#my parents have been running away from the thought of The Gender for years despite theoretically being out to them

[karnalesbian]

Ah fuck dude not like this. My day did not need to get worse in any way and certainly not this way man

[starryhyuck]

can’t get you out of my mind. (m)

pairing: alpha!jaehyun x afab!omega!reader

words: 16.2k+

summary: the ceremony to choose your alpha mate has arrived.

genre: fluff, angst, smut

warnings: outdated gender roles/stereotypes, some women hating women dynamics (that resolves in the end), mentions of war, mentions of loss during childbirth, disapproval of in-laws, possessive!jaehyun, pregnancy, breeding kink, tiny bit of face riding, bigdick!jaehyun, squirting, knotting, nonstop fucking between jaehyun and reader, public sex, mating

“You must be overjoyed. Your ceremony is soon approaching.”

Sookyung grins at you through the mirror, brushing out the tangles in your hair. She runs her fingers through your scalp soothingly, despite her verbal reminder cutting and exposing your skin like an open wound.

You display a rehearsed smile. “Yes, it will be a momentous occasion.”

“We wait in the thrill for our next alpha,” she says in a repeated line most of the household have been trained to squawk at you.

After dressing you for the night, she exits your bedroom, allowing you the reprieve to breathe by yourself. You lay in your bed, eyes shutting tightly in the hopes of driving away the clouding thoughts of your ceremony.

The ceremony was an ancient ritual upheld in your community to secure the success for future lines for centuries to come. It was developed after a war decades ago between humans and wolves that nearly wiped out both populations, resulting in a tepid agreement to separate both species for the greater good. The violence decimated hundreds of werewolf communities, including most of the ancestors of your own line. Since then, the elders of every succeeding generation have been strict in their ways of treating the new alphas and omegas born from the surviving families.

Every year on the evening of the harvest moon, alphas and omegas who have come of age gather in the town square to be shipped away until the end of winter to locate a suitable match. Born an only child, your pairing with a prosperous alpha was critical to the future success of your family. Your mother and the beta staff of your household raised you to be the picture perfect omega for the ideal alpha you would one day marry.

Months ago, your resolve had weakened towards rebelling against your parents before you succumbed to their wishes. Initially, you believed the ceremony to be a backwards ritual that practically enslaved you to a stranger. You couldn’t put up much of a fight, however, when the struggle of your family’s finances grew heavier with each passing day.

It’s why when Sookyung finally dresses you for your ceremony and walks with you to the town square, you don’t make a scene. You keep your head down as your mother taught you, hands folded on your stomach as you step in line with the other omegas. Sookyung smiles at you when she sets down your packed suitcase, filled with every item deemed necessary by the elders to prepare you for the ceremony.

You always envied your handmaiden for the ease she carried herself with as a beta. Sookyung would never have to worry about bringing her family honor by marrying a strong-willed alpha. All betas were employed as working staff for the communities, keeping the background alive while the alphas took care of the pressing matters in the forefront. Omegas, on the other hand, were seen as nothing but breeding ovens that needed to deliver. When you were younger, before you presented as an omega, you silently prayed that the universe would assign you as a beta instead.

Unfortunately, your prayers were never answered.

“I will see you in a few months,” Sookyung murmurs happily, tapping at your cheeks affectionately. “The staff waits patiently for the arrival of our new alpha.”

Once your ceremony is finished and you are granted permission to return home, your household merges with your alpha’s in accordance with the law. Every staff member under your father’s umbrella becomes a diligent worker for your new alpha. You know Sookyung and the others not only pray that a kind alpha chooses you, but that his fortune is large enough so they do not have to part with any of the current workforce.

She grants you a small kiss on the cheek for good luck before parting, and you watch her tiny figure disappear behind the tree line. You take a small glance at the other omegas surrounding you, also bidding their farewells to their beta handmaidens. Some look like they’re about to cry in fear while others possess a determined expression you know you could never tackle yourself.

The boisterous chatter of the alphas fill your ears, and you straighten your posture and dart your eyes back towards the floor. It’s been years since your mother has allowed you to interact with an alpha. She feared it would accidentally pair you to someone who wouldn’t become your future mate, tainting your reputation in the community as used goods. This will be the first time you encounter another alpha as an adult, and it has your body tingling from head to toe.

The scent of the alphas makes the situation all too real, throwing you in the sudden clarity that in a few months, you will be mated to another alpha and most likely be pregnant with his child. You try to focus on the black leather shoes Sookyung dressed you in that morning, a new pair the elders gifted to your family for the ceremony. You don’t dare look up even after the smell of the alphas grows stronger, indicating their close proximity.

An elder claps her hands to gain your attention. “Very well then, looks like we have everyone. I hope you are all prepared for the next few months of the harsh winter. This will be the time where we expect you to gather together, keeping each other warm as you discover the alpha or omega you will be bonded to for life. I am certain your parents have already stressed the importance of this ritual to you all, so I won’t dawdle on the basics.” The elder’s feet pass by your line of vision but you continue to stare down. “No one may speak with a wolf not mated to you unless supervised, no alphas may claim an omega outside of the moon ceremony, and every alpha and omega must emerge from the winter bonded to another. Any disobedience according to the law is punished by exile. Is that clear?”

A chorus of agreement erupts from every single person standing in the square. The elder offers a hum of satisfaction before instructing you all to follow her to the bus that will transport you to the ceremony lodgings. Alphas are quick to take the omegas’ belongings with them, showcasing their ability to care and provide. An alpha’s hand wraps around the handle of your suitcase and tugs it alongside his. You don’t utter a word, giving a simple nod of gratitude without looking at him.

The ride to the lodgings is filled with anticipation. The elders divide the front of the bus for the omegas and the back for the alphas. The omega seated next to you grins from ear to ear.

“I’ve been waiting for this day since my sixteenth namesake!” She giggles happily. You throw her a polite smile. “They say the lodgings are filled with decadent food and a luxury most of us couldn’t imagine. It might be the only time we get to experience something like this.”

Details of the ceremony are kept secret from the omegas who have yet experienced it. Your mother told you as much as the law allowed her, warning you how difficult the winter can be without a willing alpha to keep you warm and forming alliances with other omegas can be tricky unless you play your cards right.

This isn’t a teenage getaway — it’s a competition. An omega you befriend could be useful to you for a short period, but soon enough, they would become another pawn rivaling your claim on an alpha. It’s much safer to tread by yourself so no one could betray you.

As soon as you arrive at the lodgings, a vast area of land covered in wooden cabins and surrounded by trees, the elder chaperones designate the areas assigned to the alphas and omegas. You are separated into opposite ends of the land, with omegas seeking shelter in the larger homes and alphas pushed into the smaller living areas.

Each omega is granted their own room, which you are grateful for. A handful of years ago, omegas used to share until fights broke out over claims on alphas. The elders became more strategic after the exile of a few unruly omegas, now giving each their own privacy to avoid confrontations.

You had counted the number of omegas on the bus, a total of fourteen rivaling the alpha count of twenty. You knew it was a safety measure the elders took as sometimes two alphas claimed one omega or disobedience of stubborn alphas forced the elders to send them to exile. An omega was more difficult to come by, but alphas were a dime a dozen.

Still, the idea of two alphas claiming you sent a shudder down your spine. You’re not even sure if you would be okay with one, let alone two commanding your every move.

“Dinner is at six,” an elder tells you as she shows you your room. “All omegas are expected to be seated before the alphas.”

You nod, about to thank her before a rumbling of footsteps barrel down the hallway.

“Sorry, Elder Kim. Forgot to hand this omega her belongings.”

You’re too late to dart your gaze away from the incoming alpha, but your breath catches in your throat when you realize who it is. Jeong Jaehyun has his fingers wrapped around the handle of your suitcase, wheeling it inside your room.

Jaehyun is the son of the head alpha of your community. The Jeong family are respected by all across the nation, descending from the ancestors that fought for the wolves’ rights in the war against humans. Every alpha son from their line has ascended to greatness, and with Jaehyun being the current oldest son of the family, he is the most valuable pick of the ceremony season.

The elder’s voice is stern, scolding him. “Next time, you will alert another elder of this omega’s belongings instead of encroaching on her space like this. I won’t tolerate disobedience simply because of your last name, Jaehyun.”

“Yes, Elder Kim,” he replies obediently.

You briefly meet eyes before you avert your gaze, silently reprimanding yourself for indulging in a look. You hear his footsteps slowly fade away.

“That boy,” Elder Kim sighs, shaking her head. She throws you a stern expression. “Dinner at six. We will escort you to the main hall.”

“Thank you,” you say, bowing respectfully.

Elder Kim closes your door and you slacken your shoulders, wrapped in the comfort of being alone. You work at unpacking your suitcase, filled with sweaters and thick coats to protect you from the cold. You find one of the dresses Sookyung bought for you, a long smock ending at your ankles that properly concealed whatever the elders deemed too precious to be seen before the moon ceremony. You throw it on and clean yourself up before Elder Kim knocks on the door again for supper.

You inhale, taking a long look in the mirror.

You can do this.

—

Elder Choi sits you in between Jaehyun and Doyoung, and the other omegas snarl at you over the coveted spot.

Doyoung’s family is right hand to Jaehyun’s, holding nearly as much power as the head alpha. Either one of them would be considered a suitable match for any omega, but you set your sights on an easier catch like Doyoung.

Bonding with an alpha that possesses as much power as Jaehyun is almost impossible for an omega of your status, lowborn with a fortune running thin.

A group of betas begin to serve dinner as you tell Doyoung, “It’s an honor to meet you, Alpha Kim. My family is grateful for your ancestors’ sacrifice during the war.”

It is a sign of recognition to acknowledge an alpha’s successful lineage, a tactic your mother drilled into you from a young age. She taught you as much as she knew about the eligible bachelors of your season, so you know a few characteristics about Doyoung. He’s the youngest in his family but exhibits the traits of an eldest son — steel demeanor, unforgiving rulings, and no room for a silly thing such as love. He’s exactly what you’re searching for in this time of desperation.

“I thank you for the credit,” he replies, offering you a nod. “Are you familiar with the household duties assigned to an omega like yourself?”

Therein lies the unwavering stony demeanor of the infamous Kim Doyoung.

“Yes, I am,” you say meekly. You shyly take a bite of the steak in front of you. “Embroidery and reading are my favorite pastimes, Alpha Kim.”

He hums in approval. “Any books caught your eye recently?”

“The Omega’s Guide to Painting has been very entertaining,” you say, lying through your teeth. It’s considered reckless for omegas to consume any piece of media outside of their class, leaving you with nothing but novels surrounding the fascination of cleaning and cooking. Sometimes you sneak a book out of your father’s library containing details about the late war, but you wouldn’t dare speak that outloud. “I am also fond of The Handbook for Dressmaking.”

“A good read,” he murmurs. “And children? Is that something you’re contemplating?”

You keep your best smile painted on your face. “Yes, Alpha Kim. As many as the moon will grant me.”

The rest of the dinner passes smoothly, and you barely scrape the fork on your plate in fear of seeming too greedy. The other omegas at the table obtain the same values as you, their food nearly untouched. Your stomach growls in discontent when a member of the beta staff eventually takes your meal away from you to clean up.

Following traditional customs, you separate from the alphas when the table is cleared and retreat back to your room. You try your best to tuck yourself into bed and fall asleep, but your growing hunger screams at you. You tiptoe out of bed carefully, checking the hallway for any elders lurking before proceeding back to the main hall. The cabin is dark, all lights shut off as you quietly move into the kitchen. The betas have already cleared the countertops of any remaining food so you check the fridge, the halo illuminating your face.

“You silly omegas.”

You jump nearly three feet in the air, gasping and holding your hand to your chest. You swivel around to see Jaehyun standing behind you, arms crossed and eyebrows raised in amusement.

“A-Alpha Jeong,” you stutter, bowing your head. “I apologize, I wasn’t aware-“

“You omegas are always starving yourselves in front of us. When are you going to realize alphas are never settled when our omegas aren’t taken care of?” He questions, stepping beside you and taking out the leftover steak in the fridge.

You keep your eyes planted to the ground as he moves around you, heating up the meal on the stove.

“Alpha Jeong, you don’t have to-“

“Just call me Jaehyun,” he interrupts gruffly. “Alpha Jeong this, Alpha Kim that- all the rules get so tedious.”

You flush in embarrassment. “We shouldn’t be alone together without an elder present.”

“Another rule,” he sighs, using two fingers to lift your chin up. You meet his gaze head on. “I won’t tell if you won’t.”

You swallow, blinking slowly at him. Being this close to an alpha while unmated is against all commands of the elders and betrays every ounce of your omega training, but you nod and say, “Okay.”

“Besides, the elders sleep like they’re dead anyways,” he says with familiarity, which makes you realize that Jaehyun’s grown up around all the elders who have accompanied you to the ceremony because he’s next in line to become head alpha. He steps back from you and resumes cooking at the stove. “So,” he starts, humming. “The Handbook for Dressmaking is a riveting thriller, isn’t it?” He asks you with a smirk playing at the edge of his lips.

“Oh,” you mumble, wringing your hands nervously. “Yes, I believe it was the top book for the omegas in our district.”

He chuckles. “What’s your actual favorite book? Be honest.” He takes out a cutting board and slowly starts peeling the skin of one of the apples on the counter.

“Um- t-that is my favorite book, Alpha-“ you stop and clear your throat, correcting yourself. “Jaehyun.”

“You omegas,” he repeats with a shake of his head. “Always lying, trying to say what you think is the right thing. I don’t want to hear the dictation from your mother’s handbook. I want to hear your real opinion.”

Your heart beats rapidly in your chest. You’ve never told another being about straying away from the traditional omega values. Jaehyun looks at you with an impatient expression, however, and you can’t bring yourself to lie to the next head alpha.

“History retellings about the war are my favorite,” you confess in a gentle voice. His eyebrows raise in surprise. “They provide me with a picture of what we needed to do to succeed as the dominant species.”

It’s not ladylike in the slightest to assimilate oneself to such acts of violence, and you’re certain this would be the final nail in the coffin to ward Jaehyun far from you. Instead, he smiles.

“That’s a new one,” he laughs. “And the children? As many as the moon grants you?”

It’s no secret that after the war, many omegas don’t find it as easy to give birth as they used to. The lingering chemicals and difficult winters led to harsher environments for omegas to successfully carry a pup to term. Nowadays, omegas who strive for more than four children sign their own death sentence. Regardless of the staggering data, the elders teach all omegas that they must give birth to as many pups as the moon will grant them.

“Two,” you whisper, shifting your stare from him and towards the wall. “Just two would satisfy me.”

He hums again, but makes no effort to scold you for your admission. You expect the son of the head alpha to be more strict on the nation’s laws surrounding omega submission, but Jaehyun breaks out of the mold you initially assumed of him.

He slides a warm plate on the counter, filled with the delicious food you resisted eating hours ago.

“Eat well, omega. I thank you for your honesty.”

When he exits the kitchen, your mind reels over the thought that not all alphas are as bad as you believed them to be.

—

“Look at them out there!”

Omegas rush to crowd the window, gawking over the beefy alphas outside. A month has passed since you arrived for the ceremony, and yesterday, the first snowfall made an appearance. The alphas are currently gathering firewood outside in a clear demonstration of power play. Each wolf challenges the next as they collect stacks upon stacks of firewood in their arms, flexing their muscles for the omegas watching to squeal at.

“Jaehyun is so strong,” Doyeon sighs wistfully, nose glued to the glass. “He’s going to be a perfect match for you, Joohyun.”

You learned pretty quickly that the omegas arranged themselves into a pecking order after your first few weeks here. Joohyun was a beautiful girl from the rural village who was nearly guaranteed a good match because of her visuals, and most of the omegas echoed how perfect she would be for Jaehyun.

You, on the other hand, were at the bottom of the food chain. You hadn’t made companions out of any of the other omegas and you never told a soul about the night Jaehyun heated up your meal while unchaperoned. You kept to yourself, occupying your days with the activities the elders laid out for you, such as embroidery and dressmaking.

“It’s not certain yet,” Joohyun dismisses with a giggle. “He won’t even give me the time of day.”

“He’s just nervous!” Yerim insists, laughing with her. “It’s honestly really cute. You’re going to be the perfect omega queen for us.”

You keep your lips pursed, refusing to voice your displeasure at the constant chatter encircling Jaehyun and Joohyun. You hate to admit you think about that night with Jaehyun more often than you would like, sometimes imagining what your life could be if he chose you as his mate. You admonish yourself for feeding into your desires, knowing that they could never come true.

The front door bursts open and the alphas come piling in, throwing firewood down on the living room rug despite the protests of the elders. You carry on reading the novel seated in your lap, refusing to engage in the delighted cries of the omegas praising their alpha’s strength.

“It really wasn’t that hard,” Mingyu laughs, puffing out his chest for Chaeyeon, the omega he’s clearly courting. “Alphas like us are born to carry much heavier loads than that.”

Just as you’re turning the next page of your book, a voice above you asks, “What have you got there, omega?”

Your eyes flit upwards to catch Jaehyun’s, a familiar playful smirk dancing across his lips. You swallow nervously and dart your eyes away from his.

“Embroidery and Embellishments, Alpha Jeong.”

He clicks his tongue. “Fascinating read, I’m sure.”

You smile bashfully at the jest before Joohyun clears her throat, taking the lounge chair across from you.

“Alpha Jeong, I thank you graciously for providing the firewood we omegas need for the incoming frosty weather,” Joohyun says with batted eyelashes.

He brushes her off with a wave of his hand. “No thanks necessary. Alphas are always happy to provide for our omegas.” He takes another glance down at you but you keep your eyes trained on your book, afraid of angering Joohyun’s clear attempt to claim him. “I hope you enjoy your book, omega.”

“Thank you, Alpha Jeong.”

The alphas exit shortly after the elders light the fire, returning to their own cabins. The elders begin to assign you household tasks to keep the lodgings prepared in case of a severe storm. Elder Lee delegates you to shovel snow from the driveway in fear of another omega accidentally slipping on the ice. You bundle up as best as you can, wrapping yourself in a puffy coat and shoving your hands into a pair of warm gloves.

You don’t comment on the fact that some of the more desired omegas, such as Joohyun and Doyeon, were only given the tasks of watching the fire to ensure the light doesn’t flicker out. You suppose even the elders were convinced they would be married to good pairings and soon enough, they would be listening to Joohyun’s orders if she mated the head alpha.

You sigh as you work at shoveling the snow, testing your balance as you plant yourself upright and continue to dig.

“So we’re back to Alpha Jeong, hm?”

You almost scream, turning around to see the source of the sudden voice. Your frantic actions cause you to slip on the ice and you gasp as you feel yourself falling backwards. A pair of arms catch you, encircling your waist and pulling you tight against a warm frame.

Your eyes slowly wobble up to meet with Jaehyun’s.

“You need to be more careful with yourself, omega,” he chuckles, breath fanning over your face. “Can’t have you injuring yourself whilst on duty.”

You scramble to balance on your own two feet as Jaehyun watches you, thoroughly entertained. He gently takes the shovel from your hands and begins to dig.

“Alpha Jeong, you don’t have to-“

He clicks his tongue in disapproval. “The elders shouldn’t have an omega out here, shoveling snow without supervision. If I wasn’t around and you fell, you could be seriously injured.”

You chew on your lower lip, afraid to tell him that the elders will definitely scold you for letting an alpha complete your work. You observe as the muscles ripple down his back and through his arms, showcasing them properly as he dons a sleeveless shirt.

Alphas’ bodies were designed to withstand temperatures like this, even as the wind nips at your face and sends shivers down your spine. Their figures were meant to be warm enough to protect their families during winter, and your heart aches to be clung to his chest again and feel the heat pressed against your skin.

“We used to play together as pups, you know.”

The statement has you reeling, your mind searching for glimpses of a tiny Jaehyun running circles around you. He laughs at your bewildered expression.

“It was before your mother took you away to become a proper omega,” he elaborates, lips curled in distaste towards the end of his sentence. “You used to shove me down and tell me I kept arranging my mudcastles all wrong.”

You briefly recall a rebellious younger version of yourself, ruling the rest of the children on the playground with an iron fist. It was before all of you understood the differences between omegas and alphas, and before your family was sequestered into the lowborn category. Your life as a child was filled with merriment and fun, and it would make sense that you didn’t think twice about pushing around the future head alpha.

“I apologize for my behavior,” you say shyly.

He frowns. “Why would you need to apologize? We were young — that’s what we’re meant to do.”

“Still,” you reply, swallowing your nerves. “An omega of my status should not have been acting in such an unruly manner, Alpha Jeong.”

“Jaehyun,” he corrects. “And stop apologizing. I don’t want to hear you ever say sorry again for behaving in a completely acceptable manner, okay?”

You blink at him, taken aback by his command. “Y-Yes, Jaehyun.”

He gives you a long look before returning to shoveling the snow, the driveway now almost clear from his efforts. The front door to the cabin creaks open and Elder Kim hobbles outside, gasping when she sees the sight of the alpha.

You open your mouth to explain, but she’s reprimanding you before you can get a word out.

“What do you think you’re doing? Allowing an alpha to complete your task whilst unsupervised?”

This is it, you think. This is the moment that she sentences you to exile, forcing you to leave the ceremony lodgings and fend for yourself in the woods alone. You think of your mother and Sookyung, who tried so hard to mold you into a perfect omega who would bring back an alpha they could be proud of. How would they take care of themselves with you gone?

Before you can spiral into the endless possibilities of your demise, the alpha beside you speaks up in your defense.

“And what do you think you’re doing, Elder Kim?” Jaehyun bites back with a scathing tone. “Letting an omega shovel snow on her own knowing she could fall and injure herself. Omegas are sacred in our district, I’m sure you’re well aware. Leaving one unsupervised by any of the elders could bring lasting damage to our community.”

