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wishcamper · 5 months ago

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Nessian Week Day 1 - Banter

For our first day of @nessianweek here's a little drabble of our favorite couple doing what they do best.

They flirt. They fight. They fuck. You know the drill.

You can read it here or on ao3!

Win Lose or Draw

Cassian and Nesta take a vacation to Day, where a lot more ends up in their mouths than they bargained for.

CW: consensual sexual content

“I fucking dare you.”

“You think I won’t?”

The scorpion dangled from Nesta’s fingers by a claw, its gleaming body dusted with spices so potent they made Cassian’s eyes water from across the picnic table.

“I think you’re stalling. Take a bite, Lady Death.”

“You go first, Lord of Bloodshed, if you’re so eager,” she snapped, stabbing a finger at the jar of strange, grayish clumps suspended in brine in front of him. Knowing Nesta, they were probably some poor creature’s testicles.

“I would, but it’s the courteous thing to let the lady go first, sweetheart.”

The bazaar in Day was bustling with activity around them, having found a corner amongst the brightly-colored tents to tuck into with their haul, escaping the burning eye of the sun. They’d each chosen a few things for the other to try, and the deep-fried scorpion was Cassian’s final challenge to Nesta. She’d already housed an inky-veined sheep's milk cheese and a fruit that smelled of rotting meat with nothing but a brief shudder and a prim smack of her lips.

“Suddenly he cares about courtesy. Do I eat the stinger too?”

“If you want to do it right.”

Not long after they’d officially gotten together, Cassian found out that he could get his mate to eat almost anything with a little goading. It all started with a mountain fig soaked in Illyrian moonshine he’d tried to warn her off of at the equinox festival. He’d been captivated by the way she popped it in her mouth in one go, face screwing up against the burn that felled even the fiercest warriors, fighting with every grind of her teeth against the urge to spit it out.

When she finally swallowed, she looked just as triumphant as she did when she swallowed something else, and Cassian had been unable to help himself ever since.

It was simple, really, when he thought about it. Nesta liked to win. He liked to watch her win. And so it became a little game between them.

He heard her noise of displeasure over the chatter of other shoppers and Nesta scrunched her nose, surveying the scorpion from all angles. “And what would you know about doing it right?”

“Seemed pretty clear to you last night when you were begging me to -”

“Cassian Archeron, I swear -”

He winked, crossing his arms over his chest in a way he knew emphasized the muscles in his shoulders, the same ones she’d clung to the night before when she’d most definitely been begging.

“I’m just trying to jog your memory, Nes, don’t get defensive.” He patted her hand in as dickish a way as he could, knowing it would make her see red. “It’s okay if you’re worried about gagging and making a fool of yourself.”

They’d come to Day on vacation a dozen times, and he never got tired of the way she lit up when they traveled, how she loved the newness, the adventure. It made him want to relinquish all his duties and spend forever taking her to every far-flung corner of the world, his beautiful wife, who might be currently plotting his murder.

Nesta smiled at him now, the garnets he’d bought her years ago in Rask glinting at her ears. But instead of the rush of victory Cassian felt panic slide down his spine. He’d seen that smile countless times across the training ring, her deadly calm before the strike.

“You know I don’t gag,” she purred, and his brain went fuzzy, thoughts fizzling out. Which she probably knew would happen, just like she knew how it loosened his tongue when she talked like this. He leaned in close so the snake-eyed fae at the table beside them couldn’t overhear.

“You do if I want you to.”

“Is that an order, General?” Silver rolled across her eyes, that deadly fire. “I don’t take kindly to those.”

“Liar.”

He was digging his own grave but he didn’t care, the zing of chemistry bouncing between them. Nesta’s foot slid up his leg beneath the table, hooking around the back of his calf.

“Careful, my love,” she said. “Don’t start something you can’t finish.”

On the bench opposite him, she was the portrait of a lady, perfectly composed in her pale yellow gown that flowed over her freckled shoulders like liquid sunlight. But when he felt the toe of her shoe dig into his leg, he knew she was positioning herself to dislocate his knee.

Mother, he loved her. And he’d never been good at following directions, anyway.

“Take a bite.”

“No.”

“Take a bite, Nesta.”

Her smoky eyes flashed as she surveyed the scorpion once more, the wraith-pepper flakes and batter encrusting its sharp pincers. “You’re sure this won’t poison me.”

“I’m hurt, sweetheart. You really think I’d endanger you?”

“Depends how far up Rhysand’s ass you are.”

“Okay, I earned that one,” he conceded, grinning. The shame of his early failures still lingered, but they’d come so far. Enough that she felt comfortable joking about it now, that Rhys would’ve tumbled into profuse apologies had he overheard. “You survived the Blood Rite, I think you can handle a little venom.”

“Fine.”

Defiant, Nesta lowered it into her mouth in one go and crunched down, eyes watering at the potency. Her cheeks turned red at once, sweat beading at her brow, and she braced her hands on the edge of the table to suppress the cough he knew wanted to burst forth. Cassian watched her fight through the heat, her steel composure cracking when she gave in and fanned at her face, her open mouth, reaching to grip his hand for support when she swallowed at last.

It was his favorite part, he supposed, when she clung to him to make it through. The same way her eyes searched for him habitually when she won a spar during training, when she flung her arm across their bed in the night to feel his form in the darkness. That despite being able to handle all of it on her own, Nesta wanted him along with her.

“Goodness,” she panted once she’d released his hand, brushing stray spice from her fingers. He watched the flush creep across her chest, entranced. “That wasn’t so bad, actually. I may go back for another. Though I doubt you’ll be saying the same.”

Her smile was wicked then, and Cassian couldn’t help but laugh when she looked pointedly at the jar still in front of him, at his fate in her hands.

“So whose balls am I about to gag on?”

“The giant Sarnesian bat.” She smirked, silver rolling across her eyes once more. “And after that, mine.”

—-

They shared a sumptuous dinner under the fading sun, having somehow not lost their appetites after the horrors they’d inflicted upon each other, though the thick afternoon nap had likely helped. Nesta’s gaze grew heavier the longer it was locked on him across the table, her wintery eyes guarded, mouth drawn in the phantom of a smile.

“You’re quiet this evening, sweetheart,” he observed as he polished off a staggeringly good saffron-infused cake. The same yellow stained his wife’s tongue where it darted out to wet her lips.

“Just enjoying the view.”

“Is that so?”

Nesta hummed in answer, and Cassian felt his blood heat, rushing south as she looked back out at the vista. The room Helion always insisted they take had a wide open-air balcony with a view of Zlora’s rolling dunes, the horizon dotted with bonfires for the upcoming summer solstice. Pink-tipped roses climbed the balustrade, their scent rich in the night air, and music drifted on the breeze full of swirling flutes and deep drums. The High Lord of Day seemed to understand that ‘vacation’ for them meant ‘fucking where our family can’t interrupt us’, and always took their needs to heart.

A smile bloomed on his mate’s beautiful face, and Cassian couldn’t tear his eyes away from her as she breathed in deeply, limbs relaxed where she lounged in her chair. Nesta liked when he watched her, when she knew he was watching. A vision of their last trip to the capitol city rose in his mind, when she’d left their table to dance with another male, how she’d kept her eyes on him the whole time. How fucking crazy it drove him, how he’d worshiped her for hours after.

Nesta in the present stood slowly and moved to loom over him, caging him in with her arms. Cassian leaned back and smirked, dragging his gaze up and down her body appreciatively, possessively. She preened under his attention despite trying not to, her shoulders rolling back and down, and the spark set the game in motion again.

His voice was rough to his own ears when he spoke, low and arrogant. “Take off your clothes.”

Anger sparked across Nesta’s expression at the same time the scent of her arousal drifted over him. She looked defiant as one hand raised to the pin holding her gown at her shoulder, fingers toying with the clasp.

“That sounded an awful lot like an order again, General. You forget death answers to no one.”

“No one but you. Off.”

A shiver of pleasure ran through her and she obeyed, blue gossamer cascading to the floor. When he saw there was nothing underneath, Cassian was tempted to tug her to her knees by the long braid dangling down her back, to make her prove she never gagged. But he knew her well enough to see the ploy for what it was, how she hoped to compromise his self-control with her devastating beauty on full display.

It worked. Cassian ran reverent hands up her bare thighs, tracing the faint lines where she’d filled out over the years, struck dumb from wanting to taste them.

Mother save him.

“What’s the matter? Lost all your courage, sweetheart?” Nesta goaded. She ran her long, tantalizing fingers over the exposed lines of his chest, nails scratching in the hair at the center. Then her touch rounded the top of his shoulder, stretching toward where his wings met his back.

“What do you think you’re doing, witch?”

Not wanting to be bested yet, Cassian snatched her arm and pulled her down onto him, intent on showing her just how brave he could be.

He couldn’t fucking get enough of her, wanted to drown in her as they tangled with her in his lap, spread out on the table, bent over the balcony railing. She fought his teasing the whole way, trying to stave off her orgasm, as if she knew he wanted to send her tumbling before him and refused to lose.

What she didn’t know was that was exactly his aim. For she was his favorite version when riled up, when I Will Slay My Enemies blended with I’m About To Rearrange Your World, Cassian and he was totally at her mercy no matter who was on top.

She was on her back in the pile of plush cushions now, muscles strained from staving off the high her body craved, nails clawing weakly at his arms. Up and down he wound her, watching as the silver misted at her fingertips, her magic unspooling as her sanity did. Nesta filled the room with glimmers of it, wisps of pleasure flung out, ghosting over his skin and she was everything, every thought in his brain, every drop of his blood.

Her eyelids fluttered pitifully when he gave a hard thrust and Cassian smirked down at her, at the deep flush creeping across her chest that told him she was close.

“Not so mouthy now, huh? Such a good girl when you’re getting what you want.”

“You insuf..ferable.. bat..”

“Go on, Nes, give in. You know you want to.”

“N-never,” Nesta stuttered, but she was speechless after that all the same, clinging tight as he moved deep within her. Something in her seemed to turn then, and he felt the hard squeeze of her thighs around him, eyes pleading when he pulled back. He slowed his pace and rubbed gentle circles into her hips, a question.

“Cassian,” she pleaded in answer, and he heard the edge in her voice, that long-lived wound, the fear of losing control. He leaned forward until their noses bumped, hair spilling over his shoulders to form a protective curtain around her face.

“I know, sweetheart, it’s okay. I’m here. I’ve got you.”

She relaxed beneath him at the same time her finger grazed his wing that was finally within her reach, rearranging his world.

He tipped over just a breath before her, and it felt like the exact moment his wings first caught the wind - suspension, a delicious weightlessness in the gap between flight and freefall. The sound of her moans washed over him a second later, her grip on his hair tight when he buried his face in her neck, tethering her to the earth.

And Cassian knew then, as he knew every time, that all wanted in this life was to take her here. To lift her up and up and up as many times as he could, to help her float, unburdened, even if it meant he was doomed to place second for the rest of his life.

“I won,” she panted once they floated down, and he laughed into the damp skin of her throat, felt her smile against his temple before she placed a kiss there. “Again.”

Nesta fell asleep almost immediately, as was her way, and Cassian watched how the moonlight spilled over her body until drowsiness dragged him under, too, thinking he’d never been happier to lose.

#nessianweek2024 #nessian #nesta x cassian #fanfic #day one: banter

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danikamariewrites · 10 months ago

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Poly ACOTAR Week Masterlist

Day 1: Together For The First Time

Feysand x Reader

With plans to announce your new mating bond at dinner Cassian being nosy may just ruin it.

Day 2: Watch Your Step

Feysand x Reader

Nyx is going through a phase where he doesn’t want to clean up his toys. Tripping on one at the top of the stairs and causing a nasty fall gives you a week of your mates worrying and doting on you.

Day 3: Nexus Being

Cazriel x Reader

You’ve kept your witchy ways a secret from your mates, and for good reason. What will they say when Rhys has asked you to you use your powers to help Prythian?

Day 4: Relax and Unwind

Nessian x Reader

You and your mates are off on your first vacation together to the Summer Court. Thanks to Tarquin’s generosity Cassian’s ban has finally been lifted. Anxiety takes over your good time because you are so focused on everyone else your mates step in and calm you down.

Day 5: Just This Once…Right?

Rhyssian x Reader

On your trip to the Day Court Helion puts you, Rhys and Cassian in the guest wing. There’s only one bedroom that he swears has two beds. Liar. One bed leads to feelings being confessed and some other things.

Day 6: The Happiest Day

Bat Boys x Reader

It’s your birthday and you hate your birthday. The boys are hell bent on making your 400th your best birthday yet and nothing is stopping them.

Day 7: Ours to Keep

Neris x Reader

This one is a secret besties. Plot revealed day of :)

#acotar #acotar fanfiction #acotar reader fic #acotar reader imagine #acotar imagine #poly+acotarweek2024

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acourtofladydeath · 5 months ago

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Eris Week 2024 Masterlist

D1~Bonds/Bargains: "A Wound So Deep"

🔪 An injured Eris finds his way to the place he needs most, but are some wounds too deep? (Azris)

D2~Childhood/Legacy: "Dreams Do Come True"

👶🏽 Chapter 4 of "And So Our Life Begins": 50 years after their bond snapped and 5 years after they started planning, Azriel and Eris expand their family with the help of Miri. (Azris)

D3~Healing/Betrayal: "And So We Danced"

💃🏽 Nesta and Eris find more than a superb dance partner in each other, and their mates, Cassian and Azriel, go on a wild goose chase to figure out why they’ve been secretly spending nights together. (Azris/Nessian)

D4~Traditions/Hounds: "A Walk In The Park"

🐶 Cassian makes a mistake and Eris gives him a choice on how he’d like to make it up to him - he almost instantly regrets his decision. (Casris)

D5~War/Adventure: "The Song of Azris"

🏛 An Ancient Greek Azris/Patrochilles AU using inspiration from The Iliad and The Song of Achilles, featuring Azriel as Patroclus and Eris as Achilles. Series launch including the Catalogue of Characters and Ode to the Muses.

