#that other people think I’m stupid for crying over a tree

[artificial-condition]

Honestly thank god for my job because I was driving in hating everyone and everything and desiring to become a hermit and now that I’m at work I’m vibing and don’t have near as much malice in my heart

[try-set-me-on-fire]

Tagged by @doeeyeseddie and @eddiebabygirldiaz for seven sentence Sunday! Since I haven’t been posting much for tag games lately, here’s significantly more sentences than that from bucktommy acquire a child au. Warning for mentions of past child abuse in Tommy’s family.

Tommy stares down at the dotted line, pen hovering, running the name through his head over and over again and feeling kind of stupid for it. There’s no meaningful difference, at this point, between this last signature and any other of the seemingly dozens of pieces of paper they’ve signed tonight. Nothing really counts until Buck hands it over to the lawyer on his way to work tomorrow. He could sign and then tear the thing up, toss it in the trash. Find someone better to take this on. Take his name out of it, at the very least, hand the kid over to Evan entirely.

Evan, sitting next to him close enough that their knees are pressed tougher, bony, under the table. “What are you thinking?”

Tommy sighs and sets the pen down, tilting his head back to look up at the ceiling. “Can’t we just use… I don’t know, Diaz? I don’t want to give the poor kid my name.”

Buck laughs, just a little, still mostly serious. “I mean, I’m sure Eddie’d say yes if we asked, but- You gave me your name, why’s it a problem now?”

Tommy slides his fingers between Buck’s, surprised as he always is at how well they fit together. “You’re an adult, you can- handle it, carry it. Kinard children have historically been miserable things.”

Evan tilts his head, probably thinking about what Tommy is thinking about: Tommy, beat by his dad who was beat by his dad who was beat by- etc, etc, going back the entire horrible line of them. He’s imagined it before, some medieval peasant kid somewhere, crying into a hay bale or whatever the fuck it is poor folk slept on back then. Evan’d probably know. Maybe farther back than that. A caveman all the other cavemen side-eyed ‘cause he threw his kid in the path of a sabertooth or something.

“Okay,” is what Evan says. “I could get all pop psychology about, like, breaking cycles or whatever, but actually-” he points down the hall. “When I put him to bed tonight he talked literally right up until he was unconscious about all the stuff we saw at the zoo today, that I was in fact there for. Passed out mid word about how we got ice cream and saw a bird. Just a regular bird, that pigeon that landed on the table next to us. I think he was as excited about that as he was about, like, actual lions.”

Tommy laughs, despite his mood. “He was excited about the pigeon.” Milo had been so fascinated by it his ice cream had mostly melted by the time they could successfully prompt him to eat it.

Buck grins. “That kid- our kid- is happy, Tommy. Another talking point? How you carried him everywhere. He got to be so tall, he said you showed him everything.”

“I always hated being too short to see past crowds of people,” Tommy says quietly. “All those legs, everybody strangers.”

“I think most kids hate that,” Buck nods. He leans in to kiss Tommy’s cheek. “You’re not having second thoughts about this?”

“No,” Tommy says, immediate, breathy like it got punched out of him. “No. More than sure.”

Evan nods again. “He’s happy, and safe, and loved because of you. Sign the paper. It’s just a name, and one that I like very much actually.”

“Just a name,” Tommy raises an eyebrow. “So you would’ve been fine with him becoming a Buckley if we had done this the other way?”

“Oh, fuck no,” Buck says, face twisting up lemon-sour as Tommy laughs.

“You hypocrite.”

“Hey, you should have come up with a new name when you married me,” Buck sticks his tongue out, leaning back in his chair like a pleased cat. “Combined them maybe? We could have been… the Binards?”

Tommy squints at him. “No.”

“The Kuckleys?”

“Evan,” Tommy snorts. “No- that’s terrible.”

Buck grins. “Yeah. We really should have just asked Eddie. All be Diazes, it’d fix everything.”

“Imagine the kid’s family tree project at school,” Tommy says, picking up the pen, signing his name as fast as he can before doubt creeps back in. “We’re gonna have to teach him the words ‘non-conventional family structure’.”

Buck laughs and laughs, leaning into Tommy’s side until he kisses up the sound.

Tagging @shitouttabuck @bigfootsmom @iinryer @chronicowboy @butchdiaz @homerforsure if ya got anything to share!

[ashdreams2023]

Hiii hope you're having a great day<33

I was wondering if you could write a Draco Malfoy x reader fic with him being jealous and it has some angst but ends in fluff. Byee<3

Sure sweetie!

Draco Malfoy x fem reader

Selfish

You never knew what to label what you and Draco had, whenever people asked what you were to each other you couldn’t quite say you were a couple but you didn’t get physical or step over what you may consider normal physical touch for friends but he also flirted with you in public, held your hand when going out in a weekend.

But he always made that one expression when people assumed you were his girlfriend, a look of irritation and almost embarrassment.

You acted like it didn’t bother you, it wasn’t like you were really his girlfriend…but you also weren’t against the idea…

It was around the fourth year, the year the ball was held, everyone was looking for dates and Draco had already asked Daphne and she said yes, you couldn’t be mad or displeased though, he had already told you he would ask you if only he options rejected him or had dates already.

It was basically a slap in the face that you weren’t even considered a real options, you were just plain old you.

Well…screw him…you actually have been asked to the ball and you said yes!

George Weasley…yes a Weasley, you expected him to make fun of you and say you’re out of your mind…at least George didn’t make you cry…

"Him? You could do so much better I’m honestly disappointed"

"Well excuse me for not being as gorgeous as Daphne to be asked by someone better!"

He looked startled at the outburst and frowned "I didn’t say you were ugly…Merlin what’s gotten into you? Did that dumb lion drug you or something?"

Draco was an idiot and you were a fool to think he would care "you’re the fucking worst Draco Malfoy!" You ran out of that room refusing to let him see you cry.

You dogged Draco like the pledge for days up until the ball night, you got ready alone, not feeling you can go and celebrate like any team thee girl in the darn school.

The dress you wore was your older sister’s dress, it was supposed to be saved for a special occasion…you wanted to feel special like every other girl…

Blue was his favorite color, you dress was blue, sparkling and cut in a really nice flattering way, you should’ve felt amazing, and you did, you felt great when gorege called pretty and when you walked in and some of your classmates stared in awe at you.

Then you saw him, he glanced up at your direction, his eyes widening but he never spoke and instead took his date and left with his date to dance.

You felt heavy in the chest but chose to hide your discomfort and dance the night away or at least avoid him.

You realized two things that night, your date might have made you laugh but you couldn’t sit in silence and enjoy the dancing itself…something Draco was doing.

When the slow dancing began you couldn’t stand it anymore, he wouldn’t stop talking and you felt so irritated which resulted in you sitting down and him deciding it wasn’t worth the fight and went to goof off with his friends.

"I told you so" Draco’s voice rang in your ear as he walked towards you, his date nowhere to be seen.

You didn’t feel like replying to him and kept watching the other couples dance. Draco seemed offended by you ignoring and pulled a chair and sat directly in front of you.

"I told you this was a ridiculous idea, now look at you, pouting in sparkling dress that you won’t ever again, over a guy that didn’t have the decency to walk you back to your dorm-"

"At least I was an option" You snapped standing up and storming out the bloody ball room, how could he be so mean to you?!

You ran until you reached one of the trees near the forest, stupid Draco, stupid Weasley and stupid feelings.

"You’re the most unbelievable girl in the world! What has gotten into you!" He bloody followed.

You turned around with tears running down your face, you felt so ugly, so pathetic and so… vulnerable "me?! I’m unbelievable?! You…you damn idiot! My night is ruined and nobody here seems to care! You keep telling me I told you so and my date isn’t as charming as I hoped him to be…I’m a joke! I’m as pathetic as granger on the stupid stairs"

Draco clenched his fists "Yes you do look pathetic and yes Weasley was the furthest from Prince Charming and…and I should have asked you"

Your lip trembled as tears kept going down your soft cheeks "But you didn’t…I wasn’t even an option…I hate you so much"

"…you don’t mean that…look I…" Draco’s cheeks flushed red "You could’ve had anyone, it would’ve been a waste to invite you!" He stepped closer.

"A waste? I waited for you until the last minute then you went asked Daphne! Why couldn’t you just ask me first?!" You cried pushing him back.

"Because I was angry! Ok! I was jealous! I thought if I gave you the fails idea that I’ll ask you no one would dare come and take you! I’m selfish ok! I didn’t want you to go with anyone and I was gonna break up with Daphne the night before the ball then that idiot Weasley asked you!"

You felt breathless, within seconds your emotions shifted from to frustration to confusion and now…disbelief.

"I need to leave I-" you took a step back and almost tripped on your back but he caught you by your waist.

"Don’t hate, I can’t stay sane if you hate me…I know you can’t stand the sight of me now but please, I’m begging you" his ice blue eyes softened, his breath hit your flushed face and all you could think about is how close he was holding you.

"I…you hurt me but…I could never truly hate you" you blinked a few tears away and rested your head on his shoulder.

"I’m thankful…care for a dance? Daphne has two left feet and I could appreciate someone who can match my pace"

You chuckled breathlessly and nodded "sure…you still owe me though" Draco nods, rests his hands on your waist and moves from side to side, with the faint music coming from inside the castle you two dance under the moonlight, it might’ve not been a perfect night from the start but it sure ended in a memorable grace.

[writing-wh0re]

“You fucked up and I’m glad you did.”

♥ pairing: Eddie Munson x reader (platonic), Steve Harrington x reader (friends to lovers)

♥ summary: “Based on this ask - Reader likes Eddie Munson on the low but then he starts dating Chrissy. So the reader starts dating Steve because he comforts her after the heartbreak. Eddie realizes how stupid he was to not see the reader as their lover”

♥ warnings: smoking, slight angst, fluff ending, crying, pet name: sweet girl, language. A/N: I don't typically write for steve or angst so I hope you like it @b00kw0rmsworld xx

♥ wc: 1,712

♥ masterlist

♥ Taglist

You watched Eddie enter the party, something that was a rare sight but since you had made the cheer squad, it was a sight you enjoyed. Butterflies filled your stomach, ignoring the girl in front of you and slipping away from the conversation to greet him.

You hadn’t seen Eddie for a few weeks, both of you having scheduling issues now that you’re on the team and he’s completing more regular D&D nights with the others.

“Y/n.” His face lights up as he embraces you, the smell of his collagen and the smoothness of the leather jacket envelopes you. You hold him tight against you, probably for longer than normal but you’ve missed him, missed his embrace.

“I’m surprised to see you here, I didn’t think you would show.”

Eddie smiles at you, quickly looking behind him as a few hoops and hollers fill the air as Chrissy slips into the home.

Chrissy. She was everything, gorgeous, smart, kind and why the fuck is she holding Eddies hand.

Your eyes flick from their fingers laced together, watching as Chrissy wraps herself around Eddie's arm, smiling at the people around you.

“Oh.” The sound slips past your lips before you can catch it. You heartbeat picks up and you swallow the lump in your throat.

Chrissy’s eyes light up at your presence, quickly wrapping her arms around your neck and pulling you into an embrace.

She smells like him.

“It’s so good to see you.”

You clear your throat, pulling away from Chrissy and faking a smile.

“Likewise.”

“There you are, I’ve been looking for you.” Steve places his arm over your shoulders, pulling you into the side of him, relief washes over you in the presence of your neighbour and friend.

Eddie looks over your embrace with Steve, you could have sworn his jaw clenched.

“Eddie was telling me that you and him play that D&D game, maybe the three of us could play sometime?” You smile at Chrissy, her effort at trying to mingle with you while you process what is occurring in front of you.

“Woah Munson, I didn’t know you and Chrissy were an item?”

Thank god for Steve.

“Um yeah, we’ve kept it on the down low for a few weeks.”

“Uh, weeks, more like two months.” Chrissy states placing her hand over his hellfire t-shirt.

“Two months, that’s pretty solid.” Steve speaks for you, his hand rubbing the top of your shoulder.

“If you both wouldn’t mind, I owe y/n a game of beer pong.” Steve nods his head at the pair, slipping his arm from around your shoulders and lacing your fingers together. You smile at Eddie and Chrissy, following behind Steve as he guides you outside of the house. He walks past the beer pong table and towards the tall tree out the back, a blanket of darkness falling over the two of you.

“C’mere.” Steve whispers, pulling you to his chest as you sob, tears falling from your eyes, water staining his shirt. Steve rests his head on the top of yours, flicking his eyes to the house as the music thumps through the air. He gently sways you to the music soothing you.

“Ho-how did you know?” Your sobs break up your sentence, your eyes looking up into Steves. He smiles weakly, using his thumb to brush a tear away from your cheek.

“I could tell that look from anywhere, I had the same one with Nancy and Jonathan.”

You giggle, tilting your head back to attempt to keep the tears at bay, “I rescued you during that one.”

“That you did.” Steve smiles, pulling you back into his chest, “Thought it was time to return the favour.”

“Thank you.” You whisper against his shirt, you pull away, your eyes scanning his outfit as you start fanning his chest, attempting to dry your tears. Steve chuckles, patting his denim jacket, pulling out a cigarette before tilting the packet towards you. You simply nod, taking a stick and leaning towards his lighter, you take a slow deep drag, holding the smoke before letting it slip past your lips, the small cloud dispersing into the night sky.

Steve keeps his eyes on you, he’d be lying if he said you didn’t look gorgeous right now. Your red lipstick staining the cigarette, the way your lips parted to release the smoke, your perfectly manicured fingers softly rolling the stick between them.

“How long have you liked Eddie?”

The butterflies flutter around inside of you, the same lump appearing in your throat at the thought of him with Chrissy.

“A while, a little over a year.”

“And you didn’t make a move?”

You sigh, watching as Steve panics, coughing on the smoke slightly.

“You don’t have to answer that.”

“I honestly don’t know, the timing never felt right.” You take another drag, your head becoming floaty as you drop the cigarette to the grass, stepping on it and placing it in the empty solo cup.

Steve simply nods, noticing the tears reappearing in your eyes.

“Want me to drive you home?”

“Haven’t you been drinking?”

“I haven’t even had one.”

“Well, aren't you boring.” You smirk, causing Steve to roll his eyes, tongue in cheek. He takes one last drag before following you lead and discarding the bud.

“I’d appreciate that Steve.”

Steve smiles, holding his hand out to you which you gladly accept. A warmth fills your body at his touch, feeling secure beside him. Steve leads you out of the party, your eyes searching the numerous bodies before the land on Eddie, his arm around Chrissy’s waist as she talks to her friends. His eyes meet yours briefly, a flicker of hurt at your tear stained cheeks. You squeeze Steve’s hand unknowingly causing him to pull you closer to him before walking out of the door.

You slide into the passenger seat, resting your head against the window, sniffling as Steve grabs your hands. A small knowing smile is shared between you both before he starts the drive to your house.

| | |

It had been six months since the house party. Your relationship with Eddie unfortunately became non-existent, other than small conversations at school about school work. However your relationship with Steve had blossomed into something so incredible, you had felt like an idiot for never considering him to be more than a friend but after both hanging out more, your feelings grew.

You were lounging on the couch with Steve, flicking through the channels, trying to find something to enjoy when there’s a knock on your front door. You look at him quizzingly, a pang of anxiety hits you, worrying something has happened to your parents who are out of town.

“Relax sweet girl, I’ll get it.”

You smile at Steve, loving that he can read you like a book.

Muffled voices fill the air, your curiosity grows as you slip off the couch, tiptoeing towards the front door before stopping in your tracks.

Eddie.

“Man, just let me see her.”

“Do you not realise how much of an idiot you are for letting her slip through your fingers?”

You hear Eddie sigh, you heartbeat picking up at Steve’s words.

“I know, I saw it on her face that night.”

Steve sighs, you lean against the wall keeping yourself hidden as you eavesdrop.

“You fucked up and I’m glad you did.” Steve whispers, “Because if you hadn’t, I wouldn’t have realised how amazing y/n truly is and I wouldn’t have been able to experience a love like this.”

Blush fills your cheeks, a smile dancing across your lips at his words.

“Steve, who is it?” You call before rounding the corner.

Steve leans on the door, opening it more to show Eddie, his face flushed and eyes glassy.

“Hey.” He whispers weakly.

“You okay?” You want to reach out to him and hold him close but you refrain.

“Uh yeah, no I will be, I uh.” Eddie takes a deep breath, looking over you. You hair is thrown up into a bun, Steve's shirt baggy on your figure and your small running shorts hugging your thighs. “I was just coming by to say hi, we, um haven’t spoken in a while.”

You smile weakly at the boy in front of you, his nerves consuming him as he fidgets with his rings.

“It has been a few weeks, it’s a little late, we were actually heading to bed shortly.” You gesture to Steve who smiles at you, his hand resting on your waist.

“Oh, shit, sorry for interrupting.”

“No, uh, dont be.” You smile, “Why don’t Steve and I join you for a game? Still hosting on Thursdays?”

Eddie chuckles, wiping his nose as he sniffles, his eyes glossy. “Yeah, still on Thursday’s, still the same campaign.”

“Well surely my character can be reintroduced, maybe I went on a side quest and found Steve’s character?” You suggest, feeling excited at being able to explore the D&D world again. Both with Steve and Eddie, although your feelings for him have fizzled down to platonic love, you still want to be friends.

“That sounds like something I can work on.”

“Awesome.” Steve smiles, causing Eddie to nod slowly, his hand playing with a lock of hair.

“We will see you on Thursday.”

“Yeah, sweet.” Eddie smiles, turning away from the door as Steve closes it.

Steve releases a deep breath, leaning his back against the closed door. His eyes search yours as a smile creeps across your face.

“A love like this?” You gesture between the two of you, watching Steve’s face fill with blush, his eyes squeezing shut, a huge smile on his face.

“Shit, you heard that?”

“Mmhm” You hum, placing your hands on his face and pulling him down to you. Your eyes lock together, noses tracing against each other.

“Did you mean it or was it to rile him up?”

“I meant it, god, I meant it.”

You smile, your lips ghosting his.

“Good because I love you.”

Steve closes the gap between the two of you, his hands on your hips. Your lips move in sync, fitting together like the perfect puzzle. He pulls away from your mouth, placing kisses all over your face, mumbling ‘love you’ against your skin.

| | |

Taglist:

@zagreusdaughter @sunshinemunchkin @alina02 @veryspookybatbabe @maybesandohnos @mathletemadison @themoonis-beautiful-tonight @skarlettmikaelson @darling2800 @reynaandeny @uwiuwi @anythingandeverything97 @fckve @nyx2021 @alexxavicry @thehumanistsdiary @anonreaderas @i-love-scott-mccall @tlclick73 @minorlystuck13 @addymartinsstuff @peterpan-neverfails

[its-time-to-write]

i hold it like a grudge - ch. 5

I don’t know why this fic wrecked me so much. I’m literally the author. I know what’s gonna happen. I decided what’s gonna happen. Maybe I’m just tired. also does anyone remember that time I said I hated writing chaptered fics and swearing that each one was an anomaly/the last time I’d ever do it?

table of contents you’re still everything to me

Jamie Tartt is in your kitchen, puttering around so he can make a pot of tea and with an eyebrow slit like it’s 2013 again.

He sent you to go change so you slip on sweatpants and curl up on the sofa.

“Here you are, love,” he says, setting the tea down on the coffee table. He sits on the opposite end of the sofa, a respectable distance away.

“Why didn’t I see you?” you ask, staring out the window. The room is illuminated by the streetlight glow from the kitchen.

“How d’you mean?” responds.

“I visited mum last year. I was there all day. Why didn’t I see you?”

Jamie pauses. “I went early.”

“No, no you didn’t. There weren’t any flowers when I got there, and you said you brought her flowers.”

He’s quiet long enough for you to turn and check if he’s even still in the room.

He is.

“I… saw you,” he says eventually. “Didn’t think we’d be there at the same time, but-” he raises an eyebrow as punctuation. “Anyway, I was behind a tree. Saw you sit down and at first I thought I’d just wait in the car, but you started crying and- and I didn’t know if I should say somethin’ or leave. Did neither, so I just stayed. Placed the flowers and paid my respects once you left.”

You sip your tea in silence.

After a long time you say, “I’m glad you didn’t say anything.”

“She always believed in me,” he says by way of reply. “Even when I was being a little shit, she still made me feel like she wanted me around. Three people I want to make proud the most were her, mummy, and you.”

