#this is as spicy as we’ll get on this blog I promise
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firstofficerwiggles · 9 months ago
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Hello! I've binged so much of your writing today and oh my gods, I love it!
I hope I'm not too late to get in on the ask, but one of the star wars boys writing to me would be lovely. I'm over 50, and it's hard to admit this but I've never been on the receiving end of romantic gestures. Don't get me wrong, there's been much love in my life - practical, solid, occasionally goofy - but no romance.
Maybe it's my work? State Department, medic of various sorts including search and rescue, now a security guard. Practical stuff. But I also adore tea parties, and gardens, and steampunk and the entire Star Wars universe. Right now I'm building a Mandalorian medic outfit for conventions because bad ass medic who WILL shoot the asswipe who put that gaping hole in you? Yes.
Anyhow, sorry for babbling on and on at you. Whichever of the ones you think would romance an older woman, and would enjoy being spicy with a lady that can take a punch or dish one out, who grows flowers that also make a useful poultice to clear up that nasty bruise, hm?
Many thanks!
Aelf
Welcome to my blog! I’m so glad you found it and that you’re enjoying my writing. I can’t thank you enough for your kind words 💗 I’m going to ship you with Din Djarin for several reasons, first, I think Din loves badass women with a softer side too, and also because Din definitely needs his own personal medic 😂 (for the Mando’a: cyar’ika = sweetheart, ner kar’ta = my heart)
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Cyar’ika,
How are you, my love? I miss you more than I can say. I’m finally headed home after this latest mission for the New Republic. Why is it that so many of their missions need to take place in places that are more swamp than land? I swear I’m going to be scrubbing the beskar for a full week after this glop. I’m also not ashamed to admit that I’m going to need some patching up when I get back to you. I promise I was trying to be careful, but chasing after Trandoshans in a place infested with vines and the galaxy’s biggest mud puddles was a recipe for falling on my ass. Speaking of, there’s probably a few bruises there that I could use your help with. Thankfully I know you don’t mind looking at said ass. Mmm, and you know, if your ass needs any checking, I’m always available. In fact when I get home, I say we send the kiddo to go visit Auntie Peli, and then we get into a nice hot, soapy tub and you can inspect every inch of me, and you know I’m going to want to return that favor. Plus, as I reminded you last time, your kisses do even more for me than your medicines. I think I need to spend at least one entire evening sampling those sweet lips of yours while you’re in my arms. That sounds like sheer heaven to me. And well, you’re always telling me I need to spend more time in bed, so of course, we’ll need to spend several hours there too. It’s important for my health, and for yours too, because I’m sure you need to have some tension relieved like only I can. In fact I intend to see how often I can relieve that tension for you all night long. Ah, ner kar’ta, I wish I were home right now. I can’t wait to hear you saying my name and telling me how much you missed me too. The moment I see you, this helmet is coming off and I’m going to kiss you like something out of one of those romantic holofilms you love so much. You know what, I’m also going to send a message to Peli right now, she might need to keep the baby for a few days, because I think I need lots of extra time to remind you how special you are to me. Until then, take care, cyar’ika and know that I’m hurrying back to you.
Love,
Din
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Send in an ask for Wiggles' 1200 Follower Celebration
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spookyserenades · 1 year ago
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How!! I found Trouvaille 3 days ago and I’ve been been reading it nonstop! It’s so good, like bestseller quality good! I am excited for the update and I’m also sad about it because we’ll have to wait another month 😅 Worth it tho. Also I read the ask about the spicyness and you are just edging us aren’t you? 😭
Hii darling!! I'm so happy you found Trovaille in our cozy little corner of Tumblr 🥺💜 And thank you SO SO much for being so sweet, really I'm tearing up 😭 I'm so glad you love the story 💓 Update day is tomorrow! I promise, time between updates fly- and I have drabbles to work on in the meantime and ample time to chat here on the blog about anything Trouvaille (or anything in general LOL) 🥰
Also SCREAMINGGGG LMAO I promise I'm not edging you all! Trouvaille is very much slow burn, but there will be smut eventually (with my VERY rough outlines of the next few arcs, maybe as soon as 3-4 chapters away!!!) I hope it will be worth the wait, after pining for a little longer 🤭 Can you guess who will get spicy with MC first? 🤔
Anyways!!! Thank you for sending me love and for reading Trouvaille, I hope you enjoy Chapter Nine tomorrow! 😘
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koolkat9 · 1 year ago
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WIP Tag Game
Thanks for the tag @astrophilic-soul 
Rules: Reveal the titles of the documents in your WIP folder and tag as many people as there are documents. Let others ask questions about the ones that interest them and post snippets or explain the contents as you see fit!
One Problem. I don’t have a document per fic unless it’s a multichapter fic, more like I do 6 or so one-shots in one doc. And I don’t usually choose a title until I wrote everything out. But we can still do this. It’s just not going to be an actual title more like a few words that summarize the oneshot. Sit tight, we’ll be here awhile since I think I’m going to include outlines to try and motivate myself lol.  
CURRENTLY BEING WRITTEN OUT
Arthur Meeting Lud’s Dogs - Obviously GerEng 
Count Your Blessings (Chapter 3) - England + Canada 
GerFruk Arthur Sick fic - GerFruk
Got a Secret Can You Keep it? - GerEng (nsfw)
Day 6 - Folklore || Pining - FACE Fam + Fruk (this was originally going to be something for Fruk week but I couldn’t get myself to finish it in time since it is very long, but I do plan on returning to it)
Cardverse Fic - GerEng is the main focus, but there will also be Itapan, probably some platonic Al and Art, platonic Arthur and Yao, Scotfra, and so much more. Don’t know when it will be posted since I want to finish one of my other multichapter fics before jumping onto another. 
German Bros - Germany + Prussia (originally planned as a Father’s Day fic but I ran out of time. Probably won’t get posted until Father’s Day 2024)
Untitled - EngUkr (I think this was supposed to be a birthday fic, but then I ran out of time and just haven’t finished it yet)
GerEng Hurt/Comfort Hospital - GerEng, England + America 
Pruk Spice - Pruk (nsfw)
 Subspace - GerEng (nsfw)
Top England x Bottom BFT - BFT x England (nsfw. Based on a prompt on the hetalia kink meme)
ONLY OUTLINE (Break because this is where it gets long)
FACE Fam Sick Fic - FACE Fam + Fruk
Omega Ludwig being taken care of at a meeting (inspired by a convo on my spicy blog)
Ludwig’s Birth + Gil’s Anxiety - little Germany + Prussia (and Germania, though it’s more like he’s there in spirit with him possibly actually being present)
Francis Caring for Matt’s Hair - France + Canada
GerEng + Peter Sick fic - Obviously GerEng + Peter
Fruk Death Fic - Fruk (I promise it’s only temporary Character Death)
Arthur and Kiku taking Matt to a convention - England + Japan + Canada
FACE Fam Matt is Injured in Hockey - FACE Fam + Fruk
CuCan Beach Prompt - CuCan
CuCan Winter Prompt - CuCan
GerEng laying in Bed all day because Arthur is depressed and mentally drained - GerEng + an appearance by Ludwig’s dogs possibly
Canmano First Meeting - Canmano + a little bit of Ameliet
Art + Matt WW1
Arthur Getting Merlin - England + the kitten I gave him named Merlin
GerEng exercise Buddies - GerEng
Fruk Kiss Prompt - Fruk
Royal Red Bros Storm - England + little Canada
Matt Comforting Arthur after a Nightmare - England + little Canada
Lud Picking up Arthur after he fell asleep in a weird position - GerEng
Ludwig Cleaning Arthur’s Wounds After a Bar Fight
NyoCanUkr smut - Nyo Canada x Ukraine (nsfw)
Pet Play GerEng - GerEng
EngUkr Spice - EngUkr
CanCu Omegaverse - CuCan (nsfw. Based on prompt from Hetalia Kink Meme)
GerEng Thunder Storm - GerEng + Aster (Lud’s dog)
Matthew + Fran and Fran’s Fear of Planes - France + Canada
GerEng Late Night - GerEng
(there may be a few more, but I’m too lazy to check)
No way I’m tagging this many people
@aster-riskite @kitaychan @fireandiceland @fandomfollowerart @paperuniverse and anyone else I forgot to tag or who wants to join (no pressure)
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hargrove-mayfields · 4 years ago
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Harringrove April Day 19- Vines
Romance was never really a Billy Hargrove thing.
He’s just not a flowers kind of guy, and he doesn’t do sweet nothings or buy his sweetie chocolates before a date. Hell, he doesn’t even think he’s ever technically been on a real date.
For Steve, he can make the occasional exception, like bringing him his coffee in bed the morning after or throwing rocks at his window during the early hours of the morning, but for a long time they’re still in this sort of, undefined stage.
Billy’s alright with that entirely, because that just means he doesn’t have to worry about all the gooey romance stuff, but when Steve, who very much is a romantic, decides to put a label to this thing they’re doing, telling Billy he loves him and giving him some promise ring to wear for when they go off to college, he knows he wants to put in a little more work into this whole romance thing than just some cologne down his pants and hsi most charming smile.
So on the days when he can get away from Neil for long enough, Billy will take Steve on little dates to get midnight milkshakes at the diner or on long car rides into the city instead of just out to the quarry to end up in the backseat, but those hardly count as real romantic gestures.
It’s not that he doesn’t want to do nice things for Steve, it’s rather the opposite, he just isn’t sure what exactly he’s doing he’s doing here. What he has with Steve is a first for everything, well not really , but it’s the first he’d ever meant it, and he wants to do it right.
Their six months is in May, and Billy really wants to do something for it, to prove he’s as much into this as Steve is. He asks Max what is customary to do for an anniversary, and she tells him all kinds of things that’d have them dead in five minutes if they tried it, so she tries Susan, and she tells him all the same things, movie dates and candle lit dinners and meeting the parents (seriously Sus?).
He turns to Heather next, his last resort on all things dating advice, and she hits the mark a little closer, throwing things out there like going to a show in the city or smoking behind the dumpsters at Benny’s, but that one suggestion that really stands out to him is the vineyard.
That seems like the perfect mix of romantic, but not so romantic as to get themselves caught, and it seems very aligned with his boyfriends rich boy tastes anyways, so it just seems like the perfect idea.
There's one on the outskirts of Hawkins where it merges into Amish country, so that’s where he takes Steve, surprising him with the trip up a few days before the actual date.
To Billy, it’s very underwhelming, a little boring even, since the woman in charge doesn’t buy their IDs and makes them take the dry tour, but Steve seems to be into it. Billy can’t even imagine how many things like this he’d been dragged along to as a kid.
They’re walking through the endless rows of grapevine, Billy touching all the grapes like he’s not supposed to, Steve rolling his eyes at him for being such a kid, when Steve tells him, “You know we used to have grapevines in our backyard?”
“Nope. Why don’tcha anymore?”
“My mom told the gardener to cut them out because I’m allergic to grapes.” Steve says simply with a shrug, but Billy stops walking, “What?”
“Yeah, my dad showed me you could chew on grapevine and I did, but then my face got all itchy.” He eyes what must be a look of shock on Billy’s face, and asks, “I never told you that?”
“Do you really think I would’ve brought you here, where there are thousands of the little fuckers, if I knew that?”
“Well you took me to a flower field once, and I’m allergic to pollen.”
“I didn’t know that either!” Billy sighs, exasperated, “Stevie you have got to start telling me this stuff.”
“It’s really not a big deal.”
“It is though. Did this for the big day.”
Steve’s eyes widen, “You did? Billy, you didn’t have to do anything for me.”
“But I did . You’re always putting in so much effort and I’m just- I’m really bad at this, Steve.” He sighs, pulls a grape off its stem so he doesn’t have to look at him as he admits, “Need you to know how much you mean to me.”
“Hey, you say you love me, so I believe you. You don’t have to prove yourself to me, Bills.”
“You couldn’t have told me that before I brought you here?”
“Didn't know I needed to.” Steve gives him that look, the one that tells him there are better things to be doing right now than listening to old ladies droning on about wine, “Now what do you say we go home, and you can open my present early?”
And he knows he means it then, that he doesn’t hold him to all these fancy expectations like Billy’s been doing backflips to meet. Steve wants Billy, the real him, and quite frankly, he’s more than willing to give it to him.
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inviouswriting · 3 years ago
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7 Minutes - Zhongli
For @kreideprinzessin ‘s event they’re hosting~ I chose Zhongli for this, and I hope I delivered.
my blog is 18+ please be mindful and respectful of my boundaries~ I’m strict about it.
Zhongli x fem!reader / afab!reader
Very spicy. I apparently don’t know how to go soft. Warning list is below the cut.
Warnings - fem!reader (I know this is a turn off for some), scratching, teasing, fingering, heavy kissing and petting. A slightly aggressive Zhongli,
You and Zhongli had been invited to a larger scale party. A celebration in Mondstandt, thrown by Kaeya and you chose Zhongli to get him to see more of the neighboring regions. You had promised your former archon to not get drunk, to enjoy his company without slurring or worrying about anyone trying to steal you off him.
You had been lightly teasing him all evening, a touch at the small of his back beneath his coats. Enough for him to jump here and there, to side eye you with weary at you playing with such a powder keg of emotions. It wasn’t until one casual touch you made on his shoulders, your nails digging into his left shoulder and dragged across his entire back.
He had been sipping tea when you did it, and you can see molten gold eyes stare at you for touching such a fire spot for him. He loved to feel your fingers in his back, specially during intimate moments.
There were more couples around, and it was a casual suggestion that you play a game. Seven minutes, and you feel the color rise to your face.
“What game is this?” Zhongli asks you, and you turn to look at him, he had been giving you slight stares after the last scratch you made. All he needed was to get you alone for a few minutes, then you’d know how much you’ve teased him to. 
“It’s a silly game, I don’t know if you’d want to do it honestly.” Zhongli raises his hand to his face to think about it. He notes how your previous vim diminished at the mention of this game. Previous couples going in were coming out hot and flustered than when they went in as. It didn’t take him long to piece together what this was about.
“Explain to me more? What do you do during this “silly” game, and why do you look so flustered?” Zhongli leans closer to you, to hear your words directly, you had indeed awoken a dragon with your teasing.
“Well... you’re given a timer, seven minutes and those inside can do whatever, either talk or kiss.” You feel your face hotter at explaining a game like this. Yet the fire in Zhongli’s eyes told you he liked the idea.
“We’ll participate then. It sounds like fun for you and I. Wouldn’t you agree?” Zhongli places an arm at the small of your back to return the scratch you made on his back with pressing his fingers just right. Now that he knows the terms of the game. The rest of the place had too many prying eyes for what he wanted to do to get even with you. This provided him the perfect opportunity. You nod your head in agreement giving him consent to guide you over to where the game took place.
When you both were pushed into the closet together. You noticed how it is emptied of anything to make it easier to move around in. That was the least of your concern when Zhongli is quick to pin you to the back wall away from the door. The wall that made the least sound.
“You have been so unfair to me. Teasing me. Riling me up. Leaving me to deal with a problem... rising. Now that I have you alone. We’re going to take care of that here and now. Legs, around my waist.” You understand as he’s quick to claim your lips in a heated kiss.
Zhongli slips his tongue into your mouth, tasting a little bit of the wine you both drank together and the sweetness from a juice you had while you taste bitter from the tea he had. You obey him and wrap your legs around his waist, his hands going to your waist to hold you against him as he grinds himself against your waist.
You try not to moan out too loud, you feel him through his pants as he centers himself to push right against your aching core. The bulge he has pressed fully along your cloth covered slit. Your mind is hazy as he continues to kiss you, taking your open mouth in your moans to silence you with fully covering it with his in an open kiss.
Your eyes shut as you simply feel him, his hands pressing against your rear to get you to rock against his hips, he needed you as riled up as he is. You lost track of your sense of time, he didn’t. He gauges how much time is left, three minutes. More than enough for one more edge he needs for you.
Pinning you against the wall between himself, he lets one of your legs down to give him an angle he needed. A stray hand slips between you both and he tugs aside the panty to slip his fingers along your soaked folds to rub your clit quickly tugging the hood covering it back so he can roll it between his fingers. Your eyes snap open and are met with glowing amber eyes. He breaks the kiss to find your neck where he bites and nibbles just below your ear.
“If you don’t hold back, you’re going to make a mess. We have two minutes left. Can you cum before that door opens? Or... maybe you don’t deserve to and should sit as hard as me. This nub is already standing I barely have to do anything to it.” You whimper as he dips two fingers inside of you curling them just right and thrusts his hand against you. You cling to him, grinding your hips against his hand and the cock pushing against your core.
When there was just a minute left your eyes are clouded over in lust, while Zhongli grins at this sight usually for his own eyes. Just as you have teased him all evening, just as you are about to peak over the edge into an orgasm. He stops suddenly, withdrawing his hand from inside and pulls back to keep you held up but fixes yours and his clothes. 
You balk at him not letting you finish, your legs shake and you cling to him to stand. He looks at you in the dim light as he cleans off his own fingers of your juices that coat them. You stare heat at him for edging you like this, you can see him smirking but those eyes tell you alot more in how he was done with the party.
“You’re mean.” You comment, and fix yourself to look presentable and not like you were about to ride him in the closet. The door opens and Zhongli tugs you out under his arm, you wearing a full blush on your face avoiding the snickers and points of how flustered you are, while the former archon looks calm and collected as he went in.
~~~Continued in another drabble!~~~~ 
Part two is here
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peach-pops · 4 years ago
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hello!!! I love ur blog so much ! Can I requests a hc with Oikawa and Kuroo dating a Hothead/easily angered girlfriend? Maybe she gets into a fight and how would the boys react?
This is spicy yes of course! Also I def relate to the reader cause I get mad at freaking everything. There is a lot of cussing and there is violence obviously so just a warning!
Also PSA: I know Mika ( Daisho’s gf)  is probably super nice in the manga but I had to make her uhhhhh unlikeable so yeah. 
Oikawa and Kuroo with a Hothead Girlfriend
-Oikawa-
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There’s no need to sugarcoat it, Oikawa was intimidated by you because of your ‘ don’t fuck with me attitude’ but once you started dating, he realized it came in handy especially with his fans
He never had to worry about his fans ever messing with you because they’d be dumb to say anything to your face without you throwing hands back so Oikawa always thought things would be in his favor
UNTILLLL you showed up to one of Aoba Johsai’s games because of course, you wanted to support the team 
You watched the game from up on the stands and you could hear his fans whispering amongst each other about you but you wanted to stay focused on the game 
Whenever Oikawa served, he would make a quick glance at you to make sure that you saw it but even though your eyes were on him, you didn’t look thrilled
Oikawa put two and two together once he saw his little fanbase a few rows back laughing in your direction and his heart dropped. Sure, he was upset that they were saying things about you but he was even more worried that you were going to kill them 
The match was getting closer to the end but the girls were persistent in bashing you for every little thing and you did  your best to keep your temper under control 
“ What is she even wearing?” 
“ Shouldn’t she be wearing a jersey to support her boyfriend?”
“ Maybe Oikawa-San and her broke up!” 
“ Thank goodness, he can do so much better anyway. He is way out of her league.”
You clenched your fists against the bottom of your seat. You’d be damned if you were just gonna sit there and listen to them talk badly about you
You whipped your head around and gave them a deadly glare,” Just wait until this game ends and we’ll see if you’ll be able to keep talking shit.” 
They’re just shocked that you even turned around to confront them and while they’re a bit shooketh cause you’re  high key scary, they don’t take your threat seriously 
Oikawa can practically feel the tension in the air so once Aoba Johsai scores the last point and they take their bows, he looks up at you as if he’s pleading with you to just wait until he can get there
Cue that one tik tok: ‘ girl don’t do it, it’s not worth it…’ 
And you’re looking back at him like ‘ im not gonna do it girl...I was just thinking about it...im not gonna do it”
You and Oikawa both thought that the coast was clear and that you two can go about your day but then the main fangirl opened her mouth,” I told you guys she’s too scared to fight us. Who does this bitch think she is?”
It all happened so fast, one minute you were beaming down proudly at your boyfriend and the next, you’re jumping over the bleachers to launch yourself at the girl in the stands 
“ OH SHIT!” Oikawa raced out of the gym with Iwaizumi running after him because Iwaizumi knows Oikawa might need his help 
Oikawa had never seen you this mad before so he didn’t know what to expect as he raced up the stairs
His mouth dropped when he saw you on top of the girl and you were going at it 
like yassssssss reader beat her ass!!! Fuck her up!!!!🤪🤪🤪
There’s a crowd gathered around but Oikawa managed to squeeze his way through and shouted at you to stop. He knew how strong you were and frankly, the girl didn’t even stand a chance against you. 
