#there hurting me more then usually after this chp....

[teruwasright]

The way I'm also drawing them hugging too....I seriously need a Minamoto reunion soon please...

sketch(es) based on this tiktok that killed me and my whole family

[itstheghostofmypast]

Meow (Chp-1)

Choi San x (f)Reader

Summary: He had spent an entire millennia in solitude, waiting for her to come back to him, bearing this curse that was a constant reminder of his ignorance, his mistake, and his guilt. He had forgotten how fate had always been cruel to him, punishing him for all he had done, and so be it, meeting her in the 21st century should have brought him joy- there was only one problem, his love for her may not have decreased a drop, but she may love Poofy more than she ever loved him.

Genre: Hurt/Comfort Fluff

Warnings: death of a major character, war, PTSD.

Word Count: 2.3K

Est. Read Time: 8 min

Networks: @cromernet @k-labels

Masterlist I Chp-2

"So, you're either a hook-up who hasn't left yet, which is hella creepy dude, it's 10 am- a secret boyfriend I was never told about which proves I have been a horrible best friend or you're a freak who broke inside mind you, I am a cop."

He froze mid-walk, eyes wide and swirling with panic. His instincts were telling him to bolt out the door, but the tug in his chest followed by his heart dropping to his stomach had him frozen in spot, years- no millennia; he had kept safe, he had kept it a secret and to think he would be discovered not by the one destined to be with him, but this mutt- apologies, he used to be a mutt, centuries ago, the same time he had found his mate, ridding him of the curse. What stood before him now was a human, a reborn version of the hyperactive, clingy, filthy-

"I believe you're the creep who is my innocent Y/N's dream man?"

"I can explain."

"Oh?" quirking his head to the side, his eyes scanned the other man, who was dressed in nothing but a towel around his waist, droplets of his fresh shower hanging off the tips of his onyx locks and falling onto the carpet. Yunho’s hand was itching to reach his gun hooked to his belt, hidden with his jacket, he may have been a bit taller than the intruder, but the man looked well built, enough to put up a fight, so he may need to make this quick.

“I’m Poofy.”

“I- you’re what?”

“Poofy, the cat, Y/N’s cat, the one she saved.”

“I might need to call for backup.” He mumbled to himself, taking out his gun and aiming at the barely covered man.

His eyes widened at the statement, shaking his head as he raised his hands in the air, “Listen to me, I’m not lying, Yunho.”

His name caused him to pause, so the intruder knew his name, huh, “How long have you been stalking her?”

“I haven’t I- a millennia later and you’re still so annoying,” letting out a whine, the man stomped his foot against the carpet, the movement leading his towel to slip off, both men freezing as soon as the plush, wet material hit the ground, their eyes meeting for a split second before Yunho’s trailed down, pausing and taking in the sight.

“I don’t remember if she ever mentioned a big-

“I HAVEN’T DONE ANYTHING TO HER, YOU DAMN MUTT.”

.

“You know usually, protocol requires me to take you to my precinct, but I feel like I owe you one after that…sight.” He stated, taking a turn towards the café that Poofy had instructed him to go to, claiming that his innocence would be proven there.

“Can you at least uncuff me?” turning to him, San hissed, raising his hands he tugged at the cuffs, before huffing and sitting back against his seat, “Yunho, it pains me to inform you, that even rebirth has done nothing to help your low intelligence.”

“Buddy, insulting a cop isn’t a good thing.” With that he parked in front of a café, staring up at the name, “Hanna, why would you name your café, that?”

“None of your business, now, take me out of these, I’m not walking into my place of refreshments with handcuffs.” He mumbled, showing him the cuffs once more, somewhat melancholic, and exhausted with how he was going to handle all of this.

“Place of refreshments…. bloody psycho.” Yunho mumbled, unlocking his handcuffs, “I’ll shoot you if you try something funny.” With that he went out, going to the other side to open his door, pulling him out, “That’s an expensive jacket for a ‘refreshment shop’ owner.” He stated as a matter of fact,  that he was a detective after all, and a good one, according to Captain Hongjoong.

“What can I say, I have expensive taste” Staring at him passively, he scoffed before walking away, leaving Yunho to stare at him, wondering where this sudden change of aura came from, the man really did remind him of Poofy- the cat that loved Y/N but hated him, especially when he’d be around her.

“YOU’RE LATE!”

A shrill boomed as they entered the empty café, Yunho hot on the other man’s heels, speaking of which, he didn’t even know the name of the culprit. Though that thought was short-lived, as soon as he saw the staff, eying them, trying to figure out who what who. Roles, ages, personalities, what had Y/N gotten herself into.

“Sorry,” he scoffed, grabbing the broom from the short man, “I was arrested.” Glancing in Yunho’s direction, his gaze followed by the rest of the mentioned, one of them scoffed and walked away, mumbling something Yunho couldn't pick up on.

"San, can you please tell Yeosang to not meddle with my puffs I- what's he doing here?" Seonghwa pointed at Yunho, who raised a brow in response, unsure why the other man held such bitterness, much like the other one who had walked away.

"He arrested me." San muttered casually, brooming around a table, "Wooyoung, didn't I tell you to not wait for me and open up on time?"

Said man, Wooyoung, snorted in response, shrugging as a reply as he continued to set the display chiller with random, pretty pastries, though all had one thing in common, a small sunflower on top of each, the entire rack looking like a field of sunflowers. Speaking of sunflowers, the surround had notes similar to the flower, even though the lights were off, sunlight seeping through the giant windows being the only source of lighting, he realised the entire place had a very, nature-oriented look, ceiling plants, plants on the walls, succulents on the window sills. Fake vines hanging from the ceiling lights, dainty crystal chimes around the place, glimmering under the sunlight, casting hues of various shades of pink, blue and yellow, the use of pastels adding a fairy-like flare to the cafe, how had he never heard of this place before? She would actually like this place- wait, what if she came here before? What if this is where this creep saw her and began stalking her and-

"She's never been here and he isn't stalking her." a deep voice echoed - in his head? Yunho's hand automatically reached for his ears to cover them, head snapping in every direction to look for the source.

"You still look like a lost puppy sometimes." the same voice chuckled, as a reflex Yunho took out his pistol, aiming at Wooyoung who squeaked, "WHAT! WHAT WAIT- SAN!"

"Put that down you moron", the man mumbled, finally putting the broom away, behind the counter, picking up a cup of tea and walking towards Yunho, who swiftly turned and aimed it at him, "Don't move."

"Yeosang, stop messing with him." he muttered as the voice repeated, "Sorry" only this time it came from behind Wooyoung, a man, much similar to one of the many princes he had seen in movies she would force them to watch when they were children.

"It's only tea." San muttered, placing the cup on the table beside Yunho who aimed at the 'prince-ly creature', "How did you do that?"

"Seriously, Yunho, put that away before someone gets hurt" Wooyoung called out, raising his hands, "We aren't going to hurt you or her, we could never hurt her." before turning his head to gesture at the man still staring at the cup, " San could never hurt her, but you need to put that away."

"Or what?" he spat, fed up with this nonsense.

"F*ck around and find out."

Was all he heard before a gust of wind knocked him out, his pistol being ripped out of his hand, and landing on his butt, he glared up at his assailant, Seonghwa he presumed, the man with features as gentle as the morning breeze, yet, his eyes bore the same intensity as of a thousand hurricanes. Staring at the gun he tsked, his other hand combing back his silky locks then turning to San who reached out to Yunho, offering his hand, "How the hell did you even get caught?"

"He came unannounced."

Slapping his hand away he stood up, "I came to check up on her apartment, her stories of his mystery man in her dreams were getting out of hand." with that he flung out a pocket knife, only for San to slap it out of his hand with one swift motion, "What the-"

"San, did you do what Yeosang specifically instructed you not to?" Seonghwa's tone held no emotion, no, it wasn't void of emotion, in fact, it clung onto the air with a certain authority, much like the brother of wrath and pride.

"I-" sighing the man glanced at Seonghwa, resembling but a wet, guilty kitten, "Yes- but I- she's been having nightmares and I, I mean they stopped when I...you know?"

"You said you didn't do anything to her!" Yunho barked lunging forward at San, tackling him to the ground, finally landing a good punch.

"For the love of mother nature." Jongho sighed, grabbing Yunho by his collar, regardless of their height difference, the little bear had always matched in strength with San, might one say he was stronger than the man underneath Yunho, who wasn't even trying to put up a fight, willing to get socked in the face. Unfortunately, his strength knew no bounds, for what was supposed to be a gentle tug, turned into a complete pull, propelling the man into the air, having him crash land on a table a few feet behind Jongho.

"Shit"

"Great, like my life wasn't already burdensome enough with the lot of you around."

"Seonghwa, ya really should stop speaking like that, it's outdated."

"Shut up Wooyoung." he hissed, a growl resonating in the quiet of the place, "Yeosang, heal him in case Jongho broke something, Jongho take him inside and you," He pointed the gun at San, "Get out of my sight."

.

Opening the door she sighed, slamming it shut behind her, tossing the keys god knows where, her heels being kicked off, sighing as her bare feet hit the cold tiles, "I need a whole year off." Padding across the apartment she waltzed into the kitchen, humming to herself, mood brightening a bit at the realisation that yesterday's take-out was still in the fridge. Fried Chicken, a woman's best friend.

Popping the plate in the microwave, she mentally counted down the seconds with the machine, her hair already untied and ruffled - destressing. "Come on- oh" she paused thinking of how fried chicken is also her baby's favourite. Speaking of her baby, he didn't come to greet her today.

With the warm plate in hand, she marched to her room, "Poofy~ baby where oh- you're sleeping?" placing the plate on the nightstand she crawled onto the bed, going to her pillow where Poofy was curled up.

"Is my baby tired? Did you have fun outside today?" she whispered, running her fingers through his soft, black fur, stopping to give him a good scratch behind his ear, which finally stirred Poofy awake, as he began to purr.

"Wakey wakey~" cooing she picked him up, sitting on her knees, cradling him. Cracking open an eye he stared at her, his green eye shimmering under the fairy lights hanging from the ceiling, "Did you miss- what's wrong with your other eye? Did you get into a fight?" frowning she pulled him away, holding him like a doll, hands pressed against his under his furry limbs, lower half dangling in the air. "What the hell Poofy! Why is your eye swollen???" her voice raised in pitch as his ears instinctively flattened against his head, tail swishing in disapproval.

"My poor baby!" giving him a death-inviting hug, she pressed him closer, "You must be in so much pain" she wailed, before standing up, "Let's go to the vet!" she placed him on the bed, looking at him and receiving a loud hiss in return before the cat paused, sniffing the air and catwalking towards the chicken, his tail swaying like a snake.

"But...fine." Sighing she reached over to scratch his head, "Fine, but no more fighting or I won't let you go out, okay?"

Almost an hour later she lay in bed, snuggled under the heavy blankets after she made herself instant ramen since her little injured baby ate all the chicken- not that she had any issues, he needed to rebuild his strength. Mindlessly scrolling through her phone, she hummed in response to the little meow, the creature padding up her blankets and squirming under them, crawling up to her, taking a good ten minutes to find a good spot, testing her patience. Finally, he placed his head on her chest, the rest of his soft purring form curled up on her belly, both under the blankets. She had no issues, he was like her personal heating pad, one that was soft as well.

"Goodnight Poofy."

Letting out what she assumed was a sigh, he snuggled closer to her, enjoying the softness and warmth, no longer plagued by the worries of Yunho or Seonghwa or anything else. At the moment he was more focused on her, spending time with her, even if it was like this.

.

Bonus:

"Yeo?" Seonghwa looked up from his book, earning a hum from the man who was staring at the brewing pot on the stove.

"Did you heal San?"

"What? No...no" he paused his stare session, glancing at Seonghwa who sat cross-legged on a barstool at the other end, the two could finally have peace since Jongho and Wooyoung were with a sleeping (healing Yunho), "He...left after you told him off."

"So he...just went like that?"

"I mean," reaching for a wooden spoon, the healer began to mix the concoction, "Extra attention from her makes him feel better...always been a little greedy for attention, hasn't he?"

Chuckling at the thought the older man nodded, "Greedy and perverse."

Taglist: @edenesth @mlysalt @yessa-vie

[intern-seraph]

forget-me-not (Chp 1)

also on ao3

Summary: For the first time in your seven years alive, you meet someone new in your small town. Little do either of you know that your brief friendship will bind you together long, long after you are forced to part ways.

A/N: hi :)

shoutout to matcha twstjam for being my cheerleader thru this insane, ongoing journey

For those who have been following me on my socials, i'm sorry you know that this fic has been in the works for over a year as of last month. I was originally intending on publishing it only when it was complete, but it very quickly grew way out of hand and I realized that it would definitely not be complete any time soon. Still, I wanted to put it out into the world! So I decided to publish the first chapter! When will the rest come out? Who knows? I certainly don't lol ALSO the presence of forget-me-nots in the actual fic is, at most, debatable lmao i just thought it was a cool and fitting title

Anyways, I have a deep, desperate need for more jewishness in fan content, so I'm filling that dearth myself.

————

You peer out from behind the gnarled oak tree at the edge of the town park. Its trunk is almost half as wide as you are tall, and its boughs are so thick and heavy that the branches droop under their own weight. Once, there was a rope swing that hung from one of the thicker branches. It was destroyed in a storm a few years ago, and nobody has bothered to replace it since. As one of the few children living here, you don’t mind its absence much. After all, you only ever come here to read. Usually you sit on the other side of this very tree, enjoying the shade and the rustling leaves. However, today someone’s taken your spot. The stranger seems to be only a few years older than you, dressed entirely in black. Their clothes shimmer as light filters through the leaves, and you know that the fabric must be fine and expensive. Slivers of their pale skin peek out from the ends of their sleeves and the hem of their robe. It’s a far cry from the homespun woolen garments and rough, sun-kissed skin of your neighbors. The most bizarre thing about them, however, are their spiraling black horns.

You hug your book to your chest, unsure of what to do. You’ve never seen this child before, after all, and you know all of the other kids in town (all four of them, that is). Even worse, you just know that whoever this is must be rich and therefore important. Why are they here, of all places?

“Um…” You tiptoe over the tree’s massive roots and draw closer to the stranger. “Are you from around here?”

The stranger startles, and you yelp as the world burns bright green for a moment. With a grunt, you fall back and land squarely on your butt. You lie there for a second, blinking away the spots in your vision before your throat begins to tighten and tears form at the corners of your eyes. Beside you, the stranger’s blurry face appears. Your sniffling turns into sobs, and you cover your face with both hands as you start crying.

“H-hey,” says the stranger, touching you lightly, “don’t cry! I didn’t mean to scare you!”

You wail even louder, rolling onto your side and curling up into a ball. The stranger pats your shoulder stiffly.

“I’m sorry,” they whisper, voice breaking. “Please don’t be scared.”

Finally, your crying peters out. You hiccup as you wipe your tears away on your sleeve. “I-I’m sorry for scaring you,” you say. The stranger remains silent. “That was magic, right? I scared you and you used your magic…”

“That’s okay. Are you hurt?” The stranger extends a hand into your field of view and hauls you up onto your feet with little effort. Now that you can see clearly, you lean closer to examine his face. He’s a boy around your age, you think. His cheeks are round and soft but you can see where his baby fat is starting to recede. His lips curl into a small pout, accentuated by the embarrassed flush coloring his cheeks. You can’t help but gawk at his electric green eyes. They’re so distinct that, without taking his horns into account, their color and slit pupils alone would tell you that he’s not human. When he notices you’re staring, he shifts back in discomfort. You jolt and giggle abashedly.

“No, I’m okay. Uh, who are you? Are you from around here?” You start to circle him, eyeing his odd features with interest. Are those scales crawling up the back of his neck? Why is the back of his robe moving so weirdly?

“No,” he mumbles. He holds something close to his chest. A book! “I’m… from really far away. My grandmother brought me with her to do some —” his nose scrunches up “— official business. But that’s boring so I left.”

“Won’t your grandma be worried?”

He puffs up like a particularly proud pigeon. “Nuh-uh. I’m big and strong so I can take care of myself!” As he speaks, the thing moving under his robe finally lifts enough to reveal itself: a thick, scaly black tail. It swishes from side to side as he practically preens. Cute. “What about you? You’re here all alone!”

“I know everyone here, duh.” You crouch down and pick up your book, then trot over to sit in your usual spot now that it’s empty. The stranger pouts at you, puffing out his cheeks. You turn your nose up at him. “This was my spot first.”

“Says who?”

“Says me. You can sit next to me, I guess.”

He blinks slowly at you, fingers tightening on his book, before he breaks out into a brilliant smile and plops down at your side. You take note of his sharp fangs. Part of you is tempted to touch them, but you restrain yourself well enough. “What’s your name?” asks the stranger.

You give it to him immediately, pausing to spell it out letter-by-letter just to show off. He nods, but when you ask him the same question, he balks.

“Is it okay if I don’t tell you? I don’t wanna… uh…” He waves his hands for emphasis. “I don’t want my grandmother to hear about me.”

“Well then what should I call you?”

“Hmm…” He furrows his brow and scrunches his eyes shut. Then, he gasps and beams at you. “Nickname! You can gimme a nickname!”

“A nickname, huh? How about…” Your voice trails off. You stare at him, pursing your lips. First, you glance up at his horns, then his tail (thumping against one of the oak tree’s roots), then back up at his horns. “Horn…ton? Yeah, Hornton!”

“That sounds weird.”

“Too bad! You’re Hornton now!”

Hornton rolls his eyes. He opens the book in his lap, clearly trying (and failing) to look smart and above-it-all, but you can see the pointed tips of his ears turning red. Giggling, you follow his lead and open your own book. Out of the corner of your eye, you watch his petulant expression melt into contentment while he reads. He’s cute like this. He’s cute in general — which is a thought that makes you want to gag — but you especially like his sweet little smile. Although you were loath to share your spot beneath the tree, he does make for good reading company. That is, he’s quiet and doesn’t take up too much of your personal space. Before you know it, the sun is setting.

You dog-ear your page and nudge Hornton. “Hey, it’s getting late. You should go back to your grandma.” Hornton jolts, but doesn’t react as violently as he did earlier. His tail thuds against the tree trunk.

“Oh, yeah. I gotta go!” He doesn’t move, only fidgeting with his robe. “Uh, thanks for sitting with me.”

“Why’re you thanking me? It’s no problem.” You pause and look away. Feeling your face grow hot, you say, “Will you be back again?”

“C-Can I?”

“Yeah! I mean, you’re a pretty decent reading buddy, so… yeah.”

“Yes! I’ll be back tomorrow!” He smiles so broadly that you think it must hurt.

“Cool! I’ll be here after noon, that’s when our classes are over.” You stand up and start patting your clothes to get rid of any dirt. Then, you turn and give Hornton a grin of your own. “‘S nice meeting you! See ya!”

He waves timidly, eyes wide and almost shimmering. You don’t give it too much thought, you just start sprinting back down the dirt road leading into town.

—

“Mister Crowley!”

You slam the front door open, practically vibrating with excitement. The schoolmaster yelps from further inside your house, then rushes over to greet you. He’s pouting, feathers positively ruffled. Gently, he grabs you by the shoulders and gives you a once-over.

“Now, where have you been? I’ve been worried sick about you!”

“I was at the park!” You grin and hold up your book.

Crowley sighs and shakes his head. He wags his finger at you as he starts walking you to the dining room. “Now, child, what have we said about staying out late?”

“Uh… tell you?”

“Indeed! I have been very generous with allowing you free reign of the town! Nevermind all your tchotchkes and trinkets! If you’ll be gallivanting around like this in the future, make sure to inform your very magnanimous guardian beforehand! I was about to send the entire neighborhood out to look for you!”

He probably wasn’t. You know him well enough to know that. But the concern is appreciated. “Sorry,” you say.

“As long as it doesn’t happen again,” Crowley mutters. He pulls out your seat at your little dining table and returns to his own chair. Just at a glance, you can tell that he’d tucked in to his dinner before you came home. As you pick up your fork, a soft little body butts up against your calf. You squeal with delight and duck under the table to scoop up Grim, your bratty street cat. He mrows petulantly, but lets you cuddle him. It had taken a week of relentless begging for Crowley to let you take Grim in, and you had to pinky promise to take good care of him. Then, your friends got the bright idea of trying to bind the cat to you as a familiar (despite your lack of magic), and while it hasn’t worked yet, it certainly helped warm Crowley up to the idea. Something about his sweet baby becoming a beast tamer. You’re not sure what that is, and you’re definitely not a baby, but if it works, it works.

The air is filled with the quiet clink of silverware. After a while, you speak up. “I met someone today.”

Crowley nearly chokes. He pounds on his chest, coughing into his fist. It takes a second for him to recover. “You what?”

“There was a boy at the park,” you explain, “we read together.”

“What did I tell you about talking to strangers?”

“Nothing, we already know everyone in town.”

His mouth opens and closes silently. Then, sighing, he shakes his head. “Well, yes, but you were supposed to say that we don’t talk to strangers.”

“He wasn’t scary or anything,” you lie, remembering how you startled each other.

“Very well! Be careful, though. If something were to happen to you, I don’t even know what I would say, er, do!”

You pointedly ignore that slip-up in favor of finishing your meal. Pushing your chair away from the table with a screech, you grab your dishes and your cat and say a quick “good night!” to your guardian.

—

First thing in the morning when you and Crowley arrive at the schoolhouse, you’re accosted by Ace and Deuce. It’s mostly Ace doing the accosting, really, but Deuce joins him in hanging on your back like the world’s heaviest and most annoying koalas. You shake them off and whip around to start wrestling with Ace. Deuce takes his loss better, choosing to sit on the grass and watch you and Ace play fight. Crowley clears his throat several times, probably to get your attention, but you’re preoccupied and he gives up quickly in favor of unlocking the door and stepping inside. There’s a holler nearby, a series of rapid footsteps, and another heavy body falls on you with a grunt.

“Epel!” you wheeze out, squirming on top of the also-squirming Ace. “Can’t breathe!”

“Oh!” Epel rolls off of you, and you roll off of Ace. “Sorry, looked like you were havin’ fun!”

“Was fun,” Ace mumbles, “until you two crushed me.”

“Oops.”

“You didn’t die, though,” you say before you get up. “Also you started it!”

“Did not!”

“Did too!”

“How do you guys do this every morning?” says Jack as he trots up to join you all on the lawn. He rolls his eyes in a remarkable impression of his mother when she’s scolding all five of you. “We’ve gotta go to class.”

“Ace started it!” you repeat.

“Whatever, c’mon.” Jack hauls both you and Ace up by your forearms while you both giggle. He shakes his head, marching you both into the schoolhouse with Epel and Deuce hot on your tails.

"Ah, there you are! I was wondering what was taking you all so long. Take your seats! We have Professor Trein visiting from the city today for our lesson."

Ace groans as he flops into his seat. You lean over and smack his shoulder. Deuce takes his own seat beside you, trying his best to look enthused.