D6~AU/Retellings: "TSOA Book 1: The Promise"

🏛 The epic begins: we learn of Azriel's past and the fateful day in Sparta that would once again bring these men together again in Troy. (Azris)

D7~Free Day: "The Clause"

🔥 Part 3 of the "To Become A Vanserra" Series: Azriel, Eris, Lucien, and Elain haven't been able to stop thinking about their initiations. What they experienced, and what they missed out on. Deep within the rules of the Vanserra initiation, there may just be a way to experience it all... (Erlain/Elucien/Azris/Luzriel)

I can't wait to share all of these works with you during @erisweekofficial!

Which piece are you most excited for? Let me know in the comments and tags!

Let me know if you want on or off the taglist! @pippsmcgee, @born-to-riot, @chunkypossum, @bubybubsters, @queercontrarian, @yanny-77, @fieldofdaisiies, @iftheshoef1tz, @secret-third-thing, @jules-writes-stories, @the-darkestminds

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acourtofbooksandshadows · 1 year ago

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Not So Routine - Chapter 1

Summary: Your life gets turned upside down when two breathtaking mates step into your boutique on what seemed to be a routine day.

Pairing: Nessian x Afab!Reader

Warnings: Talks about lingerie, swearing, saving life's, rita's, sexual innuendos..... I think that's it.

Word count:1656

Bookshelf Series Bookshelf

When you had woken up you were expecting to go about your day like usual. Wake up, get ready for work, go to your boutique, go home, eat dinner, read a novel and go to bed. That was your usual routine unless you went to dinner or to Rita’s with your friends. However the mother had something else in mind for your day instead.

The morning started out as it usually did. You woke up, got dressed, ate breakfast and went into work. The boutique had a steady stream of customers until lunch time. Your best friend who co-owned and ran the boutique with you slipped out for lunch with her husband leaving you alone. You went through the store once making sure there was nothing that needed stocked or fixed before sitting at the counter with a book.

“If you don’t shut the fuck up I’m going to send you back home.” Was the first thing you heard as the door to the boutique opened. You set your book down keeping your finger tucked in between the pages and observed the couple that walked in. You could smell the mating bond coming from them as soon as the door had opened. You could almost feel it vibrating the air around you from how strong it was.

“Come on Nes, it was just a joke. Plus do you really wanna walk all the way up the stairs to get back?” The absolutely breathtaking High Fae female rolled her eyes at the equally breathtaking Illyarian male walking behind her.

The male was dressed in a pair of loose black trousers and a loose black tunic with his hair tied in a bun. Even with the casual clothes you could sense the pure power and authority he possessed. The female had on a casual black dress that she made look ready for a ball simply because she wore it. Her hair was in a simple braid as well but even that looked good enough for a formal affair.

“I think Azriel is down here somewhere, I’ll just go find him and ask him for a ride.” A low growl came from the male causing the female to send him a deliciously sweet smirk with a pointed look that had him shutting up. You took that time to grab your bookmark slipping it into place before setting the book down on the counter.

“Welcome to Beauty Within, is there anything I can help you with?” At the sound of your voice they were both turning around to look at you. You recognized both of them now that you could see them up close. They were General of the Night Court and sister of the High Lady of the Night Court. A tight knot formed in your stomach under the gaze of two of the most powerful beings you’ve ever met.

“I’m looking to have a custom lingerie set made.” Your boutique was one of the few that specialized in lingerie and especially custom pieces so the inquiry didn’t take you by surprise. Excitement bubbled up inside you at the prospect of a custom piece. You loved bringing others' visions to life.

“When would you need the set done?” You grabbed an order sheet and something to write with and prepared to jot down the notes you’d need.

“One weeks time would be preferred.” You nodded your head, writing down the date. That would be easy to do as custom sets normally only took a day shy of a week.

“Do you already know the style that you’re wanting?” She nodded her head and held her hand out to the lord of bloodshed. He reached into a pocket on his pants and handed her a paper. She passed it to you with a look of pride on her face.

“Did you sketch these yourself?” The detailing on the paper was astonishing. You could see the design that she was wanting down to the last stitch come together in your head as your eyes scanned the paper quickly.

“I did, yes.” It was something she started to do when she was younger. Sketching gowns and jewelry she hoped to one day wear and own. It had been years since she’d sketched anything though. But she was wanting a new set of undergarments since her mate had torn the majority of hers to shreds.

“These are actually some of the best sketches I’ve ever seen. If you’re ever looking for a job I’d love to employ you.” You knew your best friend wouldn’t mind you extending an offer of employment to the Female standing in front of you once she saw the sketches that she was capable of. She seemed to ponder the invitation for a couple of seconds while the tall male beside her eyed her curiously.

“I think I’d like that.” The Illyarian gave her a bewildered look, his mouth hung open and eyes wide. Of all the things he’d seen his mate do or say that was somehow the most surprising.

“Nesta you are in no need of a job. Between my money and Rhysand you have no need for any.” He was right in that aspect. Rhysand had been very generous with his money since her life saving act months ago.

“I get bored sometimes, Cassian.” she said as she simply shrugged her shoulders and dismissed him. She wouldn’t tell him but she felt like it would give her a sense of normalcy. Not that she’d ever had a job before but she felt like it would make her feel more human to have one.

“That’s fantastic, we can talk more about it when you come to pick up this set.” You couldn't help the smile that graced your face at the confirmation that she would be joining your business. You weren’t in need of help but you had a feeling she’d be a great addition.

“My measurements are on the paper with the sketches. I am going to go and look around the store for a few items. You can talk to Cassian about payment.” She didn’t say or do anything else before walking away from the counter. Cassian gave you a beaming smile and your belly flipped a little. You kept a look of indifference on your face however not wanting the mated pair to get suspicious that you were attracted to them both.

You finished filling out the form before handing Cassian the paper for him to sign and pay. Once he handed it back to you, you attached the sketch’s and filed it accordingly. He took the time to start wondering about the racks of Male and Female satin, lace, silk and velvet delicates. Since Nesta was also looking around the store you took the time to open up your book and dive back into it. The scene was turning heated and you were intently focused on it when a voice piped up in front causing you to slam the book shut.

“You seem pretty interested in that book. What’s it about?” Your face heated at her words and you went to speak but coughed instead. Cassian had come up to the counter at the commotion. You glanced between the two before clearing your throat and answering her question.

“It’s a romance novel.” Her eyes got a mischievous glint in them as she read the cover. She placed one of her hands against the counter and leaned towards you ever so slightly.

“I’ver read quite a few books from that author. They are actually one of my favorites.” You gulped as her eyes pinned you to your chair. In your line of work you rarely got flustered: but there was something about the way they handled themselves that had every ounce of practiced self control you had flying out the window.

“Oh that's gotta mean that the book has some fun scenes in it then.” Cassian's eyebrows did a ridiculous suggestive wiggle as the words left his mouth. If your face wasn’t heated before it definitely was now. You glanced at the front of the book before glancing back up and meeting Nesta’s eyes.

“So what’s it about?” Her tone was even as she spoke. She was confident and wasn’t going to have you shying away from her question no matter how flustered you became.

“It’s about a throuple. A male and two females. It captures the ups and downs of their relationship and how they handle being together. There are in fact some fun scenes within the story.” Your eyes glanced at Cassian at the end of your sentence, confirming what he had assumed earlier.

As your eyes met his hazel ones, your breath was knocked out of you. You dug your fingernails into your palms and unconsciously started to chew on the inside of your cheek. Your eyes flickered towards Nesta as she hummed from beside Cassian and your skin felt like it was lit on fire. You swayed slightly in your chair and blinked slowly trying to clear your blurred vision. Your body was swarming with foreign feelings.

“Are you feeling alright?” Concern was placed within Cassian’s words. The only emotion shown from Nesta was a singular twitch of her well groomed eyebrows. You gave them both a swift nod and stood up quickly. Which may have been a mistake as you swayed again. But you steadied yourself by gripping the counter in front of you.

“Did you find anything you’d like to purchase today?” Nesta’s face remained blank but her eyes held questions that she was going to leave unasked. She and Cassian placed their items on the counter and you quickly rang them out. As they exited through the front door your chest began to ache. You watched as the gold threads connecting you to the two that were just standing in front of you flickered and vibrated. The word mates was ringing through your head like a bell.

A/N:Like I said in my sneak peek I'm not sure if there will be more parts to this. If anyone does want another part please let me know! As always likes,comments, reblogs are all very much appreciated.

Tags(open): @wolfsbane44 @moonlwghts @maddietheshoe @hyemishii @fanboyluvr @kmc1989 @acourtofinkandpapyrus @luvmoo

#nessian imagine #nessian x reader #nessian #nesta x cassian #nesta x reader #cassian x reader #nesta x reader x cassian #cassian x reader x nesta #acotar imagine #a court of thorns and roses #a court of mist and fury #a court of frost and starlight #a court of wings and ruin #a court of silver flames

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jsmelodies · 1 month ago

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2024 Fic Writer End of Year Roundup

Thank you for the tags, @popjunkie42 @littedidyouknow @crazy-ache @zencetera

Answer and then tag three or more creators to keep the game going!

(If you're in my answers consider yourself tagged if you'd like to play!!)

1. How many words did you publish on AO3 in 2024?

A nice 86k (I write slowly, y'all)

2. How many fics did you complete this year?

I finished my one multi chapter for Nessian week as well as a bunch of one shots!

3. How many in progress or ongoing fics did you start this year?

...too many. Four, I believe? And one that I may go back to👀

4. What was your favorite thing you wrote?

Definitely The Knight and His Witch! It was fun to escape canon for a bit, and it gave me some worldbuilding practice.

5. What piece was your most experimental or different from your usual style?

Oh that would have to be I'd Go Back to the Winter for @laxibbeb, for a lot of different reasons. I was playing around with a different ship (Elucien!!), and it's probably the wildest idea I've ever come up with.

6. Did any fics surprise you - either while writing or their reception?

The reception for Till the Dawn Breaks genuinely surprised me so much. Mostly because I wrote that within the span of 3-4 days, and wasn't sure if it was that good when I posted it.

And I try my best not to focus on stats, but that fic got so much engagement!

7. Do you have a fic you wrote and loved that went under the radar? (This is your sign to reblog/repost it!)

Yes, if you like Elucien, check out I'd Go Back to the Winter!

8. Who is an artist that inspired you?

So many! @laxibbeb @dustjacketdraws @climbthemountain2020 , and some of @podemechamardek's commissions!

9. Who is an author that inspired you?

@littedidyouknow - thank you for being you (and bullying me into finishing stuff)

Also I fear the 530k words you've written this year (can I steal some please)

10. Who is a new author you discovered?

I love all of you💕 @moodymelanist @c-e-d-dreamer @kale-theteaqueen @xxvalkyriesxx @wishcamper @unhealthyfanobsession @whyisaravenlike-awritingdesk @dustjacketmusings @underneath-the-sidras

Also @popjunkie42 @beesays @crazy-ache @foundress0fnothing and so many more!

(Technically some of these were late 2023 but I’m counting them)

11. Did you do any collaborations? How did it start?

Not yet!

12. What accomplishments are you proudest of?

Finishing my first multi chapter fic! And also getting involved with the fandom more.

13. What did you learn about writing or creating this year?

I've been working a lot on my descriptions and story telling, and it's been so rewarding getting specific comments about that.

And something I'm still learning - that the story I want to write might not always be the story someone else wants to read, and that's ok.

14. Any advice you’d like to share with new or aspiring writers?

To love your writing, in whatever stage it's at. It's so easy to hate our own work, especially when we first start out.

Sometimes I'll go back and read my old chapters. Is it a little choppy? Do I see now that there was room for it to improve? Yes, of course. And I'm sure I'll think the same a year from now. But our writing all starts somewhere, and my writing wouldn't be where it is now if I didn't keep going.

And that makes those earlier chapters a lot easier to love.

Also, remember this is supposed to be fun!

15. What are your creative goals for 2025?

Nothing specific really, I just want to keep working on the fics I already have going and start the new ones I've been planning for a while.

I also have some original work that's been sitting on the back burner for a while, and I'd love to return to it.

Not tagging anyone else but feel free to join!

#tag game

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moodymelanist · 5 months ago

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dumb love (i love being stupid)

happy day 2 of @nessianweek everyone! I've had so much fun writing wlw!nessian that i just HAD to flip it around and do mlm!nessian too. hope you all enjoy <3 title from casual by chappell roan!

Summary: Five times Cassian didn’t realize he had a boyfriend, plus one time he finally got it.

Word Count: 8.4k

Warnings: Smut at the end!

Read on AO3 here!

✵✵✵✵✵✵ Cassian

Cassian knew he’d put off doing his basic science requirement until the last minute, but it didn’t quite hit him just how long he’d put it off until he was standing in a biology lab surrounded by baby-faced freshmen.

“Welcome to bio lab,” their TA greeted them at the top of the hour, taking the time to send everyone reassuring smiles. “Today we’re going to go over the syllabus, some really important safety rules, and, most importantly, how to succeed in this class. But first: assigned seating!”

Most of the assorted freshmen looked relieved at not having to figure out where to sit, but Cassian held back a groan. He was usually pretty good about finding partners or groups who were willing to do a little more of the work around his hectic club soccer schedule, but having assigned seats — and likely partners — meant he’d probably have to suck it up and put in a little more work than usual. That would be fine, though; he just needed to pass this class to graduate, and then next semester he could really let the senioritis kick in.

There didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason behind how their seats and resulting lab partners were assigned, but Cassian had a sneaking suspicion their TA had paired him up with the only other senior in the room. Cassian had seen the eldest Archeron here or there over the years, mostly because he was pretty tight with the Vanserra brothers and Azriel was dating one of them, but he’d never been this up close and personal with the guy.

Until now, anyway. The eldest Archeron was tall, only a few inches shorter than Cassian himself; his golden brown hair was parted to the side and pushed back from his face to reveal a pair of gray-blue eyes framed with pretty, bronze lashes. He was dressed comfortably in a white shirt and jeans, though Cassian had a sneaking suspicion those two items alone cost more than his rent, let alone the backpack that just screamed quiet luxury.

“Hey, man,” Cassian said once they were seated, doing his best not to look like he was staring. Which he absolutely wasn’t, but who could blame him? The guy had a jawline sharp enough to cut something, and those eyes were even icier up close. “I’m Cassian.”

