#was more dramatic than I was expecting (like saving someone from drowning kind of thing lmao) | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

sunstaar · 2 years ago

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Third Time's the Charm

Shikamaru x gn!reader

Hiiii :)

So I just wanted to tell you I've been reading your blog for the past 7 hours haha it's almost 4 am here in Mexico were I'm from and your writing is SOOOOO good I'm obsessed, I love how you write Kakashi 🥰🥰🥰

And well so I just wanted to ask you, if it's not too much trouble, if you could write something with Shikamaru since I am sucker for him, something like the reader and him get on each other's nerves all the time, like they are so similar and there's this rivalry, Kakashi is fully aware that they have feelings for each other lol, reader and Shika go on a mission and you get injured and he takes care of your wound and he's so gentle about it that it makes reader question everything now. I know it's kind of specific, and honestly you don't have to do it, just something with Shika would be amazing, anything, that was just a thought

And seriously thank you for the amazing content 💓💓

Thank you so much for your request! I'm glad you enjoyed my writing, I really appreciate it! This took a bit longer than expected to write, but I do hope you enjoy it nonetheless. Also, I should note that along the way of me writing this, it became more and more dramatic... and the wound kind of escalated at one point? I did attempt to steer this into a more gentle way and I do hope it worked, at least somewhat...

Word Count: 5,3k

Warning: mentions of death, violence

tags: @smelllikeme , Ao3

Summary: They say third time's the charm, and Shikamaru hopes it is enough to save you.

Shikamaru could still vividly remember the day his sensei Asuma had died in his arms. As though the memory was burned into his brain, it came to haunt him in his sleep time and time again, nourishing his doubts and regrets, harvesting his heartbreak. Each time the dream came to haunt him, it appeared more vivid than the last time, so much so that Shikamaru could feel the blood of his sensei on his hand again and the way the older man’s body shivered in his last moments. The sombré tone of Asuma was etched into the memory, accompanied by the gruff undertone the dark-haired man always spoke with. His last words most importantly, Shikamaru felt as though they were in his heart, something he would never forget, and take with him to his grave.

The future head of the Nara clan could also remember how his father had died during the Fourth Shinobi War. The way Ino beside him cried out at the loss of her own father shook his mind to the core and had his heart sinking to the bottom of his stomach, bile beginning to crawl up his throat. His mind was in shambles, but he was required to get right back to work and push away all of his sorrow and his grief so they could win the war. Only at the grave of his father, his sobbing mother standing beside him did Shikamaru get a moment to allow his grief to swallow him, almost drowning in it to the point he couldn’t breathe.

The sensation of death surrounding his entire being was something Shikamaru never wanted to feel again. It was a feeling he despised with all his being.

Following the death of two of the most important people in his life, two men to whom he had looked up since childhood, and whom he had set as an example for himself, Shikamaru vowed that under no circumstance, he would ever let someone important to him die again. At all cost, even when it meant he would endanger his own health, he would make sure that those dear to him would make it to see the light of another day, live to wake up in Konoha, and get back onto their feet.

To his dismay, death, however, was a treacherous thing, one that did not listen to the prayers and vows of the people. It did not matter to death what Shikamaru promised, neither did it matter what the dark-haired man intended to do. As a mere man, Shikamaru did not stand above danger and near-death situations, a lesson he soon learned during a mission alongside you.

When he strode into the Hokage’s office one morning, the smell of cigarettes lingering around his body, and his hands buried deep into the pockets of his pants, Shikamaru had not expected the man to hand him a mission instead of paperwork.

The Hokage had always been a walking enigma, mystery shrouded around him. So, Shikamaru shouldn’t have expected anything else but a surprise awaiting him.

His first clue to something being different had been the sight of you in the Hokage’s office, sitting on one of the two chairs placed in front of the desk. Despite only being able to see your back as he entered, that little piece of information was enough to identify you. Maybe it was the way you slouched in your chair that gave Shikamaru the necessary clue, or the exact shade of your (h/c) that he could never forget even if he wanted to. Either way, his expression morphed into one of recognition as soon as he saw you sitting there.

Without saying anything, Shikamaru made his way over to the chair beside yours and sat down, ignoring how you scrunched up your nose in response. There was a curious gleam in the Hokage’s eyes, but neither Shikamaru nor you could tell what exactly it indicated. His gaze flickered between the two of you, his charcoal eyes settling last on the piece of paper laying on his desk to skim over it quickly before talking to the two of you.

With a smirk playing on his lips, not visible to either of you, Kakashi leaned back in his seat. “Do either of you know why I asked you to come?”

You were the first to narrow your eyes. “To go on a mission, I presume?” Once you glanced over at the raven-haired man sitting beside you, the smell of cigarettes still lingering on his vest. Then, you forced yourself to focus on the Hokage again, trying to keep yourself from frowning visibly. “Together, most likely.”

Merely from how you strained the first word, the Hokage could tell your lack of enthusiasm when it came to the mission. That was no surprise to him, he already had expected such a reaction from both you and Shikamaru, so he paid it no mind. He was following his very own mission, after all, and not even the two of you disagreeing would keep him from continuing on with it.

“I chose the two of you to complete this mission because it is of importance,” Kakashi began, sitting a little straighter in his seat now. He really could have chosen anyone besides you and Shikamaru, but neither of you needed to know that fact and potentially mess with his meddling. “And I trust you to complete it. Together.”

Both of you had to swallow down the groans of annoyance you were about to let out. It had to be a joke, didn’t it? An unnecessary joke from the Hokage himself, in that case.

“Don’t you two look at me like that,” Kakashi felt like he was reprimanding two children, not two of the most capable and intelligent Shinobi. He shot both of them a warning look before he slid the information slip across the table for them to take, deciding that briefing them now would cause him more of a headache. “The mission begins tomorrow. I expect the two of you to get a good night’s sleep and head off early in the morning.”

Kakashi did not even need to dismiss the two of you, as you both willingly left the Hokage’s office without a word to him or each other. The first to go had been Shikamaru, who stood up as soon as he had skimmed over the paper, pushing his chair back with a loud screech, before he pushed the door to Kakashi’s office open and left. You quickly followed suit, with a few seconds of difference so you wouldn’t run into the dark-haired male when outside of the office. The silence remaining was loud, to say the least, and left the room colder than it was before.

(That did not have the Hokage doubt his meddling, not even in the slightest as Shizune could see as soon as she entered the room with a cup of tea in her hand.)

The raven-haired woman let out a sigh, placing her hands on her hips as soon as she sat down the tea on his desk. “What did you do now?” From the gleam in his charcoal eyes alone she could see he was up to something.

Kakashi leaned back against his chair, stretching out his legs and arms, listening to his joints cracking in the process. His playful gaze settled on Shizune, a twinkle in his eyes. “Oh, you know, nothing.”

Shizune knew that he was lying, and couldn’t help but worry about what the man was brewing up.

You could still remember when you first met Shikamaru back in the academy when the two of you had still been young children starting their way of being a Shinobi. To you, it was like the memory was burned into your brain, something you knew you��d never forget due to the significance of that day to you.

Your first crush you would never forget, anyway.

Already within the first few months of starting the academy, you had begun to develop a crush on the raven-haired boy from your class. You weren’t sure what it had been that had pulled you to the Nara, whether it had been his unmatchable intelligence, or his lazy attempts at humor, which often came out dry, you didn’t know. At his witty jokes, you often were the first and only student to laugh, the only one to understand it immediately and also find it funny. Your attention was always drawn to him, your eyes always finding a way to settle on his slouched figure. Your chin would rest on your hand as you daydream of some kind of future together, wistful sighs pushing past your lips.

Something just drew you to him. You couldn’t exactly explain when your crush on him blossomed to become something fully fletched, you could only build your tower of hopes and dreams, and continue to stare at him during class with your lovesick gaze.

Little you had thought of Shikamaru as cute and adorable. Just as many of your other classmates did, like Sakura and Ino, you attempted different combinations of your name with his, meshing them together, writing your first name in combination with his last name, or even hyphenating both of your names. Little hearts quickly joined your messy ideas, little love notes adding to your expression of feelings, or in that case, lack of open and honest expression of feelings.

(To say the least, you had been head over heels for the genius boy since early childhood).

At one point, everything had begun to change, however. You would pinpoint the time of change to around the Chuunin exams, specifically the first round of the one-versus-one fights. It was the round in which you lost in a one versus one against Shikamaru, shame coursing through you as embarrassment had your cheeks feeling warm, your head cast downward as you accepted your defeat.

It wasn’t even that you were a bad Shinobi or one below average, because that wasn’t the case, not at all. Rather, you couldn’t match Shikamaru’s wit and intelligence, the two qualities you had so dearly admired, which had become your downfall on your way to becoming a Chuunin. They became the qualities you too, wished to possess, qualities you were becoming jealous of, and you thought of as necessary to be a Chuunin.

With the help of your understanding and supporting sensei, you were determined to become better than the boy who, unbeknownst to him, crushed your heart during the exams. It had taken some time without a doubt, but every second you spend gaining knowledge was worth it when you finally caught up with the raven-haired later and became a Chuunin without even losing one round.

The climb was hard, there was no doubt there, but the result was a better version of you, one determined not to allow their heart to be broken again, one that wished to be better than the boy who did so.

All of your hard feelings toward Shikamaru, mixed with the jealousy you felt toward his abilities brought you to this point: a mission with him. This happening would’ve been little you’s dream, and yet, for obvious reasons, you couldn’t help but feel annoyed at the prospect of having to go on a mission with Shikamaru.

What if you embarrassed yourself again, or something worse happened? You couldn’t cope with that, you would most likely sink into the ground from all the embarrassment. So, you were yet again determined, determined to be better than him.

During the mission, you couldn’t slack up, you knew that which was why you chose not to engage in any witty banter stemming from Shikamaru. On your way to the mission’s location, you ignored the few words leaving the raven-haired’s mouth, but listened nonetheless, little you rather excited to learn more about the Nara.

Halfway to your destination, the silence between the two of you had become unbearable. You were basically itching to say something, anything really, to break the silence and to have it stop. But you kept tight-lipped.

The green trees around the two of you became shades darker the further you were walking into the thick forest surrounding Konoha, leaving your home further behind you with every step you took. Walking under the large shades of the trees felt somewhat peaceful to both you and Shikamaru, the harsh sunlight of the summer sun no longer blinding either of you or burning your skin. The longer the two of you walked, however, the path seemed to grow smaller and smaller, the trees growing closer to what was supposed to be the path. It was like the forest was pushing you together, or so you thought as your shoulders accidentally bumped.

“Sorry!” You squeaked out immediately, your cheeks feeling warmer upon contact. Why did you have to be that clumsy, again? “Didn’t mean to.”

And here you were embarrassing yourself of all things, making the mission more uncomfortable than it already was.

Shikamaru cleared his throat, his eyes flittering to look over at you, before looking away again. “It’s fine.” He said, his hands twitching in his pockets, as though he was itching to do something. You noticed, though didn’t say anything.

You were walking shoulder by shoulder by now, the close proximity of the trees forcing you to do so, not knowing that neither of you would get to say something else to the other before everything went to shit.

Neither of you had seen the attack coming, as both of you were lost in your own bubble of thought concerning one another. It wasn’t professional to do of either of you, since both of your attention should have been dedicated to protecting yourself and your partner on your way to the destination instead, and yet, here both of you were, about to be ambushed because of your own lack of attention.

The first indication that you aren’t alone in the forest came from one of the trees, a small rustling of the leaves that sounded too big to be of a bird. Shikamaru stopped you in your step, his hand grasping your upper arms to keep you from moving forward. Both of you were now alert when it came to your surroundings, the hairs on your arms standing up from the chill running down your spine.

It didn’t take long for the intruders to reveal themselves, sly smirks tugging at their lips, the upper part of their faces covered with masks, holes cut within them to leave their eyes uncovered. While the men and women looked ridiculous, it was no time to laugh as they pulled out their knives and got ready to perform Jutsu.

“If you want to enter, you’ll have to go through us first.” spoke the leader of the group, his tone deep and intended to sound threatening.

The woman beside him twirled a knife in her hand, adding, “We don’t let people pass without a price being paid first, that goes without saying.”

You weren’t nervous at all about the impending confrontation, not at all, really. You not only trusted yourself and your capabilities but also the ones of Shikamaru. Regardless of that, your hand moved to where your own knife lay against your hip. “And what would be said price?”

For a mere moment, shock crossed the features of the woman, but she was quick to revert her facial expression back to one of nonchalance. “You’re Konoha Shinobi, eh?” It was a question that required no answer from either of you. “You must have a lot of money to give to us, then.”

That statement couldn’t be more wrong if it tried to be. Following the Fourth Shinobi War, the financial situation was dire for everyone, even including yourself and the future Nara clan head.

From the peripheral of your vision, you could see Shikamaru hatch out a plan. Due to the location of the ambush, it was obvious who of the two of you was at an advantage. There were more shadows than necessary surrounding all of you, meaning Shikamaru could perfectly use his clan’s Hiden Jutsu. He only needed to not be caught.

To give him more time to act, you chose to act a bit less rational than you would’ve preferred to. Instead of having your hand simply remain near the knife on your hip, you chose to draw it and point it at the woman opposite you, the blade of it gleaming in the few bits of sunlight managing to protrude through the many treetops.

The woman took a step back but did not deter from her mission.

“Don’t trick us, Shinobi!” growled one of the other men of the ambush, his knife now drawn toward you. You refused to flinch and stood your ground. “Drop the knife! Now! Or you’ll get it!”

Admittedly, you were beginning to feel a little nervous with one more knife pointed at you, but you fully trusted Shikamaru to perfectly execute the plan. While it would be rather difficult for him to catch all four of the intruders all at once, you were sure that he would be able to do so, if you were only able to buy him more time.

You refused to drop your knife and instead spoke in a calm voice, “We don’t have that kind of money.” It was true, neither of you had barely any money with you.

“I’m sure we’ll find a solution then,” spoke the leader, his voice deep enough to send a shiver down your spine. “You,” He pointed over at you, “will stay here, with us, while you,” Now he pointed at Shikamaru, “will get us the money we ask for, alright?”

You shot a glance at Shikamaru, the worry gleaming in your eyes saying more than a thousand words. It would be best to strike now, the raven-haired decided before any of the four intruders dared to try anything dangerous.

As fast as he could, Shikamaru allowed his shadow to spread out all across the ground of the forest and to connect with the shadows of your opponents, to trap them in a certain position. As soon as he heard the first gasp coming from the man with the knife, Shikamaru knew that he had been successful. The man was quick to drop his knife onto the ground, barely missing his foot. The woman, the leader, and another man, who so far has made no comment, were quick to follow suit, stuck in the position as Shikamaru wanted them to.

Shikamaru shot the four of them a smirk, unaware of what would be coming next.

From high above in the trees, came a silver glint toward the two of you, specifically toward Shikamaru. Your eyes immediately picked up on the glint coming toward you, meant to knock out Shikamaru and free the four intruders. If you were the knock the Nara out of the way, you knew that his Shadow Jutsu would break the moment you made contact with him, allowing the four to not only attack you but also rob you and then flee. Would you take the hit, however, none of that would happen and if you were fortunate enough, you could still knock those four out later.

Maybe it was the little you had buried deep inside you long ago thinking and acting, or maybe you never lost your feelings for Shikamaru, but you moved in front of him without much more thought. His eyes widened as he saw the glint coming toward you now and hit you in the chest, a gasp pushing past your lips as you hunched over, attempting to breathe.

Shikamaru’s shadow immediately climbed up the tree and also managed to interweave with the shadow of the last man standing, also trapping him in his Jutsu.

You, meanwhile, had more and more trouble breathing, the cackles of the five intruders sounding distant, almost blurry to you. Anger and frustration were both coursing through your body as you formed the finger sings necessary for the Wind Jutsu you were about to perform. Breathing was becoming increasingly difficult, so as you breathed in to gather enough air for your Jutsu, it felt as though your lungs were on fire. You ignored the pain you were feeling and finished your Jutsu, knocking over all four of them with a wall of wind, sending them flying against trees and knocking them out in the process.

You yourself could barely hold your own weight up, so as soon as you made sure that Shikamaru was save without needing your aid, your knees buckled underneath your voice and you fell to the forest ground, desperately gasping for air to fill your lungs.

Shikamaru yelled out your name, but you could barely hear him in all the panic you were feeling. Blood was rushing to your ears, making Shikamaru’s voice almost inaudible as you with your back against the ground, your eyes staring up at the trees as your vision blurred with tears.

“Breathe,” Shikamaru told you, placing his hand on your shoulder to rub it in circles to get you to calm down. “You need to breathe, (Name). Calm down.” His gaze traveled over to your wound, and while the wound itself was not life-threatening, the knife appeared to have been poisoned. No wonder you were reacting like that.

Ever since his sensei and father died, Shikamaru never was the greatest at calming people down in a difficult situation, especially when they were hyperventilating as you were. “Somewhere in the bag is an antidote, (Name), but until I prepared it, you need to breathe, okay?” He could see the tears rolling down your cheeks and the panic so clear in your eyes, and yet, he couldn’t help you in any way.

As quickly as he could, Shikamaru began rummaging through the bag in search of an antidote, specifically the two vials of antidotes given to him by Konoha’s very own poison specialist before the mission began. As soon as he found it, he was confronted with another problem: Which was the right vial to give to you?

From merely seeing the knife, he couldn’t tell what kind of poison was coating it. On the other hand, he couldn’t pull it out either in fear of you bleeding to death as soon as he did so. His heartbeat began increasing, anxiety pumping through his blood as he considered his options.

You felt like your whole body was on fire by now. Pained screeches pushed past your lips, tears falling from your eyes as your body spasmed on the floor, you crying out in pain. Your gaze was set on an unsure Shikamaru, the raven-haired man in a situation he had never been confronted with before, and in spite of his undeniable wit, he found finding a solution rather difficult.

“Help… me…” You could barely speak, your throat scratchy and voice coming out in a mere pained whisper. Your breaths came out erratic and without a pattern, as though you were clawing for air to enter your lungs.

You couldn’t die like this! Not only was this a mortifying way to go, in front of the now man you’ve crushed on as a child, but also rather pathetic. You wanted to die a happy death, after managing to confess your feelings to someone you would consider to be the love of your life. You didn’t want to pass on with so many regrets, things you wished you had done sooner.

Maybe back then you just should have taken the leap of faith and confessed to Shikamaru, told him that you liked him.

By now, you also couldn’t tell anymore what was going on. Your vision was completely blurred from all of the tears streaming down your face. You could only hear Shikamaru scrambling around you, moving constantly and muttering inaudible words under his breath. You only regained somewhat of a sense of orientation as soon as a needle penetrated your skin, making you hiss loudly.

“It’s going to be alright.” Shikamaru told you, another attempt to calm you down.

You nodded, unable to speak a word of confirmation. Wholeheartedly, you believed in the genius as your body began to calm down a little. It felt like you could breathe again, air entering your lungs. That was, at least, until everything went to shit again.

Out of nowhere, you began crying again, your body feeling as though it had been set on fire another time. You convulsed, screeched, and let out noises of pain, returning to a state worse than the one before.

“Shit,” Shikamaru cursed, taking in a panicked breath. “Why isn’t this working?” He wiped the layer of sweat forming on his forehead with the back of his hand, attempting to clear his mind to think.

He could distantly remember what the poison specialist had once taught him during the war, the words somewhat saved in his brain, words he never recalled before. “These antidotes work best if the poisonous object is removed from the body. Some poisons flare up when in contact with the antidote, so remove the object if the first dose doesn’t work. Just be careful while doing so.” And while it was dangerous to do so, it appeared to be the only way to save you.

“Pull… out… knife,” You told him as though you had been able to read his thoughts, gasping for air after each word. “Trust… you.” You were well aware of the fact that there was a chance that his Jutsu would not work, that you would bleed out here, poisoned on the floor of the forest, but something told you to trust him.

The last time his mind had been this close to falling apart into shambles had been when hearing his father speak to him, death coming closer to the man. His heartbeat had increased drastically and blood rushed in his ears, he could barely focus on anything but his father. The same could be said for when Asuma died, Shikamaru’s heart feeling as though at any moment it may break apart.

At that moment, Shikamaru knew that as soon as he managed to bring you out of the life-threatening situation, he would confess his feelings to you one day. He couldn’t lose a loved one again, it would hurt too much. He refused to give up on you.

They say third time's the charm, so he should be able to save you. If the saying held any truth to it, you shouldn’t be the one to die in his arms or continue to suffocate as by now your hands were beginning to desperately claw at your throat.

Your only hope would be now the bits of medical ninjutsu Ino had taught him in case of an emergency. He was regretting not having listened to his blonde teammate more intentively than he should have.

Shikamaru carefully wrapped his hand around the handle of the knife so he could pull out it. You hissed as he did so, a noise that made his wince. “I’m going to pull it out now, alright?” He attempted to create eye contact between the two of you, but your eyes were filled with too many tears to even get a hint of your surroundings. “One… Two.. Three.” In one pull, Shikamaru pulled the knife out and threw it beside you.

