#not nearly as radiator-like as jordan
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Can we have a snippet for 'dichotomy of loyalty' AU, Jordan? Pretty please?🥺
Sure thing, darlings 😉
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Aemond took one step into the room and was immediately on the defensive. He dodged the attack, moving smoothly to avoid the swipe, and then twisted again so the follow-up missed him by a mile.
He grabbed that thin wrist, wrenching his assailant off his feet and spinning in a tight circle to slam him into the wall.
Luke cried out, both in pain and anger, and Aemond's blood was singing.
He stepped closer, flattening the younger man against the wall and pinning his hands beside his head. "Drop it," he ordered.
"Fuck off!"
Aemond took great pleasure in pulling Luke's right arm forward and then ramming it back into the wall with enough force to rattle the shelf above them.
His nephew hissed but clung to his makeshift weapon all the more desperately. Aemond took a moment to appreciate that strength, and then began to squeeze. He could feel the delicate bones in Luke's wrist shift under the pressure, until finally he shouted out and let go.
Aemond instantly released some of the tension, and quickly darted his eye down to see what Luke had attacked him with. It was a shard of glass, the end wrapped in a bit of fabric to provide some protection - and despite everything he felt a tiny spark of admiration.
"Did you break the mirror in the bathroom?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.
Luke's silence was petulant, and he had to chuckle.
"You know," he murmured, leaning in closer just to make this brazen boy squirm, "the last time you came at me with something sharp, I lost an eye."
He expected a flinch, or a glimmer of unease, or even just confusion given Luke's unfortunate lack of memory of the incident.
Instead he got fire.
"I wish I'd fucking blinded you fully, you son of a bitch!" Luke thrashed in his hold, nearly clocking Aemond's chin with his head when he thrust it forward. "Let me go!"
Maybe he should have seen it coming, but the weeks he had spent getting to know this older version of his nephew, seeing the gentle way he handled his patients and the genuine kindness he seemed to radiate, he'd forgotten the savagery that had been there in their childhood.
Foolish of him, really.
"Calm down, nephew," Aemond told him, then jammed his knee into Luke's side, soft enough to not damage him but still wind him.
"I'm not your nephew, Aemond," Luke coughed, slumping back with a grimace. "I didn't even know you a month ago."
And somehow it was that reminder, more than anything, that infuriated him the most. "You are and you did," Aemond insisted. "You were taken from us, but you're home now, and soon you'll learn."
"This isn't my home and you aren't my family," Luke snapped. "You're all delusional. You kidnapped me."
"We took you back," Aemond said, his ire cooling rapidly, replaced with a small thread of wonder at that truth. Years and years of not knowing, of questions and fear and sheer anger at Laenor's audacity, and yet here they were.
Luke and Aemond, face-to-face and with the sharp edge of a makeshift blade on the ground between them.
Like nothing had changed.
#anonymous#HOTD#dichotomy of loyalty au#lucerys velaryon#aemond targaryen#lucemond#lucerys' first reaction should always be violence#he's that soft plush chicken with the knife
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"What are you doing with that remote?" Jordan asked, raising an eyebrow. His muscular arms were crossed, and he towered over the couch where I sat in my yellow underwear, Xbox controller in hand.
"Just testing something out," I replied casually, trying to hide my grin. Jordan had always been the loud, cocky gym bro type—constantly flexing, bragging about his lifting stats, and tossing around jokes that weren’t nearly as funny as he thought they were. I had tolerated his presence because, well, we were stuck sharing the flat. But when I discovered the strange power this controller had, an idea formed in my mind.
Jordan leaned in, his short blonde hair catching the light from the window. "Whatever, man. I’m hitting the gym in a few, just don’t mess with my stuff."
I pressed the first button on the controller—A—and felt a small jolt in the air. Jordan paused mid-sentence, blinking rapidly.
"Uh, what was I saying?" he muttered, confused. I couldn’t help but smirk as I watched his broad, muscular chest shift, subtly narrowing. His gym shorts, always barely clinging to his tree-trunk legs, now seemed looser. He looked down at himself in mild confusion but brushed it off with a shrug.
"You're saying you're going to the gym," I reminded him, holding back laughter.
"Right, yeah... gym," he said, but his voice had softened slightly. Another button press—B this time. His aggressive posture relaxed, and his towering frame seemed to shrink just a bit more. His shirt, which used to cling to his body like a second skin, now looked slightly baggy. His previously sharp jawline was rounding out, and the confident swagger he always carried had faded.
Jordan glanced at me, his short beard now a mere shadow on his softening face. "Do you think... I look different?" he asked, his voice quieter, almost shy.
"Oh, you look perfect," I said, pressing the Y button. His attitude shifted instantly. The cockiness that once radiated from him was gone, replaced by uncertainty. He ran a hand through his buzz-cut hair, which now seemed to grow slightly longer, falling over his forehead in soft waves. His shoulders, once broad and imposing, were becoming delicate.
"Wait, man, something's off..." Jordan said, his voice cracking as he spoke. His gym clothes were hanging off him now, and his once-athletic frame had become slight and lean, devoid of the bulk he’d worked so hard to maintain. His movements were less confident, more hesitant.
I pressed the X button, and his face flushed a deep red. "I-I don’t know what’s happening," he stammered, his former bravado completely gone. His once-muscular body was now slender, his shorts hanging loosely around his narrow hips. His eyes, wide and unsure, darted toward me. "What did you do?" he asked, his tone soft, almost pleading.
"Just making a few adjustments," I said, standing up and walking over to him. His hands trembled as he looked up at me, no longer the towering gym bro who used to dominate the flat with his presence. Now, he was a small, submissive figure, staring at me with a mixture of confusion and something else—obedience.
I tossed the controller onto the couch. "I think you’ll like this new version of you. Don’t you, Jordan?"
He hesitated for a moment, then nodded slowly. "Y-Yeah... I guess so," he whispered, his voice barely audible.
"Good boy," I said with a grin, knowing full well there was no turning back now.
Jordan blinked slowly, as if trying to process the new reality that had settled over him. His lips parted, but no words came out. I could see the inner struggle in his eyes, like he was trying to hold on to some fragment of his old self, but the transformation was too strong.
"Jordan," I said, my voice firm, "you don't have to think anymore. You’ll do what I say, won’t you?"
His eyes fluttered. He hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Y-Yes," he murmured, his tone now soft and deferential.
I moved closer, standing just inches away. The shift in dynamic was palpable—he, the once-dominant gym bro, was now looking up at me with wide, obedient eyes. I could sense his new instincts kicking in, the need to follow, to please.
"Good," I said, running a finger down the side of his face. His skin felt smoother, softer now. He shivered at the touch but didn't pull away. His body was leaning into it, unconsciously seeking more. "And you know what else, Jordan? You’re gay now. You’re going to enjoy every second of it."
His eyes widened, confusion flashing across his face, but then something changed. His posture softened further, his breath coming out in shaky, unsure bursts. His lips trembled, and I could tell the thought was settling into his mind like a command.
"Gay?" he repeated, the word sounding foreign on his tongue.
"Yes. You want men now. You want me," I whispered in his ear. He shivered again, and I could see his resistance fading. Whatever remnants of his old identity were left were crumbling under the weight of this new reality.
Jordan swallowed hard, his gaze dropping to the floor. His breathing was faster now, and I could see the internal struggle, though it was barely there anymore. I pressed another button on the controller, sealing his new desires into place. His body relaxed completely, accepting the truth.
"I… I want you," he whispered, the words coming out as if they had always been there, just waiting to be spoken. He looked up at me, his eyes filled with a mixture of longing and submission, his old bravado utterly gone.
"Say it again," I ordered.
"I want you," he repeated, louder this time. His voice was soft but sure. His once-commanding presence was now reduced to a whisper of obedience, and I could see the hunger in his gaze—a new, undeniable part of him that would never go away.
"And you’ll do anything I say, won’t you?" I asked, watching him closely.
He nodded, more eagerly this time. "Yes, anything."
A satisfied smile spread across my face. "Good. From now on, you're mine, Jordan. No more gym bro attitude, no more trying to act tough. You’re going to be the obedient little twink I made you, and you're going to love every second of it."
Jordan’s eyes glazed over with a mixture of awe and desire. "Yes," he whispered, the word almost a prayer now. "I’ll do anything for you."
The transformation was complete. Jordan—once an obnoxious, straight, alpha male—was now soft, submissive, and undeniably mine.
Hayden Greene
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yes, good
#art#homestuck#fantrolls#seetsu leinid#zander nadium#since i hc that as the hemospectrum goes up theinternal body tempurature is lower#zander must consider seetsu to be a Toasty Boy#not nearly as radiator-like as jordan#but zander would hardly ever get the opportunity to touch jordan so#seetsus good too
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Sweater - G.W.
George Weasley x fem!reader
Requested: yes
hi could you write something for george weasley using prompts 29, 11, 36? if your requests are still open❤️⚡️
“i’m running out of jumpers, just so you know”
“i like having something that smells like you”
“how long have you been standing there?”
Word Count: 3.2k
Summary: the 5 times George Weasley sees you in his sweater and the 1 time you get your own.
Warnings: mentions of food
A/N: we’re just gonna //ignore// that this doesn’t follow the canon timeline exactly (especially where they spent christmas certain years) okay? cool. also! this was very festive so i guess this can be counted as a christmas fic 🥰
Prompts are in bold
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One
The Gryffindor common room was freezing. Despite being situated as close to the fire as physically possible (without getting burned), you shivered and shook in your thin sweater. You were trying to work on a last minute potions essay, the last one before the Christmas hols began, but your current freezing state was stopping you from writing another word.
You scanned the empty room, most students already having retired to bed that night. A flash of blue and yellow in the far corner of the room caught your eye. Quickly, you scrambled up off the floor and rushed to investigate.
On the back of one of the squishy red couches hung a blue sweater with a yellow letter G right in the middle. You knew immediately who owned it: George Weasley, another Gryffinder first year like you. With another glance around the room, you quickly snatched it up and slid it over your head.
Immediately, the thick wool provided enough warmth for you to get back to your work.
A while later, you finished the last sentence of your paper with a flourish, just as you heard someone shuffle down the spiral staircase and into the common room. Your head snapped up as the person in question came to view and your heart stopped.
“Y/L/N?” George whispered, barely making your face out since the fire was directly behind you.
“Hi George,” You squeaked, “What’re you doing up so late?”
His eyes darted around the room in search of something, and you felt your stomach drop. “Erm, yeah. I got cold so I was just looking for my–”
When his gaze circled back to you he finally noticed what you were wearing, “Is that my sweater?”
You nodded, squirming under his gaze. If it wasn’t past midnight in the dead of winter, and if he wasn’t hazy with sleep, he would’ve probably teased you senselessly about it. But seeing the sweater swallowing you, the shoulders slipping off and the sleeves way past your fingers, all he could do was grin.
“It’s alright,” He said, “Just wanted to know where it was. At least now I know that it’s in good hands.”
With a cheeky wink, he turned on his heel and trudged back up the boys’ staircase. You were left staring at where he previously stood, your mouth slightly agape.
Did that really just happen?
Two
Gleeful shouts carried over from the snow covered fields and into the warm house. From your spot by the window, you could just barely make out the tiny figures zooming past each other, contrasting against the pale landscape.
You clutched at a steaming mug of tea, basking in the warmth it gave your chilly hands. Despite your best efforts, you were still shivering in the house that most likely had several heating charms in place at all times.
After being friends with the Weasley twins for nearly three and a half years, you were finally going to spend the Christmas hols at the Burrow with their family. To say you were excited would be an understatement. With everything going on in school, you were ecstatic to be able to spend some time with some of your best friends.
The warmth and the heavenly smells radiating from the kitchen made you gravitate towards the door. Maybe helping out with the cooking could ease up some of the chill you had in your bones.
“Would you like some help, Molly?” You asked hopefully, seeing her putter about in the kitchen. You knew that she had a whole hoard of mouths to fill, so you were happy to offer her some assistance.
She tutted in response, “Nonsense, dear! I’m quite fine managing on my own. Thank you for the offer.”
With a swish of her wand, several things in the kitchen began moving at once and you were left to your own devices. You spared a quick glance out the window, only to see the silhouettes still racing in the sky.
An idea struck you and you made your way up the stairs as quickly as possible without drawing too much attention to yourself. Thankfully, the twins’ room was just on the second floor of the house and their door was left slightly ajar.
You were quick to spot George’s battered old trunk laying at the foot of his bed. Your cold fingers nimbly popped the latch open and clutched onto exactly what you were looking for. His old blue Christmas sweater was soft to touch and a little worn, but you thought that it added to its charm.
One of the main reasons why you rummaged through George’s things for his sweater, instead of Fred’s, was that his distinct woodsmoke and apple scent clung onto it and made you feel safe and warm wrapped in it. You pressed the soft fabric to your face and inhaled deeply, taking comfort in the familiar scent of your best friend.
You were not sniffing the jumper because it reminded you of your crush on a certain redheaded twin, no. Not at all.
Swiftly, you lifted the jumper above your head and slipped into it. You loved the feel of the warm wool enveloping your frame. It would have been almost perfect if you hadn’t heard someone clear their throat from the doorway.
Your heart jumped to your throat as you turned on your heel and spotted George leaning against the doorway.
“Well, well, well,” He teased, making his way to you, “What do we have here? A sweater thief?”
“How long have you been standing there?” You mumbled, wrapping your arms around yourself.
“Long enough to see that you’re apparently obsessed with me.” He grinned cheekily.
You rolled your eyes and tried to hide the fact that a blush was creeping up your neck and onto your cheeks, “Shove off, Weasley.”
He swung an arm loosely around your shoulders, “Well I don’t think you can use that kind of language on me now, Y/N. Especially when that’s my jumper you’re going around wearing and sniffing.”
You groaned, shoving your head on his chest to hide your embarrassment, “I just like having something th–”
“You’re going to have to speak up, love, I can’t quite understand you.” He said, and you felt like his teasing grin would be permanently etched onto his face.
“I like having something that smells like you, okay?” You mumbled, this time a little louder and less muffled.
When George didn’t immediately respond, your heart began to pick up its pace in your chest. Slowly, you backed away from his face and your gaze landed on the flush on his cheeks and the tips of his ears.
A slow smile etched itself onto your face, “Have I just made the George Weasley blush?”
“Oh shut it sweater sniffer.”
You laughed, the slightly awkward tension dissipating at the sound and the two of you made your way back downstairs.
Three
“Psst.” A voice whispered next to you.
Your brows furrowed and you looked up from the book in front of you to see your boyfriend grinning cheekily at you, “Yes, George?”
The Great Hall was practically silent, the only sounds resonating throughout the space were the scratching of quills and the rolling of parchment. Your voice was barely above a whisper as you weren't about to get scolded for chatting during study hall.
“Nothing,” He said bashfully, “I just think you look very beautiful today.”
Surprised at his sudden show of affection, you grinned up at him, “Thanks Georgie.”
Your hand slid across the dark stained table to squeeze his and you hadn’t let go as you continued on with your coursework. You were able to get quite a bit done before you felt George squeezing your hand to get your attention. When your eyes met his, you sent him a look to say what is it this time?
Slowly, he shuffled close enough to you to whisper directly into your ear, “I think you’d look much better wearing something of mine though.”
With a roll of your eyes, you focused back on the rolls of parchment before you. Ever since you two had officially gotten together, George had a thing for you wearing any type of clothing of his. His most favorite, he had confessed, was when you wore his Christmas jumpers. The nostalgia attached to the piece of clothing and seeing it envelop you made his heart soar whenever you’d slip it over your head.
The next Friday, despite the freezing weather, all students were required to head out to the Black Lake to watch the Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament. You took it as an opportunity to adorn the blue and yellow sweater, making sure to layer appropriately for the below zero temperatures.
You could hear the twins’ shenanigans before you even reached the stands. The pair of red hair stood out among the crowds and let you know which direction to make your way to. Thankfully, you also spotted Lee Jordan saving a few seats around him while the twins went and collected bets.
When you reached him, he sent you a grin and patted a space next to him. The two of you chatted aimlessly for a bit, waiting not so patiently for either the twins to come back or for the second task to begin.
From George’s spot within the crowds, he glanced back at where he knew Lee to be saving a seat for him. The sight of you all bundled up in his sweater made something in his heart stop. The chilly breeze nipping at your face had caused your nose to turn slightly pink, and the way your hands fumbled at the end of the long sleeves moved something in him. He’s suddenly overwhelmed with the feeling of wanting to keep you in his life for as long as you let him.
You catch his eye from your position and send him a small wave. He grins and returns the gesture before Fred nudges him in the side to take the payment a third year is holding out.
Four
The whole house seemed to absorb the darkness that the Weasley clan brought with them. It was nearing sun up, and the lot of you along with Harry, Remus, and Sirius were all gathered in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place, awaiting any sort of sign that Arthur was going to be okay.
After being shaken awake at the dead of night by George who was a mess of stumbled over words and tight grips, you didn’t think of anything else but to slip on the sweater he had lent you and follow him to Dumbledore’s office. Professor McGonagall simply raised her eyebrows at your presence in the midst of the rest of the Weasley children, saying nothing as she saw how George had clung on so tightly to you.
The illegal portkey Dumbledore created landed you right in the middle of the dreary old house you had spent much of your summer in. Remus and Sirius had tried their hardest to distract everyone from the brutality of the situation, but your boyfriend and his siblings wanted nothing but to sit around anxiously for any signal from the outside world.
So far, you had nodded in and out of sleep, your head lightly tapping against George’s shoulder as you fought to just be there with him. His grip on your hand had not ceased, but you weren’t complaining. His leg bounced up and down anxiously and you could practically see the gears turning in his head.
“It’ll be okay Georgie,” Became your mantra of the night, whispering it every so often and rubbing the back of his hand gently with your thumb.
He wouldn’t say anything in reply, his red rimmed eyes were unfocused, but you knew he heard you with the way he squeezed your hand.
When the message from Molly comes, spirits are slightly raised, but there’s still so much uncertainty. You decided to step out for a moment to use the restroom, splashing some cold water on your face in an attempt to wake yourself up some more. As you took in your sleep deprived and disheveled state in the mirror, you remembered that you’ve been wearing George’s sweater.
Quickly, you haphazardly pulled the garment over your head, smoothing down the crumpled sleeping shirt you’ve been wearing under it. In a flash, you’re making your way to where the Weasley clan has settled in for what seems like the whole day and take a seat next to George once again.
Silently, you held out his sweater to him. It took a few seconds for him to realize that you were offering for him to wear it.
“Thought you’d need the extra comfort right now,” You whispered, urging him to put it on.
A spark of recognition blazed in his eyes and he gently took the soft sweater from your hands. The moment it slipped over his head, he was immediately engulfed in your scent. All of a sudden, he was transported to three years prior when you had told him you enjoyed having something that smelled like him.
When his eyes met yours, you could make out a ghost of a smile on his lips. It had been the first expression he had pulled that night, or well it was early morning now, that wasn’t a grimace or a look of concern.
You smiled tentatively back at him, and he took your hand in his once again.
Five
The pale winter morning light leaked in through the windows and you blinked blearily. The soft inhale and exhale of George beside you and the warmth under the covers almost convinces you that you could afford to shut your eyes for a few more minutes. Almost. You groan as you remember what day it is and that you should be up soon.
It was Christmas morning. The first Christmas after the war had ended, and everyone was eager to bring some festive cheer back into their lives after having gone through such dark times.
As silently as you could, you left the warm confines of the duvet and began to pad your way into the kitchen. Christmas morning called for a full english and a pot of fresh tea. On the way out of the room you shared with George, you snagged one of his older blue sweaters and pulled it over your head.
Thankfully, that morning Fred hadn’t made it out of bed yet. Breakfast at the flat above the shop could go two ways; either you made it out of bed first and got the food cooking on the stove before one of the twins stumbled in sleepily, or Fred would be sat on the couch nursing his nth cup of tea that morning, having woken up due to some nightmares that he couldn’t quite shake off yet.
With a flick of your wand, ingredients made their way into their perspective pans, and plates and utensils floated down from the cupboards and onto the kitchen table. Soon, the enticing aroma of your favorite meal of the day was wafting through the corridors and into the other rooms.
As you were plating the steaming food, a voice called out from behind you, “I’m running out of jumpers you know.”
You looked up from your position fixing the plates of food on the table, to see George leaning against the door frame. Clad in only his pajama bottoms, you silently wondered if he was just never cold or if he did this to tease you on purpose.
“What’s yours is mine, love.” You shrugged, walking over to him and pressing a small kiss at the very edge of his mouth.
“Guess it’s good that you make me wonderful food everyday,” He says, eyeing the food laid out in front of him.
You roll your eyes playfully, “Oi, keep talking like that and I’m making meals just for myself!”
-
Later in the day, you sipped peacefully on Molly’s famous hot chocolate, seated on the squishy couch as the rest of the Weasley clan began to open their gifts. Fred was sat under the tree, rummaging through the different wrapped packages and throwing them to whomever they were addressed to. Little by little, each Weasley sibling began to pull out their signature colored Weasley jumper.
It filled your heart with so much warmth that you could all come together, especially after the last year you’ve had. Being separated from the people you loved and cared for the most had really taken a toll on all of you, so being under one roof together with nothing dark looming at the back of your minds, was such a blessing.
“Hey,” George whispered from where he stood behind the couch, placing a hand on your shoulder.
You turned slightly to look back at him, “What’s up, Georgie?”
“Come with me,” He nudged his head in the direction of the door.
“But I’m all warm and cozy,” You whined, motioning to the cup of hot chocolate in your hands, “Do I have to?”
“Oh just come on,” He rolled his eyes, going to place his hands under your armpits in an attempt to lift you off the sofa.
“Oi!” You complained, “I’m coming, I’m coming! Don’t get your wand in a knot.”
A few of the Weasleys sent amused glances your way, but this kind of interaction wasn’t unusual in the household so they mostly left you to your own devices. You hadn’t noticed that Molly was eyeing you with a slightly cheeky glint in her eye. She knew exactly what her son had in mind.
You gently placed your mug on the coffee table before turning around and linking your arm with George’s. He brought you just by the window of the kitchen and gave you a big grin.
“Alright then, Weasley. What’s all this about then?” You asked, crossing your arms in front of your chest.
“I just wanted a little privacy so I could give you your gift.” An eyebrow raised slightly, you waited for him to continue, “I just thought you would finally like one of your own this year.”
To say you were confused was an understatement. You eyed your boyfriend nervously as he pulled a wrapped package seemingly from thin air. You wasted no time pulling the ribbon and carefully tearing at the brown paper.
Inside was a sweater that matched the exact blue of George’s, and right smack in the middle was the initial of your name in the same shade of yellow.
