#like not actually but knocked me out and i woke up with a bunch of piercings and his name on me

[andragoras-in-vanity]

had a sex dream about one of my tattoo artists. im sure this means nothing.

[midnightwriter21]

demon slayer hcs: the hashira men w/ a demon!SO that’s immune to sunlight pt2

characters: fem!reader x sanemi

warnings: blood, injuries, language, angst

pt. 1 w rengoku and giyuu HERE

SANEMI

this poor man can just never be happy huh

now i find it very hard to believe that sanemi would be with a regular civilian

he’s gotta know that his SO is able to take care of themself

SO

ur a slayer and you guys are paired up on a mission together

there were reports of several low ranking demons being sighted in a town

so Sanemi decides to split up and to meet back up when the sun begins to rise

when you don’t show up at the meeting place he knows something is very very wrong

tears through the town looking for you

and he finds you alright

laying in a pool of your own blood

haori torn to shreds

sword broken

he doesn’t even walk toward you

he’s frozen

his blood has literally gone cold

stands there staring at your broken body until the kakushi arrive

when they do they quickly realize that you are alive and sanemi snatches your limp body from them and SPRINTS to the butterfly mansion

he hands you off to Shinobu who gets to work immediately

he waits there for her to give him an update

and boy does she

you? a demon?

his sweet loving girlfriend is a demon?

it can’t be true. you were laying in the sun.

he tells shinobu this and she says that she’ll have to do some more testing when you wake up

it’s 3 days later when you finally do wake up

and when you do you’re greeted with 2 low ranking slayers pointing their swords at your neck

of course they had to keep you guarded in case you woke up and needed a snack

the human kind

screaming for shinobu she rushes into the room

she sends the slayers out and quickly explains what has happened to you

you ask for sanemi

and your heart breaks when she tells you that he hasn’t visited

not once since she told him what you had become

a few more days pass with shinobu running a bunch of tests

she concludes that you’re somehow immune to the sun and that you don’t have an appetite for humans

and still no sign of sanemi

he hasn’t responded to any of your letters either

when shinobu releases you from her care you head to sanemi’s estate

when you knock on his door he opens, looks at you

and then slams it right back in your face

so you leave

as the weeks pass you throw urself into training with Nezuko who you’ve become friends with

but other than to train you don’t leave your estate

you have locked yourself away from the world

believing that sanemi hates you because of what you are

a monster

it’s not until Genya visits you and sees how pitiful you look that something is done

Genya storms to his brothers home

the ground practically shaking under his steps

Genya literally slaps some sense into Sanemi

like actually slaps the shit outta him

Genya is the only person that could get away with something like that other than you lol

not 10 minutes after genya left your home you get a very hesitant knock on your door

you don’t answer

so Sanemi takes it upon himself to walk in

and he finds you sitting on the floor staring at the wall with a blank look on your face

he sets a gentle hand on your shoulder and you don’t react

you don’t move a muscle

you don’t even blink

it’s as if you’re in a trance

he takes in the dark circles under your eyes

and the frown that looks like it’s permanently stretched across your face

and the guilt hits him full force

kneeling next to you and pulling you into his lap

he buries his face into your hair

and he cries

“i’m so fucking sorry”

“if i didn’t decide to split up this wouldn’t have happened”

“it’s my fucking fault”

and then he feels you pull away from him

his eyes are still closed with tears slipping down his face

and then a small cold hand is wiping the tears from his face

“you left me” you say

and his eyes shoot open

to see you with tears in your eyes

he looks away

“i can’t look at you knowing that this is my fault” he says in between cries

“why are you here now?” you ask

he pulls you back into his chest and say

“Genya told me how you’ve been acting and I can’t stand knowing that you’re unhappy”

you push yourself closer to him and say

“if you want me to be happy, then stay”

he takes a deep breath

“i’ll stay”

[seat-safety-switch]

A lot of people these days talk about how vacuum tubes are "warmer." This is preposterous nonsense. That is, unless you talk about the sheer amount of waste heat they crank out. That is actually quite substantial. Hey, don't get your fingerprints on the glass. You'll fuck it all up.

Recently, one of my friends got into vintage stereos. And if you know anyone into vintage stereos, you know there's no such thing as being "just a little bit" into them. His basement went from reasonably empty to being stuffed to the brim with sick Pioneers, ailing Sansuis, and even something that I think might be a crude Soviet-Polish knock-off of a Marantz. None of them work, but all of them are beloved treasures. Coincidentally, the purchase of them all also sent a bunch of scrapyard owners' kids to college.

Obviously, this is an unnatural state of things. Nobody can listen to all these stereos at the same time. If you tried, you'd go insane, like that guy who robbed the Piggly Wiggly on the interstate because his car was tuned into two Top 40 stations simultaneously. Saucy British pop starlets only tell you to commit horrible crimes in your dreams, buddy. Not speaking through your car stereo. I wanted to help my friend before he became one of these dire statistics. I knew that I had to return his basement to the natural state of being, but how?

At once, I hit upon it. I would simply take some of my excess car parts, and store them in his basement. That's what everyone is supposed to store in their basement: primo speed parts that are "waiting for the right project." I left his place that night with a smug sense of satisfaction. Once he woke up in the morning, saw that he had a bunch of turbos, and maybe a couple axles for an indeterminate Italian sports coupe, he'd stop worrying about dumb old radios and start getting obsessed about what really matters: accumulating car parts.

Unfortunately, I hadn't counted on what would happen to my basement as soon as a square inch of space was cleared. The reason why I hadn't been caught by my snoozing buddy when I was over at his place was simple. He wasn't snoozing at all! The motherfucker was in my basement, filling the now-vacant space that used to contain Miata differentials and Detroit Diesel superchargers with stereos!

I don't think I can complain too much. After all, it is free storage, and if my house burns down, at least some of my hoard will be safe over at his place. Plus, fiddling around with the unresponsive tuner on this rusty ol' Onkyo has been a nice departure from having to carry around heavy car parts.

Hey, that's funny. Come here, check this out. If I hold it just like this, I can get both of the Top 40 stations at the same time. What's that, Katy Perry? You want me to rob the Piggly Wiggly?

[makethemhoesmad]

last kiss

pazzi angst i dare say

it’s july 9th motherfrickers

i wrote this shit by myself because the people i asked for help did not answer

—

azzi sat stationary on the floor in the cabin her family was occupying, tucked away from everyone else. she was turned toward the window, wrapped up in a hoodie she shouldn’t be nuzzling her face into. thinking about someone she surely shouldn’t be missing right now, not after what had happened. not after what she’d said.

~

paige laughs, letting a tiktok restart for what must have been at least the third time. or maybe it was the fifth. oh. it was only a screen recording of a story she’d watched over and over again before it went away, of a girl kneeling on herself, reading a book while a game was played around her. not just a girl, actually. her girl. her azzi. well, not hers anymore.

~

azzi presses play on her third uconn game rewatch of the night. this time, it’s her favorite one. senior night, from this year. paige was glowing, from the moment she woke up in the morning, to when she fell asleep tucked against azzi that night. azzi hadn’t slept well that night, but she was content with watch the beautiful girl in her arms breath in and out. now, all she has is these games, because she fucked it all up.

~

paige thinks back to the last time she saw azzi, in washington almost two weeks ago. and she thinks of what she said, what she offered, and how azzi turned her down.

~~

“i know i gotta travel a bunch, but what if you just came with me,” paige asks azzi, nudging her playfully. 

“ha, you know we can’t, paige,” azzi states firmly. paige tilts her head to the side questioningly, not seeing the issue.

“why not baby? i’ll miss you too much and we could go see nika play together! i see no problem.” 

being honest, neither did azzi. she had nothing, only an invite for a vacation with her family, and they would understand.

“paige, they’ll know. they already are suspicious, that’s all people talk about. this would only

clarify it.”  

and there it is.

“so that’s why, right? because you’re fucking embarrassed to be with me? you don’t want to have those rumors. so you’re just gonna avoid me. alright, got it.” paige snorts at her own words, at the absurdity of them.

“it’s not like that. it’s just, you have this huge platform built on your career, and i don’t want that to come crashing down because of our relationship, baby please you have to understand this.” azzi doesn’t know what else to say, do, to make paige get it.

“puh-lease. half of my fan base is teenage girls that wanna fuck me. they won’t give two fucks.” paige knows she’s being vulgar, she’s being rude, but she doesn’t care.

“that’s not the point. the point is that teammates shouldn’t date each other and it’ll only cause problems.” 

azzi’s right. deep down, paige knows that. so, she doesn’t know why she lets her words tumble out of her mouth.

“fucking fine, then. we don’t gotta date if you don’t wanna.” and then she goes home.

~

the scent of paige’s hoodie makes azzi miss her even more. she’s in bed now, holding it in her arms and thinking of the night before the day it all happened, the day they fell apart. she thinks of how they kissed that morning, and how she didn’t realize it would be their last. she’s about to fall asleep, letting tears run off her face and into the worn cloth of the sweater, when she hears a car door outside.

~

paige wonders if she should’ve called azzi first, told her she was showing up to say sorry. it’s too late now, she’s already here. she doesn’t even have to knock on the door. it’s unlocked, thanks to azzi’s brother, who was perfectly willing to leave it just so paige could “get azzi out of her fucking mood”. paige hoped she could. 

~

azzi’s scared. she doesn’t know why she heard a car door, and she doesn’t know why the front door just opened. she’s cowering under her blankets when a shadow walks into her room, and just as she’s about to scream, she recognizes it. 

“paige,” she breathes. in an instant, paige has flung herself onto the bed, onto azzi.

“azzi, azzi, i’m sofuckingsorry. i never shoulda said that shit to you, it’s all on me, i need to be with you so bad, all i can think about is you, and, and, and.”

she trails off, sinking her face into azzis chest, unable to continue. azzi strokes her hair soothingly, while speaking.

“paige, darling, i know, i know. it’s okay, i forgive you, all of you.” 

paige starts to sit up, starts to say something, but azzi won’t let her get it out.

“shhh, baby, sleep. i know you musta had a long drive to get all the way here, and all i want from you as an i’m sorry is a night with you here, in my arms.

and then they’re asleep, holding each other like they never left.

[clemanime]

Sweets

MINORS DNI

A/N: I know its been.. an unspecified amount of time but I can explain! (I can't actually) Have this and an apology (It's gonna happen again) See you next time. Muchos besos!

Description: Unnamed Fem!Reader and Luca have history. One-sided but still history.

Warning: Smut, Fluff, Confession, Vaginal penetration (ooh spoicy), breeding (unintentionally), Vaginal fingering, Wirty dords and phrases, and this man Luca himself (he is a little too fine in this one, makes me feral)

“You guys are going to Copenhagen.” Sydney said as she looked at the both of them while leaning against the counter that was just put into the kitchen. There was chaos around them, walls being put up and others being knocked down. The Bear was set to open and it seemed like one thing right after the other decided to go wrong.

“What’s in Copenhagen?” She stepped forward, standing next to Marcus. Her braids pulled back out of her face as she put her hands in her jacket pocket.

“Uh… I don’t know. An old friend of Carmy.” Her heart raced as she thought of the only other person that he would consider a friend that also lived in a different country.

“Can I decline?” She asked quickly, both Sydney and Marcus looking at her.

“What?”

“Why?” Marcus and Sydney spoke in unison.

“I just… don’t think I should go.” She looked between them.

“Why? What do you have going on that you can’t go?”

“My cat…”

“I’ll take care of him.” Sydney said quickly, dispelling the only excuse she had.

“You don’t have a reason not to go.” Marcus said as he crossed his arms. It was true, there really wasn’t a reason not to go. Aside from being in the same kitchen as Luca. She looked at the both of them before letting out a heavy sigh.

“You can stay at my apartment to take care of him.”

“You’re going?” Sydney questioned excitedly.

“Yeah.”

Upon their arrival in Copenhagen, they took in as much of the city as they could. The both of them, making sure to take a bunch of pictures and stopping at different bakeries to look at their displays on the way to their new temporary home. It was a first for both of them when they got onto the boat, her room towards the front while Marcus got to sleep in the level above the kitchen area. “We’ve gotta leave water out.” He said from his spot in front of the table. Marcus silently reread the note in his hand as she approached him to look over at the paper.

“For who?”

“A cat or something.” He shrugged, the pair looking back at the empty water bowl on the floor.

“Okay.” She patted his shoulder. “You got it.” The pair laughed before separating to get settled for the night.

The next day they woke up before daybreak, both alarms blaring and making sure they actually got up. She found herself already distracted while getting ready for their first day. She wondered what he looked like now. Whether he looked any different. “Of course he probably does.” She grumbled to herself with a mouth full of toothpaste. She was broken from her thoughts when there was a rapid knock on the bathroom door. “Hey, we’re gonna be late if you take long.”

“My bad!” She finished up quickly then finished getting dressed.

The pair set off to the restaurant, walking in silence for a moment before Marcus spoke up. “Man..” He began. “I’m excited.” He looked ahead, his hands in the pockets of his parka. “Did you ever think that you’d be here?”

“Not really.” She responded, her hands in her pockets as well. “I thought I’d be in my own bakery by now to be fair.”

“Yeah?” He smiled. “Maybe once Carmy gets his shit together, you can get started.”

“If Carmy got his shit together.” The pair laughed.

The walk was filled with conversation and laughter but at the back of her mind, she was still wondering about Luca. The closer they got the more her heart pounded, her hands becoming a little clammy. She stopped walking when they came to the employee entrance of the Restaurant, her eyes on the door handle. Marcus stopped next to her, looking between her and the door. “Everything good?”

“Yeah.. um.. you head in first, I’m gonna call Sydney to check on Butters.” She mumbled out a lie as she pulled her phone out.

“You’re a bad liar.. but okay.” He nodded before entering first.

She needed to compose herself. It had been a long time and she had thoroughly convinced herself she was fine. That she was over it. “He might not be in today.. he might not even remember you and it’ll be fine.” She began to pace to help with calming her nerves but it didn’t work. Talking to herself didn’t work. “It’s been years. You’re not a child.” She sighed and looked at the door handle again, still unable to bring herself to enter.

“If you’re not goin’ in, mind if I get by?” She froze, looking back at him as if she had been caught stealing. “Oh..” His shocked expression told him that Carmy didn’t tell him about her arrival. And that he recognized her. “Are you here to learn?”

“Yeah.. I came with Marcus.” She cleared her throat. “Well not with Marcus but I traveled here with him.” She stepped away from the door so he could go in.

“It’s good to see you.” He pulled the door open for her, grinning at her. “Comin’ in?” She nodded before she stepped inside first, mumbling a thank you before heading straight to the back to get changed.

Once she finished, she went to join them, standing in the background and keeping her head down as she listened to Luca’s instructions. He had her working on whipping cream. A feat that she had tried to concur years ago but gave up on. She had deemed her arch-nemesis. Luca placed a chilled bowl, a carton of heavy whipping cream, sugar, and a whisk at her station. He stood beside her as he began to explain what she needed to do as if she didn’t already know. She mumbled a ‘Yes Chef’ to him before she began.

She began slowly, her eyes on the liquid in the bowl she had begun to whisk together. She remembered the first time she worked with Luca. His attitude towards his craft and others was a stark difference in comparison to each other. He had been arrogant and cocky when they worked together but no matter how rude he’d gotten, she continued to be nice. She wasn’t sure when the feelings for him started.

“Hey. What are you doing?” Luca questioned as he looked at her while she stood at his station.

“Chopping.” She responded in her usual happy tone. “What does it look like I’m doing?”

“Do I look like I need your help?” He stepped forward, his face turning red with annoyance and frustration. “Put the knife down and go away.”

“You don’t have to be mean about it.” She furrowed her brows.

“Whateva’.” He rolled his eyes. “Just find something else to do.”

“Fine.” She scoffed. She began to work on her own tasks, humming softly. She winced in pain and dropped her knife on the floor, tears welling up in her eyes at the sting from her finger. “Shit..” She walked towards the back, Luca watching her carefully before he went to follow her.

“Nearly chopped your finger off?”

“Yeah.” She answered honestly. “I got distracted…” She bit the back of her other hand as she ran water over it. “It’s so stupid.”

“Here.” He reached for her injured hand and looked at the cut. “No stitches. Which is good. Let me grab the first aid kit.” He walked away, leaving her to her thoughts. Once he came back, he had the red box in his hand and began to clean her cut properly before gently placing a bandage and a cover over it. “Be careful next time. Yeah?”

“Yeah.” She looked at him and smiled, Luca staring at her for a moment before letting her hand go and returning to what he was previously doing.

In the time following that, she found herself trying to talk to him more. She would continue to smile at him and greet him, secretly doing prep for him after she finished her so that he would have somewhat of an easy day. At first, Luca wasn’t receptive to her enthusiasm but slowly warmed up to her. Her random questions or statements added to her charm. The way she would continuously hum throughout the day or scurry off the few times he caught her doing his prep. She grew on him and when he had to leave, it was like he was losing the best friend he cherished with his entire being.

“You overdid it.” Luca pointed out as he looked over her shoulder and yanked her from her thoughts. “Try again.”

Her apron was stained and the cream had become lumpy. She stared at it, her hands on her hips as her frustrations grew. “Can I just fix this batch?” She looked at him. “Or turn it into butter?”

“You could... but this is the third time you’ve tried to fix it.” His voice was stern but she knew he wasn’t upset. She hadn’t even realized what she was doing, her thoughts seemingly consuming her. “You’re out of heavy cream and you’ve made way more than we need.”

“What?” She looked down at the bowl. “Shit.”

“Do you know where you went wrong?” He questioned, seemingly knowing what was going on with her.

“I got distracted..” She sighed.

“Start over.” He made a move to walk away but her words made him pause.

“Can I move on to something else?” She asked before he could fully walk off. “You know my hatred for whipped cream.”

“No.” He crossed his tattooed arms, his biceps more defined as he did. “There’s more cream in the walk in.” He turned and walked away from her, leaving her to her own thoughts. She let her head hang before going towards the walk in.

She walked into the walk-in freezer, chewing on her bottom lip as she looked for all the items she needed. The door opened and Luca walked in, easily grabbing everything he needed and pausing when he realized how confused she looked. “What do you need?”

“Cream.” She looked around again before whipping around to face him and nearly colliding with his chest. She swallowed hard before pursing her lips and looking up at him as he reached to grab the cream from the top shelf. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.” He responded. “Cleaning the walk-in always seems to confuse someone around here. It’s about time it was you.” He smirked before walking out. She shivered, the chill combating against her heating body.

“Get it together…” She exhaled and walked out.

The day had gone by a little too quickly and she was still standing at her station trying to get the whipped cream right. “Hey, do you want me to wait for you?” Marcus asked, his bag on his back as he walked towards her.

“No. It’s fine. I’m going to lose my mind if I don’t get this.” She smiled gently. “You go ahead and get some rest.”

“Alright. If you’re sure.” He held his fist up, the duo fist bumping to confirm that it was fine for him to head out on his own.

She focused on whipping the cream, her eyes down and her head seemingly trying her hardest to empty as her hands moved more delicately once it was at the consistency she wanted. She stepped back and sighed, putting her hands on her hips and taking in the mess she now needed to clean up. “Lucky for you, we had back up to go through.” Luca said, seemingly just appearing behind her again. She jumped, quickly turning to face him.

“Sorry.” She looked down.

“No one’s gonna take your head off.” He walked towards her, looking over the mess. “You’ve got it and that’s all that counts.” He crossed his arms, an action that began to find enticing to look at. The muscles of his biceps and forearms were more prominent, his tattoos grabbing her attention as well as the veins that seemed to pop out. Her eyes followed them before she forced herself to look into his eyes. She swallowed the lump that had decided to settle in her throat as she wondered if he caught her staring so openly. “How’ve things been?” It was an out of the blue question. But he was genuinely curious. He hadn’t seen nor spoke to her in years, same with Carmy.

She turned back around, beginning to clean up. “Oh.. you know.. it’s the usual with Carmy. He’s being a bit ambitious as always.”

“I don’t mean with Carmy.” He spoke low, almost upset that that was what she assumed he meant. She turned around with some of the now empty dirty bowls. “I meant with you.” He clarified as they stared at each other in silence before she spoke again.

“Uh.. well nothing really changed since last we saw each other.” She responded. “I’ve got a cat now. He’s pretty sweet and super cuddly.”

“Hm.” He nodded, leaning against the counter across from her. “So.. no bakery then?” She smiled and shook her head, putting the bowl down.

“The bakery wasn’t in my plans for a long time now.”

“Why not?”

“I didn’t really think it was worth it anymore.”

“It would have been.” He reassured her. “Your whipped cream would have been for shit either way but you can work around that.” They both laughed in unison, standing in a comfortable silence afterwards. “But I’m sure with you running it, Sweets Bakery would have been the talk of the year.”

