his blessing with spit now coating his thumb “My Sun Kisses never warranted me a death sentence before so I’ve never actually had to remove one!”

“NO DON’T- Ewww gross! I said STOP!”

“Well you gotta do something!” Hermes not so helpfully pointed out.

“Like what?!”

“I don’t know either!”

“GET OFF OF ME!” Percy bellowed and thrust his pelvis upward into the Sun God’s groin so hard that he was launched into the air and landed in a painful pathetic heap a couple of yards away from him.

The Sea Prince rolled over and sat on his haunches, he was teary eyed and his cheek was rubbed raw and a bright angry pink, but the mark was still clear as day, “I told you to stop!”

Apollo recovered quickly and faced the enraged Sea Prince, “I need to get that off you, my life is on the line!”

“You were about to sandpaper my cheek off!”

“I’ll fix it later!” he promised, and held his damp, spit covered thumb menacingly, “Now come back here!”

“Get away from me!”

The campers couldn’t believe the scene they were made to witness. It was absolutely unreal. Apollo’s children were forced to watch as Percy Jackson ran away from their Father, the Mighty Sun God Apollo’s spit covered thumb as if he was trying to avoid catching the cooties.

“Come back! I need to clean you!” he demanded while waving his thumb like a weapon of mass destruction.

To which Percy did his best to avoid.

“No!”

The chase went on for a full three minutes until Percy was able to run an arc around Apollo and make a mad dash to the fountain. He needed to hydro drift the heck outta there!

He was almost home free and was about to launch himself in but someone else had just hydro drifted out of it.

It was his brother Triton!

Percy’s momentum caused him to slam right into his brother’s unsuspecting arms and toppled both of them onto the surface of the water.

Triton sat up sputtering and stared down at his brother in bafflement, he had a vice grip around his upper arms and his face was buried in the crook of his neck.

“Perseus? What in our Father’s name has gotten into you?”

Now Percy’s been through a lot of ordeals, ones that have tested his strength, his resolve, his will to live; you name it. However, he could say with full confidence that he’d never dealt with something of this nature.

His cheek felt like it was on fire, some of Apollo’s spibble was still dripping down his chin, and he felt absolutely humiliated. He could take on many things, but a blow to his pride like this?

It crossed the godsdamned line!

He knew what he was about to do was playing dirty and he’d be manipulating his brother, but he craved vengeance.

Apollo could only stare in silent horror as he saw and recognized what could only mean his impending doom.

Percy scrunched up his face, and started to weep softly.

Triton flinched in alarm when he heard Perseus start to weep into his neck, “Perseus?” Why was his brother crying? What could possibly bring his strong and proud brother to this state? He could even feel him trembling! He wrapped his arms around his back and cradled him closer, “Brother what’s wrong?”

“Triton,” he whimpered, “It was awful *sniff!* he- *sob*”

“Who was it?” the Sea God demanded.

“I-I tried to *hic* get away b-but *sniff!* I was trapped and he*sniff sob!*” Percy paused for a dramatic effect, “TRITON HE-

“Perseus what happened?!” Triton shouted in a rare public display of lost composure, he pulled his brother back, grabbed his face, and tilted it up to get a look at it and he froze.

His brother’s eyebrows were upturned in woe, his beautiful soulful eyes were filled to the brim with crystalline tears that clumped his thick lashes together and threatened to fall down his face in streams, and the right side of his cheek was a blistering, angry, raw colored pink...

With a Sun Kiss branded on the corner of his mouth.

Everything around Triton started to get fuzzy and he could hear his ichor pounding in his ears. He couldn’t think, couldn’t even fathom something so ugly marring his brother’s lovely face.

Perseus sniffled and leaned into the cool touch of Triton’s palm, “I t-tried to take it off, b-but he chased me *sniff!* and h-hurt my back.” Upon closer observation, Triton saw that his brother’s back was indeed all scratched up as well, “T-Triton.” he whispered and closed his eyes, he needed to make sure his best weapon was well primed. He took in a final shuddering breath and dished out his own personal brand of payback, unleashing all of Tartarus on his perpetrator.

Triton stared blankly at his baby brother as he opened his eyes again and finally let his tears fall, “Triton, he forced himself on me...Apollo kissed me!”

Percy had revealed his Crying Baby Seal Eyes™ of mass destruction.

