#sorry if you need this formatted for ease of reading please shout at me. i really word vomited all over this

[loghainmactir]

hewwo! i was wondering if u could pls give me some advice on starting my transition? ive been so scared to start bc of family and costs but ive decided to just. do it. yknow? like if i don't ill probably die lol. u look amazing and rly confident in yourself in all ur selfies and one day i wanna be Like That ✌️❤️

hi! ok, so first of all: yeah, i absolutely can give u advice, and second of all: i remember feeling exactly like you did. it literally wasn’t that long ago, either, it was like. 2013/14/15 (i can’t remember, time is fake, whatever lmao!). third of all: bless u yr so sweet. i still have a lotta issues with confidence (i doubt myself, my talent and what i can do literally hourly), but honestly? i love my body right now. it’s a good, genderless body, goddamnit.

long, long post ahead bc i’m trying to think of things i did and good god please take it with a grain of salt because a lot of this is just me ranting about things i wish I’D done in my own position. i’m also coming from a place where HRT and surgeries AREN’T free, so that’s also A Thing. everyone’s experience is different.

transitioning (particularly medically) really super fuckin varies country by country (and honestly probably even state by state, age by age and fuckin gender by gender because cis people won’t let us fucking BE goddamn): i don’t know where you are, so my only tips there r: find a trans friendly doctor/endo (i was kinda forced to go through a hospital bc That Was How It Was here in good ol’ Australia), and one people wholeheartedly recommend, if you wanna go that route.

my first point is make sure you find safe spaces in every goddamn aspect of your transition. medically, socially, physically. if you think your doctor is refusing you treatment or is discriminating against you, you NEED to ditch that doctor. if your friends and family are really verbally or physically violent against LGBT folks, you NEED to leave that space if you can (or not come out and wait until you can leave. seriously. i’m kinda lucky– my grandma was verbally violent against LGBT folks, and initially my mum was skepitcal, but i convinced them both to go to a group for LGBT+ parents and friends and they slowly turned around). get yourself friends, get yourself allies.

i cannot stress that enough. my first doctor refused to send my referral letter to the royal children’s hospital gender clinic because even tho he presented as a “nice” guy, he believed that because this was “”””out of the blue”””” for me, he figured he’d just Not Send It (and tried to tell me that a lotta kids there didn’t actually helpo, lol). so there i was, a young 15-16 year old alister, waiting like 2-3 months for something that didn’t even get fucking sent.

join trans groups on facebook and in real life. seriously, they’re a godsend; there’s buy-and-sells, advice posts, encouragement posts. ESPECIALLY local ones. most of them on facebook are private, meaning no one can see if you’re posting/in the group, and it’s easy to check if they’re not. these fb pages + local groups are good ways to find trans friendly spaces and doctors. i found my current doctor, who’s actually one of the very few doctors who knows what the fuck he’s on about re: trans people, through a real life trans group. they were like “oh, you should see x”, and even though he’s about 30-40 minutes away from me, he’s brilliant and honestly saved my life.

along those lines: figure out what you want from your transition, and then realize & accept that this may change (and it also may not change!). very early on, i was super insistent that i wanted phalloplasty and to wear packers, and now i couldn’t care less. at first, i identified as agender, and then as a trans guy/ftm, and now i identify as a Black Hole (i’m kidding, don’t @ me). like, a lotta people DON’T change their minds. but i did, some people do, and it shouldn’t be anyone’s business but your own what you want to do with your body 

(sidenote: this also goes for detransitioning or stopping medical transition but continuing to socially transition/present differently. literally, it’s fine. it’s your body. fuck anyone who says otherwise.)

again: FUCK ANYONE WHO SAYS OTHERWISE.

your body is literally your body. do NOT let anyone tell you what to do with it or who you are. i had people very early on scream at me (legitimately scream and throw me out of home, thanks grandma), tell me i wasn’t actually trans, and harrass me for this shit: but frankly, if i’d put myself back in the closet, i wouldn’t be alive right now. i would’ve killed myself years ago, and i wish i wasn’t kidding. if it’s safe, you need to stand up for your own body and your rights and put yourself somewhere that will allow you to follow through. you need to keep going and keep living.

my only other two pieces of advice are “patience, baby”– like, for real, every single part of transition takes time. this varies from where you are and who’s supporting you, but it’s generally true. it takes time for people to accept new names and pronouns 

(lotta people get furious about this, and i used to be one of those people, but hindsight’s a bitch and you gotta realize that… like, it’s hard for some cis people. you gotta give them a little bit of wiggle room, especially if they’ve never ever met a trans person before. it’s about reminders, reminders, reminders: which is SO hard if you’re not safe/don’t have the confidence. there IS a flip side to this though: if chad and stacey have known your new pronouns for months, now, and they keep “””slipping””” up, they’re not slipping up, honey. they’re doing it on purpose. kick their teeth in i’m kidding please don’t do this you know what i mean.)

it takes time for HRT to kick in. it takes time to gather a Look™ of your own you like, it takes time to build confidence to even tell people, it takes time to save up money for surgeries and it just… takes time. sometimes because it’s a naturally slow process, sometimes because cis people are Cis People and like to gatekeep. i remember being very young in my transition, sitting in the car after one of my appointments with the afformentioned shithead doctor bawling my eyes out because he’d told me i wouldn’t be able to access t for x amount of time and it was bullshit. this year i’ll be 2 years on t. wild, huh? there’s a lot of us and not equal amounts of resources (ESPECIALLY in public systems) depending on where you are, so you gotta be prepared to WAIT.

i’ll tell you what super helped me through those years: hyping myself up for other things! i still have the ticket from my first twenty one pilots show. that show meant SO much to me. i cried all through it, because waiting for that show kept my mind off of the wait for my royal children’s appointments (and even waiting to go up to melbourne bc my mum and i would go and get kebabs was a good thing to focus on!). keep things that aren’t trans related on hand (seriously i struggled with this because dysphoria and shit is fucking hard!! it’s easy to say but really fucking hard to put into practice).

(one day i’m gonna tell tyler and josh just how much they saved my goddamn life. i know they hear it weekly, but i will.)

my other thing is that uh. it won’t solve all your problems especially if you’ve got mental illnesses. this is a really fuckin depressing thing i had to drill into my brain, but it really helped. transitioning solved SO many of my issues. i no longer have back issues (thanks, like, literal kilo titties, lmao), i no longer have sore ribs and i can breathe and wear shirts. i lost so much weight (and am kinda gaining it back, but whatever). i no longer have anxiety about whether people can tell i’m binding– which is WILD because i used to stress the fuck out about it to the point where i never went out anywhere. i used to sit on the bus wondering if the person next to me could tell i had titties. now it literally doesn’t even register.

my issues now stem from PTSD, depression, BPD and ADHD. how do you fix this? you don’t. but what HAS helped is finding a therapist who won’t pressure you into talking about trans shit. lemme tell you: this shit gets exhausting after the fifth time of “oh i googled ‘can you become a boy’ when i was, like, nine” (this is my go to story because this memory is so vivid). of course, there’s gonna be moments where you HAVE to: my therapist recently actively asked me to briefly run through it for my PTSD report. but otherwise we literally haven’t talked about it and that is a GODSEND (because i don’t need it. if you need it, that’s good, too!). having a therapist that you can just wordvomit at wrt anything is literally the best thing and can be super helpful– seriously, there were a few trans-related sessions where i just snarled about the bullshit gatekeeping and the bastard i had to see for my therapist letter (oooh, every time i think abt the fact that it was something like $400-500 for two fucking sessions i get so mad lol), but outta 14 it’s really only like 2-3 of them.

but yeah. that’s it. i dunno, these are things that i’ve learnt and sorta… like to think as helpful for myself. of course, this could be different for you: you’re not me, you’re entirely different, in no doubt an entirely different country, social, financial, mental state. i was FUCKED UP when i first came out. i didn’t know that then, but i do now. i spent a lotta time by myself and that’s not healthy, so i really encourage you to reach out to our community, local and worldly, because oh my god, we’re here for you. we are SO here for you.

[twiceasfrustrating]

I'm sorry if I already requested this of you I honestly have the memory of a walnut. But can I request headcannons of the boys + dia who find out MC has an emotionally abusive husband? Like fluff with some murder maybe?

thank you

Rating: Mature

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply

Category: Gen

Fandom: Shall We Date?: Obey Me!

Characters: Lucifer (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!), Mammon (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!), Leviathan (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!), Satan (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!), Asmodeus (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!), Beelzebub (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!), Belphegor (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!), Diavolo (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!), Main Character (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!)

Additional Tags: abusive relationship mentioned, some are a bit murdery, I don't know how to write fluff for such a situation but I tried

A/N: If you are in an abusive situation in the USA and need to speak to someone, please call 1-800-799-7233. If you cannot call, you can also text “START” to 88788. If it is safe for you, you can also go to the website directly. Abuse takes many forms, but it is always about control.

Feel free to add the numbers/contact for other countries if you have them.

Lucifer

He got upset at MC once and they flinched when he yelled and they started apologizing like there was no tomorrow. That was how he found out something was wrong. They wouldn’t say anything, but he could tell that something was deeply wrong. Perhaps he had never noticed before the formation of their pact how MC shuddered around him whenever he got upset, but now he did.

He is very careful not to yell again and when he does he is quick to lower his voice the second MC shows distress, reassuring them that he is not angry at them and would not harm them. It sounds almost hollow after how he acted when they originally met, but he means it.

There was one time MC dropped a dish on the floor while cooking and it broke, spilling hot food everywhere. They started picking up the pieces in a hurry, not even paying attention to how the hot shards burned and cut up their hands.

Lucifer was quick to pick them up off the ground and tend to the fresh injuries, all while they kept apologizing and saying that they would clean it up as soon as they could and saying they would make something else. Lucifer forbade them from doing either and cleaned the mess himself. He did that a lot. Took care of their ‘mistakes’ and cared for them. They would almost believe he wasn't the same terrifying man they had first met.

It takes a long time for MC to get used to their new relationship with Lucifer and once they do they are far more comfortable and less skittish.

He is not pressuring the story out of them. He can wait, as difficult as it is, for them to open up. However, he is no fool. He knows who is to blame, and that man should be very afraid should Lucifer and he ever meet.

Mammon

MC always spoke so well of their husband when they first met the brothers. Mammon was actually jealous and wished MC would talk about him that way. They would always say how kind their husband was and how he loved them and how he wanted the best for them. It sounded like some kind of cheesy romance novel.

Things started to get weird though when he and MC started to get even closer. He would invite them out, only to hear “I don’t think my husband would like that” or “I shouldn’t be alone with you”. It was weird the first time, but it quickly became a pattern. A very worrying pattern. Mammon knew abuse when he saw it. He was the family butt monkey and a witch punching bag, after all.

The difference is that he’s a fallen angel that is used to such treatment and, as a demon, the things done to him do very little in the long run. Humans are far more fragile though; their minds, bodies, and hearts. And then Mammon started to hate MC’s husband with a passion that could not be matched.

He cared less about making that bastard pay and more about taking care of MC. Such treatment can ruin a person, especially good people like MC. He would do anything to show them that they deserved better than that man, whatever that eventually meant.

Leviathan

He and MC have a little too much in common for his taste. It is actually almost disgusting how little self-worth they seem to have, but he can also see how that was trained into them.

They play down their worth a lot: “It’s nothing”, “It could be better”, “I failed again”, etc. They never say anything positive about themself. They are really good at picking out their flaws, but almost incapable of pointing out their merits.

It goes against everything Levi believes in, but he has to start praising them since they won’t praise themself. He likes hanging out with them, the stuff they make is nice, they are a really quick learner. It feels weird to praise someone, but it’s nice to see MC start to feel a little better about all the things they do.

Although, he also has the mild thought of showing MC’s husband that there are more terrifying things in the world than the horrors a human is capable of. After all, Levi has seen the monsters that dwell in the deep; he is one of those monsters and there is a reason humans fear the darkest depths.

Satan

There are some wonderful upsides to being the avatar of wrath. Normally, Satan wouldn't be so crass as to give into them, but sometimes humanity is just so vile that he can't help himself.

One of those upsides is a mind filled to the brim with the instinctual desire to rip and tear anything he can get his hands on to pieces. It's an instinct he fights off constantly with his centuries of training and self-discovery, but just this once he doesn't mind becoming the beast he was born as.

MC's husband squeals like a stuck pig throughout the entire night, only the winds, spiders, and Satan being able to hear and appreciate the sound. And appreciate it he does, until the screaming stops and his hands are drenched with blood.

He really needs to get himself cleaned off before he sees MC again, otherwise they will be terrified. He needs to look his best when they come running to him worried about their missing husband. It’s sad how much they worry about him despite everything.

Asmodeus

MC was always so calm and docile when he wanted to spend time with them. He didn’t really get it at first but it was easier to dress them up and take them out, so he didn’t question it. At least, not until someone (read: Solomon) not so subtly pointed out that it is unusual for someone to be so passive, almost to the point of being doll-like.

Asmo didn’t believe it at first. How could anyone treat someone as sweet as MC so cruelly, especially someone that is supposed to love them? But from that day onward, his eyes were opened up and he started to notice things.

The way they didn’t put forth their own opinions and let him take the lead on everything, how they stuck close to him when they both went out, the subtle way their fingers reached out then drew back when they liked something.

“Do you like it?” He would ask and their response was “do you?”

It was so difficult to get them to start putting their own wants and desires above what they thought he’d like. When they showed interest in something, he would fawn all over it. If they liked something, he liked it too. He would buy them things they even glanced casually at, told them they were worthwhile and lovely, anything that other man would never say to them.

He tore them down so completely, but Asmo would work tirelessly to build them back up.

Beelzebub

He is the softest man in the world, and sometimes MC just lets things slip out. He’s very easy to open up to and they don’t think about what they say. He was the first person that they opened up to about what was happening to them.

Suffice it to say, Beel was shocked when they mentioned how terrified they were for the exchange program to end. Despite everything that they had been through over the past year, they didn’t want to go back.

Beel had only felt so powerless one other time in his life. He couldn’t go with them to protect them and they couldn’t stay in the Devildom forever to stay safe. It was painfully cruel just how much he couldn’t help them.

All he could do was hold them and listen to them get everything off of their chest, dreading the day that the exchange program would end.

MC has to hurry up and learn how to summon him, because he wants to keep them safe from that awful situation. He would never allow another person it the world to hurt them again.

Belphegor

Belphie likes exactly one human in the three realms and every other one is none of his concern. Or, they wouldn’t be his concern if it weren’t for the fact that the one human he cared about was the victim of this particular instance.

He’s not like some of his other brothers. He doesn’t do comfort and he isn’t the best at torture, prefering to get everything over with quickly so he doesn’t have to expend all the extra energy. But, for such a special occasion, he is more than willing to put in the effort.

Humans really do create their own worst fears. Their minds run a mile a minute and they have the strangest way of finding how their own terrors can overpower what little defenses they have.

He may not be able to touch MC’s husband, but he can certainly return every slight against his favorite human. Long, sleepless nights wracked with unending horrors that only that man can truly appreciate.

All the while, he will gladly hold MC when their own nightmares overtake them, trying to put their mind at ease for just this moment. How he wished that his powers could control the waking world as well as their dreams...

Diavolo

“Don’t go back.” It was the first time Diavolo had brought up the idea. It was one he had been considering for a long time, knowing that it was extreme given that MC was a human and had to live in the human realm. However, he couldn’t live with himself knowing the kind of life MC would return to once they left.

The shouting, the insults, discarding everything MC liked because their husband doesn’t care for it… Diavolo would never feel right knowing he sent someone dear to him back there.

He had the means to help them get literally anywhere but back to that man. Diavolo could help set them free from that life, even if they didn’t want to stay in the Devildom. He knew MC would have the support of everyone they had met.

All they had to do was say yes and he would move the Devildom itself to get them out of there.

[tomtenadia]

A Little Braver - 17

So, as promised, part 17 is her.

Be prepared to submerge our bird boy with hugs, he will need them.

I promise the chapter will end in fluff and in a good note. The angst is only for the beginning. I need to douse it a bit since from ch 19 onwards the angst gremlin will be back with a vengeance.

I hope you will love it.

A big hug to all the people who commented, reblogged or loved this fic. Thanks to all of you.

A week had gone by and Aelin and Rowan had taken the official decision to try and go back and both deal with the mess of their lives. 

The week had been perfect. Rowan had taken her hillwalking everyday and slowly she had started to feel like herself again. His presence had helped immensely. In a very short time he had become her rock. Full recovery was still a long way ahead but she felt better and with him at her side she had no more panic attacks or nightmares. 

She felt sad at the idea of leaving the cottage in the mountains but they had promised to go back for some special occasion.

*

It was morning and Rowan was getting ready to go back to work. They had set a date for the inquiry on his student’s death and that would be the day.

For once Aelin was the one worried one. She could not forget his reaction to the movie or the night he came back drunk after Fuzzy’s death. She knew he had put up a wall but hoped he would at least let her in. 

“What are you going to do?” He asked her while adjusting his tie.

“I have a meeting with Dorian and the counsellor and then I will pop in at the station and say hi to the squad and apologise.”

“Good.” His tone was detached and she moved a step to him and hugged his waist from behind “are you okay?”

He sighed “nervous. This will mean revive the entire accident over and over again.”

“Do you want me to come with you?”

He shook his head and kissed her “thanks for the offer but I will be fine. My squadron will be there and you have an important meeting as well.”

“Ok,” she wanted to believe him, but could not ignore his cold detached tone and Aelin had learned that it was his coping mechanism. He was not okay.

-

Rowan arrived at the airforce HQ and was met by Lorcan.

“Sir,” he stood to attention.

“At ease captain,” Rowan stood down from attention and placed his hands behind his back in a at rest pose “I am sorry it’s so quick. I knew you were coming back yesterday and I did manage to hold on until today.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Are you sure you are ready?” And for once Rowan heard concern in his CO’s voice “this is going to be brutal.”

“I know.”

“I am on the board too and we have Captain Walker from the 24th squadron and Captain Matthews from the 31st and two engineers. They have all copies of the inquiry sent to the board.”

“Who is the president?”

“Marshal Clark.” Said Lorcan in a preoccupied tone.

“Fuck. The man hates me with a vengeance.”

Rowan sighed again and sat on the bench just outside of the room used for the meeting.

His squad arrived a moment later and they patted each other’s back in support.

“We are all here.” Gavriel told him taking a seat at his side.

“Thanks everyone.”

One of the assistants appeared on the door and announced the board was ready to convene. Rowan quickly texted Aelin and switched off his mobile.

The marshal, being the president, was in the centre of the seating area. Rowan went to greet the other two captains with whom he got along nicely and had known for a long time. Then he went to the marshal and saluted as expected “at ease captain.”

Rowan went to his assigned seat and flipped through the folder in front of him. It contained all the documents they needed. His report of the accident, the reports from the engineering team and other supporting evidence.

Marshal Clark called everyone to attention and declared the board in session. He then proceeded to explain to the members the accident that had happened.

One of the engineers who had performed checks after the aircraft had been recovered was asked to present his findings “after the analysis of the recovered aircraft and after having studied the dynamics of the accident we have found out that the main cause for the engine failure was a disruption in the airflow in the port intake causing it to stall with enough yaw rate to induce a flat spin. Cadet Williamson, according to the records of the accident, flew in the jet wash of one of his classmate’s aircrafts. That caused the airflow disruption. The stall was unrecoverable.” explained the engineer reading from his report “with regard to the canopy, we have found a fault in some model of jets used by the students where the charges did not operate correctly, causing the canopy to separate incorrectly. All those planes are grounded and now being checked.”

“Thank you.” Said the marshal, then his gaze turned to Rowan “Captain Whitethorn, stand please.”

Rowan did so.

“Could you please re tell the board the events that lead to the death of the cadet?”

Rowan took a deep breath and retold step by step what happened. It was still vivid in his mind that it would take ages before he could forget it.

“Did you tell the cadet to eject?”

“I did, sir.”

“Why?” Asked the marshal with inquisitive tone.

“He had lost control of the aircraft. From the black box retrieved from his jet he had pulled 9g after he started spiralling. From my position I could see that he was about to pass out. Ejecting the seat had been the safest option. Little did I know that the canopy would fail.”

The two other captains nodded in agreement, knowing full well that they would have suggested the same thing.

“Would the cadet have survived if he had more high G training?”

“Sir,” Rowan almost growled at his superior “his jet was under 9g for almost ten seconds before crashing in the water. Not even an experienced and highly trained pilot can sustain or survive that.” He breathed again “and you know better than me that centrifuge training can be done only with some weekly limits due to its dangers.”

“Had the cadets received basic procedures on how to properly eject and when?”

“Yes, sir. It’s one of the first things they are taught. They are shown how to properly deploy their parachute and how to blow the canopy. Training is also done in different conditions to simulate possible combat scenery.”

“Training was not the issue here,” said Lorcan going in Rowan’s support “Captain Whitethorn is one of our most experienced instructors and hundreds of students have survived his crushing training and are still alive today because of what he has taught them.”

“The post mortem also backed the cause of death in the crash of the body against the canopy.” Added captain Matthews.

“What kind of training were you doing that day?” The marshal continued, ignoring the protests.

“We were going through some basic dogfight routines. The cadets were only five months out of the academy so we were just covering the basics as per fighter school curriculum.” Answered Rowan who felt lost all of a sudden.

“Would the manoeuvre you had practiced put the boy in a position to be in another jet’s wake? Didn’t you teach them how to stay away from the jet wash of another aircraft during a dogfight?” The marshal had an agenda, that was very clear to Rowan. He was trying to blame this on him.

Captain Walker stood angrily “why are we attacking captain Whitethorn? The problem was that the engine stalled due to the jet wash from another aircraft. An experienced fighter might have been able to find a way out of such deadly spiral, the gods know I have found myself in that situation and got out of it by pure damn luck. Not a cadet five months out of the academy. It’s our job to teach them such manoeuvres but only after they have mastered the basics.” He sat down again nodding at Rowan.

“A good instructor would have taught his students how to fly in close formation and to avoid the wake of a team mate. A captain should know what such manoeuvre could cause.” Continued the marshal who had taken the fight to Rowan.

Lorcan stood angrily “That is enough.” He shouted.

“I would suggest you to sit down, Air commodore.”

“Not when you accuse my best instructor of being the cause of the death of a student.”

“It is my job as president of this board to try and figure out what happened.”

“I told two of my students they were too close. I advised another one not to drop below hard deck. I care about the safety of my students.” Rowan almost growled at the marshal “also, I stand by my decision to order cadet Williamson to eject. Had the canopy worked he’d be alive now.”

The marshal nodded and with a bored expression he then went back to the engineering team and they discussed the canopy issue.

Rowan let them talk and his brain disconnected completely and tried to ignore the pain from what had just transpired.

He sat in silence listening to the rest of the board discuss in the background. 

The marshal eventually called the board to attention “Following the evidence provided by the engineering team and the testimony of captain Whitethorn I declare that the death of cadet Williamson was caused by the port engine stall due to airflow disruption in the intake. The commission also noted that the flat spin in which the cadet went in was not recoverable. Captain Whitethorn is cleared of any faults.” Rowan noticed the disappointment on the man’s face for the fact the had been cleared of any faults.

The marshal then turned to Lorcan “Commodore, I expect you to keep the students grounded until the training jets have been fixed.”

“Yes, sir.”

“The board is dismissed.” Clark stood and walked out.

The other two captain went to Rowan “I had no idea the bastard would try to blame you for this.”captain Matthews added with fury.

“I would have told my students to eject as well. It was the only option.” Added captain Walker.

But Rowan was not listening. It hurt too much, knowing that someone had tried to blame the death of his student on him. That the marshal had to question all of his choices and possibly his training methods.

Lorcan and his squadron were at his side as soon as the room was clear.

“The arsehole has some guts.” Commented Fenrys but Gavriel elbowed him.

Rowan stood in a daze and left the room ignoring the voices of his team calling him.

*

Aelin’s meeting with Dorian and the counsellor had gone better than she expected. Thanks to Rowan she had been able to open up and talk to them about what happened and how she had been before her escape and what had prompted her to flee. She admitted to them her fears.

She felt much better but she had confessed that she did not feel ready to go back in action. She felt okay about going back to the station and work from the office but was not ready yet to be in a fire. She was still too scared for that and Dorian and the counsellor accepted her admission.

So they had agreed for a transition period. Aelin was told as well to attend weekly sessions with the counsellor to track her progress and her mental health recovery. She would be on desk duty for a while and after that, Dorian was willing to send her back out but just at his side in a fire emergency allowing her again to be close to the fire scene and if that went well they could work on a plan on sending her back in. 

She had agreed with the final decision and had left the room with a smile and a light heart. She stopped in the corridor to check her phone but no news from Rowan. The meeting should be over by now. She hoped he was okay.

Happily she drove back to her squad and everyone was eager to catch up with her. Then Aedion stopped in front of her “never again,” he told her and Aelin went for a hug. He remained stiff for a moment, then his arms enveloped her in a bear hug “looks like your captain fixed you up nicely.”

“Hey, I would recover from anything if I had such man looking after me.” Said Ansel and everyone laughed.

“He has been nice to me.” But all she could think was his face from that morning.

 *

Rowan had been walking without a direction for a while now. He felt as if he had lost his rudder, he had spent the last twelve years of his life working for people who had been ready to blame on him the death of a student. He looked at his uniform and for the first time since he had worn it he felt no pride in it. He had been so tempted to resign his wings on the spot. No matter that he had been cleared, it stung so much, even if it had been the opinion of one man.

It had been too much. He knew the marshal was never a fan of his. The first student he had lost had been his son. But at the time as well the board had declared it had not been his fault. It had been the pilot’s mistake. The marshal never forgave him. Seeing him again at a board for a student’s death he had probably tried to punish him for what happened to his son.

In the distance he spotted a pub and decided that a drink might help. He got in and sat at the counter and ordered a whisky, but once the drink was in front of him he could not drink it. In his current state he would spiral down again to the same level of self destruction of many years before when he lost the marshal’s son and he could not do that again. He could not put Aelin through that pain.

So he did the only sensible thing. He called her.

Aelin was in the common room with the squad and they were having fun and the guys were telling her about some of the calls they had and then they were teasing Luca and his upcoming exam.

She was about to tell them to stop picking on him when her phone went off. It was Rowan and her heart stopped. 

She quickly left the room and went outside, sitting on the bumper of one of the engines “hey,”

“Hi,” his voice was low and flat and she feared for him.

“What’s wrong.”

Silence.

“Ro, are you okay?”

“No.”

