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seeingivy · 9 months ago

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picnic

sukuna x f!reader

**part of my best friend's older brother fic

previous part linked here

(^^make sure you check since this was a double upload and I posted the last one very recently :D)

dear head of the cullen clan, keep evening plans open – im getting off work early and we’re going on a picnic. coldest regards, the head of the volturi (ps. am expecting a very wholehearted appreciation for the fact that it’s coldest regards and not warmest regards, because they are, in fact, vampires and therefore cold. because they don’t have a heart and such.) (extra ps. this is a link to a shared spotify playlist. i’ll add a song and then you add one. we’ll keep it going.)

you snort.

dear aro of the volturi (does he have a last name???), so much to unpack in one email, yet again. you really know how to keep a girl on her toes. first and foremost, you are SOOOO ran through. so offended that i wasn’t the person who got to put you on to twilight and whoever it was, I HOEP SHE DIES! if you’re team jacob, you’re a freak. second, SO VERY FLATTERED that you think i would be carlisle. a little haunting that you think YOU would be aro…but it’s ok cuz former companions to enemies back to lovers in our case would be kind of crazy??? third. done and done. i just added a song so hurry up bc i have like ten other songs i want to add and i am #impatient see u after work pookie :D, carlisle cullen (very appreciative of the cold regards. you are a king among men.)

his response back is very prompt.

Never call me pookie again. (very offended that you think i’d be stupid enough to be team jacob. and direct your murderous rage towards yuuji and my mom, who forced me to watch it in theaters with them.)

you wait for sukuna at the park two blocks down the apartment complex. the sun is hours away from dipping into the horizon, the chilly wind rustling through the trees. you realize now that the red skirt and white sweater might betray you in a few hours but decide that you’ll simply have to steal his jacket when he gets here.

and you would have already but he’s twenty minutes late.

and while this part of the city is extremely safe, sukuna’s ever constant fear of people attacking you on subway trains and stabbing you in alleyways has instilled an acute fear of strangers in you, which is why you’re gripping the sparkly pink pepper spray he bought you very harshly in your palm right now.

you think it’s sweet that he bought you a pink one.

but of course it’s severely ironic that you almost used it on him.

because he scares the living daylights out of you, by placing his hand around your shoulder from behind.

“hey. i’m sorry i-”

“jesus fuck-”

you instinctively hold the pepper spray up to his face, your hands shaking in front of you.

“i’ll use it, you pervert!”

sukuna leans his head to the side, which is when you’re finally able to log that it’s actually him standing in front of you and not a stranger, and you drop your hands in embarrassment.

“i mean, i’d really appreciate it if you wouldn’t doll face but–”

“oh my god, sukuna. i thought you were trying to rob me!”

“i’m smarter than that. the only thing inside your purse is lip gloss, which has very little value to me.” sukuna responds, dropping the little basket at his feet and taking the little stalk of flowers out of the top handle.

“i’ll have you know that it’s actually sold out in every store right now. so you could make bank if you sold it.”

“don’t tempt me. and for your sake, i’ll accept the apology you didn’t give me for just trying to rob me of my eyesight and for calling me a pervert? i’m getting really tired of the age gap jokes, y/n.” sukuna responds, as he lifts your hands at your sides and places the stalk of flowers in your hand.

you give him a big smile as you press your nose to the flowers, the scent fresh in your nose. and sukuna props down, setting a billowing white blanket on the ground before he taps the spot next to him and signals for you to sit next to him.

“who needs eyes?” you joke, as you squeeze his hands and set the flowers down next to the little basket.

“me, dipshit. how else am i supposed to look at you?”

you cover your hands with your cheeks as you watch him place all of the little things inside the basket next to you, laying them out perfectly. it’s albeit a weird assortment – two wine glasses, perfectly wrapped sandwiches, a mini-cake, and strawberry lemonade.

“well, stop perceiving me. this is so weird!” you murmur.

it’s enough to catch his attention and stop him in his tracks.

“what?”

the question makes you pause. and a little embarrassed. it was a little harsh to say while you were joking.

“oh, i mean…i didn’t mean it like that! i was making a joke about perceiving because eyes…vision…and i almost took your vision away! and you perceive with your eyes, because how else would you see…”

sukuna smiles, before shaking his head, and continuing spilling out the last of the contents – a set of gouache paints and two little small canvases. and he drops to his feet, yanking his shoes off, before sitting flat on the blanket and gesturing for you to join him.

“there’s no way in hell that was what you meant. but we’ll ignore that for the time being.” sukuna responds, hiking his legs to his chest and gesturing towards the spread he just put out.

you tilt your head to the side in confusion.

“you look very pretty today.” sukuna responds.

“thanks! you too!”

he narrows his eyes.

“uh huh. well, pick what we do first. the paint, the sandwiches, or the weird wine glass cake.”

“the wine glass cake? like from tiktok?” you ask.

“correct. i’m really bad at…cute dates. so…i did some research.”

sukuna refuses to look at you. because after admitting it, he’s suddenly busied himself with reading the back of the box of paints, like it’s the most riveting, intriguing thing he’s ever read in his life.

but the pink flush that’s creeping down his neck betrays him entirely, as you reach forward and push the little box down. and sukuna’s already glaring at you.

you place your chin on the top of his knees, reaching for one of his hands and smiling.

“you did research for a date?”

“you can choke on your spit.”

you grin.

“you really know how to turn a girl on.”

“you’re filthy.”

you grin.

“and you’re actually so precious, i–”

“don’t call me precious, y/n.” he whines, as he reaches forward to flick on your forehead.

you smile as you sit by his side, tucking the folds of your skirt under your leg as you reach for both of the wine glasses and hand him one.

“so how humbling was it to have satoru explain all this to you?” you ask.

he sneers.

“don’t even ask. he’s like the biggest nuisance i’ve ever met in my life. top ten worst moments of my life.” sukuna responds.

“i’m flattered you humbled yourself to him for me.”

“i actually asked suguru. they’re like…two peas in a pod, they can’t do shit without each other. the paints and stuff they gave me and the nice basket too.”

“that’s sweet of them. remind me to send them something later to thank them.”

sukuna scoffs.

“no need. they were more than happy to give it up for you.”

“ah yes. i hear they’re big fans of this camping bag story. the scouts honor and the fake story we had to tell them makes a lot more sense now.” you respond.

sukuna rolls his eyes.

“okay, you know what? sue me. i was like sixteen sleeping next to a girl for the first time. god forbid i enjoyed myself. and i don’t know why they’re all so hyperfixated on that story because it was a very normal thing to assume when you’re asked that question.”

you snort.

“and you say you’re not a pervert…”

sukuna leans forward, his eyes flitting down to his lips before he looks back up at you. and he can tell that you’re in a mood, that you’re trying to push his buttons by annoying him.

“you know i despise you right?” he whispers.

you grin, leaning in.

“is that right?” you whisper back.

“oh yeah. you irritate me.”

there isn’t even a shred of earnestness in the words he’s uttering. you know he doesn’t mean them.

“keep going.” you respond, as he presses a warm kiss to the side of your cheek.

“you’re a nuisance.” – a kiss to your forehead.

“an irritation.” – a kiss to the tip of your nose.

“like a fucking thorn in my side.” – and a kiss to the sweet spot right in your neck and his hand snaking up your thigh, which makes you nearly keel your head back from the sensation.

you place your hands on his cheek and pull him back, face flushed and his eyes nearly glazed over.

“are you crazy?” you whisper.

“what?” he asks.

“we’re in public, dumbass. you can’t just start trying to rile me up.”

sukuna leans back, obliging.

“so you admit it? i was riling you up?”

“oh, shut up.”

you reach for the sandwiches and unpeel one for sukuna. before he takes it, he places a tiny white box in your lap.

you frown. first the fancy date but the jewelry too?

“sukuna. you didn’t–”

“just open it. i’m impatient and i’ve been waiting all day. and i actually think you’ll like it. otherwise, you’re ungrateful and rude and you hate me.” sukuna responds.

you give him a tight lipped smile before you open the little box and actually smile.

it’s a dainty silver chain – the exact same as sukuna’s from the chain-links, but the build is a little thinner. and right at the center, a little charm of a star.

you reach forward for his chain, dangling around his collarbone. and surely enough, in addition to the original charm he had of an interlocked circle, there’s a star charm added right next to it.

“you always reach for it. when you’re talking or when we’re kissing. figured i’d get you your own since you’re such a big fan.”

“you are so…”

“perfect? sexy? the father of your children?”

“i was thinking adorable. can i answer d for all of the above?” you respond.

sukuna grins.

“survey says yes, princess.” he responds.

you yank the chain from the little box and hand it to him, before turning around for him to secure it on you. his fingers tickle against the nape of your neck, accompanied by a warm kiss, before he taps your shoulders to signify that he’s done.

“you know. you really are perceiving me right now.” you respond.

“and how’s that?”

“i know you’re obsessed with me and pay attention to every word i say.”

sukuna smiles.

“obviously.”

you jab at his side.

“i mean, i know you’re doing this because i mentioned picnics yesterday and always feeling left out. sure you could put two and two together that he never really bought me any nice gifts or anything when i said he ruined my birthday.”

“okay, captain obvious. and?”

you shove him once more, before leaning your head against his shoulder.

“well, i appreciate it. i know the whole…cutesy painting date isn’t your thing. we won’t have to do it again. and that you…you’re trying to make this whole thing special for me.”

sukuna scoffs.

“i’m offended. first and foremost, i always like to eat with you. every time i think that there’s no way you can amaze me more, you find another way to spill food on your clothes.”

“hey! that’s not true.”

“you already spilled on the blanket. second, this is a very violent way to eat cake. you literally mess up all the layers by doing that and destroy the piping on the cake which i can admit, i am a fan of. and third, i’m going to paint us as worms, which seems enjoyable to me.”

you curl your nose.

“worms?”

“yeah. what were you going to paint?”

“i don’t know. but it certainly wasn’t going to be worms. like the park or flowers or something.”

“boring. i’m going to paint us as slimy worms. and because we made it on this date, you’ll have to agree to put it up in the apartment, even if it’s ugly.”

“sukuna.” you whine.

“especially if it’s ugly. it’s a testament to our love.” he responds, dramatically placing his hands on his chest.

“you know, you’re so right. worms have been a really defining feature of your relationship.”

sukuna leans forward and presses a quick kiss to your lips and an additional one on your cheek.

“you just get me, princess!”

and he breaks the little joke by lifting one of your hands to his lips, and pressing a kiss on all four of your knuckles before pressing your hand to his cheek.

“and i have to do special things for a special person.”

you return the gesture, lifting his tattooed fingers to your lips and doing the same.

“you know…you’re really good at this type of thing.” you murmur.

“what do you mean?”

“i mean, being a boyfriend. and…and being supportive about everything. sometimes i feel like i’m trying really hard to be the best but…just comes naturally to you.” you respond.

sukuna shrugs.

“don’t know if i’m perfect but…loving you has always come really easy to me. i don’t really have to think twice about it because these are actually just things i want to do for you.”

you groan.

“see! that’s what i’m saying! you always just…say sweet things, do sweet things. sometimes i’m convinced i’m not even half deserving of it, just because sometimes i don’t reciprocate that back.” you respond.

sukuna leans forward.

“you know, you actually do though.”

“as if.” you groan.

sukuna pauses, before leaning his cheek against the tops of his knees and looking out at the expanse of grass in front of you. you follow his line of vision – to the dog running in the distance, the wide, billowing trees, and the little flower truck on the side – which you now realize is where sukuna copped the flowers from earlier.

“i mean, this type of thing. that we have, or…or the way i act around you. it means a lot to you because, you…you’ve never had this before. right?”

“yeah.”

“well, i haven’t had you before. i know you see me as perfect, but…but when you say that i can tell that you don’t mean it the way my mom or…or yuuji think that i’m perfect. in the untouchable way.”

you lean forward, cupping the side of his face.

“sukuna. you’re so touchable.” you joke.

“you’re disgusting.”

“you love it.”

sukuna smiles.

“yeah, i really do. it does actually mean the world to me that you think i’m perfect how i am and don’t think i’m larger than life.”

“if anything, your ego could be smaller.”

sukuna leans forward and presses a kiss to your cheek.

“and…and even the other day. i know you were acting squirrely and weird when yuuji was near us and heard us bickering, but i was half convinced that you were going to take his side at the end, when he started saying that stuff about me. because it is true and i have acted a certain way in the past…and, you would have every right to agree with him if you wanted to.”

you frown.

“no, i wouldn’t. you’ve never treated me like that and i know you’re being earnest when you say these things to me. this would be a very elaborate way to get into my pants if that was what you were trying to do. and i know it’s not.”

sukuna smiles.

“that’s what i’m saying. every other person for me has never given me that benefit of the doubt, but you always do. you were the person who thought to tell me that my grandpa died when you all came to get me and you were the one who wasn’t mad at me. the things you do for me are the same, in equal magnitude, as what i do for you. if this makes you feel good, or…or on top of the world, you have to know that’s how you make me feel too. i’m half convinced that you’re basically made for me at this point the way you get everything right on point.”

you lean forward and press a lingering kiss to his lips.

“i really think you’re made for me too, ryomen.”

sukuna groans, dramatically leaning his head back, before nearly pushing you over and peppering kisses to almost every surface on your face.

“quit fucking saying my name. you have no idea what that does to me.”

“i mean, i think i have an idea.”

sukuna clamps his fingers over your mouth, before pressing a few more lingering kisses to your face and pushing off. and subsequently, picks all of the grass out of your hair as you roll your eyes.

and after that sukuna, admittedly, very aggressively uses the wine glasses to portion off little slices of the cake and makes it a point to finish off yours when you can’t stomach the sweetness. and true to his promise – sukuna paints the two of you as worms, but at the park, stargazing.

it’s a little silly, the way he paints it. you were expecting it to be more gory or gross, but it’s so corny that it makes you smile. because he draws the two little worms, but distinguishes between the two of you, by swiping some of your pink paint and adding a little ribbon to the one that’s supposed to be you.

sukuna explains the stars. because before sukuna had dragged you out of that shitty bathroom bar, it’s what megumi and yuuji said in his drunken mess – he had pointed at two little stars and likened them to him and megumi.

and you’re almost positive that at the time, sukuna found it utterly ridiculous. but now, he understood it – the sentiment. that you and sukuna were two little worms, and two stars, and two little flowers too.

and to his promise, the two of you decide to place the little canvases you drew at the end of the kitchen counter.

it’s only then that you realize that you have to go the whole ten miles for sukuna the way he had done for you – countless times again. and that if you were going in blind in trying to make something special, you’d have to take a page out of his book and do some research.

and there was only one person who could really help you, who you’d rather die than humble yourself to than ask for help.

regardless of that, you still call sammy the next morning.

next part linked here

an: they're about to do it. anyways....there is a very real playlist to match the one that they talk about in the fic -- and it matches the way it described in the fic! so it's interleaved, the first song is a song that sukuna would have added, the second one that y/n added, the third sukuna, so on and so forth. it's linked here! happy listening babies

second an: thank you for the love on the last chapter. it makes my heart really warm bc all of that was actually based on a REAL MAN and real things that I have felt/have said to me and just having people comment that they felt seen by it or it made them feel a certain type of way actually made me really happy and so warm. this blog was one of the first things I did after I stopped being really, really sad and i'm glad that i'm able to share a little joy here and there, if that's what this fic is for you. anyways this is long and sappy and gross and actually I just love you all for enduring the ouchies and the sillies with me a little bit 💌

third an: double upload bc yall were so patient with me :D

taglist: @porridgesblog @k0z3me @kayleegomez @yihona-san06 @sweetenertea @skzismyhome @mykyoon @violetmatcha @rebeccawinters @shotenvinsoot @itzmeme @gojoswifeyyys-world @cutiejg @chilichopsticks @ghostreadersthings @charlie-xo @whoami-72 @heijihattorisgf @megu-meow @complexivelovely @multiplefandomthings @hoebuns @lzaj19 @glossygreene @ramluvr @sureconfused @najaemism @manduse @imhorn1help @gamergirl5125 @r0ckst4rjk @invisible-mori @isaacdaknight @wishmemel @gyros-cum-sock @suftsunshine @i0099 @cowgirlikets @haitanibros0007 @stuffeddeer @yoontaedotin @ec3lipsy @armani79 @awkwardaardvarkforever @kereseth @leave-rae-alone @ruruvia @princess-ackerman @jjkwritingss @lilkiwikiara @opchara @telepathicheartss @starriesworlds @raechu11 @exprimidordefresas @nxxrxm @aalloochaat @strangehuman101 @tzutology

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wolfjackle-creates · 3 months ago

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I took part in the Demon Twins Who Wrote That game over on the Haunting Heroes DPxDC server and author reveals were today. So now I can finally post the fic I wrote for it!

No Place Left to Hide

Danny is on the run. He wants nothing more than to see his family, but they're out of his reach at the moment. Then he sees a magazine article and accompanying photo of Damian Wayne. His long-lost twin brother. Maybe he does have some family he can check on. Just to spy from a distance, of course. Getting too close would only make his situation worse. But when he gets caught in the halls of Gotham Academy, he might not have a choice in the matter.

AO3 Link

Word Count: 3.1k

Rating: T

Warning: a trans Danny mentions his deadname to Damian

-----

Danny stared down at Gotham Academy. Damian was just inside those walls. All he’d have to do was go intangible and he’d be able to see his twin for the first time in eight years. The thought made his core ache, a throbbing that echoed in his still-healing injuries.

He was descending before ever consciously making the choice to actually see his brother.

It was stupid. What if Damian caught him? Told Talia, or worse, Ra’s? Then it wouldn’t just be the Fentons and the GIW after him, but also the League of Assassins. And he was already injured.

But he had to see. He hadn’t seen Damian in years. Had lived half his life without his twin at this point.

He should leave. He shouldn’t be here at all.

A moment later, he’d phased through the roof and floated invisibly in the middle of a locker-lined hallway. He allowed gravity to once more take control of him and his feet settled on the linoleum floor.

Now, to find Damian. Just to see him, make sure he was safe. The rest of his family were out of his reach; the GIW was monitoring them too closely for Danny to risk visiting. Or even just check in from a distance. And Danny’s core was demanding he check on his loved ones.

He’d been debating risking a visit to them regardless of the risk when he saw the magazine article: Wayne Boy Volunteers at Animal Shelter. The attached picture brought a smile to Danny’s face. One of the few genuine smiles he’d worn since being forced on the run. In it, Damian was glaring at the camera, but his arms were gentle as he cradled a puppy. Behind him stood Bruce Wayne, grinning widely. In the article, Bruce talked about how proud he was of his youngest son and his big heart. Back when they’d been with the League, Danny had been the only one to know of Damian’s gentleness.

Reading the article, seeing the picture had healed something in Danny. Damian had gotten out. Something he’d thought impossible when he left half a lifetime ago.

And now he was here to confirm it. To check on the twin he’d left behind. Make sure he was healthy and safe and happy. He’d never seen Damian be any of those things before. Not beyond fleeting moments carved out in secret.

Though… He looked around the empty hallway and bit his lip. The school was huge and he had no idea what Damian’s schedule looked like. Where should he even start?

Footsteps echoed down the hall and Danny instinctively moved to the side to let whomever it was pass.

Only to feel a hand grip his shoulder.

Danny just barely kept himself from twisting and throwing a punch at the person. He wasn’t able stop himself from jumping a foot in the air, though. And if he hung in the air a bit longer than gravity should’ve allowed, well, Danny could only hope the person gripping his arm didn’t notice.

“Wayne, why are you in the hallways out of uniform rather than in your class?”

Danny blinked in surprise. “What?” he asked. This guy couldn’t actually have mistaken him for Damian, could he have? They weren’t identical twins. They didn’t even have the same skin tone!

Though Danny did suppose he’d gotten more tanned lately. Being on the run meant he was spending much more time outside than normal and he always did tan pretty well, one thing to thank Talia for he supposed.

The hall monitor rolled his eyes. “Where are you supposed to be right now?”

Danny opened his mouth, then shut it again. Should he disappear? But what if the teacher reported it? Would the GIW come to investigate? Would Damian, growing up around Lazarus pits, ping on their sensors?

He stayed put and he stayed silent.

The teacher sniffed and pulled out his phone. After tapping a bit, he announced, “History with Mr. Binder. I’ll accompany you back and we will be contacting your father about this behavior.”

He grabbed Danny’s shoulder again and marched him through the hallways. Danny allowed it, not sure what else to do. And still so desperate to see his brother.

When they reached what must be Damian’s classroom, the man knocked once, then pushed the door open.

“Sorry for the interruption, Mr. Binder. But I found one of your students wandering the hallways.”

Danny had barely glanced inside the classroom when his eyes fell on Damian. Everything else fell away. He didn’t see the other kids, didn’t hear Mr. Binder’s response. All he could see was Damian.

Even sitting, it was clear Damian was taller than Danny. His hair was shorter, his muscles more defined. And he was holding his pencil like it was a dagger he was going to throw through Danny’s throat.

Danny grinned and, speaking a language he’d barely used in eight years, said, “It’s been a long time, brother.”

Damian’s eyes narrowed further, but he kept his posture relaxed. Except for his grip on his pencil. “You’re no brother of mine. Who are you?” asked Damian, also in Arabic.

Danny clutched his hands to his chest. “How could you not remember me?” he wailed. But he couldn’t keep up the feigned offense for more than a second and grinned. “Though, I suppose you did used to call me sister. A lot’s changed in eight years, brother. Liat died in the league; I go by Danny now.”

At Danny’s mention of his deadname, the pencil fell from Damian’s hands. The sound of it hitting the floor was loud in the otherwise silent room. But when Damian spoke, his voice was steady. “Prove it.”

Danny inclined his head in a mock bow. “If you insist,” he said, switching to English. “The sun did not shine, it was too wet to play. So we sat in the house, all that cold, cold, wet day.”

Damian stood, sending his chair tumbling to the floor. “Enough!”

Danny obediently stopped reciting and grinned at Damian.

Damian hated The Cat in the Hat. Danny had heard it when he’d been sent to a daycare on one of his first missions to slip a child a mild poison that’d leave her sick for a few days and a letter for her father, a man who’d been planning to betray the league.

Danny had fallen in love. He’d smuggled the book out with him when he’d finished his task. The idea of a cat in a hat coming to the league and causing a bit of destruction helped him withstand the endless trainings and trials. Besides, their grandfather and mother deserved it. And Damian just didn’t see.

Though now Danny realized that was because Damian had never been allowed to glimpse what life could be outside the League. Danny, on the other hand, had been trained in spying and infiltration. Which meant he had to understand how kids his age worked and thought and acted. So he had to be around them with some regularity.

What he’d learned was that he wanted their lives, not his own. A lesson he tried, and failed, to teach Damian.

Before either Damian or Danny could think of something to say to each other, the History teacher cleared his throat. “Damian, what is going on here?”

Damian immediately stood to attention, just as Talia had taught him. “I apologize for the intrusion. My… brother came for an unexpected visit. May we be excused to the office so I can call my father?”

“I wasn’t aware you had another sibling your age,” said the teacher with a raised eyebrow.

“He’s from my mother’s side,” said Damian.

Danny hummed. True enough, he supposed. They did share a biological mother. Even if Danny refused to ever acknowledge her as such ever again.

He really didn’t have much luck with mother figures, did he? Maddie had turned out to be just as bad as Talia.

In the end, the teacher really didn’t have a choice but to let them go. Though the hall monitor who had caught Danny insisted on accompanying them all the way to the office despite Damian’s protests that he knew the way.

Danny hid a scowl at the situation. He’d had no intentions of meeting Bruce Wayne and now it looked like he’d either have to reveal his powers and run or meet his biological father. His core ached at the thought of leaving Damian, though. And he couldn’t risk letting Ra’s or Talia find out about his powers.

He ignored the longing he felt at the potential for a true family, for a father who loved him unconditionally. He was zero for three on parental figures. No way was he going to try for a fourth.

“How are you here?” asked Damian in Arabic as they walked.

Danny shrugged and answered in the same language. “Didn’t have anywhere else to be. Saw you in a magazine and figured I’d check in.”

“In a—” Damian cut off with a noise of frustration. “I thought you were dead. Did Mother put you in a pit?”

“As far as I’m aware, both Talia and Ra’s are also under the impression I am dead-dead. Though now that we’ve had contact, I don’t suppose that will last much longer.”

“How did you survive?” demanded Damian.

Danny stared ahead and bit his lip. After a moment, he said, “I did try and take you with me, you know. You were the only thing I regretted leaving behind.”

The resulting silence lasted until they reached the front office. Danny didn’t know how to break it.

They were instructed to sit in plush seats facing the office staff where they could be observed as Damian spoke to their his dad.

Damian pulled out his phone, but before he dialed, asked, “How did you get caught? Have you forgotten all your training?”

Danny didn’t bother to try and hide his blush. He’d been relying on his powers and must’ve let his invisibility drop by mistake. It was just…he’d been on the run for almost two months now. He was hungry and tired and in pain. If Jazz knew, she’d scold him for neglecting himself. He should’ve expected something like this would happen the moment he got distracted.

But how to explain that without explaining everything? “The last few months have been hard,” he settled on. “Due to certain circumstances, I am no longer welcome at the place I’ve called home the last few years and had to leave suddenly. Thus, I am not currently at optimal physical health. I grew careless.”

Damian frowned and looked down at his phone. Rather than answer, he opened his contacts and dialed the one labeled “Father.”

Danny probably should be more cautious. He probably shouldn’t trust Damian. But this was his brother. The only good thing from his early childhood.

And he was so, so tired.

Danny let himself slump against Damian’s side. Damian tensed for just a moment before he relaxed.

“Hello, Father,” said Damian into the phone.

Danny let his eyes drift shut as he listened to Damian’s side of the conversation.

“No. I am well. But there’s been a situation.”

Danny snorted at that description, and Damian pinched his thigh.

“It is not something I can explain over the phone, but I need to be picked up from school. Immediately.”

Bruce Wayne’s voice was just indistinct enough that Danny had a hard time understanding it, though he could hear the worry in it.

“It is a family matter. You will wish to be here quickly as there is a strong possibility we will not have the chance again.”

“Think I’m that good, do you?” huffed Danny under his breath. Damian just pinched him again with a tut.

“Could you stop and pick up a smoothie on your way in? With extra protein powder?”

Danny’s breath caught. Was Damian asking on his behalf? It’d been so long since he’d been around Jazz or his friends. He hadn’t had anyone look out for his wellbeing in months.

He screwed his eyes tight against the burning and focused on keeping his breathing steady.

The rest of Damian’s conversation consisted of stilted goodbyes and promises of explanations once they got home.

Despite his apprehension at meeting Bruce, sitting in a comfortable chair leaning against his brother after months of being on edge was enough for him to slip into a shallow doze. Damian would keep him safe. Whatever disagreements they’d had as children, that had been a constant. Danny was vaguely aware of the office staff talking and making noises. Damian’s shoulder shifted slightly as he did something on his phone. But Danny was more asleep than awake.

Until Damian tensed and shrugged his shoulder. “Father’s here,” he whispered in Arabic.

Danny was instantly awake, though he kept his posture relaxed. Bruce Wayne was someone who had attracted the attention of Talia al Ghul. Whatever face he presented to the public had to be a lie, and Danny didn’t know what to expect from him.

One thing Danny did know, though, was that he refused to go back to who he’d been with the league. The formality was so exhausting. And his very core rebelled at the thought of going back to a life of violence and suffering. He’d left to be a regular American kid, and that was what Bruce Wayne would meet.