Something snapped within the Sea God as he slowly brought his gaze up to meet the Sun God’s. He carded his fingers through his brother’s hair to soothe him and summoned his Trident in his free palm; crackling and fizzing, his divine aura was nearly bursting at the seams, his pupils constricted into slits,

“YOU FILTHY MONGREL.”

At that point, Hermes had gathered all the kids and quickly whisked them and himself to safety, while Apollo stood there like a deer caught in headlights at the sight of Crown Prince Triton’s rage. From the corner of his eye, he saw a tiny smile play on Percy’s shapely lips as he gazed at him in utter satisfaction.

Perseus Achilles had indeed inherited his Father Poseidon’s infamous mood swings.

It was right then and there, that Apollo knew, he FUCKED up.

[randomfandomimagine]

AHHHHH OMG TRISH HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO CHOOSE???????!!! FIRST OF ALL CONGRATS ON THIS BIG MILESTONE!! LET’S SHOOT FOR 9K MORE!! Alright- I’m flipping a coin to try and decide my top two but if you’re more inspired for the other, please do them instead! Also- I don’t have to specify the type of request and I am relieved cause that’s always something I forget 😅

Between Link (Tails) and Zack (Heads), I got heads! So I suppose that’ll be my request!

May I please have Zack with the tropes 3, 8, and 10 + platonic? I feel like there needs to be some more platonic/familial stuff and honestly I’m interested to see what you’ll do with it! Of course, only do this if you wish!

Thanks so much either way Trish! Congratulations again! Also…

Bethany, thank you so much, darling!!! I’m more inspired for Zack because my boy deserves more love, so here it is! I’m also excited to write something familial for a change XD And yes, I did take care of myself (I felt a little sick today but I got plenty of rest and now I’m better :D) and I hope you are too!! Is your cold better? Take care of your precious self, please!!

Character: Zack Fair

Fandom: Final Fantasy VII

Prompts: Hurt / comfort, whump, found family

Relationship: Familial

Words: 403

All sounds had halted, leaving you with a harrowing whistling in your ears. At least it meant you were still alive. But did Zack...?

“Zack?!” You uncovered your head and opened your eyes, looking around the battlefield for a standing figure. And there he was. “Z-Zack...”

He slowly tuned to you, heavily carrying his sword as it dragged along the ground. Despite his exhausted stance and face full of dirt and blood, he heaved a sigh of relief and smiled.

“Y/N” He called you, limping your direction. “How are you?”

“I... I-I, Zack...” You only sobbed, shaking from head to toe.

“Hey” He hurried to close the distance between you and urgently threw an arm around you. “Don’t worry, it’s over, kiddo”

You shielded yourself in his warm and comforting embrace, hiding your face in his chest and quietly sobbing there. He gently shushed you, holding you closer.

A metallic sound let you know that he had dropped his sword, and as soon as he did he wrapped his other arm around you too, encasing you in an even tighter hug.

“We’re okay, buddy” Zack whispered, pressing you against him in an attempt to quiet your sobbing. “We’re safe now, it’s over”

He repeated all those words over and over, but it took you several more seconds to calm down even slightly. It had been the scariest moment of your life, and you couldn’t control your crying. After a bit longer, Zack’s efforts started working.

“There you go” He chuckled a little when he noticed you weren’t crying as much. “Breathe, kid, we’re alright”

“But you’re... you’re... you’re hurt” You stuttered, noticing how much he was fighting his own body to continue standing there with you.

“I’ll be fine” He gingerly pressed his hand against your head. “Nothing some hugs and a good night sleep can’t fix”

“Are you... s-sure?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about me, bud”

“But...”

“And you?” Zack urgently pulled away to carefully take your face in his hands. “Are you hurt?”

Your bottom lip still trembled, but you managed to shake your head in response. Zack smiled, somehow managing to appear bright and cheerful even in that state.

“Good, you’re okay” He tiredly breathed out. “Just a few cuts and bruises here and there”

“Can we go home?” You asked him, tugging at his shirt.

“Sure” He put an arm over your shoulders and started walking. “Let’s go home now”

Reblogs and comments are appreciated!!

Tag list: @call-me-harley-quinn​ / @fandomxreaders​ /  @anxiouslyreckless /  @xionroxas / @dancewaterdance02 / @little-faerie-artist /  @honeybunhanbin / @lotsoffandomstoimagine / @fandomatakeover18 /  @ta-ka-shi-ma / @goodmorningawfulbye / @trunks-kiwi  / @andsoweshalldepart / @blue-mei / @sihastellar / @booklovingpickle // Send an ask if you want to be added to the tag list for this fandom!