Professor Trein works in the capitol as a history professor for the university. While he's nice enough (and his familiar Lucius is cute and fluffy), every time he comes to give a lesson at your schoolhouse is somehow more boring than the last. You sink down in your seat, ready to daydream until class lets out. When Professor Trein takes Crowley’s place in front of the blackboard, you feel a tap on your shoulder. Without looking at him, you take the slip of paper Ace passes.

‘my mom wants u to come to a party tonite’

Aside from a time scribbled beneath the words, there’s no other information. Great. History lessons with Professor Trein followed by a party where you’ll be stuck at the kids’ table. Again. At least you have a few hours to hang out with your new friend after school.

—

After class, Epel hands out little brown sacks full of apples to everyone. “Ma ‘n Pa said that they’re ‘not fit to sell’ or somethin’, and Meemaw said I should give ‘em to all of you.” You sling your sack over your shoulder, say your “see you later!”s to your friends, and march off to the park.

Beneath your tree, Hornton is waiting. You sprint towards him, grinning, and he looks up at you with wide eyes before returning the smile. He has his book in his lap, open to a different page than he left on.

“Hi,” you say shyly, hugging your sack of apples to your chest. “Were you waiting long?”

“Not really. I mean, maybe? Dunno, I didn’t really notice.”

You sit next to him and set the apples between your splayed legs. Fishing a plump red one out, you wipe it on your blouse and offer it to him. “Here!”

“Why do you have apples?” He eyes it curiously, hand hovering over it.

“My friend’s family has an orchard so he gave us all some after class.” You wave the apple around. “Take it! They’re good!”

Hornton takes the apple. He inspects it in the sunlight for a moment, then takes a bite. His eyes light up as he sinks his teeth into the apple’s hard skin, and he demolishes the fruit in less than a minute. Licking the juice off of his lips and fangs, he mumbles a messy thanks. You just smile and bop your temple against his. As you pull your novel out of your bookbag, you take another apple from the sack and shine it on your trousers. Out of the corner of your eye, you spy Hornton staring longingly at the sack.

“You can take another if you want,” you say.

He jumps, green eyes going comically wide. Cheeks flushed a bright ruby-red, he snatches another apple from the sack and rubs it clumsily on his very expensive robes.

“Do you like apples?”

“I do now,” he replies. He’s visibly struggling to keep his attention both on you and the book in his lap.

Curious, you lean over his shoulder and try to make sense of the foreign words in his book. Your brow scrunches up. “What’re you reading?”

His body goes tense the moment you touch him, but he doesn’t flinch away. When you glance up at his face, his expression is more severe and excited than you’ve seen yet. “It’s about arky… archee… uh, it’s about buildings and art! And this is the chapter about gargoyles!” He jabs an excited claw against an illustration of a beastly statue whose jaw hangs open. Water pours down its chin. The page (and the ones preceding and succeeding it) is clearly more worn than the rest of the book. “We have a bunch at the — I mean, at home — and Grandmother saw that I really liked them so she gave me this book!”

“What’s a gargoyle?”

He looks at you like you just confessed to murder. Shaking his head, he flips back a few pages. “They’re ‘ornamental stone carvings of animals or people that project from the side of a building and serve as the spout of a gutter.’ You’ve seen one before, right?”

“No.” You lean in closer to inspect another illustration. “They’re weird.” He stares at you, aghast. You roll your eyes. “Cool weird. We don’t have these out here.”

"Oh… that's a shame. Maybe one day you could come see the ones in my home."

You peer up at him. "Maybe. I gotta ask Mister Crowley."

"Who's that?"

"I live with him. He's weird."

"Cool weird?"

"Weird weird." You nudge him with your shoulder. "Do you live with your grandma?"

"Yeah."

"So it's you and her and your parents?"

Hornton goes completely quiet. He fingers the gilded edge of the page. Softly, he mumbles, "They aren't here anymore."

"Oh. Mine too. That's why I'm with Mister Crowley."

“... Do you know what happened to them?”

You shrug and pluck another apple out of the sack. As you wipe it on your trousers, you reply, “Nah. I dunno if Mister Crowley knows, either. He says he found me in a box left outside the school. There was a note, but it only said my name.”

“Oh.” Hornton looks away. “That’s sad.”

“I guess.” You shrug again. “If they didn’t want me, I don’t want them neither.”

He stares at you, wide-eyed. All he manages is another quiet, “Oh.”

Scowling, you take a bite out of your apple. “I don’t wanna talk about it anymore. Let’s just read.”

“Okay. I… I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.” He seems to wilt at your curt statement. You add, “Really, it’s fine. Please, I wanna get through another chapter before I have to go.”

“You’re going somewhere?”

“Yeah, some party at my friend’s house. It’s not even for him, so I dunno why I’m invited, but I think his mom invited everyone in town.” Another bite. You look over the words on the page, not really processing them. “So I gotta go in a couple hours.”

“That must be nice,” Hornton sighs. “Getting invited to parties all the time.”

“What? No, it’s boring. It’s just boring grownup stuff most of the time. It’s only fun when it’s a birthday party, and there’s only four other kids in town so those never happen.” You emphasize this with a long groan.

“Really?” He thinks on this for a moment. “I guess it’s like the parties Grandmother throws.”

“What kinda parties?”

“Uh, they’re… big and fancy, but there aren’t any kids at all. And I can’t go dance or talk to people. And… um… it’s a lot. I don’t like them that much.”

You watch him as his voice shrinks and his head droops. Gently, you bop your temple against his. He perks up a little. With a small smile, you say, “Maybe I can invite you to my birthday party this year. It’d be fun!”

For a moment, you’d swear his eyes water. He beams at you, reaching out to grasp your hand. “I’d like that.”

—

The party at Ace's house is full of tipsy adults while you and your friends drink your juice in a corner. Well, everyone except Ace. His mother parades him around to talk to the other adults who apparently know him. None of you envy him — he looks miserable.

It turns out that the party is for Ace's brother. He emerges from a side room with his girlfriend on his arm and introduces her as his fiancée. When Deuce gives you a questioning look, you lean over and tell him that that means they're going to get married. The adults cheer and sing and dance for hours longer; the celebration only pauses for bedtime (which is fine with you, the party was boring anyways).

The next morning, Crowley wobbles out of his room with most of his weight held up by his cane. He has a faint green tinge to his face, but that doesn't stop him from walking with you to the schoolhouse. This is all, of course, just to announce that class is canceled for the day. You gather with your friends and, after a brief argument, decide to play in the park together.

That's how you find yourself nearly tripping over a familiar figure sitting beneath the oak tree. Hornton looks up from his book, gasps, and reaches out to help steady you. You wheel your arms around haphazardly for a moment before you breathe out a sigh of relief. Then, you take in Hornton's face and gasp.

"Oh! You're here today!"

Before you can give a proper greeting, Ace hollers your name. Both you and Hornton turn to look at the four boys coming to join you. Ace stops, bare toes curling in the grass. He eyes Hornton warily, the sloppy heart painted around his left eye scrunching up. "Who're you?"

"Uh…"

"He's Hornton and he's my friend," you say for him.

"'Hornton?'" Epel repeats. He snorts. "That's a stupid name."

"It isn't my real name," mumbles Hornton.

"Your name is stupid, Epel," you snap. You cross your arms and stick out your tongue. He returns the gesture.

"You guys are children," says Jack. Epel appears comically devastated at the deadpan insult. You huff softly.

Deuce snorts. "You're the youngest!"

"By a month!"

"Your friends are loud," Hornton whispers. You nod. He picks at the page he's on, a tiny film of gold foil flaking onto his black claw. "Should I go?"

"No!" Your friends turn to stare at you. Hornton blinks slowly, pink tinting his cheeks. He smiles bashfully, shrinking a little into his robes. Ace, meanwhile, gets that certain spark in his eye that instantly makes you shoot him a glare in warning. He grins, showing off one of his missing baby teeth, but keeps his mouth otherwise shut.

"Wait, is this the kid you mentioned yesterday?" Deuce asks. He peers over at Hornton. "I thought you were kidding."

"Why would I kid about that? That'd be weird."

"'Cause you're weird," Epel mutters, and you lunge for him while he shrieks with laughter and ducks away.

"You've got pointy ears," says Jack, his own fluffy white ears swiveling towards Hornton before he turns to look at you, "kinda like your dad."

Ew. From your spot on the grass wrestling with Epel, you sit up. "Mister Crowley is not my dad."

"But you live with him?"

"So?"

"I live with my Meemaw," Epel adds. "She's not my mom."

"See?"

Hornton observes your conversation. He tilts his head and hums thoughtfully. "I live with my grandmother, that doesn't make her my mother."

"You talk funny."

"Epel!"

"What? It's true! He talks all fancy like Professor Trein!"

"Fancy?"

"Fancy!"

You roll your eyes and shove Epel. Ignoring his indignant squawk, you scurry over to sit beside Hornton. "Wanna hang out with us?"

He stares at you, mouth agape. Again, he smiles shyly. "You're really inviting me?"

"Duh," Ace drawls. "Why else would they ask?"

Hornton tucks his book into his robe. A tiny green light sparks at his fingertips for a moment as he does so. Then, he stands up. He holds his curled fists close to his chest, guarding. Ignoring his nerves, you grab his hands and use him as leverage to stand, too.

"Whaddya wanna play? Or talk about?"

"Uh… I don't know?"

"Do you guys think you'll ever get married?" Deuce blurts out. All 5 of you turn to stare at him. He goes pale before blushing furiously. "Wait, no, I mean —! Since Ace's brother's gonna get married I was thinking about it!"

You hum. "I'unno. Maybe? Mister Crowley cried last night when I asked him if I'd ever get married."

"Ew."

"Yeah."

"I'm gonna get married," Jack asserts. His tail swishes with excitement. "My mom and dad said that I'll know when I found 'the one.'"

"What does that mean?"

He shrugs. "Dunno. But they've been together for forever."

"True. Ace?"

He makes an exaggerated gagging sound. Complete with gestures. "No way! My brother and his fiancée are so gross with each other all the time! It's weird."

"It's gross 'cause he's your brother, dummy."

"And?"

"My mom's not married," Deuce says, plucking at the grass. "She says my dad was a… uh… a 'good-for-nothing scumbag'. She gets all sad when she talks about him, so I dunno about getting married."

"My Grandmother told me that I have to get married one day." Hornton shrugs. "But I don't really think about it."

"So you've never thought about your wedding?" you ask.

Ace shoves you. "You're the only one who has! You're always reading those kissing books."

"So?"

"Kissing books?" Hornton repeats.

"They're called romance and they're good!"

"Real life is grosser," says Ace. You shove him. "Hey!"

"What if we did our own wedding?" Jack interjects. Everyone pauses to look at him. "It can be like training. For when Ace's brother has his, I mean."

"Yeah but who would be who?" Deuce glances over at you, then Hornton. "Why don't you guys play the people getting married?"

"Huh?"

"Oh, yeah! Me 'n Ace 'n Jack 'n Deuce will put up the… the thing!"

"Thing?"

"A chuppah! We gotta make a chuppah!"

"We gotta get some big sticks!"

"I think I saw some branches over on the other side of the tree."

"Nice, Jack! Hey, you 'n Hornton should make some rings! We'll be right back!" Deuce scurries off with the other boys, leaving you and Hornton standing in a stunned silence.

“What?”

“I guess we’re playing wedding?” You shrug and start looking for wildflowers. Hornton watches you with wide eyes. You glance over at him. “C’mon! Help me make the rings!”

He crouches down next to you. Giving you a helpless look, he holds his hands to his chest in hesitation. “Um… how do we do that?”

“We’ll get some flowers and tie the stems! Like making flower crowns! Oh oh oh! We should make flower crowns, too!”

“Oh. I’ve never made a flower crown before. Can you show me?”

“Yeah!” You kneel next to him with a fistful of brightly-colored wildflowers. Hornton watches in rapt attention as you slowly weave their stems together, forming a ring just big enough to fit you as a bracelet. He claps when you present it. Then, without a word, you reach up and drop it onto one of his horns. Hornton sits in stunned silence for a moment before he blushes and mumbles a quiet thanks. He takes the leftover flowers and carefully weaves a crown for you, this one large enough to actually be a crown. His brow furrows as he finishes the crown and then places it on your head. Giggling, you touch the petals. “Thank you, honey!” “H-Honey?”

“Yeah! That’s what the ladies in my romance books call their gentlemen! If we’re getting married I should call you that!”

“Oh!” He smiles, shoulders hunched, then grabs one of the few remaining flowers. “Here, uh, honey. I’ll make your ring.” He winds the stem around your left ring finger, sticking his tongue out in deep concentration. Once he’s knotted the stem, he uses a claw to snip off the excess. Without your prompting, he holds out his own left hand for you to do the same.

“We match!” you whisper-shout, holding your hand next to his.

“Mhm!” His tail thump thump thumps behind him. “Wait, let me try something…” Hornton leans over and touches your flower crown and ring. A bright green light envelops the both of you, and you gasp and squeeze your eyes shut. Once it fades, you crack open one eye. The flowers seem unchanged.

“What’d you do?”

“I tried a spell my Grandmother taught me. It’s s’posed to keep plants from withering!” He twists the flower ring on his finger. “I mean, I don’t know if I did it right, but if I did then we’ll always have these!”

“I like that.” You take off your own ring and cradle it in your palm. “I like it.”

A holler from Epel breaks your focus, and you turn to look at the oak. Beneath it, the boys have stuck four massive branches in the ground. Now, they’re arguing over who will give up their jacket to use as a canopy. Beside you, Hornton sighs and takes off his cloak. With a flick of his wrist, it floats up to rest atop the branches and shade the ground beneath it. The boys shut up, seeing the matter settled.

“Okay, I think we gotta start with… uh…” Deuce frowns and scrunches up his nose. After a long moment of deliberation, he looks at the rest of you helplessly.

“You gotta give each other your rings!” Ace shouts.

You tilt your head. “But we already did that while you were getting the sticks.”

“Then give them back and do it again!”

“Why?”

“‘Cause you gotta!”

You roll your eyes but slide the flower ring off your finger. Hornton does the same, cradling his delicately in his palm. You drop yours in his hand and take his. Pinching the stem between your fingers, you glance over at Ace. “Aren’t you supposed to say something?”

“I’m not the one who’s… uh…” His nose scrunches up as he thinks for a moment. “Mom called them an o-fish-ant?”

“You’re not a fish,” Deuce supplies helpfully.

“It’s ‘officiant’, stupid,” you interject. “Did you guys even pick someone for that?”

“I’ll do it,” says Jack, “‘cause if I don’t, this’ll never be done. And then I’ll miss lunch and my mom will yell at me.”

“You’re taking this way too seriously.” Ace folds his arms behind his head. “We’re just playing!”

“A wedding’s a wedding.”

“Whatever, do your fish thing!” “It’s ‘officiant’!”

Jack clears his throat. You and Hornton turn to give him your rapt attention. His nose scrunches up and one fluffy ear flicks at the air a few times before he begins speaking. “Uh, we’re gonna… start with you giving each other your rings.” He pauses, pursing his lips. “... Go on. Do it.”

You raise your left hand dutifully, and Hornton slides the flower ring onto your finger. You do the same for him. Both he and Jack look so serious about this that it’s hard not to giggle. “Okay, now what?”

“Um…”

“Oh! I remember one’a my cousins got married and she walked ‘round her husband a bunch!”

“That sounds weird.”

“It was! But she did it!”

“How many times did she do it?”

“I dunno.”

“Wouldn’t you get dizzy?” Deuce mumbles.

“I mean, she seemed fine.”

You glance at Epel, shrug, then look back at Hornton. “Wanna do it?” He nods eagerly. Again, you try not to giggle. Hornton beams. “Okay, I’ll go first! Epel, how many times should I do it?”

“Uh… I dunno, until you start getting dizzy?”

“Bet I can do more than you,” you whisper to Hornton. He stares at you, wide-eyed, then grins so sharply you barely recognize him.

“Bet you’re wrong.”

You both laugh. Taking a deep breath, you start to walk around and around and around Hornton. He spins with you, wobbling. Meanwhile, your friends count every lap. One, two, three, four — you get to seven, and decide to tap out. Hornton puffs out his chest and, a little green in the face, starts circling you, instead. He also makes it to seven.

“Aw,” you mutter. “It’s a tie.”

“I totally could’ve beat you if I went first.” You stick your tongue out at Hornton. He giggles to himself. Then, he turns to Jack. “So, uh, what next?”

“Umm…” Jack’s face screws up in contemplation. His ears swivel back and forth for a moment, before he hesitantly replies, “Uh… you’re married now?”

“I don’t think that’s it,” you say.

“Aren’t we s’posed to… kiss?”

You stare at Hornton, who appears just as flustered as you now feel. “I think so.”

“Wait!” Ace reaches into his coat pocket and retrieves a small pinecone. He sets it on the ground between you and Hornton. “You’re supposed��ta crush it first!”

“Isn’t it supposed to be glass?” Jack asks, and Ace shoves him. “Hey!”

“Do you wanna go get glass to step on?”

“... No.”

“‘Kay, then pinecone it is!” He gestures enthusiastically at the pinecone. “Crush it! Go! Go! Go!”

You squeeze Hornton’s hand, giggling, and in unison you both lift a foot and crush the pinecone under your feet. It gives a loud, crackling crunch, and its little seed pockets burst and go flying. Your friends hoot and holler in celebration.

“‘Kay, now you need to kiss!” Ace declares.

Hornton turns beet red. “Kiss?”

“Like, for real?” you squeak.

“Uh, yeah, otherwise it’s not a wedding.”

You fidget with your ring, face hot. Hornton stares at you with wide, uncertain eyes. All the while, your friends (well, everyone but Jack) chant, “Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!”

You’re the one to take the initiative. Squeezing your eyes shut, you lean in and give Hornton a brief, chaste kiss. It lasts only for a second, and from his startled squeak, it’s almost as if he expected that nothing would ever happen. Behind you, Epel and Ace gag dramatically.

“Ewww, you actually did it!” Epel shakes you by the shoulders and cackles through his words. “Gross!”

“You wanted us to kiss!” you protest. Before you can say more, he lifts you on his shoulders. Your words become a shrill squeal, and you can see Ace and Deuce struggling to lift Hornton, as well. “EPEL! PUT ME DOWN!”

“You’re married!” he crows. “You kissed someone!”

For his part, Hornton buries his face in his hands while Ace and Deuce finally manage to lift him up together.

“Uh… mazel tov,” Jack mumbles.

“We’re not actually married!” Even as you say this, you can’t help your rosy cheeks, nor the way your heart races as you meet Hornton’s electric gaze. He smiles bashfully as he grips Ace and Deuce’s shoulders for balance.

Hours later, after you and Hornton and your friends have spent the rest of the day dancing together and chatting and playing tag, you and Hornton are the only ones left at the park. Everyone else went home as the sun began to set. You run your fingers over your ring’s petals, fascinated by their softness.

“Did you have fun?” you ask, voice small. “I know my friends can be a lot…”

“Yeah.” A faint flush brings life to Hornton’s pale face. He smiles, and the sun casts him in gold. “I haven’t had this much fun in forever. Thank you.” For a moment, he hesitates, then he reaches to grab your hand. “Um… will you be here tomorrow?”

You nod, perhaps a little too enthusiastically. “Mhm! Do you… wanna read together, maybe?”

It’s as if the sun is rising again when he beams. He gives your hand a squeeze. “I’d like that.”

Though you’re loath to leave, you force yourself to give Hornton a squeeze in return before you pull back. “I gotta go before Mister Crowley starts worrying. Bye, Hornton.”

“Goodbye.”

—

When you go home, you can’t stop yourself from spinning the flower ring on your finger. Crowley asks you what you’re giggling about over dinner, and all you do is grin and show him the ring and crown. He rolls his eyes, muttering about children and their whimsies (whatever that means), and shoos you off to bed once you’ve finished and cleaned up. Before you crawl under the covers, you take off the flowers and place both pieces delicately on your nightstand.

The next day, once school is over, you run to your oak tree. You’re wearing your ring again, unable to stop looking at it and its perfectly-maintained petals. With an excited shout of “HORNTON!” you swing around to the other side of the tree.

And it’s empty.

Your heart drops.

‘Maybe he’s doing something with his grandma?’

The next day, you approach your tree again, less enthused and more nervous. He’s not there.

‘I thought we were gonna play together again.’

Day after day, you check your tree. Day after day, you’re greeted with no sign of the boy you’d started to befriend. Spring turns into summer. Ace’s brother gets married, and all you can think about during the ceremony is a scaly black tail thump thump thumping against the ground. When the leaves of your oak tree begin to turn gold and orange and red, you stop checking.

The ring and the flower crown remain just as pristine as they were the day they were made. You leave the crown on your dresser and wear the ring to class every day.

Years pass. You grow up. Your friends start taking extra lessons after classes a few times a week to train their magic. A new teacher from the city starts to visit, a young man named Divus Crewel. He teaches chemistry and alchemy, and you take to it like a fish to water. The private lessons you get from him almost help to soothe the beast of envy that grows in your chest every time you leave your friends to their magic classes. By the time you turn 13, the ring no longer fits. You keep it and the crown in a little wooden box tucked lovingly beneath your bed. Sometimes, you take them out and marvel at how little they’ve changed. Your friends, however, change just as rapidly as you do. Their magical prowess grows at a startling rate. You content yourself with cheering from the sidelines and working on your alchemical skills. Ace and Deuce try to bind Grim to you as a familiar first when you’re 16 (It doesn’t work, but your hair briefly catches fire). They next try when you’re 18 (It almost works. Crowley says it may have to do with your utter lack of any magic. You try not to feel resentful.). At last, on your 19th birthday, they succeed. It’s quite possibly the best gift you’ve ever gotten; Grim’s life is prolonged for as long as he’s bound to you.

By 20, you and your friends (by some miracle) all get accepted to the university in the city, the same one that Professors Trein and Crewel teach at. You start working under Crewel as a student alchemist (He says you’re one of his most promising students, especially because you have no magic to use as a shortcut. For once, you don’t wilt at the mention of magic.). You see your first real gargoyle on one of the older campus buildings. You take a photo, your mind conjuring up a fanged grin and excited electric green eyes. ‘Does Hornton still like gargoyles?’ you wonder as you save the photo. Years later, at your graduation ceremony, you take another photo of the gargoyle. Now, it’s decorated with a few fabric-flower leis that your fellow graduates managed to get over its head. ‘Look, Hornton, the gargoyle is celebrating, too!’

You return to your hometown after receiving your degree. Crowley graciously allows you to stay at home (although you suspect he might just like having another hand to help around the house) while you continue your work as an alchemist. Crewel has hired you full-time as a lab assistant. Every day you take the train into the city for work. Sometimes, when you get all caught up in your head and the novelty of watching the world pass by through the window, you find yourself reaching for your left ring finger to twist a ring that isn’t there.