Maybe his second death made that life impossible, but while he still had breath in his lungs and a heart that beat, he was going to cling to the dream.

So, rather than follow Damian’s lead and sit up straight and formal, Danny stretched his arms up and yawned loudly. “Ope, sorry for falling asleep there on you Dami,” he said in his strongest Midwestern accent.

Damian shot him a look, but didn’t respond. Still, when he stood, he offered a hand to Danny to help him up as well.

Danny grinned as he took it. Then he took a fortifying breath and turned to face Bruce Wayne, his biological father.

Bruce stared at him, face blank. His eyes lingered on where Danny still clasped Damian’s hand. To his disappointment, Damian let go at the look.

The stern look only lasted seconds before Bruce smiled broadly and his body language became relaxed and open. “You must be a friend of Damian’s! I take it this is for you?” He held out the smoothie for Danny.

Danny hesitated. His stomach ached with hunger, but he couldn’t bring himself to move. This was his biological father.

Damian misunderstood his hesitation and grabbed the smoothie himself. He took a deep swallow and in Arabic said, “It is safe, brother.”

If Danny hadn’t been staring so intently at Bruce, he would’ve missed the small twitch the man made at the word “brother.”

Danny grabbed the smoothie and took a long drink. He couldn’t stop the quiet sigh at the taste. It was the best thing he’d had in weeks. “So, what’s the plan?”

“I’m parked right out front! Let me just sign you both out and we can be on our way.”

“Oh, you just have to sign out Damian. I’m not a student.”

“Well, I suppose that explains the lack of a uniform! How do you know my Damian, then?”

“Father,” hissed Damian. In Arabic he said, “I will explain what I can in the car as I promised.”

Danny just took another sip of his smoothie and remained silent.

Bruce’s eyes flicked to Danny, gaze sharp. But he remained relaxed and ruffled Damian’s hair. “Of course, of course.”

Damian glared at him as he smoothed his hair back down.

Bruce laughed with the office staff and signed the requisite paperwork, then the three were making their way outside.

The car out front was a fancy sports car. Danny hesitated a moment before entering. He glanced down in both directions, but knew a school like this would have too many cameras to hide from.

And now that he had Damian in front of him, he was certain his core would protest if he tried to leave.

Damian made a sharp gesture to him, ordering him into the car. Danny slid in. The door shut behind him. He gripped his smoothie with both hands to mask their shaking and took another sip.

“Father,” started Damian. “This is…” he broke off.

“Yes?” prompted Bruce after a moment.

“This is my twin brother, Danny. Your other biological son.”

Bruce froze. Danny didn’t even think he was breathing. One hand rested on the gear stick where he’d been planning to put the car in drive, the other dug into his own leg.

“What.” Bruce’s voice was hard and flat, not a hint of the jovial man from the office.

“In his defense,” said Danny. “He thought I was his twin sister. And that I was dead.”

Bruce’s eyes closed and he took several deep breaths. “Your name is Danny?”

“Yep.” Danny popped the p. “Chose it myself six years ago.”

“It’s…a good name.”

“Thanks! It was my dad’s dad’s name.”

“Your dad?” asked Bruce.

Danny hummed. “Yeah. Got myself adopted after I ran away from Talia and Ra’s. But that living situation fell through a few months ago.” Which, really, understatement of the century, but Danny wasn’t going to go into it. “So I had to leave. Thought I’d check up on Damian. Mind if I come over to visit after Damian gets out of school for the next few days? I’ve got a hotel room lined up in the city,” he lied. Squatting was way easier when you were half-ghost.

Damian broke in at that. “You will be staying with us, not in some hotel,” he spat the last word. “And not just for a few days. Live with us.”

“Can’t stay more than a few days, I’m afraid.” The GIW or his parents would definitely find him if he did. “But if no one minds, I won’t turn down a room if you’ve got a spare.”

“Father’s house is large,” said Damian. “There are plenty of spare rooms.”

“Damian is right,” said Bruce. “I insist you stay with us. We can discuss more over lunch when we’re comfortable.”

Danny shrugged. “If you insist.” He’d disappear, of course. Too risky to stay and lead the GIW to Damian when he still wasn’t sure of the connection between ectoplasm and the Lazarus pits.

Bruce let out a long sigh and put the car in gear. “I do,” was all he said.

Danny watched the scenery go by, pretending not to notice the two pairs of eyes glued to him.

After several long minutes of uncomfortable silence, Bruce spoke again. “I am glad to meet you, Danny. I’m happy you came to Gotham.”

Danny hummed. He supposed time would tell if any of them would come to regret it.

-----

Hope you enjoy!

#dpxdc #danny fenton #damian wayne #demon twin au #i have so much i could say about this #it is based on the very first plot bunny i ever got for dpxdc #one that ive never really done more than gesture at #only talked in detail about it in private #because i was focusing on other things #so i am so happy i got to finally write this #danny falling asleep on damian #and the smoothie #are two things that i have been thinking about for like 2 years at this point

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fandomgirlz01 · 2 months ago

Text

Somewhere Out There

Paul {TLB} X Reader

Imagine on fandom instagram?: No

Prompt or Request or Requested Prompt?: No

Style of Writing: Stand Alone Fic (has potential for more in the future though... 😉)

Rating: R for some mature themes such as smoking as well you know the description of a vampire losing it and going absolutely raving mad, like so mad all he sees is red 😉

Edited: Yes

Word count: 4,867

Post Date & Time: November 1st 2024 at 12:16AM

Ko-fi

Masterlist

Warnings Here

Listen to the story be read out loud here.

Summary: Ever since all the vampires have known they and humans alike have a soulmate. The only member of the lost boys who hasn’t found his other half is Paul, but what happens when he does actually find them?

PSA from Faith: This is the first time I am writing for a character from The Lost Boys. I just love both Paul and David as well as Dwayne and Marko. Yet I also love Mike so you might see more of this fandom down the line… maybe. I have loved some of the works that I have read for this fandom, however I did notice there’s not very many where it’s not just centered on one of the boys specifically so I thought I’d give them (especially my favorites) a little attention. I did try to keep some canon and I also went non canon so before any of you guys come at me for it not being all accurate, this is just how I foresaw the boys okay? By the way you do NOT need to have seen the movie to read this fic. Yes it’s based off of the characters, but it will be spoiler free if you choose to watch the movie that is completely up to you guys. That being said I have NEVER written a soulmate AU before so if this isn’t 100% right, I’m sorry, but again this is just how I wanted to depict it all and I just really wanted to try something newish. Thank you and please enjoy the story!

Song that goes with fic:

Many say Santa Carla has its deep dark secrets hidden away in the shadows, and only some know what those secrets are. Just like every night the boardwalk is lit up; couples walk under the moonlight none the wiser to what lurks in the night, others play games and go into the stores or on rides. Shouts of cheer and fright are all surrounding while the vampires make their usual meander all over the boardwalk, senses sharp yet vigilant as they look for anything they can do for a bit of amusement or maybe even find some dinner.

Tonight, however, David notices that Paul seems to wander back behind them, seemingly feeling down which is unusual for the other blond vampire. Paul kicks at the dirt as he finds himself locked in his thoughts once more, thinking about her and what she might just be like. David laughs at something Marko said before telling the baby of the group (a nickname given to him by all the boys because that’s just what Marko is, the baby who everyone wants to protect, the happy-go-lucky spirit of the group and most innocent looking one) to keep going and he’ll catch up to him soon. Marko agrees before skipping off to walk and talk with Dwayne. David watches his brothers for a moment before turning around. He comes up beside Paul and pats him on the back, knowing just what Paul is thinking about.

Ever since the vampires knew they each had a soulmate, all that mattered was when they’d find each other. The only one of the group who hadn’t found his soulmate yet was Paul, and sometimes he’d get discouraged when thinking of it all. When he did, he’d leave the mind link so his brothers didn’t have to hear his incessant inner thoughts, but David knew. He always knows.

“You’ll find her, Paul. I know you will. It’s only a matter of time,” David tells his brother as he pulls him into his side.

“Yeah, but it’s been so long, David. You’ve all found yours. What if I’m not meant to have one?” Paul asks, discouraged once more and David holds back the sigh he wants to let out at having had this conversation a million times before.

“Listen, Paul. I know it feels that way. I used to feel that way before I met Nyra, Dwayne felt that way before meeting Amalie, and Marko felt that way before meeting sweet Charlotte. We’ve all felt that way at one point or another. It’ll pass,” David promises as he squeezes his brother’s shoulder.

“I don’t know, David. It’s been a lot longer for me…” Paul again denies and David clicks his tongue to the roof of his mouth.

“Well, you still have that song title written on your wrist, don’t you?” David asks.

“And you still see all colors, right?” Marko asks as he pops up behind the two, always the one to pop up at random times.

“Yeah. I still have both…” Paul mutters as he holds up his wrist, showing the song title Somewhere Out There, a song by Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram that he knows well.

“See, if you didn’t see color anymore or the song had faded, that’d mean she was dead. The fact you have both is a good thing,” Marko cheerily adds on, slapping him softly on the back and Paul only sighs.

“What if she doesn’t have it? I mean, I’m dead myself,” Paul adds on and David shakes his head, laughing.

“I’ve told you, Paul. I was dead and I still had it all, still do,” David informs him as he thinks of his Nyra and Marko hums in agreement.

“And technically you're not dead, you're undead! Huge difference, buddy,” Marko very pointedly yet happily adds.

“I don’t think being a vampire changes the soulmate laws. I think you’d have to be dead dead, like in the ground dead for that,” Dwayne adds with a shrug as he now jumps in to help comfort his brother.

Nobody really knows all the details about soulmates and the way it works. For centuries, they’ve all just known that it’s a powerful thing that only comes from the universe. People have done studies, but even then they’ve only learned the basics, so people and vampires just go with it, continuously being pulled together.

“Who knows! Maybe you’ll find her tonight!” Marko again happily adds on, not knowing how right he might just be.

“Yeah… maybe…” Paul sighs out, choosing to just agree with them to change the subject.

Each of them always found their other half and David was sure it’d happen for Paul at some point if not sooner than later. Turns out David, Marko and Dwayne were right because as the night went on, they continued to goof off on the boardwalk for a few more hours before suddenly Paul felt different. He couldn’t put a finger on why he felt lighter all of a sudden. He thought for a moment maybe it was the new strain they’d all smoked before the night started, it felt like being high, but at the same time it didn’t feel like the high he was used to.

“Do you guys smell that amazing smell?” he asks, perking up as they ride on the carousel again for the millionth time.

“No. What is it, Paul?” David asks, concern written all over his face until he realizes what’s going on.

“It smells sweet and fresh. Like… like…” Paul struggles to describe the smell that just hit him.

“Like vanilla and cinnamon mixed together. Like… home…” Paul finally mutters as his confusion grows more and more.

“Paul. Follow the scent. Let your nose guide you,” David commands his brother with a growing smile that he shares with the other boys, who catch onto what’s going on.

“What? Me? Why? I suck at catching dinner,” Paul asks, knowing he definitely isn’t the best hunter of the group. More often than not, somehow Paul would lose his prey and Marko is the first to snicker.

“That isn’t dinner you're smelling, Paulie my boy,” David tells him, his own grin growing in happiness for his brother.

“What is it then?” Paul asks, confused and Marko face palms.

“Dude. Just follow it and maybe find out!” Marko shouts as he pulls his hand away from his face and Paul shrugs.

“Okay. What could it hurt?” he asks nobody in particular before doing just as his brothers had said.

He follows the scent, electricity seeming to flow through him, making his toes and fingers tingle the more he moves toward it. The scent grows more and more intoxicating, making him feel more primal than ever before. The sweet smell only calls to him like a siren's call, making his whole body seem to light up.

He continues to follow it, his brothers all flanking him, egging him to keep following it as they protect him while he’s in his unusual focus. The closer he gets to the alluring scent, the thicker it gets in the air. His blood boils though his veins which if he was not so focused, he would have thought that was weird for a vampire, but he could care less at the moment. He continues to follow the scent like he’s a compass needle, looking for its true north until he comes to a stop in front of the music store. He stands there frozen as he looks on at one of the workers, a girl at the counter talking with a customer as she rings them up.

“Welp, Paul, my boy. I’d say you just found yourself your soulmate,” David happily comments as they all watch you from the large opening in the side of the building.

Paul doesn’t answer as he watches you in awe and without knowing it, Paul’s ears activate his vampire hearing so he can hear you. He smiles to himself as the first thing he hears is the music you have playing on the boom box behind you: Somewhere Out There. Then he’s smiling wider as he overhears your conversation, your voice a brand new melody he never wants to forget.

“That’ll be eight dollars, buddy,” you tell the kid who reaches into his pocket.

“Oh. Linda Ronstadt. I love her work,” the kid tells you as he hands you the money and you smile warmly at him.

“I love her too, but this is my favorite song. You wanna know why?” You ask the kid, putting the ten dollars he gave you into the register and without a doubt Paul knows exactly what you’re gonna say.

“It’s mine and my soulmate's song, see,” you happily tell the kid after he nods and you hold out your wrist.

“Wow! You and your soulmate must really be meant for one another then,” the kid tells you and you grin even more as you go back to getting his change.

“Here's your two dollars back. Have fun listening to that tape,” you tell him as you reach out and hand him his money.

Meanwhile, Paul still stands frozen, just staring at you in awe. His brothers all stand around him, smirking as they watch the lovesick look that he’s had to watch on all their faces wash over his own face now.

“Well, aren’t you going to go over and say hi…?” Marko asks, nudging Paul a little bit, but again Paul doesn’t speak back, so entranced with watching you.

You watch the little boy leave until he walks around the corner and then feel someone’s eyes on you, so you look around until your eyes land on Paul. The two of you make eye contact and stare at one another for a few minutes before he seemingly snaps out of the moment and walks away looking sad. You don’t know why (well actually that’s a lie, you have an inkling as to why, but you shrug it off) but you feel sad that he seems sad and wish you could just give him a hug. With a shake of your head, you decide to leave it be seeing as he was with a group of what seemed to be friends that could comfort him and just go back to work.

“Paul?” David asks as Paul starts to hastily walk away, moving faster and faster by the minute, heading for his bike and his brothers follow after him in confusion.

“Paul? What’s wrong? That’s your soulmate, buddy. You gotta go say hi!” Marko tries but Paul shakes his head, seemingly angry now.

“No, I don’t,” he almost practically seeths out before kicking his kick stand up and starting his bike up.

The three brothers watch on in confusion as he rides off and once he’s gone, Marko turns to David. David stands there with arms crossed, trying to figure out what would have spooked him.

“You’d think he would have been happy. He’s been waiting for this moment for centuries…” Marko comments in utter disbelief and confusion.

“You would think so,” Dwayne comments next, breaking David out of his thoughts.

“Let’s go find him,” David commands before getting onto his bike with the others following suit and getting onto their own bikes.

Together they all ride out to the cliff side where they know Paul goes when he wants some peace and quiet. Sure enough, they find him there sitting on his bike and smoking another rolled cigarette with his head low.

“Paul?” David asks in an attentive tone, which is unusual for the vampire who’s normally commanding and stern.

No matter how cold, commanding and stern as he can seem or be, he still cares for his brothers, all three of them. David, Marko and Dwayne slowly get closer to him, if anyone was watching them right now, they would be surprised to see vampires of all creatures being soft on one another, but again Paul is their brother. They found each other and became family and as David likes to say, family comes first.

“Paul, what’s wrong?” Marko softly asks again out of character.

“What’s wrong? Ha! What’s wrong?!” Paul retorts in what sounds like disbelief, rolling his eyes at the question.

“She’s human! I can’t go near her. I’ll hurt her and I could never ask her to become one of us and… and…” Paul trails off, taking a gulp as he now tries to hold his tears back.

“It’d ruin her beauty, man…” Paul sadly mutters, shaking his head in anger.

“And to ask her to give up her life. Just to be with me. I can’t… I won’t…” Paul chokes on his words before lowering his head, refusing to look at his brothers.

“Paul. How do you know that isn’t what she’d want? You gotta at least try to fight for her,” Marko comments with a frown, sad for his brother.

“I don’t care if that’s what she’d want, Marko! She’s my soulmate! It’s my job to protect her! How do I do that the way I am?! Huh?!” he shouts in his brother's face, anger running through him as he heaves while Marko takes a step back.

“How do I protect her from myself, huh, Marko?? Tell me that one,” he continues to let his anger take over before he sighs, turning around.

“But if you love her that much already, then you couldn’t hurt her. You’re only hurting yourself by not reaching out to her,” Marko continues to try and convince Paul, who scoffs again, shaking his head as he flicks his joint away.

“No. I’m protecting her. My pain is a small price compared to if she were to be hurt,” Paul mutters softly before he shrugs halfheartedly.

“I’ll meet you guys back home at the cave,” Paul softly promises before kicking his kick stand up and starting the bike back up.

“Dude needs to calm the heck down,” Marko comments as they all watch him drive away.

“He’s just blinded by the shock of her being human. He’ll come around eventually. Paul always does, he likes to stew in his thoughts, ya know,” Dwayne comments back and Marko laughs in agreement.

“Yeah. For being the wild carefree guy he is, he definitely is too broody sometimes. And people say you're the broody one,” Marko adds on with a roll of his eyes and Dwayne nods in agreement, chuckling along.

“Hey. I’m most definitely the broody one. Paul is the crackhead. He smokes more than any of us…” Dwayne practically complains, making Marko laugh some more.

“Awe, jealous that your place will be taken?” Marko taunts and Dwayne crosses his arms across his chest.

“At least I don’t get called the baby…” Dwayne argues back with a smirk when Marko shyly grins, proving his point.

“I actually don’t mind it…” Marko replies with a shrug and Dwayne shakes his head at him.

“Of course you don’t,” Dwayne chuckles out and David reaches up to grab onto both of their shoulders, giving a light squeeze.

“Okay. Okay. That’s enough, you two. Come on, We’ll just leave him be for now. He’ll reach out though the link should he need us. For now, let’s go find dinner for ourselves,” David commands with a roll of his eyes at their play fighting. He still worries for Paul, but he knows he just needs time to come to terms with everything.

“You got it, big D,” Marko jokes and Dwayne holds back the laugh he wants to let out at David’s annoyed look.

This is how it always was with the brothers. Dwayne is definitely more silent and broody when others are around and Marko is the innocent curious one. David is leader and commander while Paul is the crackhead that will jump to do anything, yet Paul has always been the most in touch with his emotions, hence why he smokes.

Meanwhile, as his brothers go on the hunt for dinner, Paul finds himself back at the boardwalk and sits on the beach, just watching the waves. He can still smell that intoxicating scent that he now knows is all you, so very strong that it makes him want more and more of it. He keeps his eyes closed, listening to you talk to all kinds of different customers that come and go. Soon before he knows it, you're closing up shop, saying goodbye to your coworker that stands with you as you pull down the door and lock it up tight. It’s only then he realizes all the loudness and craziness that normally surrounds the boardwalk is now quiet.

He watches as you turn and you pull your headphones that had been resting around your neck up to your ears. He then starts to follow you, but stays in the shadows just watching over you. At first you look around like you're weary of something or someone being around, but you shrug nonchalantly and continue to walk. He watches over you with pure adoration rolling off of him, yet he also stays vigilant in case someone or something were to harm you. However if anyone saw the way he follows you, they’d probably say he follows like a lost puppy.

Finally after a long walk down the beach, you walk up the stairs to a door and open it before heading inside which makes him realize it’s probably your home. He stays for a while, just sitting on the bottom step, not fully ready to leave you just yet. Eventually the sun starts to rise, so he reluctantly leaves you safe in your apartment and heads home back to the cave. When he walks in, it’s only then he realizes he hadn’t eaten, so taken with making sure you were safe to even really care. He walks further in and finds David sitting in his wheelchair he loves so much.

“Did you eat, Paul?” David asks with a raised eyebrow and Paul shakes his head.

“I, uh… forgot…” he mutters, thinking David would be mad, but he’s surprised when David just smiles.

“It’s okay. We saved you some. Did you figure out what you want to do?” David asks and Paul sighs once more.

“I’m going to leave her be. That’s it,” Paul tells him and David sighs, sitting forward.

“Paul. The universe will never let you stay away from her. You might be able to resist for a while, but eventually something will pull the two of you together,” David tells him in a pointed tone. He tries to be soft on him even though he wants to just command him to go talk to her or have max sire him to do it, but David won’t do that, he knows Paul has to choose to go to her himself.

“It’s whatever, David. I’m going to eat and go to sleep,” Paul responds, shrugging before disappearing toward where they store their food sometimes.

David frowns as he watches his brother disappear before sighing and shaking his head. David stands slowly from the chair before going and joining Dwayne and Marko as well as all their soulmates in sleeping from the rafter, knowing Paul will join once he’s finished eating.

Three months have gone by now and every night, David seems to notice that at a certain point in the night Paul will just simply disappear. Where Paul disappears to, David thinks he knows, but he doesn’t want to try and interfere and so he lets him do his thing.

Once again Paul sits in the sand, watching the waves and just listens to you the whole night. He’d come to realize that your voice is more calming to him then even a joint could be, so he just sits there and listens. Like every night since that first night he’d sat there listening to you and enjoying a peace he never knew he needed until you close up shop. Without fail every single night for the past three months, he waits until you have your headphones on and then he stays in the shadows as he follows you home, just wanting you safe. However, tonight something feels off and Paul just can’t figure it out.

He’s been trying to figure out why your scent that’s so alluring to him seems off, but he can’t place why. He’s in such deep thought about it that he doesn’t clock the two surfer nazi’s creeping up from the other side. It’s when the one guy grabs you and pulls you into the dark under the boardwalk that Paul is alerted. He quickly follows after and finds one of the surfer nazi’s holding you struggling against the cement wall while the other one seemingly watches.

“I told you earlier I’d find you and we’d have some fun,” the surfer nazi holding you growls as you continue to squirm and fight him.

“And I said I didn’t want to. I do have a soulmate, ya know?!” You shout out and for a minuscule minute Paul stops to wonder if you’ve known he’s been around, but he shakes his head clear.

“And I said I don’t care. Now stay still,” the surfer nazi commands out though a growl and when you don’t do as he says, he reaches up to smack you, fear falling over your face.

Paul, however, feels his veins boil and an anger he’s never ever felt before washes over him. All he sees is red as he transforms into his vampire self and pulls the first guy off to the side, snapping his neck in the process before pulling the second guy off of you. You watch on as he pulls the guy away and punches him down before crouching over him. He bares his fangs before sinking his teeth into the guy's throat and ripping at it. When he’s satisfied that the guy is good and gone, he stands, heaving for breath, blood all over his face. Suddenly though, like breaking through a fog, his anger dissipates and he turns to look at you.

You sit there against the sand, staring at the scene in front of you and he immediately rushes over. He crouches down next to you, shielding your view of the carnage behind him.

“Hey. You okay?” he asks softly and all you do is nod as you stare at him with wide eyes, making him think you're scared when you're more in awe.

“I’m sorry if I scared you at all, but I promise I am of no threat to you,” he quickly informs you, hoping it’ll help calm your fear, but he’s shocked when you softly smile at him.

“I’m not scared of you, far from it actually…” you pause, trailing off to bite at your lip.

“I was actually wondering when you’d come out of the shadows and talk to me,” you shyly admit, a blush on your cheeks now and a warm fuzzy feeling takes over Paul’s stomach.

“It, uh, it was about time…” he admits almost shyly himself even though he’s shocked that you knew he'd been there all along.

“I take it, you know who I am then?” he asks and you grin, nodding.

“You’re that cute guy I saw a few months back standing on the beach,” you tell him, not quite sure if he knows about the two of you being soulmates or not.

“I’m uh, y/n. Thank you for saving me…” you shyly continue and he shakes his head.

“I’m Paul, and there’s really no reason to thank me,” he responds with a shrug as he gives you his name in return.

“Hello, Paul, it’s very nice to meet you,” you joke with him and he chuckles, not being able to help but just adore you.

“Here. I’ll walk you home,” he starts as he stands before holding a hand out for you.

“So basically what you’ve been doing for the last three months, only I can actually talk with you now?” You jokingly ask in faux shock and he playfully yet bashfully rolls his eyes.

“I had my reasons-” he shrugs before you place your hand in his and his sentence gets cut off with a halted breath as the two of you stand.

He’s stunned by just how easily your hand fits in his like a puzzle piece and how warm you are. You look up at him, making real eye contact for the first time and as he looks into your eyes, his whole center seems to shift once more as an all consuming love for you just flows through him.

“Are you okay, Paul?” You ask as you reach up and rub his cheek, trying to get some of the blood off, shocking him even more.

“No. Yeah, I’m okay,” he tells you although he so badly wants to kiss you, but before he can he’s shaking his head as if to rid himself of the thought.

“Come on. Let’s get you safe at home,” he fully breaks the tension now, ruining the moment and you frown before nodding as the two of you start to walk.

Hey, boys. There’s food on the beach if you want it. He reaches out to his brothers though the mind link they share before you nudge him as the two of you walk.

“So are you the only one I’m safe with? Or is your whole group supposed to like, protect me now?” You joke, but Paul can tell it’s a serious question that you want answered.

“Nah… No vampire will hurt you. Not with me around now. Definitely not from my pack anyway. You’ve kinda already been adopted into the family,” he informs you and you give him a confused look like you're not fully getting it.

“You’re part of this family whether you decide to change or not…” he tells you while trying to hide the fact he knows your soulmates.

“Why?” You ask, egging him on hoping he’ll say it first and he pauses for a moment, trying to decide if he wants to tell you or not.

“Well umm… because you're my soulmate,” he shyly admits, he’d probably start blushing if vampires could and you let out a giggle, making him look at you in shock.

“Oh, my sweet Paul. I knew… you really thought I wouldn’t know? Especially when you’ve been following me home every night like a lost puppy. I knew it the moment our eyes first met,” you pointedly tell him with a proud smile.

“Why didn’t you say anything to me then?” he asks and you pause to purse your lips.

“Well you walked away looking rather sad and I just wanted to give you a hug, but your friends-”

“Brothers,” he corrects you and you smile softly at him.

“You were with your brothers,” you amend your first words with a shrug before going on.

“I assumed you just were shocked by finding me and you’d come talk to me eventually but you never did. I assumed you just didn’t know how to approach me,” you explain to him as you show him your wrist proudly with the words he knows so well written in matching ink: Somewhere Out There.

“No. I wanted to. Believe me, I did so badly, but my fears of what I am got in the way of it all. I’m sorry,” he explains before looking away in shame.

“It’s okay. We all let the fear get the best of us sometimes, but I’m glad we’ve finally actually met,” you tell him as you stop in place to turn to him and reach up to touch his cheek, not really caring about the blood.

“Even with the circumstances of how we met?” he asks you with a raised eyebrow and you let out a giggle that sounds heavenly to his ears.

“Yes. Even with the circumstances of it all,” you tell him and he shakes his head at you in disbelief before grinning at you.

“Yeah. Again I’m sorry. I just wanted to protect you, even from myself,” he says and he grimaces at himself after saying it.

“Paul. It’s really okay. I’m just glad we're together now. We are, right?” You ask, scared he’ll leave you at your apartment and never come back.

“Babe, I couldn’t leave now even if I tried,” he charmingly tells you with a grin taking over his face.

“Good, because I wouldn’t want you to,” you grin now too, happy to be on the same page.

