#not to mention ‘she devil’. only once yet a pretty powerful impression | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

petertingle-yipyip · 3 years ago

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SIN MIEDO - BUCKY BARNES (THREE)

EPISODE THREE : POWER BROKER

series tags: @calums-betch // SM masterlist // another madripoor gif bc i loved those scenes

Pairing: Stark!Reader x Bucky Barnes (platonic/flirty)

Word Count: 9,209

Summary: Leaving John Walker in the dust, Y/N had to follow Barnes to a shifty contact. That leads them to Madripoor and an unexpected, and suspicious, ally. Juggling her grief, her control, her own doubts, the pressure of Walker on their tail, and a school girl crush, can she handle the fight?

The next day, the three of you found yourselves in Berlin. You weren’t surprised how easy it was to get through security. Flashing a smile and an ID with Stark on it opened pretty much any door. Surely it had nothing to do with Sam working with the Air Force again.

“Last time I was in Germany, we weren’t on the same side.” You commented nostalgically as you three followed the security guard. “How the tables have turned.”

“I’m gonna go in alone.” Barnes said as you all approached the last corridor.

“Not a chance.” You laughed as Sam said “Why?”

“You’re Avengers..” Barnes reasoned. “You know how he feels about that.”

“It’s not like you two were known for frolicking in the sun together.” Sam mocked.

“He was obsessed with HYDRA. We have a history. Trust me, I got it.” Barnes assured before turning to leave. When Sam didn’t stop him, you did.

Quickly you reached out and grabbed his wrist. You made no effort to pull him back and he didn’t exactly pull away from you. He looked back at you with a stern expression, that he wasn’t going to cave.

“You’re not going alone, Barnes.” You said seriously, tightening your grip on his wrist slightly.

“Y/N-“ He tried.

“No.” You cut in. “I don’t care. I can do this all day.” You offered with a slight smirk.

He chewed the inside of his cheek for a moment before caving. He nodded slightly, his expression betraying that he was slightly impressed. “Fine. Hurry up.” He said, nodding for you to follow.

“Yessir, Sergeant Barnes.” You chuckled as you followed behind Barnes. The comment earned you an eye roll and a scoff, but nothing was said.

“You sure you want to do this?” You checked as you two waited for security to let you in. “I can handle it on my own..”

“I can do it.” He nodded as you approached the cell.

“I’m sure you can.” You shrugged casually. “It was more about if you wanted to.”

You stayed a couple steps behind Barnes, using the shadows to stay mostly out of sight. You didn’t want to talk to Zemo, let alone be in the room. But part of you wanted to make sure that nothing happened. You didn’t know if you could stop Barnes if Zemo triggered the Winter Soldier, but you probably had the best shot.

You watched Barnes’ body language carefully. From your angle, you could see the look on his face. The tension of his shoulders. The hand you could see was in a tight fist. There was a certain fear in his eyes, in the way his jaw clenched. You could tell that a part of him, even if it was a small part, was scared that Zemo would send him back to the Winter Soldier.

Zemo tried the trigger words but earned no reaction from Barnes. You let out a breath of relief and saw Barnes’ shoulders relax as that tension left him. You didn’t doubt that Barnes had control, that his time in Wakanda was enough to rid his mind of HYDRA’s influence, but you also knew Zemo was crafty. You didn’t trust that he didn’t have a couple tricks up his sleeve. But then again… So did you.

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.” Zemo said, catching your attention. “It was never personal.”

“Seemed kinda personal.” You muttered to yourself. You were anxious, shifting your weight between your feet. You wondered what Sam was feeling back in the hallway but you couldn’t go back. The tension in your body was begging for a release, seemingly burning it’s way through your skin. There was a crackle of electricity between your fingers, a skill you hardly had a grip on. You only figured out how to use it in quick bursts or it would build itself up in moments of high tension.

“You brought a friend?” Zemo questioned, his eyes turning to you. You sunk deeper into the shadows.

“Someone recreated the super soldier serum.” Barnes said to redirect his attention. There was more control in his tone and it settled something anxious in the pit of your stomach. “I need to find out who.”

“You’re assuming HYDRA has something to do with this.” Zemo said simply, studying Barnes as he spoke. The expression Zemo held, the way he was looking at Barnes like an experiment, tempted you to reveal yourself. Something about it made your skin crawl, but you knew you had to refrain. You needed the info. “Which is why you came to me, which means you’re desperate…” A smug tone laced his voice and made you want to gag. “Lucky for you, and your friend in the shadows, I know where to begin.”

“And in exchange?” You finally spoke, stepping into the small sliver of light and taking your place beside Barnes. “What’s it going to take?”

His sly smile made you instantly regret the question.

Without explaining anything to Sam, you and Barnes led him to a series of tunnels underground. You opted to remain silent through the endeavor, knowing you wouldn’t be able to explain it right. While Sam pestered Barnes about the plan, you were busy finding the best route.

You kept one hand against the concrete wall, tapping your fingers to feel the vibrations. The tunnels were empty save for you three. They lead to a basement where you stopped for Barnes to walk Sam through a “hypothetical”.

“Please tell me this is an actual hypothetical.” Sam looked to you. In the meantime, you were toying with balls of air in your palm. You were balancing on them in a handstand.

“Yeah.” You lied. “It’s a hypothetical.”

Barnes continued to explain everything while you purposefully distracted yourself. You weren’t a huge fan of this plan, but Barnes had a point. Zemo offered a starting point. Walker had nothing. You guys had nothing. Though you’d never admit it, you needed Zemo.

“Speak of the devil.” You commented when you felt his footsteps approaching. You landed back on your feet as Zemo entered the room.

“You’re going back to prison.” Sam insisted.

“If I may-“ Zemo tried.

“No!” Sam and Barnes yelled simultaneously.

“Sorry.” You said with a shrug, bringing your forearms up and slamming them together. The movement called walls of earth to rise and trap Zemo in a thick rock casing. “It’s nothing personal.”

“When Steve refused to sign the Accords, you backed him.” Barnes countered.

“You broke the law and stuck your neck out for him.” You added.

“I distinctly remember you-“ Sam pointed to you. “-were on the other side.”

“My name’s not anywhere on that document.” You corrected. “I was a minor. Wouldn’t have been legally binding.”

“I’m asking you to do it again.” Barnes tried.

“I really think I’m invaluable-“ Zemo began again.

“Shut up!” You groaned, lifting the rock to meet his chin. “I will go all the way up.” You threatened before turning your attention back to the boys. “I’m with Barnes. I know it’s crazy but it’s the best shot we got. And we gotta move fast cause Walker is working on this too.”

“Okay.” Sam agreed finally. You dropped the rock prison and looked to the boys. “You don’t make a move without our permission.”

“Fair.” Zemo nodded.

“Otherwise, you deal with me.” You said simply. His eyebrows raised in interest, a slight challenge glinting in his eyes. You lifted your hand in front of your face, palm to the side. As you lowered your hand, you angled it so your fingertips pointed at Zemo. You saw his muscles tighten as he struggled but gave in to your control and went down to his knees.

“Dad once said the best weapon was the weapon you only had to fire once.” You said as if you were contemplating the words. “Let’s hope he was right.” You released Zemo before Sam spoke up.

“So where do we start?” He asked.

While Zemo was collecting his things from one of the cars, he explained where to start. He mentioned a woman named Selby as a starting point.

“This whole time you were rich?” Sam asked wildly as you approached a private jet.

“I’m a Baron, Sam.” Zemo answered in a matter of fact tone. “My family was royalty until you destroyed my country.”

“Eh.” You shrugged. “The Stark jet is nicer.”

You sat across from Barnes while Sam sat across from Zemo. You weren’t too interested in conversation. You didn’t know where you were going, nor did you really care. The sudden movement of Barnes made you snap to attention.

“If you touch that again, I’ll kill you.” Barnes threatened lowly with a hand at Zemo’s throat.

“At ease, soldier.” You reached over to tug on Barnes’ jacket. After a moment’s hesitation, he came and sat back down.

“I understand that list of names. People you’ve wronged as the Winter Soldier.” Zemo said with a solemn nod. He gestured between you and Barnes. “What I don’t understand is the relationship here. Are you two… involved?”

“Don’t push it.” Barnes muttered angrily as you simply rolled your eyes.

Sam talked about the book, that it used to be Steve’s. He bragged about how he suggested something for Steve to write in it. You remembered you had suggested some things for him to look into too, your favorite had been all the horror movies you got him to add.

Sam and Barnes then bickered about the Troubleman soundtrack, to which Zemo chimed in. You groaned slightly, throwing your head back and staring at the ceiling. The conversation quickly shifted to Steve and super soldiers, mildly peaking your interest.

“Cities fly. Innocent people die.” Zemo carried on.

“You forget who you’re talking to.” You laughed in disbelief.

“Pardon?”

“You’re talking about Sokovia… I was there. And my dad nearly died - yet again - trying to save the world… Trying to fix his mistake but no one cared about that part, right?.”

“Only nearly..” He agreed. “I think it’s fair to say the Avengers, none of you were really innocent.”

“And he actually did die to bring back half the universe so excuse me if I don’t share your bitterness.”

“It seems that you do, Y/N.” He analyzed, watching the response your eyes gave away.

“Shut it.” You rolled your eyes.

Conversation quickly shifted to Madripoor. Zemo and Barnes explained what it’s like, what it was. It sounded like a place out of a book, but given that your career was fighting A.I. powered robots and a giant genocidal purple lunatic, nothing was surprising anymore.

“James, you will have to become someone you claim is gone.” Zemo told Barnes.

A solemn expression came over Barnes. You couldn’t tell if it was regret, remorse, or something else. You leaned forward, resting elbows on your knees. You nodded to motion Barnes to come closer. He leaned forward in the same way.

“You sure you’re okay with this?” You asked quietly. “We can find another way, or we can do this witho-“

“I’m not sitting out.” He cut in. “I’ll be fine. Why do you keep trying to sideline me?”

“You won’t be alone.” You offered genuinely. “Sam and I got your back.”

Later that night, you walked the bridge that led to Madripoor.

“So who am I supposed to be, exactly?” You asked after Zemo had explained Sam’s character for the night.

“Rosalinda Calvillo Del Santos.” He said, showing you a picture of the girl. “Heiress to a huge cartel ring out of Mexico City.”

“Woah, she’s hot.” You nodded, slightly impressed. “And this dress… Seems like it perfectly matches her style.”

You motioned to the dress you wore. It was a tight, short black silk dress with a 4 inch slit up the right side that showed off your body beautifully. The chest of the dress hung perfectly to keep you covered but still catch attention. The straps were silver jewels in a halter style while additional pieces of thin black silk stretched across your back in a criss cross pattern.

“She's also a bit sadistic.” Zemo added nonchalantly. “But I’m sure you’ll play that just fine.”

“Fun.” You nodded.

“She kinda does look like you.” Sam commented as he leaned over to see the picture while he adjusted the cuffs of his jacket.

“She can’t be that hot then.” Bucky said sarcastically.

“Oh shut up.” You laughed as you pushed Barnes slightly. “You’re just used to girls in the 40’s and the whole modest look, huh?”

“Yeah yeah.” He rolled his eyes. “You ever gonna retire the old man jokes?”

“Maybe, but you have to admit how good I look.” You countered.

“Not a chance, little lady.” He smiled and shot a wink your way as he opened the car door for you.

“Well, Sergeant Barnes, what a gentleman.” You said sarcastically, holding a hand to your chest. “I’m so flattered.” You patted his chest as you sat down, scooting to sit in the middle.

The car ride was quick, although the motorcycles that surrounded your vehicle put you on edge a bit. The cold feeling of Barnes’ vibranium arm pressing against your own arm was the only thing that managed to keep you from burning through the car.

“The bracelet needs to come off.” Zemo pointed out on your walk to the bar.

“Excuse me?” You answered quickly, your opposite hand moving quickly to defend the metal cuff.

“Rosalinda only wears gold. She’s never been seen with anything else.”

“But this bracelet is-“

“Hideous” Zemo cut in.

“No! It’s from my dad, jackass!” You argued and stopped your steps.

“Here, let me have it.” Barnes held his hand out, to which you simply took a step away from him. “Y/N, come on.”

“No, I- I can’t take it off.”

Barnes sighed slightly before sliding two fingers under the collar of his shirt to pull a small chain out. He reached behind his neck to unclasp it before offering it to you. “Put your bracelet on here. Nothing’s going to happen to it.” Barnes explained.

“What are…” You asked softly as you reached for the chain. Your fingers grazed the small metal shapes dangling at the end, turning them so you could read the inscriptions. “James Buchanan Barnes..” You read silently. “These are your tags.. Barnes, I can’t ask you to-“

“You’re not asking. I’m offering.”

“Y/N..” Sam tried gently. “It won’t be that long, I promise.”

“Okay, fine.” You agreed reluctantly. You handed Barnes back his chain before reaching for your cuff. You put two fingers together above the metal cuff, focusing on separating it enough to slide your wrist out. Your eyes lingered on the band of lighter skin that was hidden by the cuff, proving to everyone around you that you never took it off. Once you freed your wrist, the cuff circled the fingers you used to open it. You glided it to hook over Barnes’ chain, connecting your fingers again to reconnect the metal. “Please don’t lose it.. It means everything to me.”

“Trust me.” He nodded as he reclasped his chain around his neck. He tucked the tags and your bracelet under his shirt and patted it lightly. You smiled gently in thanks before turning back to the door.

“Good. Now, escort her in.” Zemo instructed Bucky. Barnes held out an arm for you to take so you looped yours through his, making Zemo click his tongue at you. “Other side.”

“What difference does it make?” You asked in annoyance.

“The Del Santos family -especially Rosalinda- loves to show power.” He explained. “Having the Winter Soldier makes you powerful, but being on that side-“ He pointed to Barnes’ metal arm. “-shows it off… They also know how to barter for that power, if you know what I mean.” He gave you a pointed look and nodded towards Barnes, assuming you would understand what he meant. You hoped it wouldn’t come to that, but you understood.

“So treat him like a trophy?” You replied with a raised brow as you stepped around to switch sides. “Easy enough.”

“Oh god.” Barnes mumbled under his breath. “Don’t abuse this.”

“I think you’ll like being shown off a little.” You smirked slightly, keeping your head high as you followed Barnes’ lead into the building. “I’ll try not to go too far.”

Like flipping a switch, you fell into character once you stepped into the crowd and instantly made a statement.

“Listo para cumplir, Soldado de Invierno?” You said simply, keeping your head high and shoulders back as you followed Barnes through the crowd.

You heard the whispers, asking if that was really the Winter Soldier. You had to admit, it gave you a feeling of pride in your chest to see everyone look at you in awe. The respect in their eyes when they met yours was interesting. It was different from the respect you got as Y/N Stark. There was an underlying tone of fear in the looks as well.

Your small group stayed at the bar, Barnes kept his head on a swivel while you leaned your elbows on the bar top behind you. You lazily turned your head to check on Sam but saw the bartender slicing open a snake.

“Al menos no tengo que hacer nada que… asqueroso.” You said to Barnes before chuckling. He made a small sound of agreement, the tiniest hint of a smile toying with his features. “Vamos. Diviértete, soldado.”

“Mi misión es protegerte.” He replied in a flat, monotonous voice.

“Ay, díos.” You groaned, turning to face the bartender. “Señor? Bourbon, neat. Please.”

“Since when do you drink, Santos?” He nodded in amusement as he poured your drink.

“Well, it’s been a rough week.” You sighed, lifting the glass in thanks. “Put it on my friend’s tab.” You winked at Zemo before turning back to look at the busy crowd.

“You lot aren’t welcome here.” A bald man came up to Zemo.

“We have no business with the Power Broker.” Zemo started. “But if he insists…”

“He can come and talk to me.” You cut in, resting a hand on Barnes’ shoulder and sipping your drink. “Or bring Selby for a chat.” You shrugged.

“What do you know about the Power Broker?” Sam asked when the man was out of earshot.

“Here he is judge, jury, and executioner.” Zemo said quickly.

“We’ve got company.” You said into your drink. You set the cup down and cleared your throat. “Soldado de Invierno, hora de ir a trabajar.”

The man reached a hand for your shoulder but was instantly snatched by Barnes. You had to give it to him. He was a very convincing actor. It seemed easy for him to slip back into that person, to become the Winter Soldier. You knew it wasn’t really him, but the violent scene in front of you was hard to deny.

Sam saw it too. He looked to you in concern, hearing the same click of the guns that you did. You easily took the few steps to stand between him and Zemo.

“Don’t worry.” You said simply, maintaining the cocky smirk you wore as Barnes did his work. “He’s got this.. But that’s not what that look is about, is it?” You glanced at Sam and saw the expression on his face. It held concern for Barnes but also the flash of a memory when the Winter Soldier attacked you all after the UN bombing.

“You break character and this whole bar is against us.” You used your glass to cover your lips while you spoke. “I don't like this either but-

Before you finished your sentence, Barnes slammed a man on the bar top by his throat. You instantly slipped back into character to respond.

“Buen trabajo, querido soldado.” You giggled with a pat on his chest. He let the man go as the bartender told you Selby was ready. You swallowed the rest of your drink before putting the cup back on the bar.

“Vamos.” You nodded. Barnes held an arm out for you to take, which you quickly did.

“You okay?” Sam asked Barnes quietly as you followed Zemo to Selby. A sharp nod was the only response Sam got.

You let Zemo talk to Selby since you had no idea who the woman was. You stayed towards the back of the room with Sam and Barnes, your arms still linked. The cold metal against your arm was the only thing that kept you from bursting into flames.

It was easy enough to be Rosalinda. Confident, powerful, demanding respect, beautiful and a little flirty. It mildly shocked you that you could play into her sadism. You didn’t know where you pulled that from. Maybe Nat taught you better than you thought. Outside of that, Rosalinda was close enough to a Stark that you didn’t feel like you were pretending too much. And lucky for you, you learned Spanish as a child. It was the people that knew her that worried you. One wrong mannerism, one wrong saying, and the whole thing was blown.

“What’s the offer?” Selby asked after an attempted flirt with Sam. You caught Zemo’s signal, a silent attempt to tell you it was your turn.

“I suppose it’s more my offer.” You spoke up.

“I didn’t know Calvillos travelled this far.” Selby smiled mischievously.

“Well I heard you like to play hard ball.” You said with a sly smile. “Del Santos can play too. My offer is him. The Winter Soldier, el soldado de invierno.” You offered confidently, walking a small circle around Barnes. “And the words to control him, of course.”

You traced your fingers along his shoulders, across his back and down his metal arm. You felt him tense under your touch, but his demeanor never faltered. “He will do anything you want.” You added, facing Barnes and gently running your hands down his arms. “I’m sorry.” You whispered honestly. Your expression reset to a playful pride as you spun to take your original place beside Barnes and watched for Selby’s reaction.

“This is a fun surprise. I’m glad I didn’t kill you all immediately.” She said happily.

“You have information I want.” You stepped in front of Barnes, blocking him from her line of sight. “You give me everything I need and I give you him.”

She bit her lower lip as she smiled. Her eyes looked Barnes up and down, and it made you want to gag.

“Hello? Are we going to do business or are you going to ogle him all night?” You asked in annoyance as you crossed your arms.

“A bit testy tonight.” She said with an entertained smirk and your pulse jumped. “You were right to come to me.” She said with a nod. “The serum is here, in Madripoor. You’re gonna want to talk to Dr. Wilfred Nagel. Power Broker had him work on it but it didn’t go as planned.”

“Is Nagel still here?”

“Crumbs for free but the bakery will cost you.” She wagged a finger at you. “And before you get cute, you can’t find Nagel with me.”

Before either you or Zemo could offer a rebuttal, Sam’s phone went off. You felt in your bones that it wasn’t going to work out well if he answered that call.

As Sam was on the phone, which Selby made him answer on speaker, she circled you and Barnes. You nodded towards Sam, allowing Barnes to take a few steps away from you.

Before you knew it, your cover was blown and the shot rang out. Selby was dead and the boys easily took down the other two guys in the room.

“This is going to come back to us.” You said as you stood on the other side of the room, as far from her body as you could be.

“Just drop the weapons and follow my lead.” Zemo said, trying to gain control of the situation.

Without other options, you all followed Zemo out and through the streets of Madripoor. Every turn you took, you felt more and more eyes upon you. Phones buzzed every second and you could only assume it was word spreading of Selby’s death.

“I don’t like this.” You muttered.

As soon as the words left your mouth, gun shots sounded. Barnes grabbed your hand and began running with you following close behind. You ducked the shots and grabbed Barnes’ hand a little tighter. You turned to see Sam struggling to keep up.

“I can’t run in these heels!” Sam yelled.

“Try running in stilettos and a mini skirt.” You replied in annoyance.

“You want to stop them?” Barnes tried.

“I can’t really focus right now.” You answered with an eye roll. You were going to stop and try lifting a rock wall behind you or creating a gust to push them back or even try to summon a quick lightning burst.

Shots came from a high window and took out the two men behind you before you tried to fight back. Zemo came out from behind a dumpster and made a stupid comment about a guardian angel.

“What a coward.” You sneered, Barnes holding you back when you made a move to slap the Baron.

“This is too perfect.” A familiar voice came from the shadows. You pulled away from Barnes and called a small flame to your palm. “Drop it, Zemo.”

“Sharon?” Barnes asked.

“You cost me everything.” She ignored you guys. You didn’t let the fire go out.

“Wait, Sharon.” Sam tried. “Someone recreated the super soldier serum. Zemo had a lead.”

“That explains why you guys are here and why Selby’s dead.”

“Why are you here?” You asked carefully.

“I stole Steve’s shield, remember?” She scoffed. “And I took the wings for your ass-“ She pointed her gun at Sam. “-so you could save his ass-“ Her gun pointed to Barnes. “-from his ass.” Her gun landed on Zemo. “I didn’t have the Avengers to back me up so I’m in Madripoor.”

Sam tried reasoning with Sharon but got nowhere.

“We need your help.” You tried and let the flame in your palm die out. “Please. We- We didn’t have any other options…”

With a heavy sigh, Sharon told you all to follow her. You were the first to follow her footsteps. After a second, the other three came behind you. You were questioning the timing of Sharon’s reveal, but overall you were grateful she showed up. Things weren’t looking great up until then.

“Seems like being on the run treated you better than it treated Sam.” You commented as you looked around at Sharon’s place.

“If I was going to be a hustler, I was gonna live like one.” She said, a hint of pride in her tone.

The three boys then talked about the art, and whether it was real or fake. Sam didn’t believe them until a quick google search told him the truth. Sharon made you all change your clothes, pulling out a whole rack of clothes for the boys to look through and letting you sift through her closet.

You decided on a fitted maroon wrap-style dress. It was a soft material, fitting the curves of your body perfectly. The spaghetti straps criss-crossed behind your neck. You kept your same black heels and made your way back to the group and took a seat with Barnes on the couch.

Sam and Sharon talked a bit, ridiculing the idea of heroes. She called it hypocrisy, claiming that’s why Sam gave up the shield.

“Wow.” You teased as you sat. “You clean up nice, Barnes.”

He smiled slightly at you. “Hey, I didn’t know you spoke Spanish.” He said simply.

“Huh?” His statement took you by surprise. It wasn’t the response you expected. “Right. Yeah, I learned it when I was a kid. Dad tried to teach me French but Spanish was more natural cause my mom's side of the family.”

“You look good too, by the way.” He added and gave you a slight nudge. “Cause I know that’s what you wanted to hear.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Your face.” He said simply. “You give away a lot of emotions in your face.”

“I do not!” You insisted quietly with a chuckle, smacking his arm.

“Yes, you do.” He laughed with a nod.

“Wait a second…” You paused, crossing your legs and leaning towards him. “Were you just nice to me?” You teased with a wide smile.

“Don’t push it.” He chuckled.

“Hey... I’m sorry about using you as bait with Selby. I figured that’s what Zemo was hinting at… It didn’t seem like there was any room for me to say no.” You said honesty. The look in his eyes when you dangled him in front of Selby, you could tell it brought back so much of his trauma. That inability to say ‘no’. You truly had felt wrong for doing it. “I shouldn’t have-“

“Y/N.” Barnes said and put a hand on your leg. Your words were cut off instantly. “It’s alright.. It was for the mission.”

“That doesn’t make it right.” You said softly. “You’re not just an asset or a trophy. You’re my friend.”

“How is the new Cap, by the way?” Sharon asked, drawing your attention.

“Don’t even get me started.” Barnes shook his head.

You dropped your head back to look at her over the back of the couch. “He thought he could bail me out of jail and we’d be best friends.”

“He really thought you needed bail money? ” She laughed as she came around to sit with you two. “And you. You were Mr. America before you were his pet psychopath.” She told Barnes. “Cap’s best friend.”