Your eyes darted from the gift and back up at the wonderful soul in front of you, and you couldn’t help but feel the prick of tears welling up.
He noticed this too, “Are you alright? I didn’t mean to make you cry. I just thought that you loved my jumpers so much that I would make you your own–”
At the realization that he had made the sweater himself, and hadn’t commissioned Molly to do it, made the dams of your eyes break. Your tears were freely falling by now and all you could think of doing was throwing your arms around George and pulling him into a slightly salty but ever so sweet kiss.
“I love it,” You whispered once you broke apart, “This is the best Christmas gift ever.”
#George Weasley#George Weasley imagines#George Weasley imagine#George Weasley fics#George Weasley fic#George Weasley x reader#George Weasley x y/n#George Weasley reader insert#George Weasley fluff#tw food
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I’m a rude bitch, what are you made of?
Naomi Lapaglia (Wolf of Wall Street) x Female Reader
Warnings/Contains: swearing, canon-typical arguing, unhealthy husband-wife relationship, cheating, top!naomi and bottom!reader, oral sex (female receiving), fingering, dirty talk, inappropriate relationship with employers, unsolicited flirting, flashing, implied exhibitionism
Word Count: 3,225
so what if you were the belfort’s house keeper? and what if you had this nasty crush on naomi? and what if she knew?
“Find what you’re looking for up her skirt, Jordan?” The sharp cut of that Brooklyn accent was quick to hit you.
It was quick to hit her husband too, judging by the deep sigh he let out from behind you. You straightened up, grabbing the remaining dishes from the table with one hand, the other tugging the hem of your dress down.
“Don’t fix yourself like it’s your fault, darling,” There was an almost melody to her voice. “Seems someone never learnt his fucking lesson.”
With that, it all kicked off. You walked towards the kitchen with your stack of dishes and cheeks burning hot, as your employers quite literally screamed at one another. Another morning in paradise.
Working for the Belfort’s, for the most part was a dream, you cleaned an exquisite house and looked after one very low maintenance baby. For that, they paid you generously and even took you on their family vacations.
All you had to put up with was the incessant screaming and Mr. Belfort trying to sneak a look and a feel, all worth it for the luxury you got to be a part of.
You zoned back into the fight as you walked back over to wipe down the table, still without uttering a word during all the commotion. This was like a morning ritual, as normal as a coffee and codeine, they weren’t awake till they’d screamed bloody-murderer at one another.
“For the last time, my love! I wasn’t looking up her fucking skirt!” Jordan gestured towards you frantically, stepping around behind you.
He was about to make another point, and as he opened his mouth to do so, his hands also came to grip your upper arms. You saw something change within Mrs. Belfort’s eyes and you even braced for impact.
“You get your hands off of her or I swear to God, Jordan!” She slammed her coffee cup down, the dark liquid rising up the side of the cup like an impending tsunami.
Mr. Belfort was quick to drop his hands, stepping back from you and watching his wife round the table until she was in front of you both. You felt caught in the middle, figuratively and literally thanks to the way they’d sandwiched you between them.
“You better watch yourself, motherfucker,” Her accent seemed to thicken as her voiced dropped an octave. “Before I bend this one over the table and make you watch the things I can do to her.”
You felt your body run red hot, the image of her living up to her threat moving clear through your mind. Without being able to stop yourself, your knees buckled slightly, most certainly not going unnoticed by Naomi. Her gaze drifted to you, where you were staring straight ahead and doing your best to seem unaffected by her words.
She saw right through you.
In kindness on her part, she didn’t mention it. Rather she dismissed you to carry on with your other morning duties, but didn’t ignore the way you shuffled off with your legs nearly clamped together. You hurried from room to room, collecting the hampers of dirty laundry so you could hide in the wash-house and out of trouble.
Shutting the door and leaning your back against the tiles, you were thankful it was able to cool you down a bit. It was in that moment you realized just how fucked you were, like a Duchess should, she had you royally fucked.
From the moment you started working for them, you knew you were going to have the hardest time keeping your thoughts about Naomi contained. Just the way that she walked with that air of importance was enough to have your thighs tensing.
It was obvious she knew what she was doing to you, that smirk that would prick up at the corner of her mouth every time she saw your eyes widen or your head drop. She took great delight at watching you squirm for her.
You’d nearly lost at all one night at dinner when you felt the patent leather toe of a stiletto dragging up the inside of your leg. The grip around your fork got so tight, you had little marks along your fingers for hours.
Naomi, on the other hand, dropped her fork right up the table and shook her head in faux-annoyance.
“I’m such a klutz, would you mind being a good girl and grabbing that for me?”
You swallowed harshly but nodded your head nonetheless, pushing back your chair and climbing under the table to retrieve the fork. Finding it quickly, you lifted your head to come back up but were stopped in your tracks by a single sight.
Naomi slowly parted her thighs, revealing to you that she had forgone underwear for her evening meal, and was most certainly baring her most intimate parts to you.
You thought you’d choke on your tongue, scrambling back towards your seat as you came up for air. She had a knowing smirk painted across her face as you extended it towards her with a shaking hand.
“You alright?” Jordan asked, giving you a worried glance. “You’ve barely said a word and now you look like you’ve had a fright?”
Mrs. Belfort hummed in agreement with her husband, bringing her napkin up to dab at her mouth.
“Yeah, what’s the matter?” She cooed, eyes holding yours still. “Pussy got your tongue?”
Rifling through the washing baskets, you sorted them out for laundering, anything to take your mind away from what you knew you shouldn’t be doing. Not only was she your boss, she was married, and married to an incredibly powerful man at that.
You knew in your heart that if you’d let him, he’d be just as unfaithful to her with you, as she would with roles reversed. But you just knew it’d create more trouble than good, even if that good was a long-legged blonde with a mouth on her that drove you doggone wild.
Just as the act of loading a washing machine was doing it’s trick, your fingers hooked around one garment that you really didn’t need to stumble across. You drew your hand back to find a red lacy pair of panties draped over the tip of your finger. It nearly had you light headed at the start.
Drawing them closer towards you, gingerly you looked over your shoulder just to confirm that you were alone in the laundry. Your heart was nearly beating out of your chest in fear of being caught, but this was just something you couldn’t stop.
Bringing the seat of her knickers to your face, you took in a deep breath and were immediately overwhelmed with the scent of her cunt. She smelt just as heavenly as you’d imagined she would, those nights after her husband drove you home and you’d raced inside to finger yourself to the thought of his wife.
It was all so bad, so wrong and so impure, nothing of what you were doing was close to being right. But when it came to Naomi, you were about ready to risk it all just for the sake of having one little chance with her. All it took was that one change, after that all bets were off. That change came in the form of her calling your name.
To say it startled you was an understatement, you were lucky you didn’t scream. Dropping the panties immediately back into the basket, you followed the sound right up the stairs and into Mr. and Mrs. Belfort’s bedroom, where Naomi sat waiting for you.
She was still in her robe, the one she wore to breakfast and the one you knew hid from your view the very skimpy lingerie she was wearing beneath it. Just knowing it was so close but still out of your reach had your mouth beginning to salavate.
Extended one finger towards you, she began to beckon you over. “Can you come here please?”
Never wanting to disappoint, you moved your feet towards her and subsequently towards her bed. Nothing sweet and right could come from being alone in her bedroom, with her wearing the bare minimum in front of you. You knew you had self control, but that much? That was asking for a miracle.
As you got closer, she stood up slowly, fingers moving to the tie on her robe. Suddenly it seemed as if time had slowed down for a moment, you could see her undoing the ribbon on her hip but there was nothing you could, or wanted, to do to stop her.
The silk of her robe slid off her shoulders and pooled on the carpet before you, leaving her in nothing more than a very thin set of bra and panties. You could see the way her nipples poked against the fabric, where the underwear had began to draw up on her hips.
You wouldn’t be leaving this room with pride.
Reaching out, her fingers wrapped around your elbow and pulled you in until you were flush against her. The heat radiating off of her was intoxicating, you were enveloped in the very essence of her, it was soaking into your clothes and staying on the air.
“You need to tell me, baby,” Her voice wrapped you up, binding you to her. “Are you going to let me have my fun with you?”
Quick to please, your doe eyes rose to her gaze and silently apologized for something you’d never done.
“B-before with Mr. Belfort, I’m sorry but I assure you there is nothing there.”
Naomi cut off your stuttering attempts at explaining yourself with a curt laugh, free hand coming and stroking at the edge of your face. Soft skin and long fingers leaving shivers in their wake.
“Honey, forget about making my husband pay for before,” The soothing lilt to her voice was once again doing its best to weaken you at the knees. “This is just my own little treat.”
Your mouth dried up, tongue suddenly too big for the space and your lips dropped open in a pathetic whimper. As much as the embarrassment was hot on your heels, you could tell from her expression that this was doing nothing but pleasing Mrs. Belfort.
“Let me hear you say it.” She cooed, lips coming up to the shell of your ear.
“Yes.”
“Yes, what?”
“Yes, you can fuck me, Mrs. Belfort.”
She released a theatrical gasp before closing her the edge of her teeth around your earlobe, pulling down gently. Her lips trailed down the length of your neck, the softest kisses being left behind in her wake.
“You’ve got a dirty mouth on you, girl,” She sighed into your skin. “We better put it to good use.”
Bringing her hands to the bottom of your dress, she was taking full control as she drew it up and over your head. Her fingers immediately went for your undergarments, stripping you down to you were completely exposed in front of her.
Stepping behind you, her hands ran across your body and left no inch of you untouched by her. You had an idea of what she was intending, it wasn’t an accident that this felt entirely like she was claiming you.
“You’re so beautiful, I don’t blame my husband for the way he looks at you.”
Her nose nudged against the back of your neck, hands running up to roll your breasts around her palms. Fingers tweaking at your nipples, you relaxed back against her and allowed the feeling of pleasure to take over.
“If only he knew that he wasn’t the one you were ready to risk it all for, hmm?”
You choked back a moan that was so desperately clawing its way out of your throat, especially with the way her hands were running down your stomach and getting dangerously close to where you needed her. She hovered above your mound, so close but not quite yet.
“Tell me, who is it that you want to fuck you?”
Along with another moan, you swallowed down your pride, hand shooting back and gripping the soft skin of her thigh.
“You, Naomi, I want you to fuck me and not Jordan.”
A delicious giggle flew around your ears, searing itself into your brain for safe keeping. It didn’t matter what noise she was making, it was set to drive you fucking wild. This moment was no exception to the rule, it wrote the damn rule.
Her hand came down against your mound, fingers slipping between your thighs as she cupped your heat. The feeling of her palm pressed against your aching clit drew an unabashed moan from deep within your chest, only spurring her on to rub it in the smallest circles.
She drew back from you just as quick as she touched you. Too overwhelmed to move, you listened to the sounds of her stripping the rest of her clothes, coming to sit before you on the bed. Naomi shuffled back, hands out behind her to keep her propped up.
“Before I give you what you want, I think you need to earn it.” With her words, she slowly spread her thighs until her cunt was once again on display to you.
Instinctively you dropped to your knees, moving towards the edge of the bed until she was only moments from you. Her hand came out to gently rub across the top of your head, coming around the back and pulling you even further into the meeting of her thighs.
Naomi pressed your face right to her dripping heat, your tongue coming out to catch her clit as she did. She tasted like bliss, like she was laced with gold flakes, this would be a taste you never tired from.
A long groan left her lips, head tipping back as you moved your mouth deftly against her pussy. She held you there, reminding you of the control she had over you as her hips started to roll against your face.
You brought your hands to wrap around her thighs, getting as close as you could. The messy sounds and sight of you must’ve been incredible, the way you hungrily lapped at her cunt and buried your face even further into her.
A symphony of moans serenaded the room, her toes curling against the bed as your lips wrapped around your clit. Had she known her little house-keeper was going to be this fucking good with her mouth, she would’ve had you on these silk sheets months ago.
Naomi’s elbow buckled under the pressure of your mouth, combined with the quiet moans that were reverberating against her. She gripped tighter onto you, pulling you in close as she was essentially riding your face.
Letting her do whatever she wanted, you moved your tongue quicker and fell in love with the way she cried your name in pleasure. It’d never sound the same coming from her, not now you know the way it sounds when you’ve got her pussy on your mouth.
Gripping hard onto you, you felt the rush of wetness as Naomi unraveled on your tongue, one leg coming to wrap around your shoulder as she did so. You remained in that same place, destined to do as you were told whilst you took her through her high.
When the sensitivity became too much, she drew you back before pulling you up towards her. Laying against her, you felt her lips connect with yours as she kissed her taste from your mouth. Moaning against your lips, you snaked your hands around her waist in an attempt to cover any inch of her skin you could.
Feeling one of her hands moving against you, it became very clear to you that she was on a direct path to where you were quite literally dripping for her. Naomi ran her fingers along your slit, dipping in to rub against your clit before coming to rest at your entrance.
With her tongue finding purchase in your mouth, she slipped two fingers inside of you and quickly curled them up. You couldn’t help but squeal into her mouth, gripping onto her sides as her fingers began to move with you.
Clenching around her, it’d never felt nearly this good when all you could do was think of her. You never knew it was going to feel like heaven on earth once she finally got her hands on you. The incoherent cries and moans of her name were flooding the room, sure to drift under the doors and fill the house in short time.
“I’m sure this is better than touching your little pussy and thinking of me, huh?”
Your eyes shot open in fright, looking to her with the complete knowing of being caught, painted across your face. She just grinned at you, that kind of cruel grin that said “you’re in for it now.”
“You think I couldn’t hear you, moaning my name when you’ve locked yourself in the bathroom?”
All the times you’d quickly tried to get yourself off to make your work day more bearable, suddenly flashed past your mind. You would’ve recoiled in shame if Naomi’s fingers hand’t suddenly sped up, instead making your mouth drop open with a cry.
“Go on, show me how pretty you sound when you say my name.”
So you did, pretty whimpers of her first name drifted past your lips some more. She smiled into your neck but you could still tell there was something more she wanted.
“Hmm, try again, and make sure he can hear it.”
It had to be the affect she had on you, because suddenly you were crying out a long moan of Mrs. Belfort, and if her husband couldn’t hear it, he would’ve had to be on the other side of the world.
That hit the spot and sure enough her thumb was coming to rub against your clit in time with the thrust of her fingers. Falling apart in her hands, you felt your whole body tensing against her, stars beginning to rush past your eyes in bliss.
She knew every button to push and exactly what it did, she could tell by the fierce grip you had on her thigh that your high was right around the corner and it was approaching faster than you could manage.
Trailing her lips against your jaw, Naomi sucked the smallest marks into the soft skin there, happy to leaving her brand on you. When she reached your ear, the breathy whisper was the final piece to push you over the edge.
“Come for me, pretty girl.”
And eager to please, you did as you were told. Clamping down hard on her fingers, you felt yourself flood her hand as you cried out for her. Your back arched off the mattress, toes curling and muscles tensing against your will.
As you were coming back down, you knew you’d never come like that before. Looking at Mrs. Belfort’s face, you could tell by that grin that she was eager to see it as often as she could.
She brought her fingers up from between your legs, laying them against her tongue and sucking the wetness off with a filthy moan.
“I don’t think he heard that,” She sighed, shuffling down your body. “Think I’ll just have to give you another.”
#naomi lapaglia smut#naomi lapaglia x reader#naomi lapaglia x female reader#margot robbie smut#margot robbie x reader#margot robbie x female reader
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Lizzie’s Rampage! 🏙💥🦖♀️
CHAPTER TWO: Day 1 - Peoria, Illinois
⭐⭐ BREAKING NEWS ⭐⭐
Good evening. This is Nancy Scott with WBC, World Broadcasting Corporation. Tonight's top story is a world news report. I'm reporting live from Peoria, Illinois, covering the destruction of this midwestern city at the hands of three monsters; mutated human beings exposed to radiation from an explosion at the ScumLabs facility in Toxic Hollow, another Illinois town a short distance from here. I've been allowed to stay alive while reporting on the monsters, who are calling themselves George, Lizzie and Ralph, in exchange for documenting their destructive rampage across the state of Illinois, and soon, according to the monsters, the entire Earth! They think they'll be on the winning side of history against humanity's armed forces and wish to have their legacy documented for future generations. We'll have to wait and see whether this prediction of theirs comes true or not. Oh, one moment...yes...yes...okay...I’ve been notified just now by Lizzie that I am to start writing what she says down and post it to her blog, or...uh...I'll be digested without a second thought. *ahem* Well, on uh, that note...here is Lizzie's perspective on this path of destruction being carved through Illinois, and possibly your hometown soon...stay safe America...
⭐⭐ LIZZIE'S TAKE ⭐⭐
With Toxic Hollow a pile of smoking rubble, George, Ralph and I made our way to the nearby city of Peoria. It was our first step towards wiping out the state of Illinois, and someday the rest of the world! ScumLabs already did most of the work for us in Toxic Hollow with the lab explosion, but Peoria we dismantled with our bare hands from start to finish! In that sense, it was a rather significant chapter in our tour of destruction! Peoria was home to nearly 120,000 people before we showed up. That number plummeted after we had our fun!
While we there, we destroyed many homes in the suburbs and city buildings! One of them in particular caught my eye. It seemed to be some sort of video game development studio known as Game Refuge. I read the name off their sign before punching it to pieces! I wonder what kinds of video games they made...Well, it's no matter, they should have been making games about US, the MONSTERS! Maybe they'll learn their lesson now that all their precious game development equipment is a pile of scrap metal! Next time, make a game about US!!!
⭐⭐ FACT TIME! ⭐⭐
Nancy's not the only one that can do this job. CAMERAMAN!! Get my good side. I SAID MY GOOD SIDE!! There we go, you're capturing my beauty quite nicely now. Here are a few interesting facts about Peoria prior to its destruction beneath our feet!
📌 A war known as the Peoria War was fought by humans here during the War of 1812. It involved battles between Native American tribes and American settlers, and it lasted for about a month. Humans seem to fight and shed each other’s blood a lot. And somehow, we're the monsters? Why don't you humans look at yourselves in the mirror before criticizing us?
📌 Peoria is an archetype of midwestern American culture, so much so that the phrase "Will it play in Peoria?" has become something to say when questioning the mass appeal of things like stage plays, books, television shows and movies. Peoria is also commonly used as a filler town name for when one is needed in fictional stories. Well, I'll say this much; we certainly played in Peoria! And the only thing it's filled with now is the smoldering ruins of toppled buildings! Ha ha ha!
📌 Michael Jordan made his NBA debut with the Chicago Bulls in Peoria back in 1984. He was never cool enough to make it into Midway's NBA Jam, Hangtime, Showtime or Hoopz games though (The best basketball games ever! I would know. As a bit of a Midway star myself, (See? Told you I was a narcissist.) I know a thing or two about good video games, and Midway made a lot of them!). It's a shame he wasn't in Peoria when we destroyed it! I bet he would have made a nice meal.
⭐⭐ SCORE SHEET! ⭐⭐
For us monsters, destroying things is quite fun! In fact, George and Ralph started keeping score of their rampaging, so it's time I followed suit! Let's see if you can top this, boys. Dr. Veronica seems impressed! Ladies can total cities too, y'know!
Well, with Peoria wiped off the map, it's time for us three to make haste to the next city! You better have written everything down, Nancy. YES, I MEAN ALL OF IT. Don’t play games with me...where was I? Oh yes. Our hunger for RAMPAGE is insatiable!! I’ll see you all next time, when we destroy...
KANKAKEE, ILLINOIS!!!
#lizzie#female#lizard#dinosaur#rampage#rampage world tour#scumlabs#midway#game refuge#warner bros#fanfiction#peoria#illinois
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in the stars - chapter 4
photo credit - @ssa-emilyhotchner
pairing - aaron hotchner x reader
warnings - canon typical criminal minds, stalking, angst. pretty tame chapter
summary - “I’m on a date.” You responded flatly. The other end of the line went silent.
a/n - hi besties. so this chapter is p short compared to the last one, i had like 7k something chapter 4 and it just didnt feel right, BUT that means chapter 5 is basically done i just need to edit it soooooooooooo hopefully wont take a long time lol! enjoy, heart yall forever
masterlist // series masterlist // read it on ao3
chapter 3 / chapter 5
-----
The rest of the team was left in various levels of shock. Everyone was struggling to process the bomb of information that had just been revealed. With hindsight, it was easy to connect the strange levels of tension and intimacy that radiated between you and Hotch. What was more difficult to swallow, was the new understanding that Hotch had been keeping this secret for nearly five years. Random ‘trips’ that Hotch would take out of state or the subtle sprinkles of wealth showing up in the form of gifts suddenly made sense.
This was completely uncharted territory for the entire team. Given Hotch’s history, it wasn’t too difficult to understand how protective he may be of any relationships post-Haley; but the magnitude of your relationship- both in terms of your status as well as length-, and the withholding of information even on the case was a different form of betrayal that couldn’t be kicked under the rug.
Hotch had always been one of the fiercest advocates for unity, truth and an equal playing field when it came to information concerning a case,- Morgan was still feeling second hand embarrassment for Jordan- for him to be the one to hold back such influential info was difficult to fully wrap their heads around. Anger, of course, was felt and there would certainly be time for that anger- not even getting started on the amount of questions everyone was bound to have-, but as the team was silently processing, they all reached similar conclusions. Hotch was displaying a softness and side of him they hadn’t seen in a very long time and they wouldn’t let their valid frustrations get in the way of solving this case.
Morgan was the first to speak, pulling his phone out of his pocket. “I need to text Garcia about this.” He said, shaking the phone a bit. Everyone managed to laugh at that, all certain that Garcia would have the most interesting reaction to the news.
“You know…, the other day when she was giving me a tour of her house, I pointed out a bottle of Dalmore 25 she had on the wall. She got really weird about it and I thought she was trying to play modest, but this, this makes a lot more sense.” JJ remarked lightheartedly.
“So now we know Hotch has some game then, huh?” Morgan quipped, a large grin on his face. When everyone just stared blankly back at him, even more confused than they already were he continued. “Do you all not remember when he ‘magically’ got a bottle of Dalmore 45, those start at twelve grand”
Reid was about to open his mouth and add to the conversation, but just as the words were leaving his mouth Hotch stormed back into the conference room. One hand was tightly balled in a fist while the other was gripping his phone.
“She’s not answering her phone. Three times, it went straight to voicemail.”
“She isn’t on set today, when she left this morning she told me she had work related errands to run.” Emily recounted, racking her brain for any more info about your whereabouts.
Hotch strode over to an open laptop at the edge of the table, quickly hitting a series of buttons until a very flustered Garcia appeared on screen; her mouth dropping open when she saw Hotch.
“Questions later Garcia,” Hotch opened, already anticipating that someone Derek would have informed her of the latest news, “I need you to track Y/N. I want her current and last location.”
