#the stakes have never been higher. ever
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
creepyjirachi · 2 months ago
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
flight risers. i come to you in my time of need. should i change my dragon's tertiary from firefly to sparkle? i'm so conflicted on which one looks better.
CRUCIAL INFO: the hatchlings are significantly more likely to have peacock regardless. and the pair has never even produced a firefly hatchling. so this honestly barely matters at all. but it matters. to me
29 notes · View notes
hella1975 · 6 months ago
Text
picture perfect memories scattered all around the floor reaching for the phone cause i can’t fight it anymore and i wonder if i ever cross your mind for me it happens all the time IT’S A QUARTER AFTER ONE I’M ALL ALONE AND I NEED YOU NOW SAID I WOULDN’T COME BUT I LOST ALL CONTROL AND I NEED YOU NOW AND I DONT KNOW HOW I CAN DO WITHOUT I JUST NEED YOU NOW another shot of whiskey can’t stop looking at the door wishing you’d come sweeping in the way you did before and i wonder if i ever cross your mind FOR ME IT HAPPENS ALL THE TIMEEEEE IT’S A QUARTER AFTER ONE I’M A LITTLE DRUNK AND I NEED YOU NOW SAID I WOULDN’T COME BUT I LOST ALL CONTROL AND I NEED YOU NOW AND I DON’T KNOW HOW I CAN DO WITHOUT I JUST NEED YOU NOWWWWWWW OHHHWOAHHH guess i’d rather hurt than feel nothing at alllllllllllllll IT’S A QUARTER AFTER ONE I’M ALL ALONE AND I NEED YOU NOW AND I SAID I WOULDN’T COME BUT I’M A LITTLE DRUNK AND I NEED YOU NOW AND I DON’T KNOW HOW I CAN DO WITHOUT I JUST NEED YOU NOOOWWWWWWWWWWW I JUST NEED YOU NOWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAOOOOOOOWWWW OH BABY I NEED YOU NOOWWWWWWWWWWW
40 notes · View notes
hoshifighting · 4 months ago
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Racer!Reader x Racer!Mingyu 一 Rivals to Lovers
Synospsis: Racer!Mingyu, the new kid, is determined to beat you in the college underground race. Does he have the guts to defeat you, his senior, the reigning queen of the racing scene? Before the race starts, a photo of your boyfriend cheating on you is spread to the students. When you look up from your phone, there's Mingyu with his piercing eyes. [...]
“Hmm, all upset, just the way I wanted,” Mingyu teased, leaning against the doorframe.
WC: 8k
Warnings: Cheating, illegal racing, rumors, smut, angst, penetrative sex, oral (f. receiving), fingering (f. receiving), squirt, clit stimulation, g'spot stimulation, body fluids (cum), kinda of rage make out?, chocking, spanking, dirty talk, sex pic and etc.
Mingyu. A name that had once been just a murmur in the shadows of the racing world is now on everyone's lips. This new kid, this prodigy, decided to go against the grain, to take on the best and make a name for himself. 
And somehow, you're the one he's set his sights on. The competition is obvious, like the electricity in the air before a storm, and the entire college is buzzed with bets. It's impossible to ignore the excitement at the thought of the race tonight. It's been too long since you've felt this alive.
The smell of burnt rubber and gasoline is already in your nose, a scent that brings back a flood of memories. The first time you felt the wind rush past you on two wheels, the rush of adrenaline when you crossed the finish line ahead of the pack. 
The races had been your escape, your way to prove to the world that you were more than just another face in the crowd. 
And now, as you lace up your boots and slip into your worn-in leather jacket, you know that this race will be different. It's not just about the thrill anymore. It's about pride, about maintaining your title, about showing Mingyu that he's bitten off more than he can chew.
The stakes are higher than ever before. You can feel it in the way Mark's eyes darken every time he looks at you, in the way he clenches his fists when Mingyu's name is mentioned.
As you swing your leg over your bike and rev the engine, you push those thoughts aside. Tonight, there's only one thing that matters: the race, the roar of the engines, and the taste of victory.
Mingyu's eyes sparkle inside his helmet, the gleaming visor reflecting the neon lights of the college parking lot that's been transformed into a makeshift race track. He's young, fearless, and he's got something to prove. 
You've watched him from afar, studied his technique, his daring moves that have earned him the title of 'the rookie to watch'. He's good, really good, but he's never raced against someone like you. You're the old war-horse in this game, a veteran who's seen it all and done it all. 
And now, the moment has arrived.
The girl in the quadriculed flag raises it high, her arm muscles taut with excitement. You and Mingyu lock eyes for a brief second, a silent promise of a fierce battle to come. And then, with a nod from her, you both speed off into the night. Your bike responds to your touch like a well-trained steed, the engine purring as you lean into the first turn.
But this is your turf, and you're not about to let some newcomer take your crown without a fight.
As the race extends, the wind whips through your hair, and the roar of the engines fills your ears. The world around you is a blur of lights and shadows, the only thing clear being the track ahead and the figure of Mingyu on your tail. 
You push harder, feeling the bike protest under your command, but she holds steady. You're the lead, with Mingyu playing the role of the eager suitor, eager to overtake. You can't help but smile beneath your helmet. It's been so long since someone's made you feel this alive. The thrill of the chase is intoxicating, and you're going to enjoy every second of it.
As you cross the finish line, you pull a dramatic wheelie, the tires screeching and smoking against the asphalt. You circle around, revving the engine, feeling the power beneath you, and as you come to a stop, Mingyu pulls up beside you. 
You both remove your helmets, and the chilly night air kisses your sweat-drenched skin. His eyes are on you, focused and intense, drinking in the sight of you. Your hair is a wild mess around your face, the wind from the race playing with it like it's alive.
You swing your leg over the bike, the leather of your pants hugging your thighs tightly. You stand there, arms crossed over your chest, looking at him. He's tall, with a muscular build that's clear even through his bulky racing gear. His face is a mask of determination, and there's something about the way he carries himself that makes you want to knock him down a peg.
"So, what's your name, kid?" you ask, your voice carrying over the din of the engines.
Mingyu's face cracks into a smirk, and he extends his hand towards you. "Mingyu. Kim Mingyu," he says, his voice deep and sure. But you don't take the bait. You keep your arms crossed, your eyes locked on his.
His smirk falters a little when you ignore his outstretched hand, and he slowly lowers it. 
The crowd around you goes quiet, watching this silent exchange like it's a scene from a movie. They know the history, the tension, and the unspoken challenge that's just been laid down.
"Well, you must know me," you say, the leather jacket creaks as you tighten your grip. 
"I know of you," he says, his language tinged with a hint of an accent. "But I'm not here to bow down to reputations. I'm here to make my own." You can't help but respect that.
The crowd around you is hushed, waiting for the next move. Mark is there, his eyes on you, a silent question in his gaze. You give him a nod, reassuring him that you're okay, that you're in control.
 The rivalry between you and Mingyu has only just started, and it's going to be one hell of a race.
Mark storms over, eyes flashing with anger. "What the hell are you two talking about for so long?" His voice cuts through the cheers of the crowd, drawing their attention. You feel the tension between him and Mingyu, like a string pulled taut, ready to snap.
Mingyu just watches him with that sly grin, clearly enjoying the show. His gaze flickers over you, lingering on your leather pants, and you feel a shiver of annoyance and something else you can't quite name.
"Hey, Mark," you say, trying to keep your tone light, but there's an edge to it. "Calm down. We were just talking."
"Talking? That's what you're calling it?" Mark's voice is loud, drawing even more eyes to your little drama. He turns to Mingyu, his face red. "And what are you looking at?"
You roll your eyes, the frustration bubbling up inside you. "Mark, walk."
He stares at you, eyes wide in disbelief. "What?"
"Yeah, walk," you repeat, your voice firm. "Just go cool off."
For a moment, it looks like he might argue, but then he glances at Mingyu, who’s still smirking, clearly enjoying the spectacle. With a huff, Mark turns on his heel and stalks off, the crowd parting to let him through.
Mingyu chuckles, a low sound that only you can hear. "What an obedient boyfriend you have."
You shoot him a look, half warning, half curiosity. "Don't push your luck, Mingyu."
He raises his hands in mock surrender, the grin never leaving his face. "Just calling it like I see it. But seriously," his tone shifts, becoming more sincere, "you were amazing out there."
"Thanks," you say, the word coming out more curt than you intended. You take a deep breath, trying to shake off the lingering tension from Mark's outburst. "So, why did you want to race me, really?"
Mingyu’s expression becomes thoughtful, the cocky façade slipping just a little. "Because I wanted to see if the rumors were true. And now, I know they are."
You can't help but smile at that, feeling a rush of pride. "Well, you gave me a good run for my money."
"Next time," he says, his voice low and filled with promise, "I'll be the one crossing the finish line first."
"We'll see about that," you reply, walking out with your motorcycle by your side, glancing at him over your shoulder. 
[...]
Mingyu, the new kid, had something different, something that pushed your limits in a way no other rival had before. It was exhilarating, but also stressful. And your boyfriend’s incessant comments about Mingyu didn’t help.
Every time he brought up how Mingyu looked at you, how rude he was, how he thought he was the most incredible thing, you rolled your eyes. Mark’s jealousy was nothing new, but you’d never seen him so uncomfortable around someone before.
For the past month, you’d heard from other students that Mingyu had been spreading rumors about how he was going to win this race, no matter what. It was irritating, but also a challenge you couldn’t ignore.
As you were heading to your P.E. class, you saw Mingyu and his friend walking down the hallway. He spotted you immediately, a grin spreading across his face.
"Look who's here, Y/N... without the leather jacket?" His eyes roved over your tight gymnastic clothing, clearly enjoying the sight.
You smiled around the scrunchie you held between your teeth as you tidied up your hair, then pulled it free to tie it up. "Look who’s here, Mingyu... still talking big?" you teased back, not missing a beat.
He laughed, a rich sound that echoed down the hall. "Only because I’ve got the skills to back it up."
"Oh, really?" you said, raising an eyebrow. "All I’ve seen so far is a lot of talk."
"Maybe you just haven’t been paying close enough attention," he replied, leaning casually against the lockers. "I’ll make sure to give you a front-row seat next time."
You finished tying your hair and gave him a mock look of concern. "I’d hate to see you disappoint all those fans you’ve been bragging to."
He smirked, undeterred. "Don’t worry, I’ve got this covered. You might want to start thinking about a new title because that crown is coming my way."
"Big words for someone who hasn't beaten me yet," you shot back, stepping closer, your confidence unwavering.
"We'll see about that," he said, his voice low and filled with promise. His eyes held yours for a moment longer, the air between you crackling with tension.
Mingyu doesn't look the least bit afraid of you, of your reputation, of what you can do on this track. He's bold, maybe even a little cocky, and you can't decide if you like it or if it just makes you want to wipe that smug look off his face. 
You've always been the one everyone looks up to, the one they whisper about in the halls. But now, there's someone new, someone who doesn't seem to know his place. And that's what makes him so intriguing.
You know Mingyu will be back, and he'll be better next time. And you can tell your boyfriend, Mark, is not happy about this new rivalry一about the way Mingyu makes you feel alive again.
"You've got to get your head out of the clouds, Y/N," Mark says as you look to the ceiling, "This isn't just a game anymore."
You pull back, looking up at him. "What do you mean?"
"Mingyu," he says, his voice tight with anger, "he's different. He's not like the others."
You roll your eyes, trying to play it off. "He's just a freshman with a fast bike," you say.
"He's been watching you," Mark says, his eyes searching yours, "studying you. He's got a vendetta, and I don't like it."
You swallow hard, pushing the thought away. You can't let Mingyu get under your skin like this. "I've got this," you reply, trying to sound more confident than you feel.
But Mark's not convinced. He's noticed the way your mind has been elsewhere, the way you've been pushing him away. The way you've been turning down his advances, lost in thought about the new kid on the block. He's been frustrated for a few weeks, trying to get you to focus on anything other than the race. 
As the days pass, the tension between you and Mark grows thicker. He tries to initiate sex, but your mind is always elsewhere, replaying the race, thinking about Mingyu's next move. You know you're hurting him, but you can't seem to stop.
 The thought of Mingyu, of the way he looked at you, of the way he talked about winning, it's like a drug. And you're hooked.
The next day, you're in the garage, wrench in hand, making some final adjustments to your bike. You've always been meticulous, but with Mingyu on your mind, you're even more so. You can't have anything going wrong on your bike when you face him again.
The door to the garage opens, and you look up, expecting it to be Mark, but instead, it's Mingyu. He struts in, his leather jacket and bike helmet hanging casually from his hand.
"Hey, Y/N," he says, a smug smile playing on his lips. "I see you're still playing with your toy."
You roll your eyes, not bothering to hide your annoyance. "What do you want?" you ask, not looking up from your work.
"Just thought I'd come by and say congrats," he says, leaning against the workbench. "You put on a good show last night."
You raced a senior from your class last night. You won despite the slippery concrete caused by the rain. Again.
You slam the wrench down, the sound echoing in the empty garage. "Thanks, but I'm not looking for your approval," you reply, your voice icy.
Mingyu laughs, a sound that grates on your nerves. "You don't have to be so defensive," he says, his eyes scanning the garage, "I just wanted to talk shop, maybe pick up some tips from the queen herself."
You stand up, wiping your hands on your greasy rag. "What makes you think I'd share anything with you?"
He shrugs, his smile never wavering. "Call it a peace offering," he says, holding out his hand. "Truce?"
You stare at his hand for a moment, weighing your options. You know you need to keep your enemies closer, especially one as talented as Mingyu. You take his hand, giving it a firm shake. "Fine," you say, "but don't get any ideas."
"Oh, I have plenty of ideas," he says, his eyes glinting with mischief, "but I'll save them for the track."
You can't help but laugh, despite yourself. He's got nerve, you'll give him that. You spend the next hour talking bikes and racing strategies, and for the first time since the race, you feel like you're not just a competitor but a fellow enthusiast. It's strange.
As Mingyu leaves, you can't help but feel a blend of emotions. There's the excitement of the challenge he represents, the thrill of the rivalry that's been ignited. But there's also a nagging doubt, a fear that maybe Mark is right. 
Maybe Mingyu isn't just a racer looking to make a name for himself. Maybe he's got something more planned, something that could threaten not just your title but your relationship. 
You shake the thought off, telling yourself you're just being paranoid. After all, it's just a race, right?
[...]
The sun is setting, casting a warm orange glow over the makeshift circuit that’s been built for tonight's race. You take a long sip of your Gatorade, savoring the cool taste as you mentally prepare yourself for the competition. The grandstand is buzzing with energy, students excitedly chattering about the upcoming event.
As you sit there, focusing on your breathing, Mingyu appears and casually sits down next to you. You chuckle, unable to help yourself. "Are you following me, kid?"
He rolls his eyes, a familiar gesture by now. "I’m not a kid."
"But I’m your senior," you counter, grinning at the way his face sours. He’s always so easy to tease. "What did you plan?"
"Huh?" He seems genuinely confused, his attention now fully on you.
You smirk, leaning back a bit. "What do you have up your sleeve, Mingyu? Some oil on the floor, a pin in my tire...?"
He laughs, shaking his head. "I don’t need tricks to beat you."
"Good," you say, your voice dropping slightly, more serious now. "Because neither do I."
Before the conversation can go any further, your boyfriend, Mark, appears. "What’s he doing here?" he asks, his tone accusatory.
"Just talking," you reply, trying to keep your cool.
"Talking, huh?" Mark scoffs. "Seems like he’s always around, doesn’t it? You’d think he’s got nothing better to do."
"I think you’re overreacting." You breath tired. 
Mark's eyes narrow. "Just remember who’s waiting for you at the finish line."
Mingyu’s jaw tightens at this, his posture stiffening. He looks like he’s holding back something, a secret or a truth he’s not ready to share.
You glance at Mingyu, noticing the shift in his conduct. "What’s that look for?" you ask him, curious despite yourself.
He shakes his head, the tension in his body evident. "Nothing. Just focus on the race."
You button your jacket, feeling the familiar weight of the leather settle around your shoulders. Checking your shoelaces, you make sure they’re tight, ready for the race ahead. The buzz of your phone breaks the moment, a single notification lighting up the screen. You glance around, noticing other students doing the same, pulling their phones from their pockets.
It’s odd, almost synchronized.
The feeling in your gut is like a rock, weighing you down, making it harder to breathe. You glance around, noticing the smirks and knowing looks from the other racers, the whispers that seem to carry on the wind. 
You click on it, and your heart sinks like a stone. It's a picture of Mark, your Mark, kissing a girl. A girl with auburn hair and a laugh that's nothing like yours. And he's wearing the shirt you gave him just this week, the one with the funny racing pun on the back. The same shirt he wore to bed last night, whispering sweet nothings into your ear.
You stand there, frozen, as the world carries on around you. The cheers of the crowd, the roar of the bikes—it’s all just background noise now. You look up and see everyone watching you, their expressions a combination of pity and shock. They all know now. They've all seen it.
And as your eyes meet Mingyu's, you realize that he knows too. There's something in his gaze, a glint of satisfaction that makes your blood boil. Did he do this? Did he send this to you? The thought is like a knife twisting in your gut, but you can’t be sure.
With trembling hands, you slip the phone back into your pocket, trying to compose yourself. You don’t want to give anyone the satisfaction of seeing you fall apart. But as you button your jacket and tighten the laces of your boots, you can’t help but feel like you’re tying up the loose ends of your life. 
Everything’s changed in the span of a single message. Your heart is racing, but it’s not from the thrill of the chase anymore. It stems from the agony of disloyalty and the rage at being played for a fool.
And as you turn to face Mark, who’s pushing his way through the crowd, his eyes searching for yours, you know that the real race has only just begun.
Your breath comes in shudders as you hop on your bike, putting on your helmet. You’ve give all the signs that you are going to race tonight. The crowd is abuzz with anticipation, their eyes locked on you. 
You roll the bike's accelerator, the roar calling for attention so the race can start. The flag girl gulps, her nervousness evident, and you look over your shoulder to see Mingyu approaching.
The girl stretches the flag, and you brace yourself. The lights go out, and suddenly, you're off, the wind in your hair, the roar of the engines filling your ears. Mingyu is right beside you. You can feel the bike responding to your every move, the tires gripping the asphalt like a vice. 
Inside your helmet, your breathing is loud and ragged, a stark reminder of the adrenaline and anger coursing through you.
As you race, your thoughts race too. Mingyu planned everything. He sat by your side to watch you unravel from Mark's jealous crisis, and then those messages minutes before the race start—meant to destabilize you. It’s like a puzzle clicking into place, each piece revealing the depth of his strategy.
The bike protests but holds steady as you apply more pressure. The track is a blur, but your focus is razor-sharp. Mingyu is still there, matching your speed, but you’re not going to let him win.
You replay the moment when you first saw the message, the image of Mark kissing another girl. It stings, but it also sets you aflame. How dare he think he can break you? How dare he underestimate you? You’re not just racing against Mingyu; you’re racing against the doubts and whispers.
Mingyu pulls ahead slightly, his bike edging past yours. You grit your teeth, leaning forward to reduce drag, pushing your bike to its limits. The sound of the engines is loud, the wind whipping past you. 
You glance at Mingyu. He thinks he won, that his plan worked. But he doesn’t know you. 
You see the final stretch approaching, the finish line within sight. You dig deep, finding that last reserve of strength. You and Mingyu are neck and neck, the crowd’s cheers blending into a single roar. The world narrows to just this moment, just this race.
As you cross the finish line, you throw all your weight into one last burst of speed. You cross the line a split second before Mingyu, the crowd exploding into cheers.
You slow down, the realization of your win sinking in. You did it. Despite everything, you did it. But still, there is no taste of victory in your mouth.
The cheers fade as you lean forward, gripping the handlebars, and ride your bike away from the circuit, leaving a cloud of dust behind you. The streets blur past you, seeking an escape from everything. Your dorm or campus are the last place you want to be tonight.
After what feels like hours, you spot a cheap motel by the roadside. Its flickering neon sign is a welcome sight, a promise of anonymity, and a place to rest. You pull in, park your bike and walk to the reception. The clerk barely looks up as you hand over cash for the night. Key in hand, you head to your room.
The room is small and poorly illuminated, but it’s a refuge from the chaos of the night. You lay on the bed, the springs creaking under you, and pull out your phone. The screen is still lit with notifications, but you don’t want to see any of them. Whether it was Mingyu or someone else who shared those photos, you don’t care. Not tonight.
[...]
The weekend drags by, each minute feeling like an eternity. You don’t go to class, don’t leave your dorm except to grab food from the vending machine, because, you can’t face the pity in your friends’ eyes.
You clean obsessively, organizing your bookshelf, scrubbing the floors, folding clothes into neat piles. It’s a futile attempt to regain some semblance of order in your life. It feels like you’re erasing him from your life, one item at a time.
The notifications on your phone keep popping up, your friends and classmates checking in, asking if you’re okay. You manage to reply with short, curt responses. "Yeah," you type, "Just need some space." The lie feels heavy on your fingertips, but it’s easier than explaining the tornado of emotions inside you.
As the day stretches on, you start to feel a little more in control. You’re not going to let this beat you. You’re not going to let Mark or Mingyu ruin what you’ve built. 
So you sit there, in the quiet of your room, and you start to plan. You’re going to show up to class, to the next race, with your head held high. You’re going to leave the drama behind and focus on what you do best—race.
On Thursday, you walk into class, a box in your arms. The whispers start as soon as you enter the room, the eyes are on you like a spotlight. You find Mark’s usual seat and drop the box in front of it, the thud echoing in the stunned silence.
The box, with his things.
You don’t wait for his reaction. You don’t need to. You turn and walk out, leaving the whispers and the weight of his backstabbing behind.
At lunch, you sit with your friends, the same table you’ve shared since freshman year. They all look at you, their eyes filled with concern. "You okay?" one of them asks, tentatively.
You nod, trying to put on a brave face. "Yeah," you say, your voice stronger than you feel, "I just needed some time to sort things out."
They all nod, understanding without needing the details. They know the score, they know what happened at the race. They know about the picture, the rumors, the cheating.
"You've cried enough," your best friend says, her voice firm but gentle, "It's like that bruise on your knee from when you were seven. It hurt like hell, but it's healing now."
You manage a small smile at the memory. It’s true. You’ve shed enough tears over Mark to fill an ocean. But here you are, breathing, standing, moving forward.
"Let’s talk about something else," you say, changing the subject. "What's new with all of you?"
They exchange glances, clearly surprised by your sudden shift in tone, but they follow your lead. They talk about their classes, their weekends, their plans for spring break. You listen, really listen, letting their words wash over you like a balm to your soul.
"Oh, and apparently none of Mark’s friends want to talk to him," someone says, almost as an afterthought. "They had no idea."
"Good," you say. "He’s not worth their time either."
Your friends nod, respecting your wishes to not delve into the drama further. You don’t need their pity or their empathy. You just need them to be there, to be the rock that grounds you.
The bell rings, signaling the end of lunch, and you all stand up, collecting your trash. "Thanks, guys," you say, your voice genuine.
"For what?" one of them asks.
"For not treating me like I’m made of glass." you reply, smiling.
They laugh, you know they’re worried, but you also know they trust you to handle this. You’re the same person you were before the race. You’re strong.
The sadness has morphed into something else, anger simmers just under the surface, a slow burn that’s been building since that message. You’re not just mad at Mark, but at Mingyu too. You don’t know his role in this, but you can feel his influence, the way he’s been poking and prodding, trying to get under your skin.
And now, it’s like a game of chess, and you’re the pawn in the middle of the board. You can’t help but wonder if he’s been playing you from the start. If all those smirks and smug looks were just part of his plan to take you down.
The bell rings, and you grab your bag, slinging it over your shoulder. As you turn to leave, you feel a hand wrap around your arm. You turn, ready to snap, and find yourself face-to-face with Mingyu. You scoff, rolling your eyes.
“Come on, don’t be grumpy. Running away from me, princess?” he says, a sulky look on his face.
You remember avoiding both Mingyu and Mark all day, doing everything to keep your distance. You start to leave, but he holds onto your arm again, making you huff in frustration.
“You should thank me, don’t you think?” he says, his tone teasing.
You frown. “What do you mean?”
Mingyu smirks. “First, I let you win last Saturday,” he says, lying through his teeth. You remember how he was right on your tail during the race, clearly giving it his all.
“And I got you rid of that asshole,” he adds.
You cross your arms, glaring at him. “So, you’re admitting you orchestrated this whole thing, huh?”
He shrugs nonchalantly. “Well, I warned him it would happen.”
“He knew?” you ask, your voice rising in disbelief.
Mingyu tilts his head slightly, like he’s stating the obvious. “Of course he knew. Y/N, he was cheating on you for a whole semester. At the first freshman party I went to, I saw him with Sayla. She’s from my class.”
“What?” you nearly shout, drawing the attention of nearby students. Mingyu gives you an exasperated look, like it’s common knowledge.
You grab his arm and drag him around campus, heading for the grandstand where you can talk in private. Once there, you turn to him, your eyes blazing with anger.
“I saw the photo, and I know it’s real. But Mingyu, if you’re lying about this, I swear I will fucking kill you.”
He shakes his head, his expression serious. “Why would I lie to you? If I need to tell you something, I’ll say it to your face.”
“Tell me from the beginning,” you demand, crossing your arms.
He rolls his eyes but starts talking. “Well, it was my first party here, a freshman party. I needed to go to the bathroom, and there they were, making out.”
You make a disgusted face, which seems to amuse him. “But in the photo, they weren’t in a bathroom,” you point out.
“Yeah, it happened plenty of times. When I found out he was your boyfriend, I went to a frat party and took that photo,” Mingyu explains.
“That one?” you ask, referring to the incriminating photo.
Mingyu nods. “Yeah, that one. He saw the photo and came to have it out with me. I might have told him that if he didn’t tell you, I would, and that I would love to take care of his girlfriend.”
You scoff. “So that’s why he was so sick-jealous of me?”
Mingyu closes his eyes and nods like it’s the most normal thing in the world. You curse under your breath, feeling the weight of betrayal all over again. “This motherf—”
You stop, looking at Mingyu, who’s watching you with a confused expression. “What do you mean by ‘take care of his girlfriend’?”
Mingyu smirks. “I was interested in you. But when I found out you were dating, I backed off. When I saw your boyfriend slacking, I needed to make it clear to Mark that I was going to reach out to you somehow.”
You narrow your eyes at him, the audacity of it all making your blood boil. “So, you’ve been planning this from the start?”
“Not exactly,” Mingyu says, shrugging. “But I saw an opportunity and took it. Your boyfriend was a dick, and you deserve better.”
You let out a bitter laugh. “And you think you’re better?”
Mingyu’s is smug. “I know I am.”
“And what makes you think I’d be interested in you?” you challenge, crossing your arms.
Mingyu steps closer, his gaze intense. “You’re fierce, competitive, and you don’t take shit from anyone. You’re exactly the kind of challenge I like.”
You roll your eyes, though a small part of you is flattered? “You’re still an asshole.”
He grins. “Maybe, but at least I’m honest about it. Can’t say the same for Mark.”
You take a deep breath, trying to process everything. "Mingyu, just stay out of my way. I don’t need any more complications.”
“What can I say? I know what I want.” He shrugs before leaving, again, with that stupid smirk on his face. 
[...]
You were dragged by your friends to every party on campus, parties you didn’t even know existed, every day a new one. According to them, you needed to enjoy your new ‘single’ life. And with all the guys on campus now aware that you were single, your DMs were flooded. 
Tonight was one of those nights. Everyone saw you parking your motorcycle in front of the frat house, the rumble announcing your arrival. You danced with your friends, met new people, but your happiness didn’t last long.
You caught a glimpse of Mark and Sayla. Sayla was wearing one of his baseball jackets, his arm draped over her shoulder. Everyone stared at them, the ‘new’ couple making a fool of themselves. 
You didn’t expect Mark to be so bald-faced about it. Your blood boiled, your head felt like it was on fire, and you wanted to leave the party. But if you did, you’d look weak. So you stayed, trying to enjoy the party with your friends, but it was impossible. When Mark kissed Sayla, one eye open in your direction to gauge your reaction, you couldn’t take it anymore.
You grabbed your helmet and stormed out of the party, your friends calling after you, warning you not to do anything stupid because you were hot-headed. 
And you were, for real. 
Arriving back on campus, you pulled out your phone, fingers fumbling as you dialed a number. Your steps echoed, the dress you’d chosen for the party riding up with each step, making you pull it down in frustration.
The phone rang, and rang, until finally, a voice answered, “You calling me? Y/N, what a—”
“Where are you?” you cut him off, voice trembling with rage.
“Damn, what happened to ‘hello, how are you?’” The voice was playful, but you weren’t in the mood.
“Where. Are. You.”
“Hell, I’m at my dorm, wassup?”
“Open the door,” you demanded.
“What?”
“Open the fucking door,” you said before hanging up.
Moments later, the dorm door opened, revealing Mingyu with the phone still in his hand, wearing only black shorts that showed a peek of his white underwear. He looked confused, but when he saw you—eyes almost black with rage, in your little dress—he swore it was the hottest thing he’d ever seen.
“Hmm, all upset, just the way I wanted,” he teased, leaning against the doorframe.
You pushed him inside, slamming the door shut behind you and tossing your cell phone on the table. You kissed him, rough and urgent, your fingers tangling in his hair. Mingyu moaned between kisses, the realization that you were kissing him sinking in. His hands found your waist, one hand sliding up to your neck, choking you slightly, making you gasp.
A smirk played on his lips, between breaths. “About time you admitted it.”
“Shut up,” you muttered before kissing him again, harder this time.
Mingyu's grip tightened on your waist, pulling you closer. “You’re so damn hot when you’re mad,” he murmured against your lips.
“Just shut up and kiss me,” you demanded, your fingers tugging at his hair.
He obliged, kissing you with a fervor that matched your own. His hand slid down your back, gripping your ass and pulling you against him. You could feel his bulge pressing against you, a reminder of how much he wanted you. You broke the kiss, breathlessly, your eyes locking onto his.
“What’s your plan, Y/N?” he asked, his voice a low growl.
You smirked, a glint of mischief in your eyes. “To make sure I don’t think about Mark ever again.”
Mingyu’s eyes darkened with craving. “I can help with that.”
“Good,” you said, pulling him back into a kiss, your hands exploring his body, feeling the heat radiating from his skin, fingers fumbling from his big chest, to the defined lines of his abs.
Your hand slides from his lower belly to his cock, squeezing his clothed erection slightly. You feel him twitch in your hand, a broken sob leaving his lips.
“Fuck, you got hard so fast,” you murmur against his mouth.
He moans, his breath hot and heavy. “Can’t help it when it’s you.”
You grin wickedly, turning around to show him the long zipper at the back of your dress. “Help me,” you say, your voice low and inviting.
Mingyu nods, his eyes dark with desire. He bites his lip, trying to stifle a moan as he catches the zipper and slides it down, his happiness akin to opening a Christmas gift. The dress falls away, and you hold your breasts in your hands, turning to face him, your fingers playing with your hardened nipples, watching his eyebrows furrow.
His hot hand covers yours, and you let him take over, feeling the heat of his touch. He pushes you toward the bed, his lips trailing kisses down your neck before biting gently, his notorious fangs grazing your sensitive skin. 
You moan, the sound going straight to his cock. His hands move desperately to your panties, fingers fumbling with the lace until they’re off your legs. He opens your legs with his hands, giving your wet folds a not-so-discreet look.
Mingyu licks his fingers, meeting your eyes before sliding them inside you. You scream at the sudden stretch, feeling his big fingers filling you. He looks at you, to see if it hurts, but then he feels you getting wetter and wetter, your pants filling the room. His hand stills, and you roll your clit against his palm.
His fingers start to slide in and out, the wet noises are sinful as he finds your g'spot. You gasp, your body arching from his bedsheets, your both hands finding his forearm, stilling his fingers curled in this position. 
Mingyu's eyes widen in surprise at your reaction, and he repeats the motion, pressing against your sweet spot again, making your eyes fill with tears. 
''R-right here! Please!" 
“Did your boyfriend never find this spot?” he asks, his voice serious.
You shake your head negatively, your breath coming in short, desperate gasps. 
Mingyu's expression hardens, anger flashing in his eyes. “That asshole didn’t know how to please you,” he mutters, then his voice softens as he coos at you. 
You sob, his fingers curling repeatedly on the spongy spot. “Aw… don’t worry, my love. I’m going to make you feel so good.”
He continues to stimulate you, watching your every reaction, your pleasure nourishing his own. His fingers work you expertly, and you start to get embarrassed by how wet you are getting.
But you can't stop your hips from rubbing against his hands, you can't stop yourself from constantly moaning his name, and you can't help but wonder how you survived without feeling the pleasure Mingyu was giving you.  
Your body tenses so much, you're afraid of getting injured, and the pleasure builds, making your vision blurry, catching only Mingyu's silhouette. “Mingyu…,” you gasp, your voice shaking.
He's in love with your sensitive form. He slides his fingers out, brushing against your clit, making you moan, wanting the stimulation again, but then he munches on your pussy, making a throaty moan leave your mouth, tears wetting your cheeks. You don't even know if you're sobbing or moaning. You can only focus on his warm mouth sucking everything it can. 
Mingyu moans against you, like he's getting stimulated too, and when you manage to squeak out, “Gonna' cum,” he moans even more, the vibrations going to your clit as you arch your back, squeezing your tits. 
