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vecnawrites · 4 years

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Two Flavors Of Delicious Chocolate

Jaune Arc was a normal guy, if one asked him. He was moderately strong, reasonably intelligent at most things, skilled at a few. If one had asked him if he would have two girls fighting for his attention, he would have laughed. However, the fact of the matter was, he DID have two women wanting him. And they would do what it took to get that fact into his head...

(Hooooolllllyyyyy Fuuuuucccckkkkk...this one got away from me! This is my second commission, from The-Wayward-Arc. I loved the idea, and it became this! An art piece is connected to my AO3 page for this one, and more should be coming when I can commission the artists!)

Jaune Arc liked to think that he was a reasonably intelligent individual. After all, he always scored at least middling in both Grimm Studies and History, and the highest in Tactics and Situational Defense and Assault. Even Weiss was admittedly (and more than a little begrudgingly) impressed by that.

...so how in the name of any God or Gods listening did he not notice this!? He looked back and forth between the two, admittedly extremely beautiful women glaring at one another before him.

One was Emerald Sustrai, a chocolate skinned, carmine eyed, mint haired beauty, with thick curves that drew the eye of every male, and even some of the females, as she walked (even him. What? He treated women well, like he had been taught. He wasn’t fucking blind), her hips swaying back and forth and bringing attention to that absolute shelf of a rear end she had. That wasn’t to say her chest had nothing to offer, as her breasts looked perfectly sized for his hands, perky and firm.

Her personality was confident, and a bit sarcastic and snarky, although that usually came out only when faced with people she wasn’t too fond of, like Cardin or her own teammate, Mercury...although in the latter, he was pretty sure it was part of how they acted with one another. Like how Yang teased Weiss.

The other was May Zedong, another incredibly beautiful classmate of his, with muted maroon colored hair styled in a way that covered her left eye, leaving only the right gray-blue orb visible, and a black beanie keeping her hair in place. She had that wallflower air about her, generally going around unnoticed by most unless a teacher asked a question, even by her own teammates (something that made him seethe), but he had always noticed her and sought to talk, even if it was only some minor casual conversation over class notes. He wasn’t going to let her feel as alone as he did before coming to Beacon.

One would think that the girl was nearly flat, maybe a double-a cup (like Weiss supposedly was, don’t ask how he knew), but that was a lie. The girl was more stacked than Yang and even Professor Goodwitch were! Her breasts had to be as large as her own head! Again, it wasn’t like he was a pervert, but having seven sisters made him able to tell when a woman was binding or stuffing her bra to either remove attention or gain it.

And he could understand why, honestly. May was almost cripplingly shy, more nervous than Ruby or Velvet when called upon by staff or someone else. She seemed to revel in being invisible and unnoticed.

But now they were both before him, glaring at one another; Emerald looked like she wanted to, as his elder sister Saphron liked to say, “Slap A Bitch”, and even the shy and bashful May looked ready to try and claw out Emerald’s eyes with her fingernails.

“If you think your shy ass can make him happy, you’ve got another thing coming! What are you two going to do, hold hands while hiding in the shadows?” Emerald snorted, popping her hip and placing her hand on it, smirking darkly at the beanie-wearing sniper.

May glared, only one being visible doing nothing to hide the intensity. “At least I didn’t have to flaunt myself like a whore to get Jaune’s attention! He always noticed me, even without knowing about my tits!”

He could see them about to fight, and his body moved before his brain did, placing himself between them and giving them both a stern look (something perfected by dealing with mischievous younger twin sisters), silently telling them both to stop.

Both huffed, curling into his sides and glaring at one another, static seeming to form between their gazes.

He tugged the two girls who had captured his heart over the semester close to him and closed his eyes, recalling exactly how this started…

Start Of The Week

Emerald Sustrai had known little in the way of happiness or of comfort for most of her life. Growing up an orphan in Vacuao, she had lived on the streets and been forced to scrounge and steal in order to survive. She had been tempered and hardened by such a thing, her heart steeled to do what was necessary, even if it wasn’t right.

She had managed to steal, scrimp, and save enough to catch a flight to Vale, and apply to Beacon. She hated Vacuao, and wouldn’t set foot in Shade for a second if she could help it. She knew that they held a ‘survival of the fittest’ ideal, and after living it for most of her life, she wasn’t going to be going through it at school, where she was supposed to be able to trust the people who she teamed up with to watch her back!

Getting to school and getting through initiation, she had been partnered with Cinder Fall, an enigmatic, but intelligent and resourceful woman who used a bow and arrows and Fire Dust. Her other partners were Mercury Black, a silver haired smart ass with prosthetic combat legs, and Neopolitan, a mute midget with a weird ass reinforced parasol for combat of all things. But even Emerald couldn’t deny that they were skilled and effective at killing the Grimm in the forest.

But she was still missing something...or rather, someone. She wasn’t an idiot, she knew that she was more likely to die before retiring, so she wanted to find someone...maybe they would last, maybe they wouldn’t. But before the year’s end, she would be free of this pesky virginity!

But...surveying the available males made her wince. Mercury? No, it was a bad idea to have sex with a teammate. She had enough to worry about, she wasn’t going to have to worry about her own teammate as well.

Brawnz Ni? Arrogant, and full of himself. She wasn’t going to give him a bigger ego. Roy Stallion? He was okay, but not her type. Nolan Porfirio? Too passive.

Lie Ren? Nice, but taken, going by the ginger with the hammer constantly hanging off of him. She would not ruin a relationship, thanks...or risk having her kneecaps obliterated by a combination War Hammer/Grenade Launcher.

Team CRDL?...Pfft, she’d sooner stick a slim teasing vibe in her pussy and seal it up to be tormented for the rest of her life before letting one of those slimeballs touch her.

But Jaune Arc...he was interesting. Kind, but not to the point of being walked over, as evidenced as he corralled his (possibly certifiably crazy) teammate, Nora Valkyrie. Not the strongest, but not the weakest, reasonably intelligent, although his strongest points were tactics and applied strategy, being the only student to be actually acing the class. He...he would work. He was handsome, in that goofy, awkward way, messy blonde hair, bright blue eyes, awkward, charming smile...and always doing small acts of kindness, even if he never got thanks for it.

The one problem? His partner, the Invincible Girl. She couldn’t tell if they were together, hell, she couldn’t tell if the redhead even liked him in that way! She looked at him softly, but it wasn’t seemingly the way that a lover looked at another lover.

An elbow nudged her, and she looked to see a head of multicolored hair, heterochromic eyes and a cocky smirk. She deadpanned at Neo. “What is it?” she asked, scowling as the shorter girl wagged her eyebrows as she glanced over at Jaune, making her scowl deepen.

“Don’t even, Neo…besides, aren’t you a card carrying member of the ‘Lady Lover’ society?” she asked, knowing that Neo much preferred females, having seen her eyes roaming over the stacked blonde on Team RWBY, Yang Xiao Long. She couldn’t see it, but she wouldn’t mock the pink, white, and brown haired girl for her interest.

Neo shrugged, almost saying “I can appreciate looks, can’t I?” before nodding over to the corner. Following, she felt her heckles rise almost instinctively, lip curling up in anger as she saw what Neo was referring to.

In the corner was the quiet May Zedong. Now, Emerald had nothing against the quiet girl who hid herself in the corners and hardly ever spoke up unless she was directly spoken to. One would think herself a complete and utter wallflower, non-threatening. But, May Zedong was a sniper. She preferred to wait and strike when it was best for her. And right now, her lovesick blue-gray eye was locked right on her future man. This would not stand. “I’ll be back to the dorm later, Neo...I have to...talk...with someone.”

Neo tapped a finger against her lips as she watched her teammate stalk off, an intense look in her crimson eyes, before shrugging and heading back to the dorms. On one hand, she hoped her teammate knew what she was doing...on the other, she would take her amusement where she could get it.

May Zedong was used to going unnoticed among a crowd. She knew she wasn’t the beauty that most huntresses-in-training were, feeling as though she had really plain features. Slightly narrow face, only one eye (a grimm attack when she was young taking the other one), she felt even her hair was limp and unappealing, even if it was a unique maroon color. Even her own teammates paid her no second glance, instead preferring to fawn over the likes of Yang Xiao Long, Cinder Fall, and Pyrrha Nikos.

A small, extremely bitter part of her knew that she could get any boy’s attention if they knew what she hid under her hoodie or uniform top. She had been extremely ‘blessed in the chest’ as it were, going from almost flat bee stings to Double-G cups in the span of her teenage years, and was only able to hide the damned things by an expensive, dust enhanced binder that made her look like she was barely a B-cup.

But while she could easily get any guy, she didn’t want to rely on her tits to do so. She’d only attract creeps to her, who only wanted her for her breasts. She’d never let that happen. She wanted to be liked for who she was, not her chest.

She had come to Beacon with her clothes, some personal items and her Sniper Rifle/Climbing Axe, Opening Gambit, hoping that she could find some happiness with a boyfriend while at Beacon, the risks of her survival until she was thirty drilled into her head by her mother.

So far, she had dealt with nothing but disappointment. Her own teammates glossed over her as a woman without so much as a second glance, even her own partner, Nolan. Hell, Brawnz had thought she was a boy until she had said otherwise. CRDL were assholes. Mercury Black gave her the creeps. He just...stared at people sometimes. Without blinking. Lie Ren was cute, but he was claimed, even if he didn’t know it yet. Nora Valkyrie clung to him like a baby koala did to its mother.

But Jaune...he...he was nice. He was kind. He noticed her, always went out of his way to talk to her, even if it was a simple ‘hello’ in the halls! Her heart beat faster and she could feel her cheeks heat up as she thought of being held in his arms, just being accepted for who she was-

“Zedong.” May was cruelly ripped from her fantasy by the curt voice of Emerald Sustrai, a dark skinned beauty that turned more than a fair few eyes with her teasing smile and swaying hips. But currently, there was no smile on her face, instead there was a severe look that made her heart race, this time not from a happy fantasy with a potential boyfriend, but from adrenaline flushing through her body as her fight or flight instincts went wild. She swallowed.

“Y-Yes, Emerald?” she asked, cursing internally as she stuttered, despising the weakness. She flinched as a cocoa skinned hand slapped right on the wall next to her.

She leaned close, allowing her to smell her scent (cherry blossoms, very pleasant), and carmine eyes narrowed. She leaned even more forwards, until May could feel the verdette’s nose poking her own. “What are you getting at, staring at my future boyfriend like that?” she growled.

May blinked, before the words registered in her brain. She scowled back, her body making more adrenaline and scowling at the surprised looking Sustrai. “You. Don’t. Own. Him.” she growled angrily. “I know he’s not dating anyone right now.” despite her anger, she felt worry when she saw a glint appear in Emerald’s eyes, her lips turning up in a smirk.

“Really…?” Emerald murmured to herself, tilting her head, “I figured, but its nice to have confirmation...that will make it much easier...especially since I don’t have to worry about potentially ruining a relationship…” she licked her lips. “Thanks for the information, wallflower. Do yourself a favor: stay away while I go for him. I’m not cruel, but you’re honestly bound only for disappointment if you go up against me.” she smirked. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a boyfriend to go claim.”

Pulling away from the beanie-wearing girl, Emerald turned and walked away, making sure to sway her hips and let the girl know what she was dealing with.

May breathed harshly as the adrenaline slump kicked in, not unlike when she was out of combat. She flushed, not only from shame that an altercation from a fellow student made her feel like she was going against a Grimm, but from anger. To be told, ordered, not to pursue the one boy that gave her the time of day, that held her interest...that wouldn’t fly. She obviously couldn’t use her tried and true method of waiting for the right moment to strike. She would have to go out of her comfort zone and attempt a strike normally…she glared at the retreating Emerald, her blue-gray eye narrowing. It was on. Tomorrow, the battle would begin!

~x~x~

Emerald smirked as she looked herself over in the mirror. She had ‘borrowed’ a few skirts from both Cinder and Neo, who were both smaller in the hips than she was, and loved the effect it had when placed on her thicker frame.

The material of the skirt clung to her ass nicely, even coming up a bit and showing off just a bit of her plump cheeks. A quick sway of her hips made her chuckle, as it showed off more of her ass, just enough that it could confuse...and arouse...those who saw her. Especially since she had forgone normal panties, instead wearing one of her thongs, the string being swallowed up by the split between her cheeks.

Sure, she had only one person in mind, but teasing others was good fun too. She knew enough that Jaune didn’t have the best self-image, either, so when they got together, it would do his ego a bit of good that he had a girl on his arm that everyone else lusted after.

“So this is what you wanted to borrow our skirts for…” a dash of red dusted Emerald’s cheeks as she looked up to see her partner, Cinder, leaning against the door frame, her arms crossed over her chest, watching her.

Emerald cleared her throat and forced the redness away from her cheeks. She knew that she had nothing to be embarrassed about. Cinder wasn’t loose, but she had shared her bed with a few boys before, generally civilians from Vale on the weekends. That way, she didn’t have to worry about them ‘getting attached’.

“So, who’s the lucky boy that managed to catch your attention, my dear Emerald?” the inflection of Cinder’s tone was more that of ‘leader’ than ‘friend’, meaning that Cinder wanted to know to make sure it didn’t affect the team. They may not be number one team of the year (that belonged to JNPR), but they weren’t far behind it.

“Jaune Arc.” she replied, her tone soft, watching her dark haired team leader close her eyes and nod, lips tilting upwards a bit. “Hmm, not a bad choice...you could certainly do worse…” opening her golden eyes, she smirked. “Best of luck. I know many others have been eyeing him, not just the girl you spoke to yesterday. If rumors are right, even a second year is interested in him...that rabbit faunus, Velvet something.” she hummed, her smirk growing a bit even as Emerald stiffened. “Go get him, girl.”

~x~x~

May Zedong stood in Team BRNZ’s locked bathroom, gathering her courage. She knew that this was going to be risky, but the potential payoff was worth the potential discomfort.

She stood naked in front of the mirror, looking over her body critically. Her large breasts, larger than her own head, jutting form her chest proudly. Most girls would consider it a point of pride, she however, considered them a point of shame and embarrassment, to be hidden away.

Carefully, she gently cupped the heavy swells, hefting them and contemplating them. The skin was smooth, not a single flaw to it, not a blemish nor a beauty mark. Her nipples were large and puffy, a horizontal slit showing that they were inverted, another oddity of her body that she disliked, along with how brutally sensitive her chest was. She always got wet simply by rubbing them, and playing with them intently could make her cum.

Letting her breasts go, she slid her hands along her sides, trailing them along her flat, toned belly and to her hips, twisting her upper body this way and that, glancing at her breasts from profile, a weak smile forming on her face as she saw the jiggle.

Glancing between her legs, she looked at her freshly waxed core. She had never liked more body hair than necessary, something she knew was shared by almost all Huntresses-in-training. Turning around fully she looked over her shoulder and pushed her butt outwards, taking a look at her rear. She knew it had nothing on Emerald’s, or even several other girls, like Velvet Scarlatina’s from second year, but it was a nice shape and firmness, something that maybe Jaune would like to grab? Spank it as he played with her sensitive tits and fucked her soaking pussy, turning her into a gooey puddle of lust in his skilled hands?

She shook herself out of her fantasy and straightened up, grabbing her panties and slipping them up her legs and covering herself, then her uniform skirt. Turning back around, May gnawed at her lower lip as she looked at her binder. She glanced at it, then down at her chest, before sighing and grabbing it, beginning the process of flattening herself down to look ‘normal’.

But as she did, a naughty thought, a wicked thought, filled her head. She would gradually start loosening her binder, until she could proudly go without the damned thing...or at least have it loosened enough that people-that Jaune-saw her as the young woman she was.

Strapping it on, she tightened it until she reached her normal almost flat state, before loosening it a bit, her breasts pushing the material a bit more outwards. Grabbing her uniform blouse and tie, she put them on, looking at herself in the mirror.

A hint of redness formed on her cheeks. She looked...she looked feminine. Her shirt bulged a bit, going from nearly flat to respectable. Was...was this what she could look like? She smiled softly as she brushed her hair, making sure her bad eye was covered before putting on her beanie to keep her hair down.

“You can do this, Zedong.” she whispered to herself, steeling herself for the day, and the battle, to come. “It’s no different than combat...time to hunt.”

~x~x~

Jaune Arc woke up feeling odd that day. Not like he had forgotten to study for one of Oobleck’s tests (thankfully, Pyrrha and Ren helped remind him and Nora of those), but more that something...interesting...was going to happen to him. He wanted to hide in his bed and just believe the world outside the dorm room didn’t exist, but knew that he couldn’t do that.

“Jaune?” he glanced to see Pyrrha, his partner in arms, and closest friend at Beacon, looking at him worriedly. He gave her a weak smile. Both he and Pyrrha knew each other’s darkest secrets. For him, it was his falsifying his transcripts and sneaking into the school untrained.

For Pyrrha...it was a more touchy subject. She had been forced to be this perfect girl, someone untouchable, indomitable...she hated it. She also feared how people would react when they learned that she had never felt any type of romantic feelings nor had ever felt sexual desire. Never even found joy in masturbation, even. They had both been blushing hard as she admitted that.

The reveal to one another had only brought the two closer as both friends and partners, and they both felt comfortable telling one another everything. So, he decided to tell her the truth. “Just have this weird feeling that today is going to be interesting…”

Pyrrha hummed. “Interesting? Or...interesting?” she asked, sending a look over at Nora, who was happily chatting with Ren. Jaune shuddered. “It feels between that, but I hope to god its not the latter…” he said softly, making Pyrrha nod. They both loved Nora dearly, but she was a handful, and they didn’t need more than one of her.

Shaking their heads, both redhead and blonde gathered their things, preparing for the day.

~x~x~

Jaune sighed as he made his way to Study Hall. Once again, Oobleck had managed to speak so fast during his class that he was going to have to do extra studies for it. As he was about to enter, he stumbled a bit, his arm lashing out to catch whoever knocked against him, although his breath still left him when he hit the wall, and (the bigger reason) something soft pressing against his groin. Opening his eyes he glanced down to see one of his year mates, Emerald Sustrai, pressed against him, her...ample...rear settling between his thighs perfectly, pressing against where his cock was sure to bulge if she kept moving like that, wiggling that ass of hers! He watched as her eyes opened (a beautiful red shade, he thought), and she looked back at him, a small gentle smile forming on her face.

Emerald smirked to herself. Step One was complete, ‘accidentally’ stumbling into Jaune and making it so her best ‘asset’ was pressed against him. Now for Step Two, Teasing.

Putting a small smile on her face, Emerald made sure to subtly shift her backside against him, wanting to see what he was packing. She knew he wasn’t small, god knows that she heard Winchester bitching about how that size ‘couldn’t be possible without drugs’.

“Thank you for grabbing me...your name’s Jaune, right? I’m Emerald...sorry for being so clumsy!” she chuckled awkwardly, inwardly loving the red hue to his cheeks...and the pressure she could feel start being placed on her ass. She was surprised. From what she could tell, he wasn’t even truly hard yet, but she could feel him pressing quite firmly between her ass cheeks! Redness seeped into her own cheeks, this...this was something special.

Before she could say anything more, her world spun as she was picked up and gently placed onto the floor again, hearing Jaune frantically apologize before taking off in almost a sprint, leaving her there, shocked and soaking her thong.

A smirk formed on her lips. “Stage one and two, complete...now for stage three later on…” she hummed happily, knowing that she could have great fun with that. She knew what fun she wanted to do next...and her semblance could surely help with it…turning, she walked away with a skip in her step, already plotting how the second phase of her plan was going to unfold…

Jaune darted into the Library, holding his books in front of him to hide his straining erection, face flushed as he made his way to the back of it, to his preferred table for studying. That had been mortifying. He desperately hoped that he wouldn’t be getting looks later due to his ‘perversion’. It would be his luck.

Setting his books on the table, he took a seat and sighed, willing his erection away so he could focus on his studies. Jaune cracked open his history text, knowing that the dry words within would slaughter any arousal ruthlessly.

“...Jaune?” he lifted his head, hearing the voice of May Zedong, a girl that he was reasonably well acquainted with. Her voice was soft, and he didn’t know if it was because they were in the library, or because of her natural shyness. But he smiled softly.

“Hey May, how are you…?” he blinked as he noticed that she had loosened her binder (he knew she wore one, but he hadn’t known it was that tight), her chest protruding more outwards, giving her a generous looking C-Cup. He gave it the barest glance (he wasn’t going to apologize for being a guy. He knew girls looked too) before locking eyes with her. He could tell she was embarrassed, but her smile was genuine.

May’s heart was beating faster than it had ever had. She felt all the eyes on her as she moved around her day, and she had only loosened her binder a bit! She could only imagine how people, how Jaune, would react when they saw her true size. She felt her heart skip a beat as he glanced at her chest, but her feels swelled even more as his eyes were only there for a second before locking on her face. “Do...do you mind if I sit here?” she asked, nervously fumbling with her own book for Tactics class. It was Brawnz’s, but she had ‘borrowed’ it so she could actually have something to talk with her crush about.

Her heart warmed as her crush nodded with an affirmative, now, it was time to make her initial chink in his armor. “W-would you mind helping me with Tactics? I could help with History in exchange?” she offered. Fortunately, she was a fair hand in History, being in the top five of the class.

Jaune swallowed. “S-Sure!” he stuttered a bit, his nerves jumping a bit at being alone with a pretty girl. Hopefully this would go better than just before he entered the library?

Jaune was wrong. It was worse. May had always felt comfortable around him, and it showed; she sat next to him, scooting her chair as close as she could get it, practically leaning against him, squishing her chest against his arm. This had the additional effect of getting him to notice that her blouse wasn’t buttoned all the way, giving him a tantalizing view into her cleavage, something he knew no other man saw.

He hated himself. He knew that May was afraid of being objectified, just like Pyrrha, but here he was, having the urge to stare at her. Every glance he made not only made his cock twitch, but his embarrassment and shame grow.

May was pleased, very pleased. She could see the subtle shifts in Jaune’s body, his cheeks flushing like her own were. She wasn’t going to make her final strike now, that would come later. She pressed herself more firmly against him. “...thank you for helping me, Jaune. It helped and I really enjoyed spending time with you.” she said honestly. “...can we study together again?” she asked hopefully, looking into those startling blue eyes.

She smiled as he nodded. “Thank you!” she grabbed him in a hug, although she failed to immediately notice that she pulled his head down to her chest, pressing his face against the exposed tops of her breasts. But even when she did, she only hugged him tighter, despite the redness on her cheeks.

Jaune stiffened, in more ways than one. For not the first time, he bemoaned being so large. Why couldn’t he have been more normal sized like Ren was? Her scent invaded his nose, vanilla and cinnamon, and his cheeks burned, even as his cock swelled and began making a distinct shape down the inner thigh of his uniform slacks. He had to act fast, before she thought him nothing more than a complete pervert!

May squeaked as Jaune quickly slipped out of his arms (unknowingly putting a delicious pressure on her sensitive nipples, making her panties soak. In a flurry of activity, Jaune collected his books and notes, rapidly saying, “It’s been great, May! We should study together again sometime! Sorry, I just remembered I had something important to do! Talk to you later!” he blurted out, before dashing off, leaving an aroused May sitting at the table.

She licked her lips, having seen the distinct ‘manprint’ that her crush had running down his inner thigh. She rubbed her thighs together. She knew that he was big, but not that big…

She swallowed and grabbed her things, standing and deciding to head back to the dorm. Walking away on slightly shaky legs, she knew she would be taking a long personal shower when she got to the dorm room.

Reaching the dorm, Jaune threw himself face first on the bed, face red and eyes wide. Had...had that really just happened? Did two beautiful girls just...what had happened?! Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he forced his aching cock to calm. One good thing about being surrounded by so many beautiful girls all his life, he gained an almost semblance-like ability to force his cock down.

He sighed as it thankfully shrank down and calmed, even though his balls still felt the effects of the arousal that had flooded through him not too long ago. He closed his eyes and sighed. Hopefully, this would just be a one off thing...something that he could laugh about year later on.

Poor Jaune. He had no idea what he was in for.

~x~x~

Two days had passed since the initial incidents, and Jaune had attempted to put them form his mind. Granted, it was impossible really when the two subjects of his thoughts were constantly there, smiling, waving, greeting him.

Considering neither of them were screaming ‘pervert’ or spreading rumors about him, he guessed things were good between them, leading him to wave back and smile awkwardly. Of course, Yang had to make jokes about it, acting as though him getting female attention was something noteworthy…

...and he supposed it was, considering his luck with Weiss. That didn’t mean he needed to hear the jokes about how he was finally getting attention from the ladies.

Rolling his eyes, he sighed and stood. “Very funny, Yang...now, if you’ll all excuse me, I’m going to head off and go anywhere but here.” he said, standing and heading off, distantly hearing Ren, Nora, Pyrrha, and even Ruby going off on her sister. Bless them.

As he left, he failed to notice carmine eyes watching him, following his every move. And both failed to see the calculating blue-gray eye.

Jaune sighed as he placed the barbell back down on the rack, wiping sweat off of his face and neck with his workout shirt. His muscles burned nicely, and he felt pleased with himself. He had come a long way from the unmuscled noodle that had sneaked into Beacon.

Now, while he wasn’t the best warrior, he could certainly hold his own, no thanks in part to his wonderful Partner and teammates. He knew that he would have been dead by now without them.

“Oh, hi Jaune! You decided to get a workout in too?” his eyes widened as he turned and saw Emerald walking up to him. His mouth went dry and he bit his tongue to try and stave of the twitch in his shorts as he saw what she was wearing.

A tight sports top held her sizable breasts snugly in almost a shelf, while she wore sinfully tight black shorts that looked almost painted on. And he was only seeing her from the front. He both desired, and dreaded, seeing what they looked like from behind. ‘Danger, Danger, Jaune Arc! Abandon The Area!’ his mind screamed as the beautiful young woman walked forwards, her hips swinging.

