#its the worst one it town y'all will love it

[desireangel]

Infernal Desires | Part Two

Aemond Targaryen x fem!Reader

Part One

Synopsis: When your family is caught up in treasonous scandal, the Prince Regent makes an offer that is impossible to refuse. To avoid what certainly would have been death by his sword, your family promises you to a man who is followed by whispers of violence and sin.

Warnings: mdni 18+ ONLY! Aemond is conflicted, bad language, some religious guilt if you really squint, some fingering wooop, tension, orgasm denial, inconsistent writing my bad, Aemond's response and defence mechanisms are to fake hatred, this man hates feelings, allusions to sex, allusions to death and killing, again Aemond is angry handsy, a bitch gets slapped bc sometimes violence IS the answer. unedited (shock).

Word Count: 4.9k

A/N: look, I know y'all were hoping for an update on Dark Cherry instead but hey, this one happened along first! I have been swamped with work at my new job (LOVE) and an exam that's in two days sooooo this is my apology for the delay in updates for both fics! Lmk your thoughts & ideas - inbox is always open to chat my loves

xoxo kisses!! <3

Masterlist

Weeks had passed and Aemond had been acting as if you were nonexistent. He had ignored your attempts at talking to him, pretended he couldn’t hear the constant questions that you asked about what you were you doing here and why are you here if no formal arrangements to be wed have been made as was promised?

Truth be told, Aemond was having second thoughts. He had acted irrationally in making the deal. Jericho may have been someone he loved as a confidant and a friend but truly, he could have simply had him hanged without blinking an eye. Treason is treason and Aemond certainly would not stand for it but here you were, waiting outside of his own chambers with a fierceness in your eyes that managed to catch him by surprise. 

Without saying a word, Aemond stood in front of you and waited for you to speak. 

“I was supposed to become your wife last week,” You avoided letting your anger at being strung along seep into your tone. “Instead, you have imprisoned me within the walls of the Keep and avoid me like I am some sort of disease.” Stepping towards him, you shook off the nerves that had your stomach in knots. “I tried to visit the town yesterday. Your kingsguard stopped me from leaving. Said you told them that I am not to exit the grounds.”

Aemond was calm. “That is exactly what I told them.”

“You said I could visit home when I please.”

A shrug that had his pin-straight hair dancing softly. “I lied.”

“Well,” you glared at him, staring him down with as much contempt as you could muster. “You best start telling the truth-”

“Do not,” Aemond’s spat, a departure from his usual slow and commanding drawl. You wondered whether he resented you such that he wouldn’t be able to reign back the worst of himself around you. “speak to me like that. I have warned you that I will not tolerate disrespect. Not from the likes of you-”

Your hand met his cheek before you realised what was happening. It wasn’t hard and Aemond barely flinched more than the slight turn of his head but your hand burned hot at the satisfying mistake that had just been made. Pushing down the fear that bubbled in your gut, you squared your shoulders and spoke firmly. “You have me brought here as a bargaining tool for my family’s lives. To force me into wedding you. And now that I am here and we are betrothed, you refuse to do so. Is there honour to your word or are we all to face execution instead?”

You had caught the side of his bad eye and a dull ache pulsed behind his eyepatch. He all but growled, grasping your wrists tightly in his hands and hunching over you, casting a dark shadow across your face. 

Aemond was red with frustration and you were half aware that angering him would not turn out well. But you were not going to cower and fold to the power that he held over you - over everyone. He may be the current ruler of Westeros to its citizens but the two of you had spent some moments of your childhood together and you knew what kind of man he was past the charade of coldness and stoicism. Arrogant, greedy, entitled and selfish. 

He knew that he shouldn’t take your behaviour lightly - that were it anyone else, he’d have dished it right back. But admittedly or not, you had caught Aemond off guard. He wasn’t expecting you to have the gall to hit him. 

Part of him–he would never, ever entertain the fact that it was actually most of him–enjoyed it. Your inability to control yourself and your emotions around him was entirely satisfying. And Aemond loved to watch how you cowered in fear at the realisation of your actions and that he was at all liberty to decide on their consequences. 

All the while, and you couldn’t help but think he looked terrifyingly handsome in his anger, though the right corner of his lips upturned gently. “You should appreciate the generosity I have shown you. I hardly understand how you are making a problem out of this.”

“Generosity?” You scoffed. “You’re keeping me prisoner.”

Aemond’s expression was blank, the strands of hair that had come loose at the swipe of your hand on his cheek casting shadows of his face as he let out a snarl. The leather of his meticulously tailored tunic brushed against your hand and before you knew it, he guided you into his chambers with a strong push that had you stumbling inside.

“Since you’re so ungrateful, I will show you what it means to be a prisoner in my home,” Aemond spoke with a slow, rumbling tone. “You are not to leave without my permission. Try to run away and I will have you punished.”

And with that, he left you to yourself, slamming the door harshly behind him. The click of the lock was barely drowned out by your protests, palms smacking against the wood of the door. 

How dare he? 

Tears welled in your eyes but even in your own company, you refused to let them fall. The ache in your chest for the freedom to visit home, to walk the gardens and to see your friends was overwhelming. You hadn’t been here long and you knew that the Red Keep was a luxury far beyond what you were used to but the feeling of confinement ate you alive. 

This was not fair. You had done him no wrong. In fact, his hatred towards you was entirely unwarranted and everything seemed so, so unfair. His problem wasn’t with you - it was with Jericho and your father. So why did Aemond have so much rage for you? 

If this was to be your prison cell then you were fortunate, you thought. At least he didn’t send you down to the dungeons or to whatever place was made for those who crossed the Prince Regent.   

-

If you were being honest with yourself, you knew Jericho and your father had been lying to you. It made no sense - in fact, it was a ridiculous excuse that they had given you. You weren’t stupid - there was no marriage that could possibly fulfil the extent of Jericho’s debt nor to save your family’s already tarnished reputation.  

So why were you here? You had your own doubts. Not only had you spent the last weeks with little more to do than think but hours had passed alone in this cage since your confrontation with Aemond.

Jericho had said you were only a part of whatever bargain he had struck. You figured that Aemond had use for Jericho and here you were, a token of control over your family. So long as he had you here, Jericho would have to do whatever it was that Aemond needed him to do free of question. 

The sound of the door lock clicking pulled you out of your thoughts. Merylle, the maid who had been assigned to you much to your surprise, didn’t bother knocking before stepping inside with her arms full of–gowns?

“The Prince Regent wishes for me to get you ready,” she said. “You’ll be attending the feast we are hosting tonight.” 

A feast? While we were all at war? 

A message. 

You eyed the gown that Merylle laid down on your bed before rushing towards your wardrobe to put away the others that she held. From what you could see of the gown, it was unlike any dress you’d ever had the chance to wear.

“I am truly to wear this?”

The look she gave was answer enough. “I will run you a bath first. And then I shall help you into the dress.”

You quickly washed up, half tempted to take your time but Merylle was waiting for you and you didn’t intend for her to fall victim to your antics. There was a matching night dress that had been laid out with the dress - if you could call it that - and you scoffed at the idea of wearing it. 

Did all the other women at court have negligee to match their day clothes? 

Clutching the towel to your chest, you ignored the smallclothes that were also laid out. You were already sweating from stress. Before Merylle could turn around, you shrugged on a robe and turned to do your own hair. 

Merylle pottered about, seemingly displeased with your insistence on doing your minimal hair and makeup yourself.  She helped you step into your dress, adjusting the fabric wherever it needed. “Perfect, my Lady.”

“Please, you do not need to address me formally,” you corrected. 

You stared at your reflection in the mirror.

Fuck. 

The gown was a perfect fit. It was a deep emerald green silk gown which cinched at your waist before falling loosely yet gracefully from your hips. The bust was stiff and covered your cleavage just enough so that it could accentuate the swell of your breasts perfectly, a square neckline that left your collarbones and neck bare. It made you feel sultry in an entirely new way - it seemed as if it were seamless, flowing down and clinging to your skin at specific places to highlight each curve and dip of your body.

This was a powerful dress and you wondered if Aemond had intended it to be. Merylle fastened a jewelled chain around your neck. You asked her the question that had been lingering at the back of your mind, “Why does he want me there?”

And where the hell was he?

“I am merely a housekeeper,” Merylle spoke, her voice stern. She reminded you of a teacher. “I wouldn’t know.”

It almost made you laugh at the thought that he had effectively banished himself to some other part of the Keep in his stubbornness. 

“Oh,” you murmured. 

“I’ll leave you for now. The prince will escort you downstairs when he is ready for you.” 

And just like that, you were locked alone once more.

Aemond was making you wait. He knew that your mind would be racing with questions - questions he knew you would assault him with as soon as you had the chance. If he wanted to, he was more than ready to pick you up from his chambers and show you to the banquet hall. But there was something so satisfying in knowing the infuriating, heated effect he had on you. 

He could picture the scowl on your face and the way you’d be wallowing in your impatience.

Forty-minutes had felt like two hours before Aemond was standing in your doorway, dressed impeccably in matching emerald silk that was tailored to every curve of his body. He was like the embodiment of Adonis, the way he radiated with beauty, strength and temptation. 

Aemond’s gaze made your breath catch in your throat. It was hot and you swore you could feel it scorching your skin as he studied you from head to toe. He slowly dragged his violet eye up and down your body twice, swallowing and clenching his jaw as he turned away. “Let’s go.”

Gods. Aemond was raised a man of piety and honour but you were a tempting little thing and the urge to ravish you in that dress he had chosen for you–the dress which only seemed to multiply your beauty tenfold–was impossible to ignore. He was no prude but he felt that he deserved penance for the sinful thoughts of you that plagued his mind. 

And as you gazed up at him, innocently and unaware of all the ways he longed to defile you and unaware of his hardness straining against the fabric of his breeches, Aemond cursed himself for his doubts about marrying you. 

Aemond cursed himself to damnation for being too weak to admit that he yearned for you. Cursed himself because he wished to be yours and for you to be his but he would never be strong enough to live up to being good for you.  

He would forever fear the disappointment in a woman’s gaze–as his mother had always looked at him, the perception that he was unworthy of reverence and the truth that he will never be enough. Because all that Aemond ever seems to do is let people down when he is trying his best and being in love with the daughter of a treasonous lord was a vile predicament. 

The Dowager Queen had already told him so. She knew that the smallfolk and lords and ladies alike thought of her second son as a vicious man. But she had only agreed to the betrothal as a means to show the people that her family will always land on top. That you will be living out the rest of your life in the bed of such a man whose House and name your blood has betrayed. In the palm of the Crown. 

To show them that they have control over everyone somehow. That they were to be respected lest such traitors wanted to subject their loved ones to their reparations. 

Aemond stiffened at his thoughts. He couldn’t be in love with you. He had hardly known you truly. Above all, Aemond was sure that he would never be capable of giving nor receiving something so unattainable as love. 

Did he not resent you so? He rolled his eye. One nice dress was all it took for him to fall victim to such idiocies. Perhaps he was no different to the other men of these halls. 

“Am I-Am I to accompany you as your betrothed?” You still didn’t understand. 

“You said you wanted to see your family. Your parents will be here tonight.”

You took a moment to think about his words. 

I have your daughter. She’s safe and sound so long as you behave. 

It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered if it meant that you’d get to see your parents. A sense of urgency overwhelmed you and you rushed towards Aemond. “Let us go then.”

Goosebumps arose on your skin the second that Aemond’s hand brushed against the dip of your back. It was a gentle graze, feather light and barely there but he drew his hand back and took a breath before you could even blink. 

“Follow me.”

Aemond had left your side before entering. The main hall was alive with people, many of whom you recognised from your limited days in court as a young girl. They all looked at you scornfully and you knew that they were all thinking of you as a traitor to the Crown. You were not but you had the same blood as one. 

The music was pleasant and some people danced while others were busy drinking and conversing. You searched the crowd for your parents, hoping that you didn’t look as crazed as you felt. There were so many eyes on you, so much judgment that it made you suck in a breath and keep your eyes anywhere but on the guests. 

Your mother was toward the entrance, a champagne flute held delicately between her fingers as she talked with your father. 

It was a miracle they had been invited after everything but you knew that they were only here because Aemond had a message for them. A message that was loud and clear just through your attendance. A message that told them that you were sitting comfortably in the palm of his hand, that he could use your entire family for whatever he pleased. 

“Ma,” you reached for her, willing yourself not to cry in a room filled with people. She gasped, arms wrapping around your shoulders as she mumbled incoherently. “Are you okay? And Jericho?”

“We’re all fine,” she smiled sweetly. “How is it? Over here? Are they treating you badly-”

Your father cleared his throat loudly. “Ears everywhere, my dear. I see that Prince Aemond has been generous.”

Generous. That word was like a parasite, stuck to you and making you sick to your stomach. 

“Yes. I suppose I have been alright.”

You stayed with them for the entirety of the night, slowly making your way through one cup of wine and a couple plates of the food that was set out for the guests. 

Slipping your cup onto a tray that one of the servants were carrying, you smiled at Floris Baratheon who spared a glance at you from where she stood. She was talking to Aemond and another man whom you could not name, a hand on his arm as she gazed at him through her eyelashes. 

She was only embarrassing herself, you thought. Aemond had put an end to that so that he could play out this game. Yet she still tried. Not that you cared, right? 

You glanced towards the corridor. Aemond seemed distracted enough by the conversation. Maybe you could blend in with the guests, make your way out as part of a group and nobody would be any the wiser. 

A few steps at a time, you made your way towards the exit. Every now and then someone would try and make idle conversation, bumping into you and forcing a hesitant greeting. But it would only last a few minutes. 

By the time you were at the doors, Aemond was nowhere to be seen. Fine, as long as he was far away from you. The hallway was grand and there were groups of people saying their goodbyes. It was the perfect getaway opportunity. 

You could disguise yourself within the guests, make your way to where your parents would pass and stay with them. It would work and you’d at least be out beyond this wing of the keep until you inevitably returned. Or you could see Jericho, and then you could convince them and disappear somehow. Jericho might even help you if you explained things to him–if you asked him. 

The thought that you were making a mistake began to cross your mind but just as you were at the foot of the door, an arm wrapped itself around your waist roughly, fingers digging into your hip as you were pulled away. Aemond smiled at the people who turned to look at you, their eyes trailing to where his hand burned its mark into the side of his betrothed. 

You could hear your blood rushing and heart racing, your palms growing clammy. You considered struggling, maybe putting up a fight. But it would be useless. Aemond was both skilled and strong and how far would you even get before he or a kingsguard caught up to you? Your plan was a desperate, confused mess. 

Of all the things happening in that moment, your mind was clouded by Aemond’s leathery, musky scent and the roughness with which he held you. The tick in his jaw and the slight purse of his lips gave away the anger he was suppressing as he dragged you through the crowd, opening the closest door he could find and pulling you in with him. 

Shit. 

Aemond pulled you so that you were facing him, holding your arms firmly in his hands. He all but growled, “I recall telling you not to run away, little mouse.” 

Your cheeks burned and your chest felt as if it were about to explode. Aemond had brought you into a closet which was actually the size of your chambers back home but you were flush against him, chest to chest and eye to eye. 

“And what? Will you have me whipped for it?” Taunting him was not a good idea but it came so naturally that you barely realised what you were doing. 

Aemond turned you and pushed you into a shelf, pressed against the surface and your back flush against his chest. “I do not like disobedience. My things are to stay where I leave them.”

You struggled against him. But it was for nothing. You barely stood a chance against the man who held you, his breath tickling your ear as you spoke. “I am not something you own, Aemond. I don’t have to heed you.”

“Oh but you do,” his knee lodged between your thighs, holding you down. “Where were you going to go, hmm? There’s not a single place in this Realm where I could not hunt you down myself and you would be back here within a moon.” Aemond could feel your rapid breathing, feel the way you squirmed against him but moulded so perfectly into his body. He hummed in mock thoughtfulness. “Maybe I should have let you go. I do enjoy a chase.”

There was a seductive venom that coated his tongue. It was so unlike the boy Aemond Targaryen you had known all those years ago, who may have been riddled with arrogance and dishonesty but he was never wicked. 

“What did I ever do to you, My Prince?” You gasped as he pressed himself further into you in an attempt to put an end to your struggling. Tears threatened to well in your eyes.  “Why are you doing this to me?”

Aemond stilled. He thought of the words to say, the words to describe the way that a small part of him now hates that he is making you cry but years ago, the entirety of him would have despised himself for it. As far as you were concerned, all he was to you was Jericho’s acquaintance who had no patience for you. Jericho’s acquaintance who never had the perfect family that you had, never had the love that he deserved, never had what he desired the most. 

He never had you. 

And Aemond might have hated you for it. 

“You were so blind,” he said. “So unaware. So selfish. All I had ever wanted from you was your devotion and all you gave me was resentment.”

Whether it was the gravity of his confession, or the way his body felt against yours, it took your breath away. What he was saying didn’t make sense. “I did not know. You were so cruel to me, My Prince, whatever little time we were together.”

Your chest was heavy with so many conflicting emotions. Fear, shock, anger and desire. 

“You want to know why I am doing this to you?” Aemond brought his lips so close to your ear that they brushed against your skin and sent a shudder through your body. “Because I hate your brother for what he did. Because I hate your family. Because I hate you.”

A lie. But you need not know. You swallowed deeply and were he not touching you in such a way, you would have recognised the pit of dejection in your gut. But you could only think of his hands. 

His hands, his hands. 

They were everywhere, dragging all over your body and leaving a trail of fire on your skin. He slid his fingertips down the sides of your dress, bunching it up at your hips. You couldn’t breath, couldn’t think of the words to say as the ache between your legs grew for him. It wasn’t right - Aemond was all but kind to you but your body yearned for him. 

He bit your ear. “I hate you but I fucking burn for you.”

Another gasp and you arched into him. Aemond’s words burrowed deep into your core and made your head spin with unfettered lust. After it all, you would have given him everything right then and there. The desire you had for each other was infernal, it was wrong and it was perfect. 

The air was thick and Aemond thought he’d choke on the concoction of lust, heat, anger and fear that was heavy in his chest. Your skin was soft like the satin of the dress he had picked out for you and it drove him crazy to think of all the ways he could indulge himself in your flawless body. 

“So tempting all the time,” he touched you with so much determination you wanted to let yourself melt into him, to become one with his heart and body. “Would you let me fuck you like this? How I should have done sooner and make your bewitching body mine?”

You let out a wanton moan as his soft lips found your neck, sucking roughly along the ridges of your skin. “I do not know-”

“Of course you do not know.” Aemond let his hand slip to the inside of your thigh, roughly digging his nails into your flesh and dragging them up to the most intimate part of your body that was bare under his touch. He sucked in a sharp breath at your lack of clothing under the dress–what an enticing, oblivious girl you were–and placed his hand flat against your sensitive flesh.  “I’m sure you would let me. Look at how responsive you are to my touch, such a needy little Lady. Tell me.”

The feeling of his hand against your sex and his body pressed against yours sent currents through you, right down to the tips of your toes. With heavy breaths you reached for his arm, desperately scratching his skin because you needed more, more, more. 

You were blind with need for Aemond’s body, for him to make good on his words and show you all the filthy things you knew he’d do to you. The voice of reason at the back of your head told you to slow down, that it would ruin you and you would never be able to undo it. 

If you gave Aemond your maidenhead here, and you managed to break free of this damned situation, you would be impure and left with no prospects of security. But all of that would be lost anyway. 

And you couldn’t stop yourself from burning in the heat of his body against yours, the hardened silhouette of Aemond’s cock against your back and the feeling of his palm cupping your womanhood ridding you of your ability to think. 