“Wanted,” you correct. “Wanted to make proud. Mum’s gone, and we’re not even friends.”

“D’you think we ever could be?”

You consider. There’s a part of you that feels like you’re friends already. He’s in your flat for fuck’s sake. 

“I don’t know,” you say. “Honestly I don’t. I’ve only ever loved you, Jamie, and for a long time I couldn’t see the future without you. I still can’t see it, I’m just living day-by-day sometimes.”

He chews his lip. “How can I make it up to you?”

He’s asking all the hard questions tonight.

“I don’t hate you anymore,” you say frankly. “You were there for me when I needed you, and you leaving me was the worst. But it turned out good. And, I dunno, over the last few days I just keep wondering what’s gonna stop you from leaving again? Deciding you want someone else more, or my value means less?”

“Maturity.” He says it slightly drawn out, enunciating the consonants. He has a hint of a smile, which is stupid, because now you have one too.

“Seriously, though, I’m not like that anymore. Went of, was a prick, and it were shit. I’ve never heard mum that mad at me, Jesus Christ. Swore my ear off, she did. Didn’t have real friends, wasn’t happy, drank a lot of vanilla vodka. Keeley broke up with me for cheating on her, too, but not with sex, like; just on a date. Said shit about accountability.” 

He says it the same way he said maturity. 

“Hm,” you say. What else is there to say, really?

“Hm,” you say again as you reach to set your tea down and move to the other end of the couch so you’re pressed up against Jamie’s side.

He wraps his arms around you and pulls you close.

“Stay the night?” you whisper. “I don’t want to be alone and I have a guest bed.” 

Jamie nods.

—

It’s 3am, and you wake up with the sound of your mum saying your name still echoing in your room. You’d been dreaming, showing her the life you’d created and she’d smiled the whole time. She wasn’t wispy, she was the same mum who kicked a football with Jamie, sang horribly off-key with Simon, and convinced Georgie to even give him a chance in the first place. 

Tears pool in the corner of your eye.

I am not drowning. I can do this.

There’s a light tap on the door. “Come in,” you croak.

Jamie pushes it open and sticks his head in. “You’re crying,” he states. “Woke up a minute ago feeling shitty.”

You pat the bed and roll over.

Jamie climbs in under the covers and reaches tentatively for your hand. You let him take it.

“Just because I’m emotionally fragile does not mean that I forgive you,” you tell him tearfully. “I’m just pretending you never left and everything’s fine so I’m not going to hate myself for letting you into my room and letting you see me cry.”

“Alright,” he whispers. “C’mere. We’ll forget about it in the morning.”

You both move closer under the covers. You blame sleep and grief for the kiss you press to his clavicle, and you’re sure you’re dreaming they way he murmured, “How the fuck did I ever leave you?”

—

Jamie is true to his word. He doesn’t say a word when you wake up, just extricates himself from your hold and goes downstairs.

“I’ll be here for today,” he tells you once you drag yourself out of bed. “After that, you can decide how you feel about me. You don’t have to think about it today.”

It’s a four-hour drive to Manchester, and you’re not sure when it was decided that a) Jamie was coming with you, or b) that he’d be the one driving. He stops to pick up breakfast and coffee and doesn’t say a word about eating in his fancy car. You stare out the window and let the music playing over the speakers flow over you. It’s still raining, less than last night but still heavily. 

You grip Jamie’s hand with white knuckles and cry, truly cry in a way you only allow once a year but this time, there’s a new component.

I could’ve had this, you think. You and Jamie, together.

Something new tugs at your chest and you turn to look at Jamie. Tears have gathered in the corners of his eyes, and he’s sniffling a but, trying not to let it show. 

You readjust in your seat so you’re leaning against his arm, and he tilts his head to rest on yours for a fraction of a moment. 

—

Your mum’s place is the same as it always is. Her name, printed in rounded letters. The dates, signifying that she did not spend enough time here. You place down your blanket and sit, back against the headstone as usual with your head tilted up to the sky. Jamie stands a good distance away, just watching with his hands shoved in his pockets. 

“Hi mum,” you begin, voice cracking. “Um, I’m sorry I don’t get up here much. But that’s what kids do, right? Leave the nest and only visit on holidays. 

Things are going well still. I’ve gotten offers for collabs with some brands, so I guess that’s cool. Jamie’s here, he’s by the tree though. I don’t- I don’t know what to do about it, mum. I wish you were here. You always saw things clearer than any of us, and I just don’t know. Turns out I didn’t ever stop loving him. Keeley thinks we have this weird cosmic connection or something. Do you believe in that? I think you might have. 

I- I think we’re going to see Georgie and Simon after this. I don’t really know. I haven’t been thinking straight today, you know. I just miss you.  I want to hug you again and I promise I’m okay on my own, it’s just hard sometimes. I thought- I thought-”

You’re unable to get the rest of the words out. It’s fucking sunny out and it feels wrong, like the world should remember this is a day to mourn a soul who should’ve been around longer. The sky should at least have the decency to cry along with you. 

A hand touches your face to wipe away a tear. You wrap your arms around Jamie’s neck and he just holds you for a minute, an hour, a year. Time might be passing but you’re unaware of it. He’s whispering in your ear, saying, “I’ve got you, it’s alright love, take as much time as you need,” but it’s only sounds to you. Sweet sounds, but not comprehensible words. 

It’s safe, here. It shouldn’t be, here on your mother’s grave with your cheating ex-boyfriend in your arms, but it doesn’t feel like that. 

It feels more like you’ve finally arrived home after years of travel. 

Jamie feels the same as he did before he made it to the Premier League, back when he’d nick flowers from a garden and climb through your window late at night, not like the prideful boy who broke your heart in five minutes over the phone. 

“I’m here as long as you need,” he murmurs, and you believe him. 

You pull away slightly to look him in the face. “I love you,” you say. 

He smiles, but only with his eyes as he swipes a thumb under your eye. “I love you too,” he says. “Don’t think I ever really stopped.”

It’s at that exact moment that the sun disappears behind a cloud and it begins to rain. 

table of contents

[teyums]

can you write neteyam x reader you spend a night together at the tree of souls before he leaves with his family and he wants you come with him?🫶

“Come With Me.”

a/n: a little something bc it’s been a while <3 wc: 769

pairing: neteyam x fem! na’vi reader

warnings: none

News hadn’t been the only thing broken the day Neteyam confessed a fate you never thought he’d be bound to. Him and his family were to embark on a journey to a different clan, far away from home, and far away from you.

It felt as if the weight of the world had come crashing down in a matter of minutes, and the only thing able to keep you up on your feet that moment had been your strong grip on his forearms while you crumbled in his hold.

“What are you thinking about?”

Neteyam’s silky voice draws you out of your rumination, his gaze more than gentle when your head moves to look up at him.

“Nothing, ‘Teyam.” You hum, returning your cheek to its former position on his chest, pressed against the rhythmic thrum of his heart.

The two of you have been stuck to the other like glue for the past week, insistent on not wasting a single second of the time you have left together. And just like yesterday, and the day before that, you’re intwined in each other’s embrace, laid underneath the soft glow emitting from the tree of souls. A sacred place to your people, the same sacred place you both would have sealed the bond, deeming you mate’s for life, if the threat of impending war hadn’t completely destroyed your plans.

You inhale a longing breath as the length of his arm wraps around your frame to bring you closer, the rough pad of his thumb circling the round of your shoulder, and his voice rumbles in his chest as he speaks.

“You know I know you’re lying, right?”

A rugged sigh leaves your lips and you gently pull away from him, and his eyelids lift, eyes widening slightly at the unexpected movement. The familiar sting of tears bubbles against your waterline, and you drop your gaze to focus on the ticklish blades of grass below your bodies that have surprisingly become much more interesting than the conversation at hand.

Neteyam is quick to prop himself up on an elbow, his entire body shifting towards you as well as his attention. Your head flinches away after he delicately lifts your chin with his finger and a frown takes over his lips at your sudden detached state, as well as the sight of amber glossing over with moisture.

“My love, why are you crying?” He breathes out, his face shadowed with concern.

His thumb swipes a stray tear from your cheek before you can even realize it’s escaped, and your lip trembles as you try to form words. What you settle on has his shoulders drooping as well as his moods.

“Don’t ask stupid questions, Neteyam.” You murmur.

And he knows it was a stupid question. Him and the rest of the Sullys are set to leave in two days, first thing in the morning with a grueling flight ahead of them, and all you can think about is his safety. The fear that you may never get to see him again is overbearing, making itself known in your head with a haunting echo. And even louder is the fear that he’ll become betrothed to another, his memory of you long forgotten.

He pauses for a beat, and his eyes flit to where yours are locked on the ground, as if he too is thinking of what to say, before they raise to meet your face again.

“Come with me.”

Your head snaps up at that, and you stare at him incredulously, lips parting and eyes darting between his own as you search them. Surely he must be joking, but as that same determined look remains on his expression, you can’t help the way your jaw drops.

“Oh, you’re serious?”

“Yes, I’m serious.” The roll of his eyes is comical and he reaches to take your hands in his, pulling you up into a seated position with him. “Will you?”

“I-“ You’re at a loss for words, your lungs left breathless as your mind races over all the details regarding his invitation. He can almost see the apprehensive thoughts written on your face. “I don’t know, Neteyam. What about my Mom? She’d be heartbroken… And my Dad, oh gosh, there’s no way he’ll agree-“

His braids move with the action of him shaking his head, and a chuckle that wafts through your ears is enough to halt your rambling. “Just breathe, yawne. I know, it’s a lot. But you don’t have to say yes, the choice is entirely up to you. I just wanted you to know that you have one.” He assures you with a gentle stroke of your cheek and his heart flutters at the way you lean into his hand.

A soft hold circles around his wrist as you peer up at him, up into those warm eyes that never fail to convince you. But before you can say anything, before another doubt can manifest from your lips, he speaks again— a promise sincere enough to wither away your worries.

“I won’t be upset with you if you say no. But just know that wherever I go, my love for you will always follow.”

Likes + Comments + Reblogs are much appreciated! 💗

©teyums 2023

[edenalieth]

A FUZZY FEELING

Pairing: Minho x Y/N

Genre: strangers to lovers, fluff fluff fluff (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

You found a small kitten during a rainy day, little did you know it would be the bond to your next romance…

Words: 5K 

A.N: hi guys! im still trying to write more often huhu so here is a minho fluff! im not really used to write full fluff so your opinion truly matters to me (reblog and comments are very much appreciated). english not being my first language, i apologize for the possible mistakes… a big thank you to my friend maria and enjoy ;) — 230831

The rain was pouring outside. Why didn’t you bring a damn umbrella ? It’s not like you didn’t check the weather forecast on your phone before going out. Apparently, the 40% chances of downpour didn’t convince you and you didn’t want to clutter your small hand bag with such a big object… Now, you were looking awfully foolish. 

Your clothes were getting wet, your hair were a mess, all of this only because of that stupid guy you met on an app and didn’t show up. Yes. It was a shitty day. 

You were grumbling, each steps you took on the sidewalks soaking your sneakers. You needed to find a place to hide, at least for a bit. You would have preferred to go home quick, not wanting to show yourself to anyone looking like this, but you could feel your hands and feet getting cold. 

The place you were at was thankfully crowded with different shops and one especially caught your eyes. It was a pretty small café, a little bit hidden behind some trees. Warm light was coming from it and you could see people happily seeping on their drinks, eating some delicacies and chatting. This would be perfect ! Hastily walking towards it, already thinking about the hot drink you would order, you put a halt to your run when you heard some muffled noises. They sounded familiar to you and you were wondering where they were coming from. Checking your surroundings, you couldn’t see anything. You were about to give up when you heard them again. Small meows. Following them, you almost stumbled over a little dirty plushie. At least, this is what you thought it was until you saw it trembling, small pointy ears dressed on its head, its tail enclosing its frail body. It was a kitten. 

Its orange and white fur was sticking and it was crying out for help, probably looking for its mom, shivering against the pavement. Apparently, someone was having a rough day too… Moved by the small creature, you crouched down to analyze the situation. 

« Hi little thing » you softly said. « Why are you here ? » you talked to the cat as if it was about to answer you any time. You scoffed at the thought of it. It didn’t seem to be hurt, there wasn’t any blood or weird swelling. However, rain wasn’t giving you a break and was getting heavier. Your muscles were getting stiff, you had to make a decision quickly. You weren’t sure if it was okay for you to pick it up like this. Its mom was probably going to be disturbed by the unknown scent on her baby, on the other hand, leaving it near the road wasn’t an option either. 

Stretching the fabric of your jacket, you carefully grabbed the kitten, who didn’t show an ounce of resistance, too weak and cold to do so. It was literally fitting in the palm of your hand, the sight of it making your heart break a bit… You noticed a space between two shops which seemed to be dry enough for the little guy. It would be safe under those bushes until its mom would find it. You put it down delicately, dirt already staining its fur and gave a little pat between its ears to reassure it. « Here you go! I’m sure your mom will come back soon. Good luck little one ». 

Saying you were feeling guilty was an understatement, even more after hearing it meowing again… You had to pull yourself together, you had made the best choice. You couldn’t just pick it up and bring it home in case its mom would come back. It was better to wait for few days. You just hoped that, if it was left alone, a kind soul would find it again and help. Giving it one last glanced, you waved at him and went back towards you first destination: the café. 

As you opened the door, you were welcomed by the sound of small bells and warm brown eyes. The man behind the bar was cleaning some cups with a towel, the sleeves of his black shirt rolled up, staring right at you. He put down his stuff and came to greet you. 

«  Welcome. For one person ? », he asked, a soft smile on his face. « Yes please », you answered. The barista gestured you to follow him to a table and handed you the menu for you to choose. You thanked him as he walked away to take care of the other customers. Unzipping your jacket, you put it on the back rest, hoping it would dry fast. Bringing your attention back to the menu, you were absent-mindedly looking at it. Your brain was fuzzing with questions and worries about the stray cat. Was it really ok to leave it like that ? Maybe you should go back and take it to the vet… But, if its mom was close it would be cruel to take her baby away. 

Biting your nails and lost into your thoughts, you didn’t even notice that the auburn haired boy was back. 

« Did you make your choice ? », he was holding a pen, unconsciously taping on a notebook, his cat like eyes questioning you, his head slightly tilted to the side. He was curiously looking at you, his brows slightly furrowed. Taken aback by his question, you vaguely answered. «  Hmm… I will take a hot chocolate and… hmm… whatever cake you think would go along with it. Thank you. » 

« Then I would recommend the pistachio and raspberry tart » he offered, waiting for your approval. « Perfect ! ». He nodded and grabbed the menu you were handing him before going back to the bar, not without a last glance to your table. After several minutes, the brown haired man came back with your order. You gladly took it and tried to enjoy it, however, your stomach was kind of tied with a knot at the memory of the frail wet cat. Despite your reluctance, the hot chocolate going down your throat felt like a relief. You could feel your entire system getting its energy back sip after sip and you thanked the heavens for putting this place on your path. You would have to come back in a less miserable state and not with a mind full of worries. 

Time went by and you had to go home. You were still thinking of what you could do. Maybe you could come back the next day to check on the animal ? With your job schedules it might be a bit difficult but that would be better than nothing. 

Looking out the window, the rain hadn’t stop at all… Never mind. One last run towards the bus stop wouldn’t be so bad. A soft voice startled you « Was everything fine ? », he asked while clearing your table and the fact that you barely touched the pie didn’t go unnoticed. « Oh! You didn’t like it ? I’m sorry, I should have recommended something more simple maybe… » You stopped him « No! Not at all! It was delicious! » 

Visibly relieved by your statement, he continued « Then, would you like me to pack it for you to bring at home ? ». You accepted, thankful on how thoughtful the man was. Following him to the countertop to pay the bill, you thought about this word again: thoughtful. Maybe you could ask him to keep an eye on the cat ? It was a bit inappropriate to do so, after all, he had his job and probably a ton of things to do after that… Yet, the way he was patiently gazing at you, clumsily looking for your credit card, made you think it would be fine. 

« Can I ask you something ? You, obviously can say no, I wouldn’t mind » you said sheepishly. The man was visibly curious. Were you going to ask for his number ? Was it why you seemed a bit embarrassed around him ? He was full of expectations but probably not that one. « Of course ! » 

You were kind of fidgeting while paying the bill. « Well, I have came across a small kitten earlier and I’m really worried about it… Its mom wasn’t around and it was trembling. Do you mind looking for it ? I let it near your store, under the bushes so it could dry. » Visibly surprised by your request, he quickly tried to keep his composure and hide the slight deception. « Where exactly did you let it ? » he asked smiling as an even brighter smile was forming on your face. You started to describe the exact spot you let it and thanked the man a hundred times for his help. « No worries, I have three cats myself » he laughed. 

You were about to leave when he noticed that he forgot to give you the tart. « Miss, wait! » he stopped you, gently grabbing your wrist. « You forgot this and please take this as well ». In his hand was the food bag and an umbrella. You tried to politely decline the offer but he insisted, saying the pie would go to waste otherwise. You blushed a little, profusely thanked him and went to catch the bus. 

The umbrella was a blessing and you thought that, maybe, he was an angel who helped to make your day better. You would have to return it to him as soon as possible and ask him about the stray kitten. You didn’t even know his name… 

Finally, the bus appeared and you jumped inside it. Sitting comfortably, you put your hands inside your jacket’s pockets when your fingers came across a paper that wasn’t there before. Intrigued, you pulled it out to see what it was. Handwritten on it was a phone number with a message: « Please call me so I can give you news of your furry friend — Minho Lee ». A weird little drawing was next to it, it looked like a strange face. You giggled. Lee Minho. Here was the name of your helper. Your heart felt warm at the idea of him taking care of the cat and got you happy the whole ride. 

✧✧✧

« Where the hell are you running to ? » asked your coworker. « I have an appointment! » You half screamed while heading to the exit. It was the end of your schedule and one thing kept you going the whole day: you were going to see the kitten. You waved them goodbye, your bag in one hand, Minho’s umbrella in the other. 

Last night, you did call him. It was kind of awkward at first and very polite, until you heard his cats meowing, asking for their food. Minho seemed a bit overwhelmed and couldn’t keep up with your small talk. He apologized and hang up. Few days passed and you had exchanged some messages with the café worker. He sent you a picture of a cardboard shelter he made, where you could see some old blankets, milk and food, then some messages to plan your meeting. He also reassured you saying that your friend wasn’t cold anymore but its mom hadn’t showed up. You were worriedly looking at your screen when you received another text from Minho. 

| minho lee: fluffy boy is waiting for you! 

A picture was attached to it. It was kinda blurry, the kitten was probably moving around, but you could see the orange and white fur of it which looked like a cotton ball. Asking for the man’s help had been the best idea. After 40 minutes, you finally arrived to destination. A panel with the word « closed » was hanging on the front door. Getting closer of the glass you used your hands as a shield to look inside. Minho was actively sweeping the floor but as soon as he turned around he gestured for you to come. You entered the café, once again welcomed by the bells’ symphony. 

« Give me a second, I’m almost done » he asked, one finger up to emphasize his sentence. 

« No problem, I’m sorry to bother at this moment of the day… » 

« Yea, you’re right. You’ve been a bother from the start » he jokingly said. You looked at him and sticked your tongue out. He shook his head and rolled his eyes at your childish behavior but, deep inside, he could feel his heart beating a bit faster. It only had been less than a week since you met each other, however, he wanted to talk to you every day and felt strangely close to you. Things were still pretty formal but he could see that you were slowly opening up. 

« Ok! I think everything is done! We can go. » he stated, both of his hands on his hips, looking around as a last check. 

« Where are we going already ? » you gently asked, following him as you were leaving the place. « To Sondonri association. It’s where I let the kitten. Its mom didn’t show up and it was visibly loosing weight… » he closed the door and went to the parking behind the shop. « I would have kept it with me if I wasn’t so busy with work… » this last sentence was more of a murmur and you could see a wrinkle on his forehead. He had been worried.  

You took place on the passenger seat while the brown haired boy was starting the car to drive you to destination. During the trip, you talked about your day and he also told you that the association you were going to was the same one where he adopted his three cats (or his sons as he liked to call them). Soon enough, you were in front of the association… which was closed. 