“She’s kind of awful now.” Barnes said to you.

“She was always kinda awful.” You mumbled while Sam refocused everyone.

“You guys shouldn’t be involved in this.” She said, as if she was warning you. “For your own safety.”

“We got a name.” You added, not leaving any room for discussion. Something about the way Sharon talked to you led you to hold suspicions. “Wilfred Nagel.”

“Nagel works for the Power Broker.” She explained.

“I can get your name cleared, Sharon. But we need your help.” Sam tried.

“I don’t buy that.”

“They cleared the bionic staring machine and he killed almost everyone he met.”

“I heard that.” Barnes said, which drew a small laugh from you.

“I don’t trust charity.” Sharon countered.

“Let’s call it a deal then.” Sam offered.

“Fine.” She shook Sam’s hand. “Lay low. Enjoy the party. And stay out of trouble.”

“I do like a good party.” You smiled as you stood. You held a hand out to Barnes, who groaned before pushing himself up.

He held an arm out to you but before you took it, you turned to face him straight on. You casually adjusted his suit jacket before your hands moved across his chest. Your hands went to his neck while he watched your hands carefully. You slid both pointer fingers under the collar of his shirt and he tensed slightly. You pulled his chain out and held it with one hand and used the other to release your bracelet. You fit the metal cuff back to its rightful place on your wrist with a proud smile.

“Didn’t give anything away that time, did I, James?” You said quietly, shooting him a quick wink.

“Shall we?” You asked happily, turning to face Zemo and Sam.

Even though you had a point in being in Madripoor and it definitely wasn’t a party, you were excited for the party. It would be nice to relax, not feel any guilt over your father. Any grief over Nat. Any anger at John Walker. And stress about being an Avenger. You could just be a twenty one year old kid and have fun for the first time in what felt like ever.

You lost the boys in the crowd rather quickly. But it wasn’t a heavy thought in your mind to stay with them. What seemed to bounce around in your brain were your interactions with Barnes through the day. You couldn’t quite figure out if you were flirting with him intentionally or just habitually.

You brushed it off temporarily as your personality. You were a Stark after all. And Starks tend to flirt with anyone… Right?

Regardless, you weaved through the crowd and let yourself enjoy the party for a moment. You enjoyed the music, letting your body sway and spin with the vibrations. It was hard for you to tell where anyone was through the vibrations of the floor with the vibrations from the speakers, but you told yourself that wasn’t your problem. Barnes and Sam would be fine for a little while. You weren’t sure how long you had been dancing when you heard the boy beside you.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you around before.” A boy said from your side.

Turning, you were met by a very beautiful boy. He was a bit taller than you, dark brown curly hair that fell messily across his forehead. You couldn’t tell the color of his eyes, only that they were looking at you with admiration. You couldn’t help but smile at him.

“I’m just passing through.” You answered vaguely. Given your previous escapades through Madripoor, you wanted to be as discreet as you could until you were able to leave.

“You come with anyone?”

“Just a few friends..”

“No boyfriend?”

“A boyfriend?” You repeated with a laugh. “I wouldn’t say that.”

“Girlfriend?” He tried.

“No.” You laughed slightly. “I’ve been out of the dating game for a few years, actually.” You snapped your fingers to show what you meant.

“You’re too pretty to be at a party alone.” He shamelessly flirted.

“Well I’m not alone.” You corrected. “This is actually a friend’s party.”

“Your friends with the Power Broker?”

Before you could voice a response, a hand found your arm. You quickly looked over and saw Barnes at your side, only his eyes weren’t on you. They were on the new guy.

“I thought you didn’t have a boyfriend?” The boy said nervously.

“Come on, Sarge.” You chuckled, noticing the staring and tense shoulders resembled jealousy. But for Barnes, distrust and suspicion was a more likely reaction. “It was nice to meet you.” You told the kid before pushing Barnes to move.

You couldn’t help but wonder… If the party was the Power Broker’s, but Sharon was hosting like it was her party.. Could Sharon be the Power Broker? Or closer involved than she led you to believe at least?

The next morning, you were all walking through an old shipping yard. Sharon was smart enough to grab you a more practical outfit, a skinny fit pair of black pants and a fitted light blue long sleeve and better shoes. You followed Sharon’s lead to crate. While she stayed for lookout, your group of four went in.

You knocked with one hand and felt the vibrations change at the end. You nodded towards the back of the container so Zemo went to take a look and exposed a secret door.

Sam and Barnes went in first, you behind them, and Zemo behind you. The guys tried to get you to take a gun but you adamantly refused, telling them you were a terrible shot and you had weapons of your own. Sam tried talking to Nagel, but he tried to run instead. Instantly, Nagel froze when he saw Barnes.

“You know who he is, right?” You chuckled, something intimidating dancing in your words. It was something you normally didn’t hear in your voice. You usually weren’t the intimidating type but things were different…You were different. “There’s Baron Zemo and me… Well, you’ll see.”

“How about a counter proposal?” Nagel tried. You ignored Sharon’s warnings in your ear. “Make me a better offer and I’ll talk.”

“Your life isn’t enough?” Your brows raised as you challenged him. You nodded slightly before raising your hand. Your fingers lazily pointed straight up as you grabbed hold of Nagel’s blood. “You don’t know what I’m capable of, do you?”

“Maybe she’s the intimidating one.” Zemo said, an odd respect in his voice.

You forced Nagel to his knees while Sam kept his gun pointed at him. “I can manipulate air too… I wonder if I could pull it from your lungs since you refuse to talk.”

“Okay, okay!” Nagel broke and told you the whole story after you released him. You were getting good at your new blood trick, and that mildly worried you but you had to push it to the back of your mind. Parts of his story included Siberia, an American who you could only assume was Isaiah Bradley, the Snap, and the Power Broker.

You caught the name Donya Madani, committing it to memory. If she was someone Karli wanted to help, she was someone that could lead you to her.

“Is there any serum in this lab?” Barnes asked. When Nagel didn’t answer, he pressed the gun to the man’s temple.

“No!” He said quickly. “But would she-“ He gestured to you. “-be incredible with it.”

“Thanks, but that’s a question I don’t need answered.” You crossed your arms and leaned against the wall behind you.

“The pure power you hold..” He continued and let out a devious chuckle. “You’re not at all curious?”

“I’m not the kind of person who deserves it.. Trust me. There’s probably as much blood on my hands as his.” You nodded to Barnes. “Just different motives.”

“Aren’t you tired of depending on them to help you? To save you?”

“I know my value. Anyone else’s opinion doesn’t really matter.”

The rest happened too fast to process in that moment. Sharon burst in. Zemo shot Nagel and that drew an interesting reaction from Sharon. And an explosion went off. Barnes had pulled you out of the way before you could get caught up in the blast.

Your head spun mildly from the quick movement and your ears rang violently. You tried to shake it off but that seemed to only make it worse. You felt a warm stream down the side of your head and realized a loose piece of shrapnel had sliced your forehead.

“You alright?” Barnes asked, helping you to your feet. “Y/N? Are you alright?”

“Yeah.. Yeah, I’m fine.” You nodded, mildly disoriented. Looking around, you saw the smoke gathering in the room. You put a hand above your head, using it to keep the smoke at the top of the room.

“Ah shit.” He muttered, pushing the loose hair out of your face. “You’re bleeding.”

“I’m fine.” You pushed his hand away. “We gotta go. These chemicals are going to go off any second and I doubt I can save us from that.”

You got Sharon to her feet while Barnes got Sam. Sam asked about Zemo, but that was the least of your concerns. You four had to get out of there before you were trapped.

You tried using your powers to move the shipping containers or pull a piece of the wall apart but it was too heavy to do in such a hectic environment. There was too much going on for you to really focus. Once you were out, the boys started arguing about whose fault it was.

“Not the time!” You shouted at them, your back against one of the fallen containers. “We’re blocked in and you three are out of bullets. So either I can try to handle this or we stay here and get caught. Either way, you need to zip it so one of us can come up with something.”

“Just use your pow-“ Barnes tried.

“I can’t do anything when you’re this loud!” You snapped. “Besides, the containers are too heavy. I’m not strong enough.”

You thought out loud to yourself. “I could try a concrete wall but I don’t know how long I can hold it if I’m worried about getting shot.” You chewed your lower lip in contemplation. “I’m too far to try the blood thing… They’re firing too many bullets for me to redirect back… What if I…”

It was so much easier when you had your dad to talk things out with. When you had someone smarter than you and could see a different angle, who could run the numbers and tell you your best chance, everything was so much easier.

“How are you going to handle it then?” Sharon challenged with an eye roll.

“You really don’t know a thing about me, do you?” You laughed in disbelief.

Before she could offer a rebuttal, there was another explosion. A smirk found its way to your face as you got an idea. You quickly hopped the barricade your group was stuck behind, despite the protests from Barnes and Sam. You slid under a hanging metal beam and popped up by the explosion. You shaped the flames away from you four and pushed it towards the people shooting at you. You used what was left as a wall to give you cover for you to get away.

“That’s how I’m going to handle it.” You said with your trademark Stark pride as you met back up with the group.

“You could've got yourself killed.” Sam reprimanded as you four had to duck into a separate container after a gunshot nicked your shoulder. Barnes launched a metal pole through one of the shooters’ shoulders like a javelin before shutting the door behind him.

“Okay.” You groaned, lighting a flame on two fingers. “That could've got me killed.” You ran the flame gingerly along the graze in an attempt to cauterize the wound and stop the bleeding.

“You’re an idiot.” Barnes grumbled.

“Who just saved your ass, huh?” You challenged as he opened the door when the shooting stopped.

“When are you gonna realize you’re not indestructible?”

“When are you gonna realize who you’re talking to?”

The heavy roar of an engine drew your attention and interrupted the sudden tension. The tension and attitude dissipated as soon as it came but you could tell it wasn’t going to be the last time that grievance was brought up.

“Supercharged.” Zemo said proudly as he pulled up in a sleek black car.

You let out a low whistle and nodded in approval. “She is a beaut.” You commented with an amused laugh. “Would it be wrong if I kept her after this?”

“You’re going back to jail.” Sam told him. “And you-“ He told you. “-aren’t keeping the car.”

“You’re no fun... Shut up and get in then.” You rolled your eyes. As Barnes climbed into the front seat, you went to the driver’s side - as if proving a point that you didn’t want to sit behind Barnes - and hopped over and into the backseat. “We still need him.”

Sam got in on the other side and after a quick conversation with Sharon, you were ready to go.

“You’re not gonna move your seat up, are you?” Sam asked.

“No.” Barnes said simply. You rolled your eyes at his childish antics. You leaned forward and tugged his sleeve to get his attention.

“Move your seat up.” You insisted.

“I’m not gonna move my seat.”

“Why not?”

“He didn’t move his seat for me so I’m not-“

“Solo tienes que mover el maldito asiento, Barnes.”

“No me voy a mover“

“Venga, muévete.”

“Por qué debería?“

“Cállate y mueve el maldito asiento. Hmm?” You patted his chest before leaning back. Barnes scoffed, but slid forward slightly.

“Okay…” Sam started, leaning closer to you to speak quietly. “What the hell was that?”

“I’m fluent in Spanish.” You shrugged as you leaned to the middle and spoke in the same hushed tone. “Dad taught me when I was eight-ish. I use it for fun or when I’m trying to prove a point, hence the conversation you just saw. Why?”

“Not that… That.” He gestured to you with one hand and to Barnes with the other. “You guys have been flirting since-“

“Nope.” You shook your head and sat back again. “I’m not talking about that.”

“But you were! Why else would he listen to you?”

“What are you guys talking about back there?” Barnes tried.

“It’s above your pay grade, Barnes.” You answered without thought. “Anyways, Sam.” You turned back to Sam. “I’m a Stark. If there was any flirting, it’s harmless. Starks flirt with everyone.” You shrugged innocently.

“Mhmm.” Sam said unconvinced. “If you guys end up together and-“

“If we end up together I’ll be just as shocked as you.” You laughed. “But it’s not gonna happen. I’m pretty sure he hates me, deep down. You saw how he snapped at me a few minutes ago.”

“So just right now and the other day before Walker showed up, right? That’s what you’re basing this on?” Sam asked, gesturing a small circle in reference to the current scenario. You pressed your lips together in a line while you nodded. “But didn’t he make sure you didn’t make it worse after you got arrested?”

“Sure but-“

“Before we ran into Sharon, he reached for you, right?”

“Okay but wait-“

“And he pulled you out of the way of that blast?”

“I see what you’re saying but-“

“And he only seems to get mad at you when you get yourself hurt!”

“It’s coincidental!” You reasoned quickly with your hands up in surrender. “If he’s gonna like anyone, I highly doubt it’s gonna be me. Wanna know why?”

“Enlighten me.” Sam laughed.

“Cause I push every button I can with him.” You explained. “I annoy him and I talk shit to him and I don’t listen to him. I purposefully see what I can get away with. I’m his annoying roommate/best friend.”

“Right… Because that gimmick never leads to anything…” He rolled his eyes in amusement. “Whatever you say, Mini Stark.” He chuckled.

On the flight back, Sam and Barnes sat opposite each other while they talked. You opted to lay on the ground between them after healing your shoulder and other small scrapes, wanting something flat to let your back relax. As soon as you laid down, you felt your spine pop and practically reposition itself.

Your mind wandered back to the same thoughts it kept coming back to, with the newest additions to your messy brain. Your dad, and if you were doing right by him. Steve, and if you lived up to his expectations. Nat, and how she’d be proud to see you utilizing the skills she taught you. The boy at the party, his unintentional implications of Sharon and the Power Broker. And Barnes… Sam’s suggestion that you were purposefully flirting with Barnes had made you rethink your last interactions with him.

There were comments slipped in here or there, sure. You had played a bit when you took your bracelet back, sure. But were you flirting? Did you.. Did you have a crush on Barnes? No, no it was all in good fun. You didn’t really know him. Why would you flirt with someone you didn’t know? Right?

“Maybe I should’ve destroyed it.” Sam said, which instantly caught your attention.

“That shield represents a lot of things to a lot of people, including me.” Barnes said quickly.

“Yeah, me too.” You agreed from the floor. “My grandfather made that shield… It holds a special place in my heart, kinda the only physical thing from Howard...”

“The world is upside down and needs a new Cap.” Barnes started.

“And it’s not gonna be Walker.” You added.

“Before you destroy it, I’m going to take it from him myself.” He finished.

“Count me in, Barnes.” You said, sitting up when Zemo came down the aisle. You moved to sit by the side of Barnes’ chair and looked up at him. “In it together?” You asked, holding up a fist.

“Together.” He smiled slightly as he gave you the fist bump you waited for.

“Thanks, by the way.” You added softly as Zemo muttered something. “For keeping this safe-“ You shook your wrist. “-and for getting me out the way of that blast. I could’ve died but you didn’t let me.”

“I told you I wouldn’t let you die, Y/N.” He nodded. “You trust me yet?”

“Hmm, getting there.” You pondered playfully. “You’re making good progress, but it depends on if you’re still mad at me.”

“Why would I be mad at you?” His eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“You yelled at me..” You realized how silly it was once you said it.

“You could've gotten hurt or even killed and I- I can’t have your blood on my hands too..”

“I know I’m not invincible…” You admitted heavily as you looked between Sam and Barnes. You knew Sam worried about you too, but he and Barnes had different ways of showing it. “I know I’m not Iron Man, but… But that’s the way I’ve always fought. It’s how I learned to fight. One time Steve told us ‘If you get hurt, hurt them back. And if you die, walk it off’.”

“Of course he did.” Barnes chuckled as Sam smiled fondly.

“It’s what I've always followed. So yeah, I’m a little reckless but I can heal myself so I never worried… But I guess I can try to be more strategic if it would make you guys feel better.” You offered with a small smile.

It was nice to know you had people watching your back, two people by your side that would seemingly burn down the world if it took you. You felt safer than you had with anyone since your dad.

“Why do you call him Barnes?” Zemo asked suddenly. “I thought you were all friends.”

“Wait. Does it bother you?” You wondered honestly, looking to Barnes.

“No, just a little different.” He answered with a small shrug.

“Dad always called him Barnes. Not James, or even Bucky. Guess I picked it up from him. I never really thought about it, in all honesty.” You shrugged.

“Yes, but that’s very business.” Zemo continued. “It’s so impersonal. If you two have a good relationship like you claim, or the type of relationship you two display… Shouldn’t you call him something more intimate?”

Using your powers, you plucked one of the ice cubes out of Zemo’s drink and flicked it towards his forehead. It smacked the center and left a wet square on his skin before plopping back in the cup. You smiled in amusement and looked to Barnes, who also enjoyed your little trick.

“Mind your business.” You chuckled, leaning your back against Barnes’ seat. You tilted your head back against the seat too, closing your eyes and letting out a sigh.

“Hey.” Barnes tapped a finger against your forehead. “Don’t sleep on the floor.”

“Stark?” Sam laughed from the other side of the aisle. “Get up, kid. There’s an open seat right here.”

“With the amount of times I’ve fallen asleep on the floor of my dad’s lab or in a desk chair leaning on a lab table or even on the lab table.” You laughed while you stayed in your spot. “This doesn’t bother me.”

“Get your ass up.” Barnes tried again.

“Too late!” You announced, dropping to the ground. “Good night.”

You woke up when you all landed. Even though you had napped on the floor, you didn’t wake feeling stiff or uncomfortable. You followed the boys out of the jet and through the Latvian streets.

It was a beautiful country, as many European countries were. Cobblestone streets that carried vibrations perfectly. Intricate stone buildings that were tall but not towering. Simple painted doors to break monotony.

“I don’t suppose any of you bothered visiting the memorial?” Zemo asked, referencing the memorial for Sokovia.

“I did..” You said softly, almost too quiet for anyone to hear.

“Did you?” Zemo was honestly surprised.

“After my dad’s funeral, when I moved out… There was a gap between leaving and moving in with Barnes. I didn’t know where else to go or who I was without Tony Stark. So I went to the memorial… It didn’t make anything clearer but it reminded me of a lot.”

“I’m sorry about your father.” Zemo said. You swore you heard sympathy playing in his voice. “He had his flaws but he was a good man.”

“Yeah, thanks, you and the rest of the world are sorry.” You said, somewhat bitterly. “He was the only permanent family I had. No one cared about me like he did.” You felt Sam and Barnes shoot you a look of confusion but you didn’t acknowledge it.

“What about the Avengers?”

“Yeah, they were great.” You shrugged slightly. “It just wasn’t quite the same. I was the most important thing to him, you know? Whenever I was feeling off, he was always there with something fun to distract me. Granted, that something fun was usually a new piece of tech he wanted to test, but it always worked to cheer me up. The world misses and mourns Iron Man, the CEO of Stark Industries and Earth’s best defender. No one other than me mourns my dad.” You explained as you noticed a change in Barnes’ demeanor.

“I’m gonna go for a walk.” He announced.

“You good?” Sam tried.

“Yeah. See you in a bit.” He nodded before taking off.

You lingered outside while Zemo went in. Sam turned in the doorway when he realized you hadn’t moved.

“Little Stark?” Sam asked. “You coming?”

“That was weird, wasn’t it?” You commented, pointing in the direction Barnes went.

“Yeah but he’s weird.” Sam chuckled. “You know that…. Oh! I see what this is.”

“It’s not that.” You shook your head with an annoyed sigh.

“That’s exactly what it is.”

“Seriously? He’s our friend.”

“You don’t see me chasing after him.” Sam shrugged. “He’s a grown man, Y/N. If he wants to brood and take a walk, let him.”

“You didn’t see it.. Something caught his attention and made him leave.”

“Well I don’t just stare at him so no, I didn’t see anything.”

“Nat taught me to constantly watch my surroundings. To keep my head on a swivel… He saw something I didn’t, but I saw him see it. I just don’t know what exactly he saw.”

“Just come inside.” He sighed. “You can interrogate him when he comes back.”

“ Or I just go check on him… Cause I’m grown too and don’t have to listen to you.” You said carefully, hurrying after Barnes. You heard protests from Sam but none made you turn.

You made it to the alley where Barnes turned. You knelt at the corner, feeling the ground and knocking your knuckles against the stone. You closed your eyes to focus, picturing Barnes and an incoming familiar figure. With an amused smile, you turned the corner.

“Ayo.” You said happily. “I didn’t think I’d see you here.”

“You followed me.” Barnes said, moderately annoyed.

“You made it easy enough.” You muttered before turning to the Dora.

“What brings you to Latvia?” You asked, already knowing the answer.

“Y/N.” She greeted respectfully. “I’m here for Zemo.”

77 notes · View notes

animezing-fandoms · 4 years ago

Text

No More Waiting (Gruvia Week 2021 series) Chapter 1: Beguile

Masterlist

Relationships: Gruvia, background Nalu.

Warnings: Implied/Referenced smut.

Series Summary: After the 100 Years Quest, Gray’s finally ready to be in a relationship with Juvia. And after pining for each other for so long, things escalate quickly.

Chapter Summary: Fairy Tail goes to the beach for a weekend for Sorcerer Weekly to take pictures of them. And seeing Juvia in a swimsuit, has Gray feeling some kind of way.

A/N: For gruvia week I decided that instead of writing a bunch of one-shots, I’d string all the prompts together into a mini-series! Each chapter based off of one prompt for each day. So here’s the first one for “beguile”! Enjoy!

-------------------

You’d think that an ice Wizard would hate going to the beach. But Gray actually enjoyed it quite a bit. The weather was warm but if he got too hot it was easy to cool down with his magic. Not to mention, it was perfectly acceptable for him to wear minimal clothing.

“Gray you’re naked!” Lucy exclaims.

Perhaps not that minimal.

Gray turns around to see where he discarded his swimming trunks and hurries back to put them on.

“Sorcerer Weekly paid for us to come here because they want pictures of Fairy Tail wizards having a day at the beach for their Summer issue. Not idiots in the nude.” Lucy scolds Gray.

“You’re one to talk.” Gray retorts. “You’re practically nude yourself. That bikini you’ve got on under your cover up barely covers anything.”

That earned him a smack upside the head.

“At least I’m not flashing my goods to anyone like you.” Lucy says.

“Fair enough.” Gray says and rubs the back of his head.

He looks around at all of the people on the beach. There were Fairy Tail guild members and a few civilians. But the one person he wanted to see most, seemed nowhere to be found…

“Looking for Juvia?” Lucy asks teasingly.

Gray stiffens up and Lucy giggles. When he turns around to see her smirking face, he bristles with annoyance.

Ever since the 100 Years Quest ended, it was pretty obvious to everyone that he returned the water mage’s feelings for him. It was true, he was in love with Juvia. But he didn’t love all of the teasing from his friends that came with it.

“No. Aren’t you wondering where Natsu is?” Gray asks.

That got her. Lucy blushes and looks away from him.

“Well yeah but it’s not like I’m dying to see him or anything.” Lucy says as she sets down her stuff and starts to unpack.

“Really. Because I think you may have bought that new swimsuit just to impress him.” Gray says.

That earned him a whack in the head from her beach bag that knocked him into the sand.

“That is completely idiotic!” Lucy exclaims before taking off her cover up, revealing her pale skin, and white bikini to the salty air of the beach. “Besides, it’s Natsu. You know he doesn’t care about stuff like that.”

“Hey Ice Princess!”

Speak of the devil, Gray thinks to himself as he turns around and sees Natsu running up to them, carrying a beach ball under his arm.

“Come play volleyball with me! I know that I’m better at it than you! I’ll totally kick your ass!” He taunts.

“We’ve only been here for ten minutes and you’re already challenging him to a fight?” Lucy asks.

Natsu looks over Gray’s shoulder, to see Lucy and his playful demeanor instantly changes to a flustered one when he sees her. Gray was shocked. Natsu has never shown any interest in women or relationships before. He’s never gotten flustered by them either. While all of the guys in the guild would be drooling over sexy women, Natsu couldn’t care less. Until now, apparently. His eyes were glued to Lucy’s form and his cheeks began to heat up.

Lucy began to get flustered under his gaze. Gray could tell she was just as shocked by Natsu’s reaction as he was. Although Lucy was probably hoping this would happen someday, but she didn’t expect it to actually come to be.

“W-what do you think Natsu?” Lucy asks shyly, tilting her head to the side and pushing her chest forward a bit to try to look more attractive.

“You look…great.” Natsu answers.

Lucy blushes and looks away from him.

“Oh…thanks.” She says. “You like my new bikini?”

“Yeah it looks perfect!” He compliments and Lucy has to cover her mouth to stop herself from squealing in surprise and excitement. “It’s perfect for playing ball with me and Gray! Think fast!” He exclaims and tosses the ball at her, and it hits her in the head.