Shit. She stood and started pacing “where are you?”

“At a pub.”

“Which one.”

He told her the name.

“I am coming. Just stay there.” And closed the conversation and almost laughed at the irony of the situation. A week before she had been at the receiving end of such conversation.

She ran back to the squad “guys, I need to go. Rowan. It’s not good. I just have to go…”

She didn’t even wait for an answer. She just rushed back to her car and drove to him. He did not sound drunk so maybe it was not all lost.

She arrived at pub not long after and stormed in. Rowan was sitting at the counter staring at a glass of whisky in front of him.

“Ro.” She walked to him and his green eyes fell on her. There was pain in them, so much pain.

“You are not drunk,” she told him.

“He ordered the whisky two hours ago and had been staring at it ever since.” Said the bartender.

“Hey,” she caressed his head and he closed his eyes at the touch “what happened?”

He shook his head “not here.” He stood and Aelin followed then came back and chugged down the abandoned whisky and went after him.

He was walking away and she ran after him “wait, you have long legs, damn you.” He extended an arm behind him and Aelin grabbed his hand “fine, we are outside, spill the beans.”

She definitely had no tact.

He walked silently a bit longer until they reached a small park and he sat down on a bench and Aelin took a spot at his side never letting his hand go.

And then he told her. Everything that had happened in the room. The results of the inquiry, the marshal’s accusations. The identity of the first student he had lost and his desire to quit.

“I wanted to throw my wings in the marshal’s face.” He looked down dejected “I feel lost now. I want to go back to my students, I owe it to them, to teach them how to be safe. But everything else… I don’t care about it anymore.” his head leaned against her shoulder and Aelin brushed his head with her hand and kissed it tenderly “Ro, how can I help you?”

Rowan turned his head to her and she thought his eyes were wet with tears “what you are doing just now is enough. Having you with me helps.”

“Do you need to go back to the airbase now?”

Rowan nodded sadly.

“Ok, I’ll drive you.” Aelin stood and Rowan followed but before moving he pulled her to him and drew her in for a kiss “I love you.” He said quietly.

She flicked his nose “let’s go.” She offered him her hand and together they walked back to her car.

They arrived at the airbase not long after “do you need me to come in?”

Rowan shook his head “my team is there. I will be fine. Gav will stop me from doing anything stupid.”

“Good. I am going back to the station.” She leaned forward to kiss him “Will you be okay? I am worried about you.”

“I am a big boy.” He joked.

“Ro…”

He leaned forward and kissed her “I do love so much when you call me Ro like that…”

Aelin smiled against his lips “don’t do anything stupid and tomorrow you can ravish me all you want. You can even be super creative.”

“How can I refuse such proposal?” He kissed her again “I will be fine.” His hand went to the door handle and opened the door “I will see you tomorrow morning at home. Have a nice night shift.”

Aelin’s heart swelled with joy at the word home. Their place. They hadn’t made it official but her house had become home. Their home. And she loved the feeling of it.

“Think creative, captain.”

He winked at her and left the car. Then he waved at her and Aelin left, he put his cap on his head and headed back inside the airbase.

-

Rowan made his way to Lorcan’s office and took a deep breath before knocking on the door.

“Come in,” came from inside.

Rowan entered the room and Lorcan looked up at him and he did notice the expression of disbelief in his CO’s face.

“Rowan —” but the other man stopped him.

“Thank you for today. For the support.” Rowan said quietly sitting on the chair in front of his CO.

“The man was out of line.” Lorcan growled “he knows what kind of instructor you are. How strict you are. The man was trying to get you sacked as a punishment for his son’s death knowing full well that again it was not your fucking fault.”

Rowan looked away, shutting away the painful memories.

“I already sent orders to start working on the canopies and check them all.”

Rowan nodded silently.

“I know what we can do to cheer you up.” Rowan turned his head staring at a surprisingly cheery Lorcan. Elide was really doing miracles.

“Grab you gear and let’s get out in the air, this man here needs to fly. It’s been so long that it’s a miracle I can still be called a pilot.” And he chuckled.

Rowan stood “Fine, be ready to be crushed.”

Lorcan grinned and stood as well “Oh, I submitted a proposal to allow women to serve in the airforce.”

Rowan’s head whipped to one side “who are you and what have you done with Lorcan Salvaterre?”

“The captain and Elide. Turns out we have both chosen very strong women.”

“I like that.”

“Me too.”

Rowan was doing his pre-flight checks when he noticed Lorcan joining him. The man had always exuded charisma.

“You should really send Elide a picture of you in a jump suit. I know how much Aelin likes it, I guess Elide might appreciate it too.”

Lorcan lifted an eyebrow while he reached his jet and popped open the canopy “you think?”

Rowan nodded “how is it going with her by the way?”

“She is incredible. She is tiny but fierce and stubborn and quite amazing.”

Rowan could not believe it, Lorcan was in awe of someone a feat that he thought was impossible.

“You are in love with her.”

“I think so.” said Lorcan hiding the words in a cough, almost embarrassed by his admission.

“Good.” Then he stared at Lorcan and he realised that going out out for a flight had been a good idea. They were evenly matched in skill and it was going to be a fun one. They had a few turbulent months but he had more or less always got along with him. Flying together again felt like the good old times.

“You missed a spot.” Rowan pointed at one section under the wing. 

Lorcan replied with a middle finger and it felt nice to have their old banter back when Lorcan could finally put aside his CO mask for a while.

“I am not a cadet, I know how to do my pre flight checks.”

“Well, you are not following the order we were taught at flight school, cadet Salvaterre.”

“Stop being a smartass, cadet Whitethorn.”

Rowan climbed in his jet and finished his checks inside and communicated with the tower to finalise the flight plan and get the authorisations required.

“Come on Lorcan, you are so slow. Tower gave us the all clear and the flight plan is in. Are you sure you still remember how to fly? Do you need any pointers, Chaos?”

Chaos was Lorcan’s callsign and he had earned it very early in his career for his flying skills.

Eventually they were both ready and the two jets got taxied away and not long after they were in the air.

“Rules of engagement: anything is allowed and two out of three?”

“Copy that, Iceman.”

“Good, be ready to lose.”

The two jets broke apart and went in different directions and for a while they just ran in circles above the airbase to study each other.

Lorcan hadn’t wanted to admit that he was a bit rusty and Rowan was indeed a nasty customer. 

Gavriel and the three young pilots were walking along one of the long corridors on the airbase when they heard the sound of jets in the air and ran to the next window to look who it was. The classes for the cadets were still grounded and the three of them were on ground.

“Holy fuck,” muttered Gavriel when he realised who was out flying.

He ran out to the viewing tower followed by the twins and Vaughan.

“Is that who I think it is?” Asked Connall speechless.

“Rowan and Lorcan.” The older man turned to the three young guys “you are in for a treat, they can make you feel like a newbie.”

Gavriel saw Rowan pull in a vertical and flying into the sun, roll on his back and continue in  straight line flying just a meter above Lorcan, finally flipped his jet once again and placed himself at Lorcan’s six.

Lorcan tried some evasive manoeuvres but Rowan did not let go, always at his tail attempting to get a lock on his CO.

Lorcan felt trapped and as a last ditch he went into a high G barrel roll to try and shake off Rowan.

“Rowan is going to overshoot,” said Connall who was silently watching the dogfight between their superiors.

Then Rowan pulled a trick out of the hat and kept his jet in line with Lorcan’s then rolled and found himself upside down and fired at the other man.

“Holy fuck,” was Fenrys’ comment at the scene.

“What did just happen? How did he even manage that?” Added Vaughan.

“That is Rowan for you. Now you realise why we can’t ever win?”

“One nil for me, Chaos.”

“You are a sneaky bastard, Whitethorn. And where did you learn such manoeuvres?”

Rowan laughed over the comms “get your act together, Commodore, and you can probably get me.”

The dogfight between the two went on for much longer. Lorcan did manage to win an engagement but Rowan still won 2-1. They landed back and they found Rowan’s team waiting for them.

“Good to see you two flying again. The youngsters never had the chance to see the pros at work.” Said Gavriel relieved that the two men seemed again at ease with each other.

“Oh, yeah. Our dear CO was a bit rusty and I took him out to stretch his legs and I handed out his arse to him twice.”

Lorcan gave him the middle finger in response.

*

Elide was in the ambulance doing some inventory checks when her phone pinged. She opened the text from Lorcan and almost fainted on the spot. It was Lorcan in his jump suit beside his jet and the man actually had a hint of a smile on his face. The second image was of him and Rowan standing back to back, their arms folded at their chest and both had a goofy smile on.

She jumped off the ambulance and ran to Aelin who was in the equipment room checking out their gear “Ace, look!” She shouted as she stormed in.

“What?” And she looked at the two pictures on Elide’s phone.

“Interesting…” Aelin stared with curiosity at the picture of the two men.

“He is soooo hot, I have never seen him in a jump suit and gods I don’t know? Want to remove it one bit at a time?”

Aelin laughed “that’s what I would do to Rowan right now if we were together in a private place. I would peel that jump suit off him until he is naked in front of me.”

She saw Elide blush “Lorcan and I haven’t… passed the kissing stage yet. He has never touched me. He is very considerate of me. But a few times he hugged me and I… felt him.” And she made a gesture and Aelin understood.

“Elide that is normal. How do you feel about the next stage? Like exploring each other’s bodies?”

“As in naked?”

“Yes, but you can start with keeping your underwear to have a barrier on if it makes you feel better.”

Elide sat on the bench beside her “I don’t know how to do this. How do I touch him?”

Aelin could see panic rise in the woman “ask him to show you and then once you feel brave enough to try just give it a go. It can be quite fun.” Aelin stopped for a second trying to find a way to tackle the next issue “Elide, have you ever… you know… explored your body? Down there?”

Elide blushed savagely “no.”

Aelin took the woman’s hand “take a nice warm bath and then…” Aelin wiggled her fingers “just put a hand between your legs and see how it goes, what you feel.”

“Oh.”

“At least once you two take the next step you have an idea of how it feels.”

“And Lorcan does that as well?”

Aelin nodded “yes, and if the man is as good as the others claim he might leave you a satisfied mess just with his fingers or mouth or both. A sort of appetiser before the main course.”

“Do you and Rowan…?”

Aelin nodded “and not just him to me but me to him as well.”

“This sounds so much.”

“Elide, look at me.” Aelin placed her hands on the woman’s shoulder “you do not have to take the next step until you are okay with it. Talk with Lorcan. Explain to him that you are getting curious and want to try more. You can use a safe word so that when you start to become uncomfortable, you shout that word and he has to stop.”

“Oh.”

“He hasn’t rushed you or anything?”

Elide shook her head “no, he has been so understanding, and never pushed.”

“Good. You set the pace. You are the one who needs time so he adjusts to you, remember. But if you feel like you are ready for another step just tell him.”

“Is it… is it as good as everyone says? Is it worth it?”

Aelin nodded “with the right person is something incredible. The intimacy… the connection…”

“Do you have that with your captain?”

“Yeah, and some.”

“Uhhh… are we getting serious?”

Aelin looked away for a moment “I loved Sam. A lot. We were good together but it was never like this. Never this deep.” She threw her head against one of the jackets “I don’t know how to explain it but my feelings for Rowan are so strong that sometimes I feel like I can’t breath.”

“I want that too.”

A moment later the conversation was interrupted by Lysandra entering the room “Here you are, why are you hiding?”

Elide showed Lys Lorcan’s picture.

“Oh mama…”

“Elide is feeling… curious.”

Lysandra hugged the woman “that is wonderful, darling. With such a specimen I’d be curious too.”

“Lys.” Shouted Aelin laughing.

“What? Fine the man can be an arsehole but I can’t deny that in that picture he is one hot bastard.”

“Show her the other.”

Elide showed Lysandra the picture with both Rowan and Lorcan.

“Ok, I really need a cold shower now.”

“I am pretty sure Aedion is available. Just keep it quiet.”

Lysandra laughed “don’t you think I tried? He said it would be against the rules.”

“I am almost done with equipment checks. This room will be free soon.”

“You are a wicked woman.” 

Aelin winked.

“Did you do it in here with the captain?”

“No, but his office is quite comfortable.”

“Nice.” Commented Lysandra.

Lys then took Elide’s hand “come on, we got a couple of things to finish.”

Once the two ladies left she phoned Rowan and he picked up at the first ring.

“I am jealous, Lorcan sent a picture of the two of you to Elide and I don’t get a copy?”

“You liked that?”

“You were both smiling.”

“We talked,” added Rowan “Lorcan was even more pissed than me. I think Elide did the miracle.”

Aelin laughed and relaxed at his admission “how so?

“He chuckled. Lorcan chuckled.”

She heard mirth in his voice.

“And the man is totally in love with Elide. I swear I never heard the man talk like that about a woman.”

“Interesting.”

“Also, apparently he has decided to support my idea of having women in the airforce and submitted a proposal to the higher ups and he is prepared to fight for it.” He told her, knowing she would love the news.

“Ok, I might finally start to like the man. What changed?”

“You and Elide apparently.”

Aelin smiled smugly “so he does listen, I am impressed. I don’t think I can cope with the idea of Lorcan not being the bad guy.”

“His job is very stressful and I don’t think I could be able to cope with the amount of shit he has to deal with.” He sighed “put me in a cockpit surrounded by enemies and I will be fine. But the idea of being stuck behind a desk playing the political game day in day out…. no. I will retire before it happens.” He added sadly.

“So, what’s on the agenda for the rest of the day, captain?”

“I am helping him with a few things. Then do more prep work for our performance review.”

“Do you think you are ready for that?”

She heard a lot of noise in the background and she guessed he was back in the hangar.

“Aye, we are good to go.” He was silent for a moment “I have to go, Fireheart.”

“Sure. Be safe and have a nice drill.”

“I love you. Have a nice night shift.”

“Send me that picture, Whitethorn.”

“Yes ma’am.”

She closed the conversation and relaxed heavily. Rowan sounded so much better and she was smidge less worried. With a big smile she went back to her work.

*

It was past 9pm and Aelin was in her office working away on some paperwork Dorian had sent over. She had a good day. It had felt good being back and she realised that Rowan’s help and their time away had helped very much. She felt saner and being at the station did not cause any problems. She was not ready yet to go back fighting fires, of that she was well aware. That was the last challenge she had to face but she and Aedion had discussed a training regimen that would slowly allow her to find the courage again to go fully back on duty and she felt excited at the idea.

She had been so engrossed in her work she did not hear the knock on the door. When it happened a second time she slowly raised her head “come in.” She said flatly and almost annoyed. 

A head of silver hair appeared on the door and she stopped “am I interrupting?”

“Of course captain. How dare you?”

He smiled and took a step in “I can go if you are working.”

Aelin rolled her eyes “get your arse inside and give me fifteen minutes of silence.”

He nodded and walked to her bookcase, giving her his back. His hand behind his back, his spine ramrod straight and his feet slightly apart in a perfect at ease position. She grinned. You could take the man out of the military but not the military out of the man.

She stopped working and rested her chin on her hands and a pen in her mouth. She studied him from behind and was impressed how still he could stay. A feat that had alway been impossible to her. 

Rowan grabbed one of her manuals and started flipping through it. It was only fair, she had done the same to his flight manuals. 

“A chemistry book?”

She eventually decided to stand and join him at his side.

“I hated chemistry in school. I was good at it but never liked it. I preferred physics.”

Aelin smiled and grabbed another book: fire science “this one might be more interesting.”

He had a look through it and smiled at her “can I take it at home or do you need it here?”

“You can take it home.”

Rowan smiled and placed the book on the sofa then cupped her face “hi, by the way.” And he kissed her.

“About time. I thought you were more interested in my books than me.” She teased him, pulling away briefly.

“You told me to stay silent for fifteen minutes. I was just following orders.”

“Screw that.”Aelin switched off her computer and walked to him, palm upturned, offering him her hand “follow me captain.”

“Do I need to be scared?”

She glared at him.

They walked along the corridor of the fire station and it was so silent and quiet compared to what he had seen during the day “where is everyone?”

“Resting. We got beds, you know? But Brullo and Ress are probably up watching tv as usual.”

They walked through the common area and as Aelin suspected the two guys were watching some  series on tv.

“Hi guys,” she greeted them.

They raised their heads “hi boss,” then noticed Rowan “oh captain, you found her. Good.”

“When I walked in I announced myself. I could not just waltz in.”

“Come on,” she grabbed his hand. Aelin dragged Rowan to the area where they kept the fire engine and the truck. She moved to the engine and opened a door on the side and pulled out two thick blankets then with them under her armpit, she started climbing the ladder at the end of the rig “Come on captain.”

Rowan looked at her puzzled.“Where are you going?”

He saw her rolling her eyes “on top of the rig.”

“If the alarm—”

“Captain, if the alarm goes off we have enough seconds to get our arses back down. They will not drive away with us on top of the rig. Do you trust me?”

He looked at her in a strange way.

Aelin threw the blankets on the top of the engine and climbed back down and marched to him, grabbing his hand “move.”

With force she dragged him to the ladder and prompted him to climb. He did as ordered and once at the top he stopped. Aelin stopped behind him, then in a swift motion she pulled her leg over the engine rail and climbed on its roof.

She took the blankets and placed them on top of all the hoses “it smells a bit of smoke. You’ll get used to it.”

He climbed over and stood for a second admiring the view from on top of the engine. When he turned he saw Aelin laying down on the blankets, her arms extended to him and a goofy smile on her face. He joined her and took a place at her side.

She nested against his chest and his arms looped around her frame.

��I come up here a lot on a night shift. I don’t sleep, I just relax, I love to imagine I am laying on the grass and that if I look up I can see the stars.”

“I do that when I am on an aircraft carrier and I am not on standby. I just walk on the deck along the rail, although is not as quiet as here as there are still flights happening, but it’s less busy. I just lean against the handrail, near the island and look out at the sea and I my case I can see the stars.”

Aelin turned in his arms and faced him “can you navigate by just using the stars?”

“We don’t use it much, GPS is a very handy tool, but it’s a skill we learn in case something fails and you are left with no GPS or any other electronic help.”

“What about you? Had a good day at the station?” He kissed the top of her head.

Aelin nodded eagerly “yes, I admitted I had a problem out loud and both Dorian and Aedion have offered to help in anyway they can.” She looked up at him “and you… you helped so much… and still helping…”

He smiled tenderly “it goes under my job description for boyfriend, I assume?”

She caressed his face loving the sound of him calling himself her boyfriend.

“Say it again,” she whispered to him.

“What?”

“That you are my boyfriend.”

He went for a deep kiss “I am yours.”

Aelin smiled against his lips “those are powerful words, captain.”

“They are true, though.”

Aelin’s heart raced and her hand went to his chest and found his doing exactly the same.

“I love this. Us. I really do…” she stuck her head in the crook of his neck inhaling his scent “but it still scares me because it happened so fast. One day I wanted to punch you, the next I wanted to kiss you. And it frightens me. I want this to work. I want us to work out.”

His hand covered hers still on his chest “you are not alone. This is a lot for me as well. But I am done fighting my feelings.” He hugged her closer “I love you, even when this world is a forgotten whisper of dust between the stars, I will love you.”

Aelin kissed his chest “you are so cheesy it’s disgusting.”

Rowan pushed her away and she rolled on her back at his side, her hand still in his “I was trying to be romantic and you ruined the moment.”

She smiled “sorry, I used to do that with Sam all the time. He would say something super romantic and I would respond with a joke. When he proposed I replied that I had to check with my lawyer first.”

“You are a brat.”

“It was so funny. Then I texted him and said that my lawyer had agreed.” Aelin brought their twinned hands to her mouth and kissed them “I showed him later on that night in bed how much I wanted to marry him. He did not complain.”

“You really are a handful.”

“I know, but now you picked me and there is no turning back.” She said against their hands fearing she had gone too far.

“I love a good challenge.” He rolled over and was now half on top of her, his hand on her side caressing her gently.

Aelin grabbed his face in her free hands and kissed him stupid but Rowan pulled back when he remembered where they were. He was still terrified they would drive away with the two of them on top of the engine.

He lay back down and his hand started trailing along her injured arm exposed by the short sleeved shirt. The burns had healed but the skin remained marred. He traced the length of it and leaned over to kiss it.

“Does it bother you?”

“No,” he said softly while continuing to kiss her injured arm and her scars “you are my brave and fierce Fireheart. It scares me that I almost lost you. But you scars…” another gentle kiss “they don’t bother me.”

She snuggled closer and he enveloped her in his arms.

“I forgot.” He propped himself up on one elbow “I have received an invitation.”

“Oh?” Aelin did the same and faced him.

“This weekend the navy is throwing a launch party for the new aircraft carrier, down at the dockyards before she is set at sea for the trials and then off to deployment.” He explained “Me and the guys have been invited and I can bring a guest. Fancy being my plus one?”

“Are we going public, captain?”

“If you want to.”

Aelin thought about it “I could wear the stunning black dress I bought in Doranelle.”

Rowan remembered that dress and the effect it had on him when she wore it in the shop.

“Are you trying to give a heart attack to the whole Terrasen military?”

Aelin giggled “just going to show all those posh boys what an amazing taste in women you have.”

“That I do.” He flicked her nose.

Aelin was about to reply when dispatch alarm went off and she bolted on her feet and pulled Rowan up and grabbed the blankets “come on, captain.”

She climbed down super quickly and by the time he made it down, the blankets were back in the truck and the squad was getting ready to go.

“Showing the captain your special spot?” Joked Aedion.

Aelin nodded and patted his shoulder “keep the guys safe and you stay safe too.”

“Always.” Quickly Aedion ran to the truck and a moment later the squad was gone.

“It’s hard to see them go and not being able to be with them.”

He pulled an arm around her shoulder “come, I’ll make you hot chocolate.”

She followed him “that’s exactly how you woo a woman, captain.”

TAGS:

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[snowgoldwaylon]

And That's When You Came - Naga X Reader

So this is my first Naga x reader fic, I'm a bit nervous about it y'all. I hope you guys enjoy!

TW: Violence, kidnapping, murder, drugs, strong language.

This time around, druglords were swarming parts of the Jungles around the world. This sometimes made working with the CIA and Marines hard trying to tie up loose ends.

So, of course, you took a leadership role, and assembled a small, efficient team to head out to the Jungle, and clean up some of these businesses.

You had gotten word over enemy comms that there was a possibility of trafficking coming up, just a few days short of today. So you know today was the day to make the right move and head out.

You gathered the team up, and took off right there and then. You had to head Northeast until you reached the heart of the Jungle. The plan was to ambush whoever was doing this and make them lead your team right to the main compound.

After 4 hours of constant flying, your heli touched down a few clicks North of the potential location. You took out the evidence from the comm broadcast and looked around.

The druglords were smart around these areas. They communicated in code. Morse code, to be exact. Thankfully you could read and understand morse code like you could in your native language. Looks like some classes pay off!

You took a minute and looked over the past conversation between these unknown individuals. You read the morse code with ease, and quickly you understood what was said.

'TRIBAL VILLAGE, WEST OF THE RED STREAM. FOLLOW IT 5 CLICKS AND MAKE A SHARP LEFT BY THE SKULLS.'

You felt a sick, sinking feeling when it mentioned skulls. Now you knew that you were about to walk a thin line with danger, or possibly even death.

You looked back at your team who geard up. You turned your radio on and spoke to the one man you could trust.

"Lazar, I might not come back from this. If I don't, please send a search team. I'm about to broadcast you my current coordinates." You said calmly.

"Y/N, you will come back. I promise to come to save your ass myself." Lazar said.

"Appreciate that, I'll keep in touch. 2-3 out." And off your radio went.

You rounded your team up and stood upon a rock so they could hear you loud and clear.

"Okay Strike team, we are going in. You will follow me and my orders, we stay together at all times. This could potentially be a large threat, and I will not have any deaths today. Now, follow me. Keep an eye out for any potential harm. Form the formation we talked about. Always check those corners and look back!" You said, strapping your MP5 around you tightly.

You led your team off in the direction that the morse code told you about. You came to the red stream and decided to take a look around and see if you saw any possible movement or another break in the case.

You took your binoculars and scanned the area. In the distance, you saw a small, white building. It was covered by trees, well hidden if you didn't have good vision.

"Hey Houston, take a look over there, almost 3 and a half inches to the left. See the white building?" You said, handing the binoculars to your teammate.

Houston took them and looked, he turned back to you and nodded.

"I see it. Do you think we should go check it out?" He asked.

You thought for a moment. What if this was another building with possible evidence or even someone in there you could question? You looked back towards him and nodded.

"Yeah, I think we should. Let's get in there and at least check it out. It'll be worth it if we do I think." You reasoned.

He quickly gathered the team, and you made a slow but steady movement towards the building in question. There was no doubt you were nervous, you had a really bad feeling and you weren't sure why.

When you came up to the building, it was a garage. It had a large, retracting door and a small door for someone to walk into. But there was no house, just a garage.

"Okay Houston, we're gonna walk into this place very carefully, and slowly." You said.

After getting confirmation from everyone, you walked up to the small door. You carefully took the handle and twisted it. The door creaked open as if this was some sort of horror movie and the killer finds the person hiding.

You took a few steps in and checked all the corners. Your team followed behind and within minutes, the whole place had gotten a clean sweep. There was nobody to be found. So, you quickly gathered everyone in the middle.

"Okay, so this place is clear. What we are going to do next i-" You were cut off by a large bang.

BANG!

You drew your MP5 and took a protective stance. Suddenly, thats when a loud and frantic banging started to happen. What took you off guard was the cries for help that followed.

"PLEASE HELP, I'M DOWN HERE!" The male voice cried out.

You looked all over the room, and noticed a hatch to what looked like a cellar, the doors chained shut with heavy rocks on top.

"Commander, I don't like the feeling of this..." One of your team, Leon shuttered out.

"Cover me, we must save this man!" You said with no hesitation.

You ran over to the doors, and ripped the rock off with brute strength. You smashed the chains off with the butt of your gun, and yanked them off. You could now open the door.

"Houston, Leon, with me!" You commanded.

They stacked up behind you and took stance. You ripped the doors open, and out came a man fell out, wearing some sort of uniform. And behind him was a some of two dozen men, armed. You had been tricked.

"Commander!" Houston yelled, jumping in front of you as a bullet as shot. It ripped through his heart like a dagger. He fell to the ground, going limp.

"You fuckers!" You shouted.

You went to shoot, but a rock came flying and hit you right in the eye. You heard everyone else struggle and a few gunshots. When you came back from the hit, you were grabbed and restrained.