“I can’t believe you remember the name.”

“How could I forget?” He questioned her.

“It’s such a stupid name.” She mumbled.

“I would say that. I think the name made sense.”

“Really?”

“Yeah..  from what I remember, you were always sweet.” Luca rubbed the back of his neck as he looked at her.

“What?” She looked at him in confusion, her brows furrowing. His chuckle sounded like a low rumble as he shook his head.

“You were always sweet.” He repeated in the same octave. “Making sure everything was at my station, double cleaning duty, taking the blame for everything even if you didn’t do it.” He let out a sigh. “I thought you were stupid for it but honestly I grew fond of it. It was cute seein’ your face light up when I finished somethin’ even though you’ve seen it a million times.” He crossed his arms as he looked at her, his head leaning to side slightly as if reliving a memory he had. “I’m sorry I left like that. I know things were a lot easier because of the flow. But when I got the offer, I had to take it.”

“I wasn’t upset because of the offer you got.” She sighed, her eyes down. “And you don’t have to apologize for that. You don’t owe me anything.” She finally looked at him, smiling gently but it didn’t reach her eyes. “It was stupid. I- you..” She found it difficult forming a sentence. “God it’s so stupid.” She stood up straight as she shook her head. The feelings she had before hadn’t died fully it seems. Seeing him again had started a metaphorical fire that made her feel like she was stepping back into the pass. “I.. enjoyed working with you.” She began, taking him by surprise. “But it was difficult and I couldn’t focus because of you. Most of my major fuck ups was because I was too busy thinking about you. I couldn’t think around you and all I could smell was your stupid cologne and see your hands?” She sighed, wanting to scream in frustration. His eyes stared at her with an undetermined intent. She felt as if she were going to lose her mind the longer she was around him. Those feelings she had fought so hard to forget building more and more the longer she was alone with him. “I hate you.” She sighed. “No. That’s a lie. I’m crazy about you. It’s frustrating. It’s…” She watched as he stood, closing the short distance between them. “Reject me.” She stepped back, bumping into the metal table she had yet to clean. “Reject me so I can take my heart ache and leave.”

Luca’s calloused hand moved to cup the side of her head, its warmth radiating against the area behind her ear. “Reject me Luca.” She took in a breath and she held up, looking up at him through her lashes. “Please Luca…”

“I can’t reject you.” He mumbled as he leaned in, swallowing thickly. “I’d be a fuckin’ idiot if I did.” As if a net keeping all of her ability to resist was cut open, she melted against him. One of her hands rested against his toned bicep as the other held the wrist of the hand that was holding her head. He pulled her flush against him, making her head swim. Their kiss grew heavier, their lips dancing against one another but he ultimately had taken the lead.

She looked down as she tried to catch her breath, Luca’s breath fanning forehead as his thumb gently rubbed against the skin behind her ear. She finally looked up at him, hoping that he couldn’t hear the way her heart thundered against her ribs. “I’ve dreamt of doing that for a while.” She mumbled, a smile forming on both of their lips.

“I’m glad I’m not the only one.” He huffed, leaning in to feel her plump lips against his again. “So soft..” He kissed her again. “So sweet.” His large hand moved towards her lower back, causing her to shiver against his touch. She pressed her face into his chest as she involuntarily arched against him. “Does that make you uncomfortable?”

“No.” She responds, looking at him. “Don’t stop.”

“Fuck..” He sighed. “And you say I’m the frustrating one?”

“Luca?”

“Hm?”

“Can we go.. back to your place? I have to share a boat with Marcus and it would be really awkward if you walked in with me.”

“Are you sure?” He asked, his breaths growing heavier. “Because if you come back to my place, I won’t wanna leave in the mornin’.” She nodded a little too quickly, a smile forming on his lips. “Alright.”

Luca’s apartment wasn’t too far from the Restaurant. It was larger than she expected, the decor minimalistic and neutral. Though the sun had already set, the view outside had still been beautiful. He tossed his keys on the island as they passed the kitchen, his eyes still on her as she admired his home. She looked back at him, noticing the darkening look in his eyes as he slowly stalked towards her. She turned to face him fully as she stepped back with a smirk forming on his lips. “Are you still sure about this?” He asked as he pulled his hoodie off.

“Yes.” She said softly as she returned his smile.

“One more step and you’ll be in the bedroom.” He pointed out as he stopped walking.

“Oh..” She looked back before meeting his gaze again. “I knew that.” She kept her smile as she took another step back, fully entering the bedroom. Luca felt himself slowly losing his will power as he stared at her. “What’s that look for?” She asked almost innocently.

As if a switch was flipped, Luca pulled his hoodie off with his shirt following suit. His shoes had already been off and at the door with hers. He easily scooped her up and walked her over to the bed. “Maybe you’re not all that sweet.” He grumbled as he looked up at her. He placed her on his bed and sat back on his feet to admire the woman on his bed. “Definitely not all sweet.” He moved to hover over her with a small smile forming on his face.

“What?” She asks curiously.

“You’re breathtakin’.” He leaned forward, kissing her softly. He moved his hands to hold her face, the gentleness slowly intensifying.

When he wasn’t kissing her, he watched her every move. The way her hands slowly removed her shirt and revealed more of her skin to him. She looked embarrassed. Adorable. He thought to himself as he moved in to leave open mouthed kisses on the exposed parts of her body. They were hot but the chill of the air that followed left goosebumps all over.

Her hands found their way into his golden strands when his intense kisses led to where she had created the most heat. She still had her underwear on but the dampened material didn’t leave much to the imagination. “Luca..” She breathed. It came out as a small whine as if pleading for him to do more.

“Yes, sweetness?” He questioned as his breath gently cooled her underwear with each word.

“Don’t.. tease.” She pushed her hips upwards, watching as his eyes darkened. “Please..”

“Say it.” He demanded softly. “What do you want?”

“You. I want you.” She pouted.

“You want me?” He asked as he pressed more open mouth kisses against her heat. “What do you want me to do to you?” His eyes were locked with hers, relishing in her reaction.

“Take them off..” She furrowed her brows in anticipation as his hands moved towards the band of her underwear, the pads of his fingers ghosting over the barrier keeping him from touching her fully as he continued giving her needy cunt sloppy kisses. His tongue licked a strip against her with enough pressure that it sent a jolt through her entire being.

“I don’t think I want to take them off just yet.” He grumbled. One of his hands moved to rest on her pubis and his thumb rubbing lazy circles around her clit while the fingers on his other hand continued to tease her waistband. “Wanna savor the moment.” He mumbled before leaning in to kiss and lick her against her.

Her frustrated moans and whimpers filled the room as he continued to tease and pleasure her through her underwear. Her hand gripped and tugged at his hair, her mind emptying with every minute that passed and her need for physical contact growing at a steady rapid pace.

He enjoyed watching her squirm and writhe though he hadn’t touched her directly. Her underwear, now soaked in her essence and his saliva had become a hindrance to his enjoyment. And when he began to pull the ruined material down, she was all too eager to lift her hips. “Eager bunny.” He chuckled, before returning between her legs. He didn’t waste time tasting her, finally coming to the end of his torture. He let out a low growl as he lapped up her juices greedily. His eyes had been closed, giving her the chance to try and ground herself but when she lifted her head to watch him those captivating eyes had ensnared her again. He moved his hand up her body, slow and with purpose. Her breathing grew heavier as she couldn’t help but watch as his tattooed arms and hands moved. His hands carefully squeezing and kneading her breasts as if she were the mound of dough he had been touching earlier in the day. He pulled her bra down and toyed with them, pinching and tugging on her nipples before rolling them between his fingers. Luca groaned as he enjoyed the way she grew wetter. He had thought about what she would be like in bed. About whether she tasted as good as she looked and he was happy he got the chance. He came to the conclusion that if she’d allowed it, he’d eat her out from sunrise to sunset. But in this very moment, he needed to feel her around his cock more than ever.

Luca pushed himself up, licking his lips as he looked down at the mess he had created between her legs. He pressed the pad of his fingers against her dripping slit, he gathered saliva in his mouth before spitting it out on his index and middle digits. It wasn’t as if she needed it, but fuck was it a sight when he did it. He pressed his fingers deeper and smirked as her walls fluttered around him before fully clenching. “You like the way that feels?”

“Y-yes..” She stopped herself from grabbing his wrist, from touching him in any way even though he hadn’t told her she wasn’t allowed to. He watched the way her thighs shook as she brought her legs up to try and close. “L-Luca.. ah..” He moved closer, gently pushing one of her legs so she could open up for him. She had already been lost in pleasure before and now she found herself slipping back into it. She opened her legs wider as she felt her orgasm slowly building, wanting to chase that high. “I’m gonna..”

“Go ahead, sweetness.” He moved his free hand between her legs, rubbing her clit as he helped her along.

“I-I’m about to..” Her body tensed as the coil tightened in the pit of her stomach. She looked at him as if she were pleading for him to allow her to climax even though he already gave her the go ahead.

“Atta girl.” He leaned towards her, kissing her and swallowing her moans as she gushed around his thick digits. “Cum for me.” Luca hummed as she tightened and fluttered. He positioned himself between her legs, wiping the cum on his fingers against the tip of his cock. “Can I?” He asked, the head of his thick cock resting against her entrance. She leaned up on her elbows the best she could, nodding. “Say it for me.” He held the back of her head as he looked into her eyes again. He could get lost in them so easily, would do anything she requested if she looked him in the eyes. He moved closer.

“Please put it in.” She said softly. “I want to feel you inside.” She gasped when he pushed into her, the initial stretch incomparable to his fingers.

He was gentle with her, working his way inside before he bottomed out. He pulled himself out and silently shook his head before pushing back in. “Fuck~” Luca bit his bottom lip as he pushed deeper before pulling out again. “Why do you feel this good?” His question was rhetorical but she still shrugged in response and earned a chuckle. “And you’re cute.” Luca set a steady deep pace as he tried to keep himself from getting lost in her. His head spun as his need grew, making it a difficult feat. She moaned beneath him, her hands gripping the duvet. He grabbed the backs of her knees and closed her legs, sighing at the change in feeling. He placed her ankles on his shoulder, kissing the side of her calf as his pace changed. He bit his bottom lip as he watched the way her tits bounced with each of his thrusts. He cupped her cheek then pressed his thumb against her soft lips. She sucked on it, gently biting it as she stared up at him. Fuck.. He felt as if he could cum if he continued to stare at the beautiful woman beneath him. Her walls fluttered around him when he changed his angle. “Luca..” She drew out a needy whine. “There..” She gasped when he hit the same spot again. “R-Right there.”

“There?” He questioned with a smirk. “What’ll happen right there baby?” He asked, quickening his pace.

“L-Luca I’m…” Her orgasm rippled through her when he rubbed her clit again, tight circles with pressure that drove her crazy. She arched and writhed beneath him as the extra stimulation made it too much for her. She grabbed his wrist as she tried to push him away, whimpering weakly.

“Not yet.” He grabbed her wrist and pinned it against her underbelly as he continued to fuck her. She continued to try and push his hand away as tears began to well up in her eyes. “Just a little longer.” He leaned forward, pressing his lips against hers as he kept his pace. “Where can I-” She wrapped herself around him without thinking, biting his shoulder when he let out a low bellow that vibrated from his chest to hers. His hips snapping forward as his hot cum shot inside her. Luca plops down on top of her, his face against her chest as they both catch their breaths.

They laid there in silence, Luca’s eyes closed as she stared up at the ceiling in silence. His thumb gently rubbed against her waistline. He slowly pushed up to get off of her but she wrapped her arms around him to stop him. “Are you okay?” He asked softly, looking at her with slight worry in his eyes.

“I don’t want to let go yet.” She mumbled, her eyes still on the ceiling. She mentally cursed herself for how clingy she became. But she worried that if she did let him go, she’d be back at square one.

“How about..” He moved to sit up, able to get out of her hold. “We shower and then get some sleep?” He easily moved off the bed, holding his hand out for her to take. They smiled at each other when she took it. He easily picked her up and walked into the bathroom.

She walked into the restaurant first, thanking Luca as he held the door open for her. She went straight to the back to get changed before heading to her station. “Hey, good morning Chef.” Marcus said as he moved a bag of flour to a different table.

“Good morning Chef.” She cleared her throat, tying her apron around her waist.

“Hey.. I don’t wanna be weird or anything but you didn’t come back to the boat last night.” He spoke low, leaning forward a little.

“Yeah.” She nodded, smiling to herself as she tried to keep her eyes on the task in front of her rather than giving in to the urge to watch Luca.

“Are you okay?” He questioned, still curious.

“Yeah. Just needed to take care of some things.” She smiled at him, her eyes locking with Luca as he easily picked up a heavy bag of flour and placed it on the counter. He looked over at her, a small smirk forming on his lips before he focused on what he had been doing.

“Aah.. take care of some things. Okay.” He repeated, laughing to himself. She shoved him away as she tried to hide the embarrassment that tried to settle.

“I’m not about to play with you.” She laughed to herself before going back to prepping her station.

“Think you can handle the cream for today too, Chef?” Luca asked as he placed heavy whipping cream next to her along with a chilled metal bowl.

“Yes, Chef.” She nodded as she tried to keep herself composed when his hand gently brushed against hers.

“When you’re finished, help Marcus with the dough.”

“You got it, Chef.” She poured the cream into the chilled bowl and began to work.

“What are you doin’ tonight?” He asked softly, crossing his arms. She looked at him, unable to hide the excitement in her eyes.

“Probably catching up on sleep.” He grinned and crossed his arms.

“How do you feel about me making you dinner tonight?”

“Sure.” She tried to sound nonchalant but couldn’t help herself. “I’ll have to tell Marcus I’m not going to the boat tonight.”

“You’re staying on a boat?” He questioned, his eyebrow peaked in curiosity.

“Yeah.”

Luca watched as she turned her attention back to the whipping cream, his eyes lingering on the hickey peeking out from under her collar. Maybe instead of actual food, she’d allow him to have his fill off of her.

[miniimight]

hi!!! I really love your works! I’ve been enjoying them a whole lot and I’m looking forward to see more of it :) Sorry for the long request ;;

Can you write something with Izuku and Shoto (separate, and you add anyone if you want to!) with GN!Y/N getting super tired in the middle of their study/work session?

Like, they’re studying/doing hero work at home together and Y/N worked really hard for the past few days due to the workload, so Y/N gets noticeably tired from it and the other person decided to rest?

Y/N is kinda insistent but they’re also too tired to be too stubborn about not wanting to rest (^^;;

TOO MUCH STUDYING . you worked extra hard on your studies these past few days and you're in need of some rest... not that you'd admit it

with deku, todoroki

notes thank you !! <3 no worries about the length, it gives me more to work with <3 idk if i hit the mark with this one but hope u like it !!

you were studying with him. actually, it was more like he was studying with you. you were constantly over your books, so intensely it seemed like you were the anchor and he was just riding the wave. even for a overachiever like him (and we say this with love), he saw it as unhealthy. he took a break and came back, you were still at your desk. he left for work and came back—still at your desk. begged you to take a break to which you'd say five more minutes—still at your desk.

IZUKU

"hey, honey?" he said softly, his concern getting the better of him. he gently rubbed your back as he leaned over your seat, seeing a bunch of angry scrawls across your notebook. "i'm gonna go to bed now, think you should too."

"noooo..." you sighed. "i just have a couple chapters left and i'll come, promise."

he rolled his eyes, a smile coming onto his face as he shook his head. you're impossible. you've used this exact line the last few times. "that's what you said yesterday, love, and i woke up to you still studying."

you gripped your pencil tighter.

"you need to rest," he whispered softly, pulling the chair from the desk and kneeling before it. his hands gripped both handles as you tried to shimmy back to the desk, preventing you from moving. "come on, i'll carry you."

you pursed your lips. "but... but i'm not even halfway done..." you murmured, sadness overwhelming you.

he frowned and hugged your torso, his head of green curls brushing against your stomach. "i know you feel like you're behind, love, but you can't do it all in one night. i'll help you with it tomorrow, okay?"

you sighed.

he looked up at you, a loving smile gracing his lips. "that big brain of yours needs sleep to function."

you rolled your eyes, about to protest that you're doing just fine when izuku lifted you off your chair, slinging you over his shoulder with a bright, triumphant laugh.

you gasp and knocked his back. "izuku!"

"what?" he giggled, making his way to bed.

"you—ugh." a soft laugh bubbled out of you as you relented to his charms, too tired to resist.

he fell onto the bed with you in arms. he couldn't help but stare at your sleeping face as you dozed off the minute you hit the sheets.

SHOTO

shoto sat at the edge of your desk, his arms folded underneath his head.

you looked over to him every once in a while to almost catch him falling asleep. you sat back and brushed the hair from his eyes. "sho, if you're feeling tired, you should go to bed."

a deep sigh was his reply. "m' not going to bed without you..." he murmured, his words slurring together.

you glanced at your notebooks, frustration involuntarily bubbling up inside you. you weren't getting anywhere with your tiredness, but you wouldn't admit that—not to yourself or your boyfriend.

but it pained you deeply to see shoto stay up for your sake. he was just as stubborn as you.

you tapped your pencil against your notebook, your mind wandering.

shoto's hand brushed against your forearm, trailing down and settling on your wrists. his fingers inched their way into your palm. he squeezed your hand as he looked up at you with sleepy eyes. "come to bed with me. please?"

you melted but your brain brought back the huge workload before you. "sho... i haven't even scratched the surface of what i need to do yet..."

"but you're tired, love." his eyes were closed but he couldn't be more focused on the situation. "and i'm tired. so i say... sleep now." he rubbed his face into his arm. "you know?"

you giggled, the sleep getting to his speech. "you're cute, sho."

"cute enough to make you come to bed?" he opened one eye to observe your flustered state, though you still looked at your books with worry. "don't frown like that, love. i'll help you. but let's sleep now?"

you know what? fuck it. you smile and help him up, both of you trudging to the bed. you didn't make it. you passed out on top of him on the couch.

© miniimight ! thanks for reading <3

[redwinterroses]

[part one] [part two] [part three]

Jimmy woke to the muzzle of a rifle nudging under his chin.

Blinking furiously, he followed the line of the gun up to its wielder: a stocky man with a bushy black beard and eyes like two ice chips. 

A sardonic smile played around the man’s mouth. “Well,” he said. “Want to explain why I got a couple’a burglars sleepin’ on my floor?”

“I—” Jimmy’s mouth was dry with sleep. The bright morning sun streaming in the windows made his eyes water and—the morning sun. He cursed himself for falling asleep. “I’m Jimmy. Ah—Tango said you wouldn’t mind—I mean, if you’re Cub?” It came out as a question, and he swallowed against the cold iron nuzzling his throat.

“Tango?” the man’s eyes flicked over to where Tango—damn him—was still softly snoring, his derby settled over his face. The muzzle of the rifle retreated a little bit, and the man kicked Tango’s foot.

With an indignant exclamation, Tango came awake, his hat falling to the side.

“Hey!” he spluttered. “What’s the big—oh. Mornin’, Cubby.”

“Tango.” Cub withdrew the rifle and held it loose at his side. “Seriously? You could have knocked, man. I’ve got spare rooms.”

Tango sat up, gesturing at the rifle. “Sure, but I know better than to bang on a door in the middle of the night when Ol’ Faithful might see me before my good buddy Cub.”

“Fair enough, fair enough.” Cub stood back, and let the rifle hang loose at his side. His eyes narrowed. “Back to my first question. Why do I have a couple’a burglars sleeping on my floor—besides the fact that they didn’t want to wake me up in the middle of the night?”

Tango groaned and got to his feet, stretching mightily. Jimmy, eyeing that rifle dubiously, sat up as well and tried to work the cricks out of his neck. 

“Train robbery,” Tango said. “Just south of here. Greysides gang cottoned onto me and had someone waiting for me when I tried to catch a ride back to Tumbleton.”

Cub whistled appreciatively. “Greysides, huh? Bad bunch.”

“We need to send a telegraph, actually,” Tango said. “Assuming Chef’s awake this early?”

“Man’s up before dawn most days,” Cub said. He nodded toward the door. “Who’re you planning to wire, though? Those pillagers’ll be gone long before any law gets there.”

“They stopped the train,” Tango said. “I’ll wire ahead to Tumbleton and if they haven’t arrived someone will have to go and find the engine—or whatever’s left of it. I doubt they killed anyone but they might have scuppered the works.”

Cub nodded, then pulled a tin out from under the counter. “Coffee? I can have it brewed by the time you’re back.”

“Cubby, I could kiss you.”

“I’ll pass, thanks.”

Tango turned to Jimmy. “Wait here—I’ll be back in a jiffy.”

