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shadowedoracle · 4 years ago

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Amends

Summary: Rumple has noticed something up with Belle's behaviour over the past few days, and is concerned one morning when he smells blood on her. Belle is upset by his nosiness and he has to work out how to make things right with her.

Rating: G

[AO3]

A/N: Happy Belated Skin Deep Day/ Rumbelle Anniversary/ Fluffapalooza!

This was supposed to be my main Fluffapalooza fic this year but the last few weeks have been super busy. Then I started suffering from the what we now finally think are migraines that give me terrible vertigo so I can barely sit up half the time. Also they made looking at a screen kind of bad. So this got delayed. ***

Something was wrong with Belle. She hadn’t been her usual cheery self the past few days, and now she was an hour late with his morning tea.

Rumplestiltskin tapped his fingers against the wood of the long table in his Great Hall. Belle had never been late before but he supposed it should not surprise him his maid was late. After all she was a noblewoman he’d trapped in a humiliating bargain, poor service was indeed one of the downsides of picking her -- she’d made some truly dreadfully inedible meals the first week she was here. He was the Dark One hence immortal, so he knew she couldn’t poison him but he’d spent those first several days considering whether one could in theory die from foul tasting food. Eventually he’d given in (for his taste buds’ sake) and told her how to tell the castle to make the meals.

He hadn’t gotten around to telling her that the castle was capable of performing all her other duties itself. It would hardly do for his maid to simply sit around all day and read (well, more than she already did). After all, that would deprive him of the stunning sight of her standing on ladders and showing off her legs while she cleaned up high or the breathtaking view of her bending over while working on lower surfaces. It was definitely his own desires (admittedly long dormant), his... his depravity that stopped him from freeing Belle from her cleaning duties, he assured himself. It wasn’t due to any other emotions on his part.

So he continued to make her clean the castle and to serve his meals. Despite her poor culinary skills, it turned out that she made lovely cup of tea. Soon breakfast and afternoon tea had had become his favourite times of day. A few hours where they both sat around making idle chitchat about anything or sometimes just eating in silence. This had been quite unexpected and he refused to examine why he liked it so much.

But, predictably enough, it was over now.

Things had been going so well after they’d returned from chasing that thief and he’d shown her North Tower library (that he’d definitely not magicked into existence that very day). But now, for no reason he could see, they’d gone back to those first uncomfortable days of her time in the Dark Castle.

Perhaps she was trying to test him. But why he didn’t know. He hadn’t said or done anything abnormal in the last few days. They’d had no visitors to the castle, it had just been the two of them.

It would be easier if, as he’d intended, he didn’t care about her at all. Instead he actually quite liked his little maid. Although, of course, he would never actually tell her that. For her part, she no longer seemed scared of him. She’d even hugged him in the forest that one time. But he was still the monster who’d taken away any chance of the life she’d been planning to lead.

The whispering voice of his conscience -- that sounded like a certain fourteen year old teenage boy he had not seen for over two centuries -- told him he should let her go back to her family. But he ignored it. He wasn’t a good man. In fact, he hadn’t been a man for a long time now. No. He was a monster and monsters could do things like bargain for pretty maidens to come and live -- forever -- in their castles.

Rumplestiltskin sat mulling the situation a little longer. He’d just resolved to go and find where his erstwhile maid had gotten to when he heard the tap of her heeled shoes outside the double doors behind him.

He sat back in his chair as nonchalantly as he could, and set his face into the terrifying grin that had made grown men piss themselves.

She opened one of the doors and he listened to her muffled footsteps draw nearer and nearer to him. When he thought she was just a few feet away, he trilled, “You’re late.”

She paused briefly then continued her progress towards him and placed the tray in front of him.

She held her head high and said mildly, “Yes, I know. I’m sorry, Rumplestiltskin.”

Then she began pouring the tea in her usual way. She showed no sign of fright at his grin. The tea tray was clean and dry -- even his attempt to startle her hadn’t worked. Rumplestiltskin felt quite deflated.

“Well,” he trilled, “don’t you have an explanation for yourself?”

She shook her head. “I just got distracted by something this morning…”

She placed his teacup in front of him and her scent, of books and roses hit him. But something else was there too… Rumple sniffed the air and stiffened and turned to thoroughly look over his maid.

She frowned at him as she reached to place a plate of breakfast pastries in front of him. “What?”

He grabbed her wrist to stop her pouring her tea and she glared at him as she tried to free her wrist. He just ignored her and sniffed the air very deliberately and scanned over her.

She squirmed and growled at him, “What do you think you’re doing. Unhand me at once!”

“You’re bleeding. Someone’s hurt you,” he growled. “Did you help another thief out and he took a slice at you? Or did you cut yourself attempting some task in that kitchen that I’ve told you you should leave to the castle?”

Belle’s face shuttered but a faint blush appeared on her cheeks. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“There’s no use hiding it from me.” He said wagging his finger in her face, “The Dark One has his ways of finding these things out.

"There's nothing to tell."

He sighed, "Belle, I can heal you if you tell me where you’re injured. So why don’t you just show me where you’re bleeding and make this simpler for the both of us.”

He watched Belle carefully. He saw anger and embarrassment flit across her face, as well as a hint of… was that amusement? She bit her lip and seemed to be wrestling with herself before coming to some conclusion. She lifted her chin and gave him a haughty glare down her nose and he felt a surge of affection at her attitude and complete lack of fear.

“Well are you going to tell me what I want to know?” He asked impatiently as she still didn’t say anything.

“I’m not injured.” She said at last.

“But you’re bleeding...” He was going to say more but she cut him off.

“I’m not injured.” She repeated.

“If you’re not injured why are you bleeding? You’re being secretive and hiding things from me and I want to know why.”

She glared at him, “You really want to know?”

He rolled his eyes, “That has been the point of the last minute or so of conversation, yes.”

Still staring daggers at him she sighed and said, “I’m bleeding there.” As she pointed straight the centre of her pelvis.

“How the …?” Came out of his mouth before his brain caught up and clamped his mouth shut. But he couldn't quite tear his eyes away for another few moments, until he suddenly remembered how it would look to Belle that he was staring at her there and he focused himself to meet her gaze.

“Oh.”

“'Oh'? 'Oh'? All you have to say is ‘oh’? You all but force me to tell you and all you can say is ‘oh’? Not ‘sorry’? I mean I know you won't willingly admit to being wrong but you could at least apologize for being an ass.”

He rolled his eyes, “I’m sorry my concern for you has upset you. Next time I smell you bleeding, I’ll ignore it and just hope you will deign to tell me about an injury before you bleed out. Is that what you want to hear?”

She glared and him and her hand twitched. For a moment he thought his lovely kind maid was about to slap him but she just shook her head and stomped out of the Great Hall.

Rumplestiltskin slumped back in his chair and muttered to himself, “well that could have gone better.”

***

Rumplestiltskin was disappointed, but not entirely surprised when Belle didn’t appear at lunchtime. But when she didn’t appear for their afternoon tea, he knew she was still quite upset. When she didn’t appear for dinner he knew she was truly mad. She might be late once, might miss one mealtime sitting around reading. But she wouldn’t miss three like this.

Clearly he’d upset her even more than he’d realized this morning. He just didn’t know what to do to fix it. He didn’t have a lot of experience with women and their… moods.

Milah had become even more bad tempered before and during her bleeding. Eventually he’d learned to just stay out of her way as much as he could. His attempts to keep Bae protected from the worst of her rage and keep him from asking too many questions, meant he had often invented little father son activities (some of his favourite memories of Bae’s early years) to stay out of her way during those days. But that didn’t help his current situation at all. He couldn’t just avoid Belle until her bleeding passed -- he sensed that would make this much worse. With Cora he’d just helped her use her anger and pain at her body and turn that into more magic. Which didn’t help him with Belle at all either.

He frowned. Neither Milah or Cora had been particularly good tempered women to begin with. So perhaps he needed a different tack with Belle. Which just left him even more stumped.

He paced around the Great Hall trying to think. What could he do to get his maid to speak to him again? He knew many spells but he didn’t think she’d be happy if he used on on her. He supposed he could appear wherever she was hiding and frighten her back to work but then they’d lose that nice companionable relationship they’d developed of late.

So he had to find a way to make amends to her. But how?

He paced around the table and caught sight of the tea cup Belle had chipped on her first day here -- which was now the only teacup he ever used. He started to turn away from from the table when an idea occurred to him. He stared over at the cup and smiled to himself as the idea began to unfold in his mind.

Yes that could work. He thought as he magicked himself up to his tower to begin his work.

***

It was late when he finished, but still a few hours off midnight. He hoped this would work. Now he was done arranging it his little tray of offerings, it didn’t seem quite so clever or enticing. But he had no other ideas for how to appease Belle so he supposed he was stuck with it.

It took a matter of moments to work out that she was still hiding up in the North Tower Library. Without giving himself any more time to overthink this he magicked himself halfway up the staircase, where he could hear and see her before she could see him.

Belle was curled up on her little sofa and while she didn’t look her usual happy self -- she didn’t look as furious as she had this morning. He hoped that meant she had calmed down.

He climbed the stairs with quiet and deliberate steps and was almost to the top when she noticed his presence. Her countenance changed to an angry scowl. And he paused one foot hanging above the next tread, wondering if he should just magic the tray to her side and disappear until she was calmer again.

Before he was able to make that decision she spoke, glaring at him. “Are you here to apologize?”

He took the final steps up to the library proper and stood there, glaring down at her. He spoke with as much dignity as he could muster, “The Dark One never apologizes.”

“Then you should leave.”

She crossed her arms and looked away and he cursed to himself. This wasn’t going how he’d imagined at all.

He shifted from foot to foot and glanced around the room as he wondered again whether he should just leave the tray and go away. He took a step towards her side table when she turned to look back at him and he froze in place, his left foot hanging in midair.

She spoke in almost a whisper, “And what about Rumplestiltskin? Does he apologize?”

He stumbled. Getting his feet underneath himself again he glanced warily into her piercing blue gaze that seemed to be trying to read his very soul. He could only meet her stare briefly before he had to look away again. He should leave. He was on dangerous territory here and he didn’t know how to handle it.

He focused on his fingers twitching on the tray he was holding. The green-gold skin of the Dark One and the black nails -- so inhuman and nothing like his human hands had been. No the Dark One didn’t apologize but then again Dark One wouldn’t have brought that tray up here and expected nothing in return.

He didn’t know what it was about Belle. Why this young noblewoman affected him so. How she could look at him as if she could see his soul, as if she understood him. How could she even think that the Dark One and Rumplestiltskin were not entirely one and the same?The only other one who’d thought that was long gone from these lands. Would Belle become as disillusioned with him one day as his Bae had?

He risked another glance at Belle and she was still watching him calmly. He met her eyes for a second and she quirked her eyebrow as if to say “well?”.

He looked away again, focusing on the rows of bookcases behind her, and muttered quietly, “Rumplestiltskin sometimes apologizes.”

He moved towards her and placed the tray on the side table next to her.

Then he took a step back and stood in front of her swaying from side to side uncertainly. Belle didn’t say anything just watched him with those wide blue eyes of hers and he wavered between wanting to run away back to his tower room and stay here forever with her.

His gaze flitted over the room, to anything but her. He couldn’t think what to do or say, and Belle didn’t offer any assistance.

The silence wore on and on, until eventually Belle sighed. “Well, if you’re not going to say anything, perhaps you ought to go.”

The startled him and he looked up, to see yet more hurt that he had caused on her face. Now that would not do at all. What was it she had said was her motto? 'Do the brave thing and bravery will follow?' It seemed like arrant nonsense to him but then he was a lifelong coward. But perhaps he needed to try something new -- for her.

He took a deep breath and then said quickly, “I didn’t mean to upset you this morning.” When she didn’t respond he continued, “I smelled blood and thought you were hurt… It was an accident. I wasn’t trying to embarrass you or… or anything else. I swear.”

She chewed on her lip for a few minutes seeming to ponder his reply carefully. “I suppose I can understand how that happened.”

She paused and he wondered if she had done until she continued in a quiet voice. “It’s just… It felt like you were yet another man mocking and discomforting me just for being a woman.” She crossed her arms across her chest looking awkward and uncertain.

His fingers curled into fists as he felt a flash of anger at the men who had done that to her; he had a sudden urge to hunt them all down one by one. But his anger towards those anonymous men was soon overridden by a deeper an anger and shame. He’d made her feel like that. Bad enough any man had upset her so, but so much worse he had. His fingernails bit painfully into his palms as if as his hands wanted to punish him. He’d come up here to make amends but his appeasement offers now looked so pathetic and small compared with the hurt in her voice.

He didn’t know what to do now. He wanted to retreat and rethink his approach but he sensed that would make things worse. He just wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say or do now.

“Do you want to go?” He blurted out.

She looked puzzled, “Go? Go where?”

“Anywhere. Leave the Dark Castle. Travel the world as you’ve always dreamed... And get yourself far away from me.”

“I can’t. That would break our deal.”

“I could release you from it if you are no longer uncomfortable here.”

She blinked at him and frowned. “You spent the first few weeks I was here deliberately making me uncomfortable. What’s changed now?”

Rumplestiltskin shifted his weight and tried to think of a way he could get out of this conversation with his dignity in tact.

“Perhaps I’ve decided I don’t mind having you around.”

Her mouth quirked into a half-smile, “How does that lead to you wanting to let me go?”

“Because...” He shifted nervously, the urge to lie almost overwhelming. Taking a breath he said quickly, “Maybe I prefer you being happy here... Maybe I like some of your changes to the castle and our conversations about books… But those wouldn’t be the same if you truly hated and feared me the way you did when you first arrived.”

She shook her head and smiled slightly. “I didn’t like you at first, I’ll admit that. But I never really hated you and I wasn’t all that afraid of you.”

He smiled, “You are such a pretty, brave little thing aren’t you.”

She blushed and glanced away, and he cursed inwardly as he realized what he’d just revealed to her. He was digging himself into an even deeper hole with every moment he spent here talking to his maid.

Belle met his eyes again and he was once more held in thrall by her piercing gaze. “Do you want me to go Rumplestiltskin?”

He shook his head violently, “Gods no!”

“Then I will stay. On one condition.”

He stilled, “And what is that?”

“You tell me you’re sorry.”

He resisted the urge to hiss and automatically deny her request. He could feel the Dark One roiling inside him and yelling at him that only weaklings and cowards had to apologize. But he was beginning to think this apology might take more courage than almost anything else he’d done in his life.

He was dimly aware of the silence dragging on as the minutes passed and Belle watched him with her arms crossed protectively across her chest.

He took a deep breath looked down at his feet briefly and then raised his eyes to hers for a moment before flitting away to a point past her shoulder and mumbled in a low tone, “I’m sorry I upset you.”

Belle’s smile was brilliant. She stepped forward and squeezed his hands with hers. Then gave him a swift hug -- so like that one in the forest -- before standing back looking at him with that broad smile still on her face. “Thank you. I know that was hard for you, so thank you.”

He nodded not trusting himself to speak at that moment.

She looked to the tray he’d placed on the side table when he’d come in. “What is all this?”

“Oh, I knew you were upset so I brought you some things to make it up to you.”

She looked amused. "The Dark One doesn't do apologies but does do apology gift?" she said. “What are they for? I see herbs, some cloth and an envelope.”

“Ah well... the herbs are different teas you can make to ease your, um, symptoms.” He said, waving a hand vaguely towards her middle.

“And the cloth?”

“The printed cloth is a herb bag you can heat by the fire to ease any, um, pains you have. The, er, rest of the cloth is some soft cotton rags that are extra absorbent for the, um --” he was the Dark One damn it he wasn’t going to blush --”bleeding.” He could feel his cheeks heating and he hastened on with his explanation, “the pile will magically replenish itself when you get near the end it so you’ll never run out of the rags.”

Belle’s cheeks looked a little pink too, but mostly she looked like she was trying not to laugh. He hoped that was a good sign. “That’s very thoughtful of you. And the envelope?”

“Ah, well.” He magicked it over into her hands, “perhaps you should open it to see for yourself.”

She opened the envelope and pulled out the little slips of parchment and began reading through them. Then looked up at him with bright eyes.

“Are these real? There’s no secret deal or trick to them?”

He shook his head, “You have my word. They are exactly what they appear to be.”

She smiled that brilliant smile of hers and held out one of the slips to him. “In that case I want to make use of this one right away.”

He glanced down at the words written in his own hand, ‘Rumplestiltskin will read to you.’

She grinned up at him. “I trust it won’t be a problem for you to read to me right now?”

He shook his head and bowed to her, “No, I am at your service lady.” He straightened up. “Now what is it you wish to read?”

She smiled at him, “Why don’t you pick out something you like -- for us both to enjoy.”

He stared at her as he tried to think of anything suitable he could read to her. Distant memories of sitting on a little bed, reading to a sick boy appeared and he wandered to the section where he’d placed all oldest books upon creating the Library. He pulled out a dusty and well-worn book of children’s tales.

Soon he was seated in the armchair across from Belle, while she was curled up on her couch under a blanket with the warm bag of herbs on her lap and sipping a cup of the herbal tea he’d made.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

She nodded, “Yes, Rumple.”

‘Rumple’, he thought could get used to hearing her sweet voice saying that nickname… forever. But now was not the time for thoughts, or hopes, like that. Now was the time to focus on Belle, the here and now and this story.

He smiled and began, “Once upon a time...”

#Fluffapalooza #Fluffapalooza 2021 #Rumbelle #Rumbelle Fic #My Fic #Fic: Amends #Shadowedoracle's Fic

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angrylizardjacket · 5 years ago

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the sun always sets behind you {Jim “Miami” Beach} (Platonic)

Summary: Miami’s daughter signs up to be Roger Taylor’s personal assistant, and Miami knows Roger too well to be comfortable with that. Though that’s not the band member he should be worried about. (Reader/Brian)

A/N: 1880 words. Whether reader is his daughter by blood or adoption, it’s never specified so go wild. hope you enjoy it. i can have a little bit of paternal wish fulfillment miami, as a treat. LITERALLY NO-ONE WANTED THIS BUT I SAW BORHAP AGAIN TODAY AND MIAMI DURING LIVE AID MAKES ME EMO

----

“It’s nepotism,” he tells you flatly over breakfast, giving you and unimpressed look over his morning paper.

“That’s never stopped you before,” you counter, not even looking at him where you’re buttering your toast, “where was that concern when you convinced EMI to take me on as an intern last summer?”

“You were my assistant, dear, that’s different,” he sighs deeply, folding the paper and taking a sip of his lukewarm tea.

“Dad -” you try to insist, but he just frowns.

“Why the sudden interest now? Why can’t you wait until John Deacon’s the one asking for an assistant; he’s a reasonable fellow,” he implores, but you groan, stabbing your knife into the butter and letting your toast fall to the plate unceremoniously, settling in to give your father an unamused glare.

“Roger’s reasonable.”

“You met him once.”

