#the wedding chapter..... very sweet way to end it

[waitineedaname]

I have now finished all the svsss extras! ouuguugh this series man

[jimxnslight]

Fool's Gold || Part II

Summary: Sweet Y/N, with her fluffy pastel dresses, soft makeup, and ditzy mannerisms. She’s seen as a fool in a world where there is no place for such things, but little do they know, the only fools are them.

Pairing: mafia leader!Jungkook x mafia leader's daughter!reader

Genre: mafia au, arranged marriage au

Word Count: 10.2k

Warnings: most warnings associated with mafia fics (e.g. gun/physical violence, blood, dead bodies, etc), very vague indication of past sexual assault, additional warnings might be added as the story progresses

A/N: thank you guys so much for all the love you gave the first part, it means so much to me 🥺 Hope you enjoy this chapter too (Y/N and Jungkook bicker for like half of it 💀)

<< previous part || masterlist || next part >>

It was supposed to be simple. 

You kill Jungkook, breaking up the alliance between the Lees and the Jeons, blame his murder on a rival mafia, and then be on your merry way back to your father’s home before you could be caught up in the chaos you’d have started. Sure it hadn’t been the most complex of plans you’ve come up with, you hardly had the time to map out a plan like that anyway, but sometimes simple was all one needed. 

Unfortunately, this had clearly not been one of those times. 

The problem was Jungkook. Your first husband had been an idiot and completely fooled by your featherbrained facade, so much so that even after you’d stolen the gun from his waistband and shot him twice in the chest he’d stared at you like you’d grown two heads. He just couldn’t comprehend the fact that a seemingly frivolous girl could have the courage to pull the trigger. Even after what he’d tried to do to you. After he almost-

You felt a shudder sweep across your spine.

But Jungkook was different. He had been assessing you the second you appeared before him during the wedding ceremony and, even though he had seemed to take in your carefully crafted performance, his gaze still refused to complete its assessment. At first you thought it was just lust -most men in the mafia couldn’t seem to be rid of that tenacious emotion- however, the lack of sexual initiation on his part despite being alone together in his room made you realise that perhaps Jungkook was a lot less like the mafia leaders you had grown up with than you realised. 

For one, he was scarily observant, and it was this skill that had ultimately led to the downfall of your assassination attempt. 

A huff escaped your lips at the thought, your hands continuing to expertly manoeuvre two pins inside the lock of the door you were currently crouched in front of. You had stayed sat on Jungkook’s bed the entire night, too wary to even attempt sleeping in the bedroom that was entirely unfamiliar to you. You half expected Jungkook to sneak into the room while you were out cold and enact a fitting revenge; you’d be unable to even blame him, you’d tried to kill the man after all. But Jungkook hadn’t left the mystery room all night, only emerging once the clock had struck 7 in the morning to wordlessly grab a black coat from the top of his dresser and disappear behind the front door with nothing but a single, hasty glance in your direction. 

Your brow had raised as you watched him get into his black car and drive off through the window, wondering how he could just leave you unattended in his home after the threat you had dropped near the end of your conversation earlier. Sure he probably had people monitoring his house at all times, but there was still a lot you could get done in front of people that wouldn’t suspect the girl with fluffy dresses and doe eyes to be much of a threat. 

Luckily for him though, you were beyond tired, and that meant that his absence was just a window of opportunity to get some actual rest without the constant fear of his retaliation keeping you awake. So following a long yawn, you had naturally felt yourself drift towards the bed, eyeing the soft duvet and fluffy pillows sleepily. But then, before you could lose yourself to the comfort of his mattress, your curious gaze had slowly wandered to the door Jungkook had disappeared behind last night and, next thing you knew, you were crouched in front of its gold lock and jabbing two pins into its keyhole. 

Your focus snapped back to the door before you as a familiar click sounded from the lock, causing it to swing open just a few centimetres. You pocketed the two pins, muttering a small “finally...” while your fingers wrapped around the gold handle. But before you could push it open, the muffled sound of an object dropping suddenly startled you. You whirled around, eyes immediately scanning the bedroom with intense precision as your hand grabbed the closest thing to you: a vase. Had someone managed to get into the room without you knowing? Perhaps you weren’t as observant as Jungkook seemed to be, but you’ve never been so absentminded that you could’ve been this caught off guard-

“Oh my god,” you gasped abruptly, a recollection surfacing as you quickly placed the vase back on the bedside table and scurried over to the closet. You couldn’t believe you had forgotten something so important… She must have been waiting in there the entire night.

You hastily threw open the closet door, gaze scanning the space until it finally fell on a small shadow peeking from behind the white and fawn island. The black shadow stood still for a moment, as if identifying the intruder, before the familiar cat sauntered out of the small space, black fur gleaming under the light. She looked up at you with an expression that eerily resembled a scowl. 

“Hi Persilla,” you cooed, crouching down to run a hand apologetically through the creature’s fur. Persilla evaded it at first, almost punishing you for forgetting her in the small, dark walk-in closet for the entire night, but eventually she gave in, purring as she brushed her soft tail against your still bare legs. While you could understand being stuck in a place like that for hours might’ve been slightly uncomfortable, she really had no right to act like that after how damn hard it had been to have her smuggled into Jungkook’s house without alerting anyone. It had been a huge risk, one that you might have a little trouble justifying, but you swear there was just something calming about her presence and you needed that desperately, especially in such a foreign place. 

“I failed to kill him,” you frowned, watching as Persilla’s feline eyes raised to watch you, “which means we’re going to have to stay here a little longer than I thought.”

You pulled yourself from the floor, shifting your focus back to Jungkook’s mystery room as you felt a pang of irritation hit you. You needed Jungkook dead, the delay in his death getting in the way of everything you’ve been working towards. Yet here you were now, stuck in the house you thought you wouldn’t be spending more than a night in. 

You cautiously walked over to the door you’d lock picked earlier, taking special care not to step on Persilla as she skittered between your feet, before grabbing the handle and pushing it open. The room turned out to be a seemingly simple office, which you found unsurprising for the most part. There was a wall full of books on one side, a glass cabinet of liquor wedged between its centre, while another wall was made up entirely of glass that showed off an enormous portion of Jungkook’s estate. It was the large desk to your right that really caught your attention, the sight of a map sprawled over its smooth surface particularly piquing your interest. 

You walked towards the glass cabinet first, pulling out a crystal glass and a bottle of whiskey to pour yourself a drink, before you walked over to the desk and glanced at the map curiously. Persilla jumped onto the surface, circling the piece of paper like a predator surveying its prey. 

“It’s a map of the North,” you noted, taking a sip of the drink in your hand momentarily as you recognised the illustration instantly. You’d spend months studying a similar map back home before marrying Jungkook after all.

Handmade lines ran throughout the northern portion of the country, separating the territories run by different mafia leaders. You recognised Jungkook’s territory first, one of the bigger ones in the region, while Taehyung’s was right next to his, both of which were detailed with the locations of different landmarks: docks, hotels, residential areas, etc. You noticed that the other territories hadn’t been labelled like that, with the territory above Jungkook’s labelled “Park Territory” simply containing one or two locations and the territory labelled “Min Territory” containing no locations. There was a region above those two territories that hadn’t even been labelled at all, similar to your own map of the North back at home. 

“Aside from Taehyung’s territory, Jungkook doesn’t seem to know much about the northern region. I guess we’re similar in that aspect,” you muttered, speaking to Persilla as if you were giving her a report of the current situation. She turned towards you, tilting her head for a moment before she nudged the corner of the paper with her paw. You narrowed your gaze at the action, deciding to flip the paper. To your surprise there was another map, this time illustrating the southern portion of the country; the one where your father’s territory, the Lees, was situated and where you’d grown up your entire life. 

You smiled at Persilla, scratching under her chin while she purred in delight at the attention. What would you do without her?

It was surprising to see this map so much more detailed than the first, you thought, taking another sip of the whiskey in your hand. While Taehyung’s territory had been the only one littered with details in the northern region, all the territories in the South were full of details upon details. You could make out each one labelled with its respective mafia leader, a number of important locations, and even predictions about possible actions each leader might take in the future, all of which you could confirm to be highly accurate.

You flipped the map back to how it had been initially, gaze raising to move onto scanning the rest of the room while Persilla dropped to the floor quietly.

“How could Jungkook know so little about the northern region, yet so much about the South?” You thought out loud, tracking Persilla’s movements as she began pacing around the room. He was clearly great at collecting intel, the amount of information he had on the southern region was evidence of that, yet the North, his own region, was practically blank aside from Taehyung’s territory. Having grown up in the southern region yourself, you knew it better than the back of your hand. So if Jungkook had grown up in the North, how could he know so little about it? Was there some kind of history between the mafias in the North? 

Like your thoughts, you began absentmindedly drifting towards the enormous bookshelf, fingers brushing against the hardcover spines. 

If there really was history between the northern mafias, then knowing that history could be useful. Once you killed Jungkook and blamed his death on Park Jimin, there would be war between the Jeons and the Parks, and since the Kims and Mins are allied with the Jeons and Parks, respectively, it would be a full on war of the North. It’s that kind of instability you were aiming for, but knowing the more personal history of the northern mafias might help you create further tensions between the alliances, making things even more unstable. It would be perfect; the messier the better. That’s what your ultimate plan called for. That’s how you’ll finally-

You suddenly came to an abrupt stop, your fingers freezing as they came in contact with a particular book. It was a hardcover, just like the others, entirely black aside from the title, which had been written in bright gold, and the off-white pages. 

Persilla was back to skittering between your ankles once again, as if sensing the change in your thoughts. Her soft, black tail brushed against your bare legs as you delicately brought out the book with both your hands, wide eyes scanning it almost in disbelief. 

The Choice of a Nation.

It was the book that had changed your life. A fictitious book about a protagonist that lived in a world of human rights, justice, and structure. A world where everyone, more or less, was defined by their achievements and hard work rather than who they were born to. 

Reality was far from that. It was an enormous country cut up into territories based on which mafia leader ruled it. It was having to grow up watching innocent people be slaughtered because of petty disputes between said mafia leaders. It was watching people from mafia families be automatically rich and educated and powerful while people born to those under their rule automatically be poor, uneducated, and stepped on again and again and again. You were taught that this way of living was normal, that it was the only way of living in this world. 

Reality was something you’ve always found difficult to come to terms with because of this, because despite being taught the normalcy of such a way of living, it never seemed right to you. You couldn’t wrap your head around the idea of people’s entire lives being dependent on who they were born to, something that wasn’t in their control. If you were born a servant, you and the rest of your generations would stay servants forever. If you were born a mafia leader, you and your future generations would stay in power forever. Your sentiments made you feel alien when you realised no one else around you seemed to share the same thoughts, so much so that you started wondering that perhaps you really were being too unrealistic. 

But then came The Choice of a Nation, a book that introduced to you concepts like governments and elections and courts. It was all entirely fiction, every term having to be explained in great detail to be understandable, but all that mattered to you was that it was doable. Having different levels of governments, having a justice system that judged everyone fairly no matter who they were, and having the people decide who they want leading them. It was realistic. 

And you’re convinced that the mafia families knew it too, because despite its fictitious nature, the book was immediately banned the second it was published, while its author had been killed just as quickly. You yourself had only gotten your hands on the book out of sheer dumb luck. Distantly you wondered how and why Jungkook had this copy. 

After that you had become dead set on making the book’s world a reality. But in order for things to go as you’ve planned, you need things to be unstable, because unstable things are weak. The South has always been like that, with mafia leaders constantly at each other’s throats. You doubt any of them even know what the word ‘alliance’ even means. It was perfect for you. 

The North, on the other hand, was a bit different. There were two alliances and the most northern region was a complete mystery to you. At first, you were stumped with how you were going to weaken the region, but then the opportunity had presented itself when your father had announced your hasty marriage to Jungkook. And once again, it was perfect. 

All you needed was Jungkook to be dead, and the rest would fall in place just like you’d planned. 

A meowing noise suddenly sounded from your feet, causing you to look down and find Persilla standing on her hind legs, her front paws brushing against your bare shins repeatedly. Her impatience was clear as day, making you smile. 

“You’re right, that’s enough snooping for today I think,” you nodded, running a hand over her small head while the other clutched the book firmly, “you deserve some expensive salmon for being such a good girl.”

As if she understood your words, Persilla dropped to the floor and purred, rubbing her furry body against your ankle. You gave the room one last look, as if expecting to find something else worth surveying, but ultimately decided you were way too tired from your all-nighter to continue on. 

-

-

-

At this point in his life, Jungkook could say with certainty that he was a pretty patient man. He wasn’t born with the trait, if anything impatience seemed to have been stitched well into his personality the second he’d entered this world. But, over time, he’d learned to get rid of the pesky trait and replace it with the much more effective and fruitful quality that was patience. 

Yet, not even all those years of cultivating the characteristic could have prepared him for how late Kim Taehyung was. 

Jungkook had been standing at the West docks, hands in the pockets of his long, black coat, since 8:00 AM in the morning, waiting almost 4 hours for his friend with furrowed brows and an unimpressed frown. He’d left the house as early as appropriately possible, partly because of your presence and partly because of the urgency in addressing the dock’s issue. Now it was almost noon and Taehyung, who’d promised to be here by 9:00 AM was still nowhere in sight. 

An annoyed sigh escaped his lips as he felt the ocean air breeze through the nearly black strands of his hair. Taehyung being late had given him more time to think about earlier this morning, when he’d shot you a glance before he was out the front door. You looked like you hadn’t slept a wink, which Jungkook could relate to, but he supposed that was for the best. You’d threatened to kill him at the end of your conversation last night, so having you sleep deprived would probably work in his favour. 

Not that you could really do anything anyway. Jungkook had made sure to set guards in every entrance to the kitchen and stripped the house of every weapon that wasn’t locked in a hefty safe. There was no way you could get your hands on any kind of gun or knife, so he was pretty confident that you couldn’t be a threat to him at the moment. Though, the memory of your fiery eyes from last night had seemed so determined…

“What are you smirking about?” Taehyung asked as he strolled along the boardwalk, making his way towards the younger man. 

Jungkook’s scowl instantly returned, causing Taehyung to raise his hands in surrender, “it took Chaewon and I a whole hour to get Suho to bed, who’s also sick by the way. Cut me some slack, man.”

“I told you guys to stay over at my place and not some hotel,” Jungkook chastised, feeling bad for the little guy. He made a note to send some sweets to their hotel room when he got back, “the maid could have helped you guys out.”

“The newlyweds deserve to have the house to themselves,” Taehyung waved him off before he smirked, “besides, I didn’t know how freaky you guys were going to get and I couldn’t risk Suho hearing, he’s way too young for that stuff.”

Jungkook rolled his eyes, motioning for Taehyung to start following him. They started walking along the boardwalk, Jungkook’s hands still shoved into his coat’s pockets while Taehyung’s were covered in black leather gloves. 

“Okay,” Taehyung said, “I’m just going to ask one question, and then we’ll drop it and you can explain this whole dock’s situation to me.”

That earned him a raised brow, but the lack of the younger’s refusal spurred him on. 

“What do you think of her?”

Jungkook didn’t answer for a moment, mulling over his reply before he finally answered. 

“She’s fine.”

He didn’t know why he wasn’t telling Taehyung the truth about you, about how your entire ditzy personality was a front and about how hellbent you were on killing him to get a divorce. Maybe it was because he didn’t really see the need to. Jungkook had concluded that you were only trying to kill him because you wanted a divorce, allowing you to go back to whichever boyfriend was waiting for you back in the south. 

“Your words are saying she’s fine, but your face is saying you’re mad,” Taehyung noted with a brow raised. But Jungkook waved him off, ready to end this conversation and get onto more important business. 

“Anyways, as you know, the Parks decided to attack the West docks last week,” Jungkook began, pointing towards his left to show Taehyung the damage sustained. One of the enormous warehouses, which collectively formed a neat line leading farther than his eye could decipher, had caved into itself, its walls charred almost entirely. The two warehouses by its side seemed more salvageable, with only a wall or two affected by the evident fire that had taken place. Construction workers could already be seen surrounding the area, hard at work to replace the damaged structures. 

Taehyung nodded as he took in the scene, “an attack at the docks… they’re checking to see how strong the Jeons are at the moment.”

“They’re doing it because they want to know if they can take over our territory.”

That was the standard protocol after all. When a mafia attacks another mafia’s docks, it’s usually because they want to test how weak or strong they are and whether they can take them over or not. The fact that the Parks pulled something like this right after their alliance with the Mins was no coincidence to Jungkook. 

But to his surprise, Taehyung paused, as if mulling over Jungkook’s words. He watched Taehyung’s gaze drift over to the vast sea on their right, a contemplative look shadowing over his eyes before they flickered back to Jungkook. 

“Is that really what you think Jimin is doing?” 

“What do you mean?” Jungkook frowned, “this is the textbook procedure for taking over another territory.”

When Taehyung didn’t answer him, Jungkook placed a hand in front of his chest, blocking his path so the two could stand facing each other as they spoke.

“I’m just saying,” Taehyung finally explained, “it seems a bit out of character for him. Wasn’t he always the one that was going on about how dumb it is to want to take over other territories instead of cultivating your own?”

Jungkook scoffed, “yeah, in university, which was years ago. Jimin has changed since then.”

Taehyung’s lips formed a grim line at the animosity in his voice. 

“Look, I know you both-”

“No,” Jungkook cut him off quickly, knowing exactly where this conversation was going, “this isn’t the hatred from what happened years ago talking. Jimin has changed, and I have the evidence to prove it.”

Jungkook turned around to resume his earlier path, Taehyung walking slowly behind him as they passed by the workers sighing in relief at the cool breeze of the ocean and large ships anchored alongside the piers. In a matter of minutes, Jungkook had led him to the entrance of an enormous warehouse. Taehyung’s brows furrowed when Jungkook turned around to face him, a grim expression washing over his strong features. 

“When the Parks attacked the docks last week, I managed to prevent them from seizing control of it by bringing out some old blackmail. Obviously I didn’t think it would hold them off for long if their plan really is to take over my territory, but I didn’t expect them to retaliate so soon,” Jungkook explained, “nor did I expect them to retaliate in this way.”

He turned back to face the warehouse's door, hand wrapping around its handle, “the night before my wedding, I was called to the docks because some of the worker’s had found something in this warehouse.”

Then he turned the handle and pushed the door wide open, revealing its inside.

“This is what I found.”

It was awful. 

The entire warehouse was full of dead bodies, some thrown haphazardly on the ground while others were thrown over the equipment spanning the room. Taehyung could make out bodies of men, women, and even some children -he couldn’t look at them for too long without thinking of his own son- all of which had clearly been killed in varying ways. Some looked like they had been burned, while others looked like they’d been thrown into a blender. Being in the mafia, Taehyung was no stranger to blood and gore, but this… this was too much, even for him. 

But then his gaze caught onto a wall in the far corner of the warehouse, particularly the sight of dried blood smeared against the grey metal. He took in each stroke of red, processing each letter it had been made to resemble until he could read what had been written. 

“‘We’re coming,’” Jungkook read out loud, keeping his stoic gaze fixed on Taehyung. 

He shook his head, unable to comprehend what he was seeing, “I knew Yoongi was brutal, but I never could have expected he’d be capable of… this.”

Jungkook’s gaze drifted around the room, grimacing at the scene before him. 

“Jimin and Yoongi clearly aren’t who they used to be,” he concluded, looking towards Taehyung for confirmation. Thankfully, Taehyung nodded this time, gaze becoming hard as he agreed without protest. 

“Well, they’ve warned us that they’re coming,” he said, gesturing towards the bloody message, “what are we going to do about it?”

Jungkook motioned for Taehyung to follow him back outside, where the air didn’t smell like death and the sights didn’t make him want to crawl out of his skin. 

“I’ve scheduled a meeting with one of the unaffiliated gangs located in the West in about an hour. As long as we pay them well, they’ll do just about anything for us. Having extra manpower should tip the odds in our favour. Not to mention, I’ll make good use of the Lees.”

Taehyung nodded as he watched Jungkook close the door of the warehouse, “are you going to contact Jimin first?”

“No,” he shook his head, beginning to walk back to the parking lot alongside Taehyung, “I’ve had a headcount done and it doesn’t seem like any of the people in the warehouse were one of ours. I think the Parks were just trying to send a message to scare us.”

“I’ll get a headcount done for my people too just in case,” Taehyung said, to which Jungkook agreed. 

Once they had made it back to the parking lot, Taehyung turned to face him.

“I was thinking of heading back to my territory tonight, since I have a few things I need to take care of,” he explained, opening the door of his bright orange car before leaning against it casually, “but Chaewon wanted to have a late lunch or dinner with the bride and groom before we left. I hope you don’t mind.”

Jungkook’s interest piqued as a thought suddenly came to mind. This would be a good opportunity to assess how you and him were going to act like a couple in front of others. If the two of you failed, it would be fine since it was just Taehyung and Chaewon, two people that he trusted with his life. Then you and him could learn from the experience and hopefully get it together before having to make any public appearances. 

“Does 6 work?” He asked, to which Taehyung nodded. 

The two then exchanged quick goodbyes, Taehyung explaining that he should probably get back as soon as possible to get things in order, before Jungkook watched as he got into his car and drove off, standing for a few minutes until someone came to stand behind him. 

“Sir?”

He turned to find a man bowing in his direction, waiting for permission to speak. Jungkook motioned for him to go on, already getting an idea of what this was about. 