“Earnest Nathaniel,” came the other man’s reply. He smelled really good, and it was a miracle Cassian managed to catch his full name with the way he was fighting leaning in closer to take a whiff.

“That’s kind of a mouthful,” Cassian replied jokingly. “Your parents must’ve had it out for you, huh?”

Earnest Nathaniel stared at Cassian for several long seconds, clearly unimpressed with Cassian’s joke. “Whatever nickname you’re about to come up with, I’m not interested in hearing it.”

“Whatever you say, Nes,” Cassian fired back, the nickname rolling off his tongue like it belonged there.

“Don’t call me that.”

“EN?”

“Jesus Christ, no.”

“Nessie?”

“Do I look like the Loch Ness monster to you?”

“Didn’t peg you for a Twilight fan.”

“Didn’t peg you as such an idiot.”

“Okay, Nesbit.”

“How are these getting worse?”

“Nesseroni? Yes? No?”

“Definite no.”

“Mhmm… think I’ll stick with my first choice, then,” Cassian said with a victorious grin. “Nes.”

Whatever Nes was about to say back was cut short by their TA calling their class back to order, and Cassian sent the other man a pleased little smirk before trying his best to pay attention. He’d gone through enough sylly weeks to know the drill, but if it had the added bonus of getting under his new lab partner’s skin, then he was going to be the most model student possible.

Still, Cassian must not have fucked up as badly as he thought he did, because Earnest Nathaniel — Nes, in Cassian’s mind — stiffly asked Cassian to grab coffee with him after class. It turned into a bit of a standing thing on Tuesdays and Thursdays, mostly to work through the bulk of their weekly lab reports, but they talked about plenty of other things too. Cassian was on the receiving end of a lot of witty one-liners, but he also learned about Nes’ sisters, about the books he liked to read, and even about the other man’s law school applications.

Those were Cassian’s favorite coffee days, but he couldn’t exactly put his finger on why. Maybe he just liked making a new friend, or maybe it was just Nes himself.

✵✵✵✵✵✵

A week or two into October, Cassian caught a nasty cold one weekend and couldn’t shake it off by the time Tuesday's lab rolled around. He’d at least been able to email his professors and TAs to let them know he probably wouldn’t be in class this week, but he’d completely forgotten to give Nes a heads up before lab started.

They’d exchanged numbers after that first day, and they texted here and there about anything from class to memes Cassian thought Nes would like to random soccer facts that Nes thought Cassian would care about. Still, Cassian wasn’t expecting Nes to be texting him from class when the guy was normally such a stickler for following the rules, so when his phone buzzed, he couldn’t help but be pleasantly surprised at the name on his screen when he finally discovered his phone half-buried beneath his comforter.

Nes Archeron, 11:12 AM

????

Where are you?

Cassian didn’t have the energy to say much, and he was a little woozy from the strength of the medicine he’d taken about twenty minutes ago. He somehow managed to take a picture of him surrounded by tissues and Tylenol and typed out a short reply that he thought conveyed his predicament well enough.

Cassian Hernández, 11:15 AM

[Attachment: 1 Image]

send help im dying

Cassian didn’t stay awake long enough to see if Nes had replied, letting the cold medicine pull him into an easy nap instead. He woke up about an hour and a half later to the sound of someone knocking on his bedroom door, and he was still too sleepy to come up with a proper sentence. “Huh?”

Azriel opened the door and poked his head around the corner, his nose wrinkling at the unpleasant sight of a sick roommate. “Your boyfriend’s here with some soup and more medicine.”

“Ha, ha,” Cassian said, sniffling very attractively. Not that it mattered; it was just Azriel, and they’d been friends for far too long for Cassian to care about what he thought. “You’re hilarious.”

“I wasn’t joking,” Azriel said back with a roll of his eyes. He opened the door fully to reveal Nes standing there with a steaming thermos in one hand and a grocery bag filled with cold medicine in the other. Once Cassian had fully processed that this was happening and Nes was very much standing outside his bedroom, Azriel turned back to Nes and said, “Good luck with him. He’s even dumber than usual right now.”

“Trust me, I’m aware,” Nes replied dryly. They exchanged a knowing glance before Azriel huffed a laugh and left them to it, disappearing down the hallway back to his own room. “You doing okay, Cassian?”

Cassian suddenly and intensely regretted not cleaning up the massive pile of tissues surrounding him. He probably didn’t smell great, either, and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d brushed his teeth. So much for it not mattering. “I feel like shit.”

“Yeah, I bet you do,” Nes responded, though his tone seemed a little more sympathetic than usual. “I didn’t know what you had on hand, so I brought you some stuff. Hope that’s cool.”

“Very cool,” Cassian agreed. It was a really thoughtful thing to do, and something went a little soft and gooey and a little sad inside Cassian at the realization that he probably hadn’t been taken care of like this since he was in high school. Mostly soft and gooey, though, so he’d take it for the kind gesture that it was and leave the rest to examine probably… never. “Thanks, Nes.”

“You’re welcome,” Nes answered simply, the barest hint of a blush appearing on his cheeks.

Instead of trying to clear Cassian’s bed, Nes had the much smarter idea of pulling over the chair from Cassian’s desk and sitting there. He put down the thermos — which smelled like chicken noodle soup, now that it was close enough for Cassian’s nose to pick up on it — and spread out his cold medicine haul across one of Cassian’s end tables.

“What have you taken today?” Nes asked expectantly.

Cassian wasn’t totally sure what time he’d taken his meds this morning, and he told the other man as much. “Uh…”

“Idiot,” Nes muttered, though it sounded fond. “Just try to eat a little something, and you can take some more meds when you wake up.”

Nes helped Cassian sit up so he could get a little something in his stomach, his touch firm against Cassian’s back as he shifted up on the bed. Cassian didn’t totally understand why he could still feel Nes’ hands on him long after the other man had let go, but he wasn’t going to question it. It had felt nice, and the soup was even nicer, warm and seasoned surprisingly well despite its source.

“Don’t look so surprised,” Nes said haughtily, though he couldn’t keep up the act for very long. “I, uh… one of my sisters helped. Lucky for you, Elain actually knows what she’s doing.”

“Knew it,” Cassian said back. He managed a smirk before his nose started running again, and then Nes was taking the thermos out of his hands, offering him a clean tissue, and helping him lie back down. He didn’t even blink before holding up the trash can so Cassian could weakly toss the used tissue inside it.

“You need some more rest,” Nes informed him matter-of-factly. He put down the trash can and left it close enough to Cassian’s bed that he could throw more tissues inside it as needed. “I’ll text you when you should take some more medicine.”

“Okay,” Cassian agreed, his eyes half-closed already. He hated being sick and how much it took out of him, but it didn’t seem so bad with Nes here taking care of him for a little while. “Stay until I fall asleep?”

“Yeah, okay,” Nes promised. His voice had gone strangely soft but Cassian decided not to question it, much more focused on how good his pillow felt against his cheek.

Before Cassian drifted off to sleep, he swore he felt Nes’ cool fingers gently pushing his hair back from his face. What a dedicated friend, Cassian thought before he was tugged completely under.

✵✵✵✵✵✵

Cassian made a full recovery by the end of that week, just in time to start prepping for fall midterms. However, the week after they’d taken their bio lecture exam, everything went to shit for several days, and Cassian had no reason why.

He and Nes had gone for their usual post-lab coffee, and the two of them had been standing outside the library when a certain blonde friend decided to make an appearance.

“Cassian!”

Cassian turned from where he was talking with Nes to see Mor barreling up the walkway towards him, his arms automatically coming up to catch her as she leapt into his arms. “Hey, Mor.”

“Hey yourself,” Mor said back, a little out of breath from her short sprint. She squeezed Cassian tight before jumping out of his hold. “Where’ve you been, stranger?”

“Semester’s been kicking my ass, you know how it is,” Cassian replied apologetically. Mor had been trying to corner him for a catch-up lunch for weeks now, and while he hadn’t been intentionally avoiding her, things had just been much busier than he’d expected in his final year of college. “You know I wouldn’t ignore you on purpose.”

“Of course not, silly,” Mor told him with a little laugh. She put her hand on Cassian’s arm before adding, “You know there’d be hell to pay. I have you too well-trained.”

“Cassian,” Nes suddenly interjected before Cassian could respond, his voice as icy as his eyes. Cassian turned to see a muscle in the other man’s jaw working overtime as he stared Mor down. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your… friend?”

“Oh, shit, I’m sorry,” Cassian said sheepishly. Jesus fuck, where were his manners? “Nes, this is my friend Mor. Mor, this is Nes. We’re lab partners this semester.”

“It’s Earnest Nathaniel, actually,” Nes corrected coldly. His eyes zeroed in on where Mor’s hand was still on Cassian’s arm, and Cassian jumped out of her grip like he’d been burned. “I don’t do nicknames.”

“I’m Morrigan, then, if we’re being formal,” Mor replied with a roll of her eyes. Cassian didn’t know why things were suddenly so tense, but he’d do anything to get that blank look off of Nes’ face. “Aren’t you friends with Eris?”

“Since middle school,” Nes answered shortly. Cassian had to blink back his surprise; normally Nes was always ready to talk about how he and Eris had gone from bonding over being the two oldest sons in their respective families to being roommates all four years. He didn’t know what had changed now, but it left him feeling uneasy all the same.

“Then we’ve definitely met before,” Mor responded. Cassian remembered that she and Eris had had a brief fling their sophomore year before Eris abruptly realized he was gay and had started dating Azriel not too long after. “We’ve probably seen each other around, at least.”

“I don’t recall,” Nes told her stiffly. He made a big show of checking his phone before sliding it back into his pocket and shouldering his backpack. “I have to go, I’m running late for something. Have fun with your friend.”

“See you… around,” Cassian finished lamley, watching helplessly as Nes’ long legs carried him halfway across the quad in record time. He turned back to Mor with a sigh. “I don’t know why he’s being like that.”

Mor stared at Cassian like he was the biggest idiot in the world for several long moments, eventually throwing her hands up with a loud scoff. “Az was right. You’re actually such a dumbass.”

“What?” Cassian said, totally thrown by Mor’s response. She just shook her head at him before she took off too, leaving him standing by himself wondering what, exactly, he’d done to piss off not one, but two people in such record time. “Thanks for the help! Not!”

Cassian still didn’t understand just what he’d done to make Nes so upset, but by the time Tuesday’s lab rolled around, he was determined to make things right. Nes hadn’t answered his texts all weekend, but after Cassian had reposted one of Mor’s Instagram stories from Friday night happy hour with her and her girlfriend, Nes was suddenly much happier to see him.

Weird.

✵✵✵✵✵✵

October eventually turned into November, and Cassian found himself suddenly getting ready to play his last home club soccer game. It wasn’t nearly as intense as playing varsity, but he’d enjoyed having an outlet for all his restless energy over the years, and even more so getting to know the rest of the guys on the team.

Cassian had mentioned his final home game in passing to Nes during one of their post-class coffee hangouts, but he certainly hadn’t expected to find him sitting in the bleachers on a rainy, miserable Saturday in early November. Usually the only other people at their games were close friends and family members, so it was a nice surprise to see Nes up there; none of Cassian’s other friends had been able to make it for various reasons, so he’d fully been expecting to be celebrated later. Even more surprising was that Nes wasn’t alone – Cassian could spot two other women up there with him, and judging by that familiar golden-brown hair, it could only be Elain and Feyre.

Cassian waved happily from the field, grinning when Feyre and Elain immediately and eagerlty returned his wave while Nes’ just held up his hand in greeting. He knew how much Nes hated getting up early, especially on a weekend, and the fact that he’d dragged himself out of bed for a 10 AM game made something go warm and fuzzy in Cassian’s chest just like that day where Nes had come over to check on him.

He didn’t have time to investigate that right now, though. He had a game to win, especially with an audience as important as this one, so he channeled all that sudden nervous energy into being the best left back he could.

After the game — which they’d won 2-0, much to Cassian’s glee — he walked over to where Nes and his two sisters were waiting for him, having walked down from the bleachers in the time it had taken Cassian to finish up with his teammates. He couldn’t stop smiling at the fact that Nes had dragged himself down here just to watch Cassian kick a ball around.

“What are you doing here?” Cassian asked once they were all standing together, still pleasantly surprised ninety minutes later. “I thought you didn’t believe in waking up during single digit hours.”

Nes flushed, much to his sisters’ clear amusement. “It was your last home game. Why wouldn’t I be here?”

“I don’t think I’ve seen you wake up that early since high school, Earnie,” one of Nes’ sisters teased. She looked the most like Nes, with her gray-blue eyes and high cheekbones, and she was bundled up in an oversized cream sweater and leggings.

“How many times have I told you not to call me that, Feyre,” Nes grumbled, much to Cassian’s delight.

“Not enough to make it stick,” Feyre retorted with a laugh. She turned back to Cassian and stuck her hand out expectantly, so he shook it and hoped she didn’t mind the grass and sweat on his hands. “It’s nice to meet you, Cassian. We’ve heard so much about you.”

“Don’t scare him off, Feyre,” Elain, Nes’ other sister, responded. She was the shortest of the three Archerons, and had warm brown eyes that crinkled around the edges when she smiled up at Cassian. “It’s nice to finally meet you, though. I promise we’ve only heard good things!”

“That doesn’t sound like Nes at all,” Cassian replied, teasing Nes just a little bit. He liked that Nes only showed his softer side to the people he cared about, and he counted himself very lucky to have somehow made it into that small group. “Lord knows I’ve given him plenty of things to complain about.”

Feyre’s eyes lit up like Christmas had come early, and even Elain couldn’t stop her smile. Cassian wondered what had been so significant about his words, though his question was quickly answered.

“Shut up, Feyre,” Nes said before Feyre could get a chance to comment.

“If you buy me lunch, I won’t say anything,” Feyre said back, “even though it’s extremely tempting to comment on this new nickname.”

Nes sighed heavily, clearly unable to resist Feyre for too long. “Fine, but nothing too crazy. I’m not made of money.”

“We literally get the same allowance, so objectively—”

“Well then, objectively, you should be able to pay for your own food for once��”

“I’m sure you’re hungry, Cassian,” Elain turned to him with a smile, clearly used to tuning out her siblings’ bickering. “You should join us!”