[icequeenbae]

Desert Flower (m) Ch. 1 | BBH

Pairing: Baekhyun x Reader x Baëkhyun

Characters: EXO and X-EXO (not all of them mentioned)

EXO vs X-EXO dynamics, complicated relationships, angsty, action, smut (as usual)

Warnings: sorta mingling with your ex’s ‘evil twin’, mentions of blood/ violence (nothing too graphic… I suppose), Y/N gets teary a lot(?), explicit content, rough sex, unprotected sex

Word Count: ~13.5k (full), ~3.7k (Chapter 1)

Summary: Baekhyun, your beloved boyfriend of three years, suddenly breaks up with you and disappears from the city in an attempt to protect you. But leaving you alone and clueless means trouble will surely find you. For it is easy to spot a flower in the desert.

Masterlist   >> One >> Two (m) >> Three (m) >> Four (fin)

Author’s Note: Yay, this is happening!!! My first BaekBaёk, oml I’m gonna-

Ok. I’ll admit right off the bat that I wouldn’t be posting this any time soon without my lovely beta @baekshoney​ 🖤 She’s the person I turn to when I think there’s a million little things I could’ve done better, because that’s what I always think. I had to give myself a cut-off date to finally give up editing this 😅 So, I’d really appreciate it if you guys could share your thoughts and opinions on this too. My asks, dms and comments are places where you’re always welcome! Now, let’s get into this!

Tags: @blahblahblah-boo @baeklightsx @wooya1224 @baekklove

Chapter 1. The beginning of the end 

It was all too sudden.

The words he’d said deafened you. Refusing to believe what you were hearing, you shook your head and took a step back, as if doing so could start the conversation you’d just had over. Or rewind the time and allow you to prevent the words from coming out of his mouth in the first place. But he was firm, unyielding in his stance.

‘I’m sorry,’ he repeated. ‘It’s my fault. I should’ve known better.’

Than to start this relationship, was what he meant. That he should have avoided getting in a relationship with you altogether, and breaking up with you would’ve never become an issue.

‘Why?’ You tried to speak, but your lower lip started to tremble, silencing you at once.

This was all wrong. It couldn’t have been true, what he was saying.

He licked his lips, looking away, hands forming tight fists at his sides as he tried to recollect himself and urge his body to stay frozen on the spot.

That did not work for long – the sight of you, so small, so stunned and defeated, with tears welling in your eyes while you tried to stifle them… He couldn’t. It was stupid of him to break his act so easily, but you were too precious to him to just leave you like this.

Sighing and cursing himself out in his mind, he took a stride towards you and gathered you tightly in his arms.

‘I am sorry, Y/N,’ he continued softly, hearing you hiccup in his unexpected embrace. ‘But I have to leave. We- I should’ve stayed away from you from the start. Forgive me for being so weak.’

You sobbed at his words, shaking your head stubbornly and clinging to his broad chest as an act of desperation.

‘I can come with you!’

‘No,’ he interrupted your crazy idea. ‘I’m leaving you behind. To keep you safe.’

‘Safe from what?’ You questioned, half-annoyed now.

He kept insisting that he wished to protect you, but how was leaving you all alone ensuring your security? And why would you even consider it, when you only felt safe while with him?

‘I cannot tell you. The more you know, the more dangerous it is.’

‘Baekhyunie, please,’ you wiped the tears and grabbed onto his vest as he moved to pull away. ‘You can’t just decide this on your own!’

‘Y/N,’ he took hold of your wrists, not removing them just yet. ‘I know it’s hard, and I never wanted to hurt you like this. But there’s nothing you can say that’ll change my mind. I’d rather break your heart than risk your life, so it’s not really a choice.’

He looked around as if to make sure you were not being watched, and then leaned in to place a farewell kiss on your temple – his favorite spot. You sniffled, realization of the inevitable setting in.

‘Just let me go, flower,’ his voice lowered to a whisper, and you sobbed at the pet name. ‘You’ll be better off without me, I promise.’

‘No,’ you protested as he freed himself from your grasp, and took a step back. ‘No, Baekhyun, don’t leave,’ you clawed at his forearm, trying to stop him. ‘We can deal with it together, we can think of something! I don’t want to be without you,’ you whimpered sorrowfully.

He shook his head, shying away from your touch, while you desperately tried to hold him back.

But you couldn’t. He gently peeled your hands off to walk away, and you missed the pained crease between his eyebrows when he turned his back on you to escape your apartment.