Elder Kim’s face flushes red with anger from being challenged and humiliated by an alpha younger than her. She glances behind her, ensuring the door is closed for no other ears to eavesdrop on your conversation.

“Jeong Jaehyun, you will go back to your cabin and speak of this no further. I will reassign the omega’s duties accordingly.”

“I’m not leaving until this omega is warm by the fire and fed properly,” he says sternly, eyes narrowed.

You squirm, attempting to make yourself smaller to avoid the heated stare of Elder Kim. She barks at you, “Get inside and stay by the fire.”

You shuffle quickly into the cabin, throwing one last look at Jaehyun before you go. He smiles at you before shifting back to his grim countenance at Elder Kim. When you shut the door, the elder’s voice rises.

“If you know what’s best for you, you’ll stay far away from that omega. You know that’s not the one your father approved of you mating with.”

“I didn’t think you amused yourself with such idle gossip, Elder Kim,” he replies mockingly.

“Jaehyun,” Elder Kim scolds. “That omega is not fit for an alpha of your status. She will not be able to lead the omegas who come next in line.”

“You don’t know what she can do,” he hisses, and your heart beats rapidly in your chest. Is he implying that he’s considering you as a potential mate? “All of the elders focus only on themselves instead of the good nature of omegas like her. Isn’t the point of the ceremony to nurture and bond them to an alpha? I don’t see how that’s being accomplished when you have one of them at the risk of catching hypothermia.”

Elder Kim sighs loudly. “Just go back to your lodgings, Jaehyun. And think about if the decisions you’re making are that of a leader.”

“I want her to be looked after more carefully.”

“That is for us elders to determine. You’re not the head alpha yet, don’t start acting like one.”

You saunter off to the living room before you can hear any more, taking a seat on one of the recliners and wrapping yourself in a blanket. Joohyun and Doyeon are painting their nails on the couch adjacent to you, eyebrows raised at the sight of your presence.

“Shouldn’t you be finishing your chore outside?”

You grab your book from the table and prop it open.

“Alpha Jeong did it for me.”

And you finish your book with a smile, ignoring their blatant shock when Elder Choi sets down a warm plate of food next to you.

—

As the wind grows stronger, the elders begin to initiate more intimate activities between you and the alphas.

One of them is a form of speed dating, where an alpha visits you in your room for a few minutes unsupervised while the elders lurk outside the door. You make your best attempt at pushing your discomfort away at a stranger invading your space, especially so close to your nest. Most of the alphas are polite towards you and ask you a few questions before departing to the next room. It’s clear they’ve made their initial claims towards other omegas, as they display no interest in your life beyond childbirth.

“This is a beautiful pillow,” Doyoung says when it’s his turn, picking up one of the cushions you’ve laid in your nest. Your eye twitches slightly at the action. Any courteous alpha should know it’s disrespectful to touch an omega’s nest without permission.

Despite this, you offer him a small smile. “Thank you, Alpha Kim. I made it myself.”

He hums in approval. “Your room is more bare than the other omegas,” he notes, drinking in your empty walls.

“I don’t have much,” you confess. The other omegas were given various presents to celebrate their ceremony by their parents or beta handmaidens, but you were only handed enough sheets and blankets to cover the bed.

He nods again. “I hope you understand I’m searching for an omega who can lead my household without instruction. I’ll be occupied during the hours in the day working for my father and brother, so I need my pack to be organized without the requirement of my presence.”

“Yes, Alpha Kim,” you say meekly. “I am very efficient in handling my own tasks and duties. My mother raised me in accordance with the laws of the ancestors.”

A knock on the door interrupts you, and Elder Lee steps in. “Time’s up,” she says, balancing herself on her cane. “The last alpha is here.”

Doyoung bows in courtesy to you and you return the gesture.

“It was lovely speaking with you. Thank you for your time, omega.”

“I appreciate your attention to detail, Alpha Kim.”

Elder Lee escorts Doyoung into the next room before Jaehyun pokes his head in.

“May I come in, omega?”

Your heartbeat thumps in your ears. “Of course, Jaehyun.”

He grins at the familiar calling of his name before walking in and shutting the door. You blink softly at him, butterflies swarming your stomach at the sight of him in your room. He looks so big compared to your tiny cabin lodge, and the omega inside of you screams to invite him into your nest and make him comfortable.

“Beautiful nest, omega,” he compliments, gazing at the circle of blankets and pillows you’ve built on the mattress.

You smile bashfully. None of the other alphas even bothered to comment on it.

“Thank you.” You suddenly think back to the night in the driveway, and Elder Kim’s words throttle inside of your head. “Have any omegas caught your eye?”

He frowns at the shift in the conversation. “Why would you ask me that?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you-“

“Don’t apologize,” he sighs, suddenly exasperated. “I told you that you don’t need to apologize for silly things like this. Just-“ he swallows, crossing his arms over his chest. “Have the elders been talking to you?”

Since that night, you noticed the elders have been treating you slightly differently. You are no longer assigned the more grueling tasks fit for an omega and your portions at mealtime have grown larger. Joohyun has been staring at you with envy, and you know the other omegas have been whispering about you behind your back.

“N-No,” you deny, shaking your head. “I just thought- um, I thought Joohyun was starting to show an interest in you.”

He shakes his head dismissively. “I don’t care about her. She’s not the right omega for me.” He glances at the clock hanging above the door, and you realize you only have a few seconds left together. “Meet me in the main hall tonight. I want to speak longer with you.”

“But-“

“Time to go,” Elder Choi says, opening the door and throwing Jaehyun a stern look. He follows her obediently, not wanting to stir up any more trouble, leaving you all by yourself again.

You thought you would be relieved by the time the speed dating session was over, but instead, you find yourself coveting more minutes with Jaehyun without having to sneak around. You keep yourself occupied until the late night rolls over the sky. The elders decided to separate you from the alphas for meal time tonight considering there was already sufficient interaction between you today. You eat dinner by yourself in your room instead of joining the omegas at the table, counting down the minutes until everyone is tucked away in bed.

You have enough time to mull over the consequences of your decisions — getting caught with Jaehyun after hours is one thing, but if the elders discover that it was pre-planned and intentional, it would evolve into an entire mess. Nothing would probably happen to Jaehyun, he would most likely get a slap on the wrist and a scolding from his father. You, on the other hand, would be sent to exile and your family would be disgraced by the community for their omega daughter seducing the future head alpha.

Still, you can’t help but disregard all of the red flags waving in front of you. The omega inside of you demands to be near Jaehyun, to talk to him, to let him hold you until the storm passes. It’s a carnal feeling you’re not sure you’ve ever felt before.

You’re light on your feet as you make your way to the main cabin, the wind outside nipping at your cheeks forcefully. You slip into the kitchen without making a sound, afraid of waking any of the beta staff sleeping upstairs.

“There you are,” Jaehyun whispers when you enter, and you squeak. “Oh fuck,” he curses when he sees you shivering. As if on instinct, he crosses the room and pulls you into his arms. “I forgot about the snow outside, I’m so sorry, omega.”

You smile at him. “You said not to apologize for silly things.”

The concern in his eyes is replaced with something softer, and the corners of his lips lift upwards. “I did, didn’t I? Thanks for reminding me.” He doesn’t move an inch, rubbing his hands up and down your arms to seek warmth. “And thank you for meeting me so late. I hope you’re still getting enough sleep.”

Your chest blooms at his constant fretting over you. “I’m doing well, thank you, Jaehyun.”

“I-I wanted to speak with you about what you said earlier,” he mumbles, hand stroking your hair gently. You lean into his touch, almost mewling at how perfect he feels against you. “I hate that you’re thinking about me with other omegas. Truthfully, I don’t want any of them. My alpha’s been calling me to you.”

You freeze in his hold. You take a step back from him and he frowns at you. “Is this some kind of rebellious act?” You question. “I should be your last pick as an omega, Jaehyun. Elder Kim said so herself.”

“So you have been listening to them,” he says under his breath, shaking his head. He pinches the bridge of his nose in exasperation. “I don’t care what everyone thinks they know about me. I-I like you. I’ve liked you since we were pups and I can’t imagine myself being mated to anyone else.”

His words cut through you sharply and you struggle to catch your breath. You’re convinced that Jaehyun doesn’t quite understand the weight behind his words and how much this could alter both of your lives permanently. He’s an alpha destined for greatness and you’re an omega fallen from grace. You can’t possibly work out in the long run.

“I don’t think-“

The sound of light footsteps interrupts you, and both of your eyes widen before he’s pulling you into the corner of the room, concealing your bodies behind the tall refrigerator. You keep your lips sealed shut, body pressed against his warmly. A beta worker steps into the kitchen, frowning when she sees no presence of another wolf before flicking the lights off. After thoroughly checking the living room as well, she treads back up to her bed.

You exhale when she finally disappears before you feel a hand ghost over your cheek. Your eyes lock with Jaehyun’s, who looks at you like no one’s ever looked at you before. There’s an affection in gaze that draws you in, tugging at your heartstrings and begging for you to make room for him. He cages you against the wall, molding his frame against yours. His breath hits your skin before you’re suddenly reminded of where you are.

“Jaehyun, the staff-“

“Please let me kiss you.”

You swallow before you nod, and his lips descend on yours desperately. A burst of light explodes throughout your body, desire swelling deep inside of you. He feels so soft against you and it makes you want to kiss him all day. Your hand reaches to pull at the hairs on the nape of his neck, causing him to groan into your mouth.

You’re not sure if it’s from your incoming heat for the moon ceremony, but you’ve never been this wet before. Slick runs down your thighs and you shamefully whimper, rubbing them together to seek friction. It’s clear Jaehyun can smell your arousal, his moans shifting into growls as his fingers dig into your hips. His lips trace your jaw and he starts to lift up your dress, running against the flesh of your thighs.

“Jaehyun,” you gasp, pushing him away. “We can’t.”

He pants, clearly frustrated. You try to ignore the swell of his hard member straining in his trousers. “It’s not fair. I’m the next head alpha — I should get to choose the queen who will sit beside me.”

You shake your head. “I-I’m sorry, but I think you know it’s best for you to mate with Joohyun and I with Doyoung.”

“Doyoung,” he scoffs, tangling his fingers through his hair. “Doyoung would ignore you at a moment’s notice in favor of chasing the tail of his father. He’s a good soldier, I’ll admit, but he’ll be half the husband I could be for you.”

“He’s safe,” you argue. “He’s a perfectly safe choice for an omega like me. He won’t stir up any trouble and he’ll provide for our pups as needed.”

A snarl erupts from him. “You will never have any wolf’s pups except mine.”

His vocal abhorrence is what stirs another beta worker from their bed, and you pause when you hear the creaking of the wood upstairs. You shuffle away from Jaehyun and he looks at you solemnly.

“I can’t do this with you, alpha. It’s dangerous and I-I just can’t. Please find it in your heart to choose Joohyun instead.”

You slip out of the kitchen and trudge back to your cabin with Jaehyun’s heart crushed between your fingers.

—

“There is a prediction that tomorrow’s weather will be the coldest night of the year, with temperatures dropping below freezing,” Elder Choi says, staring at the handful of omegas before her. They have gathered you in the common space, hands folded on your stomachs obediently. “We are allowing the alphas to choose an omega to keep warm throughout the night. They will enter your rooms after supper tomorrow, and we all gently remind you that no claims are allowed to be made outside of the moon ceremony.”

You glance down bashfully at her words. The omegas surrounding you rejoice happily, squealing to one another at the thought of an alpha’s body wrapped around theirs while the wind cries. You, on the other hand, picture an icy night with Doyoung, who would likely rather curl up on his side of the bed than touch you.

Doyeon raises her hand before Elder Kim calls on her. “And how will you determine the order of the alphas? What if multiple alphas are vying after one omega?”

“We have discussed this with the alphas to ensure they speak to one another before making a decision,” Elder Lee replies. “And the order will go according to status of house, with Jeong being first.”

Every omega turns to Joohyun and giggles except you. You haven’t spoken to Jaehyun in weeks despite his attempts to sit near you during meals or help you with your assigned chores. He has been talking more to Joohyun like you requested, and you hate how your gut stirs with jealousy every time you see them together.

The following night, during supper, you sit in between Doyoung and Chaeyeon. You smile at the alpha sitting beside you. “The weather is taking a turn for the worst. I hope you are able to keep yourself warm, Alpha Kim.” You hand him a basket of bread as he nods.

“Yes, we alphas are not affected by a simple dip in the weather like omegas are. My wish is for you to shield yourself from harm’s way.”

You smile politely at him and bob your head in thanks. Your eyes lift to catch Jaehyun’s across the table, where he is seated in between Joohyun and Doyeon. His fingers are tightened steadfastly around his fork, glaring at you and Doyoung. You swallow and realign your gaze to your meal.

“And what order have you been assigned for tonight’s activity?” You ask Doyoung, ignoring Jaehyun’s blatant stare.

“Second,” he replies. “Your omega will not have to wait long.”

“I appreciate your concern, Alpha Kim.”

You burrow yourself underneath a handful of blankets that night, although it does little to protect you from the howling wind. Your teeth chatter as you curl yourself into a ball, praying for the storm to pass. Your door creaks open and you furrow your eyebrows.

It’s too early for Doyoung to be here. The sun has only just fallen over the horizon, so it couldn’t possibly be him unless-

“May I come into your nest, omega?”

Your head pokes out from underneath the covers to see Jaehyun hovering over you, smiling softly at your shivering form. Your eyes dart between him and the door frantically.

“Jaehyun, you shouldn’t be here-“

“Why? My omega is cold and I’m here to keep her warm,” he murmurs. “Now may I come into your nest?”

You have half a mind to tell him to leave this room and find Joohyun’s, but instead, you lift up the covers so he can climb in. His hands immediately wrap around your waist and he pulls your backside against his front. Your body relaxes in his hold, protected by the heat of his frame.

“Did Doyoung-“

“Don’t say his name,” he growls in your ear. He presses closer against you. “I put him in his place. He knows now not to come near you.”

“Jaehyun,” you hiss angrily. “That was not your decision to make.”

“I can’t stand the thought of him in this room, invading your nest and keeping you warm,” he says through gritted teeth. His hand moves to tangle with yours and your heartbeat picks up its pace. “I’m the only alpha who can keep you safe.”

You sigh, tears threatening to spill over your eye line. “I can’t be the omega they want me to be,” you confess in a small voice.

He kisses your neck softly. “You already are the strongest omega I’ve ever seen. That power, that confidence — it’s hidden underneath the foolish rules your mother taught you to be a ‘good’ omega. You just need to be yourself.”

You bury your face into the pillow, allowing the tears to fall. “I don’t remember who that is.”

He turns you over, wiping your tears away gently. “Let me show you then.” He kisses down your neck, lifting the hem of your sweater to nudge his nose against your stomach.

Your eyes flit over to the door again, fear settling in. “We shouldn't-“

“It’s okay,” he soothes you, tugging your sweatpants down your legs. You gasp at the chill hitting your thighs, goosebumps spreading across your skin. “You just have to be quiet for me, omega.”

“The moon will know of our sin,” you exhale, reciting the words of the elders.

He rolls his eyes, nose nudging against your core. “The moon doesn’t know shit.” You squeak when he sucks lewdly through your underwear, slick coating his tongue. “What I know is my omega’s pussy needs attention and I’m happy to provide.”

He rolls down the fabric until your bare folds hit the freezing air. Jaehyun is quick to lap at the slick dripping down your thighs, coating the bed as your head tilts in embarrassment. His fingers reach to cup your cheeks, shifting your focus on him.

“Don’t look away from me, omega,” he commands in a gruff voice. “Let me see that confidence as I eat this pretty cunt.”

You keep your eyes locked on him as he laps at your core, tongue tracing your pulsing folds. You chew on your bottom lip, fearful of allowing any stray whimpers to fall and risk one of the elders overhearing you. He flicks his tongue over your clit, teasing the nub. Your fingers tangle through his hair, gripping the strands to pull him closer to you. He smiles at your display of dominance, allowing you to use his face as your personal toy.

All etiquette training flies out the window as your hips roll against his tongue, slick continuing to spill from you and into Jaehyun’s waiting mouth. You chase your impending orgasm, riding his face until the band in your stomach snaps. He quickly shoves three fingers into your mouth to muffle your moans. You whine against his digits as he laps at your cunt, grinning vulgarly.

“Such a good omega,” he praises, your legs still shaking from the intense orgasm. He kisses his way back up to your face, removing his hand from your mouth so he can swirl his tongue with yours. You whimper when you taste the remnants of your orgasm on him. “Have the elders been making you take your suppressants?”

Since your first night at the cabins, the elders required all alphas and omegas to take suppressant pills to ward off their incoming ruts and heats. The goal was to ensure you were all ripe and ready for the moon ceremony, which was now fast approaching. They would begin to wean you off of the suppressants in the coming weeks to correctly sync all of you to the ceremony. It was the best way to guarantee pregnancy for the omegas on the first night.

At your nod, Jaehyun sighs. “It’s ridiculous. I should be able to breed my omega whenever I please.” You moan at the thought. He flips you over so that you’re on top, straddling his torso. “Go ahead and claim what’s yours, omega. Show me the omega queen you’re going to be.”

You shakily fumble with his briefs, pulling them down until his cock slaps up against his stomach. Your eyes widen at the length of him, long and thick. You heard rumors that a head alpha’s cock was bigger than most, but you genuinely weren’t expecting this.

“I-Is that supposed to fit inside me?” You squeal, frightened by the idea.

He chuckles, rubbing his thumb against your hip soothingly. “It’ll fit, omega. Why don’t you play with it a little? I promise you it’s not that scary.”

You hesitantly wrap your hand around his base, squeezing gently while he groans. You move your palm up to the tip, catching the falling beads of precum leaking from him and using it as a lubricant. You continue to stroke him, marveling at how his cock throbs and manages to keep expanding at your touch. How is it possible for him to grow any bigger?

“Come on, omega,” he encourages you through bated breaths. He lifts your hips up until your core is hovering over his member. “Take your time, okay? It’ll fit, trust me, your pussy was made for me.”

“Okay,” you whisper, balancing one hand on his abdomen as you slowly sink down. You throw your head back, whining at the stretch until his fingers slip into your mouth again to silence you. You’re not even halfway there yet you feel so full, stuffed to the brim with his cock.

You’re not certain you can go any further until Jaehyun shushes you calmly, brushing off the stray tears you don’t realize have fallen. “Take your time,” he reiterates. “It’s not a race, omega. I’ll be here all night, waiting for you.”

You nod, fluttering your eyes shut before you exhale. You gradually press down until he’s seated all the way inside of you, balls snug against your ass. Slick races down your core to coat both you and him, making the glide easier for you when you start to move.

“That’s it,” he encourages. “What else do you need, omega? Don’t be shy about it, an omega queen never is.”

You duck down to seal your lips together, effectively connecting you to him as your hips swivel around his cock. He grunts into your mouth, spanking you lightly with his fingers that are still smeared with your saliva.

“I need your knot, alpha,” you mutter against his lips. You’ve never taken an alpha’s knot before and you want nothing more than to feel Jaehyun’s cock swell inside of you, stretching you open until ropes of his cum cover your walls.

“Let me feel you first, omega,” he hums, using his hands to guide your movements as you bounce on him.

You rock back on him as the euphoric sensation spreads throughout your body, driving your pleasure to new heights. His cock is big enough to rub against all of the right spots, nudging you closer to your climax. You rut frantically on him until fireworks explode behind your eyelids.

You don’t realize you’ve squirted everywhere until you float back down, blinking to clear the haze in your vision. Jaehyun has one hand covering your mouth and you give him a confused expression.

“You were screaming,” he explains in a fond voice, stroking your hair back. His eyes are sparkling and you glance down, shocked by the amount of slick covering his stomach and the bedsheets. “Messy omega.”

He gently rolls you over so your head hits the pillows, switching positions with you as he slowly slides back into your cunt.

“Want your knot, Jaehyun,” you pant, the last orgasm driving you to exhaustion.

“I’m going to give it to you, omega,” he says, pumping into you desperately. Your wetness is causing a slight smacking sound to fill the room every time his thighs hit yours, which he tries to quiet as much as possible. “My knot’s only for you, my omega. It’ll only ever be for you.”

He buries his head between your collarbones when his knot begins to swell. His teeth sink into your neck, forcing a gasp from your throat. He doesn’t claim your mating gland yet, favoring the spot next to it. You feel like you’re being split open as the base of his cock inflates and tears fall down your cheeks at the mix of pain and pleasure.

And when Jaehyun cums, he cums a lot. So much that it spills out of your pussy and onto the mattress. His knot plugs his cum deep inside, ensuring most of it fills your womb.

He kisses you once more, cupping your cheeks softly. “My omega,” he whispers again, nose brushing against yours. “You’re going to be a wonderful queen. The community will thrive under our rule.”

“You promise?” You question shyly, intertwining your fingers together.

“I promise. It’s just you and me, omega.”

—

“You’re a lucky girl.”

Elder Kim brushes the hair away from your face, applying moisturizing cream to your cheeks gently. She sprinkles flecks of gold across your eyes and sprays hints of jasmine around your neck, and you don’t comment on how Jaehyun would hate it if he couldn’t smell your natural scent under the perfume.

It’s the night of the moon ceremony and you’re more nervous than you’ve ever been.

The last few weeks have been indescribable with Jaehyun, save for the haughty nature from the rest of the omegas. Ever since he publicly displayed his affection by choosing you on the coldest night, the others have declared you the enemy. Joohyun apparently cried the entire evening, sleeping next to a rigid Doyoung who showed no interest in helping her stay warm. She singled you out as a traitor for seducing her alpha and the rest of her army followed suit in the accusations against you.

“It’s not everyday the head alpha chooses an omega of your liking,” Elder Kim says with a sigh. “Jaehyun’s a stubborn one, always has been since he was a pup.”