The man you first saw, immediately tied all your team up, but a couple of the guys had you in a hold, rather than tied up. You were so scared, for everyone. The first guy who came out grabbed his walkie and talked into it.

"Naga, this is Blade. I have their Commander. Waiting your order."

"Good, bring their Commander to me. Take the rest to the pit. We have work that needs done." The mysterious voice spoke over the radio.

"Got it."

When your team started to get taken away like cattle, you got pissed. You saw the bodies of a few crew mates and it made you almost get sick. Houston and Leon were dead, all because of you.

When you started to be dragged away, you began to kick and scream.

"Get off me you rat fucking bastards! I'll kill you all!" You shouted.

The men only chucked, and kept walking.

You were able to get an arm free and sucker punch one. The other, you kicked straight in the teeth, which made him double over. You took the opportunity and snapped his neck with ease.

The other man though quickly recovered and tackled you. You both fought for a minute until you somehow got on top, flipping him to his back. You restrained his arms with your leg and grabbed his face.

"I fucking told you, asshole. Now, join your friend." You said with anger. You quickly pulled his head back, killing him. You got off and took a rifle he wore.

You looked around and started to gather your surroundings. Now you were kind of confused. First thing first, you had to find your team. You ran back to the garage and went to the corpses of Houston and Leon.

"I'm so sorry you guys." You said, picking up their dog tags. This was the only way to identify them now.

You left and followed a blood trail to a nearby meadow. There, in the distance, you saw thick trees. You came up to a set of some, and in front of you was a 4-way split.

"Fuck! I'll be fucked if I go the wrong way...." But before you could even think, you felt a presence.

Like, somebody was watching you. You looked up into the trees, and that's when you saw a man wearing a strange cap, sunglasses, and a bandanna. He held a tube in his mouth.

Before you could run, he put air into it and shot out a dart at you of some sort. Luck was not with you today though.

It sucks right into your neck. And it felt like a rock had just dropped on you from a great height. You fell to your knees and collapsed. You tried to crawl, but the world went black around you.

The man jumped down from the trees and came over. He removed the dart and rolled you over to see your face. When he saw it was you, he picked you up and carried you towards his large camp.

"Finally got you."

Meanwhile, back at the safe house

Lazar came up to Adler and Sims.

"Doc, Y/N was supposed to come back 5 hours ago. I was even told if I don't hear anything, to come to find them." Lazar spoke with worry.

Adler almost brushed it off, until he heard your name.

"Wait, as in Y/N Y/L/N? Commander of Strike team?" He questioned.

"Yes, remember they went into the Jungle for the possible compound raid. I think something is wrong." He said.

Adler put out his cigarette and got up. He walked over to a plan made out by you. His eyes went large, and he immediately started to pack up and get ready.

"Lazar, you are right. There is a good chance they are in danger. We leave right now! Get everyone rounded up and locked and loaded." He commanded.

Lazar did as he was told, and got everything in line. The crew left within 5 minutes.

One day later, Y/N POV

You finally woke back up, but you were changed to a wall. Your clothes have scratches, and your head felt like a bobblehead. The room had a bright, uncomfortable light above the head. You looked around and saw so much drug paraphernalia.

You were about to pass out again until the door opened, and the same man from before stepped into the room. You both made eye contact, and you saw a slight smile behind his bandanna.

He came over to you and ran his hand over your face.

"Well, look who is finally awake. I thought you weren't going to ever wake back up, my precious little dandelion." He said in a creepy tone.

You revolted to his touch and tried to kick. But, you were held in place by the tough shackles.

"No no no, little one. You won't be leaving now. Do you know how long I waited for you? And here you fall right into my lap...." He trailed off.

You still kicked and screamed, until he finally walked away over to a projector.

"Oh Y/N, I've been watching you for months now. I knew you had been tracing people like me to raid their compounds. Well, I didn't want you fucking up my business." He said, pulling up the images on the projector.

You looked at them in horror when you realized they were of you, in many different states. You at your own home, on a date with Lazar, out with the safe house team for bowling and drinks, even you in the shower. The fucking shower!

You began to cry. You were very afraid.

The man only laughed upon seeing your tears and started playing audio logs of you calling your family on holidays.

"Don't cry, little one. I've always wanted you in my life." He spoke, slowly walking towards you. You began to panic, and started kicking and muffled screaming again.

When he reached you, he ran his hand up your side, and to your face.

"Don't worry. My name is Naga and I'm here to keep you forever. You are mine now, you know." He said.

He stepped back and turned on an older song. He kept the pictures up as he walked towards you with a knife. Your heart sank.

"Do you see this, honey? This is what you'll get when you misbehave. Understand?" He spat at you.

"I'm going to undo your gag. Don't do anything stupid." Naga said.

As soon as he did, he smiled.

"There. Now, why don't you tell me something with that gorgeous mouth?"

You looked right at him, and spit right into his eye. He jumped back in disgust. That pissed him off, and his gaze turned cold.

"You fucking bitch! You'll pay for that!"

But before he could even lunge, a man came from behind and wrestled him to the ground. That man was none other than Lawrence Sims.

You started to wiggle as you saw Lazar and everyone else behind him. He quickly ran over to you and got you free. Adler jumped in with Sims and restrained Naga. He put up one hell of a fight though.

You were carried away to the EVAC chopper, where Mason sat.

"Y/N!" Mason shouted, helping you get onboard.

You sat up and coughed. Your body hurt so much, you felt drained.

"Please Mason, clean up this cut on my leg. It's getting infected." You pleaded.

Immediately, he started to tend to every wound you had. It stung like hell but you were relieved it was over. Lazar sat with you and held your hand. You felt like you were in shellshock.

After about 10 minutes, everyone came back to the heli. Lazar didn't look happy.

"What the hell? Where is he??" He questioned.

Adler pulled out a cigarette and lit it. Sims just signed.

"He got away. The bastard is like a snake. Plus not to mention, he turned my balls into innies." Adler said with defeat.

You sat up and hugged the blanket tighter around you. You looked around at everyone as the heli flew off.

"Wait, what about my team? They still might be down there...."

Adler nodded at you.

"We sent in spec ops to recover survivors. But we are glad to see you back here safe."

You nodded with relief and lay back against the heli. You looked out over the dark skies and the now ominous trees below. You knew, deep down inside down there, this wasn't over.

Naga still roamed these trees. You looked down over the treetops and clenched your fist tight.

"I promise, this isn't over. I'll be back, even stronger."

[dumbdemonslayertexts]

random excerpts from black girl time travel kny au

Pairing: rengoku / oc

note: lots of angst mostly. forgive me for this not being y/n format i have to work up the chops to be graceful enough to write that

tagging @dudeandduchess and @adoriable and @tengens-bunny bc they sparked the greatest muse i’ve ever had to write fictions since i was like 14 literally wtf you are my queens???!?!

even with her mind working double overtime to secure her discomfort, the serenity if the rengoku estate could not be diminished. imene tried her hardest to remember any time prior to her time shift where she saw the moon so brilliantly illuminating the earth below it. each blade of grass, every stone in the garden reflected its glow; the whole of her surroundings were accented with such a pure silvery lining, giving a beauty distinctive to the night alone. it was tranquil enough for her to eventually draw a cleansing breath through her lungs, which finally released some of the staleness of doubt and second guessing that had filled her self image lately.

“you are awake still, imene-chan?”

that voice struck her in her chest, shooting sparks of heat and flutters in her stomach. and the fact that she was hearing it meant he was home. safe. and home.

“imene,” she softly insisted, making him smile as though he were being teased.

“imene.” his voice was warmer when he said her name, she would swear to it. and it stirred in her heart almost painfully with the need to hold him forever.

“i couldn’t sleep,” she shrugged off her dilemma, far more preoccupied in the happiness of seeing him, falling into those gorgeously untamed eyes and sweet smile again… “i’m happy to see you!”

“kyojuro.”

when the depth of his rich tone interjected his name, it caught her by surprise. and, true to form, he hadn’t needed her to say a word before reading her thoughts and emotions with complete accuracy.

“wh–?”

he lessened the distance between them, tucking his chin to sustain her eye contact where she sat, “imene… would you say it for me?”

the shadow of pessimism in her brain was shouting. he was easing the lines of formality as a kindness—-it was his vibrant character and nothing more. why was she so dense as to not even understand that? why did a simple name make her world feel brighter, and have her smiling to him, lovestruck?

“kyojuro.”

he smiled. with utter bliss, he smiled at her, exhaling like she’d lifted a weight from him. “ah… i prefer that, i think… don’t you?" 

just like that, the playfulness was back in his voice and eyes. though, another element felt as though it had been added unto it. one she was far too daunted to even hope to name. so she changed the subject. 

"how’re you feeling..?” she asked, lifting herself to stand, “you’re not hurt anywhere, are you? did you get any sleep or did you come right–”

she’d closed the remaining space between them as she fretted over him. ginger, worrying hands grazed butterfly touches up his chest, and the moment she’d made the mistake of tenderly cupping his face, his grin vanished… along with the delusion of pleasant standing she had dared hoped for with anyone there. it took so very little, but reality struck her like frozen lead. 

the subtlest way she could, imene lowered her touch away from him, even as she felt stony ice fill her stomach at his reaction. she could feel how he’d stiffened just before she took her hands away. so then, at that very second with how clear things had become, finality settled into her. still, she wished he would have just lunged his blade through her gut instead; the pain would have been so much less. 

“i–” kyojuro tried his best to play off the disgust, to turn the awkwardness in any other emotional direction. the poor thing even had the courtesy to look remorseful—-very convincingly, at that. god, how noble could one man be to still be kind and gentlemanly even now, trying to play off repulsion as he so obviously was? “no, i am not injured, i am feeling well! but i wished to return home as quickly as i could once i’d fulfilled my assignment. so, yes, i made the decision to return directly. i hope you haven’t been up out of worry for me.”

he was even back to beaming a smile by then, close-eyed and cheerful. she could only give half the heart in her attempt to smile back, barely nodding to acknowledge his answer. the bolt of dejection was still scalding in her chest, trying its best to well tears into her eyes.

“what is it?”

he asked after she’d broken eye contact with him for a time. imene had needed the privacy to blink down the urge to cry. 

“i’m …ready to go back to oyakata-sama’s estate. but i was kind of worried of how much trouble it would be to ask if he would take me in a second time… i didn’t know if it would be rude to him,” she tried to sound as casual as she possibly could, asking softly, like it were nothing more than a passing thought over an inevitable eventuality instead of a conscious decision of hers. but from the look on kyojuro’s face, she may as well has torn a hole through him.

“has something happened?”

he was so concerned. kyojuro sounded so hurt and concerned that the prickling of tears threatened her lashes again. even with his aversion to her, she could not stand to see someone so sweet and kind be hurt. “no…”

“please, imene, if you were upset by anything that happened while i was away–”

“i wasn’t, kyojuro,” she insisted, pleading.

“are you unhappy?” he asked. and it broke her heart to hear just how willing he was to remedy whatever issue she may have experienced just by the tone of his voice, especially after just returning from a mission, “you don’t have to hesitate to tell me if I have failed to host you well.”

“you haven’t failed anything. i’m not unhappy. but I can–” dread made the words catch in her throat, but it was too late for her to retract anything now, “feel that I’m making everyone uncomfortable." 

she waited for him to say something, but the flame hashira only looked at her in pained confusion, stunned and churning his brain to unravel her meaning.

"your father does not want me in your home, kyojuro. i’m a stranger to him—-in fact, I’m pretty sure he can sense that i don’t belong here,” she explained. he was faintly shaking his head, but even with the urge to protest, kyojuro could not deny that truth. “and senjuro–”

“he adores you,” kyojuro desperately interjected. her lips parted to negate it, but he continued before she could. and suddenly, there was a visible glimmering in his sunborn eyes, “he’s told me. many times, everyday we spend together. you…” his face softened from the accosted state she’d frozen it into earlier, and he paused his hurried explanations, “ease him. from our father. even though it is nowhere in your responsibility, you comfort him.”

“him liking me is just going to strain things between the two of them even more,” she shook her head, trying physically to mash the stress out of her temples, “that can’t be worth it, i don’t know how long I’ll even be in this time!”

“you would be surprised at its worth, imene." 

her conscience screamed at her to look at him, and she refused for as long as she could… just for knowing how gutting it would be to do. decency prevailed over her to finally grant him enough to at least meet his eyes, though. and the way his soul cried out to her through them left her destroyed. 

"i’m so sorry to have made you uncomfortable in my home. you needn’t worry about speaking with oyakata-sama, that is my responsibility, i will take care of it.”

he was resigned and sullen. It was almost impossible to tell with how genuinely he retained a positive outlook despite anything, but imene could see the sadness shining in his fiery stare, even with how radiant his grin was. she could also note how the sure grip of his sword had lessened to self-soothing strokes with his thumb at its hilt. “In the morning, I’ll make the arrangements for you. …I hope you believe me, imene, about senjuro. It’s been some time since he’s had …a loving woman around him. he isn’t likely to remember our mother well. what you’ve given with your presence is precious to him. priceless, I would say.”

he gave her an elegiac curve of his lips, and the water blurring her sight conquered her at last, dripping tears so heavy they fell straight to the ground, without a trace left on her cheeks.

“as for our father… he has been this way for a while. it is him. or, it’s what he has become, not a result of your being here. his callousness falls onto senjuro and myself normally, but I suppose you provided a new outlet for it …” he sighed, “it doesn’t excuse my negligence, but i will speak to him, you have my word.”

when she swept her eyes free of more accumulating tears, she felt kyojuro’s palms encircling her arms. it was a touch she had been desiring from the moment these feelings for him had begun to surface, yet when she felt it, she recoiled as if she were burned.

“imene,” he begged quietly. she still tried to keep her tone even.

“but you, kyojuro.”

confusion seeped into the misery soaking his expression, and his brow curled again to search for some hidden meaning in her words. his hands were away from her, though, the instant she showed discomfort.

“you’re the most uncomfortable around me of the three of you. you’re disgusted when i come close to touching you, you can’t even stand to be near me, in the same room, you’re always double checking to see if i’m up to something down every hall and in every room, and around your brother—-i can’t stay here and make you feel like that in your own home! especially when you’re out saving people and risking your life constantly! why would you even want me here if i make you so ill at ease—why would you want to come home to that kind of feeling after all you do!”

she hated how much heat she could feel under her skin–behind her eyes, in her cheeks and nose, at her ears. even more, she hated the pinched and congested whine her emotive state rendered her voice to, like some indignant child. it was humiliating to say aloud to him—-to verbalize just how awfully her self-regard had been eaten away, and to at last face it herself. now her cheeks and chin lay adorned with sheening wet streaks. she couldn’t hide any of it any longer. stillness followed after. not a word spoken, only the amplification of her breaths rattling and struggling to calm against rengoku’s measured silence. 

when she could bear to raise her head again, imene could see him in what looked to be a deep epiphany. a terrible one. like his actions had only know processed into awareness for him, and had left him reflecting in horror. 

“imene.”

he lifted his eyes enough for her to come into view, and his own lashes were starry now, blacker with the moisture accumulating at their base, in spite of the soft grin he wore, “i’m afraid i have to correct you. you said i haven’t failed in caring for you well. but i have done exactly that.

"would you come and sit with me,” he propositioned when she said no more. he’d expected nothing less when she could only look away from him with clenched, leaking eyes, so clearly pained that it ripped his heart to shreds. kyojuro was patient to await her answer, and held out his arm for her when she surprisingly accepted. imene had assumed that they would both share the space on the engawa she’d taken before his return. instead, he lead them to a more secluded area of the estate’s garden, on a stone bench that provided ample view of the night time, and allowed an unstifled breeze to cool them both that she greatly appreciated. 

“i must apologize.”

“you did already.”

kyojuro glanced over his shoulder, hearing her delicate assurance. it surged through him, littering his skin in goosebumps. 

out of consideration of how small their shared seat would be, he had crowded himself at the corner by her side. it allowed them both room for their legs, considering how widely his sat apart, but he could admit there there was a high element of shame that made it more difficult to face her. “yes, and it is not at all adequate for how i’ve hurt you.”

every time he spoke, sounding like he cared, she could do nothing but weep more. somehow, in spite of everything, his sympathy hurt more than anything else. and made her feel horrible for not being acceptable. “you can’t help how you feel, rengoku-s–”

“kyojuro." 

his eyes met hers with stone solid conviction that she couldn’t understand. for someone who disliked her so palpably, he was intent on establishing friendly casualness between them that gave her a migraine trying to comprehend. his next words went far enough to bring a knot to her brow. "you’re right, i can’t. but to have acted on those feelings so poorly is shameful." 

"acted on them poorly?”

“you were manifested in oyakata-sama’s estate. a refugee he deemed to have been brought here for divine reason. he is our leader in this fight we have undertaken against evil. he is the head of our organization, to be honored and respected.”

“it seemed that way,” her faint voice commented.

“yes. for that reason, and more i can’t explain now. understand, if my master says to me that you are precious, to be cared for, i wouldn’t ever dishonor that, nor you.”

now he’d given her her own shocking epiphany. it was slow to unravel itself with how meticulously he explained, frustratingly peeling away with the more he revealed to her in this less than receptive state that her mortification left her in.

“i wished to fulfill the role of your caretaker as best as i could. but as a hashira, i am frequently called away for extensive periods,” he gradually began to turn himself round, now diagonally beside her rather than perpendicular, “you are out of my direct sight for so long that i force you to tolerate my overcompensating once i return. i want you adjusted well, to not be overwhelmed or confused, or grieved with being alone. i wished to watch over you closely in case you were to need me.”

“oh…”

“and your nearness…” he began again, “imene, you were brought here under my protection. not only for me to oversee your healing wounds, but for your safe keeping all together. you are my charge. but i took this upon myself before knowing you—-i was not prepared for you to be so gentle and loving, and to possess warmth that i have not felt in so many years. you emanate affection–your spirit could even bring out playfulness in tokito-san. and your strength is one i have only seen in one other in my life." 

she wanted to cry again, now. and was well on her way, hearing this perfect man speak of her so glowingly. out of nowhere. 

"your peculiar beauty was something i was prepared to disregard. i am from a family of uncommon features; i willed myself to overlook the uniqueness of your eyes as many do mine, and to not be stricken with the comeliness of your hair, or with the beauty of your delicate complexion—-one i have never seen, and that i now will never forget. i convinced myself of it only being the allure of one sent from the heavens. i was mistaken, and then overcome." 

"you—-” her voice broke, weighted with the sobs fighting to bubble out of her chest, “i don’t understand…”

“you are the most beautiful woman i have ever set eyes on, imene. my dreams could not even create anyone nearly as bewitching. and i swore to ignore it, until you showed yourself equally as beautiful in your soul.”

▷▷ part 2

[unforth]

Ko-Fi Commission for Diminuel

@diminuel here you go love! <3 (sorry it’s not Naga Dean, I got it written before I saw your reply)

Fandom: Supernatural

Ship: Destiel

Rating: Explicit

Tags: A/B/O dynamics, canon adjacent, omega bottom Cas, alpha top Dean, mutual pining and idiots kinda sorta using their words, heat, mentions of Dean/Kevin (in a platonic “alpha helping an omega friend through a heat” way.)

Word count: 1,646 words.

Read on AO3 or read more...(ugh Tumblr is being impossible about formatting sorry it ate all the italics, sigh...you’re probably better off just reading it on AO3)

“Where is he?” Dean demanded, slamming open the door of bunker library and storming into the room. 

Startled, Sam jumped up from his chair, hand reaching for a pistol he didn’t actually have at his side when they were at the Bunker, and then relaxed. “Who, Cas? How did you kn--?”

“No, I mean the fucking Easter Bunny - of course I mean Cas!” Anger and arousal and anger about the arousal simmered beneath Dean’s skin. “And he’s been lighting my phone up with texts like you wouldn’t believe.” This was all wrong. “I didn’t even know he knew how to use the goddamn camera on his phone, much less how to send me a dick pic.” Cas didn’t - couldn’t - want Dean. “What the fuck is going on?”

“Oh, um.” Swallowing, Sam looked away, cheeks flushing. “Maybe you should, uh...I mean, he’s in his room. I thought you two…”

Dean glared, eyes narrowing. “We...what?” 

Come on, Sammy, I dare you to say you legit thought we were a couple, when you know better. He’s a fucking angel, and I’m a fucking mess, and he’d never…

“Nothing! I...look, Dean, I’m not involved. I offered, but he said it had to be you, so...go.”

...I’d never…

“What had to be me?!”

...that’s a total lie, I would if there was even a prayer that he’d want…

“Just go,” ordered Sam, gesturing toward the door and dropping back into his chair to hunch over whatever esoteric nonsense he was reading today.

...but he never would.

Grumbling, Dean obeyed, leaving the library and navigating the tunnels of the Bunker. His nose tickled, an unfamiliar scent permeating the air, and he tried to place it. It smelled a little like Charlie, with the soothing aspect of her betaness easing Dean’s tension even when he didn’t want his tension eased. It smelled a little like Kevin, especially that one annoying time he’d gone into heat, spicy and clinging and inescapable. It didn’t smell like Cas, who never smelled like anything. Jimmy had been an omega, Dean thought, but if Cas had a presentation type, Dean had never caught a whiff of it.

It smelled good, tempting, taunting. An itch teased down Dean’s spine, a whisper of desire thickening his dick.

It smelled wrong, like it didn’t belong, like Dean shouldn’t be following it.

Except he had to check on Cas.

Except the scent intensified the closer he drew to Cas’ room.

Except that Dean didn’t think he could stop himself pursuing the source of that enticing aroma if his life fucking depended on it.

Finally, he stood before Cas’ door. The mystery aroma suffused the air, and the explicit selfies Cas had sent him suggested intriguing possibilities, and Dean stood there, paralyzed.

If he added all the pieces up, it was hard to imagine anything other than that, somehow, Cas was an omega and had gone into heat.

And, if that was the case...the last thing Dean should be doing was knocking on that door.

Cas did not want Dean...but apparently, when he was in heat, maybe he did. Dean would never be that alpha. He would never--

“Dean?” Cas’ shout, frantic and deep and raspy and fucking sex incarnate, was barely muffled by the door. “Dean, you came! Please...oh, please…”

“Yeah,” Dean replied, heart aching. “I’m here.” He should walk away. “But I can’t…”

“I know,” Cas moaned, the scent intensifying. “...I know, I know, you don’t want...I mean...but…” The air was awash with musk and a heavy scent like a thick fog descending, and Dean’s erection stiffened. “...but just this once...please…”

Catching a lip between his teeth, Dean furious debated in his head as Cas continued to beg. On the one hand, Dean was never one to take advantage of an omega in heat. On the other hand, there was a world of difference between scenting a stranger and getting a dumbass alpha boner, and helping a friend through a difficult time. When Kevin had been desperate, Dean had offered himself up, after all...consent was a bitch in cases like those but friends were friends, and working it out after the fact was a time honored tradition...if Dean went in and helped Cas, it wouldn’t be any different.

“...Dean, I’m begging...I need you so badly...need you...only you…”

Right. Not a bit of difference. Nope. Not like Kevin really is just a friend, whereas Cas is…

“...I’ll do anything…”

...is everything...

“...I’m so hot…”

...is nothing...nothing to me...we’re nothing to each other…there’s nothing between us...

“I can’t,” Dean muttered, hoping like hell Cas could hear him, hoping like hell Cas couldn’t hear him and might stop babbling enticingly long enough for Dean to escape. “Cas...look...I get you feel all...some kinda way...right now...but you don’t actually…” Dean laid an arm over the door, leaned his forehead against it, and took a deep breath despite himself. “...you don’t actually want me…” 

Fuck, Cas smelled amazing.

“I do!” said Cas frantically. “I do, please - I need you.” He sounded like he was sobbing, and Dean’s heart could have broken - he wanted to help so badly, wanted to believe Cas so, so badly. 

But...

“...you don’t…”

...he couldn’t.

“I’ll show you!”

Surprised, Dean took a step back from the door and blinked as if the dull gray would tell him what the fuck Cas meant.

Naw, don’t need X-Ray vision to know what he means. He’s horny, and of course between Sam and I’d pick me, I’m hung, and Sam’s a little bitch. When I open this door, he’ll be on his bed, presenting a slick hole, and if my willpower doesn’t snap it’ll be a fucking miracle.

“Please!”

And even knowing all that, Dean couldn’t resist the desperate catch in Cas’ voice.

Fuck, but Dean was gonna hate himself when this was over.

Fuck, but I already hate myself…

With a resigned sigh, Dean pushed the door open and stared.

He’d been partially right - Cas was on the bed presenting a slick hole.

The wings were a surprise, though.

And Cas’ scent was fucking insane, powerful, unearthly, drawing Dean into the room like a siren’s call. He’d heard some nonsense about how a true mate might smell and had never believed a lick of it, and he didn’t believe it now, no matter how amazing Cas smelled, no matter how drawn to him Dean felt - this had to be some bizarre angel mojo, no “meant to be” involved, for all that Cas moaned like a damn pornstar when the first gust of Dean’s scent swept before him into the room. There was no fucking way this was Jimmy’s humanity at work. This was pure angel grace insanity, complete with black feathers, and Dean wanted...Dean needed…

“Bedside table!” Cas gasped, craning his neck to look back at Dean. His eyes were wide, his pupils blown, his cheeks coated with sweat and tears.

Who’d’a thought Cas would have protection next to the bed...good thinking though, I’m about 2.3 seconds from sinking in balls deep, and--

Dean tugged the drawer open.

There weren’t any condoms in the drawer.

There was a book with a leather cover and all the hallmarks of being a journal. 

“Read it - please read it - and then help me, if you still want to - I’ll understand if you don’t - but I need...need...and it can only be you, it has to be you, has to be…” Cas’ supplications dissolved into sobs as, confused, Dean withdrew the book and leafed through the pages…

...Dean, it said on one page...my mortal love, it said on another...anything for him, it said on yet another...doesn’t want me, on another page...here for him no matter what, on another...don’t need more than this, on another...but I want him, on another...page upon page of devotion and care written in Cas’ unmistakable neat handwriting.

Impossible.

The book dropped from Dean’s numbed fingers.

He can’t want me.

He can’t think I don’t want him.

“Dean!”

He couldn’t possibly…

Slowly, Dean turned toward the bed. Cas panted desperately, rocking back against nothing, eyes fixed on Dean...no, fixed on the bulge in Dean’s pants, his gaze was definitely directed down with the look of a starving man...and Dean stared.

...why would he…

“...need you…” Cas whimpered pathetically.

...but he does.

