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kpophours · 4 years ago

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Sweet Night (M)

➵ Stray Kids: Bang Chan x fem. reader / one shot, college AU, camping trip AU / fluff, smut / REQUESTED

➵ warnings: slight cursing, explicit mentions of sex (slight public teasing, orgasm denial, oral: receiving, slight choking)

➵ word count: 6k (lol oops)

a/n: after a few anon requests/inquiries, I decided to write this one shot as the second part to Way to You - you can absolutely read this on its own though.

I’M WALKING ON SUNSHINE, OOOOOOH! I’M WALKING ON-

Your eyes fly open as soon as the song starts blaring from somewhere beside you, and you blindly fumble for the alarm clock, thankfully managing to find the off-switch quite quickly. This very annoying clock was a horrible yet also kinda thoughtful birthday gift from Chan’s roommates, as it’s quite possibly the loudest one on the market, meaning it is able to wake literally anyone. It could probably even wake Dracula from his deep slumber in the depths of his castle somewhere in Romania. And while Chan might not be a vampire, he isn’t one to wake easily either, so this extremely loud alarm clock was the only solution your friends had been able to come up with. Which sadly means you experience something close to a heart attack every morning - or well, at least a few times a week, as you do still spend some nights at the apartment you share with Jisung.

You fall back into the pillows, heart still racing from the sudden noise. Pale sunlight filters through the curtains and into the otherwise dark room. You groan, blinking against the rays of light hitting you straight in the face, and turn around to cuddle into your boyfriend’s broad back. He hums, only half-awake himself, and turns around to wrap both arms around you, leaving a lazy kiss on your forehead.

Suddenly, there’s a crash from somewhere in the house, and you jump. Chan sighs deeply, and murmurs “Hyunjin, probably.” under his breath - it’s no secret that his roommate is a walking disaster. You don’t answer, only pressing a soft kiss on his naked chest. “How’d you sleep?”, he asks, one hand beginning to trace gentle patterns on your bare back. “Like a rock - which was exactly what I needed after my midterms.”, you answer, and he nods. “You more than deserved that, babe. I’m really proud of you, by the way. I’m sure you aced all your exams.”, he says, and you can’t help but smile at his sweet words. You look up at him, gently cupping his cheek, and kiss him. He basically melts against you, pulling you even closer towards him, and bites down on your lower lip to slide his tongue into your mouth. Before this can end in a steamy morning make-out session, there’s a knock on Chan’s door. He groans and draws back from you, expression grumpy. “What?”, he then yells, shooting daggers towards his door. “Just wanted to make sure you’re up, we’re supposed to be leaving in an hour!”, Felix answers, sounding way too cheerful so early in the morning. “Ugh, I hate morning people. Just once I want to get up in the morning without having to go through the seven stages of grief first.”, you mumble, your warm breath tickling Chan’s neck and making him giggle and wiggle away from you. “Yeah, we’re up!”, he quickly answers Felix, who shuffles away from the door, before turning towards you again, “Wait, aren’t there only five stages of grief? What are your extra two?” “Denial part two and astral projection.”, you answer, and Chan laughs before giving you a soft smile, brushing some of your hair out of your face.

“Breakfast?”, he then asks, and you nod. “Absolutely. I need coffee, and lots of it.”, you agree, and he rolls his eyes. “I swear, by now there’s definitely coffee running through your veins instead of blood.”, Chan mumbles, before jumping out of bed to grab his underwear from the floor. You just chuckle and follow him, but can’t seem to find your bra anywhere. “What the Hell…”, you mumble under your breath, twirling around once in a desperate attempt to locate it. “Uh. Looking for this?”, Chan asks and you follow his gaze. You both burst into loud laughter when you spot your bra happily dangling from the ceiling light. “Well, we had to be very fast yesterday evening. Clothes went flying, and quite literally it seems.”, you say, lips twitching while you stand on your tiptoes to get your bra, and Chan nods in agreement. “Very fast indeed - but we couldn’t let the others begin the movie night without us! We had valid reasons.” He grins and wraps both arms around your waist to pull you close to him again, giving you a quick peck on the lips. When you want to deepen the kiss, he draws back again, expression stern. “No time for that, we have to get ready, eat breakfast and you still need to pack some of your stuff before we can leave. And we don’t want to let the others wait, right?” You sigh and pout. “No, we don’t, apparently.”, you just answer, and wiggle into your jeans and turtleneck, finally ready to leave the privacy of Chan’s room and get something to eat.

The scent of fresh coffee and pancakes greets you when you arrive downstairs, and you inhale deeply. Felix is standing in front of the stove, humming a soft tune under his breath while working on making the tower of pancakes beside him even taller. He turns around when you enter the kitchen, giving you his signature sunshine smile. “Morning, Y/N.”, he greets you, “Slept well?” You nod and peek over his shoulder. “Yup. And have I ever told you how much I love you?”, you ask, stealing a piece of pancake directly out of the pan, and Felix tries to swat your hand away before he chuckles. “Shouldn’t you say that to Chan, not to me?”, he replies, and your boyfriend, just entering the kitchen behind you, sighs deeply. “She’s an opportunist, meaning she’ll tell anyone she loves them if it means she gets what she wants, so beware. I actually rarely hear her say it to me.”, Chan says warningly, and you shoot him a dark look. “Oh shut up, that’s so not true. I tell you I love you at least once or twice a day, you needy baby.”, you grumble, and just then, Minho joins the small kitchen party. “Needy baby? You’re not talking about Hyunjin, are you?”, he asks, ruffling his crazy bed hair while filling a mug with coffee, sighing contently when he takes the first sip. You grin and shake your head, before taking a mug out of the cabinet yourself.

Said roommate also enters the kitchen just then, face looking quite puffy. You raise both eyebrows. “Did you cry yourself to sleep last night?”, you ask, and take a sip of coffee to hide your shit-eating grin. Hyunjin throws you a dark glare, and crosses both arms in front of his chest. “No. But I did have a slight mental breakdown after realizing I probably failed my last exam yesterday, so I decided to treat myself to some late-night-ramen, and now I look like this.”, he points at his face, beginning to pout, “God just hates pretty people, he’s clearly punishing me for my dashing looks.” “Or maybe he just doesn’t like narcissists.”, Jeongin offers when he enters the kitchen, shoving Minho out of the way to get to the kitchen cabinet almost overflowing with mugs. You decide it’s finally getting too crowded in the kitchen, and leave it again. You’re absolutely not a morning person, and can’t deal with the boys’ constant bickering without having experienced the positive effect of the caffeine you’re currently consuming.

Seungmin is sitting on one of the sofas, currently scrolling through Instagram and apparently trying to like every cute puppy pic in existence. “Morning.”, you greet him and take a seat beside him, peeking over his shoulder and cooing at an extremely cute baby golden retriever. Seungmin just greets you with a curt nod of his head, not being a morning person either, and keeps scrolling. Minutes later, Felix enters the living room, balancing a giant plate of fresh pancakes in front of him while all the other boys follow him like stray dogs. “What would you guys even do without Felix cooking for you all the time?”, you ask, mouth watering when you inhale the delicious smell. “Starve and die.”, Seungmin deadpans, while Jeongin answers: “We’d have to look at Hyunjin’s ugly bloated face every day because we’d solely live off ramen.” Hyunjin hits the back of his head for that, but the younger boy just shoots him his cheshire cat grin. “I mean, I could cook too, I guess.”, Chan says, frowning, and everyone bursts into loud laughter. “Wow okay, I’ll try not to take this personally…”, your boyfriend grumbles, and sits down at the dining table. You slide onto the chair next to him, and pat his thigh affectionately. “I love you, babe, but you literally didn’t know how to whisk eggs when we wanted to bake cookies last week.”, you say, and Chan sighs. “That’s... sadly fair. But I could learn!”

“No offense, but we actually like our kitchen intact - thanks for your humble offering though. If Felix should die unexpectedly, we might get back to you.”, Minho answers, and before the situation can escalate into a playful bickering battle, Felix yells “SO, WHO WANTS PANCAKES?!”, successfully managing to distract everyone.

One and a half hours later, everyone is packed and ready to go - you’ve planned this little getaway for almost two months now, everyone having finished their first round of exams at this time of year and being able to just relax for a bit. For some reason, the boys had wanted to go camping, and as you, Jisung’s girlfriend Lina and Hyunjin’s girlfriend Marie were clearly outnumbered by the boys, you hadn’t really had the chance to disagree with them. But you honestly don’t even mind, having gone camping lots of times already and just being happy to enjoy some time with your closest friends. Only Changbin won’t be able to join you guys, as he’s currently doing an internship and wasn’t able to request some time off.

Chan is just about to lock the front door to the frat house, when Jeongin zooms past you, yelling for his older roommate to wait. “I forgot something extremely important!”, he explains, almost breathless, and disappears into the house again. “What’s he getting now?”, your boyfriend wonders, and shoots you a questioning gaze. You just shrug, and let your bag fall to the ground, too lazy to hold onto it while waiting for the youngest of your group. A few minutes later, Jeongin comes back, a huge grin on his face and a giant stuffed animal in his arms. Chan blinks a few times, and opens his mouth to say something, but he gets cut off by the younger boy: “You guys can cuddle with each other, but I’d rather throw myself off a cliff than cuddle with Minho, Felix or Seungmin, whoever I’ll end up sharing a tent with. But I do wanna cuddle with someone, so Mr. Sunshine it is.”, he explains stoically, and you just nod in support. “I totally get that, plus I wouldn’t be too sure that Minho doesn’t just turn into a bat or something like that during the night. He’s at least part demon, we all know that.”, you say, and Jeongin giggles.

You’re truly prepared to give him anything whenever he smiles at you like this, his eyes almost disappearing, teeth almost blindingly bright. While you detain from squishing his cheeks, you do poke the dimple on his left one, being too endeared by him. He swats your hand away, of course he does, but you still bask in the victory of having poked his cheek. One thing to cross off your to-do-list for today.

“Okay, let’s go to the others.”, Chan finally says after locking the house, and without you having to say anything, he takes his and your bag and walks over to where the others are waiting beside the cars. Chivalry is not dead and you’re ready to swoon over your amazing boyfriend. “Okay, we still have to pick up Jisung, Lina and Marie.”, Chan says after he’s put your bags into the trunk of his car, “So, who’s gonna ride in which car?” “Well I obviously want to ride with Marie.”, Hyunjin says, a goofy smile on his face - they have been together for almost a year now, but he’s still very much extremely whipped for her, but luckily, she seems to feel the exact same way -, and Minho murmurs a sarcastic “Shocking, really.” under his breath. “I want Jisung and Lina in our car.”, you quickly say, and Chan gives you a short nod. Of course you’d say that - Jisung is your best friend after all, and you’ve grown quite close to Lina as well. You’re also good friends with Marie, but Jisung just wins this round - not that you’d ever tell that to his face, he’s too cocky as it is, no need to push his ego even more. “Then Minho, you take Hyunjin, Marie, Felix and Seungmin, and I take Y/N, Jisung, Lina and Jeongin, okay?”, Chan suggests, and everyone agrees. Five minutes later, all the bags are safely stored away and everyone has taken their seats. Being Chan’s girlfriend means you get to ride shotgun, something you’re more than thankful for, knowing how crowded the backseat is going to be once you’ve picked up Jisung and Lina. “See you in a bit!”, Felix yells through his open window, and flashes you his extremely cute gummy smile. You wave at him, immediately returning his smile, and successfully ignore Minho’s mock salute and cocky grin while he backs out of his parking spot, almost cutting Chan off.

Twenty minutes later, Jisung and Lina are squished into the backseat with Jeongin, all three having bright smiles on their faces. “Road trip, whoop!”, Jisung yells and gives you a high five, “Happy to have a few days with y’all before we have to face the sad reality of probably having failed most of our exams!” Lina beside him rolls her eyes. “Stop being so dramatic, I’m sure most of us will have aced everything.”, she says, and Jisung wraps his arm around her and kisses her temple. “Sorry, but I have literally only one functioning brain cell and I use it to overthink.”, he explains, yelping when she playfully tickles his side. You chuckle at their bickering, and hit play on your road trip playlist - a second later, Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody fills the car, all of you immediately beginning to sing along. “LET’S GO!”, Chan yells over the sad attempts of everyone trying to imitate Freddy Mercury, and backs out of the parking lot. You smile and interlace your fingers with his. He cheekily returns your smile, and raises your intertwined hands to his lips to press a soft kiss against your knuckles. Over a year of being with him, but you still swoon over this simple yet sweet gesture. Yes, you’re just that whipped for your boyfriend, and what about it.

It doesn’t take long for you guys to arrive on the interstate, you and Jisung trying to trump each other's impressions of Beyoncé singing Single Ladies (and failing miserably, sorry Queen B). Your belly almost hurts from laughing with your friends, and you can’t wait for the rest of the weekend to begin.

Minho’s car arrives before Chan’s, and of course he’s gloating about it the second you guys join forces again. But you can let him have this small victory, and decide to just ignore him for now, helping Chan get the bags out of his car and to the campsite. It’s quite cold, the air crisp now that the sun is slowly beginning to set again, but you brought lots of blankets and sleeping bags, so you should be fine. And at least the weather means there aren’t any other campers here right now, so you have the whole area, including the washing rooms, to yourselves, which is nice.

Setting up camp takes longer than anticipated, mostly because Jisung somehow manages to crash into his and Lina’s almost finished tent twice, which means they have to start from the very beginning again. She truly has the patience of a saint, simply smacking him over the head rather playfully before picking up the sad remains of their tent to begin the whole building process again. Chan and you, having gone camping lots of times already, are quickest with finishing your tent, so afterwards you offer to help Jisung and Lina with theirs, while Chan does the same for Minho and Jeongin. Marie, an experienced scout, has set up hers and Hyunjin’s tent in record time as well, and takes pity on Felix and Seungmin, quickly building the tent for them. After an hour, your camp has successfully been built, and everyone begins to search for firewood.

Felix decides to make a giant pot of spicy chili sin carne for tonight’s dinner, and as soon as all the plates are filled, your conversations slowly dwindle down, everyone too busy with eating. “Lix, you’re a cooking genius, Gordon Ramsey found jobless.”, Marie says around a mouthful of chili, giving the blonde boy a bright smile and the thumbs up. He waves her compliment aside, blushing profoundly. “Thanks, but it’s honestly not that difficult - you just have to follow the recipe, if you’re too scared to improvise.”, he murmurs, and she throws a small piece of kindling at him. “You should really learn how to take compliments.”, she teases playfully, and he shrugs. “Okay, okay, I’m the best cook ever.”, he says sarcastically, and Minho raises one eyebrow. “Whoa, now don’t get ahead of yourself.”, he replies, and Felix smacks him over the head. “You can’t cook at all, so for once, you should just stay quiet.”, you say, and Minho sighs dramatically. “What can I say… We all have our weaknesses. I, for example, am extremely good-looking and tragically funny.”

You almost choke on your chili because of his audacity, and lift your fork in front of your face, staring through it and at Minho, who just frowns at you. “What are you doing? Why are you looking at me through your fork?”, he asks, obviously confused by your behavior, and you give him a lopsided smile. “I’m pretending you’re in jail, it’s spiritually healing.”, you explain, and Chan beside you bursts into laughter, the others following him quickly. Minho begins to pout and sticks out his tongue at you, always the mature one. “It’s okay if you don’t enjoy my dashing looks and hilarious humor, not everyone has good taste. That’s why you picked Chan over me after all.”, he claims, and you answer by throwing a piece of wood his way, making him squeal and dive for cover. Just then, the flames of your fire flicker and slowly begin to die down. Seungmin, Jeongin and Hyunjin stand up to go get some more firewood, but somehow, the latter one’s shoe gets caught between two logs and with a loud yelp, he tumbles to the ground. “What the Hell is he doing?!”, Chan groans, and Jeongin deadpans “Sadly his best.”, before he begins walking over towards his friend to help him, but Marie is faster, already dragging her boyfriend up from the ground with tears of laughter in her eyes. Hyunjin’s cheeks are red from embarrassment and he murmurs something about nature being out to get him, before he, Marie and the other two boys disappear into the forest to get more firewood.

The rest of the evening is filled with playful banter, soft guitar music from Jisung, and funny childhood stories. Lina soon begins to nod off, her head resting on her boyfriend’s shoulder while he continues to strum a soft tune on his guitar, humming along. When he notices his girlfriend is about to wander into Morpheus’ realm though, he’s quick to place the guitar back into its bag, and wraps both arms around her. “I think it’s time for us to retire, huh?”, he says, leaving a gentle kiss on Lina’s forehead. She blinks sleepily, and smiles up at him. “It’s pretty safe to assume that at any given moment, I want to go back to sleep - so yes, I agree, time to retire.”, she answers, and Jisung chuckles, before standing up to declare: “Well, we’re off to bed now!” Minho and Seungmin boo immediately, while Jeongin murmurs something like “Old people” under his breath - even though he’s literally only one year younger than most of you guys.

“So, as I’m legally required to kiss my homies goodnight, y’all getting some smooches!”, Jisung says, already walking towards where Hyunjin and Marie are sitting, bodies entangled and breaths mingling. Hyunjin looks up and shoots his friend a murderous look. “I swear, if you kiss me, I’m going to dump you into the river.”, he threatens, but Jisung just grins. “How about you dump your girlfriend instead and run away with me? We’d make such a pretty couple.”, he says, making Hyunjin roll his eyes. “Bro, no offense, but I’d be the pretty one in this relationship, and while everyone can clearly see you already have quite the experience being the ugly one in a relationship” with that, Hyunjin first points at Jisung and then at Lina, who bursts out laughing, “I don’t think I’m ready to hear your constant whining about my face being prettier than yours. So thanks, but no thanks, I’ll stay with Marie.” “Wow, I feel so honored and loved right now, babe.”, Marie says sarcastically, “But does this mean you think you’re the pretty one in this relationship as well?” Hyunjin goes into instant panic mode, quickly reassuring his girlfriend that she’s far prettier than him, while she tries to keep a stern expression on her face, but everyone can clearly see the way her lips twitch. She just loves teasing Hyunjin, and you honestly can’t blame her for that, especially not when it’s just so easy.

“Okay, goodnight, then!”, Lina interrupts their playful bickering, and gives everyone a soft smile, before dragging Jisung towards their tent. Everyone wishes them a good night and sweet dreams as well, and then Seungmin clears his throat. “Time for some ghost stories, don’t you think?”, he says, voice low and grin almost evil when his eyes find Hyunjin, who immediately falls silent. Everyone knows he’s a huge scaredy cat, which is quite funny seeing as his own girlfriend is a big fan of horror movies and stories. Truly a match made in Heaven. Seungmin just raises one eyebrow, expression challenging - but when no one contradicts him, he begins to tell his first ghost story.

It doesn’t take long until Hyunjin is pretty much sitting on Marie’s lap, shooting daggers at his friend while his girlfriend is trying very hard not to laugh at him. You yourself cuddle closer to your own boyfriend, smiling when he presses a soft kiss against your temple. Your eyes rest on the big bonfire, following some sparks drifting into the dark night sky from time to time, and you sigh contently. This, right here, is your happy place - in the midst of your friends, just laughing and joking with them, not a care in the world. Midterms lie behind you, and you’re currently not even thinking about your grades for once, your anxiety at rest. This trip was truly a great idea, maybe even Jisung’s best one so far.

“Okay, wanna hear a really creepy one-”, Seungmin begins, and Hyunjin has finally had enough, standing up and taking Marie’s hand into his. “Well, goodnight!”, he says, a determined expression on his face, and pulls his girlfriend towards their tent. Marie suppresses an amused smile at her boyfriend’s dramatics, and waves at everyone, before following him inside the tent. Seungmin just grins evilly and shrugs. “He’s so soft hearted.”, he then says, and leans back, obviously content with his work. “Okay, maybe it’s three demons, not only two.”, you murmur into Chan’s ear, and he chuckles. You’re always joking about Minho and Hyunjin being demons, as they’re constantly testing your nerves by just being themselves, plus they were definitely the main plotters behind the plan to get you and Chan together - not that you’re complaining about it as their plan had worked pretty perfectly and in your favor. “In the end you’ll probably find that I live with six demons.”, your boyfriend murmurs, and begins to play with your fingers. You shake your head. “Oh no, Felix is definitely an angel, not a demon.”, you disagree, and Chan nods. “Okay, that’s true. The others though… Well, time will tell, I guess.” “Or holy water.” He just laughs and gives you a quick peck on the lips. When you want to deepen the kiss, he draws back. “Later.”, he murmurs against your lips, his deep voice rumbling in his chest, and you shiver involuntarily. He grins at your reaction, before turning his attention to Seungmin’s new ghost story again.

You on the other hand feel hot and bothered all of the sudden, and decide to tease your boyfriend a bit. So you place your hand on his thigh, not moving it for some time, until you slowly slide it higher, bit by bit. At first, Chan doesn’t seem to notice or care, until you’re getting dangerously close to his crotch. Then, he quickly leans forward so the others can’t see what you’re doing, and glares at you. “What are you doing?”, he asks, voice low, and you smile innocently. “Nothing.”, you answer, and have finally reached your desired destination, slowly beginning to palm his semi over his jeans. “How about you be a good girl and stop?”, he breathes out, but you know he doesn’t actually want you to stop - you know him well enough for that by now. Still, you decide to play along. “Oh, I’ll gladly be your good girl.”, you whisper, and quickly withdraw your hand. He groans at your words and the sudden lack of contact, and locks eyes with you. “Tent. Now.”, he grits out, and stands up, pulling you with him and hugging you from behind so your body hides his erection from the others. “We’re tired too, so goodnight!”, he says in a fake cheerful voice, and you have to hide your shit-eating grin while innocently waving at the others. “Oh you’re in so much trouble now, babe.”, Chan murmurs into your ear while you walk towards your tent, and bites down on your lobe. You feel arousal gather between your legs, stomach jolting at his words. You and Chan have a very playful relationship, full of bantering and loving jokes, and your dynamic in the bedroom isn’t that different - there’s a lot of bickering too, you being a total brat at times, while he’s more on the dominant side, enjoying making you obedient.

As soon as he closes the tent behind you and turns around to watch you with an almost predatory gaze, you know you might have been a bit too forward at the bonfire. But it’s too late to back down now, so you simply raise both eyebrows, a challenging expression on your face. “So you think touching me like that in front of our friends is okay?”, Chan asks, his voice low and dark. You tilt your head to one side. “I mean, you didn’t seem opposed to it, to be honest.”, you answer, and now he’s the one to lift both eyebrows. “I want you out of your clothes, now.”, your boyfriend orders, and for once, you follow his command immediately, knowing this is for your own good this time. So you quickly wiggle out of your jeans and take off your jumper, shivering in the cold night air. Only left in your panties and bra, Chan smirks to himself, before crawling over your body and beginning to kiss you slowly. You gasp into his mouth when one of his warm hands finds your waist, drawing lazy circles against it, before traveling higher to cup your breast over your bra. His thumb rubs over your clothed nipple before pinching it, hard, and you arch your back, breath hitching.

“So, let’s see how quiet you can stay while I eat you out, hm? Remember, the walls of the tent are too thin to mask any noises.”, Chan whispers against your lips, before he suddenly descends down your body. Oh no, you know you’re screwed. He’ll try to make you scream his name, but while you’re quite open about sex and have no problem talking about it with your friends, you definitely don’t need them to hear you during the actual act. Maybe you shouldn’t have teased your boyfriend after all - but it’s too late now, he’s determined. He spreads your legs, and begins to leave soft love bites on the inside of your thighs. You’re trembling already, and it’s not because of the cold alone. Chan always has this effect on you, no matter how often he touches you - you’ll never get used to it. He plays with the hem of your panties, until he finally drags them down your legs, his warm breath hitting your wet core. You begin to squirm, impatient to have him finally touch you where you need him most. He smacks your thigh, the crack resounding through the tent, and you yelp. “Chan.”, you hiss, and he grins cheekily, before suddenly pressing his thumb to your clit, beginning to draw lazy circles against it. Your eyes roll into the back of your head and you clamp one hand over your mouth to mask any noises.

Chan soon replaces his thumb with his mouth, sucking on your clit like his life depends on it while simultaneously sliding two fingers inside your heat. A loud moan tears from your lips and you bite the inside of your cheek, trying to stifle your noises but already failing miserably. You feel Chan smirk against you, and then, he slips a third finger inside you, curling them upwards and picking up the pace. You buck your hips against his gentle ministrations, skin feeling too hot and too tight already, goosebumps rising all over your body. It doesn’t take long until you begin to tremble, your high approaching rather quickly, and you’re this close to finally snapping, when Chan draws back from your core, face glistening with your juices, his smirk almost devilish. “I can’t hear you, babe, are you even enjoying this?”, he murmurs, back to drawing lazy patterns on your clit with his thumb. You feel frustration wash over you, and shoot him a dark glare. His grin gets even wider, before he completely withdraws his hand from your heat to suck on his glistening fingers. You close your eyes for a few seconds, trying to gather your wits, until Chan slaps your thigh again. “Look at me, baby.”, he says, voice dark, and your eyes snap open again. You begin to pout. “Please.”, you mumble, trying your best to appeal to his softer side, “I’m sorry I was a brat earlier. You know I can’t be loud or the others might hear us.” Your boyfriend just hums, hands ghosting over your thighs and leaving goosebumps in their wake. “Too bad, I guess you can’t cum tonight then.” And before you’re able to reply anything, he dives back in-between your folds.

You throw one arm over your mouth, and bite your own soft flesh to suppress any noises. It takes little to no time until you’re close to your orgasm again, but for the second time tonight, Chan draws back in the last possible second. You’re almost ready to cry with frustration now, eyes glistening with unshed tears. When your boyfriend sees this, he softens a bit and leans towards you to press a gentle kiss to your lips. “This is what you get for being a brat.”, he murmurs, and you bite down on his lower lip, making him groan into your mouth. “Please.”, you whisper and try your best puppy eyes on him. He just smirks again, finally ridding himself off his shirt, jeans and underwear. When he’s fully naked in front of you, you sigh, eyes raking his beautiful, defined body. Unlike you, Chan actually enjoys going to the gym - and his effort pays off. “Stop drooling.”, he says, sounding way too pleased and cocky in your opinion. So you quickly sit up, and wrap one hand around his hard cock, already leaking with pre-cum. Good to see you’re not the only one being affected by this, you think and grin. You begin to slowly jerk him off, spreading the pre-cum over the rest of his cock as lube. He groans, lower lip pulled back between his teeth and eyes almost black with desire. Finally, he’s had enough, and pushes you on your back again, hovering over you. “There’s condoms in the bag behind you.”, he murmurs, leaving gentle kisses on your neck until he finds your sweet spot, beginning to suck on it. You moan almost inaudible, fingers fumbling for said bag to retrieve a condom.

Just seconds later, Chan rolls it over his cock, and then, he aligns himself in front of your wet core, teasingly rubbing your clit before you shoot him a pleading look. He finally sheathes himself into you with one swift motion, and you both moan out loud at the feeling. You quickly cough to cover the noise, making Chan chuckle and press a kiss against your forehead. “You’re okay?”, he asks, and you nod, biting down on his neck and leaving a hickey. He groans and finally begins to move, pulling almost all the way out before slamming back into you, immediately hitting that spot. Your fingers wrap around his biceps, needing something to hold onto while he drills into you. Suddenly, he pulls out of you to sit back on his knees, wrapping your legs around his hips, and thrusts back into you at an even deeper angle, simultaneously picking up the pace. One of his hands snakes towards your neck and he wraps his fingers around the base of your throat, using just enough pressure to make breathing harder for you. When his thumb begins to circle your clit again, you close your eyes, clamping one hand over your mouth to mask your almost obscene noises.

“C-Chan, I’m so c-close.”, you say in between two moans, and he grins, murmuring a “That’s my girl” under his breath before deepening the angle even more. He suddenly pinches your clit once, and that’s all it takes for you to finally tumble over the edge, his name leaving your lips maybe a bit too loud this time. He quickly leans forward to seal your mouth with his, chasing his own high while guiding you through yours. Not long after, he groans and presses his forehead against yours, shuddering a bit while releasing into the condom. He stills inside you, both your breaths mingling, hearts beating fast while you try to come down from your high. Chan smiles, brushing some of your hair out of your face, and gives you a soft, sweet kiss. “I love you.”, he murmurs, and you return his smile. “Love you more.”, you whisper back, and he chuckles. “Impossible.”

Before you can begin to playfully argue, Minho’s voice cuts through the night “Next time we’ll build the tents far away from each other, y’all are nasty for doing it with us sitting almost right next you.” Both you and Chan freeze, before you burst out laughing. “WE HAVE ZERO REGRETS.”, you yell back, hearing the others groan. “WELL, YOU REALLY SHOULD THOUGH!”, Jisung complains from somewhere to your left, and you hear Lina starting to giggle. You groan and bury your face into Chan’s neck. “They’ll never let us hear the end of this, will they.”, you murmur against his soft skin, and he shakes his head. “Nope.” You sigh and lean back. “Well, it was still worth it.”, you say, and grin up at him. Your boyfriend just smirks and leans down to kiss you again. “Oh, definitely.”

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laurenairay · 4 years ago

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Ooooooh can I get number one with maybe Jonathan Toews...? 😘

I hope you enjoy this @texanstarslove – I may have gotten a little carried away, but I had fun with this one 😘

“You drive me crazy, but I can’t get you out of my head”

You liked to think that your life was pretty simple. A good solid job, a small but warm apartment, your parents were healthy and happy…and you had a casual friend with benefits arrangement with Jonathan Toews.

Okay, maybe not so simple.

You met Jon one night in bar just over a year ago – a few drinks, a few flirty words, and you were putty in his hands. You hadn’t hesitated in heading back with him to his house, and after a night of incredible sex (and let’s be honest, the next morning too), you’d given him your number, never thinking you’d hear from him again. Instead, a few nights later, he’d called you to see if you were free. Again, you met at a bar, had a few drinks, and headed back to his. From there, a cycle was born. Sometimes you already had plans that you were happy to stay at. Sometimes you didn’t hear from him in weeks due to his busy schedule. Once you’d actually dated someone for two months and the whole arrangement stopped – until you broke up with the guy and Jon called you up straight away. There were no strings, no ties, no expectations set out – he’d suggested these mutually beneficial hook-ups, and you’d agreed. How could you not? Everyone knew exactly how hot he was, and he knew exactly how to drive you wild in his bed.

And that brings you to today, this evening, right now, where you were in a bar almost exactly the same as the one that you’d originally met Jon in. Being a Friday night, you’d gone out for a few drinks with your work colleagues – just as they were making noises about heading home, Jon had texted to see where you were. You’d told him the name of the bar, thinking that he would meet you and the two of you would head back to his straight away. Instead, he turned up with a whole bunch of his teammates, only slipping away to say hello when they were all settled.

Because that was how it worked between the two of you – everything was kept quiet. The two of you had your fun in secret, with no pressure to be in the public eye. To be honest, that was what you had wanted when you saw him the second, the third, the fourth time. None of the pressure, all of the sex. You were too busy for any kind of real commitment. What you and Jon had was easygoing and fun – it still was, so the feelings that you had grown over time were pushed away and buried.

You weren’t going to ruin this for anything. Even if it meant you knew one day he would break your heart.

After another couple of drinks, you’d moved to the dancefloor, hoping that this would rile him up enough to remember that the two of you were in public still, but instead of letting you grind on him for a dance and then suggesting you get an uber, Jon had been wrapped around you for at least three dances now, the two of you not even hidden in the crowd. And you could still see his teammates from here, something he usually tried to avoid…what was he doing?

You inhaled sharply as he started mouthing at your neck, his kisses sending jolts down your spine as his hands squeezed your hips.

It was one thing to dance so openly but to be as brazen as this? Well…

“You’d better be careful Captain, or people will start getting the wrong idea about us,” you said softly, a note of warning in your voice.

“Let them watch,” he growled, “Let them think what they want,”

“What?” you asked, confused, gasping he nipped your earlobe.

No, he made it abundantly clear…and you weren’t going to get played around like this!

“You said you didn’t want anything serious. Anything public. What are you doing?” you frowned, turning your head to look at him.

Instead of answering, Jon used his grip on your hips to spin you sharply around to face, and you had to grab onto his shoulders to stop yourself from stumbling. What the f-

“I want you,” he said lowly, his eyes flashing dark.

You took a step back from him, your head reeling. He wasn’t making any sense…

“I don’t…I…I think I need some water,” you blurted.

You walked away from him with your heart pounding, heading straight to the bar, but as you reached the side of it, Jon caught up with you and stopped you with a hand on your arm.

“Wait, please, I-”

“What are you doing? What’s going on?” you asked, interrupting him as you whirled around to face him.

Why was he changing everything? Why now?

“I’m sorry, I just…I needed to tell you,” he insisted.

“Tell me what? That you want me? I’m well aware that you want me, we’ve been hooking up for over a year now,” you frowned. What was he saying?

“No, it’s more than that,” he groaned.

More than what?

Jon huffed, rubbing the back of his neck as he seemed to think over what words to say. You just stayed silent, your heart in your throat, not daring to break the moment.

“You drive me crazy, but I can’t get you out of my head,” he eventually admitted.

What? What the fuck? You quickly shook your head, frown firmly on your lips, planting one hand on your hip as you stared him down.

“I drive you crazy?” you spluttered.

He’d always called the shots and he knew it.

Jon barked a laugh, scrubbing a hand over his hair. His eyes were a little frantic, his free hand clenching and unclenching at his side. What was wrong with him?

“I made a mistake, trying to think I could ever be casual with you,” Jon said humourlessly, a self-deprecating smile on his lips, “I thought that was all you would ever want from me, could ever want, and I figured if that’s all I could get then I wasn’t going to lose my chance. When you dated that guy you broke my heart – and when I heard that you were single I was over the moon. But my god I just can’t handle not having more anymore,” he admitted.

Holy shit. Holy shit. Your jaw dropped, his words stunning you completely. He wanted…more? How long had he been feeling this way?

Jon sighed, his forced smile turning sad.

“I get it, okay? Me having feelings isn’t what you signed up for,” he murmured, voice barely audible above the music.

“Jon…”

You trailed off, words lost in your shock. How could you even think when he’d just blown your world wide open? Jon seemed to sense your hesitation, sense it in the way that it wasn’t bad, just overwhelmed, because he stepped closer to you and took your hands in his.

“Tell me that you don’t want more between us. That you don’t want an actual relationship. Because just say the words and I’ll be gone,” he said softly.

“Jon…”

He pressed a quick kiss to your lips, cutting you off, before he rested his forehead against yours for a moment. Your heart felt like it was beating out of your chest, your mouth dry, and your knees like jelly. Was this really happening? Was this real life?