You smile thinking about your alpha. The time together before your moon ceremony has only made the two of you more insatiable, occupying any unsupervised time with your hands all over each other. You’ve nearly gotten caught a couple of times, but as the suppressants wear off and your heat starts to itch at your skin, you fail to stave off your desire.

“He’ll be a strong head alpha,” you say as Elder Kim pulls your ceremony dress over your head. “Our district is lucky to have him.”

She regards you carefully. “I admit, I initially mistook your subservience for weakness. But I can see now why Jaehyun is so enamored by you. There’s a strength inside of you that I haven’t seen with the other omegas. It rings cause for a great leader, and I’m happy to see it reveal itself more these past few weeks.”

“Thank you, Elder Kim,” you say, offering her a thankful bow.

“Don’t thank me yet,” she murmurs jokingly. “It is said that a head alpha’s children are just as stubborn as the alpha, making them the most difficult pups to raise. Jaehyun was an unruly little boy, and I have no doubt his pups will take after their father.”

You briefly glance down at your stomach. Unbeknownst to her, your belly is already blossoming with Jaehyun’s child after many nights of sneaking around together. When you eventually appear back home, you know a few eyebrows will raise at the timeline of your pregnancy. You hold no care for idle gossip now, however, simply happy by your current state of life.

A warmth burns in your chest and you clear your throat. “Elder Kim, does it always feel this-“

“Strong?” She finishes for you, smiling when you nod. She turns you to face the mirror in the corner of the room and you finally take a look at yourself. Your skin is flushed and your eyes are dilated, making you appear more feral than you’ve ever seen yourself. “You haven’t experienced your heat in months. Tonight you will feel the after effects of the suppressants wearing off.”

A frantic knocking comes at your door and Elder Kim frowns, shouting for the person to enter. Elder Choi comes in, eyes wide in alarm.

“We have an issue.”

“What-“

“I want to see my omega now! Fuck your moronic ceremony!” Jaehyun’s booming voice shakes the entire cabin and you gasp, the sound of him being enough to send a river of slick down your core.

Elder Kim sighs, guiding you by the shoulders until you’re sitting at the edge of your bed. “Stay here while I handle your rowdy alpha.”

You clench your thighs together and lay back on the mattress, the ache of your heat spreading throughout your body. It dawns on you that if your heat was affecting you this much, Jaehyun must be loathing the intensity of his rut hitting him all at once.

The scent of your alpha wraps around you, growing stronger when you faintly hear Elder Kim shouting, “Jeong Jaehyun! That omega is not yours to claim until the moon has risen!”

Then you feel a pair of rough hands flipping you over, pulling your ass into the air and mounting you properly. It takes the strength of all the elders and the swatting of their canes to rip Jaehyun away from you, his teeth bared as he snarls in their hold. You’ve succumbed to the instincts of your heat, whining for your alpha and begging to be stuffed full of his knot.

“Get the other omegas out in the field now,” Elder Choi commands, pulling at Jaehyun’s arms as hard as she can.

“But the moon-“

“If we don’t let this alpha claim his omega in the next few minutes, he’ll kill us all.”

Elder Kim finds a way to convince your alpha to wait while Elder Lee rushes to gather the rest of the omegas outside. You feel the hands of Elder Choi lift you up gently and help you on your feet, readjusting your dress as she walks you out of your room and down the stairs.

You’re still completely out of it, murmuring Jaehyun’s name until Elder Choi soothes you, “We’re almost there, omega.” She leads you to the open field outside, where the snow is just starting to melt on the grass.

All the omegas have huddled around in a half-circle, glaring at you once they catch a whiff of Jaehyun’s scent. Soon after, the alphas filter out of their cabin one-by-one, looking just as jaded as your alpha. It’s clear all of you are reaching your limit in terms of the length of this ceremony. Elder Lee instructs them to stand on the opposite ends of the omegas, effectively completing the circle. Elder Kim is still holding Jaehyun back by his arms as he thrashes and growls from the restraint. You know he could easily break both of Elder Kim’s arms if he wanted, but he prevents himself from taking it too far. Your omega preens at the self-control of your alpha.

“Alright, status of house will decide the order,” Elder Lee says exhaustedly from the middle of the formation, her body weary from fighting Jaehyun off. “We will begin with the blood sharing ritual, and I request for Jeong Jaehyun to demonstrate it for us accordingly.”

Jaehyun easily slips out of Elder Kim’s hold and trots up to Elder Lee, taking the dagger out of her hand. He comes up to you without hesitation and Elder Choi, who is still holding you, prods you forward carefully. Jaehyun takes you into his arms, pressing kisses down the side of your face to ease the unsettled nature of your omega.

“Jaehyun,” Elder Lee reminds him in a stern voice. “The blood ritual.”

Although the omegas have been kept in the dark concerning the ins and outs of the moon ceremony, the alphas were taught at a very young age what would be expected of them when called forward. It’s why you glance warily at the dagger in Jaehyun’s hand while he shushes you softly.

“Not going to hurt you, omega,” he assures.

He takes the blade to his skin, slicing his palm open. You whine at the injury, but become perplexed when he raises his hand to your mouth. He gives you a small nod, urging you to press your lips to the skin. You hesitantly run your tongue over the wound as droplets of his blood cascade down your throat.

“The alpha and omega have become one through the blood ritual,” Elder Lee announces and the rest of the alphas and omegas clap begrudgingly.

Jaehyun cups his hand over your cheek, pulling you away from his cut and molding his lips over yours. Elder Lee clicks her tongue in disapproval but you’re lost in the world of your alpha, fists tangling in the fabric of his thin shirt to pull him closer to you. He ruts against you, his cock already fully hard.

“Jaehyun,” Elder Lee warns. Your alpha ignores her, favoring bunching up your dress in his hands instead. “Jaehyun!”

Elder Kim pushes against his back. “In the circle. You can claim your omega, but you know you must do it in the circle.”

With permission from the elders, Jaehyun leads you into the overarching trees while you stumble through the discarded branches. “Where are we going?” You question, your fingers aching to be wrapped around his cock.

“Where the moon is supposed to bless us, omega.”

You uncover a field in the middle of the woods, looking like the season has suddenly shifted into spring. The grass is clear of any evidence of snow and the birds chirp above you, highlighting the blooming flowers rupturing from the ground. Jaehyun lays you in the middle, and you bring your hand over to shield your eyes from the sudden burst of sunlight.

“W-Where are we?” You ask shakily, taken aback by the change in your surroundings.

“The moon’s circle,” he answers quietly, pulling your dress over your head to see you. His lips immediately latch onto your left nipple, grazing the peak with his teeth while you squeal. “The moon is meant to rise over us and bless us with a child.”

“Oh,” you say, furrowing your eyebrows. “But I’m pregnant with your pup already.”

“That you are, my pretty omega,” he hums, kissing down your stomach. “We didn’t need the silly moon, did we? Just you and me.”

When his tongue laps at your folds, you whine. “Jaehyun, want your knot,” you say, tugging at the strands of his hair.

“Let me get a taste of you first, greedy little thing.”

He cleans up the slick coating your thighs, lapping at your wetness even as you continue to drip into his mouth. Mewls spill out of you as you beg for Jaehyun to grant you some mercy. His tongue and his fingers won’t be able to satisfy you when you’re this deep into your heat, you need his knot, and you need it now.

“Jaehyun,” you whine again. “Please, alpha. I can’t wait any longer.”

“My poor omega,” he coos when he parts from your cunt, making his way back up to your lips. “Need your alpha’s knot? Need to be stuffed full until my cum is leaking out of you, hm?”

You whimper and nod. “Please, please, alpha. Want it so bad.”

He flips you onto your stomach, adjusting you into the same position he had you in when you were in your room. He mounts you like before, taking his cock out and slapping it against your pussy. When he pushes the tip in, your head collapses against the grass as the heat in your belly finally begins to subside.

He’s bigger than he’s ever been, and you’re not certain if it’s from his rut or being able to claim you properly or a combination of both. You scream when he stretches you out regardless, your cunt weeping from his cock splitting you in half. He doesn’t show any mercy on your shaking form, jackhammering into you roughly.

You hear a scoff above you, and your eyes lift to search for the source of the noise. You’re surprised to see Joohyun five feet away from you, arms crossed against her chest as she sneers down at you. Doyoung stands right beside her, averting his gaze from your whining form.

Jaehyun’s hand pushes roughly against your scalp. He leans down to whisper in your ear, “They’re here to watch the head alpha claim his queen, my omega.”

You assume it’s another twisted part of this morbid ceremony — for the alphas and omegas of age to watch their leader degrade his prized mate. You moan louder, putting on a show for them as you grind your hips back onto his cock. Since Jaehyun already knows what it takes to push you over the edge, he wraps his fingers around your throat, pulling your back to his front as he thrusts in deeper.

He exposes your neck for all to see, his fingers hovering over your thrumming mating gland. “Please, alpha,” you whimper. “Please, want to be your omega.”

“Say it,” Jaehyun hisses in your ear. “Say it for all of them to hear.”

“Want you to stuff me full, want to be bred with your pups,” you say without hesitation. Your eyes lock with each of the omegas surrounding you and you smile with pride. “Want you to show them how you’re mine.”

Then his teeth sink into your neck, displaying his claim for your audience to watch. Each alpha growls, their patience running thin to stake a claim on their own omegas. Jaehyun raises his head to snarl at them, effectively silencing their complaints. You shudder as you spasm around him, squeezing onto him for dear life.

“Gonna breed you,” he grunts into your ear, landing a few swats against your ass. “My pretty omega, full of my pups and begging to be stuffed full. I love you, omega, and I’m going to show you just how much.”

The first spurt of cum lurches you forward as his knot expands inside of you. He holds your body steady against his, moaning loudly as he plugs his cum into you. Like the first time, it seems as if he has endless amounts of cum to give you, most of it spilling out of your core.

“Love you, love you, love you,” he whispers into your ear the entire time before turning your head to plant his lips against yours.

A few minutes pass in silence with Jaehyun still cumming into you before Elder Lee clears her throat.

“…Well then, let us leave the future head alpha and the omega queen to their own. Now that the demonstration is over, we will complete the blood rituals and finish the ceremony for the rest of you.”

They slowly filter out of the moon’s circle while Jaehyun’s mouth continues to press against yours, gently lowering the both of you onto the grass. You barely register that they’ve all left, your focus drawn to the fact that your alpha is still rutting into you despite his swollen knot sitting at your entrance making it difficult for him to move very far.

All it takes is a few spankings to your clit for you to clench tightly around him again, gushing over his cock.

“They’re going to have to tear me away to make me stop,” he sighs, biting down on your mating gland once more. “I can’t get enough of you, omega.”

“Don’t stop, alpha, please.”

You don’t separate from Jaehyun that night until Elder Choi comes to collect you, insisting you both wash up and have something to eat in your room. Your alpha slowly fucks you in the shower before feeding you a few apple slices Elder Kim lays at your door. He then takes you again on your bed, against the wall, and on the floor.

Your heat doesn’t subside for a few days, and the elders have to force you and Jaehyun to eat and drink to stay alive. Apparently, you were the only wolves left who weren’t satisfied enough, with everyone else’s heats or ruts wearing off after a day or two.

It’s in the middle of day five when Elder Lee bursts through your door while Jaehyun is eating you out, two fingers deep into your cunt. She clears her throat but is drowned out by your moans.

“Excuse me… Jaehyun… Jeong Jaehyun!”

Jaehyun parts himself from your folds, mouth sticky and dripping from your juices.

He blinks twice before glaring at Elder Lee. “What?”

“Why I’ve never,” she mutters under her breath before tapping her cane on the wooden floors. “The ceremony has been over for days now. Your father has instructed us to return to the district.”

“Okay, have fun.”

He wraps his lips around your clit, sucking at the nub roughly until you’re shaking and squirting for him.

“Jaehyun! You and the omega queen must come with us. You will be crowned head alpha as soon as we return.”

“Then my first order as head alpha is for you to leave me alone with my omega,” he says, rising to his knees and pressing his cock against your entrance. Your eyes are fluttered shut, face down in the pillows while your alpha claims you again.

“We leave tonight. If you are not on that bus, trust me, we will leave you to face the wrath of your father alone.”

The door slams shut as Jaehyun knots you for what feels like the millionth time. As his cum drifts down your thighs, he lays on top of you, being mindful of his weight against your back.

“W-What did Elder Lee say?” You ask, floating on cloud nine.

“She wants us to leave tonight,” he replies while pressing kisses against your shoulder.

“I don’t want to leave,” you whine.

You admit that you despised the ceremony when you first arrived and longed for nothing more than to be back home. Now, however, you have an alpha bonded to you and his pup growing inside of your stomach. You feel like your life has finally fallen into place, and you loathe the idea of someone bursting the happy bubble you’ve created with Jaehyun.

“I don’t either, omega,” he sighs into your skin. “But we have to go home sometime.”

A smile tugs at the corner of your lips. “We have a home together, alpha,” you say, giggling and kicking your feet.

He grins, biting your ear playfully. “Yes we do, my sweet omega. A home for you and me.”

—

The first step off the bus is painful.

The wind whips at your face, causing your eyes to water. Jaehyun pulls you closer to his side, rubbing his arms over your exposed skin for warmth. You first catch sight of Sookyung, her bright smile shining through the crowd of people. Then you notice the rest of the community, some of them greeting their children and welcoming the new additions to their home. The others stare blatantly at you and Jaehyun, whispering to one another with wary expressions.

Your insecurity grows tenfold before you see your mother running to you, enveloping you into her arms as she cries gently.

“You did so well,” she mumbles into your ear. “You’ve made us so proud.”

When you offer your father and Sookyung your greetings, they part to make room for Jaehyun’s family to step forward. Jaehyun’s father looks like an identical copy of him, the only difference being the gray streaks in his hair and the wrinkles near his eyes. His mother is the type of omega the elders desired for you to mold yourself after, her gaze averted to the floor and her hands folded neatly across her stomach. His brother, Sungchan, is only a few years younger but it’s clear he’s a Jeong from the way he stands tall and confidently looks at you.

“Father,” Jaehyun gruffly greets him, intertwining his hand with yours. “This is my omega.”

“Alpha Jeong,” you say courteously, offering a polite bow.

Jaehyun’s father gives you a hurried look before narrowing his eyes. “The elders informed me they had to make verbal threats in order to get you two out of bed.”

You glance down bashfully as Jaehyun smirks. “A ceremony for a head alpha is more intense than any other wolf, I’m sure you remember.”

“You’re not head alpha yet,” his father bites back in a stern tone. He scans the area to ensure no one else heard his outburst. “We will return home and discuss this matter privately.”

You give Jaehyun a worried look but he simply smiles, leaning over to kiss you reassuringly. He holds your hand the entire walk back to his house, a grand estate gifted to the head alpha’s family that stretched for acres and acres of unoccupied land. Sookyung’s eyes nearly pop out of her head when you arrive.

Numerous beta staff greet you at the entrance, taking the bags from your arms and rushing to the kitchen to prepare dinner.

“My office,” Jaehyun’s father barks at your alpha.

Jaehyun presses another kiss to your forehead. “I’ll be fine, omega. You go ahead and wait in our room for me.”

Jaehyun’s mother smiles at you when Jaehyun disappears upstairs, offering to show your family to your new living quarters. She leads you into a master bedroom on the top floor, the interior covered wall to wall in artwork that looked like it was taken out of a museum. A king sized bed sits in the middle of the floor, clothed with luxurious silk sheets and more pillows than you’ve ever seen in your life.

“We had it remodeled in preparation for your arrival,” Jaehyun’s mother shares, her obedient smile never wavering.

“I am honored by your hospitality, my queen,” you thank her, mesmerized by the state of your new room.

Jaehyun’s mother nods politely before she and your parents slip away to find their own rooms. Sookyung squeals in excitement at the size of the closet, chatting about all of the new dresses she plans on purchasing for you with your newly acquired wealth.

“I’m going to use the bathroom,” you say to Sookyung, who is wrapped up in the various perfumes spread out on your vanity mirror.

She waves you off and you sneak down the hallway, searching for the office belonging to Jaehyun’s father. You come across a small room near the staircase, and your heart jumps when you hear yelling from the other side of the closed door.

“-Shame to our family! Can you imagine what your mother and I thought when Elder Kim reported back that you chose some lowborn omega as the future matriarch of this household?”

Glass smashes against the wall and you almost gasp in surprise. “Talk about my omega like that one more time and I will rip you in half,” Jaehyun snarls.

“You are a child,” his father’s voice seethes. “We have spoiled you for far too long and I will not tolerate it any further. I was already hesitant when you began this schoolyard crush on her but I should’ve known well enough that you would see it the whole way through. I have half a mind to name Sungchan as head alpha instead.”

“Go ahead,” Jaehyun scoffs. Your hand trembles at the firmness in his tone. “Your threats mean nothing to me. It won’t change the fact that I love the omega I’ve bonded with, and I will love our child more than you ever loved me.”

“…You’ve already impregnated her?”

“Yes, father,” Jaehyun replies, and you can hear the smirk in his voice. “We didn’t leave the bed for days, remember?”

Guilt sinks deep into your bones and you unsteadily hobble back to your room. Sookyung’s admiring the silk sheets laid over your new bed, but she frowns when she sees you. She rushes to your side, helping you sit down on the edge of the mattress.

“Are you alright?” She questions, raising the back of her hand to your forehead to check for a fever.

“I-I’m just a little nauseous.”

“Oh, that’s a wonderful sign!” She giggles, clapping her hands together excitedly. “Nausea is one of the first signs of pregnancy. Allow me a moment, I will request for the cooks to make a recipe one of the elders taught me to soothe your stomach.”

She rushes out the door and you sigh, resting your hands over the top of your stomach. Tears well in your eyes, fear sinking in that your presence has only made Jaehyun’s life worse. You knew this would happen from the moment he pursued you yet you allowed it to continue regardless of the consequences.

Hands rest on your thighs and soft kisses press against your face while you sob. “My pretty omega,” Jaehyun says, voice strained. “What’s wrong? Do you not like the room? Do you need to make a new nest?”

“Your family hates me,” you reply, shaking your head. “I’m a burden to you.”

“Stop that,” he growls, wiping the tears falling down your cheeks. “I never want to hear you say that again.”

“It’s true. You shouldn’t have chosen me as your omega. I knew it well enough but I disobeyed the elders and now your father threatens to take away your leadership as head alpha.”

He rests his forehead against yours. “Please, omega. You and our pup mean everything to me. I never want you to think you’re not good enough. I thought we left all of that nonsense behind at the ceremony?”

“Jaehyun,” you say, still sobbing furiously. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to shower my omega with the love she deserves until she realizes she’s more than enough for me.”

He envelops you into his arms and lays the both of you against the pillows, licking your tears away. His hand rests protectively over your stomach. Your cries turn into giggles when he continues to pepper kisses all over your face.

“My sweet omega,” he coos. “Never want to see you cry again. It breaks my heart.”

You sniffle and nod. “I just don’t want to crush your dreams.”

“My dream was always you, omega. Being head alpha means nothing to me if I don’t have you. And you mustn’t worry about my father, his words have always been empty threats.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

He’s proven right when Jaehyun is crowned head alpha the next day. From dusk until dawn, the community celebrates the rise of their new leader, accompanied by mountains of food and the elders dancing happily in a circle until their feet have blisters. Jaehyun keeps you by his side as each member comes up to you, congratulating Jaehyun as the new head alpha and you as the new omega queen. Your alpha is particularly chuffed when one certain couple approaches you.

“My queen,” Joohyun says with a polite bow, curling her hands into fists. “We pray to the moon to grant you and the head alpha a happy coupling.”

“May the moon bless you with many pups,” Doyoung echoes next to her, keeping his stare far away from you.

Jaehyun narrows his eyes at him and smirks. “Yes, we do hope for another pup to add to the household,” he says before his hand curls softly around your stomach. “They would make a great sibling to this one.”

“Y-You’re already pregnant?” Joohyun gapes, jaw dropping open.

You smile and rest your hand on top of Jaehyun’s. “Yes, we have been expecting for quite a while now.”

You watch her mind run through the timeline before she smiles tightly.

“May the moon bless this pup and more to come, my queen.”

The night ends with Jaehyun claiming you in your new bed, hips snapping roughly as he molds his lips over yours. “My omega,” he whispers into your mouth. “All mine, right? No one else?”

“Just you,” you pant, whimpering when his thrusts pick up speed. “Only want you, Jaehyun.”

“And you’ll only ever have me, omega.”

As he fucks you until the sun rises over the horizon, you wonder if this is what heaven feels like.

—

You’re six months into your pregnancy and your hormones are running wild.

Sookyung dotes on you hand and foot when Jaehyun isn’t around. As head alpha, he’s normally gone during the day to train new wolves and ensure the community is stable. He doesn’t float back into your shared bed until after the moon rises. You don’t complain much since you understand his duties are crucial to the heart of your district, but you still long for him when he’s away.

Before he leaves every morning, he checks your nest to secure all of the blankets holding the walls up and offers you his shirt from the night before to ease your omega with his scent. You spend the majority of the morning curled up in your nest with his shirt tucked under your chin, breathing in his scent and quelling your nerves.

One particular day, however, has your emotions darting all over the place.

Sookyung tells you later that you were inconsolable, crying for your alpha and refusing to speak with anyone who wasn’t him. You turned down all of the meals the staff offered you and growled at them when they drew anywhere near your nest. Your feral behavior forced Sookyung to fetch Jaehyun from the training grounds, bringing him back to your whimpering form as you curled into a ball in the middle of the bed.

“My poor omega,” he murmurs as he climbs into your nest, pulling your back to his chest. “What’s wrong?”

“You’re always gone,” you say in a small voice, and Jaehyun swears his heart shatters into two. “You’re always leaving me and you don’t love me anymore.”