He opens your legs—quivering pathetically around his head—with the strength of his arms. He only stops when he feels your clit throbbing incessantly inside his mouth, all sensitive.
You don't know how long it took before you were in your mind again, but you can feel Mingyu kissing your whole body. For him, it was a maxim to calm you down, but mainly to appreciate every bit of your skin. When you open your eyes, he's kissing your hand, his thumb gently caressing it. You don't look much, or you will blush. For him, it could finish like this: you cummed, satisfied, and he gets satisfied. But then you mumble, eyes lidded, “Fuck me, please.”
His eyes almost fall from his skull. He watches your legs spread, and you slap weakly at your pussy, inviting him. Mingyu almost falls back with your tease. His hands, lowering his shorts and underwear in one go, desperate to go over you.
"Wait." 
He stills, and you smile at his obedience. You turn around, on all fours, wiggling your ass at him, and you hear a suffered moan behind you, making you scoff. 
He squeezes your ass between his hands tightly, then slaps your meat, making you hiss. Then another one, making you moan. Then another one, making you drip a line of your cum on the sheets.
Mingyu feels like a crazy creature. He pumps his veiny cock before sliding on your wet folds to spread your cum. And then slides inside. You were so tight, so tight that his blood pressure almost falls down. 
“I need to thank your boyfriend for keeping it tight.” He groans after bottoming out.
You widen your eyes at the comment, he sounded so sincere. And you laugh, your hand covering your face, and he chuckles too, seeing that he can't hold his tongue around you.
He can feel you clenching around him every time you laugh, making him moan synchronized with you. He starts to move and your laughs turn into moans, laughed-moans.
“Shit, you’re so tight, you are squeezing me,” he cries, his thrusts slow and deep.
“Didn’t think you’d be this talkative,” you manage between gasps, your body responding to every move he makes.
“Can’t help it,” he breathes, leaning down to kiss your shoulder. 
His pace quickens, the sound of skin slapping against skin filling the room. You grip the sheets, your back arching as he hits just the right spot. “Right there, Mingyu. Fuck, right there.”
He obeys, his thrusts becoming more precise, each one sending thrills through your body. “You feel so good,” he murmurs, his hands gripping your hips. “So fucking good.”
"Seriously, Mingyu," continue betwee moans, "you have no filter."
He grins, thrusting harder. "You're too much."
"Too much for you?" you tease, pushing back against him.
"Never," he mooans, his hands gripping your hips tighter. "I could do this forever."
You moan at his words, that feeling on your stomach tightening. "God, Mingyu..."
He leans over, his breath hot against your ear. "You like it when I talk, hm? When I say, how good you feel?"
You nod frantically, your mind a blur, you were cock-drunk, moaning his name like it was the only word you ever knew.
He chuckles darkly, thrusting deeper. "Good, because I’m not stopping until you can’t even say his name."
He stops his hips inside you, balls deep, and you can feel his tip kissing your cervix as he rolls his hips to make you feel it deep. Your arms quiver, making you fall with your chest on the bed, face on the sheets. You've never felt someone this deep before. Your hand reaches the bulge Mingyu makes on your belly, and you writhe.
He dirty talks, "You like to feel me here?"
You answer with a throaty moan. He closes his eyes to your rough moan and says, "Fuck, I need to see your pretty face moaning my name."
He turns you to lay on the bed again, one of your legs on his shoulder, and the other stretched by his hand. Since when were you this flexible? you think. When he slams inside you again, your messy cunt clings to him for dear life.
You moan all sly, and Mingyu is inches from your face now, and he teases you, "Look who's all sensitive right now. Where's that grumpy girl from the race? Hm? You just needed a good cock fucking you right to get you relaxed? Right, babe?"
You want to clap a hand on his mouth to keep his cocky talk out of it, but your pussy betrays you, clenching around him the moment his dirty words start to fall from his lips. Instead, you give some wet kisses on his lips. He reciprocates every one of them.
You ask him to touch you, and he looks in your eyes, asking, "Where?"
You guide one of his hands to your clit. He collects some of the lubrication that formed a ring at the base of his cock and starts to massage the swollen bud, circling it. Your nails scratch his back, and he hisses, eyes closing. He ruts desperately into you, your pussy casting a spell on him, all wet and good for him. 
You glance around the space, the warm illuminated lamp, the scent of his cologne everywhere, his tanned body sweating to give you pleasure, his muscles clenching as he holds you, his hand on your clit, his cock filling you, his eyes focused on every one of your expressions, his moans every time you clench.
You prepare for every detail when your eyes suddenly blur. You feel it coming... fuck. You're cumming, but something else is coming too. 
The realization hits you, and you say, "No, no, no, shit!"
You hold his bicep, your head thrown back, the veins on your neck popping. You try to stop, but you can't. You squirt all over him and his bed.
Mingyu stops inside you, mouth open. Now he gets desperate, taking his cock from you and cumming on your belly, so far that it hits your tits too. He lets your legs rest on the bed, and you cover your mouth.
"M-Mingyu, your bed! I'm sorry, let me put this to wash and—" You start to get up, feeling a rush of embarrassment and responsibility for the mess.
Mingyu, still catching his breath, quickly moves to stop you, his hand firm but gentle on your shoulder. He gives you a little push, making you lay back on the bed again. "Hey, relax," he says, his voice low and soothing. "It's just a bed. We can clean it up later."
You look at him, your cheeks flushed. "But it's such a mess," you protest weakly.
He chuckles softly, the sound vibrating through his chest. "I like it messy," he says, leaning down to kiss your forehead. "Besides, I think I like you better like this."
"But seriously, Mingyu, your bed—"
He cuts you off with a kiss, his lips capturing yours in a tender, lingering embrace. When he pulls back, his eyes are dark with desire. "The bed can wait," he murmurs. "Right now, I want to focus on you."
Your heart skips a beat at his words, the sincerity in his voice making your pulse quicken. "Mingyu," you whisper, feeling the heat rise in your body again.
He tilts your chin up to meet his gaze, his thumb brushing gently over your lower lip. "You're beautiful, you know that?" he says softly. "Especially when you're all flustered and breathless like this."
Mingyu's eyes sparkle with mischief as he leans in closer, his breath warm against your skin. "Then why don't we make a little more mess before we clean up?" he suggests, his voice a seductive whisper.
[...]
Your ex's message lights up your cellphone on the table beside the bed: "Where are you?" Mark asks. You can't help but scoff at the audacity. The nerve of him to ask after everything he's done. A surge of defiance washes over you, fueled by the memory of him flaunting Sayla around like some trophy.
Mingyu's rhythm doesn't falter as he thrusts into you from behind, his hand gripping your hair, pulling just enough to make you feel the pain on your scalp, but loving the pleasure that comes with it too. You reach for your phone, you know exactly how to answer Mark's question.
With a quick swipe, you open the camera, positioning it just right. The screen captures the sinful scene—Mingyu's defined body behind you, your flushed shoulder peeking into view, and your hair being pulled by Mingyu. 
You snap the photo and attach it to the message as a single view photo. 
Letting the image speak for itself.
"Here's your answer," you mutter under your breath, hitting send.
Mingyu's grip tightens, his pace quickening as he senses the shift in your mood. "What did you just do?" he asks, laughing.
You turn your head slightly to meet his gaze, a wicked smile playing on your lips. "Just answered a question," you reply, your voice breathless.
Mingyu's eyes darken with approval. "Good girl," he murmurs, leaning down to kiss the back of your neck, his thrusts growing more forceful. "Let's give him something to really be jealous about."
The bed creaks beneath you, the sound mingling with the chorus of moans and gasps that fill the room. As Mingyu's hand slips down to tease your clit, your phone buzzes again, another message from Mark. 
But you don't bother to check it. 
3K notes · View notes
pasukiyo · 4 months ago
Text
A PLACE IN THE SEA OF STARS
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
anakin skywalker x f!naberrie!reader word count: 10.4k (my longest yet... i'm so sorry) warnings: two idiots pining, pining, reader is padme's younger sister (whether biological or adopted is up to you), first time having sex, soft smut, angst synopsis: a life spent in padmé amidala's shadow and never once did she ever think she'd be envious of her sister. that is, until anakin skywalker walks his way into her life and she finds herself praying that one day, he'd look at her the way he does at padmé, that she'll be given a place in the sea of stars, that her destiny will include him.
read on ao3
Tumblr media
 It came as no surprise that Anakin Skywalker would be enamored with her second-to-oldest sister.
 After a life spent behind Padmé Amidala’s shadow, she’d grown accustomed to it— being overlooked. But for once, just this once, she wished history wouldn’t repeat itself, wished the prophecy could be rewritten and for once, let it be her who was chosen, who was noticed. 
 But of course, it’s futile. 
 You can sink to your knees and pray to whatever higher being is in the sky but at the end of the day, there are millions of lost souls just like you doing the same. You can have faith, you can believe that someday you’ll be heard but with each silent day that passes, your voice still falls on deaf ears. 
 She’s done her time playing the fool who sinks to her knees and pleads with the night sky to find her a place in the sea of stars, so that she may fit in a constellation too. She’s been the statue who's been made to wait— and she’s started to crumble. 
 She remembers the day she started to pray like it was yesterday. It was the day she first met Anakin Skywalker, back when he was only a Padawan, still searching for his own place in the world. Her parents were restless then, having heard of the multiple assassination attempts on their dear second oldest daughter. Of course she was worried too, but she still could feel the guilt that settled into the marrow of her bones when she found herself pondering whether her parents would react the same way if it had been her life at stake instead. 
 She remembers helping her eldest sister, Sola, and her mother with dinner in preparation for the arrival of their sister Padmé and her Jedi escort. She’d been tasked with bringing a bowl of fruit to the table and she remembered nearly being trampled over by her nieces, Ryoo and Pooja, as they squeal Padmé’s name, sprinting for the door. 
 She remembers huffing, mumbling a curse in an alien language beneath her breath just as their guests step inside, looking up from where she leaned over the table, dropping the bowl down onto the surface. She remembers her breath catching in her throat when her gaze found a sea of blue that put the Naboo waters to shame. 
 Padmé’s lips curved into a grin as she exclaimed her sister’s name, circling the table to capture her in an embrace. Her sister wrapped her arms around her and her chin found Padmé’s shoulder as the blue that took her breath away crashed into her and she swore everything changed in that moment. 
 She remembers the first time Anakin Skywalker looked at her. It was a brief, friendly locking of the eyes but a fleeting moment for him felt like lightyears for her. His eyes were the blue of the water where the sun’s reflection gently ripples and warps. They were the blue of the sky after it rains and the sun begins to spill through the cracks of the wall of clouds. 
 She’s never understood what it meant to be speechless, for something to literally steal the breath away from her lungs. But from the moment her eyes met his, she began to understand. 
 “Anakin! This is my youngest sister,” Padmé announced, pulling away from their embrace. Her spine stiffened when her sister introduced her and she watched as his full, pink lips moved to form her name. His voice is like nails scraping against the itch she can’t reach on her back, his voice is like velvet she can swallow, deliciously soft and rich against her throat. 
 “It’s nice to meet you,” Anakin dipped his chin in greeting, the silly, little braid falling off his shoulder. She drained the lump that had formed in her throat, bowing her head. Her lips trembled and her breath was shaky as she prepared her salutations but her words fell dead on the tip of her tongue when Padmé’s squeal permeated the room. 
 “And my eldest sister Sola!”
 And just like that, all attention rolled away from her and onto her eldest sisters but she still watched him, heart beating against her chest. 
 And that was the moment she began to pray. 
 She prayed, even though the looks he’d given Padmé didn’t go unnoticed. The way he watched her, even when she wasn’t the one speaking, the way he’d soak in every word, every praise for her that fell past her parents’ mouths. The way he stared longingly at her sister when he was certain nobody was watching— and no one was, for their attentions were on Padmé, save for hers. 
 It was typical. 
 It should come as no surprise that everyone would worship the ground her sister— the former Queen, current Senator of Naboo— walked on. She’s not surprised that someone young and benign like him would fall in love with her sister— she’d only seen it happen more times than she ever really cared to count. 
 And she’d never really cared about all the suitors on their knees at Padmé’s feet before— they were her sister’s problems, not hers. She’d never even really envied her sister, at least in that sense. 
 But everything changed the moment Anakin stepped through the door. Everything changed the moment their eyes met, if only for the most fleeting of seconds. 
 So she prayed. 
 Inside the inner realms of her mind, she sinks to her knees and stares into the void above her, the stars that beamed down at her twinkling, almost as if they taunted her. She swallowed her pride, folding her hands together and raising them to her chin, brow dipping as she pleaded with the higher being in the sky to hear her cry. 
 “Please, hear me, Maker,” she whispered into her mind, externally staring at Anakin, internally losing her gaze amongst the stars as if the Maker himself would appear between them. “Hear my plea. Whatever destiny you’ve pre-written for me, please be sure it includes Anakin Skywalker.”
 She didn’t see Anakin Skywalker again for another year after that. 
 Apparently, being a Jedi means he’s constantly from place to place, but next time they do end up in the same place, it’s even more fleeting than the last. She was beginning to wonder if she would ever see him again, if she was foolish to continue hoping that he might notice her, that he might even love her. But she still remembers the way his eyes flickered in recognition when they caught hers across the courtyard of Theed Royal Palace. His hair was longer and he didn’t have that ridiculous braid or tiny ponytail on the back of his neck anymore. The Chancellor was speaking to him and another Jedi with umber hair and a matching beard, but his attention was on her. 
 He looked… darker. As if the years of war had finally begun taking its toll on him. But he’s still the same man he’s always been, still the same one she’s dreamed about. He even looked better.  
 They don’t get the chance to talk, only share knowing glances, as he was on duty and their paths unfortunately didn’t cross. But that gleaming in his eyes, the one that blazes with knowing is all the kindling in the pit of her belly needs to bloom, to blossom into a raging wildfire. 
 So, she prayed again. 
 “Maker,” she said into that night sky inside of her head. The stars shone brighter, as if to laugh at the foolish girl beneath them. She ignored them of course— because she truly believed that one day, she’d prove them wrong. “Please. Hear my plea. Let Anakin Skywalker see me again. Give me a place in your sea of stars and make sure it is in Anakin Skywalker’s orbit.”
 She doesn’t see him again for another two years. 
 But still, he lingers, just like a phantom weaving through every corner she passes, cloaked in shadow. She sees Anakin Skywalker everywhere she goes— in the lakes of shining waters out in the country, in the rain that falls on a dark, cloudy day, in the litany of stars that idle in the sky. 
 She sees him in her dreams, staring the way he did at Padmé. Only, in her dreams, his gaze finds her. Almost like he had that day in the courtyard, but in her dreams, his eyes would linger longer. 
 His voice calls out to her whenever she’s sleeping and it lingers in gooseflesh on her skin, frosting over her bones. She’ll open her eyes when he calls but she’s never truly awake. Alas, if dreaming is the only way she’ll see Anakin Skywalker again, she’d gladly succumb to her sleep and trick herself into believing it is real. 
 Except tonight, she does not think she can take it much longer. 
 “Anakin,” she whispers one day when she peels her eyelids open after he calls. She says his name like it’ll be the last time she ever will. That look is on his face again— the one she’s seen so many times directed at her in her dreams, she’s nearly forgotten it wasn’t meant for her in the first place. 
 She used to wake and long for sleep to come again, just so she could watch him look at her like that. 
 But three long years of waiting and foolishly praying to beings who do not hear have begun to rust the illusion she’s deluded herself into hopelessly believing in. Three long years of silence and she’s finally cracked. She is broken— she sees it now. She’s grown weary of hoping he’d be the one to fix her. 
 His lips curve to form a smile and for three years, she’s fooled herself into believing it could be for her— truly be for her, outside of her dreams. But to be forthright, she’s tired. She’s grown tired of pretending, tired of clinging onto the dying embers of mere memories of how a man looked at someone that wasn’t her— but rather her sister. She’s grown tired of hoping, waiting, praying that one day, he may wander back into her life and thread his way into the tapestry that her destiny’s been woven into.
 Tonight is the night she forfeits with her palms to the sky, tonight is the night she yields to the stars that have taunted her for far too long and admits her defeat. That they were right all along. Tonight is the night she blows away the ashes she’s desperately held so close to her chest and sealed away in secret urns inside for far too long. 
 Tonight is the night she lets go. 
 When she wakes the following morning, birds chirp outside her window. Sunlight spills into her room as it rises over the mountains across the lake and she yawns, stretching her arms over her head. Today is merry— it is the day her sister, Padmé Amidala, marries. 
 Today is merry but instead, she feels dread seep into the marrow of her bones. She’s happy for her sister, really, she is, but it serves only as a reminder that her time is ticking, and time has turned vexing. It serves as a reminder that she must make haste to find her own purpose, to find someone who will cherish her the way she’s spent many fortnights dreaming about. Sola’s already married and found her purpose, and Padmé’s had her entire life laid out before her since she was only fourteen years of age. 
 Sola, the wife and mother, Padmé, the Queen and then the Senator, and then there’s her. Unsure. Undecided. An ellipsis. 
 She’s envious. How could she not be? She’s envious that she’ll never be the perfect mother like Sola, envious that she’ll never live up to Padmé’s legacy, she’s even grown envious of the stars: they simply idle in the night sky but even their idleness has a purpose because their places have reason, to create constellations that in turn, tell stories. 
 She knows that after today, the pressure of fulfilling whatever destiny’s been written for her will only further suffocate her. She will suffocate beneath the weight of this pressure and she will be expected to continue breathing. She’s tried for so long to keep the air in her lungs but it’s so hard when with each day that passes by, the darkness grows more appealing. 
 She’s tried so hard to find the right path she’s supposed to take, but there are so many roads, so many choices and so many consequences. She’s afraid— and it’s why she’s allowed herself to hide in her sisters’ shadows for so long. But it feels so stifling now. 
 She sighs and blinks up to the terracotta ceiling. And then of course, dread wears her bones for an entirely different reason. Because it’s inevitable that she’s going to see Anakin Skywalker today. And things will be different. 
 It’s been lingering like an annoying, little insect since Padmé announced she’d invited her Jedi friends to the wedding, ever since she heard Anakin’s name being read off the list. Things were certain to change because he is but a mere guest, and not the groom. 
 It may have come as no surprise that Anakin would fall for her, but it certainly came as a shock that Padmé wouldn’t fall for him. 
 It makes her flesh blaze with a strange anger she’s not quite sure how to describe. How could her sister have something she so desperately wanted but not pursue it? How could she reject Anakin when he would willingly break and bend to her every whim? Why must her sister take his infatuation for granted— why could it not be given to her instead?
 She thinks it must be some cruel trick the Maker is playing on her, dangling Anakin in front of her like that, cursing him with an unrequited love when she was right there. She thinks it must be the Maker’s— damn him— cruel way of taunting her, as if the sneering stars had eyes, his eyes. Even if part of her is relieved Anakin is not marrying her sister, it still feels like a blaster wound to her chest, puncturing her skin and searing her insides. 
 She hears her name called from outside her room’s door and groans. 
 “What do you want?” She replies in displeasure as the door slides open. Her eldest sister, Sola, steps into the room and glowers at her youngest sister’s tone. 
 “Well, good morning sunshine,” Sola remarks and she rolls her eyes. Sola makes her way towards the bed, dropping a dress the color of fire onto the mattress. “Is there a reason for your ill-temper today?”
 She pushes herself to sit upright, wrinkling her nose at the dress as she takes a fistful of it in her hand. “Orange?” She scoffs, tossing it back down onto the bed. “I thought we were wearing blue?”
 Sola shrugs, plopping down onto the mattress. “Padmé changed her mind last minute,” she says. “I suppose if we wore blue, we’d mesh with the background, don’t you think?”
 She sighs and flops back down against her pillows, one arm folded over her stomach, the other folded behind her head. Sola pokes her forefinger against her knee and she grumbles, narrowing her eyes at the ceiling. 
 “Now, answer the question,” her oldest sister insists. “What’s the matter with you?”
 Her eyelids flutter closed and she wishes more than anything that she could simply wink out of existence. It’s not that she doesn’t want to be here for Padmé, she does, but she’s uncertain how she could possibly explain how she feels to Sola in a way she could understand. It’s exactly this that’s made her feel so alone all these years. 
 She’s never had someone who could understand her, really get her. She’s always been different from her sisters, even before marriage and coronations and political promotions. It’s something she’s certain her sisters have known, that even her parents must’ve known. She’s never been jovial and nurturing like Sola, or clever and independent like Padmé. She’s always preferred silence and privacy, and maybe that’s been her problem. But it’s all she knows, being alone. 
 Sola’s never spent years yearning for a boy who yearns for another, so she couldn’t possibly understand. She doesn’t think she could even make her understand. 
 She sighs, lolling her head to the side until her gaze finds Sola’s. 
 “Not looking forward to wearing that dress for the entire evening,” she says instead. Sola’s eyes roll and she leans over to pinch her calf beneath the covers. She hisses and swats her sister’s hand away as she clicks her tongue, moving out of the way. 
 “Oh come on, it’s not that bad,” Sola tries to reason. 
 “It’s hideous,” she deadpans. 
 Sola deflates with the acceptance of her defeat. She grabs her sister’s knee, giving it a shake. She glares at her older sister. 
 “Come on, that can’t be the only reason why you’re in such a foul mood,” Sola insists, her bottom lip rolling in a pout and she swears it’s almost comical how her eldest sister can act like such a child. It’s a wonder how she has children of her own. 
 She blinks at Sola as a sort of realization creeps onto her eldest sister’s face and she blinks, internally grimacing. For she knows that whatever is bound to come out of her sister’s mouth next is going to be completely and utterly wrong. 
 “I think I get it now,” Sola’s tone is softer, her face falling to match it. “You’re upset you’ll be the last of us to be married.”
 And there it is. 
 She internally cringes at just how wrong Sola is but she says nothing, further prompting her sister to lean forward, reaching for the hand that rests on her stomach. Her muscles stiffen when she takes it and she wills herself to stay still. It was better to let Sola say whatever she had to say than recoil and deny it— it’s not like she had any better excuse anyways. 
 “I know it can be tough,” she begins. “Feeling like you’re left out. Believe me, I had my fair share of it. I was so jealous of yours and Padmé’s relationship when you were younger because I was so much older, I felt like I just didn’t quite fit in with you two.”
 Her eyes finally meet Sola’s and she begins to see her eldest sister in a different light. All this time, she’s believed she’s the only one who’s felt this way— lost, left behind. While this isn’t quite the same context, she still feels her heart tremble in her chest for her sister, still feels like something’s shifted. It’s at least one thing they can understand each other on. 
 “But then, I found my husband. And then I had Ryoo and Pooja,” Sola continues. “And it was the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I’ve never been so happy in my life.”
 Sola’s grip tightens around her hand and she leans forward to place her other one on top. “I know it must seem hard, seeing as both Padmé and I are married— well, almost anyway.” Her lips curve into a soft, reassuring grin. “But you’ll find that same happiness one day. I just know it. So don’t fret, little sister.”
And there, she fears, is where her sister misses the plot. 
 She almost wants to laugh at how ridiculous this all sounds. She remains silent, however, and Sola gives the back of her hand one last reassuring pat before she lets go, sliding off of the mattress. 
 “Anyways, I’m going to breakfast. You should come too before all the blue waffles are gone.”
 She watches as her eldest sister slips out of the room, the door sliding closed behind her and she sighs, digging her knuckles into her closed eyelids until the galaxy shimmers before her. How could Sola have come so close to understanding her one minute only to read her so wrong the next?
 She doesn’t make any effort to get out of bed and in all honesty, she wishes she could simply stay here forever, or at least for the rest of the night. At least long enough that she doesn’t have to face Anakin Skywalker. 
 Because even though she’s already promised herself that she’d let him go, she wasn’t entirely certain she could hold true to her own word when she sees him again.
Tumblr media
 The day goes by in a blur. In the blink of an eye, she’s wearing a satin dress in that deep orange she finds hideous beside Sola who stands beside Padmé. Padmé stands facing her husband-to-be, fingertips delicately placed in his palms as they recite their vows. 
 The sun paints the villa’s terrace with an orange glow and she watches it sink beneath the mountains across the lake from the corner of her eye. The sunlight looks like fire rippling in the gentle waves of the water below and she has to look away because she thinks of Anakin, how his eyes glimmer just the same. 
 She’s determined to keep her gaze away from the audience, however, because she knows he’s there, the incarnation of all she’s ever wanted, of all her bad ideas, of everything she cannot trust herself with in one. She searches the ground below, watches the way her dress ruffles with the breeze, like fire askew in the wind. 
 Padmé says something that makes the audience erupt in laughter and it startles her, so much that the hair on the back of her neck erects. When she flinches, she makes the mistake of blinking up— right into the eyes she’d been bound to avoid all night. 
 The world around Anakin Skywalker seems to stir until it’s all wet, blurry hues of orange, green, and white. Anakin is the only one she sees in high resolution— she can see every lock of wavy, dark blonde hair, every rippling wave in his irises, the scarlet line that slices just beside his right eye. She’d never seen this scar before— it must be new. 
 But what’s the most peculiar of all is that she meets his eyes— she meets his eyes. She’d blinked up to find he’d already been staring, already transfixed on her by the time their gazes met and his eyes had illuminated with that same knowing gleam she’d seen in them that day in the royal courtyard. 
 Anakin Skywalker is looking at her and she is not in a dream. It’s both momentous and utterly devastating all the same.
 She isn’t quite sure whether to look away or not. This is what she's mooned over more times than her pride will allow her to admit. She’s dreamed this many nights, for Anakin Skywalker to simply look at her and now he is. Anakin Skywalker is looking at her and she should feel elated but instead she feels… conflicted. 
 Does her heart flutter in her chest? Sure. 
 Does her stomach twist itself into knots? Certainly. 
 She felt so confident just the night before when she threw her hands up in surrender to the black sky, admitting her defeat to the stars who spent many moons mocking her that she was done. She felt so confident that she was ready to move on, to let go of this desire she’s harbored for Anakin for so long. 
 With the simplest of looks, Anakin Skywalker has proven capable of crumpling the paper walls she’d placed around herself. She was left feeling feeble, exposed and any sense of courage she thought she had was now lost. 
 Because three years of waiting and praying to higher entities who did not hear her pleas could not cease overnight. Her attraction to Anakin Skywalker could not cease in hours. She thought she’d extinguished the last flames of her withering hope but, as it turns out, a single dying ember remained. It means a part of her still yearned for him. A part of her still burned for him. 
 She wonders now, that he’s still looking at her, what possibly goes on inside his head. Why does he look at her now? Why does he stare, why do his lips twitch before curving in a smile when their eyes meet, why do they irradiate the longer her gaze lingers on his? Why does he not look sad at the wedding of the woman he loves? Why does he not even look at Padmé?
 Her mind swirls like a tempest— churning with unhinged, vicious anguish. She has to look away before the acid that bubbles in her throat can come to fruition but she can’t, and Anakin seemingly can’t tear his gaze away from her either. It’s all the more sickening and earth-shattering nonetheless. Her heart swells and pounds in her chest, the border of her vision beginning to blur with the familiar sting of tears. Her head is aching and it’s all just too much— she needs an escape. 
 “I now pronounce you, husband and wife.”
 She blinks away her emotion to the best of her ability, using the end of the ceremony as an excuse to look away as the crowd around her thunders with applause. Her mind is reeling and she feels like her head is spinning as she subconsciously claps her palms together, the sound muffled like water in her ears.  The watercolor around her stirs until it’s clear again and the entire world suddenly seems to move again— it’s her, this time, that’s in slow motion. 
 The cheering sounds like thunder, the applause like rain pelting against a window, and her mind begins to crumple, just like metal. She longs for escape, to flee and to be beside herself for the rest of the night. Padmé and her husband begin walking back down the aisle as their guests congratulate them, tossing flower petals into the air above them. She thinks that this is her chance to escape, she thinks everyone is distracted enough that no one will notice her leaving. 
 They never cared to notice her before anyways. 
 She begins to shuffle away but she doesn’t make it very far before her stomach lurches when someone clasps a hand around her wrist, tugging her forward. She snaps her head to the source to find her eldest sister, Sola, with her face illuminated by a grin. 
 “Come on!” Sola exclaims, dragging her down the aisle and back inside the villa. “It’s time to party!”
 Dread drains the blood from her cheeks but she’s given no time to protest before she’s being dragged down the aisle, right past Anakin Skywalker. She doesn’t dare look up but she feels him when she passes by, a mere brush of the arms, the feeling of his elbow brushing going just as fast as it came. 
 And it’s still enough to make liquid of her insides. 
 She drowns in a sea of people as she and Sola find Padmé, wrapped in their mother’s arms. She can hear her heart drum in her ears as Sola releases her hand to draw Padmé into an embrace, tears streaming down the apples of her cheeks. Everyone around her is so happy and she should be too— but she still feels like she’s beside the altar, caught in the trap Anakin has seemingly laid out for her. 
 A tear that’s been painfully dormant in her eye falls and she’s certain her distress shows on her face but it must be easily mistaken for tears of joy, because Padmé pulls away from Sola to turn to her, drawing her in for a hug. Her sister’s arms wrap around her body, a palm on her back, the other cupping the back of her head. Even Sola reaches forward to give her upper arm a reassuring squeeze, undoubtedly thinking back to the conversation they’d had earlier. 
 “Don’t cry for me, baby sister,” Padmé laughs tearfully beside her ear. She can feel Padmé’s smile against her shoulder. She pulls away and rubs her palms up and down the length of her arms. “I’m still the same Padmé I’ve always been.”
 She’s unable to reply— again, she’s misunderstood. But it’s her sister’s wedding day, she won’t burden her with her own confliction. So she swallows the boulder-sized lump in her throat, curving her lips just enough to form a tight-lipped smile. 
 “I’m just… happy for you,” she manages. Padmé cups her cheek and soothes the pad of her thumb over her skin before Ryoo and Pooja draw her attention away. Padmé’s hands fall from her arms and finally, she can breathe. 
 But even that is momentary. 
 “You make a perfectly fine bride if I do say so myself, Senator.”
 Her spine stiffens. She knows that voice. And she knows exactly who is near when she hears it. 
 Padmé laughs and tosses her hands. “Obi-Wan,” she greets him just like an old friend would, pulling him in for an embrace. “And little Ani.”
 How is it that she’s already seen him more tonight than she has in the past three years? She sees Anakin’s dark boots from the top of her vision, not daring to tear her gaze from the ground. 
 “Padmé,” Anakin’s deep, enriching voice sounds and rumbles deep in her belly. She shifts uncomfortably where she stands, desperate to flee. She thinks she can manage it now— Obi-Wan and Anakin are engrossed with Padmé now, right? 
 She begins to make her first attempt of escape, taking slow, careful steps to the side until her second effort crumbles when Anakin speaks her name. 
 Ice frosts over her spine and she’s no choice but to acknowledge the man she was so intent on avoiding the entire evening. Padmé and Obi-Wan are engrossed in their own conversation but Anakin’s gaze remains on her, eyes even sparkling when she finally meets them. 
 Her mouth is a desiccated oasis and her throat feels like a desert as it constricts painfully when she swallows. Still, she manages to breathe out, “Anakin.”
 It’s the first time she can ever recall having a true, proper conversation with him. The last time being when they said their goodbyes that very first time before he and Padmé left for the Lake Country. It’s confusing how this is everything she’s ever wanted yet, she feels an urge to push it all away. 
 Anakin clears his throat and his eyes flicker to his feet for a moment as if he could possibly be nervous before they find hers again. “You look good,” he says and her heart stops beating in her chest. “That dress is beautiful on you.”
 She thinks she could punch him. 
 Or kiss him. 
 She has to look away, or she may very well do the latter. 
 She wonders if this is some cruel, senseless joke the Maker is playing on her. She wonders if she’d upset him by unlatching herself from his hook and this is his way of reeling her back in. She hates that it has the potential to work. 
 “I…” she stammers and closes her lids frustratedly, willing air back into her lungs. She shakes her head— she cannot be here any longer. She may very well explode if she has to succumb to this torture for even a second more. “…thanks. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”
 And then, she bolts. 
Tumblr media
 She’s lost track of how long she’s been locked in her room, sitting in the window, staring at the moonlight that ripples in the water below. It was long enough for the chatter downstairs to quiet to murmurs until it finally ceased altogether. The villa is now quiet and suddenly, her room feels suffocating. 
 With a sigh, her feet meet the floor and she pushes away from the window seat, cupping her neck to roll it around her shoulders as she pads towards the door. It slides open and she slips through, making her way down the hallway leading towards the main foyer. Her dress flows behind her like flames in the wind, the satin cool against her legs as she walks. Fresh, night air greets her and she inhales, letting it flood her lungs as she saunters to the wide terrace ahead. 
 She stops at the stone arches of the railing and exhales, feeling the wind sift its fingers through her hair, breathing on her skin like a lover in the throes of passion. It caresses her neck and rolls down her back, leaving gooseflesh in its wake. 
 She’d spent many nights just like this one. Staring at the moon rippling through the water, at the stars that twinkle overhead, the sky that blackens behind them. She’d spent many nights praying, releasing her pleas into the air and letting it drift away with the breeze. 
 She does not pray this time. When she lifts her head to brave the dark that faces her, she merely asks why. 
 “Why, Maker,” she whispers beneath her breath. There’s an edge, a strain to her voice that stings her throat, that feels like daggers to her chest. “Why must you be so cruel? I have done everything, I have given you everything. Why wasn’t it enough? Why do you mock me now?”