Obviously, he is your number one fan but he didn’t want you to go to jail for murdering this girl in cold blood
He tried to pull you off of her but you have that gorilla grip and this boy was struggling to pry you off like damn where is all of this strength coming from???
Oikawa looked around for anyone to help him but the crowd was a bit too scared of you so he shouted for backup
“ IWA-CHAN HELP ME BEFORE SHE KILLS HER!” 
Iwaizumi pushed through everyone and he assessed the situation. He sees lil ol’ you swinging at the girl who’s sprawled out on the floor screaming but he’s more focused on the fact that you listened to his advice on how to throw punches
He stans necessary violence!
Iwa managed to loosen your grip on the girl which gave Oikawa enough time to wrap his arms around you and hold you back 
“ Who’s scared now ha!” You laughed evilly as Oikawa tried dragging you away from the crime scene and he’s visibly shaken because his girlfriend is psychotic but is it awful that he feels so proud?!?!?
Like in his head he’s thinking,” damn okay go off queen!” 🥰
He managed to carry you all the way down to the stairs and pulled you aside to make sure you’re okay 
“Are you hurt anywhere? How are you feeling? Do you need some water or some ice for your knuckles?”
You looked down at your knuckles and sure enough, they were bruised but surprisingly not bloody,” Oh, I fucked up my knuckles...I didn’t even notice, ” You said as Oikawa shook his head disapprovingly,” I wasn’t even hitting that hard!”
“ Iwa-chan, can you be a dear and get some ice? I’m gonna stay here with Y/N to make sure she doesn’t go back up there,” Oikawa said as you held up your knuckles to show Iwaizumi 
“ How do I look Zumi?”
“ Damn Y/N, those look badass!”
Iwa was practically beaming because he knew he had taught you well🤩🤩🤩
“ Iwa-chan don’t get encourage her! Go get the ice!” Oikawa shouted as you and Iwaizumi both laughed before Iwa turned to leave 
Oikawa lightly skimmed his thumb across your knuckles and pressed an even lighter kiss to your knuckles before sighing,” Was it worth ruining your pretty hands honey?”
You inhaled deeply before shrugging innocently at your boyfriend,” Toru, I really tried to keep my cool I promise! They were saying really mean things the whole time but I did my best to control myself but she had it coming...Are you mad at me?”
“ Of course I’m not mad,” Oikawa answered honestly as he pulled you closer to him,” If you lost than sure, I would be disappointed but you won so I’m more proud than anything! But I’m pretty sure you broke her nose.”
“ A wise boyfriend once said; If you’re gonna hit it, hit it until it breaks,” You said with a smirk as Oikawa leaned in to give you a victory kiss
-Kuroo-
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Kuroo knew what he was getting himself into when the two of you started dating. You were always so sweet and thoughtful but whenever you were upset, you didn’t care who got in your way, all you wanted to do was unleash the beast!
Most of the time, Kuroo could calm you down before it ever escalated but on the rare account that he couldn’t, he just hoped you didn’t do too much damage to whoever was on the receiving end 
At the end of one of Nekoma’s matches, you were celebrating with the team in the hallway when Kuroo excused himself to go use the restroom
You thought nothing of it and continued to chat and congratulate the other Nekoma members but as minutes passed by without seeing Kuroo, you excused yourself and went to go find him
You turned the corner to see Kuroo with his back facing you as he was loudly talking to Daisho. You knew Kuroo disliked Daisho but you were taken aback when you saw a familiar face next to him, Mika Yamaka 
You and Mika had never gotten along, even way before Kuroo had his feud with the Nohebi captain. The last time you had saw her, things hadn’t gone so well so to see her in the flesh made you feel some type of way
You walked over to where Kuroo was standing as the conversation halted
“ What’s going on? Everything okay?” You asked as Kuroo wrapped his arm around your waist and pulled you in closer
“ Nothing, everything is fine,” Kuroo smiled but you could tell that something was obviously going on
“ Wow Y/N-chan, I gotta say, you’ve changed a lot. I see you finally figured out how to style your hair,” Mika said ‘sweetly’ as she played with her boyfriend’s volleyball in her hand,” you finally look grown-up.  I was sure you’d always look like that little geek I met in middle school.” 
You felt him squeeze your hip tightly as if to say ‘ don’t let her get under your skin’ but you couldn’t help yourself to snap back
“Aw, Mika. I wish I could say the same for you but turns out you’re still a fucking snake who-”
“ Okay, let’s just calm down and take a breath,” Kuroo said as he leaned down to whisper into your ear,” don’t do anything stupid, okay? I got your back.”
You squeezed his hand as you kept your icy stare on Mika who looked unbothered
“ Your girl sure does have a temper doesn’t she?” Daisho laughed as Kuroo snapped his eyes over to him
“ What did you say snake?” 
OH SO NOW IT’S SUDDENLY OKAY TO SAY SNAKE
“ He’s not wrong. Y/N is kinda known to be a bit of a bitch,” Mika said as a matter of fact as you and Kuroo both tensed up,” little miss hothead is what they used to call you right?” 
As angry as you were, you knew that she was just trying to push your buttons and that she wasn’t worth the hassle. At this point, the rest of the Nekoma boys were watching from afar and even Kenma had looked up from his game to watch the heated interaction
“ Let’s just go, you guys are all bark and no bite. That’s why Nohebi loses everytime against Nekoma. You want some advice, how about you guys win before you start to talk shit,” You scoffed as you grabbed Kuroo’s hand and walked off in the opposite direction 
Micdrop lets get it Y/N
Kuroo smiled down at you as he pressed a kiss on your forehead,” Baby, I’m really proud of you. I know it’s hard to keep your cool and I’m sure you wanted to beat her ass, huh?”
“ God, I was this close Tetsuro. I swear, I-”
You felt something hard hit the back of your head and a second later, you could hear Mika’s annoying voice,” Who’s all bark and no bite now?”
You looked down at the ground to see the volleyball she had just chucked at your head and you felt smoke come out of your ears
You moved your eyes up and locked eyes with Kenma like ‘did this bitch really just do that😮’ and Kenma nodded ‘girl she really did👀’
Kuroo looked shocked. He didn’t even know what to say but he really didn’t want you to get into a fight 
“Baby-”
“ Hold my purse,” You snapped as you shoved your bag into his chest and walked over to where Mika was standing 
“ Aw, is Y/N-chan gonna cry-”
Kuroo and Daisho watched with open mouths as you practically launched yourself at her, causing the two of you to hit the floor. The Nekoma boys shouted words of encouragement and you could even hear Yaku shout “WORLDSTAR!”
“ You! 👏🏼Stupid! 👏🏼Bitch!” You yelled as you kept slamming your fists into Mika as she swung her fists back to try and get you off
Kuroo rushed over, unsure of what to do. 
A little backstory: You two had a hypothetical conversation a while back and you had explicitly told him that if you had gotten into a fight, he was not allowed to step in unless you were losing. By the looks of it, you were winning by a longshot
It wasn’t until Daisho tried grabbing you off of Mika that Kuroo suddenly became protective and stepped in
“ Don’t touch her, snake!” Kuroo yelled as he easily pushed Daisho to the side and ripped you away from Mika
You scrambled and struggled against your boyfriend’s grip as you continued to curse at Mika
“ Uh huh! That’s what I thought you raggedy-ass, fucking bitch! You’re awfully quiet now, huh!” 
“ Oh my god babe, please-”
“ Whatever!” Mika shouted as Daiso helped her up as she held her nose in pain,”That’s why your stupid boyfriend stepped in.”
“ He stepped in cause he knows I will kill you! Do you hear me, Mika? You’re lucky my boyfriend isn’t such a weak ass like you because if he wasn’t holding me back, you wouldn’t be able to get off the floor-”
“ Okokokokokok! She got the message baby, you’re scary and she’s a dumbass,” Kuroo was struggling to keep his grip on you so he readjusted himself and threw you over his shoulder as he walked past his teammates,” let’s head to the bus.”
The rest of the Nekoma teammates followed the two of you back to the buses as Kenma walked over beside you,” Do you want me to send you the video?”
“ You were recording?” You and Kuroo both asked as Kenma nodded approvingly
“ Hell yeah! Send it to me!”
On the bus ride back, it was relatively loud from all of the talk about you throwing hands with Mika but Kuroo had all of his attention on you 
“ I can’t believe she threw a volleyball at your head, what did she expect when you pounced on her?” Kuroo said as you leaned your head against his shoulder,” but damn, we were so close to leaving without a fight.”
“ I know, I’m sorry Tetsuro. You know I can’t stand her or her boyfriend,” You huffed as Kuroo sighed 
“ You know, have I ever told you how turned on I get seeing you mad?” 
“ Yes babe, several times.”
849 notes · View notes
shadow--writer · 4 years ago
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That's Not How You Spell Circle
In which Maeve attempts to teach her dumbass (ᵈᵘᵐᵇᵃˢˢ ᵇᵉᶦⁿᵍ ᵃᶠᶠᵉᶜᵗᶦᵒⁿᵃᵗᵉ ᵒᶠ ᶜᵒᵘʳˢᵉ) boyfriend how to spell circle.
@dela-png encourages my brain rot part TWO. We had this long convo on how Lucas can’t spell circle and how Maeve would try and help (and it uhh...goes somewhere)
Hi it’s fic recs with Shade. If you want to read another fic with one of Dela’s amazing oc’s and a super fun apprentice check out @arcanecadenza ‘s (if you don’t want me pinging you please let me know! ^^) fic with Donovan here (it’s super cute and well written but be warned her blog gets pretty spicy and she does have another fic with Donny out now too ᶦᵗ'ˢ ˢᵐᵘᵗᵗʸ *ᶜᵒᵘᵍʰ ᶜᵒᵘᵍʰ*)
Maeve x Lucas, fluff (actual fluff this time guys my first fluffy fic in this fandom are you proud?), humour, 3.8k words (I CANNOT shut the fuck up OMFG)
TW: none! Tags: fluff, humour, lawd I hope I got Lucas right™️, a little spicy at times but nothing smutty, suggestive, spicy suggestive end, language there is quite a bit of uhh harsh language lol
~~~~
It took her nearly a month to convince Lucas to let her help him learn to write and spell. To say he was stubborn about it would be the understatement of the millennia. Every time she brought it up she would be shut down faster then she could get the words out. 
So she resorted to pestering him. 
A lot.
Everywhere. Anytime. Anyplace. 
In the mornings when they were trying to grasp the last remnants of sleep especially. Usually she could squeak a yes out of him for anything during that time. This time it was always a hard and fast no followed by sweet lingering kisses. While she would not turn her nose up at well placed kisses (good gods Lucas was good with that mouth of his when he wasn’t running it off) she was determined to convince him to let her at least help with spelling.
Once he saw how absolutely serious she was about this whole ordeal he finally broke down and allowed her to help. Granted, she was sure Amani being Amani also had him cracking. Amani was a darling and Maeve was glad they were friends but uhh…
Not much filter on her especially when it came to Lucas. Oooh boy. She would never forget the ‘congrats’ cake Amani baked. It was delicious, sure, but Maeve was sure you could see her and Lucas’s blushing faces from another country. 
The point being she finally broke him down and so there they sat in the kitchen, a little bit of fading sunlight leaking through the cracked curtains.
She tried to hide how happy this made her, starting off their lesson. “Okay so I’m going to need to see an example of something you have so I know where we can start,” she started off, sitting across from him.
He blushed a little, fidgeting. She let out a little sigh, fingers tapping on the table lightly. “Mo shíorghrá I can’t do much based on nothing. Do you know the alphabet?”
His face turned redder. “Y-Yes of course I know the alphabet!” he sputtered. 
She chuckled, resting her cheek on her fist. “Don’t get testy with me, you haven’t given me much to work off of. Now do you have anything you’ve written?”
“I...uhh have a practice sheet of a menu,” he muttered, not quite meeting her eyes. She could tell where this was going.
“...can you give it to me?”
She could see the paper in his hands, did he have that the entire time? It didn't matter since he had it.
“Promise you won’t laugh?” he asked, eyes flicking up to meet hers. 
“Amani has ruined you,” she said with a low sigh, looking at him. “I won’t laugh.” He didn’t seem convinced. She stood, leaning over the table holding out her pinky. “Pinky swear.”
He hooked his pinky through hers, bringing their hands up to his lips. She had to lean a little farther, one of her legs lifting off the ground as he kissed her hand, amused. 
“Oh don’t give me that, giant.” There was a low scoff in her voice, he bit her hand gently at the nickname. She knew he hated it. It’s why she used it. “Now hand over the menu idea, the light is wasting away!”
She grabbed the paper he set on the table, falling back into her chair as their pinkies unwrapped from one another. Sometimes she’d forget how big he was in comparison to her. It was always a little shock when they held hands and his enveloped hers. 
He always did comment on how cold her hands were. Her response back was usually about how she was the cold one to balance his human heater tendencies (and she didn’t mind him warming her up.)
Relaxing into her chair she looked over the paper.
She had to fight to keep her jaw firmly locked in place. 
Good stars above his handwriting. It wasn’t the worst thing she had ever seen in the world, at least it was legible but…
“This is basically chicken-scratch,” she said, voice flat. 
The blush fled to the tips of his ears. “I-I know that!”
She inspected the little notes around the paper. His mouth hung open when he saw what she was doing. 
One note had her smiling a little to herself. ‘Can I try imitating Maeve’s handwriting? That’s appealing and nice to look at. It’s very pretty.’
“You like my handwriting?” she asked, looking up at him. Looking at the menu ideas closer she could see remnants of her loopy ‘y’s and how she dotted her ‘i’s in the paper. She felt almost honoured in a way. 
Of course it needed a bit of work, but it was still sweet.
He coughed, looking away from her. If his face could get any redder it did. “D-Don’t read too much into it.”
She grinned. “Ah I see. You think it’s super pretty but don’t want to say.” His ears grew redder. She took it as a yes. “Okay okay I’ll stop teasing. For now we can focus on some words you’re struggling with spelling and your penmanship.” 
She inspected the paper closer. She could tell Amani helped, there weren’t many spelling mistakes. It made her job easier. 
Though one stood out to her. 
How he spelled ‘circle’. 
Sikerl. 
“...you spelled ‘circle’ wrong.”
“I did?!”
“It’s umm...not the worst spelling I have ever seen, but we uhh...are gonna have to work on that one.”
He sulked, crossing his arms. She giggled, scooting a sheet of paper in front of him. He took it along with a pen, their fingers brushing. She pulled her hand away before he could lace their hands together and try to get out of it.
She knew his tactics. Not today mister. 
“So first off I’m going to show you how to spell it and hopefully you can remember. If not, that’s okay we have all night.” She got to her feet to stretch her arms. It was going to be a while.
He seemed to wilt. “All night?”
“Well unless you have other plans?”
He looked at her, quirking an eyebrow with a little smirk. She narrowed her eyes, setting her hands on her hips.
“Nah ah. Don’t even think about it. You need to spell circle right first. Then we’ll talk.”
He fell back into his chair with a pout. 
~~
To say this was going to be a long process would be another understatement. 
She stared at the paper in front of her, leaning over his shoulder to give it a once over. “I have never seen ‘circle’ spelled wrong so many times on the same sheet of paper,” she said, dumbfounded. “This has got to be some kind of record.”
She rubbed her eyes, looking over at him. It was getting pretty late.
Lucas, of course, was sulking again. She knew his moods, and sometimes sulking could mean anger. 
This was not anger but frustration. Both at circles and her. Probably because she hasn’t let him leave the table other than for bathroom breaks and a little stretch break. 
“Can we just end the lesson here and go to bed?” he asked, eyes pleading with her. 
She shot him a low glare with no heat. “I know exactly what you’re going to do if I agree and it isn’t sleep.” His face fell, she knew it. “And we aren’t leaving this table until you spell it right at least once. Try again.”
He grumbled to himself as she stood back up. It felt strange having to hunch over to be at eye level with him. Usually it was the other way around. 
She still remained over his shoulder, leaning into him a little. She rested her cheek against his back just below his neck, arms wrapping around him. He let out a little grunt at her touch, she smiled a little at the noise. “Oh? Am I being a nuisance?” she asked, voice a little muffled as she shifted her face to bury her nose in his back. 
He said nothing in return, but the way he tensed around her was indication enough. If he was going to be grumpy with her she was going to torture him. 
When he put his pencil down she looked up, and back at the paper. Her arms remained around his chest, fingers tapping lightly. Driving him up a wall might not be the smartest thing she could do in that very moment but damn was it fun.
“Hm…” she hummed, letting him go to get a better look at the paper. Just by looking at the first few spellings she knew he didn’t get it again.
He noticed her disappointed humming and started moving closer to her, pressing light kisses down the side of her neck. 
She almost leaned into the touch. Almost. 
As much as she craved the release and his touch she had a job to do. And the number one priority was getting the damn word spelled right. 
She shifted away from him, a low whine coming from his throat. “After you spell this right then you can maybe have a treat,” she said with a wink.
He glowered at her, shifting closer. “But you’ve done so much already! Worked yourself to death today, don’t you deserve a break?”
Oh no he was going to compliment her into giving in. Little conniving bastard. 
He kissed her neck again, trailing up her skin to her cheek. He kissed the sweet spot behind her ear, tucking her hair behind it as well. She almost melted into him, hands curling into fists. 
She turned her head, capturing his lips before he could do any more damage to her resolve. He took it as a victory, surging up to meet her, rising up out of his chair. 
She pulled away a moment before, placing her hands on his chest and gently pushing him back down. A little smirk flirted across her lips. “Now that you’ve gotten an idea of what’s planned for you if you get this word spelled right, get back to work.”
He whined, looking back at the paper of mistakes. She giggled, pressing a soft kiss to his temple. “You have some time, and if you don’t get it today there’s always tomorrow.”
He groaned but got back to work. 
She waited a bit, walking away to go do something else while she waited. She was in the middle of putting dishes away when he called her back over to check his spelling. 
She wouldn’t be embarrassed to admit there was a little extra sway in her step as she walked back over to him. 
His arms immediately went around her waist, burying his face in her chest. She sighed, petting his hair. 
This was going to take a while.
“Once I look these over we can go to bed.” He unburied his face to give her a look of pure joy. “To sleep.” The look fell and it was back to lip jutting out childish pouting. Sometimes she wondered who was the influence. The kids on the dock or him. 
She chuckled, looking at the paper. 
“Still no, but we can work on it tomorrow,” she said, scratching his scalp a little. She felt a little bad. She pushed him a little too far. She just wanted to help him but she was starting to get frustrated as well. 
Without another word he bundled her into his arms, scooping her off the ground and carried her into their room. She laughed all the while. 
It was like he needed to get as far away from the paper as possible, and she didn’t blame him. Spelling was hard, but she was still in disbelief he was struggling this badly with how to spell circle. She had shown him four times.
That night she didn’t let them go farther than a few kisses (much to his dismay, she was going through with the punishment. Until he spelled ‘circle’ right he was getting squat.)
~~
Day two did not go any better than day one.
She sat across the table from him this time. After he muttered about how distracting she was with how she smelled good enough to eat she decided to eliminate that..distraction. 
And sat as far away from him as she could.
Well that still flopped because he kept sending her puppy dog eyes from across the table. Not doing anything. 
She sighed. “Get four spellings down and I’ll come back over.”
The way he got back to work so quickly reminded her of a dog. She giggled to herself. If she focused hard enough she could almost see the tail wagging behind him. 
His eyes flicked up to meet hers. “What?”
She waved him off, smiling to herself. “Oh nothing.”
He squinted at her for a moment before looking back at his paper. When he was done he crooked a finger at her. 
She didn’t move from her spot, glaring at him. Oh he was not going to do that to her. “Unless you spelled ‘circle’ right you have no right calling me over like a dog,” she sniffed, getting to her feet. 
He set a hand on her knee as she bent over to look at the paper, whispering in her ear. His breath warmed her skin. “Well, for all your whining you sure came to me like one.” She looked at him, offended. 
He smirked. Her brows creased with her annoyance. “Well you look like one,” she replied.
His eyebrows shot straight up into his hairline. She turned to go over his paper again. He leaned in closer to her again, kissing the shell of her ear. She had to suppress a shiver. 
Bastard.
“And you sound like one.”
She was going to strangle him but first...maybe she’d play his game. Ignoring the paper (with no right spellings, once again. She’d have to show him. Again.) she tilted his head up with one finger. Kissing the side of his face up to his ear she let him sigh. 