“Glowing review of your clientele there, Jim,” it always manages to catch him off guard, whenever you use his first name, and he chokes a little on his tea. Carefully, he sets the cup down on it’s saucer and wipes at the corners of his lips.

“It would be different if they weren’t going on tour; I’d be happy for you to be Roger’s assistant if they were recording an album locally, but spending six months overseas -” he hesitates, “I think very highly of Roger, you know I do, dear, he’s incredibly talented and polite, but I can’t very well ignore my only daughter being in close proximity to him with the kind of reputation he has.” And he’s dreadfully earnest, which may have worked if you were younger, but you’re a fully grown adult.

“Come on, don’t you trust me?” You sighed, and Jim closes his eyes for a long moment.

“It’s not you I don’t trust -”

“Oh what a lie, if you trusted me, you’d be able to trust that I can either hold my ground and say no to Roger Taylor, or, you’d respect that what I do with another human being in private has nothing to do with you.” And he’s quiet for a long time, takes another sip of tea, and avoids your gaze.

“I’m your dad, sweetheart, it’s my job to worry,” is all he says in response, before conceding, “fine, alright; I suppose you are grown up.” With that he paused, his expression softening to something honest, “I do trust you, I really do.” He assures you, and with that, you let yourself breathe easier, and finally start on your breakfast.

It turns out, he submits a glowing report of your work ethic and skill to John Reid, who takes one look at your last name, realizes exactly who you are, and shrugs; you’ve got the job. Roger Taylor’s personal assistant, undergoing trial by fire as Queen’s next American tour looms ever closer.

“Miami’s always spoken so highly of you,” Freddie assures when you turn up on the first day. It’s the main thing everyone feels like they need to tell you; your reputation is built on your father’s seal of approval, and damn if it doesn’t precede you. The only person who doesn’t mention Jim is Paul Prenter, who gives you a thin-lipped smile and a diary for the year.

“This’ll be your bible; I’ll relay all the important dates for the whole band to you, and you just have to make sure Roger’s there on time. If he’s got an appearance, however, that’s just him, John Reid will relay it directly to you,” and you nod emphatically, following on his every word, “other than that; they say jump, we jump. All clear?”

“As crystal,” you assured with a grin, and Prenter clapped you on the shoulder.

“You’re not really what I was expecting,” Roger admits while the two of you are sharing the sofa in the studio, sitting side by side.

“Is that a bad thing? Should I be offended?” And though it comes out as a joke, you are a little tense all of a sudden, but Roger’s quickly backpedaling on his words.

“No, no I mean- when Miami described you, I just- I don’t know what I was imagining from his daughter but -” Roger’s quickly turning red, momentarily flustered, worried he’d upset you, “you’re a lot less boring that I was expecting.” Is what comes out. You can’t help but laugh. “Not that you’re dad’s boring, but he’s so adamant that you’re hard working -” he floundered, the words pittering out, until he just made a face and hoped you hadn’t been offended. Brian, sitting on his bass amp, laughs quietly at the exchange, and when you look to him, he just smiles back.

“I am hard working, for the record,” you turn back to Roger, quietly preening at what you’re pretty sure is most of a compliment, “but I do try hard to be not boring.”

“You’re dad is Miami Beach,” Roger added, and you snorted a laugh.

“God, you know he loves that nickname,” you grinned, turning to include Brian in the conversation, “that was Freddie, wasn’t it?”

“Of course it was,” Brian chuckles, moving closer to the sofa, “if you’re not too careful he’ll give you one too; you’re a Beach after all.”

“Bondi?” Roger suggested with a half smile, but Brian deliberated for a moment.

“Venice?”

“Actually Venice is rather nice,” Roger agrees, giving you an evaluative little smile, which Brian shares, and you’re not quite sure what’s happening, but you’re kind of enjoying it.

“Venice Beach?” Brian asks, and you grin a little.

“Me?” They both nod, agreeing that they think it suits. The band, just as your dad had described on countless occasions, is both weird and wonderful.

“They gave me a nickname,” you announced, getting home that night, and your father gave you a pleasant little smile, a silent invitation to elaborate, “Venice.”

“Venice Beach,” he mulls it over, thoughtfully, “seems they’ve already taken you in as one of their own.” He tells you with a smile, which you mirror, proud at the confirmation of Queen having already accepted you.

He’s always wanted what’s best for you, and ever since you’d expressed interest in his field of work, he’s always tried to be as accommodating as he could. You’d been able to meet his clients, even work as his intern and attend networking events. Your father was the lawyer for some of EMI’s biggest bands, and yet he was always your number one fan. A fact that everyone in the band knew far too well.

“Your dad...” Roger started with a strange little smile, walking into rehearsals one afternoon, a week out from the tour starting, “he knows your my assistant, right? Not my...” he turns faintly pink, “not my escort or girlfriend, right?”

“He’s fully aware,” you sigh deeply, “what did he say to you?”

“Just told me to take care of you, didn’t threaten me, but his tone... Venice, I’ve been given that speech by dads before.” After a beat, his eyes widen almost comically and he looks between yourself and Brian, who had come over and slung an arm around you. “You haven’t told him about the two of you, have you?” He practically crows, his laughter now echoing through the rehearsal studio as you grow antsy.

“I was planning on telling him...” you hesitate, “on tour.”

“She hasn’t been working for us long, and it’s just a bit tricky with him being her dad and all,” Brian explains, giving your shoulders a squeeze, which Roger’s laughter finally dies down, though he’s still beaming with amusement.

“Well you’ve got that weird little dad talk to look forward to,” he assured, and Brian quietly grimaced. Roger stepped forward, reaching out to pinch your cheek, “Venice, you know I love you dearly, but there’s no way in hell I’m going to mess around with Miami’s daughter.”

“Glad that’s the reason you’re staying away from her -” Brian rolls his eyes.

“And ‘cos she’s spoken for, obviously.” Roger amends, hands raised in mock surrender. You huff a sigh, crossing your arms. “Best assistant I’ve ever had, not gonna do anything to mess that up.” He tells you earnestly.

“I’m the only assistant you’ve ever had.”

“And you’re doing a stand-up job.” He assures, and heads to the drums while Brian looks like he’s trying to call on some divine force to keep him sane in that moment.

“We really should tell him, if he’s still worried about Rog,” Brian muses, and you nods, resigned. What you’re not expecting is how fast Brian intends to follow through on this.

When you get home that night, your dad is waiting for you.

“I got a call from Brian not too long ago,” he starts, sitting in his favourite armchair with his fingers steepled, and you swallow hard. You hadn’t even put down your bag.

“Already?”

A long silence; Jim’s eyes search your face, but you’re not sure what he finds.

“I’ve always thought he’s very sensible,” finally, he speaks, tone light, and you let out a breath you hadn’t know you’d been holding.

“Brian? Yes, I’m quite fond of him.”

“So I’ve heard,” but there’s amusement in his voice, though you still feel as though you’ve been caught red-handed, “I told him to treat you well, and with respect -”

“Dad, I’m an adult -”

“That’s all I said,” he assured you, and you finally put down your bag, stepping into the living room, “you are an adult; I’d support you no matter what -”

“Even with Roger?”

“If it’s what you wanted, yes, even with Roger, though that appears to no longer be an issue,” he says, finally starting to smile, letting the tension ease; “I don’t believe Brian would break your heart like I feared Rog would, if I’m being honest, dear.”

“I hope not,” you answer, voice soft and automatic, before you really think about his words, “Oh! That’s what you’re worried about? I thought you’d be worried about the paps giving the band a bad name.”

“Stuff the paps, I know as well as anyone that the media has no idea what they’re on about most of the time; look at Bohemian Rhapsody’s first reception,” he dismissed easily, “I just never want to see my little girl hurt is all. I still worry about you, you know.”

“I know... thanks, dad.” The silence that followed was a little awkward, neither quite sure where to go from here.

“So,” he starts after clearing his throat, “Brian?” You nod, small smile playing on your lips, “he sounds like he really cares about you.” Which has you all smiley at the implication, “he’s lucky to have a girl like you, dear.” Though he puts on his stern dad voice for just a moment, “be careful on tour, you hear me? It’s a lot of stress, I don’t want -”

“I’m a professional, dad,” you assured him with the faintest exasperated smile. He nods once.

“Okay,” and he sounds final, but quickly follows it with, “but if you want me over there, give Brian a talking to because he’s acting stupid, I’ll be on the first flight over.”

“I’ll be fine, I promise; I’m very capable.”

“I know you are, sweetheart,” and he’s beaming now, so unabashedly honest when he speaks, “I’m so proud of who you’ve become.”

#jim miami beach #Miami Beach #Brian May #brian may imagine #brian may x reader #roger taylor #freddie mercury #John Deacon #queen #bohemian rhapsody #bohemian rhapsody imagine #queen imagine #borhap #borhap imagine #the angry lizard writes

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hollowsart · 4 years ago

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oh?? what’s this??? I actually managed to write something for once!

This is a short little thing with my team rocket grunt, Ghost, because I really do miss thinking and talking about him, so I wanted to write a little something

it’s a bit angsty, and idk if any of you would be interested in reading it, but!

Here it is nonetheless!

===================

It had been a long day for the little Team Rocket grunt. Many ups and many more downs, and although his job is the best one that any grunt could ask for, he is still unlucky enough to encounter the worst people. People who don't seem to like him very much for reasons that are beyond him. It was only one day that paired with many more to make a relentlessly miserable week.

In a desperate attempt to make himself feel better, he wandered into the nearest Team Rocket owned bar and got himself a light drink. It would not be long that his white and pink painted face became a Picasso, though.

He liked to sit in the furthest back booth he could get, sitting alone where no one could really see him. He could rest here, be safe here, and indulge in his thoughts for awhile. Thinking of those who hurt him, thinking of those who merely looked on, and thinking of those who cared. Mulling it all over with the first drink, trying to figure it out. It was hopeless. He ordered another drink.

He thought about those he loved.. and those who loved him back. A sense of sadness washing over him like the tide rolling in over a sleeping Slowpoke. Those who loved him, loved him dearly. Doing what they can to make him and his life in such a miserable place bright and happy. It only reminded him of home, though. How he missed his home, his happier and healthier life he had back then, back there. The mother who still thinks so highly of him, unaware of the lies he's had the professor tell her for him. It was a thought that was too much to bear. He cried.

Burying his face in his hands before thumping it on the table, hands now gripping at his hair and scalp. He was feeling sick. Sick with sorrow, sick for his home, sick from his drink, and sick for all the wrong he has done that got him here. Crying, he wanted to leave. To run. To be free. To make amends for all he had done.

The third drink is what did it. Pushing him to his breaking point. Rushing to the bathroom, he fell ill in the nearest empty stall. Oh how he wanted to purge these thoughts and feelings like the tears that poured from his eyes, leaving pink and black stripes down his face.

Seeing he was alone, he kicked the toilet in frustration. Slamming a fist into the stall wall. Where had his life truly gone wrong? When he joined a criminal organization, oblivious to that fact? When he gave up his starter back to the professor to protect it? When he tried to steal in desperation of his failing life as a trainer? When he left his home to be a trainer like his mother once was?

Or perhaps.. was it merely when he was born at all?

His heart sank as far as his stomach had dropped. Falling I'll again. With a sore and strained throat he wiped away at his mouth, not caring if his glove got dirty. The tears he'd tried to wipe away only fell harder. Hiccups formed as he tried to breath, making it harder.

..Oh.. Oh how he wished he could be embraced. A warm and loving arm to hold him, a soft and tender voice to comfort him. He thought as he curled into himself on the floor. Life was never fair.

He sat like that for awhile, back propped up by the door of his stall as bittersweet thoughts filled his mind again. He hated his life, he hated those who made it so hard for him, but most of all.. he hated himself and all he had said and done that got him here. He sobbed and wished he could go back. Back to the time before all of this, back to when he was still but a baby, held and consoled by his mother and father. Always kept so warm and so well fed. Life was easier then, happier.

"..I wanna go home.."

He finally broke.

#ghostie mumbles #trash baby #I don't know how to tag this tbh. I don't think it deserves any real proper pokemon and team rocket tagging. I don't even have a writing tag

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adonis-koo · 6 years ago

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Three’s a crowd

| 8 |

Plot: (CEO AU) When your mom’s fairytale life begins to bleed over into your world you’re suddenly caught between two men and one big secret, what was suppose to be a relaxing trip soon begins to spiral out of control. All you wanted was a free vacation…

Pairing: Jungkook/Reader/Jimin, Hoseok/Reader, Taehyung/Reader, Seokjin/Reader

Genre: Smut, angst, drama, angst with a happy ending

Word count: 10k

Previous | Next

Tags: semi public sex, female receiving, brief smut, very brief compared to last chapter x)

Warning ⚠️ This fic touches on drug use, alcoholism and abuse. Please read with caution if any of these things are triggers for you 🖤

You didn’t realize, when you had slept with Jimin. That he was going to take it like you both were official fuck buddies. It was almost embarrassing with the amount of marks that covered your body. At this rate you needed to just skip the concealer and get a high coverage foundation. Were you ever not limping? Even your mother noticed, except she assumed you had been walking too much and strained a muscle.

In fact, she wasn’t wrong, you did strained a lot of muscles, but to be fair that was Jimin’s fault. You hadn’t realized how soft Jungkook was on you honestly. Jimin was not afraid to throw you around, tie you up, gag you, blind you, the whole nasty nine yard. It was even more alarming that you found it hot, you were almost ashamed at how much you enjoyed his rough manhandling.

Aftercare was the direct opposite of Jungkook, outside of a little praise, Jimin wasn’t for clinging and cuddling, there was no hair stroking or thigh kisses either. You felt bad for actually preferring it. Touching was still a difficult thing for you to do when it came to anything outside of sexual activities, it wasn’t that you hated it, or didn’t enjoy it...it just felt weird and foreign to you, your entire life was devoid of any sort of physical affection from either of your parent’s. Maybe unintentionally on your mothers part, but you fathers was the direct opposite.

Thinking of Jungkook though, you haven't actually seen him a whole lot, mainly due to Jimin keeping a firm hold of you every second he had. Jungkook...wasn’t happy to say the least, but you had texted him variously reminding him this was just open ended curiosity.

You weren’t in a relationship. Jungkook had backed off after your message, apologizing and saying you were right, ironically enough. You actually felt a little bad for being so blunt, but you didn’t want any miscommunications, god only knew you didn’t need to add another thing to your list of problems.

“Stop! What if they see?” The situation though? Out of sight, out of mind currently. You had whined instantly in objection at Jimin’s grip on you. You were currently eating with your mother and his father, and of course he thought it was a good idea to start getting handsy under the table, your face was getting redder by the moment and your body temperature rising to match.

Jimin’s lips only coiled into a smirk, those dark locks brushing over his brows making his gaze all the more sultry, clearly not intimidated by the social setting you were in, “Let me worry about that.”

His fingers had brushed along your thighs stroking them delicately compared to his harsh touch more times then less, but just the feeling of his fingers running along your inner thighs was all your body needed to start getting hot and bothered. Your grip on your glass hardened as you tried to focus on the parent’s conversation.

Jimin’s hand suddenly squeezed at the skin making you jump slightly as you bit back a whine, forcing yourself to swallow the cool liquid of your glass of water, the icy drink unfortunately didn’t do anything to help your body as his fingers began to stroke up your core. The jean’s doing little to cover the forceful grip of his hand as he pressed against the bud of your clit.

You had to swallow back another whimper as you glanced towards him pleadingly, he could’ve at least took you to his room if he really wanted you. But Jimin’s smirk only furthered as he went about eating with his free hand, even looking enamored with whatever the other’s were talking about.

You didn’t even have the nerve to look at them though, your cheeks undoubtedly red and you knew if your mother stopped talking for even a second to glance at you, she’d assume something was wrong and you did not want to deal with that.

Jimin’s hand finally wiggled underneath your jean’s the constriction proved to be a challenge but he wasn’t about to back down as he let his fingers find their way under the band of your panties, your pussy shamefully soaked as his fingers stroked through your slit a few times. Letting your arousal coat his fingers before giving letting his finger’s prod against your clit making you jump in your seat.

You tried to keep yourself from wiggling any further but all it took was a few strokes of his fingers against your swollen bud for the pressure to begin to build inside you, your grip on your glass never ceased and you had even noticed your knuckle was beginning to turn white. It contrasted your face heavily though, bright red and your expression probably wasn’t helping.

Jimin’s fingers only sped up, quickly finding the sweet spot of your clit before letting his nimble fingers rub down against it, you had almost squeaked out a moan at the sudden pleasure. Your legs were beginning to shake and your heart rate had spiked as you began to try and keep your hips from bucking needily to his hand, you were so close

He let his fingers slow down and dig more deeply into your clit making you inhale sharply trying to stay still in your seat, but Jimin wasn’t having it as he finally leaned in, letting his lips come close to your ear as he breathed quietly, “Be a good girl and cum.”

The orgasm suddenly snapped inside you at his words, and much to your mortification you had let out a moan, but the pleasure took over, trembling in your body and your mind was becoming number and fucked out despite gaining the whole tables audience, both your mother and Seung’s concerned looks quickly made you come down from your high as they asked if you were okay.

Your face was beyond red and you fumbled out quickly in embarrassment and humiliation, “O-oh sorry! I um…! Thought I felt something against my leg...I didn’t mean to startle anyone!” they both smile understandingly though, completely unaware of the pair of fingers that sat resting against your wet, throbbing pussy before pulling out of your jeans.

Your legs were shaky and briefly you wondered how this got so out of hand? He was going to inevitably be your step brother, and you had the most warped feeling that even after that became official. This likely wasn’t going to stop. God you really needed to get a hold of your hormones.

It’s not like you had much choice though, okay maybe you did have a choice. But Jimin made it extremely difficult to say no. It was just so good. Maybe a little too good.

Jimin brushed your hair back while chuckling, leaning back in his seat, acting like he hadn’t just made you orgasm at table full of people. You didn’t have the nerve to look at either parent the rest of the time to say the least.

As much as you wanted to ignore it, you couldn’t. Saturday was tomorrow, the infamous anniversary party you had heard so much about would be tomorrow evening. Seung would be proposing. It had all been fun and games up until now, no matter how much you wanted to pretend this wasn’t going to happen. It was.

The closer Saturday became the more guilty you felt, your mother was still giving you the icy cold shoulder and you figured, for both your and her sake you should try and make amends tonight. Given she had no clue about tomorrow. She’d definitely want to celebrate. You wouldn’t want too, but you were going to. For her sake, that’s what you kept repeating to yourself. And when you got home from this trip, you’d go back to your regular life.

Get as far away from her and this life as you could.

There were some things to mull over of course. Your mother would undoubtedly move in with Seung when they got married, if not before then. You didn’t make enough money even with both of your jobs to pay rent and utilities both each month. Fuck, maybe Taehyung would be willing to bunk with you? He and his dad were extremely close though, especially after the divorce. Unlike a lot of guys his age he didn’t really mind still living with his one functioning parent. Maybe you should ask?