That's how the night ends, with you and Paul now walking hand in hand in the moonlight. Paul can’t help but to think just how right his brothers had been, if only he’d talked to you that very first night this could have been the two of you every night for the last three months. But Paul refuses to think any further about it and can’t help but smile the whole way as he walks you to your apartment. He leaves you there knowing you’ll be safe, promising to see you tomorrow night and together you both know this is the start to an even more beautiful story for the two of you to tell in the future.

The End...

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letteredlettered · 28 days ago

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Hey! I really enjoyed reading your comments on feedback and fanfic this week and would love to get your input on something similar-ish I’ve been struggling with. I’m recently back on Tumblr (lurking) and writing fanfic (secretly) after quite a few years away from fandom spaces. I’ve never posted my work on AO3 before but I’ve been considering pulling that trigger lately. I’d love to share my writing with anyone else who might enjoy it and admittedly I do dream of finding some community by putting myself out there like that. However, so intimidating to put myself out there like that. Do you have any advice for someone thinking of posting their fics for the first time? Anything you wish you knew before posting yours? Truly any perspective you can share would be very much appreciated :)

I posted my first fanfic probably about 24 years ago, so I don’t know if I’m the best person for these questions, but I’ll address what you’ve asked. At length, it seems.

1. I guess the first thing I’d say is search elsewhere than AO3 to fulfill your dream of finding community. As I said in this post, AO3 was built as an archive for community that already existed, and it doesn’t have robust community-building tools.

2. I’ve tried. I have literally posted fics partly to ask where the discord was, a question I have put in the A/N that was eventually answered but not without numerous follow-ups. I have often posted my tumblr handle in A/Ns, asking people to come scream with me about a fandom. While a flattering number of folks over the years have sent me asks and chats saying they really liked my fic, there have been striking few who have come to scream at me about the canon.

This is my fault, not theirs. I’m bad at starting conversations; I’m of an unsocial, taciturn disposition unwilling to speak unless to say something that will impress the whole room. But I am also a pretty popular writer, and I have made precious few connections this way; I think it should tell you something.

3. To fulfill your dream of finding community, as I said in the above-linked post, I don’t actually have great solutions. Since discord is basically hidden, the only way I know of to actually find community is to start cold-messaging people you vibe with through asks and chat on places like tumblr.

4. Re finding community through writing fic, @reads8hoursperday made an interesting addition to that above-linked post here, pointing out that in the journaling days of fandom, it was very common to write fics in the comments or even on your journal. They didn’t get archived and in that way were effectively ephemeral. While it’s nice to have a permanent archive, they were pointing out that the permanent nature of AO3 contributes to the feeling that there is some kind of status associated with fic.

One way to a) deal with nerves posting fic for the first time, b) shatter the feeling that your first fic must accrue beaucoup stats, would be to post on one of the other platforms first. If you post somewhere like discord, it feels less like a presentation and more just like part of a conversation you want to have: hey, what do you think about this fic? Is it good? Does it need work? Should I post to AO3? The folks there can help encourage and cheerlead you to post somewhere more intimidating, like AO3.

But okay, you also said you wanted to share your fics, and AO3 is an excellent place for that, and imo, the best, so here are some further ideas about how to post fic on AO3 without feeling like you might die of stage fright:

5. Title your fic something you would want to read. Write a summary for your fic that would make you want to click on it. Do not title your fic something you think the most people will click on. Do not write a summary you think will entice the most people. Giving your fic the title and summary that would attract you is setting up the expectation, for yourself, that this fic is for you, and maybe, a little bit, readers like you—instead of for a big audience that will accrue the most stats.

I say this as someone whose fic summaries have been endlessly mocked and derided. I’ve literally had people come into my comments angry at me because my summary wasn’t “eloquent” enough to let them know my fic was “good” and so they “missed out” on reading it for far “too long.” It’s a wild world out there, let me tell you.

But my summaries have also been complimented. They have been what made someone click. In the end I’m putting this out there for someone who likes what I do, and it’s been really liberating to say to myself, “You know what? I would read this. And the people who wouldn’t? Maybe they’re not the readers I’m interested in.”

6. I think setting both hopes and also setting expectations around that kind of audience—an audience who wants to hear what you have to say—rather than stats, is important. Ultimately, if you’re writing to be popular, or to attain a certain number of comments or kudos, you’re going to be disappointed. But if you’re sharing what you’ve written because you want to reach people who like what you have to say, if you don’t get comments and kudos, then the problem is that those people haven’t found you, not that what you have to say is worthless.

And I think bearing that in mind can soothe a lot of the heartache around posting a fic that doesn’t do well.

I posted a fic in a fandom that was new for me two years ago. It was the juggernaut pairing in a megafandom, the kind of fandom where even new authors get over a hundred kudos and a decent number of comments. But my fic was a little darker than what seemed to be the norm for the pairing on AO3; it didn’t have porn, and it didn’t have a very strong plot with an ending.

This fic tanked, stats-wise. But my conclusion is that the people who would’ve liked this fic didn’t see it, or even that the people who would’ve liked this fic aren’t even in the fandom, because they saw how much fluff there was on AO3, or the canon is too light-hearted for them. I didn’t conclude my writing sucked or that it was a bad story. Some people might think that! But what I told myself was I just didn’t find my audience.

You might say it’s easy for me to say that because I am a pretty popular author who does have an audience with most other things I write. I would agree I am a very confident writer, but I do think, even if you don’t have my kind of confidence, going into it knowing that not everyone’s going to love it can really help.

7. Relatedly, I think that loving what you’ve written, working on it and editing it and creating something that you care about and adore, something that is exactly what you want, can help with feeling proud no matter what. You might think that if, then, you don’t get a lot of comments and kudos also adoring it, it can feel demoralizing, and it can. It can definitely feel that way.

But there is something really liberating in creating a thing that makes you happy. And if you honest-to-god wrote something that you love, I guarantee someone else will love it. They might not find you on AO3, which can be really disappointing. But think of how many times you’ve loved something strange or unusual you thought no one had ever even thought about before, and then you read a book or saw a post or a video and realized there was a whole world out there that loved it too. There is a whole world out there, and they’re there for you. You’re sending a signal out there to the world. Maybe it can really touch someone.

8. Since I’m suggesting that the trick is really “finding your audience” some people conclude that what they really need to do is market their fic, really sell it to people, link it every chance they get, beg authors they like to read it, etc. I really recommend against this. People will think it looks gauche, but who gives a fuck what they think. What’s really detrimental about it is that if you go hawking your wares like that and you’re still not getting the attention and validation you’re craving, you’re going to be even more disappointed, and it’s going to feel really bad.

I’m not saying “let the universe do its work,” or anything mystic. Fic does require a certain amount of signal-boosting so people know what’s out there. Certainly, post a link to your fic on tumblr, mention it in discord, tweet it on bluesky, or wherever. My wife even tells me I have to reblog my fic posts on tumblr a few times so people don’t miss it in their feed. All of that is fine. But if you are giving your whole self to “finding your audience” and you don’t find it, it’s going to leave you raw and unwanted.

9. All right, so you’ve written the fic you love and you’ve prepped yourself for the idea that you’re just looking for readers to love what you love—and yet, somehow, you’re still concerned about stats. Don’t beat yourself up about it. Almost everyone is concerned about stats. It’s impossible not to fret over it in this economy environment.

People think I must never be concerned about getting a little kudos because I get a lot. I really think people think there’s some kind of popularity threshold where people must feel they have “arrived,” where they no longer care about being popular. I’m not sure where they are getting this idea. It’s just not true. Everyone wants praise and attention; they don’t stop because they get it.

So yes, I think about stats. I think about them a lot, and you probably do, too. That’s okay. Here are some more things you can do:

10. Set expectations around this too, and set them very, very low. One thing that people don’t understand about expectation-setting is that it requires some real time and imagination. Don’t just tell yourself, “I’m going to get two kudos” and that’s all. Imagine your timeline. Imagine looking at your fic’s stats. And imagine how you’re going to feel when you see that stat.

For instance, if I imagine two kudos is all the attention my fic will ever get, I don’t imagine that one minute after I post, I’ll see it got two kudos. I imagine that a week later, I will be looking at my fic, and I will see that it has two kudos. I check in with myself--how does it feel? A little disappointing, maybe. I thought more people would read it. What will I do next? Maybe I’ll go out for a fun coffee with my wife. Ah, it’s not that bad, really. It’s too bad only two people kudos’ed it—but in the end, it wasn’t the end of the world.

Now, imagine I set my expectations at two and I got three kudos—well, that feels spectacular! And if I get my two kudos, well, okay, maybe it feels a little worse than I imagined, but it’s still not that bad. But imagine if I was expecting five and only got two—I think I would be crushed.

11. I will make this a separate point because I think it’s important—really, imagine how your email will look. There’s a thing we do with our phones, where we get hopeful someone has messaged us, or we get hopeful that there will be something new for us, that someone will have paid attention to us in some way. Then we look at our phone and there’s nothing for us. It’s crushing. The chemicals in your body cause your whole being to plummet. And then the next time you look at your phone they cause you to anticipate, to get tense and stress again, and then when your phone has nothing for you, you’re that much more depleted.

You are putting your body through a roller coaster. Many people’s solution is not to look at their phone, but I don’t actually think this is a great idea for many people, because they will fail. They will fail, be crushed by whatever attention they didn’t receive on their phone, AND they will feel bad that they failed to stay away from their phone.

Meanwhile, if you say to yourself: what am I hoping to see when I look at my phone? What can I realistically expect from my phone at this moment? How will I feel when I see it? What will I do after that? Then you can manage these expectations much more easily.

12. Relatedly, I would suggest you have an activity planned that will start the moment after you post your fic—an activity that takes you away from your computer and, if possible, your phone for four to eight hours. Going to the cinema is a great idea for a few of those hours, because most people are really able to keep their phone off for the duration. I like to go out with friends after I post a fic, but I am not someone who really looks at her phone during social engagements.

I remember once I posted a fic and went directly to an anti-Dobbs protest; the friend who had informed me about the protest and met me there was a fandom friend. She said, “Did you really just post porn and then come to a demonstration about the right of a woman to choose?”

I said yes. This is the best way to do it. So here is my final advice: post on AO3 and then allow people with a uterus the right to choose.

#answer to an ask #long post #fic #fandom

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ihavenoideawhatiamdoinganymore · 30 days ago

Text

Some (bad) art I made for my series on Ao3: Hail, the Conquering Hero, under the name Akulreas. This account is actually a side blog (not even it’s own blog, just a side one) because my main account is followed by my sister and I’m sorry, but I am not letting her see the art I made for a Percy Jackson/Epic the Musical fanfic that I wrote. Here’s the link, by the way, since this makes little to no sense without the context of the AU:

Basic summary: ghost Odysseus and Perseus end up haunting Percy and become his New Dads™️ (Poseidon fucking DESPISES them)

Do I know how anatomy works? No. Am I going to learn it all? Maybe. Am I going to learn it all for some silly little sketches I made for my fic? Of course not. People who actually know how to draw anatomy (or just draw in general), I sincerely apologize.

This one was because of a Tumblr post I saw at 11:00 PM and I thought ‘oh, this fits them perfectly’ and then spent thirty minutes drawing this before immediately going to sleep. First time I ever drew Percy. Never again. (The first guy’s Perseus, by the way. Second guy is Odysseus.)

This happened because I was talking with someone who was commenting on Like A Victorious Hero and they mentioned a scenario where Zeus attempts to hug Perseus and Perseus immediately starts cursing him out and telling him to go away. It tormented me for about a week before I gave in and drew it since I didn’t feel like writing it out. I chose Neal Illustrator’s Zeus design for it and if you look at Perseus for like, two seconds, you’ll see some minor similarities (mostly the hair).

Maybe I’ll add some more another day. Not now, though, because it’s late and I’m tired. Please don’t kill me, I know I’m not Good At Art.

Edit: this is my hundredth post on this side blog. Oh my gods, I don’t remember reblogging that many things??

#epic the musical #percy jackson #percy jackon and the olympians #odysseus #perseus #epic the musical au #percy jackson au #Hail the Conquering Hero #Akulreas #how #how tag #how do tag #how x2 #epic zeus #zeus pjo

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dfortrafalgar · 9 months ago

Text

Special Delivery

(Sanji x Fem!Reader- Offscreen)

Sanji reaches out to Zeff for the first time in years.

I wrote this many, many months ago now, and it was the first fic i posted anonymously on AO3. I got a few requests after it was originally posted to write a second part, which I eventually did!

You can read Part 2 here! Original AO3 link

(I figured I should let my blog breathe a little in between the really heavy and emotional Law fic im writing, and what better way to cool down than some sanji fluff <3)

A sharp squawk awoke Red-Leg Zeff from his daze. With a grumpy expression and a low grunt, he peered towards the direction of the sound.

A messenger coo was seated on the railing of the Baratie's upper deck next to where Zeff stood slouched over with his forearms leaning against the wooden support. It cocked its head to the side as if it was deconstructing Zeff's appearance before reaching into its pouch and procuring a parchment envelope. Zeff found it strange. Messenger coos only usually delivered the newspapers or the latest bounty reports, very rarely were they put in charge of personalized letters. It must have been paid off by whoever wanted this delivered.

The gruff man took the parchment from the beak of the bird and watched as it took back off into the air, leaving a few molted white feathers behind in its wake. He looked at the envelope.

All it said on the front, in very elegant handwriting, was "Captain Zeff." He flipped the paper around, revealing a wax stamp holding the opening down, which he peeled off with a calloused thumb.

Tucked neatly inside the envelope was a white piece of paper, tri-folded over itself. Zeff slipped the paper out, unfolding it to reveal the written contents of the letter. The penmanship was impeccable, and the ink was very sleek. He knew immediately it was from Sanji, not many other pirates had handwriting as good as his. He had completely lost track of how many years it had been since the curly-browed boy left with that ragtag group of pirates to sail to the Grand Line, but Zeff had every single one of his bounty posters. He'd never admit it, but they were tacked up on the wall of his sleeping quarters. Every time Sanji's bounty increased, Zeff felt pride swell in his heart.

"How are you doing, you old geezer. It's been a little too long since we've had any contact, so I thought I'd write to you just to see how you've been. You're no slouch, I'm sure you've been keeping up with the world's events over the past however-many years. Do the Marines even bother to keep sending our bounty posters to the Baratie anymore? Well, regardless, I'm sure you can read right through me. I can't deny it, I miss you, old man. I'm happier than I've ever been in my life, and such a huge part of that is thanks to you and the guys back on that old cruiser. Every recipe I try to make, I imagine you screaming in my ear and telling me that it tastes like shit. Some days I really wish I could be back there, but most of the time I'm joyful. Life has been really, really good. A few years ago, I met someone. Last year, we got married, and soon after our lives changed so drastically. She's the most beautiful woman I've ever laid eyes on, and she's as sweet as an angel. I mean it, too. I know you'd probably think something along the lines of me playing up my affections again just because she's a pretty woman, but I mean it. You'd love her, Zeff. Living as a pirate is the most stressful thing anyone could ever do, but she makes every day worth it. The crew was discussing the possibility of returning to the East Blue a bit ago, and when we do, I'm going to introduce you to her. I've spent the last years talking all about you, how you taught me everything I know about cooking, and I can tell she's just as excited as I am to finally see you. This letter's gone on long enough and I don't want to use up all of Nami's paper.

-- Sanji"

Zeff felt a lump in the back of his throat. Sanji had grown into such a fine young man, eloquent with his words and his feelings. He knew how big of a deal it was for the boy to be so honest and open. But one thing in the letter caught him off guard. What did he mean by, "Soon after our lives changed drastically."?

Zeff peered into the envelope, where another, smaller envelope was tucked inside. He almost didn't see it. Pulling it out, he held the letter and original envelope in between his fingers while he opened the second. Sanji was thorough with his packaging, that's for sure.

Inside, there were three photographs printed on thin, matted paper. The first was of Sanji and you, the wife he wrote about in his letter, taken by someone else holding the camera. Sanji had his arm around you, holding you against him, and you had your face nuzzled into his neck. His other hand held a cigarette away from the two of you, like he was in the middle of telling a story. The two of you were smiling brighter than the sun, Sanji's eyes completely closed with the motion of laughter, and yours creased, your irises looking up towards him.

The second photo made Zeff's eyes water. A photo of you and Sanji on the deck of the Sunny, exchanging rings. Sanji was wearing a sleek navy blue tuxedo, while you were wearing a gorgeous white ballgown. For pirates, you cleaned up phenomenally. He could just make out tears in Sanji's eyes as the photo displayed you sliding a band onto his finger. A skeleton with poofy hair stood between the two of you, which Zeff found a little odd, but he chuckled at the absurdity of it all.

Zeff flipped to the last photo.

The tears that were welling in his eyes from the previous image finally slid down his cheeks in heavy, salty droplets. His lip quivered.

Sanji sat in a chair, beaming down at a bundle of cloth held gently in his arm. He was crying in this photo as well, and was reaching a finger over the top of the bundle, where a smaller hand was reaching outwards to grab onto it. A small glimpse of blonde hair could be made out from under the cloth securing the baby tightly. On the back of the film, Sanji wrote the birth date and the name of the baby.

Zeff used a sleeve to wipe his blubbering eyes. His lips quivered, but he couldn't help the smile that broke out on his face.

Was he allowed to call himself a grandfather now? He figured it was only appropriate.

#fem reader #reader insert #x reader #one piece x reader #op x reader #sanji x reader #black leg sanji x reader #vinsmoke sanji x reader #black leg sanji #vinsmoke sanji #special delivery

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laenordeservedbetter · 2 years ago

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For Sam x reader.

Ghostface is back and had followed the Carpenters, the twins, and Amber's older sister, Reader, to New York. No one trusting her because of the fact that her little sister was Ghostface, Reader is in disbelief, and Sam breaks up with her on the spot. Fast forward to the end, where Ghostface is dead, everyone's being treated by paramedics, Reader is seen walking away from the scene alone. Kirby asks where she is, Sam then sees her walking away, holding her broken arm to her body, and runs after her and apologies for not trusting and believing her. (Reader saying it's too late for sam to apologize. She then walks away from her friends, from Sam.)

You're Somebody Else

Words: 1.4k

Pairing: Samantha Carpenter x Fem!Freeman!Reader

Synopsis: You were told that the biggest betrayal comes from the people you care about the most, but never did you expect it to hurt so much.

Warnings: scream vi spoilers, violence, spitting, cussing, angst, no happy ending. lmk if I missed any.

A/N: I wrote this at a coffee shop. I'm still here rn, so we'll see how many fics I can post before I go home. (This will probably be the only one)

not my gif. || masterlist || previous work

You stood before Amber’s Ghostface outfit, reaching out to touch the fabric before you remembered where you were -- who you’re with. The glares given to you by the rest of the group burned at the back of your skull. You can practically sense their judgments. Since the first Ghostface attack in New York, they pointed their fingers at you. You understood, given what you've all been through. Can't be too careful. You didn’t care that you saw the contempt on your own girlfriend’s face. You stayed by her side, understanding where she was coming from.

Being related to a previous Ghostface was something you and Sam had in common. When you are linked to a person with that track record, it sticks with you even if you are different from them. Trust becomes hard to give. And out of everyone, you figured your girlfriend is the one who understood the most about what it’s like. However, it looks like the sentiment isn’t shared.

She approaches you, getting the courage to ask, “Can we talk?”

You can tell what’s about to happen before Sam can utter what she wants to say to you.

Nothing good ever comes out of conversations like these.

“I’m sorry.” Sam stares, her gaze cold, nothing like the Sam you fell in love with. With each deafening step she takes away from you, your heart shatters just a little bit more. You are wounded by the way she’s looking at you. Any wound or injury you might sustain in the next few minutes will not compare to the poison laced in the invisible knife held against your throat by the woman you love. “I can’t take any more chances. I can’t trust you. We’re done.”

You scoff, glancing towards the group in hopes that they would back up your claim. “Sam, you know me. I would never hurt you or Tara or. . . Anika.”

Mindy flinches at the mention of her girlfriend’s name. Her stare hardens. “You have no right to say her name. We know you did it. You killed her.”

“Mindy…” Your voice breaks as your throat feels like it’s closing up. You can’t do anything to convince them, letting the stream of tears flow from your eyes. No one came to your rescue to prove your innocence. None of them trusted you. You felt pathetic, humiliated, embarrassed. Your eyes settle on Sam again. “Really? After everything we’ve been through together, you-”

Sam glowers. “It’s over, Y/n. Please, stay away from us.”

“Fuck you.” You turn your back, the hurt in your tone clear as day. “I don’t know you at all.”

“Maybe we didn’t know each other as well as we thought.”

It was one thing for you to walk away and another knowing that Sam would not be going after you.

“It was easy luring you away from the group. Guess we really can’t choose our family, huh?” Ghostface makes a tsk sound, the voice changer turned off.

He takes a step forward, but you stay positioned adjacent to the wall. That voice…

“Ethan?”

Ethan removes his mask, holding the voice changer to his lips, “Didn’t expect that?”

Of course it was him. Little by little, the pieces fall into place. The apartment attack -- that was probably Ethan. He wasn’t with the group. Not even the skeptic Mindy questioned his whereabouts. Your tears haven’t dried yet and you were as sure as hell they weren’t going to stop now. You bring your hands together in a slow clap. “Oh, wow, that’s… Fucking brilliant, actually.” Clutching your stomach, you let out what sounded like a painful cackle. “This is the part where I die.” You say. It wasn’t a question, but a statement.

“Oh no, no, no. See, that’s where you’re wrong.” Ethan smirks, gripping your left arm, applying pressure to where you had been previously injured a couple nights prior. “You are our scapegoat. I must give credit to Mindy for the idea. You have the perfect motive to be Ghostface! It was just gonna be Sam, but… The press would go crazier if it was a Bonnie & Clyde situation. Not that I care about that sorta stuff. It just works.”

You collect the saliva from your mouth, spitting in his eye. “Jokes on you ‘cause we’re not together anymore.”

“But they wouldn’t know that because by the time you get ‘caught’, all of your friends will be dead and you would look like the asshole trying to save yourself if you attempt to say the truth.”

Ethan places his free hand on your shoulder, pulling your arm with more force than necessary to guarantee that it would break. You stand there, biting your lip in order to hide the pain. If I screamed, it wouldn’t make a difference anyway, you said to yourself bitterly. There’s not a single person who’d give me the benefit of the doubt. In fact, they’d make me suffer worse, believing that Ethan did the right thing. Who knows what creative scenarios he came up with already.

The paramedics found you slumped down beside a row of chairs after Sam and the rest of the group defeated the three Ghostfaces. They wondered why you weren’t with the others, but with a quick word from Kirby, they left you alone, guiding you outside to treat your broken arm. One of the paramedics - Theo (that’s what you heard Kirby call him) asked if you wanted a ride to the hospital. You declined, insisting that you could get there yourself without anyone’s help.

You spare Sam a glance, observing her interact with Mindy, Chad, and Tara. Core Four. Good for them. Although you were glad that they are are still extant, you can’t stop the rancor that you feel as you stare at the four. You want nothing more than for this day to be over, move to someplace else, maybe change your name. Anywhere is better than here. It’s become clear to you how unwanted you are in New York. A change of scenery might do you good.

Kirby (the only person who hasn’t treated you like scum) situates herself in front of Sam, “Hey, where’s Y/n?”

Sam only notices your absence when Kirby pointed it out. “Shit. I…” She scans the area in search of your familiar eyes, guilt eating at her knowing that she accused you of being a killer. Because of that, you got hurt. She’d never forgive herself for it. “I'll be right back.”

The blonde detective nods in understanding. “I’ll stay with Tara.”

“Thank you.”

You were on your way to the hospital when a hand grasps your injured arm. Recoiling from the touch, you look back to curse the one responsible for hurting your limb only to meet Sam’s pleading gaze. “What do you want, Samantha?”

“Y/n, I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for being careless, for not trusting or believing you. If I had, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt.” Sam touches your good shoulder this time, expressing her genuine apology.

But no matter how many ‘I’m sorry’s’ she will direct at you, it won’t take away what’s been done. “It’s too late, Sam.”

“What? No. We can try again.” She pleads desperately.

You couldn’t bite back the words the words that are on the tip of your tongue, feeling the last ounce of self control fray away. “Try again? Do you hear how ridiculous that sounds? You broke up with me because you didn’t trust me. You didn’t even try to understand my side!” The news reporters turned their heads at your outburst. They point their cameras to you, but you don’t make an effort to cut off your ebullition short. “All of you pointed your hands at me because what? I’m the sister of a killer?! If we’re basing our suspicions of all the Ghostface’s relatives, you should’ve been on the top of the list. The only thing I asked was for you to stand by me and you failed. So, no, we can’t try again. We’ll only end up worse than where we left off.” You finish, walking away from everything (not for the first time). “I’ll get my things out of your apartment tonight. After that, you won’t have to see me again.”

Sam stays still while you leave, clutching your arm in the process. That limb will heal, but the words that Sam has spoken won’t. There will remain a constant reminder of how you were betrayed by those you would give everything for.

So much for trust.

#samantha carpenter #sam carpenter x reader #sam carpenter #scream 6 #scream #mindy meeks martin #anika kayoko #ethan landry

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littlestuffstohide · 8 months ago

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AA Fic Rec

I've sunk on AA so bad. I have such a long list. Almost 100 on my bookmarks. Here is my attempt to organize my bookmark list. I know I created a list before But this is better. I'll start of with my general AA WrightWorth List fic recommendation I've bookmarked since I sunk into this rabbit hole. Buckle your seats because this post is going to be reaaaally loooong. I tried to clean it as much as possible. So if you guys are looking for some AA WrightWorth treasure trove, this is it. I'm sure there are some I've read and missed. I will update my list as much as possible. My summary is literally bare to none and just my spoilers and hints what I love about it so mmmuuuch!

all there is - by sunsmasher. Narumitsu oneshot - A mix of bad Krisnix and goodness Narumitsu.

Summary: Phoenix and Kristoph during the seven year gap, Phoenix and Miles after it.

love most definitely requited - by The_Eclectic_Bookworm

Summary: cute hananaki au that of course involves confession in an unexpected way.

Pressure - by ApprenticeofDoyle

Summary: A different view/ canondivergent AA with the Feys. My ALL-time favorite AA fic of all times. AA with dash fam on Feys/Wright. It also has some great wrightworth pinning. And you will love the flow of wrightworth. There are still a lot of feels on this. It would be a crime not to read this. There is, like 4 parts on this. This one is complete. Read it! Here's the link for Pressurverse series.

if i woke up (next to you) - by ApprenticeofDoyle

Summary: Post Engarde Trial based on Pressureverse post Engarde Trial if that make sense. An canon divergent on pressure fic.

miles edgeworth's terrible, no-good, very bad week - by ApprenticeofDoyle

Summary: AAI but with Phoenix. Everything with Phoenix on AAI. Like I love it for many reasons. The WrightWorth is there but this is juuuuust so good. I'm low-key hoping for part 2 to have Phoenix altho that's least likely to happen. I juuuuust want Phoenix interacting with uncle Ray yknow!

a lie like a litany, cold and reformed - by fictitiousregrets

Summary: Where Miles bluffs about being engaged, gets engaged, gets married, and realizes they're in love and married. One of my favorite rom coms of all times. Really Wrightworth insanity.

Happier Than I Deserve - by KrisseyCrystal (IceCreAMS)

Summary: Pride and Prejudice representing Miles and Phoenix. Need I say more? This is going to be one marathon of wrightworth. Binge yourself on this monster fic. And really worth it to read.

where the heart is - by chameleonwrites

Summary: How Phoenix's home charmed Miles? Spanning from childhood until they move together, Real cute. I love for any Miles POV.

