#next morning bear here it looks fine not deleting

[oobbbear]

1am I can’t sleep I draw robots in hot clothe

Probably deleting next morning

[dianaisnice]

Demonic betrayal (Yandere Demon X Reader)

I was comfortably in bed reading an exciting book. The peace was however destroyed by my twenty-two-year-old sister, Georgie, who flung the door open with full force. I flinched in shock and gave my little sister an angry look. "Can't you knock?" I hissed at her, annoyed. I had been busy all day and I wanted to have a little time for myself before I went to bed. But of course my sister had to burst into my room at that very moment.

She pulled her head in a little bitt to the side so that her black hair covered her face. "I'm sorry. Next time I'll knock. Can you come with me to Adrian's grave tomorrow? I'd like to bring him new flowers," she told me the reason why she had invaded my privacy without permission. Adrian was her boyfriend, who had died in a car accident a few months ago. They were together for over five years and by chance I heard that Adrian wanted to propose to my sister at a romantic dinner, which unfortunately was no longer possible. If it had happened, they would have my blessing.

"Of course I'll go with you. What time did you have in mind?" I asked her. I needed to know what time Georgie was going to the grave. I'm currently looking for work because I quit my previous job. Before that I lived a two-hour drive from here, in my birthplace and hometown. I didn't really want to leave there, I had a great job and a big apartment there. I was also in a relationship before Adrian's death, but I ended it because I didn't want to be in a long-distance relationship. At first it was hard for me to accept the breakup, but the pain subsided over time. There were times when my ex's number appeared on my display. I didn't have the heart to delete his number or even block him.

"Tomorrow after breakfast would be good," she said quietly. She threw her tousled hair over her shoulders and looked at me sadly. Her eyes were red-rimmed and glassy. Her nose was red from sniffling and crying. She must have been crying all day again while I was busy writing applications after applications. When I realized this, I immediately felt guilty because I hadn't heard anything of it, but had preferred to put earplugs in my ears and listen to music at the loudest volume. I was overcome with shame. As an older sister, I had failed completely.

"For me, that's fine. Afterwards we have to go shopping. The fridge needs to be filled again," I told her my thoughts. I couldn't bear to look at her for long, so I looked away and played with my blanket instead. "Yeah, OK, I wish you a good night," she said quietly and left my room without waiting for a reply. "I wish you a good night too," I murmured in the same tone as my sister. In truth, I knew that my sister would be awake all night again. She doesn't cry as much as she did at the beginning, but the tears still come in many situations. Some things remind her of Adrian. Sometimes she wants to be comforted at night and sometimes she locks her door at night. On the nights when she couldn't sleep and her door was open, I lay down next to her in silence and let her cry on my shoulder.

Sighing, I put my book on my bedside table, turned off the reading lamp and lay down. With my face to the open door, I racked my brains about how I could help my sister better. To be honest, I was starting to run out of ideas. I was considering whether I should seek professional help. Lena can't drown in her grief forever.

Even if it sounds cruel, life goes on without Aiden. And who knows, maybe she'll fall in love with another lovely man. With these thoughts I fall asleep.

The next morning I woke up without a problem. I sat up straight and looked around my room. The noise didn't come from my room. Grumbling, I threw the blanket aside and got up from the bed, slightly sluggish. I padded to it on bare feet and tore the window wide open. Fresh air immediately flowed in on the early summer day and a bird chirped happily on a branch in front of me. The bird looked me in the eye for a short time and then flew away. Smiling, I watched the bird fly away into the next tree. A cold gust of wind hit my face. Autumn replaced summer a few weeks ago. When I looked up at the sky, I saw dark clouds gathering. It looked like rain. Maybe it will storm.

I quickly went back to my bed and made it neat before grabbing some fresh clothes and disappearing into the bathroom one door away. First I did my morning business before I got into the shower and let the warm water flow over me. It felt so good to shower early in the morning. You feel more awake and fresh afterwards. I shaved straight away in the shower because I didn't feel like to it yasterday. I didn't like the fact that my hair grew back so quickly. And unfortunately I was unlucky that the hairs were dark. Because of this I had to reach for the razor several times a week.

I put on my underwear immediately after drying my body. Then I put on my dark brown turtleneck sweater, black socks and dark blue jeans. After getting dressed, I grabbed my toothbrush and reached for the toothpaste. I looked in the mirror as I brushed my teeth. The sight in the mirror shocked me a little. I had slight dark circles under my eyes and I looked a little pale. Not surprising when I'm busy looking for a job and when I'm looking after Georgie. Then I blow-dried my (H/C) hair and brushed it through thoroughly before tying my hair back. Then I applied mascara to my eyelashes.

The first thing I did in my room was to close the window. I took out my jewelry box from the drawer of my nightstand. I put my gold earrings in my earlobe and put my gold watch on my right wrist. I got both of these a week before Adrian died.

In the kitchen I met Georgie, who was holding her cup of coffee in her hands and staring absently into space. "Morning," I greeted her as soon as I set foot in the kitchen. "Morning," I heard Georgie mumble. I went straight to the pot of freshly brewed coffee. I took a cup from the cupboard above and poured myself a half-full cup. The smell of fresh coffee immediately filled my nose. Sighing, I put my cup next to Georgie's and sat down next to her. I took a sip of the hot drink and at the same time looked over at Georgie out of the corner of my eye. "Would you like some scrambled eggs? I'll make some right away," I told her. I took another sip before leaving it on the table and getting up from the chair and walking to the fridge. When I looked in the fridge, I grimaced at random. It looked pretty empty. We really need to fill the fridge today.

"Yes, of course. I want to leave as soon as possible,” Georgie said, speaking a little louder. I knew then that she was feeling a little better than last night. I slept so soundly today that I didn’t notice anything going on around me. I didn’t know whether Georgie had cried last night or hadn’t slept a wink. I bit my lip.

After I took out the eggs, butter and the pan, I turned on the stove and put the pan on. While I had to wait for the stove to heat up, I sat down next to Georgie again and pushed my cup towards me. "Did you sleep better today?" I asked her when she made no attempt to talk to me, so instead I picked up the lead and started a conversation. Georgie drew indistinct patterns on the surface of the table with her index finger. Before I got up again, I took another sip of my coffee and walked over to the stove. With the wooden spoon in my hand, I started cooking, humming.

My sister still hadn't answered me, so I turned my head in her direction and started speaking: "The neighbor told me yesterday that a new shop opened near the cemetery a few days ago. Apparently the shop owner is a witch. The neighbor is pretty sure she worships the devil because she had a petagram tattooed on her neck. She was supposed to have babbled something about how they brought her cat back to the living from the afterlife…” I laughed at the thought that there was supposedly a dead cat running around the area and causing trouble. I can't imagine the animal being anything other than a zombie. The scratching on the table stopped for a moment before Georgie continued.

"As if there's some kind of magic here," I grumbled and scooped the contents of the pan onto two plates. I sat down next to my sister and started eating. My coffee had gone cold by now, but I still didn't want to throw it away. It would just be a waste not to drink it. Besides, I really need it to wake up properly. "Thank you," Georgie said quietly, poking at the eggs with her fork. I watched her silently as she ate, taking bites. Under my stern gaze, she had no choice but to stuff the food into her mouth and choke it down. I'm definitely not going to let her leave the apartment without eating.

"You can't know that for sure. I do think there are some things we can't explain," my sister replied, taking another bite of her meal. A satisfied smile graced my lips with every success my sister said one more word. "Last night, the news said that a very large wolf was spotted in the woods in the neighboring village and that scratch marks and torn, bloody clothing belonging to a missing woman were found," she added after a short break from eating. I looked at her questioningly at the news. "What does it have to do with magic?" I asked her. I pushed my empty plate and cup away from me and looked patiently at my sister with curious eyes to see what answer she had. I had no idea what she was trying to tell me with her statement. "Besides, I think it was a wolf, but a bear. Wolves don't get that big and they certainly don't attack people," I told her my concerns about all of this.

I stood up and collected our dishes and put them in the sink. After visiting the cemetery, I'll wash them and put them away. "It certainly wasn't a bear, because they haven't been seen in this region for many years. I think it was more likely that it was a werewolf. You know, like the wolves from Twilight," I heard my sister say behind me. I almost cut myself with a knife when she said it. When my surprise had passed, I tilted my head back and laughed. "You don't believe that yourself. You don't know how ridiculous that sounds," I snorted and held my stomach, laughing. I started to hurt from laughing so much.

"You can laugh at me. But you'll see that I'm right," she replied immediately and disappeared into her room. "We'll meet in the hallway in half an hour," I called after her before I heard her door slam. I looked in her direction for a short while and left the kitchen to return to my own room. There I dug my handbag out of my closet and hung it over the bedpost so that I could pack a few things more easily. In any case, I put my wallet in my pocket. A tissue and a small umbrella are a must. Chewing gum for in between, hand cream and of course my keys. My cell phone goes in my jacket pocket. I looked at myself in the mirror one last time. Satisfied with how I looked, I nodded at my reflection and was about to turn my back to the mirror. But I stopped abruptly because I saw a figure scurry past behind me. No idea what it could be. I was hoping it was just my imagination.

I turned around very slowly. I was afraid of what might await me. With every heartbeat my heart pounded against my chest. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the shadow disappear into my wardrobe. With small steps and on silent soles I crept towards my wardrobe. I kept an eye on it the whole time, in case the figure changed its mind and attacked me suddenly. It took a lot of effort to put one foot after the other. My legs felt like lead. I stopped right in front of it and put my shaking hand on the knob. I didn't open it. My eyes wandered restlessly back and forth. From one moment to the next the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. My instinct told me to leave the wardrobe alone and get out of there. In horror films, following your curiosity never ends well. Most of the time you were killed by the monster behind the door.

I took deep breaths through my nose before gathering my courage and opening the door with a swing. I kept my eyes closed the whole time because I didn't want to look my murderer in the eye, no matter who it was. My last thoughts should only be about my loved ones. And I'm afraid of dying.

When the door was open, I waited outside for a few minutes. My eyes were shut so tightly that they hurt. The silence in the room was oppressive. Never in my life has time seemed so long.

For a long time nothing happened and no unusual noises came from the closet, so I hesitantly opened my eyes. First I peeked through my eyelashes and opened my eyes as soon as I couldn't see any sign of a person, animal or anything else. Phew. I didn't even notice that I had held my breath out of tension. Now I bravely pushed the clothes that were hanging up apart with both hands. Half to the left and half to the right.

My eyes wandered restlessly back and forth. I took a close look at the corners and the darkest parts of the closet. "Thank God I only imagined it," I murmured and closed the closet, shaking my head. I left my hand on the handle and stared at it, lost in thought. Absolutely nothing was going through my head.

"(V/N), are you coming? I'm ready to go," my sister called up to me. I wasn't prepared for that, because I flinched and my heart jolted. Startled, I put a hand on my chest and sighed. Because of the tension from earlier, I wasn't paying full attention. "Yes, I'll be right there," I replied in the same tone. I quickly rushed to my bag and swung it over my shoulder. When I got to the door, I turned to the closet. Satisfied that there was nothing unusual there, I grumbled and smiled and closed the door behind me. She had thrown a thin coat over herself. It was buttoned from top to bottom. She didn't wear a hat, but instead wore pink earmuffs. The corners of my mouth twitched at the sight of her. Georgie had usually worn black or dark clothes since Adrian's. So I was very surprised to see her in something colorful. At least a step in the right direction. An improvement.

The door was wide open behind her and a cold wind had crept into our house. It was spreading throughout the entire hallway. "So little patience, sis?" I giggled to myself and followed my sister outside. The incident from before was as good as forgotten. I locked the door after we left. Although the neighborhood was considered safe, we still didn't want to invite thieves into our house. In the cold, the windows weren't open during the day, but we opened them now and again to air the house.

Outside we were greeted by a strong gust of wind. The cold practically slapped you in the face. The cemetery was not far from the house, so we set off on foot. On the way there, Georgie will buy a bouquet of flowers for her deceased friend. "I want to visit Adrian's grave as soon as possible. It's been a long time since the last time," she told me, explaining the reason for her impatience. I glanced at her sideways because what she told me didn't make sense. She had only been at the grave yesterday. No more than twelve hours had passed. I won't say a word about her statement. I had no intention of hurting my younger sister's feelings. The difficult times were far from over.

"Don't forget that we still have to go shopping after the visit. Our fridge is pretty empty and could use some refilling," I told Georgie. "I was thinking of making chicken soup tonight," I continued as we turned the next corner into the shopping street. There were all kinds of shops on the street. From grocery stores to electronics stores. Our first stop was the flower shop next to the jeweler, which had only recently opened.

Georgie pulled her coat tighter around herself and put her shaking hands in her coat pocket. I don't know if it was because of the cold or because of something else. She doesn't deserve to suffer like that. I would have loved to take away her pain, but unfortunately I couldn't. "For me. I just want to buy the flowers and go visit Adrian's grave. I don't want to do anything else right now," she said coldly. Hurt by the cold shoulder she had just shown me, I winced. Sometimes her feelings change from one moment to the next.

"Of course we'll go to the flower shop first and then straight to Adrian's grave," I tried to calm her down with my words. To reinforce my words, I put my hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently.

The people around us took no notice of us, but went about their daily lives. Since the fall break had just started, there were a lot of people out and about. Tomorrow is Halloween, so some children and young people are dressed up and causing mischief at the market. Every now and then you could see masks of monsters or murderers from well-known films like Scream or Friday 13th. I actually didn't like horror films, but my ex-boyfriend at the time insisted that I watch some with him. In my opinion, the worst films were those with demons. There are no worse creatures than these. If I ever meet one, I'll run for my legs and disappear immediately.

As soon as we left the market behind us, the way to the flower shop was not far. We still had a good hundred meters to go. A cold wind blew in our faces. I immediately got goosebumps and lifted up the collar of my coat to save myself at least a little protection from the bitter cold. I think it's about time to get the winter coat out of the attic and exchange it for the coat.

The vibration of my phone in my pocket made me jump because it happened out of nowhere. I was firmly convinced that I had switched it to silent last night because I kept getting texts from my ex. Sighing, I fished the phone out of my pocket and swiped the screen with slightly stiff fingers. I wanted to know who the person was and what they had written to me. Rolling my eyes, I realized that it was none other than my ex-boyfriend. Ever since I left him, he had been trying to contact me nonstop. Before I left him and moved in with my sister, I had a great time with him. I was happy in the relationship.

Please come back (Y/N). I miss you so much.

The message he wrote me gave me a little pang of pain. I don't like to admit it, but I miss him too. After the hospital where my sister ended up after the shock of Adrian's death called me, I told my ex. I told him that I wanted to move closer to her. Not alone, but with him by my side... But he refused and said that his life is here and not a three-hour drive from here. Shortly afterwards, I gave him an ultimatum. It was either me or his work. You can see how he had made his decision. That same evening, I packed my things and, streaming with tears, got into my car and set off to see my sister. On the way to her, I kept stopping and crying my eyes out in silence in the car.

It took me a while to answer because my heart told me that I should call him right now and apologize for forcing an important decision on him. But another part of me didn't owe me anything and didn't want to know anything about him. My head tells me every time I think about him that he deserves it because he left me alone with my problem.

I'm not coming back. My life is here now.

At the exact moment I pressed send, my sister stopped immediately. Surprised, I looked up from my screen and looked around. We had reached our destination. Without waiting for me, my sister entered the shop and waited for me with the door open. "Are you coming, (Y/N)? We don't have long before it starts to rain," she pointed out the lousy, disgusting weather. What I would give for a warm summer day.

"I'm coming," I replied grumbling and put my phone away with a sigh. One last time, I allowed my thoughts and shared memories of my ex to wander through my head before I locked it in the furthest corner of my being. Today, I wanted to concentrate exclusively on my grieving sister.

I looked around the shop curiously. Lots of flowers and plants were either in pots or vases. Beautiful arrangements were either hanging on the walls or lying on the tables. My sister, however, went straight to the bouquets and stood with her index finger on her chin. Her eyes wandered deliberately from one bouquet to the next. She skipped the bouquets of roses. At least her eyes didn't stay on them for long like they did with the others. Since I had nothing to do with flowers, I ran over to the garden decorations and looked at them instead. Stone statues of Buddha, angels made of marble, pots made of brass and many other objects made of all kinds of materials and shapes. I was amazed at what this shop had to offer. From the outside, the shop didn't look that big. Don't let appearances fool you.

Not far from here, there was a large vase of sunflowers in a corner. For some reason, it started to wobble dangerously, for no reason at all. So much so that water was spilling over the edge and a small puddle was forming on the floor around the vase. I looked around the compartment in fear, but there was no one else to be seen. Large plants and decorations obscured my view of my sister or the salesperson. I couldn't see anything other than myself and my sister when I entered. It was probably because it was quite early.

For the second time that day, I stood there frozen in fear. My legs wouldn't move from the spot despite my instinct to flee. It wasn't just because the vase was moving as if by magic, but because a black shadow had formed behind the vase and glowing red eyes were staring at me from there. At least I imagined they were eyes.

"(Y/N), I'm done. Let's go," I heard my sister say not far from me. When she didn't get a response from me, she had to look for me in the maze of plants and garden decorations because I could hear her footsteps behind me. I, on the other hand, didn't take a single step. I was shaking like a leaf and my skin was as dry as the Sahara dust. Even though I couldn't see myself at the moment, I'm sure I'm as white as a ghost. "(Y/N)?" Georgie's voice could be heard behind me. She then put her hand on my shoulder, which she shook vigorously when she once again got no answer from me. Her face moved into my field of vision and covered the vase, which had stopped shaking since Georgie appeared, but the strange figure was still visible. "What's wrong?" she wanted to know.

Before she got an answer from me, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I didn't want her to see the panic in my eyes and I didn't want to worry her. I was glad that Georgie's face was in front of me. The proximity of my sister and the sight of her calmed me down immensely. After a while I realized that I still owed her an answer. When the strength returned to my body, I raised my arm and pointed with my index finger behind Georgie's shoulder. "There was something behind the vase over there," was my only answer to the question she asked. Georgie could certainly read the shock on her face. Normally not many things can throw me off track or even scare me. But since this morning, I have been startled again and again by something. From the cupboard to the wobbling vase with the shadow behind it. I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't the last time.

Georgie followed my outstretched arm, which pointed in the direction of the vase. In order to follow my index finger, she had to turn around first, which she did immediately. With the bouquet full of irises and daisies in her arms, she turned around and looked carefully at the vase. She even took a few steps towards it and to the side. This meant that I could also see the vase.

"There's nothing to see," she said after a while of silence. Surprised and confused by her statement, I was able to move my limbs again. Before I knew it, I was standing next to my younger sister and also looking at the vase. I wanted to reassure myself that the black shadow with the red eyes was no longer there. Blinking, I realized that Georgie was right. In fact, there was no longer any sign of the figure. Should I be relieved or should I fear that I had just imagined the whole thing? "How can that be? Have I gone mad?" I murmured quietly and shook my head violently. I turned my back to the vase. I was so embarrassed to have been afraid of my imagination. "Let’s go“ I added sheepishly. Annoyed at my own stupidity, I bit my lower lip and scratched the back of my neck in embarrassment.

"Oky," Georgie dragged out the word unnecessarily. She pressed the bouquet of flowers close to her chest and marched towards the exit. I followed her outside in silence. The clouds above us have thickened. I could see the threatening black clouds on the horizon. It won't be long before it starts to storm and pours down like buckets. I estimate that the clouds will be above us within an hour.

"We have to hurry," I advised her and picked up the pace. My sister matched my quick steps. Before we reach the cemetery, we have to leave two blocks behind us. "What perfect weather for a cemetery visit," was my comment. As we walked, I looked around the area, because we fell silent on the way. I quickly realized that Georgie needs peace and quiet. I don't want to disturb her thoughts. And especially not when her emotions are going crazy. One moment she was in a good mood and the next she was sad, or angry. I was never angry with her for that. Everyone processed the grief differently.

Before I knew it, we had reached our destination. There were only a few parking spaces in front of the cemetery, some of which were already occupied. As I entered the cemetery, the iron gate squeaked unpleasantly in my ears.

An elderly couple was just getting out of a car. The woman had a beautiful bouquet of flowers in her right hand. In the other she held a walking stick. Her husband gently grabbed her forearm and helped her walk. Her steps were small and she walked very slowly. Despite everything, she did not want to hand the bouquet over to her husband for a single moment. The woman and the man strolled past us and nodded gratefully at us because we were patiently standing at the iron gate and holding it open for them. We returned the gesture just as politely.

Georgie sighed with relief when she finally arrived at her friend's grave. In the vase by the grave was already a bouquet of blue flowers whose name I didn't know. The heads of the flowers were already hanging down and they looked a bit dry. As my sister said this morning, she was there a few days ago. In her case, it was usually exactly two days ago.

While she was exchanging the bouquets, I watched her silently. Tears kept flowing down her cheeks, which were red from the cold. Silent. Not a sound came from her lips. I didn't say a word either, because I didn't know what to say. There was nothing I could say to her. Healing would only come in years. "(Y/N)", I heard Georgie whisper my name after a few minutes. She was kneeling in front of the grave and wiping the engraving on the gravestone. "Yes?" I replied curiously. I wiped a tangled strand of hair behind my ear. "Have you ever wondered if it is possible to revive a loved one?" she asked unexpectedly. I raised my eyebrows. "I have never asked myself that question. But I am sure that it is not scientifically possible," I answered her question honestly. How did she come up with that question?

My sister's shoulders sank in disappointment at my answer. Her hair was ruffled by a sudden gust of wind. My hair was no better. "Maybe you are right," she said, still with her back to me. Maybe? Should I worry about her? I decided not to.

I looked around the cemetery because I couldn't find anything better to do. My sister was busy picking up the fallen leaves from the trees on the grave and throwing them into a pile next to the grave.

Not far from here I spotted a woman dressed in black who was also looking over at us curiously. Our eyes met. She came over to me as if I had invited her with my eyes. I quickly lowered my gaze and shifted from one foot to the other. I hoped fervently that she wasn't coming over to us, but was walking past us or even going in a different direction. Unfortunately, my hopes were dashed because I heard footsteps coming towards us above the leaves. I was just about to tell my sister about the woman's appearance.

The footsteps made my sister prick up her ears. The footsteps above the leaves were hard to miss. My sister stood upright again and turned towards the spring. A short time later, I leaned over Georgie's ear and whispered in her ear: "Do you know why she's coming in our direction?" She shrugged both shoulders without question. It seemed strange to me that someone was coming straight towards us. Nevertheless, I hope that she walks past us or even goes in a different direction. Unfortunately, we were not lucky in that regard, because she stopped in front of us with a smile and a wave.

"Good morning, Georgie. I see you're back today. It's nice that you're still visiting your love despite his death. You can practically feel how much you still love him," she started talking. She hadn't even looked at me for a second. I was ignored coldly. As if I were air. Annoyed, I gritted my teeth and stuffed my hands into my jacket pocket. It's not that I have anything against her. But you can at least say hello to me. Out of politeness, at least. The stranger took another step towards Georgie and put a hand on her shoulder and leaned towards her ear like I had before and whispered, not exactly quietly: "I urgently need to talk to you. You know with the -" Before she could continue, she stopped my sister by quickly putting a hand on her arm and looking at her intently. Even a blind person could understand the hint.

For me that was the cue to leave the two of them alone. "I'll leave you alone for a little while so you can talk," I said, my voice getting quieter and quieter. I turned my back on the two women and put a few meters between us. Since I didn't know where to go, I randomly walked to various gravestones and looked at the inscriptions, information, and photos if there were any. This cemetery wasn't as big as the one in our hometown, but there was still something eerie about it. It was in the middle of a forest, so the sun couldn't shine properly on some of the gravestones. And every now and then I saw overgrown gravestones that were a few years old and no longer cared for. The cemetery must look creepy in the dark. No amount of horses could get me here at night.

I had left a few meters behind me and was so busy reading the dedications of family and friends on the gravestones that I didn't notice. I hadn't noticed that I was wandering deeper and deeper into the forest cemetery, so that when I looked around I couldn't see a soul. I was alone with the dead. On top of that, it was getting dark. Not because it was late, but because dark clouds were increasingly blocking out the sun.

A cold, strong wind was blowing through the trees and making the branches sway dangerously. Crows had gathered on some branches and were staring at me with their black, button eyes. I shivered because their gazes seemed to pierce me. They watched my every step very closely as soon as I set off on the way back. No matter how fast my feet carried me, I always heard the birds' wings beating and felt their piercing gazes on my back. I didn't feel comfortable. For this reason, I picked up the pace. "Stupid creatures," I muttered and made my way to the gravel path, which I found after a while despite the overcast sun. Apparently I underestimated the birds' ability to hear because they all suddenly flew towards me, screeching. They pecked at me with their beaks and you shouldn't ignore their wing beats either. I had to endure both at my own risk.

Screaming and waving my arms, I tried to get rid of the annoying animals. Their claws grabbed at my hair and clothes. Luckily, thanks to the cold autumn day, I was wearing thick clothing. Otherwise I would have been overlooked by the bloody scratch. "Leave me alone!" I screamed and tried to run away from the birds. There were at least twenty crows that hooked on me and followed me like a shadow.

I couldn't get rid of them quickly, so I tried running in zigzags. When that didn't work right away, I ran as fast as I could and barged into a monumental tomb in the shape of a building, which to my surprise was wide open. I pushed the heavy doors shut as quickly as I could. Now it was dark except for a small window. I fished my phone out of my pocket and turned on the flashlight app. Even inside the stone buildings, I could hear the crows screeching outside. I'm one hundred percent sure that I'm going to be stuck here for a while. Hopefully it won't be long, because I don't want to keep Georgie waiting for long... although I just remembered that I can call her. So I unlocked my phone and dialed my sister's number, but it didn't work because I had no signal in here. "Damn," I cursed quietly and ran my hand through my hair in annoyance. I kicked a pillar that stood in the middle of the building.

"You don't have to get angry right away," I heard a male voice saying not far from me. The shock of my life spread through me. My heart stopped for a moment and I flinched so violently that my cell phone fell to the floor with the display and made an unpleasant noise. It sounded as if the screen had shattered. Unfortunately for me, the flashlight also stopped working, so I was now stuck here with a strange man. On top of that, I didn't know why anyone was in here.

My mood sank to rock bottom when my cell phone broke. I just rolled my eyes at the man's statement. "I'm sorry I'm not in a good mood. Today is not my day," I snapped at the stranger. I don't care what he thinks of me. I'll never see him again anyway. So why should I care about the man's opinion?

I couldn't tell what the man looked like, because I didn't have much light except for my pocket lamp. Very little light came in through the window. The sun wasn't much help today, because I could hear the first rain of the day pattering against the window pane.

"The day isn't over yet. You should never count your chickens before they're done. A lot can still happen," he replied. He apparently had a lighter or matches with him, because he used them to light some candles that were scattered around. Still, it was strange that all the candles lit up at the same time. Thanks to the light, I could finally see the man. Unfortunately, I couldn't see much except his face. But one thing was certain. He was very good-looking with his black hair hidden under a hood. He was wearing a hoodie, also black. I assumed he had brown eyes, although they seemed to glow red in the light. He probably has brown eyes in normal light.

"That's true. I just hope my streak of bad luck is over soon," my voice had become calmer now. There was something lulling about his voice. You immediately feel calmer and somehow it draws you in. "The crows seem to have something against me because they just stormed at me," I explained the reason for my appearance. I slid to the floor with my back against the wall. Even through my coat I could feel the cold of the stone beneath me. I picked up my broken cell phone from the floor and looked over at the man. "What's your excuse?" I asked him. Even though I didn't like admitting it, I wanted to hear his reason. Maybe one of his relatives is buried here and he wanted to visit the grave and enjoy the peace in here until I showed up and disturbed his solitude. My body was turned towards him. I definitely didn't want to sit with my back to a strange man. He could attack me out of nowhere and I wouldn't be able to be there. There was nothing inside here that I could defend myself with. The only option would be the door to the tomb.