 The stars overhead gleam as they cackle, sneering at the misfit below. “You’ll never have a place among us,” they seem to say. Tears well in her eyes and she drops her head, fingernails scraping the stone edge of the railing. She leans back on her heels and wills herself to breathe before a sob could wrack her body. 
 She feels lost and utterly alone, and she truly begins to feel like the weight of this prolonged pain has started to fall on top of her. She’s lost and alone and her entire world has started to crumble around her. And then she hears her name. 
 It’s like the call that haunts her every time she closes her eyes, the same velvety voice that caresses her ear every night when she lies down in bed. But it is not a ghostly whisper this time, because it is real. 
 Footsteps sound behind her and she further scratches her nails against the railing. 
 “I was wondering where you wandered off to,” Anakin remarks as he approaches and she can feel him beside her, like a whisper of shadow creeping along her skin. She rolls back onto the balls of her feet and stands straight, sniffing. 
 “Anakin,” she says, steadily, methodically. As if it took great effort to say it without stammering. She can see him out of her peripheral, dark blonde curls falling when he leans an elbow against the railing, tilting his head in an attempt to meet her eye. 
 She does not move. 
 “I was looking for you, you know,” he continues. “You must’ve found a good hiding spot.”
 She rolls her bottom lip between her teeth. “I was in my room,” she replies simply, a steely, monotone in her voice.
 Anakin inhales and hums. “Then it makes sense why I could not find you. I would never barge into a lady’s room.”
 It’s an attempt at humor but she feels anything but. She’s stuck between a rock and a hard place with seemingly no clear solution in sight. She could walk away. She should walk away. She shouldn't spend a single second more in Anakin Skywalker’s presence— she simply couldn’t trust herself to not betray her own vow. 
 Or she could stay. She could stay and once again succumb to the fool’s game she’s been playing. She could stay and let Anakin Skywalker tie another noose around her neck, allowing him to drag her along for another three years. 
 She knows what is right. She knows what she should do. 
 But she’s frozen. 
 She cannot move, cannot even bring her lips to move so she can speak. She instead wilts, like a rose who once stood beautifully now losing its color, shriveling in on herself until she inevitably withers away. 
 She can feel Anakin draw himself just an inch closer beside her, and he’s like a single drop of rain that’s enough to somewhat salvage the husk of who she once was. 
 “Why do you avoid me?” He asks and it’s a question so simply but so damn infuriating all the while. She’s been a volcano in dormancy up until this point, but there’s a rumbling deep within her, threatening to erupt. 
 “Why are you doing this?” She questions, snapping her head towards him, brows dipped and drawn. Anakin blinks and draws back, a dent forming between his own brows. 
 “Doing what?” He asks and that feeling of wanting to ram her fist into his face comes back. She turns to fully face him and he pushes off the railing, uncertainty warping his features. 
 “This,” she gestures between them. “Staring at me. Talking to me. As if we’ve spoken more than hellos and goodbyes to each other.”
 Anakin raises a brow, the one his scar pierces, and it warps with the movement. 
 She continues. “And then you have the audacity to tell me I look beautiful in this gods-awful dress just to spite me.” She is a volcano, no longer dormant, no longer overlooked. She is exploding and Anakin is unfortunate enough to be in her wake. 
 He shakes his head. “Spite you?” He repeats. She begins to pace, a hand on her hip, the other rubbing her chin. Anakin follows, exactly like a lost puppy. “I wasn’t— I would never—“
 “Don’t say you’d never,” she turns on him, sticking an accusatory finger in his face. He blinks from it back to her, that ocean in the irises of his eyes raging, lightning cracking in the sinkhole at its center. She drops her hand and it curls at her side, her fists two shaking balls of fury. Blood bites her cheeks and she thinks of all the times she’s imagined speaking with Anakin Skywalker, of being alone with him. 
 This certainly was not how she’d ever imagined the scenario playing out. 
 She inhales. “Don’t say you’d never do anything to spite me while you are actively using me to get over Padmé,” she exhales, braving the stormy sea in his eyes. The tide shifts and his manner does too and she believes she’s already cracked him. She thinks she’s already shattered the illusion he was trying to create, that she’s lifted the wool he’s tried to veil over her eyes.
 She thinks that he believes whatever game he was trying to play was over. 
 Anakin straightens. “You have no idea what you are talking about,” he says and she scoffs, backing away. 
 “Don’t I?” She retorts. “You don’t think I’ve noticed how you’ve always looked at her? How you’ve always loved her?” 
 It brings her great pain to merely mention it. Her palms wipe at her face as tears begin welling in her eyes again, her cheeks warm as she desperately tries to quell the beginnings of a sob that stutters through her chest. She realizes now that by keeping all of these emotions, these feelings she’s harbored for Anakin for so long bottled has made her restless, has made her tick like a time bomb. 
 And her time to detonate has come. 
 He says her name again and tries to step forward, reeling back when she steps away from him. His hand wrapped in a leather glove hovers in the air between them and he drops it with an exasperated sigh. 
 “Your sister means a great deal to me, yes,” he begins. “But it is not—“
 “My sister is the sole reason why you torment me!” She snaps. “And you have no right to use how I feel against me just because she does not love you back.”
 Her words are an arrow meant to strike, to pierce through his chest, his heart her target. Her words are meant to cut deep, to draw blood, to make him bleed just like she has everyday since they met. She thinks they will, she thinks her blows will etch deep, will even leave scars in their wake. Part of her longs to see that pained expression upon his face, just like the one she wears now. 
 But her arrow merely grazes, soaring past until it sinks in the shining waters below. 
 Anakin’s face shifts but it is not in the way she thought it would, not in the way she hoped it would. His brows dip and his eyes swarm with a pained sort of desperation she’s never seen before in someone. She certainly never expected to see it in someone like him. His chest rises and falls with his breaths as he steps forward again. She stands still, unable to move. She is stunned— Anakin Skywalker has surprised her. 
 “Padmé does not love me,” he admits. “I met her when I was only a child. The only girl I’d ever seen before her was my own mother. So, of course, I felt drawn to her.” Her jaw tightens and her lips fall together in a firm, thin line. Anakin’s brows knit closer together and there’s a flicker in his eyes that she swears looks like the predecessor to tears. 
 She doesn’t quite want to believe it. He could not cry. 
 “And I spent a decade pining, a decade praying that I’d one day see her again, a decade hoping she’d been counting down the days until she saw me again, just like I was.”
 She doesn’t believe what she’s hearing. It’s a reflection of her own story, her own foolish pining, her own foolish praying but not hers, but Anakin’s. Her heart stutters in her chest and she forgets to breathe, having to gasp to gather air back into her lungs. 
 She’s never once felt like she could be understood. She’s never once felt like anyone else could experience the inner turmoil she has, the seemingly fruitless yearning she has. 
 But she’s realizing now that that's not true. Not anymore, at least. Everything is changing right before her eyes. 
 “And then I did,” Anakin shakes his head, a humorless laugh leaving his lips. “And I felt nothing. But I tried. I tried to convince myself I loved her. But I just… didn’t.”
 Her brow furrows and Anakin’s gaze darkens as it finds hers. 
 “I spent a decade obsessing over someone I didn’t really know, and how could I? I was a child.” His eyes search hers, searching for something unbeknownst to her. But she lets him. “I didn’t know what love was. All I knew was infatuation. I didn’t know what it meant to truly feel seen, to truly feel drawn to someone.”
 Anakin pauses and she gets the feeling that whatever he says next will be calamitous. 
 “Until I saw you again, that day outside the palace.”
 Her lips tremble and her breath shudders, an icy chill frosting over her skin. To think he’s thought about her everyday since their eyes briefly met in the midst of a crowded courtyard was hard to believe yet, when she looks at Anakin Skywalker now, she sees the softening of his brow, the quiver in his lips, the honesty in his eyes. 
 She’s only ever imagined one look in his eyes. Desire. 
 But she looks at him now and finds an entire galaxy— there’s longing, there’s earnest, there’s optimism, there’s burning. As it turns out, living creatures are not black and white like she initially thought them to be. Anakin Skywalker is a complex creature, made of flesh and blood and of an intricacy she’d never stopped to consider before. 
 He’s even better than she’s imagined he’d be. 
 Every moment spent under the stars, praying that she’d one day have a place among them, that she one day would sit among them with purpose rather than in an ellipsis suddenly begins to feel like it wasn’t all for nothing after all. Every prayer she’s whispered into the night breeze with Anakin Skywalker’s name in it suddenly feels like they begin to matter, like they begin to come true. 
 Still, she is wary, and Anakin seems to recognize this caution. 
 He takes a step closer and he steals the breath from her chest, just like he had the first moment she saw him. Her fingers twitch, itching to find his, her palms tingling with the desire to feel his skin, her lips buzzing with yearning. She does not touch him, she does not kiss him, she does not do anything. She simply waits for the rest of his story to unfold and her brain aches with the hope that it will unravel into hers. 
 “I saw you that day at the palace to find you were already looking at me. That you were already seeing me,” he mutters, a little breathlessly. “It may have been for… for only a moment but when you looked at me, I felt…” he trails off, a furrow in his brow as he searches for the correct word. “…I felt… like something shifted.”
 She watches as he rolls his lips together, watches as the moonlight catches how they glisten with spittle. Her breath catches a little bit, her gaze lingering there, her desire to lap it all up flaring. 
 “It felt like there was a string there between us I’d never noticed before,” he continues. “There was a connection I’d never realized until the moment our eyes met. I felt you, and I felt you see me. There hasn’t been a day that’s passed by since where I didn’t feel you, where I didn’t feel like we were connected, like we were two stars written in the same constellation.”
 Her chest rises and falls to the erratic beating of her heart as Anakin draws nearer, the hand with his glove meeting her cheek with a tenderness she’d felt from no one before. She’d never realized how starved of touch she’s been until now and it feels so invigorating. Her stare drops to his lips and she feels that string Anakin must’ve been talking about, feels it drawing her closer into his mouth. 
 “Padmé does not love me back, and I do not care,” he says in just above a whisper, his voice rising and falling in a way that jellifies her knees, that makes liquid of her insides. “Because I am burning– foolishly, maybe, yes– for you.”
 She inhales sharply and it truly feels like all her prayers are finally being answered, like she’s being inducted into her rightful place in the sea of stars. And in her constellation, Anakin Skywalker resides too. 
 She reaches up with a hand to hold the crook of his elbow that’s strung between them as he brings his other, ungloved hand to rest on her other cheek. She feels his skin on her cheek as the pad of his thumb soothes over the warmth of her flesh and her body quakes with shivers that roll down her spine all the way to her toes. He begins to lean in, his breath hot where it fans against her skin but she tilts backwards, just enough for him to halt, a quirk in one of his brows. 
 “I will not let you settle for me, Anakin Skywalker,” she whispers, admitting that insecurity still lingers, despite his words. Anakin’s eyes narrow as he uses his hands on either sides of her face to draw her in, his lips but a mere whisper away from hers when he murmurs, “settle? This is not settling. This is binding.”
 Then, his lips are on hers in an electrifying bind that shatters her spine with cracks of lightning and she falls into him, her hands on either of his forearms to keep herself steady. 
 Anakin kisses her with an ardor she could never even dream up in all of her wildest of fantasies. He kisses her and she feels like she finally fits in her dress, as it is the color of fire and she’s engulfed in flames. He kisses her and he is the flame that lights her candle, the flame that melts her from the center, that makes heat course through her that washes all the way down to her toes. He kisses her and she is melting, right into him. 
 His tongue pirouettes over hers and she hums into his mouth, feeling his fingers thread through her hair. Her heart is pounding and her lips are buzzing but all she feels is Anakin, she feels the muscles in his arms, the warmth that radiates off his body and spills into her. She feels the push and pull of the passion, the yearning he’s kept inside all this time. She feels her own longing and fervor pour into him and they are floating, two clouds that collide into one another to become one. 
 Anakin steps forward and steps backwards until she hits a wall. When they pull away for breath, she realizes he’s backed her into one of the pillars, a vine caught in the hair on the back of her head. Their chests heave with the weight of their breaths and she watches as Anakin’s hand, not the gloved one, but the one with skin rises, following it as it reaches for her neck. She shudders when he touches her collarbone, exposed from the side of the fiery satin of her dress. His fingertips sear her skin as it drags to the neck of her dress, following the satin where it wraps around her throat, all the way to the back of her neck where the lace falls. 
 Her breath catches when his fingers find the small strings keeping her dress together. Her gaze finds his again to find he’s already staring, a narrow, earnest look upon his face that darkens his eyes and hardens his features. There is a silent question that hangs in the air between them: “do you want to stop?”
 Maybe they’re moving too fast. Maybe this is crazy, maybe they’re simply caught up in the moment, high off the feeling of burning for someone who burns for them too. But after years of pining, of waiting, of praying, it only feels right. 
 But still, she asks, “what if someone sees? Someone like Obi-Wan who can get you in trouble?”
 Anakin shakes his head, “they won’t. Now, I don’t want to talk about Obi-Wan. Do you want to stop?”
 The shake of her head is all Anakin needs to see before he unlaces the strings holding her dress together, the satin falling like a spark blazing down the frayed edges of a rope until it pools at her elbows. Her breasts spill from the dress and the night’s ghostly whisper chills her skin, peaking her nipples. 
 Anakin’s eyes devour and she is prey. 
 His stare pierces through her skin to the marrow of her bones that catch a chill and she quakes. He meets her eyes again as his hands drift lower, dipping until they finally find her chest. A sharp gasp escapes when his palms cup either of her breasts and she arches into his touch, already aching for more. 
 “Anakin!” She gasps in a breathy exclaim when he dips his chin to press a kiss over the top of one of her breasts, heat blossoming in his lips’ wake. His eyes catch her again, a little warily. “Is this okay?” He asks, his voice low and gravely, scratching the itch in her brain she didn’t even know she had. It makes her knees feel weak and if it hadn’t been for his body pressed up against hers, she would’ve crumpled straight to the ground. 
 “Yes,” she breathes, chest heaving into his palms. “I’m sorry, I’ve just… never…”
 Anakin’s lips curve and she can see a flash of white peek between them. He shakes his head. “Me neither,” he admits with a breathy laugh and she titters too, grateful for the fact that she’s not the only one who’s a little green. 
 “Can I keep going?” He questions and his voice is liquid desire, melting straight down to her core. She swallows the lump that’s formed in her throat, nodding. “Please,” she adds, feeling her heart beat straight into his palm. 
 Anakin’s head dips again and she watches, cheeks warm as he places an open-mouthed kiss just above her nipple. His palm kneads the other breast as his lips venture just an inch lower, finding the peaked bud that awaits, suckling it into his mouth. 
 It’s like electricity flooding through her veins. 
 She throws her head back, lips falling agape as her eyelids snap closed, soaking in the pleasure of Anakin’s lips on her nipple. He cautiously flicks his tongue against the bud, watching through his lids as a moan falls from her lips, encouraging him to do it again. He flattens his tongue against her nipple and licks a long, fat stripe from the underside of it up, feeling her tremble in his arms. He lets go of her breast with a wet pop, trailing kisses through the valley between them to make his way to the other. 
 Touching him, feeling him, kissing him is somehow even better than she’d ever imagined, even after all those years of dreaming for moments like this. She can’t believe she’s gone so long without feeling him like this, she doesn’t think she can ever stop touching him. 
 Anakin suckles on her breast, flicking his tongue against her nipple as his hand not wrapped in a glove ventures down her body, past her waist, down her hip. He pulls the satin material of her dress up until his arm can sneak his way beneath it and she shivers when his fingers find her center over her underwear. Her nails dig into his sleeves above his shoulders, holding her breath as he finds the wet spot in her underwear, gently pressing against it. 
 Her hands tighten on his shoulders and ceases all movement, peering up at her. “You’re wet,” he says rather matter-of-factly because of course she is, how could she not be? She nods down at him, swallowing thick layers of saliva down her throat. “Can I touch you here?” He asks and his voice drops to that silky, velvety tone that makes her core ache. She presses her lips together to stifle her groan, head vigorously nodding up and down. 
 “Gods yes, Anakin,” she moans, slowly rocking her hips against his finger. “Please.”
 She feels filthy in a way for asking, for needing friction so desperately. She’s only ever taken her own fingers when she’s too lost in pleasure at night to sleep, never been touched by anyone else but it’s all she craves now, for Anakin’s fingers to touch her, for him— whatever part it may be— to be inside her. 
 A flame had been ignited in the pit of her belly long ago, back when Anakin first stepped through the door the day they met. It’s sat stagnant for too long, waiting for its moment to further bloom and now it has. It blossomed when her eyes met Anakin’s that day in the courtyard but it’s now in full bloom, now that they burn together, now that his kisses have seared her skin, now that his fingers are pulling her underwear down her thighs, just enough that he can reach her center. 
 When his fingertips brush her clit, she bursts. 
 Anakin’s arm wraps around her waist as she practically collapses into him, his middle finger drawing circles against her clit, his breath hot as his lips rest on her brow. 
 “Is this good?” He asks against her forehead. “Do you feel good?” He questions again as he adds his forefinger to the mix, applying just a little more pressure and it makes her eyes roll. 
 “Yes, just… just don’t stop,” she exhales, feeling her stomach twist itself into a knot, his fingers against her clit threatening to pull it undone any moment. 
 So he doesn’t. 
 He’s unrelenting in the way his fingers press to the aching bud in her center, tracing tight circles until her eyes squeeze closed so hard, milky-ways shimmer behind her lids. He dares venture lower, gathering her slick on the pads of his fingers as he teases near her entrance. It’s a foreign and strange feeling, it’s a pattern she’s traced many times with her own fingers but never been touched by someone else. Even in spite of how many nights she spent trekking that path wishing it was Anakin’s fingers instead, but it’s still strange feeling him there now. 
 She clutches his arm tighter and he slows, beginning to retract his hand. She stops him, lifting her head until their eyes meet again. 
 “No,” she pants, shaking her head. “Don’t stop, just… just take it slow.”
 He nods, his finger a little unsure as it circles her entrance, unintentionally teasing until she begins to crack. She’s panting, trying to wiggle her hips so that she can draw his fingers in, seeking that feeling of being full. Anakin dips his forefinger into her hole and she tosses her head back, her lips parting for an “oh” to emit. 
 He watches her face, even if she can’t see it, she can feel his gaze behind her closed lids. He is testing the waters, learning what makes her moan, what makes her squirm, what makes her come. Slowly, he sinks his finger further in and she feels every single millimeter that drags along her walls until he’s knuckle deep. Her legs feel like jelly and her knees begin to wobble, nails clinging to his sleeves like they were her lifeline. 
 Pressure builds in the pit of her belly as Anakin carefully retracts his finger, just to sink it back in again, a slow, cautious rhythm that leaves her mind spinning. His fingers are so much bigger than hers and she already feels so stuffed despite it only being one finger. Somehow, it’s too much and not enough at the same time. 
 “Ana… Anakin,” she gasps, peeling open her lids to find he’s already looking. His finger slows but picks up its pace again when he realizes she’s not in any pain. “Another.”
 His brow dips and his head tilts in confusion, uncertain what she means. She gathers moisture on her lips, trying to speak through the pleasure-driven haze in her mind. 
 “Another finger. Please.”
 Their eyes lock and there’s a flicker in his, a hint of doubt. 
 “Are you su—“
 “Please.”
 So, Anakin gathers her lips with his and she mewls into his mouth when he presses his middle against his pointer, sinking them into her cunt until they reach as far as they can. She’s trembling against him but he keeps her upright, with his arm and with his lips. 
 Just one of Anakin’s fingers had made her feel stuffed but two of his fingers made her feel full to the brim. Her walls clench around his fingers and she gasps his name like the beginning of a prayer, pleading for more. 
 It’s a twist on the prayers she recites to the Maker every night. It’s rewriting her every broken hymn, transforming it into something entirely new. She moans Anakin’s name and his fingers turn it into a song so that she cries like a dove into the night. The Maker may have left her feeling broken, wasted, unimportant but Anakin has found her, patched her up, polished her until she’s brand new. 
 The tangle in her belly begins to rupture, slowly unraveling and so she pushes his arm away, his fingers sliding out of her cunt, her walls pulsing with the loss. They both pant and Anakin’s face hardens in question as his chest heaves. 
 “What is it?” He asks, searching her face. 
 She gathers air deep in her chest. “I want…” She trails off, her embarrassment washing over her cheeks in blood. Her gaze drops and Anakin tilts his head to find it again, their eyes locked. He says nothing, only the nod of his head encourages her to continue. “…I want more. I want… I want you to…”
 She purses her lips in frustration. For heaven’s sake, she’s talking to the man who just had his fingers inside of her mere moments ago. Why does she feel embarrassed now?
 She takes another deep breath, mustering the courage to tell what she truly wants. “…I want you to feel good too.”
 Something shifts in Anakin’s eyes. It could be easily mistaken as a trick of the light but she sees it, she feels it. Anakin is burning just the same as her, his pupils becoming a backdrop behind the fires of desire, and she burns within it. 
 She watches as Anakin’s hand sinks below the belt around his middle, all the way down to the waistband of his trousers beneath his dark tunic. She watches with her breath lodged at the base of her throat as he pulls down his pants, just enough for his cock to be set free and oh, it is just like her dreams but even better. 
 Nothing could have ever prepared her for the sight of Anakin Skywalker’s cock. Not even the wildest of her dreams could ever capture the essence of the art of Anakin Skywalker. He is handcrafted by the gods themselves��� he is the physical embodiment of masterpiece. 
 He steps forward and towers over her, his breath like smoke rolling over her face. She peers up at him, her chest heaving with the effort of breathing. His hands find either side of her face and she stops breathing altogether, wondering what he will do next. 
 Then, “put your arms here,” he whispers, guiding her arms over his shoulder. “And hold on.”
 She squeals when he drops his hands to the undersides of her thighs, lifting her off the ground so that her ankles lock behind his back. Her arms tighten around his neck as he presses her back against the pillar, his chest pressed into hers. She can feel his length as it’s squeezed between either of their bodies and her walls clench around nothing, practically sobbing to feel him inside. 
 For a moment, the world stills around them and it’s like when she sees him in the audience during Padmé’s wedding. The night stirs and blurs until it’s dark watercolor, but Anakin is what she sees in high resolution. It’s the perfect mirage— she and Anakin feel like two stars in the middle of the black abyss above, forming their own little constellation. 
 And when Anakin finally slides himself inside of her, she feels like her place in the sea of stars has been cemented. She finally feels like she’s where she belongs.
Tumblr media
a/n; SO! MY LONGEST IMAGINE YET.... may or may not have gotten a bit carried away (more like a little too wordy...) BUT! i really hope some of you enjoy and i truly appreciate anyone who reads this all the way through. i know 10k words is a lot 😭 also i hope this doesn’t seem too insta-lovey… this idea just came to me in a dream so i wrote what I dreamt lol
💫 if you enjoyed, please consider reblogging or even leaving a reply to let me know! it means the world to me 🫶
TAGLIST
@your-nanas-house
@chaoticevilbakugo
@k1ttenmittonz
Tumblr media
2K notes · View notes
j-psilas · 1 year ago
Text
Will we ever get anything quite like Code Geass again?
I don't think it's possible.
Code Geass is Japanese nationalist propaganda disguised as a global political drama, disguised as a military mecha show, disguised as yaoibait, disguised as a teen melodrama, disguised as a high school romcom, disguised as a Pizza Hut commercial...
...except those layers aren't layers at all, but are instead comingled in a giant snake ball of insanity.
The lead writer, Ichirō Ōkouchi, only ever worked as an episode writer for other shows prior to Code Geass, and never took the helm of an anime series ever again. And it shows. [EDIT: Several people have pointed out his other lead writing credits to me. So I misread Wikipedia—sue me. I maintain that this guy is a better episode writer than he is a lead writer.]
The minute-to-minute pacing is impeccable from a mechanical standpoint, with tension and stakes rising to ever-higher peaks, balanced out by the slow simmers of the b-plot and c-plot. It keeps the viewer on the edge of their seat at all times. Meanwhile, the large-scale plot is the most off-the-wall middle school nonsense I've ever seen, continually surprising the viewer by pulling twists too dumb to have ever have been on their radar—and therefore more effective in terms of raw shock value.
"Greenlight it!" was the mantra of this anime's production. It must have been. It has, in no particular order, all of the following:
Character designs from CLAMP, the foremost yaoi/BL group in Japan at the time—for characters who are only queer insofar as they can bait the audience, and only straight insofar as they can be more misogynist to the female cast.
Speaking of the female cast, hoo boy the fanservice. We've all seen anime girls breast boobily, with many cases more egregious than Code Geass, but there's something special about it happening immediately after—or sometimes in the middle of!—scenes of military conflict and ethnic cleansing.
Pizza Hut product placement everywhere, in every conceivable situation. High-speed chases, light slice-of-life scenes, intimate character moments, all of it. Gotta have Pizza Hut.
The anime-only Pizza Hut mascot, Cheese-kun. He wears a fedora.
The most hilarious approximations of European names—which I would love to see more often, frankly. Names like, I dunno, "Count Schnitzelgrübe zi Blanquezzio."
A depiction of China that is wholly removed from any modern reality, with red-and-gold pagodas, ornamental robes, scheming eunuchs, and a brainwashed child empress. There's a character named General Tsao, like the chicken.
Inappropriate free-form jazz in the soundtrack, intruding at the most unexpected times.
A secret cabal not unlike the Illuminati, run by an immortal shota with magic powers, holding influence all across the world, at the highest levels of government. They matter for approximately three episodes.
An unexpected insert scene of a schoolgirl using the corner of a table to masturbate. She's doing it to thoughts of her crush, the princess Euphemia—because she believes Euphemia to be as racist as she herself is, and that gets her off. This interrupts an unrelated scene of our protagonist faction planning their next move, which then resumes as if uninterrupted.
Said schoolgirl, in a fit of hysteria, threatens to detonate a worse-than-nuclear bomb in the middle of her school. She then goes on to develop an even more destructive version of that bomb, and become a war criminal, in a chain of cause-and-effect stemming from the moment she finds out that Euphemia wasn't actually that racist.
A character called "the Earl of Pudding."
A premise that asks us to believe that the name Lelouch is normal enough that he didn't need to change it when he went into hiding as an ordinary civilian. "No, that's not Prince Strimbleford von Vanquish! That's our classmate, Strimbleford Smith."
The collective unconscious, a la Carl Jung, within which the protagonist fights his villainous father for control over the fate of humankind. After this is over, the anime just keeps going for about ten more episodes.
An episode in which a mech tosses a giant pizza.
A gay yandere sleeper agent who can manipulate the perception of time.
Chess being played very badly, even to the untrained eye. Lelouch frequently checkmates his opponent by moving his king. This goes hand-in-hand with the anime's crock of bad chess symbolism.
A fictional drug that can most succinctly be described as "nostalgia heroin."
Roller-skating mecha in knightly armor, and some of the most sickass mecha fight choreography that I've seen.
I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture. This anime is what the average Westerner in 2006 thought anime was, and it was made in a confluence of factors that cannot be replicated. I've never had so much fun watching something that I found so... insulting. Repugnant. Ridiculous. Baffling. I love it sincerely.
Catch me cosplaying Lloyd Asplund at a con sometime, or maybe even the big gay loser himself, Lelouch vi Britannia.
5K notes · View notes
solxamber · 30 days ago
Note
Maybe a Skully request for him learning the reader's birthday is really close to Halloween? I just think he'd get excited to hear the reader's had a Halloween themed birthday every year because of it, and due to it not being ON Halloween its like having two in 1 year, would absolutely be his dream if he doesn't already do that
Skully J. Graves x Reader
I'm so sorry for the wait, I hope you like it <3
Tumblr media
You casually mention your birthday while lounging in Ramshackle, almost as an afterthought. "Oh, yeah. My birthday’s next week. It’s always super close to Halloween, so I’ve had a Halloween-themed party almost every year."
Skully, who was dramatically arranging some black and white decorations in the room (for "aesthetic purposes"), suddenly freezes. He turns toward you slowly, his eyes widening with a mixture of awe and reverence. He drops the cobweb-covered garland he’s holding and rushes to your side in an over-the-top theatrical flourish, coat sweeping across the floor.
“What did you say?!” he asks, his voice high, almost like you’ve revealed some ancient secret.
You blink at him. “Uh...my birthday’s next week?”
“And every year…” He leans closer, eyes locked on yours like you just said the most magical thing in the world. “...it’s Halloween-themed?!”
Grim, who’s curled up in front of the fire with a snack, snorts. “Pffft. Why’s that such a big deal? We don’t even get extra tuna just ‘cause it’s spooky time.”
Skully completely ignores Grim, focusing all his energy on you. “This is...this is...this is the dream.” He grabs your hand and dramatically bows over it, pressing a kiss to the back of it. “You’ve been living my ideal life all this time, and I never knew! You, my friend, have been blessed with not just one, but two Halloweens every year!”
He gets this far-off, dreamy look in his eyes, as if he’s envisioning a world where he, too, has two Halloweens, one on your birthday and one on the actual holiday. "A prelude Halloween, and then the real Halloween...It’s a masterpiece of planning, a work of art." He lets out a breathy sigh, “Jack Skellington himself would be proud!”
“I mean, it’s not that big of a deal…” you try, but Skully’s already on another planet, his face lighting up like a jack-o’-lantern.
“Do you know what this means?!” He suddenly grabs both of your shoulders, eyes wide with the joy of someone who’s just unlocked the key to eternal happiness. “We can have TWO Halloween parties in a row! One in your honor, and then the official Halloween! Two nights of pure, spooky glory!” He releases you, spins dramatically, and gestures around the room. “The decorations, the costumes, the endless dark colors—just think about it! It’s everything I’ve ever dreamed of!”
Grim rolls his eyes, crunching loudly on his snack. “Yeah, yeah. And where’s my tuna in all of this? I’m not seein’ how this benefits me.”
Skully waves his hand dismissively at Grim. “You’ll get all the tuna you want, little furball. We’re talking about a double Halloween extravaganza! This is bigger than any feast of fish!”
Grim’s ears perk up. “Double the tuna, huh?”
“I said parties, not tuna,” you point out, but Grim’s already on board.
“Yeah, yeah, let’s go with double the parties, double the snacks,” Grim says, throwing in his vote for this wild plan. “I’ll bring the fireworks.”
You groan, pinching the bridge of your nose. “No fireworks inside the dorm, Grim.”
Skully looks ready to faint from excitement. “Imagine it...we’ll start with a pre-Halloween bash for your birthday. Dark, moody decorations, not a single bright color in sight. No candy—just the eerie emptiness of true Halloween spirit.” He twirls around, his cape billowing behind him. “Then, on the real Halloween, we’ll raise the stakes even higher. There will be no sugar. No colors. Only shadows.”
Grim looks horrified. “Wait, no candy?! That’s...that’s sacrilege! You can’t have a Halloween without candy!”
Skully turns to Grim, his voice deadly serious. “The only true treat...is fear.”
Grim groans. “Ugh, you’re the worst.”
Skully turns back to you with a grin. “What do you say? Two Halloweens! Double the spooky goodness, twice the amount of dark, colorless celebration...”
You laugh, watching the pure joy radiating from Skully. “You’re absolutely obsessed.”
“I am obsessed!” he says proudly, puffing out his chest. “You are living proof that Halloween is not confined to one day. It is a lifestyle, a way of being. And now, you and I...we shall celebrate that lifestyle together. Forever!”
Grim mutters something about “weirdos” and “no candy,” but you just shake your head, feeling both exhausted and entertained by Skully’s antics.
“Well,” you say with a grin, “I guess I’d better start planning for two spooky parties this year.”
Skully nearly faints from happiness. “This...this is everything I’ve ever wanted!”
Grim groans dramatically. “Great. Two days of weirdos and no candy. Can’t wait.”
Skully, in all his dramatic, Halloween-obsessed glory, was in for a treat. And now, you’ve somehow roped yourself into throwing a double Halloween bash. Lucky you.
Tumblr media
Masterlist
385 notes · View notes
herstoryheaven · 2 months ago
Text
Lando Norris x Reader: Driven By A Promise
Tumblr media
Prompt: You make a promise with Lando, if he wins the Zandvoort Grand Prix you’ll go on a date with him.
Reader: Female
Word count: 2643
Average reading time: 9 min 35 sec
Category: Fluff
Warnings: None
----------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer: All events portrayed in my stories are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events is purely coincidental. Any actions or behaviours portrayed by the characters may differ from reality and cannot be connected to any actual person. This work is purely fictional and intended for entertainment purposes only.
----------------------------------------------------------
The roar of the engines, the smell of burning rubber, and the festive atmosphere of Zandvoort filled the air. It was race day, and the stakes had never been higher for Lando Norris. The young driver stood by his McLaren, helmet in hand, glancing over the bustling pit lane with a determined look in his eyes. But today, his focus wasn’t just on the race, it was on something or rather someone else entirely.
That someone was you, Y/n. Over the past few weeks, Lando had made it no secret that he was into you. His flirty remarks, cheeky smiles, and lingering glances were all aimed your way. You had played along, keeping him on his toes, but deep down, you were starting to feel the effect of his undeniable charm.