Trust Issues - by chameleonwrites

Summary: Phoenix sees plane tickets. Cue the angst. Wrightworth trying to make you cry.

The Catch-up Game - by theacegrace

Summary: Post AA6 Phoenix character study. Real good fic that's utterly sweet. It had lovely moments to angst moments, great confession to some wright family antics. A sin not to read. Never fails to tear me from the confessions?

Childswap - by theacegrace

Summary: WrightWorth switching children for a day. Real cutiiie fic! This never fails to put smiles on my face.

reading between the lines - by The_Eclectic_Bookworm

Summary: Another tearjerker. It starts tearing you to pieces then sweetening you with the fluff. And the last chapter is worth all the angst! A roller coaster fic. Basically Miles spanning from the horror of Manfred to Phoenix to great Franzy and Miles sibling love and back to Phoenix! Spanning the first 3 games.

Legal Partners - by Miggy

Summary: Oh boy. Another monster fic that's just so worth it. Fluffy and ansty and fluffy. A betting game between Klavier and Miles on who can show their? defense attorney how much they appreciate them as a legal partner. Quoting Phoenix in this fic a pissing contest between the two of them. Has some Kpollo but really more of Wrightworth goodiness. Anyone who hasn't t read this is a crime.

It Would Feel So Good To Make You Mine - by hi_its_ellis and lowbatteryhealth

Summary: Love is War but WrightWorth style. Literally flirting contest, knowing all the rules without talking and just driving the entire LA crazy while they both wait for the other to confess. My all time favorite WrightWorth rom com insanity. I don't feel bad at all. It will make you laugh so much.

A Fool for You - by bluemoodblue

Summary: Engaged but at the same time did we get married 4 months before the wedding? And it's not Vegas! This is just so romcom and just so good and sweet. I won't say anymore!

The PlayWright - by WingSongHalo

Summary: Miles visits a local theater where he meets a very intriguing actor who seems so much like someone. Really, really good. This is just one of my favorite WrightWorth fics.

Project: Matchmakers - by WingSongHalo

Summary: Literally everyone shipping Wrightworth and a club shipping WrightWorth and trying to get them together. Really adorable. Many cute parts. It has 3 parts found here. You will love the proposal on part 2 and part 3 is cute and lovely due to many reasons.

time goes by so slowly (and time can do so much) - by ohallows

Summary: AU AA magical universe Miles being a caseworker featuring Phoenix! Phoenix director of orphanage of magical pips. Really good!

Out of Order - by canolacrush

Summary: Falling in love backwards Phoenix style. Phoenix is sooo seduced that he runs from his husband who suddenly looks 100x hotter.

Chicago Noël by canolacrush

Summary: Mafia Miles and Baker Phoenix. This is also ooone monster fic. It's adorable and lovely in so Many levels. You will love the switch in roles for Miles and Phoenix. One of my fave fics! Forgot to tag this. I'm sorrry!

Earning it - by thebigeish

Summary: WrightWorth except Miles is his sugardaddy. It just hits me in a cute way.

all the ways to love - by hi_its_ellis

Summary: where Phoenix has his gay awakening and he figured it out late? Some internal homophobia. Really close to my heart.

Written - by Limey

Summary: Where Phoenix finds Edgeworth's fanfic.

The Opposing Counsel's Proposal - by the acegrace

Summary: Where WrightWorth tries to propose to each other with mix results. Really funny and you will love every second of foolishness of these two competitive dorks.

The Defense’s Proposal, Post Facto - by Kantayra

Summary: Where WrightWorth decided to get married during lunch because the paperwork drove them nuts. They pretend to try to be convinced but we all know how eager they both are.

The Perenial Pursuits - byDeiRyuu

Summary: Larry misunderstanding that whenever anything Phoenix related happens, Miles is the speed dial.

justice vs state - by sinkburrito

Summary: Apollo running errands for Phoenix and Miles over an envelope. Apollo at the same time being oblivious. Poor Pollo. Basically WrightWorth involving Apollo for their feud.

Sick of Leaving - by Jodalyn

Summary: WrightWorth sickfic. Miles POV. You would want to read this. It's adorable! Just wants to make you hug their sweetness.

they'll never love you like I can - by Jodalyn

Summary: Chief!Miles College Phoenix. Time Shenanigans. Miles meeting Phoenix. I'm so weark to Chief Miles meeting Baby College Feenie.

despite everything, it's still you - by orphan_account

Summary: AA novelization with analysis on how Phoenix and Miles view each other. There are a few aspects in this fic I could never forget which is just my favorite thing. Read it. You will love it. Spanning from childhood through Post AA6 I think.

Myths We Don’t Believe In - by hi_its_ellis

Summary: Cue Chief Prosecutor invites current BF and his not really exBF in the same room, in the morgue. Miles did this to himself. Sorry for langworth Miles. And Miles lost any braincells he had. Cue Jealous Miles.

Anytime, Anywhere, Again - by hi_its_ellis

Summary: Part two of Mythes We Don't Believe In. This is literally Phoenix roasting Miles on his decision. I love this one.

(confetti) (smile) (heart) - by lvl99arsene

Summary: Just Phoenix FINALLY upgrading his phone. This was just so cute and Phoenix being a menace! Feat Sugar Daddy Miles.

Change in Perspective - by chameleonwrites

Summary: Maya and Franziska having a betting contest on which brother is pinning for the other. Feat. Miles being the biggest victim of this spectacle. All betting fics are sooo fun. This is also one you shouldn't miss. Just feel sorry of Miles as the victim.

Phoenix von Karma - by Otoshigo

Summary: Canon Divergent AU where Phoenix had been declared all dead until He comes back with no memories and as a Prosecutor. One of my all time fave. If you want a german speaking Phoenix, read this! I love this for many reasons. Sadly, expect no Apollo or Trucy on this.

i can bring you to bathe in the river - by oredatte

Summary: on of my fave AUs. My fave trope for WrightWorth. To adopt Trucy, our lovable pair gets (platonically) legally married, moving in together, co-adopting an eight-year-old, and keeping it all a secret.

Of Haircuts, Pocketwatch Chains, Other Uninteresting and Undesireable Things, and Generic Wholecloth Christmas Magic - by ribbontype

Summary: Back to romcom WrightWorth gift-giving competition. One of my favorite fics due to how said men drive each other nuts.

Fixer Upper - by poodlepunk

Summary: Miles getting Phoenix's help to renovate his house. Renovating houses is just my guilty pleasure in fics. Domestic WrightWorth.

Tomorrow - by marttyyriroskis

Summary: From 7 Year gap through Spirit of Justice. There is so much angst here. Also cue the fluff and drama on AA4. You will love the way the writer handled the mess capcom made. I just love this fic due to some special moments. You will not regret reading this monster fic. Prepare all the tissues!

where are you going? (i've been looking everywhere for you) - by whackamacka

Summary: Kimi no Na Wa except WrightWorth style? This is it! Setting is between 3-1 to 3-4. feat BratFeen.

abracadabra! - by ohallows

Summary: Kay and Trucy shenanigans making WrightWorth dads panic. ahahah.

now i don't hate california after all - by ohallows

Summary: Kay and Trucy gossiping and plotting. Kay and Trucy are literally born to be sisters.

parallelogram - by zombiekittiez

Summary: A cute but nicer BratFeen Fic. Canon divergent au featuring Defense Attorney Miles and theater major Phoenix. It's Miles who Dahlia meets instead.

ticking time bomb in their chests - by harmony

Summary: Timetravel fic just so Phoenix finally gets the realization he needs. We all love time travel fics!

The lies we tell ourselves - by Danypooh80

Summary: A retelling of AA except of a surprise OC in this fic. I melt for this fic for all the time. You will love every second of this!

Everything Changes - by Danypooh80

Summary: More of a Edgeworth-Wright family fic? Direct sequel of The lies we tell ourselves. A must read for part 1. Just expounding on the first fic with so much fluff you will melt with the fluff!

Turnabout Ideals - by felicia_angel

Summary: AA but a magical AU? It's full of feels. Way too many Phoenix angst. This is part 1 of 6 Currently. Part 5 is my fave! Read all to understand the universe. Nulls and Voids series - series link!

Set Sail and Cannonballed - by Almod

Summary: WrightWorth navigating the beginnings of their relationship in their very busy life. Something about this fic hits me with how much I love it!

The "B" in Butz stands for "Bondage" - by JajaLala

Summary: Larry wants to learn bondage. Miles runs away, Phoenix appreciates the art. I love this for hilarious reasons.

bear trap - by ghostcatamount

Summary: feat Omega Phoenix. Were it not Phoenix, this would just be creepy about his pre-heat. SInce this is our fave Phoenix, he is just not so subtle and Miles being the oblivious Alpha is such a treat!

by the book - by zombiekittiez

Summary: Drunk Miles barging in at book clubs to confess. Miles being drunk is always a treat.

Rise from the Ashes, again and again - by theinkhiddenwithin

Summary: Romantic fairy tale featuring fated paired Miles and Phoenix. This is it!

Happy Accident - by Jodalyn

Summary: Phoenix had a rough day except Miles bought the wrong paint but Phoenix turns it around by changing his canvas.

we sleep and set fires - by fictitiousregrets

Summary: Dreamsharing WrightWorth. This is one beautiful incption like fic.

a crow's trial - by Charrelous

Summary: role reversal au featuring defense attorney Miles and Prosecutor Phoenix. one of my fave aus. Also my guilty pleasure tropes.

Through Time and Space - by Northernflicker

Summary: time traveler Phoenix and immortal Miles? You will love this, spanning through different eras of history.

Should be Pretty Mundane - by KrisseyCrystal (IceCreAMS)

Summary: Phoenix makes a discovery about himself that he is so embarrassed about. And Miles, of course, figures it out.

One step at a time - by OuterWilde (foreveraugust)

Summary: Post AAJ. Phoenix plans to reinstate himself as a lawyer and confess to Miles. Real cute lovely fic! Phoenix also being oblivious about how good he is as a lawyer.

take it like a man - by tudoo

Summary: Literally Phoenix is dramatic about suit shopping. Spanning 2 decade events. I love how dramatic Phoenix is and how endearing Mia and Miles are here.

co-signed - by tudoo

Summary: WrightWorth goes house hunting until angst ensues. Reaaaally adorable with a splash of angst.

Shear Luck - by TopazEstrella

Summary: Legit Pianist Phoenix and Barber Miles. The post-apocalyptic barbershop AU that no one asked for but we all secretly needed.

it's only love - by Jodalyn

Summary: Miles and Phoenix marriage through the eyes of Gregory Edgeworth. Makes you tear up!

Phoenix is Out of the Loop - by Living_Death

Summary: Miles decides to take up knitting until it drove Phoenix nuts! It's sooo adorable. There's literally a knitting club plus Apollo and Miles.

Change of Heart - by actual_goblin

Summary: Miles had an operation and Franziska and Maya happened.

Eavesdropping - by SapphireWine

Summary: Miles asleep and eavesdropping on Maya and Phoenix post Engarde trial. Quick and short but we just love how comfy Miles is in using Phoenix as a pillow.

Maybe In Time (you'll want to be mine) - by YourAverageBystander

Summary: Time loop shenanigans. aka: Phoenix's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad, 2,400 hour day. What something Phoenix picked up on is my fave part of this!

where there is a flame (someone's bound to get burned) - by Samioli

Summary: Love lessons by Phoenix. It's good but these two constipated lawyers are pinning while having these sessions. Cue the angst.

An Anniversary Like Any Other - by Kantayra

Summary: Married WrightWorth just banter through anniversaries til they reach their old age.

Drunk on Kisses - by Zhuletta

Summary: Miles 5 + 1 drunk on kisses and he admits it on the last one. Real cute and adorable!

Turnabout Dishwasher - by zuzsenpai

Summary: Trucy asking Miles to keep an eye on her dad while on a trip around the world. Very dialogue AA style. You will love it! literally 3 fics in 1 fic if that makes sense. Turnabout Exchange Chapters are other pairings basically. There are a lot of pairings in this fic!

Texts & Turnabouts - by YanagiKana

Summary: explored AA love. really lovely shots. While WrightWorth here being my favorite, there are other tons to love here.

the bookstore at the corner of 14th and fen - by kbots

Summary: feat bookstore owner Miles and Single dad Phoenix. Reaaaallly fluffy and adorable on so many levels. Artist Phoenix creeps up. Extra Cute Trucy is here!

New to the Neighborhood - by paxton1976

Summary: Literally Phoenix and Miles being neighbors except the noise drove Miles nuts. Composer/Pianist Phoenix. AA but without the crazy drama? Very domestic life!

Seeing Is Believing - by paxton1976

Summary: Miles gets new glasses and he finds Phoenix 100x beautiful. Miles realizing how he also loves Phoenix and also somewhat obsesses on Phoenix too.

The Wooing of Phoenix Wright - by crayoncompanion

Summary: We've seen lots of fics Phoenix chasing after Miles. This is where the opposite happens. It's literally the title. Expect some angst tho. And some tear jerker moments but worth every tissue. You will love it!

The Art of Seduction: Is for People Less Attractive than Miles Edgeworth - by crayoncompanion

Summary: feat Sexy/hot Miles dropping all the hints for Phoenix to make a move but he sort of waves it off and acts ignorant about it? This is sooo funny on so many levels. It never failed to crack me up.

Love, Lust, and Libraries - by crayoncompanion

Summary: library au. It's soo good feat Miles and Phoenix clashing so muuuuch before they get each other. How can library AUs not be fun?

Angel of the Screens, Demon of the Courtroom - by JustNerdyThings

Summary: AA1 but Phoenix as a famous actor who became a lawyer. All good stuff. Where there is smol range of death for AA1. Pure gold comedy. Famous celebrity Phoenix is a riot having that Feenieness to him with money to spare to drive the world mad. Mia and Miles are the best worsties at law.

Guilty As Charged - by JustNerdyThings

Summary: Our wrightworth is mooning, everyone is trying to matchmake but it's not really needed? Another gold comedy wrightworth fic. Or Just torture Apollo with matchmake shenanigans that's really not needed.

Of Unravelled Knots - by Ekat

Summary - Very wholesome? Some really angsty in some parts only at the start majority. This fic is stuck to me because Miles narrative is hilarious to me and everyone literally roasting his house and I love how much of a BI Phoenix is on him and the times he decides to be petty.

Miles Bunworth Petitioned Bunshot Extravaganza - Ophelia_Writes

Summary - Everyone petitioning Miles in a bunnysuit. A part of A Brief Rest for the Defense fic. Loosely. Only need to know Miles messed up and Maya and Franziska happened. Somewhat post AA3.

#my aa list #aa fic rec #fic rec #aa #ace attorney #wrightworth #narumitsu #treasuretrove #littlefluff aa bookmarks #I can't believe I cleaned my monstrous list #love for all the wrightworth writers out there #and for all the aa writers #i want to also update my not narumitsu list #if my links direct you to my comment i am sorrry #will now hide into a corner #I also have a list that I call cry a river aa because anytime i read those #im missing some of my list

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runningfrom2am · 10 months ago

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cold nights // part twenty-seven

summary: you were back in the capitol, and you would be damned if you didn't try your hardest to make it worthwhile.

pairing: coriolanus snow x fem!reader

wc: 3.4k

masterlists / nav / requests

tags/warnings: tribute!reader and mentor!coriolanus, r is very sweet (too kind for this world. literally.), sunshine x grumpy trope kinda, he falls first, violence typical for the source material, depictions of mental illness, also she's is very smart (as she should), district twelve!reader.

a/n: omg we're coming up on the end i could cry :') i finished writing everything and i feel like a shell of a person rn without this fic to plan and write, but i hope you guys are excited! there will be five more parts after this and then the epilogue, which brings me to some really exciting news!!

big news #1: i'm opening oneshot requests for this series!! my normal requests will remain closed but i'd love to see what you guys want for the more of this series! (link is here!)

big news #2: the end of this story is opening the doors to my third coryo series which I've been working on for a hot minute, and it'll be called requiem! (see the original request for it here to get the vibes before i post anything!)

my asks are also open to talk about this series! (i do have emoji anons open now too!)

send me any and all of your thoughts! here!

series masterlist // playlist

The protests caught you off guard, more than anything.

It had only been two weeks since you started your classes and you were loving them, but you hated getting dropped off in the morning and picked up in the afternoon. You and Coryo could no longer eat lunch outside, and the previously full lecture halls you had occupied saw more and more students dropping out as people stood outside just to shout at you as you came and went from the school four days a week. To call you an animal, that you don't belong there, that you should be "put down" for crimes against the Capitol. What they were? You had no idea.

Suffice to say, parents were not happy that you were there.

Generally, Coryo said that people had loved you in the games. You were "harmless", and "sweet", you gave them someone to root for- but now that you were walking freely among them instead of being kept behind the bars at the zoo or trapped inside the arena awaiting your death, you were suddenly a threat.

"They... they think I'll hurt someone?" You sniff, watery eyes overflowing as you look at Coryo lying beside you in his bed.

He bites his tongue, nodding as he wipes away your tears with the hand he has resting just under your cheek on top of his pillow. "They're afraid. That's all, it's not because of anything you did."

"I won't." You cry. "I would never, you know that, right?"

"I know, love. I know that." He promises you quietly.

"I don't want people to be afraid of me. It's not fair to them... If they feel unsafe I should just drop out."

"You're not doing that." He insists with a slight shake of his head. "We'll figure it out. Okay? Don't worry about them."

You just nod softly, wiping your eyes as he pushes his arm under your neck. "C'mere." He mumbles rolling onto his back and you move closer, laying your head on his chest as he pulls you closer to his side.

Coryo did figure it out, for the most part, which is how you ended up standing in Capitol TV's studios, awaiting an interview with Lucky Flickerman, someone you definitely thought you would never see again after the games. You didn't know how Coryo did it, who he had to talk to in order to convince them to let you plead your case so publicly. Apparently, the Snow name came with more power than you knew.

"You're gonna do great, love." Coryo whispers to you. "Just be yourself, but remember what I said about your essay, right? Be honest, but think about how you word things. I know you can do it." He assures you quietly, hands resting on your shoulders.

You nod, giving him a hopeful smile. "Thank you."

"I'll be right here, I'm not going anywhere." These types of reassurances were becoming less and less necessary over the month you've been here, but still, you don't like it when he's far, and he doesn't like it when he doesn't know where you are. It worked nicely for you both.

"Miss Y/L/N, whenever you're ready." One of the crew directs you, pointing to the comfortable chair they had set up in front of a homey-looking backdrop. It was fake, but it was meant to look like you were in someone's house. The idea of it was confusing to you, but you supposed it was also unimportant. You had much bigger concerns.

"Thank you." You smile at them and give Coryo another quick nod before making your way over to the seat that they said was yours.

Coryo watches as you carefully brush your hands over the front of your dress, smoothing it as you sit down. You looked so elegant as you did it, if he didn't know better, it looked like the habits of the people you were now surrounded with were rubbing off on you quickly. He had watched you rehearse how you would carry yourself and how you would speak and act with Tigris just this morning, after she fit you into the dress she had made for the occasion. Clearly, you had been paying attention.

When you draw your hair from your back and over your shoulder so your meticulously styled curls wouldn't be crushed against the chair, Coryo thinks he might need to sit down. Especially so when you look back at him again, subtly waving at him with your hand from where they are placed in your lap. The dress Tigris had given to you was red- a deep red silky material that complimented the red of his coat and mimicked the shade of the Capitol's flag but still had you standing out on your own. Seeing the way that dress fit you and hugged your form in all the right ways even as you were sitting, he was sure he had never been more grateful to his cousin and her talents.

"Y/N, it's so good to see you again." Lucky smiles at you as he sits down across from you, adjusting the small device attached to his lapel as crew members come up to you and fasten the same thing to the front and back of your dress.

"You as well." You grin, trying the best you can to mask your nervousness.

"Are you ready? Do you need anything?" He asks and you shake your head.

"I am ready whenever you are." You confirm, looking around as some more lights flick on, bright in your eyes as the man behind the camera starts counting down.

You look over at Coryo one last time and he nods at you. It was just like your first interview all over again- you had to sell yourself to the people. To prove that you were worth trusting.

"My name is Lucretius "Lucky" Flickerman," You smile as he flips a coin up into the air. You've seen him do it before, but you still weren't sure how the trick worked. "Amateur magician and your host for everything interesting on Capitol TV, and today is certainly no exception. Today, I have a familiar face with me who I know you will all recognize as well, the Victor of the Tenth Annual Hunger Games, Miss Y/N Y/L/N." He looks over at you and you keep your eyes on him, certain that all cameras are watching you now.

"Y/N, I am so happy to have you back. How have you been?" Lucky asks you and you're already fighting off the need to fidget with your hands.

"I am very well." You smile at him. "How about yourself? It has been a while."

"I'm great, thank you! You know, I was not allowed to bet on the games, but anyone who was there can tell you that I predicted your win from the beginning. You certainly are something else."

"Oh, well thank you." You giggle. "Though, I can't fully be credited for my win. I have to thank the sponsors who allowed Coriolanus to send me food and water. That made all the difference in my game."

"Oh, most definitely." He agrees. "But you shouldn't deny your own role in that. Hiding in the vents, that was genius!" Lucky claps. "Truly, that was a jaw-dropping moment for all of us watching. I remember thinking 'wow, how did she think of that?' It was incredible!"

"Yes, well, I saw the grate and knew it was worth a try." You shrug, slightly laughing. "I had nothing to lose."

"Yes, well, I'm dying to know- what have you been up to the last few months? You went back to Twelve, and then what?"

"Oh! Yes, I did. I've been spending time with friends and family, I got a job at the local library, catching up on some reading, that sort of thing." You grin, glancing at Coryo for only a moment and he gestures for you to continue. "I got home and I really realized for the first time how much we should be appreciating everything we have- even out in the Districts where sometimes life is tough, it's key to remember how privileged we are to be alive. The games were truly eye-opening for me."

Coryo gives you a quick nod of approval, and you smile, training your view back on the man across from you.

"Yes, I agree. Live life to the fullest, that's what they say." You just nod at his response. "Which also begs the question, if you were happy back in Twelve, what brought you back to the Capitol?"

Let the lies begin.

"Well," You laugh nervously. "When I was given the opportunity to come here for the games back in July, I was so interested in everything. The people who I got to talk to, the things I got to see, it was all amazing and I was just dying for more."

"So you decided to come study at the university here, is what I've heard."

"Yes, exactly." You grin. "I just think that the Capitol has so much to offer as far as education goes, I am already learning so much and I am having so much fun doing it."

"So really, your focus is just on your education." He prompts you and you nod.

"Definitely, considering the course load I don't have time for much else, but that doesn't really bother me. Like I said, I just want to learn from the greatest minds in the nation. Even the other students, it's amazing! Everyone has earned their spot there and I can see why and all the work they have put in to be there. It's a privilege to study among them, and I am so grateful that I was given this chance."

"You say 'all the work that they put in to be there', but you didn't attend the academy, so how is it that you were admitted?"

"I filled out the same application that all the other students did, I went through all the same testing." You confirm, nodding at him. "Although," You laugh slightly. "I was only given one day to complete it all. I was locked away in my room working on it all night. I hardly had time to blink, it was tough."

"Wow!" Lucky laughs. "One day? I remember when I applied to the university, my application took months to get just right. You must have aced it all."

"I am very proud of the work I did to be admitted, yes." You smile.

"From what I hear, you should be." He agrees. "So, you're really not in it for the sake of making friends."

"Well, I certainly would love to, but it is not my priority." You nod. "But, if any of my classmates are watching, I promise I am good at proofreading and if you need a second set of eyes on your papers, I'm happy to help. I'd also love to have more people to discuss our readings with." You joke, looking into the camera for the first time.

Lucky laughs. "You've heard it here, everyone. Y/N's pitch to make some friends!"

"Yes, I suppose it was." You chuckle, smiling at him.

"Now on the topic of friends while we're getting to know you better," You tilt your head at him while he begins the question, unsure where it is going. "Back home, do you have a boyfriend? Surely he must be missing you."

"No, not at home..." You laugh, catching in the corner of your eye as Coryo shakes his head at you, his face flat of emotion. "I don't have a boyfriend. Again, that's really just not where my priorities lie at the moment. I've... I've had a very busy year, you could say." You explain hesitantly.

"Wow! A beautiful girl like you?" You laugh nervously at his response. "Capitol boys! She's smart, pretty, and single. Just saying." He says, raising his hands.

You knew his job today was to help you, to make you more likable and more normal, to humanize you, but it was still uncomfortable to hear. "Oh, please." You laugh nervously, waving a hand at him. "Like I said, I'm just here to learn. I'm not after anyone's son."

"No? Not even all the handsome boys in your classes? I'm sure there are at least a few." He teases you and your cheeks flush red.

"I wouldn't know, I'm watching the lectures." You shrug jokingly.

Coryo is trying not to lose his mind while you talk about how single you are. Not that you were much of a willing participant, and to be fair he did tell you not to indicate to them that the two of you were together. You technically weren't, if he was being totally fair, but just because it hadn't been said doesn't mean it isn't real. He knew you knew that, though. So why was he getting so mad?

He doesn't even realize how little attention he was paying after that until you're standing up and shaking Lucky's hand. It was over, you'd done everything you could have to ease the minds of scared and angry Capitol parents.

Lucky gives you a quick hug, wishing you good luck in your classes before you're allowed to rejoin Coryo. "Ready to go?" He asks and you nod.

"How did I do?" You ask as you walk out of the studio and into the hall, aiming for the elevator to take you back to ground level.

"Amazing, love. You were perfect." Coryo confirms, still noticeably tense as he walks next to you.

"Are you sure?" You ask as he presses the button to call the car up to your level, unsure since he still hasn't really looked at you.

The door opens and you both step in. "Yes." He tells you again, quickly tapping the door close button.

"Oh, good. I was really nervous..." You laugh slightly as the doors slide shut, and as soon as any light from the hall ceases to enter the elevator his hands are on you and his lips are pressed against yours.

You let out the slightest squeak out of shock, but quickly relax as Coryo rubs familiar small circles on your hips with his thumbs. How he could be so gentle as he backs you into the wall of the elevator you don't know, but you're grateful for it as you hum into his mouth. But still, something was different.

Spending so much time with you only made him want you more. He loved you, he knew that, and someplace deep in the corners of his mind, he had always wanted you in a way he never thought possible when he first fell for you before the games. Now, with you curled up under his sheets almost every night, seeing you step out of the bathroom with damp hair after a shower in pyjamas that don't fit you quite right, he thought about it more than ever. Thoughts of you plagued him more than usual, and the best way to describe the accompanying feeling was guilt. Guilt that he couldn't show you off given the circumstances- at least not yet.

He trails his kisses away from your lips and across your jaw, pulling you tighter against him. "You're so beautiful, my love..." He mumbles into the skin just below your ear, leaving a kiss in his wake that has your head spinning.

You giggle, eyes fluttering open. "What has gotten into you?" You ask, hands sliding up over his chest to rest on his shoulders.

"I can't tell my girlfriend that I think she's gorgeous?" He asks, shaking his head slightly as he looks down into your eyes.

"Oh, so I am your girlfriend." You giggle and he nods, kissing you again.

"Of course you are, and don't forget it." He chuckles, pulling back from you as the elevator stops moving, waiting for the doors to open.