“I want you to be mine. I want to be yours. I want to hold your hand in public, take you out on actual dates, make a life with you. Please tell me you feel the same?” he asked, an edge of desperation in his voice.

There was only one answer you could give.

“Of course I do, Jon. I’ve wanted more than this for so long! I just thought…I thought you didn’t want more,” you admitted.

Jon laughed, the biggest smile spreading across his face, and he clutched your hands even tighter.

“Holy shit we’ve both been idiots not saying anything then,” he said in disbelief.

You just giggled, shaking your head. Now you knew how he really felt, there was no way you were letting go of him now.

“I swear I’m more romantic than this busy bar, I’m going to take you out somewhere really nice,” Jon insisted.

“I don’t want anything fancy,” you grinned, shaking your head again, “I just want you,”

Jon grinned before he looped a hand behind your head and pulled you into a deep kiss. It didn’t matter how long you had taken to get to this point – this was all you had wanted, right here with him.

#my writing #prompt list blurb #jonathan toews #i mean i got carried away but i regret nothing #all i wanted while i was writing this was jon's hands on my hips and his mouth on my neck #i hope i did your man justice #jonathan toews blurb #jonathan toews fic #jonathan toews imagine #jonathan toews x reader #hockey blurb #hockey fic #hockey writing #nhl writing #nhl blurb #nhl fic #prompt lists

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mashedpotittiess · 4 years ago

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Games of Tomorrow

Header created by my muse and bb R. Title: Games of Tomorrow. Pairing: Taehyung x Reader. Mentions of: Hoseok, Jin, Subin (Victon) and OC’s Summary: A simple game of beer pong stirred up some not so innocent feelings between you and the man you held much disdain for. After all, he was your enemy. The person you couldn’t seem beat when it came to grades. You were never enough for the rich and popular but maybe just maybe you’d show them what you were all about. Words: 13k Rating: M Genre: Enemies to Lovers!au, College au!, Smut, Fluff, Angst.

This was all inspired by this photo which I just edited (color, background and the text)so all original photo credits go to the owner.

A/N: What started as a simple short drabble ended in this much longer than intended fic. This is my first pic so pls be gentle. I am but a noob to tumblr writing. I hope you enjoy this craziness <3 this fic is dedicated to my friend who picked Tae to be the first character I wrote about and sat there and listened to me freaking out cause the fic kept getting longer. Ily R. This is Un-Edited so i apologize in advance for the mistakes. I’ll re-read it and fix mistakes as i come across them. Tags/Warnings: Smutty smut smut, Jealousy, Drinking, Mention of Marijuana, Oral (female receiving) Fingering (female receiving), Unprotected sex (wrap it up kids) Fluff, Angst, Size kink, Tae mentioning his DIG BICK, semi rough sex (not really though).

Fic inspired Playlist Link:

spotify:playlist:77Hd51hVnDHe8Q9JaLxGbD

Taglist: @a-mess-of-fandoms @dnyad

—————————————

“Absolutely not” you said calmly into the cellphone receiver. “But y/n! You need to let loose once in awhile, and no I’m not talking about sitting on your couch eating bowls of Ramen and cheese popcorn while watching re-runs of Boy Meets World with a big glass of too much Whiskey” Layla practically whined. She had been trying to convince you to go with her to Seokjin’s party on Saturday for an entire hour. She was right, you knew this coming weekend you’d be plopped onto that same blue couch in your big band t-shirt and fuzzy socks doing exactly that. “I’ll think about it” you finally mumbled out and could practically hear the smile in your best friends voice as she exclaimed a ‘woot woot’ “Okay Hot Stuff, i’ll text you later, gotta get to Volleyball Practice” with that she hung up and you continued your walk to what you’d call a ‘Headache’ of a class. It’s not that you hated Econ per say, it’s that you studied your ass off, completed extra credit assignments with a flourish and took wonderfully color coded notes (if you say so yourself). But yet, HE still scored higher than you (even if it was just by one point) and what’s worse is that he NEVER seemed to study, never seemed to care. Trudging into class you took your usual seat in the second row close to the middle. Organizing your laptop, books and assortment of pencils and pens on the table. As Professor Carmine began his lesson writing “Principles of Economics” onto the whiteboard with his usual navy blue marker, you diligently took notes and nodded along with his rhetorical questions. “Before we end for today lets see who can answer this simple yet intriguing question, “Would you consider Inflation or Deflation of cost cycles to be more costly to a business?” You pondered on how to word your answer for about two seconds before raising your hand. “Yes Ms. Y/L/N” you shifted in your seat slightly. “While I know this question has no definite answer as it can be interpreted many ways, I would say with our current Economy, Inflation of prices would be more costly,” Before you could continue you heard a Deep Baritone voice that you knew too well scoff. “So you think Deflation would benefit a business? that’s essentially lowering your prices which in turn leads to loss of income” You rolled your eyes nonchalantly and turned around in your seat to look at the man in the fourth row who had not only interrupted you but disagreed and voiced his disagreement. “I said with our current economy Inflation could hurt a business. Do you think regular people can afford to buy a $3,000 purse when they make minimum wage? It could cost a company to make said purse for $200 with cost of material and labor. If you lower those prices by a fraction, said company would still be making money and you could possibly have more demand as more people with regular paying jobs can afford you buy said purse. If you higher the price less regular people can afford such a luxury item which could hurt the demand. Thus causing an issue with the income for a business”. You said staring at the red haired man pulling a cock of his right eyebrow from him. “Regular people don’t need a $3,000 bag, you want brands to lower the prices so poor people can buy their items? How sad. Tae is right, just higher the prices and get more money. Businesses will make their money regardless of the lower or middle class purchasing their items, as long as they have people like us,” a high pitched voice you recognized as Nami said gesturing to herself and the perfect barbies next to her “buying from them”. Before you continue the alarm from your Professors phone startled you and signaled the end of not only your Monday class but your discussion as well. You picked up your items, shoving them in your bag and trudged out of class. As you passed Taehyung with Nami, Michelle, Hoseok and Gigi at his back he smirked at you and you swore you heard Nami giggling ‘Bet she’s never even held a Chanel bag in her hands. she just wants everybody to be ratchet like people like her’. Smiling to yourself you turned around and flipped them the bird “At least I don’t have to go crying to daddy to buy me a new set of tits, I make my own money and work hard for it. Something you wouldn’t know a thing about, and THAT is what I find sad about your entailed fake ass”. your voice carrying through the hall as you turned back around and made your way back to your dorm. ——————————————— “You know what day it is? TACO Tuesday” You exclaimed while taking a shot of Jose Cuervo and stirring your meat to ensure its cooked properly. Your roommate Casey giggled and Layla downed a shot with you while blasting a Pitbull song. After plating your dinner of carne picada tacos topped with all your usual veggies and homemade Salsa you smiled while your friends posted pics to their instas, Captioning “BB y/n made us food”. “I still can’t believe you told Nami her tits were fake” Casey giggled while shoving a fistful of popcorn into her mouth. “y/n said her tits and her ass were fake” Layla corrected and you smiled at your dorky friends. “She deserved it, nothing I said wasn’t true. You all were sprawled out on the couch pilled high with fluffy blankets watching a random episode of The Nanny and laughing at random jokes Layla said while scrolling through her Insta feed. “OOOOOOh Valeria is getting ice cream with Subin” Casey practically pouted at the post and you sighed knowing your roommates crush on Valeria which did not go unseen by Layla, causing a metaphorical lightbulb to go off in her head. “You know Casey, Valeria is going to be at Jin’s party on Saturday” Casey being held buzzed sat up catching the bait and worried her bottom lip “Is she?” Layla nodded “This could be your chance to get a fistful of all that Latina, metaphorically and not so metaphorically” she crudely added with a wiggle of her eyebrows and you literally face palmed at your best friends words. Instead of being equally gassed out, Casey however downed her coke and stood up triumphantly “It’s time I tell her!” Layla stood up with her screaming a loud ‘yaaaaas queen’ and both pairs of eyes looked towards you sitting their nursing your Sprite. “What?” you questioned and immediately regretted when both girls practically jumped on you, squishing you between their bodies. “I can’t confess without knowing you and Layla are both there” Casey pouted her soft pink colored lips causing you to shake your head. “You do not need me there while you confess to your crush.” “But what if it goes bad? what if she rejects me, or worse; makes fun of me? What if i need to leave and I’m crying and I have snot everywhere an-“ Before she could continue you sighed and covered her mouth with your right hand. Nodding you stood up and smiled at both girls “Fuck it, Let’s get your Girl!” you knew Casey had liked her for literally an entire year and you knew you’d feel like shit if you weren’t there supporting your friend as she bared her heart. “I’m only doing this for you though, so know that I love you.” ——————————————— While the rest of the week you were dreading the party Saturday knowing Nami, Taehyung and the other were going to be there, it was Thursday night that was the straw that broke the Camels back. You had just finished returning your copy of Ulysses when you passed Nami practically hanging on the redhead talking about her Angel costume for Seokjins party. Rolling your eyes as you passed you stopped as you heard her ask “What are you rolling your eyes about? This is a private conversation” she flipped her hair over her left shoulder and you yet again rolled your eyes. “This is a public hallway, which means anything you say that can be heard by others can in fact get a response be it verbal or physical by someone other than the intended person in the conversation.” You were just about to turn around when she hmmphed “Whatever, mind your own business” turning around you were met with Layla jogging towards you. “Hot Stuff, what are we going to wear to the party? I’m thinking Doja Cat from the ‘Juicy’ MV, omg you should be -“ Before your best friend could continue, Nami stepped towards you with her arms crossed. “And how did someone like you, get an invitation?” punctuating the ‘you’ she pointed at you. “Jin and I are both on the Volleyball team” Layla stated and turned towards you “And he said I can bring whoever I wanted.” “I still don’t know why you hang around people like her” she once again pointed to you with her baby pink manicured index finger. You knew Layla had money and could very well fit in with their group. You sometimes felt like you were her downfall, the anchor to her social climb. But she always reassured you that she hated people like Nami and never understood why out of everyone, she hated you in particular for the passed two years. “Maybe because she’s my BEST friend, whoever gets invited to the party doesn’t involve you Nami. It’s JINS party, not yours.” Layla shook her head and you bit your bottom lip while curling your fists at your sides trying to calm yourself down.”Maybe she should be Donkey from Shrek, or maybe an edgy emo kid from 2010 with her ugly tattoos” Nami smirked and you heard Taehyung ‘who was scrolling on his phone let out a light laugh, his deep baritone further fueling Nami’s ego. “Have you ever even been to a party? like have you ever even left you dorm for something other than classes and your jobs” she sneered at the words jobs. “You should just reconsider coming, people like YOU don’t belong. People like YOU really should know your place” Your jaw visibly ticked “Seems like you have an obsession with anything my best friend does, is this like you having a big lesbian crush on her?” Layla said while placing a hand on your shoulder and doing her best Janice from Mean Girls impression. Before Nami could say anything back Taehyung nodded out a “Guess we will see you there then, bye Layla, bye y/n” turning to leave. Nami rolled her eyes and checked her phone “Not like it’ll matter what you wear, wait, OMG you should soo wear a ghost costume, it would suit you. Get it? cause you’ll be invisible and you don’t belong” then turned around, her yellow heels clacking against the tile as she following Taehyung down the hall cackling. “I still don’t know why she’s always hated you of all people? like it’s been two years of the same thing with her. I honestly don’t know how you haven’t hit her. I’ve seen you fight” She smiled and grabbed your hand, holding it while you all made your way down the hall, which made you smile and let out a small giggle at her comment about you fighting. She knew about your childhood and how you practically lived at you neighbors boxing gym to let off steam as a stress reliever. You had agreed to find a suitable costume as rage filled you from Navi’s moments and Taehyung’s lack of interest in the matter. (not that you would’ve expected much from him)