“Yes sir! I uh, I will do that right now for you.” Garcia responded, clearly doing her best to hold back the hoard of questions and comments she had. The sound of her vigorously typing filled the room. “Alright sir, so the bad news is that it looks like her phone is currently turned off, but! The last place it pinged at was outside of Chateau Marmont about three hours ago. Which for those of you who don’t know this place is notorious for being the A-lister hideaway-”
“Garcia, do a wide search for her name and location for today’s date. Check to see if there’s been any media sightings on her whereabouts.” Hotch ordered. He hadn’t forgotten how uneasy it had made him once he found out how easy it was to locate you. Paparazzi were a different form of ruthless and he’d never realized how difficult it actually was for people in the spotlight until he met you.
“Let me see…, yes sir you are right! I’m getting a bunch of hits of her entering the-” Garcia’s sentence falling off with an ‘oh’.
“Garcia, what’d you find?”
A headline popped up on the screen.
“Emma Co-Stars Pictured Together Out At Lunch: Has The Love Moved Past The Screen?”
Underneath, multiple photos of you quickly loaded. There you were, cheerily standing next to your co-star, looking up at him with a big grin on your face. The photos showed the two of you in different positions as you made your way inside. A few of him as he opened the car door for you. One of you with your arm wrapped loosely around his while you walked up the door. One of you ducking under his arm as you entered the restaurant.
The tension in the room was palpable as everyone did their own mini attempt at profiling the photo. It was difficult, you’d clearly proven to be a great actress and they knew you were capable of manipulating your outward emotions. It was even more difficult considering it was just a handful of mediocre quality photos.
Hotch was tightly gripping the edge of the table, forcing himself to keep a level head. He knew it was unreasonable to get angry over the idea of you with another man, but it didn’t help the pang in his heart as he recognized the genuine signs of happiness you were emitting.
“JJ,” Hotch said, voice dangerously calm, “call the restaurant and have them discreetly tell Y/N that ‘Andi’ is calling her.” Discretion was the highest priority for him, the envelope being even further confirmation that the unsub was closely trailing you. The last thing he wanted to do was either trigger a violent reaction or cause him to go underground.
Back when the two of you had been together, out of an abundance of caution, you used to refer to Aaron as ‘Andi’ in public. You hated not being able to thank him in speeches or mention him in any capacity, so this had been your best way around it.
“Yes sir.” JJ responded, quickly moving out of the room to make the phone call.
“Garcia, do you have any leads on the kid that dropped off the envelope?” Hotch asked.
“No sir. The car he left in was reported stolen a few days ago with no leads as to where it went. Camera feeds loose the car about three blocks away and his face was too obstructed to get any hits that way.”
“Alright, once JJ comes back with confirmation Y/N’s gotten the message, I’m going to pick her up. I want the rest of you to work with Garcia and categorize these photos. Cross reference whatever you can to get a timeline.” Hotch ordered, the rest of the team not being to be told twice.
-----
“Where the hell are you?” Aaron demanded.
Even through the phone, you could tell he was absolutely seething. It was bad, by the time you had picked up the phone you’d amassed a total of twenty texts and nearly ten missed calls from Aaron; not even mentioning the individual missed calls you had from each member of the team. It was bad, but in your defense it had been less than an hour from the first missed call to your current response.
What could you say? You were big on not being on your phone when you were spending time with friends.
“What do you mean, where the hell am I,” you answered, rolling your eyes as you leaned up against one of the private bathroom countertops. “How did you describe it before Agent? I’m very in ‘demand’.”
You could hear him groan through the phone and wondered if he was running his hands over his face; something he used to always do when you were being difficult; he absolutely was.
“Y/N-”
“I’m on a date.” You responded flatly. The other end of the line went silent. As you were debating whether or not you should add the part about it being a publicity date, Aaron’s voice came through.
“End it. I’m picking you up. The drive there from the station shouldn’t be more than 30 minutes.” Aaron said, his voice dangerously even.
“I’m perfectly capable of getting back to the station on my own Agent. I don’t need you stirring up an absolute scene-”
“Y/N,” he started, voice commanding in a way that told you he was serious, “a package was delivered to the station today. Filled with hundreds of photos of you over the years,” he paused again and you could hear him take a deep breath before continuing, “there’s photos of us in there. The unsub knows.”
You went silent, mouth opening over and over, unable to find anything to say. You had always envisioned a world where you and Aaron were some sort of ‘public’ knowledge, but never like this, obviously never like this.
“Y/N, I need to come get you,” Hotch said, his voice much softer now, “I can’t-, I need to see that you’re safe.”
“I’ll make something up,” You said quickly, before adding, “there’s a private valet area, I’ll send you the instructions to get past the gates and I’ll let the security know you’re coming to pick me up.”
“I’ll be there in ten minutes, don’t draw any attention to yourself.” And with that he hung up, leaving you stunned in the bathroom. You gripped the edges of the counter, staring at yourself in the mirror. You wished you could stay in the bathroom for hours, desperately needing some time to privately process what Aaron had told you.
That wasn’t in the cards for you though, so you quickly did some pointless attempts at ‘straightening’ your appearance- more for your benefit than anything else- before you turned the lock and left back for your table
You slipped back into your seat across from your friend and co-star Johnny.
“Your friend alright?” Johnny asked.
“Yeah, yeah,” you said with a small smile, “she’s fine. But my Agent called me when I was in there, she apparently managed to set up some last minute FBI consult to help me prep for an audition I have coming up. According to her, she ‘pulled a lot of strings for this’.” You said, rolling your eyes. The lie sliding out of your mouth with ease. “Whoever this FBI dude is, is supposed to come pick me up right about,” you looked down at your phone, “now apparently. So I guess our little date has to end early.” You said, giving him an exaggerated sad pout.
Johnny rolled his eyes at that, giving you a small laugh. The two of you were both equally uninterested, romantically, in each other. But you did get along quite well, so being ‘forced’ into hanging out with each other outside of filming wasn’t bad; you’d probably hang out outside of filming anyway
“No worries, we still on for running lines later tonight?” He asked.
You thought for a moment, before nodding. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world. Now, help me flag down the waiter, I want to get one last drink in before I go.”
-----
About twenty minutes later you found yourself waiting out in the private courtyard of the restaurant. You were doing your best to calm your nerves, this being the first opportunity you had to try and process what Aaron had told you. You should’ve seen it coming, if the stalker was so obsessed with you, he must’ve noticed Aaron in your life at some point. But you had been so careful.
Then the other obvious thing hit you. His team knew. You were wondering how the team had taken the news when you saw the black SUV come into view. Aaron quickly stopped the car in front of you and before you could move to open the passenger door yourself, he was out of his seat in a flash, coming over to where you were standing.
For a moment you were both silent. You felt tiny under his unrelenting gaze, his eyes scanning your entire being as he ensured himself you were okay.
Without thinking, you launched yourself at him, wrapping your arms tightly around his waist, ensnaring his arms tight to his side. As soon you realized what you did, you were internally kicking yourself, moving to loosen your arms nearly as fast as you had put them there.
“Aaron I-”
Before you could finish your attempted apology, Aaron had pulled his arms from under yours and repositioned them around you, pulling you tightly against him. Your head naturally fit perfectly under his and you took in a deep breath, letting his scent surround you. It was cliche, but you both were thinking about how perfectly your bodies melded against each other.
You felt his hand rest gently on the back of your head, gently stroking down your hair in a steady rhythm. “I got you.” He whispered, so quiet you nearly didn’t hear it.
You pulled your head back so you could look up at him. “I’m scared.” You said, admitting it aloud for the first time.
Aaron was staring hard down at you, his face soft. “I know,” he started, moving a piece of hair away from your face, “I’m not going to let anyone hurt you, okay?”
You nodded at that, missing his warmth when he started to pull away from you. He kept a protective hand on your lower back, guiding you towards the passenger seat. He opened the door and helped you in, gently shutting the door behind you. As soon as your door was shut he wasted no time in getting in the driver's seat, starting the car up again. With a quick check to make sure your seatbelt clicked was in, Aaron peeled out of the parking lot.
A few floors above the courtyard, in one of the private hotel rooms, a curtain was angrily thrown shut.
-----
taglist - @mac99martin @iwaizumiee @kylorendrip @hqtchner @lieswithoutfairytales @ssahoodrathotchner @midsummernightdream @weasleylovers @evans-dejong @itsmytimetoodream @yoshigguk @28cnn @cuddlyklaus @hotch-meeeeeuppppp @yallgotkik @sunflowersandotherthings @averyhotchner @kimmy-k-k @uwu-sebastianstan
a/n- if youve asked to be on the taglist and dont see urself, please send another message! im really bad about putting people on my tag document lol, even if ive like responded in tumblr!!
no permission is given to copy or republish my writing on any other platform or account. if you see this story outside of my blog or my ao3 it is stolen work. i do not own nor claim to own criminal minds or any of the character involved in it.
#aaron hotchner x reader#aaron hotchner#aaron hotchner x you#aaron hotchner/you#aaron hotchner/reader#self insert fic#'stori talks#in the stars#criminal minds#criminal minds fanfic
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Liquid Luck
author’s note: hey everyone! happy valentine’s day!!!! <3 <3 sending lots of love your way :) this is an extra special, lovey dovey, fluffy collab with @derrysdenbrough for valentine’s day.(go follow her right now!!) i hope you all enjoy it, and have a fantastic day filled with love whether that love is from yourself, your s/o, your family, etc...
word count: ~3000
summary: you’re a foreign exchange student and Bill Weasley offers to show you around Hogwarts!
****
Lifting myself off of the stoney floor, I find myself in a comfortable office filled with trinkets. The circular walls are covered with serious looking portraits, their eyes lit by the glow of the warm fireplace I recently fell out of. As I rise and brush myself off, I find myself face to face with a phoenix.
I stare into its eyes for a moment as they swirl in fiery embers of color, before I snap back to reality. It had been a long journey, and I would have an equally long day tomorrow given I was arriving mid term- on February 13th.
Turning towards the center of the room, I see a small group of people eagerly grinning towards me. I watched as the girl bobbed on the balls of her feet, and the boy stood, completely relaxed, with a welcoming stance.
“Ms. y/l/n, welcome to Hogwarts!” Albus Dumbledore’s voice greets me. I smiled, my nerves eased by the kind welcome that they had prepared.
“We are most pleased to have you here,” Mcgonagal nods towards me. After properly greeting both of them, I turn my attention to the two people my age, waiting to greet me.
“Oh my Godric! I’m so happy to meet you,” The dark brown, curly haired girl greeted me with a soft hug. Her russet brown skin seemed to radiate warmth as she pulled me into a kind hug. “I’m Anya, and it sounds like you’re in my house. So you’ll be seeing lots of me!” She smiled kindly and nodded towards the pale, freckled boy behind her, signalling for him to come up.
“G’day mate!” The boy said in an extremely poor Australian accent. His honey-gold eyes searched mine, hoping to see the laughing twinkle of his reflected in mind.
“Oh good evening dear chap!” I responded without missing a beat in an equally awful English accent. The red haired boy laughed and I couldn’t help but notice the deep brown flecked through his eyes. Almost like cinnamon.
“So, do you play quidditch?” The boy demanded, grinning still. I was about to respond with an affirmative, but I was cut off.
“Mr Weasley! Your name!” Mcgonagal snapped. I grinned, silently laughing at the situation.
“I’m Bill. Nice to meet you,” He held out his hand. Gently, I placed my small hand into his firm one, and shook.
“Y/n,” I responded.
“I’ll have to show you around sometime y/n.” Bill grinned.
“And I’ll have to show you to our dorm!” Anya exclaimed, taking your arm. “You’re a Hufflepuff, right?” I nodded, remembering Professor Mcgonagal’s brief trip to Koolangka, the Australian wizarding school, to sort me. The strange hat was very different to the process at Koolangka, but seemed to work nonetheless.
“Right-o,” I grinned, enjoying the way my words stood out slightly. We hurried through the castle as Anya explained the basics of what I needed to know to me. By the time we reached the basement, I was nearly asleep on my feet.
The soft golden bedding seemed all together much to inviting, and I slept as soon as my head hit the pillow.
****
I woke up to four girls standing over me, and I yelped in surprise, causing them to step back slightly.
“You’re y/n, right? I’m Amelia Abbott,” A brown haired girl began talking, and proceeded to point at the rest of the Hufflepuff’s. “That’s Ella Finch-Fletchey, that’s Caroline Jordan, and this is Teresa Burk.” She finished, and I waved at the girls in turn.
“Nice to meet you all!” I said as I hopped out of bed, and Teresa instantly took my arm.
“Anya told us you and Bill Weasley hit it off. He hardly ever speaks to girls, but that’s because we’re always drooling over him.” She said, and her blonde locks swung as she spoke.
“He’s nice, I guess.” I said, albeit uncertainly, and the rest of the Hufflepuff’s giggled.
“We can’t wait for you to date!” Ella chattered, and Caroline shook her head.
“You’re scaring her, the poor thing. We’ll let you get changed and meet you down at the common room, you must be starving!” The four girls were off in a whirl as Caroline herded them out, and I shot her a grateful smile.
As the room stilled, I took a deep breath. I was really here, at Hogwarts, in the badger’s sett, the place I finally belonged.
I took my time putting on my Hufflepuff robes, the cheery yellow making me smile. With that smile came the thought of Bill Weasley’s blue eyes, and the odd feeling I had had around him.
“Y/n!” A voice that sounded like Ella called from the common room, and I did a final stroke of the hairbrush through my hair.
“Coming!” I called, and I set the hairbrush down as I looked in the mirror.
I was ready.
The group of girls led me down the hallway, occasionally pausing their giggling and teasing of each other to point out important land marks:
“And that’s where Ella snogged Simon Brown!” Teresa grinned as she pointed towards a particularly large statue of a goblin. Ella slugged Teresa's arm in a friendly manner, and Teresa stuck her tongue out before we continued to move on.
“Oh my! That’s where those third years got in a fight about quidditch last week,” Caroline nudged me, although I doubted whether or not this information would come in useful later.
Finally we reached the great hall, and made our ways to the hufflepuff table. I eagerly searched for some vegemite on toast, or a Ned Kelly pie. But I was sadly disappointed as my friends explained neither of those things exist in England. Instead, Ella plonked a bowl of oatmeal onto my plate.
“Dig in,” she winked. I sighed, resigning myself to the warm slop on my plate. It could be worse I reckon: she could have given me scrambled eggs.
I’m shaken from my silent contemplation of the evils of scrambled eggs by none other than Bill Weasley himself.
“Top of the mornin’” Bill greets in an exaggerated English accent this time.
“Merlin, am I ever going to here your real accent?” I try to look annoyed before slipping into a smile.
“Ay. That depends,” he attempts a Scottish accent this time. I suppose it’s a running joke at this point.
“On what?” I raise an eyebrow, while reaching for my juice. Upon doing so, I realise all five of my new friends are eagerly drinking up this juicy interaction.
“I was hoping to show you around,” he begins looking slightly nervous. I notice he has begun to twist his wand between his strong fingers. I nod reassuringly and he continues.
“But I’m busy with head boy duties and all, so we might have to break curfew...” I nearly leap at the adventure, but pause contemplating. Would it really be a good idea to risk being caught breaking rules already?
“It would be an adventure,” he suggests, smiling while his eyes toil with excitement.
“Well, you’ll have to make it worth my time...” I smirk slightly. He grabs my hand and shakes it eagerly.
“Just you wait y/n!”
****
I go through the rest of the day eagerly curious for what Bill has in store for my grand tour of Hogwarts.
Although, I can’t tell who is more excited for it: me or the five girls who have discussed the breakfast occurrence at least seven times by now.
“Come on, Y/n! At least promise us you’ll snog his tonsils out!” Ella begged, and I whipped my head round to stare at her. We were currently lounging in the common room, with Amelia checking the time every five minutes.
“He’s showing me around the castle, not planning to pull me into an abandoned classroom!” I squealed, and the girls squealed alongside me, eager at the thought.
"Well he'll have to pull you into an abandoned classroom if he's going to give you a full tour!" Teresa laughed, teasing me.
Luckily, we were finally in our last class of the day. Which we happened to have with the Gryffindors.
“Please partner up!” Professor Mcgonagal announces. “We shall be practically applying our skills at transfiguring human features.” She pauses to allow the buzzing students to partner up. I turn around to see Teresa and Caroline looking apologetically towards me. I face the other way and find Ella and Anya in the same situation.
“Maybe we could have a group of three?” Caroline offers, sounding thoroughly unconvinced of Mcgonagal’s enthusiasm for the idea.
“No need!” Bill grins as he swaggers our way, and leans against my desk. “Partners?” I grin as a slight blush creeps up my neck. Biting my lip I nod and let him brush my hand to guide me across the room.
“Please only transfigure your partner with human features!” Mcgonagal reminds us, and I shiver slightly as I remember the time my brother was transfigured into a part-human part- platypus form last year.
“So, are you much good at transfiguration?” Bill asks conversationally. I take a moment to answer, concentrating on the transfiguration I’ll be attempting.
I decide to give him a beard, perhaps slightly inspired by Dumbledore’s. I flicked my wand in a short line, and smirked as a fiery red beard grew. Unfortunately, I made it slightly shorter than anticipated and...
Fuck. He looked hot with a beard. He raised an eyebrow. “So I’ll take that as a yes?” I giggled.
“Sure,” I admitted. We spent the rest of class firing spells back and forth until I had abnormally long pink hair, with large sapphire eyes. Bill was sporting equally vivid green locks with some slightly scary purple eyes. And a beard of the previously desired length.
Our laughter echoed through the hallway on our way to the great hall. Just before walking into the hall, Bill threw his arm around me as he laughed particularly hard.
The moment was broken as he glanced at his watch, and frowned.
“I’ll pick you up tonight. Some time close to midnight,” he shouted as he walked away. I watched as he walked in a relaxed manner down the halls. Although, I raised my eyebrow as I watched him take a small sip of a strangely sparkling substance.
We were still sat in the common room at 12 o’clock, and there had been no sign of Bill Weasley.
“Maybe he forgot?” Caroline murmured, and Teresa bit her lip as she shook her head slightly.
“We ought to be off to bed, I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation. Filch might have caught him!” She said, and everyone nodded.
“Come on, bed time!” Ella began herding everyone off to bed, and I numbly followed. I wasn’t quite sure what to think after Bill’s no-show, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it now.
Tap, tap
I woke up out of my light sleep with a start. My owl, Goldie, usually only delivered in the mornings. I took a moment to rub my eyes and nearly tumbled out of bed as I saw that it wasn't in fact my owl, but rather a certain Bill Weasley. Throwing open the window, I tried to keep my voice down so I wouldn't wake anyone else.
"Bill? Why and how are you hovering outside my dorm window?" I asked, sleep thick in my voice.
"I'm here for your tour, pretty girl.” I blushed as he called me pretty, knowing I was anything but with my messy hair and bright pink pajamas. "You might want a jacket though," he frowned, gesturing to the frigid, snowy air.
I quickly pulled on my favorite denim jacket, and some leggings. Then, I went back to the window.
"A broom?" I took in the sight of his fairly muscular form on the broom, and noticed a golden, knowing sparkle in his eyes. As if whatever happened, he was one step ahead of me.
"You seem like the type to play quidditch," he shrugged. I grinned, rejoicing at the chance to get back on a broom after all this time.
"You were right," I slid out of the window into the slightly snow covered roof. Wrapping my arms around Bill's waist I let his warmth bleed into my freezing skin. Somehow this felt so right.
"You're warm," I mumbled. I only realised after I spoke how awkward this sounded, but Bill simply smiled and cast a warming charm over me.
"Bet you didn't have much use for those in Australia?" If only he knew how windy my city had been. Although he was right, I never learned a proper warming charm at school.
“Not so much. We spent hours on cooling charms though.” Just like that, I replaced Bill’s warming charm with a cooling one, and he yelped in surprise.
“Y/n!” He shouted into the night’s air, and I laughed as I clutched his waist tighter. It was gone as soon as I cast it, and Bill’s warming charm once again encased us.
“So I’ve been thinking, Y/n. Why’d you come to Hogwarts at the end of January? School term starts in September, you know?” He asked, and I peered down to see that we were circling the quidditch pitch.
“Well my old school, Koolangka, has school from the end of January to mid-December, and every ten weeks we got to go home for two. Every Australian school’s like that, probably because we’re superior.” I said, and Bill turned his head over his shoulder to grin before facing the front of the broom again.
“Say, did you have the sorting hat in Australia?” He asked, and I shook my head before realising he couldn’t quite see me.
“Not exactly. Australia still has the four houses, but instead they’re focussed on air, fire, water and earth. Caeli is Latin for air, ignis for fire, aqua for water, and terra for earth. We have a boomerang that assists in sorting us, and we just have to throw it as fair as we can. Whatever colour it returns covered in is our house.” I explained, and it wasn’t until I finished that I realised how boring it sounded.
“That sounds awesome! I’ve always wanted to go to Australia, but my mum is obsessed with Egypt, so I doubt I’ll get to go.” Bill sounded a bit sad, so I took a leap of faith.
“It’s awesome, Bill! I can show you all the secret spots, and we can visit Numisma, the Australian wizard school.” I said nervously, but I shouldn’t have worried.
“I’d really like that. I might land here on the pitch.” Bill soared down, and I laughed excitedly as we reached the grass.
My feet crunched into the frosty ground, and I spread my arms out as I breathed in the chilly air.
"Imagine playing here," I closed my eyes and pictured the stadium seats full of young witches and wizards, and the sky filled with brooms. Bill saw me and added in background cheering. I laughed and turned towards him. He grinned, seeing my smile.
"Is this used for anything other than quidditch?" I asked, thinking that this huge space couldn't possibly be used only for quidditch.
"The only other thing held here is the 7th year ball," Bill explained. Instantly my vision of the stadium filled with quidditch fans shifted to a beautifully lit dance floor, filled with laughter and lovely dress robes.
"A ball!" I exclaimed enthusiastically. "Is it very formal?" I felt concerned, realizing I had no idea how to waltz, or swing, or foxtrot or anything...
"No, no. It's not really anything to worry about." He saw my distress, but then his face lit up. "Although I could teach you a few moves," He offered as he extended his hand. I placed my hand gently in his, and let him pull me towards him.
Lumos Maxima Bill whispered, and then whispered another soft spell to play a quiet waltz throughout the stadium.
Slowly and gracefully I let Bill lead me through the steps. Gradually we sped up, and I stopped stepping on his feet so much. His light charm faded, and soon our faces were only illuminated by the stars as we spun and stepped across the cool grass.
Eventually the music came to an end, but I stayed in my dancing position still.