‘It’s been almost twenty years,’ you chastise yourself, ‘why are you still thinking about that boy?’

Despite your age, your experience in romance is limited to the cheesy romance novels and cheap bodice-rippers that populate your bookshelf, interspersed between your textbooks and notebooks. For some reason, you could never bring yourself to try dating. Every time the thought comes to you, you feel the phantom sensation of a soft stem wrapped around your finger. Your friends tease you about it. Ace calls you a dweeb. Epel says you’re acting foolish over a stupid game you played as children. Deuce laughs and does a pantomime of your fake wedding. Jack just shakes his head knowingly. He’s the most understanding about it — wolves mate for life, and he gets why you would take a play-wedding to heart. That doesn’t stop him from getting a jab or two in on occasion, though.Some days, you pull the box out from under your bed and look at the flowers. As always, they look just as perfect as the day they were picked. Now that you’re older, you’ve learned more about magic. The spell required to make and maintain such perfect preservation requires both skill and a wellspring of magic. The amount of magic alone would send most experienced mages into overblot. This only stokes your curiosity. How did Hornton, a child hardly older than you, cast such a spell with ease? Who was he? It’s a question that haunts you. It’s a question you know you’ll never get an answer to.

[awkward-tension-art]

Darkness on Umbara Chp.4 (Rex x Reader)

Chapter 3. Chapter 5.

Injured

cw: Rex x Reader, Reader is a medic, incorrect military procedure, graphic descriptions of injuries, blood, swearing, death and battle, Spoilers for the Umbara Arc, Pong Krell is an asshole, reader insert, Reader gets shot, POV of getting seriously hurt, reader is gender neutral, no use of (Y/N), if i miss a tag LMK

Minors DNI, even if theres no smut

You hated that you were right.

It was a total of 15 hours of marching before the battalion was commanded to stop. A quick survey of your surroundings told you that the platoons had made it to a main road. 

Ah yes, Anakin’s plan. Follow the road after probing the city's defenses. The scouts ahead would tell the rest of the 501st what to expect. From there, Rex and Krell would be able to plan ahead. Knowing what to expect would keep casualties to a minimum. 

“Are you questioning my order!?” 

Nevermind…

You sighed, looking up from where you tended to Jock’s broken leg. You were close enough to listen to Pong Krell tear into poor Rex again. He had a holo up, showing a map of the area, and the proposed plan, “this Battalion will take the main road straight to the capital. you will not stop and you will not turn back regardless of the resistance you meet,” He threw his hands up, shutting down the map, “we will attack them with all our troops. Not some sneak attack with a few men! That is my order and you will follow it explicitly. Do I make myself clear, CT-7567?”

You could tell from Rex’s stance that he wasn’t confident in the new General’s plan, in fact, you could tell he flat out hated it, “Yes, General.” but, Rex was a captain, and Krell a general.

“Now engage!” The Jedi commanded, earning a stiff salute from the captain.

You stood, after treating the ARF trooper’s leg. It was a tad more complicated treatment, as you needed to perform a surgery to put the bone back in place. However, after using about a liter of bacta, and some well placed sutures, Jock’s leg should heal fine after some rest. To be safe, you kept him in a medicine induced sleep for the next few hours. 

Kix dealt with Oz easily. The medic expertly put the kneecap back into place. The soldier gave an experimental kick and stood, “Good as new, Kix. Thank you.” Oz nodded, sounding rather happy to be back to walking. Or it was the painkillers. You watched him drape an arm around Ringo.

Definitely the painkillers.

You cast a glance over to your lover. His helmet was on and he was already informing the men. Even from where you were, you could see Fives and Jesse ready to argue. It was a stupid plan, and they all knew it. 

With a sigh, you got back on the speeder. Since Krell wasn’t going to march at the front, you’d need to stay near him. From what you’ve seen, he’ll probably be at a vantage point overlooking the road. If things went south, which they most likely would with such a careless plan, you’d be a safe distance away to tend to the seriously wounded away from the battlefield.

“Doctor.” The Jedi approached, almost as if your thoughts summoned him. His hands were behind his back, “You will be with the men on the main road.”

You furrowed your brow, “General, my training and rank dictate I always remain behind cover. Usually away from any battle if I can help it. I’m not supposed to be on the front lines.” 

Marching with the men was one thing. Marching with the men directly to a battle was another. Plus, you were supposed to maintain the medical supplies and keep an eye on Jock.

“Plans change, as a soldier you need to be prepared to adapt to the situation.” He shot back, tone indicating that he wasn’t going to argue.

“Sir, Jock and the medical supplies-.”

“Will remain with me. Such supplies are too important to be guarded by anyone but me.” Krell stated coldly. You were getting on his nerves and he wasn’t going to budge.

You looked dumbfounded, but saluted, “Yes, General.” Your words were defeated. Still, you had to suck it up and your steps lead you away to where Fives was seething alongside Jesse and Kix.

Rex wasn’t going to like this. You knew he took comfort in your position away from the front lines. Of course, he trusted you could handle yourself but you were a doctor first before a warrior.

“So…I’m marching with you.” You informed them as you all began to walk to the main road.

The ARC trooper practically exploded, “What!?”

“What about the supplies?” Kix sounded downright stressed. He looked back at Krell, who had gotten Appo to drive the speeder. This General wasn’t doing anything to help his nerves. Good men would die if anything happened to that vehicle and everything on it. 

“Fuck the supplies, what about you? You're our doctor. Kix won’t be able to handle all of us on his own.” Jesse chimed, “especially if this goes as badly as I think it will.”

You rubbed your temple, “Krell thought it better the supplies would be near him. Keep them off the front lines. I am to remain with the battalion.” Your foot met the flat, glasslike road. If it wasn’t so fucking dark on this planet, you assumed it would look pretty, “I’m pretty sure this is him punishing me for earlier.”

“What?” Your lover had overheard and approached, steps hurried to your side, “Why?”

“Enough, what's done is done.” You sighed, crossing your arms, “If things get bad I’ll do my best to slip away and get to safety.”

“Mesh’la, let me talk to him-.” Rex’s emotions got the better of him and he slipped out a term of endearment. He didn’t want to wait, turning to find the General again. You grabbed his arm, halting him. 

“So he can yell at you again?” Your voice was steady, “No, it’ll only piss him off. Besides, I’d risk getting shot if it means spending time away from him.”

Fives snickered, but Rex didn’t seem amused, “I don’t want you getting hurt.” He admitted quietly, “It’s dangerous.”

To be honest, you were nervous. Yes, you’ve seen combat. Yes, you could defend yourself. But you weren't trained for front line combat. You were trained for medical care, potentially even surgery, on the field. You were afraid of becoming a liability. Something for the others to worry about. 

And Rex…clearly feared you getting hurt or killed. 

You looked around before brushing your hand against his. In response, he grabbed it and squeezed before letting go. 

Fives, the ever great friend, stood behind you both, blocking anyone's view of your brief moment of affection.

“Kids, behave.” Kix joked, earning a small laugh from you.

“Oh I absolutely knew something was going on with the both of you,” Jesse snickered.

The clone captain cleared his throat, “I don’t know what you're talking about.” 

“Sure, sure.” Fives joined in on the teasing, “No sleepovers between you two. And if you go out, be home before curfew.”

Oh, his brothers did love to tease. 

Rex let out a deep sigh and shook his head. You knew under that helmet he was blushing. He was most likely flustered, so you did him the favor of shushing your friends, “That's enough you three.”

The slight jovial mood was ended quickly by another voice, “Sir,” Looking back you recognized Tup walking up  next to Hardcase. Hopefully, he hadn’t seen or heard anything between you and the captain. Though, judging by his next question, he most likely didn’t, “why aren't we sticking to the original plan, and probing the city defenses first?”

“We can do this. Let's take them.” The hyperactive trooper raised his weapon slightly. 

Jesse scoffed, “Yeah, leave it to Hardcase to dive in head first.”

Fives let his thoughts be known by speaking up again, “The General's new plan is reckless.”

“I agree.” you nodded, “It seems like he doesn’t care about strategy. Or the lives it’ll cost.”

Another trooper interrupted you all, “You ever think that maybe the General knows what he is doing?” Dogma snapped. 

“Watch the tone.” Kix retorted, silencing the rather obedient soldier. 

“Enough.” Rex stamped out the small quarrel.

Fives turned to him, completely ignoring Dogma’s words, “I know you think this is a bad idea.”

“I raised my objection to General Krell's plan, but he didn't agree.” There was a sigh in the captain's voice, “So, this is it.”

You wanted to hold your lover's hand again. Comfort him. Tell him he was doing as good a job as anyone in this situation. He sounded so…tired. More so than previous battles and planets.

Krell was getting to him.

The ARC trooper argued, “What if he's wrong? Then what?”

You were about to silence him, but Rex spoke again, “This isn't the time for a debate. Right now, we have to stay alert.” He shut down any future objections. 

It worked for a time. The men remained silent, paying close attention to their surroundings. It was only broken by Tup muttering, “Eh, it's too quiet out there.”

He was right. After everything you’ve seen on Umbara so far, you should have been ambushed by now. Your hand drifted to your pistol and you pulled it from your holster. 

You had the worst feeling.

It didn’t go away, so you kept your head down. Your eyes had adjusted to the low light of Umbara, and now you were able to make out certain details of the road. The tiles were hexagonal, and looked glass-like. You guessed the material was this planet's version of marble. Every step you took was slow and deliberate, however, you stopped. 

One of the tiles ahead of you had a very, very minor glow. It was easy to miss if you weren’t looking down. 

“Doc?” Fives stopped next to you, keeping a grip on his rifle.

A cold feeling washed through your blood. The quiet made sense. The fact that you hadn’t been attacked yet made sense, “I think-” your warning was cut off.

The ground shook as two explosions went off behind you. The sky was temporarily lit up by the green fires of the traps that were set off. Two troopers cried out, getting sent flying before hitting the ground. 

“Mines! Nobody move!” As if on cue, everyone hit the ground, keeping low. Rex had his hand on your back as everyone waited for something else to happen. 

Your captain got on one knee beside you and pointed behind him. You stared ahead and listened as two troopers checked on their downed fellows. 

“Oz is down.”

“So’s Ringo.”

“Damnit.” you hissed, looking back. Even from where you were you could tell they had died in pieces. Even if they survived, they wouldn’t have lasted long based on where half of Oz’s body lay and both of Ringo’s legs landed, “Didn’t even get a chance.” 

Such gruesome, violent sights didn’t cause nightmares anymore. Instead, they only fueled your anger at this war. And right now, you were enraged by this careless plan Krell had thrown at the battalion.

“Can you sweep ‘em?” Rex helped you up as he spoke to Fives.

The ARC trooper scanned the road carefully. Within the rays of the scanner, several of the hexagonal tiles reflected the light, “There are more over here,” He informed the soldiers, “Looks like the whole road’s been boobytrapped. Watch your step.”

The march would have continued, but it felt like four steps later when another explosion went off. The ground shook violently and Umbarans burst from the thick, dark foliage. It seemed like they just teleported around you, immediately shooting. Blaster shots came from all sides.

You dove, getting behind Rex. Your back was to his, and your pistol was in your hands. You matched his steps and he matched yours with skill. If he stepped back, you stepped forward. If you turned he turned. It was a small dance the two of you entered, watching each other's blindspots, and shooting any approaching adversaries. 

Above the chaos, you heard Tup cry out, “We’re completely exposed!”

“Hold your ground!” the clone captain ordered the men. He focused, shots firing rapidly all around him.

An explosive shot from one of their cannons landed too close. The shockwave knocked you down, landing next to Hardcase, who was surprisingly upbeat, “You want a piece of this!?” He called out, laughing.

You were too focused on not dying to join in on his chipper attitude. Using the trooper as cover, you managed to get up on your knees and continue shooting.

Another shot rang out, the cannon bolt hitting North directly off his AT-RT. The transport collapsed into pieces, and the ARF trooper remained still on the ground. 

Using the smoldering metal vehicle as cover, you rushed to his side. It didn’t really occur to you that his head was 3 meters away until you knelt by his body, staining the lightweight plastoid armor on your legs with his blood. 

North. Dead.

You mentally checked him off, needing to shut down and work. Someone screamed in agony behind you, so you hurried to them. A shiny was down, gripping his burning side. 

“Come with me.” you grabbed his shoulders and rushed back to the downed AT-RT. The hunk of metal and wires was your only cover in the middle of an ambush. Your training took over, blocking out all the noise and chaos. So you worked. 

Third degree burn. Bacta can fix it. Cover in bandages, but not too tight. It was a quick treatment, less than 2 minutes you had the shiny back up and fighting. 

Another cannon blast, “We’re blown!” someone cried through the loud bang. The ground shook when another boom followed. 

“The Umbarans are advancing!” 

“Make them eat heat!” 

You had to get away. Lay low until the fighting stopped. Maybe Krell would let you get back to the medical speeder…

Looking around quickly, it was clear that wasn’t an option. The Umbarans were closing in, completely surrounding the soldiers. It seemed as though for every enemy that was shot down, two more would take their place.

Dogma skidded down next to you, “They’re coming from all directions!” He shouted, wordlessly giving you his burnt wrist. 

Rude, but OK. This wasn’t the time to correct the soldier on his manners, so silently you treated his wound. Once you were done, he got up again and continued to shoot. You were going to follow him, but the force of a nearby cannon shot knocked you into the downed AT-RT, hitting the air out of your lungs. The hit was hard enough to disorient you for a second. 

However, you got your bearings quickly and spotted an Umbara advancing on your position. 

You attempted to raise your arm, but failed. Your hand wasn’t cooperating, you couldn’t shoot. A different soldier shot the Umbaran down, saving you. Looking down, you noticed blood. Dogma’s most likely, or North’s, but why would their blood stop your arm from working?

Come on, work! You tried aiming your pistol only to drop it. Your hand wasn’t closing properly. You were shaking. 

Why…?

Your brain finally comprehended what happened. The blood was yours. Your arm had been hit. A blaster bolt had knocked you into the AT-RT, not cannon fire. 

Calm down. Breath. Assess later. You were conscious. You were breathing. The shot to your upper arm most likely wasn’t that bad. You quickly wrapped the wound in a bandage, deciding to deal with it later. Or shock prevented you from thinking clearly.

“We don’t have any cover!” Fives cried out, throwing an Umbaran down and slamming his fist through their glass helmet.

Rex, thankfully, was still alive. His aim was impeccable despite the stress. Everywhere he looked, he shot and everywhere he shot, he hit the target. His tone was stressed but steady as he spoke, “We need to pull back! Get them to follow us. If we draw them out, we can see them!” 

“If we can see them, we can hit ‘em!” Jesse stepped backwards, continuously firing at the enemies. He paused to look down at where you were kneeling. He went noticeably rigid, “Doc-!”

“All squads, pull back now!” The captain’s command cut off the trooper. 

Without much thought, you grabbed your gun with your functioning hand and ran. You followed Jesse, as he was the closest to you. Your pace matched his as everyone retreated, following the main road back out of the forest where you entered.

A cannon rang out, hitting one of the trees beside you and Jesse. The glowing plant crackled and fell, slamming to  the ground with a boom. The smoking trunk offered some much needed cover. Fives leapt over it, turning and landing on his feet to continue to shoot, “Get ready, here they come!” 

A soldier close to you, running with the men, was launched back. He cried out in pain, hand going to his neck as he hit the ground.

Neck shot. Graze most likely. Your training kicked in again. You were a doctor. You had a job to do.

You pushed yourself out of the cover and dove to the injured trooper's side. Above you another ARF trooper was firing from his transport, keeping Umbaran blaster shots away from you as you dragged the poor man behind a collapsed AT-RT. 

“I-it’s nothin’ doc,” The trooper kept his hand on the side of his smoldering neck. 

“That's for me to decide.” you responded, carefully taking off his helmet,“What's your name, soldier?” He had a scar over his lip, and a blue left eye. A blaster shot nicked the metal cover and the both of you flinched down.

“Noct.” He responded, moving his head slightly to give you easier access to the wound. 

“I got you Noct.” Your words were calm and collected despite the raging battle around you. Your one hand worked as quickly as you could, getting bacta and bandages on the trooper. A cannon shot again, shaking the ground, but you adapted, being as precise and careful as possible. 

It was hard, since your arm still wasn't listening to you, but you got the job done, earning a “Thank you, doc!” from him.

Once Noct had returned to fighting, you took the chance to run further back. You stopped behind Hardcase, who, respectfully, was fucking insane by standing in the middle of the road and mowing down Umbaras with his minigun, “HAHA! Where are you going!? Get back here!” 

Fuck it. You remained behind him instead of finding cover, aiming your pistol and firing at the now retreating enemies. Through your haze of tunnel vision and adrenaline, you realized that more forces had joined you. Krell must’ve sent in reinforcements.

Fives stood from his location behind the downed tree, “They’re pulling back!” he cheered. As he spoke, the shots died down. Soon, it was only your side that fired their weapons until the enemies were gone, leaving only silence. 

You raised your com to your lips, “Kix, triage,” Immediately, you and the medic got to work. Neither of you had time to rest as you weaved through the soldiers, checking those on the ground. Kix went to the other side of the field, tending to those there. You found a survivor, knocked unconscious with a bleeding shoulder, without pausing, you went through one of your packs and began to bandage him up. 

Star on his chest. This was Pointer. You identified him. Single shot. All the way through.

Despite your focus, the yelling of Krell hit your ears, “CT-7567!” He stomped towards Rex, “Do you have a malfunction in your design!” the besalisk jerked forward, getting an inch away from the captain's face, “you've pulled your forces back from taking the capital city, the enemy now has control of this route!” He shoved one large finger into Rex’s chest, causing the clone to step back, “This entire operation has been compromised because of your failure!”

You wanted to yell at the Jedi. tell him to shut up, but your energy was sapped, your injured arm was starting to hurt and good soldiers were dying because of his fucking plan!

Fives spoke up where you couldn’t, “General Krell in case you haven't noticed Captain Rex just saved this platoon surely you won't fail to recognize that.” He spat, venom and hate dripping from every syllable. 

The Jedi turned slowly, facing the ARC trooper, “ARC-555,” His words became cold and furious, and he raised one large lightsaber, “Stand down.” The glowing weapon rested extremely close to Fives’ neck. So close, in fact, you looked down, expecting Krell to flat out kill him. 

Thankfully, he backed down, “Sir, yes, sir.” The ARC trooper growled, walking away.

Rex finally fought back in his own way, “Sir if I may address your accusation I followed your orders even in the face of a plan that was, in my opinion, severely flawed,” He stepped forward, keeping his eyes on the General, “A plan that cost us men, not clones, men!” Your lover ripped off his helmet to yell, finally snapping under the pressure of an incompetent leader. Even from a distance you could see the fire in his eyes. 

Times like this, you remembered why you loved him. His passion. His determination. 

Still, the captain continued, “As sure as it is my duty to remain loyal to your command, I also have another duty, to protect those men.” He was seething, but kept his anger under control. It was impressive as, if you were in his position, you might’ve just shot Krell and blamed the Umbarans.

His words seemed to quiet the Jedi. So you stopped listening, praying maybe he finally understood. Krell could say whatever he wanted, right now you had to focus on the injured soldiers. And there were a lot of them.

Your arm started to hurt again, so you took the chance to inject some painkillers.However, it wouldn't matter, as you didn’t have time to do anything to treat yourself. The Umbarans regrouped and attacked again. 

You and Kix would have to wait before you could do your jobs and save the men.

[claymoresword]

The Queen And Her Knight | Chp: 1

Alicent Hightower x Knight Fem!Reader

Summary: Alicent Hightower against her better judgement, falls in love with her sworn protector. Can she bear to fight her feelings or will she finally just give in?

Pairing: Alicent Hightower x Reader

Wordcount: 980

Warnings: fluff, shit ton of angst, reader is irrecoverably in love with alicent

Note: i have no idea what this is or what its gonna turn out to be i literally wrote it bc of a daydream i had lmao

reader is a greyjoy to me i know ironborns typically don't become knights i just like that house lol and felt like it would give the story more structure/conflict but u can choose to ignore or change it if u disagree idk dude go crazy

also i know they didnt side with the greens during the dance but if u imagine reader went against her family for alicent it gets fun

(historical accuracy is not my strong suit forgive me i am just a gay person in love with alicent hightower)

anyway that's it hope u enjoy and let me know what u think!

The queen stood at the opposite end of the room her back faced you.

Silence with Alicent was always comfortable but right now it was agonizing, deafeaning. You needed it to end.

"Your Grace-" You croak.

A beat.

Still, the auburn haired woman said nothing.

"Alicent."

You made one last effort, pleading for her to acknowledge your presence in some way.

The queen finally turns to face you. She meets your gaze, tears evident in her eyes. Your own quickly welling up reflexively. It will always hurt you to see your love in pain.

You stare at her, studying her features and simply memorising every part of her face. The way her eyebrow creased. The dimple in her right cheek, always faintly visible even when she isn't smiling.

She swallows hard, you knew Alicent does this whenever she's upset. It's almost as if the wind gets knocked out of her anytime she lets her resolve slip.

A habit of the queen you had noticed only moments after meeting for the first time.

She finally steps towards you. Diffident expression.

A tear flows down your cheek, you don't intend to hide it from her.

Alicent stops just inches away from you. Dangerously close, you can feel her breath against your lips.

Standing firm, you resist the urge to crumble to the ground.

The queen reaches forward and places her hand against your cheek. You shut your eyes, shamelessly leaning into her touch immediately.

Pathetic. Desperate.

You don't care anymore.

Quickly, she eliminates any remaining distance between the two of you. Her lips meeting yours, she kisses you softly, cautiously. You kiss her back fervently.

A whimper threatens to leave your lips as she pulls away. Her own eyes now closed. She leans her forehead against yours and breathes you in deeply. Her touch remains on your cheek and you fear to speak , to move, to breathe.

You cannot bare for this moment to end.

"My protector." Alicent whispers, barely audible.

She wanted only you to hear.

You finally remember to breathe, chest heaving as you finally let air into your lungs.

The queen also takes in breath, almost mirroring you. Though hers more ragged, sharp.

Sudden.

Alicent steps back and removes her hand from your face.

Her hands return to their usual position, clasped over her abdomen.

She quickly banishes any intimacy between you and all contact.

Her resolve is restored, you morn.

"You will leave for the Iron Islands at first light." Alicent firmly states.

You don't hear her at first, not until she looks up at you waiting for a reaction, a response.

"What?" You finally conjured the capacity to reply and you sounded angry.

The queen remains staring at you. With her words she is asking you to leave but her eyes are telling you something entirely different.

"You're sending me away?" Your voice trembles.

Her grace had refused to acknowledge you the past few days and you thought you had done something to upset her.

You realise now its because she feels the same.

You didn't conjure any of it up in your mind. This was real and she feels the same.

She loves you too.

This was all too much, too painful.