“Y/n.” Lando’s voice drew you from your thoughts, smooth as the rumble of his car’s engine. He walked up to you, that boyish grin tugging at his lips, the one you were getting far too accustomed to. His eyes, usually so focused on the track, now held yours with an intensity that made your heart race more than any Formula 1 car could. "How about you finally let me take you out?" He asked, his tone teasing yet laced with sincerity. "You know I’ve been asking nicely for a while now."
You rolled your eyes, feigning nonchalance, but you couldn’t hide the smile tugging at your lips. “Lando, you know the deal.” you replied, the words almost playful but with a hint of challenge. “You win this Grand Prix, and I’ll let you take me wherever you want.”
His eyes lit up with a mix of excitement and mischief, the green flecks in them shimmering like the track under the sunlight. “Anywhere?” he asked, stepping just a little closer, his hand brushing against yours ever so slightly, a touch so brief yet so planned it sent a shiver up your spine.
“Anywhere.” you confirmed, your voice steady despite the flutter in your chest. You crossed your arms, trying to maintain your composure, giving him a look that dared him to take you up on the challenge. “But only if you win.”
Lando’s grin widened, his expression softening as he leaned in, closing the gap between you until the scent of his cologne mixed with the lingering traces of fuel and rubber. He reached out, his fingers lightly grazing the back of your hand, tracing an invisible line that left your skin tingling. “Well then.” he murmured, his voice dropping to a tone so low it was almost a whisper, his breath warm against your ear, “I guess I’ll just have to win, won’t I?”
You felt your breath hitch as his words hung in the air, charged with promise and anticipation. His thumb brushed gently over your knuckles, a touch so intimate yet tender that it felt like a silent vow, a promise of more to come. 
And then, in a gesture so simple yet so filled with meaning, Lando lifted your hand to his lips, pressing a kiss to the back of it, his lips lingering against your skin just a moment longer than necessary. When he finally pulled away, his eyes found yours again, filled with a confidence that made your pulse quicken.
“Wish me luck, Y/n.” he said, his voice playful again, but the intensity in his gaze told you that this race, this moment, meant more than just a possible victory on the track.
As he turned to leave, helmet in hand, you couldn’t help but watch him go, your heart pounding in a way that had nothing to do with the upcoming race.
-----
The race started with Lando on pole position, and as the lights went out, the chaos of the Grand Prix began. Your heart raced as you watched from the paddock, your eyes glued to the screen. The roar of the engines, the squeal of tires, the adrenaline coursing through your veins, it all melded into a symphony of speed and skill that held you captive. Almost immediately, Max Verstappen surged ahead, taking first place and leaving Lando not far behind him.
But Lando wasn’t one to give up so easily. With a determination that left you breathless, he pursued Max, lap after lap, his McLaren a blur of orange streaking across the track. Every turn, every maneuver was executed with a precision that bordered on artistry. You could feel the determination through the whole paddock, as he fought not just for the win, but for something far more personal.
By lap 18, he reclaimed the lead. It was a moment of triumph so intense, it sent a thrill down your spine. Your heart leapt as you saw him take the lead, the car responding to his every command, moving with a grace and aggression that left no doubt, Lando Norris was in control. Once he had the lead, there was no looking back. He widened the gap, pushing his car to its absolute limits, knowing full well what was on the line, what promise lingered on the edge of victory.
As the race reached its final lap, the tension was noticeable. The checkered flag waved, and in a moment that felt almost surreal, Lando crossed the finish line with a significant margin of over 20 seconds, victorious. The crowd erupted in cheers, their voices rising in a symphony of celebration. But amidst all the noise, your own emotions drowned out the world around you. Your heart soared with pride and excitement, not just because he’d won his second Grand Prix, but because you knew what was coming next.
And then, over the radio, despite the buzz of the pit lane and the celebration of the team, Lando’s voice cut through. But it wasn’t his usual, happy tone, this time, it was demanding, almost urgent. “Get Y/n on the radio. I want to speak to her, now.” The intensity in his voice sent a jolt through you, his need to share this moment with you clear as day.
The engineer, slightly taken aback, quickly patched you through. “Y/n, are you there?” Lando’s voice came through the static, and suddenly, the entire world seemed to narrow down to just the two of you, connected by the invisible thread of his victory and the promise that had led him here.
“I’m here, Lando.” you replied, your voice shaky with emotion. You could hear the roar of the crowd in the background, but it all seemed distant compared to the closeness of his voice in your ear.
“I did it.” he said, his voice breaking into a breathless laugh, half disbelieving, half euphoric. “I won. And do you know what that means?”
A smile spread across your face, your eyes glistening with unshed tears of joy. “I do.” you whispered, feeling the warmth of his victory wrap around you like a physical embrace.
“Good.” he replied, his tone softening, becoming almost tender through the crackle of the radio. “Because as soon as I get out of this car, I’m coming for you, Y/n. And I’m not letting you out of my sight.”
The weight of his words, the raw emotion in his voice, left you breathless. As the team surrounded his car, celebrating his win, you knew that this wasn’t just about the race anymore. It was about the promise you had made, the connection that had grown between you both, and the future that now lay wide open before you.
The moment he climbed out of the car, victorious, sweat-drenched but utterly triumphant, his eyes immediately sought you out in the crowd. And when he found you, standing there with your heart in your throat and your emotions worn openly on your face, he smiled, a smile that held all the promises of the night ahead.
-----
Lando didn’t waste any time. After the podium celebrations, where he couldn’t stop grinning, he quickly showered and changed into a crisp white button-down and black trousers that fit him perfectly. The way the fabric clung to his frame, still slightly damp from the shower, gave him an effortlessly handsome look that made your heart skip a beat.
Meanwhile, you slipped into the short orange dress you’d brought with you just in case Lando actually pulled off the win. The color was a reference to his McLaren, a playful homage to the vibrant energy of the race. The way it hugged your curves made you feel confident and beautiful, each glance in the mirror reminding you that tonight was going to be unforgettable. You knew Lando would appreciate the effort, but when you finally walked out to meet him, the look on his face made you feel like the most beautiful person in the world.
Lando’s eyes widened, his breath catching as he took you in. His admiration was evident, a slow, appreciative smile spreading across his face. “Wow, Y/n, you look… incredible.” he murmured, his voice filled with genuine awe as his gaze lingered on you, drinking in every detail.
“You don’t look too bad yourself.” you replied, your voice soft, your smile widening as you took in the sight of him, so dashing, so charming. It was a side of him you didn’t see to often, and it made your heart flutter.
He stepped closer, his movements slow, deliberate, as if savoring the moment. Offering you his arm like a true gentleman, he asked, “Ready for our date?” His tone was playful, but his eyes held a sincerity that made the simple question feel weighted with unspoken promises.
“I am.” you replied, slipping your hand into the crook of his arm, the contact sending a spark of electricity through you. The warmth of his body so close to yours made the world around you fade, leaving just the two of you in a bubble of anticipation. “So, where are we going?”
Lando’s smile turned secretive, a glint of mischief in his eyes. “It’s a surprise.” he said, his voice a low murmur that made your pulse quicken. “But trust me, I think you’ll love it.”
He had planned everything in advance, confident not only in his victory on the track but in winning your heart as well. He led you to a secluded, charming restaurant overlooking the beach, where the waves gently lapped against the shore under the golden glow of the setting sun. The scene before you was breathtaking, the table was set for two, with candlelight flickering softly, casting a warm, intimate glow over everything. The entire evening felt like something out of a dream, carefully crafted to sweep you off your feet.
“This is perfect.” you whispered, your voice filled with awe as you looked around, touched by the thoughtfulness he’d put into the evening. It was more than you had expected, more than anyone had ever done for you.
Lando smiled, his gaze tender as he pulled out your chair, waiting for you to sit before he took his place besides you. “Only the best for you, love.” he said softly, his hand immediately reaching over the table to take yours. His fingers intertwined with yours, the connection between you clear as day, his touch gentle yet firm. “I meant it when I said I wanted to take you out. I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time.”
Your breath caught at the sincerity in his words, your cheeks flushing with warmth. “And I’m glad you did.” you admitted, your voice barely above a whisper. “This… this is really special, Lando.”
His smile deepened, his thumb brushing gently over the back of your hand, sending shivers down your spine. “You’re special, Y/n. And I’m going to spend every day making sure you know that.”
The evening unfolded like a beautiful, slow dance. As you talked and laughed, sharing stories and dreams, the chemistry between you grew, an undeniable force that pulled you closer with every passing moment. Lando was attentive, his gaze never straying far from yours, his hand never letting go of yours for long. He was a perfect mix of charm and respect, his every word, every glance making you feel like you were the only person in the world.
As the night wore on, the conversation grew quieter, more intimate. Lando’s hand slipped from yours, tracing a slow, steady path along your arm, his touch sending a thrill through you. When he reached under the table, his fingers lightly brushing against your leg, the sensation was electric. His hand lingered there, resting on your thigh, his touch warm, possessive, yet tender.
He leaned in closer, his eyes locking onto yours with an intensity that made your heart skip a beat. "Y/n," he began, his voice a soft whisper, "I don't think you realize just how much you mean to me. Every time I see you, it's like everything else fades away, and all I can think about is how lucky I am to have you in my life."
His words were raw, filled with a sincerity that made your breath catch. "You're not just beautiful," he continued, his hand gently brushing a strand of hair behind your ear. "You're the person I look for in every room, the one who makes everything feel right even when it's all falling apart."
Lando's voice trembled slightly, the vulnerability in his tone tugging at your heart. "I’ve been wanting to tell you this for so long… You’re everything to me, Y/n. My best friend, my anchor, and… the person I can’t stop thinking about."
He paused, his lips brushing against your cheek in a soft, lingering kiss. "I don’t know where this is all going," he whispered, his breath warm against your skin, "but I know that I don’t want to face it without you. I need you by my side, now and always." His words hung in the air, filled with a quiet desperation that left you breathless, your skin tingling where his lips had touched, as if the world had shifted and everything finally made sense.
You turned to him, your eyes meeting his, the air between you charged with a tension that had been building all night. The world around you seemed to slow, the gentle sound of the waves fading into the background as Lando’s hand tightened slightly on your thigh, his touch grounding you, pulling you into the moment.
“I’ve been wanting to do this since I first got the honor of laying my eyes on you.” he whispered, his voice rough with emotion, before leaning in and capturing your lips in a kiss that was soft yet full of the passion that had been simmering between you. His hand on your thigh tightened, pulling you closer as his lips moved against yours, the kiss deepening as the night and the ocean whispered their approval.
When he finally pulled back, his forehead rested against yours, both of you breathless, the moment suspended in time. “So, love.” he said, his voice still a little breathless, his eyes soft as they searched yours. “Was this date worth the wait?”
You smiled up at him, your heart full, knowing that this was only the beginning of something truly special. “It was worth every second.”
Lando’s grin widened, and he leaned in to press another tender kiss to your forehead. “Good.” he whispered against your skin, his lips lingering as if he couldn’t bear to pull away. “Because I’m already planning the next one.”
As he walked you back to your hotel, the stars twinkling above, his arm around your waist, you couldn’t help but feel that you were on the verge of something extraordinary. The warmth of his hand on your side, the way he held you close as if he never wanted to let go, it was a promise of more, a future filled with moments like this.
----------------------------------------------------------
Copyright: All stories contained herein are the intellectual property of the author. Unauthorized copying, reproduction, or distribution of these stories, in whole or in part, without explicit written permission from the author, is strictly prohibited and may result in legal action. Respect the creator's rights and creativity. For permissions or inquiries, please contact: [email protected].
Request Guidelines: When submitting a request, please ensure that your request does not contain any explicit sexual content or graphic depictions, and avoid any form of extreme violence or graphic descriptions of violent acts. I appreciate your understanding and cooperation in maintaining a respectful and inclusive environment for all readers. If you're unsure about your request or want to request about someone I haven't written about yet, feel free to ask me anytime.
----------------------------------------------------------
294 notes · View notes
leighsartworks216 · 1 month ago
Text
Kitty Cards
Sylus x gn!Reader
I will never ever win a game against this man istg
Warnings: losing, frustration
Word Count: 925
Main Masterlist
Love and Deepspace Masterlist
AO3
Tag List Form
You swear he’s cheating. He has to be. There’s no way he just happened to draw three 6-point kitty cards to start with.
You look down at your own hand. Ah, yes, what a fine selection of ones and twos. None of the colors even match the cups!
“Sweetie, if you glare any harder, the kitties will jump out of the cards and run away.”
You turn your glare on Sylus. He’s sitting casually in the cafe chair, as relaxed as if he were back home. And that stupid smug smile! Ugh, it infuriated you to no end.
“Honestly, why do I keep inviting you to play if I’m just gonna keep losing,” you groan. You draw another card. Wow. A three. With no color matching cup. Fantastic. You sigh.
He chuckles and plays a card, doubling his 5 points to 10. At this point, it’s just sad. You’ve got 3 points to your name and he has 30-something at least. Maybe playing with him wouldn’t be so bad if you were anywhere close in scores, if he had 23 and you had 22. Enough to feel like it’s anyone’s game and not decided before you’ve even shuffled the deck.
Or maybe that would make it worse.
You play your 3-point card to keep him from getting the last cup. He lays his cards on the table, face down.
“Relax, sweetie. I’ve had plenty of practice in games with much higher stakes.”
“How many 6-point cards do you have right now?” you demand.
He smirks as he lifts up the edges to check. You know he remembers. The salt is ground ever deeper into your wounds. “None.”
“Mhm. And 5-point cards?”
“None.”
You frown, seemingly even more frustrated now that you know he just got lucky. “Well, what do you have?”
He fans the cards out for you to see, long fingers holding them apart.
All ones.
He chuckles again as you huff and snatch them from his hand to pile on the deck. You don’t look up at him as you shuffle repeatedly. He flags down a waiter who replaces the cups with new ones with staggering efficiency. You cut the deck no less than 3 times, to ensure complete randomness, and place them back in the center. He goes to draw a card, but you’re setting it in front of him before he can.
“You really don’t trust me, do you?” he muses, picking up his two cards.
You ignore him, looking from your hand to the cups. You have an advantage by starting with three cards, but he could have the better hand regardless. The game really begins when he makes his move.
It’s not even 5 minutes later that your head is down on the table.
“I’m never gonna beat you, am I?” you mutter, not even caring if he does or doesn’t hear you.
He hums, quietly gathering your cards and organizing the deck. He sets it back in the center of the array without shuffling. “Don’t worry, you can practice with the twins.”
You laugh dryly. “They cheat like it’s the objective of the game.”
“All the better to practice against them.”
You don’t answer. Sylus drains the last dredges of his coffee. Your drink hasn’t been touched since the first round, two games ago.
As amusing as your pity-party is normally, he knows the failure runs a little deeper today. Usually, you sigh and moan and whine, but it only spurs you on to try harder next time. He’d never thought he’d see the day you succumb to defeat.
He sighs and stands up. “Wait here, kitten.”
You lift your head up. There’s a red mark on your forehead from where it rested on the table. “Why? Where are you going?”
“It’s a surprise.” He smiles as he hands you his card. “Get a new drink and something sweet, kitten. I won’t be long.”
You glower at the card in his hand, but take it anyway. You don’t watch him as he leaves.
-
When he comes back, the table has been cleared of cards and empty cups. A half-eaten slice of cake has been pushed to his side of the table. He wonders if you wanted to share with him, or if you feel too bad to indulge.
You’re taking a sip of your drink when something is set on the table in front of you. Sylus sits back down and picks up the fork on the plate.
You blink, because surely you’ve fallen asleep in the cafe and this is just a dream. But the big, full eyes of the crow plushie continue to stare back at you. You look up at Sylus for answers.
“I’m not heartless, kitten. Even I can only bear to see you sad for so long.” He cuts a bite off the cake with the side of the fork. “It loses its fun if you’re really upset.”
You flush, from embarrassment or from watching him eat off the same fork you’d used when a clean one sat next to him on a napkin. Maybe both. You set your drink down and grab the plushie.
Its ruffle is a bit uneven, so you idly adjust it so it sits better. The fabric of its body is soft. You boop its little beak.
You look back up at Sylus. He still has his eyes on you, like he’s still not sure if you like his little gift. You smile and hug it to your chest. “Thank you.”
He grins in return. “You’re welcome, sweetie.”
260 notes · View notes
afewfantasies · 8 months ago
Text
🗡️ꜰᴇʏᴅ'ꜱ ʙʟᴀᴅᴇ 🗡️ - IV - FESTIVITIES
Tumblr media Tumblr media
ᴡᴏʀᴅ ᴄᴏᴜɴᴛ: 5.6K
ᴘᴀɪʀɪɴɢ: Feyd-Rautha X Reader
ᴘʟᴏᴛ: Feyd-Rautha's birthday is the perfect opportunity for many factions to put their pieces into play. For you the stakes are higher than ever, now that your feelings for the psychotic na-Baron have developed. Feyd rewards honour, honesty and sincerity and punishes treachery without mercy.
ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢꜱ: Violence, killing, spanking, oral sex , sex (p in v), choking, dirty talk, fingering, multiple orgasms, creampie
IV- Festivities
The cool white hues of the rising sun flow softly into your bedroom. Feyd has been awake admiring your sleeping visage for half an hour now. The slow rise and fall of your chest, the absence of tension in your expression, long lashes, relaxed limbs. Lifting your head gently he slips his arm out from under it. He’d never experienced such closeness and peace with anyone. He was struck by how much he enjoyed the proximity, after searching for you as long as he had he finally felt that that knowing ache in his chest was sated. Aches in his nether regions only growing stronger. He couldn’t wait for there to be more time. Time to wake you up slowly and properly. To watch your eyes flutter to consciousness while his mouth explored your sex. He would deliver as many climaxes as you needed to start your day, taking as many as he needed for his. It takes everything in him not to wake you with his tongue. But he needed his energy for the fight at hand there would be dozen or more slaves in the pit and he would need to put on a good show for the arena. He needed to solidify his place as heir so he would be able to strike a devastating blow to whomever had been at the head of your attack. He wouldn’t stand having his happiness taken from him. He would heed your warning, not making a further scene about it until the time was right. Sensing a shift in energy you stir as he stands upright out of the bed. It takes a moment to regain the full scope of your sight. Feyd stands shirtless at the foot of the bed. You cast a glance to the clock.
“Happy birthday” you smile before yawning.
“Thank you”  Feyd smiles with his eyes glued to your lips.
“Come here” Feyd demands. Instead of hurrying you hold an arm out lazily. Feyd pulls you to him forcing you to kneel in the bed. You take the liberty of running your hands down his ripped obliques before trailing back to look up at him, he bows his head. Feyd kisses you aggressively, with a firm grip on your arms. You feel malleable in his arms, pliable and fully at his mercy. Relaxing into his aggression you allow yourself to revel in the moment, as he claims you with his kiss. No one has ever wanted you so much, no one had ever made you feel so needed, or so desired. Kissing Feyd is intoxicating, you lose concept of time allowing his curious hands to roam your body until you run out of breath. Pulling away first you see remnants of his handprints on your arms. His eyes catch the imprint as well, his eyes never leave yours as he leans down casting an apologetic kiss over his impressions left on each arm.
“I’m going to miss you today” he rasps.
Smiling at his open affection you place a kiss on his chest. “Remember, don’t look to me, stay focused” you whisper.
“Shhh” Feyd says not wanting you to worry. He’d been fighting for over a decade and didn’t need any advice on how to handle the arena. His energy is different this morning, there’s a raw aggression akin to what you’ve heard in the stories.
“Go now and don’t hold back” you repeat sitting back on the bed. It takes a moment for Feyd to register the familiar words but when he does a smirk plays at his full lips. Raising his chin he nods in agreement turning to head out the door. Feyd is appreciative of your embrace of his nature, acceptance over rejection. Your heart swells with a mix of feelings, anticipation, excitement and fear. Looking over his shoulder Feyd takes one final look at you before heading into his chambers to ready himself for the days festivities. Exiting your room he watches shock befall the guards. His chest swells with pride and he holds his head high as they all bow wishing him a happy birthday. Feeling incredible he doesn’t wash, wanting to keep your scent all over him, a reminder of the ultimate prize awaiting him following the fight. Pressing the button for his Mentat the doors open and the man enters.
“Have fresh flowers brought to the na-Baroness when she rises, whatever she wants she gets” he says casting an intimidating look the mans way. He wanted to commemorate your first night spent together.
“With pleasure” the Mentat nods and Feyd casts him away heading back into his bedroom to prepare for the intricacies of a day in the arena. He had motivation in spades now. Heading down into the city the pods zoom quickly, there’s chatter all around him but all he can think of is you, your beauty and your relaxation, the way you felt the way you smell and your touch. You’d been open to him while still standing your ground. In retrospect it was something he found himself admiring. You were braver than a lot of men. His desire for you would help him in the arena, he found himself a better bladesman since your arrival. He was more precise, more focused, more deadly. It was as though the softness you brought to him sharpened his senses. Ceremonial black paint is plastered into his skin and he tests the blades of his knives. Hearing the groans and hissing of his pets he procures the Harpies fresh flesh. He feels his bloodlust rise as he watches them eat savagely. The roar of the arena grows as Feyd paces to get in the right headspace for the fight. The chanting of his name is music to his ears.
Standing in front of a looking glass you observe the attendants as they dress you in an ornamental black dress unlike anything you could have predicted for the fight. Fresh flowers are at the centre of your table, it’s not lost on you how difficult it is to grow much of anything on the harsh planet of Giedi Prime. The chatter around you becomes senseless noise as people make mindless wagers on the amount of time it will take Feyd to best all of the contenders. Everyone anticipates Feyd putting on a lively show for his birthday. Others speak of the excitement their children will feel seeing the na-Barons firework display at night. Your stomach remains uneasy through the lot of it as you pray against his wounding and possible poisoning. Unlike everyone else, you have no desire to see Feyd take part in any brutality. Nor do you have any desire to change his nature. It’s just you would prefer to be elsewhere than privy to the barbaric of the area fights, especially after growing close to the na-Baron. Especially after coming to enjoy his kiss and touch as you do. With how much peace you found in sleeping beside him last night, how much you yearn for it to be every night, as well as the curious sensations that yearn for all of him. With Feyd-Rautha, one of the galaxies brutal horrors you’d found elements of strength that had been long lost. If they had existed before him at all. After your tryst sleep had found you easily, the warmth of his body against yours, his skin. 
Your dress is secured and fastened by attendants creating the illusion of creature far more grand than you are. It’s far more ostentatious than anything the reverend mother would consider appropriate. They’re garments appropriate for a na-baroness. Leia enters in a dress that is also striking, you find yourself smiling when you see that a stabilizer has been built into the neck of it as she recovers from the neck injury from the savage attack. Among all the bustling staff the two of you choose to share a look instead of any thoughts. You are fitted for gloves, binoculars to see Feyd in the arena and made to choose from a plethora of other devices, menus and more to ensure your time at the celebration is enjoyable. It’s a two hours circus before you and Leia find any time alone. Sitting with your Mentat in a pod you look her over. The Mentat places a shield ring on your hand teaching you how to use the contraption in case of emergency. One is also given to Leia. You smile thankful for Feyd’s acceptance of Leia and his care for her well being in tandem with yours.
The roar of the arena snaps you out of your thoughts. The speed at which everything occurs is disorienting, choppy and sporadic. The planet fades into black and white as you exit the pod and walk out into the streets of Giedi Prime. The industrial smells are ghastly as you move through the corridor and into the arena. The shouting is deafening, your body vibrates from the cheering as your heart races with anticipation, Leia takes your hand in support knowing your aversion for crowds. You make out your betrothed’s name being chanted. Screens abound everywhere as highlights of Feyd’s best fights play on the screen.
Your escort grows with more and more armed men, you're placed into a hovercraft and driven to a palatial box with an incredible view and live screens of the arena pit operated by drones. Looking around the space your Mentat secures it. You smile at the fresh fruits and cheeses waiting for your convenience.
“May we have some time alone?” You ask the Mentat. He nods quickly clearing out the guards and attendants. It takes several minutes to recount the past nights events to Leia and when your finished her ambivalence matches your own. The worry in her eyes overrides the excitement. She takes your hand knowing better than anyone the state of your visions. Never had one come true within such a close span of time. They’d been abstract and symbolic thus far. They’d acted as a preview of the possibilities and not a definitive singular path. But just as you saw Feyd had removed his manhood from his pants and stroked it lazily as the two of you shared kisses. Typically, there was time for hours of speculation regarding the visions and plausible meanings but not today. The gash that had been sliced into his back wasn’t large but the impact it had on you was indicative of its danger. The blue-eyed Fremen woman you’d been looking at was in front of you. You could feel the dry desert heat on your skin as you looked up at her. Again, danger had felt eminent or at least perceived danger. Your visions of Feyd-Rautha had frightened you in the beginning but he had not harmed you. Although, your abduction had opened you up to a brutal attack and targeting.  
“He’ll get through this. We’ll get through this” Leia says encouragingly pulling you from your thoughts.
“I can’t place the danger” you confess pacing in the grand viewing box. Sighing Leia rises doing the same as the two of you had many times before.
“Will you wait until you're married to have him?” Leia asks distracted.
“I would like to honour my family’s customs” you confess and she smiles making you blush. 
“Right” she says resuming her movements you’d both learned moving helped you focus, helped bring things into focus, gain clarity.
“Perhaps, we will end up in Arrakis?” Leia says.
“Possibly” you agree.
“What can we do about poison here?” You ask concerned for Feyd, there’s an absence of herbs, or much of any Bene Gesserit items to subvert the effects of poison.
“Nothing” Leia says regretfully.
Slowing to a stop it comes to you. “Blood, our blood” you whisper. It’s one of the orders deepest secrets. Leia stops and you watch as understanding flows into her eyes. She grabs your hands, finally there’s promise. Drums sound shaking the entire arena and you watch as a procession of veiled women in head dresses enter a section of the arena. Unease fills you as the crows begin chanting Feyd-Rautha again, holding binoculars to your eyes watch as he emerges. You can feel your pulse in your throat. Torn by the levels of danger and treachery at play you find yourself the banister looking down at the fight with bated breath.
Tears stream steadily as you find yourself rushing to Feyd. Though victorious it was not without blood. One cut from a lucid Atreides soldier, was the cost of the spectacle. Feyd-Rautha had left there arena on adrenaline and fury. Leia shouts orders on your behalf getting you down the the base levels of the arena. Time seems to pass so slowly in spite of your rushing. The never-ending elevators, corridors and rooms leave you disoriented and in a labyrinth of confusion. When you arrive in Feyd’s chambers a Bene Gesserit sister and a doctor are among those in attendance.
Treachery is at hand you can feel it.
“Out” you say singularly. The voice that leaves your mouth is not yours. The doctor drops his things as Feyd turns to you in surprise. His lids looking heavier than ever before. One of the guards cuffs the sister gagging her in an instant. You go to Feyd trusting Leia with the care of the room and guards. He’d gone against your wishes holding his blade over his head and casting a look in your direction. In that moment the Atreides slave rose striking him across his back. Cutting your finger you place it in his mouth without explanation. Feyd’s eyes hold yours in surprise, his chest begins to rise and fall violently. His body begins to convulse and your heart races at your suspicions being confirmed. 
Poison. They’d tried to poison him. 
Holding Feyd you do your best to support him through his convulsions. Leia enters moments after the shaking has stopped. You watch as his body begins to metabolize the poison resistant qualities of your bloods training and exposure. Holding his limp heavy body you watch as yellow liquid drips out of the open wounds. Leia sees it too, her chest rises in relief as does yours. Breathing you kiss Feyd’s head.
“Priming poison to make him vulnerable to suggestion, priming him for the breeding program” Leia says far more astute than you with the intricacies of the sisterhood. Feyd stirs in your arms and it takes him a moment before he regains full consciousness. His eyes are full of rage. He grabs your throat in anger squeezing tight before he realizes it’s you. Withdrawing he sways and you support him again. He looks to you and then Leia before turning to look at his back in the reflection of the mirrored steel. Tears of relief wash down your face and Feyd pulls you in for a hug.
“I’ll find sterile needles and thread, he’ll need stitches” Leia says leaving the room proving further the treachery. There were no means of stitching his wounds aside from an odd looking salve at the doctors station.
“What happened?” Feyd asks.
“High treason, the knife was poisoned to make sure you would be susceptible to Bene Gesserit seduction, suggestion and primed to breed to secure your genetic material” you explain. Feyd looks at you with an intrinsic knowingness, the soreness of his cut was evidence of the treason. He’d been cut too many times to know the levels of pain they should inflict. This one was unnatural in many ways. Leia returns and you wipe the poison remnants from his skin.
“Do not cry for me” he whispers, growing angry at your distress.
You thread the needle and situate yourself behind Feyd. The separation of flesh is gruesome but far from the worst you’ve witnessed in your lifetime. He watches you through the reflection feeling the pain as you stitch him back together with singular concentration. His eyes look from you to Leia and she bows her head at him out of respect.
“Have the witch and doctor brought in” he tells her. Nodding she turns leaving, you can feel the anger radiating from Feyd and know this won’t end well for them. They enter before you’ve finished and the doctor trembles. Feyd watches him without words as you finish up, taking a sterile candle you light it to get an even coat of wax to seal your work. Feyd is so angry he’s barely affected by the sting. When you finish he stands tapping on your shield. Leia follows suit and Feyd taps on a shield of his own. 
“You made the na-Baroness cry!” he growls. His anger gives you goosebumps. He takes a blade pushing it violently into the doctors throat. The sister watches in horror trying to use the voice but her gag inhibits her ability. Feyd removes it revelling at the challenge. As she speaks he strikes fast sticking his hand into her mouth. Her jaw moves and her eyes rise in horror,  she screams as he takes her tongue. He grabs pincer tools and holds her tongue looking at her mockingly. The moment she tries to speak again he takes the scissors removing her tongue. Her cries are blood curling. You close your eyes looking away as she crumples to the ground. The doctor is still choking in agony. There’s blood everywhere, Feyd is covered in it. It smells like iron and you tremble closing your eyes as you try to escape the brutal stabbing of both conspirators. Leia trembles at your side. When Feyd’s tirade is over he takes the medical beds leather cover piling the bodies and overing them over. He’s covered blood and at wits end. Feyd heads to the door pulling it open.
“Feed them to my pets” he snarls pointing to the piled bodies.
“Return the na-Baroness to her quarters” he shouts. Leia takes your hand and as you leave you see the blood on his hands, body and Feyd. He holds your gaze without shame or apology. 
“Go now, I won’t hold back” he says and it gives you pause. You find a small smirk at the twinkle in his eye. Your Feyd is still in there. The experience of being brought back to your quarters is out of body, you're stricken with the visuals of Feyd covered in the blood of his kills after the carnage that took place in the arena. It’s really to you, the scope of what he’s capable of. What scares you even more is how little he terrifies you. The fear of losing him was more than any you’ve ever felt before. You’d managed to use the voice. It hadn’t even been possible when you’d been under attack yourself but it’d materialized without warning when Feyd was too vulnerable to protect himself.
Standing in front of the Baron Feyd is unable to withhold his anger. If he could get away with murder here and now he would without question. Amused eyes look back at his rage filled ones. The Baron chuckles in his tub sitting forward as he smokes from a pipe. It would be as easy as breathing to hold the old man down once he ripped away the suspension devices implanted into his back. The Baron would drown in his own gluttony.
“Arrakis is yours, my birthday gift to you” the Baron says surprising Feyd.
“What of Rabban?” Feyd inquires.
“He’s proven himself incapable of the task” the Baron responds. “Feyd?” The Baron calls to his nephew as he turns to leave. “A path has been set for you to inherit far more than Arrakis. The girl is a nobody, keep her as a slave if you please but do not marry her” the Baron instructs. Feeling anger like never before he hears your voice pleading with him to maintain his composure and so he does casting his uncle a silent nod before leaving. Guards take him down an unfamiliar path before leaving him alone. Feyd-Rautha slows sensing a presence behind him. Turning he sees a fine woman, her garments tell him she’s a part of the Bene Gesserit sisterhood. A smirk pulls at his lips as he follows her like a moth to a flame.
“You’re following me” Feyd rasps
“Am I? I may have gotten lost, will you show me the way out of this maze my lord na-Baron” she says sweetly.
“Have we met, are you a Bene Gesserit?” Feyd asks sensing vibrations in his head as he follows her. She gives a chuckle. “I’m marrying one of your sisters” he states.
“Are you?” She smiles turning to face him. “I’m Margot Fenring” she smiles and Feyd recalls the name. He continues stalking his prey under the guise of mindlessly following. Looking around the guest wind he realizes there are no guards. 
“Kneel” she says and again he feels vibrations in his head but he does not feel the compulsions of the voice.
“What do you want?” He adds kneeling slowly.
“To see if you're worth an enjoyable night?” She smiles. Feyd moves quickly stabbing her with the Gom Jabbar before she can put it to his neck. Her eyes bulge as she blinks. Knowing Bene Gesserit trickery he plunges a blade into her chest to ensure her passing. He would end every single one of them if it meant protecting you. He would never allow an entire order to mock your impending union. Worse yet, rob him of his free will.
“You’re too late” Feyd laughs at the corpse. The pain in his arm throbs but the sensation exhilarates him. So does the knowledge that he has the power to resist the treachery of the Bene Gesserit.