"You're very beautiful," He blushed, glancing away and sticking his hands into his jean pockets. I smiled, although I'm sure I blushed slightly as well. "I er- I just mean..." he stammered a bit.
"The Bill Weasley? Nervous about talking to me?" I teased, and he blushed even redder.
"Well, you see it is Valentine's day," he smiled slightly, and I blushed a little. "And I just thought you might, maybe-" He took a deep breath and collected himself. "Perhaps you would want to go to Hogsmeade with me?" I beamed at him. Despite only knowing Bill for a day or two, I could tell that he was the kind of guy I wanted to know better.
"Of course!" I smiled, and hugged him. His arms wrapped around me, and I breathed in the slightly salty sea air smell about him. "Just one question," I looked up, and he gazed with concern towards me.
"Where's Hogsmeade?" We laughed, and he closed the slight gap to kiss me lightly.
He tasted like the dancing love of liquid luck.
#harry potter#harry potter fandom#harry potter fanfiction#harry potter fanfic#bill weasley#weasley#bill x reader#bill weasley x y/n#bill weasley x reader#collab#hp collab#hp fanfic#HP Fandom#HP#valentine's#harry potter valentine
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liquid luck (bill weasley x reader)
summary: reader is an exchange student that draws the attention of bill weasley just in time for valentines day
a/n: another collab with @fromashescomephoenixes yall already know the drill go follow her she is an incredible author as well as person!
-
Lifting myself off of the stoney floor, I find myself in a comfortable office filled with trinkets. The circular walls are covered with serious looking portraits, their eyes lit by the glow of the warm fireplace I recently fell out of. As I rise and brush myself off, I find myself face to face with a phoenix.
I stare into it's eyes for a moment as they swirl in fiery embers of color, before I snap back to reality. It had been a long journey, and I would have an equally long day tomorrow given I was arriving mid term- on February 13th.
Turning towards the center of the room, I see a small group of people eagerly grinning towards me. I watched as the girl bobbed on the balls of her feet, and the boy stood, completely relaxed, with a welcoming stance.
“Ms. y/l/n, welcome to Hogwarts!” Albus Dumbledore’s voice greets me. I smiled, my nerves eased by the kind welcome that they had prepared.
“We are most pleased to have you here,” Mcgonagal nods towards me. After properly greeting both of them, I turn my attention to the two people my age, waiting to greet me.
“Oh my Godric! I’m so happy to meet you,” The dark brown, curly haired girl greeted me with a soft hug. Her russet brown skin seemed to radiate warmth as she pulled me into a kind hug. “I’m Anya, and it sounds like you’re in my house. So you’ll be seeing lots of me!” She smiled kindly and nodded towards the pale, freckled boy behind her, signalling for him to come up.
“G’day mate!” The boy said in an extremely poor Australian accent. His honey-gold eyes searched mine, hoping to see the laughing twinkle of his reflected in mind.
“Oh good evening dear chap!” I responded without missing a beat in an equally awful English accent. The red haired boy laughed and I couldn’t help but notice the deep brown flecked through his eyes. Almost like cinnamon.
“So, do you play quidditch?” The boy demanded, grinning still. I was about to respond with an affirmative, but I was cut off.
“Mr Weasley! Your name!” Mcgonagal snapped. I grinned, silently laughing at the situation.
“I’m Bill. Nice to meet you,” He held out his hand. Gently, I placed my small hand into his firm one, and shook.
“Y/n,” I responded.
“I’ll have to show you around sometime y/n.” Bill grinned.
“And I’ll have to show you to our dorm!” Anya exclaimed, taking your arm. “You’re a Hufflepuff, right?” I nodded, remembering Professor Mcgonagal’s brief trip to Koolangka, the Australian wizarding school, to sort me. The strange hat was very different to the process at Koolangka, but seemed to work nonetheless.
“Right-o,” I grinned, enjoying the way my words stood out slightly. We hurried through the castle as Anya explained the basics of what I needed to know to me. By the time we reached the basement, I was nearly asleep on my feet.
The soft golden bedding seemed all together much to inviting, and I slept as soon as my head hit the pillow.
•••
I woke up to four girls standing over me, and I yelped in surprise, causing them to step back slightly.
“You’re y/n, right? I’m Amelia Abbott,” A brown haired girl began talking, and proceeded to point at the rest of the Hufflepuff’s. “That’s Ella Finch-Fletchey, that’s Caroline Jordan, and this is Teresa Berg.” She finished, and I waved at the girls in turn.
“Nice to meet you all!” I said as I hopped out of bed, and Teresa instantly took my arm.
“Anya told us you and Bill Weasley hit it off. He hardly ever speaks to girls, but that’s because we’re always drooling over him.” She said, and her blonde locks swung as she spoke.
“He’s nice, I guess.” I said, albeit uncertainly, and the rest of the Hufflepuff’s giggled.
“We can’t wait for you to date!” Ella chattered, and Caroline shook her head.
“You’re scaring her, the poor thing. We’ll let you get changed and meet you down at the common room, you must be starving!” The four girls were off in a whirl as Caroline herded them out, and I shot her a grateful smile.
As the room stilled, I took a deep breath. I was really here, at Hogwarts, in the badger’s sett, the place I finally belonged.
I took my time putting on my Hufflepuff robes, the cheery yellow making me smile. With that smile came the thought of Bill Weasley’s blue eyes, and the odd feeling I had had around him.
“Y/n!” A voice that sounded like Ella called from the common room, and I did a final stroke of the hairbrush through my hair.
“Coming!” I called, and I set the hairbrush down as I looked in the mirror.
I was ready.
The group of girls led me down the hallway, occasionally pausing their giggling and teasing of each other to point out important land marks:
“And that’s where Ella snogged Simon Brown!” Teresa grinned as she pointed towards a particularly large statue of a goblin. Ella slugged Teresa's arm in a friendly manner, and Teresa stuck her tongue out before we continued to move on.
“Oh my! That’s where those third years got in a fight about quidditch last week,” Caroline nudged me, although I doubted whether or not this information would come in useful later.
Finally we reached the great hall, and made our ways to the hufflepuff table. I eagerly searched for some vegimite on toast, or a Ned Kelly pie. But I was sadly disappointed as my friends explained neither of those things exist in England. Instead, Ella plonked a bowl of oatmeal onto my plate.
“Dig in,” she winked. I sighed, resigning myself to the warm slop on my plate. It could be worse I reckon: she could have given me scrambled eggs.
I’m shaken from my silent contemplation of the evils of scrambled eggs by none other than Bill Weasley himself.
“Top of the mornin’” Bill greets in an exaggerated English accent this time.
“Merlin, am I ever going to here your real accent?” I try to look annoyed before slipping into a smile.
“Ay. That depends,” he attempts a Scottish accent this time. I suppose it’s a running joke at this point.
“On what?” I raise an eyebrow, while reaching for my juice. Upon doing so, I realise all five of my new friends are eagerly drinking up this juicy interaction.
“I was hoping to show you around,” he begins looking slightly nervous. I notice he has begun to twist his wand between his strong fingers. I nod reassuringly and he continues.
“But I’m busy with head boy duties and all, so we might have to break curfew...” I nearly leap at the adventure, but pause contemplating. Would it really be a good idea to risk being caught breaking rules already?
“It would be an adventure,” he suggests, smiling while his eyes toil with excitement.
“Well, you’ll have to make it worth my time...” I smirk slightly. He grabs my hand and shakes it eagerly.
“Just you wait y/n!”
•••
I go through the rest of the day eagerly curious for what Bill has in store for my grand tour of Hogwarts.
Although, I can’t tell who is more excited for it: me or the five girls who have discussed the breakfast occurrence at least seven times by now.
“Come on, Y/n! At least promise us you’ll snog his tonsils out!” Ella begged, and I whipped my head round to stare at her. We were currently lounging in the common room, with Amelia checking the time every five minutes.
“He’s showing me around the castle, not planning to pull me into an abandoned classroom!” I squealed, and the girls squealed alongside me, eager at the thought.
"Well he'll have to pull you into an abandoned classroom if he's going to give you a full tour!" Teresa laughed, teasing me.
Luckily, we were finally in our last class of the day. Which we happened to have with the Gryffindors.
“Please partner up!” Professor Mcgonagal announces. “We shall be practically applying our skills at transfiguring human features.” She pauses to allow the buzzing students to partner up. I turn around to see Teresa and Caroline looking apologetically towards me. I face the other way and find Ella and Anya in the same situation.
“Maybe we could have a group of three?” Caroline offers, sounding thoroughly unconvinced of Mcgonagal’s enthusiasm for the idea.
“No need!” Bill grins as he swaggers our way, and leans against my desk. “Partners?” I grin as a slight blush creeps up my neck. Biting my lip I nod and let him brush my hand to guide me across the room.
“Please only transfigure your partner with human features!” Mcgonagal reminds us, and I shiver slightly as I remember the time my brother was transfigured into a part-human part- platypus form last year.
“So, are you much good at transfiguration?” Bill asks conversationally. I take a moment to answer, concentrating on the transfiguration I’ll be attempting.
I decide to give him a beard, perhaps slightly inspired by Dumbledore’s. I flicked my wand in a short line, and smirked as a fiery red beard grew. Unfortunately, I made it slightly shorter than anticipated and...
Fuck. He looked hot with a beard. He raised an eyebrow. “So I’ll take that as a yes?” I giggled.
“Sure,” I admitted. We spent the rest of class firing spells back and forth until I had abnormally long pink hair, with large sapphire eyes. Bill was sporting equally vivid green locks with some slightly scary purple eyes. And a beard of the previously desired length.
Our laughter echoed through the hallway on our way to the great hall. Just before walking into the hall, Bill threw his arm around me as he laughed particularly hard.
The moment was broken as he glanced at his watch, and frowned.
“I’ll pick you up tonight. Some time close to midnight,” he shouted as he walked away. I watched as he walked in a relaxed manner down the halls. Although, I raised my eyebrow as I watched him take a small sip of a strangely sparkling substance.
We were still sat in the common room at 12 o’clock, and there had been no sign of Bill Weasley.
“Maybe he forgot?” Caroline murmured, and Teresa bit her lip as she shook her head slightly.
“We ought to be off to bed, I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation. Filch might have caught him!” She said, and everyone nodded.
“Come on, bed time!” Ella began herding everyone off to bed, and I numbly followed. I wasn’t quite sure what to think after Bill’s no-show, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it now.
Tap, tap
I woke up out of my light sleep with a start. My owl, Goldie, usually only delivered in the mornings. I took a moment to rub my eyes and nearly tumbled out of bed as I saw that it wasn't in fact my owl, but rather a certain Bill Weasley. Throwing open the window, I tried to keep my voice down so I wouldn't wake anyone else.
"Bill? Why and how are you hovering outside my dorm window?" I asked, sleep thick in my voice.
"I'm here for your tour, pretty girl.” I blushed as he called me pretty, knowing I was anything but with my messy hair and bright pink pajamas. "You might want a jacket though," he frowned, gesturing to the frigid, snowy air.
I quickly pulled on my favorite denim jacket, and some leggings. Then, I went back to the window.
"A broom?" I took in the sight of his fairly muscular form on the broom, and noticed a golden, knowing sparkle in his eyes. As if whatever happened, he was one step ahead of me.
"You seem like the type to play quidditch," he shrugged. I grinned, rejoicing at the chance to get back on a broom after all this time.
"You were right," I slid out of the window into the slightly snow covered roof. Wrapping my arms around Bill's waist I let his warmth bleed into my freezing skin. Somehow this felt so right.
"You're warm," I mumbled. I only realised after I spoke how awkward this sounded, but Bill simply smiled and cast a warming charm over me.
"Bet you didn't have much use for those in Australia?" If only he knew how windy my city had been. Although he was right, I never learned a proper warming charm at school.
“Not so much. We spent hours on cooling charms though.” Just like that, I replaced Bill’s warming charm with a cooling one, and he yelped in surprise.
“Y/n!” He shouted into the night’s air, and I laughed as I clutched his waist tighter. It was gone as soon as I cast it, and Bill’s warming charm once again encased us.
“So I’ve been thinking, Y/n. Why’d you come to Hogwarts at the end of January? School term starts in September, you know?” He asked, and I peered down to see that we were circling the quidditch pitch.
“Well my old school, Koolangka, has school from the end of January to mid-December, and every ten weeks we got to go home for two. Every Australian school’s like that, probably because we’re superior.” I said, and Bill turned his head over his shoulder to grin before facing the front of the broom again.
“Say, did you have the sorting hat in Australia?” He asked, and I shook my head before realising he couldn’t quite see me.
“Not exactly. Australia still has the four houses, but instead they’re focussed on air, fire, water and earth. Caeli is Latin for air, ignis for fire, aqua for water, and terra for earth. We have a boomerang that assists in sorting us, and we just have to throw it as fair as we can. Whatever colour it returns covered in is our house.” I explained, and it wasn’t until I finished that I realised how boring it sounded.
“That sounds awesome! I’ve always wanted to go to Australia, but my mum is obsessed with Egypt, so I doubt I’ll get to go.” Bill sounded a bit sad, so I took a leap of faith.
“It’s awesome, Bill! I can show you all the secret spots, and we can visit Numisma, the Australian wizard school.” I said nervously, but I shouldn’t have worried.
“I’d really like that. I might land here on the pitch.” Bill soared down, and I laughed excitedly as we reached the grass.
My feet crunched into the frosty ground, and I spread my arms out as I breathed in the chilly air.
"Imagine playing here," I closed my eyes and pictured the stadium seats full of young witches and wizards, and the sky filled with brooms. Bill saw me and added in background cheering. I laughed and turned towards him. He grinned, seeing my smile.
"Is this used for anything other than quidditch?" I asked, thinking that this huge space couldn't possibly be used only for quidditch.
"The only other thing held here is the 7th year ball," Bill explained. Instantly my vision of the stadium filled with quidditch fans shifted to a beautifully lit dance floor, filled with laughter and lovely dress robes.
"A ball!" I exclaimed enthusiastically. "Is it very formal?" I felt concerned, realizing I had no idea how to waltz, or swing, or foxtrot or anything...
"No, no. It's not really anything to worry about." He saw my distress, but then his face lit up. "Although I could teach you a few moves," He offered as he extended his hand. I placed my hand gently in his, and let him pull me towards him.
Lumos Maxima Bill whispered, and then whispered another soft spell to play a quiet waltz throughout the stadium.
Slowly and gracefully I let Bill lead me through the steps. Gradually we sped up, and I stopped stepping on his feet so much. His light charm faded, and soon our faces were only illuminated by the stars as we spun and stepped across the cool grass.
Eventually the music came to an end, but I stayed in my dancing position still.
"You're very beautiful," He blushed, glancing away and sticking his hands into his jean pockets. I smiled, although I'm sure I blushed slightly as well. "I er- I just mean..." he stammered a bit.
"The Bill Weasley? Nervous about talking to me?" I teased, and he blushed even redder.
"Well, you see it is Valentine's day," he smiled slightly, and I blushed a little. "And I just thought you might, maybe-" He took a deep breath and collected himself. "Perhaps you would want to go to Hogsmeade with me?" I beamed at him. Despite only knowing Bill for a day or two, I could tell that he was the kind of guy I wanted to know better.
"Of course!" I smiled, and hugged him. His arms wrapped around me, and I breathed in the slightly salty sea air smell about him. "Just one question," I looked up, and he gazed with concern towards me.
"Where's Hogsmeade?" We laughed, and he closed the slight gap to kiss me lightly.
He tasted like the dancing love of liquid luck.
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Review : Candyman (2021)
Nearly all 1980s children like myself had a morbid obsession with ghost stories and urban legends, with much of our free time spent daring one another to do silly things meant to scare the daylights out of one another. For as long as I could remember these events, I remember the presence of Bloody Mary and the ominous way that she is beckoned by repeating her name while looking in a mirror. Imagine my surprise when 1992 rolled around, and this very familiar Bloody Mary construct was reskinned into the iconic Candyman film, the tale of a former mob justice victim turned Cabrini Green boogieman. After three films of varying success, many people thought that was it for Candyman, but along came Jordan Peele and his revelatory reveal as a master horror facilitator we’ve not seen the likes of since Rod Serling. With the announcement that he was helping to produce a Nia DaCosta directed sequel to the first film, the anticipation was high, and even though it was delayed by COVID-19, the film recently found a release to much critical acclaim and box office success.
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The immediate and permeating strength of the 2021 Candyman film is the way that it continues the ruminations on the power of myth. The original Candyman film used its titular character as a thinly veiled piece of symbolism for gentrification, particularly in the way that White exterior curiosity and interest in the “hood” eventually drives the original inhabitants (read : Black people) out of the hood. DaCosta updates this approach by flipping the ideas on their head, particularly in the way that the forgotten Candyman myth hangs around in the air of North Chicago as a sordid and sobering reminder of what once stood there, and the capacity for poverty, crime and despair to invade the area again. Positioning Anthony McCoy as an artist seeking inspiration perfectly opens up the gateway to the shocking revelations we are presented with, bringing the Candyman lore full circle in a way that is satisfying to both those familiar and unfamiliar with the original Candyman film. Using the unreliable narrator approach to retell the Helen Lyles story was a very nice touch, especially for those that know the way the events unfolded.
Like much of the media originated from or focused on the Black experience in the modern day, 2021 Candyman takes a long and hard look at generational trauma. Placing us in the familiar location of the former Cabrini Green give us an air of familiarity for certain elements within the film, but despite how much the area has changed, the impact from the horrors that took place prior to the economical shift clearly resonate even if Candyman himself is a distant memory to the people. Much like the N-word (which I will choose not to use, as per usual), Candyman becomes a tool that can be reclaimed, and rather than embraced, it can be wielded against those that created it by the ones it was intended to hurt. Even the figure of Candyman goes through his own form of generational trauma as different individuals that succumb to tragedy all step into their own version of the Candyman mantle, up to and including Anthony McCoy (who has his own direct generational ties that I will not spoil). Even the generational trauma subtext, which is presented through the story of Brianna Cartwright and her sorrowful relationship with her tortured artist father, hits in a way that can be felt and understood by everyone, and even more so by those that have lost loved ones that chose to take their own lives.
While there was symbolism present in the previous film, the dials are ramped up to eleven in this release, with the mirror and bee symbolism in particular working pitch perfectly. From the opening titles we are made aware of the presence of mirrors within the film, and for those keen enough to keep one eye on the main action and another on any mirrors that present themselves, you are treated to a feast of visual trickery. While bees were used as a way to put viewers off in the original film, like some sort of sick dig for sympathy by way of shock value, bees in the DaCosta film work as a harbinger of doom, specifically for Anthony McCoy, while also standing as a symbol for how deep the core connection is between McCoy and the Candyman lineage. Chicago is always the uncredited star of any film it is in, and DaCosta beautifully covers all areas of the city while including segue cutaways where we float through the various famous streets of Chicago from the perspective of a corpse in a casket. Speaking of perspective, it is used in masterful ways throughout the course of the film, with the Anthony McCoy sequence in Finley Stephens‘ hallway standing as the cherry on top of the perspective sundae.
We need to go ahead and give Yahya Abdul-Mateen II his flowers while he can smell them, because this man may be the most capable actor currently working in terms of effortlessly and casually showing the full spectrum of human emotion in his performances, all the while radiating off of the screen like the kind of guy you’d love to have a beer with, and the kind of friend you care deeply for when they are falling to pieces. Teyonah Parris counters this by bringing a deeply grounded and protective energy born of trauma to her performance, carrying and conveying deep hurt in very subtle ways that bloom as we pick up with her journey. Colman Domingo puts a new and updated twist on the familiar harbinger role, shedding the initial terror and uneasiness approach and instead opting for the wise observer approach, hooking both Anthon McCoy and us as viewers and dragging us right up to the point of payoff. Nathan Stewart-Jarrett takes on the dual task of bringing levity to the proceedings and serving as the universal audience surrogate in terms of a voice of reason, with Kyle Kaminsky adding some very subtle additional laughs in tandem. The physicality and pain that Michael Hargrove is able to communicate in his Candyman performance stands in stark contrast to the regal Tony Todd approach, which in many ways makes his unfortunate ghost characterization more of a psychological terror than a danger. Vanessa Williams and Virginia Madsen reprise their original roles, while Rebecca Spence, Brian King, Cari Clemons-Hopkins and many more lend their talents to the cast.
In all seriousness and sincerity, I love this 2021 take on Candyman even more than I expected to going in. I’m not ready to place my bets yet, but I’m slowly working on a theory about the Candymen in this film, and specifically who is “responsible” for what actions. I love films that I instantly want to own after seeing it in the theater, and Candyman is 100% one of those films... lucky for all of us, we should be seeing this one hitting the streaming services within 45 days or so, though I am likely to spend money on seeing this in a theater again prior to that time.
#ChiefDoomsday#DOOMonFILM#NiaDaCosta#Candyman#YahyaAbdul-MateenII#TeyonahParris#NathanStewart-Jarrett#ColmanDomingo#KyleKaminsky#VanessaWilliams#RebeccaSpence#MichaelHargrove#BrianKing#CarlClemons-Hopkins#ChristianaClark#TorreyHanson#BreannaLind#CedricMays#NancyPender#PamJones#VirginiaMadsen#TonyTodd
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Hotsy Totsy PT. 2 (T.C.)
Soooo obviously the posting schedule isn’t all I had planned 😅 I’m just going to start posting as I have them ready for you so I don’t put undue pressure on myself and procrastinate my life away lol
Enjoy!!
Stepping out of the wild club and into the cool of the summer night gave Timothée a dizzying sense of deja vu, sending an ache through his chest. Your name reverberated through his mind like a shout in a cave. His trembling hands reached up and ran through his hair as he fought to gain his bearings.
“Tim? What’s going on?” Nick’s brow was drawn together in concern as he followed his friend out into the alleyway. Timothée had always been a hard person to keep up with as he was very connected to his emotions. It often was stressful, but being so close to someone so eccentric was refreshing to Nick; he’d dealt with far too many fake people in his life.
Timothée’s hands fell, meeting his friend’s eyes. “That’s her, man. That’s the girl. That’s-
“Y/N,” they said in sync.
Suddenly, it clicked. Nick felt stupid for not putting the pieces together sooner. He’d known that you had attended college to study musical theater on your parents wealth and your gifted vocal talents, but he didn’t realize that it was the same college Timothée had attended there in New York; he hadn’t even known of the young actor at the time. There had only ever been murmurings of this girl Timothée had met before he’d been drafted, all of which were prompted by heavy alcohol consumption. He’d known her name was Y/N, but he didn’t ever think that it could be his Y/N. He’d only really known you when you were both small children through family events. A little surprised smile crept onto Nick’s face. “Well, this is perfect then! I can get you in to see her-”
“Are you insane? I can’t see her” Timmy interrupted as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. He shook his head and anxiety filled his stomach, his arms locked tightly around his torso; there was just no way, not yet at least. He wasn’t prepared for that at all.