The man was already sitting on the ground when I appeared. He had pulled one leg up to his chest and was leaning his elbow on his knee and was looking at me intensely. My body shuddered. I put it down to the cold and the creepy atmosphere in here. "I wanted to meet a certain person here," he revealed without hesitation. The expression on his face looked as if he wanted to explain something to me that I couldn't interpret. With a smile, he flashed his white teeth. His canines were slightly longer and tapered. That was nothing unusual. I once heard that it can often be seen in people.

I looked at him in disbelief and twisted my face slightly at the thought of what he could do with this girl. Not a very nice thought. "Not a particularly nice place to have a date," I replied tonelessly. I slid away from him as far as I could until I hit the stone wall. Now cold air was creeping out from every direction imaginable. The stones also emitted cold. Ever since I arrived here, goosebumps had stuck to my body, as if my body wanted to warn me of an impending danger that I did not understand. "She doesn't want to meet you here?" I teased him. I gave him the same smile as he had before, only my teeth were not as sharp as his.

From outside I heard the birds stop, because hundreds of wing beats could not be ignored even here. They left with a croak. Hopefully Georgie will find me again quickly or at least get help to look for me. Should I dare to take a look outside? I slowly got up from the ground and put my hands in my jacket pocket to check if my phone was still there. Unfortunately, I had left my bag at Georgie's grave. I took out my phone and wanted to light up the screen by touching it with my finger, but it didn't work. Then I remembered that I had dropped the phone earlier. "Could I borrow your phone for a minute? My screen is broken and I want to call my sister," I asked him for help. I know it wasn't my place to ask him for a favor, since I wasn't exactly nice to him earlier.

"I don't have one with me. How about I shove my tongue down your throat instead?" he purred as he stood up and took a step toward me. His eyes seemed to glow in the candlelight and his sharp teeth flashed briefly. Suddenly the aura around him changed. It went dark. All the candles flickered in unison with my racing heart.

I grimaced, disgusted by his words. "Are you crazy or what? I've only known you for a few minutes and you're asking me to make out with you?" I snapped at him. I clenched my hands into fists. If he tries to attack me, I'm ready to defend myself. Not a moment later, I jumped to the door. At that moment, I didn't care if thousands of crows were waiting for me. I just wanted to get away from the weirdo. I closed my hand around the door handle and tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. So I tried to push against it with all my strength. Unfortunately, it didn't work either. "Damn it! Why won't you open the damn door?" I cursed loudly. Behind me I heard the boy, whose name I still didn't know, approaching. With every step he took, my heart rate increased. Behind my ears I heard the rushing of my blood. "(Y/N), why do you want to leave me when I can finally hold you in my arms?" he whispered. I could hear that he was smiling from his tone.

"Stay away from me!" I growled at him, angry and afraid at the same time. I didn't dare look over my shoulder in his direction. But I could still feel his gaze on me. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. In panic, I shook the door handle. "Help! Is nobody there?! I need help!" I screamed in panic.

"I don't have one with me. How about I shove my tongue down your throat instead?" he purred as he stood up and took a step towards me. His eyes seemed to glow in the candlelight and his sharp teeth flashed briefly. Suddenly the aura around him changed. It went dark. All the candles flickered in unison with my racing heart.

The madman came to stand behind me so that I could feel his breath on my neck. A shiver came over me. Now tears came into my eyes and I had to bite my lower lip so that I didn't start crying. I knew that it wouldn't get me very far.

An animalistic growl sounded behind me. It didn't sound like that of a human, but more like that of a wild animal. An animal that stalks its prey and wants to tear it down with a loud growl. "Nobody. Absolutely nobody will take you away from me," he hissed against my neck. At his proximity, I flinched and squeezed my eyelids as tightly as I could. My lower lip trembled dangerously. Please, God. Please. Let the door open. I don't want to end up dead in the cemetery. Not like that.

As if the almighty Lord had heard my prayer, the gate was opened. Not by me or the madman, but from outside. Relief washed over me as soon as I looked into my sister's surprised face. "What are you doing in there?" she asked me with wide eyes. Her hair looked disheveled and she was breathing heavily, as if she had been looking for me for hours. Over her shoulder I could see that the sun was just about to set. Without my phone I completely lost track of time. "Crows followed me here for some unknown reason and then there's this crazy guy in there," I explained to her briefly.

Before my sister could follow me in here, I put a hand on her chest and pushed her back a little roughly. Away from the building. Just away. Preferably very, very far away from here. "Don't go in there, Georgie. Otherwise you'll end up like me and be trapped in there for a while. And there's a madman there" I began to describe the events of the last few hours. I rolled my eyes at the thought of the madman. Why was I wasting a second tot hink about him?

A short time after my explanation, she looked over my shoulder into the building. She raised her eyebrows and let her eyes wander around the room. Not long after, skepticism crept into her eyes. "Did you get enough oxygen in there? There's no one in there," she said, pointing with her index finger. In disbelief, I jerked my head back to see if she had been mistaken. Like my sister before, I looked around searching for the stranger. A shiver ran through me when I realized that he had actually disappeared. Goosebumps covered my whole body as all the candles were blown out at the same time. Hopefully from the draft that came through the door. "Georgie, I swear there really was someone in there with me! He was crazy!" I swore that I had told her the truth. I wasn't imagining it! Or was I?

I didn't want to stay here a minute longer, so I grabbed my sister by the hand and pulled her with me. "Let's get out of here. I don't want to stay any longer," I told her how I felt. To be honest, I didn't really know which direction we had to go, which is why I stopped after a hundred meters and asked my sister for directions. Of course she wanted to know why I didn't take out my phone and open Google Maps. I explained and showed her that my phone was broken. After my explanation, she took over and led us out of the cemetery.

On the way back to the exit of the cemetery, I felt eyes on us the whole time. But every time I looked around, there was no one to be seen. It was getting dark and most of the visitors had already visited their loved ones who had passed away.

As soon as we left the cemetery behind us, I stretched myself up with a smile. "We've finally left hell behind us," I sighed contentedly. I straightened my clothes and ran my hand through my hair. I wanted to have at least a little control over it. "(Y/N), I don't want to go shopping. Can we please go home quickly? I have to do something urgently," Georgie asked me as a favor. I nodded in agreement. Because of my experience today, I really didn't have the nerve to spend the last few hours of the evening shopping. And I couldn't say no to my little sister. "Then we'll just go shopping first thing tomorrow morning. Let's see what we still have. Then we'll have scrambled eggs tonight," I decided on our dinner tonight.

It took us about half an hour to get home. Each of us disappeared into our own room. I got clean clothes from the closet and disappeared into the bathroom to take a shower. I did just that. As soon as I dried myself off and combed my hair, I put on sweatpants and a t-shirt. Back in my room, I opened my window to let in some fresh air. Outside, the sun had already set and a strong wind was blowing through the trees. Because of thick clouds, no stars could be seen and the moon was also not visible. Now I was sure that it was going to rain today.

I went down to the kitchen and found my Georgie at the table. She had a steaming cup in front of her and another one was in front of it. I sat down on the chair opposite her and leaned against the back of the chair. I wanted to rest for a moment before I started cooking. "I made you some tea. Drink it while it's still warm," my sister said. I smiled gratefully at my little sister. "Thank you," I thanked her as I closed my hands around the cup. I enjoyed the pleasant warmth that emanated from the tea.

"What did the woman want from you earlier?" I wanted to know what my sister had to discuss with the woman at the cemetery. I can't really imagine that it was anything important. I looked outside. On the way home, I kept asking myself this question. I couldn't get it out of my head.

My sister bit her lower lip and looked anywhere but not in my direction. "She did me a favor," she replied briefly. Skeptical about her statement, I raised an eyebrow. Should I believe her or not? Normally I could always believe my sister. She has never lied to me. Well, until now anyway. I don't know whether I should probe her brief answer or not. After a while I decided against it, but a thousand other questions were on my lips. Instead of filling her stomach with questions, I took a big sip of my tea. For some reason, my sister was watching me very closely.

"You know, (Y/N). I will do ANYTHING to get Adrian back. No matter what or who I have to sacrifice for it," my sister continued. When she said what she had said just now, she looked me in the eyes. Her gaze was so determined and serious that I shuddered. I couldn't hold my sister's intense gaze for long, so I preferred to look into my cup while I drank the rest in one go. Luckily, the tea was no longer hot, but lukewarm, so I didn't burn my tongue. I hadn't noticed it before, but the tea tasted different than usual. It had a bitter aftertaste.

A flash of lightning lit up the kitchen for a few seconds, followed by a loud clap of thunder. "Georgie, I know how much you miss Adrian, but you can't bring him back from the dead," I replied, yawning. From one moment to the next, I was overcome by tiredness. My head grew heavier by the second and I let go of the cup in my hand. The sound of the crockery breaking sounded dull in my ears. But I could hear my little sister's voice very clearly: "I will bring Adrian back. Even if I have to sacrifice you for it, dear sister." Then everything went black behind my eyelids.

A vague murmuring brought me out of my unconsciousness. I opened my eyes with a groan because I could feel severe pain behind my eyes. I wanted to grab my pounding head, but I couldn't because something was stopping me. Still sluggish from the dreamless sleep, I looked to see what was preventing my arms from moving. To my horror, I realized that my arms and legs were tied up. I was confused as to when this could have happened. The last thing I remembered was drinking the tea my sister had made... Even if I have to sacrifice you for it, dear sister. Oh no! No, no, no! Please let it be my imagination!

I ignored my pain and tugged at my bonds instead. Little by little, my eyes got used to the darkness that reigned in the room. I don't even know where exactly I am. It could be anywhere else. I let my eyes wander, looking for my sister. I immediately spotted her in a circle of candles around her. I felt fear, terror, and horror at that moment. She was sitting in the middle of a pentagram. Flickering hearts were placed on each point of the star. Next to my sister I saw a body lying in a sheet covered with a sheet. From there I could see a badly decaying hand. When I made this discovery I noticed the stench. Why did my sister have a corpse with her?

"Georgie?" I croaked. I coughed because my throat was dry. My sister's murmuring stopped at my voice. She turned her head in my direction and looked at me with a very big smile. Goosebumps spread across my arms as I saw a shadow next to my sister. At first it was misshapen, but the more seconds passed, the more it took shape. First the legs and lower body were formed, and then the arms. Then came the upper body, which certainly belonged to a man with broad shoulders. Then the creature got a head. Horns sat on the shadow creature's head. The worst part was not watching it turn into a human-like being, but rather that it had red, sparkling eyes that looked at me with a devilish grin. Even in the darkness you could see the sharp teeth. To make matters worse, it was slowly coming towards me. Whimpering, I tugged at my bonds and rocked the chair back and forth, causing it to tip over on its side.

At that moment, I thought my heart would burst out of my chest in fear as soon as I saw the creature's feet standing in front of me. Inside, I was dying of fear and I wanted to squeeze my eyes shut. But fear paralyzed me.

Tears ran from my eyes and dripped to the floor. Sobbing, I had to watch as my sister fell back into her summoning. Pale skin grabbed the back of my chair and lifted it upright again. "Where are you going in such a hurry, love?" a voice trilled cheerfully in my ear. For some reason, it sounded familiar. As if I had heard it just a short time ago. After a few seconds of thinking, I realized. It was the stranger in the cemetery. I looked up at him with wide eyes. There were indeed horns on his head. His eyes not only looked red, they were red.

Courage rose in me. "I'm not your love! And who the hell, or rather what the hell are you?" I snapped at him. I finally wanted to know who or what I was dealing with. He stroked my cheeks with the back of his hand. The icy touch made me jerk my head to the side. I definitely didn't want to be touched by him!

"Don't be so shy, (Y/N). You'll learn to accept my touches soon enough,"

he whispered and tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. Then he continued speaking: "To satisfy your curiosity, I'll answer a few questions for you. Not without a price, of course." He laughed darkly at the last sentence. Since I didn't know how to react, I looked in my sister's direction. My gaze was filled with pleas for help, which my sister ignored.

I was roughly grabbed by the chin and turned towards him. While he spoke, he held my chin firmly in his grip. "I am known by the name Amon. But you, my dearest bride, may call me husband," he purred, his eyes greedily fixed on my mouth. He also had to run his thumb over my lower lip. "W-what? I'm not married to you! When did that happen?" I screamed in his face. I tried to bite him, but of course luck was not on my side. "Oh, of course we are, LOVE. From the moment you rescued me from my prison in the mirror a few months ago," he began to explain. To my annoyance, he had to emphasize the word 'love' letter by letter.

When he mentioned it, I had to dig deep into my memory to come to a conclusion. I sat there for at least half a second until it suddenly dawned on me. Before Adrian's accident, I found a covered mirror in the attic. At the time, I went upstairs because I heard strange noises and assumed it was vermin. And since it was moving behind the covered mirror, I thought the vermin had hidden behind it. But as soon as I uncovered the mirror behind it, I couldn't see anything behind it and went back downstairs. A few days later, Adrian had his fatal accident.

I gasped in disbelief as one thing dawned on me. "A-Are you responsible for Adrian's accident?" I stuttered. Shocked, I put my hand over my mouth. I hadn't even noticed that my hands and legs had been freed from the restraints. "You don't need an answer from me for that, do you?" he whispered in my ear. "Why do you think I caused the accident? Of course, only so that your sister would have a reason to lure you here. I wanted you here and not to see you in the arms of the worthless person you call your friend. Every night I put ideas for an incantation into your sister's ear. Like every incantation, a wish has to make a sacrifice. The sacrifice of your dear sister, my love, was you," he continued, whispering in my ear.

I pushed him away with all my strength and staggered over to my sister. The anesthetic made me quite unsteady on my feet. Sobbing, I fell to my knees in front of my sister. I tried to ignore the corpse as best I could. The stench made it difficult.

The ritual or summoning could not be stopped despite my presence. With shaking hands, I took my sister's face in my hands. It hurt me deeply that my only sister had betrayed me to a demon. She put her boyfriend before her own blood relative, her sister. "Did you hear what the demon said? He caused Adrian's accident. Let's get out of here while we still can," I tried to persuade her.

Before I could realize it, I was thrown to the ground. For a moment I saw Georgie's raised hands. My own sister pulled me away from her. As if I were a pesky insect that had to be gotten rid of.

Shocked by her rejection, I saw her face twisted with anger. She pointed her finger at me. "No. You are to blame for his death. Only you! If only you hadn't freed him, Adrian would still be alive," she screamed at me. The desperation and sadness in her voice was unmistakable. At the end she sobbed and hid her tearful face behind her hands. Tears ran silently down my cheeks. Betrayal. Betrayal, betrayal. "I want him back," she sobbed uncontrollably. So much sadness and anger were packed into her crying fit. I just realized something. My sister lost herself after Adrian's death. She cried much more about the loss of her friend than about the betrayal of me.

"You did too," Amon interrupted our conversation. He had placed his cold hands on my shoulders. I didn't dare make a wrong move. I was too afraid of the consequences. As we know, demons are not known for their empathy and understanding.

We both looked at him for different reasons. I out of fear and Georgie out of hope.

At his cue, Adrian's body rose. It could only be him. The paint fell off of him. Inwardly, I was already preparing myself for the terrible sight of his decomposing corpse. Surely he could be compared to a zombie. So it wasn't like that. He looked exactly the same as he did in the last hours before his fatal car accident. As if nothing had ever happened.

Very slowly he turned his head towards us. His eyes were still slightly sad. "G-Georgie?" he cracked. His voice was rough. Without thinking too much, my sister threw herself around his neck. "I missed you so much," I heard my sister whisper very quietly.

The pressure on my shoulders grew stronger. He started to pull me away from the two of them. "Now that you've got your wish, I'll get my part of the deal. My bride," I heard Amon speak behind me.

"Since I've answered three of your questions, let's start our wedding night right away. And in hell the nights are very, very long," he purred in a lust-soaked voice. One of his cold hands wandered from my ankles up my legs, so that he came dangerously close to my intimate area.

I tried with all my might to free myself by throwing my upper body forward, but to no avail. "Please Georgie. Please don't do this to me. Not to your own sister!” I sobbed and tried to cling to every object that came my way.

My sister took her face away from Adrian and watched as Amon pulled me behind him into the darkest corner. “I'll keep my part of the deal. You can have her,” she stated coldly. I've never seen her so emotionless before. “She's yours,” was the last thing I heard from her.

[aohendo]

Prince for Hire Deleted Scenes: Part 13

Amount Deleted: 8k? thereabouts (1 half-formed chapter + 1/3rd of the following chapter, + most of another chapter which'll probably get added back in but was in the wrong spot and I haven't determined if there's a right spot yet)

Reason for Deleting: the deleted chapter could be condensed into a few paragraphs and the information, overall, completely redistributed and better integrated into the story. The third of the following chapter was then covered by the newly integrated stuff. That following chapter also received major rearrangement due to the focus being completely scattered.

Ways to fix: cut and paste, cut and paste, delete. Really: determine scene-level focus, then chapter-level focus, restructure this storyline's mini-arc (to include rearranging chapters), and combine/condense to keep the plot moving.

Excerpt length: 487

Context: Kiris needs to eliminate one of Prince Thaav's enemies, and thinks sending Iiriok at him is the best way about it (he's not wrong...)

Taglist (please let me know if you'd like to be added/removed!): @whimsyqueen @on-noon @houndsofcorduff @stuffaboutwriting @shrunkupthejams

“Nelovskevouk,” Kiris said, loud enough he was sure ni Musyr could overhear. Verosa refilled his tea. A different type, this time: lavender. “What would you do if you discovered a prince had sinned?”

Nelovskevouk nearly choked on his next sip of coffee. He hid it by clearing his throat—which is to say, not at all—and by taking another large sip to clear the crud. His brow slowly rose.

Innocently, Kiris rolled his mug between his palms. Ni Musyr glowered at them. At him.

“Why do you ask?” Nelovskevouk eventually said, when Kiris wasn’t forthcoming with more information, too preoccupied with not making eye contact with ni Musyr. It was all consuming. Whatever he’d done to piss her off—or whatever Nazvili had done—he wasn’t even sure he wanted to know. “Yphant?”

“Answer him, vakon,” ni Musyr ordered.

Kiris wished he couldn’t feel the blood draining from his face. The collective of princes was easier to face than her. Even the inquisitors—at least he knew why they hated him. “I… may or may not have overheard another prince—” it was like being ground by a glacier—“doing things?”

“Really?” Her eyes narrowed, and she leant forwards, and Kiris, again, leant back. Not so far that he tilted over his chair this time. “What sorts of things?”

This wasn’t his plan. Her involvement was not in his plans, except as witness. Nelovskevouk’s, yes. Let him eliminate Tevez for a prince’s sin. He was reliable, Kiris and Nelovskevouk’s younger sister, Kuthri, the only exceptions Kiris knew of. But ni Musyr? He didn’t know her. He didn’t know what she would do.

It was almost thrilling.

“Desiccation,” Kiris lied.

Nelovskevouk spun in his seat, and Kiris found himself quite suddenly bearing the brunt of the entirety of his attention. He had lovely eyes. This was already turning into a very tiring day.

“Who?” Nelovskevouk demanded.

For some reason, Kiris didn’t particularly want to look away from him. Ni Musyr was like being ground down, pummeled and pulverized, an unrelenting pressure. Nelovskevouk… wasn’t.

Prince Thaav would die soon.

Kiris glanced at Tevez.

“One of Prince Thaav’s enemies,” ni Musyr said. Smiled. “One of your allies, Pretty Boy. Curious.”

Nelovskevouk ignored her. He leant into Kiris’ space, and Kiris resisted the urge to pull away, too many people, too close to his space, easy to grab, this was fine, it’d be fine—

“You’re certain?” Nelovskevouk whispered. “First Prince Tevez has never been anything but decent and wise, in all the years I’ve known him. Did you… did you mishear?”

He smelled like flowers. Soaps, not the sharp scent of perfume. Sweat, too: those two weeks Kiris had spent in the Dargoulvga palace, helping Nelovskevouk with Kuthri, every morning he’d practiced on the training grounds; perhaps it did the same here. Weapons—yes—but sometimes, dance.

Iiriok Nelovskevouk was an excellent dancer.

“I know what I heard,” Kiris whispered.

[iirulancorrino]

Just before Christmas, on a cold and rainy morning, I arrived at the midtown office of Andrew Wylie, Rushdie’s literary agent, where we’d arranged to meet. After a while, I heard the door to the agency open. Rushdie, in an accent that bears traces of all his cities—Bombay, London, New York—was greeting agents and assistants, people he had not seen in many months. The sight of him making his way down the hall was startling: He has lost more than forty pounds since the stabbing. The right lens of his eyeglasses is blacked over. The attack left him blind in that eye, and he now usually reads with an iPad so that he can adjust the light and the size of the type. There is scar tissue on the right side of his face. He speaks as fluently as ever, but his lower lip droops on one side. The ulnar nerve in his left hand was badly damaged.

Rushdie took off his coat and settled into a chair across from his agent’s desk. I asked how his spirits were.

“Well, you know, I’ve been better,” he said dryly. “But, considering what happened, I’m not so bad. As you can see, the big injuries are healed, essentially. I have feeling in my thumb and index finger and in the bottom half of the palm. I’m doing a lot of hand therapy, and I’m told that I’m doing very well.”

“Can you type?”

“Not very well, because of the lack of feeling in the fingertips of these fingers.”

What about writing?

“I just write more slowly. But I’m getting there.”

Sleeping has not always been easy. “There have been nightmares—not exactly the incident, but just frightening. Those seem to be diminishing. I’m fine. I’m able to get up and walk around. When I say I’m fine, I mean, there’s bits of my body that need constant checkups. It was a colossal attack.”

More than once, Rushdie looked around the office and smiled. “It’s great to be back,” he said. “It’s someplace which is not a hospital, which is mostly where I’ve been to. And to be in this agency is—I’ve been coming here for decades, and it’s a very familiar space to me. And to be able to come here to talk about literature, talk about books, to talk about this novel, ‘Victory City,’ to be able to talk about the thing that most matters to me . . .”

At this meeting and in subsequent conversations, I sensed conflicting instincts in Rushdie when he replied to questions about his health: there was the instinct to move on—to talk about literary matters, his book, anything but the decades-long fatwa and now the attack—and the instinct to be absolutely frank. “There is such a thing as P.T.S.D., you know,” he said after a while. “I’ve found it very, very difficult to write. I sit down to write, and nothing happens. I write, but it’s a combination of blankness and junk, stuff that I write and that I delete the next day. I’m not out of that forest yet, really.”

—David Remnick, “The Defiance of Salman Rushdie” (x)

Ok the photo of Salman in today’s New Yorker profile, as well as the one he just posted to twitter, are going to make me tear up.

[definitelynotafurinasimp]

800 Follower Event

If you're only interested in the event and don't want to hear me rambling, then feel free to skip the first few paragraphs, it's completely fine to do so. For the rest of you:

I posted my first fic almost exactly 6 months ago, and while the fic itself has long been deleted (because it was honestly really sh*t) this blog is still there. In these 6 months 800 people (and probably one or two bots, since this is tumblr after all) all made the terrible decision to start following me/hj. And while I could write a thousand words to tell you how grateful I am, I'm not trying to waste even more of your time, so let me just be brief for once and say:

Thank you all, every person that reads my fics and everyone trusting me enough to request something from me, I know I'm not as active as in the past, but I still appreciate you all.

Anyway, you're probably all here for the event, so let me just quickly tell you the rules.

Rules:

One prompt and one character per request

Every prompt can get requested up to 2 times, if there are more than 2 requests, I'll choose which one counts on first come, first serve basis (there might be exceptions if I really like the prompt and character, but don't count on those).

There's no limit how often a character can get requested, but if one character gets requested too often, I might have to take them off the list of posibilities, so that other characters can get requested as well

Please specify if needed. If the chosen prompt could be interpreted as different genres (angst, hurt/comfort, etc), or you want to request an angst prompt with a specific subgenre (comfort/no comfort for example), then please say so. I don’t want to get things wrong.

When do the requests end?

You can request until 8pm Friday, 29th of July (CET)

A few basic informations:

One (/) means the prompt has been requested once already. Two (/) mean that it was reqeusted twice already and isn’t available any longer.

When something has been requested, I will write the character it got requested for next to the /, so that the same prompt wont be requested twice with the same character.

When the request is finished, I will turn both the (/) and the character name green

You'll be able to find already written requests by searching #JustASimp'sSimpingEvent on my blog, since all of them will be tagged with it (hopefully)

I may not finish every request that I get, especially if I find myself overwhelmed with them, but I will try my best to finish as many as humanly possible

Here, the Prompts:

“Quit smiling at me, I can’t stop messing up my sentences when you look at me like that” (/ Fischl) (/ Yanfei)

“Aw, you’re blushing like a rose” (/ Lisa) (/ Yoimiya)

“I’m not going to stop poking you until you give me some attention” (/ Jean) (/ Yanfei)

“Just pretend to be my date” (/ Ganyu) (/ Yun Jin)

“I know you’re still in love with me” (/ Hu Tao) (/ Yae Miko)"

“I remember practising how to ask you out in front of the mirror” (/ Kuki Shinobu) (/ Amber)

“Shush and go back to bed” (/ Yae Miko) (/ Kokomi)

“You’re cute when you’re angry” (/ Keqing) (/ Mona)

“No, sorry, you laughed. I … I never saw it before. It’s- ­­­­­­­pretty” (/ Eula) (/ Shenhe)

“There it is, there’s that smile!” (/ Yoimiya) (/ Ganyu)

“Wait, you think I’m cute” (/ Keqing) (/ Shinobu)

“Are you tired? Rest your head in my lap” (/ Ei) (/ Ningguang)

“Just five more minutes-” (/ Eula) (/ Jean)

“May I have this dance?” (/ Ayaka) (/ Fischl)

“I love you a lot, but please stop trying to cook me dinner… you suck” (/ Rosaria) (/ Ei)

“It’s three in the morning” (/ Ei) (/ Shinobu)

“Let me help you. Please” (/ Yae Miko) (/ Noelle)

Anyway, thank you all once again for bearing with my -sometimes "meh"- writing and bad jokes and have a great day/night!!

[tofumedic]

hewo! for the affections number.. 16 is so cute.. would u be able to do headcanons of all the demon bros with it? if not, can u pls do levi then !

The Brothers + Simeon with #16!

16. taking a photo of them smiling or in their element

(lucifer's is here from a previous ask! and bc of that i added simeon only for having some lil funnies i hope you dont mind <3!!!)

Mammon

His collection is the largest, he flaunts it like collectables like cars or like Levi's figures. It is literally one of his biggest flexes and will use them like trading cards never wanting to send them in group chats or privately bc he took those ones get your own human >:(!

He will however hold his phone directly in one of their faces, waving the screen around to show how he has so many good ones.

He uses them for call screens, his lock screen, his home screen, any widget he can other than the Goldie one. He's a menace about it but do not call him out on it he will buy a second phone to use in the public.

Anyways, anyways for actually taking photos..

Mammon always takes too many, as in he will take a bunch within the same timespan because he doesn't trust his hands not to shake, so if he just takes a lot at one time so he can delete the others and save the best ones

But he just ends up keeping all of them, just favoriting the best or separating them into two albums of "valuables" and "treasures" depending on the quality.

Usually they will all have a small blur, him too excited at seeing whatever expression you wear, whether its a smile at seeing him purposely acting dumb or you enjoying a hobby.

