#sorry this took so long! tried to come up with s cooler answer but that is all i got 😔

[itsonlypolite]

what inspired like the schtick behind your voice designs? like the way they're all masked corvid-ish feathered creatures that are vaguely humanoid, is there a reason behind that?

side note: holy shit they're amazing

I feel like I don't have a good answer for that, but I've let this ask collect dust for too long!! Here we go:

The mask thing I've explained the reason for before, before the Pristine Cut it wasn't super clear whether TLQ had a beak or not. The masks were my way of getting at a middle ground, did they have beaks? Did they not? Who knows!

For the bird furry-like form the designs ended up taking:

Just kinda stole that from the TLQ too! I tried to keep to a rule that they all would have the plumicorns TLQ has, and then a humanoid shape. (Though the plumicorns detail really went to the wayside with some of them lol). Then I just gave them different but still natural(ish) feather colors for fun, and some accessories. As a side note, originally my designs weren't going to have like, outfits, because TLQ clearly doesn't need it - but then one by one more and more voices started wearing clothes in their designs that now the majority of them have full on outfits. Thanks for the compliment, hope this was a satisfactory answer!!

[theyhavetakenovermylife]

I feel like bayverse leo would be like a lost puppy by following his crush around and trying to learn her family and cousin ways.

Y/n teaching him stuff but they went camping and they are on the beach, and y/n is collecting shells.

( sorry I stole the beach and camping idea off of the new story you made 😭 IM SORRY )

And I don’t mind if you change the story up or fix it because I suck balls at explaining stuff. 💀 💗

Family Camping and Sea Shells (Fluff)

Bayverse!Leonardo x reader

A/N: That’s a-okay💚 That’s how inspiration work💙 This is probably not exactly what you asked for, but I tried to get it close. Hope you enjoy💙

----------

(C/N) = Cousin’s name, (Y/M/N) = Your mother’s name.

Warnings: Spelling and an annoying cousin.

----------

It was at moments like these, that Leonardo thought about what exactly he had wanted to happen, when he asked to come with you and your family on a camping trip. Well, he obviously wished to be close to you, his best friend, and to learn about you and your extended family. They had always been so nice to him and his brothers, ever since that day all those years ago, where you brought them to your home in order to meet your parents. And as the years went one, and you and Leo’s friendship grew, your family and home almost became a home to him. But now, as he helped your dad and uncle bring the beach chairs and coolers out to the beach, listening to every single thing they had to say, he couldn’t help but think about what the real reason was. Well, that was quite easy to answer; you.

Leo wasn’t fully sure when it first had started, but at some time during your long friendship, he had developed a crush on you. And now as he listened intently to every detail your dad and uncle had to tell him about fishing, he could not help but think about you once more. The things he would do just to feel close to you and your family took him by surprise sometimes… Speaking of you, where were you? You, your mom and aunt had told him and the other’s to go ahead before you, and now Leo couldn’t help but get anxious. Sitting alone with the father and uncle of his crush felt strange, even though he had known your dad for years. Leo’s leg started to jump restlessly, his blue swimming trunks rustling slightly, and his eyes darting between the two men in front of him and the first.

When you and the rest of your family finally emerged from the trees, he could finally let out a sigh of relief.

“Sorry the wait”, you smiled, throwing your towel onto the beach chair Leo was sitting in, adjusting your bathing suit just slightly. “We couldn’t find (C/N)’s bathing wings”.

“Hey! It’s not my fault mom packed them in such a fucked up place!”, they yelled.

“Launguage!”, your aunt exclaimed, making your cousin cross their arms in annoyance. Boy, that was a scene Leo could relate to.

—

Leo followed you closely around on the beach, not really sure what else to do. With you around he would much rather be close to you, feeling safe and calm when he stayed close to you. When you went into the water with your cousins, he followed, staying close as he threw them into the water, finding enjoyment in their giggles and laughs. And when you left the water in order to spend some time in the beach chairs, Leo did exactly the same, taking the time to bask in the sun, just like any other turtle would do.

After some time, the rest of your family started moving back to the campsite, just behind the trees and bushes, in order to get started on the first cooking. Your family, knowing what a terrible cook Leo was, had allowed you and the blue clad turtle to stay back on the beach, enjoying the wind and the somewhat quiet nature around you. You could only very faintly hear your cousins fight among each other, as you and Leo moved to the shadow just by the trees. Here you started talking about the small things and the big things, just like you always did when you were alone together, before the two of you would stay silent, enjoying the nature around you. The birds in the leaves above your head, as the waves crashing against the beach.

As you sat there in peace, your eyes started wandering over the sand, until you noticed something down by your foot. A shinny curved shell, glistering at you in the small amount of sun that poked through the leaves. You leaned forward to pick it up, with Leo watching you curiously.

“What have you found?”, he asked, confusion washing over his face as you held the shell up to your ear. “What are you doing?”

“Here, listen”, you said with a bright smile, bringing the shell up to his ear. “You can hear the sea”.

“(Y/N), we’re right next to the sea”, Leo chuckled, nodding towards the big open waters in the horizon.

“Yeah, I know smarty pants”, you chuckled, scooting closer to him, wrapping one arm around his, as you held the shell up to his ear. “But listen anyway”.

Leo shook his head at you, finding the way you held onto him adorable. But he gave in, leaning his head against the shell, and thereby closer to you. You were biting your lip, waiting in anticipation for his reaction. And to Leo’s surprise, you were right. Through the shell, he could hear what sounded like the wind of the sea.

“Okay, I honestly didn’t expect that”, Leo said with a small smile, taking the shell from your hand, turning it between his three fingers. He tried his best to ignore how you were still wrapped around his arm, staying as close to him as you did before, making his heart beat faster and faster in his chest.

“You should listen to me more often”, you teased. “Sometimes I can really teach you some cool things”.

“Yeah, apparently so”, Leo said, still toying around with the shell in his hand, yet never taking his eyes off you. And that was how the two of you sat for a moment, just looking at each other, in comfortable silence, taking in each other’s features. Leo bit the inside of his cheek, wondering if he should go for it. Was this the moment he had always dreamed of, when he could just lean in and kiss you? And he would be so lucky that you would kiss back? Leo was just about to build up courage, just about to lean in, when the air suddenly was pierced with the high pitch voice of your cousin. Of course they just had to come out and check on the two of you.

“Auntie (Y/M/N)! (Y/N) and Leo are kissing!”, your cousin yelled towards the campside. Leo’s face got so hot and his body stiffened up in panic, while you almost choked on the air in your lungs, being caught in the middle of a daydream about how Leo’s lips would feel against yours. But then your mother answered your cousin, purposefully yelling so loud she knew both you and Leo could hear it.

“I’ll say it’s about time! Now, leave them alone, (C/N). People don’t like it when others watch them kiss!”

You and Leo looked at each other, eyes wide, none of you knowing what to do or say, other than wondering how the two of you were going to survive this camping trip. And how you were going to throw your cousin back into the sea, before finally making that little daydream a reality.

[acefaun]

Just a small request if you don't mind. 😅

Can you please add two endings to the Tauxolouve yandere fic?

PLEASE! 🙏🙏🙏

• Mc leaves Tauxolouve for good.🌝

• Mc stays with him. 😈

Please!!!!!!! ♥️

Yandere Tauxolouve

Synopsis: Tauxolouve was a very loving boyfriend… too loving, in fact. Well, maybe love was too kind of a word. The best way to describe someone like Tauxolouve was obsessed and unhinged.

🩸Yandere Masterlist🩸 Female goldfish! Warnings: violence, major character death, stalking, captivity, manipulation

A/n: Lou’s turn to be scary! This came out long with or without the good/bad endings. But the good ending is a little longer than the bad ending, so congrats! 

–Word Count: 17,286–

I was an artist. That's what immediately attracted me to Tauxolouve. Okay, that's... not entirely true. He just seemed like a nice god—and he was! I didn't find out he enjoyed art until he told me more about himself. I learned about him and his family, and I shared a bit about my life in turn.

But back to art... Tauxolouve was the only god to enjoy doing art as much as I did and so I often sought him out for company. I was much more inclined to use a pencil and Tauxolouve was an excellent painter, so we often shared our craft and took joy in drawing or painting each other.

It had been some time since the incident with the Dark King where we survived and proclaimed our love for one another. As per our usual customs, I was hanging out with Lou in the living room. I narrowed my eyes as I tried my best to match the color of his tie to the paint that I had on my pallet. Unlike the gods, I couldn't just snap my fingers and get the perfect color. I had to mix them meticulously myself. "Uh... Lou, the purple isn't coming out right and I don’t know what I’m doing wrong."

He glanced at me, finally moving from the pose I made him sit in. He hummed before coming over to peer at what I was mixing. "There's too much red in your mixture. Here, let me show you how I look at things." Sitting beside me, he removed his tie and placed it hanging on a sofa in front of us. "Do you see the orange of the chair? What's the difference between that chair and my tie?" 

I stared between the two. I wasn't excellent at painting and I rarely ever had to color-spot to work with colored pencils since the only colors were what I had in front of me. Painting was much different. I glanced at Lou and hurriedly looked back at the two objects. He was waiting for an answer, but I really didn't know. Starting with the obvious, I tried, "One's purple and the other's orange...?"

Lou's lips subtly curled up in amusement. "Yes... But look deeper into the colors and tell me what's different about them."

I hummed, trying to peer deeper into the colors like he wanted. "Well... I guess one is a lot warmer than the other. But does that really make them different? It's not like your tie is a cool purple."

"But you've spotted the difference," he replied with a proud smile, ruffling my hair. "That's how you should look at your paint. There are warmer colors and there are cooler colors. You might think red and blue are different, but their temperatures can trick you."

I stared in wonder as he passionately explained to me the differences between the colors of red and blue on my pallet. He really loved painting, and the passion in his voice took me. I was almost jealous of the paint with how he was speaking of it. "Lou..." He stopped his explanation and looked at me again. I was so caught up in my thoughts that I hadn't realized I interrupted him. "Uh, s- sorry! I was just thinking... You're really passionate about this. It's... cute." My face heated as I shyly suggested, "What if you started hanging your paintings in your room? I think it would look nice." His room was always so depressing and empty despite how he promised to change it. If he hung his paintings, it might liven the space a bit more. 

He thoughtfully tapped his chin, wondering about it for a moment before a grin spread across his face. "That's a wonderful idea. You can help me." 

"Help you? I mean... uh... sure."

"This can be the first piece we put up!" 

He was obviously excited about hanging up this painting in his room and I couldn't do anything but nervously argue, "I meant your work, Lou..." I wanted to do what I could to make sure Tauxolouve was happy, but I was certainly beginning to feel shy about how excited he was over my art. Still, it wasn't like I was about to tell him no. 

His smile, however, made me happy that I suggested it in the first place, regardless of his embarrassing idea to hang my work. His eyes shone with love as he beamed at me. "You're so cute when you're embarrassed. Don't worry. Your painting is going to look lovely. I'll become your painting teacher from now on and we'll paint things together."

My lips curled up in bliss. I absolutely loved how he took joy in the smallest things I tried to do for him. On the bright side, if he wanted to teach me how to paint so badly then that would only give us more time to hang out together. "Okay; I can't wait to learn everything you know."

He nodded his head, immediately becoming serious about his new job as my painting teacher. "I'll make sure your paintings surpass mine. First, why don't you finish this painting you're working on and I can get an idea of what I need to show you? That will make these lessons a lot easier for you." I watched him as he returned to the sofa, settling his tie around his neck as he got into position for me to finish the painting on my own. With his previous tip about mixing colors in my mind, I did my best to create a perfect painting of him—this was going to be the first painting in his room after all.

***

Tauxolouve was a member of the Department of Wishes and he was my boyfriend, but Leon's orders were much more important than spending time with me. I knew he had a duty to uphold in his department, but I was still disappointed to have come all this way only for Karno to tell me he wasn't in the mansion. Still, rather than going all the way back home, I borrowed some of Partheno's time since he was on the sofa sifting through his own work. 

"Do you think it would be alright if I sketched you?"

My sudden request surprised Partheno. After all, it was usually Tauxolouve that I was taking my time to draw. But he did also know that Tauxolouve was busy, and I was alone and in need of company. "You want to draw me? I don't see why not. I just have to sit still for you, right?"

I nodded my head, explaining what I needed, "You can just relax. I don't need you in any complicated pose or anything like that. This is actually just for me to pass some time. I hope I'm not wasting any of your time...”

"I'm sooooo jealous!" Ichthys cried, startling me as he leaned over my shoulder. "You're always drawing Lou, but when Lou's not here you choose him instead of me? Is it because I'm not beautiful enough? Do you think they're prettier than me?! I fixed my hair extra nice for you today. Didn't you notice?" 

I huffed, but I wasn't truly annoyed with his pestering questions. Ichthys and I were friends, so it wasn't like I hadn't heard his fake whining before. "Why are you whining? You used to let me draw you when I was helping you with your sin. Besides, I know when you're faking being upset, you know."

"Aw, man," Ichthys crossed his arms, plopping on the sofa beside me. "I can't get away with anything around you. You're almost as scary as Zyg."

"Pfft, well you still don't have to whine about it. If you wanted me to draw for you, then you should've just asked." I gestured for him to move beside Partheno. "Go over there. I'll draw you together. I need to practice drawing more than one person in a portrait, anyway. Lou always says practice makes perfect."

With an excited squeal, Ichthys threw himself on top of a surprised Partheno who fussed, "She said to join me, not to jump on top of me like a child!" Usually, I was doing art with Tauxolouve so I was missing out on this kind of fun banter that the gods got into. Maybe I could convince Tauxolouve to do art with the other gods as well. I was sure some of them would appreciate us letting them join in on the creativity and fun. Ichthys would definitely enjoy me showing him how to draw something that wasn't a stick figure.

“(Naaaame),” Ichthys called from where he was sitting on top of Partheno’s lap, exactly where he plopped himself fifteen minutes ago. “Can I see it yet?”

“Give me a second.”

“How about now?”

“Almost.”

“Is it finished?”

“Hush! You're disrupting my creative process.”

He paused and Partheno taunted, “You're disrupting her creative process.”

Ichthys blinked, his face scrunching up in disbelief. “Really?”

“Pfft,” I chuckled, holding forth my sketchbook. “Nah, not really. Check this out! It's a real masterpiece if I do say so myself.”

“Hold on,” Partheno squinted his eyes, both of them leaning closer to the scratchy-looking pencil sketch. “Is that… I'm afraid I have to critique you. I would not wear a dress that looks like that if I were marrying anyone; least of all this fish.”

“What's that supposed to mean?” Ichthys pouted, his eyes shifting from between my work and Partheno. “I think it looks great. All of your feminine qualities are showing. And I look super… Uh… Super manly?”

I shrugged my shoulders. Maybe if Ichthys hadn't thrown himself on top of Partheno, then I wouldn't have been tempted to make them a married couple. “I just call it how I see it. Maybe next time act less like a married couple and I'll consider actually drawing what's in front of me?”

“Don't do that,” Ichthys immediately argued, looking severely disappointed at my threat. “I like when you add things to your art! It makes it funny.”

“Funny, huh?” Partheno inclined his head, flicking Ichthys in the forehead. “Next time, give this fish an actual fish head.”

“I’ll definitely have to consider it,” I offered, glancing between him and Ichthys. “But couldn’t you just snap your fingers and give him a fish head yourself?” They were definitely a strange pair, but at least they kept me amused for the day. 

“Now there’s an idea,” Partheno hummed, glancing Ichthys up and down.

Ichthys glared at me, his eyebrows furrowing together. “What?! Why are you two ganging up on me like that? I need someone on my side too!”

Seeing that he was prepared to flee from the living room, I quickly latched on him, pinning him to the sofa. “Oh, no you don’t! Where do you get it would be fair to me if you go get another god? Right now it’s just a god versus a god and a human. You can’t cheat your way out of this one. C’mon, Partheno! Hit him!”

Having my assistance, it was pretty easy for Partheno to snap his fingers, turning Ichthys’ head into that of a fish. “There. Now he’s a Pisces.”

I tilted my head, my eyebrows furrowing. “Hey… if Pisces is a fish… then… Should Virgo be a beautiful lady?”

Ichthys quickly snapped his fingers, turning his head back to normal as he stuck his tongue out at Partheno. “Yeah! Your manly appearance is upsetting (Name).”

“Is it?” Partheno glanced himself over. He thought he was fine as the god of beauty—but if I wanted to see him as a woman… He hummed, snapping his fingers. We didn’t expect him to turn himself into a woman without Ichthys giving him a push. But… my cheeks turned hot with how she obviously was trying to over-do her seductiveness. “I had no idea you swung in that direction, dear. Wouldn’t Louie be so jealous to find out you prefer women?”

I scrambled to get off of Ichthys who was amused by how flustered I was getting over a female Partheno. Ichthys laughed, grabbing my arms as he pulled me back onto his lap. “You’re not afraid of Lady Partheno, are you? Do you like her?”

“Ah, stop teasing me,” I shouted at them. “I’m dating Lou! You back off or- or Lou’s going to yell at you!”

Ichthys tilted his head, his index finger tapping his chin curiously. “Come to think of it… I don’t think I’ve ever heard Tauxolouve raise his voice at anyone other than me. Partheno, how would you feel getting yelled at by him?”

Placing a delicate hand on her chest, Partheno answered, “As a woman, I’d be absolutely appalled to have a man yell at me.” Still, winking at me, she pulled me into her arms, swinging me around to where my back was pressed into her chest. “But aren’t you lucky? He’s in the Heavens working and I have an adorable little thing like you to play with.” Leaning forward, her cheek pressed against my head. “Don’t you want to know what a goddess feels like?”

“I… Ah… Uh…”

“(Name)?” Three pairs of eyes flickered to the door of the living room. 

“L- Lou!” I stuttered, catching sight of my boyfriend who looked fairly disturbed by the scene laid out before him. I said that Tauxolouve would yell at Partheno and Ichthys, but now that he was there, I didn’t actually want him to be yelling at anyone. 

Overwhelming confusion when a smile crossed his lips quashed my anxiety over his arrival. “What’s going on here, little lady? Have you found yourself a lady friend to occupy yourself with while I was gone?”

“But…” I faltered… “This is…”

“Of course it is,” He interrupted me, making me freeze in anticipation. “Partheno,” he paused. “Ichthys,” he paused a second time, his eyes narrowing on the two as his smile made an unsettling combination with his glare. “Do you two have a death wish I can grant?”

“Not at all,” Partheno said, quick to snap his fingers, turning back into his usual self before directing me straight into the vicinity of my boyfriend. Quickly retreating to where Ichthys had scurried off to, he added, “We were just keeping your darling company while you were gone. We’ll just leave you two lovebirds to it now…” 

The room fell silent with the absence of the other gods. Tauxolouve still appeared pretty tense, and I quickly averted my gaze. Quietly, I offered, “They were just messing around. You know how they are. You weren’t… seriously mad at them, were you?”

He sighed, but he didn’t offer me anything else. Clearly, he was fed up with the other gods for the moment. “Let’s go back to my room.” Without waiting for me to follow, he took my hand in his, pulling me to his room. Usually he waited for me to at least say ‘okay,’ but I quickly realized he was in a less than stellar mood. Maybe I should have put a stop to Ichthys and Partheno’s antics sooner… 

Tauxolouve’s room was less depressing than usual. I noticed he’d put more of his own works up besides mine. 

My gaze returned to him as soon as he released my hand, closing the door behind us. Though, he elected to leave me standing at the entrance as he moved to sit on his bed. His elbows sat on his knees and his fingers laced together as they rested against his lips. His eyes were glued to the floor, very intent on not looking at me. 

Awkwardly, my gaze trailed across his newly decorated walls. Deciding to turn his room into an art studio was definitely the right choice. Seeing the natural colors across the different sized canvases brought a life that wasn’t there before. It was embarrassing that most of the paintings were ones he had done of me or that I had attempted to do of him, but if it made him happy then he was free to decorate his room as he pleased. 

However… my eyes fell back to the stoic god that sat on the bed. He didn’t look very happy now, and that was probably my fault, leaving a pit of guilt in my stomach. “Lou?” I called his name carefully, not receiving a hint of a reaction. “I’m sorry… they took things too far while you were gone. They were just teasing me. I know you don’t like that.” I fell quiet, and he didn’t speak up. The sight of him ignoring me was enough to chip at my delicate heart.

I couldn’t let him ignore me like that, I couldn’t handle it. Walking up beside him, I took my shoes off before climbing up onto the bed. He shifted as if to see what I was doing, but I simply wrapped my arms around him from behind, my fingers interlacing over his heart. I pressed my forehead into his back as I held him tight. Finally, he whispered my name, “(Name)?”

“Lou,” my voice cracked. “I’m sorry… Please, don’t be mad at me. I was just waiting for you to come home. I won’t let them do it again.”

Feeling my arms quiver around him, he took my hands in his own, turning around to face me. As soon as he took in my expression, he reached out, gently wiping my tears. “Don’t cry, little lady. I wasn’t upset with you. I won’t let them do that to you again.” His eyebrows furrowed. “What did I even walk in on?”

Wouldn’t it make him more upset to hear the explanation? Still, he deserved answers to his questions, at the very least. “They were just making fun of me, saying that you’d be jealous if I liked women more than you. But, I’m dating you, Lou. It doesn’t matter what anyone else’s gender is; they’re not you.”

He huffed, shaking his head at their antics. They were always trying to get a rise out of me. “How typical of them,” Tauxolouve sighed, passing his fingers through my hair as if to soothe me. “I’ll have to make sure those gods know who you belong to. I’m the only one who can tease you until your cheeks light up.” Leaning closer, his lips pressed against my forehead. “So tell me… would you prefer me if I were a man or a woman?”

Knocking my fist into his chest, I whined, “Don’t you start too!” I muttered quietly, “I’d love you no matter what gender you were. I love being with you, Lou. I love you, Tauxolouve, my God of Sagittarius.”

Caressing my hair, he chuckled. “You sound very romantic right now. If you keep declaring your love to me, I might just have to do something to keep you talking.”

“Do something to keep me talking?”

“Well,” he shrugged. “Maybe talking isn’t the right word. I should say moaning my praises is more where I was going.”

“Lou!”

“Are you against spending the night with me? You waited all day for me. I have to give my love something in return for her loyalty. I’ll even give you a nice bath later. Say yes for me?”

I pressed my lips against his, pulling away just enough to breathe, “Yes…”

***

After that day, the gods were extremely hesitant to tease me as they usually did. I was relieved that they’d backed off, but it felt more quiet and sad in the mansion without their usual banter with me. I mean, it’s not that they completely stopped talking to me—we were still friends and hung out in the living room while I waited for Tauxolouve. I just felt like everything lacked its usual energy. 

On the other hand, Tauxolouve seemed oddly more intense in everything he did. When he painted me or when I painted him, everything felt far more intimate. It wasn’t an unpleasant thing to be so close with my boyfriend… but he seemed like he was getting more… possessive? I could have been overthinking things, but I tried to ignore my ‘warning’ feelings. It wasn’t like Tauxolouve would ever hurt me or any of my other friends. 

Still, the anxious feeling wouldn’t leave me alone as I returned to the mansion on my day off, searching for Tauxolouve who wasn’t there once again. As usual, it didn’t bother me. But instead of going to find the other gods, I settled with going to wait in Tauxolouve’s room, hoping the comfort of being around my boyfriend’s things would help me feel better. 

If anything, I loved that Tauxolouve was a dedicated boyfriend. I never had to worry about him cheating on me or neglecting me. Though… we could have done without how pouty he got when I hung out with Dui and Krioff—it wasn’t like either of them ever messed with me like Ichthys and Partheno enjoyed doing. Well… Shadow Dui was occasionally there, but he never intentionally pushed Tauxolouve’s buttons.

Sitting on Tauxolouve’s bed, I hummed to myself. What were ways I could push Lou’s buttons? Taking a glance around his room, my eyes fell on the door of his closet. Tilting my head, I wondered if he had any of his clothes in there or if he just snapped his clothes on and off. I knew he was too clumsy to dress himself the manual way without help. Curiously, I walked over to his closet, taking a peek inside. 

Unfortunately, there were no clothes inside but there were certainly some ugly coats. My nose scrunched up. There was no way those were for him and I prayed to god he didn’t get them for me. Why were they even stuffed in his closet like that? If I thought they were bad, I’d hate to hear Partheno’s condescending review as the god of beauty.

Shoving them aside to search for anything that I’d usually see Tauxolouve in, my eyes widened. Was that… a secret door? What would he have something like that for? Unless those coats were just to cover up his real closet where the real fashion was. I knew he was more stylish than that.

Confidently shoving my way past the coats, I stumbled through the door, finding the room exceedingly dark, only illuminated by the lights that came from the excessively enormous walls. More than a closet, this was like a trophy room. 

Only… my heart stuttered. 

What… What were those?

Almost tripping over my feet, I rushed closer to the wall, my eyes scanning the glimmering images that lined the walls. There were… hundreds. Maybe more. But… were they all of me?! Trying to get a closer look, my face contorted in confusion. These didn’t look like paintings. These looked like images frozen in time—like photographs but… not. They looked like they were… water? Wait! Were these images frozen and taken directly from the reflection pool? No wonder they all gave off a faint glow.

My heart raced, but not in flattery. These looked like pictures from my everyday life. Is… that what Tauxolouve spent his time doing in the Heavens while working?! My eyes trailed over the hundreds of images, coming to a stop when my eyes caught a movement in the room's corner. It seemed like pictures were still being added… 

I froze in fear and realized that’s the exact expression that was staring back at me. This… had to stop. I didn’t like these images from every aspect of my life. Any normal person would call this stalking. Fleeing from the room, I carefully made sure everything was the way I first found it before I slammed the closet door shut. Turning to leave, a shrill yelp left my lips, adrenaline rushing through me as I found Tauxolouve standing in the doorway staring at me. 

He didn’t look distressed or anything, his face was relaxed as usual. He simply commented, “You look frazzled, little lady. What’s wrong?”

I faltered, refusing the urge to glance back at the closet door. But there were images in there that would prove my guilt—in fact, I was more than positive he was watching me through a reflection pool the whole time. He knew exactly what I did and what I saw. Taking a deep breath to calm myself down, I questioned, “What was that?”

He hummed, wondering why I would’ve been so upset about it. “That’s my photography room. I’m sort of surprised it’s your first time seeing it. I like to keep images of things I love. Though, I have to say, I never would have come up with the idea if you hadn’t told me to decorate my room with things I love. Only… I had little wall-space out here since I wanted to decorate my room with paintings that you made yourself. Nothing makes me happier than seeing our work every day.”

My gaze flickered down to my hands that were nervously clasped in front of me, avoiding his gaze that I now knew was constantly on me every second of the day. Releasing a shaky breath, I raised my head, meeting his unwavering stare. Immediately, I wanted to look away, but I needed to show him I was serious about this. “I- I’m glad that you love me, Lou. But… this makes me uncomfortable. This wasn’t what I meant when I suggested decorating your room with things you like. The paintings… those are nice… but I don’t like you watching me all the time like that and then keeping every minute of my life on display.”

Things fell silent between us. I wasn’t sure how he was going to take my harsh criticism, but I needed to put my foot down. I couldn’t handle a relationship where even my privacy was being exploited by him. Besides… if that was what made him happy, then I wasn’t sure I wanted him to be that happy…

“I appreciate your feedback,” he said kindly, making me inwardly relieved that he was listening. Though, my relief was fleeting as he softly continued, “But this isn’t your room, is it? You didn’t have to go in that room; I placed separately it from this one so that you would be comfortable being in a room of our paintings. It would be pretty contradictory for you to tell me to do what I love and then come and tell me I can’t just because you personally don’t appreciate that aspect of my work.”

I scoffed, my lips drawing back in displeasure. “So you’re saying you made that spare room, assuming I’d be uncomfortable with it. Well, I am. I’m asking you to please stop because it makes me uncomfortable. I appreciate your art, and I could appreciate that you were getting into a completely new medium of photography, but I don’t like your subject matter. I don’t like you watching me like that.”

“I completely respect your opinion,” he said, reaching out his hand to calm me down, only I avoided his touch, stepping away from his advance. He wouldn’t smooth things over with a loving touch or two and ignore my concerns. He sighed. “You’re being difficult. Art that’s avant garde is difficult to accept sometimes, but you’re the love of my life. Aren’t you supposed to support my aspirations? I’m just trying to express my feelings for you. I have so much love for you, (Name).”

“Well, express your feelings differently,” I argued, on the verge of yelling at him to get my point across. I hated what he was doing, and he was refusing to stop. “I’m serious. You’re making me uncomfortable and you’re not listening to me. No, don’t call this ‘avant garde.’ That’s actual bull shit. This is borderline stalking that I didn't consent to.”

He huffed, an incredulous chuckle leaving his lips. “Is this going to be our first argument? Are you honestly going to fight me over the way I express my love for you? Is it honestly so bad to want to keep you frozen in time with me for all eternity?”

“The fact that you can’t recognize that it’s wrong to make me feel this uncomfortable with your art is the reason we’re arguing. So, yes, it’s bad.” Clenching my jaw together, I turned away from him, sighing heavily. “I… don’t want to fight with you like this.” 

Shaking my head, I moved to walk past him; only, he was quick to reach out and grab my arm. I knew he had a problem invading my privacy, but I didn’t think he’d stop me from leaving. Before I could yell at him, he asked, “You’re not leaving me now, are you? You’re going to break my heart yelling at me and then storming out. You told me you were going to help me make my room a happier place yet here you are yelling at me over what makes me happy and then abandoning me as if that’s all supposed to make me feel better.”

Trying to pull out of his grasp was useless as he refused to loosen his grip around my forearm. “If you weren’t being so petty then I might try to talk this out with you but why should I waste my breath on someone who isn’t listening to me?! I actually couldn’t care less about your room right now. This is not how I want to be treated by someone who loves me. Let me go, Tauxolouve.”

“What happened to ‘Lou’?” I flinched as he pinned me against his wall. His fingers curled under my chin, tilting my head up as he met my gaze with those seductive eyes of his. “You said a room should be filled with things you like.” It was something he kept reiterating over and over as if that was suddenly his life motto. Maybe I never should’ve told him that. If it would have salvaged our relationship, then maybe I should have left his room as depressing and unexpressive as it was. 

“You have more than enough personal items, I think,” I snapped back, tearing my gaze away from his. I wouldn’t let him reel me back in with his sad eyes and pretty face. “I don’t need this right now. I’m going home.”

His gaze fell. “I don’t think that’s going to happen.” Tauxolouve snapped his fingers, but I had to blink a few times, thinking my eyes were playing tricks on me. No, I prayed my eyes were playing tricks on me. 

But the coolness of the leather around my neck wasn’t a trick. Pulling away from Tauxolouve who had loosened his grip, I tugged at the collar. It was far from choking me, but there wasn’t a latch to take it off. It was just a singular ring of fabric that only he could choose to snap off. The only additional thing on the collar was the chain that was connected to the column by his bed. As far as I could tell, it was only long enough to let me reach the rooms closest to the bed, like the bathroom and the closet. The door to the hall was something just out of my reach. Returning to the bed’s column, I tugged on the chain from both ends, neither side giving any slack. 

There was no way he was seriously going to keep me chained up in his room… This was so much worse than him stalking me—it had to be a horribly timed joke. “Tauxolouve… This isn’t funny,” I whined, turning back to find him. “Stop messing around.” 

