#their love is so pure and HIS love for HER is so gentle and wholesome ;o;

[nimnia]

𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐈𝐍 𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐀𝐍

pairing ── pham hanni x female reader

summary ── in which hanni falls for a mysterious stranger by a milan lake, their brief connection leaving her heart racing.

contains ── pure wholesome, non idol au, photography, softest first love, sentimental, traveler-photographer hanni, photographer reader, flirty reader, adorable italian nickname

taglist ── none

[masterlist]

── ── ꒰ 📸 ꒱ ── ──

the late afternoon sun casts a golden glow over the tranquil lake, its surface rippling gently as ducks glide across the water.

the scene was mesmerizing, beautiful, a perfect blend of nature's serenity and autumn's gentle embrace. the breeze carried with it the faint scent of fallen leaves, stirring a calm rhythm that seemed to harmonize with the soft quacks if the ducks.

standing near the edge of the lake on the bridge, your figure stood out in quiet elegance.

your hair flower freely, catching the breeze in graceful arcs. every so often, a strand would fall across your face, and you'd tuck it behind your ear with a graceful, absentminded motion.

your hands were steady as you raised your camera, focusing intently on the ducks paddling near the shore and the orange leaves floating on the water's surface.

hanni stood a few feet away, her own camera hanging loosely around her neck.

she had been capturing the picturesque scenery of the famous lake when she caught sight of you.

her breath hitched slightly at the sight—the way the sunlight framed your gorgeous figure, the ease with which you moved, and the quiet focus in your expression as you framed your shots.

she felt her heart skip, her ears turning red as she gripped her camera nervously.

she had seen beauty in many forms before, through the lens of her travels and photography, but something about you held her attention in a way she couldn't quite explain.

she swallowed hard, taking a tentative step towards you.

her palms felt clammy against her camera, and her mind raced to come up with something—anything—to say. still, as nervous as she felt, there was an undeniable pull that drew her closer.

when she stopped a short distance away from you, the space between you felt almost tangible, like an invisible thread linking her to your presence.

the soft rustle of leaves and the quiet lapping of water filled the silence as hanni tried to calm her nerves.

hesitantly, she turned her head to glance at you, her heart pounding in anticipation.

but to her surprise, she found your captivating gaze already on her, curiosity flickering in your eyes.

"oh—!" she stammered, snapping her head away so quickly she nearly dropped her camera. her cheeks flushed a deep crimson, and she cursed herself for getting caught staring.

you blinked, your curiosity deepening as you studied the flustered girl beside you.

there was something endearing about this stranger—her shy demeanor, the way her hands trembled slightly as she adjusted the strap of her camera.

a small smile tugged at your lips, and you decided to break the silence.

"buonasera, bella," you greeted warmly, your voice soft and inviting.

hanni's breath hitched again. the way you spoke—your voice like a warm melody, paired with that endearing italian nickname—sent her head into overdrive.

she turned back to you cautiously, her eyes wide and unsure.

"uh... hi," she managed, her voice barely above a whisper.

your smile widened ever so slightly, and you tilted your head, your gaze never leaving hers. "you're not from around here, are you?"

hanni shook her head, trying to steady her voice. "n-no, i'm just.. visiting, from south korea.."

"ah, south korea.." you repeated thoughtfully, as if savoring the words. "that's wonderful. milan must feel so different, then."

"it does," she admitted softly, her nerves easing slightly at your gentle tone. "but it's... so beautiful here."

"it is," you agreed, glancing back at the lake. "especially during autumn—it's my favorite season out of all seasons."

hanni nodded, her grip on her camera tightening. "...mine too."

you looked back at her, your eyes softening. "do you come here often to take pictures?"

"i.. travel a lot," she explained, her voice gaining a bit more confidence. "photography is.. kind of my thing, and i love exploring new places."

your smile deepened, and for a moment, you seemed lost in thought. "a kindred spirit, then.." you mumbled.

hanni blinked, "kindred spirit?"

you lifted your own camera slightly, gesturing towards it. "i love capturing moments too. the little details that most people overlook."

she couldn't help but smile at your words, "it's certainly the best part, isn't it? finding beauty in the small things..."

you nodded, your gaze returning to the lake. the two of you stood there for a moment, an unspoken understanding settling between you.

after a while, you adjusted your camera and captured a shot of the orange sky reflected in the water. then, with a quiet confidence, you held the photo out to hanni.

"here," you said, your smile warm. "a welcome gift—for milan, and for you."

hanni hesitated, her eyes darting from the photo to your face. "f-for me?"

"of course," you said with a playful glint in your eyes. "a woman like you deserves to feel at home here, bella."

her cheeks burned, and she fumbled to take the photo from your hand. "t-thank you..." she stammered, holding it as if it were the most precious thing in the world.

you chuckled softly at her reaction, the sound making her heart skip again.

despite the brief conversation, something about you felt so familiar. hanni couldn't place it, but there was an ease to talking to you, as if she had known you in another life.

"milan suits you," you said suddenly, breaking her thoughts.

"it.. it does?" she asked, her voice tinged with disbelief.

you nodded, "you have.. a warm energy, even if you don't realize it. this city loves people like you."

hanni's heart swelled at your words, and for a moment, she couldn't find the right thing to say.

she simply stared at you, wondering how someone she had just met could make her feel so seen.

as the sun dipped lower, casting the lake in shades of amber and rose, you glanced at your watch. "i should get going," you said reluctantly and sadly, your gaze lingering on her.

"oh.." hanni said softly, disappointment flickering across her face.

you noticed but didn't comment, offering her one last smile instead. "enjoy your time here, bella, and maybe... we'll meet again, someday."

before she could respond, you gave her a small wave and began walking away, the breeze catching your hair as you disappeared down the path.

hanni stood frozen, clutching the photo you had given her. her heart raced, and her mind replayed every word, every glance, every smile.

as you glanced back briefly, your soft eyes meeting hers one last time, she felt her breath hitched.

once you were out of sight, hanni let out a shaky laugh, pressing her free hand to her chest, feeling it being thumped by her heart.

"...damn it, i think i just fell in love..." she murmured breathlessly, her cheeks still flushed and her heart racing so fast.

for the first time in all her travels, it wasn't the scenery or the culture that had left the deepest impression—it was you.

── ── ꒰ end ꒱ ── ──

[nemisuki]

Racing Hearts

Modern AU | A small wholesome moment between a hot head and his girlfriend. Yet the hot head is actually shy of affection?

᧔o᧓ || katsuki bakugo x f!reader, no manga spoilers, no nsfw, pure fluff, innocent kiss scene, 861 word count

“You're very dear to me Katsuki”

Bakugo blinks. Once. Twice. His red eyes roaming over every detail of her face. He never knows what to say in situations like these. He can feel his heartbeat increase as he sees her smile. It's not just beautiful but it's directed toward him. And that's what makes it more beautiful. Her smile is always meant for him and he takes pride in that.

He doesn't know what to say. Yet he knows he should say something in response. His brows furrowed trying to come up with a thing to say. Y/N saw the look of contemplation of his face and she had to resist a giggle from escaping her lips. She knows how his brain goes on overdrive at times like these so she patiently waits for his reply, if he even gives her one.

“Mhm I know…” he says in a softer tone than the usual loud voice he's accustomed to. Despite the short response, Y/N loves when he acknowledges her affection in such a tender way. The boy she meets on the first day of school at UA is different from the person standing before her. She tilts her head and goes on her tippy toes, with one thought in mind.

Bakugo recognizes the familiar gesture and sighs. Leaning down for her, he gently wraps his arms around her waist. Holding her close as she wraps her arms around his neck. She smiles looking at him with a hopeful look. He knows that look all too well. He rolls his eyes and leans down towards her face, “yeah yeah shut up and c'mere dumbass.”

Y/N couldn't help but find the situation amusing as small laughter filled his dorm room, “I didn't even say anything- mph!”

Bakugo hushed her before she could finish her cheeky remark. He let out a grunt as he gently squeezed her face, making her words come out muffled. But before she could respond with a pout or a whine, he leaned down and silenced her with a tender kiss. One hand found its way to her cheek, tenderly cradling her face, while the other hand glided down her neck and torso, coming to rest at her waist, enveloping her in his embrace.

Y/N hums softly against his lips, their mouths melding together in a moment of affection. He's not usually good with words, but this kiss says it all. He's pouring everything he feels for her into the press of his mouth, the way he holds her against him. It's gentle, soft and filled with a deep sense of tenderness and love. This kiss is a declaration, a promise, a silent vow spoken only to her.

As they both part from each other's lips, Bakugo immediately nuzzles his head in the crook of her neck. Y/N moves her arms to wrap around his torso, holding him close and gently rubbing his back. She knows he loves the feeling of her hands on his body, the satisfaction that she’s by his side. They stay like this in each other's embrace for a few minutes in comfortable silence.

“....I love you… idiot” he mumbles against her neck in a soft tone that's barely audible. She was surprised, she didn’t expect that out of the blue. Y/N feels her heartbeat rise and she wonders if he can feel it too. Maybe he can, that would explain how a few seconds later he lifts his head to look at her. A very small dusting of pink at the tip of his ears.

Y/N is not used to this. To him saying those three words with such gentleness. She can feel her face getting warm. Suddenly the room is hot. So very hot.

“I love you too ‘Suki” she says as a brighter smile goes on her face. Usually she was the one saying that phrase first but this was a nice surprise. He's trying hard to be more affectionate recently and she couldn’t be happier. No matter what she’ll adore him, but the fact that he’s attempting to be more vocal about his feelings to her is just… amazing in its own way. He’s slowly trying to break down the walls he built up for himself and her.

Hearing that nickname from your mouth always made him crazy. His own heart flutters and he looks away from embarrassment unable to hide how flustered he is now. The combination of your smile and words made him too happy to admit.

“Damn it” he mutters under his breath, covering half his face with his hands hoping it would hide the redness that surely has arisen on his face.

The room falls silent. Y/N shyly hides her face behind her hands as well, overwhelmed by the sight of Bakugo's flustered state. It's rare to see him so vulnerable, and when he does show his softer side, it always stirs something deep within her. They both shyly look away, trying to regain their composure and cool down their racing hearts.

Both of them were idiots….

Who are already dating.

Yet still get shy at a simple I love you.

[aventurineswife]

“Both your hands in the hole of my sweater” | Part 2

Summary: While your partner was away on a work trip, you, as their beloved partner, spent the time knitting them a sweater. Upon their return, they’re met with the surprise of a handmade gift.

Tags: Dan Heng x Reader, Robin x Reader, Argenti x Reader, Topaz x Reader, Numby Fluff, Knitting Sweater for them, Domestic Fluff, Handmade Gifts, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, Soft Moments, Fluff and Comfort, Found Family Vibes, Tender Moments, Gift Giving, Wholesome Fluff.

Part 1, Part 3

Dan Heng

You spent hours knitting a dark blue sweater for Dan Heng, mirroring the serene, star-streaked nights you both spent watching on the Astral Express. When he finally returned from his trip, he was tired and stoic as always, but his eyes softened at the sight of your gift.

“It’s… for me?” he asked, voice almost a whisper. His fingers brushed the yarn as if it might dissolve under his touch. A faint smile crept onto his usually impassive face. “Thank you.” he murmured, slipping it on over his usual tunic. It fit him perfectly, cozy yet just snug enough.

In a rare moment of vulnerability, he glanced at you and said, “I’ll wear it often. It reminds me of… home.” And for once, he seemed truly at peace, holding onto a warmth beyond the fabric.

Robin

You chose a soft, lilac-colored yarn, matching the hues of Robin’s cascading hair. As she entered the room upon her return, you presented her with the delicate sweater you’d knitted, woven with a gentle star pattern around the sleeves.

“Oh, it’s beautiful!” she gasped, green eyes bright with genuine joy as she ran her fingers over the intricate stitches. She slipped it on, twirling gracefully, the fabric flowing in tune with her elegance.

“It feels like a comforting hug, a piece of home I can carry wherever I go.” she whispered. She then looked at you with a teary smile, touched beyond words. “I’ll treasure it always… and sing a song of gratitude just for you.”

Argenti

You chose a deep crimson for Argenti’s sweater, with golden accents reminiscent of his armor—warm, rich colors that represented both his valor and the beauty he saw in the world. When he returned, you offered it to him, suddenly unsure if he’d appreciate something so simple.

But Argenti’s reaction was instant and profound. He took the sweater from your hands with reverence, tracing each stitch as if it were a masterpiece. His eyes shone with admiration and something deeper, something devoted. “This… you made this?” His voice was soft, his usual confidence tempered by awe.

“Such dedication,” he whispered, studying the gentle waves and patterns in the fabric. “To think, each thread was woven by your hands… It holds a beauty unmatched by jewels or stars.” He slipped it over his armor, the fabric draping him like it had been crafted by divine hands. He looked down at it, then back at you, eyes filled with a rare vulnerability.

“You’ve taken the simplest of things—yarn and time—and turned them into something… extraordinary,” he murmured, as if still in disbelief. “Your love is in every fiber, every loop.” He placed his hand over his heart. “It’s not just a gift; it’s an embodiment of beauty, pure and true. I will wear it always, a reminder that true art is made with care, and beauty lives in all that we cherish.”

Stepping close, he took your hands in his. “Thank you, my love,” he whispered, his voice trembling slightly. “In this, I see the beauty of our bond—a beauty I am worthy of, but one I vow to honor with all that I am.”

Topaz

For Topaz, you picked a rich, ruby-red yarn with accents of gold—a color as bold as her spirit. When she returned, you handed her the sweater without fanfare, but she gasped, eyes widening in surprised delight.

“You knitted this? For me?” she exclaimed, and she held it up to her chest as if imagining how it would feel. She quickly put it on, looking down with a satisfied smile. “Perfect fit.” she grinned.

“You’re really thoughtful, you know that?” she said with a chuckle, but her eyes sparkled with genuine appreciation. She gave you a light punch on the shoulder. “Guess this means I owe you one, huh?”

!BONUS!

Numby

You'd had a feeling Numby might be a little more difficult to knit for. They were small, always moving around Topaz’s side, eager and full of energy, sniffing out anything they thought held value. Still, you thought they deserved something cozy and sweet—a little sweater that would match Topaz’s.

When they finally noticed the tiny, bright red sweater you'd carefully made, Numby froze. At first, they sniffed at it cautiously, circling it as if trying to understand why you’d given them this odd little garment. You knelt down, coaxing them closer with a gentle hand. "Here, Numby, I made this just for you."

After a moment of contemplation, they gave a small, excited hop and nudged their head against your hand, as if in understanding. Gently, you slipped the sweater over them, adjusting it so the red bowtie around their neck still peeked out, like a cheerful splash of color against the new warmth.

Numby made a little trill, hopping in a tiny circle as they took in their new attire in curiosity and delight. They looked over at Topaz as if to say; Look what I have now!

You couldn't help but laugh as they bounced around happily, shaking with joy. For a creature that usually hunted treasure, Numby seemed to consider this simple sweater a rare and precious find, something even more valuable because it was given with care.

[jester089]

I feel I need to balance this angst out, do this AFTER you’ve done the others and given yourself time to chill…I’ve got my eyes on you…

Anyhow, how’s about the TADC gang all seperate with an s/o who’s just the definition of ‘chill’. They are the best comfort partner (just behind Kinger ofc), they comfort, share and engage in hobbies, show small signs of affection like soft side hugs and gentle butterfly kisses to the cheeks or neck, an ear to listen and a shoulder to cry on. Will also 100% piggyback/bridal carry their significant other if asked or for fun. Just a pure wholesome fuzzy mess.

Lazy days

This is just going to be what I think their hobbies and all are. As it's a fluffy request I'm going to do softer not cannon versions of everyone. TADC crew x Chill/Relaxed Reader

Caine

Caine can be an incredibly busy man/AI so try and make him take breaks. He gets to caught up in work because he's so worried that if he doesn't have fun things to do then people will start abstracting. So when you walk into his office gently pick him up and sit down in his chair with him now sitting on your lap it helps him snap out of it. He isn't going to stop still. But he really appreciates you being there. You being there and every now and again giving him an idea you had makes the work take longer, but makes it much more enjoyable. You'll honestly probably end up falling asleep on him, arms wrapped around him head on his shoulder. Sadly he doesn't have a neck, or any real exposed skin. So kisses will be a little rough but that isn't gonna stop you. It is a little weird kissing a giant set of teeth though. And second he finished up, or at least reaches a point where he can stop you pick him up and take him to your bed. Sometimes he'll tunnel vision to much on something and you'll have to do that anyways. It's like holding an angry cat when that happens, minus the claws.