« Wait ? What time is… Oh… », his mouth was forming a small cercle, letting his bunny teeth slightly showing. Minho was clearly dumbfounded as he looked at the hour on his watch. It was passed 7:30pm. 

« Don’t tell me you didn’t check the opening hours ? » you looked at him, half laughing, half sarcastic but the man was remaining silent. 

« It happens to the best of us, ok ? I was s-sure it was closing at 8! » he stuttered, hopelessly trying to defend himself. He frowned and his ears were turning red, embarrassed by the situation and you couldn’t help but laugh. You put a compassionate hand on his shoulder. 

« Yea sure. » you rolled your eyes. « But I owe you one, so why don’t we go eat somewhere ? ». Your offer seemed to surprise him and the redness of his ears was spreading through his cheeks. You couldn’t really tell tho, the dusky light distorting his real skin tone. « Exactly, so be more respectful. » Minho scoffed and you gently pushed him with your shoulder. He flashed you a mischievous grin and you realized how handsome he was. Of course, you noticed that since day one. Still, the more you learnt to know him, the more you found him beautiful inside and out. You especially liked his funny and devoted personality, as well as his cat like eyes, his manly hands (they seemed really soft!) and his li-… Wait a minute. Your thoughts were running a bit too wild and your friend was looking at you, confused by your sudden change of emotion. You made him turn over to go back to the car, which he followed not without a hint of hesitation and asking on where you were going to have a diner. But honestly, you had no idea… You ended up going to the closest konbini, eating ramyeon at the store, drinking and enjoying the evening. You discovered that he had a sweet spot for pudding. 

« Pudding ? Really ? » 

« What ? Is it that weird for a man to like sweet things ? » he side eyed you, still eating his desert with a pout. 

« I don’t know, you work at a café. I was expecting something else, I guess ». 

« Maybe but sometimes simple things are the best » Minho stated with a proud face. And he was right. This evening was pretty simple. You both here, eating and talking about your lives, learning to know each other, talking about your furry friend. It truly was the best. 

« Are you sure you don’t want me to drive you home ? » he offered for the nth time. 

« Yes, don’t worry. I’m not really far. » you reassured him even if he wasn’t completely ok with it. 

« Mmh… Fine. But send me a text, you know, just to be sure you didn’t get into a weird situation or something. ». The brown haired man was intensely staring at you, as a warning. « I promise ».

As soon as you arrived, you kept your words. 

| you: im still alive! 

| minho: ugh, guess I will have to bear with you a bit longer then

| you: meanie…

| minho: :p

Removing, your jacket and putting your bag on the coffee table, you realized that you totally forgot to return his umbrella. Thankfully, you were seeing each other at the association tomorrow and, this time, you would be able to see the rescued cat. 

| you: at which hour tomorrow ? and, please, dont mess it up this time

| minho: tch! you loved spending time with me! 

His words made your heart flutter, it was true. You really enjoyed your time together.

| minho: let’s say around 11am, sounds good for you ? 

| you: perfect! see you tomorrow then, good night! 

| minho: g’night y/n 

This night, you could barely sleep. Your head was filled with his face, his smile, his voice calling your name… Holding your pillow tight, you tossed it aside while facing the feeling, a sweet feeling blooming in your heart. 

✧✧✧

You were awake at 7 this morning, too excited to keep sleeping. What was happening to you ? Getting over excited like a teenager. You were impatient to see the kitten, you hoped it was in a better shape than the last time you saw it. You were also impatient to see Minho. Where you having a crush ?… Uh. Definitely. The ringtone of your phone startled you. 

| minho: yo y/n ! you up ? 

You hastily took the phone and answered. 

| you: yup! Slept well ? 

| minho: woaaa, you answered faster than usual. can’t wait to see kitty cat ? 

His comment made you blush a little. Thank god he wasn’t there or he would have teased you for that. 

| you: yes :( it’s like my baby 

| minho: i understand, felt the same for my sons. ok, let’s meet at the association then, see you 

At 10am, you were more than ready to go and arrived even a bit in advance. Now that it was broad daylight, you could see many dogs behind the fences, enjoying their time outside. Some people were there to adopt some of the animals, others were probably caretakers. You were absorbed by the scenery, when you felt that weird feeling telling you someone was watching you. When you turned around, a smily Minho was there. 

« You truly are impatient to see the cat » he said while walking up to you. 

« What about it ? Are you jealous I don’t give you the same attention ? » you teased. « Hmm, maybe ». He passed next to you as you were stunned by his words. Quickly coming back to your senses you followed him inside. 

You were welcomed by two women and one of them seemed to know the brown haired man pretty well. 

« Minho! It’s good to see you! How is the café going ? Are your parents fine ? And your cats ? » she asked with a soothing voice. She was middle-aged and exhaled literal kindness, the type of perfect mom you see in series. « Everything is going great, thank you so much. I came with my friend to see the kitten I brought early this week ». He stepped aside so he could properly introduce you to the women. « Oh my! You’re the lady who saved this baby. Thank you for your help, I can’t imagine what would have happened to it if you didn’t help it… » she shook her head, picturing the worst. « Come, I will bring you to it » the woman gestured for you to go with her, which you did. 

You entered a room which probably was a nursery. Lots of kitten were sleeping or playing together but, as soon as your eyes landed on its white and orange fur, you could tell that it was your cat. You gasped and repeatedly tapped on Minho’s arm. He sighed at your behavior but he was truly amused by it. 

« Can I go see it ? » you politely ask to the worker. « Of course! Be careful of the other ones, they might want to climb on you » she prevented. And she was right. As soon as you crouched down, some of the cats hide behind the cat trees or boxes, while some others were really curious. They were sniffing your clothes, trying to climb on your legs and you decided to sit down so you could be more stable. Unfortunately, the rescued kitten seemed too scared to come close. 

Your friend joined you and tried to lure the cat with a toy. Moving it close to it, the colored feathers of the stick seemed to catch its attention. You could see its pupils getting rounder, its small body ready to jump and lightly wiggling. It attacked the toy and did it again.

« What are you doing ? » you asked when Minho started to move the feathers closer to you. « Shh, just trust me ». You weren’t so sure of his tactics until it paid off. The cotton ball was happily playing with the toy on your legs, biting its feathers and trying to catch it with its claws. You heart melted at the view of it. It had gained weight since the last time you saw it, you could tell that it was happy and healthy. « It truly worked! ». Your friend looked at you with a smug face and leaned towards you. You felt his fingers brushing over yours, chill going down your spine and it created an eye contact. You were both staring at each other, Minho’s gaze trailing along your face features until he quickly removed his hand. « S-sorry, I didn’t realize we were that closed » he apologized with a sheepish look. « It’s fine! » you almost squeaked that sentence and swore in your mind for being so easy to read. The brown haired boy acted as if nothing happened, still playing with the kitten. However, his ears betrayed him once again because of their bright red color. 

You kept playing a bit more with the cats before you had to go back home. 

You both thanked the workers and told them you would come back soon. 

Once outside, you stretched and sighed in content. « Fuzzy seems happy ! Did you see how playful it is ? It was adorable ! » you were toddling gently and humming. 

« Fuzzy ? » you friend raised an eyebrow. « Yes, the kitten. » you replied. « That’s plain as fuck. » he deadpanned. « Did I ask ? » you turned around to face him with challenging eyes. « Maybe you should have ». 

Your faces were now so close that you could feel his breath on your cheeks. Heart racing, palms getting moist and you still couldn’t look away, totally captivated by his gaze. Oh, you looked gorgeous to him and the contact you made earlier this day made his stomach tingle in the most delicious way. Too busy looking at Fuzzy, you didn’t even notice how Minho gave you all his attention, how he loved seeing all your facial expressions, how he loved your laugh, your face, your curves. He was getting greedy. Greedy to be part of your life and be able to be just as close as you were right now or even more. 

You gulped and created a diversion. « Here. Your umbrella ! I forgot to give it back to you last time ». 

Minho looked at it and took it, brushing your hand in the process. The shivers were back. « Thanks Y/N, glad it helped you. But you still owe me. » 

« What ? I paid for last time dinner ! » you protested, crossing your arms in front of your chest. A mischievous smile was adorning the man’s face. « A bit weak for someone who saved your kitten and gave you his umbrella. ». He was expecting and, gullible, you fell into his trap. 

« Hmph. What do you want from me Lee Minho ? » you asked, suspicious. « I’m going to think about it. » he then headed towards the bus stop you previously used. Running after him, you called his name but he wasn’t answering. He didn’t want to break the game he was putting in place.

✧✧✧

Days went by and you still didn’t know what he wanted. He teased you a lot about it, saying you had to be kind and obedient until he would find out. Except, that you weren’t. 

You grew to know each other more deeply, you crush for him getting stronger and often came to visit him to spend time together such as: visiting your furry friend or just wondering around the city after work. This evening was no exception to the rule as you were walking along the river. 

« I’m still waiting for my penalty ».

« A penalty ? » he sneered « You mean the price of your debt, right ? ». You sticked your tongue out and nudged him. « Come on. There must be something. » 

Minho stopped and you bumped into him. « What the… » 

« There is something. » he announced. You rubbed your lightly bruised nose and asked « Spill it! Why are you being so secretive ? ». 

« You would grant me anything ? » his face was totally serious and you didn’t know if you had to laugh or be scared right now. « If by granting, you mean being your servant for the rest of my life, that’s an absolute no ». He broke into a smile before answering « No, silly. It’s something else. » 

« Just say it, Minho ! » you sighed. « Is a kiss too much ? », his voice was soft and he tried to keep his composure despite his heart beating so hard he was afraid you could hear it. You felt your blood rushing to your cheeks. Did you hear that well ? You were used to his jokes and you could tell when he wasn’t playing. And he wasn’t. Too startled to speak, you simply nodded, holding your breath in anticipation. Minho stepped closer, a brand new glow shining in his beautiful eyes. His hand traveled to cup your face, his gaze glued to your lips. « I need an answer, Y/N. Is a kiss too much ? ». You whined. Why was he like this ? « Kiss me already, Lee Minho. » He tenderly smirked and closed the gap between you. He first kissed your cheeks as you were putting your arms around his waist. He then went to the corner of your mouth, teasing you till the last second before you could fully feel his lips on yours. It felt warm and soft, just like taking a nap in a sunny room or savoring the sweetest delicacy. 

You pushed your body against his and deepened your kiss. You would never get tired of this and you could feel the emotions, that you diligently took care of, were fully blooming into your stomach. You both stopped to catch your breath, Minho still cupping your face, his forehead resting against yours. You felt at peace with him. « You’re a good kisser Y/N Y/L/N» he stated, brushing his nose with yours. « What made you even doubt of it ? ». He laughed and laced his fingers with yours. « Let’s head home ». 

During the way back, you both couldn’t stop looking at each other, smiling like idiots and kissing from time to time. You loved it, feeling like you were falling in love for the first time again. 

« Here we are », Minho had walked you home and was about to part way when you held him back, grabbing his jacket. « Do you want to s-sleep here ? » you offered. His eyes widened a bit but his actions spoke for himself when he entered your apartment, a tender smile on his face. 

✧✧✧

The next day, your eyes were welcomed by a sleepy Minho next to you. You caressed his bare back before preparing breakfast. You didn’t have much at your house and tried to make it as good as possible. When he woke up, his hair were all messy and he was walking with his eyes half-closed. « Morning » he said with a raspy voice. « Hi ». Wow. How did you manage to pull a man like him and be able to call him yours ? Wait. Was he even yours ? You didn’t clearly talk about your feelings or what you wanted to do next. Realization made you a bit gloomy but it was soon soothed by Minho’s kiss on the top of your head.

« Are we going to see Fuzzy today ? » he asked. 

« Yes and… You know what ? I’m going to adopt it. » you were determined. After all, you had created a special bond with this cat since day one and it was thank to that very same cat that you met this amazing boy. « It’s about time ! » he sarcastically answered. 

« But, before we go, I will have to go home and change. » the brown haired man stood up and started to pack his things. « I can accompany you, if you want » you were about to follow him when he stopped you. « No take your time and meet me to Sondonri when you’re ready » another kiss, « Thank you for the breakfast. » and he left. 

Two hours later, you were in front of the association and your boyfriend (?) was nowhere to be seen. 

| you: where r u ?

| minho ♡: come inside

When you entered, Minho was talking to one of the worker at the front desk. He gently grabbed your hand before inviting you to tell your request. 

« Good morning, I would like to adopt a kitten. »

« I guess it’s for the little male you kept visiting ? » the man asked, « One second please ». He was looking through the files of his computer when he started to frown. « I’m so sorry miss but it seems that it has been adopted earlier… ». You felt your heart sinking. « What ? Are you su-… ». You couldn’t finish your sentence that Minho let go your hand to join the middle-aged women you had seen multiple times. She was handing him a little ball of white and orange fur. Fuzzy ! You almost ran up to him, your vision getting blurry because of your tears. « Is… Is it the right cat ? » your throat was tight, waiting. « Yes and it’s all yours. I made the necessary steps before you arrived » he said, visibly satisfied by your reaction. Happy tears were rolling down your cheeks as you were patting the kitten’s head. Minho bowed a little and whispered « I like you, Y/N ». Half giggling, half crying, all you could say was « I thought you would never say it. ». He chuckled and softly hugged you, not to crush the small fluffy boy. 

You could tell the the kitten had found his new home, just as you found one in Minho. 

[gretavanmoon]

an omnipresent force • ch 4

Chapter 4 - DARK ALLIANCE

Jake x female reader

Words: 13K

A/N: Semi-AU// Set six years in the future, the world has decided to cast humankind aside, starting with the poisonous entities that are destroying her the most.

*Thank you to everyone who has shown support for this story that goes a little bit against the grain. I so truly appreciate your little messages of reaction and interest, it's truly what makes me want to keep telling the tale. xoxoxo

Warnings: Dystopian Horror, Cursing, Crying, Suspense, Feelings of Fear and Uncertainty, An Apocalyptic World, Violence (& mention of firearms), Kidnapping, Blood, Death & Dying, Lying, Attacks, Deceit, Panic, Mental Anguish. Smut: Kissing, Heavy Pining, Light Touching

JAKE

“Jake they’re right behind us…” I hear Y/N whisper from over my shoulder as we traipse through the thick field of grasses. A quick glance behind me shows that she’s right- three of the hooded guards are rushing behind us, their bodies floating a bit more quickly than us on our two legs. 

“Fuck,” I gasp, trying my best to pick up the pace and catch up with Sam and Danny who are just a bit ahead of us trying to pull away at fallen branches and thick foliage. I pull her along behind me, just as she had pulled me through the building that’s now lying as a pile of rubble in the distance. 

My mind is rushing with what to do, where to go as I feel them closing in on us in the dusk of the evening. Do we keep running? Do we hide? Do we turn around and fight? Every single survival movie I’d ever seen comes rushing back to my memory, but I’m left without a shred of an idea from the pure exhaustion that I feel in my bones, lulling my mind into a blur of confusion and panic again. I’m smarter than this, I’m better than this… think, Jake…

And then, as if our minds are still tied together with an invisible rope, Sam points to a tree with low branches a bit in the distance, and immediately I know that climbing it will give us an advantage. I nod to him as we duck under a thick thistle, thorns catching my ugly gray sweatshirt as I feel the sweat beginning to pool on my face. 

“Can you climb?” I whisper as quietly as I can to Y/N, watching as Sam uses Danny’s shoulders as leverage to climb and sturdy himself atop the lowest branch. 

“Yes,” she says with confidence, watching as Sam gets his balance and jumps on the branch a few times to test its integrity. Thankfully, the cover of trees has concealed us for just enough time to climb ten or twelve feet high into the tree, all of us running on enough adrenaline to not be afraid of falling. I reach out my hand and help Y/N out onto the highest branch we can reach, and make sure my brothers are safely hidden, as well. I get my balance and hunker down, trying to calm my breathing so as not to give away our location. The air is still blowing cold, and I wonder if these beings have any power to find our hiding place with anything other than sight, but I can’t think of that right now. I’ve got to stay tactful.

As the four of us perch on our respective branches, we watch as the four beings cross below us, their hoods and cloaks still covering their bodies as the thorn bushes are no match for the material they’re made from. I hold my breath as we try to stay as still as statues. I hear them begin to communicate, using a language I’ve never heard before with sounds that don’t sound anything like a human being’s. I’m terrified as I watch them below us, scrambling around as they realize they’ve lost our trail. 

I cover my mouth with my hand as I try and calm myself, my heart beating from my chest as I realize these beings are mirror images of the ones that adorn the cover of our first album. 

They’re real, and they’re right fucking in front of us, trying to do anything but share their wisdom around a stupid campfire. 

Their noises are like the screams of ten people, each one emitting a screech while simultaneously the lowest, deepest bellow. I feel the branches barely shake as we all shudder with fear, and I glance to my brothers, seeing that they’re shaken with just as much terror as I am. 

I feel the branch shake more as the leaves rustle, and my head darts sideways as I realize Danny has lost his balance, holding on for dear life as the thin branch he is standing on has begun to break. “Daniel!” I squeal as I reach out for him, my hand only barely gripping onto his sweatshirt as the branch finally gives way and his fingers slip from their desperate grasp. All the breath leaves my lungs as I watch him tumble through the leaf-covered branches, Sam even falling a few feet just from the knee-jerk reaction of trying to catch him as he falls. 

All three of the beings look up to us, and I know our cover is blown. They rush to gather right where Danny is falling to, his hands and arms reaching out at every turn to try and stop his own fall, but his body weight is no match. He falls with a light thud onto the thick grass, and I watch as the hooded figures swarm him on the ground, their coverings a quick blur as the wind blows them. 

“Daniel!!” Sam wretches as he begins lowering himself quickly, branch by branch. I feel the draw to do the same, I can’t stand by and let them be taken. I feel a fire beginning to burn within myself, much the same as I would guess Y/N felt as she watched these same motherfuckers attack me in the hall just an hour ago. Don’t ask me how I knew it, but I could tell that she was preparing herself to jump just the same as I was. 

“Stay here,” I say to her with a harsh look of ordinance before I begin lowering myself down the damp bark of the tree branches, completely unknowing of what was happening below me. All I know is that I’m not getting separated from them again. I’m not losing them again. 

“No!” she cries. “I’m going with you! I’m not staying here and watching you get–” 

She can’t even finish her sentence as I watch her eyes well with terrified tears, still red and blotched from her cry earlier. I stand on a branch a few feet below her, turning to face her again. “If you stay here, you might be able to come and help us, or you might be able to find your Paps… they might not even know you’re up here. Just stay, please.” She doesn’t realize that I can’t even bear the thought of those things getting ahold of her. Fuck, I don’t even know this woman, and I already don’t want anything happening to her. 

“Jake!!” I hear a curdled scream from Danny on the ground below me, and I jump right back into lowering myself back down the slippery branches. My arms and legs carry me down fast, just like they’d do when I was a kid and we were late getting home for curfew. The first thing I hear is the brash and mind-bending sounds that are coming from those creatures, all surrounding Sam and Danny on the ground. I nearly vomit with fear, and the need to protect my little brothers. I feel my fists ball up, my fingernails crushing into my own skin as my body lurches forward, digging the toes of my boots into the tall grass and dirt to get to them.  

My hands make contact, my head in a rush of overwhelming adrenaline as I feel the fabric of the coat of the one I’d decided to tackle. Just touching it with the palms of my hands burns, but not in a way that makes me jump back in pain. It’s almost like it’s emanating a buzzed glow of energy, lightly zapping at my hands as I push it off of Daniel. I thrash my entire body weight onto it, pushing it over into the grass and expecting to finally be face to face with it, but all I see under the hood is darkness. It’s faceless. 

I expect it to become violent with me, retaliating against my show of authority, but it doesn’t. It lies on the ground as it’s body thrashes and shakes below me, eventually teetering out into a somewhat peaceful relaxed position. And the sound it’s making suddenly isn’t haunting, anymore. Suddenly it sounds familiar, speaking words I recognize in a comforting timbre as I’m struck with surprise. My hands gripped hard on it’s chest, it speaks to me,

“Who… is the wiser… to help us steer?” it asks gently, it’s face still invisible to me.

“What?!” I cry, the familiar words hitting me in the chest. 

“You… you are the wiser…” it answers itself. 

I bite my lips, remembering all the information I’d been given as of late. They want Josh, they want us for the knowledge that they assume we possess. They think we are the wiser, able to use us for the preservation of their own world.  