“Oh, I’m done messing around,” he said, his tone serious, matching his expression. I really didn’t like that expression on his face. It didn’t look like my Lou at all. But just as quick as it was there, he was back to smiling as if he were proud of himself. “You really tie this room together, (Name). Here… I’ll be able to paint you as much as I want.”

“Please,” I faltered, my fingers helplessly tugging the collar that refused to budge. “I don’t like this…”

“Well, I didn’t like the way you were leaving me, yet you had no problem doing that,” he admitted, returning to his bed to sit down now that he had everything solved. “That look on your face… you weren’t going to come back if I let you walk out. So, now you’re going to always be with me. You’re granting all of my wishes by being here for me.” Glancing over at me, he reached his hand out, a familiar soft smile gracing his features. It made my heart pang sadly, but I refused his offered hand. Still, he didn’t force me to join him on the bed. “If that room makes you uncomfortable… I’ll stop taking the pictures. I thought once I made an impressive collection that made my heart burst with love for you I could finally show you. I hadn’t even finished and still you hated me for it…” A soft sigh left his lips. “I’ll try to do better from now on. I’ll try to be the reliable boyfriend you can love again. I hate seeing you upset with me.”

It was one thing that he was giving up his passion for photography, but he had a chain keeping me trapped in his room! What the hell was he expecting?! “Tauxolouve…” My voice cracked, and I twisted my head away to hide my tears from him. “I always trusted you; I loved you so much. But everything you’ve been saying and doing has just been breaking my heart… I can’t handle this.” I flinched at feeling his hand on my shoulder, but he only pulled me toward him—an attempt to comfort me from his painful betrayal. I whispered, “I don’t want your comfort now… I don’t want you…”

“Shhh,” He hushed me, his lips pressing against my ear as he held me tight against his chest. “It’s okay. You’ll get used to living with me. You’re just upset because of our little argument; I understand. I wasn’t treating your concerns fairly. Don’t worry, you can feel however you need to feel. I won’t push aside your feelings, I’ll listen to you. I’m going to love you and take care of you.” I would have been thrilled to hear such words and promises leave his soft lips if he weren’t treating me like an animal, something under his ownership. Still, I knew my anger was misplaced against a god. It was useless now. The best I could do was bottle it up and save it for a better time. Sighing, Tauxolouve interpreted this as me relaxing in his arms. Stroking my back, he whispered, “Good… I love you, my beautiful sweetheart.”

***

It had been painstaking weeks that he locked me up in his room, having me entertain his every whim. If he wanted to paint me, it was all I could do to lay there and let him. If he wanted to massage me, he didn’t ask as his fingers danced across my skin. If he wanted to take a bath with me it was nothing for him to make the quiet request and find me in the bathroom not ten minutes later waiting for him. The other gods? They were concerned about me, of course. It was only Tauxolouve who threw them off by convincing them I was getting over an illness. This received various reactions, including Huedhaut offering Tauxolouve various books on human health and some homemade medicine for me. How unfortunate that wouldn’t help my case. If Huedhaut really wanted to be helpful, he should have sent a knife or something sharp enough to cut the god-forsaken collar off my neck!

The only thing that could save me at this point was me. Using all this time to gain Tauxolouve’s trust was worth it as he left me alone in his room with his painting supplies. Did I want to paint something for him? No. I just wanted his palette knife—it was the only unsuspecting thing I could even think to use to cut through the collar. It wasn’t sharp, but it was made of metal and I wasn’t squandering my chances. 

My heart raced at each minute that passed. The longer I remained stuck here, the sooner Tauxolouve would return. Ever since he agreed to stop stalking me from the reflection pool, his next best bet was hurrying to do his work in the Heavens in order to quickly return to me. That didn’t give me much alone time at all. 

Snap

I flinched, the metal chains hitting the floor with a clatter as the collar fell from my neck. Tossing the metal knife aside, I grabbed the small band of leather that had been keeping me trapped there all those weeks. At the very least, I was taking it with me—not for sentimental purposes, but if I were to be caught by another god… I didn’t want to be returned to Tauxolouve’s room. As a last resort, I could use it to prove what Tauxolouve was doing to me. Unless… they were all on his side. 

My best bet was to avoid all the gods together. The fewer witnesses to see me leave, the better. Only… that was easier said than done in a mansion of 12 zodiac gods. It seemed I was destined to fail. Not ten minutes out of Tauxolouve’s room, I ran into Aigonorus who was staring at me intently. His gaze made my heart drop as I waited impatiently for him to either act on my escape or say something. 

“I thought you were sick.” His blunt statement made a sigh of relief leave my lips. 

“Yeah,” I hesitantly agreed, coming up with a story on the spot. “But I’ve been feeling better. I was just going to go out for a bit… I’ll be back later though, so no one has to worry.” 

Aigonorus’ eyebrows furrowed and my heart raced in anxiety. I thought it was a pretty convincing story, but he didn’t look sold. It took him a moment of silence before he asked, “Can one of my heralds go with you? The human world’s been pretty rough lately and Lou would be upset if something happened to you.”

I wondered… if Aigonorus’ heralds could sense ill-intentions like other animals could. They were divine beasts, surely their instincts were far superior to a normal animal. “O- Okay… That’s fine.” Maybe I’d feel safer with one of his heralds anyway. 

Accepting the offered protection, I left the mansion with the fairly large goat without running into any other gods. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do with Aigonorus’ herald since I didn’t actually have any intention of returning to the mansion. Did this mean the goat would just follow me until I returned? Or would Aigonorus just summon it back whenever he decided I was gone for too long?

I successfully made my escape from Tauxolouve, but what was my next step? I couldn’t go home, I’d easily be found. Hell… he would probably search the reflection pool as soon as he found me gone. I’d be found within the next 24 hours, that was for sure. So, what to do with my temporary freedom… and a goat? 

I came to a halt as my knees hit the firm body of the divine animal in front of me. “Huh…?” The goat stood firmly between me and the path ahead, its eyes locked on the empty road before us. “H- Hey, what are you doing? I have a limited window here, buddy. You better think about moving or I’ll tell Aigonorus that my guard was a pretty stubborn choice.” I didn’t think it could understand me, but with the way it turned its head toward me and started ushering me with its horns back toward the mansion, I assumed I offended it. “I was just kidding! We’re not going back to the mansion, little guy!” Though, trying to get around the herald, it refused to let me pass. “Honestly, what is wrong with divine beings and telling me what to do and what not to do?”

“Don’t worry. We’re not divine beings, so maybe you’ll obey us without trouble.”

My head snapped up at the sound of that familiar voice. The herald turned around as well, standing in front of me like the guardian that it was. It had been a long time since I’d seen anyone from the Under Realm. It was strange to see Servillah again, especially in the forest that was so close to the mansion. But these dark gods always came in pairs, and I turned quickly, rightfully expecting the second of them to be behind me. 

Crow chuckled at how fast I turned to find him. “You’re pretty clever. I’m honored that you remembered me from our last meeting, goddess of fate. What’s this little pet you have with you? A gift from that god?”

“My guard,” I answered sharply. Though, I wondered if I should willingly go with these guys instead of letting Tauxolouve lock me away again. I faltered, a dangerous idea entering my head. If I let them take me, Tauxolouve would come to save me in no time… But he’s just a demigod against two dark gods. …Still, did I hate Tauxolouve enough to want him to die over this? Did I want freedom that badly to risk the entire world?

Lost in my own thoughts, it startled me when Crow lunged at me, causing the herald to charge forward, landing a direct hit on him. Only, this left me open for Servillah who was quick to grab me while simultaneously landing an attack on the goat. My eyes widened as the goat cried out before vanishing. Did they just kill it? 

Servillah huffed in disappointment. “That was easy for a divine beast. C’mon. Let’s go before those gods come to interfere.” It was terrifying to be dragged around by dark gods, especially when I was brought to the under realm where I could hardly breathe without choking on the air. “You’re absolutely weak. Good thing all we need in there is your soul.”

“Wait…” I muttered quietly. What possessed me to go to dark gods with a request like this? Couldn’t I have just gotten help from one of the other gods? No… They’d have been on Tauxolouve’s side. These dark gods are the only ones who didn’t care about anything besides their dark king. “I… I’d like to make a deal.” 

Both their faces scrunched up, disbelieving what I was saying. Glancing at each other, Servillah took the bait and asked, “And what’s that? We’re not sending you back to those gods.”

“That’s not it,” I shook my head, my heart thrumming in my chest. “I want to know if it’s possible for you to kill a god… a demigod,” I corrected myself. They needed to know exactly what they were going to be dealing with. 

Their eyes widened. I could see the wheels turning in their head that they must be jumping to the wrong conclusion—but they were right. I wanted them to kill someone. Crow’s eyes narrowed as he finally asked, “What’s the deal?”

“I’ll give you my soul… If you can stop that demigod from getting me.”

Servillah scoffed, grabbing my arm to continue dragging me as he lost interest in my offer. “What the hell do you think we mean when we say we’re taking your soul for our King? It doesn’t matter if that god dies, you’re gonna die, regardless.” That’s right… taking my soul meant I was going to die—Zyglavis had explained that to me once. But if Aigonorus found out that his goat died protecting me then that only meant that Tauxolouve was going to show up soon. 

“I don’t care,” I uttered, my eyes glued to the ground as I tried my best not to trip over my own two feet. “What’s the point of being alive if… if I’m - I can’t livI know he’s going to come… I just want to know if you’re powerful enough to kill a crn obsessedmigod.”

Crow scoffed, following close behind Servillah as they dragged me to where they were intent on resurrecting their Dark King. “What a pathetic goldfish… choosing to die over being saved by a god.” Yet again, the two dark gods glanced at each other. They played it off that they weren’t concerned with anyone coming after me… but if I feared getting rescued by a god, then they weren’t entirely sure they wanted to keep me for longer than necessary. The best thing they could do is resurrect their King and let him deal with the crazy god. Crow muttered, “Let’s hurry and get this over with.” The two seemed to agree at least.

Did I want to die…? Not really. Still, I meant what I said. Maybe if I were lucky, the two dark gods would kill Tauxolouve and then the other gods could rescue me. At least then I’d be free. But what were the chances of that happening? A short scream left my lips as a flash of light skimmed past me, hitting the ground ahead of us. 

Servillah spun around, his eyes locking onto the god that hovered above us with his bow in one hand and an arrow of divine light in the other. Servillah hissed, “The god of Sagittarius…” They wouldn’t be able to do their job if this god was hovering. Shoving me into the arms of Crow, Servillah said, “Go summon him. I’ll handle this half-god.”

Only… that’s not how things were going to go. Tauxolouve had his own plans, and he wouldn’t let these dark gods get away with stealing me for their own means. It was bad enough that I’d willingly run off. His divine powers only seemed to grow in tandem with his desperation to get me back. Sending a singular arrow to make Crow pause, the second was enough extra time for him. He impaled an arrow through Servillah with his quick descent, his eyes landing on Crow.

Now… Servillah wasn’t dead just yet, but Tauxolouve’s intention wasn’t to kill them right away. They threatened his love’s life. They didn’t deserve a merciful death—they were demons. 

Crow glared at the god before us before promising, “This human belongs to our Dark King! Whether or not you kill us… she won’t live long enough.” As if to keep his word, he shoved me backwards, a door slamming shut in front of me as I stumbled to the floor. 

Frantically, I glanced around the dark space, realizing I was cut off from the fight outside. This palace was likely for the Dark King, but he wasn’t resurrected. As far as I was aware, I was trapped in there until either side came out victorious. But that look in Tauxolouve’s eyes terrified me… Did he really mean to nearly hit me with that arrow? As the God of Sagittarius, his aim was true. There was no way he was aiming for Crow or Servillah… but why? 

Scrambling back to my feet, I glanced down the hall, cautiously making my way through the dim halls. The air of the under realm was enough to suffocate me, but I couldn’t sit there and wait for the victor to come to me. At the very least, I could postpone my fate. 

***

Tauxolouve hated this. Taking down two dark gods was nothing for him, but now he was back to tracking me down. Hadn’t I ran for long enough? Was his warning not good enough to stick in my head? If I’d rather die than be with him, then he’d show me just what a mistake that was. 

He took his time with extinguishing the two dark gods, momentarily wielding their powers for his own use. It wasn’t like I could go very far, it wouldn’t take him long to track me down. Those pitter patters coming from down the hall… that was me scrambling around for an exit. His heart ached at the thought that I’d be trying to run from him so desperately. Well, perhaps I had a right to do so. After all, Tauxolouve had no intention of holding back this time. Everything was clear to him now.

***

Every house had a back door, didn’t it? Well, this wasn’t a house but still! There had to be an exit, at least some way to get out! After hearing the door that separated us slam into a wall, I knew their fight was long over. No matter how I looked at it… even if I escaped this palace, there was no way for me to escape the under realm without help. 

I stared helplessly at the wall that ran down two separate halls. There were two directions to pick from, but nowhere that could save me from the inevitable. 

“You know… this is funny,” Tauxolouve’s voice made me shiver as he slowly approached. 

Though, turning around, my eyes widened as my heart stuttered. Why was his bow ready at his side as if he were ready to attack… me? I willed my legs to back away from him, my eyes trained on the arrow that could lift to me at any second. “There’s nothing funny about this situation, Lou… You need to calm down!” I wanted him to put his weapon away.

“You’re the one yelling,” he pointed out, his expression uncharacteristically blank. 

“You’re…” I faltered, almost too panicked to come up with a convincing argument when I didn’t even know what was going on in his head. “This is out of hand. Aren’t you… overreacting…?”

“Overreacting?” He repeated, testing the word on his lips before shaking his head. “But… maybe I should apologize first. I’m terribly sorry. This is my fault, isn’t it? If I had explained everything while you were still being good and obedient for me then things wouldn’t have gotten this far and I wouldn’t have to instill this into you now.” He sighed, almost sounding disappointed with the way things turned out. “You know… my power allows me to see the death of the person I kiss. I’ve never understood why you were always going to die by my hand… not until now.”

I froze in fear as he pulled his arrow back, tilting the bow upward until I was left staring down the edge of a light-made arrow. “L- Lou… Please, you can’t just…” I trailed off. What did he really want to hear right now? He wasn’t serious, was he? He never hinted that he would be the one to kill me—that kind of thing isn’t just something you can hide from the person you’re holding captive! “I- I’m sorry if you’re mad about me running off! I didn’t know-”

“Don’t apologize now. You’ll be okay,” he said, offering me a gentle smile without lowering his weapon. “I’m going to kill you.”

***

Tauxolouve sighed, his weapon vanishing from his hands. He wasn’t sure he could bring himself to actually kill me as soon as he saw the tears rolling down my cheeks. But in the end, I let this entire thing happen. If I’d stayed in his room, then fate might have been kinder. 

His fingers gently trailed over my cheeks, wiping the tears that had fallen. He noted how warm my body was, though he knew it wouldn’t stay that way for long if he didn’t act quickly. Taking me into his arms, he made a swift return to the mansion. Of course, he expected the discord. 

“So…” Leon stared evenly at Tauxolouve, not betraying his emotions. “The dark gods failed to bring back the dark king… but they still got away with one last act.” 

The living room was silent, no god daring to speak during such a grave moment. Tauxolouve had failed to save me—no one was willing to point that out. It still made quite an impact as Tauxolouve requested, “Let me use the stars in my eyes. Let me bring her back.”

Partheno’s eyebrows furrowed as he asked, “What are you trying to do? (Name)’s… gone. Is this worth weakening yourself over?”

Ichthys quickly stood from the sofa, his eyes flickering between me, Tauxolouve, and Partheno. “I’ll heal her. If you use your stars, I’ll heal her wounds.”

Their gazes snapped to the young god and Partheno started, “Ichthys-”

“We’re not permitted to interfere in human life or death,” Karno reiterated the law that was going through all their heads. But, he added with a hopeful gaze, “But (Name) didn’t die on Earth. We failed to protect her… It’s only right that we fix this.” His eyes trailed back to Tauxolouve. “Are you willing to make this sacrifice for her?” 

They all knew the answer was yes. Tauxolouve was nothing if not a devoted boyfriend. “I’ll do anything for her. Even if it means facing the repercussions of what those dark gods did…”

This time it was Dui who worriedly asked, “Won’t this severely weaken the Department of Wishes?”

Leon scoffed, glancing at Huedhaut before he watched with careful eyes as Tauxolouve was setting me on the sofa next to Ichthys. Quietly, Leon commented, “We’ve handled it once before. They’ve made their decisions. You best worry about your fish.” Their eyes flickered to Ichthys who didn’t seem to care much about restraining his powers for me. 

Still, Leon was by Tauxolouve’s side for the exchange. He knew Tauxolouve would be weak afterwards and was prepared to offer his power to keep him stable.

While most of the worry was on the health of Tauxolouve and Ichthys, they also expected me to have a harsh reaction upon waking up. Dying was a pretty scarring experience—if only they knew why this particular murder was scarring. 

My hands weakly grasped at my chest as I gasped for air. My vision blurred and my world spun around me as I tried to regain my bearings, sitting up on the sofa. I was sure I died… So where was I? I squeezed my eyes shut, doing my best to restore my vision. Only, maybe it was too soon to do so. Opening my eyes, a shudder ran through my body at finding Tauxolouve staring down at me. I couldn’t register what was going on, all my body knew was to go. 

Fleeing was much harder than it looked, however. The minute I was on my feet and trying to run, I stumbled into the arms of another god. “H- Hey,” Dui, stuttered, trying to keep me on my feet. “You can’t be moving around like that.”

“(Name), please, your body is still weak, sit down,” Tauxolouve tried to direct, unable to get to me himself since he still needed Leon to keep him standing. In fact, he looked on the verge of passing out if not for being held up. Tauxolouve still tried to soothe my panic, “The dark gods aren’t here. They’ve been taken care of. The dark king won’t be revived.”

“I don’t give a shit about the dark gods,” I growled back, pulling out of Dui’s arms only to trip forward and land in the waiting arms of Huedhaut who was trying to get me to calm down. I couldn’t wrap my mind around it. Were all the gods in cahoots now? Didn’t they care Tauxolouve was a killer? Why were they on his side and not mine? Clutching my chest, searching for the gaping wound from his arrow I stuttered, “Why… Why am I back here? Why am I alive?”

Teorus leaned closer, his hand rubbing against my head, hoping that it would comfort me. “Lou gave his stars to save you, (Name). Don’t worry, those nasty dark gods can’t come back for you. They were all taken care-”

“The dark gods?” I repeated, my blurred eyes locking onto Tauxolouve who was staring at me evenly. I wasn’t allowed to pull away from Huedhaut who was trying to make sure I didn’t hurt myself. My frantic clawing at his hands to release me wasn’t helping my case. “Bullshit!” I howled, my terrified glare boring into him. “He killed me!” My accusation made the other gods regard Tauxolouve with as much surprise as confusion, but I wasn’t finished. “He shot me with one of his arrows! The dark gods saved me from him!”

As weak as Tauxolouve was, he logically explained, “The dark gods got into your head, (Name). Don’t you remember? I’m your boyfriend.”

“No,” I uttered. My boyfriend wouldn’t have raised a weapon to me. “No, no! Stop lying! Stop it!”

I screamed at the weak god, only making Huedhaut’s grip around my waist grow firmer. “Calm down, you’re going to over-work yourself. Look. He won’t hurt you and you have all of us here with you. Don’t you trust us?”

I thought I trusted these gods… but they were siding with him. They didn’t believe me because he already put lies in their heads. “I don’t,” I hissed, glaring at Huedhaut with trembling lips. They were from the Department of Wishes… they were Tauxolouve’s friends, of course they would side with him. The only person who would probably listen would be Zyglavis—the unbiased hand of justice…

Huedhaut rubbed his fingers across my forehead delicately. “What did that monster put into your head?” He sighed.

“I think we’ll need time to recover,” Tauxolouve suggested, some strength back in him thanks to Leon’s powers. “It just breaks my heart to see her hate me so…” He put on the saddest pair of eyes he could muster as I openly tried to kill him with my glower. “It’s difficult to admit, but I can’t send her home in this condition. As her lover, I’m naturally obligated to care for her. I think it would be best for me to return her proper mindset on my own. What do you think, Hue?”

Huedhaut hummed, his eyes scanning me before he nodded his head. “If you think you can handle taking care of her, I have no reason to object. You were there when they manipulated her, after all. It may be best for you to handle her mental health from here on out—it will provide stability of care, in any case.”

None of them understood what they were doing. Huedhaut didn’t even realize he was betraying me for a monster. Not a single god present understood that they were agreeing to let this man lock me up in his room for no reason other than his own selfish and sinful desires. 

Distressed tears rolling down my cheeks, I screamed, “I hate you!” The gods in the room flinched in surprise. They’d never heard me so distressed and so vengeful toward anyone before. If anything, this was proving Tauxolouve’s point even further. But the god most familiar with the under realm was Zyglavis. My thoughts returned to him again. He’d be able to vouch for me. This wasn’t the work of dark powers, this was Tauxolouve. Helpless, I did the only thing I could. Swinging my elbow back, Huedhaut’s head reeled back from the impact. With his grip loosened enough for me to escape, I ran from the living room. 

Immediately, Tauxolouve was on my case, but his energy was still low from giving me his stars. Unfortunately, he had to rely on another god to catch me. Fortunately for him, he knew Karno and Aigonorus were on his side in thinking I desperately needed their help. My frantic little show to get away from him just proved how warped my mind was. I needed Tauxolouve and even the wise man Huedhaut could agree with him. 

I ran through the hall, but even I knew I couldn’t outrun gods. I only prayed that I’d be able to reach Zyglavis—someone who’d believe me, or at least take my words without a grain of salt. Only, the minute I saw Scorpio down the hall, I couldn’t run fast enough as a shorter form appeared in front of me and I tripped on the floor. Aigonorus had summoned one of his stupid goats!

Scorpio’s eyes widened as I laid sprawled at his feet. “What the hell…”

Before I could shove myself off of the floor, arms wrapped around me and they pulled me into a chest. “Let go,” I screamed, desperately trying to break away from my captor. “Don’t bring me back!” This was really life or death in my eyes. I didn’t want to be stuck with him, the man who killed me in cold blood.

Aigonorus tried his best not to get hit by me as I struggled in his arms. He looked frantically toward Karno. “W- What do I do?”

Scorpio’s confused eyes flickered between the gods, not receiving any answer as to what was going on in front of him. Finally, he snapped, “What the hell is wrong with the goldfish?”

“The dark gods have manipulated her,” Karno explained, his pitying eyes trailing over me. “She thinks Lou is trying to kill her… We can’t send her home like this, she might get hurt or hurt someone else. All we can do is give it time and let Lou try to help her.”

“No!” My voice only grew louder, startling Aigonorus. 

Karno winced, finally deciding. “We don’t have a choice… She needs to sleep.”

Aigonorus nodded his head, holding my struggling form down. However, like a light at the end of a tunnel, I found Zyglavis walking down the hall toward me. I desperately tried to pull from Aigonorus’s arms, but he snapped his fingers and my vision blurred. “N- No… Zyg…la…vis…”

***

It was considerably quiet compared to how it was when I first woke up in the living room. By now I understood perfectly well that Tauxolouve had manipulated the other gods into thinking I was simply ‘unwell’. Telling the truth would have been too difficult for him. So, I wasn’t that surprised to find myself back in Tauxolouve’s bed. I expected to be discarded there, left to Tauxolouve’s mercy. 

But around my ankles were silver clasps that were connected to chains that trailed off the edge of the bed. The length of the chain gave a very slim opportunity for movement—not that I had the energy to move, anyway. My mind felt like it was covered with fog, making it difficult to take in my situation as it was. Sitting up was a lethargic process itself as I tried to investigate my new situation.

Did the gods do this to me for my own good… Or was this more of Tauxolouve’s handiwork? He had me in a collar before… I wasn't about to put this past him. But with the behaviors of the other gods, I wasn't sure I would put this past them either. Huedhaut was more than willing to agree with Tauxolouve’s suggestions. After all… Tauxolouve, more than anyone else in the world, had my best interest at heart. Didn't he?

My eyes flickered to the door, finding Tauxolouve smiling in the doorframe. It wasn't a malicious smile or a smile of restrained anger, as I would have expected. This smile was… soft, one of love and affection. 

Those eyes made my heart stutter, and I quickly averted my gaze, glaring at the shimmering chains. He didn't have the right to look at me like that after everything he had done. 

I refused to return his gaze as the door clicked closed and he approached the bed. Finally, he broke the silence, “I'm glad you're awake. I was worried Aigonorus might have hurt you with his powers. I would have had to address him about it… But seeing you awake makes me feel very warm inside. I'm glad you're back, (Name). It was torture having you away from me for so long. Aren't you glad to be back home?”

I pursed my lips, my gaze narrowing on the chains that bound me to his room. “This isn't my home.” There was no point in mincing words. I didn't need to pretend to love him, he didn't pretend like he wasn't my captor. 

The bed dipped, but thankfully he hardly moved closer as he quietly coaxed, “I know it might feel less like home with the chains… But you terrified me and the other gods. It devastated me when you ran off and were taken by those dark gods.”

He fell silent. It went unspoken, but we both knew my escape was deliberate. My trip to the under realm with Crow and Servillah was also willing. “You deserve to know what fear feels like. You could never understand what you put me through.”

“Please, don't say that,” his voice cracked as he almost desperately reached for my hand. He didn't allow me to pull away from his touch as his fingers painfully tightened around my wrist. My eyes flickered up to his, finding the tears that were nearly ready to spill. “I was terrified… I knew what I had to do when I found you down there. I knew you would die. I just…” He faltered, the tears finally dripping down his cheeks as he desperately pulled my frozen body into his arms. “I just didn't know if I'd be able to bring you back to me once I'd done it! I was terrified I'd have to live out the rest of my life with the memory of you. That thought scares me and really hurts me.”

He acted… as if he had the right to be crying on my shoulder. He didn't have to point that arrow at me. He didn't have to go after me at all. He could've considered me a loss and cried about it with the other gods. Why did he act like he's the one who just experienced the greatest tragedy of our time when I was the one who was murdered by him?! 

I hissed, “You mean you'd have to live with the fact that you’re a killer!” He stared at me like a confused child as I shoved him away, putting space between us, lest I lash out and try to unsuccessfully kill him myself. “You're making this sob story and lying to the other gods. I wish you'd have had to suffer alone for what you did! I won't be your shoulder to cry on! I'll never stop trying to leave, to escape, to run away from you.” 

First, he was happy to find me awake. Then, he turned into a pitiful mess at recalling the ‘tragedy’ that befell him. But… The fire behind those eyes of his was something that sent shivers down my spine. How could a fire be so cold? 

Slowly, he finally said, “You don't really have any more chances at life.” Turning away, he took a moment to collect himself before continuing with his threat. “I can't sacrifice any more stars for you, and I sincerely doubt any of the other gods will feel as inclined as I was to use the stars in their eyes for you. After all, it would be tragic for you to run off and have an unforgiving accident. As much as I loathe the idea of you not existing in this world with me… I loathe even more the idea of you existing with anyone who isn't me. Leave me again and you won't be coming back.” He blinked, his eyes slowly trailing up to meet mine. “Do you understand what kind of position you're in now?” 

Did I understand? Of course, I did! I was in the hands of a psycho! How could he be so calm when threatening my life like that? It was as if our past together suddenly meant absolutely nothing to him. I couldn't help but wonder if this was how he always felt about our relationship or if this was fairly new. 

“(Name),” he called my name again, his eyes narrowing dangerously. “Do you understand what's expected of you?”

I faltered, unsure of what to answer at first. At the very least, I knew how to survive with Tauxolouve and that had to count for something. Hesitantly, I nodded my head. “Y- Yes… I do.”

All I could do to live was stay calm and take rational actions. Eventually, maybe not soon, but eventually I’d convince one of the other gods to save me from my dire situation. Would I survive then? I couldn't say. All that mattered in my mind was giving Tauxolouve the ending he deserved. I didn't really care what the other gods did once they realized his crimes; it was none of my business. But I'd have my justice. 

After the cool threat to get me to behave around him, Tauxolouve did a fairly good job at taking care of me. I couldn't say the food was anything less than extravagant, especially when Tauxolouve was hand feeding me to ensure I wouldn't attempt to stab him in the back with so much as a spoon—or better yet, escape again.

I was back in the same habits as before my grand failure of an escape. If he said it was time for a bath, it was time for a bath. If he said it was time to exercise to preserve my muscles, then I'd better be moving in the next ten minutes or he was dragging me out of bed and to my doom. If he said it was time to go outside, he would take me outside—but god forbid I make any unnecessary movements that might make him think I was trying to flee. 

It was bad enough he trusted me so little as to ban me from wearing shoes. After all, I couldn't run very far with nothing to protect my fragile human feet, as my captor said. In a way, he was right. Even if I made it outside the mansion, I'd be much slower than I would be if I had shoes.

It was difficult being around the man responsible for my death… How could I face the very god who sent an arrow through my heart? How could I have not been deathly terrified of Tauxolouve's hidden intentions? 

Tauxolouve was a fairly graceful god when he wasn't doing something that required precision. So, by all means, he wasn't entirely as clumsy as he claimed to be. His ‘accidental’ sudden movements when he was around me had to be on purpose. How else could he explain it? He always enjoyed teasing me… even before he became my worst nightmare. This was nothing more than another way for him to get a reaction out of me.

At the very least, to soothe my anxiety, Tauxolouve tried to find me a creative outlet. Of course, his go-to option was painting—something I could have done without. Painting was something I’d avoided since finding out his true nature. But if it made him leave me alone, I figured it was worth my time to put colors on a canvas.

“You've been doing very well for me, love. Why don't you paint while I go to work today? I'm not sure how long I'll be gone since I'm making a trip to the Heavens…” He paused, and he couldn't help but smile as he added, “So, I won’t leave the chain on. But, I trust you'll stay in place if I seal the windows and doors.” 

Truthfully, he trusted me, and that's what I was banking on. I'd been waiting patiently and biding my time for him to give me an opening to escape and get the help I needed. Whether that day was today… I couldn't say. But this was a start, at the very least, and I wouldn’t push my luck unless success was guaranteed.

Glancing up at Tauxolouve, I realized he was waiting for a response and I quickly nodded my head. “I'll… stay and paint.” 

He grinned excitedly as if he had finally won something. He was certain of winning my obedience, that much I was certain of. But he still pushed his luck. “Aren't I going to get a kiss goodbye?” After a long moment of silence, he relented, “Perhaps next time you'll feel inclined to see me off properly. Or maybe I'll get that kiss when I return, hm?” Being met with silence once again, he sighed. “I'll see you this afternoon, love.” 

He wrapped his arms around me, something I only copied for the sake of having him leave faster. Though, his lips pressing against my head was something I definitely wasn't copying. He was pleased enough with my behavior and soon left me alone in the quiet room. 

The silence seemed comparably enjoyable considering the company I faced nearly 24 hours a day. But the easel in the center of the room didn't make me feel better. It was just another piece of Tauxolouve in my life. Ever since he locked me in his room, I'd been less inclined to have anything to do with art. I'd stopped sketching in my books; why did he think I'd like something he enjoyed?

I stared at the blank canvas for the longest time before finally approaching it, my footfalls quiet on the hard floor. There was nothing in particular that I wanted to paint. I could've painted an ugly painting of Tauxolouve, but I had a feeling he wouldn't appreciate that very much—my goal was to gain his trust, not piss him off and make my situation worse. 

All I could bring myself to paint were lines of color, an expression of my morbid feelings. On the inside, I felt like I could scream, throw the paint, make a disaster of his room—but all the energy I once had to fight him was gone, replaced with my desire to escape and win. Still, my repressed feelings only encouraged me to cover my hands in red shades of paint, spattering the unfinished canvas of colors. 