Trying not to smirk she nibbled on his earlobe. His hand tightened on her leg. She released his earlobe, whispering something with a little extra growl in her voice. “Woof.” 
She moved away from him, smiling to herself. He sat there for a moment, with the most dumbstruck expression on his face. Ha, victory. 
The moment she looked at his paper though, his arms were around her again and he was tugging her into his lap. She let out a little yelp, arms going around his neck to keep from tipping over off the chair. “That’s not fair,” he muttered to her neck. 
She snorted, trying to move to see his paper again. He didn’t budge, so she was as good as stuck for a while. “I don’t play fair, you know this.”
“Yeah but won’t you take mercy on your poor, tired, love-of-your-life?” he asked, the puppy dog eyes making a return. When he leaned in to kiss her again she placed her hands over his mouth. 
“And you call me a dog,” she scoffed, wiggling a little in his grasp. His thigh jerked under her. “Now lemme go you big lug. You’ve still got to spell ‘circle’ right.”
“Do I have to?”
“Yes!” she wheezed, pushing his face as she tried to break free of his grip. He wasn’t going to let her go that easily. She let out a ‘hmph’ and twisted around. “Fine. If you won’t let me go I’ll just check from here.”
He didn’t argue with her from there, a small victory on her part. Maybe it was better if Amani taught him. At least then he wouldn’t have any distractions. 
Granted he might be dead by the time she was done. Hmmm...there were pros and cons to having Amani help. Her eyes flicked over each of the spellings. None were right. But one was close at least.
Sirkel 
Serkol 
Sickle 
Circel
“Hmm wow the last one is close!” she said with a smile, looking at him over her shoulder. His eyes lit up. “You just got to switch two of the letters. And let me go.” She wiggled again, pushing at his arms. 
“So I just switch two letters and I’m free to go?”
“Mmhmm! If they’re the right ones of course.”
He looked determined and finally released her. She scrambled away before he could draw her back into him. As much as she appreciated sitting on his lap now was not the time. 
“Two letters! Got it!” he said, scrawling out the word on the paper. 
He pushed it over to her, pride seeping into his face. She smiled, humming a little looking at the paper again.
“...uhh…”
Cricel 
“It’s worse.”
“What do you mean it’s worse?! I did what you told me to!”
“Yeah but you swapped the wrong letters!”
“You told me to swap two of the letters!”
“Yeah not the wrong ones! I told you not to swap the wrong ones!”
He grumbled. “This is stupid. Circles are stupid. Writing is stupid.”
“Next up we work on your vocabulary.”
He shot her a low glare. It held no heat but it made her giggle. 
“Shaddup,” he muttered. She kissed his cheek, still giggling to herself. 
“Here I’ll show you how to spell it again and then you can go.” She leaned over again, not paying attention to where she was leaning and what was in his direct line of sight. 
She kept her pen work neat (sometimes when moving fast her handwriting looked nothing more than scribbles), keeping all the loops she now knew he liked. When she looked over at him again she realized her mistake. 
Quickly (quicker than she thought he could move) he scooped her up again, kissing her face. She let out a squeal, trying to get out of his grip again.
“L-L-L-L-LUCAS!” she gasped through her laughter, trying to escape again. 
“Mmmfph no I’m done,” he said, voice muffled. “No more circles. They’re evil.”
She snorted, putting her palms on his cheeks to push him away. His lips puckered as she pressed his face together. She leaned in closer. “I spelled it on the paper. I showed you how to spell it. I can try and help you remember it so I’m gonna need you to try again.”
His brows creased. She sighed. “Please.”
“Fwmine.” He couldn’t really talk with her hands on his face. 
“And let me go.”
“Nwo.”
She rolled her eyes, releasing his face and resigned to her fate. He wrote out ‘circle’ so fast she could barely comprehend what was happening before he lifted her up off the chair. “There. Now I’m done.”
“But I need to-”
“Done. I am done.”
He kissed her neck, lifting her up with his hands on her upper thighs. She sighed, wrapping her arms around his neck as she got used to being carried. “You do know we have to do this all over again tomorrow to make sure you remember how to spell it, right?”
He howled in pain. 
~~
Day three at the very least, went better than day two and day one. 
Mostly because she gave him the proper motivation after cock-blocking him again the night before. 
She rubbed her temples. “So now, what did we learn yesterday?” she asked, sitting on the table next to him. 
“Um the tub is too small for the both of us?”
She cracked an eye open. He wasn’t wrong. Most of the water ended up on the floor. It was a mess to clean up. “Yes that and you should learn to keep your hands to yourself. You haven’t earned anything just yet mister struggling to spell circle on day three. But that’s not what I meant.”
His lip jutted out again as he pouted. “Yeah yeah. Circle is not spelled how I’ve been spelling it. I get it.”
“Mmmhmm.” She hummed, stretching her arms above her head. “But that’s okay circle is spelled really stupidly, but!” she started, dropping her hands to braid her hair over her shoulder as she spoke. “I’m going to give you proper motivation so we can finally move on to something different.”
Curiosity sparked in his eyes. She smiled, humming a little as she swung her legs. “I’m going to give you a few tries to spell it. Five tries to be exact. Spell it wrong every time and you’re sleeping on the floor.”
“What?! That’s not fair!”
She tsked. “Motivation M’fhíorghrá, motivation.”
“...and if I spell it right?”
She looked up. “Hmm...haven’t thought that far.”
“...such confidence in me, I’m honoured.”
She snorted. “I haven’t thought of something you’d want.”
His eyes flicked over her form. She felt her cheeks warm.“I can think of something.”
She stuck her tongue out. “Oh hush you. Get to work now.”
He grumbled, but looked back down at the paper. The first few times he got it wrong. When he was on his fourth try she started to get exasperated. 
He kept looking at her hair. “You know that’s an invitation to ruin, right?” he asked. She touched the braid snaking around her shoulder, letting out a raspberry like sigh. 
“Yes I do. And if you don’t fucking spell ‘circle’ right you’re gonna suffer knowing you couldn’t ruin it while sleeping on the floor.” She mostly muttered it to herself, it slipping out with her frustration. 
He spelled it wrong again. 
She let out a low sigh, rubbing the bridge of her nose. Three days. Maybe she wasn’t as good as a teacher as she thought? Or maybe it was just them goofing around. 
Even so she was tired and she knew he was as well. “Lucas I swear to the goddess above I will let you fuck me on this table if you can spell it right once. I know we both hate this, because circles are dumb. But we really should be doing other things.”
He froze in place, slowly turning his head to look at her. His voice was low and husky. “Is that a promise?”
She rolled her eyes, leaning back a little keeping her balance by hooking her hands under the table. She kicked her legs a little, looking up at the ceiling. “I swear I will, just spell it right!”
He moved fast, pausing to think for a moment. When he finished, she checked over the page with a flourish. He groaned as she took her sweet time, fearing for the worst.
She was going to draw it out for a while but… “You spelled it right!” she said with a cheer, forgetting her filter. Dang it. 
There were many emotions flying across his face at once. 
From relief, to joy, to something else. 
She swallowed a little as his eyes darkened a little and he smiled. “I do remember a promise,” he said, getting to his feet. Even when she was standing he towered over her. 
But since she was sitting on their kitchen table, he was like a colossus. He nudged her legs apart, standing between them. He leaned in closer and she leaned back away from him, falling onto the table. He placed his hands on either side of her face. 
“You promised,” he reminded her once again, a little song seeping into his voice. 
She swallowed again, knowing her freckles were glowing brighter at those two words. Heat sparked in her stomach, a blush dusting her cheeks. He knew what those meant and his smile grew absolutely wolfish.
After a moment she smiled as well, running her hands through his hair. It was soft and messy. She tugged on a knot, making him sink into her touch. She lifted her hips to brush his. 
“I do go through with my promises.”
19 notes · View notes
httpjeon · 5 years ago
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❝ collateral damage ❞ pjm ― m.
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― summary: you’re a simple bank teller and you certainly didn’t expect to be taken as collateral for outlaw bank-robber park jimin.
outlaw!jimin/reader ― ft. jungkook & taehyung | wild west!au | fluff, smut | 5.2k ↬ content warnings: basically pwp. kidnapping, guns, old timey bank robbery, referenced off screen murders (non-explicit), yoongi gets choked a bit, light thigh riding, sexual punishment, cunnilingus, dirty talk, light sir!kink, blow job, hair pulling, vague pain kink, pet names
a/n: this fic is part of the under fire collaboration for the summer smut project by @btssmutclub! be sure to check out the other writers’ fics for this collab! > disclaimer: i’d like to point out there is no real violence towards the reader in any capacity in this fic. she remains safe and unharmed throughout the fic, just spooked bc of jimin’s reputation as an outlaw and crimes!
→ blog masterlist      →collab masterlist
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You huffed, covering your eyes with your hand like a visor as you stared out in the blistering heat of your city. It was hot enough to cook an egg out, no doubt.
It was a peaceful, small town that you had lived in your whole life. Everyone knew everyone and there was rarely a problem that arose.
"Mornin' _____!" The local mercantile owner, Yoongi, beamed at you.
The two of you had become good friends as your job at the bank was located right next door to the mercantile his family owned. Often, he would bring you little snacks during work and you frequently picked up your groceries and essentials from him.
"You hear they've up and found some gold nearby? I expect we'll start to get a lot busier now!" He smiled, mindlessly sweeping the front steps of his store.
"Oh really?" You hummed. "I haven't heard much. But with tons of towns popping up everywhere with the gold and silver bein' found, I guess it's hard to keep track. I didn't think there'd be some nearby here though!"
"Why? You wanna go and search for some gold?" Yoongi snickered.
"As if," You chuckled. "I'm doing well enough here, I don't need to risk my life for the sake of greed.”
"If you say so," He teased, finally turning and heading back into the store with a casual wave of his hand.
You sighed, wiping the sweat off your brow before turning on your heel to get back to work.
After that, it seemed Yoongi's prediction was right. You had people coming in, asking for loans and coming in to exchange their gold and silver for cash money.
Unfortunately, the peaceful reputation in your little town wouldn't stay that way for long.
Another terribly hot day that had you heaving against your desk — hoping the wood would somehow cool you down. The doors opened and several footsteps entered, making you look up.
"Hey there, sweetheart," A pretty-faced young man leaned against the counter.
"Welcome, how can I help you?" You asked, smiling up at him.
He had black hair that stuck to his forehead from sweat, a wide-brimmed hat on his head to shield his eyes from the sun.
He was good looking, no doubt about it.
Behind him stood two other men near the door, as if guarding it, and a feeling of unease began to wash over you.
"I'm awfully sorry about this but," You gasped as he pulled out long-barrelled gun, pointing it directly at you. "How about you hand me that little box back there and give me all the money you got, sweetheart?"
"I..." You trembled underneath the weight of his glare and the gun.
"Hurry it along, darlin' we ain't got all day," One of the other men called, his hand on his gun which sat in its holster.
"A-Alright...just hold your horses," You grumbled, grabbing the box and placing it down for the man. He chuckled, lowering his gun as you finally opened the box for him to take the money from.
He eagerly stuffed fistfuls of cash into his pockets with a grin on his face. You thought you were in the clear, breathing a sigh of relief as he began to back off, showing no intentions of actually hurting you.
That is, until the door opened and Yoongi walked in with a smile.
"Hey ____—" He was cut off by one of the men aggressively grabbing him, wrapping their arms around his neck to choke him as he slammed your friend harshly against the wall.
"Don't hurt him!" You cried, rounding the counter to try and come to your friend's aid.
Unfortunately, the man who took the money grabbed you, holding the gun to your temple making you cry out in fear and shock.
"Now, you're gonna behave mister and let us leave in peace alright?" He hissed. You met Yoongi's eyes, noticing how red his face became with the lack of oxygen. "And we're gonna take this here girl as collateral. We're gonna get out of here and get nice and far, and if we make it out safely...we'll let her go."
"Y-You can't..." Yoongi choked out, no doubt worrying for your well-being.
None of the men seemed to listen. Yoongi was released, falling to the floor with a heavy thud as he gasped for air. He was too weak to do anything to stop you from being dragged out.
“Remember,” One of the other men mumbled to Yoongi, bringing his finger to his lips in a shush motion. “Not a peep.” 
The streets were bustling more than usual, on account of all the traffic picking up lately, and you were easily manhandled onto the horse tied out front of the bank. Jimin hopped on behind you, his spicy scent permeating around you. You were sitting sideways on the horse in front of him, boxed in by his arms as he held the reigns.
"This is...crazy," You grumbled as the man kicked the horse, making you jerk forward in surprise. Glancing over the man's shoulder, you could see his two lackeys following.
"Sorry about this, we planned just a clean ol' robbin' but..." The man shrugged, trailing off before clearing his throat and looking down his nose at you. "What's your name anyway?"
"Why should I tell you?" You grumbled, wondering why you were acting like a brat to the man who literally had a gun pointed at you moments before.
"Well I'm Jimin...Park Jimin,"
Immediately, your body stiffened as a shiver of fear raced down your spine. You knew that name. His wanted posters were posted all across town, all across the state no doubt.
He was an outlaw wanted in several states for various crimes — mostly robbing banks and trains. He even had a few murders under his belt.
Okay, so he could kill you at the drop of a hat. Maybe you should be on his good side and not piss him off.
"M-My name is _____," You stuttered out, suddenly very aware of how you were hanging onto the fabric of his plaid shirt in order to keep yourself stable.
"Well, nice to meet you, _____. I hope we can get along well," He smiled, a rather cute eye smile for a wanted outlaw.
Why did your abductor have to be cute?
Still, with the memory of the cold steel of his gun pressed against you, you had no hope of escape anyway. You could jump off the horse but that would no doubt seriously injure you at the speed you were going. Plus, he'd probably turn around, angry, and shoot you in the end anyway.
You sighed, making him chuckle against your back.
"Now, now sweetheart it ain't that bad," He said. "Ain't nothin' bad gonna happen to you with us, I promise. We'll just keep you around until the heat dies down and we'll send you on home.”
"Unless you want to stay~" One of his companions said, wiggling his eyebrows at you.
"Jungkook," Jimin scoffed, shaking his head but still smiling.
"Unbelievable," You whispered, noticing that you were beginning to slow down.
Looking around for the reason, you saw a little shack up ahead. It was out in the middle of nowhere, way off the beaten path, and you doubted you'd be able to find your way back to town because you had no clue where you were. Not like you were exactly paying attention to the route anyway. You didn't exactly frequent the outskirts of town, the desert was no place for someone like you — with the snakes and coyotes roaming about. You weren't very fond of the idea of being a wild animal’s snack.
Finally you came to a full stop and Jimin hopped down from the horse, holding his hand out for you. When you hesitated on it, he sent you a small glare that had you reaching down for him to help you. He kept his grip on your arm as he began to walk towards the house...or shack.
"Taehyung, you hitch the horses up, alright?" Jimin called over his shoulder, a short 'yeah' from one of the men came in reply.
You were tugged inside, which you were grateful for because the summer sun was literally 2 minutes from actually killing you. It was still hot inside but at least you were out of the sun.
The place was scarcely furnished — a worn couch, a little coffee table, and a couple sleeping mats. There were also some metal bowls sitting on the counter of the tiny kitchen.
"Have a seat, sweetheart, make yourself at home," His voice was soft but held a tone of authority that made a shiver travel up your spine. You were always weak to voices — that's why you liked to hear Yoongi talk so much.
At the thought of your friend, you frowned. You hoped he was okay and safe. Jimin dropped down in the empty seat beside you on the couch and pulled out a flask, handing it to you.
"Drink?"
Your eyes narrowed. "I don't drink."
"It's just water, darlin'," He said with a shrug, urging the flask towards you. "I know you gotta be thirsty bein' out in the heat."
"This isn't a trick?" You asked, eyeing him suspiciously.
"I promise it's just water," His voice and face turned serious as he said the words.
Sighing, you took the flask from him and turned it up — immediately you felt refreshed by the cool water. Taking a few mouth sips, you handed it back to him and thanked him which earned you a smile.
The door slammed open and the other two men came stomping in with groans about how the heat was killer. The one named Jungkook swiped some sweat off his brow before dropping to sit on the floor with a thud. The other, Taehyung, followed suit except sprawled out across the floor like a starfish.
"That floor can't be clean," You muttered, making Taehyung open on eye to peek at you.
"You worried about my health, honey?" He asked, a smirk gracing his lips when you narrowed your eyes in a glare.
"I'll have you know I can that floor meticulously every day," Jimin piped from beside you, taking another sip of water.
"Why do I find that hard to believe?" You shot back, crossing your arms over your chest as you eyed the dusty, dirty, scuffed floor the two men were laying upon.
"Why on Earth would I lie to you?" Jimin asked, raising a brow.
"Do you want the honest answer?" As soon as the words left your lips, Jungkook began chuckling from where he was leaning against the wall.
"Aw man, she's cute and funny," He muttered through his giggles. You felt your face flush at that, making you feel even hotter than you already were.
"Alright boys," Jimin stood up. "We should start getting ready for the night."
You remained seated, watching as the men began to bustle about. Jimin was in the kitchen cooking dinner, you assumed — which was weirdly domestic thinking about it. Jungkook went out to collect water and Taehyung was setting up the beds for the night.
"I guess you can sleep on the couch," He said when he noticed you watching.
"I can't believe this..." You grumbled, flopping back onto the couch with a sigh.
"Oh we're not that bad!" Taehyung pouted as he took a seat behind the small table in front of the couch.
You didn't offer a reply, only sighed.
The rest of the night wasn't anywhere near as bad as you expected. Jimin, Taehyung, and Jungkook laughed and joked with one another as they chatted. You ate some soup, which in the heat was torture, but it tasted good nonetheless and it felt good to have some food in your stomach. 
You were restless as you laid down on the couch that night. You could hear the even breaths coming from the three men scattered on the floor. It was strategic, how they were laying. Jungkook was sleeping right in front of the door so you wouldn't be able to get out. Jimin was sleeping right in front of the couch so you couldn't move without him knowing. And Taehyung was in between as an interception if you were to attempt to run away.
You were positive it was the worst night of sleep in your life when your eyes fluttered open, still heavy and stinging with exhaustion. Jungkook and Taehyung were gone and Jimin was sitting at the table cleaning his gun. He looked up when you sat up and smiled.
"Good mornin' sunshine," He grinned when you groaned in response. "What's the matter? Didn't sleep well?"
"I miss my own bed," You complained.
"Well that's just too bad," He sighed, placing his gun down. "We're keepin' our hands on you for awhile longer."
"This isn't fair!" You snapped, stomping your foot on the ground. "You stole the money, I don't want any part of this! I just want to go home!"
In the blink of an eye, Jimin was in your face, nose brushing up against yours as he glared.
"Better watch your tone, pretty girl," He growled, making your heart stutter in your chest.
Then as quick as he was there, he was standing and moving into the kitchen. You placed a hand against your chest and sighed while his back was turned to you. Your cheeks felt hot and you silently cursed him for being so damn attractive.
The longer you spent with Jimin, the more you began to see he wasn’t scary at all. He attempted to put up a front when he caught himself slipping but in the end, his true personality began to shine through.
“Jimin?” You asked one night while Taehyung and Jungkook were out. He hummed, looking up from where he was shining his boot. “Why did you become an outlaw?”
He scoffed, shaking his head. “What kinda question is that?”
“The normal kind?” You shot back, raising a brow.
“Well,” He cleared his throat. “Sometimes people do what they have to do to get by. I discovered a knack for thievin’ and I stuck to it. Simple as that.”
“Simple as that,” You scoffed, making him look at you with a frown. “There’s lots of things you could have done instead of stealing.”
“My decisions in life don’t concern you, little girl,” He snapped, making you flinch. His eyes were alight with anger at your words and you immediately quieted down.
He continued to glare at you for a minute, as if wanting to say something more, until the door opened and Taehyung and Jungkook came back in. Jungkook dropped onto the couch beside you and stretched his arms above his head until his joints popped.
"We're going to bed," Jimin snapped suddenly, making the other two look at him in shock.
"It's still early though!" Taehyung complained.
"You'll do as I say!" Jimin shouted, making everyone collectively jump at the volume.
Immediately the two scrambled to get into their sleeping arrangements. You sat on the couch, avoiding Jimin's gaze as he continued to glare at you as he placed his boots beside the couch.
No one uttered a word as Jimin turned the lamp out — casting the room in complete darkness save for the moon's light.
With a sigh, you collapsed onto your side and shut your eyes in an attempt to get some sleep as well.