As you scanned the rows of costumes hung on the wall neatly you waited by the changing room while Layla and Casey tried on their costumes. “I think i’ll just go with this one” Casey smiled softly while twirling in her peter pan costume, her blond bob swishing lightly. “It’s so cute!” you hugged her and turned to see Layla emerging with a shake of her head “This isn’t giving me enough Doja Vibes”. You let out a hmm and pulled the pink/red mid length wig from your left and threw her a pair of red tights telling her to go put those on while you scoured the items on the racks. Layla finally emerged from the dressing room after you finished giving her the scattered pieces you had found. Clutching the green watermelon rind skirt, she twirled around in the same manor Casey did earlier and shook her pinky/red bandeau covered chest at you. After tightening the green suspenders that were connected to the skirt she smirked “Now it’s your turn Babe, and Casey and i are paying” before you could interrupt her she continues “not buts! You agreed to find a costume” Shaking your head you said a chorus of “No’s” vehemently at every option she held in front of you. “Y/n you need something to accentuate how hot you are! make her eat her words” you huffed and shook your head “Naughty Nerd is not the way to go Nami” Hanging the customer back on the rack she mumbled a “she said nerd so i figured hot nerd would be well, hot”. You grabbed a simple Witch costume that consisted of a mid length purple dress and a black hat with matching stockings, something low key but still a costume. Before you could go pay for it Layla grabbed your hand and stopped you. “No, y/n that isn’t enough, plays were paying” she pointed to herself and Casey who nodded. “Layla I don’t want to draw anymore attention to myself, I don’t need to look “hot” cause I’m not. I’m just a regular person who isn’t enough for these people. I’ll never be or do enough” You look down at your right arm and traced the intricate patterns of your black and white peonies and hibiscus that lined your inner arm. Your friends had never seemed you look so vulnerable, and something in Layla snapped. “She called you invisible and said you weren’t enough but guess what? She knows all about you makes sure you’re always uncomfortable around them. Which means she sees you as a threat”. you bit your bottom lip at her words “She has called you ugly, ratchet ‘which who says that anymore, poor, insignificant and she made fun of you working your ass off to pay your tuition because your deadbeat parents can’t do shit for you. You’re the smartest person in class, you’ve got street smarts and fuck man, you can literally kick a grown mans ass. Remember when those guys were grabbing Casey at the club and you stood up for her and literally fought two of them and won? Little miss prissy bitch couldn’t stand a 5 secs with that y/n. I know you don’t bother with fighting her cause you’re afraid of her connections and getting kicked out of school but fuck y/n grow some balls” Snapping your head in her direction you walking up to her standing in her face and exclaimed “Firstly Taehyung is the smartest in my Econ class. Secondly, don’t you think I’m already aware of what she says about me? don’t you think i want to punch that stupid smile off her face full of fillers? You wan’t me to grow some balls? FUCKING FINE, but I’m not wearing a “sexy nerd costume.” Smirking and trailing your fingers along a row of costumes you looked at your friends. “I’ll show her just how hot I can be” Layla smirked at you “That’s my girl, so what do you have in mind then” You slid your fingers along what felt like vinyl. Cocking your right eyebrow up you gripped the material. “What’s hotter than the Devil?” ——————————————— Standing in front of your mirror in your bedroom you were already regretting your choice in outfits for tonight. As you stared at yourself you reminded yourself why you were doing this. You were going to prove a point and that was all that mattered. you were going to prove you weren’t any of the negative things Nami said about you. Running your hands down the scrappy vinyl like material that was covering your chest and part of your upper body. Your hands stopped above your navel where the top stopped and you cocked your hip to the side, descending your hands further down your bare skin to the top of the matching vinyl like skin tight pants that resembled shiny black liquid covering your skin leaving little to the imagination. You plopped yourself in front of your desk to the makeshift vanity that was full of makeup products for the nights preparations. Curling the ends of your hair you laughed as Layla pranced around shimmying to Nasty by Brooke Candy. “Don’t trust that hoe he N A S T Y” you all yelled the lyrics. Finishing your Deep Burgundy and black smokey eye, you applied a sharp winged eyeliner and smoked out the lower lash line. Applying small round black jewels under your eyes you finished the look with a deep burgundy matte lipstick, fluffy lashes and a soft pink toned blinding highlighter. “We have like 5 minutes, get your asses in gear” Layla announced as you were tying your simple black leather choker around your neck. After zipping up your over the knee 5 inch stiletto vinyl black boots, you placed your black horned headband on your head securing the little clips in your hair and primped the strands around your face to frame sexily. The ride there was filled with bopping to music and Layla yelling that you were a bad bitch out of the windows for all of the campus to hear which caused you to yell as the Uber driver. Taking a deep breath, you exited the car and holding Layla and Caseys hands, you walked the short distance of the walkway to Seokjin’s Lavish off campus Townhome. The smell of weed and alcohol mixed with the sound of loud bass thumping greeted you as Layla pushed open the door. Walking through a sea of bodies you felt several pairs of eyes on you and you had to remind yourself it was fine. Settling yourselves in the kitchen, you started to make you all some drinks while Casey looked out for Valeria and Layla handed you cups and bottles. You decided simple Margaritas on the rocks were safe for the night and handed them to your friends. A tall and beautiful man you knew as Seokjin himself walked in and greeted you all, making sure to give Layla a hug to which you noticed her little blush creeping down her neck. “I’m glad you all could make it! Layla are you Doja Cat? omg Casey you’re Peter Pan! y/n are you the devil? oooooh are those Margs I see?” SeokJin asked which you nodded and asked if he wanted one as well. “Yes please! I suck at making drinks, oh and please just call me Jin” Smiling you stirred the mixture into a clear cup and handed it to him earning a dazzling smile. As he took a sip, Jin pressed his right hand to his chest over his heart “You NEED to come to all of my parties and make me drinks. This is so delicious” As he mimicked the chefs kiss signal you laughed and Layla beamed a smile at him. “Y/n works as a bartender part time at Nely’s next to campus” You nodded and sipped you drink while surveying the beautiful white marble kitchen and chrome accents. “You have a beautiful Home Jin” you smiled to him which made him softly pat you on the back “Thank you! I take pride in my kitchen. It’s where I blow off steam from Volleyball practice” Layla shook her head “You need to blow off steam? you practically don’t even sweat while we run plays” to which Jin scoffed “We all need to blow off steam Layla” You and Casey watched as both people seemed really comfortable with being around each other. You noticed Layla blush and Jin smile every time their eyes met. “Oh you’re here” said a shrill voice you knew none other than Nami herself, dressed in a fluffy white see thru robe, white satin dress that barely covered her butt, knee high white vinyl go-go boots, white lace stockings and sitting atop her head a thin gold halo attached to a headband. Next to you Layla smiled and placed her hand on her hip “Yeah, we said we would be here so here we are” you heard the brattiness in her voice and giggled when you notice Jin staring at her hips. “Ew, don’t stay too long” Nami said while walking out. Jin shook his head which prompted Layla to ask why he had invited Nami. “Well our families are friends and my roommates are friends with her” You cocked an eyebrow” You have roommates?” Before Jin could answer you heard a deep baritone laugh getting closer, turning your head to the side you saw Taehyung accompanied by Hoseok walking into the safe haven of the kitchen. “Tae, Hoseok, come meet Layla and her friends Casey and y/n!” Jin smiled “These are my roommates” As the men stepped closer you tried your best to cover the shocked look on your face. “HEY we have two devils!” Hoseok yelled out and smirked. Taehyungs hair was parted down the middle and some of his fringe was swept up into two red ‘horns’ he donned black skin tight vinyl pants, red shiny shoes that looked a lot like Gucci Mules, a sequined Blazer with only one button down right above his navel that accentuated his chest as he decided to forgo a shirt and a thing black choker similar to yours but tied in a small bow sitting in the hollow of his throat. Feeling his eyes roaming over your body and landing on you horns you busied yourself by chugging your drink and earned a holler from Hoseok. “Hey y/n can party!” Before anything else could be said, Casey spotted Valeria who was waving at you all to join her in the living room. Throwing your cup in the trash you followed Casey out of the now suffocating kitchen and tried to hide your expression as your eyes met the Red Devil while you slid passed him. “Hey girls!” Valeria smiled and hugged you both causing Casey to blush. Layla had stayed in the kitchen talking to Jin which made you smirk knowingly. “This is Subin” the man next to her looked up from his phone and sent a side your way, you noticed his costume as a werewolf from the looks of his tattered ripped shirt and what looked like a gnarly bite mark on his collarbone. “Hi I’m y/n and this is Casey” Casey narrowed her eyes at the man and how close he was standing to Valeria mumbling out a ‘I know who Subin is’. As you four talked you noticed Valeria standing closer and closer to Casey while laughing at some inside joke they shared. Before you knew it Valeria had swung an arm around your friend and they shared a soft smile. You really hoped all went well for Casey, if not, you might have to kick some ass. While you were thinking of the cuteness overload that Casey and Valeria together could be you heard a shuffle from your right “you look nice when you smile” Subin smiled at you and you felt the pink tint forming on your cheeks. As Casey pulled Valeria with her outside for some “fresh air” which you knew as go time. You decided to get straight to it and ask Subin himself “Are you and Valeria a thing?” choking on his drink he coughed out a loud ‘no no no no’ and you cocked an eyebrow. “Val and I are just friends, plus she’s not really into someone like me like that?.” “Someone like you?” Nodding Subin smiled knowingly and looked towards the door both girls had just slipped through. “As in she like boobs, your friends boobs to be exact.” Your eyes widened “Wait no! not her boobs, she liked your friend in general i was just saying boobs to accentuate how Val wouldn’t like me anatomically.” You giggled at how flushed he had gotten and he smiled along with you. You hadn’t noticed a pair of eyes staring as you talking to the man dressed as a werewolf. Hoseok noticed the look in his friends eyes, it was the same one Taehyung had gotten anytime you rolled your eyes at him, ignored his presence or had gotten in a heated debate. He had been sporting that look every time he looked at you for a little over two years now. Since your first year of college when you had shared a Psych class and battled for top spot in class. He knew his friend had taken an interest in you and it never dissipated. Taehyung sipped his beer and kept his eyes glued to your face while you smiled and laughed at something the man next to you had said. Hoseok was tired of nothing coming from this and slammed his beer down hopping onto the coffee table earning a ‘that wasn’t cheap get down!’ from Jin “It’s beer pong time!” Hopping off the table he stood in front of you in all of his Napoleon Dynamite Glory. “Y/n come play beer pong” he smiled at you and you could help but notice how beautiful Hoseoks smile was. Shaking your head “I don’t think i’ll be playing tonight Hoseok but than-“ Nami cackled at you from her band of barbies and interrupted “ Hope, don’t waste your time with her she isn’t worth it. Plus she probably can’t even play, she’s never even been to a party before.” Thats what caused you to roll your eyes and place your hand into Hoses outstretched one. “I’ll play”. You and Subin followed Hoseok to the side of the living room where a few beer pong tables were already set up. Layla and Jin had joined you as well, intrigued to see you playing. “Okay teams of two. Usual rules of no leaning over the table, must drink your drink if a ball is sunk, one re-rack per person on each team, and if a trick shot made with one hand behind your back and a foot away from the table is sunk by the opposing team they may make a request that you have to complete. Said request can’t be anything illegal or THAAAT bad. “Can I take a shot instead of drinking a beer? I don’t really do well with beer” you asked honestly which cause Hoseok to holler “Fuck yeah!” Before you could pick a teammate Hoseok smiled and pulled Taehyung over “We have to have the two Devil’s playing” You shrugged and asked Subin if he would be your partner to which he smiled an ‘of course’ which earned a cock of an eyebrow from Taehyung which Hoseok noticed and smirked. “I’d be on Tae’s team but I think to make it fair we should have another female” Nami walked over laying her hand on Taehyung’s shoulder and smirked “I’ll play” you rolled your eyes and mumbled an ‘i’ll play’ mimicking her shrill voice which earned a chuckle from Subin. “Ooh an Angel and a Devil on the same team, how heaven and hell” Hoseok smirked and set up the cups handing each team their set of ping pong balls. Layla and Jin brought you a bottle of tequila (your eyebrows shot up when you noticed it was ‘Gran Patron’ and then you remembered these people are well off. You had made the marg’s with a different bottle of Patron which while not cheap wasn’t as expensive as this particular bottle was) and shot glasses to replace the typical drink of beer if a ball is sunk. Beer really didn’t sit well with your stomach, you assumed it was the carbonation. “Layla you do know this is like a $500 bottle of alcohol right?” Layla smirked and Jin smiled responding “I don’t really drink Tequila unless it’s in a marg and my uncle left this bottle here from his last stay, as far as I’m concerned you can have it.” You opened the bottle letting the smell of Agave fill your senses and re capped it. “Ready?” Hoseok asked to which both teams agreed. Taehyungs team started to which Nami missed her shot, the next shot was Subins and he sunk it, picking her to chug what looked like some sort of fruity cider. Taehyung was next and he lined up his shot before seemingly sinking it before he looked up “Subin drinks” he said smoothly and Subin drank what was left in his cup. You were up next, carefully lining up your shot you watched as the ball plopped right into the cup and looked at the duo in from of you. “Nami drinks” Nami rolled her eyes “Ughh again??” she exclaimed and you smirked “What? can’t keep up?” you asked to which she grumbled and drank what looked like another cider. Nami sunk her next shot and picked you to drink, as you poured the liquid into your shot glass you smirked right at her while downing the shot like it was water. Unknown to you, a pair of dark eyes watched as you licked your lips while placing the glass down. The game continued with each of the teams missing and sinking shots until you won the game, hugging Subin you both had only had around 3 drinks each and decimated the other team. Taehyung called for another game as in 2/3 wins to win the full game. You had surprisingly agreed but only because Nami wouldn’t shut the fuck up with her little snide comments and you loved the look on her face every time she missed or you sunk her shot. The second game continued until there were only 4 cups left on your end and 3 on the opposing team. You and Subin hugged each other after your last shot that nailed Nami yet again and she held her stomach calling celebrity shot which basically called Hoseok into the game to replace her. You were 5 shots in and feeling light, not nearly drunk but nicely buzzing as you could hold your liquor well. Stepping in Hoseok smirked “Imma flip things up, If i sink this shot ya’ll gotta do my request” Folding his left arm around his back he took a few steps away from the table and focused on nailing the center shot, and to your surprise he actually did nail it. “Hmm little devil, I request that you take a shot” Your eyebrows shot up as that sounded easy enough. “Oh dear, not a normal shot. I’m talking about a body shot, your partner needs to lay on the table and you have to follow all body shot steps down to the lime in his mouth.” Rolling your eyes you turned to Subin to ask if it was okay with him. Your buzzing partner agreed and insisted after you asked if he was sure. Laying his body down on the table with the crown of his head facing Hoseok and Teahyung. He lifted his shirt up to his chest so that you could sprinkle salt from his navel up to his chest. Filling the shot glass, you placed it above his belly button and gave him the lime wedge to slip between his lips. Taehyung gritted his tech as you climbed onto the white table situating yourself above Subins lap. People who were watching the game from afar gathered closer to watch as you once again asked Subin if it was okay and he smiled a yes. Leaning down you tentatively dragged your tongue from his belly button up to his chest licking up the salt, then dipped back down to his belly button and wrapped your lips around the shot glass leaning up and getting the liquid pour into your mouth and down your throat. You crawled up his body and carefully took the lime from his mouth, making sure to dig into the flesh of the lime and not actually touch his mouth. After all, you just met him and didn’t want him to think you were taking advantage of anything. Throwing the wedge into a discarded cup you hopped off of the table and handed Subin a napkin to wipe the remnants of salt and tequila off of his body. “Can we get on with the game?” Taehyung grumbled and you rolled your eyes nodding. Subin sunk his next shot and Hoseok took a shot of Tequila instead of chugging a beer. It was now 3 to 2 and Taehyung missed his next shot, too focused on the way you were fanning your hand over the back of your next from the warmth the liquor was giving you. It was your turn and you sunk your next shot causing Taehyung to chug the beer Jin handed to him. Hoseok smiled and once again moved his left arm around his back “Might as well make it interesting, another request for another trick shot” you rolled your eyes and smiled at the brunette as he wagged his eyebrows and closed his eyes. You truly did not think he would sink another trick shot, let along with his eyes closed. But as you watched the ball sink into one of your cups your eyes went wide. You heard hollers and screams hyping up the shot that Hoseok had just made and mentally readied yourself for another body shot. “If you’re thinking I’m going to have you do the same thing, you’re wrong” Your eyebrows furrowed and he smirked “It’s Subins turn to take a body shot” Taehyung let out a deep warning “Hoseok, don’t” You didn’t understand why he would have a problem with it but you turned around to look at Subin to ask if he was once again okay with such a thing. He nodded and in turn asked if you were okay. Smiling you handed him a shot glass. After you situated yourself the same way Subin had, you saw him falter on where to put the salt since your top stopped right above your navel, and you grabbed the bottle of salt from his hand and placed a trail from your collarbone up your next. You figured it was safer than your cleavage. Subin handed you the lime wedge and you softly bit into it watching him fill the shot glass and place it above your belly button. Layla looked down at you and smiled as she saw you getting chorus of “Fuck yeah y/n” which had made Nami who was sitting down roll her eyes. Climbing into your body and leaning down, Subin let his tongue drag along your collarbone to your neck slowly before leaning down and wrapping his lips around the shot glass in the same way you had done to him and leaned up to gulp it down. Leaning down once again he was about to take the lime wedge from your mouth when a hand n his shoulder stopped him. Before you could ask what was going on you saw a strand of red and felt a pair of lips on yours pulling the lime away. Taehyung had had enough, he was tired of seeing you with Subin and even more tired of the games Hoseok was playing. When he watched Subin lean down to your mouth he couldn’t take it anymore and his body reacted on it’s own. Doing what it had been wanting to do for years. You watched as Taehyung spit out the lime wedge a leaned back down to capture your lips in his in an upside down kiss. A chorus of oohs and oh shits followed which caused you to push him off and jump off of the table. You shook your head at him and wrapped your arms around your body “What the fuck Taehyung?” you asked but before anybody could answer you, you asked Jin where the bathroom was to which he pointed out and you ran there hearing a “wait” being yelled but you didn’t care you needed to get out of there. You were being watched by everybody and that accompanied with the kiss from someone you thought you hated and assumed he hated you as well, well that was too much. Walking into the first floor bathroom you slammed the door and made your way to the sink. You looked at yourself in the mirror then looked down, bracing your hands on either side of the sink trying to calm yourself down. You could hear the bass thumping, causing the walls to lightly vibrate. There was a loud knock on the door followed by a series of “y/n please please open the door.” Letting out a deep breath you ran your index finger along your lash line, wiping any excess makeup that had smudged during your beer pong game. Stepping towards the door you swung it open only to be greeted with your best friend flinging herself on your short frame despite the high heeled boots you donned. “Hi, I love you, and before you say it. I know you want to go home but please don’t let those people get to you. So what if Tae kissed you? Don’t even acknowledge that ass wipe, and omg you should’ve seen Navi’s face when he kissed you. She legit looked like she was going to blow up like some sort of doll filled with helium!” Layla placed her hands on either side of you, softly gripping your shoulders, her deep brown eyes staring into yours softly. “Hey, talk to me? If you really do want to go home, i’ll go with you. But I really think you shouldn’t let anything that just happened get you down. Let’s just go back to the living room and dance all these feelings away! You’ve got me, Jin, Subin and Casey and Val ‘not that i know where they are.” While she rambled on you took in your surroundings, noting the pristine glass shower situated in the corner followed by the chrome towel rack that supported plush light grey towels. The porcelain toilet stood across from it, tucked into a corner of the light grey walls that matched the towels. As she finished her speech you already knew what you had to do, you weren’t going to let this get you down. You were so fucking tired of letting people get to you, you had no control over your life growing up but you sure as hell had control over your current self. You had amazing friends, were incredibly intelligent, worked your ass off at both of your jobs and were happy with the way you looked. Quirking up the left corner of your mouth you leaned in and planted a big smooch on your besties left cheek. “Layla, you’re right” Surprise crossed your best friends face, followed by a knowing smirk. “That’s my best bitch! Let’s get our asses down there and show them what a bad bitch you are, not that you haven’t already. I mean, dude you totes slammed like 6 shots no problem and you look HOT AS HELL.” Giggling you took her arm into yours and let her take you down the hallway into the crowded living area. The LED lights lit a soft purple hue that bounced off of the cream colored walls, further creating that fantasy look that enticed party goers to let all their inhibitions go. You noticed someone had moved the coffee table to a far corner closer to the beer pong tables, which had expanded the makeshift dance floor. The DJ was bopping his head to the current track he was mixing and the sea of bodies moving themselves to the beat was massive. You clutched Layla’s hand in yours as she pushed her way through the dancers and you all finally settled closer to one of the couches that had been pushed to a corner opposite of the tables where Jin, Subin and Hoseok had been waiting for you two. Jin placed a hand on your shoulder as if you check if you were alright and you smiled while nodding. “I’m so so sorry y/n, are you okay?” Subin asked and searched your face for an answer. Smiling at the man who had been your partner in crime for the passed hour, you nodded. “It’s all good, no need to be sorry. I do need another drink though. I think that little stint in the bathroom may have sobered be up more than i’m happy about. Hoseok smiled and shouted a ‘Gotchu’ before he bounded back off to the kitchen mixing up some concoction you knew would be strong. “Theres seems to be a lot more dancing than before” you jutted your chin towards the sea of bodies and Jin laughed. “I think most people are in that drunks haze where dancing is all they can do since they can’t seem to stand straight.” You chucked softly as you knew all too well how dancing enticed drunk people. The brunette thrusted a clear cup into your hands, quirking an eyebrow at him he responded with a chuckle. “It’s just bourbon on the rocks” Testing the liquid in the cup you smiled confirming it was in fact bourbon and nothing gross. You spotted Nami hanging herself on Taehyung in the corner towards the tables, your eyes met as she looked back at you with what looked like rage. Leaning her body upwards she leaned in towards his right ear and appeared to be whispering something to which he shook his head while staring into his glass. This seemed to upset her, huffing she once again leaned back up and attached you pink gloss covered lip to his neck. For some reason this had annoyed you to no end. For years Nami had been al over the tall man, only to be semi rejected with her advances which had brought you an odd sense of joy and seeing her lips on his neck as he just stood there caused you to rip your gaze away fro the pair and bring your cup up to your still burgundy tinted lips as the lipstick had faded away and left you with a just bitten look. Leaning you head back you downed the contents of the glass and slammed it down on the nearby end table that was situated by the couch. “Let’s dance?” you handed Jin your purse pulling Layla to the dance floor with you, not needing an answer to your question. As you both pushed through to the middle of the grinding crowd you best friend leaned in to your ear letting you know she’d be right back. Before you could ask what she was doing you saw her watermelon headband bounding up to the DJ who nodded when she leaned in close to him. As the first notes of the beat started you couldn’t help the smirk that planted itself on your lips. You giggled as Layla shimmied her way towards you and the first lines of the song began. Letting your body sway to the music, Layla laid her hands on your hips. “That’s my best friend, she a real bad bitch. Got her own money.” You both sang as you moved your hips in her hands. Placing both of your hands on her shoulders you turned her around and pulled her back close to your chest. Jin had been staring at your friend’s hips swaying along with yours and you decided you wanted to put on a show for him. Running your hands up her tight covered thighs up to her waist she leaned forward and gave her ass a little twerk causing you to chuckle. Turning her body around she gripped your hand in hers and spun you around, you made sure to wiggle your hips as you spun. “She been down since the jellies and the bow-bows” you shimmied your hips and saw Casey and Val bounding their way towards you two. As they got closer you noticed Caseys Peter Pan hat had gone missing and Vals pink lipstick was smudged, both girls walking hand in hand. Throwing Casey a knowing smirk she shrugged lightly and Layla wrapped her arms around both girls, creating a circle. “Where have you BEEN?” Layla yelled over the music at the two but shook her head after taking in their appearances “Nevermind I don’t want to know, wait, or do I?” wiggling her eyebrows she smoothed down Caseys wild blonde bob. Val seemed to enjoy the blush that had formed on Caseys cheek and she leaned close to place a kiss on either cheek, further fueling the crimson on her cheeks. As the intro to Bad Bitch by Bebe Rexha came into play you all raised your hands up into the air and swayed to the beat. Hoseok came into view, thrusting a shot into each of your friends hands and you all posed for his snapchat video while downing the shots of what tasted like whiskey. “Gross, I don’t know how you like liquor” Casey said, her cute face scrunching up into a sour expression and you giggled. Leaning down you touched your toes and twerked your ass to the beat earning a “fuck it up” from Layla and Val. As you ground your hips back into your best friend you looked up catching Taehyungs burning gaze on your flushed face. Cocking an eyebrow up at him you turned around in Layla’s hold swaying your hips. “Ugh, prissy bitch incoming” Layla whispered into your ear and you followed her eyes to Nami who pulled Michelle and a bored looking Taehyung onto the dance floor. Your eyes followed Navi’s movements as they slid up and down the devils chest and Michelle settled her hands on his shoulders behind him. Your jaw tensed as Nami’s hands trailed up to his neck. Meeting his dark gaze you narrowed your eyes slightly and shook your head, turning around and grabbing Hoseoks hands pulling him closer to you. The LED lights turned a deep red hue as the opening to Streets - Silhouette remix started and Val exclaimed “Let me put this on insta, y/n your horns loom so good in this light!” Posing with your back towards Hoseoks with your head leaning onto his shoulder, the latter gripped your hips and leaned his face into your neck while Val took the picture. As the tune changed and the beat dropped with it’s intoxicatingly slow beat you swayed your hips against Hoseoks, bending your knees and slowly sliding up and down his body. Trailing his fingers up your sides he grilled your hips and turned you around to face him. You heard Layla lean into Casey saying something along the lines of ‘oh shit’. ‘I found it hard to find someone like you’ you slid your body down the Brunettes, never leaving his gaze ‘send your location come thru’. Leaning back up you rolled your head around and he wrapped a hand into your hair, his other gripping your right hip tighter. your hands settled themself on his shoulders and you leaned towards his left, your eyes catching onto Taehyungs dark gaze, his eyes never leaving yours as Hoseok ground his hips into yours. Even as Nami wiggled her hips in front of his and trailed her hands under his blazer, his arms stayed at his sides, never touching the Angel nor the Bunny who still danced her body against his back. Hoseok knew his friend was watching and he couldn’t help but smirk, gripping your hair tighter he moved your face towards him and pulled you in until you were a few centimeters from his lips as he moved your hips along with his. ‘We belong and I can’t be without you’ Doja’s voice crooned through the speakers as Hoseok leaned in closer to your lips over the hazey cloud of smoke and tightly packed bodies. You internally debated wether or not you truly wanted him to close that gap and land his lips on yours, but the only thing you could think of was the gaze of a certain someone on yours. Before you fully decided on if you wanted the man in front of you to kiss you, your body was pulled away from his. A strong grip was formed around your wrist and all you registered was Layla and Casey wide eyes before you were being pulled away from the dancing bodies and up the stairs. You barely registered the click of a door being opened followed by your back hitting the hard wood. “What the hell were you doing?” Taehyung rasped out staring deeply into your eyes with a mixture of what looked like want and fury. You placed your hands on his chest pushing him back slightly and jutted your chin upwards. “Excuse me? I was dancing with my friends and Hoseok, not that that’s any of you business” Taking a step towards him. “What the hell do YOU think you’re doing? dragging me up to this room and thinking you can manhandle me.” Receiving no answer you shook your head and were prepared to turn around and walk right back out of that door. “You drive me fucking insane. Seeing that Subin guys hands all over you and then you dancing like that with my best friend.” You felt yourself being pressed against the door once again with his large hands on either side of your head, his rings glinting against the soft light filtering in through the open curtains. Cocking your eyebrow up at him you stood your ground. “What? are you Jealous?” you snorted out. “Yeah, yeah I fucking am” At his surprising answer you looked up seeing nothing but want in his deep eyes with a glint of something else you couldn’t quite place. “You’re fucking insane. Don’t play with me” you rasped out, your voice hoarse from singing and dancing earlier. “I’m not playing” was all you heard before your head knocked back against the wooden frame of the door followed by a pair of plush lips crushing yours with a ferocity you suddenly craved. He tasted like cinnamon and liquor and you loved it. Something inside you both seemed to snap in that moment and you trailed one of your hands up, curling your fingers into his soft hair and tugging on the makeshift horns it was styled into. Your other hand settled itself onto his warm chest fingering the labels of his blazer. Taehyung growled out at you reciprocated the kiss and trailed his right hand down the door, settling on your hip and pulling you impossibly closer to his body. Feeling teeth nibbling at your lower lip you gasped out and he took the chance to slide his tongue into your mouth, your tongues immediately fighting for dominance. Tugging his hair harder you felt his hand that had been on your hip slide lower until it was gripping a handful of your ass cheek, followed by a grunt. You could still hear the music that was thumping downstairs but it was slowly being drowned out by the man in front of you. The plush pair of lips that was against yours slowly trailed down to your jaw, nipping at the flesh softly until they reached your neck. Nuzzling his face against your warm flesh as he littered the area with whisper soft kisses. Slipping your hand under his blazer you trailed your nails lightly along his skin earning a low hiss from his deep voice. Smirking, you dug you nails harder “You’re playing with fire babygirl” Taehyung gripped both of your hands into one of his large palms and pressed them against the door frame grinding his hips into yours. Feeling his length against your covered core you couldn’t help the soft whine that escaped your lips. Taehyung trailed his lips back to your neck and sucked on your pulse point causing you to arch your back. “Y/n i really don’t want to stop, but I need to know that you want this too” the man in front of you pulled back slightly while he waited for a response. Letting out a small ‘yes’ he leaned back down capturing you in another searing kiss. Flexing your wrists in an outwards circular motion you freed yourself from his grip and took a step forward placing your hands against his chest and effectively spinning him around so his back hit the door. Despite the height different even with your heels you kept your palms flat on his chest with your strength, keeping him against the door. Arching a dark brow up at you Taehyung smirked. “Not going to lie, that was pretty hot” you felt him grumble against your mouth as it attached itself to his tan neck. Sucking a few bruises against his flesh you felt his need growing against your stomach and you couldn’t help your involuntary clench of your thighs. His smell was intoxicating, a mixture of fresh linen, cinnamon and musk. You felt his hands trail up the backs of your thighs and grind the flesh under your ass, signaling you to wrap your legs around his waist. Leaving one more bite against his neck you complied and jumped up latching your legs around his sturdy hips. Walking you both backwards, Taehyung leaned you downwards until your back was hitting the large bed tucked against the wall. Arching your back towards him you pulled him onto your body by his shoulder and moaned into his mouth as he captured your lips in his. Biting down on your lower lip hard, Taehyung ground his hips down against yours. While his mouth felt incredible against yours you knew you wanted, no, needed more.“Need more” you whispered out causing his to chuckle against your lips and lean his body up. Smirking down at you he cocked his head to the side and trailed his index finger up your torso and chest. “Sorry love, I couldn’t hear you. What was that?” Rolling your eyes you reached up tugging his hair into your grip. “I said, I.Need.More” you said though gritted teeth at the knowing look in his eyes. “Why didn’t you say so earlier?” before you could retort you felt his mouth latch itself on your collarbone and his hands trailing down your legs, pulling the zippers to your boots down before tossing them on the floor somewhere. Trailing his hands behind your back he began trying to undo your top. “While these straps are hot, they aren’t fucking functional for shit. How the hell do I take this off?” Taehyung practically growled out causing a chuckle to leave your lips. Leaning up slightly you helped him unhook the main portion of the top and pull the strappy harness over your neck. Tossing the item he had been fumbling with to the side he couldn’t stop admiring your breasts covered only by your black lace bra. You shivered as he trailed his hands up your chest, his cold rings causing your nipples to perk up and a gasp to leave your mouth. Leaning his face down, Taehyung started trailing soft kisses along your chest downwards to your torso and back up. His hands were once again at your back, this time working fast successfully unhooking your bra. Looking into your eyes he hooked his fingers under the straps on your shoulder and slowly pulled down releasing your breasts from their confinement. Biting down on his lip he started at your perky nipples and full breasts. He had always loved your curves and didn’t ever think he’d get to see them this way. You felt his soft lips wrap around one of your nipples and gasped as his tongue lightly flicked against the hard pebble. Your hand in his hair pulled him closer to your chest and he smirked. He pinched your other nipple between his fingers which earned a low moan. His mouth being soft on one of your nipples and his fingers being rough on your other one caused an intoxicating juxtaposition and you couldn’t help the little whines that left your throat. Fiddling with your button and zipper, Taehyung successfully started to pull your pants down, leaning up and leaving your nipple with a loud pop of his mouth. Tugging to pull your pants off of your legs he hissed when he saw your core only covered by your thin lace panties. You heard your pants hit the floor in a loud thump and bit your lip in nervousness as you realized just how exposed you were in front of this infuriatingly beautiful man. “You’re fucking beautiful” He rasped out, trailing his eyes up your body and landing on your face. Before he could hike your legs open and upwards you spoke up “You have way too many articles of clothing on” Smirking he complied with your request and popped the single button holding his blazer together, sliding it down his shoulders and throwing it in a heap on the floor. You heard his shoes being kicked off as well before he leaned back down to resume his earlier ministrations. His large hands slid down the insides of your thighs and pulled them open to reveal your soaked panty covered core. You swore you head him let out a low whine but before you could comment on it you felt a warm pair of lips latch onto your clit through the fabric. Arching your back off of the bed you gripped his shoulder in your hand. Taehyung rubbed his index and middle finger along your slit and hooked themselves around the fabric pulling it to the side and exposing yourself to the cool air and his waiting mouth. Laying his left palm flat against your lower tummy he leaned in giving you a soft tentative lick to your slit. Biting your lip between your teeth you moaned out when he latched his mouth around your clit and sucked harshly. “F..Fuck” Hearing your moan he sucked against and gripped the flesh of your thigh with his other hand keeping your legs open. Alternating between sucking and flicking his tongue against your sensitive nub he loved the way you tasted and couldn’t get enough of it. If it was up to him he would do this all day every day. You ground your hips up into his mouth causing him to smirk against your cunt. “Needy” he growled out and trailed his fingers that had been on your thigh down to your slit, running the tip of his middle finger around your opening before sliding itself in to the knuckle. You brought your right fist to your mouth and bit down to keep yourself from moaning out. Slowly pumping his finger in and out, he watched as your finger disappeared into your wet heat taking him in so good. “Fuck you’re wet” Looking up into your eyes he saw you biting down onto your fist and stopped his ministrations “ If you want more I need to hear you babygirl” Muffling a ‘please’ you released your fist from your mouth and wove it into his hair. Pleased with your sounds he continued sliding his finger in and out of you, adding his index finger into your heat hissing at how tight you were. “Shit you’re tight, gotta make sure you’re nice and ready for my big cock babygirl” Arching your back, you felt his press against your inner walls and curl his fingers causing you to dig your fingernails into his shoulder and tug his hair harder with your other hand. Latching his mouth back onto your clit he lightly hummed which sent vibrations through your body. Whining with need you continued grinding your hips up onto his face and rolled your eyes closed. Taehyung looked up at you watching your fucked out expression and almost choked when he heard you whining his name. Working his tongue against your click he started to harshly pump his fingers into you before slowing down and inching his middle finger into your heat. You felt your cunt burning at the stretch but the look in his eyes caused another gush of arousal to seep out and coat his fingers further. “Jesus..fuck you’re so hot and you taste so fucking delicious” As he slowly pumped his fingers in and out you felt your stomach clenching, that familiar feeling on your realize building with each flick of his tongue against your clit. “Tae.. Tae i’m going to cum if you keep doing that.” Sucking harshly he curled his fingers and pressed against your g spot “Cum babygirl, let me taste you before I slid my fat cock into your needy cunt” Rolling your eyes back you felt your legs start to shake as you gripped his hair almost painfully between your fingers. Your stomach tightened and you felt yourself clench around his fingers. Your breath becoming shallow as you let out a series of ‘oh fuck yes’ and ‘omg omg’ your hand that had been on his shoulder came up to your chest as your pinched your nipple between your feelings and felt the metaphorical dam of your orgasm approaching. Taehyung sucked harshly before grazing his teeth lightly against your clit and your eyes shot open feeling your legs convulse and your toes curl. With a final whine you felt yourself cum all over his tongue which he licked up like a starved man. Breathing deeply you felt the sweat drip down your brow for your intense orgasm and when he stood your eyes followed down his torso gleaming with sweat and down to the prominent bulge in his pants. Biting your lip you caught him staring at your cunt that had just cum around his finger and he started to pull your beyond soaked panties down and off of your legs. Looking back up into your eyes he slipped each finger between his plums lips and licked them clean. Groaning at the action you felt yourself clench. “Think you can take more baby?” He smirked at you and you wrapped your legs around his waist pulling him against you and ground your soaking cunt against his covered length. “You’re getting me all dirty, fuck that’s hot” He growled out and slid his fingers down unbuckling his belt. Popping the button of his pants, he pulled the zipper down with your eyes following every movement. Sliding his pants down his thighs he kicked them off and hooked him thumbs into his black briefs. You couldn’t tell if you were really drooling but once his slid his fried down and his cock sprang free you knew me heard your very audible groan followed by a clench of your thighs. Sliding his hand along his shaft, he pumped his leaking length a few times and reached to the side opening a drawer and seemingly looking for a condom. Gripping his arm you shook your head “I’m on the pill, are you clean?” His eyes widened at the possibility of what you were saying and he nodded “I haven’t had sex in a few months and when I did I wore a condom, I also get checked every month if you want to see the results I have them on my pho-“ You cut him off by leaned up and kissing him. As you layed back down against the pillows you smiled up at him an he swore he felt his heart flutter and his cock pulsate. Hooking his right index finger under your thin leather choker he pulled you up and he ground his uncovered cock against your dripping pussy. “As much as I love these, they have to come off they’re barely hanging on your head. Not knowing what he was talking abut you felt his fingers prodding at your scalp and finally run through your hair with the devil horned headband and clips in his hand. Setting them down on the beside table he leaned back piping his cock and wrapping his fingers around his thick head of his shaft. Leaning down he took your mouth against his and you felt his thick tip push against your slit. Locking your ankles around his back you ran your hands down his shoulder and gripped his back. Your walls pulsated around him as he slid in inch by inch and you threw your head back as your walls accommodated his thick size. When he finally bottomed out in your heat he stilled letting you relax as he filled you to the brim. Sliding his tongue against your he grunted when you involuntarily clenched around him. “You're so fucking tight, you make me crazy” he growled out and settled his mouth against your neck, nipping and sucking the skin as he slowly pulled out only to ram himself back in. Moaning loudly your grip on his shoulders tightened and you knew you were leaving crescent moons on his luscious tan skin. “Crazy? you seem pretty soft to me. Why don’t you fuck me and show me just how crazy I make you” you teased. After sucking harshly on your neck he sat back up and gripped the undersides of your thighs pulling them apart from his hips. “You’re so bad, want me to ruin you? Open you up with my fat cock?” you nodded and trailed your tongue along your lower lip preparing yourself for what he was about to do. Ramming himself up into you again you grated your teeth and looked up into his dark eyes. His rhythm was slow and harsh, pounds into you with each thrust of his hips. Your walls enveloped him and he swore he wasn’t giving you up after this, hell he wasn’t giving you up after that first kiss on that beer pong table. He was going to make sure you knew how he felt and hopefully you felt the same way. If not, he’d respect it but at least he’d know you knew how he felt. Watching your tits bounce with each thrust he heard you mumble out a raspy ‘faster’ and he complied, pushing your thighs farther up against your chest. At this knew angle you swore you felt him in your stomach. “Oh god” you ground out and his eyes flashed even deeper if that was possible “Fuck yeah, moan for me y/n” Sliding himself in and out of you at a fast pace, you could hear his balls slapping against your ass. The room filled with shallow breathes and curses spewing from either of your mouths. Taehyung slid his palms under your ass and gripped your cheeks between his large hands, squeezing harshly before pulling you up so you were sitting on his lip with his cock still stuffed inside of you. As he thrusted upwards you met his thrusts by bouncing your hips and wrapping your legs around his waist. His hands held you by your ass, pushing and pulling your body on and off of his cock. Leaning towards him you sucked a bruise onto his neck and wrapped your arms around the back of his neck. Feeling his cock his that sweet spot you shuddered and clenched around him tightly. “Stop doing that before I cum” he gritted out and you pulled back from his neck smirking. “mm maybe that’s what I want” With a sharp thrust upwards into your tight cunt he splayed his right hand agains the bottom of your spine and pulled you as close as you could get. “You’re devilish, I swear. You want me to fill up your little pussy with my cum? is that what you want? to get filled?” his deep baritone voice filled your ears and you clenched impossibly tighter around his shaft. “T..Tae fill me up..I need it!” you moaned out loudly and he pushed your body back down onto the bed, pushing your ankles towards your chest he situated himself on his knees and started ramming into you to the point where your body slid against the bed. Reaching one hand down, he lightly gripped your neck. “Yeah? want me to fill you up? Then cum baby, cum all over my cock.” “Tae..Tae..I’m going t..to cum. Fuck you’re so deep” your eyes fluttered closed as he gripped your throat and you held onto his back. “Cum for me y/n, let me feel you soak my cock as I fill you to the brim” Feeling your body start to convulse you opened your eyes to see his fucked out face, sweat dripping down his cherry colored hair and down his neck. His hand flexing on your neck and his abs flexing with every thrust. His low moan of your name sent you over the edge and you clenched around him. Your thighs closed around his hips and you moaned out his name. Curling your toes your this quivered and your inner walls fluttered around his throbbing shaft. Arching off of the bed and towards him his grip on your neck loosened and he leaned down capturing your hips in his as his hips stilled and you felt his warm cum spitting inside of your waiting heat. Thrusting his cock back in and out slowly he let out a low groan as the remnants of his cum filled you. Taking deep breath he watched your face as he slowly slipped out of you and trailed his eyes down to watch the clear and white liquid leak out of you. Letting out a deep whine he leaned forward and captured your lips between his. His lips were soft against yours, still passionate but not as fiery as they had been earlier. Pulling back his gaze studied your face. “Tae..I” before you could continue he shook his head. “Wait before you say anything, please let me get this out. I’m sorry for the way things happened tonight but I don’t regret any of it. Iv’e literally liked you since we first argued about the attributes of the human brain during psych. That one time you called me an aloof imbecile I almost pulled you out of class and kissed that pretty look off of your face. I assumed you hated me and it made me mad, instead of being a normal human being and just asking you why you hated me I decided to take it out on you. If you didn’t like me, at least I could gain your attention arguing with you.” “And tonight, seeing you with those other guys..I couldn’t help but think it would’ve been better if it was me. I needed to stop being a pussy and just fucking tell you how i felt.” He shook his head as he spoke. “ What about you and Nami? and the fact that you laughed the other day when she made fun of what I should be for halloween and my tattoos” Scrunching his face he sighed. “First of all Nami is just a friend, well more like a family friend. Iv’e known her since I was young and I guess I was just used to her being there. Nami and i have never done anything and never will. Secondly, I didn’t laugh at whatever she said. to be completely honest I drowner out her voice after she asked how you got an invite. I has laughed at a meme Jin sent me of our other friend Namjoon whos away for a semester in Paris, with a bald cap on looking like a grandpa due to his old school vibe he always has. That being said, i’m sorry I never defended you when she said anything to or about you. I really wanted to but you were always so good at defending yourself and that one time Jose defended you, you had turned around and told him you didn’t ‘need a man’ to defend you. So that combined with me thinking you hated me, I just assumed you’d end up really hated me and wouldn’t give me the time of day when we argued anymore.” Climbing off of your body Taehyung sat down next to you and studied your expression. “I don’t hate you per say, I hated that you always argued with me, I hated that you scored higher than be despite never seeming to study while I worked my ass off, I hated that you came from money, you never had to fight for what you wanted or what you deserved. I hated that you were Nami’s friend and always seemed so aloof, like you really didn’t care about anything. But I didn’t..I don’t hate you as a person” you turned towards him. “Who said I never study? My parents would kill me if I scored sub-par. Hell, the only reason I can live here with Jin is if i keep up my grades and don’t disappoint them. If i didn’t care about anything my ass would be living in on campus housing and having an RA breath down my throat while my parents called me everyday asking if I was completing the study forms they sent over. Yeah I’m well off, but that’s my parents money and they worked hard for it. They put hard work and intelligence above all else.” your eyebrows rose at his confession and you get bad. You had assumed so much about him these passed two years and none of it seemed to be right. “I think that’s why I started to like you so much, you’re so intelligent, you work so hard at everything you do and you carry yourself like such a strong person. You kind of scare me if i’m honest” his deep voice chuckled and you smiled. “You’re beautiful inside and out” Taehyung said softly brushing his thumbs against your cheeks. You could feel the tenderness in his chest and your heart fluttered. “Maybe I liked you too, maybe that’s why I always waited for you to argue with me. I like how intelligent you are, I like that you always have something to say about whatever point I’m trying to prove.” You said softly and the corner of his mouth lifter slightly “liked? past tense” Rolling your eyes you covered your face and grumbled. “fine, LIKE. As in present tense” Taehyung stepped off of the bed and chuckled “THE y/n likes me? i’m honored. Sure its not cause I just made you cum twice?” throwing your arm off of your eye you watched his figure retreating into another door before flicking a light on. “Shut up Tae!” Chuckling he emerged from what you assumed was an ensuite bathroom with a wet cloth and situated himself between your legs. “I like when you call me Tae” he said and you blushed, feeling the cool cloth wipe gently along your folds. Sliding the cloth along your legs he finished cleaning you up and smiled up at you gently with his every so beautiful boxy smile. Returning to the bathroom to drop off the cloth you heard the water turn on and assumed he was cleaning himself off as well. Letting your gaze look around the room you noticed the bookshelf across from the bed you were currently on. On its shelf sat different picture frames, books and what looked like plushies. On the other side of the same wall sat a dark grey desk complete with a laptop, a mini plant and various knickknacks and a chair with a navy blue hoodie that you noticed to be Taehyungs hanging off of the back of the chair. Next to the bed was a nightstand that had a lamp, an iPhone charging dock and a bottle of water. The door that connected to the rest of the house was on the same wall. Against the wall to the right of the bed was a large dark grey dresser that matched the desk and what you now noticed to be the bed frame. On the dresser sat bottles of cologne, accessories and a picture frame. Next to the dresser was the door Taehyung had disappeared into and another door you assumed to be maybe a closet. Furrowing your brows you realized this was Taehyung’s room and not just another guest room. Up until his confession earlier you assumed he lived in a luxurious off campus house paid for by his parents. While this was a luxurious Townhome it still wasn’t what you had pictured. As Taehyung walked out of the ensuite he opened a drawer and dug through until he found was he was looking for. Sauntering up to the bed he handed you a t-shirt and what had seemed to be your phone that had been tossed on the floor earlier and pulled on a pair of briefs over his legs. Holding the soft cotton material in your fingers you smiled and thanked him before slipping over your smaller frame. Checking your phone you immediately noticed a series of texts from Layla starting from concerned up to a text that had a winky face telling you to ‘get it, I came upstairs to check on you but your moaning let me know you were doing just fine’. Smacking your palm against your face you blushed bright crimson. Taehyung who had looking over your shoulder when you gasped at the text was giggling and you smacked his chest. “Ow, you hit hard” He said while still giggling. “So, would you..uh stay the night and maybe grab breakfast with me in the morning? I mean know that we’ve realized we both don’t hate each other and we kind of lik-“ Pressing your lips to his you felt him smile against your lips before you pulled back. “Yes, now can we sleep?.” Nodding Taehyung pulled you against his chest and brushed a few strands away from your face as your eyes fluttered closed. Running his hand along the flowers that decorated your right arm he smiled to himself before eventually closing his eyes as well. Interesting how Misunderstandings happen, isn’t it?

————————————

Omg this was supposed to just be a drabble from the pic of red haired Tae and inso from a game of beer pong, BUT ALAS this monster was born. this is my first fit so any constructive criticism is appreciated. Any love is beyond appreciated too <3 I have some ideas for other pics but i just want to get my page situated first. Any messages are welcome too <3 i lub talking to people.

-C otherwise known as, Potitties

#taehyung #taehyung x reader #taehyung smut #btssmut #bts fic #bts taehyung #bts #smut #fic #college fic #enemies to lovers #tae #kim taehyung #tae smut #fanfic #fluff #angst #first fic

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trashyswitch · 3 years ago

Text

The Strange Flower

Logan and Roman take a walk in the imagination. Not long after, Logan is plagued with the giggles and phantom feelings! What ever could they be from?! Whatever it is, Roman is loving it!

I'm gonna be gone to the cottage for a week starting today. So, I'll be working on fanfics a little, but less than usual. It's a vacation!! I'm actually really excited!

This fanfic prompt came from @little-lee-lo-simp. Thank you so much for the prompt and I hope you enjoy the fanfic.

These are the morning Giggles:

Logan was walking around with Roman in the imagination, admiring the many flowers and trees surrounding them. There were so many colors! And so many different fruits and things hidden within the trees! From creatures to vines and flowers, it was beautiful.

There were poppies with smiley faces on them, different fruits that were covered in ‘paint splash’ syrup, there were lettuce bits that could be fresh, sweet or crunchy depending on your preference, and there were banana-shaped fruits that had edible skins and pomegranate-like seeds in the middle of the fruit.

There were vines covered in pickable sticks that were edible and used for healing purposes, and twisty flowers that had yarn-textured petals yet, were still real and growing on their own. There were thick leaves that held different-colored inks in them that could be used for mixing and writing, and there were thin large leaves that could be written on like paper without ripping when written on with a stick.

Many flowers looked like they were squirting different things. One flower had honey running down the stem. They were labelled ‘Buzzy suckles’, a wordplay of honey suckles. There were even different colored roses that looked like they were splashed with layers of watercolors. Red, yellow, purple, pink, they all covered the roses in a drippy paint-like pattern.

Logan smiled as he knelt down to look closer at the small cluster of roses. “These are beautiful, Roman.” Logan reacted calmly, filled with awe and delight.

Roman smiled at the complement. But when he looked upon the flowers that Logan was looking at, Roman tilted his head in thought. He...didn’t remember what he had called those specific flowers. Obviously they were a type of roses, but he liked to give them a spinney, cute kinda name to go with them. But...Roman had forgotten this particular cute name.

But he most certainly remembered how beautiful they were! “Thank you!” Roman replied.

Logan picked one of the roses and put it behind Roman’s ear. Roman giggled at this and wore the rose with confidence and pride. The flower started blooming little sticks that had...rectangular flags on them? And they had the gay flag on each one of them!

“Awww, it knows you’re gay!” Logan reacted.

“Yup! This flower can specifically tell what sexuallity you are. If you were straight, you’d have a straight flag. If you were pan, you had a pan flag. If you identified as multiple things…” Roman looked at the flower and pointed to hated multiple Gay pride flags that popped out. “Each of these flags would be different, to identify what kind of person you are.” Roman explained. “And if you’re more than 3…” Roman poked it and watched as a single LGBT flag poked out. “The LGBT community flag will pop out, specifying anything!” Roman explained.

“I love it!” Logan reacted.

“You can also use this flower to find out what you are in a few seconds.” Roman added.

“But it still has the usual sexuality journey, right?” Logan asked. “Cause everyone needs a journey.”

“Yup!” Roman replied proudly.

Logan continued to look around at the different varieties of flowers and plants that filled the imagination. There were even weeds that looked surprisingly pretty! A few of the weeds had pretty leaves and pretty flowers that were hidden within it. Even the dandelions were nicer to look at. They were more of an orangey yellow color, and were slightly bigger than the usual dandelions.

But in a specific spot: a small field of these strange flowers had been planted. They were blue flowers that looked a lot like Morning Glories. But...they resembled a heavenly blue version, and had a very visibly yellow middle. “Wow..I’m gonna head over here.” Logan decided.

Roman didn’t think much of it. “Okay.”

Logan walked to the blue and yellow flowers, and laid down inside the flowers’ fields. They looked so pretty...and very detailed when he looked closer at them. They had these dark green leaves that extended out of the stem. The flowers actually looked like they were dancing in the wind like Groot did in Guardians of the Galaxy. It looked really cute. It also seemed to be spirting out tiny bits of pollen. Logan tilted his head and placed a finger closer to the pollen. It was yellow looking, like all pollens were, and looked fuzzy.

Strange...

Logan got up and walked away from the pretty flowers a little while after. He dusted off his fingers on his shirt and pants to get rid of the pollen and walked to Roman.

“You have some really pretty flower and plant ideas. I love them!” Logan reacted.

Roman smiled eagerly. “Thank you! I worked really hard to make sure every single one of my flowers were distinctive and different in their own way.” Roman declared proudly. “Now: Cherry?” Roman asked, holding up a black cherry to him.

Logan smiled and took it. “Thank you, Roman!”

The two boys walked themselves out of the imagination and back into Thomas’s house. Logan was feeling a bit of an itchy feeling, but he didn’t think much of it. He just kept scratching it and continuing with his day. But soon the itchy feeling turned tickly. And it started spreading.

Logan attempted to ignore the feeling and hid his smile, but it felt like a single finger was scratching at one side each. It was distracting and made him wanna tense up. Soon, the feeling moved to his ribs. It felt like poking and wiggling in between his ribs. Logan could barely hide his smile without looking like a doofus that was trying not to laugh at a stupid joke. Logan looked away from Roman in an attempt to cover it up. But Roman could tell something was up.

“Logan...What are you smiling about?” Roman asked. “Are the smiley flowers making you smile?” Roman asked, referring to purple poppy’s that had a smiley face on each petal.

Logan shook his head and hummed ‘no’.

“Huh...I thought that may have been it. What’s making you smile, Logey Bee?” Roman asked. Logan accidentally let a giggle slip at the weird and strangely cute nickname. “Ooooh, you’re a giggly bee! I see now!” Roman declared. “What’s making you so giggly?” Roman asked.

Logan shook his head and couldn’t stop the giggles that left his mouth more and more. That’s a good question! What IS making him so giggly? He’s never like this!

“Iiiiis it a funny joke?” Roman asked. “Hey I’ve got one for you:” Roman cleared his throat. “What do dentists call their X-Rays?” Roman asked.

Logan frantically shook his head. Even if it wasn’t funny, any amount of jokes is gonna worsen his giggles!

“Tooth Pics! Dentists call X-Rays tooth pics!” Roman declared proudly.

Logan squeezed his eyes shut. That was a bad one...An obvious joke- “Hehehehehehehe!” Logan giggled. SHIT!

Roman gasped. “PATTON! PATTON, I MADE LOGAN LAUGH AT A JOKE!” Roman shouted. “YESSS!”

Logan growled through is giggles. “Nohohohohoho! Stahahap ihihihit!” Logan begged. Logan covered his belly as his inner stomach was attacked with the strangest phantom tickles he’s ever felt in his life. “Thahahahat tihihihicklehehehes!” Logan giggled, nearly falling over. He was beginning to lose his balance.

“Tickles? What tickles?” Roman asked, getting closer. “Does your belly tickle? Maybe your sides? Or your neck?” Roman asked.

That word was enough to throw Logan into full on laughter, mixed with giggles in between. “HAhahahahahaha! Rohohohomahahahan whahahat dihihihid yohohou puhuhuhut ihin yohohour flohohohowehehers?” Logan asked.

“Well that depends. The smiley Poppy makes you smile uncontrollably. The blue and red Mushrooms make you overly hyper. The morning Giggles make you- Ooooooh…” Roman turned to Logan. “Did you cover yourself in the pollen from the Morning Glory flowers? You silly, giggly goose!” Roman teased. “Those are called Morning Giggles! They make you giggle and laugh through means of tickling and softly teasing your ticklish spots!” Roman declared.

Well, that seemed to be the most conclusive answer.

“But when did you get in contact with the morning giggles? You never struck out on your own until the end- Oooooooh…” Roman smirked and leaned into his ear. “You brought this upon yourself, Giggle berry~” Roman teased.

You could say that again...He really did get himself into this. But why didn’t he warn him!

“If I had known you were gonna look at the morning giggles, I would’ve warned you! But nope! Telling by the spot you’re holding so tensely, it looks like you decided to lay on your poor, ticklish belly to admire the beautiful, giggle blooms!” Roman declared. “Does that sound about right?” Roman asked.

Logan finally kneeled over and flopped onto his side with laughter. With his feet free, Logan started kicking and squirming on the ground, unable to contain any of it. The pollen was tickling everything it touched. His belly, his thighs, his nose, his neck, his abs, his feet, the tops of his feet, even his armpits were partly covered in ticklish pollen! It felt like the pollen bits were jumping around and snuggling into Logan’s ticklish spots on his body! Even his hands were being tickled by the micro-sized pollen bits! What a strange conundrum!

To make things even worse, Roman’s teases were flustering him beyond saving. Logan was practically the color of a strawberry! How dare!

“Aww! Listen to that sweet little laugh! It’s so fun and cute!”

“You should laugh more often, Logan. It suits you! And you of all people know, laughter is very good for you!” Roman teased.

Logan covered his face and cowered into the fetal position.

“Where is my camera? I need to get a picture of this. Or maybe even a video! Or 5!”

Logan whimpered and whined. “SHUHUHUT UHUHUP!” Logan ordered.

“Are you whimpering now? You be careful doing that! Patton just might think there’s a puppy in this house!”