It’s then that I know for a fact that these beings must most definitely be those who live with one foot in our realm, and one foot in the other. 

“I don’t know shit! And neither do my brothers!” I yell in its face, pinning my hands down harder into its burning chest. “Let us go!”

“You are the wiser…” it repeats, it’s voice sounding like an angelic plea. “You will steer our land of infinite wonders… that lies a billion lightyears from here…”

What in the everliving fuck is this thing talking about? Just then, the burning sensation on my hands becomes more intense, and I can suddenly hear my brothers struggling alongside me with the others. My hands can hardly stand the buzzing heat, but I try my best not to let up on it, keeping it pinned beneath me. My teeth grit as I fight against the raging fire I’m holding on to, to the point where I feel my hands begin to blister. 

“Ah, the wounded warrior…” it says with a sly laugh, as if it’s taunting my pain. “Your world is riddled with scars, come, come with us…” I want nothing more than to strangle the thing with my bare hands, but I can’t seem to move them. 

A strange softness overcomes me as I listen to it, and I feel as if I broke my concentration, I could float away. My body feels lighter, and my mind is suddenly filled with clarity. It’s voice speaks to me like a siren song, luring me in to listen to it, hypnotizing me…

“Get the hell away from him!” Y/N’s voice breaks me from my trance, and my body is knocked sideways and off of the being. I land in the grass, the wetness dripping off of the blades and onto my face, waking me up and bringing me back to reality. I sit up in surprise, finding Y/N straddling the same being that I just was, except it’s bony hands and fingers are now wrapped around her throat. It slaps her, grips her wrists, wraps its hands in her hair with force as it tries to undo itself from her reign. 

And I’m filled with protective rage, all over again. 

“Y/N, NO!!” I slip as I stand, darkness now falling around us. I reach underneath her arms, lifting her off of it and thrusting her back onto the ground. “Its gonna hurt you!!” But just as I get my words out, I watch from my peripheral as something is shot directly through the chest of the being that we were just fighting. It screams its terrifyingly haunting sound, causing the other two to repeat after it. Its chest caves, leaving it quickly lifeless as its limbs fall weakly to the ground. 

Danny and Sam take the opportunity to rise up from their own physical altercations, and just as quickly as the first had happened, two more long objects fly straight through the chests of the other two, making them land with harsh thuds on the wet ground. 

I hear Sam yelp from fear, falling as he crab-crawls backward to us. The four of us sit stunned, looking onto the beings in complete terror as we see them lifeless and unmoving on the ground, the thin sticks emerging straight from their chest cavities. 

“What the fuck, what the fuck? Did something just–” Sam pants, his voice wrought with fear as he grips at his own chest and throat. 

I can’t breathe, I can hardly even speak as I slowly inch closer to them, trying my best to get a closer look. “Jake, no! Back up!” Danny says through heavy breaths. “They could still be–” 

“It’s arrows,” Y/N says quietly from behind us, confirming my suspicion. “Someone shot them…”

“Who did?! What did?!” Sam panics. I begin to shake my head side to side to signal that I don’t know, when I hear what sounds like horse hooves racing on the ground behind us. My first instinct is to run to Y/N, standing in front of her to block her from whatever new impending danger is about to face us. Danny and Sam stand quickly, too, joining at my sides.

The past ten minutes have been like a fever dream, pulling and pushing me through a hundred emotions one after another, but nothing could have prepared me for what I saw that very second. My hand reaches behind me and finds Y/N’s, gripping her fingers and interlacing them with mine out of pure fear. 

In front of us, in a glittering red cloud of dust, appears a man on a white horse. Two men, dressed completely in black, are walking behind him.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Danny mutters.

“Stay away from us,” I warn him, my voice nervous and shaky, but commanding nonetheless. Y/N’s fingers squeeze into mine. 

The man is ethereal, his skin a rich tone, glittering specks of orange and red as it reflects off the last bit of setting sunlight. His lower half is dressed in white leather and gossamer, with shining gold jewelry adorning his body. His dark hair reaches all the way down to his waist, and his movements are slow and calculated, powerful and confident.

And there, rested across his back, is a wooden bow.

His eyes jerk to me, bright orange as he finally makes sense of my threat. It’s then that I realize he only has one eye. He tilts his head back and laughs, showing all of his bright white teeth. He steps off of his horse, gripping it’s reigns in his hand as he begins stepping toward us, making us retreat. 

“We said don’t come any closer,” Danny says from beside me. It’s then that I remember the two men behind the man on the horse. 

“It’s okay, Jake, he’s on our team,” one of them says as the dust around them settles, the dryness throwing me off as we’re all covered in wet mud. I recognize his voice immediately, as the First. 

“Hey, what the fuck are you doing here,” I ask, feeling a little more at ease that now the men I know only as the First and Second have found us. “What the hell is happening, who is this?”

“Do you not recognize me, Jacob?” the man laughs as he runs his hand along the mane of the horse. “Don’t any of you recognize me?” He glares at each of us intently, his one glowing eye bouncing from one to the next as he looks a little offended. 

“I… think I could take a wild guess…” Sam admits under his breath. 

The man drops the reigns and steps forward, pulling the arrows from the beings’ chests with ease as he inspects them, sliding them all back into his quiver. I take notice that there isn’t any blood covering them. “Don’t be shy, gentlemen, you did only write a song about me. A quite catchy one, at that. Lots of emotion, huh? What, does the steed and the bow not give it away?”

The four of us stand stunned as we watch him, the same thought flowing through all of our minds. 

“Are we being fucking Punk’d right now?” Danny whispers into my ear, making me huff a disbelieving laugh through my nose. 

The man glides over closer to our group, standing tall and confident as he places his hands on his hips. I watch behind him as the First and Second rest an arm against his horse. It only just now hits me that I can see their faces, reminding me that they are brothers. 

“It’s alright, I know this must seem a bit… unreal,” the man boasts, wiping his hands together. I’m struck by his grit, mixed in with the right amount of a strange flawless beauty that I’ve never come in contact with before. He most definitely doesn’t walk this earth naturally. “But don’t be afraid of me, I beg you… I’m here to help. Just as Josiah just told you, I’m on your team.”

Josiah. 

“Jake how the fuck did that guy know your name? Who is this? What the hell is going on, here?” Sam asks with a bit of annoyance in his tone. 

“Sam, Danny, listen to me, I can explain all of this…” I try and calm him, releasing Y/N’s hand from my grasp.

“Yeah, you better explain because I think we almost just got killed by these fucking things, and then again by this guy,” Sam shouts, throwing his hands into the air. “He shot them with fucking arrows, Jake! They almost hit us!”

“Whoa, whoa, my aim isn’t that bad,” the man interrupts us. “I put them to sleep for you, didn’t I?”

“I’m talking to my fucking brother, please, sir, can you just–” Sam says, disbelief and aggravation written all over his face, and Danny’s too. The scene that’s unfolding around us looks and seems absolutely absurd.

“Listen, remember just a while ago I told you that there is more to this than we think there is…? Remember I told you we are in for a lot worse than we realize, and Daniel, how I was telling you that your thoughts about our music are very much real?” I try and begin to explain, knowing that I could sit here for hours before I get all the pieces put together. 

They do nothing but nod, their eyes anxiously jumping from me to the new people behind us. 

“Apparently uh, apparently you were exactly right, Danny. That world we created, or thought we created in our heads, in our music… it exists. In another realm, right alongside ours. Josh told me, right before the night they all came and took us from the cabin, that his inspiration was drawn from nightmares that he’s had for decades. All this time, he thought he was writing music about an imaginary place that his nightmares showed him, turns out that he is somehow able to see one that truly exists.”

The two of them stand and study me, looks of near entertainment daring to push through their features. 

“You’re fucking joking, right? Like this is a joke?” Sam says through a smile. 

“That’s exactly what I thought, too, when I learned about it all,” I say, glancing back to the brothers still standing by the horse. “Our world is killing us, right? Using the technology we created to exterminate mankind… well, that realm that exists alongside us can’t survive without our world, and neither can its inhabitants. And vice versa. So, the ones who inhabit that world,” I motion to the three beings on the ground beside us, “have been sent to collect us. The ones who can’t be infected by the rash, the ones who haven’t been victim to the extermination. And more importantly, the ones who they think know exactly what is going to happen next in the Infisonicosm.”

Danny erupts with laughter, just as I thought he would. Sam, though, studies me intently as his eyes squint. 

“Nightmares,” he whispers. “All of that, that whole thing we created, was because Josh had nightmares?” 

“Most of it,” I say. “Some of it was from our minds, if you remember…” Sam nods in what I feel to be a bit of understanding. 

“So you,” Danny trudges forward, pushing himself between Sam and I, “What are you, the Archer? That dumbass character that we wrote about and I dressed up as in that video?!” he mocks. “Yeah fucking right, this is ridiculous.” I can tell Danny is in denial, which throws me off, given that he has been the one unraveling all of the ties of our music the past couple of months. 

“Might sound ridiculous, but it’s true, my guy,” the Second says, reminding me of that first night in the dark room when they told me everything. 

“And who the hell are you guys?” Danny presses. “Guards from the pods? Why should we trust you?”

“They were the ones that found me the first night we were taken, Daniel. They found me and told me everything. They were hired by the others, but they’re here to help us. They’re playing devil’s advocate,” I explain, earning two nods from the brothers. “They used to be fans of ours, actually.”

“Fans, fuck that’s convenient. And you, Archer Man, why are you helping us? If you’re from that world, why did you just kill these three things?” Danny presses. I feel Y/N at my back again, her presence instantly calming me. 

“I’m part of the resistance, always have been,” he says nonchalantly with a shrug. “I’ve already been through this once, during the First Battle, the one you guys ended up writing about. Well, me and Sparrow, of course,” he rambles. “But now my people are using humans to their advantage so we don’t take as severe of a loss as we did last time. They’re taking your people and transforming you to bring you into our world, making you forget all about your own. Wiping all your memories of this place. And I promise you, though our world has it’s perks, you’d much rather stay here, even though Mother Nature is trying to push you off…” The man is explaining this all to us as if it’s second nature to him, which, now I gather is probably true. “Oh, and I didn’t kill these things. I told you, I put them to sleep. They can’t die all the way, because they inhabit both this world, and their own. They’re only half-alive over there.”

“This is fucking ridiculous…” Sam says with a huff, running a hand over his mouth as he turns away from us all. Danny just stands dumbfounded with his hands on his hips. 

“So wait,” I hear Y/N’s quiet but stern voice speak up as she walks to the man. “You said they’re transforming our people, what do you mean? Wiping our memories?”

“Yes, that’s right,” the Archer clears his throat. “There are these… buildings where your people are being taken, elderly, from what I hear. They’re wiping their memories, taking all of their pasts away so that when they bring them permanently to the realm I am from, they won’t have a clue about the past life they lived here, on earth. Will force them to learn the ways of that land, and force their allegiance to it. Heartbreaking, really.”

“Paps,” I hear her whisper before turning to me. “That’s where they were taking him before the sink hole took…” she trails off, her mind obviously racing. I go to her again, taking her elbows in my hands.

“He might be there, Y/N, now we have more information, now we have help… we can find him…” I reassure her. “Hopefully we can get to him before–”

“This your mate, Jacob?” the Archer interrupts us. 

“Uhh, no, no… just… just a friend,” I stammer, both of our faces turning bright red. “We ehm. We were kidnapped the same night, put into the same pod.”

I watch as the Archer slowly walks to her, his eyes never leaving hers. He towers over her, and at first she looks a little scared, until he gently takes her hand in his, bringing it to his lips for a kiss. 

“Well, she is beautiful… very intelligent, I can tell. Resourceful, fearless… I can see your aura, Ms…”

“Y/N,” she replies softly, her cheeks still bright pink. 

“Y/N,” he repeats, still holding her hand. “You’ve got more inside you than you let on, don’t you…”

I stand by and watch as she pulls a few strands of hair behind her ear. “I–I don’t think so?”

“Mm,” he goes on, his thumb rubbing over the back of her hand, “I believe you’re full of a great amount of ferocity, zeal and passion. Remind me a lot of my Sparrow… you better take heed, Jacob, or another Immune might realize what’s in front of him before you do.”

My jaw nearly drops at his words, and I go to speak up but he interrupts me again. “Samuel, Daniel, are you going to spend the entire evening walking around with your hands behind your heads trying to make sense of all this? Or are you going to believe us, believe your brother, and allow us to get on with our journey?” the Archer asks as he picks up the three beings with ease, draping them across the back of his horse as they sleep.

Y/N makes short eye contact with me but shies away; I’m glad she does, I wouldn’t know what to say, anyway.

“You seriously expect us to believe all this, Jake?” Sam says. “This is all ridiculous, you have to understand that, right?” 

I give Sam one last long glance as I return my attention to the Archer. “Do you know where our other brother is? And the rest of our family?” 

“Not exactly, but if I had to guess, they’ve already taken your brother Josh into their protection. Deeper than they had taken you, simply because he was the one having the dreams,” he explains. “Now can we get going? We need to bed down before nightfall.”

Y/N

I’m. Fucking. Filthy. 

I’m tired, my legs feel like jello, and I’m starving. I feel as though I haven’t had a shower in weeks, when it was only just a couple of days ago that they let us shower in the pods. I haven’t shaved my legs or armpits in forever…my nails need trimmed so badly it hurts, and my hair probably looks worse for wear than my pimple-covered face does. Gross. Just really fucking gross. 

But I’m alive. 

I pulled Jake free from the sinkhole and away from danger. And he, in turn, pulled me away from the danger of those…things. 

The Archer had been leading us through the woods for about half an hour now, likely looking for a place to make camp or…something. The two guards that Jake knows walk alongside us with their weapons drawn, and their heads on constant lookout. Sam and Danny haven’t talked since we left, just walking along, stomping their feet and pulling at sticks and branches as they pass them by. I can tell they’re both mad. Upset, confused, pissed off… Hell, I would be too, if I were them. Knowing everything they had ever worked for had come down to this: walking through the woods with some mythical creature that they thought they had created in their minds.

My thoughts are frivolous and a little bit jumbled, and I know the other guys are having just as hard a time with this as I am, maybe even worse. I guess this is why Jake had told me to not show my tattoos, at the risk of one of the beings seeing them and knowing that I may have some kind of connection with the lore, too. He was trying to protect me. 

I start thinking back to when Jake was trying to get me to understand, without outright telling me. When he was talking about The Battle of Evermore, using it as an analogy and trying to get me to put the pieces together myself. Make sense of what Josh had been unknowingly doing all those years, and why he did it. Hell, the amount of music that’s spawned over the years from fictional times and places is enormous, are they at risk, too? Are all of these places in time connected? Could these other artists have had the same dreams that Josh did?

I can’t think like that, my brain will explode. Instead, I turn my attention over to the only other person whose mind is probably right on track with mine, finding him already meeting me at my side.

“Hey uh, about what he said earlier, about another Immune getting to you–”

“Don’t worry about it, Jake. That was… really odd of him to say,” I try and brush off the interaction, when in all reality I want to harness this overwhelming emotion that I’ve noticed every time I’m in Jake’s presence. 

He nods, his eyes heavy. “I just don’t want you to feel threatened by him, or anything. Uneasy, you know? He seems a bit–”

“Overconfident? Yeah, I agree,” I laugh, trying to stay quiet. “But no, I don’t feel that way. I can tell he’s harmless. Even though wrapping my head around who he is and why he’s here is a bit fucking…”

“Yeah, I know. This shit is making me feel crazy. But, good. Last thing we need is me having to fight a guy twice my size for offending you,” he chuckles, sending a shockwave right through me.

I laugh along with him. “Now why would you have to do that?” 

He gives me the tiniest smile I’ve ever seen from him, and one sweet little shoulder shrug. I can tell he’s feeling shy, or holding something back from me. Probably the same thing I’m holding back from him. We stay quiet for a few minutes as we trudge on, our fingers barely brushing against each other’s every few steps. His hair is tangled at his neck, but still pulled back into a messy knot. Though none of us have eaten in days, and the sun wants to burn us more than ever, his skin still looks glowy and healthy. I can’t lie- right here in this very moment, I find him more attractive than I ever have, and that’s saying something.

It’s funny, years ago as we were all heavily in our lust for every man in this band, that’s all it was. Just rockstar lust. Screaming over photos and buckling at the knees during shows. Of course we were all enamored by the people that they were, and the things that they stood for, but now, as we’re all in our thirties, a new thought process has taken over the mindset that I lived in for so many years. Now they’re all grown adults, fully self-aware and sure of the men that they are. A bit more poised, and no-bullshit with their attitudes. A little rustier in their movements, a little gruff in their appearances. I’d always heard of what generally happens to men when they hit thirty, but damned if I’ve ever seen it come to life like it has in these three. 

I just hope that Josh is doing the same somewhere safe, keeping true to himself and not in any danger.

“How do we know these people aren’t luring us there? How do we know this isn’t all a trick to get us where they want us?” Jake breaks me from my thoughts. 

“I dunno…” I whisper, taking another look at the Archer still ahead of us. “You trust those other two, right? I guess we just have to trust the fact that they might know where Josh and your family are. If he can get us that, nothing else matters.”

“And Paps,” he adds without a thought. I bite my cheeks in, stifling a punch to the gut. 

“And Paps.”

—--

The Archer didn’t take us to a camp. No, he brought us to a large, abandoned home balanced on a hillside equipped with a wraparound porch and what was once a koi pond out front. The home stood by itself, we’d passed no neighbors or other structures for about a mile. Obviously, this family had money, and just from the looks of it, you could tell they stayed alive inside this home for as long as they possibly could. 

Stone made up the foundation of the beautiful A-frame home, and a heavy oak front door adorned the front. I caught sight of three generators underneath the porch, and I wondered if they lived long enough to use all of the fuel from them. 

“We’re staying here? How do we know the people who lived here aren’t still inside?” Sam asks, the first time I’ve heard his voice in a couple of hours. 

“Because I’ve checked. Do you think I would bring you to a place that was still inhabited and let your mortal self have to deal with digging graves this evening? I would never, Samuel,” the Archer bellows as he hops from his horse, his flowing sheer robes falling as gently as snowflakes around him as he lands. I’m starting to like this guy’s witty personality. “You will bed here. Get some rest, we’ve got a long few days ahead of us.”

“Why are you doing this, why are you helping us?” Danny perks up as I watch the two guards rush up the porch stairs. “For all we know you could be pretending and have plans to trap us all in that house without food or water and let us die. For all we know this could all be a ploy and you do work for those other guys.”

I watch Jake’s eyebrows raise in an agreeing question. 

The Archer rolls his eyes as he runs a hand through his long hair, adjusting the bow that rests on his back. “Listen kid, I’ve got a long, long story. And I’ve been around long enough to know where and how to spend my time. I can’t die, do you get that? Unless something kills me in the other world, I’m stronger than ever here. I’ve spent hundreds of years fighting against those godforsaken people that rule my world. It’s tyranny, it’s control… and now that your world has decided to say fuck you human beings, my people have taken their chance at even more control than they’ve ever dreamed of. All at the expense of you.” The Archer is nose-to-nose with Danny now, pressing his pointer finger into his chest. I can feel the rage dripping off of him, and I know that Sam and Jake are ready to jump within a second’s notice. But Danny stays strong, not backing down. 

The Archer realizes that and turns away, going back to his horse’s saddle as he continues to talk. “Most of my years have been spent protecting your world against any overlapping with mine. I run interference, I control what needs to be controlled, assisting your people if I ever catch word of my rulers overstepping their boundaries. Over the years, I’ve made progress. Caught onto things and stopped them before they could happen. I’ve managed to keep it at bay.”

“Why haven’t they tried to kill you?” I ask. 

He smiles, reaching out his long arm and running his soft hand along my cheek. “They know better.” 

I feel all of my insides grow weak and I shudder at his gentle touch. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that this man rather enjoys my aura. 

“All clear up here, Odin!” I hear one of the guards interrupt our moment. 

“Thank you,” the Archer replies, as I learn he has a name. “Now, Daniel, if you’ll follow our friends up the stairs to the place we’ve prepared you, I’d love to get my horse to some water.”