Your skin is flushed down to your chest as the doors slide apart and even though he's not touching you anymore, you can feel the ghost of his hands on you. You look up at him, a lingering smirk still on his face as he looks straight ahead and leads you out of the car.

The phone rang at the time you were eating dinner, and you quickly asked if you could be excused to go answer it. Coryo and Tigris both just nodded at you, but you could still feel their grandmother's eyes burning into your back as you quickly walked away. She still wasn't fond of you, but she tolerated you. For now, that was just enough.

You grab the phone off the receiver as the small round screen flickers to life. "Hello?" You answer, hopeful that it would finally be your family you see on the other side.

You had answered every call that came to the Snow's apartment for weeks, waiting anxiously to hear their voices again.

"Y/N, is that you, honey?"

You gasp with excitement when you get a clear enough view of your ma. "Ma! Hi!" You smile, leaning in a little closer to get a more clear view as the camera on their end begins to adjust. This was likely the first time it was being used.

"Oh, honey, how good it is to see you!" She smiles, and out of nowhere, you feel hot tears welling up in your eyes.

"You too, Ma." You nod, biting into your lower lip. You didn't want to cry so quickly into the call. "How are you? How's everything at home?"

"Same old." She shakes her head with a slight laugh. "I'm much more interested in you- how is everything? How is school? And how is Tybalt settling in? How are you settling in? My goodness, I just have so many questions!"

You laugh, quickly wiping a stray tear. You had told them about all of this in letters, of course, but she just wanted to hear you say it all. "Everything is good. School has been so lovely, Coryo walks me to all my classes and we eat lunch together between. And Tybalt just loves it here! They have a garden on the roof, and I take him up there as often as I can. Tigris won't stop giving him treats either so he couldn't be happier."

You look down at the animal as he brushes against your leg, looking up at you.

"That's amazing. I've been so worried, it's just so good to see your face again. God, we've been missin' you..."

"I miss you too." You agree, careful not to choke on your tears. "How is Len? And have you seen Lucy Gray and the Covey?"

"He's... He's doing alright." Your mother looks off-screen, and you assume he must be there. The look on her face, one of nervousness and hesitation tells you he doesn't want to speak to you. "But Lucy Gray has been around every day, she and Maude Ivory come over and they help me with hanging the laundry and such... It's been good to have them around."

You smile sadly, nodding slightly with the receiver pressed to your ear. You felt bad about that aspect of leaving- you spent as much time as you could before the games helping out around the house, but even in the summer when you came back you weren't much help. Your mother wouldn't let you do dishes all summer, for fear that the sight of a knife might set you off. She knew you came back a different person, and she wasn't taking any risks. All she really allowed you to do was hang laundry and "keep her company" while she did other home chores. But now, she didn't even have that.

"Can I speak to him?" You ask, referring to your brother who you knew was there.

She nods, waving off camera and holding her hand over the wrong part of the phone. "Lennox, come over here. Y/N wants to talk to you."

His response is muffled, but you make out the gist of it. 'I don't want to talk to her'.

"She's your sister, Lennox. You can't ignore her forever."

'If she wants to talk, she should come home.'

Your heart clenches in your chest and you chew your lip. You have to pretend you couldn't hear, but you just felt so horribly guilty. You shouldn't have left, but he doesn't understand you had no choice. He wouldn't be able to understand until you could come home and see him again, likely not until the summer. Coryo had told you to be mindful of what you write in letters and what you say on the phone, it's possible others were listening. The Capitol was always listening.

"He's just a little busy right now, honey." She smiles at you, but you can see right through it. "But tell me about your day! Did you have class?"

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inthedayswhenlandswerefew · 1 year ago

Text

Napoleonville [Chapter 1: The Fall-Down House]

Series Summary: The year is 1988. The town is Napoleonville, Louisiana. You are a small business owner in need of some stress relief. Aemond is a stranger with a taste for domination. But as his secrets are revealed, this casual arrangement becomes something more volatile than either of you could have ever imagined.

Chapter Warnings: Language, sexual content (18+ readers only), dom/sub dynamics, alligators, kids, parenthood, smoking, cupcakes!

Word Count: 7.2k (she's very chonky for a first chapter).

Link to chapter list (and all my writing): HERE.

Since this is the first chapter of a new series, I'm going to tag a bunch of usual readers, but I won't tag you again unless you want me to. 💜

@persephonerinyes @tinykryptonitewerewolf @daenysx @babyblue711 @arcielee @bhanclegane @jvpit3rs @padfooteyes @marvelescvpe @travelingmypassion @darkenchantress @yeahright0h @poohxlove @trifoliumviridi @bloodyflowerrr @fan-goddess @devynsficrecs @flowerpotmage @thelittleswanao3 @seabasscevans @hiraethrhapsody @libroparaiso @st-eve-barnes @chattylurker @vagharnaur @moonlightfoxx @heliosscribbles @beautifulsweetschaos @namelesslosers @partnerincrime0 @burningcoffeetimetravel-fics @marbles-posts @maidmerrymint @backyardfolklore @dd122004dd @jetblack4real @joliettes @mariahossain @minttea07 @please-buckme @florent1s @tempt-ress @wintersire @w3ird11 @eltherevir @florent1s @maii777

Let me know if you'd like to be tagged! 🥰🧁

“What do you want to do to me?” you whisper through the phone, stretched out across your bed like a cat as George Michael’s Faith plays from the baby pink Panasonic boombox out in the kitchen. It’s late afternoon, and fading daylight falls in tiger stripes through the window blinds. The May air is hot, muggy, golden; cicadas hum in the southern live oaks, an ancient earthen music like rattling bones.

A few seconds pass before he can reply. It was a bold way to begin. You are admittedly a little impressed with yourself; an idea like this has been pacing around in your skull like a beast behind bars for years, but you’ve only now set it loose. “That’s difficult to explain in words,” he says; and in the low, teasing purr of his voice you can hear that your gamble paid off like striking oil. He has a British accent, which you never would have expected. You only recognize it from clips you’ve seen of Prince Charles and Princess Diana on 60 Minutes. “But I’d enjoy showing you.”

It’s laid open beside you on the bed, his personal ad in the Bayou Journal: Educated white male in his mid-20s. Single and not looking to change that. Seeking an open-minded, adventurous, and spirited lady for short-term D/s arrangement. Be prepared to answer the following riddle: I’m small but loom large, I’m Italian but French, I give away much to gain little. Who am I? Best regards, An Indecent Gentleman. “I’m waiting.”

“You understand what is meant by D/s?”

“Of course,” you say, your best feigned flippantness. You only know because Amir told you; he’s been daring you to call for three days.

“Thank God,” the man on the other end of the line sighs. There is an inhale like a drag on a cigarette. You imagine what he might look like: broad or slight, dark-haired or blonde, striking or average or homely, treacherous or safe, forbidden fruit or just plain forbidden. “I’ve had four different women ring me thinking I’m going to be their boyfriend, dinner and flowers and everything. They’re functionally illiterate down here.”

How unfortunate, you think. He’s highfalutin. But alas, no one is perfect. That’s no prohibitive obstacle. He doesn’t need to be faultless; it’s not as if you’re planning to marry the guy. “I like when someone else is in control.”

“Why?” This is a test, you can feel it. You can sense his rapt attention across the wire, through the electricity and the lush treetops and the rust-amber sky.

“I have a lot of…responsibilities in my real life,” you explain. “A lot of pressure. I make the decisions, I look out for other people. Sometimes I want to be the one who’s told what to do.”

“I can make that happen. And the riddle?”

“It’s Napoleon.”

The grin is sharp and triumphant in his voice. “Good girl.”

“He was short but an emperor. He was born in Corsica to an Italian family, but he ended up ruling over France. He sold off a bunch of French colonies to focus on conquering Europe and still couldn’t quite manage it. But the U.S.A. got this charming little corner of the world as part of the bargain.”

“You’re a historian,” the man says, sounding pleased.

“No sir, we all had to learn about him in school whether we wanted to or not.”

“Sir,” he echoes, tasting it, savoring it. You imagine a pink tongue flicking out to skate across his lips. Then he is abruptly cool, impersonal, businesslike. “Listen, I’ve got a scar down the left side of my face. It’s thin, it’s clean, but it’s noticeable. The eye is glass, although you can’t really tell unless you look closely. Is that a problem?”

A scar? Is he a veteran? A lion tamer? A motorcycle enthusiast? You try to remember what kinds of hobbies British people have. Isn’t there some kind of sport where men swing sticks around while riding horses? That sounds like it could put an eye out. Perhaps to your own surprise, you find that you are more intrigued than uneasy. Oh, you realize, dull like dawn through mist. I like him. I want him. Not just THIS, but HIM. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Brilliant. I don’t want to talk about it again.”

“That’s fine.” You hesitate. “There’s actually something I should tell you too.”

“Hm?”

The hum of his voice is arrogant, hungry. You try not to get distracted. Blood rushes hot and ashamed into your cheeks. “Um, well, uh, sometimes it’s difficult for me to…you know. Finish. Not when I’m alone, just when I’m with a guy. Especially if I’m anxious. And I don’t want to feel worried about faking it or making sure it happens or dealing with you getting offended or upset or whatever. Because it’s fine, really. It doesn’t mean I’m not having a good time. I’m just…stuck in my own head.”

There is a sound you can’t quite match to an expression, an exhale, a scoff. “Obviously I wouldn’t be mad at you. But you’ll come. I know you will. I’ll make you.”

And you’re flooded with a relief that you never dared to hope for. A confession spills out in a trembling whisper: “Please.”

“When?” he says, eager, urgent.

“I think if we don’t do it now, I’ll lose my nerve.”

