#uwus for alice if she's reading this

[fbfh]

Curiosity is a Wonderful thing ch. 11

wc: 13.2k

genre: slow burn, little angst, childhood best friends to lovers

pairing: slow burn bff!ben x fem daughter of alice!reader, mal x ben (allegedly), platonic reader + mom!alice

warnings: severe mommy issues, brief touch on food scarcity and trauma, COMPHET, reader scratches her arm and bleeds a little, one use of the word purge in a non food related sense, ben has a gnarly panic attack, very mild dubcon bc mal used mind control on ben without him knowing (she didn't do anything physical with him it was just ethically questionable at the very best and the important thing is ben feels gross about it), ben very briefly contemplates involuntary manslaughter, one use of the phrase "being [someone's] bitch", comfort from reader's mom

summary: Ben and Mal go on a date. You follow a rabbit. All three of you begin to realize things of critical importance.

song recs: dream girl evil - florance and the machine, girls against god - florance and the machine, tell me I'm okay patrick - rachel bloom/crazy ex girlfriend cast, hovering - miley cyrus ft trace cyrus, when you wish upon a star ethereal remix - a.krishna, nothing is every anyone's fault - crazy ex girlfriend cast, when you wish upon a star (music box) - the by8nd, silly lullaby - natasha richardson

a/n: your outfit, your mom's outfit, optional face/voiceclaim for adult alice (it's natasha richardson)

THANK YOU GUYS SO MOTHERFUCKING MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT??????? LIKE WHAT THE FUCK. also as per ush (how do we phonetically spell the first part of usual????) fangz 2 cici 4 betaing lulz mcr rox. btwTHERE IS WONDERLAND TERMINOLOGY USED IN THIS CHAPTER!!!!!!! HERE IS THE GLOSSARY!!!!!!!!!! the tldr from memory is as follows:

brillig = late afternoon around when you would start cooking dinner

nunz = don't go (with a sense of urgancy/immediate importance)

gyre = to spin around and around like a gyroscope

mimsy = flimsy/miserable hybrid word (think sad wet pathetic little mewmew)

gallymoggers = cuckoo bananas crazy

so yeah!!! I think I got everyone from my asks and replies (LOVE YOU ALL SO FUCKING MUCH EVEN YOU SILENT READERS YES I LOVE YOU TOO LURKERS AND LIKERS AND SILENT REBLOGGERS <333 YOU SPECIFICALLY READING THIS RIGHT NOW) so if you wanna be added or I missed you just hoot and holler in the notes!! (or if you wanna be more anon you can message me too I don't mind in the slightest uwu)

tags @yesv01@magcon7280 @hopefullhearts @thatawkwardlittlefangirl @sunshineangel-reads @dustyinkpages @inejsknifes @tulipmagnoliaisme @ev3ningrain @yokolesbianism @ma1dita @casey1-2007 @roseidol @eaterof-concrete @enhacatalog @inejghafawifesblog @jjmaybankisawesome @leovergurl @formulas-bitch @starsdotalk @tulipmagnoliaisme @inejsknifes @ficslutt @bwormie @urmomlikeslinotoo @jazhandzzz

Mal has a lot of reasons to hate herself. She’s weak, sensitive, and incompetent at best on a good day, as her mother likes to say. She has no grit, no spite. She knows this, because she grew up hearing it. One of the last things her mother told her before shipping her off that god forsaken rock was don’t blow it. Mal knew from her words, from the frightening pleasantness in her voice and tension in her eyes what she really meant. The way she clamped her sharp nails down painfully into Mal’s shoulder - from a distance, a maternal and supportive gesture - the weight that this opportunity held. 

If you asked Maleficent for a list of all the things wrong with her daughter, she could easily fill a book. Probably several, but Mal doesn’t think she actually cares enough about her daughter to pay close enough attention to do so. If she found out her mother put that much effort into listing her flaws, she thinks that would be the most mother daughter bonding she’s ever received. She might try becoming worse somehow, just to disappoint her mother further and give her more to work with. 

Many of the things her mother thought of her, she had started to believe over time. But now, Mal finds herself in an unusual, almost funny position of being able to add a new failure, a new flaw to that eternally winding, growing list. 

Mal is getting attention from a boy. And worse, she likes it. 

So really, it’s two for one. 

Being around Ben felt weird at first. He kept trying to kiss her, which was… gross. Mal justified it as being above all that, being too wicked and rotten for mushy gushy matters of the heart. Maybe it’s really because it’s just… too much. It’s all so much, happening so fast. A week or two ago she couldn’t be alone with anyone without trying to figure out who was going to shank who first. 

She knows that’s not how Auradon works, she knows the crime rate here is basically zero, and she wonders if she’ll ever be able to shake that feeling. Like being safe is somehow worse than being in danger. At least danger is familiar. That’s probably why she’s able to strut playfully across the rickety old rope bridge the way she is. Behind her, Ben chuckles nervously, holding tight onto the sides.

It was annoying at first, all the attention. She laughed about it with Evie. Or she tried to, at least. But the more time they spend in this frilly princess infested hellhole, the more Mal notices Evie seeming… different. Their banter and mean spirited jokes that flowed so easily seem to have evaporated overnight. 

She can tell Evie’s not as into it anymore. No one else could, but Mal can. She wonders if this means Evie isn’t as into her anymore. Mal wouldn’t call them friends. She wouldn’t call any of her friends friends. But no one would ever deny the bond, the loyalty between the four of them. The thought of Evie drifting away, pulling back from her like this hurts. It would be so much better if she just full on betrayed Mal, stabbing her in the back and sabotaging her. At least that way, they’d still be speaking the same language.

She thought if anyone would be excited about getting some idiotic prince in her clutches, a figurehead to manipulate and make dance like a puppet, it would be Evie. But now, for the first time in her life, Mal feels like she cares more about boys, about bagging a prince than Evie does. It’s strange. It’s unfamiliar, uncomfortable, and she doesn’t know how to fix it. How to make things normal again. 

It’s not like she could even call Evie out on it, either. She’s being normal enough. Mal could see her beaming ear to ear with that dazzling, blinding smile before she even got the question out of her mouth - will you help me get ready for my… date? She gagged a little when she said that, but Evie was too busy hugging her and talking about what to do with her hair to even notice. When they talked about dresses and blush undertones - something she’s still not sure she fully understands - things were great. They were better than normal, she felt like she and Evie were more in sync than they have been in years. It felt good.

 It’s when she brought up Ben that she noticed Evie’s light dim a little. Her heart just wasn’t in it. So Mal did what she does best. She deflected. She started talking about split ends, and kibbe types, and other stuff Evie has encyclopedic knowledge about that Mal has never even heard of, and just like that - boom. The sparkle was back in Evie’s eyes, the sincerity back in her smile. So Mal swore to herself that she just wouldn’t bring him up. Unfortunately, that’s proving to be easier said than done. 

Ben isn’t making things any easier for her, either. He’s been so nice, so disgustingly kind and considerate that it makes Mal sick. The worst part, the thing that really fills her with dread and sickening disgust is that he’s been like this the whole time. Before this stupid spell and the stupid cookie, before the stupid tourney game. He’s been thoughtful and considerate and kind, and good since the moment they stepped foot out of the limo. If limos don’t normally come filled with candy, that means he was good and kind even before they got to Auradon.

She feels giddy around him. Sick, and giddy. Despite everything, despite a lifetime of training for this, she can’t stop leaning into it, indulging herself. It’s so fucking stupid, she barates herself even as she turns and smiles at Ben, lets him guide her through the forest. 

“Tell me something about yourself you’ve never told anyone,” Ben requests gently, so gently it makes her flinch. For a moment, she’s pulled out of her spiraling maelstrom of self loathing.

“Um…” She hums out loud, silently letting herself revel in this feeling of captivating someone. Not scaring them, not grabbing them by the jaw and locking eyes while hers flare green, imposing her will, but actually having someone want to listen to her. Voluntarily, and not under threat of bodily harm. 

“My middle name is Bertha.” 

Ben chuckles behind her, and she turns back around away from him quickly so she doesn’t have to look at him. She’s not even sure if that’s true, and for the first time, she feels a dull pang of guilt for lying. It sounds stupid, the kind of thing no one would lie about, but Mal doesn’t even know if she has a middle name. She doesn’t know if she has a last name, other than Young Mistress of Evil, but having an embarrassing middle name sounds like something that other normal people her age would experience. 

So she goes with Bertha. 

She makes some little comment about her mom, and it gets a laugh out of Ben, one she tries to laugh along with.

“Mine’s Florian.” Ben says in understanding. “Ben Florian Lemaitre-Alarie Leroy de le Lumme-Mont.” 

Mal turns her head away, but she can still feel his eyes on her. 

“Wow. How princely.” She quips. 

“Yeah,” he chuckles, trying to look at her. She starts walking again. “It’s- it’s a mouthful…” 

He follows her closely, and soon they reach the end of the bridge. 

“Okay, close your eyes.” He instructs, placing his hand on her shoulder to stop her. 

Her stomach drops. Her brow furrows, and she shifts away from him on instinct. 

“Why…?” She asks skeptically. 

He pauses for a moment, then laughs sweetly at her reaction. 

“It’s okay, it’s just a surprise.” He says, his voice so earnest she can almost bring herself to believe him. “You’ll be okay. I promise.” 

Sixteen years of muscle memory force her to dig in her heels, to throw his allegedly good word out the window. But against her better judgment, her mind clouded with that squishy sappy dizzy feeling, that contact high she’s been getting from being around him too much, she reluctantly agrees. She knows that Ben won’t harm her because he can’t - not as long as she’s in his head.

She thinks back to the relief that flooded her when she finally pieced the plan together. She had two obvious choices; a love spell, or some sort of mind control. Mind control would have been ideal, she thought. It’s more predictable, plus it will score her some major points with her mother. 

She thought about  how great it would be, following in her footsteps and hypnotizing Ben with incorporeal hypnosis, just like her mother had hypnotized Audrey’s to touch the spinning wheel. 

She tried her hardest, she really had. But it turns out that hypnosis with eye contact or an artifact is already hard enough to begin with. Incorporeal hypnosis is about a thousand times harder. Worse off, Mal had never been able to practice magic a day in her life. All she knew until recently was theoretical second hand knowledge, gleaned from her mother’s drunken recollections of the good old days after a few too many absinth martinis. 

Mal never knew how her mom could drink that stuff. She once tried a pinky dip of the poison ivy infused gin her mother made to use in her drinks, and quickly realized it was a terrible mistake. It tasted like bitter greens and itchy, fiery spice. Her mouth was burned for a week, but her mother could easily down two or three over dinner, insisting the poison ivy gives it just the kick it needs. She asked her mother about it once, and shocked Mal when she actually answered her question instead of glaring or going off on another delusional tangent. 

“Oh, it’s a dragon thing.” She sighed. “Once you’ve had fire in your mouth, nothing tastes strong enough.”

For a moment, Mal could pretend this was what things were always like. They were always a normal mother and normal daughter. She always got advice and anecdotes from her mom. She’d get scolded if she came home scraped up or too late because her mother always cared enough to notice. Then Maleficent grabbed her shoulder, bringing Mal to look out the window at Auradon with her. 

“Someday you’ll know what I mean. After your first time transforming, you’ll understand.” She had chuckled. For a moment, just one moment, Mal dared to see the faintest glimmer of hope on the horizon. Maybe things will get better, her mother will care about her, be proud of her already. 

“Because one day, Mal, we’re going to get out of this dump… and onto the throne. Right where we belong…”

That was the day she’d been forced to let go of that hope. Her mother doesn’t care about her, just that she can have an extra pair of hands, a faster set of reflexes and a sharper pair of eyes. But she never quite let go of making her mother proud. That still seemed like something she could try for. 

That’s how she came up with the whole cookie angle. She found a simple amplification and extension spell, and managed to bake it into a cookie. Once Ben ate it, the spell would be absorbed into his system longer, making it easier to control him. After days and days of research, she came to two conclusions - one shocking, the other terrifying. Shocking was that love spells don’t actually exist. The only ones she could find word of were gimmicky ads in gossip magazines, and even those were few and far between. That’s when the second realization hit. She has to figure out how to make hypnosis work. That’s her only hope, her only chance.

Ben’s hands are strong on her waist, strong enough to make her jump and pull her from the memory that seemed to envelop her out of nowhere, hiding her from the world. She lets him guide her through the unfamiliar terrain. She tries to shake the memories, tries to get rid of that sinking, disorienting, cold feeling. Right now, she has a part to play. She has to be a good girlfriend, she has to get the wand and make her mother proud. 

It’s all part of the plan. It’s part of the evil scheme, that’s why she’s acting so coy and flirtatious, that’s why she’s letting Ben keep his hands on her waist and guide her gently through the forest, his voice soothing in her ear as he instructs her on where to turn and where any rocks and branches might block her path. She keeps telling herself, reminding herself of this because maybe if she tells herself enough, she’ll be able to ignore the fact that she’s enjoying it, leaning into the attention and safe presence of Ben’s big hands and strong chest behind her. 

“Oh, watch your foot… there you go.” He coaxes, guiding her past an overgrown shrub, careful to make sure she doesn’t get scratched up. “You good?”

He asks so gently, so sincerely, that Mal feels herself almost shrinking back a little. 

“Yeah,” she says lightly, with a forced chuckle.

“Good,” he breathes, and she can hear the smile in his voice. He moves her so easily, positioning her so she stands just in front of him, his chest to her back. She doesn’t like how small and… dainty, and pretty, and fragile she feels around him. It’s intoxicating and terrifying.

“Okay,” he says, gentle voice spiking with anticipation. He rubs his hands up and down her arms softly, struggling to stifle his excitement. 

“Ready? Open.” She hesitates, then complies. She sucks in a breath, eyes widening at the most breathtaking thing she’s ever seen. 

Covered in ivy, and vines blooming with morning glory and lilac, an open air greek pavilion sits in the middle of an enticing, crystal clear lake. Even though only half of the pillars and colonnades remain, the circular stone base is solid. Buttery golden sunlight dapples peacefully through the lush flora and plant life all around them, hiding it from sight. 

The lake itself - calm and so blue it’s almost green - is surrounded by rocky, grassy bluffs, just high enough to dive off of. To Mal’s shock, nothing around her looks… menacing. The cliffs aren’t jagged and ominous, the water isn’t murky and threatening. The rocks are smooth. Inviting, even. The crumbling pavilion itself seems like it’s been worn away from time, not from neglect or destruction. There’s no litter or trash, there’s no graffiti, no broken beer bottles or cigarette butts. 

It all seems so… welcoming. Safe, and friendly. Peaceful. After a moment of basking in the haven of tranquility before her, she notices a blanket spread out on the middle of the stone floor. It’s a bright, vibrant blue, and is free of any stains or patches or holes. Laid out on top of the blanket like something from a magazine is a spread of the freshest, juiciest, most wonderful looking food she’s ever seen. 

She gasps softly, turning to look at him, and sees he’s been looking at her the whole time. She studies his face for a moment, trying to figure out if this really is all for her. His smile tells her everything she needs to know. She lets out another breathy gasp as she turns back to the pavilion, feeling like it’s the sort of thing you’re supposed to do in this situation. 

She knows it’s all pretend, playing the part of the pretty damsel like this. The type of girl who’s wanted, who strong, influential people like Ben always protect. Somehow, knowing that it’s pretend doesn’t get rid of the way it feels - the good feelings, or the sickening ones. 

When the rocks have magically moved themselves to form a footpath onto the pavilion, Mal lets Ben guide her some more, and sit her down for their thing. Even thinking the word date still feels strange and uncomfortable. She’s quickly distracted from the uncomfortable knowledge that she’s on a date by how good the food is. 

Good doesn’t even begin to cut it, it’s delicious. Better than that, but she can’t think of anything better than delicious. It’s the kind of food she used to dream about, the kind that would show up in lavish spreads and banquets. She would always stuff her face as much as she possibly could, wanting to get enough before she woke up. Before it could disappear. 