“Our informant within the Lees just contacted us,” he explained, “he said that Lee Y/N’s father believes his daughter to be a frivolous and naive girl, her sole purpose being to marry someone that will benefit the Lees.”

Jungkook nodded at the news. So you had been telling the truth when you said that you’d fooled everyone, including your father, with your performance… Distantly he wondered why you would decide to resort to such an act. 

“Have there been any talks of betraying this alliance?” Jungkook asked, to which the man shook his head. 

“The informant said there were none. Lee Y/N’s father seems dependent on this alliance to protect himself from neighbouring mafias. The South is quite unsettled in that aspect.”

“I see, and have there been any talks of Y/N having some sort of significant other in the Lee territory?”

The man seemed to hesitate for a moment, “the informant said that there weren’t really any talks of that… but he did mention that before your marriage, when Lee Y/N was still living in the Lee territory, he’d accidentally overheard a hushed phone conversation she’d had in her bedroom. He couldn’t make out what they had been talking about, but he was able to confirm that the voice on the other line was male. The informant hadn’t thought anything of it at the time, but since you’re asking now, he decided it would be safer to let you know just in case.”

It could have been anyone, hell, you could have been talking to a relative or something, but Jungkook’s mind went straight to his initial theory. It made sense, especially considering you wanted a divorce so badly. He couldn’t really think of any other reason besides your heart already belonging to someone else… even though you were his wife. 

“Sir? Was there anything else?” The man asked, causing Jungkook to reel in his scowl.

“Contact Lee Y/N’s father and schedule a meeting with him as soon as he can,” Jungkook said, “that’s all, thank you.”

The man bowed, instantly scurrying away from sight to get to the assigned task, while Jungkook turned to start making his way to his car. 

For some reason, his mood had suddenly soured. 

-

-

-

“So we finally get to meet the famous Y/N.”

You smiled shyly as you walked into the grand dining hall, automatically taking in the spiralling chandelier, marble floor, and dark brown dining table filled with formal decoration pieces. Only after this assessment did you let your gaze fall on the two sitting on the dining chairs; the first one you already knew to be Taehyung, who was dressed in a rich grey suit, while the other was a woman -you automatically assumed she was Taehyung’s wife considering the maid had told you you’d be dining with the two today. 

She had been the one that had spoken, but the first thing you noticed when your eyes landed on her was that she was gorgeous. Her straight, long black hair and hazel eyes sparkled under the glittering light of the chandelier overhead, while her dark maroon dress fit elegantly into the rich ambience of the room.

As she stood from her seat, you felt yourself automatically tense. Back in the South, the wives of mafia leaders were always vicious and constantly at each other's throats, a reflection of their husbands’ animosity towards each other. Now that you were married, you supposed you’d have to be subjected to the same, but the only difference was that your ditzy facade would bar you from being able to fight back. Whatever Taehyung’s wife threw at you, you’d have to take it. 

But after she made her way towards you, her actions as smooth as silk, you were surprised when she pulled you in for a quick and formal embrace. 

“The wedding was absolutely beautiful,” she praised, even the flow of her voice silk-like, “and of course your dress, it was exquisite! You must tell me the designer you went with- or perhaps it was all just your figure. I wouldn’t be surprised if that were the case.”

For a moment all you could do was stare at her; this woman… she was being so… nice. Too nice, if you were being honest. It was a little unnerving, instantly making you sceptical of her intentions. Perhaps the wives of northern mafia leaders were more cunning in the way they sniped at each other? They greeted each other politely during occasions, but behind the scenes they would attack each other to obtain what they wanted? But then again, what could anyone possibly want from you? To them you were just some featherbrained girl that dressed like a fancy pastel tablecloth. 

You’d decided to still dress the part this evening, with a fluffy light pink dress that fell right at your knees and a matching silk ribbon tied into a bow pulling up half your hair, even if you didn’t know for sure how much Jungkook would have revealed to Taehyung. You had the feeling that Jungkook wouldn’t tell him anything, since it would work in his favour having the least amount of people knowing, but you’ve also heard how close the two men were so it wouldn’t entirely surprise you if he had.

Taehyung certainly was staring at you like he knew your secret. Unlike his wife, he stayed seated at the dining table, offering you a polite greeting from there instead, but you could recognise the calculating nature of his gaze as clear as day. He was assessing your every movement as you interacted with his wife, which made you straighten up. It wouldn’t be the biggest deal if he did know, because who would believe him if he went around spreading that kind of news, but if he didn’t, then you would have to up the quality of your act. 

“Has Jungkook told you anything about us?” Taehyung’s wife asked as she took the seat next to her husband once again, while you decided to take the seat across from her, “ah- who am I kidding? You’ve only been here a night. I’m Chaewon and this is Taehyung, he’s the leader of the Kims.”

You nodded, making sure to keep your voice light and airy, “you’re pretty.”

She tried to hide it well, but the comment had Chaewon’s eyes flickering to her husband for a moment. It was better that you started dropping a dumb comment here and there to really seal the ‘dumb as rocks’ trait. 

Chaewon quickly recovered from the surprise, letting out a breathy chuckle, “you’re sweet, but you’re so pretty yourself. I love the light sparkles you’ve added to your lids, it’s such a subtle but dainty thing.”

Her tone was so formal that you couldn’t tell if she was passively mocking you or not. You would’ve preferred she just pull a gun on you or something; it would be way less confusing than sitting here and trying to read between the lines of her words. Confrontational individuals were dangerous, but individuals who planned their strikes in the shadows were the real threats. You’d know that best.

At that moment, before you could reply with an even dumber comment, the sound of the door opening caught everyone’s attention. You turned just to catch Jungkook closing the door behind him, his hair slightly damp, likely from a shower, and dressed in a simple black collar shirt tucked into matching black dress pants. He paused at the doorway, scanning the room for a moment until his eyes dropped on you.

Your brows furrowed when he held your gaze for a second longer than normal, a hidden question in your expression. He looked almost thoughtful, an idea clearly waltzing through his mind, before he finally started making his way towards the three of you. 

You thought that was the end of the odd moment, and that Jungkook would finally initiate a conversation with the other two sitting at the table as he pulled out the chair next to you. But just as he was about to settle into the soft cushion, he stalled for a second, turned to face you…

And then placed a quick peck on your cheek.

You froze, shock making your limbs rigid as you used every bit of your self control to stop yourself from instinctively flinching at the action. 

“Sorry I’m late,” Jungkook apologised as he casually plopped down into his seat, gaze fixing on the couple before you. 

But Chaewon smiled, a graceful hand going to her chest. 

“Aww look at how flustered she looks, aren’t they just adorable, Taehyung?” She said with a smile. Your hands instantly went to your cheeks, annoyed to find them burning underneath your palms. 

Before you could think much of it though, the servers started spilling into the room to place steaming plates of food before you all. This evening’s menu seemed to be seafood themed, with plates of crab, lobster, and shrimp filling the initially empty surface of the dark dining table. It made sense to you, considering almost half of Jungkook’s territory bordered the ocean. 

Once the plates had been placed, a server stepped beside you, bringing out a bottle of red wine to pour into the empty glass beside your plate. But you brought up a hand to stop him. 

“Not a fan of wine, Y/N?” Chaewon asked as she noticed the gesture, and once again the ambiguity in her formal tone made it hard to tell whether she was mocking you or not. 

You shook her head in response, “I don’t like alcohol, it tastes gross.”

Yes, ditzy Y/N didn’t like alcohol, but the real Y/N was seriously craving that expensive whiskey you knew Jungkook had stashed in his office at this very moment. He clearly had good taste, it was a shame you’d had to drop a gram of lethal toxin into the bottle before you’d left the room and passed out on Jungkook’s bed for nearly two hours. You scowled inwardly as you remembered how much more you could have slept had it not been for the maid who had woken you up to give you a tour of the house and then helped you get ready for the early dinner you and Jungkook were supposed to have with Taehyung and Chaewon. 

“I apologise ma’am, is there anything else I can interest you in instead?” The server asked, moving the bottle of wine away from your glass. You mused over your answer for a moment, before you smiled up at him.

“I’d like some banana milk, please.”

Once again, Chaewon subtly threw an unreadable look towards Taehyung, but this time she wasn’t alone as Taehyung and Jungkook each threw their own odd looks in your direction at the wildly childish choice. Back when you first started acting naive your reaction would have consisted of an intense feeling of embarrassment washing over you, but now the others’ reactions only seemed to amuse you. Although, you were inwardly groaning at how gross having seafood alongside milk was going to be. But the show had to go on, didn’t it?

Taehyung cleared his throat when the server returned with a wine glass filled with banana milk -you had to pinch your arm to stop yourself from laughing at that- before he turned to face Jungkook, eager to break the awkward silence that had ensued. 

“I hope you both enjoyed your wedding present, Chaewon spent so long on making that gift basket I thought it was going to be for your one year anniversary,” he joked, causing Chaewon to playfully slap his shoulder. 

“I just wanted it to be nice,” she defended instantly, “we’ve known Jungkook for years, seeing him get married makes me feel like a proud older sister.”

It was such a contrasting sight seeing two mafia families be so fond and at ease with each other when you’d grown up seeing the southern mafia families at each other’s throats constantly. Chaewon seemed so comfortable here, and even though Taehyung was mostly quiet -you were starting to think he was trying to decipher the relationship between you and Jungkook with the way he kept staring back and forth between you two- even he didn’t seem to be guarded despite being in another mafia leader’s territory. 

“We enjoyed the basket, thank you,” Jungkook said, bringing your focus back to the conversation. You watched him lean back in his seat as his gaze drifted to you, the ghost of an amused look haunting his features, “the champagne particularly was quite the ice breaker.”

You’d tried to kill him using that bottle and yet here he was practically mocking you about it not even 24 hours later. You threw him a sweet smile, as if you were reliving a fond memory, hoping he would pick up on the hidden glare in your gaze. But that only made his grin widen. 

“I’m glad to hear that,” Chaewon clapped, not seeming to pick up on the tension between you both, “I wasn’t aware of your distaste for alcohol though, Y/N. I’ll be sure to keep that in mind in the future.”

You faced her with what you hoped was a grateful smile, “it’s okay, I really liked the scented candles.”

It had actually been Persilla that had been obsessed with them, the vanilla scented one seeming to be her favourite. 

The dining room was mostly quiet following that, the four of you finishing up your food in a comfortable silence. Inwardly you were gagging at the combination of shrimp and banana milk you’d decided to torment yourself with. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, every few minutes or so you’d catch Jungkook trying to suppress a sly grin, the man being the only one in the room, to your knowledge at least, who knew the reality of your predicament. You scowled, annoyed by his satisfaction until an idea came to mind. 

Well, you could always hit two birds with one stone. 

You reached over your plate to grab your glass of banana milk, bringing it towards yourself to give the impression that you were going to drink from it. But at the last moment, you let the bottom of the glass catch on your plate, causing the entire thing to tip from your fingers. It clattered onto the table, splashing all over Jungkook’s plate and seated form, making him flinch. 

You instantly gasped dramatically, hands going to cover your mouth and eyes widening as you squeaked, “I’m so sorry!”

With Taehyung and Chaewon’s focus shifting to the spill on the table, the roll of Jungkook’s eyes went unnoticed by them. 

“It’s okay, it was only an accident,” he forced out, pushing his chair away from the table’s edge and widening his thighs to evade the rest of the milk. You had to hide your smile behind your hands as you watched the no doubt cold milk seep into his pants. 

Taehyung picked up the box of napkins, which had been near his plate, and held it out to the younger man, causing Jungkook to stretch over the table to receive it. But just as Jungkook grabbed the box, you noticed Taehyung’s brows suddenly furrow, his eyes seeming to stay fixed at a particular spot on Jungkook’s neck. 

You followed his gaze curiously. The first few buttons of Jungkook’s black shirt had been undone, revealing a sliver of his collarbone and chest, but as Jungkook stretched you noticed the fabric shift to expose more of the area, which you realised was covered in red patches that looked a lot like… hickies. You and Taehyung weren’t the only ones that caught this as you noticed Chaewon smirk, her gaze travelling between you both. 

Jungkook himself was the last to notice the stares as he pressed some tissues against the wet material of his pants, most of which was prominent on his lap. Yet when he did notice them, even you knew that Taehyung and Chaewon’s questioning looks wouldn’t allow for him to get out of this without an explanation. 

You expected him to wave them off with a lame excuse anyway, like it was a rash or he’d burned himself somehow. You could call Jungkook many things, but he didn’t seem like the kind of guy that enjoyed making suggestive jokes or conversation. Nor did he seem like the kind of guy to divulge in his sexual escapades. 

But Jungkook didn’t do any of that. Instead he paused, similar to earlier when he had entered the room, and seemed to think something over. Then his gaze dropped on you, and the mischief in his eyes gave you the odd feeling that you should prepare yourself for what he was about to say. 

You should have listened to that feeling. 

Jungkook broke his eye contact with you, his lips twitching into what suspiciously seemed like a smirk, before he turned to face Taehyung and Chaewon. 

“I guess Y/N got a bit carried away earlier.”

Your eyes widened and jaw dropped open as Chaewon gasped, her hands instantly going to her chest as if she couldn’t believe it. From your peripheral vision you could make out Taehyung slumping against the back of his chair, as if he had finally given up on trying to figure the two of you out. 

“Y/N! I would have never guessed you were the freaky type,” Chaewon laughed, her gaze seeming to take you in a different light. Your hands curled into fists under the table. 

Jungkook knew exactly what he was doing by dropping a comment like that, and you were far from stupid enough not to see it. By insinuating that there was a more suggestive side of you, he was slowly starting to break down your performance of an innocent girl capable of doing no wrong in the eyes of others. 

You’d promised to kill him, and now he’d seemingly decided he wanted to kill the image you’d spent years cultivating. 

You took a deep breath to calm yourself as Jungkook’s hand hooked under your chair to drag it towards him, allowing him to wrap an arm around your shoulder when he was close enough. Even in the midst of your subdued anger you noticed just how close the sharp cut of his jawline was in this position, and not to mention the tiny mole under his bottom lip that you hadn’t noticed before. 

“It’s okay, princess,” he said, sounding sweet but you knew it was meant to be mocking, “you don’t have to be shy in front of them.”

You were going to kill him. You were going to shoot him so many times that by the time you were done with him he was going to look like a giant block of swiss cheese-

“Well, we should probably get going,” Taehyung said suddenly, his eyes focused on reading something on his phone before pocketing the device, “I think Suho is starting to get fussy again, plus we should get going if we want to get back home before it gets too dark.”

Taehyung offered a hand to Chaewon to help her get up from her seat, a classy smile gracing her lips as her gaze met yours, “that’s our son by the way. You must meet him the next time we meet.”

“I would love to. I love children,” you said with a tight smile as you and Jungkook got up from your seats, exchanging polite pleasantries all the way to the front door.

“You know, that’s not very surprising to me,” Chaewon commented while Taehyung looped an arm around hers. You waved to each other with smiles, watching him guide her into an orange car before driving around the fountain and disappearing through the tall gates. 

The second the front door closed your smile dropped, replaced by an annoyed scowl that you threw in Jungkook’s direction. He regarded you as you crossed your arms over your chest.

“I don’t know about the North, but in the South we have this thing called personal space. You should try it out some time,” you said, to which Jungkook raised an eyebrow.

“Have you ever seen a married couple have personal space? Really Y/N, must I explain the birds and the bees to you?

You huffed as he walked past you, climbing up the stairs casually while you started following behind him. 

“Why does it even matter if people know how dysfunctional this marriage is? We’re married, how is that not enough?”

It really did not make sense to you why he was so dead set on selling this image of a perfect marriage to others. Back in the South, there was not one marriage a mafia leader was a part of where it wasn’t in complete shambles, and that was very public knowledge to everyone in, and even outside of, the territory. Yet, that didn’t seem to affect the level of control or power the southern mafia leaders had. So why was Jungkook making it out to be such a big deal?

But the question stopped him in his tracks, causing him to turn around on the stairs to give you an incredulous look, as if what you had asked was almost alien. 

“I don’t know how it works in the South, but in the North it very much matters,” he said slowly, gaze fixed on yours, “we must present ourselves as perfect in every aspect of our lives, or there are a number of enemies that would have no problem taking advantage of even the most miniscule flaw.”

You scoffed, “that’s dumb.”

Jungkook turned away from you, not bothering to comment on the mindless remark, as he continued to resume his path up the stairs. When he finally made it to the top and walked up to his bedroom’s door, he pushed it open and walked inside. 

Your breath instantly stalled as you followed behind him, gaze darting around the room quickly to see if Persilla was anywhere in his sights. You knew you didn’t need to worry, Persilla was a master of remaining unseen, she’d managed to hide from everyone in the house when you’d been living in the South with your father after all. You’d even opened the door to the balcony slightly, allowing her to roam outside freely if she wanted to, so she might not have even been in the room anyway. You exhaled slowly, successful in convincing yourself that the little black cat you’d grown to care for and love would be fine. 

Jungkook’s breath, on the other hand, came out as a low huff when he noticed the balcony door ajar. He walked over to it quickly, closing it before giving you a chastising look. One you ignored obviously. 

Instead you casually turned away from him to enter into the bathroom, grabbing a few makeup wipes before returning back into the bedroom and plopping yourself down on the fluffy duvet of the bed. You began wiping off the various light sparkles and pinks that softened your face, as if you were taking off a doll-like mask. 

“You’re an annoying little thing, aren’t you?” He commented as he watched your nonchalant demeanour. 

Then it was your turn to watch him disappear into his closet for a moment, the muffled sounds of clothes moving around reaching your ears, before he emerged in a pair of grey sweatpants and a black short sleeve t-shirt. 

But you particularly noticed his right arm, which was covered in a full sleeve of tattoos ending just above his wrist. The ink travelled over the smooth ridges of his skin, taut from the firm muscles underneath. Your gaze immediately dropped to the small trash can next to the bedside table, hoping he didn’t notice your staring, as you focused on throwing the used wipes into the bin. 

You then leaned back on the mattress, arms holding you upright, trying to get your focus back on track, “I like how forgetting to close the balcony door annoys you and not the fact that I want you dead.”

That made Jungkook smile, amusement clear in his eyes, “I’m still standing here though, aren’t I?”

Your reply was quick.

“It won’t be for long.”

“Right,” Jungkook nodded, his words laced into a patronising chuckle, “but while you’re working on that, I need you to actually act like my wife. We’re lucky Taehyung and Chaewon didn’t notice anything, the public won’t be so inattentive.”

You tilted your head, “yes, I wonder what the public would have said about the hickies on your neck.”

Jungkook mirrored your movements, the edges of his lips twitching.

“I think they would be glad to be under the impression that we’re hard at work trying to produce an heir.”

“That’s only if your side piece stays quiet.” 

“Careful, Y/N,” Jungkook tutted, “you sound almost jealous.”

“Jealous?” You repeated incredulously, sitting up straighter with an evidently offended expression, “your girl is sleeping with a dead man walking. Is that something to be jealous of?”

Jungkook paused for a moment, continuing to direct an amused gaze in your direction, before he turned away, a breathy chuckle escaping his lips as he ran a hand through his hair, “relax, princess, there’s no other girl. I just went hunting earlier and got a few mosquito bites. Nothing more.”

“It doesn’t make a difference to me,” you shrugged before falling back onto the mattress, the softness of the duvet making your limbs feel heavy with exhaustion. The position caused your dress to ride up to the middle of your thighs, a movement that didn’t go unnoticed by Jungkook. He looked away when he realised he was staring, choosing instead to focus his gaze on the bright moon outside the window. 

“We may be as far from in love with each other as the moon is to the earth, but I still won’t risk messing around with others outside this relationship,” he said. There was a pause after his words, as if he were expecting you to say something, but you let the silence ensue. There really was nothing you wanted to add anyway. 

A noise made you lift your head, allowing you to see Jungkook unlocking the door to his office before he turned his head to you, “just get used to whatever happened at dinner today. There will be much more where that came from in the future.”

And then he was gone, disappearing into the room while locking the door behind him. Jungkook immediately walked over to the cabinet, pulling out a crystal glass and a bottle of whiskey to place them on the desk.

The loud clink of the glass against the wood of the desk made Jungkook frown, annoyed by his getting annoyed at your lack of reply. Yet, it was evident that he was indeed irritated by it. Of course you wouldn’t agree not to mess around with others, you had your ‘boyfriend’ waiting for you back in the South. 

He certainly wasn’t messing around with anyone. After meeting Taehyung at the docks, Jungkook had gone to meet with the leader of an independent gang in the West, who, to his distaste, was a huge fan of hunting. So naturally they’d met in a forest to hunt for a few hours, before Jungkook had convinced the man to be at his disposal. Jungkook has always been prone to mosquito bites, but that day the mosquitos seemed to have taken a particular liking to his neck and arms, despite what Taehyung and Chaewon might have thought. 

It didn’t matter to him, though, that you had a boyfriend. Yes, it really didn’t. He was just annoyed because if someone found out about him, then Jungkook’s reputation would take a hit. The news would spread like a wildfire, and the outcome would be far from good. 

He didn’t even know how well you could hide a secret like that. What if you slipped up somewhere? What if the dude did? It would be a disaster. 

Jungkook placed his glass down, the whiskey momentarily forgotten as he grabbed his phone and leaned back in his chair, staring at the screen in thought. This was for the good of his leadership, not anything personal. Yes, that’s right. 

Mind made, Jungkook quickly dialled a familiar number, waiting barely a single ring before a male voice sounded from the device. 

“Hello sir, was there something I could help you with?”