—--

“Come on, baby… come on…” I watch Sam coax the generator as he primes it, hoping and praying to start it up long enough to power the lights on. He jerks on the pull-start over and over before it finally starts running, a sound that I feel like I haven’t heard in decades. His face lights up with joy, and his smile reaches from ear to ear, but his happiness is short-lived, as the generator putts out after only a few seconds. 

“Son of a bitch!” he yells. “Y/N are you sure you made sure there was connection?”

“Yes, I’m positive!” I yell back at him as I try not to laugh at his expense. He stands up with his hand on his hip, his free hand coaxing his beard that’s gotten fairly long, now. 

“Sam, what’s the big deal? It’s not going to work…” I hear Jake say from up on the back porch.

“Yes it will. There, free-standing water tank, still half-full of water. Water pipe from tank to house. Generator connected to water pipe. Non-mechanical pressure system, boom. Water in the shower,” he spats at Jake, using his hands to talk. “This isn’t technology, Jake. It’s just moving parts powered by sparks and gasoline…”

I look up to Jake and Danny above me, leaning on the banister of the porch. He’s not really wrong…

“Your attempts are futile, Samuel. I doubt there is much fuel still left in that generator,” I hear Odin from the wooded area behind the house. “Come now, this fire is much better suited to assist you in your human needs than that old machine…”

As we cut our losses and give up, we walk behind the house to the wooded area where Odin and the two guards have prepared a fairly large fire. It looks as though they’ve salvaged a few things from the home, some canned goods and two or three jugs of water. I can smell the food already being heated, and I realize then how dehydrated we probably all are. We all wearily gather around it, taking places on the damp ground as the Second, as Jake had referred to him, hands us small bowls of some kind of cooked beans. 

“What’s your name?” I ask him, getting comfortable with my back against the trunk of a tree. 

“Me? Oh, I’m Robert. Robbie, if you want. That’s my older brother Josiah,” he responds, resting his hand on his belt as I take the bowl from him. 

“See, Jake? They have names…” I tease as Jake comes and takes a spot beside me, his shoulder pressing harshly into mine. 

“I think I’m still gonna call them The First and The Second,” he huffs. “Seems more fitting, seeing as how they beat my ass a couple times back in the pods.”

“Hey now, now, we told you that was coming,” Josiah interjects with a mouthful of beans. “We had to make it look like we were doing our job. Just be glad the sinkhole came when it did, we’d probably still be whooping your ass in there,” he laughs jokingly. 

“From the bowing earth,” Danny interrupts solemnly from across the flames. “Uprises the weeds of war, caving the floor… a renaissance born.”

We all are struck into silence as Danny recites the old lyrics, his eyes boring into the fire as his hands stay wrapped around the bowl of food that he’s yet to touch. 

“The earth is bowing, the floor… it’s literally caving. It’s–it’s the sink holes…” he reiterates, making my face feel like it has turned to stone. “We wrote about… we wrote about this, too…”

“Precisely,” Odin whispers. “A bit prophetic, don’t you think?”

“Fuck…” Jake whispers beside me, obviously not yet having made that connection, either. “What the hell else are we going to learn?”

“There’s much to learn, Jacob. Much for you all to learn,” Odin says as he adjusts himself on the ground. “I know you’re all full of questions, please, now is the time to ask. And I’ll do my best to answer.”

I look around at the three of them, their faces painted with fifty different emotions as I know they have no idea where to start, so I do. 

“You keep mentioning this First Battle, what do you mean by that?” I ask. “Was it really The Battle at Garden’s Gate?”

“Excellent question, my darling,” Odin says, crossing his legs. I hear Jake huff a breath of annoyance. Hah, good.

“In short, yes. That Battle happened over 500 years ago, when our world was first threatened by another outside force, one that I don’t have time to delve into at this moment. You gentlemen really paid it justice, I will say, through your music. Joshua’s recount of his dreams was quite vivid, if I do say so.”

“We made up a lot of those lyrics while we were high as kites and three bottles of tequila in,” Sam jests, shaking his head. “How does that make sense with what you’re saying?”

“Ah, that may be true Samuel, but I’m sure your eldest brother pushed forth the guidelines for the majority of it, hm? If not filling in the gaps, writing the framework?” Odin says as the fire crackles between us. 

Sam nods, “I guess so, yeah.”

“The Battle did actually occur at the iron gates of our Garden, the largest and most wondrous sight your human eyes couldn’t even comprehend. The outside force that threatened us had found a way to infiltrate our realm, seeking nothing more than blood and quick kills. You see, the Garden itself wasn’t just a garden, it was miles and miles of rolling green hills, bursting at the seams with flora and foliage and flowers and weeds, an abundance of life that all existed in harmony. Fields of thorned white roses grew naturally, some growing ten, twenty feet high with their vines all intertwined within one another. And on the other hand, it was also partially covered in thick ice and snow, with crystallized caps and pristine glittering mountaintops that you can hardly fathom with thought. It was beautiful, vast, alive… All of the natural life growing right alongside the roaring, freezing, ice-ridden landscapes.”

“Kind of like how it’s the middle of winter here, now, and the trees are more green than I’ve ever seen them…” Sam says.

“That’s right. It was normal for us, there, but I’m afraid your world is already starting to adopt it, too. This, my friends, will be called your Fifth Season.”

I’m startled, feeling odd now that I realize that the cold winds that blew today are now replaced by a heat that is not coming from the fire. 

“The heat from above,” Odin goes on, “will come at night.”

“You’re shitting me…” Danny scoffs with a whisper, shaking his head in disbelief.

“My words are true, Daniel. If I may go on, you all told the stories of the Battle quite well, your imagery, from what I have been shown, illustrated nearly identically to what our lands were left like after the Battle. Dry, deserted, no longer did anything flourish, it’d been burned to ash.”

To wonderlands of ice and snow, in the desert heat where nothing grows…

My mind is absolutely overrun with all of the ties that are being made, with all of the old graphics that went along with this album… the green, the white, the red and the black…

“There was once a temple in the center of the Garden where very few lived, but many passed through. If my memory serves, you all included that image, as well. And, a nice statue-esque depiction of myself looking mighty handsome, I will say…back when my hair was a bit shorter.  Though it was destroyed in the Battle, along with big parts of the temple,” Odin recollects. “Many of our ancient writings and teachings are etched in the walls there, still… written in gold.”

I feel Jake’s lungs fill as he sits still beside me, and I can hardly fathom what his mind is learning right now. All of it…

“You, my friends, have to realize that the music you’ve been writing since you were mere children is all centered around the true happenings of our world. So many things intertwine, so many concepts brought to life in your music. It’s astounding, really. And, from the bottom of my heart, I am so sorry that my people are now exploiting it,” Odin says with a harsh solemnity in his voice. 

“Well we exploited you, in all actuality,” Jake says. “We didn’t know we were making a mockery of your history, we had no clue it was all real.”

Odin smiles. “I wouldn’t say it’s a mockery, Jacob. If anything, you brought an awareness that your audience didn’t even realize they were a part of.”

“Who is Sparrow?” I ask, making every head jerk to look my way. He has mentioned the name twice, now. 

“Let me take another wild guess…” Sam interjects. 

“My Sparrow,” Odin breathes, recollecting himself to speak more mannerly. “I can honestly say though my ears interpret music differently than humans do, the words and melodies that you all wrote about my sweet lady were very close to the truth.” 

I think back to those lyrics now, hearing the sweet acoustic guitar playing in the back of my head. 

“Sparrow and I met by happenstance, in the city square ten days before the first Battle. She struck me, even from across the masses of crowds… I was drawn to her. She was only passing through, but somehow, after nearly three days spent locked up together in my quarters, I convinced her to stay. A wild flower, she is. Always blowing across the breeze wherever it decided to take her. And brutal, my,” his brows furrow as he smiles at the memory of her. “More fiery and absurd and hard-headed than any person I’d ever met. Her decisions were her own, then, and no word I would mutter across our pillow could keep her at bay. She decided that she was going to fight, told me that there was nothing keeping her from taking part in the war. Felt it was her duty. Suppose I learned quickly that I cared more for her than she of me, but alas. The sword she carried never left her side during it all as she rode on horseback only at night, surprising the enemy as they slept. All night, she would fight alone, reappearing only as the sun rose to retreat back, letting the rest of us fight while the sun shone. My Sparrow of the Dawn,” he explains, his one bright orange eye flickering in the reflection of the flames as he sits in deep thought. “Now where you all acquired the title of Flower Power, I always have wondered…” 

All three of them laugh quietly. “We thought we were hippies, I guess,” Sam chuckles. “Felt fitting, at the time.”

“Is she still alive?” Josiah asks. 

“She is. She rarely crosses to this world, she prefers to stay tucked away and safe, until absolutely necessary. I go and see her from time to time. Our love has faltered over the years… grown and subsided and grown again. I’ve come to realize that there is no taming her, and she’s best suited to live her own life, though I would lie mine down before her feet even to this day, if it meant she would stay with me,” he says, swallowing a lump in his throat. 

“When did you see her last?” I ask. 

“Probably eighteen, nineteen years ago,” he answers. “It’s funny, I suppose the timeline nearly meets of when your brother must have had the dream about her, and you all wrote the song. May have been right as I was seeing her for the last time.” I’m struck with disbelief again, in complete and utter shock of how all of this is mapping out. I wish that we could go to Josh, and he could learn of all of this, I wish he would have been comfortable sharing that he had these dreams at the times he was having them. I feel no shame in setting my bowl to the side, and taking Jake’s hand in my own, as I feel an overwhelming rush of sadness come over him. I know that he is feeling more isolated than ever, without his twin.

He gently lies his head onto my shoulder as Danny and Sam look at us, giving us both pitiful looks of empathy. Their eyes fall as they realize their brother is really just fucking sad. So I gently pat his cheek and pull him further onto my shoulder, surprised and glad that he feels comfortable enough to display himself like this, with me. 

“What you gentlemen also need to realize is that the reason my people want to harness your knowledge so intently is that we were well aware there was a prophecy not long after the First Battle was fought, and nearly lost. We knew another was to come, though this one wouldn’t be fought on our soil. The hooded guards, the ones who attacked you earlier and who are now locked away in the basement, there are many of them. Uncountable. They all work for the ones who inhabit the Tower, the ones who rule us so harshly. They are all nearly omniscient, sharing their prophecies and fortunes with one another. There has been a fire burning at the Tower for nearly a millenia, it’s smoke always billowing a clean white. But right before your world decided to wipe herself clean, the smoke from the fires burned black.”

“The new age crisis,” Danny mumbled. “It signaled you that something was about to happen.”

Odin nods. “Yes. And happen, it did. And your brother saw it happening in his dreams nearly what, fifteen years ago? When you wrote that song as young boys… he prophesied it before our rulers even knew about it.” 

Jake suddenly rips his head from my shoulder and stands, pulling his hair back with his hands as he stomps around the fire. He stands still for a second, his breath chopped as he looks like he is about to burst into tears. He darts around the side of the house, his sobs already wracking through him as I share a quick look with Danny and Sam before we all stand and follow him. “We’ll be back,” I say to the others before we take off after Jake. 

“Go away, I just need a second,” Jake yells at us as we finally find him beside the old koi pond. 

“What the fuck is happening,” Sam says rhetorically as he plops down on the ground, his elbows meeting his knees as he curls up around himself. Danny walks to the edge of the old driveway, his fingers interlaced at the back of his head as he stares off into the night sky. 

Jake is leaning his hand on the post of the porch, trying to calm his own breathing with his back to the rest of us. I don’t know what to do, I don’t know what to think. This all feels so surreal, so fake and dreamlike, but again, the fire that’s burning in the yard behind us and the horse that’s tied to the tree five yards away are both very, very real. 

I can smell the smoke from it, I can feel the little bit of food being digested in my stomach, I can recognize that these three men that surround me are going through one of the most unreal realizations that they’ve ever encountered in their lives. I can’t even fathom their thought processes right now. 

“How did we do that, how did Josh do that,” Danny says as he turns back around to us. “All those years, all that we thought we just made up in our heads because it sounded good…”

“It’s okay, Danny, we’re gonna get it figured out, we’re gonna find Josh,” I try and intervene. 

“No, Y/N, it’s not gonna be okay, don’t you see that?” Jake bombards me, taking my shoulders in his firm grip. “There’s nothing we can do to stop this, and Josh might already be too far gone, they probably already have him. And our families, they’re probably–” his face is riddled with confusion and hopelessness, he’s barely holding it together. “We’re fucked, we’re all fucked. The whole world is gone, and we didn’t even know that we knew it was going to happen!” He shudders with fear, and I can feel the guilt in his chest as he yells in my face. I’ve never seen him like this, and I have to admit, he’s scaring me a little. 

“Hop off, Jake, calm it,” Sam is suddenly beside us, putting his hand on Jake’s chest. “This isn’t her fault, either.”

Jake huffs a sob as he steps back, running his hands over his face as enraged and guilt-ridden tears fall from his eyes. “I’m sorry,” he whispers. 

“It’s okay,” I choke, feeling things calm for just a split second as they all try to breathe. “Listen, guys, I know you all don’t know me, and you probably think I know you more than I actually do, but. There is no way you all could have known that the Earth was going to do this. Honestly. And even if you did, how in the fuck do you think you would have been able to stop it? Huh? ‘Listen to our music… it’s telling the truth! All we’ve created is going to cease to exist!’ No, everyone would have called you completely crazy. So don’t even begin to blame yourselves, this was all going to happen regardless of if you realized your music was foretelling the future or not. All we have is what’s in front of us. We have each other, and we have Odin, and the brothers. And we have a mission. We’re going to find Josh, we’re going to find Paps, and we’re going to find your family. We’re going to keep ourselves alive, and we’re going to find the others like us and get them to a safe place. That’s all we can do. One step at a time…” 

I know my words probably carry no weight, but I’ve at least got to try. A tentative plan might give them hope.

It’s quiet as their wheels turn, and Sam and Danny give me slow nods of understanding. “You’re right, you’re right…” they both mutter as they take deep breaths and pat my back reassuringly. 

“Go get some sleep, huh?” I give them stern looks, lowering my voice to command them. I know they’re both probably exhausted beyond belief. “Go inside.”

They both stuff their hands in their pockets as they walk up the steps back to the fire, leaving Jake and I in the calmness of the night. I take a seat on the high wall of the koi pond, the grass high around my knees. It’s filled with bugs and loud wildlife, all making simultaneous noises as they take up refuge in the weeds. Jake is still standing nearby, looking out at the night sky and the new moon in the distance. 

“I’m scared, Y/N,” he says, refusing to turn and face me. I swallow down his words. 

“I am too, Jake. I think we all are.”

He finally turns and comes to join me on the wall, letting his body relax as he takes another deep breath. “You remember how dark our last album got, right? That day that Josh told me everything, all about his dreams, he said he was dreaming about that shit, too. Is this about to get that much worse?”

It’s true, their last album was the darkest, yet. Though Josh’s lyrics were sewn with allusions and metaphors and the like, the themes were heavier than anything they’d ever done. He focused on struggle, he focused on destruction, he focused on death.

“I don’t know, Jake. For all we know, that could already be happening, we could be in the middle of it right now,” I respond, and frankly, the way we are all feeling right now justly mirrors the way listening to that last album felt the first time I heard it. “We’re already surrounded by death and loss, you know?”

He nods again, his eyes never leaving the sky. But then his hand comes to find mine again, just like mine had done earlier with his while we were around the fire. The callouses that once were embedded in his fingertips are a little softer now, I can tell, and the scars that run the length of his left forearm are brighter than ever. In a bold act, I gently run my finger along them, feeling the caverns and healed skin from the stitches he had all those years ago. To my surprise, he lets me. His fingers intertwine with mine in such a way that feels more right than anything I’ve ever felt, more comforting than any contact I’d ever received. 

His free hand lifts the sleeve of my dirty gray sweatshirt, revealing all the tattoos of his music that line the length of my arm, and he runs his finger along them, too. 

“I can’t believe you followed us, all that time,” he says quietly, the touch of his fingertip sending shivers through me. 

I huff a laugh through my nose. “It was the best adventure I ever took myself on, I can promise you that. Ten years of traveling with the friends I made, going to new places, taking Paps along with me… I’m sure you guys all thought it was weird that the majority of us did that, but. It was honestly one of the best parts of my life. Made me feel like I was really connected to something that I belonged to, I could call mine. I dunno, it sounds strange saying it to you,” I laugh. 

“No,” he whispers. “Seems like you were genuine about it, not just in it for the same bullshit some of the others were. I know how it feels to connect with something really intensely, like that. And I couldn’t picture my life without my own escapes. So I get it. I’m glad we could be that for you, and your friends…” 

“You still are, really,” I admit. “That feeling doesn’t really ever go away. Once it’s ingrained in you, you know.”

“I do know,” he smiles, finally turning to look at me, his face closer to mine than it was the day he told me everything at the pods. 

“You’re a little different, aren’t you, Y/N?”

“Apparently, according to Odin,” I try to break the high-intensity of the moment, my heart thrumming so quickly I can hardly breathe. I feel his breath on my lips, I feel his fingertip moving up to my elbow, then my shoulder, then to my neck… My entire body is covered in nerve-ridden goosebumps from his proximity.

His other hand is still squeezing mine, his fingers kneading into my palm as my breathing audibly quickens. His nose grazes across mine as I try and collect enough breath to breathe him in, relishing in the moment that I never in a million years thought would happen. I feel the slightest brush of his lips on my cheek as his jaw clenches, the roughness of his mustache making my head spin with want. I haven’t been this close to anyone in so long…

“Well he’s right,” he whispers, his lips moving across my cheek and against my lips… but still yet, he doesn’t make contact. “There’s something about you… I don’t wanna stay away from.”

Then his fingers come up and cup my cheek, my jaw resting comfortably in his palm. Every inch of me is on fire, in complete disbelief that this is really happening. All of my odd, unimaginable feelings from the past couple of days, completely warranted. 

“I know you’ve got to go find your Paps, I know you can’t stick with us forever…” he says, his jaw biting into itself over and over through his words, obviously holding him back from doing what he really wants to do. 

“Says who?” I reply, my eyes fluttering open and closed. “This is a team effort, who says I want to leave you?”

“I don’t want you to leave me…” he mutters through a rough breath, biting his bottom lip in as I feel his eyelashes brush across my cheek. It’s taking literally every ounce of energy in my body not to connect us, my yearning urging me to do something.

“I’m not, I won’t,” I say, and just as soon as the last word escapes my lips, he finally connects his to mine, rough and needy and sweet, his hand still gripped in my hair and pulling me into him. I’m floating above us, the nerve endings in every centimeter of my body experiencing a euphoria I’ve been dreaming about for the past ten years… complete and utter disbelief… way more intensely than I had ever dreamed of. 

My hands find him as I disconnect our intertwined fingers, gripping at the neck of his sweatshirt and gathering it up in my fists as I kiss him back, wanting and heavy as I allow my body to taste a shred of what it’s been begging me for since the world began to end. I feel the breath from his nose against mine, holding for just a few seconds as his subconscious reminds him he needs to breathe. I lean in, and he reacts, pressing himself closer into me, our chests touching and heaving already. 

His hands are on either side of my face, squeezing me so tightly that I feel my ears ringing. But finally he pulls away for just a second long enough to utter one word, ‘Fuck,’ before he delves back in, his tongue searching deeply for mine. So I reciprocate, giving him exactly what he wants as I lick back into his mouth. I feel my core begin to throb, obviously, having gone without the touch of another human for months now, months before everything began to happen, really. My body is begging me, carnally and against my own will, to give it more. 

I turn myself in my seat, my legs straddling either side of the wall we’re sitting on as he turns too, putting his hands underneath the backs of my thighs to lift me closer to him. It’s turned into a frenzy of hands and hair and mouths, our bodies both heaving and lurching into one another. I can’t breathe, I can’t see, I can’t even hear the sounds of everything I know that surrounds us. All I feel is him. 

His hands are on my waist, his fingers digging into my skin up underneath my shirt as they pull at my skin, and I let out the tiniest whimper into his mouth, and I immediately regret it. Fuck fuck… no don’t, Y/N. But at the same time, it makes my mind clear. I’m fucking kissing him, right now. His hands are on my body… I have thought about this exact moment a thousand times… 

I shouldn’t have been embarrassed by it, because as soon as the sound leaves me, he growls into my mouth, making the entire world around me shatter. Good god, this feels worse than heaven and hell combined. We’re unbridled and fighting, his hands yanking at the hair at the base of my neck as I bite at his bottom lip, the both of us treating the other as if we’ve been this close for a hundred years.