Gray smiles and laughs. Natsu sure had them both going for a second there. But sure enough, he was still his same old dense self. It was obvious he was into Lucy but he still didn’t know how to show it properly yet. So nothing out of the ordinary or groundbreaking would be happening today.

“Gray-sama!” A familiar voice calls to him from the ocean.

Or so he thought. When he turns to see Juvia, he suddenly realizes why Natsu was so flustered when he saw Lucy in her swimsuit, because he was feeling the exact same way about seeing Juvia in hers.

She was wearing a simple light blue bikini, the same color as her hair. The top was held together by a knot in the front under her breasts, tying the two pieces of fabric together. So her cleavage was on full display. And as she made her way out of the water and towards him, he couldn’t help but stare at her legs. He always thought they were her best feature. They were strong, hiding powerful muscles under smooth, soft skin. Soft skin that glistened in the sunlight from the water droplets that remained from the ocean. By the time she was in front of him, he was practically in a trance, lost in her beauty.

“Could you help Juvia put up her beach umbrella by her towel? Gray-sama?” She asks when he doesn’t answer her.

She was confused. He was staring at her, but he couldn’t seem to hear her. And his eyes didn’t seem to be on hers, they seemed to be looking at something lower…She waves her hand in front of his face and he snaps out of it.

“Huh? Did you say something Juvia?” Gray asks, embarrassed that he caught her staring.

“Yes. Juvia asked if Gray-sama wanted to help her set up her umbrella?” Juvia asks again.

“Oh yeah! Sure!” Gray answers a little too quickly.

-----------------

She brings him to her towel and he immediately gets to work with the umbrella, using the task as an excuse not to look at her so he could get his thoughts in order. But then when he turns around to stand the umbrella up, she bends over to try to pick up a hermit crab she spotted, and his thoughts became even more scrambled. And now the umbrella wasn’t the only thing standing up.

Even before he returned his feelings for her, he’d always found her attractive. I mean who wouldn’t. But seeing her like this now that he knew he liked her, he couldn’t help but let his imagination indulge in thoughts of what her smooth skin would feel like under his hands. And what it would be like to touch the places that were covered underneath the fabric of her swimwear. How it would feel to have those long, gorgeous legs wrapped his waist while she moans his name in the throes of passion-

“Gray Fullbuster and Juvia Lockser sharing a towel together on the beach! So cool!” Jason exclaims, spotting them and coming over.

Gray lets out a sigh of relief. This would be a good distraction from his smutty thoughts, for sure.

“Hi Jason!” Juvia greets the photographer cheerfully. “Juvia found a hermit crab in the sand!”

She shows him the little crab and he inspects it.

“So cool!” He answers, predictably and Juvia sets the creature back down in the sand.

“Have you gotten any good photos so far?” Gray asks.

“You bet!” Jason answers enthusiastically. “You Fairy Tail wizards make the hot beach look so cool! And seeing an ice make wizard, and a water mage, the two coolest magic element wizards standing here together in the sun has inspired an awesome idea for a photo! Can I take a picture of you two together on the towel?”

“Oh Juvia would love that!” Juvia says and bounces on her feet.

Gray gulps, as the action causes her breasts to move a bit and he was suddenly beginning to feel flustered again.

“Would Gray-sama pose on the towel with Juvia?” Juvia asks him.

Even though Gray knew that getting close to her when her body was so exposed like this was a bad idea, he couldn’t say no to her. He’s already disappointed her too many times.

“Sure, why not.” Gray says simply and the look of joy on her face was enough to make him smile too.

“So cool!” Jason exclaims.

Jason directed Gray to sit on the towel, so his side was facing the camera. And then he instructed Juvia to sit on top of him…on his lap…

“Uh…She’s gonna sit where?” Gray asks, with his face starting to turn red.

“She’ll be straddling you on your lap.” Jason explains.

“Is Gray-sama okay with that?” Juvia asks, blushing a bit as well.

Gray looks her over once again and considers his options. She’s just sitting on his lap, surely he could control himself right?

“Yeah, hop right on.” Gray says as confidently as he can.

Gray gulps as Juvia swings her leg over him so she’s straddling him and then sits herself down in his lap. He was eye-level with her ample chest and he could see the droplets of ocean-water roll down the valley between them. And the feeling of her warm, supple thighs on either side of his hips, squeezing him was making his mind head straight for the gutter as he imagined being in-between her legs for something other than a picture. He gently squeezes her sides as it takes all of his will-power to stay calm and collected. But any control he may have had over himself slipped away instantly when she gently held his chin in her fingers and tilted his head up to look at her.

“Gray-sama, is there a problem?” Juvia asks in a soft voice while Jason takes some pictures of them.

She was so beautiful. Like an ocean Goddess. And he couldn’t deny how badly he wanted her, and neither could his body. And soon Juvia could feel that against her and she gasps.

“Yeah. A big problem!” He mutters.

Gray gets up immediately and runs into the changing room, losing his swim trunks in the process, but that didn’t matter. He was alone now. He could take care of himself in here. But what he didn’t realize is that the cause of his arousal had followed after him to return his clothes to him.

So when Juvia pulled back the curtains to announce herself, she got a full view of what she had done.

“Gray-sama are you alright-Oh!” Juvia exclaims when she sees the cause of his distress.

Her pale face turns bright red and she covers her hands over mouth to keep from screaming as her eyes stay fixed on his crotch unable to look away, and neither could Gray. His eyes were fixed on her, wondering which one of them would speak first.

“You...you were right.” Juvia says softly. “That is a...big problem.” She gulps and averts her gaze.

Gray takes the opportunity to grab his trunks and pull them on. She was staying silent, which was less of a relief and more of a worry to Gray. Normally she couldn’t stop talking and she’d cling to him. But now she was silent and unsure as she looks away from him.

“Gray-sama...” she says softly.

“Yes Juvia?” Gray replies.

She turns to face him again and meets his gaze.

“Did Juvia...do that?” She asks shyly.

Normally Gray would’ve lied. He would have denied it, called her crazy and stormed out while she chased after him. But things were different now. Now that he had become a man who could protect her, he didn’t have to reject her advances. Nor did he want to. He wanted her more than anything, and she had a right to know that.

“Yes.” Gray answers.

Juvia’s eyes widen and she lets out a soft gasp.

“You’re so beautiful Juvia, and you look so sexy in that swimsuit. I couldn’t help but get turned on. I’m sorry.” Gray explains.

“Why is are you sorry Gray-sama?” Juvia asks.

Getting more confident, she steps closer to Gray and he gulps.

“Juvia has always wanted Gray-sama. So now if he wants Juvia...” She says and stops right in front of him, standing up on her tip-toes to kiss him. “He can take her.”

So he did.

He wraps one arm around her waist and holds her cheek in his other hand and brings his lips to hers.

Juvia was surprised at first, but let herself melt into the kiss. Her hands moving up his chest to rest on his shoulders as they kissed.

As they make out, she presses her body more firmly against his and Gray’s hands can’t help but wander her body.

She presses up against the tent in his trunks, causing Gray to groan “Juvia” and Juvia to moan “Gray-sama”, a noise that only turns him on more.

But before she can take off her top like she was working on doing, Gray places his hands over hers to stop her.

“Wait.” He says.

Juvia’s lustful gaze turns to one of worry. Gray felt a twinge of regret, knowing because of their past that she was afraid he would reject her again. But he wasn’t. In fact he was doing the opposite.

“Come with me.” Gray says simply and takes her hand to lead her out of the changing room.

Juvia’s heart soars with excitement.

“Gray-sama, what are you doing?” She asks.

“Taking you on a date.” Gray says and Juvia stops breathing for a moment.

“Oh Gray-sama! That makes Juvia so happy! But why do you want to go on a date instead of just making love to Juvia?” Juvia asks. “Does Gray-sama not want Juvia in that way?”

“No. I do. But I figure that if we’re gonna do this, I wanna do it right.” Gray tells her. “And you mean too much to me for me to just screw you before I’ve done something to show you that I care about you.”

Juvia blushes and runs up closer to Gray to hug his arm.

“Juvia knows that you care about her. But whatever Gray-sama wants to do, Juvia is fine with.” Juvia says.

“Alright then let’s go on a date.” Gray says.

And with that they walk into the woods together.

#gruiva week 2021 #gruvia #gruvia week #gray fullbuster #juvia lockser #fairy tail #natsu dragneel #lucy heartfilia

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keepcalm-and-beyou · 4 years ago

Text

Serial Killer Boyfriend

YoungFP x Reader

Werewolves howl, Phantoms prowl, where witches go riding and black cats are seen, the moon full and bright whispers tis Halloween.

It feels like magic in the night when you see the pumpkins light. Time for the ghouls and ghost to seek goodies, for people hoping for treats not tricks.

Halloween time in our town with pep. Everyone from school invited and some not invited to this years Spooktacular Party surely must be getting ready as i am.

🎃Now I have a story that I'd like to tell About this guy you all know him, he had me scared as hell! He comes to me at night after I crawl into bed He's burnt up like a weenie and his name is Fred!🎃

As A nightmare on my street song plays on my radio I apply my lipstick and smile when the song mentions the name Fred as it makes me think of my friend Fred Andrews, i also cant help but love the nightmare on elm street movie. Freddy Kruger what an intense killer to get you in your precious dreams i hope they make more movies like that. A noise interrupted my thoughts slightly making me jump. heading towards where it had come from i look out my window to the left then right side seeing some children running around on my street dressed up in their costumes trick or treating, the street lights shinned on my street sign that read ELM STREET.

Thinking the noise must of been from those who are outside simply wanting candy i turn away from the half way open window i scream as i felt something grab my arm from where the window was i turn fast to face it seeing my boyfriend trying to climb through the window. I let a relived sigh leave my lips and step back in no mood to help him through my window but to watch his struggle he sure deserves it after that stunt.

“Thank for the help babe” FP says sarcastically while finally getting him self through my window his eyes not yet even looking really at me until he stands up straight turning to fully face where i was standing by my bedroom wall.

FP’s eyebrows raised in what looked like surprise “Wow babe, damn you look good not like that’s anything new”

“Well i tried thank you, uh what are you suppose to be, some poor victim of a serial killer stabbing, some messed up boy with mommy issues and a daddy who just doesn't seem to love him the same these days who has a issue filled girlfriend that seems so awkward all the time who probably kills his own girlfriend because ya know always some bullshit reason to kill your girlfriend, he must of watched way to many movies” I ask him as he slowly creeps closer to where i have been standing. This is when i notice the knife in his hand. It sure don’t look like the typical cheap fake ones used for such things as Halloween costumes. That makes me raise an eyebrow at the sharp metal in his hand. Fps eyes caught my reaction to his choice in accessory for his costume and he smirks getting closer to me.

“Nah babe this blood is of my victims” he smirks wider as his eyes seem to burn into mine “I’m the killer” he adds while he brings his knife up to his bottom lip resting it there.

“Shit does that mean i’m the girlfriend you want to kill for some bullshit reason” i fake seriousness.

“Hmm I think ill keep you around you look to good to ruin that tight outfit” he smirks checking me out.

“Thanks. Oh and next time use the front door you ass”

“Did i give you a fright” FP stalks even closer to just inches apart. Like he is stalking his prey. I deny that he frightened me and i lightly push him backwards from my bubble of space done with his creepy killer vibes in my bedroom and wanting to get my party on.

Walking out my front door like a normal none creepy person uses i turn to FP “Your not really gonna walk around with that legit knife are you, because that seems like big ole trouble to me”

“You have no idea” FP says quietly but loud enough to hear him. I watch as he passes by me down my steps and put the knife into a holster on his jeans.

“Wait what?” I ask confused on his statement. only for him to act as if he never heard me.

I spot a boy who looks like our friend a small ways down coming from his front lawn as we approach and it is indeed my best guy friend!

“Oh my gosh Fred i love it i absolutely approve of this years choice in costume” I say excitedly going to hug him not caring for his eyes to slightly open wider at my revealing chest area.

“You look.. uh wow yeah wow a good wow very good wow” Fred rambled

“Watch it Fred” FP warned in what seemed to be a half joke half serious threat as he slaps Fred’s check lightly and they do a quick bro hug.

“Awe my guys, my killer boyfriend and killer best friend, my Freddy as Freddy i love it, glad you didn’t go with a mask of Freddy Kruger though i prefer your pretty face” I smack Fred on the same cheek FP had done.

“I knew you would” Fred smiles.

“Okay i could use a drink and Hiram douche as rich as he is must have plenty at his party so hurry up move it along” FP says nodding his head ahead of us indicating for us to start walking that way.

Hiram Lodge, rich and rude mostly describes him. someone who many of us don’t particularly like. Fred dislikes him for many reasons one being Hermione Gomez the girl Fred was into and thought she could be the one. Until she chose Hiram and his pearls over Fred and his heart. FP dislikes him for many of the same reasons Fred does but one being Me the ex girlfriend of Hiram, I thought he could be the one until our once fun filled relationship turned into a cold one into a distant one into me choosing FP over Hiram. But hey a party with free booze is our kind of party and we got the invite well me and Fred did anyways.

Walking through the streets of Riverdale seeing all the Halloween decorations like the lights from jack-o lanterns and ghosts hanging from trees, feeling the chilling vibes of the magic that is Halloween night run through my body, the feel of a cold hand in mine making me smile at my serial killer looking boyfriend.

I watch as few children pass us by seeing the looks shared by Fred and FP raising my eyebrow at what they could be thinking then suddenly the two teenagers yell and jump forward towards the little kids scaring them making the children scream and run off. Rolling my eyes at the two men in front of me laughing like hyenas.

“Real mature boys” I say unimpressed at the child like behaviour

“Its Halloween y/n lighten up” Fred laughs

“Yeah babe its meant to be scary” FP adds

“True but no need to terrorise little kids” I shake my head at them. And continue our walk.

Nearing the house holding the Halloween party hosted by Hiram i notice some familiar faces as much as i can being with all the Halloween costumes. my eyes came upon sierra dressed as wonder woman, a perfect costume for her and her girl power woman on a mission thing she has going on. a short distance a way as well seeing tom Keller in a army costume, another typically perfect costume for the boy.

The outside of the house isn't much decorated i try to push through some of my fellow classmates with FP and Fred hot on my tail walking through the front doors. I’m impressed by what my eyes are seeing the many outstanding lights making the house look like a nightclub ready for teenagers to dance the night away, i see Halloween theme streamers and garland, hanging bats all over the roof of the house, your typical mini orange pumpkins and some painted black placed on tables, and my favourite of all the creepy images on the walls that change.

“Boy Hiram of course with all the crap” FP looks around at all the decorations as i was. “Think he’s compensating for something Fred” FP chuckles looking to Fred who’s standing next to him. Fred laughs at his best friends remark.

“No comment” I smirk barley looking towards FP to see his glare thrown my way.

“Speak of the devil” Fred nods his head to where Hiram is walking towards us. Hiram lodge strolls head high nearing us wearing a medieval king costume, it makes me want to laugh at another super typical costume for the boy who think’s he is a real king, only kind of royal he happens to be is a royal pain in the ass.

“Well well well a sight for sore eyes, in all her black beauty” Hiram steps closely in front of me with that stupid smirk and ignorant eyes. I simply fake a big smile as my only response.

“Fred” Hiram greets in a major Hiram way that doesn't sound very greeting like. so Fred does the same. My eyes moves back and fourth between the two and landing on Hiram as his eyes land on my exposed chest thanks to my Elvira costume. This doesn't go unnoticed by my serial killer boyfriend who steps in front of me chest puffed out and eyes murdering the rich man who only smirks more at the exchange.

“Ah FP Jones i do believe you were not sent an invite but by all means enjoy my humble adobe, oh but please don’t let your serpent behaviour disturb my gathering”

“Hiram” is heard from behind him of course coming from Hermione. I roll my eyes at her presence dressed as a medieval queen. “Hello glad you guys can attend” she says playing the dutiful girlfriend.

“Mhm thanks” I say in the most super fake tone i can muster up and a smile to go with it as i move past them farther into the home of the devil incarnate.

Pouring my self a much needed beverage as FP pushes some guy lightly out of his way to reach a bottle of whiskey taken the whole thing for him self.

“Are you really just gonna take the whole thing?” i chuckle

“What like he cant afford to lose out on one damn bottle y/n”

“Okay then” i let out a small sigh hoping FP doesn't get to hammered.

“Hey it saves me from having to stab someone to move out my way for a drink” FP pulls out his knife he had in his holster waving it around near our faces with a wide smile. I’m not sure if its because it Halloween that this whole dressed in blood serial killer thing is legit creepy, but hey its pretend right.

“Stop waving that thing in my face before you make me lose an eye you psycho” I tell him half jokingly. he just stares at me for a moment like contemplating on something, maybe something i said. But finally after making a clicking noise with his tongue he puts the knife back into his holster.

“Good boy” I teasingly say to him as i grab his chin giving him a kiss to his cheek.

Hand in hand we walk around for a bit saying a few hellos to some friends of mine as FP stays silent drinking from his bottle and eyeing a few people dangerously creepy. We enter the dining room seeing people including Fred playing beer pong.

“Y/n come be on my team I’m kicking Tom’s ass” Fred shouts to where i stand with FP by the entrance. FP looks annoyed at the thought but i don’t care he can brood and mood alone for 5 minutes well i kick some major Keller toosh.

“Oh Keller boy its on” i challenge as Fred cheers at my comment.

I stand tall and elegantly yet cockily toss the ping pong ball, it lands perfectly into a cup filled half way with beer in front of Tom. Tom of course drinks it. Fred and I throw a few more times ultimately winning which causes us much joy giving us the need to jump around cheering for our self’s along with others in the room, i jump into Fred’s arms smiling at our victory he spins me around laughing.

“That was awesome y/n” Fred smiles as he put me down.

“Tha-” I’m cut off by the dark voice of FP

“I thought i said watch it” he remarks dryly to Fred as Fred gives him an unsure look.

“Wow okay babe laying on the crazy tonight real hard don’t you think” I tell FP furrowing my eyebrows at the bloody boy. FP scoffs and Fred backs away slowly to leave me to deal with my crazy boo.

FP moves close to my ear and says “Nah what would be crazy is if someone losses a hand because they can’t keep them off you” and he tilts his head in that weird way like a challenging way. Then all of a sudden he’s laughing. I can’t help my face reacting as if he has gone mad.

“Let’s keep checking out the place babe” FP says in his normal tone as if he wasn't just a crazy jealous boyfriend. And put’s his arm around my shoulders.

We came across a room that seems like a second living room it looks like the teenagers in it are playing a game as they all sit in whats suppose to be a circle.

“Oh look its Y/n, care to indulge us in a game of secrets and sins” Penelope’s voice rang out. she use to be a decent human being but it seems her adopted family the blossoms have really done a number on her after she accepted to be with Clifford her adopted brother. honestly I’m unsure if its even legal.

“I don’t know about that one” I shrug not really in the mood to share a secret of any sorts.

“Are you scared to tell us something” Clifford chimes in as he is sitting next to the red headed sister girlfriend of his.

“Let’s go babe” FP grumbles in my ear. But i shake my head at his words.

“No no i’ll stay” I smile and take a seat on one of the few couches in the room that have space. FP stay’s standing by the door.

“Well that makes it your turn y/n, any sinful secrets you might wanna share” Penelope asks with a wicked smirk plastered on her face as if she already knows any secrets i may have.

“Hmm i cheated on a math test once, no that’s a lame one, uh i keyed Hiram’s car after we broke up” that last so called secret made FP chuckle. but Penelope rolled her eyes not amused by my choices of secrets.

“I have a obsession with the movie the heather's i do as well imagine poisoning my classmates, I’m sure you’ll be able to relate” i tell Penelope with a small smile. She lets out a huff still not amused.

“So that’s your big secrets? Really. I think not Elm Street girl” she says smiling at me. Causing me to raise my eyebrow. And she continues on.

“You know who else lives on Elm Street, Fred Andrews right? Your friend, your boyfriends friend” she drags on

“So do you have a point or are you just obtuse” I laugh in my head at my own joke sense obtuse is opposite of something pointy.

“Funny. You like to do a lot with that mouth of yours, like talk when know one cares to listen or make out with Fred Andrews when you think know ones looking” she smiles deviously as my eyes widen in shock.

“What?!” is heard from the door FP in fit of rage.

“Wait let me explain” I say to FP but he doesn't hear it he’s to busy pushing his way out of the bedroom door so i follow him.

“FP can you slow down what are you doing let me explain” I yell for him to hear me but all i see is him on a hunt. oh no probably for Fred. Poor Fred.

Fp reaches Fred who is in the big living room area where the drinks are and teenager’s dancing. FP grab’s Fred by his shirt throwing him into a wall swiftly reaching for his knife

‘FP no” i shout as i near the two boys.

“What the hell FP” Fred asks his best friend.

“I outta kill you boy” FP barks in Fred face now holding his knife to his throat.

“FP stop please its not what you think i swear” I plead with my now looking like a real serial killer boyfriend.

“Y/n whats going on? Why do you have a knife? wait is that a real knife FP?!” Fred asks a bunch of questions in his nervous and scared state. We all barley notice the music had turned down a bit and people were gasping and whispering amongst them self's.

“You touched my girl!” FP says lowly very low dangerously low.

Fred looks beyond shocked at the news his best friend knew. He was speechless.

“FP please let’s talk outside or in a quite room” i beg of him.

“Screw this” FP says angrily and grab’s Fred again by the shirt only to throw him into the wall once more before backing away. “You better watch out boy” FP threatens Fred. FP disappear’s into the house and I tend to Fred.

“Oh my gosh are you okay i cant believe he just went that psycho” I held onto Fred’s head looking over his neck and face for any injuries. Seeing a small cut from the knife on is neck, making me cringe at the fact my boyfriend did that.

“I’m okay y/n how did he find out?” Fred asks looking guilty

“Secrets and sins and one red headed bitch of a blossom” I remark coldly.

“I’m going to find the bathroom see if i need anything for my neck” Fred tells me as he starts to move towards the door way.

I should look for FP to tell him the truth the whole truth to that secret. The fact that it was before i chose to be with FP, it was a drunk bad judgement call right after my break up with Hiram.

Its been some time looking for FP i think its safe to say he left the party. Maybe that’s a good thing give him some space to calm down and when he wants to talk i’ll gladly talk to him. I haven't seen Fred in awhile either, if he ditched me i’m going to kill that athletic guitar playing boy. No sign of my best friend and the party has majorly died down with only a few students i barley know from school and the few i do know decently well like Sierra, Tom, Penelope and Clifford, Marty Mantle and Darryl Doiley and of course the host him self and his little girlfriend Heromine.

I look around some more for Fred so we can leave, i check anywhere i can including upstairs. I come across a room at the very end of the hall and open the door slowly “Hello anyone in here?” I ask not wanting to intrude on anyone's personal business. There’s no answer. I cant make much of what’s in the room it’s very dark until i find the nearest light switch flicking it on my eyes instantly see a body on the ground.

“Oh my god Fred?!” I move fast towards the body now seeing the crimson colour seeping through his shirt as if he has been stabbed. I couldn't control it my mouth had i mind of its own as it let out a screeching sound of horror at the sight of my best friend bleeding not a single movement made on the floor.

I stood in shock for a moment after my scream rang through the walls catching the attention of a few of my fellow classmates as they run into the room.

I hear gasps and what happened and omgs come from a few mouths as i stare eyes wide open at Fred on the ground. I see Tom get closer to Fred’s body when i snap out of my trance of horror.

“Wait don’t touch his body!” i spit out before anyone can lay a finger on the boy.

Everyone looks at me as i’m insane.

“Finger prints and moving a body is like what tampering with a crime scene and if you have your finger prints on him guess who’s a suspect of murder” I tell everyone sternly.

“We need to see if he is breathing!” Tom says freaked out.

I move closer to Fred’s unconscious body not enough to touch and tell everyone to shut the hell up so i can listen for his breathing, I hear nothing. I then put my hand in front of his nose and mouth to see if i can feel air coming from his bloody body, I can not.

“He’s not breathing guys.. he’s dead” i cry out covering my mouth in more shock. I hear little cries from the girls Heromine and Sierra.

“This can’t be happening my parents will kill me if i through a party and there happens to be a dead body laying around” Hiram sighs

“My dad is probably gonna kick my ass” I hear Marty say in a fearful tone.

“We need to call the cop’s” Tom says

“I don’t know about that” Clifford chimes in.

“What are you talking about that’s what your suppose to do, unless you killed him?” Tom shouts back at Clifford. as Clifford scoffs

“This could ruin our life’s what colleges are wanting to accept people involved in a murder” Penelope say’s.

“Was that a confession?” Darryl Doiley ask’s The red head rolls her eye’s

“Who would do this” I let tear slip from my eyes.