The day had been never ending, your level of exhaustion compounded by the potential stress of losing Feyd, a fear you hadn’t fully come to terms with. The warm fresh water is another extravagance most aren’t afforded but you revel in the aromatics and balms place into the bath. The fireworks flash outside, breathing slowly you try to settle your nerves. Resting your head on the bath pillow you allow the salts to relax your muscles. Floating you feel a hand touch your shoulder. Feyd’s hand, you know by the ever-present warmth in his touch. It’s a pleasant dream you relax into. His hand slides deeper into the water fondling your breast. Sensing a presence you open your eyes only to see his hand across your chest. Craning your head back you find him crouched behind you in his night linens. His head lowers placing a kiss on yours. Feyd-Rautha walks around the tub to face you. His eyes teeming with desire and mischief. He needs you tonight. Removing his night tunic he tosses it aside before dipping his arm into the water with his eyes assessing your every move. Instead of withdrawing you slide closer to him at the edge of the tub.
Pulling you out of the tub he watches in absolute adoration as the water beads off your skin. Your fully nude figure in real time takes his breath away. Feyd’s mouth salivates at the nights potential. His eyes never leave yours. Goosebumps cover your skin and he smiles running his hands over the soft flesh of your pebbled nipples. He had a thing for being thorough and attentive. Tonight would only be more intense, he needed you to come to learn and understand sexual pleasure. You’d given him a privilege no one else had; protection while wanting nothing in return.
“Go lie down” he whispers sending you on your way. You grab a towel removing the excess water only for a stinging slap to kiss your skin. Turning Feyd’s hand is already around your neck, the heat of his gaze leaves you molten putty in his hands.  Your reaction to his punishment impresses him.
“Such a good girl” he purrs rubbing the sting on your ass away. “I was going to dry you off” Feyd says taking the towel and crouching down to your legs. He grabs your bottom roughly before placing a kiss on the spot he’d spanked, leaving a languid depraved kiss on the area. His teeth graze it leaving you pooling your centre. He towels you upwards from your ankles to shoulders watching you carefully. 
“Bed” he repeats and you do as he says, anticipation building violently in your stomach and core. Looking back you touch the bed looking for his approval, nodding slightly he watches intently from the bathroom door. The anticipation kills as you lie down as told. He stalks over to you, your body brims with anticipation. Will Feyd-Rautha make love to you or will he take pleasure in your pain? Before you can string anymore thoughts together his lips are on yours. There’s no time to enjoy the kiss as his attack is two fold, his hands is pressed against your centre relieving the throbbing anticipation with slow circles, he presses against your entrance firmly teasing you with new sensation His touch makes you moan into his mouth, you feel him smiling against your mouth, your legs close around his hand trying to keep it in place as he starts rubbing circles. You pool for Feyd feeling crazy for him as he makes you feel incredible. Your naked body writhing under his touch, his intrigued smirk satisfied by your reaction to him. Your breathing only becomes more strained as he slides one finger in and then two forcing your legs back open. 
“So wet for me” Feyd says against your lips. Before dipping his head and extending his tongue, the slow stroke of his fingers continue as he kisses your other lips. The suction of his mouth forcing your eyes closed, your stomach contracting as he gives your body the most intimate kiss while finger fucking you slowly.
A chorus of moans leave you.
Shallow breaths.
Closed eyes
Arched back
Euphoria.
Feyd’s kiss gets sloppier as he moans at the taste of you. He’d never needed to taste a woman so bad, he honestly preferred not to but there was nothing more beautiful than you becoming undone at his touch. Your warm slick walls around his fingers, growing more and more slippery under his tongue. The heat, your swelling clit, the more attention he gives it the more you squirm.
“Like that?” He asks.
“Mhhm,” you nod.
“Words,” Feyd says popping his fingers out of you.
The loss is too much, “I like that” you manage delirious.
“Like what, my fingers in the pussy that’s mine?” Feyd says heating your body once again. Opening your eyes you look down at his, his eyes are like a sharks after tasting blood. His desire for you only heightens yours for him.
“Like … everything you do to me because I belong to you” you whisper meaning every word. Fed’s eyes close and he reenters you with his fingers, as he adjusts to kiss you, allowing you to taste the effects of your arousal on his lips.
“Everything?” Feyd-Rautha growls.
 Unfamiliar sensations ripple through your body as you try to maintain your breathing, his kiss and sanity despite him trying to undo your sanity. His fingers stroke expertly. His eyes darken a shade seeing your reaction to him, your eyes close as he switches from two fingers to just his middle thrusting deeper and faster. 
“MMhmmm” you moan unable to express much more. His cock springs to life at the sound of your moans, your wetness and your grip around his finger.  Your climax comes hard and fast ripping through you. Panting, it takes a moment before your senses return and your eyes meet his. Feyd has never seen a more beautiful woman. His wants and needs come to a head as he strokes his manhood. His depravity knew no end, but his need for you isn’t eclipsed by your own needs. He could feel how new this was for you, he knows you can’t handle him in his full physicality, not yet. Watching your eyes roam down his face, chest, abs and the inevitable v-cut the satisfaction in your gaze makes him feel like a king. 
“How was that first orgasm?” Feyd asks needing verbal affirmation.
“Incredible” you confess still mind blown. “Are you mine?” You ask shifting onto your side.
“Shhh” he places his fingers against your lips, the same ones that’d brought you over the edge.  “I’m not finished claiming you yet” he says taking one of your legs. Your eyes hold his primed with anticipation as he gets between your legs while you're on your side using the positions he slides his manhood against your opening teasingly. His eyes hold yours. “How does it feel?” He asks his voice full of grit.
“So good” you respond.
“Does my na-Baroness want more?” He asks continuing teasing strokes along the length of your slit. The anticipation builds and his smirk is everything. Nodding you reach out to get a kiss, needing somewhere to put your emotions, he obliges.
“You’re perfect when you lose control” Feyd rasps resuming his between your legs, you're on your side, he’s on his knees holding one of your legs up for leverage to go deep. He plunges into you slowly, inch after inch until properly sheathed. Body to body, you're one. Your breath hitches from the overwhelming sensation.
“That’s it” Feyd encourages stretching you out.  Tears sting your eyes, as the pressure and stimulation reach its apex. He holds the position giving you time to adjust to his size, allowing you to feel all of him, claiming his territory. You cry out trying to take space but it only encourages his pursuit, pulling out his hips find a teasing rhythm, he kisses your inner thigh.
 He’s making you crazy.
You moan, cry, whimper.
He holds your hand, driving himself in and out of you.
Losing himself in your depths.
Revelling in the faces you're making because of him.
In the sounds of pleasure
The feel of you wrapped around him
Thrusting faster
Moan louder
Feeling you clench tighter
He could die today, here and now with your core wrapped around his, the two of you joined as one, the taste of your pussy fresh on his lips, the worn look in your eyes,  the pleasure in your moans, your willingness to submit to his needs freely.
“Feyd” you plead climaxing again.
He keeps pace sustaining the thrill until you’ve felt the full effects of his manhood. Your moans grow at his unrelenting thrusts unable to pull out comes inside you hard. The sensation is your undoing, crying out you pull him closer. Feyd obliges in his most vulnerable state. You share a sloppy kiss as he touches you intimately. He leaves himself in for a few minutes before sliding out. The emptiness is unpleasant, you moan regretfully at the loss of contact. Resting his head on your chest Feyd takes a moment to recover. He’d never lost control while inside of a woman before. He had never had such need to be inside of one so strongly either. One woman hadn’t sated him since early adolescence. The softness of your skin draws him in, he feels himself stir again desperately wanting more. He could go a few more rounds but he knows better than to push you any further. Rising slowly he stands getting out of the bed. The absence of him is an unpleasant sensation. Feyd scoops you up from the bed in a show of strength walking you back to the bathroom with ease. Placing you in the cleansing chamber he stands there too. You try your best to fight exhaustion but it’s overwhelming. You’re cleansed thoroughly as is Feyd. You follow his lead as he places a night dress over your head slipping on a pair of pants himself.
You take a moment to admire each other, lingering in the silence of the unspeakable deeds that have just transpired. He’s hard to read but his bright eyes signify he’s pleased. Needing closeness you hold him, he secures you in place.
“Was it as good for you as it was for me?” You ask as Feyd cups under your ass picking you up again. You wrap your legs around his waist. You can feel him hard against your stomach.
“You bring me great pleasure na-Baroness” he responds softly. Slow strides lead you to the reader, you place your hand into it and the doors to his adjoined chambers open.  Feyd carries you through the door and into his bedroom. His devotion to you is the quality of his you least expected.
“You did so good” he praises pulling back the sheets and helping you into the large bed.
“Thank you,” you blush causing him to smile.
Feyd nods getting in the bed himself. Face to face you drape your hand over his shoulder and you feel the wax over the stitches you applied after the fight. “You chose me before your sisters” Feyd comments as your eyes flutter shut.
“I’m yours” you remind him breathlessly as sleep takes you.
Watching you sleep Feyd’s heart swells with love and pride. He’d claimed you, his bride to be. You trusted him, you gave yourself to him willingly. All attacks on you would come to an end, militant brutality would be enforced against anyone jeopardizing his happiness. Against anyone or anything that threatens you.
You are his.
____________
Authors Note: thank you for reading, I know this is a long one 🖤 you aren't obligated but feel free to like, comment and reblog if you enjoyed this chapter.
xoxo
___________
taglist
@elf-punk @dvmb4ssbiatch @thegabbyh @fanfiction-addict22 @meetmeatyourworst @jojoclown69 @lillypink @my-soulmate-is-mycroft @avidreader73 @emeraldsgirl33 @strawberryfieldsforevermore @rose-are-royal @delusionsofnostalgia @szapizzapanda @palomavz @mcswan02 @slutforsmut4ever @emeraldsgirl @jackiekae @sarahhelpimsinking @maat-the-prescriptive @moonsoulk @katherineswiftie2017-blog @melancholicmelanin @littlebugs
433 notes · View notes
bg-brainrot · 9 months ago
Text
Unraveling Plan Meet Immeasurable Insecurity (Astarion x GN!Tav)
Featuring: Astarion x Rogue!Tav
Series: Fits into Love at First Knife, AO3 link here
Rating: Teen
Summary: Tav tries their damnedest to propose, only to be rebuffed by Astarion at every single turn.
Tags: Astarion POV - alternating w/Rogue!Tav, POV Second Person, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Fluff, Spawn Astarion, Post-Canon, Marriage Proposal, Mild Hurt/Comfort, insecurities
A/N: based on a request from a kind anon on Tumblr– "Would you ever consider writing a one-shot where Tav tries to propose to Astarion but keeps failing multiple times. But Tav doesn’t give up and raises the stakes higher and higher. Astarion will completely remain oblivious because he still has some self esteem issues (why would anyone want to marry him?) and is really confused why Tav is acting nervous around him."
I ended up taking it in a slightly different direction (based on the man’s self esteem issues as you pointed out, anon). Set an undetermined amount of years post BG3, post saving Karlach from Zariel, post-Lae’zel finishing the githyanki uprising so the gang's all here. I hope the kind anon still enjoys it!
Word count: ~5.6k
Tumblr media
Astarion first has an inkling that something is the matter when you sneak away from him.
Odd, he thinks, watching your retreating back. Usually they invite me along for this sort of skulking about.
But he understands, better than most, what a bit of privacy could afford someone who hasn’t had any in so long. So he watches you leave, pretending all the while that he hasn’t noticed a thing. Best not embarrass them, of course.
He brushes off the incident as an anomaly– after all, you continue to be your usual self upon your return. Neither of you speak of your absence, and you seem rather pleased with yourself, so he is pleased for you.
The next time he notices something is off he grows a tad more worried.
This time you don’t disappear, but you do spend a concerning amount of time staring at his hands, expression pensive.
“Darling,” he starts. He quickly tucks his hands under the Elfsong table that you both sit at and leans forward. “What are you doing?”
You blanch at the question– an uncharacteristic reaction to be sure. “Oh,” you sound startled, as if you’ve been caught doing something quite naughty. “Nothing at all. Just wondering if you’d done anything new with your nails? They look… nice.”
It’s a lie, that much is clear to Astarion. But it’s not typical that you lie so poorly. And why should you lie? No matter, you look flustered and gods does he love it when you look flustered– it happens so rarely that he feels the need to truly relish it. “Don’t they?” he asks, flourishing his hands in front of you now. “How did you know? I dipped them in an essence of ooze to thoroughly moisturize them.”
“Really?” Your bewilderment almost brings a laugh out of him.
“Gods no, my dear,” he says, reaching out from under the table and for your hands. “You seem quite out of sorts. Are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” you dismiss, staunchly avoiding eye contact with him.
Odd, he thinks again. Where is their usual daring now?
He’s forced to dismiss the thought as you flag down a waitress, ordering yourselves another bottle of wine.
Astarion becomes genuinely concerned when you return home late one night.
The two of you have grown comfortable together in your house, just on the outskirts of Baldur’s Gate, in a cozy corner of Rivington. The location allows you to continue your work with the guild, gives him plentiful access to any criminals that needed exsanguinating, and your former companions are never far.
It does mean that you will sometimes stay late in the city, working well into the sunlight hours– but you also know to send him a message on the days you stay out late. Otherwise your poor, beautiful vampire will waste away in worry.
“Where in the nine hells are they?” Astarion curses aloud on this particular dawning day. He’d tried sending a message to you, only to receive nothing back. He’d sent another to Shadowheart, again to silence. He considers trying someone less responsible like Karlach, when you finally burst through the front door.
“Oh! Astarion,” you say, surprise plain on your face. As if he wouldn’t be here, in your shared home no less, waiting for your arrival. “What are you still doing up?”
He watches you silently for a moment as you tuck something behind your back, straighten out uncomfortably. Then, with all of the annoyance he can muster, he rolls his eyes at you. “It’s lovely to see you too, my dear. It’s not as if I was worrying my gorgeous head off at the thought of you dead in some rank Baldurian gutter.”
“I’m sorry,” you say, shuffling around the room in a rather suspicious manner. “I lost track of time. I figured you would go to bed without me.”
Astarion can’t remember the last time he went to bed without at least knowing where you were. Even if he could, he suspects he really would rather not. “Darling, you know I need my warm-blooded lover by my side to enter my reverie. Besides, what could have possibly taken you so long?”
You hesitate, and something tugs at Astarion’s insides. He feels a sudden sense of fear, a dread that he may regret asking you this question. 
What if you’re upset at him, and this was your way to maintain space? What if you’ve finally, rationally taken a look at your situation and determined that no, you’d really rather not love a monster like himself? Or worse, what if you’d found someone else, someone who could bask in the daylight alongside you? Gods, the idea sends his undead heart plummeting.
Just as you’re about to open your mouth to answer, he rescinds his question, “Nevermind. I don’t want to know. I merely wanted to make sure you were alive. You’re looking as sprightly as ever, so I shall head to bed.”
He doesn’t wait for your response, heading to bed in a dramatic swirl and even more sensational thoughts. 
He’s right, he knows it to his core. You’ve found someone else, someone who can give you the life he never could. More than anything he wishes he had the courage to confront you, especially as all of your odd behavior clicks into place.
They snuck off to find a lover.
They were staring at my hands in the hopes that they were someone else’s.
They stayed out late to relish in another’s company.
They’re aloof because they’re leaving me and it’s all a matter of time.
It’s as plain as day. How could he have been so very, very blind?
__
You had concocted a nice, simple plan.
It involved a ring, a smattering of your closest friends, and a particularly prickly vampire. Ideally, the plan ended with the vampire agreeing to marry you.
Gods. The idea thrills you as much as it scares you: you are actually going to propose to Astarion.
After years together, you and Astarion are practically already married. This is merely a formality in your mind. But of course, for a man like Astarion, it's a formality that means only the utmost effort must be put in.
But, as it always goes in your life, your nice, simple fell apart.
The problem you're finding is that, after weeks of preparation and secretive planning, the man is being oddly distant. Distant and dismissive. It's almost as if he knows something is afoot, and he's utterly determined to make sure it doesn't happen.
Five times now he has thwarted your attempts at a proposal.
"Astarion," you had started the first time. "Would you like to take a walk in the park with me tonight?”
The look he’d given you was equal parts wary and panicked. So much so that you thought maybe you’d misspoken. But his response was measured enough. “No, thank you, darling. I’m afraid I’m quite spent today.” He gave you a yawn to illustrate his point, and you dropped the subject for the night.
You had had to send a message to Shadowheart to call off the trail of poisonous flowers that your friends were laying out for your stroll.
The next time, you had tried being a bit more casual in your attempt.
“Would you enjoy a day at the spa, Astarion?”
Again, he gave you a look that confused you. Frightened face, hackles raised– his only response was, “Why, darling, do I look that ghastly to you?”
“You know that’s not what I–”
“No matter,” he’d waved you off. “I am afraid I’m busy today.”
You’d sent a message to Karlach, telling her that the reservation of Baldur’s Gate’s spa was no longer needed.
The third time, you’d called in some more magical help.
“Astarion, what do you say to a moonlit picnic atop the roof of the Elfsong? We haven’t had one in a while.”
Appalled– utterly and truly aghast is the only way to describe the face he’d made. The words that followed didn't make you feel better either. “And why would we do that again after such a long while?”
Your stomach had roiled, worry settling in at his tone. “I thought it would be a chance to reminisce together.” Your tone stayed light, your smile just as friendly.
“It’s far too cold to bother with reminiscing,” he’d said, glowering at you. Looking at the hard set of his jaw, this is when you’d begun to worry that you’d done something to upset him.
“Is everything alright?” you’d asked, reaching out for his arm.
“It’s fine,” he’d replied, curtly, retreating from your grasp. “I just don’t want to be colder than I already am.”
You’d sent a message to Gale, instructing him to call off the magical skywriting over the Elfsong.
For your fourth attempt, you knew you needed someone with a slightly more forceful personality– and to perhaps lean a little less romantic.
“Astarion,” you’d begun, inflecting your tone with just the right amount of panic. “Lae’zel’s found a flock of mephits along the beach of Wyrm’s Crossing. She needs our help.”
“Mephits?” he’d asked, looking at you cautiously. “In Wyrm’s Crossing?”
“Yes,” you’d replied, nodding hurriedly. “We need to go now.”
He’d clicked his tongue at you and shaken his head. “As if Lae’zel couldn’t crush them all with a single swing. Seems to me like she’s grown lazy after all of her heroics.”
“Astarion,” you’d chided. “You know she will incredibly cross at us if she finds out you declined to help.”
“I’ll survive,” he’d said, returning to the book on his lap, hands turning paler than usual in a tense vice grip. “Probably.”
After, you’d sent a message to Lae’zel, instructing her to do as she pleased with the stash of fireworks on the beach.
The fifth time you’d grown genuinely, truly worried that something was wrong with Astarion because, by the gods, the man had refused to commit crime with you.
After so many failed attempts, you’d figured that you needed to go back to the roots of your relationship– to a simpler time when petty theft gave you some time alone together.
“I heard a rumor through the guild,” you’d said offhandedly over dinner. “A newly minted noble in the Upper City has quite the horde of wealth and very little security. What do you say that we pay them a visit, perhaps ‘relieve’ them of some of their wealth?”
Astarion had faltered, clearly tempted by your offer. But after nearly two weeks of avoiding going anywhere with you, he didn’t outright agree either. “And why would you need me for this particular job?”
The question had taken you aback. You’d never needed a reason to invite him along for crime of all things. It made you near certain that he knew what you were up to and that something about it was distasteful to him. Sweet hells, it made you nervous. “I, erm… well, I could use an extra pair of hands to carry it all, I suppose?”
“I could lend you my pack then,” he’d said, narrowing his eyes at you.
Why is he trying to avoid me? Have his feelings changed? you’d thought in fear. Aloud, you’d only doubled down. “Well, the company might be nice. And you know that your lockpicking is, somehow, better than mine.”
“I thought you said security was sparse,” he’d countered.
“Sparse doesn’t mean nonexistent.”
“Not much of a challenge then, is it?”
You had wanted to scream into the astral plane. Wanted to flip the table over his pretty pale face. Wanted to tell him, ‘You know what, I didn’t want to marry such a stubborn vampire anyway!’ – but you did none of those things. Because you love this man and, even when he’s being difficult, you do want to marry him.
So you had gritted your teeth and said, “Very well then. I shall borrow your pack.”
You’d sent a message to Wyll later to call off his father’s help with the upper city guards.
For your sixth attempt, you decide you first need to reconvene with your council– also known as your former companions. 
When you’d first met with them at the start of this whole ordeal, you’d snuck away from Astarion. It made you feel a bit guilty, sneaking around, hiding things from him, but the entire proposal was meant to be a fun surprise– one you are starting to suspect is a misguided effort. 
You profess as much aloud now that you’re meeting up with the five of them again, seated around the table in Jaheira’s kitchen. “Maybe there is no sixth attempt. Maybe I’ve overestimated the love between us.”
“Don’t say that,” Wyll says, placing a comforting hand on your shoulder, squeezing softly in reassurance. “Your love is strong. And together we will find a way to make this proposal work.”
You smile up at the man, one always so willing to believe in the power of a good love story. You’re almost sorry to be disappointing him– and the smut peddlers. Really, you’re sorry to be disappointing all of your friends. Each of your companions had been eager to help you in your endeavor, in their own ways, of course.
Gale had congratulated you prematurely at first, misunderstanding your Sending spell. But when you’d clarified, asked him for his help, he’d only been incredibly enthused, arriving the very next day, offering all manner of suggestions.
Karlach, for her part, was only ever excited, practically bouncing off the walls that two of her best mates may potentially tie the knot. At the low, low price of allowing her to be your person of honor, she was entirely at your disposal.
Lae’zel had been confused initially. In her mind, you were already committed to a life together. What was the purpose of this… proposal? Of marriage? But when you’d explained to her a bit, she’d been curious– and excited at the potential of catching Astarion off guard.
Shadowheart had seemed surprised when you’d asked. You weren’t already married? Alas, she’d gotten the plot of one of the many bawdy novels about you confused with real life. No matter, she was happy to help.
And, well, Wyll– when he returned from Avernus he’d been disappointed that you weren’t at the very least engaged yet. It was no shock or awe to him when you visited him for help. In fact, he had only given you a wry smile and said, “I knew you would be the one to cave.”
As for Jaheira, well, she was allowing you to use her house as a headquarters, but had proclaimed early, “Invite me to the wedding and I shall be there, but until then– well, this is for you lot to figure out.”
And gods were you having trouble figuring it out.
“I don’t know, Wyll. I’m worried Astarion may never revert back to normal at this rate,” you say, shaking your head.
“Was he ever normal?” Shadowheart asks with a soft snort. “Besides, he can be awfully dense at times, you may just need to ask him outright.”
“There is not a single realm in which Astarion says yes to a simple proposal,” you say, brows furrowing. “You know he’d want something flashy.”
Gale raises a finger sagely before countering, “Well, my friend, sometimes what we want and what we need are two different things. I’m inclined to agree that you may just need to pop the question.”
“What if…” you trail off, your worries from the past weeks bogging down your thoughts. Somehow, despite everything you’ve been through, this seems to be your toughest challenge yet. “Do you think he knows what I’m doing and is simply too afraid to reject me?” you ask the group, turning to each of them with pleading eyes. You’re honestly not sure you can take his rejection, especially after the last five rebuffs.
“Not a chance in the hells,” Karlach answers. “I think he’s being a right idiot, actually. And if he knew what was happening, he may even say yes before you can so much as get the question out.”
“Really?” Your mood lightens a bit, her harsh words slashing through the hardened doubts that have settled over your heart. 
“Is it any surprise to us that Astarion is incapable of seeing the truth before him?” Lae’zel says, rolling her eyes. “Such sharp skills, yet completely dull in the face of our efforts.”
“Again, we may just need a softer touch,” Shadowheart suggests, tilting her head at you.
You’re not sure what a softer touch might be, and, from the silence that follows, neither are any of your companions.
Your resident wizard is the first to break the silence. “I could always create a simulacra–”
“Gale,” Wyll interjects, politely. “I’m afraid I don’t think that’s much softer.”
“Right,” Gale says, leaning back in his seat.
Another long moment of silence and you’re truly starting to feel defeated. You hang your head a bit, thoughts filled with the image of a certain beautiful, pale elf’s mouth curling at you in distaste, forming a pronounced ‘no.’
“Soldier,” Karlach starts. You look up to see her smirking at you. “If he won’t willingly join you anywhere. I think we both know what you need to do.”
They are going to sink the final nail in the metaphorical coffin.
For nearly two weeks now, Astarion has successfully avoided his lover’s attempts to get together in a public space– likely what they saw was the best, most civil way to dispose of him. But, foolish as it is to cling to something like a withered love, Astarion doesn’t want this relationship to end.
Perhaps, if I can do this for long enough, they will change their mind, he thinks. Gods, that sounds pathetic, even for him.
Astarion was running out of excuses, and, worse yet, running out of willpower. What is the use in fighting the inevitable? he thinks, as he walks down the streets of Baldur’s Gate. It’s a moonlit night, and he’s on the prowl for a criminal to bite– he needs something, anything to distract him from his woes.
He turns the corner, on high alert.
Then again, a more selfish part of him counters. Why shouldn't you fight for your love? They were the first good thing to ever happen to you in this damned world.
That’s when he spots them– the-first-good-thing-to-ever-happen-to-him is hiding behind a bush directly before him, facing another alleyway. There are very few reasons that they would be out at this time of night, in the middle of this particular street of Baldur’s Gate. While they could be on a mission for the guild, he had last seen them at home, reading by the fire. It’s clear that they followed him, are waiting to ambush him.
Is this it? he thinks, eyes narrowing. His chest hurts, more than ought to be possible given his lack of beating heart. Is this how desperate they are to be rid of me? May as well go out with flair, I suppose…
Astarion sneaks forward, careful to remain outside of your field of view. He settles behind you in the darkness of the bush, watching you as you look out for him. Despite the ache in his heart, the clenching of his stomach, he can’t help but think of how lovely you look under the moonlight– of how lucky he has been to have had you.
If this truly is it, he thinks. I can’t wallow or cry. I shall hold my head high and consider myself fortunate to have met them. To have loved them. At least, he hopes he’s capable of such a performance. Because right now, quietly crouched next to you, he wants nothing more than to pull you into his arms, to beg you to reconsider.
But no. He refuses to look pathetic– not after the life he has lived.
So, after waiting with you for a few minutes, he leans forward into your personal space and asks, “Darling, what are you doing?”
Astarion is ready for your instincts to kick in, so when your knife is drawn in a flash and you’re lunging for him, he’s easily dodging backward, holding his hands up in peace. “Now, now darling, I thought we were past the knives at throats.”
“Astarion?” you ask, startled. “Sweet hells, you haven’t snuck up on me like that in years.”
“Yes, well,” he says, avoiding your eyes now. He’s surprised by how much gazing into them has weakened his composure already. “You also haven’t looked so utterly distracted by your own thoughts in years either.”
“What are you doing here?” you ask, ignoring his words. “I thought…”
Yes, dear, what did you think? he wants to ask, to catch you in the act with a cruel moment of revelation, to hurt you as much as you’re about to hurt him. But when he brings his eyes back to yours, he knows he can’t do that. While he’s still capable of maiming, killing, all manner of atrocities– he cannot hurt you. So he only says, “I was out hunting and I saw you hiding in a bush. What are you doing here?”
“I–” you falter, seemingly torn. Perhaps you’re having second thoughts. Perhaps this is his chance to keep you from breaking his cold, crumbling heart.
“Do you need assistance, dear?” he asks, ready and willing to show how much he would do for you. Anything, honestly, if it means you’ll stay by his side.
“Gods, I keep mucking this all up,” you mutter, head hanging in uncharacteristic defeat. “Maybe Shadowheart was right.”
What did that damned cleric do now? Is she the one you’re leaving him for? He’s about to make a reflexive, snide comment about her veritable barnyard of animals, but stops when he sees you sheath your blade. When you wipe a hand over your face in frustration.
Oh. You’re miserable. You wouldn’t look like this normally. You would never be this nervous, this stressed to see him– not unless his very presence had turned toxic. “I should go, shouldn’t I?” he asks, throat tight.
“No!” you say, reaching out a hand to keep him from leaving. Your grip is tight, painful in its panic, but he doesn’t complain. How could he when you look like this? 
More than anything, he wants this worry that lines your face to fade, the jittery movement of your hands to abate. So maybe it’s up to him to spark the beginning of the end… “Did you… have something you wanted to tell me?” he asks, swallowing down the fear that threatens to overwhelm him.
“I…” you gulp, bringing your second hand to join the first, loosening your grip. You raise your head, and he sees the tumult in your gaze. At the very least, you must care about him somewhat to stress yourself this much. “Astarion, please don’t be upset.”
How could he not? But, somehow, he manages a sad smile at you anyway. “As if I could ever be upset with you, my love.”
Then you drop to a knee in front of him.
– 
“Astarion,” you say, voice shaking a bit with nerves. “I had wanted this to be something lovely. Something meaningful. But… I guess you love ruining plans, don’t you?”
“What,” he breathes out, confusion plain on his face. His red eyes dart between yours, as if trying to process a sudden, large shift. You suppose it would be a shift in your relationship, even if you were practically married already. If he even decided to say yes.
You release his arm with one hand, reaching into your side pouch for the small square box that’s waiting for you. Fingers less dexterous than usual, you fumble over clutching it, opening it single handedly. You’re not used to looking this foolish, and you can feel a heat over your cheeks, an anxious shake to your movements.
But before too long the box is open, a shining platinum band resting inside.
It looks like everything you’d hoped for in the moment– its inlaid red rubies catch the moonlight just beautifully. You’d spent weeks agonizing, wondering if you had picked the right one, imagining what it might look like were it to be placed on his perfect pale finger. Here and now, with this man standing before you, you know it would look exquisite.
“Astarion,” you start again, courage returning to you with that knowledge, some of the words you’d prepared coming back to your mind. “These past years together have been the best years of my life. You’re my best friend, my dual blade, and I love you more than I can even say. I don’t know what our future holds, but I would consider myself lucky to walk towards it with you at my side. So…” You pull the ring from the box, holding it up to the man you love with a smile. “Would you, Astarion Ancunín, do me the honor of marrying me?”
Astarion Ancunín, despite years of quick quips and sultry words, seems to be frozen in place, unable to speak.
You’re used to these moments, when he needs to process, but you’re not used to them when you’re on one knee, waiting for a response. “Astarion?” you hazard.
“You’re…” he says, face slack, mouth barely moving. “You’re proposing to me?”
It’s not a no, but it’s certainly not the reaction you’d be hoping for. “Erm, yes. Is that… distasteful to you?” You can feel your hand recoil somewhat, your smile slip.
His expression remains blank, lips slightly agape as he continues to take in the scene before him. “You– you don’t have a new lover? You’re not planning to leave me?”
“What?” Now it’s your turn to be flabbergasted. “Astarion, what are you talking about?”
The sigh that leaves him then could collapse a small house. “Sweet hells,” he says, face and body relaxing. “I thought… I thought that you were acting odd, like– like–”
“Like I was trying to surprise you with the magnificent proposal you deserve?” you respond, suddenly understanding his behavior and growing a smidge annoyed. “Like I didn’t want to propose to you behind some damned bushes?”
Astarion looks around, as if just now realizing where you are, what is happening. “Yes, now that you mention it, like that.”
You want to be upset, but then the man above you laughs. It’s light, breathy, and utterly relieved. “You were really worried, weren’t you?”
“Oh my sweet love, I was about ready to jump into an Oubliette,” he says, shaking his head ruefully.
“You thought I would leave you, just like that?” you ask, brows furrowing in concern. Maybe you should have just proposed in your living room.
“I wouldn’t blame you,” he says, looking down at you with a tinge of sadness in his smile. “I doubt that this was the life you were looking for, darling. As a matter of fact, are you… sure about this?” He eyes the ring in your hand, all but forgotten in his confusion.
You proffer it again, raising your hand a bit higher this time. “The only life I’m looking for is the one with you in it, Astarion. I am quite sure.”
His scarlet eyes dart between yours questioningly, and you merely stare back, staunch in your words and intent. “Even if I’m a fool that forced your hand– left you kneeling in the dirt?”
“We’ve done worse things on dirt, Astarion,” you say, smiling widening at the memory of the first time he’d told you he loved you. “If you’d like me to get out of the dirt though, you could answer my question: Would you marry me?”
__
Once more, he looks between your eyes, this time his are wide, open– daring to believe that his darkest fears are just that. Fears. Ones that you would vanquish without a second thought. How could he have been so blind to that. Moisture pools at the corner of his eyes at the realization.
So he drops to his knees, reaching for your face with his hands. In a single movement, he’s pulled you toward him, captured your lips with his with an undeniable longing. A longing to hold you in his hands for as long as he is able. A longing to taste your lips on his, each and every day. A longing to never be without you, to be yours until death do you part.
You respond to his kiss in kind, lips pressing against him with your own pent up longing. He distantly hears the ring’s box fall to the floor, feels your hand brush past his ear to clutch his hair. You kiss him like he’s the answer to every question you’ve ever had and he feels a small tear run down his face as his eyes squeeze tightly shut.
Gods he would never tire of kissing you.
I ought to respond, he thinks in the back of his head, as he moves his lips against yours.
Is this not response enough? he argues, not wanting to break apart from you, for even a moment.
No, it wouldn’t do to have any confusion, not after the past two weeks.
So, before he can forget himself, he pulls back from you, far enough to look into your eyes. “That was a ‘yes’ in case that wasn’t evident.”
You laugh, short and breathless. “Oh good,” you say, leaning back further and bringing up the ring between you. “Then may I?”