A sudden knock on the door made me turn in fright, my foot catching the edge of the easel, sending me crashing into the paint-filled easel. Was Tauxolouve back already? But he never knocked on the door before entering…

The door flung open unprompted, drawing a shriek out of me as I hid my face behind my pain-covered arms. It wasn’t my fault, but I didn’t want to see Tauxolouve’s wrath at my misstep. 

“(Name)?” My frightened gaze landed on Karno, who was watching me with wide eyes. “You’re… Are you okay?” Before I could respond, he was already by my side, trying to assess me for any injuries. Though, I was too dazed to comprehend the danger we were in. “Are you hurt? Can you talk to me? Do you want me to get Lou for you?”

No. No, no, no! My brain was screaming at me to cry for help. The tears left my eyes, but I couldn’t describe my situation to Karno. He needed to save me from this demented demigod but he would just brush me off again; I was sure. “I don’t want…” But I wanted to tell him. I wanted him to know everything. 

Bad Ending 1/2

“Karno?” My breath caught in my throat, more tears pouring from my eyes as Tauxolouve appeared in the doorframe. If only I spoke up sooner… “What are you doing with (Name)?”

I locked eyes with Karno, silently begging him to save me. But my only hope hesitantly turned from my side to face Tauxolouve and answer him. “I came looking for you before I heard a crash in your room. I thought (Name) fell and got hurt. She didn't want to talk to me, so I was about to go find you. You showed up just in time.” 

I held my breath as Tauxolouve approached us, quickly taking Karno’s place beside me. My voice cracked as I tried to apologize. “I'm sorry…” Maybe if I was as cooperative as possible then Karno would be free from Tauxolouve's wrath.

“Don't worry about apologizing,” he stopped me, only making my anxiety rise by displeasing him. “Tell me if you're hurt.” The silence was thick for a moment. If I said yes, that I was hurt, would he take it easy on me? “(Name),” he repeated, directing my attention to him. “Yes or no?” 

“N- No…”

“Good,” Karno sighed in relief. At least I didn't get hurt in his presence while Tauxolouve wasn't around. “Lou, you seem preoccupied… Come find me later. Leon and I have something work-related to discuss. It's nothing pressing, so take your time.” 

Offering me a smile and a quiet farewell, Karno left the room. Of course, Tauxolouve stared at me the whole time for any reaction to the wishes god. Though, upon reaching for me, my premature wince made him pause. “(Name),” he forced my name, making me draw my limbs closer to myself in anticipation. “I’m serious, are you hurt?” He paused. “I won’t be mad. I want to help you.”

Again, I shook my head silently. “I- I tripped… I just…” I wasn’t sure what to say or how to explain everything he'd seen. Having Karno alone in the room with me looked bad enough, I had no idea how Tauxolouve was feeling. His comforting smile gave nothing away. 

He reached his hands out to me, though he surprised me with how careful his motions were. “Well then, if you’re feeling fine enough to walk, let me bring you take a bath. You’re covered in paint. I’ll handle everything else when we get back.”

I was afraid of whatever punishment might have come from Karno being alone with me, but it seemed that Tauxolouve suspected nothing of actually happening for the short time he wasn’t in the room. To make matters worse… I missed a completely golden opportunity to be rescued from him. 

But was the threat of death really that bad? So what if I died? Then I wouldn’t have to be around Tauxolouve. I wasn't entirely sure I would mind if he extinguished my stars, preventing me from being reincarnated. I didn’t want to live this life, and I certainly didn’t want a future carnation of myself to go through the same suffering. 

But in the bath, I finally revealed my opinion quietly as he washed the paint off of me. “Karno could have taken me away from you…” He glanced at me evenly, but I was annoyed when a smile tugged on his lips. I wanted to spite him. I wanted him to feel scared—threatened. “Then Zyglavis might’ve tried to get you extinguished for what you did.”

“You still think the other gods would suspect me of doing harm to my true love?” His eyebrows furrowed, clearly not wanting to have this conversation. “I don’t know what point you’re trying to get at, but the Dark King hurt you… I’m only doing my best with you. Leaving me isn’t an option, no matter what you try or who you go to. I’m almost tempted to let you try again. Another god is bound to return you to me.”

“You’re cruel.”

“Only because I want what’s best for my darling.”

“I hate you.”

There was a tense pause. He was quiet… too quiet and too still. Before long, I felt a hand over my head, dunking me into the water. I was too startled to have taken a breath—choking and spluttering in the water before he finally pulled me out of the water of his own accord. Staring impassionately at how I spat out water, sputtering for a breath of air, he requested, “Why don't you tell me you love me?” I stubbornly remained silent, though I knew I'd suffer for it. How long would it take another god to realize they sent me with a monster? How long until they saved me? “I hate to do this, but you're making this more difficult than it has to be. I won’t tolerate this behavior.”

Dunking me back underwater, I was doing my best to time when he would drag me back up, only to face the same request. My frantic clawing at his wrist did nothing to help me. Heck, it might have made him angrier, but despite my stubborn behavior, I was terrified deep down. Even as a demigod with one set of stars in his eyes, he was still a god, and he was dangerously unhinged.

I hated him.

I didn’t understand why he couldn’t wrap it around his head. I wasn’t going to say I loved him. “N- No,” I choked out, gasping for air. “I don’t-” And back underwater I went, over and over again. 

He was lessening the time I spent above water. When it came down to it, I wasn’t sure he’d even hear me if I told him I loved him. It was a terrifying predicament. But my struggling ceased when I found myself under for longer than I could handle. I needed air! I couldn’t breathe! My vision was blotting out. “I love you!” I tried to scream, though, clearly failed to have him hear me. All it managed was for me to take in water and my vision went out for a minute. 

When I next opened my eyes, I was leaning against the side of the tub, hacking up water that was forced into my lungs. My limbs were shaking as I felt Tauxolouve rubbing his hand along my back. “There, there. I think you were trying to tell me something before I nearly drowned you to death.”

He was… willing to kill me over words? Escaping was one thing, but suddenly I couldn’t speak my own opinion without him trying to kill me? Still, I was too traumatized to think he was faking it. Quickly, I began repeating it like a prayer, “I love you, I love you, I love you…”

“Fake,” he muttered, making my heart drop before he sighed and said, “We’ll work on it until you can say it with more honesty… just like you used to. Now, let me finish washing that paint from your fingernails so we can get back to my room.”

***

“I just want to love you…” He would remind me every day. “I want you close to me.” What he wanted, he took. 

At the very least, Tauxolouve was calm; he was caring. He granted every single wish, even the ones I never made. I wished for him to hold me closer in bed? Maybe in his head I wished for that. 

Though… One thing I wished for that I never got was my Louie back. He always blamed it on the dark gods, never understanding that he was the one who changed in my eyes. Of course, he was a god so we could never really understand each other's morals. But I refused to forgive him. Murder wasn't something I could brush off.

I was sure I'd have more chances in the future to make an even greater escape. After all, it wouldn't be the last time I'd get the chance to speak to another god.

Good Ending 2/2

All I could bring myself to paint was lines of color, an expression of my morbid feelings. On the inside, I felt like I could scream, throw the paint, make a disaster of his room—but all the energy I once had to fight him was gone, replaced with my desire to escape and win. Still, my repressed feelings only encouraged me to cover my hands in red shades of paint, spattering the unfinished work of colors. 

A sudden knock on the door made me turn in fright, my foot catching the edge of the easel, sending me tumbling into the paint. Was Tauxolouve back already? He never knocked on the door before entering…

The door flung open unprompted, drawing a shriek out of me as I hid my face behind my pain-covered arms. It wasn’t my fault, but I didn’t want to see Tauxolouve’s wrath at my misstep. 

“(Name)?” My frightened gaze landed on Karno, who was watching me with wide eyes. “You’re… Are you okay?” Before I could respond, he was already by my side, trying to assess me for any injuries. Though, I was too dazed to comprehend the danger we were in. “Are you hurt? Can you talk to me? Do you want me to get Lou for you?”

No. No, no, no! My brain was screaming at me to cry for help. The tears left my eyes, but I couldn’t describe my situation to Karno. He needed to save me from this psychotic demigod but he would just brush me off again; I was sure. “I don’t want…” But I wanted to tell him. I wanted him to know everything. But he would reject me again, wouldn't he?

“Hey,” Karno gently called, treating me as softly as he could. “Don’t worry about the mess. Lou won’t be angry about it. I just want to know if you're hurt. Are you?”

My eyes flickered around for any injuries, but I felt fine, if not embarrassed from the crash. But the paint all over caused me a different kind of distress that wasn't allowed to stay for long. As soon as he noted my stress, he snapped his fingers, the paint vanishing from my body as if it were never there to begin with. 

Still, I had to answer his question honestly. “Y- Yes,” I whispered to him. “...I want to leave.”

His eyes met mine, and we paused for a moment. “Is your head still bothering you?” 

“It's… not my head.” Drawing my legs closer to me, I tugged my pants higher, staring at the bruises that surrounded my ankles, byproducts of the cuffs that I once fought against. 

“(Name)...” He said my name in a shocked tone, his fingers lightly trailing across the discolored skin. “Did you show Lou?” 

I blinked, my eyebrows furrowing in frustration. “Lou isn't here.” 

“Didn't you see him-”

“No,” I interrupted him. That wasn't Lou. I hadn't seen Lou in months. “He doesn't care, anyway. He said it was my fault.” 

“What did you do?”

I stared at him evenly before my gaze fell to the floor. I wondered if I stayed calm if he would actually consider my words of complaint? Would he save me? Or would he tell Tauxolouve what I said and get me into even more trouble? It wasn't like I could make the situation any worse by saying the truth. “I was trying to get out of the chains he put me in.”

Karno faltered. “Chains?”

A glance around the room wouldn't reveal anything. The chains were gone now, Tauxolouve removed them as soon as I'd started ‘behaving’. I wondered if Karno noticed the windows and doors were sealed with Tauxolouve's powers. “They were so I wouldn't escape again. But he figured I couldn’t do anything if he blocked the door and windows. So… he took the chains off.” 

Silently considering my words, he finally spoke, “Wait here for a moment. Don't move.” He kept a careful eye on me, but certain that I wouldn’t disobey him, he left my side. His eyes diligently scanned the room, but caught nothing out of place. 

Considering my words, he approached the windows, finding exactly what I told him. He found it hard to believe at first, wondering what could have possibly been going through Tauxolouve's head. Though he had no answers to all his questions, he had me, an innocent victim, sitting right in front of him. 

But he and the other gods took Tauxolouve's word over mine… So how did that make them better? This only made Karno wonder if my accusations of Tauxolouve having killed me in the under realm… Was I telling the truth? And Tauxolouve ended up with exactly what he wanted: me to himself, locked away with no one to question whether or not this decision would help or hurt me. 

“(Name),” Karno hoarsely called my name, frantically falling beside me. My eyes widened in trepidation as his fingers gently searched for further injuries, only falling back to the most obvious ones around my ankles. His eyes imploringly searched mine as if begging me to tell him a lie. “Did Tauxolouve… kill you?”

Silently, I stared at Karno with tears pooling and cascading down my cheeks. So a god finally believed me… Why did they have to realize the truth so late? 

“Karno?” I flinched, my eyes flickering to Tauxolouve who stood in the frame of the open door. “What's going on here?”

Karno met my petrified gaze for a brief second before finally rising and turning on his heel to face Tauxolouve. For the moment… he would treat this as a civil conversation. “I came looking for you and heard a crash in your room. I had to make sure (Name) wasn't hurt. I cleaned up all the paint for you.” 

Tauxolouve didn't seem overly suspicious. In fact, he only appeared worried at the news, making Karno confused at what exactly was going on between the two of us. Tauxolouve frantically asked, “(Name), did you fall? Are you hurt?” 

“She is,” Karno answered for me, making me lower my head to avoid making eye contact with Tauxolouve; he would surely be livid with me the longer Karno spoke. “Though, she wasn't injured from falling. Rather… She refused to speak with me, and I found bruises around her ankles.” His eyes glistened in accusation. “I wonder what those could have been from… if not chains.” 

The room was thick with tension, but Tauxolouve was quick to wave the suspicion. “It was for the same reason we couldn't send her home. I feared for her health. The only reason there are bruises is because she was adamant about not cooperating with me. She couldn't attempt to harm me or herself if I limited her mobility.”

Karno hummed quietly, his gaze flickering back to me. The excuse was believable, but my fear was real. The only way he'd know for sure if I was being honest was by having Scorpio come into contact with me. Then they'd be able to judge my innermost thoughts and feelings—still how would they decide if my accusations were real or if they were byproducts of what those dark gods had done? 

For now, however, he’d have to settle with getting Tauxolouve's answers in person. “I take it she's gotten better then… Being that she isn't currently in chains? Are the sealed windows and doors another form of insurance?”

“They are,” Tauxolouve agreed, peering carefully at Karno. “It would break my heart to have her run off and get hurt in this state.”

Karno sported his usual kind smile, and my heart ached at how he neglected to say anything even vaguely challenging to take me out of this place. “But I'm concerned about her mental health since her interaction with the dark gods. Have you made any progress with her? She seems… frightened.”

Tauxolouve nodded in solemn agreement. “She is. I'm doing my best to show that I'm not a threat. But, I have to say, seeing me extinguish those dark gods so soon after being manipulated by them must have left a horrifying image of me in her mind.” Sighing heavily, he muttered, “I only want her to love me… Nothing had to change… We could have gone back to being a loving couple…” Shaking his head and unclenching his fists, he asked, “Can we… be alone now? I'll take care of her and make sure she isn't hurt. The only way I can get her to love me and stop seeing me as a threat is by loving her and taking care of her when she needs me.”

“Of course,” Karno nodded his head in understanding, taking this as his cue to leave. Though, he didn't hesitate to shoot me a glance. “I don't want to impede her care. It seems there's still a long way to go, but even small progress is progress.” Nodding he made his way past Tauxolouve, only pausing before he left. “Lou, I need you to meet me in the Heavens tomorrow morning. I have a new assignment for you since you seem to be getting better as well. (Name)... I hope you're feeling well soon. Please, don't be afraid of Lou, he's doing his best to care for you.”

I stared dully at the floor, listening as Karno’s footfalls retreated down the hall following the closing and the locking of the door. It was then that the fated question finally left Tauxolouve’s lips, “You had a delightful visit from Karno… didn't you, sweetheart?”

***

Fortunate; that’s what I counted myself as. Since Karno lacked any suspicion during their conversation, I was lucky that Tauxolouve elected not to act on the incident. After all, I mentally tortured myself over everything he could have done to either me or Karno and that was enough of a punishment in his eyes. 

As it was, I thought Karno was going to be my last interaction with any of the other gods, but it appeared he wasn’t the last of my visitors. It was an unexpected surprise for Scorpio to come and find me early one morning when I was sleeping soundly without Tauxolouve’s intimidating presence. 

Of course, this turned out better for Scorpio. Since I was sleeping, my thoughts were unguarded, a perfect state for Scorpio to get honest answers from me. However, after a brief panicked awakening, it was time for him to hear my side of the story after telling me exactly what they were up to. 

“The only way we can help you is if you can prove what Tauxolouve is doing.” Scorpio observed me for any kind of reaction, but I didn’t instantly reject him, so that was good. All he needed was any kind of evidence of Tauxolouve’s unacceptable treatment of a goldfish. 

To be honest, it scared me to go up against Tauxolouve like this. But I knew that with stars in only one of his eyes that he was no match for the Zodiac gods that were unknowingly circling in on him now. All I had to do was provide the evidence. Karno gave me this opportunity to get help; I couldn’t pass it up. Taking a deep breath, I asked, “Will a verbal confession work?”

His gaze narrowing on me, he huffed. “Yeah.” 

Nodding slowly, I said, “Then I have an idea. Let’s set up in Dui’s room. If I were in danger… I’d run to a nice god like him first.”

***

Dui was easy to get on board with their plan. As long as it would help me, he was more than willing. All I had to do was hide in Dui’s room while Dui went to get ‘help’. ‘Help’ being my loving boyfriend, Tauxolouve, who was surely going to want to help his beloved after finding that I escaped his room and ran to another god. 

“Tauxolouve,” Dui called, flagging the attention of the older god. “This is important; you should come quick.” Dui’s eyebrows were furrowed together. It wasn’t hard for him to act concerned when he was worried about what was going to occur between me and Tauxolouve. “(Name) came find me. She was really freaking out, telling me about how you killed her and have been fooling everyone and even chained her up and imprisoned her in your room. But… You’re a nice guy, Lou. I know you can help her. I know you care about (Name) a lot so, I let her hide in my room until I could come find you.”

Tauxolouve’s eyes were wide, but he was too shocked to react for a moment. After what happened with Karno the other day, I convinced him I was too scared to attempt anything like running off again. He was lucky enough that the other gods still had faith in him as a loving boyfriend. “Thank you for telling me. It’s been hard trying to clear the influence of those dark gods. Tell me, she hasn’t hurt herself or you, has she?”

“I don’t think so,” Dui shook his head, but his concern was only growing. “Has she done that with you?”

“When she panics,” he answered slowly, “She’s prone to injuring herself. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of her and make sure this doesn’t happen again.” Offering Dui a thankful smile, he headed straight for Dui’s room. Only, entering the young gods room, he wasn’t smiling as his eyes scanned the darkness. If I didn’t hurt myself, I certainly broke the light switch in an attempt to hide from him. “I told you it was no use trying to run,” he taunted, moving further into the room. There was only one space behind the bed where I could have been hiding, after all. As suspected he found me pressed into the corner where the bed and wall met. He chuckled quietly at the rate tears were pouring from my eyes. “I love all your expressions, I want to immortalize every one of them… Especially this one. It’s so rare and exquisite. It’s a treat to get to wipe your tears.”

He knelt before me, but I refused to let him touch me, ducking my face out of his grasp. All I had to do was rile him up—no matter how terrifying. I needed to get Tauxolouve to say something incriminating. “Dui- Dui promised he wouldn’t let you in! He promised he’d keep you away! He said- He said the Department of Punishments would take care of it!” I hoarsely shouted at him, my hands balled into fists in case he were to try and grab for me. 

Tauxolouve tilted his head, unamused with my bold attitude. “Calm down so I can take you home. You’ve been out of my room for a while now, haven’t you? Didn’t I tell you that there was nowhere you could go that would be safe? All the gods believe that you’re just a mentally helpless human who needs my help. You’re my beloved, after all. Why are you so surprised that they would give you up to me?”

I frantically wiped the tears from my eyes, hoping to clear my blurred vision. Though, feeling Tauxolouve’s hands wrapping around my arms to pull me with him, my thrashing around in his grip was the only thing that made him let go, allowing me to stumble away from him, though I knew he’d be coming back to try again… This next time, he wouldn’t let go. “You’re a murderer,” I accused. “When are you going to tell them how you killed me?! When are you going to tell them I’m so mental because of you?!”

“Don’t raise your voice at me,” Tauxolouve said, staring impassively as he numbly rubbed his chin where I’d managed to punch him. “I’ve done everything for you. I’ve given you a loving home where you’d want for nothing. I’ve painted you as my muse, my goddess of beauty. I’ve given you everything a human could dream of.” He paused, his gaze darkening. “But I also sent an arrow through your heart, just as you’d done to me. I chained you to my bed. I sealed off your connection to the outside world. I’ve taken everything from you just as fast as I gave it. Tell me, what left is there? What will it take to please you?”

I could never be pleased with this man, never again. “Die…” I muttered. Though, after a moment of silence, I shouted, “DIE!” What more could I have wanted than the death of my worst enemy and captor… My first true love. 

Of course, Tauxolouve wasn’t happy to hear that. His expression was startling enough, but fortunately before he could act, Scorpio and Zyglavis entered, containing the situation. Before Tauxolouve could argue against this rough treatment and them blocking his minimal powers, Zyglavis was already interrupting him, “This will be ample evidence to be used in a trial. Misuse of divine power, tampering with human life and death, as well as a multitude of other charges that will later be described in great detail before the King.”

Tauxolouve scoffed, not understanding what the heck was going on. “You’re arresting me for taking care of my girlfriend? I was trying to help her.” For the moment, he couldn’t seem to comprehend that this was all planned and plotted behind his back. So, how was he the bad guy in all of this when he only ever tried to paint a pretty picture for the world to see? “You’re making a mistake. This must be prejudice because I’m a demigod. The Department of Wishes would never do this to me.” 

“Yet it’s Karno who’s the reason you were reported,” I hissed, my repressed anger coming out full force against my ex-captor. “You’ll know what it feels like to die. You’ll know what it feels like to have everyone turn against you! You’ll be lucky if even your parents want to look at you after this!”

I flinched at feeling a hand on my shoulder, but it was only Krioff, making sure I didn’t get brave enough to foolishly get too close to the seemingly volatile god. Though, Krioff’s contact with me only irritated Tauxolouve, who hissed, “You’re mine. No matter how far apart we may be, I love you and I’ll return for you. I will come back for you!” I could see the promise in his eyes, but watching Scorpio drag him out the door made me feel confident that he couldn’t do much. 

Zyglavis’ eyes flickered to my frozen form, clearly on edge from what I’d been through. The least he could do was provide me with these comforting words, “(Name) (Surname), you’re free.” Peering at Karno who entered the room, he instructed, “Take care of her.”Karno nodded and let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. Sure, it disappointed him that everything turned out to be a colossal disaster and not just me having been manipulated by dark gods. The Department of Wishes was losing a talented god… all over something that could have been avoided. But when his eyes landed on me, all he could feel was a pit of guilt in his stomach. Still, he had to do his best for me. He gave me a solemn smile, offering his hand out to me. “I’m sure you’re not feeling well right now. We let this linger for too long… But we’re all here for you and we won’t let this happen again. You’ve done a lot for us and we left you in a dire situation without hearing you out. We’ll make it up to you. But first… let me take you home. Your real home.”

[rawliverandcigarettes]

For the fanfic director's commentary, I'd love to hear your thought process behind Anetha—especially (if you're willing to share) hints about her side of the story post–Chapter 8 of Halfway Home. If that's too spoilery or involved, more general rambles about Chapter 8 would be cool as well!

Hey thank you so very much for the ask!! I'm super sorry about the time it took me to get to it!!

Actually, I kind of wanted to have Chapter 17 out so I could dive deeper into her psychology without revealing anything about her attitude towards The Event and without spoiling anyone. But now it’s done, it’s here, it’s messy: I think we have enough pieces to start unraveling what’s going on in her brain.

That being said, spoilers for Halfway Home below for those who may dabble --and beyond the plot spoilers: I think that if you want to keep your opinion on Anetha neutral, or decide for yourself first by reading the whole thing and then potentially coming back, it might be a wise thing to do so because we're truly vivisecting my girl in the reply.

(edit post me writing the answer to the ask: WOW I rambled like CRAZY, so also beware that I do ramble like crazy oops)

So Anetha… Honestly kind of appeared in the story as I was drafting it?

The very very first draft that I ever did, that was actually in French (!), initially only explored Rhanda and Shandri (and Rhanda and Nagatha used to be the same person too), and Anetha was added compulsively because I felt like there was a giant room for conflict begging for someone to take up that space and act a little cooler and more rebellious than the rest of the cast, and that Shlee needed that sort of energy in his life (though the stakes were much lower at the time –or rather, they were as bad, but I had yet to understand just *how bad*). I think that, partially because she erupted into the story rather than being carefully placed there, she was the first character to click for me and the rare beta-readers at the time. Her motivations and psychology didn’t really change since 2017, I merely streamlined them over the course of the drafts –the scenes with Anetha in the spotlight may hold the prize for highest percentage of scenes that barely changed since draft 1 actually!

In the first draft, the breaking point between Shlee and Anetha used to happen in much more defused way. The moment when they were separated was extremely different: chapter 8 used to have a much more traditional Mass Effect flair and involved an attack by batarian slavers, fucking Jondum Bau was there (fun fact: Accano used to be Jondum Bau for a very long time –Accano is actually the conglomerate of two different turian characters that were both scrapped, Jondum Bau and Mordin Solus that were all squished into the blackpink icon that we know and love the slightly unnerving STG agent with a Mission TM), and Shlee was forcefully separated from Anetha during the attack.

Then, it was while Shlee tried to contact her from Omega that the first seeds of doubt about her intentions were planted, especially since the story used to have one of Anetha’s exes showing up and trashtalking the hell out of what she was like as a girlfriend, forcing Shlee to see his sister from an outside perspective for the first time (I still kept her setup in Chapter 3 because I think it still reveals some of these dysfunctions and they're interesting as a pattern). Then, there was the “hey” scene, that cemented the fact that Shlee kind of hated her guts now.

Beyond the fact that I made strides to make the story punchier and more compact by dropping a lot of storylines, and this could be condensed significantly while making my point clearer (deepening not widening etc), I decided that dropping the attack for something that was much more… mundane, in a way, helped to reveal an uglier interior facet of Anetha’s brain –though one that I, sadly, believe to be much more relatable than it may seem at first glance.

(I mean, traveling semi-illegally via a spaceship that side-hustles by smuggling batarian refugees from point A to point B and then being caught by border control is not exactly a regular or normal occurrence, but it could have just been a weird anecdotal bleep on their journey if Shlee didn’t brutally discover that he has much more in common with these batarians than his sister through his absence of administrative existence and being, therefore, inherently illegal).

.

So I’m going to be relatively vague with the details since Anetha will be dissected further both in The Empire of Preys (though not a lot since she was younger and kind of existing in the background) and Override (where she will be a PoV character yaaay I’m excited for thaat), but to keep it simple: Anetha’s circumstances were already messy as hell before Shlee even showed up.

This is all hinted at in Chapter 8, but I do get into deeper details here, so… vague spoilers? I don’t think they are, but I do expose the events from her perspective, which I didn’t really do before so beware!

The relationship of her birth mother Priin and Rhanda was very complicated (and not even because of Rhanda!! wow), forcing Anetha to build up huge emotional walls to protect herself from her mother’s wild strides in the mental health department since she was a child, culminating in the moment where she had to take care of a SA emergency all by herself –leading to Rhanda taking the ONE (1) good responsible decision of her life and breaking up with Priin, which unfortunately led her to become unstable and distant and then pushed her to the breaking point when Priin ended up taking her own life years later, even though they had not spoken in years.

So Anetha was holed up to her aunt (not yet a bajillionaire at the time) and her weird human boyfriend while the only parent she had left went to fuck off somewhere to avoid exploding in front of her daughter and making the damage even worse. Anetha hated that move, feeling abandoned and burdensome and reacting by becoming as spiteful as she could towards her Dad, especially when said Dad returned with a small child and another failed relationship, a child she also dumped on her lap to go work on Illium soon after (this moment is much more complicated than this, Anetha understood what she wanted to understand, but TEoP is a lot about that exact moment so I'll keep it vague for now).

And then, just a few years later…… Rhanda returns, pale as a ghost, wrecked with something she will not speak about, only for Anetha to discover that her Dad has a literal stolen child stored in the trunk of their car, then transfered to the bedroom of the apartment they all share.

.

Anetha’s aloofness is a survival strategy. It is basically all she has to defend herself from the people in her life, who should know better yet do not, consuming themselves in extreme behaviors at the slightest opportunity (Priin being Priin, Rhanda being Rhanda, even Nagatha deciding to Uno Reverse the free marketplace and becoming a kingpin for the Great Kapital qualifies I think –I could talk for hours about the two T'selvi sisters and how they mirror each other but that’s what TEoP is for so I will calm down and focus on the ask sorryyy). There’s a reason why Edwood, of all people, is probably the best influence in her life (shoutout to Edwood for being the only normal, not-unhinged person in this entire clusterfuck) and why she took after him so much.

I think what’s complicated with her, is that while she’s developing this whole rebellious, no-strings-attached, too-cool-for-you persona to master her emotions and avoid hurt at all cost (especially anything tied to abandonment and grief), she’s also constantly put in situations that demand her to be responsible: beyond her upbringing, she was effectively the adult in both Shandri and Shlee’s life for a good chunk of it, as Rhanda was unable to provide the basic necessities of safety and care more often than not. Not to mention: she knows full well her family is doing serious criminal things that nobody bothers explaining to her, and she must shoulder the burden of being put in constant danger for reasons she can’t begin to fathom. Every time she tries to grasp some normalcy in her life, the people who are meant to protect her put everything in disarray, and then demand her to be mature and practical and unflinching as if that’s, like, a reasonable thing to ask of a teenager forced to brace through the notion that everyone she loves is being tracked down by government officials. Even something as simple as her last name, she’s asked to abandon.

So THEN comes Shlee, and this makes everything so much more complicated for her.

Shlee is the literal representation of everything going wrong in her life: a growing organism forcefully brought in from outside; alien, diseased, destroying every safety net she may have built for herself, soaking up Rhanda’s attention as well as being the direct reason her Dad became the most deranged version of herself to date, something that may drop dead if not cared for correctly, and worst of all –something that demands that she acts as an example for his own growth, forcing her into a caretaker role whether she wants to or not through imprinting.

And he will die in like 30-40 years, which, fucking great, that's like in five years for her, and so the last thing she wants to deal with emotionally on top of everything else. So this is why she refuses to engage with him for such a long time: it’s too messed up on too many levels, and she wants to preserve herself from the general madness (understandable honestly).

During the first brush with Accano, Anetha basically has the exact same thought process that would come back to haunt her in that fateful chapter 8: Accano represents the authority of the state. The STG agent may be a maniac that will destroy her and everybody else, or he may be normalcy and order offering her a way out a situation that is getting more and more out of control. Maybe Rhanda did kidnap a salarian child in a crazed frenzy, and the best course of action would be to reunite him with his people.

And what a relief that would be.

So of course, that doesn’t happen and then Shlee starts becoming an actual person in her eyes, one she has to spend time with and care for; in so many words, a new constant in her life. There’s the component of being won over in spite of herself as he becomes sharper, wittier and a partner in their survival and co-raising of Shandri, aaaand of course there’s the other component of Shlee being her only concrete way to get back to Rhanda in any significant way.

She does want to help Shlee become his own person, like Edwood helped her once; her behavior is not manipulative on purpose, but her subconscious also sees this opportunity to take back control over the narrative by overpowering Rhanda’s influence over Shlee’s life and becoming his new reference point, his new everything, in no small part for the spiteful pleasure of ripping the last shreds of stability her Dad still has after being forced to survive her whims for so long. She really wants to sweep Shlee away and save him from Rhanda, preserve him from the unbearable fate of rotting by her side, but Anetha also wants to know that for once in her life, she won’t be the one to mend the pieces of what once was.

.

So OKAY now we’re here (sorry this has basically turned into a short story length-wise, I think this is a result of concentrated blorbo frustration of not being able to talk about them with that level of details accumulating over 7 years; expect the same kind of outbursts once I am allowed to talk about Nagatha, or Jurlan, or even Rhanda in greater details 😭).

Chapter 8. The Citadel Border Control has her brother pinned down as everything he technically is: someone that will inherently destroy her life through the simple fact that he exists. At this point, Anetha’s brain is overridden with the refusal to be shoved back into Rhanda’s crimes kicking and screaming. She’s livid. She feels trapped and overwhelmed, and she’s been training her emotions to initiate shut down upon meeting a critical point of fear, powerlessness and general absence of safety. Empathy is the first thing to go when it comes to protecting herself. Maybe, if Shlee didn’t take the snap decision of running away, she might have calmed down and figured things out with him in a detention cell somewhere, but both of them are basically as emotionally triggered as it gets, and so Anetha shuts down while Shlee panics and makes a drastic decision to not trust her and save himself.