There was only one antidote left that he could give to you, but first, he had to close the wound with medical ninjutsu. His hands were shaking more than he wanted them to, your crimson blood splattered across them. Shikamaru set his growing panic aside and hovered his hand above the wound, using each and every technique Ino ever taught him. His hands were beginning to glow a mint tone after he pushed his chakra into them, his body feeling weaker during the process. His technique may have been the ideal one to use, but Shikamaru knew that what mattered most was that it worked. As soon as he saw your wound close up, however, he knew that every side effect would be worth it.

A sigh of relief escaped both of you as soon as the wound was closed, no more crimson blood escaping it.

“Next time, you really should wear your vest.” Shikamaru joked, barely able to catch his breath. His skilled fingers were already working on putting the other antidote together to use it.

You let out a pained laugh, coughing afterward. While every limb in your body was still burning, the combination of the knife being removed and Shikamaru’s medical ninjutsu did wonders and had you feeling like you could breathe again.

Seeing this side of Shikamaru was… new and quite frankly, also exciting. If it weren’t for the fact that you had almost stood at heaven’s door just now, you would most likely be swooning.

“Now breathe, I’m going to inject the antidote,” Shikamaru said, carefully positioning the needle above your skin. His other hand rested near the wound to keep you still. “It’s all going to be over soon.”

You squeezed your eyes shut and nodded, doing your best to not only keep still but also to ignore the uncomfortable sensation stemming from the injection. Both proved themselves to be difficult to do, your breathing still labored as the antidote made contact with your bloodstream.

The relief you felt was instant. Finally, you could breathe normally again, your body no longer feeling as thought it had been set aflame. Your chest rose up and down as you breathed in even breaths, given the opportunity to calm down from your high emotions. Curios, with your fingertip you dared to explore the wounded skin of your throat, but as soon as you touched it, you let out a pained hiss.

Shikamaru’s hand immediately came to envelop your own, keeping it away from the wound. “Let me see,” He said in an unusually calm and kind tone. “I’ll put some ointment on it, so it will heal.”

With remaining tears in your eyes, you agreed wordlessly.

Shikamaru worked the ointment onto your skin in silence, not a single word coming from him, and neither from you. With each breath you took in, his gaze would flicker upward to meet your eyes, checking if you were still alright. Only after a nod of confirmation, he would continue, his fingers shaking noticeably as he rubbed the ointment onto the wound.

“Thank you, Shikamaru.” You were able to croak out, your throat still feeling raw from all the screaming you did.

Shikamaru shot you a smile, one that instantly had your heart beating faster against your chest, heat rising to your cheeks. “Thank you for trusting me, (Name),” He allowed his body to fall onto the forest floor right beside you, sprawling out all of his limbs as his body calmed down from the emotional high he experienced. “And for not dying on me.”

A small smile tugged at your lips. “I would never. I’d feel too bad,” Your gaze flitted over to Shikamaru, taking in his exhausted form. “Plus, who else would have annoyed you then?”

The raven-haired brushed over your last comment. “I should have protected you better. As your teammate-”

You raised your hand to interrupt him, but not without letting out a cough. “It wasn’t your fault, I jumped in front of that knife. I’m sorry, Shikamaru.”

He let out a relieved chuckle, wiping his sweaty forehead with the back of his hand. “At least neither of us dying anymore,” He turned his head to look over at you, smiling. “What a mission.”

“Yeah, what a mission,” You echoed back, lost in the mesmerizing sight that was his eyes. For all these years, you had thought of Shikamaru wrong, and now you were mourning the wasted time. “Friends?”

Shikamaru blinked, for a moment not comprehending what you meant. But then, he nodded. “Friends.”

It was only small progress, but the third time after Shikamaru left such an impact on you, you knew, it would change your life for sure.

#naruto imagine #gender neutral reader #nara shikamaru #shikamaru nara x you #shikamaru nara x reader #shikamaru nara #shikamaru #nara shikamaru x reader #nara shikamaru x you #nara #angst #and a little bit fluff

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pixelwisp-archive · 4 years ago

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HQ Teams Lose Their Manager

Based on this ask! @confusedturtle

[gn!Manager]

Feat. Aoba Johsai, and Nekoma (Was gonna do all the teams but this ended up being a little tougher than I was expecting. Maybe if there’s interest I’ll do more parts with more teams! :))

I decided to mix up the outings so it didn’t get boring! Hope that’s okay!

AOBA JOHSAI

Where you went: Haunted Attraction - it was more like a haunted mansion than a house. It was your suggestion - and the boys never say no to you, no matter how badly they want to sometimes.

What happened: The team went in groups of two - You and Kunimi took the lead, followed closely by Hanamaki and Matsukawa, then Yahaba and Kyōtani, then Iwa and Oikawa (who insisted he be behind Iwa and Kyōtani for protection, even though Kyo was all but quaking in his shoes), and taking up the rear was Kindaichi and Watari. At some point, Makki noticed you and Kunimi had just kind of...disappeared? He tried to be discreet about it, he really did, but when he whispered to Mattsun “You see Kunimi and Y/n?” one of the actors heard and started shrieking about having eaten the two of you.

How they reacted:

Makki and Mattsun are actively planning your’s and Kunimi’s funerals just to rile up Oikawa, much to Iwa’s distress. Probably reenacting Shakespearean monologues about your death while the others slowly dissolve into mass panic (thanks to Oikawa).

Iwaizumi is desperately trying to keep things under control, while also keeping an eye out for the two of you. He knows it’s likely you got lost but he has enough sense to know that surely one of the actors would break character to help you...right? He’s trying a little extra hard to keep his cool.

Oikawa? An absolute Mess™. He is plowing through the attraction, accidentally bumping into actors left and right, shrieking at every turn while shouting for you (not Kunimi tho hfkajsdfaks) and trying (and failing) to direct Kyōtani and Iwaizumi through the house as if they were Pokémon.

Kyōtani is a little too busy hanging on to his last shred of dignity to give you a second thought. Between trying to keep his cool and trying to get Oikawa to stop pushing him into the rooms when his heart is barely hanging in there, he is a millisecond away from an all out villain origin story. Yahaba is mildly concerned, but honestly he’s too busy cackling at Kyōtani (please yahaba let the man have a minute of peace).

Kindaichi and Watari feed off Oikawa’s chaotic energy - they didn’t know what was going on, but they heard that you and Kunimi were dead and just began blindly panicking along with their Captain.

Where they found you: Outside, with Kunimi, having completed the attraction 20 minutes ago. You stood at the exit with ice creams and gasped when the rest of the team was escorted out by security. You guys are banned from coming back, but you can’t get too upset about it when the team rushes to you - Oikawa flinging his arms dramatically around your frame half muttering into your hair about how he thought he lost you, Iwa standing a little closer than usual, the rosiness of his cheeks and the softened gaze giving him away as he says “Glad you’re okay”, Kyōtani standing on the side opposite Iwa, his hand coming to hold the hem of your shirt to comfort him. Yahaba, Kindaichi, and Watari coming around too to talk your ear off about the chaos that just unfolded before them. You can’t help but smile as Makki and Mattsun tease Kunimi, regaling the events that had taken place and making Kunimi chuckle - certainly an achievement in it of itself.

NEKOMA

Where you went: Indoor Trampoline Park - Coach Nekomata was getting fed up with the constant bickering between members of the team (everyone @ Lev) and Coach Naoi recommended a trip to an indoor trampoline park as a team bonding field trip. Being their manager, you were forced invited along too :)

What happened: Things were going surprisingly well - Kenma and Fukunaga found an arcade area and spent most of the time there while Yamamoto and his posse of first years (Inuoka, Shibayama, and Teshiro specifically) were causing discreet chaos on the trampolines. Kuroo and Yaku raced to the obstacle course to see who could complete it first, with Kai following after them begging them to not get the team kicked out. Lev had dragged you to the end of the obstacle course to see who would reign supreme, but he dragged you into the foam pit and in his excited state, didn’t notice when you sunk in and lost your grip on his hand. It wasn’t until Kai asked Lev about your whereabouts that it hit him that he lost you, his hands sweating as he turns to Kai with straight panic. Yaku and Kuroo tie (though each of them insists there was a clear win) and walk up just as Lev stuttered out “I-I think I lost them.”

How they reacted:

Kuroo’s mother hen senses immediately spring into action - he calls for everyone to meet up at the center to confirm that no one knew your whereabouts.

All hell breaks loose when they notice that both you and Kenma are missing from the group.

Kenma had left the arcade after some younger kids had barreled into the area shrieking like escaped zoo animals - when he decided to hide underneath the foam pit, he found you (hiding from Lev) chillin’ and decided to join you.

Fukunaga found you guys relatively quickly, but returned back to the group and didn’t say a single word about it, he just watched the team crumple into hysteria with a pleasant smile on his face LMAO

Kuroo is yelling at Lev, who’s drowning in a sea of guilt and is literally near tears (please someone hug our tall lanky boi). Kai is trying to get him to remember the last time he was with you, but Lev is too busy spiraling.

Yamamoto is already calling Tanaka to plan a funeral service for you - he is inconsolable and Inuoka and Shibayama are trying (see: Failing) to console him with gentle pats and “They’re probably fine, Taketora-san!”

Teshiro is trying hard to maintain his composure but everyone else’s stress is getting to him and he can’t decide if he wants to cry, go home, or both.

Kuroo is seconds away from taking over the intercom to call for a shut down when Lev bursts out with a “THEY’RE IN THE FOAM PIT” and the entire team hustles to the foam pit to save you.

Yaku is trying to make it worse because stressed Kuroo brings him a sick pleasure pls I can’t I love Yaku so much lmaooo

Yaku: “it’s been too long...they’ve definitely suffocated by now.”

Kai: “KNOCK IT OFF YAKU”

Lev sticks his arm down into the foam pit, blindly searching for either one of you.

I swear Kenma becomes a body contortionist the way he moves to avoid the dangling arm that’s jerking around in a desperate attempt to catch a hold of something human shaped

Where they found you: The moment you hear Yamamoto say something about ordering vigil candles, you realize that you should probably let them know you’re alright. You sigh dejectedly and take Lev’s hand and he HURLS you up out of the foam pit and rocket launches you into the air. The team collectively catches you before you hit the ground and they all bear hug you, Yamamoto sobbing while still on the phone with Tanaka - Kenma shows up seconds later and Kuroo crushes the both you in a hug while simultaneously scolding you. the first years and Yaku all talk over each other trying to tell you the absolute chaos you two caused and Kenma is so bothered by the noise he disappears again causing another panic before you guys are inevitably kicked out.

#haikyuu headcanons #haikyuu!!#haikyuu x reader #hq!! x reader #nekoma manager hc #headcanons #hq!! headcanons #hq headcanons #nekoma headcanons #aoba johsai headcanons #seijoh headcanons #haikyu!! headcanons #haikyu!!#haikyu!! x reader #I love seijoh and nekoma so so much my goddd #these were kind of terrible tho im so sorry lmao #Nekoma's gave me so much trouble for some reason and idk whyyy

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heliads · 4 years ago

Text

Guns Blazing, Tides Rising (Part One)

When Kaz Brekker announces that they’ll be working with a certain Tidemaker to help with the latest heist, Jesper knows it’s not going to end well. He and Y/N L/N have a fierce rivalry, although feelings may change over a night.

series masterlist / part two

Jesper is almost one block away from the Crow Club when he senses that he isn’t alone.

Technically, he hasn’t been alone in a long time. There is no place to get away in Ketterdam, no alley left uninhabited or room without a listener. It’s certainly nothing like Novyi Zem, where you could find miles of farmland with nobody to talk to and nothing to do. No, the Barrel has never been somewhere to stay away from people.

This, however, is a different kind of presence. Jesper only notices it now, and he has no idea how long the Wraith has been following him. Sometimes he thinks she does it on purpose, walking behind him, footsteps silent as ever, just to see how long it takes him to figure out that she’s there. Jesper halts in his tracks, raising his voice to the hooded figure no doubt a pace or two behind him. “I know you’re there, Inej, and if I turn around just now you had better not do that thing where you wait two inches behind me just to make me jump.”

There is silence, as expected. Jesper turns in a slow semicircle, ready for the inevitable, yet he still stiffens just slightly to see Inej standing behind him. Jesper has been in the Barrel for a long time, and gotten used to the skulking and sneaking of the various goons. He fancies himself at least somewhat capable at figuring out when people are following him, but for some reason, he cannot do the same with Inej. Not at all.

She raises an eyebrow at him. “You did the thing.” Jesper finishes lamely. Something almost like a smile tugs at Inej’s lips. “That’s not exactly my fault. I’ve been waiting for you to notice me for a while. I’ve practically been stomping my heels against the cobblestones.” Jesper groans. “You have not. You’ve been as silent as ever, and you know that.” Inej ignores this, jerking her chin behind her, back in the direction of the Slat. “Your Crow Club endeavor will have to wait. Kaz needs you.”

Kaz Brekker needs him. “What a surprise. I’m very useful, as it turns out. Couldn’t this wait a little longer, though? I’ve heard they’ve got a new dealer over at Makker’s Wheel.” Inej just turns around, starting to walk back towards the Slat. No matter how hard Jesper tries, he cannot hear a single footstep echo against the stones. “This is more important.” Jesper raises an eyebrow. “More important than earning the Dregs money by supporting a local establishment? He doesn’t need to worry, you know, I’ve got money.”

Jesper grimaces at the look of incredulity starting to color Inej’s eyes. “Alright, it’s not a lot of money. But it is at least enough to buy a round or two. Besides,” Jesper continues, eager to shift the conversation away from his less than prosperous gambling habits, “Why did Kaz send you? He could have just delivered a note.” Inej lifts a shoulder, even the slightest of shrugs a graceful movement. “I told you, this is important.”

Jesper is intrigued by this. “Whenever you say ‘important’ more than once, it’s always good. Is it another heist? Extortion? Maybe a good clash of rival gangs?” Inej rolls her eyes. “I’m not supposed to tell you anything. That was the whole point of me going.” Jesper sighs dramatically. “You could tell me a little bit. I wouldn’t even mention it to Kaz.”

Inej instead lets her eyes trail upwards, towards the ramshackle glory of the Slat which is visible down the block. “You’ll get your information soon enough.” Her voice grows quiet, quieter than usual. It’s practically impossible to hear over the clack of footsteps on stone as pigeons and gang members alike rush to finish their business before it grows too late and the thieves come running. “I will say one thing, though. While we’re still away from prying ears.”

Jesper leans closer, fascinated. “What is it?” Inej looks up at him, and Jesper realizes that she looks almost regretful. “Don’t be too upset.” Jesper waits for more, some explanation to this excruciatingly vague statement, but nothing happens. “Don’t be upset? What, is Kaz going to cane me to death?” Inej tilts her head to the side. “There’s a plan, and it will involve some things that you won’t be too fond of. That’s all I can say for now.”

Jesper wants to pry a little further, even if he senses that the Wraith will remain silent, but the door to the Slat is already in front of him, effectively stopping any conversation. The Dregs may be Kaz’s gang, but loyalties can always be changed. Jesper has wandered the canals long enough to know that all secrets should be kept to locked doors, and even allies can turn against you. Some conversations are best when they’re not shared at all.

Jesper looks around for Kaz in the main room of the Slat, but he doesn’t see the dark-haired boy anywhere. Instead, Inej inclines her head towards the rickety set of stairs at the back of the room. “He’ll be waiting for you in his office.” Jesper moves to ask her something, anything, about what else is waiting for him there, but before he can even open his mouth to speak Inej has disappeared. It’s fascinating- Jesper hadn’t even turned away or looked elsewhere, yet she had vanished right before his open eyes. He hadn’t seen her go, just witnessed her blink away into the shadows.

Jesper stares at the empty floorboards where Inej had once stood, then, squaring his shoulders as if preparing for a particularly nerve-wracking round of cards, begins to ascend the flights of stairs. He pauses once outside the door to Kaz’s office, touching the hilts of his pearl handled revolvers for luck, then pushes open the door and steps inside.

Kaz is waiting for him, standing at his desk and running through a map spread out across the wooden surface. He looks up when he sees Jesper enter, straightening to nod once in greeting. Jesper’s eyes travel to Inej, who had somehow beat him up the stairs and is now perched, catlike, on Kaz’s windowsill.

Kaz doesn’t bother with pleasantries or questions about Jesper’s day, as per usual, just dives into an explanation. “There’s a mercher living down near the Financial District. He’s like the others- snotty, pretends to be pious, unseasonably rich for someone who just arrived at his title, but he’s strayed too far from his gilded walkways and tried to start restrictions on Fifth Harbor.”

Jesper lets out a snort. “Merchers. Always getting too big for their tie pins.” Kaz ignores this. “Under his new plan, we’d have to pay out reparations to him and also ease back on coaxing pigeons into our establishments. There’s no way in hell that would ever pass, but this mercher just happens to have some pretty significant blackmail on key members of the Merchant Council, and they’ll pass whatever bill he wants so long as he keeps his mouth shut. Unfortunately, we can’t kill him directly, but we can break into his mansion and steal his proof of the Council’s less savory transactions. Without the blackmail, the Council will never pass the bill, and we’ll be fine.”

Jesper raises an eyebrow. “As easy as that?” Kaz lifts a shoulder. “There’s a slight complication. This mercher, Joeri ter Steege, has a certain thing for oceanside views. He’s found himself a nice little inlet near the water’s edge, and access to his mansion is only available by boat. This means that any attempt to access his house would mean we would travel by water, and any boat could easily be sighted by guards that patrol the area.”

Jesper squints at Kaz. “What do you mean, only available by boat? If he’s living in an inlet, shouldn’t there be some dock connecting it to the mainland?” Inej flashes him a smile. “The merch has got himself a moat.” Jesper stares. “You’re kidding me. You’ve got to be kidding me. This merch is so extravagantly wealthy that he’s gone and got himself a moat? Ghezen’s hand, maybe I should become a banker. The things I could do.” Inej hides a laugh. “The moats you could build.”

Kaz’s hand tightens around his crow’s head cane. “Regardless of the merch’s terrible landscaping decisions, the fact remains that access will be practically impossible. To get across, we’d need a boat, and any boat would be sighted by guards. That’s why we need a Tidemaker.” Jesper’s smile starts to drop from his face. Suddenly, pieces are starting to fall into place. Inej’s warning. Kaz’s mention of a Tidemaker. Jesper shakes his head. “Don’t tell me you got the one Tidemaker I’m thinking of. Please say you brought in somebody else.”

Kaz opens his mouth to either condemn this or save Jesper’s skin, but then a voice rings out from the newly opened door and Jesper’s spirits sink into his boots. “Afraid not, Fahey. They’ve brought me.” Jesper turns around, finding himself face to face with a girl just walking into the office, hand loosely wrapped around the wooden doorframe. She tosses him a smile as if they’re old friends, when it couldn’t be further from the truth.

Jesper whirls back around to face Kaz. “You didn’t. You’re really trusting her? Y/N L/N?” Kaz shrugs. “She’s the best there is, unfortunately. We need to remain hidden, and she’s the only one who won’t rat us out or let us drown.” Y/N walks further into the room, letting the door close behind her. “I appreciate the vote in confidence, but don’t worry about me. I can get you in and out, no problem. Well, the only problem will be you, sharpshooter.”

Jesper feels the sudden need to grab one (or maybe both) of his revolvers and let fly with his bullets. Can a Tidemaker wash away a hail of ammunition? Jesper’s assuming not. Kaz taps his cane against the floor. “Let’s not reach to violence just yet, Jesper. Wait until after the extraction is over.” Jesper throws one last glare Y/N’s way. “Trust me, I’ll have no problem with that.” He can wait, after all.

The problem with Y/N L/N is this: she keeps finding a way to meddle with everything he does. First, Jesper was on a heist by himself, breaking into a stronghold of the Dime Lions to snatch up an encoded message left by Pekka Rollins. He was doing fine until a wave of water cascaded in through the windows, knocking him aside and thoroughly drenching the paper. It was useless now, both to Rollins and to Kaz. Y/N had only bothered to toss a wink across the room before leaving, allowing her wave to soak Jesper’s boots while she was at it.

The second time was during a shootout. She’d been hired to the other side, although Jesper hadn’t known it yet. Jesper was just about to fire upon the lousy goon who’d hired her when she’d used her powers again, this time specifically intending to ruin his guns. His precious pearl-handled revolvers, soaked through with water. It had taken him forever to get the saltwater out of every crack and groove in the metal, and during all of that time he’d vowed to himself that he’d be the one to darken her doorway and make Y/N regret ever stepping foot against him again.

Jesper had won the third time. This time, he was the unexpected guest, and she was seconds away from drowning an entire swath of gang members to protect a secret. She was just raising her hands to move the water into place when a gunshot sounded from out of nowhere and she was knocked sideways, hand already raising to the stain of red starting to bloom out from her arm. It wouldn’t kill her, unfortunately, but it was enough to give the gang members time to escape. Some of them were Dregs, after all, and Jesper had some friends to protect. That isn’t to say that he didn’t walk away with a smile, just that he had multiple motives.

Needless to say, he didn’t exactly have the best history with Y/N L/N. And now Kaz was asking him to have her back during a heist? It sounds like a joke. Unfortunately, Jesper has a sinking feeling that there’s no getting out of this. If he’s going to have to depend on Y/N for his life, things might not exactly go according to plan. He has no idea where Y/N’s loyalties lie, he reasons, but Jesper thinks there might be more to it than that.