Everyone looks around at one another eyes scanning each other with possible thoughts that one of us killed Fred Andrews.

“Hiram. I bet it was Hiram” Penelope says smugly as always these days.

“And why would I do that?” Hiram asks in almost to good to be true calm manner. Everyone turns their heads to Penelope so she can further explain her accusations.

“Oh please you never did like the boy so much you even stole his girlfriend” she replies nodding towards Hermione who still have many tears on her face.

“Please you strike me for the killing type both you Blossom’s and your weird family” Hiram spits back to the red headed girl.

“This is so not cool guys we need to do something” Sierra says.

“Yeah like the cops’” Tom says again

“No, no cop’s, not until we figure who might have done it” Hiram speaks.

“We can all point fingers at each other but nothing proves either of us did it” I tell them hoping their madness would stop i haven't even had time to really wrap my head around the dead body of my best friend.

“What about FP” Darryl Doiley speaks up from the corner of the room he’s been hiding in sense he came in after my scream. Everyone turns to look at the Doiley boy at the same time with looks that say what about him.

“He had a knife right he held it to Fred’s throat and went all psycho doesn't that prove anything” Darryl continued

“This is true, FP did have a weapon and is well crazy” Hiram says as a matter of fact. I roll my eyes at him.

“No way he wouldn't .. I don’t think he would, oh my no no he couldn't” i say unsure in my own words that my boyfriend and Fred’s best friend would commit such a crime.

“I don’t know the look in his eyes sure showed insanity” Penelope spoke

“Y/n it might be true look at the facts he was mad at Fred, he held Fred at knife point, and threatened him. It doesn’t look good for FP” Tom states

“What doesn't look good for me” FP appears in the door way of the room giving us all a fright many of us jumping at his voice. Some of our eyes wide in fear to see him in front of us hearing us talk about him. The girls Heromine, Sierra and Penelope move further away from him as they practically huddle together, Darryl and Marty look terrified, while Hiram and Tom have no expressions on their faces, then there’s me standing in the middle of everyone beside Fred’s body not knowing what to say and trying hard to keep my face a normal looking way.

“Say hey what happened here” FP says what almost seems like a question but more of a taunt, he takes a step inside the room with his head tiled in that creepy way he does.

“Get away from us you murderer” Penelope shouts at him.

“Hmm that’s not very nice” FP smirks deviously at her as he pulls out his knife pointing it at her “You are not very nice” he tell’s her. He looks at everyone in the room ‘In fact none of you really are. Not to me that’s for damn sure” he clicks his tongue.

“Hey man we no what you did and its cool we wont say anything to anyone” Marty tells FP in hopes to get out of a killer situation. FP just laughs at the boys attempts.

“FP tell them you didn't hurt Fred i know you didn't right?” i ask my own hopes rising

“We know you killed him FP” Hiram says to him

“How do we know your not the killer? huh? you like scary movies maybe your movie freak mind lost its reality button ever think of that” FP says challenging Hiram's words. Hiram scoffs.

“Okay well if FP didn't do it and none of us did lets just call the cops” Tom says starting to walk towards the door when FP’s knife ends up nearing his face

“Na na na Keller get back” FP demands so Tom goes back to his spot by Fred’s body and near me. I look to Fred’s dead body and to FP, feeling a wave of sadness wash over me finally seeing it feeling it , that FP killed him. My eyes water as i take small slow step to FP who bares his knife still in front of him.

“Why FP.. please tell me why” I cry slowly moving toward my killer boyfriend.

“Why y/n! why!” he shouts manically making me jump. He turns to face the door he had just shut then back to me.

Suddenly FP steps to me grabbing me by my throat facing me to everyone has his grip is tight on my neck keeping me in place close to him.

“Listen FP” Sierra says trying to defuse the ticking bomb

“No you listen you little bitch! Anyone moves and ill be happy to see what your insides look like. Takes the strength of a man to gut someone ya know” FP barks

“You all and your privileged life’s, you northsiders think your so better then everyone else!” FP shouts and his grip gets even tighter on my throat making me whimper. “Not anymore” FP drags his knife on my face as he speaks but not hard enough to cut into my skin.

“We are sorry i’m sorry we all are sorry!” Sierra shouts

“You don’t have to do this FP let y/n go” Tom says calmly reaching his hand out

“Let her go FP” Hiram says more demanding

“Please FP you don’t have to hurt anyone” Heromine chimes in

“Oh my ” Penelope mumbles

“Dude come on please” Darryl cries out

“We’re sorry dude” Marty says but not enough meaning to believe it.

“If any of us made you feel less then us we are sorry if any of us picked on you we are sorry or if we made fun of you FP” Sierra speaks again apologising for everyone. And everyone’s voice rings out say yes and yeah’s agreeing to what she had said in fear for their life’s.

“Nah” FP says then quickly spins me to face him and send’s his knife into my stomach instantly my hands go to the wound i feel the wet substance and my knees hit the floor as horror painful sounds escape my lips everyone runs to me as i turn around best i can hands red and dripping, the girls faces wet with tears the guys faces filled with horror i take one last look at my stomach hand covering it again.

“Gotcha” my head snaps up to everyone as i smile wide

“Really I’m dead no one calls the cop’s ” Fred says from the floor with his face looking towards us all.

“What?!” everyone shouts with wide eyes and still horrified yet shocked faces all around.

“Good job FP” Fred smiles getting up from the floor. “Man that’s tough playing dead for that long so glad no one saw me breathing when i needed to”

“You did great man” FP smiles

“But the blood” Hermione asks

“Corn syrup” I reply with a smile

“You are all seriously insane” Sierra says

“That was not funny” Hiram adds sternly

“Holy heck thank god” Tom sighs of relief

“I can’t believe you guys” Heromine says shaking her head in dismay.

“Not cool” Marty adds

“You had us all going” Penelope says in boredom

“Yeah” Clifford adds not making eye contact with anyone probably embarrassed that he got fooled.

“Well can’t say you guys didn’t deserve it” FP smiles a normal smile not a creepy one at last.

“Happy Halloween guys” Fred smiles

“I got me one hot serial killer boyfriend” I put my arm around FP’s waist as his arm goes around my shoulder.

“Happy Halloween” FP and i say at the same time to everyone.

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moscnios · 4 years ago

Text

NOVEMBER FOURTH ━ﾞ

⁺◟ PROMPT . . . “i know i can’t make you run away with me...”

⁺◟ CHARACTERS . . . roronoa zoro fem!reader mentions of the strawhats

⁺◟ GENRE . . . smut fluff oneshot

⁺◟ SYNOPSIS . . . princess ( y/n ) has bigger dreams than becoming a queen and trophy wife to a man who she doesn’t love. she doesn’t believe those dreams can come true until she meets an unfamiliar swordsman, who offers her an escape.

⁺◟ CONTENT WARNINGS . . . unprotected sex ‘ light choking ‘ oral ( female receiving ) ‘ dirty talk ‘ a bit of over-stimulation ‘ etc.

⁺◟ WORD COUNT . . . 3.2k.

⁺◟ COMMENTARY . . . ( k/n ) = kingdom’s name

a shallow swallow, followed by a silent gasp filled the dimly lit chamber, decorated with the finest silvers, golds, and platinums, all of which one could adore. the only light had come from the balcony on one side of the room. white silk curtains, made with the utmost care and finest silk in all of the lands, in front of the balcony had flown in with the nightly, cool wind allowing the moonlight to seep in, bathing the face of a young maiden dressed in a long sleeveless lilac satin nightgown, that touched the cold hard floor beneath her feet.

the straps of her satin gown were slipping off of her smooth shoulders. she draped her arm across her clothed breasts, chills going down her spine. she shivered in the nightly, sinful wind, as her head rested on the shoulder of a tall, well-built, green-haired gentlemen standing behind her.

he wrapped an arm tightly around her waist, pressing her smaller frame against his larger one. the green-haired man’s free hand had grazed the soft skin on the woman’s neck.

his touches were the opposite of his hands and how he usually was. usually, they were brutal, deadly, and could easily kill. with her in his arms, they were gentle, sweet, and full of love and admiration. even if the man was a little rough with her sometimes.

if only anyone had seen the roronoa zoro, pirate hunter and swordsman, had such a tender side to him.

if only anyone had seen who the woman entrapped in his arms was.

princess ( y/n ), the future queen of ( k/n ). she was a noble, one who hated her title since she was a weak child. the young princess was not interested in dresses, makeup, marriage and other formalities women around her age worried themselves with. she cared more for traveling, fighting, and fulfilling her own selfish desires and dreams, not those of the kingdom. it wasn’t much of a mystery as to why the dear princess was not married yet.

well, the fair maiden was engaged to be married. her wedding was all planned out and set to happen in only a few weeks' time. she would marry her a marine captain from the marine base on the island and her childhood friend who had loved her since he could remember.

a man whom she could barely stay in the same room with anymore without the looming guilt of indifferent feelings toward him.

no matter how many times those three words spewed out of her mouth...i love you...she never meant them. no matter how many times she would give the marine a kiss on the cheek to send him off for his duties or hugged him before the two had said their goodnights and sweet dreams to one another, she never felt the same way.

she did not wish to marry a man she did not love. she did not want to marry at all.

on one of her escapes from the castle, she had ridden through town, hiding her identity. her ( e/c ) eyes drifted to the long wall of wanted posters full of criminals. seeing the posters had always fascinated her, seeing the many crooks from all of the grand line. her favorites were the pirates.

oh, how she wished to be one, and run away from being stuck in a castle, in a dress. it was her biggest dream. being a pirate would help her achieve her dream of traveling across the world and learn about different islands and their past.

a historian is what you could say she wanted to be. but she could never do it under the roof of strict nobility parents and the man she was going to marry soon.

that day, her eyes had landed on two new posters that were added to the very end of the long wall.

monkey d. luffy

roronoa zoro

their bounties were impressive. she had wondered what the two could have possibly done to receive such high amounts.

and that was when the unthinkable happened. out of the corner of her eye, she saw a green-haired man with three katanas attached at the hip, traveling lonesome, looking around the town as if he were lost.

and he was lost.

when he had approached her for directions, she clung tightly to the wanted poster in her hands. zoro saw the poster in her hands, mumbling curses to himself.

“are you this man?”

“and if i am?”

as he sized her up, she had done the same. even as he threatened to unsheathed one of his katanas, she did not budge, rather challenging him to start a battle. before he could, an orange-haired girl complaining about him getting lost had dragged him away.

that, of course, was not the last time the pair had crossed paths. they had only continued to bump into one another, as the straw hats waited for their log pose to log the island so they could go to another one.

( y/n )’s feet carried her to the docks where she saw it, their ship. she kept her distance, unsure of what to think of her acquaintance's nakama, though they shared no ill-will toward her. the captain who was pretty accepting, even pulled her onto the ship with...stretchable...arms, which worried her. pretty quickly, she had learned of devil fruits and their powers, especially when the little reindeer began speaking to her.

the rest of them seemed nice and lovely. of course, it was only lovely, until his nakama began referring to ( y/n ) as zoro’s little girlfriend. except sanji, who was still set on referring to her as princess.

when his nakama had settled down, leaving the two of them. he had apologized for their behavior, to which she said it wasn’t a big deal. a short silence sounded the two of them before she had opened up to him. a man who would probably never understand what she was going through. a man who lived his days as a pirate swordsman with a bounty so high, her mother would probably drop dead seeing the two of them even near each other.

and he listened. he clung to every word like no one had done before. every word she spoke, was a melody to his ears. she did not expect him to say all the right things, and he didn’t. but he did make her think.

“why don’t you run away with us? don’t think we have a historian on the crew yet. do you want to fill that position? our captain does like you.”

the idea had run through her mind since he said it. it was on a night just like tonight, the moonlight beaming down, bathing them.

she just hadn’t expected to fall so deeply in love with the swordsman.

he allowed his wandering hand to gently grab her neck, his thumb and index finger lightly applying pressure to the sides of her neck, making her gasp once more, this one a bit louder than the last.

he slowly guided her head to look at him. her dark, lust-filled eyes had looked into his, breathlessly. he loosened the pressure, “i know i can’t make you run away with me, but i damn sure won’t let you marry some marine.”

“you’re doing a pretty good job at convincing me to run away with you, i must say,” she teased, with a playful smirk. zoro removed his hand, making the maiden pout a bit. with his strong arms, he spun her around in his hold, grabbing the soft plush of her clothed thighs through her satin dress.

“up,” he said lowly. she jumps, wrapping her legs around his torso, exposing her legs to him, leaving her satin gown to bunch up at her waist. she wrapped an arm around him, pulling his head in for a passionate kiss. he secured her legs around his waist, walking backward to ( y/n )’s large bed, stumbling a bit. as the back of his legs hit the mattress, he sunk onto it. he pulled away from the kiss, a trail of spit from their tongues breaking.

he pulled the straps of the satin gown down, the bodice following in suit, exposing her breasts to him. he wasted absolutely no time, alternating between rough kisses, biting, and suction. she kept a hand on the back of his neck, as she threw her head back in pleasure and a bit of pain. she knew she would be left with hickeys and bruises all across her breasts in the next few days.

“let that marine bastard see these the next time he tries something,” he muttered against her chest between wet kisses, making her giggle through a moan.

“so, that’s what this is? you marking me out of jealousy?”

“i’ll do more than just mark you,” he warned, pulling her out of his lap and onto the mattress, quickly climbing on top of her.

his eyes had darkened, filling with sweet lust as they raked over her naked torso. zoro shifted down, prying her legs open, occupying the space between them, his favorite place to be. he pushed up her bunched up satin dress to reveal her damp panties.

he took a finger, allowing it to slide up and down her clothed slit, staring deep into her eyes with a shit-eating grin. a string of impatient soft whimpers and sighs surpassed the woman’s lips, as she stared down at her lover between her thighs, just the place she had wanted him the most. but he wouldn’t give it to her that easily. she knew him better than that.

he had yet to plaster his favorite part of her in hickeys. her inner thighs. the green-haired swordsman could go on and on about his obsession with her inner thighs, though he preferred being smothered between them.

“zoro, come on,” she whined, allowing her impatient hands to roam his clothed strong chest.

“impatient, are we?” he raised an eyebrow.

“shut up and fucking do something, please,” she begged.

a low chuckle left his lips, “such a vulgar princess.” he pulled away from her, standing on his knees. the swordsman. he grabbed the sides of his white shirt, pulling it over his head, throwing it somewhere off into the darkness of the room. next, he untied his black bandana from his left bicep, as he climbed over ( y/n ). he took her wrists into one hand, tying them together tightly to one of the many rails of the bed frame above her head.

“zoro―”

the swordsman took her chin between his thumb and index finger, forcing her to look into his eyes, “impatient and vulgar princesses don’t get to touch. think of it as punishment. you’ll be a good girl for me, won’t you ( y/n )?”

the maiden nodded, as she gulped. she felt a wave of chills crawl down his spine as she squirmed beneath him, her legs threatening to close. “you like when i call you that, huh? you just want to be my little good girl, don’t you? i want words this time.”

“y-y-yes...zoro. i want to be y-your good g-girl,” she stuttered out.

he released her chin, leaving a trail of wet, open-mouthed kisses down her body, stopping at the satin gown that still resided at her hips. his large hands gripped the sides of the gown, sliding them carefully down her legs, dropping it near the side of the queen-sized bed.

he opened her legs once more, leaving a trail of kisses, each kiss becoming rougher than the one before it. as he disconnected, she could hear a loud pop. he whispered, “you are so perfect,” between every kiss desperately as if he were never going to be able to tell her those four words again.

accompanying her deep sighs of pleasure and light pain, was a dark blush of embarrassment on his lover’s face. she could never get used to the swordsman saying such compliments while face deep in her thighs, near her delicate center.

body worship was his favorite thing, both receiving and giving, though he preferred giving. he gave one last rough kiss, before turning his attention to her now soaked panties. he slid the fabric to the side, revealing her glistening folds. “fuck,” he whispered, “i did this to you?’

“s-shut up,” ( y/n ), stuttered out, “don’t get all fucking cocky.”

he shook his head at her, allowing his fingers to spread open her glistening folds, before shoving two of his digits into her hot, wet hole. “nghh...oh fuck,” she breathed out, jolting forward against the restraints.

“what happened to being my good girl? you were doing so well,” he teased, scissoring her folds roughly. he watched with a smirk, watching her begin to lose her mind, her head tossed back in pleasure, as she tried to fuck herself onto his digits trying to match his pace. a tent formed in his pants, being restrained by the fabric of his trousers. when did his pants become so fucking tight? had they always been this way?

“you’re so fucking pretty like this. so. fucking. pretty. i hope you don’t mind me having a taste,” he muttered as he inched forward, licking a long stride up her folds, making her shiver. a loud sigh left her lips, as she pulled against the restraint, only making it tighter on her wrists. zoro chuckled against her heat, the vibrations going through her body.

he pulled away slightly, making her whimper. the swordsman spit between her folds in a way to claim her and her core as his and his alone. she could feel his spit running down her slit. it was always a sign that he would not stop until he was satisfied.

zoro grips onto her thighs, tight enough to bruise as he buried his rough tongue between her folds, drinking in her essence before his lips gently suckle on her clit. ( y/n ) gripped the rails just above her head in pleasure. the swordsman’s ears drunk up every moan, every whimper, and every cry that spilled out of his lover’s lips. he slid two fingers, curling them as his tongue circles her clit.

“zoro, fuck. i’m...ah...i’m so close,” she warned between mewls and pants. he did not stop his ministrations, rather, he continued listening to her sinful voice rising in octaves. his black, lust-filled eyes fixated on the way her face displayed the pleasure she was experiencing. her back arched slightly as her thighs tried to clamp shut, though his hands on her thighs were stronger, keeping her in place as he growled against her center.

“be still.”

her toes curl as a cry that was a bit too loud passed her lips and filled the air. her body squirmed underneath him, reaching that sweet peak. the first of tonight. he placed a kiss on her hip bone before pressing the pads of his three fingertips against her clit, rubbing rapidly. the room filled with overstimulated whimpering echoes of his name. “i know you can cum again,” he spoke, the friction of his calloused fingertips against her bud, ruthless. it didn’t take long for the band to stretch again.

“oh...fuck!”

the second peak. her body wrenched, eyes squeezed shut as she squeezed onto her the rails, the whites of her knuckles beginning to show. faded, white dots danced along the darkness of her closed eyelids, chest heaving in desperation for air intake.

zoro rose from in between her thighs, retracting his fingers, earning a small gasp. ( y/n ) laid there, her chest rising and falling, looking at the swordsman above her. his tongue wrapped around them, his black eyes never leaving his lover’s as he licked them clean, “you are as tasty as you look.”

he reached down, grabbing the hem of his trousers, “if it were any other time, i wouldn’t mind filling that pretty mouth of yours. but i’m aching to be inside of you.”

“finally,” she rolled her eyes playfully. he shook his head, “bratty until the very end, huh princess?”

“you fucking love it, roronoa.”

he smirked, “you bet i fucking do.” he pulled his trousers all the way down to his ankles, allowing his hardened cock to spring free. he pulled his trousers all the way off, flinging them onto the ground.

zoro aligned his head up with her core, rubbing the tip in her arousal to lubricate his cock before slowly singing into her tightness. a light grunt fell past his lips in satisfaction. he buried himself into her ever so deeply, making sure she felt every inch.

“fuuuck...” she mewled, head thrown back in pleasure. he slowly rolled out, only leaving the tip inside of her before snapping his hips forward in a hard thrust. he reached down, grabbing her chin, and planted an open rough kiss to her lips. as he pulled away, a string of saliva had connected their mouths.

each thrust hit the edge of her g-spot, sending shivers down her spine. he knew her body so well. a mix of profanities, moans, and skin slapping against each other filled the room. zoro felt every clench of her walls tightening around his cock, reaching down to rub at her clit. his thumb rubbed messy, rapid circles that had his lover folding in on herself with pleasure.

her eyes screwed shut, focused on the inner fire within her and the sound of the swordsman’s filthy words in her ear.

“if only you could see how you look. the future queen of ( k/n ), losing her mind, getting...fucked by a lowly pirate swordsman under the same roof her parents and fiancé,” he taunted lowly in her ear as he continued to thrust into her, “you’re mine, you understand that? you are my woman. no one else’s. no other royal, no other pirate, not even that damn marine, you belong to me. say it, say you’re my woman.”

“i’m...i’m your woman, zoro! i belong to you!” she cried out, feeling a burning, no, an aching in the lower pit of her stomach. zoro felt her clench around him, tighter than before, almost sending him over the edge. “zoro...i’m going to cum.”

his thrusts turned sloppy. he was just as close to that sweet release as she was. her orgasm hit like a hundred waves, a string of curses left her lips. the swordsman pulled away, pulling out of her just in the nick of time. he took his cock into his hands, jerking himself. white liquid spilled from his tip onto her lower stomach.

the room had gone silent for a second, as the two tried to catch their breath.

“my wrists are feeling a little numb now, can i be untied?”

“oh shit, i forgot. sorry, ( y/n ).”

zoro untied her wrist, retying his bandana on his bicep. he took her wrists into his hands, rubbing them as gently as ( y/n ) sat up. she watched him closely tend to her now-bruising wrists, seeing the admiration and love in his eyes. only near minutes ago, he manhandled her. now he was as sweet as could be.

“zoro...” she trailed off, making him look up at her. she continued, “when will you and your nakama leave?”

his face somewhat fell, “we leave in the morning. but maybe i can get nami to―”

“i want to run away with you.”

⁺◟ BACK TO NAVIGATION . . .

#one piece #roronoa zoro #zoro #zoro x reader #zoro x y/n #zoro x you #zoro scenarios #zoro imagines #one piece scenarios #one piece imagines #fyn #night rather than day ── 𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘰. 𓂃 ★☆

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laequiem · 4 years ago

Text

No tricks, only treats [ONESHOT]

/ Cardan and Jude join the rest of the family to enjoy Halloween in the Mortal World.

Part of Tales from the Mortal Realm, a collection of random moments in the lives of the Queen and King of Elfhame.

"Is it strange that I find you attractive dressed as such?"

I was looking at myself in the mirror, assessing my outfit, when Cardan sneaked into the room. His training with The Ghost was paying off, he was as silent as ever.

"Strange? Yes. Surprising? No."

Read it on ao3

"Is it strange that I find you attractive dressed as such?"

I was looking at myself in the mirror, assessing my outfit, when Cardan sneaked into the room. His training with The Ghost was paying off, he was as silent as ever.

"Strange? Yes. Surprising? No."

I saw him prowl towards me through the glass. He slid his arms around my waist, staring at me through my reflection.

Today is October 31st and Oak insisted we join him in celebrating Halloween. Of course, this means we all need costumes. I decided to go as the one character I knew more than anyone else.

Cardan.

I looked through his wardrobe for my outfit. It was quite hard to find a top that was loose enough to account for my breasts, as most of his clothes were tailored to fit him perfectly. I also found a dark blue coat, its collar covered in iridescent feathers. I gave up trying to find pants in his collection, as my hips would never fit, and just wore a pair of black leggings with black combat boots.

"What do you mean, dear Jude?"

"The only thing you love more than booze is yourself."

He raised his brows, making a show of looking offended.

"Your capacity to lie to yourself will always impress me,” he said then plucked a kiss to my temple, “I love you more than I love wine."

I don’t think I will ever get over him being caring . It felt as if he was a completely different person from the boy who would disturb lessons just to get attention.

Cardan turned me to face him, then inspected my face. “Something is missing.” He took my hand and directed me to his personal vanity. He opened the drawer and pulled out some cosmetics. He lined my eyes with kohl and coated my lashes with dark mascara. I suppressed my laugh when I saw he was so concentrated that he had stuck out his tongue. Then, he took out some glittery gold powder and applied it on my cheekbones.

He took a step back to look at his handiwork and smiled.

“And the final touch,” he said as he plucked his crown off his head and put it on my head at an angle, “Voilà!”

I looked at myself in the mirror. I did not bother with any kind of wig. I put my hair up in elaborate braids, letting a few short curls hang in a few places. Yet, even without his signature dark hair, I still looked like him. I made faces at myself in the mirror, trying to get his grin right.

Finally, I got up. “Your turn now, dearest Cardan.”

When Heather learned that Cardan would be coming too, she started suggesting outfits for him. She even went as far as drawing some of them. Something about his otherworldly looks inspired her. Maybe it's the tail, since a lot of her designs included it: a devil, sexy cat man and my personal favorite, a cute puppy.

In the end, I chose my own, petty idea. I walked in the closet and pulled out the outfit I had the servants clean for the occasion.

“A King needs his Queen,” I grinned as I revealed the Queen of Mirth dress and crown.

Cardan threw his head back laughing. “You sure know how to hold a grudge.”