The reasonable part of your brain echoes that your over dramatics is a result of the next head alpha growing inside of you. Elder Kim warned you when she visited you a week prior, taking a glance at your struggling figure as you shakily rose from the couch to greet her.

“That pup inside of you will be a strong one, my queen,” she said to you with a stern tapping of her cane. “I was with Jaehyun’s mother when she first got pregnant with him. That pup nearly drove her from a graceful queen into a feral mutt.”

You think back on her words now, as you thrash against Jaehyun’s hold in an attempt to get him far away from you.

His voice sounds utterly heartbroken. “My omega, how could you ever think that? You’re my whole world, all I want to do is occupy every minute of every day with you. I love you more than anything else.”

“Then why are you always spending every waking second away from me?” You hiss back at him.

He growls at your bratty behavior. “Omega, you know I have responsibilities to the community. I would much rather be with you than be out there training those unruly pups, you know that.”

You huff, telling him he’s making excuses as you continue to face away from him. You feel one hand grip the inside of your thigh roughly before he’s propping it against his hip. His cock grinds into your clothed puffy folds until you whine.

“I know what you need,” he says into your ear, your wetness spilling out of your underwear and coating his tip. “My baby omega needs her alpha to give her his knot, hm? Show her how much he loves her with his seed?”

You bite down on your hand to prevent a moan from spilling from your lips. Jaehyun has learned that your sudden bouts of arousal was another side effect from your pregnancy, with you sometimes interrupting his council meetings just so he could mount you against the dirt floor outside. Often when you get needy like this, he knows it’s because you want his cock to stuff you full.

He rips your underwear off before pressing his tip against your entrance. “Tell me you know how much your alpha loves you, omega, or you won’t get my knot today.”

“I-I know,” you blubber, pushing back on him. “I know, alpha. You love me so much.”

“Yes, I do,” he hums as his cock stretches you open. “I love you and our pup in your belly more than any of these other fucking wolves. It pisses me off, knowing that I spend more time with them than you.”

The reminder springs tears in your eyes again. In the span of a few minutes, you shift from rage to lust to sorrow.

“I wish you were here all the time.”

He gently flips you on your back, hovering over your frame and leaning down to kiss you. You know your words cut through him like a knife. You’ve learned after months of being mated to Jaehyun that he didn’t care much for other people’s opinions except for you. When his father screamed at him for impregnating a lowborn omega, Jaehyun sent him off to live at the furthest end of the estate so that you wouldn’t have to hear his insults. When the elders complained about you not stepping up to your duties as omega queen by teaching the younger omegas how to clean and cook, Jaehyun threatened to exile them from the community for speaking down at you. But when you confronted your alpha about the beta staff in your household not being paid their correct dues, he signed off on raises for every working member without question.

It scares you sometimes how much power you hold over him.

It’s why you know your accusations of him abandoning you cut deep, but the words fall from your mouth without a filter.

“I’m going to figure out a way to be here more often, my omega,” he whispers into your skin. “I promise I’m not going to let you feel this way again.”

Minutes pass before you’re clenching down on him and he’s spilling inside of you, the base of his knot swelling as he pumps his seed deep inside your womb. He holds you in his arms when he’s finished, stroking your hair gently.

“I’m sorry I said all of that,” you say shyly. “I didn’t mean it. I understand you have to handle the future of our district.”

“Omega, don’t apologize for silly things. I’m the one who’s sorry for ever making you feel this way. I will speak to the elders tomorrow about carving out more time in my day for you and our pup.”

“You don’t have to-“

“I want to, omega.”

“I hope this pup isn’t as stubborn as you are,” you grumble, glancing down at your bulging stomach.

He smiles, dimples peeking out. “I hope they’re just like their pretty mama.”

—

“Be careful, Seojeong. You don’t want to injure Hyojung permanently, do you?”

The younger girl frowns and pouts, apologizing to her comrade and laying down her sword. You smile gently and offer her a nod of appreciation, your hands resting over your protruding bump.

“Please take a seat, my queen. I’m certain your feet are tired from standing all day.”

You shake your head at Elder Choi. “I’m doing perfectly fine. I want to be here when they learn this.”

Shortly after your hormonal blubbering to Jaehyun, he passed a new rule within the community wherein the younger omegas would be taught by the omega queen in the same training grounds as the younger alphas. It was initially met with pushback, as the elders deemed it unseemly for omegas to be practicing sparring in any format and with the alphas in proximity, of all people. Jaehyun, however, understood how important it was for omegas to learn combat if they ever faced any real danger.

You also know he developed the law so he could get to spend more time with you.

You look across the yard to watch him presiding over the alphas, eyes surveying them as they spar one another. His gaze lifts up and locks on you, and a smile stretches over his face. Eventually, he’s jogging over to your form, one hand cupped over your stomach while he kisses your lips. The other omegas coo at the sight of their head alpha and omega queen displaying such affection.

“How are you?” He mumbles softly. “Are you feeling okay?”

Last week, the community unfortunately lost an omega during childbirth, the pup being her third son. The newborn baby made it out safely but the mother passed away due to complications from the delivery. Since then, everyone has been on their toes around you, worried about the birth of the next head alpha as you near your nine-month mark. Jaehyun especially indulged you, never drawing his attention away from you for too long.

“I’m doing just fine, alpha,” you giggle, stroking his cheek fondly.

“The omega queen is teaching the others very well,” Elder Kim says to Jaehyun from her spot in her chair. She pauses knitting the scarf in her lap. “They have made good progress, alpha.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” he says, scanning the vicinity to see a myriad of wolves improving their battle skills. It filled his alpha with pride to watch the community flourish under his rule. He nudges his nose against your cheek. “Maybe we should retire for the day, my omega.”

“Jaehyun, I’m fine-”

A sharp pain in your abdomen causes you to gasp and double over. The yard falls into complete silence before the elders are scrambling, multiple hands grabbing your arms and propping you against them. Yelling ensues, the majority of it coming from your alpha barking orders.

“Fetch the midwives now!”

“If I see one bead of sweat fall from her perfect face, I’ll break your fucking limbs.”

“Everyone clear the fucking area! Go home and pray to the moon you worship so much!”

“Jaehyun,” you manage to choke out while Elder Lee is throwing your arm over her shoulder. The alpha turns back to you, a terrified look in his eyes. You smile and brush his hair back with your fingers. “Please shut up.”

Jaehyun keeps his lips sealed shut while the elders and nearby omegas help you into the nearest home. They bang the door open, and you hear a few surprised screams fill the air.

“W-What’s the meaning of this?”

You look up to see Joohyun and her beta handmaiden on the couch of her living room.

“Clear the room,” Elder Choi instructs in a stern tone. “The queen has gone into labor.”

There’s a mix of shuffling before you’re gently being laid down on the floor, surrounded by piles and piles of blankets as more omegas emerge through the door to bring their offerings. It was custom for all omegas to be present during the birth of the next head alpha, bearing gifts of pillows and comforters to ensure the omega queen’s relief during birth.

Jaehyun holds your hand tightly next to you, propping up your head on one of the pillows and staring down at you with concern. You smile and squeeze his hand to relieve his stress. You look to the other side of you to see Joohyun hovering warily, startled by the unanticipated presence of nearly every omega in the community filling her home.

“I’m sorry,” you murmur quietly to her through the chaos. The midwives have finally arrived and are instructing the rest of the group how to position themselves. “I didn’t mean to burden you like this.”

“You didn’t burden me, my queen,” Joohyun replies obediently. “It is an honor to be able to accept the birth of the next head alpha into my home.”

“Don’t lie,” you say, patting her hand softly. “It’s unbecoming of you.”

The corner of her lips quirk up in amusement.

One of the midwives lays a damp cloth over your forehead. She checks your pulse before preparing your lower half for the delivery. You keep your eyes on Jaehyun the entire time, who frantically darts his gaze back and forth between the multiple midwives discussing the best practices.

“My alpha,” you murmur, tucking loose strands of his hair behind his ear. He offers you a wide eyed look and you laugh. “I’d like to hear your voice now.”

“You’re doing so good for me, my omega,” he says, pressing his forehead against yours. “Going to give birth to such a beautiful pup.”

“Alpha Jeong, you must leave us. It is custom for the head alpha to wait outside while the pup is born.”

A whine escapes your throat at the same time Jaehyun’s head snaps to Elder Kim, baring his teeth and growling. The room grows quiet at their head alpha’s displeasure.

“I am not leaving my omega here alone, is that understood?”

You witness a crowd of tentative nods before the most excruciating pain of your life rips through you. Your back bends off the floor as you scream in agony, and another hand grasps onto you for dear life. You blink twice before Sookyung’s blurry figure comes into vision. She nods happily at you, tears streaming down her cheeks. You know she’s waited longer than you for this day to finally arrive.

You give birth to a healthy pup after hours of intense contractions and moans of discomfort. Jaehyun stays by your side through all of it, gripping your hand and kissing your face lovingly.

As you complete your last push and your baby’s cries fill the air, you’re shocked when the midwife shakily says, “It’s a girl.”

The omegas in the room gasp. Every single one of them thought you were due to have an alpha male from how strong your pregnancy had been. The midwife hands Jaehyun your pup and he looks down at her with warmth filling his gaze.

He says with tears spilling over his eye line, “Praise for the next head alpha.”

—

“Mama, mama!”

You grunt as your youngest daughter rams into the back of your leg. You turn to pick her up, ceasing your watch from the omegas on the training yard. The sun beats down on all of your figures and you wipe the sweat from your brow.

“What is it, my little troublemaker?”

Then, your oldest daughter also collides into your stomach, pointing at your youngest accusingly.

“She’s lying!”

“No, I’m not!”

“Yes, you are!”

“I haven’t even said anything!”

“Girls,” you say, giving them both a cross look. “One at a time.”

Your youngest pipes up first. “She threw mud into Jihoon’s face!”

“She’s lying!”

“Am not!”

“Am too!”

“Alright,” Jaehyun sighs, approaching you after watching you struggle to hold in your laugh. “What’s going on here?”

“Your daughter threw mud into Doyoung’s son’s face,” you summarize, one eyebrow raised at him. He snickers into his palm and you elbow him. “Jaehyun.”

He fixes his expression, staring at your oldest with a stern look. “Is that the proper behavior of the next head alpha?”

Your oldest daughter hangs her head sullenly. “No,” she grumbles.

He crouches down and plays with the ten-year-old’s pigtails. “You can throw all the mud you want when you’re the next head alpha, sweetheart, but only to people who deserve it,” he says with a fond smile.

“Jaehyun,” you hiss as you kick him lightly.

“But he did deserve it, daddy! He was telling me how cute I am. I am not cute!”

Your alpha’s face shifts into one of a protective father. “And where is this boy?”

“Jaehyun,” you sigh one last time. You place your youngest on the ground and stare at your oldest in disapproval. “I won’t have any more reports of disobedience from you. You’re going to be a good little wolf and apologize to that boy.”

“Yes, mama.”

The two children take off running down the yard, holding hands like they never fought in the first place. You stare at your alpha, arms crossed over your chest. He’s still looking after your girls with a frown on his face.

“I don’t want you finding that boy and scolding him, Jaehyun.”

“She’s too young for suitors,” your alpha exhales, running his fingers through his hair.

“I remember a much younger version of myself pushing around the man who would become my bonded mate too,” you say, stepping forward and kissing him softly.

He huffs. “That’s not going to happen for her any time soon.”

“You have to let them grow up, alpha,” you say affectionately, nuzzling your head into his neck. “Maybe I can help you take your mind off it.”

Your hand slithers down his chest and he growls when you get dangerously close to his stiffened cock. He leans over to nip at your ear.

“And how did I get stuck with such a little minx for an omega?”

this fic was posted for early access to the $5 tier on my patreon, which you can access here!

[theamberfist]

Stinkin' Doctors | Grandma Susan + Reader

Familial! Grandma Susan + Grandchild Reader

Description: Rosie has implemented a new rule in Cannibal Town where everyone must attend yearly checkups at the doctors' to stay healthy. And lucky you: as Susan's grandchild, you get to be the one to drag her to hers.

(Notes: CW cannibalism, death, bad parents, creepy doctors) (gender neutral reader) (Reader is Susan's grandchild from when she was alive)

Words: 3,721

"You're kidding." You breathed as you leaned over the desk of the beautiful cannibal overlord, who also happened to be one of your dearest friends. "Every year?" Rosie simply nodded as she signed off on a few of the papers in front of her. The emporium hadn't even opened yet, but after receiving her call that morning, you'd rushed over in what was definitely not a panic to speak with her. 

"I need everyone in Cannibal Town to stay healthy, darling," she explained for the second time, "These appointments are just extra precaution; everyone will have them." You swallowed. That may have been true, but everyone wasn't your grandmother. 

"I get that," you sighed, running a hand through your hair, "But how am I supposed to get Grams to agree to that? We couldn't even convince her to see a doctor when she was on her death bed in life!" Rosie knew better than anyone just how stubborn your grandma could be, but she also knew that if there was one person who could get past her prickly nature to convince her, it was you.

"I know you can do it." She said with a reassuring smile now, "Even the meanest old lady's gotta listen to her grandchild sometimes; especially if they're as darling as you!" She reached up to pinch your cheek, which promptly grew slightly red from embarrassment. Your parents hadn't ended up in hell, which you had thought made your grandmother the only family you really had down here, but it was at times like this when you  realized that might not be so true. 

"Fine." You sighed, pushing away from the desk, "But don't have too much faith in me! Grams hates doctors." Rosie giggled as you headed for the door, already trying to come up with a way to break the news to your grandma. 

"Thank you!" She called genuinely as you left the emporium. She'd make it up to you later; maybe with a nicely cooked meal for your troubles. After all, if worst came to worst, Susan would listen to her if no one else, but she had confidence that as Cannibal Town's designated Susan-Wrangler, you could get her to her appointment on your own- and that it would be quite an entertaining process. 

..........

"Where are we goin'?" Susan asked for what was probably the seventh time in the last ten minutes as you lead her by the arm down the street. "First ya show up to my place uninvited, and then ya drag me out before the sun's even up without telling me why!" You resisted the urge to roll your eyes. 

"It's afternoon, Grandma," You calmly told her. Rosie had carefully made her appointment time a later one since she knew the old woman would pitch a fit at having been woken up early. "And we don't exactly have a proper sun here, anyway." 

"There ya go now, back talkin' me!" Susan spat, though she didn't let go of your arm, "Kids these days with their poor attitudes!" 

You sighed, putting on a bright smile as the two of you passed some familiar faces on the street. They waved and you returned the gesture in an attempt to keep some sort of positive relationship with the other cannibals; despite the old woman on your arm. 

"Sorry, Grandma." You replied finally, "But to answer your question; we're going to see the doctor, like I told you earlier." Of course, Susan hadn't exactly been listening when you'd mentioned that; picking the opportune moment of her meticulously choosing her parasol for the day to offhandedly explain it. 

She stopped in her tracks now; a flicker of fear hitting her eyes before she let go of you and crossed her arms over her chest with a defiant expression. 

"Like hell we are!" She snarled, "I don't needa see no filthy doctor!" You sighed; this had been the difficult part you'd anticipated. Well, one of them, anyway. 

"Grandma, it's okay," You tried to assure her, reaching for her elbow even as she began to shuffle away, "It's just a checkup; Rosie scheduled it for us." 

"I don't need anyone checking up anything of mine!" Susan shouted and you winced at how bad that sentence sounded, "Especially no stinkin' doctor!" Ignoring the fact that she'd literally been married to a 'stinkin' doctor' once while alive, you tried to remain patient. 

"It's just to make sure you're healthy and that nothing's wrong that we don't know about," you explained carefully, "Rosie's having everyone do it once a year now to keep us safer." Seeing that she still wouldn't budge, you took a step forward before adding, "And I'll be there the whole time, okay?"

Susan neither agreed nor disagreed but allowed you to gently take her arm once again and continue leading her down the street. Of course, that didn't come without its share of complaints either. 

"A checkup," she repeated more to herself than anything, "A damn checkup! What a stupid idea; everyone knows ya only go to the doctor if you're fucking sick!" You weren't sure whether she meant 'sick' as in a physical or mental illness, but when it came to your grandmother, it was best not to guess. She turned her gaze to you now as the two of you kept walking. "And I ain't sick!" 

"I know, Grandma," You replied, "That'll make the appointment even shorter, then!" Your words seemed to do little to comfort her though, because she continued muttering about how stupid this all was and how 'that filthy doctor would be lucky if she didn't bite his arm off when he got close' all the way to the clinic. 

Finally, you arrived and managed to drag Susan through the door despite her shouts of protest. You knew her anger wasn't directed towards you, though, but rather the situation itself. 

It was hard to tell, and if you weren't paying close attention you really could miss it, but she was nicer to you than anybody else in hell. Sure, she still made demeaning remarks and yelled at you often, but when it came down to it, you were her grandchild; the only thing her own kid had ever given her besides a headache, she'd once said. 

Now inside, you brought your grandma up to the counter even as she resisted your gentle pull of her arm. 

"Hi," you smiled brightly at the receptionist, whose eyes widened at the sight of the old woman beside you. Susan was extremely well-known throughout Cannibal Town, and sometime before you'd ended up in hell, had managed to gain the respect of nearly all its residents. You couldn't exactly blame them, though; underneath it all, you greatly respected her too.

It was her who'd stepped up to raise you in life when your parents had turned out to be bums, after all; taking responsibility for what her own child wouldn't. 

"Hello," the receptionist, whose black eyes matched everyone else in the cannibal colony, managed to regain her composure now, "Do you have an appointment?" 

"No, we came here to snack on some organ donations." Susan said sarcastically; a joke that would have landed better, if not for the surgical center being located in the same building. 

"Yes." You replied quickly, trying to sidestep your grandmother's rudeness. You'd long since given up on trying to get her to be any more polite than that; especially in a situation like this where she already didn't want to be here. 

The receptionist nodded before grabbing a clipboard with a small packet of paper attached. "Please fill this out and have a seat." You took the clipboard form her with a nod and then dragged Susan over to a set of chairs as far from the rest of the waiting room as you could possibly get. 

Once you were seated, you held the clipboard out to the old woman. "Now they're givin' homework; just great." She grumbled but took it anyway. 

"They just want to know your health history so they can properly treat you." You explained.

"And how is that any of their business?" Susan replied as she looked down at the paper. She squinted as you waited patiently for her fill it out. A second later, she dropped the clipboard on her lap with an irritated grumble. "They made the damn words too small!" She exclaimed as she crossed her arms, "I can't even see 'em." 

You sighed, taking the clipboard from her and looking it over. "They want you to sign your name here," you pointed to an empty line as you handed the pen back to her expectantly. She grumbled some more but did as you said, nonetheless. "And then here's a list of ailments. They want you to check the ones that affect you." 

"None; I ain't sick!" Susan exclaimed. You resisted the urge to roll your eyes once again and left the boxes blank. "The next questions are about your after-lifestyle," you explained, "They want to know how often you smoke, whether or not you drink; stuff like that." 

"Never." Your grandma said with a huff but you narrowed your eyes at her. Having seen both her smoking and drinking habits since ending up in hell, you knew that was a blatant lie. "Fine." She practically spat, "Twice a week." You nodded but checked the box labeled 'most days' instead. It was a more accurate representation of how she lived, anyway. 

You struggled through the health history questions next. Since your grandmother had rarely ever been to the doctors' even in life, she'd never exactly been diagnosed with anything, and claimed that therefore meant she'd been perfectly healthy, despite having died to one of her unknown ailments because she refused to get it checked in the first place. 

Finally, the paperwork was finished and you brought it over to the receptionist, who told you they'd call you back when they were ready. As you made your way back to the waiting area, you could hear Susan still grumbling rather loudly. 

"We better not be payin' for this shit." She threatened as you shook your head.

"We aren't, Grandma. It's part of Rosie's new program." You were well aware of the fact that the old woman didn't exactly stay up to date on current events but she nodded as if she knew what that meant anyway.

After a few minutes, you managed to tune out her muttering as you brought out a book to read while you waited. You knew better than to use a phone within the sight of your grandma, and this way, she wouldn't be able to complain about 'youth's these days' and how things had been better back when she was young. 

You were met with a few, brief moments of peace before she suddenly nudged you in the shoulder, causing you to look up from your book. "What is it?" You asked, noticing her expression was even more venomous than usual. She pointed at the receptionist's desk.

"Look at them," she said under her breath, "the nerve of some people." You held back a comment about her own nerve as you looked to the direction in which she was pointing, where a man sinner you assumed to be the doctor based on his white coat was chatting with the receptionist. He was leaning over her desk, both elbows resting on the wood as he propped his face up with his hands. 

"What?" You asked, turning back to your grandmother, "They're just talking." Though, the scene progressed a moment later as the doctor leaned in and planted a kiss on the receptionist's lips; gazing at her with lovesickness in his black eyes. 

Susan practically growled beside you and it was only then that you remembered the story of what had happened between her and your grandpa; the doctor. You'd never met the man in life but it seemed that past betrayal was setting her off now. 

"Stinkin' doctors..." She mumbled, grabbing a magazine from the table nearby in order to seem less interested in the situation than she was.

"Maybe they're a couple." You suggested, noticing the doctor wore a wedding ring on his left hand, "It's normal for them to kiss." Susan's eyes were practically shot daggers as she looked towards the name tag on the woman's desk, which had a different last name than the one on the doctor's name tag. 

"Maybe they kept their separate last names." You said with a shrug before going back to your book, "Either way, it's really none of our business." Your grandmother just glared down at her magazine.

"The nerve of some people..."

It wasn't until ten minutes later that Susan's name was finally called by the receptionist now that they were ready for her. The doctor was still waiting by the desk but gave you a warm smile as you stood from your chair and took your grandmother's arm once again. She seemed even less enthusiastic about this appointment than before, if that was even possible, but only presented minimal struggling as you dragged her to the hallway door. 