“Oh,” Cassian answered, touched that they’d want to invite him to their family bonding time. “Sure, I could eat.”

“Great!” Elain clapped her hands together before reaching out and yanking Feyre to her side, her grip appearing surprisingly strong for someone so small. She nudged Nes in Cassian’s direction as she said, “You two, stop your bickering so we can go get some food. Lead the way, Earn.”

Once Cassian got his gear together and changed out of his cleats, the four of them made their way to one of the fast casual places right outside of campus. Feyre and Elain were fun to hang out with, even if they asked a lot of strangely personal questions, but it was more than worth it for all the nuggets of information they gave him about Nes. It was more than a nice way to spend the rest of his afternoon, even more so when Nes paid for everyone’s food, but Cassian knew he’d pay the other man back in coffee and pastries after lab next week.

Cassian eventually got up to use the bathroom, and as he made his way back to their table, he overheard the Archerons talking amongst themselves.

“I really like this one, Earn,” Cassian heard Elain say. He slowed his steps to give them time for a sibling moment if they needed it, but he was strangely curious what else they’d say about him. Assuming they were talking about him, anyway. “He seems like a really good guy.”

“Yeah,” Nes replied, his voice strangely soft again. “Me too.”

Cassian wasn’t sure why hearing that put a smile on his face for the rest of the day, but he’d take it. He hadn’t known he was facing some kind of sibling friend test, but he was glad all the same that he’d passed.

✵✵✵✵✵✵

The weekend before everyone went home for Thanksgiving break, Cassian got invited to an end of the semester party that one of the guys on the football team was throwing. Most of his other friends were going, so it was bound to be at least a fun enough time between that and the ridiculous amounts of alcohol that tended to be at these kinds of things.

Cassian of course invited Nes, pleasantly surprised when the other man said he’d be there. Nes didn’t exactly strike Cassian as the party type, but maybe he wanted to let loose after a long semester just like everybody else.

“Whose party is it, anyway?” Nes asked as they waited for their Uber. Nes had a car, but they both knew the odds of them both staying sober were slim to none, so he’d parked in the garage across from Cassian’s building so they could ride to the party together. Azriel and Eris were also going to this party, so Cassian figured Nes would maybe catch a ride back with Eris when everything was said and done and would come grab his car another time.

Cassian laughed, his breath fogging up in front of him in the brisk November air. “Now you’re asking?”

“Feyre and Elain said they might come,” Nes replied, rolling his eyes. He looked really good in a pair of dark jeans and the fur-lined leather jacket he’d stolen from Cassian’s closet, and Cassian had a hard time taking his eyes off him. “I can’t just send them in without any information.”

“Aww,” Cassian cooed. “What a good older brother.”

“Shut up, asshole,” Nes shot back without much venom. “Someone has to keep an eye on them.”

Cassian had learned just how shitty the Archeron parents were over the course of getting to know Nes, so he didn’t dare make another joke, not about that. Instead, he double-checked his group text with Rhys and Azriel for the information Nes had asked for in the first place. “Jurian’s throwing it. I think he’s one of Lucien’s friends?”

“Jurian’s alright,” Nes responded. He pulled out his phone and typed out a few quick texts before putting his hands back in his pockets, and Cassian had to stifle the insane urge to slide his hands into those pockets, too. “Besides, even if he weren’t, Lucien will help me keep an eye on them.”

“Don’t forget to have some fun for yourself, too,” Cassian told him. Nes always took himself so seriously that Cassian was almost hoping to see him let a little loose tonight, for once.

“Don’t worry,” Nes said just as their Uber arrived. He held Cassian’s gaze for a few charged moments in which Cassian nearly forgot how to breathe. “I plan to.”

—

About an hour and a half into the party, Cassian could safely say they were both having a good time. Feyre and Elain had spent most of their time chatting with Rhys and Lucien respectively, so Nes felt comfortable enough leaving his sisters with them that he was actually drinking and laughing and generally letting loose the exact way Cassian had hoped he would.

Cassian had a nice buzz going himself, even more so after he’d done the rounds and said hey to a lot of his own friends. He was playing some beer pong with Tarquin, one of his friends on the swim team, against Tarquin’s cousins Varian and Cresseida, and even though they were losing spectacularly he didn’t mind not one bit. Nes was still close by enough that Cassian could keep an eye on him, unable to look away as Nes laughed at something Eris had said.

“It’s your turn, Cassian,” Tarquin pulled him back to the game, yelling to be heard properly over the music. Cassian took the ball and missed his first throw but sank his second easily, and he high-fived Tarquin as Cresseida jokingly flipped them off from across the table. “Nice!”

Their luck didn’t hold for long, however. Varian and Cresseida got their heads in the game and absolutely destroyed Cassian and Tarquin, who split the cups in half before downing one cup after the other.

Whoever had decided to use tequila instead of beer deserved to have a perpetually warm pillow or something, Cassian thought as he finished his half of the cups. Even as big as he was, he knew drinking that much tequila in such a short time frame was only asking for trouble, so he just hoped the rest of the night would be worth it if he ended up throwing up tonight.

Cassian really hoped he didn’t throw up tonight. He didn’t want Nes to see him like that, even though he’d definitely already seen Cassian all gross and sick earlier in the semester. Something about Nes just made Cassian want to be on his best behavior, and he was once again hoping that whatever he did would be enough to impress Nes’ high standards.

Speaking of Nes, where had he even gone? Cassian looked around the room for almost a minute until he spotted the right head of golden-brown hair, and then he was making his way through the crowd to where Nes was still talking to Eris. He and Azriel had shown up to the party at some point during beer pong, both of them covered in hickies and Azriel’s hair way too mussed to be natural bedhead.

At the moment, though, Azriel wasn’t anywhere to be seen, and even though they were all friends, something about watching Nes laugh yet again at something Eris said made Cassian want to haul Nes away and keep him all to himself.

Nes was still chuckling once Cassian came close enough to interrupt whatever conversation was happening, and Cassian was willing to do whatever it took to get that attention directed at him instead of Eris.

“Heeeeey, guys,” Cassian said, casually throwing his arm around Nes’ shoulders like it was a thing they did all the time. It should be a thing they did all the time; Nes was the perfect height for Cassian to do that and a whole lot of other things that Cassian hadn’t considered until just now. “What’s going on?”

Eris looked like he wanted to laugh, but he swallowed it down. “Hey, Cassian. You having fun?”

“Yup,” Cassian answered, popping the p. “Soooo much fun.”

“You okay, Cassian?” Nes asked. He shifted his drink to his right hand so the left one could snake around Cassian’s waist, and wow was that a nice feeling. Almost as nice as hearing his name come out of Nes’ perfect mouth. “How much have you had to drink?”

“I lost beer pong,” Cassian replied, fighting the urge to turn and press his face into Nes’ hair. It was always shiny and perfectly styled and just long enough that Cassian would be able to run his fingers through it if he could, but he knew Nes spent way too much on his haircuts for that to be a reality. “Well, really it was tequila pong. They should rename it.”

“Or maybe you should be better at the game,” Nes told him, though Cassian could tell there wasn’t any real venom behind it.

“Maybe you can be my teammate next time,” Cassian responded with a pleased little grin. What an excellent suggestion his brain had come up with.

Nes just snorted. “Not really my thing.”

“We’ll just find something that is, then,” Cassian promised. Whatever it took to spend more time in Nes’ arms, he’d do it. “Pinky promise.”

“What are you, five?” Nes retorted, though he finished the rest of his drink and put the cup down somewhere just so he could brush his fingers against the hand Cassian had slung across his shoulders. Cassian seized the opportunity and grabbed hold of Nes’ hand before he could move too far away, interlacing their fingers and giving them a fond little squeeze.

“Oh, thank God,” Eris said suddenly. Cassian looked away from Nes and his pretty, flushed cheeks to see that Azriel had returned to his boyfriend’s side. “They’re being disgusting.”

“Don’t be homophobic,” Nes said back with a roll of his eyes.

“It’s PEMDAS, it cancels out,” Azriel replied with a sly little grin. That grin disappeared as he took a good, long look at Cassian, who tried not to squirm under the intense scrutiny. “Cassian, how drunk are you?”

“How drunk are you, Az?” Cassian fired back.

Azriel rolled his eyes and turned his attention to Nes. “You should probably take him home soon. If he drinks any more he’s going to start throwing up, and nobody wants to see that.”

“Nobody’s going to throw up,” Cassian responded, frowning. He was not going to do that, especially in front of Nes. “I’m fine.”

“Sure, Cassian,” Azriel placated him. He turned back to Nes and added, “I’m going back with Eris after this, so… knock yourselves out, I guess.”

“Thanks,” Nes answered dryly. He squeezed Cassian’s hand one last time before letting go, ignoring Cassian’s pout as he pulled his phone out and started to call an Uber. “It’s time to take you home, Cassian.”

“But I don’t wanna go home yet,” Cassian said, still pouting. “Nessssss.”

“Too bad,” Nes said back. Cassian didn’t need to be looking at him to know the other man was rolling his eyes, though he liked watching Nes do it anyway. “Let’s start saying bye to your friends.”

Nes made quick work of guiding Cassian to the door while still managing to exchange goodbyes with everyone who mattered. Their driver was already waiting when they finally made it outside, and Cassian didn’t even mind sitting in the middle seat if it meant staying close to Nes. Cassian spent most of the Uber home leaning on Nes’ shoulder, thoroughly enjoying the way their thighs were pressed together in the backseat. When they got out of the car, Cassian also enjoyed the very firm grip that Nes kept on him as they walked.

Tonight had really been amazing.

“Where are your keys?” Nes asked as he corralled Cassian toward his building. Cassian mumbled out something unintelligent in response, more than ready to crash in his bed, and Nes sighed heavily. “Cassian, come on, it’s fucking freezing and you’re heavy as hell.”

“Left pocket,” Cassian eventually told him. He giggled as Nes shoved his hand in said left pocket and came up empty-handed. “No. My other left.”

“You’re even dumber when you’re drunk,” Nes grumbled, sticking his hand in Cassian’s right pocket and finally coming up with the keys. “You’re lucky you’re cute.”

Nes used Cassian’s key fob to get into the building and onto the elevator, apparently remembering the way well enough that he didn’t bother to ask Cassian for his floor. Cassian was far too busy trying to remain upright, finally throwing caution to the wind and slumping fully against Nes. “Mhmm. You’re warm.”

“You’re heavy,” Nes said, though he didn’t sound mad about it. He actually released a huff of laughter that tickled the side of Cassian’s ear before poking at Cassian a few times to get him moving. “Come on, let’s get you ready for bed.”

They eventually made their way down the hallway, Nes using Cassian’s keys to open the door to his and Azriel’s apartment. They managed to make it to Cassian’s room without bumping into anything despite not turning on any of the lights, though Nes turned on the lamp on Cassian’s desk so they had a little bit of light in the bedroom. While Nes busied himself with taking off his borrowed jacket, Cassian sat on the edge of the bed and fell backwards so he was comfortable.

“Don’t you dare fall asleep,” Nes said sharply once he noticed Cassian was laying on the bed. “You’re not going to sleep in all that. You’ll overheat in the middle of the night.”

“Says you,” Cassian said back, closing his eyes. Nes loudly snapped his fingers right in front of Cassian’s face, and Cassian forced his eyes back open just so he could roll them, hard. “Ugh. Whatever, Dad.”

Despite Cassian’s grumbling, he didn’t put up too much of a fight at Nes making him kick off his shoes and take off his jacket. He didn’t even mind taking off his shirt, since that’s usually how he slept anyway, but when it came time for Nes to coax him out of his pants, suddenly all bets were off.

“Come on, Cassian,” Nes said, exasperated. He’d gotten Cassian to sit up while his other clothes had come off, and he was being really patient as he tried to unfasten Cassian’s jeans and take them off. “You can’t go to sleep in jeans.”

“No jeans for everyone,” Cassian said back with a loud laugh. He knew he was drunk and being more than a little annoying, but Nes certainly didn’t seem to mind as Cassian fumbled with the buttons on the other man’s jeans. “It’s only fair.”

“It’s not about fair, it’s about— hey!” Nes yelped as Cassian got the bright idea of suddenly yanking him forward. They overbalanced and Nes landed awkwardly on top of Cassian, who had developed a serious case of the giggles at the shocked expression on the other man’s face. “Really, Cassian?”

“Oh man,” Cassian replied, still giggling, “the look on your face.”

“Ha, ha,” Nes deadpanned. “Very funny.”

Cassian’s giggles abruptly stopped as he realized just how close he and Nes suddenly were. Cassian didn’t think they’d ever been so close before, and he found himself liking it, probably more than he should considering Nes was just trying to be a good friend and help him get ready for bed. It didn’t stop him from finally giving into the urge he’d been shoving down all night to bury his face into the side of Nes’ neck.

“Mhmmm,” Cassian said, breathing in the smell of Nes’ cologne and whatever fancy pomade he liked to use on his hair. Even underneath the smell of weed and alcohol and sweat from the party, he still smelled so goddamn good. “You smell good.”

“Thank you,” Nes said back, his voice a little strained. “Can I get up now?”

“Oh, shit, sorry,” Cassian said.

Cassian shifted underneath Nes, ready to sit them both up so they could stop fucking around and go to sleep, but it seemed the universe had other plans. As Cassian tried to sit up, he was completely unprepared for the hot stab of arousal that hit him as he realized their dicks were pressed together, and that it felt good.

Really good.

“Fuck,” Cassian said, his dick already half-hard. He was torn between apologizing for making things weird and shifting under Nes again, but he didn’t know what to say to make either thing happen. He just laid there, his heart pounding out of his chest as he waited to see what Nes would do.

Nes had frozen too, his full, pink lips parted in surprise. He stared down at Cassian for a few moments without saying a word, and Cassian braced himself for the worst.

But then Nes rolled his hips against Cassian’s, thrusting against him with intention, and any and all worries Cassian had abruptly disappeared with the feeling of Nes’ very hard dick grinding against his. “Oh, fuck, you feel good.”