Astarion removes his left hand from your face, holds it out to you with a large, gleeful smile. “You may.”
You slip the ring onto his finger. It fits well, matches his eyes, looks positively sumptuous– as always, you know him too well. “It’s stunning,” he says, angling it one way then another.
“I’m glad you like it,” you say, smiling at the sight. “And that you didn’t catch me when I tried to sneak it past you.”
The vampire laughs, shaking his head free of his own silly thoughts. “I smashed your plans into tiny little pieces, didn’t I?”
You don’t say yes, but the look on your face is evidence enough. “I’ll tell you all about what you missed out on later. For now, we should, erm, go get our friends.”
“Go get our friends?” he asks, wondering what in the hells they have to do with all of this.
“Yes,” you say, planting a kiss on his hand before moving to get up. “They’re all in place for another one of these ill fated plans.”
“Ah,” he says, following you up. Then, realizing what you’ve said, he looks at you with concern. “Just what were you in this bush for?”
To your credit, you look abashed. But your words do nothing to lessen his concern. “Seeing as you were refusing to come with me, well, anywhere, we had to pivot our strategy.”
“Darling,” he starts, his tone a deceptive sweetness. “Whatever does that mean?”
“It was Karlach’s plan,” you say, as a means of explanation.
“Oh good. I’m sure whatever it was was perfectly sane then.”
Scratching at the back of your neck, you finally admit the plan, “I was going to give them a signal when you passed. Gale was going to make an illusory double of me getting kidnapped by the rest of them in disguise, then hopefully you would take chase to go save me, they would lose you just as you got to the Elfsong where I would be waiting…”
Astarion looks at you sharply, his mouth a disapproving line. “Really?”
“In retrospect, I can see the flaws in the plan,” you say, palms open. “But in my defense, I was getting desperate. Either way, we ought to go get them. Karlach seemed just about ready to explode from hiding that long.”
“Fine,” he says reluctantly. “This is what we get for having such imbeciles for friends.”
“Funny,” you start, holding out a hand to him. “They said the same about you.”
He takes your hand with an exaggerated eye roll, but can’t help the smile that comes over his face at the feeling of your fingers twining with his. “It’s a shame you had to resort to them for help.”
“I really needed it. You know, I have killed more people than I can count, but you have been my most challenging mark by far,” you say, dramatically as you begin to walk down the alleyway.
“Worse than the giant, world-ending brain?”
“Oh yes.”
The two of you walk in silence for a few steps before Astarion feels compelled to say one last thing before reaching your friends. “Darling, I truly am sorry I ruined all of your plans, but I must ask: Please don’t try to surprise me like this again.”
The expression on your face deflates a little, and you say, “I thought you would like something grand?”
He brings your hand up to his lips for a soft, reassuring peck. “Normally, yes. But, I love you so very much. I’m afraid it clouds my usually impeccable judgment.”
You don’t comment on his judgment, instead focusing on his proclamation of love. “I love you too. So, hopefully, there isn’t a second proposal.”
“One can only hope,” Astarion says with a laugh. “And, if there is, perhaps it’s my turn to do the proposing?”
“Love, if you surprise me, I may kill you,” you say, plainly.
“A risk I’ve always been willing to take, my dear,” the man replies, pulling on your hand. “Now, come. I think I can spot Wyll’s peeking eye from here.”
Hand-in-hand, the two of you walk toward your waiting friends, ready to tell them the good news.
It wasn’t the grand proposal you had envisioned. Nor was it even a particularly romantic one. But, somehow, it was still perfect, still loving, still the beautiful new beginning to the rest of your lives together.
410 notes · View notes
hutchersonsgurl · 2 months ago
Text
Out of the Shadows - Daryl dixion
paring fem reader & Daryl Dixon
summary: you and Daryl have been seeing each other for a couple months but he never said i love you
warning: none
Tumblr media Tumblr media
The sun hung low in the sky, painting the world in hues of gold as you and Daryl dipped under the broken fence lining the Greene farm. The tranquility of the countryside felt like a distant memory compared to the chaos that lurked beyond its edges. Surrounded by the chaos of the undead, you had carved out a little corner of normalcy here, even if it was fraught with tension and higher stakes than ever before.
You and Daryl had been through a lot in the last few months, the bond between you stretching beyond friendship into something more confusing—something that sizzled just beneath the surface. When Daryl had first suggested, rather awkwardly, that you two could help each other out in "some ways," it had seemed like a harmless enough arrangement. But now, watching him adjust the straps on his crossbow with that familiar frown etched on his forehead, you wondered if your friendship could ever really go back to what it was before.
“Are you ready?” he asked, glancing over his shoulder at you. His voice was steady, perhaps a little more composed than how you felt. You nodded, pushing aside your swirling thoughts and focusing on the task at hand. The grocery store loomed before you, a hulking skeleton of its former self, but it was full of potential supplies that could save lives.
As you stepped through the threshold, it felt eerily quiet. The aisles were toppled and littered with cans and wrappers. You took a deep breath, the stale air heavy with the scent of decay, and pushed forward.
After some searching, you began gathering canned goods, medical supplies, and whatever else you could find. Daryl moved through the isles with a predator’s grace, his sharp eyes continually scanning for danger. You admired his focus; it was part of why you were drawn to him.
“There’s gotta be more in the back,” he said, pointing toward a set of swinging doors at the end of the aisle. You felt a thrill of anticipation coupled with a tinge of unease. This was the longest you had been on a supply run in a while, and the store had been silent far too long.
“Let’s check it out; we can’t leave any good stuff behind,” you suggested, heart racing. You wanted to impress him, to prove that you could handle yourself out here.
With a nod, you approached the swinging doors and, with one swift motion, pushed them open.
The sight beyond those doors sent a chilling jolt through your body. A horde of walkers shuffled in the dim light, their grotesque forms shuffling aimlessly. You barely had time to register their existence before Daryl was at your side, crossbow raised, ready for action.
“Back up!” he shouted, shoving you gently behind him. The moment hung in the air before chaos erupted. You seized your knife, your instincts kicking in. Daryl took out the first walker with expertise, his aim true, but there were too many—more than you had anticipated.
You ducked under a flailing arm, slicing your knife into the side of a walker’s head, its putrid weight collapsing to the ground. Daryl's movements were fluid, almost choreographed as he covered your blind spots.
“We gotta get outta here!” he barked, his eyes fierce with determination. You nodded, adrenaline flooding your veins, and together fought off the growing swarm, pushing your way back toward the entrance you had come through.
Each step felt heavy as you battled your way towards the door. You worked in sync, a rhythm established through countless hours at the Greene farm. It wasn’t just about survival now; it was about protecting him, just as he had protected you.
Suddenly, you stumbled, a sharp pain shooting through your leg as one of the walkers latched onto you, its rotten teeth gnashing just inches away. Daryl was there in an instant, wrenching the walker away and dispatching it with a brutal thrust of his knife.
“Get up!” he urged, pulling you to your feet again. You won’t let him down; you wouldn’t let either of you down.
The two of you barreled for the opening, adrenaline coursing through your veins. You felt breathless as you fought to the front of the store and burst through the doors, leaving the throng of walkers behind in the dusty gloom.
Once outside, you sprinted toward the truck, gasping for breath. Daryl slammed the door shut just as a few stragglers lunged at the vehicle. Hearts pounding, you both sank against the truck, the adrenaline slowly fading.
“Damn,” he muttered, running a hand through his hair, a seldom-seen relief washing over his features. “Thought we were done for.”
You smiled weakly, still feeling the rush of adrenaline. “I could’ve handled it,” you teased.
“Yeah, like hell you could,” he shot back, a smirk finally crossing his lips, melting some of the tension that had built between you.
Returning to the Greene farm felt surreal. You had faced death together and survived. Only moments later, as the sun began to set, casting long shadows across the fields, you found yourself alone with Daryl by the barn. The silence wrapped around you like a warm blanket.
“Listen…,” he began, his voice halting. He avoided your gaze, focusing on a distant horizon, but you could see the weight of emotions in his expression. “I... I need to tell you something.”
Your heart raced. Was he finally going to say it? Your breaths came in shallow bursts, the entire world narrowing down to just the two of you.
“I never thought I could let someone in like this,” he confessed, finally meeting your eyes. “But I do care about you, more than… more than I thought was possible in this messed up world."
You felt your heart leap. “Daryl…”
“I love you,” he rushed out, the words tumbling from his lips. His gaze was fierce, raw with vulnerability. “I don’t just want to be friends or whatever. I want you.”
It felt like time stopped. You took a slow breath, allowing his confession to wash over you. “I love you too, Daryl,” you admitted, sincerity resonating through every word.
" it took you us almost getting killed by walkers to tell me you love me " you tease
"Hey I told ya I ain't good at these types of things" Daryl answered
Tumblr media
First fic in awhile! I'm slowly getting back into this but hope y'all like it
169 notes · View notes
teojira · 5 months ago
Note
Hey teddy! I recently read the Caesar hcs and actually fell in love with you writing! I was wondering if you could do some more general Caesar hcs
Thank youuu 🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽
[General Caesar headcanons!] [PT2]
Tumblr media
Summary: Caesar x reader general headcanons!
Warnings: Romance between Caesar and You, takes place after War! Let me know if I miss anything.
A/N: Hi!!! I hope these are good, I've been brainrotting about him and Noa all day today,,, idk if this counts as general but i got into the groove and now we are here. Hope you enjoy 🫶
Tumblr media
Caesar who claims he wants nothing to do with you romantically, lying to himself that just because he cares for humans, that he took you in, let you stay and become one of them, doesn't mean he wants one as a mate.
He is the Ape king, it'd be a bad example, it'd never work, so he pushes it down and says it doesn't bother him when you're out with other male apes alone.
He's a fucking liar because he gets jealous. So jealous to the point, he gets territorial.
Caesar is not opposed to scenting you without your knowledge, everytime he brushes against you, it's a deliberate act to make sure other apes know he's been with you. It's a primal need in him to stake his claim. Whenever you explain that you're off to help the others, he makes sure you're walking off reeking of him. It's kinda obnoxious, no one is gonna steal you away from him, even if they wanted to.
Not alot of apes in current day do settle into a monogamous relationship with one mate, and no one really expects Caesar to stay in one himself, but he's pretty stuck onto you before he even realizes.
He tries to take up your time so it leaves little for others. He thinks he's being slick, but alas, Maurice knows. Maurice knew from the second you appeared on their doorstep that it'd be sure that Caesar would get attached to you.
He hasn't been expecting Caesar to want you as a mate, but he isn't against it. As he sees it, you two balance one another, and he knows Caesar still grieves losing his first family. You're good for the Ape king.
Caesar keeps you close, your nest is near his, when it is time for meals, it's typically you both with Cornelius in your lap, 'secretly' stealing berries from your pile.
"Stop it." Caesar signs, staring down at the little chimp on your arms, his nostrils flared ever so slightly.
Cornelius stops in his tracks, glancing up at his father, then to you.
You can't help but let out a giggle, which makes Caesar look up at you, his heart clenching beneath all the fur and muscle.
"It's okay honey, take as much as you want."
It's the way you say it so gently, readjusting yourself to Cornelius can reach easier to grab a fistful.
It makes the ape want to see you as a full-fledged mother (he sits up at night after this, staring into the ceiling with a "Oh shit." Look once he remembers)
He wants to be the one to teach you more ASL, yes he's aware Maurice can teach you, hell, he knows he himself has other duties that are at a higher priority. But he still takes the time, bringing you into his nest to have one on one time.
Watching your hands as you fumble is entertaining to me, taking in the size difference. He uses your mishaps as a reason to correct you, his much larger hands cradling your own and showing you how to form new words.
If you're hoping he doesn't see your face reddening, he does. He just won't tell you. God forbid someone else sees your blushing face that isn't him, though. He'll immediately shut it down and tell them to leave you be, that you aren't to be messed with.
He's a hypocrite.
221 notes · View notes
shelleysmary · 2 months ago
Text
okay, but in all seriousness, is elrond being too hard on galadriel? the answer is yes. but he is also much younger than her and i think a lot of us can relate to that feeling of being in our early-to-mid-20s and feeling like "right is here, and wrong is there, and why can't these older people see it." sometimes that kind of clarity is needed. this is why generational friction exists, is natural, is necessary to the movements of society. elrond standing up to galadriel and gil-galad after spending s1 mostly in service to them is refreshing because he's finding his voice, he's owning the fact that he is not content to be a herald writing and delivering speeches for others. he cares and he wants to make a difference and speaking out against the rings has been the catalyst for that. at this point in the story elrond is already so many of the things he goes on to be in the third age. he is loyal. he is perceptive. he is wise. but he also lacks experience. he has never been tempted away from the light - probably ever, certainly not by the great deceiver. so it's easy for him to look at galadriel's folly and say "you should have known better. the darkness corrupted you and you let it happen, in part because you wanted it to happen." which technically is a true statement, but the way it feels to galadriel is much different and much more complex, and it's different to us as well because we've been with her every step of the way. we were also seduced by sauron - we were also deceived. but elrond wasn't there. he knows that sauron manipulated his friend; he doesn't know how deeply that manipulation affected her and affects her still, in no small part because galadriel contains a lot of her grief in order to fulfill her roles of commander and self-appointed bulwark against sauron.
we see her in eps1 and 2 desperately trying to make elrond understand her, but elrond doesn't want to hear it. he is frustrated at not being listened to, disappointed in gil-galad and galadriel's willingness to engage with the rings (which, to him, is equivalent to engaging with sauron, for all that he had no hand in their forging), and i would posit that he is also afraid. for middle-earth. for his friends. for himself. because his clarity of vision is being challenged, the right way is becoming obscured, and the stakes have never been higher.
in time, he will learn how easy it is to fall prey to the darkness and - like miv said in an interview - it will make him kinder. the elrond we know in the third age is devoted to healing, unburdening, and the practice of an extraordinary compassion. but those qualities aren't built-in to anyone, not even the first children of iúvatar, not even elrond. they are hard-won - through mistakes made, failures to act as one should. it's natural that he would hurt people along the way - and he has! see durin in s1! what we do know about elrond in the second age is that he tries his best to do good: to act rightly, to keep his word, to seek counsel when he is unsure of the way, to serve all middle-earth and not just elven-kind, to be true to his friends, honor his family... and he isn't afraid to admit when he's been wrong.
if these first eps are any indication, elrond's arc is going to keep carving him into the elf he later becomes and his relationship with galadriel, after these growing pains, is going to come out even stronger, with the mutual trust and near-telepathic understanding we're used to seeing from them in third age media, and i for one can't wait.
162 notes · View notes
kookslastbutton · 1 year ago
Text
Reflections ༓ kth (m) | "Stay with me until the end of the day"
Tumblr media
✑ Summary: As a new hire at one of the most prestigious jewelry brands in the world; Adrien & Rosamel in Paris, you've been trying to build your professional portfolio for months. So when global brand ambassador Kim Taehyung comes in for a photoshoot but his personal photographer is unavailable, the company offers the gig to you. Oh of course you take it in a heartbeat—it's a given.
Tumblr media
pairing: brand ambassador!Taehyung x new photographer!reader
genre/AU: fluff, angst, smut, photography au, modeling au, s2l, two part series (duology?)
word count: 11.3k
warnings: exposes "dark side" of fashion world, oc gets insulted by fashion assistants (b-word dropped once but our oc bites back), flirty yet annoying videographer!kook, angry!seokjin, sunshine!stylist!hobi, charming!makeup artist!jimin, cool manager!joonie, Taehyung is an elegant flirt and not like the others, jazz bar date🥺, Taehyung calls her darling a lot, tehyung gets jealous, talk about long distance relationship, sexual content
sexual warnings: dom!Taehyung, sub!reader, explicit sex (use of condom), big dick!tae (it takes a bit to get it all the way in 😬), praise kink, lingerie, small jewelry kink? (He f's oc with their ruby necklace on), doggy, size kink, multiple org*sms, squ*rting, oral (f. Receiving), half a hand*b, f*ngering, overstimulation, little bit of breastplay, cussing, d*rtytalk, foreplay, a little expressiveness, mention of aftercare, Taehyung just adores hers, hot car make out, mention of morning s*x
now playing: Slow Dancing by thv
a/n: first omg i never reached 11k in my life. Secondly, shoutout to anyone who has seen Devil Wears Prada...a personal favorite of mine. Also Layover is omg the best thing ever! So i decided to focus on slow dancing for this fic. Pls enjoy ❤
Tumblr media
How many twenty-something-year-olds can say they work at one of the biggest, most luxurious jewelry & fragrance brands in the world? And on top of that, are located in the fashion capital; Paris, France? A rare handful, and it's because of those reasons that they're given the lowest positions possible; you being one of them.
Sure, climbing the corporate ladder is possible with years of relentless dedication, raw talent, and of course, let's not forget connections with the higher-ups. But competition grows fiercer with each passing year as more eager young people gun for advancements in hopes of survival.
After all, who can afford to be stuck on the bottom rung forever?
You didn't want to believe the undertone theme in the critically acclaimed movie The Devil Wears Prada was true, that underneath the glitz and glam of haute couture are ruthless, cutthroat fashion moguls. But from the moment you stepped through the doors of Adrien & Rosamel in your coffee brown slacks and beige button down shirt, it couldn't be refuted–
No one was your friend and no one wanted to be.
Newbies must establish their professional value to the brand as early as possible to prevent being cut at any given moment. On the other hand, experienced professionals who have already earned their merit through decades of labor refuse to give up the stake to their claim and must be careful not to have the carpet swept from under their feet to a junior half their age.
It's a vicious race and despite its bitter nature, you're at the very heart of it.
As a fashion photographer, your ultimate goal is to have weeks' worth of sessions with models from all over the world; all adorned with timeless pieces from genuine gold watches to the richest of gemstones.
These are the types of photographers who are the best and brightest in the industry. They have at least ten years of experience and are booked until the very last second with modeling photoshoots.
The odd prodigy exist too; individuals who are born with an insane wealth of insight and skill which allow them to move up in rank faster.
You wish you were good enough to be considered a prodigy but no such luck. Adrien & Rosamel have insanely high standards on who is allowed to handle the jewelry, let alone be around the models who are so-called showcasing them.
So here you are day what—241? And still stuck taking photos of the same jewelry pieces day in and day out. Sure the theme of the photos gets changed slightly but it's been eight months of this generic work and truth be told, you're getting sick of it.
.
"__!" Seokjin, your coworker and one of A&R's jewelry polishers calls your name anxiously. He rushes to your side where you're taking close-up photos of a limited-edition steel watch. "Be gentle with this, will you? This is selling for 7,000 euros which means $8,000, 10 million south korean won, and 6,000 pounds. I also just finished polishing it so don't be getting your grubby fingerprints all over it!"
You roll your eyes and continue to move the watch around on the display table until you get a perfect angle. "Relax princess, I'm barely touching it and I have gloves on."
Seokjin's fluffy eyebrows furrow together, face scrunching at the nickname you chose for him. "That's—that's completely uncalled for! Do you know how long I spent buffering the face of the watch alone?! One hour __!"
You hate yourself from bursting out in laughter but this isn't the first time you've gotten lectured by Seokjin. Its like the tiniest detail would set him off. Seokjin's been with the brand a little longer than you; a year now, but he still has that constant need to micromanage everyone he can.
"Look," he continues his scold. "If anything happens to these priceless watches it's my head on the chopping block. I can't afford to lose my job __!"
"Yes, I understand Seokjin. Nothing will happen to these alright?" You move around the man to get more pictures of the watch lying elegantly on its side. "Don't you have about fifty other watches to shine or do you like nitpicking my every movement instead?"
Seokjin scoffs at you, sticks his hands on his hip and walks away with a disapproving shake of his head. "I have my eye on you junior," he warns.
You ignore his subtle jab and continue taking photos. "Creep," you mutter under your breath.
Ten minutes pass and you're about ready to move on to the editing process for your photos. You take a quick peek at them through your camera, clicking through the gallery with the right arrow button.
"Not bad newbie," you hear a voice come from over your shoulder that causes you to jump in surprise.
"What the fuck Jeon," you throw your best side-eye at the young man who happens to be your only acquaintance in the whole company. His role was similar to yours, but instead of photographing jewelry he films them; he's a videographer. "I'm beginning to think you like sneaking up on me on purpose."
The young man laughs with a child-like energy. "What can I say? Seeing you flustered does something to me. But actually, I was just passing by. Haven't talked to you in a while."
Come to think of it he has a point. You haven't seen Jeon Jungkook in about two weeks straight. The two of you aren't friends so you don't check up on each other constantly but you'd like to think you have good rapport.
"What have you been up to anyway? I've seen you rushing around the place like you have millions of appointments to make," you ask.
"I've become a busy man babe," he replies with a cheeky grin. "The higher-ups have noticed my talent and I'm playing with the big boys now."
"You talk about the higher-ups like they're Big Brother or something. Come on, tell me again but in laymen terms."
He sighs at the need to repeat himself. "Okay, listen. I'm working with the models now and more specifically I have a 2 o'clock gig with Kim Taehyung tomorrow. You know, our global ambassador? I'm shooting the film portion of the campaign we're running for him. Isn't that insane?!" His eyes glow up at the mere mention of Kim Taehyung who you are well aware of.
Everything about your famed global ambassador is a fashion photographer's dream; tall, lean, and tantalizingly handsome.
"Of course, I know who Kim Taehyung is. His face is plastered all over the walls of Adrien & Rosamel. Even saw his face on one of our company mugs. Anyone who's anyone will sell their left kidney to breathe in the same room with him but how the heck did you land a shoot with him this early? You've been here for less time than me!"
You're not shouting, you promise. Just extremely envious at the continuous luck Jungkook is having.
"Well," he starts drawling his words. "I might have gotten close with Park Ji-hun over the last month or so. His daughter in particular." You raise your eyebrows in awe.
Park Ji-hun has been Kim Taehyung's personal photographer for nearly ten years. And next to the model himself, he's another highly talked about individual at Adrien & Rosamel.
"Please tell me you didn't use his daughter for your own professional gain," you interject. Jungkook waves his hands around disapprovingly at your suspicion.
"I didn't, we went out on a blind date. I didn't know who her father was until half-way through the date."
"Mhm, something tells me that that's not completely true."
"Okay, so maybe her name sounded a little familiar but I swear, I didn't know they were the same person. But long story short, we started going out and I managed to win her father's approval. And now he's letting me shoot with him!" Jungkook's enthusiasm dies when he sees you doing your best to give a tight-lipped smile. "Babe, listen. I know you and I had a thing a few months back but....you're not still pining over me are you?"
You shove him in the shoulder at the ridiculous question. "We never had a thing. Stop it. I'm just trying to wrap my mind around your recent success."
Jungkook shrugs. "I guess its fate. And we definitely had a thing," he gives a wink. "Well anyway, I need to get to another appointment in ten. Jimin's gonna completely flip if I'm late."
Your mouth gapes open. "You're working with Park Jimin too? He's one of our best makeup artists, what the hell?"
"There are many colors that suit you __. Green's not one of them." Jungkook spins himself around and walks away from you. "Catch you later!"
"Goddamnit," you curse to yourself. "Is he Mr. Perfect or something?"
"__, we're gonna need the space in about five minutes." Another photographer calls from behind you, reminding you that you need to make yourself scarce.
Tumblr media
The next morning is absolute madness with the news of Kim Taehyung's arrival in Paris.
As one of the most iconic brand ambassadors and haute couture models, he has quite an impressive fan following from countries all over the world including France. From the moment he steps out of his plane until the minute he enters Adrien & Rosamel, the man is constantly surrounded by masses of people all standing around with their phone cameras.
The company doesn't exactly give him a break from the high intensity of the crowd either. All the assistants working today are tasked with both meeting his requests and socializing with him while the rest of the team hauls around studio equipment for his photoshoot.
"Did you see the way he looked at me Ha-rin?" You overhear one of the assistants boast to the other while passing in the hallway. "I've had such a crush on him for years and I finally have the chance to meet him. I swear, I'll do anything he asks me to do."
"Oh my god, how dense can you be? Sure he smiled at you but let's not forget who it was he asked to get water from," the second woman spats back, raising the unopened bottle of water in her left hand. "It was me. I'm the one he wanted."
You snort at how snarky the two of them are to each other. As if Kim Taehyung would give so much of a blink their way let alone "want" either of them. You've never met the man but you've seen his face enough to know he could have anyone he desired. And it sure as hell wasn't going to be anyone from the company.
"Excuse me," Ha-rin stops in her tracks and speaks in your direction. "Is there something you find funny?"
"I'm sorry?" You freeze in place, unsure of what the woman's referring to.
"Don't play coy junior. You snorted at us, kinda nosy to be listening in on a private conversation."
Fuck sake, you are getting so tried of everyone calling you junior. You weren't given the name __ for it to be ignored at will.
"My apologies if it seemed that way. I assure you I was thinking of other matters." Your Majesty, you wanted to add but didn't.
Ha-rin body scans you as you speak and it immediately makes you feel self-conscious. The way she purses her lips can't be anything but venom that's about to spit out at you. "It better be that way. And by the way, those pants don't do anything for you. Maybe wear a dress next time," she slithers.
"Oh you mean like the dress you're wearing?" you reply. "No thanks. I'm not looking to impress anyone here. I have to get back to work now so you'll both excuse me," you bid them adieu and continue walking down to your office.
"What a bitch," you overhear one of them say and you clench your fists with tears brimming underneath your eyes.
Don't you dare cry __. Not here.
Tumblr media
So some of your eye makeup got smudged from your incident with thing 1 and thing 2. You hate how much such a shallow jab got to you but, you're only human.
Coming into such a luxe company you expected this type of behavior. Yet your dreams are so much bigger than them. You'll push through like always.
"Hey," a knock pounds on your door. "Need to talk to you. Busy?" Its you manager Namjoon.
"No." You give him your full attention. "What's going on?"
Namjoon closes his eyes in a desperate attempt to calm himself down. "We have a situation," he starts.
"Okay...what happened Joon?"
"Our shoot with Kim Taehyung is in less than an hour and Park Ji-hun is nowhere to be found in the building. We called him up and looks like he had another shoot scheduled during the same slot. Must have been an overlook on our part, his part, I don't care whose fault it is. But we need someone to fill in right now or we're not going to have any material for our campaign." It comes out all at once and the feeling of whiplash washes over you.
"On top of that," he continues, "I don't want to waste monsieur's time. He just flew 14 hours from Seoul. So, can you do it or no?"
Oh my god...you repeat at least twice in your head before forming a response.
"I'd be very grateful for this opportunity but shouldn't this go to the next best photographer available? I only shoot jewelry on its own. I've never done—"
"You are our next best option __. All our photographers are booked with other models for the next three months. You've been here long enough to know how packed schedules get. Please, I've seen your work. It's good. And if you want an in for your career, I'd grab your camera and meet Kim in the studio in two minutes."
"Well I—"
"Yes or no __? Because I can always give the opportunity to another jewelry photographer. I'd rather not because they're techniques not as good as yours but I'll do it if I have to."
Your mind scrambles for a concise answer. You've been working towards something like this for months, doing your best to perfect your craft in hopes the higher-ups might recognize you as they did Jungkook. Yet until now it's been null; no one has made you such an important offer.
"I'll grab my equipment and meet you all in the studio," you decide. Your manager nods in approval and moves to exit your office.
"That's what I was hoping to hear. You'll be working closely with Jungkook, Jimin, and Hoseok. I'm sure you're familiar with them, no?"
"Yes sir," you reply. "Quite familiar."
Tumblr media
"Jung Hoseok," the man with likely the brightest and most genuine smile you've ever seen shakes your hand. "I'm Kim Taehyung's stylist for this shoot. We're going for laid-back, yet elegant and refined for the studio shoot. Tomorrow we'll go with a completely free theme when we shoot at the beach. I have some specific fashion pieces picked out that I think he'll make pop for this campaign."
"That sounds great Hoseok. I wasn't aware we were going to a location tomorrow though." You don't mean to sound naive but you really were just thrown into this only minutes ago.
He lets go of your hand after the quick shake. "Yes, we have a two-day shoot planned. I know this is all news to you as of five minutes ago. And I'll do my best to help I'm any way I can. Park Ji-hun believes that the jewelry pieces and cologne picked out for Taehyung will be best suited in two places. One, in the studio to highlight the jewelry and two, at the beach to create an atmosphere for the cologne."
"Makes sense, thank you for filling me in."
"Like I said, I'm going to do as much as I can to help. Jimin get over here and introduce yourself to __." He calls to the pink hair boy who's busy sorting through his makeup palettes.
"Park Jimin," he walks over to you and also shakes your hand. "Makeup artist. Jungkook's told me about you."
"Oh god," you slip out and everyone chuckles. "Do I need to go hide somewhere now?" Who knows what Jungkook's said about you. Looks like he really is trying to get cozy with as many people as he can here.
"No no," Jimin waves of your slight embarrassment. "He just said you're an acquaintance that's all." You want to believe him but the smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth has you second-guessing.
It's not like Jungkook has a lot of beef with you or "secrets" to spill. He just had a big mouth, flirted with everyone in sight his first three months at the company and you happened to be his first target.
But no biggie. He's dating Park Ji-hun's daughter now, right?
"Love," it's Jimin's voice again. "Don't take this as any offense but I think you need a touch-up. Half your makeup's wiped from your face. Let me fix it for you okay?"
Well if you weren't embarrassed before you are now. Jimin's a professional make-up artist, surely his eyes are fine-tuned to the human face and pick up on make-up inconsistencies.
"Sure," you give in. "That'd be great."
Jimin walks over to his pile of make-up supplies and grabs a classic black eyeliner. "Close your lids," he tells you softly. He gently draws a wing over the lid that needs the most help and then, reaches for an eyeshadow that matches the other eye. "Okay, almost there. Just a few more brushes of this and you'll be good to go."
Though your eyes are closed you can easily distinguish the sound of a third voice.
"So you said yes huh?" Jungkook nears you and Jimin with a cheesy grin. "Now who's moving up in the world?"
"This is our first time working together Jeon," you reply. "Let's keep things professional shall we?"
"Oh please, you should be thanking me instead of giving me pointers on how our professional relationship should be." Jungkook snaps back and you stiffen at his words.
"Thank you? For what?"
"Namjoon didn't mention who exactly dropped your name as a potential candidate to clear up this little mess of ours? When Ji-hun told us he accidentally double-booked I immediately suggested you. I'm hurt you didn't know." He puts his hands over his heart as if pretending to be in pain.
"Wow, well you're right. I suppose I owe you my thanks." And here you thought people only looked out for themselves. Still, it's not like you and Jungkook are gunning for the same position. Him helping you doesn't exactly put him at a disadvantage.
You do feel more pressured to do well for this shoot though. Not only is it your first model shoot, and with all people, it happens to be with Kim Taehyung but it'll backfire on Jungkook if the photos you capture turn up bad. You don't want to imagine what that'll do to both of your professional credibility.
"Alright you're good as new love," Jimin pipes up. You open your eyes and mouth a thank you but you find the words turn into gibberish as the man of the hour finally rounds the corner of the studio.
"Monsieur," Hoseok is the first to greet Kim Taehyung as he enters the space. "Good to see you again."
"How are you Hobi?" Such an endearing nickname comes from a deep, honey voice. It charms your ears. Kim Taehyung stands straight with one hand in the pocket of his loose black slacks while the other rests near the edge of his matching black blazer. It's oversized with a basic, yet clean white t-shirt. Elegant yet, relaxed.
"Doing well, thank you. But I'm afraid you'll need to change out of these clothes soon. We have a perfect ensemble picked out that'll combine well with your style and the pieces you'll be showing off." Hoseok guides him towards the dressing rooms but as he does, your eyes catch Taehyung's.
"Monsieur," Jimin and Jungkook rush to his side at once when they see him looking over. "This is __." They gesture at you with a hand. "She'll be filling in for Park Ji-hun during the entirety of the shoot."
Taehyung's chocolate eyes study your features, your posture, and most of all your lack of movement as he waits for you to say something.
You bow realizing all you've been doing is staring at his flawless face. You've seen him on social media, posters, promo banners, everything, and anything but seeing him in person is not at all the same. "Monsieur," you greet. "It's a pleasure to meet you and to be working with you for the next two days. As the others have said, my name is __."
The man takes long, purposeful strides toward you. "I promise, the pleasure is all mine," he says with a hand moving to shake yours. His long, beautiful fingers wrap around your hand and pull you into a firm grip. "Thank you for stepping in for Ji-hun. And from now on, there's no need to be formal. You can call me Taehyung."
He then flashes you a smile that makes you begin to understand why the two assistants from earlier were so adamant on getting his attention; he's breathtakingly gorgeous. You feel yourself on the brink of a cold sweat at any moment.
"I insist everyone call me by my first name," he says. "I'm an easy man."
"But Mons–" you start but he quirks a brow at you in expectation to fulfill his request. "I understand."
"Do you model as well?" Taehyung asks casually after retracting his hand. "Sorry, I can't help but notice that you have a lovely bone structure. I like to paint in my spare time and sometimes I enjoy having live models as a reference."
The question takes you by surprise. Not many people bother to compliment your physical features expect maybe a few of your closest friends. "I don't model. I prefer being the one behind the creation, like how I'll be behind the camera with you."
He chuckles at your reply. "If you ever change your mind, I'd be happy to paint a portrait of you."
"Well thank you. I'm afraid I don't do nudes though." You really ought to shut your mouth sometimes. Of course, artists don't solely paint nude portraits. What are you saying?