Logan whimpered again and covered his mouth. Just about every part of Logan’s front side was being tickled by the bits of pollen. It was so much tickling at once.

“HEHEHEHELP MEHEHEHEHEHEHE!” Logan begged.

“Hmmmmmm...Maybe in a bit. I wanna enjoy this for a little longer! Then I’ll dust you off!” Roman decided. “How’s that?”

Logan whined and groaned. “FIHIHINE…”

Logan handled the tickling for a little longer, despite his want for it to stop. It was getting to be too much light tickles for him to handle. “Ihihihit’s soho lihihihihight!” Logan reacted.

“Ohh! Do you want more? Does the blueberry Logan bean want the stronger tickle tickle tickles?” Roman asked politely.

“Yehehehes plehehehehease!” Logan begged.

Roman nodded. “Your wish is my command, your royal blueness!” Roman grabbed Logan’s hand and started tickling his palm.

Logan’s laughter TRIPLED in volume! “OHOHOHOHO NAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! AAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Logan screamed!

“WHOA! Okay! What’s up with you?! You sound like you’re gonna rip a vocal cord if you keep screaming like that!” Roman reacted.

Logan cackled and laughed hysterically as his hand was attacked by Roman’s hand. His hand was moving the pollen around, which only made it tickle even more! And the pollen in Logan’s armpit was more free to move around, making the pollen tickle much worse in that spot too! There was just so much tickling!

Not that Logan minded, of course…

Logan squeaked, squealed, cackled and snorted through the whole thing. “OHOHOKAHAHAHAY, OHOHOKAHAHAHAHAHAY! EHEHENOHOHOUGH! IHIHI CAHAHAHAHAHA!” Logan couldn’t even get some of his words out properly at this point.

That was when Roman realized he should probably stop. Roman let go of his palm and placed it down. Then, Roman summoned a big broom-like paintbrush and brushed off the pollen. Though the pollen did end up coming off (Which lessened the tickling), the brush itself tickled as well. Even with the shirt and the pants on, it tickled! Logan giggled and squirmed around as Roman brushed the pollen off his poor body.

Roman soon stopped and looked at Logan. “Alright. I have a new plan.” He decided. “Let’s get you into a shower to let the pollen wash off you.” Roman decided.

Logan nodded as he held his belly somewhat lightly. Roman walked to the shower, started it up, checked the water, and left the bathroom so Logan could get in.

30 minutes later:

Roman was playing a game on his iPad when Logan walked in with his hair somewhat wet, and his body in new, yet identical clothes. Logan had a small smile on his face. “That was quite the ordeal.” Logan admitted.

Roman giggled. “I’ll say. I guess you gotta keep in mind the morning giggles from now on. And some of the other ones I mentioned.” Roman added.

Logan sighed and looked at him with a serious face. “I have another idea:” Logan picked up a sign that said ‘Morning Giggles: Pollen makes you laugh’ on it. “How about placing signs in front of the plants?” Logan asked.

Roman nodded and took the sign he made. “Thank you Logan. That’s a better idea than I could’ve come up with!” Roman reacted.

“No problem.” Logan replied. “Though I will say…” Roman turned to face Logan as he continued. “I would consider laying in the morning glories- giggles again.” Logan admitted.

Roman bursted out laughing at that. “Yohohou know you can just ask people to tickle you, right?” Roman added.

“Yes, I am aware of that. But doing that would ruin my image. I would much prefer there being an uncontrollable reason to my giggles and laughter.” Logan explained.

“Okay. Suit yourself.” Roman replied, sneaking a poke to both sides.

Logan jumped and shot a wobbly glare at him. This just made Roman laugh at him more.

Roman’s imagination is filled with thousands of different flowers. But only one flower’s pollen can make the most monotone person laugh beyond their years:

The Morning Giggles.

#the imagination #flowers #tooth rotting fluff #ticklefic #lee!logan #ler!flower #ler!roman (kinda)

34 notes · View notes

batarella · 4 years ago

Text

I Don’t Hate You - Part 7 (Jason Todd x Reader)

comment down below if you recognize who Penny is inspired by! also, I’ll let you guys surprise yourselves with this ending

WORDS: 6844 WARNINGS: parents fighting in the background, a lil bit of angst and A WHOLE LOT OF FLUFF

Masterlist

I DON’T HATE YOU - MASTERLIST

-----

You never actually noticed how much his jaw clenched when he ate. When he chewed, his mouth stiffens, especially when he ate something on the meatier side. It made his jaw look even sharper than it already does. He’s not the one to talk, either. Even with his friends around him in the table, Jason just kept his attention to his food and picked on it with his fork in the middle of chewing. His head was down, and he’ll either watch how everyone was going around him, respond when people talk to him, and sometimes, pull out a book and just read.

He looked so damn cute when he’d balance a book on one hand and eat with the other.

Barely anything happened the past two weeks, and you only had one week left of your detention sentence. You once dreamed of this day, when it all ends and all the shelving and recording and fucking hand writing comes to a finish, and you can go back to being the same, carefree old you when you did the absolute bare minimum of your studies instead of writing a damn lit paper all night just to impress someone whose opinion never even mattered until just a few weeks ago. The you before Jason.

It didn’t feel like the you that you wanted to go back to anymore.

If anything, shelving books didn’t seem like much of a chore much, especially when you were riding the cart and Jason was pushing behind you. When you’re busy with your own books and he’d come along and say you were doing it all wrong, when a shelf was too high and he’d help you reach it. When books fell to your face and his laughter would fill the empty aisles.

And the hand writing? Barely even a bother when he was sitting right across from you, smiling every so often when he’d catch your eye and hand you a cup of coffee he got for you.

Fuck, even mopping gym floors and being stuck in a library starving overnight became one of those memories you most often loved to relive before you’d drift off to sleep.

Yeah. You used to dream of this to end.

Now it was ending way too fast.

The week after this, you’d no longer have an excuse to see him everyday, or go up to him so suddenly and not look like a desperate fool. Perhaps the first few weeks, he’d say hi to you at the halls or smile at you from across the room. But it would probably end at that. Eventually he’ll find some other fun thing to do or new people to hang out with and you’ll end up being nothing but a detention story he’d sometimes tell his friends.

The distance will come eventually, and you’re stuck being the same old you. The you before Jason.

That’s the only thing you’ve thought about since you woke up in the morning. You haven’t made anyone cry today, or did anything that was borderline illegal.

It was lunchtime, and you haven’t said a word to anyone. You haven’t taken a bite out of your lunch, only fiddling with it with your fork for the past several minutes.

“Y/N. You’re staring at him, again.”

You bit your lips and darted your eyes over to your food. “No, I’m not.”

Penny was across from you, eating a sandwich. Her bright little sundress contrasted immensely from the waterfall of black you had on your whole body. She was looking directly at you, and could see exactly what you were looking at. She continued eating as she talked. “Yes, you are.”

“No, I’m NOT.”

Stabbing your food with your fork, you ate it whole and gritted your teeth as you forced yourself to swallow it despite the lack of appetite.

“You know, it’s okay to admit you-“

“That I what?!”

Penny flattened her lips. “That you like him.”

“I don’t,” you said. “What makes you think I do?”

“Well, I see you two together a lot. You’ve never actually been that way with a guy before.”

“I’m forced to be with him, Penny.”

“I don’t think you were forced to hang out with him at the football bleachers-“

“YOU SAW THAT?”

Penny shivered. “No!” Her high-pitched voice prolonged. “…but everybody else did.”

You slammed your fork into your mashed potato and brought your elbows to the table so you could bury your face into your hands. “I swear. One of these days I’m gonna massacre the entire fucking football team.”

“Everyone thinks you're dating-“

“WE ARE NOT DATING.”

“Okay! You're not!”

Your cheeks were burning up, and it you had on a hoodie, you’d pull it over your head. You continued to pick on your food like it was supposed to be all mushy and shoved it into your mouth in a big scoop.

Cocking your jaw to the side, you coughed, then your voice was unusually low. “Did we look like a couple or-“

“HA!” Penny pointed her fork at you. “You do like him!”

“SHUT UP!”

“Don’t be embarrassed,” Penny’s smile was bigger than it usually was and it was obvious she enjoyed watching you squirm like this, or maybe she was just happy there was someone in your life you didn’t want to stab with a knife. “I think he’s cute, too.”

“Stop looking at him!” Your grip on the fork was about to break it between your fingers. “PENNY.”

“I think you’d look great together, and he’s happier when he’s with you, too.”

Your eyes on your now messed up tray of food, you made a circle with the tip of your fork and eyed it carefully like it was about to move.

“Really?”

Penny’s giggles from being so giddy and happy for you didn’t even stop at your deathly glare on her. She brought her hands to her chest and smiled at you, looking like she was about to break into a song like a fucking cartoon princess. “Ooooooh, you got it bad, Y/N.”

“Penny, I will pop your head like a zit if you don’t stop right now.”

“Why don’t you make the first move? I’m sure he’s just scared to do it himself, Y/N.”

“I am not about to ask a guy out.”

“Well, since you’re so bossy, I thought you’d end up being the one to go for a guy-“

“DON’T SAY I’M BOSSY!” you screamed.

“Okay! Okay!” She looked down at her carrots and peas. “But you are though.”

You glared at her.

“A little bit.” Penny took a bite out of her vegetables. “As I said, he might just be scared to ask you out.”

You momentarily glanced at Jason. He was done with his food and was now fully invested in his book.

“Not with him.”

Penny stopped smiling just when she saw the sad, longing look on your face. No, this wasn’t just a crush on someone that’s all happiness and smiles and something so easily will go away. It wasn’t that at all.

“I’ve never actually thought of making a move on anything. I just thought this will all blow over next week when I don’t have to do all that library work anymore.”

“It doesn’t have to!” She leaned over to you. “I can teach you if you like!”

“Penny, I know how to talk to guys if I wanted to-“

“Why don’t you do something nice for him? Start with something small. What’s his favorite snack?”

You continued licking your lips and glowering at either Penny at the food, but you then thought.

“He eats fast food a lot.”

“Okay. Why don’t you get him a can of his favorite soda before you head to the library this afternoon?”

You weren’t glaring anymore, but you still kept your head down and kept yourself from glancing at Jason yet again before it’s even more embarrassing than it already is.

That wasn’t too bad an idea. Especially since he brings you coffee almost everyday. It wouldn’t creep him out too much if you did the same.

“Fine.”

“Yaaaaaay! Y/N’s in lo-“

“NO!”

Penny stopped with her poking and went back to finishing her food. “Bossy…”

You rolled your eyes.

An hour of class felt way too long with you fidgeting and squirming in your seat so uncomfortably. The vending machine was right outside, and you prayed they had Dr Pepper or at least a can of coke. Would he like that? He’d probably like that. You shouldn’t be so nervous, yet you kept glancing at the clock, both at the wall and the one on your phone, waiting for the bell to ring so you could get this fucking thing over with.

So you went over the possibilities.

Jason would look at you all surprised, but in a good way, then he’ll give you your daily cup of coffee and you’ll sit together at the table doing whatever it was Ms. P wanted you to do that day and thank you for the can. He’d smile brighter at you and before you’d leave, he’ll pull you into a hug and then you’d go home all happy and text him all night. And the next day you’d do it again until you’ll both realize you’ve been bringing each other drinks when you could just buy each one for your own. Then you’ll realize what was going on and… you didn’t know what happens after that.

Jason would slowly back away, telling you he never actually liked that kind of soda and you’ll end up throwing it into the trash. He’d excuse himself and arrange books that never needed to be rearranged and avoid you for the rest of the day, possibly for the rest of the week, then you’d wallow in your own loneliness and do the work all by yourself, walk all the way home again and delete his number before you’d be tempted to text him first, only for him to not text you at all and you’ll go to sleep knowing you ruined the only thing that was good in your life.

Yeah. You were fucking terrified.

The bell rang and it almost made you jump out of your seat. Grabbing your bag too fast, you sped past the people around you all the way over to the vending machine. A guy, not seeing you were on the way, cut in front of you just as you were about to pull out your wallet, so you violently pushed him away. You were so fucking nervous.

He didn’t argue and instead, waited for his turn behind you. You were shaking while you grabbed the dollar bill, biting your lips until they were most probably chapped and bleeding. You didn’t taste blood yet, which was good. You fiddled with the machine until a can of coke dropped and you took it out.

Okay. Calm down. Almost there.

The walk to the library was most nerve wrecking. The cold of the can seemed to mellow it down when it came in contact with your sweating palms, but your chest was heaving and you swore you’ve never been so anxious in your life. Jason could just take it and thank you and it would all be over for all you care. You just didn’t want him to be driven away.

You were overthinking everything. You just knew it. Before you walked into the library, you closed your eyes and told yourself it would all go smoothly and wouldn’t even be a big deal at all. Just a friend giving another friend a can of soda. It doesn’t even have to mean anything.

Just two friends.

Gulping down your throat, you went into the library.

Jason was the first one you saw, and the light was shining against him from outside the window. He was putting a few books onto the first shelf away from the desk. You would’ve walked towards him if you didn’t see what was behind.

The same two girls from weeks ago. The ones who often came to the library to talk to him about anything and laugh at his God-awful jokes. The ones you’ve screamed at repeatedly, yet were never actually scared enough of you to not come back. The ones with their shirts pulled down way too low and their pretty eyes batting more often than they should.

Jay was smiling back at them and looked like he was actually having a good time. He didn’t look like he needed a can of soda. And he didn’t have a cup of coffee with him, either.

You closed your eyes, then took your last breath before you closed back the door and walked out to the school’s exit.

A fool. A fucking fool. That’s what you are.

A girl came up to you handing you a flyer. “COME VOLUNTEER FOR THE WINTER WONDERLAND BALL COMMITTEE-“

You grabbed the piece of paper, violently crumpled it in your hands, then stuffed it into the girl’s shirt before storming out the door. “JUST MEET US AT THE STUDENT COUNCIL’S OFFICE IF YOU'RE INTERESTED!” she continued to cry out at you, but you were gone out of the building.

Stupid. So fucking stupid. To even think you had something going on.

Jason liked being with those girls. You just knew he did. They wouldn’t have gone away if you hadn’t stepped in most of the time and driven them out. You always thought it was one sided. But perhaps, they kept coming back for a reason.

You kept walking. Out into the driveway. Nobody spared you a glance when you stomped out and fought to keep a blank expression on your face. Your chest was no longer heaving, no longer did your head feel like a hurricane was raging inside of it. You felt empty, alone, and most of all, disappointed.

You crossed the street without looking the other way, and a car almost drifted to the side, screeching as it almost hit you and stopped. A man poked his head out the window and yelled, “MOVE, BITCH!”

“MOVE YOUR CAR!!!!” your screamed with your shrill, shrieking voice that echoed out into the road, then you, without a moment of hesitation,

threw the can of coke throbbing in your hands right into the windshield and cracked the glass like you just shot a small bullet. The soda exploded upon impact and foamed up the entire front of the car.

The glass breaking was then followed by an ear-shattering car alarm. The car driver didn’t even go after you. He looked at you, visibly scared, then went out to check on his car. You later heard sobs. “THIS WAS A RENTAL.”

You kept moving. Out into the streets. Never mind how the voices that started to get so much louder against your ears that you felt like you were about to go deaf. You didn’t mind the sounds of cars you didn’t know, or anything else going around you in the busy Gotham streets.

You kept forward when someone almost ran you over with their bike, or when another car almost didn’t see you, or when a guy was in your way and didn’t have the time to walk to the side. You kept going, your head to the ground yet high enough for you to barely see where you were going.

Your feet picked up the pace, the more you felt the pain surge in, the image of him being so much happier without you, for you to think so high up in the clouds when you’ve never left the ground your whole life. For you to think it was okay to be vulnerable, to laugh with someone who you thought only laughed with you, too. For you to think this was how it was going to be for a long time. To think what you felt was actually true.

For you to think library work was more than just work, that a cup of coffee was more than just coffee, that books were more than books, that a mop was more than a fucking mop. For you to think he took you places, took you home, shielded you from being unhappier than you already were just because he wanted to.

For you to think you were an entirely different person after you’ve met Jason.

You were never, ever, going to let this happen again.

You reached home at record time. Fifteen minutes on foot. It was faster than you would have arrived on a bike. Coming home early had its consequences, you knew that. But anything was better than to make a complete fool out of yourself.

“Y/N?” your mother’s voice cried out from the kitchen. “Why are you home so early?”

You didn’t answer and shut the door behind you. Your father was on the couch. Your tall, stern, always furious father. He had his suit on since he just came from work. “Caused trouble again?”

You only gave him a side eye when you walked straight into your room with a large enough slam to shake the entire apartment building.

And when you’ve reached your room, your bed, your eventual loneliness, you gave yourself one last, painful pinch on the shoulder to stop yourself from crying. You’ve never cried over a guy before. You weren’t about to start now.

That’s all he is. A guy. Nothing more.

You slumped your bag to the floor and kicked your boots off, sitting on the edge of your bed and pulling out your phone.

Ten unread messages. From Jason.

Your thumb had unlocked your phone against your will and opened the texts even when you had no intention on reading them. Now it said you did, but you weren’t going to reply.

Jason: ‘Y/N? Where are you? I need you here to update the records. Also thought you should know the coffee machine’s broken again.’

Jason: ‘Y/N, Ms. P just gave me a whole shitload of books to shelf. Pls tell me you're coming. Can't do this by myself.’

Jason: ‘Is everything okay?’

Jason: ‘okay. I lied. There’s not much work to do. I’m just chilling on one of the couches at the library. One of them’s finally free to sit on and not flocked by ten people. You should come over’

Jason: ‘you coming?’

Jason: ‘☹’

Jason: ‘I saw you at lunch. You can't tell me you bailed your classes today.’

Jason: ‘I just walked around campus. You’re not here ☹.’

Jason: ‘Pls tell me you didn’t just storm out like you were about to run someone over with a bus, bc that’s what the security guards told me.’

Jason: ‘Is anything going on? Pls talk to me..’

Then he saw you read his texts, so he texted your name in all caps over and over and over again in three separate messages.

Jason: ‘I know you're reading this.’

Jason: ‘I definitely did something wrong.’

Jason: ‘Will you at least tell me? Pls?’

Jason: ‘You know I’m not gonna stop.’

You turned your phone off, placed it on silent before you’d hear any more of its constant beeping and stuffed your face into your pillow.

He’s just a guy. That’s all he will be. Enough with your daydreams and this never would’ve happened in the first place.

Then your phone started vibrating. The asshole was calling you now. You took your phone just to turn it off, again after a few seconds, then just before you were about to burst, you unlocked it. A high number of messages in just short of two hours.

Jason: ‘☹ I guess you’re not at school.’

Jason: ‘I hope you're okay. Ms. P’s kicking me out of the library. I’ll wait at the steps if you're still out here

Jason: ‘I have to head home now. Bruce is calling me. Pls call me if you need me to pick you up. Or just talk.’

Jason: ‘I’m not gonna stop calling.’

Jason: ‘pls answer.’

Your chest only continued to hurt and heave the more you read his messages. You were suddenly tired. So tired. Like the past nine weeks finally took its toll on you.

You laid down your bed and took a nap.

Several hours passed, then you woke up from when the first piece of glass was thrown across the other room and you could hear it break. You knew you caught that impulse to throw something breakable at the wall from one of your parents. Most probably your dad.

You felt like your bed was about to sink you into its mattress, like you were about to be gobbled up all the way to the core of the earth, where the heat wouldn’t bother you and the light wouldn’t reach you. You’d feel burning hot and at the same time freeze from the lack of sun. Your eyes felt heavy, and your limbs felt like they’ve fallen off your body and onto the floor.

10 pm at night. You didn’t even get to eat dinner.

You forced yourself to have another nap. Your overreaction from earlier today was going to bite you in the ass eventually, but you didn’t want to deal with it now. You just wanted to get the night over with and wake up and pretend nothing happened.

But other than the constant screaming, your phone wouldn’t stop vibrating from the other end of the bed. It hadn’t stopped even as you’d slept.

Peering over the screen, you swallowed.

36 unread messages. 15 missed calls.

The absolute madlad.

You shivered at the sound of your father screaming, and you knew no matter how much you’d block it out, there was no way you’d fall asleep now.

Jason’s name appeared on your phone, calling for the sixteenth time.

You were upset, hungry, furious, disappointed, and you desperately needed someone. Needed him. No matter how much it hurt, you let yourself admit that at this time, you just needed him.

So you accepted the call and brought the phone up to your ear.

“Jay.” You said. It wasn’t a question or a greeting. Much more like you acknowledged being in a phone call with him instead of him possibly thinking you pressed the green button on accident.

At first, you heard a gasp, like he didn’t believe you eventually answered, but then he followed with his voice. A voice you just wanted to hear above anything else.

“Please tell me everything’s alright. I’ve been worried sick-“

“I’m okay. Stop it. I went home.”

A deep sigh, collecting his thoughts and his breath. You just brought your knees up to your chest and forced yourself to see through the dim light.

“Did I do something wrong?”

You breathed. “No…”

Not because what he did didn’t bother you. But because you had no right to be bothered by it at all.

“I swear to God, if you’re playing-“

“I’m not playing, Jason.”

You heard him swallow. “Sorry. I panicked. I thought something happen-“

“Just forget it, okay? I’ll see you tomorrow…”

Another plate breaking. You flinched and curled up tighter into your bed.

“Is everything okay there?”

You didn’t want to answer. You didn’t want to open up about anything more that’ll cause more eventual pain and expectations that’ll never be met. But it was stupid for you to think Jason didn’t already know enough about you to begin with.

He didn’t wait for you to answer.

“Y/N. Can you go out the fire exit from your room?”

You looked out the window three stories above ground. “Yeah.”

“Give me twenty minutes. I’ll be right there okay? I’m picking you up.”

You didn’t say no. You didn’t want to say no. Jason hung up before you could say anything more to protest.

-----

He had no idea what to expect.

But one thing was for sure, you needed to get out of there. Jason, in the middle of patrol, stopped everything he was doing and told Bruce he needed to cram for an assignment he totally forgot about, and that he had to go meet up with a friend to do it. Only an idiot would buy his excuse, and Bruce Wayne was definitely not an idiot. But he refrained from prying and just told him to get home before sunrise.

What he didn’t know was that Jason took one of Bruce’s cars out instead of his own bike. Riding around the city on a motorcycle wouldn’t cut it. You needed to get out of there, and you needed to be distracted.

So he drove all the way over to your apartment. You were there, sitting on the steps outside your door. Maybe you didn’t need to get out through the fire exit. Maybe your parents didn’t care enough to stop you.

Jason parked the car and walked out towards you. You wore a leather jacket over the sweater you wore earlier today, keeping your hands into your pockets and your head so craned down he would’ve easily missed you.

But you looked up and saw him. It was the first step to making everything seem just a bit brighter. He stopped and you stood up, looking straight at him like he was that very light.

“Come on,” he opened the door to the passenger seat and you stepped inside.

When he got inside the car, you had your eyes on the windshield, out onto the empty streets and the light refracting off the glass from the lamp posts.

You looked vulnerable.

And if there was anything you swore you’d never do, it was to never be vulnerable to anyone and everyone.

“Where are we going?” you said. And your voice had never been lower.

“Out of here. You hungry?”

You nodded.

“Let’s get a drive thru. I know a 24 hour one but it’s thirty minutes away.”

“Fine.”

He started to move the car, and with the dead, awkward silence, he couldn’t bring himself to turn on the radio.

“Whatever happened, you know I’m here for you…”

“I said I’m fine.”

You were about to leave downtown and it had never been so quiet outside. You bit on your upper lip.

“Hey.” You turned your head to him and he cracked a smile. “Don’t bail on me again. I’ve never been so bored in my life. Library’s not as fun without you in it.”

Jason could feel your eyes on him as he turned over to the corner. There was absolutely no traffic. He still had no idea what happened, but as long as you were here, as long as you were okay, prying wouldn’t do him any good.

And when he noticed you curve the corner of your mouth up, he couldn’t help but grab your hand and squeeze it. “Thanks,” you said.

Your hand was so warm.

He let go just as he had to turn to a corner. He didn’t want to, though. He wanted to hold your hand all throughout the night.

“How did Ms. P take it?”

“Oh, she wouldn’t let me hear the end of it. Kids were making out at the Boner Aisle again. I think I scared them enough.”

You finally managed a laugh. “That would’ve been fun to see.”

“Yeah,” he said, turning his head to you. “Sorry for calling so much. I really fucking panicked.”

“No I-“ your teeth hid your lips. “Just forget about it.”

Thirty minutes wasn’t much of a drive. You found a burger place that was still open and Jason ordered two burgers, two milkshakes, and a bucket of fries. You were starving by now. Grabbing the bags from out the window, he set them aside.

“Where are we headed to now?”

“There’s a playground nearby. Should be fun to check out.”

“Dork.”

He laughed.

The place wasn’t too far away, and even when it was dark, there were still enough lamp posts to light up the roads. The playground was small, only having a castle-like tower that led down to a slide, a pair of swings, a seesaw, a sandbox, and a picnic table. He parked the car and you both walked out, you holding the bag of fast food, slightly shivering from the cold.

Jason walked up the slide and slid down like he wasn’t as tall as the slide itself. You stood in front of him, watching him like he was an idiot, but a pinch to your shoulder and you were cracking up the biggest smile for the night.

“Here,” you pulled out his burger and shake. Moving over to the table, you both sat beside each other and watched as a car passed by the empty streets every five minutes.

You took a bite out of the burger. “Thanks for this.”

“No problem.” He sipped on his shake.

A greasy burger suddenly became one of the best meals of his life. You picked out the fries, then drank your shake.

“You look starving.”

“Shut up,” you said, taking another bite out of your burger and almost finishing half the whole thing. “I haven’t eaten anything since lunch.”

“I should’ve ordered another one.”

You both ate in the most comfortable silence. Your shoulder was touching his, and even with more space by his side, he didn’t move. It might have just been the cold. You were warm against him.

After your meals, you threw the wrappers away, walking over to sit on the two swings. “Wanna play?” he said.

“What?”

“Truth or dare.”

“You are a manchild, Todd.”

“Come on,” he grinned at you, and he caught you glancing at his mouth. “Fine.” You rolled your eyes. “Truth.”

“What’s the most illegal thing you’ve ever done?”

You tilted your head to the side, cocking your jaw. “You do not want to ask that.”

“I am,” he swayed on the swing. “Tell me.”

You licked your lips. “Alright. Once I got so mad at that my mom left me at the mall, that I went over to a hardware store, stole a hammer, then broke a store window.”

“Jesus fucking Christ.”

“I was eight.” You shrugged. “Your turn.”

“Truth.”

“What are you afraid of?”

Jason looked up at the sky, studying the lack of stars and into the empty darkness. “Good question.”

He was afraid of a lot of things, but it doesn’t mean he’d never faced them. In fact, he faced his fears every day. Every single day. Going out on patrol, be someone he wasn’t born to be. His life was terrifying. Even for him.

“Death,” he gulped. “Even with the world being shit, I don’t wanna leave it behind. I’m afraid of what happens to me when I’m gone.”

He looked at you and your face was soft, slightly frozen from the bittering cold. You licked your lips again. “I think I’m afraid of the same thing.”

He sighed. “Your turn.”

“Dare.”

“Eat a whole packet of ketchup.”

You looked like you were about to murder him. “Todd-“

“You said dare!”

He had a packet in his hands, and he held it out for you to take. Looking at him, shaking your head, you snatched it from his fingers and tore it off with your teeth. “Fine. Watch me.”

In one big gulp, you squeezed out the entire packet of ketchup right into your mouth and swallowed it before it settles too much into your tongue. Jason busted out in laughter when he saw your face flinch.

“N-not-“ you gagged. “Funny.”

“You are a menace,” he kept laughing until he felt out of the swing and his ass was on the ground. “Alright, alright. I’ll let you have your sick revenge. Dare.”

“You wanna do this, Todd?”

“I fucking dare you.”

You were grinning so widely, he didn’t want to look away.

“Text your dad that you peed your pants.”

He backed away from you on the ground. “Slow down, Satan.”

Jumping from your seat at the swing and taking his phone from his jacket, you smirked. “Do it. Or I will.”

“Give me that.”

Reluctantly, he took the phone from your hands and took a deep, long breath. “Come on, Todd.”

“Shut up.” He looked at you the entire time his thumbs pressed on the keyboard, biting his own teeth to keep from laughing so hard. You were falling to the ground by now, clutching your stomach by the time he hit send.

“I hate you.”

You kept laughing, staring at the sky. The grass was cold, and the dew had seeped into your clothes and his. He didn’t mind. He brought his knees to his chest and rocked back and forth. “Your turn.”

“Truth,” you said, looking up at him with you laying on the ground. Your hair was all spread out on the grass and your face glimmering against the dim light.

“What do you hate?”

“Uh,” you thought for a minute. “Old pencils. Headaches. The color yellow. Rainbows. Flowers. Sand when it sticks to your skin. The word moist. Ducks. Man, I hate ducks. Fake leather. Sweating. Toothaches. Trips to the doctor. Babies-“

“Okay, that’s enough,” Jason interrupted, laughing. All he wanted to do was ruffle your hair and make your scrunched-up face soften. You were adorable. “My turn. Truth.”

“Tell me about someone you're jealous of.”

“Shit, woman.” He shifted his knees. You still kept your head up to the sky. You looked more peaceful now.

“Okay, I’m not exactly jealous of him. But my adopted brother, Dick, he’s someone I’d like to be but never could be.”

You turned to him with you eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

“Well. He seems more… at peace, I guess. I’m the brother who gets into trouble a lot. There’s a lot of things he’s achieved that I don’t think I ever could.”

Your eyes kept to him. Jason didn’t want you to say anything back.

“I don’t see that…”

“Well,” he inched nearer to you, and you smiled. He picked a piece of grass from your ear and you playfully scoffed, scrunching your nose. “Bruce thinks so.”

“I’m sure he doesn’t.”

He shook his head. “Thanks.”

You smiled again. Your skin looked so soft, your hair a mess on the ground. He just wanted to lean in and-

“Truth,” you said.

“Ever been in love?”

You squinted at him. He looked serious. Dead serious. But you swallowed when you looked like you finally had an answer and you shifted on the ground, obviously uncomfortable.

“Okay. Don’t answer that.”

You laughed. “Give me another dare.”

I dare you to kiss me.

“You are so gonna regret this,” he said, pulling out a blade of grass from the ground. “Eat this.”

“Todd, if I get diarrhea from all the shit you’ve made me eat today-”

“It’s basically a vegetable.”

“No.”

“Come on.”

You forcefully snatched the piece of grass from him and eyed him like it was the last day of his life. “Mention this to anyone and you're dead.”

“Swear.”

Breathing out, you put the tiny blade into your tongue, before spitting it out when it sank into your gums. Jason fell to the ground and laughed so hard, his stomach hurt from the clenching. “YOU ACTUALLY FUCKIN DID IT- FUCK.”

You were really fucking heavy when you suddenly slammed onto his body with your back and pressed against him so he was flat on the ground. “SHUT UP.”

He couldn’t laugh as much with you laying on top of him, your head on the ground and your torse perpendicular to his own. His abs were pressing against your back. Smiling, he stayed still, hoping you wouldn’t move.

“Last round.”

“Truth.”

You kept your eyes on the sky. “What’s the last porn video you’ve seen?”

“You. Mother. Fucker.”

You held back your laughter. “You gotta tell me, Todd. Is it kinkier than it should be?”

“No.”

You turned your head to him. “Answer it, asshole.”

“A bit of handcuffs might have been involved-“

“JEEZ, YOU’RE ACTUALLY-“

“And maybe a whip-“

“TODD, STOP.”

You were pushing your body hard against him so much that it tickled. He flinched, pushing you further up so your faces were closer together. “AND SOME ROPE.”

“You are DISGUSTING.”

“YOU ASKED THAT QUESTION, YOU PERVERT.”

“I DIDN’T THINK YOU’D ANSWER IT.”

With his dirt-covered palm, he placed it right onto your face and you pushed him away. Sitting up, your hand was crossed over his stomach, and his eyes watched every inch of you. Your hair that fell to his chest. Your eyes. Your lips.

“I have one more dare for you.”

He sat up, and with your arm still over him, you didn’t even move when he neared his face to yours. “What?” you whispered.

“Sing for me.”

Slowly, with your eyes closing and your hand slowly withdrawing from the ground, placing it on your lap, you took a long, deep breath.

Then you looked at him, smiling so slightly, it drove him nuts.

“What am I supposed to sing?”

Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. You were actually gonna do it.

Fucking hell, he didn’t prepare for this.

Well, actually, he did.

“I have an instrumental here downloaded just for this very moment.”

“You. Dork.”

Still sitting so close to him, leaning against his leg when he crouched over to pick up his phone. Bruce didn’t answer his text, thank fuck. But he went over to his saved music and played it.

“Go,” he said. His voice was way to high and excited. “Please.”

You bit on both your lips, sighing as you gave in. The piano started to play, and you closed your eyes, feeling the music.

“There is no upper hand

I'm giving you mine

It doesn't have to end up wasting your time

There's things that I could say

But hear it my way

I want to let you know that it's all okay”

Then you stopped, opened your eyes, then turned your head to him, standing so close he could feel your breath.

Fuck.

Fucking finally.

Just as Jason remembered it. Just as he’d so often dream about. Just as how he spent so many nights, constantly trying to recall how you sounded like and how you’d breath the ends of the notes and how-

How perfect you are.

It was better than when he caught you singing in the library, or when he’d hear you humming while you worked, or when you were singing your heart out in the music room. It was so much better, because this one was for him.

Only for him.

Jason looked like he was about to fucking cry. His chest was pushed out, and he was constantly biting his lips. He couldn’t bring himself to say anything except to breathe as slowly as he could, catch up with the rest of his senses and look at you without it being so much of a blur.

Everything around him just stopped. The cold. The air. The distant sounds.

You placed your hand on your sides, slightly touching his fingers, then you turned your body to him. You were so close to his face, so close he could only look at your lips. The song had changed. One from Kodaline. It just brought the moment all together like the heavens did it on purpose.

You glanced at his lips, too. You’ve never looked so beautiful. The air was nipping cold and the wind was ever so slightly pushing your hair to dance.

Your face. Your perfect voice. Your perfect everything.

Jason leaned in, held your cheek, set aside every arguing thought to the back of his fucking mind,

And kissed you.

All I want is nothing more

To hear you knocking at my door

'Cause if I could see your face once more

I could die as a happy man I'm sure

Jason kissed you. He kissed you. And you kissed him back like your lips have never been against something so perfectly made for them. Like there was never anything so warm to keep him from the cold or anything to keep him safe. He felt you shift, your legs now folded towards him, so he trailed his hand down your shoulders, your arms, your leg.