“Is this your first time?” Ben asks softly, a knowing smile on his face. She startles slightly, forgetting he was there for a moment. 

“Um…” She starts, licking the powdery sugar off her fingers. “We don’t really date on the Isle. It’s more like gang activity.”

Ben chuckles, but it’s really not an exaggeration. 

“I meant your first time trying a jelly donut.” He clarifies sweetly. She pauses. She’s rudely awakened by that contextualizing feeling of abnormality. No, everyone doesn’t grow up not knowing their fruits and vegetables. No, everyone isn’t used to living off scraps and whatever can be scrounged together. It’s not a common, shared experience to have soggy boxes stacked up with nutraloaf bars shipped in on rat infested barges as an after school snack. 

She blinks, trying to pull herself back to the present. 

“Is it bad?” She asks cutely. Ben doesn’t chuckle like she expects. It doesn’t seem to land as endearing with him, but as a genuine question. 

“Not-”

Her eyes flare green before he can finish. Once they do, Ben chuckles. He leans closer to her, smiling softly.

Wipe the sugar off her cheek. Caress her. Act like you mean it.

No sooner does she transmute the orders into his mind that he complies. He leans in as he does, more invested in the sticky powdered sugar dusting her lips, and has her mirror his gestures. 

“Go like this…?” He says, licking the sides of his own lips where sugar sits on hers. She does, and he giggles again before reaching over to brush the rest off. Mal smiles, looking away coyly. 

“Can’t take me anywhere, I guess…” She looks away and bats her eyes like she’s seen Evie do before. Even though it’s familiar, it feels staged and contrived. It doesn’t feel natural, but like something that anyone in her position should do, so she does it. She glances down at her hands to look for any remaining sugar, and for the first time she can ever recall, she finds herself bothered by the jagged edges of her bitten nails, the chips in her worn down purple polish. 

Across from her, Ben is looking at the ground near a big old elm tree. Mal adjusts in her seat, but he doesn’t notice. She stares at him more intently, but he’s still looking off into the distance, transfixed by the place where the gnarled roots and lumpy trunk meet the grass. The illusion around Mal begins to crack. The immersion of playing princess to his doting prince starts to slip as she realizes that for the first time since casting the spell, she doesn’t have his full attention. Her expression grows stony with a cold, sick feeling as she watches his distant, almost melancholic gaze fixed on the tree.

“A tumtum what?” He had asked you one day with a chuckle.

“A tumtum tree!” You’d exclaimed back with a smile, as though you were having to explain to him something as common as clouds or air or tea. You had sighed playfully, gesturing with your hands as you explained.

“Tumtum trees have only ever been found in Wonderland. They’re quite large, even their seeds are around the size of your fist. They look like…”

You trail off, trying to think of a suitable comparison. Ben waits. He’s used to this, these pauses in your descriptions of Wonderland. The problem that you’ve found when trying to tell him about your home down there is that not everything is always like something else. It can be quite hard to describe something out of nothing, or nothing out of something. No sooner had the perfect thing popped into your mind.

“An elm tree.” You exclaim with a resolute snap of your fingers. You nod in satisfaction as you clarify, “Like a wych elm tree. A bit, at least.”

“Like which elm tree?” Ben asks, unsure if he had heard you correctly. 

“Exactly.” You nod confidently, drawing a confused, familiar smile from him. Ben watches you in fascination as you continue to describe the trees in question.

“Tumtum trees are usually quite friendly. Good at watching over one when one should find oneself in need of a cat nap.” You state, nodding surely. “Good conversationalists, too.”

Ben lets out a laugh, free and organic from his chest. 

“I forgot trees can talk down there,” he says.

“Some of them,” you say, then nod solemnly. “Some prefer other methods of communication, like pelting those they dislike with acorns, or pollen.”

He laughs again, contagiously, and it begins to spread to you as you continue.

“The most notable thing about tumtum trees is their roots and their bases. They’re usually quite big and tangled, curling in and out in lumpy little nests and sprawling through themselves-”

Ask about her.

It grabs him by the neck, roughly yanking him from his thoughts. He’s pulled from the pleasant memory of you, the voice destructively ripping through his train of thought. 

Look at her. Look at her. You have to know everything about her right now. You’re dying to know everything about her. 

The orders repeat over and over in his mind, his eyes glassy and green for the shortest moment as he’s locked into Mal’s toxic glower. The words begin to ring true. He finds himself burning with an almost painful need to know every possible detail about her. He leans closer to her.

“Tell me everything about yourself.” He asks, only hearing the question for the first time as it leaves his lips.

Mal smiles, acting surprised and flattered by the question she made him ask.

“Well,” she starts with a soft sigh, as if trying to find where to begin, “I’m sixteen. I’m an only child, and… I’ve only ever lived in one place.”

The poisonous light glows from her eyes for a moment, casting strange shadows around them. Ben responds quickly, as if he were waiting for a cue. 

“So am I! We have so much in common already,” he laughs, leaning closer. Mal laughs too, leaning away. 

“No, not as much as you might think.” She glances away, then back up at him. “Anyway, you’re going to be king soon, huh?”

Ben’s laughter grows stale, and he begins to get that distant look again, the same one he had when looking at the elm tree.

“A crown doesn’t make you a king.” He says softly, more to himself than to Mal. 

“Well… it kind of does, yeah.” Mal says dryly. She waits for another laugh, but no laughter comes.

“Your mother is the mistress of evil, my parents are the poster for goodness, but-” he hesitates, searching for the right words. “That doesn’t mean we’re automatically like them.” 

He finishes quietly, eyes falling down to his signet ring. Even with his mind a blank slate, weaved around Mal’s fingers like an obedient snake, he can still feel all the pressure, all that he has to live up to. Everything he wants to be is still right on the horizon. 

“We choose who we’re going to be.” He finishes softly.

Across from him, Mal’s heart pounds. She didn’t make him say any of that. She didn’t tell him to, he did it himself. He said that she’s not like her mom. He said that. Her heart pounds, and she wants so badly for him to say it again. His words ring in her mind like a bell, over and over. We choose who we’re going to be. No one had ever said that, or anything remotely like that to her before. No one had ever made her believe it. 

Those strange shadows dance across Ben’s face again, and Mal squeezes her trembling hands, trying to calm herself. 

Say it again, Ben. Tell her. Say she’s not evil. Say it. Tell her right now. Tell her she’s not evil. You don’t think she’s evil.

He leans in even closer. He moves his hand onto her cheek. He locks eyes with her, oblivious to the shared glowing green light between them. 

“I can look into your eyes and… tell you’re not evil.” He says with certainty. “I can see it.”

He moves closer, letting his eyes drift shut softly, tilting his head to the side-

Mal jerks away, letting go of the active control with a sudden drop. She lets out an uncomfortable laugh, scooting away from him. The pressure on his chest eases, and it almost feels like he can think again. Having a modicum of control over his thoughts and actions again, he stands up. He nods his head, gesturing for Mal to join him. 

“Come on. Let’s go for a swim.”

“Uh-” Mal falters, eyes darting between Ben and the water. “Um, no. I think I’m okay.”

“It’ll be fun,” Ben coaxes with a smile. 

“I- I think I’m gonna stay behind and try a strawberry. I’ve literally never had a strawberry before.”

She grabs a nice juicy berry and bites in, humming performatively for Ben. It takes a moment for the flavors to explode in her mouth. She can’t believe something so delicious could come from a plant. It’s so sweet, and a little bit tangy, but in a good way. It’s a different sort of sweet than sugar, though. She can’t put her finger on exactly what it is, but there’s a light twist, a depth and complexity to the taste that she never could have imagined. It somehow tastes like a bright clear morning and a darkening rich sunset all at the same time.

“Mmmh…” She hums, for real this time, taking another bite. She eats the whole berry - stem and leaves included - and Ben chuckles softly. He says something she doesn’t catch, then goes off to swim. The moment he leaves, Mal has only two things on her mind. 

Strawberries are fucking delicious, and Evie is going to love this. All of this. Picnics, strawberries, pagodas or pavilions or whatever the hell they’re called. She can see it clear as day; taking Evie out here with Carlos and Jay, the two of them can sit and talk while the boys are off splashing in the water. Evie will be so excited that she makes her and Mal matching sundresses in their colors - blue and gold, and purple and green. 

They can eat strawberries and laugh when the juice gets everywhere. They can throw shells and tourney balls into the lake for Carlos and Jay to get to keep them busy while she and Evie talk. Mal will scoff and laugh and roll her eyes when Evie reminds them all to wear sunscreen. She and Carlos will agree, but Jay will insist he doesn’t need any, and they’ll spend the following week treating his sunburn. Evie will insist on braiding Jay’s hair or twisting it up into some kind of bun or ponytail so it doesn’t get tangled. 

She’ll make Mal hold all the bobby pins and hair ties, and she’s sure Evie will have some sort of goop to put in Carlos’s hair so the water doesn’t turn it green. What’s that called again? Evie had been going on and on to Mal before they left for Auradon about how some water can turn blonde hair green. Cholera? Fluorine? Chlor… chlorine maybe? Yeah, that sounds right. There’s no chlorine in the water in the Isle, but since it can affect your hair, Mal’s not surprised that Evie knows everything about it. She doesn’t know if lake water has chlorine, but she’s sure if hair is on the line that Evie will be cautious. 

She’s only pulled from her hazy strawberry high when the berries have run out. She catches a remaining drop of strawberry juice on her finger from the edge of the bowl, and brings it to her lips. She looks around and sees Ben on top of one of the taller grassy bluffs. He waves at her, and after a moment she waves back hesitantly. She looks at his swim trunks, then yells across the lake.

“Are those little crowns on your shorts?”

Ben smiles a little, remembering when you had helped him pick them out. 

“Maybe,” he calls back. 

He lets out a loud, animalistic roar, then jumps.

She looks away before he hits the water. Her eyes fall down to the empty bowl of strawberries, the ones Evie would love. The ones Ben provided her with. She starts to relax a little now that he’s not watching her. Her facade, her perfect princessy persona starts to slip. She relaxes - her shoulders, her jaw, her posture, the grip she keeps on Ben. 

She takes a few deep breaths, trying to reorient herself, to figure out how she feels. She’s so confused, unused to acting sweet - at all, but especially around other people. She has to keep it together. She needs to use these few minutes of Ben swimming to make sure she has her head on straight and her eyes on the prize. She has to stay focused, stay grounded. 

She clenches her fists so tightly that her nails, bitten short and chipped with a deep plum polish, dig into her palms. 

She hopes the slight sting will get her head back where she needs it. The pain is good. A reminder of where she came from, what she’s here to do. She tries, but this time, it’s not enough. Not anymore. She shakes her head a little, hoping it will clear her mind, make her feel like herself again. Her hair is fried under all the purple dye, and she can tell it’s growing frizzy from the humidity and movement. She lets out an annoyed huff, and reaches up, trying to fuss with it until it looks like Evie made it look before. 

Are you kidding? The thought shows up suddenly as she catches herself worrying about her hair of all things. Realization sets in that not even that is enough to snap her back to herself. A sense of shame washes over her as she realizes how deep in all this she’s getting. In the moments after that realization, her mind begins to wander. It goes further and further from anything she had ever let herself think before. 

Maybe she could… make this work. Maybe there’s a shot at pulling it off. If she could keep Ben under her spell a little longer than necessary, she could make him fall in love with her for real. She can implant so many thoughts and repeating orders until it scrambles his brain and… makes it real somehow. Then he’ll want to look after Mal on purpose, not on principle. He can get her and her friends into witness protection or something, get some guard gargoyles and knights to watch over them.

She can talk Ben into giving her a little cottage deep in the woods - it will be safest for them there anyway. And that’s what he wants, for them to be safe. He wants that because Mal wants that, and when a prince like Ben loves someone, he makes sure they have whatever they want most. And what Mal wants most is a safe, secure, roomy cottage in the woods for her and Evie, Jay and Carlos. They’ll have a little lake just like this one, and maybe like, some ducks or something. Cats, or snakes, or whatever makes a good pet. 

Jay can chop the firewood, and Carlos can fix the computers whenever they get weird. Mal still barely understands how to use smartphones and dropbox, but Carlos has taken to all that stuff like… well, like his mom takes to furs. She’ll make sure there’s a nice big room for Evie to sew, and she won’t complain as much when Evie uses her as a dress form. They’ll have more delicious, fresh food than they can eat, and they won’t need to worry about any of this anymore.

She’ll reluctantly let Evie teach her how to use blush, and style hair. 

They’ll sit in the nice sunshine in the fresh clean air all day. She’ll make Evie crowns from all the pretty flowers that grow here so she can have as many crowns and tiaras as she wants, and Jay and Carlos can play tourney and climb trees and do whatever else they’re always doing. She can see it clear as day; Evie’s head resting in Mal’s lap while Mal uses her spellbook to weave together flowers, enchanting them to make them sparkle while Jay and Carlos laugh and roughhouse nearby. 

They’ll still share bedrooms. That’s the one thing Mal has actually kind of liked since moving to Auradon, sleeping in the same room as Evie. Getting to be close to her. She’s sure Jay and Carlos sleep better knowing they’re not by themselves, too. Maybe if the cottage is kind of small she and Evie can share a bed. She’d be fine with that. They’ll bake non magic cookies and eat strawberries, Evie will have all the ingredients she needs to make every kind of face mask and hair mask and lotion she could dream of. 

Ben will come and check in on them sometimes. Not very often, just once in a while. He’ll stop by and make sure they’re safe and protected and left alone all the time, because that’s what princes do when they’re in love with someone. They’ll never leave unless they want to, and they’ll have VIP tickets to all the balls and galas and sporting events in Auradon. Mal will go with them, because she knows things wouldn’t be the same if she stayed behind. Even though parties are boring and sports are dumb. But as long as Evie’s having a good time, she’s sure she can handle it. 

If only… if only she could figure out that it’s a sure thing. Then she’d be all the way in. 

You can’t recall a time your heart pounded in your chest like a jackrabbit as it does now, as you tread through roots and bushes and grassy forest terrain to the enchanted lake. You’ve been following the white rabbit who had alerted you to Ben’s whereabouts until you arrived at the lake. You find a little hidey-hole in the brush and gnarled roots of an old elm tree within eyeshot of the pavilion, and crouch down. You can almost make out what he’s saying, but not quite.

You fumble for your teapot bag, digging around for something you’re sure must still be in there. 

“Come on, come on…” you murmur frantically. You let out a gasp as your fingers close around the monocle, and you pull it out quickly. You’d pawned it off a ring of ring-a-ding worms in Wonderland several months ago. You weren’t sure how trustworthy they were - which usually means not very trustworthy at all if you’re doubting it in the first place - but you simply couldn’t help yourself. The monocle was a very old sort of subtitling spectacle, a kind of eyewear that lets you see what people are saying. They’re not always right, nor are they always perfect, but right now you’re desperate.

“Please please work,” you ask the glass silently before holding it up to your left eye. You squint at Ben and Mal, and between the fragments of conversation reaching your ears and the monocle, you’re able to understand things a bit better. 

“...You’re not evil. I can see it.” Ben says to Mal, as you watch and listen to his words intently. The sun is closer to setting and brillig draws nearer, basking everything in that not quite sunset glow. You try to crawl closer to see and hear better, not even noticing when you nearly lose one of your shoes in your efforts. You rub your eyes in disbelief, waiting to see what they say next. An elm leaf falls, tangling itself in your hair, and you find yourself unable to believe what you’re seeing. If you were using two monocles, you would surely dismiss it as the subtitle spectacles breaking. Unfortunately, there’s no disguising the truth you see before you. 

Ben leans in to kiss Mal, and you recoil backwards, suddenly and in shock. Your stomach twists in that terrible way, and you’re sure you’re going to be sick. You grip the grass tightly, hoping it will stop your head from spinning. This doesn’t make sense. None of this makes any sense, or nonsense at all. The world around you makes positively nothing. You can deal with chaos, with spontaneity, but this? This is just cruel. The world is… mean for making you live through this. 