You felt your body relax in relief, okay all of your bases would be covered. At the expense of possibly your back but it wasn’t like that would’ve been a first. Especially for Taehyung. Dinner had finished up quickly and eventually you had made your way back to upper floors. Finding your mothers room to go and speak with her.

The sooner you got this out of the way the sooner you could pretend like life was cool and go back to work.

You’d be departing Sunday morning earlier and hopefully you’d be able to rest well because Taehyung had texted you earlier that day saying you’d have to open shop with him monday morning. Not that you minded, after so much lounging you began feeling uneasy. Needing something to do, get back on your feet. You didn’t like having this much time off, was your final conclusion.

Atleast without something to do. Not like that wasn’t provided but still. God only knows what your paycheck was going to look like after missing a full week of work.

Your body for once, rather then acting like a horny nutcase was more eager to fall back into your old routine. What about your dad? It would be the first week you hadn’t visited him in over a year. Not like he couldn’t take care of himself but...okay well you did have some doubt.

Fidgeting at the door you sighed, sobering yourself to apologize to her. Tell her she was right, let her hear what she wanted to hear. The good news about this new change in your life was that once you moved in with Taehyung, you wouldn’t be beholden to her anymore.

You’d be able to come and go as you pleased mainly because Taehyung did so as well. In fact, you’d be able to probably do more with him at least living together. With that encouraging idea in your mind you knocked on the door, you could hear a distinct shuffling inside before the door opened. Your mother still in her evening attire though her hair had been taken down.

“Y/n?” Your mother obviously hadn’t been expecting you as her eyebrows shot up in surprise.

You awkwardly looked away, sighing as your shoulders slumped, “Look I just wanted to say I’m sorry about what happened…” you scratched the back of your neck before sheepishly looking back towards her, “I’ve been thinking about why you said and you’re right. I should be careful and I should let you or at least someone know when I’m going out. I don’t want us to be like this the rest of the trip…”

“Awh I’m sorry Y/n,” Your mother wasn’t hard to apologize to, to be honest. Her eyes were already watery and you weren’t even sure why as she quickly hugged you. Your body stiffening at the contact as you awkwardly patted her back, “I shouldn’t have been so harsh with you. I just can’t help but worry, after everything with your father. I just want you to be safe.”

You sighed, trying to just take her words for what they were. She only wanted the best for you. But your life, no matter how fucked up, it was still yours. You didn’t know anything better outside of it. You grew up in the most ghetto and ratty neighborhoods, but if anything it made you anything, it made you street smart.

And for gods sake you weren’t stupid. You didn’t want to act like a child and say you could take care of yourself, but you could. You had too, living where you did left you no choice but to be able too. There was never a day when you didn’t. Shoving your bubbling frustration back down as you finally murmured, “Yeah I know mom. Anyways I just wanted to clear the air. Big day tomorrow so I’ll let you get some sleep.”

“Alright sweetheart, I’ll see you in the morning.” Your mother gave your shoulders a small squeeze before returning to her room, a smile lit on her face. She’d sleep well tonight. The same couldn’t be said for you.

Making your way back to your room you mulled over your options. You could go out, by yourself this time. No one to try and get in your pants, no one to distract you. Or you could just do late night exploring in the hotel. Anything to get your mind off of what was to come tomorrow. It wasn’t that you were dreading it...well maybe a little, but it was a lot to digest. Your whole world would change forever tomorrow.

You had just gotten out of the elevator when it happened. Walking down the empty hallway when a hand suddenly lunged out from a room, pulling you in as it shut. Jumping your eyes widened before you sighed, “What the fuck? Can you guys please calm down the testosterone train? My cooch can only take so much.”

Jungkook had instantly began laughing, whether it was from your complaint or the look on your face when he pulled you into his room was beyond you, “I’m not here to pound your pussy baby.”

“Right…” you puckered your lips, eyes squinting in disbelief as you crossed your arms. If there was one thing you learned about men. It’s that they told half lies left and right. It wasn’t technically a lie, but it wasn’t a full truth either. And Jungkook, was looking like he had definitely told a half lie, just his quirked smirk told you so.

“At least right now,” and there it was, he began laughing again at your expression as he walked further into his room, away from the door as he gestured you to follow, “We’re going out.”

“We?” Your lips puckered again in suspicion but you followed him regardless. Seeing the gown laid out on his bed as you sighed, closing your eyes, this shit again?

It’s not that you didn’t enjoy it, but it was so obvious anytime he took you somewhere expensive that even dressed up you still seemed to stick out, it’s not that you wanted to have a complex about it. But it still made you slightly nervous and honestly? A fair bit insecure with all of the stares, “Where? That doesn’t look cheap…”

Jungkook scoffed though the amusement in his eyes didn’t falter, “Let me worry about the bill. We’re going to the casino floor, can’t say no to gambling with money that isn’t yours, right?”

You picked up the dress, it was black and went to the floor, the plunge in the neck was just enough that it would definitely flash cleavage but not to the point of raunchy.

“I can’t even imagine being that rich.” You clacked your tongue, shaking your head at just the idea of being so wealthy that you could let someone you barely know toss your money around, “You want me for arm candy?” that was basically what you would be serving as, right? Or that’s at least what you’d look like to the mass majority of people there, a gold digger tossing away some rich dumbass’s money.

“Yeah If you wanna put it like that,” Jungkook nodded casually, his lips struggling not to pull into a smile at your flat expression, maybe aware of your thought process and just really not caring what others might assume, “But I’d prefer the term company. I haven’t seen you at all the past few days.” You watched his gaze sullen slightly, as if the idea of you being with Jimin disturbed him.

Sighing exasperatedly you shrugged, picking the dress up, “Well, it's not like I’m gonna say no to a free drink and gambling. It’s not every day a guy offers me money to go blow.”

Jungkook laughed, sitting down on the bed as he smirked, “Money makes the experience, go get changed baby.”

You went to the bathroom, changing into the dress didn’t take long, it was you standing in the reflection of the mirror with flushed cheeks. Your hands running up your sides, just as anticipated the dress was skin tight. The plunge in the neck most definitely showing off your rack but it got worse.

As if it had been designated your design, the dress had a slit on the side going all the way up to your thigh, flashing your leg. You had fixed your hair a little, leaving it down and your makeup hadn’t been ruined yet from earlier. It wouldn’t get much better than this.

You had exited and went to put on the black pumps that was definitely a pair of red bottoms. Damn those were worth more then your paycheck. You could barely stand up straight before you felt a familiar pair of arms wrap around you, “Perfect fit.”

“Maybe a little too perfect.” You shifted in the dress as you huffed, turning around as you crossed your arms, forcing the small space between you both.

Jungkook’s eyes were too busy raking over your body though as he hummed, “Maybe,” he agreed, “But the casino’s about showing off babygirl. Everyone can look all they want, but they know not to touch. Let’s go.”

Jungkook had led you out of the room, hand firmly wrapped around your waist as you went all the way down to the first floor. You would’ve thought the lobby would be quiet by now. But you supposed it made sense, it was a friday night and what better way to spend it then at a casino? At least both rich and poor thought alike in some ways.

Walking down the vast lobby you had inadvertently tucked further against Jungkook’s side, trying to stay out of everyone’s path as they pushed past you. Damn what was the hurry? Jungkook didn’t seem to mind though, keeping you close to him as you entered the casino extension of the building. The crowd was thick tonight and noise had filled the large room, between the loud chanting and laughter. Jungkook however had ignored the entire scene, making straight for the elevator on the far end of the room.

Pressing a hand against your back as he lead you inside, the departure up in floors was quiet but peaceful. Briefly you let your gaze flick to Jungkook’s figure, the cool and confident expression on his face, and for a second you wondered how he could be like that all the time. Be like he was untouchable, you supposed that was a good way to describe it, he always seemed so confident in his ability, no matter the subject.

And maybe that’s what gave the false illusion, you weren’t sure. You would admit though, it was attractive. His unwavering confidence was extremely attractive, maybe it was from you growing up in such an unstable house. A house where both your father wasn’t confident enough to get his turmoil sorted, where your mother wasn’t confident enough to leave him when he couldn’t. Maybe because you weren’t confident enough to stop him when he had her on the ground with a broken bottle in hand.

But Jungkook wasn’t any of those things, maybe that’s why you were letting this continue. You had never met someone so sure of himself and his capability. It was nice, refreshing even, and dare you say it even made you feel a little, just a hair, safe. Jungkook’s dark eyes suddenly met yours, and his previously blank lips curled up slightly, the tiny smirk accompanying them as he raised a brow.

You could feel your face flush slightly as you looked away, feeling the awkward tension come over your shoulders as you tried to keep in mind this guy was supposed to be getting married soon. Just a friendly outing, right? It’s not like you were gonna sleep with him, you made a silent vow in that moment to try and keep your cat dick free for the night. Whether you’d accomplish that or not, let’s be honest, wasn’t very high. But a girl could hope.

The doors to the elevator slid open with a buzz letting you know you had arrived to your floor but as soon as it came to view you had been took a back at all the glamour. You didn’t think anything could be more beautiful than the first floor but here you were blown away. The glitzy low lit chandeliers made the tiling pop in an almost iridescent glow making both slot machines and tables look far more ethereal and breathtaking than they ever deserved.

“This is the VIP floor.” Jungkook leaned down with a soft murmur as he wrapped an arm back around you, guiding you out onto the floor of the ritzy level. You were suddenly grateful for Jungkook’s thoughtfulness in your outfit. Seeing so many flashy cocktail dresses made you feel not so out of place. And seeing barely anyone bat an eyelash at you made you feel even better.

He had lead you all the way down to the poker table, Texas Holdem was being played but it wasn’t the game he had come to watch, it was one of the players he had stopped to see. The said player had instantly recognized Jungkook, tapping out as he stood up, fixing his tie as he gave a half smile, “Jungkook! It’s good to see you again. Where have you been? We’ve missed you in our meetings.”

Jungkook’s lips had curled into a smile, looking as if he had just seen an old friend in a long time. And maybe he had, they seemed fairly familiar with one another, “With Dark Ace’s anniversary coming up I’ve been busy with the preparation,” Jungkook’s eyes flickered towards you as his smile dropped into a smirk, “And when I haven’t been doing that I’ve been keeping her company.”

You tried your best to keep yourself composed, but no matter how much you tried; you still lifted a hand towards your face, glancing away from them both with a weary expression.

“You really don’t have an ounce of shame do you Jungkook?” He clacked his tongue but his dimpled smile was amused, he had finally turned to you addressing you for the first time and that’s when you realized he was a few inches taller than Jungkook. His dark hair styled up and over and his smile was absolutely killer, was all of his friends so attractive? Was there a reason that was the case? Or did he just really want to kill you? “Kim Namjoon, I’m currently training Jungkook for when he’s ready to take on his own company.”

It came as a surprise to hear him say that, but then again, was it really? Jungkook had said in the past he was working under Kim corporations, this must’ve been his boss. But he had never mentioned opening his own company, it made sense though, Jungkook was filthy rich and he had confirmed with you he didn’t want to work under his father. All he really needed was experience for the task.

“L/n Y/n,” You gave a reserved smile as you shook his hand, deciding you didn’t want to look so shotty in front of his boss. Who had just referred to his engagement, meaning he must’ve been one of the few Jungkook had told. You wouldn’t have understood the sentence had you not known, making it safe for Namjoon to casually say, he didn’t look terribly judgmental. But you could tell he had evaluating eyes of a CEO, “It’s nice to meet you.”

Namjoon gave a charismatic smile as he nodded breaking grip as he answered, “Your name seems unfamiliar, I can’t say I’ve heard of you.”

Some girls, could’ve took that the wrong way, but being a CEO you figured he must’ve been referring to your surname. You clacked your tongue as you gave a cheeky smile, “I’d be a little concerned if you had, my family isn’t in the corporate field.”

Namjoon’s face suddenly filled with understanding as he gave a nod, turning back to Jungkook as he gave a laugh, “Finally found your Cinderella?” It wasn’t his words, that inherently bothered you. But it was the tone Namjoon had used, it sounded like it had an overtone of mockery in it, even if his face was clear of it. But his words were all you needed to confirm he didn’t really approve of Jungkook’s actions. Or was it really just because you were poor? If it was from that aspect, then you’d just write him off as shallow, but you had the sneaking suspicion this wasn’t about your money.

If Jungkook had noticed what you had, he didn’t let it show, keeping that professional smug smile on his face as he shrugged. You could feel his grip on your waist tighten though as he shifted you closer to him, “She’s too feisty to be a Cinderella-“

“Excuse me?”

“But if it helps you understand the situation then sure.” Jungkook had glanced down at you, a tiny smile playing on his lips at the offended curve of your brow. His words, directed at Namjoon though felt slightly cryptic. Were they talking about his engagement? You could see the overtone of disapproval in Namjoon’s eyes, almost making you feel like a mistress in one of those old noir movies that had been caught in the act. Your old feelings of this being very wrong began to bubble in your stomach again.

If this was how you were going to be seen by people, maybe you should’ve straight up told Jungkook to stop talking to you? But what’s done is done, the damage couldn’t be erased and after the words of you admitting, you were curious just like him. You knew Jungkook wasn’t going to take any other answer now, not after having that conversation.

“Well as long as you’re happy,” Namjoon gave a reserved nod, staying neutral despite unconsciously giving his opinion on the matter, or did he really take you for someone who was just that dense? Anger simmered inside you at the idea, if there was one thing you couldn’t stand people assuming about you, it was that you were stupid.

But you’d let them think that in this situation, because the more they assumed they were correct, the more information they’d give, the more they’d ‘cryptically’ say and give their thoughts on the subject away. It benefited you in the long run, if you could ever keep your mouth shut long enough to listen.

“Play a round of cards with me?” Maybe it was a peace offering you didn’t understand but Jungkook had nodded, walking back over to the table of poker, sitting down. What you didn’t expect though was him to pull you over, sitting you down on his lap much to your embarrassment, “Know how to play?”

“I’m familiar.” You answered reserved, letting all of your opponents size you up, clearly looking at you like the arm candy you served as. A ditz, who didn’t actually know how to play.

Unfortunately that was far from the case, poker was a common bar game and while your mother would be ashamed of you saying you consider yourself a pro, you on the other hand were curious to see if these upperclass men could compare to the cheats and swindlers you had played against.

Jungkook gave a hum, his hands settled on your sides as he replied, “Then play for me baby.” Maybe Jungkook had caught onto your mentality, wanting to see for himself. Regardless you shrugged, not looking incredibly surprised by his words as he bought in for you.

The cards had shuffled and been thrown out, the good news was that you had a three and four, the bad news was that it was a low pair. It wasn’t likely you’d get much out of it unless you could score a three of a kind, or maybe a full house. The one upperhand you did have was possibly a straight, or a straight flush since your hand matched black.

Jungkook had attempted to give you some advice but you had quickly shut him up quietly, “I know what I’m doing.”

“Alright, I'll leave you to it princess.” He laughed, leaned back in his seat, amusement in his eyes at your huffy tone.

But you weren’t kidding when you said that. Especially when everyone assumed you were a ditz who was just throwing around her sugar daddy’s money tonight. And you must’ve looked like a big one when you threw in two hundred thousand, you could see a lot of greedy smirks on the table when you had done it. Some tapping out while others quickly called your bet, Namjoon included, “You sure do know how to throw money.” He hummed out, a silent accusation that you were definitely a gold digger.

Clacking your tongue as you watched the dealer flip the fourth card on the table, perfect. Just what you had been hoping for. Namjoon had pulled another hundred thousand chip out, tossing it in as the tiniest of smirks played on your lips, “Only when I know I’ll win.”

Your words were cocky and it must’ve been laughable to half the table, given that’s exactly what they did. Why did people assume you were shit talking, why was it they assumed because you were poor, you were dumb? You lived in the lower downtown neighborhoods of Seoul, where murders and robberies were constant, girls were took advantage of as soon as they blinked at the wrong time and people had gotten knifed more times in a week then you could even imagine. You weren’t just smart, you were street smart, especially when you were playing alleyway poker. A bit more dangerous than when you were at the bar.

The dealer had flipped the last card, making you gave a hum, reserved and you could tell everyone was scanning each other for last minute plays. But to your delight everyone called one last bet before flipping, the few of you who had stayed in had fairly good hands. Two had managed to get a straight, but it was Namjoon’s cards that caught your attention, “Flush.” He stretched back, the smug look on his face taking over. What a bold crow, rich or not that was some attitude he had.

Your poker face had finally broke as you scoffed a laugh, your smile gleaming as you raised your brows, “My point still stands,” you dropped your cards on the table, “I only bet when I know I’ll win; straight flush.”

Everyone’s eyes looked like they were little googly eyes that were about to pop out. Whether it was from your words of your hand was beyond you, the only hand that could’ve beat you was a royal flush, and the card suit wasn’t set up for that. Meaning just like you said, you won.

Jungkook had given a laugh, hands squeezing against your sides as you leaned forward pulling the large pile your way as you leaned back down, “Just familiar, huh?”

You let out a tiny smile as you shifted a little to look at him, “Bar hero wasn’t reserved for me just drinking. Speaking of which, I’m gonna go get a drink. Want anything?”

He gave a hum, lips pressing against your neck briefly as he answered, “Bloody Mary.”

He let go of you as you stood up, straightening your dress as you began to search for the bar, your bladder was pulsing though in threatening to burst. Maybe you had been a little more nervous than you thought?

Deciding to find restroom first before embarking towards the bar, coincidentally enough they were both by each other making this a whole lot easier for you. It wasn’t until you were drying your hands before going back to the full mirror that stretched over the sinks to fix your hair that you saw a vaguely familiar figure standing, arms crossed with a scowl, fuck.

“I don’t mean to be rude but,” Jae clacked her tongue, taking a step closer, her heels clacking against the floor with an intimidating echo, “Aren’t you too poor to be wearing that?”

Sighing you finally turned around, raising your brows as you gave a hum, not in the mood to be pushed around. Especially by some entitled rich brat, “Is there a real reason you’re here? Or do you just bully the commonwealth in your free time?” Your voice dripped with sarcasm making yourself laugh, your smile a little too sharp to be friendly, “Kind of a sad hobby to be honest.”

Jae’s scowl furthered on her beautiful features, making them look a whole lot less attractive as she stepped closer maybe assuming you’d back away. But wearing a pair of Louboutin pumps sure did boost your ego, “Do me a favor,” her voice dropped as her glare furthered, “And stop whoring yourself to Jungkook. You know...my fathers a very powerful man, I could easily make your life a living hell.”

You only crossed your arms, curving a brow as you gave an exasperated nod, “Yeah, I’m sure you can. But this isn’t about what you can and can’t do. You could make my life hell all you want, but at the end of the day Jungkook’s still gonna go to my room over yours,” you dropped your arms as you shrugged, “Look I’m not here to catfight, I don’t know how badly you fucked up with him. But by the looks of it…? Must’ve been pretty bad.” You shrugged, fake pity glossing your eyes that only made her shift in anger.

