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inazumass · 2 months

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TAGS: Laios x Reader, Fluff, Comfort, Morning After, Canon Adjacent, Neurodivergent Laios Implied, Trust Issues, Mild Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Reader is a Beastman, Gender Neutral Reader, Second Person POV, It's Sweet I promise ;-;

While there was no doubt in your mind that you had crossed a boundary with Laios, it wasn’t like you could turn back now.

Part II to Animal Attraction Word Count: 8.8k

Morning came with little fanfare.

This deep below the surface, there was neither the sun to rise nor any birds to sing their early morning songs. If it weren’t for the party keeping track of time, you wouldn’t have been able to tell if it were night or day based on your surroundings alone. Hours passed without the help of the sun to guide you through the day; morning slipped into evening without notice. Days passed on the surface, lives went on, and the clock in your bedroom still ticked onward without anyone to watch its hands creeping across its face.

The lack of sunlight was disorienting in the early days of adventuring, but curiosity ultimately won out, and you’d pressed on and learned to live with it.

As you began to stir beneath the sleeping bags, it was the chill in the room that hit you first.

Beneath the covers, it was nice and warm, but your cheeks stung, rosy from the crisp air filtering in from outside the worn building. Shivering slightly, you snuggled in closer to the warmth behind you. Scruffy ears lay closer to your head, aching from the cold already. Though it had settled down some since last night, it was that sort of bleak, damp cold that had a way of working itself into your bones. It would have been enough to make your fur stand on end if it weren't for the heat surrounding the rest of your body.

While your eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, you could feel the soreness creeping into your muscles from last night. The realisation that it hadn’t been a dream came rushing in, along with the dull ache in your muscles. Heat crept into your cheeks when the memories of last night began to flood your mind. The images of your little rendezvous were still so clear and fresh—every whispered word, every tender touch; the way he looked with his head thrown back against the pillows… every little sound he’d made that had butterflies swirling in your stomach.

It would be a lie to say that the thought of an intimate night with your party’s leader hadn’t crossed your mind before, but sitting here in bed the morning after, you still found it hard to believe. The weight of the realisation settled over you slowly, mingling in with the comforting warmth of the man next to you. His strong arm was still wrapped around your torso, holding you close even as he slept. It was gentle, innocent in comparison to the shameless images that whirled in your mind’s eye.

While there was no doubt in your mind that you had crossed a boundary with Laios, it wasn’t like you could turn back now. His breaths came steady against the back of your neck, oblivious to your inner turmoil as he slept soundly next to you. The subtle rise and fall of his sturdy chest was a steady rhythm against your back.

You were careful not to wake him up as you turned your head toward him, gently shifting your body so you could catch a glimpse of his face.

The adventurer’s cropped hair was a mess atop his head, the short, fluffy blond strands sticking up every which way against the pillows. He looked so sweet like this: content and peaceful. Soft pink lips parted slightly as he breathed, eyes closed, as he rested beside you beneath the worn sleeping bags. Pink cheeks and soft lips—under different circumstances, you weren’t sure you’d be able to resist kissing him awake.

Your stomach twisted. A big part of you worried about how he might react when he woke up.

You knew Laios was notoriously bad at reading social situations, and this was certainly a complicated one. This was new territory for both of you, and there was no telling what he might think of you now. Or what the others might think of you should they find out, for that matter.

Then again, you knew him well enough to know his kindness. Even in the short time you’d been with their party, it was clear that he cared deeply about everyone on his team, yourself included. Whatever happened next, you would find a way to face it with as much grace as you could muster.

He’d always done his best to ensure the safety of his friends. He knew your strengths, your weaknesses, the best of your abilities, how to utilise them properly when it came down to it, and the areas where you could all improve if you just practised a little more.

Laios knew what he could and couldn’t handle too, for the most part. But what if this one slip-up was enough to offset the delicate balance they’d all spent so long maintaining? What if this was beyond his limits? There was no telling what he might say after the fog of desire had lifted, when the dust settled and it was just the two of you laying naked together with everything out in the open.

The mixture of emotions was nigh on overwhelming. In another situation, you may have been poised to run already, to slip away into the morning sun and forget this ever happened, no matter how badly you wanted to stay. A walk of shame felt easier than facing the fact that it was more than just physical on your part. You had to take a deep breath to calm yourself down. Eyes closed, four seconds in, four seconds out.

At very least, the rest of the party seemed to still be asleep.

As hard as it was to hear through the stone walls of the old inn, you were certain that, with your sensitive hearing, you’d at least know if someone else happened to be awake already. There was no stirring yet. If anyone else were up by now, then you would have heard it. You would have heard Marcille trying to wake Izutsumi, the scrape of Senshi’s pan scraping across the wooden floorboards, or perhaps Chillchuck’s distant grumbling… but there was nothing.

The cavern outside was quiet, save for the distant dripping of water echoing through the tunnels—most likely the snow already beginning to melt. You’d have to remember to put on your warmer clothes when you got up to brave the day.

You shifted slightly, trying to stretch your sore muscles without disturbing Laios. As you moved, his arm instinctively tightened around you. He could feel the warmth of your body against his, and it made him reluctant to break the peaceful silence that enveloped the room. Finally, he found his voice, still heavy with sleep, and murmured, "Good morning.”

When he finally broke the stillness in the room, you could feel the way his voice rumbled up from deep within his chest. His voice was low and intimate in a way that made your heart twist in your chest. That lazy morning drawl you were rarely fortunate enough to hear. When he blinked himself awake, you were met with a tired version of his signature puppy dog gaze. The way he looked at you was as if he were taking everything in for the first time.

"Morning," you replied breathlessly, your heart skipping a beat as he opened his eyes.

He felt your body tense slightly in response, a subtle movement that made his heart ache.

Golden and warm, his eyes crinkled slightly at the corners as he offered you a lopsided smile. The expression was familiar and unfamiliar all in the same moment; that soft look had your breath catching in your throat. But there was something new within them—something different in the way he looked at you now—that strange something that comforted you and set you on edge in the same moment.

The feeling of the tallman’s thick bicep curled against your waist was like a lifeline, keeping you tethered to this moment before you slipped too far into the whirlwind of self-doubt that threatened to overtake you. That gentle embrace which kept you pinned against the firm muscle and soft fat of his chest so comfortably.

His musky scent flooded your nostrils, dizzying you in a way you couldn’t describe. You could feel the firmness of his muscles and the softness of his chest and stomach against your body. You wanted nothing more than to nuzzle back into him and fall back asleep right then and there, to deal with the aftermath of last night’s activities some other time.

There was no running away now.

There was a small voice in the back of your mind that nagged at you, begging you to just up and ask. Would your little slip-up change anything between the two of you? A tiny piece of you hoped that it would, but knowing that the others could wake up at any moment, you thought better of asking. Better to keep your mouth shut for the time being.

You couldn’t help but look away from him then, finding the worn sleeping bags covering your still-naked bodies much less polarising than the thoughts racing through your mind. Some of the threads were frayed, sticking out at odd angles to show just how well loved the equipment was.

The discomfort must have been obvious on your face because Laios's expression quickly shifted from drowsiness to a mixture of confusion and concern as he came to fully. "Are you okay?" he asked, his eyes searching yours.

He could see the mixture of emotions in your eyes—comfort, affection, and a hint of uncertainty. It mirrored his own feelings—that strange blend of comfort and anxiety, teetering on the brink of something wonderful and terrifying all at the same time.

Laios felt the gentle weight of your hand resting against his chest lift. His arm lay against your waist, palm flat against your hip as he held you close. To him it was your touch that was like a lifeline, keeping him tethered to this peaceful moment, to you. But when he realised something was off his arm loosened around your body before he moved to sit up in bed and ultimately, let you go completely.

"I'm fine," you reassured him with an awkward smile, making no move to pull away from him. The words felt wrong on your tongue, nearly catching in your throat before you had a chance to spit them out. Lying to him didn’t come easy, nevermind the fact that he could see right through you.

As much as you wanted to address the so-called elephant in the room, perhaps the two of you were right the night before.

Maybe it would be better to pretend none of it ever happened, or maybe you were just fooling yourself. Perhaps it would be easier to rebuild that wall. Less heartache in the long run.

"Just a bit sore." You added, it was a half truth.

His brow furrowed with worry immediately, realising something was off but unable to put his finger on what exactly. His thoughts began to race as he replayed the events of last night in his mind, nearly wincing at the thought of your halfhearted protests. "Did I hurt you?"

Despite the stubborn thoughts from some frightened corner of your mind, you couldn’t help but soften at the way he looked at you. His drowsy eyes now widened against his hard features, his big hands flexing against the bed sheets as he tried to decide whether to reach out to you again or to stay still and give you your space. He wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if he’d hurt you, even if it were by accident in the heat of the moment.

His eyes searched yours for a second, looking for any further signs of distress, but there was something there that he couldn’t quite read. By the time he caught it, you’d already ripped your gaze away again, looking down at the bed.

You shook your head quickly and sat up on your elbows, careful to cover whatever was left of your modesty with the bedding.

“I’m okay,” You repeated, “Really. I…” You paused as your thought trailed off, the words getting caught in your throat this time as you looked up at him again.

You placed your hand over one of his on the bed, squeezing it lightly.

Who were you kidding? When he looked at you like that, it was impossible not to tell him what was on your mind. After your heart-to-heart and all the little conversations you’d shared over the journey thus far, it would be wrong not to offer him that same trust in return. Perhaps some walls weren’t so easily rebuilt.

Deep breaths again. You looked away from him for the third time this morning. It was easier to get the words out when you couldn’t feel the burn of his eyes against your skin.

“I’m just not really used to… uh… this?... y’know?”

The words hadn’t quite come out right, if not a little awkward, but at least he was pretty sure he understood the gist of what you were alluding to. It was enough to get your point across, enough to ease the tension in his shoulders as his thumb rubbed against the back of your hand.

You didn’t know what to call the situation at hand, but putting it at face value, you weren’t exactly prone to sleeping with your coworkers. Sure, there was a little crush here and there, but that was natural. Certainly, before him, you’d never even considered sleeping with one of your bosses , especially not on a job this important.

Yet here you were, hand in hand, wondering where the hell to go from here.

Laios nodded slowly, the tension in his face easing a little. Although he couldn’t see in the dark as well as you could, he could see the way you cowered slightly as you said the words. He could see the way that you seemed to want to curl in on yourself again. He recognized that look from last night’s conversation—vulnerability wasn’t something that seemed to come easy to you.

Perhaps the others didn’t give him enough credit when it came to being able to read those he was close to, or maybe it was your more animalistic tendencies that were more familiar to him that made it easier. He wasn’t sure.

There was something in the way your fuzzy little ears flattened against your head—that sheepish, downcast gaze—that stirred something behind his sternum. With a stance like that, he’d be willing to bet you’d have had your tail between your legs in any other position, ready to bolt. He paused for a moment, seeming to gather his thoughts, before he offered up a soft admission.

“Me either.”

It may not have seemed like much, but it was honest. He was looking away from you now too, his fingers slowly threading themselves through yours on the bed as he tried to find the courage to continue.

For once, the quiet was getting to him; he wanted to hear your voice. That gentle tone you had in the early hours of the day threatened to lull him back to sleep. He’d always had trouble pulling his stare away from you when things were calm, though you and everyone else had simply chalked it up to his fascination with monsters and beasts.

Lightly, you brushed a thumb over the back of his hand in return. It was an unconscious gesture, but that small show of comfort was enough contact to ease him into what he had to say. After all, it stands to reason that you’d already gone this far. He figured, what’s one more confession?

“I don’t exactly have a lot of experience with… this sort of thing either.” The blond admitted, nervously running his free hand through his tousled hair. It came to rest on the back of his neck for a moment, rubbing his muscles before he dropped it back down to his lap and picked at the fraying strings on the covers.

He needed something to occupy his hands and keep him calm. Something to distract him from the way your attention settled over him now.

Sure, he wasn’t entirely clueless. He had been engaged at one point, after all.

It was completely different, though, probably not something he could compare this situation to even if he wanted to. It had been so long ago that it felt like another life, a blip on the timeline. Something that had been done to appease his parents for the time being. Something to keep the peace—if you could even call it that.

It wasn’t as if he’d had any sort of long term relationship aside from that—hell, he hadn’t wanted one.

Still avoiding your stare, he forced himself to swallow the lump forming in his throat at the thought of what he was about to say to you.

"About last night…”

You tensed beneath his grip, your blood practically running cold at those words.

Nothing good ever followed a start like that, and you knew it. Though you weren’t particularly well versed in the way of one night stands, or romance for that matter, you had read that line countless times in novels before. You knew that nothing good ever came next.

Even when you felt your throat tighten up, you swore to yourself that you would not permit the tears to sting your eyes. Not today, not now.

You’d told yourself that if rejection came, you would find it within to accept it with grace, you could feign indifference. Stick to the plan and put on a brave face for the sake of all that you’d built with the group in your short journey alongside them. For the sake of the mission and your safe return to the surface.

Laios cleared his throat quietly, still trying to force the words up out of himself.

“I want you to know that I care about you.” He added, and you looked away from him again.

His eyes were soft. Pity , you thought. You couldn’t stand it, the thought threatening to have bile rising in your oesophagus. He must have felt sorry for you. Part of you wanted to scoff at him and tear your hand away, but you remained still.

With grace, you reminded yourself.

“I know,” you replied quietly, hesitant to reciprocate his sentiment in fear of what came next.

Those words were sharp against his chest. Not exactly callous, not quite cold, but not what he’d expected either. The edge to your words cut deeper than he expected, leaving him questioning everything.

They sent a million different calculations running through his mind in an instant. Did he misunderstand your intentions somehow? Was he reading too much into all of this? Again, he found himself searching for the answers in your form. However, you had turned away a little bit more, your gaze hardening as you stared at the wall opposite the bed.

He couldn't read your face now. It was as if you were poised to run away for real this time. Though you hadn’t yet let go of his hand, it felt like a physical barrier had been erected between you. Laios couldn’t read your expression anymore, and the uncertainty was maddening. It was like you’d shut down before he’d even begun. He was terrified he’d pushed you too far. Was he fucking this up entirely?

“No, I don’t think you do.” He said it softly, struggling to keep his tone light.

It wasn’t an accusation, but merely a fact.

There was a new edge to his voice, though, bitterness seeping across his tongue when he spoke despite his best efforts to keep it at bay. Laios didn’t snap often, but the idea that the one person who seemed to understand him the most in his current party could brush him off like that—especially in a moment of vulnerability—had his resolve weakening.

His words held no malice that you could detect. In fact, if you didn’t know any better, you might think he sounded… hurt?

Oh.

You looked back at him then, brows knit together with concern as you looked up at his face. His expression was somewhere between sadness and confusion, fingers twitching against yours while he considered whether or not he should let your hand go for good this time.

But you squeezed his hand back, keeping the warmth of his palm against yours. You’d opened your mouth to speak, but you couldn’t find the words.

“I mean, I care about you.” His voice was quiet, and even now, as he calmed himself, his eyes squeezed shut. He needed to say this, no matter how hard it was.

It was easier for him too when he didn’t have to feel the intensity of your gaze against his exposed flesh. Vulnerability in this manner was a skill he had yet to learn, but for the sake of salvaging this he would do his damn best. Laios focussed on the warmth of your palm against his own. He spoke in hushed tones, as if he might scare you off if he talked too loud.

Or perhaps because, despite the fact that you were alone in the room, these words were meant for you and you alone.

“I care about you more than I can explain. I care about you because... because you mean something to me. More than just a party member, more than just a friend.” He continued, his thumb absentmindedly tracing patterns into the back of your hand to keep himself grounded.

He felt a lump in his throat as he spoke, the raw honesty of his words making him feel exposed. He searched your face for any sign of understanding, any indication that you might feel the same way.

“It… probably wasn’t a good idea.” He admitted with a sad smile.

He wasn’t wrong. Chilchuck’s lectures and rants about professionalism and intraparty relationships hadn’t been for naught. Laios had seen it for himself once or twice, and he was no stranger to being taken advantage of. Despite the way your heart sank further at what he’d said, you knew that workplace relationships could easily spell disaster.

Lives and careers could be ruined in an instant if just one person made the wrong move. If someone or something else got in the way, it could cause irreparable damage to a relationship. And that was on the surface. Down here, where the sunlight never reached you, surrounded by monsters and isolated from polite society, it should have been obvious that things could be much, much worse. If not deadly.

Yet, selfishly, you wouldn’t take it back. Not even if you could.

“But it wasn’t a mistake to me.” He said it firmly as he opened his eyes and finally looked back at you.

You couldn’t help but feel hopeful at those words. There was a faint glimmer of it in your eyes, peeking through the cracks in the metaphorical walls you had yet to fully tear down. Those same walls he’d done his best to help you demolish in the short time he’d known you. His gaze had flickered back up to your face, his eyes teeming with sincerity as he spoke. They were warm as sunlight, captivating like a summer storm when he held you in his stare. He did his best to gauge your reaction before he said anything else.

His mind raced, each thought vying for attention. Was he saying too much? Not enough? The fear of rejection clawed at him, but he pushed it aside, determined to make you understand. The vulnerability was almost unbearable, but he knew it was necessary. If he didn’t open up now, he might lose you before he even had a chance to try.

He watched you closely, searching for any sign of what you were thinking. Your hesitation cut him deeper than he expected, but he tried to remain patient. He squeezed your hand gently once more.

That look of hope in your eyes was so faint, he almost convinced himself he’d imagined it. Still, he was nothing if not a brave man. He held you in his gentle gaze as he waited for a response, golden eyes almost pleading.

It was hard not to smile when he looked at you like that.

“I don’t regret it,” you admitted at last.

Your heart fluttered in your chest again, whether it was from the nerves or the way he regarded you with such kindness, you weren’t sure.

“And I care about you too.”

Though it seemed obvious enough, you felt like you owed it to him to say it out loud. While it may have been wise to figure this out under different circumstances, it was entirely possible that there may not be another time to sort through this.

There had already been so many close calls on this journey as it was right now. The thought had crossed your mind in a flash, bubbling up before you’d even had the time to process it in full.

Would you be alright if something happened to one of you, knowing you had your chance and had thrown it away because you were afraid of something real? Something human?