"Wake up," Jimin uttered, shaking your shoulder until your eyes popped open in surprise. "Need you to go collect the water pails from outside. Taehyung and Jungkook ran off without bringin' them in."
You sighed as you sat up, blinking sleepily until you felt coherent enough to stand. Jimin was silent as he followed you out, watching you leave the house before turning back to sit on the couch and kick his boots off.
By the time you got inside, placing the water buckets down, Jimin was fast asleep on the couch with his mouth open. You stood and watched him for a second, eyeing the open door.
No one was watching and you could make a run for it. If you were quiet, Jimin wouldn't even wake up.
You squinted at him, feeling quite petulant over the problems he had caused you with literally kidnapping you and making your heart stutter in your chest over his stupidly handsome face. Sneaking out of the doorway, you tiptoed around the brush against the side of the building.
A sneaky grin crawled over your face as you heard the tell-tale signs of a snake warning you to stay away.
You dropped onto your knees and circled the creature until you got behind it. Reaching out with a steady hand, you quickly pinned its head and took hold of it to keep it from turning and biting you.
Then with a stealthiness that surprised even you, you snuck back inside and ever so easily dropped the snake into Jimin's boot.
Standing up straight and casting one last glance at Jimin, you turned and booked it out of the door.
The sun was still beating down, the summer heat making you break out into a sweat immediately. Your feet pounded against the ground with every step you took and you were quickly panting and running out of stamina — the heat literally sucking everything out of you.
You could have cried when you saw Taehyung and Jungkook riding up on their horses. There was no hope to escape; they'd already spotted you and you couldn't outrun their horses.
With a resigned sigh, you stood there and glared until Taehyung stopped beside you. He stared down with a brow raised.
"That was a close one, huh?" Jungkook uttered, saddling up on the other side of you.
"Hop on, don't be a pain," Taehyung muttered, though he sounded more bored than angry with your attempted escape.
You heaved a big sigh as you mounted Taehyung's horse, holding onto the back of his shirt as they rode back the short distance to the house. You could see Jimin was still asleep on the couch through the open door.
Jungkook was snickering as he hopped off his horse. He lifted his hand and helped you down off of Taehyung's and began to lead you inside the house, still holding your hand.
"Hey Jimin!" He shouted, taking both you and Jimin by surprise.
"What?!" Jimin shrieked as he sat up so fast it made your head spin.
"Almost had this one run out while you were gettin’ your beauty sleep," Taehyung muttered as he finally walked in, wiping sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand.
Jimin growled as he stood up, shoving his feet into his boots "This is—SHIT!"
"What?" Taehyung and Jungkook cried at the same time, watching as Jimin kicked his boot off, making it fly across the room and hit the wall.
The four of you watched as the poor snake slithered out of the boot and disappeared around the corner to the kitchen.
"There was a snake in my boot," Jimin muttered, glaring at his boot.
There was a beat of silence before Taehyung and Jungkook physically doubled over as they howled with laughter. You bit your lip to keep from laughing as you watched Jimin's bottom lip poke out in a pout.
After you all finished eating dinner, a rabbit Jungkook had caught earlier in the day, they decided to set back out once again.
"I heard that the law was starting to extend its search for us, turns out word’s gotten out we’re around the area, so I think it'd be a good idea to make sure there aren't any nosy people driftin' around," Taehyung said as he and Jungkook mounted their horses.
Jungkook slipped his hat on his head and gave you a little wave before taking the reins of his horse and following after Taehyung. You stood and watched, feeling Jimin's eyes on you, as the two vanished into the darkness.
"You know," Jimin said from his seat on the couch, voice a few octaves lower. "I don't really appreciate you making a fool of me today."
You felt a shiver go down your spine at the way he spoke, words full of unspoken promise. You could hear his boots against the floor as he walked up behind you, breath fanning over your neck. He swiftly pushed the door shut and turned you around, slamming your back against its surface.
You gasped, meeting his dark gaze, goosebumps rising over your skin at the look in his eyes; dark and lustful. Never before had you felt so drawn to a man — he was dangerous, charismatic, and so attractive that it almost made you crazy.
His plush, full lips met yours in a kiss that started off heated immediately, not wasting any time showing you what he wanted. You whimpered, reaching up to fist his dark locks and pull his body even closer to yours.
His hands became busy immediately, reaching behind you to pull free the buttons of your dress, the fabric pooling on the floor around your feet.
"So pretty," He whispered, gripping your waist and grinding his hard length, hidden in his jeans, against your hip.
You gasped, tightening your hold in his hair. Before you could deepen the kiss further, he was pulling away and pressing his lips against your neck. You moaned, tilting your head back to allow him more access. He reached up, cupping your bare breasts in his warm, callused hands and you whimpered — the rough drag of his palms against your sensitive nipples making your knees buckle.
He chuckled, working his thigh between your legs — your weight falling on his thigh to keep you upright. His jeans ground against your clothed heat as he continued to palm your breasts.
Tilting your head back against the door, he dipped his head down to take one of your perked, hardened nipples into the heat of his mouth. Holding back a whimper, your clung onto the back of his shirt as his tongue flicked the bud.
With his free hand, he gripped your hip and began to move you to grind against the firm muscle of his thigh.
"J-Jimin—" You whispered, eyes rolling slightly at the pressure against your clit. He pulled his mouth away from your breast and licked his lips, sharp eyes cutting up to look at your blissed expression.
"I think you should be punished, you know?" He asked, teasing tone apparent. "For trying to run away and for that mean prank you pulled."
"N-No...don't punish me," You whimpered, beginning to desperately grind against his thigh.
"Oh? You don't want to be punished?" He asked, straightening his back. The added height made him look more intimidating, especially with the way his sharp eyes were filled with hunger.
"No please," You whimpered, licking your lips as your core throbbed with need at the dominant energy he gave off.
"Then I think you owe me an apology," He whispered, lips moving to brush against yours.
"I-I'm sorry, Jimin," You gasped.
"Sorry for what?" He urged, tongue sneaking out to run over your swollen bottom lip — plump from biting it.
"F-For trying to run away a-and putting the snake in your boot," You whimpered, nearly sobbing when he sharply pinched your nipple.
He hummed, rolling the bud between his fingers. “Apology not accepted.” 
“What—!” You were cut off by him aggressively shoving you to your knees. 
“How about you really show me you're sorry,” Your arguments were cut off when he pulled his cock free from the confines of his jeans. 
Unable to help yourself, you leaned forward and enveloped the head of his cock between your lips. He hissed at the sudden contact, your tongue catching the precum beading at the tip. It was a little salty and slightly bitter but with the way his thighs trembled the deeper your took him, you could ignore the taste. 
His fist tangled in your hair and his head rolled back as he began to shallowly thrust his hips. He pressed against your gag-reflex and you pulled back with a cough. 
“You've got a sweet little mouth, you know?” He smirked, wrapping his fist around his cock and spreading the mixed saliva and precum along his shaft. 
You blushed, opening your mouth for him to slip his cock back inside. He groaned, eyes fluttering closed as you eagerly began to suck his cock. His grip in your hair tightened and the tinge of pain had you gushing into your panties. You whimpered around him, clenching your thighs together to hopefully ease the pressure forming between your legs. 
“Stand up,” He groaned, shuddering at the way you whined when his cock fell from your lips. 
Before you knew it, you were being pushed onto the couch, your ass in the air as he pulled your panties off. A string of wetness clung to the material as he pulled it from your legs. He groaned, catching it with his fingers and popping the digits in his mouth. 
“So sweet,” He growled, falling to his knees. 
He pulled your folds apart, exposing your clenching entrance to his hungry eyes. His cock throbbed when you gushed — sweet, creaming juices from your entrance. Unable to help himself, he leaned forward and slid his tongue over the expanse of your pussy. He could have came right then and there at the obscene cry of pleasure you emitted at the feeling of his tongue swiping over your clit. 
He chuckled, taking the swollen bud between his lips and circling his tongue over it until you were clawing at the couch beneath you. It was too much, your inexperienced body trembling at the overwhelming pleasure on your sensitive clit. 
“J-Jimin…” You whimpered, eyes rolling as you mindlessly ground your hips against his tongue. 
The introduction of his fingers had you letting out a long, drawn out moan as he sunk the digits into your spasming cunt. 
“Shit, you're tight,” He muttered swirling his tongue over your clit as he pulled his fingers back out, scraping over your g-spot in a way that made you sob. 
You cried out his name again, the only thing you could think of as the coil tightened in your stomach— winding up until your whole body was locked up. 
With a well-timed thrust of his fingers as his tongue circled your clit, you came. 
He worked you through it, wrapping his free hand around his cock to keep himself from cumming untouched at the incredible display of you cumming for him. Before long, your whines turned into those of overstimulation and he pulled back, getting to his feet. 
“Are you ready now?” He asked, nearly groaning as you arched your back for him — your swollen, gushing folds making him want to dive back down for another taste. 
“Yes sir, please,” He growled at the title and eagerly began to push into your tight entrance. 
The two of you cried out in unison at the feeling — him stretching you deliciously and the hot tightness of your walls enclosing around him. You were wet enough for him to easily sink in completely. 
“Look at you,” He chuckled, pulling back to quickly push back in. “What would your friends say if they knew you were letting a wanted criminal fuck your little cunt?” 
Your walls clenched at the idea and he chuckled, picking up his pace. He nailed your g-spot perfectly and you buried your face into the couch cushion to muffle the complete sobs of pleasure. He growled, not appreciating you attempting to quiet yourself, and wrapped your hair around his fist and yanked up until you were on your knees only. 
The change in angle has him fucking against your spot even harsher, and your eyes rolled back at the feeling. It felt like you were losing your mind, losing yourself on his cock. You were soaking his member, gushing and dripping down your thighs. The sounds emitted every time he moved within your cunt were obscene and you would have been embarrassed if your mind wasn't completely fogged over with pleasure. 
“They'll be back soon,” He grumbled, reaching around to find your clit with experienced fingertips. “Better hurry up darlin’ or else they might come in and see you creaming all over my cock.” 
His filthy words paired with the deft circles over your bud sent you over the edge. He let your hair go and oh bonelessly fell back onto the couch, trembling through your high. 
Before you could even get through the aftershocks of your orgasm, Jimin pulled out and wrapped his fist around his cock — working himself to his own orgasm. Ropes of cum splattered over your ass and you sighed at the feeling, licking your lips as you wished you could taste it. 
As you both came down, he dropped onto the couch beside you and sighed. Running his fingers through your hair, he pulled the knots that formed, from his pulling, free. 
“Let's get you dressed,” He muttered, smiling when you whined as his warmth left you. 
You sat up and allowed him to help you dress back up — just in time for Jungkook and Taehyung to come barreling in. 
“We've gotta go,” Taehyung growled, grabbing Jimin's pack off the floor and tossing it to him. 
“W-Wait!” You gasped as Jimin grabbed your hand and pulled you off the couch. 
“You go with Jungkook, he'll drop you off closer to town so you can get home,” Jimin muttered, watching as Taehyung and Jungkook swept the area to make sure their belongings weren't being left behind. 
“Wh-Where are you going?” You asked. 
“Probably gonna head on to the next state, get away from the heat here,” Jimin grunted as he mounted his horse. 
“Take me with you!” You cried, wincing when three pairs of eyes were on you. “I...I want to stay with you, Jimin.”
“Shit, you got it bad,” He chuckled, narrowing his eyes at you. “Cute little girl wanting to come with the outlaw, huh?” 
“I…” You suddenly felt embarrassed, realizing he most likely didn't feel any real attachment to you like you felt. 
There was a beat of silence, Jungkook and Taehyung mounting their horses. 
“Hop on then, baby,” Jimin chuckled, holding his hand out. “We've got a long road ahead of us. I'm sure you'll enjoy it though.” 
You grinned, fighting the stinging tears of happiness in your eyes as you took his hand and let him help you onto the horse behind him. You wrapped your arms around his waist and rested your head against his back. 
With a swift kick to the side of his horse, the three of you were off. You turned and watched the little shack disappear from view in the darkness and you realized you didn't even feel sorry about your leaving. 
Maybe one day you'd see Yoongi again but deep down, you knew you were excited for the new adventure ahead.
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icecoldtwin · 4 years ago
Text
Intro 1 (feat. PAFK)
/Howdy all! This is the mod of this blog, running and keeping it organized for a friend until they decide to take over, if they do! Any and all asks and replies from Luci will be from them, but I’ll be coordinating to them through discord. 
I’ll be posting our introductory rp together to showcase Lucifer and how he gets into @punsandfuturekingsmen‘s Arthur’s town, where he’s currently staying. This is part 1! If you read it, please enjoy!
Link to all Intros:
1 (You are Here!)
3
4
Lucifer scowls as he kicks at the back wheel of his bike without force, glaring at it hard before he sighs and shakes his head. He was a block away, just a block, from the auto garage he had been pointed to. And his stupid, beautiful bike died a block away. "Fucking scrap metal..." He grumbles before just giving in and pushing it the rest of the way, grumbling to himself the whole time even after he walked into the shop with his bike parked out front.
~
Arthur felt like the air was colder when he meandered in, but he wasn't sure why. Maybe the heat had been turned down. His uncle gave him a look from behind the counter at seeing him, but Arthur waved him off. He wasn't going to let his uncle pay him to sit around and tinker in his back room. That wouldn't keep the shop running. Arthur shuffled a little until he could see who was waiting. "Oh hey. You guy. You're here for the bike, right? Can you give me a rundown?"
~
Lucifer looks at Arthur and raises an eyebrow immediately once he looks at him. "Fuck happened to you?" He asks in a small grumble before huffing softly. No it wasn't his business.....but he still wanted to know. "Dunno. It started stuttering down a few roads back then just shut off completely about a block away."
~
Arthur frowned at him. "It’s been a long few weeks." That was really all he wanted to say, and he clapped his hands together with a soft sound, and rubbed them. "Anyways. You have the keys? I'll take a look. Sounds like you might have a loose fuse."
~
Lucifer grunts softly and holds the keys out to him as he eyes him. ".....Are you even....medically able to work? No concussion?"
~
Arthur snorts. "All due respect to ya, I won't hurt your bike, if that's what you're worried about. My head is fine. If I couldn't work, the boss-man here wouldn't let me within a hundred feet of the building." He took the keys in hand, finger through the ring, and swirled them a moment as he made his way back to the garage.
~
Lucifer scowls and rolls his eyes as he follows after him, tugging off his helmet and fixing his hair with a hand pass.
"Well ex-fucking-cuse me for being concerned someone who looks like a mummy is about to work on my only way of getting around."
~
Arthur didn’t seem perturbed. Annoyed customers that were a bit rough-around-the-edges weren’t uncommon in the shop. "Hey man, I get it. You're concerned for your baby." He hummed as he made his way to where the bike was resting. There were a few chairs around and when he heard the sound of creaking leather behind him, he snagged one for the guy to sit in. "I'm not judging. But I promise the shape I'm in might be rough, but it's still good." He straddled the bike to turn it on before immediately frowning.
~
Lucifer huffs and straddles one of the chairs to rest his arms on the back of the chair as he watches Arthur.
"I guess you're the expert. Still, just....I dunno, don't mess it up more."
~
Arthur's frown was still on, and he touched the metal with his real hand. "Hey. This is like... really cold? How long have you been here again? I thought you just got in."
~
Lucifer tenses just slightly and narrows his eyes.
".....Is it? Yeah I got here like, a few minutes ago but it's not like it's super-hot outside. It did just stop a ways away too, had to fucking walk it here."
~
"Yeah but if it was running for a while it shouldn't be this cold." Arthur’s expression was a thoughtful one. "That might be your problem too. I mean, the engine gets super-hot and if you don't let the bike warm up first, the metal doesn't expand to where it should. The pistons will overexpand because they get hot from the bike engine running, but the rest of the metal hasn't warmed up enough to expand first. So that affects the cylinder bores and you can end up with scuffing and maybe even seizures in--"
He had been talking, clearly invested in what he was saying, but when he glanced up at the biker, his voice dropped out.
Arthur blinked. "Uh.....seizures in. uh. that area. Which... can cause parts to break. And your oil flow might not be the best which can... cause other things to break because it's not properly... um. Warm. Enough to circulate, I mean."
~
Lucifer blinks as he listens - most of it going right over his head. He was never that great with machines like this, that was always-... that was never his own strong suit. But he tries to listen.
At least until Arthur looked at him and he raises an eyebrow at his look before scowling.
"So i just am not letting it warm up enough before driving?"
~
"Uh.... probably." Arthur saw his scowl and forced himself to look away, though he did shoot another quick glance back. "I mean. Metal is affected by temperature a lot and it can change the size and shape. So if part of the bike is super cold and part is super hot... They're built to connect together kinda perfectly. Like a 3d puzzle. But a puzzle won't go together the right way if some pieces are too small and some are too big. And these pieces move, so when they don't fit it just-- makes things mess up even more."
~
Lucifer scowls more but this time less because of Arthur and more at himself. So...he was basically ruining his bike.
"Gotcha. So.. basically parts of it are too cold while others are hot."
~
"Basically." Arthur hummed. He chanced another glance at the guy. "If the oil gets cold it doesn't move as well too. So that can muck up parts that need it if you head out too soon. And I already mentioned the other stuff. If it's running this cold? I could see that causing issues. But I'll see what broke so I can get it fixed up. That's just more a future reference kinda thing."
~
"Right. Well. Guess it's good to know to try and keep the thing from breaking down again."
Lucifer hums softly, thinking. He'd have to possibly get more layers he supposed. Annoying. But it would help hopefully...
~
"Yeah exactly." Arthur left the bike, grabbing the handle of one of the rolling toolboxes. He came back and started undoing some of the parts so he could have a look inside. "Hey uh.... can I get your name?"
~
Lucifer watches him closely, resting his chin in his hand and his elbow on the back of the chair. ".....Lucifer. And yours?"
~
"Oh-- Arthur. Arthur Kingsmen." Arthur smiled at him. "Like the name on the front. Uh... you look...familiar. Have you uh. been here in Tempo before?"
~
Lucifer raises an eyebrow and glances down at himself.
"....Pretty sure I'd be more then 'familiar' with how I look. Don't exactly have one of those faces, ya know? But no. Never been here before."
~
"Well-- i guess that's true." Arthur rubbed at his neck with a wince. "You just uh... look like someone I know. Knew. Sorry." Arthur focused on his work instead, swallowing hard.
~
Lucifer blinks in confusion and stares.
".....Well, never met anyone who looked like me while I've been traveling. Nice to know I'm not the only giant around I guess."
Lucifer hums as he watches him, frowning lightly.
~
"-- Yeah." Arthur swallowed again. "It's a bit uncanny. But yeah. I hope you like Tempo. If you're here for a bit I might suggest the pizza place in town for food? Or if you like spicy things, maybe Pepper Paradiso. It's really good. Good milkshakes, too." He only paused in offering it, given Lucifer’s look.
It... might make them sad. But they needed the money right now, too.
~
"....Thanks I suppose. Dunno how long I'll be staying. Don't really have a place to stay or much money to my name right now."
More like almost none. Hopefully he had enough to cover this but it would be close he was sure....He just hoped a part didn't need replacing that they had to order a part for.
~
"That's too bad." Arthur frowned. "Hopefully this won't take too long then. But uh-- nevermind." Arthur rubbed at his neck again with another wince, leaning into the bike.
~
"Thanks at least. I'll keep it in mind in case I do stay."
Lucifer says before frowning as he watches him.
"You sure you're doin alright?"
~
Arthur nodded. "Oh-- yeah I'm fine. Just forget I'm sore without thinking." He hummed. "No worries. Won't mess up your bike." He leaned further in. "If you do, I think there's a cheap place near here to stay. Tempo doesn't get a lot of people passing through."
~
"Yeah? Where at? I might as well look it up to see if I can actually afford it, just in case."
Lucifer says and blinks as he realizes where his gaze had been going. Well. He could at least appreciate good looking things. Even if he wouldn't say it.
~
"You have a smartphone?" Arthur asked as he worked, feeling the guy's eyes on him. He really cared about his bike being taken care of right, didn't he? "I can get you a link to their site you can check out."
~
"Yeah I do. I need to connect to your wifi though… saving data, ya know?"
He actually didn't even have data. Nor did he actually own this phone. But....the guy didn't need it anymore. So it was fine.
~
"Oh yeah." Arthur glanced over at him. "Clients get to use it, so you're good. I think the password is on that board behind you? If it's not, I'll ask Lance." He pulled off a piece of the bike, sufficiently loosened, and set it next to him on a creeper.