Jungkook’s fingers wrapped around the glass on his desk, “tell the informant I want him to investigate Lee Y/N’s room at the Lee mansion. I want to find out everything we can about the man Y/N was talking on the phone with before our marriage, and if there’s anything else unusual I want to be informed of it as well.”

“Yes, of course sir,” the voice said immediately, “I’ll let him know as soon as possible. Is that all?”

Jungkook paused for a moment, thinking over the question. This had been an impromptu call after all.

Stuck in his thoughts, he brought the glass into his hand, swirling the liquid in it for a second before taking a modest sip.

His reflexes acted before his mind did; the second he registered the hint of a metallic taste he lurched forward, spitting the liquid back into the glass in a matter of a second. Even with that little exposure he could start to feel his tongue burn slightly, causing him to instantly open the drawer of his desk and grab a water bottle. The water soothed his mouth as he quickly swished it between his teeth before spitting it out and repeating the process a few times.

“Sir? Sir?! Is everything okay?” The voice rang from his phone, Jungkook almost forgetting about him for a second. He cleared his throat.

“Yes, it was nothing. That will be all, thank you.”

He ended the call, grimacing in discomfort at the feel of his slightly sensitive tongue against the roof of his mouth. So you’d managed to find a way to sneak into his office. He shouldn’t have been very surprised by that, you seemed to have a talent for getting into places where you shouldn’t. 

Jungkook sighed as he eyed his liquor cabinet, realising that he’d have to throw it all. But as his gaze raised, it seemed to catch an empty slot in his bookshelf. Curiously he walked over to it, hand hovering over the hollow space between a book about war tactics and a book about his family’s history. 

It wasn’t hard to put two and two together. You’d obviously taken one of his books, but whether it was for casual reading or for something more he couldn’t tell. 

He ignored the pang of pain that rippled throughout his mouth as he ran his tongue over the back of his teeth, his gaze falling back to his desk. With Jimin’s attacks, he had a lot of work he was going to have to do, and now seemed like the perfect time to get that done considering he was not going to go back into his bedroom, which you had taken over. 

He sighed. 

It was going to be a long night. 

-

-

-

You remained seated on the bed as you watched Jungkook lock the door behind him, leaving you alone in his bedroom once again. You hoped he enjoyed the nice present you’d dropped into his liquor bottles this morning, because you were just about ready to be shipped off back to the Lee mansion and watch your plan unfold in the perfect way you’d outlined it to. 

The sound of something tapping against glass caught your attention, causing you to turn towards the balcony. It was hard to spot her in the dead of night, her black fur blending into the dark so well that her feline eyes were the only thing about her you could really make out. But even then, there was no doubt in your mind that it was Persilla trying to get your attention from outside of the balcony door. 

You stood, sending a wary glance in the direction of Jungkook’s office’s door, before slowly pushing yourself off the mattress and making your way towards the glass. You paused in front of it for a moment, taking a deep breath before closing your eyes. Your hands blindly felt in front of you, moving erratically in the air for a moment before you could feel the handle between your fingers. You pulled on it, hearing the sound of the door opening as well as the feel of the fresh airy breeze on your face.

The second you felt Persilla’s small body walking between your feet, you pushed the door close, sighing in relief when you opened your eyes. 

You crouched down to pet Persilla’s head, scratching against her chin when she purred delightfully. It was only when she moved her head upwards, showcasing her collar, when you paused, your gaze catching onto something white wedged between the sleek leather and her furry neck. 

“Do you have something for me, Persilla?” You asked, fingers pinching the thing, which you realised was a folded note, and bringing it out of its confines. You unfolded it, eyes widening after scanning it and recognising the familiar strokes of black pen on its surface.

It’s done.

We should meet soon.

~ H

A/N: comments, reblogs, and likes are appreciated! Also Jungkook when he finds out about Persilla: 🧍‍♂️

[adventures-in-mangaland]

Another Dead Boy Detectives Fic Rec List

Netflix sucks and I'm sad, but the Dead Boy Detectives fandom continues to be awesome, so here are some more very quick fic recs!*

Tonight's the Night You Fight Your Best Mate's Dad by Opossum_Subatomic

Everyone's Alive College/University 5+1 things fic featuring Charles bringing Edwin coffee and slowburn payneland. Also Family/Wedding Drama involving Everyone Thinks They're Dating so acute is verges on Fake Dating. This author is seriously fantastic, everything they write is gold.

You should also check out Kissing Lessons, which is a high school AU that does what it says on the tin while also giving non-binary Monty and polyamory.

Ornithology by Rosie447

Monty gets a job working at Tragic Mick's. This one's not actually payneland, being gen and Monty-centric. I know, gasp. It's a fantastic and very sweet exploration of Monty discovering his sense of self post canon and works as a great metaphor for recovery from toxic family/relationships. Also, the ex-animal solidarity and bonding with Mick is lovely.

what some circumstance stole by Chrome

The Sandman crossover featuring Edwin and Hob being kidnapped and tortured together. Their friendship is really wholesome with eventual Father Figure and Found Family Feels for the whole agency and background Dreamling.

dandelion wine (life and death in summertime) by world_wanderer

Payneland Right Person Wrong Time AU in which neither of them die but they still meet and become friends. The May/December friendship is sweet but tragic, with a bittersweet ending. Superb.

Mirror Image by Anonymous

Charles' afterlife gets taken over my an evil shape-shifting doppelganger, leaving him with plenty of time to regret never talking to Edwin about his feelings. Angsty but with Feelings Realisation and the Power of Love and Friendship vibes.

my healing needed more than time by babyseraphim

Case fic with de-aged Charles! Baby Charles is precious but be prepared for discussions of childhood trauma/abuse.

The same author has also written I'm So Aces at Babysitting, which is a really cute two-chaptered AU featuring Charles and Edwin babysitting the kid versions of each other, with bonus Crystal and Niko doing the same. It's very wholesome and the author writes little kids really well.

Pouring into me by tragedy_machine

Love me some "Charles wants to date Edwin to figure out his feelings but gets turned down" fic. Feelings are hard, OK?

thank u, next by KiaraSayre

Edwin fucks and Charles seethes. It's very funny and also features some interesting worldbuilding with the Fae.

Like We've Never Known Hurt by dearheartdont

Just cute established relationship PWP and praise kink. So good.

all of these hollows by handwrittenhello

The boys are alive again but sans memories. Can they still find each other and prove their devotion to the Night Nurse?? While also evading heavenly and hellish forces trying to keep them apart??? Very interesting concept executed well.

Suo Gân by emryses

The agency takes on the case of a traumatised Edwardian ghost searching for her missing baby... Read it for Edwin family feels.

Where Primroses Bloom by PantryJesus

Reading aloud as a love language and Watership Down feels. Idk, I'm now convinced that Edwin is kind of rabbit-coded with the whole "if they catch you they'll kill you. But first they must catch you" thing. A lovely well written fic.

I'm so sick of online love by Hse11z5

College/University AU where the boys meet through a dating app. It's cute.

you can have the best of me, baby (and I will give you anything) by aletterinthenameofsanity

Again, it's the Friends with Benefits but with real feelings and mutual pining for me. Now has a Charles PoV companion fic.

True Love's Kiss by Asidian

In which Charles curses himself with a Sleeping Beauty enchantment in order to confirm his feelings for Edwin and Crystal is the real MVP. I love this one because the boys are both SO stupid but in very different in-character ways.

I also recommend Promised, in which they kind of play the Green card angle to keep Edwin out of Hell? Which honestly needs to be more of a trope. And Tight Quarters, starring the boys trapped in a magic circle, leading to Forced Proximity induced Feelings Realization (in more ways than one! 😉).

Something I Can Turn To by DontOffendTheBees

I love some domestic fluff, in this case as an Everyone's Alive/Childhood Friends AU in which the boys are poor but happy living together. I liked how they both survive their respective traumas, but Reality Ensues.

I also recommend Lived My Whole Life Before the First Light for a lovely but melancholy Soulmate AU that goes for the "seeing colours" trope for extra wistful angst.

Dining at the Ritz by TerresDeBrume

Meeting the Parents fic in which Edwin's parents are awful and Charles is Not Having It. This has Everyone Thinks They're Dating and autistic Edwin stimming representation, plus discussions of racism, classism and ableism. The fic is also part of a great Modern AU series in which the boys attended St Hilarion's at the same time and Charles saved Edwin from a non-supernatural but still almost deadly prank. Highly recommended!

The Case of the Couples Retreat by juliasfanart

Listen, I can't get enough of undercover fake dating/relationships at a couples retreat, OK? Some minor angst but overall very cute and fluffy.

acu (aysar cinematic universe) by ObsessedWithFandom

The agency is hired to solve the mystery of Charles' death and bring his killers to justice. I'm genuinely obsessed with this series; I love its OCs and Charles having an exboyfriend gives Edwin a fun crisis. Plus haunting Charles' killers is very satisfying and cathartic. Just imagine they're Netflix execs, y'all.

*Not actually quick, as it turns out. 😅

I love doing these lists because I always think I've only got a few recs and then I look back over my recent bookmarks and I've got a metric ton of great fics to rec. You guys are so talented. ❤️

[zevrra]

JJK.3

synopsis: random hc’s for the men of jjk; college/frat boy edition!

tags: 21(+) only, tw for drinking/being drunk, age gap, some aged up characters, modern au, college au, jjk headcanons, all sfw, short & sweet, ask box open, jjk x reader

creator’s notes: i plan to turn all of this into a multi-chapter series so give me some ideas for what the “mc”(reader) should be! or just overall drop some ideas for it in my ask box that would be cool :3

CHOSO—

forensics major with a minor in chemistry and music

only knows gojo, geto, and nanami through volleyball

supports the team solely bc his freshman brother, yuji, plays

is not in the frat but gets invited to every party

also because he's the best dj any of them know

doodles on himself with a pen

has all the piercings

his ears are decked out with mostly studs

has a right eyebrow piercing, bridge, septum, and snake bites

probably has his nipples pierced too (he lost a dare)

hangs out with geto so they can share nail polish when he paints his nails

is the quiet one at parties who's awkwardly sitting on the couch while he sips his drink

once he's drunk he's entirely different, way more open and talkative

would talk your ear off about music if you let him

or the several different ways blood can splatter and how it'll never look the same twice

is a LIGHT WEIGHT!!

sleeper build

is an alt/grunge boy through and through

is a drummer!

TOJI—

is the frat's “overseer” and the volleyball coach

is actually a decent coach but really he just got lucky to have a great team that makes him look better than he is

gets noise complaints all the time about the frat

does not care, he's at the parties too

is a horrible, horrible influence

probably acts more like a bouncer than anything

provides the alcohol

does not let a single soul under 21 in though

is the hot dad every girl wants

sweatpants and tight shirts all day everyday

has beef with gojo

only because gojo ends up damaging the house and getting into wayyy too much trouble

takes everyone out to eat after games, has too many beers, puts the tab solely on gojo and dips

is a very, very handsy drunk

has to be watched at parties when he gets too drunk cause he’ll hit on all the girls

NANAMI—

a business major with a minor in biology, hopes to open his own small time clinic one day

plays on the male volleyball team, is a middle blocker

works out all the time, has a schedule for everything

is known for his "dark academia" style

hates large parties

the only reason he's ever at a party is because he was dragged there by gojo and geto

you can find him in the other room petting the dog

doesn't drink a lot at parties, will maybe have one if he's in the mood

is the rightful dd!!

literally the only voice of reason

always gets you your fav food after parties when he knows you're a little tipsy

would 1,000% rather be home reading

if he ever gets drunk, has to be inside his own home

he's a sleepy, "admits to everything" drunk

you've strictly forbidden gojo from being anywhere near nanami when he's drunk

probably in charge of all snacks for any party

considers gojo a friend but not a friend you’d invite to your wedding

would invite choso to the wedding though

is def saving himself for “the one”

GETO—

double major in psychology & philosophy, has a minor in art(sculpting)

doesn't do any sports but goes to every one of his friend's volleyball games

he and gojo 100% have matching tongue piercings

contacts during the day, wears reading glasses at night

wears nothing but baggy, oversized clothes

def has a streetwear aesthetic

sleeper build 2.0

is an orphan but was adopted into a very well off family

got into college solely on scholarships though

has known, and been best friends, with gojo since childhood

can drink gallos of alcohol and hardly feel tipsy at all like he’s a heavy weight!!

can out drink anyone, even toji

a flirty, flirty drunk

bi king!!!

participated in an orgy once

has the highest body count out of all the men (besides toji ofc)

an instigator especially when it comes to gojo

gojo and him are in charge of inviting people to the parties

also has his nipples pierced but no one knows, not even gojo

covered in tattoos, def has a throat tattoo along with full sleeves and even some on his thighs

him and choso hang out just to paint their nails and drink tea together!!

GOJO—

majors in astrophysics, minors in astromath

plays on the same team as nanami, is a setter/spiker combo

still is addicted t to sweets

has to have sweets to study

is 50% jock and 50% nerd

thinks math and science is so cool

has a matching tongue ring with geto

has a style that screams "old money" (he def came from old money tho)

def think he could pull a “surfer” style off too

a nepo baby too

a horrible influence especially when he’s drunk

“I’ll give you $20 to break this antique vase.”

when he gets drunk-drunk he is just as flirty as geto but is a little more shy

tipsy gojo, talkative, flirty, comedian!! runs all over the place, makes friends easily

absolutely drunk gojo, timid, gets quiet and watches everything and everyone, would 100% tell you in a quiet voice that he loves you before he HIDES

not a light weight at all he just constantly goes over his limit to end up black out drunk

turns bright, bright red as soon as alcohol hits his system

questioning bi!! (experimented with geto once when they were younger)

lost a dare and had to get a horrible tattoo on his ass

the tattoo is squid doodle from spongebob but really badly drawn because a friend def did it

[reiderwriter]

Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You🃏

Chapter 1 of That's What You Get

Next Chapter

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Female Reader

Word count: 5.2k

Summary: After three weeks on a case in Vegas and a particularly draining phone call from your mother, you decide to take Reid up on his offer to show you the sights of Las Vegas. When you wake up the next morning, you realise one of those sights was a 24hour Wedding Parlor, and that you're now Mrs. Reid.

Warnings: Alcohol consumption, loss of memory, marriage (yeah that needs a warning), mommy issues, mentions of emotional abuse, implied sex scene, use of handcuffs in a sexual way, they theorize a possible creampie but I will neither confirm nor deny at this point, talk of contraception, no actual smut though, you guys are gonna have to wait for that. 18+ Minors DNI

A/N: The first chapter is here! Sorry for drawing you in with a silly little premise and then giving you mommy issues, I swear that after this chapter it's not bought up all that much. If you enjoy this chapter, you can sign up to the series taglist here, check out my masterlist and if you want leave a request! :D have fun reading!! ✨

Las Vegas, city of sin and entertainment capital of the world. Population approximately 600,000, home to the most famous casinos in the world, and unluckily for you, your latest unsub.

You’d been in Vegas for three weeks trying to hunt down this specific murderer, but now the case was all wrapped up and you could finally breathe, the weight of the stress you’d been carrying for almost a month now dissolving as you finally finished up the paperwork in the local precinct.

“Thank god that’s over. I cannot wait to be in bed with a good book and an empty head,” you groaned as you met the eyes of Penelope Garcia, your favorite tech analyst in the entire world and absolutely the only one you knew. She’d ended up having to join you on this case because some of the crime scenes just happened to be casinos that weren’t so happy sharing their data, but also didn’t want to be lumped with the warrant from the FBI. She’d been working between their offices and the precinct, and looked just as haggard as you felt.

“Oh, I feel you sister, this free travel experience thing is nice, but I would like to be back at my own perfect little desk hovel ASAP, thank you very much.” The two of you shared a small laugh, and then began collecting your stuff.

“Come on now, baby girl, you’re telling me that you don’t want to hit up the strip while we’re here? See the sights a little?”

“Sweet cheeks, I have been working from the most harrowing of surveillance units all week on that very strip. I have already seen the sights and they were not pretty, and definitely not worth using up my precious vacation time for.”

“Unfortunately Garcia, I don’t think you’ll be needing to use any of that vacation time to stay here,” Hotch announced as he walked in, and every member of your team snapped to attention to hear what he had to say. “I just got off the phone with Quantico, there’s a storm cloud moving in directly in our flight path and we haven’t been cleared for take off. They’re extending our stay by another day.”

“Shit,” you let out a silent curse, and noticed that your other team members didn’t seem all that happy about it either. JJ quickly excused herself from the room to call Will, Garcia let out a faux sob and fell back into her chair, and Rossi had the look of abject Italian disappointment on his face that he usually only got when you talked about your love of pineapple on pizza.

“How’s about that drink now, baby girl?” Derek Morgan teased, but it was half-hearted and you knew it. You were all desperate for bed, and you could only imagine the mistakes you would make if you went drinking now after the month you’d all just survived.

The only member of the team who didn’t seem put out quite yet was Reid, but you chalked that up to the fact that this place was his hometown.

“If you guys do change your mind, I know a bar downtown where you’re 34% less likely to be propositioned, robbed or over-charged.” He smiled over at you, and you couldn’t help but let out a giggle knowing the man was 100% serious.

“Dare I ask how you found that statistic, Reid?” Emily inquired from the other corner.

“One part actually reading the annual crime report, one part personal experience?” Reid replied, and you laughed again, unable to hold it back.

“Count me out, thank you,” you replied, and you could have sworn for a second you saw a flash of disappointment flash over his features, but you didn’t get the chance to question it, because a call was lighting up your phone screen.

You quickly excused yourself and moved to pick up the call from your mother.

“Mom, hey, what’s up?”

“What, I can’t check in on my daughter now for no reason?” you sighed and rubbed your temples, knowing exactly how this phone call was going to go, because it was how the last ten calls home had.

“Yes, mom, of course you can. How are you?”

“Terrible. Cindy’s daughter is getting married, and it’s all she’s talking about now. Can you believe it? The girl was absolutely wild when you were friends with her in high school and now she’s settling down with a lawyer of all people. Someone should warn that young man before he realises what he’s got himself into,” she scoffed on the other end of the line and you did your best to not get worked up. If you got angry it only made her more self-richeous.

“I know, Mom, Jessica sent me an invite, and I’m sure Trevor knows exactly what he’s getting into since they’ve been dating since high school.”

“Well, how was I supposed to know that? You never tell me anything.”

“I’m sorry, Mom, I’m in the middle of a case right now, can I call you back later?” You did your best to escape the conversation before it devolved into something you really didn’t want to talk about, like yourself, and more specifically your love life. But the gorgon had you frozen through the line and you weren’t about to make the mistake of hanging up on her.

“I’m sure your boss could spare you for five minutes, over-working you like he does. You haven’t had the time off to come and visit me since you got that fancy little job of yours, so you can do me this favor at least.”

“Sure, mom.” At times like this, you knew it was best to just let her talk and ride out the wave.

“And I’m sure you don’t even have time to date. Are you taking care of yourself, at least? Making sure you’re at least presentable, I hope? Its like I always say, you could meet your future husband in one of those precincts, you know. Get a big, strong man to take care of you.”

You had to resist the urge to throw your phone. You’d explained to your mother time and time again that you were perfectly content being the big, strong man for yourself, but there was absolutely no getting through to her. You received one of these phone calls everytime one of her friends or coworkers kids announced an engagement, got pregnant or bought a house, three things that she was desperate for you to do, as well. As soon as you saw the instagram post from Jessica you’d been counting down the days, almost thankful for your mothers lack of online presence.

“A crime scene isn’t exactly the most charming of meet cutes, Mom.”

“Well, then what about Virginia? There are some fine men working at the FBI surely. What about that one coworker of yours, what was his name?” Your heart-race increased for a moment, praying she wasn’t about to put a thought in your head that you wouldn’t be able to escape.

“Derek Morgan, was it? Now, that’s a fine young man.” This time you couldn’t stop the startled cry that came from your mouth. Sure, Morgan was an incredibly attractive man, but he’d joked around with you like a brother ever since you’d taken down your first unsub with the team. Your team was your family and your support system on the road, and they had your back on the case, so really, had your mother said anything, you’d have responded with incredulous guffawing. Hotch was like your dad, Rossi a fun Great-Uncle or something. You saw the sister’s you’d never had in JJ and Emily and of course Garcia was your best friend and you shared so many likes and dislikes that you regularly joked about being long-lost twins separated at birth. And Reid was Reid.

“Just give dating some thought, would you at least? The clock is ticking for you, you know.”

“Mom, I’m not even thirty yet. I’m in no rush.”

“That's what your Aunt Linda said, and look at her.” Your Aunt Linda was a perfectly content single woman in her late forties who had a high paying executive job, in NYC of all places, so yeah, you were in no rush at all.

“Listen, Mom, I’ve got to go, Hotch is calling me into the office to talk about some case files. I’ll speak to you later?”

“God, it’s like you don’t even want to talk to your mother for even five minutes. Go on, then, go do your big fancy job. Call me soon.”

“Yeah, Mom, I will.” And with that you finally hung up. Running a hand through your hair you paused for a breath for a second, closing your eyes and letting your hand just grip your hair for a second before releasing your breath for a second.

In the grand scheme of things, you knew that your mom wasn’t all that much to complain about. You and Emily had bonded over your respective mommy issues early in your time on the team, and you knew a lot of the other team members were either lacking some family member or the other, so you were just thankful that she was still around to annoy you, but god did she make it difficult sometimes.