You summon a rabbit hole back down to Wonderland faster than you can blink. You tumble down, dirt sprinkling down on you as you fall. Right before you’re swallowed by the earth, you scratch your arm on a rough patch of bark and roots. You catch a glimpse of your blood and tears falling in beads before you’re shrouded in darkness, blurry and delicate. They dance together like pained flurries of your heart and mind’s shared turmoil. You let yourself fall carelessly, the stuffy air disturbed by your stifled sobs slipping out where you don’t want them to. 

You don’t plan on staying long at all. You just need a few moments to collect yourself, to gather your thoughts. You take in a few deep, heavy breaths, your brow furrowing with determination. You must overcome this. You must stay focused. You have to if you’re going to have any chance at helping Ben. You let out a sharp breath with a sharp little noise attached to it, and you can feel your head coming back in place. There will be time to deal with all of this, there will be time to cry, but that time is not now.

The second Mal turns away and pulls her face from his gentle embrace, Ben takes in a deep, panting breath, feeling like his chest is suddenly less tight than it had been. He hadn’t noticed it before, but he feels the absence of his contracting muscles and shallow breaths now that they’re gone. He immediately looks back over to that elm tree, the one he was looking at before. For a moment, just a moment, he could swear he saw your fingertips, the ends of your hair, the dark glint of your silky blackberry bow falling into the earth. But he blinks, and whatever might have been there or not is gone too quickly to tell.

He shakes his head a little, hoping to reorient himself, but a breeze blows by and he could swear on anything there’s a trace of your scent carried in the air. The faintest hint of something so quintessentially you - your perfume, your smell, your blood. His chest squeezes again, this time with longing. 

He’s about to realize how long it’s been since he saw you, about to realize this is the longest he’s gone without even speaking a word to you, but something drags him back, keeping his thoughts here and now. He turns back to Mal, with that dull, throbbing headache he hasn’t been able to shake since the tourney game. 

“Let’s go swimming.” 

The enchanted lake is one of Auradon’s hidden gems. It was a gift to the newly united front of Auradon as a whole from the gods of Olympus; a thank you, an offering of goodwill for assisting in the containment of Hades. Hercules and Megara had gone through many lengthy strategy sessions and battle plans with Adam and Belle, trying to figure out how to prevent Hades from another attempt to overthrow Olympus. Adam and Belle knew that Hades was dangerous - he is a god after all - but they had no idea the extent and reach of his power. 

The First Villain Uprising was a dark time that spread over many years. Most people know the events of VU1; the poison apples, the sleeping curses and dark magic. They’re familiar enough with the coups and the curses, the unregulated dark magic running rampant through the land, wielded by power hungry loonatics. Villains. Brave leaders and heroes in countries from down near the Southern Isles to way up north in Winter’s Keep refused to cower in the face of evil. They did everything they could to stop it, and for many years the villains were presumed dead. 

The problem came from all the different countries not having a united front, not communicating with each other. There was no teamwork, no global council, so no one knew that the moment Maleficent was pierced through the heart by the sword of truth was the same moment Hades had managed to claw his way out of the river styx. The first thing he did once he got his bearings was drag Maleficent down to the underworld. She wasn’t dead, not quite yet, and they both saw the opportunity before them. A combination of Maleficent’s dark fairy magic and Hades’ rule over the souls of the dead meant they could drag the worst villains back from the depths. 

That was the start of the Second Villain Uprising. 

When the rulers figured out what was happening, they knew they had to band together, be stronger as a whole. That’s when Adam gathered up as many kings and queens as he could to start planning the first crusades. Fairy Godmother sent word out to the most powerful wizards and fairies and sorcerers she could, pleading for them to join the fight against evil. 

It didn’t take long to start rounding up villains, but they needed somewhere to put them. Eventually, Fairy Godmother devised a plan. With the help of Merlin of Camelot, Yensid of Schwartzvald, the Great Genie of Agrabah, and the Three Good Fairies of the Moors, they were able to create a magic barrier around an abandoned isle off the southern coast of Belle and Adam’s kingdom. This became known as the Isle of the Lost, the only secure place where villains and all the evil they bring with them can’t escape. 

As a thank you to the mortals down below, the gods gifted them with the enchanted lake, right in the heart of Auradon. Each god added a blessing or a gift of some kind, which is how it got such steadfast healing properties and good magic. The lake itself is magical, which is something that Belle and Adam decided not to advertise during the aftermath of the expulsion of evil. 

There was so much terror and fear in the land, people afraid of something going wrong, of some new villain popping up right when they let their guard down. Adam and Belle decided to keep the lake’s properties under wraps for the most part, preemptively stopping any attempts to stockpile or weaponize magic purely to get the upper hand in a magic cold war that has long since ended. 

The cleansing and healing properties of the enchanted lake are simplistic, but effective. Ben remembers a time when he was young, there was a brief few weeks when Adam seemed to lose control over shifting his form from man to beast. His condition was ultimately traced back to stress, a comorbid symptom of some nasty migraines, and high cholesterol. 

Rumors of his condition began to circulate, and Adam found himself splashed across the covers of gossip rags on newsstands and store checkouts. Fairy Godmother was able to fix him right up, and instructed him to fully submerge himself in the enchanted lake once a week for about a month or so. He followed her instructions to the letter, and was soon back to rights.  

As he stands on the small cliffside overlooking the serene, enticing water, Ben’s not sure what jogged that memory, or why it’s at the front of his mind right now. He shakes his head a little, but it keeps coming back, tugging at him like a child vying for their fathers attention. 

“Are those little crowns on your shorts?”

Ben glances over at the pavilion where Mal sits. He looks down, then chuckles.

“Maybe,” he calls back. Their eyes lock as Mal gathers her thoughts. Ben can feel it, the tightness coming back in his chest. Before it reaches all the way up to his head, his instincts kick in. He lets out a loud roar, then he jumps.

The water hits his skin. Instead of cool and refreshing, just the way he remembers it, it feels like a freezing cold burn. The world goes quiet as he sinks deeper and deeper into the lake, eyes widening in shock at the unpleasant, almost painful feeling. His skin burns, and he scratches at his arms and legs and chest. His hands move, frantic and sluggish in the water as he itches his neck, then his cheeks, then his head…

He freezes, muscles relaxing, limbs falling still as the water soothes him and purges the last of the fizzing magic out of him. He had no clue what was happening until it was over, and now, hovering underwater, it’s over. He knows he can’t have been down there for too long, but it’s when his instincts scream at him to hyperventilate that he realizes he’s still underwater. His eyes widen, and he fumbles, swimming to a rock hidden from the shore. 

He drags himself out of the water, chest heaving, body shaking. The surface of the rock is smooth, but he struggles to maintain his balance. He manages to flip over and lean back on the rock, praying for some stability. His free will, his mind, his cognizance is all coming back to him at once. He feels like a computer flashing a blue screen from too many programs running and downloading at the same time. 

He clutches his chest, unable to control his breathing. The disorientation starts to fade and his eyes widen with horror as the reality of the situation starts to set in, cutting through the painful panic gripping him. Mal… drugged him. Or worse, cursed him. His stomach drops, twisting sickeningly, his hands trembling out of control. He’s not normally like this. He never lets himself get like this. He heard stories about extremely powerful villains being able to use mind control or hypnosis on rare occasions, but he never expected it to feel so… violating. 

His gaze drifts downward to the rippling water. No one can know about this. This can never get out. If even a whisper of this gets out, the consequences and aftermath would suffocate him. She just jeopardized the entire future of the United Republic of Auradon. She could very well have just pounded nail after nail into the coffin containing the lives and futures of all those poor kids stuck on the Isle, the ones she claimed to care so much about. She may have destroyed lives, futures, an entire nation, for… what? 

He tries to figure out why. Why would she do this? She has to have some sort of motivation for reaching into his brain and jerking him around like a puppet, making a fool of himself in front of the public. Oh god- he thinks, remembering the tourney game. He never acts like that. He never acts erratic or impulsive. What must his parents think of him? What must you be thinking of him right now? Or the entire country? 

His throat tightens up as he starts to panic again, mind already clouded by the doom of plummeting in the polls. He’s unopposed for king, but after a disaster like this, who would want him? Someone else will run and win, because no one in their right mind would trust someone who voluntarily lets themself become a villain’s personal sock puppet to run a goddamn country! He breathes harder, flexing his fists open and closed until his knuckles go white. Why would she do something like this? What does she want from him, a second date?

He pauses. That must be it. A new wave of rage overcomes him as he realizes - unless he’s given a miraculously better explanation for this - that Mal pressed a self-destruct button for the entirety of Auradon because she has a crush on him. A stupid, goddamn teenage crush. And now his political career will be over before it could ever start because of it. He’s going to be the first king to be impeached before he’s crowned. He can’t stop spiraling, can’t stop the racing thoughts drowning him above the water. 

A loud, animalistic roar tears from his chest. It’s much more primal, more beast-like than he ever allows himself to be, but he supposes that it’s understandable for something like that to slip out given the circumstances he finds himself in. 

“Breath,” he tells himself, swallowing thickly. “Breathe.”

If he can’t get his head right, if he can’t be smart about this, it… well, that’s not even an option. He has to collect himself. He has to live up to the person his parents think he is, his country thinks he is, that you think he is. He has to be that person. He only has a few moments of this realization to reorient himself before he hears Mal’s voice. 

Instead of enticing and distracting like it had been before, now it feels like the lure of an angler fish’s light in the murky depths, it feels jarring. He shudders, recoiling like she just threw glass at him. She calls out for him again. This time, he can hear the spike of fear carried along in her voice as it echoes across the lake. Is she hurt? In trouble? He starts to go check on her, then for a moment, he hesitates.

All the thoughts racing through his mind like the piston cup find their way to the forefront of his head again. His chest aches as he relentlessly beats himself up over this. How could he let this happen? This is exactly what his parents warned him about, what he promised them - gave them his word - that he would not let come to fruition. And yet, here he is, sitting on a rock with the livelihoods of innocent people at risk because of him and his naive, stupid optimism. 

This, the wellbeing of all innocent people of Auradon, is what he’s devoted all of his time and power and care and focus and everything else he’s got within him into. All that work, all that potential for good, and now he lays paralyzed below the sword of Damocles. He can only stand there, watching the ropes fray one after another. 

“I can’t…” he pants, chest squeezing in terror again. “I can’t let this happen.”

He swallows hard, muttering to himself.

“Can’t let them win.”

He can’t let Mal achieve whatever the hell her endgame is here. He has to stop this before it gets worse. And above all, this cannot become known to the public. He can see the faces of disappointment and fear on the members of the council, on the senate. He was never ready to be king, they’d say in hushed, justified tones, the boy is a fool! How could we let him bring evil into our homes on purpose?! 

The voices in his head go on and on, painting the worst outcome possible in vibrant colors. The nation will lose any trust or faith they might have had in him. More painfully, he realizes how deeply disappointed his parents will be in him. The kind so irreparable that they can never even speak of it. His father will go silent, his mother will try to smile at him, but her tears will give her away. Disappointing his parents, disappointing you…

Oh god, you. Where are you? Where have you been during all of this? You and Ben are usually joint at the hip, but he hasn’t seen you in days. The realization makes him feel sick, like he’s just come to the realization that he hasn’t had air to breathe. What have you been doing without him? Have you been in Wonderland, or at the Wonderland Embassy with your mother? Why haven’t you texted him? Or at least called? Worse fears attack him relentlessly from the inside out, worse than ruining innocent lives or his political career because these fears are about you. 

A scream, followed by a large splash, then another more fearful scream pierce his senses, pulling his attention out of the momentary panic over you and your wellbeing. It must be Mal, he thinks, it has to be. She’s the only other person out here. She must have gotten into the water to look for him, but why does she sound like she’s struggling? He listens intently for a moment. She definitely sounds like she’s struggling. He stands up to jump into the water and find her, but before he can, something unusual happens. 

He hesitates.

After everything she’s done to him, and to the people of Auradon, after she stabbed him in the back and violated his free will for days, should he even bother trying to help her? What if this is part of some elaborate ruse, luring him into a trap by pretending to drown. Maybe she’s going to turn him into a bug and trap him in a jar, letting him suffocate slowly while she shakes it and laughs. 

What if she just… had an accident? Anyone could drown in a lake if they weren’t being careful, and he’s sure children of villains aren’t raised to be super cautious. Maybe it would be better that way. It would certainly give Ben one less problem to worry about, one less moving part to constantly keep track of. 

He dives back into the lake, swimming towards her. He bites his cheek, dismissing the fleeting, impulsive thought as quickly as it could intrude into his stream of mind. He’s not even going to waste time considering it or letting it argue his case. He knows who he is, and he knows who he chooses to be. He is never going to choose to be the kind of person who lets someone else get hurt when they can do something about it. 

If he can help anyone - regardless of who they are or what they’ve done to him - he’s going to. Even if it’s from a distance, he can’t knowingly be complicit in tragedy befalling anyone. That’s why he’s bringing over the kids from the Isle in the first place. He can’t sleep at night knowing that there are people struggling and suffering while he has the power to do something about it. 

He has to give his parents credit for raising him to have such strong moral character. That’s why, against his better judgment, he swims as fast as he can back to the pavilion. It only takes a moment for him to see her, kicking and flailing mere feet from the pavilion.

He dives as deep down as he can. He hopes that the longer he’s under the water, the more submerged he is, the less likely any more magic she tries on him will succeed. Or at the very least, she’ll have less time to try and pull something on him. His hand skims the bottom of the lake, brushing against something uncharacteristically sharp. He sees a cluster of glowy crystal like geodes - a wishing stone, he realizes. He grabs it, and shoves the rock into the pocket of his swim trunks. 

It’s not much, it’s barely anything really. But he’s sure any mildly sharp object is infinitely better than nothing when facing off against an unpredictable dark fairy. Trying to use a wishing geode to defend himself from dark fairy magic - either as a magic shield or a physical weapon - is like trying to use an umbrella in a hurricane. He’s really going into this blind, but at least he’s aware of the disadvantage he’s working against. In spite of all the massive errors and failures he seems to have accumulated out of nowhere, he can at least say he’s not stupid enough to be entirely unarmed at a time like this.

He can see Mal, splashing and thrashing about, slipping below the surface as she loses her footing. He rushes closer and grabs her, scooping her up and confidently walking them both out of the lake. He catches his breath, focusing everything he’s got on one thing - he cannot let Mal know that he knows. He has to keep his face neutral, act sweet and normal, not say or do anything that could possibly tip her off. He’s in the lion’s den, and one wrong move could ruin everything beyond repair. 

He silently thanks his parents for years and years of diplomatic training, for teaching him how to maintain his composure no matter how overwhelming his emotions are, no matter how much pressure and scrutiny he finds himself under. He reaches the pavilion in just a few steps, and sets Mal down gently. She doesn’t seem to notice anything about his behavior is different, so he keeps doing what he’s been doing. It seems to be working so far, which provides him with the briefest sense of relief. 

“Ugh!” She shrieks. He shakes the water out of his hair, trying to clear his head, and she swats at his chest, “You scared me!”

Ben falters for a moment, nearly letting a grimace loose at the nauseating feeling of disgust permeating him from this, from having to be so close and sweet to her after she violated his mind, his free will. And she did it on purpose. 

“Uh,” he starts, trying with everything he’s got to sound so light and casual, like she made him sound before. “You… you can’t swim?” 

It’s really not that important to either of them right now, but it’s the first thing he can think of that doesn’t start with why the hell or how the hell or jail. 

“No!” She yells indignantly, like it should be obvious. 

“But you live on an island.” He notes. He never would have been able to challenge her under the curse she cast on him, not even something as small as asking why she can’t swim. He watches her expression closely, wondering if she’ll notice.

“Yeah, with a magic barrier around it, remember?” She demands incredulously. There’s a shrill tone to her voice with a venomous sting, like Ben was the one who cast her out and put up the barrier himself. He flinches at the sound of her voice.