The man in front of you ponders your choice of words for a few seconds too long then leans in towards your ear. Not so far that it's invasive but enough that you're the only one able to hear. "Again, if you ever change your mind....I'd be honored to paint you."
"Monsieur this is not appropriate to be saying."
"I'm not the one saying inappropriate things. I merely said I wanted to paint you as any artist would. You're the one that mentioned getting undressed."
Taehyung straightens himself back up and turns his whole body around. "Hobi," he shifts his attention to his stylist. "Show me what I need to wear today."
You're left standing with a baffled facial expression.
Kim Taehyung is the most elegant flirt and tease you've ever met.
Tumblr media
After fifteen minutes Taehyung comes back to the studio in a shaggy grey button-down cardigan and plaid grey slacks. A gold chain necklace with a panther and tassle-like pendant hangs around his neck and on his left hand is a matching gold watch with a gold ring resting on his pointer finger.
They're all part of A&R's newest Panther collection and look nothing short of magnificent on him.
"We'll start with a few standing shots focusing on the ring and necklace separately," you say.
Taehyung nods in understanding and walks over to the studio setup that has a grey-ish purple green screen. Large studio lights hover on either side of the set to which Taehyung poses himself between.
He stands straight forward, eyes directly in line with the camera lens and jaw relaxed into a natural facial expression. It's a simple first pose to start off with but for a reason unexplainable Taehyung gives it new meaning.
It's takes you aback when you look at him through the lens of your camera. The closer you moves towards him to capture a clear shot, the more you're spooked by his intense eyes.
What makes it worse is when he decides to bring his pointer finger, the one with the ring, up to his mouth. His teeth latch gently around the gold band as it settles between his lips. You take several shots, adjusting the exposure on your camera as needed.
"Stunning," you hum in approval. Taehyung then slips the ring off his finger and again places it between his teeth. He tilts his head to the side to add to the flirtatious undertone of the pose.
"How was that?" He asks you after a few rapid flashes of the camera. "Thought I'd try something a little different this time."
"Came out perfect," you answer. "Flirty yet classically romantic. It molds well with our Panther campaign and brand. Suits you well too."
Taehyung's pleased by your words. "I'm glad you see it that way. I've always had a love for timeless themes. It's one of the reasons why I became an ambassador for Adrien & Rosamel. No other brand brings back the romantic past better."
"I agree with you completely. I fell in love with Adrien & Rosamel at a young age, around 13 I'd say. I always imagined myself to be largely integrated with the brand when I became an adult. Photography happened to help me get my foot in the door."
"Don't forget about me __," Jungkook interrupts from a couple feet away. "I got you this gig didn't I?"
Taehyung frowns at Jungkook's comment. "What does he mean?" He asks you. "Ji-hun specifically chose you to fill in for him didn't he?"
"Not exactly," you says with a flushed face. "Jungkook works closely with him and he was the one who recommended me to step in today. So I do owe him my life I suppose."
"You don't at all," Taehyung replied in a firmer tone than before. "He may have done you a favor but it's your talent that got you here. If your work wasn't good, do you think he'd take the risk of suggesting you?"
You stay silent as he continues.
"I've been in the industry for ten years, and no one lays their head on the line for you unless it benefits them in some way. Don't let him rob you of your achievements. And between you and me, I think he has an odd fixation on you." Taehyung lowers his voice. "Forgive me for being forward but he's not a jealous ex is he?"
You want to chuckle at the notion. "He's not, not at all." Taehyung laughs with you.
"So he's just a pain in the ass then," he says and you snort. "Had my share of them but not to worry. The best thing to do is to shake it off and in time, he'll realize everything you've gotten is by your own efforts and that you don't need his so called favors."
"Thank you Taehyung," you say, still a bit uneven as calling models like Taehyung was not what you were trained to do at Adrien & Rosamel. "We should probably move on with the shoot now."
"Sure, there's another pose I have in mind that I think will make the necklace stand out."
Taehyung steps away from you and turns around so his face is in front of the green screen. The cardigan he's wearing is cut to expose a large section of his back which allows pieces of the necklace to dangle against his smooth, bronze skin.
"What do you think? Does this fit the theme or does it look weird?" He rests one hand behind his head while the other raises above his head.
"Very artistic, hold the pose for me. Also, it's highly unlikely that you could ever look weird Taehyung." You focus the camera on the gold pendant. "You're a living and breathing aesthetic on your own."
"You know those are the same exact words I thought of when I mentioned wanting to paint you earlier. Seems like we see similarly don't we?"
"I guess we do, wow I never thought of myself as capable of having my own aesthetic. I feel like a carbon copy of everyone else some days." Once again you're stunned by his forwardness but you take it at face value. Perhaps he's naturally flirtatious even if he isn't meaning to be.
Taehyung looks over his shoulder at you and shakes his head in protest. "There's only one you __. You're not a carbon copy, so believe me when I say you're an aesthetic of your own as well. Which I would still like to get on canvas by the way."
"You're relentless about turning me into some kind of muse. I'm afraid I don't think I have the time, and neither do you now that I think of it. You fly back to Seoul after our shoot is over don't you?"
"I'm here for a couple of months actually," he surprises you with his reply. "Thought if I'm in Paris I might as well take some time to enjoy myself."
"That's fair. Now turn around again, I need to get a few more shots of the necklace."
"Your wish is my command." Taehyung faces away from you with a smile. He's decided he likes you. Maybe its a gift that Park Ji-hun couldn't do his photo session today.
Tumblr media
"Do you want to know my favorite position?" Taehyung lays on his side with one hand supporting his head while the other clutches his elbow. The angle let's light from the softbox hit the gold watch perfectly, allowing it to be the star of the show; which is no easy task to achieve when it's Kim Taehyung who's modeling.
"No talking please," you respond, bending down on a knee in front for him. Your eye peeks through the camera lens to capture a good shot.
At your request, Taehyung does his best to remain silent but he can't help but notice your grip on the camera has gotten shakier. "Are you alright?" he asks with the tiniest smirk on his face. "Do you need a break? We've been going nonstop for nearly two hours now."
"Everything's fine Mon—"
"Taehyung," he interjects softly and slowly sits up from his position on the chaise lounge. "And here I thought we were starting to become comfortable with each other. Yet watching you struggle to hold that camera in place makes me feel bad. Let's pause for a few okay?"
You flush as he nears you, a tad embarrassed at the situation. You're a professional photographer which means you should be fully capable of moving forward with today's session without any breaks.
But you're palms are sweaty and all the hairs on the back of your neck stand straight from taking hours of close-up shots of the most handsome man on earth.
What's more, is that he keeps tossing out more flirty one-liners and finding ways to compliment you. And let's not forget your earlier exchange about the whole painting ordeal–wanting to put you on canvas and all.
No one warned you Kim Taehyung was going to be like this.
"What can I do to make you comfortable again, __?" He crouches directly in front of you with wisps of his honeyed locks dangling over his eyes. As he waits for your answer, the camera shutter clicks, getting a not-so-elegant close-up of his crotch.
Fuck. You didn't mean to take that.
"Too bad Hobi didn't give me a designer belt to wear. That would have made a great photo," Taehyung teases as he watches your fingers scrabble to delete the photo from your camera roll. "Imagine the kind of awards you'd win."
Oh god. You want to slap yourself awake now.
"Sorry," you rush to say anything at this point. "I think a break might be good after all."
"How about some fresh air? Last I knew it's a beautiful day out." Taehyung stands up and offers you a hand.
"You're offering to go out together?" You hesitate to put your hand in his at first but ultimately give in.
"Why not? It's up to you but I'd like to get some air in my lungs. Gets a little stuffy in here doesn't it?" Once he pulls you up he pulls his hand back. "Let's take a fifteen-minute break everyone," he calls to the rest of the team who nod and scatter in opposite directions.
"Fantastic." You hear Jimin talk to himself. "I've been needing to go to the bathroom for an hour already!" He scurries out of the studio as quick as his legs will carry him.
Tumblr media
You and Taehyung find a quiet spot on the terrace above the company's enclosed garden. It's a recent edition the executives thought might give employees a small escape from the chaos of the day. And so far, it's been much appreciated. Being an unconventional hour to take a break, you're the only ones currently using the space.
"Can I ask you a question?" You cross your arms on the metal railing of the terrace and look at Taehyung beside you. He's standing calmly by the railing too with his hands in his pocket.
"Ask me anything," he replies.
"I haven't been in the fashion world nearly as long as you have but I know enough that people aren't as open as you are. You're much friendlier than most and I was wondering if you've always been that way. Even with Hoseok you call him Hobi, an endearing name."
He looks out into the distance at the perfectly trimmed bushes and trees, all square-shaped. "I became a model when I was 17. I hadn't even graduated high school yet when an agency recruited me. I thought it was a great opportunity until I saw the hunger for fame in my peer's eyes. Due to my appearance, I was given more chances to be on the cover of serious magazines like Vogue and Louis Vuitton but models who were there longer than me didn't. They were given shoots too but they were on a lower scale. Long story short they would scheme to get me in some kind of trouble so I'd get fired so they could take my place."
"I'm sorry that happened to you. I didn't want to believe that the industry was as vicious as I was told prior to entering it myself, but it is. So many of my coworkers can't wait to see someone fail so they can be promoted."
"It's a shame that it's like this __." Taehyung looks at you now, a serious expression on. "It doesn't have to be this aggressive cycle of stepping on the next guy to get to your ideal position. That's why I've decided to go against the current and make as many friends as I can. People I genuinely like tend to be my closest connections." His eyes soften at this as he scans your face.
"That's a nice sentiment but doesn't that open you up to being taken advantage of?" You think back to the two assistants from earlier this morning in the hallway. Seemingly friends on the surface but actually yanking on each other's hair below.
He shrugs and pushes a couple of loose strands of his hair behind his ear. "Sure it might but, I couldn't sleep peacefully knowing I earned my achievements by cheating everyone else out of theirs. Life's too difficult to not have a good night's sleep do you think?"
"True," you agree. "I wish more people had this sort of mindset."
"Well, luckily we can lead by example. I assume you run against the current too?"
"I try but I still have a lot of ambition so I can't say I've made any friends so far. Other than maybe Jungkook."
"Ambition is good, distinguishes the serious people from the non-serious. Friends aren't easy to make in our world __ and pardon me but that Jungkook guy isn't your friend. At most he probably has a crush on you."
"Jungkook has a crush on anyone with two legs and boobs," you chuckle and Taehyung does the same. "But he has a girlfriend now I think."
"Well, that's a relief." His tongue darts out to wet his lips. "I don't have to worry about him being a threat anymore."
You snicker at his comment. "What threat?"
Taehyung breaks into a shy grin and looks towards the ground. "Forget it, I'm just kidding around. We should head back inside. I think our time's about up." He moves to walk back inside the building but you stop him.
"Wait, no." You step closer to him. "I didn't get that joke."
He flickers his eyes up and down your body, taking in your curiosity. "You need me to spell it out for you __?" He pauses and takes a breath. "You're beautiful and I find myself extremely attracted to you. I'd–god forgive me if this makes you uncomfortable– I'd like to take you out while I'm still in Paris."
"Taehyung, that's....not a joke. Are you asking me on a date?"
"Yes, I'm asking you on a date. If you don't want to it's okay. Just say the word."
You smooth your hands down the side of your pants nervously. "Okay, what time and where?"
Taehyung's as shocked as you are by your response. "What are you doing tonight at 7 p.m?" he replies.
"Nothing, what are you doing?"
"Taking you out on a date I think. How's your dancing?"
"Oh I...I don't know. Depends on the type of dance. Why?" You know why. Of course, someone like Taehyung will want to take a slightly unconventional path for a first date.
"I want to take you to Le Duc des Lombards, you know that private jazz bar in town. So, if you can sway and don't mind being close to me we'll be in business."
"Alright." Don't overthink it, you think to yourself. It's just dancing. No biggie. "7 it is. I'll meet you there I guess."
"I can pick you up, actually, I'd really like to pick you up if I can. I know I'm such an old soul aren't I?"
"No problem," you can't contain your beaming smile. "We can exchange numbers and I'll text you my address."
"My phone's back in the studio. Let's do that before the end of the shoot."
Tumblr media
"Shut the front door __!" Your best friend Elaine screams over the phone. "You're definitely wearing the sexy red dress I bought you for your birthday if you going to a jazz bar with, oh my god I can't even say his name. I'm so excited for you babe!"
"It's one date, Elaine. It'll probably not go anywhere either. I'm going into this as a fun night out with a very handsome man and that's all." You browse through your closet for something to wear. You've already showered and touched up your make-up. "Damn it, I have about twenty minutes before he gets here."
"I'm telling you __, wear the red one. Even if this will be a one-night thing it doesn't mean you can't look drop-dead gorgeous. Also, one more thing. What are you wearing for underwear?"
"Elaine!"
"What? If it were me I'd be looking as hot as I can tonight. Gives you a boost of confidence."
"Maybe," you say and pull out a black dress. "I'll think about it."
"Well think fast, because you're down to fifteen minutes now."
"Uh, shit." You toss the dress when you see there's a small tear in the strap. "Please tell me how I'm in the fashion industry and can't find anything to wear without holes in it."
"This is the last time I'm saying this __. Put on the red dress. It's more of a maroon so it'll make you blend with the mood of jazz but you'll pop out as well. And you'll look elegant with the silk sleeves and it's above the knee so you'll stay cool when you dance."
You card back the hangers until you get the dress Elaine is talking about. It's never been worn and it really is beautiful. "The neckline's kinda deep though," you say.
"You're boobs aren't gonna fall out if that's what you're worried about. I've seen the dress and it'll be great on your body. Plus, worst-case scenario you get laid by the hottest man in the damn universe."
"I'm not having sex with him you know..." you feel a blush creep on your cheeks. "This is a–"
"Fun night out. Yes babe, whatever you want to think." Elaine snickers over the phone.
"Fine, you win but I have to change now okay?" You set the phone down and start untying your robe. Are you wearing a transparent black lace set underneath? Yeah, but it's not like anyone's going to know about it.
"Don't forget to call me later! Or tomorrow depending on how tonight goes," she snickers again.
"Goodbye Elaine," you shake your head and end the call.
"You know what might look great with this dress is that ruby necklace I bought ages ago," you say to yourself. The necklace you're referring to is dainty yet never a let down no matter what you pair it with.
Satisfied, you head to your jewlery case in search for it.
Tumblr media
"I see you found the place okay." You say once you hop into the passenger seat of Taehyung's Porsche. Man does well for himself.
"I did, and you look like a million dollars darling. Aphrodite herself couldn't even compare. I'm going to have the worst time trying not to stare at you tonight." Taehyung stands on the other side of your door and waits for your feet to be tucked in the vehicle before letting the door shut.
He insisted he come around and open it for you when he saw a glimpse of your figure walking towards his car.
"Darling?" you repeat inquisitively when he jumps in the drivers seat.
"Do you not like it? It's kinda old I know." Taehyung starts the car and puts the car in gear. He turns the wheel single-handedly and pulls out of your driveway.
There's something about seeing a man do this that always lights a fire inside you. Especially when said man is currently in a white, freshly pressed dress shirt, unbuttoned at the top, and dark grey dress pants.
"I like it," you say. "Darling. It fits the night well, since we're going go the jazz club. I like this look on you by the way."
Taehyung smiles at you briefly before focusing back on the road. The hand that rests on his knee shakes a little and his grip tightens on the wheel. "Hearing you compliment me makes me a little shy, sorry. But by the way, I like that ruby necklace you have on."
You smile and play with the chain. Always a hit.
Tumblr media
The club is moderately crowded when you step foot in the building. The atmosphere is warm and inviting with the creme tones, bright white ceiling lights, and soft purple strobe lighting that shines from the stage. You and Taehyung are lucky to find a free table to claim on the end of the second row of seating.
"Have you been to Le Duc des Lombards before?" He asks, letting you take the inner seat.
"I came once but it was a long time ago when I was in college," you answer.
"Really?" Taehyung takes the seat next to you. "Where did you study?"
"Spéos photography school. A lot of wanna-be professional photographers attend there. I'm fortunate to be able to go."
"I'm glad you got to study there. I assume that's how you got a job with Adrien & Rosamel right?"
"It was definitely the main reason but," you sigh. "I did have some gracious references who help me get in, including Jungkook who went to the same school. As a videographer we were project partners a few times so he was a good person of contact. Along with a few professors of course."
Taehyung snatches the bar menu placed at your table, more aggressively than expected. "No offense but I'm really starting to not like that guy," he grits, jaw clenching. "From now on you can put me down for any further references. The photos you took look wonderful and you know I have some solid connections with some very important individuals."
"Taehyung..." You're amused by the peek of jealousy. "Aren't you getting a little ahead of yourself? The photos need to be approved by our campaign managers first before any merit is given. Plus, you're not my boyfriend."
"Could be your boyfriend," he quips back and you whip your head in his direction.
"Hm?"
"Hm what? You heard me."
"I thought you said you were shy tonight," you accuse and lean over his shoulder to scan over the drink menu with him. When you do you get a strong whiff of his cologne. God, you love the smell of cologne. Would it be too far for you to grab him by the shirt collar and throw your face into his chest?
Yes __, too far. Don't do that. You waive off the thought.
"What do you want from the bar?" Taehyung asks and you give him your response. He heads for the bar in the back of the room as soon as you tell him, not even giving you any time to grab your wallet.
"Tae–" you jump up from you seat. "You don't have to pay for me. I can get my own."
"As my date, I'd be my honor to buy a drink for you __. But you can keep calling me Tae, it sounds nice coming from your lips." He turns around and continues to the bar.
Tumblr media
Nearly two hours of live jazz music later and a few drinks later, you find yourself in a pair of long, sturdy arms. One of Taehyung's hands curls around your waist while the other laces in your fingers.
"You sway well," he drawls, pulling you closer to his body. I'd make you squirm more than you already are if it weren't for a bit of liquor in your system. "In fact, you're a natural. Makes me wonder what other areas you have a natural talent for."
"Okay monsieur," you playfully joke and continue to let him dance you in small circles. "We're getting a little close to the hot zone now."
"Are we? Must be because you're so unbearably hot. Did I tell you to look like Aphrodite in this dress?" Taehyung slips his hand from your waist. "Can I spin you?"
You nod and distance your body from his to prepare to spin into him. "If my memory serves right, you told me Aphrodite couldn't compare to me. Not that I look like her," you respond to his prior question.
"Ah that's right," he hums. "That's even better."
Taehyung's slender arms wrap around your waist when you get to the end of your twirls. Your back presses tight against his chest as he brings his lips near your ear. "You remember when I asked you if you wanted to know my favorite position? Well, this is one of them, darling."
Your breaths get shorter as you take in his charm and you're forced to look into the crowd of people in front of you. Most are busy dancing with their own partners but a few stragglers smile in your direction.
"You make a lovely couple," one older woman says to you both. "You'll make beautiful children."
"Oh we're not–"
"Yes, we will. Thank you, madame," Taehyung cuts in and you pull yourself from his hold to face him.
"Tae, what the hell are you saying?" His face sculpted from the gods themselves stares down at you in a devilish smirk.
"Is it too hot now?" He teases as he refers to your comment minutes ago about it getting too close to the hot zone.
"You're drunk aren't you?" You gently accuse with your arms crossing over your chest.
"I'm not." He snakes his arms back around you smoothly. "I have to drive you home tonight. What kind of man would I be if I got drunk?"
You let him pull you into himself again and this time when he does you feel the outline of an erection forming in his trousers.
Fuck, you curse to yourself, he's not small that's for damn sure.
"How are you feeling __? Getting tired or you wanna stay longer?"
You smirk. "I should be asking you that seeing you have a situation down there."
"Shit—" he quickly retracts his hands on your waist and backs away from you. "I'm sorry, I know we've been flirting around but I don't want to you to think that's all I'm here for."
"Its okay Taehyung, it's just a biological response," you try to soothe. "Don't worry about it."
"Yeah but it's because of you," he stresses. "I want you to know that I'm into you romantically and not just horny with lust."
Your heart clenches and your feet move to approach him on their own. You cup his cheeks with your hands and stare deep into his coffee-black eyes. "Taehyung, I've had my share of male suitors who have all been horny with lust and nothing else. I never thought for a second you were one of them okay? Plus, you're not the only one worked up tonight." You bite your cheek, unsure what'll come from admitting to the following.
"I like you too Taehyung," you finish.
"You do?" He asks with stars in his eyes, same blinding smile as usual.
You nod in affirmation.
"Is this the part where I get to kiss you?" His lids relax as he waits for your response.
"I suppose you can. Are you a good kisser?"
Taehyung snorts lightly and surprises you with a quick peck to your lips. But when he tilts his head back to look you in the eye again, you pull his face back to yours and press your lips fully on his.
Taehyung finds your waist with his fingers again the longer and deeper the kiss gets. He moves his soft lips on yours firmly then sucks on your bottom lip until his tongue is granted access into your mouth.
"Tae," you moan his name quietly. "People are starting to stare."
"And?"
You reluctantly break the kiss. "We should probably finish this in the car."
"I'd much rather have you finish in my bed though," he says before thinking it through. "Shit—sorry I did it again."
Tumblr media
Taehyung's lips move against yours roughly as he makes out with you in the back seat. You decided I'd be easier to kiss without the center console getting in the way.
"You know I don't like putting out on the first date but...how long until you have to return to Seoul?" You tug his blonde hair as his hands wander up and down your torso.
"Two months," he replies, slightly pained. "That's actually something we should talk about if this is going where I think it is."
"Do you not do long distance relationships?"
"I don't know." He brings his lips to the side of your neck, sucking on the delicate skin. "I've never done it before. Have you?"
You shake you head. "No but I heard it's not easy."
Taehyung moves away from your neck to take your hands in his and presses a kiss to them. "I guess we have a few choices then. One, we stop here and sum it up to a nice evening out where I got to steal a kiss the most beautiful woman. I might cry myself to sleep later," he jokes but you wouldn't out it completely past him.
"Two, we make the best of it while I'm here. I'll take you out every night possible until I have to leave. We call it a temporary relationship of sorts. Or my personal favorite, we date with intent and I'll visit you every chance I get. I'll even relocate if necessary."
"God Taehyung, I don't even know. How can you decide so soon?"
"The moving part was too much, I know. I just meant that I want to be serious. Or at least give it a shot. But if that's something that doesn't work for you then we should probably stop here."
"I want to go out again though. I don't want to stop."
"So what?"
"Call me crazy but let's be serious. You're an adult, I'm an adult. Let's fucking do this." You go to kiss him again but he doesn't let you.
"Wait, __. You sure you want to go through with this?"
"I know there's a lot of grey areas to consider but I'd hate to miss out on something amazing because of a potential threat. We go out and if it works out well, then maybe...one of us can relocate. And if it doesn't then we gave it our best."
"Alright," he slowly leans his face towards you again. "If you're on board then I am too. Since we're doing it this way....do you want me to take you home?"
You shake your head in rejection. "Take me to your bed Taehyung."
Tumblr media
"Just when I thought you couldn't get more beautiful you always make a fool out of me."
Taehyung traces down the curves of your body with cool hands as you stand in front of him in nothing but your black lingerie on. He's asked that your ruby necklace stay on too which did throw you off guard a tad.
His shirt is off himself, revealing his lean, tanned torso. His pants are off as well, showing off his his muscular thighs. No wonder he's one of the most wanted models in the world.
He's absolutely breathtaking.
"Is this designer?" He asks and you nod. "Of course, only the finest lace should be allowed to touch your body." Slender fingers dance across the cups of your bra, feeling the fabric carefully. He's not gropping at all.
"You're a flatterer aren't you?" You look him in the eye and your heart skips a beat. He's staring back at you with a similar intensity as the shoot earlier. Just like a panther, you think —alluring, dangerous, and incapable of escaping.
"Not flattering darling. Admiring," he responds lowly. "Can I remove it?" He leans forward to reach behind your back and graze across the hooks of the bra. His lips press a kiss to the space just below your ear as he does.
"Y-yes, please do," your voice hitches.
Taehyung unfastens the material from your body and you shake it off your arms and let it fall on the floor.
"Fuck," he swears and nibbles the edge of your ear while he palms your bare breasts. He thumbs at your nipples a little until their pebbling to his satisfaction. "Are you sure I can't make you my muse for my next painting?"
You chuckle and let him mouth at one of your breasts. "Maybe in time—oh god that feels good," you moan his tongue licks across you nipple.
"In time? Seems we've made some progress. You gave me a flat out no this morning." Taehyung lowers himself on his knee and presses a kiss to your bare waist. Its gentle and featherlike. He then fiddles with the edge of your lace panties as he did with your bra.
"That's because we were strangers, coworkers. However you want to call it."
"Mm, you have a point. May I?" He asks for permission and you nod with a small whine. His fingers brushing around your hips, nearing your ass only hightens your arousal.
Once he drags the thin material down your legs you step out of them and kick them to the side. Taehyung groans deeply when your center is exposed to him.
"Gods I want to lick this pussy so much. Will you let me eat you out tonight?"
"Fuck Tae," you card through his blonde hair. "Yes."
"Lets get you on my bed," he grunts, getting up from his kneeled position. He leads you to the edge of his bed where you crawl on top of his rich comforter, ass in full view as he follows behind you.
Once you're settled on your back Taehyung pushes your legs up and spreads your thighs wide open. He then crouches between them and kisses you inner thighs.
"You're very wet down here," he mumbles. "Do you want fingers first?"
"Three please," you request, already clawing at the sheets.
"Three?" Taehyung lifts his head to look at you. "You're certain you want to start with three?"
You chuckle. "I have the feeling that I'm going to need to take at least three fingers and your tongue before I can take your cock wholely. Correct me if I'm wrong."
He smirks and brings a slender finger up your slit. "No, you couldn't be more right." He pushes the finger all the way in, sinking between your velvety walls.
"Ohh," you moan.
Taehyung adds another, pumping and curling both fingers before adding the third. "So wet baby, do you hear yourself?"
The squelching sound of his fingers working in your pussy causes your core to clench and a streak of pearly white liquid to run down your thigh. Taehyung grows feral at the sight and starts pumping into you at a faster pace.
"Goddamn you're a sensitive one. When's the last time you were fingered?"
"Uh, I'm not sure. Probably two years ago?"
"Well allow me to reacquaint you with such pleasure."
Taehyung continues to work in your pussy with his fingers, hitting your g-spot with every push and curl. Strings of profanities leave your mouth as he does this and when he licks his tongue over your folds you scream in pleasure.
"Fuck Tae, don't stop! So good, oh my god," you moan and sink your fingers in his hair.
He doesn't stop at all, he doesn't slow down either. His fingers eventually pull out of you after a dozen more pumps to make room for his tongue to dip in your pussy. He teases your clit too which is all you needed to send you over the edge.
"I'm coming Tae," you say as your come on his tongue. He groans at the act and cleans up as much left over spillage as he can before moving away from your center.
"I love the way you taste," he licks the corner of his lips and makes his way up your body until he's hovering over your face. Taehyung presses a hard kiss to your lips after with traces of your come still on his tongue.
"Don't you agree?" He asks when he gives you a breath.
"I think I'd prefer the taste of something else instead," you respond with eyes flickering to his crotch.
He smirks and brings a hand up to graze the ruby necklace that's still around your neck. "You want my cock in your mouth baby? Wanna suck on it nice and firm between those pretty lips?"
"I do. Want to make you feel good too and taste your come."
"Mm," he groans. "Don't temp me darling. I'd really much rather come in your tight pussy."
"In a condom," you remind him.
"Yes of course, but still, in your pussy," he replies. "But who am I to deny you of what you want. Pick one, in your mouth or in your cunt?"
Your pussy clenches at his casualness. "Do I have to pick just one?"
"Fucking hell," he seethes. "You're a little greedy for our first time together aren't you?"
"ijuswansucuok."
"What?"
"I just want to suck your cock," you repeat. "But if I had to choose I want you to fuck me."
Taehyung gets off the bed hearing your words and sticks his thumbs in his briefs. "I'll tell you what," he pushes his underwear down to let his cock bounce free. It's huge, vein tracing up the underside, and leaking with pre-cum at the tip.
"I'll let you suck me off any other time because as you can see, I'm inches away from blowing my load already. But to make up for it, I'll let you have your pick of any position you want."
Your eyes train on his throbbing length as he crawls back to you on the bed. You know you should control yourself but you can't help but reach out and touch it.
"Oh fuuck," he clenches his teeth as your hand tightens around him. Your thumb traces his slit, rubbing circles on it. "God your fingers feel heavenly on me. But I need you to stop and tell me what position you want to be in, please."
"Doggy and can you make me squirt?"
"Yes fuck," he moans as you keep teasing his slit. "Face the headboard and get on your hands and knees."
You do as as he says and thank god you did because he was seconds away from thrusting up in your hand. Taehyung grabs a condom from the drawer by his nightstand and rips it open with his teeth. He then rolls it down his think length until he completely covered.
"Ready?" He asks you.
"Put it in me Tae. Need you inside me, please."
"I'm going to ease in alright? I'm pretty fucking big and I don't want to hurt you." At that he clamps his hands around your waist and starts nudging his cock into your entrance.
"Oh fuck—" you screw your eyes shut at the stretch. So good but he's right, he's too big. You don't know how he's going to fit himself all the way in you.
"Keep breathing darling and relax your muscles. We're taking this really slow until I can bottom out."
You do as he says as he continues to sink his length into you. "Taehyung, Taehyung fuck it feel so good but god you're a beast."
"I know and you're doing so good for me," he coos. "We're about halfway there. You're pussy feels amazing around me. Still wet with your come."
You grip the mattress and let out moan after moan. "You're only half-way in me? God I feel like I'm being split in half."
Taehyung pulls himself out of you then thrusts back in, gently but firm enough to jolt your whole body forward. He repeats the motion with each thrust going deeper than the last.
"Shit!" He groans as he beats himself into you. "So close baby. I'm almost all the way in."
"Taehyungtaehyungtaehyung," is the only word coming from you. All you feel is pleasure as he thrusts himself into you. It's been so long since you felt this good, and who the hell would have guessed it'd be Kim Taehyung to remind you of such feelings.
"There we go," he grunts as he finally, finally bottoms out. "There we fucking go baby, how are you feeling?" He asks as he picks up his pace.
"Fuck me—harder Tae," your moans are incoherent as your whole body to Taehyung.
The next ten minutes are nothing but skin slapping against skin as his cock beats inside of you, desperately working you up to another orgasm.
"Oh fuck, fuck fuck fuck," Taehyung pulls himself all the way back then snaps his hips back in, making you dizzy with arousal. "Look at you taking my big cock all at once. Just so eager to please huh? Like the way I fill you up?"
"Yes, yes I do," you pant, sweat dripping from your forehead. If you looked over your shoulder you'd see Taehyung doing the same. "I'm getting close Tae!"
"Go ahead and play with your clit for me then," he growls. "You must be so sore down there."
You quickly reach a hand down to your clit, circling it while Taehyung thrusts himself into you wholeheartedly. "Oh god, I'm almost there. I feel it Tae," you moan as the cord inside you gets tighter, threatening to break any second.
"Go on, coat my cock with your slick darling. Show me how good I'm making you feel as I rearrange your guts. You feel it deep in your stomach can't you? Fuck, I'm close myself!"
You grind your hips on his cock a few times and with that you reach your high, releasing all over Taehyung. But despite your second orgasm, his cock keeps thrusting into you.
"Can you give me one more? Need to make you squirt."
"Uh I don't know Tae, I'm not sure if I can c-come again."
"Yes you can and you will." He fucks into as hard as he can at that, no other words come from him other than deep groans. You on the other hand can't stop screaming.
"Too much Taehyung, I can't, please, need you to come. Fuck!" Despite your protest you are indeed close to a other orgasm; the third one of the night. You pussy uncontrollably clenches around Taehyung as his cock starts twitching inside you.
"Just a little more darling, getting so close. Gonna make you feel so good," he promises as his thrusts get sloppier.
"You already made me feel good Tae, want you to come too."
"I am," he replies, finally releasing. "Oh shit!"
"What? What is it?"
"You're squirting baby. Making a mess all over me and my thousand dollar sheets."
"Oh god, I'm so sorry-fuck. I'll replace them!"
"Like hell you will," he pulls out of you, ties his condom off and tosses in the trash next to his bed. He then flips you on your back and captures your lips roughly. "These sheets are mine and they'll stay mine just like you will from now on. As long as I can help it at least. Sound good?"
"Okay Taehyung," you nod. "Yours."
"Good, now how does a bath sound?"
"Fantastic," you exhale and close your eyes.
Tumblr media
"Taehyung, Taehyung wake up." You shake the man by the shoulders next to you with both hands. "Get up get up get up!"
"What's the emergency?" He rubs his tired eyes as you move to leap up from the bed. You have the sheets wrapped tight around your body.
"We have a shoot at the beach with the team in half an hour! Hurry up and put your clothes on, you have to drive me back to my house so I can change into proper clothing."
"Why don't you wear one of my shirts or something?" He yanks your wrist towards him until you're forced to loosen your grip on his sheets and are forced atop his chest.
"Seriously? Why don't we just tell them we slept together at that point? You're crazy Kim Taehyung."
"You're making it sound like we had a one night stand," he pouts for the first time and you chuckle at how cute he looks.
"Of course it's not that Tae, it's just we still work together. We can't have them knowing we have a thing this early."