There is a razor-thin pause, and then he asks for your address.

~~~~~~~~~~

You haven’t had a man in your bed in years; you are abruptly and unkindly reminded of this when you paw through the top drawer of your bedroom dresser and find only practical, deadly unsexy cotton Kmart underwear. You dash to the closet, yank open the squeaking door, and—tucked away in a cardboard box of winter clothes like sweaters and jeans, forgotten, needless—unearth a sprinkling of insubstantial silk and lace, all in luxurious gemstone hues: amethyst, ruby, sapphire, onyx, emerald.

“Oh, hallelujah.” You throw off your sunshine yellow shorts and tug on what were once upon a time your favorite panties. They don’t fit nearly as well as they used to; they fit horribly, in fact. They evaporate the thrill and leave nauseous trepidation in its place. “Oh God. Oh no. Oh no, oh no.” You steal a harried glimpse of the clunky black alarm clock on your nightstand. The flashing red numbers inform you that you have approximately ten more minutes until he arrives.

You jog pantsless to the kitchen, pour yourself a glass of sweet tea—ice cold, bright with a squeeze of lemon juice—and pace back and forth across the wooden floor as you sip it. The pine boards slope at just the slightest angle; if you laid an apple by your feet, it would roll. The house is sinking. It was built at the turn of the twentieth century, but it won’t live to see the next. Ailing sunlight casts your shadow against the wall, mint green, spider-leg cracks inching through the paint. Outside cicadas buzz and doves coo in long, mournful whirrs.

You pick up the phone—pink to match the boombox that is now playing Poison’s Nothin’ But A Good Time—next to the refrigerator and dial with one finger, your other hand still clutching the frosty glass of sweet tea. It rings twice before he answers.

“Wassup?” Amir says distractedly. You can hear a commotion from his living room on the other side of town: his grandmother squawking, ambient applause, Wheel Of Fortune.

“Quick, what should I wear?”

“Huh?”

“The guy! The guy from the ad! I called the guy! What should I be wearing when he shows up?”

Amir cackles. “Ho, you must be truly desperate, why the fuck are you asking me?” There is some shrill protestation in the background. “Grandma, don’t you dare try to act like you’ve never heard that word before, we just rented Aliens.”

“You know what men like,” you plead.

“Not the straight ones!” And then, not to you: “Grandma, calm down. Grandma, Grandma! It’s my homegirl. She has an emergency. She’s got a man coming over and she doesn’t know what to wear. What did you wear for Pop Pop? What? What?! You expect me to believe you got seven kids out of that dude with just some old floral nightgown?! Prairie girl fabulous? Looking like you’re on your way to join the Donner Party? Okay, if you say so! Phyllis knows best!” Amir’s attention returns to you. “Grandma suggests a nightgown.”

You are skeptical. “That seems slutty.”

“You’re inviting some stranger over for an all-expenses-paid ride on the Pussy Express and you’re concerned about looking slutty?!”

He has a point. “Okay. Okay. Yeah. You’re right. Okay.”

“You wear that nightgown with confidence and you take that random kinky man directly to bed, do you understand me?” Amir orders.

“Totally,” you say, gulping sweet tea with a shaking hand.

“Good luck. I gotta go, it’s the Bonus Round. Hope you have a few rounds to tell me about tomorrow.” Then he hangs up.

Back in your bedroom closet, you find a black satin slip that runs to your ankles and flows like a ballgown. You put it on some nights when you’re feeling desirable, after a bath of bubbles and steam, candles and Madonna, freshly shaved legs and shimmering with Pond’s, when you want to lounge around daydreaming, when you want to remember the fantasies you once had about what your life might turn out to be. Now you wear it in the fading daylight, nothing underneath and golden sunbeams turning your skin to something that warms and glows.

You appraise yourself in your dusty dresser mirror, and you think: Not too bad, actually. You’ve had your hair up in a haphazard bun. You reach to take it down, then stop yourself. You like the wayward wisps, the I-don’t-care-too-much casualness. Your breathing is slow and calm again. There is a noise outside: tires crunching on gravel. Your glass of sweet tea, now mostly just ice cubes, is sweating on top of your dresser. You grab the glass, swipe the Bayou Journal off your bed, and take both to the kitchen counter, still speckled with flour, powdered sugar, flecks of cinnamon. Then you pad across the sloping wooden floor in your bare feet to open the front door. Amber dusk streams in; you can hear bullfrogs croaking and the hoots of the long-eared owl that lives in the collapsing, overgrown shed behind the house. Spanish moss hangs like cobwebs, like chandeliers. The tree swing rocks idly in the breeze. The first notes of You Shook Me All Night Long play from the kitchen boombox.

His car is red, sporty, with a logo on the grill that you don’t recognize, a series of circles intertwined like rings. He cuts the engine and steps out into the driveway as you watch from behind the screen, leaning against the doorframe with your arms crossed over your chest. He’s tall, trim, blonde, wearing Adidas sneakers and light-wash jeans and a Marlboro jacket that it’s far too hot for. He peers around, taking in the trees and the house through his black aviator sunglasses. He puffs one last time on a cigarette before putting it out on his own windshield and starting towards the porch. And immediately, primally, you crave him like water or air.

He climbs the groaning steps, splitting wood and rusty nails. You open the screen door to meet him in the threshold. And he takes off his sunglasses so he can look at you, stowing them in a pocket of his jacket, his gaze not wavering from yours, his lips not saying a word. Yes, he has a scar, but it doesn’t diminish him in the slightest. Yes, his left eye may be glass, but you wouldn’t have noticed if he hadn’t already told you. You’re too tangled up in the right. His iris is a brisk greyish blue, not like the ocean, not like the bayou, more like the sky before a hurricane, heavy with the threat of wind and rain. His face is strong, jarring, beautiful in a rare way. His full lips are curling into a grin.

At last, you speak first, an inane observation that feels somehow significant. “You found me.”

“I did.” He nods towards the large lavender sign out by the mouth of the gravel driveway. Hand-painted on it are the words Hummingbird Bakery and a logo that Amir designed, a hummingbird feeding on the frosting swirl of a cupcake as if it’s a flower flush with nectar. “You told me to look for the sign. That helped.”

“What kind of car do you drive? I don’t recognize it.”

“It’s an Audi Quattro.”

“Audi,” you repeat, like a hopelessly distant place, New York City or Los Angeles or Paris or the moon. “Is that British?”

“German, actually.”

“You’re from a very different world.”

“Yeah, I am.” His eye flicks up and down your body, black satin that curves and clings; his grin widens. “But I could learn to like yours, I think.”

You step back so he can follow you inside. The screen door shuts with a bang. Under the shadows, as the sun sets into the west, he unzips his Marlboro jacket and tosses it onto your living room couch. Underneath he wears a white t-shirt. We’re opposites, you think dazedly, wondering what he will taste like when he kisses you. He grazes his fingertips down the front of your throat, continues to your chest, stills when he hits the satin of your slip.

“You can tell me to stop whenever you want to,” he murmurs, and you breathe in his smoke and cologne and dauntless, dizzying self-assurance. “But until you say stop, I’m gonna keep going.”

Your heartbeat is drumming beneath his hand, part exhilaration and the rest nerves. You are afraid of disappointing him; you aren’t sure what to expect. “I don’t even know your name.”

“Aemond.”

Aemond. Foreign, like Audi, like Paris. You give him your own in return. He leans in, presses his hips to yours, denim and satin that you can feel his heat through. And you think he’s going to kiss your neck, or bite it, bruise it, mark it, claim it, claim you; but he only ghosts his parted lips from the edge of your jaw to your bare shoulder, inhaling slow and deep, drawing your atoms into his lungs until they tumble down the narrowest corridors and into his capillary beds, into his bloodstream. You moan softly, helplessly, and turn your face to kiss him.

“No,” Aemond growls, teasing you, catching your chin with one hand to hold you still. His other hand glides down the front of your slip and stops between your legs. Through satin the color of a starless midnight, his fingers stroke you roughly, commandingly. Animalistic yearning bolts low to weaken your knees, high to rip a gasp from your throat. “Nothing underneath,” he notes in approval.

Oh, I like him, you think, in equal parts ecstatic and petrified. I REALLY like him.

But are you going to be able to impress him too? Are you going to ruin this?

You whimper, unintentionally and almost inaudibly. Aemond is studying your face; furrows appear in his scarred brow, so faint and fleeting you might have imagined them. Then his hand retreats as he says: “Show me your toys.”

You gape up at him; this is not what you anticipated. “What?”

“I want to see how you make yourself come. You have toys, don’t you?”

“I do,” you admit, though you’ve never used them with anyone else before.

Aemond smirks mischieviously, then commands: “Show me. Right now.”

You lead him to your bedroom and slide open the middle drawer of your dresser. You glance at his reflection in the silvery glass of the mirror; he’s staring, not at your body but at your face, his gaze locked with yours, his mouth open, entranced, hungry. You move to stand against the wall, smiling sheepishly as Aemond shoves aside folded sheets and pillowcases to reveal your collection. It’s nothing too adventurous: five vibrators in different colors, styles, sizes.

“Quite the assortment,” he praises.

“They were gifts from a friend.”

Now Aemond is dubious. “A friend?”

“Don’t be jealous. He doesn’t like women.”

Aemond laughs, warm and boyish like he’s breaking character; and you are alarmed by the wave of fondness for him that crashes through you. It’s something that could pull you under. It’s something you could drown in. He picks up the largest vibrator: long, thick, pink like soft feminine vulnerability, like love. Then he is darkly, deliciously stern again. “On the bed.”

“No.” Not because you’re genuinely protesting. Because you want him to make you.

Aemond grabs you around your waist and drags you towards the bed as you squeal, giggle, fight him halfheartedly. He throws you down onto the wildflower-patterned duvet and climbs between your thighs, parting them as he pushes the hem of your black satin slip up to your waist. Abruptly, you are bare for him, exposed, fiery dusk air cool against your wetness. Aemond is still fully clothed, white shirt and pale blue jeans. He is holding your legs open with his own. You can see the bulge of his cock beneath the denim: at least as large as the vibrator and hard with insistent longing.

I want him, you think as you hear the vibrator click on. I want him, I want him…

Aemond brings the pink silicone tip to your flesh, and instantly you’re ravenous. It shocks you how much more erotic this is when someone else is holding it, when someone else has you entirely at their mercy. You cry out, loud and shameless, euphoric. Your back arches; your fingers twist into the duvet. As he presses the vibrator down more forcefully, Aemond braces his hips against yours, grinding into you through his jeans, taunting you, conquering you.

You fumble for the button and zipper of his jeans. “Please—”

“No,” Aemond snarls, beaming, snatching your hand and pinning it up by your head. His other hand is still circling your clit with the tip of the vibrator. “You haven’t earned it yet.”

“Aemond, please, I need you—”

“No,” he says, defiant. He makes the rules. He has the power; he’s in control. Suddenly, he pulls the vibrator away. You yelp in dismay. “You know,” Aemond quips cavalierly. “It’s a shame you have such a difficult time finishing when you’re with a man. I bet you’re not even close.”

“I am,” you whine, in agony, in ecstasy.

Aemond pretends to be surprised. “Hm.” He returns the vibrator to your skin, slick, hot, aching in the most wondrous way. You sigh as the pleasure surges through you, as you soar up to the previous plateau and then begin to ascend beyond it. You must have repositioned yourself without noticing; Aemond releases your hand to smack his palm against the inside of your thigh. “Keep your legs apart. I want you wide open for me.”

“I will, I promise.” I’ll do anything you tell me to.

Aemond’s hand ventures lower. Two of his fingers glide inside you and thrust in time with his hips. “Fuck,” he hisses, breaking character again; and something rocks through his shoulders, his spine, a divine temptation that he is battling.

“Aemond, more,” you plead, looking at the massive outline of his cock under his jeans.

“Not yet,” he pants, fucking you with his fingers as the vibrator hums against your clit. “You have to come for me first, baby. You have to earn it.”

And you’re close, you really are, you’re closer than you ever would have imagined you’d be with him tonight, this stranger, this elusive British man, this man from a personal ad in the Bayou Journal that you almost never replied to. Your hair has come undone and is wild around your face; your heart is pounding frantically; your skin is bathed in a sheen of victorious perspiration. When was the last time someone made you feel like this? You can’t recall; the answer might be never. There is a spellbinding, intensifying sensation of warmth, of opening, you’re only seconds from the brink, you’re ready to step off the precipice and into open blue air the same color as his eyes—

Aemond yanks the vibrator away again, grinning toothily down at you.

“No!” You scrabble for him with shaking hands, pulling yourself up as you reach for the vibrator. Aemond pushes you back onto the bed. Despite your protests, you love the feeling of his weight on top of yours; you love the organic symphony he’s built of, muscle and bone and skill and power. His fingers are still pumping in and out of you, keeping you soaked and throbbing, pinning you to the edge of an orgasm without permitting you to succumb to it.

“It’s going to be so good for you like this, baby,” Aemond insists, low and raspy. He’s reading your face, attentive to every detail, drinking up your desperate body and quivering voice. “I swear I’m not torturing you for no reason. Let me show you. Let me take care of you. When it happens, it’s going to blow your fucking mind. Are you ready?”

“Yes, now, please, do it now,” you whimper as you lie beneath him, open, bare, senseless, vanquished.

Aemond drags his tongue over the tip of the vibrator, moaning with lust as he tastes you. Then he at last presses the pink silicone to your clit once more. In your electrified nerves, in your scalding blood, there are sparks and momentum and currents rushing towards the cataclysmic breaking of a rogue wave. “Nice and slow,” Aemond murmurs. “Let it build.”

Instead of the peak, you reach another plateau, so high and so rapturous you can’t stand it, you can’t fathom climbing any farther. It’s becoming so sharp and intense it’s almost painful. Fresh anxiety flashes in your mind like lightning. The momentum begins to dissipate like dewdrops under the late-morning sun. Oh no, I’m going to lose it, I’m going to disappoint him—

Aemond lifts the vibrator off you again; before you have time to collect yourself enough to speak, to apologize, he’s slipped his fingers out of you and carefully guided the vibrator inside, stretching you, filling you, thrusting rhythmically but not too viciously or too deep. He places his thumbprint on the place where the vibrator was just seconds ago and circles quickly, once, twice, again, and then…

You try not to scream, but you can’t help it, can’t stop it; the climax wrenches out of you indescribable pleasure, vanished fears, awe and relief, twisted muscles and gasping breaths, every electrical impulse of every atom, and each time you believe it’s over it rolls a little farther like an endless summer afternoon. When it’s done—truly done—you aren’t sure exactly how it happens but suddenly you’re sitting upright on the bed and the vibrator is lying forgotten on top of the duvet and Aemond is laughing, kissing you—sweat and nicotine, smoke and salt—and caressing your face with his hands, saying: “You were such a good girl. You did amazing. I’m so proud of you.”

“Okay,” you exhale unsteadily, smiling. You nod to the very noticeable bulge in his jeans. “Your turn.”

“No,” Aemond says primly.

“What?”

“No,” he repeats. “Not today.”

“But…but…why?”

The curl of his lips is crooked and playful. “To prove I’m not just here to get myself off.” He kisses you again, far more tenderly than any random dom from a personal ad should. “You don’t trust me. But maybe next time you will.”

“How could I trust you? I don’t even know you.”

“We’ll have to spend more time together.”

“You seriously aren’t going to fuck me right now? Me? A mostly-naked stranger you met up with exclusively for the purposes of fucking?”

“Are you dissatisfied?”

In truth, no; your pulse is slowing, your thoughts are calm, your lust is satiated, you’re reasonably certain that you’ve sprained no less than four muscles. You feel like the sky after rain: emptied, unburdened, untroubled, at peace. “Not at all.”

“Then you shouldn’t be complaining.”

You reach out to touch Aemond’s unscarred cheek and he smiles. You try to ghost your fingertips over the left side of his face and he flinches away, leaves the bed, takes the vibrator to the bathroom to scrub it with soap and water. “Can I at least pour you a glass of sweet tea or something?” you call after him. “I feel guilty. I feel like I didn’t uphold my end of the bargain.”

“You exceeded all of my expectations,” Aemond says with a strange sort of somberness. “But sweet tea sounds great.”

You take five minutes to clean up and change into real clothes—ratty denim shorts and a red, white, and blue Pepsi t-shirt, chaotic hair, no bra—and then meet Aemond in the kitchen. He’s surveying the large circular table, which is littered with covered cake plates in a hodgepodge of sizes and colors; you found most of them at yard sales and thrift shops. The sun has set and the stars have risen; the kitchen is illuminated by yellow-hued florescent light. Night air flows in through the screens of the open windows. The boombox is currently playing Tiffany’s I Think We’re Alone Now.

“What’s the deal with that?” Aemond asks about the cluttered kitchen table.

“They’re the baked goods. For my bakery.”

“Right,” he says, remembering, tapping his chin thoughtfully. “The sign out front.”

“Would you like anything? Today we had butterscotch chiffon cake, coconut custard cake, blackberry dark chocolate cupcakes, pecan pie, red velvet brownies, lemon blueberry cookies, lavender black tea cookies, chocolate meringue pie, butter pecan muffins…”

“How about those?” He points.

“Oh! Those are banana bread cupcakes. One of my favorites.”

“Banana bread…cupcakes?”

“Here.” You plop one on a plate for Aemond, then go to the refrigerator to pour two tall glasses of sweet tea. “A lot of people put chocolate chips in their banana bread, but I feel like any chocolate really eclipses the banana flavor. It’s so subtle, you know? So what I do instead is cinnamon, honey, cream cheese frosting, and a tiny bit of sea salt mixed into the batter. If you get the ratio just right, there’s this really great blend of saltiness and sweetness, and the banana is still the star of the show. Of course I’ve fucked up plenty of times too and almost given myself dangerously high blood pressure. If I ruin a batch, I’m the one who has to eat it. We can’t let anything go to waste. Our profit margin is thinner than a crescent moon on the best months.”

“Oh my God,” Aemond says. He’s taken a bite and is now gawking at the banana bread cupcake. “You made this?” He gestures to the table. “You made all of this?”

“My best friend Amir runs the business with me, but most of the recipes are mine. My mom used to bake all the time when I was little. Now she has rheumatoid arthritis and has given it up, more or less, but that’s where I learned a lot of what I know. And I try to come up with new ideas each week to add to the rotation.”

“This is exceptional,” Aemond says. His mouth is full of the rest of the cupcake. He washes it down with a few gulps of sweet tea; ice cubes jangle in the misty glass. “This is, like, insanely good. Can I have another one…?” He’s already lifting the cover off the cake plate.

You chuckle. “Yeah, seriously, have as many as you like.”

“How much do you sell them for?”

“The cupcakes are $1, but you don’t have to pay me. You get the unrequited orgasm discount.”

“Just $1 each.” Aemond is incredulous. You aren’t sure what that’s about. He sets the second cupcake down on the table, tugs a black leather wallet out of his jeans pocket, and gives you a $10 bill.

“Aemond, really, you don’t have to—”

“I know I don’t have to. I want to. Take the money. Stop talking about it.”

You smirk up at him. “Is that an order, sir?”

He grabs your jaw with one forceful hand, kisses you roughly, bites your lower lip almost hard enough to draw blood. He tastes like cinnamon, honey, sugar, sex. “Yes,” he says, grinning wickedly. Then his hands drop to unbutton your shorts. The idea of stopping Aemond doesn’t even cross your mind; your desire for him—him specifically—is back, flaring red and primeval and irresistible. “I want you on top of that counter—”

Outside there are footsteps bounding up the front porch, loud on the creaking boards. You tear away from Aemond and hurry to re-button your shorts. What? Already??

You know exactly who it must be.

Well, now I’m definitely never going to see Aemond again.

He’s terrified, he’s wondering whether he should try to jump out of a window. But really, he’s already been spotted; his Audi Quattro is still waiting for him in the gravel driveway. “Please don’t tell me that’s your homicidal armed boyfriend or something.”

“No,” you say. “It’s my daughter.”

“Wait, your…?!”

The door swings open; you hardly ever lock it. Cadi trots in just as you are flipping over the copy of the Bayou Journal on the kitchen counter so Aemond’s personal ad is no longer visible. Instead, what now faces up—dotted with flour, powdered sugar, cinnamon, grease stains of butter—is a column about the rigs opened in Lake Verret. Just what this town needs, you think distractedly. An environmental disaster.

“Mom, whose radical car is that—?” Then Cadi spies Aemond and blinks at him a few times. She is ten years old but thinks she’s your age, short hair, short temper, denim overalls and a t-shirt underneath patterned with multicolored horses.

“This is Aemond,” you explain. He waves awkwardly and then resumes nibbling on his second banana bread cupcake, avoiding her scrutiny. “He’s a friend.”

“But you don’t have any friends,” Cadi replies.

“Watch it, Child Of The Corn. I have friends.”

“You have like one friend.”

“What happened to your sleepover with Mawmaw? I thought you were excited to trick her into watching Hellraiser.”

“Blockbuster didn’t have it. Then Great Aunt Ethel called and said she broke her hip. Mawmaw dropped me off here on her way to the hospital.”

“And she didn’t even think to check with me first, huh?”

“As if you’d have anything better to do.” Cadi races to the refrigerator—careening around a shellshocked Aemond—and heaves open the door. “What’s for dinner?”

“I think we have some Swanson’s meals left. Oh, and spaghetti.”

She narrows her eyes at you. “Who made it?”

“You’re in luck! Not me. Amir.”

“Yay!” Cadi trills, then drags out the pan and begins spooning mounds of spaghetti onto a plate. Aemond looks to you, intrigued.

You say: “I bake, I don’t cook.”

“She really doesn’t,” Cadi concurs.

“Completely different skillset.”

Cadi places a few paper towels over the heaping plate so sauce doesn’t splatter all over the microwave and then sets it to three minutes. As she waits to eat, she wanders over to where the Bayou Journal is lying on the counter and scans the page: Viserys Targaryen, three state-of-the-art oil rigs, Lake Verret, an additional 50 employees hired, Jade Dragon Energy. “Those bastards are going to get their way, I guess.”

You sigh. “Yup.”

Aemond is alarmed. He polishes off the last of his cupcake, frowning as he licks frosting from his lips. “You don’t approve?”

“They’ll blow up the whole town,” Cadi says matter-of-factly.

You smile wanly at Aemond as you sip your sweet tea. “You work for Jade Dragon, right?”

He stares back at you—stunned, perhaps even fearful, a deer flooded with headlights—but doesn’t speak.

“It’s alright. I figured you must. Some smart British guy way out here in Cajun Country? It’s gotta be for a job. Don’t worry. We won’t shoot and skin you or anything. It’s not your fault. You’re just collecting a paycheck, it’s not like you’re running the company.”

“Right.” Aemond grabs a third cupcake and gnaws at it. After a moment he adds: “I have a degree in petroleum engineering. I just moved to Napoleonville last week.”

“I knew it,” you say.

“Boo!” Cadi heckles jokingly. The microwave beeps, then she disappears into her bedroom with her plate of spaghetti. You hear Cadi turn on her little television and flip through the channels until she finds Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Aemond watches her closed door for a few seconds—still processing, you assume—and then turns back to you.

“Her name’s Katie?”

“Cadi. C-a-d-i. It’s short for Arcadia.”

He is impressed. “Greece?”

You titter nervously. You don’t know what he means. “It’s a town up by Shreveport, it’s where Bonnie and Clyde were arrested or killed or something. I’m not sure. Her father picked it.”

“You didn’t have an opinion?”

“Um, I wasn’t really…uh…conscious for a few days after she was born. By the time I was up and around again, he’d already filled out the birth certificate.”

What is that you see flicker across his face like the transient surge of a lightning bug? Curiosity? Apprehension? “I see. And her father is…” Aemond raises a blonde eyebrow, the one his scar cuts through. “On an aircraft carrier somewhere?”

You laugh. “He’s not deployed. We’re divorced, Willis lives about fifteen minutes down the road. It’s amicable.”

“So I don’t need to worry about him showing up on your front porch to murder me with a 2x4 full of nails.”

“No. Although he is the town sheriff.”

Aemond smirks. Is this a challenge or an inconvenience? “Why’d you two split up?”

You shrug, glancing at Cadi’s bedroom door. She is quite aggressive with her television volume; you’re confident she won’t be able to listen in if you keep your voice low. “It’s not that interesting a story.”

“I’m extremely interested.” And he sincerely appears to be, head tilted to the side, eyes fixed on you (though you know the left one sees nothing), thoughts whirling like storm winds.

“Well…we only ever got married because of…” You gesture towards Cadi’s room. Aemond nods, following along. “And I was too young and I didn’t know anything. I didn’t know what I wanted out of a man, I didn’t even know I had the right to set standards to measure a husband by. Willis wasn’t terrible. He didn’t hit me. He just wasn’t really who I wanted.” You chew at your lower lip, peering down at the kitchen counter, drawing circles in the sparse flour dust. “He never even proposed to me. Not properly, I mean. I told him I was pregnant and he said: Well, guess we oughta get married, huh sugar? and then drove me to the Kmart up in Gonzales to pick out a ring.”

“Classy,” Aemond mutters.

“I had to buy it myself, actually. Willis didn’t have enough cash on him. He paid me back later, but still. It wasn’t about the ring. I don’t need gold and diamonds. But I need someone who really sees me and understands me and chooses me, you know? I’ve never felt chosen. And I decided I didn’t want to settle for that. If I ever get married again, I want the whole goddamn thing. The real thing. I want the candles and the flowers and a boombox blasting Heaven Is A Place On Earth. And if that’s not in the cards, I guess I’m not the marrying type.”

“And you’ll make do with occasional visits from your friendly neighborhood dom.”

You grin up at Aemond. “Yeah, exactly.”

“You really hate Jade Dragon?”

“Companies like that…they just use us. Our land, our labor. And then when they decimate the place they pack up and disappear overnight, no pensions, no retirement, no unemployment, no meaningful cleanup, just Thanks for the millions! Bye! and we’re left to live in their filth.”

“That’s a rather cynical perspective,” Aemond says.

“It’s a realistic perspective,” you counter. “In 1965, there was a pipeline explosion in Natchitoches, in ‘79 there was an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, in ‘80 a Texaco rig accidentally drilled into a salt mine under Lake Peigneur and destroyed the whole ecosystem. Two weeks ago there was a refinery explosion an hour east of here in Norco. 4,500 people had to be evacuated from their homes. So no, the jobs sound nice, but in my humble estimation they’re not worth dying for.”

Aemond considers you, a look that is not patronizing or combative but not convinced either. And there’s something else too: a caginess, a nervousness.

“And these Jade Dragon people, the Targaryens? They have a history,” you continue. “I read about it in the Bayou Journal. Last year they had an oil spill at an offshore rig near Ketchikan, Alaska. They poured hundreds of thousands of barrels of poison into the ocean and killed a bunch of dolphins and whales and everything. Fishermen went bankrupt, people committed suicide.”

“Mistakes happen.” Aemond places his empty sweet tea glass in the sink.

“But they didn’t make it right. Their lawyers blamed a defective piece of equipment and kicked liability back to the manufacturer. They’ll be battling it out in court for the next decade. And meanwhile, the people of Ketchikan get nothing but misery. I don’t want Napoleonville to end up like that.”

Aemond gazes out the kitchen window and into the cicada-rattling night, faraway, pensive.

“But seriously,” you say, more casually now. “I get that it’s not your fault, Aemond. I don’t hate you or anything. You’re working for a living like anyone else. You can only do so much.”

He looks back to you and smiles vaguely. “I just go where they tell me to.”

“And that’s why you like to be in control when you’re with me.”

“Yes,” Aemond says; and on his face—strong, scarred, perfect—you can see that he is reminiscing, that he is planning what he wants to do to you next. But he can’t do any of it. Not here, not now.

“I’m sorry about…you know. The kid thing. I really didn’t think she’d be home tonight. I would never subject her to something like that, walking in to find a strange guy in the house. And I wouldn’t want to make you uncomfortable either.”

“It’s okay. I believe you.”

“I don’t usually do this. I’m sure you think I’m lying, but I’m not. I’ve had two boyfriends since I got divorced seven years ago, and both times it didn’t last long and Cadi never met them. And it wasn’t…like it is with you. The dynamic, I mean. The…control thing. They were just normal dudes.”

“And they couldn’t satisfy you,” Aemond says, taunting, proud, setting your blood on fire.

“No. They couldn’t. Not even close.”

You both stand silently in the kitchen amidst a cascade of inconsequential noise: Eurythmics from the little pink boombox, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from Cadi’s room, cicadas and bullfrogs and the long-eared owl from the world outside that is primordial and feral and green. For the first time in as long as you can remember, you feel not like the piecemeal potential of a desirable woman but whole. Aemond’s right eye traces every curve and edge of you in a way that makes you think: Maybe I will see him again after all.

“Come on,” you say, turning towards the front door. “I’ll walk you out.”

But when he steps onto the creaking porch—pulling on his Marlboro jacket, watching lightning bugs bloom like daisies in the yard—Aemond seems to be stalling. “This is lopsided,” he says, tapping the wooden boards with his Adidas sneakers.

“I know. The whole foundation is, it’s sinking. We’ll have to move eventually. But we’ve been in this place since Cadi was five, it has a lot of memories. She calls it the Fall-Down House.”

“Cute,” Aemond says, but he’s pondering something. “Do you own it?”

“Oh no, God no. We rent.”

“Are you saving for a down payment to put on a new house?”

This is a rude question. “A little,” you reply curtly. Not enough. You need to make money to save money.

“Okay.” Aemond senses your discomfort. He’s good at that; it’s an advantageous skill for a dom to possess, knowing when he’s approaching a limit long before you have to shut him down. He descends the porch steps. “I’ll be back for more of those cupcakes—” There is a shrill, alien hissing from out by the tree line. Aemond shouts and scrambles back onto the porch, throwing an arm in front of you to shield you from his enigmatic nocturnal adversary. “What the fuck was that?!”

“Just a gator,” you reassure him, amused.

“A what?”

“An alligator.” You show him the shadow that lurks beneath a young oak tree draped with Spanish moss. “She’s over there. Just stay on the gravel once you get off the porch.”

Aemond is puzzled. How does anyone live in this hellscape? his face says. “How do you know it’s a female?”

“She��s not too big, and she doesn’t bellow. But she sure loves to hiss.”

“I think alligators should have gone extinct with the rest of the dinosaurs.”

“Well, there’s a secret to dealing with them.”

“Yeah?”

You smile, skating your fingers into the sleeve of Aemond’s Marlboro jacket and up his forearm until you feel goosebumps rise on his skin. “If she gets mean, you just have to bite back.”

Aemond chuckles, turns your face towards his, kisses the apple your cheek…and then, for only a moment, his teeth close around the sensitive flesh there leaving a whirlpool of pulsing, forbidden heat. He whispers through your hair: “See you soon.”

“Will you?”

“Yes,” he says, severely now. It’s a commandment, it’s a need. “I absolutely will.”

Aemond leaves you, strides across the gravel driveway without glancing back, ducks into his car, lights a cigarette; you can see the rust-colored glow through the windshield as he takes a drag. You wait in a flurry of moths under the dim florescent bulb of the front porch until his Audi Quattro veers onto Route 401 and disappears.

I hope he meant it, you think as a lightning bug lands on your knuckles and illuminates there like the gemstone of a ring. I hope I’ll see him again.

Then you shake away the insect and go inside to see if Cadi wants to help you clean up the kitchen and get a brown sugar pie baked for tomorrow. As compensation, you’ll offer her the $10 bill Aemond gave you for the cupcakes.

#aemond targaryen #aemond x y/n #aemond targaryen x reader #aemond x reader #aemond targaryen x you #aemond x you #aemond fanfiction #hotd fanfic #hotd fic

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hetacon · 3 months ago

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So you guys know how the most recent thing I posted was a Sidlink fic? That was because I actually got into BOTW about a year ago (it’s been one of the fandoms that kind of just simmers in the back of my brain at all times), and that was pretty much my only knowledge of Legend of Zelda, just that one game…

Oops, now it’s all of them!!

Somehow I wound up getting invested in Linked Universe because of a Sidlink fic and now it’s the only thing on my brain as of the past month and a half! Unsurprisingly given how I got into it in the first place, Wild is my favorite, but I must say that they’ve all weaseled their way into my heart, particularly Twilight and Legend (and outside of the chain, Ravio as well)! The LOZ mania has gotten so intense that I actually bought and am playing through A Link Between Worlds right now and am legit making a Ravio cosplay, help-

All of the poses I drew here were from @mellon-soup’s wonderful references, I love using them for inspiration when I’m not quite sure what to draw, and when I saw the first one, I just knew I had to draw Legend and Ravio!

I’ll put a few of my thoughts on the drawings under the cut if anyone’s interested in hearing about them

1) I love Ravioli so much, their dynamic brings me much joy. I’m very proud of how Legend’s expression turned out

2) I’m absolutely obsessed with the fairy Hyrule headcanon, there are so many cute pieces of art people have drawn of him! I’m surprised I managed to get so much detail on his face given how tiny he is. Also Sky is a total sweetheart and the thought of him protecting Hyrule from the rain was simply too adorable for me not to draw the two of them!

3) I am very emotional over Twilight and Wild’s sibling dynamic! The idea of Twi getting caught sneaking food while Wild’s cooking dinner was very funny to me and so I drew it! I really like all of the little details in this drawing, Wild’s scars are probably my favorite detail. And though I’ve never drawn a wolf before, I think I did pretty good! Originally I was just going to draw Twi taking a small piece of meat or something but then I thought “Nah, it’s gonna be an entire fish!” I headcanon that whenever he’s in wolf form, his metabolism increases and so he needs to eat more food to maintain his energy. Since he mainly transforms to fight, track, or comfort Wild, he’s earned an entire fish! Also it’s important to me that you know that the fish is specifically a staminoka bass :))