This was a bad idea, but you really couldn’t stand her good girl attitude. If she had a fucking problem with you, she needed to just be upfront about it. Not hunting you down in a casino to corner you and use her dad as some vague threat.

“That’s our business. Not yours,” Jae snapped out, her jaw tightening and her shoulders stiff, “Be a shame if your mother got a tip off about your affair with my fiancé…” Her expression suddenly dropped to one of innocent wonder, making your expression harden.

Swallowing thickly as she gave a hum, her lips twisting into a sweet smile as she pulled out her phone presumably, “Understand Y/n, that I didn’t want to threaten you like this. But you’re really leaving me no choice here. Your mother is such a sweet woman, she’d be heartbroken to find out something so...scandalous wouldn’t she?” Jae gave a frown as she showed the screen to you.

It felt like a hard punch in the stomach at the blurry picture of you drunkenly clinging onto to Jungkook’s waist, head resting against him at the perfect angle to that showed it was no mistake in you and him both together. That had to have been taken when you just got out of the club.

“You’re a fucking psychopath.” Your words were empty though and your hands were beginning to shake. Fuck, your mom would completely ostracize you if she ever found out about what you had been doing when you weren’t with her.

Jae only smiled as she hummed, closing her phone, “And you’re a whore for sleeping with someone who’s getting married. Can you blame me? I mean, he’s going to be my husband. I'm not just gonna let him sleep around because of what’s happened in the past.” Jae finally sighed wistfully, whatever tension she originally had, left her body in victory as she smiled making her look like a whole different person then she had been previously, “So I’m going to assume you won’t be sticking around Jungkook anymore. And if you do...well you know what happens.” She waved her phone.

You nodded though your jaw was clenched and your face was irritable, this was so fucking childish of her to resort to blackmail, you could understand why she wanted you to back off. It was perfectly reasonable you’d acknowledge that much, but seriously?

Dragging your mother into this was extreme even for you, and hadn’t she brought this on herself? Whatever had happened with Jungkook, he made it clear it originally wasn’t like this. Or maybe this was an excuse to try and not feel guilty? You could feel it gnawing in your stomach regardless of your outward aggression, “Glad we’re on the same page now. See you tomorrow Y/n.”

Jae practically waltzed out of the bathroom, looking victorious as she rightly should have, having achieved what she must have come here to deal with. Her exit making you sigh. Well you definitely needed that drink now.

Exiting the bathroom you took your time making your way to the bar, not even having the courage to look in Jungkook’s direction, where you were sure Jae would be occupied at now. Taking a seat as you pulled out your phone, ultimately just wanting to blow off steam with your friends.

You had been pleasantly surprised that they were actually siding with you for once. But maybe it was because Jae was actually blackmailing you, you supposed that did warrant a stronger reaction than her just sending you an empty threat. Sitting down at the bar you had sighed, your martini left half drank when a voice jumped you out of your thoughts.

“What’s with the long face doll?”

Your head snapped towards the voice that had just sat down next to you, the handsome face making you instantly flush despite him only stating your expression, “Mr Kim, I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Oh please,” He laughed, obviously flattered by your formality, “Call me Seokjin, I’m not gonna call a hitman on you. Especially not someone as beautiful as you.” He sent a wink your way making you roll your eyes despite the smile playing on your lips.

Kim Seokjin, was above all else more charismatic than anyone you have ever met. No a single soul could rival him in that aspect, “What brings you here, Seokjin.” You tried his name out with a hum, tilting your head as you plucked the glass back up.

Seokjin gave a dazzling smile, victorious in his small battle for his name to be spoken. Running a hand through his hair as he replied, “For the party tomorrow of course. It's a good place to reconnect and spin a few deals in. I’m assuming your mother will be there…?”

His words suddenly made you laugh. Like really laugh, the most sincere you gave the entire trip. Maybe Seokjin had noticed the tension you had before approaching…? Whatever it was you felt significantly more relaxed talking to him, “Are you trying to give my mom a bootycall?”

“Well I mean…” Seokjin gave you a cheeky smile as he leaned back, both of you began laughing again before he explained himself, “Mainly because I didn’t think you’d want to be my first go too. Age is just a number Y/n.”

His words only made you laugh harder as you shake your head, “She’s 42!” You cried out, feeling the tears sting your eyes from your laughter. Forcing yourself to calm down as you gasped for air.

“Some men like cougars don’t be judgmental.” Seokjin defended himself though it seemed more out of hopes of keeping you smiling then out of seriousness, “Not that I’m one of them but my point still stands. What about you hm? Will you be going tomorrow?”

Clacking your tongue you gave a cheeky smile back, letting your head rest against your hand as you answered, “I will, but for one reason. Promise to keep it a secret?”

Seokjin gave a hum in playful thought before the smile pulled back on his lips, “I love secrets.” He stuck out his pinky finger making you pause. It was an oddly innocent gesture that made you all warm and fuzzy, maybe not all rich guys were assholes. Wrapping your pinky around his you answered, “Seung is going to propose to my mom tomorrow. It’s why he wanted me to come on this trip.”

“Oh…?” Seokjin raised his eyebrows in surprise, noting your expression didn’t seem as exciting as the news itself, “You don’t seem very happy about it…”

That’s when your lips finally caved into the frown that had been threatening to pull on your lips, sighing you finally set the glass down, back slumping slightly at his words. He wasn’t wrong, you weren’t happy in the least about it, “Yeah well it’s not about my happiness.” You hadn’t meant for your words to sound so bitter. But they were, not like you weren’t used to it.

You were always the afterthought anyways.

Seokjin gave a hum, looking in thought before his expression brightened again, “Well, tell you what. How about we go for a game of pool. If I win, you spend the rest of the night with me. Sound like fun?”

His words made you laugh shortly, the amused smirk pulling on your lips with a hum, “And if I win…?”

“I’ll give you anything you want, sound nice?” Seokjin got up from his seat, he wasn’t wrong. It did sound nice, you could do anything, with anything. Playfully thinking over your options as you got up you gave a nod, “Sounds fair enough to me.”

Seokjin was confident in his ability but what he didn’t know was at the end of the day, the bar hero always won.

You were howling out a laugh, sitting propped up on the pool table when you knocked both balls together, the striped 10 ball knocking into the corner pocket and the 8 ball rolling into the middle pocket. Seokjin groaned, while he definitely gave you a run for your money, or your body you supposed, you luckily had the experience necessary to beat him.

You had just finished your request with Seokjin when you noticed the crowd of people surrounding you both, all intrigued at the game you had finished, “You sure you don’t want to go for 3 out of 6?”

“I’d like to think I was being charitable with the 1 out of 3.” You smirked victoriously before grinning cheekily, pressing a tongue into your cheek as you crossed your arms. He was good, in fact you wouldn’t mind taking him as your pool partner for a team in the future. Out of the corner of your eye though you had caught onto the familiar face of Jungkook, he didn’t look happy.

But you couldn’t tell if it was directed at you, Seokjin or Jae, who had her arms wrapped around his yapping his ear off about something. It was weird for how intuitive she was and yet ignored the way he ignored her, in trade for staring you off in the distance.

This was awkward, you didn’t even have the nerve to meet his eye. A gentle squeeze on your upper arm brought you back to reality as Seokjin gave a small laugh, “I’ll make sure to hit you up if I ever need a pool partner.”

“Feel free, I think we’d be able to take on anyone.” You grinned playfully as he released his gentle hold on you, you had talked for a few minutes before a business dealer had interrupted. Seokjin looked mildly annoyed before apologetically excusing himself, leaving you alone.

Sighing you wrapped your arms around yourself, unsure of what to do now that you were alone. You had only come because Jungkook wanted to spend time with you, but that had been hijacked barely an hour into your night.

Pressing your lips together as you scanned around the room, damn a cheap beer sounded really good right now. Casino’s were never any fun without someone with you, but then again so was a bar. Maybe it just had to do with familiarity, you weren’t sure, what you did know was the casino had suddenly gotten a lot more stuffy. It was time to blow this shit and find something a little more up your alley.

You had swore on your life to your mom, that you would never get into any trouble with the authority, wouldn’t even glance at the idea of gambling , and especially drug dealing. Those were all traits your father took on to the point of near self destruction. But the acorn never falls far from the tree...does it? You considered yourself a bit more of a dabbler, just a little bit of testing here and there.

Not like you had ever ran drugs before, but there were a number of times you had accidentally ended up in the police station- curtsy to Taehyung. Gambling especially was your forte, not a habit you should’ve been proud of, but you knew when to quit. And that's what made you good. It’s what made it safe to dabble in. It’s what separates you from your father.

You fixed the black leather jacket before knocking the hat down your head, shuffling through the crowd, your clothes were discreet enough. For once, you fit in. Once a gambler, always a gambler, and your kind knew where to look for one another. That’s how you found yourself in the back alleyway. You usually avoided them back in Seoul unless you were incredibly familiar with it, in the downtown area you lived in it was known for kidnapping and rumor had it there was a prostitution ring in your area. It would explain the high rates in female abductions.

But again, when you lived around it your whole life, you knew when to run and when it was safe. This alleyway in particular was as sketchy as most for gambling rings. But as long as you looked like you knew your way around, no one ever blinked an eye. You loved coming with Taehyung and Hoseok on more wild nights. It almost always ended in someone trying to shiv your throat though from talking too much shit.

The shifty table sat more towards the wall of the old graffitied building where four guys laid out in their chairs, smokes in hand while laughing. You had dragged up a chair flipping the old rusted metal out before taking a seat down, tossing a smile at them. Smile with many, never trust any. The men, ironically to those at the casino had gave you a nod. Noticing right away that you weren’t shifty or nervous.

It was all about confidence in these parts, this crowd could practically smell fear and would latch right onto it if given the chance. It was odd how you’re nerves were made of steel in the face of muggers and gamblers but you turned to putty in front of silver spoon purebreds all because they wore fancy shit and had a killer superiority attitude, “Liar’s dice, you familiar?” The one to your right asked

All it took was a single nod from you before a cup and five dice were shoved into your hands. You were familiar enough with the game, like most it was luck and guessing based.

The difference though was that it was based on estimating whether someone was telling the truth or lying when they placed a bet. Hence the name, unlike pool where you could learn how to play or poker where it was based off of the luck of the cards. You had one edge to Liar’s dice, which was guessing people’s reactions on whether they believed their own words of not.

The first few rounds had gone well enough and the guys had relaxed again, none too interested in you besides the one on your right, he had introduced himself as Minho, “Four sixes.”

You held your tongue at his words before his buddy raised his bet with six sixes. That’s when you had called out his bluff, forcing everyone to lift their cups, surprisingly there was the said amount on the table. You watched them snicker as he pulled the pile of bills his way while flicking one of your dice to the side, leaving you four.

The game was easy enough, all you had to do was place a bet on how many dice were all total on the table, and guess which face value it was. But seeing their expressions made you shift slightly, Minho had shoved his friend slightly before sitting the next round out, “So, you aren’t from around these parts are you?”

He had been doing that at the beginning of each round, talking to you. Something was up, deciding to focus more on the cup rolling before slapping your cup down, “Yeah…” you murmured, your eyes flicking away for a brief moment as you addressed him, “I’m on visit for family.” Your eyes had shot back just in time to notice the other three’s cups were lifted slightly while they all took glances at each others hands.

These little conniving snakes were trying to con you out of your money. You had quickly glanced back at Minho, he was extremely charming, and you wouldn’t deny his attractiveness, but after what you had been around the past days you considered yourself near immune to anyone else. Pretending as if you hadn’t noticed their planning.

“Ah, what business…? If you don’t mind me asking, you’re a long way from home.” Minho hummed out, he was the only other foreigner from Seoul outside of yourself. But you kept your expression bland, not giving away anything in expression, while he was a nice guy, his charm attempting to sway you, and if you weren’t careful you would definitely fall for it. Even Lucifer use to be an angel. You always had a hard time trusting people, let alone backstreet gamblers.

For all you knew him and his friend’s saw you as a good time for the night.

“So are you,” You replied, a sharp edge to your tone, a silent warning for him to not press anymore as you took a quick glance under your cup. It took every ounce of you to not smirk at the sight of one two, one five, and three sixes. But you did well, keep your face blank as you placed you bet, “Two sixes.”

It was the highest face value you could start off with, making the other guys shift slightly, trying to be discreet at their eye contact as the one on Minho’s right raised your bet, “Three sixes.”

The one in the middle stayed raised it by only one as well and the one on your left though, smirked as if knowing what he said, though outrageous in most games, was true, “Five sixes.”

Gotcha, “Seven sixes.” You raised it higher, watching their eyes blow out in dilation as the one to your left scoffed, failing to notice the tiny smirk that lifted on the corner of your mouth. His first mistake was letting his cockiness in knowing his friends die show.

“Bullshit.” He snapped out, letting his chest puff out as he leaned back in his seat, look ready to just take his stake and continue on. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case when you had lifted the cups. Altogether they did, in fact have five sixes. Unfortunately they didn’t take into account whether you would’ve or not, solely assuming you would’ve called them out instead.

The one on the right of Minho threw his cigarette at the one on the left swearing him out as you smiled, grabbing the wad of cash in the middle, “Damn, that was quite the bet.” Minho praised, leaning back in his seat.

“And you’re quite the group of cheaters, huh.” The other three paused at your words, clacking your tongue as you opened your wallet, placing the bills inside. Cheater’s always had more than one tactic to swindles someone out of their money, even after being exposed. Just like you always did, you knew when to quit, this was one of those moments.

You jolted slightly when a chair suddenly scrapped up to the table and a figure plopping in it between you and Minho, “Oh hey dude what’s with the-”

“Yoongi?” Your eyebrows shot up in surprise, his face was vaguely familiar if you dug deep into the memories of your drunk night out with Jungkook, did he always prowl around in sketchy alley ways?

You hadn’t seen him up this close before, but the dark circles under his eyes were just as prominent as you remembered and you could even see the split ends of his platinum hair. The vague memory of him had made your eyes briefly flicker to his knuckles, dark purple and scabbed over on a few parts.

His expression remained blank as he turned to you, gazing over your figure, eyes dilated slightly as if remembering you as well. But he said nothing, leaning back in his seat as he pulled out a pack of cigarettes, “The fuck are you doing here?”

He said it, as if he knew you like an old friend. But something about his words made you curve a brow, tilting your head slightly as you answered, “Just leaving.” Jungkook had told you to stay away from him, but there way something odd about him you couldn’t place. The longer you looked, the more you felt like he seemed vaguely familiar, had you seen him somewhere outside of your last meeting before?

“Awh come on,” Minho sighed, leaning back in his seat as he groaned, “That’s a buzzkill. Yoongi’s great at liar’s dice, you should stay for another round, he doesn’t deal with their shit so you don’t have to worry.”

You pressed your lips together, glancing between the five of them before sighing, you stayed out of curiosity more than anything. The more you watched Yoongi, the more you were positive you’ve seen him somewhere before. He could hide behind that brooding personas all he wanted but he had to know you too. Unless this trip really was giving you hysteria, that could’ve been a likely candidate too.

You had continued playing a few more rounds with them but it seemed to be you and Yoongi who had won the most dice. One minute you were playing and the next a loud echo rang out, across the alleyway.

That was a fucking gunshot.

The guys had immediately jumped to their feet as well as yourself, flipping the makeshift table before bolting, you could hear more shots fire and you could’ve swore you felt a bullet wizz right past you. Was there a gun fight going on behind you?

You couldn’t look back to tell because a roughly calloused hand had suddenly took hold of your wrist, dragging you forward. You could hear screams and groans and the sickening jut of what sounded like skin being ripped open as you stumbled further into the alley way along with a strew of other people.

You were sharply turned to the right into a narrower alleyway and shoved against the wall, Yoongi’s forearms pressing on either side of your head encasing you close as he growled lowly, “Stay quiet.”

You did as told, your lips almost feeling glued shut and you had forced your ragged breathing to be controlled as you could make it. You chest still heaving and yours almost pressed to his due to being so close, he was a fair bit taller then you but he wasn’t looking at you. His head was turned completely towards the alley entrance as you jumped, hearing another gunshot echo and a flutter of footsteps running past.

Forcing your eyes shut as you pressed your back on the wall, okay, what the fuck? You were almost positive a big city like Dubai wasn’t this violent, in the least. Or had you really just did that bad of a job at estimating what shotty alleyway you went into?

Yoongi suddenly stepped away from you before grabbing your forearm again, his hands easily circling it and pulling you along, “You should’ve stayed at the hotel.” He grunted a mutter, leading the way further into the maze of narrow streets before guiding you back out onto the main sidewalk, police sirens were already loud and present. The scene you were just at already occupied three cars, it was almost hard to believe you were there playing dice just minutes ago.

Yoongi had turned his back though and guided you down the street until you realized where he was taking you back to the hotel, “Can we get a drink?” You suddenly blurted out, the back of your mind ready to scratch your eyes out at trying to figure out where you had seen him before.

He turned back to look at you, those dead, dark eyes smouldering like coals over a fire. He looked like he was going to say no and lead you on towards the hotel, but he had paused for a moment, the crowd pushing past you making you both anonymous to the scene that had just unfolded moments ago.

Sighing you watched his eyes fluttered shut for a moment, and for a second his face had shifted into an expression you didn’t quite understand, he only gave a single nod much to your surprise.

He had took you to a dodgy bar, the place reeked from cigarette smoke and the floors were stained and dirty, a familiar sight to most you went too. You usually didn’t care but your case furthered today, there was something oddly comforting at having someone so intimidating as Yoongi walk beside you.

It was silent for a couple of minutes between you both as you thumbed the glass neck of your bottle before finally caving into your minds pleas, “Have we met before?”

He raised his brows despite his expression remaining monotonous. How did he keep such a dead look so easily? You knew for a fact that something like that wasn’t just a personality trait. It was bred through tragedy, and Yoongi reeked of it, “We just got out of a shoot out and that’s your first question?”

Unfortunately, he didn’t realize how much of a quick study you were, or maybe he just assumed you were too dense to connect his words. He made it sound like he had answers to it, did he though? You weighed your options, you could pursue your original question or drop it for your new question. You were so quick witted though it often worked against you at times, today was no exception, you couldn’t even stop yourself from asking, “Well it’s not like you know anything about it...unless you do?”

Yoongi was quiet for a moment before licking his lips, a silent huff leaving him as he leaned back into his seat, the bottle gripped tightly in his hand. Was it from your question, or was that just how he held everything? You concluded you couldn’t stand talking to him for the little you had, you were so used to being able to read people easily, meeting someone you couldn’t read, someone who wouldn’t let you, was incredibly frustrating, “What were you doing there?”

You pressed your lips tightly together, he avoided both of your questions. It felt like you were playing an intricate game of words at the moment but you could’ve swore you saw a ghost of a smile on his lips at your frustration, “Why does it matter that I was there? I’m a stress gambler.”