Behind you, someone else entered the clinic but you couldn't be bothered to care who it was; your first priority being to get your grandma to her checkup. You glanced back at the doctor, who waved you off.

"Room 3," he said, "I'll be with you in just a moment." And with that, he turned back to the desk, where another woman sinner was now standing with what looked like a cutely decorated lunchbox in hand. 

Finally, you dragged Susan through the doors, ignoring her keen interest in the group as you made your way to the room. It took nearly all your strength to get her inside, but eventually, the two of you sat on the patient's bed together with the examination room's door closed as you awaited the doctor. 

"If that fuckin' prick comes at me with a needle I'm biting his ear off." Your Grandma spat beside you.

"You're not supposed to get a shot today, so it should be fine, Grams." You told her with a sigh. You were beginning to run low on patience for the old woman by now, so it was a good thing the appointment would start soon. 

"You know the asshole's cheating on his wife?" Susan said suddenly, a scary glow in her eyes that made you shiver. 

"How do you know that?" You asked, knowing she was referring to the doctor. 

"You saw him getting hot and heavy with that receptionist!" Susan replied as if it were obvious, "But his actual wife just came in and brought him lunch. She had a ring and everything." She shook her head, "The nerve..." 

You weren't sure what to say about that, knowing your grandmother's personal stake in the matter. You supposed that was why the following words left your mouth.

"What was in the lunch?" 

Susan gave you a luck that warned against testing her like this but she answered your question anyway. "Skewered eyeballs." She replied, "And freshly baked fingers. She musta worked on those all mornin' just for that fucker to turn around and get with someone else." You sighed.

"That's too bad." What else were you supposed to say? You had enough on your plate already just from trying not to let your grandma run right out of the clinic. 

The rest of your time waiting for the doctor was spent in silence until he finally knocked on the door and both you and Susan stiffened as he entered. 

"Sorry about the wait!" The cannibal doctor exclaimed as he pulled up a rolling stool, "Now, Susan, I understand this is your first checkup with us?" 

"That's Miss Susan to you." The old woman replied and the doctor's smile faltered just a bit.

"Right..." he replied, glancing at you. You offered nothing more than a shrug so he turned back to his clipboard, "It looks like for your medical history you just wrote 'fuck you, you filthy doctor.' Can you tell me more about that?" Susan opened her mouth to speak, glad to have the chance to rip into the other sinner, but you quickly interjected.

"She didn't really go to the doctor much when we were alive," You explained, "So we weren't sure of any formal diagnoses." 

"Okay." The man replied as he noted that down, "And may I ask who you are?" There was a gleam of amusement in his eyes as he did so but you ignored it.

"Her grandkid," you told him simply. Although you'd opted to ignore the man's clear interest in you, it seemed Susan had chosen a different route. 

"So stop eyein' em up, buster!" She exclaimed. The doctor ignored her though; not focused on you. 

"It was very kind of you to take her to her appointment like this," he commented, making you feel slightly less comfortable in the room. 

"It's not a big deal..." You replied awkwardly before clearing your throat, "Now could we maybe hurry this along? Grams isn't fond of appointments like this." 

"Of course," The doctor replied, flashing his sharp white teeth at you, "I promise your grandmother will receive the best care we can give her." That seemed to finally be enough for Susan because she suddenly shouted.

"Oh yeah? How do we know you aren't gonna break that promise like ya did to your wife!" 

Silence filled the room then as the man's gaze turned to her; his eyes wide at having been caught in the act. "Now quit chatting up my grandkid and get on with it!" Susan continued, gesturing for him to hurry up, "Or am I gonna have to rip off one of your arms too?" 

The doctors swallowed harshly before nodding and getting on with his duties. The rest of the appointment was filled with awkward silence, aside from Susan's occasional rude comments. Once everything was done, the doctor informed you that your grandmother was completely healthy and then handed you a note to give Rosie as confirmation that the appointment had been successful. 

With that, he saw you into the waiting room where the receptionist scheduled the next year's appointment and you were finally done. Susan had become significantly less frustrated with being in a doctor's office after dropping that bombshell earlier but at this point you were too tired and hungry to care.  

You lead her by the arm back to the street now, only to nearly bump into a sinner you hadn't seen before the second you reached the sidewalk. Slightly disoriented, you were already bracing yourself for the string of curses that would inevitably leave your Grandmother's lips from the nerve of whoever it was that hadn't been watching where they were going.

However, to your surprise, she didn't say anything at all. Instead, she looked up at the sinner, whom you just now realized happened to be the woman you'd seen in the clinic earlier. 

A satisfied expression made its way onto Susan's face and you knew what she was going to say before she even spoke. 

"Your husband's cheating on you." The old woman said matter-of-factly, "A filthy doctor and an ugly receptionist; what a pair!" The woman's eyes widened but Susan just pulled you along before she could reply and soon enough you were far enough away that you could no longer hear her screams of anger and confusion. 

It was at this point that you gave up trying to control your grandmother. The cat was already out of the bag, and if you were being honest, the woman being cheated on had had a right to know the truth. Susan seemed very pleased with herself now; maybe because she gained some sense of fulfillment from her actions that she hadn't received in life when she found herself in a similar position. 

"Grandma," you finally said once the two of you were only a few blocks from her home, "I'm...Sorry about what Grandpa did to you." 

She froze. It was a topic the two of you had never discussed before; you'd always been too afraid of her anger to bring it up, but after being confronted with a similar situation today, it felt like the right time. 

Finally, the old woman seemed to regain her composure because she kept walking. "Don't call him that," she said, though there was no anger in her tone, only...sadness? "Ya never even met the asshole." You shrugged.

"But he still hurt you." You said, "That's what-"

"-Your parents told you, yeah yeah." Susan replied, waving your concern off, "Sure he did, but he was a hell of a lot smarter than that doctor." She pointed in the direction of the clinic, "That's why when I caught him cheating on me I ate them both."

...And the touching moment had been destroyed. You chuckled, though, knowing the only reason your grandmother had been so opposed to visiting the doctor was because it reminded her of her ex-husband. Though, it seemed she'd been able to work through some of those feelings today by ensuring another couple discovered the ruins of their own marriage. 

"Does this mean next year you'll be okay going to your appointment again?" You asked hopefully now that the two of you had reached the gates outside of your grandmother's house.

"Don't push it." She replied, letting go of your arm and heading for the house without so much as a goodbye. You shook your head, knowing she still cared for you regardless of how often she showed it. That much had been clear when she went off on the doctor for your sake but also refrained from murdering him for your sake. 

You were about to turn and head to your own home for the night when a familiar voice called out to you. You looked back to see Susan standing on her porch holding the her front door open. 

"Ya look like ya haven't eaten in a month!" She said with a scowl, "How's about you come inside for a proper meal?" A smile made its way onto your lips at that and you nodded, turning around to head for the house. Susan kept the door open, allowing you to enter as she hid her delight behind her usual resting-bitch-face. 

Though, as you spoke again, her lips couldn't help but curve upwards just slightly. 

"Thanks, Grandma."

[yanderes-galore]

Madness combat Romantic concept

Fem!White Hank and Fem!Darling, who is 2bdamned's clone.

This idea has been in my head for almost a year, but now I have decided to request it.

2bdamned created her as as a backup plan in case he dies(and so that the reader can then get him out of purgatory).

But, she run away from Status Quo and her creator, as 2bdamned did with AAHW.

And during her wanderings, she met Wank, which is Hank's clone, of course.

Now it's 2 female clones against the whole of Nevada.

Oh... this is actually a neat thought- Here you go! Gotta love some more WLW content.... 💜 Like in the request, you are indeed both clones. Sorry for the wait! I started this months ago and only continued it recently.

Hank = Original Hank

Hank = White Hank

Some older White Hank content

Yandere! Fem! White Hank with Fem! 2BDamned Clone! Darling

Pairing: Romantic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Female Darling, Obsession, Violence, Murder, Blood, Stalking, Overprotective/Possessive behavior, Clone shenanigans, Clingy behavior, Delusional behavior, Dubious/Implied forced relationship.

I like to think you ran off as some sort of rebellious phase from your creator, 2B.

Although... since he did something similar, you probably were just following something instinctual deep within you.

You aren't an exact clone, hence the different gender, but you are made from his DNA nonetheless.

When you ran away you worked on making yourself look different from your creator.

You wanted to be your own person... so you began living your life surviving in Nevada.

Which eventually makes you catch sight of White Hank... another rogue clone, but from Hank.

It's funny how you two were brought together.

It was similar to your creators.

Hank probably first thought you were a threat.

You panicked for a moment when Hank tackled you,

Although... it seems the memories of both of you made you hesitate.

Hank probably had a flash of 2B in her mind, causing her to back off in confusion.

You probably had a flashback of Hank which caused you to pause.

As clones, you have some memories of your creators due to the DNA.

So... despite the blood covering Hank's clothes from her previous scuffle, she tries to be friendly instead.

I like to imagine the obsession starts due to her memories.

Deep in her she knows she should be fond of you/trust you.

Yet due to Hank's DNA, she's also incredibly violent and unpredictable.

So she acts very similar to a yandere Hank due to her being a clone.

You have a body guard who stalks and slaughters anyone who gets too close.

She doesn't stay completely out of the way like Hank.

There's times it seems like she's left you, only to show up later.

She probably doesn't leave your side much as you're essentially the female versions of Hank and 2B.

You have medical knowledge like 2B and patch her up when she needs it.

You also have some combat skills.

I imagine she's naturally clingy with you due to the "parent" DNA you both have.

Befriending Hank seems to be a good idea in your eyes.

After all, she's a skilled killer like Hank.

Even if she seems a bit obsessive about you.

You see her as an ally and bodyguard.

Meanwhile, she probably sees you as some sort of romantic interest... it's hard to tell.

I say it's hard to tell since she seems awfully focused on violence.

Although... in the downtime, she sticks close.

You could be resting and while she keeps watch she pulls you against her.

Just two girl clones surviving the badlands of Nevada together.

One just so happens to be violently obsessed with the other.

I imagine 2B is trying to track you, only to groan in annoyance when he catches footage of you with another failed clone.

Failed because Hank was never all that... obedient.

Hank wasn't either, he should really alter the way he does things....

Hank wouldn't let you go back to 2B.

Far as she's concerned, you're finders keepers.

If you ran away from 2B, there's no need to send you back.

You can stay with her.

To Hank, you're girlfriends at this point.

As time ticks on, she only seems to grow closer.

She'd probably throw hands with the original 2B and Hank to keep you to herself.

If you said you weren't interested in a romantic relationship with Hank, she probably wouldn't believe you.

In her eyes you two are already dating.

Why are you fighting it?

Are you being influenced by someone?

Is your old creator making you say such a thing?

That's okay... you can ignore such an order!

Even if you try to run from her, she'll follow.

No need to kidnap if she's around you all the time... watching... waiting.

You'll see you two are meant to be...

Even if she has to execute all who say otherwise.

[accidentally-in-fictional-love]

Love Until We Freeze Ch.1 Day 0 - Breck/Reader

[ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 ]

Warnings: Dead dove, do not eat. No use of Y/N, gender-neutral reader, extreme slowburn, stockholm syndrome, enemies (in reader's eyes) to lovers.

Warnings that are constant, but not repeated after this: The reader is afraid but desperate, and is constantly fighting back. Many mentions of depression, loneliness, helplessness, and self-worth. Kidnapping, manipulation, gaslighting, and abuse of all kinds (will be tagged). Varying levels of consent (will also be tagged), Breck touches the reader a lot and doesn't respect their personal space (touching, kissing, grinding, undressing, etc). The other members also don't respect their personal space because of him, literally everyone is terrible to them minus a few kind people because this is a cult. Reader is always being watched, reader has very slight epilepsy and a fear of needles, reader is very cold and will continue to be so.

Wordcount: 3548

Summary: You hated the cold, which is why you weren’t excited at all for the big family trip to the ski resort hours away from where you lived, but the summer heat was killing everyone else, and they were ready to risk the cold killing you for a moment of reprieve from it. The resort was beautiful, the slopes were enticing, and the mysterious man with the business card with a small black diamond in the corner might be more than he seemed when you run into him in the lobby your first day there.

Notes: The songs I listened to while writing~ Here it is, my longest DD fic outside of YMMWS, and as promised, I'm tagging the hell out of it, and it won't be going in DD's tag just in case. I really couldn't take any of the dove out and replace it with something tamer without it ruining what happens next and affecting how the ending goes, so here it is, uncensored for Halloween because I truly love how this one turned out. This will not be a happy fic, there is no cute fluff here (for the most part), you really need to be at least okay with what each chapter's tags are before proceeding, please. With that said, if this darker story does entice you, I hope you enjoy it during this dark month. ♦️

You first saw him while your family was on vacation, it being a trip to the mountain more than a few hours away to escape the summer heat, but it seemed like everyone forgot to actually ask your opinion on the destination since you fucking hated the cold.

There’d been other places you’d wanted to go, other things you’d rather do with your vacation hours off work, but as soon as the weatherman had given the week’s temperatures it’d been locked in, and you weren’t allowed to stay home despite being an adult with your own place, a car, a decently sized apartment; this was family time, you weren’t allowed to just ‘skip it this year’ even though you were so tempted to call back your boss and tell him you couldn’t go just so you’d have an excuse to give them. In the end you hadn’t, and you’d instead had to dig through your winter wardrobe despite the sweltering heat outside, just holding the sweaters and scarves and hats already making you sweat at the thought of putting them on later when it was more appropriate.

The drive up there on its own was practically unbearable, the conversations going on from your parents and relatives surrounding you in the rented minibus making what should’ve been an enjoyable ride through the seasons a headache instead. You’d tried to pull out the book you were currently reading as soon as you’d strapped in, but one of your uncles had seen it and pulled it right out of your hands, telling you to, ‘Talk with the family for once,’ with a big laugh, and you hadn’t seen it again after that. Now you had your head resting against the cooling glass, the snow starting to fall the closer you got to your destination, everyone pointing and talking about the mountain ahead when it came into view.

It was the biggest one closest to you, you’d looked it up when you’d gotten the bad news that it was where you’d be heading in a week’s time, and the entire ski resort had rave reviews about their excellent staff both in the sprawling wooden cabin-style hotel and the instructors on the slopes, as well as the single best double diamond course the States had to offer. Your bigshot cousin, a few years younger than you, boasted about mastering it all the way there, but you highly doubted it; he had a tendency to be all talk, or all wax no wick as you’d heard it said on TV.

You slipped on your warmest jacket before the minibus even stopped, no one else taking the switch from summer to winter as seriously as they wore passable fall outfits for now; they were still in travel and packing modes, but you knew better as the vehicle pulled up to a stop just outside the grand double doors. It was a nice place, you couldn’t deny that as you grabbed your suitcase and backpack from the overhead bin and headed into the warm lobby, it already filled with people getting ready to hit the slopes now that the sun, although covered by clouds for the most part, was high in the sky. You hurried over to the receptionist’s desk to check-in as your family started piling in behind you, each opening of the doors blasting you with the cold, and you gave them your name so you could get the key to your single room and go.

The only way you’d agreed to come was being able to book your own room, you were not about to share no matter how much your parents had argued against it since your single room would be so far away from everyone else’s doubles, but you’d just played it off and acted like that wasn’t exactly what you wanted. As such, your room was on the ground floor while theirs were higher up on the floors above, all spaced out based on availability, and as soon as you were able to separate from them and bask in your solitude you felt yourself instantly relax. You might not be able to leave, and you did have to make at least one appearance outside to avoid your father’s wrath about the wasted money and the fact that you might as well have stayed home if you weren’t going to ski - which you wanted to tell them was also your desire - but at least you had this.

You unpacked your things as slowly as possible, ignoring your phone as it lit up to tell you that everyone would be meeting in the dining room for dinner in a few hours after they were all settled in. You made sure that every single thing was in its place so you could avoid leaving again for as long as you could, finding every excuse to stall until you had no choice but to get acquainted with the space outside your room. You opened up the map on your phone after pulling on your warmest sweater, it was nice inside but you’d rather sweat than take any chances, and the second you left your wing of the hotel and stepped into the lobby you crashed into a group of people waiting to take their lessons. The two you’d hit fell forward, hit two more each, everyone holding onto each other as embarrassment made you cringe and want to bail, the instructor seeing the commotion and parting the group like Moses, his presence commanding respect even as he didn’t say a word.

You noticed the vest first, highly visible to stand out against the snow and trees, then the reflective sunglasses, your face warped in the colour as you looked up at him, and when he took them off to look you in the eye you felt all the embarrassment leave as dark brown irises stared you down. ‘I hope you’re not this clumsy out there, on the mountain,’ he demanded to know, your phone almost slipping from your hand as you stared before you came back to your senses and shook your head.

‘I don’t ski,’ you told him quickly, and he looked you over pointedly.

‘That much is obvious, that’s why you’re in need of my lessons, aren’t you?’ He said it like a question but it almost sounded like a statement, you needed his lessons, you had no choice now that he’d said it.

‘Uh…’

‘Lessons sound great!’ Your head spun as your parents exited the doors behind you, your father’s hand clapping down on your shoulder, trapping you there as the impatient group grew even more so the longer they were kept waiting. ‘How much do you charge?’

‘I’m full up today, but my lessons cost nothing but the love of the powder, the scent of the trees as they fly by, bring those with you as currency and I can teach you everything you want to know,’ he told you instead of your father, his eyes never leaving you and making you feel small. ‘And, for those who want to reach the Double Black, I also do private lessons, but those do cost a considerable amount.’

‘This one’s not going pro anytime soon, we’re just here for the week,’ your father laughed, the man still not looking at him as he just hummed to him with a slight nod, ‘but if my wife and I were to try it, how much would it cost?’

‘You couldn’t afford it.’

‘Excuse me?’

‘I said-’ He finally looked at him, the hand on your shoulder tightening a little as those brown eyes drilled into him with a seriousness you’d never seen before, why was he so intense for a ski instructor? ‘-you couldn’t afford it.’

Your father’s hand dropped from your shoulder as he stormed off, your mother apologizing before chasing after him before his temper spoiled the night, and when you looked from them back to the man you found he was staring at you again, his group ignored behind him until one of the women tapped on his shoulder. ‘Um, are we heading out soon? It’s getting cold,’ she asked, and something flashed in his eyes as he turned his head just enough to face her.

‘If you can’t appreciate the cold of the snow you don’t belong up here, get out,’ he hissed, and she and a few others laughed at his joke before the sound died out one by one, he wasn’t joking. ‘Get. Out.’ His voice was low, level, restrained, and she huffed before grabbing her friend and leaving, the two already talking about how he was hot but not that hot as they went off to grab some lattes to warm up with. ‘If everyone else is prepared then you can meet me outside by the lifts, I’ll be there in just a moment.’

The group just did a collective shrug before heading out, it was a free lesson so the only thing they were really losing was time, and as soon as they were gone he held out his card, pulled from seemingly nowhere; you took it and looked it over, it nothing special aside from his name, which was apparently Breck Montanari, the title of Level 8 Ski Instructor underneath it, which you supposed must be good, as well as a small black diamond in the lower right corner.

‘Thanks, but- I’m not much of a skier, I hate the cold,’ you admitted as you held out the card for him to take back, but he just took it before pressing it back into your palm, his hands enveloping yours as he leaned forward just a little.

‘Then you really need my lessons,’ he almost whispered, or maybe he was speaking at a normal volume and you were blacking out under that gaze, his hands freezing over your own until your skin burned. ‘Come find me at the top of the mountain tomorrow at 8PM, under the marker for the Double Black, I’ll give you your first lesson.’

You couldn’t refuse as he let go of your hand, put his sunglasses back on, and walked outside to rejoin his group, the edges of the card biting into your palm and fingers even without him there to hold it in place.

The rest of the day flew by before you knew it, the card heavy in your pocket as you followed your family around while they toured the place, your appetite almost gone as they sat around you during dinner. You only picked at your food, as delicious as it looked, before excusing yourself with the lie of a headache despite knowing the predictable jokes made at your expense as everyone chided you for walking away. Your room felt much too dark and empty for your liking as you walked inside, stripped down so you could put on your pajamas, get into bed for the night, his card now laying on the nightstand right beside your phone.

Not once did he leave your mind, it was almost like he’d cast a spell on you, and you thought back to his request before sitting up, the blankets bunching around your waist. He wouldn’t be there now, it was the middle of the night and the lifts weren’t even running, but something drew you to get out of bed, get dressed in your warmest clothes, your family sleeping soundly well away from the sound of your door shutting behind you. Your muffled footsteps barely left an echo as you walked over the diamond-patterned red carpet, the other rooms quiet as you passed by them, the lobby still lit up for those who had their own curiosity to them, although you were the only one out there at the moment.

Even the bar patrons had gone to bed over an hour ago, the time on the large ornamental grandfather clock by the entertainment wing’s door showing it was just after 2AM, and you wondered if maybe you’d be locked in when you tried the front doors. You pushed them and they gave way, letting in the most bitter chill you’d ever felt in your life, your scarf covering as much of your face as you could manage, your hat pulled down so low that it was brushing uncomfortably against your eyelids. It was freezing out, it was pitch black, and still you followed the lit up path to the lifts, the currently falling snow covering up all the prints of the day.

You were right, of course you would be, the lifts weren’t moving and it was impossible to walk up the entire mountain so you didn’t know what you were trying to do here as you swore to yourself, sniffling away the burning cold as you attempted to rub some heat back into your arms. ‘What the fuck am I doing?’ you asked yourself, your voice so quiet even without anyone around to cover it up with their own idle chatter. ‘I need to get back inside before I get frostbite, this was so fucking dumb.’

‘What’s dumb about wanting to watch the snow fall?’