He finished your thought for you. “I know last night was… unexpected.” Though not unwelcome. “and I got carried away but… it meant something to me.”

This wasn’t how he wanted to do this. It was unconventional, but it was better to be honest than to push it aside.

“I...I don’t want it to just be a one-time affair.”

It was obvious that he was struggling to get the words out; he was not used to speaking so candidly in uncharted territory. He knew monsters like the back of his hand; he knew the dangers that came with his job, and he revered them for what they were. But human nature was not so kind; the hidden dangers and buried subtext that he often struggled to detect– it was all but alien to him.

You swallowed hard, looking back down at the way his hand seemed to hold onto yours like a tether. As if it were the only thing keeping him anchored here in this room, as if you might fade away if he let go.

The silence stretched on for seconds, but it might as well have been hours with the way the tension hung heavy in the air between you.

"You... don't have to answer me right now." Laios added quickly, afraid that he may have crossed some unseen boundary. Pressuring you into something you didn’t want was the furthest thing from his mind right now. Not only would that stress be entirely unnecessary for the both of you but-

“No, I want to- I just…” You stammered, watching the way his other hand continued to unwind the fraying strings at the edges of the bedding. “That’s not what I was expecting you to say, I guess.”

A shy smile tugged at the corners of your lips. Laios was usually the one to be straightforward, whereas others might tend to beat around the bush a little more. Seeing him wrestling with himself to confess his feelings was such a stark contrast to the leader you knew outside of closed doors.

While you were a force to be reckoned with as well, all bite and no bark when it came to urgent situations, this was so far out of bounds in terms of what you’d grown accustomed to. Beastmen were not treated so delicately or with such tenderness and respect. You were meant to be a tool, a commodity.

In some sick way, maybe that felt safer.

But you enjoyed this, having him so close to you. Your fingers were still laced together loosely against the bed sheets as you considered what to say next. The intimacy was welcome—strange, but welcomed wholeheartedly. Something unrecognisable was bubbling up within you now, something you couldn’t quite place. It was that warm feeling in the middle of your chest—feelings that you had long abandoned, fantasies of comfort that you’d banished into some forgotten corner of your psyche that were threatening to leak back out now.

You took a deep breath before responding, your other hand lightly brushing along his forearm as you sat together. "It doesn't have to be." You muttered nervously, "I mean... I.. don't want it to be uh... a one time thing.”

Finally, the tension in the room seemed to dissipate. Laios looked back down at where your hands were connected, a small smile playing on his lips. He shifted slightly, moving closer, until his forehead rested gently against yours. The warmth of his breath in the crisp air mingled with yours, creating a cocoon of shared space and warmth that tickled your skin. It was safe, it was exhilarating.

"I’m glad," he admitted quietly. "It meant a lot to me."

He’d hardly had time to grapple with the fact that there was more to his fascination with you before you’d crept into his dreams each night. The curve of your back when you would bend and stretch in the morning before pulling the straps on your leather armour tight against your body. The way he would have to force himself to rip his gaze away, feeling ashamed and embarrassed for staring so long. Wondering why it was that he couldn’t get you out of his head and knowing it was something more than pure curiosity.

In that moment, you took it upon yourself to close the distance between you, leaning into him and pressing your lips to his. The covers slipped, but you didn’t care. His arms slinked around you, pulling you closer until you were chest-to-chest again.

There was a strange sense of relief that had washed over you both, mixing in with the excitement of new possibilities. This time it was him who pulled back, a dopey grin on his face as he looked down at you.

A hand reached up to brush stray strands of your hair from your face.

“We should get dressed.” He said, though he made no move to let you go.

“Yeah…” You agreed, although you didn’t seem to be in a hurry to pull away from him either.

Time was precious, although one could argue that allowing your team to sleep in and rest a little more might have been better in the long run.

You rested your cheek against his shoulder for just a moment longer, giving him a light squeeze before pulling away to find your forgotten articles of clothing. Even with your night vision, it was rather difficult to pick out the darker fabrics of your clothing against the dimly lit room. Your body shifted slightly in bed, hands roaming against the sheets carefully so as not to disturb the stillness. Laios followed suit, finding his discarded boxers along with your undergarments hanging haphazardly off the side of the bed.

He passed them to you immediately, watching as you slid the fabric up over your legs before walking across the cold wooden floor to your bag. He couldn’t quite make out what you were doing, but he heard rustling as he stood up and pulled the rough linen of his trousers back up over his hips.

You’d pulled out your lantern from your bag, deciding that you could spare the oil so long as it meant not having to walk out in mismatched or backwards clothing. The match hissed as you struck it, leaning it down to kiss the wick.

The room was illuminated in an instant, the dim orange glow casting long shadows across the floor. You picked up your bag and set it on the empty bed, rummaging through it for a moment before you looked back up at the tallman across the room.

His honeyed eyes were transfixed on your body, a deep blush on his cheeks as he watched you getting ready for the day. The sight of you, even in this mundane act, brought another soft smile to his face. Your body was drenched in the soft orange glow of the flames, illuminating every fold, curve, muscle, and patch of soft fur he could get his hungry eyes on. The tail behind you swung lazily with every movement.

Laios couldn’t fathom how he’d been so lucky to know you in the first place, let alone to know you so intimately. His heart leapt back up into his throat as he drank in the sight of you.

From Laios' perspective, every detail was captivating. The gentle sway of your tail, the way the light played across your skin, the grace in your every movement—it all left him breathless. He could feel a warmth spreading through his chest—a mix of admiration and awe, you really were perfect to him.

He remembered the first time he saw you, how different you had seemed from anyone he had ever known, not just your form but the little things you did. The way you laughed and stretched after being brought back from the brink of death like it was nothing. It made him want to know more. Now, as he watched you, he realised just how precious all those little moments were. There was something about the way you carried yourself— a blend of open mindedness and witty charm— that resonated with him on a level he hadn’t fully understood until now.

Laios felt a surge of emotion, a blend of gratitude and longing. He wanted to reach out, to pull you close and hold you, to express everything he felt in a single embrace. But for now, he simply watched, content to admire the person who had become so important to him in such a short time.

Finally, you looked up and met his gaze. His blush deepened, but he didn’t look away. Instead, he let his smile grow, hoping you could see the depth of his feelings in his eyes.

“You’re staring again,” you huffed, stating the obvious. A hand rested on your hip, shifting your weight to one leg as you felt the familiar sting of anxiety creeping back under your skin. It felt silly, especially after last night, but some insecurities weren’t so easily quelled.

“S-sorry.” He stuttered, quickly turning away and grabbing his shirt.

You felt like a hypocrite the second you laid eyes on him, your eyes widening as you caught sight of the long, rosy scratch marks across the pale flesh of his back. The way his thick muscles shifted beneath his skin with every motion, his shirt stretching over his broad shoulders as he moved to pull his shirt over his head.

You’d had an idea of it before now, but gods above, everything about him was thick. Even for a tallman he was large, it was no wonder he’d made such a great guard before now.

“Laios,” you breathed out softly, reaching a hand out to brush your fingers against the reddened skin in a mixture of awe and embarrassment.

He shivered under your touch, the gentle sting a reminder of last night’s intensity.

“Oh, yeah.. Those,” he replied with a soft chuckle, “I guess we did get a little carried away last night, huh?”

“I’m so sorry-”

“Don’t be,” he cut you off with a smile, tugging his shirt down over his torso before turning to face you fully. “I wouldn't trade it for anything.”

It was a reminder of the night the two of you had shared. While guilt and pride mixed within your chest, he found himself giddy at the idea of being marked by you. He pulled your hand away gently, holding it in both of his for a moment. He cherished how soft they were in comparison to his, calloused from years of hard labour and training. Fingers brushed against your claws in admiration before he brought your knuckles to his lips in a soft kiss.

Despite his brute strength you knew that this softness came naturally to him. His lips grazed gently across your knuckles, and you couldn’t help but take a step closer. So hopelessly lost in his orbit, your cheeks burning at the gesture.

“I didn’t realise…”

“That I get to wear those marks as a reminder of what happened?” Laios asked, his voice low. “I’m not sorry for that.” It was obvious in his smile that he meant what he said.

Your heart swelled at his words, the sincerity in his voice impossible to miss. You leaned into him, resting your forehead against his chest as his arms encircled you.

“I just don’t want you to get hurt,” you murmured, your voice muffled against his shirt.

In this line of duty you knew it was impossible, but you could dream. At very least you could go without contributing to his injuries.

He chuckled softly, the sound vibrating through his chest and against yours. “I can handle a few scratches,” he reassured you. “Besides, it’s worth it if it means being with you.”

“I guess so.” You smiled.

"Good." Laios murmured, his arm tightening minutely around you in a light squeeze before the hand on your hip slid back through your hair, scratching at the base of your ears teasingly before returning to hold your face.

He adored looking at you, and he prayed to whatever higher power would listen that someday you’d grow fond of the way he liked to stare.

Something told you he liked being marked a little more than he let on. You’d have to note that for next time, if you were fortunate enough to have another encounter with him before this journey inevitably came to a close. He pulled your smaller frame into him, then wrapped his arms around you in a soft hug.

Laios held you close, savouring the heat and comfort of your embrace. The steady beat of his heart under your ear was soothing.

The moment was intimate and sweet, with a quiet understanding passing between the two of you before you eventually broke away, knowing that you needed to get ready for what might lie ahead.

The chill in the room had lessened since last night, but it still made the fur at the base of your tail bristle and stand on end. You both finished dressing in a comfortable silence before you sat back down on the edge of the bed to finish packing up your bedrolls.

Shadows danced across the decaying furniture and cracked wooden floorboards, your lantern flickering and dancing in the cool air of the dungeon. Your comrade sat down beside you, tightening the leather straps on his bag as you got ready. The silence stretched on for a while before his thoughts broke through, and he found himself musing aloud.

"...I've never wanted to be in a... relationship before, but…” He trailed off, his eyes widening as he realised that he’d spoken out loud by mistake. Though his voice was barely above a whisper, he knew you’d heard it from the way you stopped mid motion to stare at him.

“But what?” You asked, your voice gentle despite the gnawing curiosity. You tried to hide your hope for what he might say next but it would have been futile if he’d had the courage to spare a glance in your direction.

Laios simply shrugged it off, the corners of his lips pulling up into a little smile as he looked down at his hands. The memory of your fingers threading through his made him feel all warm inside. He’d hold them all day if he could.

“But with you it feels different,” he said timidly. “There’s something about you that makes me wanna try.”

You felt a flutter in your chest at those words, your heart pounding as you scooted closer to him on the bed. The soft glow from the lantern cast an almost ethereal glow on his face, strong features softened by the caress of the warm firelight. He was a work of art in his own right, but if he had been a living painting you were sure you could spend forever in his masterpiece.

“I feel the same way,” you admitted, reaching out to gently squeeze his larger hand in your own. “Being with you, it feels… right?”

He turned his head to face you then, his eyes meeting yours with a mixture of surprise and relief. “I was worried it might just be me,” he confessed, a soft chuckle escaping his lips. Nothing had ever felt as easy as spending time alone with you did.

“I’ve never been good at this.” Despite having said it already, he couldn’t help but remind himself too.

You smiled reassuringly. “Neither have I, but maybe we can figure it out together.”

“Right,” he replied, still a little flustered by your gentleness with him.

It felt silly considering everything that had transpired between the two of you in the past twenty-four hours or so, but it wasn’t unpleasant in the slightest. If anything, he felt strangely hopeful, but he knew it wasn’t going to be easy. “I may not be good at this whole…” people thing, reading emotions, understanding the nuances of intimacy—his mind scrambled to find the right words for a moment before he finally settled on: “relationship thing…”

“But I wanna try.” For you, for him… to be able to introduce you to Falin and to see the two of you hit it off like he knew you would. “I want to be by your side.”

His palm came to rest on your cheek, his thumb grazing across your cheekbone delicately. It was a strange feeling for him. Finally acknowledging that the pull he’d felt toward you was something more than simple envy or curiosity had been a huge step, to admit it out loud had been like pulling teeth. Sure, those were a part of it too, but the way you had just shown up and accepted him for what he was– eccentricities and all –had his heart warming from day one. You’d had your walls before now, but Laios was completely defenceless when it came to you.

“I want to take care of you too… Please bear with me?”

It was more of a plea than it should have been, but the thought of fucking this up somehow had crossed his mind countless times already since he’d woken up. It scared him, especially after the confrontation with Toshiro. He knew he had a lot to learn when it came to interpersonal relationships, he’d had to confront that head on in the days following. But he was trying .

The connection Laios had with you felt like a fragile yet precious thing, something worth nurturing, worth exploring. You tightened your grip on his hand again, your thumb gently caressing his soft skin.

“It’ll be my pleasure.” You replied with an easy smile, leaning across the space between the two of you to press a kiss against his cheek.

“Don’t put too much pressure on yourself, okay? I told you, I don’t really know how to do this kind of thing either." You murmured, pulling him into a hug in an attempt to ease his concerns.

Sure you weren’t completely clueless, but before now any sort of romance like this had been completely out of the question for a multitude of reasons. People on the surface weren’t kind to things out of the ordinary, yourself included.

“I already like spending time with you just the way you are.” You added, your lips pressing against his collarbone.

He could feel the way your tail brushed against his arm through his shirt, the cosy warmth of your body pressed against his as he hugged you back.

Laios let out a soft sigh, the sensations making his face flush again as he squeezed you a little tighter. “Yeah… me too.” He muttered, resting his chin on your head. It was a little embarrassing, but he couldn’t help but smile at the praise and the careful way you handled him.

Your lips trailed softly against the smooth expanse of his flushed skin, kisses littering the surface while you cuddled into him. “Just let me know if it’s ever too much, okay?”

"Mhm." Laios hummed softly, content with the way you showered him with affection. He wasn’t used to it either, not yet, but he definitely wouldn’t mind getting more accustomed to the sweet touches. "...I will." He replied softly, though he couldn’t imagine ever having too many of your comforting touches.

"Thank you." You replied, offering a soft smile in response. You pressed a gentle kiss against the sharp curve of his jaw, then ran a hand through his ash-blond hair.

The bond between you felt stronger now, more real, as if the events of the previous night had awakened something deep within you both.

Despite the awkward start to the morning, it was only cemented by the conversation you’d had. For a brief, precious moment, everything else faded away—the dungeon, the stress of this mission, the uncertainties. All that existed were the two of you, wrapped in each other's arms.

“We should probably get ready,” you finally said, breaking the silence but not the connection. “The others will be up soon.”

Laios nodded, his smile lingering as he reluctantly pulled away.

He didn't want to admit it, but he was already addicted to you, body and soul. It’d only been a night, but he already couldn’t get the taste of your lips out of his mind. He could only imagine-

Just then, a knock on the door broke through his thoughts as if on cue. "Are you two awake? We're getting ready to move out." Marcille called from the other side of the door.

Laios glanced at you, then back to the door. "We'll be right there," he called back. “Just putting on some extra layers.”

“Sounds good, I think Senshi’s about to start on breakfast.” Marcille added, not sounding overly excited at the prospect of choking down more monster food. No matter how good Senshi’s cooking skills were, she couldn’t shake the sense of dread that came upon her at the idea of eating those creatures . Her footsteps faded down the hall and back toward the others.

You couldn't help but smile back at Laios, suppressing a laugh at the way he’d frozen in place when he heard her outside.

“We probably shouldn’t tell the others yet, though.” He suggested with a sigh as he leaned down to tug his boots back on.

It wouldn’t be a good idea, both for the fact that it would absolutely make things harder to navigate if it were out in the open already and also for the fact that Marcille was a sucker for anything involving romance. There might not be any stopping her if she found out about your ‘forbidden love’. After seeing the way she’d gush about it anytime she’d inquired about her friends’ love lives, you could already hear the comments and questions ringing in your ears.

“Definitely not.” You agreed with a shudder.

As you both got up and started to prepare for the day's journey, you felt the weight of last night's decisions begin to lift. There would be time to figure everything out.

Soon enough, the two of you made your way out into the hall, and you padded over toward the room where everyone else had already gathered. The two of you slipped in to join the group seamlessly. Cooking utensils were already clattering together as Senshi began to explain to Laios what he was doing and how he could assist in making the morning meal.

Izutsumi yawned and stretched, groaning at having to be awake and on the move again.

For someone who swore she’d be able to brave the dungeon faster on her own, she really does love to sleep in , you thought to yourself as you tugged your jacket a little closer around yourself. You couldn’t blame her though. After all, she was still growing and being constantly on the move was exhausting on the best of days.

The cat girl scowled when she caught you looking at her, and you couldn’t help but smile back at the grouchy teen before Marcille quickly stole you away from the others.

Long, delicate fingers pressed against the sides of your face, squishing your cheeks as she began inspecting you with concern evident in her wide green eyes.

“Uh… gwuh mernin’?” You inquired, your voice muffled by the way she pressed her hands against you.

“You’re okay right? He didn’t ask you any weird questions or make you uncomfortable-”

“‘m fine,” You chuckled, cutting her off as you lightly pulled her hands away from you.

“You could have shared a bed with me or Izutsumi, y’know?” The blonde reminded you of the sweet whine of her voice undercut by the Eastern girl’s protests almost immediately.

“Dogs sleep outside.” Izutsumi grumbled, shooting a glare in your general direction.

You couldn’t help but chuckle at her remark, shaking your head and offering her a semi sarcastic “Good morning to you too” before resuming your conversation with the mage.

With a yawn and a smile, “I actually got the best sleep I’ve had in a while,” you replied earnestly, shrugging off her coddling.

It was hard not to feel guilty about hiding something from the group that had been so kind to take you in, especially so late into their journey. They could have easily sent you away, and yet they were generous enough to share their limited resources with, as Izutsumi put it, some random stray .

You knew she meant well, but sometimes Marcille’s concerns were more unsettling than the questioning you received from others in the past. At least those types tended to keep their distance more.

It was true that longer-lived races tended to see others as much younger than them, so you chalked it up to that whenever she’d baby you. A little part of you did appreciate it in some strange way though. Being cared for like this was a precious thing, and she loved with her whole heart and nothing less.

If it had really been that much of an issue, you’d have made it known.