"Mmm.....yeah. Your bearing seized. Looks like insufficient oil lubrication. Which would make sense if it's running cold and can't circulate. Looks like the journal needs replacing. The crankshaft got too hot. And I don't think we have any in the shop right now so we'll have to order one."
~
Lucifer glances behind him and puts in the password, frowning slightly. He'd need to charge this soon… he didn't wanna fry another phone trying to charge it his own way...
"....Order one? Ah....any fucking idea of the ballpark of how much that would be?"
He grumbles, sounding angry - but not really at Arthur more just the situation.
~
If Arthur noticed he was annoyed, he didn't respond to it, focused as he was. "Mmm.... it might be a few days to a week probably?" The place we get them from is a bit aways. But It shouldn't be too long. And journals are cheaper than ball-bearings at least. I can probably get you an estimate at about.... forty, fity ish? For the part and replacing it. Since we'll have to disassemble parts of the engine."
~
Lucifer flinches. Well. That was about 30 more dollars then he had. And that included trying to get a motel room to keep up appearances...
"Well shit....since I'll be stuck in town for a while it seems....know any places that are hiring?"
~
Arthur paused, before nodding, swallowing something warm and thick. "Are you good at waiting tables? Or with bookstores...? Go to Tome Tomb or Pepper Paradiso. Tell them Arthur sent you. They're uh... some of the staff isn't available, so they could use some extra hands, I'm sure."
~
Lucifer makes a small face. That sounded like a lot of people interaction....which most jobs he supposed are. He hated having to be 'customer friendly' though.
"Guess I don't really have much fucking choice...." He grumbles to himself, glaring at his phone as the room drops a little in temperature.
~
Arthur shivered. Someone must've opened the door to let in more cold air. "Well. What kinda jobs are you good at?"
~
Lucifer thinks, trying to think of what he could say that would be believable without seeming impossible.
"Well...I'm strong as shit after taco bell, i guess?"
~
"After....taco bell?" That made Arthur look up, giving him a confused glance. Was that a weird meme he hadn’t heard? You had the power of god and anime on your side, after a crunchwrap surpreme?
"I have no idea what that means. But the restaurant might be able to put you in the back to help move boxes? Or maybe check with my uncle. He's in with some guys who do construction. So he might be able to get you on a job if he likes you."
~
"I dunno, heard it was a saying."
Lucifer says with a shrug. Not like he ever ate taco bell to fully understand exactly what that meant.
"…I could probably do construction. I guess I'll ask, see which one even works...see which one doesn't fuckin ghost me." He says with a small snicker.
~
Arthur raised an eyebrow at him, but shrugged. "Tempo is pretty small. You probably won't need to worry about that. You wanna keep your bike here in the meantime?" He hopped off with a stretch. "I can give you a lift to that motel if you want. Though if you do some work for Lance and his buddies, he might let you crash on his couch and save a few bucks."
~
Lucifer frowns as he thinks, staring down at his phone. "....yeah i guess I'll leave my bike here. And I'll see if...Lance, right? See if he has any jobs. But I'll go to the motel later."
Won't have to pretend as much if he's not staying with someone else after all.
~
Arthur nods. "Whatever floats your boat. Lance is in the main part of the building. The guy who looks like me but with a beard." Arthur hummed, pointing back towards the front where he'd first come in.
~
"Ah...short guy who was behind the counter?" Lucifer asks as he stands up, snagging his helmet to rest against his hip.
~
"Don't call him short to his face if you wanna get a job." Arthur laughed.
~
Lucifer snorts with a small smirk.  "Fair enough. Don't want to insult my possible future fucking boss."
He says with a smirk as he turns to walk back to the other room.
~
Arthur looks back at him as he heads out. He'd comment on the number of fucks the guy was giving, but he himself didn't have any. And it wasn't like Lance wasn't used to that kinda talk in his circles. "Good luck with that."
~
Lucifer waves a hand over his shoulder to let him know he heard but doesn't do much more than that. He really hoped Lance did have some sorta job so he didn't have to do…retail.
He didn't want to have to deal with almost punching another dick wads face in while working.
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the-arcana-but-saucier · 5 years ago
Audio
(via https://open.spotify.com/user/x3q9pcau1lxkahl7prswt5g6n/playlist/3GG6dzSe8hP9msdZvdvwJZ?si=pNIMILroSAuKbdRVyG2hsw)
Hi everyone! I do not come empty-handed to this blog... indeed, I have some songs for your soul. They may dare to delight, but what is the story behind this playlist other than its link to everyone’s favorite plague doctor...?
Poetry aside, hello! I’m Tex, owner of this domain (call me what you want, I don’t mind ^^). I’ve recently been enjoying The Arcana, romancing Julian (he’s my fav, sorry Asra <3), and thinking of all the fan-content I could produce while the game is still my current hyperfixation.
So to start me off running, I carefully crafted a playlist full of songs that lead you on a path through Julian’s heart as he battles his demons and ends up falling head over heels for the player. (Bearing in mind I’m trying to unlock all his secret scenes so I haven’t actually finished his storyline yet. No spoilers!)
Below you can find a short explanation of why I included each song. Enjoy, and let me know what you think!
1. Killer by Crazy Lixx
This song sets out what the player knows about Julian at the start of the game: he’s a murderer on the loose, a villainous man running from his crimes, covering his face with the mask of a plague doctor. Scary stuff!
2. Blood On My Name by The Brothers Bright
This one covers how Julian feels about himself at the start. He’s afraid of what he might have done, afraid of himself, and facing the fact that he may well end up in the gallows. Deep down he wants help, but with the whole world seemingly after him, where in Vesuvia could he find it...?
3. Plague by Tris Mikal
It has ‘Plague’ in the title so I thought it was appropriate. General self-deprecating feel. What? Not all of these were thought out in such depth. I do my best.
4. Heaven On Hold by Bryce Fox
Julian feels like a dead man walking. With death knocking at his door and whispering his name from your deck of tarot cards, it seems he’s always minutes away from the afterlife, but never quite getting there.
5. I Need A Doctor by Martin Vide (Remix)
Obligatory meme song about doctors (were you around for all the animation memes they made of this one?). Had to be included. Chose a remix version because the rap lyrics are A) horrible to listen to and B) don’t really fit with the theming I previously laid out at all. Case closed.
6. Living Dead by Marina
Another one about how Julian is walking the line between living and dead. He’s surviving but not really living. Nice little reference to birds and therefore his ‘familiar’, Malak the raven. Touches upon his blossoming feelings for the player very briefly.
7. Whiskey Tango by Jack Savoretti
I promise we’ll get out of the ‘Julian wallows in self pity’ songs soon... this one describes how he feels like he’s stuck, unable to make right what he’s done wrong. He pushes the player away by lying to them and keeping secrets, and yet needs them desperately, running towards the light even though it only leads him further into the darkness.
8. Flesh by Simon Curtis
Hey, it wouldn’t be a Julian playlist without getting sufficiently spicy, would it? (Don’t play this one in the car with your mom...) Inspired by the secret scene backstage in the community theatre (Book VII - The Chariot, Chapter 2), this one dives straight into Julian’s affinity for pain and how for him, it’s also deeply pleasurable. This middle section of songs describes the sexual tension between Julian and the player and the fact that he is probably (definitely) a sub...
9. Bad Romance by Halestorm
Didn’t want to use the original because I feel rock/metal suits Julian a little better than modern pop, plus the singer’s voice is slightly deeper. This one describes the player’s feelings for Julian (and perhaps Julian’s feelings for the player, depending on which way you swing it), and the tantalizing world of danger he offers the player, seducing them into a romance that could put both of their lives at stake. Sexual tension so thick you can cut it with a knife (and we both know he would love that...)
10. Poison (Radio Edit) by Groove Coverage
Completely going against what I said last time and using a pop cover of a rock song (oops!). This song describes the tension on Julian and the player’s relationship due to his dangerous lifestyle and how they both want more of each other but rarely get the chance. The player should heed Julian’s glaring red flags that he may well end up hurting them, and Julian is poisoned by the player’s peppy attitude and refusal to let him self-sacrifice so easily, and tries in vain to drag himself down into the darkness again, pulling away from the player at times.
11. Can’t Help Falling In Love by Pentatonix
Something soft and sweet to offset the sexy tunez previously - Julian finally opens his heart up to the player and lets them in, despite all his instincts telling him it’s a bad idea to get someone he cares for involved in his dire affairs.
12. Believer by Imagine Dragons
This one speaks of pain again, throwing a sly wink in Julian’s direction due to his masochistic nature and also speaking of how the player is helping him to overcome his struggles and how they’re the face of his future and the blood in his veins. The player helps Julian to believe in himself and believe that he can have good things and deserves to live.
13. Nothing To Lose But You by Three Days Grace
Returning to a slightly darker place with a renewed interest in falling into death’s steely grip, Julian struggles with how the player will feel about his death, should it occur. He has nothing left to lose except the player themselves and it’s obvious that it pains him greatly to turn away from them again and face the gallows smiling. He admits how deeply his feelings run for them and how they’re the light of his life.
14. Don’t Let Go by GENTRI
A final song to bring this thrillsome playlist to its conclusion, and something a little different in genre - this song comes from a place of vulnerability for Julian. I imagine he so desperately wants to ask the player for their help, scared of himself and the future, and when they finally have him, he clings to them tightly: “I love you. Don’t let go now.”
And that brings us to our conclusion! Please let me know what you think! What songs would you have included, and did I do a good job picking these ones out? Many thanks for listening/reading and I hope you enjoy getting all the feels for this loveable red-haired rogue.
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helena-hufflepuff · 5 years ago
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Welp. Since i picked the worst possible moment in time to create a side blog for my HPHM MC, I’m just gonna continue posting to this blog until it actually becomes...something™️. While i wait for that moment I decided to do @golden-trio-challenge for Helena cause sure.
Helena Echeverría
Face Claim: Karol Sevilla. An absolute unit of a woman. 10/10 would face claim again.
Yule Ball Outfit: Ok so bare with me here. Her dress isn’t technically green, let me explain. Andre (being the amazing human being that he is who is so ready to put Helena in anything and everything) was designing a dress that nobody was willing to take on and wear for the Yule ball; Helena wasn’t even planning on going to the Yule ball (it took lots of convincing from Merula, of all people, to get her to go). Now after she changed her mind and decided to go literally at the last minute, Andre pull out this number that is originally white/iridescent. Andre explains that he tried out a new spell on the fabric that lets the wearer determine the color of the ensemble (think of it as a mood ring made of fabric without moods being involved....ok moods are involved but we’ll get to that). Why green? I’m glad you asked random citizen. The reason she ended up choosing to display the green color on the dress is because of Mr. Barnaby Lee. By the end of fourth year Helena and Barnaby decided to start dating and become a couple, when sixth year arrived and the Rowan incident that shall not be named happened, Helena grew emotionally dependent on Barnaby and started lashing out at him and her friends. Now, we all know grief can take many forms, but taking out your pent up frustration on people who love you and have done nothing but support you was more than enough for Barnaby to hit the breaks and put a pause in the relationship; in this manner they could both heal and become their own people again and that way they could later on resume with a fresh start, after all he does have a promise to keep (BARNABY AND HELENA ARE ENDGAME™️). Anyways, green, Barnaby, Slytherin, i hope I didn’t loose anyone with that train of thought. He was the only person Helena could think about as she was getting ready and it showed in her dress....side note: y’all remember that part in the movie “Anastasia” were Dimitri first sees Anastasia in her blue dress, yeah, that was basically Barnaby when he saw Helena.
Muggle Outfit: Hey, so the eighties were a thing that happened. And this game takes place in them. High waisted jeans or shorts, baggy button downs and jackets, suspenders and overalls, denim skirts and every loud color imaginable. Hufflepuff, but make it fashion and made to dance to the beat of “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” .
Headcanons💛
Her full name is Helena Evelia Echeverría Garcia
If it wasn’t clear enough, she’s a Hufflepuff. A spicy Hufflepuff. Honey badgers have been said to be fierce creatures. So much so that she becomes an Auror after Hogwarts.
She’s Spanish from the Toledo region. Her childhood was spent living in both Spain and England due to her parents works in the muggle and Wizarding worlds. Needless to say she is fluent in Spanish and English.
She’s halfblood, her father is a pure blood while her mother is also a halfblood.
Give this girl a broom and she’s gone. She loves flying and you can catch her most of the time doing free falls; going up, up, up and then just dropping and going back up before her body hits the concrete.
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natsubeatsrock · 5 years ago
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My 10 Favorite Posts, So Far
Well, tomorrow makes 5 years of blogging as natsubeatsrock. It’s been quite a crazy 5 years and I’ve made a number of crazy posts in the time between starting this blog and today. To celebrate I wanted to talk about 10 of my favorite posts over the past five years. This list isn’t necessarily ranked from least to most favorite, but there is one post I can call my absolute favorite.
Let’s go!
Honorable Mention: The Rewrite of Fairy Tail: Part 16 (Lisanna) [originally posted March 27, 2019]
As an honorable mention, I want to shed some light on my favorite post from last year. I started making this post months before the series was on the verge of ending. As I was working on this post and decided to work on rewriting Fairy Tail, I started to rework this series as a defense for keeping Lisanna in the series, as opposed to cutting her. This has been a theme in a lot of the posts I’ve made about Lisanna since a post I made before that one and I do plan to talk about that in the future.
#10. My Incredibly Unpopular Thoughts on: Ships/Zervis [originally posted October 25, 2015]
This is the earliest post in my top 10 and it shows. Around this time two big things happened: I made a post on August 31st called My Incredibly Unpopular Thoughts on: Juvia and the fandom exploded over Zervis, due to the revelations in canon. I intended to make that first post a part of a series and this was too big of an opportunity to pass. I remember that writing this was ridiculously easy for me. In fact, it’s one of the shortest posts for me to draft and upload with its relative size.
While I’m not as proud of how my writing prowess shines in this post, almost everything I’ve said in this post has become my philosophy on ships since posting it. My thoughts on shipping fandoms? Check. My thoughts on canon weight of ships? Check. My wishy-washy feelings over Zervis? Check. For a long time, this was my favorite entry in this series, but we’ll ge tto that soon enough.
#9. Bye, Bye Lucy: Part 4 [originally posted May 20, 2017]
A lot of you may be shocked to see this post on the list. “Bye, Bye Lucy“ was a series of posts I did explaining all of the issues I have with the infamous subset of fanfics that has Lucy get kicked off the Strongest Team in favor of Lisanna, resulting in her leaving Fairy Tail. I had a ton of fun working on this series. So much so, I actually ended up writing a story based on the idea I posit in Part 3 of this series, which I released earlier this month. But, individually, Part 4 is my favorite individual post in the series which focused on the idea of Lucy leaving the guild over the whole situation.
Originally, this whole series was going to be one really long post at just over 10,000 words. However, around the time I was working on the part that would become this post, I realized that these stories fail with each successive plot point important to this trope of story. At this particular point, any stories lose me as both stories inspired by Fairy Tail and as their own type of stories. No good story that I know even tries to play with these tropes has Lucy actually leave the guild, even temporarily.
#8. Why I Still Ship Nali (Even if Most of the Rest of Fandom Doesn’t) [originally posted March 1, 2020]
I didn’t want to add too many posts from too recent on this list. As much as I think my current writing is my most consistent writing, it would be hard to say that too many of my posts now are at the same level as many of the posts coming up on this list. But, I’m honestly glad that I made this post, especially considering some of the things surrounding its creation.
About three months into my blog, I made a post called “What I Need to Stop Shipping Nali (and why I still do)”. Around the time I was going to post it, I guess someone made a post questioning why people would still ship Nali. It’s become one of my least favorite posts and I’ve felt it desperately needed to be updated for a while. I decided to tackle an issue I’ve had seen in much of fan interpretations with Nali: doing nothing past Edolas with Nali. I wrote the first draft out months ago and waited for a good opportunity to type it out. When I got the hate messages, that felt like as good a time as any. Speaking of which...
#7. My Response to Anon-san [originally posted March 31, 2016]
A bit of backstory may help with this one. I posted “My Incredibly Unpopular Thoughts on: Lisanna” on Easter that year. I check my phone coming out of my church’s night concert and I got the two messages I respond to in this post. When I first saw I got messages, I was worried because that was the first time I ever got negative anon messages. But when I read them, I knew I needed to talk about this as my 3,000th post on this blog - a milestone I was on the cusp of approaching when I got the messages.
While I like the precedent my response seemed to set for my dealing with this type of stuff, the reason this post is here that I legitimately love the messages I was responding to. Every now and then, I read them to myself just to remind myself they exist. I’m not even sure why I got them in the first place. They don’t even seem terribly connected to that Lisanna post. While complaining about fandom has been something I’m apt to do for a number of reasons, I can’t imagine which post got on their “nevers”. But believe me when I say that I am feeling very cooling about the fact that I did.
#6. My Incredibly Unpopular Thoughts on: Nalu [originally posted July 9, 2016]
I’m sure this one isn’t much of a shock too many of you. Around the time I made this post, the “anti-Nalu“ community was very different from how it is now. I had made a couple of posts about some of the issues I had with the ship and its fandom, but nothing on this scale. As a part of Fairy Tail month, I figured should try to explain everything I saw wrong with both.
Even as I wanted to do this and made plenty of similar posts before this, the thought of backlash terrified me. I made sure to set it up to post when I knew I’d be away and wouldn’t be able to see how it was received. When I finally did see the responses to this post, all of them were positive and from people who agreed with me. It’s become my favorite post in the series and still seems to serve as a great primer for people who don’t ship Nalu.
Though I’m kind of sad that a lot of the stuff I talked about in that post regarding the development of Nalu and fandom habits haven’t changed almost four years since I first posted it. When I went to make the sequel for this post, I was shocked how little fandom changed and how stuff inside and outside of canon seemed to embolden fandom to be worse about other actions over abour 18 months. Though, I didn’t hate Nalu when I made this post, even as I stopped wanting to ship it around that time.
#5. Opinion I’ll Probably get Stoned For #100 [originally posted April 29, 2016]
I really have to get back to making these. “Opinions I’ll Probably get Stoned For” was the series I was known for starting less than two months into making this blog. It’s a series where I drop spicy takes ranging from Sweet Bell Pepper to California Reaper. I’ve gotten into it with fans over more than a few of the posts in this series. However, my favorite of the series is one of the longest editions in the series.
Months before posting this, I remember seeing one of my favorite Graytear bloggers get into trouble with Gruvia shippers. One point brought up that particularly pissed me off was the moment that Gray was about to used Iced Shell against Silver. According to the Gruva shipper, the fact that the panel remembering Juvia is bigger than the panel remembering Ultear showed enough of Mashima’s priorities. This argument literally made me sick to my stomach. For months, I’d privately joke that this proved the exact opposite: Gray went through with Iced Shell because he remembered Juvia.
To celebrate hitting the milestone of 100 posts in that series, I decided to make a longer version of the series and explain my thoughts in depth. As soon as I had the idea, I knew that had to be the one. My favorite thing about this post is that, despite clarifying that I’m not terribly serious about this argument twice in the post, I actually got blocked by a Gruvia fan over this post. I guess they didn’t see it as that funny of a joke. Weird how that works.
#4. Nali Week: Scars and Unkept Promises [originally posted July 24, 2016]
Every once in a while, someone will make the remark to the effect of “People should stop complaining about the ships they don’t like and make stuff for the ships they do like”. Thank goodness no one has actually said that in regard to my posts. As much fun as I’ve had over the years complaining about the stuff I don’t like in Fairy Tail and its fandom, I do make a point to talk about the stuff I do like and why every now and then. While the series was running, ship weeks usually meant meta posts from me and this is my favorite of them.
This post was born from my own musings about how the anime dealt with Natsu and Lisanna’s relationship. I wanted to talk about its handing through the perspective of Lisanna being an important person Natsu lost and how that works with his desire to see Igneel again. The big moments I draw on is his promise in episode 75 where Lisanna asks Natsu to save her if she ever gets lost and their reunion in episode 79.
The perspective I took in that post is one I don’t really take a lot. I’m not arguing against an idea a lot of people in fandom agree with. I’m not even really arguing that my perspective is the correct perspective. I’m explaining the thought process that Natsu, as I interpret him, has regarding someone he cares about. The stuff I talked about in this post has become part of my interpretation of Natsu and traces of it can be seen in a lot of the posts I’ve made since. We have to bring Nali Week back.
#3. An Open Letter to the Nalu Fandom [originally posted October 1, 2017]
I love satire as a rhetorical tool. I love taking an idea I disagree with to so large an extreme that the problems with it are obvious to even the people who agree with it. While many of my posts have drips of sarcasm and irony, I love making an entire post based on the idea of pointing out the problems with an argument. Consider that I’ve done similar things with Opinion #100 and, to an extent, my most recent story.