Gangle

Gangle loves affection but isn't amazing at giving nor receiving it. Any time you do anything she can and will blush. And if you protect her from Jax. Putty Gangle has arrived. How relaxed you are despite everything happening helps her out a lot. I headcannon that she loves working with clay, like making pottery and all. But sadly with her ribbon hands she can't do it anymore. Or rather couldn't, cause you help her out. You two will sit in front of a potters wheel. You have her place her hands on the outside of yours and you just let her lead. (I have made plenty of pottery in my time and I can safely say it is incredibly hard to do.) Sadly unless your helping her with something she doesn't let you in her pottery station anymore. You tried to make a mug for her without her and it didn't go well. You didn't know the first thing about pottery when she wasn't guiding you so it ended up blowing up in the kiln. You felt really bad. Cuddles with Gangle are a little strange. She doesn't have any real body weight so it really does feel like your cuddling a piece of ribbon (for good reason). So you two came up with something. You got a body pillow that's around her height and when you two are cuddling she'll wrap around it so she has more mass. When she needs some comfort you'll know. Whenever she's in a really bad mood and wants you touch but doesn't really want to say it she'll exist really close to you and start gently wrapping one of her arms around yours. Overall 10/10, she's a giant sweetheart and your lucky you got her. So treat her well yeah?

Zooble

I recommend bringing some kind of hoodie or blanket with you. Her edges can be a little harsh on the body. Out of everyone Zooble is the highest chance of most cuddles. She never gets involved in adventures and avoids the others when she can. Which basically just means more alone time with her. Zooble has a lot of insecurities concerning her new body and the circus. You're the only one she trust enough with that kind of thing so don't downplay her thoughts and emotions. The main way she shows affection is just spending time with you, she isn't big on touch and she doesn't exactly have the resources for gifts. And that worries her, she knows that she can be rude and unpleasant to be around but she doesn't have anything else to offer you. She's not great at communication so you really just need to keep patient and keep loving her. She has a jagged and rough exterior, but it like everything can be broken. It'll just take time.

Kinger

You two make a great bunch. The others never would have thought but if someone is having an especially bad day they go to you two. Kinger is amazing at calming and encouraging words, and your amazing at calming acts and setting up an atmosphere. You've saved a lot from abstraction because of that. Hugs are amazing from him. That royal medieval robe he's wearing is really nice to the touch. Sadly he doesn't have a mouth but he'll try and make up for that with head bonks (Head bonk: To gently place your head against someone you care about to show affection. Usually used when that person isn't comfortable with kisses.) One time you two built an actual castle out of pillows. It took you like a day but it had a working drawbridge and everything! Sadly it was broken during an adventure but it was really fun to build with Kinger. He can get a little... Unstable... When that happens a tight hug and a kiss can usually snap him out of it. But if that doesn't work bring him back to your room. The atmosphere you have set up and the fact that it smells like you will help him out a lot.

Ragatha

Once again you two make a good combo. She holds people off from breaking down. But if she can't stop it then she sends em to you. So once again you two help with abstraction a lot. But poor baby is stressed and you help provide some needed relief. I see her as the type of if she was expecting a kiss or a hug she'll hug/kiss back and thank you. If she wasn't she turns into a blushing mess with a big ol dopey smile on her face. Something she appreciates a lot is more childish things. Like if you start up a pillow fight with her she will be ecstatic. But be warned her pillows hit like a truck. Not cause their different just because she's really good at pillow fights. Her fav cuddle type is the honeymoon hug (look it up). She gets to be close to you and give you smooches if she wants. And she gets to feel like she's protecting you. She is the mom friend and you annoy her by saying over the top things like. "Ok MOM" when she asks you to stop doing something. First few times she hated it but now she goes along with it sayng things like "Hey! Don't talk back to me. Give me your phone you're grounded." She never means it though.

Jax

I think Jax is the most stable person in the circus. I'm saying he's mentally ok I'm just saying that he is by far at the least risk for abstraction. Whenever Jax plays a joke on someone and you go to help calm them down he gets a little jealous. He knows you love him but he doesn't really like you talking to others. So don't be surprised if you're in the middle of comforting someone and he just picks you up and walks away. He can be a little mean so for your own sake try and not take his words to heart. He just by second nature starts pointing things out that he dislikes, and often he starts pointing out things on/to do with you before he realizes. He also won't apologize so just try and ignore it. He sorta makes up for it with affection though. Cause he's pretty affectionate. Most of it is teasing yes, like he's come out of no where kiss your cheek and use a pet name that flusters you then just leave like he didn't do anything. But he's surprisingly gentle when it comes to that kind of thing. I see him being the type where you two fall asleep in the same bed and you wake up with him having his arms and legs around you probably drooling on your forehead. Or he's one of those that take up the whole bed so you often wake up on the floor. Many say that opposites attract. And you two are very different. But that isn't a bad thing.

Pomni

You two are opposites in a lot of ways. She is anxious and constantly in a state of panic/worry. And you never are. So you help her a lot. I see her being kind of like a cat towards you. Constantly around you and or begging for attention. I have an idea that I came up with a few years ago. It's a hoodie with a giant pocket inside. Like one of those baby carriers but minus the straps and inside the hoodie so who/whatever you keep in there share warmth. And she loves it. You two can be relaxing in your room and she'll realize something and spring off the bed you two were on. She and will turn the entire place upside down looking for it (https://www.tiktok.com/@louiencoco/video/7214862848042831110) so if you don't wanna have to clean up later just show her where it is. On a more serious note though you two were a match made in heaven and with enough time you could make a genuine improvement in her mental health. The main reason she's so fragile mentally is cause she never gets/got a break. So her favorite activity with you is probably just relaxing in one of your rooms away from the others.

(Tumblr deleted this like 3 times while I was writing it. And it turned out kind of bad because of that. Sorry but don't blame me. Blame tumblr.)

xoxo, Jester

[amymbona]

Challengers - the band

Among equally famous Arctic Monkeys or Gorillaz, fans have got nuts over the quickly rising indie band formed in 2006. Challengers consists of three uniquely charismatic members, each one equally as genuine, and yet they all fit together like pieces of puzzle, creating a what fans appreciate as the trio of the decade.

Fitting into the genre of pure english indie, the trio doesn't fear to bounce into the world of rock or deliver a heart-touching ballad, so versatile that it appears unbelievable to many. The critics deem Challengers as an immortal piece of music that will continue to live on and be appreciated decades into the future. Even the thirsty fans seem to agree.

Tashi Duncan

The frontman - in this case the front lady - carries the aesthetic part, providing a gentle caress with each of her smiles, known widely by her fair amount of dark toned lipsticks and pairs of leather pants. As the main vocalist, her voice is heard in most of the songs, and she is essentially the voice of the band.

The gorgeous grace with which she carries herself can hardly he matched, and by many, Tashi is often refered to as the bitch, which takes away from the beauty of her soul. Contrary to a popular belief, Tashi Duncan is a gentle human - a fact supported by all the fans that have met her - as she never misses an opportunity to hug a fan or sign a paper.

A sex symbol, often compared to Amy Winehouse or Fiona Apple, she's often reduced fo a pretty face - much to her fans' disappointment. The talent she possesses is nothing short of a gift, given to her by gods above, and certain female singers have expressed both their jealousy towards and support to the star.

Art Donaldson

Known as the people's sweetheart, the most one could spot of Art Donaldson is the messy mop of his curls peeking from behind the drum set. With often admired set of muscles - which many female fans attempt to grasp once the drummer ventures in public - it's no issue for him to be pounding into the drums and cymbals all night.

His steady beats offer a stable background to all of the band's songs, resembling the rhythm of our heartbeats. But the man who's been named as the best drummer of the current music wave is much more than that.

It's no secret that Art Donaldson does most of the songwriting, providing his fans an insight to his soul, which doesn't resemble the harshness of his clothing style at all. Upon further observation, it's clear that most of the lyrics are centered around love, affection, eroticism and gut-wrenching feelings. This gentle compassion, paired with a cute smile, makes Art the most wholesome face of the genre of indie.

Patrick Zweig

This man is not famous just for his pretty face, though it is the feature he is the most recognized for. With the electric guitar constantly glued to his hands and the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old, Patrick Zweig jumps from one side of the stage to another. Some might say he is a bad influence, supported by the handful amount of evidence of nicotine and alcohol induced behaviour.

Known for his unrealistically swiftly executed guitar riffs, Patrick is the one to transform the ideas into music, as the band itself has mentioned. Most of the early hits were made purely under his supervision, which helped set the initial direction the band would evolve in. Perhaps he is the one we should thank for having Challengers become real.

It was particularly Patrick who stole the hearts of many young ladies, successfully earning himself the title of the womanizer. Multiple women were spotted leaving the Zweig residence over the last few months, wearing evidently less clothing that they entered the luxurious villa in. As the most extroverted and publically followed member, Patrick Zweig might as well be the loudest element of the three-man band.

[muffinsin]

Hi! I discovered your page recently and have been in LOVEEE with it ever since. It says your inbox is open, but getting full so i hope requesting something right now is okay! I was just wondering if you could do a dimitrescu sisters × teen sister reader? the reader is human and I think it would be cool to see how the sisters react and treat her (I think they would be really gentle because they're scared of scaring/hurting her) ty so much! <3 (I love your prompts)

Awhhh, this is such a cute, wholesome prompt! And funnily enough, I don’t think I’ve ever written HCs about a teen sister!🙌 I’m happy to hear ya like my prompts, hon :)

Let’s get into it🙌🥳

Masterlists

Bela

Bela is, by now, utterly used to her role as the eldest sister

And while she does consider and call Cassandra and Daniela her “little sisters”, they’re really not all that different as it comes to their ages

A difference of mere hours, really, biologically speaking

When she was a newborn fly spawn, they were newborn fly spawns

When she was a toddler, they were toddlers

When she was a teen, they were teens

When she turned into a (-responsible) adult, they did. Biologically speaking, of course. She’s certain especially Daniela hasn’t made it all the way there, at times

But, all in all, she’s very similar to her sisters as it comes to age, despite being the eldest and their older sister

And then, there’s you…

A new sibling, a new sister

A little sister

But…a real, far younger sister

A teen

A teen, whereas she has lived for centuries

Bela has been fond of you from the start. Sure, she wasn’t originally happy about getting another sister, but the moment she laid eyes on you and got to know you, she started to love you just as she loves and treasures and protects her sisters

At first, it’s very difficult for her to act as a sister, truthfully, rather than a mother

You’re just so…young, compared to her! It’s difficult for her not to get overly maternal, as she sometimes still tends to get with your older sisters

Bela tries to understand you, and your interests

That doesn’t mean she’s good at it, though. She doesn’t care much for things she deems a waste of time, and is hardly a troublemaker. This alone has her stray from anything that could be considered rebellious

She also has difficulty not telling on you to your mother when you do something, or to take matters into her own hands and scolds you

Technically, you know she’s supposed to do this, being the eldest and all

Still, it’s sometimes a little difficult for the two of you to connect

Especially with how unreachable Bela seems at times; so intelligent, such good manners. Loved or respected by nearly everyone despite her nature, purely because of how she presents herself

Mother’s heiress…

She seems so impossibly strong, in her own way. Of course, you partly look up to her. But it’s difficult to see yourself on the same level as her

Sometimes, you’re sure because of all this she must be Mother’s favorite, and it occasionally nabs at you, how you have no chance of getting to where she is

But, she loves you dearly, and you love her

She will always comfort and guide you, even help you grow

She’s your protector, in a way, helping you always

Especially when feelings get the better of you. She reassures you often; it’s okay to feel this and that, and that it’s perfectly normal to feel certain things at your age

She also puts you in your place when you’re in the wrong, though, gently telling you and ensuring you know: she still loves you after

And, actually, you find Bela gives amazing hugs, and while she isn’t the sister to hug without asking what’s wrong, you find comfort in that, too

Out of all of your sisters Bela is best at controlling her strenght

Which, sometimes, is a little unfortunate because she’s also the sister that refuses to wrestle with you for fun. Apparently, she doesn’t “see the point” in that

At least she feels utterly comfortable hugging you, knowing that she won’t hurt you

She would never hurt you

Cassandra

The first time she heard of having a sister, she was thrilled!

And when she met you the first time, the two of you got along instantly

Cassandra feels much less unreachable than her older sister

Much more- approachable

She’s sadistic, has a short temper- much like your mother, at times- and rough

But you love her, and she loves and treasures you

She’s the first to take you out on a hunt to the forest, is the one to teach you to fight and keep yourself safe

While she has a little more difficulty controlling her strength at times and therefore occasionally keeps her distance, she has never hurt you

Cassandra is, in her own way, a role model to you

She’s fierce and powerful

She easily takes down her prey and entertains you with her stories of her hunts and previous victims

She teaches you to be strong, teaches you what it means to be a Dimitrescu. And even when you can’t be strong, she’s strong for you, easily putting others in their place with a mere glance their way

Cassandra and you spend a lot of time together, and she’s genuinely interested in most you have to say

By now you know, she will not care for gossip or anything like that. The wrong sister for that, certainly. And you know, she won’t even bother pretending to listen to that

But, she’ll listen to all you’re genuinely passionate about, perhaps even participate if it’s for her

She encourages you to follow your hobbies and make the most of them

Like with her sisters, after all, Alcina allows you to choose at least one hobby and fully supports it. She will not stand for any of her daughters not pursuing anything, however

When you have difficulty choosing what could be fit for you, Cassandra is eager to help out

She shows you this and that, and is eager to try most new things with you

Cassandra is also the sister to turn to when you want to know what they and your mother were like a few centuries ago

The fun stuff, that is

She’ll tell you every detail she so easily remembers, occasionally also brag about things she did particularly well

Often, she’ll sprinkle in a few details you’re sure aren’t quite that true, but you don’t mind

You find, she also inspires you to be creative like that!

Speaking of little half truths here and there, Cassandra is the first to teach you how to lie and get away with it at the castle

Now, of course you’ve lied plenty times already in your life

But with Alcina, it seems impossible. Like she fully knows when you’re not being entirely honest

Even Bela seems to know, somehow, sometimes!

It’s infuriating, but Cassandra is quick to teach you

In return, she becomes about the only sister you are always truthful to

You never feel the need to lie to her, even when you’re planning on doing something stupid or risky

Often enough she’ll join in, or cover for you at least

When she does tell you not to do something, which is rare, you listen

You know, she means well, and doesn’t underestimate you or whatever you’re about to do

You value her opinion, and when she says not to do something, she tends to be right

Daniela

Daniela finds you utterly adorable, as she calls you

She doesn’t quite remember her “teen” years, really

But that’s okay

She’s every bit as playful and still has a bit of a habit to get herself into trouble, much like you do, occasionally

She likes to join you when you’re about to do something risky, and at times even is the one proposing it and whining to you about joining her

Of course, she will always keep you safe during those times

Though your mother is unhappy to say at the least when she catches you, her youngest, covered in dirt and blood from head to toe after your sister insisted throwing guts like snowballs is a blast!

In many ways, Daniela doesn’t quite feel like an older sister

She’s playful, a little immature, teasing, socially intelligent, and quite handsy with the maidens. She’s a little clingy and delusional, but always has your best interests at heart, the same as your other sisters

She always has some gossip to talk to you about, rambling about this and that she picked up while lounging and swarming about in the castle

She loves to read, and loves to share her favorite books with you

Unlike her sisters, she isn’t overly picky with her interests, either

She isn’t into mathematics or science. Aside from that, she’ll happily learn about all you’re interested in

She’ll participate in your hobbies, or lounge on your bed like a lazy cat while you ramble about your hobbies and fixations

She doesn’t mind at all. She loves to learn about new things, and remembers surprisingly much you tell her despite her short term memory span

Often, she remembers even more of your stories and ramblings than your other sisters do, as she’s genuinely interested in your hobbies, even when she has no clue about them

Daniela, in a way, feels like a best friend rather than a sister

She’s always there for you, will always protect and teach you. She’s silly, playful, will never say no to some good fun and often even convince you to “play” with the maidens or her sisters, seeing how much the two of you can annoy them until they notice

She teaches you to be strong too, yes, but perhaps even more so, Daniela has a way of teaching you how to get along with people

How to blend in with them, how to lure information from others by casually being around them

No, not by using some reverse psychology and what not like Bela. By listening. By being friendly. By making them ramble on their own

She teaches you to make friends, even with the reputation of your family, and how to effortlessly start conversations

And even when you can’t make a friend, she reminds you that you will always have your family

She teaches you, of course, also how to get what you want from Alcina

Generally, Alcina has a hard time saying no to any of her daughters. You’re all so precious to her, and there’s rarely a time she’ll deny a wish coming from one of you

Daniela, having been in the role of the youngest for the longest time and still having her sweet, pouty puppy eyes ready, teaches you how to get just about anything you want from your mother

Whether it’s clothing or toys (often in Daniela’s case those are servants), treats or anything from the outside world, she teaches you to properly ask for it

And yet; she has the hardest time controlling her strenght

She loves physical touch as a means to show her affection. She loves to hug her sisters even when they try to peel her away from them, acting all annoyed when they really aren’t, and she loves to wrap her arms around Alcina’s waist, hugging her whenever she can in exchange for some heat pats and scratches

With you, she must actively hold back

You’re…fragile

You’re human

You’re her little sister

She would never want to hurt you!