“Just this once,” you were breathless as you spoke, chest heaving against the hard surface of the shelf. 

Aemond tensed against you in surprise, his hips pressing further against the swell of your bum. He was hard, so hard for you. “If I am going to have you have you, ñuha dāria, it will be in the comforts of our marriage. Where I can take you in every way I have spent hours dreaming about.”

You had never met a more confusing, conflicted man than Prince Aemond Targaryen. Against your better judgment, you drawled, “You said you hate me-”

“I do hate you,” Aemond growled again, swiping the pad of his forefinger over your clit in one swift movement that had you writhing in an instant. “Does not mean that I do not want to fuck you.”

You were so wet for him, so prepared for him to push his cock into you right then and it made him throb under the restriction of his breeches. But Aemond was a man of great self control and he refused to give in so soon. 

He sunk his teeth into your shoulder, the purposeful movements of his fingers rubbing circles over your clit sending thrums of pleasure through your body. Your hips rutted against his hands, incoherent words tumbling from your lips. 

Aemond was not a wildly experienced lover. And he didn’t usually take pleasure in someone else’s pleasure. But the way you trembled against him, the way that every inch of you called for his touch and the way you sounded so desperate and so filthy for him satisfied him in an entirely foreign way. It made his cock twitch and set a fire in his blood.

“Please, My Prince–I am so close,” you whined at the build up of your orgasm, recognising the intensified version of the white hot throb and the sensitivity which you felt whenever you touched yourself alone in your bed. He chuckled darkly before pulling his hand away from you.

There were people looking for him, Aemond could hear them through the door. He couldn’t care less.  “That is enough for now. It seems that they are looking for me.”

You turned yourself around, still squashed between Aemond and the shelf, just to gape at him. A smug smile graced his face, his pupil blown out with lust that you could feel pressed against your thigh.

You resisted the urge to smack him again. “You jest, surely.”

Aemond stepped away from you, taking a moment to look at the mess he had made of you while slipping his fingers between his lips. Your dress was caught at your hip and hitched up at your thigh, your hair was tangled and your knees wobbled gently. But your eyes, wide and full of innocent, unburdened desire for him had him questioning his decision to stop. 

How he longed to corrupt you. 

“Collect yourself. I shall send Merylle to get you to our chambers,” Aemond was at the door by now, fixing his belt to alleviate the discomfort of his arousal as his fervent gaze was focused on you. Our chambers. It was a slip of his tongue. “If you ever try such a stupid thing again, I will not be so lenient.”

With that, he was gone and you were once again left alone with a mind full of wild, distressed thoughts. 

--

tags; @toodlesxcuddles @tredegarwitch @blackravena

[littlemissayu]

Hi, I really love your twisted wonderland fics, especially the ones where the twisted wonderland boys are being fathers, had me fangirling for hours!!! So I was wondering if you could do a Twisted Wonderland Boys x Reader: WEDDING EDITION!! (Proposal, Ceremony(with Wedding dance song), Honeymoon(kinda saucy)), Also with some Chaotic shenanigans? I've been watching a lot of Rom-Com movies lately, especially My Best Friend's Wedding.

A Quick Trip to The Alter

A/N: I wanted to write some sort of wedding headcanons so thank you for the suggestions!! I really love domestic so its nice to get to do it. It might have taken me a while to get to this due to working on something separate, but now I'm gonna spend some time trying to update more.

A/N#2: I don't remember the last time I was editing this but geez, it's taking me long to post anything at all, I've had ZERO inspo the whole summer, and now school's starting up again by the time I'm writing this author's note, but let's hope I get this out b4 September lol. Let's also hope somehow school will motivate me to be more active in posting A/N#3: I lied I wasn't gonna get this out before September, I apologize. As I am writing this authors note it is 9/17/24 and i've only finished Riddle's part....

Pairings: Heartsabyul x FEM!reader (romantic)

Proposal-

It's romantic obvi, he's so awkward, not to mention atp that he's proposing you guys have been dating for 5 years MINIMUM.

It was a sunny afternoon and the two of you were having tea out in your backyard right by the newly blooming roses. The table was filled with white rose red and (ur fav color). As you two were sitting Riddle was so obviously nervous, and when he spoke up you could hear the nerves in his voice.

“ Dearest, we’ve had a wonderful 5 years together, you’ve been the greatest addition to my life. Without you I feel like a kingdom without its ruler, lost and chaotic”

Riddle’s face was redder than his hair you might’ve mistaken him for a Christmas tree skirt.

“There is nothing more fulfilling than spending all my days in your presence. Your absence is my worst nightmare and your smile is my greatest treasure. A treasure I want to cherish for the rest of our existence”

You finally notice the black velvet box in his hand. He drops to a single knee in front of you, at your mercy. Looking up at you with pleading eyes he ask-

“My Darling Rose, will you become my Queen of Hearts?”

Ceremony-

The ceremony is in a banquet hall, filled to the brim with red and roses. Your favorite color and the blood red compliment the white decor and clam lights.

Riddle was at the end of the aisle, the nervousness on his face was evident. Trey as his best man at his side Cater in tow. And when you finally walk down the isle it's like time freezes in place, and his heart stops, seeing you all done up in your stunning attire, hair, makeup, and just everything about this moment was perfect. His heart warmed, a feeling of home washing over him.

"My dearest, Y/N, you are my peace and my home, everything that I am and will be is with you. The name on my heart is yours. I will spend every second of everyday devoting myself to you and our love. Being your husband is a title I will cherish for all my days"

Wedding song: Young and Beautiful - Lana Del Rey(instrumental orchestral version/Great Gatsby ver.)

Riddle would want the first dance to be romantic and classy just like you guys and this entire wedding, so y'all are totally slow dancing to this song, because the orchestral version just sounds romantic and grand(especially the ver. from the lady on TikTok who was walking down the isle to it iykyk)

Honeymoon-

I feel like ya'll would go somewhere in the country side, whatever the equivalent to the french countryside, where you guys will be in a beautiful vacation home there surrounded by fields of wildflowers and small fruits growing on bushes nearby, with a small town down the road. While Riddle would enjoy going out into he town with you and learning it's history and culture, he'd also enjoy other honeymoon activities in the comfort of your comfy vacation home, besides even the bedroom is so gorgeous it's only right to use it for one of it's many purposes.

Proposal- It will catch you so off guard. Picture this it's a night after a long day at the bakery and the two of you are walking home together as usual. He asks to walk a long route because it's more scenic and your like sure so you guys are walking and you stumble across a huge willow tree, specifically a weeping willow and you see two initials one are his and the one at the end of the plus has your first initial and his last initial so you joke how it would take a wedding ring to make that happen and he just says "So let's make it happen, Y/N L/N, would you make the decision to not only share a last name, but a lifetime together?"

Ceremony-

I dunno why but I'm convinced yall get married in a garden or something. Think about it a nice forest with luscious trees and greenery, complemented by the fresh white and complementing amber color, as you make your way down the isle the standing their a we smile on his face as you come down the isle. His family and yours watched the two of you in awe and filled with love in their hearts and their eyes.

"Y/N, so much is beautiful about you, your eyes, your hair, your teeth, your smile, your warm embrace, and your sweet face. But nothing can compare to the beauty of your love, the most precious gift anyone could give me. Now I don't have to waste a second yearning for your love cause now I'll wake up to it in the morning and it'll give me the peace I need to sleep at night. I will spend every second of everyday trying to give you the love you give me tenfold and more because you are so worthy of that love and anything you could ever ask for. Thank you for being mine."

Wedding Song: Just the Two of Us by Bill Withers and Grover Washington Jr.

Vintage, romantic, classy. This is the song Trey would guide you in an intimate waltz with all his friends and family watching. Romance is in the air and everyone can feel the love between you two. And while the two of you are waltzing he's whispering all the things he plans to do to you the minute you're left alone.

Honeymoon-

Now if you've noticed I am RUNNING with this greenery theme but you two would spend your week away together on a lovely lake house that you rented for a week(or however long). The sweet sounds of birds chirping and the sun peeking through the small crack in the curtains as the sounds of the outside relaxed the two of you. The smell of the forest filled your nostrils from the small crack in the window. resting you head on his bare chest and the two of you are cuddled up under the covers. No view the lake could give would be better than the sight of him on top of you.

Proposal-

Think about it like this, the two of you are on a vacation together and he takes you to a private romantic dinner to commemorate your last day there (and take some cute pics for the gram). You finish taking pics and he mentions the beauty of the view. "But it would be more beautiful if you were in a wedding dress" you turn to look at him "And why would I-"

"How about a diamond to become a diamond for starters?"

Ceremony-

An evening/late afternoon ceremony. It's in a gorgeous town hall with marigolds and roses to compliment the warmth from the love that was bouncing off the walls. And as you walked down the isle in a dress that complimented and flattered you in ways that didn't seem possible. And as Cater looked at you, making steps closer and closer to be his wife, his heart melted. Only you could tell that at this very moment he wanted to shed a tear(ugly cry) at the sight of you. Everything in this moment felt complete.

"Thank you for giving me your love and affection. Nothing about you could ever compare to the love of anyone else, you are my home and my heart rest in your hands. Your delicate loving embrace holds my heart dear and guards it from the dangers of the world. My love for you is everlasting, every second of everyday my love for you will increase tenfold and all I want is to serve and love you the way you deserve as not only the fantabulous person you are but the way my wife deserves"

Wedding Song: Die with a Smile by Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga

Man maybe it's just cause I'm obsessed with this song, but I can just picture Cater and his new stunning wife dancing in the romantic lighting of the wedding reception to this heart warming song, that makes me wanna fall in love with someone so baddddd.

Honeymoon-

Whatever the equivalent to Greece in twisted wonderland that is exactly where your going. Think mamma Mia vibes. Maybe you're on an island, an island by the mainland with a Airbnb (well the test equivalent) that's right near the water with a stunning view, and you guys are near a market place too. You're out on the balcony where you're looking out into the sea as your husband wraps his arms around, his bare chest out and his head resting between your neck near the bruises and marks from the night before were, ones that he made sure were their himself.

Proposal- A part of me wants to say that he just randomly asks one day while you guys are eating dinner but I'mma trust him and say that he put some effort behind this because he loves you. So let's say you two were at a dinner with his family, and strangely enough the topic of marriage is brought up every so often. "You know lilies are pretty wedding flowers" "Don't you think that a summer wedding would be better than a winter wedding?" "Isn't the idea of settling down just darling, especially if you've been dating for a while, just seems like the logical next step doesn't it?". The only reason you weren't heavily suspicious is cause they always pondered out loud when you two would tie the knot. So by the time you left you hadn't really thought much about it. As you two head back to the car Ace asked if you wanna take a walk by the park that was only 20 minutes away walking and you were down. The walk was mostly quite the two of you just enjoying the scenery that there was to appreciate in the Queendom. Once you get to the park you two are walking deeper and deeper when you notice a small empty area near the flowers where fairy lights are set up? The fairy lights are hanging up on the branches of two trees and it was stunning, Rose petals dabbled around the area and you look at it in awe as your distracted you hear Ace clear his throat and you turn to him, on a single knee.

"Y/N, we've been together for, a while and I think I'm ready to spend my life with you, not as my girlfriend but as my wife, so would you like to be my wife?"

Ceremony-

An intimate wedding in a stunning garden. And there is totally fairy lights because when I think of Ace for some reason I think of fairy lights. Like imagine the fairy lights entangled in the seat to light your way to him and all the Rose petals and the smiles of your families. A beautiful arch adorned with roses the color of blood and ones a pure white as a compliment. Hints of gold everywhere really harp on the warm feel. Ace looks at you smirking, trying not to laugh, not cause anything's funny, just cause the fact this is even happening feels so unreal, you're seriously about to become his wife.

"Y/N, thank you choosing to stay by my side. I can be a hassle sometimes, you tell me as much, but you've never left. You've loved me and cared for me every step of the way. I plan to spend the rest of my days living up to being the perfect, or somewhat perfect, husband you deserve. I don't think I'll ever reach that standard but I'll do my damned hardest trying to. If you were to cut my heart open all you'd find is you, anything and everything about you. That is what I live for, to be your husband."

Wedding Song: I Think They Call This Love by Elliot James Reay

This song is so damn romantic and if Ace had to define you guys love I'm confident this is what he'd pick. If you haven't heard it listen to it please this song is so good and I really think it embodies Ace's love. If you've read my Rom-Com song picks you'll understand why, this song and that one have the same vibe in my opinion.

Honeymoon-

Yall totally going to like the TWST equivalent of Portugal. Imagine site seeing, Ace would say it's boring but he'd secretly be invested in the beauty of the culture and history. Especially all the palaces and market places. He loves it, the views are fabulous, the foods fantastic and the people are great. But his favorite part of this place isn't the white sand beaches, the detailed architecture or even the culture that was built into the place. His favorite part is when you two are left alone in your resort room when he's left to be between the warmth of your legs. Eyes to eyes, skin to skin. Yeah that's definitely the best part

Proposal-

He's nervous af. Sweaty palms, racing thoughts, stuff movements. This man is STRESSED. You two are taking a romantic blastcycle ride at sunset when he stops a cliff with a stunning view of a valley. You can just feel the nervousness radiating off of him and you rub his forearm to calm him, chuckling you ask him what's up and his face becomes flushed as he looks over his shoulder to the view right by the two of you as he begins to speak

"Y/N, you know that I love you.I'd do anything to ensure your happiness, even if it was without me. You're special to me, and that's why I hope you can have your happy beginning with me. Will you marry me?"

Ceremony-

Totally in a like a small chapel, with friends and family surrounding the two of you. The blue chrysanthemums and white jasmines decorate the chapel. The soft music of the wedding march playing as you make your way to him. He's sobbing. uncontrolably. You're just such a vision in white, you're beauty filling him with warmth but his love for you is really what has him in fat tears running down his cheek as he looks at you ever so lovingly, making your way to the start of your life together, forever.

"Y/N, I can barely describe my love for you. It transcends any word or saying or thought. I treasure anything and everything you say, do, think, or express. Your joy is precious and I'd do anything to preserve it and help it grow. I will do my best to be a dutiful and worthy husband. No gem could compare to the pricelessness of your love, everything I do will be to show my love for you."

Wedding Song: Line without a Hook by Ricky Montgomery

I have zero logical explanation behind this pick besides the fact this songs like Deuce, not voice wise, but tone wise. Something about this song is so moving and so Deuce kind of love, like this is how he would describe his love for you, but to him it'd never feel like enough, there's so much more to his love for you.

Honeymoon-

Sweden(the TWST equivalent ofc), like imagine you two staying in a quaint yet busy cute Swedish town. The warm lighting of the place and the warmth of the food, the people, the culture. Imagine waking to the sight of pure snow sitting on the buildings and people starting there day, the smell of fresh winter and the warmth of the hot chocolate warming you right up. But nothing can compare to the warmth you get from your now husbands bare skin against yours, warm and comforting. Your limbs entangled together under the sheets, very satisfied from the night before.

A/N: the fact this took me months get over with is ridiculous, let's hope the school year somehow, motivates me to write more. I dunno I guess when I don't feel busy I forget about all my writing but when I feel busy I wanna write desperately. Anyways, Ik I always say this then never release anything BUT FLOOD MY INBOX BABES. I will force myself to sit in front of my computer til I get something out of myself. You guys have great ideas and I'd love to recieve more to release more content, besides the ones I think of ofc.

If y'all think this deserves to be a series lmk, I think I'll actually be up to it

Heartsabyul Masterlist

TWST Masterlist

Grand Masterlist

[mncxbe]

Chuuya, Dazai, Nikolai, Akutagawa and Sigma(no need for all of them just do whichever ones you want) with a reader who is incredibly sassy, like reader is borderline about to get harrased but is still so chill and sassy like "Respectfully fuck off, and fuck yourself on a chainsaw so you get massacred In half so no one has to see your disgraceful behaviour anymore"

Omg I love this so much girlboss reader supremacy. Also I had to use your line there it was just too good. Enjoy♡♡

// sidenote I'm working on all your requests so even if it takes a bit longer for me to post, just know I'll do it eventually. Love y'all♡

°☆○

8:37◇

𝑺𝒊𝒈𝒎𝒂, 𝑫𝒂𝒛𝒂𝒊, 𝑪𝒉𝒖𝒚𝒂 𝒙 𝒇𝒆𝒎!𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓

𝑮𝒆𝒏𝒓𝒆: fluff/ silly

𝑪𝒉𝒖𝒚𝒂

it's either the best or the worst combination

he absolutely adores how bold you are and how you always stand up for yourself

but he sometimes wishes you needed him a little bit more

Chuya loves drinking wine; that's something everyone is aware of. What many people didn't know however is that the redhead also attended almost every wine tasting in town, especially the ones held by you, his darling girlfriend.

He relished that hour spent listening to you presenting each wine on the menu with such grace and passion. Naturally, your boyfriend knew how hard you worked to become a sommelier and was truly proud of you; the wine tastings held by you were the best he ever attended.

The only aspect that sometimes ruined the serene atmosphere of the tasting was... well, other men. Oh how he hated the way they fawned over you, utterly unaware that your boyfriend was sitting right next to them. This wouldn't even be such a problem if they didn't make filthy comments about you; but some of them really went overboard.

That night an especially repulsive attendant kept making snarky comments about you. Chuya could barely contain his anger when the man slapped your ass as you bent over to pour him some wine; the only thing that kept him from killing that bastard was the promise he made to you: that he wouldn't interrupt your show no matter what.

He simply gripped the armrests of his chair as the man burst out laughing.

With a smug smile on your face, you took the glass you just poured and handed it to the man.

"If you ever do that again I'll break this glass and shove the shards up your penis. Understood?" you said in a sweet voice, causing the man to quiver. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair and quickly straightened his back, uttering an apology.

Chuya's lips curled into a grin upon hearing your words. When he caught your gaze as you poured some wine to the man sitting opposite to him, he gave you a quick wink. Proud, he was so proud.

𝑫𝒂𝒛𝒂𝒊

you're equally sassy and he loves that

the two of you bring the best and worst out of one another but it's always so much fun

lowkey gets turned on when you say daring stuff

"Bella" groaned Dazai as you pulled him off of his chair "I've danced enough for tonight. My feet hurt"

"Nonsense love. Come on you know I love this song."

You slowly pulled your boyfriend towards the centre of the room. The underground bar you were currently at allotted a few square meters to a dancing area and of course, after a few drinks you wanted to dance too. Naturally, Dazai obliged you but it was currently midnight and you still wanted to keep going.

Not that he minded it that much; after all, what better way to spend the evening than being able to touch every inch of your body while the two of you swayed peacefully to a slow song?

After a few more songs you agreed to go back to the table.

"Hold on dear I'll go to the bathroom real quick" said your boyfriend as he gave your hand a little squeeze.

Much to his surprise when he retured from the toilet you were resting against the wooden table with a man hunched over you. His right arm was slowly making its way to your waist but you seemed utterly unfazed. As he walked closer, Dazai could hear the man talk to you.

"Come on pretty I know you want this. You've been tempting me all night long with those moves of yours."

Dazai could feel his blood boiling when he heard the man's daring words. He quickly walked closer just as you pushed the man away.

"In the most direspectful way, fuck off and fuck yourself on a chainsaw so you get massacred in half so no one has to see your disgraceful behaviour anymore you pathetic excuse of a man." you said in an angry voice.

The man, vexed by your words, turned his back to you and walked away, putting his middle finger up.

"Well bella I didn't know you could talk like that." said Dazai as he walked by your side.

"That asshole deserved it. The nerve I cannot believe it." you stated as you rolled your eyes, seemingly annoyed by the events that just took place.