He feeds a lot of unfiltered second hand serotonin off of you! Please do not disturb his "I have just had a very bad brotherly bonding experience, I must cope by looking at my photos of my human- No I'm not smiling already shut up"

Leviathan

Levi will use photos of you like wholesome memes so they carry the same energy as the hang in there cat poster, using different heart overlays and nice quotes

His are also a mixture of blurry but also high quality photos, for ones he takes.

This is because seeing you so dedicated or when you smile in his direction, his heart does this weird jumpstart the palpitations making him feel heavy yet light at the same time almost like a peach and its pit.

But he has a preference to use either this small tripod(he has it as a preparation for going to live shows) or a timer so its set away from him as he calls you over, its his own little trap.

His favorite, the majority of his collection, are those! It's photos of you being in frame with him in it as well because there's just something about how all that happiness of yours is completely focused on him, your smile as you walk over towards him sometimes blurry and mistimed so its only you entering the corner of the screen but you can tell how he takes your attention.

When getting in fights about who has the best photos, he will drop ones that are different hugs of him in your arms like he was a newly one plush. Mammon especially gets pissy about these as well as Belphie and Asmo.

If you can't turn your camera on when he calls or if he is locked in a raid that they're losing he would ask you for a selfie also, never requesting anything special other than just yourself but his favorite is when you send just smiles or videos of the which character are you filter :]!

Satan

Satan often tries to hide it, saying he's taking a photo of himself or checking his hair, maybe even going as far as saying the text on his study notes are too small so he has to hold it in front of his face so close.

Think about cowboys, shooting from the waist. That's him when you're too far away, maybe with a brother or during class or eating. He will scribble out his brother or purposely have the other cropped out of the shot.

He does have a lot of you when you're just turning around to face him and then your reaction, he can't resist the temptation of taking your attention when he's bored or waiting for his next book order to come in before he goes back to the cat behavior of only seeking out attention when he deems it necessary and otherwise pleased for a period of time.

He loves the ones where you look at him before he's ready, these are just slightly shaky from him jumping or pressing the button in an embarrassed panic at your smug yet happy expression.

Has definitely done the cut a hole in a newspaper and put his camera to it to look out like it was some camouflage but he's first, smiling much too hard and trying not to laugh at it, and second had seen it in multiple old movies and shows you had watched together.

Satan, speaking of movies, quite enjoys you in low light. On movie nights where your face is only illuminated by the projector screen and the photos turn out a bit grainy, there's something so romantic about you just existing in such an atmosphere. These ones he does like more when you're focused, looking far off with a small pleasant smile on your face at the soft plot of tonight's pick.

Asmodeus

Asmo will send you them all the time, he's like your own personal Devilgram manager he will even edit them for you and send the before and after of those photos too (MC: when did u take these??? Asmo: ,';p)

He will always have such good angles of you, from your side, from above or below, a 3/4, or full portrait, your silhouette. He may have one for each basic one at least though his favorites are above and below, these are the most personal feeling to him.

Usually these come as him trying to get your attention, bothering you with his phone and purposely leaving the little shutter noise on so you hear every single one while you're just trying to watch a DevilTube video or do something else.

Him snuggled into your side post cuddle just to lean up, phone in his hand and a menacing giggle, it's the first thing you see waking from your drowsy state is him on top of you trying to get cute pictures that he can use as teases as if something else was in progress.

Or ones where you roll on top of him, just trying to get up to see the dumb little flash as an alarm instead of his cute good morning kisses to your face(those are actually used to buy more time with you because he is allowed to be a little selfish as a treat)

He also has them set as his lockscreen and homescreen, these being photos of you together so he can have the best of both worlds, himself and your happy smiling face. He just finds it so cute, whenever you want an audience to see it he's in the first row.

Sends them to the group chat with his brothers to start some chaos

"My~ Isn't my dearest MC just the cutest?" Asmo has sent 28 attachments.

Beelzebub

His collection isn't one of the best out there but it is unique and keeps him content and happy, pleased.

He likes having photos of you for when you two are separated, it makes you feel closer to him and him to you

His may have some of the least blur, hands steady you work on something separately yet aware of the soft stare that was bearing into the side of your head.

He may forget sometimes about the sound so when you get the rare notification from his electronic betrayer it is free power to tease him, asking him if he wanted your attention or if he just took a photo of you and to be honest, then his photos if you let him continue for that setting are a little blurrier on your fine details. He's embarrassed.

He likes these more than ones with just your smile because then he isn't as satisficed because then he's thinking about how nice it looks in person and your laugh and when you let out a sigh being tired from your work, it'll be a cycle until he gives up and goes to see you in person.

But he likes the ones of you in your element very much and photos of you in general, saying that looking at them makes him feel "full"

He means to say complete, he's content and pleased and delighted and he has a reminder of you existing, that you're real and not a midnight sleep walk hallucination.

Belphegor

He has the smallest collection but next to rest, Beel, and his appearance he is mostly focused on capturing photos of you when he can.

He didn't get to really know you as long as his brothers have so its only fair he gets to spend more time with you than them until he's equal, and then some because you're really comfy and you make his twin happy? and then on top of that you make this face when you are concentrated and you smile different depending on if you're gonna laugh or if you're confident.

There's so much he has to memorize, he's rather demanding with having the attention so he may continue this personal agenda of his.

A lot of them are from similar angles, from laying with him in different positions but everything feeling relatively the same, normal. These are usually after he has woken up, not before he goes to bed so either it's your soft good morning smile, or your surprised "how long have you been awake" face, or you still asleep on your own.

Many of them often have his bed head just barely visible at the bottom, usually having laid on top of you and just using his selfie camera and angling it up to see you take up more of the screen.

For just being a pillow that moves a lot you definitely are photogenic.

He doesn't send his photos of you to chats but will save photos sent of you from everyone except Lucifer.

Simeon

PLEASE applaud.

It takes him such a long time, but Solomon gave him the idea saying it was something sweet you would also enjoy the concept of. So he is doing his best.

He will see you, just existing and his heart will swell, needing to pause a moment before kindly asking you to hold that thought and pose as he turns on his phone, maneuvering to the camera and trying to get it to focus on you perfectly.

It takes him a few minutes every time but he is getting better at it but his reaction is always the same, smiling at you showing up on his phone screen waiting for the picture to be taken.

He never can be sneaky about it unless he asks for help to get your photo, sending Luke on his biggest mission yet, a photo after he asks you what you thought of Simeon's cooking knowing you'll have that sweet face of genuine thought looking back on it.

But he has yet figured out how to turn the sound off and almost always accidentality flashes you up close, it's so bright.

He has the most blurry photos, and that's not on purpose but when he asks you to look at them with him so he can coo about how happy you look or how serious, its endearing with the blur especially as they clear up a bit continuing the timeline of photos.

He really does his best to have these mementos of you.

Is delighted when you surprise him by putting his favorite one of you as his home screen, he's so grateful let him match with you he wants to be yours too!

from this prompt list!

[dancingamongstdust]

Creepypasta Scenarios - First Meeting (Part 3)

I’ve opened requests now, if anybody is interested. Here’s the post:

Requests

Lost Silver

As stupid as it sounds, the game didn’t scare you.

It had started as a joke, something passed around your friend group after it had been discovered. The cartridge was just a janky version of a Pokémon game that was apparently spooky and so, everybody had taken turns messing around with it. They all said creepy things started happening but nothing too bad.

When it was your turn, you had been fully expecting something out of a horror movie. Instead, you had gotten a game that just had audio cut offs and weird notes warning you to stay out. It wasn’t all together scary.

You mentioned this to the next person you gave the game to in your friend group and they had laughed, saying it would probably ring true for them also.

But for some reason, your ally didn’t manifest.

Less than two days later, they practically threw the game at the rest of you and ran away sprouting things about curses. After that, the appeal of playing it kind of went away.

Nobody wanted to buy it and apparently throwing it out wasn’t a suggestion. So you ended up getting it.

Curiosity soon got the better of you and you booted up the game again, really sure that it would do something absolutely crazy but it never did. It ran like it always had with only that one file being completed.

So you deleted the file.

And nothing happened.

The next day, when you booted up the game, the file had simply returned as though you hadn’t deleted it in the first place. A similar thing occurred the next time. And the next.

Eventually you gave up and just started your own game. There, everything ran like it was meant to and you were beginning to think that your friends had all been imagining stuff. Maybe their paranoid got to them or something like that?

But eventually, the nightmares started. And they were bad.

You couldn’t remember exactly what happened during them. They were a swirling mess of games and glitches, horrible things spelled out in letters and blood covering everything. You would always wake up right when they seemed to be coming to a pivotal point. You’d find yourself dragged into a graveyard and then you’d wake up screaming

It was awful. You hardly got any sleep during them and they seemed to haunt you every night, keeping you up until the early hours of the morning.

But the worst only came when you didn’t wake up.

When you were dragged to the grave and looked down to see the ellipsis where the name should be. A punch to the gut that reminded you of what the game file was called. A confirmation of what was causing this dream.

You stared at it for ages before your eyes drifted up and you met his gaze. He was covered in blood, it leaked from every orifice and limb. It stained his dirty clothing even worse.

While you were staring, the world seemed to distort even though he didn’t. The game world melted away and your bedroom slowly reappeared.

It wasn’t until you saw car headlights move past your window – casting awful shadows across the room – that you realised you were no longer dreaming. He wasn’t a figment of your imagination.

The temperature in the room plummeted and you began to slowly reach for a weapon of some kind. He turned to look at what you were watching. His head tilted to the side and a glitch raced across his body before he vanished into thin air. Flicking on the lights didn’t show him hiding or cowering.

Perhaps your friends weren’t crazy after all.

Masky

“You know, if we had been a little more patient, none of this would have happened,” your sibling lectured. “We could be relaxing inside the car without having to worry about a bloody flash flood coming down from the sky.”

You shoved their back, forcing them to stumble a little as they went through the door. “Chances are the river’s going to burst its banks anyway. We would have been stuck in traffic for hours because the bridge is blocked off.”

“At least we would have been dry,” they muttered, running their fingers through their hair. “And not trapped inside an abandoned building.”

You rolled your eyes and made your way over the rubble to settle down on a camping chair. “Don’t even start. This place has been a hangout for my friends and I for ages. There’s never been a single problem bigger than a few spiders.”

“Till a landlord shows up,” they scoffed.

“Then we’ll move to the forest,” you joked. “I’m sure there’s a good bear cave we can use.”

“I’m going to be an only child,” they said, rolling their eyes. Still, they made their way over and sat. “How long do you think we have until the storm dies down?”

You relaxed back into the chair and smiled up at the asbestos-filled ceiling. “From the sound of it, a while.”

It wouldn’t have been the first time you had taken a nap in the building. You were scared of giant cockroaches coming to eat you once. You had gotten used to it since then but this time when you woke up, you were uneasy.

Glancing around, nothing was out of the ordinary. Your sibling was snoring in the chair next to you and outside the rain was pounding the roof.

You sat upright. Sometimes was definitely wrong.

Pulling your phone from your pocket, you got up from the chair and began walking as quietly as you could through the house. It had always been tiny and practically void of furniture, but the few rooms provided ample hiding spots.

Nothing but rubble was in most of the rooms but, in what you presumed had once been a bathroom, you found a person.

He had his back to you but when you pushed the door open to peer in, he spun around, his hand flying to his side. He was wearing a white mask, dark features etched onto it, and an orange jacket. A dark stain ran up the right side of it, emanating from under his hand. The oddness of his clothing made you immediately back away from the door, finger twitching on your cell phone in case you needed to call for help.

The two of you stared at each other in silence.

You were lost about what to say or do. The stain on his jacket was spreading and the more you stared at it, the more you became convinced it was blood. “Are you okay?” you finally managed to ask.

It took him a while to respond but then he nodded. The mask was unnerving you. You didn’t like not being able to see a person’s facial expressions.

“I don’t mean to pry or anything, but it really looks like you’re bleeding,” you said. “And quite badly. I can call for an ambulance or something although…” you turned your attention to the window behind his head. “I’m not sure they’ll be able to get anywhere with this weather.”

He stepped backward. “I’m fine,” he said, so soft you barely caught it. “I thought this place was abandoned.”

“It normally is,” you answered. “But we had to avoid the storm. I’m guessing that’s why you’re here also?”

“Yes,” he responded.

You waited or him to say something more, but all you got was silence. He had moved further away and now he had his back against the window. Part of you wanted to turn around and go back to your sibling but you were unsure about turning your back on the strange man.

The mask made you scared he could stab you or something.

Somebody calling your name made you turn your head on instinct. Your sibling must have woken up and realised you were missing.

Quickly, you turned back to the man, but he had disappeared. Rain spat through the now open window.

Nurse Ann

Everybody always warned you about exploring old buildings. They would yell about how many things could injure or kill you. Stray animals, drug addicts, old equipment, and all that. You had heard just about every warning imaginable. Ghosts were pretty commonly mentioned also.

But killer nurse was a new one.

“Come on, just give me a little more information,” you nagged. “I’m going there whether you’re with me or not so you may as well just tell me what you’ve heard.”

Your friend (and partner in crime for most ventures) groaned. “It’s not much. They just say that she guards the place and if you get too close, she’ll run you off with a chainsaw. Some people have died from injuries they got while there. Let’s just give this one a miss, alright?”

But you were not in agreement at all.

“Maybe she’s cute though,” you teased.

They didn’t find that funny and you didn’t push them to come with you. So later that evening, you snuck in by yourself.

The hospital was old with crumbling walls and smashed windows. It was hidden from the public by means of a tall barbed-wire fence and a substantial distance of open garden. Nothing too extreme for you and definitely worth the potential items you’d find inside. When hospitals went under, they often left tons of awesome stuff just scattered around.

You’d never sold anything you found in your abandoned building dives. They were more collectables than anything else but they meant quite a bit to you.

There weren’t any signs of crazy nurses as you approached the place. Nobody came running at you with a chainsaw at least. You didn’t even find evidence of squatters who could sometimes pose some danger.

After deciding it was safe enough, you lifted yourself through one of the windows and began to explore.

Honestly, it was creepy. Everything was way too old to be worth collecting and there were too many unidentifiable stains for your liking. The water damage was bad. It looked like the ceiling was there for aesthetics only and several rooms creaked too much for you to comfortably cross them.

And that was even without the awkward feeling of being watched.

You told yourself that it was just superstition but you couldn’t shake it. Every few seconds saw you looking over your shoulder in anticipation. It distracted you from keeping your eye on the path in front of you and the loud crack reached your ears too late.

The floor gave out and you fell through. Your shoulder hit some kind of metal object as you landed in the room below. Painful shocks ripped through your body and your head knocked against the floor with a heavy thud.

Stars danced in front of your vision and you raised your hand to the top of your head. Blood coated your hand when you lowered it to look.

Shit.

Shakily, you tried to pull yourself up but quickly found that your arm was too sore. Instead, you pulled your phone from your pocket and sent off the emergency text to your friend.

The world faded to black not long after that.

When you woke up next, you were in your room with a bandage wrapped around your head. You had felt like absolute crap but still gotten up to thank them for the save. They had nodded and warned you to be more careful, happy that you had been outside the hospital so they didn’t have to look for too long.

Before you could even think about how you had crawled there, they asked how you had managed to do your own stitches so nicely.

Puppeteer

Your camera was on 10% battery.

Grumbling, you shoved it into your bag and cursed your past self for forgetting to put it on charge. In order to get the best sunrise photos, you had found yourself waking up earlier and earlier. It was tiring but it was worth it… most of the time.

You just hoped that at least one of your pictures was usable but you could only check on them once you got home.

The streetlight above your head flickered as you walked past. It wasn’t unusual but when you were the only person awake for miles around, it was awfully creepy.

Putting your hands into your jacket pockets, you continued strolling back home. The neighborhood had never been dangerous and despite living in the area for your entire life, no incidents made you want to stop walking around at night.

Deciding that you wanted to take a precautionary shot, you headed for your neighbour’s house first. They had an arch covered in jasmine flowers that made for some perfectly safe photos and they never minded your presence.

After making your way there and getting a few photos, you were treated to the fright of your life when their began howling and barking. It wasn’t aimed at you but you didn’t like the noise regardless.

As you rounded the corner of the house, planning on racing back to your own home, you encountered the dog’s target.

A man – cloaked in the darkness and barely illuminated by the streetlight – opening one of the windows with ease. Irritated by the dog, he didn’t notice you until your finger twitched around the shutter of your camera. There was a flash.

His head snapped up and you screamed.

The man’s complexation was literally grey. He wasn’t just ill, he was the colour of storm clouds. Golden eyes with no pupils glared at you and froze you in place. Whatever he was, this man was the furthest thing from human.

Your scream woke your neighbors. The sound of movement began coming from inside the house.

He abandoned the window, stalking towards you. The air tingled like it was expecting a lightning storm. Golden tendrils grew from his fingertips and shot towards you. They had you pinned in an instant.

You struggled against them and opened your mouth to scream again but they wrapped around your head, forcing your jaw shut.

This was how you died… tears spilled down your cheeks at the realization. You were going to be an unsolved murder. All you hoped was you got a good picture of him.

Your neighbor’s front door opened and great dane let out an ear-splitting bark as he raced toward you.

The man, or creature, or monster, or whatever he was, released you to face the dog. He let it approach before vanishing into a cloud of smoke as its jaws reached him.

“What was that?” the timid voice brought you back into reality.

“It was trying to get into your house,” you said. “I screamed when I saw it and then it grabbed me.” Your voice changed to a whimper as reality hit you. You nearly died.

The small child of the house came over to hug your leg. “I’m sure Puppet didn’t mean to scare you,” she said. “He always comes to visit but he doesn’t like it when people make noise. You shouldn’t scream when you see him again.”

You made eye-contact with the parents and they wore expressions of horror at their daughter’s words.

“Puppet?” you asked in a small voice.

She nodded rapidly. “He says he stops by because he likes watching people. I think that he’s watching us all right now! But he can hide in the shadows too well.”

“I’m going to go and call the police,” somebody said.

You weren’t all too focused. The feeling of being watched grew heavier and you clutched tightly at the camera in your hands.

Slenderman

You couldn’t tell if they were being serious. You hoped that they were joking. They weren’t genuinely going to…

“No,” you stated.

The two younger children both turned to look at you simultaneously. Guilt flashed across their faces as though they weren’t aware you were listening. It was as though you were asked to babysit them because you didn’t pay attention. These two should have realised that by now.

“Do you think all the stories are true?” the boy asked. “I think that they are. One of my friends said she saw a huge dog in the forest and then it ran away after eating a whole cow!”

“No way!” his twin sister shouted. “Dogs don’t eat cows, so it can’t be true!”

You put on your best intimidating expression and crossed your arms. “I don’t care if they’re true or not. There is absolutely no chance that either of you are going to go running off into the woods with bears, wolves and all kinds of other creatures.”

The two children glanced at each other and bolted for the tree line before you could grab their shirts.

Thankfully your legs were longer even if they had a head start and you managed to catch up pretty quickly. Once you caught the boy and picked him up with ease, the girl dashed behind a tree.

“Can we please just leave?” you asked nicely. “If we forget about the forest adventure thing, I promise I won’t tell your parents and I’ll get you ice cream.”

The boy was trying his hardest to get out of your hold. You were starting to think babysitting didn’t pay enough.

“I don’t want ice cream,” the girl said. “I want to go and find a unicorn.”

She darted off into the forest and you let out a deep groan. Shifting the boy’s weight over your one hip, you started walking after her. If you wanted to give chase via running, you would have to put the kid down and trust him to follow or stay.

It was obvious that wasn’t happening.

It didn’t take you too long to find the girl. Mostly because she had stopped in the middle of a weird grove in the trees. She was just staring off into the dark shadows beyond it.

As you approached her, static popped in your ears. You shook your head in an effort to displace it but the closer you got, the louder it became.

The child in your arms whimpered, clutching his head.

You softly called her name and then it appeared. It was a man-like monster, standing just in the shadows of the trees. Easily over 7ft tall and insanely thin with no facial features. Your heart jumped into your throat and your stomach tied itself into a knot.

Without taking your eyes off it, you reached out a hand and fumbled around until you grabbed the girl’s shirt.

The static was getting louder and louder. You tried to shut it out as you started moving backwards, tugging the child along after you. She wasn’t willing to move her legs. She was entranced but whether by fear or magic, you couldn’t tell.

And then it was much closer.

You stumbled in fright, letting go of the girl’s shirt and landing on your ass. The boy fell on top of you but scrambled away and hide in the bushes within the blink of an eye. You sent a silent prayer to him to run back home to the other adults.

Once again, the creature was stationary but now the static was growing to such a volume that you could imagine your ears were starting to bleed.

You reached out for the girl again slowly, but something wrapped around your leg and yanked you into the air.

It took almost a full second for you to realise that the screaming ringing in your ears was you. Whatever was holding you tightened and whipped your body through the air. It was like your leg was being ripped away.

Then you were falling.

It was some feat of luck that you managed to twist your body, so you didn’t land on your head. You lay there for a while before something poking your back made you unbury your face.

The twins were staring at you with wide eyes and the monster was nowhere in sight.

“What was –“ you couldn’t finish.

“Slenderman,” they said in perfect sync.

Splendorman

Another stop…

You couldn’t help yourself. Every time you walked past one of the posters fluttering lightly in the wind you had to stop and stare at it.

A few days ago, your dog, your beautiful and sweet puppy, had disappeared from your house without a trace. The missing posters were depressing reminders that he wasn’t home. It hadn’t taken long for your mind to spiral into the negative thoughts about how close the road was.

Damn your coworkers. One of the had suggested the road in the first place and while they hadn’t intended anything malicious, it was definitely not helping your fears.

The dog had been with you through thick and through thin… if it was dead, you may as well have lost a close family member.

Hanging your head, you dragged your eyes away from the poster and kept walking.

People bumped into you, but it was your fault. You refused to look up in case another poster distracted you. Getting home before the sun set was your only focus now.

You had tried going out and searching in all the places where your dog once spent time to no avail. Always willing to try again, you chose to drop off your bags and head out later that evening when you ran out of distractions.

As you walked through the gates in front of your house, a gust of air gently messed up your hair. A gust of wind suspiciously similar to a laugh.

Your logical mind told you it came from the street, but something made you stop in your tracks.

The walls around your property towered. There’s no possibility that somebody could be in your garden. To try and scale one of the walls, they would have been in full view of your neighbours who would have undoubtedly called the cops.

“You’re sad,” the wind whispered before you could brush off your suspicion.

Spinning wildly, you searched around for the source. You backed up until your entrance gate was behind you. You could run down to the main street with ease if you could just get your fumbling fingers to unlock things.

“Don’t run,” the wind said, this time blowing from a separate direction. “I promise I’m not going to hurt you. I just wanted to know why you’re upset.”

Is this what going insane was? Nobody around and the wind was talking to you. You had always feared losing your mind and now it was happening.

“I’m real,” the wind said. “I’m hiding because I’ll scare you if you see me.”

“I’m going mad,” you muttered, shaking your head. “If this is somebody pulling a prank on me I swear….”

The wind quietened for a bit and then it picked up again, ruffling your hair as it spoke. “If I show myself, it’ll prove that you’re not going crazy, but I don’t want to make it worse by frightening you… you’re so sad already.”

“I lost my best friend and people have been telling me he’s most likely dead,” you hissed. “Obviously I’m not in the best mood. Now I’m losing my fucking mind and talking to air.”

The atmosphere around you dropped, like it does moments before lightning strikes. You glanced at the sky in confusion. As expected, no clouds in sight.

You lowered your gaze and a 7ft tall creature covered in bright polka dots stood in front of your house.

Once you screamed, it disappeared.

“I’m sorry,” the wind said. “I knew I would scare you, but I had hoped it would show you that I’m not imaginary. I’m just trying to help.”

The gate finally opened behind you and you stumbled backwards through it, your heart sitting in your throat. A monster was in your house and it was probably going to kill you. Spinning on your heel, you took off full speed back towards the main street.

You were fully expecting it to give chase now that you hadn’t fallen for its claims of harmlessness but it didn’t.

Instead you reached the main road and only got a few strange looks because of how much you were shaking. Nothing followed you.

The wind picked up once more. “I’ll try and help,” it promised.

People walking around you should have heard it as well but none of them so much as blinked.

Ticci Toby

While you had been told that a noise limit for the forest existed, your laughter refused to cooperate. It rang through the trees and probably chased off all the animals nearby. A picnic out in a national forest was a fantastic way to reconcile with nature and to scare it all away.

With eleven people in your picnic party, chances of any creatures coming into view were already slim though so you didn’t worry too much.

“We didn’t bring nearly enough fruit,” you muttered as you dug in the basket.

“Excuse you, I brought a whole watermelon but you ate it,” somebody answered your grumble. “If you want fruit, it is spring. Go and forage for some berries.”

You snorted. “Yeah, right. I’m going to go out by myself in the middle of the one season where bears are irritable as fuck. I know I sometimes act a little impulsively, but I don’t exactly have a wish to die at the claws of a grumpy teddy.”

Your friend leaned towards you. “Is that so? What if we split into teams and made a bet? Loser has to take a dip in the river.”

“A bet?” you asked. “I’m interested.”

She grinned and snapped her fingers. “Okay, there are eleven people so I’m feeling groups of two with one impartial party as a judge. We should be fine if we make enough noise and stick within close vicinity to each other. See how many berries we can gather?”

Tipping out the picnic basket’s contents, you smirked and pushed it into her chest. “Oh, I hope you brought a swimming costume.”

Everybody teamed up with ease and grabbed one of the many containers lying on the blanket. You headed out with your partner and gave a wink to the other teams. All you needed was to find one good bush first and you had it won.

“We should split up,” your partner said. “Cover more ground.”

You nodded. “We meet up back here once we’ve found a good bush,” you agreed. “And we shout if we find any animals.”

Obviously, your plans hadn’t involved losing your footing almost directly after the two of you split.

Tumbling down the small hill, you tried your hardest to protect yourself from the bushes as you went through them. At some point, you lost your basket and by the time you had finally rolled to a stop, you had no idea where it was.

Grumbling, you stood up and started searching until something dark caught your eye. Thinking it was your basket, you made your way over.

The clearing you walked into housed a scene you could never have imagined.

A dead bear lay slumped against a tree, its fur being what had caught your eye earlier. A hatchet buried in its neck was spilling blood onto the floor around it. All that hardly compared to the man leaning against a tree.

“Oh my god!” you exclaimed. “Are you alright?”

His head immediately snapped up, allowing you to see that he was wearing a mouth guard and a pair of goggles. Blood seeped from between his fingers where they clutched against his chest, but he hardly noticed. A hatchet was hanging from his belt.

Suddenly, you were wishing you had kept your mouth shut.

He stared at you blankly for a while, an occasional twitch minorly affecting his body. Reaching up, he took off his mouthguard. “I can’t feel any pain,” he said. “So, I’m fine. Why are y-you out here? The hiking trail is far.” He struggled with one of the words, seeming to hiccup a little on it.

“I was searching for berries and I slipped down a hill,” you answered. “Are you sure you’re okay? It looks like you got into a fight with a bear. Your shirt is all bloody.”

“I did fight a bear,” he laughed, gesturing to it. “I won.”

Your eyes grew wider. “I think you should get to a hospital. What’s your name? I can call somebody for you and we’ll get you medical attention.”

“Toby,” he said. “That’s my name. What’s yours?”

You gave him your full name and pulled out your phone. “My friends are close by,” you said. “Don’t worry, they’ll be here to help soon.”

When you raised your attention from your phone, he had disappeared and so had the hatchet from the bear’s neck.