But, she can’t help it sometimes, and feels horrible when she hugs you and is just a tad bit too excited, causing her arms around you to be a little too tight

She always takes care of you after, her eyes wide and wet as she blinks away tears, feeling so utterly guilty for hurting you

You always reassure her; it’s not her fault

You still love her

She’s still your older sister

You still admire and look up to her

And it’s all it takes to have her smile widely again

[vxlentinescookies]

Can I’m have cream unicorn cookie pure vanilla cookie and latte and dark cacao cookie x reader who is extremely overprotective over sorbet shark cookie and peppermint cookie and squid ink cookie and ask them if they can adopt them please sorbet and squid ink they have being alone in the ocean for years and peppermint is orphan they deserve a family so much please make it super wholesome headcanons please

→ ❛From the Sea with Love❜

→ Characters; Cream Unicorn Cookie, Pure Vanilla Cookie, Latte Cookie & Dark Cacao Cookie → Quote ; N/A → Genre ; Headcanons → A/N ; Sorry it took me so long to get to this, I've been a bit burnt out so im taking it easy, but i hope you like it!

Cream Unicorn Cookie

“You’ll always have a home with us, little cookies”

They’re one of the gentle cookies who will be ecstatic to take care of young ones with you, after all, they have done so since ages!

Will be there by your side if you need any help dealing with meltdowns or simply understanding some of them! Im very sure that Cream Unicorn knows its way along language barriers

One of their favorite times of the day is spending time with you all, sleeping together in a cuddle pile.

While not overprotective, they know that certain adventures can be dangerous, especially for Sorbet Shark cookie, yet, its sure they can handle themselves.

Pure Vanilla Cookie

“I never expected to be a father so soon, but with you by my side, im more than happy to be one”

Also one of the gentle cookies who will be ecstatic to take care of young ones by your side, though in this case, its because Pure Vanilla always dreamed of having kids with you!

Will read a lot on how to take care of kids, might even end up becoming a bit overprotective at times, so its best to let them know that its ok to tone it down a bit, they’re not going to hurt themselves!

Along the last hc, he will resort to Dark Cacao at times for help on parenting, after all, Dark Cacao is the ancient with a kid.

Overall a good parent, will gladly stay with you by the sea shore to take care of your adopted children.

Latte Cookie

“Well, I never expected to become a mother so soon, but if its with you, my dear, then I have no objections”

Eager to step into this new stage of life with you by their side, after all, parenting cant be all that different from teaching, right?

Well, it quite isnt like that. She realizes that rather quickly.

Will, regardless, do her best at taking care of your new children, but knows that there’s so much that can be done, as they’ve already gained a semblance of independence.

Will remind you to take care of yourself, still, as she dosent want you to overwork yourself, or stop caring for yourself in favor of others.

Dark Cacao Cookie

“This time, it’ll be different, I promise.”

Is a bit adamant on taking in new children because of what happened with Dark Choco, but he trusts you with reassurances that this time it’ll be different.

Does his best as a (now second time) father to them, taking care and nurturing them

Accepts though, the fact that these three are mostly independent, so that makes things a bit easier on him.

Will still watch over them with you, and help you tone it down whenever you become too overprotective. These kids have gained their independence, allow them to be children.

[katsu28]

can I request “Baby’s Breath - a wholesome moment” with our favorite grump remus? maybe just some domestic fluff?

i've been delving deeper into my marauders phase lately so thank you so much for this request <3 he's not too much of a grump in this one but i can give u soft bf remus today i hope that's okay

remus lupin x reader, 1k, fluff fluff and more fluff

Remus never thought he’d ever have a life like he had now. He’d always thought he was destined to live a life of solitude, a life where nothing good and nothing pure ever dared come his way. Sure, he had his best mates and they were more than he could ever ask for, but he wanted…more.

He always felt a tiny gnaw in his gut thinking about Lily and James, Marlene and Dorcas—they were happy, they were as infatuated with each other as the day they met. He didn’t resent them, he wasn’t jealous of them, but he wanted what they had. He wanted a love as strong as theirs with someone of his own. 

Never in a million years did he think he’d get the chance to have something like that. 

Then you came along, and you were good and pure and about a hundred other things Remus adored. You were kind and caring and made his heart thump a little faster and a little harder against his ribcage. It took a bit of time for him to fully let you in, to fully trust you with everything he had, but you were patient with him. 

From there, being with you was something straight out of his fantasies. You had your ups and downs like every healthy couple, but you always talked it out like the mature young adults you were and made up quick.

He now understood what it felt like to love someone more than life itself, to love another person so much that he couldn’t imagine a world without you in it.

Fast forward to present day, you and Remus had recently moved in with each other. It was nothing special, just a small flat in central London—but it was special to Remus. It was where you’d begun the rest of your life together only a few months ago, tiny (some would call it cramped, but you and Remus didn't think so) and a little bit weathered, but it was yours. It was home. 

There were still a few half unpacked boxes laying around, but for the most part you’d settled in nicely. With that new home came a new routine too, with Remus juggling his jobs at the old secondhand bookshop down the road and handling the finances at Sirius’s auto garage. He came home late sometimes, exhausted and smelling of motor oil despite being cooped up in the back office all day. 

“Rem!” You greeted him happily like you always when he stepped through the door, making your way over to where he was hanging his scarf on the coat hooks to hug him tightly.

It was always the highlight of his day, getting to come to you. His bones ached and he felt sticky and grimy, but then you kissed him and it suddenly didn’t feel like the worst thing in the world. 

“Hi, love,” He replied softly, sinking into your embrace with closed eyes.  

Your fingers curled into the hair at the nape of his neck, scratching gentle circles that had him melting just a little bit more. “How was your day?” 

“Same as always. Paperwork, paperwork, more paperwork.” He pulled away from you, lacing his fingers through yours to tug you along behind him into the kitchen. “James brought by some Peruvian takeaway for lunch though, really good stuff—we should try it one day, I think you’d like it.”

“Oh! That reminds me, Lily rang earlier, asked if we had any time tomorrow to pop by theirs for something? She wouldn’t say what but I think she’s pregnant.” 

Remus chuckled, amused. “What makes you say that?” 

“Sirius said he could smell something different about her.” 

“And you trusted him? He’s a knob.” 

“He’s your best friend.” 

“Still a knob.” He replied, pulling open the cupboard to grab a mug. “Tea?” He grabbed another one at your eager nod, busying himself with filling the kettle and setting it on the stove to boil. 

You’d moved to the countertop in the meantime, socked feet swinging, thumping against the cupboards below with each movement. You were smiling warmly at him when he turned back to face you, watching him shuffle around the tiny kitchen like you’d never seen anything more interesting. 

“What?” 

“Nothing.” He arched a brow at you. “Nothing, I’m just…really happy. Here. With you. In our own home.” 

Remus brightened noticeably, coming over to run a light hand down your arm until your fingers were intertwined. He brought it up to his lips and kissed your knuckles. “It’s nice, innit?” 

“Everything’s nice with you.” You were quite aware of how sappy you sounded, but it was true. Just existing in the same space as Remus, sharing a space with him, was so lovely and comforting and everything you'd ever wanted. You traced along the scar bridging his nose, following it down his cheek until your arms found their home looped around his neck and you pulled him in even closer, kissing him softly. 

He wasted no time kissing you back. He never did. Remus loved kissing you more than he loved a lot of things in this world, and he made sure you knew it with every single one. 

Somewhere in the background you heard the kettle whistling over on the stove, but you didn’t really feel the need to pay it any mind. Not when he was kissing you like this, like he wanted to get lost in your touch, like he always did. It wasn’t until it started to annoy you that you splayed your palms against the soft wool of his jumper. 

“You better get the kettle before it boils over.” You murmured against his mouth, barely giving him an inch of space between the two of you. 

Letting out a gentle huff, Remus fumbled for his wand in the pocket of his trousers, pulling it out and mumbling an incantation under his breath with the flick of his wrist. The kettle fell silent. “Right, now where were we?” 

“Pretty sure your mouth was on mine.” 

“Ah yes, how could I ever forget?”

follow @katsu-library to be notified when i post a new fic :)

[erenfox]

RANKING SBG SHIPS BECAUSE LOKI GAVE US ALL FREE WILL 🗣🗣🗣🔥🔥🔥

Aidlyn/Ashden: good lord the chemistry. the 'he fell first but she fell harder' trope. the lil gestures by aiden. him annoying tf out of her but also becoming very caring when she's hurt. I'M SO CALM RN GUYS. and the fact that them ending up together is inevitable lmfao XD 9/10

Benlor: FUCKKK IM SERIOUSLY NOT OK THESE TWO ARE JUST SO PURE AND SWEET TO EACH OTHER. ESPECIALLY TAYLOR TOWARDS HIM, cuz he kinda suppresses his feelings and is a sad boi :( dw ben taylor's gonna make you feel happy again fosho lmao 😭 the lil blushing ben always does around taylor! her supporting his ideas even tho they flop! her helping him calm down from barron through music! her always cheering him up whenever he's gloomy! her being the first to thank him for opening up! THEY'RE LITERALLY THE DEFINITION OF SHE FELL FIRST BUT HE FELL HARDER! GOD IM SO NORMAL ABOUT THEM 😭😭😭 10/10

Tylenol/Tylo: i never thought of the prospect of them together, but post tumblr i must say its interesting. not just them being the single ones in the team, but i like the way tyler defended logan against barron, and his general protective aura around logan. but then again tyler was kinda rude to logan in the start. but then again it gives nerd x jock vibes which to me r pretty cool 5/10

Tyden: LMAO the continuous saga of them pissing tf out of each other. it would be fuckin hilarious if they somehow end up together. but apart from the general hilarious bickering, there's not too much to it 5/10

Tayden: goddamn their friendship is so precious!! her painting his nails? her carrying him on his shoulders in dat one artwork?PURE BESTIE VIBES they just match each other's freak lmfao. 8/10

Logden: meh there are not any significant moments between these two. would definitely be cute, but i can't see it happening lol 2/10

Loglor/Taygan: no but why can i actually see this happening lol. the way theyre both so gentle around each other! then the way she was the first to help him when he got slashed by the phantom? and also the way she stood up for him when tyler was being rude? Cute! 6/10

Benlyn: ooh the two quiet people of the gang! they could work out really well bcoz they definitely understand each other's struggles with muteness and phantom hearing respectively. plus that panel of ben braiding ashlyn's hair was so cute lmao :> 7/10

Loglyn: AAA they have sm potential!!! before the events of yk the whole ✨sAvAnNaH✨ mess, i feel like they wouldve been each other's only existing acquaintance they may call friends (ik it's not canon but it's very plausible lol) 6/10

Benlo/Logben: theyd definitely be good together, it's just that my sbg memory is failing to recall any significant moments b/w them ;-; if y'all remember pls do tell 4/10

Tyben: what is with the hernandez siblings always ending up being bens biggest supporters lmao XD it's a cute dynamic honestly 5/10

Taylyn: now this is one freakin adorable ship TvT. the way taylor always had a slight pang of concern for a friendless lonely ashlyn when they were kids? and the way they quite frankly became besties after enduring all the phantom world shit? very sweet lmao 7/10

Tylyn/Ashler: i have been usurped into the tylyn propaganda by @tragedry honestly I DO NOT COMPLAIN. like holy fuck they're so enemies to lovers! them "loathing" each other, fighting for leadership, but then immediately becoming possibly the biggest protectors of each other in times of danger??? extremely wholesome lmao i love them smmm 9/10

SO THE TOP SHIPS ARE:

3. TAYDEN (the crack ship) 😈🔥🥉

2. tie b/w TYLYN and AIDLYN (the wholesome ships) 😌👌🥈

1. BENLOR (THE PUREST SWEETEST MOST ADORABLE GOOFS EVERR I-) 🥺❤🥇

[the-lonelybarricade]

In Silent Screams - Elucien Oneshot

Summary: Elain volunteers to look after her nephew so that Rhys and Feyre can get some much needed sleep

A wholesome, fluffy treat with a dash of angst inspired partly by this long ago exchange of headcanons with my friend @arrowmusings, partly by this recent post by @tuzna-pesma-snova, and partly because I think we can never have enough baby nyx content with his doting aunts and uncles! 🥰

Word Count: 2.7k

Read on AO3

-

A piercing wail woke Elain for the third time that night.

She groaned, rolling over to pull a pillow over her head like it might shield her from the sound. Plumed feathers, as it turned out, were a feeble defense against the piercing lungs of a newborn. At least she was upstairs, safely barricaded behind wood and stone and a firmly shut door.

Elain didn’t know how the others dealt with it—having such sensitive ears, capable of hearing the worms writhing through the soil below the house, and still enduring such close proximity to her crying nephew. Even in the moments of silence, where Feyre and Rhys managed to coax their son to sleep, Elain could still feel the reverberations in her skull.

No wonder Feyre and Rhysand looked so exhausted. They would never say a word in complaint—how could they? Their child was a miracle, and Elain knew they would surrender sleep for eternity if it was in service of their child. But she swore she swore the foundations of the town house tremored from the next bout of wails.

Her ringing ears coaxed her out of bed and down the stairs. She was already awake, still unused to this body and its overwrought sensations, how keenly she could feel existence ebb and throb around her. She’d never mastered how to tune it out. But at least if she couldn’t sleep, Rhys and Feyre could escape to the House of Wind for some peace and quiet while she watched over her nephew for a few hours.

“Are you sure?” Rhysand asked.

He was better at hiding it; a smile glided across his lips as easily as the autumn leaf coasting on the other side of the large window pane he stood before. Nyx caught sight of it and pointed, prompting Rhys to pivot without faltering the rhythm of his slow back-and-forth bouncing. He cooed quietly to Nyx as if his son had discovered something fascinating, and it didn’t take long for Nyx to drift back to sleep. Fatherhood suited him, she thought, even as she noticed the weary draw to his shoulders, the rumpled clothes.

Feyre mentioned that Rhys answered the majority of the midnight cries without being asked, out of duty and apology and pure, unbridled love. He wore it plainly. There was a gentleness in his eyes as he handed his son to Elain, a quality she only truly glimpsed in the High Lord when he was looking at Nyx or Feyre.

Elain’s heart squeezed a bit at the sight of it. Some days, she felt so lost, surrounded by so much love. Half of her was here, in this body that felt and heard and smelled so much, and the other half felt as if she were the fallen leaf outside, being swept by the night-kissed breeze. Only ever observing from the other side of the thick glass. Untouched by the warmth in this house.

“Thank you,” Rhys said, smiling as though he genuinely meant it.

Elain nodded, forcing a smile in return. “Go rest. I’ll alert you if I need anything.”

Or Nyx would. She didn’t speak the thought, but she wasn’t certain it wasn’t as readily communicated through his magic by the way he huffed. Not quite a laugh, but as he nodded his goodbye, she saw a glint in his eye that spoke of humor. He vanished into smoke before she could assess it further, undoubtedly eager to return to his mate for a rare moment of peace.

She didn’t begrudge them that peace. They earned it. She was happy to do what she could to help them, even if that was something as simple as sitting across the soft cushion on the bay window, cradling her nephew to her chest, and staring blankly through the glass. She hardly registered the city beyond, gilded in ribbons of moonlight. Her gaze was fixed on the autumn leaves collected on the ground, wondering what had attracted Nyx’s attention.

The colors, she wondered? She imagined he might have a mind fashioned after Feyre, where he saw and felt and breathed in color. It would be fascinating to a child to witness leaves changing color for the first time. There was a time when Autumn felt like magic to her, too. Long before she ever associated it with cold, with the first creepings of winter. With vibrant red hair and unnervingly perceptive eyes.

A faelight flickered to life in the dining room. The light reflected off the glass, wiping away the night sky and cityscape so that Elain was confronted with her own reflection. And above her shoulder, as though she’d summoned him, Lucien Vanserra had stumbled into the kitchen.

In truth, Nyx’s crying hadn’t been the only thing keeping her awake.

She turned too sharply, forgetting there was a sleeping baby in her arms. Lucien, at least, looked astonished to find her there, and his eyes flitted to the child stirring in her arms, beginning to fuss. He looked as though he were debating the merits of veering straight out of the dining room, abandoning whatever task had lured him to begin with.

Then, the shrieks began.

Elain flinched, holding the child at arm’s length as the sound pierced through her bones. She could feel the vibrations in her teeth, and she wanted to gnash them as her vision went fuzzy around the edges.

“I don’t think that’s how you’re supposed to hold him,” Lucien said, fashioning himself as being helpful.

At twenty-three years, she had admittedly little exposure to child-rearing. She’d been too young to glean anything helpful when Feyre was born, and she’d scarcely been around many children in the years since. As a woman—a female—it was supposed to come naturally to her. Certainly, everyone expected it would come naturally to her, and she had never questioned why it wouldn’t. She’d always felt a nurturing instinct, always felt a compulsion to care for plants and people and wounded things. A baby felt like a natural extension of that affinity.

And yet… yet she felt clumsy with Nyx. Uncertain how to hold him. He had wings, after all, no human child had wings. Should they be included in the swaddle? Could she manipulate them safely, or would they tear at the slightest pull? Would she fracture this beautiful, fragile creature if she accidentally applied too much strength with her new, foreign body? Sometimes, she felt like she was the one who was fragile. The glass slowly splintering from the blow of those piercing wails.

He was crying so loudly Elain couldn’t think.