And Anetha does not take kindly to being abandoned and left to puddle in Shlee and Rhanda’s mess Yet Again.

There’s other reasons why she doesn’t reply to his texts to begin with –having to deal with Citadel Border Patrol to begin with, and then more that will be explored in Override. But in essence, once she’s let out, Anetha is pretty much… free. Free to figure herself out without the pressure of her insane family getting in the way (oh no does that sound like someone else we know having a similar character arc somewhere else surely not, a foil in my fanfiction it's more likely than you think etc).

Of course, there’s that pesky guilt and her complete refusal to handle grief in any way, and that feeling does linger, and so her willingness to handle the situation upfront is very much hindered by this (beyond the practical reasons why she might not be able to help). The whole “hey”/”hey” fiasco really does nothing for either for them (I think it was the best she could do and the most she was willing to leave herself open, and Shlee shutting that down meant every single one of her walls was back up and reinforced). The passive-aggressive nature of their conversations through bank expenses made mostly off her own paycheck is also a very bad way to communicate, and most of what Anetha sees for a year are receipts for ridiculously expensive cocktails and cheap bomb shots from Afterlife. Doesn’t really help our frog’s case as far as she’s concerned (even though she does realize it’s probably a bad sign and probably her fault that a shy nerd like him would be taking that hard of a plunge towards alcoholism, regardless of the reasons why –but she’s also pretty much there herself sooo not the best at recognizing the pattern).

Also she’s having mercenary times and they are Bad Times. Doesn’t help with the whole numbness/detachment problem either.

Speaking of Eclipse: the whole mercenary thing comes from that urge of trying to reconcile her desire to be independent and freed of responsibilities with that yearning for safety in a world where she’s always yeeted out of what is normal and safe without her consent anyway, starting with the fact that she’s pureblood and inherently looked as wrong –and just the general romanticizing of herself as a stone-cold badass as a way to one-up Rhanda on her own field, aaaand maybe a little bit a way to feel closer to her/make her react, because to be frank a lot of Anetha’s bullshit is about wanting Rhanda to react to said bullshit and act like a responsible parent, and be there, and not abandon her/de-prioritize her constantly, and be a source of stability rather than an endless distress generator.

(the seed being planted by the mercenaries hired by Nagatha at one of the most stressful points of her life is actually a rather late addition, but I think it works!)

But yeah, Anetha has SO MANY similarities with Rhanda it’s both hilarious and pretty tragic, but I’m really discovering how badly that's the case while working on The Empire of Preys, and… yeah. Generational Trauma. It’s a thing.

To conclude my ridiculously long answer to your ask: I’m sorry I spewed an entire essay about Anetha’s brain, but also I’m so happy you gave me an opportunity to pry her open for everybody to see the gunk there. Honestly a good half of the joy of getting other eyes than mine on Halfway Home is to watch them grapple with their emotions towards Anetha, as she can make herself so easy to love, and then immediately sooo hard to love. But I do love her (but I’m biased since I love literally every character except maybe… like one and a half? fuck içalec all my homies hate içalec), and so I’m really happy you were kind enough to encourage me to deepdive into her edgy brain!!!

[andysbubba]

still three idiots

^ the one where steve and bucky tries to make it very, very obvious that they like love you AND/OR the sequel to three pretty idiots

read the first part here -> three pretty idiots

Warnings: urm buck and steve are slow old men and they're just idiots ugh. reader's kinda insecure (?) about her feelings and natasha's a good bro <3 mentions of smut but no smut!

WC: 5.1K words

𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲'𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 | 𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭

this very, very sexy gif creds to @on-your-left-birdie

-----

Steve pulls away, palms still cupping Bucky's jaw as his eyes flutter open. Bucky can barely believe that it just happened. Bucky's eyes were wide open, mouth almost gaping.

"You okay, Buck?"

He stuttered, "Y-yeah, 's just a little weird." Bucky loosely held the cotton of Steve's shirt in his hand. "Good weird." His head tilted to one side as he stares at Steve. As cliche as it sounds, he's been waiting a long, long time just to feel the taste of Steve's lips. And now that he's actually felt it, maybe Bucky's a little flustered. "But I thought you love her."

Steve's lips curl into a soft smile, eyes looking down at Bucky as if Bucky's his whole world. "But I love ya too, punk."

“You… do?”

Steve leans down again and crashes his lips against Bucky, tongue pushing into Bucky’s mouth before he pulls away. “That a good enough answer for ya?”

“But Y/n—”

Steve stops his thoughts, “You’re in love with her just as much as I am, Buck. It’s gonna work out somehow, okay?” Steve sounded so sure of himself that it only made Bucky more hesitant.

“Steve—”

“Bucky, we’ll figure it out.”

It took them 20 minutes to come up with Operation Overt— some weird word Bucky found on the dictionary’s word of the day that means something that’s made obvious. And somehow it made so much sense to use it since one, they’ll be making it very, very known to you that they really, really like and love you, and two, operation overt sounds way cooler than operation obvious.

Plus, they made a bet on how long this whole thing will take. Bucky has a feeling that it’ll be a done deal by Friday and Steve’s very sure it’s gonna take about a week.

Except— they weren’t prepared on how hard it’ll be just to get a glimpse of you in the compound.

[Day 1, Monday]

They decided that they'll go along with something basic, a little routine that you three got pretty used to. The three of you will go down to Papa Jim's and get some milkshakes for breakfast. Bucky and Steve will usually meet you there after their run.

Except- you're 26 minutes late. And there's still no sign of you showing up. And, you're never late to Monday Milkshake Mornings. Unless, there's some valid reason where you are stuck in some early meeting with Fury, off on a mission or doing some training with the recruits. Even then, you'd always let them know beforehand.

Bucky glances over Steve's shoulder as he shoots you a text.

Steve: You coming? [sent 9.29 am]

Y/n: mission. sorry. [sent 9.51 am]

They glanced up at each other as soon as they read the text. Weird.

"Do you know anything about it?" Bucky sips on his second cup of strawberry caramel milkshake, finger reaching out for the fries on the table before dipping it into the drink and shoving it in his mouth.

"Fury didn't schedule her for anything." Steve frowns, setting his phone aside before leaning his body closer to Bucky. "At least nothing that I know of."

"It's just weird that she didn't say it earlier." Bucky reaches around and rests his arm around Steve's broad shoulder. "Bad weird."

[Day 2, Tuesday]

Apparently you'd only be coming back on Thursday. That means that day 2 and day 3 of Operation Overt is completely wasted. Bucky's getting dangerously close to losing the bet he's having with Steve.

Still, they're determined not to let day 2 just go to waste.

Bucky: Doll? [sent 4.39 pm]

Bucky: Dinner on thursday? [sent 4.40 pm]

Bucky: Stevie's making chicken and waffles. [sent 4.41 pm]

Y/n: sorry. gonna be too tired to eat. [sent 5.00 pm]

Y/n: maybe next time. [sent 5.07pm]

He doesn't know what he finds weirder. That there's a 7 minutes time gap between your previous text and the one that you just sent or that you just said no to chicken and waffles. You never say no to chicken and waffles- especially not if Steve's the one who made it.

[Day 3, Wednesday]

Steve's gotten zero updates on your whereabouts. He doesn't even know what your mission's about or when your jet will even land. He knows very well that you can handle yourself, but he still gets worried when you go off on a solo mission. He'd be more at ease if he had the slightest clue on you but he's stuck with nothing and that's more than enough to get him all riled up and worried.

He's happy with Bucky, of course. But he and Bucky both know that there's a little missing piece in their jigsaw puzzle. Little but very, very important. You.

Bucky sees that you love Steve. And Steve sees that you love Bucky. Somehow, they came to the conclusion that you maybe like/love both of them and maybe you'd be willing to date both of them.

But it did make Steve wonder- why were you so adamant on setting him up with Bucky if you liked them both?

Weird. In Bucky's words, bad weird.

[Day 4, Thursday]

You've never said no to Steve's chicken and waffles. Steve takes very much offence to that. He's done a lot to ensure that the quality of his waffles are very much maintained just for you. And for you to say that you'll miss out on his very heavenly chicken and waffles just because you're tired, Steve's very offended. It's not that he doesn't want you to rest, and maybe he's a little selfish. But he doesn't want you to rest alone. If you were with him and Bucky, they'd at least make sure you're fed with good food, Steve's chicken and waffles, and milkshakes, and they'd take care of you so good.

But Steve decides that no matter what, it'd be ruthless of him to not send some to your floor. Just because you said you were too tired to join him and Bucky, doesn't mean you can't just have some later when you’re more relaxed.

Or maybe, Steve just desperately wants an excuse to see you.

So he takes a plate and puts two waffles on it and adds some chicken tenders on top. He knows you have syrup somewhere in your pantry so he doesn't bother pouring it on the plate. Then both him and Bucky went up to your floor, looking like two giant idiots with a plate of waffles in Steve's hand and Bucky holding two bottles of gatorade because they know you'll definitely need it when you're up later.

Except- you're nowhere on your floor.

"Friday, where's Y/n?"

"Agent Y/l/n is on a walk, Captain Rogers. She specifically mentioned that she'll be back late and that if anyone wants to see her, it can wait tomorrow." The AI speaks from some hidden speaker Tony installed on the floor.

Bucky almost jumps from how sudden the voice was, still not used to being around an invisible robot that knows pretty much everything. But he throws Steve a confused look at Friday's reply.

"Thought she was exhausted." Bucky tilts his head, keeping his eyes on Steve as he sets down the drinks.

"Wanna stay here for awhile? She could be back soon." Steve suggests, already making his way to the giant, plush couch that his ass immediately sinks into.

Bucky hums, following along and toeing off his shoes before he's lying on your couch, head resting on Steve's lap. Steve's fingers immediately reaches for Bucky's hair, softly scratching his scalp while Bucky's eyes flutter close.

Steve has no idea how long they sat there but the ding from the elevator pulls him and Bucky out from their calm, and they instantly sat up.

He has no idea how to say this but... you look miserable. And he means it in the kindest way. But fuck, you still look gorgeous, and Steve doesn't know if he should be worried or in awe.

The dark circles under your eyes were very prominent, Bucky was almost sure that a panda walked in instead of you- a very adorable, gorgeous, panda, thank you very much. Your shoulders were slumped and it looks like you haven't been resting at all.

"Doll?" Bucky stands up, already extending a hand towards you.

"Hey." You stare at them confusedly. Why are they here? But some sort of muscle memory makes you take Bucky's hand without even realising.

Bucky immediately pulls you into his chest, one palm resting on your hip and the other wrapped around you, holding you tightly. "You look exhausted, doll."

You bit back the urge to say "because of you dumbass." Instead you just relax into his hold because it actually feels really, really nice. You didn't want to avoid them, it just felt weird to be around them when they're already together. Like you're intruding and being an annoying third-wheel.

He pulls away to sit you between him and Steve, and Steve instantly has an arm wrapped around you, pulling you into his chest.

"Hi, Stevie."

"You alright? Where have you been, honey?" Steve couldn't resist pressing a chaste kiss to your hair as you lean into him.

"Went on a walk. Too restless to sleep." Your reply was curt and Steve feels your lips moving against his chest as you speak.

"Wanna eat? Or you wanna get some rest?" Steve asks, fingers softly playing with your hair while Bucky stares down worriedly at you.

You took a long time to reply, your breathing calming and Steve figures out that you fell asleep. His lips curl, before he lets out a breathy laugh at how easy you dozed off. "You wanna pick her up, babe? I can't move my hands."

Buck smiles down adoringly at you, before he's standing up, hands sliding under your knees and the other under your back. He carries you off Steve, easily lifting you up. Steve follows closely as Bucky carries you to your bedroom, and he settles you on your bed.

Steve carefully slips off your jacket, making sure you're comfortable before he pulls the sheets over you.

He hoped that maybe you'll realise that he's leaving with Bucky and will tell them to stay, and he was tempted to ask Bucky if they could just climb in beside you. But you stayed asleep so he takes the sticky note on your nightstand and picks up the pen right beside it.

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐩. 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐁𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞. 𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰? - 𝐒 & 𝐁

He sticks the note on your lamp before he and Bucky turns around, closing the door behind them as they leave your room. He throws your sleeping figure one last glance before closing the door, smiling at how peaceful you look just sleeping.

[Day 5, Friday]

And… Bucky lost the bet. In all honesty, he wasn’t expecting it to be such a huge challenge. And it wasn’t even his fault! You’d been on a mission and that itself took up like three days.

Also, maybe it was only Friday, but the boys found out that Steve, also, lost the bet. It was an immediate loss- you sent them a text when you woke up.

Y/n: going on a mission with nat tonight. only back on monday. [sent 2.43 pm]

Y/n: thanks 4 the waffles and gatorade though [sent 2.43 pm]

Steve: Oh… okay. No problem, doll. [sent 2.45 pm]

Steve: Stay safe. C you when you're back. - S&B [sent 2.47 pm]

Y/n: ok [sent 2.54 pm]

Right— you’d only come back from a mission yesterday and the boys saw just how tired you look. It’s absurd that you’re off on another mission already.

And Steve refuses to watch Fury just send you off mission after mission— like really, are you some superhuman who don’t need rest or something?

[Day 6, Saturday]

Steve wasn’t happy about you going on missions with barely any rest. And as much as he wants to go to talk to Fury about it, he actually hates talking to the director. So instead, Steve went to Maria.

“Well, sorry to burst your bubble, Cap. But it’s all her. Agent Y/l/n requested for the missions." She explains with a shrug, "Nick asked her to take a break but she insisted on going."

Steve frowns, forehead wrinkling as he thinks about why the hell would you request for missions when you’re clearly exhausted.

“Right— okay, thanks Hill.” Steve nods before he turns away, fingers scratching the back of his neck because he has no idea why the hell you're doing this.

[Day 7, Sunday]

“You’re distracted.” Natasha notes, shoulder nudging against yours as she sits beside you on the rock, overlooking the Hydra base sitting at the bottom of the hill.

“Thinking, Nat.” You clarify, resting your palms on the rock behind you and leaning back to enjoy the actually decent view and the really nice breeze.

“Talk to me, девочка.” She urges, turning towards you, her lips curling into a soft smile.

You sigh, throwing her a glance before deciding that you should just be honest. Either way, she’s definitely gonna find out sometime.

"Steve and Bucky."

“What’s wrong? I thought you’re close to them.” Nat slides closer to you, head turning to look at you.

“I like them, Nat. Hell— I think I love them.” You force out, eyeing her from the corner of your eyes.

Natasha lets out an offensive snort, instantly rolling her eyes as if she knows something you don’t. “девочка, I've told you the same thing a million times. Just go for it. You don't have anything to lose."

You let out a scoff. "Oh yeah, how about my dignity?"

"Oh, please." She rolls her eyes, shoving you away. "As if they'll say no to you."

Your brows furrow at her words. "What the hell does that even means?"

Her lips instantly curled, grinning at just how clueless you are. "Hun, they'll do anything for you, is that not already obvious enough?" She hops off the rock, dusting the dirt off her pants. "Just trust me, Y/n."

[Day 8, Monday]

You were not convinced. At all. You trust Nat with your damn life, but when it comes to this? It's a huge no.

Buck and Steve are finally together (relationship-ly) after like a hundred years? And you don't wanna just slot yourself and take away their quality time or whatever. And it's not like you regret making them get together- finally. But, you miss spending time with them and maybe, it makes you just a little jealous that they'll always have each other while you're stuck being alone wishing that you're... with them.

So instead of dwelling on all these feelings and getting all sad, you pretty much decided that there's nothing better than drowning yourself in work, missions and making yourself so exhausted that you'll just stop thinking about them.

At least, that's what you hoped would happen— not that you'll spend all your sleep deprived hours thinking about what it'd feel like to be in Steve's and Bucky's arms or how it'd feel to fall asleep listening to their heartbeats.

That Thursday when Bucky sat you in between him and Steve, and Steve pulled you into his chest and you just fell asleep immediately? You want to feel that again. It scares you just how easy their presence, their warmth and them makes you instantly calm.

[Day 8, Tuesday]

"Natasha," Bucky comes up behind the spy, hands awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck as he shifts from foot to foot.

"Bucky Barnes, boyfriend to Steve Rogers, to what do I owe this pleasure?" Nat teases, fingers reaching out for Thor's chocolate bar in the fridge.

He knows Natasha has some very important information that he's very keen to find out about and will definitely share with Steve. And Bucky's very desperate to try and dig that very information out of her. "Just wanted to ask you a little question."

"If it's about Y/n, you're better off going straight to the source." She simply replies, brows raised as she bites into the stolen treat.

"Oh, c'mon. Was it really that obvious?" He whines, biting his cheek and frowning at how easy it was for her to read his mind.

"I'm just gonna say this, Bucky. Whatever the hell you and Steve feel, Y/n feels the same. Just go for it, alright? You've got nothing to lose."

Bucky frowns, head tilting as he sharply glares at the woman. "What about my dignity and my pride? What if she says no to us? What if you already know that she feels nothing and you're just tricking me and Steve into embarrassing ourselves?"

Natasha rolls her eyes and chuckled. "Funny. She said something about dignity too." She gives Bucky a pat on his shoulder before she makes her way out of the pantry.

What the fuck just happened.

[Day 9, Wednesday]

Bucky and Steve realised that you were definitely avoiding them. It actually took 8 whole days for them to come to that conclusion.

They know that you're easily the most stubborn person after Steve so it wouldn't be easy to just call you out and expect that you'd fall back into their arms. And obviously, operation overt was obviously not working and Bucky's getting very impatient.

Bucky: Come over please. [sent 6.22 pm]

Bucky: Now.-Steve [sent 6.23 pm]

Bucky: Very, very important. [sent 6.23 pm]

Bucky: No excuses. We know your mission got cancelled. [sent 6.23 pm]

Y/n: I’ll come by tonight? [sent 6.39 pm]

Bucky: NOW. -Steve [sent 6.42 pm]

You panicked at the last text. Caps-lock Steve is never a good sign. He’s either angry or very, very excited. And something tells you that it’s not the second one. And— something also tells you that Bucky’s also pissed, because Bucky never says please. Those two idiots being angry at the same time? Never a good sign.

You know it’s impossible to hide now. And making them wait would be worse. It was like entering uncharted territory.

They were both standing right in front of the elevator as soon as you came out, arms folded across their chest and blankly staring at you. You would've laughed if you weren't so worried about what the hell's going to happen in the next 3 minutes.

"Hi?"

It was only fair that your reaction was as such. After more than 5 years of knowing them, you've never been on the receiving end of those very sharp glares. And now that you are... you have no idea how to deal with it.

"You've got one minute to be honest with us, doll." Bucky starts, tongue clicking as he stares you down. "Why have you been avoiding us all week?"

Shit.

"I wasn't avoiding anyone—” You knew it was a long shot but you never expected Steve to shoot you down so quickly.

Steve lets out an exaggerated sigh, "You'll only make things worse if you lie, sweetheart."

"I wasn't lying—”

Bucky clicks his tongue, an almost annoyed look gracing his face. "Cutting it real close, doll. Thirty seconds."

You let out an exasperated groan, voice raising as you speak. "How am I supposed to explain myself if you two keep cutting me off?!" You take a deep breath, watching how they turned to each other with raised brows. "Listen— can we just sit on the couch and talk like normal people?"

Maybe Nat's right. Just go for it. Right?

Fuck no.

Steve's sighs and drops his facade, he steps towards you, arms instantly enveloping you into his hold. "Just one minute. We missed you, sweetheart."

Bucky follows him right behind, hugging you from the back as his arms curl around your waist. "But you still gotta explain why you were avoidin' us like a plague the whole of last week."

So you took that one minute of being strangled, hugged by the boys to formulate a quick lie as to why you were avoiding them. You just hope it's gonna work.

Your head's resting on Bucky's shoulder, and your legs are comfortable but somehow awkwardly resting on Steve's lap and there's a tub of ice cream shared between you three.

"I just wanted to give you guys some privacy, y'know. Let you spend some precious couple time together." You were begging for this stupid excuse to work, and you pray to the gods that they'll never find out about the actual reason that you're desperately trying to hide.

"Doll, you didn't have to. We love spendin' time with you." Bucky declares, his hand slowly running through your hair as you just sink into his hold.

Steve, ever the goddamn detective, asked something that threw you off for a quick second. "It still doesn't make sense that you asked for more missions even when you were obviously tired, doll."

Fuck.

"No, uh— I was restless and needed some time to think. I just wanted to make myself tired enough that I'll just stop thinking about it, y'know."

Steve's brows furrowed as he stares at you. "You could've just came to us, sweetheart."

"What were you thinking about, doll?" You felt Bucky press a soft kiss on the top of your head as he continues running his hand through your hair.

Double fuck.

You do not have a lie prepared to answer this damn question. The real answer though— it's them. But you obviously can't tell them that without exposing yourself so you just close your eyes and relax into Bucky's warmth, silently hoping that they won't see through your lies. "It's nothing important."

Steve hums, his thumb brushing against one of your ankles. "You know what I think, doll?" He's over you in a split second, his hand cupping your face as he pulls you away from Bucky. "I think you're just bullshittin'."

"No! I was being completely honest, Stevie!" His head tilts as he watches just how you tried your best to keep your eyes on his. He's known you long enough to know when you're telling the truth, and when you're not. Like now.

"We'll stop playing nice if you keep on lying, Y/n."

His face was close to yours, nose almost pressing against your cheek as you lean against Bucky. Shivers ran down your spine as his breath just fans your skin. "You really hurt our Buck. And truth be told, I'm really hurt too." There's a coy grin playing on his lips that you would've really enjoyed slapping off his face if you weren't so intimidated by how close he was.

The said man sits by your side, watching amusedly as his hand rests around your shoulder. Bucky leans down, lips pressed against your jaw as he mutters out. "It wouldn't have been so easy to just leave us like that, sweetheart."

"One last chance to tell us the truth, baby." Steve says in the sing song tone he uses whenever he's dying to annoy you as he leaves wet kisses down your jaw. "Say the word and we'll give it to ya." Your head falls back against Bucky's shoulder as Steve continues to kiss down your neck, his hands sliding right underneath your shirt.

"If you don't—" Bucky trails off as he stares down at you, face hovering just above you, his lips curled into a sinister grin. "I'm sure you remember how mean our Stevie gets when you lie."

And god. You know that Steve gets so fucking mean and somehow- you know Bucky's threat is working. The last time you lied to Steve about going out with some friends but you were actually on a blind date? He got beyond pissed and didn't let you cum while he and Bucky used you like their own personal cocksleeve. It was hot as fuck, but it's also a goddamn painful torture.

"C'mon, please." You beg as Bucky keeps on staring down at you, brown eyes almost black with lust

A laugh leaves Steve lips as he pulls away. "Whacha' asking for, Y/n?"

"I don't know—" You breathe out, chest heaving as Steve leans forward and tucks a stray strand of hair behind your ear.

"I'm sure you know, doll. We just wanna hear you admit it out loud." Bucky speaks against your ear, grinning up at Steve with that goddamn smug look.

They can't know... right? Not after you've tried so hard just to hide your feelings? Fuck— is that why they're taunting you like this? Waving the one thing you want and need right in front of you only to not let you have it?

Well- better to face it now than never.

"I- I'm in love with you, alright? Both of ya." You force out, turning your head down and keeping your eyes on your lap. "Happy?"

Your eyes watered because this is the part where everything ends. This is where you're gonna lose your best friends, the boys you're in love with just because you just had to fall in love with 'em. They're gonna laugh at you and find you pathetic and a huge fucking joke and—

"Baby," Steve's hands gently cupped your face, his thumb brushing away that one stray drop of tear that left your eye. Every ounce of the sinister, mean Stevie look he had on his face earlier on was gone. He has a soft smile gracing his lips as he kneels on the floor right in front of you, taking your hand in his while Bucky takes your other. "Look at us, sweetheart."

You hesitantly look at Steve, watching as Bucky shifts beside you, leaning forward on the couch and turning his whole body to you so you can look at him and Steve at the same time.

"Why are you cryin', doll?" Bucky presses his lips against your knuckles, just as Steve does the same to your other hand.

You're afraid to answer, biting the inside of your cheek as you wait for the bomb to drop- that they'll decide that they don't even wanna look at you anymore.

"We love you, sweetheart." Steve cradles your face in his palms, his heart almost breaking when he sees the sad look in your eyes. He didn't mean to make you sad. Fuck— they knew you love them just as much as they love you. They just needed to hear you say it.

There's a loud pause, your ears barely registering what he said. "You... do?"

Steve lets out a breathy chuckle because that's exactly what Bucky said just last week. Why was it so hard for the two of you to believe him when he says that he loves you and Bucky?

Bucky brushes his metal thumb over your lips, leaning in and pressing a soft kiss on your lips. "Yeah, Y/n. We've been in love with ya for the longest time. Why do you think Stevie went for all those cooking classes when there's literally an in-house chef just three floors down? Or how he just skips his morning runs when we're all sleepin' together?"

"Hey— don't act as if you ain't a complete sap for her either!" Steve snorts because Bucky really listed out all of those things as if he doesn't have his own set of things that he does just because of you. "Did you know that he stays up to watch us sleep, doll? He even said that he prefers it when you brush your fingers through his hair instead of when I do it."

"But you guys didn't say it earlier-"

Bucky looks at you endearingly before he picks you up to sit on his lap, instantly stopping you in the middle of your sentence. Steve moves to sit in your old spot beside Bucky, turning so he's facing you.

"Because we didn't know if you felt the same, sweetheart." Steve grins, his fingers brushing against your knee as the other hand rests on your calf.

"Steve had to force it out of Natasha just to figure out if you reciprocated even an ounce of what we feel about ya. We were too afraid to ask you straight up, doll."

"You love me?"

"So fucking much." Bucky declares as he presses a quick kiss to the top of your head while Steve leans over. Steve crashes his lips against yours, his palm pressed against the side of your face as Bucky cards his hand through your hair.

"Be our girl, doll. We wanna be yours— if you'll have us."

You didn't have to think twice about your answer. You sat up, shifting so you're straddling one of Bucky's thigh and one of Steve's at the same time. Your palm rests against Steve's chest while the other's on Bucky's shoulder.

"Okay–" You breathe out, lips curling into a soft smile. "But, how is this gonna work?" You gestured between you and the boys.

Steve wraps an arm around your waist, pulling you closer to him and Bucky as a sneaky grin forms on his face. "We can learn to share." His free hand takes Bucky's hand in his, and he brings it up to his lips while still looking at you. "Y'know, maybe use your toys on Buck for a change."

"Hey!" Bucky turns to him defensively, "Why can't it be you instead?"

You laugh at their antics, a little idea forming in your head as you glance at Steve. "Yeah, Stevie. Let me and Buck tie you up and play with you."

Steve raised a brow at your words, head tilting as he eyes you. "What if I say no?"

"You won't." You retort, "Look how much Buck already likes that idea."

Steve listens to you and turns to Bucky, seeing how his boyfriend's eyes were dark with lust and he was practically beaming at your idea.

Bucky hums, fingers softly stroking your thighs while he plays the scene out in his head. "Gotta give you a taste of your own medicine, Stevie. Teach you a lesson so you stop being a huge meanie to our girl."

You grin at his words, before you run your fingers through Steve's hair, the other rubbing the back of Bucky's neck. "An idea for another day– but now, we've got nine days of cuddlin' to make up for."

Steve stares at both you and Bucky like he's startstruck. "I love you both."

Bucky leans into Steve, and he pulls you in so you're resting your head on both their shoulders. "I love you too, Stevie. You too, sweetheart."

"Good because if you didn't then it would be very awkward–"

"Baby, shut up and just say it back." Bucky says, his hand rubbing up and down your spine as Steve's arm goes around his shoulders.

Your giggle vibrates through Steve's chest and it made him feel so damn fuzzy and happy. You press a kiss on each of their shoulders, and another to their jaws, before kissing each of their lips. "I love you guys too."

-

I was 10 minutes away from turning this fic into a smut disaster but somehow i stopped myself from turning this fluff into filth- THANK GOD.

anyways im so happy to get this fic out because it gives me a sense of accomplishment 😮‍💨🤤 AND because i just wanted to give the stevie, buck and the reader some closure hehe.

++ join my taglist if you wanna be tagged whenever i post a new fic!

thanks for reading! likes, feedback, comments and reblogs are appreciated.

stay hydrated and stay healthy, ily!!

- haney <333

~~

Taglist: @milea @toothhurtyam @ajeff855 @ineedanewusernaame @fanofalltheficsx @ambinxe @justile @lur-omg @christowhore @LaDiFreakingDa @amelia-song-pond @melissad1974 @thegirlwiththeimpala @searchforthemagic @bval-1 @suchababie @ephemeralfics @wecallhimbrowneyess @tenaciousperfectionunknown @kaiparker-avengerssmut @Galaxy-witch15 @hallecarey1 @paintdripsandbrownies-blog @notbrooklynsblog @perfect-peter @dyinglikenarcissus @fionanovasleftnut @petlaufeyson

[messers-moony]

Hope 2 | R.L

Paring: Remus Lupin X Wife!Potter!Reader

Summary: Life is unfair in numerous ways but it seems like it’s out to get the Potters in every way shape and form.

The huge eight-foot man who introduced himself as Hagrid was bringing Harry around London. It was amusing to see Hagrid turn his cousin - Dudley - butt into a pigtail after trying to eat his birthday cake. It was the first birthday Y/n, and Remus hadn’t shown up. Harry didn’t blame them. Of course, to be fair, they didn’t know where Harry was. 

“Um, excuse me, Hagrid?” 

“Yes, ‘Arry?”

“Where- Where are we going?” Harry questioned hesitantly, and Hagrids lips curled into a smile, “‘Er gon’ meet with som’ of yer folks.” Hagrid answered. 

Harry wanted to jump with joy, “Moony and Y/n?”

Hagrid nodded, and Harry smiled brightly. It took a couple of minutes and walking of a couple more blocks. But eventually, they were coming up on an old-looking building made of black stone bricks. In front of the door was a familiar sandy-haired male with green eyes. He was accompanied by his wife with h/c hair and gleaming e/c eyes. 

“Y/n! Remus!” 

Y/n turned to see her little nephew running up to hug her tightly, “Hey Harry.” 

Remus ruffled his hair while Harry hugged his aunt, “Hey there, mini Prongs.”

“I missed you.”

“Awe, I missed you too, Harry.” Y/n replied, pulling apart from Harry, “I’m sorry we didn’t show up right away. But we’re here now. I hope that’s okay. We wouldn’t miss your birthday for the world, okay?”

He nodded, “I know. I can always count on you.” 

“Good.” Remus stated, “Now c’mon mini prongs. Gotta get your school supplies.”

Walking into the Leaky Cauldron with Hagrid, they were greeted by multiple people. Many people were flabbergasted by meeting the famous Harry Potter and were welcoming to see Y/n Potter. In the back of the Leaky Cauldron, Hagrid tapped his wand against the brick wall, causing it to open into Diagon Alley. Harry’s mouth was agape at this new form of Magic. 

It was astonishing. The narrow alleyway was packed with people. Clusters of them walking in groups. Some were carrying animals, or brown-wrapped items Harry could suppose were books. Y/n smiled and intertwined her hand with Remus’. She could remember the first time she stepped into Diagon Alley. James was acting like such a prat. 

“Woah!” James gasped, “Look at all the cool stuff!” 