Trenderman

Work was hard. It made your feet ache, it made your back click and crack, and it felt like the problems would never end.

Would you give up working in the fashion industry? Not a chance.

Your boss walked past where you were calming down an irate customer over the phone and dropped the keys to the front of the building in front of you. “Close up for me,” she mouthed as she left.

Nodding, you moved them to the side of the desk where they couldn’t be lost.

Once you had finished calming the customer, you glanced around to check how many people were left in the room. Three still working and one in the process of leaving. You were technically going into overtime at this point, but you didn’t mind.

There was a reason you were promoted so quickly.

“We need to set up cameras!” one of the floor managers snapped, storming into the office. She marched straight over to your desk and glowered at you. “I put this request in a week ago.”

Scrolling through the documents, you quickly opened the file. “I see but it looks like it’s been bumped due to a shipment malfunction, I’ll flag it. What’s the problem?”

“Customers or members of staff are moving items around and throwing things out without warning. We need to catch the culprits!” she snapped.

“What has been thrown out?” you asked. “I’ll add it into the information.”

The woman started listing quicker than you could type. “I’ve found crocs, toeless thigh-high boots, bellbottomed jeans, coloured faux fur jackets, luminous lipstick, w-necks, and jeggings all in vast numbers in the trash can. Every time I put them out on shelves, they disappear again.”

It took everything in you not to snort. “I’ll mark this vital.”

She stalked off and you went back to inputting the shipping requirements. You were meant to be organising what was coming in for the latest line and subtly omitting anything that wouldn’t sell well enough.

Slowly but surely, your co-workers trickled out of the office after finishing off their daily tasks. You kept going, trying to make sure you could have a longer break the next day.

Finally, when the sun had already set, you relented and started getting ready to go home.

You sung as you finished packing up for the day. Being the last one in the building (thus having to lock up) made you a little more confident as you danced around getting everything together. You slung your bag over your shoulder and happily trotted over to the door.

It made you so happy that your boss entrusted you to be the last one around. She was so hyper-protective of company secrets that you were proud of yourself for winning her over.

Your talent with people was something you attributed to dealing with painful customers.

As you passed through the store-part of the business you stopped to rearrange a mannequin. Every morning when you came in, you always noticed something had been changed with this specific one. You figured you could move something small and see if it would be a good place to set up a hidden camera.

Though you weren’t expecting it to suddenly grab your arm.

“You may be one of the few workers here with good taste, but I advise you don’t try and change my outfit,” it said. It didn’t have a mouth, but the words rang in your head, nevertheless.

You screamed and pulled away, tearing your arm from its grip. Shelves were knocked over and clothing was sent flying as you tried to escape.

The mannequin just watched you as you fumbled madly for the door.

The glass rattled in the frame from how hard you slammed it shut behind you. You sped off down the street, moving faster than you ever had before. You collapsed on your lawn by the time you reached the house, taking deep breaths.

Nothing had followed you. Everything was okay.

With shaking fingers, you dialed your boss’ number and told her you would be taking a sick day. There wasn’t a chance in hell you were going anywhere near there again.

Not to mention the mess you made… you were definitely getting fired.

[sisterspooky1013]

Only One Choice, Part 2, Chapter 14

Read it here on AO3 / Tagging @today-in-fic

“It was so good to see you, Will,” Valerie says in a muffled voice against his chest as he has her wrapped up tightly in a bear hug.

“I know, I’m so glad I ran into you,” Mulder replies, brushing his hands over her back. He pulls away and kisses her softly on the cheek.

“It makes me really happy to see you so happy,” she says with a smile, her long brunette hair lifting softly in the breeze, brown eyes holding affection that can only be held between two people who have the type of bond that can withstand a breakup and then a transition from lovers to friends.

“Likewise,” he says, nodding towards the small swell of her growing belly.

“I’d love to meet your girlfriend someday, if you think she’d be okay with that,” she says, collecting her purse.

“Yes, I’d really like that. I think you two would get along really well, actually,” he says, and she smirks at him.

“You’re not afraid we’ll bond over having to sit through your shitty movie collection?” she teases, and he laughs good-naturedly.

“Hey, Scully likes my shitty movies, that’s why we’re a perfect match,” he retorts.

She squeezes his arm.

“Call me sometime, okay?”

He nods and watches her walk away, feeling like he’s on cloud nine. A great friendship with his ex-girlfriend, a promising new love with the woman of his dreams; he can only imagine what lies in store next. He practically skips on the walk back to his car, wondering if Scully might let him come by tonight, hoping that he won’t have to wait until the weekend to see her again. He decides to call her as soon as he gets home.

The first few times he gets her machine, he assumes she must be at her mother’s. When she still hasn’t answered or called back by 9:00 pm, he’s confused. When he emails her the next morning and still hasn’t gotten a response at 10:00am, he’s officially worried.

Something is wrong.

———

She had eventually turned off the ringer on her phone and put the volume all the way down on her answering machine so she wouldn’t have to hear his increasingly obsessive attempts to get ahold of her, then slept fitfully all night.

She knows that she needs to give him some kind of response or he’ll show up on her doorstep, but she can’t bring herself to face him, even in voice. Every time the image of him with that woman pops back into her head, she feels a lump form in her throat immediately, a sick sadness welling in her belly. She’s pored over every memory in her mind, every interaction they’ve had, searching for signs. Signs that he was seeing someone else, that he wasn’t interested in anything other than getting in her pants, that he was lying to her. Her thorough inventory brings up next to nothing, which almost makes it worse; how adept he must have been at creating a false reality for her to exist in. Perhaps he’s garnered some tips from the sociopaths he studies, or maybe his background in psychology allowed him to manipulate her.

When she arrives at work, she is unsurprised though still dismayed to see an email waiting for her.

From: fmulder@fbi.gov

Sent: May 5, 1997 7:57 am

To: dscully@fbi.gov

Subject: Where are you?

Scully, you’re freaking me out. Are you okay? Please respond.

She deletes it immediately and tries to focus on work. She performs an autopsy and teaches a class, both welcome distractions from her emotional torment. Just before 11:00 am, the phone rings.

“Autopsy bay, this is Trudy…yep, she’s here, one second.”

Trudy turns and opens her mouth to speak, but sees Dana waving her arms and shaking her head. She makes a confused face and puts the phone back to her ear.

“Oh, actually she just stepped out, sorry. Can I take a message?”

She watches as Trudy scribbles something on a piece of paper.

“Uh huh…yes. Okay, I’ll tell her…you have my word.”

She replaces the phone on the receiver and hands Dana the paper with a sympathetic frown.

“Trouble in paradise?” she asks rhetorically.

Dana looks down and deciphers Trudy’s messy scrawl.

Call Mulder immediately. Send a sign of life.

She crumples it up and tosses it into the trash can.

“You wanna talk about it?” Trudy asks.

“Nope,” Dana replies, turning back to the computer.

From: fmulder@fbi.gov

Sent: May 5th, 1997 11:03am

To: dscully@fbi.gov

Subject: PLEASE RESPOND

Scully, I don’t know what the hell is going on, but if you don’t reply to this within an hour I’m driving down there.

Please respond

She feels fresh tears well in her eyes. Why is he trying so hard if he’s seeing someone else anyway? Why is he doing this to her? With a surge of anger, she hits reply.

From: dscully@fbi.gov

Sent: May 5th, 1997 11:05am

To: fmulder@fbi.gov

Subject: RE:PLEASE RESPOND

I’m fine, Mulder. Please just give me some space.

With that she closes her email, begs someone to take her second class of the day, and goes home.

———

He feels like he’s stepped into an alternate universe. He’d left her happy and satisfied, and out of nowhere she’s shutting him out. What does she need space for? Space from him? Why? Did he come on too strong and freak her out? He thought they’d moved past that. He picks up the phone again.

“Autopsy bay, this is Trudy.”

“Trudy, it’s Agent Mulder again. Look, I don’t want to put you in an awkward position, but is Dana there?”

She pauses. “No, she went home for the day. She seemed pretty upset.”

“Do you have any idea why?” he implores.

“No, other than the fact that it seems to be directed at you.”

“Yeah, that much I gathered. Thanks, Trudy, sorry to bother you.”

“No worries, good luck.”

He slams the phone down, grabs his jacket off the back of his chair and leaves.

———

She is half expecting his knock, but it still makes her jump, nearly causing her to spill her wine. She wants to just ignore him until he goes away, but she knows his proclivity towards persistence won’t let him do that. Better to just get it over with, she thinks as she slumps towards the door.

The second she lays eyes on him in his slacks and dress shirt, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and his tie discarded, she feels her chin pucker and tears threaten her eyes. As angry as she is, she immediately wants to go to him, to curl up within his embrace so he can comfort her. The problem is, what she needs comforting from is him.

“What is going on?” he says with a mix of frustration and fear.

She stands in the open doorway, not making space for him to enter.

“I saw you,” she says, her voice strained with emotion.

“You saw me...what?” he asks, his face a mask of confusion.

She lifts her chin, clenching her jaw and summoning strength.

“I saw you with her. Yesterday, at the Bluebird Cafe. After I had lunch with my family.” her voice holds steady, anger carrying her through.

His face falls and her gut twists. She wishes she didn’t have to watch this.

“THAT is what this is about?” he asks, but there’s no shame or regret in his voice. If anything, he sounds a little mad.

She nods curtly.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” he spits out, and she recoils a little at his vitriol. “Let me in, Scully. Right now,” he demands, and against her better judgement she moves aside.

He pushes past her into the apartment and she closes the door softly, leaving it unlocked in case either of them decides to make a hasty exit.

“Did you consider,” he begins, his back to her, “maybe, I don’t know, asking me about what you saw?” He turns to face her, one hand on his hip and his face contorted with anger. “Or were you just planning to avoid me until I gave up and went away again?”

She doesn’t know what to say. She’s confused about why he’s yelling at her when he’s the one who did something wrong. She just looks at him, expressionless.

He juts his chin out expectantly, waiting for an answer, but gets none. She averts her eyes.

“Is that all this is worth to you, Scully?” he continues, “you’re ready to throw this away over a simple misunderstanding, without even talking to me?”

She lifts her head and looks at him with a pained expression. “Okay then, talk,” she gets out.

He drops his head in frustration. “The woman you saw me with,” he says flatly, lifting his head to meet her eye, “was my ex-girlfriend, Valerie. I ran into her while I was running errands yesterday, and we had lunch. She has a boyfriend and is three months pregnant. We spent the majority of our meal together talking about you.”

She shakes her head gently, her throat closing as a tear rolls down her cheek. “I saw you kiss her,” she whispers, her jaw quivering.

“You saw me kiss her on the cheek? I also kiss my mother on the cheek, Scully, it’s hardly an intimate gesture.”

She feels a new wave of sickness pass over her, but this time it’s entirely different. This time it’s the sick feeling of realizing that she was very, very, wrong, and that she has, yet again, hurt the man who loves her. She opens her mouth to speak but she can’t find the right words.

He steps forward but doesn’t touch her. When he speaks, his voice is softer, more defeated than anything else.

“I’m sorry that you saw something that upset you. But if you actually thought for a single second that I want to be with anyone but you, you’re fucking insane. I meant what I said the day you left my apartment last year. I felt it then, and I feel it now. I want this to work more than anything, Scully, but for that to be possible you have to trust me. I can’t live with the knowledge that you might just shut me out at a moment’s notice when you get scared.”

She keeps her head down, overwhelmed by a combination of shame, embarrassment, and gratitude that he wouldn’t let her walk away. She does not deserve this man, but she wants to.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers, still unable to meet his eye.

“I know you are,” he replies, moving towards the door. “Take the space you need, and let me know when you’re ready to trust me.”

When she hears the click of the door closing behind him, she collapses to the floor, sobbing for so many reasons she couldn’t possibly name them all. When it’s faded to snivels and hiccups, she stands and goes to the hallway, picking up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Missy,” she chokes out, “Can you come over?”

———

He’s not sure if leaving was the right thing to do. The risk that she might not come back around is one that sends his stomach into knots, but at the same time he finds it hard to accept that she wasn’t even going to give him the opportunity to explain. He’s been actively working to temper expressing his feelings so he doesn’t overwhelm her, but then she gets it in her head that he’s not invested. It feels like he can’t win.

He goes back to work and stops by Kirkbride’s office to apologize for disappearing. Kirkbride just gives him a quizzical look, clearly not having noticed he had left. The rest of the day he buckles down on his caseload, distracting himself from the catastrophic thoughts that dance through his head, and gets more work done than he has in quite a while. When he leaves the office just after 5:00 pm, he feels melancholy and grouchy, and annoyed that he left the ball in her court.

The elevator dings to announce his arrival on the fourth floor and he steps out with a takeout bag in his hand, eyes downcast. Halfway down the hall, he readies his key and looks up, startling when he sees Scully sitting on the floor against his door, knees tucked up against her chest and her forehead resting on her kneecaps. She’s very still, and as he gets closer he realizes that she’s asleep. His heart aches knowing that she’s been waiting that long, that she didn’t want to leave without talking to him.

He crouches down beside her, setting his dinner on the floor, and gently touches her shoulder. She jerks, her head snapping up and her eyes wild for a moment while she tries to orient herself. When she focuses on him, she immediately starts crying, reaching out to wrap her arms around his neck. He’s surprised by her uncharacteristically emotional response, but says nothing and just holds her until his knees start to ache, at which point he sits down on the floor and pulls her into his lap. They stay this way for several minutes, long enough for one of his neighbors to walk by and politely avert their eyes, entering their apartment as though there was nothing out of the ordinary happening in the hallway. When the crying seems to have subsided a bit, he gives her a little squeeze.

“Wanna go inside?” he asks, and she nods against his chest, his shirt damp from her tears.

She stands unsteadily and he follows her, grabbing the takeout bag off the floor. They enter the apartment and Priscilla plods up to them with an excited meow. Scully leans down and picks her up, tucking the cat against her neck as they nuzzle each other. Mulder smiles at them with a bemused expression.

“She was talking to me through the door,” Scully says with a small smile, “she heard me knocking and was meowing from the other side. We had a conversation.”

Affection swells in his chest and he steps forward to kiss her. Her shoulders drop and she lets Priscilla down so she can get closer, threading her arms around his waist and kissing him back in earnest. Desperate, thought I’d lost you again kisses that are as arousing as they are a relief, because he knows that they will be okay.

He pulls back a little and she makes a whimpering sound in protest.

“I’m gonna go change really quick, okay? Then can we talk?” he asks, and she sighs and nods. “You can have half my Chinese,” he adds, and she gives him a tight-lipped smile.

When he sits on the couch beside her five minutes later, she scoots closer so they are pressed against each other, and he gathers that she needs physical closeness right now. He loops an arm around her shoulder and she crawls right back into his lap, curled against him as though trying to fuse her body to his own. Her head tucked beneath his chin, she holds one of his hands in her lap, fingers laced tightly together, and begins to speak.

“After you left, Missy came over and we talked for a long time. I’ve come to realize how much I’m still affected by...what happened last year. I harbor a lot of guilt for being unfaithful to Ethan, and that’s actually largely why I married him even though I knew my heart wasn’t in it.” She pulls in a deep breath, pressing their joined hands tight against her belly, trying to get even closer. “When you and I reconnected, in a way it felt like a chance to validate it. As though things working out with us would mean that what I did wasn’t as bad, because there was something real between us. But at the same time, a big part of me doesn’t believe that I deserve to be happy.” Her voice remains steady, but he feels the wet drop of a tear on the back of his hand.

He tightens his arm around her waist. “I’ve always been a person who values doing the right thing, and integrity was something that was very important to my father. It was his measure of a person’s character, and that’s something he instilled in me as well.” She sits up a bit so she can look at him, and his heart breaks at her red-rimmed eyes, her icy irises so mournful. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, Mulder. You haven’t given me any reason not to. It’s just that I don’t feel like I deserve this, especially with you, and I’m waiting for the moment it all comes crashing down. So when I saw you with that woman, it was almost like I’d been waiting for it, expecting it. Getting what I deserved.”

He brings his palms to her cheeks, brushing away the tears with his thumbs.

“Thank you for telling me that,” he says softly. “I wish I could change how you feel, but I know that I can’t. I do know how it feels to spend your life harboring guilt over something you could have done differently, and I can tell you that punishing yourself won’t make it any easier. It makes me really sad that you’ll always regret how we met.”

She closes her eyes and shakes her head gently. When she opens them, her expression is more tender than it is mournful.

“I don’t regret it, Mulder. I do feel guilt, and shame, for not ending it with Ethan so we could have done things the right way, but I could never regret meeting you.”

He pulls her back into an embrace, her arms wrapping around his ribcage, and plants a kiss to the top of her head.

“Are we okay?” he asks softly.

“I hope so,” she says hoarsely.

“Is this a bad time to tell you that Valerie wants to meet you sometime?” he asks, and she laughs.

“I don’t know, did you tell her that I freaked out on you because you had lunch with her?” she replies, and he can already hear her tone shifting back to their typical lighthearted banter.

“No, of course not. That’ll be our little secret. Well, plus Trudy. I think Trudy knows too much honestly.”

She laughs again, and god he could spend the rest of his life trying to make her laugh. In fact, that’s exactly what he hopes to do.

“Speaking of meeting people,” she continues, “Missy mentioned you to my mother yesterday and she wants to meet you.”

A grin stretches across his mouth, but he doesn’t say anything. She pulls back to look at his face, to gauge his reaction, and smiles softly in response.

“You want me to meet your mom?” he asks, the delight on his face carrying over to his voice.

Her mouth screws up shyly. “My little brother will probably be there too, and Missy. Is that too much?”

He shakes his head. “Sounds perfect. But, there are some friends I’d like you to meet too, if we’re meeting people.”

“The Lone Gunmen?” she asks with a skeptical lilt.

“Those are the ones. They’re my only friends, actually. Aside from Val.” Just then, Priscilla hops up onto the couch beside them. “Oh, and you Priscilla, sorry,” he adds.

Scully smiles at the cat, and then at him. “Can I bring Missy as a human buffer?” she asks hopefully.

“Of course. You may set a record for the highest number of female visitors to their lair in a day.”

“Lair?” she asks with wide eyes.

He chuckles. “They’ll grow on you, I promise.”

[ushidoux]

All I Want For Christmas - Kuroo x Reader

Summary: You and VP!Kuroo go to a holiday party. (2.1k words)

Warnings: quite nsfw, fem!reader

A/N: After I deleted the post I lost the original ask lmfaooo, anyway I hope you see this anon <33. Smut is closer to the end, but it’s there I promise.

---

When you’d finally agreed after numerous appeals of various types and intensities to date Kuroo seriously and most importantly to him, openly, you hadn’t considered something very crucial - being his steady partner would mean accompanying him to formal events.

Company events were one thing. At this point, everyone in your office was aware that there was something going on between you and the vice president, so the rumor mill had already had its fun with the two of you and the jokes and teasing comments had long gotten stale. Anything else they threw at you at happy hour you could handle expertly, especially with the help of a couple drinks.

It hadn’t occurred to you that as a company executive, Kuroo would be attending bigger events with fancier people, so when he asked you to be his plus one to a networking holiday party outside of the company, you hadn’t asked too many questions before agreeing. To your defense, you were still laying on top of him when he’d asked, your thoughts as pliable as you had been for him just a few moments earlier.

Scheming as usual. 

So now to your misfortune, you fidgeted uncomfortably while seated next to your boyfriend in a company car and for once, Kuroo wasn’t teasing you. Instead, he watched you carefully before placing a comforting hand on your left knee as you fought with the hem of your considerably short dress.

He gave you a sympathetic look before squeezing softly.

“It’ll be fine. Don’t be nervous.”

You frowned. How could you not be nervous? He was taking you to the Japanese Volleyball Association’s Semi-Annual Promotional Party, and all you could think of was every possible way you could embarrass him or embarrass yourself.

The fact that Kuroo actually seemed to feel bad for you only heightened your anxiety, but you tried to focus on his hand gripping yours tightly as you walked past media reporters stalking the outside of the building so that you didn’t lose him in the swathes of people who dealt either with big business, sports or both.

The venue was expansive and heavily yet tastefully decorated in red and white and green and so many lights, in keeping with a Christmas theme; it was enough to make your jaw drop just slightly in awe. However, there was little time to soak in the ambiance and music as Kuroo whisked you through the venue to speak to potential clients, the real purpose of this event.

Despite the fact that Kuroo kept you close, it was easy to feel small as people schmoozed amongst each other, and it was more than once or twice that you caught a few glances, some curious, others critical, in your direction. Again you wondered if your makeup was too light or too heavy, if your dress was tasteful or if the discomfort you were feeling could be read all over your face.

Kuroo on the other hand was in his element, working the room smoothly and effortlessly, and in that moment you realized how easily he blended in but still stood out, his laugh distinct and gestures casual and yet room-commanding. Soon you wondered why exactly he was interested in you when it was clear you didn’t exactly fit the glamorous scene around you. 

But it would only be a couple more hours, you could bear it.

You broke free from him while he was engaged with a client and found a table at which to stand and wait for time to pass. Sipping quietly on red wine, you focused on Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas is You, humming as you detached from the scene around you. You sent a couple of texts to friends, but as it often was at times like this, no one seemed to be available.

You let out a sigh of defeat, leaning forward to rest on your elbows, and that’s when you noticed in your peripheral vision that someone had appeared to stand right beside you.

You glanced over in surprise.

“Oh, Kenma?”

Kenma offered you a small smile and leaned in the same position beside you, typing out a couple messages on his phone before he addressed you properly. 

“Kuroo brought you along, I’m surprised,” he added, catlike brown eyes focused on you now.

While you’d interacted rarely with Kenma over the past months that you’d been dating Kuroo, you were acquainted enough with his much more introverted friend, often blunt but never really intentionally rude. But somehow this comment grated on your nerves, and you took a larger gulp of your wine.

You said nothing for the next few moments, and you could hear Kenma beside you again tip-tapping quietly on his cell phone.

“If it helps, I don’t want to be here either,” he finally added.

You looked back at him to raise an eyebrow and he offered a small smile before looking back at his phone. 

“I’m supposed to be networking for my company but I’m not very good at it, so he just gets the clients for me and calls me over to secure the deal,” he elaborated. When you peered over, you realized he was in the middle of a mobile game at the very moment.

Maybe he was more out of place than you were, and somehow that was reassuring.

“What game is that?” You asked, poking at your small plate of hors d’oeuvres. 

While he explained his game to you with muted excitement and you looked at his screen with interest, Kuroo glanced over to see you finally looking something other than stressed and smiled. He would wrap up quickly with business and then all his attention would be on you. 

Kenma, the good friend he was, was returning his kindnesses as usual.

… 

“May I have this dance?”

Minutes later, Kuroo had walked over to your table, smiling at you both and extending an arm out. You had considered how satisfied you would feel being a brat and saying no, you’d rather spend the rest of the evening talking to Kenma, but instead you acquiesced. 

He was only doing his job and you wanted to be supportive. That was part of what it meant to date seriously, wasn’t it? Being slightly out of your comfort zone for your partner’s sake?

Something like that.

Now that you swayed back and forth under a large chandelier, you could tell he was apologetic by the way his hand caressed the back of your head. Maybe you were a little too close for a cocktail party but it felt nice to feel his warmth and you weren’t fond of all these people anyway.

“You okay, kitten?”

You nodded.

“You’re usually so feisty at work so I didn’t think hard enough about you feeling uncomfortable with all these stuffy business people.”

To that you let out a soft laugh. “Okay but you rarely think.”

He smirked then kissed the top of your head. “Maybe I got too excited by the prospect of having the prettiest girl in the room on my arm.”

You slapped his chest playfully once before resting your head on his chest again. Two paces later, he rested his chin above your head.

“We can take it slower if you’d like. If you want to stay more private, I mean. You’ve been generous to me so far after all.”

Your pace slowed ever so slightly as you looked up at him confused. “What do you mean?”

“Christmas came early for me, since you’re here in my arms.”

---

About an hour later, now that the two of you were back in the privacy of Kuroo’s penthouse apartment, he finally had the time to unwrap his present. He had been endlessly patient as you teased him through the agonizing ride home, your hands sneaking beneath his waistband and fondling his privates while hidden by the partition, but you were now in his domain.

Before the door slammed completely shut, you’d both gone from poised to savage - he drew your dress up over your shoulders by that oh-so-annoying hem and tossed it aside, and you’d just as quickly all but yanked his bowtie off as you removed it. 

“Careful, these clothes are expensive,” he teased, but he was as merciless with the way he tore off your panties and hoisted you up so that your legs wrapped around his waist.

“And?”

And his lips crashed to yours, and you tried hastily to undo the buttons of his shirt while accepting his tongue in your mouth.

Carrying you to his bed while making out was a coordinated feat for someone whose pants were undone and now precariously sinking to his ankles, but Kuroo was light on his feet. When he lowered you onto the bed, you could see the outline of his hard cock forming a tent through the clothing and you couldn’t help but stifle a laugh.

“Relax, you’re like a kid on Christmas morning,” you teased and he pouted, but you leaned forward and freed him, going the extra mile to take his cockhead in your mouth. 

He let out a soft moan, his hand immediately reaching for your hair, and you took more inches of him in your mouth, in your throat, as far as you could go. 

“Fuck, kitten, that feels so fucking good… you’re so good to me…”

Your mouth watered with saliva as you continued to suck, now on your knees on his plush mattress and he pressed your head against him, this time not in comfort but in search of pleasure, moving ever so slightly to see just how far he could go. 

“L-let me make you feel good, baby, you deserve it,” he said finally, pulling you off of him so that he could look into your eyes. “How about the gift that keeps on giving?”

You furrowed your eyebrows.

“Is this a suave way to tell me you have herpes?”

“69, ___!” 

“I was kidding!” You giggled at his frustrated expression, but once you were repositioned and his face was buried in the pussy he enjoyed so much, you were no longer laughing but quivering with something not short of intense pleasure. Mouth full of cock, it was hard to focus on moving up and down his shaft properly as Kuroo’s hands on your ass were kneading, then slapping, and he still somehow wasn’t relenting on the tongue swishing around your wet cunt.

“K-Kuroo… it’s a lot, I can’t.. do the same for you,”  you whined, saliva dripping from your lips as you .

“Don’t worry about it,” he murmured, muffled between your folds, eating like a man starved.

Your moans started to fill the air as he kissed and sucked faster, and when you started to convulse rapidly, unable to take the stimulation, you arched your back and in response he wrapped strong arms around your midsection to keep you flush against him.

“Kuroo!”

“Let me finish, kitten~” he whispered in a singsong voice, and if it weren’t for the fact that your body was starting to buzz in overstimulation, you would have yelled at him.

Once he’d grown bored with torturing your cunt with his mouth, he flipped you over onto your back, hovering over you with a greedy smirk.

“You’re so pretty when you’re pushed to your limit~” he sang with glee. 

Still quivering ever so slightly, you narrowed your eyes at him but they soon widened as his cock finally pushed its way inside you. Wincing ever so slightly, you found yourself scratching at his back, more intensely with every thrust inside you that sent waves of pleasure through you from your toes to your nose.

“Fuck, Kuroo, please.. Don’t stop.”

At this rate, you’d claw permanent lines into his skin.

When his hands tightened around the headboard for support, you could tell he was close to climax, and accordingly, his strokes grew deeper and his grunts grew louder and your own peak started to approach. His chin found a home in the crook of your neck as he growled - that was the sound that finally tipped you over - and he too finally released, filling you with warm jets of cum your walls clenched around greedily.

He remained still for a moment, waiting as his cock only slowly began to soften, whispering praises into your ear.

“You’re so, so good to me… you’re the best gift I could ever have.”