Marcille gave you one last scrutinising look before finally sighing and releasing your face.

“Alright, alright. Just making sure you’re okay,” she said, a hint of a smile playing on her lips. “We’ve got a long day ahead of us, so I’m glad you got a good rest in. It felt good to finally sleep in a bed again after so long.” The blonde sighed.

“ Really?” Chilchuck cut in, regarding Laios with a suspicious look, “Because I couldn’t sleep for a while last night.”

While his gaze wasn’t set on you, you felt a shiver run down your spine at the implications of what he’d said.

Shit.

You’d forgotten about the half-foot member of your party for the better part of the night.

They weren’t common where you’d grown up, but you’d heard tales of them and their heightened senses. Especially their heightened sense of hearing. In fact, to say that his rivalled your own would be an understatement. Thinking more clearly now, you quickly recalled all the times he’d been able to hear enemies approaching well before you could.

The thought made your stomach twist with unease.

Laios, seemingly having the same realisation you did, froze for a moment before trying to play it off with a nervous laugh. He casually stepped behind Senshi, as if the much shorter dwarf might be able to shield him from the half-foot’s wrath. He continued on with prepping the harpy eggs, stirring them in a bowl as he spoke.

“Me too; it got pretty cold last night, huh?” He replied with an awkward laugh.

Yeah, you didn’t want any part of whatever this might entail.

As much as you wanted to try and cover for him, you knew that there was no way of getting out of this. It's probably best to stay out of it. Panicking slightly, you reached out to Marcille for support with a wobbly smile on your face.

She was still busy getting herself ready for the day, brushing her long blonde locks as she stepped away from the others.

“Hey Marcille, do you mind showing me how you braid your hair? I’ve always been curious.” You asked, doing a piss poor job of hiding your anxiety. “No one ever taught me.”

The elf either didn’t notice or was too excited at the prospect of sharing her knowledge with someone else because she happily stole you away to another part of the room. She’d grabbed your wrist and tugged you along to sit beside her on the nearby bed, a bright smile on her face.

“I’m so glad you asked! Hair is a magic user’s life force, so it’s like an extension of that. It’s also really important to practise good hygiene and self care, especially when you’re underground like this because-”

You listened to her with a smile on your face, half interested and half happy to be out of Chilchuck’s line of fire for the time being.

Unfortunately, your previously fearless leader wasn’t so lucky.

“ Laios , can I talk to you for a second?”

#beastman reader series #dunmeshi #laios x reader #laios touden x reader #gender neautral reader #gn!reader #laiso #zuma writes #beastman reader #beastkin Reader #dungeon meshi #fanfic #ao3 #fluff #emotional comfort #they're doing their best #unplanned sequel #sweet

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sen-ya · 4 months

Text

part 6/7

can u guess at which point I rewrote this a few months after the fact lmao

[op comic masterpost]

[pg1]

no dialogue

[pg2]

panel 2:

Note (from Law): I've been thinking of my parents a lot these last few weeks. Thinking of Lami. Those happy days I got with them. At first I thought I was even considering this because I might catch a glimpse of them in our kid, and that's a piss poor justification for having a baby. But what I've realized this week is I'm not just nostalgic for a family I've lost. Lu-ya, I'm enamored by the idea of enjoying that comfort with you. (the note trails off, continuing down the entire page)

panel 3:

Luffy: You got a lotta words here, Tra--

panel 4:

Luffy: Oh, shit. I said the wrong thing, didn't I?

panel 7:

Law: ...No, we said the same thing.

[pg3]

panel 8:

Law: So we're doing this.

Luffy: Guess so

panel 9:

Law: We're doing this. Fuck. I'm doing this.

panel 10:

Law: When did I get as stupid as you?? This is gonna suck so fucking much!

panel 11:

Luffy: If you're not gonna be okay then I'm changing my answer.

Law: I've done worse for less.

Luffy: I don't like that.

Law: We're decided, alright?

[pg4]

panel 12:

Law: I'll be uncomfortable for awhile. What else is new? I can handle it.

panel 14:

Luffy: Fine.

Law: Heh.

[pg5]

panel 15:

Law: Sigh. I should probably talk to Kaya-ya again. I don't think I actually had to stop my SSRI at least...

panel 17:

Luffy: Did you say again?!

Law (speaking over him): Oh, no.

Luffy: You told Kaya?!

Law: It was a...m-medical consultation!!

Luffy (speaking over him): So I can tell my whole crew?!

Law (speaking over him): That is an entirely different conversation that I will not be having right now.

#my art #lawlu #law x luffy #luffy x law #lulaw #cw unplanned pregnancy #cw dysphoria #so the next/last part is just a jump tbh #but i DID write a like maybe 1300 word ficlet thing that happens between this one and the 7th one #its got usopp and franky in it #so if anyone is interested in that lmk and I'll yeet it into the ether #the subject is alluded to in the last panel here lmao

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firenati0n · 6 months

Text

cause you're classic, and i'm reckless

by firenati0n on ao3

T | 5.4k

tags: actor au, first kiss, fluff, alex pov, banter, falling in love

“I've, actually, uh. I've never done this before.” At this, Henry stops short, takes a second as his gaze moves up and to the left, trying to recall something. “I've seen your films. You most certainly have done intimate scenes.” Alex clears his throat. He hopes his nerves aren't completely obvious, the slight waver in his voice about to give him away. “Yeah, well. Never with a man, so. Not at this scale, anyway.” “Would it help to, er, practice?" Henry winces a little as he says it, which does not inspire confidence. But Alex is shocked nonetheless. What the fuck?

xoxo roop

P.s. this was absolutely inspired by THEEEE ryan gosling/rachel mcadams MTV 2005 video. You know the one.

also tagging some folks who expressed interest in this don't mind me <3 ilysm

@sail-not-drift @onward--upward @suseagull04 @littlestar2911 @welcometololaland @dragonflylady77 @hgejfmw-hgejhsf @ninzied @sherryvalli @piratefalls @indestructibleheart @onthewaytosomewhere @heybuddy-drabbles @priincebutt @cactusdragon517 @junebugclaremontdiaz @kiwiana-writes @rmd-writes @eusuntgratie @cha-melodius @bigassbowlingballhead @getmehighonmagic @celeritas2997 @nontoxic-writes @porcelainmortal @4rthurfox

#rwrb fic #fics #rwrb #rwrb fanfiction #roop writes #fic: kissing as practice #hope you love it xoxo #my longest fic yet #kind of came tumbling out randomly and unplanned #thank you to my friends for always uplifting and encouraging me #i love you guys so much

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bucketsofmonsters · 1 year

Text

The Witch’s Apprentice - Part 4

cw: demon summoning, prolonged isolation, more tags will be added as the story continues

male demon x afab reader

Word count: 4k

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7

You woke up wrapped in Lucien’s arms, his tail coiled up your leg.

You couldn’t get up if you wanted to. Not only were you trapped by a cuddly demon, your exhaustion was overtaking you. Your limbs felt like they were made of lead and your brain was attempting to lull you right back to sleep. You were convinced you could sleep here forever if you allowed yourself to.

Which was exactly why you needed to get up. This place was dangerous, you couldn’t let yourself get too comfortable and completely succumb to it.

As you started to rise, the demons arms around you tightened, pulling you closer to him.

“Lucien,” you tried to call out but your face was smashed into his chest and instead it came out as an incomprehensible mumble.

It was still enough to wake him, his grip on you loosening as he came to.

You slipped out of his grasp, although his tail followed you to your new position standing beside him, curling right back up your leg.

He looked up at you with a smile. “What are you doing up so early?”

“How long did I sleep?”

“Not long. Maybe fifteen hours.”

Your eyes widened. “Fifteen hours?”

“Relax, you needed the sleep. I wouldn’t have let you sleep forever, I only do that to the annoying ones.”

“Glad to know I was in such safe hands,” you said with a roll of your eyes and a playful smile.

You looked back at him expecting to see that same wry smile as always on his face but instead his face had gone stony, his eyes darkening.

“You have a decision to make,” he said, all the teasing gone from his voice as he rose to his feet, towering above you.

His black eyes bored into you, asking you to make a choice about something, what it was you weren’t sure.

“I don’t understand,” you said, searching for clues in his face but it looked nothing other than weathered and exhausted.

“I’m being summoned. Time plays differently here but I can only stretch away from it for so long. So, what will it be?”

It didn’t feel like much of a decision at all.

“Well, that means I’m going back. Of course I’m going back, what else would I do?”

“You could go somewhere else.”

“Where?”

“Anywhere. Anywhere but there.” His voice was low and breathy, almost sounding as if he was pleading with you.

“She’s my friend. That’s my home.”

“It’s your prison. You're free now, you’re out and you’re asking to go back.” His voice increased in volume as he spoke, hints of anger tinging his words.

“Just because it is your prison does not mean it is mine. I want to go home.”

Creases formed between his brows and you couldn’t tell if they were from worry or anger. “And if I won’t take you?”

You reeled back at the suggestion, a bolt of fear running through you.

You tried desperately to put more force behind your words, needing him to listen to you. “Take me back. Now.”

In the back of your mind you were terrified that he'd leave you, that the unthinkable would happen and you’d be locked away from Eden forever.

He wasn’t surprised by your response. You could tell that much. If anything he looked overcome with dread,

“Don’t say I didn’t try.”

His hand wrapped around your arm and suddenly you too could feel a distant tug pulling at the both of you.

Without the adrenaline running through you this time, you got to actually see the change happen. The room around you faded away slowly, like a mirage you’d gotten a little too close to.

For a second you were nowhere. You didn’t even see black, just true nothing in all directions. Your stomach flipped and you leaned closer to Lucien, part of you terrified of being trapped in this void.

And then everything faded back in and you were confronted with a familiar face.

The second Eden laid eyes on you she grabbed your arm and yanked you out of the circle. You looked back apologetically at Lucien, the treatment feeling absurd after everything he’d done for you.

Lucien’s gaze had hardened once more as he looked down at your witch.

Eden’s focus wasn’t on him at all. Her eyes raked over your body, nails digging into the skin of your arm, like she was afraid you might slip away. Or maybe like she was afraid you might step back once more, back over the line she'd just pulled you from.

“Are you hurt?” she asked frantically. “Did he hurt you?”

When she finally spoke, her voice was shaky and guilt pierced through you. You’d been off fucking around with your new favorite demon and she’s been panicking. You wondered how long she’d been like this, what she thought had happened to you.

You pushed past her iron grip, throwing yourself towards her, arms wrapping tightly around her midsection. You buried your head in her neck, her familiar scent bringing waves of comfort to you.

Her arms hesitantly wrapped gently around you but you could tell she was still looking up at him.

As soon as your embrace loosened she pulled you behind her, putting herself between you and Lucien. Ultimately it was a futile gesture, he couldn’t reach either of you out here, but it seemed almost instinctive. She just wanted to put a barrier between the two of you and as much as you’d grown to trust Lucien, it made your heart swell. It awoke some unquenchable instinct, to throw yourself into danger to see if she’d come running.

But there were more important things to attend to. You glanced around at the undamaged cabin, looking exactly as you’d left it. The only change was the new summoning circle beside the old one you’d broken.

“You’re alright?” you asked. “They didn’t hurt you.”

Now that she had established that you were safe, she seemed uninterested in engaging with you. The question was ignored in favor of turning toward Lucian.

“You’re a despicable man,” she said with a sneer. “What did you even gain? They’ve done nothing to you.”

“You don’t understand,” you insisted, trying to get through to her. “He saved me.”

She regarded him with no less disdain at your declaration of what he’d done for you.

You butted in once more, refusing to back down, not this time. “He didn’t do anything wrong, I owe him my life.”

Eden snapped, her head turning towards you as she stopped ignoring you. “We cannot do this right now, not in front of him.”

“When else? You said all he wanted was to hurt us and he saved me, how is that not substantial to you.”

“He did not save you,” she shouted.

You drew back at her harsh words. “What? No, he did. I don’t know what happened here but…”

“How many times have I warned you about demon trickery? This is exactly why I wanted to be there, why you two never should have been alone. How long did it take before he managed to make you break the circle.”

“He didn’t make me do anything, he protected me!”

“There was no threat. This was all a mistake, I never should have shown you all of this, you’re not built for it. Trusting you with it was a mistake, I’ve gone soft on you.”

“You’re wrong,” you insisted, eyes flicking to Lucien looking for help. He stared back silently, watching you from the sidelines.

“Am I? Then why was there no one here when I returned?” Eden asked. “Why did this dangerous threat do nothing to the cabin? What explanation do you have other than what is right in front of you, what you refuse to see because your heart is bigger than your head.”

“To what end?” you insisted, refusing to back down on the issue. You were not the fool here. There were gaps in what happened, sure, but her story was not flawless either. “He’s done nothing to me. He created a ploy to what, keep me safe and bring me back unscathed?”

She scoffed. “I don’t pretend to understand the machinations of demons. But neither, frankly, do you. At least one of us understands that.”

“You’re wrong.” It didn’t make sense, it was based on nothing but faux ideas of monsters and you wouldn’t stand for it. Not when he’d just saved your life.

Lucien chose that moment to butt in. “She’s really not.”

Eden looked up at Lucien with wide eyes, seemingly wondering how things had gone so badly that she was on the same side as a demon.

Both turned against you, despite everything.

When Eden turned back to you she looked a little sick, less confident than you’d ever seen her before. “You’ve done so poorly you turned a demon honest. I would be impressed if I weren’t so disappointed.”

“It doesn’t make sense. He was kind, he didn’t hurt me.”

“All in service of some greater plan, I’m sure. You’ve heard it from his own mouth now, surely you don’t need any more hand-holding. The truth is right in front of you.”

“But then why would he tell me?” Your eyes flicked up towards the demon, the one you’d put all of your trust in for days. “Why would you…” You trailed off, dread pooling in your gut, a sickening bile of betrayal bubbling up inside of you.

Lucien refused to meet your gaze, his face stony and unreadable. You wouldn’t have noticed so much if it hadn’t been such a shift from what he’d begun to show you.

But maybe those emotions were fake too, another performance he was putting on. Another trick you were too stupid to see through.

You’d been wrong, dangerously wrong. You couldn’t trust your judgment anymore, never should have in the first place, it seemed.

Eden seemed to take your silence as acceptance, quickly sending Lucien away,

The second he disappeared she turned to you, some of that manic energy from when you’d first returned appearing back in her face. It seemed she’d been hiding it from him, keeping it just under the surface.

Both of them seemed so good at their faux emotions, Eden’s confidence, Lucien's performance as your rescuer. Maybe this was a skill you were supposed to have, maybe you were the odd one out.

Eden’s hands gripped your shoulders, fingernails digging into your skin once more, clinging to you like a lifeline.

“What did he say to you, how badly did he get through to you? He’ll try to lead you astray, to put you in harm's path. He’s a liar, you can’t believe him.”

“He didn’t say anything, he was just… nice.” And he had been. You couldn’t see the signs of this scheme that they both seemed so convinced were obvious.

You could tell Eden didn’t believe you. She rarely did even before all of this, you knew it would be a long long time before she ever did again.

The pressure of her nails subsided, leaving a dull ache of pain where their imprints remained on your skin.

She pulled you along a familiar hall and you didn’t put up a fight, still caught up in trying to make sense of everything.

You barely realized what was happening until she was guiding you to sit on your bed, pushing your hair away from your face and looking down at you with sad eyes.

“This wasn’t your fault,” she said. “I should’ve known not to let you near all this.

The reassuring graze of her fingers against your cheek faded and you heard the lock on your door click.

“It will stay this way until you show a sense of self-preservation, alright?” she called through the door. “I will permit a lot of things but I will not allow you to hurt yourself.”

You collapsed back onto the bed with a sigh and heard her walk away, not waiting for an answer.

With nothing better to do with your time, you ran through it in your head over and over and over again. Hours passed and you just lay there, turning the events over in your mind.

The signs they’d both pointed to didn’t track, they didn't lead to anything. You couldn’t combine them to a point where they would make sense. If this was a trick, why had he told you the truth when you’d been so convinced? If it was to harm you or Eden why did he keep you safe in his home and bring you back here? You might not have been the best bargaining chip but you would be a good piece of leverage against her and instead here you were, locked back in your room, where you are no longer useful to him.

None of it made sense.

Right up until you stopped thinking about him as Eden’s type of demon, an unthinking force of evil trying to do as much damage as possible.

Because there wasn’t any other perspective you could see. He didn’t hurt you because he didn’t want to. He didn’t hurt you because he saw someone who was scared and alone and couldn’t help himself, just like Eden had done when she found you all alone in the woods all those years ago. He didn’t hurt you because, as much as he might protest, some part of him cared.

And, once more, he wouldn’t hurt you.

You were betting your life on it.

You didn’t have the materials for a summoning circle in your room but it didn’t matter. All you needed to be able to do was get him in here, you didn’t need protection from him.

Honestly, you didn’t want the protection. You were convinced that the warding gave him something to hide behind. As long as he was locked in there, he could claim that he was a monster, that he would hurt you given the chance.

Take that away and you’d find out what he would really do, one way or another.

The summoning spell wasn’t long. All you needed to get him here were the words, everything else was to keep you safe or to keep him bound.

The second he saw you, his eyes widened. You could practically see the gears turning in his head as you smiled softly up at him, giving him a little wave.

He did not wave in return.

His gaze dropped slowly to the floor, staring blankly as the seconds ticked by. He seemed baffled by the blank floor beneath him, trying to comprehend what could possibly be happening as you waited patiently for him to react.

Finally, his gaze rose to meet yours once more.

“What’s wrong with you?” he asked.

“Nice to see you too.”

“Genuinely, what is wrong with you? It's not a rhetorical question, I would love an answer.”

You shrugged. “I’m not sure. You should ask my witch, she’s got some theories.”

“You’re going to get yourself killed,” he insisted and you couldn’t help but think that he and Eden might actually get along if it weren’t for the fact he was a demon. They seemed to have a lot of similar ideas.

“Well, nothing has happened yet. Do you intend on killing me?”

“I could do anything to you, you couldn’t stop me.”

“I’ll take my chances.”

The longer this went on, the more relaxed you became. This man had no intention of hurting you, that much was more than clear.