4) If you find the pose reference I used for Wind, you probably will notice that I actually flipped it so that he was holding the Wind Waker in his left hand. As a leftie myself, I really love it when characters I love are also left-handed!

Also on the topic of hands in general, can I just say how proud I am of all the hands in these 4 drawings??? They’re so good, we love good hand days

#the legend of zelda #linked universe #lu legend #lu ravio #lu hyrule #lu sky #lu wild #lu twilight #lu wolfie #lu wind #tloz #lu fanart #stan art

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genshinluvr · 2 years ago

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Drawn to You

Pairings: Various Genshin Men x Isekai'd!Reader

Summary: You are Lumine, Aether, and Paimon's new traveling companion! Your existence is unknown and the four of you have been journeying around Teyvat, searching for who you are. Unfortunately, there are no records of you existing in any regions of Teyvat. Lumine, Aether, and Paimon introduce you to many new people, who cannot help but be drawn to you.

Note: This is a different version of "how" the reader got Isekai'd into Genshin Impact. I had this idea pop up in my mind two weeks ago and I wanted to get type it out and get it posted ASAP. If you haven't read the other version yet, it's called Crash Landing in Teyvat (linked below). Only this version won't have an entire backstory of the before and aftermath of the reader being Isekai'd into Genshin like the first post. This fic is longer than last week's fic, so, buckle up! To those who are new readers or not, please remember that I don't post anywhere else but on Tumblr (Genshinluvr) and on AO3 (Aaliah_exo).

Warnings: None that I know of... does the reader getting an allergic reaction to fish count? 🤔

Word Count: 12.8k

Want to read another version of how the reader gets isekai'd into Genshin Impact? Read Crash Landing in Teyvat!

You don’t have any recollection of your memories before you were woken up by two blonde twins towering over you with their floating companion peering down at you worriedly. The only thing you remember is your name, and that’s it. At first, the twins (who later introduce themselves as Aether and Lumine) and their floating companion (she introduced herself as Paimon and in the third person) were a little suspicious of you because of your lack of memory. But the more the twins and Paimon spent time with you, the more they’re starting to trust you. Because they discovered you floating in the ocean between Liyue Harbor and Mondstadt, Aether, and Lumine made it their goal to find out who you are.

You became Aether and Lumine’s other travel companion that isn’t floating! So, their friend, pretty much. Since you didn’t possess a vision, you’re sitting on the sidelines watching Aether and Lumine destroy monsters that stand in the way of your exploration. And now here you are, laying in the middle of the field, five hundred feet from Mondstadt.

“Come on, [Y/N]! Get up! I know you’re tired, but you need to get up so we can get to Mondstadt before the sunset!” Lumine says, nudging your foot with hers.

You groan and roll over to lie on your stomach. “But Lumineeee! It’s hot outside, and I’m tired!” You exclaim, shutting your eyes and shielding your eyes from the blinding sun rays.

“Tired from what?! You didn’t fight any hilichurls or mitachurls like Lumine, and I did!” Aether huffs, plopping down on the ground before laying on top of you.

You groan and bat at Aether. “Aether, get off of me! You’re heavy!”

Lumine rolls her eyes and shakes her head, her hands propped on her hips. “Come on. I know you’re tired, but we can rest up when we make it to Mondstadt. Plus, aren’t you getting a little bit hungry? Cause I’m starting to get hungry,” said Lumine.

On cue, your stomach starts to rumble. You grumble and push Aether off you before getting up from the ground. You dust the dirt and grass off your clothes and turn to the twins. As much as you don’t want to walk, the sound of food is too enticing to give up on.

“Alright, you got me. Let’s go to Mondstadt now,” you said, smiling sheepishly at the two blondes in front of you.

“Oh, finally! Let’s go now before Good Hunter closes!” Paimon exclaims, appearing out of thin air and stomping her feet in the air with excitement.

You, Aether, Lumine, and Paimon walk to the closest waypoint (which isn’t close at all) and teleport to Mondstadt. Today will be the first time you visit Mondstadt or any city in the world since your sudden arrival in Teyvat. While you have been traveling with the twins and exploring many locations, you have never stepped foot in any area that is occupied by the people of that region.

Most of the time, when you need to eat and drink, sleep, or shower, you would go into Aether and Lumine’s shared teapot to do those tasks. After all, that’s what their teapots are for, no? It’s their floating teapot that has a house inside where they can stay and relax during their travels. When the four of you step foot into Mondstadt (technically, it was you, Aether, and Lumine that step foot in Mondstadt. Paimon’s floating), you’re in awe of the architecture of the city around you.

“Wow, Mondstadt is beautiful,” you whisper.

The aroma of food wafts into your nose, making your stomach growl even louder than it did. Your eyes widen, and you cover your stomach with both hands, your cheeks feeling hot from how loud the growl was. Aether and Lumine snicker at your growling stomach before pulling you to Good Hunter by your arms. You nearly trip over the last step on the stairs, but luckily Aether and Lumine are there to catch you. Paimon is floating in front of Good Hunter, idly chatting with Sara and pointing out what she wants on the menu. You fix your clothes and continue to survey your surroundings.

Paimon pokes you at the back of your head. You blink and turn around, looking at Paimon quizzically. Paimon points at the menu.

“Do you know what you want to eat?” Paimon asks, handing the menu over to you.

You grab the menu and flip through it, trying to find something that appeals to you. Aether and Lumine trade looks with each other, the corner of their lips curving up.

“Paimon, how can [Y/N] know what they want to eat when they haven’t looked at the menu yet?” Lumine asks, propping her hands on her hips.

Paimon scoffs. “Hey, Paimon thinks that [Y/N] knows the basic things on Good Hunter’s menu! After all, they have tried a few things from the menu before!” Paimon exclaims, stomping her feet in the air like a petulant child.

“I think I’ll have the uh….” you trail off, staring down at the words in front of you, “chicken-mushroom skewer!” you say, closing the menu and handing it back to Sara.

Paimon, Aether, and Lumine stare at you blankly. You stare back at them, unsure why they’re giving you that look after saying what you wanted to eat. You blink, look back at the menu, then at the twins and Paimon.

“Is chicken-mushroom skewer the only thing you’re going to eat? Why not have something that will fill up your stomach?” Paimon asks, crossing her arms over her chest.

Sara hands the menu to you after Lumine gestures for her to give you the menu. You blink at Paimon and look down at the menu.

“Am I not allowed to eat chicken mushroom skewer? I don’t want the two of you to pay a lot of money on food because of me,” you said.

Lumine brushes your comment to the side. “Oh, don’t worry about Mora, [Y/N]! We would rather have you eat a lot of food than force yourself to eat a little bit because of Mora. Plus, we have plenty of Mora,” Lumine says, patting your shoulder.

“Alright, but I still want to eat chicken mushroom skewers! Don’t take that off my order,” you said.

“Chicken-mushroom skewers, you say? My, don’t you have great taste,” a suave voice coming from behind you interjects.

You freeze in your spot and slowly turn around to face the person that snuck up behind you while you were occupied with the menu.

“Oh, Captain Kaeya and Master Diluc! It’s good to see you two!” Paimon exclaims, waving at the two men standing behind you.

“What are you two doing here at Good Hunter?” Lumine asks, propping her hands on her hips while she and her brother trade looks with each other.

The redhead sighs and crosses his arms over his chest. “We’re here to meet up with the Chief Alchemist and the bard for lunch. Lunch is on me, as usual,” the redhead rolls his eyes.

Aether pokes you and points at the menu. “You still haven’t picked your other option,” said Aether.

You turn to look at the menu and pucker your lips, eyes scanning the menu once more. You have tried almost everything on the menu, and yet you’re not sure what you want to eat other than the chicken mushroom skewer. You know that one skewer isn’t going to satiate your hunger, but what else are you going to order? The number of eyes you feel on you is making you nervous. You can feel the heat rush to your face the longer the eyes bore into your soul.

You laugh nervously and fumble with your hands. “I’m not sure what else to pick to eat, you guys. There’s a lot on the menu that I’ve tried already, but I don’t know what to choose,” You said, turning to look at Aether with a defeated look.

“Why not pick everything on the menu?” Paimon asks, patting your head.

You clear your throat and whisper to Paimon, “Remember how I tried doing that last time? And how I ended up puking for the next five hours.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t do that,” a soft voice interrupts.

Paimon waves at the two approaching figures. “Albedo and Tone-Deaf Bard!” Paimon exclaims.

“That’s not a nice way to introduce me to your new friend, Paimon!” The anemo vision wielder says, turning to you with a sweet smile. “I am Venti, the bard! I’m not sure if these two lads have introduced themselves to you yet, but the grumpy redhead over there goes by Master Diluc. The dark blue-haired man with the eyepatch beside Master Diluc is Captain Kaeya,” Venti says, pointing at the people he’s introducing.

“I am assuming that the man standing next to you is the Chief Alchemist named Albedo?” You ask, looking over at Albedo.

Albedo nods, not saying a word.

“We can introduce ourselves to the Travelers’ new friend over lunch,” Kaeya says, shaking his head with a faint smile.

You look at the four men with surprise. “Oh! The four of you will be joining us for lunch?” You ask, looking at Aether and Lumine for confirmation.

“That wasn’t the original plan, but I don’t mind joining the four of you for lunch,” said Diluc.

“Do you not wish for us to join?” Albedo asks, tilting his head to the side while looking at you curiously.

Your eyes widen, and you quickly shake your head. “No, no, no, no! It’s not like that! I wanted to see if Aether, Lumine, and Paimon would be okay with us having lunch together! After all, the meeting was sudden, and it’d be nice to have someone join us for lunch!” You sputter, rubbing the back of your neck nervously.

“Alright, then let us all have lunch together then. You can leave the rest of the orders up to us. When the food arrives at the table, you can choose whatever you want to eat,” Diluc says, looking over at you.

You nod and walk to the table next to the food stall, sitting between Aether and Lumine. While Diluc, Kaeya, Venti, and Albedo are ordering food to eat, you rest your chin on the wooden table and close your eyes. You suddenly feel drained. You didn’t expect to be interacting with more people other than Sara from Good Hunter. Let alone four handsome men from Mondstadt, who are also friends with your friends.

“You never introduced yourself,” Kaeya says, sitting across from you.

You open your eyes and sit up with your back pressing against the chair. “I’m [Y/N],” you introduce yourself.

Venti looks at you curiously. “Judging by your outfit, you don’t look like you’re from here,” Venti says, crossing his legs under the table.

You shake your head. “And you’re correct, Venti. I’m not from here,” you said.

Now you’re starting to get a tiny bit nervous. What are you supposed to say when they ask you where you’re from? It’s not like you can make up an excuse and tell them you’re from another region. Your clothes don’t look like it's from any of the seven nations of Teyvat.

“If you don’t mind me asking, where are you from?” Albedo asks, propping both of his arms on the table while gazing at you curiously.

You clear your throat awkwardly and look over at Aether and Lumine, who shrug their shoulders, unsure of how else to answer Albedo’s question. Paimon laughs nervously before disappearing into thin air. Aether, Lumine, and Paimon’s reaction made Diluc, Kaeya, Albedo, and Venti raise their eyebrows.

“I’m not sure where I’m from. In fact, I don’t have any memories before waking up to Aether and Lumine giving me CPR,” you reply.

Lumine nods. “We found them floating in the waters outside of Liyue and Mondstadt. They were unconscious, and we tried searching for their records throughout Teyvat, but we came to a dead end,” Lumine explains.

“That’s strange…. So are you implying that there aren’t any records of their existence in Teyvat?” Diluc asks, raising his eyebrows at you, Aether, and Lumine.

Aether nods and looks over at you anxiously. “There aren’t any records of an [Y/N]’s in any regions of Teyat,” Aether breathes.

“Are you sure [Y/N]’s not lying about their name? What if they changed it, or they lied about their name?” Kaeya questions.

Aether points at Kaeya. “That’s the thing. Lumine and I assumed that at first, but there are no missing person cases in any region. Even if there were a missing person case in Teyvat, none of those people look like [Y/N] in the missing person posters,” Aether explains.

“Could they be another outlander?” Albedo asks.

You stare at the men blankly. “Possibly! But I don’t have any memory of what happened before waking up on the seashore. It’s frustrating not knowing much about myself other than my name,” you mutter, hunching forward and resting your forehead on the wooden table. “Do you know how much of a struggle it is for me to wake up every day not knowing who I am?”

“Oh, cheer up, [Y/N]! I’m sure all of your memories will come back to you soon!” Paimon says, hugging the back of your head while rubbing the top of your head with her left hand.

“Yeah! I’m sure you’ll get your memories back! It takes some time for you to recover your memories,” Venti says.

Venti gets up from his seat and walks to where you’re sitting. He leans down and engulfs you in his arms, rubbing your back. You let yourself melt in Venti’s comforting hug, resting your head on his shoulders, close to his neck, and closing your eyes. The sound of someone clearing their throat pulls you out of your thoughts. You open your eyes and pull from Venti’s hug, rubbing the back of your neck with a sheepish smile on your face.

About ten minutes later, the food arrives, and you all begin eating while conversing with each other. You ate your chicken mushroom skewer, still undecided about what you wanted to eat other than the food you ordered. Whichever food Kaeya, Diluc, Aether, Venti, and Albedo recommend for you to try, you would take one small piece of the food and try it out. Since you have tried the food these men have suggested, you end up sticking to the chicken mushroom skewers.

“Thank you all for the suggestions, but I’ll stick to what I have ordered. Plus, there were a lot of recommendations, and I don’t know what I want to eat,” you said.

Technically you were lying because you didn’t want to hurt any of their feelings if you were to choose one person’s recommendation over the other. Not only that, if you ate what every person had recommended, you would end up overeating and give yourself indigestion. Which has happened before, and you don’t want it to happen again.

“It’s nice meeting all four of you! I hope to see you all again in the future!” You said, smiling at the four men in front of you while preparing your leave for the next region.

You stretch your arms in the air and yawn, covering your mouth and rubbing the tears that formed in your eyes. To you, you probably look like an exhausted mess, but to the four men in front of you (counting Aether, so five), you look cute. There’s something about you that draws you to them, and they can’t put their fingers on it.

“Oh no, are you getting sleepy?” Lumine teases, poking you lightly in the stomach.

You squawked and batted Lumine’s hands away from your stomach with a flustered look on your face. The men stifled their laugh and quickly looked away when you heard someone snort. You blink at them and look over at Lumine.

You rub your eyes and sigh. “I always get sleepy after I’m done eating, but since I didn’t eat as much as I did last time, I’m not entirely sure why I’m sleepy,” you mutter.

“You can’t be sleepy now! We’re heading off to Liyue soon! Don’t you want to watch the opera in Liyue Harbor or listen to the Storyteller?” Paimon asks, lightly tugging on your hair.

“I do! But at least let me take a nap first!” You grumble, leaning on the closest person and closing your eyes.

Lumine gives Kaeya an apologetic smile before pulling you off him. “We should be heading off to Liyue Harbor now. It’s a good thing you bought a souvenir earlier before lunch,” Lumine says, patting your cheeks to make sure you’re awake.

Before Lumine and Aether pull you away from the group, you turn to them and give them a sleepy smile, and wave goodbye to them.

“Thank you for joining us for lunch! It was nice meeting all of you! I hope to see you all again soon!” You said, stumbling after Aether and Lumine.

Diluc, Kaeya, Albedo, and Venti watch you and the twins walk out of the city. While they kind of got to know you within almost two hours, they want to continue to get to know who you are and help you recover your memories if it was possible. After seeing you leave, the four men couldn’t help but feel empty. Maybe someday, fate will bring you back to them. And by fate, they meant the two blonde twins and Paimon.

At Liyue Harbor, you’re leaning against the wooden railing of the Harbor, taking in a deep breath with your eyes closed. When you, Aether, Lumine, and Paimon step foot into Liyue Harbor, they’re almost immediately whisked away by Ying’er for a short commission. While Aether and Lumine are hesitant to leave you alone in Liyue Harbor, Paimon volunteers to be your babysitter while the two are out helping Ying’er with her commission.

“I’m bored! Let’s go get something to eat while we wait for Aether and Lumine to return from their commission with Ying’er!” Paimon says, floating beside you.

You look over at Paimon with wide eyes. “We ate not too long ago! How are you hungry right now?!” You squeak.

“Paimon is always hungry, [Y/N]! Plus, we can always listen to the Storyteller while we eat!” Paimon says, grabbing onto your shirt's sleeve and tugging it. “Now, come on! We can’t be late!” Paimon exclaims.

You hold Paimon’s hand and shake your head. “Paimon, I think you forgot that we don’t have any Mora on us,” you frown.

“So? We don’t have to eat! We can just sit at an empty table and listen to the Storyteller!” Paimon gives you a pleading look.

You hesitate. “I don’t know, Paimon. What if Aether and Lumine finish Ying’er’s commission early and search for us?” You ask.

Paimon lets out an exasperated sigh. “Ying’er’s shop is close to where the Storyteller is! Don’t be a worry wart, [Y/N]!”

“Alright, Paimon. But we’re not eating anything because we ate less than an hour ago, and we don’t have any Mora on us.” You let out a sigh of defeat.

“Deal!” Paimon nods happily.

You let Paimon drag you to Third-Round Knockout in Liyue Harbor while trying to dodge the civilians without bumping into them. When you and Paimon arrive at Third-Round Knockout, you notice that all of the tables are taken and that there’s nowhere for you and Paimon to sit. Well, mainly you since Paimon floats in the air most of the time.

“Aw! There’s nowhere to sit!” Paimon exclaims, looking around with disappointment.

You smile at Paimon and pat her head. “It’s okay, Paimon! We can stand to the side and listen to the Storyteller,” you suggest.

Paimon shakes her head stubbornly. “No way! It’s unfair if we stand to the side and listen to the Storyteller because you have nowhere to sit, and your feet are going to hurt from standing for a long time!” Paimon says.

“I don’t think we’ll be listening to the Storyteller for that long, Paimon,” You say. “Again, it’s okay if we stand to the side and listen to the Storyteller! Maybe we can grab a table when someone leaves.”

Paimon scans the table at Third-Round Knockout when she sees familiar faces sitting at a table close to the stairs. Paimon perks up and waves her hand in the air to grab the table’s attention.

“Zhongli and Childe!” Paimon grabs onto the sleeves of your shirt and pulls you in their direction.

Zhongli and Childe look up from their meals and sees you and Paimon making your way to their table. You can’t help but feel like a child being dragged around by their parent while going out grocery shopping. The way Paimon pulls you over to these Zhongli and Childe people reminds you of when a mother sees an old friend and ends up having a long conversation with them while the child stands to the side for over five minutes while the adults interact.

“Oh, Paimon! It’s good to see you again! Where are Aether and Lumine?” Childe asks, resting his chin in the palm of his hand.

Paimon sighs. “Aether and Lumine are helping Ying’er with her commission right now. I am tasked to babysit [Y/N] here since it is their first time visiting Liyue!” Paimon pats your head.

“Why did you have to put it that way? Why can’t it be two friends hanging out?” You mutter to Paimon while avoiding two pairs of curious eyes.

“Paimon, care to introduce your and the two Travelers’ new friend?” Zhongli speaks up, taking a sip of his tea without taking his eyes off you.

“This is [Y/N]! Aether, Lumine, and I fished [Y/N] out of the ocean,” Paimon pats your head with a smile on her face.

Childe raises his eyebrow at Paimon’s comment. “Fished [Y/N] out of the water? What, are they a mermaid?” Childe asks sarcastically.

“I wish! But unfortunately, I’m an amnesiac,” you reply humorlessly. “Anyway! It’s nice to meet you two! Aether and Lumine have mentioned you two a couple of times to me before. I didn’t expect to run into you two so soon,” you said.

Zhongli sets his chopsticks down on the ceramic plate. “Care to clarify what you mean when you said that you’re an amnesiac?”

You turn to look at Paimon. “Should I?”

Paimon shrugs her shoulders. “That’s up to you!” Replies Paimon.

You and Paimon sit across Zhongli and Childe, explaining your situation and how you end up being Aether, Lumine, and Paimon’s traveling partner. When you mentioned going from region to region to search for your identity and to see if you might be a missing person from the region, it piqued Childe and Zhongli’s curiosity.

“I never popped up in any system. Mondstadt, Sumeru, Inazuma, Liyue, Snezhnaya, Natlan, and Fontaine. None. My name is [Y/N], and I am sure that I did not change my name, and without a doubt, I am certain that [Y/N] is my name,” you said, rubbing the napkin between your thumb and index finger.

“Strange, huh?” Paimon asks, looking over at the two men sitting across from you and Paimon. “[Y/N], you should try this food! It’s delicious!” Paimon changes the subject, pushing the plate of fish in your direction.

You give Paimon a look. “Paimon, this is their food. I’m not going to eat another person’s food, plus I’m still full from earlier,” you said, rubbing your stomach.

“It’s alright. You two can have some of our food. I think we ordered too much anyway,” Childe says, letting his chopsticks clatter on the plate.

You sigh and grab an unused chopstick, breaking off a piece of fish before taking a bite out of it. You chew and swallow the fish, placing the chopstick on the plate. Paimon looks at you with anticipation.

“So? What do you think?” Paimon asks excitedly.

You lick your lips and look around you, smacking your lips lightly. “You know how I have no memory of who I am?” You suddenly ask.

Paimon, Childe, and Zhongli look at you quizzically. “Uh, yes?” Paimon replies in an unsure tone.

“I don’t think I was a fan of seafood or fish, to be more specific,” you said, scrunching your face and rubbing your neck with your right hand.

“What?! What kind of person isn’t a fan of seafood or fish!?” Paimon exclaims.

After hearing Paimon’s exclamation, Childe slowly turns to look at the Liyuen man next to him. Zhongli ignores the look Childe is giving him and quietly takes a sip of his tea. Your mouth is starting to tingle and feel weird, making you furrow your eyebrows and silently smack your lips, deep in your thoughts.

“People who have eaten too many fish and seafood, apparently,” you reply, attempting to ignore the strange sensation in your mouth.

The inside of your throat begins to itch, making you shift around in your seat and clear your throat softly. Ever since you arrived in Teyvat, you have never had such a reaction after eating something. Could you be allergic to the dish?

You cough and rub your throat, eyebrows knitting together with discomfort. Zhongli looks up from his teacup and looks at you worriedly.

Paimon taps your shoulders. “Are you okay, [Y/N]? You’re coughing a lot, and it’s starting to make Paimon worried,” Paimon says.

You give Paimon a weak smile and swallow the saliva, almost visibly wincing when you feel the walls in your throat rub against each other uncomfortably. “My throat is feeling dry and a bit itchy,” you said.

“Do you, perhaps, want some tea to quench your dry throat?” Zhongli asks.

You look at Zhongli and nod your head eagerly. “Ah, a drink! Yes, please, that would be nice.” You croak.

You clear your throat again while Zhongli calls the waiter over to order you some tea to quench your dry throat. While the waiter went to fetch you something to drink, you continued to rub your neck with your hand, occasionally swallowing to feel the strange sensation in your throat. You look down at the fish and grab your chopsticks, poking it lightly and dissecting it apart to see what is inside of the food. The fish tastes decent; you’re only saying that because you’re not a massive fan of anything seafood or any food with fish.

When the waiter comes back with your teacup, you give him a thankful smile before lifting the cup to your lips and blowing on it to cool the tea down and take a sip of it. When you drink the tea, you can’t help but wince at the feeling when it goes down your throat. You scratch your neck and cough lightly into your elbow. When you pull your arm away from your face, you notice small bumps forming on your arms.

“Oh no,” you squeak, looking around nervously. “Hey, uh, does anyone know where I can go to the nearest doctor? Or some physician?” You ask, tapping your fingers on the table anxiously.

“Why? Is something wrong?” Paimon asks.

You continue to scratch your neck; you fear that the more your neck itches, the more you will tear your neck up with your nails. “I just found out that I’m allergic to fish,” you sigh.

The sound of chopsticks clattering loudly on the fine china; Childe and Zhongli look at you worriedly, getting up from their seats.

“How allergic are you?” Childe asks, walking over to you.

You shrug your shoulders. “I don’t know how severely allergic I am, but my mouth feels tingly, my throat is itching, and there are bumps forming on my arms,” You ramble, trying to soothe the irritations.

“Get [Y/N] to Bubu Pharmacy immediately,” Zhongli orders.

Childe lifts you up, carries you bridal style, and sprints to the nearest waypoint, with Zhongli and Paimon following close behind. When teleported to the waypoint that is closest to Bubu Pharmacy, Childe rushes up the stairs toward the building. You feel your throat beginning to close up, making it hard for you to breathe. Childe bursts through the entrance, startling the receptionist and other customers.

A green-haired man with a snake around his neck walks out of the back room, looking at Childe, Zhongli, Paimon, and you with confusion. When his eyes lands on you, he looks horrified. You don’t know what you look like, and quite frankly, you don’t want to see what you look like.

“Qiqi, please treat to the Yaksha while I treat the new visitors,” The green-haired man instructs. The little girl nods and walks over to the Yaksha off to the side. The green-haired man rushes over to you and checks up on you and the bumps forming on your arms.

“They’re having a severe allergic reaction. Did they happen to eat something they’re allergic to?” The green-haired physician asks, walking behind the counter and scrambling to find medicine to treat your allergic reaction.

Paimon laughs nervously. “They ate fish, but that was it! Doctor Baizhu, we didn’t know they’re allergic to fish, and neither did they!” Paimon exclaims.

Baizhu walks over to you and jabs your thigh with a long syringe, injecting you with the medicine to treat your allergic reaction. You feel yourself go limp in Childe’s arms, exhaustion coming over you. The swelling in your throat gradually goes away, finally letting you breathe.

Baizhu retracts the syringe from your thighs and tosses it into the trash bin. “You’re lucky to get them here just in time before it gets worse,” Baizhu sighs, looking over at you worriedly.

“Yeah, very lucky,” you mutter, your head resting against Childe’s chest, gazing at the green-haired physician with bleary eyes. “I didn’t even know that I was allergic to fish until moments ago,” you said.

“Humans are fragile,” Someone interjects.

You peek your head from Childe’s shoulder, only to see a shorter male stand beside Zhongli with his arms over his chest. You notice a bandage wrapped around his arms and torso, his eyebrows slightly furrowing. You couldn’t tell if he was glaring at you or if it was because he was in pain. Either way, he did not look too happy.

Baizhu looks over at Xiao with a surprised look on his face. “Oh, Xiao! You have recovered quicker than I thought,” Baizhu says thoughtfully.

Xiao grunts in response and nods. “It’s all thanks to your medicine and Qiqi’s help,” Xiao says, looking over at the small girl behind the counter.

Childe sits you down on a seat in the corner of the pharmacy. You rest your head against the wall, your eyelids feeling heavy. You’re not sure whether your sudden tiredness was from the medicine that was injected into you to treat your allergic reaction, or if it was because you had a long day and if it’s finally taking a toll on you.

You’re about to doze off when you feel someone nudge your leg with their foot. You open your eyes and see Xiao standing in front of you.

“Are you okay?” He asks.

You stare at him and nod your head slowly. “Yeah, I’m feeling better than I did before arriving at Bubu Pharmacy,” you reply, clearing your throat. You’re relieved that the itchiness in your throat and the swelling went away. The bumps, on the other hand, the bumps are still there, but they’re slowly fading.

“That’s good to hear. Paimon, Zhongli, that Harbinger, and Doctor Baizhu looked really worried when you first arrived at the pharmacy,” said Xiao. “After seeing the condition you were in, I can see why they were terrified.”

You smile at Xiao and rub the area where Baizhu had jabbed the syringe into your thigh. “I’m glad they cared enough to help me with my allergic reaction. I didn’t know I was allergic to fish until today, and now, I will be avoiding food with fish in it,” you said.

Before Xiao could say anything else, the door of Bubu Pharmacy flew open, and Lumine and Aether ran through the door, looking around frantically. When their eyes land on you, Aether runs and tackles you into a hug, nearly tipping your seat back and sending the both of you to the ground if it weren’t for the wall behind the chair. Lumine laughs nervously when people look over at your small group weirdly. Lumine shuffles over to where you and Aether are, yanks Aether off you, and gives him a look as if she’s telling him to behave.

“Where were you guys?! We thought you and Paimon would still be at the docks where we left you two before doing Ying’er’s commission!” Lumine exclaims, crossing her arms over her chest while glaring at you and Paimon.

“Where were we?! Where were you two!? We couldn’t stand and wait in the hot sun for a few hours while you two were running around with Ying’er! Plus, Paimon wanted to hear the Storyteller’s stories!” Paimon exclaims, huffing loudly.

“She also wanted to get something to eat while we waited,” you interject, getting up from your seat. “I also found out that I am allergic to fish. I think it’s severe,” you add.

“You think it’s severe? Your throat closed up, and you had hives!” Paimon exclaims.

You blink at Paimon. “But I’m okay now, right?”

Everyone can see the steam starting to come out of Paimon’s ears. “You’re okay now because of Zhongli, Childe, and Doctor Baizhu! If it weren’t for them, you would’ve died!” Paimon screeches, shaking you by your shoulders.

“Hey! I almost died, and this is how you treat me!? You’re so mean!” You whine.

You pull Paimon’s hands from your shoulders before hiding behind Zhongli; he looks strong and intimidating. You point at Paimon.

“Tell her to stop, Zhongli! Paimon is being mean to me despite me almost dying from my allergies.” You peek from behind Zhongli and narrow your eyes at Paimon, who glares back at you.

Lumine sighs and rubs her temples. “We don’t have time for you two to bicker right now. We have to leave for Inazuma very soon,” said Lumine.

You walk out from behind Zhongli and stare at Lumine quizzically. “We’re going to Inazuma already? But we arrived in Liyue not too long ago!” You exclaim.

“Yeah! Plus, you two have been out with Ying’er all day! We might as well eat something in Liyue before we leave for Inazuma!” Paimon says.

“Again?” Your eyes widen, and your eyebrows fly to your hairline. “Okay, listen, if we’re going to eat again, please don’t order anything that has fish in it,” you plead, clasping your hands together.

And now here you are, sitting at Xinyue Kiosk, sitting between Zhongli and Childe while Aether, Lumine, Paimon, Xiao, and Doctor Baizhu are sitting across from the three of you. The food that is brought out and placed in front of the eight of you, you nearly cried. The majority of the food has fish in it. One food, in particular, has caught your attention. You’re about to reach for the fullmoon egg when you see Zhongli shake his head from the corner of your eyes.

“The fullmoon egg has fish in it,” Zhongli says.

You point over at the golden shrimp balls. “Can I eat these? Or is it going to make me go into another allergic reaction?” You ask.

“As long as you don’t have shellfish allergies, then you should be fine,” said Baizhu.

You stare at Baizhu for a moment before shrugging your shoulders. “You only live once,” you said, grabbing a golden shrimp ball and taking a bite out of it. The golden shrimp ball is delicious; luckily, you didn’t have any allergic reaction to the shrimp balls. It’s a good thing you’re not allergic to shellfish because the golden crab got your attention. You reached across the table and took a piece of the golden crab, and put it on your plate before grabbing the small bowl of rice and pouring a small amount of soy sauce on the rice. As much as you would love to try the other dishes in the center of the table, most of them contain fish, and you weren’t that hungry.

You’re still full from lunch earlier in Mondstadt. You eat your food in silence while people around you converse with each other. You subconsciously rub your throat and look at your hands, checking to see if the hives have gone away. To your relief, the bumps are gone, and your neck feels fine. There’s no itchiness and swelling, thank archons.

“Then we’ll be leaving for Inazuma after,” you hear Lumine say.

You look up at Lumine and blink at her. “So, your plan is that we travel to other nations within one day?” You ask, raising your eyebrows at her.

Lumine nods her head slowly. “Yes, and you did say that you wanted to meet our,” she gestures between herself and Aether, “friends in the nations we have traveled to! So it’ll be nice to finish it in one day and continue our mission.”

“Huh, I forgot that I wanted to do that,” you mutter, pinching the fat of your chin with your lips puckered. “I don’t mind going to Inazuma after eating, but I think we should rest for a bit before going to Inazuma.”

“If you’re getting sleepy, you can always lay your head on my shoulders and take a nap,” Childe suggests, turning to look at you.

You look at Childe, surprised. “Um, are you sure? Plus, I don’t think it's appropriate for me to take a nap at a nice restaurant like this,” you said, laying your hands fall in your lap. “Actually, I think I’m going to get some fresh air! Hopefully, that’ll wake me up a little bit,” you said.

You give everyone a smile and excuse yourself. You leave Xinyue Kisok and sit on the ground, leaning your head against the wall and closing your eyes. When you left Xinyue Kiosk, you noticed that the sun was beginning to set and there weren’t many people around.

You hear the restaurant’s door open and someone hesitantly walking towards you by the way they stop halfway. You crack your eyes open and see Xiao standing in front of you, looking at his and your surroundings. You rub your eyes and slowly stand up.