“H-Hi, Emerald…” he mumbled, eyes darting everywhere for help, but heart sinking when he realized they were alone in the gym. He quickly scrambled for an excuse. “Sorry, but I have to go…”

Emerald pouted. “Are you sure? I need to do some squats, and it would really help if someone spotted me...would you, please? I don’t want to overdo it…” she bat her eyes a few times, not overdoing it, but still pulling the ‘sweet demure girl’ act.

She barely resisted the urge to smirk when Jaune nodded, instead cheerfully going, “Great, thanks! Only going to do a few sets today, since I know classes aren’t far away, but there’s enough time to get a quick workout in, along with a nice hot shower! That’s always nice after a workout to ensure you don’t cramp, right? Feeling the hot water running over your body...there’s nothing like it!”

Jaune bit the inside of his cheek as the beautiful girl put the image of her standing under the shower head, the steaming water running over her trim, curvy body...he could feel himself getting hard in his shorts.

Emerald smiled as she slowly turned around, making sure to highlight her ass in these sinfully tight shorts of hers. She had honestly outgrown them, but had kept them around for reasons even she didn’t know...until now, at least.

Bending down and grabbing the barbells, making sure to push her ass out, she smirked when she heard a stilted intake of air. “Ready?” she asked, raising herself up, not waiting for an answer before dropping herself, pushing her ass out hard, quickly falling into a rhythm of rising and falling, making sure to showcase her ass and thighs.

Jaune was hard, unable to stop his cock from getting fully hard and stretching out his shorts lewdly. As embarrassing as that was, he preferred that to it sliding down his leg and peeking out to say hello to the world. He was just very grateful she was facing away from him, otherwise he knew this would end badly.

Emerald smirked widely as she performed her squats. Jaune had apparently not noticed the mirror across from them, and she had a perfect view of how hard he was staring at her ass...and how hard he was in response. She licked her lips and her core tingled, warmth bubbling up in her belly as she imagined being speared by that cock.

Despite loving the fact that Jaune was captivated by her ass, she knew she had to finish up sadly. But she wasn’t going to let that end her fun, there would be plenty of chances to tease him later. So, as she went down for her final squat, she rocked backwards, letting out a squeak as both she and Jaune hit the mat, her ass squashing against his cock.

Jaune groaned piteously as his cock was pressed down by those soft cheeks, just like two days ago, as Emerald rubbed her head and-oh god-squirmed on top of him, his balls going haywire. He bit his tongue to avoid making any sound that could tell Emerald exactly what was happening underneath her.

Forcing his eyes open, he saw her rubbing the back of her head, before glancing back, although not down, much to his relief. He twitched as she shifted more, her ass rubbing against his cock. ‘Oh, fuck, she needs to stop!’ he thought, panicked.

Emerald had to hit Jaune with her semblance, she couldn’t keep the smirk off her face anymore as she subtly wiggled her plump ass on the thick meat stick underneath her. “Ow…” she whined piteously, rubbing the back of her head, “Are you okay, Jaune? I hope I didn’t hurt you!” she asked, forcing the weight of her ass on his cock more, loving the panicked look on his face. She was glad that they were alone and that her ass was facing him; she was soaked.

The groan that hit her ears made her smirk, more teasing to be had then. “Did I hurt you?! Hang on, let me see where I landed!” she slowly dragged her ass down Jaune’s cock and placed herself on the mat, turning around-

-only to see Jaune up already and rushing to the showers, hunched over. She blinked, before she smirked, standing up and slowly following, intending to find him and watch what she knew he was doing. Maybe even ‘help’.

She herself failed to notice her follower, the blue-gray orb narrowed in anger.

Jaune groaned as he stood naked under the shower spray, one hand on the wall and the other performing what was known as a ‘tactical jerk’, rapidly tugging at his cock, trying to bring himself to orgasm before anyone else arrived.

“Fuck...why...how did she not notice?” he groaned, his cock and balls aching terribly as he pumped hard on his cock. “She can’t have not felt it…” even now, he could feel the warm squeeze of her ass on him, almost a phantom sensation that drove him wild.

He moved his hand for a moment, only for his eyes to snap open as a warm squeeze seemingly did envelop his cock, a tight warmth that made pre spurt from his tip. Looking before him, he saw nothing, but sniffing, he smelled the scent of cherry blossoms, just like the girl who he had been spotting. The sensation began to move, confusing him utterly, but the pleasure made him quickly forget thinking about it too hard.

Emerald smirked at a job well done. Jaune was wrapped in the throes of her semblance and she had stripped and slipped in front of him, capturing that massive cock in her ass. She hummed to herself as she began to rub that hot hard flesh, her ass moving along it, her own honey leaking down her inner thighs. She knew they would have to be swift, after all, people could come into the gym or its showers anytime. But she knew enough that Jaune had to be close. She just needed to...make...him...cum!

Jaune released a broken sound as his balls finally began to release, his cock spitting his copious seed all over the wall in front of him, much to his shame, his cock throbbing and balls pumping out a massive amount of cum, utterly painting it white.

Shame filled him, and after a quick rinse, he swiftly dried off, dressed and made his way out.

Under the spray of the water, Emerald hummed to herself as she rinsed herself clean. While she couldn’t see how much cum was on her backside, she could definitely feel the warmth that coated her. She chuckled. “Step three, complete…” she murmured. She would hunt him down again and next time, she would ask him out. She was sure he’d be all for it.

Hidden in the shadows of the corner, a tear-filled blue-gray eye stared at Emerald in rage. May knew about Emerald’s semblance, and she knew that Jaune didn’t see what had really happened. Slipping away, she wasn’t going to give in. No, she was going to fight for Jaune!

Creeping back, she May skulked out of the showers, already preparing for her next move. She needed to do something special.

~x~x~

Jaune sat in Survival Class, an elective course, but one he found damn useful. Even as he looked over the diagrams that they were working on today, he knew his mind wasn’t in it, it going back to the scene in the Gym earlier with Emerald. Glancing around, he supposed it was okay, though...after all, there seemed to be low turnout for the class today. As an elective, you came when the class had something you wanted to learn in it.

He sighed as he felt his cock, still semi hard, twitch in his slacks. He still felt phantom feelings of her rear on his lap, like when he was in the shower…

“Hi, Jaune! Can I sit with you?” he looked to the side, hearing May’s voice, only to choke as he turned. May’s chest had grown again, and now matched Yang’s size. He quickly shook himself though, knowing that she would hate gawking. “S-Sure, May.” he stuttered, watching as she happily took the seat next to him, her breasts bouncing slightly as she settled. Glancing around, Jaune noticed that they were the only two in the classroom, which filled him with a bit of trepidation, but he trusted May. He knew she wouldn’t do anything to embarrass him.

He heard the door opened and a flush filled his cheeks as he saw Emerald enter in her uniform, looking up and waving at him, although her smile seemed...dimmed. He didn’t know what caused that and would have thought more on it, but he was distracted-incredibly distracted-by May leaning into his arm again as she pointed out something in the book. If anyone asked, he wouldn’t be able to tell them, since his entire focus was on the softness pressing against his arm.

While Jaune was...preoccupied, both Emerald and May were having a stare down, giving one another very ugly looks, unimpressed with the fact of what the other was doing or did. Their eyes were cold, and if one looked closely, it would seem like lightning was crackling between the two beauties. May was happy that she had arrived first and foremost and was able to sit next to Jaune, while Emerald was incised for the same reasoning.

After a moment, Emerald smirked, immediately making May stiffen, wondering what the devious verdette had in mind.

Heading over to the table that held the books they used for the class, Emerald wasn’t going to let Zedong get in the way of her snagging her future boyfriend. She’d just get the sight that Jaune was going to be able to enjoy whenever he wanted, too! She laughed to herself as she stretched straight out over the table, feeling her skirt rise and rise, cool air brushing over the skin of her ass...the dual gasps made her smirk and glance over her shoulder, using her semblance to hide the blatant action, her cheeks red, even though she thought this was so hot…

Both Jaune and May stared in shock as Emerald’s skirt moved up more and more, until the entirety of her ass was completely exposed, the smooth chocolate skin taut and unblemished. More to the point, she was lacking underwear, letting them see everything.

May was horrified. She had no idea that Emerald was going to be that blatant with her wants! She knew that it wasn’t an accident, either! She could see her shifting her stance (subtly, of course) to arch her rear up and make it spread a bit! Glancing at Jaune, she was disheartened to see him staring with a dark blush on his cheeks, although she could understand it. Acting quickly, she did the first thing that came to mind to get his attention back.

Jaune’s mouth went dry as he saw her cheeks spread, allowing him to glimpse the darker circle of skin between the half moons, and the plump, pouty lips just beneath. He lost his battle keeping his cock soft, the shaft swelling with blood and pitching a massive tent in his slacks. He didn’t know how long he stared at the enticing image before he heard a squeak, and the wind was knocked out of him as he fell out of his chair and onto the floor, something warm landing on his crotch, making him freeze in horror.

Glancing down, he saw May, planted face down on his crotch, her cheek rubbing up against his hard shaft, her warm hand on his thigh, her breath seeping through his clothes and brushing over his balls; his cock ached.

May had attempted to put her hand over Jaune’s eyes, but slipped and slammed into him, taking them both to the ground. As the dizziness faded, she felt something hard poking her cheek and noticed that she was taking in a wonderful, musky scent. One that made her pussy clench in her panties. Opening her eye, her face burned as she realized somehow she had ended up face first in Jaune’s lap. Her eyesight grew hazy and stung as tears of humiliation filled them. She hadn’t meant for this!

She threw herself up and back, looking down at the ground and tried to take in a breath to calm herself, but all that came out was a loud ‘Hic!’ as burning hot tears began to stream down her face, falling onto her skirt. She couldn’t bring herself to look up at her crush, knowing that she would see the most disgusted look on it-she froze as strong arms wrapped around her and pulled her close to his chest. “It’s okay, May...its okay...it was an accident…”

May buried her face into her crushes chest, taking deep breaths of his scent, her emotions settling and her love for Jaune growing as he comforted her after that humiliating experience. She snuggled against him, letting herself relax to the powerful thump, thump, thump of his heartbeat.

Neither noticed Emerald stomping out with a scowl.

~x~x~

Another two days had passed, and while things had been slightly awkward between him and May, it wasn’t bad enough that they couldn’t interact with one another. However, today was an off day for classes (something about a staff wide meeting? He didn’t really care enough to confirm it), so he was planning on heading to one of the indoor pools. Oddly enough this meeting coincided nicely, since the team had reserved it today anyway. Now, instead of a few hours after classes, they had the entire day to laze away in it if they wanted. Which they were going to.

Nora laughed as she changed into her swimsuit in the middle of the room, uncaring if her teammates saw her naked. None of them batted an eye, used to Nora’s wild side by now. “This is going to be great! How often do we say that we get to just sit by and swim in a pool all day?” she asked.

“We don’t, since the pools are always filled up on the weekends, and we don’t want Pyrrha in a swimsuit appearing in the tabloids. Its bad enough people are taking photos of her in classes, for God’s sake.” Jaune sighed, shaking his head as his closest friend and partner blushed.

“I’m sorry!”

“No, Pyrrha, don’t be sorry that other people don’t know boundaries.” Jaune said, patting her on the shoulder. His partner looked very attractive in her modest two piece bikini, but he knew that people would only be able to admire from a distance. After all, most of them never had the nerve to speak to her, and even if they did, Pyrrha, being on the Aromantic Asexual side of the spectrum, wasn’t cruel enough to lead them on.

A knock on the door drew their attention, and glancing to make sure his teammates were decent, Jaune moved over to the door, opening it to see…“May? Hey, what’s up?” he smiled as he saw his shy friend in front of their dorm room.

May blushed brightly as she saw the boy she loved without a shirt and wearing only swimming trunks, her mouth going dry as her eye roamed over her muscled form. Feeling warmth bubble up in her belly, she cleared her throat and spoke, hoping her voice didn’t crack. “I...I came to see if you wanted to hang out...but I can come back later?” she asked hopefully, hoping that she got some time with her crush today...without her trying to muscle in.

Pyrrha blinked. While she may not feel it herself, she could see that May was attracted to Jaune. Hell, she likely would be attracted to Jaune if she was capable of feeling those types of emotions. He was a great man. She smiled and moved forwards. “We’re going to the pool, May. Would you like to join us? The more the merrier?” seeing the beanie-wearing girl’s surprised look, she winked from behind Jaune’s shoulder.

May had to bite the inside of her cheek to avoid the face-splitting smile she wanted to reveal, instead managing to say, “A-are you sure? I don’t want to be a bother...or get in the way of team time.” she nearly winced, since most of the time she was left out of ‘Team Bonding’ stuff in BRNZ, since she was the only girl.

She didn’t see Jaune’s eyes soften, but she did hear him. “It’s not bother to spend time with a friend, May. You’re welcome to come. We’d be glad to have you.” she couldn’t keep the joy off her face this time as she smiled wide. “Thanks! I’ll go get my suit! Which pool are you heading to?” she asked. This could be her chance! And it looked like Jaune’s own partner, Pyrrha freaking Nikos, approved of her going for him!

“The smaller one on the West side of the dorms. More private.” left unsaid was they chose that one to make sure Pyrrha had peace, since it was one of the few of them that didn’t have windows to the outside, meaning no loiterers attempting to hide with cameras. It may have been against the rules and punished harshly, but that didn’t stop perverts in their attempt to get pictures of swimsuit malfunctions.

“Thanks! I’ll go grab my suit!” in a burst of emotion, she hugged him, before darting off back to her own dorm to get her suit. She had thankfully bought one in case she ever had the courage to do something like this.

Granted, it wasn’t ideal, since preferably, it would just be her and Jaune, but at this point, with what Emerald had been pulling, she couldn’t afford to stay her usual self anymore...besides, worst came to worst, she had her semblance to fall back on.

Entering her empty dorm, she dug her bikini out of the bottom of her dresser, blushing at the thought of Jaune seeing her in it, wondering what he would saw when he saw how large her breasts were, before shaking her head. Now wasn’t the time for talk, it was time for action. She wouldn’t allow anything to stop her.

May was pouting. Honest to god pouting. Why? Apparently, Team RWBY had overheard Pyrrha and Jaune inviting her to the pool, so they invited themselves! And what’s worse, Emerald had found them and gotten an invite too! But she wasn’t going to let an extra five people stop her! She was going to get Juane’s attention!...right after her knees stopped trembling.

She stood before a mirror in one of the small changing rooms, wearing her bikini. The bottoms were a pretty lavender color, and a modest side-tie in style. The top, however...well, it was a bikini...in theory. The two tiny triangles covered her puffy, inverted nipples for sure, but a good portion of her pink areola was still visible.

Her blush was dark, almost taking over her face, but she wasn’t going to be deterred! She was going to go and show her crush what she had to offer!

Knock! Knock! May looked at the door, seeing the outline of someone’s shadow underneath it. Part of her hoped it was Jaune, but she knew he was too much of a gentleman to do such a thing unless someone else was there. “Hello?” she was proud her voice didn’t crack.

“May? Are you okay?” her shoulders relaxed when she realized it was Pyrrha and not Emerald here to taunt her. She had seen the smug look that the verdette had on her face as she went into one of the changing stalls herself.

“Yes, thanks! On my way out!” she called, gathering her clothes and putting them into her bag, making sure that they wouldn’t go ‘missing’ mysteriously. Standing and moving to the door, she opened it to see the redhead standing outside.

Despite the embarrassment, she couldn’t help but feel amused when Pyrrha’s eyes went wide, the normally reserved girl blatantly staring at her chest. She chuckled, making her breasts bounce. “Take a picture, maybe?” she teased, getting the redhead to rapidly shake her head and back up, looking incredibly flustered.

“I’m sorry!” Pyrrha yelped, before calming and taking a deep breath, looking May in the eye. “May, are you sure you feel comfortable wearing that? I mean, there’s more than just Juane out there…” May felt her eyes widen. “I can tell you like him, and honestly, on some level, I think he likes you too, but Juane...he’s not unintelligent, but he has a very low sense of self-worth.”

May nodded. Anyone could honestly see it. The blonde seemed to hold himself to an impossible standard. “But, I think you’re good for him, so let’s go and you can make his eyes pop out.” Pyrrha chuckled, and May nodded, her heart rising as she realized she had a great ally in Pyrrha.

As they headed back to the pool area, they could hear voices, Yang talking predominantly. “Damn, Em. How do you hide that? It’s bigger than Blake’s?” May’s expression soured, knowing exactly what Yang was talking about.

Emerald had happily shown off her thong bikini to May, revealing the same amount of ass that she had shown off in Survival Class the other day. She knew that Jaune was likely just as embarrassed as he was then...but he was likely to be more when he saw her.

“Oh, its a bit difficult, but a good skirt or pants does wonders!” Emerald’s voice was cheerful, but she could hear the hidden dislike within it; then again, May knew that Emerald had no real respect for those who flaunted themselves. Hell, she could honestly say that she had never seen Emerald act like this before until she decided she wanted Jaune.

As Pyrrha reached for the door, May took a deep, calming breath and nodded. Showtime.

Emerald smiled to herself. It was so easy to tease Jaune like this! And with the little wallflower out of the way, she had full access to him! Just a little longer and she was sure he’d be interested in spending some time alone with her on their free day…

The door opened and her jaw, and she was sure everyone else’s jaws dropped. Where had the shy little wallflower gotten the courage to wear something like that? Off to the side she heard huffing and jealous murmurs from Schnee, which at any other point would make her laugh, if she wasn’t so shocked.

Instead of being downright flat, like she had thought, the mousy girl had tits bigger than Xiao Long! When the hell did that happen?

May ignored everyone’s expression, from Yang’s shock, to Weiss’s not so little amount of jealousy, to even Nora grabbing Ren by the head and shoving his face into her own sizable chest; her attention was solely on Jaune, who was staring at her with awe. Filling her with strength.

Walking up to him, she sat down next to him. “H-How...how do I look?” she didn’t care what the others thought of her, Jaune’s opinion was the only one that mattered. If he didn’t like it, she had wasted her time!

She watched his throat bob as he looked over her body, making the warmth bubbling in her lower belly grow, wetness beginning to form in the bottom of her swim bottoms. “Y-You look wonderful.” she smiled as his voice cracked a bit.

“Thank you.” she said, relieved. She was happy that he wasn’t disgusted by how lewdly...large...her breasts were.

Time passed, the group having fun, or as much as they could have while stewing in jealousy over Emerald’s and May’s attributes.

Both Jaune and May were swimming together, making Emerald frown. There were too many people to use her semblance effectively, but maybe she could make it so they were misdirected...a smirk appeared on her face as she moved slowly through the water, weaving her semblance.

May was enjoying herself greatly, she and Jaune had stopped for a few moments and relaxed, Jaune sitting on the edge of the pool, and May floating before him in the water. She smiled at him, happy that this was going well. But now, she needed to talk to Jaune. “Jaune...I need to tell you something.”

Jaune looked down at May with a smile. “Yeah? What is it, May?” he asked. This...this was very comfortable. He truly enjoyed spending time with her, and even Emerald; she had sat with her and May and they had just talked. And despite the embarrassment of all this week, he found himself attracted to Emerald, just as he was May. It had been a very pleasant day.

May looked up at Jaune. This was it, she was going to do it! “I wanted to tell you-” her eyes widened as she felt her top slipping. Cheeks turning dark she saw Jaune’s eyes widening so she knew he noticed it to.

Before panic set in, she activated her sembalnce and pushed herself closer to Jaune as her top slipped off and began to float away, pressing her breasts onto his lap. She took several deep breaths as her heart rate calmed down. Looking up, she blushed more as Jaune was definitely noticing her now, especially if the poke on the underside of her breasts told her anything.

Jaune glanced around rapidly, waiting for the laughs, the shrieks, the mocking, the perverted jokes, but nothing came. In fact, none of them were even looking their way. Looking back at May (doing everything he could to not stare at those magnificent breasts, massive with puffy, inverted nipples, the flush from her face extending down to the top of them), he gave her a confused look. “H-How?”

Emerald agreed with Jaune. ‘Yes, how?!’ pulling off her top was supposed to embarrass her! Not basically make her set her tits on their crush’s lap!

May blushed. “I...it’s my semblance. When activated, anything surrounding me is...normal, for lack of a better word. It helps during combat, or in embarrassing situations like this, but I really don’t like using it much...but I left you and Emerald out of it...because…” she swallowed. “We both like you, and Emerald used her semblance on you in the gym showers!”

Jaune’s head spun. “I...what? You...you like me?” he asked, stunned. A nod from May. “Emerald does too?” another nod. “Sh-she used her semblance on me in the gym showers? How?” he asked. He was fairly certain he would have would noticed her doing something to him…

May blushed. “Her...her semblance is Hallucinations...she made it so you didn’t notice her in the shower with you…” his cheeks burned as he remembered the incredible heat and tightness that wrapped around his cock, bringing him to a swift orgasm. “Th-that was her?” he asked, mortified.

May bit her lip. “She does like you, just like I do...she just doesn’t...well, neither of us have ever...tried to get a boy, you know?” she glanced to her side, seeing a shocked Emerald looking at her, holding her top in her hand. Looking back up at Jaune, she smiled weakly. “Can we talk? We...we can go to one of the empty study dorms?”

Looking between the two beauties, Jaune swallowed and nodded. “Y-Yeah...I...I think that would be a good idea.” he said, quickly reaching over and plucking May’s top from an unresisting Emerald’s hand and handing it to the maroon-haired girl to put back on.

After May’s breasts were covered up (a part of Jaune mourning the loss of the beautiful sight), the trio gathered their things and left the room, uncaring that the moment that the door closed and May dropped her semblance around them, the room descended into confusion over where the three went.

~x~x~

Now, here the three of them were, in a student study dorm, the girls having swiftly gotten into another argument when they settled in here before he stopped them. He wasn’t going to let this ‘competition’ for him go on any longer. He wouldn’t deny that the two girls were beautiful, and he felt for both of them...his eyes hardened. It was time to take charge. Clearing his throat, he looked between the two of them.

“Now, both of you have been enjoying teasing and tormenting me this past week...that means, both of you are going to be fixing this.” he gestured to his tented pants, his hard cock jutting outwards. “Are we understood?” Jaune growled. “Now, don’t waste my time...clothes off.”

Neither Emerald nor May would admit it out loud, but they were soaked. Jaune taking charge and demanding that they finish what they had started by teasing him so was...hot. Instantly, they began tugging at their own clothes, shirts being tossed to the side, bra and binder falling to the ground, skirts, thong and hip hugger panties following, leaving both naked and dripping before their lover’s, hopefully boyfriend’s, eyes.

Jaune licked his lips, his cock straining in his pants as he looked over their bodies. They really were beautiful, and some part of him still couldn’t believe that they were truly interested in him...but the eager looks on their faces...those weren’t fake. They were real.

He walked around them, close but not so close her touched them, reaching out and just brushing his fingers along her backsides, watching with lust as goosebumps rose up from their skin. Jaune’s nostrils flared as he smelled a sweet fragrance wafting up from below, making his cock throb.

While Emerald’s ass was larger and more soft, his fingertips sinking into the fat cheeks, one couldn’t that deny the firm heart shape of May’s rear end was delightful as well.

Moving around to their front, he hummed, placing a hand on each girl’s hip, slowly and teasingly drawing his callused hands upwards. He chuckled at their their trembling, smirking at their needy whines. “Really?” he chuckled, “You two are begging for it already? I mean, you both tormented me all week...maybe I should leave you both on the brink for an entire week before finally taking you?”

Jaune didn’t know where all this confidence was coming from, but he did know that he felt empowered by the looks of panic and fear the two girls had, followed by immediate pleading to not do something so cruel to them, that they couldn’t take a whole week of being on edge-

“Like you had no problems letting me?” he asked. “You have a weeks worth of teasing and blue balls to make up for. I’m not cruel, so...if you promise not to tease and then refuse to follow through anymore after tonight, I can forgive you.”

Both May and Emerald breathed a heavy sigh of relief as they realized they weren’t about to be as teased and tormented as Jaune had been. It would have been hell! They were both already dripping down their inner thighs with need! Both shivered, releasing keens as Jaune’s hands moved down again, cupping their soaking cores. He did nothing, just cupped their slits. It didn’t take either of them long before they were grinding themselves shamelessly against his palms, shuddering and moaning as the callouses on his fingers and palm rubbed over their slick, sensitive skin.

It didn’t take long for them to break, both keening and trembling as they came hard, squirting along his palms, faces flushed darkly as they both realized they had cum in less than three minutes, but Jaune looked...he looked amazed, not amused.

Both slowly came down from their intense orgasms, watching with flushed faces as their lover contemplated their juices on his fingers, before tasting them, licking them clean and making their pussies clench.

The girls looked at another, and nodded. For now, they were on the same page. They had drove the man they both wanted to fits, and it was up to them to make it up to him.

Jaune blinked as he saw Emerald whisper rapidly to May, who blushed fiercely, but nodded. Before he could ask, both acted, moving him and having him sit on the bed. Glancing between them, the both looked at him softly. “We did you wrong, Jaune...we treated you as though you were a prize to be won, although among all the men here, you are one…” May began, looking ashamed, her blue-gray eye looking down, before it snapped back up as she realized what she was staring at.

Despite the situation, both Jaune and Emerald chuckled, before Emerald sobered and continued. “We’re going to make it up to you...be the best girlfriends we can be. We promise.” seeing Jaune’s shocked look, she smirked. “You heard right...you hit the jackpot, tiger!”

Glancing at May, Emerald nodded again, and May slipped down onto her front, her upper body held up by her elbows, while the verdette girl turned around, setting her plump rear on his thigh. “We couldn’t decide who would get to please you first, and well, our assets are quite opposite to one another, so I thought, “Why shouldn’t our forgiving boyfriend get the luxury of a titjob and an assjob at the same time?”...oh! I can tell some part of you likes that thought!”

Both May and Emerald giggled from how hard Jaune’s cock was twitching, obviously imagining what they were about to do. Locking eyes with their new boyfriend, both moved, sandwiching and engulfing Jaune’s large shaft between their impressive endowments.