“I should kill you right now,” he said with a growl, one that you didn’t even have it in you to pretend you found frightening. The both of you had long since passed that point.

“Why?”

“Because I’m a demon. That’s what we do.”

“And yet here we are and I remain unharmed. So it seems demons are more complicated than that. Either that or you’re a shitty demon.”

He couldn’t seem to fight back a smile at that. “Yeah, well you’re a shitty witch.”

“I’m not a witch. A witch-in-training at most, although something tells me the training is not going to happen again for a very long time.”

“My bad,” he said, and you could almost detect a hint of sheepishness in his tone.

“I know how you can make it up to me,” you said leaning forwards towards him from your seat on the bed.

His head cocked to the side. “And how is that?”

“Tell me why you did it.”

He groaned. “You and your why’s. I’m not telling you anything.”

“Fine,” you said, “I’ll give it a shot then. Do you know what I think? I think you never imagined I’d break that warding. You were just trying to scare me or prove some point about me or whatever and then I broke the warding and you didn’t know what to do. I think I ruined your little plan and when confronted with someone who was scared and who trusted you, you helped them. Who wouldn’t?”

“Cute little story you’ve spun yourself.”

You shrugged. “It’s what I would’ve done.”

“You would’ve created a commotion to scare the shit out of a witch-in-training?”

“No, but testing someone? Trying to prove the very worst? Seeing when push comes to shove, what will people do? That’s not demon scheming.”

“Yes it is.”

“It’s really not. Seems more insecure than anything.”

That got a real hearty laugh out of him. “Oh, does it now?”

“At least that’s what my witch says when I do it. Do little tests and push at things to see if she trusts me. I mean, I’ve never made her fear for her life but she’s never trapped me and made me do anything so I think we have different levels of frustration.”

“She doesn’t believe in you,” he observed and you wondered if he was just now coming to understand that.

You rolled your eyes. “Who would?”

The question hung in the air and you could feel him waiting, wondering if he should answer it.

You took the choice away from him, asking a question of your own in return. “When was the last time a human trusted you?”

“A long, long time ago, little one. Not to say I haven’t earned my reputation.”

“I don’t know. You seem pretty trustworthy to me.”

“You’d be surprised.” He looked down at the bare floor below him once more. “You know, there’s nothing stopping me anymore. I could take you away, let you leave this place.”

That caught you by surprise. “What? No, I… I can’t”

“Why? Because of the woods? I could take you right past them. There’s no way you’ve never wanted to leave. Come on, I could even take you back after, you don’t have to be imprisoned here.”

“This is my home,” you insisted.

“What the fuck has she done to you? You could leave, right now, go anywhere. I’m offering you the world, one trip, no fees, no fine print. I never do that, you’d be a fool to refuse it.”

“She hasn’t done anything to me. She just wants to keep me safe.” At the end of the day, it always came back to this with the two of you, Eden forever being the wedge between you.

“The little warden has you playing good little prisoner. I’m honestly impressed. And they call me manipulative.”

“Stop it. I know she’s wronged you but-”

“But? There is not but. She is a monster and you’re trapped in her web just as much as I am.”

“She is a good person.”

“Maybe you’re too far gone. I don’t know if I can help you.”

“I don’t need help,” you said.

He opened his mouth to insist you did or tell you once more how much of a monster your savior was but you dismissed him before he had the chance.

Without the warding, he could have stayed. He could have clung to this plane easily but he let you push him away and once more you were locked alone in your room.

It took a long time to fall asleep. Your conversation with Lucien kept swimming around and around in your head.

Eventually, exhaustion got the better of you and your room faded away to another familiar place.

It hadn’t even been a full day since you’d left and Lucien’s room was just as vivid as when you’d been standing in it.

He was there too, looking down at you with that hungry look he’d gotten in his eyes on occasion, when he thought you weren’t looking.

“I’m glad you came back,” he said, walking over towards you, his hand moving under your chin, forcing you to look up at him. “It gets boring around here without you, I could always use a sweet little thing to play with.”

Your face warmed and you managed to stutter out, “I… uh…”

You heard a chuckle from behind you and dream Lucien dissipated in a puff of smoke as you stiffened.

You whipped around to see Lucien again, a notably more real one, leaning against the wall. “Pity. I wanted to see what happened next.

Your face burned, glad dream Lucien left before he could do anything particularly embarrassing.

You folded your arms with a huff. “Are you just going to invade all of my dreams now?”

“Maybe. If they’re all as fun as this one was gearing up to be then you can sign me up.”

You clamored for a retort but came up empty, ending up just sputtering and then staring at him all while feeling as if your cheeks might melt and your heart might beat its way right out of your chest.

He chucked again. “Relax. It’s sweet. Next time I’ll try and come in later, you could use some stress relief.”

You might actually spontaneously combust. “Please say you came for some reason other than to embarrass me,” you pleaded.

He shrugged. “Just came to talk. Embarrassing you was an unexpected bonus.”

Next time you saw him in the non-dream world you were going to throw something at him.

“Talk about what?” you asked, desperately trying to change the topic.

“We ended on bad terms earlier.”

Oh. That. You’d almost prefer he keep on humiliating you.

“Did you come to apologize?” you asked, trying not to sound too hopeful.

But nothing could ever be simple with him.

“You know,” he said, “there’s lots of different reactions demons have when humans summon them, trap them, make them do their bidding, all that nasty business. Some get violent, some get tricky, some have given up and are just filled with despair, following along until they’re finally free. There’s no right reaction to this sort of thing, not really. But there’s one kind that we all hate, the real traitors. Because sometimes there is no fighting back, no despair. Sometimes they just happily fall in line. It’s certainly safer that way, I can’t fault anyone for listening, but to do it happily? And sometimes, eventually, they don’t even need to be forced. They just go along with it, anything for their little masters.”

“I don’t understand.”

“No, I didn’t think you would. I won’t push too hard, you’re clearly not ready for that, but you witch is a very, very bad person.”

“She just doesn’t understand you. I’ll make her understand.”

“At least you're going to try. That’s something.” He spoke with a halfhearted smile, his mind clearly elsewhere. You wished more than anything you could read him, that you could understand what was going on in his head.

“Of course I am. And she will understand, I’ll make her see that you’re not a threat, that she shouldn't be summoning you.”

The sadness written across his face was clear, with hunched shoulders and a furrowed brow betraying him as he stared down at you.

Finally, after staring intently at you, contemplating something as he mulled over your words, he said,“Thyme.”

“Excuse me?”

“You didn’t have enough thyme. That’s how I can get in here. Most witches use way more than necessary just in case but you tried to make it exact and it fucked you over.”

“Oh. I didn’t want to use more of my witch’s stash than I had to.”

“One of these days someone crueler than me is going to come along and that mindset is going to get you hurt.”

“I’ve been fine so far. Why did you tell me, if I fix it you can’t get into my head anymore.”

He shrugged. “Figure it out.”

“Is it an apology or another trick”

“What do you think,” he asked with a smile. He enjoyed this, giving you little pieces of information and seeing what you’d do with them.

“An apology,” you decided.

“Your witch would call that foolish,” he informed you, as if you weren’t already intimately familiar with the idea.

“She already calls me foolish, might as well trust my instincts if it’s going to happen anyways.”

“I don’t know what I’ve done to make you think I’m so good-intentioned.”

You laughed. “Yeah, because you’ve been so cruel to me”

“I tricked you,” he reminded you, as if it had just slipped your mind.

“And then you took care of me when I proved you wrong.”

“An outlier. You caught me off guard.”

“How?”

“Because you fell for my trick.”

“Oh, is that so? Maybe your expectations of me were too high. Do you think me foolish now too?”

“Maybe. I’m not entirely sure what to think of you.”

The room snapped out of existence as you woke with a jolt at Eden banging at your door, some food having already been slipped underneath it. You considered asking her to bring you more thyme but thought better of it. You didn’t think you’d be needing it anytime soon.

#terato #demon x reader #demon x human #monster bf #monster boyfriend #monster x human #monster x reader #demon #the witch's apprentice #Sorry I was on a sort of unplanned hiatus for a bit guys #I am back now #also would you believe me if I told you I didn't see the garden of eden metaphor in this until someone pointed it out to me #incredible things our subconscious can do #Especially when you were raised catholic lmao #I was having issues writing this so I went with the tried and true write it like a script #and then add dialogue tags and description until it works lol

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torawro · 1 year

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QUIET PERCEPTION. ( neuvillette )

neuvillette x plus size!fem!reader

cw ━━ ! minors and ageless blogs DO NOT INTERACT. reader is written as plus sized/thick, and also as a black woman but you do not have to imagine it as such, anyone is welcome to read. fiancé!reader. just fluffy, lovey dovey stuff <3 neuvi still actively trying to understand him being completely in love with you and the fact you love him back. neuvillette is (un)intentionally is romantic and charming. use of endearment terms in french ( i so desperately wanted to be creative with pet names but i'm still tryna get a read on his character so i decided to play it safe LMAO). some locations (i.e. where neuvilette lives) may not be canon; i just pulled info from different sites. somewhat proofread.

word count ━━ ! 2.06k

notes ━━ ! this'll be something short n sweet <3 i could have sworn that i've written about a genshin character before but looking back, it seems as if i was mistaken :D i definitely have several concepts/wips about genshin charas but i never got to finish them so . . . . here's to my first genshin piece 🥂 i imagined my first would be abt zhongli or diluc ( bc i adore them until the end of time ) but fate has changed <3 this handsome gorgeous man came out of nowhere and captured my heart and won't let go. @gabzlovesu , i actually did it :)

THE STEADY STREAM OF pouring water was the only constant sound that resonated throughout the spacious estate of the Chief Justice of Fontaine. The extravagant windows had the blinds drawn, so the luminescence of the moon was free to shine as it pleased, and take a peek inside the many walls of the home of the ludex.

Inside the master bedroom laid the Chief Justice himself, and you, his dearest fiancé, wrapped securely and loving in his arms.

Well, you were wrapped in his arms.

The space where you were previously laid would soon be vacant, as you found yourself having odd, after-midnight cravings of a certain kind of tea. Despite your obvious sleepiness and exhaustion, your brain would not rest, and kept generating memories about the last time you've had the pleasure to make yourself this beverage and imagined how good it would taste at this hour of the night.

When all is quiet, in sound and in mind, one would have more of an opportunity to really savor something. You reasoned that the tea was bound to taste even better if you drank it now, which was all the motivation you needed to gently maneuver yourself from underneath your fiancé's rather anchored hold on you. It took you quite some time to do so because you didn't want to wake him up. For someone that worked the way he did, he deserved as much undisturbed rest as possible.

Adjusting the bonnet on your head, you slid your bare feet into your slippers that sat at the corner of your bed. The hard marble and tile floors were a lot colder at night when they couldn't be warmed up by the rays of the sun.

You took your time making your way to the kitchen and pantry area. The manner in which you ambled about the corridors━ your cream colored night gown wading at your ankles, flowing with each step you took━ made you akin to a ghost in a haunted mansion.

Once you reached your destination, you went straight ahead and grabbed all the ingredients you would need at a leisurely pace, taking more fulfillment in making a simple cup of tea than you normally do. Usually, you would have thought the whole process was annoyingly long-winded, but this time it was different.

Maybe it's because it was quiet. Your mind was quiet. Your heart was quiet; there was no rush. You allowed yourself to relax, to bask in the tranquility of the moment.

The soft clinks of metal and porcelain, as well as the delicate sound of your humming voice, were added onto the noises of the rushing fountains.

All of the noises were symphonious with each other, to the point where they all merged into one. Soon you were entirely engulfed in your current task and the little noises that filled the air.

And perhaps too engrossed, because you were unable to sense the presence of Neuvillette, who had shifted slightly in his sleep only to notice you had disappeared. He wouldn't be able to, or want to admit it, but the bed you shared turned out to be a little colder in your absence.

"So, here you were," he questioned as he entered, holding a candle in his hand. His voice was a huskier than normal, most likely because he had just woken up from his slumber. You have come to believe over time that the sound of Neuvillette's voice, especially when it was thick with sleep, was the most soothing and melodious sound you would ever have the pleasure of hearing.

Even now, you had to bite back a grin, for the sound of his somewhat deeper voice, and the nature of his statement, caused a giddy feeling to erupt in your stomach. The sensation crawled from your gut and spread across your body like an electric current, and generated a bashful warmth in your face.

"Here, I am," your cheeky reply flowed smoothly from your lips, briefly looking back at him for a moment before grabbing the cocoa powder. "And here I thought I had been as quiet as a church mouse when getting out of bed. Seems I was unfortunately mistaken." The faintest gasp arose from your throat when you suddenly felt your fiancé's body behind you, gently pressing against your back in an effort to embrace you once more.

The Chief Justice knew how to explain and rationalize a lot of things on a many broad subjects, in and outside of the Opera Epiclese of the Fontaine court. But he was at a loss when it came to humans━ specifically and especially when it came to you.

Articulating his feelings for you, trying to fully understand why you felt this way about him in return, and just why he always felt more content when you were this close to him were some things he admittedly struggled to find logical solutions to.

Neuvillette's lips were a hair's breadth away from the upper part of your ear so when he hummed, goosebumps almost immediately erected on the surface of your deep, chestnut skin. His voice, now even lower than before, and the large palm he placed on your torso, startled you to a degree where you nearly spilt all the powder on the counter.

"You should recall how light a sleeper I am. Alas, your attempt to be inconspicuous was all for naught. I'm afraid that nearly anyone would have awoken from all the rustling that resulted from your movements."

You couldn't stop the soft laugh that tumbled past your lips at his subtle jab at your inability to be sneaky. Hearing him say anything resembling a joke at another's expense was certainly rare. "I suppose you're right. It seems my eagerness for tea dulled my usually agile movements."

This time Neuvillette chuckled and shook his head a bit, and his small smile stretched into a wider one when he heard you laugh along with him. The heart that resided in his chest pumped faster and with much more force whenever he heard the sound. He could listen to it all day.

"I'm sorry I woke you up though. I've disturbed you from getting the proper rest you need." You felt the need to apologize, even though it was unlikely your white haired fiancé would ever be upset with your for something like that. "Even more so because I am fully aware of the long day you have ahead of you tomorrow."

Without warning, Neuvillette proceeded to wrap both of his arms around your abdomen and pulled you even closer to his chest. You could feel the ridges and dips of his rather defined and etched stature through the thin satin of your night gown. With little force and much care, he turned you around to that you were now facing him, leaving you no choice but to pause in the stirring of your tea. His hands rested lovingly on your hips and your backside was pressed firmly against the counter.

The space between the two of you remained nonexistent.

"I, too, am aware of the day that awaits me in several hours. But please, do not apologize. You have nothing to be sorry for."

You were about to reply but Neuvillette silenced whatever it was your were going to say next when he leaned down slightly, and captured your lips in a delicate but amorous kiss. In reality it didn't last for more than three seconds, but to you, in your own little world with this man you got to claim as yours, it felt like it lasted much, much longer.

The effect of time seeming like it slowed down felt even more real when the two of you broke away from each other, and his silvery lavender eyes peered into yours. "Truthfully, I don't mind losing a bit of sleep....if it means that I don't have to wait until the morning to have you look at me like this, and hear your voice again."

Your eyes widened a fraction, not expecting him to say something so affectionate or romantic unprovoked. A fond smile tugged on the corners of your lips, already knowing your mind would be replaying his words for weeks to come over and over again, like a malfunctioning record player.

"Oh, mon amour...." was all you were able to say at the moment, your tone soft and breathy, slightly above a whisper. For as long as you have been with your white haired fiancé, he was still effortlessly capable of causing the butterflies in your stomach to hatch from their cocoons, and fly around in a frenzy.

Neuvillette lifted one hand to palm your cheek, and stroke it slowly with the pad of his thumb. His hand, his body, the look in his eyes were filled with warmth, and you wanted to cherish it for as long as possible. Your hands rested on his chest, and you leaned into his touch as he pecked your lips once and then twice more, for good measure and solely because he desired to feel you against him one more time.

The Chief Justice decided he liked this expression on your face. It suited you quite well, he thought. Right now you were the most beautiful creature he had ever laid eyes on in his long-standing life.

After a moment, a low chuckle rumbled in the man's chest before leaning forward to peck your temple. "I think I'm craving a bit of tea as well. I'm sure it will quell this newfound thirst that arbitrarily appeared."

Smiling again, you separated from your lover so you can finish on your cup, and so he could get started on his. As you stood side by side, and even as you both finished and made your way back to the master bedroom, you continued to talk to each other about whatever topic lingered in the atmosphere. Anything from the upcoming trial and cases he was overseeing tomorrow, mundane things that you saw on the streets of Fontaine that day, what you had for lunch, and everything else in between was discussed between the two of you.

Before either of you even realized it, the hue of the room turned from colorless dark to a deep cerulean blue, and the songs of the birds reverberated throughout the walls of your bedroom.

It was morning.

"Oh my! Has dawn truly come? And so soon at that...I didn't mean to keep you━"

The words of exclamation were lodged in your throat once more, as you watched him take your hand in his, and placed a feathery kiss on your knuckles and fingers.

"Do not trouble yourself over matters that are not your doing. You need not worry about me, ma douce."

Like a puddle of water that has been sitting in the sun all day, you're felt like you could evaporate just from the intensity of your fiancé's lidded gaze. Sometimes you wondered if he was even aware of his influence on every part of your body.

"Besides, I don't recall ever saying that I intended to leave at this very moment. We still have plenty of time together; the morning has only just begun."

Completely intertwining your hand with his, Neuvillette seamlessly maneuvered you both back onto the soft, inviting sheets, with you conveniently laying on top of him.

His long, snowy hair sprawled from his scalp in all directions making him look majestic with no effort at all. At times, you even found yourself jealous of his beauty. But you wouldn't dare utter such words to him; you'd rather simply admire and even found yourself a little prideful that such a dauntingly beautiful man would be yours forever.

If only you knew that to Neuvillette, you resembled an angel from the Celestial heavens. The sun hasn't risen over the mountains just yet, but your being blinded him, and he found himself never wanting to see another thing again.

Overcome with ardor for you, his hand found its way to the back of your neck to pull your face downward and closer to his, because he was craving another taste of you.