Lucien was standing before her now, and she scowled at him like this was his fault. If he hadn’t startled her, she wouldn’t have startled Nyx. And Rhysand would be coming back down any second, and she knew he wouldn’t say anything in judgment, that he’d be happy to take back his son and that he’d appreciate her attempt at kindness nonetheless.

But she was tired of feeling so useless. And this was the one thing she was supposed to be good at. Had being fae taken this away from her, too? Was she unfit to be a mother because some part of her was fundamentally broken, flooded and washed away with her humanity during all those agonizing seconds she’d been in the Cauldron? She’d been screaming at the top of her lungs, too, like Nyx was now. The only difference was that water had filled her mouth, her lungs, and no one had heard her screaming.

Her pain had been utterly silent. It always has been. No one saw it, no one heard it.

Elain flashed her teeth at Lucien, some instinctual warning that he was coming too close. He stopped, eyes wide, and raised his palms in surrender.

“I know how to hold a child,” she snapped.

“It doesn’t look like it,” he said dryly.

The cries pitched in volume, and she winced. Nyx had fallen asleep in his father’s arms, utterly content, and by now, he’d surely put together that it was not his mother or father holding him, not even one of his dear uncles, but his insecure, uncertain aunt.

Softer, Lucien added, “Do you want help?”

“I don’t need it,” she said as she stiffly readjusted Nyx, attempting to mimic how Rhys had been cradling him earlier. She sucked in a breath at the newfound proximity, those wails now a close-range weapon assaulting her mind again and again.

Elain squeezed her eyes shut. She recalled Feyre’s lessons on mental shields and wondered if there was some equivalent for shutting out all of this sensation. No one else seemed to find it as overwhelming. Rhys and Feyre, she could excuse as parents blindly devoted to their child. But Lucien, hardly a step away, did not flinch or clench his teeth. He held his shoulder tense, though that was not unusual when they were in the same room as each other.

He was studying her in that unnerving way he often did when he thought she wasn’t looking. Elain braced herself for the tug she occasionally felt on the other side of the bond. She thought it was the last thing she could handle at that moment. It would be the final, frayed edge that, if pulled, would send her unraveling into a pool of shapeless, tangled string. Fortunately, there was no pull. Lucien’s lips parted as if something dawned on him, and then he shifted. The movement was so subtle Elain would have thought nothing of it if Nyx hadn’t immediately seized crying.

Elain blinked, craning to look at her nephew, then again at her mate. Nyx’s mouth was moving, his little face pinched. She could see the back of his throat rattle with the force of his anguish, could feel the vibrations thrum through his tiny body. But there was no sound.

“What did you do?” She wanted the question to sound closer to an accusation, but she could not strain the relief from her voice.

Lucien shrugged. “It’s just a glamor. You seemed overwhelmed.”

Her ears were still ringing in the silence. She moved her jaw back and forth, trying to focus on other sensations—the newborn scent of her nephew, the curious scratch of the wind against the townhouse. The slow, steady beat of her mate’s heart. Elain shut her eyes and began swaying to its rhythm, humming quietly to shut out the echoing remnants of the crying.

When it finally faded, she opened her eyes, unsurprised to find that Lucien hadn’t moved.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “He was… so loud.”

Lucien nodded. “You’ll get used to it one day.”

“The crying?”

“The fae senses.” He glanced thoughtfully at Nyx, and Elain wondered if he could still hear the crying. Did the glamor only impact her? “You’ll get better at tuning out unwelcome sights and smells. And if not—there’s always magic.”

Feeling Nyx start to settle, Elain shifted on the bay window until her back hit the wall. Lucien stared at the space she created on the other side of the cushion but didn’t dare accept the movement as an invitation. Not until Elain nodded, and he cautiously ventured forward, apparently unconvinced this wasn’t a trap.

“I don’t really know how to use magic,” Elain said. “I can… feel it. But I’m not sure how to control it.”

Lucien claimed a tedious seat at the edge of the nook, both feet planted firmly on the ground so that he might bolt at the soonest provocation. Carefully, he asked, “Would you like to learn? I’m sure Feyre would be willing to teach you.”

He didn’t volunteer himself, and she wondered if he had as little interest in teaching her as she had in learning from him. Which was a good thing, she reasoned. But her chest felt tight.

“I don’t know,” she said. It was honest. “I know that I should want to learn. But it sounds like it will be exhausting, and I am already so tired. Every day, it’s too much. All of the people in the city talking over each other, the crying seagulls and the roaring tide. I’d like it to stop. Just for a little while, and then maybe I’ll be ready.”

Ready for what? She could see him wanting to ask. Elain was grateful when he didn’t.

Instead, he glanced around this small, cushioned nook and asked, “How’s that?”

Elan’s brows merged, not following, until she paused her wandering mind long enough to listen. There was no lapping water, no writhing soil, no percussion of even breathing, layered and out of sync as the city slept around them. There were still some sounds. That ever-present heartbeat, twining with her own. Those were more coordinated, just like her slow exhale and his steady inhale. And though she could still hear more than she could as a human, for once, her existence was narrowed solely to this small nook in the world, where it was just Lucien and Elain and her nephew.

She exhaled again, feeling the tension in her body release in that single breath. “Another glamor?”

“A shield,” he said, raising his knuckles to knock against a solid, invisible barrier. “Let me know when you need me to lower it.”

“Are you staying?”

There must have been an edge to her voice. One he misinterpreted, for he shook his head.

“I don’t need to,” he said, already shifting his weight to his feet. “The shield will remain once I leave. You can always tug on the bond when you’d like me to—”

“Will you stay?” Elan wished he didn’t look so stunned. It faltered her confidence enough that she scrambled to add, “So that you can add the glamor in case Nyx starts fussing again.”

“Right,” he said. He cleared his throat. “Of course I can stay.”

Lucien settled back on the cushion, and this time, with the encouragement of a raised brow from Elain, he adjusted himself until his back was against the opposing wall. They were facing each other, and fortunately or unfortunately, there was enough space on the shared cushion for her legs to stretch to one side and Lucien’s to stretch to the other without touching.

What would it be like to touch him? She remembered the one time in Hybern. Cold and trembling on the floor, that first touch had felt like thrusting her skin into an open fire. The heat was too startling against the numb, thawing her too quickly, too soon.

But with the sun breaking the horizon in the distance, gilding all of his loveliest features in soft, glowing light, she thought it wouldn’t feel so excruciating to be touched by him this second time around. Less like burning fire and more like warm, buttery sunshine.

Realizing that they’d fallen into silence, and that she’d been staring at him without saying a word, Elain asked, “What brought you into the dining room to begin with?”

Cast in the rising light, his cheeks had taken on a rosy hue. “Rhysand knew I was awake. He asked me to come in here to light the fire.”

That drew Elain’s attention to the empty hearth, blackened from the fire that had died sometime in the night. She’d seen Rhys light the flames with his magic a hundred times before.

“Why couldn’t Rhys light it?”

“I was coming in here to ask him the same thing,” he said dryly. With a clipped laugh, he muttered, “Nosy bastard.”

Insufferable busybody, was more like it. Elain shook her head, though she was finding in this cocoon of silence that she was grateful Lucien had come.

She asked, “Why were you awake to begin with?”

His eyes met hers. Held, in a way that spoke far more than his explanation of, “the crying baby, of course.”

“Of course,” she said, breathless.

His heart rate picked up, no longer the rolling rhythm she’d used to rock Nyx to sleep.

“And you?” Lucien prompted. “What were you doing awake?”

She’s woken to the sound of that heartbeat. Pulled from whatever dream she’d been having, like some intrinsic part of her thought it was wrong to listen to that heartbeat and not follow its call. It was why she could never sleep very well whenever Lucien stayed in the house.

“The crying baby,” she said. “Same as you.”

[thesparklingwriter]

to be loved by a dragon

tags: fem!reader, implied smut?, we all know what's going on (they r at it‼️), starts wholesome and then takes a sharp turn to the left, mentions of degradation, after care, is this self-indulgent? yes. do i care? no.

word count: 0.2k

taglist | masterlist

Zhongli, who almost can’t believe that it’s you he gets to be with, who sees the looks you get as you walk through Liyue harbour and relishes in the way others admire you—regardless of how many times you tell him how perfect he is to you.

Zhongli, who watches you carefully, watching to see what you like and don’t like, to squirrel it away in a safe corner of his mind and commit to his memory—even though you’ve told him time and time again that he needn’t worry about it.

Zhongli, who rarely ever speaks to you without punctuating his sentence with a sweet name for you, a reminder to you of how much he loves and cherished you and every second he gets with you

Zhongli, who wouldn’t dream of speaking to you the way you ask him to, who questions why someone as perfect as you would want to hear such harsh words, especially from someone who loves you so dearly—despite the fact you’ve begged him to do so more times than you can count on your fingers.

Zhongli, who has his mind fine tuned to every sound you make, who silently matches his movements to your quiet whimpers, gently pushing your hair back from your face as he captures your mouth in a gentle kiss.

Zhongli, whose hips stutter when you look up at him with such love and unadulterated affection, because he doesn't believe he deserves to be looked at like that, and certainly not by you.

Zhongli, who treats you like a princess, running you a bath and brushing your hair as he quietly tells you the stories that he knows you love so dearly, and smiles blissfully when you later return the favour.

Zhongli, who doesn’t believe he’s deserving of a love as pure as yours, but spends every day proving to you that he won’t make you regret it.

© 2023, thesparklingwriter. please do not copy, edit, repost, or translate.

notes: drops this, runs away, buries her face in her pillow and questions all her life decisions up to this point, its not even proofread cause i can't bear to do it, no taglist because i don't plan to make a habit of this :3

[sakuralovespossums]

🌹 Osamu Dazai x Wife Reader 🌹

I kinda based you and Dazai’s relationship off of Jack and Rosemary from The Walten Files, so expect lots of wholesomeness

You and Dazai met around the time he just left the Port Mafia and was trying to make a new life for himself. You had also recently fled from another shady organization and was keeping a low profile

One day while walking home from the store, you spotted a man attempting to jump off a bridge and quickly rushed over to stop him, causing you both to fall in the water

Luckily you survived but were left wet and freezing. You angrily dragged him back to your apartment and cleaned him up, yelling and scolding him the entire time while your gentle actions revealed your true kindness

Dazai was soon intrigued by your strange willingness to help a stranger like him and decided to stick around a bit to see how long he could mess with you till you grew tired of him

As time passed, he slowly realized what an angel you were and ended up falling HARD for you

I’m one of the people who believe Dazai’s ideal woman would be someone with an optimistic mindset and pure/strong morality. She would also have a unique way of looking at things that kinda sets her apart from others

Realistically, I feel like Dazai wouldn’t open up about his past/vulnerable side to his lover nor marry them until a few years later since he’s VERY serious about keeping his personal info hidden until he 1000% fully trusts him them. But for the sake of this fic, let’s say he does tell you about his past and marries you shortly after his entrance exam in the ADA

You also work at the ADA as a clerk (suggested by Dazai)

You and Dazai are known as the cute couple within the ADA (a lot like Junichiro and Naomi but not creepy)

Dazai already follows and clings to you like a desperate puppy wherever you go, so you can imagine just how chaotic and distracting it gets at work

He’s always ditching his paperwork to flirt with you and then try to get you to ditch with him

Kunikida seriously wonders why the president ever thought it was a good idea to let Dazai’s wife work in the same building as him

He gushes about you nonstop omg it’s so annoying

*Kicks open door* “Guess what lunch my gorgeous wife made me today?!~~”

*Angry Kunikida eye twitch*

I cannot state enough times just how much this man WORSHIPS you like your his goddess, his shining light, his angel

A lot of his acts of love are pretty dramatic and silly, but it comes from a genuine place as he he feels he can trust you enough to share his more vulnerable side and dark past

He hasn’t shared everything with you though since I feel there are some things he can never trust anyone to share with, no matter what, not even Oda. But you understand that and accept him for who he is and his flaws

It’s your unwavering acceptance of him and his ugliness that really made him wanna spend his life with you

He never takes off his wedding ring

You do a lot of stuff together (eating, bathing, napping, errands, etc)

Only thing you don’t do together is cooking and cleaning since he always almost destroys the apartment

“Osamu, you are staying on that couch until I’m done cooking this soup!” 😤

“But belladonna, how can I ever help you prepare your delicious meal?” 🥺

“By not burning the place down!!!”

Your a lot shorter than Dazai and have a plump/curvy body type (I just really like the image of lanky Dazai having a short plump wife to pick up and cuddle 💕)

Your known for you sweet and patient personality, as well as artistic worldview that intrigues your husband

Your favorite hobby is painting. It’s something that helped you get through your dark days and your so good at it that you’ve sold a few paintings to your neighbors

Of course Dazai is your no. 1 model

Sometimes he’ll also paint something for you (he doesn’t paint as much since he’s more busy) and you decide to create a small art room to hang up both of your works

Fun fact: The real life Osamu Dazai was also a painter

Your no pushover though and can get pretty scary when angry (maybe not as scary as Dazai, but still intimidating)

If anything were to happen to Dazai, you won’t hesitate to do whatever or go wherever to save him. You don’t care who you have to face or how dangerous it might be, your fetching your husband back no matter what

Because of this, he’ll concoct plans ahead of time to best keep you out of harms way

Yeah, Dazai is still his manipulative self, but does it all out of love and what he thinks is best for you, wether you agree or not

God help anyone who even tries to lay a hand on you because Dazai will NOT hold back in letting them know what happens to those who try to harm HIS wife

I don’t really see you guys having kids. Your already happy enough just having each other (and also your dangerous professions)

Dazai doesn’t like you meeting any of his former Port Mafia peers and tries to keep them away from you

Though I imagine you and Chuuya probably have met at some point. He doesn’t give you much thought until he finds out you’re that idiot’s wife and he freaks out!!

If Akutagawa found out about you, I think he would also be shocked but then grow jealous of how close you are. How the hell was a weakling like you able to easily gain Dazai-san’s trust and admiration when he couldn’t?!

[valentine-cafe]

One rhubarb and strawberry crumble please!

A relatively SFW ask for Talisen and his husband (I forgot his name, but he’s the overpowered mage!) with AFAB reader!

I can imagine the poor thing having some insecurities about herself. Whether it’s physical insecurities, mental insecurities about not being normal, or just not feeling good emotionally, and Talisen just picks her up, sings her worries away, and just smothers her in affections.

The same goes for the mage, he just holds her in his arms and kisses away all her insecurities and worries about being normal, and just good wholesome stuff in general!

^^

˖⁺. “ into your arms . . . ” : 

﹙ corrupt god husbands x fem reader ﹚.𖹭 ݁

. . . verse 164 talisen & alessio x fem reader !! 🍓 : ﹙ talisen: snake god  ˖ siren character ˖ alessio:  sorcerer ˖ god character ﹚

you express your insecurities to them and they try their hardest to show you that your mind is wrong 

﹙ cws ﹚: none ! pure fluff  | wc : 0.2k

﹙ receipts ﹚: really hope that this is to your liking! these two can be so soft 

꒰  other treats : guidelines ˖ m.list ˖ characters ˖ our lore  ꒱

the husbands’ hearts ached when they found out that you are an insecure person. you - a being of such beauty, of such grace. a being that has touched their souls and brought happiness back into their lives as they drone out amongst the emerald woods and the large expanse of lake lands. awaiting for the sun to warm them once more. yet here you were, bringing so much light to their lives. . . but your heart feels hollow.

they do their utmost hardest to assure you of otherwise. to show you that you are beautiful - inside and out. even if you are having a good day. they make it a goal to simply make you remember your worth each and every day. so that they may combat the insecurities when they do arise.

talisen always scoops you up into his arms when he finds you seated by the dining set with that solemn look on your face that he knows all-too-well. bundles you up in the outer layer of his hanfu and sings soft melodies to you as he presses kisses all over your face. hushes you cries as you weep into his chest. he always makes sure to carry you off to the kitchen, seat you upon the counter and bake whatever your heart desires.

alessio feels himself die a thousand deaths when he hears the patters of your feet down in the catacombs he works within. when he turns just in time to see your teary eyes. your arms weakly hugging around yourself as you try so hard to explain yourself to him. but he needn’t no explanation nor excuse. he takes you into his arms almost immediately. assuring you with gentle words as he dances you around his green candle-lit catacomb. so that you might feel special, as you are.

when you are asleep, alessio also makes sure to venture into your dreams and keep away all bad ones. standing there in a meadow, dancing you around or simply sitting atop a hill to watch the streams down below while talking about anything and everything you might want to. sometimes talisen joins these dreams - so that he might spend time with the both of you. simply doing whatever you wish of them. enjoying the company of each other.

talisen writes the most divine of poetry of you. turning each and every aspect of you into ink and song. ensuring that he reads them to you, so that you might understand even a fraction of how they view you. yet it is difficult to measure your worth in lines and ink alone. which the snake god has expressed to you time and time again.

if you need to take your mind off of the swirls of voices and anxieties. sometimes you will lay with your head on alessio’s chest while his clawed fingers spin viridian spells into small illustrations. animals and flowers of your liking. sometimes telling a story through it. anything to keep your mind off of the blaring thoughts.

they love you so dearly. and they will do whatever it takes to brush your insecurities away. to make you aware of your worth. to love you as deserve and comfort you when necessary.