The trick is finding something with problems that are so glaringly obvious, you can’t imagine people actually taking its side. In the case of this post, it was a hilarious letter addressed to the “anti-Nalu’s”. Apparently, the idea that people openly didn’t like Nalu got on “the nerve of every last one of their pussy hair“. So they wrote a short letter they meant for fans who don’t like Nalu to read. I would give them a pass becasue they were apparently on their period, but they were defending those Twitter pics of Natsu and Lucy on chain leashes.
It’s worth mentioning that this was a few months after the original series ended. I had been trying hard not to make a post about Nalu and the stupid things I saw their fandom do. I didn’t even talk about the pictures they were defending. When I made this post, I figured that I was probably not going to be making many more posts about Nalu for a while. So I decided to throw in every issue I had with the Nalu fandom between talking about it a year earlier and then.
As you can probably tell, I haven’t stopped complaining about Nalu and its fandom. This post seems to have set the tone for how I would deal with the ship and its fandom this side of the ending. Instead of pointing to why a ship fails for me, I’ve been talking about why others should have expected the ship to fail. And, if recent events are a sign of the future, it seems like I’m going to have stuff to say about it for a while. Yay?
#2. Why was Ichiruki Popular? [originally posted July 6, 2018]
What does it say that this post is among my top 10, both on this list and in terms of most notes on a post on this blog? This is a Fairy Tail blog for crying out loud. I shouldn’t be able to get so much attention for talking about a series that isn’t Fairy Tail. It almost certainly shouldn’t get more attention than most of my posts about Fairy Tail. A few people even liked and reblogged it this week.
Then again, this wasn’t my first time talking about other series. I’d already spent time talking about Rave Master, Naruto, and Monster Soul on this blog. I asked my followers if it would be cool if I spent time talking about other series, now that Fairy Tail had ended. Since I got a fairly decent response I decided to talk about a few series, including Bleach.
I got into reading Bleach about a year before it ended. At the time, I was following people who were already into it and was well aware of the popularity of Ichiruki and infamy of its fandom. I was fairly behind but I didn’t see much reason to ship Ichiruki when it ended and I saw the fan meltdowns. Imagine my shock when I got to the end and felt exactly the same about its chances when Rukia said Ichigo’s just her friend. I made this post to vent.
If I started reading Bleach about a year before getting into Fairy Tail, I likely would have been a Bleach blogger. This post served as an interesting glimpse into what that timeline might look like. It’s also one of the few posts that sparked actually interesting responses. While many have pointed to the anime as a reason for its fan popularity, I can’t tell how the staff came to the conclusion that Ichiruki needed to be portrayed as more romantic than in the manga.
#1. I’m late to the “Nalu wasn’t the original plan” party, aren’t I? [originaly posted December 10, 2016]
I’ve made a lot of posts on this blog. I’ve said a lot of things, done a lot of analysis and meta, and shared a lot of opinions here. And yet, I can’t say that too much of the stuff I’ve said is important. Not to say that my insight into certain topics isn’t appreciated. It’s just that much of what I’ve said over the years, even in some of the posts on this list, likely has been and would have been said by anyone else if I didn’t say it. The biggest exception to that has been this post.
A few months before this post, there was a leaked image of Mashima’s afterword in Fairy Tail S regarding the extra chapter Special Request, which happens to be one of my favorite chapters in the series. In it, he admitted that he didn’t originally plan on writing Natsu and Lucy’s relationship as romantic and was currently writing them as somewhere between friends and lovers.
When I first saw it as an image on a Tumblr post, I was extremely hesitant to say anything about it. I didn’t know about Fairy Tail S and assumed it was a troll. When it was confirmed by another blog, and it source was ultimately verified, it was a dream come true. Mashima had vindicated my thoughts on the ship literal months after my big post on Nalu. And yet, not many people were talking about what this actually meant for Fairy Tail and the fandom moving forward. So came this post.
In many ways, I’m still shocked that I still have to point people to this afterword and what it means for Fairy Tail. I’m sure many people know Mashima didn’t plan on making Nalu happen, but I doubt many people understand that fandom is outright incorrect to say that Nalu hsa been obvious from the jump. In a weird connection to the previous post, Mashima’s comments on Nalu are similar to comments Tite Kubo made regarding his writing Ichiruki. Even now, it’s hard to say that Nalu will become canon knowing Mashima’s original intents.
Of the most important thing to come from this post, this marked the start of me starting to hate Nalu. Up to this point, I went from being indifferent to it to not liking it. However, once this came to light, I came to actually hate the idea of Nalu as romantic. I’ve had even less patience for the fandom that made itself near synonymous with the Fairy Tail fandom at large on every site ever. I doubt that will change anytime soon and I’m not sure if that’s a bad thing anymore.
Well, that’s my list of my favorite posts. I’m sure you guys have favorites among my posts and maybe some of them are on this list. If you want to see more of my other personal favorite posts and reblogs, I’ve tagged all of them as fav on my blog, including this one. Here’s to 5 more years of whatever the heck I’m doing on this blog!
See you!
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dontshootmespence · 6 years ago
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Through the Pages
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Chapter 22
Nearly a month had passed since Spencer bought Eleise’s engagement ring and he’d spent just as long wondering when would be the right time to propose. Nights were spent tossing and turning. Days were spent at his desk staring at screens and papers with thoughts of far away. Every waking moment (and even some dreams) were spent trying to find a way to ensure Eleise would be able to return to her world whenever she wanted. Everyone they loved, minus Spencer’s mother, knew the circumstances of their relationship -  of the door that separated their worlds and the possibility of it turning to dust once and for all – but no one had any answers.
After a number of conversations about where they would go and why, the pros and cons of each side, Eleise decided that upon their marriage she would move to his time. No matter how much she loved Spencer, and she did, with every fiber of her being, the thought of never seeing her parents again weighed heavily on her mind, and Spencer knew it. 
As he paced the wooden floors of his apartment flipping the ring box around in his pocket, he took note of the time. Eleise would be at work, as would Alfred, but he wanted to ask her father for his permission to marry his daughter and he couldn’t do that with Eleise in the house. Asking her parents for their blessing wouldn’t be easy; they knew what was at stake, but he wanted to marry her, raise a family and no matter when he asked the possibility of the door vanishing would remain. They’d already met and fallen in love under impossible odds so it didn’t matter what came their way, right? They would be able to weather the storms together?
Slipping on his jacket, he picked up the book and watched the door materialize in front of him, stepping through with an overwhelming sense of purpose and yet uncertainty. Instead of taking a right out of the alley to head toward Eleise’s home and Scotland Yard, he turned left in search of Alfred’s firm, hoping that he would find the older man with a free moment or two where he could stumble over his words in asking one of the most important questions of his life.
Rarely had there been a day where he’d visited and hadn’t been greeted by rain, but today, as he strolled down the street, he saw the sun peeking out from behind a cloud, bringing a smile to his face. Maybe it was a good sign. 
Arriving at Alfred’s firm, the ring sat like a concrete block in his pocket. “Spencer, what brings you here?” He asked, clearly surprised to see his daughter’s suitor at his job once again.
“Hello,” he greeted shyly. “I actually came here because I have s-something I’d like to ask you and I can’t with Eleise in the house.”
Immediately, a range of emotions washed over Alfred, and Spencer could see it in his eyes. The Victorian man knew this day was coming, and sooner rather than later, but now that the moment had arrived, he couldn’t reconcile the tremendous sense of joy at his daughter’s near betrothal and the imminent feeling of dread that bubbled in his stomach knowing what was to come. Though he felt a bit sick to his stomach, he smiled, noting how similar Spencer looked to him when he’d asked Eleanor’s father if he could marry her. “Go ahead,” he said, smiling.
“Sir, I love Eleise with all my heart and soul. In our future I see happiness. I see a family. I see myself falling more in love with her every day, but it is important to me that I have your blessing. Mr. Griffiths, will you give me permission to ask for Eleise’s hand in marriage?” That might have been one of the most nerve-wracking moments of his life, but he felt amazing, especially when Alfred’s lips turned up into a smile.
“Promise me that you’ll love my daughter for as long as you live and you have it.” 
Spencer felt tears prick at the corners of his eyes. “For as long as I live and more.”
“Do you have a ring?” Alfred asked, after a moment of silence passed between them.
Finally able to breathe again, he pulled the ring out of his pocket. For some reason he hadn’t taken a look at it when he walked through the door and was pleasantly surprised to see the ring was just as beautiful – bright platinum now a beautiful silver, two bands entwined together and a shining purple stone on top. “She will love this. It’s beautiful, Spencer.” He could his eyes start to water and cleared his throat to push away the unwanted emotion. This was a happy occasion and he wouldn’t allow his fears to dampen the excitement of the day. “One other thing,” he added. “I also ask that you go to our home and ask Eleanor as well.”
“Absolutely,” Spencer said quickly, his heart beating a thousand miles a minute. “And thank you again. I promise you that I’ll endeavor to make her happy for as long as I live.” 
With a small wave, he thanked Alfred a third time and headed out the door, practically sprinting to Eleise’s home to ask Eleanor’s permission as well. Like her husband, she was surprised to see Spencer without Eleise, but after a moment’s thought she knew why. “Do you want to marry my daughter, Spencer Reid?”
He gently nodded. “How did you know?”
“Alfred looked the same way when he asked my father. Don’t tell Alfred, but I’d been spying on him at the time so I knew it was coming.”
“Your secret is safe with me,” he laughed. “Yes. I want to marry Eleise. I want to love her until the day I die.”
“Have you already asked Alfred?”
“Yes. He gave his permission and asked that I come here as well.”
Eleanor chuckled softly at her husband’s gentlemanly nature. Many friends of hers had husbands that never asked their decisions on anything, but Alfred was one of a kind – like Spencer. “Do right by my daughter and you have my permission as well.”
A tear fell down Spencer’s cheek when he thanked her profusely, proudly showing her the ring he’d picked. Like the man, the ring had a mother’s approval. “May I ask a favor?” Spencer wondered aloud.
“Yes, of course.”
“There is a place nearby where I would like to propose to Eleise – the large pond near the church, surrounded by trees. With the leaves changing color, I believe it would be the perfect place, but I don’t want to put her at risk for social ridicule. With you there, observing, she would still appear the chaste Victorian woman she is.”
Eleanor smiled. It was a proposal befitting of her daughter. “What time?”
                                                           ------
At quarter past six that evening, Spencer paced the ground near the church, a mirror image of the small clearing of trees and the sunset reflecting in the water nearby. He’d been there for nearly an hour even though he’d told Eleanor exactly what time to be here. He just had no idea what to do with himself. He couldn’t sit still. Finally, the moment arrived when Eleise and her parents walked toward the church, the younger woman none the wiser in regards to being brought her at such an odd time.
“Spencer!” She caught his eye and had to keep herself from running toward him, still wanting to uphold the perfect Victorian image for the sake of her parents. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to ask you something,” he started, glancing toward where Alfred and Eleanor stood about 100 feet away. “When we first met, I knew there was something drawing me to you. I didn’t know what it was, but I would be in my apartment and I wouldn’t be able to get you off my mind. Then I knew why. I love you. When you’re not around, my eyes search for you. I hear the sweetness of your voice linger in my ears. As a man of science, I’ve always wanted to know what came next. I needed the answers. I don’t anymore. I know that we’ll laugh together and we’ll cry together. I know we’ll face good times and bad, but I want that all with you. Every beat of my heart says I love you and if you will let me I will spend the rest of life showing you just how much. Eleise…will you marry me?”
Whenever Spencer had imagined this moment, he assumed he’d stumble over his words, but no message had ever been more clear. Eleise’s eyes glazed over with tears. “Yes, Spencer. I will!”
Glancing around, she saw her parents tear-stained cheeks, but no one else and jumped into Spencer’s arms, the wind flowing through her hair as he twirled and set her down near the lake, lips meeting in a chaste kiss full of future possibility as the sun set on the horizon.
@remember-me-forever-silent-angel @veroinnumera @alixcharmedworld @kitsch-i-might-be @sharon6713 @gaylemonshark @zombies-bunny @spencerwreid @ophila-archie-l @theatre-mom @too-music @illegalcerebral @madduhsen @rayreids @criminalnoodler @princesswagger15 @followingmyowndirection @kawhgi @astridstark13 @extremeobsessions101 @pretentiouslisp @meghanll @jillthekill @coffee-and-stories​ @thekatherinewinchester @courtneymarieroseee​ @ashley2197​ @tbhm1a​ @fl0werb0nes18​ @professional-fangirl-2002 @everyday-imfangirling @bookaddictlove​ @stunudo​ @spencer-is-too-perfect​ @meganlpie​ @rawritsmolly​ @sebba-hiddles​ @spookyshyguy @rt8815​ @badbitsh13​ @epicstepic @queenanneslace4​ @giddybeater​ @chilloutbitchx @teaspoon-full-of-sugar​ @transparentmilkshakefury @sunflowerscratches @mad-maximilian​ @antoheartit​ @sallangel @moonlightrose18​ @confused-and-really-hungry​ @reallyshypeanut​ @clockworkballerina​ @youknowisay @niall2017​ @were-skye​ @generouslyuniquestudent @forcingsmiles247​ @weirdgirlwithproblems @saraisthoughts​ @louis-writings​ @flannelparker​ @nadpug​ @pastroptard @pandacraz09​ @kitten863 @simitten​ @xxm3xxj​ @just-antiyou​ @whaaatthefuuuuck @thatnerdygirljudy​ @notes-in-a-bottle​ @wkxicnrueiiejjf @catherinechatzi​ @fernicusb​ @princessjae92​ @original-criminal-fanfics​ @teamwolf2411​ @piotreknawrot @aligre-blog @call-me-meh @donnacif-blog @lastfallenstar @crimeshowtrash​ @grenae18​ @annexoeh​ @captswann​ @the-unloved-person @april1535​ @stupidmenina @chloereidjonesellessar​ @imaginativedaydreams @bbkenna @immundusspiritu @karouwinchester @thelateliterary @sassyspacedust @spicy-quarius @emilyshurley @gooberforgubler80 
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(( OOC - I try not to post much like this on this account BUT I want to explain
So hey all it's Steph and I'm gonna try to be brief, but I wanted to apologize for the slowness on this blog as of late! I'm in finals week right now, so I haven't been able to do a lot. And the online night WAS supposed to happen, but due to technical difficulties, we'll be pushing that to a later date. Updates as they come.
I promise you all, I have an idea of where I want this story to go, it's just a little slow-going in getting there. But things are coming, songs, characters, more spicy storylines, all that jazz! Just stay tuned, I know it's what you want ;)
aaaand we're back to IC ))
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septic-dr-schneep · 6 years ago
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YT - Choose Your Own Adventure Part 12
Previous: Here
A.  Risk the jump into the hatch for Connor. - 35
B.  Double back and risk an encounter. - 4
“I don’t want you going anywhere on your own, not like this,” Chase sighed, stepping back and gesturing to the hatch. “At least down there we can still hear you and ask if you’re okay.”
“Gotcha,” Bing concurred, pushing away from the doorframe and shuffling toward them. Chase wasn’t ignorant to the way his limbs wobbled and creaked as he moved; it was already making him incredibly nervous. What if he fell down there and was too damaged to get back up? He had trouble carrying Bing through a solid and stable hallway. How would they ever find a way to fish him out and pull him up from a dark hole?
“Are you sure you can do this?” Stacy blurted out, to which Bing clicked his tongue lightly.
“I’ll have a better shot than either of you,” he answered honestly. She didn’t seem at all reassured, but he was already sliding his legs into the hatch, calling down, “Hey, there. Chase is the big C, you’re the little C, right? I’m Bing. You remember me from that one time, like, years ago? I helped you skateboard, I held your hand?”
“Y-Yeah…” Connor whispered, barely audible.
“Well, I’m comin’ down to get you and then I’m gonna put you on my back and we’ll get to try a fun stunt together. Do you know what parkour is? We’re gonna do some of that and jump really high up so your dad can reach you. It’ll be easy! I’m the bomb at parkour!”
Sharing one last look with Chase, Bing took a steadying breath, drawing it in tightly as he swung himself down into the hole. The clang of impact and the piercing yelp that accompanied it made both Chase and Stacy flinch and Connor whimpered, but Bing was quick to reassure them. “I—I’m fine, I’m cool,” he promised hastily, pain ringing in his voice. “Just…gonna have to walk that off. S’cool. So, little C, where are you down here? Can you move?”
“No,” Connor sobbed. “The red man t-tied me up!”
“Red dude, huh? Sounds like he sucks,” Bing remarked in a lower voice. “Okay, then. Just keep talking to me. I’ll find you.”
“Connor!” Chase caught his attention, trying to sound encouraging. “Tell him about your magic tricks!”
To their relief, it didn’t take long for Connor’s nervous chattering to draw Bing to him. “Here we go, get these ropes off…Huh…that’s a snazzy little suit you’ve got there, kid.”
Chase only had a moment to process the words before a shrill, sharp squeal of static bombarded his ears. It wasn’t accompanied by singing this time, however.
“It’s…it’s all c-coming together,” the singer whispered through the distortion. “Everything’s…g-going to be perfect…even though you messed up.”
“What?” Stacy breathed, lifting her head and her voice. “Who are you? What do you mean?!”
“You s-should’ve listened. You should’ve come to me f-first. Come find me…Please come find me, Stacy…”
“Hey!” Chase barked. “She’s not going anywhere without me!” Stacy shot him a pointed glance in response to those words but he didn’t back down, rising to his feet. “We’re not going anywhere. You’re not about to direct us anywhere.”
The young, trembling voice cut out for several seconds, returning all the more tremulous. “But he s-says he’ll kill me! If—If she doesn’t come back, it won’t be perfect anymore! Please d-don’t let him kill me…!”
“Chase, what if that really is someone in danger?” Stacy whispered. “We found Bing, we found Connor—neither of them were tricks. What if this is real?”
“Three other hostages?” Chase protested incredulously. “How likely is it that we’ll get lucky three times in a row?”
“You’re the one who’s been talking about the singer giving us answers,” Stacy argued, lifting herself to her feet. “This may be a chance to get some—and get him to spare another life!”
“What about Connor?” Chase demanded. “He needs you!”
“Well, Bing’s made it clear that he trusts Connor with you, not me,” she muttered, tucking stray hair behind her ears and shifting her weight restlessly.
“We literally just decided not to split up! What happened to that?!”
Overhead, the voice on the other end was doing its best to muffle its cries. “Please…please come find me…”
*****
What should they do?
A. Let Stacy go. It’s worth the risk if someone needs help. - 18
B. Ignore the voice. It’s probably a trick. - 26
Part 13: Here
Tag List is under the cut.
@beastboicrank @thesinginggal @spicy-spedicey @thealyssa4life@inarticulate-screaming @vity-dream @shadowedlove97@viostormcaller @alucarddraculina-blog @the-kit-kate@cryptidjourney @lafayettelover2337 @rogue-of-light-analyzed@the-crypt-of-randomness @a-heist-of-words @storm337@wolfox76 @farming-chick illyriashade56
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livingthroughchoices-blog · 6 years ago
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The Marshmallow Chronicles (Ch. 16: The Beaumont Bash) *NSFW*
Prev | Next
Author’s notes: Right. So I am SUPER nervous about this chapter bc it’s the most different and the one I’ve added the most stuff to so far. I really hope you like it omg. It’s also the longest yet. As always, I’m deeply sorry if you have to scroll through this on the app, but as of now, there’s nothing I can do about it /:
Thanks to all who like, reblog and/or comment, you guys keep me going! And especially to @starstruckzonkoperatorbat, @notoriouscs, @simplyaiden-blog, @snyggflicka, @asprankle, @speedyoperarascalparty, @mirivalencia, @mymandrake, @asobigokoro2018, @krisnicjack and @fabi-en-ciel for asking me to tag them! Please let me know if you want to be tagged or untagged (:
I love you and I reaaally hope this is okay.
TRIGGER WARNINGS: Mention of depression, suicide.
Rating: NSFW
Pairing: Drake x MC
Words: 8,059
As he got ready for the Beaumont Bash, Drake was aware of feeling an aching thirst for alcohol. He figured getting wasted was his best chance at surviving the unbearable sight of Liam and Riley together and might even stop him from thinking about her all night. 
With this in mind, he poured himself a glass of the unopened bottle of whiskey Liam had given him for his birthday. He swallowed with savage pleasure, as if Liam could know he was ignoring his request to share it with friends.