"He truly did but love, don't let that man spoil the mood tonight. Besides..." he said as he took your soft hand in his and gently kissed it without breaking the eye contact. "The night is still young. How about we go home so I can cleanse you of that man's touch?"

"That's actually a good idea Osamu" you giggled as you drank the last sip of your drink and made your way up the flight of stairs, towards the exit.

𝑺𝒊𝒈𝒎𝒂

your sass and fiery attitude perfectly match his calm and composed demeanour

you're like the sun to his moon fr

he loves you a lot but sometimes you're a bit too much for him to handle. please be gentle.

Sigma marched into the room, his heels clicking on the marble floor. It was quite common for him to be summoned in the gambling area whenever a player was caught cheating or when a conflict escalated into a fight; but he never expected a case of sexual harassment.

As he approached the group of people with a stern look on his face he caught a glimpse of your figure. You were leaning against a table, a look of obvious annoyance on your face.

"What's going on here?" he asked calmly.

Your head snapped in his direction. "Oh darling here you are. I was just asking this fine gentleman here to leave the premises of the casino."

"Oh shut it bitch. What reason do you have to kick me out?" spat a man from the crowd as he stepped forward. His tie was loose and the first two buttons of his shirt were undone; by the glassy tint of his eyes Sigma could tell that he was really drunk.

"I saw you touching multiple women tonight, me included. This type of behaviour is not tolerated in our casino." you replied in a flat voice.

The man only grew more furious; he took step towards you, shoving a fat finger in your face. The golden rings on his hand caught the light of the chandeliers.

"And since when are you entitled to tell me what to do, huh? Didn't know you were the manager."

His words only fueled your rage and before Sigma could say anything, you slapped the man's hand away.

"Listen to me old man. Either you get out of here now or you stay." A wild grin rose to your lips as you continued speaking "But I will cut off those dirty hands of yours. And don't worry about the manager, I'm sure he'll approve of my actions, right darling?"

The man turned his face in Sigma's direction only to see him nod in agreement.

"I do, darling. Just try not to stain the carpet."

The perpetrator froze for a moment before mumbling a string of curses under his breath. He quickly stumbled out of the room.

Left with no other form of entertainment the crowd dissipated, leaving you and Sigma alone.

Your boyfriend exhaled deeply, the stern austere mask he put on crumbling. "Please never make me say that again, love" he said in a hushed voice, gaining a low chuckle from you.

"I know I'm sorry honey. Promise I won't." You closed the distance between the two of you and placed a chaste kiss on his lips. "But thank you for helping me out"

Snaking a hand around your waist, Sigma pulled you into a side hug. "Of course darling. I just don't want that man to make any complaints."

"Don't worry about that dear" you said with a sly smile on your face, your eyes glimmering with mischief. "After all, you're the manager."

[kindestofkings]

tis the damn season

robert keating x reader (she/her)

heres the requested bobby fic! reader is bobbys neighbour in dublin and they've had a situationship thats always off again on again, which ryan is v fed up with lol <3

masterlist

enjoy and also happy new year ! forgot how much I love making these so please come with some more requests, I always love getting them xxx

yourusername posted to their story!

year FIVE of working as a waitress during silly season, people need to be KINDER

yourbestfriend not all heros wear capes yourneighbour1 god bless you ↳ its been TOUGH but neighbours christmas party next week !! ↳ yourneighbour1 UGH best part of the season alsooo did I see a certain curly haired bass player make his return to the road...? ↳ feck he's home earlier than usual 😀 ↳ yourneighbour1 time to rekindle the infamous situationship??

yourusername posted to their story!

the return of the loudest next door neighbour known to man, yay 👍👍

yourneighbour1 😏😏 bobbyskeetz get rid of that sarcastic yay ryanmcmahon_15 yay my fav idiots have been reunited ! ↳ idiots? plural? why am I an idiot ryan?? ↳ ryanmcmahon_15 hmmhmm when will yee learn

bobbyskeetz

liked by yourusername and others

bobbyskeetz home.

view all other comments

joshjenkinson_ lookin so mysterious and interesting xx

inhalerfan1 he is one of us

inhalerfan2 missed the intense staring since tour has ended, thanks mr skeetz !

inhalerfan3 christmas came early

yourusername smoking kills

bobbyskeetz excuse me?? I have NEVER and WOULD never yourusername big fat liar yourbestfriend y'all are the worst, every fecking christmas ryanmcmahon_15 what she said !

yourusername

liked by yourneighbour1 and others

yourusername the kids table at the neighbours christmas party is always the place to be <3

also slayed so hard with my kris kindle present he literally cried for hours 💅

view all other comments

bobbyskeetz I cried cause you threw it at me

yourneighbour1 weakling bobbyskeetz ugh thanks tho.... I guess

ryanmcmahon_15 bobby and yn being adults when

yourbestfriend but then what would happen to their beloved situationship? yourusername guys you know this is MY comment section right?

joshjenkson_ hahah the perfect gift for him

yourneighbour2 ugh BEST PARTY EVAAAA

yourusername

liked by ryanmcmahon_15 and others

yourusername and it always leads to you and my hometown

view all other comments

yourbestfriend ah ryanmcmahon_15 shes quoting tis the damn season by THE taylor swift, what does this mean?

ryanmcmahon_1 gasp not the sad tones..

bobbyskeetz confused we're from the same hometown...?

yourusername you uncultured swine its a lyric 😭

bobbyskeetzswife

liked by inhalerfan1 and others

bobbyskeetzswife OH MY GOD I JUST MET BOBBY, IM FREAKING OUT

view all other comments

inhalerfan1 no way what the hell !! where?

bobbyskeetzswife literally in Dingle, Kerry 😭😭 he said hes with the lads but they ran out of drink so he was forced to go to the shops 😭 😭 inhalerfan1 omg hahahah I can't believe they just played the 3Arena

inhalerfan2 no way wonder why they're in dingle, such a random Irish town...

inhalerfan3 that girl that they all follow is in Kerry aswell with grace (eli's girlfriend) bobbyskeetzswife is that yourusername? I wonder who she is, bobby is always interacting with her inhalerfan2 huh wonder has he got a girlfriend

graciebrns

liked by elijahhewson and others

graciebrns wholesome few days before what I've been told, will be the best party I'll ever attend

view all other comments

elijahhewson promise its not an oversell

joshjenkinson_ agreed yourusername throws a phenomenal party yourusername ah flattered lads thank you

bobbyskeetz the million hikes will be worth it

yourusername you said you loved going on hikes bobbyskeetz course I do love 😔 inhalerfan2 love ?? gathering evidence

inhalerfan1 wholesome band trip bless

yourneighbour1 woohoo almost time to partyyyy

ryanmcmahon_15 how did one row of houses produce so many party animals?

yourusername party animals okay old man bobbyskeetz just cause you can't ever keep up ryan yourneighbour1 its how we were raised 😤

yourusername

liked by bobbyskeetz and others

yourusername hot people have birthdays on nye 💅

view all other comments

bobbyskeetz so feckin hot

yourusername baby stapppppp that

yourbestfriend was the BEST time ever

elijahhewson class night it was, graciebrns whats the verdict?

graciebrns best. night. ever. yourusername I love you thanks for having me <33 yourusername you kidding me? thank you for coming !!

inhalerfan1 oh hello inhaler spotted ..

inhalerfan2 not bobby on the decks

bobbyskeetz

liked by yourusername and others

bobbyskeetz happy birthday gorgeous, love cleaning up bottles with you on new years day x

view all other comments

yourusername ahhhh the taylor reference 😭

yourusername my favourite nosey neighbour <3

ryanmcmahon_15 I have never been so invested in two idiots getting together properly

yourbestfriend so insufferable its taken like 13 years for them not to be idiots yourusername and what about you two being idiots.. bobbyskeetz whats your favourite book trope again love? yourusername FRIENDS TO LOVERS BABY, take notes ryanmcmahon_15 yourbestfriend

inhalerfan1 sad sad day for the bobby girlies 💔

bobbyskeetzswife noooooooooo

finished xx

[moonlight-prose]

EVERGREEN WASN'T SUCH A BAD DREAM

➝ A HURT DRABBLE

a/n: this first started out as a small idea jotted down in my notebook way back in august. i was trying to write hurt and it was being put on hold cause honestly i was scared to continue it. i didn't think i'd ever write it and honestly it didn't make much sense to me given the way the fic played out. but i couldn't get over the idea that these two got a little bit of joy in their lives. it's pre-chapter six so i hope y'all enjoy! divider by the incredibly talented @saradika.

summary: in the middle of destruction nature continues to follow the same path as before. starting with the first snowfall of the season. you just happen to be there to witness it with him.

word count: 1.5k+

pairing: joel miller x f!reader

warnings: not explicit, soft joel, cold weather antics, fluff, a tad bit of romance, angst, grief, talk of the future in a hopeless world.

SERIES MASTERLIST

A blanket of white covered the world, turning everything brighter. The sun reflected off the snow, practically sparkling. You heard the crunch beneath your boots—the sound familiar and inviting. It called to the small fractured piece of joy that still remained in your body; begged you to finally let go and have some fun. Even as the world went to shit, the first snowfall never failed to make you smile.

Your breath collected in the air in front of you. Showing you just how cold it really was. Which only made you smile more—your nose practically numb with the frigid air.

“Fuck,” he muttered, slipping on the heavy gloves that he found in an old shop a few towns back. “It’s too cold.”

You shrugged, taking in a deep breath that burned on its way in. ‘Yeah but…it snowed.”

His eyes narrowed at your overjoyous smile. “It’s a pain in the ass to travel through snow.”

That was true.

Yet you couldn’t find it in yourself to be upset about such a beautiful thing. Snow has always been attuned to joy in your life. The start of fun spent outdoors with your brother. Hot drinks with friends as your university began to set up for the worst. And sure there were the annoyances and hardships that came with this weather. But you had always found that the positives far outweighed the negatives in this case.

Joel couldn’t necessarily say the same. A bitter feeling of grief began to build in his chest—Sarah’s face entering his mind. They spent holidays in the snow. Holed up in the house as they watched a movie—usually a Christmas movie with a predictable script—often inviting Tommy for the night. It was a time he’d give anything to return to.

The weight in his chest pressed down painfully—attempting to drag him down. Back into the darkness he was so used to residing in.

Except something bright broke through its walls. As if sunlight was once again shedding its light over him. Warmth consumed him; offering him hope with a soft press to the agony that splintered him half. Only when he tore himself out his mind did he realize what it was.

The sound of your laughter.

Small flakes began to fall from the sky, catching on his hair and jacket. They stung his face slightly. He couldn’t focus on that though. Not when you were smiling, your bare hands trying to catch each snowflake—your tongue sticking out. For the first time he saw a childlike wonder in your eyes. The cloud of grief he’d grown so accustomed to—now dissipated as you played in the snow.

“Havin’ fun?” he asked as his lips pulled up at one side.

You laughed again and Joel felt a bolt of lightning go through his heart. Even though it was freezing outside, that warmth spilled into his chest, spreading out to the tips of his fingers. He understood what love felt like. How it affected a person, but this…this was more. This was the missing emotion he thought he’d never see again in this lifetime.

“As a matter of fact—I am having fun.”

You stepped closer to him, letting your freezing nose press against the hollow of his throat. He jolted, eliciting another small giggle from your lips. But he refused to move. Simply shifting slightly to open his jacket in order to pull you closer until his body heat seeped into yours. He wrapped his arms around you, tugging you until your feet were pressed between his.

“Gonna get sick,” he muttered under his breath.

A puff of cold breath left you, caressing against his skin and sending a shiver down his spine. “C’mon Joel, it’s fun.”

“Boston—”

“Don’t you remember fun?”

He stiffened, hands frozen on your back. Only this time you didn’t immediately apologize for possibly saying the wrong thing. You remained silent. Gave him a chance to process the pain that was no doubt overtaking his body, a grief you would never be able to understand. Each of you carried your own demons—dragged down by the weight of them daily, and only for a brief moment did you see him allow them to lift.

“I do,” he replied, his voice thick with torment.

You shut your eyes, ran your hands up his back and let out a breath. “Tell me about it.”

Tell me about your past. Tell me about her.

Joel rarely mentioned anything when it came to his past. That continued to be a locked door you held no key to and you accepted that. You took what you could with him. But standing there in the middle of a snowy serene winter, you finally wanted to see each broken part he hid from you. You wanted to watch the sunlight glint off them like glass and catch their beauty in the palm of your hands.

You wanted to know him.

“We’d celebrate Christmas,” he said softly, lips pressed to your hair. “Nothin’ fancy. Nothin’ big. But we’d get a tree.”

He never told you who Sarah was to him, never revealed what happened to her. You were just happy to finally hear about something joyous in his life. That once upon a time…he might have smiled. Hell he might have even laughed often. You could tell by the lines around his eyes, proof that this man had experienced more than just this.

“In Texas?” you pressed, face peeking up to see his gaze already on you.

He nodded. “My brother usually joined us.”

Surprise lingered in your body, but you pushed past it. “You never told me you had a brother.”

And there it was, that small hint of a smile showing through the heartbreak on his face. “Yeah…Tommy.”

You tried to conjure up a picture of the other Miller. Did he have brown eyes like Joel? Was he older or younger? Was he still alive? Something told you with the way Joel reacted simply by saying the man’s name, that he remained okay. That somewhere on this Earth he was alive. You wanted to ask more, see if he’d let you in on a life you were never meant to be a part of. But pressing Joel to do anything—especially talking about his past—was not something that would go over easily.

“Did you play in the snow?” you asked, a smirk pulled at your lips.

He sighed, glancing up at the sky, a soft red stain flushing across his face. “We did.”

“I knew it.”

“Shut up,” he mumbled, fingers pinching at your hip. Only to feel his heart flutter at the echo of your laugh being pressed to his chest.

He swore his heart responded to the sound, twisting in a way that he didn’t know was possible. It wasn’t wracked with pain, it wasn't threatening to drown him beneath his grief. It simply just existed.

Perhaps that’s what he could do for this one moment.

Stand in the snow as a man, holding a woman he loved, and exist.

“Hey Texas.”

He ran a soothing hand up your back, fingers lightly tracing the hem of your jacket. “Hm?”

“Will you play in the snow with me?”

Something lit up his eyes, the brown suddenly a lighter gold that struck a chord in your heart. He played you like a fucking guitar and with that one look, you’d let him. Joel took a breath, mouth parting, and did the one thing you longed to see. He smiled. Nothing small or minor, but a full blown smile that made your heartbeat cease to exist. For the first time…he looked happy. As if the man from before had shoved his way forward to finally give you a proper look at who he once was.

At the man he longed to be again.

“Yeah Boston,” he said, leaning forward to brush his lips against yours. “I will.”

A laugh escaped your mouth when he shoved you back lightly, hands reaching for the freshly fallen snow on the ground. You did the same. Digging your fingers into the freezing icy ground, pulling up a small amount to make a ball. Only for Joel to throw one at you, hitting you square in the shoulder.

“I wasn’t ready!”

He chuckled, heading for you. “Move faster.”

“Ironic you’re telling me that.” He stuttered, eyes flashing dark at the memory of having you the day before, but that faded with another grin. One that taunted you with something more.

A promise of a life that could be.

His arm wrapped around your waist, the snow falling from your hands as he hauled you backwards. A yelp escaped your mouth when he fell, your body landing on top of his—snow sticking to his hair and yours. The sun still burned bright in the sky, flakes continued to rain down around you, but for this one single moment…you existed in a space that felt good.

That felt normal.

“We’ll have a tree,” you said softly, rolling over to lay beside him.

He turned to look at you, eyes tender. “A tree huh?”

You nodded. “One day.”

“Okay,” he murmured, hand cupping your cheek. “We’ll have a tree.”

[intheholler]

Hi, sorry if this is a weird message but I just wanted to say how much I appreciate your blog.

I've never been to the appalachia region but I was born in Mississippi and only lived there for like 3 years before we moved. My mom was a travel nurse so we moved every year or two and I really loved living like that and being able to live in tons of different places but part of me is really upset that I never really belonged to a specific place.

When I was younger, I was thankful for not growing up in the south. I always heard other people talk about it, how it was nothing but inbred hillbillies and how everyone talked in a weird drawl and I was glad I never picked up the accent.

But now I'm so, so upset about it. I have a very slight accent sometimes and say y'all and ain't a lot but it's definitely not recognizable as a southern accent.

I want to sound like that, but it feels wrong to try and talk with that accent now, because my family doesn't sound like that and I don't live in the south anymore. Even though I was born there, it still feels like I'm not from there, you know? Like I would be stealing something that's not mine.

It just sucks. Especially when I hear people constantly talk shit about the south and how everyone there is stupid and ugly and racist and evil and it's like, ''Oh. Maybe if I lived there a few more years they would hate me like that too."

A lot of time I see people talking about how much it sucks to grow up in a certain culture, but I never see people talk about how much it sucks to grow up without a specific culture(s).

The worst thing is when people ask where I'm from or where I grew up, and I don't know what I'm supposed to say.

So thank you for your blog. I know the south and appalachia are different, with different cultures and climates and people, but it still makes me feel like I can experience something I never got to.

hi there. this is not weird at ALL.

its a topic very near to my heart really. thanks so much for sharing your story not only because it's yours and i want to know it, but because it resonates with me SO hard, and i don't really talk to anyone who was constantly on the move as a kid and questions their identity because of it.

long post below, as is usually the case with me and this subject.

first i wanna say: i agree that the deep south and appalachia are certainly unique from one another, but to me, they share more similarities than they do differences. your story only cements that in my mind.

we have similar politics, are embarrassed by similar stereotypes, have shameful collective histories. we have similar flavors of self-work and unlearning to do. even the accents overlap.

we also know the same struggle of trying to be louder than our region, how it feels to have our individual voices swallowed up by people who don't want to hear it because they've already decided what they think about us as if we are some monolith.

what i mean is you definitely belong in this community, and i'm so glad you are here!

now for the emotional bits: i hate making these sorts of asks about me, but i sometimes feel at a loss as how else to communicate my empathy in this specific situation.

i just hope my experience can extend a sense of solidarity and understanding to how you're feeling, as mine mirrors your own very closely. i can seriously like feel the pain radiating off of this ask and i just want you to feel seen and heard.

"The worst thing is when people ask where I'm from or where I grew up, and I don't know what I'm supposed to say."

this kicked me in the stomach, because same. it's why being "from appalachia" is so integral to my identity. i'm not from a town or even a state. all i have is the region.

i've talked about this before on here, but my dad was a contractor, and we moved every year or two as well. the longest i stayed in one town was three years, and it happened only once.

i agree that moving around a lot was good in some ways, but, like you, it left me without a sense of belonging.

looking back as an adult, i realize how badly all of that moving fucked me up. i don't have a hometown in the traditional sense. i'm not "from" anywhere.

a lot of my childhood belongings i no longer have because everything seemed to get lost in the moves. i feel like i am scattered across a region, and i am nowhere.

its so bad that, as silly as it is, i get irrationally upset at something as innocent as when i am with someone who has lived in a place most of their life, and they can easily give directions there because they know the place so well. i can't do that with anywhere and so i feel bitter.

i myself moved around consistently in appalachia/the south, though, so i still grew up in the area, as generally as one could. so i also spent most of my late childhood and preteen yearsgetting rid of the accent. i didn't want to sound "stupid" or be lumped in with the racists and the stereotypes of the region.

i thought it made me better than other kids who spoke with the accent, because back then, i hadn't started the self-work i have since undergone and ripped all that hateful internalized bullshit up.

i regret it every day now that i'm learning to love where i'm from--appalachia and the south as a region. i regret ever buying into what i was told about myself and getting rid of all markers of it.

i get it, anon. i really do and i love you and i'm sorry.