The group meets up at the water’s edge. The canals bleed into the harbor here, and Jesper can just make out the lights of Joeri ter Steege’s mansion across the glittering black of the waves. He can also make out a slight tension in Kaz’s grip on his cane as he takes in the sight of the undulating water, but that isn’t for him to notice. Y/N melts out of the shadows, a blue lining on her coat the only indication that she might still cling to Ravkan traditions for Grisha. “Well?” She asks, walking past them as if not expecting an answer, “Are we ready?”

Y/N spreads her hands and the water of the harbor flickers and shifts on the surface. As Jesper watches, Y/N steps forward, and the water solidifies under her feet as if she’s walking on glass instead of the tides. She pushes her hands apart, and the area of solid water expands until it’s large enough to act as a bridge. She turns to the rest of the group. “We can walk from here. It’ll be faster than a boat, and far more quiet.”

Kaz nods, beginning to walk after her on the bridge of water. Before his feet leave the ground, his mouth moves once. “No mourners.” Jesper nods. “No funerals.” They won’t be able to speak as freely at the mercher’s island, so this will do best. Jesper considers the unmoving waves one last time, then follows him. He’s half expecting Y/N to let the water liquify under his feet just a little bit, out of spite, but it holds. They continue along the harbor, and if Jesper turns his head he can see the bridge rippling back into normal water after they pass by it. It raises the hairs on the back of his neck to see his escape route disappear so quickly, but Jesper does his best to quiet the voice of warning. Kaz would never bring Y/N in if he thought she would betray them, and even if he did, Kaz would have another way out. That’s just the way Dirtyhands worked.

All the same, Jesper feels a little better when his heels land on solid ground once more. Kaz doesn’t have to say a word, just points at the roof. Jesper nods, remembering the plan. He and Y/N split away from Kaz and Inej, heading towards the roof for their line of entry. When Jesper had heard this part of the plan, he had complained viciously. Why should he have to go scale the building alone with Y/N? Why couldn’t Inej go instead? In the end, it hadn’t mattered- the plan needed them both there, so that’s where they would go.

Jesper doesn’t exactly have Inej’s skill in climbing, but ter Steege makes it easy. There are balconies and handholds practically everywhere, as if the merch is offering free mansion climbing lessons to anyone interested. Jesper supposes that one would be less concerned about robberies if you had a moat, but still. You have that much money, you might as well pretend to make it hard for light-fingered con artists.

Soon enough, Jesper and Y/N are standing on the roof, staring down at the fourth skylight from the left. This is where they’ll enter, once it reaches eleven bells and it’s time to move. Now, however, all they can do is wait as Kaz and Inej get into position. Jesper carefully sits down, letting his long legs prop up against the tiles of the roof. Y/N sits next to him, staring up at the sky. The moon is out tonight, the pale light illuminating her eyes and dusting her cheeks.

Distantly, Jesper realizes that he’s never seen her like this- letting her guard down for once. He’s not shooting at her, she’s not trying to drown him, it’s almost like a peace offering. Y/N must be having the same thoughts, because she turns to face him. The moonlight still stays on her face, as if unwilling to let go. Jesper has the sudden thought that he wouldn’t want to do the same either, if he had the opportunity to linger here, then shakes himself mentally.

Y/N’s voice is quiet, a whisper cutting through his thoughts and scattering them to the wind. “Do you ever wonder what would have happened if we hadn’t been fighting when we first met each other? Would we have been friends like you and Kaz?” Jesper chuckles in spite of himself. “If you think Kaz Brekker makes friends, I’m starting to think that you’ve suffered a head injury.”

Y/N rolls her eyes. “He trusts you. That’s rare.” Jesper shrugs, conceding this. He keeps speaking, though, even when he has just decided to remain silent. “I think we could have been close. We have similar interests.” Y/N raises an eyebrow. “Money? A good time?” Jesper flashes her a grin, easy as flipping a coin and landing it square in your palm. “Exactly. See? We already understand each other perfectly.”

Y/N lets out a short laugh at that, moonlight still teasing at the corner of her lips. Jesper’s eyes linger longer than they should. Curse his tendencies to start rivalries with the prettiest of enemies- it’s beginning to get him into trouble. Y/N’s head tilts towards the tides below, and then she stands. “It’s time. The bells are about to ring.” Jesper mourns the moment lost, then stands and takes his position by the skylight. He waits for the bells to begin to toll, then grabs his revolver, spinning it back and forth in his palm like a nervous tic before firing four times at the corners of the window, exactly where the locks will hold.

He doesn’t miss the way Y/N’s eyes track the spin of the gun, or the admirative tug of her lips into a half smile. However, now is no longer the time for schoolboy glances, and Jesper kneels at the window, carefully removing it from its frame. This is their entrance, and they would do well to hurry along.

The plan almost goes well. Almost. They manage to break into the mercher’s office, stealing the documents and meeting up with Kaz and Inej to get out, but just as they’re about to cross through the main atrium of the mansion, a loud dissonance of bells breaks out. An alarm. Jesper sees identical looks of panic reflected on every face- this was not supposed to happen. Not at all. They don’t hesitate, just run. Jesper’s lived in the Barrel long enough to remember this one lesson: when you can’t count on gangs or anyone to have your back, your feet always will. Just remember to keep moving.

They’re almost to the water’s edge when the shots ring out. Guards have followed them out of the building and fire even as their feet pound down the beach. Jesper’s revolvers are in his hands before another second can pass, bullets aimed with precision as he runs. They’re almost to the water when he hears a sound from behind him that draws all breath from his lungs. From here, it almost sounds like a cry of pain. It’s soft, as if someone’s trying not to draw attention, but Jesper hears it nonetheless.

He turns around and his stomach clenches with horror as he realizes he was right. Y/N is stumbling, clutching a terrible scarlet stain across her chest. It’s deep, too deep, and far too close to her heart to be safe. Y/N has time to fling her arms up, casting out the bridge of water once more, before she falls to the ground. All of a sudden, Jesper’s vision tunnels. He can only see two things: Y/N, hand limp over the spreading blood, and the guards, pistols still smoking.

Jesper’s shots ring out again and again. He can’t hear anything other than a buzzing in his ears, something that might be his pulse or just a sign that he’s gone mad. To be honest, Jesper’s not sure that he cares. Bullets careen through the air, curving around pillars and corners to reach their targets. His da would panic to see him, grab Jesper by his shoulders and tell him to be more careful. Anyone could know now, could see the way the bullets fly through the air as if guided by an invisible hand and figure out what that means, but Jesper doesn’t think about that for a second. All he can think about is revenge, and making sure that every single body falls to the ground.

Jesper’s haze leaves him, and he realizes that all of the guards are dead. All of them. Then his guns are back in their holsters, and he’s scrambling towards Y/N. When he picks her up, she feels cold. Too cold. Blood is staining his hands now, turning the long fingers red, but he barely notices at all. His heels flash down the beach, then onto the water, which is still solid. It must be killing her to keep this up, but she’s still doing it.

Jesper swore that it took far longer to make the trip over the harbor, but it feels like he’s barely taken a few steps before he’s on the other side and the water bridge is swallowed up by the tides once more. Kaz and Inej have just made it onto the other side, and their eyes widen at the crazed look on Jesper and the bloodied form of Y/N in his arms. Jesper doesn’t have time to consider this, and he shouts at them as he runs. “Get a healer! Get somebody- Nina, maybe. Anybody.”

Inej takes off into the streets, but Kaz remains, giving Jesper a particular look. “I remember you saying something about how Y/N was your rival. This is your chance, you know. The Barrel can be a ruthless place, and nobody would suspect you if she never made it back.” Jesper has the feeling that this is a test, some challenge placed before him to see how he’ll respond, but he can’t find it within himself to care. Jesper has always had an affinity for the odds, but this once, it’s not enough. “No. I’m getting her out. I need a Healer.”

Kaz steps back, allowing Jesper to pass, but not before he sees the appraising look in his eyes. Kaz nods once, briefly, and then Jesper is around the corner and sprinting headlong towards the Slat. A Healer is indeed waiting there, and holds out her arms to receive Y/N. For a second, Jesper’s arms clench around her body, unwilling to give her up, and then he forces his arms to relax and she’s gone, carried away into another room.

Jesper is left with the blood staining his shirt and the decision staining his conscience. If Y/N died, was it his fault? Should he care this much? He’s not sure that question can even be answered. The Healer comes out eventually, nodding at him. She’s not ready to have visitors, or at least she won’t be awake to see them, but that doesn’t stop Jesper from disappearing into her room the second the Healer leaves.

Jesper feels his throat close up when he sees her. Y/N is lying stiff and unmoving on a narrow bed, breath unnaturally slow and eyes closed. It’s strange- he’s seen her fiery and powerful, glowing as a Grisha does after they use their powers, but now she looks seconds from death. Jesper’s feet carry him woodenly over to the bed, and he stands there for a moment before reaching down and taking her hand. He doesn’t expect to feel anything at all, yet there’s a slight pressure and her eyelids flicker open.

“What, trying to finish the job?” A slight smile cracks Y/N’s lips, and Jesper feels like he could cry out in relief. Maybe it’s time he takes up Inej’s saints after all. “You’re alright?” She nods, although even this small movement appears to hurt. “As well as one can. I think I have someone to thank for that, though.” Jesper nods slowly. “Yeah, the Healer was great. We should keep her around just in case.”

Y/N laughs, the sound undamaged even as her blood still stains the bandages. “You’re impossible. I’m talking about you.” Jesper’s cheeks feel hot. “Oh.” Now this is unreal- usually he’s the one eliciting blushes, never the other way around. “I couldn’t just leave you there, you know.” She nods once, smiling, and then her eyelids seem too heavy to stay open and she starts to drift off to sleep once more. If Jesper happened to stay with her even after her eyes shut, and even if a kiss just happened to be pressed to her cheek, well, that was nobody’s business but his own.

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buckys-black-dress · 3 years ago

Text

✄ chapter three: losin' grip on my doin'

a/n: okay, let's goooo! chapter 3 :) things are buildin up... get ready ;) chapter 4 will be posed tonight or tomorrow :)

wc: 4.1k

[fratboy!bucky barnes x fem!reader]

series masterlist

To say the least, waking up the next morning in the most coveted after playboy's bed was a shock. You wake up nestled into Bucky Barnes' side, and you wonder if this is what it felt like.

If this is what every conquest that's been brought to his room feels like when they wake up.

You're very much aware of a metal arm slung over your waist, and you feel panic rise up in your throat. Once you recognize you're fully clothed, you release a breath and feel the tension disintegrating from your body.

You can feel Bucky Barnes' heavy breaths under your head from where you're situated on his chest, and you take a moment and pause.

You would never think you'd find yourself in this situation; sidled up in bed with your university's most notorious fratboy. Someone girls and guys coveted after, and who would do anything to get in bed with him.

Yet, here you are. You don't want to admit to yourself that you quite like it here. You feel comfortable, safe. Fitted perfectly right under his arm, listening to his even breaths as you replay the night before's events in your mind like a film reel.

You meet him.

You play pong with him.

You talk to him.

You go up to his room with him.

And now you're awake in his bed. Fully clothed.

How?

Before you could ask too many questions and drown into a spiral, you hear Bucky draw in a sharp breath, signaling his awakening. You look up at him, wondering how he's going to react to you being here. Not only you being here, but also how you two woke up.

"Mornin', doll." He smiles down at you, and his morning voice sends a shiver down your spine at the raspiness.

"H-Hi." You simply say. You can't quite draw any coherent thoughts at the moment, as Bucky's arm tightens around you and draws you closer to his body.

"Sleep well?" He asks, still looking down at you fond look that makes your heart swell in your chest.

"Hm," you hum, "better than I expected, honestly." You laugh.

"Good, spent way too much on this mattress for it to not please my guests." Bucky smirks, and you get lost in his blue eyes for a moment.

But then, you think about his word choice. Guests. Plural. And although you know nothing happened between you two, you still feel a wave of shame wash over you at the notion.

Bucky's had guests in this bed before. You aren't the first girl to sleep in this bed, and you probably weren't the last.

You feel Bucky shift underneath you, seeing his expression turn to worry at the way you're clearly lost in thought.

"Everythin' alright?" He asks, and you nod quickly.

"Yeah, everything's fine. Just peachy." You give a quick smile, trying to not show how your stomach was churning at the thought of all the girls who've been here before you.

"Wanna go grab some breakfast?" Bucky asks, and you pause.

He wants to stay with me? He's not kicking me out, asking me to leave?

“Sure, uh, where did you wanna go?” You ask gently, worrying that you might scare him off, that he’s delusional right now and he doesn’t really want to spend time with you. You’re beyond confused right now.

“We can head to the diner if you’re good with that? My treat.” He says as he stands up, pulling on a shirt to avoid the chill of the room.

It’s a red henley, and the way you see his muscles straining in the sleeves of the shirt has a blush crawling up your neck.

“Yeah, that’s fine.” You croak, getting out of the bed.

By the time you get up and get dressed, sweatpants courtesy of Bucky, and head to the diner, it’s already noon. It’s a Saturday morning, so most people are still in bed while recovering from their hangovers.

“So, how come I haven’t seen you at one of our parties before last night?” Bucky asks while you seat yourselves at a booth in the back of the diner.

“I uhm, I don’t really go out too much. Natasha basically begged me to come out, and I only did it to get her off my case and stop asking me.” You reply while taking a sip of the scalding coffee in front of you that a nice waitress poured for the two of you.

“Really? Well, I’d say you should come more often,” he gives you this smile, and your brain is short-circuiting at how handsome he looks. “You were a great pong partner.”

The emphasis on the word and his tone indicate that he was very much so being sarcastic, and you give a bashful chuckle at his words.

“Oh yeah, definitely. I have nothing on Natasha and Sam.” You laugh, and the same waitress comes by to take your orders.

Once she flutters back behind the counter to put the orders in, you’re reading a text on your phone that you felt vibrate while it was in the pocket of Bucky’s sweater you were sporting.

Natasha:

(12:08 PM) Hey, did you end up getting back safe last night? Sorry I kind of bailed, I just ended up crashing when I got to Sam’s room.

She punctuates her sentence with a face palm emoji in embarrassment, and you smile at the text.

Y/N:

(12:10 PM) Hi, I just crashed in Bucky’s room last night. No funny business tho, so don’t get any ideas in your head.

As you send off the message, you turn off your phone and place is face-down on the table, deciding you’ll deal with Nat’s freak out about you spending the night with Bucky later.

“Everythin’ okay?” Bucky’s voice startles you out of your thoughts, and you snap your eyes up to his.

“Yeah, Nat was just making sure I didn’t end up dead in a ditch last night.” You laugh, shaking your head at how dramatic your roommate could be at times.

“Hey, it’s good to know she cares about you.” He responds, and you nod at his words.

“I mean, yeah. No matter how much she might bug me about going out or getting a boyfriend, she’s still like my sister. I don’t know what I’d do without her.” A sigh leaves your mouth, thinking about Nat. She’s been there for you through everything in your life, and it was true. She was your biggest supporter, and you’re glad you have someone who cares so much for you.

“She seems like a great friend. Sam and Steve are the same for me. I mean, although I grew up with Steve, Sam was like the third brother we never even knew we needed.” He stares off into the distance with a soft look in his eyes, and you smile fondly at his words.

In that moment, you feel like you’re seeing a side of Bucky that not many people get to see. This is Bucky, a guy from Brooklyn who’s just trying to get by in college. Not a man-whore, or a guy who just wants to ge his dick wet like everyone says.

Before you could come up with a response to what he’s said, the same lady comes and places your hot food in front of the both of you, leaving with a ‘enjoy!’ before she whirls away again.

You eat while making small talk, just about life, school, and hobbies. Before you know it, Bucky asks for the check, and even though you know he said he’d pick it up earlier, you still fight him on paying for half the bill.

In the end, Bucky becomes so frustrated with your antics that he simply gets up and hands the waitress his card, and you simply watch with a dropped jaw at his actions.

“You didn’t have to do that!” You exclaim, albeit quietly, but enough to show your frustration.

“Doll, I’m treating you to brunch. Just let me.” Is all Bucky says, effectively shutting you up.

On your walk back to campus, Bucky asks what you’re doing for the rest of the day, asking if you wanted to come back to his room.

“I should head back, Natasha’s probably waiting for me with a million questions.” You bashfully look up to your window from the bottom of your dorm building.

“Oh, okay doll.” Bucky wraps his arms around you, pulling you into an unexpected hug. You feel your body tense at the action, but once you realize what’s happening, you relax again, letting yourself melt into his body.

“See ya later?” He asks with a raised brow.

“Uh, yeah. I don’t know what I’ll be doing later, but we can talk later.” You smile up at him, slowly moving out of his grip and towards the door.

Before you could fully open the door, you hear Bucky��s voice call out to you one more time.

“Y/N, wait!” He yells, jogging over to you at the door. “Can I uh, get your number? So I can text you later?” He asks, his metal hand rubbing the back of his neck.

“O-Oh, sure! Yeah!” You reply a bit louder than you had intended, just out of pure shock at his question.

You open a new message on your phone, allowing Bucky to type in his number and save his contact. Once he hands the device back to you, you see his name saved as Bucky Barnes <3.

Before you can say anything about the heart he added himself, he pecks your cheek and runs off, with a distant ‘I’ll see ya later, doll!’

You essentially float up to your room, not feeling like you were on the planet right now. You felt like you were up in the clouds, unaware of your own actions. You unlock the door to your room, and Natasha is perched upon her bed, looking down at two outfits she has held up against her form.

“Hey! You didn’t answer my messages, you little bitch! Tell me everything!” She turns around at the sound of you entering, already berating you.

But it all sounds muffled in your ears, not fully comprehending what she was saying to you.

“Hey, you okay? Earth to Y/N?” The redhead says again, waving a hand in front of your face at your spacey expression.

“I-I, yeah, I’m fine. Just… shocked.” You breathe out.

“So? Tell me what happened!”

At first, you could barely get the words out of your mouth, trying to explain everything that occurred in the past 24 hours. You get through the story, a little bit challenged at trying to organize your thoughts, but eventually you get Natasha up to speed.

“So… you didn’t have sex with him?” Your roommate says, and you shake your head no.

“Nat, you know how I feel about having sex. I don’t want to rush into it, and I don’t want my first time to be with some… random guy from a frat. I want it to be with someone I trust, someone I’m comfortable with.” You tell her like a broken record, because over the course of the time that you’ve been friends with Natasha, you’ve had this conversation with her several times. Sometimes, you wondered why she was so hellbent on you losing your virginity.

As much as you loved her and understood her intentions with the question, you were getting tired of having to defend yourself every time.

“I- I know! I just… I want you to be happy, with whoever you want. I never want you to think I’m rushing you though, Y/N. I love you.” Natasha explains, putting her hand on your arm in consolation.

“I know, Nat. But trust me, you’ll be the first to know when I do… do it. Don’t worry.” You laugh at how ridiculous you sounded.

She’s looking back down at her bed now, looking between the outfits she was holding earlier.

“Okay… now, help me pick an outfit! Sam wants to go on a date tonight!” She says, showing you the different options.

As you two banter and talk about last night, you interrupt Natasha’s tirade about Sam and ‘what a gentleman he is!’

“Bucky gave me his number earlier.” Saying it out loud makes it sound all the more ridiculous. You feel like a high-schooler at your words, and the way Natasha stops all movement makes you feel all the more insane.

“His number?” She asks, like she couldn’t figure out what to really say.

“Yeah. He even saved a heart next to his name in my phone. What does that even mean?” You wonder out loud, and now you’re sure you’ve gone crazy.

“I… I’m not sure. I think he likes you.” She says nonchalantly, and you scoff.

“Yeah, because Bucky Barnes is very interested in a girl he met last night who didn’t want to sleep with him. He must be going crazy over a girl like me.” You finish with an incredulous laugh, like it never even crossed your mind that he could like you.

“Well… he acted very different from you’ve been telling me. He usually just fucks a girl and she leaves the next morning, nothing more, nothing less. The fact that he didn’t fuck you and took you out to brunch says a lot about this whole situation.” She explains, and you’re still having a hard time grasping this information.

Just as you’re about to find a rationale as to why her explanation isn’t plausible, you feel your phone buzz.

With furrowed brows, you open your texts.

Bucky Barnes <3:

(2:01 PM) Hey doll, do you wanna come by to another party we’re having tonight? Could use my trusty pong champ ;)

Your mouth dries at the message, words lodged in your throat.

“Look what he just texted me.” You flip your screen to Nat and she reads with an unreadable expression, which quickly turns into her brows shooting up.

“A winky face! Y/N/N, he fucking likes you! He wants to see you again!” She exclaims, and you don’t even know what to say.

“How do I respond?” You feel so unexperienced, asking your roommate for advice on how to text a guy.

“Here, gimme,” she snatches the phone out of your grasp, quickly typing something and handing the phone back to you.

You read what she sent with wide eyes.

Y/N Y/L/N:

(2:11 PM) I’ll be there ;) Should I bring clothes to change into for tonight?

“Nat! Why would you say that? You’re making it sound like I wanna have sex with him tonight!” You rise up from your spot on her bed in a panic, pacing the area of your small room.

“Y/N, relax! He-” Before she could finish, your phone buzzed again.