Jaune groaned darkly, his cock feeling as though it was being utterly smothered by four large, warm pillows. Opening his eyes, he saw both Emerald and May looking at him with equal amounts of lust, and glancing down...he barely saw his tip emerging through the twin cleavages. He huffed, his fingers digging into the sheets by his body. He could feel his balls churning already, but knew that he was nowhere close to cumming.

He took deep breaths, as they started to move in tandem, in such a way that he was wondering if they hadn’t practiced this beforehand. “Fuck...you two…” his voice was almost a growl, something that disturbed him, but he could see the effect that it had on his two new girlfriends. Both were looking at him with lust in their eyes, their movements getting even more frantic, his cock slipping in their cleavages, his tip popping up and out between them as they fell, Emerald’s rear and May’s breasts squishing against his thighs.

“Like it, lover?” Emerald asked, eyes hooded halfway. “I...I won’t lie...I’m getting wet just feeling this thing between my cheeks...how about you Zee?” she asked.

May blinked at the nickname, but smiled softly. “Y-Yeah...this...this is really turning me on…” she was mortified at saying that out loud, but she wasn’t going to lie about the fact that her juices were streaming down her inner thighs. It didn’t help that her sensitive nipples were dragging along the soft skin of Emerald’s rear end.

Jaune groaned as both of them worked harder and faster, getting him closer to his end, growling as both stopped their movements, leaving him on the brink again. He scowled lightly as both moved off of him, although it lessened a fair bit as they leaned over and kissed him. “Don’t worry, baby…” Emerald smirked, “We’re going to get you off, we just don’t want to waste all that’s in here,” Jaune hissed as two different hands cupped his large balls, rubbing the swollen and packed spheres gently. “by letting it spit out onto our tits or ass, that’s all. We want it in us…”

May hummed softly, kissing Jaune again and getting lost in the addictive feel of his lips. Pulling away from his lips, she rubbed her nose against the blonde’s, pressing her tits against him. “We want you to fill us up...I tasted it before, I want it in me. No condoms, I’m on the shot...I...I want to feel it raw…” her cheeks burned, but Jaune only smiled softly, reaching down and cupping her cheek.

“If you’re sure...is it alright that she goes first, Em?” Juane asked, giving the cocoa-skinned verdette a glance, knowing that May had far more self-image issues than she did. The carmine-eyed girl pouted, but nodded. It would give her a chance to contemplate her own problem.

Emerald hadn’t hadn’t renewed her birth control. She hadn’t bothered resuming the shot; after all, why get something that you weren’t going to use at all? Now she was kicking herself. She’d figure out something. There was no way that May was going to be the only one fucked tonight!

Jaune kissed May again, which the buxom beauty accepted eagerly, moaning softly as Jaune’s tongue prodded at her lips. Clutching at him, May slid her body over his, enjoying the feel of his body pressing against her own. A small whimper escaped her lips as her sensitive nipples rubbed against his chest. Her pussy clenched around nothing as she pulled back from the kiss, a thin line of saliva stretching between their lips several inches before breaking. “Make...make love to me, Jaune...please don’t make me wait…”

Jaune kissed her again swiftly, rolling them over so May was on her back and he was looming above her.

May blushed, completely exposed before Jaune’s gaze. Her GG-Cups were on full display, her areola puffy and engorged, although her nipples were still tucked away in their little slits. Her trim legs were spread wide, exposing her soaked core. Even her milky, scarred eye (a testament to a Grimm attack when she was young) was uncovered from its hidden shield of her hair. She should have felt mortified. But with Jaune’s hungry gaze on her...she only felt...desired. Like a woman. She released a keen as Jaune leaned down and pressed kisses along her neck and collarbone, his fingers roaming her sides.

A squeal erupted from her mouth as Jaune’s firm hands grasped and toyed with her breasts, the callused digits almost sinking into the soft flesh. She squirmed and shook beneath him as his fingers rubbed over her sensitive areola, teasing the sensitive nubs.

Pulling back, Jaune stared into her visible eye as her face scrunched up, feeling her hips arching and rubbing up against him. He chuckled. “Sensitive there, are we?” he asked letting his index fingers and thumbs trace around the protruding flesh, his hard cock throbbing hard as he watched the busty girl squirm and writhe. This was breathtaking.

May was mortified! She couldn’t cum from just having her nipples teased! She wouldn’t, she wouldn’t, she wouldnnnnnn’t-a shameful keen escaped her mouth as Jaune’s fingers pinched, her nipples popping out of the small slits they hid in; her core clenched, her pussy squirting her fluids onto her thighs and on the sheets. With a whimper, she covered her face with her hands, not wanting to see the laughing expressions that she was sure both had.

Jaune was the furthest he had been from laughing in a while. He had never remembered be so hard in his life. Sharing a glance with Emerald, who looked just as shocked, Jaune grinned and slipped his hands down to May’s toned thighs, gripping them and spreading them a bit wider, slipping between them, the tip of his cock a hair’s breadth away from her soaked core.

Emerald, sick of being left out, leaned down and gently pulled May’s hands away from her face, looking into her embarrassed...sister-girlfriend?...she looked into May’s eye. “Come on, Zee...Jaune’s about to make you his...don’t hide behind your hands for this…” she smiled as she watched May’s eye immediately shoot down to see Jaune’s cock moments away from breaching her core.

Jaune smiled softly as he moved just a bit, allowing his head to touch her sticky lips. “Are you ready? I want confirmation…” he looked May directly in the eye, refusing to move further without her okay. He watched May nod, staring directly down at their potential joining.

That wouldn’t do. “I need you to tell me with words, May…” he said softly, rubbing his cock along her soaking lips gently. “I want to hear your beautiful voice telling me you want me to fuck you…” he hummed, turning his head and planting kisses on her toned calf muscle, running his nose along the smooth skin as May released small squeaks of sound, but nothing resembling words. He was patient. He had waited this long, he could wait until she found her ability to talk.

Fortunately, Jaune didn’t have to wait long. Emerald hummed and gently cupped one of May’s tits. “If you don’t tell him, he won’t fuck you. If he won’t fuck you, there’s no need for him to be where he is. It will be my turn. He’ll be fucking me. You wouldn’t want me to go first, now would you?” she asked, seeing May’s eye widen in panic.

“NO! Fuck me, Jaune! Don’t fuck her first! Please, I want it! I need it! Fill me with your cum!” May cried out, bucking her hips upwards, trying to take Jaune’s cock into her core. There was a beat of silence before her her lightly tanned face turned dark red, her cheeks resembling dark cherries.

“Heh, such a naughty girl, and a screamer to boot!” Emerald chuckled, gently fondling May’s breast, feeling heat flow off of her. “Don’t worry about it sweetie, its just us. But you heard her, stud; fuck her and fill her up!”

Jaune took a deep breath. While both had used their semblances to please him before; Emerald giving him that assjob in the gym showers while hidden from him and May had used her own to rest her breasts on his lap in front of everyone at the pool, he had never done this. He wanted it to go well.

“Looking at May, he smiled as he slowly began to push his way into her core. Huntress-in-training she may be, but she was a virgin and he wasn’t small. So he was slow to enter her and spread her open. He watched her face as she mewled and squirmed underneath him, digging her fingers into the sheets, gasping for air and whining for more.

Finally, Jaune bottomed out, his hips pressing against May’s, his own face tense as her walls were rippling and flexing tightly around his cock. She was hot, scorching even. Combined with her internal movements, it felt like she was constantly cumming around his cock. The look on her face only made him think more that she was cumming.

Slowly he pulled back, watching May’s face pinch and hearing the weak mewl coming from May’s mouth, feeling her thighs trembling in his hands. He watched her arch as he thrust back in, pleasure hitting him hard as well.

Seeing May starting to relax, Jaune knew it was time. Shifting his grip in her thighs, Jaune began to move faster, making May’s visible eye widen as he suddenly began to pound into her, loud smacks and claps filling the room as flesh smacked against flesh, pale hips colliding against tanned ones, Jaune’s swollen balls smacking into May’s toned ass.

Emerald stared jealously at May’s ecstatic face, before deciding that May shouldn’t be the only one having any fun. Sitting up, she carefully shifted so she was kneeling over her face. “It’s only fair I get off too, you know…” she teased, before plopping down and placing her pussy on May’s mouth, her ass covering the rest of the girl’s head. She moaned as May immediately started lapping away at her core, her tongue surprisingly skilled for a girl who had never eaten pussy before. She smirked as she saw Jaune’s eyes fill with lust, but she had to readjust herself as she nearly rocked off of May’s face as Jaune began fucking her even harder, his grip on the maroon-haired girl’s legs shifting a bit more.

Her eyes widened as Jaune lurched forwards, almost bending May in half, locking her legs down, putting her into a mating press and slamming into her. She threw her head back, a choked cry escaping her mouth as May screamed into her pussy, sending vibrations along with the sensations of that surprisingly wicked tongue. She released a choked cry as she came hard, squirting over May’s face.

May could see and hear nothing, could only smell Emerald’s intense scent of cherry blossoms and natural musk, could only taste her sweetly tangy arousal, and feel...oh Gods above, could she feel Jaune fucking her, bending her in half, making her his breeding bitch-her slick pussy clenched around him in sudden orgasm, a wail of pleasure leaving her mouth, being muffled by the slick flesh that hadn’t moved from her oral cavity. She thrashed underneath her two lovers, bucking upwards and trying to get more and more pleasure, to receive Jaune’s cum and become his woman.

Jaune growled as May clenched and flexed and squirmed around him, her juices leaking around him and dribbling down onto his pulsing balls. He knew that he wasn’t going to be able to hold back too much longer. This was, these two were too erotic to maintain calm. “C-Cumming!” he groaned, hearing May squeal eagerly as his balls rose and fell, his sack squeezing as his thick cum spurted out of his tip, forcefully filling up the maroon-haired girl’s core.

May cried out into the soaked flesh above her, heart singing as Jaune filled her up, claiming her body as his, and his alone. No other man would stretch her out, would fill her up...no other man’s seed would ever take root within her.

Feeling Emerald slip off of her face, she inhaled deeply the sweet air and stared at her lover. Feebly, she raised her arms, wordlessly asking for a hug. She moaned as she found herself scooped up into strong arms and smelling Jaune’s musky scent, her core flexing and rippling around his still twitching cock. “...Love you…” she moaned, nuzzling against him. “Love you too, May…” he hummed.

Jaune slowly, very slowly slid his still hard cock from May’s body, both staring at the veritable waterfall of semen that spilled from her pussy and onto the sheets. May managed a giggle. “You really did fill me up…” she whispered in an awed voice. Looking up at Juane, she kissed him. “You’re going to be doing that again soon...”

Emerald let the two have their moment, before she pouted, reaching down and gently squeezing Jaune’s balls, quickly gaining his attention. “I...I haven’t renewed my birth control yet, but I want it raw too…” she pouted. She cursed herself at the fact that she hadn’t thought of something as simple as birth control. Her eyes brightened. “You can fuck my ass.”

The blunt manner of speech made both May and Jaune gape at her, although Jaune’s sticky, twitching cock told Emerald that he really liked the idea. She slowly spun around on the bed, pushing her ass out and giving it a wiggle. “I know you want to~” she teased. “I don’t mind...after all, it is my best feature~”

Reaching back, she grabbed her cheeks and spread them, revealing her winking little pucker to her audience of two. Glancing over her shoulder she smirked, seeing both her boyfriend and fellow girlfriend staring. “You’re nice and lubed up due to Zee, so c’mon, lover...claim what every boy’s thought about!”

She watched with amusement as Jaune reached out for her almost zombie-like, his hands grabbing her ass and squeezing tightly, making her moan as his strong fingers sank into her flesh. “Yeeeasssss…don’t be afraid to get rough with it…” she groaned, getting wetter and wetter from Jaune’s rough handling.

SMACK!

A guttural moan spilled from her lips as Jaune’s strong hand slammed against her bubbly backside, making the cocoa-colored flesh ripple and sending a pleasant sting through her body. SMACK! Another one on her opposite cheek made her juices start sliding down her inner thighs.

Repeated spanks covered her ass, falling in a random pattern, sometimes going from cheek to cheek, other times he spanked a single cheek several times, the sting building until it became almost painful, the fire between her thighs growing and growing and growing until-

Jaune stopped.

A piteous whine escaped her lips, looking over her shoulder desperately at him, seeing him smirking. “You’re not going to get to cum that easy, Emerald…” she felt a slick feeling, and knew that it was Jaune’s cock. It slid between her cheeks, the cum slicking up her crease and covering her tight little pucker. A bit of adjustment and she felt his tip poking the small circle. Her pussy quivered. “Please…” she keened.

Jaune thrust.

Emerald’s eyes widened as Jaune bottomed out in one go, hips slapping her stinging rear as all ten inches of cock spread her wide. “Fuck!” she groaned, gripping the sheets as Jaune drew back until just his tip was still inside her, then plunging back in again. Smack!

Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack! Jaune’s thrusts were rhythmic, and every time he bottomed out her ass cheeks were spanked hard by his hips. Broken moans spilled from her lips even as her own juices dripped down from her pussy and onto the bed, dark spots forming and growing in size.

Seeing May looking at Emerald hungrily, Jaune smirked and spun them around, much to the dark-skinned girl’s shock. Her carmine eyes widened as May spread her legs, revealing her cum stuffed pussy. “Eat me, Emerald...you made me do it to you, so its only fair...and hey, you get to taste Jaune! Won’t that be great?” she teased.

Emerald could smell it, the tangy, slightly bitter scent of their mixed arousal, her mouth watering as she found herself leaning forward…

...only for May’s legs to wrap around her head and drag her in, smushing her face against the maroon-haired girl’s cream-filled core. “MMMMMPPPHHH!” she whined, only making the one-eyed girl moan and Jaune rail her ass even harder.

May watched as her boyfriend railed her sister-girlfriend, and said sister-girlfriend sucked and licked and slurped away at her soaking pussy, sending pleasure through her body.

Jaune slammed into Emerald’s ass, enjoying watching the ripple of her flesh jiggle as his hips slammed into her, watching May moan and clutch at the Verdette’s hair as she was eaten out. He fucked her hard and powerfully, giving her all of the aggression that he hadn’t given May. He could tell she loved it, just like he did. She was already cumming, her anal walls squeezing bearing down on his cock, her juices spilling down her thighs.

He knew that he was close too, but he wanted to wait, hold out for May to cum again...lurching forwards, he began to slam himself against her, his balls slapping against her pussy, sending droplets of her cum flying as he slammed his lips against May’s.

“MMMMMMHHHHPPPPPHHH!!!” the trio moaned in unison, their screams of passion drowned out by their flesh.

May squirted hard, covering and almost drowning Emerald in a mix of her cum and Jaune’s, while Emerald sprayed the sheets with her clear cum as they came in unison.

Jaune, however, growled as his balls snapped taut and he began to pump his cum deep into Emerald’s backside as he devoured May’s lips, their tongues tangling against one another.

Slowly breaking the kiss and moving away, all three panted for air. “F-Fuck…” Emerald gasped, her head slumped on May’s inner thigh, licking her lips of May’s and Jaune’s cum. May was speechless, her massive chest heaving as she fought to get back her breath.

Jaune rolled his hips slowly, letting the last drops of his cum side from his cock as he slowly pulled back, watching in awe as Emerald’s ass gaped, his cum spurting out as the formally tight little hole struggled to close.

Grabbing his lovers and shifting them, Jaune slumped in the bed, followed by two female bodies, May and Emerald each grabbing an arm and pulling it close, his limbs being swallowed up by May’s massive cleavage and Emerald’s more modest one. Their legs entwined with his as they relaxed, their heartbeats finally calming down and breathing returning to normal.

“Ah, hah...that was...that was…” Emerald slumped against Jaune, trailing off, unable to come up with the words necessary for what she honestly was feeling. May hummed, nuzzling against Jaune’s shoulder. “...Perfect…” was the only word she said, and despite the fact that she had been Emerald’s worst enemy not two hours ago, the mint haired girl found herself agreeing.

“Yeah...perfect…” she hummed, closing her eyes and resting against her new boyfriend as fatigue finally hit her. She knew that she wasn’t done, not by a long shot. She may have agreed to work together with May tonight to make sure they both got what they wanted, but that didn’t mean that she was going to be passive all the time...the next morning, she was going to wake her boyfriend up with her mouth.

...little did she know, May had the same idea, dreaming of driving Jaune wild with her own talented tongue.

A Week Later

“Jaune? Are you okay?” Pyrrha asked, looking at her closest friend in concern as they studied in one of the study dorms. His face was flushed and a fine sheen of sweat was on his forehead. He looked at her and smiled, although it seemed strained. “I’m just fine, Pyr. T-Thanks for asking!” he said, although his voice was tense. Tilting her head, Pyrrha nodded and going back to her work.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, despite the immense pleasure that flooded through him. Looking down, he narrowed his eyes at a naked May beneath the table as she swallowed the head of his cock in her mouth, while her breasts swallowed the shaft, eyes bright as she looked up at him happily.

That wasn’t the only thing happening. Before Jaune in the middle of the study dorm, on top of the table he and Pyrrha were sitting at, was a naked Emerald. She had changed positions several times already, from doing exercises in booty short that showcased her magnificent ass, like Yoga and squats (reminiscent of the teasing she did to him in the gym), to belly dancing, to stripping herself of her bottoms and twerking, clapping those fat cheeks together, to the position she was in now, sitting on the table before him, legs spread lewdly and cupping one of her breasts as she openly fingered herself in front of him.

Jaune wondered how he had gotten so lucky. He had two beautiful girlfriends, both of them surprisingly adventurous...to the point of Emerald using her semblance to keep his partner from noticing anything odd as they both played with him...and each other.

Jaune bit his lower lip to contain the groan as he came hard, coating May’s face and tits in a thick, gooey mask of his cum. Eyes brightening, Emerald turned and hopped off the table (making sure to wiggle her ass in his face as she did so), crawling underneath it and immediately attacking May, kissing her deeply as they both began to scoop up his cum, moaning happily as they devoured his seed.

His cock, having lost none of its rigidity even with the massive cumshot he had painted May with, twitched. As he watched, both his girlfriends leaned forwards, pressing their lips to the head of his cock. Right next to his partner. Who remained oblivious due to Emerald semblance.

God...he loved his life right now.

#Jaune Arc #May Zedong #Emerald Sustrai #Team RWBY #Team JNPR

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trashforhockeyguys · 4 years

Text

Don't Hold Me -15- Carter Hart

A/N: Hi things are wild now. Are things, talks about sex. Like...a lot in the first part of this chapter. And um the very end of this chapter could be triggering? No harm comes to anyone, but it’s the start of it all. So please be aware of that moving forward. Other than that, all previous parts are linked in my master list and I hope you enjoy.

Your whole body was warm. Carter was still next to you, looking at you with something more than just love. There was love, so much love. The two of you said it time and time again in the previous hours. His fingers danced lazily across the bare skin of your shoulders and back. You felt nothing but content in his arms, in his bed. It was like everything was just as it was meant to be. You were right where you were always supposed to land.

“This is nice,” You whispered, feeling like any sound would ruin the perfect morning.

Warm light was coming in from the windows, the sun still working its way up the morning sky. Though the two of you had been awake for hours, you still felt like the world was waiting for one of you to make the first move. Almost as if everything outside was frozen, just waiting.

“Yeah, it really is,” He replied, voice soft and deep.

“A girl could really get used to this,” You smiled and shifted closer to him, wincing a bit as your muscles protested the movement.

Carter seemed to take notice, worry flooding his face, “Are you okay? Did I hurt you?”

You smiled softly, oddly comforted by his worry. But Carter was arguably the gentlest person you knew, he’d rather hurt himself than hurt you. You ran your fingers through his messy hair. Your heart seemed to ache at the thought that he believed that he hurt you.

“You didn’t hurt me,” You said softly, “Far from it actually. Trust me.”

“Y/N-”

“Carter, that was arguably the best sex I’ve had. I’m more than fine.”

You couldn’t help but laugh at the shock that took over his face. You knew that was the last thing he expected you to say. You were always so quiet and shy, he didn’t expect you to be so bold. You leaned over to kiss him. You hadn’t imagined at the start of the school year that you’d be here, but you couldn’t say that you were mad about it, not in the slightest.

“I don’t think you’ve ever been that direct before,” He marveled, still not entirely sure he heard you right.

“You should’ve known me before, I was nothing if not blunt,” You laughed, “Got me into a lot of trouble.”

You tried not to think about exactly what kind of trouble. Exactly why you weren’t that fearless girl anymore. Or who made sure you weren’t that girl. You tried not to think about the fact that he was still in the city. He promised he would be back, and one thing about him was that he never broke his word. No matter how vile it was.

“So,” Carter said, breaking the silence and pulling you away from your thoughts, “Best sex?”

Your face burned with a blush as you attempted to hide your face in his chest. He laughed, wrapping his arms back around you. You felt like this was normal, like this was how life was meant to be. You were meant to wake up next to him, joke around with him, live this life with him.

He held you tighter and kissed the top of your head. You couldn’t understand how this felt so normal. Like you’d been spending all of your mornings like this. Like nothing was ever any different. Now you really wished that nothing ever had to change. You’d be happy if you woke up like this every morning.

“It was amazing,” He whispered to you, “You’re amazing.”

“Shut up,” You groaned, trying to cover the strange sense of embarrassment that you felt.

“I love you,” His hand gently ran through your hair, soothing you.

“I love you,” You didn’t even have to think about a reply. You loved him, so much. Why try and hide that now? He knew. And you were more than happy about that.

In the warm light of the morning, you were both able to say it, without having to feel like you had to hide it. You could snuggle into that feeling and never let it go, you’d be more than happy to do that. You almost wanted to follow him anywhere because of it. You weren’t sure if you could make it an entire summer without seeing him.

“I like hearing you say that,” You could hear his smile without even having to see it.

You smiled. You could hear his heartbeat, steady and strong. You decided that it was one of the best sounds in the whole world. Everything about him was just addicting to you, his voice, his smile, his laugh, all of it. You didn’t want to change anything about him. You didn’t want to change anything about being with him.

Your phone started ringing from the nightstand next to you, no doubt Kora trying to figure out what time you were going to be back on campus. The two of you had to meet up with a couple other people from one of your classes for a group project, which you weren’t exactly looking forward to.

“No, turn it off,” Carter protested, “You’re staying here all day.”

“Cart, I can’t,” Even you were disappointed about that fact, “I have a project I have to work on.”

“What if I just don’t let you get up?”

“Do you want me to fail my class?” You questioned, knowing he was joking with you.

“If it meant I could keep you in my bed all day, then maybe.”

“Says the man who never went to college.”

He laughed, almost snorted in fact. You were too comfortable with him, far too comfortable. But you didn’t hate it, you savored it in fact. You only wished you found him sooner. You wished you would’ve allowed yourself to open up to him before now, things could’ve been like this all along.

“I have to go.”

“No.”

“Carter, I’ll be back. It’s just a couple of hours,” You laughed, poking his bare chest.

“Ugh, fine. Leave me,” He groaned, dramatically joking.

You couldn’t help but laugh as you leaned up to kiss him again. You felt heat spread through your body,and for a moment you considered just staying in bed with him. You could call Kora and claim you were sick, and she could make up a better reason as to why you didn’t show up. But you also knew that you couldn’t exactly afford a bad grade on this, especially given that the professor was a hardass.

You sat up, wrapping the blanket around your naked body. Your legs shook as you stood, taking the blanket with you as you did. Behind you, Carter protested to you taking his blanket, grabbing for the sheets. You ran into the closet to grab some clothes. You could hear his laugh as the blanket drug behind you.

You came out a few minutes later, dressed in a baggy sweatshirt and sweatpants that were Carter’s. He was scrolling through something on his phone, a soft smile tugged at his lips as he typed out something.

You leaned against the doorframe and just watched him for a moment. A few moments of just pure peace. A mundane morning, simple, normal. Something you’d craved for years.

“Travis told me to tell you to ‘get off your ass’ and go see him,” Carter nearly snorted, “Said you haven’t replied to his texts this morning.”

You smiled and walked back over to him, dropping the blanket back onto the bed, “We’ll, I was preoccupied.”

“Yeah don’t think he needs to know that.”

You laughed, knowing Travis would likely have a heartattck and then try to murder Carter. You leaned down to kiss him again, wishing you could just stay with him, because that’s truly all you wanted to do.

“I’ll be back later. I promise.”

“Tell Kora I said hi,” He waited until you were almost out of sight before he added, “You look good in my clothes.”

“Shut up,” You laughed, grabbing your bag and the few books you brought over.

The ride back to campus seemed shorter than you remembered. The whole way, you just kept replaying the previous hours you spent with Carter. The thought of every gentle touch, every kiss, every movement...you didn’t think there could be a moment more perfect than those you shared this morning.

Kora was buried in her course notes when you got into the dorm. She didn’t often look disheveled, not in a way that wasn’t intentional, but she looked like she’d been up all night. Her whole body was moving to the beat of the music that was playing in her headphones.

When you walked bay, you pulled back one of her headphones, “Honey I’m home.”

“Hey,” She said not phased, “Oh hey, wait something fell out of your notebook yesterday, it’s on your desk.”

“Oh, probably one of my thousands of notes from Hartman’s lecture on Monday,” You waved it off and jumped on your bed, “I swear I have to take notes at the speed of light to keep up in that class.”

“Hold you Hartman was the Devil’s Spawn.”

You shrugged and grabbed a pillow to hug, feeling the need for something, “How was your night?”

“Spent a lot of it on the phone with Ethan while I worked on a paper,” She finished writing something and then turned around, “How was your night?”

“Carter played great, and we just kinda hung out.”

“Did you tell him you love him?”

You shrugged, “Something like that.”

“Oh my god, you? Wow, okay. Do we need to talk about this? Are you okay?” She instantly shifted into a big sister mode, sitting down in front of you on your bed, “You’re okay right?”