“No wonder you’re always broke.” Yoongi muttered under his breath, leaned back in his seat as he pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his jacket, snapping the box before taking one out. The roll placed between his lips before lighting it up.

“Well it’s not like I’d be rich if I didn’t, you make me sound like I’m a compulsive gambler,” You scoffed indignantly, you could understand how it looked! But you weren’t your dad, you had self control, fuck if there was an award for self control you would’ve easily won it. But it’s not like you lost in gambling...okay well you did lose... a lot, but you also won a lot too! It was rare you ever walked out with more lost than won, “Big difference there, I can’t help it if it’s one of my poorer stress outlets.”

“Mhm yeah I know.” Yoongi rolled his eyes, blowing the smoke from his lips as he shifted in his seat. You had accidentally ended up rambling while he’d listen, nodding occasionally unless he was cutting you off with some snarky comment. After you both had a few beers he had eventually stood up, signalling you it was time for your night to end, sighing you heaved your body up from it’s seat, paying for your drinks before leaving.

You fiddled with your fingers as you both walked back to the hotel, it was nearly two in the morning and as much as you wanted to prolong it, you knew you’d have to wake up in the morning and face reality, “Yoongi…”

“Hm?”

Your footsteps slowed down as you glanced towards the pavement, wondering if asking a stranger for advice was a good idea. But you felt strangely connected to Yoongi, it was like you had been through similar lives, or maybe situations…? You weren’t sure what it was, but it made you want to trust him, “How do you cope with a situation that’s changing your life...and you don’t want it too...but you know it’s going to happen anyways?”

The familiar steps to Dark Ace came to view, the towering building dazzled in it’s glitzy yet sophisticated light making Yoongi’s face appear more angelic than it really was, his expression stayed the same though forcing reality to weigh back in as he glanced at you. And you thought for a brief second you saw a ghost of pity in his eyes as he answered, “Accept it. It’ll make your life a lot less hellish.” He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket, “See you around, Y/n.”

You sighed but said nothing in return as he walked back down the street, disappearing like the ghost he was into the crowd as you trudged up the steps. Acceptance huh? But he knew just as well as you did for even being strangers, you were going to go down kicking and screaming before you ever accepted this situation.

You’d run, you’d deny, you’d ignore it before you ever accepted that tomorrow was going to change your life, for better or worse. Stopping in front of your bedroom door you suddenly paused in your thoughts.

You felt a sudden drop in your stomach and your heartbeat suddenly sped up as your realization kicked in late at his last word, you never told him your name.

-----

Note: So the plot thickens 👀 ALSO I had no idea that my anon asks were turned off SO if you wanna hmu on anon feel free bc it’s turned on now!!! tytyty so much for all the love y’all 🖤prepare urselves shits gonna go down next chapter 😌

Taglist: @sapphireprinces5 @jazzytfw @theslumberingcat@mrsfandomz @cainami @nininek12 @loveherpersona

(Let me know if you’d like to be added!)

#bts #bangtan #jungkook #jimin #jungkook x reader #jimin x reader #bts smut #jungkook x reader smut #jimin x reader smut #park jimin #jeon jungkook #bts ceo au #C3 #three’s a crowd

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azulirawrites · 6 years ago

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Ladrien June 13: Meeting Gabriel

So I realized Gabriel and Ladybug had technically met in my first prompt for @ladrienjune but this is the first time they meet in the current situation. I REALLY enjoyed this one, and already know what my big plan is for tomorrow’s, which also promises to be good. Today was not a normal day for Adrien Agreste, much like the day that had kick-started his relationship with Ladybug. However, unlike that day, his journey to dinner was far from hurried. Adrien was dragging his feet, dreading the conversation that would inevitably occur over dinner. His father would… not be happy, to put it mildly. He had been working hard lately, more so than usual. He was frankly quite surprised that Nathalie had even come by to remind him of dinner; she had been just as occupied as his father’s assistant. Ladybug reached down and grabbed his hand, lacing his fingers in her own and squeezing gently. Could she tell he was nervous? He squeezed her hand in return, and dared a glance over to her. She looked…. Beautiful, but that was a given. She also looked ready, but a little bit nervous. Adrien couldn’t recall the last time he had seen Ladybug nervous at all. The hand holding was just as much for her support as it was for his. They sat down to dinner, flanked on Adrien’s side by the Gorilla and on Ladybug’s side by Nathalie, who sent a text on her phone as they waited. The Gorilla turned to Adrien and nodded at Ladybug, raising an eyebrow. Adrien, for a second, was tempted to pretend he didn’t understand, but knew the Gorilla would see through that instantly. “Ladybug started coming by and we’ve been hanging out for a little over a month. Thirty-eight days, to be exact, since they had started dating, but the Gorilla didn’t need that much detail. He’d be satisfied with the answer Adrien had given, thankfully. Nathalie however, wasn’t. “For over a month?” Her questioning began, “And I would hardly call what you two were doing ‘hanging out.’” “We weren’t doing anything wrong,” Ladybug insisted. Nathalie was about to answer when Gabriel cleared his throat from the doorway of the dining room, a whole twelve minutes late to dinner’s original planned time (not that Adrien had expected him to be there on time, or at all)

“Would anyone like to explain why Ladybug has graced us at dinner once again?” His words were polite, but Adrien could tell he was annoyed that this had interrupted him. He had likely been working on a troubling design.

Adrien almost spoke up, but was interrupted by Nathalie, “When Adrien had not arrived to dinner on schedule, I went to find him. I heard him talking with someone from behind his door, and entered immediately. They were cuddling on Adrien’s couch, kissing, and Adrien seemed insistent on purchasing a home near her parents, when he was of age to do so, so that she might move in with him.” Adrien looked down in embarrassment; everything Nathalie had told his father had been absolutely true. “I see,” Gabriel said, mulling over what he had just been told, “Adrien, Ladybug, I would like an explanation.”

“It’s exactly as Nathalie said, father,” Adrien said, with more than a hint of morose in his voice. He could already feel his hopes crumbling under his father’s gaze.

“We’ve been dating for five weeks,” Ladybug added, squeezing Adrien’s hand under the table.

Gabriel gave a thoughtful hum, and Adrien looked up, catching a glimmer of surprise hidden in his father’s hard gaze, “Is that so?” Gabriel set down at the table, across from both Adrien and Ladybug. “I think this calls for a treat,” he announced, putting on a smile to the shock of everyone else in the room, “Nathalie, send a message to the kitchen. Five Creme Brulee for after dinner.”

Nathalie, shaking off her stupor the quickest among them, responded, “Yes , sir, right away,” and pulled out her phone.

Having clearly noticed everyone’s surprise, he spoke, “Adrien, I am happy for you. Young love is a beautiful thing.” Adrien relaxed, but remained confused, his father didn’t mind that he had been dating Ladybug without telling anyone? “That being said, we need to have a talk,” oh, there it was

“Of course father!” Adrien answered instantly, with Ladybug nodding in agreement.

“First off, I want to make it clear that while we are celebrating tonight, I am disappointed in the fact you hid this from me for over a month. To make up for this, Adrien, you, Nathalie, and I will be having a very long talk, which will touch on the importance of honesty, as well as some topics regarding relationships,” Adrien almost gulped. The honesty part didn’t sound so bad, but the other parts worried him. Adrien had an inkling of what the talk would actually cover.

“Of course, father,” he nodded, resigning himself to the talk.

Secondly,” his father continued, barely acknowledging Adrien’s agreement. “There will be some ground rules set down for this relationship.”

“What mind did you have in sir?” Ladybug asked, then let out a small eep before correcting herself, “What did you have in mind sir?”

Gabriel paused for a minute, but chose to overlook the first comment, “Rule number one, Adrien is not to fall behind on any of his studies or extracurriculars, or he will be grounded until he has caught up. You may join him when he is practicing, but should avoid being distracting.” Gabriel paused again, but continued after they both nodded in agreement, “Rule number two, Nathalie is to be informed before you go out on a date, and you must let her know when you’ll be back.”

“Actually, we’ve only gone on dates in Adrien’s room,” Ladybug supplied.

“That brings us to rule three,” Gabriel continued, his eyebrow raised. Adrien figured he was questioning how it went unnoticed for so long. But Adrien was good at hiding things,(see: Chat Noir). “Nathalie is to be notified whenever Ladybug comes over, and the door to Adrien’s room is to remain open.” Adrien blushed. What did his father think they were doing with his door closed? “Rule four,” Gabriel turned and looked more to Ladybug, “Adrien is a model, and we do not need time added to his shoots to cover up any… marks. While rule three should deter most of such marks, I want to make it explicitly clear Adrien will be disallowed from seeing you should any such marks become a problem.”

Ladybug flustered and tried to speak several times before finally agreeing with a “Yes, sir.”

Gabriel nodded, “Rule number five is obviously beneficial to your relationship; you must keep it secret.” Adrien almost disagreed, but his father cut him off, “It would make my son a target for akumas, and I cannot allow that.” That was why Adrien and Ladybug had agreed to keep it secret, but he hadn’t thought his father would recognize it. He had half-expected father’s reasoning to be the harm to his brand, since Adrien was possibly one of the most desired ‘single’ teens in France. “Finally, rule six; this list of rule can be amended at any time, should issues arise.”

“That sounds almost like a contract,” Ladybug commented with a nervous laugh.

“That’s because it is,” Gabriel answered seriously. Ladybug laughed again, and Adrien wore a tight smile. It was… better than what he had been expecting. “Now that that’s all settled, I’d also like to extend a bi-weekly invitation to dinner. That would be every other Sunday.”

“I’d love to accept!” Ladybug agreed enthusiastically.

#ladrienjune #ladrien june #ladybug #adrien agreste #gabriel agreste #nathalie sancoeur #the gorilla #meeting gabriel #prompt fill #fanfiiction #miraculous ladybug #gabriel seems almost reasonable yeah?#that's because he is plotting #tomorrow's prompt fill is going to be nathalie going wut?#and Gabriel going full maniacal laughter

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p-artsypants · 6 years ago

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No, You Go First (Part 2)

Thanks for all the sweet and kind reviews! I’m so glad everyone is enjoying this so far!

FF.net | AO3

When Stoick and company returned from their uneventful hunt for the nest, he got an earful.

“I can’t believe you would allow this!”

“He’s a dragon sympathizer!”

“You need to fix your son!”

Stoick didn’t know what to think of this news, so he turned to his confidant, Gobber. “What’d Hiccup do?”

Gobber shrugged, feeling helpless about the whole situation. “Nothing. Really. And that seems to be the problem. He’s the only one his age not participating in Dragon Training.”

“Really?” Stoick rolled his eyes. “They get mad when tries to help, and then mad when he doesn’t. Can the boy get a break?”

“I think so,” Amended Gobber. “Most days he’s off in the woods. Then he’s working on stuff in the forge. And Astrid comes ‘round to talk with him sometimes.”

“Astrid Hofferson?”

“Aye, he said she’s helping him observe the dragons. But I think he’s taken a shining to her.”

Stoick grinned. This wasn’t news. He wasn’t blind. “So everyone knows what he’s up to?”

“Nah, only rumors. Snotlout over heard them talking about an alternative solution to fighting dragons and assumed the worst.”

“Ah, I see.” Stoick said with a nod. “Did he tell you what he’s doing?”

Gobber shrugged. “He only said he was embracing the fact that he can’t fight and trying to find another way to help, with your blessing.” “Where is he now?”

“Off in the woods somewhere.”

Stoick nodded slowly, and headed up to his house.

—

When Hiccup returned that evening, it was back to the forge. Toothless’ tail was almost finished. It only needed a few more finishing adjustments, and then it would be perfect.

As he worked, he didn’t notice the massive body squeezing through the door...until he knocked some papers off the shelf.

“Dad! You’re back!”

“Aye,” said Stoick, glancing at the leather mess on his desk. “Didn’t see you at the docks. Gobber said you’ve been in the woods a lot lately.”

Hiccup nodded, shrinking into himself again. “Yeah…”

Stoick sensed he was hiding something, but instead of demanding it, he decided to coax it out of him. “How goes your alternative solution?”

Hiccup cringed slightly, thinking about all the garbage that had happened since this whole thing started. “It’s…going.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah…”

“And?”

Hiccup was quiet for a moment, but eventually admitted. “I’ve been observing a dragon in the woods…”

“What kind of dragon?” Stoick pinned him with his green eyes, forcing the truth from him.

“…the Nightfury…”

Stoick frowned. “I thought you let it go?”

“I did. But I injured it when I knocked it out of the air. He…can’t fly. And—And so he can’t do anymore damage to the village! So I’m…training it.”

Stoick’s eyes widened and his eyebrows flew up to his hairline. “You’re…training it? Like a pet?”

“Well…I’m befriending it?” He shrugged helplessly.

“Befriending a dragon…you are Val’s son…” Stoick pinched the bridge of his nose. A little in anger and mostly in frustration. “And what are you going to do with a flightless dragon pet?”

“Well, first of all, I’m learning a lot from him. More than I’d learn from Gobber’s lesson. And second...” he patted his new fin with pride. “He’ll be able to fly again.”

“You’re going to trust that beast to fly and destroy our village again!?” Stoick’s nostrils flared.

“No no!” Hiccup waved his arms frantically. “The tail fin wouldn’t be able to work without me!”

Stoick furrowed his brows. “So...what? You plan to ride the creature?”

“I mean, yeah.”

Stoick silently looked over the the drawings hanging on the wall while Hiccup continued rambling.

“Just think, dad, fire power at our disposal, the strength of twenty Vikings! Flight! There’s so many possibilities!”

“Aye. There is.” Stoick agreed, mulling it over. “But Berk is still not ready to accept dragons as friends. Even if you’ve befriended one. You’re thinking way too far ahead.”

Hiccup frowned and looked back at the tail fin.

“What did you name him?”

“His name is Toothless.”

“Toothless? Not what I was expecting for a dragon, but if he responds to it…”

“So I can keep him?”

The chief snorted, “What? Like he’s a baby bird?”

Hiccup smiled helplessly. “Please?”

“I’ll tell you what. Tomorrow, I want you to show him to me. If he’s helping you find a solution, and I think he’s safe enough for you to be around, I’ll allow you to continue to ‘train’ with him.”

Hiccup released a sigh of relief.

“But, I need to see some proof of this being helpful. For all I know, you could just be helping the beasts rob us.”

Hiccup shook his head vehemently. “No! Never! I swear! I already have an idea!”

Stoick took a seat nearby, and leaned forward in interest. “Alright then, lay it on me.”

This wasn’t going to work.

Granted, Hiccup knew that if anyone figured out that he was the one that came up with it, no one would listen to it. So having Stoick take credit for it was a wise idea.

Problem was, waving eels around instead of weapons during a raid didn’t sound like something the chief would devise.

“I’m not saying to go into a raid unarmed,” Stoick was shouting to the yelling crowd. “Just to take eels with you!”

Hiccup hung in the back of the room, trying to stay as far away from this madness as possible. But he did scan the room, taking in the angry and confused faces.

But all attention was diverted as Astrid stood on a table and shouted. “Listen to the chief!”

Of course, everyone should listen to Astrid. She was the most promising candidate to come out of the dragon training Gobber had been conducting. She had started capable, as most were, but slowly her skills emerged and she dwarfed the other students in comparison. Then, one day, she started using tricks within the ring to make the dragons nearly fall at her feet. She was a true warrior, blessed with knowledge from the gods.

But of course, that didn’t have anything to do with her evening visits with Hiccup. No sir.

“Dragons hate eels!” She shouted again. “I’ve seen it myself!”

Of course, this was a foolish plan. Hiccup had mentioned it to keep Stoick on his and Toothless’s side. But he didn’t know for sure if the eels would work. Astrid had tried it in training, and the Zippleback had recoiled just as Toothless had. But that didn’t mean that all the dragons would do the same.

But it was all he had.

Finally, with Astrid’s endorsement, Stoick got most people on board with the idea of taking eels in with them to battle. Those that didn’t, well, it’s not like they were going in empty handed.

Stoick wasn’t so sure how much faith he had in this plan himself. Of course he loved his son, and of course Hiccup was wickedly smart…but eels? Really?

For now, he would have to trust that Hiccup knew what he was doing.

—

True to his word, the next time Hiccup attempted to go into the woods, Stoick was there. He even helped carry the basket of fish.

“So, what is this? An offering?”

“No, it’s just some food. Without being able to fly, Toothless can’t catch any fish. So I bring him something to eat.”

They travelled past Raven’s Point and over to a little cove. Stoick had travelled these woods many times in his youth, but couldn’t remember ever seeing this place before.

Hiccup dropped the basket and looked at his dad. “Okay, I have a few rules.”

Stoick raised his eyebrow. “Rules?”

“Please,” Hiccup begged, holding out his hands. “I don’t want either of you to hurt each other.”

“Are you saying he’d hurt me?”

“Yes, if you bring a weapon in there, or you raise your voice, he will see that as a sign of aggression and try to protect me by taking you down.”

Stoick scoffed. “I’m not leaving my weapon behind if I’m facing a dragon.”

“Fine, then you don’t get to meet him.”

“Hiccup…” Stoick said with authority.

Though he was nervous by his father’s gaze, Hiccup met it and frowned. “I’m not relenting. Not about this.”

Stoick had to admit, he was impressed. “Alright. No weapons.” He removed his many knives and his axe from his belt and left it all in a pile outside the cove. “Any other rules?”

“Just…keep calm.”

Slowly, he led both of them into the cove and called softly, “Tooooothless…I have some fish for you!”

Stoick saw a black blur out of the corner of his eye, and turned quickly. A smallish black dragon was hiding in the brush, his eyes dilated and his tail swishing back and forth. He was watching them.

“It’s okay bud.” Hiccup was speaking. “This is my dad, he’s come to say hi.”

Stoick fought against every instinct that told him to charge, or to scoop up his son and run. Instead, he exhaled and let his fists relax. “Ah, hello…dragon.”

The Nightfury slunk out of it’s hiding place and carefully snuck closer. Then once he realized there was fish and no threat, he came bounding out, tongue hanging out like an overgrown puppy.

“There’s my bud!” Hiccup said happily as Toothless nuzzled him in gratitude before tearing into the fish.

“He doesn’t have any teeth?” Stoick asked, noticing the naked gums as Toothless pranced around.

“He does, they retract.”

Toothless demonstrated as he smiled and bared his teeth.

“‘Es a lot smaller than I was expecting for a Nightfury. I assumed he’d be a great big dragon…not that shooting this down is any less impressive.”

Hiccup shrugged. He didn’t count shooting him down as an achievement anymore anyways.

“He might be small, but he’s got a lot of speed and fire power.”

Toothless stood proudly, his head raised as Stoick glanced him over.

“Go ahead,” beckoned Hiccup. “Give him a scratch.” He pointed under his chin. “Right here, he likes it.”