“Xiao? What are you doing out here? Shouldn’t you be inside with the rest of them?” You ask, rubbing your arms.

Xiao looks at you. “I can say the same for you,” he replies.

“I’m getting some fresh air. I’m hoping it’ll wake me up, but the cool night air is making me even sleepier than I thought,” you sigh.

Without saying another word, Xiao sits down beside you and makes you lay your head on his shoulders. You scoot closer to Xiao and rest your head in the crook of his neck, your arms brushing against his. You feel yourself slowly beginning to doze off to sleep, but you’re awoken by the cool breeze. You shiver and open your eyes, rubbing them with your knuckles.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to nap out here when it’s cold,” you mutter. You continue to rest your head on Xiao’s shoulders. “Thank you for keeping me company, even though you didn’t need to do it,” you murmur.

Xiao grunts in response, the tips of his ears light pink along with the apples of his cheeks. You lift your head, and Xiao stands up, holding his hand out for you to take. You grab Xiao’s hand, and he helps you up from the ground. The two of you walk back into Xinyue Kisok, only to see everyone standing from their seats.

“Oh, is everyone done eating?” You ask, walking over to the table with Xiao walking beside you.

Baizhu looks at you and examines you from head to toe. “How are you feeling?” Baizhu asks.

You rub your leg and give him a thumbs up. “I’m feeling good! The area where you jabbed my leg with the syringe isn’t hurting anymore,” you said.

“Are you ready to go to Inazuma?” Aether asks, walking up to you with Lumine trailing behind him.

You nod your head. “Yeah, I’m ready to go! But, uh, where are we going to be staying when it's time for bed?” You ask.

Lumine chuckles and ruffles your hair. “Did you forget that we have a house to stay in the teapot?” Lumine asks, raising her eyebrows at you.

“Oh! Right, yeah, I forgot about the teapot,” you laugh sheepishly. “Sorry, I’m a little bit out of it,” you clear your throat.

“Hey, it’s okay! You had a bit of a rough start in Liyue. Hopefully, it’ll get better in Inazuma!” Paimon says, giving your head a comforting head pat.

“I hope so too,” you sulk.

Zhongli ends up offering to walk you, Aether, Lumine, and Paimon to the nearest waypoint so you four can go to your next destination. Childe, Xiao, and Baizhu decide to tag along; they say something about wanting to keep the funeral consultant company. Before walking to the waypoint, you stop in your tracks.

“Ah, crap. Is it too late for me to buy a souvenir before we leave Liyue?” You ask, searching for a shop nearby.

Paimon snorts. “With what Mora?” Paimon asks.

You look at Paimon with your mouth agape. “You didn’t need to call me out like that, Paimon.” You huff, crossing your arms over your chest. “And for your information, I do have Mora on me!” You said, pulling out a bag of Mora from your pockets with a proud smirk on your face.

You end up stopping by the closest jewelry shop in Liyue, buying a Liyuen hair stick with cor lapis, glaze lilies, and glaze lily petals decorating the gold hair stick.

“It looks pretty! You should wear it now!” Lumine says.

You stare at her blankly and scratch your head. “Can someone help me put it on? I’m afraid I might mess it up and not wear it correctly,” holding out the hair sticks.

Baizhu walks over to you and begins to style your hair, combing his fingers through your hair and putting one part of your hair into a bun and the other remaining down. After getting your hair to be the way he wanted it to be, Baizhu grabs the hair sticks from your hands and sticks them through your hair, letting the glaze lily petals dangle.

You turn to Baizhu and give him a smile. “Thank you for helping me, Baizhu!”

Baizhu clears his throat and gives you a smile in return, his cheeks turning bright pink when you smile at him. You run over to Lumine, Aether, and Paimon to show your new hairstyle with the hair sticks in your hair. Lumine twirls you around and compliments your hair. Aether stares at you with stars in his eyes, unable to take his eyes away from you. Paimon was the first one to notice and slowly turned to look at the four guests. They were also looking at you that way, unaware that they were staring at you with the same expression Aether had on his face.

“I think we should get going now. Wouldn’t want to arrive in Inazuma when everyone is asleep,” Paimon says, grabbing everyone’s attention.

“Oh! Right! Let's go!” Lumine says, pulling you to the waypoint with the others following behind.

When you, Aether, Lumine, and Paimon arrive at the waypoint, the four of you stand around the waypoint. You wave at Xiao, Zhongli, Childe, and Baizhu goodbye before placing your hand on the waypoint. They wave back at you, watching the four of you disappear in front of their eyes. They hope to see you again; there’s something about you that draws them to you, and they can’t put their fingers on it.

When you all step into Inazuma, the sun has already set, and night has fallen. You turn to look at the twins and Paimon.

“It’s nightfall. Do you think everyone is awake at a time like this?” You ask.

Aether shrugs his shoulders. “Who knows! Some are awake, and others might be asleep around this time, but it’s still early in the night,” says Aether.

“I think you meant to say that the night is still young,” Paimon says.

The four of you walk into Inazuma City, searching around for the first person that came into Aether and Lumine’s head. The smell of Inazuman food lingers in the air, making your mouth water. The sound of children laughing, people conversing, and food sizzling fills the night in Inazuma City.

“Oh, look! It’s Heizou and Itto!” Paimon says, pointing over at where Itto and Heizou are standing.

You turn to look in the direction where Paimon is pointing. You see a magenta-haired male standing beside a tall, horned white-haired man with red streaks in his hair. Approaching the two men are a platinum blond-haired man with a single orange streak in his hair and a light orange-brown-haired man with dog ears.

“And there’s Gorou and Kazuha!” Lumine crosses her arms over her chest. “I wonder if the other two are going to join after Gorou and Kazuha,” Lumine murmurs, stroking her chin.

You look at Lumine quizzically. “Other two?” You ask.

“She’s talking about Kamisato Ayato and Thoma,” replies Aether.

“Let’s go say hi to the four of them!” Paimon says, ushering you, Lumine, and Aether over to the four men.

As you’re approaching the four men, the oni spots you four. Itto’s eyes light up, and he waves in your direction with a big smile.

“Aether! Lumine! Floating lavender melon! It’s good to see you guys again!” Itto says, walking toward you, Paimon, Aether, and Lumine.

You stifle your laughter. “Floating lavender melon? Care to explain how you got that nickname, Paimon?” You ask, turning to look at the floating girl with a teasing smile.

“Oh? And who are you?” Heizou asks, gazing at you with interest. “A new face around the city? If I've seen one, I would recognize a pretty face, but this is the first time I see you.” Heizou smiles at you.

“Are you the Travelers’ new friend?” Kazuha asks, his head tilting to the side.

You smile at them shyly and nod your head. “Yes, I am Aether, Lumine, and Paimon’s new friend! I guess you can also say traveling companion since I have been traveling around Teyvat with the three of them not too long now,” you said.

“Gorou, Itto, Heizou, Kazuha, meet [Y/N]! [Y/N], meet Itto, Gorou, Kazuha, and Heizou!” Paimon introduces you to the four men in front of you, pointing at each person as she says their name.

“Lord Ayato and Thoma will be arriving shortly,” Gorou interjects.

You look at them curiously. “Oh! Are you all gathering for dinner?” You ask.

Itto shakes his head. “Nope! We are all meeting for tea and some beetle fight!” Itto says, propping his hands on his hip and striking a pose.

You blink at Itto owlishly. “What is a beetle fight?” You ask.

“Huh!? You’ve never heard of a beetle fight?!” Itto asks in disbelief, his eyes wide with genuine shock.

You shake your head, looking at Itto confused. “Is it part of Inazuma’s culture?”

“It’s not. It’s a game that Itto came up with and challenged many people to it,” Gorou replies. “That is why he has invited Lord Ayato to the Komore Teahouse. To have some tea and to challenge the Kamisato Heir to another round of the beetle fight.” Gorou adds.

“He lost the previous rounds to Lord Ayato, didn’t he?” You whisper.

“That is correct, and he has not stopped pestering me about it ever since,” a voice speaks up behind you and Gorou, startling the both of you.

You and Gorou turn around to see a tall, elegantly dressed, light-blue-haired man and a tall, blond man standing at his side. You clutch onto your chest and clear your throat, feeling your face heat up when both men look at you curiously.

“H-Hi! I presume that you’re Lord Ayato,” you point at the light-blue-haired man, “and you’re Thoma,” you said, pointing at the blond man standing beside Lord Ayato.

“You’re correct! It’s nice to meet you, [Y/N]! Aether and Lumine had mentioned you a few times when they were visiting the Kamisato Estate when running errands,” says Thoma, smiling at you.

“Now that everyone is here, I think we should go to Komore Teahouse now,” says Heizou, gesturing for everyone to follow him.

When you all arrive at Komore Teahouse, you’re all greeted by a dog that goes by the name of Taroumaru. You refrained from letting out the biggest squeal after seeing the absolute cutie before casually making your way over to the dog and petting it.

“You all can go beetle fighting. I’m going to hang out with my new friend,” you said, stroking Taroumaro’s ears happily. “So cute,” you coo.

“We don’t want to leave you out, [Y/N]. Care to join us and watch the battle between Itto and Lord Ayato?” Kazuha asks, holding his hand out for you to take.

Not wanting to seem rude, you take Kazuha’s offer and grab his hand, letting him guide you to the tea room where everyone is waiting. There on the table sits two large purple onikabutos. When you say that they’re huge, they are huge!

You back up and point at the onikabutos, eyes wide. “They’re huge,” you point out the obvious.

“Yeah! It’s a shame I couldn’t find any bigger ones, though,” Itto says, hunching over with a small pout on his face.

You look at Itto in horror. “Are you saying there are onikabutos that are the size of Paimon?” You point over at Paimon.

“Believe it or not, yeah! There are onikabutos that can grow up to the size of Paimon, maybe bigger than Paimon,” Thoma says, nodding his head.

You point over to the corner. “I’m just going to stand from a safe distance to watch the beetle fight between Itto and Lord Ayato,” you said, walking to the farthest part of the room.

There’s no way in hell you’re going to stand that close to onikabutos that are almost half your size. No way, no thank you! In fact, you don’t mind booking it to Sumeru immediately if you can! But seeing Aether, Lumine, and Paimon happily munch on Dangos while betting on who’s going to win the beetle fight, you decide to keep to yourself. Lord Ayato laughs to himself and sits behind his onikabuto while Itto sits across from him, hyping up his onikabuto.

“Who do you think is going to win, [Y/N]?” Heizou asks, looking over his shoulders and in your direction.

You blink at Heizou and look at Itto and Lord Ayato. “I’m going to be optimistic and say Itto! Lord Ayato may have won the previous rounds of the beetle fight; I have a feeling Itto might win this one!” You said.

“Let’s hope you’re right because if Itto loses, we won’t hear the end of it,” Gorou says, his ears flattening on his head. “Itto won’t stop until he wins.”

Itto and Lord Ayato start to shout incoherent words at each other and their onikabutos, startling you. You find it amusing that someone as refined as Lord Ayato would be playing beetle fight with the one and oni, Arataki Itto. You hide your smile behind your hands and watch the two beetles try to flip the other one over.

“beetle fight is quite intense, especially if you’re as competitive as Itto,” Kazuha says, leaning against the wall beside you. “Would you ever play beetle fight?” Kazuha asks suddenly, looking at you from the corner of his eyes.

“Oh, uh, I don’t think so. I would rather be the cheerleader than the one initiating the fight,” you laugh sheepishly.

Itto hollers from across the room, “Oh, come on, [Y/N]! You should totally try it out! I’ll be your coach and teach you everything you need to know about the art of beetle fights!”

Lord Ayato snorts. “I’m sure [Y/N] would want someone skilled to be their coach. I have won many beetle fights against you, Itto. Surely I’m the better candidate,” Lord Ayato says nonchalantly, smiling at Itto.

“Let’s not trash talk right now, Lord Ayato. I think you’re going to set Itto off,” Thoma laughs nervously, patting the Kamisato Heir’s shoulders. “But if [Y/N] does want to get into beetle fighting, I’m sure having both of you as their coach would help them a lot! Right, [Y/N]?” Thoma asks, turning to look at you with a nervous smile.

You nod after catching onto what Thoma is trying to imply. “Ah! Yes! That’s right! Why have one coach when you can have two? I’ll learn more knowledge from two different people!”

Lord Ayato sighs and leans back. “Alright, if two coaches are what you want, then two coaches is what you’ll get,” said Lord Ayato.

Your conversation is cut short when you hear Aether and Lumine cheer and gasp loudly. You look at the table and see Lord Ayato’s onikabuto flipped on its back, wiggling and squirming around while Itto’s onikabuto is victorious.

“The winner of this beetle fight is Itto’s onikabuto!” Paimon announces.

Kazuha chuckles. “My, my, it seems like you have predicted Itto’s victory, [Y/N],” Kazuha says, looking at you with a soft smile.

You feel yourself blush, and you awkwardly look at the table. Itto got up from his seat and ran in your direction before tackling you into a bone-crushing hug. You let out a loud yelp when Itto hugs you tightly, your back audibly cracking. Itto freezes and looks down at you with wide eyes, slowly putting you back on the ground.

“Was that the sound of [Y/N]’s back cracking?” Thoma asks, looking at the others in horror.

Lord Ayato sighs and looks at you worriedly. “It seems like Itto has underestimated his strengths,” Lord Ayato mutters. Lord Ayato walks to you and places a gentle hand on your shoulder. “Are you alright, [Y/N]? Perhaps you need to see a doctor?” asks Lord Ayato.

You laugh and shake your head, patting Itto and Lord Ayato’s hands. “No need to worry about me! I needed my back to be cracked. It’s been a rough few days, and it’s nice to have my back popped,” you said, rubbing your shoulder.

Heizou sighs, feigning sadness. “Looks like I won’t be taking you into custody this time, Itto. Shinobu won’t have to worry about getting a notice from the Tenryou Commission about Itto’s detainment,” Heizou crosses his arms over his chest.

“Taking him into custody this time? Itto’s been in prison before?” You ask, looking at Itto with your eyebrows raised.

Itto laughs and rubs the back of his neck, trying to find an excuse. You snort and shake your head, patting Itto’s back. As much as you want to question him about his…. Criminal history, you think it’s best to save it for next time. But for now, you have some Inazuman tea and snacks to try out! Even though you ate not too long ago in Liyue. You’re starting to think that this whole “meeting up with a friend’s friend” is actually a way to get you to test your limits on how much you can eat. While you don’t mind trying various cultural dishes, you’re praying that your stomach won’t be negatively affected when you eat more than you can chew.

After having tea, snacks, and conversing with the Inazuman men, you find yourself standing at the waypoint with Lumine, Aether, and Paimon. The night is still young, and you’re all about to go to Sumeru. All the walking and teleporting to different regions were starting to wear you out, and you could feel it. Right when you’re about to touch the waypoint with the twins and Paimon, Heizou calls out to you. You turn in Heizou’s direction and see him running up to you, holding something out to you.

“Ah! How could I forget about my souvenir?” You gasp, grabbing the item from Heizou’s hand and giving him a thankful smile.

The souvenir that you almost left in Inazuma is a hand fan that the men have picked out for you! Since you’re unsure what to get at the gift shop in Inazuma City, the men offered to pick something out for you collectively. Heizou smiles at you, walks over to where the others are standing, and turns to face your direction.

“We’ll be back soon! But for now, off to Sumeru!” You said, waving to the six Inazuman men with a big (yet sleepy) smile on your face.

Before any of the Inazuman men could say anything, you, Lumine, Aether, and Paimon were gone from their sight. Thoma visibly flinches when he feels a strange tug in his chest, the feeling of emptiness hitting everyone out of the blue. Even though the meeting with you was brief, the men couldn’t help but feel a sense of familiarity when it came to you, and the emptiness hitting them all was strange. Everyone wanted to go after you to keep you company in Sumeru, but they couldn’t chase after you— especially after you said you’d be back soon.

Upon arriving in Sumeru, you are on the brink of falling asleep. This is the first time you have traveled with the twins without a nap between teleporting to different nations. Your eyelids feel heavy, your limbs feel heavy, and you want to go to sleep. You find yourself falling asleep on Aether’s shoulders when you feel him nudge you when footsteps get closer to where you, Paimon, Lumine, and Aether are sitting.

“Apologies for having us all meet here at Puspa Cafe late in the evening. I hope that none of you have work to tend to. It’s better to meet in the late evening because there’s less foot traffic in Sumeru City,” you hear a man say.

An exasperated voice replies, “All you do is think about yourself, Al Haitham! Some of us are tired and had a long day at work as architects, such as myself! And look at Aether and Lumine’s friend! That poor thing is exhausted too!”

You perk up and look at the irritated blond man with shock. “Did you just call me a thing?” You ask.

The dark-haired man with giant furry ears laughs nervously. “Kaveh doesn’t mean it like that, [Y/N]. Kaveh is irritated with Al Haitham, and I apologize in advance for both of them because they bicker with each other a lot,” he gives you a sympathetic smile.

“You’ll get used to the bickering,” the white-haired man says.

A man wearing a hat approaches the table. “I’m still not used to hearing them bicker,” he says, rolling his eyes.

Paimon clears her throat, glaring at the five men in front of her. “[Y/N]! Meet Al Haitham, Kaveh, Tighnari, Cyno, and Scaramouche. Scaramouche goes by many names, but we don’t talk about that,” said Paimon.

“It’s nice to meet all of you! I, uh, apologize for wanting to meet all of you suddenly. I think it would be great to meet all of Lumine, Aether, and Paimon’s friends from all nations while I continue to search for who I am,” you said politely.

Kaveh looks at you curiously. “Oh? Are you going on a spiritual journey?” Kaveh asks, resting his arms on the table.

“No,” you shake your head, “I’m amnesiac, and I don’t know where I’m from or who I am,” you reply.

Tighnari’s eyes light up. “Oh! So you’re the mysterious outlander friend that Aether and Lumine have fished out of the ocean!” Tighnari points at you with acknowledgment.

Cyno elbows Tighnari’s side, making the man wince and glare at him. “It’s not nice to point your fingers at someone you don’t know,” Cyno scolds Tighnari.

Al Haitham looks at you closely. “Judging by your clothes, you don’t look like you’re from any regions in Teyvat,” said Al Haitham.

“Let’s not point out the obvious, Al Haitham. Lumine and Aether have mentioned it a few times already. It’s not an unknown fact that [Y/N] isn’t from any of the regions,” Scaramouche rolls his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning in his seat across from you.

You sit in silence while the others around you continue to discuss your origins. While they’re talking with each other, you let yourself space out and stare at the table in front of you. The pastries that were ordered, along with the drinks, look appetizing. But since you ate so much food before arriving in Sumeru, you’re not sure if you can try something new.

You stare at the pastry in front of you, debating whether you should eat it. You decide not to eat the pastry in front of you and sit back in your seat with your head resting on the top rail. You’re tired, and as much as you want to join in on the conversation, you can’t get yourself to do it. You get up from your seat and walk out of Puspa Cafe without saying a word, trying to rub the sleep from your eyes.

The chilly night air hits you like a sumpter beast, sending violent chills down your spine. You lean against the wooden railing outside the cafe and close your eyes, letting the cool breeze lull you to sleep. The temperature is the perfect temperature to fall asleep in; if only you were in a bed, snuggling in your blanket, and drifting off to sleep, everything would have been perfect. But instead, you’re outside Puspa Cafe, falling asleep on the wooden railing while everyone else is inside, talking to each other.

“Wow, you must be exhausted from today’s event,” a voice startles you awake.

Your eyelids fly open, and your head snaps in the person’s direction. Dainsleif emerges from the shadows and gazes at you with an amused look on his face. You feel your face heat up, and you look away from the blond man that now stands before you.

“Although I don’t blame you for feeling this way. You have been traveling region to region with Aether and Lumine, meeting new people,” Dainsleif says casually, leaning on the railing beside you.

You rub your eyes. “Have you been watching our every move, Dainsleif?” You ask, poking his biceps.

“Watching? No. Making sure that you, Aether, Lumine, and Paimon travel safely? Yes,” replies Dainsleif.

You sigh and rest your head on Dainsleif’s shoulder, catching him off guard. Dainsleif stands still and looks at you from the corner of his eyes. You look like you could pass out at any moment. Silence hangs in the air between you two, and the sound of crickets fills the air.

“You know, you can join us on our journey. You don’t have to watch us from a distance and be alone,” you murmur.

Dainsleif doesn’t respond. Instead, his blue eyes gaze at the stars that hang over the two of you, then in your direction. Before Dainsleif could say anything, the door to Puspa Cafe opens, and the others step out into the night, stopping in their tracks when they see you leaning against Dainsleif.

“Dainsleif! What are you doing here?” Paimon asks.

Tighnari points at Dainsleif. “Is he your boyfriend by any chance?” Tighnari asks. For a brief moment, Tighnari looks hurt, almost heartbroken.

You look at Tighnari with wide eyes and shake your head. “He’s not my boyfriend, Tighnari.”

A massive wave of relief washes over five men standing before you and Dainsleif. You remove your head from Dainsleif’s shoulders and stretch your arms, yawning.

“You suddenly left Puspa Cafe. Is there a reason why?” Cyno asks, his eyes trailing over to the tall blond man beside you.

You rub your cold arms and shake your head. “Other than needing fresh air, hoping it’ll wake me up? Not really,” you reply.

Kaveh points at Dainsleif dramatically. “He doesn’t look like he’s from Teyvat. Look at his clothes and his mask! Speaking of his clothes, look at his cape! It looks almost identical to Paimon’s cape,” Kaveh says, eyes scanning Dainsleif from head to toe.

Al Haitham rolls his eyes. “Oh, don’t be dramatic, Kaveh.”

Kaveh scoffs and looks at Al Haitham with his hands on his hips, poking the inside of his cheek with his tongue, glaring at the acting Grand Sage in front of him. You press your lips into a thin line and slowly look up at Dainsleif, who is already looking at you.

“I’m done with these two,” Scaramouche mutters, pinching the bridge of his nose with a sigh.

Dainsleif crosses his arms over his chest. “This is my cue to leave,” said Dainsleif.

You’re about to protest, but a portal opens in front of him, and he walks through it. The portal closes once he enters. You let out another sigh and turn to the people in front of you. You’re tired and want to go to sleep, but at the same time, you want to explore around Sumeru a little bit before going to the teapot to get some much-needed shut-eye.

“Is it okay if we go and explore Sumeru? I know it’s nighttime, but exploring Sumeru would be nice,” you said.

Kaveh points at the sky. “Explore Sumeru in the darkness? I don’t know about that….” Kaveh trails off.

Tighnari scratches his ears. “I think we should explore Sumeru in the morning. It’s safer that way,” Tighnari replies.

“If we all go together, I think we should be fine,” Scaramouche says, taking his hat off and fixing his hair that is blown by the wind.

Cyno looks at everyone around him. “What do you guys think? Should we go an explore Sumeru?”

“Exploring Sumeru at a time like this is nothing new to me. I’m okay with it as long as everyone is okay with it,” answers Al Haitham.

The last thing you remembered was exploring Sumeru with Aether, Lumine, Paimon, and the five guests (Al Haitham, Cyno, Kaveh, and Tighnari). Now, here you are, sitting in the middle of some forest in Sumeru alone. You have been roaming around the forest for a long time, and every tree, shrubbery, and thicket looks the same. You’re not sure how Tighnari is able to guide the group through the forest without issues.

You run your fingers through your hair and lean against a tree, sliding to the ground. You’re too tired to

“Yeah, maybe exploring the forest at night was a mistake,” you deadpan. “Well, if it isn’t the consequences of my actions,” you lightly slap your forehead.

You rest your head against the tree trunk and close your eyes. You would go and try to search for the others, but you don’t think that is a good idea. Maybe this is the perfect time for you to take a nap while the others try and find you. You lay on the ground and curl into a fetal position, drifting off to sleep.

After what felt like twenty minutes, your eyes fly open when you feel something poke your face. You stumble to your feet when you see a strange being in front of you. It’s small, like, really small. The way it stares at you is unsettling, but it’s kind of cute. You can’t find a way to describe it, but it’s green and has a leaf for a hair… hat? Either way, it’s small and carries a stick.

“What are you?” You whisper, leaning down to poke it lightly. “Am I hallucinating by any chance?” You ask yourself.

The tiny creature continues to stare at you, not saying a word. You end up introducing yourself to the green being in front of you, and it eventually speaks, which throws you off guard because you didn’t think it could talk. He introduces himself as Arabalika, and he is an Aranara, a plantlike forest spirit that resides in Vanarana.

It turns out you somehow wandered to Vanarana, but no need to fear because Arabalika and his little Aranara buddies are here to keep you company. You’re amazed at seeing the Grove of Dreams now that Arabalika has led you to where the Aranaras reside. When you walk into Vanarana, a hoard of Aranaras surrounds you, looking at you curiously.

“Do you think my friends will be able to find me here? I don’t know how much longer I can stay in Vanarana,” you said softly.

It wasn’t like you didn’t want to stay in Vanarana. You felt like you were intruding as someone who isn’t a forest spirit. The Aranaras were sweet to you! They refused to leave you alone, and the Aranaras offered to make you something to eat (which you declined because of the amount of food you have consumed today) and provided some entertainment.

While you and the Aranaras are warming up to each other, the people you went exploring in the forest with are scrambling around to search for you. They searched high and low for you, only to find nothing at all.

“Where could they have wandered off?” Al Haitham asks.

“They didn’t wander off; we wandered off without checking to see if they were following us or not,” Kaveh interjects.

Cyno sits on the ground. “Then what do we do? We can’t find them in the forest. We can’t leave them all alone until the sun rises,” Cyno grumbles, yanking the grass from the ground.

“Hey! Don’t do that,” Tighnari scolds Cyno, slapping the grass out of Cyno’s hands before huffing loudly.

“We’re going to have a [Y/N] search party,” Lumine says.

Scaramouche blinks at Lumine owlishly. “A [Y/N] search party?” Scaramouche asks.

Lumine and Aether look at each other, nodding at one another. As much as they don’t want to disturb others of their sleep, they have no other choice but to get the other men involved.

You sit on the grass, weaving flowers with Arabalika and the other Aranaras. They offered a temporary home for you to rest in, but you refused to sleep no matter how tired you were. Plus, you have this unsettling feeling where you feel like you’re being watched. And you know it’s not Dainsleif because he would have shown up before Arabalika discovered you in the forest.

Arabalika taps your knees to grab your attention. “What’s wrong, Nara friend?”

You give Arabalika a wary smile. “I feel like we’re being watched, do you?” You whisper to Arabalika.

“It’s okay if you feel that way. We will protect you,” Arabalika says, holding your hand.

You laugh and squeeze Arabalika’s hand, not sure what he’s implying. How can something as small as he protects you from the dangers lurking in the forest?

“Should we make ourselves known to them?” Dottore asks, his back pressing up against a tree.

Pierro shakes his head. “I don’t think it’s time for us to introduce ourselves to [Y/N] just yet,” Pierro mutters, watching you interact with the Aranaras.

“Aw, what a shame. I really wanted to introduce myself to [Y/N],” Pantalone laments, leaning against the tree that was a few meters from where you’re sitting.

“Unless you want to start a problem, go ahead,” Capitano grumbles. “Those little creatures are guarding [Y/N]. It’s strange to see how protective they are of someone that isn’t part of this world,” Captiano peeks from behind the trees.

You finish weaving the flower crown and place it on Arabalika’s head, and he puts his completed flower crown on your head. You recall one of the Aranaras inviting you to their little concert, so you let Arabalika guide you to where the show is being held. You sit in the crowd and watch them play the instruments in awe. Arabalika waddles over to you, pulls you to the center of the “stage,” and attempts to get you to join in on the dancing.

You knew that you were not alone in the forest with the Aranaras, but if you were going to die soon, you might as well enjoy your last moments dancing with the Aranaras. While you’re in the middle of twirling around with Arabalika in your hands, you hear a twig snap loudly. The music ceases, and you stop spinning, holding Arabalika in the air, slowly turning to look in the direction of where the twig has snapped.

Over twenty heads peek from behind the trees. You squint at them and slowly put Arabalika down, shielding your eyes to try to get a better look at each person’s face.

“Oh, it seems like you have found me,” you said.

Venti pouts. “Someone doesn’t sound too happy about being found,” Venti says.

“Sorry to interrupt your performance, but we were looking everywhere for you,” Kaeya speaks up, emerging from the shadows, and walks over to where you stand.

Arabalika steps in front of you, holding his arms out. Kaeya stops in his tracks and gazes at Arabalika with an amused look on his face.

Dainsleif chuckles. “It seems like the Aranara is trying to protect [Y/N],” said Dainsleif.

You look at the men who now stand in front of you, Arabalika and the other Aranaras. “Why are all of you in Sumeru? Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad to see all of you again, but what are you guys doing here?” You ask.

“Lumine, Aether, and Paimon came to all of us and requested us to search for you. We heard that you went missing in the forest of Sumeru, and they didn’t know how else to track you down,” Diluc interjects.

You nod your head slowly. “So… Aether, Lumine, and Paimon traveled to your respective nations to have you all search for me?” You ask.

“That is correct. Although we did arrive earlier than all of you,” Pantalone speaks up, walking out from behind a tree with a smug smile on his face.

Aether and Lumine look at each other with wide eyes, pointing over at the four Harbingers, now standing behind you. It seems like there are uninvited guests as well. You look at the four Harbingers behind you and then at the other people in front of you.

“I have no idea what is going on, nor do I know the history you all have with each other, but can we not start this now?” You ask.

“And why is that, little one? Are you playing as the mediator in this situation?” Pierro asks, raising an eyebrow at you, the corners of his lips quirked up.

You hunch over and shake your head. “No, I just don’t have the energy to deal with this,” you gesture between the two groups, “and I have spent every last energy of mine dancing with Arabalika and the Aranaras. I want to go to sleep,” you said.

Arabalika turns around and gazes at you. Even with that blank stare of his, you knew what he was implying. Arabalika holds his hand up, and you grab them, letting Arabalika guide you to the nearest Aranara house.

“If all of you are going to fight, I might as well sleep through it. Arabalika will show me to my temporary room until the fight is over,” you announce over your shoulders.

The remaining Aranaras stare at the Naras (and Paimon) before them. Without saying a word, they all waddle after you and Arabalika, the sound of their footsteps gradually fading away. Just when the men thought they were the only ones drawn to you, the Aranaras are just as drawn to you as they are. However, the Aranaras are drawn to you for a different reason. The men, however, are drawn to you because they feel a connection with you and are also attracted to you. Whoever you are, wherever you came from, it doesn’t matter to them because they will try to have you for themselves. The tension was broken by the sound of Paimon and Lumine snickering with each other.

“You’re all fighting over [Y/N], and yet the Aranaras snatch [Y/N] up just like that,” Paimon says, giggling behind her hand.

Lumine raises her eyebrows. “Good luck trying to get the Aranaras' approval to be with [Y/N]. If you all think that I’m protective of [Y/N], you’re wrong,” Lumine chuckles. “They see something in [Y/N], and it makes them want to guard [Y/N] with their entire being,” Lumine strokes her chin.

When you collapsed into bed and were tucked into bed by Arabalika, the other Aranaras stood in front of your temporary house, guarding the door and watching the people closely. So much for finding you and bringing you back to Sumeru City. Now they have to wait for the next day to bring you back to civilization without causing any problems with the Aranaras, who are surprisingly protective of you.

Note: This fic is long because I decided to type during school while I was at the library when I didn't have any assignments to do for any of my classes. And now here we are with over 10k words of fanfic! Once I post this fic onto my AO3, the Isekai'd!Reader one-shot series will officially have about over 400k words! That is longer than a novel. I think that's the most I have ever typed out for a fanfiction :o Honestly, I'm impressed if someone decides to read all of the stories I have posted from my first fanfic to my current fanfic. I'm currently debating between two requests right now to post for next week, but I can't decide.... 🤔 both are hurt/comfort, but one contains smut... as per the person's request. Eh, that will be future me's problem. Anyway, for those who want to be on my new taglist, here is the link to the taglist [Genshinluvr Updated Taglist Form]! Please make sure that you allow people to mention you/tag you in posts, or else I won't be able to tag you in any future fanfics! And as usual, I ONLY post on my Tumblr (Genshinluvr) and my AO3 (Aaliah_exo)! Nowhere else except Tumblr and AO3!

Taglist for my Isekai'd!Reader one-shot series and my overall taglist: @alhaitham-scribe, @xyji, @kazuhasmuse, @chirikoheina, @yoru-trash, @kaoyamamegami, @kwelibeeery, @yumakj, @deartoru, @luminarymoonlight, @toobytub, @ins4nebish, @bokuto-kinnie, @honeybedo, @exhaustedcommunist, @jadedist, @mompt2, @living-my-best-life5, @chalksdreams, @rinswriting, @thelost-in-time, @mxn14, @ventisweetheart, @unwantedsleep, @kattythesimp, @hispasian-otaku, @Orah-s, @juuuuuj101010, @nxns3nse, @sickly-falling, @alteeeeyang, @wind1y, @wh0-ta0, @samarill, @testsubject0012, @irisxiel, @HistoryNerd™️, @kazuhaprnt, @lunarapple, @urlocalhothuman, @emilymikado, @mabie, @vinnie-w, @n8mareee, @bajifairyy, @al-haithamsforeveryone, @heyimkay, @smolbeaniezz, @milkpeanuts476, @eliciana, @jellyslimesoffical, @blesstosuisen (If your name has been crossed out, it means that your account did not show up when I try to tag your account. Please make sure to allow people to mention you and tag you in posts and make sure the spelling, symbols, and numbers are correct)

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