Thankfully, my husband was a team player, and he went with it. Even in this, he looked strikingly handsome. Or pretty, I guess. Unfair.

We landed in Maine in the early afternoon. It was strange to be awake so early, but Cardan did not seem bothered at all. We met up with Vivi, Heather, Oak, Taryn and Garrett at the entrance to FallFest, some kind of harvest festival that was held every October in the local park. It had everything from harvest contests to food stands, a section with typical carnival games, a small hay maze and even a haunted house.

I was not surprised to see my eldest sister dressed up, she went crazy for Halloween every year. Vivienne would dress up for a week straight before Halloween, even when she still lived in Elfhame. She was wearing a tight black bodysuit with a tail and claws as well as a black leather mask with cat ears. Heather dressed up as some kind of … plant lady? She had a short bodysuit made of green ivy leaves, green stockings and a long red wig. Oak was with them, wearing a reddish pink shirt with a big yellow star on it. I can only assume they went for pop-culture references I am unfamiliar with.

The real surprise was seeing my twin Taryn and her quiet lover also dressed up.

"What are you dressed as?", Cardan inquired, cocking his head to the side, "You ought to have dressed as Jude, you have already proved to be so good at it."

I snapped my head at him and slammed my foot as hard as I could on his. He was joking, of course. But the peace between me and Taryn was still fairly new. We mostly kept to ourselves and rarely talked. Garrett was back with the Court of Shadow and we were friendly, but he kept his professional and personal lives completely separated.

Cardan was hopping on one foot, scowling at me like he did not understand why I was upset. Taryn understood, though. She was sheepishly looking at the ground.

"I… I'm sorry for tricking you, Cardan."

I tried finding something to say to end the awkwardness. I wanted Cardan to apologize for what he said, but I knew he would not. Fae don't apologize.

Thankfully, Vivi broke the silence. "C'mon guys, we're here to HAVE FUN!" she complained, "What ARE you two dressed as?"

"Phantom of the Opera." Garrett replied.

"Nerds."

"Says the one dressed up as Catwoman." Garrett mocked.

The bickering continued, though less mean-spirited than Cardan’s original comment, as we walked down the main path. Our first stop was the pumpkin carving station. Each couple got their own pumpkin to carve, though Vivi and Heather’s pumpkin was mostly Oak’s handiwork and the couple making sure he did not stab himself. Taryn and Garrett made some intricate flower design on theirs, Garrett being the one doing the carving of course. As for us, well… Cardan had creative ideas, but no skills with a blade, and my skills were more of the stabbing variety. We settled on giving our pumpkin a traditional jack-o-lantern face.

After the effort of carving pumpkins, we were starving. Oak was complaining, dragging his feet on the ground so much that Vivi and Heathers were holding both of his hands to pull him along. Behind them, I saw Taryn with her arm looped around The Ghost's.

I was suddenly very aware that Cardan and I were the only ones not holding hands.

Nobody knows us here. We needn't keep the appearance of the power couple, together to rule and nothing else.

I took my hand out of the pockets of my borrowed coat and tentatively brushed my fingers against Cardan's hand. I saw him whip his head towards me, and I blushed when I witnessed the surprise in his face. Soon enough, he smiled. One of those smiles he kept for me and only me, blissful and happy. The smile he gives me when we have the time to spend hours cuddled together in bed, enjoying each other's presence.

Cardan took my hand and squeezed. I squeezed back.

We spent the rest of the afternoon eating good food, trying to guess the weight of giant pumpkins and visiting a haunted house. Cardan was fascinated by the weird human traditions and absolutely ecstatic about the food. Pumpkin-spiced flavored food will become the new trend in Elfhame, judging by his reaction.

When the sun started to go down, Taryn and Garrett left for Madoc’s, who decided to try giving out candy to the trick-or-treaters. Heather and Vivienne had initially volunteered to take Oak trick-or-treating himself, but when one of their friends invited them to a party, we offered to take him instead. Oak was excited to spend more time with me and “Uncle Cardan”.

I had not gone trick-or-treating in...10 years? Maybe 12? Since my parents died. Cardan, obviously, had never gone. So, dressed up as each other, with Oak dressed as some cartoon character, we roamed the residential streets of the city to beg for sweets.

“If it is called ‘trick-or-treat’, does that mean I can make bargains if someone refuses to give me candy?” Cardan asked as we watched Oak go up to a house.

I gave him my best ‘I’ll-strangle-you-if-you-do’ stare. “No. No turning people into cats, no curse making them hear imaginary insects buzzing around their ears.”

“Why is it called trick-or-treat, then?”

Vivienne told me they had to explain this to Oak, too, a few weeks ago. Someone at school had mentioned being excited to go trick-or-treating and my brother had been very confused.

“I don’t know.”

Cardan hmmed and smirked, “Perhaps the Folk were involved when the holiday was first established.”

I crossed my arms.

“If that’s the case, not all traditions need to be brought back.”

He laughed at that, then reached around me and pulled me closer to him.

“You win. I won’t trick anyone,” he crooned in my ear, “but I want a kiss for being well behaved.”

I rolled my eyes dramatically. “So needy.”

Once again, I had to remind myself that nobody knows us here. Nobody recognized our costumes today: in the mortal world, dressed as each other, we were only The Guy In An Ugly Dress and Fashionable Emo Boy. Nobody knew we are King and Queen of Elfhame, therefore there are no expectations to be the hedonistic king and his murderous wife.

I slid my hand behind his neck and pulled him down. I felt him smile as I captured his lips with mine.

“Ew, gross!” Oak’s voice came from the other end of the driveway, “Stop that, come here.”

Reluctantly, we pulled away from each other and looked towards the house. Oak was in front of the opened door, talking with a couple.

“Honey, look,” the tallest woman exclaimed as we walked down the driveway, “She’s dressed as High King Cardan!”

“Oh my god,” the other one replied, sounding so very human, “that sounds kind of profane. Do you think he would have her hung for this?”

As I looked at the two women, I realized that Oak had stumbled upon the house of a Fae couple. They saw through his glamour, and he saw through theirs.

“This is my sister Jude,” Oak started, “and this is my Uncle Cardan.”

Both females had gone completely still and were staring at Cardan with wide eyes. Simultaneously, they bowed deeply.

“Forgive us, Your Majesty. We weren’t expecting you.”

“We so rarely see our kind around here,” the shorter one said nervously, “we… wanted to meet who little Oak was with.”

“We have tea, if you would like.”

I dared a glance at Cardan and noticed he seemed amused. Was he delighted to make them uncomfortable?

“That won’t be necessary,” he said as he took my hand, “My wife has us on a tight schedule, we have other houses to visit. Have a nice evening.”

I caught the emphasis on wife and realized they only recognized him as royalty. ‘ Your Majesty ’, singular. I could tell from the two females’ expressions that they also understood their mistake. I felt bad for them knowing they had no ill intent, probably unaware of the situation in Faerie. Yet, I could not help the grin that crept on my face. I worked hard to become High Queen. I fought and killed my way through the ranks, almost dying. Multiple times. I made decisions that will haunt me until the day I die. I am High Queen, and the Folk must know.

“It was nice meeting you,” I say as I take Oak’s hand, “You are welcome to visit us at the palace if you wish.”

My memories from before Faerieland were to blurry, I did not remember getting so much candy. Did Taryn and I get that much? How could we possibly have eaten all of that? Cardan and I each had a smaller bag, only accompanying Oak to some of the doors, but Oak had multiple full bags. Once he went to sleep, Oriana was more than happy to give us some. She had learned how bad candy was for children’s teeth - even little Fae kids. She filled little bags for us to take back to Elfhame.

Like anyone eating candy for the first time, Cardan went a little crazy. He wanted to try everything. Faeries might be different in a lot of ways, but I now have proof that chocolate is addictive even to them.

The High King of Elfhame ate so much candy that he fell asleep on the couch, to the former General’s dismay.

#tfota #the folk of the air #cardan #cardan greenbriar #jurdan #judecardan #jude duarte #the cruel prince #the wicked king #queen of nothing #holly black #fanfic #fluff #laequiem

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mst3kproject · 4 years ago

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The Astral Factor

This movie has a great deal to offer the MSTie. It was written by Arthur C. Pierce, who did the same job on The Human Duplicators, and it can boast the presences of Leslie Parrish of The Giant Spider Invasion, Frank Ashmore of Parts: the Clonus Horror, and Rayford Barnes from Mitchell. The premise is ludicrous but presented with a perfectly straight face, and the whole thing just oozes 70’s-ness.

Roger Sands is a man of many talents, the most important of which for our purposes is his ability to become invisible in a shower of disco sparkles. This allows him to escape from prison, argue with his mother’s ghost (who apparently throws bangin’ parties in the afterlife) and go on a killing spree. The cops know who they’re hunting because he’s left fingerprints all over the place, but they have no idea how he’s moving around unseen. Fortunately, the prison psychologist knows some psychics who might be able to help them out… but will they be in time to save the various celebrities Sands is stalking, women who remind him of his own neglectful mother?

The main impression one gets from The Astral Factor is that it’s a parade of clichés. The first victim is killed in a bubble bath. Chuck the detective gets dragged out of bed to come investigate the case, which makes his girlfriend pout because she was hoping for sex. The killer is obsessed with his mother. Dogs and birds can sense Sands’ presence when he’s invisible. Chuck’s girlfriend is a terrible cook. That sort of thing. None of this needs to kill a movie, of course… clichés become clichés because they work.

Much worse for the movie is that it isn’t very interested in its characters. Sands’ backstory is that his mother was a movie star who thought it would ruin her career if it came out that she’d been briefly married and pregnant at the age of seventeen. She therefore distanced herself from him, leaving him feeling unwanted and invisible (insert giant blinking neon sign that says METAPHOR) until he finally got fed up and strangled her. This isn’t a bad setup for a movie’s serial killer, but the narrative doesn’t do much with it. Sands has a list of women he wants to murder, but we never find out what makes them good potential victims beyond simply being famous blondes. Surely there should be some moment of recognition, some sin they’ve each committed against their own families, but apparently ‘famous and blonde’ should be enough.

Opposed to Sands is, of course, Chuck the detective. He comes across as kind of a jerk but he does seem to love his empty-headed girlfriend Candy. I think his arc is meant to be that he starts off skeptical of the paranormal but is eventually forced to believe, but this is pretty badly mishandled – when the prison psychiatrist talks about Sands’ interest in psychic phenomena, Chuck seems bored rather than disbelieving, and when a man demonstrates telekinesis in front of him, he accepts it but looks entirely unimpressed. He never seems to be really affected by the phenomena he encounters. Instead of a man whose worldview is shaken to the core, Chuck appears to be merely annoyed that this is yet another thing he has to deal with.

The other possible arc Chuck has is that Candy suggests he get a job with ‘normal hours’ so that she no longer has to make coffee for his co-workers when they come to tell him about a murder in the middle of the night. He says he’ll think about it, but there’s no follow-up.

Finally, there’s Christine, the potential victim that we’re supposed to get attached to and worry about. She’s a spoiled trophy wife who hangs around in her mansion drinking while her husband, who lost all interest in her once she turned thirty, is out of town. The problem with her is that she doesn’t have much by way of a personality. In one scene she’s grateful for the cops protecting her, in the next she’s telling them to piss off and let her go shopping in peace, and then suddenly she’s sobbing in her room. Are these supposed to be mood swings? It feels more like neither the writers nor the actress cared enough to figure out who she is.

I guess that brings us to the movie’s misogyny, which is as rich and gooey as the inside of a lava cake but does not taste like chocolate. First of all, Sands’ problems are said to be his mother’s fault – she abandoned him, leaving him no choice but to murder women who remind him of her! The prison psychologist specifically absolves Sands of responsibility for his own crimes. He cannot be reformed, he cannot be helped, he must be locked up because his mother’s selfishness (more interested in her own career than in raising her son) destroyed his mind. Never mind that there are people with neglectful or even abusive parents who don’t grow up to be serial killers.

The women Sands kills are celebrities – models, dancers, actresses, socialites – because they remind him of his fame-obsessed mother. But as I previously mentioned, they’re not really all that like her. We don’t see any signs of any of them having families they neglect. The only one who even seems to have a husband is Christine and it’s him who neglects her. Perhaps the point is supposed to be that Sands has misjudged them, but we don’t see any signs of them being better than his mother in this respect, either. Most of them seem to have avoided children in order to focus on their careers. Perhaps in the mind of a male writer in the 70’s, this is itself a sin.

Certainly the movie is not interested in these women as characters. I’ve already discussed Christine, but there are others. The first one comes home, takes a bath, and dies. The second one is working on a painting when her dog runs off – she chases it, and she and the dog both die. The third is the dancer at her rehearsal. She has the creeps for no reason, does her rehearsal, and dies. The emphasis is always on their bodies: they’re sexy, then they’re dead. The sequence with the dancer is particularly weird, with her male partner representing the devil dressed in some kind of bondage getup.

The most frustrating thing about The Astral Factor, though, is that it really doesn’t know what to do with its premise. It keeps bringing up interesting ideas about what a psychic murderer might be able to do, and then just drops them.

The opening scene, in which Sands escapes from jail after telekinetically beating up his cellmate with furniture, seems to promise us a much more exciting movie than we get. After escaping, Sands visits the cemetery and his heart-to-heart with ghost mom is interrupted by a security guard. Sands uses his powers to push the guy into an open grave and bury him alive! I wanted to see more of this kind of thing, but after that Sands seems to forget he can do anything besides the ‘becoming invisible’ thing. Later victims are either beaten or strangled, as if they were killed by some loser who doesn’t have any psychic powers. Perhaps he has to strangle the women because that’s how he killed his mother, but he does the same thing to bodyguards and boyfriends when we know he has more creative means at his disposal.

The rest of the movie is also at odds with the title, which suggested this would be a movie in which Sands sits in jail the whole time, astral-projecting himself into his victims’ homes to strangle them. This idea is discussed, but it is in no way what happens so I’m not sure why they brought it up. There are a couple of reasonably effective scenes, as when it’s implied that Sands is invisible inside his first victim’s apartment but we can’t be absolutely sure until he starts interacting with objects. The bit where the dancer is strangled onstage and people don’t intervene because they think it’s part of the show… that’s another cliché but it works all right.

The Astral Factor also has no interest in how psychic powers work. They’re shown to require great concentration for the guy demonstrating them at the institute, but Sands seems to throw things around effortlessly. Why is that? Where did he get these powers? Just by reading about them? Can anybody learn to do this or just certain people? If the latter, what makes Sands special?

In trying to catch his invisible killer, Chuck shows very little creativity. I can think of a bunch of ways to try to thwart an invisible man. What about filling a room with mist or smoke? What about scattering flour on the floor to show his footprints? What about physical tripwires? None of these are ever suggested. Nor does anybody ever come up with the idea of fighting back psychically. If anybody can learn these powers, that could have been a cool thing for Chuck to have to do – not only come to terms with the fact that this exists, but having to figure out how to do it himself! Or if only special people can do it, why not hire one of those psychics the scientists were working with? If a parrot knows there’s an invisible man there, surely another psychic could figure it out!

The way they do eventually catch Sands is by having Christine speak to him as if she is his mother, which prompts him to reply, and the sound of his voice tells the cops where to aim their guns. This works, but it’s not nearly as interesting as some of the other possibilities and does not reveal anything new about Sands himself.

Watching people get ‘strangled’ by something invisible is always fun, and The Astral Factor has a couple of really funny special effects (I especially like the cellmate pretending to be in a fight with his mattress), but mostly the movie is a disappointment. It had potential to be way scarier and way more fun if it were willing to explore its premise a little more deeply, but all it really wants to show us is blonde women getting killed.

#mst3k #reviews #episodes that never were #the astral factor #70s

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neokad · 3 years ago

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Touhou VI: The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil - or my first journey into a bullet hell game

Touhou is that one pew pew game series with cute anime gals, right?

Source: https://pixiv.kurocore.com/illust/54033795

Just like what I think are many people, that’s pretty much all I knew about the franchise as a whole! And to be honest, for a long long time, I was AFRAID of going any closer to anything Touhou-related! Because of them being bullet hecks, they seemed like the most frustrating and unfun games I could possibly be playing! But then... time passed... Fast forward to somewhere in 2020: I was watching the biyearly Games Done Quick event, and one of the first runs showcased during it was none other than Touhou Luna Nights! But while the speedrun itself was very impressive, the thing that really captivated me was well... everything else! Even though this was only a Metroidvania fangame, IT LOOKED LIKE SO MUCH FUN! The graphics, the special effects, the mechanics... everything just seemed like a dream! In spite of that, I only picked the game up and played it about a year later, thanks to a Steam sale! And to keep things short, I ADORED it. It was a bit too short, but everything else was spot on, and even better than I thought it would be from what I saw at GDQ! But that’s sadly a review for another time :( Because I literally fell in love in this game, well... I thought “screw it, I’ve been morbidly curious for years now, let’s actually try a freakin’ Touhou game!”

And so, after some research I’ve learned that the sixth game - the first one released on Windows PCs! - was the one that served as inspiration for Luna Nights as a whole - its characters, music, stage aesthetics and more! It just seemed natural to settle with this one~

How did it go? What did I think about it? Well, that’s why we’re here: those are my thoughts about Touhou VI: the Embodiment of Scarlet Devil.

Now for a pointless history lesson: as I said earlier, Touhou 6 was the very first game published for Windows PCs, all the way back in 2002! The five previous games were actually exclusive to a Japan-only machine, the NEC PC-98, a line that prevailed strongly in Japan before Microsoft conquered the world. As such, it’s really the first game that’s still relatively accessible today, as PC-98 emulation is... not really a stable thing yet -_- So even though this wasn’t quite true, it’s as if I started my journey into Touhou with the original! And once I started playing, I was honestly surprised at one thing once I hit the title screen: this game actually has lots of options to make the experience easier or harder!

I know that being able to change your starting lives, starting bombs, choose your overall difficulty and such isn’t groundbreaking at all, but honestly? I didn’t expect things to be so customisable in a bullet heck game series - a genre that’s known for being merciless to players! I did decide to go on Normal to have the “intended” experience, but things aren’t as daunting as you may think!

This game also allows you to play as not only Reimu, the poster character of the franchise, but also Marisa! Both of these girls also boasts two different weapons each, with their own strengths, weaknesses and bomb attacks! Again, I genuinely did not expect so much breathing room even though looking back... I feel like I should have : P

Once I actually started playing the game itself, there’s yet another thing that surprised me: the difficulty curve... it’s... manageable??

Now granted, I’m a person that plays a *lot* of games, and on top of that, I play lots of action games as well, games that require quick reaction times, good pattern reading and so on so forth. So there’s a chance my judgement on the game’s difficulty might be wrong or biased... but to me? Embodiment of Scarlet Devil actually has a good difficulty curve! The first stage of the game has many enemies that can shoot many bullets, but they’re slow, predictable and relatively easy to avoid because you have lots of space to maneuver around! On that same train of thought, Rumia, the first stage’s boss, certainly doubles down on the number of bullets she can throw at you. But, their patterns are once again pretty slow and predictable, making things much more comfortable at the start of your adventure!

But hold on a minute here, how does this game actually plays? Well, this is where I need to let out a horrifying truth:

Touhou is actually really, REALLY fun.

At first it does seem like a pretty standard shooter: you shoot at things, dodge bullets, collect power ups to boost your weapon’s strength, and make sure you don’t die too much in order to reach the final boss in good shape. However, what I ended up loving about Touhou are its many, many mechanics that spice things up beautifully! The first one I wanna focus on is “Grazing” and it’s actually pretty simple: if you do your best to get close to a bullet or a laser without touching it with your (very small!) hitbox, you graze that bullet! Not only will a satisfying sound effect play out each time you graze something, you will also gain points each time you do this maneuver, making it essential for a high score, and especially, to gain extra lives faster! Secondly, there’s bombing! I am totally repeating myself here, but while each character has a different kind of bomb to their disposal, they each function in relatively the same way: you get to launch a strong attack against your opponents, get invincibility frames, and on top of that, get rid of any bullets that are currently on the screen! I love bombs in this game because they create a great balance: you can totally use them for offensive purposes, buuuut they also serve as a great defensive clutch if you just find things too difficult at the moment. Bombs even have two extra layers to them! When you will get hit and lose a life (and believe me, you will) your bombs will get refilled back to three, urging you to not hoard them too much even if you’d prefer to save them for a tougher part. Because if you die, you might just “waste” bombs in a way! However, here’s an advanced kicker: if you manage to hit the bomb button just as you are hit by a projectile (8 frames within death I think!) you not only are able to save yourself from losing a life, you also won’t lose a bomb at all, either! This is a very difficult trick, but a very cool and potentially important one if you plan things out in the heat of battle ^^

Then there’s a mechanic that, to my knowledge, got introduced in EOSD: the POC, as in Point Of Collection! Now, as you destroy the many enemies after Reimu or Marisa, they naturally drop many power ups and point icons, and because there’s many of these you’re bound to miss them. However, this is where the POC comes in: if you are at full weapon power, you will earn the ability to collect every icon on the screen! This makes sense and is actually very smart, because most players - myself included - tend to hug the bottom of the screen as bullets are more scarce and slower here. BUT reaching that POC close to the top of the screen is a great way to incentivise players to risk things in order to get a massive amount of points and gain extra lives way faster! And finally, as soon as you do reach that max power, the game will automatically wipe every single projectile off the screen, so it’s even possible to time when you’ll get your final power boost to make things easier on yourself!

All of those mechanics together make Touhou EOSD a pure joy to play! It’s simple on the surface but has such interesting mechanics and risk-reward elements that can push you out of your comfort zone, but never forces you to! And sure enough, I got addicted~

Even though I did say that the game had a good curve and started off not too difficult, it does not mean that your journey will be easy: even early game bosses such as Cirno and Meiling took me lots of practice to get consistent at, by studying their patterns and testing out which strategies worked the best for survival. And eventually, even Patchouli and Sayaka’s stages will test you out with lots of predictable-yet-deadly bullets to test out your screen reading skills and even reflexes.

Touhou may be more accessible than I thought, but do not be mistaken: on Normal, this game will still challenge you, and I absolutely love it for that <3

Another thing that helps this game out is - please pretend to be surprised - the music. Touhou has always been known for bringing some very good tunes all around, but besides Luna Nights’s incredible soundtrack, I actually never got to listen to any of them besides Bad Apple and one fanime opening my bestie sent me one year ago. And well... it’s true!

The game uses some very artificial, even out-of-tune instruments for its music, but strangely enough, it REALLY works! It gives the music a very nostalgic, warm feeling that’s hard to describe, but it works so well at making those songs catchy as all heck! It also helps that the compositions themselves are pretty strong and surprisingly complex for its genre, too! I would pick a favourite theme to show off, but the soundtrack’s just really consistent and good all around!

Sadly, I mostly cannot say the same for the game’s presentation. This game is a PC app from 2002 and it sadly somewhat shows. I’ll even bring a special mention to the in-game portraits, which are hilariously HORRIBLE! Thankfully dedicated fans have made a patch to improve the game’s visuals so that they’re more in line with later titles, but at base it’s really not the prettiest gem visually...

...except for the spell cards, the bosses’s strongest attacks, which are genuinely gorgeous multicolored motives that will struck you in awe before you are inevitably destroyed by them, it’s great! My favourite is the one you get from Meiling’s mid stage encounter, pictured above!

Before wrapping up this long, long post, I do wanna add this: the game will unfortunately only give you the good ending only by playing on Normal and above, and only if you beat the game without using any continues. This is called a 1CC, or 1 Credit Clear. Even if I don’t think the bad ending’s actually that unsatisfactory, I did want to get better at the game! So I practiced for many hours a day for a couple of weeks, memorized each boss’s patterns, learned where to graze, when to optimally reach the POC to get as many points as possible... this game pushed me to get better with an incentive, a reward waiting at the end, on top of the satisfaction of simply cheesing what used to be so difficult at some point and... well, I think this is the proof of a well-crafted game right there. After many failed attempts, I finally managed to 1CC this game (pictures below!!) and it was, genuinely, one of the most satisfying moments in my gaming life <3

So... yeah. I might be a Touhou fan now. Welp.

Touhou VI: The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil was such a pleasant surprise for me: I expected a game I’d find somewhat boring at best and frustrating at worst, but I ended up having a very, very good time, and honestly? It’s not as hard as you’d think it is! You can beat a Touhou game, so long as you are interested in practicing and getting better, and I promise it’ll feel rewarding in the best of ways <3

I just wanna say thank you to Luna Nights and Team Ladybug, because without them, I would have never been curious and then surprised by how cool this game is. Thank you <3

And many thanks to you, the reading, for staying until the end! Thank you for reading!