And with that, he jogged out the door and vanished into the morning sun.

To his dismay, Jimmy felt a twinge—a pang of something in his chest that tugged after Tango. He resisted easily, for now, but that confirmed his suspicions: his curse had officially latched on to the bounty hunter.

He barely kept himself from swearing.

“You’re from Spawnheart?” 

The question was so abrupt that it made Jimmy start. He turned to find Cub regarding him with an unreadable expression. The saloon owner stared at him, and Jimmy shifted uncomfortably, feeling as if he were being measured and weighed, and that Cub wasn’t impressed with what he saw.

“I… yeah, I am,” he said. He clambered to his feet and started packing his bedroll. Glancing back at Cub, he raised a self-deprecating eyebrow. “Is it that obvious?”

Cub shrugged. “I grew up there myself, actually. And it’s a pretty obvious guess—you’re not from around here, you were on a train heading toward new-gen…” he tilted his head thoughtfully. “You look familiar.”

Jimmy tensed. “...Yeah?”

Cub’s eyes were fixed on him, his expression entirely neutral. “Maybe. What did you say your last name was?”

“I didn’t.” Jimmy wondered how fast he could make it to the door—though where he thought he’d go after that he hadn’t the foggiest—before Cub lifted the rifle at his side. He shifted his weight, and Cub’s hand twitched a hair on the gun—

And then the man smiled, relaxing. “Fair enough, fair enough,” Cub said, his voice amiable. “A guy’s entitled to his secrets on the frontier. Sometimes they’re the most valuable thing you’ve got.”

Still wary, Jimmy buckled the leather strap around his bedroll, his attention never leaving Cub. He felt like he was facing down another creeper, and he couldn’t figure out why this one hadn’t exploded yet.

He held the bedroll aloft. “You, ah… you mind if I toss this back in the ender chest?”

Cub plonked the rifle down on the bartop and gestured for Jimmy to go around behind. “Be my guest,” he said. “Again, I guess.”

Jimmy stepped behind the counter, dropped the roll into the void-space of the ender chest and let the lid fall shut. “I can pay. For using your floor last night.”

Cub shook his head. “Nah, no worries, friend.” He jerked a thumb toward the door. “Just do me a favor and keep an eye on that knucklehead, and we’ll call it even.”

Like I’ve got any choice at this point. “Yeah,” Jimmy said. “Sure.”

Pulling out one of the barstools with his foot, Cub sat, and leaned forward, resting both arms on the bartop. All the suspicious tension seemed to have gone out of him, though Jimmy was still wary of those sharp eyes. “So,” Cub drawled. “What are you hoping to find out in new-gen? Gold? Adventure? Wide open spaces?”

“All the above, I guess.” Jimmy moved to one of the tables nearer the door and sank into one of the wooden chairs. It creaked slightly under his weight. “Mostly just… something far away. Find a little valley, build a farm. Maybe breed some horses—I’ve always liked horses.” Even as he said it, the dream took shape in his mind’s eye: a long, low cabin, cozy on the inside, with a barn full of bright-eyed horses and their hay-scented warmth. 

He brushed away the vision, stowing it away to consider later. After he’d gotten rid of his unwitting partner. “How do you know Tango? If you don’t mind my asking.”

Cub grinned—and unlike every other time, this smile was missing that predatory edge. This smile was genuine, and it took Jimmy a little by surprise.

“Oh, Tango and I go way back,” Cub said. “He’s been out here even longer than me, but when my first crew came out to new-gen he and a few others gave us a hand. We’ve all spread out over the years, but we keep in touch.” Steepling his fingers in front of his face, he raised his eyebrows. “How do you know Tango of the Tek variety?”

“Tek variety?” Jimmy shook his head. “I just met him last night. He… I think he saved my life? But he also made me jump off a train so I’m not exactly sure where that stands.”

The tugging sensation in his chest told him exactly where “that” stood, but he wasn’t about to explain that to the man who had woken him up with a weapon and apparently had a long history with Tango. Didn’t seem wise.

“That’s Tango all over.” Cub sat back and slapped the counter. “Well, if it’s new-gen you’re heading for, you could do worse than hanging around Tango for a bit. See if he’ll take you as far as Tumbleton—that’s about as far out as civilization goes at this point.”

Jimmy nodded noncommittally, and watched as Cub got up and retrieved his rifle. He slung its leather strap over one shoulder and stowed the weapon comfortably across his back, then gave Jimmy an evaluating glance. 

“Feel free to hang out in here until Tango gets back,” Cub said. He jerked his thumb toward the door. “I’ve got a few errands to run before the bar opens this afternoon. Alternatively… there’s a couple bottles of water under the counter and a spare ender chest you’re welcome to. Tango’s down on the east side of town so if you head west you can probably get a few miles out before he figures it out.”

Blinking, Jimmy fought the urge to reach for his pistol—or to bolt for the door.

“Ah…” he managed, “Why—what makes you think I would—”

“Boots.” Cub pointed at his feet. “You were asleep with your boots on. Maybe you’re just weird about it, but in my experience a man who sleeps with his boots on is a man on the move. Or on the run. And I’ll be honest with you, Jimmy—” he put an odd emphasis on the name, as if he knew there was something Jimmy was hiding. “I’m not sure I’m too keen on my buddy Tango takin’ up with someone on the run.”

There was no cold muzzle at Jimmy’s chin as there had been when he woke, but Cub’s expression was as emotionless as a bullet. 

Jimmy found himself shaking his head. “I’m not on the run,” he said, aware that he didn’t sound convincing, even to his own ears. The door, with its long rectangle of golden sunshine, seemed to pull at him—get out, get away, don’t make this mistake again. The allure of the open frontier, with no connections and no risks, was heady in its promise of freedom. 

But the far-more-tangible tug in his chest that told him Tango was already on his way back, and he wouldn’t get far enough to avoid the man chasing after him. And he would chase, Jimmy was sure of it.

Casting a glance toward the window, Jimmy cursed his bad luck—and apparent inability to wake up early. 

“I’m not on the run,” he said again, and the words were more sure this time. “And I’ll do whatever I can to keep harm from coming to your friend.” He looked at Cub, hoping the man could see the sincerity in his face. “Honestly, I can promise you that.”

Cub pursed his lips, then gave a sharp nod. “Good enough.”

As he said it, footsteps tapped on the floorboards outside, and the door swung open to let in a burst of fresh morning air and the smell of dust and sage. 

“Jimmy!” Tango said, striding into the room. “I feel like I owe you a ride to Tumbleton after getting your train burglefied. You ride?”

Jimmy stood. “You got us horses?”

“Well… no.” Tango said. “Chef had a package he needed mailed to Tumbleton anyway, so he’s loaning us a couple of his mules.”

Cub laughed, and gave Jimmy a friendly slap on the shoulder that was maybe just a little too hard. “Good luck, fellas,” he said. “You’ll need it.”

And with that, he sauntered out of the saloon. Jimmy watched him go and then looked at Tango, frowning.

“Tango, why would he say that?”

Tango laughed, and rubbed sheepishly at the back of his neck. “Oh, no reason, no reason,” he said unconvincingly. He gestured at the door.

“Let’s hit the road.”

[frangipanilove]

How TBOC 2x5 explain how Beth survived after 5x8 Coda

(And how Ash and Daryl deliver some of the season's finest Beth callbacks and dialogue parallels)

Spoilers for TBOC 2x5 and 2x6 below, beware!

Because this episode hasn’t aired yet, I’m not going to dwell on where we are in the plot, because it’s not terribly important in this context. This is mostly about some very specific Beth callbacks and dialogue parallels from 2x5 and 2x6, and I’ll just jump right into the narrative.

So, Daryl and Carol are out looking for Ash. He’s their pilot and obviously they need him to get home to the US. He was supposed to stay by the plane, but when they return to where it’s hidden, he’s “just gone”. They ask around, and get intel suggesting he might be at Maison Mere. They go there to search for him. They can’t find him immediately, but from a window they can see something that catches their attention:

Daryl remarks “there definitely someone in there”!

An image like this should scream “suspicious” to everyone who’s followed TD for any length of time. While all us TD’ers probably have our own individual theories on how Beth survived, there seem to be consensus around the fact that the trunk of a car would most likely be involved somehow. We’ve also seen from the flashbacks in 5x9 WHAWGO that they at some point were overwhelmed by walkers, so the theory was quickly formed that most likely, they initially meant to bury her, but were overrun by a walker horde, and had to leave her behind to escape the horde and save themselves. They put her in the trunk of a car, or inside the back of a car, with the intention of returning for her when the walker horde had passed. But when they did return, she was “just gone”.

I’ve previously written a bunch of theories around suspicious cars. I personally believe that officer Lichari’s Dodge Magnum could potentially be THE car she was put in, because we’ve had a lot of symbolism around Dodges, and we’ve seen a lot of symbolism around rams, which is the Dodge logo. We actually saw this symbolism at play as recently as in TBOC 2x1, when Carol misspoke and called a car a Dodge, while it definitely was a Ford Mustang (which are also cars steeped in resurrection symbolism, read more here).

Back to TBOC 2x5. Daryl and Carol decide to investigate the suspicious car that is swarmed by walkers. Our first hint of some serious Sirius symbolism ahead, is the dog eating walkers as Daryl comes through a tunnel on his way to the car. Beth’s is a Sirius figure on the show, and Sirius refers to the Dog Star that disappears from the night sky for a while, only to “resurrect” some time later. It’s resurrection symbolism.

Daryl approaches the car, systematically taking out the walkers. Carol is right behind him.

Once they make it inside, they find none other than Ash. Unconscious, but alive. He got knocked out when he hit his head on the car door.

Let me pause here for a minute. If you were tasked with writing a scene where an unconscious Ash in a car specifically were meant to represent Beth after Coda, and he needed some visible evidence of the cause of his unconscious state. Where would you place the head wound? Would you place it exactly where Beth got shot? Yes you probably would, wouldn’t you?

And if you were to further enhance the connection to Beth, would you have him say one of her iconic lines as he woke up? Again, yes, you probably would:

Carol is thrilled to find him alive. She offers a tentative diagnosis, which I believe very well could be the diagnosis Beth would have received after her close but not fatal encounter with a bullet in Coda:

And now they need to get out. They’re stuck in a car, which I’ve often likened to a tomb, because of the resurrection symbolism they’re surrounded by:

We see imagery which we’ve seen in scenes and episodes where there’s a heavy presence of Beth/resurrection symbolism...

…such as here from 5x9 WHAWGO (which I've written about here)

Which is interesting, because WHAWGO also happens to be the episode right after Beth was "killed" and supposedly placed in the trunk of a car. It's the episode where she was last seen, in a hallucination, playing a guitar:

...which again is super interesting, considering how in 2x6, Daryl randomly finds a guitar, in the trunk of a car no less...

I legitimately ugly cried during this scene. Give Norman all the awards! And just to have mentioned it; that guitar is brought home to the US...

Back to Daryl, Carol and Ash in the car/tomb. To be stuck in a tomb sounds ominous, had it not been for the fact that tombs sometimes have an “emergency exit”. Don’t believe me? Take it up with Jesus Christ, he’s the one who made escaping tombs trendy some 2000 years ago. Later, we’ve seen it countless times in TWDU, my favorite is this little sequence from 4x12 Still:

Beth and Daryl hide in a trunk (tomb) for the night while a walker horde passes by. When morning comes we watch Beth open the closed trunk (tomb) from the inside, and climb out, into the daylight. That’s car/tomb symbolism paired with resurrection symbolism, and just like this scene from TBOC 2x5 is a retelling of what happened after Coda, the scene from 4x12 Still foreshadowed what were to happen in Coda.

And luckily, Daryl, Carol and Ash’s car (tomb) has an "emergency exit":

This is also something we’ve seen before, back in 7x12 when Michonne and Rick had a similar type of experience with being stuck in a car(tomb) surrounded by walkers:

Later, Ash perhaps gives us an estimate of approximately how long Beth spent in the trunk of the car, or alternatively, how long it took for TF to return to the car to retrieve her:

And it turns out it’s no coincidence that it is Ash who is given the task of being the Beth proxy in episodes 5 and 6. After he’s been saved from the Coda-esque nightmare in the overrun car, they together prepare to leave France. Ash and Daryl go out in search of some extra spare parts for the plane. They start talking about children. As I’ve already mentioned briefly here, having kids and losing kids is the overarching theme throughout this entire season, and I maintain that this is the season where Daryl becomes a father. It’s a huge, groundbreaking development for him, something which makes the following even more astonishing.

Ash asks what happened to Laurent’s parents:

Daryl knows Ash once lost his son, and offers his condolences. He explains how he was there when Carol lost Sophia, and adds that it’s something he wouldn’t wish upon anyone.

Then the Beth callbacks and dialogue parallels kicks into high gear:

And here we actually have Daryl, in TBOC 2x6, adding to Beth’s commentary from TWD 4x2 Infected:

…which in my opinion is a rather extraordinary thing. Did TPTB actually, in a roundabout way, sneak in a proper Bethyl conversation after all these years? Did Beth speak to Daryl from "beyond the grave", so to speak, and Daryl replied? Did Beth actually “speak” to Daryl as he's in the middle of the emotional process of becoming a father? Of all times to include this type of callback, they do it as Daryl is accepting the responsibilities of fatherhood?

And more importantly, why? Why would TPTB do something like that?

Because they’re preparing for her to return, that’s why.

That’s also why they threw in like 1500 super potent Beth callbacks and dialogue parallels in 2x2, which I wrote about in the Green(e)land post here. And as I mentioned, that was the episode with Daryl’s first ever onscreen kiss! His very first onscreen kiss is accompanied by a wide selection of exquisite Beth callbacks, and now they're out here (sort of) discussing parenthood???

And what's more, people, keep in mind that the Green(e)land storyline was PURE symbolism. It did absolutely nothing to move the plot forward, it was exclusively a tool for sprinkling a bunch of Beth references all over the kissy-episode. And again, we should all ask ourselves why!

(Having said that, I don’t think we should downplay his feelings for Isabelle. I’ll elaborate more in a different post, but I’ll say again that I don’t believe one relationship cancels out another. Love can take different forms between different people. He can love Isabelle in one way and Beth in a different way, and they’re both valid. But that’s for a different day.)

But basically, as I keep saying, TBOC is full of Beth callbacks and dialogue parallels, and like I've shown here, they're not chosen randomly.

[greynatomy]

Dear Scarlett…

Scarlett Johansson x Fem!Reader

First Scarlett fic. I’ve actually had this in my drafts for a long time and discovered it again today.

Hope you like it and let me know what you think!

-grey

———

“I want a divorce.”

“You- what?” You said, shocked at the words that came out of your wife’s mouth.

“I don’t love you anymore!” Scarlett shouted, grabbing all her packed bags. “And you couldn’t even give me the one thing that I wanted!”

“Well, I’m sorry that isn’t good enough to carry a child! You could’ve done it, but you’re too busy with everything else.”

“Oh, shut up and quit whining! I am famous, a celebrity and you’re just a fucking musician who hasn’t even done anything in years! You don’t do shit! You’re probably just with me because of my money and to get your name out there!”

“I’ve known you for years and not once have I took advantage of your money, even way before we started dating, up until now! And your fame? Really? How am I using you to get my name out there when literally no one knows who the fuck I am or that you’re even fucking married. Or in a relationship for that matter cause you wanted to keep us, ME, a secret. So fuck you for that.” You said, walking up the stairs into your shared bedroom that Scarlett hasn’t slept in with you for weeks.

“I regret ever meeting you! Marrying you was a mistake! I’ll have the divorce papers sent soon.” With that, Scarlett walked out, slamming the door behind her. Once she’s gone, you collapsed to the floor next to the door, not being able to hold the tears in any longer.

You and Scarlett have known each other for years. You helped her throughout her divorce from her ex husband and raising Rose. She confessed her feelings for your after two years, dated for two years, married for four years. It was amazing at first, but everything went downhill after your first miscarriage.

You both hadn’t lost hope and tried again a year later, but after that second miscarriage, that’s when Scarlett started to pull away from you. You both really wanted to have a baby, but your body couldn’t handle it and Scarlett has been getting lots of movie opportunities where being pregnant was not something she could do at the time so you tried one last time and all the tests showed negative for a baby.

Scarlett gave up, she stopped being affectionate towards you, stopped sleeping in the same bed as you, just stopped acting like a wife while you hoped there was a small chance that she at least still liked you.

1.5 years later

A knock on the door and the ring of the doorbell woke a couple up from their sleep. Both not expecting anyone this early in the morning. The woman gets out of bed, followed by her fiancé.

Looking through the peephole, she sees no one, so she opens the door, looking around, still not seeing anything, until a small coo is heard.

She looks down seeing a baby in carrier with a duffel bag next to them. She grabs the carrier while her fiancé grabs the bag and brings them inside, locking the door.

“What are you doing here, huh?” She asks the baby in a soft voice.

“There’s just a bunch of toys, frozen milk, and folders in here.”

Putting the baby carrier on the coffee table with the baby still in it, the woman sees a piece of paper wedged by the baby.

“Wait. There’s a paper here, don’t open those ones yet.”

Opening up the folded paper, the woman starts to read.

“Dear Scarlett…”

[ghost-1-y]

trust me - sanemi shinazugawa

Pairing: sanemi x afab!tsuguko!reader

!!PLEASE READ THE WARNINGS BEFORE CONTINUING!!

TW: major character death (reader), no happy ending (hurt/no comfort), mentions & descriptions of gore & injury, brief thoughts of self-harm (Sanemi - briefly mentioned, doesn’t actually happen), consensual sex (Sanemi and reader are 18+), penetrative sex, unprotected sex, handjob, oral (m! and f! receiving), creampie, Sanemi is pussy drunk in this lmao; spanking (happens once), slight manhandling, praise kink, spitting kink(?) (Sanemi spits in readers mouth), (very) slight olfactophilia, brief mention of vomit (again, doesn’t actually happen), mention of scars (Sanemi and reader) MINORS & AGELESS BLOGS DNI - I WILL BLOCK YOU

CW: fluff; general angst; arguments between Sanemi and reader; Sanemi is a bit of a meanie at times :/ (aka Sanemi being Sanemi); mentions of food/eating; descriptions of wound care; love confessions; Sanemi uses the following pet names for reader: “baby”, “pretty”, “beautiful”, and “sweetheart”

Word Count: ~6.2k

A/N: this is my first fic, so I hope that y’all enjoy it! I’m not gonna lie I was superrr nervous to post this lol so please be nice🥲🥲 I’ll probably do a fluffy comfort fic for Sanemi after this to make up for the pain lol; also wanted to let y’all know that this was half-inspired by the song “Fragile” by Laufey, so go give that a listen if you’d like!

Quiet. 

As the dewy drops of the morning mist came into contact with his bare hands, Sanemi noted the silence of the sunrise – one would believe that its light denoted respite, a time of peace – something beautiful to behold as its rays began to gently sweep across the grassy field. He could not yet hear the calls of the mourning dove, for it was too early for the birds to grace anyone’s ears with their softening sounds.

However, as Sanemi continued his way through the tall blades, his hands wet with the remnants of night, respite gave way to apprehension, and the misty air was filled with a sense of malaise.

For the mist that lowly hovered above the grass was red.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

One year ago.

“You can’t expect me to treat you differently from them.” Sanemi pointed his blade to the lower-ranked slayers on the sidelines of the training grounds, those who hadn’t passed out yet being completely keeled over or having nearly drowned themselves in water to stave off the summer heat. “If you want to handle stronger opponents, I need to ensure that you are trained well enough to do so.”

Having been at the point of near-exhaustion herself, Y/N could barely muster a reply. “I know, Shinazugawa-san,” she panted while looking up at him from her not-so-flattering position on the ground. “Why else do you think I’m here? ‘s not like I enjoy being trained half-to-death,” she replied sarcastically.

Sanemi’s glare met her. “You should consider yourself lucky that I was gracious enough to let you train under me. At the rate you’re going, I’d half expect you to move down a rank, rather than up one.” He walked towards her and, despite his cold nature, offered Y/N his scarred hand. “Get up. I’m not lettin’ you go until you can knock me down to my knees.”

A challenge she knew to be nearly impossible with the skill level she was currently at, Y/N wondered if her rank of Hinoto meant anything against the Wind Pillar himself. She took his roughened hand in hers and stood up, and, after a poor attempt at dusting the dirt off of her uniform, steeled herself once more for the upcoming attack from the man glaring across from her. 

Sanemi tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword and started lunging toward her.

–––––

Y/N continued to train under Sanemi’s watch, each day somehow more grueling than the last. She woke up at the god-awful hours of the morning and trained until midnight. This repeated day in and day out for weeks, with seemingly nothing to show for it except a bunch of creative insults that she’d managed to add to her arsenal after receiving them from Sanemi himself.