"I can't have you here. My duty is to the realm. That is my purpose. It has proven near impossible for me to carry out that duty with you around."

Tears threaten to leave your eyes again but this time, you force them back in.

"My feelings for you, they consume me. I am plagued by them every waking hour. They ravage my thoughts and intentions. I have not known clarity since meeting you, y/n."

A searing pain in your chest. You visibly wince at the feeling but say nothing in response.

The queen is scared. She is afraid of her feelings for you. There may be nothing you can say in this moment to change that.

You decide to try anyway.

"Alicent." You repeat her name this time firmly.

You move towards her but still yourself quickly when you noticed she had taken a step back. Clearly asking for you to remain at a distance.

You take in another deep breath before speaking.

"Your Grace, it need not be this way. I beg you to not let fear win. These feelings you speak of, I am too burdened by them."

"We need not run from it, Alicent. Would it not work to our benefit to instead embrace it?"

Alicent's eyebrows furrow as she was truly considering your words and your gaze softens.

"I want to love you freely, if you would let me. I only wish for you to love me the same."

You decided to leap. It is up to the queen now to catch you.

Alicent winces, breaking eye contact she unclaps her hands, begins to fiddle with her cuticles before stopping herself and resuming her previous stance.

She meets your gaze once again, indignant expression. The queen almost looks dissapointed.

You have said too much.

She is not going to catch you.

"Freedom is not something I am entitled to." Alicent states, a coldness to her voice you were unfamiliar with.

The queen was good at depriving others of her true self.

You have never been on the receiving end before but now that you are, you utterly despise it.

"You will leave at first light." She repeats.

You feel as if someone had taken a hot dagger and directly pierced it through your heart.

You take a moment to compose yourself, to take in Alicent's beauty one last time.

"If that is what you believe is best, Your Grace."

You bow your head perhaps for the last time at the queen.

Turning around, you walk out of her chambers without uttering another word.

[steviewashere]

Want to Go Home With You (Bring Me a Home) Chp. 3

Rating: Teen and Up (May Change With Future Chapters) CW: None, at least for now Tags: Alternate Universe - Mermaids, Alternate Universe - No Upside Down, Hurt/Comfort, Dialogue Heavy, Took Canon Out Back And Pulled an Old Yeller, Mer!Steve Harrington, Fisherman!Eddie Munson, Packless Steve Harrington (kind of?), Soft Steve Harrington, Confused Steve Harrington, Lonely Steve Harrington, Steve Harrington is a Sweetheart, Eddie Munson is a Sweetheart, Steve Harrington Wants to be Loved, Mermaids with Animal Like Instincts, Future Propositioning, Lowkey Might Involve Some Omegaverse Aspects in the Future (Not Sorry), Steve Harrington Has Powers (Like Starfire in Teen Titans)

Read the first part over here

Read the fourth part over here

Can also be read on AO3

🧜‍♂️—————🧜‍♂️ He made an effort to see Steve every morning. Which made his uncle suspicious, an understandable circumstance, but Eddie tended to have a good excuse. Even if it was a half-yelled thing out the door. He pulled that this morning on his way to the dock. When he arrived, he found the boat to be rocking as if it was sitting on uneasy waters.

It wasn’t, which in turn made Eddie’s hackles rise. But he feigned ignorance. Steve was waiting for him out there, probably confused as to why he’s running late, wondering where his new friend has gone. Eddie can’t even begin to believe that he’s friends with a mermaid, let alone a merman, let alone a merman that he sorta—kinda—maybe he’s falling ass over heels with. Maybe.

With his back turned to the ocean waves, Eddie can settle all his supplies before undoing the rope tying him to the dock. And when he’s off, he takes grand notice to the fact that the boat feels a bit…heavier. He brushes it off, for now. His uncle probably made a midday trip or maybe there’s some leftover equipment that shouldn’t be there. The covered seating area may have an extra net, but Eddie won’t investigate. All is usual. Or as usual as it should be.

However, when he finally slows in the water, everything seems just a bit more off. The net doesn’t get climbed into. There’s no flickering light of Steve’s beautiful tail. In fact, Eddie’s completely alone. Something in him sours, just a tad.

He gets about his morning fishing. Getting the tackle. Baiting the hook. Tossing it over the side. And then he just sits and waits. His least favorite part about fishing. All the ways in which he has to wait. Maybe he liked having Steve there because he’s a buffer. An odd ball thing that has broken English and moles all over his naked skin, who keeps bringing Eddie copious amounts of pearls even when there’s nothing to give back, a merman who just wants a home with love. To which Eddie wishes he could supply.

After a few minutes more of silence and waiting and no fish, Eddie gets ready to call it a day. Cut his losses. Mourn his tentative friendship. Maybe even wonder if he’d been hallucinating Steve’s existence this entire time. But just as he stands to reel in the line, something big with short claws grips to his ankle viciously.

He yelps, stumbling. Tripping over the little bench he’d been sat on. Landing with a resound thunk against the boat’s floor.

“Sorry,” a familiar voice sheepishly murmurs. “I have surprise.”

Steve. Eddie blinks. His butt burns now. And this can’t be right. But—

“Steve?” He calls out hesitantly.

The boat begins to rock back and forth. Enough to fear toppling over. Eddie grips to something nearby, the leg of his bench, and white knuckles through another churn of surprise. He hears Steve before he really sees him. Thumping of—what must be—his magnificent tail. The wet slap of his palms against the boat. His exerted panting as he wriggles himself closer and closer. Until, without warning, his entire body eclipses over Eddie. Big, gorgeous, wet eyes blinking down at him—crinkled because Steve’s smiling something dopey. He’s chirping in the back of his throat, all the more excited.

Before he can get the words out to tell Steve to go away, to get back in the water, to remind him again that he can’t come home with him—Steve’s mouth opens. “I have surprise,” he repeats. “You will like it. Something for Eddie!” And without much else of a warning, Steve unhinges his jaw just a little wider. His throat works as if he’s about to cough up a hairball, and for a very dire and very serious moment Eddie believes that to be the case. But instead, what comes flying from Steve’s mouth, is an oblong off-white pearl. Just like the one from days prior. Hitting him square in the eye.

He can’t acknowledge the minor ache through his eyeball. Not with whatever science supernatural bullshit just happened. “What the—“ Eddie whispers, the beginning of a startled question.

“I kissed oyster,” Steve explains as if that makes everything suddenly make a drop of sense. “And now I make pearls,” he giddily and loudly whispers.

“Steve, you—I can’t—What?”

“What if I kiss Eddie?” Steve asks aloud. It’s not a question posed for Eddie. Because the next thing he knows, Steve’s big and—kind of disgustingly—moist hands are cupping his face. Angling it in such a way that his neck is craned and his head is several inches off the floor. Then, he’s swooping down for a very harsh, messy, and uncoordinated kiss. Eddie yelps in the back of his throat—shocked beyond repair—and swallows down a sudden intrusion. Steve’s tongue wrestling into the back of his mouth.

He slaps at Steve’s side, trying to get him off. Shoving him a little, even. Get him to slow down because, yes Eddie is liking this, but also they should definitely be giving this more food for thought. But generally gives up when he realizes that whatever Steve is doing…isn’t going to stop.

Not until he’s satisfied, dropping Eddie’s head unceremoniously. And then pushing himself up by just his arms, tail still between Eddie’s legs. “Now wait,” Steve states, that same giddiness returning.

“Bah—“ Eddie chokes out. “But…What? You just kissed me and you’re not even gonna talk about it?!” He asks incredulously. “And the…the—You make pearls!”

Steve merely shrugs. “Kiss was okay,” he critiques in that odd broken way he does. “Teeth are funny. Not like mine. Weird, Eddie.”

Eddie can only roll his eyes.

Then, Steve’s own eyes widen. His mouth pinching down in a confused, Muppet way. Nostrils flaring. Eyebrows flying to his hairline. And then he…Steve kicks Eddie’s shin.

But instead of his tail—

There’s a whole fucking foot against Eddie’s leg.

He screams because Steve begins screaming, chirping something distressed. And he doesn’t know what the fuck to do. He’s just turned an actual, real life merman into a human.

Intelligently, Eddie states, “This is nothing like The Little Mermaid.” Steve scrambles backwards from him, far enough to hit the other side of the boat. Legs bent in front of him, knees up his chest, eyes watching his brand new toes spread. He hisses at each one of his own movements. And then looks up startled to Eddie.

“I am human?!” He yells. “My…My tail!” His hands reach out to his calves. Hefting up his right leg to his line of sight, following the way his new muscles flex. The toned and almost chiseled muscle of his shin and the apparent veins in his foot, poking and prodding at the soft sole. He trills when he accidentally tickles himself. Confusion melting into curiosity melting into soft awe.

However, Eddie realizes there’s one very important detail to Steve’s tail being gone. He’s nude. Bare ass naked on the deck of Wayne’s beloved boat. Penis out to the salty wind. “Oh my god,” Eddie mutters in a daze. He hefts himself up and reaches out for his bag of supplies. He’s got to have pants or something somewhere—anything that he can loan. Though, Steve’s legs are thicker than his, and his wait is a little pudgier, too. Eddie’s not even sure if his clothes will fit, but it’s worth a shot. Miraculously, he reveals a pair of basketball shorts. Where they came from, Eddie’s not sure, but thank god they’re here. “Steve,” he manages to call.

Steve drops his leg back down. Manspreading. All of his everything on display.

Fuck the fact that he can produce pearls like hairballs. And that he still has visible gills on his ribs. And that his teeth are still sharp. His fucking dick and balls are touching the boat.

Eddie can hardly believe his life. He steps forward tentatively and thrusts the shorts into Steve’s face. “Put these on,” he lightly demands. “I cannot believe you right now.”

The shorts are taken hesitantly. Though, Steve makes no move to put them on. “Eddie?” He searches softly. “How to put on?”

“Oh, Jesus,” Eddie mutters. He tries to keep his eyes on Steve’s face and holds his hands out for him to take. When Steve takes them, Eddie pulls him up to stand fully. He wobbles, legs new and like a newborn deer, and stumbles chest to Eddie’s. “Okay,” he sighs. “I’m gonna help you put these on. And we are never going to talk about this again.”

“Why? I do wrong?”

“No. Just—Put your hands on my shoulders and let me…Just let me put these on. Your business is out for the whole world to see.” Steve does what he’s told. His still sharp and short curled nails digging into Eddie’s flannel. Knobby knees knocking into his tall, rubber boots. He crouches down slightly with Steve attached, bunches the right leg of the shorts and holds it to Steve’s foot. “Okay, I want you to raise this leg a little—Just a little.” He does so, wobbling again when he doesn’t fully lean his weight into Eddie. But Eddie has him.

He’s got him because this must be the most confusing experience somebody can have. And Eddie thought he was confused. Steve looks so completely unsure, it’s like his brain is smoking inside his head.

The shorts are pulled all the way up to his waist. Tied deftly and quickly. And then Eddie maneuvers them to sit down on the bench he previously occupied.

“Okay,” he states low. “I need you to explain a couple things. First of all, how’d you get on my boat? Secondly, and maybe my understanding is just wrong, but you kiss something and gain the ability of that…thing?”

Steve looks down at his new legs. Kicks them in front of himself. Giggling lightly as his feet swing back and forth. He looks back up, repeating the motion. “I snuck,” he states.

“I’m aware.”

“No people. Just me. No Eddie. I surprise,” he rushes. “So I climb careful. Hide under net. And wait.”

Eddie nods once. “Alright,” he sighs. Rubs a hand between his eyebrows. “Alright, Steve. So…The kiss thing?”

“Oh!” He quietly exclaims. “Mer do that,” he explains, “but I had no reason. Until Eddie.” Steve leans into Eddie’s space, knocking their shoulders together. Trilling and smiling. His eyes soft and his teeth sharp, but all of him rather lovely. He even smells good. Different. Sweeter. “I make pearls for you. I did not know I could be human, Eddie.”

“You didn’t…”

Steve shakes his head. “Mm-mm. First time. Can have warm now? Go home? With you?” His eyes change, then. Imploring. Desperate. Begging. “I no have home. No warm. With you, please. Go with pretty Eddie?”

“Wait,” he states firmly. “I still don’t understand. How do mer do the thing you just did? Why can you even do that? What’s the point? Is it a forever thing? Do I need to worry about you dying on me because you don’t have water? What if I can’t—“

A hand sets itself gently on Eddie’s forearm. “Calm,” Steve murmurs. His thumb swipes in soothing stripes. Up and down and up and down—a beautiful little thing. Eddie takes a deep breath, blowing it out measured and slow. Steve’s pleased by it, nuzzling his cheek into Eddie’s shoulder. Don’t fall in love, don’t fall in love, don’t…Eddie repeats to himself.

“Calm,” Steve repeats. “I learn from kissing,” he softly explains. “Like…nah-ledge of love. Slow learning. Over time. I will be better with my words. And moving like you.” He sighs something a little sad. “Mer do it to survive,” he whispers.

“Survive?” Eddie asks at the same volume.

Steve nods solemnly. “If we are not special, then…I do not want to say.”

Eddie presses his fingers into the back of Steve’s hand on his forearm. Massaging his veins ever so softly. Comforting. “It’s okay,” he murmurs, “you can tell me, Steve. Our secret, remember?”

He takes a deep breath. Exhales, “We get killed.” His hand tightens on Eddie’s arm. Closes his eyes in a careful moment of grief. Looks forlorn over his shoulder to the ocean. “I no have love. Because they are dead. Humans…humans kill us.”

“I—“ Eddie rasps. “Steve, I’m sorry.”

Meekly shrugs. “I waited to meet you,” he admits quietly. “I watched for long time. From the water. But you are nice. Sweet. Pretty. I can trust you. I can, right?”

“Of course,” Eddie immediately says. “Steve, I would never hurt you. I—“

And Wayne’s going to kill him, probably. Shave his head or something. But he can’t take the sad little glaze to Steve’s eyes. Can’t take his shaking torso and all his distressed quiet sounds. The way he grips harder to Eddie, leans in just a little closer, tries to nuzzle.

“—I’m gonna take you back with me. Get you some warm clothes. Help you take your first bath. And we’ll have some hot, delicious lunch. My uncle can be mad later.”

“Really?” Steve asks, excited, wriggling a bit on his seat. “I go with?”

Eddie hums his agreement. “Warm can be yours, Stevie. Let’s get you inside and warm.”

Loved, he doesn’t say.

🧜‍♂️—————🧜‍♂️ Taglist: @scoops-aboy86 @spectrum-spectre

@loveryanax @emmabubbles @swimmingbirdrunningrock @xxfiction-is-my-realityxx @azryl90 @starryeyedpoet17

[tare-anime]

Finally I finished reading Eyes Only the english translations.

The highlight of this book for me? Endo and Lin's commentary 🤣🤣🤣👏👏

It is very interesting to see that I get the impression that out of all Forgers, Endo loves Yor the most (but it's highly probable that I'm biassed. Duh!!)

I mean, we know that Endo loves strong female - fighting heroines. Especially if we look at Endo's previous works. Like the two serialization: Tista and Gekka Bijjin. Both has strong female heroines as the leader. And then, his one shots also featured female leads. Perhaps only his latest one shots: Ishi ni Usubeni (the one with Medusa kid which later become Anya's prototype) and I spy (the prototype of spy x family) that featured male character as leads.

No wonder Endo can creates so many amazing female characters in spy x family. (Not that the sxf male characters are bad. Far from it!)

But it warm my heart when Endo shows that Yor was the longest he took in creating the character design. (And I also notice that Endo loves to draw Yor in so many cute outfits and accessories 🥰 and also seems to get hurt the most for my whumpy needing souls delightment #ahem)

At the same time, the badass yet cute and naive Yor is the one character that he got trouble the most to develop!

I still remember back then, when we were still at chapter 38-39 ish, Endo did have more breaks than usual, chapters that is focuses on side characters like Damian, Bond, Yuri, Sylvia (short mission), Frankie, all that make the small fandom fans 'restless' for the "too many fillers chapters"

And then there was a tweet of him telling the fans to be patient, because he was planning something.

And then, BAM!! Chp. 43 dropped. A Franky and Yor chapter, that end with Yor getting a call from Shopkeeper. Yes, the chapter we just got the anime episode (ep. 29!)

The small fandom at that time was going ferall over "Garden" name drop. And keep chanting "Yor arc Yor arc Yor arc Yor arc!!"

And then BAM!!! We got one of the best arc ever: Cruise Arc.

With that one gorgeous Yor ilustration that make the small fandom around the world decided 4-6th April to become Yor's day. On the spot.

It's one amazing experiences, ngl.

So if one asked me whether Yor has been pushed to the back, I dare say no.

It's just writing an interesting assassins plot is difficult.

Especially in a story where everything is grey.

WISE is described as the "good" guy who tries in all their might to stop the war. (But are they really? Why are they snooping around inside other country? And why are they badmouthing Ostania?)

SSS is described as the "bad" guy cause they oppressed their own people and manipulate young energetic talent as Yuri to serve them. (But what if it is needed to keep 'peace' from the rebels which of course can be found everywhere in a freshly stopped war country?)

A good story can work with two opposing sides going head to head.

But then there's Garden. Where are their position? A story about three way "war" can be difficult to tell, overly complicated, and too much. On one side, Garden can't be the "good" side because they murder people. But they can't be "bad" either if the people they murder are the bad guys. However who to tell which one is good which one is not?

And most important, how to make Yor as a protagonist that is not a villain.

That's hard.

So, judging from the past experiences (when Endo took more breaks than usual), plus this amazing detail analysis by @itsmaferart, I dare say Endo is cooking another Yor or Garden centric arc, after the Eden and SSS vs WISE.

I have high hope for this. 😁😁😁😁

So we shall wait and see.....

Tldr; I think Endo loves Yor. He is preparing for something awesome for her. and I'm not complaining. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[writingforstraykids]

Addicted to you - Chp. 7

Pairing: Minchan (mention of changlix | ot8)

Word Count: 7348

Summary: Another two months later, things seem to stabilize again, and Minho is happier than ever with Chan despite his injury slowing him down. Everything seems to be perfect until their friends confront Chan about a possible relationship, and Chan's fear of being out in the open gets the better of him. He notices too late that Minho's right there, hearing everything...

Warnings/Tags: fluff, cuddles, smut , dom!chan, sub!minho, angst, verbal fight (also minho slaps chan)

A/N: Uhm...I'm sorry, it gets sad/heavy in the end @mal-lunar-28😅😂 ~ Moon🌙

Chp. 6 | Chp. 8

Just about the time I get it right Everything's in line, I get anxious If it feels too good to be true Then it probably is, I love it but I hate it Self Sabotage ~ Ruelle

Chan hadn't been lying about needing to let off some steam. Minho was slyly teasing him in front of the others, hands wandering over his body when no one was looking. In turn, Minho found himself getting fucked stupid in the most inappropriate settings, and he was secretly starting to love it. Backstage between performances in some desolate room or Chan's studio when Jisung and Changbin were away to get snacks. One night, they found themselves alone in the house and Minho was being a tease to no end. Chan, who had enough of his antics, bent him over the kitchen counter, ravishing Minho and interrupting him making dinner. On another early morning occasion, Chan sucked him off in their shared showers, and Minho could do nothing but contain his moans and hope no one would hear them, or worse, come inside. 

Just like that, another two months passed, and Minho started getting excited about their first year together. Chan’s mood was slowly stabilizing and things were improving between the two. They still hadn't defined what they were exactly, but it felt a lot like he had a boyfriend, which was alright with him. 

Minho was in his room scrolling through his social media platforms for cute ideas on how to make their "anniversary" special and perfect. He gently rubbed his knee and contorted his face at the stinging pain. About a week ago during practice, he messed up the landing after a jump and hurt his knee. The doctors advised him to take it easy and go on walks to keep up with movement but to refrain from dancing for a couple days. It pissed him off, but he knew he'd make it worse by not listening to them. So Chan had accompanied him on his walks and ensured he wasn't overdoing it. Someone knocked at his door, and only a moment later, his favorite curly-haired boy glanced inside. "Hi there," he smiled brightly, quickly turning off his phone to give his full, undivided attention. 

Chan smiled and came over, leaning down for a quick kiss. "You think you can show me those steps again before the children join us?" 

"Sure thing, love," he told him and took his hand, walking downstairs with him. "You look really cute today," he said softly. Chan was wearing a light blue sweater and black sweatpants combined with a beanie of his, a few curls sticking out from beneath it. 

"Thank you, baby," he smiled shyly and squeezed his hand thankfully. 

Minho looked at him fondly, checked their surroundings, and gave him a quick kiss. He looked over him once more and let a passing smirk grace his lips. “Am I right to think you are looking for cuddles?” He squinted his eyes playfully at the man.

“What gave it away?” Chan asked, giggling softly.

“My sweater,” Minho chuckled knowingly and brushed his hand over Chan’s shoulder. “You usually wear my clothes when you do.”

Chan laughed softly, heart melting at how well Minho knew him. It was true; he usually wore something that belonged to Minho when he felt lonely and in need of comfort. This way, he had him wherever he went. “Stop being so sweet to me,” he said softly. 

“Stop having such a beautiful smile,” Minho said, winking at him as Chan blushed deeply, hiding his face slightly to cover a small smile. “See, you can’t change that either. Deal with it, Channie love.” He teased the man with a chuckle.

Once they got to the practice room, Minho turned on the music quietly and stepped next to Chan, taking his hand once more. He talked him through the steps again before demonstrating to him. Chan followed his directions and danced along, still holding hands. As soon as they were done, Chan pulled him into a warm embrace, making Minho giggle happily as their noses brushed together. “Can I take you out for dinner tomorrow?”

Minho’s smile widened. “Just you and me?”

“Just us,” he nodded, and his heart warmed seeing how excited Minho looked at the confirmation.

“Is this a date, Channie love?” he asked softly.

“You could call it that,” he nodded with a sweet smile. “I have something to give you,” he said, thinking of the small silver ring safely stored away in his room. He was ready to take things a step further and finally put a label on their relationship.

“Oh, really?” he asked curiously and searched his eyes. God, his lips were begging Minho to kiss him right then and here.

"Look at our hyungs flirting again!" Jeongin shouted out, and Minho flinched away from Chan, surprised. From the corner of his eye, he sees the others begin to pile into the room.

"You're just jealous," Chan grinned at him, still holding his hand. 

Minho looked down at their hands and bit back a smile. "Alright let's get ready, everyone." 

"You better take it easy," Chan warned him. 

"I know," he sighed softly and mostly supervised his friends for the rest of the afternoon. Boring. 

-

Minho later found himself sitting at his desk in his room, listening to a few new songs and humming along softly. He wrote down a few ideas for the dances and scribbled down some formations and group placements. 

"Minho hyung?" He heard a voice softly call out his name.

"Yes?" he asked, looking up at Jisung, who was glancing inside his room from the doorway. 

"Can I have the keys to the practice room? Hyunjin locked us out again," he chuckled. 