“Well, why not? Weren’t you two close?”
Timothée scoffed, turning away from Nick. “I just- I can’t even begin to explain this to you now. I’m going home.”
Nick felt that tug at him a bit. Timothée told him everything, sometimes to a degree that was uncomfortable. However, he continued to refuse to speak about you and what had caused all this tension between you. He stood and watched his best friend’s lanky form disappear around the corner, his hands shoved deep into his pockets.
***
The next day, you woke up in your husband’s arms from dreams that made you wish you could sleep all day. Flashes of bouncing brunette curls and honey-pot eyes made you ache to your very soul. However, that was pushed to the back of your mind as James’ blue eyes blinked open, feeling you shift in his arms. “Hello, dollface,” he smiled, his voice rough with sleep and his stick-straight, black hair sticking his way and that, making you laugh softly.
“Good morning, Jamesy,” you smiled. Giggles escaped you as he began pressing tickling kisses along your neck before slipping out of bed and heading into the en suite bathroom in all his naked glory. He was handsome, charming, and a businessman, but now, it suddenly felt like something was missing. Perhaps there always had been. You stood, cursing yourself silently and pushing the corrosive thoughts away once again. You followed after him, slipping into your silky kimono before allowing your hands to snake around his middle while watching him carefully shave his face in the mirror.
“What’s gotten into you this morning?” he chuckled, feeling you press kisses along his shoulder.
“I just… miss you, sugar” you murmured, pressing your nearly naked body against his. This made it obvious to you when he tensed up, rejecting your touches.
“Sorry, toots, don’t have time to play. I’ve got to meet up with a new girl today.”
You cringed at his words, retracting from him to rest your back against the wall, your robe drawn tight and your arms crossed over your chest.
Seeing your face in the mirror, he quickly rephrased. “A new act, darling, a new act.” You just sighed and left the bathroom, a scowl on your face. He didn’t make it any easier for you to pretend you weren’t still thinking about the night before.
***
Nick hung up the phone and stood, slipping on his jacket.
“Where are you headed? Don’t tell me you’re still out chasing that bearcat, are you?” Timothée questioned, a tired but teasing look on his face. He sat cross legged on the floor with his shirt sleeves cuffed up to his elbows and his hair disheveled as he read over a new script. A hundred fine, luxury options for seating in his home, and yet he chose the rug next to the fireplace every time. Nick had never seen him look quite so aged.
Nick laughed, shaking his head. “Mildred? I’m afraid she’s engaged to marry next weekend,” he said in a bittersweet tone.
“Ah,” Tim replied awkwardly. “Don’t worry about it, Nick. You’ll find her soon.”
However, his girl problems were far from the first thing on Nick’s mind. He had just received a call informing him that he was invited to join his cousin for lunch. Before Timothée could ask more questions, he gave him a curt nod and left the room, travelling down the long flight of stairs to the front door. Thoughts swirled in his mind as he hailed their driver. He figured you had seen him with Timothée the night before, and that was what had prompted your call. Perhaps he’d have better luck getting information out of you than he had with Timothée. He hopped into the backseat, relaying the address you’d given him to the driver, trying to put the pieces together.
Meanwhile, you were preparing for his arrival. You wore a simple shift dress with a long string of pearls and wave in your hair as you laid out on the loveseat.
“Why are you having him all the sudden? Hasn’t he lived in the city for awhile now?” Jordan asked, sitting down on the coffee table in front of you.
“Well... because I’m setting you two up, of course!” you replied with a teasing grin, feigning innocence. You weren’t sure if even you knew your true intentions behind having your cousin come to visit, if you were honest with yourself.
On cue, the doorbell sounded.
Nick was greeted by the butler who kindly welcomed him and escorted him into the parlor where you were chatting idly with Jordan. You sat up, peeking at him over the back of the sofa. “Cousin Nicky! Oh, you are so much taller than I remembered you! My goodness, just look at you! You are a real charmer now,” you beamed, making him blush and look at his shoes a bit.
“Oh, stop it, Y/N,” he grinned. You hopped up, hurrying over to him and enveloping him in a tight hug. Something about seeing him eased anxiety pinching in your chest. Nick grinned and hugged you back, relishing how familiar you were to him even after so long.
“Look at me? Look at you! You’re a star, darling,” he flattered, giving you a little spin and making you giggle. Nick felt the warm glow radiating off of you that always lured everyone in, making you so irresistible. However, unlike the others, he could also still see that little girl who had performed loud and proud to all their captive family members at every Sunday brunch. You’d always been a crowd pleaser, often to a fault.
Jordan cleared her throat a bit, reminding you of her presence. “Oh, yes! Nicky, this is my best gal, Jordan,” you said, gesturing to her. She approached Nick, allowing him to take her hand and press a gentle kiss against the back of it. Jordan was tall with an athletic build and an overwhelming aura of confidence. He had short, black hair that framed her sharp facial features, but warm eyes full of mischief. Nick was instantly intrigued and also incredibly intimidated.
“It’s nice to meet you,” she smiled, trying to play nice though it was hardly in her nature.
“The pleasure is mine,” Nick replied coolly, giving her his charming smile.
The afternoon was spent over tea and sandwiches and scones, the three sharing many laughs and stories, becoming acquainted with one another. The girls spoke of show biz while Nick expressed his newfound interest in writing.
However, you were all interrupted by the arrival of the man of the house. You stiffened a bit at first but quickly slipped back into yourself. “Darling, you’re home!” you cooed, hopping up and wrapping yourself around his arm.
James grinned, giving you a little spin, completely opposite of his attitude that morning. “Hello, doll,” he hummed, pulling you to meet his lips.
Nick tried to hide his shock and sipped his tea. He felt silly for thinking she lived in this big house alone, but he really hadn’t even considered a husband being in the picture. He took the man in as he stood to shake his hand; he was average height with a stocky gait and, though he was dressed as a businessman, he was clearly disheveled and smelled of alcohol. Jordan let out a little sigh at his presence before getting up and fixing a cocktail.
Nick struggled not to grimace as James took his hand, giving it a hardy shake. “You must be Nicky, my girl’s cousin. Nice to meet you. James Elliot is the name” he greeted.
“It’s just Nick, actually, but it’s nice to meet you too. I’m afraid I really should be going-“
“Oh don’t be ridiculous! You must stay for dinner,” you interjected, hoping he could sense your underlying tone.
Nick forced a little smile. “Alright, Y/N. I would hate to be a burden.”
The group gathered around the table making idle chat over a chicken dinner. You giggled over James’ every word and spoke as if everything was a shade of rose, nauseating Nick and Jordan who kept matching sideways glances at each other. It was as if you were playing a scripted role. About three quarters of the way through dinner, however, the phone rang from the parlor, silencing you in the middle of your story. Nick sensed tension settle over the table and watched curiously as James hopped up to answer it. He quirked a brow at Jordan, but she simply shrugged and sipped on her wine. You were quiet for the first time that evening, looking down at your food with sickness settling in your stomach. Nick could see that James was smiling into the phone before he hung up and returned to his place at the head of the table.
“Who was calling, James? It seems a bit late,” Jordan questioned.
“Oh, just business,” he replied nonchalantly.
The phone began to ring again.
You audibly sighed, giving James a look. Every night, it was the same game; only this was even more humiliating with your cousin there. You never asked because you didn’t want to know. Maybe because you already did. He placed a warning hand on your shoulder and squeezed as he brushed by to go answer the phone for the second time, making your hands shake.
As James left again, you stood, deciding you’d had enough. You stepped out onto the patio attached to the dining room and fought to breathe. The anxiety attacks had come for about as long as you could remember, but they’d recently evolved into near episodes. Your knuckles were white around the railing as you stared across the bay through tear-fogged eyes, trying to get a grip. You barely registered the sound of Nick stepping out onto the balcony with you.
“Y/N, are you alright? What’s wrong, darling?” He couldn’t help but feel protective over you despite all the time you’d spent away from each other.
You swallowed the knot in your throat, trying to focus enough to speak. “I think everything is pretty terrible, Nicky.”
He took your hand in his, his back against the railing as he faced you with pleading eyes. “Why do you say that?”
“I have everything. I found everything I wanted in life, but it’s never enough.” You continued to stare blankly out at the water. “I fight every day to stay ignorant, to be a beautiful fool. That’s the best thing a girl can be in this world.”
Nick watched you sadly, pressing a kiss to your knuckles. Never could he have imagined the girl he’d seen on the stage the night before coming home to be the wilted flower before him. He gently tugged on your hand, pulling you into a hug. You relented, feeling some of the tension release from your chest as you exhaled against his shoulder. Nick was just as safe as you’d remembered.
***
After a few awkward, tension-filled goodbyes, Nick and Jordan were escorted out to their drivers.
“It was nice to meet you,” Nick said, trying to be polite despite the obvious discomfort the evening had brought.
“He’s sneaking around with girls from the club,” she said bluntly, stopping Nick in his tracks.
He stared at her dumbly, trying to understand.
“I thought everyone knew,” she sighed, kicking at the gravel. “You know he owns the speakeasy, don't you? He’s sneaking around on Y/N, but she won't confront him because she’s afraid he won’t let her keep performing. He’s given her everything she has here.”
Suddenly, everything you had said on the balcony made sense. Nick ran his hand over his face, still speechless. “I-I just.. wow, um-“
“Yeah.” Jordan was your only confidant through everything that had been going on, and though she carried the weight like a champ, she did ache for you. The only reason she didn’t take things into her own hands was for your sake. “Well, Nick. I’ll see you around,” she said finally, giving him a sad smile before climbing into her cab. Nick did the same, feeling about a thousand pounds heavier than when he had arrived. It wasn’t until then that he remembered his mourning roommate back home. How was he going to relay all of this to him? Letting out a sigh, he laid his head back against the headrest, watching all the people and twinkling buildings pass by outside his window. Perhaps it could all just wait until tomorrow.
When he finally made it back to the mansion, Nick dragged himself up the stoop and inside. As he made his way up the staircase on his way to his room, he spotted Timothée in the same place he’d left him. He was gazing into the fire now with his script abandoned beside him.
“Aye, Tim. What are you still doing up?” Nick asked, leaning around the doorframe. Tim jolted and groaned, rubbing his eyes, clearly startled by his roommate’s return. Nick made his way upstairs toward his room, ready to be out of his suit and not yet ready to tell Timothée where he really had been and what he had learned while he was there.
Timmy held his head in his hands, his elbows propped against his knees. He’d spent the whole night concocting ideas of how he could see you without actually having to see you. All this along with feeling sorry for himself, of course. He’d imagined seeing you again for the past five years and yet, now that it was actually right before him, he had no idea what to do. He stood up with a heavy sigh, anger building internally with himself. Sipping down what was left of his whiskey, he resolved what he had to do.
Long legs carried him swiftly to Nick’s bedroom door where he knocked softly before opening it.
Nick raised a brow, in the process of getting changed. “What is it?” he questioned, seeing the slightly wild look in Timothée’s tired eyes.
“I need you to do me a really big favor.”
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The shirt should be a French cut style and cufflinks can be worn.
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National Enquirer, April 19
You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks
Cover
Page 2: Michael Douglas' short-term memory loss and frail frame have wife Catherine Zeta-Jones fearing for her older husband's well-being -- Michael once declared he'd beaten oral cancer, but harsh chemotherapy and radiation treatments have left him a shell of his former self and he has even admitted to suffering memory problems -- he was also affected by the 2020 death of his father Kirk Douglas and he hasn't been the same since his dad died -- this is a guy who cheated death with a horrific cancer ordeal, and he's had other medical issues over the years and some serious domestic dramas that have taken their toll -- Catherine always knew that their age difference would mean her taking care of him one day but she didn't expect it to be so soon
Page 3: Reese Witherspoon has ditched her wedding ring during recent outings, sparking rumors her marriage to Jim Toth is on the ropes but she feels their relationship isn't down for the count and refuses to give up the fight to keep their family together but they may not make it -- the desire to make things work is still there on both sides and they've been able to pull it all together all these years, even with personalities as different as theirs mainly for the sake of their family and they got on each other's nerves while cooped up together during the pandemic, but they don't bicker in public and that's one thing they have going for them
Page 4: Ryan Seacrest creeped out his pals when he gushed over Maria Menounos when she sat in for Kelly Ripa on Live recently -- Ryan thinks Maria is the smartest, most talented and beautiful woman to walk the planet and he can't help but swoon over her but Ryan understands Maria is happily married to TV writer and producer Keven Underago and he'd never cross the line and he doesn't want to date Maria, but he makes no secret he'd be dancing on air to have someone like her, which is kind of creepy, but he can't help it -- Ryan would never make moves on someone else's girl, but he does try to imitate her husband Keven's qualities like how funny and creative and sensible he is and Ryan adores Kelly and thinks she's great but he wouldn't mind if she takes more time off just so he can gaze at Maria
* Miley Cyrus' recent boozy night out with party pals, including British punk rocker Yungblud, has loved ones fearing she's slipping back into dangerous territory -- she was spotted at Hollywood's famous Rainbow Bar & Grill, drinking shots and beer chasers, just months after she admitted to her struggles with addiction and after fellow addiction-challenged singer Demi Lovato announced she was California sober, claiming she was safely able to drink in moderation, Miley didn't see any reason why she couldn't do the same -- her family and sober friends are deeply concerned for Miley's well-being and are begging her to stop drinking now
Page 5: Newly robust Celine Dion has her health back on track following a dangerous few years where she looked like a walking skeleton -- she has beefed up her wraith-like frame by making healthier choices during lockdown -- she went through a rough time of transition after husband Rene Angelil's death and lost a lot of weight, but lockdown has given her a chance to rest and focus on taking care of herself and now she looks 15 to 20 pounds heavier and seems in good spirits and is looking forward to rebooting her Courage World Tour when the pandemic ends
Page 6: Fitness fanatic Tim McGraw is a changed man since he kicked the bottle in 2008, but he's now hooked on working out and sculpting the perfect bod and he's publicly admitted exercise is what gets him flying high but his quest to get ripped to the max is now a 24/7 obsession and he spends hours in the gym and he's already flexing a muscular body most men would die for, but he doesn't want to stop until he's an Adonis and he works out twice or three times a day and packs his diet with energy-boosting smoothies and veggie juices and some might say he's going overboard with the workouts, but Tim craves those feel-good endorphins and he considers his workouts to be fun -- he loves the way he looks and thinks he can do better and he does spend a lot of time in front of the mirror admiring himself and tends to wear tight T-shirts that show off his pecs and six-pack abs, and wife Faith Hill loves the results -- a lot of people say he's traded one addiction for another
Page 7: Nearly six years after their bitter divorce, Miranda Lambert has finally extended an olive branch to ex-husband Blake Shelton, but she's still pretty envious over his professional success with fiancee Gwen Stefani -- last year, Blake and Gwen took home the collaborative video prize at the Country Music Television Awards for their duet Nobody but You, and also scored a Top Ten hit with their single Happy Anywhere and it makes Miranda jealous to see Blake making hay on the charts with Gwen but their success also made Miranda recall Over You, her hit collaboration with Blake, which won Song of the Year at the 2012 Country Music Association Awards and during a recent interview, Miranda affectionately blew kisses toward the camera as she recounted how her ballad with Blake was inspired by his grief over the loss of his older brother; still, Miranda also harbors a competitive streak and said she's angling to transform herself and husband Brendan McLoughlin into entertainment movers and shakers just like Blake and Gwen -- Miranda plans to enroll Brendan in acting school and Miranda wants them to act together and they are looking for scripts to make a television movie and even planning to launch a production company in Nashville and Miranda recognizes the musical chemistry Blake and Gwen share, and she believes she and Brendan can match that success on-screen -- meanwhile, as Blake and Gwen prepare to wed, Miranda is finally in a place where she can wish them well and Miranda carried a lot of animosity toward Blake and Gwen, especially since she suspected they started something before she and Blake split up, but she's very happy with Brendan so maybe all that pain she and Blake went through in ending their marriage was for the best
* Reba McEntire is reaching out to save her friend and former daughter-in-law Kelly Clarkson from suffering through a divorce that eerily mirrors Reba's own breakup -- Kelly split from husband and manager Brandon Blackstock in June 2020, and the divorce battle has them fighting over custody of their two kids as well as Brandon suing her for $1.4 million in unpaid commissions, but Reba has seen this before: Brandon's dad, Narvel Blackstock, dumped her in 2015 after 26 years of marriage, and despite initially agreeing to continue as her manager, dumped her as a client weeks later and Reba knows all too well how petty and conniving Narvel and Brandon can be, and her heart goes out to Kelly -- Kelly admits to Reba there are times when she just wants to run away and hide and Reba tells her to run away to me and it means the world to Kelly to have Reba in her corner -- Narvel and son Brandon head Starstruck Entertainment and are adamant that Kelly owes them big bucks for helping her land both her talk show and a coaching spot on The Voice, but with Reba's help, Kelly is fighting back and Reba learned the hard way the pitfalls of mixing business with family life and she's trying to help Kelly because she hates to see another woman suffer at the hands of a Blackstock
Page 8: Sicko Jeffrey Epstein has been accused of a horrific new litany of abuse by a woman who claims he forced her into unwanted genital surgery, raped her in front of her child and threatened to feed her to alligators -- the woman, identified in court papers as Jane Doe, is suing the late pervert's estate, claiming he and his alleged madam Ghislaine Maxwell, groomed her for their sordid pleasure -- in the suit, she claims Epstein drove her to pick up her 8-year-old son and took them to a lake, where he threatened to feed her to alligators, as had happened to other girls in the past, if she dared to squeal on him -- at the time, the woman said she was 26, but she looked much younger and Epstein told her to say she was 17 and he also arranged for a man with a Russian accent to perform an unnecessary vaginal surgery to pass her off as a virgin to a client and this violent and illegal procedure was botched, leaving her mutilated, in pain, disabled, and permanently sexually dysfunctional
Page 9: Ghislaine Maxwell has been slapped with yet another sex trafficking charge and it's got her former pal Prince Andrew sweating bullets -- the new indictment details how Jeffrey Epstein's alleged madam reportedly groomed a 14-year-old for him, but crucially for Andrew, it expands the time frame of Ghislaine's alleged crimes from 1994 to 2004, a span that includes her meeting the British royal in 1999 and then introducing him to Epstein and that time frame also includes the period in which "sex slave" Virginia Roberts Giuffre claims she slept with Andrew three times, charges he's denied -- the new charge also opens the floodgates on other celebrities, politicians and high-profile figures who were in Epstein's orbit at the time and the new indictment widens the pool for Ghislaine and her defense attorneys because who wouldn't want to bring down all of these fat cats and who wouldn't be that desperate?