THIS IS ALL TO SAY VERY VERY LOUDLY:

you. are. from. there.

you were born in the south. you was raised by a presumably southern family. even if you wasn't, they had to take pieces of mississippi with them. culture is not a static thing--it goes where you go.

you can't steal what's already yours. the accent is yours to use. it feels awkward in your mouth when you try to get it back but that's just because it needs to get comfortable in there again. it doesn't mean you're faking or stealing. it means you are reconnecting, and reunions can sometimes be a little awkward.

don't hold yourself up to rigid standards or fall victim to any gatekeeping, outward or inward. only you get to define who you are, and it seems like you know who that is supposed to be.

i hope you can start to feel a little more at home in your identity. i know what a special hell it is. thank you so so much for being here <3333

[onegirllis]

So, about the new LIS trailer

It took me some time, but forgive me for the delayed response. I had to dig myself out of the fandom grave to actually look around and notice what the hell was going on. I spent another moment pondering if I still care, and with the answer "barely," I came here to write this post.

1) For whatever reason DickNein (yes, I didn't miss the scandal, who is the nazi now?) still doesn't understand what made LIS 1 so successful. It wasn't the diversity; it wasn't the same copy-paste lines; it wasn't the murder; it wasn't the superheroes from small towns with different powers. It wasn't even the lesbians (I know, shocking!). There were merely a few elements that made LIS special: - Magical Arcadia Bay with its residents - The rewind time superpower, which was one of the best mechanics in narrative games since the genre was born - Max, Chloe, and Rachel (not necessarily in that order), and you need at least two to make it work, preferably with Chloe at least somewhere there. - the specific art style and saturated colors (butchered a bit in BTS but then going full SIMS 4 for the rest of the games) - and most importantly - the soul Sure, DontNod could get away with alteration, to no fanfare and sometimes to no success, but their experiments came from the right place. This shit ain't it.

2) For whatever reason, Chloe is now a dog. I know. I know. I understand. Listen, my fellow comrades, I know how it feels when the devs pull put shit like, "Oh, they were just friends and grew apart, but now she named her squirrel after the love of her high school life".

3) Max had plastic surgery. She also decided to be entirely anonymous so that she looked like everyone else. Every model looks the same, and I hope they will have their names spelled above them as they walk around. Otherwise, I have no idea who is who. Frankly, she looks a little bit like Steph had a lot of fun with the entire cast of Sims 4 and then had a baby.

4) On top of everything, the new Max, however, probably now goes as Maxine, is teaching her Polaroid skills at a university. Now we know we are in an alternative universe all along. I hope the tuition matches the useful photography skill set you obtain there.

5) For any other reason unknown, she can dress up as Chloe, who can be dead (see the Ultimate edition). I know Max has a long tradition of dressing up as dead people, but I hoped it would go away with her Botox and other plastic corrections. But hey, we survived Chloe dressing up as Rachel and cosplaying as her dad, too, so I guess I shouldn't even be surprised. Not that it's a low-budget movie, and they have a limited wardrobe. It's a video game, but the tradition of having a mental stroke is still strong.

6) Oh no, another murder I gotta solve! I shall use my powers. Why now? Is it another girlfriend who is into printing photos? Or is it her student? Or both? Max becoming Jefferson would be a nice twist, even if not loved among the community, but I don't think it would get anywhere that dark. It just will get stupid.

7) This is supposed to be a fanservice a little too late and on the wrong foot. I know y'all missed Max. I didn't, but I understand the hype on seeing her on the screen. Although following a teenager in Arcadia Bay was interesting, simply by the shot of nostalgia with every step, here we are following a middle-aged single art teacher (or someone who looks middle-aged to the point that they decided on fixing their face). NO ONE WANTS TO FOLLOW THEIR ART TEACHERS WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK.

8) The Nazi problem (well, well, well, the turntables). I know DeckNein had to do some cleanup among their staff. I hope they did, but somehow, I doubt it was done for the right purpose. Therefore, I'm uncomfortable giving them any of my money, now or ever. I know, there are worse studios. I know it's stupid, but LIS was always special, filled with this little genuine spark. It just doesn't feel right.

9) The game has the worst UI in the history of modern gaming.

10) And to finish my rant on something even worse, LIS4 is coming just before DontNod's new game, most likely to compete with it on the market. A bit sus, don't you think?

Anyway, dick move, my friends. All of it. Actually, waving dicks around in the air all along. Despite our differences, this ain't right. And God knows how much worse it could be.

[rumalumasuns]

"Each day I love you more, today more than yesterday, and less than tomorrow" (Rosemonde Gerard) - With Shu Yamino

Based (loosely) on Beauty and the Beast by Disney (for the first part y'all might wanna listen to this song for reference if y'all don't know it already lol)

Part of my Living in a Fairy Tale series

!- Reader is Gender neutral (if I made a mistake somewhere I apologize and I'll fix it as soon as possible!)

!- Mentions of shooting, blood, killing, obsessive behavior from antagonists, magic curses, gremlins

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠, Shu Speaking

Original work by rumalumasuns, 5,175 words (it's long sorry haha), unedited but I will do so when I have time later :)

Once upon a time,...

There was a handsome, young prince by the name of Shu Yamino de Luxiem of the Kingdom of Ninisani. Shu was a peculiar prince. He wasn't like his oldest brother Vox, the Crown Prince, his older brother Ike, an infamous novelist, his younger brother Mysta, an acute detective, or his youngest brother Luca, the Captain of the Imperial Guard. Instead, he was a sorcerer - one with a high aptitude for performing curses.

Although his art was looked down upon by those around him, as curses were seen as taboo, his brothers didn't mind, and even supported him! Shu was a prince, and he could (within reason) do what he desired. His art wasn't useless either: with the help of his curses, many monster and demon subjugations went smoothly.

So, what went wrong?

As stated, Shu was a peculiar prince. It wasn't just because of his curses. Rather, he was interested in many peculiar things, including tales of sky dragons and fairies and mermaids, as well as unusual trinkets. While strolling through the woods, Shu stumbled upon something glowing within the bushes. His curiosity peaked, and he absolutely HAD to see what the glowing substance was, possibly bring it home for research.

Once Shu parted the bushes, he came upon a glorious, glowing piece of...excrement. AKA poop.

"Huh? Why is this poop glowing?" thought Shu, as he began to, without thinking, reach for the poop. Before he could get his hands on it, however, he was stopped by a screech.

"HOW DARE YOU! YOU DARE LAY YOUR HANDS ON MY PRECIOUS EXCREMENTOUS SUBSTANCIOUS???"

Shu whipped around in panic, even though he didn't even touch the poop. Behind him was an infuriated gremlin. It stomped its feet and roared in rage, waving its magic staff around. At this point, Shu was confused by such actions. 

"But...but it's just glowing poop?"

"NO! IT IS MY PRECIOUS! FOR YOUR CRIME, YOU WILL PAY!"

The gremlin roared and hastily waved its staff around, chanting.

"WITH MY CURSE, ONE NEEDS TO FIND SOME-ONE WHO SEES BEAU-TY, IN EVE-RY-THING EV-EN IF IT'S THE WORST YOU'VE EV-ER SEEN! BUT WHO ON EARTH WOULD LOVE A BEAST AS HID-E-OUS AS HE? NO ONE, THAT'S WHO! AND SO THE NAR-RA-TIVE CEAS-ES TO BE!"

"Wait!"

But before Shu could stop him, the gremlin cursed the prince. A glow surrounded Shu, and all he could hear was the gremlin faintly cackling as his vision filled with white.

When his vision cleared, Shu found himself on a grassy cliff covered by a forest of tall oak trees that overlooked a small town. In a daze, Shu vaguely noted his location as he scanned a sign that was posted in front of the small town's entrance, showing "Petit Mura of the Kingdom of Ninisani".

".......What just happened??"

Shu gasped, then grasped for his throat, thinking it was weird that his voice came out in a much more low and gruff tone, only to retract his hand quickly after feeling not flesh on his neck, but fur. His eyes widened once he caught sight of his hand- er, paw. A paw with black fur. He then looked down at his clothes, now wrapping around his black fur-covered body. His shoes were gone, replaced with large black paws with sharp silver claws. Shu quickly looked around for anything reflective near his location and found a lake a couple meters behind him. Shu hurriedly ran to it to look at his reflection, and his eyes widened. His face now had a fuzzy snout and thick, pointy ears. The only things that could show that he was Prince Shu were his violet eyes and a small ahoge that was reminiscent of his yellow hair back in his human form.

"I'm...a panther beast? Well, cool, but I have to go back home. My brothers are probably waiting."

So, Shu tried to undo his curse and go on his way, thinking that it would be easy since he specialized in curses. However, he discovered that he couldn't undo it. In fact, he couldn't do curse magic at all, besides summoning a couple shikigamis, which he lovingly called his Yaminions. Perplexed, but getting his priorities straight, he sent one Yaminion to the castle to let his brothers know that he was okay.

Shu then tried to think about what he should do next, but before he could reflect on his situation any further, his train of thought was halted by a small voice singing, coming from the town behind him. Curiosity, as always, got the better of Shu as he crept through the trees until he got to the edge of the cliff and peeped over, not wanting any locals to spot him and chase him away in horror.

"𝐋𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧, 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐚 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭 𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐞…𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞."Shu observed the person singing as they sang about how they are stuck in a town with life that was too repetitive. They held a book in their hand titled Sorcery Through the Ages.

"They seem kind and knowledgeable...Maybe they're understanding enough to give me some help and shelter until I can figure all of this out..."

Shu’s main objective was to look at the townspeople and find potential people who could help him, including the person with the book. He continued to watch as the person went through the little town, as others (for some strange reason Shu couldn't fathom) began to join in singing. The song by the townspeople was filled with insults and praises alike: how weird the person was for reading such strange books, and how beautiful this person was despite their flaws - in short, the townspeople talked about how the person was nothing like the rest of those in the town. He also learned the person's name through the song: Beau/Belle (Beau or Belle depending on what y'all prefer).

Shu saw how they sighed at the townspeople who doubted them, and how they had to shoo two people - possible suitors of Belle/Beau - away before they went into their home.

After looking over the town for a little longer, Shu decided he needed to find or make a temporary shelter for the evening. He went to one of the nearby oak trees before asking his four Yaminions to help him build a treehouse (really just a wooden tent on a sturdy branch), climbing the tree easily with his new body, and eventually resting in his shelter.

His eyes drooped promptly after settling down, as he reflected on the day's events.

"... What a day...," said Shu, before his eyes closed, and slumber came to him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shu was abruptly awoken in the dark by one of his Yaminions, who was frantically indicating to the ground. His ears perked up upon hearing rustles and cracks coming from below. Cautiously, Shu craned his neck out of his shelter to direct his vision downwards, where he saw an old man harvesting what appeared to be faintly golden-glowing acorns. Shu watched as the old man hemmed and grumbled about how peculiar his child was to always want these for their birthday.

Resolving to find a proper shelter, Shu slowly and silently shimmeyed (lol try saying that 5 times fast) down the tree. When he was a couple feet behind the old man, he carefully cleared his throat. The old man whipped his head behind in a panic, wondering who on Ninisani would be awake at this hour besides him. He didn't see anything besides the slight glimmer of Shu's amethyst, beastly eyes.

After Shu noted that the old man saw him, he opened his mouth.

"... Please don't scream. I would only like some assistance from you if that is alright?"

The old man pondered a moment before nodding his head.

"Come into the light, please," said the old man. Slowly, Shu emerged from his place in the dark to the dimly lit area that the old man with his faintly glowing acorns was in.

The old man’s eyes widened as he let out an audible gasp. Shu’s full panther beast form was shown to him, something he’d only heard about through the stories that his child read to him while he was working with the acorns. Unable to overcome his shock, the old man fainted.

Shu rushed to the side of the man.

“Oh no, oh no, please wake up!! I just wanted... to ask... for... help..."

Shu tapped the side of the old man’s face and shook his shoulders slightly, before sighing and looking around for a safe place to put the old man (as Shu did not know where the old man lived).

Eventually, Shu decided to bring the old man back to his makeshift shelter, and with the help of his Yaminions, he leaped up to the treehouse, carrying the old man on his back.

After securing the old man in place so that he won't fall even if he woke up in a panic, Shu sighed deeply, hoping that tomorrow morning he could have an actual conversation with the man. He assigned one of his Yaminions to keep watch before he fell into slumber.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫? 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮!… 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐈 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐬… 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐡𝐞'𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐬… 𝐎𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞!"

Shu's ears perked up upon hearing the sound of a person venturing through the woods. Lazily, one of his eyes opened, as Shu noted that it was now late morning. Beside him was the unconscious old man, whom Shu believed was the father that the person below was looking for.

To see who the person was, Shu looked out from his shelter, only to have his eyes widen in surprise as he saw the Belle/Beau from the day before now in the woods.

'They must be this old man's child...'

Shu then thought of a plan. Although he never wanted to bargain using someone's life, in this case, he had to if he wanted to gain even a slim possibility of the help that Belle/Beau could offer. So, he called out to them from the treehouse.

"You there! I have your father. I have kept him safe in the woods after I found him passed out. However, I will not release him yet."

Belle/Beau looked around for the source of the voice before spotting a faint outline of Shu's rickety treehouse near the top of one of the oak trees.

"𝐔𝐡𝐦… 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲, 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐞𝐭? 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐭? 𝐈 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐧𝐨𝐰!"

"I'm afraid I cannot do that, unless you promise me something."

"…𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐬𝐢𝐫, 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐨 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐦𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫."

"That... well... I need some help and shelter. You see, I was cursed-"

"𝐇𝐦𝐦? 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞?"

"I said I was cursed- darn it, why can't I say it??"

"…𝐒𝐢𝐫 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐤, 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤."

"Th-There's no need for that! I... I'll come down. But first, may I ask if you have ever encountered mythical creatures before? Such as beastmen?"

"𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐝𝐝 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧- 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞, 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧'𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐲. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐚���𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬… 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐬𝐤, 𝐬𝐢𝐫?" asked Y/N in a suspicious voice.

"... Well, you're about to meet one, so..."

Y/N's face pulled into one of surprise before they quickly composed themself.

"𝐀𝐥𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐫 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐭."

Y/N stared at the tree leaves, getting ready to use the book in their hand to defend themself, and waited. Eventually, they heard the rustle of the leaves and something heavy made its way down.

First, Y/N saw a black, long tail. Then, they saw pants and a coat. Eventually, all of Shu was shown as he made his descent from the top of the tree, and Y/N saw it all: a panther beastman with amethyst-colored eyes and their father on his back.

"𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫!" exclaimed Y/N as they rushed to his side, shaking him awake. Eventually, the old man awoke, dazed and confused as to why his child was shaking him so hard. Then, he looked around and slowly began to recall the events of the night before. Quickly, he stood up and shielded Y/N away from the beastman.

"What have you done to me?"

"Uh, I haven't done anything. I brought you back to my temporary shelter because you fainted after you saw me..."

"... Oh. Well, what do you want with us?"

"I only would like a place to stay for a couple of months. You see, I have a situation that requires me to find a shelter..."

"What situation?"

"I... I can't say. B-But! I will prove to you that I have no bad intentions. I'll cook and help you with things if you need it: I only ask that you provide me a place to stay for a couple of months. Afterwards, I will reward you greatly."

"Pfft- reward? What could you possibly offer us?" asked the old man with a scoff.

"𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐬, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞?" asked Y/N, with a glimmer of hope in their eyes as they clutched their book harder with their hands.

"Uhm, I don't know of other beast people than me, but I can provide you help with my curses, and my Yaminions."

"𝐘𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬?"

Shu then summoned four shikigamis, each swirling around him before tentatively going towards Y/N, who looked upon them with wonder. Noticing their child's excitement, the old man considered taking the beastman in.

"...Alright, we'll let you stay with us. But, if there is any funny business, just know that we will not hesitate to defend ourselves," said the old man, who moved his hand towards a gun that was resting on his hip. Shu nodded in understanding.

"I promise, no funny business."

After a moment of silence, the old man sighed before he motioned Shu to follow him. Shu, the old man, and Y/N went on a path that was covered, likely to prevent Shu from being seen by the townspeople, who would definitely try to chase him out of the town, or even kill him.

While walking, Shu ended up side by side with Y/N, who then turned to him and introduced themself.

"𝐈'𝐦 𝐘/𝐍 𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞/𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐮 𝐋/𝐍. 𝐀 𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞/𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐦𝐞. 𝐍𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐦𝐲 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐮𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦."

"...I'll call you Y/N if that's alright?"

Y/N's eyes brightened before they nodded and smiled.

"𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞?"

"...I'm Shu. Shu...Kurano."

"𝐖𝐨𝐰, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐝𝐨𝐦."

"Haha... do I?"

"𝐘𝐞𝐩! 𝐇𝐞'𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐣𝐮𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜! 𝐈𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠!"

Shu watched as the person continued to praise him (unknowingly), feeling slightly warm inside. No one had liked his practice in curse magic, much less find it interesting. Everyone else besides his brothers feared or disliked it, even his own servants. But, not this person.

'This is nice,' thought Shu, as he continued to converse more with Y/N. Through their conversation, he found out about how Y/N moved to this town when they were little, and grew up being told how unusual or strange they were for being interested in peculiar things.

"Me too, I'm like that also. Growing up, the people around me thought I was weird, haha."

"𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐈 𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧!" laughed Y/N.

Y/N then talked about how they recently were constantly bothered by these siblings who were infamous in town, Gastro and Gastria LeGuem, who tried to court them and show off to them.

"𝐈'𝐦 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲'𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 '𝐍𝐎'! 𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭? 𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝?"

"Not at all, they sound like tough people to deal with."

"𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦. 𝐇𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐞."

Little did Y/N know, Gastro and Gastria were obsessed with Y/N. They both knew Y/N's habits, their favorite foods, and their three sizes - and they wanted to know more. They wanted to make Y/N theirs (to share, they weren't sure yet but they figured they could battle it out). So when Gastro and Gastria detected a new presence entering the L/N household, they became on edge.

Just after Y/N helped Shu settle in, they heard a frantic knock on the house's front door. Y/N peeked out from the little window in Shu's room, only to groan when they saw Gastro and Gastria outside.

"𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦. 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐭? 𝐈'𝐦 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦."

"Why are you looking for your soulmate?"

Y/N turned from the window to look at Shu.

"…𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲, 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐚𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬. 𝐖𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐞'𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞."

"That... sounds so amazing! I've never heard of something like that."

"𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐡, 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭. 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡, 𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮."

The two smiled at each other for a moment, until loud banging came again from the front door. Y/N groaned again, muttering curses under their breath.

"𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐍𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐢, 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭. 𝐈'𝐦 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦."

"Alright, good luck!" Shu gave Y/N a thumbs-up as they left the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~downstairs~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭?" said Y/N in a slightly harsh and frustrated tone.

"MY LOVE! I am so happy you could grace us with your presence," said Gastro, who bowed deeply and tried to reach for Y/N's hand to give them a kiss on it, before he was pulled away by his sister.

"YES, MY LOVE! We came to make sure that everything was okay in this household. Is there someone who came to visit? Your house smells... different. Musky. I do not like it."

Y/N sighed.

"𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐥𝐥, 𝐧𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞. 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐲, 𝐧𝐨, 𝐰𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞. 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭."

"I SEE! Well, Gastria, I guess it is alright then. Will you, Y/N, let us into your house for a moment? I would like to give my greetings to my future father-in-law," said Gastro, as he began to force his way into the house.