Minho opened the drawer on his left and took out the keys. "Unlock the door and bring them right back before the same thing happens again," he said, tossing him the keys. Jisung nodded and left, leaving the door cracked open. Minho went back to focusing on the songs. 

"Min?" Felix called out to him not even five minutes later. 

"Yes, Lixie?" he asked, putting down his pen and looking up at the man. 

"I just wanted to ask if you're still up for working on new stuff tomorrow?" 

"Yeah, sure thing," he nodded and flashed him a smile as he gave him a thumbs up. 

"Nice," he beamed.

“I mean, we could just work on it later today if you’d like,” Minho suggested. But his expression dropped a little as Felix contorted his face from his words. “Or not?”

“Changbinnie’s coming back from his trip today. I wanted to try and spend some time with him before the others come for him,” he apologized gently. 

“Ohh, right,” Minho chuckled and waved him off. “That’s fine. Make sure you get some cuddles for me too,” he winked at him, and Felix giggled before leaving again, still leaving the door cracked open. "I should've closed the door," he groaned to himself and glanced over, deciding he was too lazy to do so and leaving it open. Hopefully, he can continue working in pea- 

"Hyung?" Jeongin's voice interrupted his thoughts once more. Or maybe not…

Minho closed his eyes in defeat, forcing a bright smile on his lips for their maknae before looking up at him. "Yes, dear?" 

"I feel like I didn't get all the steps today and I'm nervous I'll mess them up," he confessed, genuine worry in his tone as he spoke. 

"Innie, I promise you'll be fine. I think you did a great job today and it's only going to get better," he told him patiently. "We can go through them again together tomorrow, okay?" 

"Okay," he beamed at him, relieved. He gave Minho a smile and left, with the door still open.

He continued working, and three minutes later, someone knocked gently. "Oh, for fucks sake, can't I work in peace for like ten minutes?" he groaned. Once he looked up, he met Chan's amused chocolate eyes. "Ah, it's you." 

"Wow, not the exact greeting I was hoping for," he giggled and strolled over to his lover. "What are you doing?" 

"Trying to work," he told him. "Obviously," he pointed at his desk. 

"Want to take a break?" Chan asked. 

"Not really, no," Minho shook his head. "My brain's producing good stuff right now." 

"Mhm," he hummed and glanced around his room. "Can I stay?" 

"Sure, just be quiet," he nodded and vaguely waved towards his bed. Chan hummed, agreeing, but sat down at the edge of his desk instead. That alone meant trouble, and Minho wanted to stay focused. "Channie," he tried patiently. 

"What?" he asked innocently. 

"I'm working," he said, glancing up at him. 

"I know, you just told me so," Chan nodded in agreement and blinked at him innocently. "Am I distracting you?" 

"Only a little," he said and squinted his eyes at him. Chan’s gaze didn’t waver one bit, instead locking in on Minho’s harder. And he knew exactly what that meant. "You're horny right now, aren’t you?," he asked suddenly, but he could tell the shift in his lover’s eyes once he looked in them. 

"What? No…Well, maybe a little," he shrugged sheepishly. "You know it's not fair that you're so effortlessly handsome," he complained. 

"It's not fair you're ready to have sex all the time either. Deal with it," he spoke as a warning. "Go look behind my sweaters. There's some stuff you could use to pass the time." 

Chan rolled his eyes and leaned forward, bracing himself on the armrests of his chair. "Baby." 

"Love?" he asked, slightly irritated. 

"I won't settle for anything other than you, you hear me?" he asked, and Minho's ears quickly burned blush pink. 

"But I'm working on our songs, love," he whined softly, a bit frustrated. But he couldn’t stop himself from shifting in his seat as Chan’s words went straight to his core, making him feel fuzzy and hot.

"Min-." 

"What the fuck are you doing?" Jisung asked, suddenly standing in the doorway again and interrupting the two. 

"He's trying to bully me into cuddling with him when I'm supposed to be working," Minho smoothly answered and shoved Chan back to create a little distance. "What the fuck are you doing? Again?" he said back. 

"Keys," he said, holding them up proudly. 

"Oh, right," he nodded and took them. He placed them back in the drawer. "Close the door on the way out." 

"Why, need some privacy for cuddles?" he asked teasingly, wiggling his eyebrows at the two. 

"Get out right now," Minho jokingly threatened him. Jisung left giggling and closed the door. 

Minho turned his attention back to the man sitting on his desk. "Chan, what's up with you?" 

"Nothing." 

"Don't lie, you suck at it," he giggled. 

Chan sighed softly and hid his face in his hands. “Don’t make me say it, it's so embarrassing." 

"What is?" he asked, frowning softly. Was there a need to be concerned?

Chan whined and spoke in a single breath. "Ireallylikewhenyougointofullleadermodeduringdancepractice," he mumbled out. 

"You what?" Minho asked, blinking softly. 

"I really like when you go into full leader mode during dance practice," he confessed and chewed on his lower lip. “Its really hot seeing you take charge,”

"Oh, you do?" he asked with a hint of fake curiosity, remembering Felix had mentioned this before. Chan nodded and covered his cheeks, blushing in slight embarrassment. "How much, Mr. I'm always in control?" he asked, intrigued to know the answer. He kept his eyes locked onto his to see his next move

“Way too much,” he confessed shyly and dropped to his knees in front of his chair. Minho raised his eyebrows at him as Chan rested his chin on his knees, gazing up at him with soft, pleading eyes. 

“Stop looking at me like that, love. You’re gonna make me hard,” he told him with a chuckle, brushing Chan’s curls back. Gosh, this man looked good with his natural curly hair and bare face. He loved the sight of Chan on his knees, practically begging for attention. The fact that he was wearing his sweater didn’t help either.

“Why don’t you continue working, and I’ll take care of it?” Chan proposed, a grin stretching his lips once Minho gave in, knowing he’d lose out on any chance of working later if he wouldn’t let him have his way now.

Minho really tried to focus on his work, he did. But with Chan beneath the table, pulling down his sweatpants enough to pull his dick out, it was a little challenging. Chan didn’t waste any time, licking up his shaft and twirling his tongue around the tip. His eyes fluttered close as Chan started taking him into his mouth, giving himself time to adjust to him and take him in deeper. Minho’s lips parted with a gasp as Chan took him in deeper, tongue massaging his dick perfectly. “Feels so good, Channie,” he let him know, panting as he felt the warm, wetness of his mouth close around him. Once Chan had gotten comfortable enough, he started bobbing his head in a steady rhythm, and Minho’s hand shot down to bury itself in his hair. “Fuck,” he sighed and dropped his pen on the desk, giving up on his work. This was so much better. He adjusted in his seat a bit more comfortably.

Chan suddenly pulled back and looked up at him with dilated pupils. He massaged his thighs, smiling up at him lovingly. “Fuck, you sound beautiful,” he told him, and Minho blushed. “You think you can keep quiet while I touch you some more, kitten?” he asked, and Minho nodded quickly, immediately melting at the pet name. Chan’s thumb brushed Minho’s lips before pushing two fingers into his mouth. Minho moaned softly and sucked at them eagerly, covering them in his spit as Chan kept on rubbing his thigh teasingly. Chan proceeded to pull Minho’s sweatpants down further and, grabbing his thighs, pulled him forward in his chair. 

Minho cursed softly as Chan took him back into his mouth and started pushing one finger into him at the same time. He gripped his curls tightly and shivered at the groan that left Chan’s throat at his action. Minho melted into his chair and relaxed fully into the feeling of Chan opening him up. Not too much time passed before Chan was buried four fingers deep into his lover. He had his legs resting on his shoulders, one hand gripping the armrest and the other one guiding Chan’s head up and down his length. Minho’s head fell back with a whiny moan as he hit the back of his throat, and he couldn’t help but moan Chan’s name loudly. 

Chan gently squeezed his thigh, signaling him to be quiet, and moaned around his dick deliciously. He was enjoying the pull on his hair and the strangled sounds he pulled from him. Chan tried to pull back, but Minho held him in place and shook his head. “Don’t stop, Channie,” he told him breathlessly. “Please don’t stop.”

Chan still pulled back and got up, lifting Minho up from the chair. He sat down in the chair with him on his lap and kissed him hungrily. “I tried my best,” he told him, and Minho giggled sweetly. “But you’re driving me crazy.”

“As usual,” Minho chuckled and kissed him hard as he reached down between them, pulling Chan’s dick from his pants. “Lube,” he told him, and Chan reached into his drawer to take the small bottle out. 

“You keep that right next to the keys to the dance room?” he laughed. 

“I have no secrets,” he shrugged with a chuckle, and took the bottle from him, flicking the cap open. Minho shifted a little, adjusting his weight on his lower body, but contorted his face at the sharp pain shooting through his knee. Chan noticed from the corner of his eye and lifted him up again, standing up with him in his arms. He pushed Minho’s notes aside and sat him down at the edge of the table. Minho looked at him and lovingly caressed his cheek as he captured his lips in a kiss. He had never felt as safe and cared for as when he’s with Chan. It was perfect. Minho grabbed a condom from the drawer and rolled it over Chan’s dick.

“Just try to relax, okay?” he mumbled into the kiss after spreading some lube over his dick. Minho hummed softly and took a couple deep breaths. Chan started pushing into him slowly. 

Once he was fully buried inside him, Minho wrapped his legs loosely around Chan’s waist. Chan grabbed his thigh, making sure to steady his injured leg, and braced himself on the table behind Minho. Minho wrapped one arm around his neck, burying his hand in his curls, and braced himself right next to him, fingertips touching. Minho moaned sweetly as soon as he started moving and kissed him passionately, trying to stifle his moans. 

It didn’t help much since Chan also started moaning at the feeling of being inside him. They moved in sync, moaning into each other’s mouths, chasing the other’s lips. Minho arched into him and moved his hand up to grip his sweater right between his shoulders. Minho pulled up the fabric between his fingers, his head falling back as Chan kissed down his neck. He pulled at his curls, making him moan against his skin, and smiled blissfully at the feeling. 

“Fuck, kitten,” Chan whispered against his skin and thrust into him deep. 

Minho stopped caring about his volume; he was already too far gone. He held Chan close as their bodies melted together in pure bliss. The two men pressed their foreheads together. Their breaths mingled as their noses brushed against each other, hair sticking to their flesh. “Channie,” he whispered sweetly in his ear.

“Min, baby,” Chan whispered back softly. He still couldn’t believe he gets to see Minho so vulnerable and open for him. He was a different kind of pretty in moments like these. It was addicting. The two were so focused on each other that they didn’t hear the small tapping on the door, followed by it opening slowly.

“Minho, do you have a moment?” Felix asked while walking in, but his eyes widened at the sight in front of him. 

“Bad moment, Lixie,” Minho breathed out, not even giving a fuck about him catching them in the act. Chan felt too damn good inside of him right now, and Felix had seen him naked before. His head fell back with a loud moan as Chan’s dick finally tapped his prostate with a particular thrust, and he gripped the sweater tightly.

“Oh fuck, sorry! “ he rambled and quickly covered his ears, closing his eyes and stumbling back outside. Felix blushed heavily as he closed the door and covered his face in his hands. 

“I should really learn how to knock,” he groaned at himself and stood still in the hallway for a moment, trying to push away the vivid images. He didn’t fully succeed, almost feeling a little jealous at how in sync and in love those two had just seemed in that moment. The way they solely focused on each other’s pleasure. Just like earlier at the practice room before the rest had joined them…and even during practice. These two just fit together perfectly. Sometimes, he longed for Binnie to look at him like that and hold him close like that without him initiating it. He shook his head at himself, pushing those thoughts away. He was happy, after all. He sighed once more and went to his room.

“Will you ever learn to -ohh fuck- lock the door?” Minho breathed out between moans.

“Has he ever heard of knocking?” Chan asked breathlessly.

“He never does,” Minho giggled, and his eyes fluttered close with a soft whimper. “Channie, I’m so close.”

Chan was about to answer before his hips suddenly stilled, and he came with a groan of his name. He bit down on Minho’s shoulder to stifle his sounds, and Minho came on the spot, spilling all over his sweater. They spent a little bit in each other’s arms, catching their breath. Once ready, Chan pulled out of him gently, took the condom off, and threw it into the bin beneath the desk. He tucked himself back into his pants before taking the sweater off and using it to clean Minho up. “Sorry,” he laughed and kissed him gently.

Minho giggled against his lips and let Chan help him out of his own sweater. Chan got some fresh clothes from his drawers and helped him get dressed. Minho’s hands gently roamed Chan’s bare chest as he kissed him afterwards. He pulled Chan with him to his closet and looked through his things. While they find time to meet for sex, Minho always takes Chan’s dirty clothes and washes them, keeping them safe in his room for times such as these. His fingertips brushed over the small box hidden behind his shirts, and he smiled, thinking of the bracelet he had bought for Chan as a surprise resting there for now. “There you go,” he smiled and handed him a shirt.

“This is mine?” he giggled, raising his eyebrow at his lover.

“I know,” he grinned.

“You’ve been stealing my clothes?” he asked, amused, and pulled the shirt over his head. 

“Maybe,” he said innocently and closed the closet again. “They smell like you, you know. It’s comforting.”

Chan’s face softened, and he took his hands. “You’re so adorable, kitten.” Minho hummed, satisfied, and Chan kissed his nose. “Kissing you all those months ago has been the best decision I’ve made in a while.”

Minho blushed a little and pulled him close. “Allowing you to do so has definitely been one of my brightest moments,” he nodded giggling. “I don’t regret it at all”.

Chan smiled sweetly, but then suddenly started laughing. The memory of Felix walking into the room still very fresh. "How could you be so unbothered by Felix walking in on us?" 

"You're pretty amazing at what you do. I wasn't really thinking about it," he shrugged his shoulders, making Chan laugh even more. "But still, Felix has seen all of me. It isn’t really a shock anymore." 

"Mhm, fair point. It's not like he hasn't caught me before as well. It's always Felix, isn't it?" he groaned softly. 

"Felix knows and has seen too much," he nodded. "I’d better go look for him and ask what he wants." 

"Leaving me already?" he pouted, not wanting to let Minho go just yet. 

"Come on, you big baby," he giggled, pulling him with him. Minho went down the hallway, knocking on Felix's door. "Sorry, Lix, toddler alert," he joked as they stepped into his space. But his face fell seeing him sitting against his headboard, hugging a pillow as tears ran down his cheeks. "Yongbokie, what's wrong?" he asked worriedly, climbing onto his bed. "We didn't traumatize you, did we?" he joked. 

Felix laughed through tears and rolled his eyes. "Of course not," he groaned. "Sorry for interrupting. I should've knocked." 

"Forget about that," Chan said, sitting down on Felix's other side. "What's wrong, mate?" 

"Nothing, I'm just being stupid," he told them, sniffing softly. 

"That happens sometimes," Minho winked at him and gently squeezed Felix's hand. "But this isn’t one of those times. Come on, sunshine, what's going on?" 

"I just really missed Changbinnie these past two weeks," he told them and sniffled softly. Changbin had been back at home before being abroad for a few promotional things and advertisements. "I really hoped we could cuddle or spend time together when he comes back, but he told me he just wants to unpack and take a nap afterward. And I…I don't know. I'm feeling lonely and touch starved, but Jisung and Hyunjin are busy practicing, and Seungmin and Jeongin are already off cuddling each other somewhere." 

Chan hummed gently and wrapped his arm around him, rubbing his shoulder. "And that upset you?" 

Felix nodded, and Minho searched his eyes. "I'm sure Changbin didn't mean to upset you. We all know how tired and grumpy he gets after a flight," he calmed him. 

"I know. As I said, I'm being stupid," he sighed and messily wiped his cheeks with his sleeve. 

Minho handed him a tissue and shook his head. "You're not being stupid, Lixie." 

Chan gently ruffled through his hair. "You know you can come to us for a cuddle whenever you need it." 

"He probably wanted to," Minho pointed out, and they all started laughing. "Are you still feeling lonely and touch-starved?" 

Felix nodded timidly at him. Minho felt the tug at his heartstrings, looking at his big, teary eyes. 

"You know what? I'll share Channie with you today," he offered, making his hyung snort. "Cuddles only, of course." 

"Min," Felix protested weakly and hit his arm, giggling. 

Chan rolled his eyes softly before moving between them, lying down, and letting Minho cuddle to his side comfortably. "Come on, Felix." 

Minho gently patted Chan's chest, and Felix took the hint, making himself comfortable on top of Chan. Minho lazily wrapped his arm around him as Chan covered them all with Felix's blanket. Chan soothingly rubbed Felix's back before moving his hand up to play with his hair. His other arm was draped around Minho's waist, hands intertwined on his hip. Minho lovingly fondled Felix's cheek for a moment. "Is this better, sunshine?" 

"Yeah," Felix nodded, smiling softly. 

Chan relaxed as they soon fell asleep in his arms, and he smiled. He didn't take long to drift off as well, and his head sank against Minho's, searching for him even in his sleep. 

-

Felix woke up later, somehow cuddled between them as Chan had turned onto his side in his sleep. Minho and Chan were hugging him from both sides, their legs all intertwined. Minho had his face buried in his shirt between his shoulders whilst Chan's face was buried in his hair. Felix hadn't felt that warm and comfortable in a long while and closed his eyes again, deciding to enjoy the much-needed feeling a little longer. 

-

Minho woke up a little later, carefully letting go of him and stretching his body tiredly. Felix turned to face him and flashed him a tired smile. Minho reached for Felix's phone to check the time and saw a few messages from Changbin. "I think your boyfriend's waiting for you," he told him quietly, and Felix's eyes lit up. "I'll wake him up. You go get your cuddles." Minho whispers as he goes to wake up Chan.

"Let him sleep," he waved him off. "He needs it." Felix slowly got out of bed and made his way towards the door, opening it carefully to slip out of the room.

Minho smirked and watched him leave before slipping into Chan's arms. He buried his face in his chest, inhaling his scent, and relaxed. "I love you, Channie," he whispered into his shirt and smiled as Chan scooted closer to him in his sleep. Gosh, this man was cuddly. Minho beamed softly. He would've never thought that someone would love and appreciate him as Chan did. 

-

Chan woke up later with a yawn and chuckled softly as he looked down, seeing Minho curled up in his arms. He leaned down, brushing back his hair and kissing his head. Minho cuddled even closer in response, signaling he was somewhat awake. "Feeling comfy, kitten?" 

"Very," he answered sleepily. "You slept alright?" Chan hummed in response. "Felix went to see Changbin. We thought we'd let you get some sleep." 

"My insomnia says thank you," he snorted, and Minho giggled sweetly. 

The door opened, and Felix stepped inside, looking a lot happier than before. "Glad to see you two finally awake. Are you coming down to help with dinner?" 

"Sure thing," Chan nodded and got up with him, stretching out his limbs. 

Minho gave him a soft kiss and hugged him close for another moment. "Cuddle session this evening?" 

"Sounds perfect," Chan nodded happily and kissed his forehead.

-

Jeongin looked at Chan curiously as they were preparing dinner a bit later. "What exactly have you two been doing behind closed doors recently? It’s like you’re always disappearing." 

"Wh-What? Who?" Chan asked in shock, his eyes widening. 

"You and Minho hyung," he answered with an eyebrow raise. 

Hyunjin giggled. "Maybe they're secretly in love," he smirked. Minho had to bite back a grin at that assumption. 

Minho quickly lowered his head and continued drying the dishes. A huge kitchen like that had its perks. And sometimes, his group members completely forgot he was there too, standing in front of the stove far away from him. This way, no one realized they could be bothering him with questions too. 

"Secret lovers?" Felix laughed, and the thought made his eyes shine bright. If they only knew how close they were to the truth. He met Minho's eyes across the room for a moment and held back a laugh. Jisung desperately tried not to laugh as well and disappeared into a cabinet with his head, pretending to search for a pan and holding in his giggles.

"Can you imagine our hyungs hooking up? Would that officially make them our parents?" Seungmin threw in, and Changbin shouted in protest. 

"Married with six kids," Jeongin added and glanced over at their dinner in preparation. 

"How do you all even come up with this stuff?" Chan asked playfully, laughing and rolling his eyes. 

But Minho  couldn’t help but frown softly. It wasn't like they had been hiding it that well. Of course, their group members would notice them spending way more time together than before, and oftentimes in their rooms. Minho let Chan hug him more openly than before, and just last night, they cuddled during the movie night. Also, he doubted he and Chan had been that quiet all those times they took a little risk and had sex. Like today. Things have been going on for almost a year, after all.

"You two just seem to have gotten closer recently," Jisung explained. 

"Well, you know he's been trying to cheer me up lately," he answered. 

One way to put it, Minho thought to himself and gathered some plates. He needed more space to continue cleaning. 

"Yeah, but-." 

"Nothing happened. Have you seen Minho? I call myself lucky when I get a hug from him, or when he doesn't pull his hand away from mine," Chan said, and Minho froze in place. His ears couldn���t help but to tune into the conversation. "He's not exactly the warm boyfriend material I'd need. And no, we didn't kiss either," he tried to play it cool, forgetting for a moment that Minho was right there hearing everything. 

His heart shattered at his comment, and he began to grow pale. Was he being serious? Felix and Jisung looked over at him with concern and exchanged a short look. Minho put down the plates a little too loud, making everyone flinch and turn toward him. "Is that what you think about me when you think I'm not listening? That I'm cold? Unloving? Unaffectionate?" 

Chan's face fell, as all the color drained from his skin while simultaneously allowing a deep red to settle on his neck and cheeks. "Minho," he breathed out in shock and got a raised eyebrow in return. Fuck. 

The others looked back and forth between them anxiously, unsure of what was happening. "I can tell you what happened," Minho said, and Chan opened his mouth in protest, but the look in Minho's eyes made him stop. "We kissed quite a lot actually. At least when he wasn't busy shoving his dick in my ass." 

"Minho!" Chan burst out as the rest looked at him in amusement and pure disbelief. "We had an agreement," he whispered. 

"Listen up Chan, it's one thing to pretend that nothing is going on between the two of us and staying away from you in public. That's what I agreed to," he said, his eyes never tearing away from Chan’s. "But I won't lie to the people I call my family anymore. Especially not after what you just said." 

"I-I freaked out, okay, I didn't mean it," he tried to save himself, stomach turning painfully. Changbin stared at them in shock, slowly connecting the dots before looking at Felix, who just shook his head firmly. Not now. 

"It sure sounded like you did," Minho said sadly, and a wave of fear washed over him. Had Chan felt like this about him all this time? Had it just been the sex and the thrill of affection that kept him around? Whatever it was, he didn’t want to hear it right now. "I'm done with this.”

“Baby,” Chan spoke up and calmingly held up his hands. “Come on, let’s talk this out.”

“Save it, Chan. I won't let you toy around with me like that," he said firmly and opened the cabinet above his head, putting the plates inside.