She can’t swim. She nearly drowned looking for him, and he let himself consider allowing it to happen. A stab of unwelcome but justified guilt catches him off guard for a moment, causing him to falter. 

“And… you still tried to save me.” He murmurs solemnly, mostly to himself. 

He hates this. He hates that she did something so horrible and so kind to him right after each other. It’s tempting to dismiss her searching for him in the lake, to let himself focus only on the pain and damage she’s caused in such a short time, and he tries desperately to cling to his moral values. Values that he’s always sworn to himself he will never abandon, no matter how hard or complicated things get.

Now here he stands, looking hard and complicated square in the purple framed face. 

People are nuanced, he tells himself, trying to remember it. Nobody is all good or all bad. People… people are complicated. It’s a hard philosophy to hold onto, and an even harder one when you’re the one that’s been made a fool of, made to dance around in public and cater to her every whim. It’s hard to remember that people are nuanced, not all bad when you’ve been made into someone’s bitch. 

“Yeah, and do you thank me?” Mal demands rhetorically, “No!”

He struggles to follow her. Her voice makes him flinch, buzzing around his head like an angry hornets nest. It makes his ears ring. He feels that strange, painful headache stirring up again - the one that got worse and worse every time she forced her voice into his mind. 

“All I get is soaking wet!” 

She looks at him expectantly, then huffs. It sounds exactly like the noise Audrey would make when she wanted something that wasn’t handed to her instantly. A new wave of indignant rage begins to bubble and boil up inside him as he realizes what she wants. She wants him to grovel. She wants him to apologize, and kiss her hands, and beg for everything to be smoothed right over. He swallows hard, managing to contain it. Just barely.

In a split second, he realizes he has to do something. The more time they spend together, the sooner Mal will realize she doesn’t have control over him again. If she finds out, that will open up more trouble than Ben would care to count. He has to pacify her, just enough to get them both home as fast as possible. Before she can do anything else to him. 

He reaches into his pocket, handing her the geode. 

“And this, uh… this fancy rock.” 

His stomach twists, spiking with anxiety as he offers it to her. Wishing stones - also called wish geodes - are a natural and common byproduct of fairy magic. They can vary in strength and appearance based on what fairy they came from, and since they usually form underground or by bodies of water, they can be hard to find. They’ve become even harder to source in recent years as less and less people use magic - fairies included. 

The ones near Auradon are from Fairy Godmother’s magic. The ones way up north in Schwartzvald are from the mainland forest fairies deep in the Fantasia Woods, the ones out west are from the Blue Fairy, and any wish geode you find on the northeastern coast will always be from Flora, Fauna, or Merriweather. Since wish geodes are essentially nature’s way of recycling magic leftovers, they’re usually not too strong. Unless they were charged up with something, like a blessing, or a falling star, or enchanted spring water from Olympus. 

Ben, however, is painfully unaware of this. He hasn’t studied magic and magic theory as extensively as you have. He suspects sometimes that you may know more about magic than the good fairy herself. He does know some introductory magic theory, and a few little facts from you that he’s remembered over the years. 

What he does know is that wishes and hypnosis or mind control or whatever the hell Mal did to him are two completely different kinds of magic. He knows that if he gives Mal the stone, even if she did wish for something, it couldn’t possibly do more damage than she’s already done. At this point, it’s the lesser of two evils. Really, it’s the only viable option he’s got. The geode shimmers and glitters, glowing softly against her skin in a luminous pearly hue. She glares up at him, and he plasters on a smile. Hopefully, a convincing one. He gestures back behind him. 

“Make a wish, and throw it back in the lake.”

Unless her goal of hypnotizing him was to somehow end up with a good grade on the next test, or a really good hair day, this rock will do nothing for her. It’s just not strong enough on its own, which makes it the perfect placebo. Mal scowles up at him, and winds up to throw the rock bitterly into the lake. 

In that moment, her heart’s unsung desires cry out desperately, begging for something that not even her mind can grasp. I wish what he said was true, her heart cries, that he doesn’t think I’m evil. I wish Ben would keep being nice to me, even after I break the spell. I wish Ben would defend me from all the people who act like they’re afraid of me, I wish he would make me feel like I belong here!

The rock sinks into the water, bubbling and glowing as her desires are realized. A soft whispered voice floats into the air, seeming to speak only to her.

“Malorie Valda Faery, Princess of the Moors and Young mistress of Evil… your wish has been heard, and your wish has been granted. So long as you do not act on the evil inside your heart, and stay trustworthy, honest, and kind, he shall see no evil inside you.” 

It’s so faint, so hard to hear that she thinks she must have imagined it. She falters, thrown off guard for a moment, then stands up and shakes off some of the water still clinging to her. The glowing water swirls and pools around Ben. An almost ticklish, tingling feeling floats down onto him. It’s so light and so soft, it’s gone so quickly that he struggles to remember if it really happened.

He takes in a breath, his brow softening as he realizes the panic is retreating. A breeze blows by, carrying the scent of magnolia and the impending night air that quickly makes its way closer to them as the sun sinks. Little goosebumps prickle down Ben’s arms and back as his defenses begin to relax back to normal. He picks up his varsity jacket to wrap around Mal, and grabs a towel for himself. The last thing either of them need right now is to catch a cold. 

He takes a few more breaths as she sits down, mildly puzzled at why it’s so easy to breathe now, but so difficult just a few moments before. He searches every crease and crevice of his mind for what was bothering him before. He doesn’t usually struggle to remember what he was thinking about, but this particular thing just seems to evade him, like a child playing hide and seek. He knows it was important, really important, but he just… can’t remember. He looks down at Mal in hopes of jogging his memory, but seeing her sit there, all sad and wet and swallowed up by his jacket, all he feels is a pang of sympathy. 

He feels himself relaxing, his reflexes softening from a state of panic to their usual level of low, constant background anxiety. Look at her, he thinks, does she really look like she wants to overthrow an entire country? The question is rhetorical, and the answer clear. No. She just wants a home, somewhere to fit in. She looks so small, so vulnerable and powerless like this. He chastises himself for letting himself lose sight of why he brought her and her friends to Auradon in the first place.

She’s here to grow, to heal - they all are. Of course she’s going to make some silly mistakes like spray painting her locker, or cutting class, or using magic to get Ben to go out with her. Besides, with coronation coming up so fast, it makes sense that she would feel like she couldn’t find an opportunity to ask Ben out without a little extra help. That’s all this is, a silly mistake. It’s nothing to be blown out of proportion, really. He sighs, sitting across from her, feeling a dull nudge of something that could grow into fondness with time.

He reaches over to fix her hair, and she looks up at him. She searches his eyes, desperately looking for any signs of hate or change in how he views her. That’s what this is, he confirms to himself. She just has a crush on him is all. He would never say that to anyone, he wouldn’t run the risk of embarrassing someone dealing with such delicate feelings, but it does make sense. She said herself just a while ago, dating on the Isle is more like gang activity than picnics and drive in movies. Of course she wouldn’t know how to talk to someone she likes, how to find ways to spend more time with them. 

Ben almost chuckles at the thought, the idea of her trying to figure out how to enchant her crush into liking her back. It’s sweet, really. Nothing malicious at all. Besides, everybody knows that love magic doesn’t exist, there is no such thing as a love spell. So if she still doesn’t know that yet, could her knowledge of magic really be that dangerous? It can’t possibly be. She just used a harmless little spell to speed things up a little. No one would ever act out like that if it wasn’t for some matter of the heart or other. It’s almost flattering in a strange way.

He decides to test his theory, letting his fingertips linger in her damp, sugar plum hair, twirling it lightly.

“Mal?” He starts, getting her attention. 

“I, uh… I told you that I loved you. At the tourney game.” He says, jogging her memory. He looks at her, studying her face. “What about you?”

This is perfect, he thinks, this is the most opportune way to offer her a way to tell him how she feels, get it all off her chest. 

“Do you love me?” He prompts.

Normally, he would never be this direct with someone. But he feels it’s warranted, given the circumstances. It’s taken many years for him to learn to trust his gut with things like this, and he’s not going to doubt himself now. Yes, what she did was bad - unforgivable, even - but at the end of the day, she’s just a hormonal teenage girl with a crush. She can’t possibly be faulted for that, for having feelings. 

“I…” Mal starts, swallowing thickly and looking away from him again. She clutches the sides of his jacket, pulling it tighter around her. It smells soapy, like it’s too clean. She knows she should probably be feeling something, but she has no goddamn clue what it is - much less how to recognize and articulate it. She feels… queasy. Kind of shaky and sweaty. Are you supposed to feel like that when a boy says I love you? That has to be the feeling that people are always talking about, getting butterflies in your stomach. Mal supposes butterflies just don’t agree with her. 

“I don’t think I know what love feels like.” She replies simply, in a rare and impulsive moment of vulnerability. If she’s ever going to be vulnerable, it will be when she can control how the other person reacts to it. She looks down. Instead of looking at Ben, she traces her eyes over the skirt of the dress Evie put her in. It’s calming, relaxing. There’s the faintest trace of Evie’s perfume, and it makes Mal feel a sense of warmth and longing that she desperately needs right now. 

Ben’s heart squeezes sympathetically. He feels so bad for her. That tragic compassion reassures him that bringing her to Auradon was the right decision, and this whole thing was just a silly miscommunication. A mistake. 

“Maybe I could teach you.” He says softly. He puts his hand on her arm, helping her stand up.

“Come on. Let’s get you home.”

When you show up to the Wonderland Embassy, the home away from home you share with your mother, you look positively and uncharacteristically ragged. It’s merely a pebble’s throw from campus, so it couldn’t have been a particularly tiring walk - unless you walked your way from Camelot, which is highly improbable. Your blackberry bow is loose and slipping off towards your ear, your skirt is all rumpled, and you haven’t even noticed the run in your favorite pair of knee socks. 

Worst of all, worse than your slouching or lethargy or the tear tracks down your cheeks, are your eyes. The vibrancy, the hope and curiosity is all but gone. Your dear mother, Alice - better known as Alice Liddel, Ambassador of Wonderland - notices all of this right away. You answer her usual question, are you ready to embark on your weekly mother daughter dinner, before she can even ask it. 

“I’m afraid I can’t make dinner, mother,” you say, babbling around the tea biscuit you grab from the counter and hold in your mouth, keeping your hands free to drop off the useless information you’ve gathered throughout the day and search for a few books in your mother’s collection. 

“But I promise I’ll get something more than tea and cakes from the school kitchens tonight.” You assure her half heartedly, more worried about her peace of mind than your dietary habits. The moment the words leave your lips, she knows that something is wrong. Not wrong in the sort of way that a leaf floats down a brook, but deeply wrong, like a subaquatic shrub. 

Shrubs are not subaquatic by nature, and if one is found it’s recommended to bring it to the nearest tree surgeon as quickly as possible. She looks at you, her darling daughter, her wonderful little dear, and sees a subaquatic rose garden. You never skip dinners with your mother, not for the tiffletoo flu, or final exams, or anything else regardless of urgency or importance. The only time you’ve skipped dinner in the past was one time, one terrible night where Ben was rushed off the tourney field with a broken wrist and a nasty concussion. 

The standard for skipping dinner and tea with your mother is one that’s very rare and quite  extreme, so you’re not too terribly surprised when she stops you from leaving the Wonderland Embassy with a gentle hand on your shoulder. 

“Nunz yet, my love,” She says softly, soothingly. She fixes your hair in that comforting motherly way of hers, then moves on to fix your bow how you like it. 

“I can’t watch you gyre like an overwrought sulphide marble for a moment longer.” She looks at you softly. “What’s got your mind so snaggled, sweets?”

Your mother, your dear dear mother is your most favorite person in both worlds, right alongside Ben. You’ve always found your inability to lie to her or hide your feelings as a relief, a blessing. Now, however, you find yourself wishing for the first time that you were able to lie to her as easily as Audrey and Lonnie lie to their mothers. Your stomach twists uncomfortably. You don’t like this feeling. You wish it would just go away, but you know you can’t tell your mother everything that’s going on. Not yet, at least. 

She’s so close with Ben’s parents - in both business and personal regards - that if you were to make the wrong move, it could mean a world of nasty repercussions and consequences for Ben. The exact ones you’ve been maddening yourself trying to shield him from. You trust your mother implicitly, but you also know she has a duty - not just as a politician, but as a parent - to inform Ben’s parents imminently of any perils regarding Ben that she is made aware of. 

You sit down, fussing with the pleats of your dress, tugging at your stockings to buy yourself some time, give yourself a moment to carefully choose the most right, non incriminating words you can muster up.

“Ben has been behaving strangely.” You state. Your voice is soft, but not fragile. This worries your mother. If your voice were fragile, you see, it would mean this was all very new and fresh. But the reluctant acceptance in your tone of voice tells her the severity of the situation in which you’ve found both yourself and Ben. Your voice is quiet, your words simple, and a soft hum of understanding leaves your mother’s lips. She nods empathically, silent in the moment that follows so you can continue. 

“And, I… can’t quite seem to figure out the reason why.” You continue, even more quietly - almost shamefully so.

Your mother hums again, this time with a deeper, more resolute understanding of how you’re feeling and why exactly you must be feeling the way that you are. You and Ben have been so terribly close for so awfully long, that if either of you had felt at any point during your numerous years of friendship that you were mildly confused by the behavior or the other - much less left clueless and in the dark, as you currently are - that that in and of itself would be nothing short of anomalous. 

So naturally, when something this catastrophically unusual occurs, it should come as no shock at all how deeply distressing it would be to you. The very worst part, you realize, is that your mother has already come to this conclusion with barely a fraction of the information you have. You shudder to think about how distraught she’d be on your behalf if she knew everything you do about your trouble with Ben’s unusualness as of late.

“Lovey…” Your mother says warmly. She reaches over to you, handing you a warm porcelain teacup and saucer of her ever perfect chamomile tea. It’s sweetened with just the right amount of honey, but not so much as to overpower it - a mistake that you’ve seen many people make quite often - and topped off with just a little bit of shaken cream and rose pollen.

You’re never sure how she manages to make it so perfectly with so little effort every single time, but it must be a mother’s touch, you suppose. A gentle hug and a warm cup of her specialty tea always gets you to open right up to your mother, no matter how mimsy and gallymoggers you may be feeling. 

Your expression drops, and your mother recognizes it instantly as the look of finally allowing yourself to let in the very best of ideas. Your posture straightens imperceptibly, and your mother disguises her proud smile with a sip from her own teacup. She loves seeing you like this, lighting up as your mind is flooded in a flash brainstorm. 

“That’s it…” you mutter again, aloud this time. You stand up, careful not to spill your beverage, and you take a great big sip before setting it down hastily. 

“Thank you,” you sigh gratefully to your mother, giving her a squeeze around the middle, and a honey chamomile kiss to the cheek before you depart. 

“I really must go now,” you say regrettably, but she’s already waving you off with affection. 

“Be safe, dear.” She smiles, then gives you a subtle and humorous look. “And don’t lose your head.”

You let out a laugh from your nose. 

“I think you’ve come close enough for the both of us.”

You exit the Embassy in a rush, determination and your mother’s laughter following in your footsteps. For the first time in days, you know what to do next.

[rottenfyre]

Fandoms that are so unhinged and cringe that I would never be a part of even though I enjoy the anime/show/game:

1. My Hero Academia

Honestly, what is wrong with these people? Are y’all okay? Do you need help? Therapy? Exorcism? This was a great anime and an even better manga, but the fandom? Dead on arrival. Like, no amount of CPR can bring this back to life because the fandom turned it into a circus of cringe. The fanfics? Absolute war crimes against the English language. The shipping wars? God-tier delusional. Y’all turned Deku into some uwu soft boy who cries over stepping on ants. This fandom could have had it all, but instead, they went off the rails and nuked the whole vibe.