Fleamont chuckled, “Yeah. Isn’t it cool, sweetheart?”

Y/n nodded, completely entranced in the stonework in the alleyway. It was littered with different shops, and the roads were an uneven stone. Euphemia and Fleamont shared a look of pure glee. Their children were magical born, and they were finally experiencing it first hand. Of course, they had their incidents where Y/n would make lights flicker or James blowing plates. 

As they began walking, James began to run off, bumping into people left and right, “James! Get back here!” Fleamont scolded, but he was out of sight. 

Euphemia sighed, “He’s gonna be a handful.”

“Definitely.” Fleamont agreed, running a hand through his dark brunet hair, “Perhaps he’ll be even worse than me.”

His wife glared at him. Despite James disappearing, they took Y/n into Flourish and Blotts to get their books. They needed books such as The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1), A History of Magic, Magical Theory, A Beginners’ Guide to Transfiguration, One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, Magical Drafts and Potions, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and finally, The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection. 

They didn’t find James until they reached Quality Quidditch Supplies. He was already eyeing the new broom on display. His mouth seemed to be salivating at it. Y/n rolled her eyes at James, drooling over a piece of wood. Euphemia chuckled and motioned Fleamont to reel him back in. It seemed that Euphemia would never get a break, and her heart would be in a constant attack of worry. They had a mischief Quidditch player on their hands. 

“C’mon Harry,” Y/n beckoned, “Lots of stuff to get.”

His smile faltered just a tad, “But I don’t- I don’t have any money.”

Harry’s embarrassment made the tips of his ears red, “That ain’t true. ‘Course ye got money.” Hagrid replied bluntly, making Y/n nudge him harshly, “Hagrid!”

“What?” Hagrid queried, confused, “‘S not like ‘m lyin’.” 

“Yes, but you don’t just say that.” Y/n scolded, laughing lightly. 

“Oops?”

Harry looked up at his flustered aunt, “Come on, Harry. We’re going to Gringotts.”  

They began walking to the bank of wizardry. The goblin at the front allowed them to the vault, where Harry was able to pocket a couple of handfuls of galleons, sickles, and knuts. Hagrid made a separate trip for Dumbledore as the other three waited patiently. When they exited Gringotts, Harry began to buy all his supplies. 

Their first stop was getting him a wand at Ollivander’s. Harry pushed the door open, and it sounded a bell off, but no one appeared the be in the shop. Remus and Y/n stood behind him as he let out a hesitant, “Hello.”

It took a minute, but then an older male appeared with hair as white as snow and wispy as whiskers. Ollivander smiled brightly at the familiar people in his shop and at the little boy who resembled the older female greatly. 

“Ah, Y/n Potter.” Ollivander said, “James broken his wand again?”

Y/n released a shaky breath, “No, not this time.” 

“We’re here actually for Harry here.” Remus motioned to Harry, “He’s getting his first wand. He starts at Hogwarts this year.”

Ollivander's lips quirked, “He yours?”

“No, sir.” Y/n shook her head, “He’s James and Lily’s son.”

“Where are they? I’d love to see them, you know.”

Remus shifted awkwardly, “You haven’t heard?”

Ollivander shook his head, “My parents are dead.” Harry informed, “Someone killed them.”

Everything clicked into place in Ollivanders mind. How stupid could old age make him? He had just sounded terribly insensitive, “‘M so sorry. Pardon me and my old age. I didn’t mean-“

“It’s perfectly fine, Ollivander.” Y/n smiled reassuringly.

The older man smiled and began giving Harry wands. The first one was horrid. It made wands on the shelf fall onto the ground, making a vast clatter noise. The boy smiled sheepishly and placed it back in the box. The next wand caused a shatter of a vase which Harry cringed at. It took a couple of minutes until Ollivander came out with the following wand. It was 11 inches long, made of holly, and possessed a phoenix feather core. 

Harry waved the wand, and nothing disastrous happened. Remus and Y/n smiled with joy. Ollivander charged him seven galleons for it, and Harry placed down the golden coins with glee. Ollivander could remember the way James had done the same while Y/n beside him. Their identical toothy grins as Fleamont paid the man.

“My wands cooler than yours!”

“No way!” 

James nodded in triumph, “You’re just lame.”

“And you’re boring!”

“No way!” James gasped, “I am far from boring!”

Y/n crossed her arms, “And I’m not lame.”

Euphemia chuckled, redirecting her children to look at the counter while the two parents stood behind them, “Ignore them. They like to try and be better than the other.”

Ollivander grinned, “Ah, siblings. What amazing pairs they make.”

Fleamont scoffed, “Yeah, try having two at the same time. Felt like the crucio curse.” 

“What do you say?” Euphemia beckoned, and both twins turned to Ollivander, smiling gleefully, “Thank you!” 

“They’ll be a handful.” Ollivander informed Euphemia and Fleamont, “But they’ll change the world, and they’ll do it together.” 

The older man smiled at Remus and Y/n as Harry went outside to see Hagrid carrying a giant golden cage with a beautiful snowy owl inside, “That boy is something else.”

Remus chuckled, “We know. Little mischief-maker, just like James.”

“Perhaps he is,” Ollivander replied, “But he’ll change the world.”

The rest of the day went by blissfully. After getting all his school supplies, they retreated into the Leaky Cauldron to eat dinner. The tavern was practically empty as they sat at a long narrow table. Hagrid at the head, Harry to his left, Remus across, and Y/n beside Remus on the other side. They were eating in silence before Harry spoke up. 

“What happened to my parents?” Harry questioned, and before anyone could answer, he continued, “Truthfully. No lies.”

Hagrid and Remus turned to the female at the table who swallowed thickly, “Something horrid, Harry.”

“How horrid?”

“Harry-“ Remus began. 

“A death I wouldn’t wish upon anyone, even my worse enemy.” Y/n answered, staring at the soup in front of her, “The way they died doesn’t matter.”

Harry crossed his arms, “I believe it does.”

“In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t.” Y/n replied, taking deep breaths in and out, trying to stay calm, “It doesn’t matter how they died. They’re dead, and they aren’t coming back.”

Tears collected in her eyes when she muttered, “No matter how badly I want them to.”

Hastily Y/n wiped her face and placed her napkin on the table. She sniffled before standing and pushing her chair in. Y/n leaned down to kiss Harry on the forehead before retreating to the room they got upstairs. Harry sighed and stared at his bowl of soup that remained steaming hot. Remus rubbed his face with his palms. 

“Harry,” Remus called, and Harry’s green eyes met similar ones, “Your parents died at the hands of a very evil Wizard. He went as dark as one could go.”

Harry looked intrigued, and Remus continued despite his throat beginning to constrict, “His name was Voldemort, but most people call him ‘You-Know-Who.”

Hagrid flinched at the actual name being said, “James risked everything to try and save you and your mother. When he died, Lily tried to save you. In the end, it all worked out because you were saved. You didn’t die like you were supposed to.”

“Why did aunt Y/n leave the table?”

“Talking about this is still hard for her.” Remus replied, and Harry could see the tears in his eyes too, “It’s hard for me too, but- but you need to know.”

“What were they to you?” 

“James and Lily were everything to me, Harry. Everything and so much more. Your mother saw the good in people when they didn’t see it themselves. Your father? Well-“ He chuckled, “He was a trip and a prat. But he cared for those around him. Treated me like family and took care of me like a brother.”

Harry fiddled with the sleeve of his sweater, “James was a mischief-maker that one.” Hagrid said, “Always up to no good.”

“Him and that Sirius boy.” Hagrid chuckled, “Dynamic duo those two.”

Remus let out a tearful chuckle, “Yeah, that was Padfoot and Prongs.”

“Always up to no good.” Remus whispered. 

The following day Remus had waken up to what he swore was the most perfect sight. Y/n was still sleeping beside him. Her head was nestled under his chin, drinking in his body heat. Her hair was laid against the fluffy white pillow. Their legs were intertwined together. Gently Remus kissed her forehead before seeing the clock read about nine o’clock. 

Remus took five more minutes to admire her before waking her up. He began to kiss all over her face, and Y/n scrunched her nose, waking up as his lips kept attaching to a new place on her face. He smiled as she opened her eyes to meet his green ones. 

“Mornin’ love.” 

His Welsh accent was to die for, “Morning, Rem.”

“You ready to take Harry to Platform Nine and Three Quarters?”

Y/n shook her head, “No. Not really.”

“Hey,” Remus said softly, stroking her hair, “You’ll be okay. We’ll be okay.”

“There are so many memories there, Rem.” Y/n replied, “Like- Like meeting Sirius for the first time.”

“Or seeing you come back after fourth year with an entirely new style.” Remus chuckled, “Or- Or seeing James almost fall out of the train. 

Remus caressed her cheek with his thumb, “We’ll make it through, love. Harry needs us today.”

“Yeah.” She replied breathily, “He does.”

They both ventured out of bed into the cool air of London. Remus, Y/n, and Hagrid walked Harry to Kings Cross. When they arrived, Hagrid had departed from them to do something for Dumbledore. Harry was bluntly confused when his ticket read Platform Nine and Three Quarters. Last he checked, that wasn’t a platform. 

As they reached the main floor of the train station, Remus and Y/n recognized the Weasleys almost instantly. Molly had embraced them tightly as they all went through the platform. Harry gave his trunks to the man at the end of the train and turned to the only family he had left. His eyes glistened with tears, and he tried to hold them back but failed. 

“Harry,” Y/n knelt to his level, “You’re gonna be okay. I promise. James and I made lots of friends at Hogwarts.”

He smiled at the mention of his father, “Do you think… Do you think he’d be proud of me?”

“They’d be beyond proud, Harry.” Remus replied, smiling, “You’re everything they wanted you to be.”

Harry turned back to Y/n and hugged her tightly, “Please make sure you write to us.” 

“‘Course, Auntie.” Harry replied as they pulled apart, “Love you guys.” 

Y/n stood beside Remus, “We love you too, sweetheart.” 

Harry smiled and wiped his cheeks before hopping on the train. He found a compartment alone and watched out the window as the train began moving. Y/n and Remus watched as the train hauled by. Kids who started waving their last goodbyes to their parents. 

“Mum, dad!” James exclaimed from inside the compartment, “We love you!”

Euphemia and Fleamont chuckled tearfully, “We love you guys too!” 

Truthfully James never wanted to leave his parents. They were his entire world. When Kings Cross was no longer in sight, he plopped down in the seat beside Y/n, who put her head on his shoulder. His left arm wrapped around her shoulders, pulling her tightly to his side. 

“We got this, sis.” James assured, “We always have each other.”

It didn’t take long for Harry to get in trouble. As a matter of fact, it made Y/n laugh that within the first month, he had already managed a detention. She had settled for a letter rather than a Howler. Remus had made sure to tell him his fair of scolding words (“Say hi to Minnie for me!”). Harry smiled when the letter arrived in the morning. 

Harry definitely made sure to say hi to “Minnie,” which made McGonagall smile like an idiot despite her usual strict nature. She could see and hear James saying the name when she gave them detention or Sirius’ pouty face begging her to have some form of mercy on them, for they had just turned the Slytherin robes red. Ever the dramatics that Black. 

When he arrived back at the Platform, he nuzzled into Y/n and Remus’ arms before departing to the Dursleys. But all was good because in just a month he’d see them again for his birthday, which he did. They took him to Diagon Alley to get his second-year stuff along with some ice cream to celebrate his twelfth birthday. 

He spent a week of his summer with them in their little house in London. It was far better than Privet Drive, and he felt a lot safer. But after the week was up, he was forced to return to the Dursleys. Within a week of being back, he’d managed to screw everything up. A thing named Dobby had quite literally dumped puddling all over one of the Dursley’s guests, and that got him trapped in his room. 

Thankfully, Ronald Weasley, who had become his close friend, had saved him. Harry went to the Burrow for the first time and met everyone else. Molly had notified Remus and Y/n of his entrance. Sadly, they couldn’t make it to the Platform for reasons. Molly wouldn’t tell Harry, but he was okay with it. 

Until Ron and he smashed into the brick wall, making them late for the train. It was then Ron had a brilliant thought of taking the flying car to Hogwarts. It did work until they got stuck in the Whomping Willow and then got caught by Severus Snape. A letter was sent home to Y/n and Molly. Both of which made two very different Howlers to their children. 

Molly’s howler was scolding them, and it made Ron’s ears turn pink. Y/n and Remus’ howler was a different story. The moment it opened, laughter rang through the Great Hall. Familiar laughter of Remus and Y/n. It made McGonagall furious and happy at the same time. 

“Merlin Harry!” Remus’ voice rang out, “You’re brilliant, aren’t you!” 

“Remus, we’re supposed to be scolding him!” Y/n retorted jokingly, “I’m scolding myself for never thinking of it!” Remus replied. 

Y/n chuckled, “Obviously, you shouldn't have done that, Harry; however, as long as you’re not harmed, we aren’t mad. Just be more careful next time.”

Remus was still dying of laughter, “Remus is still dying of laughter. We love you, Harry. Stay safe.”

Ron looked appalled with the coolness of the howler, “Bloody hell, you have a cool family.”

“They’re pretty cool.” Harry shrugged, smiling. 

Y/n and Remus would be lying if the whole petrifying thing didn’t scare them. They were worried for Harry’s safety but weren’t surprised when Harry ended up saving them all like last year. When they were on the Platform, Remus began getting on the train with him after kissing Y/n goodbye. 

He was grunting and groaning at every movement. The bags beneath his eyes looked more prominent than usual. Remus moved sluggishly, which was very unlike him. But Harry didn’t question it until he began to get on the train at Harry’s side. 

“Uncle Moony?”

“Yes, Harry?” Remus replied after sitting in a compartment, his cloak covering most of his body. 

“Why’re you on the train?”

He chuckled, “I’m your new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor.”

Harry smiled, and Remus fell into a dreamless sleep after a rough full moon the night prior. Hermione and Ron joined them not too long after as Harry began telling them about Sirius Black. The year went by as eventful as usual. Harry found out the accurate way his parents died along with Remus and Y/n. Peter Pettigrew being the culprit and then leaving before someone could catch him. 

Afterward, Sirius had been staying in the guest bedroom at Y/n and Remus’. He didn’t want to go back to Grimmauld Place. That was the last place he wanted to go. So despite not wanting to be a burden, he took the position that Y/n offered him. Ever so kind, just like James. When he walked through those doors, Y/n had hugged him tightly and kissed his cheek. 

“It’s good to have you back, older brother.”

Sirius could’ve cried on the spot, “It’s nice to see you again, little sis.”

The next couple of years were a trip. Fourth-year Harry had managed to get his name pulled out of the Goblet of Fire, leading to a new adventure of challenges. After finishing his fourth year, Cedric Diggory had died, marking the return of Voldemort, which had traumatized Harry in more than one way. That summer, he decided to stay with Y/n, Remus, and Sirius. They were all fantastic help throughout the entire thing. Through his nightmares, Y/n would make him hot chocolate and sit on the couch with him as he talked. 

Fifth-year was dreadful. Delores Umbridge had come into the office as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, and the Order of the Phoenix reformed. Her detentions were terrible and horrid, especially for the first years. They were just kids, for Merlin’s sake. It made Y/n fume when she saw the back of Harry’s hand. The night they ventured to the Department of Mysteries was almost the worst night Harry could have dreamed of. 

Sirius had almost died if Y/n wasn’t as quick as she was. Bellatrix was stunned to see her spell deflected but kept firing nonetheless. When they got home, it was silent. Remus had made tea for himself and Sirius while making hot chocolate for the other two. Harry had laid his head on Y/n’s shoulder and fallen asleep. 

Truth be told, sixth year wasn’t any better. Dumbledore had died, and Harry was left to find the rest of the Horcruxes. It was then Sirius learned the actual death of his brother, making him mourn him all over again. Seventh year Harry, Ron, and Hermione ventured out to find the rest of them. 

When Harry returned to Hogwarts through the passageway to the Room of Requirement with Snape as headmaster, the war had officially started. In the end, everything had fallen into place. When Harry used the resurrection stone, he saw them. He saw James, Lily, Remus, and Sirius. Harry almost wanted to laugh at seeing them all together. They looked so happy. 

“Where- Where’s Y/n?”

Remus gave a solemn smile, “She made it. She’s still out there. Waiting for you.”

“Does that mean…”

“Turns out my sister is a tougher cookie than I thought.” James stated, and Harry turned to him, “She misses you.”

James chuckled, “As I do her.”

Harry turned back to Remus, “Does she know?”

“She was there when it happened.” Remus replied, “I had to give her one last ‘I love you’ and kiss goodbye, right?”

A noise rumbled from a distance, “It’s time, sweetie.” Lily stated. 

Harry released a shaky breath before dropping the stone on the ground. He had to do this for Y/n, for Ron, for Hermione, for everyone. He was ready. When he stepped in front of Voldemort to die, all he could think about was his Aunt's eyes. The way they glittered with tears when she let him go for the first time. The way they creased when she smiled at his first Christmas. The way they gleamed with mischief when she gave the Weasley twins new prank material. 

His last words would be ones he’d never regret, “Thank you, aunt Y/n, for everything.”

Because through everything, she was the only constant. She was the only one to hold him through anything. Through every nightmare, every battle, every tear, every smile. She was there with her radiant smile and caring nature. 

When Harry defeated Voldemort, the world stopped. It was done. It was over. But the pain wasn’t gone. The trauma wasn’t bypassed. This was more than a war. Harry walked into the Great Hall to see crying parents, kids, and siblings mourning their dead loved ones. His eyes zoomed on Y/n sitting crisscross beside her husband, holding his hand tightly. 

Wordlessly Harry sat beside her and leaned his head against her shoulder. Y/n tilted her head onto his. No tears fell from her eyes despite everything she had gone through, two wars, friends dead, parents dead, brother dead, and now husband dead. 

“His last words were- they were,” She choked, and Harry rubbed her shoulder, “I love you more than Moony loves the moon.”

Harry smiled, “Dad said you were a tough cookie.”

Y/n chuckled, and Harry relished in the sound, “He said that if anyone could get through this, it’s you.”

“Damn it, James.” She said to no one, still holding Remus’ hand. 

“We’ll get through this.” Harry said, “And we’ll do it together.”

“Together.”

[tteokdoroki]

what he lost | k.bakugou.

⇝ pairing: katsuki bakugou x fem!reader.

⇝ word count: 5.4K

⇝ rating: for everyone.

⇝ genre: pro hero!au, exes!au, angst.

⇝ summary: back then; he was young, dumb and a little too prideful, taking your love for granted. now, years down the line he wonders if he’ll ever stand a chance in getting you back or the one in which katsuki bakugou grew up a little too late.

⇝ warning(s): please read ! heavy angst, no happy ending, mentions of toxic relationships, emotional distress, mentions of violence ( explosions, fight scenes, knives, blood ) and cursing all around.

⇝ author’s note(s): greetings everyone!! i hope you’re all doing well, today’s one-shot is a request from @killakatsuki​​, i know you wanted a happy ending but i got a little ahead of myself eee !! anyways thank you all for 400+ followers, i love you all :(

⇝ masterlist | requests

“katsuki bakugou if you leave me right now, please... please don’t come back.”

bakugou had always hated that, he thought, casting his gaze elsewhere in the room. he always hated how you cried when you were angry, red hot tears stinging a pathway down the apples of your usually glowing cheeks.

he couldn’t quite place the reasoning as to why. maybe it was because you rarely ever found yourself angry or perhaps it was how pathetic you looked when your bottom lip wobbled and your harsh words were laced with watery sobs.

or maybe it was because he didn’t want to feel sorry for you, didn’t want to comfort you when he was too prideful to admit that you were right. “whatever, don’t tell me what the fuck to do.” he spits, eyes and voice full of a venom he barely ever uses against you. he watches with a scarlet gaze as you falter, as if a knife has dug deep into your heart and cut you all up but bakugou only scoffs and continues to pack his side kick costume into the duffle bag he’s got on your shared bed.

every fibre of his being is tell him to reach out for you and apologise, he knows that he’s wrong. keeping his late night shifts from you, working extra hours— of course you were going to worry but he needed you to understand that being a hero was his dream above all else. the last thing he needed was a distraction like you.

something in you changed that night, both of you. as the rain hit hard on the roof of your shared apartment, even as you took his things and threw them out into the hall and even as you gave him one last chance on the doorstep. “you can leave now and not comeback or you can stay and we’ll talk this through—“ your eyes spoke to him in a silent plead, asking him if he would really give up the life that you’d built for lies and a better job?

but you knew the answer already.

“like i said,” katsuki rolled his eyes as knowing sobs wracked your body. “i never needed you anyways.”

you slammed the door before he could walk away and forget the tears in your eyes.

six years later and katsuki is pissed.

he’d been irritable since this morning when his interns fucked up the paperwork at his agency— leaving him to clean it up and then when his assistant brought him the wrong coffee and forgot to notify him of the pro hero meeting he was currently attending right at this very minute.

of course heroes of all different calibers were present; including none other than the number two, shoto todoroki, who was in charge of directing this week’s patrol missions but something about that only grinds the explosive pro’s gears even more. although, he could see himself being even more pissed if the number one; deku had shown his face instead of being away on an overseas mission. the schedule for this week’s patrol sits heavily in bakugou’s hand and he almost wants to burn it to pieces just at the thought of working with his future partner.

‘yn ln.’

the sight of your name printed in block capitals next to his has the ash blonde reeling, glancing up to send a blazing scowl towards shoto. he feels set up, as if the half hot, half cold bastard is dangling you right in front of him— its not like todoroki doesn’t know the history that sits between bakugou and yourself, after all,  he had been the friend you’d ran off to during the fight that ended your five year relationship.

it’s like todoroki had a sixth sense because by the time he’d finish announcing the pair ups, he’d tiredly caught wind of katsuki’s heated stare. “bakugou—“

“i wanna fuckin’ switch, icyhot.”

“you can’t.”

bakugou stands from his seat next to kirishima ( who only looks apologetically at his colleagues ), annoyance rippling through his veins as he approaches the taller male. “why the fuck not?” he growls, small explosions sparking in the palms of his sweaty hands ( he was undeniably nervous because of the impending patrol ) the group of heroes simultaneously sigh— having been used to the explosive pro’s usual outbursts.

todoroki sighs, running his cooler hand over his face. “because the pairs have been matched up by quirk and strength, on top of that they were done in advance so if you really have a problem with it then i suggest you take it up with the number one—“ the dual quirked hero falls silent, a triumphant smirk appearing on his lips as red riot pulls his friend away before it’s too late.

“dude, you can’t just go blowing people up!” the red head scolds beneath bakugou’s sailor mouth, wrestling him over to the couch.

katsuki feels defeated, there’s no way to get out of this situation. he’s done his best these last few years to avoid you like the plague. it was somewhat easy, considering you were lower in the ranks compared to him, so there wasn’t much time to interact anyway. but katsuki hated the fact that he had always thought you would fall below him.

nonetheless; he took to switching event time tables around, rejecting hang outs with his old high school friends... all to avoid you, and now that he had to see you face to face, he wasn’t sure how to react. would you still hate him? how did you feel about working with him?

there’s not much time to dwell on the thought for kirishima is already patting his back and guiding him out of the meeting as it ends, the promise of drinks at an ‘heroes only bar’ hanging in the air.

“you’re so handsome, ground zero ! thank you for protecting japan !”

bakugou can feel the bile rising in the back of his throat at the words from the sickly sweet fan, so he gives a nonchalant grunt in response as he finishes up his signature on her notebook before continuing his march to your hero agency. it’s been a few days since the meeting between the pro heroes and all the number three wants is to make it to your agency without being fawned over by more obsessive fans.

he gives the fan a casual wave, ignoring the look of disappointment on her face— either she was expecting his number or for him to grow bashful under her flurry of compliments but katsuki was never one for fan service.

he hated fans that expected something from him, ones who wanted more than a casual chat with their favourite pro hero but he wouldn’t let them in. they didn’t want the intimate, vulnerable sides of katsuki bakugou like you had— maybe that made the ash blonde stuck on you.

yn ln was the only girl in his life who had tried to understand the many layers of the hot headed hero, you saw past his aggressive nature and touched the deepest parts of his soul…parts that you longed to love and keep safe.

you’d loved him for who he was below the surface, not for the money and fame he had come to amass as number three in the ranks.

behind scarlet eyes are the best moments of the hero’s life, each shared with you. katsuki had took for granted the seconds you had been with him, even from the very start— he didn’t care for the way that you held him after he’d been kidnapped, clinging onto him like he’d disappear or would never return to your arms, he should have cherished the tears of worry you shed for him too but katsuki was too prideful at the time.

too full of himself even with his raging nightmares that you had managed to soothe.  

you’d comforted him after he’d failed the licensing exams, promised him he’d still get to be the greatest hero of all time and still, bakugou had cared for none of this. now that he’d thought about it, he hadn’t been good to you, he didn’t know how you’d dealt with they way he undermined your quirk and doubted your ability to protect him when he should have been the one to protect you.

your love was wasted on him, and for that bakugou needed to apologise.

hands in his pockets, katsuki’s mind could have been said to be away with the fairies, haunted by the night he came home with a half hearted apology on his lips to an empty apartment and a note from you. something about staying with the icyhot bastard and not to contact you.

that is until he collided with the back of someone in the crowd. “hey!” he’s quick to growl out to the figure, a slight snarl to the words leaving his mouth. “watch where you’re going, shitty extra—“

“ah, katsuki! nice to see you haven’t changed,” your voice sends shivers down the blonde’s spine, bright red eyes focusing on you and only you. your smile is bright, dazzling under the hot japan sun and even if katsuki hadn’t changed, you certainly had— your pretty eyes he used to get lost in, he used to watch glimmer with tears now hold a different kind of light, they greyish hue that dulled you over your time with him had finally cleared.

you looked healthy, happier and bakugou realises how much your relationship must’ve wore you down.

he feels like he doesn’t deserve the grin that you give him; the one you would save just for him in the early mornings you’d spent together back when you were dating. maybe that makes his heart jumps out of his chest.

“y-yn— “

he hadn’t prepared himself for your sweet, airy giggle that fills the space between you. “ground zero getting shy on me now? don’t tell me you forgot about our shift today, did’ya?”

“n-no, ‘course not, dumbass.” fuck, katsuki’s heart thumps against his ribcage so loud that he’s afraid you might hear it with the little distance between you. since when did you make him nervous? despite the pet name, you still give him a laugh as a flicker of fondness twinges in your bright eyes.

it’s quickly replaced when you blink it away, beckoning ground zero into your hero offices. “nice to see that sailor’s mouth hasn’t changed either ,” you mumble more so to yourself than him. bakugou walks a few paces behind you while you explain to him that you have to finish assigning your sidekicks and interns a few low level missions before you can head off for the day.

the group of young heroes are excitable, seemingly loving the opportunity to work with you— their chatter is loud but it gives katsuki time to drink you in.

crimson eyes travel over your form while you talk— your hero costume has changed a lot since your U.A and sidekick days.

you’d interned under the number two at the time, hawks, thus leading you to have become one of his most trusted sidekicks. no doubt; his skill level had not only  improved your abilities, how you controlled your quirk but your costume as well.

your quirk was known as lullaby, if you could sing a tune in the right pitch to certain groups of people, it allowed you control over the abilities and to put them to sleep. this obviously however meant you were poor at short distance attacks— something bakugou always teased you for, so he was excited to see how you’d improved.

your suit had a visor that allowed you to amplify your quirk, while patterns of the night sky dressed your body— paying homage to your hero name ‘nightsky’.

katsuki felt bad to imprinting the image of your skin tight, midnight blue suit into his mind but back when he had known you like you were his, your costume hadn’t been nearly as advanced as this.

snapping fingers pull him from his thoughts before they can get too hazy.

“eyes are up here, explosion boy.”

katsuki’s gaze snaps up to meet yours, an angry red to rival his gemstone eyes spreading like wildfire across his cheeks. “i wasn’t staring.” he tries his best to defend himself, but your knowing look tells him that you’ve caught him red handed.

“of course you weren’t, sidekicks left about ten minutes ago so we can head out  now—unless you want to keep glaring daggers at my boobs, katsu.” you’re teasing him, voice dripping like honey off of a spoon as you waltz back out onto the streets of japan and leave a bewildered ground zero behind you.

you’ve changed so much since your relationship ended with bakugou, you’re stronger, a vixen and more confident in yourself.

and he hates knowing that he’s the one that kept you down all this time.

patrol remains uneventful even as the afternoon goes on and the stress of japan begin to fill with citizens for the oncoming rush hour.

the lack of action has lead your conversation to die within the wind and leaves katsuki alone with his thoughts for the time being— you only really speak when you catch the blonde staring you down or when he accidentally walks into something ( highly unusual for him ) but he enjoys the seconds where your teasing voice tickles the tips of his ears and you smile so wide his own lips pull into somewhat of a grin.

bakugou doesn’t know why he’s so quiet, not when the storm in his mind brews all the words he should have said to you years ago. the apologies, the grateful thanks that you deserved; none of these could fall from his tongue.

he liked to say he never had the opportunity, which was partly true you were both up and coming herores yes, but you had damn well made sure you’d never have to encounter bakugou unless the situation required it. and it seemed, that years down the line, he was still doing the same.

the thought alone cause nerves to choke him from the inside out, building up in his throat until all he can do is grunt in frustration—  kicking an empty can along the road you’re currently walking down.

“that’s unlike you,” your chuckle cuts through the thick fog of katsuki’s mind, drawing deep red eyes towards your frame. you walk in front of him now, arms folded behind your head while you step backwards— the sight almost comical to anyone passing by. bakugou must look just as shocked because some how he manages to pull the cutest snort from you, even as his face morphs into a snarl and he marches forward to fall into pace with your steps. your eyes dazzle with your next words. “the great katsuki bakugou, quiet? never thought i’d see the day.”

you’ve always been able to read him like an open book, seeing right through the front he puts on. “i haven’t changed.” he grunts through his teeth.

katsuki stops walking when you do, now standing a breaths width away from you. electricity jumps between you both, static forming in the finger tips that just barely brush against bakugou’s arm.

your eyes spell it out for him, clear as day, as you finally reach out to touch him. His own close at the brief gesture, the pain from having lost you blooming across his chest.

“you did.” you breathe out,  the warmth of your soft voice making katsuki’s eyes screw shut.

he could never get a lie past you.

“we both did.”

vermillion eyes open, trying to seek you out in the light of the day as bakugou wills and prays that he can say what he needs to right now, to get you back but he doesn’t have the chance as an explosion cuts through the building on your left.

bakugou manages to wrap his arms around you, shielding you from the blast before you hit the ground. the impulse sends you  both rolling down the street, small grunts escaping you until you roll to a halt and end up on top of katsuki— straddling him.

dust and debris surrounds the pair of you, creating a thick smog in the air as sirens and screams sound off in the distance. the explosive hero groans in pain— no doubt with a litter of bruises forming under his suit but he has no time to register the sting properly before he’s noticing you on top of him, smirk on your face, devilish glint to your eye.

you’ve been waiting for some action all day.

you’re gone in the blink of an eye, so you must have a plan. katsuki remembers from high school that you made up for strategy where you once lacked in strength, so it’s no surprise to him that you’re already on the move. meanwhile; you manage to slide undetected through the smoke, moving fast to take out the low level criminals.

it’s only a robbery, but the explosion could have caused more casualties than you would have liked. you trust that bakugou can take care of the civilians and bring them out of harms way as you do your best o sus out the ringleader.

the grey tinted fog that sweeps over the area allows you both to work quickly; neither of you need to say anything, for one it would give away your position and secondly— there’s an underlying trust in one another that the two of you had built up when you worked together while dating.

bakugou, through his end, tackles down the small group of criminals after clearing the area and making sure no one was hurt. emergency services had been alerted and were already on their way, all there was now, was to predict your next movements and follow your lead. he’d never liked being bossed about, but the look in your eye made him believe you knew what you were doing.

you were right, you’d both changed. you might as well have been a better hero than him.

the ash blonde follows the trail of unconscious wannabe villains to your whereabouts, he only knows that they’re unconscious because of your ability to put people to sleep with your quirk— all you had to do was get close to them, which wouldn’t have been hard as katsuki knew first hand that these guys’ quirks weren’t shit.