Page 10: Hot Shots -- Rumer Willis got to the root of her gardening needs in L.A., Michael B. Jordan and Chante Adams got cozy as they shared a snack while shooting Journal for Jordan in NYC's Central Park, Heidi Klum in L.A., Mario Lopez tossed the ceremonial first dice roll at the opening of the Mohegan Sun Casino in Las Vegas, Christopher Meloni shot his onscreen spouse's funeral scene for Law & Order: Organized Crime
Page 11: Tony Bennett has a secret weapon in his fight against Alzheimer's disease: his close pal and collaborator Lady Gaga -- Susan Crow Benedetto, 54, the wife of the 94-year-old singing legend, has enlisted Gaga to help keep Tony's faculties sharp as he struggles with advancing dementia because Gaga's telephone calls have always helped cheer Tony up and keep him focused and they laugh together, reminisce and sometimes sing and it always puts a smile on Tony's face and it's great therapy -- when asked whether Tony still recognizes the pop star, Susan joked that Gaga is hard to forget -- Gaga has also played a critical role in keeping the aging crooner active and creative by working with him and they plan to release their second album of duets this spring as a follow-up to their 2014 smash hit Cheek to Cheek
* Worried friends feared ailing rock god Ozzy Osbourne is coming unstrung while wife Sharon Osbourne's career goes into a death spiral -- Ozzy has been plagued by crippling illnesses over the years, including Parkinson's disease, and has to walk with the aid of a cane and now he's at wit's end and pushing himself into a danger zone as his wife fights tooth and nail after leaving The Talk amid a racism scandal and Ozzy's been under a great deal of distress over Sharon's problems over at The Talk and he worries and fusses over her and can't focus on anything else and it's left many in his circle very concerned for his health which is fragile enough already -- the bashing Sharon received during the scandal has the aging rocker concerned she may never work again and he'll have to be the breadwinner
Page 12: Straight Shuter -- five years after Angelina Jolie filed for divorce, she's still battling Brad Pitt over custody of their five youngest kids, now she's filed new court documents claiming she has proof of domestic violence against Brad and accusations like these would kill anyone else's career, but not in this case: Hollywood is 100 percent behind Brad and the sense in the industry is Angelina has weaponized the kids against Brad but Brad is very well respected in Hollywood, and most people find these new allegations hard to believe and if anything, Angie is only hurting the children and herself
* Real Housewives stars featured in the upcoming spinoff are cashing in and Bravo will pay Luann de Lesseps, Teresa Giudice and the others a sweet $200,000 for one week's work in Turks and Caicos and that's more than double what the ladies usually get for filming, plus they get a free trip to a tropical island
* American Idol could be on the chopping block because in just seven weeks the show has lost 2 million viewers and it's simple math: Idol cannot survive with its current budget and ABC has two options which are cancel the show or cut costs, which would mean hiring cheaper judges and a cheaper host to replace Ryan Seacrest and both options are being explored
* Britney Spears' beau, personal trainer Sam Asghari, shows off his toned abs in L.A. (picture)
Page 13: Palace insiders fear Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's vendetta against the British monarchy will take a shocking new turn: they'll bankroll a lurid movie about Princess Diana's death and the conspiracy theories that suggest the royal family was involved -- the rights to the movie script are owned by Hollywood producer Ben Browning, who was just hired by Harry and Meghan to run their film company Archewell Productions -- the controversial movie centers on Princess Diana's lover Dodi Fayed's father, former Harrods' boss Mohamed Al-Fayed, investigating his son's death and his belief that Dodi and Diana were murdered because she was pregnant and planning to marry, and The Firm did not want a Muslim in the royal family
Page 14: Crime
Page 15: Alabama Shakes drummer Steve Johnson has been busted on charges of willful torture and abuse of a child and was also charged with cruelly beating or otherwise maltreating a child under the age of 18 -- his arrest came just a year after he was slapped with a one-year suspended sentence and two years' probation after pleading guilty to menacing his ex-wife Whitney Lee, who called him mentally unstable -- Johnson helped the Shakes score three Grammys in 2016 for their album Sound & Color but the band has been on hiatus since singer Brittany Howard started a solo career in 2018 and Steve was lost after that; he went from playing in front of 50,000 people to playing in bars again -- even if the Shakes reunite, it's highly unlikely Steve would be invited back -- Steve remains in county jail awaiting his court date and his attorneys said Mr. Johnson maintains his innocence
* Danny Masterson and his lawyers believe they are victims of anti-Scientology bias and cannot get a fair trial in his Los Angeles rape case -- celebrity attorney Tom Mesereau, who successfully defended Michael Jackson against child molestation charges two decades ago, claimed his client has been treated unfairly because of his ties to the church, and that the police or district attorney's office leaked damaging details of the case -- Danny and his lawyers feel persecuted and that everybody in Hollywood who isn't a Scientologist is after them -- LAPD Robbery and Homicide Division Capt. Jonathan Tippet said his organization is keeping a tight lid on all information surrounding the case to ensure Masterson gets a fair trial
Page 16: Mormon church officials are being accused of corporate greed for using members' charitable donations to secretly create a $100 billion tax-free fund -- James Huntsman, the son of a prominent Mormon family, is suing the church for fraud, claiming donations solicited to finance charity work were actually used to fill church coffers -- the church boasts at least 15 million members worldwide, including celebrities like Gladys Knight, Donny and Marie Osmond, Katherine Heigl, Julianne Hough, Christina Aguilera, Ryan Gosling, Amy Adams and Aaron Eckhart and many could have tithed money that ended up in the tax-free fund
Page 17: Jen Shah of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City was recently fingered by the feds as the bogus businesswoman behind a multi-state fraud scheme dating back to 2012 -- the Bravo blowhard, known for her extravagant parties, designer outfits and extensive entourage, and her first assistant Stuart Smith were arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering -- the U.S. Justice Department alleged the Park City resident and Smith of Lehi generated and sold lead lists of innocent individuals for other members of their scheme to repeatedly scam, and claimed the greedy creeps defrauded hundreds of victims -- the terrible twosome targeted older adults and computer illiterate folks by using both telemarketing and in-person sales teams to peddle nonexistent online services and then fight the refund efforts of wronged consumers -- if convicted, Shah and Smith each face up to 50 years behind bars
Page 18: American Life
Page 20: L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva triggered a cover-up scandal when he revealed his investigators determined why Tiger Woods drove off a California cliff, then refused to explain what happened, citing the golf legend's privacy -- Villanueva said the black box in the Genesis SUV that Tiger was driving when he flew off a suburban L.A. highway in the early morning helped determine the cause
* Hollywood Hookups -- Bethenny Frankel and Paul Bernon engaged, Melissa and Joe Gorga appear to have reached the finale of their marriage, Fernanda Flores and professional boxes Noel Mikaelian dating
Page 21: Britney Spears said she broke into tears after seeing bits of the new documentary about how she has been in the grips of a conservatorship for years, saying she was embarrassed by the light they put her in and she cried for two weeks and still cries sometimes
* Generous Hollywood legend Dick Van Dyke put a happy face on job seekers in Malibu when he handed out fistfuls of cash -- Dick was spotted withdrawing bills from a bank before driving to the Malibu Community Labor Exchange, a nonprofit that helps unemployed locals find day jobs and he stayed in his car as he handed out money to masked folks who were lined up to look for work
Page 22: The late Aretha Franklin left behind a royal mess of paperwork, including a newly discovered fourth will that has thrown her $80 million estate into fresh turmoil -- the eight-page document, titled The Will of Aretha Franklin, was apparently drawn up not long before her death in 2018, and was recently found among the files of the singer's onetime attorney Henry Grix along with the paperwork describing the terms of a trust but both items are stamped draft and neither has Aretha's signature but Michigan law changed seven years ago, and it made the admissibility of a document like this more flexible -- currently there's a bitter beef among Aretha's four adult sons over how their mother's assets should be divided
Page 23: The battle over Prince's $300 million fortune rages on, and the late pop star's siblings, and legal heirs, fear there won't be anything left after lawyers, accountants, administrators and the IRS take their cut -- five years after he died from a fatal fentanyl overdose without leaving a will, an avalanche of deals and court hearings have left his massive cash stash in limbo -- sadly Prince's distrust of lawyers and other professionals now means that millions will be spent paying those same people to try to sort out the mess he left behind and this could go on for a decade
Page 26: Weird Body Language -- stars cope with bizarre deformities -- Denzel Washington, Steven Tyler, Ashton Kutcher, Matthew Perry
Page 27: Lily Allen, Mark Wahlberg, Karolina Kurkova, Scar Service -- Tina Fey, Padma Lakshmi, Joaquin Phoenix
Page 32: Health Watch
* Ask the Vet -- Watch out for xylitol
Page 34: Just months after John Travolta's beloved wife, Kelly Preston, passed, the actor has been shattered by another death in the family -- his nephew Sam Travolta's badly decomposed body was found in his Wisconsin apartment last September, weeks after he died from a suspected heart attack -- John has suffered through so much loss and Sam's death was another huge blow but he's strong and has a deep faith in Scientology and the church brings him solace and comfort
Page 36: Shark Tank star Barbara Corcoran has stepped up to get a tenant in one of her buildings back on his feet -- Barbara and building co-owner Alex Rodriguez came under fire after Ryo Nagaoka's possessions were reportedly tossed while he was hospitalized with COVID-19 and when Ryo got home he found only his piano and pet tortoise in his cleaned-out crib -- emptying Ryo's apartment was necessary because it had become a health hazard and had a biocleaning crew scrub it -- Barbara donated $12,000 to a GoFundMe page for him, while A-Rod has seemingly not yet contributed anything and Barbara also said the building's management company has renovated Ryo's apartment
Page 38: Beloved game show host Peter Marshall made a miraculous recovery from COVID-19 to celebrate with friends at his 95th birthday party -- Peter was in and out of the hospital for ten weeks and he was at death's door and doctors didn't give him much of a chance but Peter beat the odds to enjoy a Zoom party attended online by Leslie Uggams, Loni Anderson, Sandy Duncan, Ruta Lee, Karen Valentine, Rich Little, JoAnne Worley, Jack Jones and more
* Accused sex freak Armie Hammer's career is in the crapper and he's beginning to believe that's where it will stay -- the kink king was fired from the thriller Billion Dollar Spy amid sexual assault allegations and the release of social media messages claiming he has dark fetishes including cannibalism -- Armie has already gotten to boot from the movie Shotgun Wedding and the series The Offer, and more trouble may be on the horizon: Armie was accused of sexual assault by a woman called Effie, who alleged the actor violently raped her and Armie's attorneys issued a statement denying the claims, saying Effie's own correspondence with Mr. Hammer undermines and refutes her outrageous allegations -- Armie has been keeping a low profile at a Caribbean resort, but fears his entire career is in trouble
Page 42: Red Carpet -- Carrie Underwood
#tabloid#grain of salt#tabloid toc#tabloidtoc#michael douglas#catherine zeta jones#catherine zeta-jones#armie hammer#reese witherspoon#jim toth#ryan seacrest#maria menounos#keven undergaro#miley cyrus#celine dion#tim mcgraw#miranda lambert#brendan mcloughlin#blake shelton#gwen stefani#reba mcentire#kelly clarkson#narvel blackstock#jeffrey epstein#ghislaine maxwell#tony bennett#lady gaga#ozzy osbourne#sharon osbourne#prince harry
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when we were young - kevin atwater
requested?: yes by anonymous
Could you do an Adam Ruzek or Kevin Atwater imagine where it’s like a flashback to the time him and the reader met and about their relationship and it cuts to their life now?
kevin atwater x fem!reader
a/n: i’m not sure what happened but i kept writing and it came out with this, hope you enjoy. please send me requests :) - emie
masterlist
ten years ago
y/n’s arms were numb as she ran up the stairs to the apartment for the fourth time in a row. her slightly impaired by the boxes that were piled up in her hands, leaving her feet in full control to guide her to the apartment that just so happened to be on the fifth floor.
as she reached the floor, she could already hear her brothers from down the hall. they had barely been in the block for more than an hour and they had already started to bicker, it was in moments like this that y/n wished she had sisters.
“where did you put my baseball bat? i know you have it!” flynn groaned as he searched desperately through the boxes that were labelled according to what room they were for, unfortunately for him ‘weapons’ wasn’t one of them. flynn was only 8 years old, but his fascination with breaking things astounded y/n and pretty much everyone else he met.
“no one cares about that, where is the laptop.” kai shouted back from the other room, not seeming to notice y/n struggling to hold onto the boxes in her arms. knowing she wasn’t going to get any help from anyone in her household, she continued to struggle alone, making sure to avoid her youngest brother fletcher that was running around the apartment like some play area.
“will you two shut up, i’m trying to listen,” and finally there was phoenix, who was holding his phone tightly against his ear as he wandered around the apartment trying to find some sort of signal. y/n dropped the boxes next to the other ones that were beginning to fill up the living room.
“wow, y/n, thank you so much for bringing in all ours things and for paying for this place,” y/n mocked in a deep voice, in what she had deemed her ‘angsty brother’ voice, despite sounding like an idiot. “no problem guys.” she smiled sarcastically, patting flynn on the head as he let out a groan of annoyance, not having taken in a word his sister had said.
y/n was only 18 and yet she had spent the last 6 months of her life in court to get custody of her brothers in order to get them out of foster care. her parents were who knows where, on whatever drug they could find, while drinking whatever they could get their hands on. she knew that she had saved the boys through a life of pain, that she had not had when she was their age, but she would have appreciated a thank you every once in a while.
“so what’s for dinner?” kai called out, finding the laptop that all five of them had to share and had been sharing for the last few years. his body slouched against the couch, eyes not raising to meet his sister’s.
“dude, it’s three o’clock.” she snorted, she had learnt over the years of taking care of her brothers that they seemed to always be hungry, no matter the hour. yet still it amazed her. kai shrugged, the sound of his fingers tapping against the keys echoing throughout the bare apartment. “i guess we could get a pizza tonight, i still have the tips from friday.” she scronged around helplessly.
“pizza!” fletcher yelled as he ran back into the living room and into the arms of his sister, who picked him up with ease. the look of pure happiness on his face, reminded y/n exactly what made her moneyless, tiresome work worth it.
“you know, sometimes i’m sure you are the only one that loves me.” she grinned, as fletch wrapped his small arms around her and squeezed her softly. however the mood came crashing down when she heard a loud crash coming from one of the bedrooms.
“found it!” flynn yelled, as he appeared with the stupid baseball bat that y/n was sure she had thrown out and a wide smile on his face.
--
the knock on the door came just in time. y/n was busy unpacking her room, having completed everyone elses and the other rooms. her stomach was making sounds that had she been in public would have made her embarrassed.
“i’ve got it!” she yelled, but when she ran out the room no one had even made an effort to peel themselves away from the tv that was playing a rerun of friends. y/n grabbed her purse and pulled open the door. “it’s 15 bucks, right?” she asked, holding the money out, only to find as her eyes rose the three strangers at her door were certainly not the pizza delivery guy.
“ugh, sorry to bother you,” y/n could feel the apple of her cheeks burn as she met the coffee coloured eyes of the tall man that made her feel like she was 2 foot tall. “my name’s kevin atwater i live next door and this is my brother jordan and my sister vinessa- i’m sorry are we interrupting.” the man spoke, a small warm smile pulling on his lips as he looked over the woman’s face. he had been brought up properly, his desire to check her out was pushed down and he kept the friendly smile on his face.
“no, no, of course not,” y/n rambled, turning to look behind her at the four boys that were brainwashed by the small box that rested on an old tv stand. debating what to do she quickly moved out of the way of the door and gestured for them to enter. “come on in, let me introduce you to the boys. i’m y/n y/l/n, it’s nice to meet you guys.”
y/n had only had a couple of friends in her life, when you move from foster home to foster home it was hard to keep in contact. but this was a fresh start, it had to be and it was being offered to her on a silver platter.
“kevin, vinessa, jordan these are my brothers, malakai, phoenix, flynnigan and fletcher.” she introduced, making sure she gave the boys a sharp glare to behaviour while they had guests over. “guys, these are our neighbours, be nice.” she made sure she was looking at flynn who was holding onto his baseball bat like some deranged lunatic, but he flashed his most innocent smile as he looked to their guests.
“how’s it going, dude.” kai was the first one to speak up. standing from his position to shake kevin’s hand. then came flynn who completely ignored kevin as he nodded his head at jordan, who was around the same age as the boy.
“you like breaking things?” he asked, catching kevin and jordan by surprise as y/n quickly pulled flynn away from the boy and towards him.
“he’s joking.” he was not joking, but flynn happily returned to the sofa. y/n soon noticed that they were just standing awkwardly in their living room, knowing that she should probably play host, she pointed towards the kitchen. “you guys want a drink or something?”
“sure.” kevin smiled, his eyes following her as she excused herself and left the room. y/n didn’t like this whole host role, let alone for a 6 foot something god that was getting a first hand look into what a nutcase family he was living next to. the last thing she needed nor wanted was someone calling in CPS and taking them off her again. “uh, i was just wondering if you guys wanted some help.” y/n nearly dropped the cans in her hand, as she turned to face the man that didn’t mean to cause any hand.
“yeah, thanks.” she smiled, steadying her heartbeat for no more than a second before he took a few steps closer and it was off beating again. she couldn’t help it, she had not been with anyone in nearly 7 months. with the stress of the custody and the time taken to work, she didn’t really have time for a sex life. so one look at the man had her palms sweating like a creep.
“so where did you move from?” kevin asked. small talk, i can do small talk, y/n thought as she looked at kevin who was helping to find enough cups for everyone in the apartment.
“uh we were actually a few blocks over in the south.” she replied, not wanting to tell him the entire story, after all they had met moments ago. kevin hummed, noticing the way her shoulders tensed. anxiety was radiating off her, but he found it cute. “you always lived here?”
“yeah, pretty much,” the silence resumed and y/n didn’t know what else to say. maybe small talk wasn’t her thing. who was she kidding, she was killing this conversation and not in a good way. thankfully it was cut short as there was yet another knock on the door. y/n cursed, trying to put down the cups she had balanced in her hands, but kevin placed his hand upon her shoulder, stopping her. “i got it.” he offered, walking away and towards the front door.
y/n could feel her skin tingling, but she shook it off as she followed kevin out of the room.
“thanks, bro.” kevin called out before the door slammed shut. y/n put the drinks onto the coffee table, making sure that kevin’s siblings got first dibs before the boys got their hands on them. kevin appeared the his hands holding the rest of the cups and the pizza. “here you go, we should probably get going and let you guys eat-.”
“stay,” y/n said all too quickly, causing all eyes to look her way. realising she sounded way to desperate, her eyes widened as she tried to fix her words. “i mean why don’t you guys join us for dinner, i’m sure the boys don’t mind sharing, right guys?” she looked at her brothers who didn’t look impressed, but one stern look and they were all nodding.
“of course.” they cheered in unison. kevin placed the box on the table, and looked towards his own siblings that seemed to be eyeing up the pizza just a little too much to say no.
“that sounds great.” kevin smiled, admiring kind eyes that seemed to warm his body to an unusual heat. y/n’s body began to relax as she walked over and grabbed her own slice, knowing that when being surrounded by brothers it was always best to dive in before it all disappeared.
--
as time went on, y/n began to learn more about kevin and his family. the kids were playing some kind of game in another room, whilst y/n and kevin were sat on the sofa trying to get to know each other. a very tired fletcher asleep in y/n’s arms as she rocked him slowly.
“wait so you are a cop?” she asked astounded, she had never met a real life cop. in fact she had been raised to run away from them. when one showed up at her door it was either to bring back her pissed parents or to remove her and her brothers from the home. nothing good came out of the police, until now anyways.
“training to be one, yes. i’m only 19.” he chuckled, taking a short sip on the beer they had found in y/n’s fridge.
“don’t tell flynn that, he will most likely try and steal your gun or ask you questions that no 8 year old should ask.” she giggled, her brother had seen more than most which left him asking questions that received concerned but mostly confused looks. she called him their little psychopath, but underneath all that he was her little teddy bear that she had literally taken care of for all his life.
“i’ll be keeping my eye out for him, don’t worry.” he promised and he meant it. the pair were both legal guardians of their siblings while they were still teenagers themselves, they had to look out for one another, they were the only ones that understood. “what about you, what do you do?”
“i’m a waitress until 1 and then i work at the bowling alley until 7 after that i serve cocktails to rich white collars at the bar in the city.” she explained, even the explanation made her take a long and painful sip of her beer. the exhaustion had never been so agonising in her life. trying to juggle looking after her family and providing for them proved to be much more difficult than first thought, but they were family, she couldn’t give up on them.
“holy shit,” kevin breathed out, noticing the way her eyes saddened into a darker colour. a shadow of tears rising in her eyes, but quickly disappearing as she reminded herself that she didn’t have time to cry. she was the strong one. “okay then, what do you want to be doing? if you could be anything in this world what would you be?” he asked, bringing a smile out onto her face.
“i want to be a nurse,” she smiled, completely zoning out of their conversation. “i want to help people, i want to care for people, i mean i have been doing it for my entire life why not make money from it?” she giggled, as she was brought out of her trance by someone placing their hand on her’s. her eyes found themselves locked on kevin’s.
“nurse y/n, huh?” kevin smiled, lightening the mood. however as he did, the small child in the arms of his sister seemed to stir. y/n excused herself, as she stood up and walked in the direction of fletcher’s room. just as she did, the door to the room the kids were in swung open revealing a very intrigued flynn.
“hey, can i talk to you for a second?” kevin nearly missed the fact that the child was indeed talking to him. looking around and realising no one else was in the room he nodded, patting the space besides him which flynn soon took. “i think my sister likes you, dude.” flynn spoke, not even a hint of guilt in his voice as he looked towards the man that the family had literally known for a total of three hours and a half. kevin tried to hide his smile as he nodded.
“i like your sister, she’s a nice girl.”
“i don’t think you get what i’m trying to say,” for an 8 year old, he really didn’t take any shit. his look was stern as he kept his eye contact with kevin strong, only making the small child look 10 times more intimidating. “you can’t do that thing that mom and dad always do, or what harvey did, or jacob or callum. y/n needs someone that loves her and stands by her, because y/n takes care of everyone but no one takes care of y/n.” kevin could feel his chest ache as the words came out of the boy’s mouth, the hard look in his eyes softening revealing the small child that was hidden beneath the gore loving child.
“she’s a good person, huh.” he gestured towards the woman who could just be seen through the crack in the door tucking in fletcher and kissing his head softly. her hands gripping some book and the words falling off her tongue softly. both flynn and kevin sharing the same small smile.
“the best.” flynn confirmed, before patting him on the back and returning to the room. for a moment, kevin had to figure out if he had just imagined that conversation. the 8 year old spoke like a teenager, making it hard to believe that he was so young.
kevin had no desire to break his vow he had made that night and he never did.
---
present
“you know i miss the days i could actually fit into my clothes,” y/n sighed as she leaned back in the office chair looking over to hailey, who let out a giggle. hailey was the only member of the unit that y/n had found in the office, and just so happened to be her best friend. y/n’s hand rested on her rather large stomach that only kept growing, even at 8 months.
“and yet you look stunning, how do you do it?” haley asked, making y/n scoff. she looked a hot mess. she had been on maternity leave for far too long in an apartment alone until someone came home. she had been still working as a nurse until kevin convinced her that it was time to take some time off, which left her showing up the office more and more just so she could tell herself that she had done something somewhat interesting with her day.
“give it a month i will have stains i won’t be able to identify down every item of clothing and hair that i haven’t washed in weeks because i spend all my freetime sleeping.” she recalled the times she was younger and had spent sleepless nights trying to sooth fletch and flynn when they were babies. she had gone to school with far too many vomit stain to count, which only motivated the bitchy girls to point it out daily.
the sound of footsteps hitting the stairs made both of the women turning around. an immediate smile taking over y/n’s face when she noticed the tall man that shared the same grin on his face. his eyes a wild mix of excitement and affection as he quickened his pace to embrace the woman that just managed to push herself off the chair.
“hey, baby,” he greeted, pressing his lips against her’s, before he placed his hand on the bump. “what’s up little man?” he grinned, as the baby began to kick against his touch. kevin was very proud of the fact that he had the effect on the little baby.
“you never know he could be a she.” she argued back, remembering that they had specifically decided not to know the gender of the baby. kevin rolled his eyes jokingly, as he gave her an incredulous look.
“you have 4 brothers, your dad had 10 and your grandfather had 8 and you are seriously trying to tell me that the baby could be a girl.” kevin snorted, earning a light thwack from the woman that he had loved for the past decade. her eyes full of the same light as the day they had met, but y/n no longer kept her burdons locked up. she wasn’t alone anymore, she would never be alone again.
“smart a-.” she tried to speak but a sudden pain raked through her body like a wave. her hand gripped onto kevin’s as she shut her eyes, keeping her breathing calm. “holy shit.” she breathed out, catching the attention of the whole unit.
“what the- what’s happening?” kevin stuttered, watching his wife in so much pain made his heart hurt. but the not knowing made everything ten times worse. hailey walked up behind him, her hand placed on the shoulder of her best friend, as her eyes flickered to the floor. “what is it?”
“i think the baby’s coming.” y/n and hailey spoke in unison, making the soon to be father gasp for air. adam and jay were the first to react, patting kevin on the back congratulating him while hailey ran around looking for her keys.
“i’m gonna be a dad,” kevin muttered slowly, as if the last 8 months and 2 weeks had failed to indicate such a thing. “i’m gonna be a dad!” he began to get more excited until he noticed y/n still slouched over in pain, hailey rubbing her back slowly talking her through it. “oh shit, i should probably do something, what should i do?” no one had seen kevin so jittery, his eyes flicking from each person in the room before hailey chucked him the keys.
“we should probably start with the hospital, big guy.”
“oh yeah, right.” kevin agreed, taking over rubbing y/n’s back as he helped guide her down the stairs and out of the district. hailey and jay following along, ready to welcome their soon to be god child to the world. “let’s go have a baby.” kevin sang, as y/n looked up with a painful smile.
“i love you, you know.”
“i love you more.”
--
after hours and hours of kevin nervously rambling about how excited and nervous he was and hours and hours of y/n telling kevin to shut up. y/n finally began to question how her mother had gone through such a pain 5 times, however when she got to held the small child in the her arms any pain and discomfort was washed away.
“is it safe to come in?” y/n had nearly fallen to sleep when she heard the soft voice call into the room. her eyes flickered over to the door and a large smile pulled across her face and kevin’s when they noticed the familiar faces. fletcher, kai, phoenix, vinessa and jordan all stood in the door way. vinessa was clutching a balloon, while the boys were all holding onto some kind of gift for the baby.