Certain this must be a dream, Dean crossed the scant steps separating them, fumbling hands undoing his belt on the first step, letting his pants drop on the second, stepping out of them on the third and fourth, and then he was beside the bed, and Cas was displayed before him like a banquet, and Dean’s cock was so hard it ached, and the scent of angel heat made him dizzy, and there was nothing, nothing between them except years of devotion and uncountable words of near-confessions that never said everything and desperation and pining and need and devotion…

...there was nothing between them, not a shred of cloth, not a single inhibition, not a hint of uncertainty.

Dean climbed onto the bed.

Though...they would have a fuckton to talk about once Cas’ heat was over.

Or it’s a dream, and I’ll wake up...either way, awkward feels talks can wait...hell, they can wait forever if I’m lucky...and Cas needs me now.

“Don’t worry,” murmured Dean as he pushed forward and the head of his dick breached that perfect, tight pucker for the first time. “I’ll take care of you.”

Everything could wait until Cas was sated - until Dean had been the alpha that Cas deserved.

“I know you will,” Cas whispered, rocking back against him. “You always do...always...always…”

Yes, Cas...always...always here for you...always your alpha...always your Dean…

...always yours.

[imaginetings]

if you love me don’t let go - eggsy unwin

Y/N - Your Name

M/N - Middle Name

L/N - Last Name

M/O - McDonalds Order

Word Count - 2471

Requested? - Nope

Warnings? - Swearing, mention of dying and injury, flashbacks that may get you in feels

Notes - I’m in my feels okay :( also it’s formatted more space for paragraphs and i canny be bothered to fix it sorry. also would you guys want a second part of this in eggsy’s pov??

part two

When they say you’re meant to see important parts of your life flash through your head before you die, they weren’t wrong. Yet after all that I’ve done there is one common denominator in these flashes, Eggsy. The man that has held a significant part of my heart for most of my life ever since we met in infants and he had that glimmer of hope in his eyes, we were the terrible twosome as Michelle loved to call us.

I never believed this would be the way I would go, alone in an alleyway, bleeding out because of a mugger or possible enemy of Kingsman. The details I didn’t care for, all apart from the fact that I didn’t have Eggsy with me.

Yet with the strength I have left, I reach for my phone and whilst my initial thought was to call Eggsy I know that if I am to get out of here alive, it’ll have to be the emergency services. After all, Eggsy is probably out with someone who’s most definitely not me. Best friends, that’s all we’ve ever been yet I love him more than that and I guess he’ll never reciprocate because it’s just plain old me.

Smearing blood on the phone screen as I typed in the one digit thrice I could only feel myself start to grow weaker as the time flew by. I can assure you that although time is flying, i’m not having fun.

“Hello, Emergency Service Operator speaking, which service do you require?”

“erm, the one with the ambulance thing. Yeah that’s it, ambulance please,” I ask and the operator who connects me instantly “Hello? I’m currently in an alleyway on Chiswick High Road and I was attacked and I’m bleeding really badly and I think they might have shot me, I don’t know it happened so fast and I just need help please,” I explain swiftly to the operator who keeps a calm tone.

“Okay miss can you stay on the phone? There’s an ambulance heading your way now. Can you stay on the line as I ask you questions?” The operator asks.

“I can try, but things are getting fuzzy.” I explain.

“Okay, so what’s your name miss”

“Y/N M/N L/N”

“What’s your age?”

“Oh erm what year is it again? Oh yeah 2015, so I am 23” I figure out.

“Okay miss, now what’s your blood type?”

“Red? I don’t know for the life of me Jesus Christ this is bad, i’m sorry,” I say to the operator as things start to fade in and out and I try to fight it, I really do yet black spots cover my vision and as I feel myself start to fall the last things I can hear is the operator on my phone asking me to stay awake.

——

“Okay class settle down today we are going to be doing work with partners so buddy up!” The teacher explains and I look around to see everyone buddy up with their best friends whilst i’m on my own. “Y/N, come here. Now you’re going to pair up with Gary okay?” I nod and we sit down at his table.

“My names not Gary, it’s Eggsy. It’s such a cooler name than Gary,” Gary, no. Eggsy says to me. I smile at him.

“Okay, Eggsy. I’m Y/N and you’re going to be my new best friend.”

“But you’re a girl.”

“So what if I am?”

“Do you pinky swear that you’re not gross like other girls.”

“I pinky swear.”

“Now we can be best friends,” Eggsy says with a toothy grin and I return it with him and we begin to work on the poster that the teacher had set for us.

——

“Wooo! Go Eggsy!” I shout in the stands next to Eggsy’s mum. Both of us cheering him on in his gymnastics competition.

“That’s my boy!” Michelle shouts and I shout alongside her cheering for my best friend as if the noise I make will make him win even more.

He pulls off the routine effortlessly as per usual and I sit there restlessly with a cheshire grin on my face, waiting until I can congratulate him because that’s some talent needed.

It was no surprise he won the competition, again, yet to congratulate him we went to the one place anybody goes for celebration, McDonalds. He orders a big mac whilst I get a M/O and we sit down and eat across from one another and Michelle is sat next to Eggsy with her meal as well.

“Well done babes,” Michelle says.

“Yeah, well done Eggsy!” I say with a mouthful of food and Michelle gives me a motherly glare. “Sorry.”

“Did you see me out there? I was flying like a bird and just swinging and it was amazing!” Eggsy explains rushingly which Michelle just chuckles at and I nod and carry on eating my meal.

——

“Oh come on Y/N what’s one night going to do to your study plan? We’ve literally only just started year eleven you’ll be fine, you’re a clever clogs anyways.”

“Eggsy, we had this conversation when it came to mocks in year ten and what did I do? I flunked it, so we are not going there.”

“Don’t be a spoilsport love come onnnn, you know you want to,” Eggsy eggs on with a shit eating grin on his face.

“Fine. I’ll take the day off and we can do what you want.”

“Oh you’re going to regret saying that now,” Eggsy chides and I roll my eyes at his antics.

“Are you trying to make me change my mind?” He shakes his head and we leave my room to go and follow whatever antics he had in store.

That night ended up with us in A & E because Eggsy got into a fight and I attempted to break it up and a for sale house sign ended up hitting me in the face.

A busted lip with a scar to remember it with since the sign managed to break through into my mouth.

The look on Eggsy’s face when it happened seemed to be one of pure anger and fear, but I could’ve been seeing things. Yet at fifteen I knew for definite after all the years I’d known Eggsy Unwin, I loved him. For the following weeks he was so protective of me that it was almost overbearing. Almost.

I managed to get him to watch some movies with me and we even ended up eventually on watching My Fair Lady which I fell asleep to within ten minutes whilst Eggsy watched the whole thing.

——

It was one of them nights, I instantly knew when the phone rang. It was Eggsy, Dean was being a dick again. He came over to my house and I put aside all of my a level revision and brought him into a hug. “Why did she pick him of all people Y/N?”

“I don’t know Eggs, it’ll get better eventually, I promise.”

“How can you promise that?” he asks and that’s when I know he needs a pick me up.

“Because i’m psychic okay, and obviously I can see your future which is extremely blinding to the naked eye that you’d need factor a thousand sun cream okay?” I explain to him with a sorrowful smile on my features, he simply nods and I pull him back into a hug although it’s an awkward angle due to the height difference.

“I was thinking about joining the marines.” Eggsy blurts out.

“That’d be great for you Eggs, I mean it’s what you want to do right?” I ask him looking into his green eyes.

“Yeah, but.” He stops.

“But what Eggsy?” I ask.

“I don’t want to leave you or mum.” He explains.

“Look, if you do just know I’m with you every step of the way regardless, and i’ll be there for your mum as well. I’ll look after her.” I explain and rub his back soothingly. He gives me a incredulous look. “Oi, don’t be cheeky. Need I remind you on how I got this scar?” I nudge him and he chuckles.

“Okay, you’ve got me,” he sighs and loops his arms around me and brings me in tightly. “How do you always know to say the right thing?” he asks.

“I’m an a level student, I’m smart what can I say?” I say cheekily with a wink and that causes him to tickle my sides and I have no escape. “Eggsy! Stop! Please!” I plead.

“Say uncle!”

“Neverrr!” I laugh out and it starts to pain me. Yet he is relentless in tickling me. “Okay okay! Uncle,” I relent and he laughs before launching himself on my bed.

“So… rom com or horror?” he asks.

“which would you prefer?” I return.

“Romcom.”

“Horror it is then,” I retort and he gasps from behind me. “Deal with it Eggboy, you prefer the romcoms and I like the horror movies I thought we had established this by now. Okay, now pick. Left or right.”

“Right.”

“It’s…. Saw!” I exclaim pulling the movie out from behind my back and he rolls his eyes at my excitement for the franchise. “Don’t worry, you can hide in my arms if you get scared,” I tease as I put in the dvd.

“Oi!” he shouts and throws a pillow which hits me square in the face as I turn around.

“What? It’s the truth and you know it,” I chastise.

——

Eggsy was halfway through training before his mum went mental at him not wanting to lose him like how she lost his dad and I could understand and so did Eggsy to the point that he dropped out.

When he returned home I had my final exam of my whole a levels. Three and a half hours of pure writing and by the time it was done my hand had cramped up into the position of how I hold my pen. Yet when leaving the building he was there waiting for me in casual clothes. “Eggsy!” I exclaimed as I ran to him to which he brought me into his arms with ease.

“Hello love,” he states with a smirk on his face. “Pub?”

“Yes, you read my mind. Especially after that exam,” I state and we head to my car that I had saved up for with work.

——

All throughout the time I was in university, Eggsy was by my side. Even when I dropped out because the band that I had been working with was starting to take off and I decided it was for the best to drop out of my degree.

He was there when my family kicked me out after learning of me dropping out and helped me find a flat as well.

There were many lows and many highs. There was always the almosts. The almost love, the almost kiss. Yet it never happened.

And thus darkness, the only familiar thing throughout, when I was attacked it was dark and that’s what it’s like for me without him, dark.

Yet in the near distance a rhythmic droning beats. It sounds almost like a heart monitor. Wait. I must have made it to the hospital. I was found in time.

Fighting to open up my eyes was probably harder than it should have been but I was determined. Although it was bright, I soon adjusted and I’m met with the clinical space of a hospital bedroom. Flowers are dotted around the room and I notice a small teddy bear in a suit amongst them all. I smile at the gesture. Then the door swings open where two nurses are chatting amongst themselves and that’s when they notice i’m awake.

The next few days were a blur and before I knew it I was heading home, alone. Although the days were a blur, nobody visited. Lying in my bed for the first time in what felt like forever was luxurious yet it was interrupted by a knock at my door and a groan from my mouth following suit. I grab my crutches and hobble to the door, ready to tell the person to fuck off yet when the door opens I’m met with the familiar green eyes.

“You’re okay!” he exclaims and goes to hug me which I recoil against.

“Yeah, as much as someone who was attacked can I guess.” I say and hobble back in leaving him to follow me in and I head back towards my bedroom where my bed beckons me.

“Are you okay?” he inquires. I just nod and sit on my bed. “Okay now I know you’re not okay, talk to me Y/N.” Tears start to well in my eyes.

“I don’t know okay. One minute I’m walking from Amy’s and the next I know someone is attacking me and asking me about your job and then I was alone and it just felt so cold and it felt horrible, like I haven’t felt like that since my parents were screaming and shouting at me for dropping out of University. Yet I was on the verge of death. But the worst thing Eggsy, it was being there bleeding out in the middle of London alone. I don’t think I can be alone again if I’m honest.” He pulls me into his side gently and motions for me to carry on. “I realised that all of the best moment in my life are with you and I don’t know what I am going to do with myself if I don’t tell you that I love you Eggsy. I have done since we were kids and I mean in a romantic way, not a platonic way and if you leave i’ll understand but I had to say it.”

“Y/N, when I got the call from the hospital saying that you were there, I froze. I don’t freeze. I was with Merlin and Roxy and I broke down hearing that news because guess what, Y/N M/N L/N I am in love with you and I have been for years okay?” He confesses and we lean into one another, it was like it went in slow motion and then the next thing I knew we were kissing. “God i’ve waited years to do that,”

“I can bet I have been waiting longer than you Eggs,” I smirk and cock my eyebrow at him. That’s when he tries to lay me down. “Ah ah ah, nope mister. I’m not allowed to engage in any physical activity for six weeks until the stitches can be taken out.” I explain to which he huffs and decides to just cuddle me instead. “But this, I can get used to,” I mutter and lay my head on his chest.

“I love you Eggsy.”

“I love you too Y/N”

[ditherwings]

Magic Trick—A Good Omens Secret Santa Gift Fic

This is my belated GO Secret Santa gift for @hardly-functioning-morals! I’m sorry it’s late, but hope you like it!

Sorry about the odd formatting; I had to post this on mobile, and it came out a bit wonky. I expect I’ll cross post this to AO3 once I have a chance, and clean it up. My account there is bastet_in_april.

***

Magic Trick

by bastet_in_april (ditherwings), for hardly-functioning-morals

Aziraphale had always developed fascinations for peculiarly specific bits of human culture, and Crowley usually enjoyed indulging even the ones that he found a bit odd. What was the draw in Regency-period silver snuff boxes, for instance? It wasn’t as though Aziraphale had any particular use for them--he didn’t use snuff, and so had no reason to wish for a dainty container as a means to carry the stuff about in a pocket. Crowley saw little interest in collecting ancient leather-bound first editions with cracked spines and dusty pages, either. He didn’t read, he liked to insist, and, if that was a lie, then surely glossy coffee table books full of remarkable photos were more his style.

Still, Crowley loved to indulge Aziraphale’s fascinations. He enjoyed the excitement on his face as he examined a new find for his bookshop, turning the pages carefully with gloved hands. He loved the surprise on Aziraphale’s face when Crowley present him with a beautifully engraved little snuffbox, with mother-of-pearl inlay. He loved the way Aziraphale would expound on the delights of a new patisserie shop, and the way his eyes would roll up ever so slightly at the ecstasy of a perfectly prepared piece of nigirizushi.

Stage magic, though, was where Crowley drew the line.

It had happened while Crowley was asleep. In 1871, an up-and-coming stage magician named Alexander Herrmann parted ways with his brother Carl, in order to establish his reputation via a solo act. While Carl continued to tour Europe, Alexander headed for London.

In 1871, Aziraphale was still an angry, terrified recluse. It had been nine years since his fateful meeting with Crowley in St. James’s Park. He hadn’t seen Crowley since their argument, and he wasn’t sure whether he was more likely to dissolve into tears or shouting if he saw Crowley again, or, frighteningly, if he didn’t. So he stayed in his shop, fretfully conditioning old leather bindings and being increasingly curt with the few customers who dared cross the shop’s threshold. Perhaps the neighborhood noticed. Perhaps it was a concerned neighbor who thought that odd Mr. Fell really ought to get out of that dusty old shop more often who slipped the advertisement under the shop’s door. Perhaps it was simply a paperboy who’d been paid a bit extra to distribute the fliers. Perhaps it was chance. Perhaps it was ineffable.

Regardless, Aziraphale picked up the flier and was charmed and arrested by the image of the thin man with the goatee and curling mustache, dressed smartly in a black tailcoat and brandishing a magic wand. “Herrmann the Great!” it proclaimed. “Master of the Magical Arts! Now Performing at the Egyptian Hall!” The man was surrounded by whirling petals, playing cards, and doves in flight, and comically outlandish cartoon demons peered from the edges of the playbill to marvel at the magician.

Helpless, Aziraphale’s first thought was that this was exactly the sort of show Crowley would love--a perfect chance to see humanity’s remarkable capacity for imagination at work, while the demon snarked and snickered into his hand at the feats of “magic,” from where he sprawled into his seat. Aziraphale crushed that thought down into something small and sad, like a crumpled ball of paper, and tucked it neatly away. He took a deep breath. There was no reason not to attend the show on his own. He couldn’t hide in his shop forever, as the world continued to move around him. And perhaps Crowley would have the same thought, and Aziraphale might yet see him in the crowd at the Egyptian Hall, heckling the performer and downing expensive wine.

So it was that Aziraphale found himself in a packed theater, its ceiling bedecked with pseudo-Egyptian frescoes complete with strings of artistic renderings of hieroglyphic text (having resided in Egypt for a time during the Ramesside period, and categorically unable to resist reading anything with words on it, if it was within view, Aziraphale was rather bemused to find that the hieroglyphs on the column to the left of him read, “your mother keeps house with water buffalo, and your father smells of lotus root”). Aziraphale was disappointed not to spot a familiar shock of red hair, or a distinctively sauntering gait, amongst the theatergoers.

The crowd buzzed with excitement as Herrmann took the stage, looking theatrically dapper in a tailcoat and tophat, and slightly malevolent, with his goatee and curled moustache like a villain from a penny dreadful. He produced a deck of cards, seemingly from thin air, fanning them out in flourishes, conjuring them from audience members’ pockets, and then turning them into an explosion of colorful ribbons that streamed through the air. Aziraphale felt himself get drawn into the show, as pieces of set dressing--grand fruit trees, ruby-colored lamps, even a burbling fountain--appeared in puffs of incense-scented purple or green smoke. The crowd gasped in wonder or shock, as Herrmann unveiled each new wonder. He produced a dove from a woman’s evening glove, making her laugh with delight. To the surprise of the crowd a rabbit leaped from his tophat, after he tapped it twice with his wand. The onlookers erupted into delighted laughter, as the conjurer tried and failed to convince it to return to his hat, finally turning it into a monogrammed handkerchief, instead. Aziraphale marvelled quietly at the ingenuity of humans, to create miracles of their own. This was so different from the times he had witnessed angelic miracles being performed before crowds of humans. That had been a thing of terror, each witnessing mortal made small and helpless before the gaze of Michael or Gabriel. The magician, conjuring marvels and wielding powers the crowd did not comprehend, instead welcomed them into the experience with humor and charm, sharing the wonder of it with them, and delighting in their reactions.

Aziraphale thought again of Crowley, and bit his lip.

The magician waded a bit further into the crowd, pulling a shiny coin from behind a boy’s ear, and offering him the prize. He paused before Aziraphale, and doffed his silk top hat, offering it to Aziraphale, “You, good sir! Look into my hat! Can you confirm for the crowd that it is empty?” Aziraphale stood, peering into the hat, before agreeing for the rest of the audience that it was empty, and an ordinary hat, as far as he could perceive. “Thank you! Now I see by the lines of care and worry upon your brow that something troubles you, so I have the spirits to deliver a wonder to set your heart at ease. The imps and spectres have told me that what you fear shall not come to pass! Now, reach into this empty hat, and see the wonder the demon has delivered as a sign!”

Aziraphale reached into the silk hat, and felt his hand close around a smooth, round shape. He pulled forth a perfect, shining red apple.

***

Mrs. and Mr. Device were celebrating their anniversary by going on a short trip to the seaside, and needed a babysitter to look after six-year-old Magrat. Adam and the Them had each been given due consideration as potential sitters, but it was nearing end-of-term at school, and university applications and exams were making the teens look increasingly unglued. While Madame Tracey might be trusted with a small child, both parents agreed that Witchfinder Sergeant Shadwell (retired) was a last resort, only in case of impending apocalypse, option. So, after some deliberation, and after Anathema’s cousin had begged off due to plans involving concert tickets, the professional descendant (retired) and witch (current) rang up Crowley’s mobile.

Crowley always sounded hunted when he answered his mobile, as if he were a bit worried about whose voice might be on the other, but was pretending at nonchalance. “Yeah, who’s this?” he asked. “Anathema Device,” Anathema answered.

“Book Girl!” Crowley exclaimed, relaxing. He’d attended her wedding, and known her for years, but some nicknames stuck. She rolled her eyes.

“Are you and Aziraphale free on Thursday evening? Newt and I are going on a day trip, and need someone to look after Magrat while we’re away.”

“And you thought you’d ask a demon to babysit?”

“I thought I’d ask my friend. Don’t pretend you don’t adore babysitting her. She told me that you read her stories, last time, and did all the voices.”

“What can I say, she’s a little hellion. What’s not to love?” Crowley hummed thoughtfully. “Give me a moment.” There was a pause in which Anathema could hear Crowley having a murmured conversation with Aziraphale, before Crowley lifted the mobile again, voice coming through clear and audible. “Sure, we can take her for the day. You two kids go have some fun.”

Anathema breathed a soft exhalation of relief. Promise secured, she began to let Crowley know exactly what he was in for.

***

Magrat Device did not want a babysitter. She was very certain that she should be allowed to stay up late on her own, thank you very much. She knew how to work a microwave, and had her parents on speed dial, and wouldn’t eat ice cream for dinner (honest!).

Her parents disagreed, which was why Crowley and Aziraphale were currently poring over a takeout menu, on her parents’ couch, trying to determine what one might order in to feed a six year old.

Anathema and Newt had named their daughter Magrat because Anathema knew the value, to a growing child, of being able to read one’s name in a book. Newt was pleased that this book, at least, while full of witches, fools, kings, and mistaken identity, did not involve an apocalypse.

It wasn’t that Magrat didn’t like spending time with Crowley and Aziraphale. The last time they had babysat her, they had gone to the park and Aziraphale had showed her how to feed the ducks, and Crowley had gotten her an ice cream, and then they had gone home and read from her favorite book--the one that had her name in it. But, the thing was, that had been when Magrat was five. Now, Magrat was six, and that was different. Six was grown up. Six year olds didn’t need babysitters, because six year olds weren’t babies.

“What would you like to eat, dear girl?” Aziraphale asked. “Is a curry too spicy? Or would you like some of the smoked trout and quiche from that lovely little cafe down the street.”

Magrat scowled, shoulders hunched up near her ears. “I don’t want anything to eat.”

“You’re a growing child. Can’t you try to eat something?” The angel looked pleadingly at her. “It’s alright if you don’t finish it, but I shouldn’t like to think of you going hungry.”

Magrat shook her head stubbornly.

“Tell you what,” Crowley said. “How about we order a sampler of a few things, and if anything piques your interest, you can try some of it. If not? Well, we’ll just leave the leftovers for your parents--save them having to cook tomorrow.”

When the takeaway arrived, it smelled enticingly of saffron, spices, butter, and fresh bread. Magrat stubbornly turned away, even as her stomach growled.

“Right,” Crowley decided, clapping his hands and straightening up out of his artful sprawl. “I know you don’t want to be babysat. Why would you? You aren’t a baby, and babysitting just sounds a bit demeaning. Or painful. The thing is, though, we aren’t just your babysitters, Magrat.” He tilted his head down to meet her hazel-colored eyes. She could just catch a glimpse of his bright yellow ones beneath the dark lenses of the sunglasses. “You’re a witch, so we’re your magic babysitters. Like when Hagrid took Harry Potter to Diagon Alley for school supplies.”

Magrat came slowly out of her slouch, considering this. “You’re not magic, though,” she argued. “Not like wizards, or witches, anyway. You’re an angel and a demon. You don’t have magic wands, or pointy hats, or cauldrons. You don’t pull rabbits out of hats. You might as well just be boring old regular babysitters, like Wensleydale or Auntie Sue.”

Aziraphale perked up, looking triumphant. “Oh, you think so, do you?” he asked. “Find me a hat, my dear, and we shall see!”

Crowley groaned. “Oh, angel, please not that. If she wants a rabbit, just miracle one up! Don’t you remember what happened last time? This is going to end in cream cake stains and tears--mostly mine--you mark my words.”

Aziraphale smiled serenely. “Nonsense, my dear. Now, Magrat, a hat, please?”

Magrat pulled a baseball cap from where it had been tossed onto the end of one of the umbrellas in the stand by the door. “It’s not the right kind,” she said.

“Oh, any hat will do. Now, I want you to check that it’s empty.” Magrat reached into the hat, feeling only the canvas material it was made from. “It’s empty,” she confirmed, interested in spite of herself.

“Right, now I need a magic wand.” Aziraphale looked around himself, as if expecting one might conveniently appear. It didn’t, so Azirphale snatched up a fork from the bag of takeaway on the table. He puffed out his chest, and cleared his throat theatrically. “Abracadabra expecto patronum bibbity bobbity expelliarmus!” The angel tapped the slightly rumpled baseball cap three times with his magic fork, and then picked it up and put it on his head. He wiggled his fingers, his eyes theatrically wide.

Magrat leaned forward, despite herself. Crowley covered his face with his hand.

With a dramatic, “Ta da!” Aziraphale whipped the cap off of his head and presented it to his audience. “One rabbit, as ordered!”

There was a pause. Aziraphale looked into the still-empty hat with bewilderment. Magrat and Crowley, however, were unable to tear their eyes away from the furry, bewhiskered little bunny rabbit that was perched comfortably amidst Aziraphale’s fluffy curls. His little pink nose twitched.

Slowly, Aziraphale’s eyes turned upwards towards his hairline, and he yelped, and made a grab for the rabbit, which leapt off of his head acrobatically and right onto the table, upturning the dish of eclairs, sending them flying through the air.

“What did I tell you?” Crowley asked, snapping his fingers. The eclairs settled back onto the plate on the table. And the rabbit was rather confused, but ultimately pleased, to suddenly find itself in the middle of a heavily guarded and carefully fortified garden of prize-winning vegetables (inciting wrath and suspicion of sabotage in the gardener, when he discovered the ensuing damage).

“Mmphghhahaha,” a peculiar half-strangled noise escaped Magrat’s mouth, like the first bit of water springing through the crack in a dam, presaging the deluge. She laughed until she had tears running down her face. Aziraphale, his face softening from bewildered shock to delight and fondness, laughed with her. Crowley, despite himself, let go of his second-hand embarrassment to join them.

The real magic trick, Aziraphale would explain to Crowley after the angel, the demon, and Magrat had finished their dinner, and demolished a respectable number of chocolate eclairs, was not pulling the rabbit from the hat. The real magic was surprise, wonder, and laughter.

[vertanimeni]

the ice will start to break, the day will fade away (7/18)

Summary:

“Have you heard? The Elephant of Caocin has committed high treason!”

From Trikru’s most reputable war hero to Trikru’s most wanted traitor, Kova found themselves stripped of their titles and trapped between a clan that wants them dead and a camp of invaders - the same ones who kidnapped and tortured their brother.

But Kova was willing to do anything to stay alive and keep their family together.

Pairing: Bellamy/Grounder OC

Word Count: 3,902

TW: Kill/death mention/threats

A/N: Hi hi! After some convincing from my friends, I decided to post this series here :D I’ve already finished with season 1 and half of season 2, I’m just in the middle of re-writing and editing. If you’re reading through my blog, the read more does not show up due to Tumblr’s new formatting, so please click on the post itself. I’ll be updating every other day at 12pm EST. Anyways, hope you enjoy it!