"Can we at least tell Jungkook?"
"No!" You playfully slap his shoulder. "Stop being so obsessed with him. He's got a girlfriend. Now get up, we really need to go."
"Alright, but give me a kiss first." He puckers up his lips and you concede by pressing your lips to his. "Are you a morning sex person?" He asks.
"No, we need to leave." You hop out of the bed and race to his bathroom.
"Goddamn it," he curses by himself. "Day one of being your girlfriend and she's already leaving you high and dry."
Taehyung throws the covers off his naked body and walks to the bathroom to join you in the shower—nothing but a big, happy grin on his face.
Tumblr media
a/n: oh my gosh guys, this took me a long time. But I hope you enjoyed and lmk what you think 💞☺
Masterlist
Taglist:
@faiyh @brieeoche @lovemeforeternity @daughterof-aphrodit @daughterof-aphrodit @jjkluver7 @mystaerytete @sparklingocean @main-bangtansmauyeondan @ahgasegotarmy116
no reposting, copying, or translating my work– © kookslastbutton
943 notes · View notes
writtenwhalien · 1 month ago
Text
a lover's redemption | prologue
Tumblr media
part i. prologue
Tumblr media
pairing ↠ mafia leader!park jimin x reader
genre ↠ mafia AU — romance/action (angst, fluff, smut)
summary ↠ Blood, business and betrayal is all that Park Jimin has ever known, but when you cross paths again, the stakes are raised even higher and he finds himself battling his conscience, and his heart.
word count ↠ 6.3k
18+ | warnings ↠ drinking, explicit sexual content, all sorts of crime (please see the series masterlist for a complete list of warnings).
taglist is open – dm/comment/send an ask to be added <3
Tumblr media
notes ↠ please enjoy and share xoxoxox chapter 1 coming next tuesday evening! <3
*important* the flashback is pretty much the same as the teaser but keep reading because most of what comes after it is new :)
Tumblr media
29th June 2003
Sehun was tired. His day was dragging on and the throbbing in his head only seemed to get worse by the hour. All he really wanted was to spend the rest of his evening at home with his family, to hug his wife, and listen to you talk about your day, but he was still stuck here. Lines creased his forehead as he sat across from the two men he has only ever called his closest friends – brothers – yet these days, it seems less so. 
“This isn’t what we agreed,” he said, lowering his voice.
Neither of the two men said anything at first, certainly having expected this response. Lee Han-Jae at least had the decency to look somewhat concerned by Sehun’s disapproval, reaching forward to pour himself a drink. 
“It’s wrong, we don’t do stuff like this, it’s more for the likes of the Takahashi or the Cheong’s,” Sehun pressed. “Not us, never us.”
Lee Han-jae was the first to speak. “But what if it is us?”
If Sehun hadn’t known the man for long, he wouldn’t have been able to detect the impatience hidden behind the curiosity in his tone. But he had, he’d known him for nineteen years.
Han-jae slid the drink in front of Sehun instead.“We have all the power to help these people, we can do this.” He glanced sideways to the third man in the room. 
Cold eyes and hard set features, Park Jihoon merely nodded before speaking. “He’s right, Sehun,” he said, unmoving in his seat. His eyes were focused on your father.  “And it only puts us at an advantage. Everyone will be on our side.”
“Everyone’s already on our side,” Sehun said, impatience cutting through his tone. “We don’t need this, it’s not right.”
“We’ve already spoken to all the families involved. They’ve agreed on the price and most of them are happy to proceed—”
“They’ve agreed to sell their own family into prostitution to make their debts disappear?” Sehun interrupted sharply, missing the way Jihoon’s fingers curled into his fist.
Han-jae paused, eyes flickering with brief uncertainty as his lifelong best friend looked at him in anger. “Don’t say it like that, we’re not criminals, it’s not like we’re forcing them–”
Sehun’s patience was running short. “You’re giving them no choice, it’s either this, or you kill them, right?”
“No.” Han-jae’s gaze sharpened. “We’re setting them up for a better life than those kids would ever have, and with the nightclub we can legitimize our money, that’s what you wanted, is it not?”
Releasing a sigh, Sehun leaned back into the leather couch. “Not like this. Under our names the club will be successful enough, we don’t need to buy innocent men and women from these desperate families to make it better—”
“We’re not buying them,” Jihoon cut in calmly. “Their service is owed to us.”
The nonchalance in Jihoon’s tone flared anger in Sehun. “No, the service of criminals who have wronged us is what is owed to us, not of their innocent family members,” he responded, looking between his two friends. “How would you feel if it was Jimin?” he asked Jihoon before turning to Han-jae. “Or Taemin?”
Jihoon’s expression remained unchanged, however Han-jae sighed, pouring himself another drink. No one said anything as he emptied his glass, and when he finished, he still seemed unsure. 
“They’ll do better under our watch. We’ll give them housing, an education, more money than  they’ll ever see in their lifetime if they are to stay living as they are now.”
“No,” Sehun shook his head. “If you really cared about helping them then you would give them that without asking them to live a life indebted to you.”
“So what do you suggest we do then?” Jihoon asked, only now sitting forward as he tilted his head, awaiting an answer.
“Find some other way for the men to pay the debts. We never have any shortage of dirty work that needs doing, they can be tasked to those jobs,” your father answered swiftly.
Han-jae and Jihoon looked at each other for only a brief second before Jihoon nodded and sat back again. 
“Alright,” Han-jae said quietly, looking back at your father. “We’ll try to stop it.”
“Try?”
“The kids have already been moved to a remote location—”
“Then bring them back.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“Oh come on, Han-jae,” Sehun couldn’t help but scoff. “You speak of being the most powerful man in Seoul and yet you can’t stop an operation you’ve started.”
“Will you help us then?” Jihoon asked as though testing how far his friend is willing to go.
“Of course,” your father’s answer came with no hesitation, his heart hurting as he thought of you in the same position as those kids. “Whatever you need.”
“Very well then,” Jihoon said, looking at Han-jae and raising his glass. “We bring them back.”
Tumblr media
It was an hour later that Sehun could tell that something was up, and it was Jimin who made him realize. 
Halfway through dinner, Han-jae received a text. “Gentlemen,” he said, clearing his throat and wiping his mouth. “I’ll have to excuse myself momentarily to deal with some business for the house.” He got up and looked at his son. “Taemin, come with me.”  
Taemin nodded, getting up and doing as he was told. 
As Sehun watched Taemin leave, he didn’t see Jihoon and Han-jae exchange glances, however he looked back and saw Jimin staring down at his plate, jaw tight and fist clenched on the table unlike moments prior.
No one else was paying him any attention as Han-jae and Taemin left the room, leaving Sehun with Jimin and Jihoon, as well as a few of the other Lee men. Jihoon carried on eating, his knife cutting into his steak as Sehun watched him and Jimin. 
Then, Jimin looked up and accidentally met Sehun’s gaze. 
He swallowed, eyes telling far too much before he blinked and looked away.
Tumblr media
He said his goodbyes, allowing Han-jae and Taemin to walk him out to his car before he got in and drove off the property, but Sehun didn’t go home later that night. 
Parking off on a quiet road less than a mile out and hidden from sight, he got out of his car and went to the trunk, opening up a hidden compartment at the bottom and pulling out his hand gun. It took him no more than twenty minutes to get back to the property, evading all the security measures he was familiar with since he had them for his own home, and slipped into the back of  the courtyard.
He stayed quiet, hiding behind some of the foliage decorating the yard, and for a moment, there was nothing. Just the steady blowing of the wind through the trees surrounding the property. He didn’t know exactly what he was waiting for, he just knew it was something. Then he heard it. 
Harsh whispering and muffled sounds coming down the steps of the back entrance. One look up and his heart froze when he saw someone being dragged out of the house, mouth gagged and  hands tied yet she still fought as hard as she could. But there were three men dragging her to the car, struggling, however still succeeding to throw her into the trunk, and then Sehun saw her face. 
He felt a rush of emotions — anger, betrayal, disappointment and determination — when he realised it was Ji-young being thrown into the car.
Sehun always had his suspicions that Han-jae cared little for his step-daughter from his late wife who he also cared little for, especially considering he isn’t Ji-young’s father, but he never would have expected his friend to do something like this. 
At that moment, he knew that his friends lied to him, and Han-jae was meaning to send Ji-young away to the same fate as those others.
So Sehun did what he had to do, unknowingly sealing his fate, and that of your family by saving Ji-young behind Han-jae’s back.
It was easy enough to take out the first two men as they made their way back into the house, unaware of their surroundings. He used his pocket knife, a clean cut to the throat so they couldn’t cry out and draw any attention. He shoved their bodies onto the grass before trailing alongside the car to get to the third guy climbing into the driver’s seat. 
With great force, Sehun pulled the guy out of the car, slamming him into the side of the vehicle. The man had some weight on Sehun but not much skill. As he tried to grab his gun, Sehun jabbed him hard in the neck before taking the gun and slamming the butt end into his face a few times. 
His body fell to the floor with a heavy thud and Sehun was well aware that the sound of the scuffle would have grabbed the attention of someone nearby – he needed to hurry. 
Wiping the spattered blood from his face, he rushed to the trunk. Ji-young trembled, wailing into the cloth tied around her mouth as she looked up at your father. Relief instantly flooded her features as she recognised him.
“It’s okay,” Sehun shushed her gently, working as fast as he could to untie her hands. “Get in the back of the car, I’m right here, okay? We need to get you away from here.”
Ji-young nodded frantically, tears staining her cheeks. “O-okay.”  She wiped her tears away, pulling off the last of the bonds as Sehun rushed to pick up the first of the bodies from the floor. 
He struggled while dragging the first to the trunk, but as he started shoving it into the car, Jiyoung was there helping him. He paused, looking at her warily. She simply nodded, averting her eyes away from the dead body in front of her to finish shoving the man’s legs inside the trunk. 
Together, they got the bodies in the trunk and within a few minutes, they were driving off the Lee property and into the night.
Tumblr media
present day
The loud bang echoes across the space but you don’t wait for the sound to settle. Pushing your index finger down, you take another shot, and another, and another. 
Time passes quickly when you're here, ten minutes quickly turning into an hour. You stay for as long as it takes for you to feel lighter, more sure of yourself. 
Lowering the gun onto the table, you let your shoulder relax as you try to scrutinise the target fifty yards ahead of you, before turning away to head towards the door leading out of the range. However, before you even get there, you pause.
Yoongi stands ahead of you, leaning against the wall. He gives you a small smile when you look his way, but there’s no hiding the solemn expression his face shows. Letting out a small sigh, you nod, motioning for him to walk out with you. 
Once out of the range, you pull your ear defenders off while Yoongi takes the gun from you to safely return.
“You’ve improved,” he muses, nodding in acknowledgement to the staffer who checks off the weapon. 
Slipping into your jacket, you glance across at him. “You think so?”
“Mhm,” he nods, stepping towards the exit and placing his hands in his trouser pockets as he faces you. Yoongi has always been one to dress smart no matter what the occasion. “You always used to miss the mark by half an inch, now you’re almost there.” He smiles again, this time a bit brighter.
Shooting him a playful look, you respond while grabbing the last of your belongings, “I’m just out of practice, it's been a while.”
“Ah, well it’s a good thing you’ve started again,” he says, this time his voice is lower, making you look up at him. He’s no longer smiling and he doesn't try to disguise his concern. Your expression falls in response and a silent exchange passes between you.
“Not here,” he mutters, nodding towards the door. 
Less than fifteen minutes later, you find yourself seated outside a convenience store with him, sipping on some chocolate milk. You take long sips, wondering what it could be; truthfully, you’re not sure if you really want to know. Yoongi says nothing until you ask him first, so with a quiet sigh, you place your half full carton down on the table.
“Tell me,” you say quietly, “What is it this time?”
Yoongi lowers his carton too, fingers twiddling with the straw. “The Cheong’s are back on the street,” he says, cutting to the chase as he always does (and you prefer it that way). “They intercepted a cargo shipment that was meant to dock at Gwangyang Port for DK Pharmaceuticals yesterday.”
“What was in the shipment?”
“Opioids.”
A sigh escapes you. That’s the last thing you hoped it was; you would’ve preferred it to be a shipment of handguns. Opioids back on the streets only means that the rich are preying on the weak and vulnerable again. 
“Is anyone doing anything about it?”
Yoongi pauses, looking at you in apprehension. “I thought I’d come to you first.” You’re about to say something but Yoongi quickly continues. “I know you’re trying to get out of it but you helped me out a lot last time and I could really use your help now. No one knows you’re back in Seoul and that puts us at an advantage.”
“No one except you,” you note, watching your friend steadily.
“No one except me,” he repeats. “I’m taking your secret to the grave with me.”
You nod in acknowledgement, picking up your carton to take another long sip. “What about your people?” you ask. 
Yoongi gives you a weary look. Despite how close the two of you are, Yoongi is especially secretive about who he works for – you know that they’re no doubt linked to the life you grew up in, the one that you’re still evidently caught up in, but you don’t know who. You never press him to know though; you understand the need for secrecy and in some ways are grateful for it  –  there’s a lot Yoongi doesn’t tell you and it’s his way of protecting you. 
“There’s other stuff going on,” he answers quietly. “It’s a lot.”
The statement naturally piques your interest.  “Like what?”
A small smile appears on Yoongi’s lips. “You’re trying to get out, remember?” he reminds you. “It’s best not to ask questions.”
You frown at him in indignation. “You’re the one who said it’s stupid to try and get out, but now you’re agreeing with it?”
He shrugs. “No harm in trying.”
You smile amusedly. “I’m a small cafe owner who visits a shooting range in her free time to stay sane.”
Yoongi‘s smile widens. “No one said you’re a normal cafe owner. You might’ve changed your last name, Miss L/N, but you’re a Han. Always will be.”
“I know.” Your gaze falls to your lap. “I’m not trying to hide who I am.”
“I know you’re not.” Yoongi’s expression changes to a soft one. “If you were, you wouldn’t be out here living a double life at my request.”
“Well, like you said, I’m a Han. It’s what my dad would do.”
“Ah.” Yoongi stretches. “Cafe owner by day, vigilante by night.”
You chuckle softly. “You make it sound like I’m doing something good… there’s not much good in the life we’re living, Yoongi.”
There’s a quiet pause in which Yoongi sighs, a thoughtful expression passing over his face. “It’s not all bad, at least not what you’re doing.”
“Honestly, it keeps me going and it’s the least I can do to help.”
Yoongi smiles, and a brief silence full of thoughts passes between you as you finish what’s left of your chocolate milk. “So,” you place the empty carton down, “where are they keeping the shipment?”
“The same warehouse off highway 46 from Jung-gu. They’ll have several guards on watch surrounding the place.”
“It’s the same place as last time?” you ask, frowning.  “They’re not very smart.”
“Well they have tried stealing drugs from a legitimate pharmaceutical company,” Yoongi says pointedly. “I don’t think they’re very bright. But,” he adds, “they’re powerful.” He sits forward, pulling out a car key fob from his inside pocket and places this on the table.
You look down at it. “Same drill as last time?”
“Yep. Everything you need is there. You’ll also find a burner phone in there. Once it’s all done, text me from there. The police will come and seize the drugs.”
“Why don’t they just deal with it themselves?” 
Yoongi frowns deeply. “The Cheong’s have been dealing with the Takahashi’s. If the police get in there first, they’ll detain the guards and any evidence which includes their phones. If that happens, the Takahashi's get brought in…” He lets out a slow sigh. “That can’t happen. They’re under our protection for a while.”
You don’t ask any further questions. Picking it up, you turn the fob over in your hand, your thumb sliding over the metal print of the Mercedes sign. Letting out a small breath, you look up at Yoongi. “No holding back?”
Expression somber, he nods. “No holding back.”
You know you should feel something in those words, maybe a little bit of guilt, or at least fear for what you have to do, but you don’t. It’s hard to, when you know what will happen to innocent victims if you don’t do this. 
Instead, you see an opportunity. “I need something in return.”
Yoongi lifts his head calmly. “Is everything okay?”
You nod, placing the key down on the table. “Just, promise me you’ll do it first.”
At this, Yoongi’s expression changes to one of concern and he hesitates. 
Meeting his gaze, you say his name. “Please.”
“Alright.” Yoongi shifts, keeping his eyes on you. “I promise.”
Tumblr media
The car is exactly where Yoongi said it would be. You don’t bother looking at what he’s given you until you’re parked in close proximity to the warehouse but distant enough to not be seen by any of the guards.
There’s two cases in the trunk, one significantly larger than the other. You open the small one first, smiling when you see two handguns sitting snug in the case. A FNS-F9 Longslide – your weapon of choice – and a Glock 17 – Yoongi’s personal favourite.
The larger case contains magazines, two thigh holsters, a waist strap, a bulletproof vest, and a smaller case sheathing two double edged, partially serrated hand knives – Gerber Mark II’s. 
Strapping the holsters around your thigh, you slot the guns in and arm yourself with the knives too, just in case, and tuck a spare magazine into your side pocket, as well as a silencer. You choose not to wear the bulletproof vest – although it’s light, it’ll still slow you down.  
Closing the trunk, you quickly grab something from the front of the car that you brought with you from home. In a silk pouch, you keep a vial of chloroform and multiple napkins – you pocket these before making your way towards the warehouse. It’s surrounded by a patch of trees, making it the perfect place to hide such crimes, but it’s also advantageous for you to approach easily without being seen. 
You quickly scout the place from the outskirts, noting a total of eight guards outside; three at the front, two at the back, two on the east side, and one on the west. You’re well aware that as soon as any of them realise you’re here, they’ll send a call out for more, so you need to be strategic and quick.
West is where you hit first. A man walks slowly along the concrete wall, kicking at stones with every step. You observe him silently from the shadows and note how young he looks, at least definitely younger than you. Yoongi’s words echo in your head  –  “No holding back” – but you can’t forget that some of these guards aren’t here by choice. Besides, killing them only protects the Takahashi’s and that’s of no interest to you. Sometimes, collateral damage happens, and you know Yoongi knows that.
So, you sheathe the knife you intended to use and instead pull a napkin from the pouch and douse it in chloroform. It only takes a few careful steps for you to reach the guard from behind, and with a swift movement before he can reach for the gun at his waist, you pull him into a secure headlock and smother his face with the cloth. For a second, he almost has you, struggling and resisting your arms, but the chloroform works fast and he slows. 
Seconds later, you’re lowering him to the ground. You take the gun from his waist, disabling it and tossing it somewhere into the trees before taking his phone and stowing it away into your pocket. Before you move on, you drag his body out towards the trees so no one who comes looking will be alerted to your presence. 
You begin moving fast along the warehouse wall, only slowing down when you approach the corner to the back. Back pressed against the wall, you peek slowly around the corner only to draw back almost immediately – another guy has joined them making it three men now, one of whom is peeing just a few feet away from where you are, facing away from the warehouse, while the other two stand on the other end, out of earshot.
Again, you come up with a way to avoid a kill – you wait until the man is doing up his zipper before taking a firm hold of the glock and walking right up behind him. Then you tap his shoulder.
He turns around and meets your smiling expression, looking visibly confused. “Huh?”
Before he can look past your face to see the weapons in your holster, the butt end of your gun is hitting him square in the jaw followed by you hooking your hands behind his head and bringing his head down to meet your knee. 
You feel the pain in your knee as his unconscious body drops to the ground. “Ouch,” you grumble, rolling your shoulders too from the force with which you hit him. It’s been a while since you’ve done this, it would’ve been a good idea to stretch first. 
Crouching down, you quickly take the guy’s gun and remove the bullets before moving him into the tree line like you'd done with the other guy. Then you cautiously move towards the other two. As you get closer, you pull out the silencer and attach it to the longslide while listening to the idle conversation between the two. 
“It’s been almost a month since I’ve been back there and I swear I’ve never been happier,” the shorter of the two says, taking a drag of a cigarette.
The taller guy laughs. “Bet you emptied your pockets too.”
The short one laughs too. “Spent at least a million won but it was worth it. You should’ve seen those girls and the one I had in the private show, fuck,” he exhales, smirking grossly. “The tits on her. I got a fucking semi just by looking at them.”
You cringe upon hearing that, hurrying up as you check the bullets in the barrel. 
“Would’ve spent all my money too then. Where is this place, huh?”
“It’s the Lee’s place, the best place for this shit in all of Seoul.”
“I heard about that, they’ve been running it for years now, apparently they keep the girls–”
Standing up, you unhesitatingly shoot both of them in their dicks. 
High pitched groans fill the space surrounding you as they keel over onto the ground, blood staining their jeans rapidly. 
You step out from where you are and walk over to stand between them.  They both look up at you, still rolling over in pain, their teary-eyes wide and red. 
“You fucking bitch,” the short one rasps, heavily breathing as he tries to reach for his gun. 
“Nu-uh,” you tut, taking it from him before he can and taking the other guy’s too. You remove the bullets from them both before dropping the guns right over the men’s crotches. “Oops,” you pout sarcastically. 
They cry out, the sound too stilted to be able to be heard from anyone else unless they’re close by.
“The fuck d’you want?” the taller one hisses, grabbing onto your ankle.
You shoot him a dirty look, pulling your ankle free and digging your heel into his crotch. He opens his mouth but no sound comes out as his body curls up.  
“Nothing, at least not from you idiots,” you answer, removing your heel to do the same to the shorter guy, watching emotionlessly as they both suffer in pain.
Sighing, you drag your heel in the ground to remove some of the blood and take a look at the time on your phone. 1.07am. 
“I guess you’re lucky. I'm short on time.” 
The two barely have a chance to look at you before you’re putting a second round of bullets in them and dragging their bodies closer to the trees. 
Adrenaline is starting to course through you now, coming at the perfect time as your patience runs low after killing those last two guards. You don’t bother hiding as you walk along the east side of the warehouse, approaching the two guards walking towards you.
“Hey!” One of them calls out as they both draw their guns. You already have yours cocked and ready in your hand hanging by your side.
The two men look at each other before turning back to your figure as you approach, their faces expressing confusion when they see you; you have no doubt that they only haven’t shot yet because they can see you’re a woman. But then they see the longslide in your hand and the glock at your thigh. 
“Oi! Stop right now or I'll shoot!” The same guy warns again but you don’t.
You don’t stop until you’re only a few feet away so you can have a better aim at the man’s chest.  A second later he’s on the floor and his friend is bewildered, aiming his gun at you.
“What the fuck?!” He exclaims, his gun shooting in your direction but you’ve already ducked and rolled out of the way having expected the shot. As you straighten up with one knee still on the floor, you steady yourself by outstretching a leg in front of you, placing your foot firmly on the ground and getting a perfect shot to the second one’s chest. 
Six down, two to go. Well, for the guards outside at least; there’s no telling how many are inside.
The last two go down as easily as the rest and within a few minutes, you’re approaching the huge rusted metal doors of the warehouse. One has been left slightly ajar and you press your back close to the metal as you approach it, straining your ears to listen for any voices. You can make out at least three and your judgment tells you they’re around twenty feet away from the entrance where you stand. 
Ever so slowly, you edge closer until you can peer inside. The space ahead of you is mostly obscured by tall shelves carrying scaffolding poles — it’s the same set up as the last time you were here. The warehouse is disguised as a unit for scaffolding materials with aisle after aisle of tall shelves. This works greatly to your advantage so you can enter unseen. 
However, although you’re confident in your skill, you know that you can’t take on three armed men at the same time, so to make things easier for yourself, you draw them out. 
One hard knock on the metal door is enough. 
“The fuck was that?” You hear one voice say. 
“Oi, go check it out.”
“You go check it out, you pussy,”
“Who the fuck you calling pussy?”
“Prove it then, go fucking look.”
“I will, fucking idiot, don’t call me pussy.”
You hear a few more mumbles but you’re not paying attention as you draw the small Gerber Mark II from your thigh. Moving behind the door that’s slightly ajar, you wait with bated breath as you hear the sound of a gun cocking just a few feet away from you. 
Seconds later, the door is being kicked open further and you move steadily with it, careful not to make any noise behind the creaking metal. 
The door being pushed open further gives you better space to hide and as the man raises his rifle and steps out, aiming at the space around him cautiously, you quickly step out from behind the door to make your move. 
One hand clamps over his mouth as you press your chest against his back as close as you can to protect yourself if he tries to shoot. He doesn’t get much of a chance though, only managing to shoot one stray shot in a second of panic before the sharp edge of your knife is slicing his throat. 
He drops to the ground, body writhing and his gaze meets yours — your chest tightens and you have to look away as you shoot him once more in the head to end his misery. 
With no time to spare, you grab his phone and throw it hard against the warehouse wall. You know that the men inside will have heard the shot which means you need to hurry before they realise the rest of the guards are dead and call for more help. 
Hurriedly, you slip into the warehouse and move to hide behind the closest shelf while you hear the sounds of footsteps coming closer.
You hold your gun up towards the sound of the footsteps, ready to shoot as soon as someone comes into view. Finger hovering over the trigger, you wait patiently in your obscured position, and then the first man appears. 
Bang. Bang, Bang. The shots fire from your gun and before his body even hits the floor you’re stepping around the corner of the shelf and moving fast behind the next one to change your position before you get caught. You’re grateful it’s mostly dark here so you can move more freely. 
“Who the fuck are you and what do you want?” A harsh voice bellows from where you just were. 
Of course you don’t respond, instead rushing down the length of the aisle. You reach the end and cautiously peer around the corner to see one of them by the entrance. He’s facing away from you, standing still with his gun raised. Without hesitation, you aim for his chest and pull the trigger. 
He drops to his knees first, his rifle dropping to the concrete ground before he falls. 
Your mistake is watching — from right next to his body, a man steps out with his gun raised right at you. He shoots and it misses you by a thread as you step back just in time. 
“Go around the other side!” You hear his voice call out and footsteps fill the space around you. 
Fuck. There’s two more men and you have nowhere to go from here, so you do what you have to do. 
Looking around the corner again, you see the man approaching. He shoots as soon as you stick your head out but this time you shoot back in his direction, noticing your advantage as he walks towards you out in the open. But you know that there’s the fourth guard coming in your direction so you have to be quick. 
You step back after every shot you take and after the third, you hear him swear out loud. One more look and you see him clutching his shoulder as blood drips down his arm. 
Before you can even shoot again, you’re alerted to the presence of someone behind you and just as you turn around to aim, a hard kick meets your ribs and your gun gets knocked out of your hands.
The pain shoots through you and your hand instinctively raises to the source as you stumble back, your other hand reaching for the glock. 
“Not so fast, pretty,” the guard says, grabbing your arm and pushing you against the shelf. He’s the same height as you with an average build — you reckon you can take him but you’re still aware that the other guard is still alive and more importantly, armed. 
However, this guard is your first concern. He reaches for the glock himself and you let him. It gives you the chance to discreetly reach for the knife at your other thigh and stab him in the first place you can. That happens to be his hip. 
He grunts loudly, grip on your arm tightening but with one hand still holding your glock, you quickly use his strength against him and push into his body, stabbing him again in his abdomen and once at his wrist so he drops your gun. 
With no time to pick it up, you kick this out of the way just in time before his strong hands grip at you again. “What the fuck are you doing?” he hisses, throwing a punch to your face which you manage to block with your arm but it still hurts. 
Teeth gritted, you struggle to get free of his grasp this time so you bring your knee up but he jerks backwards in time. This only angers him more and he throws you harshly to the floor. 
You feel nothing as your knees and elbows hit the concrete, adrenaline surging through your fight response kicks in – kill or be killed.
The guard comes closer and you look around quickly trying to figure out what to do. You spot your longslide that was knocked out of your hands just a few feet away from you.
“Wait!” you say instinctively, eyes rounding in false fear as you look up at him. “Please don’t hurt me.”
He pauses, eyes trained on your frightened expression and for a second you think you have him. Then he shakes his head and reaches for his gun.
In a split second, you use all your upper body strength to push yourself off the ground while sweeping out one of his legs from beneath him. 
He’s stumbling forward as you lunge for your own gun but just when you’re about to grab it, his hand is on your left calf and dragging your body towards him. You spot another gun strapped to his right thigh.
“Hey, I got her!”
You try to kick free from him but he’s stronger and has you on your feet, body restrained by his arms in seconds. As the other guard comes around the corner with his arm bleeding thanks to you, an idea suddenly comes to mind. 
Using only a fraction of your strength, you try to resist the man holding you and watch carefully as the other one approaches with his rifle aimed at you despite his bleeding shoulder. 
“Who are you?” he questions. 
“Answer the question,” the guard holding you says, squeezing you harder. 
“Just kill me,” you mutter, slowing down in the other’s arm. 
“I will, after you tell me who sent you,” the guard spits, pressing his rifle into your chest. 
Kill or be killed – it doesn’t have to be as a simple gunshot or the throw of a dagger… 
Faking a fearful expression, meeting the guards sharp eyes as you answer, “I didn’t want to, they made me do it.”
The two guards exchange wary looks.
“Please, I’ll tell you everything just don’t hurt me.”
The one holding you nods at the other one and he lowers his gun.”Who sent you?” his voice comes from behind your ear.
“It was Takahashi,” you answer shakily, bracing yourself as you feel the man’s grip on you loosen further.
The one holding the rifle lowers it completely. “Takahashi?” he asks, confused. “Why the fuck  would he send someone here?”
“I-I don’t know.” Your right hand slowly moves towards the man’s thigh behind you. “They said something about teaching the Cheong’s a lesson.”
“Why did they send you?” the one holding you questions. “You work for them?”
“No,” you fake a whimper, head lowering as your hand closes around his arm as though in fear.
“Then why’d they send you?” he asks again, except this time you note his voice is softer. Time to move.
Your hand closes around the gun at his thigh and you shoot once at the ground to disorient them both before immediately pulling on the man’s arm to have his body in front of you as a shiel. 
He takes the bullet that his friend fires in retaliation to yours, straight in the chest  – the man holding you goes slack, his hold on you weakening as a result of the shot his friend just fired at him. “Shit, Jung!”
Using Jung as cover, you shoot the space three times ahead of you and then there’s silence. 
Jung drops to his hands and knees, groaning as he clutches his abdomen and slowly looks up at you. “Who the fuck are you?” he asks.
You glance at his friend’s dead body, blood pooling from two fatal wounds. “No one.” You look away before you put a bullet in his head.
Weariness catches up to you as you walk out of the warehouse and into the cover of the trees back to where the car is parked. Pain is starting to spread through your sore muscles and you have no doubt you’ll be covered in bruises tomorrow. 
Once you reach the car, you find the burner phone Yoongi gave you and text him a simple ‘it’s done’. Two words which should weigh heavy on your mind as you remember there are men who just lost their lives tonight. 
But you know that this is how this works, so tonight, you go home and sleep as though none of this happened. 
Tumblr media
author's note. thank you so much for reading! <3 chapter 1 coming next week sunday! pleeaaase share your thoughts with me :) xoxoxo
Tumblr media
145 notes · View notes
in-halingstardust · 4 months ago
Note
Hiiii congrats on your milestone!!! Here's to more in the future!!! may I have a match up? Super spicy edition!!! I am afab pussy boobs and all (I use they/them but they're optional!!) with a preference to guys but girls are great too!! For Kinks I don't like my partner being mean to me (very sensitive person emotionally) but I don't want them being too gentle either!! I can handle rough treatment but they should still be mindful of my limits and stop if things have gone too far since I can't tell my limits either 😅 (which is a discussion I had multiple times with my partner) So basically a service Dom through and through. Im a bit of a tease but not a brat so my partner doesn't have to worry about that LMAO
A very important thing to note is that I also very much enjoy monster fucking JDJEJEJWJW okay that's all!!
Tumblr media
I FORGOT TO QUE OMG SORRY ANON!
Also monster fucking is also one of my favorite pastimes *cough* hyperfixations *cOUgh* i mean- stories I enjoy reading hehe. I think I'm going to write a small drabble other than your request one day so be on the look out for that this is just a taste! ₊⊹♡
I'm going to pair you with Aventurine!
Tumblr media
Aventurine has always been a high stakes gambler. The smaller the odds the higher the payout. A ride or die type of high that you could never get enough of.
Your relationship to the public dazzles like diamonds under spotlights. The way he buys you imitation flowers handcrafted from gems and blown glass, the way you’re always adorned in gold necklaces and earrings as he holds you close by the waist.
What are you thinking of, my lucky girl? He whispers, hand caressing your thigh underneath the betting table throwing a handful of chips in. He’s not even counting the value but the gasps coming across the table means it must be a hefty amount. You promised if he won big you let him do anything to you tonight. 
Anything. 
It’s a win, red 37, the number of credits keep going up and up. You’ve never seen that many zeros before in your life.
❥ You promised and now it’s time for fun~. Aventurine says behind closed doors, leaving bruised kisses from your jaw down to your collarbone. A sign of possession. He’s not gentle in the least, not that you mind. The way he opens you up with his fingers cooing at the sight of you struggling to take another one. He likes it when you're sucking on your mess after you cum.
❥ Overstimulated, broken a mess on the bed is the state you currently at when he truly starts to appropriately ‘fuck your brains out’.
↪You see the crackling of Preservation run through him through bleary eyes. The way his body grows and become more full, his voice having the tingle of mania behind it as he lines up to thrust fully into you.
↪It’s bigger than ever before, you're almost glad for the amount of times you came before as he stretches you out more than your body should take.
❥ Fucking you is a different story as he grips your wrists before slamming back into you. Your body is in rhythm with his the entire night.
231 notes · View notes