#long post #touhou #touhou eosd #eosd

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teamsarawatshusband · 4 years ago

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Word Of Honor - 1st watch insta thoughts - Episode 5

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

FYI (If you haven't read the previous summaries): Smirky Xing = Wen Ke Xing, Baby Xu = Zhou Xu/alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy, pleated skirt soldier boss guy = shen something, 5th brother from 5 Lakes

But let’s get started with Episode 5:

Okay, pleated skirt soldier boss guy chases the grandparents away and then wants to take the two mini wangjis with him. But the tree undies master guy isn't having any of it. So pleated skirt soldier boss guy isn't on anybody’s side. I see.

And there is another mention of 5 lakes abusing their power. Ominous.

The kids even wanna stay with tree guy. Must be bad.

Oooooh, pleated skirt soldier boss guy is indeed after the glazed armor.

Oh, uncle Zhao and his peeps and everybody come to the rescue.

And uncle Zhao respects tree guy's wish to keep the wangjis. Is he genuinely a nice guy or just worried about everybody around, including Baby Xu and Smirky Xing and the kid?

Ooooh, super pretty scenery. Why can't we all live in places like that?

Wheee, they get to feast with the family. And Smirky Xing is reciting poetry again. Everybody likes him it seems.

LOL, Smirky Xing is trying to feed Baby Xu. Who must get headaches from all the eye rolling.

Yo, what's up with tree undies master guy, why is he coughing?

Wait, are the little Wangjis also the kids of some 5 lakes brother? (Sorry, random thoughts about how things piece together, and lots of confusion)

Somebody's shouting for help. What's happening?

Young leader of something something, it was gone too fast. He'll be called magenta leader guy, if he ends up important. Ah, wait, he's from Broken Sword Manor. Have we been there before? I forgot.

Oh and he's chased by a ghost. And there's the smiley potato things flying in again. So the red masked ghost gang?

Oh, okay both magenta leader of broken sword manor guy and tree undies master guy vanish in the fog.

Pleated skirt soldier boss guy acts like an ass around the kid, encouraging him to drink along while drunk himself. What a jerk.

Uncle Zhao saves him and sends both to bed - individually i mean, obviously - , and seems genuinely nice, but I don't trust him still.

Whoa, pleated skirt soldier boss jerk guy is awake and just pretended! Even more of a jerk. What is he up to?

Oh, Baby Xu spots him and follows. Thank goodness, somebody needs to keep an eye on the mean guys.

There's some masked dark figure fighting with pleated skirt soldier boss jerk guy.

Something is going on at the main gate, and everybody runs there. Except maybe Smirky Xing, he's just cautious in general.

Oh no, somebody hung tree undies master guy outside the main gate. And it's raining smiley potatoes. Baby Xu is watching and they're all suspecting some happy ghost, because there's a batman-joker smile carved into the dead guys' faces. And happy ghost is apparently one of the masked ghost gang, which makes sense, because of the potato smiley paper crafts.

Oh, now they're worried about the kid. Was it a trap?

No, he's with Smirky Xing and Baby Xu. How did Baby Xu get back there so fast?

Okay, Smirky Xing says some masked ghost guys were going after the kid but were bad fighters and he instantly chased them away. But can that be trusted? If he himself is nuts guy, they wouldn't fight him, would they? But then again... if he were one of them, why would he spare the kid? None of this makes sense.

Okay, magenta leader guy isn't dead yet. He's in some bed, and somebody is lying in bed with him. Some woman. Who is she? Oh, she says she's a ghost. Wait, does he know her? So has she REALLY died, like a dead ghost, not one of those living ghosts?

Dude, stop begging, if she IS a ghost, she's not gonna let you go, you fool.

Oh, ghost girl channels her inner Arya Stark and drops her face for effect.

And magenta leader guy faints like a good damsel in distress.

Wait, she has a face again, but a different one (I think, not entirely sure) and she's one of the ten devils of ghost valley. A beauty ghost. Yeah, she's really pretty alright. And she's got a ton of friends with her.

Okay, what are they going to do with the unconscious guy? Kill him? They're just sharing make-up tips so far.

Baby Xu is trying to say goodbye to the kid. Aww, but the kid is gonna miss his dads. :(

There's a flashback to some kid crying. There was also a name but I have no idea who he is. Was it Baby Xu?

Baby Xu sees a rooftop and flies up, I have no idea why. Was there something suspcious about the building? Huh?

Oh, somebody's pissed because their glazed armor got stolen. Ah it's pleated skirt soldier boss jerk guy and uncle Zhao who's not pissed just sad. Ohhh, so the ghost guys just wanted to steal the glazed armor and anything else was a decoy. I see.

Ahhhh, Baby Xu is on top of the roof, removing the tiles and listening in on their conversation, right when they say no outsider could know anything. Wow, they sure have a foolproof system.

Ok, 5 brothers of 5 lakes kept the 5 pieces of glazed armor? That does make sense.

Wait, why is nobody confused about pleated skirt soldier boss jerk guy being awake and sober all of a sudden????? Had uncle Zhao known that he was only pretending?

Man, that guy is made of pure anger and insults. If he dies at some point, he's probably gonna explode like a pinata hit by a dozen sticks at once, just because all the anger needs to get out first.

Ok, mad respect for uncle Zhao, because he is indeed a good guy it seems. He is capable of feeling guilt, and he doesn't want anything to do with the glazed armor anyway.

Okay, pleated skirt soldier boss jerk guy from now on will be called a-hole guy. Because, if the shoe fits...

BabyXu sees Smirky Xing flying away and is confused as to how he could also eavesdrop without being noticed by Baby Xu. I mean, that was Smirky Xing, wasn't it?

Oh, smirklord flying over the tree tops.

Yeah, Baby Xu, I wanna know too what Smirky Xing is up to.

Aww, "our little cheng ling". Smirky Xing is already feeling their dad status.

Oooooooh, Smirky Xing saved Baby Xu from the spiderweb wire stuff.

Okay, some ghost talk, I have no clue what's going on. lol

I'm focusing on the important details. Like Smirky Xing fishing for info on Baby Xu's virginity.

Wait, who's bleeding from above?

Ah, there's the sleeve cutting. Yes. Nice.

Oh the dead guy in the tree is the son of uncle Zhao? Wait, was he fighting with the dark masked guy? Not a-hole guy? Did I get them confused? I am so unable to understand anything, lol. I hate being faceblind. Somebody please let me know in the comments who did what while the manor was under attack.

Okay, dark masked guy's face is also shown and Bab Xu drops a name. I have no idea who that was, nor do I recognize the face. I'm so bad at this. Help?

WTH is "iron hook"??? Is that some special martial arts technique that only a few people can do?

Now they're speaking in riddles about animals. Owls, cicadas, yellow sparrows, praying mantisses. I have no idea what's happening. But it seems to be some sort of flirting.

Ok, now Smirky Xing says he's afraid of ghosts. I'm not sure if I believe that. He’s kinda looking a lot like nuts guy, after all, who is part of the ghost gang himself.

Oh, sure. When you're afraid of ghosts and more people dying... just go into the coffin house, because that makes so much sense.

Ooooh, Baby Xu saved Smirky Xing from the spider web stuff this time. Niiiiice.

Aww, they're asking each other who they are. So... does that mean Baby Xu is interested after all? Hehe

Smirky Xing answers that he's a good person. Yeah, like that's not the exact thing a bad guy would say. Not suspicious at all.

Why are there paper animals all over the place anyway? Can anybody tell me?

Also, who lit the incense sticks?

Why are they splitting up? That's how you end up dead in a horror movie, wth???

Wait, what? That's Smirky Xing's dad? His dad looks the same age as him? Is he hallucinating?

Whoa, why is it day time? Ohhh, blurred vision. Definitely something shady going on.

Baby Xu is hallucinating people too, I think. Leader of Four Season's Manor. Is that his dad? Zi Shu, wait, was that Baby Xu's real name?

Anyway, dad guy is doing an Anna impression and asking Elsa Xu to build a snowman.

Oh, Baby Xu saw through the hallucination. Got out of it by cutting himself. He really is into pain, isn't he?

Eww, zombie guys. What did I say about horror movies? But, nice make-up!

Oh no, Smirky Xing is still stuck in the visions.

And, more fabric is cut off. Baby Xu really doesn't like blood. Smirky Xing was not wrong.

HOLY SHIT! Smirky Xing called Baby Xu by his real name while hallucinating. So they DO know each other!!! :O

And THAT'S when they end the episode??? NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

Gah!!!!!

Okay, okay. I'm calm.

So, what have I learned: 5 lakes alliance can't be trusted. A-hole guy is a complete jerk. AND SMIRKY XING KNEW BABY XU WHEN HE WAS A KID!!! Also, side note, I miss my purple queen :(

Goals for the next episodes: Find out how they know each other!!! Also, why doesn't Baby Xu recognize Smirky Xing? Is he also disguised? I still need to work on the name chart thing, because there's new characters showing up in every episode and I'm so lost.

#word of honor #1st watch insta thoughts #word of honor ep 05 #smirklord

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amazingdriverfics · 4 years ago

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Crowned by the devil - ch. 4

Summary: that kiss was a one time thing you conviced yourself. The big question was: will destiny be on your side?

Warnings: mentions to child abuse, heavy making out

A/N: hope you are having a nice day and that you like this!

Previous chapter Following Chapter

This kiss was going to be a one time thing you said to yourself over and over again, fixating it in your head, forcing yourself to believe it and your body to comply, you would fight your hormones and that fucking sexual arousal that suddenly took control over you and your better judgment. The closer you got to the training center, however, the more your confidence shrank, where the hell did all of your self control went? You weren’t a teenager anymore and it wasn’t like you were sex starved, you had a fair share of encounters back in Tatooine, it must be some kind of power that Kylo as the devil had you thought. Much to your demise, there he was in all his glory in the center of the room, this time not with his usual several layered clothing, the man was using a white tank top and some tight set of pants, the sight caused your eyes to disobey your brain as they started to watch his body. He was so shredded, it looked like if he made any kind of sudden movement his tank top would just be completely teared apart. When your eyes met his lower half you noticed how defined his thighs were and more than anything else, how big he was. Cardo was the one to get you out of your head snapping his fingers next to your ears. “Ouch, was that really necessary, jerkface?” you quickly said turning your face to him, your displeasure clear in your features, all you got as a reply was a knowing smirk. You knew you had been caught staring, but you wouldn’t give Kylo the victory of seeing how affected you were by the whole situation. When you finally gathered the courage to look at Ren, he had the same cocky smile on his face he had had when he left you breathing hard in front of your quarters in the previous cycle.

Ignoring them both, you placed yourself in front of Ren, waiting for Cardo to get into place and tell you what kind of training you would be doing. “Today we’ll train your aim. Some weapons will be displaced in several locations in the arena so we have to be sure that you know how to deal with them. For this purpose, we’ll see how you perform throwing some knifes and how you shoot with a blaster” your mentor slash friend stated. This would be easy. “Initially, you will train with normal targets, after getting a satisfying result, you’ll try to hit me and Cardo. You don’t have to worry about us, however, even if you are capable of doing it you won’t kill us, we’ll be using protection” the man behind you said very closely to your ear making you shiver. After you forced a nod not trusting your voice, the two knights started to move preparing the room for your training. This was going to be a piece of cake, even though you weren’t technically an specialist with knifes you had a pretty good notion in how to throw them, perks of your job and training, and you were pretty good with a blaster, Juney had made sure of it.

You had been living in the streets for a month, surviving on whatever food you could steal or get in someone’s trash. You had been trying real hard to get a job, but no one wanted a homeless dirty girl, specially if that girl was you. Since the day you left your old ‘home’ - if you could even call it that - covered in blood, everyone was scared of you, making sure to avoid even looking your way.

Like every other cycle, you were near a small market in the intention to either take a look at what they had disposed or to take something fresh from it. That was you saw her, the woman you knew from the news circulating your planet, she had won a couple of the famous Tatooine races and had earned a considerable amount of money from them, it wasn’t like she was rich, but she lived comfortably. Her black eyes softened when she looked back at you and, on the contrary of what you had expected, she didn’t turn away. The white haired woman closed the distance between you two and before you could turn and run, her deep and careful voice filled your ears. “You are y/n, right”? as a reply you gave a shy nod, still not sure if you should stay or run away. “I’m Juney, I have seen you on that Hutt place dancing. I’m sorry for what you been through, you are too young to know this kind of pain” she said with a sad voice, once again, you nodded, this time with glossy eyes as the painful memories replayed in your head. “Come with me, I’ll get you cleaned up and give you some food” she extended her hand in your direction waiting for you to hold it. Even though you were not sure if she could be trusted, the idea of being clean and eating something seduced you, so before you could think otherwise you held her hand letting the woman take you to her place.

At first, you had been afraid of trusting Juney, all you had known your whole life was abuse and the thought that she would do the same Kreat had done to you still haunted you constantly. It took her awhile get you to be comfortable at your new home, since she was very insistent and almost forced you to live with her, but with time the two of you arranged a nice routine. She would cook you breakfast while you were doing some chores around the house and, when you were finished, Juney would sit and eat with you. After that was done, she would go to town to take care of the small cantina she had while you practiced some of the workouts she had taught you - she wanted you to be able to defend yourself in case you needed or if someday she wasn’t there for you anymore, you didn’t even like to think about it, Juney was the mother figure you had never had -. When she got back a little before the night came, the fifty-eight year old lady trained your aim with a blaster, once again a precaution that in the future would prove to be very helpful.

-- --

The thought of Juney made your heart instantly heavier, you still mourned over her death, she was the first person to really show you kindness, the only one that you could call family. Your tattoo with her name on your clavicle was a constant reminder of the reason why you were still alive and so capable of doing what you did - survive -.

Shaking the thoughts out of your head, you stared to get make your way to table set near the targets placed by the knights. Taking a look at the black mahogany table you could see a bunch of throwing black knives, picking one of them up, you started to make mental notes about their weight and shape, calculating how it would perform better when thrown and how external factors could influence on them - not that they would interfere right now, but maybe in the arena -. “Ready, troublemaker?”, Cardo’s question brought you back to reality, causing you to look at him and Ren, who wasn’t exactly happy with the interaction, his face was showing some kind of emotion you were still trying to read, but he had seemed to be jealous of your relationship with his knight. Unfortunately, you weren’t able to concentrate on Kylo’s reaction for very longer, since once again Cardo interrupted you.“Ok, let’s get this party started boys” you stated.

One by one your knives found their way to the multiple targets, always in vital places - head or heart -. You were really enjoying the exercise, it brought you inner peace, it connected you with one of the only happy times of your life and for the first time since Kylo started to watch your training sessions, you forgot that he was there and you were able let go of the sexual tension going on between you two, you had even forgotten that Cardo was there. In those moments all there was were you and your targets. This was a part of the reason why you had chosen bounty hunting, sure you did need the money and killing was one of the small amount of things you were truly great at, but the adrenaline and the intense focus and logic necessary to complete every single task brought you back to life and gave you a sense of fulfillment you rarely got, and the most important thing, it made you forget about Kreat and his vicious voice that would often find its way to your head during nightmares. Before you could notice, you had thrown all of the knives ‘killing’ every single one of your targets. With a proud smile on your face you turned on your back catching Cardo with an impressed, yet proud expression on his face and a slightly disturbed Kylo Ren, but, yet again, before you could read what it was about, his unbothered facade was back. “Nice, y/n, let’s see what you can do with a blaster now” your blue eyed friend said handing the weapon to you.

In no time, the targets were once again all ‘dead’, if you were good with knives you were simply spectacular with a blaster. You might not have been able to defeat those man in a hand to hand combat, since they were more trained than you, but with a blaster in your hands you were pretty sure the outcome would be very different. “I think I’m ready to finally kick your asses, boys” you said with a devilish smile on your face, as you were truly excited to beat them both. “We’ll see about that” Kylo’s baritone voice met your ears for the second time since the kiss and you had to fight your body’s urge to respond, but you were most definitely ready for the challenge, you would show Kylo Ren who was the boss. “Bring it on, baby” your defiant tone showing that you were going to make him pay for what he had done to you, not only yesterday, but this whole horror show that you were forced to participate.

-- --

This training session had been an emotional rollercoaster to Kylo, at first, he was really excited to see how y/n would react to him after all that had happened in the previous cycle and it hadn’t been a disappointment, on her way to the training facility he could already feel the anxiety pumping inside of her, but when she finally got there and saw him, the thoughts and feelings that the girl was projecting to him even without knowing - how his muscles made her horny and the internal fight she always had when she felt attracted by him - were feeding his obsession with her. But all good things must come to an end, and it happened when Cardo took y/n out of her trance, not before she could see the smile on his face, the sight of it bringing back the memories of the kiss in her mind.

Things took a different turn when his knight told her what they would train making her mind go elsewhere and the vulnerability Kylo had seen on her features the night when he had touched her ‘K’ shaped scar to be explicit on her face once again. The type of vulnerability that caused his protective side to get the best of him. Tuning in with the force, the dark knight could see the memories replaying through y/n’s head. The way she had been adopted, how she trained to become the woman she was today with all those killing skills, but above all of that, he could feel her mourn, how much she missed the woman called Jurney and he could imagine how much she had meant to the bounty hunter just by looking at the tattoo on her cleavage.

When the h/c haired woman started to shoot with her knives, however, he could see once again how alike they were. Just like him, she used training to distract herself from all the demons haunting her, the effort brought them both a sense of peace they hardly ever felt. And just like all the other times he had seen her skills, he was very aroused by the scene, the way she got every and each one of the targets was truly impressive and Kylo was hardly ever impressed. That was one of the things he liked about her, differently of most of the people he was surrounded by, she never failed to impress and surprise the man who had seen and done everything you could possibly think about. He craved her so bad it ached, but he had to be patient and Kylo knew it, she would eventually give in and then, she would realize that they were two forces meant to be together.

His favorite part of the training, however, was when she challenged him and his knight, making everything so much more exciting.

-- --

You were so ready for this, amusement filled your body as you watched the two knights get into their protective and heavy training gear, the equipment would definitely slow their movements even if just a little, it was massive even for the pair. Your pockets were already full of training knives while your holster held your blaster, this was going to be great. “Ready, mister robots?” you asked mocking their ridiculous clothes. “We sure are ready to let you down, troublemaker” Cardo replied trying to get to your nerves, but ultimately failing, you were too confident. “You wish” was all you said back while you waited for them to get into their positions. Soon enough, you were all ready.

Adrenaline was pumping in your veins and you got yourself focused, much like a predator hunting its prey, your whole body language changed, your senses were now sharp and you were in a very composed posture. As they started to move so did you, but you weren’t going to chase them, if necessary they would be the ones to come to you. Your body shifted towards Cardo while getting away from Ren smoothly and soon a knife met your friend’s right leg, but you didn’t give him time to properly react, before he could get away, you picked up your blaster giving a ‘deadly’ shoot directly in his chest. As soon as he left the mat with a grumpy face, your body turned to Kylo, his reflexes were sharper than Cardo’s and you knew that, so you had to get him before he got you. Knowing that he was famous for not being patient, you played with him, aiming in non lethal places and sometimes getting them right, but mostly you ran from him waiting for the moment that he would do something stupid moved by anger. You had had to wait for a while, but eventually, as you presumed, his feelings got the best of him causing him to charge to you. Smoothly you got out of his way, but your plan was busted when a strong arm brought you to the ground with him, quickly you remembered your hand to hand combat lessons with Cado and in instants you were sat in his back with your blaster on his neck and a knife right below his lungs.

“You’re dead” you said trying to ignore the fact that the parts of your body which had touched his were burning and that desire was clouding your better judgment. “Great job” he said, and on the contrary of what you had imagined to see on his features, his eyes were burning with hunger, and you knew exactly what he was starving for - you -. What you, unfortunately, couldn’t deny was that you were just as hungry for him. Cardo was the one to interrupt the intense eye contact going on between you and Kylo saying his goodbyes and awkwardly leaving the room.

Suddenly, Kylo’s body was against yours, on instinct your legs surrounded his hips as your lips met his in a fervent kiss. Your tongues were fighting for dominance while the man rubbed his aching member against yours, causing you both to moan during the kiss. You let your hands explore his wyde back as his plushy lips left yours to connect with your neck, Kylo was sucking and biting on it sending a shock of pleasure right to your needy cunt still grinding with his hard and enormous cock.

“Ahem, Supreme Leader” the disgusting monotonous voice you had wished to never listen again got you out of your trance, automatically making your arousal fade away and causing Ren’s lips to leave your neck now full of red marks as his head turned to face a very angry General Hux. “What is it now, Hux?” the man gritted through his teeth. “If you are done playing, Ren, you are needed in a very important meeting” the general answered clearly disgusted with what he had seen. “Fine, I’ll meet you there, now get the hell away”. As soon as Kylo finished his sentence, he let go of his grip on your hips letting you get back to the ground. So much for your one time thing rule.

As a stormtrooper walked you back to your quarters your mind was trying to answer a big question: were you grateful for Hux’s intromission or not?

#kylo ren #kylo x reader #kylo ren x you #kylo ren x reader #kylo x you #crowned by the devil #armitage hux #general hux #cardo #knights of ren #star wars #adam driver

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nadiaportia · 4 years ago

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Anastasia Devorak - the Devil’s original ally...?

Considering how different Portia’s route is from the Nadia, Asra, Muriel and Julian ones with her being the only one who (until now) is not heavily with one of the Major Arcana and also with Lucio being basically non-existent in her life, it makes sense that the main antagonist in her story line is someone completely different. But instead of it being one of the courtiers, the devs decided to play on her fatal flaw - her secretiveness, specifically when it comes to her past - and introduced her aunt Tasya, first in Portia's eyes as a trustworthy beloved family member only to reveal her as someone... less than trustworthy. The archetype of the Evil Aunt/Uncle has been a trope for centuries, especially if they're rich, a character hasn't been around them for ages and they might or might not have something to do with your parents' deaths. But all the signs up to now in Portia's route point to Tasya not merely being a "personal" villain because she manages to outdo Lucio despite the latter being the main antagonist('s main henchman) and the "personal" villain for Asra, Julian, Muriel and Nadia. After all, she is the only one who achieves the merging of the real and the magical worlds without the ritual nonetheless - pretty impressive.

But what's even more unique about Tasya is that her personal end goal isn't the merging of the worlds for the benefit of the Devil but exclusively for her own. Yet she seems to be familiar enough with at least two crucial figures that were a part of the original ritual: Lucio and Valdemar, in the latter's case to the point where she even communicates with them in the dungeon.

Neither the apprentice nor Portia see the person Valdemar is speaking to, while they seems to know exactly who they are dealing with and vice versa. Important to note is that Valdemar speaks to the voice like an equal; a sentiment that is never once given to the other courtiers, and since Valdemar is pretty much the most competent among them, as well as the oldest (and most dangerous) demon, whoever that person is... they got to be a big gun. In hindsight though, Tasya is the only one who could've been that person.

There is no reason for the mystery person to prevent Valdemar from discovering Portia and the apprentice, except if either are either of relevance (the apprentice, after all we did cheat death with Asra's help) or have a personal connection to the voice (Portia). It also confirms the legitimacy of "Auntie Tasya" being the real Baroness Anastasia Devorak, also underlined by the fact that only Portia is able to get through the magical shield at her estate due to being of her bloodline. Her backstory being legit, as in, her really being the older sister to Ilya's and Portia's father, would put Tasya at something between 50 and 65 years, considering Julian is supposed to be in his mid 30s and all sprites have the "older" characters look an awful lot younger than they actually are. It would also make her at least 10 years older than Lucio, who made his first demonic deal at the age of 18. It also wouldn't surprise me if she was referring to him in this particular segment, especially since just earlier, Nadia spoke of Lucio's love for drama involving magic.

Also, one of the one side you have Lucio "magical dead weight" Morgasson and Tasya with this little gem on the other with regard to the apprentice being not-so-dead.

They're opposites on every level; Tasya, born a noble who has enjoyed power and riches her whole life and has been holding onto it and expanding it, able to easily sway and charm people into doing her bidding while still maintaining a friendly air and with a deep and extensive knowledge in magic - and Lucio, disgraced son of a tribe leader who makes deals left and right without thinking of the consequences of his actions even once, essentially a self-made man and also while being able to make fast friends, due to his personality and temper earning more than enough enemies - along with being terrifyingly bad at magic.

What's interesting is that none of the other courtiers knew of her existence until she came to Vesuvia and it wouldn't come as a surprise if...

four of those people happen to be the courtiers and persons number 5 and 6 being Tasya and Valdemar.