“it’s almost funny, how you thought you could pull a stunt like this on a day when all of japan’s biggest heroes are in one place,” bakugou’s ears pick up on you teasing the criminal leader with that smooth chocolate voice and he follows it deeper into the air that’s heavy with debris— glad you were able to find him before the smoke cleared. “even with the number one out of town, tsk, you should have known better…”

the hot headed pro spots you, holding the hooded ringleader in a choke hold with only your thighs as you sit on his shoulders— eyes wide with victory.

he recognises the dip in your voice as you adjust your tone to put the guy to sleep and call it a day. you’re powerful, a great pro and bakugou watches with awe while you get ready to take this guy down once and for all.

“so cocky, nightsky— why do you think we chose attack the street you were on?” the guy spits through clenched teeth, resisting the urge to succumb to your lullaby of a voice.

brows furrowing, you decide not to dwell on the criminal’s words before leaning down to whisper. “sleep...” but katsuki’s body comes alive with fear as the villain wannabe jams a blade into your thigh, causing your grip on him to loosen enough for him to throw you to the floor and put a boot to your throat. “oh miss nightsky, you really rely too much on your quirk and not enough on your senses. hmm, i think it’s time we say goodnight, don’t you?” the guy chuckles while you squirm under his foot— the need for air burning sharply at your lungs.

bakugou, who’s remained hidden this entire time feels himself snap— a heavy explosion loading up behind his gauntlets while he launches himself right into the scene. he won’t let you struggle for your life, not on his watch. “GET YOUR FILTHY FUCKIN’ HANDS OFF OF HER!”

he reaches the criminal just before your eyes roll back into your head, an explosive right hook colliding with their cheek and sending them flying down the street.

the ash blonde reaches down to pull you up into his chest, that very same one heaving with laboured breaths; you’re shaking but it’s nothing you can’t handle even with the red lines at your throat.

“you good?”

“better, thanks to you.”

there’s a look that you wear right now, one that katsuki recognises from years of training and running into fights with you— you want to do the move. he nods at you, vermillion eyes lighting up with a bright fire while you grip onto ground zero’s wrists.

just as the villain stands, you kick your feet off the ground and in the meantime bakugou begins to twirl you in circular motions until you’ve built up enough momentum for him to throw you towards the criminal.

you collide with his back foot first, knocking him to the ground as your eyes glow a bright white. “i said, go the fuck to sleep.”

the criminal drops to sleep and you roll to the ground after taking him out. you smile to yourself at the familiar wail of sirens in the background but don’t bother to make an effort to stand up, letting the exhaustion, pain from the wound in your thigh and bruises at your neck finally flood your body.

sitting beside you, bakugou smirks and holds a fist out to you. “still got it,” he gestures between the pair of you, the same signature move you’ve been doing since high school having worked successfully once again.

“still got it.” you look up to the now clear sky, fist bumping bakugou right back.

he’s going to do it, he thinks, he’s going to apologise.

after everything you and bakugou had been through, something in his chest was relieved to know that you didn’t hate him, something in him is lead to believe that you’re going to give him another chance.

katsuki watches you now, an attendant from the paramedics that you called working on patching up the gash in your thigh while you rub a salve into your neck.

despite the pain you must be in; you’re still glowing, still smiling even when fans ask you for autographs or tell you how brave you were during the fight. you’re so genuine, such a ray of sunshine in the world and bakugou can feel himself falling for you all over again.

“Is that all mr. ground zero, sir?” an officer asks, taking down notes for the report about the incident. the hero nods, waving the kid off after giving them all of the details from today. they thank him and he finds himself marching over to you almost immediately, now that you’re all bandaged up.

“walking already, ln? are you sure it doesn’t hurt?”

you beam up at the ash blonde, hopping out of the back of the ambulance and rubbing at the tear in your hero costume where the cut is. “it’s good, stings a little but i’ve seen worse on you,” you comment to him, beginning your stride back to your agency.

“and who’s fault is that, dumbass?” a genuine laughter bubbles in bakugou’s throat, albeit raspy, its not a foreign sound to your ears and it makes you laugh along with him.

he knows you’re referencing the many times you’d kicked hiss ass when sparring from high school to your side kick days. back then you‘d have traced every scar that littered his pretty body and told him how much you loved him.

katsuki aids you while you head back to the nightsky agency, you insist that you don’t need help to walk but you’re limping and the explosive pro hero is stubborn as hell— he’s not about to let you get hurt again, even if its physically and not mentally like he had done to you before.

with the lighter mood, memories flitter between you both— you mention how katsuki used to love his food so spicy you would cry and he brings up the time you had given him and kirishima a bout of food poisoning when you’d come up with an alternative to the latter’s cooking. the stories don’t seem to end even as you lean into him more; trusting him again.

“about what i said earlier…” you begin after finally coming to a halt outside your agency building, a scarlet gaze full of fondness lands on you. you turn to face him with the softest of smiles, half chewing on your bottom lip— something he knew you did when you were nervous. “you’re different, to how…how you were back then and it’s good, katsuki you’re so good…”

there’s a breath of silence, only filled by the quiet hum of city traffic where people are travelling to and from home. “i’m glad i had time to become good,” bakugou offers, forgoing the words ‘for you’ and pausing instead. “i regret who i was back then, with you… thought it made you hate me and that you wouldn’t fuckin’ work with me today.”

you shake your head, breaking contact with bakugou to paw at the stupid tears preparing to make their way down your cheeks. “i-i did hate you for a while, after everything…but we were young and dumb and—“ you freeze as the ash blonde wipes a stray tear from your cheek, you not having realised that it’d escaped. “and i’m so thankful to have met you, to have shared a love with you, you taught me so much and that i could never hate you for.”

“yn...i—“ i love you. i’m sorry. i should have loved you better. the words are there, the ones that katsuki always told himself he would say to you if he had the chance but he finds himself frozen and unable to speak. why? why now? when the perfect chance sat right in front of him, the perfect time for him to make it up to you.

to start over.

“yes, katsuki?”

to get you back.

“yn i’m sorry—“

“—guess who?”

a sing song voice full of positivity bursts through the moment while a pair of hands clasp their way over your pretty eyes and hide them away from the world.

bakugou instantly recognises the voice as belonging to none other than his childhood rival and number one pro hero, deku. he seems to have changed— grown taller, green hair shaved at the sides for an undercut.

the ash blonde isn’t very sure what else has changed, but then again they hadn’t seen much of each other as sidekicks, working under different agencies with different missions.

it was only as they started competing for the top ranks that they started to run the same circles— but bakugou had no idea how you would’ve come to know deku since the blonde hated him and you were dating each other for most of that time.

katsuki is just about to tell the green haired idiot to ‘fuck the fuck off’ for ruining his moment when you do the unexpected.

you clasp your hands over midoriya’s, cheeky smile gracing your lips as you attempt to pull them away from your face. “let me think, could it be? izuku midoriya?” relenting to your cheery voice— deku pulls away from you, hands falling to grip your waist sweetly. possesively. horror flashes behind bakugou’s raging red eyes. you turn in his rival’s strong arms, smiling so hard that it delves deep into the apples of your cheeks. “izu ! when did you get back? i thought you wouldn’t make it in time for today…”

“flew in this morning doll, i wanted to surprise you—“ the number one beams down at you and bakugou’s world crumbles when you cut him off while pressing a chaste kiss to deku’s lips right in front of his eyes.

this couldn’t be happening...since when were you and the damn nerd a thing? why didn’t he realise? why didn’t he grow up and try and get you back sooner?

he has no choice but to sit and stare, a dark cloud now sitting over his shattered heart.

all the while, you’re giggling into deku’s lips, fumbling over his hands that pinch at your sides just to get you to gasp enough for him to kiss you more.  the painful ( well, only for the explosive pro ) lip lock ends when you both come up for air and your eyes land on your ex boyfriend.

“ah, katsuki ! you remember deku right? wait that’s a dumb question you were literally childhood friends—“ you start to ramble, mind getting away from you and katsuki barely registers anything that leaves your lips. his crimson eyes lock with the emerald ones that stare right back at him and hurt swells in his chest.

to deku, he must look like a kicked puppy. a weakling. a loser.

all the things he had labelled izuku midoriya when they were kids.

when bakugou tunes back into your excited rambling, his heart cracks even more in his chest. “this green giant flew all the way in from overseas to come home for wedding planning ! can you believe it?”  the answer to your question is an obvious no.

he had no idea that you had been seeing the number one, let alone being engaged to him. the hot headed hero freezes in his spot when you reach down the chest of your hero costume to pull out a silver necklace.

on the end of it, an engagement ring with a tiny emerald in it’s centre.

katsuki bakugou feels sick, bile rising up in his throat. he’d really lost you. really. “...pretty thing that is, congratulations.” he mentions blankly, eyes trained on midoriya once again. you don’t notice, but deku does and bakugou hates the sympathetic, apologetic look that the fucking nerd gives him.

“mhm ! izu put it on a necklace for me because, well you know, i’m clumsy and didn’t want to lose the thing,”

you’re so clueless that it hurts, burning katsuki from the inside out. that should be him. it should be his arms around you, his lips on yours, his engagement ring on that fucking necklace. not deku’s, not anyone’s. the green headed hero beside you seems to notice the distress ebbing away at your ex and tilts your head up to look at him. “doll, why don’t you head inside and change into something more comfy real quick? we’ve got cake tasting in an hour…”

the tail end of deku’s words are drowned out by your happily animated squeal and with a quick nod you press a kiss to his freckled cheek and bounce inside— missing the way bakugou winces at your display of affection.

it’s quiet despite the bustling sounds of the city but neither if them know what to say, even as the minutes pass.

bakugou knows that you’d be better off with deku, he would treat you right and give you the love that you deserved all along. but that didn’t make it any less painful.

“kacchan, look...“ the number one says eventually, green eyes swirling with guilt. “i’m sorry—“

the blonde shakes his head, spitting his words out through gritted teeth. “don’t...just,” fuck, it hurts to breathe. “just…take care of her for me, you got that deku?”

“yeah, of course…”

the pair of childhood rivals don’t have much time to speak after that, for you’re already bounding out of your agency wearing a comfortable mint green summer dress and pair of red sneakers to rival deku’s, despite the thick bandage to your thigh.

“ready to go?” you ask your fiancé, face as warm and as bright as it had once been when you used to look at bakugou. izuku nods, delight dancing in his eyes despite the nervous chew to his bottom lip, before letting you turn to your ex lover. “great ! well, see you around kasuki, don’t be a stranger ! we’ve got to catch up again sometime, alright?”

you link arms with izuku midoriya, your fiancé, after that—walking away and  leaving ground zero in the dust.

he doesn’t know how long he stands there for, heart in his hands even while he comes to the realisation that you hadn’t gone to todoroki that night when you’d left. no, you’d only told him that so it hurt a little less when he found out midoriya had been the one to look after you. you’d lied because you’d loved him.

you lie because you love him.

and it was only now that katsuki bakugou had realised what he’d lost.

[peachiimilquetea]

𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭

𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘 6 months or so, your boyfriend is presented with a little predicament

contains: sub!demon bf x dom!reader, mistress kink, choking, riding, bf in heat, gn!afab reader

- you two had only been dating for a few months, 7 at the most

- your boyfriend had been being distant lately

- answering your texts late

- cutting facetimes short

- declining offers to hang out

- you were suspicious but every time you asked him directly, he denied it claiming he was perfectly fine

- he was a shit liar for a demon

- after a week of this you decided to surprise him at his home

- you two had been dating long enough for you to know his work schedule so there's no way he wouldn't be home

- you took the day off work and took the bus to his place, heart in your ass the whole time

- what if he was cheating on you or something?

- you didn't want to think about that

- stepping up to his apartment door you felt sticky and hot

- was it hot outside?

- the door felt significantly warmer as you raised your hand to knock on it

- you didn't get a response but you heard a faint groan and some shuffling

- you knocked harder

- this man would open up if you had to rip the door apart with your bare hands

- you tried the doorknob on a whim and to your surprise, it opened up

- his apartment was dark inside and messy

- not the kind of messy that would cause for concern but he definitely hadn't left it for a few days

- you heard more shuffling from the direction of his room and made the executive decision to investigate

"babe?"

- no response

- you kept moving deeper into the apartment, feeling the air get thicker with each passing step

- what the fuck was going on?

"baby? its me. i know you're home you're not slick."

- your boyfriend's voice answered back, muffled through his bedroom door

"please i need you to leave"

- leave? why would you leave?

"I just need you to tell me what's going on. its ok I won't be mad at you"

- that was a partial lie but you needed to get him to talk to you

"I need- hnghh~ i need you to leave please"

"are you ok? you sound like you're in pain. let me-"

"NO! no! please... just stay where you are. this is fine."

- his voice was shaky and uneven, even through the muffled door

- something was wrong

"I'm sorry, but I'm coming in"

- a strangled noise came out of your boyfriend's throat as you neared the door

- you could hear him scrambling to get away from you

- this door handle was even hotter than the one at the front door as you turned it, getting hit with a wave of steam and musky scent

- it wasn't bad per se... but he had definitely been sweating

- a lot

- he sat curled up in the corner of the room farthest away from you

- he was wearing nothing but his briefs, tail coiled around his legs

"is this a demon thing that you neglected to tell me about?"

- all you got was a whimper in return

"babe... what is going on"

- he mumbled out a response

"what?"

"...iminheat"

"you what?

"I'm in heat"

- oh

- well

- thats definitely new

"thats a thing that can happen?"

"yes and now you need to leave"

- he practically hissed at you

- you could see it all over his face

- he was flushed and burning up, struggling to hold himself back

"please"

- his voice was so small

- you had never seen him like this. so fucked out. so needy without so much as a touch

- it sparked a tightening sensation in your lower abdomen as you tried to will yourself not to be turned on at a time like this

- he needed your help

- and you wanted to help him in the nastiest of ways

"and why can't I stay?"

- you wanted to rile him up a little

- just to get a taste of how far gone he truly was

"you make the symptoms worse obviously! did I need to- ngh~ s-spell that out for you?"

"don't get snippy with me, baby boy. I'm only trying to help you out"

- his breath hitched at your words and you noticed his hands grip the carpet a bit tighter

- checkmate

"is there anything I can do to ease the pain, my love?"

- your voice was sickly sweet as you started making your way over to him

- he swallowed thickly, finally looking at you fully since you had walked into the room

"please touch me"

- you reached down and began to gently stroke his hair

- his tail unwound itself from where it was previously, tracing over your calves and upper thighs and coiling around your leg

"where do you want mistress to touch you baby?"

"everywhere... p-please- its so hot mistress"

"awww does my little slut need someone to take care of him?"

- he whined in response, leaning in harder to your hands in his hair

- you then grabbed a fistful and tugged slightly, relishing in the primal groan that came out of your extra sensitive boy

"what if mistress plays with your horns, hm?"

- your boyfriend jerked forward, bracing himself on your thighs

- he was losing control over his demon form, normally short and clean nails blackening and turning into claws the more you teased him

"I cant- ah- i need you to touch me more please"

- you groped his horns more roughly and he let out a wanton moan

- that shot straight to your core

"get up and lie back on the bed. mistress is going to take good care of you"

- he practically teleported onto his bed at your command

- his cock strained in his briefs, looking as though it could rip right through

- did he get bigger?

- can dicks do that?

"what do you want me to do to you"

- you smiled at him, taking your top off and gesturing for him to do the same

- he only moaned and squirmed in response

"use your words, baby boy. don't keep mistress waiting"

"I want- i want you to use your mouth on me! please mistress"

- mouth it is

- you stalked over to the bed, practically crawling to him

- teasing his upper thighs and the apex of his hips

- he shivered at your touch but stayed where you had directed him to be, making no moves to touch or grab at you

- what a good boy

- you pulled his briefs down and watched as his cock sprang free with an abnormal amount of force

- the faint smack of his dick on his stomach made your mouth water

- it was such a pretty shade of dark red at the tip too, practically oozing precum like a leaky faucet

- you grabbed his dick in your hand, spitting on your tight fist to lube it up a little and swiping your thumb over his slit

- his loud gasp almost reverberated off the walls of the room

- he quickly gripped at the sheets below to steady himself as you worked his cock up and down

"how does this feel?"

"g-good. so good"

- keeping eye contact with him, you licked a long stripe up the underside of his shaft

- he hissed as you continued your ministrations, taking all of him in your mouth and using your tongue to tease his head

- the sounds he was making above you were heavenly, incoherent babbles about how much he loved you and how sensitive he was

"your mouth is so hot and wet mistress- ah! i-it feels so-OH"

- you grabbed his balls gently but without warning, softly kneading them in your free hand

- you continue to suck on him, increasing the pressure as he got louder and louder

- he was almost trashing now, fighting himself to keep from kicking you off but still letting himself react to his pleasure in all its glory

"do you want to cum now baby?"

"i- cant- i c- i cant hold it, mistress!"

"you don't have to hold it, baby boy. let go"

- you let him out of your mouth last minute and jerked him harshly, making him yelp and cum all over his chest and stomach

- he was heaving as he came down from his high, starting to feel a bit cooler and less needy

- unfortunately, he should have been paying more attention to you

- you quickly moved up the expanse of his body, straddling him to hover over where your hips met

"wait- what are you- ah hnghh"

- you sank down onto his cock, relishing in the slight sting of the stretch from this position

- it definitely got bigger

- your boyfriend was practically drooling now, hypersensitive from his heat and his first orgasm

- he keened and moaned as you teased him everywhere, gripping your hips to steady himself

- pinching and twisting his nipples

"n-not to ha-AH-rdd"

- kissing his neck and marking him on his upper chest

"hnghhh mistress please not my ears they're sensitive!"

- and sticking your fingers in his mouth when he got too loud

"hmgphhh~ aaaaaaah"

- that one was his favorite

- you felt your own orgasm building as he grabbed you all over, groping your ass and chest

"did i say you could touch?"

- he whined as you moved his hands back to your hips

"no mistress but i-"

- you reached out to slide your hand loosely around his neck

- he shut up immediately, lust pooling in his eyes

"choke me"

- you obliged the man, squeezing the side of his neck and watching him sputter out some kind of thanks

- his eyelids drooped as you held the pressure and he looked utterly fucked out

- so pretty for his mistress

-you felt yourself getting close and released him, changing the position at which you were riding him

- using his stomach for balance you bounced harder on him the slight change allowed for him to hit you just right

"I'm gonna cum, baby"

- you cried out as your orgasm shot through you

- your boyfriends grip on your hips tightened as you clenched around him, riding out your high with little regard for how he was keeping up with you

"s-slow do-own~! I'm gonna cum again mistress"

"be a good boy and come again for mistress. let her milk you dry"

- leaning down close to his face you licked up one of his horns and slammed down on him, clenching yourself all the way

- with a gasp and a loud cry he came, almost levitating off the bed

- you felt his hot spurts of cum inside you, filling you up and seeping out around the sides of your pussy

- you collapsed on top of him letting him hold you to his chest

- the two of you were a puddle of sweat, cum and fatigue as you caught your breath

"how are you feeling now?"

"a lot better"

- you noticed the room felt significantly cooler as you curled up together

"how long does this thing last?"

"we've got another week"

- he chuckled as your eyes widened

- a whole week???

- you would worry about it later

- you felt yourself nodding off as you rubbed your face deeper into his chest

"don't worry baby boy, i'll take good care of you"

- the demon had been satisfied

- for now

[hereformcdonaldshonestly]

This is going to be so CUTEEE!!

Fluff💖

Their Favorite Memory With You

Character x !fem reader, everyone (you and the characters) are aged up!!

(h/c)= hair color, (l/n)= last name

Tenya Iida-

Tenya's favorite memory with you was your guy's wedding day. You and Tenya were inseparable, ever since you two got together in U.A. You two have been together since you both were around 15 and 16 years old, you're currently 24 and 25. It was always known that you guys were probably going to get married, which you always loved the idea of.

It was spring, your wedding day was quickly approaching. The cherry blossom leaves were falling, all different shades of pink and white. It was warm but not too hot, everything was perfect. The beautiful forest behind the venue, there were white benches and the front had this wonderful rock half-wall. The wedding was started, Tenya was at the front with his hands by his side, his brother Tensei as the best man standing next to him. Everyone was seated and waiting, then the melody started playing. It was being played by a piano, and it sounded beautiful. Everyone stood up, then he saw you. He could feel his heart stop, you were wearing a white wedding dress, a ball gown silhouette, and lace towards the bottom. Tenya had a wide smile, he could feel his heart race. Your (h/c) hair was pulled up into a tight bun, with a long veil with lace.

You got to the altar, and the ceremony went on. As it went on, you would sniffle every now and then and you would hear him choke up some. Whenever it got to vows, you almost broke. "Tenya, I'm so glad that I can marry you and spend every day with you. Whenever we first met I didn't realize how much I would love you, but now I know I wouldn't trade this for anything in the world. I love you so much and I'm so happy that I can be your wife." You say, tearing up with joy. "(y/n), you motivate me so much to become a better person and hero. I'm so happy to have you in my life, and even happier I get to marry you. You're the love of my life." He said, wiping away a quick tear. Then it finally got to the end, you said your "I do"'s and you were officially married. Whenever you heard "you may kiss the bride!" Tenya immediately grabbed you and kissed you.

Katsuki Bakguou-

His favorite memory would have to be bringing home your first child. Whenever you and Katsuki first moved in together, you never imagined getting married and let alone having a child together. You guys were around 26 and 28, Katsuki being older, and were engaged.

Then you found out you were pregnant, Katsuki was excited but scared. With him being a pro hero he knew that it would be a bit tougher, but honestly, the pregnancy was a breeze, well kind of. Of course, there was the morning sickness, the swollen feet, but you wouldn't trade it for anything. 9 months passed and your sweet baby girl was here, she looked like a mixture of you and him but his genes definitely showed up more. She has a lot of his facial features, his classic red eyes, but had your (h/c) hair and nose. The day you brought Hazuki, meaning leaf and moon, home you both were a nervous wreck. "Babe you can move a bit faster than that." You say laughing, your fiance was currently moving like a sloth, trying not to wake her up. He rolls his eyes and starts going towards her nursery. It was decorated with blush pink curtains, a white crib with a cute flower baby blanket hanging on the side, and her name above the crib. You were making some hot tea, to help with your headache and body aches, and you overheard Katsuki.

"This is your crib, your mom worked really hard to paint it. I know it's a boring color, I suggested something close to explosions but we made a comprise." You smile, he was talking to Hazuki. "Daddy loves you so much, and any boy, or girl, or anyone in general, tries to pick on you or mess with you, I'll kick their butts." You giggled and walk in there, he was rocking her slowly back and forth. "Babe? Put her in the crib so she can sleep, you can talk about kicking butt later." You say while smiling, he frowned, "dumbas- I mean dumb butt, were you listening?" You nod and kiss him. "You're already an amazing father Bakugou." He smiled, like one of those really big smiles full of joy and not destruction. "She's going to beat every kid, and she's going to have an amazing quirk!" He exclaims, you quickly shush him, as Hazuki started to coo slightly. "Now come on, let's go get some lunch and sleep while we can." You say whispering, and giggling a bit. He nods and puts her into her crib gently, and follows you into the living room.

Shoto Todoroki-

Shoto's favorite of you two was definitely when you two first met. It was around 5 years ago, you were at a coffee shop ordering a hot cup of coffee. It was winter, there was white, fluffy snow everywhere. "Here you go ma'am, have a good day." The barista says, you smile and nod, taking your coffee.

You pulled out your buzzing phone, it was your mother calling. She found this puppy in her old neighborhood so she's been updating you all about it. You sigh and start typing, when you do, you run into something. You and the man flew back, coffee went everywhere, and you landed on the floor. Before you look up at see him, you're already apologizing. "I'm so sorry! I should of been paying attention!" You exclaim, embarrassed about not paying attention. You can hear a slight chuckle and see him extend his hand out. You grab it and stand up, you look at him and focus on all of his features. He had half white and half red hair, one brown eye and one icy blue eye, and a big scar on his cheek. You frown, "I'm sorry seriously, I should of been paying attention." You say as you look at his shirt, you gasp. His shirt, his poor white shirt got ruined. "No it's fine, I should of stopped and paid attention." He says, you sigh. "Can I at least buy you another shirt? Or pay for dry cleaning?" He laughs, "no, no it's fine. I have others at home." You laugh a bit and put your phone back into your purse.

"Can I treat you to another coffee?" You ask, trying to make it up. He pauses for a second, "you know what? Let's go get a hot tea, I know this tea shop." He doesn't even give you a second to answer and he starts to walking, you quickly following behind him. At that tea shop you both talked about your lives, you found out his name is Shoto Todoroki, you found out more about his quirk, and even found out he was a pro hero! "It was awesome talking to you Shoto," you say while holding out your hand, "hopefully we can hang out more!" You say with a smile. He smiles and shakes your hand. "Here let me give you my number, and then we can text each other at first." He starts writing his number down and gives it to you smiling, "maybe we can have another day like this." You nod, and from that day on you've been close! A week later you guy's actually went on a date to this restaurant downtown. Now five years later, you both are dating and living together in your cozy apartment. You also have a cat named Gizmo!

Denki Kamanari-

You are Denki have been together for around four years or so. His favorite memory has to be how he recently proposed! The day was hot and you were by the ocean. There was kids laughing, sand castles everywhere, and people surfing.

You and Denki were sitting by the ocean on a light blue beach towel. You were wearing a light green, wrap one piece swimsuit. "Babe come on! You have to go surfing at least once in your life!" He exclaims, you roll your eyes and laugh. "Calm down, calm down let me make sure our stuff doesn't get washed away." You say, standing up. "Hey babe, actually can you do something for me?" You turn around, looking at him. "Can you go and buy a cooler? I know I seen some in the gift shop." You looked at him confused, "a cooler?" He nods, "remember ours broke and plus we have drinks to keep cool!" You sigh and grab your beach bag, "fine, I'll be back." You say as you leave for the shop. As you went shopping, Denki set up and went through with his perfect idea. He has been planning on proposing to you, he even has the ring with him. He's been carrying it around for months trying to plan the best proposal ever. Denki wants everything perfect, just for you. He drew out the words "will you marry me (y/n)?" on the beach.

Whenever you got back, you were furious. "Cooler in the shop my ass, all they had was cringey shirts." You mumble to yourself. You saw his yellow hair and frowned, not seeing the words drawn in the sand. Before you took a step closer, Denki yells out "look at the ground!" It's obviously confused but you didn't really question it. "Huh?" You say while looking down, and then that's when you see it. Your eyes fill with tears of joy, and Denki comes up to you. He kneels down on one knee, holding up a ring. "Will you make me the happiest man and marry me (y/n)?" He asks, you nod your head yes. He smiles and puts the ring on your finger, standing up. "I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you." He says while you hug him tightly. That was the best day for you two, soon as you could and got to your phone, you told everyone.

I hope you liked this! It was so cute to make!

I hope you have a great day!