Hesitantly, Stoick scratched the dragon and Toothless melted into a pile of purring goo.

“I never saw a dragon so tame and...cute before.”

“Want to go for a ride?”

Stoick looked at him surprised. “Ah, no. That’s where I draw the line.”

Hiccup frowned and Toothless warbled.

“But, I trust you and your pet.”

The duo smiled at each other.

“And we’ll see how this eel thing works. Maybe he won’t be need to be a secret forever.”

“We can hope. I’ll keep working to see if I can come up with something better. And…dad?”

“Yes, Hiccup?”

“Thanks for being so understanding.”

Stoick rested a heavy hand on his shoulder. “Thank you for being honest with me.” His hand came up and cupped his cheek. “You’re my only family left, son. And I don’t want to lose you.”

“Dad…”

“That’s a big reason why I’m…okay with the dragon, with Toothless. Because I know you’ll never be safer with anyone else. And I don’t mean against other dragons, either. You are my heir, that makes you a target for other tribes. Outcasts, Berserkers…they’re out there. And they won’t wait around forever.”

This was a lecture he had received a few years ago, when he was old enough to understand, but his father hadn’t mentioned it much in the wake of the dragon problem. Like he needed another thing to worry about.

“You really think anyone would try to kidnap me?”

“Yes. Absolutely.” Stoick said firmly. “Because I would pay any amount of gold or goods to have you returned.”

Hiccup couldn’t help but smile. Stoick wasn’t that affectionate of a man, and rarely declared his love. This was as close as it got.

“I’m proud of you, Hiccup. For always trying and persevering against all odds. And despite what all the others have to say, I’m proud to call you my son.”

Hiccup wiped the back of his hand across his cheek. “Thanks dad, that means a lot.”

—

Despite what Hiccup and Stoick feared, the eel plan actually went off without a hitch. At first light, the sentries noticed a flock of dragon’s coming from the North and sounded the alarm.

Many folks just grabbed their axes and swords, preparing for the worst, while many more still ran to the docks to retrieve an eel or two from the catch.

Hiccup watched in awe as angry dragons came screeching down from the sky, only to flounder in the air and turn around as fast as possible at the sight of the eels.

Once those with only weapons got a load of the eel’s power, they too dropped their swords and rushed to find their own.

All in all, a two to three hour raid was over in 15 minutes. Nearly all livestock was accounted for as well.

“Stoick! Stoick! Stoick!” The village chanted. It seemed like a miracle had just occurred. Was this truly the end to it all?

The chief waved his arms and settled the crowd down. “Alright everyone, I know we’re all excited about this little development. But I need to give credit where credit is due.” He gestured to the back of the crowd. “Hiccup, would you come up here please?”

The crowd broke out in whispers as Hiccup wormed his way through the throngs of people, occasionally bumping into them. “E-excuse me, sorry, pardon me…”

“Hiccup, though he may be the smallest among us, has been doing his best from the beginning.”

Hiccup finally climbed the stairs and stood next to his father. The weight of the suspicious gazes of the village fell on his shoulders and he instinctively hunched his shoulders. Stoick’s heavy hand fell on him, however, and rooted him to the spot.

“We all remembered the disasters that came whenever Hiccup tried to do things the traditional way. Right?”

There was a murmur of agreement.

Hiccup wanted to die.

“Well, after a prosperous talk that utilized fantastic problem solving skills, a skill that every great chief needs, Hiccup found the best way to help our clan. Through his vigilant observation, he was the one to discover that the dragons hate eels.”

Dead silence.

Stoick gave him a little pat on the back. “Go on, say something.”

Hiccup swallowed. “Uh…the eels are just the tip of the iceberg. There’s…so much more to learn…”

“Speak up!”

“We can’t hear you!”

He clenched his fists and damn near shouted. “There’s still so much to learn and discover!”

The crowd was quiet and listened.

“The eels will work for now, but I’m working on a more permanent solution. Hopefully one day, we’ll never have to worry about dragons raiding us, but we won’t have to sacrifice our families to do it.” He stood pensively still as the village took in what he had to say. Then, they clapped, awkwardly, and murmured in positive tones. Finally, they dispersed without much else to say.

“Oof,” said Astrid, coming to stand by him. “Sounds like success is a handful of claps, huh?”

“Yeah, well it’s better than them wanting to throw me into the sea.”

Stoick patted his back again. “Ya did good son. They might not show it, but the village is grateful. Especially at the thought that they might not lose any more family members in battle.”

Astrid nudged him. “Things might even start turning around for you, ‘dragon sympathizer.’”

#hiccup #hiccup horrendous haddock iii #how to train your dragon #httyd #astrid #Astrid Hofferson #stoick #toothless #what if #fanfiction #first film

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starscreamloki · 7 years ago

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When Witches are Thieves and Tricksters are Saviors, all will fall

Chapter Three - Trickster

Previous chapter

Imagine: You’re an immortal witch who was cast out of Asgard and kept in a cell in another realm where you couldn’t escape nor hurt anybody. When Loki learned about you, he was instantly curious and did all the research necessary to find you. He also learned that you were unstoppable when you used to possess the mind stone. Loki started to pay you very interesting visits, where he actually developed a sort of fascination and loyalty to you, to the point where he actually plotted to break you out, get the stone from Vision and give it to you so you could join forces and do the unimaginable together.

Warnings: none

Words: 4475

A/N: It took some time to write this chapter because I had a lot of research to do about some other Marvel characters. I’m still not sure I did a good job because I’m a little unsure if I gave enough credit to the characters. However, I do like the events I’ve written in this chapter, so it might be not so bad after all. I’m sorry if characters are OOC, I gave it my best shot!

----

They called me an antagonist, a cruel vixen who wanted nothing more than to watch the Nine Realms burn.

But pray I ask you, have you ever wondered why? Have you ever asked yourselves why a villain becomes a villain and doesn't see herself that way? Because, believe me, one has to get battered down, a lot, and hard, to become as malicious as I was… Am!

I come from a big family and things weren’t always easy. Mom wasn’t around, dad was often gone, and I had to deal with 4 siblings and half of them weren’t even spouse from my mother.

But most of that didn't matter because everything was fine and worked out, until one day the enemy invaded our house when our father wasn't home. He failed to protect us. My half-brothers got in a fight with each other, not able to settle between them what they should do, and one killed the other. We all got dragged out of the house and I never saw them again.

They bound a large rock to my ankles and tossed me in the ocean, but at that point I already had gained immortality. I could not die but it had taken me quite some time to break free.

You see, all I - and my family - ever wanted was to live in peace. But they invaded my home, hurted us, reigned death without any explanation, and thus I became an antagonist.They dragged me out, forced my hand, and with that created an uncontrollable rage and hate.

And now I will not rest before I get my revenge!

***

For a couple of days Loki had traveled between Asgard and Muspelheim using the secret passageway in the mountain.

It had been a good way to practice his portalling. At first he still had used his horse to get to the mountains, creating portals to cross small distances at first, larger distances after a couple of times. He had also practiced his portalling in Muspelheim and so far so good. After a while he was able to portal from the palace to the mountains, step through the rift in the realms, and portal to Morganna.

On his first visited she had berated him, “I don’t see you carrying any food.”

“I’m not a donkey. I have magic for that!” and it became sort of their running gag. Loki would drop the food in the cage and after that they would talk about various things. Morganna was slowly getting her strength back and with that, her magic. She had showed him some of her magic which Loki had tried himself. He couldn’t control the powers she controlled, but he learned from the theoretics and had used it to apply, and amplify, his own powers.

And occasionally they had tested the cage, as they were doing now.

“Let me try something,” Loki said and portalled away only to reappear a second later with a struggling demon which he roughly shoved against the glass. He called forth his seidr and wrapped the demon in it. Then he started to magically rearrange the fibers of the magic and the glass of the cage so he could shove the demon through. The demon screamed and struggled but Loki’s grip was firm and slowly it was being pushed through the cage. This could work! If Loki could push the demon in, then he would be able to get Morganna out! But his joy was short lived as the demon got ripped apart by all the magic, leaving Morganna and Loki sprayed with blood and guts.

A look of astonishment on both their faces turned to one of disappointment and then they started to laugh. “At least we’ve made some progress,” Morganna said.

“You’ve made no progress, I have,” Loki said cocky and Morganna fixed him with a stare.

She shrugged, “You’re right.”

Loki was taken aback by her words. It wasn’t very often that someone said he was right, and if they did, he usually got berated or scolded after that. I little wistful smile formed on his lips.

He really liked Morganna and it was nice to have someone to talk to. Someone who understood him, understood his rage, his pain, his hate. But they were also very different, because he was ice and she was fire. He was the liar and she was the storyteller. It was weird that he was drawn to her so much, yet he didn’t feel like she would ever make a good lover but he didn’t understand why.

“Are you going to try it again?” Morganna asked him hopefully.

“No, not today.”

Morganna looked disappointed but it was short lived and she smiled. “Well, it was good talking to you.”

“Are you under the impression I’m leaving?” Loki asked while he leaned against the glass.

“Well, yes. You usually do when you’ve tried to breach the cage once. So I thought this time would be no different,” she said, a sadness audible in her voice.

Loki opened his mouth to say something, but she beat him to it and calmly said, “Loki, behind you.”

Loki looked over his shoulder to see three demons running at him, murder in their eyes, ready to rip him apart. He focused his attention back to Morganna.

“Well, maybe I can make an exception today,” he said with a smile on his face. Behind his back he flicked his wrist while calling forth his Seidr and send two demons flying back, smacking them against some rock and killing them instantly.

“Hm, what do you want to talk about?” she said while she also leaned against the glass on the other side. “You forgot one.”

“No, I didn’t,” with a quick turn Loki grabbed the demon by its neck and drove a dagger through its skull, and once again he was sprayed with blood. “I really have to stop making a bloody mess when I kill these things,” he muttered while turning back to Morganna and dropping the body unceremoniously to the ground.

“Then don’t let them come near you.”

“I thought you of all people would understand why sometimes a close combat is so much nicer than one from afar,” he grinned wickedly at her.

She smiled and hummed in agreement. Loki’s smile dropped and he seemed to ponder on something but didn’t speak his mind. “Out with it,” Morganna ordered him.

Loki gave her a dirty look. He didn’t like to be told what to do but experiences from the past had taught him to heed her commands because she could always tell when he was lying. And even if glass and distance separated them, she could acces his mind and wreak havoc in there. She had done it once, just to prove a point, he shuddered. It hadn’t been pleasant, uttermost intrusive even, but she had made amends by sharing some knowledge with him so he could amplify his own ability to read minds. Soon he would be able to alter a person's memories, the real one not distinguishable from the fake one he would create. But she had made a promise and a threat at that very moment, “don’t ever think I will not do that again if I deem it necessary. And don’t ever think about messing with my memories because that would be the last sane thing you would ever do!” Loki believed her, not only because she wasn’t able to lie, but also because he had felt the truth in her words.

Morganna banged on the glass, startling Loki back to reality from his reverie. “You’ve never told me which realm you are actually from,” he blurted.

Morganna knotted her eyebrows at his weird question but answered, “I’m from Asgard. But I’m not quite sure of my heritage.” She spoke softly but her words couldn’t have sounded more loud to Loki. “But I do not wish to speak any further about this subject,” she harshly said. “So, what will you, or we… try next to open this cage?”

Loki was silent for a moment, mulling over her words and trying to keep some of his own dark feelings at bay. Then he spoke, “I don’t know. I’m running out of ideas,” he sighed while probing the class. “It's just-- Maybe… I--” he stuttered which surprised him, he wasn’t one to stutter often and actually always had a plan. The thing was he had deprived his plans and with that came realisation that--

“Your not strong enough,” Morganna said laconic.

Loki shot the witch an angry glare, fire blazing in his eyes for the sudden rage he felt at her remark. He slammed the glass and screamed at her, “WITCH, SAY THAT ONE MORE TIME AND I’LL LEAVE YOU IN THIS CAGE TO ROT!”

Morganna only laughed which further enraged him. “Loki, you can seeth in anger, rage and hate all you want. You can threaten me until our end of days, it still doesn’t change the fact that this magic might be beyond you. It's not for the lack of will, and probably it isn’t your strength because those lie elsewhere, but it just simply is.”

Loki bared his teeth and growled viciously but before he could set of a tirade, she spoke again, her words were barely audible, her voice soft and she meant what she said, “you are NOT weak. I never implied nor said that…”

Loki’s rage suddenly seemed to subside and he looked down, biting his lip. He mused over her words, not entirely sure what to do with them or where to place them. The painful part actually was that she was right. She indeed had never called him weak but there were still things he had to learn and maybe indeed he wasn’t strong enough-- No, this wasn’t his department. This was her department tough, and she would be strong enough, but what could he do? How could he give her the power she would need to break free out of her prison?

“If only I had the mind-stone…” Morganna mused.

***

I saw a spark in Loki’s eyes as I mentioned the mind-stone. The Trickster seemed intrigued and both of us didn’t say a word as our eyes locked and a silent battle erupted between us, only spoken with our eyes.

Loki clearly didn’t want to let on that he knew about the stone, but I already had caught on to it. He noticed I already was on to him and he tried to steel his gaze in order to not give away any more. But I’m a creature of truth and I can not only feel when someone is lying, but I can feel when someone is holding something back, because let’s be honest, I’ve invented that trick.

With a solemn warning I looked him in the eyes, he’d better spill it or I would create havoc in his mind, searching long enough until I got the answer I wanted. Loki held on to his steel gaze a little longer, hoping he could outwit me, but I wasn’t in the mood for games and jabbed his mind. Nothing intrusive, just a little reminder who was in control and that he was playing with fire.

He yielded at that and I saw him cringe. He blinked and looked down, a fraction of frustration washing over his face and mixed with a little bit of anger because he had to yield. Then he sighed and spoke, “I know where the mind-stone is.”

I’d already thought as much otherwise he wouldn’t have tried to hide something. “Pray tell me, WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE AND NOT COLLECTING IT?” a sudden burst of rage overtook me. Why was he standing there, walking through the fires of Muspelheim every day, if he could’ve gotten me out of this cage days ago? Was he really that incompetent?

He banged the glass, hard, a snarl on his lips, seething with anger and he spoke through clenched teeth, “I’M NOT INCOMPETENT--”

Apparently I had spoken out loud in my rage… It happened. Yet again I had antagonized the one person who would be able to get me out. Sometimes it just scared me how much rage and hate lay beneath those green eyes, but then again, I’m no saint either.

“--and if it was so easy to collect it, I already would’ve done so!” he finished his sentence.

I could see the anger and hate keeping him in a tight grip and it was at that moment I realised two things. First of all, if I pushed all the right buttons he would do anything for me if it was only to prove himself. I wondered if he knew that proving himself to anyone wouldn’t diminish his feeling of self-loathing...

Secondly, he would burn down every Realm if that was what was needed to prove himself, and I liked it! He might be of ice, but the cold fires that burned inside of him could very well drive him to each succession he wanted. If only he wouldn’t allow to be held back.

“Why is retrieving this stone so difficult?” my calm demeanor back in place.

“Because it’s lodged into someone’s skull on Midgard and there are a couple of fools protecting him!” Loki almost shouted the last worst, so deep was his frustration.

“Than you’d better come up with a plan, little Trickster.”

***

Angry Loki walked through New York. Not only had Morganna belittled him, she had also given him an impossible mission. She had told him not to kill Vision because death would taint the gem. Was she out of her mind!

Killing Vision to get the stone out of his skull would prove to be difficult, let alone getting it out without killing him. And then there was the problem of that little red-haired witch. She would be no match for Morganna, and Loki snickered at the thought of the two of them fighting. That would be an interesting fight.

And if things weren’t difficult enough, there also was the small problem of the ‘heroes’ who called themselves the Avengers which he had to get past. Where was an army of Chitauri if you needed them?

Loki looked up at the building and sighed, if he wouldn’t gain anything from setting Morganna free, he wouldn’t have done it. But already she had given him some knowledge and her powers would be beyond compare, so he would get himself in this torment. On the other hand, this might be fun as well, and an mischievous laugh formed on Loki’s lips.

He opened up a portal and stepped out of it on the helicopter platform on top of Avengers Facility. Immediately alarms went off and an artificial voice spoke through the speakers of the entire building. “Unidentified person on helicopter platform, please make yourself know.”

Loki laughed. “Tell that Can of Iron and old friend is stopping by to say hello,” Loki told the AI and with that he used his Seidr to multiply himself a numerous amount of times.

At that moment Iron Man burst out of the building and hovered in the air above Loki. “Reindeer Games! Long time no see. Did you want to talk or just get your ass whooped?”

Loki snorted. “Your language is still as colorful, I see. Good to know things haven’t changed,” and with those last words Loki, and all his illusions, shot a green blast of magic at Tony who got blown away into the air.

At that point the door to the helicopter platform opened a second time and Loki was just quick enough to catch an arrow that flew from Barton’s bow. Having learned from his past experience Loki wasted no time and threw the arrow back to Barton while using his magic to enhance it’s speed and aim. Barton was barely quick enough to jump aside but he did get a strike from the blast that followed.

“BARTON! Stop blowing up the building,” Stark screamed from above and mumbled something about ‘Hulk’ and ‘enough damage’.

“Is that all?” loki taunted. Loki sighed and made his illusions surround Barton who quickly tried to stab them with an arrow he was holding. “Just the two of you? That is hardly--” A sudden wave of red magic knocked Loki of his feet and he landed hard on his back.

“We are with four,” Wanda said while approaching Loki.

“The vixen can count,” Loki said mockingly as he scrambled up. He briefly glanced past her and saw Vision. Good! Precisely the one he came for. He wickedly smiled at Wanda and send a wave of green magic her way before he portaled away to get behind Barton. Loki grabbed him by the collar and with a few quick paces Loki was by the edge, Barton bungling above the high drop to the ground.

“Let him go!” Vision said to Loki and Loki turned his head to look Vision in the eye. A sly laugh played around his lips afore Loki spoke, “as you wish.” And with that Loki let Barton go who plummeted to the ground. Loki turned his back to the edge and slowly paced toward Vision while he saw a streak of red crossing the sky in the direction Barton was falling. Of course Tony would be there to rescue Barton, Loki snickered.

“Why are you here, Loki?” Vision asked.

Loki shrugged, “Why not?”

“Are you here for your brother?”

Loki snarled.

“Or are you here to wreck havoc?”

Loki eyed Vision and smiled. “Maybe a little bit of both,” and with that he disappeared just as Tony tried to blast through him with a beam from his hand.

Loki started to play around, sending green blasts of magic at whoever was in range, creating illusions to fool them, and when they got near him, he just portaled away to another place somewhere on the compound. He would be able to keep it up for the better of the day, but that would bring him nowhere near the Mind-stone.