“You’re not using your sword correctly,” he pointed out. It was always something, she thought – her stance was wrong, her breathing wasn’t efficient enough, and now she apparently couldn’t even hold her sword correctly.

By the time she looked up at Sanemi, frustrated with her apparent inadequacies, he was no longer in front of her, having walked around so that her back faced him. He placed his hand on her forearm, “just– move your arms here…good, and your hands should be like this–” he spoke softly into her ear as he adjusted her grip to what he deemed satisfactory. Y/N was thankful that Sanemi stood behind her as she felt an intense warmth flood across her cheeks. By the time he was finished, Y/N noted the lightest blush on the tips of his ears as he returned to his original spot and took his own offensive stance, clearly not intending nor wanting to address the familiarity of his previous actions. 

“Now you don’t have any excuses to have such a shitty attack pattern,” he quipped, before engaging her in battle once more.

As months passed, the Wind Pillar slowly transitioned from insults to providing Y/N with actual guidance, and she was slowly reminded of why exactly she requested to become his Tsuguko in the first place. One day, while she was taking her thirty-minute lunch break at the wooden chabudai inside of the Wind Pillar’s estate, Sanemi sat next to her and started to eat his own meal. He refused to look at her, but the words he uttered from his mouth sent relief through her veins.

“You’ve gotten stronger.”

Unsure of how to respond, as compliments were rare coming from the usually rather hostile Pillar, Y/N simply nodded and whispered a “thank you,” continuing to pick at her food. Eventually, she looked over at him and noticed that he was frowning at the wooden chabudai before him, an internal conflict seemingly battling out in his mind.

“I have a mission I’ve been assigned to, I’d like you to come with me.”

His words were quiet, almost hesitant.

“You want me to assist you?” she asked, mainly because she didn’t believe Sanemi had trusted her enough to bring her on a mission assigned to a Hashira, much less himself.

Sanemi nodded in response. “Lower-ranked slayers have been going missing in one of the nearby mountains,” he sighed. “If it were up to me, I wouldn’t have named them slayers in the first place if they’re stupid enough to get caught by some demon.” He paused, and then finally looked at her. “I think that you’re capable enough to help me should things get out of hand,” he added quietly.

A sense of warmth flooded through her, and she smiled at him, grateful that he had finally acknowledged the hard work she’d put into all of her training. “Thank you, Shinazugawa-san. I promise that I will do my best.”

Sanemi thought to himself that he would like to see more of that smile.

“Don’t think that just ‘cause I’ve seen you improve that it means I’m gonna let you take it easy from here on out,” he said as he stood up. “Also, if you get into trouble on this mission, I want you to call for me immediately. Don’t get yourself into some shit you can’t handle,” he added, and his gaze upon her suddenly hardened as the words left his mouth. “Let me deal with it if things get too difficult.”

With that, he left to head back towards the training grounds.

–––––

That night, Y/N followed closely behind as Sanemi hiked up the mountain, with the bitter cold becoming more apparent as patches of snow were slowly augmented by the tiny flakes falling around them. Every once in a while, they’d find some blood splatter or human entrails, with such carnage becoming more frequent as they continued their trek. 

Eventually, Sanemi stopped – Y/N had learned to trust his instinct when he sensed that something was off. Sanemi brushed his hand over the hilt of his sword and gripped it tightly, his muscles tensing with anticipation, which caused Y/N to echo his actions and grab her own sword, holding it so that she was prepared for any possible enemy attack.

Or so she thought.

A blast of icy wind came from her right, forcing Y/N to close her eyes lest her corneas were to freeze from the frigid temperature. Sanemi, however, immediately chased after the source – his speed something frightening to behold. After a futile attempt to follow him, Y/N found herself swarmed by fifteen demons, all of whom were nearly identical to each other, as they all possessed the same pale blue skin and white hair. After a few attacks, Y/N also noted that their blood demon art was the same: one that would allow them to manipulate freezing winds and ice however they pleased.

Y/N was able to hear Sanemi in the distance, easily decapitating what seemed to be a larger swarm than what she was presently dealing with. Just how many of them are there? Y/N thought as she made her way through twelve of the demons, decapitating each one until an attack managed to hit her mid-air – causing a sharp ice fragment to deeply slice open her upper thigh. Gritting through the pain, she finished off the final three demons that she’d been fighting before slowly limping toward a nearby tree to assess the damage of her wound. It seemed as though Sanemi’s battle was also over, as Y/N could hear nothing but the howling of the mountainous winds as he walked back over to where they both had split up.

Once Sanemi caught sight of her, his shoulders seemed to relax. However, such relief was temporary once he eyed her bleeding thigh, and immediately began rushing over to her, pulling out some spare gauze that he had stored on his person and a wave of anger that she couldn’t describe filling the violet hues of his eyes.

“What did I fuckin’ tell you? To stay back and let me handle it, yet you’re so stupid that you can’t even obey direct orders,” Sanemi spat at her as he started bandaging the deep laceration on her thigh, taking careful consideration of the pressure and tightness of the gauze wrap he was using. Each time she winced, he would look up from her injury, and his violet eyes would meet hers. However, there was no malice of the words he spewed at her within his expanded pupils.

Y/N sharply inhaled before responding. “I’m sorry! But you’re the one who went on ahead and left me with them! I had to–”

“No. You didn’t have to, you fuckin’ dumbass. That’s where you’re wrong – you didn’t have to put yourself in danger just because I was off dealing with something else. Fuckin’ think next time and maybe I wouldn’t have to be cleaning you up like this,” he lightly choked on the last few words, yet continued wrapping up her wound, hands gentle and considerate of her pain. Y/N huffed at his impossible reasoning and looked down at him with a hardened stare.

He looked into her eyes once more, his grip on her uninjured leg tightening. “I don’t- I can’t fuckin’ lose someone else,” he stated, a rare glimpse of vulnerability from inside his tortured heart. At that, Y/N dropped her stare and hesitantly placed her hand upon his tensed one.

“I’m sorry, Shinazugawa-san, I promise that next time will be different. I’ll get stronger, so you won’t have to go to such lengths for me.” She gave him a reassuring smile, and his hand relaxed as he continued his work on her wounded leg. With the sun still rising over the horizon, she couldn’t make out the brimming of tears on his waterline before he blinked them away.

It was a side of Sanemi that Y/N hadn’t seen before – but before she could indulge herself to begin examining every crevice of emotion that the Wind Pillar had put on display for her, his attitude changed once again to one of apparent indifference.

“Don’t apologize – just listen to me next time,” he stated as he finished wrapping up her leg. Once a couple of hours passed and the Kakushi had arrived to clean up the aftermath, he stood up and grabbed Y/N’s arm to pull her up from her sitting position. Sanemi then took the same arm and put it around his shoulder, allowing her to use him as a crutch as they both walked to the wagon brought by one of the Kakushi in the aftermath of the battle.

The ride to the Butterfly Mansion was mostly quiet. Sanemi, despite not being injured himself, decided to stay with Y/N as she slept on the floor of the wagon. The cold of the early morning seemed to be permeating Y/N’s skin as she shivered in her sleep. Always aware of his surroundings, Sanemi looked at her with concern and took off his haori, feeling slightly flushed as he placed it on top of her as a makeshift blanket, blaming the warmth of his cheeks on the cold morning air. He sat down next to her, crossing his arms and closing his eyes to alleviate some of his own fatigue.

It didn’t help that in his dreams, his body was keeping her warm instead.

–––––

Once Y/N had woken up, she first noted the sanitary scent of the patient room assigned to her. Having awoken from the gentle knock on the door, she looked to see Aoi entering with some gauze and antibiotics.

Sanemi was nowhere in sight.

“I’m glad you’re awake. I’m here to perform some general wound care for you. I’ll be changing your dressings, alright?” Aoi looked at her, and once she received a nod from Y/N, she proceeded to unwrap the layers of gauze and started to inspect the wound.

“There is some slight inflammation,” she observed as she lightly pressed against the sides of the laceration with her gloved hands, which exhibited some redness and swelling. “I’m going to be prescribing you some antibiotics in order to prevent any potential infections.” She started applying some antibiotic ointment directly to the wound, and Y/N winced at the stinging pain that it caused. Once satisfied, Aoi carefully rewrapped the wound with a new set of gauze. “Your antibiotics will need to be taken orally with food and water once a day. Make sure you complete the entire course that I prescribe so that you don’t face any further complications down the line.” 

All Y/N could do was nod silently, and once Aoi determined that she would follow directions, she left the room.

–––––

Despite wanting to thank him for helping her in the aftermath of the battle, Y/N had not seen Sanemi even once during her recovery process. She wondered if he had gone back to his estate, but it still struck her as odd that he didn’t at least come by to berate her for the lack of judgment she possessed in the midst of the fight.

Maybe he got it all out of his system when he was wrapping up my wound, she thought to herself.

During her stay as a patient, Aoi mentioned to Y/N that due to the cut slicing through the muscle of her leg, it could take weeks or even months to recover. Since Y/N had not yet mastered Total Concentration Breathing: Constant, Aoi explained that it may take longer to heal compared to if a Hashira had such an injury.

Y/N wondered if Sanemi no longer trusted her skills as a slayer.

She wondered if Sanemi ever had any trust in her at all. 

The very thought caused bile to rise in her throat. She wanted him to be proud of her, to trust her – just as she did with him.

Y/N slowly got up from her bed and walked outside to sit on the engawa of the Butterfly Mansion. The moon’s rise was slow, and the soft chirp of crickets could be heard from the nearby trees. Once sat, she admired the garden owned by the Insect Pillar herself – with beautiful azaleas and hydrangea plants shaping pathways throughout the grounds. Y/N closed her eyes and basked in the moonlight rays that shone upon the estate – that is, until her ears heard the softest creak of wood coming from behind her.

“Shinazugawa-san?” She softly whispered once she turned to see who it was, as though the peace of the night would be disturbed should she speak any louder.

Sanemi said nothing, but then moved quietly to sit down next to her – if Y/N hadn’t known any better, she would’ve believed that he was solely there just to admire the moonlit garden as well. His eyes appeared a soft, yet dark hue of indigo in the cool moonlight – they bore none of the usual aggression that they carried when around others.

“The moon is beautiful, isn’t it?” Y/N asked him quietly, gaze fixed upon him, and he nodded. 

“Would be prettier if it didn’t cause so much needless death.”

She couldn’t argue at all. He was right – and would be until demons had been eradicated off the face of the earth, but that didn’t stop her from wishing that things were different.

Sanemi sighed and finally looked at her, and his eyes screamed ‘loss’. 

He was fragile. He wasn’t the roughened-up, aggressive, insolent slayer that others saw him as. Rather, it was his scars that held him together by threads, and it was his heart that silently called out to her – to “hold me, please.”

And so she did.

Y/N slowly slid her arms around him and had them reach up towards his nape. The sigh he emitted came from his chest, and Sanemi’s grip tightened around her as he buried his face in the crook of her neck. His eyes closed and brows furrowed, focused on nothing but the gentle touch of her skin against his. His mouth was slightly parted, lips pressed softly near her collarbone as he breathed against her.

His touch was warm.

She wished to feel more of it, to let it utterly consume her until all that she could feel was him. 

Once he parted from her, Y/N looked into his eyes and felt the need to speak. “I- uh, I wanted to thank you for helping me with my wound after the battle,” she admitted softly. In response, his eyes hardened again and looked down at her bandaged leg.

“Don’t mention it,” he replied shortly before getting up. Soon after, Y/N found herself alone on the engawa once again, although the peaceful silence of the night had been replaced with a feeling of despondency that she couldn’t quite place.

–––––

By the time she recovered from her injury, it seemed as though Sanemi had done the impossible by making Y/N’s training even more difficult. Not a day went by when she wasn’t completely collapsed on the ground by sunset. It only took a few days before dark shadows under her eyes became visible, and her muscles ached.

Gone too was Sanemi’s softer side. Instead, it seemed as though their relationship was right back where it started, sans the fact that he seemed to slightly tense every single time he caught a glimpse of her scarred leg.

The sun had set, and Sanemi was yelling at Y/N to complete one more series of reps before retiring for the night. The problem, however, was that Y/N’s legs had become gelatinous and were shaking beyond her control, and despite all the willpower that she had sustained within her, it wasn’t enough to pick herself up off the ground.

“Are you really that fuckin’ weak that you can’t even stand up by yourself?” he spat. “You should’ve never become a slayer – this shit is too dangerous for people like you. All you will ever be is demon fodder. Fuckin’ give up and leave the corps if that’s how you’re going to treat the training I give you.” His insults were never-ending, and given how exhausted she was, it took everything within her to not cry at his words.

“I’m fucking trying, Shinazugawa-san!” she choked out. “What the hell did I do for you to treat me this way? Have I not done enough already?” With tears brimming in her eyes, she musters up the courage to ask the question she’s been wondering since that night on the battlefield.

“Do you not have any trust in me at all?” she cried.

Sanemi scoffed and glared at her. “You need to earn my trust, and until you’re able to complete the training I give you without collapsing to the ground like some low-ranked slayer, then you won’t have it.”

Y/N’s stomach dropped and she ignored the tightening sensation in her throat as she resolved to bite back at the cruel man before her.

“Bullshit,” she spat. “You thought I was capable enough to assist you on the last mission. Don’t lie by saying I’ve never earned your trust before.”

Sanemi rolled his eyes. “So what? Maybe I did trust you – before the mission. But you fucking broke it by getting hurt!” he seethed, eyes wide as he looked down at her. 

“Maybe if you were capable enough to not get yourself wounded during the fight, then I might’ve still had some trust in you,” he admitted. “You think that I’m just gonna trust someone who gets their leg nearly sliced off to be able to handle themselves?”

“Is that what this is all about? ‘Cause I got some stupid cut on my leg? You can’t be serious–”

“Shut the fuck up. You know damn well it wasn’t just a cut. What if you had gotten slashed somewhere else? What if it had been more severe? What if you–” he didn’t wish to complete that sentence, lest he spoke the thought into existence.

It was the first time she’d seen Sanemi with tears in his eyes.

“It would’ve been my fault, Y/N! My fucking fault if something happened to you! I already told you, I can’t fucking lose someone else. I’ve already lost so many people, and I–” he watched as Y/N stood up, despite the obvious exhaustion in her legs, and walked towards him. “I can’t lose you, too,” he confessed, his voice softer than the wind that gently breezed through her hair. A tear had found its way down his cheek – just over the scar that was bestowed upon him by his own mother. As if by instinct, Y/N wiped it away with the pad of her thumb, but she did not part from his face. Instead, she proceeded to trace her thumb over the jagged scar, and he surprisingly leaned into the touch of her palm against his cheek, his eyes frantically searching her own. She smiled at him, and his breath caught in his throat.

“You have me, Sanemi.”

The groan that he voiced was soft, yet guttural – as though it came from deep within his chest, and he placed his hands on either side of her face, his eyes looking at her with utmost adoration and care, and his lips brushed softly against hers, and Y/N’s eyes were nearly sent reeling back before he closed the gap.

The pleasurable gasp that she emitted caused him to smile into the kiss, his lips slightly chapped, but gentle and loving with how they caressed hers, as though she would shatter under the slightest touch, or that she was a goddess and he a sinner seeking repentance by worshiping her.

“Fuck…wanted to do this for so long,” he breathed against her and his kisses became more needy – something fully welcomed by Y/N as she wrapped her arms around him and her fingers found purchase in his unruly hair. When he parted from her lips, a string of saliva connected his mouth to hers, which only broke as he went back to kiss her with his then swollen lips. He groaned once more before picking her up and carrying her over his shoulder, causing Y/N to yelp in surprise.

“Not letting you go anywhere, baby,” Sanemi grinned and smacked Y/N’s ass as he took her to his estate’s bedroom, which prompted her to roll her eyes at his antics. Yet, she couldn’t help but smile as he gently placed her on his futon and kissed her once more. “Can’t fuckin’ get enough of you, pretty,” he stated before moving down to her neck, where he licked and sucked until he found her pulse point, at which point Y/N moaned softly. “That’s right…feels good, doesn’t it?” he asked, knowing full well what her answer was even before she tried to nod her head.

“Sa- Sanemi…” she gasped, her hand cradling the back of his head as he left messy kisses up and down her neck.

“Sound so fuckin’ beautiful, keep saying my name like that, hm?” As he continued kissing her, his hands rose towards the top button of her uniform, a question of “Can I?” to which Y/N nodded. He unbuttoned her top, kissing down her chest and stomach until the clothing was fully removed. In return, Y/N helped remove the bindings that covered her breasts, letting them spill out in full view of Sanemi’s greedy irises. Sanemi wasted no time in latching his mouth to one of her tits, where he lavished her with his tongue whilst massaging and kneading the other with his roughened hand, rolling her nipple in between his fingers and playfully biting down on her breasts every so often solely to hear her whine.

“‘Nemi…need…need more please,” Y/N moaned and he chuckled. “Hm? What do you need, pretty?” Y/N only whined in response and he bit her breast again, causing her to jolt. “Need you to tell me what you want, beautiful,” he continued.

“Need your mouth…” she admitted, slightly embarrassed.

“Oh? Where do you need it?” he asked her before sucking her tit once more.

“Nngh… my– my pussy,” Y/N whined pathetically, to which Sanemi released his mouth from her breast with a lewd pop.

“Good girl,” he praised and started working towards her needy cunt, licking down her torso and leaving kisses and bites on her inner thighs. He took his time working towards her wet heat and ghosted his mouth over her panties, his hot breath permeating the cloth as she impatiently writhed underneath him. He selfishly inhaled her scent before pulling the garment to the side, and leaving a soft kiss against her core, leaving her to whimper when he pulled away to remove her panties, only for him to then lick a fat stripe up her slit. Sanemi moaned deeply and proceeded to pull Y/N towards him by her hips, ensuring that her sweetness was as close as possible to his greedy tongue.

“You taste so fucking good,” he groaned before proceeding to stuff his face full of her pussy once more. The tip of his nose nudged her swollen clit as he gathered her wetness into his mouth by licking into her tight hole and fucking her with his tongue, moaning against her pussy in the process. Y/N began bucking her hips in response, only for him to pin them down with one arm as he used his other hand to start fingering her after moving his mouth to suck on her clit. She moaned with abandon as he began curling his fingers inside of her heat, sucking voraciously on her swollen nub.

“F-Fuck, ‘Nemi! I- I’m gonna cum!” Y/N attempted to writhe underneath him, despite being held back by Sanemi’s arm pinning her down. Her admission only turned Sanemi more eager, causing him to rut against the mattress as he began quickening his fingers inside her and sucking harder on her clit. Y/N’s eyes rolled back and her mouth went agape, screaming and shaking uncontrollably as she came into his awaiting mouth. He licked up every drop that she gave him, using his fingers to coax more of her release onto his tongue, not wanting to waste any of her precious gift.

Y/N sat up and clambered onto him as soon as she came down from her orgasm, and kissed him deeply, tasting herself on his lips and tongue. “Wanna return the favor, ‘Nemi,” she whispered and he flushed red at the thought. “Yeah? Show me, pretty.” Standing up, he tilted her chin with one hand so that she was forced to look up at him from her knees. Using his other hand, he unbuckled his belt and removed it along with his hakama. His cock was thick, with pretty veins traveling all across it, making her nearly drool at the sight. Y/N brought one hand up and collected the precum from the tip of his cock with her thumb, before licking it off. Sanemi groaned, encouraging her to begin stroking his fat dick despite her hand being unable to fully reach around it. She took a curious first lick at his pretty, bulbous head, causing him to shudder, before wrapping her lips around it and sucking as she moved her hand along his thick length.

“Fuck, baby,” Sanemi groaned. Y/N moved her hand to fondle his balls and began taking on more of his length into her mouth, bobbing her head back and forth, a combination of saliva and precum coating his dick. “S-shit– you’re so good at that… fuck,” he groaned.

It took everything within Sanemi to not start fucking her throat at that moment – not wanting to hurt her as she pleasured him. He compromised by grabbing her hair and gently guiding her mouth along his cock, so that he could have some semblance of control over her movements and hence, his orgasm. Before he could cum, he removed her from his length and put his hand underneath her chin, tilting her head up towards his face – a wave of arousal shooting straight through his dick as he saw her swollen, spit-covered lips. “Open,” he commanded, and proceeded to spit into Y/N’s mouth before seeking her lips on his, demanding that she swallow. “Such a good girl for me, I’m gonna fill you up and make you feel perfect, baby,” he promised. 

Sanemi pushed her down onto the bed, spreading her legs apart with his. He stroked his cock a few times before lining it up with Y/N’s sopping pussy, selfishly rubbing it up and down her slick folds a few times. He looked into her eyes, seeing her smiling up at him before leaning down and giving a soft kiss to her lips. Y/N moaned softly — unable to wait any longer as she gently wrapped her fingers around his cock, pushing the tip into her tight cunt.