Realising that any second, you’d have one profiler or the other come find you and ask you (with the best of intentions) what was wrong, you plastered a smile on your face and walked back into the office. You didn’t exactly want to relive that call anytime soon.

“Back so soon, Y/N? I thought that was your mom,” Morgan questioned you when you stepped back in.

“Yeah it was. One of my friends from highschool is getting married and you know how she loves to gossip.” You’d learnt early in the profession that you were in that the best way to hide something was to tell the truth about it for as long as you could, and then change the subject.

“Hey, Reid, you still up for a drink at that bar?” You looked hopefully at the man in the corner, and prayed noone would bring up your absolute change in attitude. “I was thinking a glass of wine or two after a successfully closed case couldn’t hurt, right?”

“Yeah, sure. You wanna head back to the hotel first and change, or do you want to go from here? Hotch said we’re free now until 2pm tomorrow.” You could see a questioning look from Morgan to your left, but you kept your vision focused on Reid, quietly thankful for the rest of the teams disinterest.

“Give me five to drop off my badge and gun in my room and freshen up a bit and we can be on our way. If this bar is bad though, Reid, you know I’m never letting you hear the end of it, right?”

“I ran the statistics, there’s only a 14% chance you’ll dislike it.”

“You know what’s scary is, I can’t even tell if you’re being sarcastic or not.”

–x–

Sarcasm or no, you had to admit, the bar he’d taken you to was pretty nice. It was a low-lit bar only a twenty minute taxi ride from your hotel and whilst it wasn’t exactly on the strip, it wasn’t so far out to be inconvenient. The best part about it was that it was lined with bookshelves, and each booth was blocked off by another, making it feel more like a library than a watering hole. You almost forgot you were in Vegas when you stepped in.

“Yeah, this is definitely a Spencer Reid place,” you said as you took the final swig of your wine, the glass you’d ordered on arrival having gone down easier than you’d expected.

“How so?” Spencer said as he returned to your table, carrying the replacement drinks he’d gone to order with him.

“Come on, Spencer. I’ve never seen the inside of your apartment but I’m sure it’s just this place with less furniture and more books.”

“Y/L/N, are you profiling me right now? Because that sounds pretty close to profiling?” Spencer teased and you rolled your eyes at him, grabbing your next drink from him and giving it a stir - the wine was good but at the price per glass you’d decided maybe cocktails were the thing for tonight.

“Besides, you did mention wanting to curl up with a book tonight, so I thought this bar was probably a good fit for you too.”

“Whose profiling who now, Doctor?” It was his turn to roll his eyes, and he took a sip of his drink. You knew he didn’t drink that often, but he seemed pretty open to the idea tonight, and you were absolutely glad for the company.

“Okay, I won’t profile if you don’t, but do you mind me asking you a question, Y/N?”

“Fire away,” you were playing with the stirrer in your cocktail, waiting for him to ask the question but he’d hesitated for a moment before speaking again, causing you to look up directly into his eyes.

“What’s going on with you and your mom? I don’t mean to pry and I didn’t overhear any of your call earlier or anything, but when you came in again you were all tense and you had that strained smile on your face. Then you suddenly changed your mind and decided we should get drinks so, I’m just guessing here, but you could probably do with talking about it, right?”

You let out a groan and let your head hang a bit. Yeah, you were starting to regret taking that role in the team of profilers. But at least Reid was sincere, and you knew his intentions were good. Of all the members of the team, you’d probably have described him as the safest. It was strange to think, considering all the comfort you found in your other friends, but there was just something so reassuring about Reid’s presence, the way most people overlooked him at first, how he could easily fall into his work and how you could see the cogs moving in his head as he made one genius leap to another that just made you think that everything was going to be okay if he was there.

So because it was him, you decided to talk.

“She’s just…She’s just a little much sometimes, you know?” He smiled back a knowing smile, but didn’t try to add anything and encouraged you to keep going.

“She’s been really persistent recently in bothering me about hitting some of lifes big milestones - marriage, kids, you know? And it always leaves me in a panic because though I’m pretty sure I want those things just yet, I don’t want the pressure of having them yet.” You swallowed the bile in your thoat and continued

“Everytime she says something, I feel bad that I don’t have them. And the way she talks about them its like they’re some kind of… of personal failure, that I’m not trying hard enough to catch a man or something, and I just wonder what if she’s right?” You start slow but you feel yourself gaining pace as you begin rambling, by the end you’re left wondering if Reid even caught any of that.

“I’m perfectly content living alone, but what if I’m secretly not, and I end up forty and alone and can’t even get a guy to look at me.”

“I can pretty confidently say that that’s not going to happen, Y/N.” Reid replied when you finally grabbed your drink ready to take another sip.

“How come?”

“You won’t have to put any effort into catching a man, Y/N.” Reid replied.

“You’re saying that because you’re my friend and you care about me Reid, of course you think that.”

“No, I’m saying that as an FBI Profiler that’s noticed the barman, the man on a date in the corner and the group of guys smoking outside the door eye you up since we’ve been here. And considering we’ve been doing paperwork all day, and the only change in your appearance since 8am this morning was the fresh coat of chapstick you put on while we were in the taxi, I’d think you hadn’t really put that much thought into what you look like right now.”

“You’re exaggerating,” and you really believe that, until you turn to look at the guy on the date and see him avert his gaze from you quickly, and you realise there might be something in what he’s saying.

“Okay, but that still doesn’t mean that I need or want to hear those things from my mother.”

“Y/N, take it from me, mother’s can be complicated.”

“God, I feel so stupid talking to you about something so trivial with my mom, I shouldn’t be doing that, we’re here to have fun.”

“Y/N, its okay. I can do the mommy issues talks, I’m perfectly qualified, but…” he trails off and grabs his drink for another sip and you find yourself hanging off his words begging for him to bring you more comfort and spoken caresses.

“But what, Reid?” you finally ask, as you realise he’s dragging this out on purpose to tease you a little.

“But how about a distraction instead? Have you ever been in a Las Vegas casino with a man that is banned from gambling in most of them?” He wiggled his eyebrows a little as he asked that and you giggled again, grateful for the reprieve from the serious talk.

“That doesn’t sound all that fun, Spencer.”

“Oh yeah, it’s not, but we could always use those vouchers we got as a token of appreciation earlier in the bars and drink some pretty fancy alcohol?”

“Spencer Reid, you are finally speaking my language.”

“I’m still speaking English Y/N, but if you wanted me to switch to russian or some other language, I could accommodate that depending on your linguistic preference.”

“It was a joke, Spence, now let’s get out of here.”

With that, he stood and dramatically offered you his hand like a gentleman, placing your hand in the crook of his elbow when you took it and guiding you swiftly out of the sweet bar. You were with Spencer, your safe friend, close work colleague and probably the least likely member of the BAU Team to get into trouble in a bar in Vegas. What’s the worst that could happen? You thought, as you took a final step out into the humid night air of Las Vegas.

–X–

The first thing you noticed in the morning was the pounding in your head, and it was pretty much the only thing you noticed for quite some time. When you managed to finally unglue your eyes, the second thing you noticed that this definitely wasn’t your room. The third thing you noticed was the gaping hole in your memories that explained how you possibly could’ve ended up wherever it was that you were. Or really any memories from the night before at all.

Letting out a quick groan you sit up in bed and take stock of your surroundings. Although the layout is different, you quickly recognise the interior matches the hotel you’ve been staying at, so you’re thankful that you’re at least somewhere relatively safe, and most likely in familiar company. The room looks to be neat on the whole, but there’s obvious signs of a drunken escapade strewn everwhere - two champagne flutes and a drained bottle, the contents of your purse spilt onto the chair in the corner, some random balloons in the corner you must have picked up somewhere in a drunken stupor, your clothes discarded in a trail to the bed.

That last one wakes you up a little bit more, and almost embarrassingly, you look down at yourself and see your lack of clothing, pulling the covers of the quilt closer to you as you feel yourself flush.

Fuck.

There’s a shifting in the bed next to you, and you look down in horror to see exactly which member of your team got you so plastered last night. You try to move to see who it is, but theres a tightness around your wrist and you’re pulled right back down into bed. You look down at your arm, and that’s when you realise you’re really screwed.

There, around your wrist and restraining you against the bed, is a set of handcuffs. FBI standard. The insinuation flames your face as you whip around to see which close friend and coworker you maybe - possibly - hooked up with last night, too embarrassed to look at your hand any more.

Luckily, your mystery man shifts again, and you catch sight of the nest of brown curls right before he turns over to see you, so when you finally meet the eye of Doctor Spencer Reid, you don’t scream in surprise.

“Y/N? What are you doi-” he cuts himself off as he lets his eyes trail down your body, quickly noticing your state of undress and pulling himself up into a seated position. He is similarly disrobed and it takes all of your strength to pull your gaze away from his bare chest to look literally anywhere else, your face practically flaming now.

“Spencer, would you mind helping me out over here?” you manage to squeak out quickly, as he does his best to avoid your eyes. “I seem to be a little stuck?”

That draws his attention back to you, and he finally notices the strange position of your arms and the handcuffs keeping you pinned to that spot in the bed.

“Shit, Y/N, I’m so sorry, fuck,” he quickly pulls on the pants he discarded by his side of the bed and scrambles over to you, tripping over once in his haste.

“Do you know where the key is?” you ask as he arrives at your side again, your free hand clutching the sheets over your breasts like your life depended on it.

“If that’s my pair they should be in the safe in the nightstand with my creds, give me a second to look.” After a second, he reaches the aforementioned safe box, pulling it open. He roots around inside it for a few seconds and then he spots something ad you watch the blood drain from his face.

“Spencer, what’s wrong?” you spit out quickly, tongue still heavy, and lips probably still swollen, from the night before, so you trip over the words a little. He pulls out the keys from the draw, and you let out a sigh of relief, but you’re still tense as he reaches back inside the draw and pulls out something else.

“Y/N, there wouldn’t happen to be a ring on that hand would there?” Spencer still isn’t looking at you, still staring intently at whatever else is in his hands. You try to angle your head to look, but between the restraints and the fact that Reid had turned his back to you couldn’t quite see what it was.

“What? No, I don’t wear a ring on this hand-” you cut yourself off abruptly as you look down and see it. There on the fourth finger of your left hand, the one that is still chained to the bed by your partners handcuffs, is a ring. There’s a ring on your ring finger. You just woke up in Las Vegas with no memory, in your coworkers room, naked, with a ring on your ring finger.

Your heart drops to your ass as you snap your head back around to Spencer, who finally works up the courage to look you in the eye.

“I think you should look at this” he stutters out and finally presents you with the other item he pulled out of the draw. Your jaw drops open and the pounding in your head turns into a continuous buzzing as you see yourself presented with a marriage liscence. Pinned to the corner with a paperclip is a polaroid picture, and you recognise yourself and your clothes from the night before, with the addition of a veil and bouquet, your arms slung around Reid’s neck as he pulls you in for what you can assume was a pretty passionate kiss.

“Y/N I think we got married last night.”

For a second you could’ve sworn your heart stopped. This was not happening, not to you, not right now. How stupidly drunk could you have gotten to have actually gone and married someone you weren’t even dating. And considering your current lack of clothing, it was dawning on you that you had probably done a little bit more than what was in that photo.

“Spencer unlock these handcuffs right now, so help me God,” you breathed deep and screwed your eyes shut, hoping that wihtout the distraction of the glaring lights you’d be able to remember some of what you’d done last night, but nothing came to you.

Reid, for what it was worth, got you unlocked quickly. You winced slightly as you pulled your arm away from the position it’d been in for however many hours.

“Sorry, I’m so sorry, I should have undone those last night, I don’t know why I didn’t, I’m usually pretty good at remembering stuff like that.” Reid rambled, running a hand through his hair and pacing slightly at your side of the bed. You pushed yourself up and watched him for a minute, just looking at this man who was now, probably, your husband.

Your husband.

You shook the thought from your head and cut his rambling off quickly.

“You put me in these?” you asked, just desperate for any clarification on any of the events of the last 24 hours, not fully grasping the implications of what you were asking until Reid was looking down at you with a flushed face and a mouth gaping like a fish, struggling to find the words to say.

“This is my hotel room. Those are my handcuffs… I kind of just assumed…” he trailed off the thought and you were right with him, the embarrassment heating your face just as much as it had his. You found it hard to meet his eyes the, and dropped yours to your lap.

“So you don’t remember, either?” You almost sighed in relief at that. If even a genius with an IQ of 187 and an eidetic memory was in this state after a night of drinking, then you really couldn’t be blamed for getting so drunk you married your coworker and most likely had some pretty kinky sex with him, remembering absolutely nothing on top of that at all.

“Do you need me to grab you something to wear?” he asked as he looked down at you, letting his gaze trail probably a little bit too low for a little bit too long. You grew heated under his stare, as your body reacted, and you realised how easy it must have been to fall underneath him last night if this was how you were feeling from just one look.

But you pulled yourself out of those thoughts quickly, and it seemed that so did he, as he began grabbing clothes from the floor and handing them to you, turning away as you started getting yourself into a semi-decent state.

“Shit, shit, shit, shit,” you heard Reid mumble to himself as he made his way around the side of the bed, and in your concern for him, you called out.

“Anything specific those curses were for, Spence? Because I know this isn’t exactly the most ideal situation, but four Spencer Reid swears in a row is a cause for concern.” You tried to joke, hoping to relieve some of the anxiety of your predicament.

“I can’t find…” he started and then dragged a hand over his face, trying to wipe the exhaustion from his eyes. “Y/N, I think we didn’t use protection.” You could see him panicking now, and for a second you thought of joining him too, but you crossed the room and grabbed his arms.

“Spencer, look at me, it’s fine. If we did end up… doing that, I’m on birth control, and we probably have time to grab something extra just to make sure, right?” he looked down at you then and after a moments hesitation, he wrapped his arms around you.

“I’m so sorry about all of this, I’m so stupid for suggesting we go to that casino bar last night, I don’t know what I was thinking. You even said last night that this wasn’t what you wanted for yourself, right now, god I’m an idiot, you don’t deserve this.” He buried his face in your neck and held you tight, and you pulled yours up to his back, rubbing circles into his skin slowly.

“Spencer, listen to me. I can think of noone I would have rather had a shotgun Vegas marriage with, okay? This isn’t your fault, we were both drunk, and I’m sure a Reid who was thinking straight could give me some kind of statistic about inhibitions dropping with a certain amount of alcohol.”

“A study in the United Kingdom found that there was an increase of risky sexual behavior in young people who had participated in binge drinking, including unprotected sex with a new partner and the use of emergency contraceptives and I’m not sure why I’m still talking when that was probably rhetorical, right?” You smiled at his panic, finding him just as endearing as ever, even in this predicament.

“What I’m saying, Spencer, is that we’re going to be okay. This isn’t the first time someone has gotten married in Vegas on a whim. Hell, this isn’t even the first time it’s happened to someone on our team. In a sense, this was a very traditional wedding.”

He groaned into your neck again and you laughed up at him. Sure, you were panicked still, but just having him in your arms there sharing his honest feelings with you instead of bottling it up and leaving you to deal with it on your own in your head too was doing you a world of good, and you found the words you used to reassure him soothing you, too, in turn.

“Here’s what we’re going to do. One, find the nearest pharmacy. Two, find whatever Elvis-inspired love shack wrote that marriage license and figure out if it’s actually legally binding. Three, avoid all of our coworkers until 2pm. How does that sound?”

Reid pulled himself out of your neck then, and you were almost sad at the loss of that warmth near you.

“It sounds like I made the smartest choice of a wife I was ever going to make,” he smiled down at you.

“Oh you got jokes now, Doc? I see.”

“Thought I should let you know all my deep dark secrets now we’re married.” You shared a laugh, and standing there amongst the debris of the night before, despite all the mistakes, you knew you were safe, and that the two of you would always be safe together.

🏷️ @sailortongue @bethanyhaas01 @reidscaffeine @high-functioning-cosplayer @average-sunflower @multifandom-on-the-side @anniewhalelover @prentissesredtanktop @abbyshmaby @academiareid @hugyourlungs @w-windy @babybluecakes @SwaggySagieWagie@reidandhotchsgirl @lover-of-books-and-tea @star0055 @Zaapsite @daddy-dotcom @bluecandycake

[farmerstarter]

The Bachelors on their Wedding Day

Hi Hello have this short list of my little Headcanons of the bachelors on their wedding day. Hope you enjoy it! Reblogs and likes are appreciated!!🌷🤍

ʚ🏈ɞ ˚ · . Alex :

🏈 Fiddles with his tie relentlessly and ends up ruining it. He runs to Evelyn to ask her to tie it up again. The only other thing he fusses over is his hair.

🏈 Alex keeps a rabbit's foot in his pants, wanting all the luck he can get.

🏈 Spent literal days writing his wedding vows. Ends up opting to wing it. It wasn't the most eloquently worded thing you've heard but it was sweet.

🏈 He gave himself a pep talk in his bedroom before the ceremony. You only know about this because George was complaining about how loud he was to you.

🏈 Dusty the dog is the mermaid pendant bearer, I decided.

🏈 Also, the song that plays during the wedding is the same tune from Alex's music box. 🥺

ʚ🪶ɞ ˚ · . Elliott :

🪶Beach wedding. You guys have a beach wedding. You've expressed your interest in one and Elliott, with the eager help of Willy, clean up the beach for your special day. Elliott's shoes would fill with sand but his discomfort is overpowered by his delight when he sees you all dressed up.

🪶 He reads you one (of many) of his poems about you. You later learned that he's got a whole book of poetry about you that he's been writing ever since you two started dating. The poem he read on the wedding day was the very first one and is the first page of the book.

🪶 He spent hours trying to make himself look good. Asking for Leah and Willy's input on what he should wear for a solid 3 hours.

🪶 Aside from him worrying over his appearance, Elliott is more excited than nervous. He's on the verge of creating a new chapter in his life with someone else. Gone are the days of his lonely shack and the empty (well, not as empty since you moved into town) beach. Honestly, to say that he's excited is an understatement.

ʚ🛩️ɞ ˚ · . Harvey :

🛩️ Gets awfully shy when reading his vows, stuttering his way through his words and being a blushing mess. He has no problem with the one-on-one check up sessions he does with the other villagers of Pelican Town, but to read aloud in front of all of them at once threw him off. But he kept his eyes on you and managed to power through it.

🛩️ He considered shaving off his mustache for the wedding at least twice. But he decided against the idea.

🛩️ Insisted that you eat Farmer's Brunch the morning of the wedding. Even during your wedding day, he wants to make sure you're feeling healthy.

🛩️ Holds your hands throughout the whole ceremony. Whispering apologies for how clammy his hands are.

ʚ🎸ɞ ˚ · . Sam :

🎸 He wrote a whole song about you and played it on your wedding day. He made it a surprise for you and the moments of him hiding his guitar and shoving music sheets under his bed when you visit his room were all starting to make sense to you.

🎸 Couldn't sleep for the whole night before the wedding. He worried over the ceremony and wanted to make it go smoothly. He's not one to meticulously plan every detail, opting to engage in spur of the moment decisions, but he tried his best to make everything as close to perfect as he can get.

🎸 Jodi tried to gel Sam's hair back, but no matter the amount of gel and hours, his hair would always spring back. Sam wasn't a fan of dressing up in a "dorky suit" but he did anyway, for you.

🎸 Sam didn't want to see you until the wedding so he got Vincent to play messenger for the two of you. He wouldn't do it at first but only agreed to do it because he likes you (Cue a dramatic gasp from Sam).

ʚ🐸ɞ ˚ · . Sebastian :

🐸 Ends up smiling through the whole ceremony, looking at you with such a brightness in his eyes.

🐸 He isn't one to wear anything fancy. The closest thing he ever wore that is considered formal was the suit that Lewis got him and the rest of the dancers to wear for the Flower Dance. He asks his mom to help him dress up for the wedding, asking her about it while she was building furniture. Sebastian doesn't want to admit it, but he liked watching his mom so happy over something that was so mundane to him. He makes sure to keep the suit in perfect condition throughout the ceremony because of it.

🐸 He tells his very heartfelt wedding vows. And while he does, you could hear the faint "that's good," from Elliott before a grunt, inevitably elbowed on the side by Leah.

🐸 You and him ride on his motorcycle after the wedding. He drives you two to the cliff overlooking the city, the same cliff where he confessed his true feelings to you. Under the full moon, the two of you would look at the stars with Sebastian occasionally pointing at a constellation that Maru taught him to find.

🐸 Consider: winter wedding.

ʚ🐣ɞ ˚ · . Shane :

🐣 Genuinely doesn't believe that you want to marry him. He thinks it's a dream at best and a prank at worst. It wasn't until you were tying his mermaid pendant around his neck for him to know that you do love him. He still has trouble understanding it sometimes.

🐣 Shane asked Marnie to teach him how to waltz for your wedding day. Sure, he's danced in the Flower Dance countless of times but he wanted to learn something new to surprise you. And he did. After dancing with you, he dances with Jas. Well, it's more of Jas standing on Shane's feet while he walks and glides around.

🐣 He gave his chicken, Charlie, a bow tie for the wedding and everything. Even got a picture of you and Shane with the little guy. The picture ends up being hanged on Shane's side of the bedroom for many years to come.

🐣 Has his pocket full of corn chips, let's be honest. He offers one to you before the ceremony starts.