Your hands slowly shifted around him, moving to cup his face tenderly. 

“Wait till you see what I have in store for Christmas Day.”

[silenceofthecookies]

Gin Ichimaru x reader(F) - perspective

Okay so, story time, several years ago I promised @nakunakunomi​ I’d write her a Gin fanfic for her birthday. Time passed, I started writing in character, and I found out Gin is ridiculously hard to write for. I’ve started about 4 stories, all of which I ended up deleting because they didn’t fit Gin well enough to my liking. About 4 hours ago I got this idea, and I’ve been writing it non-stop since to just finish and publish this before I decided it was no good as well and deleted this as well.

Hazel, I am so sorry this took so long, I hope you like it! 

Word count: 3344 Warnings: none

A young man had entered the castle. A commoner. Apparently he had helped out some soldiers capture an enemy spy. There was a war going on with the neighbouring country, and the situation had been tense lately. Spies were not uncommon, though they were hard to catch. This man had not only discovered one, he had also worked with the soldiers to apprehend the spy. The soldiers took him to the king so he could receive a reward for his deeds.

The man was long and slender, certainly not the kind of man you’d think of when you thought of a man who captured an enemy spy. If anything, he was exactly the kind of person you’d think of when imagining an enemy spy. His white hair hung partly over his face, hiding his eyes just a little from sight. But that was not what unnerved you about this man. It was the man’s smile. It was an eerie, long, stretched smile that almost made it seem like he was guarding a secret he would soon reveal. One that would lead to very negative consequences. You did not take your eyes off the man for as long as he was in the throne room.

Against your expectations, he did nothing that would worry you. The man simply accepted the reward from the king for his services and left. Your father had offered him to join the army, saying that surely with his abilities and intelligence he would quickly rise up the ranks, but the man had declined, saying that the life of a soldier was not one suited for him. You were glad when he was gone and let out a breath you were not aware you had been holding. The king laughed at your reaction, having been aware of your caution from the start, and warned you that men could not be judged on looks. You agreed with him and quickly composed yourself before the next person entered the throne room.

After the audiences were done, you went to the library to read a book while you waited for dinnertime. One of your personal maids, Rangiku, went with you.

“Shall I bring your tea to the library, your highness? Or will you be reading in your room?” “In the library is fine, thank you, Rangiku.”

The young woman bowed and left your side to go to the kitchen. You entered the library and took the same book you had been reading for a few days now. It was a romance novel. The protagonist was the daughter and second child of a merchant. Though she was not extremely wealthy, she was smart and beautiful, and she attracted many suitors from higher standing, who offered her father financial support for his company in return for his daughters hand in marriage. Her father refused them all, saying his daughter would marry out of love. After many hardships, she fell in love with a blacksmith’s assistant. He had little to no money to his name, but he was kind, respectful and romantic, and they were going to get married.

The thought seemed almost absurd to you. Didn’t commoners live a very hard life? Why would she turn down all those well-off suitors to go live with a blacksmiths boy? As she was the second child, her father’s company would go to her older brother. Why not marry a well-off man and live comfortably? It confused you so, that you decided to ask Rangiku about it when she arrived with your tea.

“Excuse me, your highness?” she asked, a little shocked as she heard your question. “I asked if it was hard living as a commoner. You once told me you were an orphan and you lived on the street for a while, right?” “That’s true but… your highness, if I might ask, where does this sudden question come from?”

You explained the story you were reading to her, and Rangiku’s eyes softened.

“To answer your question, yes, it was hard. However, it was not all bad. I lived together with another group of orphans. Sure, living wasn’t easy, but we were happy together. Having the right people around you can bring you more happiness than money ever could.” “I see… if they made you so happy, Rangiku, don’t you miss them now you work here?” “Of course I do, your highness. But I visit them regularly on my days off.” “I see… what are they like?”

Rangiku happily told you about the people she grew up with, people who were all like brothers and sisters to her. There were two people who she spoke of more than others though. They were Gin and Toshiro, her older and younger brother respectively. According to Rangiku Gin had a weird sense of humour, but he was very reliable. Toshiro on the other hand was way too serious, but he was always thinking about others. Seeing her face light up as she spoke about her little makeshift family made you think that maybe, the book that now lied neglected on the couch next to you was not just pretty words.

“They all sound so wonderful.” You told Rangiku as she finished talking. “They really are.” She agreed with a gentle smile on her face. “Do you think I could meet them?” you asked carefully, in a small voice. “Of course! If that is your highnesses’ wish, you could invite them here at any time, I’m sure they’d be honoured to-“ “Actually, I’d rather meet them at their home. And maybe without them knowing I’m the princess. I feel like… I don’t know… it would give me a better understanding of commoners and their life? Listening to you just made me realise that I have no idea how commoners live… but this country will be mine to rule one day…”

Rangiku’s eyes widened in surprise before an excited smile appeared on her face.

“Your highness, that is a fantastic idea! In that case, how about I bring you with me on my next day off? We’ll put you in one of the maid’s dresses and tell them that you’re another maid who grew up in the castle.” “Would that really be alright?” “Of course!”

You and Rangiku worked out all the details, how to sneak you out, how to make sure nobody would realise you were gone,… and then agreed that next Sunday, you’d head to the kitchen after breakfast and that you’d leave with Rangiku.

---

You adjusted the hood of your cloak as you walked through the gates of the castle. As the princess of this country, you had never been allowed to leave the castle without a guard and yet here you were, leaving the castle with a maid. You briefly wondered if this truly was a good idea, wondering what the consequences would be for both you and Rangiku in case you got caught, but these thoughts were soon banished from your mind when you came across a market in the castle town. Rangiku bought a pie from the baker. The baker happily chatted with Rangiku as she did so, and from their conversation it was clear that Rangiku did this every time she went home. After a while of walking, the two of you left the walls of the castle town and walked in between the fields that surrounded it. There were a lot of farmers out on the fields, watering their crops and milking their cows. Most of them waved at Rangiku as she passed by, and Rangiku happily waved back. Several of them yelled ‘good morning’ and ‘have a safe trip’ as well from across their fields, and the happy atmosphere caught hold of you. You had always thought that commoners were unhappy because they did not have a lot of money, but perhaps Rangiku was right. Maybe happiness required the right people around you instead of a lot of money.

Not too long after the two of you left the castle walls, a small house came into sight. It looked a bit old and worn-out and it was clear that there had been work done to patch it up here and there. In fact, as you approached, you noticed a small figure sitting on the roof, attaching a few new planks to the roof.

“Toshiro!” Rangiku called out. The young man jumped at the sound a little and turned around. You immediately recognised the name. “Welcome back Rangiku. I’ll be down after I’ve fixed this. There’s a small leak in the roof.” “Take your time~” “Who’s that with you?” “This is Shiori, we work together at the castle.”

You resisted the urge to curtsy at the introduction. Shiori had been the name you to picked to cover up your identity, but Shiori was an attendant of the princess, not the princess herself.

“Nice to meet you, Shiori, I’m Toshiro.” The young man showed a small smile as he addressed you. “Nice to meet you, Toshiro.” You answered with a smile of your own. “Toshiro! Where is Gin?” Rangiku asked once introductions were over. “He’s out helping the old man next door with milking the cows, his son is sick. He should be back any time now.” “Alright~ Come in, Shiori, I’ll make us some time. Toshiro, come down soon too, I’ve got pie~”

Toshiro did not reply, instead the sound of hammering was soon heard again. Once you entered the house, it sounded extra loud, but you would bear it for a little. For now though, you were more distracted by the interior of the house. You had never been in a commoner’s house before. Everything was dark because the windows were small, there was very little furniture, and most of what was visible seemed older than you. It was truly a culture shock. Rangiku started boiling a big pot of tea.

“It’s not much, but make yourself at home. I’ll prepare some tea and cut the pie already.”

You somewhat carefully sat down on a chair, wondering if it would give out under your weight. It didn’t take long for Toshiro to come back in. Rangiku put down cups of tea and handed out plates with pie, both were made of simply, unpainted clay. They were very different from the cups and plates you had back in the castle.

As you were enjoying the refreshments, you found out that most of the people Rangiku had mentioned no longer lived with them. Most had taken up trades and were living with their masters. Some others had moved town, hoping to find happiness somewhere else. Only Gin and Toshiro had remained in the house. They made a living by tending to a patch of land that as attached to their house and by helping the farmer, who was also their landlord.

Just when you were starting to relax and enjoy the company, a fourth person entered the small home. As you looked up, your heart sank. It was the man you had seen at the castle, the one with the unnerving smile. Certainly he would recognise you. His eyes lingered a second on you before he turned to Rangiku, his smile never wavering.

“Rangiku, who did you bring with you?” “This is Shiori, she works at the castle too. I talk about you two all the time so she wanted to come with me. Shiori, this is Gin.” “Nice to meet you” Your voice came out shaky, partially because of the fear of being recognised, partially because of his face. “Nice to meet you, Shiori. Oh by the way, Rangiku, did you know I went by the castle last week?” “What? No way! And you didn’t come say hi to me?!”

As Rangiku got the details from Gin about his business in the castle, you let out a shaky breath. Did he not recognise you? Certainly not, otherwise he would have treated you differently, right? This was good, your cover was safe.

“Wait, Gin, you refused the king’s offer to join the army despite him offering you a higher position from the start?!” “Yeah.” “Are you mad?! Those guys earn good money!” “Aw come on, Rangiku. Then Toshiro would’ve been lonely.” “I would definitely be happier without you around!” Toshiro yelled. He had been silent ever since Gin had entered and he had seemed more tense too. “Of course he would have been! Then he and Momo could’ve lived here together~!” Rangiku quipped in. “Wha-?! Rangiku!” Toshiro yelled, a light pink dusting his cheeks. Rangiku and Gin laughed. “Yeah, maybe I should have thought about that earlier~” Gin joked. “As if, you just don’t want to work for the king because you hate that guys guts, right?” Toshiro asked. “Toshiro!” Rangiku lightly slapped his arm. “What?! I know you work in the castle, but that’s not changing the situation!” Toshiro yelled.

You looked in confusion between the three. Your father was a beloved king, right? Why did they act this way? Rangiku noticed and immediately tried to steer away from the subject.

“Oh I’m so sorry you have to see this, Shiori. Toshiro, Gin, we have a guest. Let’s not do this now.” She said. “Oh come on, Rangiku. Certainly she’s just as fed-up with the king as we are. Aren’t you, Shiori?” Gin asked, his attention, and grin, now directed at you. “I…I think he’s a fair king.” You said. “Let me guess, you were born in the castle?” “Yes…I was. What does that have to do with it?” “It means you lack perspective. The king wanted more power, so he started a war with the neighbouring country. To pay for said war, he’s raising taxes.” “Yes, but when he wins the spoils from the war will certainly be plentiful.” “When? You’re naïve, aren’t you? If. If he wins. And on top of that, those spoils will go into his pocket, not ours. And then we’re not even talking about the people who have died fighting this stupid war. Do you know how many have already died? How many more need to die for that bastard to fill his pockets? The king is a greedy son of a bitch, that’s what he is.” Gin spoke calmly, as if reading a line from a book. And yet, there was something menacing about his tone. There was a certain edge to it. One that made you very nervous. “I…I think the king is doing what he thinks is best for the kingdom.” “By killing his people and robbing them blind with taxes?” “I… I cannot deny that that’s happening, but I truly believe the king means well. Maybe… he’s lacking perspective.”

Gin’s grin grew and Rangiku was about to get up and drag you away before Gin got up and got closer to you.

“Let’s say you’re right. He’s still doing bad stuff. He only has people advising him who will also fill their pockets after the war. His perspective will never expand. He has no-one around who has the guts to point out his mistakes.” “The why don’t you join the army and become that person?” “Because the moment I speak up, I will be branded a rebel and executed, that’s why. Life is not that fair, young lady. Usually when you point out mistakes to nobles and royals, they’ll have you hung.”

Your head dropped. He was right, whenever someone was rude to a royal, said royal needed but say the word and the offender was executed. Nobles had the same power to a certain extent. In the past, it has been used to repress rebellions by your ancestors. And you had never thought anything of it, you had seen it as normal.

“Gin! That’s enough!” Rangiku huffed, pushing Gin out of your face. “Aww don’t be so serious, Rangiku. I was only playing teasing her~” “You were harassing her, Gin.” “Oh, was I? I’m sorry, Shiori~”

His apology was light-hearted and sounded as a joke. As if he did something funny. Rangiku continued to scold him for a little longer, before stepping back and grabbing your cloaks.

“I think we should leave, Shiori. I’m sorry about my brother.” “It’s alright, Rangiku. He… he had a point.” Rangiku stared at you in shock as you put your cloak on. “Despite the topic just now, I had fun while I was here. Would it be alright if I came with you more often?” “O-of course. If that’s what you want…”

You thanked Toshiro and Gin for their hospitality and left their home, Rangiku following behind you in a daze. The sound of the door closing behind her seemed to snap her out of it, and she quickly ran up to walk besides you.

“Your highness, I am so sorry for Gin’s behaviour. He was out of line, talking about your father like that.” “No, Rangiku, he wasn’t. He voiced his a opinion. Gave me a perspective I never even thought about. As the future queen of this country, I need to hear things like this. The rich are only a small portion of this country, yet it’s the only view I know. Sure, it hurt to hear him speak about my father like that… but I want to be a good queen. I want to make the people happy. All of them, not just the rich. I can’t keep walking with my eyes shielded from the ugly truth.”

Rangiku was unsure of what to say to you as she continued walking besides you on your way back to the castle. Unknown to you, Gin, who had been listening to the conversation from next to a window that was open, grinned and walked back to the kitchen, where Toshiro was still drinking his tea.

---

Your little escapade had gone by without a problem. Nobody every knew you were gone, so nobody got in trouble. That had been a few days ago now, but Gin’s words were still etched into your mind. You pondered over them as you read several books about history and politics, trying to think about them from a commoners perspective as much as you could, the romance novel you were reading long forgotten.

You tucked the books you wanted to read under your arm, ready to bring them to your room with you to enjoy them in the safety of your room. As you walked though a hallway, a man in light armour walked by. It wasn’t uncommon, as the strategy room was close to the library. What was uncommon though, was the man’s white hair. As you got closer, you realised exactly who that was.

“Gin?” you gasped. “Good evening, your highness. Or can I call you Shiori? Wait, your real name was Y/N, right? Can’t I just call you that? I do hate formalities, certainly when you’ve visited my house already.” “I- Wha- You knew?” “Oh yes, all along. You’re not very subtle, you know that?” “But, I thought you hated my father? Did you change your mind?” “Oh no, not at all. I still can’t stand the guy. But I heard the princess needed to hear the opinions of the commoners.” “You overheard that?!” “The walls of our house aren’t nearly as thick as the castle walls, my lady.” “So… you came here to help me?” “I had three reasons for doing this. That is one of them.” “What are the other two?” “Easy. Toshiro has a girlfriend and I’m pretty sure he wants to marry her, but as long as I live at home nothing is going to happen.” “And the last?” “Oh, the third reason?”

Gin stepped closer to you, which in turn made you step back. You continued retreating as he kept advancing until your back was against the wall. He stared at you, that unnerving smile of his present as always.

“Because you caught my eye, Y/N.”

Your eyes widened and you felt your cheeks heat up. Before you could even process the words, Gin was already continuing down the hallway.

“Anyway, I have a meeting with the king. Have a nice day, your highness~”

[theonewiththefanfics]

Would You Be My Little Quarantine (one-shot)

Synopsis: As the mandatory quarantine hits, the Reader is stuck in a cabin in Utah with the boys from 5 Seconds of Summer. Turns out another person is stuck in a hotel nearby. Hijinx ensue as does romance. 

Pairing: Harry Styles x f!Reader

Genre: fluff pretty much just pure, teeth-rotting fluff.

Warnings: it’s my first time writing for Harry as I was never really part of the fandom, but damn does Watermelon Sugar do things to a person, so please be kind. This is defo not my best work, but I’m slowly getting back into the groove of things, so bare with me :D

Word count: 6061

        TikTok had become Y/N’s new obsession. She’d stayed away from it as long as she could, being a true Vine generation child, she felt loyalty to the deceased app. But one night, after a long recording session, she caved. And then stayed giggling on it until the early morning when the birds started to chirp… or until Calum had taken her phone and threatened to throw it in the jacuzzi if she didn’t go to bed. 

        The girl and the four guys from 5 Seconds of Summer had been renting a cabin in the middle of the Utah woods to help them escape the distractions of the city as they recorded their respective albums, and given how they were good friends, they decided to collaborate on a few songs, and it made sense to just chill together as well.

        Which had started off Y/N’s own TikTok series, having ‘borrowed’ the idea from the Irishman living with two girls.

        “Alright, gentlemen.” She slid inside her bathroom pulling the focus of her camera on the reflection in the mirror. “I live with four guys, and I have some things to say. Why do you always, and I mean ALWAYS, leave your socks around the house? The dirty ones. You know you could just throw them in the wash… there’s an idea.”

        “We do!” Calum yelled

        Y/N turned her face to the door and hollered, “Only after I’ve asked you to!”

        “Do not!” he countered.

        “Do too!” she exited the bathroom and into the hallway only to be met with the man standing there with his hands on his hips. “Then how.” Y/N pointed the camera towards the living area you could see from where the hallways overlooked the room. “Do you explain that?” And when she zoomed in, there, in a small pile laid two brown socks, all crumpled up and almost pushed underneath one of the three couches, as if someone was trying to hide them from sight.

        Calum stammered for a bit. “Those are NOT mine.”

        Y/N flipped the camera and looked at it like they do in the Office. “Help me,” she mouthed and finished the TikTok, pointing with her hand at him. “Ya disgustin’!”

        Just as maturely as she had reacted, so did Calum by crossing his arms and sticking his tongue out, but their little bickering about whose socks they were and whose job was it to put them in the dirty wash (they were Ashton’s, and it was his job), Luke poked Y/N’s side as he came out from his room. 

        “I know might seem weird, but is there any chance another person could join our quarantine group?”

        Y/N’s eyebrows rose. Sure, the house was giant, mostly because whatever production she was a part of on Broadway, after a successful season, she invited all of them there to get away from the bustle of New York and just chill. It was in the middle of the forest, encased by gorgeous mountains and at the side of a lake where they’d go jet skiing and cliff diving.

        “I thought people can’t visit one another?”

        “They can’t,” Luke confirmed. “That’s the point. The unfortunate soul just got stuck at a hotel not too far from here, and all the flights are cancelled. Two weeks of quarantine without symptoms have been concluded, but, knowing how impossible it’d be to get to London, when you know, as I said, there are no flights, I offered a place to stay.”

        “So,” Y/N dramatically rolled her head. “You already offered to stay before asking me?”

        “Well, I knew you’d say ‘yes’ because you’re a kind, generous, amazing, smart, talented, compassionate person and wouldn’t leave someone on the streets when you know you could help.”

        “Mhm, keep talking.” Y/N squinted her eyes and put her hands on her hips.

        “Incredible, best musician I’ve ever met, how you haven’t won all of Tony’s I’ve got no idea. Your acting skills are impeccable and the movie industry is missing out on a once in a lifetime kind of a talent by not castin-“

        “Alright stop.” Y/N busted out laughing. “As long as you promise I won’t wake up with an axe in my head, ‘s fine.” 

        “Promise.”

        “Good. Also, could you please get me three bottles of that wine I like?” Y/N hollered before skipping downstairs and to the kitchen where Ashton was brewing the tenth cup of coffee. “I have a deadline in two weeks and have literally no idea where to go with the story.” She referred to the second book of her series she was writing, and now with the lockdown going on, her literary agent was breathing down her neck, and it didn’t help she hadn’t written anything in like a month and didn’t remember half of the already exiting story.

        Luke lifted a brow and hissed through his teeth. “That bad?”

        “You have no idea,” she sighed and left for the living-room where she could harass the boys for their fries and procrastinate some more. 

***

        The few hours, while Luke was away, were quite uneventful. All of them sat around on the couch pit, wrote some music, lil bit of lyrics and Y/N almost cried seeing as her characters had decided to live their own life and not obey to her story.

        “Why do you have to be such an idiot,” she mumbled under her breath and furrowed her brows as she wrote herself into a new plot hole.

        Right as Y/N was about to delete the whole chapter, the door slammed open and she heard grunting. “We’re here!” Luke hollered, and the thought of wine made her giddy, making her leap over the edge of the couch, and rush to the front door only to stop dead in her tracks. 

        Y/N’s mouth hung open, not because of who the person joining their quarantine group was, but because of what the person was. “A fifth GUY?! You didn’t tell me it’d be a guy!”

        “I didn’t think it’d matter!” Luke yelled back.

        “There’s already four of you!” She pointed back to the living room hearing loads of ‘hey!’ being shouted back.

        “Would you leave him on the streets if you’d known he was a dude?”

        “No, of course not!” 

        “Why are we yelling?”

        “I don’t know!”

        “I mean, I can leave.” Harry Styles said pointing at the door, not really knowing what to do. He certainly hadn’t expected that sort of greeting. “But I do come bearing gifts.” He lifted a black bag where a clinking of glass could be heard.    

        “No,” she sighed.  “It’s fine... I just… I just miss the company of vaginas.”

        He raised a perfectly groomed eyebrow. “Vaginas?”

        “People I can rant to. Honestly, it doesn’t even matter if you have a vagina, as long as we can have a good rant. Especially about the gross things like having all of your dirty socks thrown around the house.” She threw Luke a look that screamed ‘I know you pushed all of them under your bed, and it’s stinking up the whole place.���

        Harry shook his head. “Ya not gonna find me leaving my clothes like that. Besides, ‘s disgusting.”

        “No,” Luke whined, “come on, man! You’re supposed to be on our side!”

        “It’s two against four,” Harry snickered, throwing his hand around Y/N’s shoulder, who gave Luke a smug grin, and it made her mimic the same expression.

        “It’s evening out. Maybe you should actually invite some other people to quarantine with us. Say, Harry, is maybe Niall in need of a place to stay?”

        Luke rolled his eyes, and shook his head, going into the kitchen and placing the food bags he’d been holding. “I hate you so much.”

        Y/N’s smile just widened.         

        ***

        “Yes, I’m still stealing your series Irishman.” Y/N zoomed in on her face. “Because now…” she looked up at the ceiling in a manner ‘someone please save me’, “I’m living with FIVE dudes. Yes, FIVE. We have an addition. And if someone doesn’t come and kill me, I will kill them.”

        “We’re not that bad!” Michael hollered form out of frame, to which Y/N yelled back, “Yes the fuck you are! Boys are gross. You do realize you’re allowed to have more than one towel. Like you DON’T have to wipe your face with a towel that’s soaked up your ball juice.”

        “It’s economy.”

        “It’s disgusting! Also.” Y/N turned the camera to Harry who was climbing up the stairs with a cup of coffee in hand. “Say ‘Hi’ to gremlin number five. He’s stolen all of my nail polish.”

        He gave a cute wave with an adorable smile, muttering an unintelligible ‘Hello’ as his mouth was stuffed with a piece of bread and a very muffled ‘You don’t even use them.’

        “Yes, but that’s not the point. Anyway,” Y/N pointed the camera at herself. “Tune in for an update whenever, as long as I haven’t strangled anyone, and pray to the heavens you don’t see my face in the papers cause the next time you do, it’ll be my mugshot for a quintuple homicide.”

        “Is that a threat Y/L/N?” Harry smirked, as Y/N walked past him and took away his cup of coffee.

        “No, it’s a promise.” She threw him a wink, leaving the Brit with his mouth open at the woman’s audacity, as she stopped the recording of the TikTok.

        “That was my coffee!”

        “Not anymore!”

        He shook his head, turning back around and going to the kitchen, seeing Y/N perched on one of the stools, neck stretching over to where Ashton was watching a video on his phone, the black liquid in his cup now a creamy beige. Harry smiled. Maybe quarantine wasn’t going to be so bad.

***

        Y/N’s head popped from the side of the door, bringing all of their attention to her. “You guys need to record anything right now?”

        Luke shook his head, signifying the band was alright before turning to Harry who mimicked him, the tapping of his pen stopping. “Why?”

        “Just got a call from Laurence, he said something’s wrong with the ‘Candy Store’ audio from yesterday. Need to rerecord it and send it over. Something about a faulty export or whatever.”

        “ ‘S all yours.” Ashton motioned to the recording booth. “Oh, but can I be Heather Duke?”

        “And can I be Heather McNamara then?” Luke piped in.

        Y/N chuckled. “Not to burst your bubbles, but you do know you won’t be in the final version?”

        “No, but we could be in THIS version. It’d be for our private files. And it’d help you.”

        “That sounds so wrong.” She grimaced. “How would that help me?” Y/N plopped next to Harry on the floor. “You’re the biggest distractions I’ve ever met.”

        Luke scoffed. “How dare you! We offer you our services of being backup singers, and you… you’re such a meanie. You’re such a Heather Chandler!”

        “It’s 2020! If Leslie Odom Jr. can play Aaron Burr, then I can play one of the Heathers! Don’t be sexist, Y/N!”

        “I never said a dude can’t play a Heather, don’t put words in my mouth. I just said last time we tried to record anything together we ended up playing SIMS for like seven hours, but… come on you two divas, get your asses inside then. But I swear if Laurence or Kevin call because one of you whispered something dirty in the background of MY parts, I will strangle you in your sleep.”

        “How little trust do you have in us?”

        “Very,” Y/N deadpanned, showing the two men inside, leaving Calum, Harry and Michael to man the production table. “If you mess with anything, your asses will be grass.” She pointed at the three and all of them put their hands up in surrender. “ ‘S bad enough you ruined my single.”

        “It’s called giving it flavour,” Calum said through the microphone.

        Y/N just responded by sticking her tongue out.

        Michael lifted his fingers, counting down from five to one, giving her the cue to start.

        “Are we gonna have a problem?” Y/N cocked her head to the side, already immersed in the character of Heather Chandler. “You’ve got a bone to pick? You’ve come so far, why now are you pulling on my dick?”

        Harry swallowed hard. 

        “I’d normally slap your face off, and everyone here could watch,” she slightly motioned with her head to the audience behind the screen, a mockingly sweet smile on her lips. “But I’m feeling nice, here’s some advice, listen up biatch.”

        When her hips started moving from side to side to the rhythm of the song, Harry swore he’d never found someone being mean (even though it was mock mean) so hot.

        “I like,” Y/N raised her voice before dropping it. “Looking hot, buying stuff they cannot.”

        There was no sight of the sweet and bubbly girl Harry had met. This was Queen-B of Westerberg High in flesh. He was transfixed. 

“I like drinking hard, maxing dad’s credit card.”

She didn’t need anyone’s credit card to pay for her things, given how she was one of the top paid Broadway singers of their generation, and something in Harry skipped a beat at how confident she looked.

        “I like skipping gym, scaring her, screwing him,” Y/N rolled the ‘r’ deeply in her throat, and he had to collect himself before his thoughts went to an unsavoury place.

        “I like, killer clothes, kicking nerds in the nose!” With a smile, Y/N pointed at Luke who only rolled his eyes. “If you lack the balls, you can go play dolls, let yer mammy fix you a snack,” she emphasised the ‘K’ after having mockingly sung the bit before. “Or you could come smoke, pound some rum and coke, in ma Porche with the quarterback.”

        As weird as it was to have the two boys be her fellow Heathers, Y/N hated to admit it did help her. It reminded her more of what it was like to be on stage before the pandemic had started and the production had to be shut down. And she missed them. All her fellow actors just as much as she missed the rush of getting on stage and losing herself in the role and atmosphere. 

        “You can join the team –“

        “Or you can bitch and moan,” Y/N’s ‘Heathers’ sang in a nasally voice

        “You can live the dream.”