But we haven’t, and he’s not–

I rip myself away, my hair covering my eyes as I peer at him in the darkness, my breath barely able to keep me upright and from fainting as I see just as much surprise on his face. But I also see lust so heavy that I contemplate diving right back in. His hands are still balanced on my bare hips, his fingers now ghosting rather than digging. 

“I’m sorry, I– yelled at you earlier, and then I– I shouldn’t have–”

“Fuck off, Jake,” I say, giving him a devious grin, this time throwing my own hand up to cover his mouth. “Don’t fucking apologize.” 

Instead of answering, his featherlight touch on my hips switches back to a possessive grip as they run from them up to my ribcage. I lean in and kiss him again, my forehead knocking hard into his as he bites at my tongue. I can’t even begin to explain how he tastes, maybe I’ll get into that later, but for now I’m just going to enjoy it. 

It’s only a few more seconds before I’m inching myself closer to him, my tits now pushed firmly against his chest. I know he can feel it, as he allows one of his hands to travel up from my ribs and under my sorry excuse for a sports bra, confidently taking my left breast in his hand. This spurs me on, of course, as I can feel myself absolutely pooling with desire for him. I stop myself from imagining what he has going on. 

“Goddamnit, fuck, we can’t–” he finally says as his fingers pinch at my nipple, almost making me come un-fucking-done, right there by the koi pond. “I can’t I can’t I can’t,” he says in succession. 

“Why, what?” I barely get out, my head still in a state of euphoria. 

“We can’t– I’ve gotta, stop myself, Y/N… we can’t even do that right now, fuck…” he’s rubbing a hand over his eyes and hair, trying to calm himself as we separate. “There’s, there’s too much risk, I don’t know…” 

I’m not mad, but I’m not happy, either. I pull my bra and shirt back down into place, checking behind us that one of the others haven’t caught us in the act. “Jake, I’m thirty years old, I know my body,” I willingly admit before I can even stop myself.

“Yeah but I didn’t… I didn’t even ask you if that was what you wanted, I don’t know, I acted too much on impulse, I just–” 

“Listen to me,” I demand of him as I take his face in my hands. “I haven’t been touched by a man, by another human in almost ten months, Jake. Probably more, if I’m being honest. We’re in the middle of the fucking apocalypse, the world is fucking ending, and I haven’t had a goddamned drink since my home fell into the first sink hole in Tennessee. I don’t know about you, but if a little touchin’ and squeezin’ is wrong, then I don’t wanna be right.”

His eyes silently search mine for a few seconds before I release him from my hold, watching as he tilts his head back and laughs. Laughs hard. 

“What’s so funny?” I complain as he’s wrapping his arms around my shoulders, leaning all his body weight onto me as his chest rattles with laughter. 

“I like you, I like you a lot,” he says, void of any sexual sentiment. “You’re really funny. You make me feel normal.”

“That’s cause I am normal. You’re famous, you wouldn’t understand,” I answer, and I feel him smiling against my hair again. 

“Shut up, you know what I mean,” he says as he pulls away. “Like I’m back down to earth and not part of a conspiracy that prophesied the end of the world.”

“You’re reaching, Jake,” I say, squinting one eye at him. My nerves are finally calming from the intensity of a few moments ago, and I can finally breathe. 

I watch him look at me as he bites his jaw sideways, likely feeling conflicted about what we just let ourselves do. 

“We’re human, Jake, with human needs, and human wants. Can you blame yourself? I mean, I’m hot, you’re hot…”

“Shhhut up,” he chuckles again. “You’re a really good kisser, Y/N.”

“Thank you,” I say. “You’re not so bad yourself.”

“Oh, really now?”

“Yeah, I think you’ll have to try again sometime, though, just so I can be sure,” I relay with faux confidence, pulling my leg back over the side of the wall. 

I finally stand, the muscles in my legs a little jittery from the position I was just in, and from them wanting to wrap themselves around Jake’s waist, or his face, whatever I could, honestly. Fuck, I know the both of us are going to be thinking about that for days… making this journey alongside him now is going to be a lot more difficult now that we’ve been that… close. 

“Come on, we need some fucking sleep,” he says, standing beside me to lead us back to the fire.

Just then, I hear a rustle in the gravel, like fast footsteps lightly barrelling their way toward us. We both gasp and turn back around as Jake shoves me in behind him. “Who is that? Who’s there?” he calls out. 

I see nothing but shadows, and what was once my pounding, excited heartbeat is now replaced with terror. No one answers, but the rustle of the footsteps keeps getting closer. Jake backs us up against the porch, and I feel his hand grip around my thigh in protection, telling me not to move. “I said who’s there!” he yells. I see a reflection of silver metal glisten in the moonlight as the steps come in closer. “Josiah!”

Just as quickly as the figure closes in on us, I hear the rushing footsteps of the rest of the group coming behind us. “Who’s there! Name yourself!” Josiah yells, stepping in front of us with Robbie at his flank. I can see their hands on their weapons. 

The footsteps close in and finally reach the grass, still covered in darkness as I watch the silver shimmer again. Jake’s hand is still wrapped hard around my thigh as he presses me into the wooden leg of the porch. Josiah and Robbie grip their weapons, removing them from their holsters as they begin to take aim. Sam and Danny are just behind us, already panicking as well. 

“Don’t come closer, we’ll fire!” Robbie yells into the darkness. 

I hear their weapons release their safeties, and I prepare myself to hear the worst, when Odin comes barrelling between us all, yelling and shouting for everyone to stand down. “Stop, stop! No!”

“Odin, move, it could be an armed looter!” Robbie yells. 

“NO!” he calls, running into the shadows of the high grass. “It’s my Sparrow…” 

I’m instantly at ease as she finally comes into the dim light of the fire around the corner, her body adorned in silver armor, her glittering yellow hair in braids that fall across her shoulders and back. And tucked away at her side, is her shining silver sword. 

“Odin!” she calls as their bodies meet, “I thought I’d never find you…”

“My love, my love, you found me. Why are you here? Are you alright?” he comforts her as they embrace, almost emanating their own dusty light in a mix of silvers and reds.

I think back to what Odin had said earlier, that Sparrow only comes to this world when absolutely necessary.

“I’m fine, I’m well, but I come with news. Let us gather, so I can see everyone’s faces,” she says, gliding past Odin and toward us so that we can be close to the light of the fire. 

The six of us let her pass through us, all of us in disbelief at her beauty. Her skin glitters just as Odin’s does, her movements graceful and quick as she blurs the air as she passes through it. I’m almost enamored at the presence of her, so intoxicatingly gripping as she makes her way to the light of the flames. We follow her in succession, everyone stunned and surprised at her sudden appearance. 

“Here now, everyone around,” she says, her voice from somewhere ancient and her accent one that is nearly unrecognizable. We all do as she says and gather around the fire again, watching as she literally shimmers in the light. 

“There we are, hello, hello,” she sings, looking each and every one of us in the eye as she introduces herself. “My name is Sparrow, I’m unaware if Odin has mentioned my name, yet.” 

“Of course I have, my love, I rarely speak to anyone without the mention of you,” Odin gloats, acting though he’d fall at her feet. “What brings you here, what brings you to us?”

Sparrow is silent as she walks around, getting eye-to-eye with all of us as she passes. “You men, you were the ones who wrote about me, who wrote of the stories of our people. It is a true pleasure…” she curtsies, making Sam and Danny hop back with surprise. 

“The uh, the pleasure is ours Ms. uh, Ms. Sparrow…” Danny chokes, his eyes darting nervously to us. 

Sam looks to Jake beside me, mouthing a quick ‘What the fuck?’

“It is true, I come with urgent news. I hope that Odin has told you that I rarely cross over into your world, if not for good reason. And a good reason, I do have.” She takes a seat on an oversized rock that lines the wooded area by the fire, and we all follow suit. She takes her sword from its holster on her side, and balances it across her knees. She runs a finger down from the end to the tip of it, letting it poke into her fingertip as she cracks her neck. 

I know that Jake is absolutely fucking loving this.

Just then, the sword itself looks as though it is glowing with cool white light, and her barren hands grip at the blade, squeezing onto it until her knuckles are white. My body tenses, expecting to see blood beginning to trickle from her hands, but instead, the sword just glows brighter. 

Her head tilts back, and her mouth falls open, as she begins speaking in a voice that is not her own. 

The voice, though, is one that is so familiar that I feel my bones begin to crumble, my blood begin to harden, and my organs turn to stone within me. 

The voice that is leaving her is Josh’s. 

“All is hallowed here, let their proclamations of faux deities and untrue alliances die along with the world that surrounds them! Upon this sacred ground they’ll surrender, within my words they’ll learn the truth of all that encompasses this divine ether. Let them not tether there, or they shall suffer with the insignificance of man, they shall perish alongside the ones the Earth has decided to exterminate. Let them live in jubilance as we celebrate here, as one, sanctifying all that is true. Faithful they shall be, and faithful they shall live! It is here, their destiny is manifested!”

Just as Sparrow speaks the final word, her hands let go of her sword and it’s dullness returns, as she collapses to the side into Odin’s waiting arms. I am stunned absolutely speechless. 

Things just got way, way worse. 

I look to Sam, then Danny, then Jake, the look on all of their faces identical as they have just listened to the voice of their brother recite a speech so terrifyingly haunting that I’m not sure if they are even still able to breathe. 

“Inside, bed. All of you,” Odin orders as Sparrow stays asleep in his arms. 

“Odin, what the fuck was that? You expect us to just–” Jake yells. 

“I said inside!!!” Odin bellows, shaking the trees with the volume of his voice. 

“That was my brother! His voice!” Jake challenges him. “Where is he?! Does she know?? Why was he saying those–”

“If you don’t get inside and get some rest this very instant, I will abandon all we have done for you, and you will continue this journey alone, without any guidance or anything to arm you. Now, do you want that, Jacob? Or do you want to do as I said and get some rest, so that you awaken with a clear and readied mind, and a rested body, for when Sparrow is strong enough to tell us what exactly she knows?” Odin presses, staying stern with Jake. 

Jake reaches down into the embers of the fire, picking up some still-burning ash and harshly throwing it back down to the fire, igniting the it into a million sparkles as he trudges back toward the house, his fists clenched at his sides. I stand there, unable to move. 

“Inside,” he orders me again, so I collect my losses against all my better instinct of leaving right this instant to go and find Josh, find our families. I rush up the stairs, and enter the dark house that is unfamiliar. I slam the door behind me and find the three of them stomping around the carpeted floors of the house, a huffing mess of confusion and doubt.

“On the couches, all three of you. Sit down, and try to rest. We won’t even make it to our families if we don’t. We need clear minds, and rest. Odin is right,” I repeat, the words tasting wrong in my mouth, but I know they are true. 

They all three follow suit and find places on the old, oversized couches, hugging at pillows and old blankets in the darkness. I feel Jake find my hand underneath the red quilt I’m now under, interlacing his fingers with mine again as we try to calm our minds enough to rest, if only for an hour.

Tags: @gretavangroupie @britney-gvf @sacredstarcatcher @wetkleenex-gvf @farfromthehomelands @takenbythemadness @writingcold @builtbybrokenbells @ohgodthefeeling-gvf @fleet-of-fiction @milkgemini @gvfpal @ageofcj@dancingcarbon @highway-tuna @stardustjake @jakekiszkapunchmeintheface @gvfmarge @gracev0609 @myleftsock @literal-dead-leaf @peaceloveunitygvf @ageofbajabule @slut4lando @jordie-gvf @sadiechar @tinydancer40 @rosabellagvf @capnjaket @lyndz2names @thetroublegetssoloud71 @gretavanomens @spark-my-nature @josh-iamyour-mama @anythingforjtk @alwaysonthemend @danieljlmwagner @klarxtr @fortunatelytinybasement @demonrat444 @gretavansara @watchingover-hypegirl @hippievanfleet @digitalnomadz @raviolilegs @lipstickitty @hippievanfleet @klarxtr @strange-whorizons @do-it-jakey-baby @myownparadise96 @gvf-luna @starshine-wagner @cassiesgreta @joopsandjangs @whimsiliz @kiszkas-canvas @whimsiliz @joopsandjangs @broken0mens @scoreofinfantryvines @whereiskeara @do-it-jakey-baby @miravanfleet @heckingfrick@kiszka-canvas @whimsiliz @joopsandjangs @broken0mens @scoreofinfantryvines @whereiskeara @do-it-jakey-baby @miravanfleet @heckingfrick @jenniferkiszka@jjwasneverhere @gvfmarge @pineapple-photographer @vanfleeter@gretnavannfleet @pineapple-photographer @joshylanefleet @becinabubblegvf @ageofmach1ne

[grapementos]

wasted

aged up osamu x gn reader

“what would you do if you could go back in time?”

you began, blinking slowly at the ground.

“way, way back. before me, before us. what would you do?”

the silence you were met with wasn’t at all surprising. a low, deep growl of thunder reverberated through the sky and into the ground. it startled you, so much so that you pushed yourself up to your feet.

“would you walk right past me? look the other way? pretend you didn’t see me so you wouldn’t have had to hold that door open?” not being answered boiled your blood.

it was a helpless kind of frustration, one that made the back of your eyes and the tips of your fingers burn with impatience. ultimately, you couldn’t help but yell.

“would you follow your dream anyways? be able to run the restaurant so much easier without me here?” you demanded, fists clenched tightly at your side, so much so that small crescents were forming on your palms, “you’d be able to go all around the board, pass go, and collect that $200, huh? all without me.”

your tears didn’t get the memo your brain was desperately trying to send.

be angry. not sad.

yet, you couldn’t truthfully say your tears were ones of anger—instead those of grief.

“that’s what you said you wanted, right?” you whispered, a ball forming in your throat, “you wanted your business to thrive, and that just wasn’t possible with me there.”

“y/n—”

“no, shut up.” you bit out sharply, hands trembling at your side, “you don’t get to talk. not after you cheated.”

his entire expression faltered, mouth gaping like a dumbfounded fish. a stupid goddamn fish that had been caught and was about to be reeled in and grilled.

“it’s bad enough that i had to hear it from atsumu, but with them? we hit a rough patch and you run to them? that’s fucking,” you sucked in a breath, hating the crack in your voice, “that’s fucking pathetic. onigiri miya isn’t stagnating because of me, because you think i’m holding you back. it’s because of you.”

you clenched your jaw to keep your lip from trembling. your entire body was lit up like a christmas tree, anger and betrayal running hot down into your fingers. every force in the universe compelled you to scream, cry, hit something, but you didn’t. you attacked him with your words, your pain, your broken heart.

“it’s because you have some war waging on in your mind, perceiving everyone else as the problem, the—the issue.” you stammered out, suddenly feeling so liberated, so free of the sheer weight of the truth, “newsflash, you’re not fucking perfect.”

“y/n, please, just let me—”

“shut the fuck up! you’ve talked over me, suppressed my opinions, dismissed me—for too damn long.” you hissed, stepping forward to jut a finger into his chest, “you’ve wasted my time. three years of my life that i’m never gonna get back. do you realize the gravity of that? three whole fucking years.”

you stared up at him, watching him cry and savoring it. you’d never felt so powerful, so alive. you drank in his pain, his regret, the wounds you were creating with the sole force of your words.

“don’t ever, ever contact me again. don’t have atsumu or suna or fucking aran ask how i’m doing. stay the fuck out of my life.” you dropped your hand, shaking your head, “i hope this restaurant, the little stress relief you felt when you were with them—i hope it was worth losing one of the only people that’s stood by your side.”

a feeling of calm accompanied you out the door as you stepped into a world of freedom and opportunities.

[your-averagewriter]

“Fuck off America’s sweetheart.”

Summary: After trekking through the rainforest the Suicide Squad stumble upon a camp and after a brief massacre they discover Rick Flag, uninjured and not captured.

Word count: 1.0K

Warnings: Violence, swearing, blood, gore, Suicide Squad violence and warnings

-

-

After a day of walking through a rainforest, moisture attaching itself to my skin I try to shrug off the feeling of dirtiness. We reach a makeshift camp and are instantly told to execute anyone and everyone within.

A brutal but sadly common order in the Suicide Squad. DuBois and Peacemaker have an obvious rivalry not leaving many to the rest of us but I’m not complaining. I’ve never been someone to enjoy killing, only when ordered to or when it’s necessary, that’s not to say I’m bad at it, don’t misunderstand.

I approach the camp, following behind the two in competition, not something I wanna get involved with. Slowly, I pull out a few bullets from my bag, toss one in the air, catch it then throw it, propelling it straight into a man’s head. Sunlight shines through from the other side, illuminating the cascading blood from the wound. I repeat the process with a second bullet, lodging it in someone’s skull before moving on through the camp.

Watching the two ‘vigilantes’ act like children is entertaining for a few minutes but gets old quickly as they fight over the last victim. Quickly, I pull out two bullets from my bag and propel them at the same time towards the last man standing. Falling over, you can see the two holes the bullets paved through his eyes, perfect shot, I think allowing a small smile at the precision and accuracy.

Both of them turn to me, glaring ever so slightly annoyed that I took away their tie breaker but we have a mission to do and competition with each other will only get each other killed.

“Damn it.” I hear both of them say, frustrated, watching as the man falls, flat on the ground, the remains of his eyes splattered nearby.

Staying silent, I follow closely behind the leader and another who has also deemed himself a leader (Peacemaker). His ego seems to have no bounds, from his pretentious name to stupid hat.

Heading towards a tent, DuBois pulls open the entrance to reveal a short woman in some sort of uniform and a patched up Rick Flag. They turn to us in confusion which is mimicked by our faces.

“(y/n)?” He asks and I furrow my brows looking at him, sitting laughing in a tent whilst we were out fighting and trying to protect the island.

I step back, out of the tent slowly as too many emotions flood my system making me not be able to think straight. I just need to get out of here.

I don’t walk far and I don’t know what to do so I walk through the camp following the trails of my murders tracing my bullets. They’re not really that special but I don’t know what to do right now.

Feeling a tear carve a path down my face, my hand flies up immediately to swipe it away and I refuse to cry or to let anyone see me cry. I grab at the bullets, forcing my fingernails into my palms almost drawing blood but the pain stops the tears from falling. Reversed logic but when did emotions ever make sense. Stuffing the bullets back into my bag I walk over to a fallen tree where I perch my head in my hands, not crying, not angry, just overwhelmed. Although, an overwhelmed assassin can be a dangerous thing.

This whole experience only lasts seconds in reality but it feels like it’s going on forever.

Waller convinced me to go on this mission stating that Rick had been captured, that he was being used by the enemy, she didn’t outright say he was being tortured but it was heavily implied.But here he is laughing in a tent with some random people, certainly not looking captured.

I know it’s not his fault that he's unharmed, not captured by the enemy, I’m not mad at him, it’s Waller as usual - manipulating me using my emotions and using the one person I care about to force me on this mission.

Rick emerges from the tent a few moments afterwards, likely done with a short debrief for DuBois and the others. He scans the forest, tracing the treeline, looking for me and eventually he clocks me sitting on the tree.

“(y/n)-” I interrupt.

“Why are you here? I don’t understand.” I say, my hands threaded in my hair.

“Trust me, I’m about to ask you the same thing.”

“Waller called me in, she told me you had been captured and were probably being tortured. That’s why I’m here. Why aren’t you being tortured?” He chuckles quietly. “I know that sounds weird.” I say, resting my head on his shoulder.

“Waller lied to you.” I sigh. What I thought has now been confirmed.

“I can’t believe she would do that… Well, I can.” I frown.

“I’m so sorry.” He says, wrapping his arm around my waist, resting his head on top of mine. “I don’t want you to be here because of me.”

“It’s not your fault. We’ve just gotta make sure we both get out of it now so we can deal with Waller later on.”

“Yeah. Then you can show Waller what you’re made of.” 

“She won’t know what hit her.” I manage a small smile. There’s a comfortable silence that falls over us before I stand up holding onto his hand, cherishing the warmth he provides me with. “We should get back to the others…” I say.

He agrees quietly, following after me. We walk back over to the tent where the others are standing and talking with the people in uniform.

“DuBois?” I say and he turns around upon hearing his name. “Did you know?” I ask.

“Know what?”

“That Flag wasn’t captured, wasn’t tortured.”