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vii. isolation.

Clarke had many questions, Kova had a few answers, sometimes choosing to remain silent over Trikru matters, but it seemed sufficient for the invaders’ leader. The meeting wrapped up without another hitch.

“Bellamy, please escort Kova back to Octavia’s tent.”

Spoke too soon.

Clarke hadn’t noticed the tension that rose between the two of them when she had stepped out before, but surely she should have sensed it by now, no?

For a moment, it appeared as if Bellamy wanted to argue, but after considering his choices of a) escorting Kova back to the tent himself and b) allowing Kova to return on their own without supervision, he shut down any and all arguments.

Which is how they ended up here, The two walked back in silence, neither willing to talk about what had happened before Clarke had interrupted. Bellamy walked in front of Kova, glancing back every once in a while, as if they would make a break for it the moment he turned away. He looked like he would rather help shovel out the outhouse than escort them back.

The two passed one of the main campfires. Bellamy continued walking, but Kova stopped in their tracks. The invaders cooked what seemed like squirrel or bird meat based on the smell and the size. There were three or four people closer to the fire who passed on kebabs of meat and vegetables to the people waiting on line.

“Agh, I’m still hungry.” One of the teens complained after returning the stick. “Can’t I get some more?”

“Eat your hand, then. We barely have enough to go around.” One of the servers snapped as they snatched the stick.

Truthfully, Kova hadn’t realized they stopped walking until Bellamy’s gruff voice snapped them out. “Keep walking.”

“Have they only been eating birds and squirrels?” They couldn’t help but ask.

“What’s it to you?”

His tone thick with hostility, Kova might have been put off by it if they hadn’t had practice with themselves. They didn’t have to dig much to hear the hints of exhaustion underneath. “Give me four hours in the woods. I can bring back a boar and some extra game.”

To another, the offer sounded tempting. But Bellamy didn’t even bother considering it for a moment. “And let you out of the camp? Yeah, right.”

The look Kova sent him was nothing short than disbelief and what seemed to be along the lines of ‘if I wanted to escape or run away by now, I would have.’ He bristled at the arrogance, but before he could say anything, they turned and walked in the direction of the tent, leaving him behind.

“Hey!” He called out. When they paused and turned their head, he paused. “I thought you didn’t like us?”

There was an underlying question beneath his words — why would you help us?

‘Because they’re barely older than the children I take care of in my village. Because none of them look like they know what they’re doing. Because too many of them are too skinny for their age and height.’

Instead, Kova said, “I don’t like squirrel meat.” They ducked their head and disappeared inside the tent.

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“Your brother is annoying.”

Octavia burst out in surprised laughter. She and Kova had been sitting in silence (one that she had grown comfortable with easily, to her surprise). Octavia had been clipping her nails with a pair of tiny scissors while Kova laid in bed, right leg bent at the knee and supporting their left leg, arms behind their head as a makeshift pillow.

“You’re not the first to tell me that.” Octavia sent them a grin, leaning her chin against her knee. “What happened? What did he do?”

When she had first met Kova, she had been anxious if they would like her enough to support her as Lincoln’s… interest. But now the two had grown comfortable with one another, even if Kova had been knocked out for most of their time together.

(What Octavia wouldn’t know is that the night before, she had snored loud enough to briefly wake Kova out of their unconsciousness. They couldn’t be mad at her, though, not when they found her with drool pooling into her pillow. That was revenge enough.)

“He’s very… audacious.”

That brought out another laugh from Octavia. “Mn, that sounds like him.” Octavia snorted and sighed gently. “I’m sorry about him.”

Kova took note that Octavia had started using “mn,” more often since the two first met. Octavia, on the other hand, hadn’t noticed the contemplative look on they had. ‘Your brother is… audacious, seemingly arrogant, yet he feels guilt, he feels sorrow. He still acts like an ass, but he’s also upset about it.’

Kova shook their head. “Don’t be. It’s not like you can control him.”

The flap of the tent suddenly unzipped and opened.

Speak of the devil, he shall appear. Bellamy popped his head in and looked at Kova. He jutted his head. “Let’s go.”

He left the tent without an explanation.

Before Kova could stand, Octavia beat them to the punch, holding her hand out, a scowl on her face. “Wait here, I’ll go talk to him.”

She left. The tent’s walls weren’t paper thin, but they weren’t thick either.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m not comfortable with you sharing with them. I had a new tent prepared.”

While Kova truly had no clue as to what was going on, they added up a few events and made a decent guess. That young girl, Emmie, had casually bumped into them earlier today. Bumping into Kova could have been life threatening. Not only that, but they offered to leave the camp in order to hunt. It might have sounded suspicious.

If this were another time, Kova would have boasted about how even the invaders, who didn’t know anything about them, still considered them dangerous without having to even lift a pinky. Yet now, they found it depressing, and a bit worrying.

“I like sharing my tent.”

“Share with someone else. Not them.”

Heavy footsteps retreated. Octavia re-entered the tent. Before she could say anything, Kova looked at her with a bitter smile. “Annoying.”

She mirrored their look, as if saying ‘yeah, I know,’ but suddenly turned serious. “Stay here, I’ll have a chat with Clarke—”

“No need.” Kova responded with ease and stood. “It might be for the best. The more polite and non-threatening I act, the more they trust me, and the less I have to worry about.” They took their things (which to be fair, was not much) and made their way towards the entrance. “Besides,” They sent her a teasing smirk over their shoulder. “You snore.”

“Shut up.” Octavia laughed, pretending to kick them as they left, their echoing laugh preserved and bottled in her tent. “I’ll still try to talk to Clarke.”

“Mn, be my guest.”

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Clarke, unsurprisingly, agreed with Bellamy. They were given a brand new tent with two shiny new guards to match, sitting at each side of the entrance in makeshift seats.

Too tired to care, they entered the tent without trouble and knocked out. Or, they would have, if the tent hadn’t felt so devoid of life besides their own. For the first time since their seclusion, Kova found themselves sleeping alone.

A fitful sleep kept them awake throughout the night, and by the time the sun rose, Kova grew irritable. Imagine how they felt when they unzipped their tent, ready to ask Clarke what they should do with so much free time on their hands, only to find one of the guards pushing a tray of food towards the entrance using the butt end of their spear.

They bit their tongue, picked up the tray, and returned to their tent. They had to behave, after all.

But now, any time Kova stepped towards the opening of the tent, the two guards would quieten, as if straining to hear their footsteps. When they opened the flaps, the guards would slowly inch their way towards the (poorly made) spears by their sides.

Kova would always retreat into their tent before their fingers could brush their spears. They kept to themselves in their tent throughout the morning, afternoon, and now night. The rotation of guards became their new time tracker.

Octavia came by once, but since the guards wouldn’t let her through, she shouted “Yaw!” as loud as she could. Kova couldn’t help but laugh gently. Lincoln definitely taught her that greeting. Naturally, they responded with their own “Yaw, Okteivia!”

With Octavia’s loud laughter, they would have given almost anything to see the priceless looks on the guards faces.

Oh, but don’t get Kova wrong. They weren’t bored, even without Octavia to give them company. The juicy gossip the guards shared with one another nourished their entertainment. It appeared as though the sky leaders hadn’t informed the camp that Kova could understand English, although they should have guessed that since Octavia had shouted her greetings in Trigedasleng.

They leaned against a corner pole of the tent and listened in on the guards’ conversation, but every once in a while the gossip would die out or the guards would talk about the Ark (whatever that was) and Kova would get bored and pick at the skin around their nails or on their face.

“Why didn’t you go with Bellamy and Clarke?”

They stopped picking at a scab on their elbow. If Kova had been captured by another clan, like Azgeda, they would have assumed this was a fake conversation to lead them into a trap. But knowing the invaders weren’t that smart, they listened closely.

“No way. I don’t think I had family on that ship so why should I? Besides, they said the trip would only take until the afternoon, but it’s almost night already.”

“Mn. That’s true. Shouldn’t we be looking for them?”

“Nah, they said they didn’t know how long it would take. If they’re not back by tomorrow afternoon, then we should be worried.”

Now that Kova thought about it, they hadn’t had a visit from Clarke or Bellamy since Bellamy moved them to the new tent. They weren’t told that the two leaders would be leaving, but maybe that had been on purpose. No wonder the guards were terrified earlier — they probably didn’t know what to do if Kova left their tent without the leaders around.

‘Interesting. This might be an opportunity to visit Lincoln.” Neither of the sky leaders had liked the idea of Kova roaming around the camp, let alone leave to visit their brother. Who knew when an opportunity like this would come by again?

They debated on how to leave the camp — should they sneak out? Or ask? If the guards at their tent didn’t try to stop them, then the guards at the walls of the camp surely would. ‘Regardless, I should let Octavia know. Maybe she can cover for me. But… if she wants to come… then I’ll end up being a third wheel…’

A scoff passed their lips at the thought. How did Lincoln manage to attract— you know what, no, Kova wasn’t going down that route. They shook their head and with that, they stepped out of the tent, head held high, ignoring the two shocked guards as they walked past. One guard picked up his (very poorly made) spear while the other ran off, whether in fear or to grab someone qualified to deal with this, Kova didn’t know. Raising their hands in a placating manner, they put on their heaviest TonDC dialect and said, “I want to see Okteivia.”

It seemed as though the guard recognized the name and with fearful wide eyes, gave them a small nod and jutted his head, as if to say go ahead.

They bowed their head respectfully (’Behave, remember?’) towards the guard and made their way through camp, head held high even as they exaggerated their limp. Avoiding eye contact, the guard hot on their heels, they went past the main campfire, leaving behind a group of stunned invaders.

Octavia’s wave caught their attention. She seemed to have been in the middle of a conversation with a boy until she saw them. Kova perked up and made their way towards the two—

“I saw the grounders in the trees and it was nothing I ever felt before.”

Kova stopped dead in their tracks. They had heard the word grounder in a rude way before, but never in a way that felt offensive. If the word wasn’t enough, the sentence itself made Kova shiver in disgust.

One look at Octavia and Monty told them everything. Both had wide eyes and opened mouths in shock that someone had the nerve to say that in general, let alone in front of Kova. ‘Would they have been as offended if I wasn’t here?’

Hmm.

They glanced at Octavia at the corner of their eye, jaw tense. When they turned back to the boy in question, they saw her mouth the word ‘shit’ and she and the boy she was talking to made their way down the wall.

Based on the sentence, they had a feeling it came from that boy who shot at the bridge. They turned, and what would you know, they were right! They recognized his face easily. The one who crossed the river. The one who got speared. The one who shot the Trikruvian scouts at the bridge.

Jasper, was it?

Well. Jasper stood around the campfire with his friends, all who were oblivious to the Trikruvian listening in. At first look, he seemed weak with pale skin and a lanky build that seemed to curl in on itself in poor self esteem. But with his friends hyping him up, patting his back and sending waves of confidence, he seemed to stand taller as he recited the story of the meeting.

“It was like pure animal instinct took over, you know? One pull of the trigger, two grounders dead.” He gestured as if he were holding a rifle and pretended to click the trigger.

Directly at Kova.

The boy practically shriveled up before their eyes, his eyes bulging comically. The group of invaders looked confused at his sudden change in demeanor until their eyes followed his sight.

“Dude, relax.” One boy said. “They don’t speak English, remember?”

“My apologies, I was under the assumption there was only one coward here.” Kova’s eyes landed the boy, who pursed his lips and looked away in embarrassment. “Thank you for correcting this.” They turned back to Jasper. “Congratulations, little mouse.”

The guard behind them stiffened. So did a few of the other invaders.

“For what?” Jasper asked meekly, his eyes darting around as if searching someone who could help him out.

Their stare unwavering, they took a step closer. “The peace meeting would have worked out if you hadn’t been so trigger happy. You just stamped a death sentence upon this camp.”

That sparked a few murmurs throughout the campfire. Many of the invaders had been under the assumption that Trikru instigated. Those who had been encouraging Jasper a few moments ago inched away from him.

“Watch what you say, grounder. You don’t know what you’re talking about.” One of his friends sneered, her hand on the handle of her rifle.

“Harper, don’t.”

“Oh? Interesting, I don’t recall seeing your face at the bridge.” Words sharp, their face turned dark, contrasting against the bright flames of the fire. “Did you watch as he shot down those scouts, unprovoked? Did you hear the thumps of their bodies hitting the ground?”

The woman — Harper, was it? — flinched, turning her head away at the graphic image.

“You all villainize my people as if you didn’t steal our land and kill hundreds of people. And you,” they pointed a finger at Jasper, who visibly jumped. “You ruined any chance for peace between our people, yet here you are, unpunished, praised for unjustified murder.”

Before the guard could intervene, Harper threw up her rifle, aiming at Kova’s stomach. Vaguely, Kova thought they heard Octavia calling out their name. But they were far too gone, sunken in their anger. “What, do you plan on killing me? You better make it count.” They grasped the muzzle, stepping in close and pressing it against their stomach. “Better kill me in one shot.”

A hand clapped their shoulder, gently pulling them back. At first, Kova’s instinct was to rip that shit out of its socket, but luckily for the owner, they recognized his voice. Wells stepped in between them and Harper, hands raised to tone down the situation. “Let’s all calm down. You shouldn’t be aiming that gun around so carelessly.” He said gently, slowly pushing the barrel of Harper’s gun to the side. With his other hand, he made a motion.

Octavia appeared by Kova’s side, tugging them by their jacket. “Come on, let’s go. C’mon.” She urged, linking her arms with theirs tightly at the elbow and guiding her away from the group. Kova looked over their shoulder. Wells continued chatting the camp down. The two made eye contact, and they sent a nod of gratitude. He nodded back in response.

“What were you thinking?!” Octavia seethed as they reached a secluded portion of the wall.

“How could he have the audacity to boast about killing my people while fooling his?” Their anger churned at the thought. “How could he make it seem like he was the hero of the story?” They shook their head, trying to clear their mind. “Octavia, I need to get out of here. Just for a bit.”

The girl opened her mouth to object until something through the cracks in the wall caught her eye. Kova followed her line of eyesight and recognized Lincoln’s signal for a meeting — a familiar flowering gladiolus sat next to a white lily. “I’m guessing the lily is your signal?”

"Yeah." The sky girl smiled slightly, a hint of red coming to her cheeks. "How come yours is that one—"

A sound came from the forest, attracting the attention of the guards. “Something hit the trip wire!” One of the boys called out, looking through the scope of his gun.

“Which wire, was it a grounder? I don’t see anything.”

“Nothing. Wait, something moved. There, there, there!”

The two guards shot off multiple rounds into the forest.

“I think I got it.”

“Let’s go check it out.”

Horrified, Octavia could only watch the two boys run towards the gate. “Lincoln.”

Before she could run off, Kova’s grip held her back. “Octavia, that definitely wasn’t Lincoln. Your traps are too simple us to get caught in. We have to go meet him at his place.”

“I have to know what it was, then.” She uncurled Kova’s hand on her wrist. “Head to the meeting place. If it’s nothing I’ll try and follow.” Octavia said before darting off in Connor and Derek’s direction.

An annoyed sigh passed through Kova's lips, but the distraction was too good of an opportunity for them to waste. They had to leave now, before the Exodus group came back. They climbed over the wall and followed the plants.

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It wasn’t hard to find the trail of gladiolus and white lilies under the moonlight. Kova constantly checked behind their back and up around the trees for any signs of a follower, whether it be Trikru or the invaders, until they reached the end of the trail.

A familiar home stood in front of them. Knocking a certain pattern against the door, they opened the door cautiously and slowly headed down the stairs. “Lincoln, it’s me.”

They rounded the corner, only to find the man in question organizing his desks. He met them at the foot of the stairs and wrapped his arms around them tightly. “I’m glad you’re okay.” He glanced at their leg. “How are you feeling?”

“I’ve seen better days, but it’s not that bad.” They responded, hugging him back just as tightly. They noticed his house was a lot messier than usual. “What’s going on here?”

“Dealing with Lieutenant Anya hasn’t been easy.” Lincoln offered them a cup of lukewarm tea from his desk. “Where’s Octavia?”

“Stayed behind.” Kova took the cup from him. “She was worried that you had gotten stuck in some trap they set up to keep intruders out. I told her it wasn’t you but she said she would just meet us here later.” While Lincoln’s face was usually stoic, the slight downturn of his eyebrows and the corners of his lips told them a story. “Why? What’s going on?”

His lips straightened into a line. “The past few days haven’t been easy. Trikru captured a banished sky person, supposedly. I believe his name is Murphy. This morning I heard he was injected with a weak strain of the warfare virus and purposefully released to weaken their camp. Octavia might get infected, which is why I asked her to come here.”

“That virus—?!” Kova let out a sharp, heavy sigh. “They want to start a war.” They murmured into their cup before taking a sip. It shouldn’t come to them as a surprise, but they couldn’t help but tense up. “They haven’t used that since Caocin.”

Lincoln nodded. "There’s more. Rumors say that at dawn in two days, Trikru will try and attack." He hesitated but continued. "I wish I could tell you I had better news, A-Ko. They haven’t set up a trial or anything yet, but since you haven’t been seen around the scouts’ camp or in the villages, Lieutenant Anya and the higher ups—”

“Ah. They’re already planning a conviction, huh?” Their hands trembled. They set the cup down. “Treason?”

“…mn. They added a kill order on top.”

Jaw tensing, they looked down, feeling the familiar prickle behind their eyes and the bridge of their nose. They rubbed the bottom of their nose with the back of their hand. They shook their head and looked back up at him. “Lincoln, what should I do? Where do I go? I’ve spent my whole life with them, I…” They looked up, avoiding the tears that threatened to fall.

The man spoke so quietly that Kova almost missed what he said. “I think you should stay with the sky people.”

They snapped their head at him. “What?”

“Staying here is too risky. The scouts might try to barge in here at any moment. The sky people are your best bet for now. I’ve already sent a message to Luna asking if she can provide refuge for the three of us.” He passed them three extra small knives. “As soon as she responds, we can make a plan.”

“The three of us?” They asked, glancing between him and the weapons.

“I want Octavia to come too.”

Kova wanted to tell him they weren’t too sure Octavia would leave her friends and brother as quickly as that, but kept their mouth shut. “I suppose I have no other choice.” They sheathed the small knives in various holsters across their body. “But I need you to be safe, first, alright? If you think they’ll come after you to trick me into exposing myself, you need to run first.” They held his hands tightly, eyes unwavering. “Promise me?”

Lincoln hesitated. But he nodded his head.

“Good. Find me as soon as everything is ready.”

“I’ll try to be as fast as possible. If anything changes, just rendezvous to Floukru and wait there for me.” Lincoln said, gripping their hands with the same amount of force. He hoped they were as grounding as they once had been when they were younger. “We’re in this together.”

“…mn. Together.”

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Unfortunately, Kova couldn’t stay with Lincoln for long. After an hour of catching up with their brother, Kova returned to camp and by the time they arrived, night had fully settled in and the only source of light came from the main campfire peaking through the cracks of the walls.

They paused behind the thinning foliage and trees, just outside of the camp. ‘Ah. How am I going to get back inside?’ They briefly thought back to the wall they climbed over when they rescued Lincoln but shook it off. ‘No, they’ve probably fixed that area by now. Right?’

Peaking out from the foliage, Kova only saw one guard on duty, and he had his head down. ‘Mn. Perfect. I can sneak by.’

They quietly climbed the wall, making sure their clothes and shoes didn’t catch on anything or scrape along the wood, and reached the top of the wall. They gracefully leaped over, landing on the platform where the guard was.

The sound of clothes shifting made them freeze in place. They turned slowly, their mind rapidly going through different scenarios to keep the guard quiet, until they peaked at the guard’s face.

A soft snore broke the silence.

‘Sleeping?!’

Pressing the back of their hand against their mouth, Kova’s body shuddered with quiet and quiet laughs of disbelief. They shook their head and hopped over the other side of the platform and into the camp, landing in a forward roll. They scanned their surroundings first, and once they were sure no one was around, they looked back up at the sleeping guard.

Kova couldn’t help but scoff. ‘Weren’t these kids worried that I would sneak out and bring Trikru to their door? Did any of them notice I was gone?’ They took a rock from the ground before stepping into the dark shadows of the side of the wall.

They threw the rock with precision. It thumped at the wall underneath the guard. He woke up with a start and stood, bringing his gun up and checking the area outside the camp for any disturbances. Once he felt it was clear, he sat back down, his spine straight, as if willing himself to not fall asleep again.

‘These kids really have no idea what they’re doing.’ Kova sighed, shaking their head, and kept to the shadows as they sneaked into their tent through a flap in the back. ‘Even the guards here didn’t notice anything.’ Their mind wandered along that track as they unclothed themselves, and the chatters of the guards in front of the tent became their background noise. They folded their heavy clothes and placed them and their armor next to the bed—

Kova jumped, as if they were a startled cat, and pulled out a knife on instinct. There was a human shaped lump in their bed, completely covered by the blanket, but something felt off. They pulled the blanket back slowly, knife at the ready.

The blanket slipped off, revealing two pillows and a rolled up blanket. Kova let out a sigh of relief and dropped their knife. ‘Probably Octavia’s doing.’

They returned the knife to its appropriate holster and tossed it next to their armor. They could deal with it tomorrow. Kova expected to knock out the moment their head made contact with the pillow, but as they slipped in their bed, it was far too firm. Sitting up, they swiped underneath the pillow only to pull out a first aid kit.

Their face softened. ‘Thanks, Octavia.’

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[dantesilvadraws]

Young and Terrified Pt. 2

Title: Young and Terrified Pairing: Bakugou Katsuki + Kirishima Eijirou Warning: Omegaverse (Part 1)

If you like what you read, please consider supporting me with ko-fi, patreon, or buy my original novel in print or in digital format. Thank you! Patreon members have already had access to this fic for about a week. 

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How do you come back from doing something like that?

The question had been buzzing in Bakugou’s head for the past hour as he stared up at Kirishima’s apartment building. He couldn’t just knock on the door and tell him that he’s sorry, although, yes that was the most appropriate thing to do, but it was far to dismissive. Especially after everything he said.

As the sun began to rise behind the apartment building Bakugou came to the realization that he had been standing there for hours. And the only words he had were: I’m sorry.

There was no way that was enough.

And that’s when Kirishima stepped out of the apartment. In like a cheesy romance, the two of them spotted each other through the rushing morning crowd that was beginning to form. Time stood still for a few moments and Bakugou could see the fingers on Kirishima’s right hand beginning to twitch. It was a trigger, breaking Bakugou from the spell he had put himself under.

“I’m sorry!” Bakugou shouted the exact words he didn’t want to say but he’d find better words to make up for it.

Kirishima glanced downward, swaying and rubbing the back of his neck.

Bakugou jogged toward the omega, nearly tripping on a business man.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Bakugou repeated, he wanted to take Kirishima in his arms or grab his hands but he wasn’t sure if the omega wanted him to touch him and he didn’t want to upset him even more, “I’m a fucking idiot and I didn’t mean to say those things I was just scared…” he admitted, “And if I’m scared, I can only imagine how scared you must be.”

Kirishima stared up at Bakugou, he sighed and smiled weakly, “You’re right...I am scared -- but if, if you promise to be with me then, everything might be less scary, you know?”

“I’m going to make you and our son so happy, if you’ll let me.” Bakugou declared.

“Son?” Kirishima gasped, “How -- how can you tell?”

“Trust me, I know.” Bakugou said, “So, will you let me, will you give me another chance?”

Kirishima hesitated and it was painful for Bakugou to feel that uncertainty.

“You don’t have to answer right away.” Bakugou said, “But I promise I’ll make up for it.” “Yeah, okay.” Kirishima nodded and agreed.

And Bakugou did what he promised. He did his best to be at every villain sighting he could, and participate enough to get paid. Not only was he conducting business during the day, but he was sweeping out the city at night too. He was going to do whatever he needed to, to give Kirishima a nice apartment to nest and then raise their child in.

Despite admiring all of the effort Bakugou was putting out, it was still of course a little worrying to Kirishima. He knew Bakugou would keep his promise, but he didn’t want him to tire himself out to the point where he wouldn’t have a choice but to raise this baby on his own.  

But Bakugou wasn’t entirely hard headed, he knew his limitations and he hated it. Bakugou sat at a park bench drinking a bottle of water and thinking about what his next plan of attack should be. His thoughts were interrupted by the soft buzz of his phone and an image from Kirishima that eased his stresses.

It was a picture of ultrasound with the caption, ‘You were right, we’re going to have a boy.’

Bakugou smiled.

“What are you smiling at?”

Bakugou looked up and saw Izuku standing in front of him, he rolled his eyes, “None of your business.”

Izuku crossed his arms and sat in the spot next to Bakugou, “Is everything okay?”

Bakugou didn’t answer.

“You’ve been -- umm, kinda everywhere.” “What, are you jealous I’m going to take your spot at number one?”

“Maybe a little.” Izuku sat next him, “Um, hey can I ask you something?”

“You can try.”

“I know it really isn’t any of my business, but, is Kirishima really pregnant?” Izuku asked.

“You answered your own damn question.” Bakugou half growled, “To mind your own fucking business.”

“I just haven’t seen him around and rumors are --”

“You listen to rumors?” “No, no, um, it’s just that Eijirou is my friend and I --,” Bakugou stood up, and sighed, “As long as Eijirou is with me, you don’t have to worry about his safety. He’s fine…” he then added with a smile as he walked off, “...they both are.”

“Both?”

Bakugou walked away cooly, and shot a text with an address and to meet him there so they could celebrate.

Later in the evening, Kirishima arrived at the address, slightly confused. It wasn’t a place that he’d expect to go and celebrate. It -- it was the address to an apartment complex on a nicer part of town than his current one was at.

He was about to call Bakugou to ask about the address, when he saw him coming out of the building with a smile on his face and a pair of keys in his hands. He beamed when saw his pregnant omega and said, “Guess what we now have.”

Could it be true? Did they no longer have seperate homes, but one to share?

A place where they can be together and raise their pup?

Was it true?

“Katsuki… is that what I think it is?”

“Yes it is,” he put out a hand, “You want to see our new home?” Kirishima reached out toward Bakugou’s hand, who then led the way to their sixth floor, two bedroom apartment. As soon as Kirishima entered the apartment he caught the smell of something delicious coming from another room.

“Something smells really good!” Kirishima exclaimed, excited to find what was making his mouth water.

“Over here.” Bakugou directed Kirishima into another room with a crib and a nightstand. Sitting on the nightstand was some fresh pizza, which Kirishima had been craving.