[smusherina]

bridges burnt - chapter 4 [epilogue series] (regina george x reader)

fandom: Mean Girls (all media)

pairing: Regina George x OFC/Reader

summary: When an invitation to Gretchen Wieners' wedding ended up in your mailbox, you'd been sure it was a mistake. Only, it read your name in neat, swoopy calligraphy. It was addressed to you. And Regina George, whom you hadn't spoken to in years.

additional clarification: This is set in the universe of yard work, a series of mine that can be found on my page! Reading this one might be a bit challenging without the context of the series :)

chapter 1 / chapter 2 / chapter 3 / chapter 5

You clapped along with everybody else when the bride and groom made their entrance. You kept a polite smile on your face even as Regina's hand, rested on your knee, had your blood rushing.

The couple would be making the rounds, talking to and thanking guests before speeches were given and toasts were made. Then (finally) the food would be served.

You sipped fizzy apple juice from a champagne flute, leg jittering uncontrollably as you waited for Gretchen and her husband to get to your table. Regina was doing the same, though looking remarkably calmer. Looked like it would take a while, considering the flock of relatives accosting them.

You did not pity them. Those cheek pinches looked painful.

"You gotta calm down," She eventually said, squeezing your leg.

"I can't help it. You know what Gretchen did. I don't even know why she'd- y'know- invite us."

You hoped Regina got your meaning. You'd been broken up for a long time now and it wasn't like Gretchen didn't know. When you'd moved back to town and Mrs George had gotten wind of it, she'd talked very excitedly to all the neighbours about her daughter's best ex living in town.

Gretchen's mom, part of the most pernickety HOA, a soccer mom of extreme intensity and a domineering PTA rep, of course, relayed the information to her daughter—and anybody who'd listen—when she got wind of it from someone. The network of middle-aged women was insane in the area. You digress. There was no way to know this for a fact but you could make an educated guess.

"I suspect it's because she's a heinous bitch," Regina said, casual as ever. "A vengeful, hateful, homophobic bitch."

"Careful, there's ears everywhere." Janis piped up, eyeing the room.

"You know I'm right." Regina defended, eyebrow notched.

"Obviously," Janis made a face like she couldn't believe Regina would suggest otherwise. "But, personally, I wanna get a taste of the menu before we're kicked out."

"Now, that's an idea..." Regina hummed, tapping her chin.

"What's an idea?" You asked. Regina didn't answer. "Reggie. What idea? What ideas are you getting, Regina?" Almost frantic.

"Don't worry your sweet little head about it, babe. I've got everything under control." She teased, pressing a patronizing kiss on your cheek. Your brain made computer whirring noises, blue flashing before your eyes. Rebooting.

"I don't like this," You mumbled into Regina's ear.

"Meet me in the bathroom hallway in five minutes." She whispered back, turning with a coy look in her eye.

You chugged the rest of your drink. Fuck. This was gonna be rough. Shane looked equally nervous but seemed to calm down when Aaron came by. You shook hands very awkwardly. He asked about you and Regina. You told him you were good, that she was good. Maybe your tone was a little too aggressive, leftover from your angsty teenage jealousy, because he settled to chat with his boo from then on.

Five minutes passed very slowly. You eyed your watch for the last minute of it, on the edge of your seat.

"Was nice seeing you, Aaron." You gave a quick, apologetic smile. "Best of luck." Hopefully, that sufficed as an olive branch.

"You too, man, you too," He called after you. You waved behind your back and strode towards the bathroom hallway.

There were too many goddamn guests. You navigated through the throngs of people best you could, muttering sorry and excuse me as you pushed through.

"What the fuck, girl?" You startled when Amanda took you by the cuff. She led you to a nearby wall, so very close to your destination.

"I thought you broke up?" She asked, hissing more like.

"We did. I don't know what's going on."

"Uh, tell her to back off? People are talking that there's, y'know, a very passionate lesbian couple here. Relatives from the bible belt not impressed." Amanda gave you a look, narrowed eyes and crossed arms. "Have you been lying to me?"

"No!" You denied vehemently. "It sounds crazy, I know, but she just came up to me like that."

"And why didn't you, hmm, I dunno, push her away?" Amanda's eyes turned soft. "She didn't treat you right, we discussed this."

"I didn't treat her much better, Amanda." You sighed and rubbed your forehead. "I... I can't say no to her. I- I don't want to say no."

"This isn't good for you." She said as if you didn't already know.

"Yeah. Well." You spread your arms and let them drop listlessly. "You know me, I do a lot of things not good for me."

"You're hopeless." She turned to the rest of the room. "Just remember, you're my ride home."

Your eyebrows rose.

"You sure about that?" You cast a meaningful glance towards the bar. The same guy, still being bothered by the same lady you were pretty sure, kept throwing helpless glances Amanda's way. She was gonna take that puppy home, he was so her type.

"Are you calling me a slut?" She grinned. "If all goes according to plan, I'll text you where to pick me up tomorrow morning."

"Great. Don't get murdered, yeah?" You patted her on the shoulder. "I gotta go."

"I have your back, Jay. Don't forget that."

You nodded solemnly and continued your journey towards the bathrooms. Just as you crossed into the hallway, looking left first, someone grabbed you roughly by the collar and slammed you against the wall.

"What-" You yelped but didn't get any more words out before Regina descended on you. She took you harshly, lips on yours sealed tight like she was keen on sucking the life out of you. Your body slumped against her, mouth seeking hers as she dipped her tongue in.

It was sloppy, a little gross, and loud. Had you been any other person, some innocent bystander, you probably would've been disgusted. But this was Regina George and she was kissing you. That still floored you.

Regina hadn't kissed you like this since high school. When you spent senior prom at your house, cooped up and pretending it didn't matter all the other couples got to dance and have fun while you hid. When you both got so angry that the only way to find release was in each other. When you broke up and decided you were better separate, crying in the middle of intimacy and so, so desperate.

"Keep your eyes on me, jorts." Regina breathed into your lips. You tasted her, something sweet and minty. "You can go back to your little girlfriend when we're done here."

"Huh?" You made a sound. "What girlfriend?"

"The one you were talking to just now." She trailed kisses to your ear. Your eyes fluttered, heart skipped beats. "You got multiple?"

"No, just you, uh, I mean- she's not my girl." You tried to produce full sentences with mild success. "She's here for emotional support."

"What's your relationship with her?" All these official questions while her hands were roaming under your suit jacket, feeling up your back, scratching with her nails. You shivered.

"Friends." You swallowed, panting as Regina sucked marks on your throat. There would be no hope of covering those up.

"Good," Regina said gutterally, voice almost like a growl as her leg pressed between yours. Oh god, was she going to fuck you right here?

"Now, you're gonna be real good for me and do exactly as I say." She kept touching your sides, your hips, your thighs, and you could not take much more. Her lips dizzied you, talking so low you had to strain to hear every word. Her gloss was all over you, sticky and tacky.

"Reg, what the fuck are we doing?"

"We're pretending, baby, and we're gonna sell it." Your stomach sunk. You knew this was some act but having it spelt out like this, that Regina was using you for revenge, stung. She continued:

"I will do everything in my power to ruin this wedding. I have ideas and I just need you to assist a little bit."

"Regina," You sighed and pushed her by the shoulders, lightly and gently. She went willingly, though with a pout. "You're doing it again. Revenge. This is why we broke up."

"We broke up for many reasons, jorts." She retorted, nails scratching at your tummy. You tried to hide your trembling.

"Yes, and- Regina!" She attached her lips to your pulse, where you were especially sensitive.

"Still got it," She mumbled cheekily into your skin, pressing kisses there just to torment you.

"You're horrible," You whined, hands holding onto her shoulders for dear life. Her leg hiked further up on the wall, pressing against you firmly. You kept your hips still, not daring to enter that territory somewhere so public.

You were at the end of your rope. Not much more now and all reservations would be null. You were sure you wouldn't say no if she unzipped your fly then and there.

"You know I am, baby." She squeezed your waist and sucked a hickey right on your jugular.

"Why are you doing this?" You asked, voice weak.

She didn't answer for a while. Just kept touching you, feeling you, kissing you. It was driving you mad but at the same time, you were beginning to feel like the reason didn't matter.

"Good question. Just go with it, yeah?" She breathed, finally pulling away enough to look into your eyes. "You look ravished." She looked so pleased with herself, with a little smirk on her face and her eyes glinting.

"Thanks," You tried to catch your breath.

"Now, we're gonna make out until someone finds us and that'll stir up something." Regina leaned back in but you dodged her kiss, giving her your neck instead. She didn't seem to mind, teeth getting in the mix.

"Y'know there's- there are more effective ways to ruin a wedding than kissing in a secluded hallway." You pointed out.

"Maybe. But this is more fun." She pulled your shirt out of your pants, ruining the careful tuck you'd done. Her hands grabbed at your lower back, nails scraping on your flesh teasingly. She was trying to kill you, surely. You told her so.

"You're gonna kill me, Reg."

"I'd never hurt you." She whispered, sounding more sombre than you would've expected. "You're the exception."

"Why can't you make exceptions for anybody else? Gretchen doesn't deserve this or all this effort."

"Jorts, baby," She brought her lips to your ear, whispering right up against it. You bit your lip not to moan. "You deserve all the effort."

That got you thinking.

"Did I deserve it back then?" You asked, careful, a little too quiet.

Regina paused, hands resting and mouth unlatching. "Yes."

You stood there, breathing together. You were all kinds of messy, so obviously kissed stupid, but you couldn't help the sting in your eyes.

It was dramatic, you knew that, crying over a bygone high school romance. You'd been just teenagers. It shouldn't matter anymore, not at this point when you were both adults. You both had real jobs, your own homes, your own lives.

"I missed you," You said, resting your forearms on Regina's shoulders. You touched your forehead to hers.

"I missed you, too," She said back, just as quiet. "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry, too." It felt like a weight lifted off of your chest. "What should we do?"

"How about..." Regina looked up at you through her lashes. You felt lightheaded. Her lipgloss was smeared in the sexiest way. "We get revenge on Gretchen for all the shit she did in high school, for being a homophobic bigot, and for almost getting Kylie expelled."

"Kylie? Expelled?" That surprised you. You hadn't seen Kylie since her sweet sixteenth last year, which she'd invited you to. You stopped by before any of the guests or Regina got there.

"Gretchen caught her kissing one of her younger cousins at their place. A girl. Obvi, Duvall didn't let it fly but it pretty much outed Kylie."

You took a deep breath.

"Let's give the kids kazoos. And water guns. That will ruin any wedding."

Regina laughed. "Where are we getting kazoos? And water guns?"

"I did some volunteer work as a camp counsellor this summer. There's some good stuff in my car." You got an idea then.

"We can lure raccoons into the reception hall!"

Regina cackled.

Notes: I googled "ways to ruin a wedding" and got some awesome results. Look forward to that in the next chapter!

Taglist posted seperately! If you want to be added, please comment on that post!

[crazyunsexycool]

My little love

Chapter 37

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x enhanced!Reader

word count: 3.5K

Warnings: fluff, scare prank, talks about a wedding, nightmares, briefly implied smut, little bit of angst at the end I guess,

A/N: Alright my lovelies were we are with another chapter of our favorite family. We are getting closer to the slight end of the series there are about 4-5 chapters left. Like I said before I still have more things planned but it will mostly likely be fluff fun check ins and maybe Bucky and Sugar's point of view for Steve and Honey's story. So lots still to come but my focus will soon be on A love as sweet as Honey

Series Masterlist

“Daddy, you catch me?” 

“Of course I will, doll.” Bucky smiled up at Lottie. 

“You stay wight the-uh?”  

“I’ll stay right here. All you gotta do is jump.” 

“Kay.” Lottie says as she shimmies backwards. 

Bucky sees her peering back down at him and can’t help but chuckle. Her furrowed brows and concerned blue eyes peek over the ledge. She crouches down and wraps her arms around her knees. 

“You don’t have to do it, doll, it's ok.” 

“No, I do it. Am big girl.” 

“Ok. How about if I count and then you jump?” Bucky suggests. 

“Kay.” 

“1…” Bucky says and he watches as Lottie stands up straight. “2…” her little toes and fingers wiggle around in anticipation. “3…” she giggles nervously. “Jump!” 

Lottie jumps when she’s told to and she splashes into the water. Bucky’s right there to catch her. She’s all giggles as Bucky wipes away the water from her face. It was Lottie’s first time jumping off of a diving board but she did it. 

“You did it, doll. I’m so proud of you. Do you want to do it again?” 

“Yeah.” Lottie nods and Bucky swims to the edge of the pool with her.

With how hectic your lives have been lately you and Bucky had decided to have a pool day with the kids. You wanted to do something fun with them before you continued your wedding planning. The closer the wedding got the less time you would have to do fun things like this. 

Bucky got to the pool before you did since you had to work at the medbay in the morning. You walked into the pool area an hour after Bucky got there. In the pool you first saw Charlotte in her red and gold bathing suit, mini arc reactor painted on the front, swimming. She didn’t have on her life vest or anything else that could help her afloat, she was going it all on her own. The way her legs and arms moved she looked like a little frog. Bucky was right beside her making sure she was ok as she learned to swim. 

“Wook it, mama.” Lottie yelled. “Am swimming wike a big girl.” 

“When did you get so big?” 

You could see her kicking her feet and moving her arms really fast as she treaded water. Her little head bobbed up and down as she looked at you with a smile, some strands of her hair sticking to her face. You got closer to the edge of the pool to talk for a moment. 

“On my biwthday.” She starts to slowly swim in a circle around her dad.

You and Bucky laugh at her very matter of fact answer. 

“Your swimsuit is in that green bag.” Bucky points to a chair. 

“Thanks, babe.” You turn to grab your things before looking back at the pool. “Where’s Henry?” 

“AAAHHH!” Henry yells as he turns himself visible again. He leaped over the edge of the pool and grabbed your leg. 

The scream you let out echoed through the large room. Henry was laughing so hard he was turning red. Half of his body was still in the water.  Bucky and Lottie had joined in on the laughter but you had a hand over your heart. It was definitely unexpected. 

“Henry Grant Barnes. Just wait until I get out here, you’re going to pay for that.” You said playfully before running to get changed. 

**** 

You changed as quickly as you could and thought about how to get Henry back. At the door of the changing room you peek out to see where he was. You saw that Sam and Nat had joined. As quickly and quietly as possible you open the door and slip out. 

Lottie was currently being balanced on Bucky’s hand. She had her arms stretched over her head in a circle and one leg kicked back, like a ballerina would. Sam was both cheering her on and making sure he could catch her if she fell. Henry had his back to you. He was hanging on the edge of the pool while talking to Nat and sharing grapes. You tiptoed to the edge of the pool and when Bucky brought Lottie down with a splash you jumped in and immediately submerged yourself. In a few quick strokes you were across the pool and grabbed Henry by his midsection and lifted him out of the water. Now it was his turn to scream.

“Gotcha.” You said as you pulled his back towards your chest. 

“Mama!” Henry started laughing so hard he could barely breathe. Soon everyone else was also laughing. His head was resting against your shoulder while he calmed down. You turned your head to give him a few kisses on the cheek.

“Told you you’d pay for that.” 

Henry giggled again as you let him go and he took his place by Nat again. 

“I’m watching you mister.” You narrow your eyes in his direction before swimming away. 

For the rest of the afternoon you lounged in the pool and played games with the kids. Wanda and Vision joined soon enough. Finally Steve showed up and was pushed into the pool by an invisible Henry. 

After the day in the pool, dinner and bedtime for the kids, you and Bucky were laying in bed cuddling. You yawn and your eyelids get heavier with how Bucky is rubbing his hand up and down your back. 

“Are you gonna tell me where we are going for our honeymoon?” You ask for the hundredth time. 

Bucky had told you he’d take care of the song for the first dance and the honeymoon since you were already taking most of the wedding planning. He had decided to keep his plans a secret.

“Nope.” 

“But how am I supposed to know what to pack?” You were so excited for this trip you just wanted to try and get any information any way possible.

“Nice try, Sugar but I already have that figured out.” Bucky chuckles as you groan. “Just let me surprise you.” 

“Fine, but it’s a trip you’ll enjoy too, right?” 

“Sugar, you know that I could go to the most boring place in the world with you and I’ll enjoy it. But yes I’m choosing something fun for both of us.” 

“Good.” You say and then break the silence again by asking, “But what is it?” 

Bucky laughed at your insistence. “You’re not getting a word out of me.” 

You pull back and narrow your eyes at him. Bucky gives you a smug grin and raises his eyebrows. He didn’t expect you to straddle him and take both his hands in yours and pinning them above his head. 

“I bet I could get a lot out of you.” You said before leaning in and pressing your lips to his. 

Bucky smirks up at you. “I’ll give you everything I got, Sugar.” 

Bucky walked into your shared home mid afternoon. He was done with his briefing and he knew there were some things that needed to be talked about concerning the wedding and kids. You had taken most of the responsibility even though he offered many times to take some things off your plate. From the wedding to getting the kids into a normal routine, you wanted to handle it all. So it was no surprise that you were more exhausted than usual. Bucky found you napping on the couch with papers and folders sitting on the coffee table. Alpine was curled up on top of your chest, keeping you company. 

Just as Bucky started to smile at the sight, you flinched. Alpine shot up and moved away quickly, annoyed she’d been awakened. Bucky watched for a second as your face contorted with fear and pain. A whimper escapes your lips followed by a small ‘no, please.’. 

“Hey Sugar, it’s ok, it's just a dream.” Bucky whispers. His hands trail up and down your arms. “C’mon you gotta wake up.” 

And you do, with a start. You almost head butt Bucky in the face. He holds you at arms length for a moment until your eyes aren’t glazed over. Your lower lip trembles and he finally pulls you into his chest.

“It was just a dream. You’re safe. They can’t hurt you anymore.” Bucky reassures you gently. “Do you want to talk about it?” 

You shake your head and press yourself deeper into his chest. After a moment of calming yourself down you pull away.

“We have a wedding to finish planning.” 

“Are you sure?” Bucky asks. His concern was evident on his face. 

“I’m sure. I’d rather focus on one of the happiest days of our lives.” You smile. 

Bucky nods, letting the subject drop and following you to the dining room to lay out everything you have to go over. You first go over the final guest list making sure you didn’t forget anyone important. Then it was on to seating arrangements at the reception. You were grateful that Bucky was giving so much input and opinions. It was his wedding too after all. He’d been the one to suggest the sweetheart table should include the kids. You smiled warmly at him. 

Once the wedding topics were done, it was on to the kids. Mostly what you wanted to do about school. Tony had offered to get private tutors for them but it was the socializing aspect that worried you. 

“Well the results for the tests Tony and Bruce have done came in. They say that Henry and Lottie could skip a couple of grades.” You say while reading the IQ results from the tablet you had. 

“But do we really want to set them up for that? It could be hard on them being so much younger than the other kids.” Bucky points out. 

“How about if we keep them with their regular age group and appropriate grade and put them in some extracurriculars?” 

“That sounds good. Balance it out so they won’t be bored?” Bucky nods as he says it. 

“Daddy. You home.” Lottie makes her way to Bucky. 

“Hi doll.” He kisses the top of her head. 

“Is doing wedding stuff?” She asks as Henry sneaks his way onto Bucky’s lap, too. 

You smile as you watch each kid settle on one of his thighs as he answers her question. The kids ask a couple more questions about the wedding before Bucky mentions school. 

“I stay with mama.” Lottie says.

“Me too. I don’t want to go to school.” 

“I would love for you to stay with me all the time but you have to go to school.” You say.

“But I already know a bunch of stuff.” 

“Bubs, there's a lot of things you still have to learn. That’s what school is for.” bucky adds. “Besides you would get to meet new people and make friends.” 

“And we were talking about you guys choosing something fun to do after school.”

“Like what?” Henry asks, turning more to look at you better. 

“Like playing a sport on a team or learning to play an instrument.” 

“Oh dancing? Can wearn that?” Lottie asks excitedly.

“Of course, there’s all types of dancing you can learn. Is that what you want?” You smile as you ask her.

“Yeah, I dance wike Auntie Nat.” 

“You want to be a ballerina?” 

“Mhm, and dance on my tippy toes.” Lottie sticks her foot up in the air and wiggles her toes. 

“You’ll be the prettiest ballerina, doll.” Bucky says before turning to Henry. “What about you? What do you think you’ll want to try?” 

“I don’t know, yet.”

“It’s ok my sweet boy, you can think about it and we can find something you’ll like later.” 

“Ok.” 

“Now, the real question is, who is going to help me with the cake tasting that’s in a few days?”

“Me!” Both kids yell at the same time and you can’t help but laugh. 

This is what you focus on as you fight to keep the nightmares at bay. All you wanted to think about was your family and your future. 

You woke up again with a start. Tears streaming down your face and a scream caught in your throat. Nightmares were starting to plague you more the closer you got to the day you were taken. It was always the same thing. Just as you were going to say I do, the sky turned black. There were gunshots and fire. Bucky would grab Lottie while you took Henry’s hand. As you ran away from the darkness that was crawling towards you, you pushed Henry away towards the safety Bucky provided. When he turned to reach for you, you found yourself strapped to a table with people hovering over you. A voice taunted you and told you how they were going to get Bucky and the kids this time. That you’d never have a chance to be happy or see the kids grow up or even grow old with Bucky.

Bucky would almost always be by your side and managed to calm you down but this particular night he was out on a mission. So you sat in your room in the dark, taking deep breaths until you managed to calm down. The same dark thoughts running through your mind over and over again. Knowing you won’t be able to go back to sleep again, you go into your closet and search until you find a small box that holds only one thing in it. You pull out the small thumb drive, get your laptop and sit down. You’d had this information for months and were unsure of what to do but now you knew you had to act. There was no way you could continue to live your life without making sure all of hydra was gone.