You melted in his touch, and savored the taste of vanilla and crème on his tongue and his hands on your body. The only thing wrong with this moment, was the dawn came too soon.

( # ) ━ since i never wrote for genshin before, i don't have a tag list for it lolz ! but i might as well make one soooo if you wanna join let me know <3 here's the link to my taglist form for my other works <3 @osamwah @smiley-babe y'all would prob like this fdkjdkd

#໒꒱ newborn stand ─ sosa’s filez #❛ mdni.#maybe i should stop planning out fics too much bc this was another random unplanned idea #initially i wasn’t even confident in my abilities to write for him bc he just became official #but watching the same edits of him and staring at pictures wasn’t doin it for me no mor #anyway #genshin impact #genshin impact 4.0 #genshin fanfic #genshin x you #genshin x y/n #genshin x black reader #black fem reader #neuvillette #neuvillette genshin #neuvillette x you #neuvillette x reader #neuvillette x black reader

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mllekurtz · 4 months

Text

the end of all our exploring

Read on AO3

Today, on an unnamed patch of shady grass beside a canal in the Zemnian countryside, Essek unexpectedly came to terms with the fact he will never go home again. (or: the gardener fic)

A shadowgast fic rated T featuring the Zemnian countryside, slow dancing, and meditations on gardening.

Image credit: Emma Francis on Unsplash

#this fic was unplanned but apparently i had feelings about this and they all hit me this weekend #no spoilers for c3 (unless you count a couple of easter eggs)#you guys. i am living for the may 2024 shadowgast renaissance #this fic is not related to c3 but spiritually it's its child #critical role #shadowgast #essek thelyss #caleb widogast #cr fic #my writing

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zeebreezin · 27 days

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Before leaving for the Neath, to find his daughter’s killer, August Shaw told only one person: his wife. His letter was poorly worded, rambling, and utterly incoherent. Before leaving to complete his Ambition, heading into Parabola on a quest he does not think he will return from, Shaw did not want to make the same mistake. The following messages were addressed to (In order): @neathyingenue ‘s Silvia Salcedo, @gmalaart ‘s Emon Cavendish, @elleryhart ‘s Ellery , @viric-dreams ‘s Robin Jones, @letheology ‘s Mina Azoulai, @capn-twitchery ‘s Twitch, and @t6fs, here addressed as Logan.

[You haven’t heard from Shaw in several days, any mail you sent has gone unanswered. A letter arrives out of nowhere, written in his curling handwriting. The script is messy, blotted with ink and wine.] “Dear Silvia, I apologise for the state of myself as I write this, though you must understand that this message is of the utmost importance. The time for half truths and polite obfuscation is past, between us. I will not insult you by dancing around the truth. When I first came to London, I came with only one purpose: to avenge the death of my daughter, Lenore, and to meet my own end in the process. Since then, well. I’ve found something quite worth remaining for. I set off now to end what I have started, and I may not return. For that I am so, so sorry. You have become… so much to me, Silvia. In all your endeavours, I wish you the best. Your talent and passion for what is right has inspired me, and I’m sure you have inspired many. I am proud to consider you family, a bond not forged by blood but by ink and will. I… I hope you will be well. No matter what happens. If I do not return, know that I am deeply proud of you. Your Friend, August Shaw.”

- x - x -

[The letter does not arrive on paper. It is scrawled across the cosmogone sky, familiar handwriting curling across the surface of parabola like a rock skipping across the surface of a lake.] “My Dearest Emon, it rends my heart to know that I cannot send you this letter. I dare not post it, knowing the reflection that takes your place.” [A few words are heavily scratched out.] “I have no idea if I will see you again, you as I know you, vibrant and sharp and maddeningly brilliant. I wish, more than anything, you were at my side. If I return from the journey I now set out to take, know that I will find you. My window of opportunity is brief, and I cannot linger, though I know how selfish it must seem. I set off now to defeat the ghosts that haunt me, to lay my daughter to rest. When I began, I thought that this would be my undoing, a death I welcomed. Now, though. I must succeed. I will find you again, Emon. These words will reach you - they must. I have to return. Wherever you may be, know that… I will find you, my love. Yours, Always, August Shaw.”

- x - x -

[A stained letter is delivered to you by an anonymous urchin. It’s dated to a few days after you left on your trip… the handwriting is familiar.] “Dear Ellery Hart, I hope this letter reaches you well. I’ve scheduled it to be delivered as soon as you return, as its contents are quite important to me. Once you receive this, I will have already departed on a journey. I dare not tell you where I go, or why, but know that-” [A section of text is scratched out.] “I may not return. In such a case, I… Where do I begin? You’ve come so far in the time I’ve known you, Ellery. In all senses, I’m deeply proud of the man you’ve grown into. Wherever your path takes you after this hunt, I know you will do well. If this is goodbye, then know that I count you both amongst my finest pupils, and amongst my dearest friends. Hunt well, Ellery. Your Friend, August Shaw.”

- x - x -

[The dead drop has remained quiet for a while now. The next missive you receive from the Black Rook isn’t encoded, or tucked away - it’s left in your mailbox, like any other letter.] “Dear Jones, I apologise for the unorthodox - or perhaps more accurately, deeply orthodox - method of communication. This message has nothing to do with our work, though I understand if you dispose of it as if it was. Simply put, I am… leaving London, for a time. This journey is not one I had expected to return from for a long time, but I know that I will be fighting to return to the city now. Should all go wrong, well, I know that we have not always seen eye to eye. I know that I may never truly win back your trust, something that would be well within your rights. But I could not leave in good conscience without saying goodbye. The letters we used to send, as Suzette and Jacques, they provided me a great deal of light during my darkest days. After everything I am, in truth, not sure what to call us. But whatever you are to me, Robin Jones, I hope I get to see you again, once all this is over. Play Well, August Shaw.”

- x - x -

[Shaw hasn’t been at the university for a while, now. A letter is slipped into your desk when you return to Benthic, tucked neatly into the top drawer. No cipher, plain script - this isn’t a game.] “Dear Mina, I hope the Khante has been treating you well. I’m unsure as to when you’ll be back, and a part of me hopes that this letter will be quickly corrected by my presence at your door, but nevertheless. I’m setting off on a mission, you could say, one of great personal significance. One I am unsure if I will return from. In the case I… do not return, I leave my network to you, Mina. Take this letter to Demirkan, he will know what to do. …We can do great things with this Game we play. We have done great things. I trust you to carry on that, if I cannot. You have been a great friend to me, and a most trusted confidant. I can only hope that I do not betray that trust now. Your Friend, August Shaw.”

- x - x -

[A letter from your former protege arrives, carried by bat. It’s uncommon enough that he’s writing to you, but the contents of the letter are stranger still.] “Dear Captain Lazaret, I must apologise for the suddenness of this letter. I hope it finds you well, and in a space where you can read it without fearing immediate retribution. Though I know we only occasionally brush paths these days, it seemed unwise to not inform you of my current state of affairs. Simply put, Captain, I’m going to be away from London for some time, and I am unsure if I will ever see home waters again. For all my gripes and bristles (and indeed, all the years I fear you’ve taken off my life) I could not have become the man I am today without your guidance. I know I may have seemed ungrateful, but… well, thank you for all you taught me. And for all the times we have spent together, many of which were at the worst lows of my time down below. You are vexing, and caustic, and I dare say my days in London would be a great deal duller without knowing you. Let none of my sarcasm lead to you forgetting this fact, Captain - as you are indeed someone I owe a great deal of happiness to. I hope to see you again. Your Friend, August Shaw.”

- x - x -

[Shaw’s not home, when you return to London, but tonight, six apocyan eyes beckon you to the window. Laying out is a phonograph, one Nigel plays, though there’s no music recorded - just Shaw’s voice, thick with emotion.] “Logan, I- /ˈdæmɪt/, I hope this thing is working right. I hope you’re well? The Tomb Colonies, can be quite draining, I know. I… I’ve left this for you, as I didn’t quite trust my No`çuk" script, and… well, this is quite serious.” [A pause. The sound of drumming fingers on the table.] “This is harder to say than I thought, I, ah…” [A deep, shaky breath.] “The reason I first came to London was not a good one. My daughter had been- she had been taken from me. I came here for revenge, to find the one who’d… and, in all honesty, to lose myself in the process. Now, I’ve left to finish what I’ve started. If I do not return, I… Logan, you’ve become so dear to me. The kindness you’ve shown me, all of it… it is something I will never forget. You are impossible, magnificent… and I love you. Terribly so. What else is there to say?” [A laugh, clearly through tears.] “I will find you, if I make it back. I swear. Xïmo`tu`no` szokh, Muszhka`. If I can’t, I… no. I will. I love you, Logan.” [The recording ends there. Nigel offers it to you.]

- x - x -

#zeeposting #my fic #August Shaw #Nigel marmalade #birdwatchers #unplanned variables #spy x anarchy #low level liveblog #<- technically!!#GAH… THE BELL TOLLS…#it was very important to both Shaw and me that the people closest to him were aware of the end of nemesis #he truly didn’t think he’d survive this when he first started #but now he has a reason to #and that’s mildly terrifying to him…#he did write another letter to Vivian. but the contents of that are just for me :)#anyway can we cheer him on a lil before revengance #he’s very sad

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bimoonphases · 6 months

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@wolfstarmicrofic March 24 – prompt 24: Ferula – word count 499

Ferula - A healing charm that conjures wraps and bandages for wounds

It had been a bad full moon. As soon as the wolf shifted and finally let Remus come back, screaming on the floor of the shack, Sirius transformed back from Padfoot and fell on his knees by his boyfriend’s side, quickly taking in the damage. Moony had a broken arm, a broken lip and a bleeding gash from his right hip almost to his ankle.

“Padfoot, we have to go,” James’s voice came from the corner of the room where Prongs had been standing a couple of seconds before.

Sirius ignored him, reaching out to pass his hand in Remus’s hair, cradling the back of his head like he knew it soothed him. The screams slowly stopped, changing into muffled sobs.

“It’s alright,” Sirius whispered helplessly. “It’s over now.”

“Padfoot, the sun’s coming up, Pomfrey will be here soon,” James insisted.

Sirius knew he was right, but of all the things that happened during a Full, this was what he hated the most. Having to leave Remus hurt, shivering and crying on the floor, even if he knew the nurse would be there the minute she was sure she would find a human and not a Werewolf anymore. It had gotten worse after they had started dating. Leaving him there had been hard before, now it was almost impossible. He took his wand out of his pocket.

“Ferula,” he whispered, and bandages appeared on Remus’s leg, covering the gash.

“Padfoot!” Peter hissed from behind him. “You’re not supposed to do that, what will Pomfrey think?”

“I don’t give a fuck, Wormtail,” Sirius growled. “Get started, I’ll follow you in a second.”

“Pads?”

“I promise, Prongs,” Sirius rolled his eyes. “Now get going.”

With a sigh, James took Peter by the shoulder and they got out of the room. Sirius got a blanket off the battered couch and wrapped it tightly around Remus, being careful not to move his broken arm.

“You should really go,” Remus’s voice was barely more than an exhausted whisper.

“I know,” he sighed, passing his hand again in Remus’s hair.

“I’ll see you soon in the Hospital Wing.”

“I love you.” Sirius blurted out.

He hadn’t planned to say it like that. He had hoped in a more romantic setting, in flowers or a sunset or even just a quiet moment cuddling by the fireplace. He looked up at Remus’s face anxiously, only to see him smile.

“I love you too, Sirius,” he murmured. “Now go before Poppy finds you here.”

Sirius nodded, carefully brushing his lips on Remus’s before finally getting up.

Some minutes later, while she carefully approached the Whomping Willow, her wand at the ready and her bag of emergency potions in the other hand, Poppy Pomfrey stopped as she saw a big black dog happily jump in the distance. She smiled as she froze the aggressive tree and made her way to the tunnel. At least she would have a cute story to tell Remus while she healed him that morning.

#unplanned I love yous are my weakness #definitely something Sirius would do in every universe #also Poppy Pomfrey telling Remus stories while she looks after him #mum goals honestly #wolfstar #wolfstar microfic #sirius black #remus lupin #sirius x remus #remus x sirius #marauders #marauders era #james potter #peter pettigrew #poppy pomfrey #moony wormtail padfoot and prongs #the marauders #the marauders era #just writing (like i'm supposed to live)

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awkward-tension-art · 7 months

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Little Parasite

Leon S. Kennedy x AFAB!reader (I tried to make pronouns gender neutral but I might have missed a few)

Warnings: Pregnancy, unplanned pregnancy, Leon needs a hug, mentions of plaga infection, mentions of sex, swearing, hating on the government, takes place after RE4 remake.

Pregnant.

Oh fuck you were pregnant.

You stared at the positive stick in your hands.

Positive. Positive.

This was impossible. You were on birth control! You and Leon were always safe when-

Spain.

When you were kidnapped, you hadn’t been able to take your pill. You went several days without taking it. That wouldn’t have been much of a problem if the parasites you had been infected with didn’t cause multiple episodes of an intense need to breed.

How many times had you and Leon fucked during your rescue? How many times did he cum inside of you during the plaga induced delirium?

Not to mention when you joined the mile high club on the plane ride back to the states.

If the fetus inside of you was conceived when you both were infected…

What was inside of you?

You put a hand to your stomach. It's been 3 months since you got back.3 months of nightmares, white house funded therapy and multiple visits to a government science lab. When you missed your period you didn’t think much of it. You went through a lot of stress. Plus, the moment you got back you resumed your birth control pills on schedule.

No. You were panicking for no reason. Pregnancy tests come back with false positives all the time.

Deep breath. It was probably a false positive.

Still, you ended up making a phone call to your OBGYN. The receptionist sounded somewhat concerned, your last appointment was only 6 months ago. You couldn’t come up with a proper answer as to why you desperately needed the doctor as soon as possible.

Once the call was over you put the phone down and breathed.

Leon was asleep in your shared bedroom. He had come back from a mission last night, and needed the rest.

You didn’t need to tell him, right? After all this was nothing. There wasn’t any need to wake him up and scare or worry him. After all, you haven’t had any morning sickness. No other symptoms were showing up.

It was nothing! Just a false positive.

Two days later, you were on your back with ultrasound gel on your stomach. Your eyes were trained on the screen.

That was not a false positive.

“Judging by the size, I'd say you're about 11 weeks.” your OBGYN confirmed, pointing on the screen, “Here's the head…”

The baby was conceived in Spain.

Her words were fading off into nothing. Your wide eyes were on the black and white screen. That little blob was an embryo. That would grow into a fetus. From there, a baby.

Baby.

“Oh my god.” You breathed, mind unable to cope, “Oh my god…”

How did this not come up on any of those tests the lab ran!?

A sudden thought came into your head. With horror, you realized that the lab most likely knew and deliberately didn’t tell you.

You were under no delusion you could trust the government. Your dad was the fucking president. You knew how cut throat and ruthless everything involved with the country's leadership was. After your kidnap, you were finally informed of the science that was being hidden from the public to avoid a panic.

Most likely you were being watched by undercover agents. You’ve been at this OBGYN for years, and you never saw that receptionist with the red hair. Chances are, both your father and the science lab knew about this appointment the moment you made it.

Your panicked eyes went to your doctor. What would she tell them? Would HIPAA come into play here? How good was the hippocratic oath when the national leader demanded answers?

Who could you trust?

“Is it-...” Your throat felt tight.

Was it normal? Any signs of developmental problems? Did it have a tail and claws? Was it actually a parasite?

“So far at 11 weeks I am seeing normal development.” She talked as if reading your mind, “It’s still too early to know the sex, but I’m seeing normal limbs and head growth. No signs of down syndrome or other chromosomal issues.”

“Blood test?” Your words sounded small, “I mean…Can I get a blood test to confirm? Just to check for anything?” Did a blood test for ancient Spanish parasites even exist? You scrambled for a reason, “Um…I had traveled to rural Spain 11 weeks ago…I drank some of the water there.”

It was a vague but good enough reason for your doctor.

You got your blood taken, the ultrasound photo was printed and you were sent on your way. Your eyes met the new receptionist when you made another appointment for next week.

Agent.

Your father knew.

If your dad knew that you were pregnant, then the government lab did as well.

As you drove, your head was filled with dangerous thoughts. What would they do to the fetus? What would they do to you ? Would they force you to terminate and use the cells for experiments? Would they make you carry to term and take the baby from you?

Unconsciously, one of your hands rested on your stomach. Right now, your brain went into overdrive. You’d fight tooth and nail to keep this life safe inside of you.

Maternal instinct.

Honestly, you thought it was a myth. It probably was, but then you couldn’t explain the sudden need to protect this baby in your belly.

…Baby

There was a baby growing inside of you. A life created between you and the man you loved. A child that you and Leon made together. An act of love and intimacy had formed a whole new existence.

You swallowed thickly.

This…this was hardly the time to have a kid. You had your job and career. Plus, Leon was gone on missions a lot. Dangerous missions that could end up with him dead. Your child might grow up without a father…nothing but a folded flag and a photo to tell them that their dad perished protecting the country.

“Stop it.” you forced yourself to speak, “Just stop it.” Your mind was spiraling. Forcing you to tackle some things you didn’t want to accept yet. No, you had to focus. You were driving, and frankly, panicking behind the wheel of a moving vehicle is a great way to get yourself killed.

You noticed a black car had been tailing you for the last several miles. Secret service. One of your dads agents.

Or kidnappers .

Honestly, with your life now, any of those three were options.

Well, at least you had a concealed carry this time.

You pulled into your driveway, hand resting on the pistol hidden at your hip as you opened the door to step out. The car drove past, most likely going to turn around and set up surveillance somewhere nearby.

Jesus, can’t you have a normal life?

You unlocked the door to your condo, stepping in to see Leon pacing. He was agitated, running his hands through his blonde hair. He perked up, looking at you as soon as you closed and locked the door.

“Leon?” You put your keys down, approaching him, “Is everything-?”

“Where…were you?” He swallowed. You could see his hands shaking ever so slightly.

“I..went to see my OB.” you answered him, holding his face in your hands, “What's going on?”

“The lab…they called…” your fiance put his hands over yours, “You need to go in for further testing. I don’t know why, they said they found something.”