“is the rumour true?” kai asked, as their eyes flicked over to the small baby that was resting on y/n’s chest. y/n snorted, her eyes meeting kevin who was still high up on cloud nine despite having been in the same room for the last 30 hours.
“meet evelyn vinessa atwater,” she grinned, her fingers tracing over the small boned human that she was now responsible for along with her husband. she made sure she was looking at vinessa who seemed more than stoked to be part of her niece’s name, being the first one to take steps forward to get a closer look. y/n picked up the baby and passed her over to her aunt, smiling as she noticed the love already in vinessa’s eyes.
“we have someone else that you might want to see,” kai called catching her attention as she noticed the laptop being placed on her lap. her eyes widening as she noticed the black screen morph into the face of someone she missed.
“i heard i have i officially been named the cool uncle,” y/n let out a soft sob as for the first time in the last year she saw the face of her brother. his body clothed out in camouflage print and a badge sewn into the material clearly reading ‘US ARMY’. “hey, big sis.” he greeted her. flynn had enlisted to join the army the moment he graduated from high school, much to the dismay of his sister.
it wasn’t that y/n wasn’t proud of her brother. if you had asked her 10 years ago what she thought her brother would be doing, the army would not have even passed her mind. but she knew that she couldn’t protect him when he was out in the middle east fighting for their country.
“hate to tell you, dude, but that title has already been claimed.” phoenix challenged, as he appeared besides y/n with baby evelyn in his arms. flynn didn’t hesitate to flip his older brother off, who seemed to just laugh it off.
“you doing alright out there?” y/n asked, pushing herself up slightly but hissing at the pain that lingered throughout her body. it seemed pushing a living creature out of your body wasn’t as easy as the movies made it look. her eye’s were slightly weeping as she looked at her brother who was not the same boy that she had diapered, he was a full fledged man now. she couldn’t have been prouder.
“i will be when i get home and can teach my niece how to annoy her dad.” at the mention of him, kevin appeared in front of the camera, giving his brother in law a long stare that caused the whole room to crack up. “you know i expect the next kid to be named after me, flynnigan junior sounds cool, right?” kevin and y/n looked at each other with wide eyes, mentally telling each other that that was one of the worst ideas they had heard. hearing her brother chuckle over the line, she felt 18 again. “listen i have to go, but i will call again i promise.” y/n didn’t want to say goodbye, but she knew she had to.
“love you.” she smiled, a couple tears trickling down her face.
“love you too.” and just like that the call ended and y/n was met with her reflection. closing the laptop, she noticed that the only one’s in the room were her, kev and evelyn. looking towards kevin she didn’t have to say much, as her eyes said it all. her fingers reaching out to her daughter’s, that effortly wrapped around one.
“thank you,” y/n blurted out, looking up at kevin with nothing but love. “i don’t think i ever said thank you for saving my life all those years ago. i didn’t know it till later, but you pulled me out of the deep end before i even knew i was drowning. you changed my life, kevin atwater.”
“i love you, mrs atwater.”
“i love you too.”
#kevinatwater#kevin atwater#kevin#atwater#jayhalstead#jay#halstead#willhalstead#reader#fanfiction#oneshot#request#cpd#chicago#chicagopd#chicagofire#haileyupton#hailey upton#upstead#linstead#erin lindsay#hankvoight#love#flashback
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Heated Encounters
Ao3
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Chapter 14
Jordan ceased in his position as he felt a surge of energy overtake his senses.
“Ares.” Hawkmoth called out as the emblem overshadowed his eyes. “I am Hawkmoth. I’m giving you the chance to seek the revenge that I can feel coursing through your veins. You will use your blade to overpower those who have gone against you, recruit them for your army, and go to war against those who have wronged you. As for my request, fearless god, is that you bring me Ladybug and Chat Noir’s miraculous and you will be able to rule with love and war.”
“Yes, Hawkmoth.” Jordan growled, accepting the name the super villain gave him. The purple haze covered him entirely and Jordan laughed maniacally as he felt the power raging through his body.
The four friends made the slow trek back to the school. Nino and Alya ventured a few steps ahead of Marinette and Adrien, animatedly talking about the most recent tragedy of the XY album. Anytime Nino was passionate about something, he could really give the topic his all, from the words, to the gestures, to the high-pitched noises that he would emit whenever his enthusiasm hit its peak. His actions were almost comical and Adrien tried to hold in the chuckle that had threatened to leave his lips. Alya listened to his words with all the attention she could give him, her arm wrapped around his as she poured every ounce of love that she could through her touch.
It was something Adrien was slightly jealous of, and it really dawned on him how much he couldn’t wait to have that type of relationship with his mate.
And he really couldn’t deny anymore that he wanted to have this with Marinette.
Adrien walked quietly beside the raven-haired girl, both keeping a bit of distance between them. There was a slight tension in the air from the earlier altercation and even a bit of electricity that needed to find its current. The slightest movements Marinette made, Adrien could feel, even noticing the nonchalant way Marinette swayed her hips with each step. He could sense a bit of nervousness, the silent gnawing of her bottom lip, and the way her hands tightened and loosened its grip around the strap of her purse. At one point, he noticed how she looked over towards him, and the moment he turned to look at her, she turned away and moved her hand towards her face, pulling a lock of hair that had fallen over her eyes and back into the now messy bun on the top of her head.
His eyes continued to drift between Marinette and the sidewalk in front of him, his mind restless with the desire to speak to her while also keeping his silence. The only thing his mind was adamant of was the silent plea and hope for her left hand to stray to her side. He wanted to hold her soft hands, to feel the warmth radiating from her heart, and the only way he would attempt to reach out to her is if she brought her hand down near her hip.
So, with every step, Adrien took a slight step to his right, adjusting the distance until they were close and merely centimeters apart. He could see Marinette’s eyes drift to an abrupt movement beside her, and she blushed when she noticed how close he had become.
Marinette’s heart was rapidly beating and she quieted her racing mind to the hope of his sudden closeness. Something within her told her to drop her hand, allowing her arm to drift to her side, her fingers fanning and stretching out before letting them go limp beside her hip. The act of keeping her hand loose felt awkward without something to hold, but she continued to hush her mind as she waited for him to strike first. She continued to, now consciously, sway back and forth, adding a nearly silent hum while she focused her attention to the sidewalk.
Adrien’s breath hitched at the soothing noise and quickly noticed that her hand had dropped to her side. His mind danced in happiness; the kwami gods have given him a free pass to his bad luck!
Adrien ran his right hand through his hair as he cleared his throat, then brought it down to his side. He started to blush and his heart picked up speed with the anticipation of what he was about to do. With one last final step to the side as he continued his steps towards the school, Adrien allowed his pinky to brush up against hers.
Marinette gasped at the sudden contact, but he could hear that the gasp was in excitement rather than unwanted. From his peripherals, he could see her eyes glancing towards his hand before finally taking a chance to look up towards his face. Her eyes widened with glee, and her smile matched the radiance that always seemed to beam off her.
With all the ounce of power that he could, Adrien kept a neutral face of innocence as he continued to look straight, but the blush on his face betrayed his smoothness.
Marinette narrowed her eyes and played his game, looking forward as she walked beside him. Suddenly, she brushed her fingers against his, prompting him to glance at her with adoration. Her face lit up again with an added pink blush, and Adrien took this as her approval to wrap his pinky with hers.
This time, the love that radiated off of her could be felt through her touch and he knew that he couldn’t delay asking her for her hand in courting. Keeping his eye on his friends, he calculated the distance from their position to the school, wanting to keep this conversation as private as possible without their friends overhearing.
His Agreste-renowned self-control was breaking and Adrien could count on one hand the amount of times he lost his ability to control his words; Chat Noir not being part of that count. But with the warmth of Marinette beside him, he knew it wouldn’t be much longer until his resolve broke.
“What are your plants this weekend?” Adrien finally blurted out, nervously.
Marinette started to giggle, her free hand reaching up to her lips. Adrien narrowed his eyes in confusion before Marinette finally confessed what was so funny.
“I didn’t realize my plants were part of my weekend, but yes, I will be watering my plants this weekend.”
Plants? Adrien mentally retracked his words before realizing his blunder. He ducked his head as he mumbled to himself.
“I don’t have any plans this weekend, other than the usual working the bakery and homework bit.” She looked up to the sky and thought it over. “Nope. Nothing. What about you?”
Adrien scratched his chin as he thought it over. He knew Saturday was going to be busy with rescheduled photo shoots, but he knew Sunday would be mostly free. He didn’t want to pull out his phone to check, so he speculated to the best of his ability.
“I’m pretty sure I have Sunday afternoon off. Just a fencing lesson Sunday morning, but I’m positive I have the afternoon off.”
“That’s good. You need a break from the craziness of your life.”
Adrien hummed in agreement as Nino and Alya reached the sidewalk across from the school. Adrien knew he needed to say something before he reached his friends, but the window of opportunity rapidly closed when the mates turned around and waited for duo to catch up to them. Alya’s eyes twinkled at Adrien and Marinette’s sudden close contact and Nino nudged Alya as a warning to hold her tongue. She relented and winked at Marinette and the four teens waited for the signal to clear to allow them to cross. Adrien turned to Marinette and allowed his lack of self-control to take over instead of waiting until another time to ask her.
“So....” Adrien finally said, letting the ‘o’ go on for a second longer than necessary.
“Yes?” Marinette echoed his pronunciation, hoping to help him gain some courage in whatever he was about to do.
“Well, I was thinking...”
“...yes?”
“Would you like to-”
As if his bad luck decided to rear its ugly head, a man in a golden chariot sped out of the school building and down the street in front of the quad, bringing a dusting of dirt and loose newspapers to circulate the air around them. Adrien wrapped his body around Marinette and turned her away from the falling debris, her own arms brought up to her face in protection. Nino unconsciously did the same for Alya as she shielded her own eyes.
As the group recovered, the simultaneously sounding alerts rang through their phones with the additional school system alarm ringing out the alert to indicate the telltale signs of “akuma”. Alya reached for her phone and ran after the villain, Nino quickly following her to ensure she stayed out of trouble.
Adrien grunted out in frustration at the unfortunate timing and Marinette frowned. Whatever hope she had for his words drained her energy, but the quick nudge from inside her purse reminded her of her duty.
Looking over to Adrien, she could see the determination in his face and Marinette already knew she wouldn’t be able to get away easily. She could see his alpha instincts kicking in, and she hoped that he would at least put her in a place that had a window she could easily escape from.
“Adrien...” Marinette started but stopped when she noticed Adrien’s expression.
His face screwed up tightly as he tried to think of a plan to both get Marinette out of harm’s way and into safety, plus allow him to sneak away and transform. He quickly grabbed her hand and brought her into the school, searching for an empty place to put her in. Plenty of his friends were running past him in panic as he worked his way through, but he did see three soldiers standing guard in the courtyard without moving. Passing by most of the classrooms already indicated their emptiness, so he brought her to the furthest room on the top floor and shoved her into the room before shutting the door. He looked to the side and found a fallen broomstick and promptly locked her into the room by shoving it through the door handle.
Marinette caught her balance and turned around, her eyes filled with both anger and worry as the door separated the two. While it would be ideal for her to be left alone so she could get away, the fact that he was outside guarding the door only made her fear that he would endanger himself for her sake.
“Adrien!” She called out to him, her nerves choking her as she slammed her fists against the door. “What are you doing? Get in here! Please!”
Adrien looked at her with guilt in his eyes. “I’m going to make sure the school is cleared. Please stay here. I’ll come back. I promise.”
With one hand placed on the glass pane in a silent plea of apologies, Adrien turned to run from the classroom door, bolted down the hallway, and down the stairs until he was away from her view.
“I’m going to kill that boy.” Marinette muttered as she stewed in her spot. Tikki flew out of her purse and looked at her chosen with worry. She watched as Marinette paced back and forth, her hands animatedly gesturing as her voice raised a few octaves. “I can’t believe he just left me here and he ran off to do.... whatever he’s doing!”
“Marinette,” Tikki warned, “you can’t worry about Adrien right now. There’s an akuma you need to focus on. Yell at him later.”
Marinette paled as she realized how unfocused she had become. “Sorry, Tikki, let’s go. Spot’s on!”
“Your girlfriend is going to be pissed when you get back to her, you know.” Plagg said as he poked his head out of Adrien’s pocket.
Adrien ran down the stairs and rolled his eyes at the kwami. “Yeah, I know. But it’s better if she’s safe and sound. I need to find a spot to transform... like now.”
He ran into the bathroom and noticed that no one was around, quickly transforming into his alter ego before leaping out the window and into the street below.
Chat Noir looked for any signs of where the akuma could be, turning towards the direction of where the villain had gone after their earlier run-in. He noticed groupings of soldiers standing guard like the ones in the school, and decided to follow the path like they were his personal breadcrumbs. He opened up his communicator as he ran to see if Ladybug had found the villain yet, and saw her emblem flashing towards the direction of the Eiffel Tower. He extended his baton and vaulted to the rooftops, running over the flat pitches with ease. He spotted his partner hiding on a rooftop closest to the tower, and Chat dropped in beside her with a thump.
“Chat.” Ladybug frowned, not taking her eyes off the akuma.
“My lady.” Chat smiled, but soon rested his expression when he noticed her grim one. “What have you found out so far?”
“He’s a god... Ares apparently.”
His eyes widened. “You mean like the Greek god of war?”
“Yup.” Ladybug’s eyes twitched as she tried to come up with a plan, and when one didn’t immediately come to her, she started to pull on the ends of her ponytail.
Chat noticed her anxiousness and turned to the villain, trying to see what he could to help her along.
Ares stood tall on the first platform, his back straight and his arms taut with his weapons held tightly in his hands. He looked intimidating to the naked eye, and his stance screamed someone of the higher hierarchy.
He looked just like the Greek god in his history textbooks. His entire body was covered in gold body armor and red embellishments, the long, crushed velvet red cape blowing in the wind. In one arm was a golden shield that was longer than the length of his arm, and in the other was a tall spear with the blade the size of his forearm. His helmet covered his head, with a horizontal slit large enough for his eyes to view and a small vertical slit to breathe. The crowning glory of his helmet had a red fan sprouting from the top, indicating his place as the top warrior of his realm.
Below him was a small grouping of warriors, maybe twenty in total, all standing guard waiting for orders. The god looked amongst the crowd, his head turning to look at them all before he slightly lifted the spear and slammed the butt back down to the platform.
The echo of the thump was loud enough to be heard from their position, but Chat wasn’t sure if it was due to his super hearing or if it really was that loud.
His sudden flinch from the noise was replicated by Ladybug herself, and he knew it wasn’t just him. The thump and subsequent echoes were loud enough to be heard for miles, and that probably meant he was calling upon his soldiers.
Suddenly, hordes of synchronized footsteps could be heard. Ladybug and Chat looked to the street below and noticed hundreds of soldiers in parallel lines walking in sync as if they were ready to head to war. They all looked the same, similar body armor to Ares without the fan on their helmets, and all carried small round shields and swords in their hands.
“Where did all these soldiers come from?” Chat whispered, more to himself than to Ladybug.
“I’m not entirely sure, but I have a feeling that his spear has something to do with it if. But I won’t know until we get close.”
“Attention, my soldiers!” Ares called out once the soldiers had gathered in large rows in front of him. “I have gathered you all to help me in my war against those who have wronged me. Those who have used their tongues to hold captive the thoughts that were once secret to my mind. We need to capture the one who can destroy our futures with a single lashing of her words. Will you help me, my loyal servants?”
The ground shook with the roars of the soldiers. Some brought their swords into the air while others beat the handles of their swords against their shields.
Raising his spear into the air, Ares calmed the crowd. He then pointed the blade towards the soldiers.
“You,” he pointed to one-third of the group, “will go out to gather Miss Lila Rossi and you will bring her to me, unharmed.”
The group chorused their excitement once more before dying down to a hum. Ladybug looked over to Chat and rolled her eyes. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?”
“You,” Ares called out again to another one-third of the horde, “will find Adrien Agreste and bring him to me. Harm him if you wish, but bring him alive.”
Chat’s eyes widened at the call of his civilian name and Ladybug let out an audible gasp.
“Oh no.” She whispered to herself.
Chat couldn’t help but give her a smug smile, teasing her with this slight revelation. “I take it my lady has a liking to the model?”
Ladybug was about to retort in anger, forgetting who she was for a moment, when a roar erupted and died down and leading to the last third of the group to receive their orders.
“You will go and find Marinette Dupain-Cheng and bring her to me unscathed. She is a goddess and will be treated as such.”
It was Chat Noir’s turn to gasp, prompting a smug Ladybug to tease him back. “Does someone have a little crush on the bakery girl? Hmm?”
“Not at all.” He let out nervously. Fear and anger crept beneath his skin, but he couldn’t reveal why he gasped to Ladybug. “She’s my friend, is all. I don’t want anything to happen to her.”
“Then we better go down there and defeat him before he does something to the three civilians.”
“After you, my lady.” Chat added with a bow.
“How kind of you.” Ladybug smirked, sarcastically, as she whipped her yo-yo and wrapped it around the highest beam of the tower. Chat vaulted after her, keeping a slight distance to watch her back.
Ares looked to the cheering crowd and beamed with glee over their enthusiasm. His eyes coasted the group until it landed on two mortals hiding in the corner of a building. Ares schooled his features and brought his spear back up into the air to calm the crowd.
“Go. Find the mortals and bring them to me.”
Slamming the butt of the spear into the platform, the three groups of soldiers made their way to the streets, focusing on their specific orders to please the god.
Ares watched as they left, his eyes narrowed in displeasure as he turned towards the inside of the platform and walked away from view. Suddenly, he bolted from his position, jumping high into the sky until he landed into a crouch mere steps in front of Alya and Nino. He stood straight with his spear to his side, his smile baring sharp fangs as a growl escaped his chest.
Ladybug and Chat landed on the beam as Ares leaped off the tower, and they watched with horror as their friends were caught by the villain.
“Alya. Nino.” He hissed as he pointed the blade towards them. A beam of light engulfed them and Ares turned to bring them back to the tower.
“Let us go!” Alya cried out as Nino tried to find a way to disarm the light.
Ares laughed. “I have something better. I may be a powerful god, but I need assistance to capture the Miraculouses.” He stopped and placed them back onto the ground, never stopping the beam of light from encasing them. “Soldiers: transform.”
In a blink of an eye, Alya and Nino turned into soldiers, standing guard and waiting for direct orders.
“It’s definitely his spear!” Ladybug gasped, and Chat nodded in agreement. “Chat?”
“Already ahead of you.”
Ladybug watched as Chat jumped down and away from view as she remained on the beam. She needed him to distract him a bit longer before she called her lucky charm, and she didn’t want to call it too early into the fight.
“Well, well, well.” Chat called out smugly, his arm leaning against the extended baton. “What is the Greek God of War doing in the middle of Paris? I think you’re in the wrong timeline. Plus, last time I checked, France is pretty neutral to war.”
Ares quickly turned to the superhero as a pleasing growl erupted from his chest.
“One half of the duo has already arrived; easier to capture your Miraculous. Where is your partner, kitten? I need her to complete my task.”
“I’m not sure. I haven’t seen her yet.” He shrugged. “So until she shows up, you have me to deal with.”
“Gladly. Warrior,” Ares turned and pointed his blade towards Nino, “capture the cat and you shall be rewarded.”
Nino lifted his sword over his head and cheered in acceptance. Chat gathered his baton and held it out, standing in the En Garde position until his opponent charged at him. Keeping an eye on the god, Chat took a step back as the warrior lunged towards him to attack, smiling as he parried the sword away from his chest. The warrior brought his blade back and tried to slam it over Chat’s head, but Chat quickly pulled his baton across him to stop the blow.
The warrior pulled back and Chat took his chance to swipe the baton against the helmet of the warrior, but the warrior placed his shield in front of his face. He laughed mercilessly and Chat became more determined to win against him.
The two formed a comfortable pace of combat as they lunged and attacked back and forth, and Ladybug watched with worry as the warrior refused to back down. Ares and Alya stood and watched, never coming into the fight in a two-to-one or three-to-one battle. It was almost like he refused to get his hands dirty and entrusted his troops to do his bidding for him.
Ahead of her, Ladybug could hear the faint sounds of marching coming from the distance. She pulled her eyes away from the fight for a brief second, afraid that if she whisked her eyes away for too long, she would miss her chance to sweep in if trouble happened to her partner. But when she looked, Ladybug noticed one third of the group coming back with one of the two possible civilians she worried most about.
She held her breath as she waited to see who was captured, but didn’t hear the faint cries for her name being called out. Finally, the sound cracked through the barrier of her fog and she realized that her partner was calling for help.
She finally looked down to see Chat being held down by the warrior, with Nino’s foot pressing down against his chest. Chat tried to remove it by grabbing onto his ankle and shoving the appendage off of him, but his claws slid off of the gold armor. Chat tried to kick himself off the ground to at least get the warrior to lose his balance, but nothing worked in his favor.
“It’s over, kitten.” Ares yelled to Chat with a hiss.
“It’s never over!” Chat answered back, continuing to wiggle himself free. The warrior seemed impatient with Chat’s eagerness to find a way out of his predicament, deciding it was best to place the tip of his sword against the exposed skin of his neck.
“Move kitty and you’ll be a striped cat instead.”
Chat stopped moving and tried to formulate his next distraction all while trying to keep his composure. While he was an alpha, fear still struck his nerves. The thought of Marinette being captured started to creep back into his mind, and he hoped that locking her into that room was the best decision he could have made. But fighting Nino only reminded him of how strong his warriors really were, and Marinette had no way to leave the room if the horde had somehow found her and charged their way into the room to capture her.
He tried to reassure himself that she was safe and sound and that if she was captured, Ares didn’t want to hurt her. He called her a goddess and she was to remain untouched. He hoped he kept his word on that, and if not, he needed to keep himself safe to protect her.
But the slight fear that if he was maimed before Ladybug could capture the akuma started to feel more and more plausible, and he worried that if that happened, she might not have the help she needed to defeat the god.
He wasn’t the type of akuma from the early days of fighting and it was becoming the biggest cause of concern the heroes had to face. Hawkmoth may not be striking daily, but when he did strike, the villains were stronger and more vicious. It had even gotten to the point that both Ladybug and Chat Noir had worried that one day they would be defeated because of it.
Chat let out a strangled groan and tried to not let that thought fog his mind. He looked up at the platform of the tower and hoped that Ladybug had heard his cry for help, then turned his eyes towards the sky to keep her hideaway a secret a little bit longer. He always trusted her and knew that she would always be there at the perfect moment to step in.
Vibrations started to rattle the ground, and that fear of Marinette being captured came back. He tried to turn his head to see the warriors coming back from where they came from, but the tip of the blade poked into his neck, stalling him from moving any further.