After your decision has been made you paced around your room for a bit. The truth was this scared you to death. Things could go right but they could go wrong too. But this was your mess to clean up. If you told anyone on the team, especially Bucky, someone else would handle it. This was your responsibility and you were willing to do anything to keep them safe. You had to make sure this ended.

Before getting dressed you stopped by the kid’s rooms. Although you shouldn’t be surprised to find Henry and Lottie cuddled up in his bed with Alpine curled up at the foot of the bed. You smiled as you watched over them for a few minutes. 

****

You were standing in the living room looking out through the large double doors that faced the backyard. It would only be a few minutes before your dad showed up to stay with the kids since everyone else was on a mission and they would try to stop or want to go with you if they knew. 

“Mama?” Henry’s sleepy voice startles you out of your deep thoughts. 

You turn to see Henry leading a sleepy Charlotte down the steps. 

“Sweet boy what are you doing up?” 

“Lottie had a bad dream.” He yawns. “We couldn’t find you in your room.”

“C’mere sweet Angel.” You pick Charlotte up and sit down on the couch with Henry sitting beside you. “What was your dream about?” 

“Mama was cwying. And I see bad woman. She so mean, mama.” 

“Are you going on a mission?” Henry asks as he finally takes in your clothing. 

“I am. But I’ll be back soon.” 

“I thought you said you weren’t going on any more missions.” 

“I know,” you caress his cheek. “But this is really important. I have to do it to keep all of us safe.”

“What about dad? Is he going with you?” 

You could see how anxious he was getting. 

“Baby, your dad is on a mission right now ok? But I promise everything will be alright. If he comes back before I do, don’t worry him about my mission. Can you do that for me?” 

Henry studied you, he had the same look Bucky did when he was concerned. Fortunately he nodded although he did so reluctantly. There wasn’t much more time since Eddie had just gotten to your house.  You put the kids back into bed and promise them that everything will be ok. 

“Is everything ok, kitten?” Eddie asks as he walks you to the door. 

“Everything is fine. I’m just needed for a mission.” 

“Be careful and come back to us in one piece ok?” 

“I will, dad. I love you.” You give him a quick hug.

“I love you too.” He says as he watches you go.” 

It was early morning when you landed in the empty field. You had some knowledge on flying the jet so it was a bit rocky. Thankfully there was autopilot and assisted landing. You stood at the top of the ramp and wondered if this was the right move. Deep down you know it was but it wouldn’t be easy for you. 

Checking your gear one last time you finally leave the jet. You’re looking down at a small town in a valley. From that vantage point you could see everything. It’s a small community, no more than a few hundred people. But you didn’t come here for any of them. The person you’re looking for is hiding up a mountain in a small cabin. Hiding like a coward.

Before you went there you had to make another stop. Another cabin about a mile away. So you turn away from the town and head into the forest. 

****

You stand just behind the tree line. A single cabin sitting in the middle of a small field. You watch and wait until four men head out. Once it’s clear, you move fast around the small two bedroom cabin. It’s bare, there’s no warmth to any room. As you suspected, this was just a safe house. But you were sure there was information you could use. Being careful to not move things out of place too much. 

In the small living room there was a desk pushed up against a wall just under a window. There were all kinds of files spread across the desk. Some open with pictures and detailed reports. You rifle through them and your blood runs cold. These weren’t just random reports but information about you, your dad, Luke, Sophia and Joshua. Even Molly and Olivia are included. Their schedules and pictures are in there too and they all seem recent.  

The hair on the back of your neck stands up and your eyes snap up to the window. You can just make out a silhouette right behind you. Everything happened slowly but somehow fast at the same time. You threw a kick backwards, sending your opponent crashing through the opposing wall. As soon as you turned around three more were coming at you. 

“We were told you’d be coming by. Didn’t think it’d take you this long.” One of them said as he lunged at you. 

They all had knives in their hands and it’s the first time you realize there was very limited metal in the cabin. These people had been waiting for you. Now you’d show them what you could do. Fortunately you had your metal bracers and used them to your advantage. It wasn’t difficult for you to fight them off and leave them where they fell. The only thing you did was take their dog tags off and stuff them in your pocket, then grab the documents with your family’s information. With one final look around you head up the mountain. 

**** 

This cabin was larger than the first one. It had a large porch with a porch swing. The curtains were open to allow the sunlight in but there was no one home. With a flick of your wrist you unlock the door and slip inside. This place was prepared for someone more important. Paintings on the wall were expensive originals from famed artists. Everything you’d ever need to live in a remote location was available. Nothing was out of place as you walked through the hallway and into the living room, the kitchen, then the dining room and the bedrooms in the back. 

After a thorough inspection you remove all hidden weapons and find more documents on your family. This time Bucky, Henry and Charlotte are included. You’d read something similar before, a list of experiments and procedures they had to endure. Your own file was to the side, all of them with neatly written notes on the margins. It made you uncomfortable reading what had been done to you but you grabbed everything and headed towards the living room where you laid everything out. 

Then you waited. 

**** 

The sun was high in the sky when steps on the porch finally broke the silence. A jingle of keys echo through the hallway, followed by the soft click of the door closing again and more steps. From the shadows emerges the one person you weren’t ready to face but had to. 

“Mother.” 

Ch. 38

Permanent taglist:

@rebekahdawkins

@cjand10 

@nalny5 

@Sturchling 

@angywritesstuff 

@seitmai

@writing-for-marvel

@goldylions 

@almosttoopizza 

@littleseasiren 

@pono-pura-vida

@talesofadragon

@midnightramyeoncravings

@bunnygirlwriter876

@pandaxnieenke

@kandis-mom

@hisredheadedgoddess28

@braveclementine

@otterlycanadian

Series taglist:

@buckystevelove

 @vicmc624 

@just-someone11

@sjsmith56 

@emily-roberts 

@spencerriedisagorgman

@superduckmilkshake 

@samfreakingwinchester

@lofaewrites

@enchantedbarnes

@callsign-athena

@broadwaybabe18

@saranghaey 

@viperchick47

@ilovetaquitosmmmm

@da-pimp-river-niall

@ozwriterchick

@jenn-f

@rebel-soldat

@therealwritersblog

@alyroseking

@samlworld

@witchybabel

@capswife

@oceaniamadness

@queenie32

@buckybarnessimpp

@multifandom-girlie

@joliver1328

@noonespecial90

@mega-kittyglitter-1

@pumpkin-babydoll

@imaginexred

@olipiaa

@zuri-767-666

@thedonswife13

[susililys]

MY SHIKATEMA FANFIC RECS MASTERLIST PART 2

Continuation of my ShikaTema Fanfic Masterlist, click here for Part 1 or Part 3 :

Blank Period / Dating / Shinobi Union CONT.

The Way You Are by: pieceofmind22 ONESHOT Cute Shikamaru defending his girlfriend from unnecessary comments.

Indulgence by: dinosaurspice M | ONESHOT Shikamaru and Temari see each other again after Naruto and Hinata's wedding, good smut.

First Kiss by: silverkunai ONESHOT Cute fluffy blank period first kiss.

double the trouble by: tentendeservedbetter M | ONESHOT Includes InoSai, Shikamaru relucatancly agrees to help Ino with her relationship with Sai by going on a doubledate. Really sweet fic.

summer sweets by: eeveleon DRABBLE Sweet fluffy ShikaTema on a lunch break in the early stages of their relationship with an indirect kiss.

midnight missions by: eeveleon ONESHOT Super cute, ShikaTema on a mission, where Shikamaru chooses to save Temari over completing the mission.

All Caught Up in the Mood by: Meticulous_Melodies M | ONESHOT Smut after the NaruHina wedding gift misunderstanding.

All the Right Moves Meticulous_Melodies M | ONESHOT Temari ends up having to stay with Shikamaru's place due to no other accomdations available, smut after confessions.

Kiss Kiss (Fall in Love) by: Laisaxrem ONESHOT Shared Kiss for different ships, first chapter is ShikaTema and it's really sweet.

The Ruin of Us by: CinderRoses M | COMPLETE Friends to lovers smut, first person, literally amazing. No words.

Jealousy by: narutostuff101 ONESHOT This is such a cute little fic, loved it!

Oh? You don't know who Shiho is? by: ArmchairAnthropologist ONESHOT Fics like this are always fun, sorry Shiho!

Blank Period / Proposals / Engaged / Married

A Long, Troublesome Way to the Altar by: penandpad0613 INCOMPLETE I am a true sucker for fics where ShikaTema have to go through the political struggles in order to get married, especially since those issues were only slightly mentioned in Gaara Hiden and in Boruto filler.

A Business Proposal by: silverkunai ONESHOT Gaara helps convince the Suna council regarding Shikamaru and Temari's marriage.

Epiphany by: mississippimudpiecraves ONESHOT Shikamaru being forced to have a Bachelor party, honestly one of my favorites.

Uninhibited by: Sylversmith ONESHOT This was so funny and sweet, loved every minute of it, drunk Shikamaru antics not recognizing his wife, but being loyal af.

extraordinary love by: chaosnojutsu ONESHOT Always end up coming back to this fic, ShikaTema having to convince the Suna council to get married.

Gaara's Help by: drowninglinguists ONESHOT Temari disscusing her emotions with Gaara before the wedding.

Who she is… by: pieceofmind22 ONESHOT Short and fluffy. Shikamaru's feelings regarding marrying Temari.

If I May Propose by: SpicedGold COMPLETE Different ways Shikamaru could have proposed, they are all super cute! I've been placing my favorite fics from this writer, especially from the Nara Family series throughout.

our hearts beat as one by thecivilunrest ONESHOT Shikamaru proposes to Temari in true lazy fashion, and Temari makes the decision to leave her village.

A Future Together by: thegizka ONESHOT ShikaTema breaking the news of their engagement to Gaara and Kankuro.

Midnight (& Day Off Mini) by: yoursuccubusnightmare M | ONESHOT Newly wed smut.

Love, Marriage and Other Disasters by: Dunesya INCOMPLETE Shikamaru wants to get married, Temari deals with insecurities and issues leading up. So good!

The Request by: BrazilianWriter ONESHOT Shikamaru has a conversation with Gaara about proposing to Temari.

Not Yet by: KiaraShell ONESHOT Very sweet proposal fic.

What's in a Title? by: dentsucree ONESHOT Such a cute/funny family interaction.

Five Hundred Game Tiles by: Lady_Otori ONESHOT

Growth by: owlishdelight ONESHOT Fluffy, just married.

Dangerous Territory by: theskywasblue ONESHOT Shikamaru falls into a trap.

New Parents / Post Chapter 700 / BORUTO / Nara Family

The 700th by: glockcourage COMPLETE Short drabbles, Nara family cuteness.

Falling for you (again) by: BrazilianWriter M | COMPLETE Seriously one of the best things I've ever read, another one I read daily for clear skin. Temari wakes up from a coma due to a severe injury on a mission, and wakes up with amnesia. The process of remembering with her loved ones is perfect, I can't stress this enough!

Back in an Hour… by: ShrimpArmy COMPLETE Good married smut in Ino's flower shop.

The Best Laid Plans by: SpicedGold ONESHOT A group in Suna is not happy about Temari's marriage to Shikamaru, and decide to kidnap Shikamaru/Shikadai and Temari isn't having any of it, loved this!

Endangered Pasts by: Tjwr INCOMPLETE Truly amazing, only bad thing about it is that it's not complete. Includes NaruHina. Shikadai and Boruto are sent to the past.

Home: by: SpicedGold ONESHOT It's Temari's birthday and she just needs to find out what Shikamaru's present is! Way too funny and cute! See the rest of the series here: Nara Family Series

According To Plan by: SpicedGold ONESHOT Shikadai gets hurt during training with Temari and what follows is some cute parenting banter with Shikamaru.

The Sacrifices We Make by: greenho4 ONESHOT Shikamaru discusses what Temari gave up to be with him with Shikadai, extremely sweet.

Ten minutes to Midnight by: KiaraShell ONESHOT Cute fic set during Shikadai and Shikamaru's birthday, where Shikamaru is on a mission.

Just Relax by: clumsydragon28 ONESHOT Much needed Nara family vacation.

Crybabies by: KiaraShell ONESHOT Shikadai gets his ears pierced.

9 Months by: Aspire2B COMPLETE Following Temari's pregnancy, the ending with Naruto in the hospital was so funny.

Ino-Shika-Chou by: Aspire2B ONESHOT

To The Next Year by: SpicedGold ONESHOT Loved this so much, Shikamaru and Temari have a phone call on New Years, beautifully sweet marriage banter bliss.

Office Hours by: OstaraNight M | ONESHOT Hot smut, enough said.

Why by: SpicedGold ONESHOT Shikadai asks about how his parents met. Simply adorable.

Nara Family by: SandriBeee COMPLETE Newborn Shikadai and being new parents.

Being Rescued is a Terrible Birthday Present by: SpicedGold ONESHOT Cute, mostly Shikadai's feelings.

family functions by: eeveleon ONESHOT Sand/Nara family cuteness at the beach.

Can't Reach by: Dunesya ONESHOT Shikamaru calls Gaara and Kankuro to take care of a pregnant Temari while he is on a mission.

[icyg4l]

PAC: May 2024 Predictions

Hello beautiful people! Later on this week, I will have a Five Dollar Friday Sale where any topic can be talked about. Please refer to my guidelines if you are interested in booking with me! Today, I will be giving you all some predictions about the upcoming month. I hope that those who resonate will continue to support me. For those of you who have been supporting me, I thank you. Without further ado, please select the quote that resonates with you.

Left-to-Right: (1-3)

Pile One: I am getting Taurus energy from this pile. I feel like you are going to be walking away from a situation that no longer serves you in May. It's going to hurt. But on the bright side, at least you are done with that chapter in your life. I feel like you are inviting new energy into your life though. It feels lively. I think that you need to be careful though if you go out to a hookah bar, or just go out into the nightlife in general. I am seeing that you will be going to a cookout. I am seeing the image of a thermometer's heat rising. I feel like you may have tension with someone that's super thick, lol. All in all, I feel that this month for you will determine the theme of this summer for you all. You got your wings, you've been promoted! It may be hard to focus on the positives because of your circumstances but you will survive. This month will feel weird because it’s like your on two ends of the spectrum. One part is good and the other is gone to shit, but all will work in your favor boo! See the good in life.

Cards Used: Page of Cups, Queen of Discs, Ace of Cups, 5 of Discs, The World, 10 of Swords, Justice.

extras: arrogance. cheap labor. pennyslvania. slabs. coney island. sweet! livelihood. perfume. body shapewear. antisocial club.

Pile Two: Idk why but your energy reminds me of Natalie Nunn lol. Not the messy parts but the part about her where she's unintentionally funny and fun to be around. Your energy feels very much party girl, I could easily get in this section if I wanted to type of vibe. Anyway, I think that you are going to be strengthening some platonic connections that you already have. But I also think that you're going to cut someone loose --- someone who has been around for a while. The name Harold comes to mind. Have you eaten Harold's Chicken as of recently, lol? I think that you're going to have sharper instincts as a result. You're going to see people for who they are. I am seeing the image of a butterfly flying on someone's nose. You will be growing up in the month of May. There is an emphasis on meditation. You're being called to devoting your time to staying in the present. You're being asked to go within and get more introspective. Also, cut back on the refined sugars. I think you'll be listening to Amaraae and Solange more often this month as well.

Cards Used: King of Cups, 3 of Cups, Strength, Death, King of Swords, The Hermit, Prince of Discs, 2 of Swords, The Lovers.

extras: big eyes. blonde hair. shapely. wiz khalifa. stunna shades. "i ain't going nowhere." "get comfy." gloomy. rainbow tips.

Pile Three: Someone in this pile is going to be reuniting with their family at a prom sendoff, at a graduation, a party. Either way, it will be a celebration. This pile will also be very grateful in the month of May. You are also going to have many opportunities to make quick money with the people that you love (not necessarily family but anyone that makes you feel safe). A love opportunity will be coming through for you as well. I don't see this as something you should take serious. I think you want to be independent right now, that person understands and they will give you your space for the time being. If you're trying to curate an event, don't worry too much about what people will think because it's going to be a big turnout regardless. I think some of you will be going to a wedding or will be getting married. So, congratulations to that! I also think that some of you will be meeting your future spouses in this pile (you won't know it yet though). Overall, I feel that this month is a great month for you to focus on community building.

Cards Used: The Emperor, The Hierophant, 9 of Swords, King of Wands, Justice, 3 of Discs, 8 of Wands, 4 of Wands, Ace of Cups.

extras: entrepreneurial spirit. aquamarine. blue butterflies. single father. "something cute, something for the summertime."

[rwrbficrecs]

i’d take the bomb in your head and disarm it by @henrysfox (book-verse)

@na-dineee: Alex and Henry are students at NYU who randomly become dorm roommates. After a few short weeks of mutual dislike their friendship starts to grow - and could it actually be more ...?! At the end of the story, I was baffled that the two of them could be so completely clueless the whole time?! Then again, who am I to judge when someone settles for half-baked assumptions instead of just mustering up the courage and trying to have an honest conversation?! 😇 The story is so gentle, so angsty and Alex is just so vulnerable and soft - just beautiful and moving!

you are my mountain (you are my sea) by @alasse9 (book-verse)

@na-dineee: Five moments between Alex and Henry, starting with the visit to Alex's childhood home in Texas after Ellen's election victory, a vulnerable moment in the Brownstone, a vacation in Mexico City... This story isn't even close to 10,000 words, but it's so unbelievably powerful - I am still blown away! The author manages to hit on so many interpersonal aspects and delicate vibrations, to formulate soft, tender feelings and thoughts and describes Alex and Henry both so damn considerate and soulful - the author nailed it (imho), it's almost impossible to grasp!

Shatter Me by @historicallysam (book-verse)

@na-dineee: Henry and Alex are still Prince and First Son, some is canon, a lot slightly modified, but: Alex is out, Henry is not. He isn't even sure if he's gay or if he ever wants to acknowledge it - until he meets Alex and falls head over heels. The catch, on top of the homophobic Queen: Henry is engaged, his fianc��e lovely, amazing even, and the wedding date is about to be set. How the author weaves together the familiar events and plotlines and their own ideas is brilliant! Not gonna lie: It was (to me) oppressive at times, really angsty - but also highly gripping!

The Consequences (of our Actions) (series) by @anchoredarchangel (book-verse)

@celeritas2997: Alex is just a Regular Guy who just happened to put Prince Henry on his 'No Consequences Sex List' and proceeds to tell him about this when they meet. Lots of sex (like, ridiculously hot sex) and feelings (SO MANY FEELINGS) ensue. I am convinced that Anchor is magic and will continue shouting about this series from the rooftops until the end of days; it is clever, sexy, funny, beautifully written and so, so, so heartfelt. ❤️

@heybuddy-drabbles: I started this when it first started and thought it was just some fun little pwp canon divergence. When I picked it up again, it was a hell of a series. I loved every last bit of it. It goes way into the whole "If cake gate didn't happen, Alex would have made himself a problem for Henry anyway" and he does in the most glorious way. I can't talk enough about HENRY in this though. It's mostly on Alex POV except the extra chapter but I'm OBSESSED WITH HENRY. How he's older. How he does things for himself like running the shelters with Pez even before he meets Alex. Anyway I could talk about Henry in this series for days but that's not why we are here for. Just, do yourself a favor and just read this.

5 Times Henry Hated New Year's + 1 Time He Didn't by @hgejfmw-hgejhsf (book-verse)

@suseagull04: This fic is such an emotional rollercoaster, but it's worth every gut-wrenching twist! It delves into each of the six parts so well that you feel like you're experiencing each of Henry's life experiences with him.

I don't wanna look at anything else now that I saw you by @gayrootvegetable (book-verse)

@suseagull04: This is the cutest combination of a high school AU and soulmate AU! This fic is short but so very sweet!

if you have a garden and a library... by @glasshouses-and-stones (book-verse)

@suseagull04: This fic is so cute! It's not technically a Cinderella AU, but it has those vibes, and the author does a great job with the setting. Another fic that's short but so sweet!

It takes a lot to know a man by dazedandconfused (book/movie-verse)

@inexplicablymine: when I tell you to mind the trigger warnings that is true, but I can also say my GOD is this fic fantastic the writing is superb and the pacing is right on and the plot is so intricately woven I am elated to recommend it everywhere I can. Talk about an in depth suspense thriller mixed with that sex club dom/sub trope mixed with a law case ~ truly there are no words to describe how much this work gripped me as I read through it

@dot524: The subject matter is heavy at times and so are the smut scenes, but also I was fascinated with the story. I didn’t expect it to end up in the intense culminating scene that it did.

Something borrowed, Something blue by @anincompletelist (book-verse)

@heybuddy-drabbles: Yes, I know I recommended this during our Wip Wednesdays but now I'm going to recommend it here for the peeps who only read complete works. Read this. I beg of you. It's so excellent. Henry's relationship with June is something so special to me in this. June and her little family, her daughter means the world to me as well. Alex and his complicated feelings for Henry, their "enemies" to lovers road is just. God I loved it so much. Henry. HENRY IN THIS. Just. Please read this.

hold on (get ready for the ride) by wilmonflicker (book-verse)

@wilmonsfolklore: a professional soccer/football AU that I binged and completely fell in love with. Alex transfers to the team where Henry is the star player, and they get together. it's beautifully written, smutty at times and perfect for sport lovers and non-sport lovers alike

check out our past Monthly Faves here ❤️

[ohtobeleah]

Was It Over? // Jake Seresin

-> Chapter Three: [V For Vendetta]

Summary: When your stomach can’t handle the Chemo medication, you empty the content of your stomach. While doing so, you and Jake come to a crossroads about your relationship going forward.