“I didn’t know Flag was here.” He says, shrugging his shoulders.

“Who the fuck is this guy?” Peacemaker asks. “Why is he so important?”

“Fuck off America’s sweetheart.” I say, the anger of Waller lying being emphasised by Peacemaker’s idiocy. I feel Rick squeeze my hand, an attempt to calm me. I don’t have anger issues but there are some specific things that rile me up.

“Hey, hey, hey.” Robert stands in the middle of us putting his hands up, preventing escalation. “He’s just a dick.” DuBois says quietly.

“Hey, I can hear you!” Peacemaker shouts.

“Fuck off!” I yell back.

-

AN: I hope you enjoyed reading!

I'm so boring with my title recently, I've just been putting quotes from the fics, I'm sorry haha.

I thought you'd want to be tagged @mandy-eminem-moxley77 (I have a much better Rick Flag fic that I'm gonna post tomorrow or the day after that's 'spicy' so...)

[tinybirbwrites]

Guilty Pleasure (Dick Grayson/Reader)

Hello, hi. This started as a vent fic, then it became super silly and fun and longer than expected. No warnings except for some swearing, just silly fluff and crack. Reader is gender-neutral. Also I had Gotham Knights Dick in mind while writing, the game really grew on me lmao.

You often wondered whether Dick had a sixth sense for your mood. Each time you were upset about something, he would either somehow end up finding out about it, or unknowingly comfort you in some way. 

Watched a sad movie while Dick was away? Look at your phone; Dick either just sent you a meme, pun, or a sweet little message to brighten your day. Unhappy about what you saw in the mirror? Just you wait; Dick always seemed to have a heartfelt compliment ready for you. Lonely? Worry not; Dick already made plans to come over and glue himself to you for several hours.

This time was no different. Just twenty minutes after you saw something hurtful on social media, Dick plopped down next to you on the couch and wrapped a casual arm around your shoulders. 

“Hey, wanna watch a dumb movie together and cuddle?”

Hell yeah.

-

The movie did turn out to be super dumb—a crazy woman summoning the spirit of her dead killer husband into a fake christmas tree, who then goes on a murderous rampage as a christmas tree? Really? But it was exactly what you needed at that moment. 

You were crying and laughing through the stupidity of it all, switching between actually paying attention because of what was happening or because Dick was actively commenting on it, and thinking back to the post you saw that upset you in the first place. Dick didn’t ask, but he kept giving you comforting squeezes and rubbed slow circles over your back the whole time. 

As the credits started rolling and you finally got over how weird the movie was, Dick stroked a careful thumb over the tear-trails on your cheek. “Alright, well, now that we’ve gone through all five stages of grief together… You wanna tell me about it?” 

You leaned back with a shaky exhale. “Well, you know how I like to read and write fanfiction?” At his nod, you continued, “Well, there’s a subgenre called ‘reader inserts.’ They’re… basically exactly what the title implies. They’re written with you as the main character, and most of the time it’s with a romantic plot point at the focus. It’s something I like to consume for comfort, because it feels nice to read about yourself meeting your favorite characters and interacting with them, doing things together that you’ll never be able to in real life, right? And there’s a lot of well written fics out there that I enjoy a lot, but of course, as with everything, there’s also not so good ones. And the tragic part is, the not so good ones are the only thing that other people who aren’t interested in this subgenre see and know about, so reader inserts get a pretty bad rep. And I get it, I’ve also seen the bad ones, and there’s… a lot of porn, too. I understand it can be frustrating to see when you really don’t want to, but shaming people for writing and reading it just… hurts, you know? It really hurts.”

Dick was silent for a while, frowning. “Sadly, there’ll always be people who get upset about things they don’t like or don’t understand. Some are mature about it, and some aren’t. I’m guessing you saw someone complaining?”

You sighed and nodded, tiredly rubbing a hand over your forehead. “Yeah.” You didn’t feel like elaborating on what the person said specifically, it would only upset you more. Maybe you’d sent a screenshot to Dick later, but right now you just wanted to forget about it.

Dick hummed. “I’m sorry you had to see that. It really sucks when you’ve gotta deal with people hating something you love and care about. And I know it’s easier said than done, but… don’t focus on that negativity. Focus on the good stuff. You’ve talked about getting a lot of positive feedback on your own writing before, yeah? Focus on that. People love what you write, and you love other people’s writing, that means there’s a community where you can all share what you love with each other, and that’s a beautiful thing. Some people just aren’t into the same stuff, they don’t get it, so sometimes they’ll complain about it to feel better. It’s hurtful, yeah, but remember that they’re not targeting you specifically. It’s their problem, the issues often lie within themselves. From what you said, it sounds like they’re just shitting on something they don’t wanna see because they don’t like or care about it. They’re not offering constructive criticism, so really, you don’t have to concern yourself with them. Try to distance yourself from their words, be proud of what you do and who you are. Okay?”

You mulled over his words for a moment, digesting them bit by bit, and eventually, you managed a smile. “Yeah, okay.” You turned your head and leaned closer to him, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek. “Thanks.”

When you looked at him, the expression on his face was almost shy. “You’re always welcome. I’m just glad I could help somehow.”

-

Days later, Dick came to you with an excited smile on his face, and you watched as he sat down and pulled out his phone. “So, since you told me about reader inserts, I’ve done some research to better understand what you meant. I wanted to know more about what you enjoy.”

Oh no. “Oh. Really?” you said, a lot calmer than you actually felt.

He grinned, unaware of your growing horror. “Yep! So, I wasn’t sure what to look for at first, but eventually I searched for reader inserts that included some of the media I personally enjoy. I found a few I actually liked a lot! But, uh, I get what you meant with there being a lot of porn.”

You hid your face in your hands with a chortle, feeling heat quickly traveling to your cheeks at the mental image of Dick reading smut fics out of pure curiosity to learn more about what you were passionate about. “Yeah…”

Suddenly, Dick brightened. “Also! You won’t believe it, but I found a lot of Nightwing reader inserts! Some got recommended to me because of my search history, and I got really curious, so—”

OH NO.

“I was so amazed at how many there are! Ah, of course, lots of porn too. Can’t really fault anyone for that, I mean, I know people love my butt, so it only makes sense. Still, feels kinda weird. I started reading a few because I just couldn’t help it, and isn’t it kind of funny? It’s like a story about me making out with myself! Anyway, I found a few really good ones, a lot of them were from the same author—”

Oh God, please, anything but this—

Dick scrolled through his phone for a moment, then turned it around to show you what he found. You felt your soul leave your body.

It was your very own profile picture that stared back at you. 

It was your blog. 

It was your writing. 

Your Nightwing fanfics. 

He went on, completely undeterred by your stunned silence. “I know it sounds kind of narcissistic of me to say, but you should totally give this person’s stuff a read! They’re really good! I felt weirdly immersed, reading about being in love with, well, myself. Pining after… myself. Never thought I’d feel so strongly about that, but here I am. There’s one story that I’m hoping will get a second part some day, actually. I’m thinking I should maybe leave a comment. You think it’d be too much to do that with my Nightwing account?” 

Oh. Oh, thank God. Dick didn’t know it was you.

You subtly cleared your throat. “Uhm. Yeah, I think commenting as Nightwing would be a bit much.”

It was an older account—you actually hadn’t uploaded anything for a while now, but most of them were about Nightwing.

It had started off with the usual go-to scenarios of Nightwing saving reader while on patrol, something he’d actually done for you a few times now, which was what inspired you to scroll through the Nightwing x Reader tag in the first place. Then you decided you would give in and post some of your own for the public to see as well. Anonymously, of course. You’d never pin your actual name to that particular guilty pleasure of yours. 

The more you wrote, the more you started to wonder about what if scenarios. 

What if Dick Grayson was Nightwing? You’d noticed that they shared a lot of similarities; a love for puns, a charming smile, a kind heart, perfect hair, and, uhm… A nice body, too. You’d never written out this theory for the public eye, but in your head, you’d started imagining Dick being the one behind the mask, which fuelled your writing even more as you poured your feelings into them. 

You knew it was kind of a No-No to write about actual, existing people. It wasn’t something you usually did, either, nor were you very proud of it. But you just couldn’t help it—you’d been pining after Dick and Nightwing separately for years now, venting about it in the form of self-indulgent writing, until you eventually figured out they were both one and the same person. 

Of course you’d fallen head over heels in love with Dick, it was practically impossible not to; He had a stupidly big heart and a stupidly big butt. Finding out these two ridiculously attractive and caring people were actually one guy? That only served to intensify your feelings by, like, a hundred.

You hadn’t mentioned this realization to Dick, but it got more and more difficult not to as time went on. Until finally, one day, Dick confessed his vigilante identity to you, stating he trusted you and felt it was only fair if you knew. He felt bad about having to lie to you and keep making up excuses about his bruises and why he had to cancel plans every time something big happened that Nightwing had to take care of.

You were too scared to tell him about your feelings, especially after realizing you’d been writing reader insert fanfics about him all this time. It was one thing to just imagine Dick being Nightwing, but it was another to actually know it was him. You were lucky and very happy to even be friends with this amazing guy, and you weren’t about to ruin that by confessing your shameful sins to him.

You knew it was extra weird to write not only about an actual person, but about your friend. You’d never written any smut—that was something you just couldn’t let yourself do, it felt too wrong, even before you found out about Dick’s secret. 

You knew he took all the sexually charged comments on his Nightwing persona in good stride. He actually seemed to glow from all the praise, even feeding into it by laying on the charm extra thick sometimes when on patrol, always insisting Nightwing should never wear a cape so his precious butt wouldn’t be covered up. You also knew that he himself as Richard Grayson was a very popular guy, handsome and charming, a “well dressed golden retriever,” as some people liked to describe him. 

But you also knew that there was a line, and you felt like you were definitely crossing it by writing reader inserts about your best friend and crush. Though you did stop writing them after finding out about who Nightwing really was—it just felt too weird to keep posting more at that point.

Argh, who were you kidding? Either way, it was definitely still weird that you hadn’t immediately deleted your whole blog afterwards. It didn’t matter that Dick was currently unknowingly blowing up your phone with excited comments and likes on several of your Nightwing x Reader fics. You pulled it out and glanced at your screen as it lit up. Ah, he was also sending you all the links so you could read them for yourself. 

Is this how Dick felt when people talked about Nightwing in front of him, not knowing it was him they were talking about? You certainly felt like you had a top secret persona now. 

Despite your conflicted feelings on the matter and the rising shame in your chest, you couldn’t help but smile at Dick’s genuine enthusiasm. And his comments were all very nice, too. 

Maybe… Maybe he would be okay with it, knowing it was you. Maybe he’d laugh about it. Maybe he’d even be flattered. You knew it would be impossible to keep this to yourself forever, especially since Dick was so easy to open up to. But not now. Definitely not now.

-

A few months later, Tim mentioned your username during a group conversation. In his defense, he probably thought it was common knowledge—you knew he wouldn’t reveal something as big as this on purpose if he thought it wasn’t a big deal. You were using the same username for several other accounts on other websites as well, all connected to your second email address, the one you hadn’t shared with Dick or the others, so you hadn’t actually expected them to ever look into it and find out.

How very foolish of you. You just hoped Tim hadn’t read any of your fanfics as well.

While you’d tried to appear calm and unaffected on the outside, you could feel yourself slowly dying on the inside, melting from the sheer amount of mortification you were experiencing.

You couldn’t look Dick in the eyes ever since. 

While he hadn’t mentioned anything directly, you could tell the clogs inside his head had already turned enough for him to connect the dots. He knew. Fucking shit, he knew. 

Several days went by. You kept casually sending messages to him, sharing memes and other every-day things like always, and he did the same. But you could tell he knew and wanted to say something, but didn’t because he could tell you were highly uncomfortable with him knowing. 

He was nice like that. Goddammit. 

And then, one evening, as you contemplated finally deleting your whole account and sending an official apology to Dick (you would definitely have to do that, you just didn’t know what to say and where to start), your phone lit up with a new message. 

From Dick. 

You stared at the notification for a long moment, dreading what you’d find once you opened it, until your eyes started to burn and you had to force yourself to take a few deep breaths and calm down.

Don’t jump to any conclusions now, you told yourself. Just open the damn message and see for yourself.

You procrastinated by going to the bathroom first. Then walked around the kitchen in search of something to eat, only to realize you were too anxious to actually eat anything. 

So you took your damn phone and clicked on the damn notification, holding your damn breath as you read Dick’s messages. 

(Dick) 21:32 : Hey, so, I had some ideas for a sequel regarding your last Nightwing story

(Dick) 21:33 : Hear me out

(Dick) 21:35 : What if Nightwing went over to reader’s place

(Dick) 21:35 : and then…

You waited for him to elaborate, maybe send a GIF or something else, but he wasn’t even online anymore. You frowned and started to type a hesitant, confused response, when there was a sudden knock on your living room window, making you flinch and shriek, almost dropping your phone in the process.

Looking up, you saw Dick in his Nightwing suit outside your window, grinning and waving at you. 

You blinked at him for a moment, then quickly walked over to open the window. “Wha—”

“You haven’t posted in a long time,” Dick interrupted you with a smile. “I thought maybe I could help inspire you.” 

“Ins— Inspire?” you repeated, stunned.

You stepped back a little when he started climbing through the window, taking in his appearance with a sense of awe. You’d seen him as Nightwing a few times now, but you never quite got used to it. He was a sight to behold—he always was, whether he was wearing the suit or just his regular clothes, but having Nightwing standing in front of you in your own home always felt a little unreal. It was so form fitting, showing off his muscles and curves, and the mask hiding parts of his face had its very own appeal that you could hardly put into words. 

“I noticed a theme while going through your stories.” Dick’s voice pulled you out of your stupor, and you quickly shut your mouth, only now realizing you’d been gaping at him the whole time. 

You cleared your throat. “A theme?”

“Yeah.” He stepped closer to you, slowly, as if he wanted to check whether you would move away or not. “Nightwing and reader never actually kiss in any of them.”

You thought your heart was going to burst out of your chest. Then you realized he was waiting for you to say something.

“Oh, uhm. Yeah. I, uh. I just felt kind of weird about that. At first I was just scared you’d maybe find out about my stories some day and be weirded out by them, but later on after you told me about being Nightwing, I also just— It felt wrong to write about kissing you because it felt… too personal? And then I just kinda stopped writing them entirely.”

“Mh-hmm,” he hummed understandingly, stepping even closer, close enough for you to smell his cologne and minty breath. “Not to force my own interpretations onto your writing or anything, but I think Nightwing would definitely be very much into kissing the reader. And seeing how strongly the reader feels about him, I’m guessing it’s something they would want, too?”

You gulped, then managed to croak out a weak, “Yeah.”

He smiled and leaned closer until the tip of his nose shortly brushed yours, pausing for a moment to give you the chance to pull away, then gently pressed his lips to yours. Your breathing hitched, an electrifying sensation running through your whole body, starting from the points where he was touching you. His hands were on your arms, slowly rubbing up and down while he moved his lips against yours just as slowly. Your muscles couldn’t decide whether to stay tense or relax and melt against him, so you did a weird combination of both. 

Unsurprisingly, Dick was a very good kisser. 

After a long moment, he eventually parted from you, leaning back a little to take in your reaction. You couldn’t help but let out a breathless little laugh, stunned by what just happened, and so very fucking happy.

Dick chuckled too, hands gently squeezing your upper arms as if he wanted to hug you. “Was that okay?”

“Absolutely,” you said, without hesitation. “I’m sure all the fics probably gave it away, but I have feelings for you. Strong ones.”

“Well, I didn’t want to make assumptions based on fiction alone,” Dick smiled. “But I’m glad, because I feel the same way. About you, I mean.”

Your chest warmed at that. Then you chuckled, an idea hitting you. “What, you don’t want me to write Dick Grayson x Nightwing fanfics next?”

He opened his mouth to retort with something sarcastic, but then his eyes widened. “Oh my God, that’s actually a really genius idea—”

You chortled and knocked your hand against his strong chest. “No, it really wouldn’t be. What if people connected the dots and found out because of it?”

He pouted. “Alright, fair point. But maybe you could write them just for me?” Aaand he was using his puppy eyes on you. Go figure. 

“I’ll think about it,” you gave in. Only a few people were strong enough to withstand Dick Grayson’s charm, and you certainly weren’t one of them. “But, I gotta ask… Weren’t you super weirded out when you found out that I wrote all these stories? Didn’t it make you uncomfortable?” 

If you ever found out that a friend of yours was writing romantic reader insert fanfics about you and publishing them… Well, you didn’t know what it would feel like, but it was definitely weird.

Dick chuckled and shook his head. “If it were someone else I knew, then maybe. But I know you—you’re one of my best friends. Knowing you wrote them, it just… doesn’t bother me at all, no. I understand why you wrote them, I understand why you published them, too. And why you stopped.” He shrugged. You felt a weight fall from your shoulders at his words, finally feeling yourself relax against him. “Anyway, did I manage to inspire you? You gonna write a kiss for part two?”

You snorted, then hummed, pretending to think for a moment. “I don’t know, I think I’ll need a bit more to really get the creativity flowing.”

Dick’s smile turned knowing. “I’d be more than happy to help.” And then he kissed you again, and it was even better than the first time.

[unimpressed-writes-again]

Yoriichi x Yandere Demon Reader (male)

.When you first met yoriichi when walking to downtown and dropped your bag Yoriichi was ever so kind to help you,you were infatuated with him you hadn’t ever felt towards another man.

.You knew he was the one he was the one for you nobody else could have he he was yours.

.You decided Then and there you would do absolutely anything to make him yours even KILLING.

.That night you followed him through the forest hoping he wouldn’t notice m you,He looked really strong but you didn’t care that man was all that mattered.

.You followed on and on until…you found yourself backed up against a tree Yoriichi’s voice echoed through the silence of the night.

.Just who the hell are you.

.You look at his face still as beautiful as you first saw it.

.Wait it’s you you’re the man from earlier.

.He let you go,What are you doing here.

.I wanted to thank you for earlier.

.do you think I’ll fall for that I’m not stupid.

.Fine I followed you because…I wanted to know more about that strange aura emitting from you!.

.I see alright.

.So for months you did the same thing over again each time coming up with different excuses you knew yoriichi knew you were lying.

.Further into your friendship you confessed to him ready to kidnap him if he said no but he said yes.

.Yoriichi asked to come to your house but you said no making up the excuse that you had a sick little sister that didn’t like meeting people Thank goodness Yoriichi loved you.

.You couldn’t risk your soulmate and love of your life finding out you were protecting him from by KILLING anyone who got to close to him.

.Yoriichi wouldn’t understand that you were protecting him by killing PEOPLE.

.Your obsession for him got to the point where you would become a Demon to protect him he was of course devastated but he’ll get over it your love is enough for him.

.After becoming a demon you raised to the rank of upper moon quickly because you watched yoriichi train so it was easier for you.

.You didn’t care that the other upper moons weren’t fond of you Muzan kept you around because you were strong and useful.

.One night after slaughtering some hashira’a You came face to face with yoriichi.

.Why Why,Just why did have to do this!.

.You smiled not answering.

.Yoriichi I’m sorry! I know I shouldn’t have! My emotions got over me I’m sorry!

.you were laying down on his lap as the Sun came up.

.Yoriichi’s tears dropped on your face as you started burning crying you yell continues apology’s.

.Know you would never be reborn again for all your actions.

.Yoriichi please forg-.

.You were now nothing but ashes.

.You were Yoriichi’s first male love and last lover for life his life up till he met you was nothing but worthless and now you’re gone.

Hi! Guys I hope you enjoyed this really hope I did justice to my male readers out there.

bye my lovelies and as always remember you are beautiful☺️.