“Yeah?” Cassian breathed. Now that he wasn’t worried about Nes’ reaction, all that nervous energy had been replaced with pure hunger. He’d never been with another guy before, but that didn’t change the way he wanted to know what Nes looked like when he came.

“I’ve been thinking about this all fucking semester,” Nes continued, pausing briefly to yank off his shirt and kick his jeans off. Cassian could only gape at the sheer amount of skin suddenly on display, interrupted only by the dark blue boxers Nes was still wearing. “You have any lube?”

Cassian flushed as he realized why they might need that. “Um. I. No?”

“That’s fine,” Nes answered, yanking off Cassian’s jeans before climbing back on top of Cassian. “Take out your dick.”

Cassian had never moved faster in his life. He scrambled to pull his dick out through the hole in the front of his boxers, hissing a little as he touched himself. He was so hard it almost hurt, and he nearly stopped breathing as Nes reached down and wrapped his hand around Cassian’s dick.

“Oh my God,” Cassian breathed, though he was pretty sure it had come out more like a whimper. He’d earned plenty of notches on his bedpost over the years, but somehow this was the hottest thing that had ever happened to him.

And that was before Nes started to actually move his hand. Cassian groaned when Nes began to slowly stroke him, his cock leaking like a faucet the entire time, and he couldn’t stop himself from thrusting upwards into Nes’ firm grip. “Nes, come on, please.”

Nes smirked down at Cassian for a few moments before deciding to take pity on him. He sped up a little bit, just enough to reach a nice, steady pace, and Cassian couldn’t help making helpless little noises every time Nes flicked his wrist upwards. After a few minutes of that, Nes finally pulled out his own cock and worked himself over a few times, his eyes fluttering shut at how good it must have felt, and then he was reaching for Cassian’s hand and placing it on his cock.

Cassian had thought things were intense before, but this was an entirely new level.

“Jesus,” Cassian muttered, all of this going straight to his own dick. He’d never touched another cock before, but it wasn’t so different from touching his own. The angle and the way Nes’ cock felt in his hand were different, yeah, but that was a very welcome change. Nes wasn’t as thick as Cassian, but he certainly made up for it with the inch or two he had extra.

Once Nes had decided Cassian had done enough staring, he closed his hand around Cassian’s and started to show Cassian what he liked. Cassian was mesmerized by the slow, slick slide of their hands moving together over Nes’ admittedly very nice cock; he hadn’t stared openly at very many dicks in his life, but Cassian was more than happy to look at this one. He was even happier to look at the man it was attached to, doing his best to commit the look on Nes’ face to memory for reasons he wasn’t entirely sure of just yet.

“Yeah, just like that,” Nes groaned, his voice low. He let go of Cassian’s hand, apparently trusting him to keep the rhythm they’d set together, and reached for Cassian’s dick again. “Yeah, fuck, Cassian, that’s it.”

Cassian moaned as Nes started stroking Cassian’s dick a little faster than he’d done before, the praise and the perfect friction against Cassian’s dick absolutely doing it for him. They were both hot and slick under the other’s hand, and Cassian swore as Nes turned his focus to the very tip of Cassian’s dick. “Shit, don’t stop.”

Of course, Nes picked that exact moment to let go. “Relax, Cassian. I have a better idea.”

“It better be— oh,” Cassian cut himself off with a shocked gasp as Nes knocked Cassian’s hand out of the way so he could hold both of their cocks together in one hand. “Oh, God.”

“That’s what I thought,” Nes replied smugly. He shifted so their cocks were better lined up, and Cassian saw stars as Nes started to stroke both of their cocks together. Everything was slippery and hot and perfect, especially once they fell into rhythm that guaranteed the most friction between them, Cassian surging upward while Nes’ hips moved back, over and over and over again. Eventually Nes moved his hand out of the way so they were just grinding against each other, their cocks trapped between their bodies as Nes leaned down and completely covered Cassian’s body with his own, leaner frame.

“Oh, fuck, don’t stop,” Cassian panted, reaching down to grab a handful of Nes’ ass so they could press together that much better. “So good, Jesus, you feel so good…”

Feeling Nes move against him was giving Cassian all sorts of ideas, mostly about what it would be like if he was fucking Cassian for real. Cassian’s rhythm turned frantic as he thought about Nes holding him down, fucking him hard, making him take it—

Cassian came with a choked off moan of Nes’ name, his come spilling across both of their cocks and setting Nes off. Nes drew it out for both of them until Cassian was squirming underneath him, not stopping the movement of his hips until Cassian was near tears and the pleasure-pain of it, and then the only sound in the room was both of their heavy breathing.

Nes gracefully rolled off of Cassian and reached for a nearby towel, using it to wipe up their shared come as best he could before tossing it toward Cassian’s hamper. “Move over.”

Cassian didn’t even think to object, his head spinning between the tequila still in his system and the enormity of what had just happened between them. But Nes didn’t seem to be as affected; he just kicked off his wet underwear before delving under the covers. “Night, Cassian.”

Cassian guessed they would just talk about whatever that was in the morning, so he kicked off his own underwear, got under the covers, threw his arm around Nes’ waist, and let sleep take him. Nes’ feet were freezing where they were pressed between Cassian’s calves, but he didn’t mind that one bit.

✵✵✵✵✵✵

When Cassian woke up the next morning, he didn’t have the faintest clue how things were going to go. Last night had been beyond even his wildest fantasies, but the reality of Nes warming his bed was starting to creep in.

Not that he had a lot of time to really ponder that, considering Nes was already awake and staring at him expectantly. They’d fallen asleep spooning, but they must have rolled apart during the night given Nes was now facing Cassian.

Their legs were still tangled together, though. Maybe that counted for something.

“Hey,” Cassian said hesitantly. He had a solid headache from last night, but he knew even that couldn’t stop this conversation from happening. “Um. Good morning.”

“Good morning,” Nes replied, his voice a little raspier and deeper than usual. It went straight to Cassian’s dick, which was not helping his creeping panic at the discussion they were about to have, though it was certainly another thing to add to his mental list of things Nes did that were incredibly attractive.

He wasn’t even freaked out at his newfound bisexuality — he’d always thought of himself as open to experimenting, so it was nice to know that hadn’t just been a passing fantasy — it was more that he didn’t want to risk his relationship with Nes. Cassian didn’t know what he’d do without their coffee hangouts, or their text threads, or the way Nes looked at him like he was the biggest idiot on campus.

“What are we doing?” Cassian asked hesitantly, knowing the only way forward was through. He just had to rip the band-aid off, and if that meant their friendship was done, he’d be okay. Eventually. “Are we… together now?”

“We’ve been together,” Nes said, an adorable frown appearing on his pretty face. Cassian wanted to smooth it out with his fingers. “What do you mean, what are we doing?”

“We’ve been together?” Cassian repeated. He was so, so confused, but also a not-insignificant part of him was incredibly relieved that Nes wasn’t going anywhere. “Since… when?”

“You can’t be serious,” Nes replied. When he realized Cassian wasn’t kidding, his frown morphed into a deep scowl. No smoothing that one out with his fingers. “Oh my God. You are being serious.”

“What are you talking about right now?” Cassian asked, realizing just how out of his depth he was. Had he missed something from before they’d hooked up last night? “I’m not fucking around, Nes. What’s happening?”

“I asked you out after our first lab,” Nes answered slowly, like he was talking to a little kid. “I brought you soup when you were sick, I came to your soccer game — you met my sisters, for fuck’s sake. We’ve been dating all semester, Cassian.”

“Oh,” Cassian said, unable to come up with something more eloquent as a lot of pieces suddenly fell into place. He’d chalked all of that — and the way it made him feel — up to Nes just going above and beyond in their friendship, but clearly there was so much more than that going on here. “Oh.”

“Yeah, oh,” Nes said back, irritated.

“Is that why you were so mad at Mor that day?” Cassian asked, a light bulb suddenly switching on in his mind. No wonder Mor had said he was being such a dumbass; he owed her a massive apology. “Holy shit, were you jealous?”

“She was touching you,” Nes hissed, that muscle in his jaw working overtime as he thought back to that fateful afternoon. “Of course I was fucking jealous, you idiot.”

“You don’t have to be jealous, Nes,” Cassian replied. He couldn’t stop smiling, and the more worked up Nes got, the wider his grin became. “Mor doesn’t even like men romantically!”

“How was I supposed to know that at the time, Cass,” Nes retorted.

“This is such a ridiculous argument, sweetheart. Besides, you know how much I like you,” Cass said, immediately gratified at the look on Nes’ face. “Oh, wait, you like that nickname.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Nes immediately denied. Cassian knew it was bullshit from the adorable pink flush spreading across the other man’s cheeks. “Shut up.”

“Nes. Nesseroni. Earn,” Cassian said, running through all of Nes’ other names just because he could. He could do a lot of things now, apparently. “Earnest Nathaniel.”

“Just Nes is fine,” Nes grumbled. “All those other names suck.”

“Sure they do. Hey, do you want to be my boyfriend?” Cassian asked before he could lose his nerve.

Nes sighed, but Cassian saw right through that from the pleased tilt of his mouth. “Yes. Fine. Whatever.”

“Just whatever?” Cassian repeated with a grin. He shuffled forward until their chests were pressed together and rolled them so he was on top of Nes, very much enjoying this new development.

“Just shut up and kiss me,” Nes replied. Cassian was more than happy to follow orders, leaning in and closing the distance between their lips. Both of them had morning breath and Nes had a little bit of stubble tickling Cassian’s upper lip, but it was easily one of the best kisses he’d ever experienced. Nes’ lips were softer than Cassian had been expecting, and they parted easily so Cassian could explore with his tongue. The slick slide of their tongues immediately reminded Cassian of the way their cocks slid together the night before, but he forced himself to stay focused. They’d have plenty of time for mind-blowing sex later, if Cassian had anything to say about it.

“Was that… okay?” Nes asked quietly after a few more minutes of kissing, his gray-blue eyes furiously searching Cassian’s hazel ones for the slightest hint of any discomfort.

“So much better than okay,” Cassian answered. He didn’t want Nes to have even a single doubt, so he leaned in and kissed Nes again, though they were both smiling a little too much for it to count as a real kiss. “You make me so fucking crazy.”

Nes hmmed and they lazily made out for a while, though it wasn’t with any intent beyond just exploring each other’s mouths. When they eventually broke apart, Cassian just had to laugh at how much of a dumbass he’d really been all these weeks. At Nes’ confused look, Cassian said, “Don’t get mad, but… this whole time I thought you were just really invested in being my friend.”

“You’re actually one of the most ridiculous people I’ve ever met,” Nes said, though the effect was lessened given how pink his lips were from all the kissing. He pushed at Cassian, who rolled over so they were on their sides facing each other again. “Jesus Christ, how were you so oblivious?”

“I just thought you really, really liked me,” Cassian said back, still laughing at himself. God, he was such an idiot. “Platonically, though.”

Nes stared at him incredulously for several long seconds. “Should I be concerned that you thought all the things we did were totally platonic?”

“I figured it out in the end!” Cassian protested. Sure, maybe it had taken a ridiculously long time to come to what felt like a very obvious conclusion, but Cassian wouldn’t change it. Not when he got to be the one waking up next to Nes exchanging good morning kisses.

“Yeah, after I told you to take your dick out,” Nes responded. He released a long-suffering sigh that absolutely delighted Cassian to hear. “Like I said… you’re lucky you’re cute.”

“Nah,” Cassian said, grinning. “I’m lucky you like me so much.”

His boyfriend — and wasn’t that a thought — didn’t deny it. Instead, Nes graced Cassian with a rare smile and said, “Yeah. Something like that.”

#nessianweek2024 #nessian #nesta archeron #cassian #acotar #acosf #acomaf #acowar #acofas #a court of thorns and roses #nesta archeron x cassian #nesta x cassian #cassian x nesta #moodymelanistwrites #pro nessian #pro nesta archeron #pro cassian #pro cassian acotar #cassian acotar

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kale-theteaqueen · 5 months ago

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Bumpy Takeoffs and Happy Landings, Chapter 2

---

For @nessianweek 2024 Day 1: Banter

It was no wonder he loved this so much. With all he had seen and suffered while in the Air Force, and his life before it, this was the perfect place for sanctuary.

It was a serenity so profound she hardly noticed when he started flipping buttons and switches, until he turned to her and said,

“Okay, your turn.”

Nesta blinked, her mind needing a full second to process the words, before she said,

“What?”

Cassian grinned. “Put your hands here. You’re going to fly, sweetheart.”

Shaking her head fiercely, she snapped, “Are you crazy?!”

“She’s steady,” He assured. “We aren’t going anywhere. I’m right here beside you. Put your hands on the controls.”

“Cassian-”

“If Hellen Keller can do it, so can you.”

Nesta sputtered. She was no where near as powerful as Hellen fucking Keller.

---

Tag List: @c-e-d-dreamer @podemechamardek @talkfantasytome @moodymelanist @whyisaravenlike-awritingdesk @doriansgf @eerievixen @sweet-pea1 @thewayshedreamed @agents-assemble @jsmelodies @aelinchocolatelover @unlikelypersonalknight1 @slipknotvol3 @stylishmuser @lady-winter-sunrise @bri-loves-sunflowers @misswonderflower @acourtofladydeath

#nessian #Nessian Week 2024 #nesta archeron #acotar fanfiction #nesta x cassian #archive of our own #acotar #cassian #cassian acotar #Day 1: Banter

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unhealthyfanobsession · 5 months ago

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A very happy Nessian Week Eve to all those who celebrate

Inspired by @wishcamper here is one line from each fic I will be posting this week!

Day 1 (Banter): Tangled in the Weeds

Nesta laughed. “How sad it will be to lose my best friend on this trip. Don’t worry I’ll come up with something nice for the tombstone. Here lies Cassian: Tried to fight a bear so his muscles would have a purpose. Bear: 1; fragile masculinity: 0.”

Day 2 (Yearning): Home is not a Place (It is a Feeling)

She offered her body to keep him from her mind. And like a starving man being offered spun sugar he gulped it down without even realizing it would never satisfy the craving he truly held.

Day 3 (Symphony): When they Write of the Gods (What will they Say About Us?) Part 1

She laughed. The sound like crashing symbols through the forest, a song that sent a flock of birds fleeing to the north. If he had any sense of self preservation, Cassian would have followed them. Cassian had never been great with self-preservation.