Bucky Barnes <3

(2:13 PM) Hilarious, doll. You don’t have to, but if you wanna crash here again tonight, you can definitely bring your own stuff if that makes you more comfy :)

“Oh my God. He’s so sweet!” Nat giggles, covering her mouth with her hand. “You have to go now!”

“Nat… doesn’t this look a little… suspicious? From what I’ve heard, this isn’t how he usually acts.” You say wearily, the worry clear in your tone.

“Y/N, look at me.” Natasha's hands come to the sides of your head, urging your gaze to meet hers. “You’re a great girl. You deserve someone who treats you well and gets excited to see you, like Bucky is right now. Don’t push him away. You deserve something good.”

At her words, your eyes soften and you feel the distant sting of tears behind your eyes. You give her a nod, not knowing how to express your gratitude to her in words at the moment. She pulls you into a hug and you hold her tight against you, like she might disappear if you let go.

“Now, we need to get you ready for tonight. You’re gonna make Bucky wish he fucked you.” Natasha smirks an evil one.

“Nat!”

The party was in full swing upon your arrival. You were all alone when you walked through the doors of the fraternity house, as Natasha had gone on her dinner date with Sam. She’d promised she’d come by after dinner, and you were practically shaking while searching for Bucky in the packed house.

There were people everywhere, and the longer it took for you to find Bucky, the more anxious you were becoming about being here.

“Y/N!” You hear distantly, and your head whips around in search of the owner of the voice.

You feel a hand slide around your waist, and you smell Bucky before you see him. If it weren’t for the distinct smell of his cologne and mint, you would’ve slapped the hand away long ago.

“Hey! Been wonderin’ when you’d show up.” Bucky has a smile on his face, showing off his pearly whites.

“Sorry, I got held up at home with Natasha.” You tell him, looking around at the crowd. You could feel your breathing shorten at the sheer amount of people around you, and your stomach churns in anxiety.

As if Bucky senses your discomfort, he rubs the hand on your waist along the expanse of your back.

“You okay?” He asks, visibly concerned at your demeanor.

You nod wordlessly, trying to make it seem like you weren’t extremely stressed right now. You would’ve loved to let loose tonight, but yesterday was already pushing it in terms of going out.

“Do you wanna head upstairs?” Bucky asks in clear concern at your demeanor right now. He feels a wave of guilt wash over him. If he knew just how much you were going to become uncomfortable by just being here tonight, he wouldn’t have asked you to come. He would’ve simply asked you on a date, or done a night in with you.

You nod again, not allowing the words to leave your throat. You feel as though your mouth is full of cotton, not even being able to form any coherent thoughts at the moment.

Bucky’s cool metal arm guides you by your lower back to the stairs, and you’re once again reminded of the previous night. His cool metal hand is the only thing grounding you at the moment, and you think you would’ve ended up on the dirty bathroom floor downstairs in a puddle of tears if Bucky had taken any longer to find you.

You pass through his doorway, and Bucky’s arm is holding you against him as the door shuts behind you two.

He wordlessly caresses you, running a soothing hand up and down your back, which is partially open because of your outfit. You’re wearing a dress from Natasha’s closet, which she claimed made you look ‘hotter than the motherfucking sun, Y/N’, and you were basically forced into.

“For what it’s worth, honey, you look stunning tonight.” You feel Bucky’s chest rumble from his speaking from where you’re placed against him, and you give a light laugh.

“Thanks,” you return quietly, unable to really come up with anything witty to say. “I’m sorry I’m ruining tonight for you.” Your voice comes after a few moments of silence, but suddenly you’re pulled away from his body.

“Hey,” his hands are on your shoulders, “you are not ruining anything, doll. Parties ’ll come and go, but I don’t want to do it if it isn’t with you.” He tells you in earnest, and you feel an indistinguishable ache in your chest at his words.

Where did this man come from? It seems as though the perfect guy, one who respects you, one who doesn’t force you into anything, one who seems to care too much about you has just... fallen into your lap.

It almost seems too good to be true.

“Bucky…” You trail off, unable to find any words of gratitude at the moment.

“Yeah, doll?”

“Can we just… lay down? Maybe watch a movie?” You ask.

“Of course we can, honey. Anythin’ you want.” He smiles brightly again as your mood seems to lighten a bit. “Do you need a change of clothes?”

“Yes, please. If you don’t mind.” You can’t really bring yourself to look at him. You feel embarrassed that you’ve pulled him away from his own party. Although he constantly reassures you that he doesn’t mind, you’re still bashful.

“Here, honey,” he hands you the same garments from last night, “you look good in these.” He laughs, and you feel your cheeks turn bright red.

“I- I’ll be right back.” You give a tight smile and retreat to the bathroom.

While Bucky waits outside, he begins to get lost in his thoughts. He liked you. A lot. How did he get himself into this mess? He’s not stupid. He knows what he did to get here. And now it was looking really, really, stupid.

Unfortunately, there was no getting it out of it now, though. He could try and reason with the person he’d made a promise to, but he was stubborn. There was little to no chance he would be able to get out of this one.

But he thinks of it on the flip side. He’s been seen bringing you up to his room two nights in a row, and he knows how it makes both of you look.

For him, he looks like he’s keeping up with reputation.

Take a girl home.

Fuck her.

Leave it at that.

No one quite knew you on campus except for your friends, so they weren’t worried about you or who you were.

All that mattered was that Bucky Barnes was keeping up with his usual antics that were expected of him. There was nothing out of the ordinary for him, other than the fact that he wasn’t actually fucking you.

Bucky snaps out of his train of thought when he hears the bathroom door click open, his eyes meeting yours once again.

But his eyes quickly divert to your body, once again covered by his baggy clothing. You were watching his stare move down your body and felt a wave of insecurity wash over you.

You probably weren’t half as gorgeous as the girls he’s brought back here before. You knew what kind of girls guys like him preferred. Long, cascading hair, big, bright eyes, thin waists, legs that went on for what seemed like miles.

You just weren’t that.

It made you come back to the thoughts that had plagued your mind previously.

Where did Bucky’s interest in you come from?

Why was he suddenly feel the need to coddle you, take care of you, to reassure you?

Your concern was quickly washed away when Bucky settled in his bed, patting his spot next to him under the covers.

“You comin’?” He asks in a raspy, quiet voice that makes your knees wobble.

You don’t say anything while you situate yourself beside him.

“Bucky, can I ask you something?” You begin meekly, not making eye contact with him.

“Anythin’, doll. Somethin’ wrong?” He looks down at you in a worried gaze, and you shake your head.

“I just… what made you want to approach me? I- I know I’m not like those other girls you’ve been with before, and I can’t help but think that you… you want something else from me?” You explain with little ease. You feel bile rising in your throat as you speak because you can’t bear to think that Bucky really ulterior motives for all this time you’ve spent together.

You’ve only just met him, yet you feel like you’ve known him forever. You’re comfortable with him, more than you usually would be with a stranger, and it freaks you out.

“Y/N… can you look at me?” Bucky tilts his head down to try and meet your eyes, which is something you can barely do at the moment. “I want you to know, before this goes anywhere else; you are an amazing girl. I don’t know why it took me so long to talk to you, but I think you’re one the most genuine, kind, beautiful girls I’ve ever met. I… I know I have a reputation that precedes me, but you… you’re different.” He speaks so genuinely to you that you feel a slight sting behind your eyes.

“I… I never want you to doubt yourself ever again, doll. You’re perfect, just as you are. I’m sorry it looked like I was after anything else before.” Bucky finishes, and you can’t seem to find any words at the moment.

You just nod fervently, and then you feel yourself being pulled into Bucky’s large arms.

“Please, don’t let anyone make you doubt yourself again. You’re worth it.”

That night, you fall into the most comfortable and deep sleep of your life, wrapped safely in Bucky’s arms.

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes #bucky barnes series #bucky barnes fic #bucky barnes au #fratboy!bucky #frat!bucky x reader #frat!bucky #frat!au #bucky barnes fluff #bucky barnes angst #bucky x y/n #bucky x female reader #bucky imagine

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criminalmindzjunkie · 4 years ago

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I Carry Your Heart With Me (Part One)

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Summary: Spencer and the reader are reunited for the first time in fifteen years.

A/N: Very excited to get the ball rolling on this one. I hope you all enjoy it! Message me if you would like to be added to the taglist.

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader

Content Warnings: swearing

Word Count: 4.5k

“I cannot believe you talked me into this,” Damien mutters from the passenger seat, his icy blue eyes wide with fright. He pulls his gaze away just long enough to point at a lone cow grazing to the left of the road. “Look! That cow is just like… standing there. No fence around him or anything. What’s stopping him from stampeding into us the second we get out of this car?”

Damien sounds so genuinely horrified that you almost feel bad for laughing. Almost.

“I don’t think that’s going to be a problem, Dee. Besides, that cow didn’t even look up when we drove past. We’re not even on its radar.”

“Oh, yeah? Ever heard of a little thing called mad cow disease?” Damien persists, in typical dramatic flair. You roll your eyes at him and he curses underneath his breath. “You know, when I agreed to go with you to this wedding, I pictured something more akin to a five-star resort with a minibar and a heated pool. Not rogue livestock and shitty cellphone reception.”

“You didn’t agree to anything – you practically begged me to take you with me.”

Damien waves his hand, dismissive, his eyes still roaming over the pasture. “Because I wanted an excuse to take a week off work. This is not the controlled environment I expected.”

“If you don’t quit complaining, I won’t hesitate to push you out of the car and leave you here with the cow,” you retort. In your periphery you’re able to make out Damien raising his middle finger to you. Rude.

You chuckle and fix your attention back on the dirt road. You’re driving almost painfully slowly, because the very idea of having to pay extra for damages to this already astronomically expensive rental car makes you feel nauseated. Despite your efforts, the car is covered entirely in dust. Its once pristine, white paint job has transformed into a muddy color.

There goes my deposit.

You shake your head at the thought. You had more pressing matters to concern yourself with; i.e., the fact that you were approximately five minutes away from coming face to face with the one person you swore you’d never speak to again. Two months seemed like ample time to prepare yourself in theory, but now that it is no longer some far-off thing, you know that your attempts at preparing yourself were in vain. With each day you crossed off the calendar leading to your departure date, your anxiety grew and grew until you worried your poor heart would give out under the stress. Getting onto the plane bound for Montana felt like the proverbial nail in the coffin, and a hefty dose of Dramamine was the only thing that kept you from spiraling as the plane ascended into the air. You slept through the entirety of the trip and, much to Damien’s chagrin, there is a sizeable puddle of drool on his left shoulder to prove it.

The lengthy nap helped. The tight band constricting your chest had loosened, and you pulled out onto the highway feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. You had Damien by your side and five vacation days to enjoy. Your best friend was getting married to the love of her life, and you were hellbent on standing by her side through it all. Spencer Reid can kiss your ass, as far as you are concerned. No way is he going to ruin this for you.

You are still very much clinging your take-no-shit mentality when you breach a hill and the ranch comes into view, effectively expelling every single positive thought from your head. Aforementioned anxiety reappears in full-force and you stomp down on the breaks.

“Fuck, I don’t think I can do this,” you squeak out, casting a look at Damien, whose eyes are trained on the sprawling expanse of the house ahead of you. “We can still turn around – no, we should turn around. There is no version of this that won’t end in me getting embarrassingly drunk and crying in front of everyone. I’m turning around.”

Damien’s hand on yours, strong and steady, is the only thing that keeps you from whipping the car around and retreating with your tail between your legs. His fingers pry your white knuckled grip off of the wheel slowly, his thumb rubbing reassuring circles across your skin. Its sweet and so overwhelmingly gentle that you’re a bit stunned. You glance at him in a silent question, as if to ask who are you, and what have you done with my friend?

He gets the message loud and clear, because of course he does. Damien fixes you with a smile, grip tightening on your hand.

“I’ve seen you hold your own against some of the biggest names in journalism on an almost daily basis – looking damn sexy while you do it, might I add,” Damien chuckles, and you can’t help but give a weak laugh of your own. Damien’s smile grows at this, and he continues, “If you can handle your business against those conniving pricks, I’ve no doubt that you can tough it out for this. You’re not the type of woman that lets some guy dictate what she does or doesn’t do. And you sure as hell aren’t the type of woman that would let some guy rob her of the opportunity to stand by her best friend on the most important day of her life. As the person who probably knows you better than anyone else on the planet, my opinion of you is pretty rock-solid, if I do say so myself. So, unless I’ve completely overestimated the extent of your badassery, I suggest you rethink that plan. What do you say?”

You avert your eyes and swallow against the lump in your throat.

“Spencer’s not just some guy. For a long time, I was convinced that he was the guy,” you whisper. The car is silent, save for the quiet crooning voice of George Michael flowing through the speakers. Damien squeezes your hand, prompting you to continue. You blink up at him with wet lashes, lips pulled into a sad smile. “Have you ever been in love?”

Damien shakes his head and rubs his thumb along the top of your hand. “I can’t say that I have, babe. Haven’t been that lucky.”

You let out a shaky breath and bring your other hand up to wipe at your eyes.

“Maybe you’re better off. I’ve only been in love once,” you gesture to your pitiful appearance and choke out a wet laugh. “Look where that got me. He fucking crushed me, and fifteen years later I’m still broken up about it. It’s pathetic.”

Damien frowns and shifts in his seat so that he’s fully facing you.

“I don’t want to hear you say that self-deprecating shit again. You were hurt by someone you gave your heart to, and I can only imagine how devastating that must feel. Being upset about seeing him again does not make you pathetic. The fact that you’re here, about to spend a week with the guy just so you can be there for Cassidy, is pretty damn admirable as far as I’m concerned.” Damien ends his monologue by pulling you into a tight hug, and you couldn’t be more thankful that he’d come with you. Not only was he a secret sweetheart, he also gave the very best hugs.

By the time he releases you, the tension in your chest has eased significantly. You nod once, and Damien’s rewards you with a smile.

“I am pretty cool, aren’t I?”

Damien snorts rather unattractively and rolls his eyes.

“I take back everything. You suck, and I don’t know why I bother with you, you narcissist.”

Now that the mood has lifted significantly, you reluctantly press your foot against the gas pedal.

“Too late. No takesies backsies,” you singsong. “You think I’m sexy and badass, and I’m never going to let you forget it.”

Damien mutters something undoubtably snarky underneath his breath, but it’s drowned out by the sound of gravel crunching underneath the tires. That, and the sound of your blood roaring in your ears as you inch further down the driveway.

The house, a beautiful log cabin with stone accents along the underside, is massive. Standing at two stories tall with a large wraparound porch and more than a dozen large windows, it’s a far cry from the modest little cabin in the mountains that Cassidy had made it out to be. Even Damien is slack jawed at the sight of it, sitting pretty against a back drop of rolling mountains, and you can’t help but feel a little smug.

“Still want to complain about that five-star resort?”

Damien shakes his head dazedly, “I retract my earlier complaint.”

All too soon, you roll to a stop and put the car in park. Several other cars are parked haphazardly in the grass around you, and that annoying voice inside your head wonders which one belongs to Spencer. It’s not that you care – you totally don’t – it’s just that you are kind of hoping that he hasn’t arrived yet. A few hours to acclimate to the environment before having to deal with him would be nice.

“You’ve got this, babe,” Damien murmurs. “And I’ll be with you the whole time, just in case you need a reminder.”

You flash Damien a nervous smile.

“You’re a really good friend, Dee. I’m really glad that you’re here,” you say, before narrowing your eyes at him. “If you tell anyone I said that, I’ll deny it.”

Damien snorts and pushes open the door.

“Get your sassy ass out of the car. I’m ready to mingle.”

As soon as you set foot on the porch, the front door flies open and a flash of curly red hair precedes a collision that nearly sends you flying back into the railing. Ecstatic squeals rip through the otherwise serene evening air and two boney arms envelop you into a tight hug.

“I cannot believe you’re actually here,” Cassidy laughs as she squeezes you tight. Her enthusiasm has you joining in, the two of you laughing happily and pulling back to examine one another. Cassidy places a sloppy kiss to both of your cheeks before throwing an arm over your shoulder. “I fully expected you to just blow off the whole thing, if I’m being honest.”

You cast at Damien, who’s watching on with an amused grin on his face.

“Believe me, she tried.”

Cassidy turns her attention to Damien and extends her free hand.

“I take it you’re the infamous Damien that I’ve been trading emails with?”

Your eyebrows scrunch together in confusion, “Wait, what? The two of you have been emailing?”

Damien accepts Cassidy’s hand and gives it a firm shake, all while smiling smugly.

“Yep. Me and Ms. Cassidy go way back.”

“I mean, that’s cool, I guess, but why?”

Cassidy and Damien share a look, both of them shrugging.

“Mainly to talk about you,” Cassidy admits, not even bothering to look apologetic. When you frown up at her she waves her hand dismissively at you. “All good things, I promise. Don’t worry your pretty little head about it.” Cassidy punctuates her words with a patronizing pat on your shoulder.

“I knew letting you two meet was a bad idea,” you grumble.

Cassidy simply drops her arms from its place on your shoulder in favor of tugging on your hand.

“Come on, sour puss. I want you to meet my husband. He’s a real sweetie – you’re gonna love him.”

A flash of white-hot panic shoots down your spine and you dig your heels into the floor.

“Wait,” you squeak out, eyes wide. “Is… Is he here yet?”

Cassidy’s eyes shine mischievously, briefly flitting up to Damien before returning to you.

“He is. And you’ll be happy to know that pictures do not do the Good Doctor any justice.”

Salt, meet wound.

“Don’t know why you’re telling me that,” you mutter.

“Denial is not just a river in Egypt, my friend,” Cassidy singsongs as she begins tugging you forward. For someone so tiny, she makes easy work of forcing you through the threshold.

The foyer is just as impressive as you expect it to be – beautiful cedar walls and a grand staircase that leads to the second floor. If you weren’t horribly on edge at the current moment, you would definitely comment on the fact that the foyer alone is probably larger than your entire apartment, but you’re too busy scanning the immediate area for tall skinny white guys with stupidly curly brown hair to comment on the grandiosity.

Cassidy leads the two of you to double doors to the right, and just as she’s about to push them open, the shrill ring of your cellphone offers you an out.

You slip your hand from Cassidy’s grip and give her a faux apologetic look.

“I should probably take this – it might be work.”

Damien narrows his eyes at you. “I thought you left your work phone at home.”

You ignore him and begin taking a few steps backwards, “Is there somewhere private I can go?”

An indiscernible look flashes across Cassidy’s face and then her lips pull up into a sugary sweet smile. “Follow the hallway to the very end. Leads to the back porch,” she says. “No need to rush. Take all the time you need!”

Okay, weird, you think to yourself, but the idea of putting off the inevitable for a few extra moments is too tempting to pass up, so you continue your retreat. You make it to the back door in record time and let out a relieved breath as you bring the phone to your ear.

“Hi, mom.”

“Hi, baby. I was just calling to make sure the two of you got there safely.”

You push open the back door and the breathtaking view of the ranch prompts you to take pause; sprawling fields and rolling hills as far as the eye can see, grazing livestock congregating near a lazy stream at the far end of the property, and several horses running across the expanse of the left field. It was wonderfully serene and vastly different from the bustling rat-race that was New York.

You smile to yourself when a loud moo rips through the otherwise quiet ranch. I could get used to this.

“Yeah, we made it,” you murmur into the receiver. “You would love this place, Mom. It’s probably the prettiest place I’ve ever been. I’ll send you a picture when I hang up.”

“How’s Cassidy? Still a little spit-fire, I assume?”

You lean against the railing and let out a snort, “Oh, absolutely. Don’t think that’ll ever change.”

“I’d hope not,” your mother hums. “How does Damien like the ranch?”

“He’s not exactly a fan of the livestock,” you chuckle. “Damien’s never even seen a real cow before. City boy through and through, that one.”

You and your mother share a laugh that dissolves into a comfortable silence. Comfortable, until the telltale clearing of your mother’s throat warns you of the impending inquisition.

“So,” your mother begins. “Are you going to tell me how it went, or are you going to leave an old woman wondering? “

You sigh and run a hand through your hair. “Fortunately, I have yet to run into him. I may or may not be hiding out on the back porch as we speak in an attempt to avoid just that.”

“Y/N,” your mother chastises. “Prolonging the inevitable isn’t going to make this any easier.”

“I know, I know. I’ll go in there soon. It’s just a lot, you know? I needed to take a breather, first.” Just until my hands stop shaking. Or until Cassidy comes hunting for me. Whichever comes first.

“I know, baby,” your mother coos. “I’m proud of you for trying. Just don’t drag things out, okay? You’ll only make yourself sick with nerves.” Unfortunately, that ship has sailed. The rolling in your stomach can attest to that.

You laugh a humorless laugh, “I don’t know, Mom. You always like to remind me how stubborn I am. I’m sure if I put my mind to it, I can just avoid him for the entire week.”

A tiny movement at the very corner of your vision and a loud creak makes you whip your head around, and what you see has your heart falling to your ass.

Spencer Reid, looking absolutely stunning in a pair of khaki dress pants and a white cable-knit sweater, sits in a porch swing with wide eyes and a book clutched tightly in his hands. Soft, caramel-colored curls frame his face and a five o’clock shadow runs the length of his jaw, adding a bit of grown-up flare to his otherwise boyish features.