Kirishima covered his mouth, a rush of emotions hit him and he wasn’t sure if he was going to cry or scream from the happiness and unbelievability of it all. Bakugou wrapped his arms around his omega and set his hands on his little belly.

“So, is this enough to make up for all that shitty crap I said to you before?”

“Of course it does.”

[redskull-fanatic]

Captain Hydra

A story about Steve becoming Captain Hydra. An alternate universe if the whole plot of Captain America: The First Avenger, was slightly altered. No Bucky death, no Johann being blasted into the cosmos, and no crashing into the ice and becoming frozen. Just a simple, “American military foils a minor Hydra plan, and the two have been going back and forth a few years after the war.” Should be interesting.

Skull stood on his balcony, watching his Hydra troops do their normal training routine. It was all so boring, dull, uninspired.

Schmidt sighed angrily as he stormed his way back into his office and shut the balcony doors with simply no thought at all.

He paced the room a bit, deep in thought, until the radiant blue light caught his attention. He eased his way over to his prized Tesseract and lifted it up with care. He stared into the light, demanding sort of answer telepathically. Unable to understand the Skull’s unvoiced demand, the object simply dimmed it’s glow.

Schmidt sighed once more.

“You must be confused on why I am upset, hm?” He asked the glowing object, it shimmered in response. “Ah, well, my Hydra army seems so dull. Normally opera and portraits would quench my thirst of entertainment, but even that is not working..” Skull explained dully, setting the cube onto a plush pillow display and going back to pacing the room.

The cube seemed to watch him, thinking of ways to cheer him up. It glowed with a suggestion.

Skull noticed.

“Whatever you are suggesting, perhaps do it now. I do not like my attention wasted.”

The cube hummed in response and started glowing brightly. Then, it shot out a hologram of a figure.

The figure had no colors other than the blue of the tesseract, but Skull could clearly make out it was Captain America.

His new mysterious rival.

“… Him?” The Skull asked, receiving a glow from the alien object, “What about him?”

The hologram Steve was moved aside and two more pictures were displayed. The Hydra symbol and a question mark.

The Skull looked confused, but once all the pieces fit together in his mind he was baffled.

“Are you suggesting… Captain America join Hydra?” He whispered, still in a state of shock that such an object would even consider the possibility.

The cube glowed in agreement, then all the pictures disappeared and the hologram showed a concept idea of Captain Hydra. Hologram Steve was smiling, and once he saw Skull he gave the Hydra salute. Johann was taken aback by this.

He decided to consider what the cube was offering.

Captain America becoming Captain Hydra?… Both names sound just as moronic, The Skull thought. He started to pace around the room, This Captain America is still a new enemy of mine, I truly do not know much about him… He’s idiotic and stubborn, how would I even convert him to Hydra?

The Skull looked at the cube, in his mind demanding an answer. However, the hologram of Steve kept distracting him. Saluting, smiling, wielding his Hydra shield. It was such a strange sight to behold, yet Skull did like what he saw.

“If I wish to convert the Captain to Hydra, I need options. Ways to convert him… Any ideas?”

The Tesseract took away hologram Rogers and a few more pictures popped up. All described the possible ways to convert the American to Hydra.

The first picture was a man shouting at another. Force, Schmidt thought.

The second was a man with swirly eyes, Schmidt concluded that was brainwash, and/or mind control.

The third, however, he was put off by. The image was two men smiling and shaking hands.

He looked at the Tesseract in disgust, “What is this?”

The cube’s light glowed with interest, and displayed more and more pictures that made the Skull uncomfortable.

People hugging, laughing, dancing, talking with huge smiles on their faces.

All were acts of kindness.

The realization hit Schmidt like a truck, and he could feel his breakfast race up his throat.

Forcing his earlier meal back down, he glared at the tesseract in disapproval.

The holograms disappeared and the tesseract’s light dimmed in shame, causing Schmidt to sigh. “I am not mad at you,” he stated, causing the tesseract to light up again. “However, I do not understand why of all things you’d suggest-”

Schmidt was cut off by a knock at the door.

Quickly lifting up the tesseract and placing it back in its proper place, he marched forward to see who his interruption was.

He opened the door slightly, his look of disapproval melted into a neutral expression.

“Hallo, Dr. Zola.”

Zola shifted nervously with his papers, a slight hint of annoyance was on his face. He spared a glance at Schmidt, “Herr Skull, sorry to bother you-”

Skull shook his head, “No, no, perfectly fine. Was in the middle of… Watching the troops as all, what is it Arnim?”

Zola shuffled his papers around more, “Well, I came here to show you more-”

“Ideas for future designs?” Schmidt finished, and seeing the look on Zola’s face he knew he was correct.

Zola was no doubt a smart man, however he’s far too nervous and quiet to truly take any action. Johann had to find him, see his work and hire him for Zola to actually grow a backbone. It took him weeks to get used to looking Skull in the eyes, but Johann is pleased how far he came from then.

“Y-Yes… “ Stammered Arnim as he adjusted his glasses and handed Schmidt some concept sheets.

The Skull eyed them carefully, taking in each and every idea he could. Truth is, Johann always liked to hear about new ideas, especially the crazy ones. For years his knowledge of myth being fact was shut down and called mad, until those dull-witted Nazis took interest in him. He returned the favor with Zola and is very willing to look at any ideas the doctor has… When he’s in a good mood.

Thankfully, he was.

Schmidt nodded at most of the designs, only a few he saw no future for. He handed all the blueprints back to Zola, pointing at the few he disliked. “Either toss these out or better them,” he demanded darkly. Zola simply nodded, sorting all of the papers out now that Schmidt returned them.

He then noticed the emotions swimming in Johann’s eyes, drawing concern.

“Herr Schmidt?”

“Yes, Zola?”

“…  Is everything alright?”

Skull tensed up in the shoulders, he despised whenever Zola noticed something was wrong with him. When all the thoughts and feelings clashed, and he couldn’t think straight. The good doctor has become familiar with Schmidt’s usual expressions and tones. It made Schmidt uncontrollable that Zola knew him almost a little too well.

He huffed, trying to relax his furrowing brows, “I’m fine Arnim, nothing is bothering me-“

The look on Zola’s face told Schmidt he wasn’t buying it.

Skull sighed and spoke lower, “Hydra is boring me, as all. I wish it was a little more exciting. I shall put up with it until my mood shifts. Good day, doctor.”

And with that, Skull shut the door in Zola’s face. It wasn’t a slam, but it was shut quickly.

Zola grew more and more concerned as he left the hall.

000

Schmidt stomped back to the Tesseract, lifted it out and stared into it.

He scanned for any hints or clues, but the mysterious object only twinkled to greet Schmidt.

The Skull sighed as he placed the jewel to Odin’s treasure room onto its plush pillow and stomped out onto the balcony.

He watched the troops train. Getting yelled at by their superiors, obeying every command, when the routine got messed up; they would be scolded and force to do it all over again.

Skull sighed again, his eyes wandering elsewhere.

He scanned the surrounding wildlife, the sparse grass being devoured by dirt, pushed back woods, the entire place strangely being shades of brown and orange.

Schmidt raised his brow, then took a glance at the Tesseract.

It twinkled another greeting.

He nodded, then looked up at the sky.

The sun was in the midst of setting, so the sky was painted ruby reds and bright oranges.

He stared up at it, silently making pleas with his eyes.

He wanted answers, he wanted options. Normally, he made his own options, but this time… He was unsure what course of action to take next.

The sky melted and mixed with the colors, like watery paint on a forever moving canvas.

Maybe the gods would answer him with shapes in the sky.

Johann paid close attention to the moving shapes, trying to latch onto anything he could.

It took him ten minutes to find one; a square.

A red and orange square with swirls of faint white sky, the white was being possessed by the red and the orange seemed greedy to join in.

It was beautiful, but it told Johann something important.

He lowered his head, thought about it, then decided to take the order.

He thanked the gods quietly and marched towards the Tesseract.

The blue glow seemed happy to be in his presence. It shone brightly as Johann picked it up.

Calmly, he said; “… Tell me more about this… plan of yours.”

Thanks for reading! Sorry the format is wonky, writing this on Google Docs and such. Now, I don't know much about Marvel in general, so I'm making this up as I go! Sorry if anyone is out of character or something. Also, once I'm part way through chapter three, I'll post two. Writing this all for fun, and it's coming out nice! Thanks again!!

[kyanmaaaa]

i told my bro abt this dream and hes just like why are your dreams so dark (so like, tw for this one)

but honestly i didnt really consider this dark it was oddly beautiful if scary. im going to fill in parts with what i think could have happened there but im also not going to include the details for what the room looked like in every scene besides whats neccassary, cause this was so vivid i could try to describe to you what each PERSON looked like and people usually dont even have faces in my dreams!

its still long so heres a read more

beginning of the dream im walking home at dusk and im coming from a direction i almost nvr walk, except for when its halloween. so it may have been halloween in my dream, the sunset is a beautiful BRIGHT orange and its on the side of my house rather than behind like it usually is but thats a minor detail.

cause around the house behind mine theres a very strange cloud formation, much lower than i usually see clouds and its not foggy but its just, theres clouds wrapped around the house except for the front and the wall just goes up and up and up to the top and slightly past the house. paired with the sunset i think thats really beautiful so i take some pics with my phone and go closer just to see how close i can get before the clouds disappear and then i’ll go home

i didnt get to go home, the clouds wrapped fully around the house and a strong, something, stopped me from leaving. also there was like an evil to/riel so she mighta been the one doing that

next part of the dream kinda jumps around so ill have to infer some parts but essentially the house changes from the building ive seen there for you know, my entire life, to a small dark wooden mansion. also muffet is there and guess what she ALSO sucks. and then theres this bitch blond haired human pony tail man and hes dumb and i dont like him. im not allowed to leave and im kinda enslaved i guess (my bro called me a prisoner with a job when i told him and it was stupid funny). muffets off on a job after i get settled in there and i dont know what happens to make me so submissive considering the next part of the dream focuses on another servant but whatever they did was REALLY REALLY BAD cause at every point after this im terrified of fucking up and ive pretty much given up on getting out.

this next part was more of a flashback sequance that happened later but for ease of reading im going to add it here instead. first other servant i meet is a beautiful large green shiny beetle man, seriously hes gorgeous and so well spoken and kind. when he was brought into the house he was introduced as just a regular human man, still as beautiful as ever tho, was hired to play piano for a party. as hes fiddling away with the keys though if you looked around you could see bright shiny green and gold strings just, laying flat against the wall, piano, his suit, etc. turns out those were his beetle wings but stretched out and distorted and at this point hes discovered cause to the untrained eye those look like decorations, but its how his kind disguises themselves. cause he can change his entire appearance except for his wings, so they have to try and hide their wings in the environment around them.

they didnt like him lying but it was calm at first. muffet invites him to a small welcoming dinner, just for a chat. they share a platter of food on one plate, partly meat, but most of whats facing him is just a lot of rice packed into a line. he slowly pecks away at that as he carries a polite conversation with muffet, but nvr touches the other side of the food. after hes abt halfway through it she asks “Why aren’t you trying the other food deary?” and he responds “I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to Miss.” and has a bite.

after whatevers in that food kicks in he keels over in pain and she makes it very clear how things go in this house. he listens, he does not act without being told to, and if he ever tries to pull a stunt like that again he’ll be dead. “Am I clear deary?”

since he was there before i was some times passed since that happened. hes currently being punished by mr asshole blond ponytail man and his punishment is all of his meals are very plain. just rice and unseasoned meat. the chef clearly put effort into each platter tho as theyve been shaped into increasingly elaborate shapes the longer the punishment lasts. im not quite sure why this is a punishment? maybe beetle man isnt getting all the nutrients he needs and thats harder for his kind, perhaps he has a taste for good food and this is just the most the ponytail dude can get away with as a punishment since muffets in charge of the house, or maybe its meant to bring up bad memories of when he first came here.

this next parts, really foggy

back to me and muffets talking to someone through a large portal in the room? plans are made abt making humans lose hope and wiping out humanity. the vegan next to me is very excited abt this and comments on it and im just like, bro, that would be super bad for the earth and also immoral? and shes like oh right. at some point i befriend a guy even tho we hated each other at first but he’s moved elsewhere after some time

time skip to muffet informing me that due to my most recent mistake my family is going to be killed. at this point im just sick of it i’ve been here for months im miserable im lonely, i miss my family im just kinda, unstable

really unstable

im shouting at her if shes going to off my family she has to kill me too cause i cant live knowing theyre dead because of me or live without them, just sobbing, kill me, please just kill me i cant stay here anymore she sends me to my room and i pass by my beetle friend but neither of us says anything, also passed by some buff monster but its irrelevant. i dont go to my room instead im just looking through hallway after hallway, opening a storage closet and just trying to find SOMETHING to work with because yeah im miserable, yeah this is probably going to backfire but you do NOT. FUCK. WITH MY FAMILY! so i have to leave. i dont care if this might kill me i have to get out of there with whatever the hell i can find. what i find is two deflated balloons with little plastic bits inside that when u press a button they light up and im like OKAY maybe i, maybe me and beetle man can use this to signal to each other! thats great i can do this i can. i think i may have been crying and laughing here after my exploring Im hiding behind a sofa in a room in the furthest corner of the house cradling my little weird balloon bundle, just trying to find space to think. im safe because u cant see me from the door and the blinds on the window are drawn already. it feels like i havent seen the outside in a while remember how i said i was really unstable? this felt completely real in the dream so maybe it was real due to dream logic, but it feels like desperation in hindsight. i clicked both of the balloon lights on and realized i could use it as a phone! i need to call mom i miss her so much. so i do and she goes honey where are you? and im just crying and saying i love you, i love you so much im okay mom, its okay, and shes like are you at school??? and i just turn into a mess. at this point i look through the sheer curtains on the window and notice my brother driving a really tall truck moving some construction supplies. it sucks that hes here too but im just so happy to see him even if i know i cant talk to him. maybe if they dont find out we’re related he’ll be okay and then i leave the mansion, and i run. nothing here is familiar. im somewhere in the woods. i try to run to the front and see all of the construction workers there making something, but besides all the people somehow the dirt is just, this sheer cliff up up and up in front of the place. so i run to the back and try to get through the barrier around the place. i think i do but its not exactly easy. i fought off a possessed wild boar, but it was the size you think a pig would be, so like a medium sized dog, it just tried to bite me and while it hurt i just hit it til it stayed down long enough for me to bolt after im some distance away, further into the forest on a wide path i meet a human whos instantly on guard to fight me. i spray paint in his eyes and then run on i meet a strange human on the same path and he smirks at me and puts paper in front of his eyes to stop my tactic. i go hey fuck it maybe the fumes will disorient him and spray and his magic stops the paint in mid air and im like dude that is SICK, before he flings it back at me

i dont know how but i beat him too but the next part of the dream im finally somewhere residential, houses along the water, its a warm but not too warm day, light breeze, so all in and beautiful. i feel like im seeing and breathing freely and clearly for the first time in, i dont even know how long. its bright and while i know i have to run im just going to keep running, im free for now.

i use my little balloon contraption and call up my mom again now that im somewhere im positive no one will hear me. i tell her im sorry but i cant go home, that this is likely goodbye, and i cant guarantee ill get out of this alive but it’s okay. i love you so much. and she has to leave too. i stress this. she has to leave, cut all ties, cut all things that could trace you and get out of there. 

and then my alarm woke me up

its hard to explain why some sections of this dream were so scary, just the feeling of wrongness, isolation, powerlessness, and just some distant pain that i dont know what it was. it felt like the longer i was there the more my world was ending

[hunterartemis]

Angel of Music (Jack Kline X Reader)

Prompt: Jack is trying hard to impress Dean with his Biblical talents, but instead he achieves something else.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oK98eBpw9yM click on this and minimize before you read this. This was my inspiration for this oneshot

‘Here... this will be all the books covering Biblical and pre-Biblical knowledge‘ I handed the new guy all the books we had about the Biblical lores. ‘I would suggest emphasizing on Book of Enoch though.‘ I added, ‘it sort of mentions and says what you are.‘

‘What I am? Really?‘ his face brightened up with hope, ‘I wouldn’t be that happy just yet buddy. Things got dirty in there. That is why it’s called The Forbidden Book of Enoch‘ I said, patted his back and left, ‘call me if you need anything.‘

‘_...‘ he called me at my back, ‘yes?‘ I answered with ease, ‘do you think it will help me to show Dean that I don’t intend to hurt any of you?‘

‘Look Jack,‘ I grimaced, and it was hard for me to give him false hope, yet I was not ready yet to crack him the cold hard truth, ‘I can’t ensure that yet. Dean is not the most open person in the world, and right now, he is in mourning.‘ i clarified, ‘but if you follow what he wanted for you... he might come around.‘ I patted his back and left.

I went to the sitting room where Dean was abjectly sitting and Sam looking like he would do anything to make Dean happy. I sat down with some lorebooks, rather nasty ones too, with a Jerome’s Bible sprawled open at the side next to King James’ like you would do to dictionaries while you are reading a difficult book.

‘Dean... ‘ I called him softly, and looked at him square, ‘I think I have something about the Shedims...‘ he shifted on his seat and forwarded his face, ready to hear me, ‘it’s been three days Dean, stop with that.’

‘So you don’t have anything on the Shedims...‘ Dean huffed and slammed his palm on the glass-top, while Sam was ready to follow him to calm him down, ‘just-just... Dean, listen to me!‘ I stood up and grabbed his shoulder and with my two fingers angled his face towards me, ‘stop doing this okay... it’s not healthy!’ I sat him down and cupped his face, ‘I know...‘ a tear leaked from my eyes ‘how sad you are, and how... everything is not according to anything we have seen! But you gotta hold on Dean, please.‘ I said, ‘and... I have some good news.‘

‘Please... by all means!‘ Dean added sarcastically.

‘I think I have found something that could be good for both of us and Jack. I have dug every forbidden book on biblical lores, especially those which had been rejected from the canon.‘ I finally saw a flicker of intrigued hope in Dean’s face, ‘remember... how you told me how Death told you Genesis was sketchy? Well, canonically it is. There is a whole book middle of Genesis 6-11, the Book of Enoch, it has all the hot knowledge of Nephilims and Princes of Hell. I left it with Jack.‘

‘What the hell did you do that?‘ Dean almost broke the table with his fist-slamming, ‘Dean... relax...‘ I sat him down again, ‘think about it! all the vile deeds of angels and demons are recorded there, names of every rotten son of bitch, crowning prince of hell, everything... He could be alerted, and well equipped against them!‘

‘Or against us!‘ Dean’s voice rose, ‘_, that might be the stupidest thing you have ever done! You left the grenade with him... WITH FREAKING SON OF LUCIFER!‘

‘Oh yeah, and flinging Songs of Solomon was a pretty good idea I am guessing!‘ I answered, ‘the kid started stabbing himself after that! even for Lucifer’s son, that tore my heart into pieces Dean...‘ I was almost tearful, ‘You raised a shapeshifter kid once... a freaking baby... Jack might look 16, but he is a freaking baby Dean! would you have let that baby stab himself?‘

‘Uh guys...‘ Sam called from behind, and pointed around him, ‘am I drunk or the lights are too bright.‘

Sam was right. the warm white light bulbs from the 1950′s was burning like neon-lights, and it hurt the eyes. We were all used to the air-pressure in the subterranean bunker, but the air was surprising light and queerly, fresh, like outside world in springtime.

‘Please don’t tell me nobody called in those air fresheners again‘ Dean exasperatedly called again.I was very baffled by the entire existence of our bunker, the lights burned in such a way that every corner of the bunker was illuminated without shadows. Suddenly we all stopped in our tracks.

‘Guys... you hear that?‘ Sam almost whispered, and went forward ahead of us

‘Yeah... oh god!‘ I panicked, ‘please don’t tell me Jack is stabbing himself again!‘

‘Uh... I wouldn’t worry about that yet,’ Sam beckoned us to the corridor where mine and Jack’s rooms were. As we entered there, a beautiful sound flew towards our direction, and even Dean was stopped by its tracks. It wasn’t the type of sounds we hear from day to day, or in radio, it had some kind of ecclesiastical feeling.

‘Sounds like...‘ Dean answered, ‘church...‘

‘It’s definitely does...‘ i said, ‘and it’s coming from Jack’s room.‘

Sam gently pushed Jack’s door open, and we were almost blasted by a blinding golden light emitting from his room. When our vision adjusted, we saw something that wasn’t near anything we saw or experienced so far.

Jack was sitting on the floor, with a book opened on his lap, upon which his right palm was pressed. The vein on his hands glowed golden and following the formation of blood vessels it flew towards his throat and emitted as the most beautiful chant I had ever heard anyone singing. His eyes were closed, not in the agonized manner when he heard the angel radio, but it appeared that he was in peace, well, almost in bliss. He was ‘singing’ and the more he ‘sang’ the more the air lightened around us. It sounded vaguely familiar, and as I started to make out the lyrics, I understood what he sang.

‘It’s Jean Baptiste Racine’s Cantique, Opus 11.’ I hoarsely spoke, my knees was weak with the magnitude of the melody that was flowing through him. Even Dean couldn’t make anything to say. 

‘How’s he doing that?‘ Sam asked curiously, and perhaps with his voice, Jack broke from his trance, and looked at us apologetically.

‘I-I am sorry... I didn’t mean to do that...‘ Jack especially looked at Dean and me. ‘It’s okay Jack...‘ Sam spoke and sniffed subtly, wiping his eyes slightly, ‘that was beautiful... beautiful.‘

I sat down to match he eye level, ‘yes... Jack, you have a beautiful gift.’

‘I do?‘ Jack asked, his eyes lit up with innocent happiness, ‘you’re not angry at me?‘ I smiled and grabbed his hand, ‘no-no... not mad! How can we be mad when you have the voice of an angel.‘ With my words, his smile faltered, ‘I don’t think that is something to be proud of.‘

My eyes softened, ‘Oh no, no... no... It means, your voice brings people joy.’ I said, ‘did your mother teach you to sing?’

‘No...‘ Jack said, ‘No... after I was finished with the book of enoch you told me to read, I found this in the pile you left me. It was in a language I never saw, although it looked like English. Then when I opened this page‘ he gave me the Book of Jean Baptiste Racine, ‘the words did not seemed strange anymore... like they were whispering to me. It was like hearing my mother when I was in her belly. I thought it was something for me... then when I touched the page, it happened.‘

‘What happened Jack?‘ Sam joined the team.

‘I saw paradise...‘ Jack said, ‘like its written in Bible... garden, light, angels. All of them peaceful and happy. Nothing like that thing the man told me to free from Hell.‘ he furrowed his brows, ‘they told me to sing... so I sang.‘

‘Why did you sing Jack? what was the song meant to You?‘ I asked earnestly. ‘They told me I can sing... and it will make me feel better about myself. Not scared anymore... like‘ he touched his heart ‘is warm here...‘

We felt Dean abruptly leaving the place.

...

Extended Ending

After dinner, I came to check in the living room to see if all the lights were off. I saw Dean sitting in the table with books opened before him. I tried to close them off, but he grabbed my hand.

‘_, do you believe him?‘ he asked me.

‘I have no reason not to... he is three days old. He hasn’t learnt lying.‘ I said, ‘even Lucifer developed inequity millinias after he was created.‘ Dean gently sat me down and flung me the Book of Job

“Job 38:7 – When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy“

“Maybe Bieber gets em from the daddy...“ Dean sardonically answered, and my brows furrowed at him. ‘You’ve been to hell Dean, weren’t you?‘

‘Damn straight...‘ He answered, and I caressed his cheek. ‘You said there was a part of you which was destroyed in Hell, didn’t you... Hell burns the goodness in you doesn’t it?‘ Dean looked at me incredulously.

‘What do you mean _?‘ Dean looked at me confusingly.

‘Long ago, my mother used to tell me a story. It was about a boy who was assumed by everyone as ‘devil’s spawn.‘ I traced the veins in Dean’s hand, and lost myself in my past. ‘His fault was he didn’t knew where he came from. But there was a girl he loved, from a very young age, and she was the one who accepted him wholeheartedly. But the brutality on him by everyone made him so angry and frustrated that not even Cathy’s love could save Heathcliff.‘ I tried to be all mysterious, but failed as I was reminded of the story so bad. ‘Dean... when you assume someone evil for too long, even the person starts to believe that he is evil. He kills the goodness inside him.‘

Dean looked at me without blinking, his eyes were moistened.

‘For millennia, Lucifer was caged. He was blamed, hated and feared for so long that people forgot that it was through him Heaven heard its music. Maybe Lucifer forgot himself‘ I said, as my heart wrenched in pain at that thought, ‘that he was born with music in his veins... maybe you too have forgotten the happiness you felt before Hell.‘

Dean opened his mouth to speak, his lips quivered, but no words came.

‘Let him try Dean...‘ I said, grabbing his hands gently ‘Lucifer’s son or not, let him try. Let them both try-- father and son. Satan or not, there is no greater tragedy than knowing the Angel of Music forgot about the melody inside him.‘

[chickenkooks]

the noisy neighbors [m]

❛❛i live in a house full of stupid men and their dirty underwear except there is an angel in their midst and he cleans up after himself and does everyone’s laundry and we share the same neighbor who likes to have wild sex every night and the hot boy hates confrontation but i guess not when his dick is in my vagina❜❜ AU

COUNT → 7.143

GENRE → smut 

PAIRING → jinyoung | reader

WARNINGS → dom and sub tones | oral sex | explicit language | penetration | graphic dirty talk | spanking 

note → this is for my friend @loljinyoungie because it’s her birthday today!!!! birthday smut!!!! so if ur reading this. please feel free to send her a birthday message :-D i hope u like this smut though!!!!! i told you i would finish it!!!!!!!!! a little later than i planned but oH WELL HAVE AT ALL YOUR KINKS I HOPE I DID THEM JUSTICE. AND IF I SPELLED HIS NAME “JIMYOUNG” ANYWHERE IM GONNA BE SO MAD IDK WHY THAT IS EVEN A THING THAT HAPPENS

You really hated the fact that you were such a light sleeper.

One of your favorite sounds in the world was nothing. That's not to say you didn't have a favorite sound, but that your favorite sound was literally nothing. Nothing was the sound of a cool breeze blowing against your house's exterior. Or maybe it was even the sound of rain dripping from your roof outside your window—sounds like those.

Nothing was white noise, but it also sounded cooler to say nothing rather than that.

However, the sound of bodies thudding into the wall next to you? That was definitely not white noise.

Your walls were thin. And it just so happened that the wall your bed was propped against was the same wall that your viagra housemate liked to frequent with his dick rammed in something—usually some girl's poor vagina. And it was never her who was loud, always him. He moaned and cursed and grunted very violently that sometimes you worried for her safety—or all of their safety if it was more than one girl. Still, this happened every single night.