"𝐍𝐨! 𝐆𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨, 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮!" and with that Y/N slapped Gastro out of the doorway. "𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞. 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐨 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞!"

The door slammed in Gastro and Gastria's faces.

"...Brother, something is not right. Y/N clearly lied to us just now."

"I know, sister. It is obvious that Y/N loves us."

"Well, there's that, but I clearly sense another presence in there. It is not our future father-in-law, but it is definitely male."

"*Gasp* No! Well, we just have to kill him off, don't we sister?"

Gastria grinned maliciously.

"Yes brother, we do. Let us go get our guns ready."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A couple months passed, and Y/N thought that these might be some of the best months of their life. During that time, Y/N and Shu got to know more of each other, and Y/N did not see the LeGuem siblings at all. They were satisfied, thinking that they finally got rid of the siblings once and for all.

Y/N and Shu read books together, discussing the content, and Shu talked about his adventures and encounters with peculiarities. There were the occasional admiration speeches from Y/N whenever the topic of curse magic was brought up, as it related to Prince Shu.

"You know, you're really an odd one Y/N. N-Not in a bad way or anything, but in a good way! It's just, don't you think curse magic is scary or weird?"

"𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐫𝐝? 𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐝. 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐢𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰?"

Shu's chest felt warm. Lately, he kept getting these warm feelings whenever Y/N expressed their interest and acceptance of Prince Shu and his curse magic (well, because it's about him, obviously). He had a feeling he knew what this warmth meant, but he decided to push it to the back of his head for now.

"Alright you two, come and eat some breakfast," said the old man. The old man had been observing the interactions between his child and Shu, and while he was at first afraid that Shu would do something, he found Shu to be quite helpful and kind. Much better than anyone else in the town (besides their town's librarian, who always had books to share with Y/N). If only Shu wasn't a beastman...

His train of thought was interrupted by someone bursting through their door. Shu whipped his head up, only to make eye contact with the LeGuem siblings.

"AHHHHH Y/N MY LOVE! YOU ARE IN DANGER! I KNEW WE SHOULD HAVE INVESTIGATED SOONER!" exclaimed Gastro, looking at Shu in rage and in disgust as he started to raise his gun.

"Y/N, SWEETIE, LEAVE HIM TO US. GO HIDE WITH FATHER-IN-LAW!" said Gastria in a shrill voice, as she grinned and cocked her gun to Shu's chest area.

"𝐍𝐨!" exclaimed Y/N, as they pulled Shu to the side just as the first shot was fired. They took Shu's paw and urged him up the stairs, as the old man threw some plates at Gastro and Gastria to distract them.

Once Y/N and Shu got in his room, Y/N brought out a bag of emergency supplies for Shu.

"𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞! 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧, 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞-"

"But what about you!" asked Shu, as his paws enveloped the hand he was holding.

"𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞! 𝐆𝐨!" said Y/N, as they opened up one of the back windows and pushed Shu out. Shu landed on his feet paws before he turned to look back at the window. He saw Y/N motioning frantically to the road they took when they first brought him to their home. Although Shu didn't want to, he eventually sprinted down the road, not looking back. His speed as a beastman allowed him to quickly get back to the area he was in before: the forest on a cliff overlooking the town.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A couple days passed, where Shu was lazily living a solitary life in his treehouse, worrying about Y/N, when one of his Yaminions, which he sent to watch over Y/N, frantically floated to him.

It made motions on his paw, crumpling up like origami and animating with its paper form who he assumed to be Y/N getting brought to a stake a burning.

He sat up with a start.

"They're going to burn Y/N at the stake?? But I thought Gastra and Gustrio or whatever loved them?? What happened? What about their father??"

The Yaminion crumpled up into a different scene and showed Gastro and Gastria beating up the old man, who kept trying to protect Y/N from them before Gastria raised her gun and shot him in the head. Y/N fell to the floor, shouting curses at the siblings, before clutching their father to their chest. The siblings left Y/N with their dying father in some room, and locked them up, as Y/N continued to cradle their father as he slowly died. He said something to Y/N, then went limp. Y/N sobbed silently over their father's corpse. The Yaminion then went back to its original shape.

"...So, just because they refused to like the siblings back, the siblings killed their father and now are going to kill them? WHAT?" Shu stood up, enraged, and resolved to help Y/N, even if it meant getting killed. Y/N was one of the only ones who believed in and accepted him, even as a beastman and Shu was willing to finally acknowledge what he felt for them: love.

He jumped down the tree, his Yaminions floating after him, as they rushed towards the town. Dusk was approaching, meaning Shu did not have much time left to save Y/N.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When he got to the entrance of the town, Shu sent his Yaminions to find where Y/N was placed for preparing for the "burning ceremony". Lately, Shu had found that he could perform a little bit of some other magic as long as he used their elementary spells (level 1 and 2 spells). So, he used his level 2 spell of cloaking with the shadows to be able to sneak around town and find the siblings who were causing all this trouble. If possible, he wanted to deal with them before they could harm anyone else. People in the town were milling about, lingering around the stake that Y/N was going to be burned at.

"I heard that they were a witch who enticed a magic beast to come into town for a while before the LeGuem siblings caught on and saved us!"

"Oh, bless those siblings! They are always such a help when it comes to the big hunts."

"Yes. They're also so charming! It's about time that Y/N got their retribution for rejecting such amazing people so often."

Shu scoffed internally at the gossip from the people he passed by.

'The siblings aren't charming, they're crazy!' thought Shu. 'You can have them, just leave Y/N alone!'

After a couple minutes of searching, Shu found the LeGuem siblings in a pub, as the people within sang praises of them for protecting them from the "witch" Y/N and for being so good-looking and strong.

Shu waited for the siblings to come out, before he revealed himself, much to the horror of the townspeople.

"IT'S THE WITCH'S COMPANION!"

"SAVE US, GASTRO! SAVE US GASTRIA!"

The siblings smirked at the desperate cries of the siblings before they pulled out their guns and started shooting at Shu. Shu called upon his level 1 wind magic spell "Deflect" and was able to make the bullets go around him and stop their motion. Gastria became uneased, as she never had to deal with an opponent who used magic, while Gastro growled in frustration, disliking Shu's move. He began to recklessly shoot at Shu, and the bullets began to go toward the townspeople. In a panic, the townspeople scattered away to their houses, screaming.

Shu didn't pay any mind to the screams as he started to make attacks of his own, summoning level 2 fire spells to burn the clothes and hair of Gastro and Gastria, leaving Gastria bald and Gastro's shirt in smoldering tatters. The siblings yelped as they continued to reload and shoot at Shu, though their attempts were futile. Shu would've won if it weren't for the fact that Gastro and Gastria directed their attention to someone behind him.

Gastria and Gastro cackled in madness, before shooting at Y/N, who had a yellow outfit adorned with gold, probably for the burning ceremony.

"NO!" Shu sent a gust of wind to direct the bullets away from Y/N, who held their father's gun in one hand and a shield in the other. They would've been fine even if Shu didn't do anything, but Shu didn't care. His priority was to protect them.

And he did, at the expense of his own protection. Laughing harshly, Gastria pointed her gun at Shu.

"For Y/N's love!" she exclaimed before firing her remaining two bullets into Shu's chest.

"For our love!" exclaimed her brother, who followed suit and gave Shu bullet wounds in the leg and arms.

"𝐍𝐨!" cried Y/N, as they aimed their gun and shot at Gastria and Gastro's hands. As they practiced with this gun a lot with their father, all of Y/N's shots met their mark, leaving Gastro and Gastria to scream in pain and leaving their hands immobile. Their guns left their hands and flew to the ground near Y/N, who then crushed them using the shield in their hand.

Shu's Yaminions flew from behind the shield (as they were there reinforcing the shield in case any bullets came for Y/N). They hit the back of the necks of the LeGuem siblings, knocking them unconscious, before quickly going to Shu.

Y/N followed them and ran to Shu's side. They gasped at the multiple bleeding wounds he had, and his Yaminions, who once frantically floated around Shu to try and save him, were now drifting to Shu's side and fading away.

In a frenzy, Y/N ripped off a part of their sleeve and applied pressure to the wound bleeding the most, gasping as tears formed in their eyes.

"𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐨𝐤𝐚𝐲, 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐨𝐤𝐚𝐲- 𝐨𝐡 𝐦𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐢𝐭'𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐨𝐤𝐚𝐲, 𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐧𝐝-"

"Y/N..."

Y/N looked over at Shu in shock, tears streaming down their face as they continued to try and staunch the bleeding.

"… 𝐘𝐞𝐬, 𝐒𝐡𝐮?" replied Y/N shakily as they continued to apply pressure.

"... I love you."

"𝐒𝐡𝐮, 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲'𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐚𝐲, 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰!-"

"Y/N... I'm afraid I'm running out of time."

Shu chuckled weakly, his smile strained and pained, and he looked upon Y/N and placed a hand on their cheek, slowly wiping away a tear.

"I love you."

Those were Shu's last words before he closed his eyes.

Y/N sobbed, as they desperately clutched onto Shu's hand, and looked at Shu, his clothes now soaked with blood.

"𝐌𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐨… 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐨, 𝐬𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤. 𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐬𝐨 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞. 𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐍 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐄𝐘𝐄𝐒, 𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄!"

Y/N's tears fell onto Shu's face as they looked upon him, before letting out a quiet sob as he remained unresponsive.

Then, they remembered something, and hurriedly took off their pendant made out of the wood of the glowing acorns and placed it over Shu's heart. Y/N then started chanting.

"𝐌𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞, 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐈 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐞. 𝐁𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐨𝐟 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐬, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞! 𝐒𝐨, 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞, 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧, 𝐌𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞, 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞!"

Their pendant glowed and Y/N saw the bullet marks in Shu heal as the bullets popped out from his body.

It was silent after the pendant stopped glowing. Y/N held their breath, eyes trained on Shu's chest for any breathing movement.

After a couple moments of dead silence, Y/N was about to lose hope before Shu gasped suddenly and sat up. He pawed at the places where he was shot, only to find that he was completely healed.

He turned to look at Y/N, who had tears streaming down their face before they hugged Shu fiercely, muttering "𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐓𝐚𝐳𝐮𝐦𝐢-𝐬𝐚𝐧" and "𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐤𝐚𝐲!"

"You... you saved me? With your acorn pendant? But, you were supposed to use that for your soulmate..."

"𝐒𝐡𝐮, 𝐈 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞."

Shu looked at Y/N with shock and disbelief.

"Are you sure? I thought you wouldn't like me since I’m this way and all..."

"𝐎𝐡, 𝐒𝐡𝐮…"

Y/N shook their head before gently holding Shu's paw.

"𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐝, 𝐧𝐨, 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰. 𝐈 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞, 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞, 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐬 𝐦𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝, 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞. 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮."

Shu felt his heart stutter before he brought the hand that was holding his paw to his chest, bringing Y/N closer to him. The two seemed to have the same desire, as slowly they began to get closer and closer. Y/N placed a hand on Shu's face, making him lower himself until the top of his snout was now below their lips.

A moment full of tension passed, before Y/N put their lips on the top of Shu's snout, giving him a gentle kiss.

Shu felt his face grow hot, as his tail started moving around in happiness and wrapped around one of Y/N's legs.

Y/N pulled away, a satisfied grin on their face before it turned into one of shock as Shu's body suddenly started to glow a blinding white. In a panic, thinking that the acorns didn't do their job and now Shu was going to go away from them, Y/N reached out for him with one arm, while the other arm covered their eyes.

"𝐒𝐇𝐔!"

But just as quickly as it started, the glow ended as well, leaving not Shu the panther beast, but Shu the human sorcerer prince.

"…𝐒𝐡𝐮?"

Shu's eyes were closed, as the light blinded him as well, before he slowly opened them.

"...Yea?..."

"𝐘𝐨𝐮… 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧?? 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝? 𝐖𝐚𝐢𝐭, 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥?"

"Uh, huh?" Shu looked down at himself. His shirt was loose and in tatters, though all his articles of clothing were able to shrink back along with him. In place of his paws were his pale hands, and he was barefoot.

"I, I'm back! I turned back into a human!" exclaimed Shu, before looking at Y/N who was confused.

"I was cursed, but I couldn't say this to you at all. But now, I'm back so... I-Is it weird?...," asked Shu shyly, as the silence afterward stretched longer and became slightly awkward.

Slowly, Y/N walked to Shu, before hugging him.

"𝐈, 𝐈'𝐦 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐒𝐡𝐮. 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐝," said Y/N in gentle joy, as they gripped onto Shu tighter with their arms.

Shu, still in slight disbelief over his sudden transformation back into a human, hugged them back tightly. He lightly started sobbing.

“Thank you…thank you for loving me.”

Y/N grinned.

“𝐎𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞, 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐈 𝐧𝐨𝐭, 𝐡𝐚𝐡𝐚.”

After they broke apart from the hug, Y/N looked at the side of Shu’s face as he held onto their waist, pulling them into his side. Shu looked in the distance, towards the direction of the castle where he had to go next. Y/N smiled at him in understanding before looking at the same space.

Together, they reveled in the peace that they earned.

Then, Y/N broke the silence.

“𝐁𝐮𝐭…𝐒𝐡𝐮…𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐤𝐞…𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐝.”

Shu froze before turning to look back at Y/N, horrified but laughing at the same time.

“NOOOOOO- I mean I love you, but NOOOOOO-”

Their conversation continued filled with giggles, happiness, and love.

And they lived happily ever after~

The End.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Epilogue:

“SHU!!!! YOU’RE BACK!” shouted Shu’s brother, Mysta, who was sobbing loudly, face flushed and with tear stains down his cheeks as he ran to Shu.

“SHUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!” exclaimed Shu’s other brother, Luca, who ran excitedly to Shu, passing Mysta, and gave him a big bear hug, not noticing that Shu was holding someone’s hand.

Ike was descending the stairs of the palace entrance in a much more calm manner, although his excitement and relief were shown through his fast walking strides towards Shu and his face showing a wide smile.

Vox was right behind Ike, laughing in relief at the sight of Shu, while also noting the presence of the person standing behind him with mild interest.

While Shu was staying in Y/N’s town, he had been regularly corresponding with Vox through his Yaminions, so Vox had a feeling that this person was this Y/N Belle/Beau L/N who was mentioned in Shu’s letters. Vox was happy that they were both safe, especially after the LeGuem incident. The LeGuem family happened to be a small barony that supported the town that Y/N was in. They were now stripped of their title, with the LeGuem siblings being put in the imperial prison on the outskirts of Ninisani.

He watched in amusement as Ike managed to pull Luca and Mysta off of Shu before asking the person next to their brother to introduce themselves. The person proudly introduced themself as:

“𝐘/𝐍 𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞/𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐮 𝐋/𝐍, 𝐒𝐡𝐮’𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫 :)”

“…..WHAT?!?!?!?!?”

Vox chuckled to himself.

Things were going to get even noisier in their Palace de Luxiem.

[emmyfairy]

Hi love!!! I was wondering if you could possibly write headcanons for Brahms, Thomas Hewitt, bubba sawyer, and Billy loomis & Stu macher with an fem!reader who is Asian and gets harrassed by random strangers during COVID because shes Asian? Fluff pls. I’m not projecting onto the reader at all, lmaooo. A girl out here is struggling

Hi anon, I officially love u for sending in a request 🙂

Request: Hi love!!! I was wondering if you could possibly write headcanons for Brahms, Thomas Hewitt, bubba sawyer, and Billy loomis & Stu macher with an fem!reader who is Asian and gets harrassed by random strangers during COVID because shes Asian? Fluff pls. I’m not projecting onto the reader at all, lmaooo. A girl out here is struggling 

A/N: Okay I tried my best but please know! I am NOT Asian (technically) but I do know what it is like to get harassed and hated on for your heritage, I’m sorry you’ve had such a rough time 🙁- let me know if this is okay/ if ANYTHING is offensive and I will fix it!! (I’ve also never written headcanons before sooooooo)

Brahms

COVID? Pandemic? What on Earth are you talking about silly girl?? 🙃

Let’s be real our lovable wall crawler would hardly understand the pandemic, he never leaves the house after all, even if you try to get it through how awful it all is

He understands it’s something to be scared of, but doesn't really get it ya’know?

Let’s say you get back to the mansion one day after grocery shopping (the local store can’t deliver) and as soon as you walk in the door, you're slamming it behind you with tears in your eyes.

Brahms is immediately concerned, cocking his head and approaching you

Seeing him and all his cuteness just makes you want to cry more 

He wraps you up in his arms, a rare moment of him taking care of you, and carries you over to the couch (groceries be damned) 

After explaining to him what happened, about the cruel things people in town shouted at you, blamed you for, etc. the man was fuming

How could anyone say such things to his love?? His love??? You?? Like you're right there and so perfect, how could anyone just NOT see that?

Brahms can hardly relate to your struggle, he has never been singled out due to his race, but he would try his best to understand and comfort you

This includes lots of pampering and cuddles, ahem, clawfoot bathtub.

Thomas

Sweet Tommy, love of your life, would absolutely tear through anyone that dared utter a single word of offense towards you

That’s just the way it is hun

This man’s down bad for you

Let’s be real, Thomas’ family and you live in the hick side of Texas, people aren't the most open minded there on a normal day y'all sorry

So during the pandemic? A riot in the worst way

You couldn't understand how people could be so mean

At one point you refused to leave the house, it had become so bad, this was past harassment and cruel taunts, the people of this town weren't afraid of grabbing at you.

That is until they see your big hubby 

Little fools sure are running now huh? Big man with the chainsaw is coming for their racist asses

No Tommy you still have to wear a mask… no baby yours isn't enough let's get you a proper one… Tommy… Tommy get back here!!

After properly dealing with the bullies in his charming fashion, Tommy would simply dote on you, I’m talking big game here girl

He’s a shy man, we know, but when you're feeling so hurt and down? All that gets pushed aside for lifting your spirits. 

He puts his chainsaw aside and spends the remainder of the day with you, whether its puttering around the house, taking a shower together, or just hanging out. Maybe y’all cooked some yummy dinner together, all cutesy and shit in the kitchen (i’m jealous of u) and then washed each others hair in the shower

Man is greasy pls scrub him 

Then spend the night cuddled up and smoochin’ 

Bubba

When you tell Bubba about what’s been happening the poor thing gets so sad for you

The Sawyers likely don't believe in modern medicine, and likely think the pandemic isn't real 

Bubba doesn't care if its real or not, what’s real to him is you being upset

He believes the townspeople are mean, look at him for goodness sake, he knows what it’s like to be bullied, even if it is for very different reasons

Bubba will hurt them for you if you want him to, but he’s more likely to just sit and cry with you

If you ask him he’ll comfort you, he’ll bring you something pretty he’s found, maybe a smooth bone or a shiny rock

Billy & Stu

At the beginning of the pandemic these two doofs played off its seriousness, but once people close to them started getting sick it sunk in

Your health was at risk, and being the love of their lives and the object of their obsession they absolutely couldn't let ANYTHING happen to you

I’m talking masks, sanitizer, distancing, everything and more

They felt a bit settled into the routine of the pandemic now, no matter how scary the new normal was, but when they noticed/you told them about the harassment?

Sorry to burst ur bubble racist assholes but u got like 2 seconds to live

Absolutely zero remorse from these two, if anyone even looks at you the wrong way ( or any way really) that’s it, they are a goner 

Once your boys get back from stabby time, its you time baby

You think these other boys spoiled you? ( they did I was there ) get ready for 2x the cuddles, 2x the preening, 2x the pampering, 2x the food, 2x EVERYTHING

Lucky you 

AT the end of the night, you end up totally comforted in your Loomis/Macher sandwich

I hope this was alright! Feel free to request again!