[an-emovision]

❞𝕃𝕠𝕧𝕖 𝕃𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕐𝕠𝕦❞ - 𝕋𝕒𝕞𝕒𝕜𝕚 𝔸𝕞𝕒𝕛𝕚𝕜𝕚

~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀ A/N: Hi! so uhhhh had this in my drafts, im gonna post it and pretend i like it because thats how i roll. I love tamaki so much please. again, art isnt mine, credits to the original artist (idk who it is, if you know then please tell me so i can give credit) neewayz enjoy! Trigger Warnings(s): Fluff(?)  ~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀ ❞𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑖'𝑚 𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝐿𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑔𝑜 𝑖 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑑𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑖 𝑤𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖 𝑘𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑖𝑚 𝑠𝑜 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙❞ --------- You were a very outgoing person, very cheery and kind, always willing to talk to people and make friends. The almost exact opposite of Amajiki and yet he just couldn't seem to stop himself from falling for you. Every day he always found himself stealing glances of you in class, occasionally the two would lock eyes. You'd smile that brilliantly bright smile of yours and make Amajikis stomach do back flips and his heart flutter, he would always turn away before any further contact could be made. On one particular day Nejire had asked you to sit with the big three at lunch, to which you happily agreed to. Amajiki almost had a melt down when Nejire had told him, to which Mirio patted him on the back giving him a "you got this dude!" a grin, and a thumbs up. It made the poor boy feel...slightly better but as you approached them in the cafeteria Amajiki tried his best to keep himself together. Why did you have to be so attractive? how dare you, it was unfair really. He just couldn't take his eyes off you, confidence radiated from your form. Mirio once told him that if he waited to long that someone would steal you, Nejire agreed. You were after all one of the most popular students at UA, not only was your quirk amazing and your fighting skills godly but your looks where beyond words, Amajiki was painfully aware of these facts. "Hi guys!" You grinned and Tamaki almost fainted. "Glad you could join us!" Nejire smiled as she took you by the wrist and dragged you to their lunch table, you couldn't help but giggle at her excitement as she asked you a bunch of questions about you and your quirk. Most of the quirk questions she asked she most likely already knew the answer to, you four being in the same class and all. Nejire took a seat next to Mirio, across from you and Amajiki. "Soooo Y/N...Do you have a crush on anybody?" Nejire asked suddenly, making you choke on the tea you where sipping on. "I-I uh-" You tried to avoid looking at Nejires grinning features, she already knew the answer to her question. Of course you did and it was none other then the boy you where sitting next to, you didn't answer her question, simply coughed and continued to sip on your drink. She sucked her teeth, unsatisfied with your answer, if you could even call it that. Mirios eyes wandered to Nejire then to Tamaki who was silently eating his food, his face was beet red at how close you and him were, your shoulders where brushing against each other. Then Mirio looked at you, whos cheeks were dusted with a light shade of pink as you tried to brush off the last conversation topic. He rolled his eyes and had to fight the urge to just blurt out that the two of you should date each other already. Soon the lunch bell rang and it was time to head back to class, Amajiki let out a soft sigh as the four of you started heading to your shared classroom, you and Nejire chatting about a show that she had starting watching recently. Mirio fell behind them a bit so he could walk beside Tamaki. "So, When are you gonna tell them?" He asked, knowing full well that it would take some sort of miracle to get Amajiki to confess to his crush of two years. The shorter gave a small shrug before slipping his hands into his pockets. "I-I don't know...Really i don't think i ever will. " He again let out a gentle, almost sad sigh "I dont think i'm good enough for them, they're so amazing." "Aw come on Tamaki! you're part of the big three!" Mirio gently nudged him with his elbow, to which Tamakjis eyes wandered to the opposite direction. "They think you're awesome" "Well yeah but they're right behind us on the list of top students" Amajiki informed him. It was true, you were almost part of the big three yourself but you ended up failing a test by 6 points and getting knocked to fourth. You didn't mind, you where pretty comfortable in your spot. "What're you guys talkin' about?" Nejire asked, walking backwards and looking at them with the same sweet smile she always had gracing her soft features. "How awesome Y/N is" Mirio patted Amajikis back, making him let out a soft hum. You tilted your head "Oh yeah? im honored." You smiled "You guys are way cooler then i am." Nejire giggled, Tamaki stiffened at her sudden question "So which of our quirks is your favorite, Y/N?" You hummed, tapping your chin for a moment. Tamaki expected you to say Nejires quirk seeing as you two have been friends since you both stepped into class 1-A in your 1st year at UA. "I think Amajikis quirk is the coolest" You smiled to him, Tamaki noticed and then you smiled it was as if your eyes where smiling to, his heart practically exploded, barely able to get out a 'thank you'. You giggled at his shyness, finding it adorable as always. Nejire couldn't help but giggle at the two of you, Mirios grin widened as he two watched you to. "Nice choice Y/N" Nejire smiled as she took you by the hand as you four made it to class, seeing as you and her sat next to each other she lead you to your seats, ready to take on the rest of your day you sat down as class began. As the end of the day rolled around you stretched as you made your way to the front of your dorm building. You had some homework to do as well as some studying, then you thought you could train a bit then- You had bumped into someone, not to hard it just startled you a bit as you where to deep in thought, planning out the rest of your day. You quickly bowed "I'm so sorry I wasn't paying atten-...Amajiki? what're you doing here?" You had bumped into Tamaki, not only that but he was standing in front of your dorm room. "O-Oh I uh- I-I" He stumbled harshly through his words, on top of that he was mumbling. You noticed a small piece of folded paper in his slightly trembling hands and smiled, just as you noticed it he stopped mumbling and actually spoke up a bit. "I-I just- I wanted t-to give this to you" he held out the slip of paper, avoiding eye contact with you at all costs. You gently took the paper from him but before you could get another word out he scurried down the hall and disappeared around the corner. You watched him leave, letting out a small chuckle before unlocking your door and walking in, closing the door behind you with your foot and gently setting your school bag down. The day before, after class Mirio had suggested to Amajiki that he should write you a letter if he couldn't just out right tell you. "Like...A love letter?" Tamaki tilted his head. He didn't know how he felt about that, his writing skills weren't bad he just dreaded having to wait for your response, not only that but even considering rejection as a factor made him wanna puke. "Don't worry, i'm like 90% sure that even if they do reject you they'll be nice about it" Mirio gave a thumbs up as he finally convinced Amajiki to start on the letter that could make or break him. It was a huge deal, you were his first ever crush and he never thought in a million years he would be confessing to you. "They're nice about everything" Tamaki mumbled as he continued to write his letter. Miro chuckled and nodded in agreement. "Exactly, you have nothing to worry about." Tamaki wondered why he was so confident about this, maybe Mirio knew you would turn him down? Thinking about that being a possibility created a pit of nervousness in his stomach. Really it was the opposite, Mirio knew you would say yes, he was just excited to finally see his favorite ship finally become a couple. Back to the present you took a seat on your bed before unfolding the note and beginning to read it. Your eyes where wide as saucers when you finished reading it, the final sentence replaying in your mind at least a hundred times "Will you go out with me?"Butterflies invaded your stomach and your cheeks flushed, you decided to give him your answer tomorrow, wanting it to sink in that the boy you've had a crush on since the dawn of time liked you back. Amajiki was dying in his room as he awaited your answer, Mirio who had come over to study with him was laughing his ass off at the boys struggle. The next day you where standing in front of Amajikis dorm room with both Mirio and Nejire at your side, they had their phones out ready to take pictures of this momentous occasion. You took a deep breath before gently knocking on his door three times, it took him a moment or two before he opened the door, he immanently stiffened as he locked eyes with you. Bracing himself for rejection he waited for it but all he heard were the words he had been wanting to hear for the past two years "I like you to Amajiki" Nejire squealed and clapped as Mirio laughed "finally oh my god" Mirio said crossing his arms. Amajiki stood frozen, having to register what just happened, after coming to the conclusion that the love of his life did indeed just agree to date him he felt a sudden rush of adrenaline and pulled you towards him by the wrist, placing his slightly quivering lips against your silky smooth ones. Nejire practically screamed as she took about a thousand pictures, Mirio looked away jokingly acting disgusted but he couldn't hold back his happiness for his friends, they found love and he was beyond proud of Amajiki for going through with his plan.   Your eyes where wide and your face was crimson by the time Amajiki pulled away. He started to apologize profusely as he realized what he just did, which resulted in you having to tell him it was fine over and over again. The two where walking together hand in hand as you made your way to class, as shy as he may be he still wanted everyone in the world and their mother know that you belonged to him now and nothing walking this Earth was going to change that. 

[kyleys-empty-mind-shit]

confessions

hol’ up . . . this is our vv first fic together. bye-

inspo: “Isn’t it obvious? I’m in love with you?”

genre(s): angst; fluff

fandom: the hunger games

rating: g・t・r

rated t for swearing

word count: 2.6k

warning(s): two oblivious dumbasses in love; probably unedited 

things to know: y/n (your name) ⟢ e/c (your eye colour) ⟢ y/l/n (your last name)

Peeta Mellark.

He was your constant; your rock. You could rely on him for anything and everything.

He was the steadiest thing you’d had in your life for a long time now, but as he took your wrist and led you upstairs away from the party, you couldn’t help but feel the anger bubble up in your chest.

“Peeta, what—”

“Why?” he nearly shouts. Peeta is mild mannered. He’s many things, actually; polite, charming, and personable, but angry was not one of them. It didn’t scare you like you’d always expected it to, but rather frustrated you.

“Why what, Peeta?” you hiss back.

He looks at you as if you had just grown two heads, his brows knit together in disbelief.

“You’re joking,” he breathes. You shake your head, not understanding what he is trying to get at. You defensively cross your arms, knowing the juvenile element would annoy him, but having nothing to do with your hands increases your already anxious state.

“That guy,”

“That guy?”

“Yes, y/n, yes. That guy that was just a little too friendly with you? So close to you that he was practically crawling under your goddamn skin? What were you thinking?”

You laugh at him, unable to contain it. “I can handle myself perfectly fine. Why are you being such an ass?” you all but shout at him. “It’s none of your business anyway?”

“Hm, let’s see y/n, he could’ve, god, I don’t know, taken advantage of you?”

You scoff, unable to handle his cliché statement.

He brings his hands up and pushes his hair back, looking up at the ceiling as he exhales heavily through his nose. You squint at him, unable to read the emotions on his face.

“What is up with you?” you whisper, not quite sure if he was able to hear. Your eyes narrow, unsure of what his next words might be.

“For someone so smart, you can be so goddamn oblivious sometimes, y/l/s.”

“Oh my god, what is with all the stupid riddles tonight? I can’t read your mind! You can’t expect me to just know things,” you exasperate, throwing your hands out in front of you. “For someone who’s supposed to be good at communication, you’re doing a pretty shitty job of displaying it,” you spit, throwing his words right back at him.

“Fine,” he hisses, starting to move towards you.

You cock your eyebrow at him, your bodies coming closer, nearly closing the gap.

“Fine?” you question.

“Yeah.” he huffs out, repeating the word with an heir of finality, “yeah.” His breath warms your face, the scent of vodka invading your senses.

Your cheeks heat up, suddenly very aware of his proximity. You watch his adam's apple bob as he swallows thickly. He can’t meet your eyes, his heart hammering against his chest so loud that it feels as though you can hear it. His head drops along with his gaze, studying the floor before chancing a glance at you. Peeta lets go of a breathy laugh as words tumble out of his mouth.

“Isn’t it obvious?” he breathes, his words choked, hardly audible, him now looking you right in the eyes. Your stomach does a flip once, unsure of his next words. Blue eyes stare at your e/c ones that are clouded in confusion. You can feel his frustration start to build as he takes a step back from you, his voice rising and hands coming from his sides.

“I’m in love with you,” he bursts out.

Oh my god.

You stare at him in shock, his proclamation stunning you. You blink once, twice, as his words echoing through your head.

His hazel eyes bore into your e/c ones, willing you to say something, anything, to let him know you heard him. But yet you stand there, unable to find the words.

Nothing is coming out.

Say something, you beg yourself, wanting to scream out an answer, yet your mouth continues to remain shut. You swallow hard, your tongue feeling like sandpaper. How could you be so oblivious to his feelings? You and him have known each other since childhood, yet there you are, standing only inches away from him, the truth finally known.

The look in his eyes is absolutely heart-wrenching; if you hadn’t just heard him, you’d have thought he had lost his best friend. In a way, you guess, he had.

Peeta just shakes his head softly, shrugging his shoulders in such a way that makes you want to reach out and take his hand. His dark waves fall over his eyes and he turns around, facing the door.

“I—” you begin, but you know it’s too late.

“Just, um, forget it, y/n,” his voice soft, small, “I’ll see you in environmental studies.”

He opens the door and steps out into the hallway, closing the door behind him. You want to scream, to tell him to come back.  

“Dammit!” you exclaim, throwing your red solo cup as hard as you can at the wall. The contents spill all over, some of the liquid splashing on you but you can’t bring yourself to care.

You reach to pull at your loosely braided hair, a habit of yours that came out whenever you were experiencing an excess of negative emotions, before you realize where you are. You harshly rub your eyes with the heels of your hands as you remind yourself to breathe.

In, out . . . In, out.

“Get it together,” you tell yourself, taking one last deep breath. “Okay.”

You turn to head back downstairs to the party, nothing on your mind except finding Peeta and setting everything straight, hoping at this point that that was even a possibility anymore.

God, you hated this part. You hated having to make up. Saying sorry was never your strong suit, your pride always getting in the way. But this? This was not a matter of pride. This was about finally coming to terms with the truth that you so desperately tried to avoid for years.

You almost trip as you descend the stairs, looking everywhere for Peeta but unable to find him anywhere in the crowd.

Spotting a head of wavy bronze hair by the water cooler, you rush over to your english lit classmate, who is also a friend of Peeta’s; Finnick Odair.

“Hey Finnick,” you say once you reach him, trying to keep your voice even. He greets you with his signature smirk before bringing his cup to his lips and taking a sip.

“Ah, y/n, having a good time I trust?”

“Trying to,” you grumble. Finnick gives you a quizzical look before you proceed; “Have you seen Peeta?” You can’t help but notice the slight crack in your voice when you say his name.

“Yeah,” he confirms, “I saw him leave a few minutes ago. Seemed pretty upset.”

“Yeah, wonder why,” you mutter bitterly, knowing he wouldn’t hear your words above the music.

You bite your lip, weighing the option of asking Finnick to help you find Peeta. Half of you wanted to go and find him yourself, your need to get the weight off your chest as quickly as possible, the other half of you wanting to stall for as long as you could.

“Could you text him? Ask him where he is?”

“Why can’t you?”

You fight the urge to roll your eyes, your cheeks burning. “Because, I—”

“Wait,” Finnick’s smile widens. “Wait, are you the reason he’s upset?”

Your silence is enough for him. His dopey smile falters for a moment, an emotion that you could only define as realization sweeping over his face. He shakes his head softly, pulling his phone from the pocket of his hoodie and opening his texts. His thumbs glide swiftly across the screen as he compiles a message to send to Peeta.

You can’t have been standing there for more than a minute when his phone dings. Finnick flashes you the screen.

From: Pita Bread

I’m fine... at the pond.

“Thank you, Finnick, really,” you breathe.

He just nods, taking another sip of his drink.

You rush out of the frat house the party was being held in, running across the street to Panem University’s main campus, willing your legs to go faster.

The pond was at the northern end of campus, smack in the middle of Tribute Hall and the Coriolanus Snow Study Center. You see a silhouette sitting on one of the few stone benches surrounding the body of tranquil water, tossing handfuls of what you can only assume is trail mix at the ducks that liked to take up at the pond.

You slow down, bringing your footfalls to a trot, then silently padding your way over the grass towards him. Your chest is heaving from the exertion as you try to make your breaths even.

“Peeta,” You call out, your voice void of any venom as you stalk towards the boy. You’re almost inclined to slap him because of how he acted. No rational person could expect someone to give them an answer to a question as heavily weighed as that right away.

He stands up once you reach him, refusing to look you in the eyes. For a fleeting moment, you catch the grief-stricken look in his usually bright eyes and it’s enough to keep you from raising your hand at him.

“Why did you leave like that?” you breathe out. He shrugs a shoulder with almost casual indifference. “Peeta.” you nearly plead, looking at him as your eyebrows knit together.

“What did you expect me to do?” he says feebly.

You look up at the night sky, inhaling deeply as you hurriedly send off a prayer to whatever higher power that you can say everything you want to say to him, in the way you want to say it.

In a way that says something to him. Means something.

The stars seem to twinkle brighter, almost like they received your message. God, this is so hard.

Peeta is still looking anywhere but at you, his focus now on the ducks idling in the water.

“You could have waited for me,” you say. “I mean, come on! That was… big. A big thing to drop on me,” you add, “so of course I was shocked. But if you had just waited for me . . .”

“What?” he snorts, finally looking you in the eyes. “What would you have said that couldn’t have possibly made me feel like more of a fool than I already was? What—”

“I love you,” you blurt.

Here it goes.

“And not in a ‘you’ve always been there for me, so I’m kind of indebted to you’ kind of way but in a way that’s like, ‘I want to do cheesy stuff with you because I know it will make you smile.’ That’s like, I would do anything, anything to prove to you that I’m worthy of your love. Peeta, you’ve seen everything I was and everything I am, and it just— I just couldn’t believe when you said that . . . But I— I trust you with everything in me and it frightens me, because you know I’ve been hurt before, but I can’t deny that everything feels right when I’m with you. I just. I want another chance. If, if you’ll let me.” You breath the words out, hardly anything but air coming out.  

“Y/n, breathe.”

“Right,” you exhale, your mind swirling around, making vertigo seem like a walk in the park.

“You’re not . . . unworthy of love,” Peeta begins but he stops, trying to figure out his words. “What Cato did to you, it doesn’t mean you’re undeserving of love. He’s.. an asshole, who’s going to get what’s coming to him. I— I’m sorry for dropping it on you like that, but seeing you with that guy, he just reminded me so much of Cato, and it made me so mad because I didn’t want you to go through that again, and I.. couldn’t help but think it was my final chance to tell you how I felt.”

“Final chance?”

“Y/n, I’ve loved you since like year six.”

“Peeta, you absolute dumbass!” you exclaim, quickly going to cover your mouth as your own words shock even yourself. “I’m sorry. It’s just . . . wow,” a laugh nearly escapes your lips. “We’re both oblivious fools, huh?”

Peeta’s brows furrow in confusion, as you let out a soft chuckle. His head is tilted slightly to the side, his soft curls falling into his blue eyes. This moment is one you’ll always remember, you think to yourself, already trying to commit it to memory. The way the trees slightly sway from the late summer breeze, the moonlight reflecting off the water; best of all, the glint in Peeta’s eye when your gazes meet. It’s so cheesy, really, but you couldn’t care less. You’ve played it over and over in your head for years, different scenarios always being formulated, but nothing you could have ever dreamt of could compare to this moment.

“I’ve loved you since year seven,” you tell him, every word of it true. “I can’t believe it took us both this long. Could have avoided the whole Cato fiasco of year twelve, I suppose, if we had just . . . had the gall to tell each other back then, I guess,” you say, the last sentence mumbled.

“Yeah.” Peeta laughs, a genuine deep laugh that reaches his eyes. It rouses the butterflies that have been in the pit of your stomach, the fluttering making you nervous as you watch him scratch the base of his neck almost embarrassedly.

“So,” you say, dragging the ‘o’ sound. “Pretty sure this is the part where most people would kiss.”

“Do you want to kiss me?”

“No, not you, Peeta. I was talking to the duck behind you,” You frown, unable to contain the scoff that passes your lips. “Yes.. yes, I want to kiss you,” you breathe, your pulse hammering.

You step forward, your hands reaching up, gliding against his cheeks, his hands resting on your waist. In a moment of bravery, you place your lips against his. They’re soft, and he tastes like cedar and bread, and it’s like coming home, being in his arms as his lips move against yours, the breeze chilling your skin but his warming you.

There are no words spoken between the two of you as you both pull away. His eyes are still closed, his long eyelashes resting against the tops of his cheeks; the corners of his mouth are pulled up slightly.

God, he’s beautiful. So beautiful. That word is usually reserved for sceneries, sunsets or pretty dresses, but in this moment, you can’t tear your eyes away from him.

“Finally!” someone shouts, causing the both of you to jump back from each other, acting like two first years getting caught passing notes in class. You look around before your eyes land on Johanna Mason, leaning against the statue of the university founder Alma Coin that’s off to the left of the entrance of the study center. Finnick is with her, his signature smirk gracing his elegant features once more. “We were wondering when you two would have the balls to tell each other how you felt.”

“It seems everyone knew but you two,” Finnick adds with a deep chuckle.

“Alright, Finny, I think we should leave the two lovebirds alone.” Johanna says, turning away. “Be safe, you two!”

“If you need anything,” Finnick winks at Peeta. “You know where to reach me.”  

You laugh softly, leaning your head against Peeta’s chest. His arms wrap around you, encasing you in him. His cheeks rests on the top of your head, his breaths evening out as you listen to his steady heart beat.

This is it. This is home.

[keepingupwithpotters]

summer wine

@efkgirldetective 's Summer of Jily week 4 🍓🍓🍓

picking (mul)berries + I know I've kissed you before, but I didn't do it right

also on ao3

In retrospect, Lily could say none of it had been his fault, but it was hard to remember that when James was walking so sullen beside her now.

The date had started nice enough. Well, the idea of it was nice anyway. A summer picnic date sounded like the perfect first date on paper, if only the execution hadn’t run into some problems… But really, how was he supposed to foresee the grass being wet because it had been watered recently? And they solved that one pretty easily too, before his face could be clouded with the first hitch on his perfect plan, finding a bench by the lake with limited space quickly.

If you asked Lily, she would say the first hitch had been when he decided to keep the nature of the date as a surprise and her carefully decided heels started to sink deep into the fresh mud as they walked through the field. But he had seemed so excited, and she was not about to dim that smile – so Lily Evans marched on, without complaining.

Now that she was thinking about it, she supposed he could be blamed a little about the food – not that she would ever tell that to his face. They dug into the basket right away after they sat down, eager to salvage their first disappointment, only to be crushed once more when they saw the condition of their food. Maybe tuna and egg salad sandwiches hadn’t been the top choices to make for this sweltering heat after all. She appreciated the aesthetic of the peterboro basket, she really did, but a cooler bag it was not. The chocolate for the strawberries seemed to have ended up in the same fate too, melted and beyond recognition. At least they still got the wine, a little warm but still delicious – and desperately needed to forget how hungry they were.

Going back towards the car together, she couldn’t even bring herself to hold his hand as they walked, with his hands in his pockets and head fallen down. In all honesty, this was not how she expected the date would go either, not after the way he had been so charming, so confident the whole summer. Well… not the whole summer. She bit her lip to stop a grin from breaking out when she remembered his panicked face after he kissed her for three seconds, a peck more than a kiss really. Watching him lose his cool for the first time had been a highly entertaining spectacle, and the kiss itself… It was no use thinking about it now, when there was absolutely zero chance that she was getting a kiss after this date. She could feel a scowl settling in on her face. Now they matched.

The frown disappeared when she noticed something from the corner of her eye.

“Hey, are those mulberry trees?”

James was so deep in his, probably self-berating, thoughts that he hadn’t heard her. She gave his arm a little tug after some consideration. “Come on.”

She didn’t let herself look at his expression as they got closer to the trees she spotted from afar, eyes locked on the target. Her hunch was proved right when she saw the black fruits, dangling ripe from the branches.

Hunger getting the best of her in an embarrassingly short time, her hands reached towards the best-looking ones quickly, sweetness exploding in her mouth with nostalgia. She noticed James was standing frozen behind her without moving after a few, okay maybe a handful, berries, scolding herself for not realizing earlier.

She collected some for him right away as an apology, explanation falling from her lips at the same time. “We had a mulberry tree in the backyard of our old house. I learned how to climb trees on it.” Memories brought forth a fond smile. “Tuney hated it, said it always stained her dresses.”

He took the berries from her with a look akin to awe, eyes closing briefly when he finally tasted one. She tried to ignore the flutters in her stomach in response to his blissful face and berry-stained lips.

“I can get more for us if you’d like. The ones up above are always better anyway.” Her heels were off before he could say anything. “Can you help me up?”

He finally seemed to break free from whatever daze he was in, coughing out a hasty “Sure.” His left hand enveloped hers as she put her left foot on the trunk of the tree, the other hand supporting her back behind her. Warmth seeped through everywhere he touched, and she prayed to whoever was listening that she wouldn’t slip and fall on her face from the shock.

When she was finally on the tree, his left hand joined the other one on her back, sliding a little down to grip her firmly on the waist, creating a nice little support system for her. She certainly was glad that he wasn’t able to see her face from down there.

There was no need to go further up anymore, with an abundance of mulberries in front of her now. She felt a sharp pinch in her side when she started to eat them without breathing.

“Oi, I didn’t help you up just so you can feed yourself, did I?”

Berry lips widened for a smile. Oh, he was back.

Her hands filled up quickly with the fruits, she struggled to turn her back without dropping any. There laid another problem when she successfully faced him.

“Sorry, Evans. Hands full.”

There was a dangerous grin on his face, eyes alight with mischief.

“No problem, Potter.” She could match him. He was not the only person here with guts. “Open wide.”

His surprised expression was only there for a second, half open lips doing exactly what she said quickly. Hazel eyes blazed over when her finger touched his lips, burning right into hers with the intense gaze. She swore she could feel a flick of the tongue as he ate the last of the berries, causing shivers to ripple inside her.

“Get me down now.”

Her voice was hoarse, demand falling from her mouth like it belonged to someone else. The hands that never left her side while she was up wrapped around her completely, lifting her slightly with a tight hug. She didn’t know if the reason her breath got caught in her throat was the firm grip or the new proximity, feeling heady suddenly in his arms. They were oh so close as she finally slid down to her feet, reaching his shoulder barely with the lack of her heels. She was so sure they were going to kiss this time before he opened his mouth.

“Lily, I’m so sorry about the date. I just— I wanted it to be perfect and I planned it for so long right until the kiss at the end, and I know I kissed you before, but I didn’t do it right and now the date is ruined too I’m—"

“Do it right then.”

His mouth hung open before he could think to close it. “W-what?”

“I want the grand finale.” She took one step closer to him. “Show me what you planned, James.”

He let out a breathless chuckle. “This is way beyond anything I’d planned, believe me.”

Lily had to stop herself from sighing when his hand finally touched her cheek hesitantly, the distance between them practically nonexistent now. She couldn’t be expected to stop the soft exhale that escaped when his lips finally found hers though, swallowed quickly by him. Berries exploded in her mouth, with the sweet taste lingering in between, kisses feeling black and purple all around. Her hands went to his shoulders first, all thoughts about stains escaping her mind, before they finally reached where they’ve been itching to touch all day, getting lost in the inky strands.

She was gasping for breath when they finally fell apart, head dizzy from the lack of oxygen.

“I would call that a perfect kiss.”

There were little purple fingerprints on his neck, face still in wonder. He looked at her like he couldn’t believe she was real.

She went to pick up her heels without waiting for an answer, gathering them in one hand while she caught her breath. He was right where she left him when she turned back, a hand touching his lips lightly.

This time when she offered her hand, he took it without hesitance, purple stains and all. They continued their walk back to the car, Lily’s bare feet gliding through the wet grass easily.

“Hey, James?”

“Hmm?”

“For our second date, please don’t plan any surprises.”

[lovelyyy-luna]

come out and play

pairing: (dallas winston x fem!reader )

fandom: the outsiders

type: angst

warning: body shaming, depressing stuff, overdosing on pills

request: @yeetwinchester2: Can you do 1, 5, and 10 from your prompt list with Dally? Thank you!!!💙💛

prompt(s):

1. “It’s alright, I'm right here”

5. “Please hold me”

9. “Don’t listen to them”

word count: 773

a/n: I am so sorry that this is almost a year late.

date: march 8, 2021

masterlist

The nights had gotten harder. You could barely sleep. You wanted to talk to your boyfriend Dallas about it but could never bring yourself to. Even though he's rough around the edges he had a soft spot for you.

You sit up in your bed and turn your light on. The thoughts in your head overtook your confidence. You walk out of your room and into your living room. Your footsteps echo throughout your empty apartment.

You had just moved in a few days ago and everything was still in boxes. Moving out of your parent's house was one of the best things you've ever done for yourself. They were horrible human beings. The punches and slaps hurt, the markings would go away but their words were engraved into your brain.

“You're too fat” “you will never be good enough for anyone” “no wonder no one wants you, you'll open your legs for a compliment.”

when Dallas and the gang found how bad your home life was, they tried everything to get you out but you couldn't leave. You kept telling them that they were your family and that it was okay. It was a month ago where you had the last straw. Their words constantly haunt you. You didn't want to die, you just wanted the pain to die.

Johnny found you in your bathroom unconscious. You took a lot of pills and were overdosing. An ambulance was called and Darry made the call that you were living with them. You had to decline because they had too many people living there and you didn't want to burden them. Dallas suggested that you live with him over at Bucks and he didn't take no for an answer.

You moved into bucks over those next few days. The gang went to your house to box up your belongings so you wouldn't have to face your parents.

Dallas talked to the guys about how he got a small apartment and he wanted you to live with him. You were so happy. And so in love.

After he told you about the apartment he went out with Johnny and obviously got in a fight. But this was involved with the sheriff's son so Dal got a month in the cooler.

You had to move into the new apartment by yourself. The gang helped you move in but since they were busy with work and school they couldn't always stay long.

Tim would stop by some nights just to make sure you were okay. Johnny was actually the only one that would stay the night. You made it clear to him that he was welcome anytime because you knew the situation he was in.

Tonight Dallas was supposed to come home from the cooler but he didn't. You call Darry to see if he stopped by and he did. “Yeah, kid he’s here wanna talk to him?”

“No Dar it's fine I’ll see him when he comes home.”

“Okay kid see you later.”

You kinda wished Dal came home right when he got out but you didn't wanna seem controlling.

An hour later you were on the couch reading a book when you heard the door jiggle. Dallas walked and sighed.

“Hey, doll. You miss me?”

“Of course I missed you. I just wished you came home right when you got out.”

“I know I’m a sorry doll. I just wanted to see the guys before I spent the whole weekend with you.”

He gives you a long kiss. You missed him.

After the kiss, he goes to take a shower, and you are left alone again. Alone with your thoughts.

You tried your best to be positive and keep busy when he was gone but now you didn’t know what to do with yourself.

Those thoughts flooded your brain and you broke down once again. You tried to keep your sobs silent but that didn’t work.

Dallas was already dressed when he heard your stifled sobs. He came into the living room and knelt by you.

“Baby what’s wrong?”

“They keep repeating in my head.”

He tries to wipe the tears away but you couldn’t stop.

“Baby don’t listen to them.”

“I try but it’s so hard.”

“I know it is but all you gotta do right now take a deep breath. You need to steady your breath.”

He breathes with you causing you to be just a little bit calm.

“Dallas?”

“Yeah doll?”

“Can you please hold me?”

“Of course.” he gets behind you and holds you.

Your breathing was just slightly erratic, he strokes your head and whispers, “It’s alright, I’m right here.”

♡please like and/or reblog♡

wanna be tagged? (X)

[sunaswife]

Summary: It’s been five years since you’ve seen your ex, Rin. He’s still not over you and you’re not over him. When he finds out you have children he thought he didn’t have a chance. Then he finds out they’re his? All of a sudden you’re teaching Suna how to be a single dad.

🔪: THIS CHAPTER WILL CONTAIN AN ATTEMPTED SUICIDE SCENE PLEASE BE ADVISED IF YOU CHOOSE TO NOT READ THEN SKIP THE ITALICS AND START READING AGAIN WITH THE REGULAR FONT

Warnings: Fluff, angst I guess, drama, and cuteness twin overload

Previously Up Next Masterlist

Chapter Ten

“Don’t worry I will save the princess and the queen!” Rini yelled with a paper towel sword. “Rawr!!!” Rin sat on his knees and flared his arms. “Oh no save us!” Akira yelled and you both stayed huddled on the couch. “I’m going to eat the princess and the queen.” Rin growled and attack Rini. Rini fell on his back and Rin began tickling his son.

Rini immediately began laughing and thrashing around under his dad and you were trying to tell them to be careful so Rini wouldn’t pee on himself. “See mom, boys are useless.” Akira muttered and stood up on the couch. Before you can scold her she hopped on Rin’s back and began pulling his hair. “Bad dragon don’t tickle the knight!” She huffed and began smack. “Oww, what the fuck—“ Rin hissed and gripped Akiras shoulders. He flipped her and made her land on her back (gently) and began tickling her as well.

Akira’s laugh filled the living room and Rini was trying to catch his breath. “Mom save us!” Akira yelled. “Jesus Christ.” You sighed and did exactly what Akira did. You wrapped your arms around his neck and your chest rubbed his back. He froze and Akira caught her breath. She lifted her legs and with her feet pushed him back and Rin lost his balance. You fell back and Rin landed right on top of you. “Ow..” you mumbled and rubbed your head. “I’m sorry.” Rin groaned and turned, his face rested right between your breasts. He slowly lifted himself and he looked at your chest. He looked up at your face and saw the embarrassment. “Holy shit I’m sorry!” He said and immediately pulled away.

“It’s okay. Sorry for landing on your back.” You muttered and he held out his hand, you grabbed it and he pulled you up. “Mommy and daddy sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” Your kids sang and you scowled. “Come on, time for bed.” You immediately said and they began to whine. “No cuz then daddy’s gonna leave.” Akira whined. “No arguing. It’s late and momma and I need to have a talk.” He said and carried them both.

He walked them to their room and began tucking them in. They kept protesting that they didn’t want him to leave but he said that he had to and it was final. He was going to come back and see them anyways.

A crying fest began and it took almost an hour for them to calm down and eventually they knocked out due to exhaustion. Finally you and Rin sighed and closed the door to their room. “I can’t believe you did that for five years already.” Rin said and rubbed his shoulder. “I need to see a chiropractor.” You muttered, “me too.” He replied. You made your way to the kitchen and took out a wine cooler, “want one?” You asked, he nodded and you tossed it and he caught it.

“I’m gonna need like four of these.” You said and Rin snorted. “You bet.” He sighed and you both got comfortable on the couch. “Where do i start?” Rin hummed. “Post breakup...?” You suggested and he nodded. “Once upon a time—“ he started and you nudged him with your foot. “I’m your ex not your kid.” You said and he chuckled.

“Alright. So it started when—“

“Sweetie please talk to us..” Rintarou’s mother knocked on her sons door. “I’m fine.” Rin spat out. “Just leave me alone.” He said as he held the pig plush in his arms. “Rintarou I’m worried. Please.” His mother begged. “What do you want me to say?!” He raised his voice causing his mother’s eyes to widened.

He’s never ever raised his voice at her. “The girl that I love left me. How am I supposed to feel?! I don’t have anyone anymore!” He cried. “Sweetie she’s your first love, of course it’ll hurt but—“ “She’s my only love! Don’t you get it! I don’t want to be with anyone but her. She was my rock, she was there when nobody else was. She supported me and inspired me to be better and now she’s gone.” He sobbed and squeeze the pig plush. 

He saw the photo of you and him smiling by his bed and his chest tightened. “You fucking idiot!” He yelled at himself. He threw the plush and grabbed his wallet from his desk. He opened the door and his mom was standing there looking at her son in shock.