2. House of the Dragon

Let me just say it: y’all can’t tell the difference between fiction and reality. Like, are you okay? Blink twice if you need help. These people have turned liking Team Green or Team Black into a blood feud. They call Green fans RAPISTS. Yeah, you read that right. Someone out there is foaming at the mouth because you thought Alicent Hightower was in the right for .2 seconds. They harass actors like they personally stormed King’s Landing and burned their village. Y’all bullied actors so bad they had to dip off the internet. Meanwhile, the rest of us are just trying to watch dragons burn people. Chill.

3. Twisted Wonderland

Oh, boy. This one’s personal. I’ve been harassed, stalked, and attacked by these clowns in my first ever blog. Why? Because I wrote a straight fic and didn’t make it for a male reader. Yeah, you read that right. Straight fic. Suddenly, I’m Satan. They sent death threats, stalked me, reported my fic—like, go outside and touch some grass. The entitlement is insane. Sorry I didn’t cater to your every whim, my liege. Get a hobby. Oh wait, you do have one: bullying creators for free content. Imagine if they put this energy into, I don’t know, being normal.

4. Genshin Impact

This one’s tricky. On the surface, pretty chill. You like the game, I like the game, we all simp for pixelated characters—it’s cool, right? WRONG. The second you express a straight ship? You’re done. Canceled. Booted out of the fandom. Like, y’all do know this is a Chinese game, right? Where straight relationships are literally baked into the culture? But noooo, apparently every character has to be gay or you’re committing some kind of fandom sin. And don’t even get me started on how they harass artists over anything. “Oh no, their art style doesn’t fit my headcanon, time to ruin their life!” Calm down, Picasso.

5. Honkai Star Rail

Another “chill on the surface” fandom, but scratch a little deeper, and it’s chaos. They will romanticize slavery for their ships. Like, excuse me? What kind of unhinged behavior is this? And don’t even get me started on their logic for calling characters gay. “Oh, she wore purple eyeshadow once, so that means she’s a lesbian. It’s canon now.” HUH? Since when does makeup mean sexual orientation? Y’all are doing the most for the least.

[reignof-fyre]

I despise how the writers/whoever the fuck is in charge of cutting scenes keep cutting important, vital moments of these characters lives/personalities.

People who have read fire and blood know that Daemon is a morally grey anti hero who has his own unique moral compass, and we know he is ride or fuckin die for rhaenyra and their kids. He loved his brother, and he never even entertained the thought of a usurpation.

The show has scrapped all moments that show the good side of his character. Him hugging his girls in their shared grief? Nah, let's cut it. Daemon interacting with his own and Rhaenyra's children? It's not important because aegon the raping usurper chucking a wank out the window is somehow more important? Daemon being ever by rhaenyras side during the birth and aftermath of Visenya? No, let's have him chill elsewhere. Daemon wanting to burn KL down when in the source material it was RHAENYS who wanted to immediately go to war and slaughter the greens willingly.

DAEMON BEING THE ONE TO KILL RHEA? WHEN? WHERE? BOOK! DAEMON WOULDN'T WASTE THE ENERGY OR BREATH IT WOULD TAKE TO KILL RHEA ROYCE LMFAOOOOOO

Also Daemon losing he and Mysaria's unborn baby was a fucking VITAL MOMENT IN HIS LIFE OKAY?! BECAUSE THE MISCARRIAGE WAS VISERYS' FAULT!!!!!

Book Rhaenys would slap Show Rhaenys and HUCK-TEW on her, y'know? (I love eve best thought she is my MOTHERRRRRRRR)

Cutting rhaenyra - who canonically in the book demanded Vaemond's death - ordering Vaemond executed and fed to Syrax?

RHAENYRA NOT TRUSTING DAEMON????? BITCH WHEREEEE THE FUCK???? SHE TRUSTED HIM WITH HER WHOLE ASS OKAY FUCK OFF

Book Rhaenyra would feed show rhaenyra to syrax fr

Removing any and all agency from female characters? Brother euuughhh

The showrunners made the Velaryons POC for inclusively then CUT THE LAENAXRHAENYRA FRIENDSHIP FOR A WHITE WOMAN WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT BRUH? WHAT? RHAENYRA AND LAENA HAD ONE (1!!!!!) INTERACTION IN THE SHOW!!!!

i actually like Book!Alicent because she isn't a 2d uwu poor abused by the patriarchy little bitch like she is in the show. In the book she KNOWS she's smothered by the patriarchy and USES HER SEX AGAINST THEM. She MARRIED the king WILLINGLY for POWER AND AMBITION and WHOLEHEARTEDLY orchestrated her sons usurpation. She played the game of thrones with her whole ass fuckin soul. I can RESPECT THAT. What I don't respect is show alicent playing the fucking victim and "Oh noooooo 🥺🥺🥺 everything was my daddy's fault. I have no say in anything. I'm just a wittle baby puppet that HAS to dance to my daddy's tune...."

I'm just so exhausted with show runners and writers butchering characters I ADORE with my whole fuckin ass honestly.

[horizon-verizon]

Is it just me or does TG's argument that Criston Cole is a victim of Rhaenyra seem like really demeaning? Like the fact that their argument hinges on the fact that Cole is played by a poc/is Dornish. Pretty much everything I've seen from them about that scene is how Rhaenyra, who is white, took advantage of a defenseless poc. It's just infantilizing him purely due to his race. I might be reading too much into it, after all every TG argument is them grasping at straws, but this one just really rubs me the wrong way.

@pessimisticpigeonsworld

"Infantilization":

over-simplifying explanations, using demeaning nicknames (e.g., "sweetheart" or "honey"), or suggesting that the infantilized person would not understand a topic without reason to treat a person as if they were a prepubescent child with no experience whatsoever in worldly matters treat (someone) as a child or in a way which denies their maturity in age or experience

Yes, it should be demeaning, but it is a way of them applying victimhood where there was none in either show or book. Its more uwuing him bec he's a man than PoC, as he's not PoC (the Dornish are "spicy" "whites" in-universe, "olive" skin is a trait many Mediterranean Europeans have). Even if he was, it'd still be more bc he's a man than bc he's PoC. to them.

They make as if Criston was totally helpless when he is both Kingsguard and a man where the girl approaching him is a girl in a court that some think she should never be heir on account of her gender, and women/girls both already have to fear their entire reputation being ruined by mere well placed rumors (and have less chance of marriage, bc marriage was the way they most likely could stay economically secure for their futures). Criston could threaten Rhaenyra quite easily to make some gains on her. Or get into an affair with her, sleep with her while she's inebriated, and threaten her and she'd be the one blamed by both her father ad larger society!

She'd be labeled the seductress largely, and Viserys would, like he did abt Daemon, that Rhaenyra's "desires" or "allowing" to have her virtue ruined even just by name and repute hurts herself & the monarchy. Viserys explicitly tells her the truth doesn't matter, only the image in epi 4. Really, the only good thing that we can draw from his image-loving self is how he decides to protect her and her kids…but even then a lot of it is also so he retains his chosen heir…and yet it's is true that he genuinely loves her and his grandkids [bk and show]. (What a mess)

So it's not really the same sort of infantilization people commit against grown women to make them seem weak and thus "need" a man to "guide" them, but closer to the sort of "infantilization" that is designed to give white women the "privilege" of being seen as the eternal victims who can do no wrong as well as masters of others' bodies (Cole can demand Rhaenyra to run off with him & abandon eveything bc she "owes" him; she can't request him to sleep with her when she teased him). And I mean that it mirrors this by the green stans' intent, not necessarily the nature of the infantilization that is not infantilization--green stans intend to make Cole seem helpless and cutely dumb in order to make Rhaenyra seem a predator and that become the lynchpin of her being bad for rulership. Bec she somehow reinforces all that classism, instead of Alicent/the greens reinforcing all that classist-sexism for personal, baselsss "revenge" and order-keeping.

It's the green stans doing something that I learned concerning peoples switching between ideas or phrases in bad faith to support another contradictory thing--something integral to bigoted talking points.

[nrilliree]

Sanctimonius sermons about how Daemon and Rhaenyra are 'inherently abusive' because he is older and it's an incestuous relationship which is why the writers have to show it fall flat on their faces when you notice how the show has chosen to depict Corlys and his relationship with Rhaenys.

Certain facts about Corlys in canon:

Older than Rhaenys' father Aemon

Is related to Rhaenys because of the Velaryons and the Targaryens' generational intermarriages so yayyy more incest

Made no secret about his designs on the throne

Would rather have his bastards inherit Driftmark before his granddaughters

Sired the said bastards on a girl younger than his children

We are given no details about the nature of his relationship with Marilda so speculation is all that can be done. For her sake, I hope it was based in mutual attraction because he clearly had the power to coerce her.

It is both hilarious and insanely hypocritical when the writers and fans alike try to preach and defend their abysmal choices about Daemon to the point of including events that were never present in the books when most of Corlys' scenes on the show have been framed in positive light and have humanized him. Even his action of trying to marry his 12 year old daughter to Viserys got swept under the rug because they can't emphasize enough on how much he loves his wife. It has to be noted that the canonical age difference between him and Rhaenys was erased on the show because they, for whatever reason, aged her up.

Now, this is not me hating on Corlys. He is a flawed but interesting character. But the double standards in the show's writing makes me wonder whether our most esteemed writers ever read the books or did they obtain most their information from Green infested fandom spaces on Reddit. The less said about their apologists, the better.

"Yeah, we are making stuff about Daemon that wasn't in the books because y'all need to see for yourselves how abusive he is and not romanticize him like that stupid girl Rhaenyra who, we made sure, learned her lesson on the show. What do y'all even see in him? He isn't Han Solo or Paul Rudd.

But, hey look at how much Corlys loves his wife? Isn't he a great husband? So what if he is a much older relative and cheated? Look at our uwu Aegon who was never taught the meaning of consent. Look at our precious Alicent who groomed her daughter from a young age to be a broodmare for her rapist son has toiled in the service of men her entire life."

Eve and Steve have a seven-year age difference between them, so undeniably the age difference between them in the series is much, much smaller than in the book, where it was probably over twenty years. I don't know, the creators wanted to not only lower Alicent's age and raise Viserys' age, but also reduce the age difference between Rhaenys and Corlys to make Alicent look like an even bigger THE victim of marriage?

In the book, Rhaenys married Corlys when she was sixteen, and Marilda was also sixteen when Corlys got her pregnant, so he undeniably has a thing for girls who are much younger than him. Which Daemon is accused of, even though Laena in the book was 23 on the day she married him, and Rhaenyra was even older.

This is very strange to me and I only explain it by the fact that Corlys has a reduced tariff with TG stans and they don't accuse him of his sins (just like they don't do it when it comes to Aegon, Aemond, Criston or anyone wearing the "right" color). , because according to them, Corlys betrayed Rhaenyra and joined the TG. We know it's not true because he only protected his sons' lives and then acted against Aegon II and crowned Aegon III, but for TG stans the only thing that matters is that they can point the finger and shout "ha, he betrayed Rhaenyra".

[rhaenyra-first-of-her-name]

This is kind of a long rant against HotD and not structured at all so you might want to avoid it if you like TG or Alicent. Or even Daemon, sorry, I don't like him much either.

I was always skeptical of HotD even before it started but I had never expected that it would be so much worse than the source material which is, mind it, a very pro greens, biased, misogynistic spiral by some dead maester.

I don't enjoy F&B as a book and the Dance wasn't remotely my favorite part of it. Like the whole Dance of Dragons reads like a misogynistic spiral sometimes but HotD just took a biased source and dialled it to a 100.

You would think they would try to do the opposite bcoz the source is acknowledged to be biased but nope, they just had to make it worst. The Greens get to be whitewashed, they can literally not commit to any actions (Alicent committed treason by mistake, Aemond murdered a child by mistake, like wtf? Wtf are these fucking uwu passive characters and writing. Fucking commit to treason if you are gonna do it. Who half asses treason? Book Greens would gobble up Show Greens for breakfast. The Lannisters would have a laugh.) The Blacks are villainized and all the Velaryons are sidelined (which is worst with the show changing their race intentionally and then doing this).

Like the Greens have no redeeming qualities, just the narrative framing them as the good guys on their sides and I always hate how the narrative is trying to shove it down my throat. I can't stand it.

Like I don't even like Daemon but the show is stripping all the depth from him. I seriously don't like him but it's like the show can't stand anyone on the TB to have anything good or significant.

They literally showed Aegon to be a rapist onscreen and want me to root for him? Wtf are they smoking? The amount of cognitive dissonance you need to like TG is too high. Ik the show doesn't expect much from its viewers but it's like they expect the viewer to be stupid.

Show Alicent is so passive, they make me prefer the book Alicent and I hate the Evil Stepmother trope. The show acts as if Rhaenyra wasn't supposed to be the Good Mother and Good Stepmother counterpart to Alicent.

And F&B and George isn't subtle about who won the Dance. It's the Blacks. Rhaenyra might have died but her fraction won the war, her sons and descendants sat on the throne. Daenerys is her direct descendant and she brought the dragons back from death (especially given that the Dance was the main reason for their downfall and even the Targaryens' powers thanks to TG).

TG has the same fate as all the usurpers in the series- Maegor, Larys Strong, Robert Baratheon - the end of their line. Alicent 's line all dies before her eyes. The current Higtowers have nothing to do with Alicent and her line, they're not even worthy of remembrance and mention in the main series so far. Margaery is a half Hightower and despite the Tyrells' obvious efforts to make her queen and have one of their own on the throne, no one remotely mentions the only Hightower Queen ever. Imagine how embarrassing is that. You know if Alicent was a decent queen in any right, it would have been mentioned by now, the Tyrells aren't one to not use every advantage they have given that their Bannerman have more royal blood than them, which was again mentioned in the series.

Anyway, Alicent 's line dying and going to oblivion for all purposes is their ultimate defeat. I can't stand the TG stand trying to make it anything else.

And yes Rhaenicent is just queerbaiting and terribly at that. As a queer woman, I don't want them as any sort of a representation. An evil step mother aged down for a pairing where she plots treason and murder for Nyra and her sons? No, God, Daemon is a better option than that and I can't believe they made me say it.

Also, Laena was right there if they wanted to have a sapphic pairing.

When I said I wanted more morally gray female characters, I didn't mean totally irredeemable ones. There is a fine line in what characters, or crimes, you can redeem, starting a civil war out of personal greed and misogyny is not one of them. And yes, TG are all misogyny even if Alicent plays the uwu victim of patriarchy all the time. And funny how she never does anything to help any woman, not even her daughter Helena; does nothing against the man who actually harmed her and actively wants to put her rapist son on the throne instead of the rightful heir but her stans act as they or she is some kind of feminist when Alicent is no woman's friend.

And canonically, which are the books btw, not the badly written fanfictions (I am so sorry, this is an insult to fanfiction tbh) of the producers: GoT and HotD, Nyra had her mother's sigil on her flag, not Aegon the Rapist+Usurper.

(Can't believe the show tried to make some kind of gotcha moment with Alicent in that green dress. Idk why the characters even stood up. They only do that for the ruling monarch, not the consort and Alicent literally did nothing to deserve that kind of reaction. She just wore a green dress so what? Once again, the show is giving TG credit for doing nothing.)

On the last notes:

Cole is an incel.

I can't believe people ship Aemond and Luke. The former is his murderer and a war criminal while Luke was just a child. Leave my baby boi alone.

Otto is a cunt. Idk why Alicent stans don't crucify the man who arranged her marriage (and the bane of her existence) more.

Daemon is somehow better than all the men in TG which is an accomplishment especially since I dislike his character.

Once again, Aegon is a drunkard rapist.

Helena deserves better than her family.

I never liked Jaehaerys I and this is all kinda his fault. For the best king ever, he singlehandedly roped his daughters and all the Targaryen women of all their rights. Rhaena I should really have been the queen.

Viserys I, you tried but you should have done better. Aemma would have been so disappointed.

[goldyluna]

Hello! Welcome!

I finally desided to do one of these. It is nice to meet all of you on my blog! You can call me Goldy or Luna and I use she/her pronouns uwu

I am always open for new friends, so don't be scared to write or ask me anything!