You jumped and slipped on the lightly packed powder under your boots, your body landing hard on the shoveled piles behind you, your eyes scanning the darkness until you saw the light reflecting off of his sunglasses. He wore a warmer coat, a hat on his head and gloves on his hands, but he looked like the cold wasn’t affecting him in the slightest, moved like he had no chill whatsoever, this was normal to him. Breck, you refused to call him Mr. Montanari no matter how high his level was after seeing him in that vest, walked up to you and extended his hand for you to take, and you almost refused before you felt the ice seep into your legs, the cold starting to burn the longer you were sitting down.

He pulled you up with ease, your chest colliding against his and trapping your hands together between them, and you didn’t know if it was just the material of his coat or if he was even colder than the snow. ‘The doors lock at 2:30, after the bar closes down, so no one drunkenly wanders outside and gets themselves killed,’ he explained without letting go, fear starting to overtake you at the thought of being trapped out there until dawn. ‘The other… instructors and I have our own place up the mountain, away from the hotel; I can take you there, if you’d rather not freeze to death tonight?’

‘You sure there’s no way inside?’ you couldn’t stop yourself from asking, and when he smiled at you you noticed that his right canine stuck out a little further than the rest, it catching on his chapped lips.

‘I’m sure.’

‘Then let’s go, please.’ You knew this was even more stupid than coming out in the middle of the night, but he worked there, your parents had seen him talking to you, his card was on your nightstand still, if he did end up killing you on this mountain then he’d never get away with it. That thought didn’t ease you though as he brought you to an idly running ATV, how you’d walked right past it you didn’t know, but the inside was at least a little warmer as you shut your door and strapped in your seatbelt. The heat was on a low setting and you stared at the dial, willing it to turn as he sat down next to you and started the engine back up, and you were sure he noticed you staring as he let out a small chuckle and just started driving.

It was pitch black and the snow gave him such little visibility but he still knew where he was going, following a drivable path up the mountain just for his vehicle as well as his co-workers’, the hotel quickly disappearing behind the sheet of white and black in the distance until all you saw was what the headlights showed to you. It took a good half hour, maybe longer, you didn’t know as you shut your eyes and bunched up to try and cling to your remaining warmth, but he did eventually reach a secondary building high up on the mountain as promised. There were many other vehicles already parked there, but he drove past them as he rounded off to the side where a garage was waiting; he clicked a button on his keychain and the middle door lifted open, a space waiting for him with an owner sign of nothing more than a large black diamond on the wall at the end.

He parked, shut off the engine, and then got out, not even waiting for you to follow before leaving the garage, the lights turning off one by one the longer you waited. As soon as you saw what was happening you scrambled to get out before you were plunged into complete darkness, your phone unable to provide a light since you’d stupidly left it on your nightstand in your hurry to leave, and you just managed to reach the door on numb legs as the final light shut off. You threw it open and fell to the ground on the other side, your hands shaking as they hovered over the cement and tile floor, the wet footprints of Breck leading to his boots as well as two others as you slowly looked up, the strangers wearing gray sweaters with blue squares right in the middle standing above you without saying a word.

‘You’ll freeze down there, the floor isn’t very insulated,’ he simply said as they all stared at you, and when you were too stunned to move he motioned towards you, the two lifting you up by your arms and helping you stand. ‘Your room is this way, it isn’t as nice as back at the hotel, but you don’t have much of a choice up here, all the good rooms are for the Black Diamonds,’ he explained as you were all but dragged down the hall, your feet unable to keep up with them with how much the numbness was spreading. You’d never been this cold in your life, the winters back home didn’t even feel this bad, but it also could’ve had to do with the fact that you were so afraid of what was going on that you were finding it hard to move regardless.

He stopped outside a long line of doors, the numbers going up the only indicators of what was on the other sides to those who understood, and he flipped to a generic key on his keyring and unlocked it, your fight or flight finally kicking in at the sight. You tried to fight them off, needing to put some distance between whatever the fuck he intended for you inside that room and yourself, but when he grabbed you by the scarf, pulled it right off from around your dry throat you froze, staring up at him as he handed the scarf to the person to your left. Your hat came next, then he was undoing the zipper of your coat, and as soon as you heard the sound echo down the hallway you yanked yourself free and fell, your hands coming up to pull it closed again.

‘Oh, just what do you think I’m going to do with you?’ he asked, but there was a dark playfulness behind his words that hadn’t been there before, one you couldn’t trust as you were lifted back up again and carried inside. The room held a single bed with only a pillow and a sheet that definitely wouldn’t keep you warm, as well as a small bedside table with a single drawer, and a square table pushed into the corner by the door with only one chair; it looked like a slightly comfier prison cell than a spare room, and you looked back over your shoulder at him as your chest started to heave.

‘Will you bring me back tomorrow?’ you tried not to plead, and he just grinned at you before putting his sunglasses back on even though he was indoors and it was the middle of the night, although his eyes offered you no hope before they were hidden from sight.

‘You still need your first lesson,’ he smirked, and when you were dropped on the bed you bounced a little and tried to crawl towards him, your aching legs instantly sinking into the thin but comfortable mattress.

‘But you said I couldn’t afford it,’ you panicked, the two leaving the room so he could grab onto the handle.

‘I said your parents couldn’t afford it, you still don’t know what the price is.’

The door started to shut, and it took you a moment to realize that the light had never been on, and the window was up so high and was so small that once the door was shut you’d be back in that darkness again.

‘What’s the price? Just fucking tell me and I’ll pay it!’ You were getting desperate, you wanted out, you never wanted this, but this time he didn’t answer as the door clicked shut, his keys jingling again as you were locked in.

[cheeriecherrymain]

Springtime On The Moor [Chapter 3]

Pairing: Viktor x fem!Reader Chapter Rating: T Story Tags: Regency AU|Slow Burn|Arranged Marriage (affectionate)|Strangers to Friends to Lovers|Angst/Comfort Proofread: No lol Taglist: @trfanglophile @fairy-writes @feeiry Chapter Summary: You and Viktor finally have an actual conversation with each other, revealing family secrets and deciding what to do about your future together.

You watch as the maid exits the room quickly, straightening her apron as she goes. Part of you feels bad for demanding she control her temper in the way you did - you could have spoken less harshly, you think, and tried to reason with her.

Instead of insinuating that she owed you respect because you’re her employer.

Your father had always taught you to be kind to the working class, growing up. Explained to you that no one person was inherently worth more than another, and that everyone was just trying to make their way through life and do the best they could.

Maybe she was just having a bad day, you think, slouching back into your chair, worry beginning to creep up in the back of your mind.

What would Viktor think of you, after such a show?

Would he think you a temperamental woman? Too fiery and loud to make a good wife? Would he think you were overbearing, or classist? Or would he-

“Why did you redirect her anger like that?” Viktor asks. His voice is thankfully quiet, and you can’t detect any kind of malice or ill intent. He just sounds curious.

You peek up at him from behind your lashes, and push yourself to sit up straighter.

“I’m your wife,” you explain softly. “Matters of the home fall onto my shoulders. That includes…asking the staff to be kinder.”

You watch as his features pinch together ever so slightly, drawing into the faintest frown you’ve ever seen. The corners of his lips quirked downwards, pressed into a straight line.

“I wasn’t aware our duties varied based on gender,” he admits. “I thought marriage was meant to be a partnership?”

You’re well and truly shocked by his assumption.

Nothing in his posture says he’s being facetious or dishonest, so…what kind of rock has your husband been living under, to not understand the most basic of social systems? Even those who didn’t participate in the kinds of interpersonal games that you did, were still aware of how unions worked.

Understood what kinds of roles everyone was meant to play.

There were, of course, some special exceptions. Your father, for example: a widower of many years, now. He hadn’t grown up knowing all the work it took to run a home. Your mother had shared everything with him, all her decisions and the goings on of the day - he had been forced to play the role of both parents to you and your siblings.

But that was a very special circumstance.

Your husband, on the other hand, just seemed…oblivious.

“Viktor,” you begin, somewhat hesitantly, unsure of how to proceed without offending him in some manner. “Did your parents never teach you about any of this? About what to expect from a marriage?”

You try your best to stay as outwardly kind as you can, knowing that one small slip in tone or posture could push him away from you, and cause him to clam up. He already seemed so reserved and unwilling to socialize, and you don’t want to undo whatever progress you may have made.

But despite your best efforts, you still watch as discomfort makes its way into his expression. The slight tense of his shoulders, and the way in which he so casually avoids eye contact.

“I just want to know where I should start explaining, that’s all,” you tell him, honestly. “You’re not going to face any judgment from me, not for this, and least of all for not knowing something in general.”

You’re still, as his gaze travels over you. Looking for any sign of deceit, anything that might hint to him that you’re trying to set him up for…for something unpleasant.

A joke, you wonder, or maybe just to ridicule him in general?

You would never.

But he doesn’t know that.

Finally, he relaxes in the slightest, mirroring your form to slouch back in his seat.

“You’re aware that I’m adopted, yes?” he asks, and when you give a brief nod of confirmation, he continues. “I am the youngest of six, and I don’t share blood with any of my siblings. When my parents were no longer able to have children of their own, they plucked me out of an orphanage in an attempt to raise one last baby.”

You can feel the surprise stretch across your face, loud and prominent. Had he really been taken in so young? With how your father had spoken of him, and described him as a boy, you’d assumed that he’d been brought home around nine or ten.

But as an infant?

Where did he learn his mannerisms, then?

“We -meaning my siblings and myself- had all assumed that I wouldn’t end up with any kind of claim to the family fortune,” he explains, chewing on the edge of his thumb nail. “Even from a young age, they would not pass up a chance to remind me of my place - I was the outsider, and I had no business trying to continue our parents’ legacy.”

You lean forward, resting your elbows on the table. 

“But you share a surname, don’t you?” you wonder.

Viktor nods to your question.

“We do,” he confirms. “But that hardly matters. Not when the purity of the bloodline is in question.”

Your heart sinks slightly, knowing he must have felt incredibly lonely growing up. Having a family, and being loved by his parents, but otherwise ostracized by the people his own age. Never being allowed to expect the same treatment as his siblings, as if his background made him somehow less.

You watch as he reaches for a bottle of wine that’s been set out on the table, reading the label for a brief moment before uncorking it with a soft pop.

He fills his glass a little more than you would consider polite, but then, you couldn’t really fault him for it, could you? Especially not when he gestures towards your own goblet at the last minute, as if he’s just remembered that you might like some, too.

He’s trying.

You slide the glass towards him, and wave him off when you’ve got a sufficient amount of red nectar - a little more than you’d usually indulge in, but with dinner on the way and a heavy conversation in your midst, you feel as though you’re entitled to it.

“At least,” he finally resumes, swirling the wine around in his cup, “that was what I had thought.”

He takes a sip, and reclines back in his chair again.

“We were of the mind that my brothers would take over the business when my parents either passed or retired, and my sisters would run the estate once they were married,” he goes on. “We assumed that I would be permitted to stay in the manor as long as I pleased, as part of the inheritance conditions. All of us were happy with that outcome. The business has never been in any of my interests.”

He takes another mouthful of drink, his expression pulling into one of frustration.

“Imagine my surprise, upon finding out that my parents willed everything to me.”

He doesn’t sound angry about the situation he’d been given - not really. Fed up, perhaps, and like he had never expected his life could go the way it has.

It makes you sad, the more you think about it. Imagining your husband as a little boy, tormented by the people who he was meant to call family, never allowed to believe that he could be more than their words, or achieve anything. Not even allowed to dream.

And now, forced to marry someone he didn’t know - someone he probably had no desire to know.

“I’m…sure your brothers and sisters were not so pleased?” you suggest, earning dry laugh from your husband.

“That’s one way to phrase it,” he scoffs. “They were outraged. Even when I told them that I had no idea I was in the will - told them that I would be happy to hand over everything they’d been previously promised! All I wanted was a place I could continue working.”

You finally take a sip of the wine in your hand, listening intently to the sweet aftertaste of cherry.

“But there was no reasoning with them,” he laments, his tone growing somber. “They were scorned, and they blamed me. I knew that if I gave them anything, they…would have taken everything. I would have lost years of work - my home, any semblance of a future. Even now, they still…”

Your eyes remain trained on him, following as he stoops forward to lean his elbows on the table, pressing the tips of his fingers into his temples to rub slow circles. 

A very well-practiced motion, you realize.

“My siblings have done everything in their power to drive my life into ruin. I have never been one to care for my social reputation, but…the rumours. Their threats, scaring away most of the staff employed by the estate.”

He finally looks over to you, his eyes wide with a forlorn sense of sadness.

“I’m sure you’ve seen the garden. There’s no one in town who is willing to risk their social life to care for it, so it’s fallen to ruin. I would do it myself, but…” He gestures down towards his leg - out of your line of sight, but you know that he’s pointing towards the shiny metal brace that you’ve never seen him out of.

Of course he’d love the place he’d grown up. Of course he’d want to take care of it. You’re furious with yourself for ever thinking he might have just been a careless man, unconcerned with what other people thought of him.

In truth, he cares quite a bit.

And how frustrating it must be, you think, to see something so beloved falling to ruin around you, unable to do anything to stop it. To have people actively working against you, counting and praying on your downfall.

You quietly drum your fingers on the table.

You can feel Viktor’s eyes on you, questioning and curious - and you can tell that he knows you’re thinking. 

“Has your business been impacted by any of this?” you ask.

Suddenly enough that he hesitates a moment before replying.

“The family business has taken a loss-”

“No, no,” you interrupt with a wave, taking another sip of wine. “I mean your business. The deal you have with Mr. Talis. HexTech, if I’m correct?”

His jaw slackens when you reveal that you know about that. And in truth, it had required quite a bit of digging around and asking questions: you’d been far too curious about the mysterious man who’d appeared out of the darkness to ask for your hand.

He was difficult to find a trace of, you know, always careful to cover up his tracks and make sure no one saw his face or knew his name.

You would have thought him shady, were the HexTech company not so well-known.

“…not thus far, I don’t think,” Viktor finally replies.” My participation in our projects is not typically brought up when speaking to sponsors - Jayce does all the networking, and we do the rest together.”

You drum your fingers on the table some more.

“Your siblings will try, then,” you tell him, bluntly.

Worry falls over him when he figures out what you’re implying: that the people he once called family were ruthless in their endeavors, and would stop at nothing to see him brought to his knees. That they would be willing to ruin anyone’s lives to do it.

Even when they discovered his association and partnership with Mr.Talis, they would simply seek to tear him down, too.

“They have been successful in bringing you to ruin thus far,” you tell him, “No one wants to work for you, save the select few you have employed - but nowhere near enough people to keep up with the work that a house demands. Your estate is in shambles, and your name is so tarnished that the people I considered close friends didn’t show up to our wedding.”

He peers over at you, guilty.

“I’m sorry,” he begins, and you cut him off with a wave.

“Don’t be,” you sigh, taking another sip of your drink. “I will admit that I was upset about it yesterday, but…knowing that very little of your reputation has been your choice has calmed me down a bit.”

You smile at him, sweet yet mischievous.

“I’ve a proposition for you, husband. Something that will benefit both of us.”

Viktor raises a brow, intrigued, and gestures for you to continue.

Your smirk widens.

“I suggest revenge.”

His face falls a fraction, but before he can say anything, you speak over him.

“I’m not suggesting bodily harm. I’m not suggesting any kind of like-minded retaliation, either,” you promise, easing some of his tension. “ I’m well versed in social politics. Quite frankly, I find it entertaining and invigorating - and I enjoy getting to dress up on special occasions. It wouldn’t take a lot of prodding among my typical circle to get your name bouncing around.”

You take the last mouthful of your wine, and set the goblet down on the table.

“ A couple of kind words here and there. Everyone knows that you…lack social prowess, so any word of mine would be considered an absolute truth. I’m your wife, after all - and I’m meant to know you in ways that are far more intimate than your siblings ever would.”

You don’t miss the way he fidgets in his seat at your choice of words, nor the way pink begins to blossom across the tops of his cheeks. His awkwardness is honestly quite charming, in your opinion, if not slightly frustrating.

Frustrating, because how easily does he manage to catch your interest.

“All I’d have to do would be to let slip a few things that directly contradict the rumours spreading around, to the right people,” you finish, proudly knitting your fingers together to set them in your lap.

Unsurprisingly, though, Viktor seems unconvinced.

“Do you really think that all the damage done is so easy to fix?” he wonders, almost incredulous. “Talk to a couple of your friends and let them gossip?”

“No,” you admit. “I don’t. But we don’t need to convince anyone, Viktor. We just need to make them doubt. Doubt your siblings, doubt what they’ve heard. Once people start questioning, they’ll be willing to look a little closer, and be a little closer.”

Finally, finally, he seems to understand what you’re saying.

“What would make someone angrier than thriving, despite their attempts to assure otherwise?” you ask, of no one in particular.

Your husband smiles then, and not just a small quirk of the lip. A genuine smile, laden fully with the same sort of mischief that you have. A giddy, almost playful edge to it, and…something you can’t quite decipher. A sense of longing, perhaps - hope?

“You’ve thought this out very thoroughly,” he says, “and yet you’ve only been here a day.”

“Well, it’s not just your life anymore, now is it?” you tell him, matter-of-factly. “It’s our life. Our name, our home, our reputation. And neither of us deserve to be treated so poorly.”

There’s more you want to say to him - more conversation to be had about how to improve your lives and where to start, how to fix the garden. Your entire plan, really, as unfinished as it is.

Were it not for the servants’ door flinging open, startling the two of you away from each other.

The kitchen staff begin pouring in with dishes of food, setting them out around the table so you might choose what you’d like to eat - much of it which you’d never seen before, spices you’d never smelled, colours you’d never eaten.

Viktor promises you later that you’ll speak on the matter tomorrow, after you’ve both had some time to rest - claiming he still had some work he’d yet to finish that evening, and that he didn’t want to be late on its completion.

You’ve half a mind to ask him to stay with you: to ask him to spend the night with you, as a husband was meant to - even if it just meant sleeping together in the same bed. But with his beliefs and general awkwardness…you know even suggesting something like that would make him retreat back into his shell.

You’ll just have to work on refining your plans for the manor, and hope they would be enough to impress him.

[desistancejourney]

Ok so this is really interesting to me. She makes some good points, and I think the "rock in your shoe" metaphor is really clever and resonated with me a lot. And it sounds like the "rock in her shoe" was in fact gender dysphoria, I mean I don't know her so I have no reason to question that. "You just kinda assume that everyone is a little uncomfortable all the time" until you realize that they are, in fact, NOT, that is so deeply relatable to me. But here's the thing that I and I would bet other detransitioners/desisters want people to understand. The feeling that there is something very very wrong but you can't quite put your finger on it, and you can't remember not feeling that way, and you assume everyone feels that way, is NOT AT ALL EXLUSIVE TO GENDER DYSPHORIA. Now, for the record, I'm not saying that this comedian is saying that it IS exclusive to gender dysphoria, she didn't say that and I genuinely think that she's just relating her experiences. But there are people who are watching the videos she references, seeing people say "I got the rock out of my shoe by transitioning! I feel so much better now!" And there is a profound relief that they have a solution in sight, and that they no longer have to pretend they're not constantly uncomfortable. One thing that I think was actually GOOD about my former trans identity is that I finally had a way to say "something is seriously not right with me and I don't have to pretend that it's not!" and while it was damaging in other ways, I think if the options were "being trans" or suppressing and shaming that discomfort in myself, being trans was better, at least at the time. Just to be clear, ultimately I think identifying as trans was bad for me in the long run, and I didn't transition medically and I am very lucky for that and I'm not here to talk over other detransitioners who have, I'm just sharing an experience and it's a nuanced thing. There was a combination of things that caused the "rock in my shoe", like a history of bullying, being fat my whole life and feeling uncomfortable in my body because of it, some autistic traits most likely, but the biggest one was the trauma I experienced from living with emotionally manipulative and abusive parents and a severely mentally ill brother that made my childhood full of constant chaos and fear. (I also suspect there was some sexual abuse involved but that's not something I feel comfortable digging too deeply into right now in the interest of maintaining my mental stability, but I do think it's worth noting but I'm not going to elaborate any further at this time because I think the things I'm saying are enough to make the point on its own.) It gets so complicated because I truly am not saying that it's "easy" to be trans, but there are some things that are harder to face than joining the loving and supportive and validating trans community (obviously it's not always that way but you know what I mean). When I got away from abuse for the first time in my life (at age 23) I also lost my entire family and financial support and I had to start my whole life over and even now I'm still really struggling and it was almost 4 years ago. It was genuinely easier to think that what was wrong with me was gender related and that it was something to be proud of, that it was something authentic and wonderful despite the hardship, instead of what it really was, which was just awful and painful and unfair. I was in therapy but I spent 90% of it talking about my gender identity to avoid talking about anything else that was too difficult to deal with, and while my therapist was a nice person, she didn't challenge me on any of it. I don't know how receptive I would have been at the time, but I needed help I wasn't getting. I understand why people say "nobody would choose to be trans" but there ARE reasons why someone would choose that (even unconsciously) because we thought it was better than the alternative. Detransitioners and desisted people are proof of this.

[wahlpaper]

Girls Like Girls Review

Girls Like Girls by Hayley Kiyoko

CW: Loss of a Parent, Suicide, Suicidal Thoughts, Underage Drinking and Drug Use, Dangerous Driving, Near Death Experience, Breaking and Entering, Homophobia, Internalized Homophobia, Controlling Parent, Domestic Abuse, Toxic Friendships, Fade-To-Black Sexual Activity, Vomit, Child Abandonment, Swearing, Grief, Violence, Injury, Bullying, Mentioned Abortion, Gaslighting, Classism, Sexism, Accidental Outing

3.5/5

I grew up watching Hayley Kiyoko on Disney Channel and have been following her music career for quite a while. When she announced that she was writing a book, I knew I had to read it, no matter what. For those who use YouTube more than me, you may have realized that this book is based on the music video for the song of the same name. I didn't realize this until listening to the acknowledgments at the end of the book. Based on my experience, I recommend reading the book before watching the music video, assuming you haven't seen it yet. The story ventured outside of my comfort zone, but kept reeling me back in. I honestly didn't know if I liked the book until the very end, but I had refused to DNF a Kiyoko book. 