“Rintarou—you’re out. Are you hungr—“ “I’ll be back in a few days.” He told her. “Wait what? Why—Rintarou I know you’re heartbroken but you’ll find someone who will truly love you and appreciate—“ “Don’t you get it you old hag?! She loved me and appreciated me! But I ruined it! I ruined everything!” He neared his mom causing her to take a step back.

His eyes widened and he saw the fear in his own mother’s eyes. “Mom I—“

Slap

“I’m sick and tired of you being stupid! She’s gone. She doesn’t want you. Just move on. It won’t be easy but you’ll get over her eventually.” She told her son and he wiped his face with his sleeve. “I’m going to Miyagi and I’m going to find her.” He had decided, “With what money Rintarou? That’s a day long trip.” His mother asked.

He looked at her and she shook her head, “I’m not giving you money to see your little ex girlfriend just for you to come back even more depressed.” She told him and he rolled his eyes and slammed his bedroom door.

His mother sighed.

That night she got into a fight with her husband. “Rintarou is severely depressed and he’s having mood swings over some girl!” She hissed and his dad sighed. “My love, he’ll get over her eventually. He just needs his space—“ Rintarou’s parents were both interrupted by banging on their front door. They looked at eachother confused and his dad went to answer.

When he opened the door he was met with the gray haired twin. “Osamu hi..what brings you here—“ “Where is Rin?” He immediately asked and pushed through them. “What do you mean, he’s in his room.” Rin’s father said. “Excuse me.” Osamu quickly panted as he ran up the stairs. It was incredible disrespectful to barge in unannounced and without taking off your shoes but he wanted to make sure that his best friend was okay.

He found Rin’s door and tried the door knob. “Leave me alone!” Rin’s voice cracked as he tried to open the new pain meds his mother bought. “Rin listen to me, open the door. Please.” Osamu begged. “Osamu whats the meaning of this?” Rin’s father automatically asked. “Rin open the door.” Osamu repeated. Everyone else was muted from his mind his watery eyes and shaking hand made it hard for him to open the pill bottle.

He didn’t answer and Osamu’s heart stopped. He took a few steps back, then rammed his shoulder in the door. Rin flinched and turned to see his door slightly cracked. Osamu winced at the pain and he stepped back once more instead of his shoulder he lifted his leg to kick and he tried breaking it once more.

“Fuck Fuck Fuck.” Suna muttered as he kept his struggle. Finally the pill bottle cap unscrewed and his eyes widened. He held the pills in his palm and he put his head back to swallow. Even if he chokes trying to swallow the dry pills it doesn’t matter. He grabbed his water bottle, the one you put stickers all over and he drank as much as his throat could take.

It hurt swallowing down those pills, his throat burned and it felt like he was being cut from the inside. From the corner of his eye the door bursted open and came in Osamu with Suna’s poor weeping mother being held by her husband, his father. “Are you a fucking idiot?!” The gray haired twin screamed and immediately pulled Suna to his side. “Call 119 NOW!” Osamu yelled. “Leave me alone Samu—“ “Like hell I will! What would Y/N think if she find out you did this?!” He yelled. Tears filled his eyes and he could barley see his best friend. Rin stayed quiet and his gaze shifted passed Osamu’s shoulder.

“Y/N...what are you doing here?” Suna whispered and Osamu saw Suna’s eyes next to him. “What do you mean I’m stupid? I just feel so lonely... I said I was sorry. But you didn’t want to listen.” Suna began to cry once more and Osamu hugged him. “It’s gonna be okay. Please stay with me Rin.”

“Oh my god.” You cried, “I’m so sorry.” You apologized. “Hey hey it’s okay. I’m fine now.” Suna smiled softly and held you in his arms. “You could have been dead because of me.” You smacked his chest. Even in tears You looked so beautiful.

“In all honesty it was my fault to begin with. I shouldn’t have played with your heart. And when you left, it broke my heart. And I desperately wanted to get it back. I guess it showed how much I loved you.”

“How much I still love you.” He said softly.

“Rin you’re insane.” You wiped your eyes. “And what happened after?” You asked. “Well I had a dream about you and you seemed disappointed in the actions and state I was in. So I decided to try to be better than I was before. So that eventually you can take me back. I don’t know if you noticed but I’m a bit more social.” He joked and your heart swelled.

“In all honesty you were my motivation out of my depression. Sometimes I still get episodes and it sucks but I’ve been fine for a while now.” He admitted. “So you literally did a 180 just for..me?” You hiccuped. “Yeah. I love you. Always have and always will.” He looked into your eyes hopefully.

“Do you want to move in?” You asked and his eyes widened. “You want me to move in?” He asked. “Well how else are we gonna raise two kids? Our schedules are always changing. It makes sense to just live together.” You said and he nodded.

“Does that mean we can like share a room and cuddle like last night?”

“No.”

🔪: I know this was a lot but I wanted it to end a little positively

🏷: @therealwalmartjesus @differentballooncollection @aaesuki @atsunflower @dope-squish @prettysetterboiss @june-phantom @tomo-uwu @austriasmariazelle @xrnia @katsulia @aprettyfruit @shut-your-eyes-kiss-me-goodbye @tvbiio @sun-daddy-yoriichi @kamenoyaki @ppangiiroo @loeyprivvv @kmskj92 @lovinnoya @sarahvvictoria @tris-does-stuff @mokkeguts @sunaluvr6969 @bara-rose-would @sempiternal-amour @volleybloop @leykyuu @bokutoichigo @stfucanunot @iloveanime691 @tpwkatsumu @ohrintarou @shoutosimp @mqrinqcele @bokutosdivineass @anngelllla @toworuu @hidden-otaku-stuff @seijohiselite @caxsthetic @aquariarose @hhwanggu @bakuhoetoedoroki @yoozuku @osamus-onigiri @akaashi-todorki @donica95 @kakaokenma @airheadpillar

[chicgeekgirl89]

The Hoodie

Fandom: 911 Lone Star

Characters: Carlos Reyes, T.K. Strand, Mateo Chavez

Summary: “...hoodies are what you wear when you want to be comfortable and feel at home. So I thought you needed one, considering the circumstances.” A little post-ep for 2x13.

A/N: I found it VERY interesting that Carlos was the one in a hoodie at the end of 2x13 since hoodies are definitely a T.K. thing. Isn't it amazing how one, teeny tiny detail can be enough for me to write an entire fic?

AO3

                                    XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Carlos had been on the phone for six and a half hours. Six hours and thirty-four minutes if you were being exact. And that wasn’t including the other two hours he’d spent online, trying to search up insurance information.

There had been a long call with the arson investigator, then the insurance agent, then his bank, another hour with the arson investigator, his mortgage lender…he was exhausted.

“Hey babe!” T.K. said brightly as he and Mateo returned from their shopping trip, bags in hand. Mateo had offered to drive and T.K. had taken him up on it. It was all well and good to borrow t-shirts and sweatpants, but underwear and shoes were a whole other matter. T.K. stopped and pressed a kiss to the top of his head where was sitting at the kitchen counter.

“Hey,” Carlos said scrounging up what he hoped was a convincing smile. “Looks like you were successful.”

“We got everything,” Mateo assured him. “And I mean everything. I didn’t know T.K. was a shop until you drop kind of guy, but I think he bought out the entire men’s department at Zara. And J Crew. Honestly we kind of emptied out the whole mall.”

“Did you see the texts about tonight?” T.K. asked as he rooted through a bag from Aldo.

Carlos shook his head. He’d felt the continuous buzz of the group text as he’d slogged through his conversation with the insurance agent, but hadn’t had time to look. 

“We’re hanging at the firehouse. You down?” Mateo asked.

Just the thought of it made him tired, but Carlos tried to rally. He’d fallen apart enough, it was time for him to move on, even if all he wanted to do was curl up in T.K.’s arms and cry. Again. “Yeah, sure, sounds good,” Carlos said, careful to keep his tone bright and cheerful.

T.K. shot him a quick look but didn’t say anything, so Carlos assumed he’d been successful in hiding his exhaustion. A night out with friends would be good for T.K., a distraction from all the stress of the last two days.

“Come upstairs and try some of this on,” T.K. said, gathering up all the bags.

“I’ll be up in a minute,” Carlos said. “I have a couple emails I need to send.”

It was more like half an hour than a minute because the insurance agent called back again, but eventually Carlos made his way to the guest bedroom. T.K. was standing by the bed, a new button-up hanging open as he held up and compared two belts. “That’s all yours,” he said, nodding toward a pile on Carlos’ side of the bed. “Just figure out what fits, we can take the rest back.”

Carlos was definitely not in the mood to put on a fashion show, but he took a quick look through the clothing and pulled out a polo shirt and jeans to try on. “How did the calls go today? Any progress?” T.K. asked.

Carlos sighed as he stripped off his borrowed t-shirt. “Not as much as I would like. Turns out having your home and all your worldly possessions burn up in a fire isn’t exactly the easiest insurance situation. They want copies of all the paperwork, proof that the home is burned beyond repair, a copy of the police report, the fire report, and I have to secure the site so nobody loots it. Not that there’s anything left to loot.” 

T.K. had gone over in the morning with his dad and Judd to sort through some of the wreckage, while Carlos started his calls. There had been very little that was salvageable and everything that was had been sent off to be professionally cleaned. Yet another phone call Carlos had had to make. 

“We’ll get it figured out,” T.K. said. “I can stay home tomorrow and help.”

Carlos shook his head. “No, it’s kind of a one person job. And my name is on everything so they probably won’t talk to you anyway.”

T.K.’s face softened as he took in Carlos’ frustration. “Are you sure you want to go tonight?”

“To hang with the 126? Yeah of course,” he said.

“Carlos…”

“I’m fine, really. It’s…just been a long day. It’ll be good to blow off some steam,” Carlos told him. 

T.K. didn’t quite look convinced but he let the matter slide for the moment. “That looks good,” he said, nodding toward the polo Carlos had put on.

“Yeah, it fits fine.” Carlos reached for the next thing in the pile. “Oh, here, this must be yours,” he said, holding out a blue sweatshirt.

T.K. looked up and shook his head. “No, that’s for you.”

“You bought me a hoodie?” Carlos asked.

T.K. set down the pants he’d been refolding. “I know they’re not really your thing,” he said. “But hoodies are what you wear when you want to be comfortable and feel at home. So I thought you needed one, considering the circumstances.”

Carlos ran his fingers over the soft fabric. It was touching gesture and he felt tears prick at his eyes again for the thousandth time in the last day. “Thank you.”

T.K. smiled and nodded toward him. “You should try it on.”

Carlos slipped it over his head and pulled at it until it fit around his waist and hips. “How do I look?”

T.K. reached up and fixed a few of his mussed curls. “Hoodie hazard,” he said with a smile. “You look great.”

An hour later they headed over to the firehouse, coolers and snacks in hand. Carlos felt good, ready, maybe even a little excited to be out and put the day behind him.

But he was not prepared for how sense memory would assault him. The firehouse smelled like smoke and fire and destruction, causing his shoulders to tense immediately. And the gentle teasing about their lack of home to hang out in stabbed a sharp blade into his stomach. Marjan was just trying to make light of a bad situation, but it still hurt.

But T.K. looked so happy surrounded by his friends and his dad that Carlos couldn’t bring himself to ask to leave. Instead he smiled, sipped his beer without tasting it, laughed when it was called for, and answered any questions thrown his way. He and Paul even went a round together at the foosball table. Mostly he stayed by the counter, shifting food around, refilling bowls, getting people drinks, and just generally keeping up the pretense of being a good party host. 

He thought he was doing a pretty decent job hiding it; of pretending that he didn’t feel like the walls were closing in on him with their dark, smoke stained plaster. He was trying very hard not to think about the fact that being in this space felt like being back in his burning bedroom, absolutely certain that he was about to not only die, but also lose the man he loved with all his heart. 

He was rearranging the snack bowls for probably the twelfth time when he felt arms go around his waist and T.K.’s lips found his neck. “Let’s go back to my dad’s,” he murmured.

Carlos frowned and continued his very important cheeseball work. “It’s only eight o’clock.”

“But you’re tired and don’t want to be here,” T.K. said softly.

“I’m fine.”

“Carlos.” Lips pressed against his neck again. “You can say you’re not okay.”

“You’re having a good time,” Carlos tried again.

“If you’re not having fun, I’m not having fun,” T.K. told him.

Carlos turned in his arms so they were facing each other. “It’s just been a really long day and I—” he swallowed hard. “Being here is kind of like reliving the fire all over again.”

T.K.’s eyes clouded. “I am such an idiot. I’m so sorry, I didn’t even think about that.”

“It’s fine,” Carlos told him. “I’m fine. Really.”

But T.K. was already on the move. “Hey guys?” he called to the group. “Carlos and I are going to call it a night.”

“T.K. we didn’t drive,” Carlos reminded him. They’d caught a ride with Mateo since his Camaro was toast.

“You can take my car,” Owen offered.

“Yeah I’ll drive the Cap home,” Mateo volunteered as he defended his goal against Nancy.

“See?” T.K. said. “All good.”

“Who’s going to clean up the mess?” Carlos asked as T.K. tugged him toward the door.

“Any of the other five people here at the moment. Just because you never let them help doesn’t mean they’re not capable,” T.K. informed him. “Night guys!”

“Night!”

“Goodnight!”

“Drive safe!”

“Stop feeling bad,” T.K. ordered as he climbed into the driver’s seat of Owen’s car. “You’re not making me leave, I chose to leave.”

“I don’t want to pull you away from your friends.”

“They’re your friends too.”

“I know but…I just thought you needed this. To get your mind off everything.”

“The only thing on my mind is making sure you’re okay,” T.K. said as he flipped on the blinker and turned them left, streetlights ghosting over his face. “I knew something was going on. I shouldn’t have dragged you out tonight.”

“You didn’t drag me out.” Carlos shook his head. “I thought maybe it would be good for both of us. I didn’t realize…I didn’t know that being at the firehouse would make me feel this way.”

“I’m just so used to dealing with fire and smoke I didn’t even think about how it might take you back,” T.K. said. “But I should have. I’m sorry.”

Silently T.K. reached for his hand, threading their fingers together over the car’s console. The small gesture made Carlos’ throat grow tight. 

They finished the drive to Owen’s in silence. The place smelled blissfully free of smoke and Carlos felt the muscles in his back loosen just a little bit. “Come here,” T.K. said, pulling him toward the couch.

Carlos ended up sitting between T.K.’s legs, back pressed against his chest as T.K. flipped on a Netflix documentary. He’d just gotten settled when T.K.’s fingers slipped inside the neckline of his hoodie. “T.K. you don’t—”

“Shh,” T.K. said softly as he began to work loose the knots in Carlos’ neck and shoulders. “Just relax.”

Slowly Carlos felt his shoulders begin to unwind, his body relaxing into T.K.’s as his boyfriends fingers dug deeply into his muscles. “Better?” T.K. asked a few minutes later.

Carlos nodded, eyes feeling heavy. “The hoodie helps too,” he mumbled.

“Yeah?” T.K. pressed a kiss to his curls.

“It feels like you,” he said, semi-aware that his words were slurring as sleep pulled at him.

He could feel T.K. smile against the top of his head. “I’m glad it’s working.”

As Carlos drifted off, sweatshirt and boyfriend cocooning his body in comfort, he felt the deep, reassuring sense of home.

[watermelonlipstick]

Dreams, Chapter 15

If you haven’t read this series before, you might want to start on Chapter 1, or check out the Dreams Masterlist! Here’s the series description:

When Dean dies for good leaving Sam and his girlfriend (the reader) behind, they must figure out how to carry on without him. Alone, reeling, and unsure what to do next, trying to honor Dean’s memory and follow their hearts gets even more complicated when their nightmares become dreams that feel a little too real.

Title: Dreams, Chapter 15

Pairing: (past) Dean Winchester x Reader, (eventual) Sam Winchester x Reader

Word Count: 3310

Summary: The reader and Sam take an irrevocable step forward.

Warnings: angst, FLUFF, swearing, s l o w  b u r n, this section is emotional smut

           The drive home felt electric and giddy and nauseatingly tense, like driving back from prom with a little foil packet burning a hole in your pocket. It had been delicious agony working through the rest of the shift on stolen hand grazes and smirks across the length of the bar, suspense winding in your throat, especially wearing Sam’s shirt, the incredible scent of him floating around you in a halo every time you moved. Now that it was so close you didn’t know what to do with it. At the very least, Sam didn’t seem to either as you noticed him swallowing far more often than he needed to and cranking the stereo. He drove fast, almost like—no, don’t think that, not right now—and you watched for deer on the sides of the road partly to keep from getting into an accident and partly for something to distract even a fraction of your mind from the way Sam’s lips had felt on yours when he had finally let go, how they must feel everywhere else.

           When he pulled into the driveway, you both sat still in the front seat for a beat of silence.

           “I’m—uh, I’m going to take a shower,” Sam said, looking toward your side of the car but not quite meeting your eyes.

           “Yeah, okay, good idea,” you answered. You were still sticky with the broken-keg-beer from hours ago and a shower sounded divine, but you knew saying something about getting cleaned up too wouldn’t land right in the charge of this moment. The two of you awkwardly walked inside, a movement you’d done so many times that suddenly felt so unfamiliar it was a little spooky. Sam ducked into the shower without another word and you didn’t know what to do in your own house.

           Digging through your clothes, you finally found a matching bra and panty set you hadn’t worn in…you stopped yourself from thinking about exactly how long. It was black and lacy but in a sort of sensible way; probably wouldn’t have been fancy for a person who didn’t usually buy her undergarments with durability and lack of movement while running and fighting in mind, but it was what you had and it certainly seemed like a more appropriate thing to wear than one of the old t-shirts of Dean’s you normally changed into after work. You bit your lip and beat back a moment of frustrated nerves, imagining the extremely awkward put-on seduction of walking through the cabin in just the set, and grabbed a black tank top and yoga pants out too, bundling all the garments together.

           Sam walked into the bedroom with a towel slung sinfully low on his hips, and the sight made your breath catch in your throat. The tension required to hold the terry in place flexed one pec as a few droplets of water shook loose from his hair and slid down it.

           You grabbed the bundle of clothes in your hand and gestured behind him. “My turn.”

           Sam nodded, side stepping to let you out of the doorway.

           It was a longer shower than you’d taken in a long time, going over your legs obsessively with the dullish disposable razor you’d been using and washing your hair twice to make sure to get any residual beer out of it. Finally you knew you couldn’t keep stalling and got out, running a palm of lotion over your body and putting on the black set, yoga pants, and tank top. You turned your head over to flip your hair a few times, hoping for a little more volume and a little less wet rat, and wished that you’d had some kind of perfume or something, had held onto anything from back when you thought things like that had a point, when you cared about being enticing. How glamorous, all this old cotton and dripping hair for what felt like a monumental turning point. No time to think about that now. You threw your towel up on the rack and headed back to the bedroom.

           Sam was sitting on the edge of the bed with his elbows resting on his ankles, wearing a t-shirt and jeans, bare feet tapping on the floor. Something about knowing that he had gotten re-dressed and not even in the old sweats he normally slept in, had thought about it for at least a moment, made you feel better. His head snapped up when you walked in. “H-hey,” he breathed.

           “Hey.” You noticed he’d straightened the already made up bed and taken the pictures of Dean off the wall, neatly stacked on the dresser in the corner of the room.

           When Sam saw your eyes linger on the spot they had been, he opened his mouth. A small shake of your head stopped him from saying anything and you sat beside him. “So.”

           Sam chuckled. “So.”

           “I feel like we just got shut in a closet to play 7 minutes in heaven.”

           “I know I said I’m ready but we don’t have to—”

           “No, that’s not what I mean. Sorry, I just—I haven’t felt this nervous in a long time.”

           “Me neither.”

           You flopped back on the bed, feeling your wet hair fan out a touch around you and looking up at the ceiling. The mattress shifted under Sam’s weight when he laid back next to you, and after a beat you turned to your side, propping up your head on one palm and feeling the oppressive sparks of the moment burn into your skin, heat your cheeks. “There are so many times I could’ve said this, Sam, but you saved my life. I don’t kn—there’s just no way I would’ve made it by myself.”

           He dipped his head toward you, the low light casting a severe shadow off of his jaw and highlighting the contrast between the concentric rings of green-blue-honey in his eyes. “I could say the same to you.” You waited a second, dragging your eyes down the high slope of his cheekbone and counting the tiny dots of stubble where its gradient began on his cheek.

           Slowly, you tipped yourself over him, looping one leg over his waist and placing a hand above each of his shoulders on the mattress. Feeling the heat of his body between your thighs made you feel a bit lightheaded and the way Sam was looking up at you didn’t help, eyes bright and hopeful and a touch awestruck like a true believer listening to a sermon. Big hands floated to your hips, light as anything but each fingertip was rooting you together, connecting you as irrevocably as welded iron. You poured forward into him, stopping a few inches from his face. “I’m—” you started.

           “I love you,” Sam stammered, looking almost surprised when it tumbled out of his mouth, but you caught it between you and breathed it back into him, catching his lips and holding back the groan you wanted to release at their softness, somehow even better than the memory you’d been amplifying in your head all night. You kissed him like a prayer, like saying thank you over and over again for the things he knew you wanted to acknowledge and for all the things he didn’t, every single dried teardrop and gummy worm a pass of your lips against his. One hand moved to your lower back, pressing you together while the other spun through the wet hair at the nape of your neck, thumb cradling the sensitive skin behind your ear and brushing softly back from it, a tiny affection you might not have noticed if everything about this moment wasn’t so amplified.

           When you nipped gently at his lower lip, Sam made a sound close to a whimper deep in his throat before slipping his tongue against yours and drinking you in. He shifted his hips underneath you and used the hands on your back to guide you easily to the mattress, taking care not to place you on top of your hair. You wound your fingers in the fabric of his t-shirt and pulled him closer to you until you were pressed against the full firm stretch of his torso. As you passed your fingers under the hem, Sam leaned back for a second to tug behind his collar and toss the shirt to the ground in one fluid motion, coming back to lay a trail of kisses down the hinge of your jaw and neck, light suction on the exact spot it sloped into collarbone. It was your turn to get out of your tank top; the moment of widened pupils at the reveal dissolved the nerves you’d had about the lace and gave you the confidence to hook your legs around Sam’s hips and drag him as tightly to you as his jeans would allow.

           He slipped tentative fingertips into the waistband of the yoga pants and you parted to let him shimmy them off of your legs, surprised when a tear almost welled in your eyes at the kiss he pressed into the side of your calf—an impulsive reflex betraying Sam’s affection. You sat up, tried to unbutton the worn cotton of his jeans, and realized your hands were shaking. He took your face delicately in his hands and kissed you, soft as anything, and it was Sam, person you knew best in this world, who’d saved your life over and over and over again; if you couldn’t trust him, then who could you trust? The moment was enough to settle you, button coming undone smoothly. He eased off the bed without breaking contact with your lips to shake them off, tipping you onto the mattress delicately when his legs were bare. Arching your back to unhook your bra, you shucked it off carelessly into the depth of the room. Sam raked his eyes over your body and you tried not to shy away from it. “I—uh—are we going to be okay?” he whispered low into the space between you.

           “I think so,” you answered, and it was as much affirmation as you could give, because truthfully you didn’t know. It felt right but your instincts had been wrong before. You wished more than anything that you could’ve kept the sexually charged impulsivity in the bar’s cooler earlier that night, when you were moving on instinct and need and didn’t have time to analyze.

           But Sam was so beautiful, so present and real, almost too warm under your touch, and you reminded yourself that he was the only real thing in your life. He brushed a stray piece of still-damp hair back from your face before bending to his knees on the side of the bed. You got up to your elbows and watched passively as he took the rest of your lace off, leaving you completely exposed save for the cover of his kiss on your inner thigh. Swallowing hard, you felt your lips part as you watched the long muscles of his back pull taut when he moved you to the edge of the bed. The hot breath between your legs was enough to make you see stars around Sam’s head like a halo and then he swirled his tongue around your clit softly, almost too softly, just enough to make you feel hungry with desire. A whine passed your lips and you barely even registered it, so focused on watching the precise even muscles in Sam’s jaw flex and ripple against his cheek, matching them to the mazes he was drawing into you. Wrapping an arm around your thigh to hold you in place, Sam flicked his gaze up for confirmation as he snaked an arm under you, sucking two fingers with his eyes locked on yours before gliding them inside you.

           You gasped creakily as he hook-pressed, the strength of his hands feeling familiar if the feeling wasn’t, tugging out sweet sin rooted deep in your gut. It wound you into a tight coil ready to crack with tensile strength, cables of a centuries old suspension bridge rattling through every muscle in your body. With your back arching into the mattress, Sam lapped and swirled and spoke tongues into you, sturdy latch on your thigh until it was absolutely too much, sent you snapping into a thousand sparking live wires around him as you tried to steady yourself with handfuls of duvet. When you had enough of your wits back about you, you slipped your hands through the drying silk of Sam’s hair and guided him back up, kissing the taste of yourself off of his lips, his chin. Sam laid against you unfurling his body like a scroll, the heavy length of his cock grazing your thigh through his boxers. You gently push-pulled his shoulders to flip him onto on his back, a dazed smile on his face when you licked a stripe down his chest and lightly ran your teeth over a nipple. His chest heaved once when you brushed against his cock and then his breathing went shallow. With your mouth centimeters from his skin, you met his eyes. “Is this still okay?”

           “Y-yeah, yes—yeah,” he said, way too fast to pretend at any semblance of nonchalance, more than fast enough to send you grinning as you tugged the elastic down his hips slowly and caught the weight of him in your palm, hot and crystallized beneath a shimmering drop of precum that you lapped reflexively, drawing a sharp inhale from Sam. Now it was your turn to swirl, rolling the head around your tongue sloppily before taking the first few inches of him into your mouth and sucking against a spinning hand until you built a rhythm. His head rolled back into the bed and he closed his eyes, letting them fly open only when you eased the full length of his cock into your throat slowly, willing your muscles to relax around him and relishing the fuzzy blown-out look in his eyes. You let the withdrawal drag, slipping frictionlessly over his now dripping cock as spit flowed through the gaps between your fingers. Sucking along the underside before taking him down again, you could feel the muscles in his abdomen starting to tense and pulled off, kissing a hip bone before straddling Sam and guiding him inside you carefully.

           To his constant credit—as though there was anything you wouldn’t give him credit for—Sam held perfectly still as you stretched around him. It had been so long, and he probably would’ve been a challenge even if it hadn’t been years since these muscles had been flexed. The knowledge that it would calm down pushed you through the almost-tearing feeling you had, finally resting an inch or two above being flush together and taking a few deep breaths.

           “Are you okay?” Sam asked, cheeks pink and eyebrows showing his concern even as the tendons in his neck flexed with restraint.

           “Yeah, I just—out of practice,” you answered with a sheepish smirk. He traced down the sides of your thighs with velvet fingertips like a metronome until your body relaxed around him and you began to slide and grind against Sam in earnest.

           He half-raised himself to meet your lips, curving you down so he could kiss you as you moved together. For the second time that night, he took you in his arms and turned you onto the bed, deftly switching your positions without disconnecting from you. His hand still cradled your head protectively while he touched his forehead to yours. Twin exhales mixing in the slowly humidifying air between you, there were so many things you wanted to say but none of the words you could think of felt like enough to encompass the comfort-love-grief-thanks-apology. All you could do was kiss him.

           The two of you fit together exactly and you cupped the back of Sam’s neck as he rocked into you. Weight supported on one hand, he swept a thumb along your cheekbone before leaning down, touching his lips to your forehead, and taking a deep breath of your hair. Such a clear punctuation on his tenderness swelled up hard in your throat and you had to gulp hard to settle it, concentrating instead on the heat pooling in your core through Sam’s deliberate movements. The crescendo reached a fever pitch when he slid a hand to the small of your back and tilted your hips justrightjustlikethat, pressure drilling right into that perfect spot and after a few seconds it was all you could do to throw your head back into the mattress and crack in half.

           Sam sucked at your jugular while you fell to pieces and in other circumstances you might’ve been worried about walking around like a teenager with a hickey, but all you could think of was him around you, inside you, on you, and you wanted as much as you could get. Tugging at his hair and latching your legs around his hips in frantic reflex shoved him over the edge, muscles in his back rippling under your other hand and sweat glistening over the expanse of his neck as it rolled back. He eased off of you, laid down beside you, and wrapped you up in his arms.

           A few hot tears dropped to the bedspread and almost surprised you but didn’t seem to phase Sam, who just tightened his embrace so your cheek rested on the slope of his chest. Time stopped as you lay there, having disappeared between the fissures of reality and straight into Sam. You resisted the impulse to think too much. It was enough to be there, feel the mist of sweat and freshly washed hair cooling into the ether, the comforting heat of Sam’s body where he draped over you. After your muscles resolidified you turned up and kissed him once, more to check in than anything else.

           “So…what now?” you asked, voice sounding muffled and weird after the long silence.

           Sam smiled looking fatigued and content and nervous all at the same time. “Well, we haven’t been struck down yet. Are you tired?”

           It was likely close to 4 or 5 in the morning but sleeping felt like a trap—with all the information you’d gathered about the dreams, it seemed like if you didn’t have one about Dean tonight then you’d both severely misjudged what was happening, which then put the legitimacy or ‘blessing’ of this new relationship with Sam in jeopardy. But it wasn’t like you could stay up forever. And maybe everything would be fine, maybe you could still have your cake and eat it too by staying with Dean at night and carrying on during the days with Sam, holding his hand and starting to see beauty again through its reflection on his face.

           You brushed your teeth in the bathroom mirror together after throwing on the first t-shirt you found, trying not to put too much stock into it when it ended up being Dean’s Poison one with the tear on the left shoulder. It felt right, natural still to be sharing even this little space with Sam, and that had to mean something. He didn’t even look twice at the shirt but was only wearing boxers, having foregone the flannel pants and/or t shirt he normally wore to bed. You weren’t complaining.

           Cuddling up next to Sam didn’t feel odd as it probably should have so long ago. The only differences were the interlacing of his fingers into yours as he covered your lower ribcage with his hand and the way he tucked his chin into your neck as he folded around you. “I—Sam?” you whispered.

           “Mm?”

           “I’m—uh, just. Thank you.”

           Sam didn’t react for a beat, considering or waiting for you to continue you didn’t know. He simply pressed his lips to your stretched-out collar and melted so that his body sunk into yours. It didn’t take you as long as you might’ve thought to fall asleep.

-

Continue to Dreams, Chapter 16

Thanks again for reading! If you liked it, check out my Masterlist or send me a request!

Tags: @sams-sass @vxnderlindes @deanwinchesterswitch @akshi8278 @itsjensenanddean @flannellover67 @weepingwillowphoenix @tj-drinks-tea @whatareyousearchingfordean @winchest09 @winchestergirl2 @samwisethegr8 @nobxdy @nurse-sarahrn @lovers-in-japan-reign-of-love @deanwanddamons @stressedoutkitten @winchestershiresauce @tatted-trina6 @percico-heronstairs @downanddirtydean @queenoftheunderdark @lyarr24 @waywardwifey @wonder-cole @sergeantsea @peachyafshawn @tjfinnigan @calaofnoldor @that-one-gay-girl @daringvixon @fairlyspnfanfic @treat-winchesterswith-kindness @samfreakingwinchester​ @lovelyrocker​ @mrspeacem1nusone​ @theveridianmoon​ @underc0vercryptid​ @kpwatsonn​

And as always, if you want to be on my taglist, were on the taglist and changed your handle, or I lost track of it, please let me know!