He slowly entered her heat, his shaft stretching open her spongy walls, and he let out a low moan. He lowered himself so that his chest was pressed up against her and his head was in the crook of her neck, and he took Y/N’s hands in his as he started to fuck slowly into her.

“Shit, you’re so perfect for me. You feel so good, baby,” Sanemi moaned and kissed her neck sweetly. Y/N whined as he slowly pulled out just to push his cock back in again – hitting the area that made her see stars. He chuckled, “your pussy just keeps sucking me back in, sweetheart – it’s like she doesn’t want me to leave.” Y/N responded by babbling incoherently, and he looked up at her only to see tears brimming her eyes from the pure pleasure he so graciously gave, and instinctively kissed them away. “Taking my cock so well, such a good girl,” he said before his mouth reached hers, tongue darting between her parted lips before caressing her tongue with his.

His thrusts started to become more desperate, nearly grinding into her – incidentally rubbing against her clit in the process. She moaned against his mouth, her kisses sloppy against his swollen lips. “So good, ‘Nemi…” she whimpered, allowing herself to get lost in the pleasure and heat that he was providing her. He choked on a moan as he continued to rut into her, the squelching sounds of her pussy driving him nearly insane, “gonna cum, pretty. Where– where do you want it?” he asked, surprised he even had the coherency to form words as his mind was half gone from pleasure.

“Inside,” she whined, and his eyes widened, the building tension in his gut rising. “Are you sure?” he asked, and she nodded, writhing underneath him. 

“Need it inside…please,” she begged him, and who was he to deny her? His thrusts became sloppier, and he let go of one of her hands to reach down and rub her clit. The pleasure was immense, and Y/N couldn’t think about anything but him as she clenched around his cock as her orgasm flooded through her body – which consequently brought Sanemi over the edge as well, as he all but exploded inside of her hot cunt, groaning deeply as his cum flooded into her womb in thick ropes – causing her to moan and babble incoherently. “Fuck! Fuck– Y/N, I fucking love you,” he confessed in his state of euphoria, and Y/N only fully grasped what he said once he had collapsed on top of her – having just enough energy to pull him up towards her lips to kiss him once more – his lips hot and wet and swollen as they pressed against hers. “I love you too, ‘Nemi. So much,” she confessed, and he looked at her, slightly embarrassed by his own impromptu confession, but beyond elated that she felt the same way. 

He slid off of her, his softening cock slipping out of her pussy and he reached his arms around her – wanting nothing more than to hold her close to him as they both lay there on his futon. She smiled lazily in his arms and he kissed her cheek softly. “Not gonna let you go, baby, I swear. I won’t let anything bad happen to you – not anymore,” he said as he gently brushed his rough fingers against her newly formed scar. 

“I know, ‘Nemi. I promise I’m not going anywhere,” she whispered softly, and he smiled, thinking that he’d finally found someone to share himself with – someone whom he could shatter into should he feel like breaking, someone who could piece him back together so he could remain strong for the sake of others.

“I know, I trust you.”

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Oh, how wrong he was.

He swore to himself that he was only parted from her for a second as his pace and heart quickened – traversing through the blood-slicked greenery. Sanemi was plagued by loss – his siblings, his mother, his first love – but the feeling that it would happen yet again never lessened the blow nor the curdling acidity that coursed through his gut. 

He frantically searched each corpse along the battlefield, hoping, praying, that he wouldn’t find her among them. Sanemi never considered himself religious – he would rather not believe in any god than believe that an almighty being could allow such devastation to course through his life – through others' lives. However, while mustering the waning strength of his muscles to keep him from collapsing, he called out to the universe – selfishly pleading with it to allow him to keep even a single shred of happiness within his life, swearing that he would give anything to ensure her safety, to secure her life as part of his own.

But the universe turned its back on him once again, as he saw a glimpse of her hair – but it wasn’t her hair. No, Sanemi knew that her hair shined in the morning sunlight, it was beautiful and soft as he would feel it between his fingers – it was never bloodied like it was now. 

As he rushed over to Y/N, he nearly puked upon setting his eyes on her. There was a deep gash that cut through her torso – one that couldn’t have been caused by anything but the claws of a demon. He could see her entrails spewing out of it, and as his eyes traveled up towards her face, it was obvious that he was far too late. Her eyes – the ones he loved to get lost in, were lifeless; her lips – the ones that were so soft and loving when he kissed her, were parted in what seemed to be remnants of fear from the last moments of her life.

Sanemi couldn’t take it – and, as though pushed by an invisible force, he was knocked down to his knees.

A wretched sob escaped him as he reached towards her, uncaring of the blood and gore that stained his clothing, and he held her close to him. He sobbed out her name, wishing this was some horrible trick – some fucked up nightmare that he was subjected to, but the longer Sanemi held Y/N in his arms, the more he realized that this was real and that he had broken his promise once again – the promise to protect those close to him.

He picked her up and carried her to a clearing away from the battlefield – where a sole willow tree stood, and resolved to bury her there. As he placed Y/N into the ground, Sanemi wished to carve her name amongst the many scars on his body, so that maybe the blood spilled in her honor would somehow tether his soul to hers, so that he may permanently have her in a way that life itself could not provide.

Hours passed, and he finally managed to stand up once more, his heart hardened once again, and it took everything within him to not look back as he walked away from her gravesite. And, despite not wishing to look upon her grave again, Sanemi committed himself to continue living and fighting in her memory as Y/N slowly returned to dust underneath the lone willow.

And so he did — until his very last breath.

[writingmeraki]

fools of love I

READ PART TWO HERE !

summary : being jealous of the stars in your eyes whenever you smiled because he knew they were caused by anyone but him or so he thought.

genre : fluff, slight angst, humour (??)

pairing : cho guesung x gn!reader, idiots to lovers.

warnings : misunderstandings, slight hurt, jealousy,whipped asf idiots, best friend/platonic soulmate kangin, guesung is dumb (&hot) but reader is dumber, cursing, not entirely proofread.

author's note : does the summary make sense?? idk y'all let me know? atp I am thinking of this man 25/8 but really i just had to put this idea out of my pending wips. hope you liked it and be sure to read the little note at the end :)

word count : 3.6k

"Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!"

Your hand held out a makeshift rock as a smug grin was making its way into your face because you knew rock was always the superior.

Or so you thought.

Grinning, your eyes quickly shifted to the other hand that held out the complete opposite of yours, and the smile on your face was immediately slapped off as you groaned out loudly.

"HA! I WIN!"

Kangin proudly exclaimed while your eyes narrowed at him in annoyance as he snatched the bag of cheap yet fulfilling snacks of your other hand.

Scoffing and muttering cusses at the 5"8 man, you retorted

"B-BUT THIS IS cheating!"

You told as you crossed your arms and slightly jutted out your bottom lip forming a small pout as you chose an alternative route of rather using the emotional bargain method, one that always worked from your end as no one was able to resist your sorrow glint eyes. Fake sorrow.

Cute. He thought but then again it wasn't just anybody in front of you, no.

This was Lee Kangin , your very best friend from your childhood. You being born in Incheon and also being a fan of football since a young age even to the extent of you also being able to have a talent in playing the game, it was as if the stars were lined for the both of you to become practically soulmates.

Though you both always laughed at the way you became friends because him accidentally knocking you out cold one day when practicing for football and you woke up wanting to actually murder the person who caused you to be on bed rest for a few days meaning no football as well meant as though someone had actually just murdered you. (tiny flashback ahead)

But despite the rough first impression the boy made, he'd come in the same day later after you gained your consciousness to apologize with a bouquet of beautifully assorted flowers and a handful of snacks, which to his credit, was suggested by his mother.

It wasn't like he didn't feel sorry, he was sorry, guilty in fact but what could the poor 9 year old do other than bring his sincerest apologies to you.

And when he did, you couldn't help but instantly want to forgive him as you saw the solemn look on his face with the guilt practically being overwhelming in his eyes, heck you think you may have even spotted tears, as he took in the bandage wrapped around your little head.

To his utmost surprise, you chuckled as his head was down and he looked up to see you with a small grin on your face

"I guess I could forgive you."

He looked taken aback, even in his little 9 year old mind he thought it was hard to earn anyone's consideration for forgiveness let alone forgiveness itself.

"But you have to promise me one thing."

Curiously he softly spoke out with a small fearful tone as though he was scared you'd be asking for a huge favor one he wouldn't be able to fulfil

"W-what?"

With a toothy grin you finally said

"Be my football practice buddy from now on."

You held out your hand as though it was some sort of business agreement you were proposing and in a way it was at least in your childhood nature.

As he took in the words he couldn't help but smile widely as his eyes narrowed and his full cheeks bunched up and he exclaimed

"Deal!"

And alas that was the start of your great friendship with Lee Kangin.

Raising a brow at you, he knew the tactics you were playing and despite having fallen into that very trap many times, he also knew better than to give in at this time, and as he held the bag in his hand ready to dive into its content any minute, he retorted mockingly while rolling his eyes

"You were the one who suggested we settle this over 가위 (kai) 바위 (bai) 보 (bo) and you lost so quit being a sore loser and the emotional puppy eyes won't work either."

Instantly the small pout and the adorable begging eyes vanished as you narrowed your eyes at him in the offense.

Finally after what felt like he had been digging around for ages he found the bottle of strawberry milk he had been wanting to drink and smiled at it as if it was his greatest achievement till date even though he was an upcoming football player.

As he dismissed the other snacks to the side to be eaten later, a mischievous thought occurred to you and before you could think about it more, you said fuck it and just did what your ultimately hungry stomach and slightly bitter heart thought of.

You grabbed the bag of snacks and made a dash for it, you knew you stood no chance in terms of stamina or even in speed but you knew one thing and that was when you do something that catches the other off guard, no matter how lacking you were in terms of skills compared to them, you immediately gained the upperhand at least for the first few minutes.

Kangin's eyes widened and his jaw dropped almost comically as he saw you make a run for it and he too made a split second decision,

"HEY! THAT'S MINE, WHAT THE FUCK?!"

Screaming loudly, his deep voice boomed across the wide field that the other players had been practicing at, they ended up turning their heads at the colorful choice of words including the captain's as well.

He dropped the strawberry milk bottle on the ground while gulping as much as he could before he had to ultimately drop it and began chasing you at full speed. You burst out laughing, probably sounding like a villian but who cares, you thought while trying to make your way towards the doors that led out to a common lounging area.

Heungmin looked at the loud screams from where he'd been standing a bit further away in a conversation with Seungho and began laughing himself when he saw you running away being chased by a furious Kangin, even he could tell you'd done something to irk the other and it was working.

"Y/N pulled that shit again, I can't believe Kangin fell for it again." Seungho said as his eyes followed you almost reaching the doors and saw how Kangin was almost just behind you, he let out his own chuckle and shook his head at your tactics.

The others of course knew you, maybe some being even more interested in you, but you'd pretty much known them since the time Kangin joined the National Team, you had been there when he made it and even given him the biggest congratulations that you could, because after all your best friend had been able to accomplish his goals at least, quite literally and also philosophically. (no puns intended)

You were introduced to the others and overall they were all friendly with you, some even began seeing you as their little sister and to top it off you also a football player as you were midfielder in your college team so you got along even more well with them. Yet you knew you saw most of them as your older brothers however you felt different for one player.

You don't think it was normal to feel those butterflies, you don't think it was normal to start feeling a pool of warm red forming in your cheeks, you don't think was normal to gulp and your heartbeat increasing as though you'd just ran for your fucking life. And worse this was the first time a guy scratch that a person made you feel this way.

And you certainly don't think it was normal that the reason behind all that had been Cho Guesung.

The very attractive striker of the South Korean National Team.

And that had been your big oh no moment, the minute, the second you realised who was the cause of that state.

You felt so fucking stupid.

Just as you were about to reach the doors, you felt two familiar arms wrap around your waist from behind as the bag left your hand and flew upwards, due to the sudden movement you squealed loudly and gasped when you were lifted into the air.

"Let me down! KANGIN! YAH!"

You began giggling as you suddenly felt him take a spin, it almost felt like you were a kid again and your father was making you play flying games, you know the ones where you pretend to fly in the air.

You weren't exactly a small person, 5'8 for a person wasn't really short, but then again the stamina of these men was no joke.

"Not until you apologize and buy me a whole crate of strawberry milk." Kangin taunted you as he too chuckled from your contagious laughter.

Both of you in your own little antics, to an outsider they'd think you were a couple, at least to those who thought their first assumptions were right.

"You are blocking the way."

A deep voice announced loudly with a hint of bitterness. Both of you immediately stopped, recognizing who it was, and opened your eyes widely as Kangin let go of you, you quickly stood beside him and a sudden wave of dizziness you guess from all the spinning hit you as you stumbled slightly, Kangin wrapping one arm around your waist again and pulling you onto his side so you could lean into him for some support.

The figure in front of you had his hand out when he saw you stumble but quickly put it aside, scoffing a bit after as he saw Kangin's hand on your waist, he went back to his face of indifference that had been holding for a while before anyone saw the scoff and annoyance.

However, it was too late as both Kangin and you saw the scowl. While you moved from your temporary support pretending to dust yourself, you nervously laughed and straightened your shirt

"Sorry," You told sincerely trying to muster a small apologetic smile at Guesung as Kangin rolled his eyes at his hyung's behavior as though he was used to it. He was used to it, more than he wished he was.

Guesung began feeling a small pit of guilt form in his stomach as he saw you look away in embarrassment before he could even make eye contact with you, mentally being annoyed at himself for having thoughts of wishing you'd have at least looked at him.

He quickly shook his head before he could get more wrapped up in thoughts about you. How pretty you currently looked under the daylight with somewhat messy hair up in a pony tail with a few strands out and cheeks slightly flushed from laughing, at least that's what he concluded but little did he know he was indeed the culprit of the flushed cheeks and nervous state of yours.

"It's fine, just don't be in the way next time." He muttered quietly as he held one strap of his duffle bag and his eyes traveled back to the both of you, he quickly walked past you, tightening his grip as he heard Kangin let out a snort.

Just cause he didn't know, obviously yet devastatingly, didn't mean no one else knew about your little infatuation. Though Kangin protested to that being the label of what you felt,

It's not an infatuation Y/N it's basically a crush at this point, maybe even the big L word.

You remember mentally and physically groaning at that and buried your hands in a swirl of emotions.

You let out a sigh of exhaustion and a hint of sadness as Guesung brushed past the both of you while Kangin snorted and once again rolled his eyes

"Can you believe that guy? There's a whole ass football field of space to move and he chose this way to go, as if it were on purpose don't you think?" He asked with a hint of teasing as he looked over at you and you now rolled your eyes and retorted back to him

"Shut up, you were making too much noise anyways."

You playfully hit him on his arm and then began to fix your hair which had became a mess and wanted to throw yourself off a cliff as you realised you looked like an absolute disaster in front of your-

"ME? you're the one who was being a bitter loser and stole MY food?!?" Kangin feigned in fake offence, his eyes held amusement as to how you were gaslighting him at the moment.

"AND you made me look like a fool in front of him."

You narrowed your eyes as you whispered harshly taking a quick glance at Guesung to make sure he wouldn't hear but he would not anyway as he was literally 100 feet from where you both stood.

Kangin looked at you in even more amusement as he saw you take a peek at his hyung, grinning with mischief and teased "Oh don't worry Y/N ah you'll never look like fool in front of him besides it is your true nature, embrace it you know."

He raised his hands and put quotation marks in the air "Self love no matter how much of an idiot you are." He finished with a shit eating grin that made you playfully pinch his ear.

"Ouch! Damn dude that hurts!" "What did you say again huh?"

"You are an id-" You twisted his ear a bit harder "I MEAN YOU ARE PERFECT OW! FUCK THAT HURTS LET ME GO!"

Smirking with pride you let go of his ear as he put his hand up to it to caress it gently from the needed but undeserved violence "Sheesh it's not like you actually will look like a fool anyways at least never to hyung so I don't know why you stress out so much."

He muttered as he caressed his ear and narrowed his eyes at you while cussing you in his mind geez this tiny human knows how to hurt (you still wonder how you seemed tiny because you were practically the same height but you suppose it could be regarding the fact that he was a few months older than you)

You raised an eyebrow, almost in amazement yet disbelief as you scoffed

"He HATES me Kangin might I remind you."

Your voice lowered towards the end as you thought about how unlike the other teammates and guys on the team, Guesung never seemed to have liked you.

(small flashback)

It's not like he would go out of his way to show his clear distaste in you, rather he always wore a mask of indifference or just merely ignored you whenever you were around.

You let out a snort at Kangin's words and what he was trying to imply as you remembered when they came back home after their FIFA World Cup matches, and how you'd been asked to help for the welcome party along with some other close ones of the other players and you being well you jumped to help as you were excited to not only meet your platonic soulmate after months but also excited to congratulate Guesung and tell him how proud you were of him, (as well as the other players ofc)

You'd worn one of your favourite outfits which was particularly red in colour in representation of the team which not only suited you so gracefully but was also comfortable to wear and you were already running late so you did some light makeup which would highlight your beautiful facial features as well as an easy yet pretty hairstyle. You had felt pretty confident that day ready because you yourself did look amazing, as usual.

You had reached the place and were waiting and helping around the staff when they came in one by one from the utter chaos they had faced outside the hotel as well as the airport. Your eyes darted towards Guesung and you couldn't help it, whenever he was anywhere you'd always find yourself taking secret glances at him, despite him doing the same, you relished those moments.

Your whole face lit up as you made your way towards them, poor Kangin being left as an after thought but it's not like you wouldn't meet him eventually you just saw Guesung first so you decided to congratulate him first.

When Guesung had stepped into the hotel lounge he couldn't help but scan the room searching for a particular individual who he had wanted to see after so long. He couldn't help it but admit how much he'd missed you. He'd thought about you a lot when he was in Qatar and was hoping you'd have watched how he played, watched how he scored. His heart always seemed to oppose him but for once he could mutually agree with what his heart was feeling for,yearning for.

And when his secret wish came true, you coming towards him, looking very much real rather than on a screen from the countless videocalls you'd done with Kangin and even some of the others even though you rarely talked to him despite wanting to but always being so so feeblish that you instead just wished him the best and would not talk much, he knew from that point there really was no turning back.

His feelings were very much real and he very much felt all that towards you and only you.

You stopped in front of him a few feet away dressed in their team colours which he observed and oh my God.

It felt as though his mouth had lost its ability to form anything that he had to take a gulp, you noticed his eyes slowly taking you in from head to toe and couldn't help but almost faint. You felt weak hearted, this boy wasn't good for your heart you concluded. But then again, you always craved ruination.

He on the other hand felt no better, he felt his heart pick up as his eyes drunk you in his, mind already getting intoxicated with the thoughts of your face, oh your beautiful face.

And when you beamed at him with the very stars in your eyes as though the Gods themselves had plucked them individually from the galaxy and placed them to make them twinkle everytime you'd beamed.

"Congratulations Guesung." You told still with the same gleam.

"You really played well for the team and those goals back to back were so fucking awesome, especially the second one, it was absolutely spectacular"

You finished fangirling as you recalled gasping in both awe and shock when he scored those goals against Ghana and despite them having ultimately lost the match, you think he played it marvelously and now wanting to cringe because you felt as though that still wasn't enough for what really was going on in your mind, and even though he had felt exhausted, your words were enough to make him for the first time, in front of you because God knows and maybe his teammates, the countless times he's secretly smiled just at the mere thought of you, smile at you as his face relaxed with content.

Yes, you heard it and saw it right, he was smiling AT YOU and not only that BECAUSE of YOU.

Internally you were freaking out and your eyes slightly widened while you try to act calm on the outside as he spoke up

"Thank you, really, it means a lot."

He still remained smiling at you while you stood there trying not to freak out even more because despite those being simple words they really hit the feelings for you.

And really on the other part, he felt no different, those words did mean a lot to him, more than they should have, more than it would to a normal person hearing those words because frankly hearing those words from someone that has an exceptional place in your heart means a whole fucking lot.

Before you could really say anything again, you felt yourself being tackled by someone and immediately your mind quite literally snapped out of its daze and focused on trying to not lose balance as the individual now fully wrapped his large arms around you.

"I MISSED YOU SO MUCH YOU HAVE NO IDEA!"

Kangin sobbed out as he hid his face in the crook of your neck and you couldn't help but chuckle and chose to just go with the flow while you pulled your arms out of the uncomfortable embrace to now comfortably wrap them around his large frame.