﹙ taglist. ﹚: | get tagged for specific posts

﹙ tip jar. ﹚: like our work? consider suporting us 𖹭 

[carylmeanslove]

Luke's Floral Message

I had some requests to do a floral meaning for Nicola's Harper's Bazaar Woman of the year photo and I do intend on doing that one soon. I have been quite busy in RL so haven't been in the right head space. I do believe I am coming out of that now and will be able to get to doing that analysis soon.

This one is a quick and easier one seeing as it's one flower. Luke is holding two light pink shades of roses in his People's Sexiest Man Alive 2024 issue photoshoot.

I for some reason am not able to highlight right now. Agh! So I will add the portions that apply below the screen capture.

Joy

✅ Joy and Happiness makes sense for Luke. I mean we can see how he is whenever he is with Nicola. In the 'This or That' that comes along with this article spread he is smiling and looks happy. So that is a yes.

✅ The beginning of a new relationship. I take that to mean a new commitment level in an established relationship. One of the further meanings backs that up. More on that one in a bit.

Tenderness

✅ A love that is tender and enduring. The way Luke always describes Nicola shows how Tender she is to him and he is to her. It's also lasting and enduring. Through all the baseless rumors of them beefing these two never gave up on each other. Nicola stood up for him multiple times and they both still showed they were in contact throughout the time of the rumored "beefing" period. Reminder to people, online interaction isn't the be all and end all of relationships. Nicola and Luke have proved in the past that they talk/text on the phone (Luke was so wanting to say they talk everyday even, but Nicola had to backtrack on that les the cat be let out of the bag about their relationship) and they hang out (They went to the play A Streetcar Named Desire and Hamilton together. She also went to his play The Shape of Things opening night then out to eat afterwards. We also got evidence of her being at his place for the Cinnamon Roll social.) Point is they are part of each other's lives outside of Bridgerton. People who want to not believe that then they are being willfully blind. All that to say that their relationship is enduring and lasting. No loud minority of fans can or will change that. No adjacents (agh I hate that word too) that they very highly likely hired to help them have privacy during a very life-changing time can or will change what they have.

✅ Suitable for long-term relationships. See long-term relationships. Luke and Nicola have known each other for 5 years. Due to some crumbs that Nicola and Luke have been giving us. They are most likely in a very serious, long term committed relationship now.

Femininty

✅ Gentleness. I wonder if Nicola helped him pick out the flower he used in this photo? She has been using flowers a lot lately in sending messages. She is very gentle to him. But he is gentle to her as well.

✅ Love. Biggest duh ever right? They love each other. Our in love pair.

New Beginnings

✅ New beginnings. Yep, their commitment rose to a new level. Deeper commitment.

✅ Purity and Innocence. They have a healthy relationship. A good and wholesome beginning. I truly believe friends to lovers is the most healthy, pure and Innocent beginning for any romantic relationship.

✅ Emotional Interest. Has anyone seen this boy looking at Nicola? He is definitely emotionally interested in her.

I'm manifesting a Nicola photoshoot by Rachell Smith and an article that will go hand and hand with this one. That it will give some more clarity. Much needed for a certain portion of this fandom.

Anyway...there you go. I thank Luke for taking a leaf from his wife's book and sending us these messages in the language of flowers. As well as all the delicious bread crumbs throughout the whole article spread, photoshoot and videos. We love you Luke! Tell Nic Hi for us and that we love her too.

[lilspooky-doll]

True Happiness — pt. 2

pairing — Aegon II Targaryen x Handmaid! Reader

summary — All Prince Aegon wanted growing up with the parents he had was to experience true happiness; not happiness from drinking, not happiness from inflicting insults against others but real happiness you can only experience with someone you feel deeply for. Even at a very early age, he believed he was going to end up drunk and worse than his absentee father until she came along to clean up the pieces.

themes — canon targcest, fluff, aegon is a soft boi, language, blood descriptions, eventual smut (p in v, slight choking, breeding kink, oral (f receiving), not the best descriptions of smut), possessive! aegon, alicent using others to fix her problems, brief child abuse, brat! aegon, au! aegon (he's not a shithead), au! house of the dragon, female! reader, happy ending (for aegon at least), mentions of pregnancy, children (warning enough for that), aemond x heleana,

author’s note — here’s pt. 2 for you all! i will warn you that this is my first time writing any kind of spicy scene/smut so please be gentle with me on any criticisms. this is the end but i have some small imagines & headcanons planned out for this universe. i have a bunch of wholesome shit for this universe to make up for the fact that i have plans for a dark!fic for aegon. anyways, enjoy!

Ever since the incident in the Godswood, it seemed that the Targaryen prince and his handmaid were closer than ever. Before, there were times when one would see the maid going about her chores or see her chatting with Heleana when Aegon would drag her to the courtyard to relax between lessons with them. Now, everyone could see the prince following his maid everywhere. Whenever she was in the room, one could see his eyes drift away from his task at hand to watch her figure move away from him.

Every free moment he had, they were always together and some have seen him give delicate kisses on her maid when they parted ways or she would give a peck on the Targaryen’s blushing cheek. To the gossiping few — those few consisted of virtually everyone within the castle walls — there were talks that the young prince was in love with his handmaiden and that he was stopping the Queen from betrothing him to his dear sister in the odd way Targaryens tend to do. They were rumors but it appeared that all rumors pertaining to the eldest prince rang true.

Yes, the young couple were in love in a way where it was pure and not tainted by the impurities that lived around them. Yes, the prince has fought tooth and nail with the Queen over the betrothal to the point that Alicent saw an ugly side of her son making her immediately change the betrothal from him to her second son, Aemond. It frightened the Queen how determined Aegon was to remain free from that particular duty of his and how fervent he was in making sure Aemond and Heleana were the ones to be betrothed to each other.

Somehow, during their arguments, he was even able to negotiate for his maid to be removed from the servant quarters and be moved into the room adjoined to his chambers. In all of their scuffling, Alicent didn’t even realize she had agreed to his terms until she witnessed that victorious smirk on his pale face. It terrified her as that smirk resembled her father’s when the plan he worked out was going the way he desired for it. She felt a terrible ache in his stomach like it was a deep foreboding sense that something was going to go wrong whether that was in the present or in the distant future. But, she only hoped that everything would go the way her father planned and that Aegon’s obsession with his maid would die out as an innate curiosity.

Within a day of the Queen’s agreement, the prince had — politely — asked the servants to help his dear maid bring her things out of the quarters and into the room beside his. It all worked out spectacularly seeing as his room wasn’t like the apartment that Rhaenyra used to have when she lived in the castle but it still had an attached room that gave both of them easy access to see one another.

━━━━━━━━━━━

The days were lonely for the young couple as the royal family departed to Driftmark for the funeral services of Laena Velaryon. Aegon, of course, had to follow his family as part of their duties to wish the dragonrider a safe return to the sea while she had to stay at the Red Keep on the orders of the Queen to attend to more than just Aegon’s chambers. She had been ordered to maintain all three of the Targaryen children’s chambers whilst they were away and to remain occupied if her tasks were completed.

When the order was given, the prince was agitated — more of anger than anything else — as his mother wanted them to be apart. Aegon wouldn’t admit it but he was scared to be away from his love. This would be the first time they would be apart for days and he was worried something would happen while he was gone. Indeed, he was angered and worried but she became the levelheaded one as she reassured him that all will not disappear while he was away from their chambers. It was simply a short trip to pay his respects not long before having to go on a journey back to King’s Landing.

For the teen of three and ten, this trip was turning out to be a disaster. Just a mere hour ago, he witnessed his mother and his elder sister fight over their children. The Velaryon children attacked the second Targaryen son of Viserys and he paid the price of losing an eye in exchange for claiming Vhagar for himself. Of course, during the war of words between the women, Aemond accused Aegon of being the one to tell him of his nephews being bastards. This had stunned him as he had stopped picking on his brother for not having a dragon and quietly tried to support him without him noticing the little things Aegon did for him. So being accused of this and being smacked for it angered something deep inside of him feeling the burning flames flicker within.

It was a petty thing for his dear brother to do but for his mother to just take his word and punish him for it, that was the simmering coals that Aemond’s flames fluttered upon. Aegon hadn’t felt this kind of anger since that fateful day his lovely maid had been assigned to him and he wasn’t going to allow this to be brushed aside. No, he was going to make things go his way for once and remove himself from the equation in this game.

An abrupt knock disturbed him from his sulking in his guest chambers. Taking a second, he called for the person to enter and in came his mother, still flustered from going after Rhaenyra and their ongoing battle that seems to have been around since before he was born. Making her way into his chambers, Alicent smooths out the front part of the skirt of her green dress before locking her sights onto the hunched teen on his bed whose hands were occupied by a chalice.

“What brings you here, mother?” Aegon snarked out unwillingly to look in her direction, his cheek blazen red with a bold handprint.

A soft huff escaped the Queen at the hostility her eldest son was openly displaying. “There is no reason for you to spread such rumors about your nephews. Your brother has lost his eye because he has spilled the lies you have fed him.” Alicent paused, taking a calming breath before continuing on, “Why must you do things like this, Aegon? Why must you instigate already very fragile situations?”

A bark of laughter exuded from the prince after he sipped from his chalice. “Instigate? You believe me to have instigated this all? It’s a mere rumor that doesn’t hold much merit considering there are many people in our line with dark hair much like Rhaenyra’s children. It’s a stupid thing to believe and Aemond was the one to weaponize this, not me! Is it so hard to believe that your precious son could have some faults?”

His vision grew red with pent up rage at the accusations laid against him and obviously, the bit of ale he decided to indulge himself this one time wasn’t helping him in keeping a clear head. If anything, it worsened the loathsome feeling that made the flames burn brighter in his chest. Distracted by the rage deep within, Aegon didn’t notice that his mother had been making her way closer until he could see the edge of the dark skirts shimmering green in the low light fall in front of his booted feet.

Looking up from the stone floors and towards Hightower's face, Aegon could see the boiling anger in her eyes and the pink of her face took over the usual tone it held. Seeing such a quiet reaction from his mother shouldn’t have warranted the sick feeling of victory in him but, oh did it feel good to see her composure fall in such a tense situation. It was a bit scary to see the always calm Queen attack his half-sister but in a setting like this moment, it was a good feeling seeing as she always had everyone else lose themselves first.

“Do you understand how delicate this all is? Your grandsire believes you should be the one to inherit the throne and you’re doing what?” Alicent snatches the chalice from the loose grip Aegon had on it and sniffed the contents of it. “Drinking? In a time like this?! Every time a situation arises and it all goes wrong, you can’t help yourself to the nearest barrel of ale. You are a drunk and I would not be shocked if you turned into your father — absent from everything!”

Red seeped further into his vision as he bolted up glaring at her intensely. “I am NOTHING like him! I have done my duties and I have no desire to rip the throne from Rhaenyra. I am the furthest thing from a drunk but of course, when I decide to indulge myself once in a while, it makes me a drunkard! I will not be badgered by you when I have done more in these past three years than the last ten I had been alive before her!”

Enraged by him standing up to her, Alicent did what she knows best when it comes to her son; smacking him in hopes of rattling him enough to bring him back to sense. The hit decorated the same cheek as before marking it further. Two smacks in the span of a few hours was enough to cause bruising later on and make it known to everyone how Alicent felt about the incident on Driftmark.

“You will correct yourself,” ordered Alicent, making her way out of the chambers. “We leave in the morning and shall be back to King’s Landing within the day.”

A click of the door closing snapped him out of his trance allowing himself to fall back onto his bed. He curled himself up into a ball clutching onto the extra pillow desperately wishing for some comfort from her — a hug, a hand playing with his hair, just something comforting. Tears began to escape from their keep running down his nose and splashing onto the plush downy of the pillow.

All he wanted was to be home with her.

━━━━

It has been a long day preparing for the royal family to return from Lady Laena’s funeral. Every maid and servant has been rushing to make sure everything was where it needed to be and that every detail was perfect. She had been busy attending to the chambers of the King and Queen’s children, cleaning every surface, tidying up and making sure all of their clothes were clean in their respective places.

All of the insects, alive and preserved, were well kept in Princess Heleana’s room. Each living one was fed and the preserved ones were dusted making sure they did not leave their places. Books and writing utensils were organized and neatly put away in the desk occupying Prince Aemond’s chambers. All extra studying materials were stacked nicely on the polished wood surface. Nothing had to be done for Aegon’s room seeing as she was in his room everyday. Living in his apartment made it easier to keep it all tidy and it made it more exciting to finish her day off by seeing his smiling face.

Smiling to herself, she tidies her prince’s bed once more making sure her lovely little note sat neatly upon the pillow she knew he always placed his head on every night. Working diligently, she didn’t quite hear the opening of the chamber doors but she most definitely heard it slam, the sound rattling most of everything in the room. Shocked by the sound, she whipped her body around facing the creator of the sound who stood shakily against the closed door.

“Oh my, Aegon. How I’ve missed you,” she gushed making her way over to him.

Slowly, she realized something was amiss; his hair waterfalled over his face and he stood pressed up against the door shaking. She closed in on him gently wrapping her hands around his biceps and hoping to meet his eyes again.

“What’s happened? Please look at me, Aegon,” she fretted, worrying that something had happened to him and she couldn’t have been more right in that suspicion.

Taking a moment, he huffed out a breath before lifting his head and effectively moving his silvery white strands away from the disgusting mark tainting his face. A gasp left her lips as she agonizingly looked at the bruise in its dark state of purples and blues. Just the sound of her gasping made the barely held sobs break through their damaged dam unleashing a torrent of horrendously breathtaking cries and rivers of tears making their journey down his face.

“Oh Gods. Please talk to me. Tell me what has happened while you were away,” she pressed using her hands that were already on his arms to guide him to his bed.

She sat him gracefully atop of the blankets and quickly placed herself beside him on the bed. With her dress tucked under her knees, she kneeled, pulling his head into the crook of her neck. Using that as an invitation, Aegon tangled his arms around her body squeezing, relishing in the comfort he so desired since the night before.

Between hiccups, the broken teen muttered, “Aemond was attacked and lost an eye. Mother blames me for it since he partially provoked Rhaenyra’s children. She slapped me. Twice in the span of a few hours.” Taking a moment to catch his breath again, he started up once more, “She called me a drunk for having one cup of ale and said I was going to be like my father.”

Admitting out loud what had happened to him unleashed another torrent of sobs. He was unable to stop himself because after all, he was a broken boy made by the adults in his life. His father was never present in his life, always prioritizing his eldest child over the rest. His mother resented him for being the child first born out of an act that stole the rest of her girlhood. In some ways, he reminded her of herself being pressured by those around them to perform duties that they feel they are not fit for. His grandsire is the second son who’s more ambitious than most, lusting for his own flesh and blood to sit upon the Iron Throne even though the title will never be theirs rightfully. Broken and beaten, Aegon allowed for years of anguish to ripple down the neck of his dearest love soaking the shoulder and neckline of her plain dress.

Brushing his long strands away from his streaked face, she whispered to him, “You are nothing like your father. He may be the King but you will never be like him. You desire for more than what everyone expects of you and you want to be there for the loved ones in your life.” She chuckled to herself about her next statement. “I’m afraid if your mother thinks you're a drunk for having an ale every once in a while, I wonder what she thinks Prince Daemon is seeing, he's the most self indulgent out of your family.”

Laughing at her words, Aegon began to feel the tears lessen and the deep seated sadness lift into something much lighter.

“Obviously, it’s too scandalous for her to say. Mayhaps she believes if she just says what he is, she would be committing a sin on words alone,” Aegon laughed out, taking a second to remove the streaks of wetness off his cheeks being mindful of the swelling on the one side.

Relishing in the moment, the both of them started scooting up the bed making their way to lay down on his bed. Face to face, hand in hand, the young couple gazed into each other’s eyes with their heads resting upon the white downy pillows. This was another moment where they wanted the world to stop around them as they just lived in it never wanting it to stop.

Crinkling of paper sounded under the prince’s head, he lifted his head just enough to snatch the note and bring it into his view. Questioning, he raised a pale eyebrow at her smiling face and all she did in response was gesture for him to read it. Opening the note, Aegon recognized her distinctive handwriting and read the note to himself:

In lavender fields, I feel your touch. Every moment you’re gone, I lay in their softness and gaze to the sun. For the sun, I see your smile. I miss you as you miss I and I am as close to you as you are to me.

I’m in the night sky shining brightly as the moon with the stars around me. I’m the dragon’s breath you touch every time you enter Godswood.

Avy jorrāelan, ñuha vēzos.

Shocked to see the Valyrian at the end of the note, Aegon gripped her arm and dragged her into his embrace squeezing her tightly. She wrapped her arms around him again to the best of her ability and cherished the feeling of being in his arms.

For hours, they laid there in each other’s embrace slowly drifting into a deep sleep — one of the most peaceful sleeps they both have had in ages. Face to face, smile mirroring smile, an image of pure content and bliss.