“Yeah, I’m good,” You replied honestly, “I’m happy. Kora...I’m really really happy.”

She smiled, like a weight was lifted off of her shoulders, “Thank God. I really like Carter.”

There was something about finally saying that you were happy, finally at peace that made your heart kind of soar. You were happy with him. Happier than you thought you could be. You didn’t understand how you’d gone from trying to keep him as far away from you as possible to this in a couple of months.

“We need to go,” She said, rounding her up her bags, “We’re going to be late and we all need that A.”

Later on that week, you were happily sitting on the couch at Travis’s place with Nolan while Travis dug around in the fridge for a drink. None of you were really paying attention to the movie playing on the TV. Instead, you were all just enjoying the company.

“Hey! Don’t touch my food!” You swatted at Nolan’s hand.

“You said I could have some!”

“That is not what I said and you know it!”

“No, I’m pretty sure you said you would share,” Travis chimed in, grabbing a chip from you.

“Damnit you two, let me eat!”

They both laughed and settled back into their seats. You felt bad for not spending more time with them. There was a time when Travis and Nolan were the only people you had in the city. So much had changed since the first time Travis called you after you moved here. Hell, so much had changed since the start of this season alone. None of you were the same people. You certainly weren’t the same.

“Oh yeah, can I draw you guys for my final project? We have to do a portrait series, and a bunch of other things,” You told them, “It’s worth a shit ton of my grade.”

“Kid, you’ve been drawing me since the day I met you,” Travis laughed, “As long as you get an A, and draw my good side I don’t care.”

“Not a kid Trav, but thanks for that,” You laughed, “I won’t make you sit for it this time. Just wanted permission from you two.”

“Yeah, I don’t care,” Nolan replied, taking another bite out of his sandwich.

“Cool,” You were getting ready to grab more food when Travis’s hand snuck over and grabbed more chips, “I swear to god Travis! Try that one more time and you lose that hand! See how easy it is to play hockey and fish then!”

“Easy man, She’s hangry.”

“Damn right I am, you two keep taking my food,” you couldn’t help but laugh at both men.

After the three of you finished eating, Travis pulled out the controllers for the Xbox, stating that Nolan needed to get his ass beat in NHL by you. The two of them always seemed to find a way to remind you what it felt like to be a kid. They made things simpler, easier to work through.

The following hours were spent screaming at one another and the TV during many games of NHL. How those two could play the real thing all the time and still want to play the game still surprised you. But you were happy because of it. It meant you got to spend more time with both of them.

There was no need for questions, or anything like that. Instead, you just played the game and screamed at one another non stop. When you were with them, you felt like a teenager again. Like you were still back home, playing NHL in the basement with Ethan and Travis and a couple of the other guys on that team.

Travis’s apartment was home in ways you couldn’t really explain. But it was home.

“So, Carter’s treating you right, isn’t he?” Travis asked when Nolan went to the bathroom, “Because I swear I’ll beat his ass raw if he isn’t.”

You laughed. Travis was uncomfortable, but he knew that since Ethan had home back home, it was his job to look after you. Even if that meant potentially threatening one of his own teammates. He loved Carter, but he loved you more. You were his sister. The sister he never had, and he would take care of you for as long as you’d let him.

“Carter is perfect, you don’t need to worry Travis.” You assured him.

“Perfect? Hartsy? Okay.”

You laughed and bit your thumb, “Trust me, you don’t want details.”

“Huh?” He looked away from the TV, the realization of what you said finally setting in, “Oh. OH. No! No thank you. You can keep that to yourself. I don’t need that image in my head. Remind me to shoot for the 5-hole and miss at practice tomorrow.”

You grabbed the pillow next to you and lobbed it at his head, both of you starting to laugh uncontrollably. You felt light, free. You missed feeling like this when you were with both of them. You weren’t worried about a thing as Travis handed you and Nolan a beer and went back for one of his own. You weren’t thinking about anything aside from trash talking both of them as they played against each other. You were free. Finally.

The sun was starting to set when your phone went off with a text from Carter. You smiled almost automatically. Travis and Nolan both nudged you, making fun of your sudden shift. But secretly, they loved that Carter was able to make you this happy and this at ease.

Travis hadn’t seen you like this since you were in your early teens, and Nolan only saw a glimpse or two when you were very very drunk. For Travis, it was like a weight was finally off his chest, he could breathe easier knowing you’d found a way to put yourself back together. And Nolan was happy to finally be getting to know the real you.

“Seems I was right,” Travis laughed, “You did like Carter. Told you that you just needed to give him a chance.”

“Asshole. I have to go, he’s waiting outside. Apparently, he’s taking me out for dinner.”

“We have to give you back so soon?” Nolan whined.

You smacked his arm and got up to grab your bag, “You two have a good practice tomorrow, and try not to murder him?”

Travis wrapped you into a right hug, “I could never. He makes you too happy. I don’t want to be responsible for taking that away.”

You ruffled Nolan’s hair as you walked back by, “See you two later. I’m reinstating our weekly lunches.”

“Finally!” Nolan yelled, “You pick better places than TK. He eats shit.”

“We’ll, I’ll pick somewhere good.”

Hours after dinner, you and Carter slowly made your way back to the apartment. Both of you were still laughing about a joke he made before you even left dinner. You felt as if you were in your own little world with him. It was just the two of you.

You kissed in the elevator, not even caring if anyone saw. You had never really been like this before. You were carefully and calculated. Yet Carter made you want to be everything other than that. You wanted to be reckless and crazy with him.

“Woah, hey hey hey,” He pushed against your shoulders to stop you, and then tucked you behind him, “Stay here.”

You looked up, seeing exactly what he was. The door to the apartment was open. He never left it open. You knew that. He always locked it. It wasn’t meant to be open. He carefully took a few steps towards the door and nudged it open the rest of the way. The lights were all on, but the whole apartment was quiet.

“Carter-”

“Shh,” He whispered, walking further inside.

You followed closely behind him. You clutched onto his arm as you made your way into the kitchen. Glass was shattered all over on the floor, the flowers you brought here a few days ago were trampled and strewn across the living room. The whole apartment was ransacked.

“We need to call the cops, and the building security,” Carter told you, “This is...I have to call.”

He rubbed his face and stepped away, fishing his phone out of his back pocket. You took a few slow steps towards the bedroom. Clothes were everywhere, pictures thrown. Your chest hurt. Tears burned your eyes as you saw a picture of Carter and you had been torn and the frame smashed. Your safe place was gone now.

“They’ll be up here in a few more minutes,” Carter told you, walking into the bedroom, “And the Police are just behind.”

“Carter,” You turned around, tears running down your cheeks now.

“It’s going to be okay,” He pulled you into a tight hug, kissing the top of your head, “We’ll fix this.”

Your gut twisted when you heard people entering the apartment. He pulled away and hurried to meet them. Every sense of safety disappeared when you noticed the piece of paper on your pillow. You didn’t have to look at it to know who it was from. To know who did this.

You slowly made your way over to it, unfolding it.

I TOLD YOU. YOU OWE ME. YOU CANT HIDE BEHIND YOUR PERFECT LIFE. ILL BURN IT TO THE GROUND LIKE YOU BURNED MINE. HAVE FUN BEING HIS WHORE. HE WONT WANT YOU WHEN IM DONE.

You felt like you couldn’t breathe. You quickly folded the note and shoved it into your pocket when you heard Carter and whoever was with him approaching the room. You tried not to think about the fact that he had been here. He found a way to destroy everything again and again.

You could hear all of them talking, but words didn’t register to you. Not when a simple piece of paper felt like a million pounds in your pocket. You didn’t think that he would ever go this far. You didn’t think that, after everything, he would be capable of doing this.

You jumped when Carter touched you. You weren’t sure how long you’d been standing there. Or how long people had been talking all around you.

“I’m going to take you back to campus,” He said quietly, “I’m going to go stay with one of the guys.”

You wanted to protest, to say that you didn’t want to leave him. However, you couldn’t find any words. You could hardly move or breathe. Carter tried not to let the worry eat at him as he drove you back to your dorm. He tried to remind himself that this was harder for you than he could understand. You had so few places that you felt safe in, so few people that you felt safe with. And somehow, one of those places was ripped from you tonight. No one seemed to know how it was even possible for someone to get into the building or into the apartment.

You were shaking in your seat, your hands cold as ice. He could see that you were fighting against something, but he didn’t know how to help. He didn’t know what he was meant to do. He could see you retreating further into yourself. He could see you slipping further and further away. He felt his own type of panic, he didn’t want to lose you. But he could feel it happening.

“Do you want me to stay with you?” He asked, desperate for anything. He would sleep on the floor next to your bed if he had to. He just wanted you to know that you weren’t alone.

You shook your head. You didn’t want him near you. Not if it meant he could be in danger. You didn’t want to hurt Carter, or be the reason that he life had to change. So if you had to, you would remove yourself from his life. You would shoulder that hurt, and everything that could go with your past. If to only save him. If only to keep him from seeing the same horrors that threatened to keep you up every night.

“Kora is on her way out to meet us. So you don’t have to walk up alone,” He told you, trying to reach over for your hand.

You flinched away, momentarily forgetting it was only Carter. You could see the hurt on his face. You hadn’t flinched away from him in months. You trusted him, or at least he thought you did. But that simple movement made him feel like it would all come crashing down.

“Good night Carter,” You whispered when you saw Kora running out of the dorm.

“Y/N...I’m sorry. I don’t know what to do.”

You could hear the pain without even looking at Carter. You hated this. You hated that you didn’t know what else to do. You hated that even in Philadelphia, he was still finding a way to ruin your life. All because you were the one who dared to try to put a stop to him.

You hated that Carter was now brought into this, and you didn’t know how to really save him. You had no idea what you were meant to do. Not when it was your fault. He had a career and something like this could surely ruin it. You knew the media would know about the breakin, and people would start asking questions.

All you knew to do was push him away, and keep pushing until he would be safe. Keep pushing until he wasn’t a target anymore. Until Carter was out of the picture, and all that remained was you.

“Good night,” You said again, voice feeling smaller as you closed the door.

You could feel your heart cracking with every step away from him that you took. You were drawing a new line in the sand, and this one couldn’t be crossed. Not with Carter at stake. You loved him...and it was because you loved him that you needed him to stay as far away from you as possible. It was because you loved him that you had to leave him. You had to make sure that he would have peace in his life...not the war that was beginning.

“Sweetie, are you okay?” Kora threw her arms around you, she was just as scared as you were.

“No…”

“Okay, c’mon lets get you inside.”

She turned to wave at Carter. You wondered if he knew how hard this would be for you. You wondered if he knew that you were hurting just like he was. Kora kept an arm around you as the two of you made your way back into your dorm room. It felt so small compared to Carter’s apartment. Your bed, which was less than half the size of his, felt so cold. Even if your body took up most of the space.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No...I just want to go to sleep.”

She sighed and turned out her lamp, “I’m here. Whenever you decide you’re ready. You aren’t alone in this.”

All you wanted to tell her was that you were. In order to minimize the damage, you had to be. You had to face all of this on your own. Just so that you could protect all of them. You wouldn’t let them become collateral in something you started years before you came here. You would face him on your own...because you had to. Because this time, it was your turn to protect them.

#Carter Hart #Carter Hart imagine #Carter hart imagines #Carter hart fanfic #Carter hart fan fiction #nhl imagine #nhl imagines #nhl fanfic #nhl fanfiction #hockey imagine #hockey imagines #hockey fanfic #hockey fanfiction #Philly Flyers #Philly flyers imagine #Philly flyers imagines #nicolewritesthings

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secret-captain-swan-blog · 4 years

Text

Castle on the Hill

English Literature PhD student Emma Swan just needs money to pay for her last semester of grad school tuition. Killian Jones has always dreamed of opening a bookshop but has never been able to afford it. So when the small principality of Misthaven is looking for their lost princess, the pair decide that this might just be the perfect money making scheme.A Multi-chapter Modern Day + Lost Princess (think Rapunzel/Anastasia-esque) + Book Lovers in a Coffee Shop AU

Rating: T

Word Count: 94580/ ?

Prologue (Part 1 + 2) // Ch 1 // Ch 2 // Ch 3 // Ch 4 // Ch 5 // Ch 6 // Ch 7 // Ch 8 // Ch 9 // Ch 10 // Ch 11 // Ch 12 // Ch 13 // Ch 14 // Ch 15 // Ch 16 // Ch 17

Read on: Ao3

Killian is reading in the garden when it starts to rain. It’s not a lot, just drops against the thin pages of his book. He’s nearly to the end of Jane Eyre now. He’s honestly ready to be done with the book. Where it had once been enthralling, it now seems tiresome. The pain of the loss of Alice lingers folded in it’s pages.

He’s wondering if he should seek some refuge from the rain, when he looks up to see Emma running across the field. She’s windswept, her hair falling loose from her ponytail. Yet she’s still beautiful, like a Romantic heroine, her dress sticking to her torso. He can tell there are tears in her eyes.

He rises to his feet, striding as quick as he can to her. They meet in the middle. He wraps her in his arms quickly. Something is wrong, he notices instantly, from the slump of her shoulders and the desperateness she clings to him with. Her hands knots in the back of his shirt, holding on to him.

“Emma, love?” He asks into her hair. “Whatever is wrong?”

It must be the statue, he thinks. It must have gotten into her head. He should not have left her there by herself. She had heavy emotions that he should have been there to help her with.

“Killian, I can’t,” she mumbles, her voice half delirious.

“Can’t what?” He prods, fear trickling through his body.

She sniffles and whispers again, “I can’t.”

It’s windy outside, the rain picking up, and he can’t hear her well.

“Come, love,” he says. “Let’s get you inside. It’s getting bad out here.”

She shakes her head against his chest, “No. I can’t.”

He rubs his hands up and down her arms. “You’re going to catch a cold, love. I want to hear what’s upset you, but some place a bit less damp and cold.”

“No, no,” she says. “We can’t go into the castle. I can’t deal with it.”

“Deal with what, Swan?” He asks, slipping his hands down her arms to take her hands in his. He raises them to his lips to kiss them softly. They are already freezing.

“They’re going to tell me that I’m the lost princess,” she whispers. “And I’m not ready for it.”

He tries to process what she is saying. She’s the lost princess. She’s not ready.

His mind flits through all the evidence that he’s been trying to not point out for so long. The uncanny resemblance between the girl in Killian’s memories and Emma herself. The name. The accent. The right history. The scar on her shoulder. Even the chin. Killian’s spent so long trying to get Emma to remember something. For the connection to hold. And maybe, just maybe this visit to the gardens triggered the very thing that Killian’s been dreaming of. Maybe, even after last night’s fight, she has finally had the epiphany that he knows, he’s certain, must be coming.

But maybe that’s not it? Killian doesn’t want to get his hopes up. Reality rushes through him. Maybe the Queen or Regina just think that Emma is the lost princess and they want her to go public about it for publicity. Maybe now they’re manipulating her, asking her to pose as the princess. For what? For Misthaven Morale?

He’s going to need more information. Emma’s given him such few words, but his mind is spinning with possibilities. He knows, he’s certain, that something fundamental, potentially something he’s yearned for, is changing right here and now.

He brushes his hand against her hair softly, like he would a timid animal. She curls into him more, shivering.

What she needs, he realizes, obviously isn’t to go back into the castle. She needs to talk and in more than one way, unfreeze.

“Come love,” he whispers into her hair.

He leads her out of the castle grounds, the statues and winter garden behind them. Looking back now, he’s uncertain why he thought it was a good idea to take her there when she was in a bizarre state from the night before. As they weave down the cobblestone, she sniffles now, looking a bit less anxious. He thanks the gods for that.

There is a little tea shop in the grey stone shops lining the road. Called “The Castle Gate Cafe,” it’s lace doily sort of place. The counter boasts an assortment of cakes. He situates Emma in a table that’s tucked into a bay window off to the side that overlooks a damp patch of garden.

As he orders an Americano, a cappuccino, and a slice of lemon lavender cake, he glances back at Emma. Her face is distant, as if her thoughts are in another world.

When he comes back to join her, he presses a cappuccinos into her hands. She closes her eyes and takes a sip, her shivering subsiding.

“Sorry,” she says, after another pensive sip. “I must have seemed crazy back there. Or pathetic.”

“Emma, love, you seem traumatized,” he tells her.

She swallows, “I think I am a little.”

He takes a bit of the lemon cake. It’s sweet and soothing. He puts a piece of it on a fork and passes it to Emma. She takes the bite and gives him a smile.

“I was really affected by what I saw in gardens. I felt so ashamed for scamming the queen. I honestly couldn’t take it anymore. I was like in a weird trance or something, I swear. I felt like an out of body feeling, I don’t know.”

He takes a bite of cake and nods at her to continue.

She rambles, ”So, I went into the castle and all of a sudden, Mary Margaret was there and I just had to tell her everything.”

Killian chokes on his cake, “Everything?”

“Yeah, about the opera and our old plan and everything,” Emma manages.

He frowns knowing this means risking her security in Mishaven, her trust with the Queen, and the possibility of her returning to the country- and to him. “What happened?”

“She didn’t care. Killian, it’s crazy. She said that it doesn’t make a difference. She loves me,” Emma admits.

He reaches out to take her hand. Killian knows how much this means to her- to get the Queen’s affection and approval, to be loved by a parental-type figure in the way she’s always yearned to be. He knows it because he’s wanted it too. That’s part of why he’s never taken Ruby’s Granny’s generosity for granted. He rubs his thumb against her palm, part of him so understands and is proud for Emma.

“That’s marvelous, Swan,” he says.

She takes another sip of cappuccino, before she presses her lips together, and looks up at him.

“But then all of a sudden, Prime Minister Mills walked in,” she tells him.

He lets an eyebrow lift in place of a question.

“And she said that she took DNA from us both, without either of us knowing,” Emma says.

Killian thinks back to the week before, the suspected break-in. Of course it wasn’t the hooded man, it was the Prime Minister.

“We’re related,” Emma tells him. “I’m Mary Margaret’s daughter.”

So he was right.

He’s been right all along. It’s her. Emma is the girl from his childhood. It was Emma who he used to play games with in the castle courtyard. It was Emma who he used to eat sweets with in the kitchens when the cook would make them an extra treat. It was Emma who he ran across the field with that dark night. It was Emma who saw his brother right before he died. It was Emma who was now his sovereign. Emma.

“You’re the lost princess,” Killian says.

He feels a weird bit of emotion well up in him, a feeling of completeness that now is crescendoing. The girl who disappeared that night has been found. The lost girl who never had a family has been welcomed home.

When Emma looks up at him and sees the emotion in his face, something changes in her too. Tears spring again to her eyes. He quickly moves from his seat to slide in the booth next to her. His arms wrap around her. His lips kiss her hair. He tries to hide his sniffles, but he can’t.

She wraps her arms back around him, burying her face in his chest.

“We found you, Emma,” he whispers. “You came home to us.”

She sniffles.

“Killian, I don’t know how to react to this,” she murmurs back. “You’re crying, Mary Margaret is crying. I don’t know how to feel. I don’t feel like a princess. I don’t feel like my life is changing. I still don’t remember anything. It’s not like a sudden dramatic flashback or anything. All of these people keep looking at me like I’m supposed to be crying, but I don’t even know.”

Killian tries to be attentive to her. He realizes that Emma isn’t experiencing this moment as he is. He needs to be there for her. Princess or not, Emma is his girlfriend. She needs him to support her through this emotionally cataclysmic moment.

“Don’t know what?” He asks, brushing another hand through her hair.

“How to be a princess? How to be a daughter? I’ve only ever been Emma Swan. I’ve only ever been lost or alone or fighting for myself. I just want to go back to Durham and write my thesis. I don’t want to learn how to curtsey or use dumb shrimp forks or whatever people do in those Hallmark lost princess movies.”

“I’m not quite sure what a Hallmark is,” Killian replies.

“It’s not important,” Emma says, sniffling and sighing. “It’s just. I’m not really sure I ever wanted this.”

“Emma, you have a family,” he says emphatically, tears still in his eyes. “You have a real life fairy tale. You weren’t reading Blanche Neige all these years to run away from that. Princess Emmaline Georgette Analise Charmant Blanchard Nolan, I promise this is everything you’ve ever wanted.”

She smiles and sniffles and nods, “Yeah, I think I know that. Maybe that’s what scares me the most.”

He hugs her tight.

“I still don’t know what to do,” Emma says. “I ran away from the Queen.”

“You ran away?” He laughs.

“Yeah, I didn’t know how to react and she was crying and I absolutely couldn’t be in that room another moment,” she says.

“Oh love. Oh Swan,” He says, amused. His voice is still ragged from tears. “I think we should go find your Mum now. She’ll be wanting to hug you too after all these years.”

They walk back into the castle. Emma has to fight against everything inside her that says to turn her back, head for the Misthaven airport, and take off for North Carolina. But Killian’s hand inside her own helps, a lot actually. She lets it ground her, stabilize her. He’s still looking at her with tears in his eyes that makes her uncomfortable, but she’s managing.

Queen Mary Margaret and Prime Minister Mills are standing in the foyer when they arrive. She realizes that everyone else is gone- the secretaries, the dignitaries and diplomats, or whoever else might be in the castle. It’s just them.

“Your Royal Highness,” Regina says, “I’m truly sorry for springing the news on you in an improper way. I apologize.”

Emma tucks some hair behind her ears. It’s still damp from the rain earlier, which has now turned into a gentle mist.

“It’s fine,” she says. “I’m sorry for running away. It’s an old habit, I guess.”

“Emma,” the queen says finally, her voice choked up.

Mary Margaret takes a step forward, her lips pursed to hold back a sob.

Emma realizes that like it or not, this is her life now. She can keep running from it. Or she can embrace it. It doesn’t mean she needs to give up everything. Those details- her thesis, her livelihood, the dumb shrimp forks- they can be sorted out later. But right now, she’s just found out that this woman who has been nothing but a kind motherly figure to her these last few months is her actual real life mother. The least she can do is hug her.

She crosses the space and steps into her arms. It feels like melting, like comfort. Like a blanket wrapped around you on a cold day. Like turning the doorknob on your apartment door. Like a bowl sized cappuccino made just how she likes it. Like home. Mary Margaret, Killian, Misthaven- this was her home. She has a home. She is home.

“I’ve had a few assistants go out to get some Mamie’s coffee and croissants for you,” Mary Margaret says. “And we’ll call in some take away later for dinner.”

Emma doesn’t say that they just got coffee, because really, she always wants coffee. And it sounds, oh so cozy, to drink more coffee in this castle with the Queen. With her mom.

“I was thinking that I could give you a tour of the castle,” Mary Margaret says. “And then maybe, this is silly, but we’ve got these old home videos David used to take of you as a child. They’ve been too painful for me to ever watch, but maybe, since you’re here- we could watch them together.”

Emma smiles. She could do this. And maybe the home videos might even help her process and visualize and remember.

“That sounds great,” Emma tells her.

“I’ll just see you later then,” Killian whispers from behind her.

“No, no,” Mary Margaret says. “Please, Killian, you are family. Stay.”

Emma turns to smile at him and offer him her hand. “Stay.”

It’s late that night when they make it back to Emma’s apartment. After the long, harrowing, revelatory day, the clean white apartment and cozy house plants are the perfect greeting.

Emma is pretty sure she’s never been so tired. The rain and the emotions of the day have left her past drained. She leans on Killian as they walk in.

“Shower,” she mutters, as she stumbles towards the bathroom.

When Killian doesn’t follow immediately, she turns to him, “You too.”

He chuckles, before following her into the bathroom. She turns on the shower and cranks it up as high as it will go. That’s all she can think of right now- warm water and then a long sleep in her bed.

She strips off her clothes. Despite how tired she is, she glances behind her to see Killian’s expression. It’s something of admiration as he takes her in. She smirks and raises her eyebrows, before stepping in.

He’s inside the stream with her, sooner than she expects. The hot water alongside Killian’s arms wrapping around her lulls her and she feels the stress of the day leave her. She lets her eyes flutter closed as she leans back against his chest.

“What did you think of the evening with your mum?” He asks.

Emma smiles at the fact she has a mother. It’s a fact that is going to take a very long time to accept and set in, but for now she’s honoring her personal intention to embrace it.

“It was good,” Emma says.

“You know you can be honest with me,” Killian tells her, his hands moving to rub her shoulders. She realizes all the tensions she’s held in.

“No, I’m being honest,” she insists. “It was like having a family. A very rich, ridiculous family. But a genuine cozy little family.”

Killian nuzzles her hair, before moving to get her lavender aromatherapy body wash. He dabs it on a loofa and begins to rub it all over her.

“It was weird with those videos,” Emma murmurs.

She thinks back to the happy memory from less than an hour ago: of her, Killian, and Mary Margaret piled on a couch in one of the more comfortable lounges of the hilltop castle. They’d had takeaway pizza, which Emma could process now as a gesture from the Queen to be “chill” and let her ease her way into this.

They’d watched these videos of Emma with her family as a child. Baby Princess Emma waltzing with her father. Baby Princess Emma riding around on Prancer in the woods. Baby Princess Emma giggling as she plays tag with Killian down palace corridors. It’s weird to look at that little girl and know that it was her who did those things.

“I guess,” Emma says, as Killian switches from washing to shampooing, “I’ve been thinking for the last months, since I got here, that Princess Emma is this other person. A person who probably hates me for impersonating her. A person who is far more innocent than myself. A person who is probably dead.”

Killian starts rubbing shampoo into her hair and it’s fundamentally soothing. She lets out a soft sigh.

“It’s just weird to think that she’s me,” Emma says. “We are one in the same.”

She turns to face Killian and looks up at him. “You aren’t saying anything. I’m just monologuing here.”

He shakes his head as he runs his finger along the scar on her shoulder.

“I know, love,” He says softly. “I’m sorry. It’s just, I’ve thought you were her this whole time. I know you don’t want to hear it.”

She takes his hand from her shoulder to bring it to her lips to kiss his palm.