Guesung's face dropped, and the smile on his face vanished before he could even comprehend, of course he knew you were not particularly there for him, you were friends with most of the players and Kangin but he couldn't help the small selfish desire wishing you'd have come up to him and instead tackled him just the Kangin did to you, he'd be ready to embrace you, just how you were embracing Kangin.

The small irk of irritation began forming again when he noticed how tightly Kangin had held you, it was always like that, it was normal between you both. His jaw tensed as he looked away and he straightened his broad shoulders as he walked away without even soaring you another glance.

You noticed him as your head was over Kangin's shoulder and as expected you also took note of how his expression dropped which made a small frown settle on your face.

He was just smiling a minute ago, what suddenly happened?

It wasn't like it was your fault really, it was neither's fault because after all love is what makes a fool of us right?

Too bad this time, it decided to make you both the fools.

(end of small flashback)

READ PART TWO HERE !

all written works as well as images and edits (unless credited) belong to pri. do not plagiarise, repost, re-edit or claim as yours. pics mostly found on pinterest.

writingmeraki Ⓒ 2022

links : main navigation !

[floppydiskettess]

alone (chamber x reader) (hurt/comfort)

a/n: im writing this in a super bad episode, if it sucks im sorry. i just need some sort of comfort right now and with this i can pretend i have someone who cares about me. i can pretend that someone actually notices that i am hurting.

tw: sh (hitting self, nothing gorey), severe depression, depressive episodes

when chamber returned to your shared living space, he was not expecting to be greeted to the suffocating silence surrounding the house.

"mon ange? are you here?" he called out but recieved nothing back. had you gone out on a mission?

he set down his items on a counter nearby and approached the bedroom. as he got closer he heard the small sounds of shuffling. when he sat right outsid ghe door, he heard the shaky heavy breathing on the other side just barely audible.

he frowns and worry crosses his face, he knocks on the door immediately.

"darling...? what's wrong? can you please let me in..?"

when you open the door, he lets out a soft gasp as he takes in your appearence. tear stains are present and running down your face from your exhausted dark eyes, just behind you he can see a bunch of little items thrown around as if an animal had ran through the room. he looked around before noticing the soft purple bruises forming on your arms. he nearly started crying then and there.

"mon dieu..what happened mon couer?" he says quietly as if he were trying not to spook you. as he takes in the state of you and the room, you begin crying harder. you messed up HIS space...he is going to be so mad...heisgoingtoleavemeand-

you feel two hands on your shoulders attemptijg to ground you. "hey hey...listen can you follow my breathing for me love?" he says as he pulls you into his chest so you can hear his breathing.

as you mimic his breathing, he softly praises you. "good job...thats it. i'm so proud.."

the only sound in the room is the two of you's soft breathing with the occasional sniffle. he loving rubs your back as he whispers softly into your hair.

"do you feel any better now dear?" when he feels your slow nod into his shoulder he smiles and hugs you tighter.

when you pull away from him, his rests hos hand on your cheek and slowly caresses his thumb over it.

"..do you want to talk about it..? it's alright if not. just tell me what you need."

"i just...why can't i be good at anything...? you have your gun designs...i just have nothing i am good at. i can't draw, or fight, or even be good at video games.."

"oh dear...i'm sorry you feel like that...i promise you that your "thing" will come soon alright? you don't have to be perfect for me or anyone else. now, can i ask where the bruises came from...? ....did you do that?"

seeing you shakily nod is all he needs before he grabs your arm and kisses it softly

"oh honey...why? you need to be careful. i love you so much ok? if you ever feel like this again please call me..i don't want you to suffer through this alone.." he says in a shaky tone you have never heard before. he sound...scared. observing the room around him, he can tell in your throwing match with the random trinkets that you had hit yourself on various items..his heart nearly shattered. when he hears you small muffled apology, he sighs.

"you have no need to be sorry, i am simply happy you are safe...now, what can we do to get this off your mind hm? would you like to watch that new show you told me about?" he said as he gave you a caring gaze.

the rest of the night was spent cuddling on the bed, you quickly fell asleep feeling drained from the stress. when you woke up, the room was tidy and you were pressed gently into his bare chest as he rubbed your back and let out soft breaths into your hair.

"you are not alone anymore mon amour. please, if you need lean on me. i will support you."

sorry for the self indulgent post. i literally described my morning but added someone there 💀. uh anyways i hope you all are doing ok and if you need support to reach out!

(please do not vent on this post)

[musiclover61]

Little witch pt 2

Fandom: supernatural

Summary: You and your fiancée were about to have people over but you got a knock on your front door then attacked and kidnapped, but you got saved by these two guys. This is a part 2

Paring: Sam Winchester x witch!reader

Waring: Cussing, describing wounds (gashes, cuts and bruises), mentions of blood, yn is used, fem!reader, let me know if I missed something :)

A/N: there is a little more Sam Winchester x Reader in this one but it was more to the end. Again it's been a while since I've watch Supernatural.

I don't know how to link part 1 yet, I'm really sorry 🙏

Proofread!!

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

After a few more minutes of driving and me calming down and trying not to ask a bunch of questions I 'woke up' and looked around "where are we?" I asked rubbing my eyes

"We're almost there about 10 more minutes" Dean grumbled looking in the rear view mirror at me

I gave him a nod and looked out the window but I couldn't help but think about what the hell they were talking about.

After another 10 more minutes we had gotten to the motel Sam and Dean were staying at. Sam and Dean got out of the car and had hurried to help me get out of the car. Dean opened the door and Sam gently got me out, holding my arm. Once I was out of the car fully Dean grabbed my other arm, we walked with each one of them holding my arm as I limpped to their room.

When we got into the room, Sam and Dean laid me down on one of the beds, my back was against the headboard and my legs were laid out on the bed. I looked down at my legs to see the one big gash on the top of my thigh and some other little rips in my jeans that had cuts beneath them. I then looked at my arms cuts and bruises all over them, some little cuts and some big cuts, dirt was all over me. I felt dirty, sweaty and my arms and legs hurt from all the cuts, the gash was hurting like hell.

Sam and Dean were over at the foot of the other bed talking about something. They were huddled up, trying to decide something I'm guessing.

"So what are you guys going to do about my cuts and huge gash?" I asked looking at the brothers.

They snapped there heads to me "Yeah, hold on" Dean said then closed his eyes and leaned his head up "Hey Cas, we need help with uhhh.... Y/N" Dean said forgetting my name for a second "She's hurt and she needs help" Dean said

"What the fuck..." I mumbled "you good?" I asked trying to put the pice together on who Cas was and why Dean looked like he was praying

"He's an Angel" Sam said "his name is Castiel" Sam added

'WHAT THE HELL HE JUST SAY?!' I thought, and I guess my face changed because he looked at me and sighed

"We're not crazy" Sam said walking over to me, he sat on the other bed. "Listen you know the storys about Ghosts and Vampires and-"

I cut him off quickly. "Demons and Angels?" I asked "I heard you and Dean talking at the gas station" I told him

Dean looked at me "what did you hear?" Dean asked me crossing his arm

"The demons want me alive for something, your going to get me healed and then I'm going to be bait" I told them, looking between Dean and Sam "which I'm not found of" I added

"I'm not either" A man said that appeared next to Dean, I jumped and screamed covering my mouth

"Where the hell did you come from!" I yelled looking between the three boys "aren't you guys not scared?!" I asked concerned

"I'm Castiel, and if you use her as bait and the demon's actually get her then we could all be in danger" Castiel was a short man? women? thing? Short thing compared to Sam and Dean, he was wearing a trench coat and had a white shirt on, with a tie, he had on black pants. "she's a witch" Castiel told them "a powerful one too" Castiel added "she's not a normal one" Castiel said then looked at me "that's why Angels and Demons will fight for you" Castiel told me and began to walk over to me

He touched my shoulder, closed his eyes then opened them and gave me a nod "we need the Demon that hurt you" Castiel said

"Sorry but frankly I don't want to see the thing that killed my fiancée." I spat "And I don't know if you can't see, but my leg is cut open" I added, annoyed.

"No, I healed you" Castiel told me flatly. Looking at my thigh I had seen that my gash was... gone?

I gave him a confused look and looked down at my thigh again to make sure that the gash in my leg was gone, and it was... like completely gone, no scar or anything, just dirt. I looked at my arms to see that the only stuff on my arm was the dirt, no cuts, no scratches, or scraps "what..?" I questioned looking up at Castiel "how did you do that?" I asked him

"I'm an angel." Castiel said flatly. He looked away from me then to Sam and Dean "We can't use her as bait" Castiel said "if she gets captured, it could be dangerous" Castiel told them

"Okay so I have a question" I cut in getting off the bed making Castiel move out of the way "what am I and why do Demons want me?" I asked

Castiel looked at me. His face was blank and his eyes looked dead "your a witch, a powerful one, and to Lucifer your the key of... 'letting hell break loose'" Castiel looked confused when he said 'letting hell break loose'

"I'm sorry... what?" I asked looking between the three boys

"Lucifer is real, he's out of hell, and he's trying to take over the world and make the world a new hell" Dean said 'catching' me up

"W-What?" I said looking at them. They stared at me waiting for me to say something. After a few minutes of silence I spoke. "I need to go outside" I said pushing past them and walking outside the hotel room.

☆☆☆

I walked over to a bench that was near the room and sat down. 'What the hell did they just tell me' I thought as I put my elbows on my knees and put my head in my hands. My thoughts were just going and going and going, I didn't know what to think, I didn't know how to think.

I guess I didn't hear the door to the hotel room open, or the footsteps that were coming towards me but I did hear my name being called by the six foot tall brown haired guy that carried me to the car and took me inside the hotel.

"Y/N?" Sam asked "You good?" Sam added putting his hand on my back "Listen I know what Dean and Cas told you can be a lot to take in but uh... we really need you to be on board... the hell thing that Dean said is ture and if what Cas said is true then you can help us" Sam told me. For some reason his voice was... calming to me. It was like he knew how to not scare me. Something in my head was telling me to run the other way but there was a louder, bigger voice telling me to trust Mr moose, so I did.

"I'm on board" I nodded "but I want to know how to use my powers" I said looking up on him. His hand didn't leave my back and to be honest I didn't mind. "Castiel said that I'm a powerful witch so I want to use my powers to help you and Dean. I need to know how to use them" I told him

He gave me a nod and rubb his hand on my back then looked at me "I'll talk to Cas and see if he can help you" Sam gave me a little smile.

For a second we just sat there looking at eachother, his hand was on my back and his eyes were on mine. It felt... good. Now that I was looking at him up close he looked, handsome, stunning, as good looking as a man could get.

"Uh do- do you need a second out here?" Sam asked me moving his hand off my back then looked down at the ground

"Can you just sit here for a second... with me?" I asked him. I was looking at him kinda hoping he didn't laugh in my face

"Y-Yeah," He looked at me and smiled "I'll stay" he gave me a nod.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

A/N: I hope this part was good I'll come out with part 3 tomorrow probably. If not I'm sorry 😔. Also sorry it's kinda short

[jinx-s-things]

Thinking of you

Tara carpenter x Amber freeman

Summary: Tara can’t stop thinking Amber

It was a nice day outside Tara, Mindy, liv and chad were sitting on benches out of school talking. Tara was too deep in thought to notice Amber was now sitting next to her.“You coming to the party tonight?” Amber asked, Tara almost jumped out of her seat “umm…yeah sure”

“Cool can you bring some booze”

“Sure” Tara said staring at Amber.

While Tara was walking back home she kept thinking about Amber she had began to think of attractive she actually was. It started a while ago when they went shopping together and Amber tried on those outfits that made her look like a movie star and Tara’s heart fluttered in that moment.

The innocent crush has now turned into a very very serious crush and Tara is trying to hide it.

Tara was drying her hair since she had been in the shower. She picked out her most favourite top and skirt also some makeup.

Once she was ready she headed out and went to Amber’s on her way there she could hear loud music blaring from speakers and shouting. In one bag she had booze and the other a bunch of snacks there’s probably heaps in the house but she still took some.

She had finally arrived and seen some people that were already drunk and when she went into the living room she dogged cups flying at her and accidentally bumping into people then quietly apologising. Tara tried to find her friends but didn’t see them anywhere until hearing Chad shouting at the top of his lungs she followed the noise and found him in a crowd of people in the living room. Tara went up to chad “hey Chad do you know where Amber is?” Tara shouted

“I think she’s in the kitchen with Mindy or something I don’t know”

“Thanks Chad” Tara then went to the kitchen but neither Mindy or Amber were there. She asked everyone if they had seen Amber until finally she seen Amber walk into the living room.

She had on a red velvet dress on with of the shoulder sleeves she looked amazing. Amber had seen Tara and walked over to her, Amber was very drunk “come on dance with me” she said Tara danced with her the whole night. They went upstairs and into her bedroom both of them were now very very drunk. Amber was gazing into Tara’s eyes never taking her eyes off of her slowly she leaned in and their lips touched Tara suddenly breaks the kiss looking shocked she then turned around and ran downstairs and out the house.

She ran all the way back home and laid in her bed she felt so embarrassed. She wished she never left, that that was her chance Amber had kissed her but she was drunk and probably didn’t mean to she thought to herself. All she could of for the rest of the night was Amber and barely got any sleep.

The next day she woke up and decided not to go to school she was too embarrassed to go and if Amber remembered what happened last night. Oh god I hope she was to drunk to remember thought Tara, Tara got up to make breakfast she had a horrendous headache that didn’t go away once she had breakfast she laid on her couch and put on the TV there was barely any movies to watch. She finally picked a movie and went on her phone there were pictures of the party last night and again all

Tara could think about was Amber. The movie had ended and Tara decided to put her phone down and have a sleep.

When she woke up it was now lunch time but she didn’t have a headache now and now she felt hungry. All there was was some bread and pasta because she her mom forgot to get anything so that’s what she was going to eat. While she was making the pasta there was a knock on the door. “Coming” Tara shouted, walking up to the door when she had opened the door she got a surprise it was Amber what was she doing here. “Amber! What are you doing here? shouldn’t you be at school” Tara said Amber looked at her “shouldn’t you be at school a well” she replied

“I had a headache” Tara said “now bye” Tara was closing the door but Amber shoved her foot in the door. “I need to talk to you” Amber said

“About what”

“About what happened last night” Tara stared at her “okay” Tara slowly opened the door.

Amber sat down while Tara put some pasta into a plate “want some?” She said “no thank you”. Tara sat down with Amber not moving the plate of pasta to the side. Amber began to speak “look I’m sorry about what happened last night, I was drunk and didn’t mean to kiss you” Amber said quickly

“It’s okay I know you were drunk I accept your apology” Tara said.

“Really?” Amber asked shocked

“Yeah”

“Oh that was easy” Amber said

“I actually need to tell you something” Tara quickly said “it’s been something that has been on my mind for a while”

“Okay go on then” Amber said

Tara took a deep breath before speaking “ I have a REALLY big crush on you and I’ve been keeping it a secret and I couldn’t stop thinking about you, then you kissed me and I got shocked so I ran away” Tara said quickly. Amber stared at her for a moment. She waited for Amber to reply to what she said. “I have something to tell you as well” Amber said “I love you so much and I also couldn’t stop thinking about you” Amber also said quickly. Tara looked shocked

Then smiled “I love you too.” The rest of the day her and Amber sat together watching movies and talking.

[hwxnghyynjin]

You Should See Me In A Crown

Pairing: park jongseong x reader Genre: royalty!au, horror, smut, angst Warnings: character death, mentions of throwing up blood, gore, illness, mentions of witchcraft, nightmares, smut (unprotected sex, biting, grinding), swearing, I think that's it Word count: 6,063 Taglist: @foxdaisy @heeseongism

There are two types of people in the world. Rich and poor. You came from the latter. Growing up, your family didn’t really have much, which meant that you couldn’t afford to buy medicine in case you end up sick. Luckily that didn’t happen. Until one day.

Your younger brother suddenly got really sick, to the point where he was vomiting blood. A fever so bad, he felt like he was in a sauna, sweating profusely. He felt so weak, couldn’t get out of bed. He couldn’t even eat or drink, his throat burning, feeling like he was swallowing daggers.

You didn’t know what to do, crying every single night to sleep, worried about your little brother. He got sicker as the days passed, starting to smell like rotting meat, which confused you. You’ve never seen anything like that before, and it scared you.

On the 7th day of his illness, your brother passed away, his eyes bleeding out of their sockets, blood trickling out of his mouth and nose. That was one of the worst days of your life, you felt like you failed to protect him. The sight of your dead brother made you scream, tears blurring your vision. Your parents didn’t say anything, crying silently as you laid over your brother's body. Your mother tried to pry you away from him but you wouldn’t budge. Your younger sister sitting in the corner, sobs leaving his small body.

A few days after his death, your sister was the next person to get sick, the same symptoms as your brother had. She even died the same way: eyes bleeding out of their sockets, blood trickling out of her mouth and nose. You didn’t know what to do at that point, but you were definitely sure that something was wrong.

Your questions were answered a few days later as your mother was sentenced to death from being accused of witchcraft. Why would your own mother kill her own children? Your own brother and sister? Did she actually do it, or was she framed? Or was it something else?

Seeing your mother being burnt at the stake was something you weren’t expecting, but being accused of witchcraft is the worst type of crime, according to the government. Hearing her screams echoed in your mind, haunting your nightmares every single night.

Now, 8 years later at the age of 20, everything else has gone to shit.

--------------------------------

You woke up in a dark room, more specifically your bedroom, the sound of birds knocking on your window. Getting out of bed, you trodded your way towards the window, drawing back the curtains to see a bunch of crows knocking into the window, some of them falling to the ground. Not again, you thought. That’s the third time this week, and it’s only a Tuesday. 

Since you’re now out of bed, you thought it would be a good idea to get dressed, and that’s exactly what you did. Taking your nightgown off, you grabbed the first items of clothing you saw, which was a pair of black pants and a white dress shirt, buttoning it up. You brushed your hair, getting rid of your bed hair, brushing through the knots. Tying the laces of your boots, you left your bedroom, going to do your daily errands.

You walked through the woods, taking in the surroundings around you. Leaves crunched under your feet, the smell of smoke hits your senses. You wondered where the smoke was coming from, until you found the culprit. A small barn was engulfed in flames, which wasn’t surprising to you anymore, especially after the riots. You just hoped no one was in there. 

Ever since the rich and the poor have gone against each other, there have been numerous wars, both big and small. All the poor have been trying to do is live their lives, but the rich have been ripping that away from them: stealing their money, livestock, even their homes. Thousands of people have died because of it, you’re surprised you haven’t been attacked.

You walked further into the woods, on your way to the farmers market. A sudden loud noise made you stop in your tracks, a loud growl ringing in your ears. A shiver ran down your spine as the sound got closer, fear running through your body.

Suddenly, a huge boar-like creature came charging towards you, its teeth sharp and tusks massive. It seemed rabid, drool dripping from its mouth, the creature roaring aggressively. You screamed, turning on your heels as you ran away, flight kicking in. 

You avoided running into any obstacles, jumping over any rocks so you wouldn’t trip. You didn’t bother turning around, not wanting to see the rabid creature chasing you. Suddenly, the roaring of the creature stopped, replaced by a squeal as a loud thud was heard from behind you. You turned around, seeing the creature lying on the ground, an arrow piercing its side, blood gushing out of it.

You tried to find where the arrow came from, looking in different directions. A boy around your age appeared, holding a crossbow. His jet black hair slicked back, wearing what looked like protective gear. You don’t know who he is but he's really attractive. 

“Ma’am, what are you doing out here? You’ll get yourself killed if you’re not careful now please, turn back around. Unless you want to get yourself killed”, what an asshole. You scowled at him, not even bothering to thank him for saving your life. You turned around, leaving the woods.

“Hey, a thank you would be nice!” he yelled, earning a middle finger from you, making him speechless. How dare a peasant give him that attitude? 

“Who was that?” one of his knights asked him. “I have no idea but she’s feisty”, he continued looking at you as you disappeared into the distance, completely out of the woods. “Jay, we should head back, I don’t like these woods, they’re creepy”, the knight, known as Jake, said. 

--------------------------------

You laid down on your bed, staring at the ceiling, thinking about what happened a few hours ago. That man saved your ass from being eaten, yet he was a complete asshole to you. By what he was wearing, you were sure he was one of the rich. Now it makes so much sense why he was an asshole. You scoffed to yourself, already beginning to hate your saviour. Then again, you’ve always hated the rich for how they treated the poor, including yourself.

Back in the kingdom, Jay walked down a corridor, minding his own business when he heard 2 distinct voices coming from behind a door. He’s not one for eavesdropping but he just couldn’t resist. 

“What do you mean the king has proposed a meeting? A meeting for what?”