As for what she might be planning:

First of all, in Czech "liska" means "fox"... and we do have a Major Arcana who takes the appearance of a fox... second of all, doesn't exactly sound like she was giddy at the prospect of the Devil taking over the realms after the realms merging and him taking over a humans body, doesn't it? Yet this...

sounds an awful lot like someone trying to make the same ritual that was attempted three years ago at the masquerade. Yet this kind of knowledge isn't exactly something you'll stumble upon at the side of the road, which leads to believe that Tasya had someone who would introduce her to this magic and did some research with them, enough to even earn the respect of a powerful demon. This person could be the mentioned Lishka, who could be a Major Arcana in disguise or just a powerful magician.

Or it could be the Devil himself, which would explain how Tasya is privy to the details of Lucio's ritual while not participating in it herself or even knowing the count or having been to Vesuvia before.

Here's what could be a possibility: Tasya was an ally to the Devil a long time ago, long before Lucio made his first deal with him. But even before coming across him she knew he was the real deal, so we can assume she never once made any deals that would end up chaining her to him and eventually turning her into a demon. After all, Tasya puts an emphasis on freeing all humans from death, and from her claim of wanting to harness the Major Arcanas' powers, it's safe to say she's not on their side. Instead of becoming a mere henchwoman or a demon like the others, she stayed on her own side and in the shadows while still fooling Valdemar, who lives for death but in this new deathless world is gonna be jobless, that she was still on their side - if she were an enemy, they would have not bothered with listening to her. She destroys any chance of the masquerade being started so the Devil doesn't have his puppets to prepare the ritual in a way that benefits him but does it on her own instead - in a way that she reaps all the rewards, and the Major Arcana gets the short end of the stick.

Devil!Lucio declared himself a god but that was after merging with the Devil, and Tasya isn't the type of person to share her power with anyone. Who knows, maybe in The Tower we will find the Major Arcana in a similar state the Hierophant was in in Nadia's route.

#the arcana #aunt tasya #tasya devorak #the arcana meta #the arcana theories #anastasia devorak #this got way too long bc i had too much time on my hands but Oh Well

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donotexterminateupgradepudding · 5 years ago

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Lucifer Morningstar is an introvert. A very awkward and unusual introvert.

In an attempt to not create a bunch of random side-blogs, I’m just going to drop this here. Sorry Doctor Who/Torchwood fans.

With the whole covid-19 thing, I’ve been trapped at home more than I had anticipated recently and I was looking for something a bit more fun and frivolous to watch so I finally gave Lucifer a go.

I honestly don’t know why it took me so long to get to this, my brother had watched it when it was on tv and had mentioned it in passing several times. Suffice to say, once I finally gave into Netflix, I found it to be quite an enjoyable watch.

What really struck me in the serious is how it becomes obvious that Lucifer is an introverted character who is hurt. Wait - what you are thinking? He’s an introvert? Oh man, he’s totally a huge introvert.

Let me walk you through why he’s clearly an introvert despite a quick glance at his outward actions.

1.) Hiding in plain sight.

An interesting aspect to his personality is how he hides in plain sight. When he moves to LA, he rents the building that houses Lux and his penthouse suite. Lux is a place where he is surrounded by people, if he wants to partake in revelry all he needs to do is go downstairs and party with people in the club. However, he can also retreat to his place easily which is surprisingly well stocked with books and another piano for him to play in private. I doubt all of his books are for show, he frequently denies thinking deeply about things, but he always seems to be one step ahead of others which has always implied to me he plays the “I’m smarter than I look/act” card. Early on in the show, he occasionally invited people up to his place to party but it wasn’t a common experience. Think of the pizza delivery guy being invited to stay and party.

Despite his love of drinking, drug use and sex, he makes it quite clear that drinking and drug use rarely have an effect on him for long. He is rarely hung over or wasted since his metabolism clears the alcohol too quickly for him to feel it and on multiple occasions he states he mainly drinks as he likes the taste. One of the few times he was high was after he smoked a massive amount of pot at the teenage delinquent recovery farm as indicated by him sitting at the detective’s desk eating potato chips and dipping them in nutella realizing it was an amazing flavor combination. For him, drugs seem to simply be something that is fun and a way to amuse himself and based on his drinking, it is mainly a way to meet and socialize with people.

As far as the sex, it is clear that he uses his casual hook-ups as a fun distraction. To avoid any possible intimacy with others, he hides behind the fact that sex is a pleasurable act and by keeping his sex life 100% casual, no person in his or her right mind would even consider dating him. He has made himself impossible to be seen as possible long term boyfriend in a steady relationship. He likely struggles with his own angelic power to pull out people’s desires and his ability to seduce them. Since his default is to have people literally throw themselves at him, he likely sees most of them acting in response to his powers and necessarily to him as a person. As he wants people to follow their desires and free-will (as he simply removed the inhibitions that were present and did not create them) he gladly indulges them as well as himself. If I were him, I’d be like “well why not?” an attractive person wants to sleep with me, sure do it, no harm, no foul.

I found it most telling based on how sensitive he is to his sexual reputation as well as his ability to meet his current sexual partner’s needs. First off, when a random kid pretended to be him, he was incredibly upset that his imposter lacked his skills. He’s Lucifer Morningstar, he has skills and a reputation associated with them. Secondly, when the detective decided to interview his previous partners for the past 8 weeks (all 92 of them) two things were very obvious i.) he went to great lengths to make sure no matter what he did, that person had the most amazing sex of his or her life ii.) not a single person he slept with saw it as anything more than an amazing night of no strings attracted sex. His actions did not inspire them to want more of a relationship from him. How his facial expression become quite sad as all 92 of them stated it was just empty sex showed how alone he is. Another unusual trait is that he has been the most sexually responsible angel ever. Granted, the vast majority of angels were never going to have sex in the first place, yet he has a much more responsible track record than Amenadiel. It is clear that he has had sex with thousands upon thousands of humans over the years and he never once resulted in a human-angel pregnancy. This may also be linked to the fact that Amenadiel by default, desires a ‘normal’ regular relationship while Lucifer has been avoiding having a “normal” relationship. It would imply that if he found someone to have a kid with, he would be in a “normal” long term relationship with that person.

Overall, his first career on earth was to make sure he had an establishment that represented what he felt others perceived as his core personality, that as the devil, he would have to surround himself by partying and temptations. Owning Lux is a way for him to keep up appearances and maintain his public persona as well as his persona that is seen by celestial beings. Lucifer is a classic example of a character who is totally alone in a crowd.

2.) Few close friends

Another true introvert trait is to have a small tight knit group of friends. Lucifer fits to this exactly. He has excellent social skills, and again due to his former job and his nature, yet does many actions by smooth, polite and calculated actions - from a distance. His job of granting favors is based on how he knows someone, who knows someone, forming a vast network he has to draw upon to make sure that the favors work out the way the person would like them to. He doesn’t do the favors though because he cares for the person, more than he seems to do it to pass the time until he finds a job with more meaning.

It is starting his second job as a civilian consultant for the LAPD that his preference and need for a small friend group becomes obvious. The most obvious one is his relationship with Chloe.

Chloe Decker: He is first intrigued at why his powers do not work on her, his immediate physical attraction to her as well as seeing her as a kindred spirit also drew him to her. She is the outcast of the department and he knows all too well what it feels like to be the literal outcast. As a result of their common situation and the fact he can’t sway her, the two of them can speak openly and honestly. Granted, the biggest issue with his relationship with Chloe is the fact that she denies the obvious truth that he tells her even though she has seen enough evidence that he likely is not some random British guy living in LA running a high end nightclub.

As their relationship deepens he begins to find comfort in the fact that despite his inability to influence her, she still appreciates his company and values him as a friend and a work partner. Even though he panics and holds her miracle status against her at first, he comes to realize she can’t be held responsible for something she has no control of and is unaware of. Linda time and time again tries to get him to realize that he keeps her away due to his absolute fear that she would reject him. Since she’s the only person who could accept him as is, it means her acceptance of him is the biggest risk to his own heart in regards to her.

In part, his complicated relationship is tied to his fear that she would reject him, so him loving and caring for a single person as he does for her is too risky. He’s a seriously hurt dude, he’s terrified of being hurt anymore by someone he cares for. Chloe really takes a long time to realize how deeply he is hurt. I get that she’s his opposite but I do felt out of all of the characters, she got short end of the stick in regards to character development. Everyone else has had major changes and realizations yet she only sort of struggled with Lucifer’s identity in the first half of season 4 and she was off her “mark” when she was a bit preachy with him. Thankfully, she stopped that bit and realized that he more needed her to listen to him and to support him. It really got that concept that sometimes you need to just be there for someone and not try to fix it - since Chloe is a fixer.

Mazikeen: She is his right-hand woman. The only demon to leave hell to follow him to earth, she first acted as his personal assistant, running the day to day operations of Lux and also working as a bartender. Despite all of their conflicts, they care deeply for each other and have each other’s back.

The hardest part of growth in their relationship is when it went from master-servant/boss-assistant to more that of peers. Even as he began to change in how he worked with humans, he keep their relationship as their default from hell. He really hurt her feelings since she developed feelings and both of them are terrible at expressing them to others. They have a relationship and work dynamic that they had for thousands and thousands of years - it is pretty impressive that they are learning and growing in a relatively short time period to respect each other and mature.

I found the most emotionally moving parts between them to be in season 3 when Chloe begins to get involved with Cain/Pierce and he expresses his worry that at least he has her and she’ll never leave him. Maze interprets this as him being selfish and treating her as his number 2. She lashes out at him and all he does is look back at her in return is hurt as he almost quivers. Since she was his right hand woman in hell, she is the person with whom he has had the longest and most trusting relationship with since being cast into hell. Did he phrase things in a way that helped in the situation - no. But was he telling her his honest feelings that he really does feel like she is someone who is always there for him and supports him - yes. When she goes behind his back to work with Cain/Pierce, he’s hurt and feels betrayed. Sure, some of it is karmic payback for the times he’s hurt her, but after his failed experiment with Abel, he has every right to not just pop willy-nilly between earth and hell.

I have the vibe that they will eventually settle into a sibling like relationship treating each other the same way he interacts with his angel siblings like Amenadiel and Azrael.

Ella Lopez: So far Ella has been the only human friend that he has worked with with whom he hasn’t used his angelic charms on. He was uncomfortable around her at first; she’s religious, she’s outwardly friendly and very much into giving hugs. Ella “wastes” her time on what he would see as pointless pleasantries in the office. Yes, Lucifer will lay on the pleasantries, but his always have a purpose - Ella’s are just her being nice. He did like her opinion that the devil got a bad rap, but then she kept thinking he was a method actor in addition to being a nightclub owner.

Despite their obvious differences the two of them are both very straightforward people who have a strong sense of personal justice and are dedicated to solving the crimes. He quickly begins to joke around with her and with her four older brothers, she finds no issue with dealing with his antics - it is more like par for the course.

The fact that Azrael also couldn’t help but become friends with her seems to indicate she has some sort of personality that celestial beings really like, especially those who have the shittier jobs e.g. Lucifer running hell and punishing and Azrael being the angel of death dealing with, well, death. The fact that she made sure Ella would become friends with Lucifer was really sweet and even though he was at first upset since he doesn’t like people trying to manipulate with him, he realized that Azrael’s action was in right place. She got her favorite brother and favorite human to become friends since she knew they would get along even if she couldn’t be with them - you know, having the whole angel of death as her day job.

His love of Ella as a friend though came out when her older brother Jay was in town and mixed up in the illegal diamond cleaning. Yes, he brought his own feelings with his older brother into the mix, but he was correct. Jay is not the absolutely perfect brother, he was involved in shady stuff. I think when he confronted Jay was one of the best scenes in regards to him standing up for and protecting his friends. He made it very clear that if Jay ever hurt Ella again he’d be in trouble as he knew how important it was to her to continue to see her brother in her own most positive light.

I really get the vibe that they feed off of each other being goofballs - Ella was a nerd and picked on as kid and had a lot of issues to deal with. He’s the cast out son, they are both outcasts on the rebound and they like to have fun with each other. This really comes to a head in season 4 when Lucifer, Chloe and Ella go to the nudist colony. Chloe is a complete stick in the mud and by the time she turns around the two of them are naked and ready to go. As adults on their own and away from their family and their former “teenage” issues they finally get to be who they want to be and I just think their dynamic duo antics are adorable. She is the friend that will do silly things with him while Chloe remains too, well stoic. When Ella has her crisis of faith, Lucifer doesn’t fan the flames instead, he’s confused how to react so he doesn’t tell her what to think.

Trixie: She immediately loved Lucifer from the moment she met him. He is incredibly awkward with her. He’s not sure to do with her little kid hugs, he tries to not hold her hand when they investigate the elite private school. Yet, no matter how frequently he calls her a little urchin and doesn’t understand why she likes him, she grows on him.

I personally loved her bedroom sign in the first season - “Trixie’s room - no boys allowed - except for Lucifer.”

Trixie is a classic example of kid radar seeing people for who they are; she accepts Lucifer and Maze with no judgement, she just sees them as these rad adults whom she can play with.

I really liked when he tried to buy her the new doll since she destroyed her old one - in a way he respected her kid logic - did it teach her a lesson - no. But it was a logical extension as a means to an end. He came from a background of illogical parenting so to speak. He dealt with rules that didn’t always make sense it is clear he spent too much time pondering them thus leading to his current situation.

Does he like other children still? Not really, he still didn’t know what to do when he touched a kid’s head with a little pat as his backyard picnic with Cain as he wiped his hand on his sweater. Yet, since he has gotten to know Trixie through his interactions with her it is clear that he likes her.

Dr. Linda Martin: Dr. Martin is my fav female character on the entire show as she is a compassionate, caring and intelligent individual and a secret badass. Her relationship with Lucifer started how all of his interactions with people who desire him do - with her wanting to sleep with him. Over time, she realizes that she can’t and shouldn’t be sleeping with him and he also begins to realize that he can work with her without having to pay her with his body and pay her the normal way - with money. He learns to treat himself with more respect and not just give away himself to her. Showing a bit of a shift in how he sees himself with those he actually knows.

I think she really was his first example of how to have a normal human transaction with well, a human. She is incredibly patient with him and even when he reveals his true self to her, she is able to accept him with a little nudge from Maze. Despite being overwhelmed due to his families odd demands on her and almost killed by his very upset and stressed out mother, she protects him as a client and as a friend.

Sure, he always interprets her advice in interesting ways and she knows him well enough to realize that he avoids things and is in denial but she always still cares for him. He also does frequently figure out what she wants him to realize - he just likes to make it more difficult for himself. I wonder if the more that they got to know each other, his ability to influence her waned as she saw him as more than a playboy and he saw her as a doctor who could help him and later as a good and trusted friend.

Most importantly, she never gives up on him and truly believes in him despite all of his detours and distractions. When he has his identity crisis in season 4, she is the first person he shows his devil wings to. This comes from a place of deep trust in her and even though she can’t help him, she is there for him as a friend.

I don’t think he’d ever admit it to her directly, but Lucifer likely understands that Linda’s friendship with Maze has helped Maze grow as a person - er demon - and her advice has helped him in how he interacts with her learning how to change his relationship with her from boss-assistant to more that of peers and friends.

Dan Espinoza: Oh yes, despite all of their stupid male ego headbutting, Lucifer is friends with Dan and he does care for the man. When they first met, Dan was definitely a being a bit of a dick to Chloe; mainly by keeping his own secrets to protect her even though it drove her nuts. If anything bothers Lucifer more it is people lying and hiding things from him. Lucifer is almost pathological with telling the truth and not lying; and well Dan was not the most honest at the beginning.

So of course, he received full on Lucifer hazing; once the police admin punished him by demoting him for messing with evidence he slowly became more sympathetic to Dan. He did use his skills to get Dan to admit that he wanted to correct his mistakes and when Dan started to lose it with Azrael’s blade, he saw that Dan was a stronger and more complicated man than he wanted him to be. If Dan were a simple man, driven by simple desires and actions, Lucifer could write him off. But Dan isn’t, his biggest change is when he realized he needed to stop calling him Detective Douche and actually call him Dan, in part due to Dan standing up to his teasing.

Was it right for Lucifer to keep up his petty antics for so long? Likely not, but Lucifer learned that some of Dan’s actions and personality traits are actually good things and his day shadowing Dan was annoying for poor Dan, but at least allowed him to realize that not everyone is the same.

Lucifer also has been more honest about his feelings in front of Dan than many others - when they went to get a favor from the Russian mob boss, he freely admitted his own hatred for himself and how he hurts everyone he cares about. If he said that in front of Chloe or Ella, both of them would rush to tell him it isn’t true and he’s being too hard on himself. Instead, Dan kept his distance and realized that both of them think the grass is greener on their side of the fence. Lucifer is secretly jealous of Dan’s more simple approach to things and Dan thinks Lucifer truly is careless and wishes he could be a flippant as he appears to be.

Dan really is a reminder how how Lucifer is unable to open up to others and make himself more vulnerable. Unfortunately, this results in Dan frequently getting hurt and he makes epic bad decisions in season 4 out of grief over Charlotte’s death, blaming Lucifer for all of his pain. But no matter what happens, it is clear that Lucifer would not wish for bad things to happen to Dan as he is a good guy and a capable detective.

Is their friendship a perfect one? Far from it, but both of them really do try to care and support the other guy as long as they aren’t pissed off at each other. It likely doesn’t help that Lucifer’s friendship with Dan is pretty much his only one with a normal human guy. He’s got plenty of angelic brothers and Cain really isn’t normal by a long shot so it makes Dan even more important to have him in his circle of close friends. As a 100% totally normal dude, Dan acts frequently as the ‘in’ to understanding (or really lack of understanding) what is happening.

Eve: I just finished re-watching season 4. I’m still not sure where I’d place Eve in all of this. She’s only in season 4 so far and based on her actions, I’m not sure I’d call her one of his close friends. If anything she was pretty much an impediment to all of his relationships - albeit maybe not quite on purpose . . . she’s a woman who still hasn’t figured out who she is despite realizing she needs to not define herself in the context of a relationship.

Sorry for not having more thoughts on this, I need to ponder it more.

What I will say is that their relationship issues stem from the fact that he is an introvert and she’s an extrovert. He realized that Eve was a “bad” influence on him and he struggled to express his feelings to her. The fact that it takes him shouting out at her that he “doesn’t like who he is when he’s with her” was painfully difficult for him to say. It is clear that he cares about her deeply and he wants her to be happy. Yet, he can’t and really doesn’t want to deliver on her actions or feelings. The worst part is that it tears him up inside since in a way he saw her as a possible long term partner which was a big deal for him.

3.) Works either alone or in small groups.

When it comes to his role with the LAPD, Lucifer’s modes of action are not that of a typical extrovert. He is either working closely with his partner Chloe, or occasionally with Ella or Dan. He is never part of a large group nor is he taking a typical leadership role. Due to his need to protect others and his need to get answers as quickly and directly as possible, he frequently goes off on his own. In part, this is so that he can take full advantage of his angelic powers and immortality, but also to protect those he cares about. Sure, he walks into a Korean gang headquarters and tells them to come out, but he doesn’t try to chit chat or smooth things over with them. He goes in, finds the head boss and pretty much strikes a deal with him that he can’t refuse. When he wants an answer his methods are far too direct. Find suspect/target/person and just question them or threaten them and then question them. There is no charming and social games. He can’t be bothered with banal pleasantries when he wants to know something. If Lucifer were a true extrovert he would want to talk to others and feed off of the energy he gets from being with them - yet - he never has shown this. He sees getting information as a task he needs to complete as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Even though he is hurt when Chloe and Cain become closer and begin to hang out or work cases without him, he still shows up and does work to help out with cases. He also is good at working by himself and is able to work things out when he applies himself.

He also has an excellent sense of intuition when reading people. Of course, one of the major aspects of the show is that he projects his own issues onto others. This leads him off of what they are doing sometimes, so his read isn’t quite right. But he is perceptive when he sees odd behaviors and is able to connect things without full information. This is both what he did with Ella’s brother Jay and more importantly with Pierce/Cain. He invites him for a drink and then stabs him with the knife. He looks incredibly nervous after he kills him as he can’t kill a human as an angel - he keeps switching between trying to be calm and have a drink while he waits for him to wake up with a nervous sweat. Did he know for sure Pierce was Cain? No, hence the nervousness until his intuition was proven correct was his true feelings on his gamble.

Furthermore, when he does work with Chloe or others, he always has their back and will go to any length to work with them. This to me indicates that he finds working with a select few people with whom he can trust is how he is most comfortable and he doesn’t need to be the center of attention and the one in charge like how he was in charge of hell. It is clear that by the end of season 4 even though he returned to hell it wasn’t because he enjoyed to or wanted to - it was because he had to protect everyone he cared about. He also has a natural chemistry and ease working with Chloe where even in tough situations they instinctively know what to do and how to act.

4.) He expresses himself through actions.

Lucifer is an incredibly hurt individual. He was punished by having to take a job that he didn’t even want or even desire and most of his family abandoned him. He’s terrified to open up and show his true feelings and pain to others as they would take advantage of it as a weakness to hurt him further. Honestly, I think he still doesn’t quite understand how his actions landed him in hell. He was questioning the establishment and it is clear he thinks deeply about rules and how they influence others. Anything he thinks is illogical he ignores as he can’t be bothered to care to follow those rules and conventions. I think about how he made Chloe rethink the “swear jar” for Trixie - he pointed out rules without a clear basis don’t make sense.

Since he struggles to express his feelings in a way to help others. e.g. mainly in his denial/fear to tell Chloe he truth does two things; i.) he makes it about him or ii.) he tries to demonstrate through his actions.

The making it about him method, is a subtle way where he wants to know how to solve his own problem to help him understand or interact with others. But since he doesn’t want to say for example “I need to figure out how Cain can die since I promised him and I am true to my word.” he instead hides behind the idea of “I need to find the author’s killer so I can read how she got over her writers block.” By extension, since the manuscript is an instruction guide, he thinks he’ll learn something so that he can follow through on his promise. It is a very obtuse way to act, but since he hides behind his narcissistic facade no one will understand he’s not doing it for himself.

As far as his actions, he really shows it when he reorganizes Chloe’s desk; he realizes that she deals with all the paperwork and since she is capable she gets even more paperwork piled on to her workload. He cleans up her mess and anal retentively arranges her pencils and makes sure the right angles on the files are all lined up. He also found a method of filing that makes more sense to him and it inadvertently helps her find the missing piece of evidence for their most recent case. I liked how he color coded everything. Did he need to add the picture of him in his underwear as her backdrop? Hell no, but he figures out that since she likes him, what’s wrong with her seeing a part of him that she likely will never see.

This also gets him into trouble; again, buying the doll for Trixie, trying to out perform Cain in gifts for Chloe and always seeing things as a competition. He wants to give people physical proof of his care for people without actually saying it. Specifically he wants to express his care through a tangible amount of some sort of physical object.

5.) He hides behind his narcissistic behaviors.

As Lucifer struggles to come to terms with himself and expressing his feelings he has hid behind his narcissism. What is a great way to keep people away from you and keeping your distance from them? Being completely self-absorbed with yourself that no one would ever want to be friends with you. His narcissism is a HUGE turnoff for the vast majority of the population.

It is so clear that he wants to develop close relationships but he’s so afraid of hurting others and even more so hurting himself. He’s hid behind his hedonistic behaviors and his self-absorbed actions for thousands of years. He really is a very particular person; he is constantly adjusting his sleeves under his suit coat, his shoes are always perfect, he moisturizes and his hair is styled elegantly. He likes things arranged elegantly and it shows how important control is to him. If he is 100% in control of everything, again he’s protected from being hurt.

As he works at the LAPD and forms his important friendships, his appearance changes. In the first season, he wears black or dark grey suits, his shirts are white, black, dark purple, dark blue and grey, if I recall correctly. He keeps his look simple and professional, almost cold. His matching pocket squares are also basic and mainly a single solid color with few patterns.

Yet overtime, he becomes more adventurous in his appearance, he starts wearing more light blue shirts, he begins to add in more color with burgundy, forest green, and even a caramel colored suit. His pocket squares become more interesting with patterns and more color combinations. With the increase in color and variety he appears much more approachable and has more of an air of friendliness even though he still only cares for his small group of friends.

A case that was a real struggle for him was with the online dating app for “fabulous” people - Top Meet. He wanted to continue to judge people based on superficial appearances, as it has been his own wall and it has served him well. When they ultimately confront the killer, his own knowledge of nature and narcissists allows him to save the day by tossing the head sculpture at him and the detective can apprehend him.

His car serves as both another front and also shows how he longs for few intimate friendships or relationships. He’s got that lovely little Corvette and it is a two-seater. He doesn’t drive a giant, flashy car that can fit lots of people. Instead, he has a small almost cute (I personally think it is cute) car that only another person can sit in. He only wants to ride with one person at a time as he values his close relationships. Yet, having a car that only can fit one other passenger shows a part of his narcissistic front - that only a person who he’d see as worthy would be able to ride with him.