Warnings: Sick!reader. Breast cancer diagnosis. Jake Seresin x F!reader. Angst, hospital & medical inaccuracies. SLOW BURN ROMANCE/SMUT 18+ content. Inaccurate medical information. Relationship turmoil.

Word Count: 4:5k

Author Note: EEEPPPP! It’s like watching a car wreck happen right before your very eyes. You want to but you can’t look away!

Series Masterlist | Main Masterlist

“Shhh—I don’t want the kids to hear.” The palm of your hand came down softly on top of Jake's lips as you straddled his waist, you couldn't help but to rock your hips back and forth as the very tip of his hardened length kissed your cervix. Jake's entire length throbbed inside your sex at the slightly mean but even hotter act. “Stop being so loud, we aren’t in some navy issued apartment where you and your STD riddled conquests can be as loud as you wanna be.” 

As soon as the kids were in bed and sleeping, you and Jake were running back to your bedroom like giddy teenagers. You led him down the hall hand in hand and even before you had your bedroom door open, Jake had his hands all over you pushed up against the hallway wall that hung family photos. Including but not limited to a few of your wedding pictures. 

“Mmm.” Jake licked a long strip up the palm of your hand before he took control of the situation and flipped the two of you over. Now he was the one on top but his perfect view hadn’t changed, you were still the star of the show whether you were riding him or under him. 

“Ew! Jake, don't be disgusting!” 

“It was not even five minutes ago that I was down between your thighs using the same tongue I just liked your hand with to make you moan.” Jake teased as he leaned in to kiss the sweet spot on the junction of your next. Your back arched at the sensation of your ex’s slow but steady thrusts. The small but audible whimper that escaped your lips had Jake smiling against your skin. “You needy girl.” He’d missed you, missed your touch, your taste, your beautiful orgasmic sounds. 

“Some of us haven’t been whoring around—“ You sighed as Jake's hands roamed your exposed body, the feeling of roughed palms against your hips sent shivers down your spine. 

“No, no some of us just use their husbands credit card to buy new sex toys—“ What else was a girl supposed to do? You still had needs, needs that weren’t gonna be met with fingers alone. 

“Ex husband.” You felt the need to reiterate. Jake's thrusts sped up slightly, giving you a little more as your nails dug deeper into the muscles that littered his back. “Ahh fuck! and you left it here for me to use.” 

“Can those toys of yours make you feel this way?” Jake groaned as his thrusts began more intent filled, he was a man with a plan, an end goal—to get you off. “Use your words Honey, be a good girl for me.” 

It had been too long, far too long since you’d felt the touch of a man. Especially your man. The pad of Jake's thumb pressed softly into the bundle of exposed nerves that were perfectly swollen and throbbing just for him. He felt you tense at the overwhelming sensation, the feeling of utter euphoria mixed with the light hearted banter that was you and Jake. “Tell me what you want and I’ll give it to you, but not until you say please.” 

“I—“ It was getting harder to formulate sentences as the wave of impending pleasures rolled in, you were right on the cusp. “Jake I—“

“You want me to make you cum don’t you?” All you could do was nod desperately. “Ohh baby girl look at you all fucked out, so far gone.” 

“Please!” Jakes hand came down the press itself against your mouth as he fucked you into the mattress. His hips slammed against your with so much need and lust he swore the both of you would have matching wounds to lick in the morning, when regret set in the the haze cleared. 

“Shhh—that’s my girl, cum for me, we don’t want the kids hearing how much of a needy little thing you are for me.” Oh this mother fucker. 

“Ahhhh fuck fuck fuck I’m cu-coming!” It was barely a sentence but from behind his palm Jake could understand what you were saying. He watched as your eyes rolled and your body tensed and your velvet walls clamped down around him. “Jake!” 

“I’ve got you Honeybee, I’ve got you.” Jake groaned as he followed right behind you, his length twitch as the all too familiar sensation of that pool forming at the base of his shaft overwhelmed him. “I’m with you—ohhhh fuckk Y/n, yesss!” 

Jake landed right on top of you as he came down from his high, completely spent. His sweaty locks tickled your nose as you peppered kisses to the very top of his head. 

“We should shower.” You broke the silence that had filled your dimly lit bedroom. 

“Is that an invitation?” Jake queried as he lifted his head from your bare chest. 

“If you’re up for it.” You replied through a loving smirk. Jake couldn’t help but to capture your lips in a headed but loving kiss. He missed you so much. 

“Oh I’m up for it.” He cooed against your lips, just trying to savour every fleeting moment he knew this was. This moment of weakness. “I'm so up for it.” 

***~***~***~***~***~***~

“I wanna marry you.” You could still remember the words Jake spoke in the library the day you tried to break off whatever it was the two of you had become in college. It was early on in your blooming relationship, but you had your doubts. You had heard rumours he was no good, trouble if you will. That Jake was just this gloating self assured, arrogant guy who liked to throw a football around and take girls back to his dorm room to fuck and forget. 

“I wanna have kids with you.” You’d tried to let him down gently by telling him that it wasn't him, but you. And by all accounts the break up, if that's what you could even call it, went rather well. Until Jake Seresin showed up at your dorm rooms two days later after he’d practically stalked you around campus like some lost, love sick puppy you'd dumped in the rain. 

“I wanna build us a house, settle down, and grow old with you.” Jake's words were still there inside your mind as your eyelids flickered from the early morning light that threatened to consume your bedroom. The bedroom you shared with your ex husband last night.

“I wanna die when I'm one hundred and ten years old, in your arms.” Jake held you close and pressed up against his exposed chest as he slept soundly beside you. Strong arms encapsulated your torso as you woke, threatening to keep you hostage for the foreseeable future because if there was one thing about Jake you could never forget, it was his ability to press snooze over and over and over again until he had about five minutes to shit shower and shave. 

“I don't want this to just be a fling, I want a lifetime with you.” It was ironic really that you were remembering that moment as bile rose in the back of your throat because with your odds? You didn't have a lifetime to give him anymore. Regardless of your current separation. Your life was slipping through the metaphorical hands of time every day that passed.

“Oh god–” You couldn't stop it once the feeling started, the overwhelming urge to expel whatever reminisce remained in your stomach from dinner. You didn't have time to worry if you woke Jake up, you didn't have time to sneak out of his warm embrace, all you had time to do was rush to your ensuite and drop to your knees at your toilet before it was too late.  

“Y/n?” You heard Jake grumbled as he stirred at the sudden loss of your presence, he hadn’t slept so soundly in months. Having you tucked up against him still brought a solace that was unparalleled to anything Jake could ever dream of. “Honey? You alright?” All Jake was met with was the sound of violent coughing accompanied soon after by the gut wrenching sound of vomit hitting the porcelain bowl of your ensuite toilet. “Oh my god—“ 

Jake was up within seconds, the covers that barely covered his body were thrown to the side as he jumped out of your bed in just a pair of boxer briefs he’d thrown on after your sexcapades last night. They did very little to prevent your imagination from running wild with delight and lust as he came into your ensuite, you may have been feeling unwell but Jake had an adonis like body he wasn’t shy about.

“I’m fine—“ Was all you managed out before you were heaving again, your hands gripped either side of the toilet bowl like your life depended on it. 

“Here,” Jake cooed as he kneeled down behind you only to hold your hair with one hand so it wouldn’t get caught in the trajectory of your sick and rubbed small soothing circles against your back. “Maybe Lucy was right, you have been sick?” Jake couldn’t help but to frown as he watched you empty the content of your stomach into the toilet for another five minutes. Jake's mind wandered back to all the times he’d done the same thing as he was now when you were pregnant with the twins, with Sammy. 

“I’m fine—“ You sighed as you reached up to flush the toilet and wipe your mouth with some toilet paper. “Totally fine, I just—I don’t even know what it is, but I feel better now.” You couldn’t come up with an excuse fast enough for your body's sudden urge to throw up. You knew exactly what it was through, the oral chemo. Those nasty little fuckers had you throwing up all day most days. “I’ll see a doctor when I get back, before the kids come home.” 

“Are you sure you still wanna go?” Jake asked as you sat back against the wall with him. “I mean, you could always come with us? Spend it with family, especially if you’re not feeling one hundred percent.” It was an enticing offer, especially since you weren’t actually going on a holiday, but rather into hospital for possible life saving surgery. 

“The trips paid for, I have to go.” You sighed miserably into Jake's shoulder as he comforted you. “Besides, I’m pretty sure your mums still holding a grudge against me for wanting to separate.”

“I’m still holding a grudge against you for that.” You reacted quickly to Jake’s witt and slapped his chest. “Ow!” He groaned playfully as you chuckled softly and shook your head. “I’m kidding, I'm kidding—“ Jake cooed as he watched you bring your knees up to your chest. “But can I ask you something?” 

“Depends on the question.” You mumbled as you pressed your forehead against Jake's shoulder. Still trying to find some comfort as lightheadedness threatened to consume you. 

Jake didn’t reply right away, he simply looked to his left a little and caught the sight of the pair of you sitting side by side on the bathroom floor. He’d spent so many nights trying to think of ways to fix things, to fix what he accidentally and unintentionally broke. But right now, after spending the night with you, being back with the kids he loved so dearly and remembering what it was he truly needed in order to be the man he wanted to be? Jake knew he needed to ask. 

“If there’s a guy—“

“Oh god Jake—“ You groaned at the idea. He was the one who’d slept with other people, not you. At least you had the decency to keep your nights out of sight. The only rumours Jake would have known were the ones he concocted on his own accord about your hips and thighs and your whispered sighs. Oh god you couldn’t even begin to imagine what his wildest dreams had been imagining about what you’d been up to during your separation. 

Because there were no other men. It was simply Jake. 

There had been far too many nights where you thought about jumping off of very tall somethings, just to see him come running and say the one thing you’d been wanting. But no. Jake never came, not since March when Coyote told you about Jake’s first air to air kill. The kill he still hadn’t told you about yet. 

“I need you to know that I’m trying here, to fix my mistakes.” 

“There’s nothing to fix Jake—“ You knew that this was a bad idea, that last night was a bad idea. That ever letting Jake believe there was any chance of reconciliation to be achieved in your marriage was a mistake. “We separated because our marriage wasn’t working, we’re no good together.” 

“That’s ass and you know it.” Jake replied rather sharply as you raised your head from his shoulder. “We were good together, we are good together, you just don’t wanna admit that this whole separation was a mistake because you still love me just as much as I love you.” 

“You just aren’t a good husband Jake!” The tone you chose to use had Jake shutting up rather quickly. Perhaps you were a little too harsh, but the hope you saw in his eyes was killing you. “I left because you didn’t love me enough to put me first.” You frowned as you tried to read Jake's facial expression. 

Surely this wasn’t a new revelation to him, he knew, right? He knew that although he loved you in his own way, Jake stopped putting you first when he figured out how high he could really climb in his career. Jake stopped putting you first when he saw his potential, his ability to be the best and nothing but. He stopped putting you first when Lenny and Lulu were born, and again when Sammy accidentally came along. He stopped putting you second and third and fourth until you weren’t ever the priority in any situation. 

“I need one more chance to show you how good of a husband I can be.” Jake nearly begged. “Just one—“

“You had ten whole years to get it right and you couldn’t do it, what makes you think one more chance is gonna miraculously solve the fact that you’re just not the type of person who should have a wife?” Part of you wanted to walk away till he really listened, you needed to be able to look into Jake's eyes and know that the two of you were feeling different. 

Jake Seresin had been told he was a lot of things. A bad friend, a good pilot, the family disappointment. He’d been told once by a supervising officer that if he didn’t have a family, maybe he’d fly less conservative, be better, take more risks. That same officer sent him to Miramar for the Dagger mission that same year when he heard through the grapevine of your separation. 

Jake had been told he was a catch, sex on legs, the life of the party and the guy any girl would be lucky to go home with. But he already had his girl, the meek library dweller who tried to break up with him in college. The woman who birthed his three children, his best friend, you. 

So the worst thing Jake Seresin had ever been told he was? Was that he was without a doubt a shitty husband. And the worst part about being told that was it came from you, the woman he loved, his wife. 

“So divorce me if I’m such a crap fucking husband Y/n!” Jake hissed. “It’s almost been an entire year and I don’t know where I stand with you?” He argued as you tried to fight off the urge to throw up again. “I can’t stay separated from you anymore, I can’t keep acting like the love of my life didn’t leave me, I can’t keep telling myself that you’ll come back, I can’t keep telling myself that you won’t find someone else who deserves you more than I do, I need you to tell me it’s over so I can move on!” 

“I—“ You wanted to blurt it out then and there as you tried to stand from the tiled bathroom floor. Jake, even in his fit or very understandable rage, reached out to help you. Even if he was a shitty husband he was still a pretty good friend. “I have—“ You wanted to tell him, tell Jake you were dying. Tell him that this time around it actually wasn’t him, but you. Hell maybe if you weren’t riddled with cancer you might even consider that one more chance he wanted so desperately. But as you stood to your feet and Jake stood to his, you saw the half packed suitcase of yours on the floor next to your bed. The suitcase you were taking to the hospital right after you watched Jake and your kids leave for the holidays. The Christmas holidays you were missing: 

Because you were fighting Cancer and Jake didn’t know. 

“I have to finish packing.” You sighed and settled with that. As you looked into Jake's eyes you could physically see the heartbreak mixing in with the emerald green. “Maybe we can organise divorce lawyers after the holidays, keep it civil, for the kids.” 

Jake remained silent as he just looked at you, his wife, telling him that yes, divorce was on the horizon after all. He just stood there in utter defeat knowing that what had become of your marriage was his own fault. You tried all you could for as long as you could before you had to let him go. 

“Just tell me his name at least.” Jake gritted his teeth. “When you find him.” You could tell Jake was holding back tears as he reached out to cup your cheek. “The guy who doesn’t fuck it up.”

“There’s not gonna be another guy.” You quietly replied as you leaned into Jake's touch. “I just need to put myself first for once and be happy with my own company.” Jake nodded like he understood but you knew deep down he didn’t believe you. The kiss he left on your forehead told you that.

“I’m gonna go get the kids up.” He explained as he cleaned his throat. “I’ll let you finish packing for your trip.” You let Jake turn on his heels and watched as he pulled those same grey sweatpants up his legs before you called his name quietly. 

“Jake?” 

“Yeah?” He replied sadly, like he had no fight left to give. There was an understanding between the two of you in that moment that this was truly the end, that whatever the two of you still were or were holding onto, that it had come to an end. 

“I’m sorry.” You pressed your lips together in an attempt not to cry, but Jakes saw your tears. He saw them looking in your lower lash line. 

“Me too.” Was all Jake replied before he left your room, leaving you alone with your own emotions and thoughts to try and calm yourself down knowing that whatever was to come would never hurt as much as officially losing the love of your life.  

***~***~***~***~***~

“Here you go baby, Jam toast.” For what’s it worth, you and Jake tried hard to keep things as normal as they could be for the kids, so when you finally made your way downstairs after showering and getting yourself ready, he was waiting with a coffee made for you like you didn’t just rip his heart from his chest and gutter stomp it into the carpet. 

“Hi mama.” Sam cooed as you walked over to where he sat on Jake’s lap being fed fingers of soggy jam toast. 

“Hi baby boy!” You smiled bright at your youngest and touched his nose with the tip of your finger. “Did you sleep okay? Are you so excited to go to grandmas today?” All little Sammy did was nod and eat his toast, Jake bounced him gently on his knee at the dining table, enjoying the moment with his son. “Where’s thing one and thing two?” You asked as you noticed the quiet lull that filled the kitchen and dining room. Lucy and Lennox were nowhere to be seen.

“They’re still getting ready.” Jake shrugged your concern off. He didn’t even bother to look at you as you took the coffee he’d made for you and took a sip. “Said they’d be down soon.” 

“Well we can’t let them mess around for too much longer, we need to get you guys off to the airport.” It was meant to be a simple statement, a conversation between adults about the appropriate time to arrive at the domestic terminal for Jake’s flight to Huston. But it wasn’t that. 

“Yeah—“ Jake rolled his eyes as Sammy asked for more soggy jam toast. “Like you said last night right, you just can’t wait to get me out of the house.” 

“Jake—don’t be this way.” You couldn’t say you were surprised that Jake had changed up his attitude so quickly, but you were a little shocked he was acting this way in front of Sam. Sure he was only two but it still felt wrong. 

“I’m not being a way.” Jake still didn’t look at you, he couldn’t. If he looked at you he was gonna lose his mind. 

“You’re acting like we’ve already signed divorce papers!” You hissed through gritted teeth and under your breath just in case your two other children came running down the stairs. 

“Well, I can't keep acting like you’re my wife now can I?” Jake could be petty if he wanted to, he once went four days without speaking to Phoenix purely because she said she reckons he can’t fuck for shit. Truth was he hadn’t had a fuck since January, truth was he took someone home that same night. Truth was he called out your name when he came and turns out Vanessa could throw a pretty hard punch. 

“Doesn’t mean you have to revert back to being Hangman, Hangman.” You mumbled under your breath but knew Jake heard you. You knew because for the first time since you came downstairs he finally looked at you. 

“What did you just call me?” Jake hissed as he stood up, he held Sam on his hip as he stepped towards you with a stern look on his face. “What the hell did you just call me?” 

“You, heard, me, want me to say it again?” You remembered the day your husband came home and told you he got his callsign. Some jerkoff by the name of Bradley Bradshaw had been assigned to be his wingman. Jake had given him his callsign, Rooster, because he thought the guy was full of chicken shit. 

But Bradley had landed Hangman after a particularly rough training session where Jake had left Bradley behind, in a real situation he would have died. And thus the Hangman was born. It was needless to say the two didn’t see eye to eye most of the time. 

“Kids!!” Jake shouted loud enough for you to jump as his voice echoed off the walls. He saw the look in your eye, the uncertainty of what the two of you were doing. So Jake stepped back, offered you a soft lipped silent apology and waited for you to silently tell you that you were good. “Get down here now! we’re leaving!” 

***~***~***~****~***~***

The airport was just as busy as it had been yesterday, only this time instead of waiting for Jake to join you and the kids, he was taking them with him, back to his mum's house for Christmas. 

You’d never spent Christmas away from your kids before so it was understandable that you were a little upset, but Jake saw the way your hands shook as you kneeled down before Lenny to fix his jumper. 

“You be so good for your dad, alright?” You cooed as you rubbed your nose against his. “And make sure you keep an eye on your sister and brother on the farm.”

“I wish you were coming with us mum.” Lucy added as she jumped on your back and clung to you with her arms around your shoulders. 

“I know baby I know, but I packed a few presents in your bags from me and dad and Santa will know where you are too.” Jake had an extra duffel full of all the toys your kids would be receiving this year, plus any extra they received from Jake’s side of the family. You knew Janeen and Rodney would go overboard as always. 

“Enjoy your holiday mum!” Lucy giggled in your ear as you hugged her arms. 

“I will baby I will, and I’ll miss you all so much!” 

“We better head off.” Jake hesitantly interrupted. He didn’t want to come across as if he was trying to hurry the goodbye along. Knew how important it was for you to say goodbye, even if he thought it was an unnecessary one. You should have been spending Christmas with them. 

“No—No you’re right, you guys better hurry along now or else you’ll miss your flight.” You tried to hide your sadness as you rose to your feet. “Bye my little guy.” You cooed to Sammy as he sucked his thumb and let his head rest against Jake's shoulder. “Seeya Daddio, take care of them will you?”

“Don’t stress, I’ve got them Honey.” Jake reminded you softly as he brought you in for your own goodbye. He had no idea how much that one act of kindness meant to you. The last touch of a man who would never know what you were about to go through and already going through. “Alright kiddos, let’s roll out!” He smiled as you let go and watched your family head further into the airport. Lucy was the only one who looked back at you to see you waving as they disappeared into the crowd. 

It was only when you lost sight of your little family did you finally allow yourself to break. With a hand over your mouth you sobbed quietly to yourself before you turned to head back to the car. 

“You’re on your own now.” In a 2009 research paper titled Gender disparity in the rate of partner abandonment in patients with serious medical illness, a study was conducted out of a pool of five hundred and fifteen married people suffering a vast array of serious medical illnesses. 

Out of those five hundred and fifteen participants, fifty three percent were female and the other forty seven percent were men. What researchers found over the course of this particular study was that the gender disparity when dealing with divorce was that twenty one percent of women diagnosed with chronic or serious illnesses were being divorced by their husbands, while men were only around the three percent mark. 

You were handed that pamphlet in the same doctor's appointment where you were told you had stage three A, triple positive grade three invasive doctoral carcinoma. It was something oncologists had started adopting rather recently as those rates had risen rather rapidly since 2009. 

Good thing you had already separated from your husband prior to your diagnosis huh? 

“You’re all on your own.”