He debated whether to pour himself a second glass, then decided against it; he’d been to enough Beaumont parties to know this would be a long night. He should pace himself.
Having thrown his usual outfit on, he barely glanced at the mirror, not really caring much at all about his appearance tonight. 
It’s not like anyone will be looking. 
He trudged down to the ballroom, only to find Lady Kiara at the foot of the stairs. In his current mood, he gladly would have avoided her, but it was unfortunately the only way down.
Nevertheless, he tried to keep their meeting short and discourage conversation by saying, “Lady Kiara,” as curtly as possible and not stopping. 
He wasn’t fast enough, though, as a hand seized his forearm before he could make his getaway.
“And where do you think you’re going, Monsieur Walker?” she asked with a smirk. “I haven’t forgotten your promise of a legendary night, tu comprends?”
Oh fuck, not this. Why did I have to open my goddamn mouth?
Drake extricated his arm as politely as he could and averted his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I comprends or whatever.” This made Kiara giggle, so he added a very discouraging, “We’ll see,” for good measure.
He burst into the ballroom, eager to fade into the crowd and get drunk by himself. And who should be there to welcome here other than Riley. She was wearing a midnight blue dress that made her skin look radiant and her eyes a deeper color than usual. Her hair was up in an elegant bun. Drake privately decided – I shouldn’t even be thinking about this – that he preferred it down, but there was no denying she looked beautiful either way.
Of fucking course. Can’t have a moment of peace around here. Does she always have to look so... so...
His frustration was such that he couldn’t come up with a single word for her; he came up with too many. He realized he’d pursed his lips and balled his fists when he’s seen her. He relaxed as he stepped up to her.
“Welcome to the Beaumont Bash...” she said with a grin. 
You’d think nothing happened yesterday. 
“You’ll recognize some of these fine floral arrangements as yours...” she gestured to the centerpieces.
“Heh. After yesterday, I was skeptical about this place being ready in time, but...” he looked around the lavish room, appraising it. “Looks like you’re about to have an actual party here.”
“I know, right?” said Riley excitedly. She gave him a once over, seeing him fully for the first time. “Though... you don’t look like you’re dressed for the occasion.”
Drake opened his arms as if on display. “You don’t like my look? This shirt’s clean.”
Riley sighed and rolled her eyes. “I guess that’s the most I should expect. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you dress up for these fancy events. It might be a nice change of pace.”
The comment stung more than it should have. 
Well, what did you expect? She’s marrying a prince! Why wouldn’t she think you look like crap? Anyway, me? Dressed like a fucking noble? No way.
He shrugged studiously. “Eh. Fashion is subjective. Besides, people are here to see the Prince, not me.” He attempted to keep the bitterness out of his voice at that last part; it was just a fact, after all. He thought he’d been successful until he saw Riley was shaking his head sadly at him.
He was about to reassure her that he didn’t mind, when Hana bounded up to them. She waved at him with a smile and he returned her greeting with the most cheerful nod he could muster. He felt an arm around his shoulder and turned to see Maxwell had joined them as well.
“Riley! Maxwell! I’ve never been to the Beaumont estate before. This looks wonderful,” admired Hana.
Maxwell replied, “Thank you, Hana...” as Drake shrugged his arm off.
“And you look lovely tonight, Riley,” said Hana, her eyes shining as she took in Riley’s elegant figure.
Riley beamed and returned the compliment, “As always, you look gorgeous too!”
Hana blushed deeply. To the unsuspecting eye, she might just seem like someone who was not used to receiving compliments, but Drake knew better; the corners of her lips were twitching and it was clear to him she was fighting back a smitten smile.
Luckily for Hana, at that moment, the waiters started bringing out the appetizers.
“Our creations!” Maxwell whispered.
“I hope people like them...” said Riley, biting her lip.
Lady Kiara, who was just behind them, wondered aloud, “Uhh... what is this dish?” when the waiter handed her one, along with a napkin.
Maxwell, doing his best pompous celebrity chef impression, explained, “What you have there is a deconstructed delicacy of caviar cultivated from pampered hake fish of the Swedish fjords with paprika harvested from a micro-nursery in Provence.”
Lady Penelope had bitten into it halfway through Maxwell’s bluffing description and now exclaimed, “Wow... so fancy... I like them! Spicy, salty, definitely unique.”
Encouraged by her friend’s reaction, Lady Kiara gave it a small bite too. “Mmmm... It reminds me of when I dined at the top of la Tour Eiffel in Paris! Did you use the same chef?”
She looked so impressed, Drake almost snorted. 
Rich people. Throw some food together, call it something fancy and they're happy.
“Someone comparable,” choked out Maxwell, obviously holding back laughter.
The suitors moved on to mingling with other nobles and Maxwell turned to his friends, “Well, the reactions to our appetizers seem mostly positive.”
“They like the food? Really?” Riley’s smile was almost ear to ear. “I can’t believe we pulled that off.”
“Yeah. I really thought this would be a complete disaster,” agreed Drake.
“I told you... it’s all in the marketing!” Maxwell gave him finger guns. 
Drake’s snide response was interrupted by the arrival of his two least favorite people – or should I say my least favorite snake and possessed murder doll.
Judging by the grimace on Riley’s face, which she quickly covered up with a reluctant smile, she felt the same way. “Duchess Olivia... Countess Madeleine... welcome.”
Hell no. 
Maxwell seemed to be thinking similarly, for he walked away from the group with Drake.
They each grabbed a glass of champagne.
“To not being a part of that conversation,” toasted Drake.
Maxwell chuckled and clinked his glass, saying, “Oh, come on, Drake, they’re not that bad. Olivia has been very loyal to Liam.”
“So? Doesn’t change the fact she’s about as pleasant as a root canal. And don’t get me started on Madeleine!”
“What’s wrong with her?”
“Are you kidding? I’d trust her as far as I could throw... Liam; I could probably throw her pretty far, actually. At least Olivia’s open about how terrible she is.”
“That’s a fair point,” Maxwell conceded. “She’s definitely crafty.”
“That’s one way to put it."
Noticing Madeleine and Olivia had moved on, Maxwell and Drake returned to where Riley and Hana were standing.
“Welcome, everyone,” rang out Bertrand’s clear voice. “If you’ll please take your seats, dinner will begin shortly.”
"That’s my cue. I have a seat in the back,” Drake said, pointing to his table, “so I’ll see you after dinner.”
“And I’d better go and take my seat with the other ladies,” chimed in Hana.
Riley pouted, “I wish we could have all sat together.”
Drake touched her arm lightly. “Hey, don’t look so disappointed, Addams. You’re sitting with royalty. I learned a long time ago I don’t fit in there.” He sighed in resignation. “But don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll be able to handle one dinner without us.”
“Right...” Riley replied dubiously.
"We’ll catch up later!” Hana reassured her.
On his way to his unglamorous table, Drake overheard Olivia whine, “What am I doing back here?” He automatically made eye contact with Riley across the room and they both burst into laughter. 
Still chucking he sat down at a table with Bastien and other guards.
He tuned out most of the conversation throughout the meal, focusing instead on the food and drink. He had to admit, dinner hadn’t been half bad, considering it was fancy rich people nonsense. The champagne was the best part, though.
Feeling slightly less grumpy thanks to the food and – in large part – to the alcohol, he felt ready to start a conversation.
"So, Bastien,” he turned to his right, “did you find the person behind the photos?”
“Not yet. I haven’t been able to get ahold of the reporter to whom they were being sold,” the older man grimaced, clearing his plate.
“Bummer.” What Bastien had said reminded Drake of something else. “Oh, hey, what’s this I hear about a reporter being caught inside the grounds at the Manor? It it true?”
He gathered from Bastien’s exasperated sigh that it was.
“What the hell, Bastien?! Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was under the impression that I reported to Prince Liam, not to you,” Bastien snapped with ice in his voice.
Drake was momentarily hurt into silence. The fact that he’d specifically said he reported to Liam instead of King Constantine seemed designed to make him feel smaller. Bastien sighed again and put a hand on his shoulder; Drake resisted the urge to brush it off.
“It was nothing, all right? I figured you had enough on your mind and didn’t want to add to it because of a meaningless incident. She was caught and promptly escorted out. End of story.”
“How can you be sure she didn’t do anything? Take pictures or... I don’t know.”
“Drake, we made sure, trust me.”
Bastien met his eyes earnestly. Drake felt ashamed at having doubted his old friend. 
Why would he tell you anyway? What have you ever done? 
He shook his head as if to rid himself of that spiteful little voice.
"I have had a lot on my mind lately,” he admitted. “What with Liam’s Coronation, and Riley–”
“I see Lady Kiara is still taken with you.”
“Wh-what?”
He whipped his head around to the suitors’ table and saw Lady Kiara engrossed in a conversation with Hana.
“What are you talking about? She’s not even looking this way.”
“You just missed it.” Bastien clicked his tongue regretfully. “I think she’d be good for you, if you don’t mind my saying.”
“Uh, really?”
“Definitely! She is charming and intelligent, and I’m sure I have heard you mention her physical, er, attributes.”
“Yeah, Bastien, she’s hot, you can say it.”
“I will not. But I hope you take my meaning.”
“Now that the dessert course has been served, the grand hall is now open,” came Bertrand’s voice from the main table. “Please join us there for the after-dinner festivities!”
Standing up, Bastien patted his shoulder before leaving the ballroom along with his men to take his position in the main hall, where the party was to be held. Drake filed out of the ballroom alone and stood among the crowd anonymously as Bertrand continued giving unnecessary speeches.
“Citizens, nobles, friends, we’ve gathered here today to celebrate the end of the social season. So if you’ll hear me out, I’d like to share a few words...”
At this point, Drake’s attention drifted. 
There’s only so much noble rambling I can take in one night. 
He looked around and spotted Liam at the very front with his family. He wasn’t eager to join the King and Queen, so he kept searching the crowd. Hana was carrying what seemed like a tiresome conversation with Lady Penelope. Drake shuddered. 
I’d rather be alone than talk about poodles. 
Left with no other choices, he looked for Maxwell.
Disconcerted, he realized his friend was not part of the crowd. 
Where the hell is he?
Bertrand’s voice, once again, broke through his confusion, “... and so, with all of House Beaumont with me, let us propose a toast!”
Drake finally spotted Maxwell coming up the stairs carrying a mace. Close behind him – his eyes widened – was Riley, valiantly hauling a battle axe that looked like it weighed about as much as she did.
“To our gracious royal family...” Bertrand continued.
“To all those here tonight!” Maxwell added.
“And to the PARTTYYYY!” Riley yelled, hoisting the battle axe up precariously. “Let’s rock this place to the ground!”
“YEEEAAAHHH!” Maxwell pumped his fists.
He swung the mace at the champagne, shattering the bottle.
“We’ve never let a lost bottle stop us before. Bring out another!” called Bertrand to the staff.
“WOOOOOOOO!” Maxwell was almost buzzing with frantic energy, his hand and bottom half soaked in champagne.
Riley gripped her axe and sliced with difficulty at the bottle. Perhaps because it was so heavy and thus she had very little momentum, she managed to hack the cork clean off. Champagne immediately bubbled out and she took a drink directly from it. Beginner’s luck, scoffed Drake, though he had to admit to being a little impressed.
Maxwell, on the other hand, was very impressed, and possibly a bit jealous, “Whoa... It took me much longer to master that move.”
“From all of us at House Beaumont... thank you!” Bertrand brandished the bottle Riley had opened at the crowd and they cheered in unison. Waiters marched into the room with tray upon tray of champagne. 
Thank God. 
Drake’s pleasant buzz had begun to subside and he knew he was only a few sober minutes away from getting sulky. 
Meanwhile, Maxwell had raced to the top of the stairs.
“... Maxwell!” Bertrand said.
“What?” Maxwell called back.
“Let the revelry begin!”
“AWWWWWWWWW YEAH!” yelled the younger Beaumont, sliding down the banister.
Deafening pop music blared all around the room, and professional dancers and acrobats, dressed in colorful, circus-like costumes, made their entrance. The room now felt twice as crowded.
Drake stood in his spot, back against the wall, gulping down the champagne he’d snagged from a passing waiter. He didn’t notice his friends walking over to him until Liam spoke, “So, enjoying the party, Drake?”
“It’s been less than two minutes, and my ears hurt...” he grumbled.
Liam elbowed him, “Come on, Drake, you usually give it at least five minutes before tapping out.”
I usually don’t have a crush on the girl you’re marrying.
“There’s so much happening,” Hana marveled.
Drake rolled his eyes. “That’s the problem.”
As if on cue, he heard Bertrand shout, “Bring out the horses!”
“The horses!” Maxwell echoed.
“The horses?! You’re bringing horses in here?!” Riley asked over the music.
“Who’s ready for a little horse riding?” Bertrand led the horses to the center of the room.
“I am!” Maxwell piped up.
“Great...” Drake shook his head. He hated this tradition of theirs. The poor horses couldn’t understand what was happening and were obviously spooked. 
Fucking nobles and their “eccentricities”.  
Maxwell, already mounted, asked, “Who will be my partner?”
“How about our king-to-be?” suggested Bertrand.
“I nominate Drake as my proxy.”
If looks could kill, Cordonia would have found itself without an heir. Liam held back a laugh at Drake’s irritation, but the latter merely said, “Oh, no, you’re not forcing me into the saddle tonight.”
Hana chose that moment to say, “I vote for Riley!”
“Riley!” Maxwell repeated.
“Come on up then, Lady Riley.” Bertrand offered her his hand. “Your saddle awaits.”
Riley was helped onto the horse, which whinnied uneasily. “Easy, girl.” 
Riley scratched the horse’s mane and that seemed to help calm it down. She then led it in a gentle turn around the room.
She and Maxwell waved at the crowds.
"My fellow Cordonians, take a picture!” Riley proclaimed. “I want everyone to see my noble horseback pose.”
Drake snorted at that. She wasn’t a bad rider and her pose was not terrible but it was a far cry from “noble” as she put it. Not for the first time, he found himself wishing he could teach her better, before clamping down on that dumb instinct.
“Phones are not allowed inside these parties. Nobody wants to see embarrassing pictures of themselves in the news.”
Bertrand was right; phones were not allowed and yet... there were always exceptions, weren’t there? He thought back to Maxwell’s video of him dancing to Hayley Rose and felt his face grow warm. A lot more sinister were the pictures of the bachelor party that someone had tried to sell for profit.
“I’ll take mental pictures for you,” Hana consoled her.
After going around the room once more for their adoring fans, Maxwell said, “We should let some others ride around on the horses.”
“Fair enough.” Riley dismounted and made a beeline for Drake.
“Drake! I feel like I haven’t see you all day.”
That’s ‘cause I’ve been avoiding you.
“Well, you’re seeing me know,” he replied, noncommittal, looking down at his champagne.
“Yeah and guess what? I wish your face didn’t look like you just swallowed a lemon.”
He looked up sharply at that, eyes narrowed, and Riley laughed. As per usual, her laugh was too contagious to resist and he ended up chuckling along.
“See? That’s better,” she smiled and brushed her fingers against his. He stopped laughing instantly. 
“I need a drink.”
“Me too! I’ll come with!” 
He groaned a little but could think of no way to dissuade her without hurting her feelings, so he let her follow him to the makeshift bar.
He opened his mouth to order whiskey, when Riley elbowed him aside and spoke over him. “Do not give this man whiskey. Do not. We’ll have two shots instead.”
The bartender looked at her expectantly. When Riley didn’t elaborate, he asked, “Shots of what?”
“Surprise us.” Riley turned to Drake and smiled with that mischievous glint in her eyes. “Scared, Drake?”
“Pff, I can drink you under the table, no problem.”
“Then how about a bet?”
“What? Another one? We both have bets we never settled!”
“Then I guess they cancel each other out!”
“You just wanna get out of paying up, Addams.”
“How dare you! I’ll remember this insult against my honor when you lose, you know?”
Drake put on a whiny voice and begged, “Oh, please don’t, I’m so scared. I’m sorry I insulted your honor, Lady Riley the Waitress.”
“That’s Head Waitress to you, grumpy commoner.”
They were so busy trying to stare each other down, they didn’t realize their shots were ready. The bartender cleared his throat awkwardly. 
Drake turned to him, “Er, right sorry,” and grabbed the two shot glasses.
Handing Riley hers, he proposed, “Okay, how about whoever makes a face or shows any difficulty in swallowing this, loses?”
Riley put on her best poker face, though he noticed her lips were still twitching. “You’re on.”
They clinked their glasses, maintaining eye contact the whole time – I have to, for the bet! – and then threw their heads back. The base was definitely vodka. Drake had only negative experiences from his teenage years to associate with that spirit, but he powered through his body’s rejection of it. 
Riley was not faring as well; for a moment it seemed like she might actually throw it back up. In the end, she managed to keep it down, but she couldn’t help the pronounced grimace on her face as she did.
“HA! I knew it!”
“No! I demand a redo! I cannot handle vodka, okay? My body hates it!”
“Rules are rules, Addams, don’t tell me you’d back down from a bet? Surely your honor wouldn’t allow it,” he teased.
She took a step forward, “Well, maybe I’m not so honorable...”
Drake licked his lips unconsciously. “Neither am I.”
He hadn’t realized when it happened, but his breath had quickened. He felt his hand rising as if of its own accord, reaching toward her, to touch her.
A familiar tall figure was approaching them from behind Riley.
“I better go. Wouldn’t want to interrupt your time with the prince,” Drake said, leaving hurriedly back to the bar and ordering whiskey.
Leaning against it, he had a prime view of Liam and Riley talking. He went to take a swig of his whiskey only to find it empty. He ordered another one straight away. When the bartender handed it to him, he saw Olivia interrupt the couple.
Yes! Go Olivia! Oh my God, what the fuck. I’m actually happy to see Olivia. 
Before leaving with a person that Drake considered to be in his personal bottom three and yet felt like hugging right now, Liam kissed Riley on the cheek. Drake downed his whiskey and ordered the next.
The rest of the party went by in a blur of alcohol, dancing – or, in Drake’s case, being forced to dance by Maxwell – and crazy hijinks, like trying to shoot an arrow through an apple on a bust’s head. 
Nobody could do it. They hit other things, though... The bust, mostly. But there was an exciting moment when Penelope, swaying, very nearly hit Maxwell. He wouldn’t have been badly hurt – the arrows were blunt – and it hadn’t even brushed him, yet he still took it upon himself to act out a Shakespearean death scene, much to everyone’s amusement. 
Drake hadn’t even tried. His level of drunkenness paired with how bad he was at archery at the best of times was a recipe for disaster; even drunk him knew that.
The party felt like it was winding down. Lady Kiara was sitting on the floor in the corner, moaning, “Too... too much... Je ne me sens pas bien.”
Penelope, in the meantime, was leaning against one of the horses, going, “You know, horse. You and I have so much in common... hair, bodies, an adoration of poodles. You’re like my equine soulmate.” She seemed to doze off at that point.
Liam and Olivia were chatting in very loud voices. Well, Olivia was; Liam was talking maybe a tiny bit louder than he normally would, but his cheeks were far more rosy than usual.
Bertrand was sitting against a column with an empty champagne bottle in one hand – Drake didn’t doubt he’d drank it all himself – and a sword in the other.
“We gave those apples what for,” he said proudly to no one in particular.
Maxwell, to no one’s surprise, was still dancing while Riley and Hana looked on, amazed at his energy.
Drake walked over, hoping the fact that everyone was pretty drunk meant he could go. “It’s over. I’m finally free.”
Maxwell stopped dancing and wheeled around to face Drake. “What do you mean ‘it’s over’? The party is just getting started.”
“Lady Penelope is literally talking to a horse,” he nodded toward her. “The party has done its job.”
"Your mane is so soft,” she was saying as she ran her fingers through it. “You have to tell me who does your hair.”
“Back home, this was always about the time we’d break out a game of Truth or Dare, but I bet you guys are too classy for that!” Riley raised an eyebrow.
“You’d be betting wrong! I love Truth or Dare.” 
Of course Maxwell would love a party game.
“’Truth or Dare’?” Hana met Drake’s eyes; they both seemed to be thinking the same thing: Truths could mean trouble. “That sounds dangerous...”
“Well... only if you have something to hide...” shrugged Riley. Drake almost laughed. “Or a fear of embarrassing stunts...”
She looked at Hana beseechingly and the latter couldn’t resist, “It sounds... Fun!” 
Normally, Drake wouldn’t blame her, he knew by now how powerless he was to resist Riley’s requests but... 
Dammit, Hana! Not after yesterday!
Riley took Hana’s hands, “I can’t believe you’ve never played! Now we’ve go to do it.”