After her mom dies by suicide, Coley moves to a small town in Oregon. It's the summer before her senior year of high school and she's now stuck living with the father that skipped out on raising her. He's a man she doesn't know or trust. While out biking to avoid being home, she nearly gets run over by a group of popular kids. They likely wouldn't have taken her under their wing if it weren't for their ring leader, Sonya, being intrigued by Coley. As the summer goes on, the two girls become inseparable. Will they unravel their feelings for each other or will their family lives and social circles drag them down?

It's important to note that Girls Like Girls is set in 2006. Kiyoko was 15 that year and therefore able to pull from her own memories of how teenagers lived in 2006. There's AIM, LiveJournal, tattoo chokers, no smartphones, and different slang. There are also a lot of references to the popular music of that time. I recommend looking up the songs you're unfamiliar with for the full experience. Of course, the mindset towards human rights was also of the time. Many characters, Coley and Sonya included, could have benefited from therapy, but that wasn't as openly talked about 17 years ago. Homophobia was also more publicly accepted at the time. These issues haven't gone away, but it's nice to see that things have improved. 

Speaking of queer content, Girls Like Girls is a story about two very different teen girls realizing they are attracted to their own gender. It becomes clearer throughout the story, that despite Sonya coming from a well-off family, Coley is in a much safer environment to come out as gay. Sonya has a controlling mother and a few openly homophobic friends. Coley finds several other queer people in her community and a number of allies. I am relieved that we got a little bit of Sonya's POV, because the relationship between Coley and her would read as irredeemably toxic otherwise. I am also relieved that the book takes the time to address the toxicity that's there. If you're patient, the book will address everything you're wondering about.

I experienced Girls Like Girls as an audiobook. It was mostly read by Kiyoko doing Coley's POV. I enjoy her voice and love when an author reads their own book. She was joined by one of my favorite audiobook narrators, Natalie Naudus, for Sonya's LiveJournal posts and emails. There are a few other voices throughout for small parts. While I enjoyed the ensemble cast of voices, I disliked the music and ambient sounds that were mixed in. If it had been consistent throughout the whole book, I would have liked it. Instead, the additional sounds would appear out of nowhere and temporarily take me out of the story. Please keep that in mind if you're trying to decide between print and audio. 

Kiyoko's writing style will appeal to fans of Sarah Dessen, especially those looking for queer content. It's a summer romance, for one. It handles dark topics well without being the kind of book to make the audience cry. It's a small town setting with a new girl trying to become a part of a group of friends who have known each other for years. It's not usually my type of genre, which is why I potentially would've DNF'd it had a different author written it. There were scenes that made me uncomfortable, but I was often reeled back in by the action. I don't regret sticking it out to the end. I enjoy the way the story resolves. Of course, you'll have to read it yourself if you want to know the ending. 

If you're interested in a small-town YA romance with queer content and dark topics, Hayley Kiyoko's Girls Like Girls is the book for you. Should you pick it up and stick it out, you'll be rewarded with a music video summary of the book. Give it a chance, it's the kind of book you'll remember!

[marlsbys-dragons]

I’m so scared right now. 

I’m writing this not for any grand statement or call to action or anything, but because it’s safer for me to express my thoughts here than elsewhere right now.

If this goes like my other original posts, chances are no one will see this. That is ok. I might prefer it, actually. Though if you do happen to see this, please don’t take that to mean I don’t want interaction. This is a time to pull together, and that can most easily be done, in my opinion, by talking.

Like most of the people I figure are likely to see this, I am a queer American. If you are part of this group, chances are pretty good you know what I’m talking about. Earlier today, March 27th 2023 as of writing, there was a mass shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville Tennessee. Six were killed, three children, all age nine, and three adults, all aged between 60-61. The perpetrator was one Aiden Hale, 28, killed by police during a gunfight after their arrival on-scene approximately 14 minutes after 911 was called. 

If you are surprised by that name, so was I. Hale is being reported on mainly by the name Audrey Hale, his legal name, as according to a family member who asked to remain anonymous, he had only recently started identifying as transgender and using he/him pronouns. Despite this, almost all of the quotes featured in stories that I could find use she/her pronouns, and many stories refer to him as either a transgender woman or a female. The latter is inaccurate, the former strikes me as dangerously wrong.

Now, all of that is tragic backstory for the main point of this post. Some ungracious among you may attribute me lingering on the gender identity of the murder as opposed to his crimes as some sort of deflection, or worse, sign of respect. To any hypothetical people doing so, this is not for you. This person was clearly deeply mentally unwell, and if he had survived I would’ve been advocating life in prison.

However, while my heart goes out to the families of this senseless act, my mind turns to my own family. Not just my literal family who I live with, but my queer family, specifically my trans siblings across the US. We are already facing violence, oppression, and open criminalization to a degree not seen in my admittedly brief lifetime. Republicans and other right-wing actors are doing everything they can to instill baseless fear and hatred into our fellow Americans, forcing through bills that restrict our liberties and violate our human rights. 

The easiest targets for this hatred are trans women, aided by the overwhelmingly male statistics of sexual violence, and long-running and unfounded rumors seeded by transphobes and TERFs regarding alleged assaults and sexual motives for transition. After trans women come trans children, targeted for the same reasons children always are: dismissal by adults at large and a subsequent inability to speak to their own defense. And the bills are getting worse. To share a personal detail I don’t like to publicize, I am a parent of two, and there are bills in state legislatures across the country, Florida comes to mind, that could take my children away from me and throw me in jail for supporting them. A seemingly logical progression, which may have already been taken without my knowledge, is criminalizing trans people who live with children, something I have had nightmares about.

Why I am afraid is relatively simple, but to fully explain my reasons I want to share some further information: according to the Daily Mail, this shooting is is the 129th in the States this year. According to some very rough math I did on gunviolencearchive.org, a site whose list for 2023 has already reached 6 pages, this is in fact the 130th. Personally I would trust the Daily Mail’s number more. Also according to some quick finger counting on gunviolencearchive.org, we surpassed 100 mass shootings sometime on March 5th, a day with 4 separate incidents and a combined total of 3 dead, 13 injured. This is nearly two weeks earlier in the year than 2022 or 2021, and more than two months earlier than 2018-2020. I could not stomach looking farther. 

Some of you may have realized the awful truth about these numbers: in each of the last three years, we in the United States have had more than one mass shooting a day. Again per gunviolencearchive.org, that is a feat replicated by both 2020 and 2019, as well as 2016, the only other year to do so after their archival began in 2014.

As a trans person in America, who loves a trans person in America, who has trans friends across America, who has already had to start laying plans to flee the state I was raised in if it continues its present course, who sees nothing but fear in the future of so much of my family, I can only think that this will lead to bad things. 

The twisting and slanting has already begun. An article on Fox News refers to Hall as a transgender woman, despite his actual identity being a transgender man, and the usual bias of that company to call him a woman. Meanwhile, the New York post has an article focusing heavily on Covenant’s status as a Christian school.

Our enemies despise us with a visceral and blinding rage. They have proven time and time again that facts, logic, reason, human lives, mean nothing in their pursuit of a radicalized right-wing populist agenda and the power they think it promises. And now this? The all-too-real intersection of two of the biggest issues in US politics today: gun violence and transness. One which the right led to through inaction, and the other they manufactured out of hate.

I am no pundit, no scholar or insider. I cannot claim to forecast the future happenings of American politics with anything more than a layman’s weary eye. But I am a trans American, and despite everything I still want to be proud of this country, and I could see no resolution in sight to either gun violence or anti-trans legislating, only escalation, and now the two have merged. What will happen to us now? Sources:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/nashville-covenant-school-shooting-suspect-identified-as-audrey-hale

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/nashville-christian-school-shooter-appears-former-student-police-chief-rcna76876

https://www.newschannel5.com/news/what-we-know-about-the-covenant-school-shooter-in-nashville

https://www.foxnews.com/us/nashville-shooter-audrey-hale-transgender-woman-opened-fire-covenant-school

https://nypost.com/2023/03/27/nashville-school-shooter-audrey-hale-identified-as-transgender-and-had-detailed-manifesto-to-attack-christian-academy/

https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/nashville-shooting-covenant-school-03-27-23/index.html

https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/reports/mass-shooting

https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/past-tolls

https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/06/politics/america-mass-shootings-2023-gun-violence/index.html

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11907933/Nashville-school-shooting-Americas-129th-mass-shooting-2023.html

https://www.them.us/story/florida-bill-trans-kids-supportive-parents

Note: I wrote this in a hurry, with no real plan, and no proof-reading. If there is anything erroneous, please let me know. I apologize if it’s a bit disjointed. 

[iwannaban0nym0us]

rambley time - this ended up just being soccer probably gonna reblog w/ everything else so this isn't way too massive

i'm terrified i'm so fucking terrified, everything in my life scares me rn and i hate that because things should be good rn

so uh where do i start, i guess soccer makes sense because thats kinda what triggered this

my soccer team is disbanding,,,, again,,, basically last spring the team disbanded because we didn't have enough people who wanted to keep going w/ the club (a bunch of people dropped soccer, a few went to another club) but what me and 3 of my closet teammates did is merge w/ the team a year younger than us (meaning the other team is playing up a year) but since that team is a year younger now they're hitting the point where people are dropping (plus one person my age is quitting for running and another moved to a better club)

i'm so so scared because this time there's no younger team to merge with and that teammate who's dropping soccer for running i've been playing with her for like 7 years,,,,,

there's two main reasons i love this club, 1) the people, 2) it's not quite as committed as a full on club so i have the flexibility to do robotics (which is a huge time suck)

but now i'm terrified because i don't know what comes next like i always kinda thought i'd play w/ this club through high school and now i'm actually coming to terms w/ the fact that i might not be playing non-school soccer like soon

obviously i do have options, like i could go try out for the clubs that my teammates are trying out for but those are ~30min drive away from where i live since i moved while i was on the team and only stuck with it because of the people and with robotics i don't think that is an option because i don't have the time for a fully committed team that far away

another option is a club team in the city i live in and i've been talking w/ a school friend a bit who also plays and we might try and go try out for some teams together but i'm still not sure i want to play club and even if i do want to i might only want to if its with that friend and we might not make the same team(s)

theres also the option of just playing rec in the fall and maybe spring select in the spring (school is in the winter) and honestly i think thats the most likely thing to happen and idk why but that kinda scares me too maybe its because i've been playing club so long and i think i'll feel like less of a soccer player if i can't keep that up but honestly robotics is by far my priority so i think i could live w/ it if i had to

the most terrifying option is that i just stop playing non-school soccer it's pretty unlikely but its still like an actual possibility and i don't think it ever has been before so coming to terms with it is,,,, a lot,,,

so like the soccer thing is really on my mind and whenever i bring it up with like my parents or my friends i feel like they expect things from me. like today my dad was insistent that we get the info for the club that some of my teammates are trying out for (despite them probably gonna end up on a younger team than me) even tho i was saying no since thats the one option i have actually ruled out. and then yesterday i brought it up around a friend and he was like you're so good why don't you just go join another club team and didn't seem to understand that its so much more complicated than that. and also like my friends make fun of me for being a jock and just like expect me to be a soccer person and idkkk aaaaaa

another thing that scares me about joining another team is coming out again because sports are so fucking gendered i hate it, and like its more than just name or pronouns, i love my current team because they fucking cheered when i came out (they were glad my announcement wasn't that i was leaving the team lmao) but even tho i live in an accepting area there's no guarantee a new team would be accepting, also i finally trained my coach to stop calling us 'ladies' or 'girls' and i'd have to do that all fucking over again, and i really really don't think i could deal w/ being forced to wear a fem cut jersey again so i'd have to figure out how to get a men's uniform all over again w/ the new team and going back to the accepting point being in the closet isn't even really an option because i just look so viably queer (plus i have a girlfriend lol)

[selincakar-archive]

❝ a bitten tongue and gritted teeth, midnight underwear dance parties, cropped cardigans, worn jeans, late night bonfires, the ashes of a forgotten cigarette, stolen sweaters with too long sleeves, taper candles stuck into teacups, baggy tees, abandoned mugs of coffee, tragic romance movies, aggressively making tea, nap marathons, bergamot scented anything, a purse full of dr. pepper and chocolate candy

BIOGRAPHY | CONNECTIONS | PINTEREST

NAME: Selin (SAY-lihn) Tülay Çakar

PREFERRED NAME/NICKNAME(S): Sey

AGE: Thirty-three

BIRTHDAY: June 21st, 1989

ZODIAC: Cancer sun, Capricorn moon, Sagittarius rising

RESIDENTIAL AREA: Bighorn Hills

OCCUPATION: Owner of Harp Antiques

LENGTH OF TIME IN PROVIDENCE: 33 years, minus a few spent in Seattle and Boston

basics.

BIRTHPLACE: Providence Peak, Colorado

HOMETOWN: Providence Peak, Colorado

GENDER IDENTIFICATION: Cis Woman (she/her)

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Bisexual, Biromantic

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Divorced and currently single

POSITIVE TRAITS: Protective, sentimental, hospitable, thoughtful, tenacious

NEGATIVE TRAITS: Reticent, moody, impressionable, provoking, melancholic

family.

MOTHER: Afet Çakar

FATHER: Selim Çakar

SIBLINGS: Two older brothers, one younger sister (all WC’s)

OTHER: two cats, Danny and Dawson

tldr (but still long af, actually).

TW: chronic illness, infidelity, death

Born and raised in Providence Peak, Selin comes from a tight knit (if not somewhat overbearing) family. Her grandfather started a sporting goods store that her father later sold, turning a tidy profit in the process. Despite the influx in money, though, their family remained humble and always lived well below their means. 

Sey was always a bit of a curious, wandering child-- more prone to being found in a dark, dusty corner of the local library or out on one of the many trails than she was at home in her room. That all came to an abrupt end when she was fifteen.

While out with a few friends on a run of the mill hike she started to feel off and, before any of them fully realized what was happening, she lost consciousness. For a little over twenty-four hours she was in a hypoglycemic coma and ultimately ended up being diagnosed with type one diabetes. 

The entire ordeal wreaked havoc on her parents, and they became a little too concerned, a little too involved in her life from there on out. Even though Sey knew it came from a good place, their constant doubt in her ability to take care of herself and micromanaging began to feel like an invisible cage. 

At age twenty-three her boyfriend proposed, despite having only been together for about eight months, and, in a desperate bid for independence and separation, she said yes. It wasn’t long before they were wed and then she was off– following him first to Seattle during his surgical internship, and then to Mass Gen in Boston for his residency. 

Long story short? Their marriage was paper thin and in no time she realized she’d made a mistake. Still, she stubbornly stayed, only returning home to Colorado after his affair with a co-worker was revealed.

Upon returning she started working at the local antique store where she’d gotten her first job back in high school. When Weldon Harp, the cantankerous owner, passed away not long after she was shocked to learn he’d left her the store (and a few acres of land) in his will. 

headcanons.

is the proud cat mom of two rescues, danny and dawson, who she named after the romantic leads in her two favorite movies.

refuses to acknowledge what it might say about her that both characters in both movies tragically died.

despite having owned the property she inherited from weldon harp for several years now she's made no move to build on it. instead, sey lives in the eccentric little carriage/cabin hybrid situation that's been there from the start.

is the queen of "it's okay" and "i'm fine" even when (or especially when) it is absolutely and most definitely not.

mutters "what the fuck" under her breath at least 36 times a day and "my boobs are too pretty for this shit" might at well be her catchphrase.

these days she uses an omnipod (wireless insulin pump) affectionately nicknamed sue ellen. in case you were wondering, she’s also named her glucose monitor dex. whenever one of them decides to yell at her sey is 1000% known to yell back. 

always keeps a chocolate candy bar and can of regular soda on her in case her sugar gets too low. ice cream is her weakness, though, and she probably indulges in it more often than she should. 

has never once in her life invited someone into her place without offering them tea. or tequila. dealer's choice.

believes in her heart that half a pot of coffee and two cigarettes should be considered a balanced breakfast, but faithfully eats a veggie loaded omelet or some plain greek yogurt with blackberries every morning because she’s a good girl. 

her wardrobe ranges from band groupie to suburban dad to pastel princess and nothing in between.

similarly, her dance moves also range from white dad at a bbq to a stripper whose rent is due next week.

soft, sensitive, and easily hurt but will keep laughing and never show it

rarely saves numbers in her phone but in the event that she does keep a contact it's always under a nickname or funny descriptive

selin is, in fact, obnoxiously loyal and protective of those she cares about. she always has a smile and a minite (or ten) to talk with anyone she meets, but you know you've made it in her books when that smile takes on a decidedly asshole-ish vibe

[blinditcms]

DYLAN RAIN on the cover of this week’s most recent tabloid! many say that the 33 YEAR OLD looks like OLIVER JACKSON-COHEN, but i don’t really see it. while the STUNTMAN/FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHER is known for being PROTECTIVE my inside sources say that they have a tendency to be HARSH. i swear, every time i think of them, i hear the song YOU’RE ALL I NEED –– MOTLEY CRUE

BASIC INFORMATION:

name: dylan christopher rain. peter christopher isaac junior. nicknames: dyl, d. pronouns: he/him. gender: cis man. age: thirty-three. date of birth: november 28th, ‘89. place of birth: lismore, australia. ( moved at the age of twenty-four to beverly  hills , united states due to family relocating ) astrological sign: saggitarius. orientation: straight.

APPEARANCE:

height: six foot three. build: broad shouldered, strong muscles, but still relatively slender. hair colour: brown. eye colour: blue. wardrobe style: tends to wear clothes that he can move in, lots of sweatshirts, hoodies, and form fitting but not too tight t-shirts in dark colours. tattoos: none. piercings: none. defining features: bright blue eyes and a large scar moving up his left arm.

HEALTH:

physical ailments: none. mental ailments: PTSD. alcohol use: drinks socially. drug use: rarely - if any, weed. addictions: none.

PERSONALITY:

positive traits: protective, charismatic, honest. negative traits: quick-tempered, cold, harsh. mbti: ISTJ-A

ACTIVITIES & SKILLS:

skills: most sports - specifically gymnastics/acrobatics, long-distance running. weaknesses: anything creative. languages spoken: english, arabic.

FAMILY:

father: pete isaac ( deceased, fifty - five ) mother: meredith rain elain isaac nee scottsman ( alive, fifty - one ) sister: florence rain gwyn isaac ( alive, twenty - five ) ​

CAREER/LIFE DETAILS (tw: military, abuse, psychosis, ptsd, stabbing, murder) :

peter was born to a devoted, very young and ambitious mother, elain, and a military man father, pete. as a young boy, he spent most of his time with his grandparents, as his father was away on military tours and his mother was still studying to become a defence lawyer. peter had not been planned – though he never felt that way. though both parents worked incredibly hard to provide for him and his younger sister gwyn and they were well-off, they were there for every important moment in his life, or his mum had been anyway. he adored his father though and looked up to him immensely. he was a powerful, strong and enigmatic man, absolutely devoted to his children.

as he grew up, his father retired from the force and now working as a fire fighter, his opinion didn’t change one bit. instead, despite pretending otherwise, he had his life planned out for himself. join the army like his father had done and rise up in rank. peter wouldn’t leave the army, no matter what happened. though he could see the mental toll it had taken on his father, to him, that was honourable. that was what a real man should do. he took up every sport he could and excelled in gymnastics and track.

so when his father’s behaviour became more erratic, peter ignored it. it was par for the course, it was proof of how much good his father had done, the risks he had taken. when he finished high school, he immediately signed up for the army. it was only a few days before he was due to set out for basic training that his father had his first erratic episode that turned violent. he had come running inside from the pool when he found his dad with his hands on his sister’s shoulders, pushing her roughly against a wall. his first thought - what had gwyn done? he immediately positioned himself behind his father and grappled the man, holding him tightly until he calmed down, not before receiving an elbow to the face. it had not been fun to explain to his drill sergeant a few days later.

he spent little time at home after that. he immediately went on his first deployment to iraq. he called home as often as he could, his mother often berading him for choosing to go into the military in the first place, his father equal parts proud and disappointed over the phone, and using most of his time to speak to gwyn. he went on deployment after deployment, rarely staying home for much for than two months in between. he was on his sixth tour, the second one in afghanistan, when he had managed to secure some temporary leave. he initially had wanted to delay his deployment - his father was getting worse and he did not like the idea of leaving them alone with him, but he’d had no choice. he’d also missed gwyn’s sixteenth birthday, but it was only a few weeks out - and he still hoped to surprise her by coming back a bit earlier.

as peter made his way up the drive, he heard yelling - panicked and frightened. he dropped his bags in the front garden and ran up to the house and inside, he found a scene right out of his nightmares. his sister and his mother in a fight with his father. time seemed to slow as he sprinted, seeing the second knife, held by gwyn, stabbed into his father’s chest. there were wood splinters everywhere, and a struggle had clearly already ensued. rage bubbled up his throat like bile and he pulled his father off his sister with an effort. she was freaking out and would not stop holding onto him, but eventually he managed. the blood was spreading, but in his father’s psychosis, he still seemed adamant to cause harm. a dangerous calm came over him and he took what he had learned in training and did the opposite. peter locked eyes with the man who’d given him his name, grit his teeth in anger, and he pulled both knives out of the wounds. the bloodflow to increased immediately, and he let his father drop the last few inches to the floor before reaching over and pulling his sister into his arms, soothing her but never pulling his dry eyes from his father.

they moved to beverly hills as soon as the case had been dropped. the case had brought some unwanted attention onto him, but he was honourably discharged, his final rank a major. they changed their names – peter christopher isaac became dylan christopher rain. he was at a loss of what to do, so he found work as an extra and got his personal training license. he stumbled his way into stunt work and found that his gymnastics experience along with his army experience helped. he knew how real fights looked, but he also knew how to make them safe. the last few years, he’s been working on various tv-shows and films for their stunt work, now slowly taking on more stunt coordinator and choreographer work now he’s getting a little older.