‘Please, don’t do this…’ You whispered, voice breaking in anguish. Just as your heart was.

Yet, Baekhyun kept walking. Leaving you to weep in the unwelcoming emptiness of your home.

Leaving you for good.

***

Your relationship with Baekhyun started almost three years ago.

Still new to university life, you found yourself in the midst of a soap opera worth of drama when a bunch of transfer students joined all at once, some even in the same year as you. All highly attractive, they usually hung out together and spent less time than needed socializing with the outside world.

Not that you cared too much – sure, the excitement going around was making you curious, but they looked too handsome, almost to the extent that you found it intimidating. Ironically, the most intimidating you found Baekhyun. His then long dark hair with strands of red and a mullet hairstyle, the sharp green eyes, the pierced eyebrow, and the lip ring that made him look like a very attractive hooligan... The piercings turned out to be just as fake as the eye color, which did not disappoint you at all.

Funny enough, you only got to know this bad boy because he took a liking to retreating to the campus library. Hiding from all of the attention, of course. While some members of his clique actually basked in it, he preferred to disappear to the remote aisles of the quiet space and read a book, or, more likely, sleep with one on his chest. You saw him like that often, since you were stuck in there yourself – essays for different classes were piling up rapidly. As a diligent student, you were determined to do well in your first year of university, so dragging yourself to the library to stay glued to your laptop was the best option.

Coincidentally, you also preferred to stay in the less lively spaces, as you tended to seek peace and quiet to focus on your assignments. Your attention span… wasn’t impressive, to say the least, so you did your best to avoid any distractions. However, you didn’t count on a certain sleep lover to be one of them.

It was not the first day you spent close enough to notice the tranquil expression he wore on his face as he was snoozing. It was, however, the first time he caught you staring mindlessly in his direction. Burning the deepest shade of red in your cheeks, you grabbed your books and quickly made yourself scarce, thanking heavens for the multiple aisles of books around. You walked around for ten minutes or so, actually placing your books back where they belonged and finding a secluded corner to check out what else was on the shelves. Squinting, you tried to read the name of the tome that had gotten your attention, and raised your arm to get it from the level that was clearly too high for you. Thankfully, someone reached over your head and helped you obtain the book. You turned around to say thank you but instead were suddenly pushed back into the shelf by the taller figure with neat red strands. Speechless, you only held your book close and gaped at him, as he leaned forward.

‘Ever heard about the cat killed by curiosity?’ He hummed, eyes piercing you from above.

You swallowed, knees getting weaker as you registered the fresh musky smell coming off of his brightly colored shirt.

To push your buttons, he decided to get even more scandalously close to you, arm holding onto the rack behind you to keep balance.

‘Nothing wrong with being curious!’ You jabbered. ‘In fact, if people preserved the curiosity they have as kids they would’ve had a much bigger learning capacity as adults.’

He huffed. You weren’t sure if he was shocked or amused, because your eyes looked anywhere but his face. In fact, they lowered enough to fix on your forearm, resting across his rib cage, and your fist pressing slightly into his pec to keep him at least at a minimal distance.

At this you gasped, eyes widening and returning to his face, only to catch an inquisitive spark in his retinas as he nudged the lip ring with his tongue. Sighing, he took a step back, finally allowing some space between you.

‘Can’t write a philosophy essay with this, little flower,’ he chuckled. ‘Or if you can… I’d be impressed.’

You looked down in confusion, understanding that the book you were holding was from a Botanics section. ‘The Oxford Book of Wild Flowers’, read the title.

But… How did he know about your philosophy assignment?

***

Only later had Baekhyun confessed that he had had an eye on you for a while by the time this incident took place, but the moment of your outburst was what got to him. When he looked down at your cornered form, holding a book to your chest so innocently, and keeping him away instinctively with one arm. He had to bite his tongue to prevent a smile from making its way onto his face. That was it for him, and even though he wanted to avoid you and keep interactions with you to an absolute minimum, he couldn’t help but find ways to draw your attention. Like that one time, when you walked out of the library because the loud noises from the outside made your concentration for the night crumble.

The source of that noise was, in fact, a certain convertible, blasting the music for the entire campus to hear. You would have come up to complain that your studying was cut short if you didn’t have perfect eyesight. It allowed you to see that there was a red-haired problem sat in the car, with a bare foot resting lazily against the panel. Ready to run the other way, you turned around, meeting a solid chest with your forehead. You discovered that it was a rather cheerful guy in the same year as you, Jongin, and the other one with him was Sehun. And those two stalled you long enough for Baekhyun to make an entrance.