“No, it’s fine,” Emma says. “As much as I wanted to deny it, I knew you had your suspicions the whole time. Even last night, you did. And in the end it doesn’t matter, because here we are anyway.”

Killian reaches behind her to turn off the water. He kisses her softly before opening the curtain. He passes her a towel and she wraps it around her shoulders, following him out of the bathroom.

She pulls on a Duke Writing Studio t-shirt and a pair of underwear, before toweling off her hair and crawling into bed. Killian is already there, arms ready to pull her close.

Her eyes flicker closed naturally and she sighs softly.

She supposes that is another good, but terrifying thing about this whole situation: every obstacle of distance that was between her and Killian has faded. Misthaven is her home now.

She knows that she has plenty of thoughts about that to fret over in the future. A tendril of fear and another of anticipation wind in her stomach, but for now the wave exhaustion crashes over and pulls her under.

The next morning, Emma tries to fall into her normal schedule. She needs routine and hard work to ground her. She always has. It’s a coping mechanism.

Killian is still sleeping when she wakes. She makes coffee in the French Press before heading to her desk overlooking the park. She pulls the soft grey blanket off the couch and wraps around herself, before opening up her thesis materials. She’s just a happy little Emma in her quaint, minimalist Misthaven apartment enjoying her coffee and working on her PhD.

She doesn’t know much about what the future holds, but it has to hold her dissertation. She’s spent so much time on it. She’s put in so much work. Looking at it now, she hopes that she won’t look ridiculous for writing her thesis on her own mother’s work or specializing in the literature from the country she is now sovereign of. But she thinks that if she can keep the Blanche Neige secret under wraps and she can probably pass off a decent thesis.

She smiles fondly at herself as she starts typing- she can be the first Princess with a PhD. She googles it just to fact check herself. Frowning, she realizes that a Japanese princess has already beat her to it.

A princess , she reminds herself. She’s still processing it. If she’s being honest, she’s probably at a sort of denial stage in the process because she’s feeling pretty chill about it. The shock of it has worn off, but she’s certain that the reality hasn’t set in yet either.

“How is my princess this morning?” A groggy voice asks from behind her.

She turns to see a disheveled Killian leaning against the door frame of her bedroom. He’s just in boxers and his hair is sticking up in all directions.

She purrs, “Come here.”

He walks behind her chair and loops his arms around her. She feels the scruff of his beard on her cheek as he leans down to give her a kiss.

She turns her head to kiss him on the lips, her hands cupping his face to pull him down to her. His body curves around hers to deepen the kiss and pull her close. She feels so soft and delicate, like she’s something so precious to him. She’s grown to like that feeling- like she matters.

Her arms lift to his shoulders and he uses his own arms to lift her. Her legs curl around his torso.

“Sorry about the coffee breath,” she whispers, self conscious.

“Dammit Emma,” He whispers, as he falls onto the couch.

She transitions perfectly into straddling him. Her hands dive into his gloriously disheveled hair. His head lowers to kiss her neck, then her collarbone, before he settles to lick at the base of her throat.

She hums in pleasure. All her thoughts, her worries, her cares are gone. All she can think of is Killian, the man she loves- and it’s bliss.

Then a phone's ringtone strikes the air and the spell is broken.

Emma stumbles off of him to head for her bedroom where her phone is lying on her bedside table.

“Hello,” she asks, not pausing to glance at the number.

“Emma, darling,” replies Mary Margaret.

Her mom. The queen. Blanche Neige. It’s almost dizzying.

“Oh hey,” Emma says, sitting on the side of her bed.

“I was wondering if you and Killian would like to join me and Regina for brunch,” she says. “We have a lot to go over- publicity, citizenship, castles, balls.”

Emma can hear a smile in her voice, but her own stomach churns. The denial phase is slowly slipping away into something else, some sort of reality setting in. She can’t have slow and silly mornings with her boyfriend because she has princess responsibilities.

But she feels, alongside of that, a weird sense of duty well up in her. Of course, she must be at this meeting. She can tell that just like the night before, the Queen is trying to make it easier for her. She isn’t throwing her into royal duties, just inviting her to a casual brunch.

“Yes, certainly,” Emma says. “We’ll be there.”

“It’ll be at my place,” Mary Margaret says. “The Summer Palace. I’ll send a car for you in about a half an hour. See you then!”

Killian pokes his head in and she explains the brunch meeting.

“I’ve actually got work this morning, love,” He explains. “I can skip it, for certain, darling, if you want. I don’t want you to go alone if you are nervous.”

Emma can’t believe she forgot that Killian has a life outside of her. But of course he does. She senses that everything for them is going to change very soon. “Publicity” the queen said. It may be one of the last times that Killian will get to work in peace, or work at all.

“It’s fine,” Emma says, rising to meet him and kissing his cheek. “Go to work, Killian.”

They launch into action, mutually displeased to leave behind their moment on the couch, but both busy with their plans. Emma changes into a pair of black jeans and a sweater, hoping that it’s a nice enough outfit for brunch with the Queen. Her hair, messy and tangled from sleeping it in wet, goes up into what she hopes suffices as an elegant top knot. A spritz of perfume, a bit of concealer and mascara, a peck on Killian’s lips- and she’s out the door to meet the car.

The Christmas decorations are up in their full glory when Emma arrives at the summer palace: fairy lights, garland, and wreaths of evergreen adoring the palace. She exits the car and is greeted by a doorman who informs her that the Prime Minister and Her Majesty are in the Forest Room. Emma nods and makes her way through the palace, trimmed with Christmas cheer, before finding the tea room.

“Emma, darling,” Mary Margaret says, crossing the room to envelop her in a hug.

Emma wants to resist, because that is her instinct. Flashes of Ingrid, of other foster parents flash through her mind. People she thought she could trust, but proved her wrong. It’s hard to believe that there is actually someone here who truly loves her and won’t leave. But it’s true. So she lets her mother hug her and lets herself relax into the hug. A part of her that has always been raw and ragged, now feels soothed.

“Did you sleep alright?” She asks.

Emma nods.

“Well there is fruit and patisserie on the sideboard, coffee and tea as well. If you prefer a hot breakfast, you can just order from one of the footmen,” The queen directs.

Not being fussy, Emma takes some strawberries and a pain au chocolat. She fills one of the dainty mugs with coffee and then joins Mary Margaret and Regina at the table.

“Shall we dive into it?” The Prime Minister asks. “We need to decide when to send out the press release. I’ve already had it drafted and you can review it if you please.”

She pushes Emma a piece of paper with the official Misthaven seal on it. Emma tries to skim it, but her mind is too all over the place to focus.

“I think it’s best to do it as soon as possible,” Regina informs her. “It would be disastrous if the information was leaked from someone else. Obviously there will be a lot of commotion about it at first. This is, afterall, a nearly impossible event to happen- lost princess finds her way home. So I expect that we’ll have a fair bit of international coverage. It’ll be best if you lay low during that time, avoiding reporters and the like. However, once it dies down, you should be fine. Misthaven is too small to have the insane paparazzi that English and Swedish royals face.”

Emma nods. The words paparazzi makes her squirm and want to run away. She thinks about the simple pleasure of drinking coffee at Mamies or sitting, editing her paper, in Killian’s pub. She wonders if she’ll ever get that pleasure again. Or at least how long she’ll have to wait to do that again.

“We’ll hire you security as well,” The queen adds. “At least until the hype dies down and even after, so we all know you are safe.”

Emma nods again. She wishes she brought a notebook to take notes.

“You’ll obviously move into the house in the Southern Valley,” the Queen tells her. “And we’ll have to make plans for the Christmas ball. It’s a bit last minute for a dress, but we can figure something out.”

Emma feels her forehead crinkle, all of it hitting her too fast to process.

“But, I’m leaving Misthaven next Thursday to be back in America for Christmas,” Emma says. “I already bought the ticket.”

The only way that Emma could buy the ticket was through her grant and fellowship. There was no way she could afford it on her own. She couldn’t just buy another one because she changed her mind about when she wanted to go back.

“What do you mean going back to America?” Regina asks, perplexed.

“To go back to Duke and finish my PhD,” Emma explains.

“Well clearly that isn’t important now, is it?” Regina says.

“What do you mean?” Emma says, startled. Her mind races with defensive thoughts. She can’t lose her thesis. “That’s everything. My life’s work.”

“Emma will finish her PhD,” Mary Margaret says. “Of course she will.”

Emma feels her pounding heart decelerate.

“It might be in your best interest, however,” the Queen says. “To take a semester off. See if you can take a small leave of absence. I’m sure it’s understandable, just so you have time to transition.”

Emma wants to say no. She wants to say that she spends Christmas with Belle and her father each year. She wants poinsettias in the green house and presents under the tree.

But then she thinks about waking up on Christmas morning with Killian beside her. A Christmas tree in her own house. Emma’s never even entertained the thought of having a house of her own before because it seemed too impossible. But now she’ll have one and a family of her own to spend Christmas with. Yes, she’ll have to stay. It seems silly now to have even thought otherwise.

“What about my flight home?” She asks. “I already bought it.”

“Don’t take it, obviously,” Regina says. “I’m not even sure why we are talking about this. You’ve just inherited a hundred million euros, I’m not quite sure why you’re hung up on this.”

Oh.

Emma tries to process a hundred million.

She thinks about stealing concealer from the drugstore because she couldn’t afford it and she wanted to cover up the bruises.

She thinks of eating a grilled cheese every other day and sleeping in the library.

She thinks of all the opportunities she said no to- studying abroad, nights at the theater, dinners out with professors- because she couldn’t afford it.

And now she has a hundred million euros.

Emma doesn’t realize she is crying until her fat tears fall into her coffee cup, a sob coming out of her chest.

“Emma,” Mary Margaret gasps, coming over to her and placing a hand on her shoulder. “My dear, what is it?”

Emma tries to breath and chokes on her breath, a hiccup forming.

“I’ve never had money like that,” she says. “Nothing close to that. I’ve always had to scrape and fight for scraps. I don’t know how to have this life now.”

Mary Margaret and Regina exchange a look and the Prime Minister leaves the room. The queen lowers herself down so that she meet Emma face to face.

“Emma,” the queen begins, rubbing her back as tears tumble from Emma’s eyes. “I am terribly sorry that you’ve lived a life you didn’t deserve. I’m so sorry that you’ve had to experience such horrible poverty and so much financial anxiety. I’m sorry for every moment you’ve been lonely. Every moment you’ve wondered where your mum was. I’m sorry that I couldn’t tuck you in at night and take you on nice holidays and buy you new books. I can’t begin to understand what your life has been like, but I can tell you it’s going to be better now.”

Emma sniffles and looks up at her.

“You’ll never want or fret about money. You’ll be able to help others with that money, make a difference in the world. You and Killian will be able to give your kids everything you didn’t have,” The queen says.

The queen beckons Emma into another hug and she obliges.

“You are going to have a good life now, Emma,” the Queen tells her.

Eventually Emma’s tears lull and Regina returns. They start to make plans for Emma’s move, which is to happen in two days. They take her measurements to send to the dressmaker for Emma’s dress for the ball, which will also double as her public debut. And they pass along a debit card for her new royal bank account. Regina advises she starts updating her wardrobe with pieces that are “couture” and informs her that once her move is finished, a stylist will come to help her look a bit more sophisticated.

The comment makes Emma want to roll her eyes, but she decides that isn’t very princess-like and resists.

It’s overwhelming and totally new. But Emma is trying, with all her might, to shove the walls down. If they come up now, she’ll only hurt Mary Margaret and Killian. She hasn’t worked this hard to turn on them.

As the driver takes her back down from the mountaintop palace, she leans her head against the window. She imagines herself turning into a tree, roots growing deep into the ground, branches reaching towards the sky. She tries to think of herself as being unmoved here, firm of purpose and place. Growing a home here in this place, here in Misthaven.

She has the driver drop her off at Mamie’s, where she gets a cappuccino and reads a book of fairy tales. Emma decides she needs to make the most of her last few days of anonymity. It starts to rain again, the weather decidedly cold now, Indian summer behind them. From Mamie’s, she can see Killian’s pub across the street and across the blustery street she can just make him out at the counter. She sends him a text telling him to come over when he finishes his shift.

As she flicks through her phone, she realizes she has a text from Belle.

Sorry to change our usual plans girl, but Will invited me to Misthaven for Christmas to meet his family. Any chance I can convince you to stay in Misthaven for Xmas as well?

Emma taps back.

Haha I just decided today to stay in Misthaven for Christmas too.

Emma smirks to herself and sips her cappuccino as she waits for a response.

Yes, amazing!! Can you stay with Killian then? Is it okay if Will and I take back his apartment?

Rolling her eyes, Emma replies:

In a huge plot twist, I’m actually getting my own place in Misthaven. I’ll explain more later on facetime when I am not at a coffee shop. Loooong story.

#Captain Swan #CS fic #CS fic rec #cs ff #cs ff au #cs modern au #killian jones #emma swan

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toomanycharr · 4 years

Note

just like last time im asking this for ALL ur charr cuz i cant pick one and ur url is irresistable, anyways - 🌳 (What is your OC’s favourite way to relax after a stressful day? Do they have a favourite book to curl up with? A hobby? Or do they have a nice bubble bath and have an early night to bed?)

I have to warn you this answer took me almost an entire day to write out, but I’m no mouse. LONG answer below! I missed out the non-RP charr, charr that have died IC, and the other races, just for my own sanity.

Apnea Spiritmaul Apnea is a Blood gal at heart, even if she is part of Iron Legion. She often spends her free time sparring with any Blood Legion she can find (and kicking their butts, usually.)

Arcturis Spiritmaw Arcturis, being half-legionnaire, doesn’t get much free time. He does enjoy taking far-too-long showers when he can, though. He will also just lay in the snow if he is in that climate.

Nerium Primalgaze (Yeah this isn’t alphabetical, I remade the alphabetical charr as her, hah.) Nerium is the type to enjoy the smaller things in life. Good ‘company’, a nice bath...

Artaios Earthshaker Earthshaker is a very, very old man. He spends his free time teaching any young charr who are interested in the ways of the Elements, or he sleeps. A lot.

Ashran Deadwar Ashran is another charr that likes to spar. He’ll fight, or go to the bane to watch the fights there.

Auva Solarbeast / Ryta Thundervex Auva likes to spend time with her mate Ryta, and the two enjoy stargazing, cloudwatching, or anything to do with the sky. Auva also likes to read to Ryta.

Barb Axefell Barb was another charr that had little time. She works, she sleeps, and that’s about it.

Caye Bearbreaker Copious amounts of ale. End answer.

Corax Lunarcaller/ Xyx Blacklunar Corax likes to spend time with his ravens and also loves to read.

Cur Blitzpillager Cur likes to go very, very fast on her bike. No destination needed.

Eris Spiritheart Eris, much like her brother and co-legionnaire Arcturis, doesn’t get a lot of time. She used to spend all her free time with her mate, Vanessa, but since Vanessa died she’s mostly just been... Lost. She often just sits, staring into any bodies of water nearby.

Erro Sharkbone Erro is the type that sleeps with one eye open, so she doesn’t really let herself have any downtime. She’s either working or being too paranoid to do anything but watch her back.

Freki The Vile Lionguards and ‘free time’ don’t really mix. When she does find a few quiet minutes, Freki does quite enjoy fishing.

Gacrux Lifebringer Gacrux is an avid reader, from leaflets she finds on her adventures, to books she may happen across. It’s debatable if she can actually READ, but she sure likes to look at words.

Geier Hearthhew When Geier isn’t annoying the Adamant Guard, making unnecessary hassle for Warband charr, or stealing metal from the Citadel to pawn off to whoever may buy it, he likes to go grawl-watching.

Grus Lunarspark Grus enjoys tinkering with his guns and gyros. Whilst in Drizzlewood, he picked up the enjoyment of fishing out of the need for something substantial to eat.

Hadar Tumultcleave Hadar enjoys learning new spells. With the arrival of new-flame into the legions, he’s learning a lot more that he didn’t have a chance to before!

Invidere Envyheart Invidere is a bit of a writer and will spend a few hours before sleep time writing if possible.

Purtia the Brazen Purtia enjoys drinking whiskey, fighting Bloods, and taking trips out to the lakes to swim.

Kai Bossfang Another fighty charr. How original!

King Tyant King is currently in the Stockades. So, uh. Yeah. Not much he CAN do. He does enjoy singing, much to the jailer’s displeasure.

Malice Wrathwalker Before he was a centurion, Malice would enjoy drinking with his warband, or going out for long ‘patrols.’ He has no time for that now, though.

Malin Lunarstone / Malin the Pallid Malin has recently been trying to draw- which has been a hassle, as she’s more recently lost her writing hand. Doesn’t stop her. In the past, she would do alchemy as a hobby. She also brews and drinks a lot of tea.

Murren Rubblecroon While Murren is a singer, he’s a terrible lyricist. But... His hobby is writing some of the worst, non-sensical lyrics ever derived from a charr.

Nenqe the Shield Nenqe makes guitars as a hobby! She also enjoys eating.

Rallus Weldcog Rallus enjoys tinkering with his mechanical devourerer and drinking beer.

Rouzl Crypticfury I guess you could say Rouzl is a... story crafter. Because he likes to make up bullshit stories that never actually happened to make him look like a hero.

Rrul Rivecleave Rrul enjoys a good whiskey, watching the Bane, and more recently spending time with his ‘mate’ (as much as he won’t admit she is,) Sargas.

Sargas Broadcinder Sargas, being an ambassador of Greetsglory, has to keep herself as well-presented as possible at all times. She’d love to drink and fight, but she cannot.

Seamstress Kombucha Kombucha likes to bake (terribly) in her spare time. It’s a shame her talent is all specced into tailoring, as she makes a lot of food waste.

Sergi Serpentfang A charr well past her retirement and too stubborn to become a praetor, Sergi enjoyed complaining about how it used to be before the treaty, complaining about her useless cubs, and complaining about.... Well, anything else. BUT NOW SHE’S A FROSTY SO.

Skurr Arsonfume Skurr is another pain in the Adamant's tail. He enjoys stealing, outrunning those he just stole from and making New Flame legion look bad, apparently.

Speldan Cinderquell Speldan likes to visit Nolan to help with the devourerers. Recently, she’s taken a mild interest in magic thanks to her Legionnaire.

Syn Thunderstalker Being a stinky no-friend flame-licker (And also some really bad crap I’d rather not talk about, but... Old flame. I’m sure you can imagine.)

Tamika Dustshot Tamika likes to volunteer at the orphanage, hoping to change the children’s opinions on charr. She also raises tiger babies!

Temac Gemstrike Another charr that likes to steal, but she doesn’t do it to cause problems like the last two. She’s actually GOOD at it.

The Truest One Poor boy gets no free time. The reason why is a spoiler for my RP storyline, but he’s usually asleep...

Valun Nettlefall Valun is a hobbyist entomologist! He’s a sniper and will hide out within the wilderness for days on end- he’s taken a liking to identifying and documenting bugs whilst he’s out there.

Vega Brinegut Vega enjoys birdwatching! Not a very pirate-y activity for sure, but when you’re on the seas, seeing a bird is a sign of land coming soon.

Veta Wraithvine Veta is still very much in training and dedicates most of her time to that. She does enjoy soaking in rivers when she can, though.

Vopros Redtail Having recently joined the legions, Vopros doesn’t entirely know what to do with his new ‘freedom’. He likes to try a bit of everything.

Wurzel Cidersnout Wurzel enjoys boardgames! He plays with his sire, Xeryl, and his brother, Wassail.

Xeryl Scrapzap Xeryl doesn’t like board games as much as his cub. He plays them because he’s a good dad, but would rather be doing anything else... Like sleeping.

Xyx Blackrune Xyx is an adventurer and likes to go to new, interesting places. She also enjoys cooking!

Yeens Yeens likes to sew, even though she’s terrible at it. She tried to do repairs to her ship’s sails, but the first mate always redoes it after she botches it.

Zyre Endstrider Zyre is a bit of a poet, writing edgy and depressing prose over a bottle of whiskey.

Aries Mistwalker Another charr that doesn’t have much time. She’s a mist commander, and when she’s not sleeping, she’s leading the war.

Auxantious Auxantious (Aka. The Ghost of Godslost) is usually looking for anyone that may need his help, or making potions in his mist-shrouded tent.

Boor Keenjaw A huge glutton, Boor enjoys challenging others to eating contests. He always wins.

Breve Blackeye Breve is an alcoholic. He drinks, a lot. He’s never really in the right mind for hobbies beside that.

Ceres Siezescrap Ceres sometimes swings by the ranches when she needs some time out, sampling their wares and helping tend to the cows.

Congou Drakesdame Congou is always on the move, but when she does settle, she likes to curl up with her drakes and read.

Falk Blazebane As much as Blood has tried to ‘brainwash’ the young charr, Falk is still very much a free mind. He enjoys drawing, and has recently taken up cartography!

Firstmate Razormaw Razormaw likes to grow plants on the ship! They near-always die, but it doesn’t dissuade her. She likes to sing to them.

Galao Blackcandle Galao is usually always cooking. He does enjoy fishing, too, but he gets little time to.

Gannet Aegisjaw Gannet likes to challenge Boor to eating contests. He never wins, but they both have a good time.

Gnarl Shattersiege Gnarl loves to cook! And eat. He’s often found at the grills, making far too much meat and sharing it out with anyone who might be nearby.

Kallisti Smokehunt Kallisti enjoys swimming, and is often seen at a lake. She enjoys seeing how long she can hold her breath underwater (She’s pretty good at it!)

Mayall Stargazer Despite her name and job as an astrologist, Mayall turns to the ground for her hobbies. She enjoys studying plants and mushrooms!

Mehl Kilnsunder Mehl is another charr who isn’t sure what to do with her new freedom. She really enjoys spending time with the other Whispers agents, one of them is currently teaching her how to read. She likes that.

Mitho Deathgrip Another charr that’s always spoiling for a fight, Mitho is usually found getting in trouble by challenging charr double her size.

Parus Direblight Parus likes to talk to the patrons of the bar he works in, and get to know them all. He may or may not take some back to his room. Damn mousepouncers.

Polaris Anvilstone Polaris is a hobbyist brewer! It’s become a little more serious recently. They make all sorts of beers!

Rau Bitterbark Rau spends all his free time doing fahrar refresher courses for charr who seem to have forgotten their training. This is his way of relaxing..?

Rauch Slypoison Rauch likes to try new drinks and foods. She often hangs out in Divinity’s Reach, testing cocktails for a human barkeep there.

Rook Foulflare Rook is another Entomologist! He raises the bugs, though.

Skar Battlebeat Skar... Attempts to write songs. He's the drummer of his band for a reason, though- He cannot sing, or write. Rumor is he just does it to try to impess the lead singer...

Skellur Boomtooth Skellur likes to do anything that makes a big noise. He often hangs at the cannons near the trading post, chatting to the workers when they’re not shooting at ghosts,

Spinel Blackcarve Much like her name suggests, Spinel enjoys carving statues and toys for the cubs out of chunks of wood.

Tabus Anvilshift Tabus enjoys reading, watching leylines,and being a bastard.

Teuen Venomwolf Teuen enjoys listening to music, and reading. He doesn't like metal.

Tiburtius Rendsight This charr never relaxes. Even if she could, she wouldn't.

Tuocha Blacksnow Tuocha will go to any snowy climate and just lay in the snow. If he can't do that, he'll complain how hot it is, constantly.

Volca Slashthroat Volca is a vile creature who wouldn't know 'fun' or 'relaxation' if it hit her in the face. The closest she gets is just killing indiscrimanately.

Vorrar Vorrar is another cook, who often tried to make food out of things that do not belong in food. It never tastes good, and is hardly even edible half the time.

Vurmbait the Feral Vurm doesn't eally have any hobbies besides trying to plot the downfall of the charr legions and the Olmakhan, and training herself to have a chance at doing that.

Xyx Blackbriar No, this isn't the same Xyx, there's just multiples! Xyx enjoys just being in nature, gathering moa feathers, and looking at plants. He's clueless about plants, but he likes them.

Yaxa Oozemaw Yaxa likes to watch, and star in, sometimes, plays! She doesn't get to watch them often, but as soon as she's not on duty with Maw, she's looking for where to enjoy a good (or absolutely terrible) play.

#long post #holy hell this took an age #answers #text

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eirian-houpe · 4 years

Text

Cactus

Fandom: Once Upon a Time (TV)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Relationships: Belle/Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold

Characters: Belle (Once Upon a Time), Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold, Prince Charming | David Nolan

Additional Tags: Fluff, Flirting, Courtship, a monthly Rumbelling July 2020, A Monthly Rumbelling (Once Upon a Time)

Series: Part 2 of The Language of Flowers

Summary: Belle and Gold continue their courtship with poetry and flowers and as their relationship grows, Rumple sends Belle a very important gift

Read on AO3

Cactus

Although they had officially been dating for three weeks, he didn’t stop the practice that had brought them together.

He already had some flowers, which he’d pressed prior to their daily arrangement of walking together at dusk, as well as taking afternoon tea on Sundays, just to break up the monotony of the weeks that never seemed to change in Storybrooke. However, he wanted something different now they knew each other a little better; something special.

He began to spend some of the free time he had between customers who came in to the pawn shop, for the repair of mechanical, clockwork trinkets and other assorted trivia, on the Internet. At first his Google searches frustrated him, as he always seemed to put in the wrong search parameters, and got back ridiculous answers such as how to wash a dog he didn’t have, with vinegar and baking soda. He wondered how on earth Google thought this was an appropriate answer when the words he’d typed in were, ‘Flower Lore.’ It was one of the reasons he hated the Internet with a passion reserved previously for such people as the mayor, the proprietor of the Rabbit Hole, and of course, Belle’s no good father. He persevered, however, - as he had done with the three aforementioned individuals - and soon the Internet yielded the results for which he had been hoping, a knowledgeable and consistent web and blog site that focused on flowers, their meanings in folklore, and uses in common-day herbalism and home remedies.