Day 4 (AU): But Daddy I Love Him

“Don’t call me that.” Cassian blinked. Stunned, for a single moment as his attention caught on those lips once again. Full and tilted down in the most delicious pout. He wanted to bite the bottom one, draw a little blood just to see how perfectly it mixed with red lipstick. He wanter her to cover him in it, to admire the colour on the collar of his shirt tomorrow morning, wanted to laugh as he threw out his sheets they were so stained with shades of her.

Day 5 (Behind Closed Doors): Love is a Battlefield

A strong, tan hand curled around her wrist and pressed gently. He did not tug, did not actually try to pull her back to the merriment. He just … held on, as if … as if asking what she wanted. As if offering to tuck her under his wing (literally) and cradle her there through the entire party if that was what she needed. As if offering to shelter her in his arms and fly the two of them all the way to the Illyrian mountains if she wanted. As if … as if the war had ended and suddenly nothing else mattered expect for the two of them. And for a moment, Nesta wanted to live inside of that feeling. She wanted to breathe in the relief they all seemed to feel and let it cloud her head like some new experimentational drug from the Dawn Court. Nesta wanted, maybe more than she had ever wanted anything in her life, to be the girl who smiles and grips a male’s hand … this male’s hand and whirls with a single flip of prettily laid out skirts into a perfect life of magic and happiness.

Day 6 (Legends & Destiny): When they Write of the Gods (What will they Say About Us?) Part 2

Nesta’s head tipped back, whatever protest formed inside of her mind was stolen before it reached her lips. Replaced by a sharp gasp as Cassian’s thumb found the perfect spot. Two fingers dragging through the wet silk of her centre and pressing up. “Do the gods you know touch you like this, Nes?”

Day 7(Free): Amidst the Madness Chapter 16

"Something is wrong," Nesta insisted. "You have to let me," her head shook, a cold pit opening in her stomach that threatened to suck her very soul inside of it. "It's like when the wall went down," she lied. This was so much worse. The wall had been a headache, a gnawing at her center. Her power flaring and rioting. It had been overwhelming, this ... this was nothing. A hole about to be ripped out of her -

#nessianweek2024 #nessian fanfiction #nessian #nesta archeron #cassian #acosf #sarah j maas #a court of thorns and roses #a court of silver flames #nesta and cassian #acotar

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separatist-apologist · 11 months ago

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Traitors Never Win

Summary: When Feyre Archeron's father promises she'll marry notorious crime boss Rhysand Moreno, Feyre will do anything to get out of the arrangement…including framing him for murder.

Rhysand isn't about to let her go so easily.

Read on AO3 | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3

Now I get to write nessian

Rhys knew he was on borrowed time.

Never more so than when Cassian and Azriel crossed into Wisconsin to track down the newly reunited Nesta and Elain. The sisters were officially out of custody and it was only a matter of time before someone went to check on Feyre. Rhys was no closer to making her his wife that morning than he had been when he met her.

It occurred to him that he could force her. Drag her home, tie her up, gag her, and call someone willing to overlook her distress. He wanted a more auspicious start for them rather than repeat his own mothers marriage. She’d never been happy with his father despite his fathers obsession with her.

Rhys rolled to his side where Feyre lay, her back facing him. Gently, he ran his finger over the soft ridges over her spine and considered his next move. He needed her—and refused to give her back. He was out of options, though.

For the two of them, it was now or it was never. If he told her, though, Feyre would dig her heels in. Stubborn to a fault, Rhys believed she’d refuse to marry him on principle, even if she wanted him. It had to be a conclusion she came to on her own, even if he manipulated her into thinking she wanted it.

Staring at his phone, Rhys reread the message Cassian sent that morning.

Get home if you can. Koschei is on our trail and if he’s found us, he’ll find you.

Oh, no doubt he was sending one of his little soldiers out to Rhys. It was fucked up and he knew it…but maybe a little danger was what Feyre needed. Just enough adrenaline to see him clearly, make a decision she wouldn’t normally, and see it finalized before she could change her mind. Rhys could keep her distracted with his body if she agreed, trapped in a rose colored haze for the next few weeks.

And then it would be too late. There was no divorce for them.

Besides, if that didn’t work he could always just get her pregnant, assuming she wasn’t already. He’d been too nervous to ask if she was using birth control, unwilling to admit any part of his fucked up plans. He’d been poking around her cabinet looking for them—but maybe she used an insert.

Maybe he ought to stop obsessing over her body, he reminded himself. Everything was fine—case and point, Feyre was naked in his bed and he hadn’t had to force her to do it. And while she had kicked him in the stomach once, she’d also flipped herself onto her stomach and raised her ass in the air when she felt his cock pressed against her tailbone.

And he’d take it.

“Hey, pretty baby,” he whispered, brushing his lips against the back of her neck. It was fun to see goosebumps rise on her shoulders, to feel her stir against the morning light pouring through the windows. “Are you hungry?”

Feyre was always hungry—if Rhys didn’t know what she wanted, he could always start with food.

“Do you ever sleep in?” she mumbled.

“Would you like to?” he questioned. Rhys loved to be up early, with a cup of coffee in one hand while he sat outside and watched the sun rise. It reminded him that he was alive and Rhys knew too well how much a gift that was. Especially for someone like him, forever hunted. Even then, Rhys could feel Koschei getting closer and closer.

Not the man himself, of course. He’d let people like Hybern do the work for him, venturing out only if everyone around him failed. If he hadn’t been so focused on Feyre, Rhys would have been working on drawing them out and setting his little traps.

Maybe he still could.

“Yes,” Feyre interrupted, unaware of the slant of his thoughts. “Until at least noon, but maybe all day.

“A whole day in bed?” Rhys practically purred, trying to imagine it. In his daydreams, they were somewhere tropical and isolated, surrounded by warm water and open skies.

Feyre rolled onto her back, making him painfully aware of her perky breasts staring up at him. “Yeah, Rhys. You never spend a day just rotting in bed?”

“No,” he admitted. He got up, he went to the gym, and he went to work—always in that order. Even when he was sick, Rhys thought it was better to get up and power through than to stay in bed doing nothing.

Still, if Feyre was in his bed, the thought of nothing suddenly seemed exceptionally appealing.

“Never?” she questioned, blue eyes focused on his face.

“I could be tempted,” he told her, trying—and failing—not to look at her naked breasts.

“Today?”

This was what he needed—Feyre, inviting him to stay in bed with her where the activities were fairly limited and he was positive she’d have sex with him at least once.

“Why not,” Rhys agreed, sliding his phone onto the table next to the bed.

Feyre settled among the pillows once she’d reached over the edge of the bed for his shirt—he was letting her wear them despite losing access to her body, if only because he liked the sight of her in his too big shirt.

She wore it like a dress, drenched in his scent. There was something primal about it, he decided. Rhys liked the way she looked in his clothes, his bed, his everything.

“What now?” Rhys questioned, hoping she was going to let him slip beneath the blanket and have his wicked way with her.

Feyre considered his question. “Now we just…lay here. We could watch something, or—” “Or we could talk,” he suggested. Feyre raised her brows.

“Is that a euphemism?”

“No. I like the sound of your voice,” Rhys admitted. “Tell me about your life.”

“What part?” she questioned.

“All of it,” Rhys said, greedy as ever. “Tell me all of it.”

Feyre balked a little—did he want to know about being a baby, she wondered? Yes, he’d declared. Start from the beginning, tell him everything. And Feyre, for her part, did. It wasn’t linear, but she told him stories about her life while Rhys listened, absorbing it all. He did get up to make breakfast, throwing on a pair of sweatpants and nothing else while Feyre trailed after him.

She was less prickly that morning, answering his questions when he asked. And Rhys had a thousand questions—a million, really—that he wanted answered. He brought the food into the bedroom, tempted to feed her fruit from his fingers though he abstained. No need to ruin what was turning into a perfect day.

“Why did you kill him?” Rhys heard himself asking later in the day. She’d danced around her father, omitting him from most of her stories.

Feyre drew her knees to her chest, back resting against the wooden headboard. “I was angry,” she admitted. “I’d been angry for a long time.”

“Why?”

She grew silent for a moment, contemplating her feelings. “I guess…after our mom died, he just became something of a shell. He was spending money recklessly, he was making decisions without telling anyone…”

That explained her anger about their engagement, he supposed.

“All he wanted to do was hole up in his office. He left everything else to me and my sisters and we just…we weren’t accustomed to taking care of his household. Elain was taking care of him and Nesta was just so mad all the time which caused us to fight…I was just tired. And when he came home and he informed me he’d decided to marry me off, I guess I just snapped.”

“You know, I was at home when I heard the news he was dead,” Rhys told her, wondering if she cared about him at all. Feyre looked over, eyes bright again.

“Were you angry when they told you what I said?”

Rhys smiled. “No. I had a good laugh about it, though. If I was going to kill your father, I would have done a far neater job.”

“Were you? Going to kill him, I mean?”

“No. His debts would have killed him eventually without any help from me. I was merely a bandaid for his bigger problems. If you wanted him dead, you should have come to me.”

“And what? You would have done it? Just like that?” she asked skeptically, snapping her fingers to illustrate her point.

“Just like that,” Rhys agreed easily.

“Why me? Why not Nesta or Elain?”

Rhys couldn’t even remember what they looked like. He just shrugged. “Would you hate me if I told you that you were the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen?”

“No,” she replied with the pinkest cheeks he’d ever seen. “I’m starting to think its not possible to hate you.”

“I’m growing on you,” he said with a grin.

“Like a fungus,” she agreed. “You should hate me, you know.”

He shrugged. “I don’t see why. If I were in your position, I might have done the same.”

“I don’t think I’d be so forgiving,” she informed him, looking over to drink him in. “I don’t know if your face is that tempting.”

“What about the rest of me?” Rhys questioned, running a hand down his bare torso. “Maybe I should have sent you a picture of my cock—”

“That would not have helped!”

“You don’t know that,” he replied good naturedly. “It’s a nice cock.”

She didn’t argue, and Rhys didn’t push her. He knew the truth and besides, there was no point in ruining what was shaping into being a perfect day. She was in his bed, telling him about her life and for once they weren’t arguing or snapping. It was a little peek into the life he wanted—domesticated Feyre purring in his lap like a house cat.

“I didn’t plan it,” she finally said, eyes glazed with memory. “It just happened.”

“I don’t judge you for it,” Rhys told her, unwilling to admit that he couldn’t remember everyone he’d killed.

“No, I suppose you wouldn’t. I wasn’t thinking about you at the time. I planned to turn myself in—”

“Foolish,” Rhys hissed, immediately frustrated by the thought. Even with all his money and influence, Rhys didn’t think he could have kept her from prison.

Feyre offered him a small smile. “You sound like my sister.”

“You did the right thing,” he praised, not wanting her to feel an ounce of guilt on his behalf. “They’ll never tie me to it.”

“I said you did it,” Feyre reminded him.

Rhys tapped her nose with the tip of his finger. “You didn’t see me, little love. And just as soon as Azriel gets back, there will be no evidence tying you or me to that death.”

“Why do you say that?” Feyre asked, her face paling.

“Don’t worry about that,” he said quietly. “The less you know, the better.”

“I thought we were equals—”

“We would be if you were my wife,” Rhys shot back before he could stop himself. Feyre crossed her arms over her chest, eyes narrowing.

“Why? So I can’t testify against you—”

“So I don’t have to testify against you,” he snarled, suddenly furious. “You committed the crime, Feyre—not me. And one of these days some overzealous agent looking for a promotion is going to reexamine the scene, the evidence, and who was standing in that house that day and they’re going to realize what you’ve done.”

She took a breath. “They won’t.”

“They will,” Rhys replied. “Trust me—putting away a mobster is the dream of every cop. They write your names in books for that kind of take down. They’ll be looking for me…but they’ll find you. And then they’ll send some nervous, sweaty asshole to my door offering to look the other way if I tell them what happened when I tracked you down. That’s a tempting offer, Feyre.”

“Are you blackmailing me?”

Rhys didn’t think about it. “If I have to. Though, I’d prefer you willing.”

Feyre stood abruptly, her face unreadable. “I need a minute.”

“Take your time,” he replied, climbing out of bed himself. He let her walk toward the back of the cabin, assuming she was going to his office to think. Let her think about the day she’d sat on his cock while he worked, he thought sullenly. Rhys went to the living room so he could stare moodily out the window.

Nothing ever went the way he imagined. It was hard to celebrate fucking her when she didn’t like him or trust him. Would he blackmail her into being his wife? Rhys wanted to be the kind of man who would say not…but he knew he would. He knew if he couldn’t get her to agree in the next two days, he’d be tying her up again and threatening to turn her in.

“Rhys?” Feyre’s voice asked from behind him. He twisted to look at her, stepping to the left to keep balance.

“Ye—”

The glass behind him shattered and something threw him forcefully to the ground as Feyre screamed, arms up over her head.

“Get down!” he roared, terrified another bullet would silence her. He’d been shot, he realized—though rather than hitting him dead center, he’d been shot through the shoulder. It wasn’t ideal, but it was workable.

Someone was coming—Rhys could hear boots crunching against snow. Twisting, he turned to make his way to Feyre only to find she was gone. Fuck. Now he had two problems—a killer at his front door and a runaway wife out the back. He didn’t have time to grab a gun before the door kicked open.

He knew the bitch standing in front of him. He’d recognize that bottled red hair from space—Amarantha.

“Rhys,” she said, flashing him a vicious smile. “You’re getting sloppy.”

He forced himself to his feet, refusing to die on his knees. “Your aim is as good as it's always been.”

Amarantha shrugged, gloved hands holding her rifle firmly. “You know, I usually love our banter but today I just don’t have time. You’ll forgive my—”

A shot fired, sending Amarantha flying to the ground like a doll who’s strings had just been cut. Rhys looked up to find Feyre, barefoot and pantless, standing in the doorway holding a gun. He expected to see fear—or maybe shock—but all he found on that beautiful face of hers was grim determination.