━━━━━━━━━━━

Time had started to pass Westeros by. Everything was changing and no one knew whether that change was good or bad. All of the Targaryen children grew older and grew more into themselves; Heleana was a woman of ethereal proportions who desired for her insects even with her duties now as a mother to twins, Aemond was the perfect prince who excelled in his studies and with his swords just as much as he excelled at being a doting father and husband to his sister-wife and their children, Daeron was stuck in Oldtown but he never let it get to him that he was missing out on everything with his family and Aegon did his duties as possible heir to the throne with his hair now much shorter and his love stronger than ever before.

At eight and ten, he was now older than his half-sister, Rhaenyra was when she married Ser Laenor and out of all of his siblings — excluding Daeron who is the scholar of them all — he is the only one unwed making his so-called claim to the throne weaker than before. Of course, he was hoping to rectify that problem sooner than anyone was really expecting. He’s been planning this for a while after gaining inspiration from the marriage between Rhaenyra and his uncle Daemon.

The traditions of Old Valyria have always interested him considering that his mother has been pushing for them all to practice the Faith of the Seven. It felt like he couldn’t participate in those traditions and in the Old Gods even though he is of Targaryen blood so, hearing of the marriage between his sister and uncle, it burned the flame in his chest hotter than ever before. A tradition he desperately wanted to follow as a way of taking his love and making her his in every aspect and living the way a Targaryen should, not caged by the rules of others.

Everything has been planned and set in place for at least two moons and he couldn’t have been more thankful for those who were privy to it all on keeping hush-hush about his plans. Tonight was the night he had chosen for this special occasion and he timed it all perfectly so that by the time they came back from Dragonstone, no one would have noticed that they were gone for the entire night. Granted, Aegon wanted more time to appreciate his soon to be bride after their ceremony but timing was of the essence and he wasn’t having anyone stop him from doing what he wished.

He was marrying her tonight and he was determined to ravish her in every physical way possible as well.

━━━━

It was nerve wracking seeing how he’s grown and changed over the years. Alicent could feel the nervous energy consume her as she gazed down at the training yard intently watching her sons do a light training session for the day. She was always so proud of her second son and she always doted on him as he grew up but seeing Aegon so changed from how he behaved as a child until now.

Before she assigned her as his handmaid, Alicent would envision how she thought her eldest would turn out and every time, those images reaped of horrible outcomes to how he would be as an adult. Now, she could visibly see the difference to how she thought he would be to how he actually is. He was longer a spoiled child who needed the attention of those around him, he was a man who she could see ladies of the court desiring for him to be theirs. A gentleman who was patient and reserved, lovely to those lesser than him and he even does what he can to make his siblings happy in their lives.

She knew that these changes were because of the handmaid but she didn’t want to admit that fact. Admitting it would mean that they were far closer than any prince and maid should be, far closer that rumors of an intimacy that should only be between a married couple seem true in some sense. Those rumors frightened her to her core as she had shredded through the skin around all of her nails in knowing that news. Those rumors are what sparked the urgency in her and her father to arrange for a betrothal and hopefully, quick marriage between Aegon and a lady of high standing.

Doing a quick betrothal and marriage aren’t ideal but seeing how lovely Aegon is even towards women not in his family made that worry — worry that he would have ended up rotten like most men in her life — fade away. She had run this by her son briefly a few days prior and shockingly, there was no fight in him unlike when he fought for Heleana and Aemond to be wed. The lack of a battle had a trickle of suspicion shiver down her spine as she hoped he was genuine in the idea of being betrothed to a noble woman. Being married to one of the many eligible women throughout Westeros would better help Aegon stake his claim as a real heir to the Iron Throne.

Hoping all of the work she is indulging her father in would be fruitful and she won’t have him breathing harder down her neck. The pressure could be placed on someone else for once. All they needed to do was get this done quickly and swiftly.

━━━━━━━━

Painted in shades of orange and red, the sun had begun to hide behind the calming waves of the bay. The burning light of the setting sun lit up the chamber room in the same shades as the sky and dozens of candles accompanied the fading light. Soft whispers filled the cool air and a pattern of light footsteps danced around in the background. 

Bathing themselves in the setting sun, the couple embraced in a slow dance seeming to move to a rhythm only they know of. A glow radiated off of them as they smiled at one another enjoying the quiet moment together. Anyone who peaked in on the situation would think that they were a pair of gods painted in their ethereal gleam who have graced their presence amongst the land of mortals. It was a beautiful sight that not even the most skilled painters could replicate this moment of beauty and it was a moment that could only be lived in current time. 

Even though they were the only ones in the room, they never spoke over a soft whisper, keeping their conversation strictly to their ears only. 

“Jaelan ao naejot sagon ñuhon isse ābrar se isse morghon,” Aegon muttered, tightening his grip on her waist and bringing his lips closer to her ear. I want you to be mine in life and in death. 

A soft, quick laugh expelled from her lips at her lover’s statement. “Iā dīnilūks rȳ īlva would dōrī sagon approved, ñuha vēzos.” A marriage between us would never be approved, my sun. Lighthearted, her words were but there was an err of truth to it. “Kesan va moriot sagon aōhon sesīr skori iksā naejot gūrogon iā riña hae aōha ābrazȳrys .” I will always be yours even when you are to take a maiden as your wife. 

Taking the moment as she let it sink in for her prince, she further embraced him in a sweet kiss. Nothing more, nothing less. A delicate coupling in light of a very serious conversation that needed to be had between the couple. 

Snaking his hand out of hers, he wrapped it around the base of her skull pushing her petal lips harder against his. Deepening the kiss, they both began to feel their bodies warm under the intensity of their kissing and it lit a deep desire for more. Wanting more but also wanting to continue their conversation, Aegon tightened his grip on her neck and tugged her lips away from his. A slight string of saliva was all that connected them as it slowly fell away. 

A smirk etched itself into the lines of his face as he gazed down at the dazed, flushed look of hers. “Kesi dīnagon, ñuha hūra.  Nyke kȳvanon naejot mazverdagon ao ñuhon tonight va Zaldrīzesdōron,” We will marry, my moon. I plan to make you mine tonight on Dragonstone, he paused pulling her body even closer to his, relishing in the small gasp she breathed out. “Īlva dīnilūks kessa sagon gaomagon isse se ways hen uēpa Valyria se pār, eminna ao.” Our marriage will be done in the ways of Old Valyria and then, I will have you.

Shocked by his confession, she snapped herself out of her lust-fueled fog and stared him down with her head still tipped backwards. The realization that Aegon had organized for this all to happen on such short notice was startling. She, of course, wanted to be his wife in a way that it hurt from how much she wished for it but, it sounded absolutely ludicrous for them to be wed behind the backs of everyone on the Council and the monarchs. 

“Are you serious, Aegon? Tonight?” She sputtered out trying to catch her bearings. “How?”

Smiling down at her anxious form, Aegon placed a soft peck on her forehead before looking deep into her starry eyes. Those eyes that he’s gazed into for eight long years, the eyes of the woman he is determined to make his in every way possible; in mind, body and soul.

“A small bag has been packed and set upon Sunfyre who will be ready to fly an hour after the sun has set. Ser Arryk Cargyll has already been sworn to secrecy as I have prepared him to act as if we have taken an early night in our chambers.” He brushed a stray hair that had fallen out of its braid away from her flustered face. “Do not worry. Everything has been set up on Dragonstone as well. When we arrive, we dress in the marital robes, perform the ceremony and then I shall finally ravish you, my love.”

A moment passed as she processed the details that Aegon quietly muttered to her in secrecy. Knowing that very soon, they could be finally wed and be free to love one another caused a warmth to boil in her belly. It was exciting and so dangerous to do something as daring as this but she didn’t care considering that she could be with the man she has loved for all of these long years.

“Sȳrī, īlon kessa jiōragon jemēla hēnkirī se sagon va īlva ñuhoso.” Well, we shall get ourselves together and be on our way. A smirk that mirrored the one on the prince’s face stretched across her beautiful face as they plotted their way to a marriage that insulted the King and the Queen.

━━━━━━━━━━━

The cool night air felt chilly when one was soaring through the dusting of clouds that littered the sky but, on the small sandy beaches of Dragonstone, the air was the perfect temperature for such a momentous night. For her first long trip on Sunfyre, it was rather lovely and the landing at the freehold was a bit rougher than landing at the Dragon Pit in King’s Landing causing her to tighten her grip on Aegon’s waist when she was jostled. 

Seeing the castle here for the first time was breathtaking and knowing that they would be wed on such a beautiful island made it even more spectacular. The exhilaration of all this was beginning to make her jittery as Aegon helped her down from the saddle on Sunfyre after retrieving everything else they had brought with them.

Once on the ground, he clutched onto their small bag and intertwined their fingers before making their way up the unmarked path to the castle. Taking in the scenery made all of this so real to Aegon and he couldn’t have been more happy being here with her and finally putting his long awaited plans into place. He took his sweet time guiding her through the sand and rocks making their way to the entrance where he knew the help he employed would be waiting for them.

As she trekked with the help of Aegon’s hand, she huffed out, “I know you’ve planned all of this but, who did you get to help us with the ceremony? Find the priest to wed us?”

Pulling her up through the final layer of rocks before a smooth pathway, he chuckled at her exasperation and her worry that something would possibly fall through. He understood where she was coming from in the state of her worry but he just wanted her to enjoy this night to the fullest without nitpicking the details. 

“Well, I had the help from someone who was much more knowledgeable on the ways of Old Valyria and they were the ones to set up everything – the robes, the priest, the dragonglass and the goblet we are to use.”

Just as Aegon stated that to satiate her curiosity, the path revealed the entrance of the freehold where out of the faint glow coming from within came the heir to the throne, Princess Rhaenyra in a gown clothed in the infamous Targaryen red and black waiting with her hands clutched gently in front of her.

“It’s good to see you, Aegon after receiving your letters for so long,” Rhaenyra smiled at the embraced couple making their way closer to the princess. “Everything has been set up and I’ll have you both escorted to get ready separately before we do the ceremony.”

“I’m glad we are seeing each other under better circumstances this time, sister. I also appreciate all the help you have provided.” Bringing her closer, he gestured to her. “This is the one I have told you so much about.  Ñuha hūra se qēlossās.” My moon and stars.

Stunned by meeting Rhaenyra in such a setting, she dropped to a low curtsy before popping herself back up to meet the motherly smile of the woman across from her. “I’m pleased to meet you, Your Grace. I had no idea that Aegon had enlisted your help in our marriage,” she blurted out.

“Please, call me Rhaenyra. After all, by the time the sun breaks through the darkness, we will be family. Come along now. We should get this ceremony started as swiftly as we can.” Rhaenyra stepped aside for the couple to make their way into the castle and guided them to their chambers to ready themselves.

Rhaenyra followed behind the young couple as she allowed for the servants to escort them all to where they needed to be for the night. Being behind them, she noticed how delicately Aegon held his lover and how he seemed so soft towards her – the gentle kiss on her forehead, the arm wrapped around her waist to pull her close to his form, the faint whispers he would speak to her. It was a young love that has blossomed and has been deeply cared for all these years like Aegon has told her in his letters he sent her these past few moons. This was a love that would never rot away; it would grow bolder with time.

The princess was shocked to find how desperate her half-brother was to marry –and marry a handmaid at that – considering she was to believe he was growing up rotten and spoiled by the treasures of life. The last time they had seen each other was the night that Vhagar was claimed and Aemond lost his eye to Lucerys’ hand. Alicent made it out to be that Aegon was who planted such awful rumors in his brother’s head but she could see that he was the far opposite of those accusations. She could see he was kind and sweet; everything that a maiden wished for their future husband to be. He so dearly loved his handmaiden that he was willing to wed her without the approval of the King and Rhaenyra would see that wish through for him.

━━━━

Amongst the thorny hedges and towering pine trees in Aegon’s Garden, a small gathering sat in the center of it all as they breathed in the sanctity of the ceremony. In robes of blood red faded into mute beige, the couple stood joined hand in hand as the priest spoke the vows in Valyrian. Around them, the witnesses to this marriage watched with varying expressions; Rhaenyra had a soft smile of familial affection, Daemon was woefully neutral and rightfully curious to this dramatic change in his nephew’s character, Jacaerys seemed uninterested but supportive considering how urgent his mother had dragged him and Lucerys was much of the same expression as his elder brother. 

Even with the small gathering of witnesses, all Aegon and his bride could focus on was one another seemingly able to communicate through subtle eye gestures and the occasional eyebrow movement. This was an all-consuming moment in time and they were doing all they could to soak it up for this was going to be a night they will always want to remember. 

For those not truly focused on the ceremony, time dragged on watching the couple stand there with the priest droning on behind them. But, it was anything but boring for those invested in what was transpiring. Even with Aegon and his bride more focused on what was happening between them than what the priest was saying, they were thrilled for such an opportunity and of course, appreciative of the efforts that Aegon’s elder sister went through to make this happen. They would obviously say their thanks when this all came to an end and Rhaenyra didn’t need their words to know how thankful they were. 

The heir knew their thanks and did not need it for she could see the true love and devotion the couple have for one another. Even with the differences in status, it was a love that many only heard of and very rarely seen in person; this was heartful and full of emotion. She would not need their thanks as she felt it was her duty to make this happen before the council went into uproar over a request for this union. All she would ask of them was to continue to grow into their love and have it continuously blossom — of course she would jokingly request for a future child be named after her. Everyone’s focus began to leak from their minds and were back onto the couple. 

Through the guidance of the priest, it was time for the finale of the ceremony; the binding of their souls. With a steady hand, Aegon was the first to retrieve the small blade of dragonglass from their officiant making his way to his bride. As the blade closed in on her bottom lip, he stopped, looking up at her for her consent which was given to him with a happy jolt of a nod. Carefully, he pressed and sliced a thin line through the center of her bottom lip where blood immediately began to dribble to the surface. Exchanging the blade into her empty, awaiting hand, she too repeated the same process of waiting for his consent and slicing through his plump, bottom lip. The little bit of crimson that pooled on his lip contrasted beautifully against his pale skin and made her eager for the end of this to come. 

Without hesitation, they each dip a single finger into the welling of blood upon their lips and take turns in marking their foreheads to signify the continuation of the Targaryen bloodline — even though the bride was not of the Targaryen line. One last time with the dragonglass, their left hands are cut, causing more blood to pool outside of their bodies; none of that was a concern in the grand scheme of this event for obvious reasons. With clasped hands mixing their blood, the vital fluid rapidly flowed due to the pressure of the two hands and as the witnesses watched as it flowed, a chalice was given to them, each taking their turn at sipping from it. 

Upon the final words, they join in a kiss riddled with the mixing of their blood and saliva as they bathe in the glory of being now newlyweds. They are as it is said, 'one flesh, one heart, one soul, now and forever.’ The beginning of forever for them.

━━━━

They couldn’t get to their guest chambers fast enough with how desperate they were to consummate their marriage. Frantic hands gripping each other’s robes and lips in a vicious battle against one another. 

Distracted by the joining of their mouths, it was difficult trying to remove the marital robes and the simple underclothes that lay beneath. Hands continued to tangle with the fabric and get trapped by the desperation and need lit aflame in the couple. Without stopping their sloppy kissing, they figured out that one would start to work on the other’s clothes while the other didn’t try to multitask with them; it was a mess if they both did the same thing at the same time but oh were they ready to pounce. As effectively as they could, layers upon layers of fabric fell from their bodies creating a puddle of clothes to accumulate on the floor, each of them stepping out of their shoes and out of the pile as they made their way to the bed in the center of the chamber. 

Skin to skin flush against one another and as gentle as he could, he sprawled her out on top of the covers displaying her in all of her glowing beauty out of breath and flushed from their kissing. For a moment, Aegon kneeled a single leg between hers and gazed down taking in the feast of flesh that was waiting to be devoured. A solitary “breathtaking” broke through the sounds of heavy breathing and shifting fabric. Leaning himself over her, collectively trapping her between his arms, he gives a long peck on his swollen lips before he starts his journey down her body, sprinkling open-mouth kisses along the way. Each kiss burned hotter than the last the closer her prince became towards where she wanted him most. 

Soft breaths against the wet kisses sent shivers down her spine and decorated her skin in goosebumps leaving him feeling victorious in her reaction. More small kisses were placed down her inner thighs and back before Aegon blew a cold breath over the kisses again reaping the same reaction. A whine escaped her lips urging him to stop teasing her and to finally make his way where she was desperate for him to be. One last breath blew over her soaking slit causing her to jolt before he decided to finally end his torment and devour her.  

Shock was the expression written on her face and electricity flowed through her body at the attention her love was giving her body. It was an odd sensation but oh was it so deliciously satisfying. The feeling of his wet tongue stroking her and drawing her clit into his mouth was like nothing she’s ever felt before but, she wanted more and more. With a shaky hand, she threaded his silky, white hair in between her fingers and gripped tightly eliciting a moan that vibrated against her adding more stimulation onto the devouring Aegon was doing to her. Breathy moans and sloppy, wet sounds were all that could be heard and it was even more erotic listening to while being overwhelmed by the tongue slipping its way into her. 