[novantinuum]

Fandom: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Rating: G Words: 1.4K~ Summary: A dozen days past, Aryll still remembers exactly where she stood at the precise moment of the Upheaval’s rising… at the precise moment she realized something terrible must have happened to her brother and Zelda. (Minor spoilers for TotK initiating events. Set in the future of a slight canon divergent AU where both Link and his younger sister Aryll wake up on the Great Plateau.)

First TotK fic! This is ridiculously self indulgent and basically written just for my entertainment, lol. If anyone else happens to enjoy this, then cool! That’s simply a bonus.

This fic is a sneak peak at a young adult Aryll. She’s around eighteen or so here.

Also a big F you to tumblr formatting, which no longer allows me to underline text, or even copy underlined text in. Ughh. Y'all just gonna get bolded text where it's supposed to be underlined, sorry.

______

Unspoken Upheavals

A dozen days past, Aryll still remembers exactly where she stood at the precise moment of the Upheaval’s rising.

Everyone does, really. How could one blame them? The mortal psyche does love internalizing such damning, horrifying moments of dread, after all. And over time, with enough traumatic exposure, it simply becomes easier to remember the tragedies and the hardships over life’s gifts and delights.

In those early years of reconstruction after the Calamity’s end, Hyrule’s joy was swiftly undercut by this crushing aura of… unease. Of disbelief. This lingering hunch that their burdens had not truly ceased, not forever. So when people started mysteriously falling ill after venturing near Castle Town’s ruins and the ancient tech excavation sites… when Purah and her new young protégé began looking into that troublesome ‘gloom’ they detected wafting up from the newly unearthed catacombs… when— mere days after her brother and Zelda ventured underground to investigate— the whole castle itself rose up upon a monstrous plume of malice and chunks of ruins began plummeting from the sky… it was hard for people not to fixate on the worst possibilities… to allow this singular, terrifying, historic occurrence to sear itself into their memories forever.

She was in Kakariko at the time, visiting Paya and all the others for a little while before her upcoming trip to the Gerudo region to see her girlfriend. A few hours had passed since Zelda’s last communication, but she wasn’t worried then. After all, Link retrieved the sword from its pedestal under the Great Deku Tree before their departure on this quest. The Blade of Evil’s Bane at the zenith of its power and wielded by the most talented swordsman in all Hyrule simply shouldn’t fail.

Yet fail they did.

Aryll doesn’t have any way to prove her hunch yet, but she fears the Master Sword was destroyed that morning.

As she rushed out from Impa’s home where she was having tea and caught her first glimpse of the massive stone rings careening down towards the village like comets vying to collide with the very skin of the earth— pulsating tails of green energy tracing their calamitous journey towards the surface as her friends and neighbors screamed at their approach— her first instinct as one talented with sight beyond was to tune her mind towards the ancient spirit who dwells within Link’s weapon.

She felt nothing. Nothing but silence, when on any other day she could at minimum pick up on her warm, quiet hum. 

As reliable as ever, Kakariko’s citizens spun into a charitable frenzy after the ruins’ landing, immediately rushing to aid anyone who might’ve been injured by this unexpected upheaval, or to console and assist those whose homes had been destroyed. No fatalities were discovered, thank goodness— not even a wayward cucco’s— but as the hours ticked ever onwards… Aryll simply couldn’t ignore that sinking, grief-stricken feeling that something terrible had happened to her brother. To Zelda, too.

Because if that blade were to be broken, the very spirit within silenced, then— 

__

“Aryll!” the voice before her prompts with a snap of her fingers. “Focus! Stay with me, here.”

She inhales sharply, shaking away all thoughts of the recent past. “Sorry, sorry— what were you saying again?”

Purah huffs, clearly just as stressed and frazzled as she feels right now.

“I was trying to tell you that— based on our current lack of intel— I think it’s time that we officially declare Link and Zelda missing.”

Aryll freezes in her tracks, the very words echoing within her mind unchecked. It takes all of her strength to even halfway retain her composure, to not break down right here and now. 

“Wha— y’mean, this soon?” she says, voice catching a little in her throat.

“Come on, now. Be realistic. It’s been twelve days since the Upheaval. Twelve days with zero contact and zero clues!”

“But— the chasms, if you’d just let me go, let me search down there, I could—“

“Could what?” she returns, tapping her pen against her opposing hand. “Almost die from gloom sickness, like everyone else who’s walked even a few minutes in that pitch black hellscape? I’m telling you the exact same thing I’m telling Josha, and that’s no. You’re too damn valuable to us to go galavanting off into the dark with nothing but your own recklessness to guide you!“

She crosses her arms, reluctantly resigning to this command. 

(For now, at least. She’s sure she’ll find a moment to sneak off sooner than later.)

“What would you have me do, then?”

“First, we’re gonna circulate these missing posters all over Hyrule,” Purah says, slapping her hand upon the thick stack of papers resting on the table beside her. “Every town, every stable… I want every single soul on this gods-forsaken continent to be on the lookout for our princess and your brother. Then, once you’re back, I’m assigning you to Captain Hoz, and the rest of his search party.” She gestures towards the troop in the middle of their drills at the other side of Lookout Landing. “Since you’ve got a real talent with spirits the others don’t have, I’m kinda hoping you might be able to like, y’know… pick up on the subtler details.”

Aryll sighs, knowing exactly what she’s alluding towards. “I’ve already told you— I can’t feel the Master Sword at all. It’s like… that day, a string was cut, and then- poof! Its spirit gone, entirely void from my awareness. I haven’t felt it since.”

“Well, I still haven’t lost hope that it’ll resurface. So let me know the second you feel any differently, will ‘ya?”

“Yes, ma’am,” she nods, and strides forwards to pick up a pile of flyers, as well as a carton of nails and a mallet. “I’ll start my journey at dawn.”

Purah’s expression bends into a faint scowl, that well known glimmer in her eyes betraying a woman deep in thought. “Y’know, it’s a shame ol’ Linky and Zel had our best Purah Pad prototype. Otherwise, I could fit you up with a paraglider and send you on your way in style,” she says, gesturing towards the recently completed Skyview Tower shading the deck from behind. She hums, pressing a lone finger against her chin. “Although… we do have that old spare hanging about in the Hateno lab… it would certainly take a few days, but if I installed all the appropriate driver updates, it should still be able to interface with the terminal…”

Her stomach lurches at the very notion of being launched Din knows how high just for one of Purah’s experiments. “I think I’ll take my horse, thank you.”

“Pah,” the scientist rolls her eyes. “Where’s your spirit of adventure? If Link were here, he’d try it in a heartbeat!”

“Yeah, well… unlike my brother… I don’t actually have a death wish,” she retorts, slipping all the missing poster supplies into her satchel and slinging it over her shoulder. “I’ll take all the stables and villages on the west side of Hyrule, okay?”

“Sounds great! And, hey…”

Aryll pauses right at the edge of the stairs, her hand brushing against the wooden rail.

While it’s simply a fact that her and Purah have never been particularly close, there’s nevertheless a spark of fondness evident in her tone that injects a bit of much needed warmth into her troubled, forlorn heart.

“Be careful out there, will you?”

The faintest echo of a smile whispers across her lips. “You too, Doc.”

__

A dozen days past, Aryll doubts she’ll forget the exact crossroads she passed through when she finally resigned herself to the reality that her brother is missing, possibly dead.

She’s trembling so hard when this belated wave of despair hits that she has to dismount on the side of the path. As patient as ever, her beloved Makk remains still as she leans against his side, sobbing sloppy tears into the thick, soft fabric of his saddle pad. The satchel upon her back grows heavier and heavier, its contents damning proof of the future she was dreading:

A future without Link. Without Zelda. Without the swordsman and and goddess-blooded princess Hyrule relies on to remain intact, in such times of struggle. But moreover… a future without the people she dearly loves.

“Promise me, you stubborn idiots,” she prays aloud, her voice cracking amidst the rawness of her grief. “Promise you’ll come back to us alive…” 

[mermaidsirennikita]

As someone who by and large dislikes BookTok, I hate these handwringing BUT WHAT OF LITERATURE takes more, because

--"Books are fast fashion" is empirically ridiculous. It misses the actual deep issues with fast fashion and why it's bad for society. The fact that you're buying cheap clothes that fall apart quickly is really only the surface level problem that affects you the buyer in the (relative) short term.

The actual serious problems with fast fashion is that the clothes are made in highly unethical factories that exploit and actively harm people. It's more accurate to compare fast fashion to fast food than to BookTok, and let's say the quiet part loud here--what these takes are often critiquing is not actually "BookTok books" (what is that), particularly when they use the terms "fast fashion". They critique certain types of books that BookTok focuses on. Particularly romance novels; particularly indie romance novels.

These books hurt... no one. Worst case scenario, you spent like $5 on a book you don't like. "But the art"; well, I'll get into why I, so snobby about art that I once got an (undergrad, I'm not made of money here babes) degree in art history, do not care. "But the influence on society" oh yes, the books are what is affecting the self worth of women today, not the ever-eroding rights we have, actually sliding backwards in the US at least. It's not the radical far right and the school systems that won't allow us to teach girls about birth control, it's the Ana Huang book.

--Again, to be clear: I'm not a big fan of BookTok. Most of the books I love are not popular on BookTok--I will say, though I alluded to indie books (which are probably popular in part, yes, because they are cheaper in E and often available on the seemingly cost efficient Kindle Unlimited) I have seen... basically any type of book get big on BookTok. I've seen traditionally published ("trad") books that came out a decade ago have a delayed blowup. I've seen old indies have delayed blowups. I've seen new trad books have blowups (see: The Love Hypothesis, one of the few BookTok faves I did like).

One legit issue with BookTok, and here there are people whose lives are actually negatively affected by it directly, is the way it can impact marketing and acquisition of titles. Publishers are desperate to save cash in any way they can. As such, they will pretend that they can pass the buck on to BookTok. No need to give your debut author a marketing budget--tell them it's on them and make sure they hustle over to BookTok. No need to acquire fresh authors when you can buy out an indie book that blew up on BookTok, tack on an extra chapter or so, and sell what used to be $5 for $18.99. But to be frank, this isn't even really BookTok affecting authors and the trends negatively; this is publishing, the big guy in the sky who keeps books from being "made like fast fashion" exploiting BookTok and using it as an excuse and a cost-saver.

All of this being said... There's a very decent likelihood that BookTok will be absolutely irrelevant in 5-10 years. On a social media level, TikTok ain't that old. There was a time when Myspace owned this town. Where is it now? Facebook used to be tHEEEE network for everyone. Marketing that primarily targets teens doesn't even mention Facebook. Or Twitter, sorry, X; and that was before it became X. It was already losing relevancy because the younger gen did not give a flying fuck. (Shit: we are discussing this on TUMBLR DOT COM.) BookTok is a trend within a trend. Right now, a lot of eggs are being put in its basket, and y'all notice this more because the entire point of TikTok is to be LOUD. It will probably be... not a thing anymore... at least in terms of its relevancy to publishing? Sooner than you'd think.

I say this because Bookstagram was everything authors were told to put proverbial eggs into like... frighteningly recently. And Bookstagram is still relevant? But not nearly as relevant as BookTok. When was the last time you saw anything mentioning Bookstagram? It still sells books, but it's not LOUD.

So it's no wonder that authors, including established authors, use BookTok. It's no wonder that publishers use BookTok. It does have an influence, yes, but I get a bit eye-roll-y at it being pointed to as the root of all evil, because I don't think it has that kind of sauce, and I think that the things people hate so much about BookTok books existed long before it and were bound to grow anyway.

Like, for example: so much is made of fanfic-turned-books, and so much of it is thrown onto these romances that blow up on BookTok. But lmao, that shit existed well before TikTok. Cassandra Clare did it with her YA series. Obviously, 50 Shades did it with Twilight fanfic, and Christina Lauren's original debut was also based on Twilight fanfic. There is an entire wave of authors whose origins are rooted in Twific. These things have long existed, but BookTok makes it easier for y'all to notice.

--In the same sense.... This idea of "fast fashion" books was always going to take off when indie publishing became easier. When you no longer needed to engage with an small press and sell your indie books in paperback like the "wanna buy a sundial" guy in Disney's Hercules (king shit) but could simply upload a file to Amazon, edited or not edited as you saw fit, and make it accessible to kindles and tablets and eventually phones.

Look at Amazon. I speak as a romance reader who loves all types of romance novels and likes to learn about its history as a genre. There was a huge boom for certain indie romance authors after the 'zon made self publishing something almost anyone could do. For a brief period, a few authors made a fuckton of money off of it, and while they often couldn't maintain the income stream, it was well-publicized, creating this idea that you could make a lot of money off short, hot, less edited books. And every time there is a boom in any genre, there are authors clustering to get in on it--take the YA Fantasy boom. Booms come and go; generally, the authors that can maintain and stabilize in between the booms not only have a strong backlist of titles, but the kind of quality and distinctiveness that keeps people interested after the boom ends. But until that boom does end (and yes, to an extent after too, depends on the author and their goals), the name of the game for many authors is cranking out titles written to market.

And titles written to market have always existed, and always will. Authors do, in fact, need and want to make money. If you write something and just do not care if it makes money at all--you're either dashing shit off with no effort just for a bit of fun and don't care if it sells (and that ain't these "fast fashion" writers, they're cranking it out because they want to make money ASAP) or you're incredibly privileged and don't need to worry about devoting a job's worth of time to something that won't offer any kind of income. That is not the vast majority of writers. While most know we won't get rich, we sure would like to see some kind of return, if possible. Writing to market isn't a sin. I mean, penny dreadfuls were written to market.

What makes it more complicated is the fact that Amazon, which dominates publishing, is both exploitative and poorly regulated. Arguably one of the best ways to get the attention of readers early in your career, especially for true genre categories like romance and fantasy, is to publish your first books in KU. Your book is accessible to a huge range of people who won't spend $5 on an unknown author's book, but will "borrow" it on KU. However, aside from the other things that make KU sketchy, it also pays by the page read. So if you're an author, it's tempting to stretch your 300-page book to 350 pages, creating a flabby read. OR you convert your single fic into three books.

Again--all Amazon issues, all existed before BookTok, all will exist when it withers into nothing. Or into Tumblr. We'll see.

--I would also say, because again, let us be real and admit again that the BookTok books people largely get upset about are romance, that we're in a romance boom that is proooooobably beginning its downturn, and would exist with or without BookTok. Because romance does tend to do exceptionally well in times of great crisis. Check out when the 50 Shades books took off. Think about what was happening then. Now? We are crisis-ier than ever. Romance took off during the pando, and publishing grabbed it and ran with it and slapped "romance" labels on books that are objectively not romance (see: Colleen Hoover's biggest books, but publishing sure would like you to think otherwise).

Obviously, publishing marketing books that aren't in-genre within a genre that's currently popular predates the pandemic and BookTok and all that. It's certainly happened with romance before (hello: Diana Gabaldon).

--So the thing is, I think people would be upset about all of these issues whether or not BookTok existed. BookTok is just the monster they can blame at the moment.

And there are a lot of shitty romance novels out there, don't get me wrong. (Also: a lot of amazing ones.) In general, there are a lot of shitty indie books, because anything can indeed be published within indie.

On the flip side, indie is an equalizer that I would never, ever have taken away. Because for all that we can uphold the "standards" of the old publishing system a) they still let a lot of subpar shit get published across genre b) publishing is uh, super straight and white. Indie empowers people who typically would not be allowed a seat at the table (primarily poc and people who aren't cis/het) to publish their books without interference from the white people who run Big 5 publishing. And I think that's pretty fucking great. And I think that any amount of influx or low quality books is worth it if we have that outlet available.

Let me acknowledge--BookTok? Skews heavily towards white reads about M/F (and to a lesser extent M/M) pairings. I won't deny that, ever. But to me, a lot of the language surrounding these types of posts and vids about BookTok are actually about indie. If the worst that comes from indie is that I need to make a somewhat bigger effort to find books that work for me... Well, I'm good with that.

--Honestly dude, whenever you get into the hyperbolic "I would've read this at 13", "this is like Wattpad" thing, I do have to wonder about how well-read a person is. Because that's such basic, meaningless critique. What does it even mean? Wattpad is a website. Yes, there are certain types of content that tend to be more popular there. I also know of an author who's been published across a wide variety of genres and won a Lambda Literary Award and posted some shit she'd written on Wattpad... why? Accessibility? Shits and giggles? I don't know. I don't really care.

(It's Tiffany Reisz, by the way, and the stuff she's made available on Wattpad is fire.)

It's also just so incredibly edgelord to act as if what 13-year-olds read is inherently low quality, that again, the critique begins to lose merit to me because I have to wonder about the experience of the original poster and their relation to their experiences. When I was 13, my favorite book was Wuthering Heights. I also went to see Twilight like, 5 times in the theater and owned several copies of each Twilight book. 13-year-olds can have vast experiences and tastes, like anyone. So again... this kind of criticism means fuck all and just suggests a level of shame that I find clouds an individual's ability to give good critique. Are you looking at shit objectively when you're comparing it to things you clearly once enjoyed and are ashamed to admit you enjoy? It confuses me.

--And maybe people's standards are "I just want to feel good when consuming something". I don't... super care if that's the case. Do some of the books people love read as... garbage... in terms of quality to me? Yeah. Do I worry much about their standards clogging up the publishing market? No.

--Let us also be super clear: the books people often consider "quality literature" (professionally edited, often not super genre) are not competing in the indie marketplace. (If they were, they'd absolutely get crushed, but that's another thing--I mean, how much can you really force people to open something they're just not interested in unless you have a trad publishing house's marketing team behind it?)

And when we look at the trad marketplace... I mean. The high lit books that fewer people organically want to open just of their own volition? Are able to happen, in part, because genre fiction pays the bills. I mean again--look at romance. Nora Roberts sells more books than God, her publisher reaps the benefits, and her publisher has the money to pay for a book called like "The Secrets of Fruit Flies" which is about a confused libertarian college professor discovering a secret crack in the moon, and critics love it and ultimately it's about the Vietnam War or something. The house can also afford to throw all the marketing power behind that book, because they're using BookTok to push their commercial work AND find them indie books to acquire.)

(And of course, there are books people consider "high quality" that sell a lot of copies in trad. Often these are YA books. Often, I don't actually personally consider them high quality, but that is the issue we run into when we discuss quality and standards and the incredible subjectiveness of.... all of the above. One series I can think of that is frequently held up as a standard of quality... well. I enjoyed it in the beginning. Let us say that as the books continued to release and the quality, in my opinion, dropped steeply--my hunger for them dipped. But again, such is the nature of standards. I could tell you why I became less and less impressed with those books, beyond "I didn't like them". However, my reasons, however much I can back them intellectually, will never be objective. Art never is.)

--So basically: we blame BookTok for ~ruining publishing~ when a) I don't think the content is ruined, I just think you as the reader have to be more discerning when finding things that work for you b) I think these critiques are more about coming for genre work that has always been derided by those who prefer certain types of litfic, regardless of BookTok c) publishing is doing just fine imploding itself without the help of BookTok d) the issues people blame on BookTok existed before BookTok and will exist after BookTok, and it's honestly kind of insane to me to think that a single group of people that has existed for so little time could so dramatically change publishing, when KDP has existed since... what....? 2009? And trad publishing is still figuring out how to respond to the absolute game changer it turned out to be.

And ultimately, again--I'm really not super worried, because the amount of good books getting released hasn't changed (you do have to look harder for them, yes). If anything, there are more of them out there. But the trade off is that less qualified people are also publishing more. They aren't always publishing For The Art. Amazon doesn't have its house in order, so you will also have to contend with AI.