“A friend of yours?” Feyre questioned, dancing back into the house in an attempt to avoid the snow.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Rhys replied. Feyre came to him, stepping over Amarantha’s body like it didn’t exist.

“You’re hurt,” she said, reaching out to touch the blood before pulling back.

“I’ll survive,” he replied, grateful adrenaline was keeping the pain at bay. This was what he’d wanted, right? A little danger to soften her? Maybe not like this—Rhys had assumed they’d have more of a warning and less bullets coming at them.

Still.

“We need to go,” Rhys told her, steering Feyre toward the bedroom. He’d kept her clothes from that first night specifically for this reason. He couldn’t drag her naked across the country, afterall. Rhys pulled out the jeans, t-shirt, and jacket before tossing it to the bed.

“What about your arm?” Feyre asked, gun still in hand. “Shouldn’t we dig it out?”

“You’re a doctor now?” Rhys asked, hating that he needed her to do this for him. Feyre shrugged.

“I’ve done it before. For my dad, I mean.”

“You’re a good girl, Feyre,” he murmured, wishing he had the time to bend her over the bed. Rhys could still fuck her, injured or not. In fact, he thought the sight of his blood smeared over her tits would send him into a frenzy. “My good girl.”

“I thought she killed you,” Feyre whispered as Rhys sat on the edge of the tub. “I thought…”

“I’m fine,” he told her, heart thudding in his throat. “You don’t have to worry about me.”

“Yeah,” she said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Rhys couldn’t take his eyes off her while she worked, swallowing his pain so he didn’t upset her. Maybe, in another life, Feyre would have been a doctor—she certainly had a soft touch. She managed to get the bullet out in one go while he was lucky it hadn’t shattered into a million little pieces.

His arm burned by the time Feyre got to suturing, and all he wanted to do was lay down. Dried blood coated his upper half and stained his shorts, the towel beneath his feet, and likely the white tile, too.

“Can you stand?” Feyre whispered, brushing her fingers against his jaw.

“Of course,” he lied. “Go get dressed.” But he couldn’t. Rhys wobbled the moment he tried, flinging out his hand to hold the wall so he didn’t fall backward. His whole body trembled from the dull, throbbing pain from his wound that seemed to echo in his skull.

He didn’t know how long he stood there. Only that Feyre returned, more blur than woman, and led him out.

“You can go,” Rhys whispered as he collapsed to the bed, too heavy to move. His eye lids were iron, unwilling to open once they’d shut. “You should go.”

The blackness ate away at him before he heard what she said in response.

And then he was lost.

FEYRE:

Rhys was a big man.

She’d never really thought about it before he’d collapsed onto the bed, shirtless and bloody. A dull roaring filled Feyre’s ears as panic threatened to consume her. They couldn’t stay—someone else might be coming. So Feyre forced herself to swallow her fear so she could dress him in a pair of sweatpants and a long-sleeved shirt. She packed him a few things, unsure what he’d want to wear when he woke, and then began the arduous task of dragging his muscular body out to the car.

She did it, though. She put him in the back, her guns in the front, and then herself in the car. “We did it,” she said with a grin, turning toward the road with unrestrained glee. His car had a navigation system and after she thought she was far enough from the cabin, Feyre quickly typed in her destination.

And then she drove. It was strange to be in a car again—for the last five years, Feyre had biked everywhere she went. Tamlin had kept her isolated, perhaps to her benefit at the time. Now, though, Feyre finally felt uncaged. Free, somehow.

Feyre drove through the night without stopping, terrified that she was being tracked at first. After she was certain she wasn’t, Feyre worried about leaving Rhys’s unconscious body in the back of her car. The last thing she needed were the cops pulling them over and realizing who they were.

Sheer will alone would keep Rhys from dying.

He was a predictable man. Rhys woke with a start just before the sun began to rise, peering first out the window before looking between the seats at her.

“You’re still here,” he rasped. Feyre smothered her smile.

“Did you think I’d leave you to die?”

“Expected it, actually,” Rhys replied with a grimace. “Where are we?”

“Nevada,” Feyre replied with a grin.

Rhys blinked. “Why?”

“Oh, are you coy now?” Feyre half teased. “Why else would I be here?”

“Feyre—”

“I realized something,” she interrupted, uninterested in his attempts at nobility. It was too late now. “When you were down and I thought you were dead, it occurred to me that I didn’t want you dead. I want to keep talking to you, Rhys. And I know this whole situation is a mess, but I think I might be falling in love with you.”

“Oh, thank God,” he panted, resting his chin on the seat of her chair.

“Plus, I figured this was the only way you’d agree to take me home.”

“You know me so well, darling.”

“Now it's your turn,” Feyre murmured, needing a distraction from the decision she was about to make. “Tell me about your life.”

Rhys settled back against the seat with a soft groan and began to talk. Feyre half listened, mind occasionally wandering to her sisters. She could bring them all back together…though what would they say when they realized the last five years had been for nothing? She trusted them not to betray her, but didn’t trust they wouldn’t shun her.

Nesta, at least.

“What happened after your sister died?” Feyre questioned, wincing at the story of how she’d been shot in the back after his mother had been executed by a rival family.

“Dad went berserk,” Rhys murmured, eyes dark. “He wanted revenge which made him reckless. He died to a bullet, to…and I took over.”

“That must have been hard.”

Rhys shrugged. “Not as hard as you’re imagining. I miss my family, but I was groomed for this. Work is easy.”

“The last five years have been easy?” she questioned.

Rhys smiled. “Frustrating, I suppose…but I found you, didn’t I? Was it all worth it, Feyre?”

“Yeah,” she replied, unsure if that was true or not. There was no reason to give him the satisfaction of being right. “I’d do it all over again.”

Rhys liked that answer, murmuring something about foreplay. It was the perfect time to stop, get a marriage license, and then have a quick, quiet courthouse wedding. Rhys swore up and down he didn’t want anything flashy or big which suited Feyre more than fine. She hated to be the center of attention.

“I want to fly home,” Feyre whispered to him later that night when they were alone, pretending like neither one of them wanted to peel the other out of their clothes. “And I want you to tell your friends to let my sisters come home.”

“What else do you want?” Rhys asked her, fingers laced with hers as he kissed her fingertips.

“If you ever step out of this marriage, I’ll have your balls.”

Rhys chuckled. “I think that’s reasonable.”

There was no question if he needed to issue the same threat. Feyre wondered if Rhys was merely willing to tolerate her indiscretions or if he merely assumed she never would. Feyre knew Rhys well enough to assume if he ever caught her, he’d execute the unlucky man without sparing a second thought.

It should have bothered her and yet it didn’t. Maybe, she thought, she was just as messed up as he was. Maybe worse, because Feyre found herself rolling over to look at him.

“How is your shoulder?” she questioned.

“Fine,” he lied, eyes sharp with hunger.

“Oh? I guess you don’t need me to take care of you, then?” she asked, sliding her leg over his waist. Rhys swallowed.

“You ah…could check,” he said. Feyre straddled him, pushing the hem of his shirt upward over his chest before gently pulling it over his head. She was careful with his injured shoulder, removing that sleeve last so he didn’t have to raise it over his head.

Rhys merely watched, eyes wide while he waited to see what was about to happen. Perhaps this was the moment Feyre would pull out her knife and kill him. Feyre didn’t have a knife on her and the guns she’d stolen were hidden in the hotel room they were staying in, far out of reach.

She merely kissed the wound.

“You can be sweet when you want to be,” Rhys breathed, his good hand resting on her hip.

“Don’t get used to it.”

“Why not?” he replied, arching her neck as she pressed a kiss against the hollow of his throat.

“I want to see you live to old age, which means keeping you sharp.”

Rhys sucked in a shuddering breath, relaxing as she crawled down his body. It felt good not to pretend anymore—to just give in to the life that had always been waiting for her. Maybe she’d regret this in another five years.

But maybe not.

She didn’t right then, as she licked a path down his stomach toward the erection she knew was waiting for her. Rhys seemed to be perpetually aroused and today was no exception.

“Feyre,” he breathed as she pulled his cock from his shorts. “Come back here—”

“Stop talking,” she ordered, just before licking a stripe up his shaft. Rhys moaned, lifting his hips in the air. It was tempting to stop and ask him how often he’d fantasized about this. She didn’t. He’d tell her when they finished, if only because Rhys loved to talk more than he loved anything else. He told her his every thought, sometimes as he was thinking them.

Feyre liked that about him.

“Is this what you want?” she whispered, teasing the blunt head with her tongue.

“Yes,” he all but pleaded.

Feyre took him in her mouth like she’d done the first time, though she wasn’t hanging upside down. Stretching her jaw to accommodate him, Feyre watched through half lidded eyes to gauge his pleasure. In turn, Rhys watched her. He gathered her hair up in his hands, wincing from his wound. It clearly wasn’t painful enough to stop him and Feyre wasn’t going to demand it of him, either.

She wanted to make him feel good, easing her own mind after the day she’d had. She hadn’t told him how she’d had to drag him out to the car, assuming he understood how he’d gotten there. It didn’t make the experience any less harrowing.

Feyre worked on taking him deeper, until his cock was lodged in her throat as she softly gagged around him. Rhys swept his thumb over her jaw before moving his hand to her throat as she took him again, feeling himself through her skin.

“Fuck,” he whispered, keeping his hand loosely wrapped around her. He should have let her continue given how much he was obviously enjoying himself, but he didn't. Rhys tugged her, pulling her mouth off his cock so abruptly that strings of saliva came with her.

“Rhys,” she protested as he lifted his hips, trying to line himself up with her own body.

“Please,” he said in response, finding his target. Rhys slid into her with a fluid motion, both hands on her hips to guide her. “Take off your shirt.”

It was all she was wearing. Feyre had become used to wearing Rhys’s shirts and rather liked it, though she’d never admit it. In that moment, Feyre was happy to comply. She tossed her shirt to the floor as Rhys’s hands slid up her body to cup her breasts.

“You’re so fucking pretty, baby. Do you know that?”

Feyre only moaned, rocking her hips against him. While Rhys tried to touch her everywhere all at once, Feyre merely dug her nails into his broad chest and continued moving against him. Every time Feyre and Rhys met, her clit brushed against his skin causing her to tighten around him.

“You feel so good,” Rhys whined, arching his back. “This is my pussy now.”

It was an absurd thing to say and only a man like Rhys could pull it off. Rising up so Feyre was fully in his lap, Rhys pressed them chest to chest.

“You’re my wife,” he whispered against her neck. “Tell me you love me.”

“Rhys—”

His teeth grazed her throat. “Say it.”

“I love you,” she gasped after a particularly brutal thrust that left her brainless. Rhys kissed her, hands bracing her ass so he was doing most of the work. Somewhere in the very back of her mind, Feyre knew his arm must have been killing him.

Gripping the back of his hair, Feyre pulled Rhys back just enough to force him to look at her. “Now you.” He moaned, “I love you.”

That was enough to send them both careening over the edge, gasping and kissing long after her orgasm had faded. If they had neighbors on either side, they had surely heard everything…and would hear more as they night went on. Who needed sleep, anyway?

Who needed anything at all, beyond the man in front of her.

“Rhys?” she murmured, chin resting on his uninjured shoulder. “Will you do something for me?”

“Anything. Just name it.”

“Take me home.”

Rhys smiled, face pressed to her hair. “You got it, baby.”

#feysand #i literally finished this so i could start working on nessian seriously #also warning for egregious use of the word baby #and for rhys saying something i had to look away from as i typed #it embarrassed me hahaha

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nessianweek · 5 months ago

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Nessian Week 2024 Ask Game

Nessian Week 2024 is officially two weeks away! Join us and send creators an emoji to see them answer the corresponding question.

Shoutout to @erisweekofficial for coming up with this wonderful ask game concept ❤️‍🔥

📚 — what’s your favorite Nessian scene in the series?

💍 — what moment made you realize Nessian was IT?

💭 — what’s your favorite Nessian headcanon?

👰‍♀️ — what do you think Nessian's mating ceremony will look like?

✈️ — if Nessian took a honeymoon, where would they go?

🎶 — name a song that gives major Nessian vibes?

🌎 — what’s an Alternate Universe Nessian were just made for?

🎨 — shout out your favorite Nessian art and/or artist!

📝 — shout out your favorite Nessian fic and/or writer!

👶 — how do you see Nessian as parents?

👯‍♀️ — what is a classic Nessian date night?

✍️ — add 50 words onto your wip/sketch for 1 min on your art/add 1 song onto your playlist

🔮 — what predictions do you have for Nessian’s future?

🗣️ — describe your planned fic/art/etc in 3 emojis!

📅 — which day of Nessian Week are you most excited for and why?

🤫 — what missing scene do you wish SJM gave us of Nessian? (other than Cassian visiting Nesta post-Cauldron while Feyre was in spring)

❓ — what question would you ask Nessian if you met them?

💕 — what do you think Nessian's love language is?

✒️ — would Nessian ever get matching tattoos? What do you think they get?

👩‍❤️‍👨 — how would Nessian make up after an argument? NSFW answers encouraged 😏

#nessianweek2024 #nessian #nesta archeron #cassian #acotar #acomaf #acowar #acofas #acosf #pro nessian #pro cassian #pro nesta archeron

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climbthemountain2020 · 15 days ago

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Your Eyes Whisper Have We Met - Bonus Chapter 1

Ch. 28/28 | Ao3

Hello friends!

It is SO good to be back! Nessian is coming in hot, starting this week! You can find their story, the chronological continuation of Your Eyes Whisper Have We Met here. It's called To Know That I'm With You, and I can't wait to share it with you.

@popjunkie42, you are the love of my life. Can't thank you enough for taking on all my insane projects <3

Cassian was flying, his wings at a full extend with the warm sun beating down on them. It was a pleasant day, ideal for flying. The wind was entirely dead in this zone, but he’d caught enough of a draft that he was enjoying coasting, eyes closed as he let his body drift.

Cassian had set out this morning at first light from Day Court. He’d had a lovely stay at the palace right near the southernmost border, Helion so graciously putting him up in a guest suite after offering to share his bed three separate times. Some things even fifty years couldn’t change.

Cassian had left when the sky was still mostly dark, flying as the sun rose to the east of him. He enjoyed the brisk air in his wings as the sky was painted in greys then pastels then deep oranges and purples as it fully rose above him.