        “Or you can die alone.” 

        Harry snuck inside the recording booth, picking up a pair of headphones by the drum set.

        “You can fly with eagles,”

“Or if you’d prefer,”

        “Keep on testing me,”

        “And end up like her!”

        And that’s when Harry joined in, reciting the lines of both Veronica and Martha, and when he saw Y/N keeping a palm over her mouth as she tried to keep a mean face while inevitably hiding a smile. The whole of the song, despite how Ashton, Luke and Harry had tried to make Y/N break character (she came close a couple of times), the woman stayed on the line, not missing a beat, and especially enjoying the moment where she looked at Luke, who was about to hit the high note and screaming ‘shut up, Heather!’

        Harry couldn’t help the smile splitting apart his face. When Luke had first picked up his call, having known he and the gang were somewhere in the Utah region, he had thought he’d be living with just the guys, and when he found out it was actually Y/N Y/L/N renting the cabin, the girl he’d admired for so long for how brave and utterly unapologetic she was of being herself, Harry had just thought he’d gain a new friend, not have romantic feelings spring up.

        And all of it had happened in the span of two days, not even that much. He’d arrived the evening before, had met the woman, and now it was three PM on day two and was already in love. 

        It was an exhilarating and terrifying feeling all at once. Some studies said it takes men eight seconds to fall in love, which Harry now could pretty much confirm, while it takes women generally fifteen days to fall in love. And he could only hope Y/N might have some feelings for him as well, otherwise, he’d have to scold his heart for falling quickly once again. 

***

        It was the middle of the night, wind slamming against the windows when Harry got awoken by people talking behind his door. At first, he was ready to fight, thinking immediately that intruders had come into the house, but when he heard a ‘fuck off Michael’ and a ‘you fuck off, you’re gonna ruin this’, he understood everything was fine. And he was just about to lay back down on the soft pillows, but as the saying went – curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back, so he threw off the covers and lightly went to the door, where a bleary Harry appeared on the stairs making Y/N and Michael whip their heads towards him and freeze on the spot. 

        “What are you two do-“ but he didn’t get to finish the question as the two co-conspirators shushed him.

        “You’re either in,” Y/N whispered harshly, “or out. Choose Styles.”

        A beat. “What kind of trouble’re we getting’ into?”

        The smile which spread on her face was nothing short of wicked. “Revenge,” Y/N hissed.

        “Be quieter than a mouse,” she whispered to him, and now the trio moved downstairs.

        “Who are we getting revenge on?” Harry spoke as quietly as he could, as they rounded the corner and exited the cabin through the back door. It was colder than he thought, seeing how the wind wasn’t warm at all, and he was grateful he’d fallen asleep in his favourite rainbow cardigan. How Y/N and Michael didn’t even shiver in their barely-there pyjamas he didn’t understand. 

        “See, Luke here thought it was a good idea to not heed my warning about not messing with my recording.”

        Harry’s eyebrows scrunched up. “He didn’t.” He knew Luke hadn’t, he was there the whole time and listened back to what they’d sung with everyone together.

        “No, but he did rename a different file with the same name I had for the 'Heathers'' recording, on MY computer, mind you. And well, let’s just say, it was not what anyone wanted to hear.”

        Harry had to swallow, as his mind went to unsavoury places, and as Y/N shimmied open the lock of the window to the studio bathroom part of the house, she looked over her shoulder to see his expression. It would seem, despite him being in ‘Dunkirk’ and having been confirmed to play Eric in the live-action ‘The Little Mermaid’ he wasn’t as good of an actor as he thought.

        “Get your mind out of the gutter,” she snickered and pulled herself inside the house through the window, Michael handing her a black duffle bag Harry hadn’t first noticed. “It was a conversation I had with my friends while we were all drunk. Some tea, some very personal tea was spilt, and so.” She unzipped the bag slowly and took out a whipped cream can. “I’m going to spill something else.”

        Canned cheese was one of the most disgusting things ever created by a human in Y/N’s opinion. So, squeezing nine cans worth of the stuff inside all of Luke’s socks, jean pockets and everywhere else possible was good enough revenge for her.

        “Why are we in the studio though?” Harry asked as the trio crept towards the bathroom door and peeked through the open sliver. It was pitch black. 

        “Because Luke teds to forget his favourite things here,” Michael explained and motioned for them to follow as he checked that the hallway was clear. It was go-time. 

        Together they all snuck back inside the recording studio, and much like Michael had said – Luke’s favourite jean jacket, a woollen jumper, three pairs of boots and shoes were all scattered around the place. He hadn’t even noticed it while they’d hung out there, but now Harry understood what Y/N was talking about while whining about the boys being messy.

        She uncapped the can and squeezed, the artificial smell of cheese wafting through the air, making her almost gag. “That’s for being a bad friend,” she muttered while filling up one shoe. “That’s for making bad jokes.” She filled up another. “And that’s for saying ‘Dancing in the Moonlight’ is an overrated song.’

        It was hard for Harry to contain the giggles, as he uncapped his own can and started filling up wherever Y/N pointed to. Did he feel bad? Sure. But was it fun to feel like a teenager in a university dorm during a prank war? Abso-fucking-lutely. And it didn’t help that he was desperately falling in love with Y/N with every second they spent together. Like she could’ve asked him to hide Luke’s corpse, and he’d say he’d take the blame for the murder if it came to it.

        “Why did we have to sneak around the place like that?” he suddenly asked, brows furrowing in concentration as he squeezed the smelly contents inside the inside pocket of the jacket. “Why couldn’t we have just walked through the house?”

        “Because Luke always and I mean always comes to the studio at 3 AM,” Y/N stated. 

        Harry looked at the clock. It was 2:45 AM already. 

        “But before that, he goes into the kitchen, makes himself a double espresso, a sandwich and eats it before going into the storage where we keep all of the instruments, which is where he is in right now. Had we snuck through the normal way, he would’ve seen us and stopped this. And that just wouldn’t fly.”

       However, it was like Luke had a sixth sense as right at that moment the light flipped on, and like deer in headlights, the trio’s heads shot up and eyes widened.

        “What the fuck!” he whispered hand extended in the direction of the already six empty cans on the floor.

        Y/N snapped out of the adrenaline induced frozen state and shrugged. “I told you not to mess with the recording.” She put her finger back on the squeezable part. “And you. Didn’t. Listen.”

        The cheese squirted out with a splutter, and all of them stood still as the final bits dropped into Luke’s black boot. “And that’s payback.”

        With a sway in her hips, Y/N exited the room, leaving the three men to gawk after her. 

God was she a hurricane, Harry thought to himself. And he’d never been as happy to be caught right in the eye of it all.

***

        The next few days all of them spent lounging around the house, recording a few songs, most of them by Harry seeing as a huge wave of inspiration had hit him, making him write more than one love song. He even asked Y/N somewhat shyly if she could do some of the backing vocals, and he swore the song went from a 3 to a 100 the second he heard her voice weave his lyrics into a symphony. 

        By that point, they’d been quarantining for a week and a half together, and a heatwave was coming up. The cabin had both an inside and outside pool which they’d all had to learn how to maintain, seeing as no one could come and do it for them, and a jacuzzi tub on the terrace. As much as the boys tried to prove they knew how to keep the places clean, ultimately it was Y/N who saved all of them from chlorine poisoning and algae overgrowth. 

        So, it was right when she pulled out the pH indicator and said it was good for use when with a scream, Luke rushed forward Y/N, rugby tackling her by the waist and plunged both of them down to the water below. 

        “You asshole!” She splashed at him, laughing and choking out a bit of water as they resurfaced. “What the fuck is wrong with you!”

        “That’s payback for the cheese.”

        She went silent for a second, but then shrugged. “Can’t say I didn’t deserve it. But you did deserve the cheese.”

        “So,” Luke extended his hand for a shake. “Do we call this even?”

        Harry exited the cabin right as both of them completely soaked to the bone jumped out onto the wood floor. He stopped mid-walk if only to control where his eyes went seeing as Y/N’s white shirt clung to her body and well… didn’t leave much for the imagination anymore.

        “Do I wanna know what happened here?” He raised a brow.

        “Retribution.”

        “Though I do gotta say, you have a funny way of getting revenge.” Y/N smirked at  Luke, making him squint down at the girl. 

        “What do you mean?”

        “I mean,” she drawled out, a mischievous smile on her lips, “that when I filled your clothes with the cheese, my stuff didn’t get stinky. And yet, from your end… I’m not the only one wet.”

        A beat passed.

        “God fucking damn it.”

        “Hey!” She pointed a finger at him. “We called a truce!”

        Luke waved her off. “Yeah yeah, whatever,” but Y/N grabbed Luke’s hand right before he went inside and squeezed it. 

“We good?”

        He sighed and smiled. “We good, sweetheart.” He pressed a kiss to the top of her head, gave Harry a quick ‘see ya later’ as well and disappeared through the glass doors. 

        Harry didn’t know what’d happened to him. He’d always been a helpless romantic, falling in love, and maybe a bit too hard at that, but this time, even without Y/N knowing about his feelings, his heart felt safe. 

        Sure, the side of her he’d seen was a complete headcase, and she had more energy than a bull with a red flag in front of it, but the utter love exuding from the woman, even while she complained about her four, well five counting him, housemates was palpable in the air. The way she hugged and made sure everyone had whatever they needed, the way she let them know if anyone needed to have a chat, she’d be there to listen, and the small little things of how she always knew what preferences they’d have for their pancakes or breakfast in general, made his heart melt. 

        “Luke’s a lucky guy.” Harry swallowed before saying that. As much as seeing Y/N be affectionate with everyone, him included, made him feel all fuzzy, a little jealousy monster did bubble up in his stomach when he saw her snuggled next to the lead vocalist of the band. He didn’t have any right to, but no matter how much he tried to repress the green beast, it still lurked somewhere deep in his heart.

        “Hm?” Y/N lifted her head where she’d been looking at the water as she squeezed it out of her shirt and up at Harry.

        He motioned with his chin to where Luke had disappeared. “He’s a lucky guy to have someone like you.”

        “Oh, we’re not together if that’s what you’re implying.”

        “I –“ he stammered. “I didn’t mean to offend y-“

        But Y/N waved him off. “You’re not the first nor probably the last person to say that. I get it. They asked me one time to surprise their fans at a concert in Connecticut, I think, and when their photographer sent over the pictures, I kinda saw what everyone kept saying, but I’ve never looked at any of them as more than a friend. Best friends, brothers maybe, but nothing more.”

        “How’d ya get so close?” Harry enquired, his chest feeling a bit lighter.

        Y/N huffed and plopped down to the ground, patting the place beside her which Harry took. “When I first went solo, right after being on ‘Beetlejuice’ I was fucking terrified. Didn’t really know anyone in the music industry like that. Being on Broadway’s different.” She shrugged. “And the award shows are different as well. Like with ‘Tony’s’ or ‘Oliver’ awards it’s you know – musical and theatre geeks. My people. But the first time I went to VMAs I almost shat myself.” She chuckled, and Harry did the same. “Didn’t know anyone at all, was petrified to even find my seat because someone told me I’d have to sit between Lady Gaga and Rihanna, and my heart was not ready for that. Ashton saw me at the edge of the carpet, creeping around the entrance and kinda…” Y/N bit her lip looking for the right words. “I dunno. They kinda took me under their wing, in a sense – if you need a friend in the industry, we’re here, that sort of thing. And ever since then, we’ve been best friends. Luke and I just got the closest because we got stuck in an elevator once for like eight hours once, and well, boredom and thinking you’re gonna die in a four by four-foot box brings people closer.”

        Harry almost choked. “Eight hours?”

        “Yep.” Y/N popped the ‘p’ and gave him a sarcastic smile. “It was like soooo much fun,” she said sarcastically.  “I totally didn’t think the elevator was about to drop from where we were up on like the sixtieth floor, and both of us were gonna get our bones smashed to pieces, and I only had two protein bars, and you know how I get without food,” she stated. He nodded.

        “Cranky.”

        “Exactly. But.” Y/N chuckled. “We didn’t die. Which’s great, not complaining, and I gained one of my all-time best friends.”

        “Well, I’m glad you didn’t die.” Harry gave her a warm smile and nudged her foot with his. “Wouldn’t have gotten the chance to meet you otherwise.”

        She nudged his foot back. “ ‘M glad I didn’t die either. And I gotta say – you’ve made this whole quarantine bearable. Sometimes it’s like fighting with four toddlers, and that’s always a futile battle. Happy to have another wrangler with me. Also an accessory to my crimes.”

        He inched his hand towards hers, and when Y/N didn’t pull away instead liked her pinkie with his, a warm feeling rushed through him.

        “Happy to be of help.”

***

It was two nights later or full two weeks since the six of them had been together when things took a turn. 

Y/N’d always been a light sleeper, especially when her life was mainly placed in New York, but now, living in the middle of nowhere, she’d been able to catch up on some sleep. That was when the sound of her door being opened made Y/N shot up in her bed, sheets clutched at her chest in a panic. “What? What’s wrong? What did Calum set on fire?”

        “Nothing.” Harry’s eyebrows scrunched up, but he decided not to ask. There was the morning for that. “This might seem weird, but could I uh could I possibly sleep in your room?”

        She blinked a couple of times, because her brain was still processing his words and if they were even English, but once they registered, Y/N nodded, pulling back her blanket and scooting over. “C’mere.”

        “Again, I’m sorr-“

        Y/N shushed him, as Harry climbed in the bed, placing the duvet underneath his arm and twisting to see her, as she mumbled, “less talk, more sleep.”

        He hummed in agreement. His eyes were heavy, in fact, they’d become heavy the instant his head had hit Y/N’s pillow, but it was like his heart, the same poor heart that’d had to deal with the newfound emotions for the whole time he’d been there, the same poor heart that didn’t know better and always gave itself away to the person it deemed to be worthy, no matter if in the end it ended up broken, took over the control of his eyes and mouth, and while slamming against Harry’s ribcage, he whispered his confession. 

        “I really like you… As more than a friend.”

        A second passed. He felt Y/N stir as she turned towards him, brow furrowed. “Sorry?”

        “I said…” He let out a shaky exhale. “I like you. I fell for you pretty much the second I entered the house and you threatened to throw me out because I was a guy. And then I fell for you when I saw you let loose in the studio. And then once more when I witnessed what your wrath entails.”

        Y/N chuckled. “Cheese.”

        “Yeah…” He let out a little laugh. “Cheese.”

        A gentle palm went to brush away the hair stuck to Y/N’s face and he swore he could just melt as she leaned into his touch. “And then I fell for you when you said yes to singing my song… when you sang the lyrics, I dedicated to you… and every second I fall for you even more… I just… I thought you should know…”

        “Well, I can only hope that you’ll take this as a compliment then, when I say I kinda like you too, Styles,” she mumbled snuggling deeper into her pillow. “Though I didn’t think I was your type.”

        “What’s my type then?” he mumbled back, letting his arms wrap around Y/N’s waist when she shuffled closer. Not only was he now fully in heaven because he was covered by the softest duvet in the world, head resting against a literal cloud, but also because his nostrils were invaded by the gentlest of smells, and the body against his was the warmest of comforts. 

        “Well, not girls like me.”

        “You mean talented, beyond funny and absolutely breath-taking?”

        “Introverted, house hermits who don’t wash their hair unless they have to go somewhere with a perchance of self-destructive behaviour. Unintentional that is.”

        Harry’s eyebrows lifted. “Would’ve never taken you for an introvert.”

        “Mmmh,” Y/N sighed, feeling his fingers skim her skin. “That’s because I’ve known those guys for years, and they’re like my brothers. Couldn’t be uncomfortable even if I tried with them. We’ve seen too much of each other. But I’m definitely an introvert. Almost had a panic attack the first time I had to make my own doctor’s appointment.”

        “You didn’t seem shy with me.”

        “That’s because for some weird reason I… I didn’t feel awkward around you. And I mean, you did bring wine.”

        She could feel Harry’s chest rumble as he laughed. “Well, I hope it helped with inspiration.”

        “Ugh, don’t remind me,” she huffed, but opened her bleary eyes and were met by Harry’s green already staring back. She couldn’t contain the giggle, and it only grew in power as he chuckled himself, making her bury her head in his chest.

        “What?”

        “Nothing,” she shook her head. “Just never thought I’d date someone from 1D.”

        “Are we below you or something?” There was no trace of malice and hurt in his voice. He knew Y/N wasn’t like that.

        “No, ‘s just my boy band phase was ‘Good Charlotte’, ‘Panic at the D!sco,’ ‘My Chem’ and the sort.”

        “So, you weren’t fainting while listening to ‘You Don’t Know You’re Beautiful’?” Harry mumbled in Y/N’s hair, sleep slowly overtaking him.

        She shook her head. “Sorry, no. Panties definitely weren’t dropping then.”

        “Are they now?”

        “According to ‘Watermelon Sugar’ you’re the one pulling all of ‘em off.”

        “Damn. Guess it’ll have to be my new challenge.”

        Y/N’s eyebrows scrunched up as she looked at him before promptly falling asleep. “Making my panties drop?”

        “Yep. But this time because of me, not Gerard Way.”

        “Bold of you to assume it was just Gerard Way. I’m a slut for all of those wizard dads.”

        By the time she slurred out the last sentence both of them had drifted off into a peaceful slumber.

***

        “They were right!” Harry shouted jumping up in the bed, startling Y/N awake once more as if something was breaking down on their heads with how urgently he jolted. “It does take women two weeks to fall in love and men 8 seconds.”

        A pillow met his face. “Fall back asleep.” 

        He leaned over her still horizontal form, a smug smile on his face. “Are you gonna make a TikTok about it?”

        “Probably ‘bout how I murdered the boyfriend I was with for three hours if he doesn’t let me sleep.”

        He didn’t argue. With a smile on his face, Harry drifted off once more. Who knew that getting stuck in a hotel somewhere in Utah would lead him to the love of his life? 

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A/N: So... I know I’ve been gone for quite a while, but that’s because I have a job now (I’m trying to get a different one that actually would involve my degree, because this one is absolutely killing me), so please be understanding with the spare posting. I still love writing fics, and as evident, I’m kina branching out into other fandoms :D

There’s a lot of things going on in my life, so if you wanna follow me you can do that on Instagram @dinnusa or @read_with_dee or on my blog dinnusa.wordpress.com :) I also have a TikTok @dinmasters

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[floral-and-fine]

Linger part 1

Beorn x female human reader

Summary: Beorn worries about the reader's safety shortly after meeting her and the company.

A/n: This idea is based on that deleted scene where Gandalf introduces the company to Beorn. I just love that scene so much! I'll probably write another part to this. And thank you @luna-xial​ for the help!

You jumped every time you heard the loud hollow thud the ax made as it connected to the tree trunk. Peeking through the window, you saw a beast of a man. He was taller than anyone you had ever seen before, with long wild hair.

With seemingly minimal effort, he swung the large ax again, splitting another log straight through the middle like it was made of butter.

Your body shivered, imagining how he could easily make quick work of the company if he chose. Not to mention, if last night was any kind of example, it would seem he wasn’t too keen on any of you.

The rest of the company were bickering about what to do next. They were all rather cautious or afraid of the skin-changer, and they had reason to be. The bear all of you encountered last night was large, fast, and fearsome. The man seemed to be the same.

It was no use listening to them though, they all talked over one another and they were getting louder by the second.

Instead, you focused on watching your mysterious host chop firewood without pause. Your face began to heat up as you noted the way his back muscles tensed as he lifted the ax again, preparing for another swing.

“There’s no point in arguing,” Gandalf spoke up, silencing everyone. With all eyes on him, the wizard explained that the company needed Beorn’s assistance.

“Now this will require some delicate handling. We must tread very carefully the last person to have startled him was torn to shreds,” he explained heading towards the door. All eyes followed Gandalf, especially at the mention of being torn to shreds.  “I will go first, and Bilbo, you’ll come with me.”

No one was envious of poor Bilbo as they all made room for him to get to the door.

“Is-is this a good idea?” Bilbo stuttered, his hesitation obvious about joining Gandalf outside.

“Yes,” Gandalf answered firmly. “Now the rest of you wait here,” he instructed. “Only come out in pairs, well Bombur you count as two, so come out alone.”

Just as he was about to head out through the door, he paused and turned back around. “Oh and Ms. Y/n, you will be the last to come out,” He added, facing you.

Your eyes went wide, but you nodded.

“Yes… That should be fine,” Gandalf muttered mostly to himself.

“Should?” You squeaked, but he didn’t hear you. He was far too preoccupied worrying about greeting your host.

“Remember, wait for the signal,” Gandalf warned one last time before heading out.

…

The rest of the company filed out, leaving you and Thorin as the last ones to exit.

Beorn didn’t hide his distaste as he stared down all the dwarves before him. A snarl practically formed on his face as his eyes reached the end of the line. However, his features immediately softened as soon as he spotted you.

Gandalf noticed the immediate change in their host’s expression. “Ah, and that’s Miss y/n,” he spoke up. “She’s one of our companions as well.”

You waved shyly at the skin-changer. Who slowly lowered his ax, setting it down beside him.

The giant man sighed, wringing his hands together. Beorn’s eyes flickered from you to the dwarves then back to you again. He was obviously mulling things over, trying to decide what to do with his unexpected house guests.

With a drawn-out sigh, Beorn walked past Gandalf and approached the company.

“You must be hungry,” He said looking directly at you.

“Oh, we’re starving,” one of the dwarves chimed in, but Beorn chose to ignore your companions. His focus solely remained on you, patiently awaiting an answer.

“A little,” you admitted with a shrug, feeling rather bashful over the attention.

With a curt nod, he ushered you forward, back into his home. Beorn gestured for you to take a seat at the table.

“Your home is beautiful,” you complimented, admiring the beautiful details carved in the wood. You didn’t get a chance last night or this morning to really take in the craftsmanship. There were a lot of fine details that must have taken a lot of time and skill to complete.

He gave you a soft smile but it only lingered for a brief second and was replaced with a frown as soon your companions started taking their seats beside you and around the table.

Beorn started placing food out, everything looked so delicious. There were various cheeses, fruits, nuts, and types of bread.

Your host made sure that your plate was full first, not trusting that the greedy dwarves would be considerate of someone as soft-spoken and kind as yourself.

He didn’t understand how you were a part of this company, how someone as well mannered and delicate was associated with such loud brutes. You didn’t appear to be a warrior of any sort, and you weren’t a dwarf, so why were you assisting them at all?

You observed Beorn carefully as he towered over you, despite his great stature and strength, he was cautious of his movements, and despite his obvious dislike of dwarves, he was still fairly hospitable. Being in his presence had you feeling quite small, not in a bad way, necessarily, in fact, almost as if you were made of glass with the way he treated you so attentively.

Holding a large pitcher, he poured milk in your cup first giving you a generous amount which you doubted you would be able to finish.

“Thank you,” you murmured as he moved on to the next cup.

After making his way around the table and back to you, he held the pitcher in both hands, looking down pensively as he shared what had happened to him and his people.

His story made your heartache, much like it did when your companions shared their story. Without thinking, you reached out placing your hand on his forearm in an effort to comfort him. You couldn’t imagine what he had gone through, what he had to do to survive, or how it felt to be the last of his kind.

When he offered his assistance to Thorin, you were honestly surprised.

Beorn provided provisions and ponies to the company in order to get all of you to the forest in time.

…

As the company started preparing the ponies for travel, you couldn’t help but notice Beorn acting apprehensively. He was pacing about, double checking things, and kept asking Gandalf if they needed anything else.

You approached him quietly clearing your throat to draw his attention towards you.

“Thank you for everything,” you said, smiling sweetly at him. “I know it’s not easy, dwarves might seem unappreciative and careless but I do think they’re grateful.”

Beorn sighed, taking your hand in his, his thumb caressing lightly over your knuckles.

“Must you leave with them?” He asked, his voice sounding rather defeated.

“I made a promise.”

“It’s not safe,” Beorn whispered, feeling how delicate the bones of your hand were and soft your skin. “I know what Azog is capable of…”

Beorn wasn’t quite sure why, but he cared for you, and he truly feared what might happen to you on this journey. He hasn’t known anyone like yourself to encounter an orc in which the outcome wasn’t death. He frowned at the idea, the unsettling image of the hand he was holding lifeless and limp appearing in his mind.  

Tilting your head you whispered his name, he had gone quiet but appeared to have something else to say.

He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again, shaking his head slightly. “Is there nothing I can say to change your mind?” He asked, almost on the verge of begging.

“I’m afraid not,” you said, giving his hand a slight squeeze.

His expression conveyed his disappointment, but he nodded, accepting that you had to leave and finally dropping the subject. Slowly, Beorn led you back to where the ponies were and reluctantly released your hand.

Without another word, he walked back towards his home. He wasn’t good at saying goodbye and was struggling with the fact that you were leaving. He felt like he was allowing you to walk straight to your death.

Before mounting your pony, you took a deep breath and looked around one last time, really taking in the scenery, before leaving. This place really was beautiful, so serene and peaceful. Might be the last time you’re at a place like this, who knows what you might encounter next.

As your pony slowly started trodding along, you turned back to see Beorn, who was standing by his garden with a solemn expression, you wondered if he felt lonely out here alone with just his animals.

You wouldn’t mind visiting him again after this was all over, maybe spend a longer visit here, perhaps even help him out with the garden or the animals.

You waved goodbye, a small sad smile on your lips. He gave you a small nod in response watching as you and the company disappeared past the horizon.

He fought every urge he had to go after you. Trying to convince himself that you would be fine. You had managed to get this far more or less unscathed.

Beorn stayed outside, working on the fields and tending to his animals until his ponies finally returned. He led them back to the barn, making sure they were all accounted for. Lingering by the pony you rode, he ran his hand through its mane.

“I wish she had stayed,” he admitted, regretting that he let you go or didn’t offer to join the company in order to protect you. He gave the pony another good pat before heading into his home.

[mca-attack21]

Surprise (Part 2)

Sorry guys, apparently this part got deleted. You can find part 1: here and the final part: here as for the masterlist containing more of my writing look: here. This is just the beginning for Merlin imagines on this blog, I just watched the show for the first time and in love.

Before long, Gaius came in to check on you. He quickly grew concerned as there were no signs of improvement. In fact, you seemed worse than when you were brought in earlier. He quickly checked your bandages and instead of red, your blood was seemingly black.

“Merlin, take a look at this,” Gaius summoned the young warlock.

“What does it mean?”

“It means that this was no ordinary wound. You need to get Arthur at once.”

Merlin made his way into the meeting room and was trying to figure out the best way to get Arthur’s attention when he caught his eye and caused the king to stop in the middle of his sentence. “Is Y/n awake?”

Merlin just managed to shake his head, “Gaius needs you at once Sire, it is urgent.”

“Excuse me,” Arthur said to his knights and counsel members before all but running up the stairs to his chambers.

“What happened?” he asked.

“It seems that she is getting worse. Her wound is infected and it is spreading. Her pulse and breathing have slowed and she is on the border of fever. Though it is not from the wound itself, but rather I think what dealt the wound. I need to see the dagger to see if we are dealing with a poison or some form of sorcery, Sire. Until then, I’m afraid that there is little I can do.”

“Of course. Merlin, go fetch it, I put it in my saddle-bag.” 

“Right away Arthur.”

When Merlin grabbed it, he could feel the power it possessed. He quickly brought it up to Gaius whose face paled at the sight of it, which Arthur noticed.

“What is it Gaius? Have you seen it before?”

“I’m afraid I have Sire, it is the blade of Karaus an evil sorcerer who had it forged in the dragon’s breath and enchanted so that any any injury caused by the blade no matter how minor would be fatal to any enemy alive or dead.”