He looks every bit as beautiful as he did on the day he broke your heart.

Spencer knows that he should have spoken up as soon as you walked onto the porch. It was immediately obvious that you hadn’t seen him, and he swears he’s one second away from clearing his throat and launching into the introduction he’d been planning for the last sixty days. But the words die on his tongue as he drinks in the sight of you.

You’re so close to him for the first time in years and it’s more than a little bit dizzying. And yeah, he’s used his very limited knowledge of how the internet works to Google you on more than one occasion, but the version of you leaning against the porch railing is a far cry from the pixelized one. A light breeze rolling through the air lifts your hair away from your face, and Spencer’s breath catches in his throat as he surveys every perfect inch, from the curl of your lashes to the smattering of freckles on your nose. He indulges himself, eyes settling on your cherry red lips, fascinated by the way they move as you talk on the phone. Spencer is intimately familiar with those lips – can recall the way they felt pressed against his own. The years spent apart have done nothing to dull the memories. He’s not entirely sure if that’s a good or a bad thing.

It amazes him how you’ve somehow managed to change a lot, but also not at all. You stand before him as an oxymoron personified, and it’s a lot for Spencer’s poor heart to take in. Your hair is a bit lighter than he remembers, as well as a little longer, but it still looks just as soft and he can recall with startling clarity how it felt when he used to run his fingers through it. You have a few more laugh lines than you did, as well as a scar on your left elbow that hadn’t been there before, but everything else about you is so painfully familiar that Spencer could almost pretend that no time had passed – that he still knows your body as well as he once did.

Spencer knows this isn’t true. Every seven years, the body resets; old cells destroyed and replaced with new ones. You’ve both spent enough time apart that your bodies have reset twice over. You’re as much of a stranger to him as he is to you.

Spencer positively abhors the thought.

The sound of your laughter pulls him from the depths of his mind, and while the laugh isn’t warm or inviting in the slightest, he relishes it. What was once one of his favorite sounds has existed in his head as only a memory for far too long. Hearing it in person is jarring in the best of ways.

The euphoria he feels dies a horrible death when you speak again.

“I don’t know, Mom. You always like to remind me how stubborn I am. I’m sure if I put my mind to it, I can just avoid him for the entire week.”

Fucking ouch.

Spencer cringes hard, too hard, because the porch swing screeches out an angry creak and you whip around and holy shit, have your eyes always been that entrancing?

He watches as your entire body goes rigid, tensed as if you’re about to bolt. You blink hard, eyebrows drawn together to form an adorably bewildered expression as you assess him. Spencer hopes he doesn’t look too disheveled. He hadn’t even thought to freshen up after his trip, an oversight that he’s regretting terribly as your eyes flit over him.

Spencer isn’t sure why, but he stands up. Maybe it has something to do with feeling vulnerable. Maybe he just wants to close the distance. The two steps he takes towards you support the latter. He’s thankful that you don’t move away, but the blank expression on your face worries him.

The two of you stand five feet apart, but you feel worlds away. Spencer refrains from speaking for as long as he can stand, which is only about thirty seconds.

“Hi.”

Your lips part, and Spencer holds his breath.

“Hi.”

More silence. Spencer gulps.

“It’s good to see you,” he says, cautious. The last thing he wants to do is fuck up within the first five minutes. Unfortunately, his brain and his mouth seem to have some sort of disconnect, and Spencer continues against his better judgment. “It’s been a while.”

It’s been a while? That’s seriously the best I can come up with?

Spencer contemplates drowning himself in the nearby stream.

“It certainly has.”

“Five-thousand, five-hundred and seventeen days.” And roughly thirty-six and a half hours, but who’s counting?

Muted noises flow out of your phone speaker and you pull your eyes away from Spencer. He’s both relieved and devastated.

“Yeah, Mom, I’m fine. I just ran into someone. I’ll call you back later, okay?”

Spencer agonizes over the fact that he’s been reduced to someone while you and your mother exchange goodbyes. You’re smiling when you look up at him again, but Spencer’s seen what a genuine smile of yours looks like, and this isn’t it.

“I didn’t see you sitting there. My apologies.” Your formality makes the situation all the more excruciating.

Spencer lets out a nervous laugh, “I suppose avoiding me is out of the question now, huh?”

It’s hard to tell who’s more horrified by the words that tumble from his mouth, you or Spencer. A fierce flush spreads across your cheeks. It’s the first crack in your otherwise calm and collected exterior thus far and Spencer relishes in it. Maybe you’re not as unaffected by him as you seem.

“I… I’m sorry you had to hear that,” you stammer, blinking up at him with guilty eyes. “That wasn’t very kind of me.”

“Don’t worry about it. I can’t say that I’m undeserving of your anger,” Spencer whispers so quietly that he worries you don’t hear him over the gentle flow of the stream. The hardness that returns to your eyes lets him know that you heard every word.

You clear your throat, signaling your unwillingness to discuss that particularly painful topic. “You’re still partial to Cummings, I see.” You gesture to the book clutched tightly against his chest.

Now, it’s Spencer’s turn to blush. The book in his hands, tattered and worn from years of use, is incriminating. The two of you both know what lies just beneath the binding. The fact that Spencer has it with him now makes him think that he might as well be wearing a t-shirt that reads, I’M STILL NOT OVER YOU.

Spencer raises a hand to scratch at the back of his neck. “Oh, yeah. Old habits die hard, I guess.” His eyes scour your face for a sign of anything that might clue him in to you feeling the same way. A flicker of something dances across your face, but it’s gone so quickly that he can’t be sure if he imagined it. He forces a nervous smile. “If I remember correctly, he was your favorite.” It’s a shitty attempt at a joke.

You exhale a shaky breath and to his absolute horror, your lower lip begins to wobble. He wishes he could reach up and pluck his words from where they hang heavy in the air.

“Not anymore,” you murmur, and fuck if that doesn’t absolutely wreck him.

Spencer shouldn’t ask, but he can’t help himself. “Oh. Why not?”

He holds his breath, anxiously anticipating your next words. You seem to be battling with yourself, mouth opening and closing several times. Spencer is content to wait as long as it takes for you to answer, but the universe is much more impatient than he.

The door leading onto the porch swings open and out walks an honest to God Abercrombie and Fitch model. Or at least, a man who meets the qualifications and then some. Long, flowing blonde hair and a crisp white dress shirt makes Spencer’s unruly brown mop and dumpy sweater look pitiful in comparison. Spencer frowns.

“Sweetheart, you’ve been out here for like ten minutes,” the man chastises as he closes the distance between you and him. Spencer watches him wrap his arm around your shoulders and pull you to him like someone might watch a car wreck happen; with equal parts horror and morbid curiosity. “You can’t hide out forever.”

All traces of rigidity leave your body and you melt into the man’s side. It happens in such a way that screams familiarity, as if the pet name hadn’t already driven that point home. The awful, gut-wrenching realization slams home and Spencer has to fight to keep his knees from buckling.

“Uh, sorry,” you mumble, before nodding your head in Spencer’s direction. “Damien, this is Spencer Reid.”

The man’s – Damien’s - eyes go almost comically wide as they settle on Spencer’s dejected frame, before schooling into a cool indifference. He offers him a polite smile that’s a little tight around the edges, but doesn’t outstretch his hand.

“Ah, Spencer. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Spencer swallows hard to keep himself from barking out a crazed laugh. He’s heard of me! That’s certainly something, considering the fact that no one thought it necessary to tell Spencer that you have a –

Spencer’s eyes dart down to your left hand. Thankfully, mercifully, your ring finger is bare.

“Uh, y-yeah. It’s nice to meet you.” The words burn as they roll off his tongue.

Damien nods at him before turning back to you. There’s an unmistakable fondness in the way he looks at you as he speaks. “Cassidy wants everyone back inside. They’re about to serve dinner.”

You smile up at him, not even casting a parting glance at Spencer before Damien leads you back inside. Spencer stands there long after the door closes behind the two of you.

The book feels heavy in his hands.

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petite-ely · 4 years ago

Text

Afraid // JJ Maybank

Six - Too much to risk

Pairing: JJ Maybank x fem routledge! reader

Warnings: Mention gun, being shot at, swearing, slight mention of death, maybe some mistakes oopsie, tell me if I missed something

Description: A small improvised visits by Petekin leads to a hectic afternoon in the marsh.

A/n : Hellooo guys, gals and pals, this is quite a long part. I really wanted to finish the first episode. also I really don’t know how to had a little read mor thing I don’t know how. Sorry! hope you like it!

Previously next

Afraid masterlist

gif by @robinsbuckly

Song recommendation

It was now far later in the morning, meaning the sun had fully risen and it was a much more reasonable hour to be up at. JJ had left a while ago and John B was still peacefully sleeping (and loudly snoring). Y/n hadn’t been able to go to sleep after her talk with the blond boy and she was now sitting on the couch reading her book (actually reading this time). So, when she heard the front door open, she didn’t bother looking up, assuming it was one of her friends. Who else would just come in like that anyway?

"Hey, there’s coffee made in the kitchen if you want any,” she said, still not pulling her gaze of off her book.

“That’s kind of you to offer, but I’ve already had two cups this morning, I don’t think it would be reasonable for me to have more.” Y/n’s book fell to the ground.

“Sheriff Peterkin, I’m so sorry. I-I thought you were someone else-” she got up from her seat, “-do you, do you need anything, water or uh-”

“You don’t have to bother sweetheart, I’m not planning on staying that long. I just want to talk for a bit,” answered the adult.

“Okay,” she took a pause to swallow. “I’ll go get John B.”

“If you don’t mind, I’ll go get him myself.” Y/n nodded, watching as she disappeared into the hallway leading to her brother’s room.

She started pacing around the living room, ferociously biting the nails on her left hand. It wasn’t every day a cop showed up in your house. She had absolutely no idea why Peterkin would want to talk. Actually, she had about 25 different ideas, starting with the fact her uncle hadn’t been on the island for about 3 months. And the party last night, what if she knew about the gun? Would JJ be in trouble? Whatever it was, it wasn’t good, that she was certain of it.

The conversation went on for much longer than expected. Basically, Peterkin knew about their uncle being awol and she offered to help get dcs off of their back for a while if they helped her in return. She had also mentioned that it wouldn’t be good if they had seen a shipwreck, which of course they denied despite that being actually true. Y/n didn’t fully understand what Peterkin meant. But she knew that it meant there was something valuable in that boat. And Jonh B knew it too. Yet, he was afraid, which was understandable, considering everything. They were pretty much guaranteed to be put in foster care if they got caught. Not good at all.

“You know what? I'm calling it off,” announced John B.

Y/n raised her head from her sketchbook, dropping her pencil on the low table in front of her to listen to what her brother had to say. She had been drawing silently while the other pogues, all sitting in different ridiculous positions across the backyard, talked and did their own things. She was only half listening to what they were saying, sketching messily the outline of the château. It wasn't very good, but it was calming to do. When she heard the seriousness in her brother’s tone, she closed her sketchbook, otherwise she’d be too distracted.

“Peterkin told us that if we stayed out of the marsh, she’d help with dcs.” The girl grimaced remembering the woman’s words.

“And you believed her?” “Yes, JJ I believed her.”

“You really think that she’d help us?” asked y/n. “It’s been more than 6 months, bird. If she really wanted to help, she would have helped earlier, no?”

“Yeah, she’s a cop, an actual cop. And you think she’s telling the truth?” added JJ.

“Look,” John B glanced at y/n. “All we gotta do is stay out of the marsh for a couple days and she’ll help us.”

“I know, I was there.” Kiara snickered softly at her friend’s words. “But I don’t know, I feel like we’re getting tricked or something. What if she’s like trying to lure us out of there-” she gestured to the water behind them, “-because there’s something she doesn’t want us to see, uh? What if it’s about dad?”

J.B rubbed the back of his neck before turning his body slightly to face the ocean. “Look,” he addressed his sister. “I get that you’re curious and you want to know what’s down there, but I'm only trying to do what’s best for us. And I think it would be better if we listened to Peterkin. I’m just trying to keep you safe, to protect you, bug.” His voice softened as he finished his sentence.

“And it didn’t help that JJ was shooting a gun last night!” Y/n raised her eyebrows at Pope, her face clearly showing intrigue. She wondered where this conversation would lead, a fight between the two boys most likely. Her gaze shifted to JJ who seemed annoyed at the Routledge boy’s words.

“You know what, I should’ve let Topper drown your ass.” John B laughed. “Topper was gonna drown me?” “Sure looked like it.”

“Boys can you plea-” Y/n tried to stop the small bickers, miserably failing as her brother interrupted her. “Funny.” A loud sigh escaped the girl’s lips and Kiara beside her pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Have you looked in a mirror?” “Tell me some more. Come on.” “They always win don’t they, man?”

“Kooks versus pogues. They always, always win!” You could hear the frustration dripping from his voice. Which was understandable. He had a point, kooks always won, it was time for a change.

“Goddamn!” “Look, it’s okay!” Kie tried to reassure him. “No, it’s not okay!”

“He’s right,” agreed y/n. “They always win, or find a way to avoid the consequences.”

“Exactly, they don’t want us to go down into the marsh, that means there's something valuable down there and you know it.” He said to John B. “I know you do.”

“And I understand why you wouldn’t want to go,” he pointed to Pope. “You’re the golden boy, you got way too much to risk. And you,” he turned to Kiara. “I mean you’re already rich as fuck anyway.” Okay, that was an exaggeration.

“Why would you bother.”

“But us, you, me and y/n, we’ve got nothing to lose!” His eyes glowed with something y/n hadn’t seen in him in a long time. Hope. It made her sad to think about how JJ really had nothing in his life besides the pogues. But if he was hopeful, then maybe, maybe...

“We really don’t.” “Yes, we do have something to lose.”

“If something goes wrong and dcs comes in, y/n and I would be brought to the mainland in foster care. That means placed with families who probably only care about the check that comes in every month and her and I getting separated from one another and from you guys.”

Y/n thought about what her brother had just said. He had a point, if things went wrong, they could lose everything. Each other mainly and the pogues. It was the worst-case scenario. But if they didn’t get caught, it would make their life so much better. Was it worth all the risk though? That was the question.

“Do you understand what that means? How horrible it would be?” The girl got up from her seat and went to stand next to her brother. “I do,” she said. “I understand, bird.”

“I know that you’re scared and so am I. It’s a pretty big risk. If we get caught, we’re fucked, but listen to what JJ has to say. I think that it might be worth the risk. And if we do get caught-,” she put her hand on his shoulder and turned him around so that he faced her, “we’ll find a way to find each other again. We’re Routledges, we always find a way to solve our problems, don’t we?” Her hand squeezed his shoulder softly. “We’re gonna be alright, bird.”

A small smile drew itself on John B’s lips. “So, what’s the plan,” he said to JJ.

“You got the key to Cameron’s big boat, right?” “No,” J. B’s face scrunched in disagreement.

“There’s scuba gear. We borrow that and then we go down to the wreck this afternoon and that’s what’s gonna save you, man,” exclaimed JJ. “You don’t see rich kids going into foster care, do you?”

Y/n breathed out loudly. She was scared as hell. This was going to be pretty tricky, but she knew something was down there. And if it wasn’t money or something like that, then it was something related to her dad’s disappearance. She could feel it deep into her soul.

>>>

“This is empty, you took empty tanks,” announced Kiara to the group as she furrowed through the bag of oxygen tanks.

Y/n put her head in her hands. Their plan had seemed so perfect and now they didn’t have the one thing they needed for it to work.

“Okay this one’s a quarter full. It’s enough for one of us.” “Love it when a plan comes together.”

“Does anybody know how to dive?” asked the brunette but only to be answered by a chorus of shrugs and denying nods. “Anybody?”

“It’s kind of a kook sport,” JJ looked at her.

“I, … I read about it,” tried Pope.

“Great, Pope read about it, now someone’s gonna die,” exclaimed Kie dramatically.

“Look.” JJ’s gaze circled the group of friends. “You put the thing in your mouth and you breathe. How hard can it be?”

“I don’t think it’s that simple,” confessed y/n.

“Yeah,” agreed Pope. “If you come up too fast, Nitrogen gets in your blood and you get the bends.”

The girl’s eyes widened. She remembered a book she had read a while ago where one of the characters had the decompression sickness (and how tragic their death was).

“Bends like bend over?” JJ joked as he bent his body in a way to stick his butt up in the air. Typical JJ joke, weird and somehow always a bit sexual. Y/n slapped his arm as a way to tell him off.

“JJ, the bends is deadly,” she had a stern expression, “it kills you.” “Oh, right.”

“I can- I can dive,” announced J.B. “Yeah, you can dive I’m cool with that.” “Since when can you dive?”

“No, you can’t dive,” scoffed his sister. “I’ll do it, it’s fine.” “What? The hell?”

“Let’s do some calculations real quick.” Pope pulled out a pen and started writing some numbers. Y/n got up from her seat and went to stand beside him. “So, that boat’s about 30 feet down.” “okay.” “So, it’ll take about 25 minutes at most at that depth.” “Twenty-five.” “Which means you need to make your safety stop at about... 10 feet. Alright? For two minutes.” “Ten feet, two minutes got it.”

They all watched as Kiara jumped straight into the water, her shirt already removed. “Uh, what was that all about?” “I don’t know, but I liked it, a lot.” y/n nudged her brother on the shoulder to get him to stop staring. He cleared his throat.

“Uh, so.” “All righty.”

She sat down on the edge of the boat, waiting for her friend to resurface from underwater. “Yeah. Uh, when you- when you’re down there, you look for the cargo hold. You stick this thing inside and you twist and pull, okay,” explained JJ. “Stick it in, twist and pull.”

“You okay?” asked y/n, while the boys kept on rambling. “Needed a swim?” Kiara rolled her eyes, a small smile on her face.

“Hey!” she called to guys, John b more specifically. “I tied my t-shirt to the anchor about ten feet down. It’s where you need to do your safety stop.”

The Routledge girl admired her friend in the water. Her body moving gracefully as she swam back towards the boat. She seemed so, at ease. It used to be that way for her too, but now, even looking into the darkest part of the water gave her a feeling of vertigo. She wondered if she could still swim as good as she used to. It had been almost a year since the last time she had dove right into the marsh. It felt so far away. If only she was braver.

She hadn’t realised she had completely zoned out until she heard JJ speak. “Zen. Think Zen, you know.” She joined the group on the other side of the hms, her brother already suited for his dive.

“Hey, if we get caught out here in the marsh we’re basically screwed, so,” reminded Pope, “better get a move on.” “Copy that.”

Kiara got up and planted a small kiss on J. B’s cheek. Y/n looked at the two boys next to her with a confused expression. They both shrugged in answer, clearly just as confused as she was. “Diver down?” “Diver down.” She watched as his figure disappeared slowly into the water.

“All right.” “See ya, dude.”

She went to sit next to Kie. “I only love him as a brother,” she mocked her friend. “Yeah right, my ass.”

“It’s just a small kiss y/n/n, it doesn’t mean anything. I still mean what I said yesterday. It’s just that,” she took a pause, her eyes squinting at the sun, “I’m just worried for him, you know he’s going through a lot and then there’s the shipwreck and all.”

“Uh huh, I totally get what you mean,” ironized y/n. “Shut up,” Kie nudged her with her elbow. “No, but seriously-” started the girl before being interrupted by the sound of a police siren behind her.

“Shit, guys.” “Guys, that’s the police.”

“Oh no, no, no, no, no, that is not good. Not good at all.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” “Yep that’s the police.” “Just act fricking normal.”

Anxiety bubbled at the pit of y/n’s stomach. Hopefully he wouldn’t recognize her, otherwise she was dead. So dead. She sat down beside Kiara in a somewhat natural position, her legs crossed to keep them from bouncing.

The police boat parked itself beside the hms. Officer Shoupe behind the wheel. “Evenin’ officers,” greeted Pope. “Evening.”

“How you kids doin’ ,” asked Shoupe. “You know the marsh is closed.”

“No.” “No.” “No, wow.” “I didn’t know that.” They all feigned ignorance, hoping to fool the two adults. “Why- why is it closed?” questioned Pope, adjusting his cap nervously.

“Well, we’re conducting a search out here,” informed the man. “Boat went down.” “Oh.” “Oh, no.”

“Seen’ anything?” asked the deputy.

“No.” “No, boats. No.” Y/n’s fingers tapped rhythmically on the boat, trying to keep herself from looking at her brother in the water.

“Where’s your friend you always hang with?” The pace of the rhythm fastened. “He here?” She opened her mouth, trying to think of a good excuse for the missing presence of her brother, but nothing came out.

“He’s working,” lied Kie. All of their heads nodded softly.

“I’m gonna check your little boat out,” announced Shoupe before hopping on the hms. “Yeah.” “Yeah, hop aboard.” The rhythm stopped, y/n’s nails digging into her palms.

He picked up a safety jacket. “You got another one of these?” “Yeah, yeah.”

“Of course, it’s uh, it’s in the hold,” JJ pointed to where the girls were seated. They both got up quickly. “Show him,” instructed Kie. Y/n’s joints were turning white.

“Okay.” JJ opened the hold and pulled out one of the jackets. “Yeah, here we go.” “All right.” The latch closed loudly. Shoupe’s gaze inspected the teens suspiciously. The tension could be cut with a knife.