***~***~***~***~***~***

Tags: @blindedbythelightt @starset21 @tayl0rhuynh @mamachasesmayhem @marvelogic @itsmytimetoodream @maverick-wingman @kodzukenmaaa @eternalsams @seitmai @nota-professional @jessicab1991 91 @hardballoonlove @senawashere @lafrone @fanficfandomlove ve @withahappyrefrain @dizzybee03 @maisie-rebloging-blog @goldenseresinretriever @a-reader-and-a-writer @sunlightmurdock @shelbycillian @memoriesat30 @accioprocrastination @the-aspiring-fanfic-writer

[faeriichaii]

Masterlist

A/N: This is my Masterlist filled with the stories I have written so far 💕 I will add other fandoms to my list soon but feel welcome to request anyone from lotr or hobbit🤭 I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed writing them!! Also REQUESTS ARE OPEN <33

Fluff: ♡ Angst: ☂ Smut: ☆

The Fellowship:

How they realise their feelings: ♡

Aragorn:

Worthy Enough: ♡ Summary: Aragorn slowly begins to understand you and tries to find out even more about you

Legolas:

Softest Touch: ♡ Summary: After looking at the etheral elven prince, you have the urge to weave your fingers through his silken hair, leading to more than just simple hair braiding.

Music to my ears: ♡ Summary: A trip to the tavern results in you not just winning new fans over with your music, but also winning the heart of a certain elven prince.

Immunity: ♡ Summary: Being sick is not fun, especially when you see Legolas' panicked gaze at your condition, which seems to get worse as the days pass by.

Words like Poison: ☂♡ Summary: Your beloved prince is stressed and busy with his duties. So, when you approach him to try and lighten the mood, he lets his frustration out on you.

Braiding Together: ♡ Summary: You have always received compliments for your cute braids, so you decided to offer the hobbits to braid their hair. However, Legolas really doesn't understand, why you would do that.

Lily: ☂♡ Summary: Being a princess with a gruesome father as a king makes you only wish to run away. So you do and run directly into the arms of an ethereal prince

Blessing: ♡ Summary: The journey of the fellowship ended a long time ago and suddenly you receive the invitation of the prince to join him in Mirkwood, meeting his father. But how will Thranduil react to seeing his sons best friend being a dwarf and his betrothed being an Avari?

Sensitive: ♡☆ Summary: You knew that Legolas could endure quite a lot, but what you did not expect is his reaction to touching his pointy ears

Little Quirks: ♡ Summary: The elven prince for some reason couldn't stop staring at you, which in return made you confused and very curious, as to why his eyes were constantly following you around.

Stormy Patrol: ♡ Summary: Tauriel and you were out on patrol without Legolas. But a storm takes you by surprise, resulting in you getting lost in the dark forest.

Sunkissed: ♡ Summary: You have been in love with the elven prince since quite a time, but never told him about it. Your sister Arwen however, is determined to change the course of your relationship with Legolas.

Thorin:

A Part From Home: ♡ Summary: Tagging along for an adventure with Gandalf, you didn't expect to run into people that remind you of your lost home.

Part of Your World: ♡ Summary: Little mermaid you finds various little trinkets and things in the waters around Erebor and you can't wait to share them with your s/o.

There's just Inches in between us: ☆♡ Summary: You were the princess of another kingdom, meant to marry none other than the dwarven King Thorin from the lonely mountain. You rarely get the chance to talk to him and decide to visit him the night before the wedding, asking him to give you some attention.

Symphony of Your Life: ♡ Summary: Thorin went to visit his old friend Bilbo in the Shire once more, without expecting to be enchanted by a melodic voice that fills not just his ears but also his heart.

Kili:

Hija de la Luna Series (warnings: none so far): Prologue; Chapter I

Part of Your World: ♡ Summary: Little mermaid you finds various little trinkets and things in the waters around Erebor and you can't wait to share them with your s/o.

My Treasure: ♡ Summary: You have been travelling the sea for years on your wonderful ship with your crew, so you are a bit curious, when you find a bunch of dwarves hiding away in fish barrels.

Feathers: ♡ Summary: Joining the company on their quest, you knew to expect possible danger on the way. What you did not expect are the feelings between you and the prince.

My Sweet Valentine: ♡ Summary: You spent your morning hours with the wonderful dwarf prince Kili

Braiding Lessons: ♡ Summary: You always knew dwarves had various beautiful braids, but how come Kili doesn't? So one night you decide to change that and help him out.

Fili:

Part of Your World: ♡ Summary: Little mermaid you finds various little trinkets and things in the waters around Erebor and you can't wait to share them with your s/o.

Thranduil:

Bookworm: ☆ Summary: Legolas let the secret of a restricted area in the library slip, which makes you of course very curious. So after deciding to enter the forbidden part, you get caught by none other than the elven king himself.

[shadesofecclescakes]

Are you a big fanfic reader? What have you read lately and what's been your favourite fic so far?

Oh mannnnnnnnn. Why don't you ask me to pick a favourite child while you're at it???

Just kidding. I don't have kids. But I assume having to pick a favourite would be hard if I did.

So, am I a big fanfic reader? YES. And what haven't I read lately? We are lucky enough to have so many talented writers in this fandom that it's possible to subscribe to numerous multi-chapter fics to the point where you're just constantly getting update emails. Which I do. It's great. It gives me something to do at work aside from, y'know, work.

*Me at work being smug about being paid to read porn* (Also I just wanted to look at this gif)

So what is currently on my endless update list? Coming up after the cut!

I am an absolute whore for human AU, so if you like that then you will probably like:

The Cure for a Broken Heart by @rofell

a medical student AU based in the Canadian medical system (I'm a Canadian so I was pretty excited about that). It manages to tackle the continued systemic discrimination of Indigenous people in our medical system (and in general), homophobia and the ensuing trauma from those things all while also being informative, funny, sweet, romantic and hot af. Like. It's so good.

Free by @maaikeatthefullmoon

This is another one with with a heavy topic that also does a great job of making sure to break it up with some excellent fluff, hurt/comfort and humorous moments. And it's handled with the sensitivity and thoughtfulness necessary to write something that takes place in a mental health ward and deals with some intense situations. Definitely make sure to read those author notes before diving in. They lay it out very thoroughly.

The Sincere Way by @tsyvia48

A martial arts AU. Crowley is a karate sensei and Aziraphale is his student. Slow burn that keeps you on the edge. The screams I have scrumt at my screen over this one. Plus you learn a lot about karate (but it never gets boring or over-explainey. Excellently balanced) which is pretty cool. Mostly light (there is some angst. This is the Good Omens fandom. I think we are all sad, wet chihuahuas at heart). Funny and sweet.

Terminus by @emotional-support-demon-crowley

Plus One by @caedmonfaith

Astronaut AU. Aziraphale is an astronaut who meets his mission controller, Crowley, over the comms system when he finds himself in need of assistance.

Super cool concept and really well-done in my opinion. Like, I don't do any space or physics-related work (ok I straight-up failed math 9) but I find it entirely believable. And it's well-written which is the entire point. Cute, funny slow burn with an intriguing mystery happening in the background.

Aziraphale has family money but a shitty family (except for Muriel! Never Muriel!) and his shitty brother Gabriel is getting married to shitty Michael, an Earl's daughter.

Aziraphale's family disproves of his entire life pretty much and he has been lying to them about having a boyfriend. Now they are expecting him to bring said boyfriend to the wedding. His famous footballer friend sets him up with their mechanic, Crowley.

It starts as a slow-burn but becomes a hilarious, smutty romp that just gets more and more insane. The chapter titles alone have made me cackle out loud.

Some older human AUs I'm a huge fan of include Old Vines by @sevdrag. Crowley owns a vineyard and Aziraphale is a wine critic. It is so amazingly written. It makes me think of the author Joanna Harris (Chocolat, The Five Quarters of the Orange) because it's SO beautifully, vividly descriptive that I end up craaaaaving wine. So have a bottle on hand if you're giving this a read.

Also the love story in this. My god. I devoured it. The story and the (many bottles of) wine.

There is also Loosely Ballroom by marginalia_device and mortifyingideal. It's a Strictly Come Dancing (Dancing with the Stars in North America) AU and it is so. Fucking. Good.

But it comes with a disclaimer. It's unfinished and looks likely to stay that way. But honestly? Still worth it. It's nearly finished (I think) so you have most of the story. And it's just SO good. It's been a while since I read it but it was one of the first human AUs I read and what got me hooked on them.

If you're still with me...nice! Just know that was me holding back and that isn't my entire list by a long shot. If you want more recs, feel free to message me and also share your own!

I just finished Slow Show the actor AU by @mia-ugly and yes please.

Some serious angst, pining and hot hot smut.

There is another long-form multi-chapter actor au I loooved but I can't remember the name for the life of me. Just that the show they were on was basically good omens and that they swapped roles with great success (inspired by the whole Michael thinking Neil wanted him to play Crowley when he wanted Aziraphale thing).

Thanks for the ask! That was really fun!

[theoncomingchaos]

Finale vs the Book

This episode had the largest amount of original content in the entire series, but that being said there were still a lot of parts that were the same. Huai'en's rescue, Xiaobao's healing, the parents devoting themselves to Buddhism, etc. are all still the same basically.

Things I wish they'd kept:

We were SO CLOSE to the really sweet talk about how Huai'en likes Xiaobao chubby because he's softer, but he loves him no matter his shape and size. (It should have come after the part about his collar bone.)

Zhao Cai apparently having a romance with a maid off screen and deciding to propose to her. It's not a big deal, but it was a nice thing for him and after putting up with Huaibao and Sibao he deserved it. That being said, I LOVE his new friendship with Xiao Yu.

Comparing the actual endings:

The extra chapter in the book has some nice moments in it, but the original content they made for the series was MUCH better in my opinion. It focused on character growth and a look into the characters' futures together. It was very hopeful and beautiful. The book (final chapter AND extra chapter) ends in sex. Like A03 levels of detailed sex. Pick your poison basically.

Things I am SO happy they added:

The talk between Su Yin and Xiaobao showing understanding and acceptance on both sides was such a great addition. Their friendship is really beautiful. I do wish the show had found a way to show the flashbacks to their childhood, but I'm still very satisfied with how their relationship was portrayed.

All of the Xiao Yu & Zhao Cai stalking Huaibai around the house was adorable. Frustrating, but adorable.

Helping the citizens was SO GOOD. It gave so much closure and showed such beautiful character growth for the whole family and Huai'en as well. It gives Xiaobao and his family a real chance at starting over and doing things right.

The wedding talk <3 PLEASE GIVE US A SPECIAL EPISODE

A proper (and hilarious) goodbye between Jin Bao and his family. Also, the promise of seeing them soon.

The happy family with the new home ending. I was really glad to see the shadows there as well.

The tiny glimpse of the dynamic we can expect in the future between Huai'en and Shao Yu.

Overall, this series was so good and it really did represent the book very well. For those who want more depth into the character's minds and can handle the multitude of trigger warnings for the first half of the book, I would recommend it. If not, hopefully there will be a lot of fanfic for us.

[giuliettagaltieri]

Against All Odds

Pairing: Groom!Coriolanus Snow x Bride!Reader

Chapter Synopsis: The Bride

Warning: minor wedding drama

Word Count: 2275

4 of 7

Coriolanus believes it is possible for a person to be so happy for his senses to numb over.  It is possible when someone goes into shock and panic.  And the state of happiness he is in is just as powerful.

The crowd cheered so loudly but his head refused to process it.  The colors and movement on the side was also being ignored.  Everything fades to nothing but with the exception of his tactile sensation.

If there was a ticket to Heaven, it is your lips.  It was soft and pillowy, just like how he remembered.  And you are sweet, you tasted just like fresh pomegranate.  The moment your lips touched, there was no point of return.  He opens his eyes to watch you.  Too lost in the kiss, your eyes have fluttered shut.  Expertly brushed lids covering your eyes.

He studies your features while he is in close proximity.  And he was glad to know that he felt the same affections for you when you are only a millimeter far or a kilometer far.  Coriolanus smiles through the kiss, pulls you closer and kisses you deeper.

Your fingers snake to his nape and you play with his hair.  Soft giggles attempt to escape you as his fingers dig deeper to your side.

Finally, Coriolanus lets you go and you part softly, your hair still tickling his cheeks.  You both open your eyes and share the purest of smiles.

The solemn ceremony ended and gave way to the reception.

Coriolanus made sure to give you the most lavish celebration.  It was like all the setbacks from yesterday were a decade ago.

You were most thankful to Dr. Gaul who seeded the clouds last night, making the tempest double its intensity.  The clouds cried the entire night that only a blanket of warm cerulean skies was left.

Tigris exceeded expectations with how well she made the final touches of Coriolanus’ suit.

And Mrs. Plinth gifted you a ruby set as your jewelry which matched the wedding motif perfectly.

Everything was perfect.

But what is a wedding without drama?

Lysistrata Vickers has taken your attention, congratulating you on your wedding.  You were not very close to her during your time in the Academy and University but you share no ill blood.  She was a close friend to Coriolanus in his time at the Academy and that was enough for you to be civil to her.

“I love the barrette.”  You point at the silver ornament that held her hair neatly.  She smiles at you as her fingers carefully brush on it.

“Thank you, I bought it specially for the wedding.”

You smile appreciatively at her as you reach to hold her hand.  The woman is smart, you’d love to keep good graces with her.  Although her kindness needs more filing down.

She excuses herself to get another glass of posca and you let her, now just soaking in the cheerful atmosphere of your guests enjoying your wedding.

You smile to yourself as you reach for your own glass of posca.  You swirl it before lifting it by the stem.  A slight movement from the corner of your eyes has you looking over.  There, Dr. Gaul raises her own glass at you, a sharp smile quirks on her lips.  You lift your own glass to her and you both drink.

Her efforts were well appreciated, perhaps you’d visit the University and fund one of her projects.

“You brought this upon yourself!”

You glance to the side to see your husband talking to Livia Cardew who had her face scrunched. 

Coriolanus was standing with indifference, it was almost comical to see Livia behave so emotionally.

“You always had a knack for making bad decisions but to marry that woman when many more were much suitable for the title!”  She seethes, her nails digging on her cream dress.  The audacity to wear such a color so close to your gown!  “This is what happens to kids with no mothers to guide them”

You glance at a peacekeeper who looks at Livia before nodding at you.

Sighing, you walk over to them.

“Are you insinuating that I should have married you instead?”  Coriolanus asks calmly, but you hear the mocking tone in his voice and you don’t bother to hide your condescending smile.

Livia’s face reddens like a beet and she curls her hand tightly, as if ready to strike.  She looks at the place with disgust.  “This is a mistake!  The Swansworth name died with that vile woman’s father.”

The sound of your heels hitting the floor summoned a smirk to Coriolanus’ face.  He recognizes your pace anywhere.

“I can assure you, it is very much alive.”  You glide next to Coriolanus, hooking your arm with his.  Livia eyes you angrily, the grimace on her face making her less attractive with every second.

“My love.”  Coriolanus acknowledges you and plants his lips on yours. 

You chuckle upon seeing your lipstick stain on his lips and your hand lifts to swipe your thumb on his lips, your enormous ring glinting and blinding Livia with the reflected light.  You and Coriolanus share mischievous smirks as she curses, now rubbing her eyes.

“‘A mistake’ she called our wedding.”  Coriolanus grins.

You continue to look up at him, your smile widening as a peacekeeper approaches Livia and takes her away.  She was struggling and causing a commotion but you and Coriolanus are in your own world and you cannot break the rose tinted hue that your gazes share.

“It has got to be the best mistake we ever made.”  You respond and he can’t help but steal another kiss from you.

The music shifts to a calmer one and Coriolanus places an arm on your waist as he leans down to look you in the eyes quite like how he did earlier in the altar.

But this one was different.  You see the anxiousness in them.

“Do you think you will regret marrying me?”  He asks suddenly and you almost scoffed, had it not been for the sincerity in his voice.

“Are you second guessing your decision, Coriolanus Snow?”  You narrow your eyes, tilting your chin up until your noses brush.

He shakes his head, his arms tightening its hold on your waist.  “No, no.  I don’t think I ever can.”  He glances at your lips and his brows crease.  “I have given you all that I am, Y/N Swansworth.  Please do not break me.”

You sigh, smiling at him with your eyes showing him understanding beyond comprehension.  He wonders how you do it.  Times come when he even struggles to understand himself but you seem to see every fiber of his being in highest clarity.

“You have my heart as your prisoner, Coriolanus.  Hurting you would be the death of me.”

He smiles softly but he remains looking at you, waiting for you to continue.

“The only regret I will ever have from tonight is letting Festus make that toast.”  You place your forehead on his shoulder.  Coriolanus laughs heartily as you groan.

“Indeed.”  He chuckles.  “It was a very emotional speech.”

You roll your eyes.  “There was more sobbing than actual speech.”

His thumb brushes on your back.  “He was just happy.”

“He had too much posca.”  You counter and Coriolanus had to yield.

Mr. Plinth did tell him earlier to know when to shut up once in an argument with his wife if he wanted to keep the marriage long and prosperous.

“Gods.”  Coriolanus groans and you see him massaging his brows.

“What is it?”  You asked, concern lacing your voice.

“Price.”

You glance at the champagne tower behind Corio and you see a reflection of Persephone Price walking in your direction with the widest smile.

“I can try to distract her.”  You offered gently, your hand massaging his arm.  His discomfort towards Persephone was still present despite his attempt to recover from the horrors brought by the Dark days.

“No!”  He was quick to say.  “I don’t want you alone with her.  Or any Price for that matter.  Just give me a moment.”

You stay silent, letting him decide what to do.

Coriolanus can be civil with her if necessary but he decided he did not want that tonight.

“Corio?”  You ask when his eyes darted around the hall before they settled on you.

“May I have this dance?”

“What are you-”

He suddenly pulls you by the hand, laughing as he avoids the crowd.  You were so lost but your feet tried to keep up with him anyway.

“Oh, Gods.”  You gasp when Corio takes a sharp turn after nearly colliding with Grandma’am.  “Sorry, Grandma’am!”  You yell as you continue running with Coriolanus.

Grandma’am fell on her chair, pointing at the two of you as she muttered how you two should not be running, and in your wedding reception too!

Coriolanus laughed as he held your hand tighter.  You laughed along as one of your hands held the tiara attached to your long trail of veil.

You see Tigris in the sides and she gives you a warm smile as you pass her.  It has been a while since she saw the same excitement and joy in Coriolanus’ eyes.  And she has you to thank for it.

Festus cheers as you pass his table, his champagne spilling to the floor and Lystrata grins as she shakes her head.

Cameras were clicking in your direction but you cannot care as you feel yourselves becoming one with the wind, Coriolanus nearly slips on the spilt champagne and you laugh once more as you stomp hard on the puddle, sending a splash to the dress of Clemensia Dovecote who was looking at you with animosity.

At that moment, you did not care about your families’ reputation.

Coriolanus is not the son of Crassus Snow.

You are not the daughter of Thanatos Swansworth.

You were just you.

The doors slammed open loudly and the two of you came to a stop as camera flashes blinded you.  Both of you are breathing heavily, sweat beading on your temples and your clothing sticking to your backs.

Without thinking, Coriolanus pulls you to the side and takes off again.

The paparazzi chases you, asking about your wedding and your plans but you are too busy trying to get as far away as possible from them.

Upon seeing a maid, you halt in your steps and Coriolanus glances at you with perplexity. 

“I have an idea.”

The maid who was carrying a basket full of linen was stunned to see you.  She was in utter shock that she was biting her tongue as she stumbled with her words.

You ended up following her in a secluded hallway.  It was under renovation and one cannot enter unless they come through the servants’ passage.

It was directly above the reception, the maid tells you.  And indeed, you can still hear the loud chatter in the wedding and the muffled music.

The maid scurries away after bowing in a back-breaking manner.

You and Coriolanus share a look and you burst out laughing.

“I cannot believe we spent the entire day yesterday stressing about making this wedding…”  You wave your hand in the air as you roll your eyes.  “perfect.”

“Only to run away.”  Coriolanus chuckles as he stares at the wide lawn, the city center of the Capitol is miles away, thus the lesser light pollution.

A familiar tune has you perking up and Coriolanus watches how you sway with the melody.

“I did ask you to dance, didn’t I?”  Coriolanus walks over to you and offers you his hand.

You narrow your eyes playfully.  “You’re not going to bolt again, are you?”

He purses his lips to contain a laugh.  “No.  I am asking for a real dance this time.”

Humming in content, you take his hand and you let him sway you to the song.  It seems the dance lessons you took while you were in the Academy paid off.

“You are a good dancer.”  You say with your brows slightly raised.

“You seem surprised.”  He replies before dipping you lowly.

The song ends and your chests are flushed together as you breathe heavily.  He keeps his eyes on you as your hand grips on his nape for support.

Your lips look lovely in that angle.

“Don’t divorce me.”  You say quietly, almost in a warning.

Coriolanus was about to retort but you cut him off before he can say anything.

“I studied your constitution and legislation.  I could strip you of power before the weekend.”  No, it was more of a threat.

Despite the venom you are spouting, the smile on Coriolanus’ lips remains undeterred and he kisses your lips with utmost gentleness.

When he breaks the kiss, your stern gaze has softened.

“I made a vow, in front of the gods.”  He says and he pulls you so you are both standing upright.  “I intend to honor that vow.”

You stare up at him before relenting.  Your bottom lip juts out as you smooth out the creases that appeared on his coat. 

“I’m your husband now.”  He grins.

“Oh, is that what you are?”  You feign a surprise as his grin widens.  “I thought you were just a fancy chaperone.”  You suddenly pull him by his collar, no trace of jest in your face.  “Remember what I told you.”

He leans down, his voice low.  “Oh, how easily threats can slide from those lips.”

“Lips you adore?”  You raise a brow haughtily and his smile drops, his eyes hazing over with danger as he leans down until his warm breath fans your face.

“Lips I worship.”

Quest for Happiness

Wedding Magazine by Trinket & Co.