“So there is no cure? She is going to die and there is nothing we can do about it?” Arthur asked quickly wiping away a stray tear.

“The only way to save her is to destroy the dagger itself. But to do that you would need another blade forged in the fire’s breath and a powerful sorcerer. Even then, she doesn’t have much time. All I can do is try to keep her comfortable. I’m truly sorry Sire.”

“How long does she have?” Arthur asked never taking his eyes off you. 

“2-3 days at most.”

“I can ride and try to find Dragoon, he has helped us before. If anyone knows where to find such a blade he will,” Merlin spoke up already beginning to hatch his own plan.

“I will come with you, we can leave at first light,” Arthur spoke. 

“I don’t think that is wise Arthur.”

“Why not?”

“Because if I fail and Y/n dies, you should be at her side. I don’t think you would ever forgive yourself if you weren’t.”

“I suppose you are right, but how will you even know where to find the sorcerer?” Arthur asked.

“I can reach out to some of my contacts, one of them is bound to know where he is staying these days.”

“Okay, take anything you need Merlin. Promise the sorcerer anything he wants.”

“Yes Arthur.”

---

Later, Gaius reentered his chambers to find Merlin packing. “Where exactly are you planning to get such a sword? And the spell to break the enchantment?”

“The sword is easy, I just have to travel to the Lake of Avalon and retrieve Excalibur. As for the spell, I was hoping you could help me with that one.”

“Avalon is at least a two days journey, and that is with no hindrances, I don’t know if Y/n will hold out that long,” Gaius reminded.

“It would be a two day journey if I were going by horse. I plan to use a much faster mode of transportation,” Merlin smirked.

“Kilgharrah,” Gaius realized.

“Y/n saved his life once, he owes her a debt,” Merlin explained,

“Do you have any idea what spell it will take to destroy the blade?”

“Go grab me that book over there, the one with the black binding.”

After searching the pages Gaius found what he was looking for. “This spell is meant to take the enchantment off of any object. So you cast this spell, it makes the blade a weapon forged in the dragon’s breath, then you take Excalibur and destroy it once and for all.”

“And then Y/n will be fine?”

“Once the blade is destroyed, so is its magic. The queen will begin to recover immediately.”

“Okay, sounds great. Just another day in the life of Merlin,” Merlin joked.

“There is something else that you need to know,”

“What is it Gaius?”

“This blade is powerful in a way that no other weapon will ever be. And it is evil. It will do everything in its power to draw you to evil as you carry it and will fight against its destruction.”

“Anything else?” Merlin asked sarcastically.

“No, that’s it.”

Merlin had trouble sleeping that night. He was feeling overwhelmed by the task ahead. Normally in these situations, you were the one he would turn to. You know about his magic and had always been there for him. He eventually overcame his restlessness and drifted off. The next morning Gaius woke him at first light. He quickly grabbed his bag before promising Gaius that he would be careful.

He decided to go up to see you, just incase something were to go wrong. It was clear to him that your fever had set in sometime during the night. He set a his bags down and went to get a cool rag to place on your forehead. He then repositioned Arthur who had fallen asleep with his head on the side of your bed and covered him up with a blanket.

Both very drowsy and disoriented, Arthur was brought out of his sleep. “Merlin?” 

“Yes Arthur?”

“How is she?”

“The fever has set in, other than that there is no change.”

“Is everything prepared for your journey?”

“Yes, I am just about to leave.”

“I can’t express how much this means to me.”

“Anything to get a day away from you,” Merlin joked.

“I’m serious Merlin. It kills me not to be riding out with you. But if I did have to send anyone, I am glad it is you. I trust you will do everything in your power to save her. Either way I will forever be indebted to you.”

“Thank you Arthur, I won’t let you down, I promise.”

And with that he set off. He made his way out to meet Kilgharrah, trying to mentally prepare for the journey ahead.

“​Δράκος Χρειάζομαι βοήθεια για την Y/n που πεθαίνει” he spoke.

He was not forced to wait long before Kilgharrah touched down.

“Hello, young warlock. Tell me what happened and how I can help Y/n,” the dragon spoke.

“She was stabbed by Karaus’ dagger. I am going to destroy it and need to get to Avalon. Gaius believes she only has a day or two at most, which is why I called you. I need a ride. I know that Y/n once saved your life, please, help me save hers,” Merlin pleaded.

“Hop on,” Kilgharrah said without hesitation. And thus their journey began. The flight was quiet. Merlin was simply taking in the sights. From that high in the air everything seemed so small, so insignificant. Yet at the same time, it was breathtaking and interconnected.

Meanwhile:

“What do you mean that they failed to kill Arthur?” Morgana demanded.

“Your men attacked Arthur and Y/n as they were alone, but were taken out,” Agravaine revealed.

“Fools! All it took was the smallest of papercuts and Arthur would be dead,” Morgana yelled.

“All is not lost, My lady, for the queen was stroke my the dagger. Arthur is distracted, now is a great time to strike Camelot.”

“Where is the dagger now?” Morgana asked.

“The king’s servant took it, he is trying to find some sorcerer to break its spell.”

“We need to find the dagger.”

“We need to take this opportunity to attack Camelot.”

Morgana used her power to choke Agravaine and force him to listen, “That dagger is one of the few things that can kill Emrys. And, it can kill me. We will focus on nothing else until it is back in my possession.”

“Yes, my lady, I will send my men out at once.”

Back in Camelot:

“How is she Gaius?”

“Her fever is dangerously high Sire and none of my potions seem to be having any effect. I am afraid that she will not meet the sunrise. Right now all we can do is to keep her warm and hope Merlin is successful.”

Arthur stared down at you. He couldn’t comprehend how so much had gone wrong in a span of 24 hours. Yesterday, he was the happiest he had been in a long time and now he felt as if his entire world had been turned upside down.

The thought of never hearing your laugh again or seeing your smile. The thought of ruling Camelot without you by his side, it was almost too much to bear.

Arthur re-wet the rag before crawling in the bed beside you and carefully pulling you into his lap and readjusting the blankets. He placed the rag on your already damp forehead and stayed in that position just holding you and taking comfort in your presence.

Meanwhile with Merlin:

“This is as far as I can take you young Warlock, I will wait here for your return.”

“Thank you ​Kilgharrah,” Merlin said already on his way to the lake.

“Merlin,” the dragon called, “the battle for Y/n’s life now truly begins, her fate is in your hands,”

Merlin nodded his head in acknowledgement and began his journey forward. But even as he entered the wooded area, the path became darker. His legs grew heavy and his mind tired.

“The dagger possesses great power, a power that could build your own Emrys,” a voice filled Merlin’s head.

“It is a dark power and it needs to be destroyed,” Merlin shot back.

“Think of the potential, it could be used to take out Morgana. To take out anyone who you deem a threat to Camelot. All it takes is the smallest of pricks,” The force showed him images of him standing over Morgana.

“No one should have that much power,” Merlin reasoned.

“Maybe others shouldn’t, but you Emrys are a great sorcerer, you could manage it. You could use it for good, to protect Arthur and your destiny,” the Force persuaded.

“Y/n is dying,” Merlin replied as he pushed forward.

“You are too late, She is already dead,” the Force showed Merlin Y/n dying in Arthur’s arms and his reaction.

“No, she isn’t. You’re lying”

“Keep the dagger and seek your revenge on Morgana. End her plight once and for all.”

“No. There will be another way, a better way,” Merlin said as his head was now pounding. This force was pushing back against him with everything it had. So he retaliated with positive thoughts, memories of his friends and family, of Camelot, of Arthur, of Y/n, of his dream for the future of Albion.

As Merlin looked up he noticed that he had made it to the water’s edge. He set it on the ground and summoned his strength before reciting the spell that Giaus had given him. As soon as that was done, he turned to the lake where Freya was already offering Excalibur. Merlin quickly took the sword and destroyed the dagger which disappeared into black smoke. With it, an enormous weight seemed to lift off his shoulders.

“Thank you,” he said to Freya as he tossed her back the sword. His journey through the woods to Kilgharrah was much quicker this time round.

“Congratulations Merlin, what you have just done was no easy task, it took incredible strength and courage,” the dragon spoke.

“I could not have done it without you my friend, I just hope that we made it in time.”

[athina-blaine]

MoMM Chapter 4 - The Storm, Part 1 (Preview #1)

(Note: this is not the finalized draft; anything featured is subject to edits or deletion!)

Chapter 3: The Empty Corridors

“To be honest, I’m not entirely sure I deserve that. Your friendship. After everything I’ve done since…”

“Of course you do. Listen to yourself; it’s not like you wanted to frighten me.” An inch of space sat between their hands. “Is this …? Um. Is this okay …?”

The winds continued to howl, and Martin's hand lay limp on the bed sheets. His face grew hot, and he started pulling back. Stupid idea. But then Jon slid his hand closer until their fingers brushed. Emboldened, Martin wrapped his hand around Jon's, his burn scar grazing the soft skin of Martin's palm.

He squeezed gently.

“No one deserves to be lonely, Jon.”

Jon had no response, staring out to the storm that continued knocking on their windows. He stared, and he let Martin hold his hand.

Chapter 4 - The Storm, Part 1

Martin was an optimist. He had to be. Anything else would have been utterly unbearable.

That being said, he was… relatively confident things would get better. Jon had confided in him the terrible secret of Magnus Manor and the truth of this hellish storm. The Lonely. And understanding a problem meant you were one step closer to solving it, right? It meant one step closer to getting out of the cursed estate you’d found yourself trapped in.

Most importantly, though, the two of them were talking again. Above all else, that gave him hope.

 Jon was waiting for him in the foyer the next morning. His nose was buried in a book, but when Martin approached, he looked up, and Martin liked to think he looked pleased.

“Good morning,” Martin said, hoping he didn’t sound too flustered.

“You as well. Would ... would you be amenable to sharing some morning tea? If ... if you're still offering ...”

“Y-yes, of course.” So yesterday hadn’t been a fluke; Jon wasn’t going to leave him alone again. “That sounds great. Um. English Breakfast, then?”

Jon smiled, nodded, and fetched them both a pot and one cup apiece. The porcelain warmed Martin’s aching fingers, a refreshing respite from the chill that crept so subtly through the halls.

They drank, and they talked about very little. Martin’s tongue burned with questions (–what’s it like living with these entities? How do they manifest? Will we get out of here soon?–), but he restrained himself; the age lining Jon’s face had soothed as he sipped his tea,  and when he asked Martin how he’d slept, there was a shy twist to his mouth.

Right now, Martin wanted to enjoy himself. Enjoy Jon and a warm cup of morning tea. There would be plenty of time to agonise later.

In the meantime, he’d just need to keep busy. Now was as good a time as any to give cleaning the manor another chance. Masochistic, maybe. Impossible, certainly. But at least this time he didn’t have to worry about being reprimanded. Probably.

One of the many study rooms that littered the estate would be a good place to start. Small as it was, its sooty fireplace and dusty couch was enough of a time sink for his purposes.

He was in the middle of battling a particularly stubborn stain when the door opened and Jon peered inside. Despite everything, Martin couldn’t help his trill of anxiety, made all the worse when Jon kissed his teeth.

“Must I iterate that it’s not necessary for you to – ”

“I want to.” It was still such a shock to just see Jon, to have them talking, that the words came out in a breathless, jumbled mess. “I promise. I-I like cleaning, honest. It keeps my mind off … you know, things.”

Jon paused mid-stride. For a moment, Martin thought he was going to be chased off anyway, and then he’d have to actually beg to clean, because the thought of spending another minute with nothing to do but contemplate their situation– 

“I–” Sighing, Jon brought a hand to the bridge of his nose. “Fine. Yes, fine, if you insist. So long as you understand that it is absolutely not an expectation of you.”

Martin’s shoulders sagged with relief. Another hurdle crossed.

He’d just convinced himself to relax and finally let his mind wander, soothed by the familiar, tediousness of cleaning a fireplace, when Jon unclasped his cloak, lying it over the sofa. 

“What are you doing?”

“Assisting you, obviously. Having you clean it in my stead when I’m the one responsible for it falling into disrepair doesn’t bear thinking about.”

Doesn’t bear thinking about. What didn’t bear thinking about was a man of Jon’s stature doing menial work like this in the first place. But Martin was hardly about to refuse his help … or his company, so freely given. “Um. Thank you. You don’t have to be so hard on yourself, though. There’s literally no way you could have kept this place clean all by yourself.”

“I appreciate the reassurance, but the point is moot.”

Well, if Jon wanted to roll up his sleeves and work at a grimy fireplace, Martin wasn’t about to stop him. When Jon literally rolled up his sleeves, he bit back a smile. The skin of his forearms was paler than that of his hands and face, smooth and free of blemishes. When was the last time he’d enjoyed a bit of sunshine without his shirt buttoned up to the chin?

Not that Martin had any business considering a thing like that in the first place. God, his face was burning again.

“I hate cleaning,” Jon murmured as he dunked the spare cloth in the water bucket. “Nothing ever stays clean.”

“Yeah. Gotta do it, though. Oh, you should keep your elbow up. You won’t tire out your arm as quickly.”

“Oh. Yes, I see.” Jon sighed. “Perhaps the fault lies with me. I’ve never been particularly good at domesticity, after all. The rare times my grandmother was home, the only thing we talked about was how untidy my room was.”

Martin’s ears perked. The opportunity to learn more about Jon and his past? It was too enticing to resist. “Your gram wasn’t home much, then?”

“Not often. She was the matriarch of our family, so important business kept her in the capital most days.”

Oh. How … odd. Martin didn’t know anything about how noble families handled representing themselves, but … “I figured your mom or dad would take care of that sort of thing after a while. Did your gram just enjoy the work?”

“Both of my parents passed when I was a child.”

Martin’s stomach plunged to his feet. What a stupid blunder to make. “I’m … I’m so sorry.” 

“It was a long time ago,” Jon said, waving him away. “I was barely more than a baby at the time. I simply don’t remember enough of them to mourn their loss.”

Martin wasn’t sure if that made it worse. For all that Martin mourned the absence of his father, at least he had fleeting memories of warm hands and a deep voice to prove he’d existed at all. That he’d had a father once. “Still, that must have been … a bit lonely.” 

“Not at all. I always had my governess’ supervision. She provided the structure and discipline I required.” Jon laughed, a wistful, breathy thing, and lowered his head. “I was … a rather troublesome child.”

That did even less to make Martin feel better, because he suddenly had this image, unbidden, of a little boy with big eyes and gangly knees, head hanging as his grandmother told him off in clipped tones, before leaving once again to the bustling capital. No hugs, or gentle forehead kisses. Just a scolding about his messy bedroom.

I’m sure you were wonderful, he wanted to say. I’m sure you deserved better than that. 

But he was probably just projecting again.

“I’ve always liked cleaning,” Martin said, instead. “Makes me feel useful. My mum, she’s … she’s been sick most of my life. Nothing too serious,” Martin added quickly as Jon turned his head. “She just gets tired a lot. You know, hard to stay upright most of the time. There wasn’t a lot I could do to make her feel better, but keeping things clean helped.”

“I … I’m sorry to hear your mother is ill.”

“We were really lucky, actually. We lived in the same town as a really good doctor. He was really generous with us, but eventually … I-I couldn’t keep up with the bills running the farm all by myself, especially after our last goat died. We had to sell a few years ago, and I had to find work in the city.” Even after all this time, his throat tangled at the memory of leaving his childhood home. “Managed to land a really good job at the lord’s castle, so I always had money to send home. Every month. Haven’t been late once, yet. Until …”

“… Until now.”

Martin opened his mouth, because, well, he wasn’t late yet. There was still time for Martin to send his letter: about a week or so. That was plenty of time. But he refrained, because saying as much to Jon felt … dangerous. Like he was tempting fate. 

Things were going to work out. They had to. The storm was going to clear, they were going to get out of here, and then … 

“Your devotion to your mother is admirable,” said Jon.

Warmth ballooned in Martin’s stomach, spreading to the tips of his ears. It was an absurd thing to receive praise for (oh, you love your mother, really going above and beyond), but … well, it was still nice to hear, every once in a while. Or at all. “Thank you.”

It took most of the morning, but, with their combined efforts, they managed to restore the fireplace to an off-colour white. Martin stepped back, basking in the glow of a job well done. Jon, however, didn’t appear quite as chuffed as Martin felt. Rolling out his wrists, the man collapsed onto the couch, kicking up a cloud of dust in the process and triggering an intense coughing fit.

“Break time?” Martin asked, taking a much more gentle seat. His only answer was more coughing. Poor thing looked utterly done with the whole enterprise, if the curl of his nose was any indication. “So, what do you do for fun around here?”

“Fun?”

“Yeah. Unless you really intend to help me clean this room all day?”

Jon laughed, turning away sheepishly.  “I … yes, um … Well, this and that, I suppose. Reading, mostly. I’ve always had a penchant for it, and I’ve yet to make my way through the library. Um. Music, although it’s been quite some time since the gramophone worked. I took to baking for a time. I like to think I’d gotten rather good at it.”

“Wait, so you did bake that bread? When I first got here?” Martin thought back on it, how crispy the crust was, the soft and tasty inner dough, how fresh it had been. Martin couldn’t remember the last time he’d eaten fresh bread. “That’s seriously amazing.”

“It’s hardly a complex task. But … yes, thank you.” Martin wasn’t sure if it was the haze of the dust, but Jon’s face looked a bit darker, a bit flushed. But then, the good humor in Jon’s eyes fell away. “And then there was the garden, of course. It was … well. A disaster, to put it mildly.”

“What happened?”

“Well, I killed everything, didn’t I?” Jon’s eyes dropped to his lap, shoulders sinking. “Not a single bulb flourished under my care. I … I eventually figured it was more merciful to give up than keep trying.”

“Oh, I’m sure it’s not that bad.” Would be better to start with anything but roses, he wanted to suggest. You’re just setting yourself up to fail. But that would certainly come across as annoyingly patronising. “Maybe I can lend a hand?”

“Pardon?”

Wait. No. What business did Martin have making an offer like that? It wasn’t as if he knew any better about keeping things alive. But something about the resigned nature of Jon’s tone tore at him; his mouth had fallen open of its own accord. 

“I-I mean … Well, it might be fun, yeah?” Martin tried. “Personally, I’ve always wanted to learn how to garden.” 

“Is that so?”

Martin nodded, intending on leaving it there, but Jon was watching him, waiting. Oh.

“W-Well, uh, when I was a kid,” Martin said, face warming, “I’d always dreamed of having a, um, like a little cottage? That I owned? With a great big plot of land in the middle of a forest somewhere. Would get married, settle down, grow flowers and all kinds of food together. It’s … it’s a bit silly.”

“Not at all,” Jon said, eyes softening, and Martin’s heart fluttered something fierce. “I think that’s lovely.”

He smiled, hoping it didn’t come out as a grimace, because it had been a long, long time since he’d indulged in that particular fantasy. It just wasn’t feasible, these days, having a little cottage of his own or … or finding someone who’d want to marry him when he’s never even had a serious relationship before.

“Thank you, though, for your offer,” Jon said, cutting through Martin’s thoughts. “I’ll … be sure to consider it.”

The tight knot in Martin’s stomach unwound just a bit. “‘Course.”

By that point, the dust had become utterly unbearable, and they were forced to evacuate.

.

The brass of the door handle glimmered under the lamplight, rusted with age and disuse. How long had Martin been standing here, knees locked and shivering beneath the thick chill? Ages, by now. Griffiths was going to have his skin peeled for shirking his responsibilities like this, and the head butler would be perfectly within his rights.

But every time Martin tried to remind himself, that he still had so much work to do –

“… Hello?”

That voice. Still out there, somewhere behind the old door. Distant, but not beyond Martin’s reach. If Martin had already been here for ages, then that voice …

Wasn’t anyone coming for them?

If he opened the door, he could just take a quick look. Call out, see who needed help –

“And what do you think you’re doing, young man?”

Martin yanked his hand back, hand burnt on the molten brass.

“M-Mum?”

“I always knew you’d leave for good someday. I could see it in your eyes, you know. You couldn’t bear to take care of your poor, sick mother, and now you’re off to traipse about the countryside with some invert.”

“I didn’t leave.” Tight pressure strangled Martin’s throat, the back of his eyes burning. “I’d never do that. Where are you? I’m coming, I-I’ll find you–”

“And what, pray tell, would be the point of that?”

“Mum, please, just tell me where you are, I’m coming–”

“You’ve always been a wretched liar.”

.

Martin lurched upright, sucking painful gasps through his aching teeth, his sleep shirt sticking to his sweaty skin. No light permeated the windows— he may as well have been in a tomb, for all that he could see.

Jon was out there somewhere. Alone. As was his mother.

I’m coming back to you. I’ll find a way out of here. I’m doing everything I can– 

Liar.

Martin curled up onto his side, wrapping trembling arms around himself. Even though there was no one else to hear him, no one to stifle himself for, he drove his teeth into his lip until his mouth filled with the dull taste of copper.

Check out the Monster of Magnus Manor here!

[skieswords]

Sorry For The Wait {Charlie Gillespie x OC}

Summary: Alex is a lowkey youtuber, known for funny vlogs of her just existing. She’s avoided the relationship question for the longest time, but has decided it’s time to come clean to her followers. 

Warning: Fluff, swearing, mention of alcohol, and sexual innuendo cause I’m incapable of writing anything without it.

Alex was wandering round the kitchen, in his old shirt and a pair of pyjama shorts that really didn’t cover much. She hummed an undistinguishable melody under her breath as she went about making her morning coffee, dancing to the song in her head. Charlie grinned from his position in the doorframe, leaning up against the wall with his arms crossed as he watched his girlfriend be her usual dorky self. She spun round suddenly, feeling eyes on her. “Oh, morning Char, when did you get back?” Charlie laughed under his breath and uncrossed his arms, stepping towards her and pulling her into his chest. “It’s not exactly morning, is it.” He nodded towards the clock on the oven that read 13.47, sighing when she shrugged and pressed a kiss to his cheek before stepping away to pick up her coffee cup. “It’s my morning.” Charlie rolled his eyes but nodded, helping himself to a banana from the fruit bowl, and leaning against the counter. Alex jumped onto the counter opposite, and swung her legs, sipping happily. Sitting there looking absolutely content, in his clothes and drinking her coffee, Charlie felt his heart swell. “I wanna go public.” He blurted it out, rather unexpectedly, for both parties. His eyes widened as he realised what he’d said, and looked down to his boots, still caked with mud from that morning’s not so sunny hike. “Didn’t we agree you’d stop wearing boots in the house? You hate vaccuming.” She jumped off the counter and made her way towards him, wrapping her arms around him and setting her coffee down on the countertop, resting her chin on his chest. He looked down at her with a soft smile, her blue eyes bearing into his hazel ones. “If you’re up for it, I’m down.” She smiled up at him, her voice soft and slightly excited. He pressed a kiss to her forehead and let his hand wrap around her waist, fingers drawing light patterns on her spine. “Yes please. I want everyone to know you’re mine.” Alex grinned and kissed along his jaw, until pressing a lingering kiss to his lips. “Okay. When?” She broke away from him and unwrapped some toaster waffles, pushing down the button on the toaster before making her way back into his arms. “Today. Fuck it, let’s do it now.” She raised her eyebrows at him, and fiddled with his chain nervously. “Have you checked with Kenny? Didn’t he say-” Charlie sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Uh, Kenny gave me the all clear like 2 months ago. I just wasn’t sure if you were okay with it.” Alex rolled her eyes, and patted his head jokingly, stretching like a cat and moaning happily when her back cracked loudly. “Of course I am. Dude do you know how many videos I’ve got planned for when people know about us?” Charlie laughed and stood up properly, kicking his shoes off and frowning slightly at the mud that scattered the floor as he did. “Great, let’s get them all filmed. Go get changed though, I’m not taking you on live in them.” He indicated her shorts, reaching a hand round to grab her ass. “Hey, they’re not that bad.” Charlie raised his eyebrows at her, and pointed to the doorway. “Fine. But I’m not wearing a bra and you can’t make me.” He rolled his eyes and smirked, pulling his phone out and walking through to the living room, stopping outside their bedroom door and watching as she pulled her shorts down. He bit his lip and caught her eye, shooting her a wink, before settling onto the sofa, setting his phone up on the tripod. 

“Hellooo, people. Okay, so I’ll just let some people file in. Sheesh, how many of you are there? That’s like 4000 already and it’s been like 10 seconds. Okay just a few more... Great. Hi everyone, uh, this is just a quick one to answer a question a lot of people have been asking me since the show came out. Before I do, I just want to say you guys know how much I love you, and how grateful I am for all the support, but I really need you guys to respect me with this. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, and I’ve only held off because I was waiting for someone to agree.” 

From behind the camera, Alex emerged from their bedroom, her hair freed from it’s bun and falling around her shoulders as she fidgeted. She was nervous, having only been in front of an online audience of a couple thousand before, and she’d never been exposed to Charlie’s followers. They read the comments on his posts together sometimes, and she often stalked fan pages when she was bored and he was out hiking. The girls were crazy about him. Understandably of course, the man was gorgeous, and talented, and funny, and a million other things that had indeed made her fall in love with him in the first place. Kenny had asked that cast members (besides Jeremy, who already had a very public fiancée) to keep any relationships on the downlow, in order to keep the guys sex appeal up to fans. Alex had agreed, knowing it would help the show sell, and had deleted the few posts of Charlie on her instagram profile. None of them really made it look like they were in a relationship, and they were mostly group shots anyway, taken on day trips to Newfoundland, or on the beach with other friends. So her own followers, besides her close friends and family, had no idea she was even in a relationship. Still, it wasn’t fair to tease his fans, so she’d removed the posts all the same. Thinking of her instagram, she pulled her own phone out and took a picture of herself in the living room mirror with her tongue out, captioning it ‘head over to @charles_gillespie for an exciting announcement!’ before leaving her phone on the sidetable and grabbing her coffee from the kitchen.

“Okay, so we’ve waited like 3 years or something to do this. Guys, this is Alex. My girlfriend.” Alex walked into the frame and took a seat next to Charlie, avoiding eye contact with the camera. She wasn’t camera shy- she was a youtuber, it was second nature to her. But a bunch of batshit crazy fangirls? Terrifying. Charlie slipped an arm around her shoulders and made a show of bringing their heads together, plastering a silly grin on his face. His smile was infectious, and Alex mirrored it, sipping her coffee carefully before setting it down next to wear Charlie’s foot sat on the coffee table. “Knock that over and I’m kicking you out.” He laughed and kissed her hair, leaning forward to read the comments. 

“OMG, it’s @alexmvlogsz!”

“I knew it, there are old photos of the two of them everywhere.”

“It won’t be serious, they’ve probs only just got together.”

“She’s defo with him for the fame.”

“He’s too hot for her.”

“I’m so here for this!” 