He climbed on the flat part of the boat. “Be careful.” “Be careful out there, you don’t want to slip.”

He put his sunglasses on, staring at the exact place where John B and the ship were. The pogues exchanged worried glances. Hopefully, he wouldn’t see anything. He stood on the very edge of the boat, his figure towering over the water of the marsh.

“All right,” he finally turned around. Y/n breathed again. “All right.” “All right.”

“Beautiful day, innit?” “Sure is.”

“You let us know if you see anything on your way out,” he ordered as he started the engine. “Will do, will do.”

“We’ll be gone soon, sir.” “Yes, you will,” finally said the man before he vogued away.

Once he was far enough, the group hurried to the side of the boat, all worried about their friend. He’d been under for quite a long time now, there was no way he had any air left.

“He’s definitely out of air,” declared Pope.

At that exact moment, John B surged out of the water. Y/n felt relief take over her body. She felt her whole body unclench and let go of the grip her nails had in her hand.

“There he is!” Exclaimed JJ. “Oh god, Jesus Christ.”

“God damn it, Bird. I’m so glad you’re okay,” spoke y/n.

“Don’t scare us like that!” All of the pogues exclaimed, all so happy that their friend was all right.

“How’d it go down there?” wondered JJ. “Uh,” John b groaned and his sister hurried to the side of the boat to help him get in.

“Did you find anything?”

“Did I find anything?” He repeated throwing a large duffel bag onto the boat.

“Yeah there we go, that’s my boy!” JJ exclaimed excitedly.

“Are you okay?” Y/n asked as he coughed rather loudly. “Yeah, I’m good, but I ran out of air.” Her eyebrows scrunched together on her forehead. God, they were so lucky, what if J.B had ran out of air earlier? Or what if Shoupe had figured out what they were doing? Things could have gotten so bad.

But they didn’t, the girl reminded herself.

“You scared the shit out of me,” confessed Kiara, though it sounded more like a reproach.

“Yeah, same for me,” replied y/n. “Need a hand?” she stuck her hand out at him which he gladly took. The contact of the water with the cuts her nails had made in her hands burned, but she clenched her jaw and ignored the pain. She didn’t want to bother anyone.

“Yeah, the cops were up here but uh, took care of ‘em,” informed Pope.

“My bad.” “You’re all good.” “Yeah, you kinda missed the show, brother.”

“Hey guys?” Kiara’s voice was tinted with worry. “Guys, bogey, two o-clock.”

“What?” They all turned in the direction she was referring to. In the distance they noticed a strange looking boat heading towards them.

“Do you recognize that boat?”

“I’ve never seen it.” Kie put her hand above her eyes to hide herself from the sun. “What are they doing back here? The marsh is closed.”

“Honestly, they could ask us the same thing,” pointed y/n.

“Well, I think it would be better if we didn’t stick around and find out,” said JJ.

“JJ, get the bowline.” “Yeah.”

“Should we wait on ‘em?” asked Pope.

“Uh, I don’t think that would be a great idea,” responded y/n. The boat was coming in very fast and the people driving it looked angry and dangerous. It was much safer to just leave. “Go get the stern, go!” Hurried John B.

The blonde pulled the rope as fast as he possibly could. “Guys, don’t wait for me. Go,” he said. Y/n inspected the unknown boat in the distance, nothing about it seemed familiar. Who could these people be? And what did they want from them? “Let’s go.”

She kept her eyes glued to it as the motor started. “I have a really bad feeling about this,” she confessed, turning her head to John B. behind the wheel. “Yeah, I don’t like this either,” agreed Pope.

“Are they coming for us?” asked JJ. “Sure looks like it.”

“Maybe they’re fishing?” proposed Pope. Y/n’s gaze paused on the two men. They were intimidating, to say the least. And their eyes, both had looks filled with something threatening. It wasn’t anger or hatred, no, it was the eyes of people who would do anything to get what they wanted and that was scary.

“Go, go, go, go!” “Go into the marsh.” “Let’s go!”

“I’m going. Act natural,” stated John B as he directed the hms towards the nearest channel.

The white boat sped up, the motor roaring loudly. “Hey guys, they’re following us,” announced y/n. “Oh, this can’t be good.” “Shit”

“Dude, you gotta go faster!” “I’m going!” “Gun it!”

The sound of a gun shooting in the air echoed in the silence of the marsh. The pogues all went down instinctively. “Holy shit, guys!” “Oh my fucking god, what the fuck!”

JJ grabbed the back of y/n’s shirt with his hand, bringing her closer to him. “John b get down!” almost hissed the girl. Another shot fired, y/n clung onto JJ.

“Oh my god, we’re gonna die!” yelled Pope. A third shot fired. Y/n’s eyes caught the net at the back of the boat and an idea sparked in her head. She looked at Kiara, who clearly had thought of the same thing.

“Pope, move,” ordered the brunette as her friend stood to go grab the green net. Another shot flew into the air beside her, the bullet barely missing her.

“Get down, y/n!” shouted her brother desperately. She headed towards the back of the boat and threw the net into the water. It slid down the current and got caught right into the motor of the men’s boat, making the engine come to a halt abruptly. It clanged loudly and the two men shouted in anger. A sigh of relief left the girl’s lips. Her plan had worked.

“Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!” hurried Pope. A last gunshot was heard but the hms was too far away to be reached.

“Oh my god!” “Whew!” The pogues all cheered and laughed at their small victory. They were all so glad to be away from these men and all in one piece. Kiara pulled y/n into a hug.

“Y/n, don’t you ever do something like that again. You fucking scared the crap out of me,” said John B as they approached the dock of the château. “I can’t promise anything. Who knows when someone else will shoot at us?”

They all hurried themselves onto the dock, excited to know the content of the bag. “What do you guys think it is?” “Maybe it’s like jewelry? Would be a weird place to keep it but who knows?” “Gotta be money, right?”

“That or a couple of keys with street value to the low- to mid-mils!” JJ’s eyes glistened with excitement. Y/n smiled softly.

“Can we please just open the bag?” burst Pope. The group all started at him.

“Wow Pope,” y/n giggled. “That was a rare outburst of emotions.”

“You guys are literally killing me with anticipation. Open the bag. We almost died over this.”

John B. pulled out a smaller bag which contained a metal canister. Every pair of eyes was fixed onto it as he pried it open and revealed a compass. Y/n kneeled next to her brother not believing what she was seeing. They exchanged a look, neither of them saying anything. They both knew what that object was and what it meant to their father, but what the hell was it doing there?

“Oh, wow. Yup, that’s about right.” Pope was clearly disappointed by their findings. “Good job, everybody. We found a compass.” Y/n raised a trembling hand to the compass, carefully taking it into her own hands to examine it. Was this really what she thought it was? How could it be? It didn’t make any sense.

JJ removed his hat in frustration. “Dude, what? It’s not worth anything.”

A small smile creeped on Jonh b’s face, his eyes still not looking away from the compass. “This was,” he started.

“This was our father’s,” completed y/n.

Taglist:

@kaelyn-lobrutto24 @poguestyle17 @im-a-stranger-thing @lasnaro @thoughtsofthestars @briandaflores19 @lunaposey @allycat449-blog @ifilwtmfc @kitty084 @coloradogirl07 @ponyboys-sunsets @chaoticbisous @p0gue420 @sloaneemily @babygal-babygal

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rafecameron · 4 years ago

Text

sunkissed

summary: Sarah’s pen pal of several years finally comes to visit - she can’t help but fall for her friends older brother

pairing: rafe cameron x reader

word count: 8K

a/n: I don’t really go here anymore but i wrote this a couple months ago and a few people said they wanted to read it so here to go (gif is mine)

Dear y/n,

You will never believe what’s been happening! I’ve fallen in love (for real this time)! And he’s a pogue! His names John B, he works on my dads boat, I know cliché. I thought I was happy with my life, thought I had everything planned out and everything was perfect but I never realised how much I was missing! The pogues are all so carefree - considering. They just do whatever they want and it’s always fun, I haven’t stopped laughing since I’ve been hanging out with them.

My brother isn’t very happy about it, but he’s not very happy about anything really. He called me a traitor for hanging out with pogues, he’s so annoying! I can’t wait for him to go off to college or something and just get out of my hair!

The second bit of good news? My dad said you can come stay for the summer! As in the whole summer! Now you just have to get permission and we can finally see each other again! I’m so excited let me know as soon as you can come!

Love, Sarah.

It was written in her neat hand on her usual pale pink paper. You loved the end of the month when you’d receive a letter from your best friend. Best friend. It always felt strange and people never understood how you could have a best friend you had met on vacation when you were seven. You hadn’t seen each other since but you had promised to keep in touch with letters and you had much to both your parents surprise. You loved when Sarah would complain about her older brother and younger sister, she was always so dramatic when she spoke about them. You also couldn’t believe that not only had she fallen in love (again - this was the twelfth time since you were seven) but she had gotten permission for you to stay the rest of the summer and had waiting to tell you via letter! You grabbed your phone off of your night stand and quickly hit the call button under her name, waited a few rings, then her cheerful voice answered.

“Y/N! Did you get my letter?” She asks quickly.

“Yes. I can’t believe you haven’t already told me about your new boyfriend! Or that I’m allowed to come and stay!” You complain.

“You know I like saving my good news for the letters. It feels more...romantic.” She giggles down the phone, “so, can you stay?”

“I haven’t asked yet. I can’t see why they’d say no.” You roll over onto your back, smiling widely up at the ceiling, “so tell me about John B!”

And she did. She told you everything they had done together so far, how amazing he was, how charming and funny and hot. He didn’t much sound like yours or Sarah’s type at all but you couldn’t help the grin on your face hearing how happy she sounded when she spoke about him. You stayed on the phone for well over an hour listening to her gush over her new man before finally hanging up.

You were excited at the prospect of finally seeing Sarah again but also a little hesitant. She sounded so wrapped up and in love with John B that you were sure you would be the third wheel for the whole summer. Or the sixth wheel, after hearing about her new friends too. But the excitement of seeing Sarah won over your worries so you ran downstairs to ask permission to go. After lots of begging and lots of sucking up, your parents said yes.

—-

You had never been anywhere on your own before so you were nervous the minute your parents left you at the dock to board the ferry. You were sure something would go wrong. You’d lose your ticket. You’d get on the wrong boat. But amazingly everything went smoothly and before you knew it you were getting off the other side. The midday sun was blaring down already, it was much hotter out here on the island than it was where you lived well into the mainland.

You walk along the dock, trying your best to see over the top of people’s heads to try and spot your friend. You were slowly starting to worry she wasn’t here until you saw the blonde leaning against a post, you hurried over probably bashing people with your bags but you didn’t care.

Sarah spotted you as you ran closer, her face suddenly breaking out into a wide grin as you dropped your bags and pulled her into a bone crushing hug.

“Oh my god you’re finally here!” She cheers squeezing you back just was hard.

“It’s been a long time coming.” You smile giving her one last squeeze before letting go, “So, what's on the agenda for this summer?”

“We’re going to have the best summer ever!” Sarah links her arm through yours after you pick your bag up, “We’re going to go shopping, have late nights watching movies, parties on the beach! It’s going to be amazing.”

You agree and throw your bag into the back of Sarah’s car before climbing into the passenger seat. The whole drive to her house you let her gush about John B and how amazing he was, you refrained from pointing out she’d already told you over the phone. You loved seeing her face light up when she spoke about him and only wished you could feel that way about someone one day.

You knew Sarah’s house would be big however it was a lot bigger than you ever imagined it would be. But as you drew closer it wasn’t the house that was drawing your attention but the boy in front of it. He was wearing a grey T-shirt, tight against his biceps as he leant over a bike rubbing at it with a cloth. You couldn’t stop your eyes from watching his arms as they flexed cleaning the bike.

“Okay, disgusting. Can you stop eye fucking my brother?” Sarah laughs and pushes your shoulder, “I cannot deal with that all summer.”

“That’s Rafe?” You ask looking back over to him, “Why didn’t you tell me your brother was hot?”

“Ew, he’s my brother he’s not hot! He’s also an asshole.” She rolls her eyes before finally climbing out of the car. You follow suit, pulling your bag from the back and following her towards the house. Your eyes land back on Rafe as you walk past but the boy doesn’t look up from his task so you turn away and follow Sarah into the house.

——

“Fucking hell JJ you’re gonna set everything on fire!” Pope shouts, the boy jumps up and runs after the blonde who was currently running around the yard with a burning log pretending to be a caveman.

“Is he always like that?” You ask looking at the curly haired girl beside you.

“Oh, yeah,” she nods, “He’s an idiot.”

You laugh and watch Pope grab the log from JJ, telling his friend off before he threw the log back into the bonfire. JJ followed Pope back to the circle, sitting down in a sulk as he took an angry gulp from his beer.

“Never any fun.” He mutters to himself before breaking out in a grin, “Hey, y/n you haven’t seen my party trick! Let’s take the boat out!”

“JJ it’s pitch black,” Kie shakes her head, “You can barely do it in daylight, you’ll end up falling overboard and drowning.”

JJ let’s out another huff, “Alright, what am I supposed to do for fun then?”

Sarah had brought you to John B’s chateau to meet her friends. John B was not at all how you imagined him but you liked him well enough. Kie was lovely as was Pope and you looked forward to hanging out with them more. JJ was definitely a little chaotic and not someone you would usually hang out with but he seemed to have good intentions so you were sure he’d grow on you.

The night was full of drinking and laughing, the boys running around like idiots as you and the girls fell about laughing at their antics. This was the kind of thing you thought about when you thought of perfect summer nights. Drinks with friends, evenings full of laughter with music and a bonfire.

——

You were thankful that you didn’t drink too much the night before when you woke up with a clear head. You poked your head into Sarah’s room to find her still fast asleep, arm dangling off the bed as her face pressed into the pillows.

You made our way around the kitchen, opening up every cupboard in search of a glass. You let out a huff of frustration when you open your fourth cupboard to find plates and still no glasses.

“Need a hand?” A voice asks, causing you to jump back in surprise.

You spin around to see Sarah’s brother leaning against the doorframe, apparently having watched you search the kitchen for the last few minutes.

“Glasses?” You ask hopefully.

He shoots you a small smirk and walks into the kitchen towards the cupboard furthest from you and hands you a glass from it.

“Coffee?” He asks, already placing two mugs down onto the counter.

“Sure, thanks.” You take the glass and fill it with water from the fridge, gladly accepting the steaming mug of coffee the boy offers.

“I’m Rafe.” He finally introduces himself.

“I know, Sarah’s annoying older brother,” you let out a laugh, “Y/N.” You offer him your name with a slight smile.

“So you’re the pen pal, isn’t that a bit redundant now?” He leans against the counter, legs crossed slightly as he looks over at you.

You copy his stance opposite him and shrug, “Somewhat, but there’s something a lot more personal about receiving a letter, more intimate. I think it’s a shame people don’t do it anymore.”

“But a text is much quicker.” Rafe shrugs, seeming to miss the point completely, but it’s what you expected.

“Yes, it is quicker.” You agree.

A silence falls over the kitchen, a silence that’s surprisingly not awkward. You study Rafe as he looks down at his mug, hand moving in circles as his eyes watch the brown liquid move around. You weren’t sure what you expected Rafe to be like, but you were sure this wasn’t it. From what Sarah had described you expected someone loud, boisterous and irritating. Someone who would laugh at you not being able to find the glasses and walk away leaving you confused. Not someone who would pass you the glass you were desperately searching for and then offer you a coffee on top.

He looks up. Striking eyes meet yours and he smiles for the first time but it doesn’t reach the blue of his eyes, it stops somewhere just past the corners of his lips.

“How do you like the outer banks then?” He asks.

“Love it.” You beam, you laugh at the look Rafe shoots you, “No really! It’s so nice to be away from the city. This is what summer is supposed to be like, beaches and bonfires, not walking around busy streets.”

Rafe ponders your answer for a moment, “I guess. It’s just hard, when you’re used to it it gets kind of boring and repetitive.”

“Well, maybe you should find some new hobbies then.” You smile.

Rafe let’s out a chuckle, it’s dry and seems forced, “Yeah, maybe I should. Well, if you get bored hanging around the Pogues, come find me and I’ll show you how a summer should be spent.” He shoots you a wink and exits the kitchen. That, you think, is more the Rafe you were expecting.

——

“You’re not going to go, are you?” Sarah inquiries for the second time.

You’d just finished telling her about your morning meeting with Rafe and she’s been adamant you shouldn’t hang out with him. Not that you were planning to in the first place, but now she had explicitly said you shouldn’t, you kind of wanted to.

You refrain from rolling your eyes, “No Sarah. I came here to hang out with you, not your brother.”

Sarah smiles, happy with your answer she links her arm through yours like she had the day before. You both had beach bags slung over your shoulders as you made your way towards the golden sea of sand.

The rest of the group were already on the beach. John B and Kie were digging around in the cool box looking for beers while JJ was building a sandcastle around Popes legs.

You liked the beach and you liked Sarah’s friends but you found yourself growing bored quickly. It was too hot to lay around in the sun and you had never been a fan of the ocean so refused the offers of learning to surf. Even if you liked the water you didn’t imagine you’d be any good, your balance definitely comparable to bambi on ice.

Sarah was attached to her boyfriend at the hip, you didn’t blame her, she’s young and in love but it wasn’t very fun for you. You wished you’d brought a book or your headphones with you. It wasn’t until Kie mentioned a party that you perked up a bit, a party, that was definitely more your scene.

“Where?” You ask leaning up on your elbows on the towel.

“On the beach of course,” Kie holds a beer out towards you, “Pre drinks?” She grins waving it around.

You take the can from her and crack it open, trying to plan out your outfit in your head. Usually you’d wear a dress and heels to a party, but you didn’t expect that would be the best attire for a beach party. It was probably more of an occasion for shorts, a tank top and sandals.

——

The beach was crowded by the time you got there, a lot busier than you expected it to be. You were more than shocked when you noticed Rafe and what you guessed were his friends while you were getting your second drink. You hadn’t expected him to attend a party on this side of the beach, seeing his apparent hatred for the pogues.

He catches your eyes and sends you a nod before turning back to his conversation and you can’t help the small smile that appears on your face. Rafe didn’t seem like the dick Sarah had made him out to be and you were glad to have another friendly face around.

You were in your own world, dancing around with your fifth beer in hand when an arm wrapped around your shoulders. You spin, glad the arm was tight around you or you would have toppled over. Rafe is stood smiling down at you, you could tell from his eyes he’d drank a fair bit but he didn’t seem too intoxicated.

“Still having fun pogueing around?” He asks.

You should shrug his arm away from you but you find you enjoy the weight of it against you and lean into him more.

“I guess,” your fingers play with the red cup in your hand, “I mean, there’s nothing else to do, is there?” You half tease.

Rafe can sense your playful tone and matches it with a smirk, “I’ve already said I’ll show you a good time.”

“Sarah would kill me if I went running off with you,” you admit, leaving the part about wanting to anyway unsaid.

“Well, when she’s not looking you know where to find me.” He smirks, letting his fingers linger on your shoulder for a second longer before he sauntered away back into the throng of drunk party goers.

——

It was a week later when you finally took Rafe up on his offer, after you had promised Sarah the only reason you didn’t want to go out on the boat was because it had made you sea sick the day before. She’d pouted but eventually agreed on going without you. Rafe offered for you to join him and his friends at the golf course. Golf was definitely not your thing, but when you options were that or spend the day in the house alone and hope you don’t bump into ward, you chose the former.

“I thought you were going to show me how a summer should be spent.” You complain as you lean against one of Rafes golf club watching him and his friends line up for the seventeenth hole.

“This is how a summer should be spent.” Rafe comments, raising his beer into the air, “Beer, sun and golf.” He nods.

“Well, it’s not my ideal summer.” You sigh watching Toppers ball fly across the green.

“So what’s your ideal summer?” Kelce asks as he lines up his ball.

Kelce was definitely your favourite out of Rafes two close friends. You liked Topper well enough, but there was something about him you weren’t too sure about. Kelce on the other hand was a lot more pleasant than you expected him to be, he was friends with Rafe after all. But he’d made you feel welcome the minute you got to the golf course, even trying to teach you how to play.

“Adventure.” You state with a nod of your head, “I’m in a new place, I want to look around. Find new cool things, not wander around a field.”

Kelce chuckles as he hits his ball off the tee, “I wouldn’t call it a field.”

“You want adventure?” Rafe questions pointing at you with his club as he walks up to take his shot, “I’ll give you adventure.”

They finish the last two holes and then Rafe is dragging you out of the club house and towards his truck. He drives back to his house, swapping his truck for the bike you had seen him cleaning last week.

“You want me to get on that?” You ask with a raised brow.

“You want adventure but you won’t get on a bike?” Rafe laughs holding his helmet out to you.

“Adventure won’t kill me.” You roll your eyes but sigh and accept the helmet.

The bike was not as bad as you expected it to be. Rafe drove somewhat sensibly, you expect it had everything to do with you being on the back. It wasn’t until you were out on a dirt path that he started pulling the bike up to ride solely on the rear wheel and you found yourself clinging onto the boy for dear life.

“Rafe!” You scream, fists clutching at the front of his blue polo shirt, “Stop!” You squeeze your eyes shut as the boy just laughs.