But If you loved me

Why did you leave me

Take my body

All I want is

All I need is

To find somebody

I'll find somebody

Your hands were around him. And fuck, he couldn’t fight it. Not anymore. He sat up and moved you underneath him, never breaking away from the warmth of your lips.

Ooh oh

Your back was against the ground. Your arms around his neck, his weight on you, your tongue seeping out your lips, only for him to bite onto them so subtly that you winced before kissing him again.

The cold of the grass underneath. The wind. The lights of cars passing by. The music.

The sky above.

The world around.

Jason.

You.

All I want is

All I need is

To find somebody

I'll find somebody

------

I DON’T HATE YOU - MASTERLIST

-----

totally not fucking crying

Taglist: everyartistwas-firstanamateur @sarcasmismyfirstlove @damned-queen-of-gotham @idkmanicantenglish @wunderstell @birdy-bat-riya @get-loki@everyday-imfangirling @comic-nerd-dc @multifandoms916 @icequeen208@offendedfishnoises @egdolan @xemiefx @arkhamtoddler @elsenthal@mythicbitchx @supremehaunter @ burning-alive @lucy-roo roseangel013bf @ loxbbg reclusive-chicken-nuggethttp-cherries shadowsndaisiesriver9noble zphilophobiaz

#jason todd #jason todd x reader #jason todd x reader angst #jason todd x reader fluff #jason todd fluff #robin x reader #batboys #dc comics #jason todd angst #batarella #batarella fluff #batarella angst #i don't hate you series #i don't hate you #jason todd x reader series #jason todd reader insert #batarella series

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madllamamomma · 4 years ago

Text

The Visitor~ Part 4

Rhemi x Muriel fanfic. [Warning: the following contains graphic language and mentions blood.]

Part 4~

Père~

Nearly fully sprinting at this point, Rhemi tries her best to make it on time to the palace gates to meet her father. The time really got away from her this morning, despite her waking up before the crack of dawn. Luckily, it’s not raining today, the sky is nice and clear and there’s even a light breeze, but it’s still rather chilly. At least the sun is there to keep her warm today, a good day for walking around.

As she hurries through the busy streets inching closer and closer to the palace, she can’t help but feel so nervous, yet rather excited at the same time. An entire morning with her father! Oh how excited she was to have someone else to talk to about advance spells, incantations, and all other sorts of magic! Her friends were always there to talk to her, but she doesn’t remember having someone this groomed and experienced before.

Not to mention, she couldn’t wait to show him around the city that she is so proud of and loved. Countess Nadia, Consul Valerius, Portia (who is now a chamberlain) and the citizens have been so busy building and improving the city in the last year. Where there were once slums, sinking, underwater neighborhoods, or rough and sketchy places are now where new homes, restaurants, and shops are thriving. Vesuvia has honestly never been better. It seems like everyday Nadia and the citizens have been improving it more and more each and every day.

Turning the final corner to the central part of the city reveals the palace and all its marvelous splendor. Rhemi can feel her heart fluttering in her chest as she sees Martin just exiting the gates by two guards. Dressed in fancy foreign clothes like the day before but different colors and the same silk blue cape and jeweled cane… Except there was no hat on his head, and no badger draped across his shoulders. Martin peers down at his pocket watch with a sore expression, before he notices his daughter jogging towards him. A bright smile takes over his lips, that icy exterior partially melts away yet again.

Nearly out of breath, slowing down her stride as she prances towards him giddily. “Good morning!” She huffs with a tired grin and a little sweat on her brow.

“Well, good morning to you too, Rhemielia.” Martin replies, blindly putting away his pocket watch. “Running a wee bit behind are we?”

With a nervous smile, she scratches the back of her head. “Sorry, I was practicing a new spell. Lost track of time—You know how it is…. I-I hope? Or maybe it’s just me.”

Thinking he’d be interested, and ask what kind of spell she’s working on, she prepares herself to gush about it. But instead, he offers her arm not seeming to have really listened to what she had just said. “Mmm—Shall we?”

Rhemi shakes herself out of her mindset, her grin wide, happily taking his arm. “Oh—We shall.” There are plenty of other things to talk about other than magic.

As soon as the two start walking down the street an awkward dead quiet suddenly takes over. Never has silence been so loud, even when Rhemi started getting to know Muriel, it wouldn’t feel this awkward. After a couple of minutes, it becomes unbearable for both of them as they continue to walk aimlessly down the street.

“...So—”

“Did you—”

Both of them try to break the silence at the same time. But as soon as the other one started to speak, they hushed up quickly again thinking one of them would continue.

“... My apolo—”

“... Sorry—”

Blush starts to take over both of their cheekbones as they both fumble terribly for a proper foot hole to start a conversation.

“After you—”

“Go aheaaa—Ahhhhh.”

Finally the two stop in their tracks and look at one another a bit embarrassed. Unable to contain herself anymore, Rhemi snorts through her nose at this complete ridiculous awkwardness, breaking all the exhausting tension. After breaking down this unneeded discomfort, Martin then lets out a soft startled chuckle along with her, making his laughter lines next to his temples come out for once.

“Go ahead.” Rhemi says with a cheery smile, giving him a small nudge with her elbow.

But he shakes his head, patting her hand still loop through his other arm, a smile remaining on his face. “No, No—Please, ladies first.”

“Alrighty then…” She replies and they both proceed to stroll down the street again. “Did you sleep well?”

He sighs and thinks about that question with a shrug rolling off his shoulders. “Well enough, I suppose. However, I discovered it difficult to fall asleep after finding out your long lost daughter is still alive and well after all these years”

She laughs through her nose giving him a knowing look. “Yeah—I can relate to that… Except finding out about having a father.”

A fond grin faintly spreads on his lips as they stand there for a moment. Finally, Rhemi had to ask. “So where’s Beatrix today?”

“Oh—I left her behind today so she could get some rest. The damn badger never sleeps on the ship… She’s always hunting for filthy rodents on the deck at night.”

“I hope she’s get some rest then….. Is your hat resting too?”

“.... Beg your pardon??” He quickly replies, tilting his head rather confused.

“You’re not wearing your hat today. So is it resting too?” She kids.

“Oh….” Realizing what she is asking, Martin grins a little wider making the wrinkles in his cheeks visible, and a faint flash of cold in his glance. “... You can say that…”

“I think you look better without it anyways.”

Warmth in his eyes returns, and he looks at her rather flattered. “..... Really?”

“Tee-hee~ I like your hair… I wish I inherited your color. It’s different.” Rhemi says with a smile.

“Ha! I don’t remember the last time someone complimented this overly ripe hair of mine.” Her father instinctinky slicks his thick plum and gray mane back with the other hand. “Thank you….”

“You’re welcome.”

“.... So, my Pigeon—” He says taking back his cane with his free hand. “What part of this…. lovely…. quaint little city… are you going to show me?” He sounds half sarcastic when he says lovely and quaint, but Rhemi doesn’t seem to even pay any attention to that, too distracted with her own thoughts.

Ooooooh no—I haven’t thought that far… she thinks to herself, tapping her pointer finger on her chin, pondering hard.

She looks left and right still thinking of the best place to start. Then she finally has an idea. “Hmmmm…. Well, have you had breakfast yet?”

“As a matter of fact, no, I have not.”

“Perfect. I know just the place!” She says excitedly as she tugs him along with a wide silly smile on her face. “Hope you're hungry!”

“We’ll see…” He mumbles to himself not convinced in the slightest.

It isn’t too long before the two come across the heart district where the marketplace is. Even though it’s early on a weekend day, the market is still bustling with people, buying, selling, haggling and negotiating goods.

Of course the apprentice first took her father to one of her favorite bakers named Selasi in town to get some fresh pumpkin bread to start the day.

The poor Selasi’s stall was left in ruin just like everything else in the market after Lucio’s and his army of mercenaries took over the city after the Masquerade. But every since then, he had gotten recognized by the countess when everyone was refugees in the forest next to the hut. All the Parkain royals along with Nadia were impressed with the baker's delicious food, even with what little he had, it was amazing. After everyone returned and started rebuilding, he turned his simple stall into a full on shop and cafe and named it, ‘Selasi’s Bakery’.

He even picked up an apprentice of his own named Agrippa. A very tall and handsome person with powdery white skin, long light-grayish hair styled in pigtails tied and a loop at the ends, blue eyes and a smooth mid-ranged voice. They made Rhemi’s favorite cakes and sweets, and even somehow improved the baker’s pumpkin bread recipe. They even recently started dating Portia after she finally asked them out and the two have been going steady since the fall.

“Well—This is the market!” Rhemi introduces to her father, still leading him towards the bakers.

Her father scans the bustling market with an unimpressed look on his face. “Doesn’t seem like this part has changed.” He mutters to himself forcing himself not to sneer.

“What was that?” Rhemi asks, unable to catch his muttering with all the loud noises from the market goers.

“I asked, ‘where are you taking me to’, Pigeon? ”

“Oh! To one of my very favorite places to get pumpkin bread~” She says as they arrive at the baker’s shop, the air is filled with sweet, buttery and savory aromas and Rhemi opens the door making the bell chime.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t trouble~” Agrippa teases with their charming smirk.

“Oh yeah, you should talk!” Rhemi giggles back, coaxing her father inside with her hand. He enters unenthusiastically looking at all of the food as Rhemi continues with their small talk. “How are you, Ippa?”

“Good, thank you, Bean! Business has been steady like always.”

“Where’s Selasi today?”

“Getting some more flour. I told him I’d go, but he insists that he has to ‘let the flour speak to him’ or whatever. How’s the wedding planning going? Portia told me you’ve been stressed out a little.” They say as they lean into the counter that they normally tower over.

“Things are coming together finally.” She says with an exhausted, but relieved sigh. “With Julian and Portia taking care of the little things, I could focus on the bigger things. All that is left is my last fitting for my dress now. So I think it’s safe to say it’ll be all smooth sailing from here!”

“Muriel dropped off the toppers yesterday. They look amazing! Your bow has some amazing talent. I can’t wait for everyone to see it.”

Rhemi’s eyes brighten up and her lips twist up even more. “Oooo! Let me see!”

“Nooooope~ I have very specific instructions to not let the bride see. It is supposed to be a surprise.” Agrippa says while straightening up their long trunk and folding their arms across their chest. “Sorry~”

Rhemi gives them a smile, pouts, then gives them a quick raspberry like a ten year old. She then rolls her eyes knowing they wouldn’t let her see them, and turns to her father and walks over to him.“OH! There is someone I’d like you to meet!”

“Oh? Who?”

Taking his arm once again, she leads her father to the counter. “Père, this is Agrippa, the baker’s apprentice.”

With one look at the nobleman, Agrippa's eyes widened. “Père? Doesn’t that mean…?” They trail off slowly connecting the dots. “I didn’t know you had a father!”

“Well neither did I!” She says with a giddy smile. “Not till yesterday.”

“Well… How do you do? I’m Agri—”

“Agrippa… yes I heard.” Martin replies a bit snootily. “I am Sir Remington Martin Alarie III, the Archmagister and head chamberlain of his Royal majesty of the Great Charlès.”

Realizing rather quickly what kind of man Martin was, Agrippa puts on a smirk and stops themself from sputtering. “Well, ‘Sir Remington Martin Alarie III, the Archmagister and head chamberlain of his Royal majesty of the Great Charlès’.” They double over the counter in a long bow deepening their voice playfully to mimic him. “I am but a humble baker who is blessed to be a friend of your lovely daughter.” They say bringing their body back up. “How do you do, Sir? ”

“I was told by my daughter that this was where her favorite pumpkin bread was made.”

“You’ve come to the right place! In fact—” Agrippa replies with a smile dashing off to the brick ovens for a moment donning oven mitts on their hands. “Got a fresh batch right here!”

Rhemi eyes light up with joy and hunger and she wiggles her hips in sheer happiness. “You are going to love it!” She sings to her father and he gives her a half smile.

The baker’s apprentice cuts them both a generous piece wrapped up in a bit of parchment paper. “Here ya’ go!”

Just as Rhemi digs into her coin purse, her father stops her. “No, no. Do keep your money.” And digs into his vest. “A gentleman should always pay for a lady.”

But Agrippa stops him sticking out their hand and waving. “It’s on the house.”

“Really? You won’t get into trouble will you, Ippa?”

“Nahhhh~ Besides, gods know you and your friends keep this place in business!” They laugh.

“Thank you so much!” She says with a big happy smile then looks to her father expecting him to say thank you as well.

He blinks blankly, for a moment then opens his mouth with a click of his tongue. “Oh—Yes… ah, thank you, Agrippa… Although if you're giving this away for free... I’m not sure if I should be concerned or not.... could this be a poorer batch you messed up on?”

Rhemi laughs thinking he’s joking, and Agrippa joins in to not make things awkward, but knowing that he wasn’t kidding.

“Well we’ll get out of your hair before the weekend rush comes! See ya later, Ippa! Tell Selasi I said hello!”

“See ya!” Agrippa says with a smile as the two head out the door hiding a middle finger behind their back as they glare at the Archmagister and his unnecessary dickish comment.

As soon as they leave the bakery and walk around the market, Rhemi digs into her hot pumpkin bread. “Mmmmm! Sooooo goood.” She happily moans, tearing up the moist and tasty bread; but as she looks over to her father, he hasn’t even touched his food.

“Smmthin’ woong?” She asks covering her mouth, her voice muffled with bread still in her mouth.

The Archmagister just shrugs, taking a very small piece and forcing it down his throat. “....Hmmmm.”

“I’m sorry, do you not like pumpkin bread? I should have asked—”

“Oh no, it’s just…. I don’t take handouts.” Martin replies, his face stone cold and serious.

“Hand out?” She blurts out. “It’s a gift! Ippa was being nice.”

“Well… whatever you call it. I don’t take gifts unless I know what people want…” He says with a sneer. Rhemi’s happy smile then drops into a frown and Martin starts to feel an unfamiliar pull in his heart as he nearly tosses the bread to the ground for the birds to eat. “...I ah…. I also don��t care for pastries for breakfast.” He says adjusting his tone while wrapping up the pumpkin bread into the parchment paper and handing it to his daughter. “... Nor do I typically have breakfast now that I mention it. Perhaps you’ll save it for later.”

“O—Okay. Thank you. I’m sorry you don’t like it.”

“Not your fault, Pigeon. I don’t expect you to know everything.” He reassures her. “Well where else in this pathe—I mean… petite city of yours are you going to show me?”

With a determined grin, Rhemi takes a deep breath knowing another place to go to.

“Follow me!”

——————————

As Rhemi shows Sir Martin around the city, the Temple district, the Heart, South end, and even the now newly rebuilt shopping district (previously known as the flooded district). But still, Rhemi couldn’t shake the agonizing feeling like the Archmagister was rather unimpressed with everything she threw at him. Even after all the renovations completed in the past year—Even when Rhemi told her father the story about the Devil converging with the ex-count—The battles with Lucio and his mercenary-ghost army— The competition to keep the world out of chaos.

Nothing—truly, nothing seems to impress him at all.

He still sneered, and scowled at the city, like he made up his own mind about it long long ago. Strangely, when the two were traveling around, it seemed like her father was familiar with the streets. He even knew many of the alleyways and short cuts that she didn’t even know about. But that hardly seemed to matter to Rhemi— the man wasn’t impressed with her beloved home… and she wanted to change that.

Persistently, she continued to show him Vesuvia, gushing her heart out, and even showed him the best places to eat and shop. Yet still, all her attempts to impress himself still left him with a sour expression on his face or a yawn.

As noon slowly approaches, Rhemi works back their way back to the palace. Feeling the morning wearing her down they approach the city center next to the large fountain where an old tacky statue of Lucio on a horse used to be. Now it’s only a lone cheetah holding a spear. For once. the Archmagistor seemed to have noticed it and stopped staring at this slightly perplexed.

“Say, Mileia…” (Another pet name for her apparently.) “...... Didn’t that used to be a gold statue of the Count riding a horse?”

Rhemi peers over to the top of the roaring fountain. “Oh yeah…. that was destroyed when Lucio attacked the city a year ago.”

Suddenly, the tangy scent of freshly smoked eel engulfs the plaza. She wasn't the only one who noticed either. Martin's teal eyes light up as if he sees an old long lost friend.

“Fresh eel!! Come and get your fresh eel heeeerreeeee!!!” The stand keeper shouts waving the delicious food in the air for everyone to see and smell.

Without another word, Rhemi hurries over with her coin purse before her father could stop her. “I’ll take two, please.”

The cheery venter takes her coins and gives her two kabobs. With food in hand, she runs back over to her father, she gives him one eel with a joyful smile. “This is a gift from your daughter. Not a hand out.” Half expecting him to refuse it, he surprisingly takes the food then stares at it almost nostalgically sniffing the tasty treat.

“What’s the matter?” She finally asks, stopping herself from shoving the food down her throat.

“Hmm??” Martin shakes his head, but still stares at the kabob oddly. “Oh, nothing… I just haven't had a smoked eel in a very long time.”

“Oh! I didn’t know you had it in Charles too.”

He gives her a small annoyed glance from her mispronunciation. “It’s Charlès, darling…. And we don’t. The capital doesn’t have any seas or ocean around it. It’s surrounded by treacherous mountains. The only fish we have is salmon, bass, and trout from the icy rivers...”

“O.. oh… So… where have you had it before?”

“I….—” Martin sharply stops himself and his eyes grow colder again and he seems to shake himself out of his nostalgic trace. “... M-my father, your grandfather, Remington II used to bring me and my siblings some when he traveled to the coast. He placed a spell on them so they wouldn’t spoil.”

“Oh… Neat!” Rhemi says with a smile. So far he’s mentioned her grandparents once the day before. Apparently that's where she gets her dark reddish-brown hair from her grandmother.

Unable to resist the sweet, salty smoky flavor, he actually takes a bite out of the eel and seems to rather enjoy it. “Still even tastes the same…” He chuckles before scarfing the eel down.

Finally. Something he likes. Feeling a bit accomplished she feels the tension in her shoulders relax. This man wasn’t like any of her friends. Gods know he was much harder to read as well. It’s like he has this invisible wall around himself. Trying to get to know him was proving to be difficult. But Rhemi liked a challenge and wasn’t one to give up easily.

“So, I suppose they had a reason why did they replace Luico with this… cheetah?” Her father asks after making it half through his eel looking at the piece of art of the new fountain.

“Lucio nearly tore this city and the world apart… He killed a lot of people to gain power. People that Muriel and I really cared about… He even killed his father years ago. Then killed his own mother in the Scourge Lands… Her name was Morga…” With sad somber expression, she stares up at the bronze sculpture and all its power and beauty. “If it wasn’t for Morga… I don’t think we’d be here right now… Muriel and I probably wouldn’t have gone to the south together… Lucio might have even won.”

“.... So I presume that cheetah is supposed to represent her?”

Sadly, Rhemi slowly nods her head, still gazing at the fountain statue.

“Interesting…. Excuse me for slightly changing the subject… but you mentioned that Lucio became merged with the…. devil? From the Arcana realm?”

Taken a little by surprise, she glances over to her father realizing that he did in fact listen to her earlier while she was showing him the other parts of the city. “Yeah… I’m not sure exactly how. But I think he made a lot of deals with various demons— I mean that literally…. And like I said… kill a lot of people... including his own mother.”

“... Just so he could live forever?”

“.... I think it was for power and to live forever??... Or it was so he could regain a physical form…. or maybe he wanted to dominate the world too—Or that was the devil influencing him? I honestly have no idea. And if you ask me, it was too heavy of a price to pay. The Arcana realms must be occupied by someone… if not, our world is thrown into chaos and ruin. In the end, he was forced back.”

“Hmmm…”

After making quick work of his eel, Martin throws the bare stick into the water of the fountain. Poor Rhemi’s eyes widen in silent dismay and hastily fishes it out with her magic when he isn’t looking. She’d have half a mind to tell him not to litter… But it didn’t feel like the time or place to lecture her own father.

“It is strange to hear about a dead man coming back to life… When rumors came that Count Lucio of Vesuvia was murder in his own bed, it came to many courtiers a shock. Even the king was appalled….Personally, I always saw him as a bumbling fool.”

“So you've been here before?”

“A handful of times, yes.”

“And you knew the ex-Count?”

“Unfortunately. King Francis rather enjoyed his company much to my dismay….. His Majesty thought he was and I quote, ‘The best kind of host, charmingly idiotic and stupidly generous’.... He did know how to throw some entertaining parties, I suppose. So the King seemed to have taken a liking to him… but I never cared for him.”

“Good!! He was a freakin’ asshole is what he was.” Rhemi snarly adds before taking the last bite of her smoked eel, stewing on all the things he’s done to everyone, especially Muriel. “That stupid humanoid-goat could go fuck himself in the devil’s realm for all of eternity for all I care! Good riddance!” She sneers under her breath.

With an shocked and appalled expression, Martin glances at her mildly scolding. “Well, that’s some colorful language for a lady such as yourself.”

Pssssh! I’m no lady… She laughs to herself and she pulls on her lips to stop from spilling them out. “... So you disagree with me?” She asks with a smirk and an eyebrow raised, throwing the two bare sticks into a nearby rubbish bin, still chewing a half mouth full of eel.

Despite his distaste for her language, he’s unable to control his snickering. For now he lets it go and he shrugs. “I never said that.” Martin chuckles. “.. You are right in that regard... that man was an encompident ass.”

“—Miss Rhemi!!!” A childish voice all of a sudden calls from a far.

Rhemi and Sir Martin whip their heads around to where the young voice was calling from. Low and behold, they see three children all under the ages of twelve barreling towards them, the youngest in full sprint. Really at second look, it looks like the other two were chasing after the younger one.

“Hold onto your coin purse, Rhemielia.” Martin whispers with a vicious sneer, standing in front of her with his cane at the ready.

“Huh?” She mumbles looking over his shoulder, not getting a few view of the children.

As soon as her voice escapes from her lips, Rhemi can sense her father conjuring his magic into the jeweled handle of his cane. The gem starts to glow brightly giving off a sort of metallic smelling aura... He is conjuring a spell?? To use on these kids???

Now getting a full glimpse over her father’s shoulder, she realizes she knows the children running up to them both and a large bead of sweat forms on her brow unsure what her father was intending to do.As soon as Martin brings up his cane to let loose the spell, she gently places her hand on the top of his jeweled handle, scooting him out of the way and forcing him to set down his weapon.

“—Ohhh! Lilly! Zachary! Nathan! How are you silly kids??” She says with a ginger smile. Martin face twists as he realizes that she knows these little peasants, but he keeps quiet, observing her as the three snot nosed brats approach them, two boys and one girl.

Rhemi kneels down and the children all embrace her with a tight hug nearly knocking her over to the cobble street. “Rhemiiiiii!!!”

“Sorry! I couldn’t stop him.” The girl apologized.

“That’s alright! Well—Hello, hello, and hello! What are you three rascals doing here?” Rhemi greets cheerily.

“Getting some eggs.” The young girl says lifting up an empty basket. She was the tallest and the oldest. If you couldn’t immediately, she was the responsible one in the trio, the ‘mother hen’ of the group. Her hair was a bright blonde with tight curls styled in two puffy pigtails. Her skin is a beautiful dark black, like a fresh brewed coffee, and eyes a bright hazel.

“Where’s Mr. Tall Man today?” The youngest boy asks looking all around making his wild and curly brown toffee colored hair, bounce all around. He has pale ivory skin with flecks everywhere, and dark brown eyes, and couldn’t be no older than six or seven, about one of Muriel’s cousins named Ida’s age, and just as cute. However he wasn’t the faintest bit shy like Ida is.

“Oh—I’m sorry, Nathan. Muriel isn’t with me today. He’s busy doing other errands.” Rhemi answers him tilting her head feeling rather guilty.

“Awwww.” The little boy whines looking at the ground disappointedly, holding the eldest child and the girl's hand and pouts. “I wanted to show him my newt. I found him in a pond.” He opens his pocket and out comes a little sticking looking bright orange creature with various sized brown and gray spots covering his head to his tail (freckles, just like Nathan).

Martin makes a revolted little noise and looks away for a moment, a hard sneer twisting his features, Rhemi doesn’t see him cringing behind. To his surprise, his daughter isn’t disgusted or afraid at all, she actually seems to think it’s cute, and pets his little head with her pointer finger. “Ooooh~ What’s their name, Nathan?”

“Wart! He’s a boy newt.” He says as he turns his neck and sticks his tongue out at Lillian and she just shakes her head, with a long-suffering look on her face.

“Well isn’t he just lovely. He has a wonderful color, orange is one of my favorite colors. I’ll be sure to tell Mr. Muriel about him! I’m sure he’d love to see him.” Her eyes glance behind to her father, still looking rather prudish and she smiles realizing she hadn’t introduced anyone yet. “OH! Right!…. Sooo, everyone, this is my father, his name is Sir Remington Martin Alarie III. He’s a King’s magician.”

The young girl lets out a shallow quick gasp as she looks up at Martin and he half turns his nose up at her. “I didn’t know you had a father.” She whispers to Rhemim shielding her mouth with her hand.

Rhemi plays along and whispers back the same way, “Neither did I… We just met yesterday.”

Little Nathan clings onto the Archmagister’s pant leg and Martin furrows his brow and somehow manages to frown even more. “You’re a neat magician too, like Miss Rhemi, Mister??”

Martin rolls his eyes scoffs. “....What gave that away? The cape or the cane, Oh-Child with a newt named ‘Wart’ ?” He sassily remarks, slowly unhinged the child’s arms off his leg.

Realizing that her father was confused about how she knew these children, she stands up and loops her arm around his. “Père, these are some children that were on the streets before the battle with Lucio…” Rhemi then points to each of the kids one at a time. “This is Lillian, Lilly for short. That strapping young lad is Zachary. And last but not least, little Nathan.”

The youngest child excitedly waves his hand at the old grumpy magician adorably despite Martin's lack of caring. “You look like a fancy magician!!” Nathan giggles cutely, finally letting go of the Archmagister’s leg.

“..... Mmmmm hmmmm….” The old gentleman grumbles. “... Nathan… was it??” The boy nods his head not noticing the nobleman’s disgust as he continues to sluggishly push him away, now gently using the butt end of his cane. “Pleasure to make your…. acquaintance…” He mutters trying to sound kind as he quickly brushes off his pant leg he touched.

Zachary, the older boy, notices the man’s dislike for Nathan touching him and stares at him shamelessly and the two start to have a silent scowling staring contest all unbeknownst to Rhemi who is still looking away. But Lilly catches and just stands there shaking her head unimpressed with either of them.

But then Nathan just rambled on adorably blabbing and now clinging onto Rhemi’s right leg and she ruffles his messy hair untamed hair that she admired. “Miss Rhemi and Mr. Muriel and Ms. Countess lady and—*achoo*—and all of her other friends helped made us all a home.”

A little bit of pink quickly stains Rhemi’s face as her father's eyes fall on her. “Well it was all Muriel, Asra, and Nadia’s idea to build an orphanage. All I did was help.”

“The Countess lady comes and reads to us eeeevery Wednesdays.” Nathan continues to rant. “And—And Miss Rhemi and Mr. Muriel comes by and sometimes they bring us arts n’ crafts and-and-and teach us magic!!”

“Is that so?” Marin fakely smiles. “Magic is so freely taught here I see…”

“Yeah! We each have our own beds! Mr. Muriel helped make them for us!”

“—And get three square meals a day. We don’t have to fight or steal food anymore….” Zachary finally chims in, scratching the back of his head. “Which is…. okay I guess…” His skin is olive-ish brown and his hair is a dark umber color, but has bright crystal blueish gray eyes that stand out.

Zachary was always normally very quiet. He used to be a part of a group of kids that were terrible bullies and even thugs. But ever since he saw Muriel, a hero and champion to the city, who was an orphan who grew up on the docks just like him, something changed in him. Perhaps knowing that someone like him could be a hero someday, strong and brave, he left that life behind and started a fresh path at the orphanage. He was still very young, no older than eleven, but really looked up to Muriel and Rhemi and saw them both as his role models. Even now, he tries to act all tough and aloof, but he’s really a little sweetheart and cared about the orphanage as much as the other two did.

“Well isn’t that ….nice.” Martin says with a bit of surprise in his face glancing at Rhemi. “Very appropriate for a young lady such as yourself to get involved in.”

“How’s Mrs. Edilen doing??” Rhemi asks, turning her attention back to the children.

“Old…” Zachary mutters blankly. Without warning, Lilly smacks him across the back of his head with such a scoldingly look on her face. “—OW! WHAAAAT??” He grumbles just above a whisper, his bright eyes angrily beaming at her as he holds his head.

“Shut your mouth, Zach!!! That woman is good to us and you know it!” Lilly snaps before answering Rhemi. “She’s fine, but her back has been bothering her lately.”

Lillian has been the little mother figure for these kids at the orphanage. She was always scolding and ensuring everyone minded their manners even though she was half their strength. You could tell she was in charge, but she was a very good kid with a heart of gold. She reminds Rhemi of herself in a way.

Rhemi stifles a laugh to spare poor Zachary’s pride and just continues with the conversation. “She’s actually coming by later for her potion, I hope that’ll help her.”

“Me too, I guess….” Zachary grumbles with his arms folded. “I’m sick of reading bedtime stories to the younger kids...”

“Oh stop acting like you don’t like it! You’re the one who does it without anyone asking you too!” Lilly rolls her eyes.

“...T—They whine if I don’t!” He quickly retaliates, blushing crazily.

Lilly just stares at him with a knowing smirk. “Oh yeah, I’m sure they whine when you don’t do the voices either!” She teases.

Poor Zachary’s face looks like it's going to explode and he gently shoves her, covering his burning face with the neck of his shirt like a turtle. “Shut. Up. LILLIAN!!” He grouches, words muffled by his shirt.

Kneeling back down with a giggle, Rhemi can’t help but love to see these two banter like they do. I can see these two getting married in ten years. She thinks to herself. “Well, I better get going, kiddos. I’m showing my father around the city and are expected for tea.”

In unison all of the kids sink their shoulders disappointedly.

“Are you both gonna come to see us soon?” Nathan asks with the biggest puppy dog eyes, holding onto her shaw.

“Awwwww!! Of course we will! It’s just all this wedding has just been keeping us busy. But I promise Muriel and I will come soon. Ok?”

All three kids excitedly say, hooray in unison and give her one last group hug before they all head on their merry way, waving her goodbye as they’d end towards the market.

“Bye, Fancy Mister Magician Man!” Nathan calls with a big goofy smile while holding onto Lilly’s hand.

As the kids wander off, Martin just looks at Rhemi with such fondness as he takes a seat next to the water fountain ledge.

“What?” Rhemi asks with a grin.

Martin just shakes his head with a chuckle. “You’re just like your mother….. even just now… you are just the spit of her… She loved working with children. She wanted to become a governess before she met me.”

Rhemi smiles a little wider and sits next to her father on the fountain’s edge. “.... I wish I could remember her face….”

The water fountain behind the two keeps endlessly roaring with the water and the two sit then content for a moment, watching as people go by, happy to take a seat for the time being. As they both sit there enjoying the warmth of the sun, Rhemi’s mind wanders to yesterday to her unanswered questions the other day. It kills her to want to know, but it’s terrifying to ask.

Finally, she swallows her fears, and tightens her fists as she summons the courage. “....Père?”

“Yes, my Pigeon?”

“I… I wanted to ask you this yesterday, but it didn’t necessarily come up in the conversation… But…. ummm… What exactly….. happened?....” Her father's smile fades as soon as she utters that question, and he turns his head away from her. His reaction just makes her want to know even more. “...W-Why hadn’t I seen you for so many years?”

Martin’s cold eyes shimmer with a glimpse of pain with that question and swallows hard. “..... I…. I think that's for another day, dear child…”

She sits there for a moment, considering to let it go, but her mouth moves before she can really stop herself. “…. Could… could you at least tell me something? P-Perhaps? It’s been killing me to know what happened….”

Martin still keeps his eyes averts from hers, hoping she’d stop being so persistent.

“... If I could remember any of it myself, I wouldn’t have asked.” She adds sheepishly twiddling with thumbs in her lap.

The old magician stews on her words for a while, still very hesitant to speak of what happened and she thinks he’ll just ignore her plea. But then he sighs very deeply before muttering unenthusiastically, “.... Very well….”

Taking out a pipe out of his vest pocket along with a little tobacco from a fancy tiny metal tin. Conjuring his magic to his finger, he lights up the pipe, and takes in three short puffs followed by one big one. Pondering his words, he holds it in his mouth peering at the crowd, then finally blows out all the smelly smoke slowly. “...You and your mother…. were stolen from me around fifteen years ago.”

Rhemi quickly whips her head towards him with her eyes wide, staring at her father completely dumbfounded.

S-Stolen? She shouts to herself in her mind, her poor heart starting to beat a little faster by the second. By—by who?? What does this all mean??

He draws in another larger puff before continuing this obviously painful story, apparently being soothed by the tobacco. “You both were kidnapped.... By a terrible evil witch named Phara….”

Phara… he mentioned her before the other day. Why doesn’t that name sound familiar to me?? Why can’t I remember that name???

Squinting her eyes as if that would somehow help her remember as she follows with another question. “...W-Who was Phara? I don’t remember that name at all.”

“I was afraid of that. But I also could only assume that was the case as well.” He takes in a quick puff and nods solemnly before beginning again, bellowing out the smoke as he spoke.. “.....I ….I hired her to be your tutor. You were about…. ohhhh I believe it was seven or eight at the time?—It was shortly after I was promoted to head chamberlain to his Majesty's court and I became increasingly busy with my new duties. Anyways…. One day, you scared your governess half to death… She was teaching you handwriting. You apparently threw a tantrum and lit your parchment paper ablaze with your magic. According to some servants, she came out of the library screaming.”

Rhemi’s cheeks start to feel like they are burning, that sounds about right knowing herself and how angry she can get even now. Sometimes she still wants to destroy things now when she is pissed off…. Apparently some things never change.

“... And so...You needed to learn how to control your magic.” He continues, “... And mother suggested someone she grew up with.”

“.... Phara?” Rhemi knowingly asks, placing her hands on the cold marble stone she’s sitting on.

Martin nods slowly, waving his pipe around as he spoke. “Yes…. Phara….. She was a Throthian woman, a professor for some intellectuals. For a time, she taught foreign dukes, duchesses, and even a few princesses in Parka and she was highly regarded, even for a woman.”

Throthian… Now that sounds familiar… Where do I know that word from?

“... She even taught many commoners and the poor to read and write so they can make better lives for themselves… which didn’t make the king very happy…. But most importantly, she was also a witch. Apparently a skilled one at that, which is what you needed at the time. Your mother swore that she trusted this woman with her life, and that Phara was bound to secrecy and confidentiality.”