It was the first time he tried asking you out. And got rejected.

However, as much as you wanted to take ownership of that and say that you were playing hard to get when you walked off and left him stunned by your refusal, that was not the case. This guy made your throat go dry at the mere sight of him! He was way too handsome, and he also looked kind of… well, he looked like he’d break your heart without thinking twice about it. And that you couldn’t allow.

But then again, good girls do tend to fall for bad boys. Or was he only pretending to be bad? You’d never heard anything that discredited him, except for the way he stared people down sometimes. That once happened to a fellow student in your class. After he sat next to you during lunch.

Actually, almost the entire week following that incident you had lunch alone because everyone kept making excuses to sit elsewhere. That was how you became friends with Jongin and Sehun. Having had a few classes together, you were more or less acquainted with each other, so you didn’t mind when Jongin suddenly appeared out of nowhere with a tray and asked you if they could join. He even had lunch with you when Sehun wasn’t around – you figured that it made Jongin even more chatty. So much so, that one day he leaned across the table to get slightly closer, and used his most clandestine voice on you.

‘You know, hyung could burn a hole in anyone next to you with his glare, but I’m immune to his ‘charms’, thankfully,’ he giggled and added, ‘Still, I think you should give him a chance. Baekhyun’s a good guy, and he’s kinda torn as it is. Asking you out was a pretty big step for him.’

Honestly, you had a hard time believing that. Baekhyun… was probably the kind of guy, who never even had to ask. You could look around and easily spot a dozen eyes that were fixed on him at this very moment. Why in the world would he want to date you, clearly not the ‘easy-going’ party type? He probably wanted to get into your pants just for sport, like the rest of the pretty boys.

‘Whatever you’re thinking, it’s far from the truth. Ugh, Junmyeon will kill me for this!’ Jongin cursed himself and continued, before you could ask. ‘Hyung looks rough around the edges, but he’s really a softie. Trust me on this.’

‘Are you his wingman or something?’ You snorted dubiously, getting a little timid from this discussion.

‘Ha, are you kidding? He’s gonna strangle me if he finds out. Like I said, he’s torn between staying away from you and persisting in his efforts to take you out. Just think about it,’ he ended with an attempted (but failed) wink.

As if to take away your chance to process the unexpected input, Jongin shoved Baekhyun in your direction the very next day. Disappearing from the cafeteria right after, of course. Envy his subtlety. But, apparently, what he said earlier had an effect, so you only nodded when a flustered figure asked for permission to sit with you. He looked quite different from the previous times you saw him up close – much less confident and intimidating. But he seemed sincere when he said he just wanted one chance.

And that was how your relationship picked up. It took a whirlwind course from the very beginning, and the hot summer before your second year of university was the most torturous time ever for the both of you. Still wary of getting played, you only trusted Baekhyun enough to get intimately close months and months into dating. And he was patient with you, going at a slow pace, letting you pull away whenever you wanted. Until you didn’t want to anymore.

That last leap of faith was a beginning in itself – a true beginning of you and Baekhyun. The final seal was broken, and you entrusted yourself fully to him, which he repaid by showering you in his affection and feelings that he himself had not come to acknowledge just then.

After a year together, you were not simply allowed into the inner circle, but also educated about the special abilities that Baekhyun and his friends had. You were first interrogated by their leader, Junmyeon, who wanted to make sure you had no ulterior motives and were not going to tell a living soul about them. He called it ‘a quick chat’ as he dragged you in a scarcely furnished room where he sat you down at the small metal table across from him. The leader asked you questions and tried reading your verbal and non-verbal cues, so it was clearly an interrogation. Junmyeon was pretty experienced in this, so he could instantly tell that you were harmless. And you also passed the test, answering the most ridiculous questions about Baekhyun – apparently, that was to make sure you were not ‘faking it’ – so, he accepted you into their family.

However, knowing too much was dangerous, so you only learned about their powers and how they came from the so-called EXO Planet when they were young (talk about dating an alien!), and that the organization they called ‘the Red’ amongst themselves wanted to hunt them down. They also used to be held hostage by these people – and that was just about as much you knew about the issue because Baekhyun kept you away from the ‘unnecessary details’. He only told you that they seemed to be hidden well in this town, surrounded by just enough people to blend in and disappear. And you worried, always, because you knew too little about the dangers surrounding the group, and even less about how you could contribute to their safety.