Finally he stops the bike and you jump off, ripping the helmet off your head and throwing it at the laughing boy, “Are you actively trying to kill me?”

“Yeah, I bring all the girls out here to kill and bury them.” He chuckles and puts the stand down on the bike before climbing off.

“Right, I don’t doubt you do.” You turn around, arms crossed over your chest, “Where are we?”

You walk towards what seems to be the edge of a cliff, looking down you can see the waves crashing angrily against the rocks below.

“This is the best spot to come when you want to be alone,” Rafe appears behind you, you can tell what he really means is this is where he comes when he wants to be alone, “No one comes up here and there’s no phone signal.”

“The perfect place to hide a body.” You smirk over at him.

“Exactly, or the perfect place to learn to ride.” He grabs your hips and turns you back towards the bike, pushing you towards it.

“Wait, what?” You ask looking back at him over your shoulder, “Here? What if I fall off the edge?”

“Don’t drive towards the edge.” Rafe laughs as though it’s obvious and you suppose it is, “C’mon, sit.” Rafe pats the seat of the bike.

You debate with yourself whether you should get on the bike or not, you’d never even learnt to drive a car let alone a bike, so you knew you probably shouldn’t. But for some reason although you barely knew Rafe you trusted him. So you climb onto the bike, gladly accepting the helmet he offered to you again and pushing it down onto your head.

Rafe shows you the ignition and the controls you need to move it and to brake. You start off slow, conscious about falling off and breaking your neck. Rafe followed behind you like a parent teaching their child to ride a tricycle for the first time. Slowly you began to build speed, but nowhere near as fast as Rafe was driving and you definitely were not going to be pulling any wheelies. Rafe stands to the side, arms crossed over his chest as he watches you ride up and down the small path.

You stopped the bike next to the boy, pulling the helmet from your head with a large grin plastered across your face.

“That was amazing!” You comment, letting Rafe put the stand down so you can climb off, “I’m not saying I’d want to ride one all over the place, but up here where no one else is was really fun.”

“And you didn’t fall off the edge!” Rafe comments in a congratulatory tone causing you to laugh.

You sit down beside Rafe on one of the large rocks near the cliff edge, you hadn’t realised how long you had been out with the boy but the sky was beginning to turn orange as the sun set for the night. The view was breathtaking and you hadn’t noticed it while you had been riding.

“I can see why you like it up here.” You murmur, eyes fixed on the point where the sky meets the ocean, the orange of the sky reflecting off the sparkling waters.

“My father taught me how to ride up here.” Rafe admits, Sarah had told you all about Rafe and Wards relationship and in all honesty you felt sorry for him. You couldn’t imagine how hard it must be to strive to meet perfection for someone who doesn’t give you a second glance. Although it doesn’t excuse the things Rafe does, it at least gives you some understanding as to why he does them. He’s crying out for the attention he craves and for some unknown reason you want to give it to him.

You don’t reply. Instead you reach out and rest your hand on top of his letting the silence speak for you.

----

“Are you coming with me today or are you hanging out with Rafe again?” Sarah teases you, you were worried that she was going to be upset with you but the girl seemed more amused than anything.

She was already home when you got back past dark with Rafe and she had grilled you for the details of your day. She’d informed you that Rafe wouldn’t be like that with just anyone and that he must have a crush on you. But you’d just laughed her off, telling her he’s not the person she thinks he is. You knew siblings usually had some kind of rivalry, and seeing how much nicer Ward was to Sarah than Rafe you weren’t really surprised he acted hostile towards his younger sister.

“I don’t know, I don’t know if Rafe even wants to hang out with me again.” You shrug following your friend into the living room.

“Well you’re more than welcome to come with me, but Rafe’s usually out by now and he’s still lingering around.” She nods towards the back doors where you can see Rafe through the glass.

He’s sitting on one of the garden chairs, leg bouncing as he taps against the arm of the chair. Sarah gives you a little push towards the doors and you soon find yourself walking through them, face lighting up as Rafe notices you and smiles.

“Hey.” He stops tapping and sits up straighter.

“Hey.” You reply, you stand in front of him semi awkwardly, what if he hadn’t been waiting for you and had in fact just been enjoying sitting in his backyard in the morning sun.

“Do you have plans today?” He asks, you think he sounds a bit hopeful.

“I’m not sure...Sarah said I can go with her, but she seems more adamant I should hang out with you.” You both turn to see Sarah through the window trying her best to look like she’s not watching the interaction, “Maybe she doesn’t like me.”

Rafe chuckles, “Or maybe she just wants me to hang out with someone other than my bone head friends,” He chews on his lower lip, “I know somewhere we can go, if you want.”

That somewhere turned out to be a shaded woody area with a stream running through it. A stark contrast to the beach you had been to multiple times in the last week you’d been here. But you liked it, the shade was a welcome break from the sun and the sound of the water gently flowing over the rocks was calming.

Rafe stops walking beside a large tree, pointing with a smile towards a badly carved ‘R’ in the bark, “I think I was about eight when I did that.”

You smile and trace the letter with your finger. You weren’t sure if it was a conscious decision by Rafe to bring you to places that meant something to him, but you were glad that he was. It meant more than just taking you to random touristy destinations and it felt like you could peek a little more inside of him with each trip.

Rafe tugs on a piece of rope hanging from one of the branches, it was frayed at the end and looked like it had seen much better days. But after Rafe had tugged on it a couple of times and deemed it safe he offered it over to you. You laugh and accept the rope, giving it a tug of your own as you look up to where it was tied around the tree.

“It’s safe, tyed it myself.” Rafe comments as he watches you.

“When you were eight?” You shake your head when Rafe nods, “If I fall in you better run.”

You prepare yourself for a wet landing but miraculously the rope doesn’t break and you make it to the other side of the river in one piece and completely dry. You throw the rope back over to Rafe and he soon joins you on the other side.

“What if we come back and the rope’s snapped?” You ask watching the rope slowly swinging back and forth over the water.

Rafe watches too for a moment before tugging your arm to follow him, “You get wet.” he states.

You let Rafe guide you through the trees, the river never far from your left side as you make your way deeper into the woods. You find yourself grabbing onto Rafe’s arm as you climb over roots and fallen branches, sure no one ever came down here.

“Is this your second favourite place to hide bodies?” You ask with a laugh as you duck under a low branch.

Rafe hums, “No bodies here,” He replies, “Actually, I haven’t been here in years. I kind of forgot about this place until I was thinking about places to take you.”

“You were thinking about places to take me.” You ask, a small fluttering feeling creeping into your stomach.

“I promised you adventures, didn’t I?” He looks back at you with a smile.

You nod quickly, “You did,” You agree, “I look forward to more, then.”

Rafe led you the rest of the way in comfortable silence, both of you enjoying the calming sounds of nature instead of forcing a conversation about something meaningless. You stop beside Rafe when the river pools out into a small lake beside a cliff, water cascading down the side of the rocks.

“Wow,” you gaze across the water, “How have you found the nicest places?” You step in front of him, walking along the edge of the water towards the waterfall.

Rafe follows behind, “I spent a lot of time exploring when I was younger,” He tells you, “I could come here and be anything I wanted.”

“It’s amazing.” You state, “I wish we had places like this back home. We just have busy streets and over crowded parks.”

“C’mon.” Rafe hurries in front of you, grabbing your hand on his way past.

He helps you climb over the rocks towards the waterfall, both of you getting completely soaked as you pass under it, but even in the shade the weather was hot and sticky so you really didn’t mind. Behind the falling water you find a small cave, you weren’t sure if it was big enough to even be called a cave, but you had no other name for it. The stone inside the cave was dry and you let Rafe pull you to sit inside it.

“I used to come here when I was in trouble. No one could ever find me.” He laughs.

“I guess no one would think to look for you behind a waterfall.” You grin, “I wouldn’t. How did you even find this place back here?”

“Like I said, I used to do a lot of exploring.” Rafe shrugs as he moves forward and sticks his hand into the water. “I like listening to the water.”

“You can close your eyes and imagine you’re anywhere,” You comment, letting your eyes fall shut but you soon open them again, “I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be, though.”

Rafe looks at you over his shoulder, a smile gracing his lips and you couldn’t help but think this one was real. Unlike that first day, this one reached his eyes setting his whole face alight with pure happiness. You like it. You like his smile and you like being the one to put it there.

You spend most of the morning sitting behind the waterfall talking about anything you can think of. Most of it mundane small talk but some of it deeper. You tell Rafe about a few things from your childhood, seeing as he’d shared a couple of his own. Then as it drew closer to lunch time he took you to a diner on the edge of town which mostly sold various breakfast foods.

You knew you had asked Rafe for adventure, but you decided you would be happy doing absolutely nothing as long as he was in your company. You liked his company and you hoped he liked yours enough to spend most of the summer with you.

----

“Are you going to tell me what we’re doing?” You ask letting Rafe lead you towards a large stone building.

“Do you not have surprises where you come from?” Rafe teases, “I’ll explain, if I tell you, it kind of ruins the whole thing.”

You roll your eyes and slap his arm playfully. Rafe had told you to be ready by midday and to wear something nice. So you’d picked out a red summer dress and actually bothered with your hair and make up for the first time during your trip. As you got closer to the building you saw a sign which read ‘Wine Tasting.” and quickly tugged on Rafe’s arm.

“We aren’t even old enough to drink!” You hissed but he just shushed you and entered the building.

The waiter didn’t seem to bat an eyelid at the fact that you were both clearly only late teens and not over 21. He greeted Rafe by name and led you both over to a table on the balcony. The table was already set up with multiple glasses of various wines and you raised your brows at Rafe.

“How do they just let you in?” You ask in a hushed voice.

Rafe simply shrugs, “Perks of being a Cameron.” He grins and hands a glass over to you, “I’ve tried them all before.”

“I can’t try all of these, I’ll be drunk before one!” You laugh but take the glass from him.

“You’re not actually supposed to drink them.” He comments.

“You think I’m not going to drink them?” You raise one brow at him and bring the wine to your lips. It was a rose and it tasted much sweeter than you usually liked but still you swallowed it, “If there’s wine, I’m drinking it.”

Rafe laughs, shaking his head in amusement as you finished the rest of the glass. You both tried every wine on the table, Rafe getting rid of the wine like you’re supposed to, you downing each glass and getting steadily more drunk as the afternoon drew closer.

“So, which was your favourite?” He asks.

You purse your lips, mulling over the question in your seriously tipsy state, “The dry white.” You finally decide.

Rafe nods at your choice and excuses himself from the table. While he’s gone you look out over the balcony, the view mostly fields and trees but it was picturesque in the summer sun. You hum contentedly to yourself before snapping your head back round at the sound of a bang on the table. Rafe stood with four bottles of wine in his hands, motioning for you to follow him.

“You brought four?” You laugh following him down the stairs and back towards the car.

“Yeah, now we get to drink the best one and get blissfully wine drunk.” You can’t help but think that is the best idea yet.

You soon find yourself sitting in Rafe’s backyard as Rafe had put it ‘blissfully wine drunk’. Two bottles had already been finished, Rafe currently working on the third while you had had more than enough for now. You were in that state of drunk where you still knew what was going on, but you were much more confident and comfortable. Your vision was slightly blurred around the edges and if you stood up you knew you wouldn’t be able to walk in a straight line. You knew you shouldn’t be this drunk this early in the day, but Rafe was making you laugh and you felt like your body was full of butterflies so you didn’t care what anyone else would think.

Soon after it had started to get dark and Rafe had attempted to make you grilled cheese - you’d ended up eating it burnt and you hadn’t tasted anything quite so bad in a while, but you had both laughed about it - you found yourself stumbling down towards the beach. Hand tight in Rafe’s half because you wanted to hold his hand, half to stop you face planting the floor.

Rafe had brought the last bottle of wine with you, he stood it in the sand between you as you flopped down into one of the dunes. Dusk was settling across the sky casting a dull but calming hue across the beach.

“I didn’t plan on getting this drunk,” Rafe comments as he pulls the bottle from the sand and takes a sip, “But I’m not complaining.” He offers the bottle to you and you take it, gulping down the liquid before placing it back in its hole.

“You’re a bad influence. I’ve never been drunk at lunch time before!” You point an accusatory finger in his direction.

“Well you’ve been missing out all this time.” Rafe swings his arm around your shoulders and you let him pull you against his side.

His touch is warm in the cool evening sea breeze and you lean into him. Rafe has the power to make you feel completely comfortable around him all the time. You’d never met someone like him before and were quite sure you never would again. He was a one off. One of a kind. Special. So when he kissed against your hair line you smiled and held him closer. He was too good to let go off, physically and mentally.

You tilt your head up, eyes lingering on his willing him to read your mind. And he does. He leans down, pressing his lips to yours in a gentle kiss. It was short. A peck more than anything. It was nothing and everything all at the same time. You laid your head back against his shoulder, missing the smile spreading across Rafe’s lips.

----

You sit outside with Sarah, nursing your hangover with a strong coffee as the girl laughs at your self induced misfortune. You weren’t going to tell her about the kiss you and Rafe had shared the night before, honestly you weren’t sure yourself if it meant something to him or if it was just a result of too much to drink. But she’d asked, and you’d admitted it, and she hadn’t been annoyed like you'd expected. Actually, she seemed pretty excited, gushing over the details and letting out a little squeal after you finished.

“It would be so good if you dated my brother! He needs someone good in his life, and you actually look so cute together!” She taps her feet excitedly against the ground, “So what’s on the lovebirds agenda today?”

You open your mouth to tell her that actually you have no idea what you’re doing today. But you don’t get a chance to speak. Instead the table shakes violently as something heavy lands on it and then a second later both of you are covered in water.

Sarah screams and in your hungover state it takes you a second to process what had happened. You look up, glaring at a smiling Rafe hanging out of his bedroom window, it was more than a little unfair that the boy didn’t look the slightest bit affected by yesterday's drinking session.

“I’d move if I were you.” He calls down before another balloon full of water lands on the floor beside you.

Both you and Sarah bolt up from the table and out onto the grass, both dripping wet with angry scowls.

“Rafe you asshole!” Sarah calls up as she wrings her hair out, “I’m not staying here for this, it’s you he’s trying to get!” She points a finger at you before quickly running into the house.

You’re glad when you look up and Rafe is no longer at his window, but that relief quickly dies when he appears at the back door, a balloon already on its way over to you. You scream as it hits your arm, the cold water covering your body.

“This isn't funny Rafe!” You shout, running as another rubber bomb comes towards you, “I’m hungover and now look at me!”

But Rafe doesn’t care. You spend the next ten minutes running away from his assault, finally being able to defend yourself when you grab the hose and point it at him. By the time Rafe is out of balloons and he’s managed to wrestle the hose out of your hands both of you are dripping wet. Rafe’s hair is plastered against his forehead and covering his eyes, yours is hanging down like rats tails. You wring out your shirt, glaring still at the boy but it’s more playful now.

“And what exactly brought that on?” You huff letting go of your shirt.

Rafe shrugs, moving towards you and wrapping his arms around your waist, “I like hearing your laugh.” He answers pulling you closer.

He leans down, his lips finding yours in a wet kiss thanks to your fight. This kiss is longer, his lips pressed against yours firmer than the previous night. Now you knew that it wasn’t some drunken act and that Rafe had in fact wanted to kiss you, and this made you smile against his lips. This time, now you were sober, you could appreciate the moment more. Kissing Rafe was like something you had never felt before. It sounds cheesy to say you felt a spark, and you weren’t sure that’s how you would explain it. But you felt light, like the weight of everything was taken off you at least for a moment. And your body felt warm, like your blood had turned to honey and you felt cosy and safe.

You rest your head against his chest when you finally pull away, ignoring how uncomfortable his wet shirt felt against your cheek. And you stood there holding each other, wet in the morning sun for what felt like forever.

----

The next week is full of Rafe surprising you with something new each day. Sometimes it’s small like a day of baking - which you both suck at - and sometimes it’s big like a shopping trip to town where he treats you to new shoes and dinner. It’s also filled with a lot more kissing and a lot more cuddling. One day, when the weather is more miserable than usual summer days, you make a blanket fort in his bedroom and spend the day cuddling, eating marshmallows and watching cheesy movies on netflix. That was one of your favourite days. To block the world out and spend the day wrapped up in Rafe’s arms was how you wanted to spend every day for the rest of your lives. But that didn’t mean you didn’t enjoy the other days too. The days when Rafe would plan someone special or take you to a meaningful place from his childhood. You knew that no matter what you were doing, if it was with Rafe, you’d enjoy it.

You sat on the deck of the boat, watching as Rafe dropped the anchor setting the boat in its place. The yacht was impressive, but Rafe could have taken you out on a rubber dingy and you still would have loved every second of it.

“Have you ever been jetskiing?” Rafe asks.

“You know I don’t really like the water, Rafe.” You sigh, standing up as he walks over to you and resting your hands against his chest.

“I know, but I think you’ll enjoy it. It’s like riding the bike but bumpier.” Rafe presses a kiss against your forehead, “Do you want to try it? We can come straight back on the boat if you don’t like it.”

You sigh, looking up at his hopeful eyes and you find you just can’t say no to the boy. So you smile and nod your head once, “But if I call in you have to come save me!”

Rafe promises to follow right behind you and helps you get geared up in a life jacket, which made you feel a little better about the coming experience.

It took a couple of minutes for you to get used to sitting on the jet ski before you even moved anywhere and Rafe sat patiently beside you. He held your hand, brushing his thumb across your skin until you announced you were ready to try.

Rafe was right when he said it was like riding a bike and you were glad he had shown you that first. You didn’t dare go very fast, but you still had fun riding around in slow circles. You soon felt comfortable on your own and Rafe sped off, showing off and throwing himself at waves.

He was soaking wet when he appeared back beside you, a grin on his face as he pulled up next to you.

“Show off.” You comment with a giggle.

“Had to give you a show baby.” He leans over and presses his lips against yours.

——

That evening Rafe bundled you into his truck with a duffle back and an armful of blankets. No matter how many times you asked where you were going he refused to tell you. So I’m the end you shut up and turned to stare out of the window watching the town fly by and turn into fields and trees.

Finally he pulls up in the middle of nowhere, grabbing the things from the back and jumping out of the car. You follow after him, noticing a tent set up in a clearing, a faint orange glow coming from inside of it.

“We’re camping?” You grin hurrying ahead of him to check it out.

Inside the tent was fairy lights strung along the room, some blankets and cushions already laid across the floor. It looked cozy and cute, you turned to him, hugging his side tightly.

“This is so cute! When did you set this up? I was with you all day.” You raise a brow at him before helping him set the extra blankets down.

“I got Topper to help out,” he shrugs before pulling you down into the tent beside him.

“I love it.” You grin and lean over pressing a kiss to his lips.

That night you lay stargazing until your eyes hurt and then you climbed inside the tent and curled up in Rafes arms. You talked, you laughed and you kissed. You slept with Rafe for the first time that night, it was slow and sweet and something you will remember forever.

You had never planned on falling so hard for the boy. Thinking this would be a summer fling to tell your friends about and that was it. But now you knew it was more than that. A lot more. You had never felt for anyone the way you felt for Rafe. When he was around you your world life up and your cheeks always hurt from smiling so much.

You couldn’t imagine not getting to see him and touch him every day but time moved too quickly and the end of summer reared its head.

The last night on the island you spent at the annual carnival. You had gone with Sarah, spending half of the night with her and her friends before disappearing off with Rafe.

You went on the Ferris wheel, ate sweets and hot dogs and got lost in the fun house. By the end of the night you felt sick from all the food and insanely happy.

“I’ll come visit you in a month or two, okay?” Rafe promises as you stand on the docks, tears slipping down your face.

You nod your head, letting him kiss you one last time, “Okay. I’ll call you every day.” You offer a smile, rubbing your wet cheeks before disappearing onto the ferry.

You sat on the deck, waving to Rafe until you could no longer see him through the crowds and you were sure he was gone.

You kept your promise of calling him everyday, chatting endlessly about anything you could think of. You loved talking to Rafe because nothing ever felt forced. He made you laugh and smile and e butterflies never went away when you thought about him.

It was the end of the month and you excitedly ripped into the letter addressed to you, expecting to see Sarah’s hand gushing to you about John B and asking you all sorts about your and Rafe. But it wasn’t Sarah’s neat hand you saw but something a little scruffier.

Y/N

I don’t think I’ve ever written a letter before but I remember you saying how you liked them so I thought I would try.

I wanted to say thank you for giving me the best summer, I don’t remember the last time I felt so alive. Being around you is a feeling I want to keep forever, I can never get enough of talking to you, kissing you and hugging you. You make my world a better place and give me a reason to keep trying to be a better person. Thank you for all that you’ve done for me, you’ve helped me more than you can imagine.

I look forward to seeing you next month, I’m counting down the days until I can hold you again.

P.S. Sarah says hi, and that she knew this would happen all along.

Love, Rafe x

#rafe cameron x reader #rafe cameron fic #rafe cameron imagine #outer banks x reader #outer banks fic #outer banks imagine #my writing

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love-and-monsters · 4 years ago

Text

Harpy Rescue

M monster X F reader, 7,143 words

You wash up on an island after a shipwreck. The harpy natives take you in and you find companionship with a certain healer who’s been caring for you.

I stared blankly at the sky above me. I was lying back on a beach. The tide was coming in underneath me. The salt water stung at the raw scrapes on my back.