It was like he had to have his dick in something every day that you kind of worried about him, too.

And it was never at the same time either. Sometimes, he liked to start the day off with his dick sucked. You know, that's reasonable because once you were asleep, you were fucking asleep and not even his low grunts could wake your slumber. It was like you were a vampire or something, except you did enjoy garlic bread from time to time.

Why don't you just move your bed?

A good question.

Though, why the fuck should you have to take the time out of your day to move around your prehistoric mattress and bedframe just so that you could fucking go to sleep? You were stubborn—you could admit that. He should have the good human fucking decency to not fucking wake up the entire house with his weird sex noises.

Or maybe you hadn't gotten laid for a long time and this was something that made you bitter.

Maybe you were bitter. He was getting laid every fucking night and there you were watching Veggie Tales while eating a salad because... cannibalism. That could be it but you also weren't the only person in your house who hated him. In fact, your other housemate on the opposite side of his room was actually just as peeved as you.

Jinyoung was his name.

Except Jinyoung didn't like to complain.

When you met him—and everyone else living in the house—he was the one who kept to himself. He made polite conversation and listened when you complained that hail was an abomination to weather, but he never really volunteered any complaints of his own. Maybe he didn't like you and thought you were a freak for hating hail when you could be spending your time doing something productive, but then he asked to use your toaster oven the day after because his broke. And that's what got you talking—not every day, though. Jinyoung wasn't home often—he worked in some office downtown. In fact, Jinyoung was hardly ever home at a reasonable time either.

But he always came back just when the guy sandwiched between your rooms started getting jiggy with it.

That was a reference that he was fucking someone without having to say that.

Sitting straight up in bed, your feet eased into your slippers beside your bedside table, storming out your bedroom door and into the main upstairs hallway so you could make him shut up already. This wasn't the first time you'd done this and it sure as fuck wouldn't be the last; he just never got the message. You would say, "Kindly shut up, you insignificant pest," and he would say, "Sure thing, Cantaloupe. Sorry about all the noise. I'll be quiet."

Cantaloupe wasn't even your fucking name—or a name at all—so you had no idea where he got that from.

It was like his fucking ears were made out of cantaloupes.

You squinted as you closed your door and listened with a twitching eyebrow as you could hear his headboard slamming against the wall. You'd just been innocently laying in your bed for the past few hours reading when suddenly there were sex noises and you wanted to fling yourself out your open bedroom window.

Just as you went to knock violently on his door, you heard the front door opening and footsteps up the stairs.

"Oh," Jinyoung said as soon as he saw you, loosening his suit's tie. "Hey."

Your cheeks heated as you glanced down at what you were wearing—a skimpy white tank top and a pair of pajama bottoms with illustrations of morbidly obese cats decorating the fabric. You crossed your arms over your chest in an 'x' formation as you turned around, smiling at him awkwardly. He gave your body a once over, then snorted.

"What keeps you up at this late hour, Cantaloupe?"

You rolled your eyes. Park Jinyoung thought he was funny.

"Ha-ha," you replied, monotonously. "You're hilarious."

Remembering why you were in the hallway being teased by Jinyoung, you looked back at the door and listened for a moment for any more noises coming from within his room. When there was a crash inside, there was suddenly an incomprehensible shout about how his dead grandma bought him that vase and then something else.

If it was incomprehensible, how did you know that?

You were able to make out a few words—that's how.

"Ah. He's making his noises again tonight, huh?"

"Yes, so if you'll excuse me—"

You went to knock on his door when Jinyoung suddenly reached out, grasping your wrist so it hung mid-air. You glanced over your shoulder at him then, furrowing your eyebrows just as he slowly let go.

Jinyoung had this thing where he hated confrontation, you remembered.

"Jinyoung," you huffed out. "If I don't say something, he'll just—"

"I know but surely he's almost done by now."

"Well, I need to say something."

Jinyoung sighed. "He hasn't listened to anything you've said to him before. What makes now any different?"

"So you want me to just walk to my room like a sissy when I could easily just knock on his door?"

"I just think there are better ways you can go about this. It'll just cause a disruption."

Your eyes bulged at that, jaw dropping. "And his weird sex noises won't?!"

Jinyoung paused, glancing at the door and you both listened again.

"See," he said. "He's done now. It's fine. Just go to sleep."

You tongued your cheek. "You have to live with him too, you know?"

"I know," he replied, solemnly. "Now... go to sleep, Cantaloupe."

And then you two parted ways to your separate rooms.

It was a week after that. Since it was summer, you basically just lounged around the house doing nothing but eating your weight in potato chips. You did have a part-time job but just not during the weekends, which coincidentally was when Jinyoung actually came home for an entire hour for his lunch break.

You didn't know why he didn't just eat out in the city but you weren't about to question it.

He always cleaned up after himself, picking up other people's messes. You hated that part of him because people should clean up their own messes. That's why the planet was doomed—because no one wants to clean up after themselves or leave it how they found it. Although he kept to himself, he was the glue that held you all together.

Walking into the kitchen, you saw him with his sleeves rolled up and holding a sponge, doing the dishes. Opening the wooden cabinets, you pulled out a box of mac and cheese, then looked for your pot to start boiling the water.

"Hey, Jinyoung," you began. "Have you seen my pot? I usually put it up here."

Your eyes fell onto the pot sitting at the oven at the same time—the dirty pot.

"You're fucking kidding me," you grumbled, stomping over to it.

Someone had decided to use your pot and then not clean up after themselves. And who the fuck heats up spaghettios in a fucking pan anyway? Why not just put it in a bowl and into the microwave? That's easier.

"The same person who left their dirty dishes in the sink," Jinyoung said after a moment.

For the first time, you looked closer at whose dishes Jinyoung was scrubbing at.

"Jinyoung, don't you have to eat still? Aren't you on your lunch break?"

"Yes, but I can't make anything with a dirty sink," he answered.

You sighed. "I can't stand him. Here... I'll help you."

Gently, you nudged his hip with yours, jostling him out of the way. He chuckled to himself, shaking his head, then grabbed one of the towels hanging on a nearby hook to wipe his hands as he observed you cleaning the dishes.

"God... I just can't believe him. He really doesn't care about anyone but himself."

"I'm sure he just... forgot..." Jinyoung mumbled, placing his hands on the edge of the sink.

"No. He did it on purpose, same with using my pan..." you grumbled.

Jinyoung then moved to grab your pot, turning the faucet on as you scrubbed at a large plate caked in pasta sauce, and went to soak it. As he went to work, you observed his side profile. He sure was handsome and you remembered how you wanted to ask him if he was single the moment you met.

A handsome guy like him had to have a girlfriend or something.

"What?" he asked, pausing mid-scrub when he caught you.

"Nothing," you quickly replied, turning back to the sink.

"No," he said, putting the pot in the isnk. "What is it?"

You shook your head. "It's nothing... You're just..."

Staring off into space, you looked back at him with a smile.

"You're just really handsome is all. I hope you know that."

Looking away from you, he blushed. "Thanks."

Stumbling, he reached forward and accidentally switched the faucet onto the setting where it sprayed water in tiny streams instead and then disconnected it from the sink. It landed upside down and caused water to completely soak both your shirts. You let out a shriek as you stepped back, the plate falling into the sink then.

"I'm so sorry!" he exclaimed and you looked at him in surprise, then down at your shirt.

You could see through it entirely, showing off your bra and your piercing nipples.

And then he handed you the towel beside the sink to cover yourself.

"They're just boobies, Jinyoung," you teased but he didn't turn around.

Snorting, you tossed the towel onto the counter and left the kitchen. Glancing back at him one more time as you gripped onto the staircase railing, you observed him scrubbing furiously at your pot with tinted cheeks.

A few days after that incident, you came storming out of your room to your neighbor having sex once again.

The annoying, not hot one. It wasn't Jinyoung having sex.

"Jinyoung?" you called, knocking on his door.

Your neighbor was playing music to cover up whatever he was doing, but you could still fucking hear him. How could he be so oblivious to how loud he was? Did he just fuck girls who really knew how to use their mouths?

Maybe you should ask for their phone numbers.

"Come in," he yelled over the music.

Stomping in, you slammed the door behind you. Although you'd been in his room a few times, it was always rearranged a different way each time. You did notice that Jinyoung was an extreme perfectionist.

"You hear that, right?" you asked, crossing your arms.

"Yeah. And I'm trying to study, too..." Jinyoung grumbled.

"I can't believe him. What if I was trying to sleep?"

You paced around his room, letting out an occasional growl as the song ended and there was an awkward pause. Jinyoung's head came up just as there was a loud crashing sound and moan from the other side of the wall.

Jinyoung snorted. "You? Sleeping before two in the morning?"

"Okay. Fine... Maybe I wasn't but still—"

"You can stay here, if you want."

"Really? I won't bother you?"

"No. I'm done anyway."

Jinyoung leant back into his desk chair, closing his book with a gentle slam before standing up to put it away on his large bookshelf. After a moment, he walked over to his bed and settled against it, still in his work clothes. The TV had still been playing even when you walked in, so you guessed he'd been trying to mask the music and sex.

You followed him to his bed, sitting beside him gingerly.

"So—" you started to say when a sex scene came on.

The two actors on the screen immediately began undressing and you hesitantly looked over at Jinyoung, who was trying to decide whether to act natural or look away—because what do you even do in that situation? A sex scene makes things awkward no matter what. You could pretend all you wanted that it wasn't awkward—but it was.

"S-So... What were you studying for?"

"My accounting exam," he replied.

"Really? You have to study for that?"

There were now both sex noises from the TV and the room next door. From the corner of your eye, you saw Jinyoung fidgeting, scratching at his chin nervously as he avoided looking straight at the television screen.

You grabbed the remote then, turning the volume to drown out the noises from your neighbor.

As you could still hear him, however, you stomped towards the door to tell him to shut up.

Jinyoung followed after you, grabbing a hold of your elbow out of nowhere, but that just caused you to trip on one of his shoes—and where did that even come from because his room was spotless—and the two of you came crashing down on his hardwood floor with Jinyoung under you. He stared at you with wide eyes then.

The front of your pants was pressed especially hard against him and you felt something.

"Jinyoung..." you breathed out.

He blinked, then asked, "Yes?"

"I have this crazy idea."

Jinyoung didn't have much time to think before your lips came crashing down on his.

His lips were so soft, like kissing a cloud from how moist they were, but he was still beneath your crushing mouth. His arms laid unmoving at his sides, not even moving to touch you with the tip of his finger. And after you unconsciously began to swirl your hips and grind into him powerfully, he groaned into your mouth.

"Touch me," you said, pulling away briefly to give him time to speak.

Instead of saying anything, he just stared at you in muted surprise.

"Touch me, Jinyoung," you said again, grabbing at his limp hands.

You brought them to touch your covered breasts but he didn't move an inch, didn't even glance down at your breasts on full display—just kept looking at you and occasionally down at your lips as you exhaled shakily.

When his palm gave a slight, hesitant squeeze, you knew you had him.

You threw yourself back into him, kissing him as hard as you could to elicit any sort of reaction out of him, and he finally responded. Starting with returning it, he eventually licked at your lips and his hands drifted away from your breasts to grab your hips, then finally wrapping around your waist to crush you more into his hard, defined chest.

The voices from the actors on screen as they had a passionate get-together with their genitals faded into the background, as well as the sounds coming from the opposite side of the wall. Right then, it was just you and Jinyoung as you kissed and touched each other so intimately you felt your hairs sticking up. He was always out of your reach—so far away—either physically or emotionally. You thought he was unavailable, three years older than you and in grad school already while you were still taking gen ed classes. That's what you thought, but as he licked the seam of your lips and thrusted his tongue inside your mouth, he felt touchable for the first time—reachable.

His hands trailed back to your waist before flipping the two of you over until you flat on your back. Even with the sex scene on the television screen long over as new actors took up their own screentime, you didn't tell him to stop—not even when you heard nothing from the adjacent bedroom, too. It was that familiar white noise.

But you didn't like to sound of nothing as Jinyoung stared down at you, hesitantly.

You wanted to hear something. You wanted to hear anything—and from him.

You weaved your fingers into his black hair, pulling him down until your lips connected once again, which coaxed him to relax and touch you again. His hips moved against yours as you ground into each other—sensually. When his hardening length brushed against one specific spot, you moaned out loudly, and he pulled away from you.

"Don't stop," you told him desperately, fingers still clinging on to his hair.

When he didn't budge, you sat up slowly, furrowing your eyebrows. He moved away from you to give you room, as if you were about to tell him you changed your mind, but then you pushed him with the tips of your fingers so he was on his back. He didn't make a move to sit up and you took that as a sign to work on undoing his belt's buckle.

He didn't even try to stop you as you pulled at his work pants, just watched you with half-lidded eyes.

"Is this okay?" you asked, glancing down at his cock through his briefs.

"Yeah..." he answered, swallowing thickly.

Getting his consent, you watched him carefully but reached into his underwear for his cock, surprised at the size as you blinked in a daze. Just as he was looking like he was about to change his mind, you leant over him and your mouth sank down on him. Immediately, he felt how warm your mouth was and you didn't take your eyes off him—not even for one second. Your tongue swirled around him, licking at every inch of him you could. He didn't entirely fit in your mouth, so whatever didn't fit you just stroked with your balled up fist. His head fell back against the floor with a thud as he groaned out loudly. His eyes snapped open at that, looking at his bedroom wall.

"W-Wait—" he started to say, but you didn't stop.

Instead, your grip on him tightened as you went even faster, pulling him farther into your mouth until you felt the tip hit the back of your throat, pausing for a moment and wincing at the unpleasant feeling as you swallowed around him. His hands didn't know where to go, from laying at his sides to pulling at his tailored suit.

You didn't really know why he wore his work clothes for so long, even after he came home.

"Fuck..." he grunted, one of his hands cupping the back of your head.

You'd never heard him curse before and you could feel yourself getting wet just at the sound of it, and then began to bob on his dick even faster, your eyes watering slightly. Jinyoung started to unconsciously thrust into your mouth then, his hips raising off the floor each time, and you welcomed it, trying to take all of him.

"Shit!" he cried out as you swallowed around him again.

Pulling him completely out of your mouth, you used your tongue to lick at the slit, running a wet strip from the base of his cock all the way to the underside of his tip, leaving a stream of saliva behind. He observed you with half-lidded eyes before his head fell back again, not being able to take the sight of you looking at him like that.

"Shit... You're so good at this... Fuck... I'm going to cum."

You pulled your mouth away and just sat on your heels, watching him come undone just from you stroking him in a blurred movement of your fist. However, before he even came, he frantically told you to stop.

"Jinyoung..." you started to say, slowing your pace slightly.

"No, I mean it... I don't want..." he trailed off. "I don't want him to hear me."

"He wants us to hear him, though. And plus, you sound so hot anyway..."

"Fuck..." he said at your words. "I'm— Fu—ck. I'm—"

"Cum in my mouth."

You descended your mouth back on him as you continued to stroke him frantically. He didn't seem to hear you—or at least didn't respond—but spurts of his cum came firing into your mouth until he was laying there like a worm.

His head thudded against the floor after, smiling slightly to himself, but then remembered you.

"No, it's okay," you said, knowing what he was thinking. "I think he's done now, so thanks."

"Wait— What about you—"

"You just owe me one."

And then you left.

"Hey."

You looked to the open doorway of your bedroom to see it was Jinyoung. Still in his work clothes, you laughed to yourself. He wore that suit so often that you thought it was just another layer of his skin.

Good thing he looked hot in a suit.

"Hey," you replied, putting down your book beside you on the bed.

You sat up as he looked around your bedroom, admiring some of the paintings you had hanging on the wall and your calendar beside the door that had a different cat for each month, the dates decorated with cat ears.

"Can I join you?" he asked after a moment, closing the door behind him.

"Sure," you said, sitting up. "What's up?"

"Well..." By the color of crimson his ears turned, you knew it had to be about what happened the other day on his bedroom floor—the whole his dick in your mouth thing. "I just— I felt bad about— You know... So, I— Uh..."

"You want to pay me back?"

"Yeah. Is that okay?"

You bit your lip and nodded.

Kicking his shoes off by your door, he walked over to your bed. It creaked beneath his weight as he sat down and then he turned to you, just staring at you for a moment before he went to loosen his tie around his neck.

"Did you just get back from work?" you asked, watching him undress.

Jinyoung nodded. "Yeah. Five minutes ago."

"So... were you thinking about this all day?"

"It might've crossed my mind once or twice."

Your head fell back as you laughed. "That's hot."

His knees pressed them into the mattress when he started to move towards you, his tie long forgotten in a heap on your rug. Watching him carefully, you lowered yourself onto your back until he was hovering over you.

"Is our favorite neighbor here?" he asked lowly, his lips inches from yours.

"I don't think so. It's quiet, so that's how I know he's gone."

"Good. That means you can be as loud as you want."

"Ooh, spicy..." you said, waggling your eyebrows.

"Take off your pants," he instructed.

"Why can't you do it for me?"

"I'm about to do a lot for you."

Raising an eyebrow, you did as he said and pulled at your denim shorts. He couldn't wait, though, and helped you tug them the rest of the way down your legs as you raised your hips, flinging them somewhere behind him.

Next was your underwear but surprisingly, when you went to remove them, he stopped you.

"Not yet."

His mouth came crashing down on yours, smothering your lips with his own. At first, the kiss was fast and messy, your tongues colliding together in a frenzy, but then he was pulling away from you to leave a trail of kisses from the corner of your lips, to your jaw, to your neck, before finally landing on your chest from your low-cut shirt.

Your hands came to crush his mouth to your chest when he just looked at the soft fabric of your shirt, leaving wet spots where he bit and nipped over your covered nipples. You cried out then, arching your back into his mouth.

He raised an eyebrow and took you rubbing your legs together as a sign for him to take it farther.

Crawling down your body, he stopped until his head was between your legs, kissing at your inner thighs and biting and sucking at the skin there until you were marked in blotches of purple and red. One of his fingers played with the band of your underwear, snapping it against your skin teasingly, and you exhaled shakily.

"I didn't know you were such a tease..." you said, smiling with your eyes closed.

"It's no fun when you get your way, though."

And then he fingered at your underwear again, lifting it up and pushing it to the side so he could cup you. Just from the pads of his fingers touching you there, he could feel how wet you were—and all because of him.

"You're making this too easy."

His middle finger slowly eased into your entrance, stroking at your walls gently as he pumped in and out of you. His thumb then came to press down on your clit and you moaned out, a scalding sensation shooting straight into your lower stomach. He took that as another good sign and then inserted his forefinger into you, his fingers thrusting in and out of you at a faster pace with each drawn out moan and each wiggle of your hips. Eventually, he had to use the hand pulling your underwear back to still your hips and the soaked fabric came to rest on the back of his hand.

Unconsciously, you moved away from him and so he pulled his fingers out of you. You opened your eyes then, looking up at him as he sucked each finger into his mouth, licking off your wetness. Feeling faint, you sighed to yourself, wiggling your hips again and clenching your walls around nothing in anticipation. It was nice to be fingered and it was even better to cum, but you wanted to cum on his dick—you wanted to cum on it now.

"Jinyoung," you breathed out. "I want you."

"You can't have me," he answered. "Not yet."

"Well, why the fuck not?!" you yelled, sitting up on your elbows.

He couldn't answer because then the two of you heard loud, thunderous footsteps up the stairs and the bedroom door next to yours slamming shut. You listened and signed internally as you heard a female voice giggling and then a gruff male one, the bed creaking as you assumed they were both lying in his bed now.

"Great..." you mumbled to yourself, bending over your bed to look for your pants.

"No," Jinyoung said. "It's okay. I want to keep going. Is that okay?"

You looked back at him and nodded, surprised.

This wasn't like him at all. Jinyoung had never once brought a girl over—never. You knew he had sex but he never had sex here, and that was because he was so self-conscious. So, it was very surprising he wanted to keep going.

He pulled your underwear completely off that time, following your pants and landing somewhere behind him.

Jinyoung didn't waste any time and immediately ducked his head and flicked at your clit with his tongue, causing you to cry out. The giggling stopped in the other room and you placed a hand over your mouth, looking at him.

Time stood still as you two waited for them to resume and they did—after a painfully long sixty seconds.

"Be quiet," he whispered and then went back to pressing kisses to your clit.

He inserted his finger again, using his thumbs to separate your folds and you clenched your hand into a fist against your mouth, breathing heavily. Instead of how he was taking his time before, he was rushing things.

"Jinyoung," you said. "It's okay. I'll be quiet. Just slow down."

He nodded, pulling his fingers out of you.

Then replaced them with his mouth.

"Fuck..." you said, softly.

"Feel good?" he whispered back.

You nodded, head falling back and hand slamming against your mouth as he thrusted his tongue inside of you. His nose brushed against your clit and you breathed out of your nose slowly, trying to contain yourself. Then one of his hands pulled away and his thumb came against your clit again, circling it wildly when he lowered his head to bring his nose away. Your juices coated his chin as he started to wildly lick and kiss at your inner walls, then brought his mouth away to watch you, inserting his fingers again. His knuckles brushed against you as he went deeper and deeper before he felt around for that special spot—then found it easily, smiling to himself at your reaction.

Red hot in the face, sweat lining your brow, gasping for air—you were a mess for him.

You could barely contain yourself then and you reached behind you for your pillow, smothering your face.

"Jinyoung!" you screamed through the pillow but he kept going. "Oh, god... Oh, god. I'm going to— I'm—"

The two of you hadn't even noticed the talking stopped again before you moaned into the pillow loudly, hips rising as you came roughly around his fingers. He helped you ride out your orgasm, slowing his pace but not stopping.

Your hips came down to rest on the mattress again and you sighed—you were laying there like a worm now.

"How was that?" he asked, pleased with himself.

"Good god... So good... Wow. You're so good with—"

He chuckled. "Thanks. I owed you one, though."

You smiled up at him, then pushed yourself up to sit beside him, nudging your shoulder with his as you smiled to yourself. If this was him paying you back for sucking his dick, you wondered how he fucked with that dick.

"But that doesn't mean I don't owe you one."

"No, no, no. You don't owe me anything."

"Maybe not. But I still want you to fuck me."

Jinyoung looked at the wall behind you then, shaking his head. Pouting, you nodded, understanding that maybe all this was just him returning the favor, not meaning he was interested in you like that at all.

"We can't..." he whispered.

"It's okay, but why not?"

"We can't right now. Later."

"Okay, but I hope you really mean later."

He nodded. "Later. Really, really later."

And then he walked out of your room.

After Jinyoung left, your neighbor took that as a sign to fuck his girlfriend.

How nice for the both of them. For her to have a penis in her, not that you could relate.

It'd been at least seven hours now and you didn't even know if Jinyoung was still in the house. He walked on light feet, so you never heard him walking around, so he could've easily left to go somewhere. Maybe he left to fuck someone else since you were pretty sure he got a massive boner. And yet, he didn't want to fuck you.

Later, he said.

When was that? Maybe you should've discussed that properly so you would know when that even was.

Angry and sex-deprived, you stomped out of your room after hearing the annoying sound of your neighbor snoring after a long, torturous hour and a half, and into the kitchen. A glass of cold water would calm down your temper, so you reached into the cabinet to grab one of your glasses, reaching into the freezer for some ice cubes. You struggled to even get the cubes out of the tray, however, and contemplated slamming it on the countertop.

A touch on your shoulder, though, startled you and you accidentally slammed the tray on the countertop anyway.

"It's okay!" they said, the warm voice familiar. "It's me. It's Jinyoung."

Closing your eyes in relief, you placed a hand over your beating heart and then turned around to look at him.

"And where have you been?" you asked, teasingly, with an eyebrow raised.

Though, you also really wanted to know the answer to that, too.

"My room. Why did it take you seven hours to leave?"

"What? Were you waiting for me or something?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I didn't want to... in your room."

Your mouth fell open as you felt like a fucking idiot.

It was kind of obvious, now that you thought about it.

"Sorry... I didn't— Well, I'm here now, so do your worst."

One corner of his lips tilted up at that, and then he looked around the kitchen. When his eyes fell on the dining room table, he grinned and tugged your hand to follow him. You set your glass down on the counter, already feeling that familiar excitement bubble inside of you at the thought of what he was going to do to you.

If his fingers made you feel that good, you couldn't even imagine what his dick would feel like.

"Lay on the table."

You hopped up on the table just as he asked, then laid down, already reaching for your pants, but he slapped your hand away. Cradling your hands to your chest, you snorted at the impatient look on his face.

"I didn't say to take off your clothes," he teased, tugging at the band.

"Okay but... What's so different about here? They'll still probably hear us."

"You're probably right. It's a good thing I don't care. Do you?"

Then why didn't you just come back? you asked no one in particular.

Oh, well.

"Hell no. Fuck me, Jinyoung."

"I will. Just be patient."

You growled out, frustrated.

"Come on. You don't need to finger me when you just did that seven hours ago—"

"I know but I want to," he said, then pulled at the band of your pants again.

From over the top of his head, you carefully watched the staircase, listening for any sounds that weren't muffled snores from your neighbor's bedroom. If he came downstairs, he'd have a good view of your pussy.

"He's not going to come down here. Relax."

Just as his finger entered you, you said, "Wait. Can I try something first?"

He nodded, pulling away from you and you sat up, hopping off the table. Kneeling before him, you unbuttoned his pants quickly—and struggled for a moment—and pulled him out of his underwear, licking your lips nervously.

"I want you to fuck my mouth," you told him.

"What?" he asked, surprised. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"All right."

You gripped him at the base and slowly wrapped your lips around him, then relaxed your mouth as you closed your eyes. Biting into his lip, Jinyoung anxiously gripped the back of your head to get a good hold on you and weaved his fingers into your hair. You seemed to like that, though, when you moaned around his length.

And when you nodded, he took that as the signal and thrusted into your mouth.

Your eyes watered as he fucked your mouth, wincing but loving every second. When his fingers tugged at your hair, nearly pulling the strands right out of their roots, you moaned around him again and he groaned at that.

You swallowed around him, eliciting him to go faster, fuck your throat harder—and he did. His hips moved back and forth wildly as he frantically rammed his cock into you. With each thrust, you had to keep yourself still and relax your throat, feeling it becoming sore but it was worth it. Your hands felt his thighs, nails digging into the soft fabric of his work pants that he never took off for some reason—when suddenly he pulled out of you.

"If you keep doing that, I'm going to cum," he explained, gasping for air. "Your turn."