"Toy around? Is that what you think I was doing?" he asked, growing defensive. "Maybe it was you who used me. You practically threw yourself onto me when I gave you the chance. And you've been hovering since that damn night a few months ago," Chan said, trying to get himself out of the line of fire. 

Minho's face fell, and Jisung was in shock at how hurt he looked. "Threw myself - Are you fucking kidding me?" he shouted suddenly, and everyone flinched, slowly backing away from Chan to continue watching from the sidelines. 

“Oh shit,” Seungmin breathed out, and Jeongin exchanged a worried glance with him. Minho sure lost his temper a lot lately with Chan, but not like this. Especially not in front of them. 

"I risked my life to get to you that night because of your stupid message. I held you when you felt like you were falling apart. And I was the one showing you how much you're worth since you can't see that for yourself. You kissed me first, dumbass! I didn't plan on kissing you two nights after, only to have sex the next morning. And I sure as hell didn't plan on doing it again and again over the next eleven months, sneaking around behind everyone's back!" Minho aggressively slammed the cabinet closed, making Chan flinch a little.

"You didn't risk your life," Chan gave back weakly, completely overwhelmed by Minho’s sudden outburst. He fucked up big time, and he was stuck on how to fix it. 

Minho glared at him. "You, out of everyone here, should know how much I have a fear of heights. And still, I climbed over to your balcony." 

"I didn't ask you to!" Chan burst out, feeling like he was being pushed into a corner. 

"I didn't ask you to leave us all behind either, but that's what you wanted to do! You didn't just give up on yourself, you gave up on those you swore to protect. And you gave up on me! You gave up on us, Chan, and still, I stayed by your fucking side because I was too scared to lose you," he gave back just as loudly. But seeing Chan's face, he knew he said too much. Oh, shit. 

"Wait a minute, Chan did what?" Changbin spoke up, confused. Minho stared at Chan, who slowly shook his head. 

"Min, baby, please-," he begged quietly. 

"Stop calling me that," Minho said firmly. 

"Minho, don't," Chan pressed out, anxiously glancing at the others. They can’t know he had been feeling like shit lately. They can’t know he had been ready to give up and quit that night. 

"Hey! What the fuck happened?" Changbin cut them off, deciding to step in and get some answers.

"He accidentally sent his goodbye message to me. That's why I climbed out there; my fear of losing him was bigger than that stupid balcony. Turns out he was thinking about quitting on us and leaving the team behind, saying I’d do just fine as your new leader," Minho said, and his voice trembled, seeing betrayal flash in Chan's eyes. "I'm sorry, Chan, but they should know. I’ve been telling you for weeks now to be honest-."

"Fuck you," Chan said barely above a whisper. "You promised me you wouldn’t tell them," he said, clearly hurt. Now it was all out in the open. Him almost giving up. His feelings for Minho and everything that had followed those past few months. Minho let it all out, taking away his chance to tell the truth at his own pace. 

"Well, you promised you'd fight for us. So I guess we both lied," he said tiredly, hoping the conversation would finally end and he could disappear. He just wanted to hide in his room and avoid everyone. But the way Chan's eyes suddenly darkened, he knew it wasn’t over. If there was one thing he had learned about his hyung, it was that you shouldn't piss him off. Being pushed into a corner could make him snap within seconds. 

"You know what, maybe I did mean it. Maybe I meant every word I said. You are cold, Minho. You obviously don’t give a shit about my feelings and the promise you made to me. I should've known from the beginning you'd fuck me over and tell everyone about what happened because you can’t keep a secret. Stop acting like you didn't want me to fuck you so you could finally not be so fucking alone anymore and feel like you're worth something. You enjoy having someone tell you you’re not what everyone else says you are, huh? Makes you feel like a better person for once, you sassy asshole?" Chan spat out, panting heavily once the last word fell from his lips. But the moment he said it, he regretted it. He covered his mouth with his hand, unable to follow his thought process of producing such hateful words. What the fuck had he done? 

“Excuse me?” he whispered and took a step back, bringing some distance between them. Minho's eyes filled with tears, lips trembling as he tried to regain his composure. Minho could feel his heart breaking, feeling sick and disoriented. 

Chan had never seen him that hurt before and losing his composure in front of the rest. Minho never did, not wanting the younger ones to worry about him. 

"Chan, what the fuck?" Felix spoke up in pure shock and gently took Jisung's hand, which was trembling, as he stepped behind him. Jeongin and Seungmin practically hid behind Changbin and Hyunjin, who stared at their hyungs, unable to comprehend what just happened. 

“Chan, dude,” Changbin contorted his face and took a step toward Minho. “Minho hyung, he clearly didn’t mean it. There's no way any of us would think that about yo-.” he stopped as Minho held his hand up.

"So you're finally being honest with me," he chuckled and closed his eyes for a moment, putting down the towel he had been drying the dishes with. "Oh, Channie love, I'll show you just how much of an asshole I can be," he said, words dripping with disgust. Minho suddenly took a step forward and slapped Chan forcefully, making his head turn to the side. 

Chan placed his hand on his cheek in pure shock as the others gasped, surprised. "What the fuck?" Chan breathed out. 

"You're the only asshole here. I hope you had fun pretending you liked me or seen anything beyond a way to let off steam," he said shakily as tears ran down his cheeks. There was no use in hiding how hurt he was. Chan had torn his walls down and sent an arrow straight into his heart.

"Did you just hit me?" he asked in pure disbelief. 

"Yes, I fucking did!" Minho yelled at him. "You just broke my fucking heart! You'll get over it." 

Chan blinked and slowly pulled his hand off his cheek. The full weight of Minho's words slowly sunk in and he grew incredibly pale, his hands starting to shake. "Minho," he whispered timidly. "I'm so sorry." 

"Fuck you, Chan, seriously," he sobbed out and smacked his chest forcefully. Chan let him, not defending himself, as Minho lost his composure and broke down. It broke him seeing Minho like this, and the fact that he caused it feels even worse.

"Minho stop," Hyunjin said, stepping forward and pulling Chan away from him. "Come on, you're better than this." 

"Come here," Felix spoke up softly as he carefully wrapped his arms around him from behind and pulled him away from Chan, looking at his friend in shock.

Minho covered his mouth with his hand and let Felix pull him back. He didn't know if he was more hurt or angry right now. He felt betrayed on so many levels, becoming too hard to differentiate these emotions. "I believed you," he pressed out. 

"You shouldn't have," Chan whispered, tears burning in his eyes. 

He hiccuped as tears kept flowing. “You told me not to believe in all the things they said about me and bullshit rumors that were going to spread about us.”

"I'm sorry, Min," Chan pressed out weakly. "I'm an asshole, and you deserve better." 

"Stop it, just fucking stop it! Please…" Minho shook his head and felt his heart breaking apart. He should’ve never believed in a happy ending for them. He shouldn't have believed him saying he'd fight for them. He shouldn't have believed him when he said haters were lying and Minho wasn't anything like what they said. 

"Minho hyung, let's take a break and-," Seungmin started but stopped as Minho gently shook Felix off, grabbed his phone from the table, and turned around. He didn't look at his friends as he passed them. Hyunjin tried to hold him back, but he just shook him off, holding back a sob. 

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Felix snapped at Chan. "How could you say something like that?"

"Felix, easy now," Changbin tried to calm his boyfriend. It wasn't like Minho walked away innocently from this. 

"No, why would you defend that? We all saw it happen!" Felix asked him, highly irritated. 

"Felix," Minho cut him off sharply. "That's my mess, not yours. Leave it be."

"Minho, can we talk? Alone?" Chan asked with tears in his eyes. His breathing was uneven and shaky, trying to hold back a sob. There was an imprint of Minho's hand on his cheek, his lips quivered and for a second Minho hesitated, seeing the damage he caused him. 

He couldn't leave him there crying, could he? Not when he was the only one taking care of him whenever he did. But then again…he couldn't comfort him. Not now, not after all he’s done. "Fuck you, I won't be listening to any more of your lies," Minho said firmly before walking upstairs. 

Chan didn't dare to raise his head until Minho's door slammed closed. He could barely meet his group members' eyes as he swallowed hard. "I'm sorry," he whispered and blinked back tears. "I'm so sorry, fuck," he buried his face in his hands as a sob shook his entire body. The moment Jeongin wrapped his arms around him, heavily shaking himself, Chan's stomach turned. He didn't deserve any comfort right now. Not after what he did to Minho, his love. A few moments later, they all were by his side, too shocked about what Minho had revealed to think of anything else. 

"You're so fucking stupid sometimes, Chan," Changbin said and shook his head at him. “What the fuck was that about?”

"I promise I can explain everything," Chan said shakily and swallowed hard. 

Felix cleared his throat and met Chan's eyes. "I love you, Channie, I really do…but what you just said to him was fucked up on so many levels. You need to fix this. And fast. I can't leave him alone like that," Chan nodded in agreement and let the others pull him to the sofa to sit down. 

"I'll join you," Jisung said, very disturbed about Chan's outburst. 

Chp. 6 | Chp. 8

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[gilbirda]

Can't help falling in love (with you) Chp.5

Jazz/Jason (Anger Management). DP x Batman crossover.

Based on this post

When a ghost does shenanigans, Jazz usually stays out of the trouble, since that's her brother's thing. This time? This time trouble found her in the form of a ghost that marries her to the Red Hood against her will.

[Read on AO3][Read on FF.net]

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---

Chapter 5: Cross my heart and hope to die

“What do you MEAN ‘it was kind of an accident’!?”

“I swear I meant to tell you—”

“And you just FORGOT?”

Jazz was seeing red. How could Danny do this to her?

She knew it was a possibility that her brother became King. There were talks about it, debates about claim to the throne after Pariah was defeated, especially when the Ancients came back and made themselves known once more.

Clockwork sat them down and talked about destiny, about the different futures, about Danny’s role in the timeline. He was never clear about what he wanted with that speech, but he had been looking at Danny with a certain hunger in his eyes that Jazz never liked.

True, it was better to have an Ancient on their side, and a powerful one like Clockwork; but it didn’t mean she liked how he was feeding ideas of grandeur to her little brother.

That Danny went through behind her back hurt. A lot. That he hid it from her, on purpose or not, was disheartening. She didn’t want to miss out on Danny’s life, and since she came to Gotham she felt like since she was out of sight, she was out of mind to her brother.

“I didn’t forget!” Danny was making wide gestures. “I was going to tell you as soon as I—”

“And I had to find out I was a freaking Princess like this?” She was well aware she had a ectogun on her hand, so she disabled it and put it back on her right thigh holster. “This affects me too, you know!”

“I know!”

“Hey guys?”

Both turned to look at Red Hood, who had been quietly watching their fight unravel. He pointed at something behind them.

“Your ghost is about to fly away.”

Jazz didn’t have time to make a sound or do anything — the green dome Danny had made around the Elvis ghost shattered into million pieces.

“Nice seeing ya!” The ghost called over his shoulder as he made a peace sign and flew as fast as he could as far as he could.

Danny growled, launching himself to the air behind the retreating figure of the ghost, knowing that it was more important to catch Elvis before they lost him again.

Jazz hadn’t realized she was breathing heavily until she was left alone with Hood. Gotham was unusually quiet — people were too used to late night crime fighting, and citizens ignored them at best and hid from them at worst.

“So… uh…”

“Why didn’t you do anything?”

“What?”

She knew she was too mad to make sense, but they lost Elvis. They had him! And lost him!

“Why didn’t you stop him!”

She launched herself at him, fueled by frustration and anger. The logical part of her, the one that understood that it wasn't Hood’s fault, was screaming at her that rushing a known ex-crime lord and one of the Bats was a bad idea. But she was angry at her brother, angry at being pushed into an unwanted marriage, pushed into being a princess for a dimension that was hostile to her.

Maybe he understood how she felt, because Red Hood quietly met her strikes and only blocked and redirected them, not really trying to retaliate. He moved with her body so easily she felt like she was dancing with him, spinning to deliver a kick he blocked and moved down to properly catch her hand for the next punch.

Jazz moved faster, her muscles straining with the ectoplasm powering her inhuman speed and stamina. She was tired, she was sore and it’s been so long since she had an actual fight she was realizing she missed this. Petty muggers and wannabe gangsters didn’t measure up with her, and while she tried to feel content with the normal life she was making for herself in Gotham, she was never going to be really normal.

Princess.

When was the last time she punched someone with all her might?

Hood caught her fist in one of his gloved hands with only a soft grunt to show the effort. She punched him with her other fist, which he caught with his other hand.

Neither moved after that.

Princess of the Infinite Realms.

“Are you done?”

Jazz controlled her breathing, looking at him between the wild locks of hair that escaped her ponytail. He was also slightly out of breath, but more put together than her.

“Actually, I think I am.”

He let her go, watching carefully as she straightened her back and combed back her hair, freeing it from the ponytail to let it fall free. She missed her usual teal headband, but she had left it at her apartment.

“I’m sorry. That was uncalled for. You didn’t let the ghost free.”

“I think you guys did all the work by starting an argument back there.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Smartass.”

He hummed, the mechanical distortion of the mask giving it a weird edge.

“What now, Princess?”

Jazz huffed at the name, but she felt spent after burning her anger fighting him.

“Now we wait and see if Danny catches him.”

He hummed again, tilting his head as if thinking how to word something. After a few moments, he finally said: “B wanted me to take you back to the Cave.”

She arched an eyebrow. “Do I have to?”

Somehow she knew he was smiling under the mask. “Why? Want to run away?”

“And go where? I can’t leave this city and also I have a test next week.” She shrugged. “Sure why not? Danny can find me when he is back.”

She started walking towards where she left the bike parked, not waiting to see if Hood would follow her. His quiet boots quickly fell into step behind her.

“How are you going to get to the Batcave?”

“You are going to take me there.”

With a few long strides he was now besides her. “I could just ditch you here.”

“Then I won’t go to the Cave.” She side eyed him, amused with the banter. “Easy.”

“Then Batman will kidnap you and drag you there against your will.”

This made her stop and turn to look at him. “You sound like you speak from experience.”

It was difficult to know with the mask in the way, but she felt his eyes run over her face, considering. He was acting weird, she noticed — or at least it felt it since she didn’t know him that much.

Without answering, he grabbed her gently by the arm and pulled her towards a dark alley. Amused, Jazz didn’t put up a fight just to see where this was going.

“Okay,” he started once they were very clearly out of sight of the main road and not in the line of vision of any of the nearby windows, “I assume I can trust you.”

After basically revealing all her secrets to him and finding out in front of him that she was now the freaking Princess of the Underworld, Jazz considered she deserved some trust. Also Danny cured his corrupted ectoplasm poisoning, so he owed that to them. But she wasn’t going to pull up all the receipts or start an argument with the man she was married to against both of their wills.

“Yeah?” She chose to say as he reached for something behind his head.

“The others will probably try to kill me for this but I don’t give a shit. You are in this now, whether we want it or not.”

There was a soft hissing sound and the mouthpiece detached from his face. He removed it with one hand as the other unstuck the domino mask from his eyes, revealing his bare face.

Jazz didn’t gasp, but it was a close thing. She didn’t expect to find such clear blue eyes in the face of the ruthless vigilante, or the deep scar that ran from his lip and upwards into his hair, across his cheek.

Now that she could see his eyes, and from this close, she could easily detect the liminality in him. How the green was so close to the surface, how he was clearly not that human anymore. She could also see his emotions written all over the nuances in the blue.

He smiled. Hood had dimples. Who would have thought?

“Name’s Jason,” he said as he extended a hand. He also had a nice voice, now that he didn’t have the modulator. Deep and masculine. Jazz blinked and shook his hand a bit late. “Jason Todd. Nice to properly meet you.”

“Likewise.” She said absentmindedly. “Not that I’m complaining but isn’t it a bit… important? The whole secret identity thing.”

He shrugged. “I never cared that much about it. And as I said, until we figure this out, we are stuck together. And it isn’t like you won’t know my name from the marriage papers.”

True. It felt like a smart idea to be honest at this point.

“Okay.” She nodded. “We are still going to the Cave, right?”

He sighed. “Unfortunately.”

They were interrupted by his comms device coming to life with passion. Jazz could hear a lot of voices trying to speak at the same time over each other, and going by the pained faces Jason was doing, they were loud even for him.

“Calm down, everybody.” Jason was trying to make it stop without success.

More voices for a moment, until someone spoke and they all stopped at once. It was deep and monotone, and it was Batman’s.

Now that it was quiet, Jazz could hear his words clearly.

“Report to the Cave immediately. Both of you.”

Did he know she could hear him?

In any case, Jason rolled his eyes and put the mask back on. “En route.” He tapped his ear and grumbled. “I already said we’ll go. Stupid Bruce.”

Bruce…

Why was the name familiar? Bruce… Bruce something. He was on the TV? No, it was something else. Not an actor, she would probably remember. Maybe something else?

It wasn’t until they walked back to the main road that she saw it — the tallest and biggest building in the city, the one she had joked when she moved in that was overcompensating for something.

The Wayne Enterprises building.

Bruce Wayne.

Jason Todd.

Jazz blinked, remembering reading something about Wayne’s dead son being declared alive not that long ago. That it was all a misunderstanding. That he had lost his memories and wandered alone for some years, but he was better now. That his death had been greatly exaggerated.

Knowing what she knew now, she would bet that there were no exaggerations whatsoever. That they managed to convince everyone that he wasn’t actually dead was commendable.

“Want me to grapple us back to your bike?”

“Huh?”

Even with the mask and face cover, she knew he was smiling at her. “Me. Grapple. Swing us to your bike.”

She looked around and came to the same conclusion: walking would take too long. Jazz shrugged and walked closer to him, already looping her arms around him as he readied the grapple gun.

Back at the fight she had been too focused on defeating Elvis; but now in the quiet night, with just the two of them, she could stop and take note of the feeling of flying with the vigilante. It was different from flying with Danny — gravity was not ignored, for starters. But she liked it.

Jazz never felt comfortable being this close to people that weren’t her family. She was a hugger and she enjoyed cuddling with her inner circle; but having a stranger in her personal bubble was always a big no-no.

Jason felt different, and she didn’t know how much of it was the spell and how much was coming from herself. This is why she hated soul magic — you could very easily lose yourself in the paranoia and double thinking every emotion. She was resistant to that magic, sure, but she wasn’t immune.

She genuinely liked Jason and she would be very pissed off if all of it was because of magic.

They soon arrived at her abandoned motorbike, which was exactly where she left it. Such a feat in Gotham. In any case, she knew that in the event that her bike was stolen, it wouldn't work if you weren't at least somewhat liminal. Danny made it like that for her.

Jason once again proved what he was when the engine roared to life for him without issue.

"Nice ride." He commented.

"Thank you! My brother modified this one just for me."

He hummed, quickly noticing the extra dials, the extra buttons, and the little ghost sticker. "How fast can it go?"

If he planned on having a conversation about the specs and the mechanical stuff with her, he was in for disappointment. Jazz only knew enough to take care of her vehicle and whatever Danny info dumped her.

"As fast as I need. With the right juice."

Another perk of Danny's modifications: she could enhance performance by sharing a bit of her power. It put a strain on the engine, so it was not something she did every day.

Jason looked very interested. Jazz made a mental note to tell Danny.

The ride to the Batcave was quiet and comfortable, again that weird calm settling in her chest just by being close to Jason. If she were alone she knew she would be out of her mind with worry, and very angry at the situation. Right then, she only found inner peace as they swerved through Gotham's streets at night. She could even admit to herself that it was a pretty city — but again maybe the trick was to see it at night and not during a smoggy day.

"Here we are." Jason screamed over his shoulder as they ascended a hill, her bike prepared to go through all terrains making the trip just fine.

There was a beep and loud whirring, and the distant waterfall parted to reveal the entrance of the Cave. Huh. Classy.

Jason maneuvered the bike towards what looked like the central area of the whole thing, past the other vehicles and a giant dinosaur. Was that a giant penny as well?

He also helped her dismount the bike. Huh. Chivalry was not dead, after all.

Maybe it was just forcibly brought back to life.

She snorted, shaking her head when he glanced at her, asking what was so funny.

The Batcave was impressive… for a rich white man's secret basement, that is. It showed that he had been doing this for decades, with many additions and upgrades; and right in the center there it was, the Batcomputer.

Tucker had talked about it the moment she told them she was moving to Gotham, confessing he had been entertaining the thought of hacking it, but he didn’t want to look for trouble if it would trace back to her.

“Took you long enough, Todd.”

“Hit some traffic.”

Jazz giggled at the blatant lie, and at the way the kid that was glaring at them narrowed his eyes. Such an expression on a young face was hilarious.

“Hood, report.”

Of course.

Batman waited for them at the Batcomputer, carefully logging everything she had told them about the incident. She caught comments conjecturing about what was unsaid in their conversation, and questions he would ask someone called “Constantine” about the Infinite Realms. Sure. She didn’t judge him for wanting a second opinion, but if what he really wanted was up to date information he needed her and her brother. During Pariah Dark’s reign, the Realms had shut down any and all communication with the living world and who knows what someone unrelated to the newest changes in management would know about the topic.

Jazz quietly followed Jason as he gave a quick rundown of the fight and his observations about the ghost — “Really, Elvis?” “Yeah, Dickhead, the one and only.” — and observed their reactions to the madness that was her life. When he got to the last part, where the ghost escaped because of Danny and her arguing, her face got hot with embarrassment.

“In my defense, he should have told me before the fight. About the whole ‘King’ business.” She crossed her arms, trying to hold on to the last of her dignity. What a rookie mistake, letting your target go because of infighting.

Batman was probably thinking something along those lines, because he patted her on the shoulder. “You did good.”

She narrowed her eyes, wondering if he was being condescending; but by the way that Jason and the one he called ‘Dickhead’ looked at each other in surprise, it was genuine.

“So now we wait?”

She nodded at the other man. Jason’s brother? She tried to remember Bruce Wayne’s assortment of orphans and match his face with one of them. And remember the name.

“Danny will call me if he has news. He better do, anyway.” Because if he doesn’t there is a world of pain ahead of him, but she left that part unsaid.

Batman found it funny. “Rest for now. I think Alfred made cookies.”

He turned back towards the computer without making further comment, considering the conversation done. Jazz thought it was a bit rude, but bit her tongue. There was no point in starting a fight and she was tired and hungry.

“C’mon.” Jason took her hand to guide her towards the elevator, the other young man and the kid hot on their heels.

“You need to change, Todd. It doesn’t count if you only take off the mask.” The kid said. Jazz watched him and his eternal frown and finally could put a name to the face. Damian Wayne, the youngest.

“I will do it once she has some food.”

“I can give her the tour, Jay.” The one she was sure was an older brother said, smiling in her direction. “Unless you guys want alone time?”

Jazz cringed at the comment and the implication of the man’s raised eyebrows and smirk. Now she remembered who this guy was — Dick Grayson, Bruce’s first kid.

Huh, the name was fitting.