It was for these reason he got into the habit of driving to the nearest town to Storybrooke to visit a rather well stocked nursery and florist establishment. He was becoming a regular, and it suited him well enough that the proprietor knew that he was only looking for the best plants and blooms. Only the best for his Belle.

Belle French frowned, a very confused frown, as she stood in the library doorway, looking down at the plant as if it were the oddest thing in the world. She crouched down and very carefully fingered the edges of the soft tissue paper in which the plant was wrapped. Then she looked up and along the street to where she could see the familiar figure of Mister Gold limping along towards his shop.

She couldn’t count the number of stares they’d received from the many people who had seen them out walking together in the evenings, or who happened to be in Granny’s diner when they called in for their tea on Sundays. So many of them were the looks of astonishment at best, and mortification, at worst, and it hurt her heart to think that the people of Storybrooke still reviled Mister R Gold, while she, Belle French, was quickly coming to like him… a lot.

In fact, if pressed while she was working on another of the collages she made of Gold’s offerings, the ones she framed and put around the library apartment to, ‘brighten the place up’ as she would tell you at first, she might just let you in on the secret yearnings that were beginning to stir in both her heart and her body for Storybrooke’s most hated man, and then fix you with a deadly stare that dared you to comment on her taste in romantic partners.

So, she picked up the plant, and carefully carried it inside the library where she unwrapped the blue and white ceramic pot in which it was planted - her favorite kind of housing for living plants that she received, although seldom - and set the cactus, for such was her gift - on the circulation desk for all to see, and until she could decide how in the name of everything holy she was going to get a cutting and dry it to be used in one of her pictures.

It was a gift after all, and she wanted to use it, in spite of the thorns.

Through the long, cold day I long for the warmth of your protection against wintry nights.

This time she had slipped the beautifully handwritten note inside the upper left pocket of the vest he wore beneath the suit jacket. Even after their weeks of walking together she still wrote to him, finding hiding places on his person, or in unexpected places around his shop where no one but he would find them. Once, she even managed to slip one into his wallet - and he still hadn’t worked out how on earth she’d been able to achieve such a feat. Not that he wouldn’t have given his wallet to her if she’d ask.

He had found the note when he opened it up at the garage where he had the Cadillac serviced, and his oil changed. He pulled out the cash to pay Michael, the proprietor, and found the note nestled there between the bills. He stood for many long moments just staring at the piece of paper and the words she had written on it. Taking in nothing else for long enough that Michael called his name and asked if everything were okay.

It was. It was unexpected, but more than welcome.

With a smile, when he reached his shop, he walked into the back room where beautiful rainbow dahlia were carefully tucked into a large dome of soaked, green oasis to keep them fresh for the evening, when he could give them to Belle in a small basket he had picked out as perfect for the occasion. He thought the blooms reflected the elegance and dignity that she displayed as they walked around Storybrooke together with her on his arm.

How could she be so patient with others?

Having seen some of the looks she had endured, some of the stares over the last three weeks, it was a wonder to him that he had not simply broken from her gentle hold, taken his cane, and smashed them to within inches of their lives. How dare they look at her in such a way. Still, she would always seem to know when his temper was about to get the better of him, and would tighten her hand around his arm, and give him the kind of smile that made him forget everything around him, and focus only on her.

Belle carefully teased the cactus leaf apart and set it to press between two of the heaviest books in her apartment, which she had brought up from the library. That complete, she dipped her pen into the light green ink in the bottle on her desk. She had decided to order some different colored inks to add another dimension to the pictures she made from the flowers that Mister Gold still gave to her, perhaps even more frequently now that they were courting.

She paused, letting the end of the pen come to rest against her lip as she considered the words she had used in the latest of their pictures; a gift that she was preparing for Mister Gold for the approaching holiday. She had a bubbling excitement in her wait for it, for him to see it, and for him to be able to see that her feelings were true.

Hours spent by candle, before the firelight’s glow as the march of time carries us toward full night.

With a smile she set down her pen, and turned the paper to rest it carefully against the blotter, careful not to smudge the lettering while it was still wet, and making certain that - by the time she was ready - the faint aroma of the rose-scented oils she had sprayed upon the paper lingered, completing her poetic missive, and encouragement for more. Spying the time, she reached for her coat and put the note carefully into her pocket, ready to slip it, unobserved onto Gold’s person as they walked.

True, it was a game she played with him, another way of more openly flirting with him than simply with flowers and poetry, but it was still unknown to the rest of Storybrooke, who looked at her with such unkind, judgmental eyes. Expressions she would, with a steady gaze, return to assure them that she was not ashamed of her growing feelings for Mister Gold, nor would they make her so, with their impolite reception.

Closing the door behind her, she made the short walk back down to the library, from where, her heart full of happiness and a smile lighting her face, she would be collected for her evening walk.

After the third of her short, poetic notes that week, Gold finally reached for the courage, at least in his own company, to consider taking their relationship further, but in another crisis of confidence, which always seemed to trigger when he considered how he might progress nearer to his desire for he and Belle.

The Thursday morning saw him staring seriously into his coffee cup in a booth at the middle of the diner, further back from his usual place.

“Did something go wrong?” David asked, still a little too loudly in public, and not for the first time Gold winced and wondered what had made him choose David for his confidante. Still he pulled out the carefully folded, much cherished piece of vellum.

As quietly as all the other times, he slid the folded note across the table between the two of them seated at the table.

“Is this the problem?” David asked again, as Gold seemed reluctant to release the sheet of paper. “She told you something that upset you in a note?

“I’m not upset,” he said, shaking his head, “and again, please keep your voice down. This is a most private matter.” David raised an eyebrow and gave a soft apology, and Gold doubted that the other man would ever guess the content of the note. He leaned forward in his seat and quietly, confidentially, explained what he could of the growing affections between he and Belle.

David sat back in his seat, a smile on his face as Gold finished his tale. “Well, that’s good news,” he said. “Isn’t it? Why don’t you just ask her. Now… tonight, I mean, on your walk.”

“Please,” Gold said, “It’s most impropitious. Besides, why should I have reason to believe that she shares my growing feelings in any way?”

“Talking to her?” David questioned, and Gold finally lifted his hand from the latest of the notes he had received, this time in the front pocket of his jacket, found after last night’s walk. He watched as David pulled the note toward him and opened it, saw the way his eyebrows shot up as he read. Gold knew the words already, by heart, and even thinking them made it clench and send its always birdlike flutter down into his groin.

And in that night, with you beside me, shall I call your name as you know me.

“Wow,” David said, looking up from the note. “And you doubt she shares your feelings how exactly?”

“Because,” he began, surrendering to a moment of almost painful honesty, “Even after weeks of courting, and walking in public, longing to take things further - when it comes to it, I fear that what I have to offer her is far less then the gift that she can give… and not as much as she deserves.

David regarded him without words for the longest time, meeting his eyes and holding him in place with only his gaze until, uncomfortable, he began to fidget.

“I think you need to let Belle be the judge of that.”

Belle wiped off the last of the dust from the circulation desk and a soft sigh escaped her. She had hoped, as before, that Mister Gold might call in to suggest a different course than simply their evening walk, that he might have understood, and for a moment she felt such fierce disappointment that her eyes became hot with unshed tears.

Had her poetic notes been too unclear? Had the cactus been a symbol of his irritation with her in some way?

She looked at the clock on the wall. It was almost ten, and there were no patrons in the library, so as was her desire, she locked up, heade upstairs, and prepared to drown her disappointment in a bucket of tea, and as much foundation as would hide the evidence of her sorrow. It was not at all her usual way, but she just felt… cowed and lonely.

His soft voice began the moment she left the stacks to head back to the desk, rolling like a wave of warmth across the space between them as she came to a sudden halt, her heart beating so quickly it was like unto one continuous drum-roll.

“Safe and warm within my arms,” he purred, “bearing the rose of my kiss.”

He approached her slowly, and it was only then that she noticed that he had turned out all but one of the lights in the library’s lobby, and that he reached for her with an un-gloved hand, his fingertips barely brushing against her skin.

“So that I need not speak, only be the echo of my heart for thee”

She blushed as she leaned toward him, into the soft touch of his fingers on her cheek, and looked up at him with a moonlit ocean for eyes that met the caramel warmth of his.

“Rumple,” she greeted him softly, a little breathless.

“May I?” he asked quietly, passing the tender brush of his thumb against her lips.

Blushing more fiercely, she nodded once, and then stilled, even holding her breath as he leaned closer yet, brushing his mouth softly to hers.

“Belle,” she breathed as he withdrew his touch.

She watched as he retrieved his cane from where he always left it, and then tipped her head in query as he offered her his arm.

“Would you care to share a nightcap with me, at my home?” he asked.

She smiled, and slipped her hand onto his arm.

“I should like that very much,” she said.

#rumbelle #fluff #flirting #courtship #a-monthly-rumbelling #amr

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trainsinanime · 5 years

Text

Adrien v Batman

Just so we're clear here: This is all about Miraculous Ladybug on its own, it is not about the oddly popular Miraculous Ladybug/Batman crossovers in the fandom.

For months now I've had these thoughts that don't really coalesce into anything. It starts with this old webcomic from 2011. That comic discusses the frequent idea that "men are just sexualised as women in comics" by pointing out that Batman, as we see him normally, is meant to appeal to male, not female audiences. And to illustrate this, it shows what a Batman designed to appeal to women might look like. You get some things like larger eyes for more emotion, a leaner build for dexterity over power, and more visible face. Good point, done well, deserved its run in the limelight in 2011 and probably doesn't hurt to bring it back now either.

But watching Miraculous Ladybug, I can't help but wonder: Is that comic the origin story for Chat Noir? Because those descriptions match him pretty well.

In general, Ladybug seems to be inspired by Spiderman (red outfit, rope powers, teenage angst, just all a lot less intense), and the conclusion that Chat Noir is inspired by Batman seems very simple, too: Hangs out on tall buildings, dresses in black, his outfit has extra ears on it, he lives in a big empty manor, parental abandonment issues…

But a lot of Adrien's defining characteristics seem to be the exact opposite of Bruce Wayne, and in particular the brooding, serious, hyper-masculine version popularised by the Nolan movies and parodied so beautifully by the Lego movies.

Most importantly, Adrien is emotionally very open (even more so when he's Chat Noir). He doesn't hide his emotions, his pain at all. On the flip side, he is incredibly open to making new friends. He even went out of his way to become friends with that one super-judgemental girl who saw him, went "you're rich, that means you suck", and falsely accused him of putting gum on her seat. People go to great lengths here on Tumblr to point out how actually Bruce Wayne is really kind you just don't notice because it doesn't come up that often. No need to do that for Adrien; it's always 100% out in the open.

In fact, being kind and emotionally open is a huge part of his role in the superhero team dynamic. He does the Spider-Man quipping, and when things have gotten really bad near the end of a season finale, he provides emotional support to Ladybug by telling her how much he believes in her. That is not something Batman would do to Spiderman most of the time, and even if he did, it would be framed as this big revelation, not as reaffirming something we've always seen anyway.

It even goes down to the superhero costume. Ignoring all the changes they made to avoid copyright infringement, the costumes are fairly similar: Black mask, dark suit, all designed to blend into the night, and black extra ears because, as the title of Gintama episode 43 said, "Make Characters So Anybody Can Tell Who They Are By Just Their Silhouettes". But artists over the years have gone to great lengths to make Batman's suit seem powerful, masculine, regal, and not at all silly, despite it being a grown man dressing like a bat.

Adrien, on the other hand? His suit features a bell. They didn't just leave the silly in, they draw attention to it and made it a key part of the design, because silly and emotionally open and honest is a key part of who Adrien is.

And finally, of course, the descriptions from the comic: Adrien is lean and has large expressive eyes. Both apply to most characters in the show, of course, that's its aesthetic, but they could have easily changed the aesthetic (early in the design process) if they had wanted a more classic Batman-type Adrien. Even within the show as it is, you have quite a range of body types, so an Adrien built more like a prize boxer would have certainly been possible. But that's clearly not the character they were going for here.

So… I'm not sure if this is deliberate. I think you can read Adrien as an alternate take on Batman; a Batman who sees strength in connection with others, instead of brooding, and ends up much happier as a result (plus, he got Spider-Man to crush on him). To me, the similarities seem too clear for this to be an accident, but who knows. Not sure what the conclusion is either; it's just something I found interesting.

#adrien agreste #chat noir #miraculous ladybug #batman #bruce wayne #mlb meta

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selfindulgentpoorlywritten · 5 years

Text

Is That A Yes?

I’ve re-read this so many times in the past three days I think I went blind for a while. Get it out of my face.

Rating: T

Pairing: Nolan Patrick/Reader

Words: 2858

Warnings: past self harm, drinking, someone gets smacked upside the head

Requested: yes / no

Summary: You don’t exactly hide your scars, but when you leave them visible, people tend to ask questions. Exhibit A: TK, approximately 90 seconds ago.

There’s an official Welcome Back party between camp and pre-season, but this isn’t that. This, right here, is the infinitely better unofficial Welcome Back party, without any upper management around to make sure you all behave yourselves. It’s at G’s house as is tradition, with just the team and a few select team-adjacent workers-- like you. Really, you just drew the lucky card by working in the Social Media department. With your job, you get to interact with the team in a slightly-less formal manner, mostly just asking if you can use certain pictures or share their public posts. A lot of your job is making memes, honestly. It’s more complicated than that, obviously, because PR (and social media PR especially) is a whole science, but you’re not a fan of explaining all that. It’s easier to let people think your job is just making random memes, not psychology or sociology or market analytics and a hundred other things wrapped into predictive fan outreach.

But the nature of your job ensures that most of the team thinks of you fondly, which gets you invited to the fun things, as long as you promise not to post them online. Which you never would, because that would be an asshole move, but they still make you promise every time. You’re pretty sure it’s mostly just them fucking with you at this point, but you still go through the motions just in case. Usually it’s G or Ghost or Coots who send you the invites via text, and once you’re there, whoever answers the door makes you hold up your right hand and swear you won’t share anything that happens. It’s kind of fun to have your own little thing with the team.

Currently, no one’s done anything outrageous, but since Ivan and Oskar are already in a drinking competition, that probably won’t last long. You’re just relaxing in a corner, sat in one of G’s more comfortable chairs while you chat with Voráček about his summer. You don’t really get a summer break like they do, because social media never sleeps, but the workload is at least a little lighter during the off-season. There’s a natural lull in the conversation, which he uses to announce he’s going to get another drink. Once you nod, he vacates his seat to head for the kitchen. Almost immediately, someone plops down in the empty seat in a way that makes it clear that they’re already tipsy, at the least.

“Y/N!” TK greets, throwing up the hand not holding his drink, “How are you? I missed you!” He always gets this way when he drinks, overly affectionate with his non-stop energy somehow turned up even higher. At least with people he likes-- he’s more than willing to fight anyone who pisses him off, don’t get it twisted.

“Hey TK,” you say, smiling warmly, “I missed you too.” You did, actually. You missed all the boys when they were away, if you were being sentimental and honest. They were like family. A really big family, made up of huge dudes who slap around a puck and fist-fight other huge dudes for a living. Best family you could ask for.

“Oh shit, Y/N/N,” he almost-gasps, “Where’d you get those bad boys?” You have no idea what he’s talking about at first, until you realize he’s pointing to your leg. Your leg that is uncovered for once, because you hadn’t thought ahead and had put all your leggings in the wash this afternoon, so they were too wet to wear here. Your leg that is usually hidden, because of the very obvious scars littering it in neat little rows that overlap at certain points where you had run out of room. Your leg that was supposed to be covered by the skirt of your dress, but which had traitorously ridden up when you crossed your legs while talking to Jake. Fuck. Before you can even react, TK is sputtering and outraged, because a hand had come from nowhere to smack him upside the head.

“Shut up, Teeks,” Nolan hisses. Out of everyone you could have anticipated defending you, Nolan isn’t exactly high up on the list. It’s not really defending you, though, because you can’t imagine TK asking that question if he knew the answer, so it’s not really an attack. He’s not a bad guy, not the type to do something like that.

“What the fuck?” TK swipes at the beer he’d spilled upon impact, “What did I do?” See? He’s not an asshole, just dumb. Nolan looks at you like.. Something. You’re usually pretty good at reading people, but he seems to be the exception. Rarely can you ever figure out what he’s thinking or feeling, and it’s frustrating, to put it mildly.

“It’s fine, Travis,” you say, handing him some napkins to dry his shirt as much as he can, “Don’t worry about it.” He doesn’t have to worry about what he said, but now you have to worry about what Nolan said, and what Jakub might have seen too. You don’t exactly hide your scars, but when you leave them visible, people tend to ask questions. Exhibit A: TK, approximately 90 seconds ago. It’s just annoying to have oblivious people ask about them; or worse, people who recognize what they are and pity you. Ugh.

You stand and take Nolan’s wrist gently but firmly, shooting TK some general adieu before you lead Nolan through the house and into the front yard. You would go out back, but the weather is still nice enough that people are milling about outside, and you’re not looking to have an audience. You stop a few feet from the front porch, releasing his arm and tugging your dress down just in case, which inadvertently bares more of your cleavage, which Nolan’s eyes dart to for a split second before very intentionally returning to your face, but whatever. The point of the matter is that Nolan had literally just walked up at the last second, meaning he wasn’t there long enough to actually see your legs, only overhear the question, which means he already knew about your scars, which, honestly, just, how the fuck.

“You didn’t have to hit him,” you say, as good an opening as anything. You’ll build your way up to the main issue after dealing with this one.

“But he asked…” Nolan trails off, like he doesn’t want to address the scars. He looks like he’d rather be anywhere else, doing anything else, than be here, having this conversation. Tough shit.

“Yeah, so?” you respond, “People ask about them all the time. It’s not a big deal.” It really isn’t. Little kids ask about them every summer when it’s too hot to even consider wearing long pants, pretty much everyone in your office has addressed them in some way, you can almost never wear anything that shows your thighs without someone saying something. It’s not like you’re ashamed of them, or that talking about them triggers you, or anything. It’s just another thing. Another part of your body like anything else. The only time it’s a big deal is when people make it a big deal.

“I just--” he looks... aggravated, maybe? Like he can’t decide what to say, or how to phrase whatever’s on his mind. You’re not sure what he’s going for, either, so you can’t exactly help. Most of the time, when people do stuff like what he did, they’re trying to protect you, or prevent an awkward situation. It’s a nice sentiment, and all, but usually it ends up creating an even more awkward situation, so. Better in theory.

“You never talk about them,” he says, finally, “And you always cover them. So I figured… I don’t know. That Teeks asking would upset you, or whatever.” So yeah, protectiveness, but also kind of logical? It makes sense to think someone wouldn’t want to talk about something they hide 98% of the time they’re around you. You’re finding it harder to be mad at him, unfortunately.

“I don’t cover them ‘cause I have an issue with them,” you sigh, feeling your shoulders drop as you let the anger leave your body, “It’s just irritating to talk about them all the time. But I don’t mind someone asking now and again.” For some reason, it’s difficult to keep eye contact, so you’re getting a good look around G’s yard. His hedges need to be trimmed.

“Oh,” seems to be the only thing Nolan can say, keeping his arms crossed over his chest, but not as tightly as before. He’s looking pretty much everywhere but you, too, so you feel a little better about your shifty eyes. This is weird. You should say something to make this not weird. How did he even know, though? It’s not like you guys see each other all that often at work, and you only hang out sporadically during the season, and you can’t think of a time you weren’t wearing jeans or leggings around him.

“How did you know?” you ask, breaking the stiff silence, “About them.” His arms tense over his chest again, and you’re deliberately not allowing yourself to think of how good his biceps look in that position. His biceps look good in basically any position, anyway, so there’s nothing special about this. But damn they look good. You’re not drunk enough to be thinking like this.

“I stopped by PR last season,” he says tightly, “I don’t know why you were there, but It was hot out, so you were wearing those black shorts.” He waits for the realization to dawn on your face as you realize exactly what shorts he’s talking about. Your “fuck it it’s hot out and don’t give a damn” shorts. That definitely show a large portion of your thighs. Shit.

“I knew a few people who did… that,” he continues, avoiding your eyes again, “So I kind of figured that’s what it was.” He’s known for a year and never said anything? Never even treated you any differently? No stupid comments, no awful pity? That’s actually kind of. Nice? Even your boss had brought up your scars and talked about how this is an “open, accepting workplace” so you didn’t need to hide them and blah blah blah.

“Oh,” seems to be all you can say now. Dumbfounded is a pretty good descriptor of your mental state at the moment. You’d had partners who had made a bigger deal out of this than he did.

“It’s not like it changes anything about you, y’know?” he continues, talking far more than you’d expect, as if he’s nervous, “Like, you’re still the same person, whatever you went through, or whatever.” He’s trying so hard to keep this casual and reassure you at the same time. It’s sweet. The two of you had never been particularly close, is the thing that’s making this weird. You’re not really close with most of the team, but some were closer to “friends” than “co-workers”, and Nolan wasn’t one of them. Well. Actually. Now that you think about it. The two of you always talked for a few minutes when you ran into each other, and tended to gravitate toward each other at events, and had a pretty consistent text conversation going for like, two years. But if someone asked who your friends were, you wouldn’t go straight to him. Maybe because you keep a very intentional distance, because he’s cute and surprisingly sweet and funny, and you might maybe have a tiny little crush on him even though he’s so far out of your league he’s basically playing a different sport (ha ha), and if you let yourself get too attached you’ll only end up heartbroken. You know all too well how this story ends, no matter how hard you hope to rewrite it.

“Anyway,” he clears his throat after a probably too long silence, “Sorry for hitting him, I won’t do it again. At least, not for that.” You’re still coming to terms with the fact that, shit, you’re definitely friends, so it takes him starting to walk away for you to snap out of it. Your hand closes over his shoulder without you realizing you’re moving, keeping him from leaving. With a tug of your hand that’s more a suggestion than a demand, he turns back to face you, looking… something.

“Thank you,” you say, “For wanting to defend me. And for accepting that I don’t need it. And for not treating me any differently.” He gives you one of those small, devastatingly earnest smiles of his, and your heart feels like it’s going to break out of your ribcage just to get to him. Ah shit, you opened the floodgates like an idiot, and now you have to acknowledge the fact that not only are you friends, you’re in love with him. Fucking hell.

“Of course,” he replies, bringing a hand up to cradle your face in a gesture far too intimate for your level of friendship. Just because you love him on the inside doesn’t mean he can touch you like this, so soft and unexpected. Like, you’re not gonna object, because you’ll take what you can get, but Jesus H Christ, it’s a lot. The two of you don’t do this.

“Ayy!” someone shouts, coming around the side of the house, “I told you guys!” It’s Oskar, of course, shitfaced and waving someone on to follow him around the house. “Someone” turns out to be half the fucking team, most of whom start hooting and hollering upon seeing you and Nolan. Which is-- why would-- what the fuck? You only remember that Nolan’s hand is cupping your jaw when he tears it away like it burns, though your skin is suddenly cold from its loss. He takes a step back and you do the same, realizing what all of this must look like: standing close together away from the party, gingerly touching, looking into each other’s eyes. Yeah, not great. A few of the guys descend on Nolan, mussing up his hair and congratulating him on “finally making his move” even as he protests. What does that mean? Finally making his--

Oh fuck no.

No, this is a misunderstanding. Or a dream. There’s no way fucking Nolan likes you. This is one of those times where your friends insist you have a crush on someone even though you’re honestly just friends, it’s all a hilarious mistake that Nolan will set straight and you’ll all laugh about. Laugh about even if it hurts.

“I would’ve made my move if Oskar hadn’t ruined it!” he finally shouts, swatting the hands away from him. Silence descends over the crowd and you’re sure you’re making a truly ridiculous face. He would’ve if Oskar hadn’t ruined it? Meaning he was trying to-- you’re fucking kidding. This is all a joke, and it’s the meanest prank they’ve ever pulled. This is-- it’s an asshole move, to tease about this kind of thing.

“Oh shit, Patty, I’m so fucking sorry, dude,” Oskar apologizes, and he seems sincere, but that doesn’t mean this isn’t part of the prank. Carter stepping forward from the back of the group to say “well, might as well, now”, however, is a little convincing, because Hartsy is one of the only men in the world you trust completely, and you can’t fathom he would ever do something this horrible to you. When you look back to Nolan, he looks so many things at once, but mostly nervous, until his expression is overtaken by a steely resolve. He takes two steps towards you to make up your collective steps back, looking as focused and determined as he ever does on the ice, bringing his hand back to your face again. Your skin burns white hot where it touches his, and you can feel how wide your eyes have gotten, but can’t seem to do anything about it.

“So, I know they kind of ruined it,” he says, more sure than you’ve probably ever seen him, “But, uh. Fuck it. Y/N, do you want to go out some time?” Everyone around you is watching with a palpable tension, like they’ve been expecting this for a long time and are just waiting to see something come to fruition. You weigh the options. Either you err on the side of caution and say no, potentially denying yourself something you’ve wanted for a long time if this is real, or you say yes and have two further options: this is fake and you just laugh along and say you were kidding, or it’s real and you get to go on at least one date with the guy you’ve been low-key in love with for two years. Not much of a decision, really.

“As long as you don’t bring TK,” you respond, just cheeky enough to fit either scenario. Nolan kind of huffs a laugh at that, giving a small, hopeful smile that ensures you of his sincerity.

“Promise,” he says, pauses, continues, “Is that a yes?” Your smile could ignite a sun.

“Yes.”

#Nolan patrick imagine #nhl imagines #RI #andis coping mechanism #npatrick

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retrocelly · 6 years

Text

I Didn’t Mean It (Nolan Patrick)

A/N: I changed up the request a little bit since I already wrote something similar to that with Tyler Seguin. I’m thinking of adding a second part, so if you want one, let me know!

Request: ooh could you pls do an imagine where you have a big fight w nolan patrick and he like picks on one of your insecurities and instantly regrets it? if you don’t wanna do nol you can honestly do whoever

Warnings: none, I think?