☆My other social media and commissions!☆

☆My favourites!☆

★ Games: Your Turn To Die, IB, Undertale, Deltarune, Omori, One shot, To The Moon Series, Fran Bow, Mad Father, Exit/Corners, Project Sekai, Zero Escape 999, Needy Girl Ovedose

★ Shows/Movies: Alice in Borderland, Sweet Home, The Walking Dead, Hunger Games, Atla, The Amazing Digital Circus

★ Manhwas: Kill the Villainess,Trash of the Counts Family, Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, Villains Are Destined to Die, I Woke Up As The Villain, SSS-Class Suicide Hunter (there are too much manhwas I read)

☆My AUs!☆ (with links)

★ Your Turn To Die: Purgatory Trials (yttd)

★ Magica Goddess (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

★ Elements of Apocalypse (My Little Pony)

★ Loop Squad (My Hero Academia)

☆Fanfics!!☆ (just click it lol)

[dragonsfromthemoon]

Alicent has been abused by the Targaryens for years. She was forced to marry Viserys and maritally raped by him. Then her so called best friend gave her the cold shoulder instead of understanding Alicent had no choice but to marry Viserys. Otto sent her to Viserys and Viserys picked her. All while this was happening, Alicent was still the best wife possible to Viserys and rekindled her friendship with Rhaenyra.

Despite her suffering, Alicent did her duty and birthed the king four healthy children. She could have had moon tea to get rid of any pregnancies but she didn’t. Despite the abuse she suffered at the hands of the Targs, she tried to integrate herself with them despite not having even a single drop of their blood. She literally wore their colors and was nice to Daemon.

It wasn’t until Rhaenyra lied to her that she decided to go back to her Hightower roots. Rhaenyra was complicit in the abuse of Alicent because Rhaenyra knew her father maritally raped Alicent, but she never showed anger towards Viserys for that. She should have hated Viserys for putting her best friend through that but she didn’t. Rhaenyra, as a blood princess of the Targaryen house, could have helped Alicent escape her marriage but she did nothing, instead while her best friend suffered she frolicked with Daemon and Criston. She barely showed empathy for her suffering.

Anon, the question here is: what do I have to do with any of this? Seriously, if you got any issue, take it up with Ryan Condal and Sara Hess. They're the ones who wrote that trash of a show. Or go read Fire & Blood, the source material. Spoiler alert, it's way, way better than anything Condal and Hess could ever hope to write.

And spare me of long-winded anonymous messages about Alicent's suffering (suffering that doesn't even exist in F&B). Spare me of your nitpicking of Rhaenyra's behavior or how she should have done her duty uwu.

This is the first and the last time I answer this kind of message. Be warned.

[best-green-character]

I feel like that Amity discourse (also not an Owl House fan) is kind of moot because at this point she’s already come so far, if she didn’t qualify she wouldn’t have, we’re in everyone’s round 2 now. If there is to be a recount because she “doesn’t qualify” that will throw out the work already been done and massively throw the whole competition off base bc the numbers have to consistently be able to be put into multiple pairs of 2

(Also if ur reading this vote Alicent uwu)

^

[localplaguenurse]

Hey.

uwu

Thinking of doomed to die ver for the boys

I was thinking of cancer like as in either Jason or Oli got it, like sure it can be cured but there’s no guarantee it’ll be gone for good, it’ll most likely come back. So they would spend the last couple years,months, and days doing everything they always wanted to do together before the unavoidable happens.

Well Ivy, you're (hopefully) asleep rn as I'm answering so idk if you'll see the notif for this being answered first, or my discord messages.

I don't think I explicitly told you this, and I don't know if you put the pieces together yourself, but Oli's creator is @wretchedshade, who actually had cancer herself. She's beat it since, and she actually just got her bloodwork done again and she's still in the clear.

As such, I had her help in writing this out. This is all based on our instagram messages. I'm also going to put a "read more" here because while it won't get into the nitty gritty details, cancer is not fun. Actually got a little emotional typing it out rip-

Content warning: cancer and cancer treatments, referenced smoking and drug/alcohol usage, mentions of depression and suicide

Oli would more than likely develop lung cancer. He was a smoker for a while and he did start quitting around the time he and Jason got together, fully ditching the habit once the two brought Alice home. It's stage two cancer because Shade wants to be nice, so he'd be doing light chemo and taking medication. She wanted to make it stage three like hers was where he needs emergency surgery, heavy chemo, possible radiation.

Since it's the lungs though, which are delicate, he'd have to do chemo/radiation to shrink the cancer/tumors down before they have to actually go poking around in there and making the really hard decisions.

"And despite it all and the constant pain, nausea, breathing problems and losing his hair, Oli still has a smile on his face bc even though he's been told his chances are good, if something does go wrong he doesn't want his husband and daughter's last memory of him to be how much he suffered." - Shade

Jason would refuse to cry in front of Oli or Alice. He needs to be their support system. Alice is young, she doesn't fully understand why this is happening and is scared she's going to lose her papa, and Oli's the actual cancer patient. The cancer patient doesn't need to console the healthy man and tell him everything's going to be okay, because Jason's not the one with cancer. He saves his tears for when no one is around and for the day Oli gets cleared.

If it were Jason, it would more than likely be pancreatic cancer, possibly even leading to liver cancer. While his main and worst addiction was cocaine, he was also a really heavy drinker during his band days. Even in the years after leaving the band, he still struggled with alcohol and binge drinking every now and then whenever he had a really bad day.

Regardless of the stage of cancer and if he is/isn't going to make it, he's pulling out his "bucket list," something he whipped up back when he was a suicidal teenager who thought he was going to go out in a drug fueled blaze of glory like all the other rockstars he admired did. It's a dumb list of dumb shit, but he picks out a few activities that he thinks are still fun or doable, and he does them with his friends and family so that regardless of where he winds up, they'll think of the fun times before the shitty ones.

It would also be one of those instances where he actually talks to and tries to spend time with his dad. Hell, it might be enough that his dad finally stops being a bitter bastard and gives Jason's "nontraditional" family a chance. Jason got his spite and temper from someone, but even his dad knows this is not a time to be a bigot when his first and only child is sick.

He also doesn't want anyone making comments about his hair. No jokes, no remarks, no pointing out bald spots. Jason's favourite part of his appearance is his hair, and he was devastated hearing he'd lose it during his treatment. What lessens the sting is him and his daughter picking out chemo beanies and wigs for when he finally goes bald. It also helps to make Alice less worried about everything, and is a nice bonding experience during a really difficult situation.

Alice kind of exists in my head in a perpetual limbo of either baby or small kindergartener, maybe a teenager. I'm picturing her being 5-6, still really young. She's a sweet child and loves her dads dearly, so when they get a call about a fight at school, it turns out it's because she started hitting a kid that made a comment about whichever dad has cancer. Jason's "talk shit get hit" mentality is genetic. She felt bad because she doesn't like hitting people, but other than that she refused to apologize to the other kid.

[infiniteorangethethird]

for the aro ask game 1, 14 and 16 (also hi)

hi hiiii bestie how's it goinnn

When did you realize you were arospec?

Honestly, I... have no idea. It definitely was a long process. I think the thought first started rotating in my head about two years ago when one of my friends told me they had a crush on me. It was definitely flattering and I tried so hard to feel the same towards them, with (obviously) little success. But it got me wondering whether any of my previous crushes were genuine or if they were all just a product of me trying to fit in with my peers who were developing crushes left and right.

Then the JaidenAnimations aroace video came out (we all know which one) and another few months later I read Alice Oseman's Loveless, and it was at that point that I realized "feeling the same amount of attraction to everyone" doesn't necessarily mean panromantic if that same amount is precisely zero. 😂 In a way, that book was the final nail in the coffin, and I "came out to myself" as aro a few weeks later, I think.

So the short answer is "a bit more than a year ago, probably?" 😂

14. What are some stereotypes about arospec individuals that annoy you the most?

Probably the "cold, heartless aro". Society has associated lovelessness with evilness for so long that part of the aro community began pushing back with "actually being aro doesn't make you loveless!! we can still love platonically!!!", and now if you're like me and you are loveless who doesn't love their friends/family/others, you're cast out by society AND by your fellow aromantics alike, AND it makes you hate yourself for not being able to feel an emotion ppl arbitrarily decided is necessary for being a good person.

(I realize the irony in me telling I don't love my friends in response to an ask from a friend but uh. shhh)

16. Do you have any arospec OCs, if so tell us about them?

all my OCs are aroace until specified otherwise, duh

anyway as a (partially) MaDD-focused blog I like to talk abt my OCs/paras in their own posts so here's a quick rundown & I can make a separate post abt them if anyone's curious:

Amy - she's loveless aroace & autistic who makes it a point to go against as many of society's expectations towards social interactions and relationships as possible. She revels in being the "loner heartless machine" stereotype bc if people are going to call her weird either way, why force herself to be something she isn't?

Thalia - their arospec-ness is pretty recent so I'm still figuring things out. They're your most stereotypical people-pleaser soft uwu smol bean good boi aka the one most likely to be assumed "too pure for sexual thoughts". So obviously I had to make them aroallo, after all if romance is the purest form of human existence but sex is evil then what does that make someone who's interested in physical intimacy but not love? Luckily they're close friends with Amy so they have someone to share these worries with who understands and helps dismantle these baseless ideas.

Plus I have two non-human characters who don't feel attraction as a species basis so I'm not sure if they can be considered arospec in the traditional sense

[bstag]

So... What's up with Aegon II and Alicent's characterization?

He's like: "Uwu I'm the cliché of the broken bad boy who puts a nasty, arrogant front to hide a highly sensitive spirit".

And then he's like: "I love me some r*pe and kids killing each other!11".

I don't think I need to explain what's wrong with this (unless you're a B***k, I guess).

You can't write two completely different characters in one and then try to justify it by: "HiS PaRenTs dIDN't lOvE HiM, oKaY?" Parental neglect doesn't make you a power hungry sadist.

Yeah, the new writers are bad, and the only reason why HOTD was any good was because, once again, GRRM's superb writing saved the day.

Same with Alicent. She's either a cunty Queen ready to read you to filth, or she's this doe eyed pushover unable to get herself some agency, the best example of this being her being shocked and appalled that Rhaenyra and her family would have to be killed if she wanted her son on the throne. Why couldn't they just let her be a bad bitch like in the books and actually take the initiative in the conspiracy, taking into account that... she started the coup?? But no, The Menzies™ planned everything behind her back! :(. Yes, patriarchy, but she's the Queen? And her husband is dead now?? Is not like noblewomen were completely powerless during the middle ages.

Can this mediocre writers decide who this characters are?

[l-g-6-5]

my nickname is now ghost sim anon ( ´ ꒳ ` ) victoria is getting more content in the future though? that is exciting! i want to ask how you feel about other characters you have written then? alice immediately comes to mind, but also lilly/stella, riley, and luna. i have yet to read lilly's newest questline, yet i enjoy what you have done with their characters! same with the other two

Well, the content is more of a few ideas bouncing around the writing room that we reciprocated to a degree. We'll see. You won't get an answer until the update drops for Halloween.

I usually enjoy writing most of the NPCs I get assigned. Even if I didn't enjoy it at first, I always come around.

Alice is a great one. Writing the blissfully-unaware type is just silly fun. I ran a ton of ideas past the Devs to make sure I had the right vibes for her. I don't often write characters with no internal conflict (Cheshire's initial release, Mikayla, Uwu, Gran), but when I do, I try to have silly fun. Just a grand old time.

Riley is the main reason I hopped into the fandom. I felt like there was HUGE angst and lore potential with her and I was so happy to get the opportunity to write her twice. This idea extends to Arc 2 NPCs I wrote (Rose, Ella, Hikari), to a lesser extent.

Luna had such a serious amd no-nonsense persona before I got her. She had a lot of lore beforehand, which Riley never had. It was hard to make her a relatable character and it took a while to see where I would go with her. Honestly, the fact Arc 1 ended was a huge push for her characterization.

Stella, Lilly, and Head Elf were easier to write because they didn't have a lot of lore at first, which is typical of seasonal NPCs. That gave me the chance to expand them in the first place. The characterization gives the one-off characters depth. I am also super proud of the reference to the ice skates Green Elf loses in Head Elf's dialogue.

Victoria is one of my favorites solely because they let me go wild. She is the only other questline that doesn't end happily (First being Riley's initial appearance). It ends in a whimper and not a bang. I got away with one real raunchy joke. She is one of my favorites, for sure. I am excited to see of we even go anywhere with the story.

[spookyserenades]

i got some free time to talk about the last two chapters but I don’t remember them in detail. I usually re read the last one the day before you upload the new one so I remember but I’m blanking a lot bc life has been pretty hectic. I’ll point out the things that stood out in the last chapter and maybe some from the one b4 since I remember lots maybes

namjoon- we are getting so much more closer w him and it makes me so happy. He’s really starting to trust her and the stone he gave her 🥹 i squealed. Honestly y/n goes above and beyond for them cause she literally got him whole trailer back like wtf 😭 I assume this is his first birthday celebration because before during jk’s b day he was confused about the candle thing. And him loving sweets YAS 👏 he’s salty at first but sweet in the inside!

jin- im glad that he was able to share his trauma w y/n I feel so bad for all of them. They were trained all their lives to be abused and used. I hope we get to meet Jin’s friend and that she’s safe. Omg not Jin being shy when he was being praised for his looks when they went out to eat like 🥹 he is such a handsome boi.

yoongi- he’s trying to kill us fr that basket ball scene no like stop actually fr. They just know and understand each other. They literally can get each others signal in a snap 🫰 I assume they must’ve met b4 I just wonder how. He played basket ball near where she went to college so maybe then it went she went out to a bar. No but back to The basketball scene. The moment they win he LOOKED for HER. She RAN into his ARMS that a literal k drama scene right there holy shit. Omg I got so many butterflies cause that’s true loooove. I just cant- that scene was everything I don’t have anymore words periot ☺️

hobi- I think the shifting scene was the one before the recent chapter but I t’embêtes about it. Jin is so cute he loves little scratches it made me go uwu. Hobi and yoongi are such menaces fr omg. Like not them being naked in front of her and yoongi covering her eyes they’re such teased especially hobi. The whistle thing where he was self conscious about it but then she said she would be able to find him in a grocery store as a marker ahhhh 🥹 and then when she whistled at him when he won his race ahhh. He was caught up in his friends hugging him and then heard it from her and was shocked gosh it’s so cute it’s like their little thang. Him being buddy buddy w Alice is sweet but also y/nie is totally jelly fr. Cause her meeting all seven of them was in the making and she was already catching feels before but now that she knows she’s meant to be w all of em. The seeds~ Honestly tho Alice is charming enough and she’s kind where I don’t feel threatened by her but also at the same time I do. Ahhh it’s like not her fault but hobi eyes over HERE please. I’m so interested to see what happends if they Alice and hobi get together. Hobi didn’t want to mark her and really restraint himself and maybe it’s bc if the idea of sharing her w other people or bc he’s scared he’s gonna be abandoned or bc he wants that connect w someone else I dunno.

this is super long so I’m gonna make a separate post for the maknae like bc my phone can’t send it all. I still have the home button… im emotionally attached to it…

AHH HELLO MY LOVE I'VE MISSED YOU!! 🥺💜 I hope school has been going well for you and you've been taking lots of breaks and having some downtime for yourself. I can't wait to talk about the last few chapters (and the new one, later) with you! I'll go member by member like you.

Joonie - Ahhh Joon is warming up so well lately, isn't he? His birthday was a blast to write, and had me squealing the whole time. It has been kind of hard to keep him so grouchy all these chapters considering he's my main bias, but I think for the character development it is well worth it-- I hope you think so too. You're right, Y/N definitely goes all out for the hybrids on their birthday, I wonder if she'll spoil them for Christmas, too? Also, you're right again, that was probably Namjoon's first birthday celebration, maybe that's why he felt like he wanted to give her that moonstone. Adorable!