The Avengers were by now fighting as a team and at one moment Loki saw an opportunity. He used multiple illusions of himself to attack Tony and Wanda, while the real him lunged for Barton. But he had made the mistake of losing track of Vision, and when Loki made his move, Vision phased through the wall behind him and send Loki flying through the air with an energy blast. Just before Loki landed an iron hand grabbed him by the horns of his helmet and his wrist. Using Loki’s momentum to spin him 360 degrees around, Tony threw him into the wall. Before Loki could get op Wanda was there, her hands glowing red with magic and Barton next to her with two arrows loaded on his bow which were aimed for his head. “I’m really having a hard time not to shoot these through your head,” Barton said threateningly.

Loki swallowed. He raised his hands and inwardly laughed at the irony of it all. Would this forever be the dance with these so called heroes? “I’d preferred if you did not. It gives a nasty headache,” Loki said sassy.

At that moment Tony landed in front of him. “Nice work guys,” Tony complimented the team. “Now let’s put Bambi in a cage before he sprints away,” he said mockingly.

***

When I own the Mind Stone the first thing I will do is hunt Odin down and make him writher and beg for mercy. Because that is what he deserves after what he has done to me.

I almost possessed the mind-stone once. It had been long ago but it still feels like yesterday. I was so close, but that arrogant God had to intervene and making me lose track of its whereabouts.

But now I have a spark of hope. Maybe more than a spark for I am sure the Trickster will be able to bring it to me. The sheer and raw power of this particular gem will give me everything I need to make the Nine Realms beg at my feet. Nothing or nobody will stand in my way, and if they do, well… That is their loss. I will be unstoppable once it is mine and I’m almost salivating at the mere thought of it.

This Trickster better live up to his promises, because if not, I will tear his mind apart over and over again until he begs for the sweet salvation of death.

But… if Loki succeeds and retrieves the gem successfully, I will reward him handsomely!

***

Loki calmy paced around in his cell in the Avengers Facility. He walked to the glass and placed his hand on it to see if he could feel any magic, but a little shock went through him and he retreated his hand quickly. Loki snickered. He had to give Tony some credit for this confinement; electricity running through the glass would indeed make sure he wouldn’t try to break it. With a wistful smile Loki thought back at the first time he had run into the Avengers and they had put him in a glass cell as well. So much irony!

Loki sat down on the floor and observed his cell. The cell was in a room below ground-level and the room itself was not much more than four walls and a door, nothing else. Little cameras were placed in the room, all pointed to his glass confinement. He smiled wickedly and got up. With his magic he summoned the other parts of his armour, including his helmet and took a few strides towards the glass, stopping some inches before it. Loki knew this was going to hurt, be he had to see how far he could go and if his plan would work.

He used his magic to create an illusion in his entire cell and then banged the glass hard. A shock went through him but it was manageable. Meanwhile he adjusted his illusion to make it look like the glass was cracking and he made sure the cameras would register it.

He smiled, banged the glass again, another shock, a wider crack. Then he waited while studying his hand which had some burn marks. It didn’t take long before the door opened and Barton entered the room to seize up what had happened.

Loki smiled at the sight of this particular Avenger entering his little room. “My former thrall.”

“Shut up, Loki” Barton snapped. “I’m not in the mood for games!”

“Oh, but I am,” Loki said wickedly and banged the glass again. The crack got bigger.

Barton put an arrow on his bow, aiming for the center of the crack. “Break the glass and I’ll put an arrow between your eyes,” he threathingly said.

Loki scoffed, “you and I both know you aren’t capable of that.”

“Try me!” Barton almost shouted.

Loki let his illusion sit on the floor, on the exact place as he was, and he released his doppelganger but not the cracks. He only smiled at Barton, waiting for him to make a move.

Then the door opened again and Tony walked in. “Friday, why didn’t you inform me Loki’s cage was cracking?”

“No need for that Sir, there are no cracks in the glass.”

“What do you mean no cracks? Friday, scan the room and cell please.”

Loki watched in interest as some mechanics flashed some red lights and scanned the room.

“Sir, nothing is out of the ordinary,” Friday reported.

Tony turned to Loki, “what are you up to, Reindeer Games?”

A snarl crossed Loki’s lips. He wasn’t very fond of the nickname Tony had given him but he quickly wept the snarl from his face and replaced it with an innocent smile. “Just playing around,” and with that he altered his illusion slowly so it looked like the crack in the glass was cracking further at a rapid speed.

Then everything was happening at once. The glass shattered while Tony called for Friday. Barton set loose his arrow and Loki quickly put up an illusion of him jumping through the glass and attacking Barton while in reality he opened a portal. Loki put on a third illusion to make it look like he wasn’t in his cell anymore and when his first illusion fell, Barton and Tony were staring at an empty cell which was fully in tact. The arrow Barton had set flying lying on the floor.

Loki gritted his teeth in order to keep the portal open and his illusion up.

“Friday, scan everything quickly and call Vision and Wanda. We’re going on a hunt.” Tony left the room with Barton in his wake.

Fridays scanners scanned the room again and Loki could hear her answer through his portal. “Sir, I’m not getting any decent readings from the room. It looks like someone is still in there but there is some other form of energy as well.”

Loki had heard enough and let the portal snap shut and let go of his illusion. While panting heavily, he leaned on his knees. Just what he had hoped for. With the knowledge Morganna had given him, and his ability to open portals, he could somewhat bypass that annoying AI.

Loki breathed in and then out and summoned another illusion of him keeping Wanda captive. Now all he had to do was wait.

It didn’t take long before Vision entered Loki’s chamber and the game could begin.

“Vis! Get me outta here,” Loki made Wanda say through gritted teeth. Loki had a dagger which he had put on the throat of the Wanda illusion.

“Wanda, why are you in Loki’s cell?” Vision asked suspicious.

“He opened a portal and dragged me in here,” Loki voiced Wanda.

Vision still eyed Loki and Wanda skeptical. Loki had a feeling Vision would not fall for it but he had to keep this game going until he was certain.

“What do you want, Loki?” Vision asked calmly.

“How about open this cell and let me out.” Loki said dryly and pushed the knife harder against Wanda’s throat.

“Don’t listen to this blabbering idiot!” Loki made Wanda say.

Vision still paced around the perimeter of the cell, eyeing Loki wearily. “What if I do not open the cell?” he asked calmly.

“Make an educated guess,” Loki shot back while he made it look like Wanda was struggling.

Vision sighed, “let her go.”

“Or what?” Loki laughed.

“Make an educated guess,” Vision shot back.

Loki only smiled and with that he traced the knife over Wanda’s throat.

Vision reacted precisely as Loki had hoped and at the moment Vision phased through the glass into Loki’s cell, Loki dropped the illusion, pulled open a portal, grabbed Vision and half jumped, half stumbled through the portal, dragging Vision with him.

Next Chapter

----

Taglist: @punkrockhufflefluff, @lokiloveforever, @inspectornotmydivsion, @inumorph, @brinschk, @blueswedebeatbox, @wolfsmom1,

#loki #vision #loki imagine #loki fanfic #loki x reader #vision fanfic #vision x reader #imagine loki

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tiamat-zx · 7 years ago

Text

Mending Bridges (Revisited)

Synopsis: Before departing for Whitestone to face the Briarwoods, Vax tries to make amends for angering Keyleth to the point where she refused to speak to him. Keyleth, in the meantime, starts thinking about what may lay ahead. This takes place during Episode 27, “The Path to Whitestone”.

Notes: “The Path to Whitestone” was and still is one of my least favorite episodes for several reasons. Still, I was wondering as to how Vax and Keyleth ended up being on speaking terms again due to his blunder in mentioning the child. So, despite my discomfort, I had to make myself rewatch at least enough to remember a few things. And also, I’d like to believe that Kiki’s Season 2 attire was actually the clothes she had bought in Vasselheim for their infiltration of the Velvet Cabaret.

This is my most recent revision. It’s about twice as long as it once was. I do hope you guys like this new version. Also, if you want to, please leave some feedback on ao3.

ao3 link can be found here.

Everything was going downhill very fast ever since their return from Vasselheim two weeks ago, and there was a very high chance that things would only continue to do so for them.

Vax could only mull over the events that transpired since their return to Greyskull Keep as he lay in his room. Everyone in Vox Machina were greeted with the news that a Lord Sylas Briarwood and a Lady Delilah Briarwood would be attending a feast at the royal palace of Emon. Hearing this news made Percy very nervous and agitated as he had vacated to his workshop to work on a “surprise” for the nobles. But when they inquired with him, they were greeted with a rather depressing story of the human’s upbringing and the fall of his family at the hands of the Briarwoods. Naturally, they all agreed to help him achieve revenge for those who died.

And then on the night of the feast, everything went to shit extremely fast when he tried to spy on the Briarwoods after the fact. Unfortunately, he had gotten caught by the two of them and even nearly died when he attempted to escape their clutches. Vox Machina managed to come to his aid with the help of a white tiefling named Lillith, who happened to be a cousin of Zahra Hydris, whom Vex’ahlia worked with during their Slayer’s Take trials. Despite their efforts, the couple escaped and vacated back to Whitestone, leaving Percy to vent out his anger and rage on not only their carriage driver, but also a group of bounty hunters hells-bent on capturing Lillith.

As if that were not enough, the party was removed from the Tal’Dorei Council for their actions that night despite their attempts at trying to plead their case. And now Percy wanted to take the fight to the Briarwoods themselves by returning home to Whitestone, far up in the Alabaster Sierras. They had a week to prepare themselves best they could, as they had no chance of proving their innocence just waiting in Emon.

It was the night before they decided to leave for Westruun to procure transportation for the mountainous hike. As he lay still on his bed, Vax’s gaze wandered towards the window and looked at the moon in the sky, rubbing the base of his neck where Sylas had bitten him the other night. So many things had happened, and he had been thrust into peril time and time again over the past month alone. He was surprised that he was still alive despite the odds. He worried so much about his life and that of his sister, especially after seeing her get struck by Delilah’s magic. He worried about Percival and the struggles he no doubt had faced five years ago haunting him once more, seeing his family’s killers in the flesh and only just barely keeping himself from shooting them during the proceedings. He worried about everyone in the group, knowing that they were about to go into danger with hardly any chance to rest, feeling as if they were fated to constantly be thrust into danger over and over and over again.

His thoughts then wavered towards what he had seen when he fell in the courtyard outside the palace. He had seen the others, and he had seen Vex’ahlia and how she had grown over the years into the strong, confident woman that she became. He couldn’t be more proud of his twin sister, who had handled the death of their mother and the scorning of their father much better than he thought. She had a strength that Vax wish he had, the strength to not be fazed by anything no matter how dire the circumstances and still come out on top as the exact same person. In fact, if it ever came to it, he would die for her so she could live on.

But in that instant, he also saw Keyleth. He saw her the way he had grown to always see her: beautiful, powerful, and full of grace despite her general awkwardness. His thoughts about her had changed greatly ever since the Underdark. At first he considered her as just another friend, not exactly as close as his sister was to him but close enough. But over time, ever since that one moment where he realized something was wrong with her, he found himself falling in love with her. He never even considered that particular outcome, but after the Underdark, he began to appreciate her much more such as when they were partnered up together for the Slayer’s Take hunt or during the trip to Pyrah for her Aramenté.

He was hoping to eventually find the courage to confess his feelings to her but not pressure her into making a choice right away. But after having angered her due to mentioning the child that she had accidentally killed, despite having good intentions, Vax began to wonder if it was even worth the trouble. It really made him feel depressed when she wouldn’t even talk to him after it happened. In fact, it broke his heart.

He sighed as he reached for the nightstand next to his bed and picked up the flower he plucked from her garden, still lost in his own musings as he stared at it. He was in love with a woman who didn’t even want to hear him out, even if it was for an apology; he wasn’t sure how he felt about that. In fact, there were many conflicting emotions within him, such as fear, anger, and shame. And yet, he knew that her anger was justified considering the hell she had gone through ever since destroying the Dread Emperor, the incident prompting her to leave for her sojourn to the Earth Ashari six months ago.

Vax continued to hold the flower in his hand, thinking things through. He wasn’t sure how he ended up falling in love, especially with someone like Keyleth, but regardless it had happened. He also wasn’t sure what to do since he hadn’t even told Gilmore yet about this. The sorcerer really took a liking to the rogue, and Vax often found Gilmore’s company quite pleasing. Not to mention that Vax trusted the man implicitly enough that he shared all the secret details regarding the Horn of Orcus. And yet, he knew that as much as he loved Gilmore, he couldn’t ignore his newfound feelings for that beautiful druid that started showing up in his dreams night after night.

At some point I should tell him about Kiki, to try to soften the blow. But I really don’t want to break his heart. Gods, why must this be so complicated?

And speaking of Keyleth, is she even interested in me? Hard to tell, especially considering she had a crush on that Kashaw fellow. Do I even matter to her at this point? Is it even worth going to talk to her right now?

Fuck it, I should at least try one more time. If she’s still angry, I suppose that means I have no chance whatsoever.

Sighing once again, Vax placed the flower back on the nightstand, got off his bed, and put on his boots. He then walked to the door and quietly slid past it, closing it silently. He had to at least try to apologize one more time.

Vax then quietly made his way to Keyleth’s door, and his nostrils could barely make out the scent of herbs and incense coming from that direction. He was surprised that she was still awake at this hour. In fact, the door was still slightly ajar, candlelight filtering out into the hall as he could hear her muttering to herself. Vax briefly debated in his head what to do at this point before deciding to just let himself in.

To hell with it, Vax told himself. I need to at least try. I need to not be a coward for once. I can’t just walk away like I always when things end up not going the way I would like.

Gods, this is complicated. Then again, what hasn’t been in my life?

Steeling himself best he could, Vax reached for the door handle to Keyleth’s room. He was ready to bolt at a moment’s notice, but he fought the urge to do so as he gently pushed it open.

He had at least try one more time.

Dressed in her Ashari nightgown, Keyleth was poring over her alchemy book in her room in Greyskull Keep, trying best she could to create potions that could aid the group. But due to her inexperience and only having learned how to be an alchemist recently, many of her efforts were a failure. And she was growing increasingly frustrated with each failed attempt on top of the events of the past two weeks.

In fact, everything was going wrong in so many ways. The Briarwoods had escaped, especially after nearly killing Vax, and they had gotten kicked off the council due to Uriel being charmed. Seeker Assum later told them all that Sylas was responsible due to the nobleman being vampiric in nature and having no problem in addling the sovereign’s and the seeker’s mental states. And she was getting very scared of not just Percy’s well-being but the rest of her companions, especially after seeing Tiberius brutally murder that old woman and showing no remorse for it.

And then there was Vax, who just had to open his damn mouth about the child and comparing that incident with the old woman. Keyleth was still feeling very sore about it, even making a point to outright ignore or brush off anything he had to say. The fucking idiot was so insensitive that he totally deserved a taste of his own medicine. The situation with the roc didn’t help matters, either, as some of the group wanted to kill it and its druid protector. Instead, she put her foot down and, with help from those who didn’t want to deceive or kill them, figured out a peaceful solution for both sides.

Keyleth’s thoughts went back to the confrontation with the Briarwoods. Sylas’s ferocity in combat was something to be feared, having seen him go toe-to-toe with Grog with that rather menacing blade and managing to handle the goliath on equal ground. Delilah was also frighteningly powerful as she was able to neutralize Tiberius and nearly kill Vex with her powerful magic. She had a feeling that their strength was far beyond what Vox Machina was capable of.

But what else are we supposed to do? And what can I do about Vox Machina themselves? Is it even worth it to try to make them understand what they are becoming?

Keyleth let out a long, deep sigh as she lay back in her chair, rubbing her tired eyes. She still couldn’t believe that she was still traveling with such a group of volatile people. Many times in the past she wanted to just leave them all, that they would be nothing but a negative influence. And yet, as the months passed by, she came to see them as being her dearest friends. She also knew that they would do anything for her, much like how she had for them. That fact only served to really confuse Keyleth even more, her desire to leave conflicting with her desire to stay.

And then a memory came to her. A memory of Vax comforting her during one of her more dire moments deep within the Underdark.

“Keyleth, I know you’ve had a hard time. We all have. I know we’re miles below the surface of the world. But we’re together. We are family. And everyone here is here for you as you have been for us. Now I say we camp for the night inside this schmuck’s tent. We stay here, we rest up, sleep on it, and see how we’re all feeling in the morning. We’re here for you, Keyleth. We’ll protect you as you have protected us. You got a family with us.”

“I only wish it were that simple...” Keyleth muttered to herself. And yet, she knew that Vax had a point. She truly considered Vox Machina to be her second family, especially since she had not seen her mother in twenty years. She recalled that Vax never really spoke about his and Vex’s family, other than meeting Syldor when they first arrived in Emon and met his elven wife and child. She then recalled that the interactions between the twins and their father were very stilted and frosty, contempt coming from both sides.

His childhood must have been rough. Not that he’s ever told us anything about it. I do really hope he tells us one day...

Keyleth couldn’t help but smile faintly when it came to thinking about Vax. Out of everyone in the group, despite her anger at him, a part of her still cared deeply about him in particular. They grew close in the past few weeks ever since she came back from Terrah, reaffirming the friendship they shared. He was very supportive of her during their Slayer’s Take trial and even during the journey to Pyrah and the Elemental Plane of Fire. Not to mention that even before then, she started to think about him more and more ever since their escape from Yug’Voril. She wasn’t sure how to process this feeling as it had never happened before. The closest equivalent to this sensation was her rather awkward infatuation with Kashaw.

No way. It can’t be like that... can it? Do I... love him? Maybe. And even if I did, it wouldn’t work out. After all, just the thought of falling in love scares me due to what still lies ahead for me.

Wait, why am I thinking about this?!

Keyleth tried to shake the thought out of her head as she resumed her work on another concoction. However, just like the rest, it was yet another failed creation.

“Gods dammit!” she yelled as she blindly threw the vial at the door, not even looking at or caring about where it was going to end up. But when she heard the shattering of glass against not wood but stone, she looked towards her door. It was standing open, and the vial’s contents were smeared against the stone wall.

What the—

It was then that she realized something else. Just as she had thrown the vial, she could’ve sworn she heard a gasp from the direction of the door and then a thud. Curious, she walked to the open door and began to look out into the hall. Other than Laina and Erwen and any of their guards, no one should really be awake at this time. Everyone needed their sleep before the big hike tomorrow, of course. And after the surprise visit from a couple of creatures after dealing with the roc, Keyleth was far more antsy about there being more of them.

She looked to her right and when she did, she almost wanted to laugh out loud at the unexpected timing. It was Vax’ildan, of course, leaning on the wall and looking down at his boots, avoiding eye contact. She wasn’t sure what exactly he was doing out of his room, and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to know. For all she knew, he would open his mouth and make yet another stupid comment that would make her even angrier.

And yet, she couldn’t help but notice his expression. He seemed rather distant and depressed. In fact, he looked as if he didn’t have a lot of sleep at all, almost matching the kind of expression Percy had been making lately ever since the news about the Briarwoods coming to town. And seeing that same expression on Vax’s face made Keyleth feel a pang of guilt for her own behavior earlier, though she made a conscious effort not to show it. After all, she was still a little pissed at him.