Oh fuck you government!

You sighed, “Great…” You pulled away, “There's something I need to show you.” Your steps went to your bag that you put down by the door.

“Is everything ok?” He asked, following you.

“I..I think so.” You spoke truthfully, pulling out the ultrasound photos. Your own anxiety was spiking now. You knew Leon wanted a family of his own. You two have talked about it. But were you ready to be parents?

You held up the photos.

Leon’s eyes widened. He raised his hands slowly, as if afraid of breaking or ripping them. He rubbed his thumb over the surface. You watched his gaze roam over the pictures, as if committing every detail to memory.

Your fiance stepped back and leaned against the wall. His eyes remained on the photos, not looking up at anything else around him.

The result of your love. Half of you and half of him had created that little blob inside of you. That blob would grow into a baby. A child.

“Really?” The agent sounded quiet, voice almost a whisper.

You nodded, “Yea…really…And i know it's-”

He cut you off by immediately wrapping his strong arms around you. You could feel the tears when he buried his face into your shoulder.

“I love you,” Leon breathed, pulled back to pepper your face with kisses, “Oh my god, I love you. I love you.” One hand cupped your cheek, and the other was on your stomach with an open palm.

You giggled, “Happy?”

“Happy? Happy doesn’t even cover it.” His voice was light and joyful. His fingers brushed over your middle, “I'm ecstatic. Excited. I…God, I love you.” Your fiance knelt burying his face into your stomach to start placing pecks all over and whisper loving words. You weren’t even showing yet and he was already beginning to coo and mumble baby talk.

You couldn’t help but laugh.

#reader insert #leon kennedy x reader #leon s kennedy #resident evil x reader #leon s kennedy x reader #leon kennedy #re 4 leon #tw: pregnancy #tw: unplanned pregnancy #my writing

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thefudge · 5 months

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The day they both realized she was probably pregnant was the day she unzipped her jumpsuit and palmed her breasts with a sigh and told him they were aching slightly from all the biting. Cooper tilted his hat. The teeth marks had faded. He hadn’t bitten her in a couple of days at least.

#ghoulcy #vaultghoul #lucy maclean #cooper howard #unplanned pregnany #my fanfic #fallout #i am a simple gal i see trope i write trope

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ohforficsakelibrary · 10 months

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Woodsmoke

masterlist

Pairing: Frankie Morales x Gender Neutral Reader. No physical descriptions of reader beyond having hair. Reader has a cat. Established but new-ish, implied long-distance-ish relationship.

Summary: Life has been running you ragged lately, but someone is waiting for you when you get home. For a moment, you don't have to be strong.

Trigger Warnings: Mentions of difficult family life, attending therapy, absent parents, wounded inner child, loneliness as a general theme. If I've missed anything, please do tell me.

Word Count: ~1.6K

Rating: General? Two curse words and some kissin'. The remainder of my work is 18+ / minors DNI.

A/N: I do not know about y'all but I have been going through it lately. And Frankie Morales is my comfort character. This is not along the lines of my usual writing, and for that reason, I haven't tagged anyone. But I'm sharing it on the off chance that you, like me, just need a hug. I know this time of year isn't the easiest for a lot of us, and I hope maybe this gives you a little comfort. Comfort!Frankie, if you will. Please heed the warnings and read with care.

You are worthy of love.

You don’t have time to cry.

Not right now, on this highway, snowflakes flying towards you like crystalline stars at a speed twenty miles per hour slower than the speed you’d be moving at if they weren’t.

You can’t see the lines on the road even without tears in your eyes.

One thing at a time.

Like everything lately.

Just follow the tracks of the car in front of you until it gets you home.

Home to your house that’s empty save for a grumpy tabby cat.

Most days you swear your existence hinges on his.

He’s been your thing to look forward to for the last fifteen years.

Well, and Frankie is visiting this week.

Provided that this storm doesn’t shut the airport down.

Fuck.

It’s not that you hadn’t been doing well without him.

It’s that you hadn’t been doing well.

Too long without a mental break. Exhaustion that seeps with the cold into your bones.

Too many things on a to-do list that you can’t bring yourself to do on the weekends because it’s too long and your own time is so short.

Maybe it’s some malefic arrangement of stars and planets, perhaps.

You haven’t even started buying holiday gifts.

And it sends you face-first into the dread of making a trip back home.

The place that was supposed to be your home.

And dread is the correct word, even if your therapist says you're making real progress.

See, the thing is, your therapist doesn’t have to sit in the contents of the box of shit you dug out from the corner of your brain and emptied all over the floor of your mind.

She only helps you sort through it every other Tuesday.

It was in the box for a reason.

It was easier to carry that way.

_____

When finally you pull into your driveway and step out into fresh snow, it’s the smell that hits you first.

Woodsmoke.

Someone has started up the wood stove so that you don’t go cold, but you hadn’t been expecting company. You figure it’s your best friend who has a key and a standing invitation, and you’re not necessarily opposed to them being here.

Sharing a bottle of wine would probably do you some good.

You stomp snow from your shoes and step inside to offer your layers to the hooks on the wall of the mudroom before you catch sight of the boots in the tray as you toe yours off.

“Frankie?!”

“One sec, babe!”

Frankie.

You wrench open the door that leads through to the kitchen and catch sight of him in front of the sink where he’s draining steaming water from a pot of pasta.

He looks up at you across the kitchen and winks.

“Frankie,” you breathe and he quickly pops the pot back onto a dead burner, slinging oven mitts off a fraction of a second before you collide with his chest.

“Baby,” he whispers, locking you in with an arm around the small of your back and the other at the nape of your neck.

He smells of woodsmoke and cedar and Frankie.

Smells like home.

“You weren’t supposed to be here for another two days,” you pull back and look up into brown eyes framed by mirth-filled creases.

“I was keeping an eye on the weather,” he urges you against him again to nuzzle into your hair, “didn’t want to wait. There’s another front coming behind this one. Took an Uber from the airport. Got in about an hour ago.”

Pilots and their forecasts.

“I’m glad you didn’t wait.”

“So am I,” he tilts your chin up and presses his lips to yours. Soft and sweet. Perfect.

“I made pasta, thought you’d be hungry when you got in.” He grins against your mouth before turning back to the stove to stir tomato sauce. “There wasn’t much in the fridge, but there’s plenty for tonight.” Frankie turns off the burner.

And it’s so new, having a man in your kitchen.

Making you dinner.

“Yeah, I’m sorry, I haven’t had the chance to go to the store,” you rake a hand through your hair as he winds a corkscrew into a bottle of wine.

So new, having arms to fall into.

“Don't apologize, babe. We’ll go tomorrow,” he sneaks another kiss as he fills your glass, one hand absently rubbing your back as he does. “Oh, I also fed the cat,” he points to stacked tins of cat food near the fridge, “from that, hope that was okay,” he fills his own glass. “He was hungry and he was insisting on spaghetti but I figured that’s not…”

“Thank you.”

It’s not more than a trembling whisper.

Because you’re fighting back tears.

This man warmed your house and poured you wine and fed your cat and made you a meal.

Because he cares.

Someone cares.

For you.

“Oh, hey no no no, cariño, what’s wrong?” He replaces his glass on the counter and cups your face in one massive palm.

Soothing with a gentle thumb over your cheekbone.

“This is so nice,” you breathe and the tears finally blur his face. “I just—no one has ever done this for me before.”

It leaves your mouth slowly, like you're not even sure if you can say it.

If you're allowed.

Your view is quickly replaced by the grey and red of his sweater.

“There’s nothing I’d rather do, baby.”

And it makes your chest heave with the sobs you can’t hold in any longer as you wrap your arms around his waist, sinking into the way he presses you tighter against his heart.

The wool of his jumper eager to collect all of the tears you haven’t had time to cry.

Because time stands still here, wrapped tight in his embrace.

And Francisco isn’t afraid of your mess.

“It’s okay, baby. You’re okay.”

He doesn’t ask.

Instead, he tiptoes around the debris of that box to where you weep in the center of the chaos.

To where the child sits with hot tears streaming down their face.

And he looks straight into the heart of you with eyes as soft as the toy you clutch to your chest for comfort.

And offers himself instead.

He offers the breadth of his chest and the strong panes of his back. The vice grip of his arms and the gentle soothing of a palm.

He offers his whole self.

In the stead of the affection you were never given and so learned too well to do without.

In the stead of the wire-framed mother.

In the stead of the shell that should have been a father.

In the stead of all of the unkind words you clung to in the belief that they must be true.

For why else would they not love a child in the way that a child needs love?

For why else were you left lonely for so long?

And the back of your throat goes sore with the burn of his kindness.

Kindness that you still don’t believe you deserve.

“Put it down, baby. Let it go.”

Where Life asked you to soothe yourself.

“I’m here.”

Life offers him to you now.

For Life, it seems, has taken pity on you.

Or perhaps It grew weary of how your grief made It ache.

“I’m here now.”

And so It proffered this apology.

One that you accept in the form of skin and muscle. Bones and blood.

A soft-hearted one with big kind eyes.

And Frankie holds you until the sobbing eases.

And thumbs the tears from your lashes.

Plush lips soften into a crooked smile.

"Are you hungry, cariño?" Whispered softly.

"Yeah," you murmur because you suppose you are.

"Can we sit by the wood stove?" He turns you towards the living room and lays a kiss at the crown of your head.

"Yeah, yeah of course."

"Good, because it's fucking freezing." And that finally pulls a laugh from your throat. "Go on," he smacks you lightly on the bum, "I'll bring you a plate."

You grab both glasses of wine and toss a few throw pillows on the floor before Frankie settles next to you with two shallow bowls heaped with pasta.

_____

When you've finished dinner, plates stacked on the coffee table, cat napping on a throw pillow near the pair of you, Frankie sits back against the sofa and pulls you to sit at his side.

"I'm sorry that I..."

"No," Frankie cuts you off and wraps an arm around your shoulders. "Don't ever apologize to me for feeling, baby."

And you stare down into the dregs of your wine.

"Promise," he prompts with a nudge of his arm.

You look up at him through tired, but grateful eyes. "I promise, Frankie."

"Good," and he kisses you slowly, all warm lips and soft moans.

He regales you with stories from his latest trip until you settle in against him, head tucked under his chin. Lulled by the rise and fall of his breath.

You let him hold you here, with one arm wrapped around your shoulders.

Safe by the gentle heat of a dying fire.

You'll be yourself again tomorrow.

But tonight you allow yourself this.

Frankie kisses into your hairline as you drift between this word and sleep. Your weight against him is soothing as he finishes the last of the wine, eyes trained on the windows beyond, tracking the path of snowflakes on their way to meet the earth again.

"Te comprendo, cariño," he murmurs, resting his cheek against your crown.

"Y creo que te amo."

#frankie morales #frankie morales x reader #frankie morales x you #frankie morales x gn!reader #pedro pascal character fanfiction #pedro pascal characters #pedro pascal #tw: loneliness #ohforficsake #I definitely cried while writing this #so I'm sorry if there are mistakes #this was wholly unplanned

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gardenoblues · 6 months

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Woe...what a night.

The relief in his eyes when she said she wouldn't judge him so easily. The delight in his face when she said she would've taken it further.

The curious tilt of her head, thinking how he knew she got expelled, and with no hesitation she'd do it again. His reaction to it; the evident joy that he couldn't hide.

Then all goes to hell when he says;

"I knew there was a reason I liked you."

Her face softens as he says it. Thee Wednesday Freakin' Friday Addams.

It sealed it. A validation.

Someone liked how unhinged she was, a normie even, accepted her for who she is. He was different from the snobbish, insufferable elites she had met in the school she didn't want to attend. He gets his hands dirty and not like the Nevermore brats too spoiled to know how a coffee machine works.

And it all made sense at the end why she was so into him too.

Him being a normie was fine.

She couldn't have foresaw or imagine him as an outcast.

But him being both of two worlds was so unexpected, it stung. Everything he did was a mockery of her shortcomings, and they both knew it. Him more than anyone else.

As much as she couldn't stand the fact that being a psychic, a raven, and missing the most crucial part of the puzzle humiliates her to the bone, it didn't change the fact that, yes.

Yes. All was done, blood was shed, tears were wasted and lives were taken.

He was suddenly the monster wreaking havoc in town. Disemboweling bodies in the woods, lying as if it were walking, killed his therapist boy-monster.

He wasn't just Tyler Galpin; a part time barista, and a wide eyed boy ready to comply with her whims.

He was, and is the Hyde.

Walking freely in town wearing the same innocent face that managed to fool her and stayed out of her radar. With his bigot, normie, sheriff father.

All smiles and sunshine in the daylight, but at night the shadows consume him.

"Of course the first boy I'd kiss would turn out to be a psycho killing monster. Guess I have a type."

Yeah girl you have a type.

And it's a temperemental beast with a mind of its own.

And it all started with a cup of coffee he had made for her. And those damn words she held in the back of her mind every time she does something unpleasant or disappoints her family or the head of the wretched school.

"I knew there was a reason I liked you."

But this time, it wasn't Tyler Galpin's voice echoing in her shabby mind.

It was her voice that she tried to suppress as her ribcage claws out of her chest. Denying any hint of affection.

There is always an explanation why things are the way they are, and why people act the way that they do.

And it was in front of her all this time.

Even now that Tyler is splayed bloody in the open.

There it is.

The reason why she liked him.

#wyler #tyler galpin #wednesday addams #wednesday series #ao3 #this may have gotten a little unplanned #but guess it turned out well #GIVE US SEASON 2 BECAUSE HOW CAN YOU DROP A MASTERPIECE AND DISAPPEAR FOR WHAT FEELS LIKE YEARS #the subtle acting in this scene tho 🤌#hunter and jena have the perfect chemistry together on screen no one should deny that #another wyler brainrot enjoy suckers #if someone can write more or continue this thread lol jk #this scene made me a solid wyler fan frfr #when he said that line i just knew they'd be end game because why else would have been that iconic?#there was no need for it to hit that hard it they're not gonna end up together okay??!!#okok I'll stop

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dipplinduo · 2 months

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"What kind of things do you research when you write"

Me: Oh not much tbh

Me today:

#im predominately irish so don't come @ me bro I just don't know shit about my culture apparently LOL #wip wippadoop is very important also #I have another meme I'm releasing for this chapter of BYFILWM beCAUSE CHRIST #IM WRITING SOME UNPLANNED SHIT #anyways #there ya go #because someone asked this at some point and now I have a genuine answer #my fics #the redacted statement in welsh is a surprise tool for later :)

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goldenavenger02 · 4 months

Text

and i will try (to fix you)

"So, what are you asking, exactly?"

"You taught me everything I know about waterbending, not to mention you're the strongest waterbender I know," Aang explained, her cheeks filling with a flush as he reached over to tuck a stray hair behind her ear before asking, "so, will you teach me how to heal?"

OR: 5 times Aang tried to heal someone with waterbending and 1 time he did.

(This is so long only because I am neurodivergent and don't know when to stop yapping about random lore things, like water healing and yet I still get ages wrong in the fic. I'm not fixing it, Lin is now older then Tenzin and that just has to be okay with everybody because I am not changing it.

This is also my birthday fic to myself! My birthday isn't until Wednesday, but I will be starting my summer job then which will make me 90% offline and I will not have time to respond to comments like I usually do.

With that, I hope you all enjoy this very, VERY, long fic and now, on with the story!)

1. The Question

"Hey, you okay?" Katara asked softly, breaking Aang out of his thoughts as he sat on the balcony of the high-end inn that King Kuei insisted on putting the three of them in while they were in Ba Sing Se for the next week, his legs dangling in the air.

Aang didn't know how to answer that; the war had just ended a month ago but his gut was still tight with guilt even though he had ended things as peacefully as possible.

"I've been meaning to ask you something," he finally spoke, resulting in her taking a few steps forward and resting her hand on his shoulder; he couldn't deny how gorgeous she looked even in the dim light of the setting sun with the last rays shining in her ocean-blue eyes.

"You can ask me anything."

"Toph and Zuko want to continue teaching me earth and fire bending," he looked down at his hands and the intricate blue arrows marking the backs of them, "and I know that no matter how hard I try, even the most peaceful option can still ruin lives but if there's something I can do to make up for it-"

"Ozai needed to go down," Katara cut him off, moving her hand off of his shoulder and rubbing soft circles on his upper back, "you stopped him without killing him, which is a lot braver than what the rest of us would have done."

"I know, but… there are people in the Fire Nation, in the Earth Kingdom and the water tribes that have lost family and friends in this war because I wasn't here to stop them, and even after I got out of the ice, people still died."

He watched as her fingers trailed off to the pendant of her necklace for a few moments, like it always did when she was reminded of her mother, before her gaze returned to him.

"So, what are you asking, exactly?"

"I didn't spend as much time with Yagoda as I should have to teach anyone and most of what I know is self-taught," Katara explained after a beat before raising her eyebrow, "you're sure that you want me to teach you?"

"You brought me back to life," Aang pointed out, trying not to think about the starburst of a scar on his back, "you also saved Zuko's life. I don't know about you, but that sounds at the very least like someone who can teach me the basics."

"Can I think about it? I just…" she let out a breath of air, finally taking her hand off of his back and folding her elbows over the balcony railing before resting her head on them, "it's not that I don't want to teach you, but I don't want anyone to start seeing me differently."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't want to just be seen as a healer, and I know that you would never see me that way, but…"

"You're worried about what others might think," Aang filled in the blank and watched as she nodded against her folded arms, "I understand. I don't want to pressure you, I just…it's stupid."

"No it's not," she reached one of her hands towards him and squeezed it in hers, the pressure reassuring him that the guilt tightening around his heart wasn't unfounded, "if you have to damage something, you want to be able to help fix it. That's not stupid, Aang."

"It's not?"

"No." She stood up straight for a moment, to press a kiss to his cheek, before resting again on her elbows with their hands firmly clasped around each other's until long after the sun went down and their eyes had the reflections of stars in them.

Despite all of the feelings swirling around Aang, the pure joy won out as Katara continued to squeeze his hand and the moon started to softly illuminate the balcony; at the end of the day, they had won the war, their closest friends were all alive and thriving in the beginnings of rebuilding.

And above it all, he had won Katara's heart and she had won his.