But also: this is a very boring critique, familiarize yourself with your own tastes to ensure that you pick up books you enjoy more often than not, and otherwise... Look to trad publishing and Amazon with your critiques of the industry as whole, if your issues are truly INDUSTRY-DRIVEN, and worry less about what other people enjoy otherwise.

AND THEY’RE FUCKING CORRECT

[blanketorghost]

Now that FictIf and The Arcana have been bought out by Dorian, I feel the need to remind y'all as the only person who's spoken out about this but;

Heir To Love And Lies is an extremely racist story to its core.

The love inrerests are either harmful stereotypes or key players on the violence and corruption here in Colombia.

Even if Nathalie has a Colombian father, she has failed to accurately represent the country, the spanglish abhorrent and the treatment of rural Colombia is one of the worst I've seen.

The MC is a white saviour stereotype and is such an awful character whom barely cares about the town; especially when their decisions will affect the livelihoods of workers.

Chava and his whole family are a huge stereotype of low income workers and farmers in the perifery. Their relationship with the drug cartel was unnecessary and insulting— especially when Colombian people already struggle with discrimination about being poor coca and marijuana farmers.

Sergio is literally the epitome of everything wrong with Colombia and shouldn't be romantisized as a love interest— especially as he is related to an assasination which happen in Colombia on the daily .

Val is part of the most corrupt, homophobic and racist institutions and attempting to make her a love interest makes me want to barf as an lgbt Colombian. Especially when I receive news on the daily of lgbt people getting abused by police. I'm glad her route never got released.

The whole story glorifies the foreign colonization of Colombia's economy; which have affected our country gravely— even leaving entire regions of ours in extreme poverty.

'La Dama Roja' is such an awfully constructed character; both character design and story-wise. Her dress is mexican right out of the bat. Her whole character crumbles apart once you actually learn about Colombian politics and culture.

The whole story is a complete regression for Colombian representation and a slap on the face for me, and many other latino users whom have shared their concerns privately to me. It perpetrates so many harmful stereotypes and completely misunderstands the intricacies of Colombia and its people. It ignores our pleas for positive rep after being thrown and dragged through the mud as a druggie country for upwards of fourty years and refuses to acknowledge that Colombia is more than just drugs and coffee.

If you want 'good' Colombian representation, you are much better off watching Encanto in spite of its issues.

If you want Colombian rep that is more mature leaning I would recommend;

Los Viajes Del Viento for a culturally accurate depiction of the north of Colombia

Señorita María: La Falda De La Montaña for a documentary about being lgbtq+ trans in rural Colombia

Los Colores De La Montaña for a depiction of how the drug war has affected innocent farmers in rural Colombia

These are all critically acclaimed movies that all tackle living in the small towns that HTLAL is supposed to be based upon and do a much better job at it.

Also, I've said this many times but I think it's worth mentioning that if you want a more in-depth representation of all the issues HTLAL fails to tackle respectfully, y'all should read The Rebellion of The Rats by Fernando Soto Aparicio

[l0ves1ckf0ol]

OXYTOCIN : 001 (cancelled)

— in which, miguel wants y/n to have fun, get some oxytocin (possibly a fic).

— before you read, this post will use "y/n" to refer to you, 2nd pov, sorry for some inaccuracies i dont live in the us or how prices work there.

you hadn't remembered the time you felt alive every moment feels like a boring dream. you were living in a weird town- with karate freaks and stuck up creepy men. you say karate freaks because you were old friends with tory nichols, tory nichols is part of the freaks. she went berserk on her boyfriend's ex, and for what? kissing the guy. this whole karate rivalry thing has made you annoyed, at first you thought the worst thing that could happen to you is everyday feeling like a schedule because of school. school makes life boring. but when the rivalry came you didn't know what you hated more. the bore or the stupid rivalry that put your friend at risk. you tried doing karate but it wasn't your style, you also tried miyagi-do but y'know you got lazy. and well here you are, at a conviniece store.

"how much for the beer?" right in front of you stood kyler, a well known bully. you were sitting behind the counter, nose stuck in a book. you dropped your book to the counter and raised an eyebrow, "you know damn well you're not legal for it?" you scoff. kyler frowned, "what you say?"

"i said you're not even legal for it, i know you from school." you repeat this time with more attitude, 'asshole' almost slipping out of your mouth. then a blonde woman appeared behind him "hey cut us off some slack, y/n" tory reasons before kyler could pounce on you.

"whatever, its $17." kyler wasn't too happy about it, "what the fuck? you taking advantage of me or something?" he argued, "inflation happens, brawns with no brains. now give it or no beer for you."

kyler glares at you as he slaps the money down on the counter, you counted it and nod off to them. "just get out of here before one of y'all's next victims walk through the door and trash the place." you say eyeing tory as the pair walked out.

you sat back down on your chair, "they're gone now." you say with a yawn as you grabbed your pocket book and got back to reading. "i wasn't scared of them y'know?" he told you as he gets out of the storage closet from behind you. "do i look like i care? i don't want you to start a fight inside a store. i'll get fired." you mutter.

"hawk is having a party at the beach after school tomorrow. wanna come?" he asks you. miguel squats down to you on the floor. "no thanks, having an ample amount of time to read rather than going to the beach."

"you just said you loved the beach."

"i hate parties."

miguel sighs, "you're scared aren't you?" you frown at his assumption, "i'm just avoiding trouble, unlike you and those snakes next door love to think with yall's fists." you say to him, facing him this time as you place your book on the desk. "please?" miguel pleads "i want you there, besides its gonna be fun!" he says. "i want you to let loose"

you hated that statement, you hated that with every fiber of your being. people can't seem to get over the stereotype of teenagers of going out and partying while you like where you are right now, working a job, reading books, analyzing films- what was there not to like? if miguel was one of your family members you would've dashed into your room and plot pointless revenge for hours.

but he wasn't, he looked sincere. "i want you to have fun, get you some oxytocin." you laugh aloud "what a nerd." miguel's jaw drops, "you know that word?" he asks as you nodded, "the feel-good hormone, different from serotonin on many levels." you say knowledgeably.

"look, just think about it. alright? i don't want to force you." miguel reassures you, patting your shoulder as he leaves the convenience store "see you at school!"

[bmodiwrites]

You've Begun To Feel Like Home

Pairing: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson Rating: Explicit (E) Notes: Y'all the idea to make Eddie and Steve childhood friends is a favorite of mine, so I decided to change it up and make the entire Fruity Four childhood friends, instead. If you like that dynamic, you're going to love this one! Word Count: ~14.5k Warnings: There are brief mentions of cancer, death, and addiction. Do what's best for you if any of that makes you feel a certain way! Summary:

Eddie is 6 years old when he first meets Steve; the boy is beautiful and covered in dripping chocolate ice cream. They're instant friends, spending the entirety of that summer together. When the end of their time together starts to draw near, Eddie comes up with a plan - to marry his best friend. It becomes a trend that Eddie and Steve dance around for more than 20 years of ups, downs, and tragedies. Read to find out what happens when a ring pop and a handful of fake marriages changes both of their lives.

Or - 5 times Eddie & Steve were fake married and the one time they finally get hitched (for real)!!

one.

When his mom first told Eddie about an entire summer in Hawkins with Uncle Wayne, he wasn’t all that excited by the prospect. At the fresh age of six, summer was the epitome of freedom and the small trailer his uncle lived in didn’t shout “fun time” like his parent’s trip to California did. Eddie loved his uncle but the beach his parents were talking about seemed pretty cool. Regardless of his feelings on the matter, Eddie was dropped off in Hawkins the day after school finished for the year, no argument or debate allowed.

After a thorough exploration of his new home for the next couple of months, Eddie was happy to see a TV in the corner with what looked to be a pretty decent stack of tapes to try. They also passed a park not too far from the trailer park on their way into town that Eddie couldn’t wait to check out. By the time his parents left, Eddie didn’t spare them a backwards glance or second thought – despite his initial distaste in the situation, Eddie was sure Wayne’s place for a few weeks wouldn’t be the worst way to pass the time.

That thought was further driven home by Wayne’s effort to entertain Eddie in his free hours between busy work shifts. They went to the park with great swings, the movies that served super fresh popcorn, even the ice cream parlor that had what seemed like a billion flavors. That was his favorite place in town so far – whenever he got the chance, Eddie asked to go to Paul’s Parlor for a double scoop of mint chocolate chip.

One such Tuesday afternoon, Eddie was surprised to see another kid his age there. Until that moment, Eddie was sure that Hawkins didn’t have other kids living in it. The park was always empty when Wayne took him. While Eddie was a professional at playing on his own, the prospect of having a friend had him wandering towards the boy with big brown hair scattered everywhere on his head and eyes the color of leaves changing in the fall. It didn’t hurt either that his shirt was Spider-Man red with the superhero emblazoned across the front.

Not really knowing how to approach, Eddie stayed a few feet behind the boy for a while, watching him with interest as he licked chocolate off of his hand. The cone he was holding was dripping brown streaks down his arms, making Eddie laugh despite himself. The biting technique the boy was using was silly and obviously ineffective. Eddie’s noisy outburst was enough for the boy to turn around with a defensive look on his face. “What’s so funny?”

“You’re supposed to eat ice cream, not wear it,” Eddie said, moving in closer to the boy now that contact had been made. He proved his point by bringing his cone up and swiftly licking around its edge, collecting the ice cream about to drip before it could fall. “I’m Eddie.” He stuck his hand out like Wayne did whenever he bumped into other adults worth his time. Eddie remembered Wayne called it etiquette.

Read the rest on A03

[donutloverxo]

Good little girl

*gif is not mine*

Note - Requested by @holacia2 and a part two to good little wife. And special thanks to @gotnofucks for all her help! I'm so overwhelmed with all the love that fic got I hope y'all like this little follow up as well❤❤

Dividers by @firefly-graphics.

Summary - Married life isn't always easy. Will you be able to solve your problems?

Warnings - 18+ only explicit sexual content, younger woman/older man, daddy kink, soft dark!Andy, SO MUCH MISOGYNY, housewife kink, innocence kink, (accusations of) cheating, arranged/forced marriage, spanking, possessive Andy.

Pairing - Mob!Andy Barber x reader

Word count - 4.9k

Masterlist is linked in the bio and the pinned post!

You handed your mother the brownies you had baked, she thanked you, telling you how it was so unnecessary, before Andy placed the wine you had gotten on the way over on the kitchen counter.

“Why don’t you go keep your father in law company, Andrew?” your mom told him. He only nodded before making way to his boss.

“So? How are things going with him?” she asked. “You are positively glowing honey! Do you have any good news yet?”

“Mom!” you gasped.

Over the past seven months you had only seen your mother a handful of times. You were still a bit upset with her for marrying you off to an older man you barely knew, a man who you thought despised you so much he refused to even touch you.

You knew she didn’t really have a say in it. Your father never really valued her opinion, there was no way she would’ve been able to stop it but she hadn’t even so much as tried.

“No, I don’t. And I won’t any time soon,” you huffed.

While being a mother was something you’d like to experience someday, you didn’t know if you were quite ready for it yet. Which was good because Andy didn’t want kids for the next few years either, he had taken you to a doctor to get you on birth control as soon as the holidays were over.

He stated that he wasn’t ready to share you just yet. That he wasn’t sure he wants his kids to be a part of the mob, which you didn’t want either.

“Oh, but you have to, cookie. I need a distraction. Being a mom is all I’ve ever known and ever since you left the house has been so empty.”

“Well, what about daddy?” you frowned. He had never really liked spending time with your siblings or your mother, but to leave her be on her own like that.

“He’s always with Charlotte,” she rolled her eyes. “I would’ve been fine with it, he’s always been like that, can’t expect him to change now, but he brought her here, now, to a family dinner.” She sighed in resignation.

You had heard a familiar high pitched annoying laugh upon coming home, but you thought that to be one of your brothers floozies.

Charlotte, or Cherry, used to be a good friend of yours in college. Before you brought her home for the holidays of your freshman year and she decided to shack up with your married father, who was almost thrice her age. You lost touch with her after that.

“I’m telling you, honey, a kid is a good way of securing your marriage and starting a family. You are young now... but you will grow old someday. Andrew’s a good man... but he is still a man at the end of the day.”

You scoffed at that, “I won’t have you talking that way about my husband! We are already a family, we’re in love each other and he’s nothing like dad.”

She gave you a teary smile, “Young love--is just so innocent and beautiful. You always see the best in people, cookie. I hope I’m wrong about this. Any man would be an idiot to not appreciate you.”

“Andy does appreciate me. And take good care of me, ma...” you trailed off.

He did take good care of you. After the night you consummated your marriage he brought you breakfast in bed. He hadn’t kept his hands off of you for the past few weeks, doting on you any chance he could get, telling you he loved you every chance he got.

But you wondered... did he love you?

The kind of love you’d only ever read about in classical novels. The kind of love you’d dreamt of having ever since you could remember, the kind you thought you once had with someone, but didn’t. You didn’t love Alex the way you love Andy. You were in love with the idea of Alex. You knew Andy now. You knew how kind, passionate and fierce he was, your love for him consumed every single part of you. Where you would literally die for him.

But did he love you for you. Or was he just lonely because it was Christmas. You had avoided taking the tree and the decorations down, begging him, even dropping to your knees and making love to him with your mouth, you didn’t know much but Cherry had taught you that you could get men to do anything for you just by kneeling before them.

While he was very obviously pleased with your passion, returning the favor tenfold, till your thighs burned from his bread and you were shouting for him to stop, he still took the decorations down. He said he wanted to start anew this year. He made a resolution to be the best husband he could.

But you were going to protect your heart this time, hope for the best but still prepare for the worst.

Unfortunately, you had been seated next to Cherry. You found out that your father was living with her now and that while she had hoped he’d leave his wife for her there, but apparently there was no such luck.

“They never leave their wives do they,” she shook her head. “Oh I’m sorry! I shouldn’t be saying these things to you...”

“Its alright,” you shrugged. It would be hard to see your mother be unhappy but there was never any love between your parents. Your mother had learned to live without him and find happiness in other things, and other people, she was just a bit more sneaky about it.

“Well...” you hesitated “how do you keep a man?”

“What kind of question is that?” she giggled. “There are many ways to keep a man but you’ll have to be a bit more specific...”

You ended up changing the subject. The kind of questions you wanted to ask were not suitable for the dinner table, and you didn’t like the way Andy was staring daggers at the pair of you, almost displeased with the two of you chatting.

***

You smiled at him from the passenger seat when he put his hand on your knee, giving it a light squeeze. He had been quite the whole ride home so you decided to speak first.

“Can’t believe Cherry’s like my... step mom.” You laughed out loud at such a ridiculous notion.

“Step mom?” he furrowed his brows, turning his head to look at you.

“Oh I’m just joking,” you waved him off. “Dad would never leave my ma. He’ll move on to another one soon enough.”

He hummed, nodding, “Alright. I was just worried she was troubling you at dinner.”

“What would you have done if she was? Would you swop in like a knight in shining armor and save me from the big meanie?”

“You know I would,” he smiled.

You had asked for a piggy back ride from Andy from the garage to your home, he rolled his eyes and tried to say no but then gave in when you used your princess eyes on him.

He placed you on top of your bed, kissing the tip of your nose, he started unbuttoning his shirt to get ready for bed.

“Andy... um... Daddy?” you corrected yourself instantly.

He liked you addressing him as that whenever you both were alone, he had warned you that you would receive a punishment if you ever failed to comply.

You didn’t know what his punishment would be and you didn’t plan on finding out anytime soon. You’d withhold all affection from him if he ever dared take away the platinum card from you, or lower your allowance as your father had told him to at the dinner, ‘to tame you' supposedly.

But that wasn’t a very good plan... what if he just looked for love elsewhere.

“What is it, honey?” he asked.

“Um... do you think... you would ever take a mistress?” you gulped and prepared yourself for his answer.

“I wouldn’t...” you sighed in relief, “one woman is enough trouble.” he said flatly.

“Daddy!!” you whined, stomping your foot on the floor and folding your hands over your chest.

And he had the audacity to laugh. His laughter at your expense only fuelled your anger. “Do you want to sleep on the couch tonight?”

He finally stopped laughing, “Look at you being a big girl,” he tried to pinch your cheek but you swatted his hand away. “You don’t wanna be daddy’s little girl anymore?” he pouted.

“No... no I do!” you answered all too eager. “I’m sorry...”

“I’m sorry too, honey. I shouldn’t be making fun of you.”

“No, you shouldn’t,” you hugged his hard stomach, rubbing your cheek against his undershirt. “It’s mean, and you promised not to be mean to me.”

“I was just teasing,” he cooed, stroking your hair. And while you knew that and secretly enjoyed it even, you still wanted a serious answer out of him.

“I intend to keep my vows forever. There is just no way I could ever want anyone who’s not you.”

“Really?” you propped your chin on his abdomen, looking up at him through your lashes.

“Promise.”

***

“Um... I’m here to see Andy,” you told the lady sitting outside of, what you had been told was Andy’s office, you assumed her to be his secretary Erica.

You always packed a lunchbox for Andy, always remembering to leave a sweet note for him and he would always call you to thank you for it. You also made sure to have dinner ready before he got home on the nights he wasn’t taking you out on the town. It was just your duty as a good wife.

But Andy had been working way too much the past couple of weeks. Where he would be gone before you wake up and be back when you were already in bed. You knew his job was demanding, working for your father and being a partner in a law firm, the job was like a mistress, stealing your man away...

So you simply decided to make his favorite, food pack it up and come to him to eat it together.

“Mrs Barber! It’s so nice to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you,” she gave you a toothy smile, shaking your hand.

You would’ve been happy, elated that Andy talks so much about you at work. If you hadn’t smelled her perfume. So familiar... you couldn’t quite place it at first but then you remembered.

The night you had slaved away, hoping to profess your love to your husband, when he had rejected you and smelled of chanel.

“That’s a nice scent...” you wondered out loud.

“Oh thank you! I love it as well,” she said, taking in a whiff of the inside of her wrist. “It’s the new chanel one!”

“Hmm....”

You almost didn’t hear Andy calling for you. “What a nice surprise.” He kissed your cheek.

You set the food before him, thinking of telling him what was on your mind.

Was he really so cliché to have an affair with his secretary?

Could you really blame him though? Although you had been married for almost seven months, you were strangers living under the same roof for the majority of them. He wasn’t really cheating... but what if he was still doing it?

“Honey,” he shook you to get your attention. “What’s up with you today? I have a meeting in a few minutes.”

“You’re always working.” You complained.

“Well...” he grinned, grabbing at your thighs and pulling you on his lap, “I have to. If I had the choice I would never come into work, I would stay home forever, between your legs, right... here,” he snaked a hand up your leg and stroked the inside of your thigh. “You would like that wouldn’t you?”

You nodded, “I’ve been so lonely without you.”

He hummed, biting the shell of your ear before speaking into it, “I know, honey. I miss you too. But you do still remember the number one rule right?”

“Yes, daddy. Never touch myself without your permission.”

“And why is that?”

You whined, to embarrassed to say the words, “Because... it’s your... pussy.” You replied in a small shy voice.

“That’s right, sweetheart. It’s mine to do whatever I want with,” he cupped your mould, just to demonstrate what he meant but then frowned when he felt your soft curls and wet slick against his palm.

“You’re not wearing any panties, sweetheart.” He noted, surprised to your boldness.

“Um... I must’ve forgot.”

So maybe you had ulterior motives behind coming here. Your body was used to be doted on everyday now, and to not have his touch for so long was agonising. You had hoped to maybe bend down to pick up a napkin that fell ever so conveniently and flash him, it would work, he would be driven mad.