You nodded and laid back down on the table. It was as if him nearly reaching his orgasm made him even more impatient and he tugged at your underwear so roughly that the material stretched, but you didn't yell at him.

In fact, you found the whole thing incredibly hot.

He fell to his knees and immediately started an intense pace with his fingers inside of you, easing in and out at a frantic speed while he tried to stretch you out as much as possible. Your toes curled at the sensation and he watched you carefully, smiling as your eyes closed and mouth dropped open. If possible, his fingers thrusted into you even faster, so fast that you could almost imagine they were his dick—except you hoped his dick was bigger.

"Please," you begged, grabbing onto his arm. "Fuck me."

His pace slowed down but he didn't pull out of you, until he pressed down on your clit and your back arched.

"Please! Fuck—please," you cried out.

He nodded quickly, stepping away from you to step out of his pants and completely remove his briefs.

Your eyes fell to him naked from the waist down and you almost drooled, but then he was pulling at your hips so you stood on your feet, then spun you around until your cheek came crashing down on the wooden table.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Ye—s."

You were jostled forward as soon as he took that first step—his cock pressing into you so deeply that you couldn't help but groan, your nails clawing into the table. His warm hands held your hips and you knew you wanted nothing more than for him to slap your ass. That's what would get you off. Nothing was hotter than him manhandling you.

"Jinyoung," you gasped out as he kept up a fast pace. "Spank me."

"Spank you? You're into that?"

You nodded into the table.

Hesitating slightly, he did as you asked and brought his hand to slap your ass softly and you moaned softly. He blinked, stopping his thrusts inside of you to do it again—but harder. You clenched your fists as his hand came down on you even harder, feeling the sting that time. Your walls clenched around him then and he groaned.

"You really like this?" he asked.

"Yeah. Just like that."

He paused, then looked around the room for a moment.

You were pulled up abruptly then, your eyes snapping open, as he pulled you over to the living room couch before sitting down, tugging at your hand so you were sitting in his lap but not crushing his dick coated in your wetness.

"Ride me," he told you.

You didn't need to be told twice and slowly gripped him from under you, easing him into you slowly. Both of you moaned out at that and his hand slapped your ass again, slapping you harder each time you pulled yourself up.

"Keep going," he said, massaging your skin.

You nodded and bounced up and down on him even faster, seeking that familiar sting and the feeling of him penetrating you. His head fell against the back of the couch then, moaning loudly as you continued to ride him. Blindly, his free hand reached for you and then the pad of his thumb pressed into your clit, causing you to cry out and ride him even faster—harder—swirling your hips and clenching around him as you chased after your orgasm.

He pulled away from your clit and brought both of his hands to your ass, pulling and grabbing at the flesh there and kneading his knuckles into it. One hand came down on your ass again as the slap sounded around the living room and you clenched around him again, your vision blurring as all you could feel was that spark ignite in you.

On the edge, his hands trailed past your ass until they were gripping the small of your back and flipped you over onto your stomach. Raising your ass in the air, he thrusted into you again and pressed down on the back of your head, your cheek pressing into the couch cushion as he rammed into you.

"J-Jinyoung! Fuck, fuck, fuck!" you cried out, fists clenching.

He reached around you then and squeezed your breasts. With each thrust, they swung forward and he squeezed even harder. You rested your head against the back of your arms, trying to hold on but knowing you were so close to cumming. His dick stroked every inch of you and you knew you were going to be sore after.

"I'm gonna—"

"Cum."

He felt you clench around him one more time as you came, arching your back and then falling limply onto the couch. Jinyoung powered through it, however, and managed to thrust a few more times before he came himself, feeling you cringe from the oversensitivity.

His head fell back against the opposite arm of the couch then, chuckling, while you laid on the other side.

"So, that happened," he said after a long moment of silence.

"Yeah. Can it happen again?" you asked with a smirk.

And then you laughed all the way back upstairs.

Jinyoung was eating breakfast the next morning and you decided to clean up after your dirty neighbor so that when Jinyoung came home for his lunch break, he could spend that time eating rather than cleaning up after him.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear, though.

Your neighbor came stumbling down the stairs in his pajamas, greeting you two as he came into the kitchen.

"Hey, guys," he said, then seemed to hesitate. "Were you guys— last night— Can you keep it down next time?"

Jinyoung's cheeks heated at that, almost burying his head in his bowl of cereal shamefully while you just snorted.

He'd acted all confident last night but it sounded just like him to be embarrassed immediately after.

"Sure," you lied. "Sorry about all the noise."

"Thanks," he said and then grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl.

You looked back at Jinyoung and laughed as he refused to make eye contact with you, his cheeks almost the same color as the last apple in the bowl. Embarrassment wasn't something you felt often, so you were more proud.

You and Jinyoung had become the noisy neighbors now.

[talesofwight]

The Last Resort

((As I’ve had a week away from the computer and all things gaming-related really, I’ve had a lot of time to think about stories and stuff. And so I was really set on writing a little something out when I got back, and here it is! Took me a few hours. Sadly Tumblr doesn’t maintain the formatting I was trying to uphold. 

Also I guess a mild trigger warning for people that don’t wanna read violence and stuffs.

Still, it came out okay I think. Below the cut because I don’t wanna clog no dashes!))

'Hold 'er down!' Commanded a the highlander figure, garbed as a Captain of the Brass Blades in a voice almost as rough as the desert sands around them. 'Bloody bitch bites!' His nearby subordinate replied as he and another, both seemingly midlanders, struggled to hold a thrashing form down against the sun-baked dirt of Thanalan.

Brass Blades. The supposed peace keepers of the desertous region's city-state, Ul'dah. Corrupt and a mere shadow of what one who upholds the law should be. Here they were holding a squirming girl to the ground - couldn't have been a day past her sixteenth summer. Her clothes were shredded and her face was beaten and bloody, yet she railed against, and cursed at, the two men restraining her regardless.

The girl's resilience would've been impressive to the stranger in any other circumstance. He had a good view from the back of his chocobo - August. Typical. He thought bitterly to himself. As sad as it was to think, such things were not uncommon. She looked to be a refugee, likely had nothing to her name. Made her an easy target for a sick mind. Or three. He slowly drew the chocobo to a halt, the gesture prompted a curious 'kweh' from his steed. 'I'll be a moment.' He dismounted from the chocobo with a metallic clunk, his ash-grey plate armour glinting in the sun's rays, a long greatsword of wicked design hanging from his back, adding extra weight to the ensemble. He was slow to approach, fighting to keep the contempt from his face and voice as he called out. 'Surely this young one has committed a truly terrible deed to be handled so by you, three upstanding men of the Brass Blades, Ul'dah's protectors.' His words hung in the air as all three men suddenly ceased what they were doing and turned to look at the stranger, their expressions hidden behind the masked turbans they wore. Eventually, the captain strode forward a few steps, sizing up the sudden interrupter, spitting and placing a hand on the hilt of the scimitar which hung at his hip. 'Oh aye, that she has. Stole our good men's attention what they should've been giving to the patrol, ain't that right fellas?' The smugness practically dripped from him. 'Bloody whore, stop yer strugglin' if ye wanna leave here with yer life!' His subordinates had returned to holding the girl in place, the second mirroring the ugly words of the first. 'Away an' plough each other's arses, bastards!' The girl spat back. She had a fire in her. 'Right, well. As you can see, we've got the situation well in hand.' The captain picked up. 'Now why don't you get back on yer 'bo and be on yer way? Be a shame for a lone traveller to get killed by bandits, eh?' He grinned through his spindly moustache and soul patch, exposing crooked and rotten teeth. The stranger was still some few paces away, but he imagined they probably gave off quite the smell. 'That would be a shame. Though probably not quite so much as the three Blades that went out on patrol and were never seen from again.' He smiled dangerously back. 'Yer lookin' to start a fight, that it? Against the three o' us? Pah!' 'No.' 'So yer gonna leave?' 'No.' The captain stared on at him for several moments, only then freeing his sword from its sheath with a metallic hiss. 'Ah'm warnin' you, boy. Be off, or its yer head.' He sounded scared. Fear was just what he wanted. He raised a hand over his right shoulder, drawing his greatsword from his back with a far more menacing hiss, the blade tracing an arc in the air as it was brought into a readied position. 'Last chance!' The captain shouted. One of his two goons - the fatter of the two, he noted - stepped away from the girl and formed rank with his superior, drawing his own scimitar. Silence descended on the path once more, and off in the distance a wild bird soaring overhead let out a screeching cry. It all happened in a moment after that. The pair charged, bearing down upon the lone traveller. It was a decent strategy, but their movements were sluggish and slow. Probably already drunk. In that moment of their attack, the stranger remembed the age-old rule for fighting multiple opponents.

How do you kill a man on a battlefield? Cut through the man next to him.

And that is exactly what he did. Summoning to mind the anger at the sight he witnessed, he felt the surge of power flowing through his veins. It manifested as a black-blue flame that flowed from his chest to his sword arm, and into his weapon, causing the razor-sharp edge to take on a crespicule glow. He readied himself, and swung. The extended reach of his sword proved fiendishly effective as, it met the outer hip of the charging grunt. His steel flashed and cut through the chainmail armour as though it were paper. It tore through the man's chest in a diagonal direction, coming free at the shoulder, where it continued to travel. The look of shock and fear on the captain's face just barely had time to form before his head found itself hurtling through the air and landing with a wet thud, even before the two bodies had dropped, wetting the dry earth with two mixing pools of crimson. He exhaled a long breath, easing his stance though still bringing his sword back to the ready. Within a moment his cold, grey eyes had turned to look at the remaining Blade, struggling all the more to hold the kicking girl by his lonesome. Seeing that his comrades were soundly butchered, he exhibited the typical reaction. He reached for his belt and drew a knife, suddenly holding it to the girl's throat. 'D-don't come any closer, or else...!' He stammered. His hand was shaking. The girl stopped fighting suddenly, the look of anger fading to be replaced with fear. She looked helpless, and stared imploringly at the man who just killed two members of the law enforcement - their blood still dripping from the end of his sword. 'You're all alike. Always your last resort. Well I'm sorry to tell you this, but I'm not here for her. I'm here for you. Even if she dies, you'll still be feeling the sting of my six fulm-long blade stabbing through your entire body. Do whatever you feel will ease your passing into Thal's realm. You have ten seconds. Ten...' 'W-wait... wait, please!' 'Nine.' 'Don't-- don't do this!' 'Eight.' 'I've a wife at home!' 'Seven.' 'You're a bloody monster--' 'Six.' 'No better than you think of me!' 'Five.' 'I don't want to die!' 'Four.' There would never be another plead from the Blade's lips. Fear washed over him like a wave. His hands shook uncontrollably, his teeth chattered and sweat poured from behind his mask. He abruptly dropped the knife, let go of the girl and turned to run. He made it three steps before the stranger raised his hand, summoning to mind the fear he inspired in the Blade, the threw his right hand forward. A surge of spiked, chaotic red energy flowed down his arm to his palm, whereupon it expanded into a series of circular runes floating around the wrist. A flash emitted from the center of his palm as a ball of churning red spikes flew at the retreating guardsman. An ilm before contact could be made the ball detonated, sending a hail of jagged spikes into the back of the now-stopped figure, slumping forward onto the ground and showcasing the extensive needlework that the dark spell had wrought. All was silent again.

'...Th... thanks fer savin' me...' The girl spoke quietly. 'I did say I didn't do it for you. He looked down at her, slicing at the air with his sword in one hand, spraying what remained of two Blades' blood onto the ground. 'That said, I might've told a lie. Gets them every time, though. He grinned, and for all the wickedness in that grin, it did little to hide his fair looks, even despite the large scar marring his brow. 'At any rate, you should get out of here as soon as possible. I can give you a lift if need be. August is good to carry two.' He strode up to the still midly shocked child and offered a gauntleted hand. She regarded him with trace amounts of fear - such was normal. He had grown accustomed to being looked at like that. Though as the moments passed the fear gave way to a smile. A wide, toothy grin that fit her freckled face perfectly. 'Yer 'bo is named 'August'? You some kinda prissy bugger?' She laughed. 'Would you think any less of me if I said I was?' He responded, a trace of humour in his own voice. 'Well... I suppose I'd let ye off the hook for it, just this once. Circumstances bein' what they are and all.' She reached out and took the offered hand, easily being pulled to her feet. She was light. Probably malnourished. The rags she wore were loose-fitting, so it was difficult to say for certain. 'My thanks for that. I'm Rufus. And you are?' 'Krysta! Ye know ye just murdered three Blades, right Ser Rufus?' 'I suppose that's how it seems. Though those men forsook their right to be called protectors of the people the very instant they tried it on. Azeyma only knows whether you were the first victim...' 'So what're ye supposed to be? Some big, true protector o' the innocent?' 'Something along those lines. I just don't have a lot of love for people that abuse their station to commit crimes, thinking they are untouchable.' 'Yer the weirdest knight I ever thought I'd meet, Ser Rufus. Still... I'm glad you came.' He gave her a smile as he guided her around the still-warm corpses on the roadside and along to his loyally waiting chocobo. Met with a 'wark' of joy to be reunited, Rufus first helped Krysta climb into the saddle, then taking up August's reins and walking out before the feathery steed, leading him. 'Where is home for you, Krysta?' 'Well...' 'Nowhere to go?' She slowly shook her head. 'Ma and Da're both gone. Can't really do much by meself. I'll prolly have to end up a strumpet just so I can get a good meal...' He frowned to himself, glancing over his shoulder at the saddlebag, hanging at the chocobo's flank. They kept walking.

They soon found themselves on the outskirts of Ul'dah, stood before the Gates of Nald, just a short way from Stonesthrow - so aptly named. Krysta looked uneasily at the settlement from the saddle. '...I don't wanna live in squalor like that...' She mumbled. 'You won't have to.' He led the chocobo inside the gates, guiding it and the rider off to the left of the busy avenue to the chocobo stables. With a gesture and some light assistance, he brought Kysta down from the saddle. 'So... what'm I supposed  to do?' The child asked, looking nervously at the huge walls now encasing them. 'You'll see'. 'That... doesn't give me confidence...' He reached within the saddlebag before August was led off to be fed, brushed and watered, producing a handful of long, razor-sharp fangs from it. He bundled them into his arms and turned, beginning to walk the opposite way across the avenue with many an adventurer and citizen alike. 'Keep up! Don't want you getting lost!' He called, and Krysta came running up to his side. The image must've looked odd to others, but he paid them little mind and kept walking. Across the avenue, he bounded up the steps that led to the Quicksand - Ul'dah's branch of the Adventurer's Guild. Also a den of sin and other unsavoury sorts. Not the type he was interested in dealing with. The room was abuzz with many drinking, talking loudly, and others seemingly locked in eternal silence. It always puzzled him. A few steps more brought him to the counter where leves were given. The attendant behind the desk sized him up quizzically, and then let out a light gasp as load of fangs were dropped onto the tabletop, the clatter drawing some attention from nearby patrons ever so briefly. 'From those basilisks that were pushing in from Northern Thanalan.' Rufus spoke confidently. The attendant looked overwhelmed for a moment, scrambling to find the leveplate to confirm the reward. 'Ah! Yes, right here. 2000 gil. Who knows what havoc those monsters could've wrought if not for you?' 'We'll never know, I suppose.' He smiled and reached out to take the offered pouch. He then stepped away from the counter and turned to Krysta, curiously surveying the pouch in his hand. 'Well, 2000 gil is decent. A good start. Ul'dah has cheap accomodation, and plenty of places that you can work and pick up skills. Take this, and make good on it.' Krysta's eyes suddenly shone. They were large, and as the realisation sunk in, increasingly wet with tears. She let out a rough sob, one that belied a greater pain beneath, and reached out to take the bag in both hands, which trembled. 'Y-yer really... gonna help a nobody like me...?' She croaked, taking a breath to steady herself. 'No one is a nobody. We're not all born equal in this world and sometimes... well, it doesn't hurt to give someone a hand. So I'm helping you. Find a start for yourself. Make your parents proud. I know the feeling.' Krysta gingerly nodded, staring in silence at Rufus for a good few moments. 'I wanna help folk, just like ye helped me. An' I will! Just ye wait and see!' 'I look forward to it, Kysta. Take care.' 'And ye... Ser Rufus.' They both chuckled and parted ways then, he to retrieve his chocobo and set out wherever his fancy took him, and her, off to start a new life for herself. Whether he would ever meet Krysta again or not, he wasn't sure. Life has many devious twists and turns waiting for us all. But she seemed to be made of strong stuff. He was just glad that his gamble on the knife-wielding Blade's last resort was right.

[punkkris]

ZombieTale Chapter Three - Reflections

Hey guys! Quick note here before the read. This chapter includes swearing, and torture. It gets a tad graphic, so if you're not into that, then I'm sorry to say that this fic series is not for you. I'm going to start getting more graphic as time goes on. So long story short, trigger warning. Without further ado, let us get started! _________ "C'mon Chara, we're gonna be late!" I yelled upstairs. I was already on edge since today was the day that we start the 6th grade. Over the last couple of years, the other monsters have started to find out who I really am on the inside—a wimpy little crybaby. Understandably, I didn't want to go today. Chara came sauntering down with a dull expression on her face. "There's no need to yell Asriel, I'm right here." she replied. She stared straight into my eyes for a good fifteen seconds before she shot me with a smile that made me slightly uncomfortable. "Y-you ready to go?" I asked in a futile attempt to calm my nerves. "Ooh you bet I am, fluffbutt. You have no idea." she replied slyly. "What do you mean?" I asked, slightly off-put by Chara’s mysterious demeanor. "I mean that I'm gonna make a statement. No one's gonna mess with me this year." Before I could once again ask her what she meant, she slipped past me and squeezed out the door. Our walk to school was unnaturally silent. Every now and then Chara would chuckle to herself, which was doing nothing for my nerves. We turned a corner and walked up to the school's front steps. As soon as we did, I turned to Chara. "So are you rea... Chara?!" The knife was in my gut faster than I could react. Chara was wearing a face that gave off a terrifying mixture of demonic and overjoyed. I screamed as loud as possible, but stood fast. Everyone immediately ran to us. At first I thought they were coming to help, but I soon realized that they all had knives. Similar to succumbing to a million mosquitoes, they all were on me in an instant, plunging their weapons into various spots on my body. It was a horrifying mess of blood, tears, screams, and devilish laughs. It took me a while to realize that it didn't hurt, which naturally freaked me out. I was screaming out of fear, not out of pain. When they all finished, Chara kicked me to my knees. She smiled at me with her shining blood red eyes, then stepped aside to reveal a face that brought me more pain than any amount of daggers could muster. "F-Frisk...help me..." Her eyes were cold. Her eyes were gleaming with the threat of tears. Her eyes were full of hatred. "No one can help you now," she whispered. "Your soul is hers now. And honestly," she leaned closer, her lips mere inches away from my ear. "You look pathetic, you little idiot." "B-but...I thought you loved me..." I asked. "Oh please," she responded. "That ship sailed ages ago." With that, her dagger found its way into my heart. As if that wasn't enough, Frisk proceeded to grab each knife that was affixed in my body, and turned them; it was like she was turning twenty different keys, each one unlocking more anguish from me, and betrayal from her. "I'm not sorry. And yes, my little Azzy, I do have something better to do. Anything is better than you," she concluded. Instant darkness. No feeling. No sound. No real discernable proof that I even exist at all. "Oh no...not this. Not the void. Not again," I thought. I've had this feeling before. "I-is anyone there? Didn't think so. Oh well it was worth a shot anyway." I couldn't seem to find any reason as to why I was here again. "Why am I here," I thought aloud. "Why am—wait...I remember...I remember the sun. And Frisk. Yes that's right. We were free. I was so happy. Then there was that stupid machine. The hole in my gut. The pain—oh the pain! And then...Wait a second. I'm dead. I'm dead again. But I can't be. Things were finally good again! After sixty-six damn years my life was finally fucking bearable!" I shouted, cursed, screamed, yelled, thrashed, did all I could to show my frustration and anger. All of a sudden, I was blinded by light. I try to shield my eyes from the light, but it seems to pass through my hands. Polar opposites. It's like I'm on the other side of the world. Everything was so white. I was sitting in a chair that slightly resembled one for dentist operations. That thought made me instantly nervous, but I couldn't move. There were no physical restraints, so I deduced that I was being held by magic. "Why am I here, Chara?" I asked to the seemingly empty room. At the mention of her name, Chara apparated into view. "You know why you're here, brother. You're dead, don't you remember?" She replied, a hint of hostility scratching the surface of her tone. "But why here? Why not the void? It's where I went last time," I looked down at my feet. Chara gave a full-hearted smile. "Maybe you should be asking yourself. After all, you're the one in control of you. Right?" Her smile grew wicked. "Well, until now, that is." As I saw Chara’s arm snap towards me I felt instant and colossal pain. It was like I could feel my heart taking itself apart and single-handedly destroying my sea of organs. "How does it feel, you pathetic little wretch?" I heard her ask in between my cries. "Does it feel like punishment? Madness? Maybe you're finally learning your place." She stopped and leaned in close to more intimate boundaries. "Or just maybe, I am your salvation." She left that theory hanging in the air before returning to the torturous pain. Every instant was that of a millennia. Every intake of air was fire, and every exhale, needles and knives. Speaking of fire, the next thing I noticed was the Jerry can of gasoline that Chara was toting. "Oh we'll get to that in a second. Something else to do first," she said, evidently noticing my worried glances. She then brought out her ever-present knife. Walking up to me, her grin grew more sinister, not unlike the smile of a demon. "You always did like flowers, right? Well let's make sure you always remember that shall we?" She rhetorically asked me before raising up her knife. "Wait—" I tried to beg. But my pleas fell on deaf ears. Deaf, devilish, hate-fueled ears. Faster than the blink of an eye, the knife was in my stomach and moving, carving the shape of a golden flower. "Oh," she said add she finished her drawing. "Sorry does that hurt? Here, let me fix that for you." She dropped the knife and closes her eyes, clearly focusing on something. Then, as if it were even possible, the pain mutated into something even more agonizing. I looked down and saw the formation of curves and lines morph together to make one long slanted cut across my belly. This apparently came as an opportunity for Chara. She continued to toy with me. "Now what have we got here? A nice little hand warmer? Let's try it out shall we?" I've seen some horrible things. Hell, I've done half of them. But this…this took it way too far. Chara shoved her hands through my stomach, enjoying every second of my torment. And if it wasn't enough hell to go through, she started to part the red sea that was my body. There was a visible hole all through my abdomen. She paused for a brief moment. Chara needed to chortle away her insanity, which sucks because it gave me a false sense of hope. For a moment I thought she was done. I wanted her to walk away and let me be. That's when she did what I was waiting for. Gasoline can in hand, she doused me all over in the flammable liquid, then took out a box of matches. With what little power I had left, I kicked the box out of her hand, but not before she retrieved a single match. One is all it takes. "That's only fair considering what I'm about to do to you!" She responded. ~"Asriel!”~ Striking the match, she threw it onto the ground in front of me; all in one fluid motion. It made me wonder if she'd done this a lot. ~"Can you hear me? Fight back!"~ It didn't take long for the flame to reach my fur. I tried to flinch away from the fire, but to no avail. I sat in misery is the pyre engulfed my body. It was easily the worst thing I've felt in my whole existence. "Hahaha! How does it feel Asriel? Huh? Tell me, Asriel!” "Tell me! Come on! Asriel!" ~"Asriel”~ "Asriel!" ~"ASRIEL!"~ "ASRIEL!" —————————— I need to find him. That's all that matters right now. Not the blood all over my shirt. Not the fact that my ulna is sticking out in an alarming angle. Only him. How did this even happen? We were standing in a row, watching the sunset. It was perfect; not a cloud in the sky. We told each other how much we loved the view, then Asgore asked me to be the ambassador between humans and monsters. After I agreed to it, I glanced over to Asriel to see how he was holding up. He seemed to be the kind of guy that would get overwhelmed by new sights. Then the blast came. I woke up in clearing with everyone else save Asriel. I looked around and got a check on my surroundings. I checked myself first and noticed that my arm was broken. It hurt like hell, so I tried to summon a little determination to ease the pain. But I couldn’t find it in me so I just moved on. My shirt was covered in blood, and my shorts were torn, but that was about it. Sans and Papyrus were enveloped in a translucent blue ball, and seemingly unharmed. Alphys was covered in cuts, and Undyne was wrapping a torn piece of her shirt around her calf. Toriel was hovering over Asgore, healing him from the looks of it. Everyone was alive and accounted for except for Asriel. I ran of to go find him. “ASRIEL!” I shouted for what felt like the hundredth time. If my body would allow it I'd be running right now. But I gotta work with the hand I'm dealt. All I have to do is find him and take him back to Toriel. She’ll do the rest, and will probably make me feel a tad better, physically and mentally. But finding the goat monster was proving to be a fairly taxing challenge. That didn’t make me even think about abandoning my search in the slightest, though. Asriel means way too much to me. I'm close to passing out from pain alone. Edging on the brink of consciousness, I catch glimpse of a white foot behind a bush. “Asriel!” I exclaim as I run to the foot. “I'm so glad I found yo-” I'm stopped dead in my tracks. What I was expecting to see was broken bones, maybe a gash or two. But not this… It's not even Asriel. It's a human. On another human. And at first I thought the moving one was giving CPR. But he wasn't. He was eating...something. Very loudly. I inched closer to find out what was so damn tasty that he wasn't saving the poor man. That's when my life changed for the remainder of my days. The moment that was way past the point of no return. The only point in my life I wish never happened. I ran away from the bush and continued my search for my dear friend. After shouting his name a couple more times, I heard some mumbling. I stumble towards the source of the noise and fall to my knees in relief. I've found him! Unconscious but alive. I pick him up and fireman’s carry him for a couple of yards. After I lose a bit more energy, reposition him to better suit my comfort. Now to get back to the group. Taking a different path so as to avoid my previous encounter, I carried Asriel back to the clearing we were stationed at. Toriel used her magic and healed me up and sealed the gaping hole in Asriel’s center. And then we waited in anxious, painful silence. After several minutes I grew too nervous. I broke down and clutched Asriel as tight as I could. “Asriel,” I cried. “Can you hear me? Fight back.” it was getting harder to control my sobs and outbursts. “Asriel!” I saw his foot twitch. He was coming back. “ASRIEL!” I screamed through my tears. He opened his eyes and closed them again. After coughing and shaking for a hot moment, he reopened his eyes. “Asriel, I'm here. Can you speak?” I asked. His lips parted, and alongside the blood and spit that came out, he muttered one single word...A name… “Chara…”