More and more pleasurable shockwaves rode through her system as Aegon eagerly continued to feast upon the slick dripping from her. The slurping and the moans vibrated through him made the heat in her belly rise higher than the previous second. The heat and the waves began to burn closer together causing her to grip his hair tighter and arch her back to get her even closer to his face. At this point, she was riding his face with every swift thrust of her hips moving on the blanket top. 

The waves began to crash closer and closer with his grip on her thighs tight, almost bruising the soft flesh. She panted out her moans, struggling to catch her breath with the pleasure burning through her and the thin cord deep within threatening to snap under the sucking and licking. As she looked through her lashes down between her legs, her eyes locked with the dark, hooded eyes peering back up at her. His intense, lavender eyes made her even warmer and had her focused on the sloppy, wet sounds being made by him. 

All she needed was just something —anything— to push her over the edge and snap that cord deep within. As if he could read her mind, Aegon brought two of his fingers up to collect some of her slick before slowly and gently inserting them within. The slight intrusion was a bit strange but oh was the curling of his fingers and the gentle thrust of his hand just absolutely fucking perfect. Her moans went up a few octaves as she tried to desperately chase the high she could feel building more and more. 

It was all so electrifying and all it took was him sucking on her sensitive clit and the right amount of pressure from his curled fingers for the orgasm to hit full force where stars exploded within her vision. A tingling sensation exuded from her limbs and her belly’s flame was stoked to be hotter than ever making her want more from her new husband. 

Pushing himself up off the bed, the prince held a sly smirk on his face and from his lips, her arousal glistened in the lowlight of their chambers. Prowling his way up her shaky form, Aegon left feathery-light touches across her flesh reaping more chills to rake through her. 

“ You’re such a good girl for me, my love. Just riding my face as I devour you whole,” he whispered out looking down upon her flushed face like a predator about to pounce on its prey. “Why don’t you keep those pretty legs open for me and allow me to ravish you some more?”

Almost as if it was a command she couldn’t ignore, her legs spread a bit wider allowing for his body to be accommodated better between them. His words and his deep stare made her writhe with wanting more pleasure to be drawn out by him. 

“Aegon, please… Give me more. I want all of you.” A faint whimper followed her words making the smirk grow deeper into his face as he leaned in to feel her breath on his face.

Stealing her air, Aegon pressed their lips together in a deep, all-consuming kiss desiring for her to taste herself upon him. Hse found it even more arousing being able to taste herself on his lips and she was all the more determined to devour him as he is to devour her. Distracted by them making out, he slowly caressed his hands down her shaky body and took himself into one of his hands, stroking it against her, collecting her slick upon his head. 

With enough preparation, he slowly began to push himself into her. The sudden intrusion caused her to gasp against his mouth as he whispered small words of encouragement. It wasn’t an unpleasant sensation feeling him bare within her but the stretch was a tad bit uncomfortable. Aegon continued to slowly push his way further and further in as he whispered and placed tiny kisses upon her face. 

“Eman ao, ñuha hūra.  Bē konīr,” softly, he spoke as he controlled his desire to just fully push in and relish himself in the feeling of how she was squeezing him tightly.  I have you, my moon. Almost there. 

With one final press, their hips were flush against one another and deep moans exuding from the both of them. Aegon nuzzled his head into her neck taking deep breaths to control himself and she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck carding one of her hands deeply into his silky locks. Allowing only their deep breathing to fill the quiet air around them, they let themselves have a bit of time to adjust to this new, all-consuming sensation before Aegon started to slowly move his hips so as to not cause any discomfort from starting off too quickly.

Soft moans left her lips as he started to move his hips faster and faster. Her skin was lit aflame, the lust was overwhelming and needed to have more of him. She shifted her hips to meet his thrusts and she laid a small trail of open kisses onto his shoulder with his groaning filled her ears. Aegon pushed himself up from her soft neck taking one of hands to grip her hip tightly while the other took her hands from his hair and trapped them above her head pushing her chest out further. 

“Tolī, kostilus. Tepagon nyke tolī,” breathlessly, she moaned out urging Aegon on, causing him to grip her hip tighter almost to the point of bruising her supple flesh. The slight twinge of pain from the grip felt so delicious with the feeling of his cock filling her and rutting into her.  More, please. Give me more.

Smirking at her desperation, he moved the hand that captured her wrists making its way down to wrap his hand gently around her throat, not to squeeze but just to make it known to her that he could at any point tighten his grip there. The feeling of his hand on her throat made her smirk back up at him as more pleasure ripped through her form. He kept at a brutal pace rutting into her and they both began to feel their pleasure peak making them desperate to finish. Shifting their bodies slightly, Aegon started to rub her clit relishing in the sensation of her tightening around him.

“Oh, sweetling. I’m so close. Give me one more before I breed your tight little cunt,” he rasped out rubbing his fingers faster against her and keeping up with his furious pace.

With the smacking of their skin, it overpowered the sounds of their gasping breaths and pleasurable moans. She could feel the shockwaves coming back more viciously than before ripping its way through her body and her limbs tingling. Closer and closer to their peak, the louder their moans became. The hot air made their skin flush red and stick with sweat to one another. 

His pace grew inconsistent as he neared his finish and he could feel her squeeze him impossibly more. The shockwaves kept crashing over her faster with a knot growing tighter within her belly. Soon enough, the waves mellowed out as the knot snapped causing her to orgasm yet again under his attention. The squeezing of her cunt made his head spin making him come much sooner than he intended to. His warmth filled her, causing her to exude one last raspy moan into the ear of her new husband when he slumped his exasperated body on top of hers.

Large smiles stretching across the planes of their faces were filled with happiness and a great deal of breathlessness. They both were content with the events of the day and especially the events that had just happened a few moments prior. This was probably the happiest day of their lives and the feeling of having each other in every way possible – mind, body, and soul – was a feeling that could never be replicated the same way ever again. 

Breaking their moment of reprieve, Aegon removed his body weight off of her looking down at her as she was still trying to catch her breath. Grabbing one of her hands, he placed a soft kiss onto the palm of it before locking his eyes with her again.

“Iksan daor olvie gaomagon lēda ao, ñuha jorrāelagon.” He wrapped his arms around her, taking her by surprise as she let out a squeal. He was planning on having her as much as he possibly could that night before they had to leave back to the Red Keep. I am not quite done with you, my love.

━━━━━━━━

“What do you mean, ‘You can not take a bride’? It is your duty to do so and there is nothing standing in your way to having your choice of the most eligible women in the Seven Kingdoms!” exclaimed Alicent who was moments away from utterly losing her shit — to put it nicely —with her smirking son. 

“I shall give you one guess, Mother as to why I can’t take a bride,” the eldest prince paused for effect before he continued on. “And I’m afraid there is no way for it to be stopped since it has already been done.”

Narrowing her eyes on his form, she thought over what he said and what it all meant. Picking at the skin of her thumbnail, she quickly pondered the ominous riddle she was told. Why did she need to guess on this matter? There’s absolutely no reason for him to keep refusing to court a noble lady unless… 

“You imbecile! You fucked your handmaid, didn’t you! And I would be wrong to assume she’s pregnant with your spawn? I can’t believe that you’ve done something like this, Aegon! You are to be placed on the throne  by the hand of your grandsire and you let some lowly whore seduce you into ruining your chance at having the throne, a noble wife and legitimate children. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!” Alicent ranted and raved as her face became red with the lack of air she was breathing in. 

Aegon was actually taking great joy in watching his mother absolutely lose every fragment of sanity that hasn’t been frayed by anxiety and the pressures of his grandsire whispering into her ear. It was almost comical how red she was becoming but what wasn’t amusing about what was happening was the complete slander she was talking about. Granted, yes, he did lovingly fuck his handmaid. Yes, there was a small inkling that he hoped she was impregnated by him even so soon after their marriage; if not, well, they’ll have plenty of time to ‘practice’. But, he will not have his mother or anyone for that matter, speak so horrendously about her whether it was behind his back or to his face. 

A deep chuckle broke Alicent’s tirade as her vision focused in on Aegon pushing himself off from the ledge he made himself comfortable on and made his way prowling towards her in her solar. The echoes of the steps and the dark look in his eyes made Alicent believe that she was not the apex here, she was the prey who has been ceaselessly baiting the predator into ripping her apart. 

“Yes, I did fuck my handmaid but, only after I had made her mine in the ways of Old Valyria. It’s quite the insult to the monarchs of our family and it brings me great joy watching you all lose your shit over my marriage. No, I do not believe my bride to be with a babe and I so wish for her to be rather soon. So, I will not be taking some pompous bitch to be my wife in name only to satisfy your need to adhere to Grandsire’s desires and my handmaid will be my wife in every sense of the word and duty. She has been my closest companion and dearest love for eight long years and she will stay that way until we both lay to rest eternally. Have I made myself clear, Alicent?” 

With every step he took during his monologue, Alicent felt smaller and smaller inching closer to her chaise until the back of her legs hit it causing her to drop down. His eyes never left her face and his words were like flames licking her skin and the last words spoken were like ice burning away at the scorched flesh. 

Tears formed on her waterline but they lingered there, never falling from their place. In all of her years, she has never been made to feel so much like the small prey caught while on a hunting expedition. Seeing how well he’s grown over the years, the Queen never expected something so dark to come over her eldest child; it was something that terrified her more than her father and his deceptive ways. Exhaling a shaky breath, all she could do was nod up at her son who continued to glare down at her waiting for a response. 

With her nod, the dark look slowly faded into an expression of neutrality seemingly content with it. Aegon started to back away, turning himself around to head out of his mother’s solar. His steps rang victorious in the quiet air and his body language screamed the same tune yet his face revealed none of it. 

Making his last step to the door, he turned and faced her again with his hand on the doorknob. Rolling his shoulders and clearing his throat, he spoke once more, “I never meant to be truly hostile to you but, I will not have any slander upon her name. Once you truly see that she is nothing like you have perceived her to be, I would be more than happy for the three of us to spend more time together and have her welcomed into the family regardless of her status.”

Taking that as his cue, a small whisper of ‘I love you’ left his lips as he closed the door behind him leaving his mother to take in his words and the situation they had been put in. Those little words were, hopefully, enough for her to put things aside and be more open to her son being so in love with a maid from their castle even though it just about ruins everything her father has been working towards.

━━━━━━━━

The days seemed to be numbered for the King as his ailing body continued to weaken beyond the ability to heal and it was becoming glaringly obvious that the Hand’s plans to usurp the throne were finally within view. The grand scheme of it all was coming together quite nicely and the pawns all seemed to be placed right where they needed to be. The only pieces in this game that had to be utterly compliant and in their perfect place was the eldest son of King Viserys, Aegon the Elder.

Otto Hightower was always a man reaching for what was far beyond his means and determined to get what he desired no matter the cost to others around him. He was set on the King dying very soon unexpectedly and his supposed heir to be left in the dark so he could crown his daughter’s son as the next era of Targaryens upon the Iron Throne. Sure, he would desire for him to be the one on the throne but a child of his child would work just as well; he just needed to rally his grandson and his filthy choices to be completely on board. 

He knew that if he was able to work the conversation the right way, he wouldn’t even need to talk to Aegon — she would just inform him and believe that it was all her idea. If it was her idea, it could be easy later on to blame any of the outcome of usurping the throne on her and all evidence of her and those things will be forever erased. Truthfully, Otto thinks that this is his best plan to date; it was almost like killing two birds with one stone and him being left unscathed as always. 

On such an eventful day, the first thing on his list of devious dues to accomplish was to find that filthy handmaid of his grandson and speak to her about ‘family’ matters. It was quite easy to find her on sunny days like this one; her and the prince had a pretty predictable schedule and have had a predictable one for quite some time. 

In the seclusion of the royal garden, his eldest grandson’s brood took their midday break and hid away from the prying eyes of the council and guards. Everyday, a small picnic was held by the handmaid after she finished her morning routine of chores considering that she still worked under the guise of being the personal handmaid to Prince Aegon even with the evidence of them being much more than employer and employee. 

It was the same image everyday; the maid sitting on the blanket watching as two small children either ate their fill or played with one another amongst the many flowers and greenery. In his eyes, Otto was sickened by the display of ignorance and the so-called “love” that was constantly masking the faces of these people. If Aegon had just set his sights on some easy noblewoman, he would be fine with bastards being born but this is a servant for Gods’ sake! It’s almost as bad as the earlier stories of the King’s brother being a repeat customer to the brothels in the Streets of Silk. 

Making his way through the gardens, the Hand found the small family’s hideaway with the children gone briefly and the maid just sitting upon the blanket laid on the grass. Absolutely perfect; right where he needed her to be. 

The sounds of his steps disturbed the soft peacefulness and the maid whipped her attention away from the rustling of flowers towards the intruder. Alarmed to find the King’s Hand, she bolted up off the ground and immediately curtsied for the man. 

With a small wave of his hand, he dismissed her out of her curtsy and began to speak in his usual arrogant way. “I have been in search of you for quite some time. A few of the other servants informed me that you would be here this afternoon.”

She was taken back briefly by Hightower’s statement at the fact he was looking for her of all people. 

“Well, I am happy to be of service to you, my Lord. What is it you will be needing to discuss?” Her voice was strong, unwavering in his presence unlike many of the other working maids. Overconfident for her status. 

“Well, the Queen and I know how close you are to the Prince and we were curious to know of how the Prince would react to being heir if the chance ever were to arise,” spoke Otto dignified, watching to see if any emotions ran across her face; none did. If anything, her face was wiped clean as a fresh slate and it was impossible for the man to find any insecurity to prey on to push forward his agenda. 

A moment passed during their staring match waiting for the other to break their mask and reveal everything. She knew a day like this would come; she wasn’t an idiot who allowed just anyone to prey upon her emotions. It was only a matter of time before she knew her husband’s grandsire would try to openly play his game; a game that she and Aegon have been planning to possibly ruin since their marriage four years ago. Now was the time to work this conversation into her favor. 

She forced a rather fake cough from her throat before she proceeded to respond to the Hand. “The possibility of the Prince becoming the Heir to the Iron Throne is not something that someone like I, would discuss as a topic with his Grace. One would think that since he is the King’s first son, that he would be optimistic about being King but, of course, I do believe that this is a matter that you should be personally discussing with him, my Lord, not with his maid. I’m sure he will greatly appreciate being approached by you about this.”

Otto heard her words as a challenge but her face and body language revealed a neutral playing field. He was hoping she was going to be much more vulnerable considering she would be in an intimate setting with those heathens that he is somehow related to. Overall, her reaction was proving to be a stark contrast to what he wanted but he could work with the fighting words that she had initiated; he had to make this work if he wanted to be successful. 

“You are very brave to speak that way to a man of status like I am. It makes you very lucky that I don’t find a reason to punish you for your tongue lashing –” 

“If you deem those words as a lashing, my Lord, then what I could say freely would be a massacre upon you,” she snarled, very quickly changing her neutrality into a look of thinly veiled anger.

“What makes you believe that you could just speak like that? There is only one thing I need you to do to make everything fall into place and you will agree to my terms, you whore!” Otto’s face grew red with his anger and he wore it very clearly on his aging face. “You will tell my grandson that he will be taking the throne when the King dies whether he wants to or not! I will not have you jeopardize everything I have done to make sure my family gets what they are owed!”

Every word was punctuated by the rough stomps encroaching on the safe space that the maid had made in the tranquil garden. Every step was like a knife slashing at delicate curtains to reveal the truth behind the fabric and it was revealing a woman determined to protect the sanctity of her family’s safety. Overall, this one sided argument was going to end disastrously for one of the two adults.

Toe to toe at each other’s neck, the opposing forces glared down the other showing the opposite ends of anger; the man had his wrath shown full force as there was no way for him to conceal it and the woman’s rage was under the tight grips of a mask with the only evidence being in the way the stars in her eyes burned like the sun. The silence was deafening between the two and all that played softly in the background was the gentle sway of the garden greenery as small bodies playfully explored through them.

Breaking the silence, she kept her eyes locked onto the Hand’s as she squared herself against his imposing form. “Only this one time will I be a brute in my words and only this once will I speak out of turn. I will not be telling Aegon to do anything that you wish for him to do. He will make that decision on his own without any outside influence and we both know of the little game you have been setting up. We are not pawns in the game for the Iron Throne. You have made yourself out to be this figure who knows the secrets of everyone you wish to manipulate and I’m sorry to tell you, my Lord, but I’m afraid you don’t know everything there is.”

Her words were like her snatching Otto’s attacking knife and burying it deep within his chest. There could be no possible way for this peasant to have secrets that he doesn’t know and this knowledge was going to bother him until he could find out what it was they were hiding from his eyes. The perturbed look on his face was enough for her to feel victorious in this small battle – a battle she felt she needed to fight considering he ruined her afternoon with her children. 

“A last few remarks before you scamper away with your tail tucked between your legs, my children will not be considered bastards by the likes of you and will forever be legally seen as the heirs of Aegon,” she spat at him as he slowly began to sulk his way back to his hermit hole. “And in your search into our secrets, you won’t know the answer until it’s far too late. Let that truth sink into your bones as it keeps you awake at night.”