…. Wait—Secrecy??....Why secrecy??

He pauses for a second, and draws in another deep puff on his pipe, then lets it out. Quietly Rhemi covers her mouth and lightly coughs, the smell of the tobacco burning her lungs. “....Despite my better judgement—I felt at the time that we had no better alternative. So, I hired her to be your tutor. She didn’t know the basics of aristocratic life, such as playing classical music on the piano, needle point, edict, or anything like your previous governess, but she was what we desperately needed at the time… And I’ll admit she was much more intelligent. Years went by, your magic was under control and you were being properly educated…. or so I thought.”

“.... So you thought? What do you mean??”

“.... Well… it came to my attention that she was teaching you things no young girl of nobility should know.” He pauses once again and looks his daughter in the eyes very seriously and sincerely and Rhemi feels her heart tug down. “...Phara was teaching you terrible things... evil things, Rhemielia.”

Rhemi’s eyes fall down to the cobblestone street as she tries to swallow all of this information. ….I… I was taught… evil things?... Perhaps that’s why I didn’t bat an eyelash at the blood magic, yet Muriel was so bothered by it…. am I… evil at heart?? Rhemi wonders to herself, her heart tugging even more. Is that why I was such a jerk before I died?

“.... One night about a week after your twelfth birthday.... I came home a day early after going on a diplomatic trip with the king. I was bringing you a late birthday present… But to my surprise, no one greeted me at the gates, nor the door. Soon I realized that all the servants were gone, the chateau was dark and empty and something sinister was afoot.” Rhemi’s nails started to dig into her thighs unconsciously as she hung onto every word… This part was starting to sound almost familiar. “.... I made my way to the parlor, and I saw Phara shoving you and your poor mother out the veranda and was planning on throwing you both out off the balcony for god knows what reason.”

Rhemi swallows the lump in her throat hearing all of this for some reason its starting to feel a little more familiar. “.... We fought. It was her magic against mine…. Soon, the fourier was in shambles, the furniture and decor littered the floor, and I had her nearly beat… Then the next thing I see out of the corner of my eye that your poor little head was cracked open…. You were bleeding everywhere, barely standing straight in the corner of the room...”

Vision starts to become dizzy, Rhemi closes her eyes to stop her head from spinning. But as soon as Rhemi closes her eyes, the short glimpse of her small childish hands trembling and covered in blood come into her mind. It’s too vivid to have been her imagination. Her right hand instinctively goes to her forehead to the right side of her frontal skull where there are two stubborn cowlicks that never grew much hair. She couldn’t part her hair any other way because of them. It’s only at this very moment she can feel a slight dip in her bone that she realizes why that hair never grew past an inch or two… it was a hidden scar, it was small, no bigger than an inch now, however it felt like it went rather deep.

A quick twinge of pain returns to Rhemi’s temples for a split second and she shuts her eyes yet again and stifles her groan. Flames of the burning mansion in her dreams illuminates behind her eyelids—the other Rhemi, the dying phoenix, faint muffled screams and yells they all start to rush into her mind and ears, making her almost sick to her stomach. Focusing on her breathing, she diverts her thought away from her nausea not wanting to see the eel or pumpkin bread a second time. She dare not make a scene in the middle of the city and she stays silent, quietly suffering as her father continues on.

“I… I underestimated that witch, she was more craftier than I had originally thought. Somehow I found myself with a knife in my back. You were just standing there, looking paler by the second… So I ignored my pain and staggered straight over to you. I knew you needed a healer immediately with the amount of blood you were losing and—” Martin stops mid word, you can hear him choking back some tears with his voice cracking. “... I reached out to save you…. to pull you into my arms—but….” He softly trails off.

Rhemi closes her eyes again, and for a moment, she sees a large eerie hand slowly coming at her from the dark—As she opens her eyes it disappears once again.

In the corner of eyes, she can see as Martin pulls off his right leather glove for the first time, and she notices that he pulls up part of his long sleeve of his fancy shirt. Underneath them both hid a terrible looking old burn that started from the top of this hand, ran up his forearm, and wrapped all around his bicep. It was awful to look at, it must have been so incredibly painful. “... Phara proved to be craftier than I expected… she always was… I just wish I saw it sooner… That damn witch used the last bit of her magic to start a terrible fire, even put you in harm's way to do it.”

The fire…. Is that what the other me was trying to tell me about? The fire?? Is Phara that monster?.... I don’t know if I still want to know...

The nausea and dizziness subsiding as quickly as it came, she stared at her poor father’s arm a burning in her nose. “I’m…. I’m so sorry, Père.” She softly says with tears in her eyes as she gazes at the terrible scar seared into her father’s flesh. “Does it still hurt?”

“You mean…. This old scar?” He scowls with an eyebrow raised, appearing a bit puzzled.

Rhemi nods sheepishly, her large eyes beaming with such a somber empathetic expression.

Seeing this sincere look, he’s face softens and he even gives her a reassuring grin and shakes his head. “No… Not anymore, Pigeon.”

Gently she touches it with the tips of her fingers inspecting the shriveled tough pinkish skin. “Did you have a doctor's help? It looks like it healed rather well.”

“I did actually…” The Archmagister holds up his arm, opening and closing his fist, wiggles his fingers, and flexes his elbow to show that his range of motion was at least spared “... The doctors and healers had to use some unconventional methods to salvage all of my fingers and I regained feeling in my forearm… And it took quite a while to recover from all of it—I even had to learn how to write with my left hand... But honestly, I hardly remember it.”

He stops flexing his arm and hand and gently rests it back on top of his leg with the palm up. “... All the while I was healing, I was focused on finding you and your mother. I put a very high bounty on Phara’s head along with countless posters, fliers, and I sent letters to neighboring kingdoms everywhere. I hired men and the best bounty hunters all over the country to comb cities to the countryside in Charlès for you and your mother… But then, weeks turned into months, months into years, years into over a decade. Everyone all but gave up, the story of the Archmagister’s kidnapped wife and daughter became all but a tragic distant memory.... To some, it twisted into a bedtime story. About a demon witch who came in the night who lured beautiful mothers and their poor children out of their homes in the dead of night during the witching hour. The witch would kill them and drain all of their blood so she could bathe in it to restore her youth and power. Then she’d chopped the bodies all up into tiny pieces and cooked their flesh into a stew, serving it to the unsuspecting poor.”

Martin draws back his arm, rolling down his sleeve, donning his leather glove yet again. “But only few knew the truth.”

“That must have been just terrible for you…. You must have been so lonely.” Rhemi finally utters after sitting there quietly.

“... I never released how empty a house felt without you both in it.” He mumbles looking away into the crowd. He shrinks into himself as soon as those words leave his mouth as if he didn’t mean to admit that. But Rhemi could tell, that came directly from his heart.

Martin suddenly clears his throat quickly slicking back his hair, shaking himself out his thoughts and glances at his pocket watch. “Oh would you look at that. It’s nearly time for tea.” He straightens up and lightly pats her head and she tries her best to stop herself from sneering to be polite. “Come on then. Let’s get a move on, don’t want to be tardy now, do we?” He says standing to his feet and shaking out his cape.

“N-no… No we don’t.” Rhemi answers, sluggishly standing her feet as well brushing out the wrinkles in her shirt.

———————

The walk back to the palace was a bit more quiet, but Rhemi and Martin now seem to be comfortable with it and just enjoy each other’s company in comfortable silence. She’s somewhat used to it being with Muriel.

As the two made it back to the Palace, they were greeted by a handful of Nadia’s servants and an older man in dark green and blue that her father called Bartholomew. He must have been his servant; his uniform and disposition was very different from anyone else.

Judging from the lack of people around, Rhemi and Martin apparently had arrived a bit early and were both left in the common room for the Countess’ arrival. Bartholomew whispered a few things to Martin’s ear before very elegantly leaving the room.

Suddenly, Beatrix comes scurrying around the corner making a few of Nadia’s servants comically shriek in surprise. The grumpy badger quickly prances over to Martin and climbs up her over the armchair close by, then on to his shoulders.

“Making yourself a nuisance yet again I see, Beatrix.” Martin teases her and she chatters back.

“Good afternoon, Bea~.” Rhemi says with a smile as she puts her hand up to her to sniff. Surprisingly, the animal lets her scratch under her chin after giving her a few pumpkin seeds from her pocket. It’s unclear if she likes Rhemi or if she just likes the food she gives her. Either way, Rhemi likes her. She’s cute in a scruffy kind of way.

“Pardon me.” Says Pascal, a servant who took over Portia’s position after she was appointed to Chamberlain comes in with a bow. “The Countess wanted me to inform you both that she will be arriving shortly. In the meantime, please make yourself comfortable.”

A sharp scoff ejects out of Martin’s mouth. “Of course she’s going to make us wait….” He grumbles, and Beatrix growls a little at the poor servant showing her teeth. “I was invited into her own palace, haven’t seen the damn woman since I arrived and now she’s gonna make us wait?”

“My apologies, Sir Martin… She’s just returning from a Heart District reconstruction meeting.”

Rhemi steps in front of her father and before he could mutter another word and feeds his badger another pumpkin seed and she ceases her aggressive noises. “Thank you, Pascal. How’s your father doing?”

The servant smiles sincerely and cups his hands together. “Oh, great after that sleeping remedy you gave him!”

“Good! Any more chronic night terrors about jellyfish?”

Pascal laughs as she mentions that and Martin has a perplexed scowl on his face looking towards his familiar as if she knew the answer to that. “No! None since Muriel gave him that dream catcher over his bed. My family can’t thank you both enough for that.”

“Ooooh please, it was nothing! I’m just glad to hear he’s doing better—”

Martin stands in front of his daughter before she can finish her sentence. “—Yes, yes. That’s very nice indeed. Now if you wouldn’t mind...” The Archmagister says, shamelessly shooing the poor thing away, waving his cane guestering towards the door. “I’m sure your Countess would like you to return to her without dallying.”

Rather taken off guard by his rudeness, Pascal blinks blankly for a moment before bowing out and leaving the room. “Y-yes, your Excellency.”

Just as shocked as Pascal, Rhemi shakes her head staring at the back of her father’s head. Finally she taps on his back and her father turns to face her. “... You could have been nicer…” She mumbles to him a bit pouting.

He sighs, then pinches the bridge of his nose. “You really shouldn’t make chummy conversation with the servants, Rhemielia… It’s distasteful.”

The Archmagister walks around Rhemi towards the other side of the room to a small table by the fireplace, Rhemi’s eyes following him. “..... But I like Pascal—”

“—Well, Rhemielia, how about we play a game of chess to pass the time?” He says rather jollily (for him) gesturing towards the small table where the game is set up.

“Chess?..” She repeats him tilting her head. She can’t remember the last time she ever played the damn game and she sheepishly scratches the back of her head. “...Oh… I don’t really like playing. I don’t think I remember all the rules anyw—”

“Very well. I’ll teach you the rules again.” He replied, taking a seat next to the white pieces and setting his cane on the outside of the chair. “... We used to play when you were younger. If I remember correctly, you were getting quite good too, but never could quite beat me.”

“S-... Sure… why not?..” Rhemi reluctantly gives in, taking a seat behind the black pieces in the armchair.

Quickly, but thoroughly, her father explains the basic rules, and part of it is starting to come back to her as she stares at the pieces a bit longer.

“Any questions?” He finally asks as he pets Beatrix and she leans into his touch.

The apprentice gazes at all the pieces studying them carefully. Rook, king, queen, bishop, knight and….. and…. hhhhmmm…

Forgetfully, she points to the smaller pieces in the front. “These small ones… they're called, pawns or fawns?”

“Pawns. You were right the first time….. Are you starting to remember the rules, my little Pigeon?”

“Maybe?... It all sounds rather familiar.” Her finger gently grazes the top of the small cold piece and she has a sad frown. “I think I remember how.... I didn’t like how people treat these little pieces.”

“What?” He softly scoffs, an entertained grin growing on his lips. “Whatever do you mean?”

“Well….. T-These pieces represent people don’t they? This is a strategy game…. To represent a war or battle.”

Baffled at that assessment, Martin gazes back at the marble pieces and shrugs. “I…. I suppose you are correct in that regard… what is your point, child?”

Rhemi looks back down finding the right words to explain how she felt. “In this game… pawns are dispensable, their movements are limited, unlike the other pieces behind them. But because there are more of them, they are more expendable than the other taller pieces.” She pauses as she looks as she picks up one of the pawns with a few chips and cracks in it, reminding her of her poor Muriel for some reason and the way Lucio used him for so many years for his own entertainment. “People really shouldn’t treat others like that. Some…. object that can be used and taken out with little to no consequences. They are just some game piece to them, not another person…”

Martin stops himself from mid sputter trying his best not to laugh out loud. “Well…. now your spouting off nonsense.” He mumbles as he leans his back into the lounge chair, crossing his legs and resting his hand on his temple. “... This is just a game after all—”

“—I would happily agree with you, Rhemi.” Nadia’s silky smoothe voice interrupts and Martin and Rhemi stand quickly to their feet slightly taken by surprise. Stunning and beautiful as always, she strolls into the room, her heels clicking the floor, dressed in her white and green outfit and her hair half up and half down. Pascal trailing behind her with a grin on his face. “... If you think about it that way, the game is rather horrible that some pieces are labeled as not being as important as others. But in reality, the good leader should acknowledge that all of the pieces are important, no matter how small or limited they are.”

Martin bows very traditionally and elegantly, Beatrix hanging off his shoulders looking lifeless. “... Countess.”

However Rhemi just casually rushes to Nadia and wraps her arms around her and he raises an eyebrow at her informalness and lack of edict or manners.

“It’s so good to see you! Thank you so much for lending me your tailor again!” Martin’s child so boldly and informally converses making him stunned for words.

The Countess just smiles and hugs her back with a bright smile. “Oh, the pleasure is all mine. I hope you don’t mind, but Pierre let me get a sneak peak of it.”

“Ohh! Really???” Rhemi’s cheeks get all flushed and hot once again and she cups her face with her hands. “W-What do you think of it??”

“Oh, it’s just lovely, Rhemi. Just perfect for you. I can not wait to see you in it—Or Muriel seeing you in it for that matter.”

“Ooooo!! Realllly???? Thank you, Nadia!”

Suddenly, Martin clears his throat rather loudly, cutting through the two’s giddy laughter. “Countess Satrinava.”

The countess's eyes suddenly darken hearing the Archmagister’s voice and she forced back on a smile. “Ah yes… Monsieur Martin.” He approaches her with his chest puff out and she returns a polite curtsy. She then extends her hand out and he kisses to top of her knuckles, very diplomatic and traditional like. “...It has been ages, I haven't seen you since King Francis’ Spring ball six years ago… How have you been?” The Countess asks, fakely attempting to be interested.

“Quiet fine, thank you for asking.” Martin smirks back with a devious look. “... However I do fear that you haven’t been receiving my letters because I haven't gotten any back over the years. In fact, I have been around your city this morning, no flyers have been posted either.”

Nadia’s shoulder slightly tenses as if she knew and dreaded what he was about to say. Yet, she keeps a calm and composed face. “I do owe you my apologies. I have had other obligations this past year….. just a small war to save the world and clean up my city after pure evil attempted to rule our realm….”

“Ahhh…. yes… so I’ve heard... Most understandable. Things such as that are to be expected when a woman is in a position such as yourself… You really shouldn’t be so harsh on yourself, Nadia.”

“And what position would that be, Sir Martin?” Nadia remains poised and collected, but Rhemi could tell, she was getting irritated.

Martin smirks while placing both hands on his cane out in front of him. “One with great responsibility and little power, of course, Countess…. Ruling a city is a man’s job after all.”

An awkward tense silence takes hold for a moment and Nadia just flutters her eyes and fakely smiles a bit wider at his blunt rudeness. “... So nice to see you again, Archmagister. Do enjoy your stay.”

Eloquently, she turns her back to Martin tugging Rhemi along, giving her attention back to her champion, ignoring that rude and very sexist comment. “So, my dear champion. What brings you here? I do apologize for my tardiness. Especially when you had such ‘lovely’ company that also failed to show up for tea time yesterday.” She says that last part loud enough for him to hear.

“Well… ahhhhhh, we had tea scheduled for this afternoon—” Rhemi replies awkwardly.

The Countess shakes her head, instantly remembering. “Oh! Yes of course! How could I forget, I have sandwiches, biscuits, and tea being made as we speak—Oh, and your favorite~”

“Oooo—Agrippa’s strawberry lemon cake???” Rhemi says wiggling her hips excitedly.

Nadia nods with a bright smile, laughing at Rhemi’s pure overjoyed expression. “Portia was so kind to pick it up. Her and her brother should be here any minute, won’t they? Shall we have it on the balcony? It’s a lovely day.” She says looping her arm around Rhemi’s.

“Yes, but, ahhhh….” Suddenly, the apprentice stops her feet and politely pulls away. “Actually, I, ah, wanted to introduce someone to you, but I gather you’ve already met.”

Nadia interlaces her fingers together and rests her hands in front of her, wearing a rather confused expression. “...Oh?”

Her eyes follow Rhemi as she walks back over to Martin and loops her arm through his. “Nadia…. Sir Martin is my father….”

Nadia’s eyes widen, completely shocked. “Your…. father…?”

The Archmagister smiles at her with his nose high and stares at her condescendingly. “Ah yes…. Without any of your help I ended up finding my daughter myself—-But to my pleasant surprise she was alive. And in your city no doubt. What are the odds of the place that refused to comply with posting my wanted posters was the exact place where I found her.”

“Your…. His daughter?? The child who was stolen by an evil witch?”

Rhemi’s face suddenly flushes. Even Nadia knew about me?

“I…. I guess so.” She shrugs slightly embarrassed.

Nadia can’t help but flutter her eyelashes, gazing speechlessly to her champion. Finally she opens her mouth and looks toward Martin with a bit of guilt. “But…. you’ve been looking for her for—”

“—For fifteen years, seven months, a week, two days, and seven hours…. Yes…” Martin interjects with a sour and slightly angry, yet smug expression. “... But who’s counting?”

With Nadia completely gobsmacked and silent, Rhemi mutters. “I was hoping it would be alright if I invited him for tea time with Julian and Portia, so he could get to know my friends….. U-Unless of course that’s rude—”

“—No! No. It’s quite alright.” Nadia says shaking out of her stupor. “... Besides this afternoon was for you anyways, this may be the last tea you have as a single woman.”

“Oh you’re right. Didn’t think about that!... But it's better to ask right?”

“Of course.” Nadia looks towards Pascal as nods to cue him to lead them all towards the balcony.

“If you would follow me…” Pascal quickly says before whipping around to escort them all to the balcony.

Nadia hangs back staring at Rhemi and Sir Martin as they link arms having a terrible feeling about all of this and her temples start to twinge with slight pain.

—————————————

As soon as Portia and Julian arrive Rhemi greets them with a loving hug, but they immediately notice Sir Martin and a look of horror and confusion strikes their face. They only remember this man from the other day. But Rhemi explains the situation and they change their attitude quickly, happy for their friend for being reunited with her long lost father.

The Devoraks do their very best to be kind and friendly to the Archmagister, evening apologizing for their behavior (even though they did nothing wrong). Julian introduces himself with a small bow as he reaches his hand to offer to shake it. But Sir Martin slightly turns his nose up at the commoner and waits a grueling amount of seconds before finally taking his hand with only saying almost sarcastically, “Charmed…”.

Portia bows as well, and even puts donns her diplomatic hat being a chamberlain herself now, in attempts to easily converse with him on a relatable level. But the old magician just smirks and quietly chuckles at her attempt to presume that her position, a chamberlain to a mere Countess was anything like being a head chamberlain and Archmagister to a very wealthy and powerful monarch. Nevertheless Martin does at least take her hand and kisses the top of her knuckles and even says, “How do you do.”

As all four sit down and get settled and the tea is being brought out and being poured. The inescapable tension was relentlessly building with the silence. A servant pours the Archmagister’s tea and sets down a plate of biscuits in front of him and he mutters in an irritated manner, “Please, do wear gloves, girl. I don’t want to see your revolting cracked hands when you're handling my food.”

The poor servant’s face turns red with humiliation and she hasilty hides them behind her back. “Y-yes Sir… My apologies, Sir Alarie.”

Baffled at his rudeness, Rhemi, Julain and Portia stay quiet and glance over to Nadia, who stares at the old foreign diplomat with her head gracefully tilted with a fake, yet amused grin. “Oh, and how do you suppose her hands became cracked in the first place, Sir Martin? My servants shouldn’t have to be ashamed that they work diligently for a living. For you to judge her for it all the while you have a silver spoon in your mouth… Well… Should I just say that is rather ignorant of you.”

It appears that Martin was about to retaliate with a snide comment back to her but Rhemi awkwardly fake coughs. “Thank you Claudia. It looks amazing. Please tell the chef thank you.”

Her interjection to smooth things over seemed to have shut her father up for now and the terrible silence takes hold yet again. Rhemi stirs her tea, making it the way she likes and tries her best to fight the flush warming up her face from her father’s behavior. A wave of dread washes over her as she takes a small sip and thinking perhaps she made a mistake introducing everyone to him like this today. It was rather sudden and last minute after all, and she didn’t expect him to act this way. In her mind, this would have been more like a fairy tale or a book, a long lost father reuniting with the heroine’s life at the end of the story and they all lived happily ever after… But then again…. this is reality, and fairy tales and books are in the end, just that. A story. Things don’t anyway go the way you want them to….

Finally, the Countess decides to make some small talk asking Portia about the reconstruction progress of the Temple district and the tension starts to finally subside a bit. Martin even engaged in the conversation at least with the parts about Charlès’ part in supplying raw materials such as iron, bronze, and steel. The conversation then went to Rhemi with the wedding planning, then to Julian and how his clinic was going…

“Things have been keeping me busy, that’s for sure! Lately it's been a lot of springtime cold, but nothing too serious…” Julian goes on taking a long sip of his tea.

“Mmmm. Interesting.” Martin attempts to engage in the conversation for his daughter’s sake. “Tell me Doctor, are you married?”

“No, actually…” But perhaps one day I’ll marry the person I love.”

“Hmmm I’m sure she’s just lovely…. Hope she doesn’t mind having many late nights by the sound of your business.”

“...Err... ’He’ actually.” Julian corrects him with a faint bit of red on his face with a love stuck expression.

But the old nobleman really chokes on his sip of tea and he bats his eyelashes, perplexed. “....Sorry?”

Julian’s left eye darts back and forth to him and Rhemi, shrugging his shoulders. “Ummm- Errr…. About-?”

“You correct me… And said...?”

“Yes….” Rhemi jumps in thinking her father just didn’t hear him right. “Ilya said ‘he’. Asra, the one you met yesterday. White-ish hair, also a magician. That’s Julian’s partner.”

A snide and almost vicious scowl contorts the man’s face. “.....So….. You are having relations…. withhhhhhhh….. another man?” Martin inquires further as he gives Beatrix a few berries.

“Yeeeeeeeeeeesss.” Julian replies, not understanding the issue here starting to furrow his brow as well.

“So you have a….. male… bbbbooooyfriend?”

Nadia whispers to her servant rather quietly, helpless to watch as this all unfolds in front of her. “... Pascal, do bring us a bottle of wine.”

“....Asra actually prefers to use the term partner.” Rhemi adds bring her tea to her lips. “He doesn’t identify with gender specific roles. He’s male leaning, but he’s non-binary.”

“Oh, good god…” Martin grumbles rubbing the bridge of his nose.

Before Pascal gets too far, Nadia tugs his sleeve, and whispers again with her nostrils flared. “Better make that two….”

The Archmagister catches a glimpse of his daughter's saddened face. He adjusts his sitting and swallows his opinions… badly. “I ah, see….” He takes a sip of his tea slowly swallowing it. “So….. Which, ah, which one of you takes it in the ass then?” He quickly adds, unable to help himself.

“PPPPPPFFFFT—” Rhemi slightly sputters in her cup at that, her eyes wide.

Portia nearly drops her teacup speechless at this comment. If this was in a tavern she’d have thrown his ass down by now. But her brother just smiles, calmly placing his tea cup down with a hard clank and leans in closer to the Archmagister. Despite his smug smile, it’s clear that he’s deeply offended. “Well…. I guess that depends on the night. Because we use a schedule. At least we don’t have something constantly shoved up our—”

BOOM!! CHATTER CHATTER!--

“—Ooooooookayyyyyy!!” Rhemi loudly interjects slamming down both of her hands on the table making everything rumble and shake as she nearly jumps to a stand.

“—Well, Nadia, it has been loads of fun, thank you so much for having us—but would you look at the time!” She quickly rants, pulling her father’s chair out then tugging his arm and pulling him out of his chair. “My father and I wanted to check out the library for a few things together, isn’t that right?” She says slightly gritting her teeth. “Didn’t we??”

“Oh… yes of course… If you would excuse us.” He begrudgingly complies with her lie and he bows to Nadia. “Countess…”

Nadia nods her head with a forced grin. “Archmagister….”

With that, Rhemi waves her friends ta-ta for now and nearly drags her father into the palace and straight to the library feeling so terrible for her friend right now.

As soon as they approach their destination silently, Rhemi opens the doors with a wave of her magic and nearly sprints in and shuts the doors behind her. For a moment, she presses her back against the double doors and sighs feeling relieved that she managed to escape that terrible scenario with one of her best friends and her father. A stone cold silence washes over the large room while Martin casually strolls about talking in the splendor of the stained glass windows. Unable to think of a way to tell her father what he had said was unacceptable, she continues to stay silently and decides to walk over to a mountain of books she was actually borrowing about Parka.

“So… that went well—” Martin murmurs and Beatrix jumps off his shoulders and sniffs the couches scouring for some old crumbs. “Well, I am sure you had a reason to carry me away from good tea—”

Martin turns to look at his daughter, but he realizes she's no longer behind him. “R-....Rhemielia?”

Rhemi awkwardly rushes up a ladder, rummages through some more books in the section she was in before, trying not to look at her father. She doesn’t mean to give him a cold shoulder, but she really thought tea would have gone better. How could he have asked such a rude and homophobic question to one of her dearest friends? She loves that Julian and Asra are together, they just make sense in an odd way. Now that she thought about it, Rhemi didn't remember the last time she heard anyone mock someone else’s sexuality. Here in Vesuvia, and in most places of the world for that matter, people are incredibly open-minded and don’t bat an eyelash when someone is attracted to the same sex or both—No one really cares! And neither should they. It’s no one else’s business honestly.

Martin notices her silence and he walks over to where she is. “Well, Pigeon. Your er-ummm.….choices in friends are…. well… rather curious—”

“—Heads-up.” Rhemi knowingly interrupts, throwing down a book and Martin catches after a little fumble with a bit of shock.

With the room quiet yet again, he stares at her as she tries to ignore him for a while. The only sound being made is Beatrix’s sniffing and his daughter flipping through the pages then places a book back on the shelf.

Martin lets out a sigh, as he conjures his magic into his hand, making the book levitate in the air so he didn’t have to hold it. Feeling a little annoyed at the moment, he straightens his cravat on his neck and begrudgingly asks. “.... Something on your mind, Rhemielia?”

Rhemi then kicks the ladder making the wheels roll a few feet away to hunt for a few books in a different section.

Her father following her at the end of the ladder. “Rhemielia?” He repeats.

Finally she huffs heavily heartedly and replies. “... Père, you don’t ask those questions to people.”

Martin just looks up at his child and scoffs with a half grin. “.... And why not?”

“W-Well…. It’s just… ahhh— well....” Rhemi fumbles over her words as she continues to skim through the books looking for that particular subject about genetics. “...Despite his openness, Ilya might not want to converse to a stranger about his intimacy… No one ask you about your sex life. You shouldn’t just make assumptions about his—or any of my friends for that matter.”

Martin fidgets in his spot, unable to remember the last time someone talked to him like this. “Perhaps not, but my sex life didn’t involve another man, Rhemielia…. Forgive me for being intolerant, but it’s just not natural and disgusting-.”

“Disgusting to you perhaps! And how is it not natural?” Rhemi quickly responds with her nose in another book. “... Most herd animals spend their time with other males except for breeding season and engage in sexual activities. Nope… already read this one.” She quietly mutters that last part to herself as she returns the dud book back.

Martin’s brow starts to furrow as he stifles the rage in the pit of his stomach with the thought of that. He can’t believe his only child is defending such behaviors. But he keeps his feelings buried, but just barely. “Humans aren’t filthy animals, Rhemielia…. at least most aren’t... And I really don’t believe a conversation about copulation with my long lost daughter is appropriate—”

“Too late—” She adds, handing him another heavy book, and he makes it float in the air as she slides down the ladder and faces him very boldly. “If that's the case, then isn’t wearing shoes, or undergarments, or overly fancy capes made from dead worm cocoons also deemed ‘unnatural’?.”

“Rhemielia, I really do think this highly distasteful topi—” Martin suddenly stops, eyes wide in bewilderment realizing what she had just said. “I-.... I’m sorry, did you just say, ‘dead worm…. cocoons’?”

“Yes.” She says with a very as-matter-of-fact look on her face.

Martin just stares at her, completely confused and looks down at his expensive garment. “Wha—??”

Instantly, Rhemi grabs one of her books her father is floating in the air and quickly flips through the pages. “Do-too-doo…. Silkworms, silkwoooorms… Ah! Yes—Right here.” Rhemi then takes a hold of her father’s fancy cape and shakes it with one hand while handing her father an open book with the other. “... ‘Silk is made from inorganic fibers that are made from creatures called ‘silkworms’. They’re found in places such as Parka and Nopal and other northern places. Silk is harvested by the cocoon that the silkworm makes. The worms are boiled alive while incubating in a said cocoon, then the thread is extracted so it can be woven into fabric.’..” She points to the left page as she turns around. “It’s all on page 194, paragraph eight.”

Rhemi then pulls out a spare biscuit and gives it to the poor hungry badger. The happy little animal takes it and scarfs it down, she even allows Rhemi to pet her gently on the head some more, no hint of aggression or mistrust.

Bewildered and with squinting eyes, Martin hastily skims the paragraph then tilts his head. “Hmmm… Well… that’s ah, fascinating?... I…. I suppose—However…. I believe I fail to understand what this has to do with anything, my little Pigeon...”

His daughter turns back around dropping her shoulders, the look in her eyes are almost hurt. He can’t help but admire how much she looks like her mother right now. “....Those people you meet today are my friends, Père. Really good ones in fact. I see now that Charlès must not be as…open minded?—Like the rest of the world. But these are my friends. Asra and Julian are in love and I really do think they belong together. So, please, at least for my sake, be nice to them...”

“A rather steep request to ask when your friends have such terrible lifestyle choices. I don’t agree with, I don’t understand how you—”

“—That isn’t a choice, Father.” She interrupts, collecting the books out of the air and placing them onto the table next to Beatrix still licking her little claws clean. “... And you don’t have to understand it in order to respect it.”

“..... Rrrrrrrrrespect it?” He snootily sneer, both eyes half closed.

For one reason or another this expression on his face makes her uncomfortable. “Well… Yes… At least for me. They are all a huge part of my life.” She says. Then, rather dramatic and ominous pause starts to take residence in this tense conversation.

“.... Hmpf… My god what has that witch done to you?” Her father says as he shakes his head slowly.

The man’s icy teal eyes pierce Rhemi like a freshly sharpened blade and she feels it cut her to her core. Obviously what she said has upset him. The longer he stares the smaller and smaller she feels under his gaze. But this is about her friends after all. They are practically a part of her family and they have fought by her and Muriel’s side, the least thing she can do is stick up for them.

She pushes down her uneasiness and puffs out her chest like she always does when she needs the confidence. “I…. I think I’ve always been this way. Perhaps you just didn’t notice.”

Beatrix suddenly jumps off the table and hides underneath it abandoning her precious biscuit. And a strange, yet powerful tense energy fills the room. It feels like a low rumble almost like an earthquake, yet nothing in the room is shaking or rattling. But Martin’s cold eyes are fixed on his daughter, increasingly becoming more intimidating as he just glares, visually trying his best to keep himself from contorting his face in disgust.

At last his eyes leave his poor daughter and she can feel her body start to unclench as he glances to his gloved hands, clicking his tongue before speaking. “I fear that the sinful place has tainted you, my dear….” His face softens when his head lifts back up to look at her once again, a half fake smile on his face. “But, fear not, we’ll correct that in due time.”

Rhemi’s eyes flutter with that last comment almost afraid to ask. “....What do you—”

“—Oi! Rhemiiiiii!!” The large double doors creak open and Portia calls from the library entrance. “It’s four o’clock!”

“—OH! CRAP! I’m late again!” Suddenly Rhemi runs up to her father a quick hug and gives him a peck on the left cheek. She can feel his shoulder stiffen as she embraces him, taken back with her rather loving affection despite the tense conversation that was just had. But his face softens, icy glare deteriorates like snow melting away on a warm spring day as he hugs her back. “Sorry, I have to get back to the shop before five. I have a rheumatism potion I have to finish before a customer comes for it this afternoon.”

“Oh. I see. You’re a busy one I see...”

“Yeah. Guess so.”

“.... Could I see you tomorrow then, perhaps for tea? I must attend a trading meeting after that, and I believe Portia… I believe it was?... She will be there too.”

“Oh…. umm, Y-yeah… Sure! That’s fine. That’ll be great.” Oddly, she’s unable to stop the feeling like she’s fibbing when she says that, her eyes avert towards the large stained glass windows.

Perhaps, tomorrow won’t be as bad as this afternoon… She thinks to herself. Yeah—He’s just not used to people who are different from him, that's all—Yeah!.... He just might need some more time, get to know them all. I’m sure he’ll come around... Realize that he’s wrong about them.

“See you tomorrow then.” As she turns to leave, Martin keeps a hold of her left wrist. She pulls it back instinctively, but her father squeezes even harder, almost too tightly.

“Rhemielia, my child?”

She cranks her head back around, that sincere and pleading expression returning to her father’s face. “...Aren’t you tired of brewing potions for mere pocket change?”

What? What kind of question is that? Puzzled at this question she tilts her head and asks, “.... I’m sorry?”

“Do you really want to be working all your life in that dusty little shop?”

For a moment she ponders on this thought. She never thought about it to be honest.

As Rhemi tugs her hand once again to take it back, thinking a little harder on what he asked. Yet, he doesn’t let go. In fact, his grip actually tightens around her wrist, and it starts to hurt her. Her face starts to bead sweat, her temples pulsate with twinges of pain yet again and she feels her stomach drop. “P-Père, you’re—you're hurting me.” She whimpers.

Blankly he slowly blinks, as if he didn’t hear her.

“P-Père?.... My wrist… You’re hurting it.”