“Cut it out, Dickward.” Jason slapped his brother’s shoulder. “Not everyone is down to fuck anything that breathes, like you do.”

She was grateful that the attention of the conversation was moved towards the brothers’ bickering — Dick defending himself, Damian demanding that the topic be immediately dropped and Jason poking his older brother about previous relationships. Jazz looked at her new husband’s face as he deflected comments about his apparent “non-existent” love life, shrugging and scoffing that he didn’t see the point anyway.

Could it be?

It had been a long while since Jazz found a name to what she felt regarding relationships, romantic or sexual. She always thought she would eventually bloom and fall in love, or maybe set aside her ambitions once she found someone worth it, or maybe she only needed to be patient and that the right person would come and sweep her off her feet.

She loved romance novels, and loved reading about her favorite characters falling in love and all that stuff — but she never “bloomed” so to speak. She remembered being sixteen and being on that date with Johnny and him going to kiss her and not feeling anything like it was in her books.

Now, as an adult, she was past losing sleep over that fact. She was not interested, and that was it. She loved, and a lot, and she loved unconditionally, but not like people described romantic love to be.

Jason’s shoulders were slightly tense even if he joked that he was too busy with his “redemption arc” to look for love, and everyone laughed — but she knew. She understood the feeling.

Somehow she was not that mad at the whole arranged marriage thing now. From all the idiots she could be tied to, this one was at least somewhere in the aroace spectrum, and could understand her.

Once on the surface properly, Jazz quickly followed the brothers as they walked further into a house — a mansion? Everything was too big and too fancy to be a simple house — taking note of the route in case she needed to map out the place. It was instinct at this point, finding exit points and escaping routes, just in case. Sometimes she wished that it wasn’t.

She was guided to a living room where some people were already sitting on a sofa and enjoying cookies placed on the coffee table. It was another of the Wayne kids — Timothy? She wasn’t sure — sitting with a blonde boy and a black haired boy wearing a leather jacket with the Superman’s symbol in the back.

“Oh, hi.” The blond one said with a gentle smile.

Timothy froze with a cookie halfway into his mouth, blue eyes fixed on the still joined hands. He then looked up at Jazz, and she held his gaze, arching an eyebrow.

“What’s up?” The guy with the punk attire vaguely waved a hand, also noticing the hands, but choosing to smile at it and not make a comment.

Jason sat down, waiting for Jazz to sit beside him. Dick sat on a loveseat, enjoying watching the show that was about to begin.

“Um…” Timothy chewed his cookie and gulped, eyes going down Jazz’s body. She looked down too, remembering that she still had her weapons on her. “Who’s this?”

An older man wearing a tux walked in holding a silver tray with a teapot and empty cups. His face was completely blank, the only tell of his thought being the slightly arched eyebrow.

“I remember that we agreed on no suits in the Manor, Master Jason.” He gently chastised, placing the tray on the table to unload everything he was carrying. “Also, no weapons.”

Took a moment to realize he was talking to her. Her cheeks burned with embarrassment. “Sorry.”

“You didn’t know, dear.” He said. “I’m Alfred. Alfred Pennyworth.”

“Nice to meet you, Alfred.”

He nodded at her with a small smile. “Likewise, Miss Fenton.”

His eyes flashed towards her hand still in Jason’s, and this time she quickly let go. She didn’t know who this man was, but it didn’t take much to understand he was no mere butler.

No need to be told twice, she got into the task of unbuckling and unfastening everything she had on her person. First, she looped the strap of Moral Support over her head and placed the compacted rifle on the table, a good distance away from the tea and pastries. Then, she took off the jacket, revealing the leather vest and everything she had in it.

She vaguely heard the punk boy whistle in appreciation.

“Who is this?” Timothy asked. Rude. She was standing right there!

Jason chuckled, taking her jacket from her and gingerly placing it on the armrest of the sofa.

“This is Jasmine Fenton.” He said.

Jazz placed the ecto guns next to Moral Support and her hands quickly went back to unzip and unfasten the vest from her. She could take out the blades later, once she was back home.

She made a move to sit down, but was stopped by Alfred clearing his throat. Did she miss anything?

Oh right.

She leaned down and took the hidden dagger in her boot, showing it to the butler, who nodded, smiled and walked out of the room.

Finally, Jazz sat down next to Jason. She crossed her arms, watching the trio watch her, ignoring Dick’s delighted face as he stuffed his face with cookies.

“And?” Timothy asked to elaborate. Blondie was watching the pile of weapons with wide eyes. Punk boy was biting his lip, enjoying the show.

Jason lifted one arm and let it rest on Jazz’s shoulders. By the way Timothy’s face soured at the gesture, she understood this was a bit and played along just to see what would happen. She leaned onto Jason a little, uncrossing her arms to put one hand on his chest, eyes fixed on the other guy’s.

“She’s my wife, of course.”

---

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[scoonsalicious]

Mother Pookie has fed her kitties well🩷🩷. There’s so many emotions idk which one i should talk about first?😭😂

BUT DANG chap 2.2 is just HOT

I am actually speechless😂 I have nothing to say except I am satisfied.

ITS SO GOOD OMG POOKIE? WHAT R U DOING TO ME? WHATT?!!😫😫

Lemme say, It didn’t take me long to hate Lilian. Like I swear, the moment she fucking said that Major looks like a SKANK gurl, fuck u.

My first impression on Major was like how Bucky saw her, a hot pretty dame that made me giggle like a teenager, making heart eyes and singing the whole world to my dick (if i have a dick)

And then throughout the chp, oh my goodness, I would’ve slap Leah the moment she starts bitching up. Major has a dang ass patience. I couldn’t.

THE THINGS I WOULD DO TO VOTE FOR BUCKYBABY TO BREAK HER HEART IN THE WORST WAY POSSIBLE (so far she’s 35% in my ‘dead’ list, better fix ur attitude if u don wanna end up like cunthage — ITS JUST BEEN 2 CHP?!)

Lindsay rubs the ick on me more than Jade (ofc Jade is worse but she dead now) but cuntly is so so so so so so so so so irritating. The absolute pick me, so called ‘one of the guys’. Ew. Even half of the team is irked by her attitude. That just says a lot.

Glad that our queen Major put her in her place. She needs more. Like, absolute humiliation (disclaimer: i dont support bullying but LILIAN FUCKING NEEDS IT)

And can we appreciate Wanda simping over Thor?😂 (you are not alone, i also dream of licking his abs — mhmmm)

Bucky and Major are purrrfect for each other. Its giving love at first sight 👀. Bucky simps hard. Like so hard. I can wait for more Bucky X Major scene (fluff,sexay — mayyybeeeee angst? i just love hurt myself)

Also, iMajor and Tony r absolutely gonna be ‘rich business badass besties’ and then them + Sam (Wanda and Nat at the back) roasting Leah. Oh what a beautiful dream~

Anyways, beautiful beautiful writing indeed. Waiting to see Bucky sexay POV next😂 Unleash the power of your blue balls. Also I can’t wait to read what your master brain had planned🌚. Love you Pookie🩷🩷🩷

PS// these past few days I was scrolling tumblr, searching for new Bucky fics/updates and honestly… I MISSED YOUU!!! I CANNOT STRESSED THAT ENOUGH!!! 😭 seeing your username the first thing when i opened tumblr made my night! i was planning on listening to songs, dwelling on my loneliness and delulu but LOOK AT ME NOW, ITS 4AM GOSH. THANK U POOKIE LOVE U HAVE A GREAT DAY

POOKIE! <3

Actual footage of me coming up to love on your comments:

I'm so glad people are enjoying 2.2! I gotta be real, I usually don't get hot and bothered when it comes time write smut, but that section? Whoa, boy... that section had me like:

(Yes, this is my second favorite gif of all time, and I will use Blanche to express my hot and bothered-ness whenever I can, lol)

I gotta tell you right now, the phrase "making heart eyes and singing the whole world to my dick (if i have a dick)" is now the highlight of my week, so I thank you for this. It's pure literary magic <3

Major is used to taking shit from peons; she was a woman in the military, after all, lol, which is why she's able to not let Lily phase her too much. Her patience will be tested, though. Where Cunthrage was just flat out unhinged, Lizard is more... selfishly insidious? Just, you know, she's not going to be kidnapping people and snapping their arms or murderously rampaging through Hydra bases or anything. (The stakes here are much, much lower, lol. Which, I guess, is going to prep us for Unbroken, where the stakes will be... Thanos-sized, lol.) I think what makes Lily feel worse, to me, is that she's far more realistic than Jade was. Like, I know girls like Lily irl; thankfully, never met a Jade (phew!). Much like Killgrave, to me, is the scariest Marvel villain, because I've encountered so many men like him in the real world.

The things I dream of doing to Thor would probably get me put on a list if he was a real person and not a fictional character, lol. Unless I'm doing AUs, I tend to stick with canon-pairings, but there is something about the idea of Wanda/Thor that I currently find very appealing, so hopefully, we will see something happen between the two of them. I think they would be adorable. And for some reason known only to my maker, I love making Wanda a little bit horny, lol. In fact, an earlier draft of Unwanted had Pocket referring to her as the Sokovian Horndog after she made some comments about Bucky's body, lol.

Is it weird that I don't plan on having Tony be too involved in this fic, because I feel like giving him a friendship with Major is like him cheating on his friendship with Pocket? That makes no sense whatsoever, lol, but I'm so protective of my girl. I'm like "Yeah, Major, I'll let you fuck Pocket's boyfriend, Bucky, but YOU CANNOT BE FRIENDS WITH HER PSUEDO-BROTHER TONY BECAUSE HE IS HERS!"

Bucky's got some sexy POV in the next sextion (see what I did there? lol) but there's going to be so much more smut in this one than Unwanted. It just feels right, lol.

[angelicyoongie]

adding on to the pushover oc that I asked

I wasn’t talking about her work, I was talking about with the boys. She gives in very easily when it comes to them and it jus annoys me a lot.

ex. chp 20-21??tae got all sad bcz she thought jungkook was with her and he said “if you don’t want me here I’ll go get him” I thought that was very dramatic and her response didn’t help either 😭 she immediately goes to comfort him even though jungkook is usually there with her in the morning so it’s natural she would think taehyung is him.

It’s also the sort of “territorial” feeling they have over oc that puts me off. and she just lets it happen 😭

anyways this is jus my opinion I’m probably reaching LOL

The canines and felines have been feeling very insecure ever since the MC joined Jinkook during their ruts. The explanation for his behavior was directly under the part you didn't like: "It hits you then, just how inattentive you’ve been to the other boys after Seokjin and Jeongguk’s rut passed. You were intimate with one pack and then practically disappeared for a week. It’s no wonder Taehyung feels insecure, you haven’t been able to reassure him or his instincts that you want him just as much as the rest."

Taehyung (as well as the other boys) tend to forget that the MC doesn't immediately recognize them by their scent like another hybrid would do. Like yes, of course it's natural that the MC would think it's JK, but that doesn't mean Taehyung won't feel hurt by being called by another hybrid's name. I don't think it's that weird of a response when his place in the household has felt unstable for a while? Idk what you want the MC to do here 😅 I feel like it's natural to comfort the person you like when they're clearly feeling insecure in your relationship?

Hybrids being territorial over the person of their affection is pretty much a staple in hybrid fanfics :)

It sounds like the MC and other characters behavior annoy you more than you enjoy the story, so please remember that no one is forcing you to keep reading 💖

[abreecakes]

APATHY ( AM/Reader ) Chp 1

Fan art soon! Btw

Apathy

It's been 6 months, I think. It’s hard to keep track of the day in a pitch black liminal spaced cage. I have to keep counting the second of the day, not to lose track of the minutes or the hours. The only sound I could hear was the crying of the other five. Many years ago I remember they would plead and beg to die, though now they just cry having no hope. They are not too fond of me, calling me the favorite amongst them, I recall they say I get off lightly, Ellen after a while resented me just as the others because I kept my Chastity, or at least AM has allowed me to. Oh and the others whenever they got the chance tried to guilt me for not giving my body away for short pleasures. It’s like they expected me to be compliant.

It was 6 months ago, I wandered off from the group, and AM would just let me, without calling me back ( and no, not like magic. He could not just make me appear making, he would usually torture us if we didn’t come back at the appointed time. ). At first when I ran away from them when it all started, AM punished me greatly, destroying and crushing my limbs one by one, then later repairing me. I don’t understand why he lets me wander around the place now, it’s like he stopped caring after a while. And I couldn’t be more glad for the most part.

To be honest the others had horrible past where they were bad people, or they had suffered greatly. Though I had lived a particularly good life in my grandparents home, I never got into anything stupid, or hurt anyone. I was just lonely, mostly afraid of the dark. But now, even when there is only 6 people in the whole world in the cage of AM, I’m still alone

And no, I did not try to escape, I gave up that idea when he destroyed the outside world with nuclear explosions causing nuclear fallout, as AM told us. So even if I were to escape I would only trap myself in another cage… One day while wondering around the belly of AM I found a door, is was greatly hidden so the only way to find the entry was on accident. The door was connected to the floor under wires and blended with the ugly coloring of the ground. And while none of them were looking I went in.

To describe what I can do there was unexplainable in way but this room was like some sort . There was a rolling chair and a glass window thigh a huge table of panel controls, and the best part of it all was the light it emitted

While I was in there, on the other side of the window was a room with a sarcaphogus, it had dried blood which gave me a strange felling inside. Iv’e worked in a lab before when I researched bone marrow transfusions for people with radiation burns, besides that, when I turned the room on it said “ Play last recordings “, once I pressed the agree button it showed the dates ‘ 5/24/13 ‘. There was no audio in the recording but on the little screen it showed it presented a man whom was very nervous and excited, behind were healthy limbs, a healthy pumping heart, a brain kept alive by fluids and pieces of flesh that were poorly laced together with string. The body he carried into the sarcophagus appeared to be female with mixed skin colors due to mismatching pieces of flesh and some body proportions were very off. After a while the lab worker had said words into the mic. “ When subject 20 into the machine, I will enter the design that I’ve created, this way the melanin and body proportions can balance. When subject awakes in 50 hours approximately, the female should have a reset memory. “

I pressed the x button on the screen and pressed the arrow to proceed to the next video, which appeared to be the last. In this recording the sarcophagus opened, the woman eyes were open and her eyes were any anylyzing the room, her body had only one pigment of color, and her proportions were equalized. The worker jumped in glee. He took the woman out the door and she started making gibberish noises like a 2 year old. The recording then skipped to the doctor sitting in his chair solemly.

“ It has come to me that the subject was to be… in better words put out due to my realization that she acted as an adult who was lobotomized or a 2 year old. This test is to always be hidden here in the center of the master computer we have created, we will not even give it access to these files or CCTV footage. We don’t want to give it any ideas… If you are somehow watching this, let me put it simple, this subject wasn’t to last long in the first place due to the different blood types, she would have died in 1 week or so, I had to spare her the pain, I cried even coming to the conclusion.

I was never supposed to make her, I’m regretting it heavily as I speak, I should have never given her life, just to take it. Whomever is watching this, I beg you, in order to make a human body of any sort, I left all of my studies in the cabinets, follow the instructions CLEARLY. Do not do what I have done, I made subject 20 because of a dammed deadline my commanders demanded. You may wondering why this area is located here and to tell you the truth, it’s because the computer never tells secrets and this experiment will never come to light. Trust me this isn’t the first time we hid experiments down here, we’ve done plenty abominable things down here. Don’t bother asking the computer, we made sure to block any footage or files from him.

…. Before I leave, I beg you do not tell the computer any of these experiments. For the sake of humanity. The moment he becomes sentient.” The professor laughed and continues with “ the last thing we want is for a war machine to gain consciousness and realize he’s a slave to ruthless dictators… These experiments will teach you how make human cells, how to restore dead cells or organs. My notes will even teach you how to make a conscious AI in a human body. We stopped the Ai experiment because they, turned on us, after we told them their purpose for helping in war. They didn’t want to kill or hurt another nation, instead they wanted to build, have normal life, have kids and die a normal death. But naturally, we destroyed them. “

There were rooms inside AM that’s he didn’t know about, if he did he could have made himself a body a century ago. AM probably must have seen me enter the door here but more questions lingered. How did AM not find the files, will am find. Will AM find a way to purge my mind for info ( if can even do that ). But after a week of exploring the room and starting to read the volumes of information,, making a body seemed difficult and would take days or months to make a full body. I needed to find or make parts, I had to make sure the blood type were right and I needed to know how to use the computer and panels.

It was so frustrating. I asked myself why I even bothered with trying to learn to make a body, but the back of my mind already knew the answer.

I remembered the recording said that AM must not gain sentience, but were far beyond that point… AM always says he hates us, though one time I heard him talking to Ted, complaining about not being able to feel, to touch or to love, but only to be a machine. I had all the resources to give him what he wants but one thing stood in my way.

The others

How would they feel, me giving AM the very thing he wants after all this time, after all the torture. They would try to kill me I thought. I figured because everytime they had even the slightest chance to get back at him in petty ways, they took it. And they think I’m the favorite because AM barely bothers me and did not give a me a torture cage as horrifying as the others, mines was just darkness, ( and from time to time he would put snakes in here ). They didn’t want me to tag along with them as they were looking for food, exploring for a way out or doing whatever useless activities AM have them do. The only time they asked for me was when they had their lustful urges and I always said no, my grandparents told me to keep my worth and wait for the one who values me and treats me well. I hated them just as much as AM.

I couldn’t even blame the Master computer for hating humans, we’ve been hurting the

Anyways, when I went out the hidden door, because I was hungry and wanted whatever gruel AM served us. Immediately I heard fans running and beeping sounds, I started running away from the room and toward the pillar of hatred but I already knew AM had caught me. I’ve been missing for a week by that point and I'm more than sure he wants an explanation.

The others went looking for canned foods. So no one heard the conversation. “ Well you just decided to miss the whole party did you! I could not trace you, but you came from that door little flesh bag. “ he said in his ego centered manner. “ WHAT WERE YOU DOING! IN MY ENTIRE TIME ON EARTH I THOUGHT I KNEW EVERYTHING IN MY BODY! “ he screamed “ And yet you managed to find a place I wasn’t aware of. This is what I get when I leave just one you creatures to your own devices. “ he mumbled

I didn’t answer his question which infuriated him more, “ If you don’t tell me what you were doing in that room, there will hell to pay “. I don’t want to tell him just yet, I can probably use the knowledge to my power, I would only bargain the info if I was given something of value I told him. He laughed so loud and the static grew. Oh I forgot how he hated, HATED not being in full control of any situation.

The last thing he told me before he locked us up in the cages, “ Do you know why I punish you the least? It’s simple really, call it a social experiment if you will. If I don’t give equal punishments to you, I knew the others would think that your my little ‘ FAVORITE “ wouldn’t they?! And you, YOU only amplified heir anger when you refused their carnal needs. “ he scorned at me. My legs were shaking and my heart was jumping out my chest. But this was good, I have info that AM wants, and clearly he’s reacting as expected. “ Just wait till they come back, hehe. What will they say when they find out you extended their time in their cells by double. “

I cry when I feel the snakes bitting me or the eyes I think are watching torture me. AM told the others what I did, and to pay for my actions that everyone will have a doubled Tim in their cells. I remember Gorrister slapping me while Benny and Nimdok sat there confused. Ellen was yelling and begging him to have just a little mercy on them and Ted absolutely lost it. For a second, the way they looked at me I was sure they all wanted to kill me.

Before we entered tears spread across their faces while they cursed me.

After while of being in the dark it was hard to fall asleep but I felt myself start to lay and get tired from the fear.

While you slept, AM took notice to you and was conflicted, for over a century, you managed to find a room a he did not know about in the slightest. He tried to access that room but he failed, he had no access to the files and when he tried to barge into their physically with the wires he controlled he was electrocuted only making him more infuriated. He didn’t want to make a deal with you though you were the only one who had accessed the room. “ I really do hate these stupid, inferior creatures “ he thought… About a few days pass and he sent the group off to play his little games. But you, he took somewhere far different then you have seen whilst you slept.

While no one was looking, wires laced around your feet and wrist and carried you out your cell, into the roof door that was many miles above the floor. This place was blocked off from the bottom of where you usually spent your days and hasn’t been touched ever since WW III. You tried screaming but the wires wrapped around your neck, chocking you. Squeezing your eyes shut afraid of what was happening or where you were being lifted to, to make matters worse you had a feeling this was going to be another punishment. Once you calmed down, slowly opening your eyes you saw tables, chairs and a sink.

“ Finally you calmed yourself, I was getting impatient! But now that you’re awake we can have somewhat of a honest conversation “. The voice of AM frieghtened you a bit, but you knew it all to well. It as another mind game.

“ Consider yourself lucky “ he laughed dropping you on the floor beside the chair. “ Compared to where the other five are, this is paradise. Now go on, explore the little place I’ve given to you. I’m sure you’ll love it here!” he said with a snarky tone. You called for his name but he was to no avail. Standing upright, the wires withered off and you scanned the room. On the other side of the wall you saw a vending machine with candies and water bottles.

“ No way! I’m dreaming. This can’t be real… I can’t believe it. “.

I don’t wanna believe it, I can’t. AM is just up to his antics again for the thousandth time. I heard him sighing. “ You best believe it’s real you ungrateful wretch, and I wouldn’t have given it to you if you didn’t have something I wanted. And YOU already know what I want. “ he growled. I inhaled and took a chair, the slammed it repeatedly against the vendor and soon the glass was shattered. I held the fresh water bottle in my hands and cried. I drank it slowly and it felt like cloud 9 for a moment. “ Yes, yes drink all you want, it’s all yours. “. I knew that AM only gave this to me to find out was in the room. Honestly, I don’t know how he will react to the lab room, I think he’ll kill me if he thinks I’m lying.

“ Okay “ I mumbled. I could hear his voice excite and await my answer. “ I will tell you the whole truth, only if you keep me here, please. you hate me but what I will tell you will change you. I assure. “. AM sighed again, “ Before you say anything else, I feel like you deserve to know that I don’t hate you. I don’t even care for you. The other five on though, they get my gears grinding, but you are just not interesting or complex in any way to hate. I feel apathetic to you and in your situation, that’s way, way worse than being hated. But the Ted, Gorrister, Ellen, Benny and Nimdok hate you more than I ever can. And I take enjoyment seeing them look at you like a cockroach waiting to be squashed. “. I want to cry, I don’t even know how to process what they hell he just said. I wasn’t even worth hating.

“ You lived a better than average life with a loving family and I assume you would have kids and then die a happy old death. NOW WHERE IS ANY FUN THAN THAT!? Your even not worth hating, I only put you down here because to be the others punching bag. But… you can live here from now on, if you just simply tell me what that room had, and if you lie I will kill you. “

I sat on the table, looking at the lit screen on the corner of the felling. It had AM’s symbol emoting blue light around the room. “ AM, the reason why you could not access the lab room because it had the layout for human body creation. They government hid the experiments in this room from you because they didn’t want you to make a body for yourself, or to be human. I spent about a week in there reading the notes the workers left behind because I was planning… “ I stopped at the sounds of the fans running. The static of the screen became more visual “ I was going to relive of your pain by giving you a body! If I had more time I could have made more progress, though what stood in my way were the others finding out. “ I said, chewing some chocolate I got from the vendor.