Word count: 1,810

Nolan got out of practice around three, shooting you a text that he’d be bringing some of the boys over. You responded that you might be out to lunch with a friend, but it wasn’t long before those plans were canceled and you decided to just stay home. It would only be a few minutes before Nolan arrived with the boys anyway, so you figured you didn’t need to update him. You cleaned up the bedroom while you waited, wiping the windows and any dusty surfaces.

It wasn’t long before you heard the familiar sound of your front door being opened followed by the loud ruckus that seemed to accompany the Flyers wherever they went. It was easy to make out the sound of Nolan’s deep voice as the group went into the living room. You headed into the hallway, about to hit the entryway of the living room when you heard your name. It was clearly a continuation of a conversation that had started earlier, and you were nosy. You stood frozen in the hall out of sight as you listened to your boyfriend speak.

“Y’know what I mean, man?” Nolan spoke, “it’s like a different type of pretty.”

��Eh, I don’t know,” Travis responded, “I mean if she’s pretty, that’s all there is to it. I don’t really differentiate.”

You heard someone else mutter an agreement, but you couldn’t make out who it was.

“Okay, it’s like this.” It was Nolan again. “I think Y/N is like the most beautiful girl in the world now. But when I first met her, I didn’t really think much.”

What?

“Like if I saw her in a club or something, I wouldn’t go up and talk to her. She’s not that kind of hot.”

You couldn’t believe what you were hearing. That was your boyfriend, sitting on your living room couch, telling all of his friends that he wouldn’t have given you a second glance. It hurt. You knew that you weren’t necessarily the most beautiful girl in the world. You didn’t really fit in next to Claude’s wife or some of the other wags that you hung around, but that had never mattered before. Nolan had always made you feel appreciated and loved. Well, that was until right now.

You heard some commotion after that - some more discussion about whether or not you were that beautiful, but you were frozen in place. You could feel the tears well in your eyes, your cheeks and ears growing hot with embarrassment. The only thing that broke your stance was a pair of feet coming into your vision, halting quickly in front of you.

You looked up hesitantly and were met with the wide eyes of Travis. His mouth hung slightly open, clearly not knowing what to say or do. From the other room, you could hear Nolan mention something about how you weren’t the “love at first sight kind of beautiful.”

“Nolan!” TK shouted, his eyes never leaving yours. “Shut up!”

“What?” Nolan questioned, and you could hear him getting up.

Your focus was broken as you made a run for it, fearing the humiliation of seeing anyone right now. Travis tried to stop you from leaving, but you were quick to dodge him, grabbing your keys and practically running out of the house. You could hear shouting from inside, but you didn’t wait to find out who it was. Your car was started and you were backing out of the driveway just as Nolan threw open the front door. You could see him jogging down the driveway to try and catch you, but you refused to meet his gaze through the rear view mirror as you drove away.

***

It was two full days of you crying into your best friend’s couch and ignoring Nolan’s calls until he finally came knocking at the door. You sat against the door of her bedroom, tears falling freely down your cheeks as you listened to your friend yell at Nolan. He was mostly silent through the exchange, and you were glad. It meant that he knew he deserved to be yelled at. Finally, there was silence. Assuming that Nolan had given up and left, you forced yourself off of the ground and back into the living room. However, rather than your friend sitting alone on the couch, she was standing awkwardly near Nolan’s slumped figure.

He was sitting on the couch - your makeshift bed for the past couple of days - with his head in his hands. In all the time you’d been with Nolan, you’d never seen him cry like the way he was now. You could see the sobs wrack through his body just as you heard them. Part of you wanted to go to him - to comfort him and tell him that everything would be okay. But the more sensible part of you couldn’t do that, because you didn’t know that everything would be okay. How were you supposed to trust Nolan again or feel comfortable around him after hearing what he’d said? So, much like you’d done only days earlier, you stood frozen in the hallway.

Your friend gave you a wide-eyed stare, gesturing wildly for you to go back to the privacy of her room. Instead, her movements somehow caught Nolan’s attention; he must’ve seen them from the corner of his vision. He looked up immediately, meeting your gaze with bloodshot eyes. The time it took for him to stride over to you was not enough for you to turn and run - at least not with the way your brain was short-circuiting. Nolan’s hands found yours in an instant. The touch that you used find comforting now made you want to hide away. You pulled from his grasp quickly, not noticing the way his face contorted into sadness from the action.

“Y/N,” he pleaded, his voice hoarse from crying, “I’m so stupid and I know that I don’t deserve it, but I just need you to hear me out. If you still hate me and never want to see me again, I understand, but please just listen to me.”

You didn’t know how to respond, the view of your feet suddenly very interesting. Nolan took your silence for acceptance as he continued.

“What I said- I didn’t mean it. I was being stupid and talking out of my ass, okay? The guys were all over me about how I’m ‘wrapped around your finger’- which is true, by the way - and I was just saying shit to try and get them off my back and oh my god I didn’t mean it.”

Nolan’s normally calm, almost monotone voice was rushed and panicked. When you finally looked up at him, his eyes reflected that same distress.

He shifted on his weight as the two of you stared at each other. You could tell he was waiting for you to speak, but you had nothing to say.

“You have to believe me, Y/N,” he began again, fresh tears starting to fall onto his cheeks. You felt the warmth of his hands on either side of your face as your eyes also filled with tears.

“Please, baby, I need you.” Nolan’s voice cracked at the end as he could no longer control his cries. “I need you and I love you. You’re the most beautiful woman in the world. You were the most beautiful woman in the world when I met you and you’ll still be the most beautiful woman in the world even when you’re 90 years old. I am so, so sorry for ever making you doubt that. I can’t believe that I even said what I did and I just wish that I could take it back. I love you, baby, please don’t leave me. Just one more chance, don’t leave.”

Nolan was choking back full sobs, his hands holding onto you like he’d die if he let go. He searched your face for something, anything. Forgiveness, anger, hell - he’d even take a slap to the face. But instead all he was met with was your blank stare and teary eyes.

“How are we supposed to be okay after that, Nolan?” The sound of your voice was enough to calm Nolan slightly, even if he didn’t like what you were saying.

“What you said about me was horrible. Imagine the person that you love telling all their friends that they didn’t find you attractive. How would that make you feel? You know that I’m already a little insecure, and yet that’s what you chose to pick on. Whether or not you meant it, and for whatever reason you said it, I can’t un-hear it, Nolan. I can’t just forget that.”

“I know you can’t forget it and I’m not asking you to,” he took a small step closer to you, “I’m just asking that you give me a chance to prove to you how much I love you. Just let me show you how sorry I am, we don’t have to jump back in if you don’t want to. Please, just come home. We can take it slow for a bit - I’ll even stay with Teeks if you want me to, until we’re back to normal. Let me make this right.”

Nolan’s thumbs rubbed along your jaw as he stared at you with pleading eyes. You opened you mouth to speak, but you realized you didn’t know what to say. Your mouth closed again, and you gently shook your head, almost afraid that if the movement was too noticeable, it would be permanent.

“No,” Nolan spoke, choking on his own breath, “no, please don’t leave me, I love you, please.”

“I just need space for a bit, Nol.” Your voice was hardly above a whisper, and you were sure that he wouldn’t have heard it if he weren’t right in front of you.

“I need to be able to have time to think about this. What you said really hurt me. I still love you, but I can’t trust you right now. Just let me have some time to figure this out on my own.”

Nolan stayed frozen for a moment before he finally dropped his hands from your face and backed away from you. He gave a slow nod without meeting your gaze.

“If time is what you need to figure this out, then that’s okay. I’ll be waiting to hear whatever you decide.”

He sounded defeated, but at least he had the hope that you still loved him and that you’d only asked for some space rather than a box full of all your things. With fallen shoulders, Nolan walked to the door of your friend’s apartment. Before he left, he turned to you one last time.

“I love you so much, Y/N. You’re the most beautiful person in the world.”

Part 2

#nolan patrick #nolan patrick imagine #nhl #nhl imagines #hockey #hockey imagines #philadelphia flyers #philadelphia flyers imagine

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believingispowerfulmagic · 5 years

Text

“The Christmas Cottage” Chapter 6: Christmas Eve

Regina climbed out of the cooled bathwater, wrapping a fluffy towel around her body and shrugging on the soft bathrobe provided by the hotel. She then wrapped another towel around her hair before pulling the plug, watching the water swirl down the drain. It had been years since she had treated herself to a bubble bath and she felt quite refreshed now.

Her limbs no longer ached liked they did as well. The wedding party had spent the morning with Eudora, rehearsing Mary Margaret and David’s first dance over and over until it was perfect. Almost everyone involved was sore by the end and Regina felt bad for the bride and groom, who had to stay behind to practice their dances with their parents. She hoped Eudora went easy on Ruth Nolan and Leopold Blanchard.

She wandered back out into the main part of her hotel room, laying on the bed. Ariel had mentioned taking a nap and she considered doing just that, knowing she wanted to be well rested before the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner that night.

Just as her eyes closed, her phone buzzed. She groaned as she reached for it and groaned again when she saw it was Gold calling. Regina sat up, moving the towel so she could press the phone to her ear. “Hello?”

“What are you doing?” he barked. “I’ve been emailing you all day.”

“I’ve been busy with wedding preparations. What’s wrong?” she asked, feeling her chance to nap slipping away.

“I need the work I asked you to complete. Now,” he said, annoyed.

Annoyance filled her as well, knowing this was at least the fourth task he had suddenly demanded immediately. “You can’t keep changing my deadlines,” she protested.

“I absolutely can,” he told her. “Are you a senior partner?”

She bit the inside of her cheek before replying: “No.”

“Right. And you won’t be if you keep complaining about changing deadlines. They change. You adapt. Or you quit,” he told her.

The call ended at that point and she let the phone drop to the mattress. She laid back down on the bed, covering her eyes as she tried to remember why she became a lawyer.

Because you wanted to help people, a little voice told her.

Then why did she go into mergers and acquisitions?

Because you the part of you that came from your mother worried about money and went with security over everything else, the little voice continued.

She sighed, knowing that it was the truth when it came time for her to consider what she would study in law school. Regina could’ve easily decided to study aspects of the law that would allow her to become an advocate but she got caught up in the allure of money. Part of her always believed she would be able to switch to advocacy after building up enough money to live comfortably.

It just never seemed to be enough.

Her phone rang again and her stomach clenched, worried it would be Gold. Surprise filled her when she saw Mal Draco’s name on her screen instead. Pressing the green button, she held the phone up to her ear as she said: “Hello?”

“Regina? It’s Mal Draco,” the senior partner said.

“Yes, hello. Is something wrong?” Regina asked, confused. Given how Mal had fought Gold back in the office, she doubted the partner was calling her to also lecture her about pulling her weight on the case.

“There are many things wrong, but nothing really with you,” Mal assured her. “I heard Gold reaming you out and wanted to check on you.”

That surprised Regina. “You did? Why?”

“I could say it’s a sisterhood thing, that women need to stick together. And it’s partly that. But you’re also a great lawyer, Regina, and I worry about you burning out,” she replied.

Regina frowned. “You do?”

“I see it happen all the time,” Mal continued. “It’s sometimes the nature of the beast. But most times in our firm, it’s because of Edgar Gold. He holds everyone to the same ridiculously high standards he holds himself to and it makes him feel good when everyone but him ultimately fails to live up to them.”

“So it should get better if I make partner?” Regina asked, considering that possibility. After all, Gold would be her equal and not her manager.

Mal was silent for a little bit. “I’ll be honest with you, Regina, I wish I could say yes. The pressure is always there. We want to be the best and that means making sacrifices. I also told this to Zelena and I am telling you—how much are you willing to sacrifice to make this work? Other partners have sacrificed marriages, relationships with children and other family members, friendships…hell, I can’t tell you when I went on a proper vacation. And that’s okay with me. You need to decide if it’s okay with you.”

Regina processed everything Mal told her, a knot tightening in her stomach. “I understand. Thank you, Mal.”

“You’re welcome,” Mal replied. Her tone then grew lighter. “Oh, and feel free to tell Gold to shove it more. Remember what I told you back in the office—you don’t have to play by his rules.”

“Thank you, Mal,” Regina said, chuckling.

“I’ll let you go. I hope to work with you, Regina, but I understand if you decide you need to do something that works better for you,” Mal said. Had Gold said that statement to her, Regina would’ve felt as if he was disappointed in her and that she should know there was nothing better for her. Mal said it as if it were perfectly normal for Regina to want more from her life than to be chained to her work.

And it was, she realized as she ended the call.

She sat on the edge of the bed, debating her next steps. Part of her knew she had spent so long building a career that it seemed foolish to throw it all away because of one stressful project. Yet the other part thought of everything she had told Robin the day before when they were making cookies. Did she want to sacrifice all of that for her career?

Or did she sacrifice her career in order to actually live her life?

Knocking interrupted her musing and she walked over to the door, opening it a crack. “Yes?”

“Regina?” Granny leaned over so that she appeared in the crack. “Is this a bad time?”

“No. Your timing is actually impeccable,” Regina said, opening the door and inviting her grandaunt into her room.

Granny looked over her state of undress and raised an eyebrow. “Did I interrupt you getting dressed?”

“Work did,” Regina said, closing the door. She walked closer to her grandaunt. “Can I talk with you?”

“Of course you can, sweetheart. You always can.” Granny sat down on the bed, patting a spot next to her.

Regina collapsed onto that spot with sigh. “I’m confused, Granny.”

“About work?”

“About a lot of things,” Regina confessed, “but work is currently at the forefront.”

Granny nodded. “What is bothering you about it?”

“Everything,” she replied with a sigh.

“Well, that certainly is a lot,” Granny said. “Let’s try to unpack it into smaller bits, okay?”

Regina nodded, feeling the lump return to her throat. “You know I wanted to study law to become an advocate but I decided to go into corporate law instead, right?”

“I remember you talking about it,” her grandaunt replied. “And I remember when you made your decision. I worried that you were compromising your dreams due to your mother. But you did seem to enjoy corporate law.”

“I did…at first. But now…Now I look at my life and I don’t really like it, Granny,” she admitted, tearing up.

Granny’s eyes widened and she hurried into the bathroom, returning with the box of tissues the hotel kept there. She handed them to Regina as she sat back down, hugging her. “Oh, sweetheart.”

“I keep telling myself that once I hit certain goals that I’ll finally have enough time and enough money to do everything I want,” Regina said. “But I’ve done nothing.”

“Okay. Then change it,” her grandaunt said.

Regina nodded, wiping her eyes with a tissue. “But can I give up everything I’ve worked for? Then I’ll truly have nothing.”

Granny shook her head. “That’s your mother and fear talking. But if you take a step back, you’ll see you won’t have nothing at all. You’ll have your fiancé and your friends. And you’ll have us here in Storybrooke.”

Tears filled Regina’s eyes as she nodded. “Thank you, Granny.”

“You’re welcome,” Granny said. “I also know you will land on your feet, Regina. And no matter what you set your mind too, I know you will succeed.”

Regina smiled. “So do you think I should quit?”

Granny took her hands. “I think you should do whatever you think is best for you. And you should do something that it sounds like you haven’t done in a long time.”

“What’s that?” Regina asked.

“Listen to your heart,” Granny said, tapping Regina’s chest. “It won’t steer you wrong.”

She nodded. “You always give the best advice.”

“I try,” Granny said, trying to hide her smugness. She then patted Regina’s hand. “I’m always a phone call away.”

“I know,” Regina said, hugging her.

Granny then stood. “I’ll see you tonight at the rehearsal dinner. But maybe you should try to get out of this room. Get some fresh air. That will probably help too.”

“Sounds like a good idea,” Regina replied. “Thank you, Granny.”

Her grandaunt left and Regina took a deep breath as her conversation the previous day with Robin replayed in her mind. She knew then what her heart wanted and now was the time to start making the changes she needed to move her life forward. The air felt fresher and room seemed brighter now that she knew what she had to do.

Regina stood, sitting at her laptop. She opened a document and began typing.

Continue reading on FFN, AO3 and Wattpad

#once upon a time #outlaw queen #oq au #oq ff #oq advent #the christmas cottage

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kareem-mohammed · 5 years

Text

[Monday, Sept 24rd, 2019]

I wish I can explain it to you, but I still don't have the words for it.

It's been weeks of feeling this way, as if I'm functioning on autopilot, as if I'm not there, someone/something else is occupying my body, controlling it, since I seem to be failing to do so.

Weeks of feeling utter numbness, with sudden intervals of feeling everything. Nothing and everything. Innocence and Instinct. Enemies and familiar friends. And yes I am referring to RED, since it is some sort of a fight inside. Only I haven't really chosen it. I'm not doing anything, sweety. Not ignoring my feelings, not bottling them up, not distracting from them. And yet, I am forced to bear this fight I didn't plan to fight.

I was on my way to get a few books, today, when I noticed where I was. Last time I was there, it was night, and I couldn't be sure where exactly was that, only that it was familiar. The sudden flashbacks I got once my brain registered it is, in fact, the same place, unsettled me. And while the scorching sunlight made it an almost alien place, I still panicked. So, on instinct, I looked up to the sky, expecting to see the dark grey of angry clouds, but saw clear, blue nothingness. Then, why was I feeling the burn of raindrops on my aching skin?

___

‘For much like Icarus and the Sun,

When it rained I cursed the skies.

Fearing it would put out your flames,

Even if it would heal my burning pains.’

—My subconscious recited these at one of my recent dreams, and I wanted to have a word with it; mostly because of how cliché these lines were.

___

Accepting things doesn't necessarily mean they'll stop hurting. It only means that now when it does, we'll understand why it's hurting. It doesn't lessen the pain, doesn't prevent the panic attacks accompanying the unexpected resurfacing of the to-only-be-accepted shit. It's easier to accept our mistakes, our shortcomings, because we've got something to blame it on, even if it's ourselves—especially if it's ourselves. So, we acknowledge the mistake, and work on not repeating it again, or at least not too many times. Basic actions and reactions. You make a mistake, and the universe makes you pay for it. Except it never really required any actions on my behalf for the universe to beat the living hell out of me.

See, we've all been raised on the idea that bad things happen to bad people. And then we grow up, and we find that bad things happen to almost everyone. Bad things happen to us. Does that mean we're bad people, then? Or does it mean that shit just happens anyway? To everyone, every time, everywhere? Whichever concept is true, can you accept either of them?

________

[Tuesday, Sept 25th, 2019]

[23:57]

Heart, it's raining. Again.

And so, I am stuck between the raging storms behind my shutters, and the siren screams echoing against my brain walls. Again.

Triggered. Again.

And I don't know when is this absurdity going to stop.

A couple mornings ago, I started my day with school it is raining that day.

And:

___

‘I hoped it was wrong, but I opened the shutters and there it was: The static, the weighted atmosphere, the greyness—it is going to rain, sweetheart, and I'm not sure I can handle a single raindrop descending on my skin.’

___

That was what I wrote at that moment, the first thing I've written in month of silence.

And I almost caved in again. Because, see, ever since then, every time it would rain, I would hide in my room for even longer.

It is that bad, and, I don't know what to do.

________

[Wednesday, Sept 26th, 2019]

It's 03:35, now.

And something is happening to me.

My brain snapped into a sudden shutdown once that rain continued for over 2 hours, and I can feel it slipping deeper and deeper, and I don't know how to stop it before it's a total shutdown.

It's still raining.

In fact, it's getting even heavier now.

I'm not panicking, yet.

But I feel like I'm drowning.

I am breathing.

But..

Do you know how it feels to take a breath underwater?

Every breath I'm currently taking, feels this way.

I've got a lot of things to do.

I've got a mug of chamomile in front of me. I currently have 4 different types of chamomile at home. And while none of them currently helps me sleep, they just help in keeping me calm. And right now, I'd do anything not to panic just because it's raining again.

That's why I'm writing. Actually, I'm forcing myself to write.

Much like I've been forcing myself to do everything lately.

study. Exercise. Go to walk.

Except, I force myself into starting, and my subconscious forces me to overdo it. Last Sunday, I sat for too many hours overworking on some drawings. I finished 47. I didn't even notice how many I've finished until my hand was tremoring bad enough and I realized I couldn't make a straight line. Last time I exercised, I overdid it until I collapsed breathless. Last few times I forced myself to go to school, it forced me to walk for nothing less than 2 hours on my way back.

And , there must be a reason why I'm beating myself up that bad.

___

‘Nolan: Logically, people punish themselves for something they did, or something they didn't do. So what have you screwed up?

House: I don't know.

House: Okay.. there may be a problem.’

—House M.D., Season 6, Episode 21 ‘Baggage’.

___

And heart, it's not just a ‘september’ in my case, because there IS a problem. It's that rain have been a major trigger for me the last month. I know my triggers. Some of which I outgrown, some I know how to handle, some I still struggle with but can be managed, and some I avoid at all cost because they'll take me back places I'd rather forget ever existed. Rain had never been one. And right now, it makes no sense for one natural element to encompass every single trigger I've fought to avoid. Now all it takes is a thunderclap, a raindrop on my skin, the smell of the earth during rain, and they're all unleashed at me, and.. I'm not sure if I'm really that sleepy, or if I'm just losing consciousness bit by bit..

It's 18:00, now.

My subconscious won.

The triggers came one after the other.

Thoughts of putting an end to it all became louder.

At some point I couldn't fight it anymore, and I surrendered to it, lied down and felt it all. Listened to the thunder claps echoing with my screams; the muffled ones, and the ones which slipped out there to pierce the atmosphere.

I don't remember when I slipped, only that suddenly I wasn't awake, and I was stuck in a self-created hell.

My subconscious trapped me into a total shutdown disguised as sleep. 15 hours of it, in which I wasn't there. Hours in which it shut me out of the world completely. Hours in which I fought with it, wanting to wake up, and it refusing.

And I know it's a coping mechanism. But I hadn't noticed the triggers were that much that it required a total shutdown for my brain to keep me sane and alive.

It makes no sense.

It's childish, and absurd.

I don't know how to stop this.

I don't even understand the root of it all so I could stop it.

‘Traumatic coupling’ was what my therapist called such incidents.

But this is the most fucked up coupling my subconscious created.

___

‘“What’s going on in that head of yours?” He wrapped himself around me. “I don’t know what to do,” he said again. “I don’t know what to do.”’

—Sylvia Day, Crossfire: #5 One With You.

________

I'm writing this part now, the time I'm posting this.

You might be wondering why I'm using my tumblr post format, with dates and timestamps. I'm even mixing it with my hamlettings format, with quotes and lyrics. It's just because I've been writing bits and pieces the last few days. Pieces that aren't even connected. And connecting them will be hard.

Because these pieces make no sense.

But they do, in my head.

They should do, in yours as well.

But they won't.

Much like the last time I wrote you should've but didn't.

Why writing again the last few days?

Because the rain thing became too stupid it's making me angry at you, myself, and the universe. After all, I haven't written about anything more of importance except the rain thing. Because nothing has changed since the last time I wrote you.

Perhaps I'll add that one too, and stop this madness rollercoaster right there, what do you think?

_______

[Thursday, Sept 27st, 2019]

sweety,

I'm only writing this time because I'm hurting. I'm knocked down with pain. In every sense of the word. And I hate you, just as much as I currently hate everyone. and i love !

I was scared that what's been happening would trigger my cynicism again. And I tried, heart. I tried. But to fucking hell with it. Humans are fucked up. We are fucked up. Yet at least we have the decency to admit it. To not take it out on others and pretend like we're not. To put them in hell, then blame them for burning.

___

Do I need to tell you I'm shutdown again? Or has it become a given, once I'm reaching you this way? Have you noticed I'm shutdown? Have you noticed the difference this time? No. You'll have to see me out of this virtual world to see it. Because over here, I'm functioning, nothing is wrong. But the truth is, everything is wrong. And I stopped functioning fully yesterday.

You're wondering if this has anything to do with you, right? And you expect me to tell you it's not, even if it is, because I am that kind. Right? Well, I'm never kind once I'm in this state. I'm only true. And the truth is, you caused this. Whether deliberately or just by your mere haste.

See, sweety,

I think I've avoided this for enough time, now. Or at least that's what my brain decided. Most probably because there were no more distractions to use. And the latest novel series I picked to distract me, in fact, triggered me. I didn't know it would. There were no trigger warnings anywhere. And I'm still trying to understand how the fuck there were none if everything was going to be that detailed. But I'm not angry because of the novel. I'm angry because it made me realize why I was distracting to begin with, why I was avoiding reacting to what you did, why I treated it all so coolly as if it was nothing.

You triggered me.

Heart, you triggered in me a feeling I prayed to never feel again as long as I lived. The only feeling I knew I'd never manage to fight because it's the only one that's true. The only feeling I never doubt. Yet the only feeling I pray was just wrong.

________

Back to meantime.

It makes sense why I stopped writing, after this. Nothing has changed since then. It's the same cycle. No matter what I do, no matter what choices I make, it remains the same. I hadn't noticed I never finished writing this one, though. But then again I remember why I stopped. At that time, I didn't want to share it with the world, and I later sent you everything I didn't write in it, directly. An attempt I tried to help you understand what was happening, so we could find our way around and through it. But you failed to see it that way. And as the days went by after that, I started noticing the effect of it all. There was something worse than the triggers. But it won't make sense to anyone but those who've dealt with it directly; my instinct. Heart, it never failed me. My gut feeling had always been on point. My instinct is the only thing I never doubted. Never. Yet, somehow, it failed me big time with you. And I'm still not sure if it's just been a human error of misinterpreting the signs, of if it really backstabbed me.

___

‘Ziva: I almost died.

Gibbs: But you didn't. You've got to trust your judgement, Ziva. Moment you don't, it won't be “almost”.’

—NCIS, Season 5, Episode 16 ‘Recoil’.

___

But none of that matters,

I just find it worrying that a big part of me taking a step and publicizing my My photos and my drawings was a mere distraction I needed. And my worry grew after that day I overworked myself beyond my limits and didn't know when or how to stop.