Finally he glances to her small wrist before finally letting it go. “Ah… Ahem—My apologies, my sweet Pigeon.”

Once Rhemi's wrist is finally released, she stands there rubbing it a bit with her opposite hand. Her skin slightly stinging from his firm grip and the friction of the leather gloves. She didn’t like it when people held her too hard like that, it made her feel so uncomfortable, like she was vulnerable and weak. But she never felt her head ache like that before.

After the stinging dissipates, she places her hands to her side and she sheepishly replies, “.... Well… the shop me and Muriel’s livelihood. How else am I supposed to live?”

An entertained chuckle erupts from the Archmagister’s lips and Beatrix climbs his arm and rests across his shoulders. “Why, back home with me in Charlès of course. You’ll live much more comfortably there. I want you to rejoin the court… back with me.”

Lost for any words, Rhemi stands there feeling like an explosion had just gone off in her head. “Back home… to Charlès?” She repeats.

Her father adjusts his cane, making a faint clank while he straightens back up, puffing his chest out and nodding. “You’re conflicted I see. I half expected you would be. It is a rather bold question for me to ask when we’ve only been reunited for two short days….. Don’t worry, you don’t have to answer me now… just think about it, Rhemielia.”

“O-.... okay. I will.” Uncomfortably she replies, her head now spinning. Finally she shakes out of her own thoughts and smiles awkwardly. “Goodnight, Père… I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Goodnight, my little Pigeon…. Think about what I said.”

“I… I will….” She mumbles as she shuts the door leaving the Archmagister alone in the library with his familiar.

Beatrix sniffs the air cautiously. “Master angry at Pigeon?”

Martin takes a deep breath as he tries to stop his anger and magic from overflowing. “This is all Phara’s doing, Beatrix... That fucking cunt of a witch… Teaching my child such disgusting tolerance for filthy homosexual deviants. That’s precisely why the rest of the world is behind Charlès, Bea. They let perverted cock-sucking fools muck about and run things… this city was nearly all in ruins just a year ago. And that is all because of these fucking liberal fools...”

Trying to calm his anger he takes one of the books Rhemi was reading through in his hands and it bursts into purple and green flames with his magic and he watches with gratification as it burns into dust.

“The world outside of Charlès is disgusting…..” He says picking up one of the books she was reading in disgust. “...It isn’t Rhemielia’s fault she doesn’t remember better… Surrounded by such books, people… and ideals about a backwards way of living. Deprived of morals or sensibility. I will just have to…. remind her of what the correct morals are.”

✨To be continued...

**April fools =P Sorry I had too! XD

Anyways! Thanks so much for reading my hot garbage! I hope you guys didn't mind the very very long chapter!

For all you thirsty trash pandas, the smut will be next chapter *wink wink*

**Agrippa (the baker’s apprentice) belongs to @victorscribbles

#the arcana #the arcana game #muriel fanfic #the arcana fanfic #muriel x mc #muriel x apprentice #muriel x rhemi #the visitor~#part 4~#enjoy my hot trash #enjoy my garbage #for my hungry trash pandas #sorry for the long ass wait #april fools #arcana fandom #non smut

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h0neyjaehyun · 4 years ago

Note

Hi! How are you? Hope your week has been nice :D

Can i send in a request for Talia? Promt 1 no. 78, 77, 84 with Winwin if you don't take request then please ignore :>>

ANYWAYS HAVE A GREAT DAY ILY💚 -🐥

Title // Miss You

Summary // Lets just say Winwin couldn’t be more obvious.

Month / Year // July 2017

Prompt 1

77. "You came all the way here just to tell me this?"

78. "I want to see you again."

84. "Is this the part where we confess our undying love for each other?"

Italics // Chinese

Note // I’m just going to leave this here :), anyway I do take request! You can send as many request as you want! I don’t mind, and thank you I hope you have a great day as well. Also THIS IS FROM THE HELP OF NCT- NARI please I had so much difficulty with this and Joy helped a lot.

Winwin had missed Tali, it was when Tali had been with Blackpink for the comeback of As If It's Your Last and she hasn't been home with them for 2 weeks. They have gotten closer over the year thankfully, and he had missed her. She comes by practice every once in awhile well to practice but she has to leave right after.

He rolled around in his bed not being able to sleep. He looked at the time on his phone and pouted as it was late, he walked to the kitchen to get a glass of water when he heard the door open. He looked over confused since he's pretty sure everyone was here and went to bed if not on their phone in bed.

He heard heels which made him even more confused until he saw light brown hair walk past the corridor. Running her hand through hair then shaking her head slightly. He stood still frozen not knowing what to do as the girl still has yet to notice him.

He cleared his throat unwillingly, which she turned to, just to see him looking at her wide eyed. She smiled and waved.

"Hi Sicheng." He smiled at the sound of his name come out of her mouth. He took a deep breathe of relief.

"Hi Talia." His arms opened wide for her to come and give him a hug which she happily did. She giggled which gave him butterflies in his stomach. She took a step back and looked at him.

"Its been a long time." She sighed.

"Yes it has and you are in a fancy outfit." He scanned her up and down to see she has a white shirt with pant suit with black heels with the addition of the blazer.

"Uh yeah, I came to say something to you actually." She walked to the refrigerator grabbing some green grapes.

"Yeah? What is it?" He asked wondering what made her come all this way. She smiled at bit.

"You know that stylist that called you a name for the past what couple weeks?" She asked cleaning the grapes under the fosit.

"Yeah?" He squinted at her suspiciously.

"Well, she just got fired." She turned to him and gave him a flat smile.

"You came all the way here just to tell me this?" He raised his eyebrows at her. She huffed at sat down her bowel of grapes.

"Yes? It great news, she's not gonna call you those names anymore." She smiled while he still eyed her suspiciously.

"That’s not what you said a month ago when she called you fat." He pointed out grabbing a grape.

"Well, she was doing her job at the time." She mumbled pouting a little turning to the counter to eat her grapes. His head snapped to look at her, she mumbled doesn't mean he didn't hear that. He walked up to her and grabbed her face making her turn to him.

"You listen to me missy, you are perfect! You can sing, dance, rap, and you are so pretty. Everyone wants to be you!" He exclaimed, he found it absurd that those words affected her so much. She's literally perfect. Tali looked off to the side and gave a shy smile from all the compliments.

"Is this the part where we confess our undying love for each other?" He asked teasingly.

"Ah Sicheng." She whined, pushing him away by his chest away from shyness. He smiled at her, he's glad he made her smile. She looked back at him and shook her head.

"You've grown confident, that's good. On that note come on lets get you to bed." She pulled him to his room.

"All of sudden?" He asked confused.

"Yes I have a schedule early with you come on." She finished dragging him to his room with Yuta.

"Where will you sleep?" He whispered as he got into bed slightly laughing as Tali tucked him in like he's a child.

"To Marks room." His face faltered a bit from disappointment but regained a smile and nodded. But that didn't go unnoticed by Tali.

"Night Tali." He whispered as he closed his eyes.

"Night Sicheng." She whispered back closing the door. She turned and her face turned into confusion. She quietly walked to Marks room in the process of taking off her heels in the front door as she forgot to earlier.

She was in the front door of Marks room still puzzled. She couldn't figure out why WinWin was acting like that. She remembered back to his teasing comment of confess their undying love for each other.

"No, I must be overthinking things."

She shook her head. No way WinWin likes her....does he? She was now confused, she always couldn't tell the difference between guys being nice or they actually have a crush on her. She's oblivious to that and she knew that, that’s why she has Karma, Hyunjin, Allen, and Chan for that as they are her protectors from men who try to take advantage of her niceness or just men that have a crush on her and know Tali just doesn't get the hint and doesn't like them.

She sighed and walked into Marks room who was surprising to her, still awake.

"Tali?" He looked up surprised. She smiled at him.

"Hi Mark."

"Do you have to go?"

"Yeah its my friends birthday, if I don't I will get a sad friend, and with him." She turned to Winwin with a chuckle.

"I don't to deal with that." She smiled at him. WinWin looked at her a little sad that she was gonna go. They saw a car pull up and the window roll down.

"Get in here you know how he'll get if we are late." Karma yelled while Tali rolled her eyes.

"I know I know. Bye Sicheng" She turned to WinWin giving him a hug, he hugged her tight.

"Yeah, bye" he gave her a flat smile as he watched her get in and leave.

"Well that was interesting." Karma smirked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Yeah I noticed too." Chan snickered as he started to driving.

"What?" Tali questioned but also knowing what they mean.

"He likes you~" Hyunjin sung as he was tapping handle of the car. Tali groaned while they chuckled.

"I know." Tali huffed puffing out her cheeks.

"We know you know, we noticed that too." Hyunjin looked back smiling deviously.

"Im not dating him." She commented.

"Obviously." Chan mused, teasing her which he always found fun.

"I look single to you or something, I take offense to that." She said offended glaring at him.

"No no, its just your not gonna date till like what 2022?" Karma bet looking at the two other boys.

"Hm.. I say 2018." Hyunjin stated confidently which the other three looked at him like really, you really believe that.

"What? I have hope that our Butterfly will find love." He stated with such confidence that it bewildered Talia since she doesn’t have that kind of confidence in herself.

"Well I say 2020 maybe? Maybe 2022, when Tali is 23 and ready to date probably." Chan said parking and looking back at her.

"Who do you think she'll date?" Karma asked. The boys looked down in thought.

"Maybe one of h-" before Hyunjin could finish Tali's phone dinged. Tali got out her phone and looked at the contact name while Hyunjin just glared at her phone for interrupting him. Her eyes widen a little which didn't go unnoticed by them.

"Well who is it?" Karma asked impatiently.

"Its WinWin the guy that we think has a crush on me." She bit her lip.

"Well first off we KNOW he has a crush on him, so what does it say?" Chan hurried up Tali.

"Ah, it says...I want to see you again, so hurry up."

"Ooooooh TALI HAS MORE PEOPLE CRUSHING ON HER." Hyunjin shouted, while the other two laughed. Tali huffed.

They all know Tali doesn't like Winwin like that, she's not really ready even if she did like him like that. Still doesn't mean Tali doesn't have a bunch of guys crushing on her. Those 4 (Karma, Hyunjin, Chan, Allen and sometimes Miguel) can spot who has a crush or a thing for a Tali from a mile away. They have made bets which boy is gonna confess first or who will get Tali's heart.

Its like a game to them since they were in middle school and when they met Hyunjin when he join the company he joined the betting. Tali has been rejecting people left and right they even have a notebook who has a crush on Tali. X is for rejected, O is for who still like her, / is for unsure probably has a thing, and highlighted in green with their names written beside them means they have either a chance or betting they won't get rejected at least a date.

Does Tali know? No, will she ever know? Probably not.

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catrasredemption-moved · 4 years ago

Note

Loved the encounter with Double Trouble. But now I wanna see a fic where Catra brings them down a few pegs and/or kicks their ass. No wait fuck that, I wanna see Catra bring 'em down a few pegs AND beat their ass in. Of course, that would either require Catra to be further along in a point in her life where she's more grounded, or it would mean DT's hounding goes into far harsher territory, maybe even beyond focusing squarely on Catra to get a response. Or hell, maybe both of those at once too.

((Okay, this turned into more of a sequel to the last one, sorry, but I really just wanted to show Catra standing up for herself in the aftermath))

Double Trouble perked up slightly when someone stepped in front of their cell. They practically grinned when they saw Catra.

“Ooooooh, Kitten. So nice of you to come visit. Love the hair, by the way, it fits you.” They stood, shifting into Catra the way they had know her - hair long and smoothed back, face still framed by the mask, sleeve on her right arm. She twitched slightly at seeing herself, but otherwise didn’t react. “Not that this isn’t also cute,” they continued in her voice. “But it never really seemed to fit you. Just another part of the big bad villain image, right?”

Catra unfolded her arms, revealing a set of keys. Double Trouble changed back, tilting their head. “Are you here to let me out?”

“No. I’m here to make sure these two don’t murder you.”

Two more people stepped into view behind Catra - Glimmer and Adora. Double Trouble raised an eyebrow, looking between them for a moment. “I don’t understand.”

“See, while you were having your fun, you also accidentally pissed off two of the most powerful women in Etheria. Turns out using one’s dead mother to torture the other’s girlfriend isn’t the brightest move you’ve ever made. In fact, it’s safe to say you supremely fucked up.”

She unlocked the cell, letting herself and walking right up to Double Trouble, cornering them the way they had cornered her only a few days ago. “The first time you tried to fuck with me? I’ll admit, you nailed it perfectly. And I’m sure you know that too. But there’s a difference, and I don’t just mean my hairstyle. You caught me at a time when I had nobody left in my life who cared about me. But a lot’s changed in the last few months, you know? I have friends. People who care about me. People who don’t like it when their friends are upset. People with short tempers who tend to get violent when their friends are upset.”

Double Trouble looked back at Glimmer and Adora, then to Catra again. For once, they were speechless.

“So, here’s the deal. Mermista is gonna let you out of this cell eventually, and once you’re out wandering the world again, there isn’t much I can do to protect you from the queen of Bright Moon or the actual savior of the universe. And Glimmer fights dirty - watch out for the short ones, you know? Your chances of surviving with both of them out for your head are very slim.

“But there’s something you can do to help yourself, which I know is what you’re all about. Take a step back. Maybe retire from the whole mercenary business. Work a little bit more on that theater career of yours. Live a nice, quiet life, and don’t come within a hundred feet of any of us ever again. Or I suppose you can take your chances. You’re smart, after all. Maybe you can outsmart all of us. I would think very long and hard before you do that, though. You don’t know where we have friends, or how fast Glimmer can get somewhere if she hears about you causing trouble again.”

Catra twirled the key ring carelessly on her finger, smiling. “So. What’s it gonna be?”

“I, uh...” Double Trouble blinked a few times, properly rattled. “I suppose I could go back to the Crimson Waste. Bring a little culture to the wasteland.”

“Good call.” Catra clasped her hands behind her back. “We’ll probably drop in to visit. Huntara’s a very good friend of ours. Can’t wait to see how you’re doing in a few months.”

She turned, letting her tail swish and hit Double Trouble in the face before she walked out, re-locking the cell behind her.

“Aaaaaaaaaaand scene.” * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Catra was leaning on Adora as they reappeared in throne room, all three women giggling madly. “Did you guys have fun?” Mermista asked dryly, holding a hand out for the key. Catra gave it to her, still laughing.

“Did you see their face?”

“That was amazing,” Glimmer said, grinning. “Next time we need to interrogate a prisoner, I’m borrowing you.”

“Feel better?” Adora asked, arm still around Catra’s shoulders. She looked up at the blonde, smiling, and got up on her tiptoes to kiss her.

“Yeah. I think I do.”

“Ugh, if you’re going to be cute, get out of my palace,” Mermista groaned, turning to walk away. Glimmer looked back at her friends.

“Back to Bright Moon for cake and to fill Bow in?”

“Definitely.”

#rootsoforigin #Sam Answers #catradora #catradora fic #askbox fic

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finallyaniguana · 5 years ago

Text

Watch The Eyes: Paris [8]

[7] masterpost ao3 [9]

The next day at school was like every other. Marinette arrived only a few minutes before Mlle Bustier took roll, breathing heavily.

Alya shook her head at her best friend.

"At least you're on time," she sighed.

On the other side of the room, Lila was spewing lies as usual. She had failed to make good on her promise to turned all Marinette's against her, but she was still going strong with her tall tales.

"I really hope we win that trip to Gotham. It would mean so much to me! I have such good memories there," Lila was saying.

"Oh, yeah? Do tell," Alix requested, expression a careful neutral.

"Well... it's a bit of a secret. But, I can trust you all, right?" Lila giggled. "Okay, I'll let you in!"

Chloe was rolling her eyes next to Adrien. She caught his eye and shook her head.

That caught Marinette's interest.

'Is that secret that you've been lying to everyone and will now be moving to Gotham, never to be seen again?' she thought sarcastically.

"Bruce Wayne's youngest son, Damain, is actually my soulmate," she claimed.

Adrien raised his eyebrows incredulously from the front row. If she has a soulmate thats 'oh-so important to her', then why has she been hanging all over him?

"We decided to wait until after we graduated to be together of course. So we could find ourselves before really turning to each other," she went on.

Adrien slumped down. He may never be safe from her fawning.

Rose sighed, almost literal hearts in her eyes.

"That's soooooooo romantic! How did you guys meet?" she begged to know.

Lila pretended to be resistant to sharing her little story before sitting up straighter, gaining energy from everyone's attention like a sadistic leech.

"Well, when we were seven, my mother was stationed in the US. In Gotham. We met in the hotel lobby. While my mom and Mr. Wayne talked, of course he insisted I call him Bruce after, since we're practically family now, I spent time with his son. When I looked into his eyes for the first time... it was like a whole new world opened up," she forced a dreamy sigh.

Marinette had no idea how everyone was falling for this. She and Adrien made peripheral eye contact. He wiggled his eyebrows at her. She held back her laughter.

"I didn't even realize I was missing a color, but now I know I will never look at blue the same way again."

'You would have never looked at blue in the first place.'

Of course, Bruce Wayne kept a private household. No public pictures of the children still living with him. There was no way to prove that. Bruce Wayne had blue eyes and so did his first ward, Dick Grayson, judging by the tabloid pictures of the time (Marinette had done a bit of research on the family before even considering applying for this trip).

Mylene spoke next, "Do you have any pictures together? I bet you were so cute!"

Lila dramatically draped herself over the back of her bench.

"Sadly I can't show you. We made an agreement not to share photos of each other. Wouldn't want to paparazzi catching on, now would we?" she smiled, sugary sweet.

"You have to tell us about him!" Rose interjected.

Lila turned back to the petite blonde before looking off into the distance like she was having a dramatic flashback.

'I wonder if she's visualizing the lie.'

"He's just soooo sweet and affectionate! He's always holding my hand and writing me sweet notes and-"

At last Mlle Bustier entered the room, saving Marinette and Adrien from busting their sides from holding in laughter and Chloe from yacking up her gourmet breakfast from the front row.

"Class!" she buzzed with excitement. "I have a very important announcement to make!"

The hum of small voices quieted.

"I know you've all been anxiously awaiting news about the Wayne scholarship trip application! I can finally tell you the winning class. Thanks to the hard work of our class president," she gave Marinette a dazzling smile. "We have been selected to go on the trip to Gotham! We will be put up in a hotel, given a tour of Wayne Enterprises, and given an opportunity to sit in on Gotham Academy classes!"

The class practically exploded with sound. Alya grabbed her friends shoulder, shaking her.

"Girl! You did it! Oh my god, you did it!"

Marinette was practically glowing with praise over the next few hours.

After class that day everyone was congratulating her on her essay skills. Max even asked her for a copy to read on the plane. She happily told him she would print him a copy and bring it to him at the airport before their flight.

"Isn't this wonderful, Lila? You can finally go back to Gotham! Ooooooh! Maybe your soulmate could take you out for a super romantic dinner!" Rose squealed.

Lila was hiding her pained look. She honestly hadn't expected Marinette to win this competition. Now she just had to pray they didn't run into the subject of her lies because that would send her delicate house of cards crashing down.

"Well, I'm just lucky to have a soulmate. I know there are some people out there," she made eye contact with Marinette across the room. "that weren't meant to have a match."

Adrien scoffed next to her. He looked at Marinette with a slight annoyed look. He'd always hated it when Lila used that to try and make his Lady feel inferior. Marinette learned quickly to brush off the hurt after years of dealing with Chloe's bullshit. Not that Chloe hadn't made an effort. All it took was an ultra liar to see how bad it was to be a target.

Almost everyone in the class had a mark or some form of palpable sign that signified their other half was out there, if they hadn't already met their soulmate. Marinette and Lila were the only two in the class that had no sign (that she knew of) at all. Until now. Her soulmate was out there. He might have a tendency to fight superheroes in caves at six in the morning... but he was hers. Whoever he was.

They were set to fly out in two weeks. Two stressful, jam packed weeks. Principle Damocles had been in to give them a presentation on what he expected behavior wise and to congratulate them. Mlle. Bustier had been in contact with the Wayne representative and he had sent them a list of things to bring and what not to bring. They also received a base schedule so parents would have a general idea of where their children were during the day. Despite the stress, the time flew by.

All the preparations were being made, belongings packed.

The main issue for Adrien and Marinette was figuring out to get back to Paris if the need arises. Akuma attacks had declined over the last few years so it would most likely be okay. But to be safe, the two heroes went to see the Guardian. He provided them the horse miraculous for quick travel if they needed to be in Paris quickly.

They argued for over a half of an hour trying to decide who would hold onto Kaalki while in Gotham. Eventually they decided that Ladybug should hold onto it since she had the best strategies if needed in a pinch.

All three of them thought it would be quite unlikely that Hawkmoth would attack Paris while they were away. He had severely limited his activity to almost once a month. They weren't sure what the change was, but they were grateful nonetheless.

Everything was ready.

"Are you sure you have everything, sweetie?" her mother asked.

Her papa looked at her with admiration.

"I'm so proud of you, baby," he gushed.

"Yes, I'm sure. I must have double checked like a million times. I have my luggage, my carry on with my sketchbook, my phone," 'the horse miraculous,' "and Mlle Bustier has the plane tickets. That should be everything." She smiled at her parents.

"What about your dress base for the Wayne Gala?" her father reminded.

She lightly patted her red roller suitcase. She intended to buy fabrics in Gotham with her free time and finish it there. She was going to the gala in an MDC original, as was Alya. Marinette had already been making a gown for Alya to wear (and a tie and pocket square for Nino, if need be), just in case she was invited to any events due to her aspirations in reporting. She had also been intending to invite her best friend to the next event she attended with Jagged Stone. Marinette knew Alya would flip at the opportunity. She put the finishing touches on Alya's floor length gown last week, spending the following week doing as much as possible for hers so it could be done in time for the Gala.

They handed off a box of macarons to her to share with her classmates before boarding the plane. She popped the lid. They were based off Gotham's heroes. Her smiled tightened.

She thought back to her conversation with Alya.

"Alya. There are heroes in the US, right?" she asked, eyes serious and spine straight.

Her auburn hair whipped around and smacked herself in the face. She grinned really wide, not even noticing Marinette's out of character demeanor.

"Yeah! Alot of the Justice League has home cities in the US. Superman in Metropolis, The Flash in Central City, Green Arrow in Starling City, Green Lantern in Coast City! And of course! Batman is Gotham's Dark Knight. I could go on. What do you want to know?"

"Um..." she tried to broach the subject without being suspicious. "I saw a picture of a hero I didn't recognize. So, I assumed you would be able to tell me who he was."

Alya spread her hands out.

"You came to the right superhero fanatic! Show me."

"Oh, well I didn't save the photo... I saw it on a blog post on my desktop," she lied, wincing, the strange standoffish energy fading.

"That's okay. Describe him. I'm sure I can figure it out."

Marinette thought back to the man she met through her soulmates perspective.

"Black hair I think. Black suit and domino mask. Blue symbol thing on his lightweight armor chest plate? Staff? Like Chat Noir's I think... but not magic. His suit was built for agility not power," she provided.

The blogger thought for a moment. Her eyes lit up as she fell on an answer.

"That sounds like Nightwing. No superpowers but still really good. One of Batman's partners. Started out in Gotham but has been spotted pretty frequently in Blüdhaven. Were you doing more research on Gotham when you saw the picture?"

Nightwing...

"Are you sure, Alya?"

Her best friend smiled smugly at her. She whipped her phone out if her pocket and quickly typed something in. She flipped it around and showed her the search results. There he was.

"That's definitely him! Nightwing..." she trailed off.

"Yeah, girl. I know my stuff," Alya bragged.

"Okay, you said he was just one of Batman's partners. He has more?"

Alya huffed and blew a piece of stray hair out of her face.

"So, this was all pretty hush hush since Batman's clearly a very private person but there has been a couple different sidekicks and partners to cycle through, at least from what I can gather from different media sources. So there was the first Robin, then I think there was a second one... but... he fell off the radar. Since then there's been two more Robin's. You can tell because the costume changes every few years. There's also a few Batgirls out there."

"Okay... would you say any of them were... our age?" Marinette asked.

Alya looked at her friend, a strange smile on her face.

"The current Robin is probably pretty close. Why? You trying to talk to a superhero, girl?"

She back pedaled.

"No, no, no! I was just asking because of Ladybug and Chat Noir! So, they look our age! I just wanted to know if anyone in Gotham was too," she managed to come up with.

Alya looked like she was about to continue questioning her about why she wanted to know.

"You sure do know alot about superheroes... what do you do in your free time?" she tried for a humor redirection.

"Like you haven't had an obsession before. *cough* Adrien *cough*," she shot back.

"Um, no fair? I thought he was my soulmate so give me a break! And, in my defense he kind of is," she pouted.

"Oh, please. You did not think he was your soulmate. You wanted him to be your soulmate. Big difference."

She'd told Adrien about the switching, but not the circumstance. She had to figure out who he was before it got dangerous.

She shut the box again and smiled up at her parents.

"I'll call every night," she promised.

Just then, Adrien walked in. He was giving her a ride to the airport.

"Ready to go?" he asked.

"Yes! I'm ready!"

She kissed both her parents on the cheek before collecting the rest of her things and following Adrien out the door.

"I'll text you when we're boarding! I love you!"

They waved at her until she got into the car and drove away.

taglist: (CLOSED)

@vixen-uchiha @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @violatiger8 @mochinek0 @constancetruggle @yamadochie @seraphichana @captainmac6 @nataladriana9 @iggy-of-fans @riarkle-felinettelove @luciferge @mystery-5-5 @mellownieice @northernbluetongue @imanerddealwith @ayuchan07 @poshplumcot @annabellabrookes @legendaryneckjudgestudent @chez-pezeater @friedchickening @da-tasuky @crazylittlemunchkin @g-arya @i-like-fairytail-and-stuff @witchbitch1998 @theatreandcomicfreak @lysslovsanime

#maribat #daminette

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spahhzy · 4 years ago

Text

Alchohol for Dummies part 2.

After a good ten minutes of 'Feeling sorry for myself' Jaune made his way back to JNPR's dorm. He was lucky enough to find it empty as he wasn't sure with the combined hangover and Nora's hyperness he would survive.

Taking a quick shower and getting himself fresh set of clothes, he was ready to gear up, tying around his waist his belt and fashioned his leather holster on his right leg.

A gleam coming from the corner of the room caught his eye as he saw the sun cast brightly on the family heirloom. The one he stole...

Walking over he picked up the blade and studied it for a minute giving it a good swing or two before holding it in both hands. It...just didn't feel right. Holding Crocea Mors just didn't feel right with him.

He set the blade back down and his gaze traveled to shield standing proud next to its brethren. Jaune reached out but just as he was about to make contact he pulled back and let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding.

Sighing he made his way to his bed that had his bag ontop. opening it up Jaune pulled out his revolver and when the pistol made its way into his hands. Jaune found a strange sense of peace. What was it that Ruby said 'a weapon is apart of one's soul'?

"Or was it semblance?" Jaune muttered to himself still looking at the weapon in hand before getting up from his bed and spinning the revolver perfectly into his side holster.

Looking at his scroll he checked the time which showed that he still had ten minutes left to get to professor goodwhich class. He made his was to the door but not before casting one more glance to Crocea Mors and the shield the protected his family for generations before leaving to class.

He could feel today was gonna be a long day.

"FEARLESS LEADER YOUR ALIVE!"

He was right.

"Where have you been? Where you hurt? Did you kill anyone? How come you didn't didn't call!? Everyonewasworriedsickbutnotmeiknew-" It took all of Jaunes will power to tune her out and ignore her rampant twenty questions.

Looking past her he saw the rest of his teammates Pyrrha who was smiling happily at him and Ren who was looking stoick as ever.

"Glad to see you are alright Ren" Jaune said shuffling past Nora and Ren just chuckled.

"Do you remember what happened last night?" Ren asked to which Jaune shook his head " Only rmemeber waking up in the courtyard today by Ozpin and Glynda...its crazy I was suspended or something" joked Jaune as they all took their seats. Surprisingly Team RWBY hadn't arrived yet.

"Didn't Ozpin say that Team RWBY helped...uh apprehend us?" Jaune whispered to Ren who just shrugged. It wasn't long before the main room door opened up and their looking like they've fought grimm all night long was a tired Team RWBY.

"Sorry Proffesor...we were looking all night for a missing....." trailed off an exhausted Ruby as her eyes caught on to Jaune as if new life was cast into her Ruby used her semblance and launched at Jaune and into one big hug knocking him over in the process.

"JAUNE YOUR ALIVE!" Shouted the young reaper to which Jaune tilted his head " we were trying to find you all night but once Weiss lost you it was like you vanished!" Jaune chuckled nervously.

"Sorry Rubes uh...didn't mean to cause you a scare" he told her setting her back down just in time as he felt the air turn very cold.

"So you think....its alright to keep us up through all hours of the night hmmm?" Came the icy voice of the schnee heiress. Now Jaune was betting man. When a woman talks like that you can either do two options: Fold and pray they show mercy or Call their bluff and hope you didnt bury yourself any deeper.

"Of course not Snow Angel though its is wonderful to know I can keep you up all through the night" Jaune maybe a betting man but Jaune was not a SMART man.

Blake and Yang just plopped into their seats too tired to really care though Yang looked into her scroll as she received a recording from Junior that night. This recording was of Jaune and Rens drunken adventure all throughout the night.

"Why you scraggly blonde-" " Miss schnee if you would so kindly take a seat" Came the voice of Miss Goodwitch "Miss Rose please get to your seat as well so class can begin.

Weiss just glared holes into Jaunes head as he just chuckled at her and offered a sorry to her.

Combat class went on without a hitch as a few student went down to perform. Jaune recieved at tap on his shoulder. He looked to see Ruby looking at him questionly.

"Whats up Rubes?" He asked and Ruby tried looking around him as if she was trying to find something.

"Where is your weapon Jaune didnt you say you went to get it back from a couple a thieves" damn he hated lying to her.

"Oh yeah I got it back alright...its just I've been without it so long that I just had a habit of forgetting" he told her in half truth.

"So how are you gonna fight?" Good question. He was sufficient in hand to hand combat, his old teacher taught him that much, he motioned her too look down at his holster and her eyes widened at the revolver sitting their.

"Ooooooh can I see can I see! " she bounced in the chair practically and Jaune just chuckled before handing her the revolver.

"You truly have a thing for the classics huh?" She said appreciatively as she inspected the weapon. Something did catch her eye, some engravings on the barrel.

" nac aspera terrent?" Ruby said aloud and Jaune just nodded "whats it mean?" She asked but was cut off as Miis. Goodwitch called class to a close.

"I'll tell ya someother time Rubes...now if you'll excuse me I gotta go avoid certain death from..." He didn't get far in his speech as a certain blade from the Icy queen flew straight by him.

"Gotta go!" And off he went with and angry heiress on his heels.

"Get back here Arc and die like the dolt you are!"

The rest of team RWBY and JNPR just laughed.

Ysng elbowed Ren in the side as she pulled out her scroll " so Ren you wanna see what happened at the club you and Jaune went to?" To which Ren just stared wide eyed.

Night time came and Jaune was well on his way to falling asleep with all this home work that professor port has given him. Seriously how far back did grimm history go!

"Jaune" the voice was from Ren.

If it meant giving his brain a rest sure turning to meet Ren he was met with a less then stoic face...was his eye...twitching?

"Buddy are you alright?" Jaune asked slightly unnerved at how Ren was acting. Ren said nothing just slamming his scroll in front of Jaune.

"This video I am about to play is our whole night last night..." Jaune just looked on and gulped.

Ren pressed play.

...

" You know Jaune I gotta say thanks" Ren said casually still drinking his first bottle of beer. Jaune looked at him confused.

"You aint gotta thank me...my first initial response to your slump...was less then ideal" Jaune laughed and Ren rolled his eyes.

" its been a crazy start to school and I'm" he was cut off by someone else

"It's been a crazy start to school and i'm" a male voice came repeating Rens words but a noticeable slur in his voice. Jaune was annoyed.

"Will you just shut up!"

Great. Mimicry.

"Be quiet buddy"

"...man you Beacon boys are so uptight" Jaune just rolled his eyes looking at the beer bottle in his hands. Ren sensing Jaune annoyance tried to be the calmer head.

" Leave the man alone " and Jaune wasnt sure if he was telling him that or the other drunken fool that. Nevertheless Jaune weighed his options.

A: Beat the man within an inch of his life and hope he doesn't come back.

... as fun , and possibly deserving of it, it would make Beacon look bad.

B: Threaten the man but thats pretty much the same as option A without the bodily harm...option c it is.

"Leave me alone...people have been leaving me alone for near on 10-"

"Look buddy" Jaune started putting his beer down and looked at the older drunk gentlemen.

"Your a charming fellow eh?" He looks at Ren " one of the best! But me and my teammate here are having a team meeting so could you possibly leave us alone?" Jaune asked putting his hands up on the guys shoulders.

"No offense intended!" The drunk man just sighed before walking away from the duo grumbling.

"Just trying...to be friendly.." and walked off to some other corner of the bar.

Jaune looked at Ren and Ren looked at Jaune, both just chuckled before downing their beer.

"Ah another one bartender please!" Too which to more beers slid into Ren and Jaunes grip.

"Well here to number two!" Jaune said and raised his glass to which Ren met halfway.

*Clink*

...

"Okay surely that was it I mean I did say two!" Jaune said looking up from the scroll at Ren who just shook his head.

...

What was originally planned for two turned into one more...and that one more turned into one more.

"Caaan yous play Despacito for me mr. Dj man" came the slur question of one Jaune Arc as he tried to get the DJ to play something to which the DJ man just ignored him.

"Youuus suck" turning around he realized that his poor teammate had disappeared! Oh no! That pancake fiend will hurt him!

"Renny! Buddy where are you" he tried calling out but to know avail.

"Hey you seen my buddy Ren anywhere?" He asked one of the guests here and they shook their heads.

Looking around Jaune tried to find his missing buddy. He saw a couple of women standing by the VIP room.

"Scuse me nice ladies buuut I can't seem to find my friend, do you know where he went?" He slurred out and almost stumbled. The ladies annoyed at him just said no. Jaune just sighed and stumbled away.... if he didn't find Renny oh brothers...his poor knees.

"Helloo oh leader of leaders!" Jaune looked up to see Ren up on the second floor.

"What are you doin up there?" To which Ren just shrugged Jaune made his way to the second floor just in time to see Ren balance a beer bottle on his head.

" I...I don't know J-Jaune this beer bottle...its like us.. its like...pancakes" Ren said giggling as he turned towards Arthur but the sudden movement cause the bottle to fall and break. Luckily no one was near by but the bar tender did leer at them b efore cleaning up. To which both of them laughed.