He had seen many sunrises in his long life, but something about today felt different. While the colors washed over the horizon and painted his wings, he felt good about the day ahead.

There’d been a nagging in his chest since Rhys had returned, a restlessness that he couldn’t quite scratch out no matter what he tried. At first, he’d chalked it up to being allowed free from the bubble of Velaris after so long trapped inside. And while he’d been able to fly within the confines of his city during the last five decades, he hadn’t really been able to explore the way he was used to.

Once Rhys and Feyre had politely but urgently excused themselves from society to complete their mating bond, Cassian had headed straight to the mountains, needing to feel the snow of Illyria on his skin, the winter winds in his lungs. It had been nice, but it hadn’t helped quell his unease.

He’d wondered if he simply craved the presence of his family together again. And while that had also been nice, he’d still felt an odd tugging, a need to do something different. Be somewhere different.

This trip, though not for any reason he’d have chosen for himself, had provided him with an opportunity to get out and stretch, both physically and mentally. Azriel had offered to winnow him through the courts, but Cassian was excited for the excuse to travel. It was the first time in the last few weeks the aching in his chest had subsided, the ability to breathe almost palpable within him.

Plus, Azriel had already been stretched thin, monitoring Feyre’s other sister and consulting with his network to help find the other one. Cassian knew precious little about the sisters, still. There hadn’t been much time. He wondered how like Feyre they might be, how different. Though he and his brothers weren’t blood related, they functioned as a sibling unit and had since childhood. Similarities in their preferences and nature and gestures and even speech ran deep. But when it came down to their personalities, the things that made them them, the three of them couldn’t be more different.

Rhys had given him the briefest of rundowns in his office the day before, explaining the situation. He took a moment to show Cassian a memory of Feyre telling him about Nesta. It had been so long since his brother had regularly been in this mind, the sensation was both foreign and exhilarating. He’d missed him so much over the last half century that it felt like an open wound finally starting to smooth over and heal.

He saw Feyre’s kind face, her brows furrowed and mind thinking.

“Nesta is….diferent from other people.” Feyre spoke slowly, as though choosing the words carefully. “She raised us, after our mother passed. Made sure we were cared for when she was barely older than a child herself. She didn’t have the opportunity. She was always to carry on the wealth, the bloodline, and raise us, too.”

Feyre looked a bit sad at this. “It made her hard. She took her promises seriously, perhaps too seriously. And I think she hid herself away in the process. She took every piece of her, things I barely remember from being so young, and she tucked each away in favor of everyone around her. She built a wall to protect us, to protect herself, and I think it’s been so long now that she isn’t quite sure anymore how to deconstruct it.”

It was Rhys’s voice in his mind now, though the softness of it let Cassian know he was still in the memory. Rhys was speaking to Feyre.

“What is she protecting herself from?”

“Feeling. She feels too much, feels everything. And from the time she could talk, she was told not to. She was told it was a weakness, and she built herself entirely around that premise. Nesta doesn’t trust, not even Elain and I. She is distant and cold because she knows if she isn’t, then she can be hurt.”

He heard Rhys hum. “Even those with a mask and walls can be hurt deeply, darling.”

“I know that,” she murmured, her hand coming up to touch his face. “But she never let me in the way you did.”

Cassian could hear his brother’s soft chuckle, full of affection, full of love and gratitude. It soothed something within Cassian to know that Rhys had found this.

“Perhaps she needs to find someone as you did,” Feyre suggested. “Someone patient enough to break down those walls.”

“Or stubborn enough,” Rhys cracked back teasingly, his laugh emerging as Feyre smacked his chest.

“Or that.”

The memory faded, hazy and twirling, from Cassian’s view. Rhys was waiting for him with imploring eyes.

“Don’t all siblings describe each other as difficult?” Cassian deadpanned, drawing a mirroring thwack on the shoulder from Rhys.

“Perhaps, but I think Nesta is a different case. Feyre said she was supportive of her leaving. Part of me wonders if the glamour didn’t work and she went after her sister.”

Cassian sat back at that. “A glamour not working on a human?”

Rhys shrugged, but Cassian had known him long enough to not buy his nonchalance. “It’s not unheard of.”

Cassian knew the entire story of Feyre and Rhys; they’d told it a few times since they’d returned home. If a forest witch strong enough to give Feyre the powers of the High Lords had put a glamour over Feyre’s family, it should have worked. Especially on a human.

Rhys leaned back onto his desk, scrubbing his hand down his face. He looked tired.

“I don’t know if it didn’t work, or if something with a greater magic than mine took her from that house. Either way, she’s gone. The other sister and all the staff seem to think both Feyre and Nesta are with their Great Aunt Ripleigh, a woman who I don’t believe exists,” he gestured out the broad windows overlooking the city. “For obvious reasons.”

Cassian snorted. “Some glamour.”

Rhys raised his brows in tired agreement. “Regardless, this means Nesta is missing. And while I have Azriel working with his spies to see what he can uncover, I’d like to have some feet on the ground, too.”

“You want me to go looking?” Cassian was mildly surprised. Azriel was usually the go to for anything dealing with humans or travel, simply because of his easy ability to travel and stay hidden.

“I do. I think that it would be helpful to scan the area where Elain believes their aunt’s house to be. If you’re amiable. I know it’s a bit of a flight.”

Cassian didn’t think twice. “Yes. I’ll go. You have the location?” Rhys handed him a small note with rough coordinates and some scrawled directions below it.

“Bring her back here if you find her. Feyre will be worried once she finds out.”

“She doesn’t know?” That surprised Cassian.

“I’m getting breakfast with her soon. I wanted to tell her once I had a plan in place. She’s liable to sprout wings and take off herself if I don’t have one at the ready.” He smiled and it was filled with no annoyance whatsoever despite his statement. Only love-struck affection settled on his brother’s face.

“Does she know what we are? What Feyre is now?”

Rhys pursed his lips as he hid a wince. “No.”

That could be an issue.

“How do you expect me to convince a mortal to come here? She’s going to take one look at my wings and run screaming in the other direction.” He thought of the memory Rhys had shown him and huffed a laugh. “Or hit me with something.”

Rhys echoed an amused smile back. “I’ve never known you to be afraid of a challenge, Cass.”

“It’s not every day you get to tell a mortal about the presence behind The Wall.”

Rhys extended his mind out once again, and Cassian granted him entry without thinking, the image flickering to life before his eyes. Another memory, but hazier this time, as though it had been Feyre’s as a human. The people were blurry, too blurry to see, but the words were sharp.

I always knew you weren’t meant for this place.

The voice sounded like Feyre’s but deeper, harsher. The words, despite their denotation, didn’t sound malicious. They sounded strangely supportive.

Rhys pulled back from his mind, the hazy images and the enchanting voice faded into nothing again. “It’s the only memory Feyre has shared with me of them from before. Perhaps you could convince her with their parting line.”

It wasn’t a bad idea.

Rhys pushed to stand, crossing to where Cassian sat and putting a hand on his arm. “This is important to Feyre, so it’s important to me.”

He clapped a hand over Rhys’s. “Then it is important to me, too.”

Rhys smiled down at him, his eyes looking brighter already.

In the early hours of their return, Rhys had looked haunted, his eyes almost empty any time he began to slip away from what was happening in front of him. If he was focused on the conversation, his family, or Feyre, there was a brightness there, a joy. But the second the attention fell off him, Cassian could see his eyes glazing, hollowing. There was a look to them that Cassian recognized from warriors on the battlefield. Not quite dead, but those who may never be fully alive again either.

It had scared him shitless.

After Rhys and Feyre had mated and married and returned, the hollow look hadn’t appeared again. The frown lines on Rhys’s face had smoothed, and he seemed more wholly there. Cassian could see the good that Feyre did for him, the true sense of safety and joy that she brought to his brother’s heart.

Cassian’s relief had been immense.

If he was being honest, when the wards had first been lifted and Feyre and Rhys had returned, Cassian was scared Rhys wouldn’t recover from what he’d experienced under Amarantha– would never be able to process what he’d been through. It had put a knife straight through Cassian’s heart, compounding the guilt he’d already felt being in Velaris all this time. And that came with an entirely different set of emotions, too.

They hadn’t gotten news from the outside in those fifty years, had no idea how long they’d be trapped, or what was happening with Amarantha. The city had carried on, as it always had. Self sustaining–its own bubble. And they had remained.

After the panicked message from Rhys, the resulting wards closing in, and the absolute silence that followed, Cassian had needed to grapple through many nights of complex feelings.

Could he be angry with his brother for doing the only thing he could think of to keep them safe? For trapping them here?

Had he considered what would happen to them if he’d died there?

The thought was too macabre from every possible viewpoint to even imagine.

Rhys had done everything in his power for the purposes of keeping his family safe. It was a debt Cassian could never repay–that Rhys would never expect him to repay–which made the difficult feelings he had on it worse.

Perhaps that was the crux of why Cassian needed to get out of Velaris and fly. Feel the wind under his vast wings and watch the sun arching across the sky from a new vantage point. That strangling feeling in his chest might very well be a need to prove he could leave now if he needed to.

Cassian could never hold it against Rhys, would never speak to him about it either. He had his brother back, and a new sister to boot. He could not repay him, and he might never understand the full complexities of his feelings on the situation, but Cassian could do this. He could let him heal, give him just a fraction of what Rhys had given to keep them safe.

He could run a simple errand to track down a mortal girl.

And Cassian liked Feyre. Not just for the fact that she’d saved his brother and everyone else, but for the person she was. She was kind and smart and funny. She would make a wonderful High Lady. She didn’t take things too seriously, and her values matched Rhys’s. Her heart was in the right place. He’d yet to broach the topic of Illyria, their work in which had obviously stalled and halted while Amarantha ran amok in Prythian, but he imagined Feyre would be on his side in the initiative with full support.

Another sore topic he probably shouldn’t think too hard on while focusing on flying.

But Feyre was wonderful, exactly the kind of person Cassian hoped Rhys would find one day. She tested him, teased him, didn’t let him get away with his bullshit. They all adored her, and family dinners had a spark to them that filled Cassian with such joy he was fit to burst.

It was hard to imagine someone as closely related to her described as being prickly.

Nesta Archeron.

He rolled the name in his head and it stuck.

He had to start thinking about how he might convince her to return with him.

If he even found her.

Even if he found the house she supposedly was staying in, who knew if Nesta would even still be there? Going back to Velaris empty-handed would be unacceptable by his own standards, even if Rhys would understand. Perhaps, if he found the location empty, he could backtrack to the Archeron manor. He had the location for that, too, and it wouldn’t take much. He’d need to be careful about his travels once he passed The Wall, though. His wings weren’t exactly subtle.

But Cassian would leave no stone unturned, would not return without at least something to give them.

He raked a hand through his hair as he flew. In the meantime, he could enjoy the trip. He’d never take flying for granted, the gift granted to him by birthright. He didn’t care for much of his ancestry, the traditions and standards archaic and brutal, but of his wings he was proud.

Today would require a lot of them. The sun was high in the sky, and he was only just now coursing over The Middle. He couldn’t stop in Autumn or Spring safely, so he’d be flying long into the night to get to The Human Lands. He looked forward to soaring among the stars, though. Though his wings would be tired by then, and were sure to be aching and sore the next day, he would forge ahead. He hadn’t really been able to push himself or his endurance in so long–he was looking forward to the thrill of shaking off the dust and exhausting himself.

He looked down into the dense pack of fog below. He hated it here. Even before Amarantha’s rule, The Middle had been a place for people to avoid at all costs. There were monsters and creatures here beyond the comprehension of even the most ancient fae. Anyone with sense steered far away from it if they could. The looming mountaintop hovered over the clouds and mist, a sense of “other” tangible beneath him. But unless he wanted to fly over the ocean, there was no avoiding the horrid strip of land that separated the north and south of Prythian.

Suddenly, Cassian veered violently, his altitude dropping until his wings snapped out on instinct to catch himself. He righted himself quickly, pulling up and flapping his wings in suspension. There hadn’t been a draft or any wind that he’d seen. Above the heavy fog banks, the sun was warm on his wings, and the treetops pushing from the clouds below were entirely still. He didn’t feel any breeze on his skin.

He furrowed his brow.

Had he banked off a force field or some undetected magic? He ruffled his wings and searched for any errant spells, but nothing felt amiss.

Odd.

He began to fly again. But before too long, he banked hard again, his left wing tipping down just enough to drop him abruptly as though it wanted him to land.

What the fuck?

His chest burned, that tugging ache that had been plaguing him amplifying into something near painful. Cassian tried to suppress the panic bubbling through him.

Am I injured?

Has my body been trying to tell me all month and I’ve just been ignoring it?

Fae weren’t known to have heart afflictions, but gods knew he’d seen enough to not rule it out. Heat spread from his ribs like a pulled muscle, a strange feeling like separation catching his breath and nearly choking him.

Fuck me.

He needed to find somewhere to stop, somewhere to land.

How close am I to Winter?

He scanned the horizon quickly. The snow capped mountains were distant, but he could make it if he pushed. Kallias would easily recognize him, give him a place to stay even if he had to message Rhys and ask for a few extra days. At least long enough to see a healer and assess what the fuck was happening to him.

He pressed on, pulling hard on the muscles of his back to cover as much distance as possible in the shortest amount of time. Only a few seconds more and his body was banking hard towards the fog again.

What in the Cauldron's name is this?

Then Cassian heard the scream.

He felt it like a lightning strike, a current through his entire being. It split the air with a pain so vivid that it felt tangible. He could nearly taste blood in his mouth.

It was the scream of a female, and every nerve ending within him stood on end.

Some primal instinct within him overrode all else, every bit of training in him rioting at the discordant chaos suddenly filling his mind.

Protect, protect, protect.

The words slammed his chest like the beating of his heart.

Without another thought, Cassian dove, plunging through the thick clouds and headlong into the forest below.

#feysand #acotar #acotar fics #feyre and rhysand #a court of thorns and roses #Your Eyes Whisper Have We Met #acotar au #fated mates #acotar retelling #under the mountain feysand #cassian #acotar cassian #nessian #nesta archeron #to know that I'm with you

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