Drake shook his head over and over. “Oh no. I’m not playing Truth or Dare.”
“Come on, Drake, we should do it for Hana,” pleaded Riley.
Hana backtracked politely, “I don’t want to pressure you guys into doing something on my behalf.”
“But I would!” said Maxwell. “Do it! Do it!”
“I see where this is going...” Drake was already rubbing his face tiredly, waiting for what he knew was coming.
“Drake! Drake! Drake!”
Aaand there it is. Does this man ever not chant?!
“Okay... fine. I’ll play, just stop chanting my name.”
“Whoohoo! Someone’s going streaking tonight!” Maxwell wiggled his eyebrows.
“We can play in my room!” Hana offered, and she led the way upstairs.
Drake and Maxwell followed suit. Riley, for all her talk, lingered behind. 
Waiting for Liam? 
He didn’t know what to feel if that was the case. On the one hand, relief that he wouldn’t have to play a risky drinking game with her; on the other, pure, uncontrollable jealousy. 
Who am I kidding? I’m no closer to controlling this stupid crush than I am to controlling the fucking weather. 
To his immense relief and despite his hesitancy to play Truth or Dare with her, Riley joined them soon in Hana’s room. They were all sitting crosslegged on the floor in a circle. Riley took a spot between Hana and Maxwell, facing Drake.
“This is so exciting! How do we start?” asked Hana.
“Usually with a few drinks,” Drake replied.
“Oooh, there’s a full bar!” said Hana, noticing it for the first time. 
We are very different people. 
“What do you guys want?” she asked.
“Make me something fruity and delicious!” requested Maxwell. “I know! I want Sex on the Beach!”
Hana’s hand went to her mouth, her cheeks turning red, “Oh my! I don’t think...”
“It’s a drink...” explained Maxwell hastily. “Never mind, I’ll make it myself.” He stood up and joined her at the minibar.
“I’ll just have–”
Riley cut Drake off, “Let me guess. Whiskey.”
Drake rubbed the back of his neck, feeling his face heat up, “I’m getting predictable, aren’t I?”
“Maybe just a little bit,” she said with a small smile.
“What about you, Riley?” asked Hana. 
“I’ll have a whiskey, too,” she winked at Drake, who couldn’t help grinning back.
Hana poured two whiskeys and a glass for champagne for herself, while Maxwell mixed himself a bright orange drink.
“Cheers, friends! Thank you for joining me tonight!” Hana extended her hand to the center of the circle.
“Cheers.” Drake followed.
Maxwell added, “To friendship!”
“To friendship!” agreed Riley, clinking her glass to the others’. “And Truth or Dare!”
Drake drank deeply, remembering what they were all there for. “Oh boy, this is going to be a long night.”
“Drinks have been accomplished! Now, what comes next?” Hana looked at them expectantly.
“Someone goes first,” said Maxwell.
“Addams should start.” Drake pointed at her. “This was her idea.”
Maxwell turned to her, “Okay, Riley... truth or dare?”
“I choose Truth.”
“I was hoping you’d say that.” Maxwell rubbed his hands together with relish. “I’ve got a great one for you. If you were stranded on a desert island, where you’ll never see anyone or any civilization ever again... Which one of us would you want with you?”
Riley pretended to think for a moment, tapping an exaggerated finger to her chin, then announced, “I’d want Drake!”
He could not have been more taken aback. He knew they were on good terms now, maybe even more than that if yesterday was anything to go by, but there was no denying he was a difficult person to be around, let alone be stuck with. 
“Me? Be honest, Addams, you just want me there so I’m suffering as much as you are.”
“Mostly just to see how you’d look in a grass skirt,” she smirked.
“Hey!” Drake threw a nearby cushion at her, which she deflected with her arm, laughing. 
“Ha ha!” Drake allowed Maxwell to laugh for a second before glaring at him.
“Just kidding. I think you’d be gruff and grumpy, but deep down, when it counts, you’d probably save me from a tiger or something,” continued Riley.
“Well, I’d feel terrible if a tiger ate my only companion,” joked Drake.
“And there wouldn’t be any nobles around, or courtly intrigue, or gossip...” Riley was now looking intensely at him, as if trying to say something other than what her words conveyed. “In fact, I think you might enjoy being stranded more than palace life.”
Staring into those hypnotizing blue eyes, all Drake could think was that he’d sell several body parts if it meant he could be alone with Riley anywhere. Even a deserted island.
The corner of his lip quirked up, “You never know.”
“Okay, Maxwell, it’s your turn.” Riley broke their eye contact before the others could wonder if there was something else to the innocent answer. “Truth or dare?”
“Dealer’s choice! I’m not afraid of anything!” 
“Okay, then, tell us a secret that no one else knows about you.”
Maxwell’s bravado faded right away. “Aw, I’m an open book! Everyone knows everything about me!”
Drake scoffed, thinking back to how weird Maxwell had been just the day before. “Nope.”
He caught Riley’s eye and she nodded, remembering the same thing. “Not true at all.”
“We know almost nothing about you!” countered Hana.
“Well, all anyone ever had to do was ask. Okay, let’s see...” Maxwell reflected for a moment, then said, “I hate carousels.”
“Really?” asked Riley, incredulous. “I thought everyone loved carousels...”
Maxwell elaborated, “When I was little, the royal court took all the kids to a theme park for the Prince’s birthday. But when we were on the carousel, some reporters got in and mobbed us. The security team did their best to get us all out of there, but I was the last one they got to. So I was stuck on this dumb carousel for what seemed like forever with people taking pictures and shouting questions at me.” 
He had a glassy look in his eyes, as if transported back to the horror of helplessly riding a fake horse round and round. 
“I was only three... I had no idea what was really going on. And because our parents had spent so much time trying to warn us about dangers, I thought I was about to get murdered.”
Riley leaned her head on his shoulder, “Aww... Maxwell...”
He shook himself. “I’m fine. I was a long time ago.”
“Still...” Hana sounded disproportionately concerned.
“Aw, geez, this is why I don’t like to talk about serious stuff. I’m fine, you guys!” Maxwell reassured them. “Just forget it! Next up... Hana, truth or dare?”
It struck Drake that this was something Maxwell did all the time and he was an expert at it: seemingly divulging information about himself while at the same time withholding anything of meaning. The fact remained that he had no idea what his friend was going through right now and likely wouldn’t find out anytime soon if Maxwell insisted on bottling it up. Not that he was a model of mental health.
He turned his attention back to the game. Hana had just decided, “Oh... um... truth!”
“Tell us about your first kiss,” said Maxwell.
Hana bit her lip. “My first kiss?”
“You have been kissed, right?” Maxwell asked curiously. 
Tactful.
Hana’s brow furrowed. “Yes, of course.”
“You were engaged, after all!” Riley shot Maxwell a reproachful look.
“Well... it was actually a very chaste courtship. Our first kiss was in front of a professional photographer for our engagement photo shoot. My parents were insistent that we publish a very public announcement in all of the papers. It was... somewhat awkward,” she finished, staring down at her hands.
“He wasn’t a great kisser?” grimaced Riley.
Hana sighed and said, “He missed.”
Drake had never been so confused. “Missed? How?”
“He kissed my ear. Well, he punctured his lip on my earring, actually. He started bleeding. I felt terrible. My parents were furious that he ruined my dress. It was a complete disaster.”
Drake had been about to burst out laughing, when he caught a subtle shake of Riley’s head. 
Okay, not the time. 
He carefully avoided looking at Maxwell, whom he knew would also be close to laughter. One glance and they’d both cave.
“Hana, you deserved a better first kiss than that!” Riley put her arm around Hana. Drake saw her smile in absolute delight, holding Riley’s hand.
“Thank you, Riley. But it wasn’t so bad. Looking back, it was actually pretty funny. I mean, who can miss that badly on a kiss?”
Feeling like he had permission, Drake laughed, expecting Maxwell to join him. However, he only gave a small, “Hah!” 
Drake turned to him questioningly and Maxwell continued, “I know. I mean. What a loser...”
By now, Drake was excellent at knowing when his friend was hiding something. “Maxwell...”
Maxwell sighed and slumped his shoulders, “Okay, maybe I accidentally kissed someone’s chin but that’s, like, a totally understandable mistake, right? I mean, it’s right below the mouth...”
Hana did an amazing job of containing her laughter, only letting out a small giggle, “Hee hee. Yes, that’s completely normal.”
Riley and Drake however, were not so considerate, howling with laughter.
Annoyed after a minute of this, Maxwell talked loudly over their subsiding laughter, “Okay, my turn again! Riley, I dare you to go streak through the ballroom in your underwear!”
Uh oh.
The exact same thought seemed to have crossed Hana’s mind for her eyes widened and she glanced at Drake instantly. Fuck. I cannot see Addams in her underwear again. I might spontaneously combust.
Hana beat him to the punch, “That’s not fair! It’s not her turn.”
“Yeah, and she didn’t even choose ‘dare’,” Drake pointed out
“Well someone should streak tonight or this game is a bust. Come now, Riley, it’s your game. Who will it be?” asked Maxwell.
This time, she didn’t even pretend to think, “Drake.”
He rolled his eyes at her and felt his face grow warm.
“You trying to see me shirtless, Addams?”
“Not if you run fast enough!” she said cheerfully.
The group went down to the now deserted ballroom. The tables had already been cleared by the palace staff, leaving a vast, empty room perfect for something like running around half naked.
“The things I do for you people.” It had been his constant refrain lately, yet Drake had to admit that the phrase should be singular. It’s not like he’d do this just for Maxwell or Hana, as much as he liked them.
He took off his shirt and pants and stood there for a split second in his gray boxer briefs. He thought he saw Riley’s eyes glint.
Fuck it, let’s get this over with.
He sprinted the length of the room, the cool air feeling nice throughout his whole body. He realized he hadn’t known how drunk he was until this moment, when running proved more difficult than he’d anticipated. He managed not to trip, but it was a close thing.
“Woo! Go Drake!” Riley cheered from the other side of the room.
He ran back to them and stopped.
“Satisfied?”
“Yep!” said Maxwell, “Now what?”
Riley grinned. “I’m going to join in!” 
For the love of God, NO.
She took her clothes off efficiently and yet even then, Drake couldn’t help but think how sexy her confidence was.
Fuck me, now she’s in her bra and undies. I’m gonna die. That’s it. RIP Drake Walker.
It took all of his concentration and strength not to look below her face at her amazing, perky breasts in a black bra; at her long, shapely legs; and most of all, at her ass, whose every tempting curve was hugged by her matching underwear.
“We can’t make Drake be the only one. Come on, Hana!” urged Riley.
Yes! Yes, that might make this feel more normal. More like a “friend” thing.
“Hee hee... okay! It does look fun!”
Hana took her clothes off as well. Drake barely registered her creamy underwear, although he would have to be an idiot not to see that she was a beautiful woman too.
“Let’s go!” Hana gestured for them to run.
Riley turned back, “Maxwell?”
“I’ll be the photographer.”
“Maxwell!”
“I mean, I’ll stand guard!”
The three of them took off running and immediately, Drake felt better. The other two were nothing but a blur and so he could be just a normal guy having fun with his friends, rather than a commoner pining for the prince’s fiancée-to-be.
“Wooooooooo!” squealed Riley.
“Freeeeeedom!” roared Drake.
Hana shouted, “Truth or Dare!”
They ran the length of the room twice and then collapsed next to Maxwell, out of breath and with spinning heads.
“Wow, that took a lot out of me,” mumbled Riley.
“Me too. I need to lie down.” said Hana, a hand on her head.
They returned to her room, carrying their clothes. The four friends threw themselves on Hana’s bed, resting for a moment. Drake found himself lying down next to Riley. Her head was resting on her arm and she was staring at him. She reached out and brushed his bare chest with her fingers.
He exhaled sharply and sprang off the bed. The others took this as a sign to do the same and got dressed. Riley stayed on the bed a moment longer, then put her clothes on as well. 
“I can’t believe we just did that!” Hana was flushed and her hair was wilder than Drake had ever seen it. She also looked happier than ever.
Drake ruffled her hair further. “Ah, the magic of Truth or Dare.”
“This was so much fun tonight! Thank you,” she said to them all.
Riley smiled. “Any time.”
“Yeah, you know me. I don’t need much of an excuse to party.” Maxwell did the robot. 
“And I’m... still not sure why I came this time, but I guess I’d do it again.” It had been a risk, and it had almost gotten too dangerous, but nothing happened.
“Drake, I think we’re graduating from friends to best friends!” Hana beamed.
Drake put his hands up defensively, “Whoa, whoa, whoa... Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
“I dunno, man. We all drink together, goof off together, spend most of our time together...” Maxwell nudged him.
“No...”
Hana squeezed Drake’s arm. “It’s too late, Drake. We are best friends!”
“I guess I’m just going to have to accept this, huh?”
“It’s probably for the best. You could do much worse than the three of us,” said Riley.
Oh, I know. It’s you guys who should be thinking this twice.
“That’s true, isn’t it?” He sighed. “Okay. You got me.”
“Yay!” exclaimed Maxwell. 
"Yay!” echoed Hana.
Drake crossed his arms. “Please tell me this isn’t a thing we do now.”
Riley patted his arm, reassuring him. “This is not a thing.”
“Thank God. At least someone still has some sanity.”
“I’ve got your back.” She gave him one last squeeze before letting go.
Hana stifled a yawn behind her hand.
“Okay... we should probably call it a night before we break Hana...” Maxwell said, concerned. 
Hana nodded. “Good night! This has been a very memorable evening!” She waved goodbye to everyone as they prepared to leave her room.
“Good night, guys,” Drake said.
“G’night!” Riley repeated.
Once in the hallway, Maxwell went left, while Riley and Drake went the opposite way.
“So, that was fun, right?”
Drake only grunted in response, cursing nobles internally for having such big houses. He couldn’t be alone with her.
“What’s up with you? I feel like you’ve been avoiding me all day.”
“Uh, no, I haven’t.”
It wasn’t exactly convincing, but she couldn’t prove anything.
“Are you tired?”
Drake answered, “Nah,” before thinking, Shit. Why didn’t I just say yes?!
“Cool, me neither. Let’s have a drink.”
She pulled him into her room and he found that he didn’t feel like fighting her. Without asking, she poured them both whiskey and they sat down on a futon.
“Truth or Dare?” she asked softly.
“Dare.”
“Down your whiskey.”
“Come on, Addams, at least make it a challenge.” He was just bragging. His throat actually felt like it was on fire and his head hadn’t stopped spinning since the ballroom. He was extremely drunk already.
“Truth or Dare?” It was his turn to ask.
“Dare.”
“Same thing.”
She rolled her eyes at him and gulped down her drink. She managed to swallow all of it, but she had a coughing fit. He thumped her back, although he wasn’t sure that even did anything.
She stopped coughing, but he didn’t remove his hand; she didn’t seem to mind.
“Your turn.” Her voice was still hoarse from the whiskey.
“Truth.”
Fuck it. Hope this doesn’t bite me in the ass.
“Are you mad at me?”
Her voice was so small, he could barely keep himself from squeezing her. 
I can’t even blame her for thinking that. I’m such an asshole.
“No. And I’m sorry for making you think that.”
She seemed to be waiting for him to add something, but that was as far as he was willing to go, so she nodded.
“Truth.”
“Do you miss home?”
She was quiet for a long moment. Drake thought he could hear a clock ticking, but he couldn’t see one. He wondered idly what time it was. Late, but how late? He didn’t dare check his phone at that moment.
Finally, she sighed and spoke, “What is home, anyway? I don’t really have anyone, so no.”
She was leaning into him now, his hand still on her back.
“I’m sorry, if you don’t want to–”
“No, I do. It’s actually kind of a relief to be asked. I know my life is a million times better here than it ever was in New York, but sometimes it sucks that people just assume I’m happier here.”
“Aren’t you?”
“No, I am! I definitely am but...”
Drake waited again until she was ready to continue.
“Remember back in Olivia’s estate? When we went out before the storm?”
You mean the moment I knew I was falling for you, even if I was in denial? Yep.
“Sure,” he replied.
“I told you I knew what it was like to feel like you failed someone.”
“Yeah,” his voice was barely audible. He had been wondering about that but it seemed serious and he didn’t want to push her. He figured she’d tell Liam about it, rather than him.
“I... had a younger brother. Growing up we were really close, but then I left for college and we kind of drifted apart. I thought I could justify it, being a busy college student and all that but... He started having a hard time and I–I didn’t even know about it.”
She squeezed her lips together and continued, “One day I got a call at school that my little brother,” her voice wobbled, “had killed himself.”
Tears were now escaping her eyes, falling too fast and hard to roll down her cheeks. Drake realized he’d been rubbing circles on her back for the past few minutes.
She shook her head. “I didn’t even think to check up on him and I knew depression ran in the family.” She put her head in her hands and took a deep breath. “In his note he asked me to forgive him. As if it were him I needed to forgive.”
She let out a small sob, her face still hidden. A few seconds later, she wiped her tears and spoke, her voice still unsteady, “Coming here, I was just running away from my guilt. But I’m happy for the first time in years thanks to you guys, and you’ve helped me believe I do deserve it, despite everything... I haven’t completely forgiven myself, but I’m closer than I’d ever been.”
She gave him a watery smile. “So thanks, for everything.” She squeezed his hand.
He could not believe she was smiling. The horror, the trauma of losing a loved one in such a way and yet she still found something to be grateful for. He felt his own throat closing up, overwhelmed with affection and admiration. Unable to speak, he squeezed her hand back.
They stayed that way for a few minutes, with her head on his shoulder and his hand stroking her back. 
She sniffed and stood up, walking to the mirror. “God, I’m a mess!”
Drake went to stand behind her. “I think a pink nose suits you.” 
She giggled. “And to think I might have met Liam looking like this!” 
Drake’s smile died on his lips. Right. Liam.
“Listen, if you’re feeling okay I should leave you to it.”
“Oh, um, yeah, I’m fine.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, it felt good to tell someone.”
So she hadn’t told anyone? Not even Liam?
He entertained that thought for a second and then shook himself.
It doesn’t matter. You can be her confidant; she’ll still marry Liam. And that’s okay. Having her in your life is enough, but you need to forget about anything romantic happening between you. She deserves no less than a fucking kingdom.
“You should go meet Liam. I bet you can still make it.”
“You... think I should?” Her expression was unreadable.
“Yeah.” So was his.
His feet carried him to the bar, where he ordered shot after shot. He lost count. His bed was only a few feet away, so he could get as drunk as he wanted. As drunk as it would take to forget about Riley for a second. To forget about her bravery and resilience, her vulnerability, her warmth. 
We can be friends. We have to be friends, I can’t lose her. I just have to find somebody else.
As if planned, Kiara plopped down on the stool next to him. He couldn’t really focus her properly, but he still knew she looked beautiful as ever.
“Drake! I haven’t seen you all night!” Her speech was not as proper as usual, maybe even a bit slurred, but Drake was in no condition to notice.
“Theeeerrre you are, mylittlecroissant.” He had no idea he was barely intelligible at this point. Kiara didn’t seem to mind, anyway. “Voulez-vous choucher avec moi?”
“I thought you’d never ask!”
They finished their drinks and Kiara moved to his lap. He didn’t see the bartender leave, but he must have. Drake crashed his lips clumsily onto hers, their teeth accidentally clashing. She responded enthusiastically, her tongue entering his mouth. They made out sloppily, his hands roaming her body.
She pulled him closer by his shirt and let her hands stroke his chest, going lower and lower. She brushed his inner thigh and he felt his cock stir in his pants.
He jumped up from his seat, making her fall to the floor.
“Oh! Sorry, sorry, sorry!” He apologized over and over again as he helped her up.
“Kiara, yeeer great, ya know? Like, s-superrr cool an’ev’rything but I can’t. I juss can’t.”
He left her standing there and stumbled back to his room as fast as his condition allowed him. 
As soon as he was through the threshold, he slammed the door and leaned against it, breathing heavily. His hand trembling with need, he undid his zipper, pulled out his cock and took himself in his hand. 
He started out slowly, just savoring the feeling. Then, without meaning to, he let himself imagine what a smaller, softer hand would feel like. His hand moved faster. Unbidden, an image of Riley in her black underwear and matching bra came to him and he was powerless to stop it. His hand moving at a feverish pace, he had to clench his jaw to stop himself from crying out.
Still, he couldn’t help groaning, “Addams!” through clenched teeth as he spilled all over his hand.
Steadying his breath, he cleaned himself up and staggered to bed, already knowing his future self was going to regret so much of what happened that night.
I’m so fucked.
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