9/6/23

[medusapelagia]

Nothing happened

written for @steddiemicrofic

Rating: General Relationship: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson WT: misunderstandig, pining Prompt: Pine WC: 508

Steve sighs for the umpteenth time while putting away the Christmas decorations; he never understood why people get so excited to decorate for Christmas when they already know that, in a few weeks, they’ll have to take down all the ornaments. “Are you finally happy, Mr. Grinch?” Robin asks, grabbing a couple of tinsels and putting them in the big box with the word Christmas. “Why should I?” “Christmas is over, you can finally stop complaining about the lights, and the music and whatever.” OK, Steve is not really a party guy these days: the twinkling lights remind him of the Upside Down and the sound of the fireworks provokes horrible flashbacks of Russian torture chambers, but how can anyone blame him? The kid tried to invite him to a big Christmas party, but in the end, he chose to stay at Munson’s, have a light dinner, drink some beer, and get home with a huge hole in his heart. “Will you tell me what happened at Munson’s? You are even more grumpy than usual.” Nothing happened, not really, he hugged Eddie, thanking him for the hospitality, and whispered something close to “I love you.” Eddie smiled, yanked some hair behind Steve’s hair, and replied “I love you too… you are family, you know that right?” Family, like brothers. Not exactly what Steve meant but he smiled and joked about Dustin’s shared custody and some other stupid things, before getting home and crying himself to sleep. So no, nothing happened, and that’s the problem. They were standing in Eddie’s living room, the little crooked Christmas Tree standing in the corner and the scent of pine surrounding them; it felt like a movie, only Steve was thinking about a Hallmark movie, while Eddie no, and Steve hadn’t dared to confess to anyone what happened, so he kept driving the kids at the Hellfire and he kept hanging out with Eddie like nothing happened because nothing happened, that’s what he keeps repeating it to himself like a mantra. Nothing happened. “So?” Robin asks, and Steve realizes that he has been staring at the Christmas ornament he is holding in his hand for the last couple of minutes: a Hawaiian Santa Claus with a flower necklace and a ukulele. Eddie would love it. “Then bring it to him.” “What?” “You just said that Eddie would love it, bring it to him and talk with him because your sad puppy eyes are killing me, ok?” Steve glares at Robin, ready to complain that he doesn’t have sad puppy eyes, but the bell of the shop rings and he turns toward the door, welcoming the customers with his professional smile “Hi, I’m Steve, how can I help you?” but the Hawaiian Santa Claus falls to the ground and shatters to pieces when he sees Eddie with a big bouquet. “Wayne told me that I wasn’t clear enough so… would you like to be part of my family?” he murmurs, blushing. “Like a brother?” Steve asks and Eddie shakes his head. “Like a boyfriend.”

[ciaoteamo]

Redemption

pairings: na’vi quaritch x na’vi reader

summary: Your trauma from the past rises and quaritch happens to be around to take the heat.

(A/N): imagine tearing up at your own writing.

warnings: angst

Tonight, you had planned to visit the tree of voices, you harbored an uneasy feeling in your chest and decided to calm yourself with the young spirits.

It always did it’s job right, bringing a smile to your face as you close your eyes. You’d been tense lately and you no idea why.

Your ears picked up the sound of a broken branch, you slowly reach for your knife and break your bond. A footstep was heard close to you and you whipped around, knife hovering over the neck of who was behind you.

“nice to see you too, sweet cheeks” Miles smirks with his hands up.

“that name makes me want to vomit” You glare and put your knife away.

“i know” He chuckles. “what’re you up to?” He asks.

“…trying to relax” You sit back down. He sits next to you, hands intertwining yours.

“what’s wrong?” He asks seriously.

“it’s nothing, it’s stupid” You wave him off.

“it’s neither of those if it has you out here alone trying to ‘relax’” He replies. “are you feeling sick?”

“…in a way.. it feels like i’m underwater and the surface is just out of reach” You look at him.

“hmm… what do you think keeping you from reaching it?” He asks.

“the past” You reach out and play with a few strands on the tree. “my people have gone through great suffering” You frown thinking of everyone you’ve lost, your father, your nephew, and almost yourself.

“why?” Your eyes water as the feeling of sadness creeps onto you. Your people did nothing to deserve what happened… these people invaded your planet and almost destroyed everything.

“what do you mean?” You could see his concern increase.

“why did your kind do it” Your voice broke. “Neytiri and i will never get our father back… i can never see my nephew again, home tree was completely destroyed” You almost shout.

You stand up and he quickly does the same. “(Y/N), i’m sorry..”

“don’t. and do not follow me” You say with a biting tone. He flinched, but as you walked away, disobeyed your command.

He didn’t say a word, you purposefully took difficult routes to try and shake him off. What was so special about him anyway, your mother knew about what happened, how did this man end up being saved?

You abruptly stop and take a deep inhale before turning. “you know how far we are from the others? my mother cannot prevent your death here” You say, completely serious.

He swallows and puts a little more distance between you. “valid observation, but i won’t…just leave you alone” He was panting from the run.

“why? you are just like them! never listening” You squint.

“(Y/N), believe me… i am beyond sorry about what happened, even if is wasn’t me that did it, i still feel the burden of guilt every day” He states.

“too bad that your ‘sorry’ cannot bring them back” You start to get angry again. He just stares at you for a moment, and just a blank one. One that made you feel small, like you were being studied or observed.

He squeezed his eyes shut with a sigh and walks toward you, you hiss but before you could grab your weapon, his strong arms locked in your shoulders.

“move… MOVE!” You knee and scratch whatever you could. “GET AWAY FROM ME AND MY HOME” You scream out, he only held on tighter. “YOU’RE DEMONS” Your voice cracks once again. Your fight dies down and your body collapses as you sob. “you’re all demons..” You cry. He brings you into another hug, this time with comfort.

You cry into his chest and he gently rubs your head. It felt like you were reopening a wound, and he was doing what he could to get you through the pain.

After a while, you were only letting out a single sniffle. “look, i know it’s not easy to have another version of… him… walking around alive and well. but until you tell me otherwise, i will do everything in my power to pay for what he did” He looks down at you.

“… none of it was you back then.. and you weren’t around for my nephew, it wasn’t you that time either” You sniff and stand up.

“what are you-“

“you were lost before, trying to do well for the person in your memory” You give him a defeated smile, almost crying again. “but even though i say and know that , i still cannot bring myself to forgive you” You shake your head.

“what can i do?” His face showed you nothing but sympathy.

“you could let me go alone, i know my way around” You give him a reassuring grin. He still looked uneasy. “and don’t worry, i was like this toward Jake as well” You say before sprinting off into the lit up night.

[squish36-writes-and-draws]

10 November: Unraveling

Word count: 700

General Taglist (lmk if you want to be added/removed!): @stellar-lune @faggot-friday @kamikothe1and0nly @nyxpixels @florida-preposterously @poppinspop @uni-seahorse-572 @solreefs @corruption-exe @rusted-phone-calls @when-wax-wings-melt @good-old-fashioned-lover-boy7 @dexter-dizzknees @abubble125 @hi-imgrapes @callum-hunt-is-bisexual @callas-pancake-tree @hi-my-name-is-awesome @katniss-elizabeth-chase @sillyguy-supreme @void-kill @thefoxysnake

Unraveling Project Specific Taglist (lmk if you want to be added/removed/upgraded): @cutebisexualmess @crippling-pages @daizythegreat @sophiefostersno1stan @iggydancebreak @theleopardstalker @you-will-meet-your-downfall @multi-fandom-lunatic

TW: significant Keefe angst. Creator chose not to use archive warnings.

On Ao3 or below the cut!

First (3 November) / Previous / Next

Keefe Sencen's Journal

  Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. 

    I fucked up. 

    A lot. 

    I don’t think I can stay here anymore. 

    How am I going to tell Taylor? Am I going to tell Taylor? I don’t know if I can I don’t know if I should—all I know is that I fucking saw Gethen across the street and that means that somehow, some way my mother has managed to find me. Was it something I did? Did I get into the newspaper by accident? I know that’s how Fitz found Foster, but why would anyone ever bother to run an article about some random guy who recently started loitering in the park? 

    I am going to explode. 

    I don’t know what to do. How the exile did she find me in all these fucking people? No, Keefe, don’t start crying. You don’t have enough handkerchiefs to clean your sinuses out. 

    If I leave, I’ll never see Taylor again. It’s not like I can just disappear and accept that she’s going to be fine with me being halfway across the planet for potentially years but she’s my everything and I love her so starsexile much and I know it’s irrational but dear stars I can’t do this anymore. Any of it 

    I should just turn myself in to my mother. I can’t put myself through this again and I know for a fact that I will. It’s just a matter of time, and not even that much of it, considering just how recently I met Taylor. 

    I’m never going to meet anyone as wonderful as her again. Sure, there might be other people in the world, but she’s perfect which is why it hurts so much to be forced to leave for her own safety. If Gethen knows where I am, it’s just a matter of time before mother dearest uses her against me. 

    I have to go. I just don’t know if I can. 

    Maybe my real ability is to just leave a trail of decimated lives in my wake. That’s probably even more useful than the ability detector or command shit and that’s mostly just a consequence of my personality. 

    I keep playing it over and over in my mind, trying to prove that it isn’t Gethen, but my photographic memory is either being an unreliable narrator or I saw the crescent=shaped scar on his hand. Each iteration I’m less certain, but the possibility means that I’m going to have to go anyway. If nothing else, I need to make sure that Taylor doesn’t get caught up in this any more than she has already.  I couldn’t live with myself if she were hurt. Exile, I can already barely live with myself for letting it get this far. You’re so fucking stupid it hurts. 

Letter from Keefe to Taylor, left on the chessboard.

    You don’t have to forgive me. In fact, it’s probably better if you don’t. I could give you a big long explanation about why I have to leave, but it would raise more questions than answers. I guess I could say that I’m hiding from my parents, but that feels like such an oversimplification that it’s almost worthless.  I wish—no, it doesn’t matter what I wish. It’d be great if things were different, but that’s never how my life has chosen to work out. 

    It was never my intention to show up in your life, fuck over your entire emotional state, and then leave from whence I came, but I can’t see any other way out. If I could, I would take it, but here I am, once again abandoning the people I care about in a last-ditch effort to make sure that they don’t get dragged down this chasm alongside me. 

    Maybe one day I’ll be back, but I don’t know when that will be and I severely doubt it will be worth it to you to wait until then. I don’t know where I’ll be going next, but it won’t be here. I’ll never forget you, Taylor. 

    If nothing else, I just need you to know: 

    I love you. You mean more to me than you could ever know. 

Keefe

[sams-art-domain]

Dying under a tree

Tw: death, tragedy, graphic depictions of violence. features: my oc’s Aurora and Sky, no designs yet really.

2122 Words

I pushed myself against the tree, my body screaming with pain. I cough and tears overflowed from the pure pain. It felt like a million needles were being stabbed into my lungs. I could smell copper. Blood. My vision blurred from my tears, and I blinked them down my face. I clenched my good hand, my arm shaking violently. I looked up, under the leaves of an old oak tree. Another wave of pain washing over my body and I cough. I bring my good hand to my chest, blood staining my arm. I look at my other arm. Mangled and bleeding. I sob, my rib cage racking and it hurts like I just got hit with one million cars. I look around. People screaming and crying and running and trying to escape. Why now!? What the fuck!? I was happy. I had almost everything I wanted and they took it and fuck them and I just what the hell!!?? I watch a mother and her newborn get shot down like cattle. I almost vomit from the amount of blood. I don’t know how they don’t see me. I don’t even care. I wish I could help someone. I just close my eyes and tilt my head up. 

Escape escape escape I don’t want to be here I’m hurt and scared and angry please distract yourself think of a happy moment think of someone you love-

Sitting under the old oak tree, its leaves protecting us from the beaming sun. She laughed, a golden and warm laugh. A laugh I could listen to forever. I would do anything to make her laugh like that. Her smile radiating enough light to illuminate the solar system. A sun. She was warm and golden and bright. I felt my own smile grow. My heart skipped and and jumped and practically flew out of my chest. “That’s dumb-“ her laugh died down, though her smile was still shining. Her soft straight brown hair tucked behind her ears, it falling over her shoulders and down her back like a waterfall. 

“Clearly not, you think it’s hilarious.” I jokingly say. My smile probably lop-sided and imperfect.

“Only ‘cause it’s you” she comments, voice quieter at the ‘you’. 

My stomach drops. And my heart does backflips and spikes and dances. Butterflies release from my stomach to my chest. I can feel my face heat up. My breath hitches. 

“‘Cause you’re funny.” She continues, trying to save herself. Her face is slightly pink. “More fun then other girls. All they wanna talk about is boys ‘nd stupid stuff…” she looked at her knees. Slightly scraped from playing in the woods earlier. 

I stare at her face, slightly pinkened, a cut on her chin from falling earlier. Her eyes looking down, her round nose with freckles covering it up and down. Her soft lips, slightly red and one sucked into her mouth as she chewed on it. Her eyebrows furrowed, like she was thinking. 

“I don’t like talking about boys. I think girls are prettier anyway.” She admits, glancing at me briefly when she notices I’m staring. 

“Me too.” I blurt before thinking. I’ve never thought about it like that. “Girls are prettier than most boys.” I pause, rethinking. “Some boys are pretty too though.” I continued. I look at her hands, picking at a scab on her knee. It’s red and probably doesn’t feel too good to do that. 

“I don’t like boys at all. They’re mean and loud.” She adds matter-of-factly. Continuing to pick at that scab. Ignoring what she said about boys, I see her scab start to bleed.

“Hey- you shouldn’t do that..” I grab her hand while saying that, holding it in mine. Not even realizing her face flash bright pink and her eyes staring at our hands. 

“Y- uhm-..” She stutters, staring at our hands, and interlocks our fingers. 

My heart rate increases. Those butterflies seem to quadruple and begin dancing in my chest. Our hands sit on the ground, interlocked. We sit side-by-side under the oak tree. I look at the ant crawling next to my shoe. She looks at her knees. She scoots closer and rests her head on my shoulder. I really think she’s prettier than anyone.. girl or boy. 

A sharp pain radiates through my chest. I realize I have been holding my breath. My leg throbs with every time my heart beats. I look around, no one’s alive. Everyones- everyone’s dead. The stench of blood burns my nose and makes me gag. Causing my chest to tighten and more pain stab me yet again. Tears begin to fall again and I look at my leg, broken and bruised. A nasty gnash against my calf. How did I survive? How am I still alive? Why didn’t they kill me… 

More than just the deep cut on my chest. It hurts. Everything fucking hurts and I hate it. Why am I alive!? Why did they kill all of them. I look around, just dead. Dead men, women, and children. I hate it. I feel nauseous. Dying here. So many regrets. 

I scream in frustration and pain. Pain pain pain pain pain. The scream makes my chest hurt worse. “I- I literally am going to die alone…” my voice breaks and crumbles. “Never even got a chance to properly tell ‘er…” All I can think about is her. Is she dead? Dying? Suffering? Maybe she was captured, maybe she escaped, I hope she’s safe. 

Snow falls, the sun hidden behind clouds, I sit under that same oak tree, the leaves gone and dead. She looks down at me, her soft lips turning up into a light smile.. She stands in front of me, her hands hidden behind her back“I got you something for Valentine’s Day!” She happily announces. 

My heart stops and I look up, her smile seeming to trigger my own. The crumpled letter in my pocket suddenly seeming realistic. I forget to respond. My brain asks a million questions…

“You okay?” She asks me, slightly concerned. “Sorry if that’s weird!“ she apologizes.  

“Oh- nonono! I’m just surprised! Can I see what ya’ got for me?” I backtrack- sounding weirdly soft. Just like she is. 

“Oh okay-“ her smile returns. “No actually I don’t think you should see the thing I got specifically for you-“ she comments sarcastically while moving to hand me the gift. I laugh slightly at the sarcasm. It’s a small box with purple-pink wrapping paper. we’re both quiet as she holds out the box, I stare at it. My heart suddenly deciding  it actually wants to be an F-1 racer. “Here!” She shoves the box into my hands.

“thanks…” I open the box silently, careful to not rip the wrapping paper. Inside the box, there’s a little crocheted version of me, holding little white, red and burgundy paper roses. She looks down at me expectantly. I could cry- the amount of- how much time did this take? The little me is accurate- down to my favorite shirt- down to the one streak of blonde in my hair from me backing out of getting high-lights after the hairdresser had already done one. Down to my lop-sided smile. “Th- thank you- I.. wow.” 

“You’re welcome!” She Exclaims as she plops down on the ground in front of me. The ground is only slightly covered from the fresh snow. “You like it right?” She looks at my face, I probably look like I’m about to ball my eyes out- but I’m really happy. 

“I f- fucking love it. Seriously..” I can barely get the words out. “How’d you even do this- I don’t hardly let you take pictures of me!” I ask her. 

“Oh, I used an old reference. Nothing crazy.” She answers, a little quieter than usual. 

“You okay?” I looked at her, I noticed she was looking down at the ground. 

She stays silent, looking at the ground still. “Look, Sky, I-“ She stuttered. uncharacteristically she looked nervous. Silence follows, she glances at me, and then the ground. Her nervousness starting to rub off on me.  “I really enjoyed making that for you.” She exhales

I-

“-u- ar-“ I hear someone. “Righ- right?“ I realized I had passed out. My vision focuses fairly quickly. I see someone. They have long brown hair. Limping and holding their side. I smell blood. “Are you alright-“ Her. She grabs my shoulders. I feel someone. the pain comes back. I see her face. It’s bloodied and tear streaked. “You’re not alright-“ Her voice doesn’t just break. It shatters. A sob racks through her. “Y- you’re alive though.” 

“A-“ I choke on my blood, blood spits up and I cough. 

“Shhh- shhh…” she soothes me, though it sounds strained and painful as she sits next to me. 

I look at her stunned. She’s here- Tears well in my eyes. “Aur- rora-“ my throat and lungs burn trying to push the words out. But I get them out. I know the situation. People are dead, I’m bleeding out and based off of the wound in her gut, she is too. If there was help to get she would have gotten it. “We’re not o- okay..” I look at her, her normally soft lip broken open and bleeding. She shouldn’t be beautiful with a black eye, bloodied lip and broken nose. But she is. 

“I know..” she looks at me, her eyes still find a way to be bright. For a moment, the pain stops and it’s just her. Just us. And I’m okay with that. “let’s, just. sit here…” she smiles sadly. And I could cry. I could sob and sob into her already tattered and bloody shirt. But I smile too. Her smile, even with all the pain, is still bright. Still warm. Still real. I take my good hand, and hold hers in mine. 

She scoots closer to me, and I rest my head on her shoulder. Everything hurts but it’s fading, I feel light. 

“Remember Valentine’s Day..? 2 years ago.” She asks, her voice quiet. 

“Y-yeah..” I force the words out. My throat still sore. That’s probably one of my favorite days. She gave me a gift and then she took me shopping. We both watched the sunset while sitting on her roof even though it was cold the whole day she still managed to make me feel warm. Just like now. 

“I did enjoy making the little you.” She repeats, and I smile, I love that thing, it sits on my night stand, still holding the little roses. “But there was- there’s something else.” Her voice goes soft, like she’s out of breath and nervous and I feel her heart rate speed up. I still feel soft, the pain almost completely fading, my heart rate slowing. Normally I would feel scared. Something’s wrong. “Since we’re dying…” she pauses, I notice her breath hitch as if she’s trying not to cry. “Since we’re dying here, I wanted to tell you what it is.” She wraps her arm around my shoulder. “You still with me?” She sounds scared. 

“Ye- yeah I a- am..” my voice is weak and breathy but there. Nothing hurts. I feel tired, but I love this girl so I'm going to listen to her. 

“Okay, look, Sky. Sky I love you.” She practically vomits. For second, I’m back. She loves me? I start to cry. all that time I had thought she didn’t. She loves me?! I smile.s,I long and crying is a weird combo. But near as weird as the situation.  We’re dying and I’m crying and she loves me. I love her too I love her so much- so so so much-

“I love you- I love you too Aurora.” My throat hurts again but I don’t even care. My voice breaks and I sob. I hear sobbing other than my own, it’s hers. She’s sobbing, 

“Please don’t- don’t leave me…” Aurora squeezes me. I start to fade again. My head feels light. I keep crying. I’m sad. No.. happy? I’m happy. I love her. She loves me. We both are here and alive so why am I crying? She’s crying. 

“I love you.” I repeat. Not fully understanding. But knowing. I love this girl. 

“I lov- I love you too Sky.” She hugs me. Sobbing. 

“I’m tired.” I tell her, feelin light and relaxed. She’s hugging me she loves me she’s here and so am I. 

“Me too.” Aurora’s voice is quiet. She tries to stop crying, she looks so sad. I wish I could help her. 

“Can- can we just sleep?” I ask. Maybe if we rest she won’t be sad. 

She sadly smiles. I love her smiles.  “Yeah. Yeah we can.”