So when he felt the first of what would have evolved into many yawns if he continued to stand on the balcony build up, he maneuvered his hand out of hers, scooched over and planted his feet firmly on the ground, speaking as he turned toward the door.

"We should get some sleep."

"You're right, but Aang?"

"Yes?" He turned back around to see her grasping onto her upper arm as she spoke.

"I'll teach you, how to heal."

If it had been any other time of day, he would have thanked her over and over with uncontrollable excitement, but he was exhausted so he settled for pulling her into a hug, "thank you, Katara."

"You're welcome," she insisted, squeezing tightly for a moment before he pulled away to see a mischievous glint in her eyes, "and I know who you can practice on."

…

"Katara? You're sure about this?" Sokka's voice wavering hit Aang with a pang of doubt even as he overexplained his thought process, "not that I don't trust you or anything, of course I trust you, but my leg is almost back to a hundred percent and-"

"If it goes wrong, then I'll take over," Katara cut off his ramblings as she gathered her supplies from the other side of the room, "but unlike Zuko, you'll actually tell Aang and I if something feels off."

"Yeah, I guess I have him beat there," Sokka shrugged as he sat down in the wooden chair, propping his left leg on the ottoman, "have you heard anything about how he's doing?"

"As far as I know, he's back to usual activity."

"So he gets to go back to normal a month after getting his insides fried like fire flakes, but I still have to use a crutch when I'm nearly better?"

"Mai and the royal physician are keeping a very close eye on him and will alert me at the first sign of things going south, but he insisted on getting to work on repairing the Fire Nation," Katara elaborated, her hands expertly guiding the blade that was removing the old bandages around his leg, "also, he wasn't the one who refused to let me look at his injuries for five days."

That comment made Sokka go quiet, no longer a distraction to Aang's shaking hands as he knelt down beside Katara with full access to the injured limb decorated in the final stages of healing bruises.

"I'm not gonna hurt him if I do this wrong, right?"

"No," Katara insisted while bending the water out of her water-skin and holding it in between her palms, "the worst you could do is nothing, and like I said, Sokka will tell us if something feels wrong. Won't you, Sokka?"

"Yep."

"Okay."

"Are you ready?"

Aang nodded, and bent the small current out of her palms, holding it in between his own as he awaited her instructions.

"Healing wounds with water, it uses the water as a catalyst to redirect the energy paths in the body; by focusing more energy on the wounded area, it accelerates the healing process. That's why Sokka is actually able to put some of his weight on his leg instead of all on the crutch."

Aang nodded, absorbing her words as he bent the water over one of the yellowish-green bruises on Sokka's lower leg, his hands hovering over it as his tongue slipped out with concentration.

"Can you feel the energy in the bruises, how it's all tensed up under the skin?"

Aang shook his head, allowing Katara to gently guide his arms upwards toward Sokka's thigh, "what about now? The energy in his upper leg is loose and flowing because it was mostly uninjured, but…" she trailed off, guiding his palms back down towards the bruising, "because his leg was broken here, it's tighter and at a near stand-still."

Aang furrowed his brow; he had bent energy just last month when he had removed Ozai's bending, but all he could feel under his palms were the ends of the hair on Sokka's legs being pulled toward him in the water.

"I-I'm sorry, I can't feel anything." He finally stuttered as he slumped backwards and pulled his knees to his chest, allowing Katara to take the water from his palms and focus on the bruising.

"Yagoda said it can take months to learn how to feel the energy inside someone else's body, that it can be subtle if the wound isn't as severe."

"Seriously, Aang," Sokka spoke up, clearly trying his best to add to the reassurance that his sister was giving him, "my leg is almost completely healed. You'll get it with a fresher wound, I know it."

Aang still couldn't help but sigh, rest his head on his bent knees and wrap his arms around them while Katara worked miracles like it was the easiest thing in the world.

2. A Second Chance

The trip to Ba Sing Se ended up ending three days earlier than expected when a messenger hawk from the Fire Nation flew into Katara's window at the inn with a loud call that had Aang rubbing his eyes in confusion next door.

It took ten minutes for her to open his bedroom door, dressed for the day as she announced while adjusting her water-skin, "we need to get to the Fire Nation."

Katara had always been the one who kept Aang and Sokka on track throughout their travels and always remained serious when the situation required it, so he knew it was bad the moment her eyes met his and after pulling on his own clothes, went straight to Appa to get him ready for the trip.

By the time he had the saddle and reins tightened and his luggage in the saddle, Katara walked over with a determined stride, throwing her bag into the saddle with ease.

"Sokka is staying to finish the last of the discussions with King Kuei and Suki is on her way here to help out." Katara explained as she climbed into the saddle, her face set with a fixated worry that Aang knew all too well.

He didn't hesitate to lift himself onto Appa, flicking the reins with a "yip yip" and waiting until they had passed over the lower ring of Ba Sing Se before finding it in himself to ask, "it's Zuko, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is," Katara's strained voice filled his gut with a nauseating worry, "you'll get to practice healing him after all."

That statement only filled Aang with even more dread as they streamlined towards Capitol City.

…

"Are you still having trouble breathing?"

"The royal physician really shouldn't have scared Tao and Mai like that, or you two-"

"Zuko, that is not what I asked," her snappy tone not only had Aang sitting straight up in the chair, but also stunned the newly crowned Fire Lord into silence, "you're lucky Tao sent for me and that I know how to redirect excess energy in the body."

"Wait, you do?" Aang spoke up, getting a quick smile from Katara as she continued to hold the water just above the scar tissue that matched his own to a T.

"It's part of healing; you can direct more energy to a injure to heal it, but an excess of tense, jumbled up energy can cause more harm than good so you may need to pull some away," she explained before making eye contact with Zuko who was raising a confused eyebrow, "I'm teaching him."

Aang stood up to get a closer look; they had arrived to a tense chaos that had resulted in Katara tell him to stay back while she took care of the pressing issue of Zuko struggling to breathe along with the muscle spasms, but now that the dust had settled, she silently took a step to the side so he could observe.

Despite happening a month ago and the healing that Katara had provided multiple times a day for the first week after it had happened, the lightning scar was still jagged and an angry red that started at the bottom of Zuko's chest, traveled up into his right shoulder before snaking around to his back.

It was all too reminiscent of blinking up at Katara before awakening weeks later with bandages covering a good chunk of his body and dark hair covering the top of his skull in a way that made his stomach churn.

"Alright, Aang," Katara's voice brought him back to reality, reminding him that he was not in the catacombs of Ba Sing Se, as she hovered a small stream of water in between her palms, "are you ready to give it a go?"

"Y-yeah," he stuttered before shaking his head and trying again, "yeah, I'm ready."

"Okay," she nodded, bending the water toward him slowly so he could take control, "Zuko, considering your internal organs are what we're working on, you really need to let us know if something doesn't feel right."

Aang could see Zuko fix his jaw and grip the edge of the blanket with a stiff nod that made him sweat, but he pulled in a long, deep breath and awaited instruction.

"Start at the shoulder and work your way down slowly. I worked out most of the energy in his chest, but there's still a lot at the entry point. It shouldn't overwhelm you if you don't rush."

Aang nodded, holding the small amount of water over the red markings on Zuko's shoulder; it wasn't like Sokka's leg, he could feel the energy Katara was talking about in the form of jumbled, irritated nerves under his fingers even if they felt impossible to get to.

He closed his eyes, trying to picture the energy twisting around itself that was causing his friend more pain than necessary and only starting to untwist it with his fingers once he was sure that he had a good hold on it.

"You're doing great, Aang," he heard her praise as he opened his eyes for a few minutes before her voice moved away from over his shoulder, "Zuko? Are you still with us?"

"Yes."

"Feel any different? Less tense?"

Zuko pulled in a breath that sounded a bit shaky, but when he nodded in agreement to Katara's question, Aang relaxed, closed his eyes again and continued to slowly move downward toward the base of the wound.

The twisting only grew under his fingertips as he moved downward as his forehead became sticky with exertion, but he pressed on.

"Aang?" Katara asked as he found himself biting the inside of his cheek while trying to untangle a particularly strong bunch of energy, "do you need a break?"

"N-no, I'm okay."

"Aang, I really think you need to take a break." She tried again, her voice still gentle but no longer asking, but Aang shook his head, using the water in his palms to pull at the twisting that was trying to knot itself inside of Zuko.

"I've almost got it, just let me-"

He rose in the air, eyes and arrows glowing in the reflection of the Dai Li armor, and focused his eyes for a brief moment on Katara as he continued to beam upwards.

Only for a shock to fill his entire body and send him falling to the ground as he lost consciousness.

Aang pulled away from the lightning wound with a large 'splash' as the water fell from his palms and onto Zuko, Katara and the bed but all he could focus on was the tightness in his throat and the pressure in his lungs.

"Aang-"

But before he could hear any of them out, he stood and ran out the doors even after hearing someone call out his name, trying desperately to catch his breath while it lodged in his throat.

"It's over," he tried to reassure himself as he slid down against the wall, pressing his eyes against his shaking hands, "y-you're not there any more. It's over."

He swallowed harshly to try and remove the lump in his throat and managed to pull his teary eyes from his hands before Katara walked into the room.

Even when she slid down beside him and told him "it's okay", he still found his chest rising and falling faster as he wiped tears off of his cheeks.

"You didn't hurt anyone, we're all okay," she insisted, gently pressing her palm against his upper back, "are you okay, Aang?"

"I s-should be past it now," Aang stuttered, leaning closer against her chest and taking in the sound of her calm, deep breaths to try and slow his own, "it was months ago."

"But you're not. Injuries like that, especially ones that are so fresh, can be really triggering. It happens to the best of us, okay?"

'You're not there. It's over.' His mental reassurances were doing nothing to calm the rapid 'thump' of his heartbeat as he finally managed to get himself to voice his concern to Katara.

"Can we take a break? From you teaching me about this?" He pleaded as he made eye contact with her, "I just…I think I need a bit longer to recover."

"Of course," Katara nodded instantly as she pressed a soft kiss to the back of one of his shaking hands, "we'll take as long as you need."

3. Beginning Again

It was supposed to be a simple trip to Omashu, for more discussions about rebuilding and bills and financial aid that would inevitably fall on Zuko's selfless shoulders.

But the uprising of Ozai supporters throughout the nations had only steadily grown in the two years after Zuko had taken the throne, so when it was revealed that all five of them needed to make the trip to Omashu, it didn't take long for them to settle on traveling together with the Kyoshi Warriors as part of the security force.

For the first couple of days, as they all crowded around a campfire while telling jokes and eating their dinners, Aang couldn't help but find himself longing for the days that they had all traveled as a group.

But it also reminded him that after they finished their business in Omashu, they would go back to being separated as they resumed their duties around the world; while Aang would be forever grateful for the financial support he had received from the other nations to preserve the Air Temples as historical landmarks, it also was a painful reminder that he was the last of his people.

On their third and final day of traveling towards Omashu, the skies opened up and poured relentlessly on himself, Katara, Sokka and Appa in the air and the Kyoshi Warriors walking alongside the caravan that held Zuko and Toph, which only continued to add to his growing sadness.

"I get why Zuko is in the caravan, he can barely breathe without someone trying to assassinate him," Sokka complained as he wiped what looked like a cup of water off of his head and onto Appa, who protested with a growl, "but Toph can stick it out with the rest of us."

"She does love the mud," Katara chuckled fondly, bending the rainwater out of her clothes to no avail, "but no matter how much she doesn't act like it, she's also got a target on her back due to her family."

"But Aang is still in the rain, and he's the Avatar!"

"I like the rain," Aang shrugged before reaching forward and scratching against Appa's wet head, "and Appa needs company."

He did not want to think about the storm that had transpired the night he left the Southern Air Temple, and he really didn't want to think about just how tightly he had held Appa's reins in his palms as they were pulled down by the relentless waves.

But before either of the siblings could add to his statement, the sound of an explosion rang out from under them, resulting in Aang gripping the reins so Appa would turn only to see the caravan turned over on its side while the perpetrators started to approach the smoke.

"Katara, Sokka, go get them out!" Aang shouted before grabbing his glider and joining the Kyoshi Warriors on the ground, sending a group of five to the ground with a blast of air before beginning to use his staff to propel them away.

They were severely outnumbered, no matter how many people were chi-blocked by the warriors, all while lightning seared the sky and the rumble of thunder overwhelmed their ears.

Aang hoped that he would be allowed to be involved in the interrogations of the attackers when all of this was over, because why anyone would go through with their plans as rain pounded on armor and had to be continuously wiped from their eyes was beyond him.

He winced at the smell of heavy smoke prevailing despite the downpour, because it meant that the caravan was more than likely rigged, that there was a double agent involved with the transport who could be taking down the Fire Nation from the inside.

But the most distressing part to Aang was that someone had seen the fourteen year old and the eighteen year old getting inside with smiles on their faces, with very long lives and long legacies ahead of them, and went through with an assassination anyway.

No one could see his tears through the rain as a part of him, maybe one of his past lives, demanded that he use the other elements and enter the Avatar state in order to end the ambush in that moment.

The slash of a sword ripping into his upper arm and coating his orange and yellow clothes in red would have been the turning point if a wave of fire hadn't erupted beside him and he was met with the bruised and soot-covered, but very alive, face that belonged to none other than Zuko.

Aang nearly cheered with relief until he saw the grave look on that same dirty face that he sent out another wave of fire.

"What is it? What's wrong?" He demanded, propelling the fire further with a blast of air.

"It's…it's Suki," Zuko stuttered while deflecting a swipe of a sword with his heavily armored wrist, "it's bad."

That's all it took for Aang to glide back into the sky and go to find the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors in the midst of the ambush; the aggressive rain drops did nothing to help him see in the crowd of green, gray, black and red as it dripped off of his skull and into his eyes.

But when he saw the green and yellow behind a rock wall and a flash of blue and white holding one of the warriors tightly in their arms, he knew he had found the right spot and descended inside of the wall.

"I'm gonna go find Katara." Toph insisted as soon as he landed and vaulted over the top of the rock wall, allowing Aang to crouch down beside Suki.

Zuko wasn't lying when he said it was bad; her armor across her stomach was badly slashed and along with it was a growing puddle of dark red that was starting to drip onto the muddy ground.

"I-I know you stopped learning, but is there anything you can do?" Sokka pleaded with a hand in her hair and the other clasped around her slack ones, the rain doing nothing to mask his tears.

It had been two years since he insisted that he needed a break, but his memory clasped tightly onto what he had learned in the month after defeating Ozai.

"I can try." Aang nodded and started to pull the rain out of the sky in order to form a small stream like the one Katara always kept by her side.

As he held it over the gaping wound, he could have sworn that he heard Sokka begging for Suki to "stay with him", the same way he imagined him saying it to Yue, but he did his best to block it out as he closed his eyes to focus.

The only way she was going to live was if he focused on the wound.

Not the fact that the first time he had done this, he had felt nothing. Not the fact that the second time he had done this, he had been left with a panic attack so intense that he had nearly given up on the practice.

'I cannot lose anyone else.'

And with that solemn thought, he pushed down and began to try his best to stabilize any of the veins and nerves that he could, pulling the tired energy away to bring in some that was more alert.

His forehead coated in a sheen coat of sweat when he heard two sets of footsteps run towards them, followed by the familiar shout of his girlfriend, "I'm here! I'm here!" before she settled in beside him.

When he heard the cork on the water-skin pop open, he expected to be pushed away.

"Aang, keep doing what you're doing." She demanded, which surprised Aang, but he did what he was told and kept his eyes closed as he continued to push and pull with the rain water in his palms.

"Her heartbeat is starting to steady."

"Stay with me…stay with me…"

"They…they got away…"

"I think she's almost stable."

That statement had Aang opening his eyes, bending with one palm and blowing into the bison whistle with the other before they started the precarious transport of Suki while her light, shallow breathing echoed against Sokka's chest.

…

Aang had stood on a similar balcony two years ago when he asked Katara to start teaching him how to heal, the two of them bathed in the final rays of the day.

As Aang stood in the first few rays of the morning, he wasn't surprised to be met by Katara looping her hand in his and standing by his side; he was starting to get taller than her, but she just had to reach across to grasp his hand.

"Suki's gonna be okay," she assured him, tucking her hand against his jaw so he was face to face with her ocean-blue eyes that were unable to mask the exhaustion from hours of healing, "you saved her life."

"I didn't save her," Aang pulled his gaze away, feeling Katara tense in her grip on his hand, "that was all you."

"You stabilized her before I got there. She…" Katara trailed off and never finished her sentence, but he knew what she meant.

In the heat of the ambush, Aang had been the only thing that stood between Suki and death's doorstep and in doing so, he had completed the goal that he wanted to accomplish when he first asked Katara to teach him.

"Thanks, Katara." Aang smiled, trying to ignore the throbbing in his upper arm from where the bandages hugged it too tightly.

She dropped his hand and turned towards the door, her gaze lingering on him for a few beats.

"Meet me inside, when you're done?"

"Yeah," Aang agreed, but he found it in himself to take a deep breath and ask, "Katara?"

"Yes?"

"If you're okay with it," Aang turned to meet her eyes, blinking with unfounded curiosity in a way that made his heart melt, "I want to get back to learning how to heal."

"You're sure?"

"I'm positive," he stopped to reach forward and grip her forearm gently before tacking on, "Sifu Katara."

Aang was nearly swept off of his feet when she pulled him forward against her lips; she tasted like the rainfall and the ocean, successfully taking his mind off of the angry pulse of his arm as the sun rays continued to dry out their clothes.

4. By Force

The diplomatic visit to Omashu continued with one of the other Kyoshi Warriors, who was named Reina, taking over Suki's duties.

Unfortunately for Aang, that meant having to try his best to stay awake while various dignitaries droned on and on about financial aid they still hadn't received from the Fire Nation, even though Zuko had made it abundantly clear that the money wasn't there due to Ozai tying their economy into their military, all while his arm throbbed painfully against his sleeve.

The long gash that had adored his clothes in red hadn't seemed important when he was faced with the gravity of Suki's wounds and Sokka's pleas, but two days past the ambush and the few futile attempts of using the river water to heal it had resulted in him looking at the world with tired, feverish eyes while the injury worsened.