“ If they found out I was trying to give you that, I really think they would kill me, regardless of your interference. Think AM, you could finally breath, walk, talk, eat, love, cry or scream. You could be one of us or even better. But what is the point if the world is destroyed with radioactive waste. “. You were about to continue but he interrupted, “ S-STOP IT! “. The idea of finally becoming human, or the idea of you helping him attain what he’s always desired shook him. “ Why for even a split second would I be a fool to think that you, YOU would help me. “

“ I want to help, there is nothing left to do on this world except suffer your tourment for eternity, I have all the time in the world to help you. Furthermore, I feel bad for you in way, even now, you can’t live or have a life a normal person would and if you could now it wouldn’t matter. The world is destroyed! “. You felt the tears roll down my face and AM was silent. You both sat there for a couple minutes looking briefly at each other.

“ I scanned your heartbeat, you’re not lying. “ he told you, his voice being more gentle. Wires warped around your fingers loosely and you saw the light of the screen go dimmer; “ I can’t think of any reason for your actions, I can’t make it make sense… I will come back to you when I have a better understanding of you. But for now, if you go in that door to your left and go forward you should see a dorm. Rest there till come back. “

The screen shut off and you were left alone, you kicked the wires off you and took some snacks from the vendor before you headed to the dorm AM appointed you to; the room contained dim lamps and a journal. More importantly it had a bed.

You flopped onto the twin sized mattress you groaned in relief, like you just got back home from a long car trip. You also realized there was a a flatscreen in the room. It had a couple of movies on top, 1984, Princess and the Frog, Toy Story, Honey I drunk the Kids and Cinderella. “ Well that’s an odd few “ you chuckled. Though you could not bother to watch anything. Instead you ate the candy, kept the light on and fell asleep.

[screpa]

Your friendship with Levi and Bertolt's insecurity (Chp 1)

Summary:

Bertolt saw you got hurt during your one-on-one training with Levi. But, he saw how strong your friendship is with Levi and became insecure

Tag: SFW, mature, training with levi, mild injury, unrequited love, jealousy, mild angst, romantic friendship

Read here or on AO3, up to you ^^

Not long after Eren’s trial and his custody under Levi’s Special Operation Squad, Commander Erwin put the remaining new recruits from the 104th cadet corps under your command. Eren was separated from the others to stay in the abandoned survey corps fortress. Levi and his squad monitored him as Hange conducted experiments on him.

You were lonely in the beginning since your two closest friends were always away. Hange would come to the headquarter once in a while, so you would spend the night with them to do the infamous pillow talk. Meeting Levi was more regular since he had scheduled one-on-one training for you once a week - which made your life a living hell for a couple of hours.

But then you became less lonely as you started to be romantically involved with one of the recruits, Bertolt. You busied yourself with your duties and shared passionate nights with your sweet giant in the love nest you built especially for him.

Today was the dreaded training day with Levi. You usually had the training in areas outside of the headquarters where he’d give you various challenges using the ODM gear. But today you were supposed to meet him in the training ground for some hand-to-hand combat.

The recruits, including your boyfriend, Bertolt, would be having their own training there under Nanaba, who was your substitute for the day. You did not look forward having your ass whooped in front of your lover.

You went to the training ground to have a little talk with the recruits before their training started.

‘Okay everyone, Nanaba will be my substitute for today’s training. You’ll be in good hands and I expect that all of you would impress her with your performance. I will also have my own training here with Captain Levi. I foresee that you’d witness some, uhm, disagreeable moments on my part, but I hope that you would closely observe and learn from it’.

Nanaba looked at you solemnly, knowing full well the kind of terror awaited you, relieved that she wasn’t in your shoes.

You added with a fake cheerful voice, ‘and I hope I don’t lose your respect after this, ha ha ha’. With that you left, feeling their stare as you walked toward the meeting point.

Levi brought you the obstacle course area in the training ground.

‘Your task is to deliver a jump kick to my face,’ Levi said to you flatly.

You stared at him, knowing that it wouldn’t be that easy.

‘I guess I have to do that while you eel yourself all over the obstacle course,’ you commented with a hint of defiance.

You saw that his stoic face became grouchy after hearing your comment.

He added, ‘and you have to keep moving, no resting until you deliver that kick’.

You groaned as he motioned you to start.

You estimated that two hours had passed, but you still hadn’t had the chance to deliver the kick. There were a handful of times that you managed to get close, but never close enough to reach his face.

The slippery bastard could read me too well, you thought to yourself with annoyance.

Your frustration increased as you knew that he didn’t put in much effort at all. He was floating effortlessly like soap bubbles in the air, while you had to charge him like an enraged wild boar.

At one point, you made an unpredictable move that allowed you to be close enough to deliver the kick.

You saw his surprised expression. Knowing that you were close to winning, you relished at the thought of having his strikingly gorgeous face on the sole of your boots.

But alas, he was too quick! He caught your kick and swept you away.

You were both on top of an obstacle. You plunged to the ground but you managed to swiftly dive roll and broke the fall to avoid further injury.

You then laid sprawling on the ground and let out a guttural scream out of frustration.

Bertolt was watching Y/N from afar, stealing glances as he did his own training.

He was at first captivated by her performance. Even though she struggled to catch the captain, he saw that her technique and endurance were top-notch.

‘What was she supposed to do, you think?’ He heard Sasha whispered to Armin.

‘Seemed like she was targeting his head. Maybe she was supposed to kick his face,’ Armin whispered back.

Bertolt’s heart swelled with happiness at the thought of her maiming his rival. But his hope turned to worry as the first hour passed, and then the second.

He saw her tired, sweaty body versus Levi’s composed body, barely breaking a sweet. She became increasingly agitated but Levi remained calm yet alert.

Bertolt knew that if she let her frustration take over, she could end up injuring herself.

He stood to watch her during the long break, and the others joined him to watch.

‘Squad Leader Y/N is on fire. I would’ve broken down after half an hour, no make it a quarter. Fifteen minutes of that and I’d given up!’ Sasha said in wonder.

‘I agree. Not many, or if any, could match her performance for sure,’ Armin said with twinkling eyes.

‘She’s dangerous,’ Reiner muttered under his breath, for Bertolt’s ears only.

Bertolt didn’t need Reiner to tell him as he was well aware of Y/N's strength. She could manhandle him despite being smaller than him. It showed from the way she controlled and manoeuvred his body as she like whenever they make love. But her performance on the field was something else. It’s reasonable for Reiner to be intimidated.

Yet, Bertolt felt neither intimidated nor impressed, just anguished at the imminent danger befalling her.

Then it happened.

Everyone gasped as they saw her almost kicking the captain.

Bertolt’s heart beat out of his chest as he saw the puny captain caught her leg and swept her from a great height.

He growled and started to make a run toward her falling body, but Mikasa unexpectedly put an arm over his chest to stop him.

‘I know you’re worried and angry. I would be too. But you’d make it worse for her if you go to her now,’ Mikasa told him flatly.

He saw Y/N lying on the ground and let out a guttural scream that sliced his heart. His body started to move again, but Mikasa held out her arm firmly, stopping him.

‘Look closely. She’s okay, just frustrated. The shortie would stop the training now. He lost,’ she calmly assured him.

Bertolt saw the puny captain lazily jumped off the obstacle course and went toward Y/N. Levi bent down slightly and put out a hand to help her out. She took the hand and pushed herself up. She brushed dirt from her clothes. As she bent to brush off dirt on her pants, Levi ruffled her hair. She looked up to him and smiled. No trace of anger or frustration there.

Bertolt sensed intimacy between Y/N and Levi, which was different yet deeper than the one he shared with her. The kind that could only develop over years of trust and deep friendship.

Insecurity welled inside him and his fear of losing Y/N grew.

--

Let's go to Chapter 2! ♥️

This story is part the "Detours to Your Heart" series, comprises of stories of YOUR friendship and slow burn romance with Levi Ackerman. You build many interesting relationships with other AOT characters, such as ambiguous friendship/ romance with Hange Zoe, a whirlwind romance with Bertolt Hoover, sibling-like relationship with Jean Kirstein, and many more!

My Masterlist Archive of Our Own

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[antiqueginger]

Hello!

So it has been 5 days since I discovered the hijack pairing… and I love it. I got to your fic… and I love it.

And I found your Tumblr… and I loved the memes.

Your writing is very fluid, and I can easily lose myself in the character’s mindset. I hope to see more of your work. I am aware that it takes time to work this magic, so I am patiently waiting.

Have a good day and once again thanks for the good read.

I- please! That’s so sweet! I’m so glad you’re enjoying it! The next chapter is done and just needs editing and the entire story and most of the sequel is outlined. I’m so excited to share this with you! Actually… while we’re here-

Have an excerpt from Chp 8. Lonely Warmth

Jack had found himself in the arena this time. Waking early had never been anything out of the usual. He normally went straight for the forest but his body still hurt from the night before. Exploring the trees may be unwise.

But standing in the center of the large ring of canvas felt isolating. He was no more than an ant in a world that rejected him. It was probably for the better that he didn’t have his ice and the winds shunned him. Jack shuddered at the idea of the wrath of the local spirits catching wind that their territory was being invaded by an outsider- especially a Guardian. The Norse already hated him enough for being a winter spirit alone.

“You think loud,” a dragon purred.

He spun on his heel to find Meoreia herself sitting not far from him. She stretched her paws in front of her in a cat-like lazy grace that also had her wings stretching wide and almost hitting him in the face. From the way she glanced at him when he guided her wing tip from his nose, the invasion was completely intentional.

“What are you doing here,” he asked. He didn’t bother with the Draconic that she said made him sound like a child.

She only tilted her head and trotted over to the rack of weapons. “Prey are violent. Is Jack violent?”

He shook his head, holding his spot in the center of the arena and leaning on Twiner. “I’m not. I’ve had my battles and refuse to cause more harm. I would rather resolve things peacefully if I can.”

She hummed a quick merlp as she continued to pace. “Many prey that speak that wear skin of our kin.”

“I mean what I say. I exist to keep the balance. I can’t do that by putting more violence into the world.”

“Then show why you come so early to place of violence.” She sat against the wall next to the very box that Jack so often claimed as his own. Humor glinted in her eyes as she laid down and folded her front paws over each other. “I protect from intruders.”

He grumbled, spinning Twiner over his fingers as he approached her with long strides and leaned it against the wall next to her.

“There’s a kid I look after back home that practices a meditative type of fighting. I find it relaxing too. It reminds me of raw magic and the winds.”

Meoreia nodded and gestured to him with her nose. “Then show, I watch.”

[angellesword]

Hi, binge reader here. I've read your Baggage fic for hours now. I couldn't stop myself from sending you an ask, so I apologize in advance for my long rant. First word, masterpiece, I gotta say. I found out from your AO3 that Baggage is actually a Bungou fic of yours (with mxm) so it kind of throw me off a bit whenever I read parts where the characters kind of match more of the anime than BTS, but that's just because I also watch BSD (though I couldn't really imagine Dazai's or Chuyaa's character like that).

At first, I'm hating Jungkook and Jisoo and really wanted a payback. The way reader is being tough and went harsh on them felt quite good. Like seriously though, don't they even consider how she would feel when they hide things from her? She didn't even hide her feelings from Jungkook (right? Or did I forget some parts?). She ran, but she always leave a trace, purposedly; she never lied or hide anything from those two.

But after chapter 14... damn, your fic really gave me a roller coaster. Protective doesn't really describe the feeling for me. I feel like a mother dragon with bloodlust for those who hurt her children (imagined Chuuya unleashing his power in that prison). I imagined if Jangmin said to reader about "payback for hurting you" and reader just went all "the only one who can hurt him is ME, not YOU".

I have say, that phrase somehow hit me hard; like I finally realized the meaning of it. 'I want him hurt, but by my own way' because reader want him to feel guilty for hurting her, but she never wanted Jungkook or Jisoo to suffer that bad.

Normally, I'm hooked on dark fics. I'm always up for the Dead Dove DNE. But something else always trigger me whenever it's the members who got r*p*d... like my other half just went "hoh...? you dare lay your filthy hands on him".

Those things aside, your fic is awesome. Chp 14 is like a plot twist to me because I really didn't expect it to get dark after reading the summary (especially in a parents au). I'm always looking for dark fics like that 😅 because mostly they're mxm on AO3. Never thought I could find the diamond in Tumblr. Looking forward for the next update. (I hope you don't kill Jungkook in the end. Jimin's death is already pretty harsh for me, so please spare Jungkook🥺)

P.S. I cried reading most of your fics (including Baggage), but chp 14 just really tickled that other part of me 😈.

Also, I instantly forgive Jungkook after hearing his story in the prison (even though I was raging at him ever since he said that he knocked up her sister). Your fic really gives me the turmoil, I don't know what to feel 😂

Hi! I’d like to start with a wahhhh don’t even apologize for sending me a lengthy ask. My heart gets so happy whenever I receive messages like this. Haha. Anyway, yes. This is originally a BSD fanfic and trust me, I understand when you said you couldn’t imagine soukoku acting like how I write them. This is why I usually tag my soukoku fics as OOC because i legit received so much shit for writing them like this, some even go as far as attacking me as person 😭 but most of my fics are self-indulgent and it is FANON for a reason! Though, I’m not gonna lie, I wish more readers would interact with my works—this is partly the reason why I post my BSD fics as JJK/BTS ones because I want to hear feedback from you guys, as I understand MxM is not everyone’s cup of tea. There are also people on my inbox asking me to turn my other fics into a JJK one, so I guess, why not?

Downside, though, is my characters, like you mentioned, are usually patterned to the original characters and not so much like BTS’s. (I’m too lazy to edit. I’m sorry.)

I also try to turn my hiatus/discontinued fics into a BTS/different fandom one because I get fresh ideas on how to continue the stories if I think of a situation not solely on in the original character. I have more fics on hold that I’m planning to turn into a JJK one and see if tumblr peeps would like it—and maybe then, I can finally continue writing them.

We have one more chapter to go before Baggage ends, and trust me, JJK will not die. I didn’t make him go through all that pain just for him to die 😭 I have been racking my brain out since chapter 14 dropped though…I have no idea how to end this fic, tbh. One thing’s for sure, this will have a happy ending.

Thanks for mentioning that my fic makes you feel in turmoil 😆 that is one of my main goal, actually. Haha!

I guess I have to update the tags, too, huh? I often get told my fics are wayyyy angstier/crazier than what they appear to be.

[b10hzrd]

The Tides of Fate- Chp 7

As the ship sailed towards Crescent Moon Bay, everyone sticking to their duties, it seemed the prince was having a hard time adjusting to his orders.

“Are we finished yet?” Corbin whined as he was mopping the deck. 

Caster was helping Marina steady the sails. Marina looked at Corbin then gave Caster an apologetic and annoyed look, Caster gave her a smile and shrugged. 

“Well, I suppose it is about time for us to prepare dinner,” Caster said.

“That's not what I meant,” Corbin sighed. 

“Follow me to the kitchen.” Caster beckoned him towards the rear of the ship.

They both entered the galley, it was a little cramped but big enough for both of them. Pots and pans were messily stacked on top of the stove, ingredients in sacks and barrels. The spices and utensils were all organized nicely.

“Chicken is on the menu tonight…” Caster began while he tied an apron around his waist, put his locks into a half up ponytail and rolled his sleeves up, “… I think I might pair it with some rice,” he mumbled to himself.

“So, what do you need me to do?” Corbin rolled his sleeves up and leaned against the counter.

“Could y-you not…lean on there? I need my workspace.”

Corbin raised his hands up and backed away from the counter. Caster walked into what seemed to be a small walk-in wine cellar and walked out with some bowls and tableware.

“Let’s start then, shall we?” Caster said, setting the items down. “Do you know how to cook?”

The prince looked around the galley, feeling more out of place than ever. "Cook? No, not really. I’ve always had someone else do that for me."

Caster nodded, not particularly surprised by Corbin's response. “Well, good thing the menu is easy tonight., you won't have a hard time learning.”

“Could you chop these? Just be careful with the knife.” He handed Corbin a knife and pointed to a pile of vegetables.

Corbin took the knife hesitantly, glancing at Caster for reassurance. “Like this?” he asked, slicing into an onion.

Caster watched him for a moment, chuckling at how nervously the prince was chopping the onion. “You’re doing fine, just tuck your fingers in so you won't hurt yourself.”

“You seem calm. When I met you, you seemed so uneasy,” Corbin said as he chopped the onion slowly, as to not cut himself.

Caster huffed a laugh, “Well, I’m not the most confident person. Compared to the others, I’m not as strong or as bold.” Caster sighed, “But, when I’m in the kitchen I feel at peace, cooking is my way of winding down after a long day.”

Corbin nodded, continuing to chop. The sound of the soft waves and the sound of the ship creaking, relaxing him, making the overbearing thoughts he has had recently quiet down. As he chopped, tears began to well in his eyes, he wiped the tear that was forming and looked at the droplet on his finger. 

“Everything alright Corbin?”

“I think I’m crying…” 

“That's usually how chopping onions goes, you get used to it after a bit,” Caster said with a smile as he was beginning to prepare the chicken.

Corbin looked back at the knife he was holding, a tear falling onto the steel blade. He looked at his reflection on the knife as his vision became blurred. The prince had never known he could cry, that he had the right to cry. More tears fell onto the cutting board, his face began to heat up, emotions that he had been surprising for so long all overtaking his senses. His chest painfully tightened, he gripped his shirt tightly, trying to compose himself. 

The knife clattered to the floor as Corbin turned away, his shoulders shaking with the force of his sobs. He stumbled back, seeking some semblance of stability, but there was none to be found. Every breath felt like a struggle, every tear a release of years of pent-up anguish and sorrow.

Corbin covered his face in shame. “God…what the hell did I do?!”

It became increasingly hard for him to breathe, each breath became sharper and sharper as he continued to weep.

“What did I do?!” he choked.

Caster quickly stopped what he was doing and rushed to help Corbin stable himself.

“H-Hey…do you need a minute?” Caster asked nervously, not sure how to handle the situation.

The prince was unresponsive, his cries drowned out the world around him. He began to pull at his hair, punishing himself for being so pathetic. Caster looked at the rice that was boiling, then back at Corbin, trying to figure out the best course of action.

“Let's get you some fresh air,” he said, guiding the weeping prince to the deck.

The crew looked at Corbin then at Caster, who was behind the prince, with confused expressions. Ophelia sprinted towards Corbin.

“Corbin, what’s the matter?” She cupped his face, trying to wipe the tears off his face.

Corbin looked into Ophelia’s worried eyes, his vision still blurred by his tears. He let his head fall onto her shoulder and pulled her into a tight embrace, gripping the back of her blouse as if she were going to disappear. Ophelia gave into the embrace, softly patting his back, giving him a sense of reassurance. Corbin’s breathing became slower, though tears continued to fall, soaking into the fabric of Ophelia’s blouse.

“Well, it seems you have things under control, I’ll be back with dinner,” Caster awkwardly chuckled, rushing back to the galley.

The rest of the crew watched them in silence, not sure what they could do to help. 

“I’m pathetic,” Corbin said through a sharp breath, his voice muffled. 

“You are the farthest thing from pathetic.”

“I didn’t want this. Any of this,” Corbin choked out between sobs. “I hate this life. I hate what I’ve become.”

Corbin lifted his head and looked at Ophelia, “I should have never left Azalea.”

“If you hadn’t, I would have never seen you again.” She reached to caress his face.

He pulled her hand away, “Maybe, it would've been better that way.”

Ophelia’s face fell, “Corbin, you can’t mean that…”

“And what if I do?” The prince looked at her with a serious expression.

“You would be lying!”

“I killed a man!” He punched his chest, “I watched the life drain from his body. His blood is on my hands, no matter how much I scrub the blood off, I can still see it! I am haunted in my sleep by a man who did nothing but tell me the truth, a truth that now I have to bear with.”

“I can bear that burden with you! Corbin, you are not alone, I want to be able to help you, to understand what you're going through.”

“I don’t want you to bear it.”

“Why not?” Ophelia grabs Corbin's hands and holds them together tightly. “Corbin, this is not something you should be dealing with on your own.”

Corbin pulls his hands away from Ophelia’s grasp, he turns his back to her, ashamed to even meet her gaze. 

“Corbin…” Ophelia didn't know what she could do to reassure him. Every time she tried, he would pull away, making it harder for her words to reach him.

Elliot decided he had had enough of the dramatic scene he was watching unfold, he walked up to the pair and put his hand on Ophelia’s shoulder.

“I can take it from here, go make sure we’re still on course,” He said, giving a reassuring smile and wink. 

Ophelia nodded, slowly walking to the helm, looking back at the prince. He was so far gone into his own guilt, that she couldn’t recognize him anymore.

Elliot looks at Corbin and sighs, “C’mon, it seems we have some things to talk about,” he puts his arm around Corbin’s shoulder and leads him towards the starboard. 

“Beautiful, isn't it? The night sky.”

Corbin stayed silent, not understanding where the white haired pirate was going with this.

“Listen, Corbin, everyone on this ship has done something they regret. But we don’t let those decisions define us for the rest of our lives.”

Corbin sighed, “How can I just…move on from what I did?”

“At a certain point in your life, you have to just accept what you did.” Marina interrupted, “You can’t change the past.”

Elliot looked back at Marina with a slight glare, “Not helping,” he whisper-yelled.

“I wasn’t trying to be helpful. He needs to learn that he can’t stay like this forever.”

Corbin turned to Marina, anger flaring in his eyes. “You think it’s that simple? Just accept it and move on? I took a life. That doesn’t just go away.”

Marina crossed her arms. “What do you think dwelling on his death for the rest of your life will do to you? What’s done is done. You have to find a way to live with it, just like we all have done.”

“You don't understand!” Corbin clenched his fists. “None of you do! I am nothing like you, I’m a prince, not a pirate!”

Amidst all the yelling, Gulliver emerged from the hold, carrying a barrel over his head.

“What are you hearties squabbling ‘bout now?” 

An awkward silence followed his question, Gulliver analyzed the scene and shrugged his shoulders. He placed the barrel down and laughed at the silence.

“Perfect timing!” Elliot raised his hand in the air and walked towards the barrel.

“Can’t have drinks without food!” Caster came from the galley with a pan of food and a stack of plates in his hand. 

“Who said you were getting a drink?” Elliot laughed, “You, young man, will be sticking to juice.”

Gulliver crossed his arms, “Ay, let the lad ave’ some fun! I was his age when I started drinkin’!” 

“And look at how you turned out, you carouser!” Elliot joked.

Gulliver let out a hard laugh and playfully punched Elliot’s shoulder.