“I’m not sure but he said something about something, or someone, wanting to destroy the kingdom, which might lead to hundreds of deaths and he wants to do something to stop it”

Jay’s heart stopped. Something wants to destroy the kingdom? He was deep in thought that he didn’t hear the door opening until it was too late. One of the guards that came out of the room cleared his throat which got Jay’s attention. 

“You ok, sire? You look like you’ve seen a ghost”, one of the guards said, raising one of his eyebrows. “I-i’m fine”, Jay said as he walked off, going towards his room. He closed his door, thinking about what the guards were talking about. Why would someone want to destroy the entire kingdom, wanting to kill hundreds of innocent civilians? 

--------------------------------

It’s been a few days since your near death encounter, and you’re wandering around the forest, and you know you shouldn’t but your curiosity got the better of you. The sound of leaves crunching under your feet is all you could hear apart from the sound of your breathing, it was that quiet, which was strange. The atmosphere felt heavy around you, your breathing becoming heavy. You felt like someone, or something, was watching you, your movements getting slower. As you turned around, you felt your body being thrown, your body hitting against a tree, knocking you to the ground with a thud.

You groaned as you held the back of your head, trying to sit up. As you eventually managed to sit up, you came face to face with a woman. She had fair skin, long dark hair and her clothes looked dirty, her feet bare. The thing that stood out to you the most, though, was her eyes. They looked cloudy, lifeless. She was looking at you but she also wasn’t. Like, she was looking at you but her focus wasn’t on you. 

You went to get up to go towards her but as soon as you moved, she disappeared. She didn’t turn around and leave, she literally disappeared into thin air. Did you just witness a ghost? You managed to stand up, holding onto the tree for support, when the sound of footsteps startled you, making you turn around. There he was, the same guy who saved you, the asshole.

“I told you to stay out of these woods”, he said, narrowing his eyes at you. You didn’t say anything, just continued holding your head, feeling a lump forming. Suddenly, a whistling sound could be heard around you, making the both of you look in the same direction. A black mist headed towards you, fear running through your body. Jay suddenly grabbed your hand, turning on his heels. 

“Hey, what the fuck are you doing?!” you shouted, wondering what he was doing and where he was taking you. “Do you want to die? Because I can leave you out here if you want to”, he said, raising his eyebrow. You didn’t want to die so you just followed him. Jay jumped onto his horse, helping you onto it after him. He held the reins of the horse, whilst you held onto Jay for support, not wanting to fall off. The horse galloped away, heading out of the woods, heading towards the castle. You turned around to see if the mist was still following you, and to your surprise, it wasn’t. It stayed above the woods, the black mist getting thicker as it surrounded the trees. 

Jay reached the castle, the sound of hooves trotting against concrete as he headed into the grounds of the castle. The horse came to a halt, other knights came running out of the castle. Jay got off the horse, helping you down after him. “Jay, who’s this?”, one of the knights said, when he suddenly recognised you. “Isn’t this the same girl you helped the other day in the woods?” he asked, to which you rolled your eyes.

“I do have a name, you know”, you said, looking between the two. “Well, what is your name because I don’t recall you telling me it”, Jay said, looking at you. You glared at him before telling him your name: Jung Y/N. Just hearing your name made his eyes grow wide. “Wasn’t your mother burnt at the stake for witchcraft? Well, accused of witchcraft”, Jay said, making other knights look at you. You felt uncomfortable with all the eyes on you, glaring at Jay. 

“Shut up”, you muttered under your breath, running into the castle, wanting to get away from all the attention. Jay and his knights followed you, wanting to ensure that the king doesn’t see you. Jay caught up with you and grabbed your wrist, turning you around to look at him. “Don’t just come running into the castle without me, the king might see you and kill you”, Jay said, a hint of fear in his voice, which you weren’t expecting. Why would the king kill you? Jay noticed the confusion on your face, bringing you into a room. He closed the door behind him, pushing you into the middle of the room. 

“I heard a couple of knights talking the other day, after I saved you, talking about someone or something wanting to destroy the kingdom, which could lead to hundreds or thousands of deaths, and if he sees you, someone who he doesn’t know, in his kingdom, he might kill you. He’s been cautious the past few days, being careful about who he lets into the castle. So I would be careful if I were you”, Jay said, his eyes burning into yours. 

“This means I can’t go home, doesn’t it?” you asked, Jay nodding his head. You sighed, running your fingers through your hair. “There’s a spare bedroom which isn’t in use opposite mine, if you want to use that. I mean, only if you want to”, Jay said, his turn to run his hands through his hair. All of a sudden, the sound of thunder boomed loudly throughout the kingdom, making you jump into Jay’s arms. Jay wrapped his arms around you, rubbing your arms up and down, trying to calm you down. You pulled away after a few seconds, apologising. Jay may be attractive, but that doesn’t mean you will fall for his charms. 

A few hours went by, and you're sitting on a bed, which was a lot more comfier than yours. You looked around the room, noticing the details. The red velvet curtains, which had a gold fringe, the textured cream walls detailed with a large gold mirror. There was a knock on the door, making you jump. You called for the person to come in, a woman revealing herself, holding something in her hand. She bowed, putting some clothes on your bed and left without a word. You noticed she put a nightgown on your bed, the material soft underneath your hands. 

You realised it was getting dark outside so you decided to get changed into your nightgown, and turn in for the night. You wondered if the dark mist had moved past the woods, the thought alone just terrified you to the core.

--------------------------------

You saw your brother and sister, their backs towards you. You raced after them, but the more you ran, the further they got from you. You ran for what seemed like ages, getting nowhere near them. The more you ran, the more your vision became clouded with blood. There was blood everywhere, the sound of your brother and sisters screaming deafened your ears, the screeching became louder and unbearable. You covered your ears, your running came to a stop. 

You dropped to your knees, your vision now blurred with tears. The screaming wouldn’t stop. You screamed for it to stop, shaking your head from side to side. You screamed once more for it to stop, finally being able to hear yourself shout as silence surrounded you. You looked forward, seeing your brother and sister ahead of you, now looking at you. But there was someone standing behind them. It was your mother. 

You shouted at her to leave them alone, but it was no use. She grabbed your brother and sisters shoulders, gripping them. Blood started pouring out of their eyes, nose and mouth. That’s when your mother burst into flames, her screams making your ears bleed.

You woke up with a scream, covered in sweat. Another nightmare. You tried catching your breath, your heartbeat erratic. You managed to calm down after a while, but you couldn’t seem to fall back asleep.

You just laid there, looking up at the ceiling. You laid there for a moment, when the sound of whispering from outside your bedroom door caught your attention. You got out of bed, tiptoed over towards the door and carefully put your ear against the door. The sound of 2 men talking to each other, but you couldn’t quite make out what they were saying. You realised you weren’t going to find out what they were talking about so you turned around and went back to bed but in the process of turning around, you knocked into something and fell over with a yelp.

The door opened, revealing 2 knights, who you assumed were the ones outside your door. You were prepared to get yelled at but to your surprise, the complete opposite happened. “You okay, m’lady?” one of the knights asked, causing you to clear your throat. “I’m okay. Just wanted to stretch my legs since I had a cramp, but I must have tripped in the process of going back to bed”, you managed to come up with an excuse, and luckily the knights believed you, nodding their heads and closing the door behind them as they left. You let out a breath you didn’t realise you were holding in, and got back into bed.

--------------------------------

Over the course of the next few days, the black mist has gotten closer to the kingdom, a few people in your village getting sick, which ended up with them dying. Everyone in the kingdom is panicking, running around like headless chickens. You and Jay have been helping each other come up with a plan on how to stop whoever, or whatever, is trying to destroy the kingdom. You were in your room whilst Jay was in his, getting ready to go out with the other knights to go on a hunt to the woods. The both of you knew it was dangerous, but you had no other choice. All you had to do was be extra careful.

You laced up your boots, straightened out your clothes (which was given to you by one of the female knights) and looked at yourself in the mirror, before leaving your room. You came face to face with Jay, who nodded at you and headed towards the entrance of the castle, where some of the other knights were waiting. 

You made it into the woods, seeing dozens of dead bodies on the ground. Every single body has blood coming out of their eyes, nose and mouth. They all died the same way your brother and sister died, 8 years ago. Your mother didn’t kill your siblings. Whatever the black mist is, killed your siblings. And it’s come back to destroy the kingdom. 

You didn’t realise you were staring at the dead bodies until you felt someone touch your arm. You came back to reality, looking down at the person touching your arm: Jay. “you ready?” he asked, to which you nodded. You’re not sure what you’re ready for but you’re ready for something. You got off your horse, heading straight into the woods. Once you made it into the heart of the woods, that’s when you saw something, or someone: it was the same woman you saw a few days ago only this time, she looked cleaner.  

“Hey, what are you doing here, it’s dangerous”, one of the knights said to the woman, who didn’t budge. The knight, who’s name you didn’t get, walked towards the woman but that was a bad idea as she grabbed the knight by the neck, breaking it immediately. Is she behind this, or is she being controlled by something?

A few knights ran in the other direction, but the woman seemed to summon something, which grabbed the knights who tried to run away, killing them instantly, ripping some of them in half. It was a bloodbath. You didn’t know what to do as you just stood there, watching everything unfold in front of you. You saw Jay run towards the woman, and that’s when something clicked in you. You ran towards Jay, putting your hand out to try and grab him, but you weren’t quick enough. Jay was thrown against a tree, hitting his head. The woman clawed at his chest, making him scream out in pain. You stood behind her, grabbing her and throwing her backwards away from Jay.

“Leave us alone!” you shouted at her, or whoever she was because she was definitely not human. “You look like your mother”, she said, her voice definitely sounded non-human. You screamed, lunged forward and tackled her to the ground, grabbed the nearest object and whacked her over the head, but that was the wrong thing to do as she threw you backwards, your back hitting the ground. You don’t remember anything after that as everything went black.

--------------------------------

When you came to, you noticed you were in an unfamiliar room. You also felt… different. You couldn’t describe it though, you just didn’t feel like yourself. You sat up and looked around the room you were in. You definitely weren’t in your room that you were located in. Who’s bedroom are you in? Suddenly a voice broke you out of your trance. 

“Oh thank god you’re awake, I was worried you weren’t going to wake up”, Jay walked over to you, and that’s when you realised he was shirtless. There were marks on his chest, from when he was clawed back in the woods. His hair was wet and slicked back, probably from recently being bathed. You weren’t going to lie, he was very attractive and you won’t deny it. There was something in you that just wanted to mark his neck up and down, which wasn’t like you. 

Jay sat down next to you, placing an arm on your shoulder. He took back his hand with a gasp. “You’re freezing! I’ll get you something more warm to put on”, he went to get up to get you a blanket but you stopped him, not saying a word as you grabbed his wrist. You’re not sure what came over you as you kissed him, smashing your lips against his. His lips were soft, you could taste wine against them, the sweetness hitting your senses. You pushed him on the bed, climbing on top of him, not removing your lips from his.

Jay was confused as to what came over you, but he didn’t stop you. He deepened the kiss, holding your hips as you straddled his waist. You grinded yourself against him, gripping the material of the sheets on the bed, digging your nails into it. Before you knew it, you were underneath Jay, your clothes discarded on the floor. His lips attached to your neck, sucking purple spots on your skin, eliciting a moan from you. You grabbed his clothed cock, palming him through his pants, earning a groan from him. The next thing you knew, you were both naked on the bed, Jay thrusting in and out of you at a reasonable pace.

You arched your back as Jay hits your sweet spot, his cock hitting you in all the right places. You grabbed his buttcheeks, squeezing them as you dug your nails in the flesh of his cheeks, earning a hiss from Jay. You reached up, kissing him, sucking on his bottom lip. You weren’t usually like this. You were on the calmer side of things, like to be soft and sweet. This was a completely different side to you, and you didn’t know what got into you, but Jay loved seeing you like this. You came to your orgasm, your legs shaking as your eyes rolled back, Jay soon coming to his not long after you.

Without giving Jay a chance to breathe, you flipped the both of you over, you now on top. You grinded against his cock, your nails digging into the flesh of his thighs. Moans kept escaping Jay as you continued grinding against him, cum leaking out of his tip and onto his stomach, his abs glistening with cum. You leant down and shoved your face into the crook of his neck, attaching your lips to his skin. You sucked dark purple spots on his skin before latching your teeth into his skin, biting him. Jay hissed as you bit him hard, causing blood to trickle down his neck. Jay was surprised as he loudly moaned at the sensation, making him cum instantly, staining his chest with cum.

Jay laid there as he tried catching his breath, his chest moving up and down at a fast pace. As Jay continued to lay there, you grabbed your clothes, putting them back on without saying anything. You went to leave Jay’s room when you stopped you. “Where are you going?” he asked, looking at you, now sitting up. You just smirked at him, opened the door and left without another word. Jay looked at the door in confusion, wondering what the hell has happened to you. Did something happen to you in the woods?

You walked along the halls, which were lit up by lamps, the only source of light in the kingdom due to it now being dark outside. You put the hood of your cape over your head, your black dress, gliding along the floor with every step you take. You managed to leave the kingdom without being seen, running down the steps, the moonlight being your only source of light to lead you on your way.

--------------------------------

“Where’s Y/N? I can’t find her anywhere, she’s not in her room”, one of the servants exclaimed, worry evident on her face. She’s been trying to find her all morning, unfortunately with no luck. Jay, Jake, a couple of other knights and the King sat at the table in the great hall, looking at the servant. “What do you mean you can’t find her?” Jay asked, worry now written all over his face. He stood up, making his chair fall backwards. It was the King’s turn to stand up now, towering over the table.

“She probably wandered home since she doesn’t belong here. Jay, you brought her here, didn’t you? She lives in the poor part of the kingdom, right? I want you to go find her and when you do, I want you to kill her, no matter what”, the King ordered, but from the sound of his voice, Jay realised there was something more to this than the King is saying. 

“What do you mean ‘kill her’?! What aren’t you telling us? You can’t keep things to yourself without telling us, sire” Jay said, annoyance in his voice. He kept arguing with the King until the King had enough. “Enough! You do as I say or I will kill you and then kill Y/N myself. Now go!” the King said, slamming his hands down on the table. Jay grumbled before leaving the table, Jake and a few other knights following him. Before they got to the door and left, the King spoke up, his voice full of fear.

“You really want to know what’s happening?” the King said, making them turn around to look at him. The King sat back down, sighing. “8 years ago, the same thing happened across the kingdom. Everyone in the village got sick, ranging from children to adults. I knew Y/N’s parents as I saved Y/N’s mother when she was still pregnant with her. I was just passing by when I saw her standing on top of her bridge, assuming that she was going to jump off, I ran to her and got her down, to which she broke down in tears, her husband running to me holding her. Since that day, I watched them from a distance, keeping an eye on them to see if they’re safe”, he took a deep breath before he continued.

“I continued to watch them from afar for years after that, watching Y/N grow up, as well as her siblings. One day, as I was strolling along through the woods, I noticed something strange. I saw a figure of what seemed to be a woman. They had long black hair, their skin looked pale and their clothes dirty. Though I had a feeling it wasn’t actually a woman, but a spirit. My suspicions were answered when a few days later, the village got infected, children and adults growing ill, dying. It was a bloodbath. When I got to their home, there was blood everywhere. Blood stained beds and carpet, as well as blood on the walls. The house was empty, or at least I thought it was empty until I heard a voice. A female voice. It was Y/N, she was talking to someone, or something. I looked inside a room, and there she was: Y/N sitting on the floor, tear clad cheeks. I saw the same thing I saw a few days prior, sitting in front of Y/N”.

“Get away from her!”, the King yelled, trying to get the thing away from Y/N. The thing ran away, out of the house and back into the woods. But in the process, Y/N got scared and ran in the same direction. What did the spirit want with Y/N?

“Why didn’t you do anything?” Jay questioned. “Because by the time I realised, it was too late! The spirit possessed Y/N’s mother, killing her children, but not before destroying hundreds of lives in the village. But that’s the thing. Y/N’s mother wasn’t supposed to become possessed. It was supposed to be Y/N. And I think that’s why it’s come back”, the King said, fear in his eyes. “Now go, before it’s too late”, the King ordered, Jay and his knights running out of the main hall and out of the castle, hoping to find you before it’s too late. 

--------------------------------

Jay and his knights wandered into the woods, and the sight they walked into made them frown. There were dead bodies everywhere, blood coming out of their eyes, mouth and nose. Some bodies were torn into 2, some had their limbs missing, and guts were hanging out of their chests. Jake wanted to throw up, to which he did, puking his guts up. Jay walked forward, trying to see any sign that you were there, but he couldn’t find anything. Suddenly, a gust of wind came out of nowhere, making some of the knights almost fall over. Jay saw you in the distance, walking towards them. But you didn’t look like yourself. You were covered in blood. Blood splatters on your face, dress and on the sword you were holding. Wait, sword? Where the fuck did you get a sword from?

“Y/N, what are you doing?” Jay asked, walking towards you slowly. That’s when you spoke up. Except, it wasn’t your voice. “It’s too late. Y/N is gone”, your voice- which wasn’t your voice- sounded demonic. You lifted your arm, putting your hand out. Black mist appeared from behind you, and you pushed your hand out, making the knights behind Jay be thrown backwards, some of them being thrown into a tree, knocking them out. The sound of thunder roared in the distance, lightning lighting up the sky. Rain came pouring down from the sky, making it hard to see in front of you.

“Time to die”, you said, a smirk on your face.

You lifted your bloodied sword, ready to strike. Jay ran forward, holding his sword up. Both swords came into contact with a clang, the force causing vibrations to run through your bodies. You both fought, clashing swords. You sliced Jay’s arm, making him hiss as blood marked his arm. You fought for what felt like hours, losing track of time.

“I will rule the kingdom! It should have been me, not that stupid king. If he didn’t kill me, I would have ruled the kingdom and become Queen! Guess the King isn’t as innocent as everything thinks he is”, you said, smirking at Jay, making him stop in his tracks. “What do you mean?”, Jay asked, lowering his sword, letting his guard down. 

“Ah, he didn’t tell you, did he? He had a wife years ago, who was going to become Queen but become the King was fucking jealous of that, he murdered her in the woods. She thought that they were having a nice day in the woods, going to have a picnic, but he grabbed his sword and struck her right then and there, her body falling to the ground. That was me, I was the wife”, you said, your voice becoming more and more demonic the angrier the spirit got. Suddenly, the King ran out of nowhere from behind Jay, standing in front of him. 

“Guinevere, stop this please!” the King bellowed, hoping that she would stop. But unfortunately for him, that made her more angry. All of a sudden, the King gasped and fell to the ground until his body came to a stop. Blood trickled out of his eyes, nose and mouth. Shit.

“Guess I’ll be Queen after all”, you smirked at Jay, raising your sword, getting ready to strike. Out of nowhere, Jake’s body stepped in front of Jay’s, raising his arms. He grabbed the sword, yelling as the blade dug into the palms of his hands. “Stop it, you bitch”, Jake yelled, managing to grab the sword out of your hand. You screamed like a banshee, making Jay and Jake hold their ears, the sound too painful to listen to.

Jake looked at Jay, giving him a look that said ‘you know what you need to do’, to which Jay nodded. Jake threw the sword to Jay, and Jay ran up to you. He turned you around, putting the sword to your throat. You held onto Jay’s arms, digging your nails into them. “Y/N, if you’re still in there, I’m really sorry for what I’m about to do”, Jay said as he closed his eyes. You chuckled evilly, the spirit inside you preparing for what’s about to happen.

“You can do what you want to me, you’re not going to get Y/N back. She was already dead before I possessed her”, the spirit said, taunting Jay with her words. Jay let go of her and turned her around to look at him. He grabbed the sword with both hands as he yelled, striking the sword right into your chest, a scream leaving you. The spirit possessing you let out a screech, making Jay’s and Jake’s ears bleed. Black mist came out of your mouth, heading towards the sky before it disappeared completely, evaporating. 

Your body dropped to the ground with a thud, the sword still in your chest. Jay wrapped his arms around you, tears staining his cheeks as he sobbed. Jake stood there, not knowing what to do or say. Jay stayed like that for what seemed like hours, just holding your lifeless body. Some of his tears dropped onto where the sword used to be, falling into the wound on your chest. All of a sudden, the wound in your chest started to disappear, the colour in your skin now becoming more full of life. You gasped as you opened your eyes, startling Jay. 

“What happened? How did I get here?” you asked, looking around you, wondering why you were in the woods, and why Jay was holding you. He started crying again, of happiness this time as he hugged you, wrapping his arms around you. “You’re alive, I thought we lost you, oh my god”, Jay cried of happiness. You were confused but wrapped your arms around him, melting into the hug. 