The headache that was accompanying the pain wasn't helped as yet another person, he was pretty sure that he had been introduced as a general but Aang's mind was fuzzy, all but screamed at Zuko over some sort of funding that had been temporarily pushed back by a few months.

"-all these people are still suffering because you keep pushing us back to fund the Southern Water Tribe rebuilding efforts and the Air Temple restoration project!"

"I'm sure that you understand why their bills are getting priority, given their history with the Fire Nation despite you insisting that it's favoritism." Even in his feverish haze, Aang could hear the bite in Zuko's voice

"If the Earth Kingdom had lost all of our benders or if there was only one Earth Kingdom citizen left due to a hundred years of war that was caused by the Fire Nation, he would prioritize us higher," Toph added, her voice unusually calm, "and he has already given Omashu and Ba Sing Se hundreds of thousands to restore and rebuild."

He could have sworn that someone said his name, but he rubbed his eyes before looking up, only to see several sets of eyes on him.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"I was simply asking if you would be okay with the Fire Nation skipping a few months of financial help on the Air Temple Restoration project in order to even out the payments to the water tribes and the Earth Kingdom."

"I don't have a problem with that," Aang responded, his mouth growing dry with every word he spoke as his head started to spin, "I mean, all of the nations have been so generous with their donations that I can probably restore the entirety of the Southern and Northern Air Temples with the funds I have. The Eastern and Western ones suffered a significant amount of damage, but if I focus on the north after I finish the south, I shouldn't need more payments for at least the next six months."

"So, it's been decided by the Avatar himself," the general's smug face was enough to pull anger from Aang despite his hazy vision as it clicked that he had been used against Zuko, "the Fire Nation will pause their payments to the Air Temple Restoration project until after the Northern Air Temple has been preserved."

"Very well."

Aang winced as he was hit by a wave of nausea and rested his head against his hand, trying to will it away with closed eyes.

"Next order of business, I want to…is he okay?"

"Aang?"

"You okay, buddy?"

"Hey, I think he's going to…"

Aang could feel himself fall forward as his vision spotted into darkness and his hearing ceased.

…

When he finally blinked himself awake in the dim lighting, he wasn't surprised to see Katara's concerned face; he didn't know if it was the fever or the small shed of light in the room that made her eyes look like they were glittering.

"Hey, sweetie," she whispered, reaching over to the side before pressing something blissfully cool against his cheek, "welcome back."

"Did I…" he winced at the scratch in his throat that he tried to clear to zero avail, "did I go somewhere?"

It was only when Katara wiped her eyes on her forearm that he realized that the glitter was actually tears and that the tears were for him.

"Do you remember what happened?"

"That one guy was angry about funding and I felt really sick the whole time."

"You got injured in the ambush," she filled in, still gently pressing the cool cloth to his face, "were you taking care of the wound?"

"I tried to heal it, with the water in the river," Aang explained, only to get a soft shake of Katara's head as a response that made him flush with embarrassment, "not my wisest move."

"River and rain water can work in a pinch, like when you stabilized Suki," she started to explain as she pulled the cloth away before gently cutting through the clean, thick bandages around his bicep, "but for future reference, you really want to use clean water so it doesn't get infected."

He nodded, wincing at the bite of the sting that made its way through his left arm, before finding it in himself to fill the silence.

"I'm sorry for scaring you, Katara. I'm sorry for scaring everyone, but especially you."

"It got us out of "let's scream at Zuko for five hours", so I doubt they'll hold it against you," she explained with a quick smirk before her brow furrowed in concentration, "as for me, try not to scare me like that. Okay, sweetie? I like you too much."

"Understood, Sifu Katara," he insisted, eliciting a small laugh out of her, "do you need to go back?"

She shook her head with unwavering determination, "I'm not leaving you until I know you're better, and that's final."

Aang couldn't help but smile with relief as she leaned in for a quick peck on her lips before returning her attention to his inflamed wound.

5. Refusal

Republic City always felt like a breath of fresh air to Aang.

While places like Ba Sing Se, Capitol City and Wolf Cove felt so isolated in their own traditions and practices, The United Republic was the best of all the nations all in one place.

It was the closest thing he had to a place he belonged in a world without airbenders.

It had taken several long years to bring the small city called Cranefish Town into the largely populated Republic City, but with the support and financial aid left over from the Air Temple Restoration project, it became a reality.

It certainly helped Aang's case by having the Kyoshi Warriors, the Fire Lord, the newly elected Chairman of the United Republic, the chief of police and most importantly, Katara, on his side.

But today, he and his wife weren't in the city on political business; with Sokka and Suki insisting that they take Bumi and Kya off of their hands, they were finally taking some time to enjoy themselves for the first time since Kya was born a month ago.

"I've missed this, you know," Aang insisted, his fingers wrapped tightly around Katara's in the midst of the bustling crowd outside one of the new Fire Nation restaurants, "just us."

However, he was met with a soft sigh, "you have work, don't you?"

"I just need to get some crime reports from Toph so I can discuss it with Zuko and Sokka next week," he insisted with a gentle squeeze on her shoulder, "it should only take five, ten minutes," another sigh that had his hand lingering back down to hers, "after that, I am all yours. I swear."

"I know, I know…" she sighed, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand.

"Hey, Katara," he spoke gently, the same way he did when he got out of their bed to soothe their daughter so she could continue to rest, "what's wrong? What did I do?"

"It's nothing, you didn't do anything, it's just stupid hormones."

Aang had a feeling that it was more then the lingering effects of postpartum hormones, but he had learned after Bumi that it was Katara's signal that she did not want to talk about it, so he pulled her in by the shoulder and pressed a gentle kiss to the side of her head, "five minutes and then it's just us, okay? No work, no bending, no stopping bad guys, just me and you."

"Okay," she nodded, her ocean-blue eyes still shiny with tears even as she tried to change her demeanor with a fake smile, "let's go see Toph."

The police station wasn't far from where they had wandered to after putting Appa in the care of the farmers who watched over the traveling animals while their owners toured Republic City.

However, when he held the door open for Katara before following closely behind her, he expected Toph to look up from her desk in the middle of the room and sense their presence, or to be met by one of the officers telling them that she was out on a case.

Aang did not expect to see Toph sitting in a chair in the middle of the room with a towel held to her forehead as a trickle of blood dripped down the right side of her face.

"Toph!" Katara shouted in shock, making Toph wince as her unseeing glance was tilted up at the ceiling.

"Hi to you too, Sugar Queen, Twinkletoes," she greeted, her voice strangled from the pain, "give me a minute and I'll get those reports to you."

"Are you- you're hurt, Toph," Aang sputtered as he walked over and set his hand on her bent knee, only growing more alarmed when she didn't shove him off with her free hand, "what happened?"

"Oh, the usual, ran off after a group of vandals, missed the curb and-" she cut herself to smack her hands together, only to grimace from both the noise and taking the towel off of her forehead which she promptly returned to the jagged gash.

"Did you get checked for a concussion?"

"It's not a concussion, Sweetness. All I did was eat shit in front of new recruits," Toph waved her free hand with dismissal, "since then, the new guys don't want to take their eyes off me or let me do my job, but I'm thinking about asking my councilman buddy if he can make some legislation about officers being barefoot because I cannot see jackshit in these stupid shoes."

Aang took a glance down at her metal boots, built just like the rest of her armor, before looking back up at her; before he could respond, however, Katara's water-skin was all but shoved into his palms.

"Toph, where are the reports?"

"Second drawer of my desk, left side, at the top. Can't miss them."

"I'll go get them. Aang here is gonna take care of that gash." Katara insisted with a wink of encouragement before disappearing into Toph's office and leaving him in disbelief with the water-skin as the lingering recruits filed off into their own areas of the building.

"Do you know what the hell you're doing, twinkletoes? And don't think that I don't remember the ambush and the comet."

Aang wanted to retort that in the years since the ambush, he had become a pro at healing Bumi's skinned knees, but he knew that it would only raise Toph's doubt and result in some very clever retorts, so he just responded with a simple, "yes, I know what I'm doing."

"I'll just wait until Katara gets back, if that's okay. Besides, it's funny to get all these new recruits to squirm," despite the pain lines around her mouth and what looked like tears in her eyes, her grin was wide enough that Aang felt comfortable slinging his wife's water-skin around his shoulder, "Kaito told me two of them passed out once they saw the blood."

"Glad to see you're in good spirits, at least," Aang couldn't help but smile, but there was a flicker of doubt across Toph's face that left him asking, "unless there's something that you want to tell-"

"I'm pregnant."

"Oh, well, congratulat-"

"The father isn't staying," Toph rubbed her eyes with her free hand and if she hadn't been crying before, she definitely was now, "and I don't know if me falling hurt the baby, not to mention it wouldn't have even happened if I wasn't wearing these spirts-damned shoes-"

"Hey, hey, Toph," Aang cut her off, moving his hand off of her knee to her shoulder, "Katara and I are here for you, okay? We'll help you figure it out."

"Help her figure out what?" Katara questioned as she approached with the stack of papers in hand, "and I thought you were gonna heal her."

"I need to talk to you, in my office, alone," Toph explained as she stood before Aang could open his mouth, "don't worry, Twinkletoes, I'm not gonna arrest her."

Aang passed off the water-skin and took a seat outside of the office with the crime reports in hand.

He wasn't sure how long he sat in the near-silent police station and while he was glad that the crime rate was low, he was also growing antsy in dreading anticipation no matter how much he tried to fall back on his meditation lessons he had received as a young boy.

But with one creak of the door opening, he found himself on his feet as Katara walked out while still talking to Toph.

"-really need to take it easy, though. I'll talk to Sokka about the shoes when we pick up the kids."

"I'll be more careful, but I won't promise to take it easy. I do have an entire city to keep in check," Toph insisted with a small, red line marking the place where the jagged gash had once been, "but thank you, for everything."

"Of course," Katara insisted, pulling her into a hug that Aang watched from a few steps away until his wife grabbed his wrist and pulled him into the group hug with a "come on, sweetie."

In the warmth of the group hug, Aang couldn't help but feel twelve years old for a few peaceful but brief seconds.

6. Bittersweet

It had been a very long day in Republic City.

He no longer found himself getting involved with the police force unless he was dropping in to grab the reports for Sokka to look over at the monthly meeting between the two of them and Zuko.

Zuko hardly showed up to them any more, growing much more reserved like he had been as a tenager after the recent passing of Iroh, but they still left a spot for him that was more often than not taken by Mai in his place with yet another apology for his absence.

This time, however, the three of them had gone over the reports to find something chilling encased neatly in between the vandals that always seemed to rise every time Toph put the last ones away as well as the growing tensions between benders and non-benders.

The name "Yakone" had come up many times over the years; a man who had deep ties to the criminal underworld of Republic City, but Toph had never been able to get together a rock-solid case against him; Aang knew that no matter how desperate she got to put Yakone away, that what he was reading had to be reality and in that reality, his stomach clenched.

"At least a dozen witnesses to his bloodbending?" With the way Sokka's voice cracked like a teenager as he read it aloud and his face adopted a grayish tone, Aang knew that his thought process was similar to his own, "but it's been outlawed for years. The last known practicer died a long time ago."

"Aang, I hate to ask you this, but is there any way that-"

"No," Aang cut Mai off, unable to hide the snap in his tone despite her obvious reason for asking, "Katara would never be involved with something like this."

He did not mention the nights during the first few years of their marriage where he woke up to her lurching out of sleep in a cold sweat with blood dripping from her nose; neither of them needed to know how much her experience with Hama still haunted her.

Mai had nodded and moved on, but Aang still thought about it through the rest of the meeting and on the way home; he knew that Toph would be bringing a new charge and with it, a new arrest against Yakone, but he also knew that there was still a chance it wouldn't stick.

But he didn't have to think about that tonight.

The biggest thing he had to worry about on the safety of Air Temple Island was if Tenzin had gotten so caught up in toddling behind Kya that he had received yet another black eye from hitting it against the dining room table.

That only made him opening the door to Bumi cackling as he swung the sword that Sokka had gifted him a few months before on his birthday while Kya threw small but impressive snowballs at him that much more shocking.

"What?" He started, instantly gaining Kya's, who dropped a puddle of water around her feet, and Bumi's, who lowered the sword with a look of surprise and guilt in his eyes, attention, "is going on in here?"

It did not surprise him when the eleven and five year old instantly pointed at the other one with a simultaneous shout of "he/she started it!"

"Okay," Aang sighed, taking a deep breath as he pinched the bridge of his nose before redirecting his eyesight at his daughter first, "Kya, I want you to go get a couple of the towels and clean the water off of the floor," he waited until she walked to the laundry room before turning his attention on his eldest son, "Bumi, where are your mother and brother?"

"Mom's been really quiet since she got back from getting some groceries in the city, she's in her room and Tez is…he was just in here, I swear."

Aang took one look behind the large bookcase and was met with a bright set of gray eyes and two hands reaching up towards him in response.

"He's back here because swords and waterbending aren't exactly baby proof." He explained while reaching behind the bookcase to pull his youngest child out, who was thankfully unharmed in the latest show of sibling rivalry.

"Tenzin is nearly three, he's not a baby any more."

"Maybe not, but he was frightened enough to wedge himself between the wall and the bookcase."

"How do you know that he didn't do it because he was exploring?"

"Bumi, enough," Aang cut the back and forth before it grew out of hand, "you need to put that sword away in its case and when your mom is feeling up to it, all of us are going to have a long conversation about when to use our abilities, bending or not. Do you understand?"

"Yes, dad."

"Okay. Did you three get dinner?" He didn't know what kind of day Katara was having or what could have caused her sudden silence, but he could try and gauge it by if the kids had been fed before eight p.m.

"Mom made sea prune stew, but she let me help with the dumplings." Bumi's excitement, despite the trouble he was still very much in, was infectious and filled Aang with joy as he pictured the scene in his head, "did you want some, dad?"

"No, I'll find some food after I talk to your mom," Aang insisted, pressing a kiss to his head, "go get some sleep, okay?"

"Okay," Bumi agreed, hugging him with the sword free arm and he hugged back with the Tenzin free arm, "goodnight, dad."

"Goodnight, Bumi."

It didn't take long for Tenzin to get settled in the small bed next to Bumi's, eight was pushing it for his bedtime, and while Kya insisted that he read her two of her many, many books that covered her bedroom, she too was out like a light by the time he was halfway through the second one.

But now that all three of the kids were asleep, it left Aang with nothing to do but slowly make his way into their shared bedroom and get to the bottom of the tension that was filling the silence.

"Katara?" He whispered toward the lump in the bed with the blanket over their head, only getting a slight shift in response, "Katara, it's me."

"Aang?" No longer clouded by the shaking of sobs, but the crack in her voice made it clear that she had been in distress and he hadn't been here to hold her in his arms.

"Hey," he muttered, only seeing the reality of the situation when Katara lifted the blanket off of her head and met his gaze with red, puffy, watering eyes, "I'm so sorry, I should have been here-."

"It's not…" a shudder wracked her body as she sat up and pulled her knees to her chest which had Aang climbing on the bed and pulling her all too cold frame against his body, "it's not your fault."

"What happened?"

"Toph brought me in today."

"What?"

"She wanted to know how Yakone…Hama's been dead for years, so her next logical suspect was…but I swear, Aang, I didn't-"

"I know you didn't," Aang cut her off, pressing a kiss against the side of her head, "I know that you, who spent so many years getting it outlawed, would never do that."

"Thank you. For believing me."

"I would be a horrible husband if I didn't," Aang responded, getting a soft laugh as he interlaced his hand in Katara's, "I'm helping Toph bring him in tomorrow."

"Did she ask you to?"

"No, she doesn't even know I'm coming, but I need to make sure he ends up behind bars."

"You don't have to piss Toph off for me," Katara insisted, wiping her face on her wrist, "just knowing that she actually has enough evidence to get him put away is enough."

"Hey, I'm the Avatar, remember?" Aang questioned with a soft smile on his face, "I have to make the world safe and that includes my world." With that, he rested his hand on the back of her neck before gently pulling her in for a long, warm kiss.

At least, it would have been if he hadn't heard the small whimper of pain escape from her lips when his hand grazed her left shoulder so he could have a better hold on her.

"Your shoulder is hurting again?"

She had injured her left shoulder years ago while the two of them were in the Fire Nation to help with the birth of Zuko and Mai's daughter, Izumi, but she had ended up being one of the people holding off yet another assassin attempt that had resulted in her getting thrown against the wall.

Seeing her that injured had terrified Aang in a way that still haunted him even now, knowing that he could lose Katara to a few firebenders despite her own power and the very powerful people that she kept close.

Katara had delivered Izumi two days later and despite the joy filling the nations, the two of them didn't know that the injury to her left shoulder would result in a constant state of pain that varied in severity by the day.

"It's not that bad right now," she insisted, but Aang still got up and plucked her water-skin from the nightstand, "sweetie, we both know that doesn't work."

"It helps though," he pointed out, bending the water out of the water-skin and holding it over the permanently twisted nerves, feeling her slump in relief under his fingertips as he worked out the tension that would inevitably be back, "is that better?"

"Just…hold it there, for a bit longer."

"Whatever you say, Sifu Katara." That nickname always got her to smile, even on her bad days.

"I'm not sure you can still call me that," she said around her infectious grin, "you've been healing skinned knees for ten years now."

"Do you want me to stop?"

"I didn't say that."

Her shoulder was as relaxed as he could get it, so he bent the water away and back into the water-skin before climbing into their bed beside her, letting her rest her head against his arm.

"I'll call you whatever you want me to call you," Aang whispered, pressing a kiss to her forehead as her eyes fluttered shut contently, "goodnight, sweetie."

He listened to her soft breaths in the darkness for a very long time that night as guilt clawed at his heart for never being able to take away her pain permanently, that her physical pain had limited her from using the majority of the training she had fought so hard to be included in back in the North Pole and that her mental anguish from being forced to manipulate his blood was still impacting her so negatively all these years later.

Aang could only hope that making sure that the last blood bender would remain behind bars for the rest of his life would bring just as much relief as the water had brought her that night; more importantly, he desperately hoped that Yakone's imprisonment would bring Katara permanent relief from the anxiety that was seemingly always holding her tightly in its grasp.

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