Seokjinnie - Truly, Jin might be my fave hybrid but also so is Yoongi. He's just a total sweetheart and so whipped for Y/N already. He did not deserve that horrible treatment from the circus, and honestly I hope in the future Y/N and Ben cook up a lawsuit and tear the company to shreds. Jin's friend... well, she'll make her comeback soon, don't you worry! As for him getting shy over Alice calling him handsome, I kind of took that from IRL Seokjin. He often calls himself handsome (as he should!!!) but gets bashful when others confirm this or compliment him themselves. I think it's super endearing! 🥰

Yoongi - No like Yoongi is such a menace bro!!! He's just constantly flirting with Y/N, doting on her, and they just get each other. It's super sweet, and I adore leopard Yoongi with all my heart fr. I've said it before, but they definitely have past life lovers vibes or something adjacent to that.... AH and the basketball scene its definitely a Kdrama scene in the making, I wanna be held like that by Yoongi so bad.... he just wanted to see his girl!! (Also... so hot lmao) 💀

Hoseok - The scene a couple of chapters ago where Seokjin and Hoseok shifted was so much fun to write, seriously. If I were Y/N, I'd want to be snuggling up to the shifted hybrids all day long. (Like, imagine getting to cozy up with friendly bear Tae? PLS) But Hoseok really is such a tease, especially when he didn't even warn Y/N about the fact that he'd be naked in front of her when he'd shift back-- lucky (or maybe unlucky, for some) that Yoongi covered her eyes. The whistle!!! I think he was touched/taken aback when Y/N whistled it back to him at his track meet. He probably never had someone else learn it and repeat it back to him, and it was a special moment to include in the last chapter. As for him and Alice... things will definitely get a little tricky with that as time goes on, and it do not blame Y/N for being jealous at all. Y/N loves Alice, but she certainly wouldn't be thrilled to see her with Hoseok... And when Hoseok scented her, you're right, he was holding back! I think that he likely was hesitant to scent her because he has some abandonment issues that he needs to work through. Y/N will help him for sure!

fdjajkf Loved these comments you had for all the hyungs!! I'll answer everything you've sent in for the maknaes, too, and thank you for sending me love and your wonderful thoughts!! 🩷

[starshine-valley]

My friend rates project sekai characters' new fits (+ extras)

Ichika - 6.5 “would have been a 7 if the leg thing wasn’t there. Adds to the outfit but holds back during performances”

Shiho - 8 “green makes you look gay”

Honami - 7 “nothing wrong but isn’t great barely passing bc otherwise is sad”

Saki - 8 “Yassified sun baby and if sun baby was a girl”

Miku - 9 “because miku”

Miku - 8.5 

MMJ - 7.5

“They look like they’re leaping for joy. Look like they can play the live action teapot from beauty and the beast.”

Akito - 7.5 “Gamer boy in the closet”

Toya - 8 “Orange dude’s gay awakening”

Kohane - 7.75 “Look like three people’s gay awakening but missed any social cues towards it. You may have autistic tendencies”

An - 8.5 “my gay awakening”

Miku - 8 “would have been an 8.5 but got demoted to an 8.25, look like graduated from a catholic school run by nuns but rebelled. Hasn’t reached full potential but will get there no worries

Tsukasa - 6 “gets a six because he’s wrong but just a little. His boots remind me of sky from winx the original.”

Rui - 9 “1 <3 femboys”

Miku and Emu - 8.13 “pulled 13 out of my ass but they get an 8 because they look like strawberry shortcake if she wasn’t an asshole”

Nene - 7.75 “would have gotten an 8 but is too much like genshin”

Niigo - 8.5 “ghost squad gets 8.5 because I love goth bitches” 

Old design:

Leo/need - “They look a little bit prepubescent” 

Miku - “I like the new design better because she had a better hair care routine” 8.5 “because miku”

Shiho - 7.5 “looks like a person who likes to plant and thought they were planting mushrooms but it was actually marjuana but it’s okay because you’re nice.”

Ichika - 7.5 “looks gayer the new design makes him look like he’s been through something.” “Them before the got repressed”

Saki - 8 “looks like they would do the peace sign when being taken a picture of. A little less sun baby and gets mad at any short joke directed at them”

Honami - 7.3 “looks like she’s from incredibles but that’s okay”

MMJ - 8.753 “can be rounded off to a nine. MAYBE.” “Less Alice in wonderland” 

VBS - 8 

Kohane - 8.5 “hard HARD masking but it’s okay you found yourself”

“Pre quarantine before they realised they were gay and they were just REALLY REALLY good allies” 

Tsukasa - 7.5 “the guy should go back to that”

Rui - 8.75 “at the start of his femboy awakening when he went to a lot of cosplay conventions”

Nene - 7.58 “uwu bitch but that’s okay.”

Emu - 8.11 “you are you. You are okay. You are.”

Miku - 8.3 “looks like she came last minute from another party.’

Niigo - 8 “2020 e girl era but does it for themselves and not male attention. It’s a phase that we shouldn’t bring back but shouldn’t erase.”

Name guesses:

Ichika - Lunarae “look like her best friend does astrology readings on her”

Shiho - Samm “went by Sammy until you turned nine. Twelve actually.”

Saki - Schema “your parents were English majors and so are you. Goes by mimi.”

Honami - Eliana “not too basic but not much to it.” 

Minori - Miri “because you look like you got a mryiad of issues”

Haruka - Nine “nobody knows your actual name everyone calls you nine.”

Airi - Harper “you just give off sheltered white girl but like really nice so people let it slide you can hang with them.”

Shizuku - Toona “explain????? Um no.”

Akito - Theo 

Toya - James 

“They’re gay and they know it but they don’t know it yet but they will.”

Kohane - Kira “you probably had a very complicated name like kryrsterenimoniaous but nobody could pronounce it so you go by Kira” 

An - Leni “your parents had three children before you and had a meeting the day after. You’re leni, just leni, simply leni.”

Nene - Hope

Emu - Joy

“Nothing. They just are.”

Tsukasa - Mike “looks like he was destined for greatness then it just didn’t happen not that he’s horrible he’s just mid and burnt out.”

Rui - Q “um you’re tired of everyone else’s bullshit” 

Robo Nene - Mert “you look like you’d be best friends with Paimon.”

Kanade - Erica “you just were born that way.”

Ena - Cadey “um you came up to someone and told them your name was cadey and everyone went along with it.”

Mizuki - Alisa “you had a very bad lisp until the fourth grade that everyone made fun of you for.”

Mafuyu - Quirah “so so so different. You just wanted to be so unique cause you were a basic bitch up until high school. This is to rebel against Christian mom who took you to Sunday school against your will that you had to miss your best friends halloween party for.” 

[ikemenlibrary]

Revenge Best Served Wet (Ikémen Revolution)

Pairing: Fenrir Godspeed x Alice (MC) x Ray Blackwell Word count: 5.2k Warnings: NSFW content (threesome, dirty talk, unprotected sex) - you must be 18+ to follow my blog but if you somehow managed to slip by, please do not interact with this post. 

Author’s note: @xxsycamore​ Mo! I was so happy to receive the assignment to write this for you for the Ikémen Revolution gift exchange that @sunnyikemen​ and I were hosting together! This was such a fun piece to write and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it. Your ideas you sent it really inspired me and this helped reinvigorate my love for Fenray x Alice uwu ~ I wanted to combine your love of summer with the prompts you gave me and came up with this. Thank you for always being so lovely; I always enjoy our conversations and I love hearing from you! 

Autumn was quickly approaching Cradle and although the trees were beginning to droop and the flowers were retreating into the ground for the cold winter season, it was still exceptionally hot going into October. Warm enough that most of the army members still wore shorts and tees when off the clock and Alice wore a slightly hemmed skirt - with Seth’s help, of course - and a less constricting top to the dress.

While everyone was relishing the last few long lasting days of summer, they were still expecting the Black Army to complete their daily training and that meant no slacking off until the boss said so.

Sirius Oswald, Queen of the Black Army, well-known hardass with a golden heart was not one to go easy on his troops. He was always one step ahead of the game, always knew what to do to keep the troops morale boosted high. On this last warm day of the season, there was no difference, he knew exactly how to have them train whilst also relishing in lovely weather mother nature had left them with.

He was walking up and down the troops' orderly lines, handing each member a water gun with the most serious face one could muster when reaching into a cold bucket of water to hand the next person a brightly colored plastic gun. Sirius hadn’t said anything to any of the members, only the King had any clue what he had planned.

When handing off a gun to the last army member and all of the leaders, a soft smile fell on his lips as his eyes met with Alice and he held out one of the last two guns as an offering. “What do you say, little lady? Wanna join in training today?”

Alice laughed as she heard Fenrir whoop behind her, only to be cut off by Ray’s elbow connecting with his stomach. She nodded, accepting the water gun and Sirius ruffled her hair, not succeeding because of the pony tail she was sporting, and then he grabbed the last gun.

“Alright everyone,” he started, his commanding voice capturing the attention of everyone, their curious gazes following the Queen as he paced the courtyard. “For today’s training, we’ll be using these instead of sparring with our real weapons. I know a lot of you don’t use guns in combat but the reality is that they’re becoming more and more popular. So you have to learn to dodge the bullets, as well as use them.” A murmur rumbled through a few army members. “If your sword breaks in combat, or you get unarmed by an enemy and all there is left is a pistol, I want every one of you to know how to take aim and shoot.”

Ray cut in next. “In today’s exercise, everyone will be splitting into two teams. If you get shot by someone on the other team more than three times, you’re out. And we will know you’re out. You’re not in your dark uniforms, your clothes will show where you’re shot.”

Fenrir sidled up to Alice, his strong arm brushing against her shoulder and her nose was immediately filled with the scent of sunscreen. “Hey, wanna be on a team with me? I’ll protect ya.”

She smiled at him gratefully, the sweaty water gun caused her hand to be freezing cold as she reached up to place her wet hand on his bare shoulder, his freckles peeking out underneath the tank top he was wearing. “Sure thing! Thanks, Fen.”

Fenrir shied away from her chilled hand, his face twisting as he tried to stay quiet as Ray and Sirius continued to speak to the army. “You wound me,” Fenrir staggered back dramatically, his hand laid on his heart. “Here I am trying to be nice and you do this to me.” With a chuckle to show he was joking, he came back over to Alice, his hand purposefully brushing against her own fingertips as he leaned down, his breath stirring some baby hairs around her ear as he spoke. “I missed ya in my bed last night. How was Ray?”

Alice was grateful for the blaring sun, that way anyone seeing her embarrassed flush would assume it was from the heat. “I missed you too, Fen. It was really nice, but it felt weird without you.”

Fenrir wasn’t sure when it started, but once Alice decided to stay with Ray and the Black Army, Fenrir’s feelings for the woman deepened. He saw how well she treated Ray and at first it was admiration he felt, and then one day it was like a switch flipped when she smiled at him brightly from across the room.

Fenrir had always loved Ray; they were friends first, and on occasional nights when one was feeling lonely, he’d end up in the other’s bed. It was never spoken about, nor was it something that made either of them feel awkward. If anything, it made them closer than before. When Alice came along, he didn’t resent her. He was glad she made his best buddy as happy as she did, and that’s all he could ask for.

One night, the three of them were up late, it was unusual for Ray to stay up past 10pm but they were all in the garden and passing around a fancy bottle of champagne that Fenrir had snatched from a party his parents were hosting. The rest of the army was still there; they’d probably spend the night at the Godspeed residence and that was okay with Fenrir: he was able to spend time with the two people he was in love with without the interruption of anything or anyone else.

And then all of a sudden, he drunkenly blurted out that he loved them both. It was a word vomit, a cacophony of feelings and thoughts and desires, and once he started he couldn’t stop. Fenrir was messily confessing his feelings to both of them, his best friend and his best friend’s girl right there when all three were drunk. He was confessing and talking and not shutting up, not until Ray leaned over and kissed him to quiet him.

From there, the three of them spent time exploring their relationship together. Sometimes they all slept in Ray’s bed, other times, Fenrir slept alone, but most of the time, Alice found herself in Fenrir’s bed. It wasn’t that she didn’t like sleeping with Ray, she honestly missed him when she hadn’t spent a night with him in a while, but he fell asleep so early normally and when she and Fenrir were still trying to find their groove together, she’d find herself in his bed, sometimes chatting, sometimes more, until one of them fell asleep.

The rest of the Black Army had no clue on the extent of the throuple’s relationship. They knew Alice and Ray were together, and they knew that Fenrir was very close to the both of them. But the three decided to keep how close they all were to themselves. Sure, the army leaders wouldn’t judge them, but being a throuple in a relationship eyes of the public they just didn’t want anything getting out that could tarnish the reputation that the army has worked so hard to build up. They were the opposite of embarrassed, they just didn’t want to draw unwanted attention.

So now here they were standing, Alice’s arm brushing against Fenrir’s with every breath she took and Ray’s eyes watching the pair as he was splitting up the teams for the water gun fight. Sirius was one team captain, and Ray the other; Alice noticed Sirius made note not to look in her direction while picking members for his team. Whether it’s because he knew she’d be a hindrance to his team, or because she was Ray’s partner, she wasn’t sure, but either way, she was grateful when Ray called Fenrir and herself over to his side of the courtyard.

Alice happily took her spot next to Ray and she smiled as he took hold of her hand, his eyes lingering on Fenrir for a moment before his emerald ones fell onto Alice once more. “You ready?”

“Yep! Fen said he’d protect me.” She held up her water gun and playfully pointed it at Ray. “Better watch your back!”

He raised an eyebrow at her, his own water gun pointed at her chest. “You better watch your front,” he countered, before whipping around, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he saw Fenrir standing there, one hand on his hip, the other one spinning his bright purple gun on his finger.

“Our princess said to watch ya back, your highness,” The smirk on Fenrir’s face was charming and she could tell Ray was struggling to form a rebuttal.

Ray turned to look at Alice, but she just shrugged. “I told you he said he’d protect me.” He shook his head, going over to ruffle Fenrir’s hair affectionately as he leaned in to whisper something in his ear that Alice couldn’t quite make out.

On the other side of the courtyard, Sirius was yelling for both sides to prepare, and as he did so, both Ray and Fenrir protectively stood in front of Alice before the battle began. It started off slowly, a few sprays and shrieks from the members up front as cold water came in contact with their skin, but everyone was learning to jump away in time with the sporadic shooting.

Alice watched as Fenrir took a deep breath, and then before she could react, he yelled. “CHARGE!”

All of a sudden, water was flying everywhere. Both sides were making their way towards the middle and Sirius’ team was slowly making their way through everyone up front. Alice made sure to stay behind her boyfriends, occasionally peeking out behind them to spray someone who was getting a little too close to comfort on either side of them.

“Hey Alice~” Seth sidled up to the woman, sporting a ponytail very similar to her own. “Lucky you, having your boyfriend and his bestie protecting you!”

Alice ducked just in time, dodging one of the army soldiers 'bullets’, and Fenrir shot the man, not even looking in her direction as the soldier walked away. “Yeah I’d say so,” she remarked, letting her guard down for a moment as she shared a laugh with Seth. Fenrir and Ray were so in their element, dodging sprays of water and precisely shooting the enemies, it was thrilling to watch. It almost made Alice jealous how in sync they were. “Hey, Seth-”

Alice turned to her best friend, going to comment on how the movements between the two men in front of her almost seemed rehearsed, but she gasped as Seth shot her straight in the chest. “Sorry, Alice, but you have to remember who your enemy is~!”

Her finger on her own trigger pulled, yet nothing came out and she realized with a startled gasp that she was out of water and an enemy was standing right in front of her. Neither Fenrir nor Ray seemed to realize what was going on and no matter how many times she discreetly tugged on the back of Ray’s shirt, he didn’t seem to understand what she was doing.

Sirius popped up right next to Seth and Alice realized that the men coming at Fenrir and Ray from the front was a tactic planned by the two militants. Alice’s grasp on the sweaty weapon in her hand caused it to slip from her hands and right as she yelled, Sirius and Seth both shot her again.