--------------------------------

You laid in Jay’s bed, looking up at him as he explained what happened to you, and you felt awful. You killed all those people? Including the King? You knew that it wasn’t actually you as you were possessed, but you still felt awful. You started crying as the guilt started eating you up, the whole kingdom is probably going to be scared of you or hate you for what’s happened. Jay was startled as you started crying your eyes out, not knowing what to do. You voiced your feelings, feeling like you were at fault for everything that has happened, even though that it wasn’t you and you shouldn’t feel like that, but you couldn’t help it. 

“Hey, if anyone says anything to you about it or tries to make you feel like shit then, they will have me to deal with, ok?”, he said, smiling softly at you. You returned a smile, smiling up at him. You leaned closer to him, lifting your head up. You gave him a soft kiss on the lips, holding his cheek, rubbing your thumb along the skin. Jay smiled into the kiss, melting into you. You’re not sure what’s going to happen now but what you do know is that you're most definitely in love with Park Jongseong.

[goatcheeseandmilk]

Maybe If You Weren’t You

An angsty trolls fanfic that takes place when Poppy and Branch were in high school.

Desc: Poppy invites Branch to an “end of school year get together” to which he reluctantly decides to attend, unknowing that the events of the night would later reveal deep feelings, emotions, and secrets that leave them both in a painful situation.

Enjoy! :)

——————————————————

Branch woke up in a panic. His whole body trembling, heart racing, palms sweating, and gasping for air. His eyes darted around the room looking for any danger before he realized he just woke up from, yet another, bad nightmare. He clutched his chest and leaned up against the headboard of bed while he waited for his body to catch up with his mind. He closed his eyes, wishing he could just go back to the (partial and temporary) escape that is sleeping. He sucked in a shaky breath and got up to get ready for the day.

He put on his usual green vest and brown patched shorts and began washing his face. He stared into his gray face in the bathroom mirror for a while, studying himself. He was almost seventeen and still felt the same as he had as a young baby. This is hell. He thought to himself as he grabbed his cup of coffee off the coffee maker that had finally finished brewing. His snide thought was quickly proved wrong though as he heard a loud knocking coming from outside his bunker.

“Branch! Are you awake?” He heard a sickly sweet and familiar voice yell from outside while continuing to bang on his door. To Branch hell was actually just right outside the door and her name was Poppy. He groaned in annoyance and considered just ignoring her until she left until he remembered how that method had failed him countless times in the past. She was utterly relentless. He went up the elevator of his bunker and came out the trap door to be face to face with the pink troll.

“Poppy,” He said, sighing, “what are you doing here?” He asked wondering what she could possibly want from him this time.

“Me and the gang are having a little get-together party tonight at my place to celebrate the end of the school year and I wanted to invite you to come,” She explained happily.

He could never understand why she consistently asked him to come to things, why she talked to him at all really. Even after all the times he’d pushed her away from him she continued to treat him like a friend. Although he complained and would never admit it to anybody, he was grateful for Poppy. She was the closest thing to a real friend he had and even though she drove him insane most of the time he still cared about her, a lot.

Obviously he didn’t want to go to this “little get together party” with a bunch of people who only put up with him and acted polite out of pity. He especially didn’t want to deal with Creek, the total priss who constantly acted like he had ownership over Poppy even though they weren’t even an official couple. Creek also hated Branch.

He opened his mouth to respond to Poppy with a “no” before he could retreat back into his comfortable solitude but then he looked at her. She looked at him with such genuine eyes, something he had grown unfamiliar with. Most people didn’t really look at him but if they did their eyes were usually clouded with guilt, confusion, pity, annoyance, judgment, or fake generosity. Poppy was different though. She never made him feel like she was only talking to him because she felt bad for him or wanted to feel better about herself by doing the good deed of talking to the gray, damaged kid.

“Yeah, I’ll go,” he said, surprising himself with his words almost as much as he surprised her.

Her face lit up, “Really? Oh, that’s great! It’s gonna be at my place at 8 PM in the backyard, you don’t need to bring anything, we should mostly just be hanging out, dancing, eating, and doing regular party stuff. No need to dress up or anything, it's casual,” She seemed like she was almost going to explode with excitement just from him saying he would be there, “I’m so glad you’re going to come! It’s going to be really fun. We’re all so excited about the end of the school year and the start of summer and I thought ‘what better way to celebrate than with a party?’ so I planned the whole thing myself and I even made the invitations.”

She handed him a sparkly and decorated envelope that had obviously been carefully crafted by her skillful hands. On the front of it in pretty letters was his name surrounded by stickers.

“Thanks” He said flatly, taking it in his gray hands and feeling the glittered edges.

“Aren’t you going to open it?” She said rocking back on her heels and smiling.

“Seems kind of pointless now don’t you think? Usually people receive the invitation and then RSVP, not the other way around.”

“Mm maybe but I’m the Princess and I don’t really have to follow the rules.”

“I don’t think that’s how it works but if you want me to open your card then I will…your highness,” he said with a sarcastic bow.

“I do want you to,” she said with a smug look, getting close to his face, “go on.”

He rolled his eyes playfully, cursing himself for actually playing along with her. He opened the card that was just as decorated as the envelope only to be blasted in the face with glitter, typical. Poppy laughed at his annoyance as she turned to leave.

“Hey, thanks for that, Princess,” He said, wiping glitter off of his face.

“Anytime! I’ll see you tonight!” She yelled back, waving before turning on her heels and practically skipping away.

“Psh, stupid glitter,” He said to himself, smirking, looking at the card that he would be sure to store with the rest of them later.

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

Branch could hardly believe he was actually walking to Poppy’s house for a party. He considered turning back and not showing up but instead he pushed onward. Finally, he approached Poppy’s place where he could hear music playing from the backyard and he could see some lights. He drew in a shallow breath, suddenly feeling anxious. He felt his heart beating in his chest. He imagined how people would look at him. They always looked he could see their stares even though they thought they were being discreet. He heard them whispering even though they thought they were being quiet.

Nope. He thought to himself and turned around, walking back the way he came before he stopped himself, clenching his fists. He thought about Poppy that morning and how her face seemed to impossibly light up more when he told her he would be there. I’ll give it one hour.

He hesitantly stepped into the backyard where he saw the scene of many trolls he recognized but didn’t know. So much for “little get together” he thought silently cursing the troll princess for suckering him into being there. Branch was right, people stared, people whispered, he saw, and he heard.

Is that Branch?

What is he doing here?

Why does Poppy even invite him anymore?

Surprising that he actually showed up.

He wrapped his arms around his body and pushed through the crowd. He felt fuzzy like he was floating. His heart felt tight and was beating hard against his chest. His breathing felt ragged. His eyes darted around the crowd trying to find the only face that could bring him some kind of relief in this moment. Finally, his eyes landed on her. She was laughing with her usual friend group obviously telling some sort of funny story. He felt himself relax a little as he moved closer to where she was standing. She looked up and made eye contact with him and she smiled.

“Branch! You made it!” Poppy exclaimed, waving him over.

“Hey guys,” He said, giving a small wave to the group who politely murmured greetings to him.

“Oh my god, I have to tell you about what just happened. We went to grab some snacks when-” She spoke quickly and exaggerated before she was cut off by a voice that Branch was less than excited to hear.

“Poppy, hey, I’ve been looking all over for you,” Said Creek. He wrapped his arm around Poppy and gave Branch a quick, yet snide, glance.

“Oh, uh, I’ve just been over here talking to my friends,” She said. Branch noticed her demeanor shift in a way he couldn’t seem to understand.

“Branch,” Creek said looking at him, “nice to see you actually show up. I really had my doubts.”

“Wouldn’t miss this for anything,” Branch replied coldly. He felt like his whole body was on fire with agitation. He hated Creek. He hated his stupid hair, stupid attitude, stupid arm around Poppy’s shoulder.

“That’s nice. Well I have a few people I need to go talk to. We’ll catch up later, eh?” Creek said with a fake grin before he pulled Poppy away with him.

Branch was now alone again. Super. He wandered around the party aimlessly, walking through groups of people. His eyes landed on a long table stocked with snacks and drinks and he grabbed a cup filled with punch. He turned around only to be met with somebody slamming into him causing him to drop the cup on the ground. He didn’t see who it was but he could hear the snickering.

He knew that wasn’t just a simple mistake, simple mistakes are met with simple apologies. Coming here at all was a mistake. He couldn’t believe that he thought maybe there was a chance he could actually have fun at a party like this. He felt his face get hot with embarrassment. He could cry from the frustration. He had to get out of sight.

He looked to his left where the back door to Poppy’s house was and without hesitation he went in, stepping into the kitchen. It was dark in the house, obviously not set up for the outdoor party. He wondered if it was weird for him to be in there but at the moment he didn’t really care. He leaned against the wall next to the door and tried to even out his breathing. Why was this so hard for him?

He just wanted to go home but he knew he wouldn’t feel right leaving without saying goodbye to Poppy and he definitely wasn’t ready to go back out into that crowd to try and find her. The sound of the back door opening loudly startled him. He was even more surprised to see a slightly distressed looking Poppy standing there. She looked startled by him for a moment before she looked at him with a confused expression.

“Branch? What are you doing in here? Party’s outside,” She said, stepping toward him.

“Sorry, I just…I needed a minute,” He said, realizing how insane he probably seemed, just standing there in her kitchen uninvited.

“I hear you there,” she replied, heaving out a big sigh as she leaned against the wall next to him. He looked over at her and saw an expression cross her face that he didn’t really recognize from her. She looked…upset, sad. He immediately grew concerned.

“You okay?’ He asked gently.

She hesitated for a minute, thoughtfully choosing her answer before she said, “not really.” She crossed her arms across her chest.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” Branch asked, feeling out of place. He wasn’t familiar with the whole comforting thing.

It was to his surprise she started with, “I don’t know, it's just, a lot. Being the Princess and all is great. I love my people and I love getting to take care of them but the pressure to be amazing and not let anyone down is overwhelming. I just keep thinking about how every year is another step closer to the day I’ll have to take over for my dad and be queen. I don’t want to mess it up.”

Branch listened intently, hanging on to every word and carefully considering each of them. He wouldn’t have even guessed that she’d been feeling so stressed considering how she presented herself to everyone around her. She always seemed to be confident and put together. He let the silence between them stretch out for a moment, it wasn’t an uncomfortable silence that seemed to desperately need to be broken. It was just simply, silence between two friends (if that) who were struggling on their own paths.

Finally after a long moment he spoke, his voice low, “You’re going to do amazing, Poppy. You already are.”

She blew air out of her nose, laughing sarcastically, “I don’t feel like I am. Most of the time I feel like I’m performing. I even started doing it around the people I love the most. I feel like I’m always trying to seem perfect and happy with everything I do even if it’s something I don’t want to do. I have no control. School, friendships, work, helping my dad lead the village, even my relationships-”

She says that last word bitterly before she stops talking abruptly, like she said something she shouldn’t have.

“Don’t tell anyone about that, please,” She says, he looks over to her seeing a kind of pained look on her face, “I don’t even know why I said it.”

“It’s okay, I understand why you would,” Branch says, thinking about the conceited, backhanded, and not to mention selfish troll.

He replayed the moment from earlier in his head. The way she seemed to tense up when he was around, the way she shut down and went along with him, the way he shuttled her around like she was some sort of trophy he had to be constantly showing off. She seemed happy with him, her dad loved him that was clear, everybody loved Creek.

“Everybody loves him,” Poppy said quietly, seeming hesitant to keep opening up to him.

He listens, soaking it all in, hoping she’ll say more, realizing with surprise how badly he hopes she says more. His silence and attention seem to intrigue her, he suddenly wonders how often she was able to speak like this, completely open and vulnerable. Weakest parts exposed. He wondered how long she’d been waiting to unleash these feelings out into existence.

He guesses it had been painfully long based on how she lets her next words pour out into the quiet, dark, and empty kitchen, “Having your whole future built around what other people are expecting from you is nauseating. I just wish that I had the freedom to do what I wanted without worrying about how it’s going to look. I feel stuck. At the end of the day everybody is watching my every move. They look to me for guidance, for advice, to admire who’s representing them. I have to present myself in a way that makes everyone happy. My dad seems to have most of my future figured out for me already. Sometimes I just wish I could make a decision for myself that isn’t based on what’s going to make people happy. Not my dad, not my friends, not my people. Just me.”

She paces slightly around the room as she speaks, her heart emptying out into the space until she’s let all of it go. Branch stands there considering what she’s said and feeling shocked. He never would’ve expected that by coming to this party he’d somehow unlock the door to the deepest, hidden depths of the heart of Princess Poppy. Now that he had this part of heart he would do anything not to lose it.

Poppy was the one troll who had always been kind to him. Not just kind in the way that people are out of politeness but genuinely kind. Poppy, the troll who seemed to have it all together and be self-assured. Poppy, the only troll who genuinely seemed to care about him even though the thought of that made him push her away in an attempt to self-protect. In this moment, though, the last thing he wanted was to push her away. All he wanted was to get closer.

He loved all of the parts of her and that terrified him. Even though the fear of exposing a little bit of his own heart to her seemed overpowering he pushed through it.

“Your happiness is just as important as anybody else’s, Poppy,” He said, she turned to face him, listening to what he had to say.

The two of them couldn't have been more than two feet apart, “it isn’t your job to take care of everyone else’s happiness. Doing everything perfect isn’t what’s important, it’s what you do when something goes wrong that really matters. You don’t have to pretend to be someone you aren’t to get them to like you, it’s your life. You deserve to be happy,” he gave her a small smile. “Everybody is going to love the real Poppy. The Poppy I’m talking to right now.”

He waits for her response, she shifts on her feet, her eyes study his face thoughtfully, thinking hard about what he said.

“You really think that they’re still going to love me when I’m a mess?” She gestured toward herself, “When I’m not everything they thought and expected I would be? When I screw it up and don’t get it right? ”

“I know they will. You’re more than what they’re expecting. They’re going to respect and love you. Their brave, passionate, genuine leader.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I love you.”

He feels his breath catch. Suddenly regretting what he said, wondering if maybe he’d said too much.

“You deserve to be happy too, Branch,” She says, further closing the gap between them. Surprising him.

“What?” He says, caught off guard.

“Earlier you said I deserve to be happy. I just thought you should know that you deserve it too.”

“Oh,” he looks down at his hands before he looks back up into her eyes, her captivating, caring eyes, “thank you.”

“Thank you,” she says looking at him with a grateful expression, “I needed to hear that.”

“Anytime you need to hear it again, you know where to find me.”

Their eyes stay trained on each other, getting lost in each other for a minute. Branch suddenly realized just how close they were standing to each other. Her face was just inches away from his. Poppy looks at him in a way that makes his heart race and before he can even comprehend what’s happening she steps toward, closing the small gap between them. Her lips press against his as her arms wrap around his neck. She pressed her body into him, his back pressed against the wall.

Her lips are soft against his and he lets his hands fall on her waist, pulling her closer to him. He didn’t know how badly he had wanted this and now that he had it he didn’t want to lose it. She pulled away and he could feel her shaky, soft breath on his lips.

Just as suddenly as the whole thing had happened the back door swung open, letting light into the dark kitchen. She jumped back away from him, startled.

“Poppy? Poppy, what are you doing in here?” Creek says, stepping into the house, his eyes landing on her, “I’ve been looking for you.”

“I just, uh, I was grabbing some napkins, I didn’t put any out there earlier,” she stumbles, grabbing a stack of napkins off the small kitchen table.

Creek stands with an unreadable expression before his eyes move on to Branch who is still standing off to the side. Creek narrows in on him and looks from Branch to Poppy and back at him again.

“What the hell is he doing in here?” He says gesturing aggressively towards him, “Following you around like some lost puppy? Why do you let him bother you?”

Branch opens and closes his mouth, not knowing what to say to him. Feeling furious for how weak and small he probably seemed. He hated it.

“Creek, stop, he isn’t bothering me. He’s my friend,” She tried to reason with him.

“Whatever, let’s go back to the party,” He walked over to where she was standing and grabbed her hand, pulling her to the door.

“Yea, okay,” she catches Branch’s eye once more before she leaves, looking bewildered, conflicted, and in shock.

He thinks maybe she just realized the weight of what she had done. She had kissed Branch. Princess Poppy had kissed Branch but Princess Poppy could never be anything with Branch. Branch felt a wave of nausea hit him like a bus. He felt like the dark kitchen was spinning around him.

He’d realized that he might’ve ruined the best thing he had. The best thing in his sad, miserable, lonely life was Poppy. He was going to lose yet another person who actually cared about him and it was his fault.

He felt his breathing get ragged and short. He ripped the door open urgently and started to run. He didn’t stop running until he was back in his bunker where he dropped to the ground against the wall, hyperventilating. He wished more than anything that he could be anybody else. Someone that she could love. Someone that could be good to her and be everything that she deserves. He wasn’t that person. He was never going to be. He was too broken, too damaged.

He sat there like that with his head buried into his arms until his body calmed down. He crawled his way to bed just wanting to fall asleep, he did. For the first time in months he slept. Really slept. He didn’t dream or wake up in the middle of night panting and sweating. He slept until he was woken up by a loud banging outside.

He stirred awake, rubbing his eyes, feeling heavy. He replayed the night before in his mind, feeling his heart sink at the recollection. The banging outside continued. Who could possibly be outside his door this early in the morning? His question was answered just as quickly as it was thought when he heard an all too familiar voice.

“Branch, are you in there?”

Poppy.

Her voice sounded small, almost weak. Branch felt sick. After a minute of debating whether he should talk to her or just lay in bed he went up the elevator reluctantly to meet her face to face. He opened the door to see her standing right in front of him just as she had the morning before but differently. He noticed her puffy and tired eyes, it seemed like she had been crying. She had her arms wrapped around herself.

When she spoke her voice wavered slightly, threatening to break at any moment, “Hey.”

“Hi,” He crossed his arms, shifting on his feet.

“About yesterday. I…” She looked off to the side, for the first time since knowing her Branch was seeing Poppy completely at a loss for words.

“It’s okay, Poppy,” He said, she looked up at him, “I understand. What happened yesterday was stupid and impulsive and it can never happen again. I get it. It’s okay.”

She stared at him, lips parted slightly, her expression was clouded, “Branch, it’s not okay.”

“It is, really, I get it. Just look at us,” He gestured to her and then to himself.

She was quiet for a while before she said quietly, “I’m sorry,” she looked like she was about to cry.

“Don’t be. It isn’t your fault.”

“But it is, Branch, I shouldn’t have done that. I wasn’t thinking. I’m an idiot and now I’m hurting you and that’s the last thing I ever wanted to do,” she’s crying now, big, heaving sobs. Branch had never seen Poppy cry before, he hates it more than anything.

“Poppy…” Branch hates this, he wished desperately that he could be what she needed, that she wouldn’t have to feel like this because of him.

“I’m so sorry, Branch. I care about you so much and I wish it could be different but it just can’t. Maybe if I wasn’t me and you weren’t you it wouldn’t have to be like this,” she was getting hysterical. With every sob Branch’s heart ached more.

He didn’t want her to hurt like this, he hated what this was doing to her. He blamed himself for it. He wished things could be different too but he knew better than anyone that they couldn’t, he’d learned that lesson a long time ago. Things would always be this way.

Anybody Branch loved, he would break, and he would end up alone.

For now, all he wanted to do was make sure she didn’t have to hurt like him. He wanted her to be happy, he loved her. He loved her so much that he was going to let her go.

He wrapped her in his arms and held her, “It’s okay, Poppy, it’s okay,” he spoke softly, stroking the back of her head while she sobbed into him, accepting the comforting embrace and grabbing on to him.

Every bone in his body ached with hurt. He held her for a long time until her sobs began to quiet and her breathing began to slow. She pulled herself off of him and wiped her face with the back of her hand. The two of them looked at each other for a moment.

“Thanks, Branch,” She said, taking a deep breath.

“Anytime, and anytime you need me, you know where to find me,” he said, reinforcing his words from yesterday.

“I know,” she said, smiling softly. It hurt. It hurt a lot. He knew that it would always hurt but seeing her smile again made it worth it to him.

“And for the record, anytime you need me, I’m here too. As your royal leader and, of course, as your friend,” she added, playful yet serious.

“I know,” he said, it all hurt.

They stood there for a moment just letting the silence stretch out into the morning air.

“Goodbye, Branch,” she finally said, “I’ll see you later, okay?”

“Yeah, later,” he said, giving her a weak smile.

She seemed hesitant to leave. She kept her eyes on him for a long moment while he stared down at his feet, unable to watch her walk away. When he finally looked up again she was gone and with her she took a piece of Branch’s heart. A part that he never intended to lose, he’d already lost so many pieces of his heart, leaving it shattered and messy. He made a silent promise that he would never let himself make that mistake again.

—————————————

If you made it to the end, thank you for reading! :) Hope you enjoyed <3