Keyleth straightened up and then said to Vax, “What do you want?”

Vax slowly looked up but didn’t look her in the eye, as if he was ashamed to do so. Keyleth had seen that look before, and that realization made her feel ill. After all, she had made it herself several times before, back home and while she had been traveling for the past year, most notably after she had accidentally killed the child.

She couldn’t bear to look Vox Machina nor the parents of the child in the eye, especially after the boy’s mother asked what had happened to him. And when she was told what had happened, the mother grew furious and lashed out at Keyleth, refusing to hear the druid’s side of the story and pleading to Pike for her son to be brought back over and over again. But it was when Pike sadly told her that she lacked the power to do so that the mother broke down and sobbed.

That particular sight caused Keyleth’s own heart to break, especially since she caused this to happen. She came to realize that the power she was gifted with would carry with it the burden of responsibility, especially if innocent lives were caught in the crossfire in battle, and therefore there would be consequences for her actions if people got hurt. For a time, she believed that she could manage, that she would be able to avoid doing such a thing. And yet at that moment, when the vine she conjured tugged against the Dread Emperor’s chained charge and she heard the sickening snap of that tiny neck, she knew. She knew that she had just taken an innocent life. It was all her fault.

She knew there was no way for her to easily atone for her actions. She was a killer, plain and simple. Despite Vox Machina being there to try to support her, they never truly understood what it felt like for her. So thus the next day before sunrise, she made the choice to just up and leave the group before anyone else woke up, leaving behind only a single written letter explaining where she had gone.

Keyleth knew that it was the cowardly choice, and even then it didn’t help at all considering the difficulties she experienced during her training under Pa’tice. The vision she experienced did not help matters either, which only further shook what feelings of conviction she still had. It made her greatly think about whether or not she was even worthy of becoming the Voice of the Tempest. It also made her wish that her mother had never vanished, since due to that the burden of the Aramenté was suddenly placed on Keyleth’s shoulders. She even silently hated the fact that her own people—even her own father—decided that she had to be the one even though she never wanted the responsibility. Once again, no one ever truly knew or understood her suffering. Not her people, nor Vox Machina, nor anyone else.

But at the same time, she knew that she could not survive out in the world alone. And she still had a kinship with her party, even with her misgivings about them. So when she had finally returned six months later, and the party welcomed her back with open arms, she was such a sobbing mess that Tiberius hugged her tight, the dragonborn relieved that she came back safe and sound.

Having thought all of those things, Keyleth felt that Vax was acting this way because of how she treated him. Another pang of guilt formed within her.

“I, um... I wanted to see how you were doing,” he started to say. And he then glanced at the residue on the wall and said, “Having a bad night yourself, I take it?”

Keyleth let out another deep sigh and replied, “Yeah. Not exactly making a lot of headway in being an alchemist, that’s for sure. I’ve also got a lot on my mind about what’s to come.”

Vax nodded, still not wanting to look her in the eye. And every time he averted his gaze, it only served to make her feel even worse. “Same. Um, I guess that answers my question. I don’t want to, um, keep you from working or trying to get some sleep. So... I’ll just be going now.”

With that, Vax removed himself from the wall and, while still not looking her in the eye, began to walk off with his shoulders slumped. Keyleth looked down at her feet, unsure as to what to do next. She knew that she had to say something, but she wasn’t sure if he’d even stay put due to how she treated him. Indecision was always a strong flaw of hers every time she was faced with a choice.

She still had to try, though.

“Vax, wait.”

She then heard the rogue’s footsteps slowing and then stopping entirely before he could get too far upon hearing her words. Looking up, she could see that his back was facing her, head still drooped down and shoulders still slumped. She got him to stop walking away, but what next?

“If you want to talk, then by all means. Please come inside,” she said as she moved away from the door and waited for Vax to step in. And to her surprise, he walked inside and stood there as she closed the door and, as if on impulse, locked it. Behind her, she could hear him sigh heavily.

Wait, why did I just lock the door? It’s not like I’m planning to do... “that”. This isn’t exactly the right time and place for that. I mean, I don’t even know how he feels about me, nor what I’m supposed to do about it. Sure, I’ve been having dreams about him, but why have I?

Am I... dreaming about him because I am in love? Or is it out of concern?

Why can’t I seem to figure these things out?! It’s not like I can ask Scanlan or Grog about it; they are less about love and more about lust! Maybe Vex? I doubt it. Who knows how she’d react, especially since it’s about her brother?

I mean, Vax and I are only friends... right?

Then again, I can’t help but feel as if he thinks of me as more than that... if that moment was any indication.

Keyleth, lost in her reverie, couldn’t help but think back to a certain moment from back when they were in Vasselheim, waiting for Vex’ahlia’s team to return.

It had been only a few moments after Kashaw had made his abrupt exit. As Thorbir groaned at the sudden and unexpected display of affection and walked off to get himself a drink at one of the many taverns in the cold streets of Vasselheim, the rest of them were brought to another room for lodging.

“This is where you can stay while you wait for your companions to return. I’m sure they will be back quickly,” Murtin Cyndrial had stated, his jovial personality ringing true.

But Vax wasn’t as jovial about it. Instead, he let himself in without a word, not looking anyone in the eye as he crashed onto the bed. Tiberius, grumbling and muttering and complaining as usual, entered the room as well. The overall trial had been rough for all of them, after all.

“T-Thank you, Murtin,” Keyleth replied. “Will you let us know when they come back? Because... Vax gets very agitated if he’s apart from his sister for a long time.”

“Oh, certainly!” the halfling said with a laugh. “Also, I gotta say, that Kash fellow sure knows how to make an impression. Don’t you think so, missy?”

Keyleth’s face turned a scarlet red color, being reminded once again of the grumpy cleric stealing her first kiss, and without warning too. “Y-Yeah, he does.”

“Well, I’ll let you get some sleep. You’ve earned it!” Murtin shouted with nothing but cheer in his voice. He then walked off with a spring in his step, still excited about the news of the successful hunt of the rakshasa .

Keyleth still stood there in the hall as she stared off into space, still dazed about the kiss as her heart raced. This was something completely new to her, something unknown. That Kashaw was certainly something else. She wasn’t sure why she felt such an attraction towards him, as they had only known each other for a few hours. Not to mention that he seemed either disinterested or outright rude about everything she had said and done.

She also couldn’t help but feel as if the kiss felt awkward and weird.

I mean, he’s technically a married man. And up until that point, he didn’t really seem the least bit interested in me. What the hell was that about?

Although... it did feel good, at least a little. I wonder if that’s what it feels like for other girls who receive their first kiss.

“Ah, young love. So fleeting, yet so palpable. It’s truly amazing to witness, especially if it’s you.”

Keyleth jumped a little at the unexpected voice. She turned to where it was coming from, and her nerves were settled immediately. It was Tiberius.

“Wait, what do you mean ‘love’? I-I only just met the guy,” she asked him.

“Oh, did I misunderstand? My sincerest apologies, milady,” Tiberius responded, scratching the back of his scaled head. “Then again, I’ve never really experienced such a thing myself, being a scholarly fellow. It was always reading and research up in Draconia for me.”

“I see... I mean, I can relate. Back home in Zephrah, I had the same kind of upbringing in my preparation for the Aramenté. No time for socializing, no time for fun, no time for... love. So... this is very new to me. Although...”

“’Although’? What’s wrong, Your Highness?” Tiberius asked.

Keyleth hesitated. “It... It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

Then out of the corner of her eye, Keyleth then noticed something. Namely, an empty bed where Vax once was.

“Hey, where did Vax go?”

Tiberius looked at where he was earlier and shrugged. “Poor boy. He must still be fretting about Vex. After all, he was very angry at the tiefling woman—”

“Vanessa,” Keyleth interrupted. “She has a name, Tiberius.”

“Sorry,” Tiberius said apologetically. “He was very angry at Vanessa for splitting us all up. And I’ll be frank, I’m just as worried about the others as you and Vax are.”

Keyleth nodded. “Still... I worry about him. I... have my reasons.”

What Keyleth didn’t elaborate on was that the root of her worry stemmed from having Vax on the forefront of her mind for the past two weeks or so ever since the Underdark. She wasn’t really sure if Tiberius would understand, based on his own admission.

“Um... I’m gonna go look for him,” Keyleth told the dragonborn. “Don’t wait for me to go to sleep. I’ll be back soon.”

Tiberius shrugged. “Very well, milady. I need some sleep anyway.”

Then, as soon as Tiberius closed the door behind him, Keyleth made her way through the hallways to the front doors that led out into the Quadroads. Making her way outside, she figured that she’d have a better chance of finding him from above. Focusing, she transformed into a raven and took to the sky. As she flew, she looked all over with her avian eyes. And after about an hour of searching, she could just barely catch the sight of a dark-haired half-elven man skulking in the alleyways.

Vax.

Keyleth flew in for a closer look and then carefully perched herself on his shoulder. Vax was only mildly started until he realized she was there. He then calmed himself down, his body becoming less tense.

“Hello, little birdie. What are you doing out here in the middle of this cold city?” Vax asked her, a faint smile forming on his face.

Keyleth cursed herself that she couldn’t respond with words. One of the many things she was upset about when it came to her shapeshifting abilities. Instead, she edged closer and did her best to brush her feathered body against Vax’s face. His skin felt chilled due to being outside this long.

Vax, you really should come back inside. You’ll freeze to death if you’re not careful.

“Aww, aren’t you really affectionate? Reminds me of Trinket whenever he nuzzles me or Vex. Or even the rest of the group...”

Vax trails off, the smile fading. He then looks up at the night sky, his breath visible due to the cold.

“My sister is out there, quite possibly fighting a dragon right now. I don’t even know if she’s alive or not. Sure, she has some of our companions with her, but that doesn’t exactly ease my worries. As if that wasn’t enough... someone I know had just met someone else. And... I don’t even know how I should react to that.”

Keyleth’s heart sank a little. She knew he was referring to her and Kashaw.

Wait, are you... jealous, Vax? I mean, why would you be jealous? We’re friends.

“I dunno, I’m not even sure how I feel about her,” Vax continued. “She’s an amazing person. She’s powerful and kind, and she may be an awkward and nervous wreck, but I like that about her. I... I don’t know how to process this feeling within me.”

Wait a minute... is he talking about...?

“Oh, who am I kidding?” Vax was still saying. “I’m probably just stressed from what’s been happening lately. Hmph, I never thought that a bird like you would make a great conversation partner.”

Vax took his finger and scratched Keyleth’s raven neck. She closed her eyes and felt a little more content. She wanted to just revert right then and there, but she wasn’t sure how Vax would react. He’d probably be so flustered that he would start avoiding her. Instead, she did her best to motion towards the direction of the guildhall, hoping that Vax would take the hint.

“Oh... Now that you mention it, I should be heading back. I’m only going to make the others worry. You should get going yourself. Don’t you have others to go back to?”

Keyleth did her best to nod in her bird form and then took to the sky once more. As she flew, her mind began to race.

Did... he basically just say he had feelings for me? He wasn’t exactly being direct with his words. Then again, maybe I’m overthinking it.

I still wonder, though.

Trying to focus, she managed to fly back to the guildhall and up through the window leading to their room. Seeing that she made it back before Vax, and that Tiberius was sound asleep (and snoring), Keyleth found herself crawling into bed herself. It was a long day, and it was seemingly going to be a much longer wait.

Three days. That is what the Huntmaster had stated in terms of the duration of the trial. They could easily wait three days.

But then three days became four, and it was not until midday on the fourth day that they finally came back. From there, they traveled to Pyrah and then finished some more business in Vasselheim before returning home... and then things quickly went to hell.

“Um, where do I even start?” Vax asked her, bringing Keyleth out of her reverie. She remembered that she merely asked him to come in for a talk.

Just a talk. Nothing more. At least, I think that is the case.

Sighing, Keyleth turned away from the door and found herself staring at Vax’s back. Nervously, she reached out, grasped his arm, and pulled it with the intent to make him turn around. And without much restraint, he did so albeit his head was still dropped low.

“You can start by looking at me.”

When he didn’t, she took her hands and placed them on both sides of his face and made it so he could finally look her in the eye. And when he did, she could see something that she was expecting to see: tears falling down his face.

“Vax?”

Silence surrounded the two of them for quite a while. If anything, Vax was always the quiet sort when emotionally burdened, as well as when he was being distant. In fact, he was so quiet that she almost didn’t catch a whispered response from him. It was muttered too low for her to hear.

“Did you say something?” she asked in a quiet, gentle tone.

“I’m sorry.”

Keyleth frowned and tilted her head. “For what?”

Vax’s tears continued to flow down his cheeks, trailing down her hands and along her arms as he no doubt struggled to find the words to say to her. Every passing moment that he stayed silent only further served to depress Keyleth. And then, after a while, he finally said something.

“For making you angry. For being inconsiderate. For just being me.”

It was as if someone had lit a lantern in her head, as hearing those words made her want to cry herself. Deep down, she wanted to punch herself for not even taking into account Vax’s feelings at all. She was just as inconsiderate of them as he was of hers at the time. And that realization only served to make her feel worse. And little by little, her stoic expression started to crack.

“I... I didn’t mean to anger you so much. I didn’t even think of how you would react. I only wanted to tell Tiberius that he was in the wrong when he killed that woman and... out of everyone in our group, I didn’t want to make you angry at me. That’s... something I never want to do. Ever.”

“Vax... shut up,” Keyleth interrupted, not wanting to hear any more. She dropped the façade entirely and pulled Vax in for a tight, strong hug. And even then, she still tried to hold back her tears as she started to run her hand through his hair, trying to calm him down.

“Keyleth?” he asked, his voice quaking.

She shook her head as she couldn’t hold back any longer, the tears now falling down her face. It was her fault that he was acting like this. She caused yet another heart to be broken. Just like the mother of the child. Just like when she ended up reducing Lady Kima to tears when they had their argument in the Underdark.

Why am I cursed to make people cry?

Pulling herself together, she told Vax, “It’s all right. I should be the one to apologize. It’s true that I was angry at you, but I’m more angry at myself for allowing that past mistake to affect me so much.”

Vax nodded as he continued to cry and eventually embraced her just as tight. His embrace was warm and strong, much like how she remembered it when they mourned the loss of the flying carpet during the pursuit of the rakshasa. For that brief moment, all she wanted to do was to hug him and comfort him.

“I suppose we both have a lot to feel sorry for,” Keyleth told him as she still held him tight.

“I suppose we do,” Vax said to her. “I don’t want what happened to ruin our friendship. It means a lot to me. And... I don’t blame you for being angry at me. I was being quite a dumbass.”

Keyleth nodded. “I agree. I don’t want to lose our friendship, either. Not over a mistake like that. It’s rather childish of me to cut ties over such a thing, actually. It’s not something a future leader of the Ashari should do.” She pulled back and looked into Vax’s eyes and said with a surprisingly calm voice, “So... I forgive you.”

At that statement, he gave a faint smile. “Thank you, Kiki. I really appreciate that.”

Keyleth couldn’t help but return his smile with one of her own. Despite that brief feeling of anger and resentment towards Vax over the past week, she couldn’t help but feel grateful that even though she treated him that way, he didn’t hold it against her. Having thought that, something stirred within her, a rather pleasant feeling coursing through her body and warming her heart. It made her smile a little wider, and she didn’t even feel embarrassed about it.

So is it true? Do I... feel that way about him?

Breaking the embrace, and wanting to not dwell on such thoughts, Keyleth then said to Vax, “I know I’ll never get over that feeling of guilt. That’s not going to change. However, I do need to not go into a rage whenever it gets brought up. I know you had good intentions, and it was wrong of me. So... starting tomorrow, we can go back to how things were.”

Vax nodded slowly. “Agreed. It’ll feel good to do that.”

Keyleth nodded back. A thought then came to her as she asked Vax, “Well, since you’re still here, I was wondering if I could have your opinion on something.”

“Yes?” he replied.

Keyleth then walked to her closet and pulled out some familiar-looking clothes: a brown, sleeveless dress with gray leggings and a leather corset, with ruby-encrusted arm bangles and a matching choker. They were the clothes that she had bought in Vasselheim, recently mended and cleaned.

“I was thinking of wearing this tomorrow. I kinda need to break this outfit in some more. What do you think?” she asked as she showed him the dress.

Vax thought about it for a moment and then said, “I think it would look great on you once more. You should wear it.”

Keyleth blushed a little as she placed the bundle of clothes on the table after putting away all of her alchemical tools. “Thank you, Vax. That’s very sweet of you.”

Vax turned his head away, but not before Keyleth herself noticed a blush on his cheeks and the tips of his ears. “Well, I’ll see you in the morning, then. Good night, Kiki.”

“Good night, Vax,” she replied, choosing not to show that she noticed him blushing. The rogue then let himself out the door and back into the dark hallways, heading back to his room.

Keyleth closed the door and leaned back against it, feeling a little better after her talk with Vax. It gave her a chance to calm down after her failed alchemy attempts. And besides, she had to admit that seeing Vax blush like that was rather cute.

I still have to wonder. Does he have feelings for me? And do I for him?

Shaking her head, Keyleth made her way to her bed and crawled under the covers. She then allowed herself to fall asleep, and she ended up dreaming of their time in Vasselheim. Specifically, of the time before they infiltrated the Velvet Cabaret when they pretended to be married. It was rather amusing to tell Vex about that later on, but what Keyleth’s dream was focused on was how it felt to be in his presence.

She continued to sleep, oblivious to her door creaking open as Vax peeked through, watching her sleep as if she were the most amazing person in the world. And then, he closed the door and silently went back to his room, a smile forming on his lips.

The next morning, everyone began to gather together as Tiberius prepared his teleportation circle. Vax could notice that everyone was on edge due to the agreement they all made to go to Whitestone today. If they failed, they would no doubt all die. But it was still a risk that had to be taken, for Percy’s sake.

As Tiberius finished his preparations, he noticed Keyleth consciously standing close to him. The two half-elves looked at each other, a silent understanding between them of where they stood now, as Vax felt much more calm and serene after his conversation with her the other night. He truly felt as if he might have a chance to tell her one day, provided they survived their upcoming battle with the Briarwoods.

He heard a rather faint snarl from behind, a quick glance revealing the source to be Vex. He noticed Keyleth shrugging at the ranger when their eyes met, and Vax could only wonder what his twin was thinking. He hadn’t told her either, after all. But perhaps there would be a chance later on. And as Tiberius cast the spell, and the circle flared to life, Vax and Keyleth soon found themselves holding hands as they braced themselves for the inevitable confrontation to come and leaped into the portal together.

They didn’t realize it at the time, but their feelings for each other were quite strong even if they were unsure as to how the other felt. But by the end of their impending adventure in Whitestone, that would change.

#critical role #vaxleth #keyleth #vax'ildan #critfic #fic update

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