Ladybug grew in anger as she watched her partner become trapped under the warrior’s foot and blade. She knew he didn’t have much time until Ares gave orders to remove the ring, so she knew it was time to call upon her charm.
“Lucky Charm!”
Falling from the sky was a red and black spotted blanket and Ladybug looked at it with wonder and confusion.
“A blanket?” She questioned before the loud rumblings took over her senses.
Ladybug looked up as she heard the horde charge closer and squinted to see who was captured. She let out a sigh of relief when Lila could be seen being carried like a hog tied for a roast. She then turned her attention to the area around her to see how she could use her lucky charm while ensuring both Chat’s safety along with Lila’s.
She glanced back to Chat and noticed that the altercation hadn’t changed and glared at the lucky charm once more before trying to find the best way to use it. When her plan of action formed in her mind, she unwound her yo-yo and whipped it towards a streetlamp near the group below, and made a running leap towards the ground.
She focused her entry to the target in mind, planting her feet like an arrow in front of her as she picked up speed in the downward trajectory towards him.
In one fell swoop, she whipped the end of the blanket around the warrior as she drop-kicked Ares in the chest. Both Nino and Ares collided into each other and catapulted back into Alya, bringing the three warriors into a heaping pile of limbs and bodies onto the ground.
Chat took his window of opportunity and quickly whipped up from his position onto his two feet, standing and ready to fight. Ladybug barrel rolled across the ground and swiftly landed into a crouch, hoping that her plan caused Ares to drop his weapon and it was somewhat unreachable.
Both Ladybug and Chat looked around to find the weapon; the increasing sounds of the horde coming around the bend. Ares recovered quickly and held out his hands, summoning the spear and the shield to him in a silent call.
“Shit.” Chat muttered, looking around him to see what he should do next.
Ladybug was now determined to defeat the villain as quickly as possible as her earrings beeped down to four spots.
“Chat! Get ready.”
Chat nodded his head in understanding as he called upon his cataclysm and darted around him like a cat chasing a mouse. Ladybug watched as Ares became distracted over Chat’s odd choice in combat and she knew she had him right where she needed him to be.
If anyone knew history, then they would know that Ares biggest weakness was always fighting without consequences, and in this case, he wasn’t thinking about what would happen next.
Ladybug whipped out her yo-yo to capture one of the warrior’s legs. She tugged the string back as hard and as quickly as she could, sweeping the warrior off his feet and whipping him towards Ares once again.
This time, the warrior struck Ares in the back, colliding the two into another pile of limbs. The spear dislodged itself from Ares’ grasp and flew into Chat’s direction. He lunged up and grabbed it with his destructive power, breaking the object into a pile of ash.
Ladybug gathered her yo-yo and swiped it open, capturing the akuma and purifying it into a white butterfly. The horde finally arrived with Lila in tow, and Ladybug couldn’t help but let out a tiny giggle at how she currently looked.
Ladybug cleared her throat when Lila glared daggers into her soul, and Chat gladly picked up the lucky charm and handed it to her. She gathered the blanket into her fist and tossed it into the sky, screaming out the Miraculous Ladybug call and cleansing the city back into normalcy.
Ares screamed out in anger as his form fell, leaving Jordan in his place.
Chat stared at the alpha with anger seeping under his skin. He wanted to lunge at the boy, ensuring he knew who Marinette belonged to, but the sudden hand on his shoulder made him realize Marinette was not a toy to be mishandled. Yes, he considered Marinette a goddess to him, but only if she allowed him to be her alpha.
“Chat.” Ladybug smiled as she gently squeezed his shoulder. “I’m down to two spots. Can you help him?”
Chat looked back at the alpha and nodded his head. “Of course. I’ll take care of it. Patrol tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow.”
He watched as Ladybug catapulted away then finally turned to walk over to the alpha.
“You alright?”
Jordan looked up at Chat Noir then turned to the side and away from him. “No, but its whatever.”
“Well, whatever it was, it was serious enough to attach itself to your knife.” Chat picked up the knife and handed it back to him, the telltale beeps reminding him he only had so much time until his transformation fell. “What do you have against Lila and Adrien? Is it something that I can help with?”
“No.” Jordan answered quickly, snatching the knife from the superhero’s hand. “Thanks, but I got to go.”
“Do you want a lift back to where you need to go?”
“No.”
Chat looked at him incredulously. “Well, if you’re sure... I’ll be off then.” With a two-finger salute, Chat vaulted his way back to the school, leaving Jordan to walk back to the building by himself.
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The Fears of a Goddess Pt 3
Part 3 of my Dark! Ianite fic
Part 1
Part 2
Part 4
(Note, slight tw: self-harm (Blood Magic) and body horror (Taint Abomination related) (just a smidge of both))
Enjoy and as always
Find me on Ao3:
Selenejessabelle12626 for the tame stuff
Lady-Spieroles for the less tame stuff ;)
~
Potions of healing were objectively the worst tasting potions in Jordan’s experience. Potions already did not taste great, no matter what their effects were. But something about the combination of nether wart and glistering melon was just absolutely awful. Not to mention the chalkey texture that glowstone and redstone dust added to stronger or longer lasting potions. It’s why he preferred splash potions despite their slight weakness, he didn’t have to taste them that way. He tipped the potion back anyway, doing his best to ignore the flavor.
He felt better immediately, it was a strong potion, stronger than he was probably capable of brewing. Usually even instant health potions left you with a lingering ache from your injury. But this didn’t even leave him with that, the perks of getting it from a Goddess he supposed. His vision cleared entirely to the view of Ianite looking down at him with worry in her eyes. “I’m fine.” He promised, answering her silent question.
“That didn’t go well.” He sighed sitting down on a nearby hill. He needed a moment to calm and collect his thoughts.
“It could have gone worse.” She said, sitting next to him. “But we can’t rest long unfortunately. I can sense my brothers searching for me, they’ve entered the End.” Jordan stood with some reluctance but stood nonetheless, nodding his agreement.
She teleported them away, then again and again before he even got a chance to get his bearings at each stop. It made him somewhat nauseous but he said nothing, holding her hand until she let go of his. When she finally did, it was after half a dozen teleportation jumps, enough to give him mental whiplash.
“My apologies.” She said with a wry smile, seeing the way he had to ground himself when they stopped. “I was attempting to create a false trail in the event that my brothers tried to follow, but I forgot that such jumps were taxing on mortals.”
“I just need a moment, I’ll be fine.” He claimed in between deep breaths. When his head had stopped spinning he opened his eyes, widening them at what he saw.
It was an enormous temple facade made of carved obsidian built into the side of a mountain. Instead of grass and stone, the mountainside was covered in the sickly lavender gray of mycelium while cracked stone bricks spread out from the facade in an uneven pattern, as if the temple had originally been made of stone but had warped to what it was now. Ianite was halfway to it already, either unaware or uncaring of the foreboding sensation that radiated through the air.
Jordan was suddenly reminded of the end of Ruxomar and the battle with its World Historian. That had been the hardest battle he’d ever fought and that was with the support of all of the others including Waglington and Martha and Mot, all of them wielding weapons far stronger than what was even possible in this world. All he could hope was that in this world, if it came to a fight, World Historian was as limited as he was. He drew his bow and jogged to catch up with Ianite.
She didn’t turn to look at him as she began to climb the steps leading to the temple but he fell into step beside her anyway. This was the moment she’d been waiting for her whole life, the moment that would change her fate. The feeling of foreboding only increased as they got closer to the temple entrance, the setting of the sun behind them certainly didn’t help matters. The fading light caused the obsidian to reflect and shimmer with a subtle purple hue, and now, closer, Jordan could see the material had been carved to resemble bricks. Unless, instead, the obsidian had taken over what had once been a temple of stone brick at the will of some unseen force, covering over the stone.
The doorway was recessed several meters within and as they entered darkness fell ominously. There were no torches or lanterns to light the way at first but before he could take one out, Ianite raised a hand illuminated with magic, casting an eerie purple glow all around them. Where there would be a doorway was blocked off by what almost appeared to be carved bedrock. Ianite waved her hand but nothing happened. She paused, repeated the motion again to no avail.
Jordan stepped back to look around further, lighting a torch of his own despite the glow of her magic. That was when he noticed the floor was carved with oddly familiar symbols.
“What is this Tucker?”
“Oh it’s just my Blood Altar. Got some different runes, sacrifice, augmented capacity and all that fun stuff.”
“Blood Altar?”
“Yeah, you do tech, I do Blood Magic.”
“These are Blood Magic runes.” Jordan said, aiming his torch to see them closer.
“Blood Magic? I’ve never heard of such a thing.” Ianite commented, turning away to see what he was talking about.
“It was a school of magic in Ruxomar, you gave blood in return for magical abilities. It wasn’t my focus, but I dabbled in it for a short time because some of the spells were beneficial. If I remember, these are runes of self-sacrifice.” There was a slight expression of surprise on her face when he explained. He’d reacted similarly when he’d first looked into it. It was borderline dark magic due to its source but the benefits had outweighed the risks then and apparently the knowledge was paying off now.
“Self-Sacrifice? As in…?”
“Your own blood, not that of an animal or monster.”
“Gods do not bleed though.” Her brows had furrowed in confusion.
“But mortals do. The prophecy said you would need a mortal hero to help you reach your full potential, this was possibly a reason why.” They’d not yet figured exactly why his help had been necessary, until this point she could have done everything else on her own, he’d just helped expedite the research. But this was clearly something only he could help with. He drew a standard arrow from his quiver, rolling it between his fingers.
Ianite was frowning but said nothing as he used the arrowhead to slice a neat cut on his palm. The blood that welled up evaporated painlessly into strange red smoke. Moments later the sound of grinding echoed throughout the temple entryway, the bedrock parting. Both of them looked to it and then back to each other.
Now that the doors were open, the foreboding feeling had increased tenfold, enough to make Jordan feel somewhat sick to his stomach. Ianite however, seemed unaffected. They entered the temple, though the moment he stepped over the threshold he nearly stumbled from the wave of nausea that overtook him.
“Sparklez?”
“I’m fine.” He assured, blinking away the way his vision suddenly swam.
She narrowed her eyes, peering at him suspiciously. “It’s the temple. Mortals were not meant to tread these halls.” She concluded, putting her hand on his shoulder and turning him back towards the entrance. “Wait for me outside.”
“But My Lady, what if”
“That’s an order. You will wait for me outside.” There was a pressure on his mind, a powerful divine feeling. It was familiar enough that he knew she was the culprit but he wasn’t sure exactly what it was that she was doing. With a hefty sigh he nodded, relenting.
“Good. Stand watch. Let no one enter. Can you do that?” He was sure she didn’t mean to sound condescending, she was obviously just worried.
“Yes milady.” She squeezed his shoulder but said not another word, reassuring or otherwise.
The sun had disappeared on the horizon when he exited the temple, the sky barely held any color now, just the faintest hint of orange. Behind him the temple seemed somehow more haunting, the scant light casting intimidating shadows. He’d be mostly useless once the sun set, there was no full moon tonight to give off any sort of illumination. So despite knowing it would make his location obvious, Jordan lit a lantern and fastened it to his belt opposite his sword sheath. Ianite was right, it was not a question of if someone was coming, it was when and who? She’d said that Mianite and Dianite had been tracking her and that had been before she and Jordan had entered the temple, in all likelihood, it would be the Gods who would arrive. That was the more worrying option. Jordan, while a skilled fighter, was no match for one God, let alone two. He almost rather they send Tom or Karl, because at least he’d have a chance. But then, he did have a chance didn’t he?
Jordan glanced back at his quiver, the tainted arrow sat next to a small bundle of poisoned arrows, hardly looking dangerous at all aside from the strange and venomous color. It wouldn’t kill a God but it would cripple them. But could he really bring himself to use it? Could he really be the one to debilitate a God? On the other hand though, could he kill Tom or Karl with it? He’d killed them both in this life and in Tom’s case, the others. But that had been with the knowledge that they would come back no worse for wear. He himself had died dozens of times. If he struck them with this arrow, they would not return. Period, end of story. It was true and actual murder on a level he’d never even considered before this. True Karl would not meet Tucker or Sonja or Wag anyway, but Jordan and Tom hadn’t thought it would be because he was dead for good.
A sound in the distance caught his attention, like the sound of an enderman’s teleport and the crack of a pickaxe on stone. A half second later, he heard it again. Then came the mental pressure once more, though this time it was not Ianite, which could only mean it was one of her brothers. With gritted teeth, Jordan nocked the tainted arrow in his bow but did not yet draw.
He could feel his heartbeat pounding in his ears, unable to do anything but wait till either God stepped into the light. He was suddenly hyper aware of every inhale and exhale, of the sound of the wind whistling past, of the groan and growl of mobs in the surrounding hills.
“Sparklez” Jordan drew back his bowstring in an instant as Mianite’s voice echoed in his ears. He did his best to calm his breath but it was practically useless, his mind and heart were racing in anticipation for a fight.
“Captain, stand down.” Dianite ordered and Jordan was quick to aim towards where the voice had come from. There was a power to both of their tones that he’d never heard before, an otherworldly aspect that some part of him knew marked them as higher beings despite never having been told.
“We do not wish to bring you harm.” Mianite added and once more Jordan shifted his aim. He’d yet to see either God, both speaking to him from the darkness outside his lanterns range.
“You’re involved with something far beyond you boyo” The use of the nickname from Dianite dragged forth memories of Dianite in Ruxomar, the merchant God who’d been wrongly murdered. He’d been a victim in that world, as Ianite would be in this one. Had Tom not told him of Ruxomar and what had happened there? And Mianite, how could he possibly become the gentle and good hearted God that Tucker would worship when he was willing to let his own Sister wither away in a prison cell?
“I don’t think I am. I think I am exactly where I am supposed to be.” Jordan fired back, finally finding his voice. He sounded so much smaller than them, so weak compared to them, so very, mortal. “You’re both just scared of a future where Ianite is the strongest of you three!”
It was Dianite who stepped into the light first, hands raised placatingly. Jordan turned to him anyway, amethyst arrowhead glinting dangerously in the flickering lantern light. “You don’t understand what’s happening here Captain. This is not what our Mother intended. This place was not meant for any of us to find.” Mianite stepped out of the darkness a half step behind his brother, his hands, while not raised, were still in a position meant to convey a lack of weapons.
“I don’t care. The prophecy doesn’t matter. All that matters is that I keep her safe and out of both of your hands.”
“Sparklez,” Mianite spoke once more. “The strength that Ianite may or may not find within that temple will not be the thing that seals nor prevents her fate. There is a force far greater than any of us that has tricked Ianite in the same way it would trick Dianite or myself. You were right, the spell was written by our Father, who you know as World Historian, but unlike you or I or any of the others, he is one being across all dimensions. There is no alternate version of him that does not wish ruin upon all planes of existence.”
“It’s true Captain.” Dianite agreed before Jordan could say anything. “The research you and Ianite did confirms such a thing, you just didn’t want to see it. The Shadows and Darkness that have been plaguing us all is our Father. His book, the spell Ianite is after, will give her strength beyond comprehension but will corrupt so absolutely that she will no longer be the Goddess any of us know.”
Jordan did not have the words to reply. He didn’t want to believe them. He wanted to believe that this was a ruse to get past his guard and get to Ianite. He wanted to believe that they were the ones who were delusional. But he had been the one to hear Kikoku Botan, the Father of Ianite, Dianite and Mianite, the one who called himself the Shadows and World Historian, in Ruxomar. He’d seen what had happened to the Ianite of that world and what she’d been forced to do. He knew, deep down within him, that World Historian was the true villain in this all and had always been. He knew that the Gods before him were right and that Ianite was making a terrible mistake.
So, as much as it pained him to do so, as large a blow to his honor and sense of loyalty it was, Jordan lowered his bow.
Before either God could take another step, the temple exploded outward in a burst of sinister noxious energy. Jordan was thrown forward to the ground, chunks of stone and obsidian rained down around him, dust filling the air. He coughed as he struggled back to his feet, trying to expel the particles from his lungs. Finally the dust settled enough that he could see what had happened.
At first he did not understand what he was seeing. The temple had been built into a mountain but there was no longer a mountain. Instead a vast inky darkness stretched into the sky, blotting out the stars entirely, though something about the shape was oddly familiar. His lantern was not strong enough to illuminate what the darkness was, but the closer he looked at the shape against the stars, Jordan realized that it was moving. The stretches of darkness wriggled and writhed like massive tentacles of some ancient beast, and that was the moment when it clicked in his head.
“Ianite?” Her name was little more than a whispered plea on his lips as he fell to his knees with his eyes wide in fear. Because in the temples place, was the immense and terrifying form of the Taint Abomination.
~
Ianite could see the discomfort on her Champion’s face the moment they entered the temple. She’d wondered if there might be some sort of safeguard against mortals, such a thing was certainly not outside the realm of possibility. But still he pressed on, keeping in step with her as they went further, voicing no complaint no matter how ill at ease he may feel. Loyalty to her goal over his own safety, he really was admirable in his devotion. She would allow him to remain on this path with her until his condition became an impediment, then she’d send him to stand guard and perhaps delay her brothers.
The usage of another world’s magic, one that was arguably dark magic, was somewhat surprising. Not as surprising as the fact that her Captain had experience with it, enough to be able to recognize the runes on sight and know exactly how to utilize them. He hardly hesitated once he realized what needed to be done. She didn’t question him, watching silently as he activated the runes. The door grinding open was proof enough that he’d not been mistaken. Unfortunately, that was the last time he would be a greater help than hindrance. The ill pallor of his skin had only deepened, his eyes unfocused as he tried to fight off whatever infliction had fallen over him. It was when he stumbled on the threshold that she made the decision.
She was not surprised when he argued to stay beside her. There was a chance that something further might require his assistance or his knowledge, but how likely could that be considering how badly he was reacting? So she risked a mental suggestion, exerting a slight pressure to push him to agree. It wasn’t something she did often, particularly with him, but right now, she needed him to actually listen. He agreed, reluctantly, but agreed, turning back towards the entryway of the temple and leaving her alone in the darkness.
It was much quieter without him here. She’d gotten used to all the soft, mortal sounds he made after all the time they’d spent together in the last weeks. She was used to hearing a second set of footsteps, the soft clanking of his armor, the whisper of arrow fletchings brushing against one another in a quiver. She suddenly felt very alone. But it was that loneliness that drove her to take a step forward, then another and another. If she turned back now she would face a millenia alone.
The temple interior was filled with towering columns of obsidian, tall enough that she could not see the ceiling they held up. She cast out her magic to attempt to illuminate the space further but there was something about this darkness that seemed to swallow the light whole. She should have asked Sparklez for a torch or lantern so that she could conserve her magic, but seeing the way these shadows behaved she wasn’t sure it would have had any effect.
“My Daughterrrrr” a voice hissed from the gloom “you have returnnnned.”
The light of her magic deepened in hue, a more offensive intent coming forth instinctively. “Yesssss, you have grown strongerrrrrr”
“End this game Father.” She ordered, she would not back down from this attempt at intimidation, not after she had come this far. The answer she received was a grating noise, like a crude and twisted imitation of a laugh.
“You are stronger indeeeed. Verrryyy wellll.” The darkness parted, revealing an altar and beyond it, a room. He did not leave her as she ventured ever deeper, whispering praises in that strange cadence and tone. She didn’t know if the reason behind this change was time or the fact that this was not a vision. He’d spoken normally in that long ago vision and appeared normally enough, at least he’d had a form instead of now where he was a shapeless darkness.
She did not reply to his honeyed words, keeping her focus on the room past the altar. The altar itself was a sickly color, like decaying plant matter, with stains that reminded her too closely of the rich color that had come from her Champions hand. The thought of lives lost on this altar made her stomach roil, especially that of her own Champion.
“You were right to send him awayyyyyy.” The Shadow spoke in one ear. “I might have been inclineedddd to askkkkk for a sacraficeeeeee.” He said in the other.
“You have done him enough harm!” She snapped, turning towards the voice in an instant. She’d not told the Captain in fear of him turning against her, but she knew that this creature, her father, the ‘World Historian’ was the same entity that her Champion had faced in that other world. It was no alternate or variation, it was the same being that had killed her in that world along with Dianite. Sparklez would never have agreed to follow her here, let alone leave her if he knew she was facing that once more.
The temple echoed with the aberrant laughter. “Soooo protectiveee. Are you frightened for himmm, my daughterrrr? Frighteneddd forrr what your brothersssss will do to himmmm? Youuuu shoulddd be more afraid of what youuuuuu will do to himmmmm.”
“Enough!” She snarled only to realize the voice had fallen silent.
She’d reached the room beyond the altar, eyes falling upon the crumbling desk. His voice had left her, as had all other sounds once again. The book she’d seen so long ago sat innocently on the center of the desk, dust free despite the thick layer that caked the rest of the ancient looking wood. The stump remains of a candle sat beneath the wax melter on one corner of the desk, while on the other corner was a pot of ink, long dried and quill lacking all its feather. The entire sign was a picture of decrepit age, except for the book itself.
Slowly, Ianite stepped forward, her heart beating heavily in her chest. Her focus was on nothing but the book. Not the eerie temple behind her nor the touch of her brothers in the periphery of her mind. Only this. All these years of waiting and biding her time. All these weeks upon months of research. The lies and manipulations she’d spun. All of it was coming to fruition now. Everything she had worked for had finally been rewarded.
A surge of power filled her when she picked it up, the strength of the very void itself pouring through her veins. Yes. This was the final moment. She’d won. She would not let the prophecy come to be. She would not see the inside of that gilded crystal prison. She would be free.
The seal melted away at her touch, sizzling and bubbling into liquid. Each droplet that fell seared acidically through the floor and into the earth below but the book remained unharmed. When she opened the book, it was directly to the page with the spell written upon it. She recognized the script from the vision, the curling, almost decorative way the letters spilled across the page.
Steeling herself, Ianite began to read it out loud, reciting the ancient spell in the tongue of the Gods. With each word she felt her strength grow, further and further, stronger and stronger. She would be unstoppable. She would be invincible. No being, God or Mortal would be capable of imprisoning her now. As the last word spilled from her lips, Ianite felt the truest most pure sense of elation. Then the pain began.
She screamed. Tears ran down her cheeks and she fell to her knees, body crumpling under the agony sparking through her. She could do nothing but scream. Knew nothing but pain. All the strength had warped into grotesque torment. The last thing she saw before her awareness left her was her very flesh bubbling away in toxic violet smoke.
#miante#Mianite fanfiction#ianite#dark!Ianite#Captain Sparklez#dianite#mianitian isles#shadows#references to s2#tw: self harm#tw: body horror#Slight for both#my writing#words words words
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