“Forgot huh?” You nodded in reply as he gathered your slick in his fingers, tracing your labia with them. “That’s too bad, If you had left them on purpose I would’ve cancelled my meeting and fucked you right here. But since it was just an innocent mistake I wouldn’t do that,” he retreated his hand, placing a soft kiss on your hair. “Thanks for lunch.”

***

You were determined to prove your worth to Andy. If he did have a mistress, whether it be his secretary or any other woman, he would forget all about her when he saw how you could do everything for him.

You had went all out today, baking a pie and a four course meal from scratch, lighting up candles, the pink babydoll that Andy had gifted you was under your dress.

He was as always exhausted when he got home, his face visibly lighting up upon seeing you, you took his hand in yours taking him to the couch and making him a glass of whiskey, you handed it to him before kneeling on the soft rug.

“You work so hard, daddy,” you murmured as your fingers worked on unzipping his pants.

He looked at you in confusion, shaking his head, “You don’t have to do that, honey,” cupping your cheek in his plan, stroking your cheekbone with his thumb.

“But I want to make you feel good,” you blinked at him.

He groaned, unable to say no when you looked so willing to please him, but at the same time he wanted to do more with you. To cuddle and watch a movie and talk, it felt as if he hadn’t in ages.

“Very well,” he nodded.

With the green signal from him, you licked your lips, tasting some of your minty gloss, taking his length out of the confines of his underwear, you took a minute to simply marvel at the sheer size and beauty of it.

You licked a stripe up the underside of it, suckling at the crown, you remembered that he liked that the best, at least from the way he twisted his hand in your hair, pulling at it till it caused a slight burn to your scalp.

You slurped his precum up before he pushed his hips up till his tip hit the back of your throat, causing you to gag around him, didn’t take him long to come down your throat.

His neck and cheek covered in a crimson blush, his chest heaving as he threw his head back against the couch.

“You did good, honey...” he rasped. “I don’t know what I would do without you.”

He absolutely loved the dinner you had made for him. But when you subtly, because you were raised to be a good lady and wife, tried to coax him to make love to you before bed, he.... rejected you.

Sure, he was kind about it. He told you he was simply tired and would make it up to you. But it was still shocking how a man as insatiable as him would ever say no. You truly didn’t know what to make of it.

***

“Oh... I don’t know about this... it’s a bit too bold for me,” you bit your lip.

“Just try it on! You might end up liking it!” Cherry urged you, putting the bright red lipstick on you without waiting for an answer, “There is nothing more classic than a red lip. Or a red anything. Men go crazy for it.” She told you.

You simply hummed through closed lips as she put some finishing touches on it. “Doesn’t that look nice?” she asked, holding up a mirror before you.

You smiled, it did look different. Maybe different was what you needed. “It’s very pretty. It makes me feel... confident?” Which was strange. Because how could a simple lipstick make you feel confident?

“See! I told you. Confidence is the key to sexiness. Now, let’s talk lingerie.”

***

“Honey, I’ve been waiting for over fifteen minutes,” you heard Andy call out to you from the bedroom.

“Just a minute,” you said, perfecting your edges with a lip brush.

This was something you had never done before. You wore a lot of lingerie for Andy, but most of them were cute pastels or white nighties or babydolls. Nothing like what you were wearing right now...

A sheer black lacy body suit that clung to your body, leaving literally nothing to the imagination.

Top that off with your red lip... you looked like some kind of dominatrix. Cherry told you that most men secretly wish to be dominated. Although you highly doubted your daddy would want anything like that. Or would he?

“Alright, I’m coming out,” you announced, before shyly stepping out, your eyes trained on the floor as you twiddled with your fingers to maybe distract you from your nerves. “What do you think?”

He was speechless. His jaw almost dropping on the floor when he saw you like that. So far from his sweet girl. You were just as much beautiful and sexy, and while it wasn’t something he was used or prefer to he would welcome it if it was what you wanted.

He extended an arm to you, ready to tell you that you were sexy, that he wanted to spend hours worshipping every inch of your body, that he wanted his cock stained the shade of red you wore on your lips, that he was ready to make up for being away for weeks.

Until he saw... that.

He lowly growled your name, making your head snap up to look at him, “What did you do to your pussy?” Because from what he could see, through the sheer material, there was nothing where your pubic hair used to be.

“Uh... I uh... waxed it...” From the tone of his voice you could tell that he wasn’t too happy about it. “Do you not like it?”

“Like?” he scoffed, shaking his head. Taking a seat on the bedding, “C'mere, let me take a closer look.”

Hesitantly, you walked the few strides it took till you were standing before him.

He studied your mould, trying to take the fabric off so he could see it more properly and then tutting when he couldn’t even open the stupid thing.

“Wait, it um... opens here I think,” you interrupted his scrutiny, undoing the zipper that was on your side and taking the suit off of you.

He sighed in resignation when he saw what you had done, making you regret your ever spending so much money and going through all that pain.

He parted your lips apart, running his fingers along your vulva, acquainting himself with this new strange feel of you, “When did do this?” his blue eyes looked up at you.

“Just a couple of days ago. It’s just hair... it’ll grow back in like three weeks.”

“Three weeks?” he scoffed.

You could feel your eyes getting misty. You tried to go all out for him, to please him, be completely naked and vulnerable before him, only to have him get angry at you.

“You don’t like it,” you sniffled.

His furrowed brow softened when he saw you crying, pulling you down till you were straddling his lap, “The question isn’t whether I like it or not,” he explained, his thumb wiping your wet cheeks, “I could... maybe live with it. But I wouldn’t prefer it.”

“Okay,” you nodded.

“But for you to have done this,” he touched your newly waxed skin and almost winced at the smoothness, “You must’ve let someone else see you naked. See what belongs to me.”

“Bu - but they were all women...” you stammered, squirming in his lap as his fingers toyed with your clit.

“It doesn’t matter,” he tutted, pushing two fingers inside you, “Only I get to see you. This is MY pussy. Only I get to decide what to do with it. Do you understand?”

You nodded, holding onto his tshirt as he twisted his fingers inside you. “So-sorry, daddy.”

“No, honey, since you were bad you don’t get to call me daddy. For tonight you will address me as sir. And of course you’ll have to be punished.”

“Punished?” you pouted. “Can’t you just let me go since it was my first strike? I’ll be good from now on I promise!”

“No, you have to learn your lesson. Come on,” you yelped as he manhandled you so you were face down across his lap, “What is your safe word?”

“Unicorns” you giggled. You thought you were so witty for coming up with it. Since he for some reason was jealous of your unicorn stuffie.

He hummed, stroking the soft skin of your butt, “How does twenty sound?”

Your eyes went wide as you gasped, looking at him over your shoulder, “No!” you said.

He didn’t really plan on spanking you... did he? He liked swatting your ass here and there, and truth be told you liked it too. But you had never been spanked or even hit as a punishment.

“Well, if not this then maybe we can make you go a week without cumming.”

Your gasp was louder and even more incredulous this time. You could most definitely take twenty swats, but just the thought of not being able to finish, after knowing what an orgasm with Andy feels like, made you shiver.

“You will count each one, and then thank me for it. You are grateful I’m teaching you, aren’t you?”

“Yes, sir,” you nodded.

“Do you know how to count to twenty? Or would I have to teach you that too?” he asked ever so condescendingly as you huffed.

“Of course I do! I was just two semesters away from graduating college!” Never mind that you learned that in kindergarten.

“That’s good. Are you ready?” he asked, cracking his knuckles as he got in position.

With a nod from you he delivered the first slap to your right buttcheek, the sound of it reverberating in the room, his palm stinging slightly as he stroked the skin he had just punished, it was already warmer.

“One, sir. Thank you, sir,” you held onto a moan, it wasn’t half as bad as you thought it would be...

You jerked forward as he unceremoniously hit your other cheek, since you were unprepared for it, and he was much more brutal.

“Tw-two, sir,” you sniffled.

You considered throwing in the towel and saying your safe word by the time fifteen rolled around. Your behind was on fire, while you couldn’t see it, you just knew it was bruised. But you wanted to be good for Andy and it was wrong of you to do something that drastic without his permission.

“Sixteen...” you hiccupped. You could feel your slick running down your thighs but at this point... you just couldn’t bring yourself to care.

“Do you want a break?” he asked, taking pity on you.

You nodded frantically, “Yes please! Can you... can you touch me? Down there?” Since the pain in your throbbing pussy was unbearable. If you didn’t receive any attention, you might actually burst.

“Down where? Here?” He had the audacity to play down, while you were suffering, and touch the back of your knee to patronise you.

“No!” you whined.

“Well then you’ll have to be a bit more specific, princess.”

“In my... between my legs... my pussy...”

“Are you sure you deserve it though?” he asked.

You thought about it for a moment, before coming to the conclusion that, “No I don’t. Not until I finish my punishment.”

“That’s a good girl,” he praised, his hand massaging your raw ass as your heart swelled in pride.

“Nineteen, sir,” your mind was hazy. It didn’t even feel as if you were in your reality anymore... it was as if you were floating, while you could still hear and feel him spanking you, for some reason it wasn’t as painful anymore.

“The last one, doll, hang in there,” he said before delivering the last swat.

You whimpered, “Twenty, thank you, sir,” willing your nose with the back of your hand.

Andy collected your weak form in his big string arms, rocking you back and forth in his lap as he kept whispering soft praises in your hair, “My sweet beautiful doll,” he pecked you on your lips.

“Sorry about your pants, daddy...” you said when you realised what a wet mess you had made on him.

He shushed you, “Don’t you worry about that right now. Do you want to take a bath?”

You pouted, your red lip jutting out, “No.”

He chuckled, kissing your forehead, “Do you want daddy to fuck you?”

“Yes,” you nodded.

“We have to be careful about your butt, baby,” he said as he gently placed you on the mattress.

Your head on your pillow, besides your two most trusted stuffies--your unicorn and teddy. Andy only allowed you two in the bed after complaining they made it hard for him to cuddle you. You demanded he buy you a shelf to display them or you would go back to your old room. Which of course made him comply instantly.

You made grabby hands at him, impatient to have him closer to you, but then were glad he took the time to take off his tshirt so you could ogle the wide expanse of his chest, the light scattering of fuzzy hair over it, his numerous tattoos along with one of your name, which marked him as yours forever.

He took a hardened nipple in his mouth while his hand tweaked the other, nudging your legs apart to make room for him, he placed his length at your entrance.

Slowly pushing into you, letting you get accustomed to the size of him. Although your pussy was always so welcoming to him, he knew you often struggled to take him.

You whimpered at him, tears rolling off of your face. “What’s wrong, honey? Does it hurt?”

“No... it’s just so good,” you sniffled.

“Okay, just hold on,” you held onto his shoulders as he slowly fucked in to you.

Your pussy clamping around his length, the soles of your feet digging into his ass, “Can I come, daddy?”

“Of course, baby. You earned it.” He groaned, his hips hammering against yours as you bit his neck, letting out a muffled scream.

You hummed against his neck when you felt his warm release fill you up, he pulled out of you, frowning when he looked at your naked and hairless pussy, dripping with his cum.

“From now on I’ll be picking out your clothes,” he stated, rolling off of you and pulling you into his arms.

“Okay, daddy,” you hummed.

“And no more surprise bikini waxes.”

“Mmm...” If that’s what you had to do to get in trouble and be punished, then so be it. “We’ll see.”

***

Three days later

“Lotion time, doll,” Andy said, pausing the movie you were both watching to go get said lotion.

He had rubbed your lotion on your backside when he spanked you and decided that he wanted to be the one putting your body lotion on you from now on since he had too much fun doing it. He insisted on doing it twice everyday since it was still very cold.

You followed him to the bedroom, lying face down on the bed a he squeezed some on his palms, rubbing them together to warm them up.

You winced just a little, your skin still a bit sensitive, you even had to sit on a pillow the time.

“Will you be going back to work tomorrow?” you wanted to know.

He didn’t like the sadness in your voice, “Yes,” he sighed. He hated leaving you all by yourself.

“I’ll be all alone then.”

“Didn’t you want to go back to college?” He remembered you telling him that your parents forced you to drop out so that you would marry him.

“I do actually. Hate leaving things incomplete... maybe I can even go to a law school and become a lawyer like you!” you perked up.

“You’re not working for your father though, you’re too good for that world.”

“You’re too good for him too.” You said. “Maybe I can work with you.” And you and him could be like a power couple. It would be so exciting.

Tags will be in the reblog! Click the link in the bio to be join the taglist or shoot me an ask/dm. Comments and reblogs are really appreciated! ❤❤

Please note that my work is not to be reposted or published anywhere other than my Tumblr or AO3 account without my permission. Reblogs are most welcome though!

[mercur1e]

Helllooooo

Soo I just saw you're headcannons are literally 💞💞

It's lowkey the only thing keeping me safe and alive ✋😌......soooooo can I request Gom + kuroko and kagami (if it's to much you can just doo Aomine, Kise and Midorima and akashi)where they accidentally hurt their s/o feelings pleaaseeeeee..... I need some angst but please end it in fluff (cuz i lowkey cannot handle it)

Please take care of yourself, your health always comes first, I love youuuu ❤❤❤

Ofc love! I hope you're doing well and I love you too :) <333

Akashi

He disregarded your hard work :(

You're trying to start your own small business and you're having a little trouble, which is not unusual that happens sometimes!

You were having trouble hiring employees and you were talking to him about it, and he was in a bad mood prior to you approaching him

"You're not going anywhere with this. It would just be better to give up on it. You're not going to make it that far even if you do succeed. And can you leave? I'm busy and all you're doing is acting as a distraction."

You just froze, you couldn't believe what he had just said

Not only did he know how much work you were putting in, he also knew how excited you were for the future of your shop too

You didn't even say anything, you just froze with shock, hurt, and surprise and stomped out of his office

You left the house, you needed some time to cool off and cry

It took Akashi a second to realize what he had said and how hurtful his words were, so he started looking all over for you in the house. He goes into the garage to see your car is gone and he assumes the worst.

You don't pick up the phone when he calls you or answer his texts, opting to turn it off after the fifth call.

You stay by your best friend for the night and they comforted you and told you he probably didn't mean it, and that you can stay as long as you need

After you leave from by your friends place you go to your favorite cafe for some breakfast

And guess who's there, Akashi.

You turn around and walk out because you were honestly not ready to deal with him just yet and it was too early in the morning for all that

He catches you on the way out and apologizes :)

"Love, I apologize for what I said yesterday. It was inconsiderate, hurtful, and wrong. You've been working so hard on your business and you're doing your best to make it happen. I was in a bad mood yesterday and I dont know what came over me. Will you forgive me?"

Looking you in the eye as he spoke every word, holding your hands and rubbing them, you know he was truly sorry and wants to fix what he did.

"I forgive you Sei, but what you said was really hurtful. You know how much this means to me and how much work I've been putting in. But I do forgive you."

He takes you out to eat at your favorite restaurant and watch a movie afterwards back at home, kisses you tons and holds you in his arms when you fall asleep.

He also puts in a good word with his work associates about your business and you gain more employees and popularity! But unless you want to do it completely on your own he's there supporting you every step of the way and giving you advice :)

Midorima

He acts like your affection is kryptonite, even though you're not a clingy or overly-affectionate person

You guys had been together for about 3-4 months

He always brushes you off even at the most simplest acts of affections, you're starting to really question if he even wants to be together.

Well this particular time he embarrassed you in front of the team :/

There was a break in between practice and you went to give him his water bottle and give him a hug

"Hey Shin he's your water bottle, don't work yourself too hard okay?"

After that you went in for a quick hug but he held a hand against your chest and glared at you

"Why are you always so clingy? You're always on me and its annoying. Can you just leave me alone or leave?"

He said that right in the middle of the court, everyone's eyes were on you and you felt embarrassed.

"...alright."

That's all you after said you shoved the water bottle into his hand and walked out of the gym.

Takao was the one to call him out on his behavior and tell him that he was being rude and that he should apologize

Midorima took that advice and after practice, he went to find you and apologize, except you weren't anywhere he checked or thought you would be

You avoided him for 3 days straight until he arrived at your house unannounced

Your lucky item in his hand, he gives you a well deserved apology

"Y/N I- I'm sorry that I was being rude to you. There was no reason for me to act like that and I haven't been appreciating you like I should. That was rude of me and I hope you except my apology. Also- this is your uh lucky item."

He hands you a plushie :)

He gives you hugs and reassures you that he appreciates your affections despite him not being used to it!

He also got an extra lap at practice from Miyaji lol but he decided not to tell you that part

Kise

Is very busy and it's sometimes hard to make time for you :(

And you also couldn't show him affection in public or be around him because his fangirls would throw a hissy fit

He hasn't been answering his phone and he can't really get that close to you at school so you've been feeling left behind

When you finally managed to catch him, you said you wanted to go out and just catch up because you two haven't spent much time together and he agreed

However Kise forgot about the plans and you were waiting at the restaurant, alone.

You went home that night upset, tired, and wondering if you even want to be in a relationship anymore

You stopped texting him and talking to talk to him at school, not that you even had that much time to talk to him and school anyway

Kise had realised a whole day later that he had forgotten about the plans you two had made together

He took off from work the whole week, even though his manager was mad about it and went off to find you

He found you at a park after school and approached you with flowers in his hand

"Y/N baby I'm so sorry I forgot about our date. I can't imagine how you must've felt and to make up for it I called the whole week off! I'm really, really sorry that I havent had time for you. Do you forgive me?"

"Yeah, I forgive you Kise I'm just really hurt that you stood me up. You knew we hadn't spent alot of time together and I was really hoping to catch up with you that night. But I'm just happy you're here."

He takes you to a concert! Your favorite artist was in town and he bought tickets for the two of you!

The whole week was filled with fun, love, and lots of conversations :)

He promises to make more time for you and be there for you whenever he can!

He also posts you on his socials and shows you affection at school, showing his fangirls that he's not for them, but for you and they can go away of they don't like that

Aomine

You feel like he doesn't put any effort into the relationship

It's always you doing everything, it just gets tiring

He doesn't really make an effort to do anything, like plan dates, hang out, or just spend time together

He also uses basketball as an excuse to not hang out with you when you already know he's not at practice

Like if you want alone time man just say that

So you had planned a date for you two, nothing big just going to the movie theaters yk

He cancelled last minute, saying Imayoshi was forcing him to come to practice

It was a sunday, they don't have practice in sunday

You talked to Momoi as she is a close friend of yours too, about how you feel like you're the only one making an effort and that you feel like he doesn't want to spend time with you

She tells you to confront him about it, so you do

The next time Daiki comes to your house you ask him about it

"It just feels like I'm the only one putting work into the relationship and I feel like you're avoiding me. You make up excuses to not be with me and bail on me last minute...do you even want to be with me? And if you do want alone time just be upfront about it, don't give me terrible excuses or flake out on me."

Aomine honestly didn't know you felt that way

Now that he looks back at it, it has been mainly you doing most of the stuff in the relationship, and he can see why you feel like it's only you trying

"You're right, it has been mainly you doing stuff for both of us. I'm gonna start putting in more effort because it's time I do. I'm sorry that I've been making shitty excuses to not hang out with you, and cancelling all of a sudden. I'll be honest when I don't feel like going out and I'll spend more time with you."

He makes it up to you by taking you to a festival and going to see a movie with you

True to his word, he starts putting more effort into y'alls relationship and you two take turns planning dates

And if he doesn't feel like going out you guys have at home dates instead :)

I know this took a little longer than usual, I'm sorry for the little setback. Hopefully you like them! Thank you for requesting and feedback is appreciated! Love you <333