“Fenrir, Ray! Behind you!” Ray turned around just in time to see Seth slip away, Sirius already long gone. And then his emerald gaze dropped to his girlfriend’s chest, noticing the way her colored bra shone through the three wet spots.

“Leave the battlefield and cover up!” Ray shot at two more people, grimacing at the weakened stream. It was clear to Alice that both sides would need a break and to reconvene after filling up with more water so while she was out, she was still able to be helpful by dragging Sirius’s big bucket over to the hose so she could fill it up and help the army members reload when they took a break. Sure enough, before too long, both sides called a retreat for twenty minutes so everyone could fill up their guns and hydrate themselves.

During that time, Ray called a strategy team with the other 7 army members who were still ‘uninjured’ on his side.

“Alright men,” Ray started. “We’ve figured out that they're using the other soldiers led by Luka to distract from Sirius and Seth sneaking up on us from behind. I think we need to-”

“Screw whatever you’re gonna say.” Fenrir interjected, looking over at Alice who was sitting on the sidelines, kicking her feet on the grass. “They got Alice, I want revenge.”

Ray rolled his eyes, pushing his sweaty hair off of his forehead. “As I was saying,” he continued on, forming a plan with his army members and making sure everyone else knew their plan of attack.

As both armies started to line up once again, Fenrir leaned over to the King standing next to him. “I wasn’t kidding. I want revenge.”

“We will avenge her death when we win fair and square.” Ray responded, not spurred on by Fenrir’s excitement for once. “Besides, I’m too good to get revenge.”

Fenrir huffed, sliding his finger up and down the inner side of Ray’s arm, marveling at the goosebumps that showed up on his skin despite the heat. “Well, lucky for me, I’m not. Give me your gun.” His hand that was tracing on Ray’s skin reached down to snatch his partner’s gun, leaving Ray weaponless as Fenrir tactfully dodged everyone's oncoming attacks and made his way through the troop to find the two leaders who eliminated his girlfriend.

His eyes caught sight of the familiar silvery gray blue hue of Seth’s hair and he raised both guns at the other man, freezing in shock as he felt a pelt of cold water on his back, another on his shoulder, and then as he turned around to face the offending officer, Luka looked at him with determination blooming in his eyes. The last spray of water hit Fenrir’s face, and the man dropped his guns as Luka smiled softly. “Nice try,”

Fenrir muttered under his breath as he brushed his shoulder against Luka’s on his way off the makeshift battlefield, smiling as Alice held out a waiting towel for him when he went to sit down next to her. “You know, your dedication to getting revenge for me was kind of sexy,” she remarked softly and Fenrir felt warm at her words.

“Aw shucks, that was nothin’. But if you’re grateful, you can give me a reward for it.” He playfully leaned against her shoulder, not wanting to do anything to tip off the other people near them.

“I was already planning on sucking your dick later,” she said lowly. “But I suppose you can get something more than  that,”

“I want time with both of ya,” Fenrir said, and both of them watched Ray, watching his muscles ripple as he lifted his shirt off, laughing at something one of the men next to him said. He had sweat dripping down his body and Alice could almost taste it on her tongue as she imagined running a tongue over his abs, slowly making her way down his body.

“I’m sure we can make that happen,” she promised, biting her lip and looking over her shoulder. “You know… it’s probably pretty empty inside. We could sneak in and take some time to ourselves, knowing Ray, he’ll come looking for us afterwards.”

“He wouldn’t even have to search for us if we were waiting for him in his room, princess.”

She blinked, a slow smile forming on her face. “I like the way you think,”

Fenrir stood up, extending a hand to Alice as he winked. “We should go get some extra towels for everyone while we’re waiting.”

She quickly caught on, her hand falling into his so naturally that he almost let out a sigh of bliss just from that. “Oh, good idea! Let’s head inside and go check out the linen closet, I’m sure we can find something there.”

Alice and Fenrir quickly made it into the headquarters and once he was sure no one was around, he twined their fingers together in a more intimate way than what they had done outside. Before, that was friendly - but if anyone saw them touching like this, they would know their feelings ran way deeper than friendship.

Taking one look around, Fenrir pushed open Ray’s bedroom door and the familiar scent that wrapped around him was so comforting in that moment that it took all he had in him not to melt into Ray’s bed and wrap the sheets around him, less than decent thoughts littering his brain as he rid himself of clothing. But Alice’s warm hands on the hem of his shirt brought him back to reality and with a wink and a smile, Fenrir’s hands joined her own.

“Couldn’t even wait ‘til we closed the door, huh?” He asked, one arm reaching out to slam the door as his other hand helped her push his shirt up over his head.

“Shut up,” Alice mumbled, her hand falling to his neck and pulling Fenrir in for a kiss. “Not my fault you were being dumb and sexy out there.”

Fenrir bit back his retort, instead his tongue traced her lips, the taste of her intoxicating. One of his hands rested on the small of her back, pulling her closer, while the other one was nimbly working the buttons of her shirt. She sighed out as he peeled the wet shirt away, laughing as Fenrir huffed as he tried to one handedly unhook her bra.

The pair both jumped as the door opened, Fenrir protectively took a step in front of Alice as she scrambled to cover her exposed skin. As Ray poked his head in, Fenrir let out a sigh of relief and Alice dropped her shirt back to the floor.

“Oh good, I didn’t miss out on much,” Ray said, quickly ridding himself of his shirt and leaning in to press a kiss to each of their lips. “I saw you both sneak off and figured I needed to see what my two troublemakers were up to.”

“We’re just here, getting up to no good.” Alice replied, her hand reaching out to trace the sweaty planes of Ray’s abs.

“I can see that, princess.” Ray responded, his usually bright eyes darkened with lust. “Wanna show me what you two were up to?”

His hands casually fell to the small of each of their backs, gently and quietly urging them to continue where they left off. Fenrir smiled, his hands falling to Alice’s hips as he pulled her in to press another kiss to her lips.

Alice’s skirt was hanging loosely on her hips and while the pair got back into their groove, Ray unzipped the flowy material, watching as it fell off her body in a pool of fabric by her feet, only left in her undergarments and white knee high socks.

A moan left her lips as Fenrir nibbled on her lower lip and Ray stepped behind her, his hands reaching up to cup her covered breasts as he leaned in to suckle on her neck, the taste of sweat and sunshine dancing on his tongue as she involuntarily pressed back into him.

One of Fenrir’s hands snaked up, messing with the clasp on her bra once more and before he could lose his patience, Ray’s hand joined him, holding one side as Fenrir finagled the other, sighing in relief as the elastic gave way and peeled away from her body. Fenrir traced his way down her body, his lips and tongue tracing the other side of her neck that Ray wasn’t nibbling on and making his way down to her pert breast.

As Fenrir’s mouth enclosed over her left nipple, Ray stopped his attack on her neck for a moment as he watched his boyfriend pleasure his girlfriend. Alice’s breath came out in soft gasps, and Ray’s mouth brushed the shell of her ear as he leaned down to whisper, “feel good?”

“Yes,” she moaned out and Ray watched as Fenrir’s teeth bit down gently on her other nipple. “So good.”

Ray’s hand snaked down into the front of her underwear, and he moaned out as he felt the wetness that had pooled in between her legs. Alice, who had been doing a good job at holding herself up despite the ministrations on her body, felt her knees buckle and Fenrir’s arms wrapped around her hips, detaching his lips from her body as he picked her up and unceremoniously threw her on the bed before Ray could protest.

“Ouch!” She cried out, pulling a book out from the sheets and throwing it to the floor. “Hey, be careful with my babies.” Ray protested, walking over to Fenrir and unbuttoning the other man’s pants, trying not to laugh as underwear as pink as his boyfriends hair came into view.

“I know you’re talking about your books and not me,” Alice said, pushing herself up with her arms and resting on her forearms, her slightly spread legs adorned with knee high socks taunting Ray to fall into her warmth.

As he peeled off his own shorts, Ray watched as Fenrir made his way up the bed, crawling over Alice and attaching his lips on her neck once more. Ray took place at the foot of the bed, gently peeling off her wet panties and kissing her socked calf as his hands ran up her bare skin of her upper thighs, lifting her legs over his shoulders as he leaned in and pressed a kiss to her inner thigh, relishing in the way that she wriggled in his grip. Glancing up at Fenrir and Alice, he watched as Fenrir’s fingers pinched at her nipples while their tongues melded together.

Ray leaned in, licking a stripe up her sex, the taste of her wetness falling onto his tongue and making him press his hardon into the side of the bed for some sort of pressure. She moaned as she felt his tongue flick through her folds once, twice, and three times before his fingers joined in, two of them pushing into her gummy walls, his tongue flicking at her clit as her hips moved in time with his fingers.

He looked up, catching a gaze of Fenrir laying on his side, her head turned towards him as she sucked his hardened length into her mouth. One of Fenrir’s hands was in her hair as the other one rubbed her bare skin anywhere he could reach comfortably. As Ray continued his pace, his other hand reached out to hold her moving hips down, able to make harder, faster, more precise movements. From above, he could hear her muffled moans and Fenrir’s praise.

“You’re so pretty, princess.” Fenrir cooed, his hand pushing her bangs back from her eyes. “You’re doin’ so well takin’ the both of us.” Alice made a sound that was almost like a coo and as Fenrir was talking, Ray felt her pussy clench around his two fingers, signifying to him an impending orgasm. Instead of lightly flicking at her clit with his tongue, Ray leaned in even further to suck it into his mouth, his lips tightening on the hardened bud as his fingers continued their faster pace.

“Gonna cum for us, sweetheart?” Fenrir asked, his hips pushing into Alice’s mouth as his own pleasure started taking over, his hands once again groping at her chest. Ray stayed quiet; he didn’t want to let go of the pressure he was putting on her clit until she had cum on his fingers, hard. And it didn’t take much more. One final pinch to her nipple from Fenrir sent her over the edge, Alice’s legs shaking and her body writhing against the two army members.

As she was coming down, Ray’s fingers were still moving in and out of her gushing pussy, his lips releasing from her clit as he kissed up her stomach, stopping to playfully lick at her breasts, before leaning in and kissing her forehead. “So perfect,” he whispered, her half lidded smile making the butterflies in Ray’s stomach stir.

Alice was stroking lazily at Fenrir’s cock, catching her breath as Ray leaned in to kiss the other male, Fenrir’s tongue eagerly licking into his mouth to taste the remnants of Alice’s orgasm. Ray was all too willing to accept his tongue and he gasped out as he felt Alice’s other hand dip into his underwear and pull his cock out, her hands working on both of the men in tandem as they shared a sweet kiss.

Without saying anything, Alice raised herself to her knees and bent down to suck Fenrir’s dick into her mouth once again, this time with reignited vigor -  using her hands to work the portion she couldn’t fit in her mouth as her head bobbed up and down. Ray pulled away from the kiss, watching as her butt moved in time with her head and he stroked his cock lightly as he positioned himself behind her,

His fingers rubbed a stripe up and down her folds, testing to make sure she wasn’t too sensitive from her first orgasm to take her, but her hips wiggled, inviting Ray in and one of his hands held her hip as the other positioned his cock at her entrance, before pushing in gently, the both of them moaning out in tandem as he bottomed out. As Alice adjusted to his length, she continued working on Fenrir’s dick, and when she was ready for Ray to move, she pushed back against him.

All three of them knew how this worked; they all wanted to be connected as one so as they were figuring out how things worked in the bedroom, a lot of silent communication started happening. Fenrir wanted something, he lightly gripped their hair in his fist. Ray, he asked with his eyes. Alice, she pressed herself against whoever. They worked, and all three loved it.

Ray’s hips snapped against Alice's, starting to pick up the pace as he heard Fenrir’s orgasm. No matter how many times he was told to be quiet, or even had something in his mouth (whether it be a garment of clothing, Alice’s pussy, or Ray’s dick), he was always a tad too loud. This time was no different, as he came in their girlfriend’s mouth, a loud moan broke free from his lips, red from clamping down on them with his teeth to try and quiet himself. His hips thrusted up into Alice’s mouth and his hands held her head down to him, his length hitting the back of her throat as she choked on the seed spilling down her throat.

Alice came up, gasping for air and once she caught her breath, Ray pulled out of her, flipping her onto her back and throwing her legs over his shoulders as he pressed himself into her, leaning down to kiss her once before speaking lowly. “You looked so pretty choking on Fen’s cock. You liked that, didn’t you?”

She moaned out, nodding her head yes as Ray swallowed her moan with another kiss. Fenrir was lying to the side, catching his breath as he moved his hand down Alice’s body, rubbing at her clit in time with Ray’s deep thrusts. “You both look gorgeous,” Fenrir whispered.

“So you can be quiet now, Fenrir?” She asked through broken moans. Fenrir pressed down on her clit in retaliation and Ray felt his release building as her walls tightened around him.

“Quiet, princess. Else I’m sure I can find somethin’ to quiet you with.” Spotting her discarded panties on the bed, Fenrir’s eyes twinkled. “Maybe your soaking wet panties? Were they wet from the squirt gun or from your insatiable need to be fucke-”

Fenrir didn’t even finish his sentence, cutting off as her hand gripped his thigh tightly, her fingers digging in as her second orgasm hit her like a truck. As she creamed on his cock, Ray picked up his pace, thrusting roughly into her to chase after his own orgasm. Fenrir sat up, his carmine pink eyes focussed on Ray as he silently urged the King to come. As he reached the peak, Ray fell into Alice’s waiting arms, twitching inside of her as he let himself fall apart in the comfort of softly spoken words and forehead kisses.

“You did so good,” Alice whispered, pushing his sweaty hair away from his eyes and Fenrir nodded along with her statement.

“I love watchin’ ya both. You look so good together.”

Ray shook his head in protest, pulling Fenrir into the sweaty pile. “No, we look good together.”

“That was really cheesy,” Alice pointed out, poking Ray’s nose.

“Deal with it, princess.” He responded, leaning in to press a chaste kiss to her mouth.

All three of them laid silently for a moment before they started to hear the rest of the army members filtering in, all of the muddled conversations they could hear were the men talking about wanting a shower.

“I could go for a shower,” Fenrir noted, moving to get up from the bed. “And we probably need to clean the sheets.”

“Now you’re thinking sensibly,” Alice teased. “Where was this rationality when you went marching into the enemy lines by yourself?”

“If I recall correctly, you said I looked sexy.”

Alice rolled her eyes, looking to Ray. “I also said he looked dumb, but he isn’t mentioning that part.”

“Are you surprised?” Ray disentangled himself from Alice, standing up and picking her up bridal style, his heart swelling in his chest as she let out a scream-giggle.

“Stop talkin’ about me like I’m not here!” Fenrir whined, following behind the other two to the bathroom fit for a King and turning on the water. Ray set down Alice and she went over to press a tender kiss to Fenrir’s muscled back.

“In all seriousness, you both were ridiculously sexy out there.” She stuck her hand in the tub, the cool shower water cascading down her arm. “It looked rehearsed.”

Ray and Fenrir shared a glance and they both laughed awkwardly. “That’s because it was rehearsed. We’ve been doing stuff like this since we were in school.” Ray explained and Alice laughed at both of them.

“Alright you two, in we go. We’ve been missing long enough that someone is probably looking for one of you.”

“But I’d much rather stay with you both,” Ray said, pressing his forehead to Alice’s as the water fell down over each of their heads, Fenrir working the soap into his tired muscles.

“Don’t worry my loves, we have all night tonight to be together.” Alice said, both of them sending soft smiles. “As long as Ray doesn’t fall asleep early, that is.”

“If he does, it’s because we tired him out.” Fenrir teased, pinching Ray’s butt.

The three of them kept up all of their playful banter as they quickly washed themselves off and got presentable once more. Alice and Ray left the bedroom first, Fenrir slipping out later when the hallway was clear.

The rest of the night was spent sending sweet glances across the dinner table, small lingering touches, and a whole lot of words silently said.