Alex noticed Charlie’s frown and leant forward, reading them over his shoulder. “Ha, you guys are funny. Yes, hi it’s me, Alex. Yes, there are a lot of photos of us going around. Yuh okay you’re wrong, been together for like 4 years now I think? Also, we started dating while I had more followers than Charlie. So, uh go follow me because I’m cooler than him. Oh you are so right, he’s way too hot for me. And we are also here for this!” Charlie looked at her with an adoring smile, kissing her head again and pulling her into his side. “She’s hotter than me, actually. Anyways, this is Alex, love of my life. Just thought I’d share that with you guys.” Alex waved and laughed as a storm of comments came through, a combination of support and hate. “Okay, I’m gonna end it there. Bye y’all.” Charlie clicked the end button and collapsed back onto the sofa, frowning slightly. “People are so mean. Why can’t they just accept that I love you?” Alex shrugged and kissed him, moving to straddle his lap. “They will in time. But half of them are in love with you, they don’t want to accept it. It’s fine though, I’m used to it, don’t worry.” Charlie grumbled under his breath, leaning forward to rest his head against her chest. “Hey, while their all still on their phones, do me a favour and put a question box on your story for a Q&A video?” Charlie nodded and grabbed his phone from behind her, keeping one hand on her back so she didn’t fall. Alex yelped as he stood up, automatically wrapping her legs round his waist, and her arms round his neck. “What the fuck Charlie?” He laughed and wandered over to the same mirror Alex had taken her selfie in a few minutes earlier, holding up his phone and taking a photo of them. “For the story. I can post photos of you now, thank god.” Alex held on, resting her head on his shoulder as he typed behind her back, before tossing his phone onto the sofa and grinning at her. She raised her head and looked at him with her eyebrows raised. “Are you going to put me down now?” Charlie shook his head and walked towards the bathroom, arms wrapped around her. “I need a shower, and you’re joining me. “ Alex laughed but let him carry her, kissing along his jawline with a happy smile. 

*****

Hair soaking wet and faces flushed, they collapsed into bed side by side, Alex resting her head on Charlie’s chest. “I have an idea.” Charlie looked down at her, and ran his fingers through the damp strands of hair. “We should call Owen over. We’ll do a Q and A, but he has to read out the questions, and if we try to answer wrong or something, he can reveal the truth. Plus he can throw in his opinions, and it’ll be funny.” Charlie laughed softly, and nodded, reaching over to his nightstand to grab his phone. He clicked on Owen’s contact, and facetimed him, pulling the duvet up to cover Alex just in time. “I didn’t mean ask him right now. But okay.” Owen picked up, and grinned into the camera as he saw Charlie. “Hey, I’m just heading out to do some stuff but I can speak to you in the car. What’s up?” Charlie didn’t speak, simply angling the camera so that Owen could see them both, Alex’s red cheeks standing out against the white of the duvet cover pulled up to her shoulders. His face fell when he took in her appearance, groaning and pulling his hat over his face. “Look, Charlie, I love you, and I tolerate you Alex, but I saw enough of this in Vancouver. Seriously man, she has no clothes on.” Charlie nodded, and smirked. “Yuh, and she’s staying like that for the rest of the day. Anway, she wants to talk to you.” He handed the phone to Alex and sat up, reaching over to grab Alex’s phone from the charger. Owen rolled his eyes and sat Alex on his car stand, turning the keys in the ignition, and starting to drive. Alex made sure the sheet was tucked tightly under her arms, before moving out of Charlie’s grip, and leaning against the headboard. “Okay, so I was thinking.” Owen grunted in response and raised his eyebrows, avoiding looking at her. “Never a good thing. Just saying, if you flash me it’s not my fault, and manchild over there can’t get mad.” Charlie stuck his middle finger up at Owen, not looking up from Alex’s phone, which he was spamming with selfies. “Yeah, whatever. Anyway. I was thinking, Charlie just told all his followers we’re together- just incase you didn’t notice- and I want to do a Q & A on my channel. I think it’ll be even funnier if you ‘host’ it, and you can throw in random stories and opinions and whatever? You know us better than anyone,” Owen laughed bitterly and leaned forward, looking out his window. “Yeah, unfortunately. God, I was so happy when you went home. Okay, so when do you want to film this?” Alex looked over at Charlie and smiled seeing him scrolling through her instagram feed. “I don’t mind, when you next free?” Owen shrugged, and the familiar ticking of an indicator came through the phone. “As long as you two are fully clothed, I’ll come over on Wednesday? I have to come to LA to meet some people anyway, we can grab dinner after?” Alex nodded and watched as Charlie set her phone down, and slid down the bed, resting his head on her stomach. She ran her free hand through his hair, smiling as his eyes closed at the sensation. “Yeah that works. I’ll see if Sav wants to come too. Okay, I’ll see you then.” Owen nodded and waved at her, smiling as she flipped the camera to show Charlie. “He’s such a baby. Okay, you two go do whatever you two do. I’ll catch you later.” Charlie flipped him off once more, not lifting his head from where it rested, and Alex hung up. “You want a nap?” Charlie groaned slightly, indicating yes. “Cool, me too. Let me get the blinds.” Charlie sat up with an incredulous expression. “You woke up like an hour and a half ago woman, how are you tired already?” Alex looked at him with raised eyebrows and pulled a shirt out of their wardrobe. His shirt, to be clear. He watched as she dragged it over her head and flipped the blinds so that the room was darker, and held his arms out to her as she climbed back into their king sized bed, cuddling into his warm chest as they passed out for a couple of hours.

*******

“Hey guys! Most of you will already know, because we announced it a few days ago, but for those of you who don’t, today I’m introducing you to my boyfriend properly! The incredibly hot Charlie Gillespie.” Charlie waved awkwardly to the camera from his spot on the sofa, looking to Alex who was on the other side, almost 2 feet of space between them. “We figured we’d do a Q and A, so you guys sent in some questions, and well, we’re gonna answer them. Also, we have another special guest with us.” Owen appeared, and sat in between them, grinning at the camera. “Wouldn’t be a show without me. Okay so basically these two are disgustingly in love, and have been for a disgusting amount of time. Alex is using me for clout, and now you’re going to find out all of the gory details about their relationship.” Alex smacked him gently and handed him Charlie’s phone, the question response boxes all ready to read. “Okay, first question.

How long have you guys known eachother, and how did you meet? Owen looked between them, and pointed to Charlie. “I want to hear him get this wrong.” Charlie rolled his eyes and leaned forward, looking at Alex, who nodded. “Okay. We met nearly 4 years ago, when Alex moved over here for college. I was in LA that weekend, and I bumped into her in the street. We got to talking, and I ended up taking her out that night. That was pretty much it if I’m honest, nothing that exciting.” Alex scoffed and flipped her hair behind her shoulders. “Not quite. I took him out, and he fangirled the whole time. His sister had watched a few of my youtube videos, and he- and I quote- thought I was really pretty.” Charlie stuck his tongue out at her, and Owen groaned, resting his head in his hands. “We’re only one question in and I’m already sick of the both of you. Okay, next question.”

Do you guys live together, and if so where? Alex raised her eyebrows and laughed. “Most of the time we live together, yes. This is my apartment in LA, and I’d say we’re here at least 8 months of the year. But at christmas we go to New Brunswick to see Char’s family, and we go visit my family in thesummer. And sometimes I’m in New Zealand, and he’ll go on holiday with his boyfriend here.” Owen grinned and held Charlie’s hand, resting his head on his friends shoulder. Charlie leaned into him, making them appear like a very loved up couple. “Yeah, so we live together most of the time, apart from when we’re visiting friends or family, or if he’s working.” Charlie nodded and looked to Owen, who continued scrolling through boxes. “Oh my god some of these are dodgy. Jesus, look at this one!” He showed it to Alex, who burst out laughing. “Okay, I’m answering that but we’re not reading out the actual question.” She climbed to her feet and turned side on to the camera, smoothing out her t-shirt against her chest, giving a decent view of her side profile. “Whoever asked what kind of man Charlie is, I’ll let you figure that one out for yourself. He doesn’t get a choice in the matter- I only have one of the above.” Charlie read the question over Owen’s shoulder, before frowning and reaching out for Alex, pulling her onto his knee. “Shut up, you’re perfect and I love every bit of you.” He started peppering her face with kisses, laughing alongside her. Owen jumped to the other side of the sofa, grimacing. “Disgusting. Okay, next question. Ooh, this one’s juicy.”

Alex, do you and Madison get along, and have you ever been jealous of her relationship with Charlie? Owen made a show of trying not to laugh, and Alex rolled her eyes. “Mads is like a little sister to me. We get on really well, and her and Charlie’s relationship is best friends, nothing more. I mean, to be fair I’d totally adopt her if I could. Having her living with me would me pretty cool.” Charlie frowned and shook his head. “No. I’m not living with the both of you. You’d never stop singing.” Alex nodded happily. “And the only thing I’m jealous of her for is she doesn’t have to live with him. Or share a kitchen with him.” Charlie flicked her in the side of the head, kissing the afflicted area shortly after, while Owen nodded in agreement. “That brings us nicely on to the next one.”

Who’s got the worst eating habits? Owen rubbed the back of his neck and looked straight at the camera. “I can’t believe I’m about to say this. Alex is worse than Charlie, folks. And you’ve seen how he eats.” Charlie pushed Alex off him and jumped up, pointing his fingers at her as he danced around in front of the camera. Alex’s jaw dropped, and she leant forward, pointing at Charlie accusingly. “He eats eggs with peanut butter. Do you know how gross that is?” Charlie grabbed her hand and kissed her knuckles, sinking back into his seat. “You eat ham, and peanut butter. You can’t talk.” Alex groaned and flipped him off behind Owen’s head. “Fine, what’s the next one?” Owen grinned and scrolled a bit, laughing out loud before putting the phone facedown.

Who’s most likely to get jealous? He smirked at the camera, and shared a look with Alex, who was grinning. They turned back to the camera and spoke simultaneously. “Charlie.” At his name, he groaned and grabbed a pillow, smothering his face with it. “Very much Charlie. Do you want to hear something funny? Of course you do. Owen, I’ll let you take this one.” Alex sat back, smiling smugly, while Charlie looked at her with pure betrayal written all over his face. “While we were in Vancouver last year, filming for the show, Alex here, came to stay with us for 2 months. This was the first time I’d met her, besides a few facetime calls. We got on really well, and hung out a lot on and off set, while I wasn’t filming. Our lovely Charlie, decided he was going to absolutely freak out about this, and started a fight in the middle of the freaking lot, in front of the entire cast and crew, because he thought I was after Alex.” Charlie groaned from behind the pillow, and Alex laughed. “He thought Owen was flirting with me, and yelled at him for a straight 7 minutes, while we just kinda stood there and looked at each other. I felt so bad, I took Charlie home that night and sat with him for like 3 hours, and then I took them both out for dinner the next night. It was weird.” Owen snorted and rubbed his forehead. “You did not just sit with him. I shared an apartment with you, I was in the next room.” Alex punched his arm, and leaned over to ruffle Charlie’s hair. “He’s just protective, you should see him when we go out together, he literally refuses to leave my side.” Owen nodded and smiled at Charlie’s flushed face. “He’s stupid protective of her. One of the crew members actually did flirt with her. We’re lucky the guy’s still alive.” Charlie rolled his eyes at them both and held his hands up. “I had to compete with an entire college full of guys to keep her. And I have 3 brothers. I’m used to fighting for what’s mine.” Alex smiled and stood up, pushing Owen into her spot and sitting beside him, taking Charlie’s hand. “Yeah, what he said. Next question Owen?” Owen shook his head and scrolled once more, raising his eyebrows occasionally. “Okay, this should be easy.”

Who’s the most annoying to live with? Charlie and Alex both immediately pointed to her, and Owen nodded his head. “Even just while we were in Vancouver, this girl drove me up the wall. I don’t know how Charlie does it.” Charlie smirked and rubbed his jaw. “He gets well compensated for his troubles.” Charlie shrugged and nodded, laughing at Owen’s expression. “She’s incapable of showering without leaving the entire bathroom flooded, she never does the laundry unless I phone her four times and ask her to do it, she has never touched the vaccum in her life, and the bed only gets made when she’s not living here. Not to mention she’s the messiest person in the world, and our room is literally carpeted with her- actually wait no, MY clothes, because she never wears her own stuff. Exhibit A.” Alex stood up and spun around, showing off her outfit of Charlie’s t-shirt and a pair of jeans. “He loves me for it though.” She dropped back onto the sofa, smiling as she felt Charlie’s arm slip around her waist and pull her in to his side. “Let’s do some nice ones.”

Are you guys morning people? All three of them laughed, and Alex buried her face in Charlie’s chest. “Owen, is like a late morning early afternoon person. I’m always up before 9, I like doing stuff in the mornings. I sleep in on Saturdays sometimes, or I’ll stay in bed and watch a movie with Alex. But Alex doesn’t get up unless she absolutely has to. Today she got up at like 1230 I think? And that’s early for her, and it was only after a lot of persuasion.” Alex bit her lip, remembering the persuasion Charlie had used that morning, and feeling a familiar heat take over her face. Owen pulled a face, also knowing what he meant, and gagged. “Disgusting. But yeah, I’ll second that. When she lived with us, we’d go home for lunch sometimes, or we’d have a halfday, and she’d still be sleeping. Like Charlie would go in and get her at like 4pm. And she’d wake up and go get coffee. At 4pm.” Charlie nodded, and Alex sighed, sitting up and brushing her hair out of her face. “In my defense, I’m normally up pretty late. I work best at night, and I can never fall asleep before like 3 or 4am.” She shrugged, and leant on Charlie, who was blushing ever so slightly. “We know, Alex, we know. Let me give you a piece of advice, folks. See if your best mate’s girlfriend comes to stay, after 2 months of being apart? Stay away from the apartment for at least 3 days. Maybe a week. Move out if you can. They kept me up, Every. Freaking. Night. I don’t know how Charlie was able to function at 5.30 in the morning, considering he could’ve gotten like maximum an hour of sleep. He was on vocal rest for a reason.” Owen raised his eyebrows at the camera, and Alex hid her face, while Charlie puffed out his cheeks and looked around, avoiding the camera. “Moving swiftly on, what’s the next question Owen?” The blonde grinned and scrolled once more, chuckling under his breath.

What’s your guys favourite thing to do together? Owen looked at them dubiously as Alex clapped her hands, and Charlie grinned. “Besides that.” Charlie rolled his eyes and reached over to clip Owen over the ear, and Alex ducked as they play fought over the top of her. Finally breaking apart, Charlie straightened his shirt and resumed his hold on Alex. “It’s between travelling and playing. With Alex’s family in the UK, and mine in Canada, we fly around quite a lot. Besides, we both love seeing new places, and we have friends all over the place.” Alex nodded and smiled excitedly. “I can’t wait, we’re going to see Mads for her 17th birthday next week- she doesnt’t know, but I won’t post this until we’re there, so it’ll be fine. And we went to visit my dad in New Zealand last month- that was fun. We went to Hawaii, of course, with Jer and that. That was incredible.” Charlie nodded, watching with an adoring expression as his girlfriend’s face lit up, while she spoke about the places she loved so much. “Hawaii was awesome, but I gotta say, going to the UK is like wow. It’s so different over there.” Alex looked at her feet shyly, nodding slightly. “For sure, and my friends are uh, very different from our friends here.” Charlie raised his eyebrows in agreement, feeling Alex’s grip on his hand get a little tighter. “But yeah, besides travelling it’s got to be playing together. We sing together all the time, I’m pretty sure our neighbours hate us.” Alex brightened up and laughed, nodding eagerly. “Honestly, most of the time that’s what we’re doing at like 1am. I’ll get a song stuck in my head and force Charlie to play it for me. He’s so much better at guitar than I am.” Charlie shook his head and held a hand out in excitement. “Nah, see when I tell you this girl can sing, oh my GAWD. There’s a reason I fell in love with her. And she plays piano, and guitar, although I am still teaching her that. And violin!! How cool is that? She’s teaching me. So yeah, our neighbours hate us.” Owen smiled as he watched his best friends talk about each other, the love between them so obvious and real. “Okay, we’ll do like two or three more.”

Who takes longer to get ready in the morning? Instantly pointing at each other, Owen laughed, and pointed to Charlie. “100% this man. She just throws her hair up and puts on whatever he wore the day before. This man has a full haircare routine, every fricking morning. Like seriously, it’s just hair!” Alex nodded in agreement, running her hands through Charlie’s hair. “It is very nice hair though. Nah for sure, Charlie takes longer to get ready first thing, but when we’re going out, it’s me. Like out out, I mean. I’m so indecisive. In Vancouver Savannah literally nearly stabbed me cause I was taking so long.” Charlie grinned and nodded, Owen mirroring his actions. “Never ask her to go out unless you have at least 4 hours to kill. 3 hours for her to be indecisive, and then another for her to be late.” Alex grinned and tilted her head to the side. “Girls, am I right? HA. I’m funny. Okay, moving on.”

Who’s most fun on a night out? Charlie and Owen pointed to Alex simultaneously, who just shrugged and nodded. “I was raised in Scotland, so when I drink, I drink hard. Nobody could keep up with me when we went out in Vancouver. Seriously, Charlie tried and we nearly had to take him to the ER.” Charlie scoffed at this, but the blush spreading up his neck said all that needed to be said. Owen laughed at the memory, and set the phone down. “No really, it was so funny. This tiny 5′5 girl knocking back vodka like it’s water, and Charlie’s trying not to throw up in the corner after like 2. This girl’s liver is deceased.” Alex grinned and kicked her feet up on the table proudly. “Proud drinker since I was 13. Shit, this is going on the internet. Okay, forget I said that. Owen?” Owen reached out and grabbed the phone, scrolling through again.

Do you have any tattoos? Owen rolled up his sleeve and showed off the ghost drummer on his forearm, and Charlie stood up next to him, placing their ghostly characters next to each other. They pulled their shirt sleeves down, and looked to Alex, who groaned and stood up. “I have a few, but they’re pretty small.” She came up close to the camera, followed by Charlie, who helped her pull the collar of her shirt down, and swept her hair away from the nape of her neck, revealing the small outline of a triangle at the top of her spine. “I’ve got that, and then-” She pulled her top up, and showed a single word written on her ribcage, in gaelic. ‘teine’. “It says fire, in scottish gaelic. And this one.” She held her hand up to the camera, showing a daffodil on the inside of her middle finger on her right hand. “And then I have another one on my leg, but obviously can’t show that.” She settled back onto the sofa, smacking Charlie when he laughed. “It’s hardly on her leg. It’s like-” She held a hand over his mouth and smiled at Owen, asking silently for the next question. “Oh wow, okay I like this one.”

Alex, how do you get along with the JATP cast, and who’s your favourite? Owen looked at Alex expectantly, who just rolled her eyes and crossed her legs. “I love them, so much. While Char was away I was constantly on the phone, and they’d just pass me around depending on who was filming. A lot of it was because Charlie was afraid I’d get lonely, but also because he was so busy that he could only grab a couple of minutes to speak to me every now and again. While I was in Vancouver, me and Owen definitely spent a lot of time together, and he showed me round the city while Charlie and Mads were doing perfect harmony shoots and stuff, which was an experience and a half. Note to self, Owen is incredibly competitive at arcade games.” Alex slipped her hand into Charlie’s as she spoke about her time with Owen, knowing he’d probably start overthinking it. “But Mads and I got super close. Like everytime the boys were filming we’d go to craft services and eat our weight in brownies. We made them a lot too, in the apartment. We literally facetime everyday. And Savannah too, oh my god I love that girl so much. She’s like my best friend. I wouldn’t have made it over there without her, she literally picked me up from the airport when someone forgot I was coming.” Charlie held his hands up in defense, and Alex rolled her eyes. “He didn’t forget I was coming, he just ‘lost track of time’. But honestly, I can’t pick a favourite, they’re like family to me.” She smiled at Owen, and leaned back against Charlie, meaning every word. “Aw. How cute. I’m the favourite. Next question. Oh wow, this is a biggie.”

Charlie, are you going to propose? Alex’s eyes widened, and she coughed, turning to look at Charlie. “Good question. It’s nearly four years. Where’s the ring, Charlieboy?” Charlie chuckled and ran a hand through his hair, leaning back against the sofa. “Got a while yet, got to train her up a bit better first.” Alex punched him in the arm, and he winced, rubbing it and glaring at her. “I’m joking, obviously. She’s only just 21, so we’re gonna wait a bit- but yes, I will. One day. If she doesn’t kill me with her cooking first.” Owen raised his eyebrows and brought a leg up underneath him, scrolling through the questions. Alex looked at Charlie with a pout, crossing her arms and moving away from him. “Oh my god, you’re such a child. Yes, I’m going to propose, just not now and not anytime soon! Yikes.” Alex grinned and kissed his cheek, waiting for the next question. “Right, we’ll make this the last one?” Alex and Charlie nodded, Alex tucking her legs up to her chest as she leaned back against Charlie, her head resting on his arm, which was thrown across the back of the couch.

What’s your favourite thing about each other? Alex smirked and looked Charlie up and down, winking at the camera. Charlie did something similar, his arm moving down the sofa and grabbing at her hip, making his intentions more than clear. Owen gagged, and spun round, holding his forehead in his hands and shaking his head. “Joking. I love Charlie’s passion. He gets so invested in the things he loves, and watching him speak about stuff he’s genuinely interested in and excited for is the cutest thing in the world. He gets these like sparkles in his eye, and he jumps up and down and god it’s adorable. I also like his abs. They are, in a word exquisite. Not to mention his arms.” Charlie rolled his eyes, but pressed a loving kiss to her temple. “I love how talented Alex is. There’s not really anything she can’t do. Literally, she’s musical, athletic, and she’s like stupid smart. She has a degree. From college. Like woah. And I also love when she gets super excited about something, or when she gets like really emotional- not sad, just when she’s feeling something really intensely, she starts like bouncing up and down in her seat, and clapping her hands or shaking them really fasr. It’s literally like the most adorable thing ever. And her ass. It’s pretty cool too.” Owen coughed and held a hand up. “Right well, there’s one thing she can’t do. She can’t dance. Like at all. It’s quite funny.” Charlie nodded, as did Alex. “Dancing, definitely not my forte. Also, when he says athletic, he means I played field hockey in high school and college. The most exercise I get now is when he’s hor-” Owen stood up quickly, and Charlie covered her mouth with his hand. “Okay, that’s all for this video! Hope you guys are suitably grossed out. Thanks for watching, goodbye!!!”

Owen turned off the camera, and Alex grinned before turning to Charlie, connecting her lips with his in a soft kiss. Finally being allowed to talk about her relationship was a major relief, after having to hide it for so long. “Gross, can you wait til I’m gone at least?” Alex rolled her eyes and flipped him off, climbing off the sofa. “No, cause we’re going out for dinner. Can you call Sav, baby? Let her know we’ll be like an hour?” Charlie nodded, watching her with a dazed smile as she wandered into their bedroom, already tying her long hair up out of the way for a hard session of outfit searching. “You’re in so deep with that one, man.” Owen looked at Charlie knowingly, who just shrugged and continued to smile. “What can I say. She’s the one.” Owen shook his head and rolled his eyes, but he was smiling, happy that another one of his best friends had found real love. Charlie scrolled through the contacts on Alex’s phone, clicking on Savannah’s name and raising the phone to his ear. He jumped when she picked up, holding the phone at arm’s length. “Oh my god, Sav it’s me, not Alex. She said to tell you we’re going out in a couple of hours, and to be ready to go for 7. That cool?” Savannah spoke rapidly on the other side of the line, agreeing and squealing with excitement when she heard Owen would be there. “I’ve missed you guys! Okay, see you soon!” Charlie hung up and set his girlfriend’s phone down, reaching for the remote, and turning on the TV. “Wanna watch the NHL?” Owen nodded, kicking his feet up on the coffee table, and looking at the clock on the wall. It was only half three.

[poledancingdinos]

Have a Shitty Christmas

A/N: Y’all aren’t ready for how ridiculous this drabble is. This is my favorite Christmas song and I’m feeling like shit so this is the result. (I don’t actually think Henry would wish harm on anyone like the song, I just wanted to use this gif because look at that dork)

Word count: 953

Warnings: High levels of sass, horny, mentions of cheating

Masterlist

Henry was running around the living room, setting up the massive Christmas tree he had picked out that morning. His nieces and nephews were coming over to help him decorate it, so he was making sure there was enough room to circulate freely around the tree and that none of Kal’s toys were laying around waiting for little legs to trip over them.

His phone buzzed, the screen lighting up with a text from a familiar phone number which he promptly deleted without reading it. This was a happy day, a family day, and he wasn’t going to let anything, or anyone ruin it. The kitchen timer rang, indicating that the cookies he’d prepared were ready to be taken out of the oven. He pulled out the hot baking sheet and promptly replaced it with one filled with balls of raw dough.

The whole house was filled with the delicious scent of molasses cookies. He heard a set of light footsteps sneaking into the kitchen behind him and pretended he didn’t notice as he scooped the chocolate chip batter onto a new pan to be cooked next. Before a delicate hand could grab one of the warm cookies, he turned around, lifting his girlfriend over his shoulder and causing her to release a high-pitched shriek.

“Henry, put me down,” she giggled.

“No, absolutely not. I think cookie theft deserves a punishment; don’t you agree?”

“Attempted cookie theft, I didn’t even get to eat one,” she replied defensively crossing her arms against his back.

Her body shook as Henry chuckled with his deep, throaty laugh. He set her down on the couch in the living room next to where Kal was snoozing and snoring lightly. He grabbed the back of the couch with both hands, caging her between his arms.

“Fine, I’ll commute your sentence to banishment from the kitchen until the kids get here and one kiss.”

She gasped dramatically.

“No, please, anything but a kiss. I don’t think I could bear it.”

“No complaining, Lassie, or that number is going up,” he whispered an inch away from her lips. She leaned forward closing the gap between them and locking their lips in a passionate kiss. When Henry pulled away, she chased his lips making him laugh, once again.

Before he could say anything more, the doorbell rang, drawing his attention away. He looked at his watch, wondering who it could be since his brothers weren’t due for another hour.

He walked to the door, opening it only enough to see who was disturbing him. He remained frozen when his blue eyes fell on the woman standing in front of him.

“Hi Henry-”

He held up his hand. “No, we are not doing this again, you need to leave,” he cut her off.

“I am so sorry. Please, just talk to me,” she pleaded, making a show out of wiping away her crocodile tears.

“We can’t keep having this conversation. You are no longer in my life and I am not going to be the one to bail you out whenever you get yourself in trouble.”

“I don’t need anything, I swear. The holidays just reminded me of how much I miss you and I wanted to see if you’d give me another chance.”

“Oh, that’s rich considering last year, on Christmas Eve, you were sleeping with another man behind my-” the rest of his response was cut off by his girlfriend calling his name behind him.

“Henry, come back you were just about to unwrap me.”

In his confusion, he let go of the door and the woman in front of him pushed her way in, only to stop dead in her tracks when she saw who the voice belonged to.

At the end of the entryway stood his girlfriend wearing the sexiest red babydoll he had ever seen. There were multiple questions floating around his head, but they could all wait.

“Who is she?”

“I’m the newer, better you,” his girlfriend answered with the highest level of sass he had ever heard. There was venom behind each word, but he could tell she was also enjoying herself. She strutted up to his ex and intimidated her into stepping back out the door. “Now, if you don’t mind, you are keeping me from a very important date with Henry’s talented tongue. Have a shitty Christmas!” The woman was so stunned, she couldn’t do anything more than pout and storm off, climbing into her and driving away.

“Where did that come from?” Henry asked, shutting the door, still a little perplexed by the events that had just unfolded.

“What, the attitude? I remember you talking about her and saying how awfully she treated you, it really wasn’t that hard to be a bitch. I also know she hasn’t stopped texting you. You aren’t that subtle when you see them come in.”

“And what about all-” he gestured up and down at her body- “that.”

“Oh, well I had it on under my clothes for after your family leaves, but I figured it would be a good way to scare her off. You really can’t argue with a woman confident enough to be walking around in lingerie in front of a total stranger.”

Henry’s lips curved into a wide smile as he looked down at his beautiful girlfriend.

“I love you,” he wrapped his arms around her shoulder, crushing her to his chest and nuzzling her hair.

“I love you too.” She looked over her shoulder towards the kitchen before giving him a sly smile. “Does scaring her away earn me a cookie?” She wiggled her eyebrows, making his smile grow even wider.

“Later, right now there’s something else I’d like to be eating.”