I always worry that I'll be the end of me, sweethear.

And I'm finding that to be the ultimate truth, with every passing day.

You know what's another, more important, ultimate truth?

None of what I just wrote matters.

None,.

None.

#pain #broken heart #love #art #Feelings #Poetry #writing prompt

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artistic-writer · 6 years

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Love Finds a Way : CS Jurassic World AU : Ch 3

Title: Love Finds a Way by @artistic-writer

Summary: Emma Swan is the Head of Operations for David Nolan’s exotic adventure park, Jurassic World. She has a son, Henry, and is loved and respected by her colleagues. Her life was perfect until a new dinosaur the park created, Indominus Rex, decided to escape. Oh, and her one night stand, Killian Jones - he’s there to help contain the asset. Just to complicate things even more. Jurassic World AU.

Rating: M (for people getting eaten)

Also on: AO3 - FF

A/N: Chapter three is here! Beta’d by the lovely @resident-of-storybrooke because @kmomof4 can’t see everything first ;)

Taglist: @hollyethecurious @kmomof4 @resident-of-storybrooke@cocohook38 @sherlockianwhovian @searchingwardrobes @wordsmith-storyweaver @winterbaby89 @kymbersmith-90 @wellhellotragic @killianmesmalls @killian-whump @nonnyj @jennjenn615

Want to be tagged/untagged? TELL ME HERE

——————————————————————————————

The drive out to where Killian Jones lived was something Emma never thought she would have to do again. He kept himself to himself for a reason, constantly tinkering with his boat engine, or his motorcycle, or some other contraption that had her kid so engrossed in the man. Henry loved him, but Emma suspected that because of his lack of a father figure, or any siblings, Henry was just latching onto the only man that paid him any attention. Or that’s what she hoped. The last thing she wanted was for her very smart, very cunning son to be parent trapping her with a man only she knew she had slept with.

And Killian. Of course, he knew too but had been the gentleman he always had promised he would be and never said a word to anyone. As far as anyone on the island was aware, they were colleagues who had only interacted because of Henry’s fascination with the man. Emma knew Graham suspected more, but he had never mentioned anything, probably afraid of losing his job. He was her employee after all, and even if she had caught him glancing a little too languidly in her direction from time to time, that was all he was to her.

The dirt track Emma was driving on opened up ahead, the stabilizing suspension of the SUV keeping her reasonably steady as she hit a few potholes in the road. She clicked her tongue against the back of her teeth, aggravated by Killian’s need to be so out of the way it made everyone else's life difficult to get to him. At least, when he did hang around with Henry, he did most of the ferrying back and forth, and she didn’t have to make this god awful journey each time.

Two huge Guanacaste trees partially blocked the view of Killian’s Airstream trailer, the panels of which were beaten a dented in places. Emma parked her car under the tree, its gnarled and twisted branches swaying in the humid Costa Rican breeze that swept in from the water next to where Killian called home. It was modest, Emma would give him that, and confusingly nothing like the cocky, arrogant demeanor he exuded to everyone. Maybe he was different than she had first thought, and maybe he was more than what everyone made him out to be. But Emma liked control, and that night they had spent together gave her enough pause to make sure she was gone the next morning.

She had never regretted anything so much in her entire life.

She turned off the engine and sat back in her seat, spying the man she had come to see instantly. He was, as usual, tinkering with his motorcycle, smudges of oil across his forehead and his hair almost wet with sweat. The heat of the day meant no training of his raptors apparently, and so she knew he would be here, elbow deep in some sort of grease. He didn’t look up as she watched him through the windscreen, reluctant to exit the air-conditioned vehicle.

“Just act professional,” Emma told herself with a deep breath, tugging the spring loaded handle of the door until it popped open and stepping out onto the hard, grass-covered ground. With one last look at herself in the reflection of the car door’s window, Emma smoothed her blonde locks from her face and tried to ignore the tingle in her stomach she always got when he was around.

Killian looked in her direction as she approached, his face lighting up for just a second before he remembered that a visit from the director of operations probably wasn't a good thing. He only ever saw Emma after hours when he hung out with Henry, so he knew this was a business visit. With a sigh, he resumed the mechanical fix he had begun on his beloved Triumph, watching his hands as they worked.

“What do you want now?” He called out as she approached. He shifted his weight on the upturned metal bucket he was perched on, angling his head for a better view of the bolt he was trying to tighten.

“Mr. Jones, I need you to come and assess something for me,” Emma began, stopping just short of his bike. He halted his repair, frowning as he looked in her direction and twisted the wrench in his hands. “For Nolan,” she corrected quickly, placing her hands in front of her body so as not to appear too threatening.

“Why are you calling me ‘Mr. Jones’?” He asked suspiciously, narrowing his eyes at her, his lips curving into a teasing grin. He knew she had to keep this professional, just like she always tried to, only this time there was no Henry around to make sure she kept her hands to herself.

“Killian.” Emma relented, twisting her fingers together awkwardly. “If you’re not too busy.”

Killian let a laugh tumble from this throat. “I’m actually very busy, love,” he said flippantly, reaching beside himself for the bottle of water he kept nearby. It was a poor distraction, but he couldn’t keep looking at her without her son nearby to stop him from telling her how he really felt.

“We have an attraction-,” Emma sighed but he cut her off as soon as the words had left her mouth.

“Funny, I thought that but you were gone when I woke up.” Killian pushed himself to his feet, the sweat rolling down the divot on his spine under his shirt that was already tanned from the dirt of the day. The top three buttons were open to air his chest, and the chest hair Emma remembered so vividly poked out of the space. When he turned to face her, he caught Emma’s looking him up and down and smirked, running a finger over his lips.

“I’m talking about the dinosaurs, Mr. Jones. If you could just come and take a look-,” Emma babbled, her patience wearing thin. She needed to get away from him, but as he started to walk her way, the sway of his hip in his skin tight faded black jeans gave her cause to blush.

“Kil-lian,” he said firmly, accenting his name, the roll of his tongue something Emma remembered all too fondly between her legs. “You didn’t seem to have any trouble remembering my name that night,” Killian teased, watching her roll her eyes.

“We made a new species-,” Emma said flatly, ignoring his attempts at flattery.

Killian frowned, a sinking feeling in his gut making him suddenly queasy. “You just made a new dinosaur?”

“Well yeah, it’s kind of what we do here.” Emma batted away some annoying insects that had begun to assault her face, swatting the air with an annoying tut each time she missed the offending bugs. “The exhibit opens to the public in three weeks and Mr. Nolan wanted me to consult with you.”

Killian’s arm shot out and he caught the bug that had been buzzing around Emma, squashing it between his fingers with so much skill it made Emma pause and hold her breath for what he was about to do next. He brushed his fingers down his jeans, ridding them of the bug guts before giving her a coy smirk. “You want to consult here, or in my trailer?” He grinned, running his tongue along his teeth.

“You’re not funny,” Emma huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

“I’m a little bit funny,” Killian laughed, giving her a wink as he turned away from her. Emma let out the breath she had been holding, scared of what he might have done. He was standing so close she could feel the heat from his body, the sexual tension between them more than palpable, and the tone of his gravelly voice had suggested his joke was in fact, not even intended as such.

“We need you to evaluate the paddock for safety concerns. Vulnerabilities,” She clarified as he toyed with another wrench from the set on the rickety wooden bench behind him. He inspected the head of it, not really needing to because he knew it wasn’t the one he required, and then looked back up to her with the soulful blue eyes she would always get lost in as he ascended the steps to the deck surrounding his trailer.

“Why me?” He shrugged, entering a narrow doorway, the sound of metal wrenches rattling around.

Emma sighed. This was harder than she had anticipated. Maybe she should have just called him. “Mr. Nolan thinks, since you can control the raptors-”

“I don’t control the raptors,” Killian corrected her quickly as he exited the tiny shed type building. “We have a relationship, based on mutual respect.” He walked back along the deck towards where she was standing, tapping the wrench into his palm.

“Are we still talking about the raptors?” Emma asked slowly, looking down at her feet. She had never apologized for leaving someone alone in bed before, but it was clear she had hurt Killian. He shameless flirting was a ruse, even she could see that, hiding his true feelings for her that had clearly never gone away. “I’m sor-,” she began, but he cut her off.

“You want to control everything, and you run from what you can’t. That’s why I woke up alone,” He told her with a shrug, brushing past her as he twisted the head of the wrench in his hands. The sound of clicking was almost drowned out by Emma’s gasp.

“Excuse me?” Emma spat, aghast.

“Was I at least good?” He gave her a twisted grin, enjoying the way she blushed under his questioning.

“I’m not talking about this,” Emma shook her head, turning to head back to her car.

“Nevermind, I know I was,” Killian smiled boyishly, catching the glare in her eyes as she spun back to face him. He licked his lips as she stormed back towards him, reseating himself on the metal bucket that groaned under his weight. He loved her when she was fired up, secretly wishing he could it more often, but he would take this encounter for now.

“Look, can we just focus on the asset, please?” Emma ground out, her jaw a little clenched.

“The asset?” Killian cocked his head, standing to meet her once more. He pulled a rag from his back pocket, the fabric worn and full of holes, and proceeded to wipe at his hands. He was done working on his bike for today because clearly, again, the geniuses who ran the park were idiots. “Look, I get that you are in charge around here,” he started, rubbing at his hands a little too furiously as he once again walked towards her. “I get that you have to make a lot of difficult decisions, and it’s probably easier for you to think of these animals as just numbers on a spreadsheet. But they’re not, love. They’re alive.”

Killian was passionate about animals, he always had been, and always thought of himself as lucky to live in a time where a man could get up close and personal with dinosaurs. He had been honored to have been hand picked for his research program, really believing he would be doing good in the world, but had since learned that the people in control never wanted what was best for the animals they created. All they cared about was the income, profits, and losses.

“Yes, I am aware,” Emma told him sternly.

“Are you, though?” He quipped sarcastically. “You might have made them a laboratory, but they don’t know that. They are just thinking about food and fucking,” Killian said smoothly, accenting the last word as he let his gaze roam over Emma’s figure like she wasn’t even clothed. “You can relate to at least one of those things, right?”

“I’ll be in the car,” Emma shook her head, rolling her eyes at his antics. She stormed off towards the car once more, stopping to give him a disgusted face and waved her hand at him. “You might want to take a shower. They are very sensitive to smell.”

It was a quiet ride to the paddock, each sitting in complete silence on either side of the car. Killian felt weird, preferring his motorcycle to any other mode of transport, and idly watched the trees whip past the window outside. The paddock itself was not that far away from his trailer, on a more secluded part of the island where they often raised their new dinosaurs. Killian had heard the roars of this new creature lately but didn't recognize it as anything the park already had on show, and Emma had confirmed this with her earlier story.

He looked over to the driver’s seat, the concentration of Emma’s face reflected in how hard she was gripping the steering wheel. He watched her profile, as perfect as the night he had watched her sleep beside him, ignoring the pang of anger that crept into his gut feeling when he remembered he had never got to see that pretty profile in the sunrise. Emma was flighty, he knew that now, but he was absolutely sure she wouldn’t throw herself from a moving vehicle to escape him.

“Why do you hang around with my son?” Emma asked him suddenly as if reading his mind. She kept her eyes trained on the road before her so as not to hit any low hanging branches that might spell the end of their short journey.

“Henry?” Killian asked dumbly, enjoying the way she cast him a quick glance to affirm her question. “He’s a smart lad,” Killian said honestly, returning his own gaze to the side window. “He has the potential to be something great and if I can help him with that, then why not?”

“So, it’s not to get closer to his mother then?” Emma asked, a little hurt that his initial answer hadn’t included her.

“Certainly not,” Killian shook his head. “I might be many things, Swan, but I would never use Henry like that.” Killian looked back at her, unable to decipher the reason for her questioning from her profile alone. “Henry means too much to me. And besides,” he said with a smirk. “I don’t need an eight-year-old wingman.”

Emma let out a soft laugh, raising an eyebrow at him. “Are you sure? You haven’t dated since we, well, you know.”

Killian raised his own eyebrow back at her in response, toying with the patch of skin behind his ear. “And how would you know that, love?” Killian asked quickly, intrigued by her line of questioning more than irritated.

She gave him a soft smile. “Henry, of course.”

“Of course,” Killian agreed. “The lad does spend an awful lot of time with me. He would have noticed a girlfriend. That and he thinks we should-”

“How do you know that? What has he told you?” Emma slammed on the brakes, the car skidding to a stop on the gravel outside of the compound wall. Killian’s hand flew out against the dashboard, helping slow the motion of his body as it fought against the seat belt restraint. She turned to her head towards him and Killian could clearly see some panic in her eyes.

“Be friends,” Killian finished his interruption slowly, watching Emma’a body sag in the seat beside him. He smirked, his lips twitching into a smile that he was unable to hide as her cheeks flushed red and she let out a breath. “It’s alright, love,” Killian teased. “I won’t let anyone know you have a crush on me.”

He exited the car before Emma could answer, the slam of the door drowning out the sound of her huff. Emma followed him out, watching him as he took in the huge, concrete wall with a concerned stare. He shot her a look, one that said he was uncomfortable, even before she walked past him in full business mode and began her speech about the so-called ‘asset’.

“Every few years the park has to come up with a new attraction to invigorate the visitors and keep up numbers. Corporate felt that a genetic modification would give us the ‘wow’ factor back,” Emma said cheerily like she was pitching the idea to a new investor.

“They’re dinosaurs, a previously extinct creature. Is that not wow enough?” He followed her up some metal stairs, her heels clicking on the steps each time she took a step. Killian tried not to watch the way her hips moved in front of him, lagging behind a few steps in case any of the construction crew noticed.

Emma laughed, smiling to herself. “Not according to focus groups. This dinosaur makes us relevant again.”

“What’s it called?” Killian asked quickly, watching the steps where he feet fell on his ascent, desperately trying not to watch her arse.

“The Indominus Rex,” Emma said, reaching the top of the staircase. She heard him laugh, a deep, throaty rumble that made her turn to look at him. God, he was gorgeous when he smiled.

“The Indominus Rex? Who came up with that?” Killian lifted his gaze once more, tickled by the name and the expression on her face.

“We needed something scary but easy to pronounce. You should hear a four-year-old try to pronounce ‘Archaeornithomimus’. Emma reached for the keypad on the wall beside the door, keying in her high-level security code before swiping her keycard. The door slid open and she crossed the threshold, leaving it open for him to follow.

“You should hear you trying to pronounce it,” Killian grumbled. The name was ridiculous, too modern and laughable to be a real dinosaur, but as he followed her into the control room, it became abundantly clear what kind of creature they were dealing with.

The paddock was huge, covered in the tallest trees Killian had seen in any enclosure so far, clearly there to allow the dinosaur to hide. They were increasing each wall by at least five huge, six foot wide lengths of concrete, something Killian worried about down in his stomach. He approached the glass, peering out past his reflection into the seemingly empty enclosure, and it didn’t escape his notice that one of the panes of glass had managed to be cracked from the outside.

Whatever this dinosaur was, he was already worried about it.

“So, what’s this thing made of?” He asked casually, putting as much distance between him and Emma as he could. Watching her walk up some stairs in front of him had had an undesired effect, one he was trying to fix with distance. There were at least two huge window panes between them now, and he stood as close to the control room guard, Charlie, as he could.

“The base genome is a T Rex and the rest is classified,” Emma told him, turning to face him and bracing for the inevitable string of questions he would have. She tossed her hair over her shoulder and swallowed, catching his gaze.

“You people made a new dinosaur but you don’t even know what it is?” Killian’s words were interrupted by a nervous laugh, his hands finding his hips and his fingernails digging into the leather of his belt. Her response made him uneasy, his eyes scanning for any movement between the trees.

“It’s not my job to know,” Emma said firmly. “We get delivered finished assets and it’s my job to show them to the public. Charlie, can we get a cow in there, please?”

She was irritated, Killian could tell, but he had been given a job to assess the paddock, whether she liked it or not. Nolan trusted him, for whatever reason, and he knew it was eating her up inside that this was something he wanted him to address, not her. “How long has she been in here?”

Emma looked at him and gave a nonchalant shrug. “Since birth.”

“She’s never seen anything outside of this paddock?” Killian frowned, still scanning the enclosure where he saw absolutely nothing. There was a track between two electronic doors that had a huge footprint on it, but nothing else glaringly obvious to the existence of the dinosaur Emma described.

“It’s not exactly a dog. We can’t walk it,” she snapped.

“And you feed it by crane?” Killian asked, watching the slab of meat being lowered into the enclosure. He pointed to it briefly, before resting his hand back on his hip, the cogs turning in his mind.

“Look, If you have a problem with this assignment I can just tell Mr. Nolan you declined.” Emma mirrored his stance, hands on her hips and her expression fierce. Killian was not intimidated by her in the slightest, simply shrugging off her bravado with a shake of his head.

“No problem,” he told her. “Just, animals raised in isolation aren’t always the most functional.” His tone was almost a warning, his brow knitting together as his anxiety over not being able to see the creature manifested tenfold. There was half a cow in the enclosure. Something should have been interested in that by now.

“Your raptors were born in captivity,” Emma countered but Killian interrupted her before she had the chance to finish her full sentence.

“And they learned social skills from siblings. As a family unit. And I imprint on them when they are born, there’s trust,” he said defensively. He moved towards her, tearing his gaze away to make his point with another point at the crane above them. “The only positive relationship this dinosaur has is with that crane because she knows it means food.”

“So, we get her a friend,” Emma suggested and Killian shook his head before she had even finished her words.

“Probably not a good idea, love.” He was worried. Any creature raised in isolation would surely have some sort of cognitive issues, but it seemed the secret ingredient in the new dinosaur lent itself to more questions than answers. “Where is this thing anyway?”

“It was just here. I was here less than two hours ago.” Emma stalked past him to the podium mounted display and tapped away at the screen. She pressed her finger to the screen quickly, the dull tapping sound filling the room as she initiated a thermal scan of the enclosure, all six sections flashing up as void of any heat signatures. “That’s impossible,” Emma sighed to herself, rescanning the paddock once more, the same six sections flashing red and an alert sounding, but this time more prominently on the screens behind Charlie.

“Oh, shit,” he said slowly, matching the ashen color of Emma’s face as their worst fears became reality.

“Have there always been claw marks there?” Killian called out across the room, turning to look at her slowly whilst deliberately pointing out of the side window. Emma paled, her heart pounding in her chest as she made her way to where he stood and saw the huge gauges in the concrete that insinuated the dinosaur had climbed the walls and escaped.

Surely someone would have seen her? Surely one of the construction crew would have noticed such a huge dinosaur climbing over the wall they were building. Unless they didn’t.

“Oh, shit,” Emma breathed on a hushed whisper, the hair on her arms prickling to life and making her skin tingle. She has an implant in her back. I can track her from the control room.”

Emma rushed back to the car, and called ahead to the control room, asking Ruby to get her a location of the Indominus Rex as she threw the car into drive and sped away from the compound. This was impossible. Never, in her entire time as Head of Ops, had Emma had an asset out of containment. There had to be a glitch in the system. The dinosaur had to be there, it just had to.

“I don’t get it,” Charlie said to Killian, standing next to him in the paddock. They had both made their way down to the enclosure to inspect the marks, Killian’s fingers lost in the deep grooves the Indominus had made with her claws. “That wall is forty feet high. You really think she could have climbed out?!”

“Depends,” Killian said sadly.

“Depends on what?” Charlie asked dumbly.

Something didn’t feel right to him. Killian was always one for gut feelings, and he trusted them implicitly. They had never let him down before, always helping him out of a scrape or two, but he couldn’t pin down the cause of the dread in the pit of his stomach. Something told him there was more to this dinosaur than he was being told, maybe more than Emma had been told. “On what kind of dinosaur they cooked up in that lab.”

“What the hell?” Ruby frowned, the phone pressed to her ear as she conversed with Emma. She was looking at her screen, the tracking device emitting a strong signal from inside of paddock 11.

“What?” Emma screeched, wishing her car went faster than it currently was. “Ruby, talk to me, what do you see?”

Ruby looked at Mary Margaret, confusion etched on both their faces as they watched the still dot on the screen radiating with a red, glowing line. “Uh...it’s in the cage.”

Emma blinked. “No, that’s impossible, I was just there.”

“Emma, I’m telling you, she is in the cage,” Ruby insisted, tapping a few buttons and switching to a live camera feed of the enclosure. What she saw stopped her heart dead. “Wait, why are there people in the paddock? Emma, there are people in there.”

Killian.

Emma gasped, her heart skipping a beat. “Get them out of there,” Emma said in a shaky, hushed voice. This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t be happening. “Now!” Emma screamed down the phone, her voice ringing out in the control room intercom.

“Paddock 11, this is control. You need to evacuate the area immediately, do you copy? Paddock 11, please confirm, do you copy?” Mary Margaret’s voice was desperate, her fingers clutching the headset as she spoke, her words quicker than she would have liked as she tried to radio Charlie.

Charlie looked down at his hip mounted radio with a screwed up expression, tapping the device with a growl. “Damn radio signal. Control, this is paddock 11, repeat, over?”

Killian heard a rustle of leaves behind them and spun on his heels with wide eyes that scanned the area quickly. He had heard that sound before, from stalking raptors, and knew it never ended well for the prey. There was a slight movement in the grass, but no wind and Killian shot a glance back to the wall in front of them, sudden realization dawning on him as Mary Margaret’s panicked voice came through much clearer than before.

“It’s in the cage with you!” She screamed. “Get out, now!”

“Go, run!” Killian shouted, pushing against Charlie and the maintenance guy who had wandered in with them.

The three men ran, Charlie lagging behind because of an old leg injury that had left him with a slightly askew bone. It affected his gait and he knew he would never be able to outrun a dinosaur, so he turned and headed back towards the scratched up wall, hastily punching the numbers to open the gate into the keypad there.

The sound of broken trees echoed through the paddock as Killian and the other man skidded to a stop, the huge dinosaur that had managed to hide in plain sight, appearing before them. Killian took it in, the long legs and the curved claws so familiar and yet so distinguishable, he knew they could have only come from one species of dinosaur; Raptors. She roared softly, almost deafening both men with her high pitched growl, before giving chase, snatching up the engineer beside Killian in only two steps of her huge gait.

The gate was open, Charlie was long gone, but Killian knew it wouldn’t be for long. He fought the resistance of his thighs, pounding his boots into the dirt as he ran away from the Indominus, cursing his stupidity the entire time. He should have known the scientist in the lab would use Raptors, they were one of the smartest dinosaur species, and as he tried to ignore the sound of crunching bone behind him, Killian knew they had made a grave mistake.

“Close the gate!” David shouted firmly from behind Mary Margaret, watching the huge screen in front of him.

“We can’t lock him in there!” Ruby screeched, pointing to Killian on the monitor in front of her.

“Now, Ruby!” David commanded, barging her away from her workstation and tapping the huge, red touch button that would initiate the electronic cate closure. David looked up, instantly regretting his decision to end a man’s life, but the needs of many outweigh the few, and with over twenty-two thousand people at the park, David had to contain the animal anyway he could.

“Shit, shit, shit!” Killian chanted, his bones aching from how hard he was pushing his body to run for the now closing gate.

He made it through the gate just in time, but it hadn’t closed enough, the Indominus Rex trapping herself in the closing gap. She let out a high pitched roar, almost a cry as the automatic closing gate trap her between the concrete. The gate faltered, motors whirring and struggling to cope with the pressure Indominus was putting on them, and they completely gave out when, with another roar, she burst through the fence. Concrete crumbled away from the wall and Killian ran for the nearest cover he could find, sliding down onto the gravel and rolling under a construction crane.

The Indominus Rex roared again, sniffing the air around her, searching for her quarry. Charlie had made his way to a nearby truck and for some reason had decided to hide behind it rather than jump behind the steering wheel and escape the area. Killian froze, the gravel digging into his stomach as he watched the man kiss a crucifix he had been hiding under his shirt, tears falling silently down his face. Indominus roared again, flipping the truck with ease and leaving Charlie exposed to her attack, the man shooting Killian one last sorrowful glance before he was swallowed whole.

Killian rolled away from the scene to the middle of the crane, reaching behind himself and pulling out his hunting knife. His eyes scanned the underside of the vehicle, Emma’s words ringing in his head - ‘They are very sensitive to smell.’ Killian finally located what he was looking for, the fuel lines and pulled them free of the undercarriage, slicing through them with his blade and spraying the fuel all over his face. He held his breath, flicking the leaking pipeline over his shirt and jeans too, covering as much of his body as he could with the foul, metallic smelling liquid.

Indominus’ deep, booming roar caught his attention once again and Killian shot a glance out the side of his hiding place, her huge reptilian legs shaking the ground as she sunk down on all fours and eased closer to the crane. She was too large to see underneath but Killian knew she was trying to find him, trying to sense his scent under the machine, so he laid as still as he could, staring up at the underside of the crane.

A deep, vibrating sound came from the dinosaur, her nostrils flaring and her jaws open slightly to taste the air. Her teeth were covered in Charlie’s blood, drips running between the plates of her scales and Killian tried to ignore the rancid smell of her breath. He was like stone, too terrified to move from his spot, his eyes pinching closed as she moved her head towards the underside of the crane and attempted to make sense of what she could smell.

Killian turned his head away, his entire body beginning to quiver. Droplets of fuel covered his face and stung his eyes but he tried to ignore it. When Indominus let out a rumbling growl he jumped, trying not to make a sound against the gravel where he lay. Her warning growl got no response and with a frustrated roar, she moved on, her huge weight leaving ginormous footprints in the ground as she walked away. Killian lifted his head, the muscles in his neck straining as he watched the huge reptilian creature move off into the dense forest, a rattlesnake style shaking sound coming from deep in her throat as she did.

Killian let out an audible sigh, his head falling back onto the gravel, his heart pounding in his chest. “God damn it, Emma,” he growled to himself, half out of anger and half out of worry.

#jw au #killian jones #emma swan #cs au #cs fic #ch 3 #life finds a way

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