Baekhyun laughed when you once brought it up, finding your concern nothing but cute.

‘You don’t have to worry about it, flower. It’s my job to make sure you’re safe, not the other way around,’ he then said, playing with the curly ends of your hair.

You frowned at that. Why was it not your job to take care of him? If you could help, you wanted to help. But he always brushed you off, saying that the only thing you should do to help is staying out of trouble. Like that was a challenge – you either studied or hung out with him and his friends, not much room to stir trouble. The only other person you talked to regularly was your roommate, and she was also pretty harmless.

As time went by, you got closer to your own graduation, basically, one year left before you had to figure it out for yourself again. Your boyfriend was always supportive, but you couldn’t help but wonder how he imagined your future. He was always up to something but never shared it with you since it was ‘nothing for you to worry about’. Had he not shown you his actual abilities before, you would’ve certainly thought that it was a crazy lie he told you to cover up for some kind of illegal activity. In reality, some illegal activities were going on, especially since hacking and cracking was one of Minseok’s specialties (but mostly because they needed to keep their identities out of sight). Another reason why they didn’t all go to the same school when they arrived, and also why they changed their appearance ever so often. The lucky mullet was long gone by the time you had your first Christmas together, and you had had the pleasure of seeing him in multiple hair colors throughout almost three years of your relationship. Notably, the first dozen or so make-out sessions you had with him took place when he had just cut his hair and dyed it pitch black. And he still wore his fake lip ring at the time, which was an experience in itself. He did know how to use his mouth…

Admittedly, you were kind of used to being the object of the boys’ shameless teasing every time you hung out together. The way Baekhyun kept you close and fussed about everything was, apparently, atypical for their usually chill and humorous hyung. He was their second-in-command, after all, the genius behind the strategic planning of the group, and the mind that kept them hidden for so long in one place.

Because of you.

One of the boys had previously let it slip that they hadn’t lived anywhere for that long before, maybe not even for one full year. But this time Baekhyun was determined to stay for a while, now that he had an anchor.

But the day came. When he found out that they might’ve been compromised, he got scared. The way he’d never feared anything before. And he’d been through a lot, to put it mildly. Baekhyun could maintain a cold and sharp mind at all times, that was his thing, but not when it came to you. Once he figured out that there was a real chance, that they could’ve found the EXO hideout and, thus, could connect you to the boys, he couldn’t think straight. Overwhelmed by a sudden panic, he sought advice from the leader.

‘You know it’s not me who’s supposed to decide,’ Junmyeon sighed, looking at his disheveled second. ‘I told you a relationship wasn’t a good idea. I also think that keeping her close means putting her life in jeopardy.’

His words were cutting through Baekhyun as he paced the room, long fingers grasping his own hair.

‘But it still may be a safer option than leaving her here,’ the leader added, pinching the bridge of his nose. ‘We need to relocate fast, and you have the ‘better of two evils’ situation on your hands.’

‘I know I should leave her,’ Baekhyun stopped in his tracks, turning his head to the leader. ‘But what if they already know, hyung?’

‘Minseok had every trace of her erased, not a single camera in town had a glimpse of her with you. They might have found our footprints in the sand, but those don’t necessarily lead to her. I suppose they should move on as soon as they come here and realize that we’re nowhere around.’

‘Most likely, but what if-’

‘They can very well catch up to us while we run. Like I said, there isn’t a right answer, but a choice. And I think that you’ve already made it when you should give her a voice, too,’ the leader pushed.

‘I-’ Baekhyun turned away to hide the glassy eyes from Junmyeon. ‘I have to give her a chance, hyung. I cannot sentence her to a lifetime of running and danger. And I know she’s silly enough to throw herself into it if she has a say in this.’

‘And if you’re wrong? You’re going to break her heart as a precaution?’

‘She won’t die from a broken heart. Can you imagine what they’d do to her if they find out?’

Junmyeon bit his lip. This time, the choice was completely out of his hands. He thought his second was making a mistake, but it was not his place to decide. Exhaling again, he nodded.

‘Tell her in the morning. We’re moving out as soon as the rain starts.’

>> Chapter 2

A/N: So, what do you think? This is more of an introductory chapter, I know, but it covers quite a lot of their relationship with Baek. You must be excited to see where this goes and when Baёk appears? Or if Baekhyun is coming back? Me too, me too 🙈