The urgency of his leaving was met with the more calming presence of two young children – both with large smiles and matching appearances. Their white blonde hair glowed in the high sun illuminating small halos around their heads with eyes of shades of lavender and periwinkle. The eldest child was a boy of four name days and anyone who didn’t know better would think Aegon was turned back into a small child again. He was every bit identical to his father and such a sweet little boy to his younger sister. The youngest also has the traditional Targaryen features as does her brother but there were glimpses of her mother in her face. Aegon swore he could see the same stars in his little girl’s eyes; the same stars that burned in her mother’s. Each of these little ones resembled the very best parts of their parents regardless of the unsavory opinions other adults had about their existence.

“Muña! Muña!” the little voice from the boy burst out as the two ran towards their kneeling mother and jumped into her outstretched arms the second they were within reach. A bright smile replaced the burning glare she had earlier as she held tightly the giggling children. 

“Oh, my darlings! What have you brought for me today?” She looked down to see a small bushel of varying flowers where some still had their roots attached and dirt falling from them.

“Alysanne jiōraton rūkluni syt ao se Kepa!” exclaimed him as the little girl pushed the bundle into her mother’s hands after she released them from her comforting arms. Alysanne got flowers for you and Father. 

“Why, thank you! And thank you for helping her, Baelon,” she chuckled, giving kisses onto her children’s heads before she fully stood up and dusted herself off. “How about we pack up our picnic and go find Kepa to show him the beautiful flowers you both got. Does that sound good?”

Her words were answered in small cheers and hurrying footsteps rushing to shove the blanket and other belongings from their picnic back into the basket. Their rushing was adorable and warmed her heart as she could see how much her children loved their father and being with him. A few moments more and she joined in on their packing. 

Once they were done, she picked up the basket and shifted it to balance on her hip so she could grab the tiny, open hand of her daughter, Alysanne and have Baelon grab the other open hand placing the girl of two name days between them. The peaceful familial image glowed in the sunlight as they made their way through the garden and into the castle searching for where Aegon was at that day.

━━━━

“I received a rather pleasant visit from your grandsire earlier today,” she remarked after she closed the doors that led to the small chambers of their young children connected to their main apartment.

It took a moment for the relaxed prince sitting at his desk to process what his lovely wife said filling the air and once it clicked, his head snapped towards her form almost giving himself whiplash at the words floating. 

“Grandsire? Otto of all people visited you this afternoon?” he questioned her, shaking his head and rubbing a hand down his face before he proceeded again. “I don’t mean to question your words, my love but everyone knows that the Hightower fuck doesn’t do ‘casual’ visits with anyone unless he has an ulterior motive.”

Moving his chair out from under the desk, she placed herself into her husband’s lap and laid her head upon his shoulder resting it into his neck. He wrapped one of his arms around her waist and the other softly began to brush against the exposed skin of her arms. In the comfort of each other, they let themselves brew on the situation before they decided to speak again on it.

“I’m going to be right to assume that the reason Otto sought you out today was to discuss the succession of the throne?” Aegon whispered making sure his voice wouldn’t be heard by anyone other than the two of them.

“And you are right to assume that. He threatened to have you take the throne regardless if you had any desire for it,” she breathed out for a moment. “I don’t take too kindly to him threatening our family and insinuating our children be bastards when they were born out of love. It lit a fire within me seeing him so furious with your choices but it’s up to you what we shall do, ñuha vēzos.”

Processing everything was cumbersome and was invoking an ache in his head that would take ages to be relieved. There was so much that needed to be done and so much to be decided on. Aegon knew the basis of Otto’s goals for him to usurp the throne the moment that the King had been greeted by the Stranger but after reconnecting with Rhaenyra years ago, he had no ambitions about taking her rightful throne from her. She was named heir long before he was born and she was more fitting of the throne than he ever would be. He would be content with his life if he just stayed as Prince Aegon, Second of his Name, husband to his gorgeous handmaid and father to his beautiful children, Baelon and Alysanne. There is no need for something more when he already has everything he could possibly need right at that moment.

He breathed a deep sigh and moved to rest his head upon hers. “I know that Otto won’t stop until he gets what he wants. I am not going to jeopardize the lives of our children to play into his foolish game.”

“Well, I believe now would be the time to implement our plan before Otto’s people dig their claws into us,” she said sadly before she moved herself to stand up in between Aegon’s spread legs. “Everything shall be ready by this time tomorrow evening and we find our way to the checkpoint.”

━━━━━━━━

The deep secret that Otto had searched relentlessly about Aegon and his maid revealed itself the day of the King’s passing – three days after the literary battle in the castle garden. After the small chat that happened that night, Aegon proceeded the next day as if nothing was out of the ordinary while the maid and their children were busy packing the clothes and the few precious belongings they have obtained over the years. The basis of what they were planning consisted of themselves and very few bags strapped to the back of Sunfyre to escape from the reach of the Hightower bastard into the safety of the maid’s family who had been preparing for the day that they would possibly be homing with them.

By the very next night, Aegon had used the secret passageways throughout the day to deliver their belongings to the Dragon Pit where Sunfyre had been anxiously awaiting to spread his wings for a long journey. When the guards were changing out, the adults, each with a child in hand, made their way through the silent castle and as swiftly as they could, they made their way to Rhaenys’ Hill. In their infinite amount of time they used to plan this escape, they knew by the time anyone would come looking for them, the family would be out of King’s Landing and down by the Sea of Dorne hidden away. 

They had every little detail etched out and there was no way that anything could possibly go wrong. Once the family and its hatchlings had reached the maid’s family homestead near the Dornish marshes, Sunfyre was ordered to fly away to the Dragon Pit – not to arouse any suspicions – or head to Dragonstone with the dragons that reside there freely. The family would then live as if they had always been there and Aegon would assume himself under a nickname with his Targaryen hair hidden as a dark, muddy brown; the child’s hair would also be dyed the same color. After enough time hidden away, the few who had to dye their hair could either keep dying it or allow for the dye to fade away back to their beautiful silvery blonde.

Everything was in place and it was working out fantastically.

━━━━━━━━

With Aegon missing and Otto having Aemond to assume his place on the Iron Throne, it caused a slight uproar by the people. Many would never want a woman to sit upon the throne and rule the Seven Kingdoms but the Greens lost many of their supporters when Prince Aemond was going to rule instead of Prince Aegon. Why would people support the second son as he has no real claim to the throne unlike the first born or the first son? 

Even with the few who didn’t support a woman ruling, Rhaenyra had more of a claim than her second half-brother. The small council gathering following the death had convinced the Queen that Rhaenyra would kill her siblings in cold blood as a way to assert herself in her rightful place after being named heir years prior. Of course, for a woman riddled with anxiety and paranoia, she agreed once again to her father’s nefarious plans even though there was an inkling of doubt deep within her chest. Prince Aemond then usurped the throne the days following the King’s passing thus starting the Dance of the Dragons. 

While civil war broke out, Aegon lived happily with his growing family in the marshes spending his days working tirelessly with the family he married into and it was everything he could dream of. He thought he was happy living within the Red Keep with their secret little family but freely being able to love his children and his wife made life so much more worth living. It was everything and more being who he wanted to be without the pressures of being a royal.

Though there was distance between him and his birth family, Aegon still loved them all and wished things would work out after hearing the news of what transpired since he left. Frequently, he wrote to Rhaenyra to quietly show his support as a way of paying her back for helping him years prior but he also wrote to Aemond, telling him in detail that Otto should not have played with Targaryen fire and that he should not listen to his ideas unless he is wishing to die by his hand. It hurt him seeing so much turmoil again after the night Aemond claimed Vhagar and his wife could see it deeply bothered him when they would break for the day.

Corresponding between the warring sides of the Greens and the Blacks, Aegon did the only thing he could think of without getting himself killed – offer refuge for his nephews and niece so they would be spared from the carnage that could outbreak. Without hesitation, Helaena sent her children to the safety of the marshes before the cruelty of war could take them from this plane of life. As if they were on the same wavelength, Rhaenyra sent her youngest children to stay until further notice with the oldest being sent periodically. As payment for acting as a refuge and caring for all the children, eggs of Syrax were sent as Rhaenyra believed every Targaryen child was deserving of an egg to hatch or a dragon to claim.

It all was painful to watch as that messed up family was being ripped apart but, how could he not be grateful for finally experiencing something so pure after so long?

His little family that he created, the relationships that he has made with his birth family and the one he married into and the dragons that he bonded to and raised. That all made this life meaningful and brought him true happiness.

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[hestzhyen]

Food in the Edgy Sword Manga: A Summary

This is long because I hit the image cap but I at least managed to keep things succinct for once in my life.

In short: Kagurabachi has been using food as obvious symbolism for connection, trust, general well-being, and/or mutual understanding since the beginning.

Chapter 1

Moments like these are cherished memories that Chihiro keeps close to his heart. Note his relaxed, open posture compared to the next image.

Three years later, Chihiro is turning down Mr. Shiba's small offer of comfort. He still relies on Mr. Shiba and cares a great deal for him, obviously, but his heart is closed off now.

Vs. Sojo Arc

Chapter 3

Our first obvious glimpse into the kind nature Chihiro tries to smother with edginess. He'll turn down comfort from others but he'll easily offer some to a scruffy orphan. He even makes sure he gets down to her eye level to reassure her when doing so (Hinao also did the same earlier in the chapter). Take notes, Mr. Shiba.

World's Hardest-Working Uncle Figure doing the clarifying monologue shtick to perfection as always. Just so we know that this bit with Char is perfectly in-character for Chihiro.

Char doesn't trust Chihiro yet, but she's willing to help him with his own quest at least. They connected over the meal (short-lived as it was).

Chapter 5

Chihiro being run ragged by a hungry, lonely little girl should trounce any lingering doubts that this guy is an uncaring revenge bot. You can tell by his thoughts and dialogue here that despite his brusque attitude, he's more focused on Char's quirks and well-being than the information she can offer him. And Char reciprocates by starting to let her guard down- his altruism when providing security and comfort gets her to trust him completely.

Again food being used to reference someone's well-being. Living as a science experiment in captivity was terrible even when she still had her mom (obviously). But Char's safe now with access to good food through Chihiro. Or so she hopes.

Chapter 6

Chihiro's cherished memories of his dad are corrupted thanks to the trauma sorcerer. A meal interrupted, trust and safety shattered. Only hatred is left according to Chihiro when he comes to. ...But he's not exactly the most trustworthy guy when it comes to his own status.

Instead of the science lab or the cell itself we see a tray of indistinct mush and water in a cage. Just a gentle way of bonking us over the head that the food metaphors are supposed to be obvious- and that whatever is waiting for Char back there with Sojo is not good for her (or anyone really).

The comfort Chihiro offers is a bit awkward and messy, but it's still wholesome as fuck. He's willing to give it at his own expense too. Someone please give this boy a hug.

Chapter 11

Poor Mr. Shiba. One day he'll find someone who appreciates his awkward attempts to help people. At least Hinao didn't turn him down despite the poor presentation.

Between this scene and the grilled smelt from Chapter 1, it's pretty obvious that Shiba sucks at trying to be a source of comfort, but at least he tries.

Alone and back to being mistreated. Oh, Char...

Chapter 15

Just like Chihiro, this represents the precious memories Char has of her mom. When she was safe and loved.

And once again, safety and comfort are brutally ripped away from a child and their only parent.

... but what was lost can be found again in the right people.

May nothing bad ever happen to Char again. I mean it.

Chapter 17

Ah, one of my favorite tropes! Interrupting a fierce battle scene to show the combatants having a casual chat! This time, there's no comfort or security to be had through sharing food, though. Instead, this is exchange is purely about connecting and understanding each others' views.

A bit of trivia: these guys are probably eating hanami (a.k.a. sanshoku) dango which are usually eaten while viewing cherry blossom trees in the spring. They're sweet and thus extra unappetizing for Chihiro (he dislikes sweet foods and drinks in general).

Sojo initiates and eats a single dango. He begrudgingly accepts that Chihiro's view of Kunishige's legacy is legitimate.

As the conversation goes on, Chihiro accepts Sojo's interpretation in turn. Both of them are correct. And yet:

Chihiro painfully finishes his dango while Sojo is content to leave just the first one eaten. This is Chihiro being willing and able to swallow the whole truth and all it's implications, no matter how unpleasant the experience is. Meanwhile Sojo cares more about being the one with the "most correct" interpretation. Chihiro ended up getting more out of the conversation than Sojo did, which gave him the edge he needed to win the fight.

And that's the end of the Vs. Sojo arc. The food references aren't as common past this point, but they still show up to give some extra context in a few scenes.

Rakuzaichi Arc

Chapter 19

Hakuri's just a fuckin' mess dude- alone, insecure, and can't give himself any kind of reassurance. Given what what we can infer from his monologue, it's pretty obvious this guy is going through it and not coping as well as he thinks he is.

Chapter 26

Our spaghetti queen and parfait king share a meal to let us know that they're pretty comfortable with each other... though outsiders might not get what their deal is. It's casual and they chat like they've known each other for a while. Tafuku and Hiyuki's relationship is solid despite the yawning chasm between their personalities.

Once again Shiba's good intentions are turned down. At least Char is comfortable enough to let Team Goldfish know about her wants and needs now though!

Meanwhile, Hakuri isn't ready or willing to let anyone console him, but least we have better insight as to why he struggles to keep his shit together. Most people would- and we haven't even seen the worst of his circumstances yet.

Chapter 28

After a few days of encouragement from Chihiro and helping out, Hakuri finally lets himself be treated a little. He earned himself a bit of security and respite but is still uneasy, and thus quick to let the warm fuzzies go (hence passing the ice cream to Char instead of bringing it with him). Neither Chihiro nor Shiba have any themselves.

Chapter 35

Oh man. Oh boy. Time to really get into why Hakuri is the way he is. This could be a whole post by itself but I'll try to be brief. (Honest.)

Shout out to the KB Confession account on Twitter for letting me ramble in their inbox with that long-ass submission about how Hakuri relates to food in this series. I've reworked it poorly here (so much for being anonymous I guess).

Sazanami prison food looks better than what Char was getting, but it's not out of kindness- everything in this place exists for the Rakuzaichi. Hakuri obviously sees himself as no different. He threatens to keep Ice Lady alive no matter what she wants because that's his job; there's no affection or compassion involved when he provides her meals.

Ice Lady seems to want to genuinely connect with Hakuri though. Even when she fails to manipulate him, she keeps the offer of companionship open to him since she's empathetic to his situation.

It works as she thought it would, but maybe not as she hoped. We see him coming to trust and find comfort in her as she leaves less food behind each time, but she's unable to find the same in him. His insistence on their one-sided relationship through food only pushed Ice Lady further and further away despite her apparent growing affection for him. He got it all wrong because he didn't know any better. It's painful to love and be loved as a Sazanami- especially a worthless defect like him. Hakuri wasn't able to understand the ramifications of how fucked up his situation was until Ice Lady slit her throat in his face.

Up until this point, providing food was a positive thing- people connecting and usually finding comfort. At the bare minimum it allowed Chihiro and Sojo to understand each other before the end. But Hakuri inverted and distorted the meaning of sharing food with someone. His actions helped him break free from his family's grip by revealing that he doesn't know what it means to properly offer and reciprocate genuine human connection. So now Hakuri probably associates sharing food with being used and hurting other people.

That's why we haven't seen him share a meal with Team Goldfish or anyone else yet IMO. For all that he's attached himself to Chihiro, he still hasn't exchanged any food with him. Hakuri only trusts that Chihiro saw something worthwhile in in him, that through him there might be hope outside the cage after all. He's barely beginning to see himself as a useful tool. Once he gets to the probably not a horrible human being mindset is where we might see him be able to open up and try to share food again.

Chapter 43

The normal loving family that could have been, if not for Kyora and the clan's slavish devotion to the Rakuzaichi. It's sad but not suspicious that Mrs. Sazanami isn't included much in the meal- all signs from this chapter point to a joyless arranged marriage after all. Her not participating with her husband and sons speaks volumes about how distant and miserable she must have felt despite (presumably) making that spread. To provide care, comfort, and love while not being able to partake of it is all too common for mothers.

And so, another arc concludes with people sitting down to eat together despite some of them being doomed to die. And an exploding building. Gotta have both in Kagurabachi.

Kamunabi Arc

Chapter 45

Hey Chihiro, whatever happened to waking up with fresh hatred every morning? lmao

I love these goofs so much. It's just snacks on a coffee table, but it shows that Hiyuki and Tafuku have earned some level of trust from Team Goldfish. Shiba trusted them enough to supervise their stay in the same room as his sleeping nephews at least. And Char's already completely won over apparently. This manga does not miss on the found family wholesomeness.

Hiyuki might see the Kamunabi as a sort of family. At the very least, they're an important safety net for society as a whole. Hence us seeing the food again- protection and security.

So who and what will be next? Chihiro bonding with Hiyuki and Tafuku? Kazane turning someone's offer down? Chihiro, Hakuri, and some new coworkers chatting over lunch in the Kamunabi's cafeteria? I'm definitely going to be on the lookout! Until next time, Bachibros.