[elizmanderson]

2022 wrap-up, part 4

part 1 is here

part 2 is here

part 3 is here

istg this is the last part. it just turns out I did more stuff this year than I thought, which is exactly why I do these wrap-ups for myself every year. otherwise I fixate on the bad parts or the parts where I did nothing yet somehow also failed to rest.

travel

new york

I went to NYC for the first time ever for my friend chelsea's book launch! the officially unofficial one that we had for her in central park, since during her official book launch I was at phantom of the opera with another one of our friends who was kind enough to treat me to a broadway show

I saw and did a lot and went many places, but lowkey the highlight of my trip (aside from meeting all my long-time twitter writing peeps <3) was my last evening in the city. I had a drink at the stonewall inn and then wandered around the village, taking pictures of buildings because I was in love with the light on the fire escapes. I turned down jane street without even thinking about it.

after about a block, I was like, "wait, which street did I just turn down," and I went back to the nearest intersection to check. but nope, I'd turned down the right street without looking at my map, without paying strict attention to street signs and landmarks, without even thinking about it. I realize actual new yorkers will 100% disagree with this, but in that moment new york became a little bit mine and I became a little bit hers.

it took me months to recover financially from this trip, even with staying in a sketchy hostel and without paying for my own broadway tickets, but I loved it. a lot more than I thought I would, actually, since I grew up in the country and I'm probably three trees in a trench coat rather than an actual human person.

admittedly when I got back and saw how green the trails on our campus were, I was like "how did I even THINK I liked it there?? they kept all their nature in one place and it wasn't half this green!!" but I seriously did fall in love with the city, and yes I obnoxiously point at the screen when watching media set in manhattan like "I've been there!!" I am That Bitch.

georgia

I mean okay fine I go to georgia every year because my parents live here now. but still. I love savannah and coastal georgia in general, and this year I also visited jekyll island for the first time. I didn't stay long at jekyll, and unfortunately savannah was so cold I might as well have been back home (jk, it was sub-zero at home and a balmy 15 in savannah on the coldest night), but I always love going, I got to see my beloved atlantic, and I once again took a thousand pictures of live oaks just because.

other things

non-book media

movies: cyrano (yes it says 2021 but it wasn't at my theater until february of this year, so we're calling it 2022), bros, thor: love & thunder, ticket to paradise, see how they run, and actually encanto played at our second-run theater so I saw that in theaters again <3

tv: ofmd and only murders in the building, both new comfort shows despite one involving piracy and the other involving murder

musicals: groundhog day: the musical and come from away, and also I'm listing cyrano here in addition to above bc I love the soundtrack and have it in my car along with the other two

personal tomfoolery

we're about to go full-on diary here, but whatever bc that's how I used this blog before I got 500 new followers and ofmd ruined all other uses of said blog, so that's how I'm finishing this post

queer feels

I've both thought about and avoided about thinking about my sexuality and gender even more than I already have in the past 10 or 12 years. I like "queer" for this reason: it covers any non-allocishet identity I might ever need. it indicates that I'm part of the community while giving me space and time to figure out the particulars on my own (and reduces the need for me to come out repeatedly to the same people as I decide on new identities, which is good bc I viscerally hate coming out at all and dream of a world where I wouldn't have to). I like more particular labels for helping me figure out my experience, validating my experience, and finding other people whose experiences are similar.

I'm still thinking through they, although I admit when I asked folks to use it in a pronoun testing room I got warm fuzzies. I've avoided thinking through my gender in detail, but I bought a genderqueer sticker and enamel pin to add to my existing pride stickers and pins. it's just that it's like I have to come out to myself.

I did actually come out to my dad as queer this year. which made me feel feelings even though it shouldn't have been a big deal bc my parents are allies. my dad's literally in his law school's gsa, much to the confusion of the younger folks. I came out via email, in the spur of the moment, which is both a very me and a very internet-dad way to come out. and he basically said, "thanks for trusting me with that, but I already vibed it from your writing."

(I'm paraphrasing. my sixty-year-old, deeply uncool white-guy father didn't use the word "vibed.")

I'm quietly queer, for the most part, but every year I get a little louder. this year, with fascism on the rise and so many anti-queer and specifically anti-trans bills brought forth in so many states and me only just out of the closet to my parents (albeit less deeply in the closet in the first place than I thought I was), I talked more about my queerness than usual. I put "queer" in every single author bio for every single thing for which I needed a bio. I stickered my laptop in pride flags. I put up pride flags outside my office and pride pins inside it and joined the dei committee at work. I'm not a fighter. but I got just a little bit louder.

friend feels

I kinda started thinking some time within the last few years, how many friendships have I maybe missed out on because both of us were too insecure to take the first real step and be friends?

which has highkey always been my approach to romance. I'll get my heart broke a thousand times and still go after every new person I fall for. but when it comes to friendship, I'm like do not.

but I've been thinking this lately.

so with an existing maybe-friend, when an opportunity came along to write him a letter for a retreat he went on, I basically just wrote him a letter like "hey I care about you and I'm glad we're friends." and boom, lo and behold, he came back like "oh my goodness thank you so much for that wonderful letter," and things have been much more comfortable since then. which was a nice lil validation of my theory that sometimes people Do Not Dislike Me, In Fact, but are just as insecure in friendship as I am.

I also made a whole new friend with this new girl at work. the rsd has hit me fucking hard this year, which I do not appreciate. but I keep pushing past it and making an effort, and now I have a nice stash of good encounters stored up for when the rsd tries to bamboozle me once more. she's so welcoming and lovely and kind, so I hope things are also settled there even if sometimes I feel like they aren't because that's just how I am.

anyway, that's my year. there was a lot of weird and terrible bullshit going on locally, nationally, globally, and in the background, but there was some good shit in there, too.

here's to more friends, more books, more birds, more plants, more falling-in-love-with-cities, more kindness and good and little warm gestures in 2023.

[spctlights]

(—) ★ spotted!! DYLAN RAIN on the cover of this week’s most recent tabloid! many say that the 33 year old looks like OLIVER JACKSON-COHEN, but i don’t really see it. while the STUNTMAN/STUNT COORDINATOR is known for being PROTECTIVE my inside sources say that they have a tendency to be HARSH i swear, every time i think of them, i hear the song YOU’RE ALL I NEED –– MOTLEY CRUE

BASIC INFORMATION:

name: dylan christopher rain. peter christopher isaac junior.

nicknames: dyl, d.

pronouns: he/him.

gender: cis man.

age: thirty-three.

date of birth: november 28th, ‘89.

place of birth: lismore, australia. ( moved at the age of twenty-four to beverly  hills , united states due to family relocating )

astrological sign: saggitarius.

orientation: straight.

APPEARANCE:

height: six foot three.

build: broad shouldered, strong muscles, but still relatively slender.

hair colour: brown.

eye colour: blue.

wardrobe style: tends to wear clothes that he can move in, lots of sweatshirts, hoodies, and form fitting but not too tight t-shirts in dark colours.

tattoos: none.

piercings: none.

defining features: bright blue eyes and a large scar moving up his left arm.

HEALTH:

physical ailments: none.

mental ailments: PTSD.

alcohol use: drinks socially.

drug use: rarely - if any, weed.

addictions: none.

PERSONALITY:

positive traits: protective, charismatic, honest.

negative traits: quick-tempered, cold, harsh.

ACTIVITIES & SKILLS:

skills: most sports - specifically gymnastics/acrobatics, long-distance running.

weaknesses: anything creative.

languages spoken: english, some arabic.

FAMILY:

father: pete isaac ( deceased, fifty - five )

mother: meredith rain elain isaac nee scottsman ( alive, fifty - one )

sister: florence rain gwyn isaac ( alive, twenty - five ) @delvedinto​

CAREER/LIFE DETAILS (tw: military, abuse, psychosis, ptsd, stabbing, murder) :

peter was born to a devoted, very young and ambitious mother, elain, and a military man father, pete. as a young boy, he spent most of his time with his grandparents, as his father was away on military tours and his mother was still studying to become a defence lawyer. peter had not been planned – though he never felt that way. though both parents worked incredibly hard to provide for him and his younger sister gwyn and they were well-off, they were there for every important moment in his life, or his mum had been anyway. he adored his father though and looked up to him immensely. he was a powerful, strong and enigmatic man, absolutely devoted to his children.

as he grew up, his father retired from the force and now working as a fire fighter, his opinion didn’t change one bit. instead, despite pretending otherwise, he had his life planned out for himself. join the army like his father had done and rise up in rank. peter wouldn’t leave the army, no matter what happened. though he could see the mental toll it had taken on his father, to him, that was honourable. that was what a real man should do. he took up every sport he could and excelled in gymnastics and track.

so when his father’s behaviour became more erratic, peter ignored it. it was par for the course, it was proof of how much good his father had done, the risks he had taken. when he finished high school, he immediately signed up for the army. it was only a few days before he was due to set out for basic training that his father had his first erratic episode that turned violent. he had come running inside from the pool when he found his dad with his hands on his sister’s shoulders, pushing her roughly against a wall. his first thought - what had gwyn done? he immediately positioned himself behind his father and grappled the man, holding him tightly until he calmed down, not before receiving an elbow to the face. it had not been fun to explain to his drill sergeant a few days later.

he spent little time at home after that. he immediately went on his first deployment to iraq. he called home as often as he could, his mother often berading him for choosing to go into the military in the first place, his father equal parts proud and disappointed over the phone, and using most of his time to speak to gwyn. he went on deployment after deployment, rarely staying home for much for than two months in between. he was on his sixth tour, the second one in afghanistan, when he had managed to secure some temporary leave. he initially had wanted to delay his deployment - his father was getting worse and he did not like the idea of leaving them alone with him, but he’d had no choice. he’d also missed gwyn’s sixteenth birthday, but it was only a few weeks out - and he still hoped to surprise her by coming back a bit earlier.

as peter made his way up the drive, he heard yelling - panicked and frightened. he dropped his bags in the front garden and ran up to the house and inside, he found a scene right out of his nightmares. his sister and his mother in a fight with his father. time seemed to slow as he sprinted, seeing the second knife, held by gwyn, stabbed into his father’s chest. there were wood splinters everywhere, and a struggle had clearly already ensued. rage bubbled up his throat like bile and he pulled his father off his sister with an effort. she was freaking out and would not stop holding onto him, but eventually he managed. the blood was spreading, but in his father’s psychosis, he still seemed adamant to cause harm. a dangerous calm came over him and he took what he had learned in training and did the opposite. peter locked eyes with the man who’d given him his name, grit his teeth in anger, and he pulled both knives out of the wounds. the bloodflow to increased immediately, and he let his father drop the last few inches to the floor before reaching over and pulling his sister into his arms, soothing her but never pulling his dry eyes from his father.

they moved to beverly hills as soon as the case had been dropped. the case had brought some unwanted attention onto him, but he was honourably discharged, his final rank a major. they changed their names – peter christopher isaac became dylan christopher rain. he was at a loss of what to do, so he found work as an extra and got his personal training license. he stumbled his way into stunt work and found that his gymnastics experience along with his army experience helped. he knew how real fights looked, but he also knew how to make them safe. the last few years, he’s been working on various tv-shows and films for their stunt work, now slowly taking on more stunt coordinator and choreographer work now he’s getting a little older.

[reanimated-alice]

I posted 91 times in 2022

That's 91 more posts than 2021!

3 posts created (3%)

88 posts reblogged (97%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@niceboyeds

@boss

@billysbabyy

@eddieandbird

I tagged 80 of my posts in 2022

Only 12% of my posts had no tags

#alice's reblogs - 53 posts

#why isn't he real - 13 posts

#eddie munson - 9 posts

#i need him like i need air - 7 posts

#so cute - 5 posts

#alice speaks - 4 posts

#billy hargrove - 4 posts

#steve harrington - 4 posts

#stranger things - 4 posts

#niceboyeds - 3 posts

Longest Tag: 50 characters

#i need a steve x billy x reader x eddie now please

My Top Posts in 2022:

#3

im bored. maybe i should finish my steve fic.

@eddiemunsons-girl tell me to finish it.

nicely.

2 notes - Posted November 12, 2022

#2

Hi there! My name is Alice, and I’m 20 years old. I love Joseph Quinn and all things creepy. Ghost, zombies, skeletons, you name it. I do roleplay, if that’s what you’re into, and I do write. I just have trouble with finishing a story. Anyway, feel free to reach out, even just to chat!

4 notes - Posted November 7, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

comforts of home | s. h.

A/N: this is the first work i've ever posted on here, so maybe be kind?

Warnings: none? just fluff? anyway, enjoy!

Steve Harrington x gender neutral!reader

♚

Steve had never really felt like he had a home before. Sure, he lived in a house, but there was a difference. His parents were never home enough to make it feel like the house was lived in. A home is meant to be a safe haven and comfort zone, right? Steve's home felt more like a trophy case, meant to be seen and not touched. And he was a trophy inside.

A small noise from you broke him out of the internal monologue he was going through. He looked down at you and smiled, running his fingers through your hair. You were everything to him. Wherever you were, Steve was home. You took away all the stress life had given him.

As you shifted in his lap, Steve couldn't help but remember the times he'd tried to protect you and keep you free of the knowledge of what was happening right under your feet. The Upside Down, the demogorgans, the Russians, all of it. But eventually, (or more specifically, when the disaster at Starcourt happened and Steve had climbed through your window afterward) the truth had to come out.

"Steve Harrington," you'd said as you'd held a wet rag to his face. "If you don't tell me what's actually going on, how you're actually getting hurt, I swear to God, you'll find my window locked from now on."

Despite the pain he'd been in, he'd smiled. God, you were stubborn. And brave. And also completely likely to get what you wanted. So, sighing, he'd told you.

You hadn't turned away from him, or cried, or denied everything he was saying. You'd paled a bit as the words sank in, but other than that, you hadn't said anything, just nodded and listened as you'd cleaned his cuts and scrapes.

"Steve?"

The quiet sound of his name broke him out of his reverie. He looked at his lap to see you rubbing your eyes, obviously just waking up from your nap.

"Hey, sleepy head," he crooned affectionately, running a hand though your hair. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah," you replied and yawned. God, you were adorable. "Just missed you."

Steve's heart swelled and he couldn't help but tease you. "I've been here this whole time, goof." He poked your stomach and you hunched over, giggling.

You moved so you were sitting in his lap, your arms around his waist, and buried your face in his neck. He could feel your warm breath against his skin and the flutter of your eyelashes against his pulse as you fell victim to Morpheus once more.

"Yeah but..." you said quietly. "You were too far 'way."

Steve pulled the blanket from the back of the couch and laid it over the both of you.

"Well, I've got you now. And I always will." Steve kissed the side of your face. "I'll never be too far from you. I love you."

"Love you too," you replied in the sweetest, sleepiest voice he'd ever heard.

Steve thought he couldn't possibly love you anymore than he'd loved you then. In your arms, Steve was home.

In your arms, he was safe.

"You're my home," he whispered into your hair as you finally fell back asleep.

116 notes - Posted November 21, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[author-chan06]

Keigo Takami & Me

Keigo Takami:

General Personal Info:

Name: Keigo Takami

Age: 23

Pronouns: He/Him

Gender: Cis Man

Orientation: Biromantic, Bisexual

From: Boku No Hero Academia

Canon Compliant Personality? Mostly/Deviates

Relationship With Me: Mate/Flock/Boyfriend

Backstory Of Us:

(This is an S/I) I was a pretty average child compared to many others in this world. I wanted to be a hero, like pretty much every child. I wasn’t quirkless, but my quirk wasn’t super powerful or danger. Mostly I blended into the background. No one thought I couldn’t become a hero; no one thought I could become a hero. My family wasn’t a big name family with a big name hero or villain. And I wasn’t being abused horribly by any hero or villain. But being in the background like I was wasn’t easy. My parents were either gone or not paying that much attention to me, despite the love they held for me and the love I held for them, and I didn’t really have any friends to talk to. All of this meant that when I heard of the Hero Killer I wasn’t immediately for or against his message, and I had no one to steer me one way or the other. It meant I dug into researching him and his ideas and seeing whether he had a point or not. Eventually, I found myself agreeing with him and his ideas. Hero society was broken, and hero’s were doing it for the wrong reasons. Not only were they doing it for the wrong reasons, but these wrong reasons were causing harm, and that is not something that should happen.

I would have joined the League— I had always had the drive to do good even if it had been affected by an anger at the world during some years, I had always been angry about injustice and I had always tried to fix them on the small scale. I had always wanted to become part of something bigger, to help change on a larger scale— but I still had my parents, and they were the only ones that I actually cared about, and so I wouldn’t just leave them for the League.

But then, they died. Ironically, they died as collateral in a battle between the League and some hero’s who seemed as if they were going against orders. Based on what I know and what I knew back then, it was much easier to get angry at the hero’s who had picked the fight while the League was seeming to have a normal day out, trying to get more food for their base. With my parents gone, and with the League members present struggling because of the unexpected attack— later on I would learn these members were low level new recruits— I decided that this would be the time for me to act. I was crying and horrified, but I stepped in, using my quirk to allow them time to run away. And though they were injured they got away, giving me appreciate nods and silent thanks.

After that, though I wanted to join the League I had no idea how to go about doing so. I knew they recruited people often, and I also knew that they still were looking for people. But I had no idea how to find them, or if my quirk and willingness to help them would allow me into the League without being burnt to a crisp.

Luckily, I didn’t have to find them, as one day, when I was returning home, I found my door unlocked and, upon entering my home, Dabi was there. He told me that their newest recruits told the League about a civilian who had broken quirk laws to help them get away. He said that he wasn’t impressed by that— Not sure if I believe him or not but well— but that the rest of the League wanted to offer me a spot. Just on principle really. Since I already broke the law for them, they might as well just ask, he said. And when I excitedly told him that yes, I would join, he seemed surprised. But he didn’t take the offer back, and he smirked as black goo coated the inside of my throat, and even though I’d heard of the stuff I couldn’t stop the panic that covered me and I heard him laugh and then everything in front of me disappeared.

After that my time with the League was the best time of my life, even though everyone had issues. I learned there that I also had issues, ones I hadn’t even realized because I’d been so focused on the way that others no doubt had it worse than me. And that I actually have childhood trauma that I needed to talk through— which got me much closer to Toga and Dabi— and that the death of my parents had hurt me a lot, because I had to witness it especially.

I got quite close to the members, especially Himiko, Dabi, and Tomura, all of which I eventually started dating— yes, they were all dating as well— and things seemed to be going well. Maybe that should have been a warning.

Dabi was supposed to be going on a random recruitment walk, meaning he was just “making himself available” for anyone who could find him, and who he would then most likely just burn. But when he came back he had surprising news. The Pro Hero Hawks had approached him. Of course, we were all suspicious, but Tomura wanted to see what the hero wanted, and even if he was a spy— which he most likely was— we could still use him for intel and stuff. I was especially hesitant though. I had built a good thing here and the idea of Hawks coming in with unknown motives and destroying it made me more worried than I’d ever felt before. I’m sure the others felt the same, but only Himiko talked to me about these feelings.

Every time Dabi went out to meet with Hawks, we all waited on the couch together for him to return. We believed in his abilities of course, but Hawks was number two for a reason, and he could seriously injure Dabi. We had to be there when he came back, so if need be we would be there to heal him back, and if not then we needed to be there for him to talk to us about the meeting. We needed to know he was ok.

Dabi didn’t seem to trust Hawks at all, though he did find him amusing. Apparently the hero wasn’t what he had expected, and apparently the hero was also a major flirt. But eventually Tomura decided that it was time to meet the hero, mainly because he thought that if we left him dangling for much longer he’d give up, and we all waited in silence for Dabi to return this time, weapons and quirks at the ready.

That was the first time we met Hawks, and Dabi was right… he was not what I expected. He quickly integrated himself into the League, joking around with Jin and gaming with Tomura, but there was always something… tense about him. I knew I wasn’t the only one that noticed, as the others would throw glances his way and at each other and me, seeking confirmation and to share their own confusion. Spy or not, we weren’t just going to up and kill him if he didn’t try anything yet, so none of us were quite sure why he was so tense. And then I started noticing him outside of his meetings with us. He was still tense. It was like he never really relaxed, not even at his own agency.

It was concerning, but none of us knew what to do. The one time I tried to broach the subject he shut it down quickly, laughing and joking it away with a frustrating amount of skill.

This would have continued, and he no doubt would have eventually snapped under this pressure and betrayed up, if the hero council hadn’t done what it had did. And what it did was punish Hawks for not getting information fast enough, and they did so by cutting off a specific part of some of his feathers that would just hurt without stopping him from being able to fly. He flew as fast as he could to our base and collapsed, trembling in pain, onto our couch. This is when he finally started to open up about the commission and what they did to him and how they have owned him for years.

Even with that though, I assumed he would still betray us, but I gave him some of my trust, and we started actually talking. We didn’t seem to have a whole lot on common at first, but we found out that we both pretended to be people that we weren’t, and that our relationship with hero society was… confusing at best. He was curious about my following of Stain and the League’s ideas of reform that we’d just started crafting, and I wanted to know more about the real him. It led to a lot of interesting talks.

I’m not really sure when it happened, but he basically just became integrated into our relationship, coming on dates with us and just hanging out when we all did. It was strange, but eventually he admitted to his feelings, and told us that now we felt like his flock. And he called us his mates. Which excited Himiko to no end.

What really clinched this in the end is when he actually fought against the hero’s when they came to raid us, coming to our aid without hesitation and allowing all of us to get away.

Relationship Info:

Anniversary: July 14th

Ship Name: #arihawks