Overall, by looking at how Lucifer chose to have a job on earth in a nightclub where he could simply hide was the first indication he’s an introverted character. The longer he has been in LA, the more close friendships he has formed and they are very important to him as well as his oldest friendship with Maze. When he realized that Maze was attracted to Eve, he noticed it, but hasn’t made mention of it yet (likely that will happen in season 5). The fact that he noticed it meant he really has stopped seeing her as his right hand woman and more just as an individual with feelings. His close friendships really show that he’s an introvert not an extrovert. It is obvious that he gains meaning and connection from these close relationships in a way he never experienced before. His preference for working either alone or in a small team also shows that he is much more comfortable as well as his preference to express himself through actions as opposed to using words since that is much harder and more uncomfortable. Lastly, by hiding himself from all others behind a self-absorbed image he has been able to keep others away from him for thousands of years.

The major point about his character growth is learning that having a small support group of real friends and family he can find what he’s been looking for. A place to belong and be accepted.

#lucifer tv #lucifer #lucifer morningstar #chloe decker #mazikeen #maze #linda martin #dr. linda martin #dan espinoza #ella lopez #trixie decker

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taerseok · 5 years ago

Text

— shoot me | 02 | j.j.k

↬ pairing:. j.j.k × reader

↬ synopsis:. nothing could've prepared you or Jungkook for the unexpected reunion. Past grudges were waiting to be resolved, but his profane eyes made it clear that he was not going to have any mercy on you.

↬ word count:. 5.2k

↬ genre(s):. (attempted) horror, "mystery", angst, mafia!au, past lovers!au

↬ rating:. pg-15

↬ warning(s):. mental illness, language, mafia stuff, reader's kidnapped, hallucinations are seen, e.t.c.

↬ A/N: Ahhh, thank youu for the support on the last part T T, I lub you!! Goodness I was really nervous to post this part, but here ya go!!! Also, thank you for 100 followers :)

—

Your nerves were killing you. Your toxic thoughts were killing you. As if being kidnapped wasn't enough, Jimin had to say that.

You got up, mustering all the power you had. Your feet hurt, but you managed to limp around the room. Everything blended in with everything else, all things were color-coordinated. You didn't dare to touch the drawers or open them; you were scared you'd find bloody weapons or something. So you had been watching a lot of horror movies lately.

You were scared if Jungkook found out about you looking around the room, he'd think you were snooping. You weren't in the mood to be blamed for anything, but you did want to find out what had led Jungkook to such a devastated position. A billion questions ran through your head at once, most were the same ones recurring.

You wondered how he had gotten to this place, what had happened to his poor mother. You had met her only once in high school, she was beautiful very much like Jungkook himself. She had treated you nicely, despite Jungkook's obvious dislike for her. She had cared for you and complimented you multiple times too, telling you of how she was so 'grateful that Jungkook had gotten someone so pretty and impressive as you'.

Those words were a little empty to you now. When you had heard them, you were initially surprised and gushed over them, blushing and being modest. But if this time you denied them, you wouldn't even be modest anymore. You had certainly lost your shine as the years had passed. You weren't as youthful as before, definitely not as fun. Even though you still considered yourself someone unique, life just wasn't the same anymore.

For one, you had grown up and you knew the harsh realities of life. And second, you wouldn't even mention these things anymore because you envied it. You just envied your past. But there was one thing you never envied all along — breaking Jungkook's heart.

You knew you had done it, you were to blame, but it was to protect him too. You wondered if your decision could really be called wrong. You did everything that seemed right to you, so why wasn't everyone accepting it? You had nothing but good at heart for Jungkook. But the only problem was that he couldn't understand it.

You shook your head to stop your train of thought. Slowly, you made your way to the window, your feet hurting whenever you moved them. It was closed.

It reminded you very much of how Jungkook was; closed. What was in his heart couldn't get out, and what was outside couldn't get in. Much like his feelings. He had forgotten to feel anything else but spite, self-pity and indifference. And that hurt even you.

But where did you lie in the spectrum? Were you on the other side of the window, where he only acted as a cold wind to you? Or were you inside, actually being sheltered and protected by him? That was something you hadn't understood. Neither did you feel like you had the need or right to.

You let out a sigh before attempting to open the window, but it wouldn't budge. It was shut for good. You huffed, shaking your head. You wished some fresh air could be let in. You really needed it.

The cold voice that came next made you let out another sigh of exhaustion, catching you off-guard and stopping you in your actions. “Trying to escape?” the voice was clear as day, and yet it was similar to something you'd hear on a rainy night. It was clouded and conflicted, it held pain and at the same time, it was detatched to reality. You wouldn't call it meek. It was just empty. And emptiness reflected a lot.

You turned around to see Jungkook standing in the doorway. You got exactly what you didn't want. He still had that blank expression on his face, and his eyes, yet still, spoke a ton. One part of you knew that Jungkook wasn't good at lying. In fact, he hated it. And whenever he did lie, you could see his eyes just beckoning you to ask for the truth.

And whenever he did something he didn't want, say something he didn't mean, his eyes would tell you that too. You had known him for years, but everything about him seemed so foreign now. He didn't even feel like him anymore. He was like a different person, he wasn't the Jungkook you had fell for.

If you didn't know well enough, you would've thought it was another person entirely. It was just his eyes that still reminded you of him from the past. Even if they were dark, they still shone. As bright as the last time you had seen him. If you looked closely, you might see stars twinkling.

“I wasn't,” you looked him dead in the eyes as you spoke, but the eye-contact was broken pretty early. You didn't know if you were to take that in a positive or negative way. “Leave me alone — no — just let me go,” you bit your lip, trying to hide the frustration. His silence did nothing to help. “Thank you for putting me on the no-harm list,” you smiled at him teasingly, and while the sentence did make him turn towards you ever so slightly, he turned his head away after seeing that petty smile.

Even he knew you were mad. He had known you just as well as you had him over the past few years you had been in contact. You both had changed plenty, but he could still see the same you he had known.

“Now I'm stuck in this hell-hole. Oh, and might I mention that it's all because of you?” you didn't know why you were speaking in that way to him. He could kill you in that instant if he wanted to. And maybe you were begging for it this time. You had decided you had enough. It was better if he killed you off. You did not want to live here.

“Have you forgotten whose room you're in?” for the first time in a while, you saw irritation. His brows furrowed when he spoke, before his expression softened a little. “I didn't know you had forgotten your place?” and then he was advancing towards you.

Pinning you against the wall, Jungkook peered over your small figure. Your confidence vanished. As if it didn't exist in the first place, and your mind went blank. You were almost too scared to move. You had stopped breathing, too scared of the lack of distance between you two. But it amused him. It made him grin like the little devil he was. And how you wished you could wipe that pretty smirk off his face. But it wasn't possible. In terms of strength, it was pretty clear who'd win.

And you found yourself again being weak. Blaming yourself for the lack of strength and power. For the lack of determination. You were someone who had always given up easily. Or maybe you just came to terms with what you couldn't have. You were used to it. But this was the point of time you pitied yourself for being so utterly helpless.

“I'm not. I'm just asking you to let me go,” you retorted. You tried to stay calm and pretend that the sudden closeness didn't bother you. But it did. It almost reminded you of the time you had spent with Jungkook in high school. Except you absolutely loathed him now. Him and his annoying gang.

“And wait for you to report us to the authorities?” he pulled away, giving you room to breathe for once. “Yeah, right,” the snicker that left his lips made it very clear to you that he wasn't going to give you what you wanted.

“And what if I don't?”

“What?”

“What if I don't tell the authorities?” you asked. You were desperate at this point. Anything to get out of the hell that had dawned upon you. You were getting tired of it and you hadn't been here for even a day, nevermind trying to survive in this place. Who knew what they were going to do to you, you pondered. Surely torture you if you didn't leave soon enough.

“Maybe if you had lied to Jimin-hyung like this, he'd let you go.” You stared at him, expecting him to continue. Did he really think you were lying? “Forget that with me. You'll stay in this room from now on.”

That was when he had turned to the door and left. You, dumbfounded, stared at the door like someone had slapped you.

With a huff, you sat down down on the bed, head in hands. It was, firstly, impossible. He had basically caged you. But your heart just couldn't believe that it was him. You had always thought he was a bit of a rebel, sometimes (or most times) he was really dumb, but now he wasn't even himself anymore.

Or maybe you weren't in a position to decide that. You weren't supposed to decide who he was.

You knew he hated you just as much as you hated him. But he couldn't do that. He couldn't just cage you in a room. Eventually he'd have to let you go… right?

Or so you hoped.

Someone knocked on the door a few minutes after. You got up, limping to the door. Hesitantly, you reached out to the doorknob before deciding to ask who it was first. You doubted it was Jungkook (he wasn't one for knocking on doors) but you couldn't ever be sure.

“…who is it?” you asked meekly. You had spoken so quietly, you were weirded out that the visitor had still heard it. “It's Jin. I've bought food.”

You raised a brow, debating on whether to let him in or not. You were a mess to be honest, you'd rather he not see you. “Ah yes…” you smiled as you spoke. “I-I'll take it,” opening the door so it was slightly ajar, you extended your arm and took the plate that was offered, almost losing your grip on it in the process. Thankfully, he helped you. You brought the food in before shutting the door for good.

“Are you… okay?” you heard him ask, to which you nodded before quickly realising that he couldn't see you. “I'm perfectly fine.”

You weren't. You barely felt hungry and you were homesick.

Now that you thought about it, the only one who had a problem with you was Jungkook. Well, atleast so far. You doubted you had met all the people yet.

Taking a few bites of the dinner you had been given (which was delicious, you had to admit), you decided you weren't hungry anymore and prepared yourself for bed.

There wasn't much you could do. You had to sleep in your blouse, you supposed. Uncomfortable wasn't even the word. You couldn't sleep for most of the night. The bed even smelled faintly of cologne. When you did sleep, it was just because you had cried and grown tired of the throbbing headache you were having. To summarise, sleep didn't come to you as naturally as it had back home. And you missed it badly.

———

The next morning, you woke up to be greeted by the sunlight that was falling over your face. Turning around, you pulled the blanket over yourself so you wouldn't have to face it. It felt like only a few hours had passed since you had slept, you were still tired.

“Y/n?” someone was knocking on the door again. You didn't bother to ask who or why. You weren't in the mood. But realising that the door wasn't locked, you got up unwillingly to lock it. Atleast no one could burst in now.

The bathroom was attached to the bedroom. Taking a look in the vanity mirror, you realised that your make-up was smeared all over your face. Had you forgotten to wash it off because you were distracted by everything?

The room looked a lot friendlier than it did before. Your feet felt alot better too. You weren't limping anymore. The light that filtered through from the window did help. You were hungry. The clock hanging on the wall told you that it was eleven in the morning. You had left the dinner plate on the bed-side table, but you weren't very sure about how healthy it would be to eat it. You hadn't put it in the refridgerator or anything, after all.

Last night, you had only seen nightmares. You had wished, tossing and turning in the foreign bed, that it was all a nightmare. But it wasn't. The knocks had stopped. You wondered who it was. Maybe someone had came to wake you up? The door wasn't locked back then but you appreciated the fact they gave you space.

And again, your mind boggled over the fact that Jungkook was the only one who didn't care for your privacy. When you thought of him like that, it only made you hate him more.

Yes, you had hurt him. But that didn't mean you weren't hurt by your own decisions. You were both hurt. Maybe he had his own reasons for being like that. But did that justify anything?

You didn't know anymore. You didn't even know him anymore.

Your stomach was grumbling. You wanted to go out, eat something. But outside, it was like warzone. You were too scared to do that. Besides, it would be weird if you just went out there like a homeless person to ask for food. But you were the one who was kidnapped. It was so confusing, you weren't sure what was wrong and what was right anymore.

For one, you could not argue with your stomach. Two, it was a matter of your pride. You ended up camping in the room all day. You weren't exactly a stubborn person, but to go out there and see Jungkook's face? You could do less with that.

Jimin was the first one to approach you after you had made up your mind about not going out. “Y/n, are you awake?” his soft voice just felt like home. At least someone who was not very intimidating. The guy from last night didn't seem as bad either.

Maybe they weren't all as bad as Jungkook. Heck, who were you kidding? These guys were thieves, maybe even murderers, and you wouldn't be surprised if they were.

“I am,” you were mad at yourself for replying, but you just had to answer it. You couldn't leave him in the dark, not the sweet person that Jimin was. “Oh yeah? Could you open the door? I'm here with breakfast,” you sighed as you heard it. “Jimin... I'm not opening the door,” you answered, resolute. For a moment, Jimin didn't speak anything. You thought he had left, given up. But he hadn't. “Hoseok-hyung came to wake you up. We're really worried for you, you know?” you had to stop yourself from rolling your eyes. Worried? They were the ones who had kidnapped you. And as if that wasn't enough, they had left you with their crazy gang member that you, unfortunately, knew.

“If you were ever worried, you wouldn't have left me with Jungkook!” you frowned as you exclaimed. Jimin's response was silence once again. “Did he do anything?” he did alot, if you were to be honest, but you didn't know where to begin.

You weren't going to ask Jimin to listen to you ramble but you were so sick of the things that took place last night, that you couldn't help it. “He says I can't leave.” But Jimin's response wasn't what you expected. “Yeah... you can't leave.”

The words broke your heart. You thought you could be honest with him. But that wasn't the case, it seemed. You thought he'd understand you, he'd comfort you but that wasn't what happened. You told him to leave immediately, barely surpressing your anger.

The whole day, your door was being knocked on. You did nothing much while the guys tried to persuade you into coming out or eating something. You knew all of them by now. You'd hear them call for you and tell their names if they hadn't introduced themselves to you before. One of them sounded awfully alot like the guy you had met at the bank, the one that your co-leagues thought was hitting on you. They'd tell you to eat and that they were concerned. None of it helped you through the boredom you faced whilst trying to remain inside. You slept for most of the time, checked around the closet here and there, which was empty. You debated on whether to shower, but you didn't have any clothes. You finally managed to check the drawers, and ended up finding nothing but some old pictures

Pictures that had you in them. Or well, in some. Most were pictures of Jungkook's high school friends. You knew them quite well. You wondered if he was still in contact with them. But who'd want to be near a thief?

It was dinner time by when Jungkook dropped by. It was his first time since last night. All the other guys had came except for him. You weren't going to lie, you didn't think he'd actually say that he was concerned. But he did.

“Y/n, open the door. I...” you heard him sigh heavily. “We are all worried for you. I brought dinner,” dinner did sound really good. You were starving yourself the whole day. You didn't know why but you just had to, apparently. You couldn't go out. You couldn't talk to anyone. You were irritated. But then it was a matter of seconds before you realised that you were in this cage, in hell just because of Jungkook, once again. And that made it all the worse.

You hoped he felt guilty as hell. You hoped he would regret whatever he had said the other night, because he deserved it. All of it.

While you should not have been stubborn because of the situation (you could get killed for all you knew), you were being ill-treated and you had all the rights to do this. “Leave.”

You told the same thing you had to everyone else. But somehow it hurt a lot more than the others. Maybe it was because you had known him. “I'll... I'll leave you the food?” you didn't reply. But when you did open the door, you were greeted by the food tray.

You couldn't help but feel a little guilty. Taking the tray inside, you noticed the piece of paper next to a bowl. ‘- Bangtan,’ it read. The name was familiar and you immediately recognised it.

You were not only kidnapped by thieves. You were kidnapped by an infamous gang known around the entire country.

———

The dinner was, just like the other night, delicious. In fact, you had ate it all and still had room for more. But it was enough to satisfy you for the night.

Tossing and turning in your sleep, it felt harder to sleep than the other night. You couldn't sleep. Whenever you closed your eyes and let slumber take over, it would take less than twenty minutes to wake up again. The blanket felt too hot, and just laying there without it uncomfortable.

Getting up even though you didn't want to, you walked to the window. Leaning against it, you wished you could open it to breath in the fresh air. Inside the room, even though it was spacious, it felt like you were being suffocated. You had studied each and every inch of it in the last twelve hours or so.

The voice you heard woke you up completely. Your brain blanked out for a moment. You couldn't understand what you had heard. It sounded like a person, but who'd be speaking at this time? And so loudly too? Or was it just loud to you because it felt like it came from just outside the door?

You switched on the lights to see that it was two in the morning. You were getting goosebumps from all the scary encounters you had been having. Taking a deep, uneven breath, you opened the door, hoping this wasn't just a prank. Because you were actually worried by the mumbles and whimpers now.

It was Jungkook.

For a second, you thought he was going to turn around because his back was turned to you in the hallway. Was this an early Halloween trick or something? But he didn't play tricks. Or so you thought — he'd changed, had he not?

There was no one in the hallway except for himself, and now you. It was dark, barely any light present except for that one dull lamp that was on one end of the corridor. The doors were closed. You supposed the others were sleeping.

But it wasn't the fact that he was alone that surprised you. It was the tone of his voice. Jungkook sounded so… vulnerable. You hadn't heard him like that. Not very much, atleast. One time you could remember was the day you had broken up. Ever since you reunited, you hadn't heard him like that. He was harsh and mean. Or that's how you picked up on it, anyway.

Vulnerable wasn't even the word. He was walking to the other, dark end of the corridor, towards the wall. You saw nothing there except for a painting that you couldn't make out exactly due to the darkness. He was awake, he had to be. He never told you about sleep-walking.

Then you heard it again. His soft voice, the one you remember hearing everyday at high school. And you could hear the words he spoke. “Mom?” it was only thanks to the quietness of the place that you heard it. To any other person, it would have sounded like he was going crazy.

Maybe he was. Maybe you were too, because in the next moment, you were running to him.

“Jungkook?” you called, hoping he could hear you. You didn't want to step too close. You were still a little scared of him. Of him and the danger he posed. “Do you like her too, Y/n?” he asked. It wasn't cold or distant at all. It sounded like his old self, almost. Except maybe if he was a little lost.

“What, Jungkook?” you asked back, growing more hesitant by the second. You felt awkward. Awkward but closer to Jungkook. And maybe it was worth it. Your heart just fluttered hearing him like that. The voice of the person you fell in love with. Maybe you hadn't moved on as much as had thought. Or maybe it was because he sounded so exceptionally sweet.

“My mother, Y/n. You've met her before, do you like her?” you did. You liked her alot. She was just as sweet as Jungkook himself. “I do, but why—?”

“Why?” the tone turned hushed.

“Because she's nice…?”

“She's not nice!” the exclamation shook you. It wavered through the hall, and you were surprised no one was awoke yet. The shout made you tremble. You looked at him while he still stared towards the wall, before hastily turning to look everywhere. Where could you turn the lights on? What was he talking about?

“Jungkook, stop!” you put your arms around his waist before you saw the outline of his body charge towards the wall. Your breathing was jagged, your mind wasn't working anymore. You looked around desperately. Every nerve in your body was close to exploding. You didn't even know what he was talking about. A little part of you wondered what was wrong with him, if this was a prank, a joke.

You tried to hold him back, but his strength made you cling onto him. Why were you doing this for the guy who had you kidnapped? You didn't know. You didn't know anything. Whatever was the past, it would stay there. For now, you were pleading yourself to be good to him just because he was another human being.

And that's exactly what you needed to know. He was just another human being. Human being affected by the circumstances of life. And that's all it took for you pull him back. “Jungkook…” you whispered, your heart beating against your chest. For once, you were willing to let go of whatever he had done in the past two days.

He eventually gave up in your arms. You felt him relax in your embrace. You were still shaking, breathing heavily, body tense. You knocked on the door that was closest to you, all while making sure Jungkook was okay. You made him sit against the wall while you knocked on the door, hoping someone would open it.

Sweat dripped down his forehead. Even in the darkness, his face was shining. His lips were parted ever so slightly, and he was taking shallow breaths. Your mind still couldn't adjust to whatever had took place. Why did he see his mother? You knew he didn't like her very much, but the question that you wanted to ask most was if he was okay. If he had ever had these before.

It took a few more knocks for Hoseok to come out. The same guy who had told you that hope died last. You sure hoped it did. He switched on the lights and gathered all the others. You were right about your guess with the guy with the deep voice. He was Taehyung, the one who had came to the bank first. He never mentioned it to you at your doorstep, but of course, everything was just one big plan. It all made sense to you now. Jin was the one who took Jungkook to his new bedroom (which was just across from yours) and you were taken to your room by Jimin.

“…are you okay?" Jimin started, after a while had passed since you sat down on the bed. You weren't even sure of what you had witnessed. "Is Jungkook okay?” you asked back, brows furrowing. Jimin sighed, nodding. “He'll be fine,” he didn't look like it. You weren't even sure why you were worried.

“What's up with him? Does it happen often?” Jimin bit his bottom lip as you asked. He shook his head. “You deserve to know.”

“Know what?”

“His condition.” You held your breath, body tense. You didn't want to hear it now. You regretted being curious instantly. “What is it?” you asked in a whisper, as if granting him the ability to speak again. “He's suffering from manic-depression,” your heart dropped. “You were brought here because… while you were on the no-harm list, we just usually let those people go. We don't actually… take them hostage or anything.”

You looked down at the bed sheet, white as it was, it reminded you of the restless nights Jungkook would've been through. “We took you because we knew you were special to him or else he wouldn't have put you on the list. And if you could somehow help him with his illness, then it was worth it.” A sickening feeling enveloped you as you heard the story. Did it mean that Jungkook didn't have you kidnapped? And all this time you were blaming him for something he didn't do. You felt a little angry at yourself. Why did he put up with all of that, it made you feel like a mess. “What... else?”

“Namjoon-hyung was the one who started Bangtan — our gang — and he was the one who asked the others to join. We were only told that he saw Jungkook getting mugged outside a convenience store. He defended himself. And it had Hyung impressed so he joined,” Jimin took a deep breath, pausing. So your suspicions were correct. They were the mafia you had heard of. A little part of you looked down on Jungkook for joining such a gang, but in the current situation, it was insensitive.

“Why did Jungkook join you guys?” your brows furrowed. You were angry at him. Maybe you shouldn't have been, but he joined such cruel people. For what? “I thought he wanted to start his business… and work on more nicer things than—” Jimin's cold gaze stopped you from going further. “We do it to survive,” Jimin retorted. He was angry and you knew it.

“But Jungkook was happy with his life,” you said back. You know that you shouldn't talk about who's right or wrong because the current priority was Jungkook's health, but you were convinced that his current condition was a result of him joining this team of his, and you weren't willing to let go.

“Who are you to him?” Jimin asked. You sighed. “You could say I'm his ex-girlfriend.” Silence. “From high school. I had to move away so we broke up,” you explained, finding the quiet atmosphere uncomfortable. Jimin slowly nodded, thinking over everything.

“Right… Jungkook doesn't talk of his personal life very much,” he spoke. “He considers us brothers, but it seems like whatever we do just isn't enough to… satisfy him, to stop his episodes.”

You knew Jimin himself had a hard time explaining it. And it did hurt you too, to think that the boy you once knew and loved was suffering so much. It pulled at your heartstrings, even. You were hurt. “Jin-hyung is experienced with medicine. He helps Jungkook, but we can't actually go to a psychiatrist. We went once, when our group wasn't as infamous. We almost let our identities slip. We can't risk doing that again, not now that we are… so big on the news, you know?”

Heaving a heavy sigh, you nodded. Some logical side to you was disappointed now that you were working with criminals. But maybe surviving was everything. They must have gone through something, all of them, something so bad that led them to here. Maybe Jungkook went through something too? Maybe regarding his mother.

“So you don't know what's causing this condition?” you asked, and Jimin shook his head in response. “Jungkook doesn't want to tell us about his past. Not even about where his home is. He's happy most of the time, but I…” you looked at him expectantly, wanting him to continue. “I hear him crying most of the nights.”

“What?” you blurted out. “Yeah... I was going to wake up Jin-hyung to make me something to eat once. And I heard him crying. Then I went out each night. I heard him crying at late hours most of the time. I could hear him say things, but I couldn't understand what. And then he started to hallucinate too, at times.”

You felt a surge of empathy for Jungkook. You felt like crying for him. Maybe he hadn't been the best to you. But maybe he was just scarred. Perhaps he was lonely. Maybe he missed his mother. “But don't worry!” how could you not? It hurt you that he was hurt. “Now that you're here… maybe you can help him?”

“He hates me.”

“Why?”

“I broke up with him but he didn't want to... but I had to move away. I can't stand long-distance relationships. I think he feels like I didn't actually love him,” you said. But you did love him. You loved him alot. “It's never too late to fix anything,” Jimin gave you a small smile. You tried to return it, but your mind was too clogged for you to actually smile. But maybe it was never too late to fix something.

Maybe you could still save whatever you had. Just maybe.

—

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