It wasn't long before another bottle of beer was in their hands....

They were leaning against the railing and Jaune just needed to know.

"Soooo tell me....what made...you so...distracted?" Jaune asked to which Ren just laughed.

"You'd probably....think badly...of me" He said as he took another swig of his beer to which Jaune laughed him off.

"Aww nonsense we're teammates...famillyy tell your big brother" he teased and Ren just blushed.

"Well I was...uh more like...entranced by Nora's" Jaune held out his ear as he couldn't really here what the boy was saying.

"I'm sorry imma ...little drunk it seems...what didja say?" Jaune asked and Rens blush just intensified

"I was staring at Nora's ....utt" Jaune just got closer

"I was staring at NORA'S BUTT! " Ren yelled out to which Jaune just looked at him and laughed.

" you....means to tell...me you almost got...slapped by a grimm cause...Nora's ass!" Jaune just slapped his teammate on the back.

"Just make sure you invite me to the wedding buddy" to which Ren choked on his beer.

....

Jaune looked at Ren.

Ren looked at Jaune.

"Her ass...really?"

"Keep watching and I won't kill you"

....

"What about you oh fearless leaaader...how come you don't have a girlfriend" asked Ren and Jaune just pouted.

"I guess...im just not good enough.." he said sadly before he chugged his beer down. Jaune kept talking more to himself and not aware that Ren had gone off else where.

"See and thats the thing about..." Jaune stopped realizing Ren had disappeared yet again!

"Come here you slippery bastard" came commotion from down stairs Jaune looked over the rail to see Ren sitting atop the bar table holding a broken beer bottle infront of him to hold back the attackers.

Jaune unsteadily made his way to save his teammate.

"Leave my teammate alone ya damn...damn fools!" Jaune said almost falling down the stairs he was descending.

Two other men trying to subdue the drunken Ren stopped and looked at Jaune. The bar tender looked at Jaune before dialing a number on his scroll.

"Who do you think your talking to boy?" Said the patron obviously fed up with the pair but Jaune wasn't having any of it.

"Nobodies...talking to a pair of nobodies" he said as he got face to face with the one of the patrons and shoved him.

"Get lost buddy!" He slurred which only spurred the two men's anger.

"You best shut up" said one to which the other agreed .

"Yeah best time you learn to watch your mouth!" And one of the patrons raised their fist.

....

"Oh fuck did..did we kill any body?" Jaune asked to which Ren just shook his head 'No' to Jaunes relief.

....

"I'm like a biiiiiird I'll only flyyyy away...i don't know where my souuuul is, I don't know where my hooome issss" Came the voice of Jaune singing with Ren as background singer and the two previous patrons playing music.

...

"...I didn't think I could sing" Jaune said out loud.

A thunk to the head was all he got in response.

...

Camera cuts to Jaune sloppily walking out of the men's restroom.

"Reeeennnnnnnny!" He screeched as he once again lost his friend.

"Renny...you...you bastard!" As he walked around to try and find Ren.

He walked up to one of the patrons.

"Renny my buddy!" Jaune pointed but the man just looked at him confused.

"Im not a 'Renny'" to which Jaune just gasped before pointing at him and shouted "imposter!" And leaving.

This continued for a few more minutes. Jaune going up to random people and calling them 'Renny' and them telling him they got the wrong person to which then Jaune just shouts imposter over dramatically.

It wasnt long before Ren actually grabbed Jaune by the shoulders.

"Jaune....what are ya doin?" He slurred and all he got was a slap to the face. Clutching his cheek Ren chuckled before delivering a slap of his own . To which Jaune slappex him back and vice versa.

It wasnt long before they were back at the bar again.

"Y-y-you kno-know your a good friend and leader" Ren said patting Jaune shoulder to which Jaune batted his hand away and raised his bottle once again.

"Cheer!" And was about to go for another drink when the beer was taken out of his hands.

"Cheers" it was the same man from before mimicking him!

"Thats it! I've had it with you!"

Camera cuts to Jaune taking the man to the bathroom and it was a few before he came out and another few minutes before the poor man came out too his suit was all wet.

"You both need to leave now!" Shouted the bar tender as both Jaune and Ren put their hands up in surrender not wanting to cause more of a scene as they both exited the club. The door shutting behind them with a thunk.

...

"Surely that's it right?" Jaune asked desperately and Ren shook his head before scrolling down to another video

"Yang took this one" He said and press played

...

Jaune and Ren just laughed at the events that had transpired both falling to the floor clutching their sides.

"Renny!/Jaune!" Came the voices of Nora, Ruby and Pyrhha followed closely behind by the rest of Team RWBY.

"Ren...Run! The punishment will be...toooo severe!" Jaune whispered to Ren who nodded and slowly they got up.

"Are they....running? " called out Weiss to which Nora and Ruby came bolting down like a thunderbolt.

" stop right their you two!" Said Ruby using her semblance to get closer to Jaune

"Neeeeeeeveeerr!" Screeched Jaune as he started running he looked back to see Ren getting tackled by nora. Jaune just let out a silent prayer. Running albeit sloppily through a back alley he just had to hope over this fence and he'd be home free!

"Oh no you don't you drunken dolt stop!" Gasp the evil white witch stood in his path! And the flower girl was on his tail! If he were to stop now he'll be caught!

He increased his speed as Weiss just stood her ground arms outstretched ready to capture the drunken arc. Ruby was gaining and almost within reach.

It was now or never!

Jaune suddenly stopped mere inches from Weiss. Weiss smiled happy thst Jaune came to his senses but was confused when jaune just ducked.

"Weiss get out the waaaay" Weiss liiked just in time to see rose petals collide with her sending them crashing. Blake, Pyrrha and Yang just looked down in time to see the crash as Jaune just whooped and climbed over the fence and ran away shouting

"You'll never take me aliiiiive!" Which echoed suddenly the Camera shifted back to Yang and Blake.

"Well that could have gone better" Blake said to which the camera cut off.

...

Jaune was rubbing his temples as he felt a migrain begin to form.

So much for one or two drinks...

"Ren..."

"I know Jaune"

"...never again"

"Agreed".

In keeping to canon somewhat of Jaune taking Crocea Mors but him having the use of an old school revolver. I'm gonna make a separate story on how he steals the sword and shield.

#rwby jaune #jaune arc #rwby jnpr #pyrrha nikos #nora valkyrie #lie ren #ruby rose

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ngame989 · 5 years ago

Text

“Christumpmasday” - TGG SVTFOE Fanfic Collection Ch. 4

Writing: @ngame989

Art: @toxicpsychox (make sure to follow him for bonus pics from the story!)

Editing: @toxicpsychox, @seddm

Alternate fic links - FFnet, AO3

Summary: The holiday season is upon Earthni, and as her 16th birthday draws nearer, the blended festivities are leaving Star feeling down while they scramble to set up everything in time for the perfect Christumpmasday celebration.

Comic Page

Masterpost

Also doubles as a late @wholesome-week Holiday submission!

See below for the text, hope you enjoy!

“Is it… a dragon-cycle?”

“Nachos is too protective, if we got a second one she wouldn’t get along with them.” Marco ran his fingers carefully through the branches of the pine tree in front of him, giving it a gentle shake. Half of the needles fell to the ground.

“True, true. OK, what about, like, a cool sword or something?”

His focus was already on to the fourth tree in the row, ruling it out just as easily as the previous three. Disappointing. Didn’t anyone know how to properly maintain a healthy and good-looking evergreen? “Star, that’s just what you got me for my birthday. I’m not going to tell you your gift early. Besides, would you even want a sword? We can look for one sometime.”

“I’m good, just wondering. Just give me ooooone more guess… your abs?” He lurched forward in surprise, his reaction to the comment earning him a faceful of foliage. Shaking the needles out of his hood and spitting a few from his lips, he finally turned his full attention to his girlfriend, studying her as she leaned against the fence on the perimeter of the farm. She’d donned one of his hoodies overtop of her blue narwhal-embroidered outfit as emergency protection on the unexpectedly chilly day, as California’s relatively warm winters had mostly carried over to their slice of Earthni. Adorable rosy hues surrounded the heart marks on her cheeks, and he wasn’t quite sure it was from the cold - he was much more certain where his own flush was coming from, at least. “What? It’s super freezing and I’m super cold and I super do not like wood. I needed a distraction and my mind wandered back to the Neverzone after I mentioned the sword.”

“Well, don’t worry, because I found the one!” He beckoned her over with a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth and pointed to the one in front of him. Relatively tall and thick by Christmas tree standards, but it would be sure to look fantastic in the monster temple foyer for the first annual culturally blended holiday. Why it had been dubbed Christumpmasday, and why the rest of the town had gone along with it, Marco might never know, but he was still excited no matter how unwieldy its name might be. She took his hand when she got beside him, but kept moving until she crossed fully in front of him, gently tugging his arm around her. Marco smiled and took the hint, wrapping himself snugly around her and tucking his chin into the crook of her shoulder; despite growing a bit in recent months, he was still a ways off from being a full head above her. “Better?”

She briefly nuzzled her cheek into his through his hood. “Much. Sorry for being a party pooper today… I just want to have a normal holiday, and my birthday, without having to worry about appeasing a giant angry log. Is that too much to ask?” There was a fire in her sparkling sapphire eyes that Marco recognized all too well: this was really bothering her.

As best he could, he threaded their gloved fingers together and reassuringly squeezed both the hand and the hug. “Maybe the Stump isn’t even around anymore… still, better to be safe than sorry for this year at least. Look on the bright side, if it isn’t an issue anymore, then next year we can just do what we do best here on Earth: keep traditional holidays around as an excuse to eat and have fun!” Star snorted in laughter and turned to face him with a smile, hesitant but genuine all the same, and he returned a sympathetic one of his own. “If you really want a hint about my gift, it’s something we’ll get to enjoy a lot when we get to hang out after all this is over.”

“Well if it involves spending time with you, then I know I’ll love it,” she teased, and the cold bothered Marco a bit less.

The moment was interrupted when Rafael entered his peripheral vision with an unfamiliar woman behind him. “Ah, there you two are. I have been looking all over the place!”

The woman, taller than Marco’s dad and almost as brawny and sporting a stereotypical lumberjack outfit, jogged ahead of Rafael, seemingly unbothered by the cold. She patted Marco’s head as he and Star scrambled to split apart. “I’m Dee, nice to meet you.”

“Ooooooh, I thought ‘Dees Trees’ was just wordplay,” Star responded, shaking her hand after Marco, who giggled in response.

“Well aren’t you two just the most precious things? So your dad here tells me that you’re looking for a tree?”

“Yep, this one,” Marco pointed to the one in front of him and the sign marking it at $65.

“That one’s certainly a beaut. Tell ya what, it’s on the house. As thanks for this whole Cleaving thing - best thing to happen to my business since that household tree burglary spree in ‘89!” she said jovially.

Star bristled a bit inside the hoodie. “You don’t have to do that-”

“Please, I insist.”

“We’re fine, thanks.”

“It’s the least I can do.”

“I said we’ll pay.”

Marco’s eyes bounced back and forth following the two as Dee remained fairly calm while the frustration in Star’s voice visibly mounted.

The heated exchange was interrupted by a loud rev; the three turned to see Rafael already midway into cutting down the chosen tree with his chainsaw. Dee helped the man steady it as it was fully detached from the base and he let out a victory shout while turning off his chainsaw. “This is my favorite part of the holiday season,” he chuckled, patting the handle on the tool.

Star sighed heavily. “We’ll take it, then. Thank you.” Marco was still worried by her sulliness; he’d ask her about it later.

“Take care, now!” Dee said as they hauled the tree to the Diaz car. Once it was secured to the roof, Marco hopped halfway into the backseat before Star grabbed his hand, holding him still. He looked up at her from halfway inside the vehicle and saw her reading something on her phone.

“Everything OK, kids?” his dad called from the front seat.

“Eclipsa just texted me, my dad’s been swinging around the temple using the holiday lights like vines to hang them up and he hurt himself.”

“River…” Marco facepalmed. “I told him I’d help with that!”

“Hold on, she just sent a correction.” Her brow scrunched up worryingly as she read the words. The tension in her shoulders finally released after a few seconds as she rolled her eyes. “Apparently those were two separate things. Lights are all set, but he sprained his back falling off the ceiling while trying to race Meteora around the castle after, so now he can’t go get a ceremonial stump like he does every year.”

“Maybe we can just see if we can take the one from our tree?” Marco offered.

“Good idea. But we’re paying for it this time,” Star insisted, puffing up her cheeks.

She took his hand and led him back into the farm to the same spot they’d been, stopping dead in their tracks at seeing the sign which had an additional description written on in red ink. “Don’t risk angering the stump! VERY special offer, guarantees no botanical horror attacks!” A zero had been added to the price tag, and Marco resigned himself to the inevitable as he pulled out his wallet for the familiar sum. “So that’s what she meant by us helping her business.”

***

The decor in the monster temple was splendid, Moon idly mused as she strolled through the corridors. There was a certain vivacity that Earth’s traditions brought into the holiday season that hadn’t been present for Stump Day alone. While she tended to prefer a more orderly, professional aesthetic, even she had to admit that a holiday celebrating the dead bottom of a tree could get dull at times with an almost exclusively brown wooden palette. If she had been told one year ago that come next Stump Day she’d be galavanting around the infamous Monster Temple, no longer a Queen, preparing to celebrate the holidays alongside Eclipsa, she’d have sent the laughable soothsayer to a therapist posthaste. But somehow she had settled into her new life with relative ease. Of course there were still lingering vestiges; many Mewmans still sought her advice about all sorts of mundane topics, albeit in a less… needy way, and she’d provided some counsel to the governments of the new world, filling in any information about the Mewman people and tradition. But at the end of the day, she was no more or less than any other woman in their new world, and after all the hardships she saw Mewni through - some, regrettably, by her own hand - it didn’t upset her as much as she might have thought it would.

She navigated the labyrinthian hallways until she reached the set of guest bedrooms Eclipsa had set up and walked over to hers to find the door open and her husband playing cards with Globgor.

“Moonpie!”

“Hello, darling. Hello, Globgor,” she waved. She walked over to the side of the bed and pecked River on the forehead before sitting down beside him, careful not to hurt the multiple casts he had on. “How are you holding up?”

“Never been better! Just some minor scrapes, really.”

“River, you fell three stories and landed on a hard stone floor directly on your back.”

“Bah, no matter, I’ve had worse! Besides some minor agony I barely notice it at all! Globgor here is teaching me some card games that the monster army used to play hundreds of years ago, it’s roaring fun! You should join us!”

“I think I’ve heard of some of the games…” Moon trailed off suspiciously, one eyebrow raised.

Globgor rubbed the back of his neck, clearly understanding her implications. “Ahem, well, I may have made some modifications to them. Most used custom decks that had lots of very, shall we say, unkind pictures of Mewmans on them, and most of the moves had unflattering names as well. While I was in the crystal I ended up remaking most of my favorite games without that stuff and playing matches with all kinds of imaginary characters in my brain,” he chuckled. Not that she was one to judge, after all - she’d already been through that song and dance with Buff Frog what felt like ages ago.

“Yes, and he’s really good at them!” River exclaimed in frustration as he tried and failed to counter Globgor’s most recent play. “You should join us, dear, you’re remarkable at these types of games!”

She patted his hand and flashed him a contrite smile. “I’d love to, but I still need to go through all the family belongings and find some Stump Day decorations. I’m sure at least some of them were salvaged from the castle.”

River clasped Moon’s hand with both of his own animatedly. “That reminds me! You just missed Star, she stopped by not too long ago to check up on her old man. She said they were going to set up the tree.”

“Shoot, I promised I would help them with that!” Globgor conked himself on the head, accidentally throwing his cards all over the bed in the process. “We can pick this up soon, so sorry about that!” He quickly gathered the strewn cards up and shuffled around the bed, closing the door on his way out.

“Not a problem!” River shouted after him. His volume lowered substantially as he and Moon were the only two left in the room. “It really is wonderful to have family holidays like this, is it not? Good food, good company, and best of all, no in-laws,” he smirked at her.

“River!” she jokingly admonished.

“Oh honey, you know that as much as I do. I love the Johansen clan dearly, but they can be positively insufferable at times. And don’t get me started on old Aunt Etheria…”

Moon laughed into her hand. “Yes, I suppose it is nice that the festivities will be much smaller this year.” After all the chaos and the dissolution of the Butterfly kingdom, their extended family (especially her own side) had some… mixed reactions. With Moon distancing herself from the power and prestige her family had been accustomed to, things were a bit tense and as such everyone had decided to stick to themselves for the holidays, which just left the main former Butterfly lineage and the Diazes to celebrate. Moon had grown rather fond of this new mixed-dimensional extended “family” of hers, which she supposed was a good thing since she had a sneaking suspicion that they’d become official family in due time. While she wouldn’t trade the last half a year for anything, it too had its own brand of chaos which made moments for just the two of them still rarer than she’d like, and now that they had one both seemed most content not doing anything. The comfortable silence lingered on for many minutes, both of his rough hands delicately clasped around one of her own while her other idly toyed with his beard, and neither seemed . Finally, their tranquility was broken by a knock at the door, which meant it couldn’t be Star. “Come in,” Moon said, separating from River and defaulting to a more proper pose.

She was greeted by a familiar red hoodie. “Oh! Um, sorry if I, uh, interrupted anything.”

River struggled to sit up and face the door properly, beaming brightly at the young man whose company he enjoyed very much. “Not a problem, my boy! Moonpie was just checking up on me. But don’t worry lad, I’ll be back on my feet in no time!”

“Oh, I know that. Star and I were just in the kitchen and thought you’d want the leftovers from tonight for a snack.” He held up a bag filled with what had to be a few pounds of meat and some corn.

Her husband’s eyes lit up like fireworks as he beckoned Marco into the room. “I see the holidays have come early this year, hah! Thank you, you know this old man quite well.”

“Well, I’ll leave you two alone,” Moon gestured to the bag and her husband, rolled her eyes playfully as he fished his meat blanket out from his beard and began to dig in.

She and Marco both walked out of the room. “Have fun with your boxes, honey!” he mumbled out as the door was closing, nearly unintelligible through the multiple drumsticks barbarously stuffed in his mouth.

Marco stopped and turned back to face Moon. “Oh, is there still something left to do for decorations?”

“I was planning on going through some of the Butterfly family possessions to find our old Stump Day decor, that’s all.”

He hesitated only a fraction of a second before responding, “Do you want some help? We finished everything with the tree already.”

Moon warmly grinned back at the boy. She’d noted his kindness and willingness to be by Star’s side through anything years prior, but what impressed her most was how it consistently extended to everyone else around him. “That would be lovely. They’re in the storage room, I’ll be up in a moment.”

“OK, I’ll get Star and we’ll meet you there.” He hustled off back to the main area of the castle, leaving her alone in the hallway.

She made her way to the storage room, getting lost a few times along the way, still not entirely familiar with the layout of the building. Her first task was to do a quick scan of the boxes and organize them. There was a notable lack of cohesion to the contents of each container, she noted with ire, but that was likely due to the haste with which they had been packed as the castle had been attacked. Forgivable. She’d noted around fifteen that possibly would contain the decorations she was looking for and had gathered them all together when a conversation from the hallway caught her attention.

“Why noooooot?”

“Star, they’re not going to let you use one of River’s clubs. Those things are like two feet wide and have spikes!”

“Yeah, those are his miniature clubs, which is why I want to bring them to miniature golf, duh!”

“It’s indoors! There will be kids around!”

“Oh, well why didn’t you say so! Dad has some indoor clubs for kids too.”

“He showed those to me, they’re even more dangerous!”

“Marcooooooo, come oooooon.”

“Trust me, it’ll be more fun with the normal clubs.”

“Fiiiiiine.” Just as they came into view through the door, she spotted Marco give a quick peck to the side of her head as she rolled her eyes at him, their fingers intertwined. Moon raised an eyebrow with a smug grin when they entered the room. They reminded her so much of herself and River when they were younger.

“Hi Mom!” Star said, leaving Marco’s side to give Moon a quick hug. “Marco said you needed help with something here, what’s up?”

“We just need to locate some of the Stump Day decorations from our usual family gatherings, shouldn’t be too long,” she responded, indicating the various boxes and bags on the floor behind her.

Star’s cheery expression visibly sunk. “Oh. Yeah, um, sure, we can help with that.” Moon’s brow furrowed in confusion briefly; she considered speaking up, but had learned it was best not to pry too much. No matter, they could finish this up quickly enough and all have a well-rested night before all the celebrations to come in the next few days. “So what exactly are we looking for?”

Moon pried open the nearest tub and overturned the piles of now-unneeded royal attire to see what lay beneath. “We’ll probably need a lot of mugs for the big dinner that Eclipsa is hosting for the locals tomorrow evening. And the diorama for River’s annual telling of the story of Stump Day, which he’s insisted he is still going to deliver himself. Perhaps a few of the hats as well, if we’re able to locate them. After last year, I don’t think we can quite play it too safe, after all.”

The three began to dig through boxes, clearing them out at a rapid pace. She noted a newfound chilliness even in Star’s interactions with Marco, responding to his antics making goofy voices with some old puppets with only half-hearted laughter. After about thirty minutes, they’d gathered everything they needed and began packing back up the belongings.

“Why do we even still have this stuff, anyway?” Star spontaneously spoke after a rather uncharacteristic bout of silence during their labor. Moon glanced over to see her holding up one of Moon’s old crowns, her hearts wrinkling as her face contorted in displeasure.

“Sweetheart, it’s a valuable heirloom. It’s still important to the tradition of this family to keep these things around, what if you or someone else might be interested in them in the future?”

Star scoffed and carelessly dunked the crown back in the box. “We’re not royalty anymore, Mom, and we never will be again,” Star retorted, dunking it carelessly back into the box.

“I know that, dear, but-”

Star’s voice, now risen to almost a shout, cut her off, echoing throughout the spacious room. “But what? I’ve moved on, I’m through with this, and you should be too. So what’s the point of keeping this, or this, or any of this unless you’re trying to hold on to the glory?” She held up the crown again, the top to one of the royal staves, and the medallion with the royal crest to illustrate her point. Moon and Star had butted heads enough in the past that this feeling of anger bubbling up wasn’t new to her, but it had been a while since her daughter had frustrated her to the extent she was right now. “Marco, back me up here!”

The boy raised a finger and stuttered briefly before an incensed Moon cut him off. “That’s not my point, Star. Even if it’s in the past, we can’t just toss away our history! What about things you did for your kingdom or your people? Don’t you want to at least remember that much?” she held up a few of the dresses and official portraits from various diplomatic events Star had participated in when she was younger. “These were things you did, not just stuffy royal artifacts. Surely that at least means something to you?”

Moon followed Star’s bright blue eyes as they darted intensely around the items she held until they suddenly stopped, fixated on a puffy blue and pink dress. The fury evaporated instantaneously and her expression morphed into shock. “Forget it, I’m done with all of it,” she sullenly intoned, dumping what she was holding on the ground and walking away. Marco tried to wrap an arm around her shoulder but she shrugged it off brusquely and marched out the door.

Marco took a step forward to follow her and then stopped, sulking and turning back to the pile of stuff, plopping to the ground and burying his head in his hands.

“What has gotten into her?” Moon vented through gritted teeth. “She just wants to be a normal teenager again, fine, but that does not mean she has to disrespect everything this family has done!” She took a deep breath to calm herself down before turning to Marco, not wanting to take anything out on him unduly. “Has she talked to you about any of this?”

His eyes remained fixed on the ground, playing with the zipper of his hoodie. “Earlier today she said she just wanted to have a normal birthday and not have to worry about Stump Day, but this stuff, it- I don’t really know. I mean, I- I get it, kind of, what she’s trying to say.” He looked at her with his brown eyes wide, as if asking permission.

“Go on.”

“Star… she spent practically all her time on Mewni trying to fix things, and trying to do whatever she thought was best for everyone. And- and when she gets an idea in her head about how to do that, she believes in it really hard, and it’s hard to stop her.” Both unconsciously smiled at the thought, and Moon didn’t miss the glimmer in the boy’s eyes as he continued talking about his best friend and love. “She still cares a lot about making the world better for everyone, even now. And the last big thing she believed in was that magic and Mewman queens and the whole Butterfly monarchy needed to be destroyed to do that.”

“So perhaps keeping everything squirreled away made her think I plan to use it again in the future,” she finished the thought.

Marco averted his gaze and rubbed his arm for a moment, opening his mouth a few times and failing to speak before finally choosing his words. “Do you?” he asked meekly.

The question stunned her, but upon a moment of reflection she couldn’t blame him. Time and time again, Moon had taken charge when she felt the time called for it, for better or worse. “No, heavens no. It’s been difficult at times, giving it all up, I admit. Even after Eclipsa took over, I still ended up doing what I thought was best to bring order. I suppose Star must get that from me, although she’s far better at it than I ever was.”

“I- I get it, though. On Earth we had a saying that I remember learning in school: ‘Those who can’t remember the past are doomed to repeat it,’ or something like that.”

“I like that. It works. Well, I’ll… give Star some time, and think about what to do with all of this, I suppose. I can finish the cleanup myself now, run along.” Moon was about to turn around as he went to leave but decided on one more thing to say. “Oh, and Marco?” She walked over to him by the door, noting that he was almost as tall as her now, and grabbed both his shoulders before placing a tender, motherly kiss on his forehead. The brown eyes she’d caught her daughter getting lost in all too often focused intently on her own amongst the surprised expression on his visage. “You’re still both teenagers, but you’ve grown so much. She wouldn’t be the admirable young woman she is today without you, and I suspect the opposite is also true. Thank you for being everything you are to my daughter.”

His mouth was slightly agape, unable to formulate any words in response. “T-thanks, um, Mrs… thanks.”

“Just ‘Moon’ is alright, dear,” she said affectionately.

“Thanks, Moon,” he finally stammered out before stumbling towards the door and out of the room at her gentle nudging. It only took a few minutes to carefully organize the remains back into their boxes and get the Stump Day items ready to set up. Turning one last time toward the belongings that had been neatly packed away, a few ideas began running through her mind…

***

Everything was a mess. Star the Screw-up strikes again. She sulked into the battlements of her balcony, gazing into the night sky. She’d bummed Marco out, she’d gotten all tangled up in the holiday lights, she’d yelled at her mom who really didn’t deserve it, and even after they’d worked it out over some tea later she still felt hollow inside. The fact she was out in the cold in just her nightgown didn’t help, either, but she couldn’t be bothered to do anything about it. Weren’t the holidays supposed to bring ‘tidings of comfort and joy’? It didn’t feel like it. She grabbed the pillow she’d dragged out from her bedroom and screamed into it, letting her head sink further down until she was almost laying flat on the ground.

“Hey.”

Star lowered the pillow from her eyes and saw Marco in his pajamas, fiddling idly with the bottom of his shirt.

“Hi,” she mumbled into the pillow.

“Mind if I join you? I brought some hot cocoa.”

“Mmh.”

He took it as an affirmation, slumping down on the cold floor next to her, seemingly unbothered.

“Sooooo… nice night out tonight, huh?” he asked hopefully, passing her a stump mug.

“Yeah, I guess.” Her gaze went skyward as it had been for the past dozen or so minutes while she thoughtfully sipped her drink, feeling the liquid warm her instantly. “The stars are really pretty from up here.”

“Yeah,” he replied, taking her hand in his. She rolled onto her side to find him already facing her, studying her intensely with a faint smile dancing on his lips. “Did everything go alright with your mom?”

She sat in silence for a moment, drinking in the soothing love his chocolate gaze was practically projecting into hers, and feeling the soft caress of his fingers on her hand. “It was fine. She apologized too, even if I was the one who messed it up… but I get it. She’s right, you can’t throw away history just because you don’t like it. Heck, I think I was the one telling her that like a year ago!”

Marco shrugged his shoulders. “Things change, stuff happens, we all mess up sometimes. Don’t beat yourself up about it too much.”

“I know, I know, it’s just… all this holiday stuff, all this reminiscing and being thankful for what you have and all this celebrating traditions from Mewni got me thinking about a lot. Stump Day, and my birthday, and princesses…” she paused for a moment, steadying her breathing. “...and you.”

His eyes widened a fraction. “Me?”

“You.” Star untangled her hand from his and brought both to her face, grounding the bases of her palms into her shut eyes to try and plug up any waterworks that she could feel working their way up towards the surface. “Stump Day just made me think of last year, and all the fighting and drama, and that made me think of all the other stuff, and… euuurgh,” she moaned.

“Star, it’s OK-”

“No it’s not,” she whimpered, not being able to stop the tears from dripping down her face this time.

“Woah, woah, Star…” he sat up, visibly scared for her, and pulled her up with him, but her body language was unyieldingly feeble as she shied away from his touch. “Just talk to me, OK? None of that was your fault.”

“Maybe…” she folded her arms and crossed her legs, leaning back against the merlons mulling over her words. “In the barn, you told me you felt like that since the beginning. And I know you didn’t, like, mean that you were head over heels in love with me while you were showing me around school or anything, but… I get it because I was the same way.” Once the words started, the pace quickly swelled until she couldn’t help but pour her heart out. “I pushed it aside, convinced myself it wasn’t there, ignored it when it was staring me in the face, and ate up the whole Curse thing like the cheapest, crummiest street corn. But looking back on it, that whole year on Mewni… it never went away then either. I was just too blind to realize what those feelings meant until it was almost too late. That’s what- that’s what I just wanted to forget.”

An arm bumped up against hers, and in her peripheral vision she saw him standing next to her, looking off the balcony into the distance. “It always feels better when you talk about it,” he offered meekly. How many times had she been the one trying to pry the truth out of him? Now that the roles were reversed, she fully understood why it had always been so hard. “What do your guts feel like?”

“Just one giant bleeeeergh,” she garbled, sticking her tongue out for emphasis.

“Well, you did have four glasses of cornnog.”

She smiled wistfully, staring down at her feet. “Touché, Diaz.”

The cool breeze whistling through the nooks and crannies of the temple was the only sound around them for a minute until he began again. “I won’t lie to you, Star… it stunk sometimes. It wasn’t always fun, sometimes it hurt. My feelings for you felt like an obstacle for so long…” In her mind’s eye, she could picture it all too clearly: wheeling on him, grabbing his arms and apologizing with rivers running down her cheeks to show him what he meant to her. But he cut that off only a beat later. “But I don’t regret a single day, because they were still with you.”

Now she whipped around to face him, looking incredulously at his calm form hanging over the top of the stone. “Wha-”

“All that time I spent trying to shove away or ignore how I felt, it- it still meant something to me. I wouldn’t trade any moment where I loved you for anything, even when it hurt, even if you were with someone else, or, heck, even if I didn’t think it was love. Doesn’t matter.” He sniffled briefly, wiping his face with his arm, and finally turned to face her. The glossy trembling she’d expected to find wasn’t there, instead she only found a fiery resolve. “C’mon, let’s go inside.” She barely remembered to grab her pillow before his firm grip pulled her back into their bedroom. Star wasn’t sure how he could be so calm about all of this. Some nagging, self-loathing voice in the back of her mind told her this had been eating away at him too, that he was just trying to spare her feelings, that she’d been the one to screw up by taking too long to tell him she loved him, but it was dulled by her curiosity at his actions. He shuffled under the bed, rummaging around until he pulled out a long, thin box with baby blue wrapping paper and pink hearts all over it.

“Marco?”

“It’s your birthday present! I- I was going to give it to you tomorrow, but I think now is better.”

They both sat down on the edge of the bed. Star glared at him suspiciously, inelegantly removing the bow and wrapping paper to find a thick velvety fabric. She started to pull it out and it unfolded itself many times, quickly sagging to the floor as she held it up. The water built up on her eyelids once more, steadily beginning to pour out as she beheld the sight in front of her.

He scooted beside her, wrapping one arm around her midsection. “I, um, hadn’t realized all this stuff was getting you down this much or I wouldn’t have-”

She shut him up with a passionate kiss, weaving her fingers through his hair as the heat of the moment stretched on. Their foreheads stayed together when they finally separated, both panting for a moment as Star tried to recover from the tongue-tiedness. “Marco, you absolute dork,” she said breathily with her lips grinning as widely as the could. “I love it.”

Both their heads turned back towards the blanket as they each used one hand to hold it up. It was a beautiful tapestry of moments from their entire relationship, from beginning until at least one thing Star could pinpoint as only happening a few weeks ago. Her spare hand caressed the fabric, adoring each and every detail. “The day we met, that day you froze time for sixty hours, the Blood Moon Ball,” he pointed out one by one. “Our first kiss… in the booth. When I found you before you killed Toffee. Right before we went to destroy the magic. This is us, Star. I- I don’t want to pretend that this stuff didn’t happen even if it wasn’t always fun, because then it wouldn’t be what made you special to me. And also, our old Friendship-Thursday-slash-Thursdate blanket was getting nasty. It smelled like month-old nacho cheese even after Lavabo washed it,” he shuddered. “So now, every time we’re snuggled up together, we can remember everything that got us to this point, and- and I left some blank spots for more patches later, because I want to look forward to the future too.”

“This is way better than any of my dumb ideas from earlier today,” she chuckled, wiping the tears and snot from her face. “Maybe that’s what ‘Christumpmasday’ should be about. The past coming together and making something new and exciting without giving up what led to it.”

“...except for the actual evil Stump demon thing. We might still be better off without it.”

“Definitely.” Both sported a cheeky grin.

“Oh, and by the way, Star?”

“Hmm?”

His lips suddenly were on hers once more, catching her off guard for a moment before she reciprocated. He swung her around, hugging her body tightly onto his, setting her nerves ablaze and causing all the hairs on the back of her neck to tingle. She adjusted her legs and pushed him back down into the pillows, landing on top of him without breaking the kiss, both hungry for more of the other. When the moment finally ended, she propped herself up on her elbows, fingers toying with his silky hair as she gazed down at the love of her life. When his eyes left hers, she followed them to the clock on her nightstand. 12:06 AM. “Happy birthday, Star,” he grinned before pecking her on the cheek.

A warmth like no other spread from Star’s chest through the rest of her body when she curled into him, needing more than anything to hold him tight tonight. Her legs tangled themselves into his as her head found purchase on his chest. “I love you so much, Marco. I don’t think I tell you that enough.”

“Same. Love you so much too, Star.”

He tucked the blanket tighter around both of them and held her as closely as he could until sleep claimed him. Star planted one last languid smooch on his jawline, nuzzling her cheek into him hard enough that it squished against his body before she too drifted off, snug in their bed, while visions of sugar-stumps danced in her head.

#starco #svtfoe #star vs the forces of evil #moonriver #tgg svtfoe #fanfic

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