It was struggle to breathe. My lungs spasmed and heaved with every breath. All my energy went into keeping my lungs heaving.

It was ironic. The only person who survived the shipwreck was the one who would die anyway.

None of my limbs would move. I knew I wasn’t paralyzed, if only because that would have dulled sensation and I could feel every scrape and bruise over the surface of my body. I just couldn’t move under my own power.

It took all my energy to keep breathing. It hurt just to breathe. My lungs stuttered over the air, threatening to stop altogether every time. Even with all my effort going into it, I still felt faintly dizzy from lack of air.

There were birds, enormous birds, circling overhead. Carrion birds, probably. They could see me lying on the beach and probably assumed they were getting a nice lunch.

The water was getting higher. It was a race, I thought morbidly. Would the water drown me before the birds managed to eat my entrails?

They were coming down more rapidly now. They were huge. Perhaps I would get lucky and they would fight one another for long enough that the waves would come in. I would take drowning over being torn apart hungry birds.

The tide was coming in faster. I could feel it lapping around my ears. A particularly strong wave made me sputter and I spent nearly a minute coughing and gasping. It was harder than ever to breathe. Perhaps drowning wouldn’t be substantially more pleasant than being eaten alive.

One of the birds plunged into a dive, spurring the others to follow. They drifted out of my sight and no matter how far I rolled my eyes back, I couldn’t see them. Great. I just had to wait in anticipation.

There was a crunching behind me, the sound of something approaching. Another wave struck me and I choked, coughing on the water. Black spots popped in front of my eyes and I felt my entire body heave, water trickling from my mouth.

A hand caught my shoulder. With a heave, I was dragged out of the shallow water and up onto the firmer beach. Tilting my head back, I managed to catch sight of my rescuers.

They hadn’t been birds, I realized. They had just looked like birds from a distance. My rescuers were a group of concerned-looking harpies.

If I had any sense of dramatic timing, I likely would have passed out then. It would have made the situation much less awkward, at least. But I remained stubbornly awake, staring up at the small throng of harpies.

Their heads and torsos were humanoid, but they seemed to have a combination between arms and wings. Their arms were feathered and there was a split at the wrists between hands and the final joint of the wing. Their legs were scaled and ended in large, heavy talons. All of them had deeply tanned skin and dark brown hair and feathers.

They spoke to one another for a moment, in a language I couldn’t understand. Then, the one that had dragged me up the beach bent over and hauled me into his arms.

The group headed off the beach and into the tropical jungle beyond. It was getting harder and harder to remain conscious. I faded in and out, struggling to keep my consciousness together. The blackouts grew longer and longer and the tightening pain in my chest was growing sharper. Breathing was almost painfully difficult.

Another bit of irony for me. I had been saved from drowning only for my condition to kill me right away.

The last thing I was aware of was the man carrying me speaking rapidly before I was deposited on solid ground with a jolt.

When I opened my eyes again, there was a ceiling above me. It was thatched, and there were several bundles of herbs hanging from the rafters. The pain of my body had eased, and though my chest burned, it had loosened significantly. After a few breaths, I had gained enough energy to sit up.

“Here.” Someone to my right pushed a bowl into my hands. It was full of a strong-smelling liquid that made my nose run and my sinuses clear almost instantly. “It’ll help with your breathing.”

The person next to me was the same man who had carried me off the beach. I hadn’t gotten the best look at him, but he had the same golden-brown feathers and his long, braided hair was done up in the same style. I dipped my head and took a few swallows from the bowl.

It burned worse than any whiskey I’d ever tried. I sputtered, eyes watering, but the tension in my chest did fade. The bands that had always restricted my breathing loosened ever so slightly and I gulped air gratefully.

The man outstretched his hands and took the bowl back. I sputtered a few more times before my breathing calmed. “What is that?”

“An old remedy for chest trouble. It’s steeped out of different herbs.” As he set the bowl on a nearby table, I realized something.

“You speak English?” I asked.

“Some. My aunt met with travelers many years ago. She taught me. Just in case.” He leaned back in his seat, stretching his legs out in front of him. Something behind him shifted and I noticed his tail, made of the same brown feathers as his wings. “You must have inhaled a lot of salt water. Your breathing was bad.” He tapped his chest demonstratively. “You were wheezing.”

“It does that anyway. But the almost drowning didn’t help.” I pushed yourself up in bed. “Where am I?”

“Healer’s house,” he said. “In Namori Village. You were brought here by the storm, yes?”

“Not on purpose,” I said. “I was sailing to Larmark. They have a good hospital there. I was going for an examination.” I rubbed at my chest. “I don’t suppose you have any ships heading in that direction?”

“We are not a sailing people,” the man said with an apologetic smile. I slouched back into the bed. I wasn’t as upset about it as I should have been. The treatment was supposed to find a way to cure my condition. Without it, I could be beset by a sudden bought of chest tightness that could kill me at any moment. It had nearly done so several times in my childhood. But I had lived my life with it so far. I was just back where I’d started.

“She’s up!” I looked up to see an older woman harpy leaning over me. “Thought I told you to call for me, boy.” The male harpy ducked his head, looking properly ashamed. “Took quite a beating from that storm. Lucky you made it to shore.” She flicked her wings. “We saw the ship go down last night. Didn’t expect anyone would survive. You’re lucky we noticed you.”

“There’s something wrong with her chest,” the male harpy said. “She wheezes.”

“Noticed that.” The woman looked me over. Her eyes were a piercing yellow. “Thought it was from the seawater. It’s usually like that?”

“Yes. Since I was a child. I had some sort of illness that damaged it. I wouldn’t worry about it too much. I’ve never allowed it to bother me.” I’m sure my voice would have been much more reassuring, but my chest contracted in a cough and I heaved a few times.

“Perhaps you should let it bother you more. Give her more of that infusion, Nor. And recheck her ribs, just to be safe.”

“Yes, Aunt Aerath,” Nor said. She turned on her heels and strode off. We were in a back room, I noticed, small and full of warm light. Nor turned back to me. “Sit up. Drink.” I sipped more of the brew he’d given me while he prodded at my ribs. It was a little ticklish and I had to work not to squirm.

“Your ribs are fine,” Nor said eventually. “But your chest is weak.”

“Well, nothing I didn’t already know.” I rolled over, ignoring the sharp pains that came to me. “Can I move around?”

Nor nodded and I got up. He hovered close by as I shuffled around. I’d been stripped down to my shift, which would have been embarrassing if both of them hadn’t been wearing something similar. They both seemed to be wearing something like togas, though Nor’s skirt was long enough to trail on the ground. Both their outfits were a deep navy blue.

There was a partially ajar door and I stepped through it, onto the forest floor outside. The trees were enormous, towering over everything. Up in the branches, harpies darted back and forth, flitting between the branches. I could see nest-like houses nestled in the crooks of the trees.

“We’re on the ground,” I said. Nor nodded.

“Healers live on the ground. In case flightless ones come to us,” he explained.

“Ah. That’s sensible.” I stared up, looking into the trees with some interest. At least if I was going to be staying there for a while, it was a beautiful, fascinating place.

Nor took me back inside and fed me a chunk of meat along with a few fruits. I needed to heat the meat over the fire for a little longer- apparently harpies liked their meat fairly rare. Aerath returned after that and forced a few more herbal brews down my throat, which she said would help with the pain.

“I expect I’ll be here for a while,” I said as I handed one of her cups back to her. My mouth tasted like I’d licked the underside of a stone. The brews were unpleasant at best, though I could already feel a numbness creeping into my injuries.

“Humans come by only rarely,” Aerath said. “And there isn’t much of a pattern. Our species is not water faring and we can’t fly to the next mainland. Ocean flight is not easy.”

“Which is a taciturn way of saying I am stuck here.”

“No more than us,” Nor said.

“Be kind. She has lost her home,” Aerath said sternly. I shrugged, leaning back in bed.

“It’s not as awful as you may think. I was sailing to a hospital, you see. It was likely I would spend the rest of my life there, which, even with all that care, may not have been very long.” I shrugged. “At least this place is better for the soul.”

Nor turned his head and spoke to his aunt rapidly in his own language. She frowned, but responded in the same way. I ignored the pair of them and moved back to bed. Despite not having been awake for very long, I was already exhausted. My chest stuttered as I tried to lie flat on my back and I paused for a moment, wheezing.

Nor darted over and adjusted my pillow behind me. “Better?”

“Yes, thank you.” Nor nodded, then slipped out of the room. Aerath lingered for a moment, looking at me.

“We’ll be upstairs if you require us. If you can’t walk, knock heavy things over until we come for you.” With that, she exited the room. The door closed behind her and I slumped back into the pillow, eyes closing.

I slept fitfully, especially after the pain medication wore off. By the time Nor brought breakfast, I was already up and walking around. There were several journals with detailed drawings of plants in them. I couldn’t read the writing, but I could see what the plants were and I spent some time matching them to the herbs hanging around the room.

“Quite an interesting journal,” I told Nor as he sat down to eat with me. “Did your aunt write it?”

He shook his head. “She is…” He struggled with the word for a moment. “Practical? A… practice? She remembers by senses, not words. But I need reminders.”

“You’re quite good at drawing,” I said. “I kept similar journals, though they sank with the ship.” He looked at me with clear surprise. “I had little else to do. I could rarely go out, so I spent much time in the gardens, drawing and remarking upon the plants. These remind me of my own journals.”

“When I am collecting herbs, I enjoy drawing them. Seeing nature. It is soothing.” He seemed to grow more excited, then composed himself. “I could show you garden, if you’d like?”

“I would,” I said. He grinned, then hopped to his taloned feet as his aunt entered the room.

I did not end up seeing the garden that day, principally because I spent much of it in bed. Nor stopped by every now and then, sometimes with food, more often with a new bundle of plants to tie up and hang from the ceiling. He seemed to go into a sort of trance when he was sorting the herbs, a sort of peaceful state.

It took a few days before I was approved to walk into town. “Don’t stress yourself too much. You’re still recovering,” Aerath said.

“I’ll keep an eye on her,” Nor said. He fluttered his wings at his aunt, shooing her away. “We’ll be fine.”

Being without wings earned me a great deal of stares. I was viewed with some general suspicion, as far as I could tell. I was allowed to stay because there seemed to be a consensus that throwing me into the wilderness would absolutely kill me, and they had decided not to be that cruel. Not wanting me to die, however, did not necessarily mean that I was accepted by the community. Having Nor with me seemed to help, at least somewhat. He was at least well respected, and being in his presence absorbed you into his aura of decency.

The village seemed to have been built into the enormous trees of the forest. Several houses had been formed out of several trees carefully grown together through cultivation, and the living pavilion, formed out of ten trees carefully coaxed into growing around each other, was the great centerpiece of the town.

Getting to see the town as a group also drew your eye to the cultural similarities between them. A majority of adults had short hair, while children seemed to exclusively have long hair. There didn’t seem to be a clear age delineation between them. Based on appearances, Nor was older than a few of those with short hair, though no one under a certain age had their hair cut.

“Is there a reason for the hair styling?” I asked. “You wear your hair long, but most adults seem to keep theirs short.”

“Oh,” Nor said, with a tiny, dismissive flick of his feathers. “They are… erm. I am not certain of the word. Paired?”

“Married,” I guessed, and Nor’s expression brightened.

“Yes. Married. Part of the ceremony includes cutting hair. Most couples keep their hair short, to show they are with someone. Long hair can be difficult to fly with. To keep your hair short means you have someone who makes it easy to fly.” He frowned for a moment. “It is a pun in my language. It does not work as well in yours.”

“I think I get it,” I said. “But your aunt is unmarried and her hair is short.”

“She is…” There was a long pause. Nor seemed to be struggling to think of the proper words. “Bound to work? Committed to healing? Something along those lines, I believe. She is joined to her job as one is bound to a lover.”

I frowned. “Healers are like nuns, then?”

Nor frowned too. “Like… nones? Healers are not nothing.”

“No, like nuns. It’s spelled differently.” Nor looked entirely blank. I suspected he couldn’t write English. “Nuns are people who take vows not to marry so they can become closer to God, as I understand it. Healers do something similar.”

Nor still seemed confused. “Not all healers. Only Aunt Aerath.” He reached up and touched the long braid that was coiled on the back of his head. “I have… not decided.”

“Well, you’ve got time.” We were quite close to the healing house again, but I paused and leaned against a tree. My chest was squeezing again and I needed a break. “I never planned on marrying, really.”

“Why not?” Nor asked.

“I didn’t expect to live terribly long,” I said frankly. “I have spent much of my life expecting to die from a sudden attack. And then my parents suggested that I go to a hospital for treatment, and it’s rare to marry once you end up in those sort of places.” I smoothed my new robes idly. “I never expected to have a husband who would be okay with his wife dropping dead at any moment.”

Nor fluttered his wings. “You are not going to die,” he said.

“It’s all right. I’m content with it. I have been this way all my life. I value every moment now. It’s nothing new to me.” Nor still looked discomfited, so I patted his shoulder reassuringly. “Truly, I’m fine. We should head back now.”

Nor plied me with the strange, spicy concoction for my chest when we returned home. I drank the lot of it, at his insistence. It did seem to help. There was something about the warmth of it that relaxed my lungs and brought air in easier.

As my recovery finalized, I began to look for ways to serve my new community. It was not something terribly easy. I could not fly, or truly do any sort of intense physical activity, which limited my options. Sewing and weaving, actions that had often been suggested to me, held no more interest for me in the village than they had in my own home. Trying to manipulate tiny threads that tangled at the slightest glance was infuriating, and my frustration often ended in chest-heaving coughing fits. I tried to go back to writing my journals, examining nature and writing about it, but there seemed to be little actual use for it.

Eventually, I began tagging along with Nor when he went to collect herbs in the forest. He’d been going out more and more often, looking for new plants and writing furiously in his notebooks. I could read them more easily now, having spent a few weeks immersed in a crash course of his language.

“Just make sure you watch out for snakes,” Nor said as we trekked through the thick foliage.

“Look out for what?” I said. I was at the awkward stage of learning a language where I knew most common words, but words that were used infrequently were still lost.

“Snakes? Er. <Snakes!>” Nor said in English.

“Snakes,” I repeated. “Are there a lot of them?” I looked cautiously at the ground.

“No. Not a lot. But there are some venomous ones that bite if you step on them.” Unsettled, I lifted up the hem of my robe, peering cautiously at the leaf litter. The clothes harpies wore were not well-designed for people without tails or wings. I had needed to do some rudimentary tailoring to fix it into something I could walk around in. Shoes had been another problem entirely, mostly because harpies had tough, scaled feet and wore no shoes. I had eventually just decided to layer several thick fabrics together and essentially tied them to my feet. They were neither comfortable nor easy to wear, but they were practical and had stopped your soles from being shredded.

We made our way slowly through the woods. I ended up holding onto Nor’s arm wing for much of it. Never having worked out for long periods of time had left me fairly uncoordinated and leaning on Nor made it much easier for me to move about.

“Look. Norell,” he said, picking up a bunch of sharp-smelling, pink flowered herbs from the ground. “My namesake.”

“What are they used for?” I asked.

“Chest conditions, actually. They’re a big part of the infusion I’ve been giving you.” Nor had been giving me a regular doses of that infusion. Taking some in the morning seemed to loosen my chest for the rest of the day. “I’ve been trying to make a stronger infusion, so we’ll need a lot of it.”

“Are you predicting a spike in chest conditions?” I asked. Winter was on its way, and apparently, due to their large, powerful lungs, harpies were quite susceptible to issues like pneumonia and bronchitis. But that seemed to be counterbalanced by the fact that winter was mild on the island, more of a tepidly cool wet season than a proper snowy winter.

Nor shifted on the ground. His wings twitched a little. It was hard to tell, thanks to his deeply brown skin, but I thought I could see a hint of red creeping into his cheeks. “It’s for you, actually.”

I lifted my brows. “For me?”

“It’s been helping you recently,” Nor said, a little defensively. “I thought that a stronger infusion would help even more.” He frowned critically at the plants. “I want to get it as concentrated as possible. But there’s not enough in the gardens right now, so I need more.” He straightened up, tucking a bundle of plants away into his bag. “Also, infusions will keep a little better than the herbs themselves, so I can keep them for longer. You’ll need some when the growing season ends.”

“You’ll need some for others as well,” I said. “Keep some in reserve.”

“If you need it, you need it,” Nor said. “I’d rather give herbs to someone who definitely needs them than reserve some in case someone else might need them.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to fully heal someone who can be fully healed than to keep giving supplements to someone who will always be sick?” I said. Nor’s feathers bristled, shifting in agitation.

“All people deserve healing. Whether or not their condition is curable. I want you to be well.” His tone was so severe that I could do nothing but stare at him. After a moment, he seemed to realize what he’d said and he broke eye contact, staring at the ground. “We should, ah. Head back.”

He started trekking through the woods rapidly. Harpies were notably better at balance on uneven terrain, thanks to their long, gripping talons. I struggled to keep up with him.

We were getting quite close to the village when I felt the unfortunately familiar seizing sensation in my chest. I stopped dead, enormously regretting my walking speed that had left me a little breathless. It was growing harder by the moment to inhale.

Nor paused, realized I was no longer with him, and hurried back to my side. “Are you okay?” he asked. One of his hands moved along my back, kneading my tightening muscles. “Breathe. Breathe!” If I had the air for it, I would have informed him I was trying, and was well aware that I needed to be breathing. Unfortunately, all my energy was going into not allowing my body to suffocate me.

Nor abruptly decided that simply telling me to breathe was ineffective and changed tact. “Hold on!” This turned out to be quite literal because he seized me around the waist and hefted me against his chest.

It was impossible for a harpy to fly while carrying something, because their arms and wings were one and the same, but I could have been fooled considering how fast Nor was moving. He plunged through the forest as fast as the wind. I would have been more impressed if I wasn’t struggling to breathe at the moment. As it was, I was aware that we were moving at quite a speed.

Nor was back in the healing house within minutes. I was unceremoniously dumped on the bed and Nor darted off, rummaging through a cabinet with a noise of wood rattling and glass clinking.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” he said. He knelt next to me, turning my head toward him. “You just need to drink this. Okay?”

I tried to inhale enough to speak and it stuck in my chest, sparking a coughing fit. Nor looked panicked and thrust the little bottle he was holding into my mouth. I sputtered, but some of the liquid spilled down my throat. There was a mild tingling and my chest loosened.

With my breathing abruptly eased, I could keep taking small sips from the bottle. The tightness loosened with every swallow. Nor slumped next to the bed, wings sagging with relief. I put down the bottle, still coughing, but breathing easier.

“Are you okay?” Nor asked. I nodded.

“You can move quick,” I said. My voice was raspy and a little strangled. I swallowed, trying to fully clear my throat.

“I was worried,” he said. “You should try carrying a bottle of this with you from now on.” He walked over to the cabinet and fetched a small bottle full of the infusion. “If you’re going to be going out more often, you’ll want something to prevent more attacks.”

I took the bottle. “That’s a good idea.” I set it down onto the table next to the bed. “Are you inviting me on more herb gathering missions, then?”

A slightly shy smile crept up Nor’s face. “If you’d like to come. You’ve been pretty good at spotting plants. And you’ve been pretty good in the gardens lately.”

“I was never really able to do a lot of gardening before,” I said. “So, I tended to overfocus on the little minute details, like soil quality and the amount of water you give the plants.”

“You’ve improved the garden a lot,” Nor said. “Oh, which reminds me. Hold on.”

He stood up and trotted over to the cabinet again. After looking through it for a few moments, he pulled out a small notebook and walked back over. “Here,” he said, presenting it to me. It looked like the notebooks he used for his own notes, a smooth black cover and soft, slightly off-white pages. “I haven’t taken many notes on the gardening aspects of herbs. I just… haven’t been very good at it. But I thought you could start taking notes on how you care for the plants. It might be useful.”

I took the notebook from his hands. Our fingers brushed as I did so. His skin was warm and calloused, the sort of skin that only came around after long, hard work. The notebook was heavy in my hands, strangely dense for such a small item. “Thank you,” I said. “I would love to do that.”

Nor stood, shifting on his talons. “Good. Um. You should probably get some rest. I’ll be back in a bit.” He hurried out of the room. I watched him go until his tail had completely vanished around the doorway.

Working in the garden only brought me closer to Nor. We spent time together every day, either going out to gather herbs or helping him with the garden. He was enthusiastic to learn and good company even when we weren’t talking about plants.

His ease with me spread to the rest of the village. By the time winter was over, I had been completely accepted as a part of the community. To them, I was not as much an outsider human as a strange, wingless harpy. Even Aerath trusted me enough to allow me to learn how to make herbal remedies, while Nor took on more of her duties, like diagnosing illnesses and dressing wounds.

During early spring, when the rains began to ease, a change set in around the village. There was a new current of excitement, the younger adults spending more time showing off and engaging in stunts. Even Nor, who had been fairly even tempered in the time I’d known him, seemed to get caught up in the excitement.

It was during my usual work in the garden that I noticed the changes were not confined to emotional. There was a physical change too. Nor’s tail feathers, usually a deep golden-brown, had taken on a rusty color. The color only brightened over the next week, going from a dull, sort of reddish orange to a bright crimson. The colors showed up on the male population of the rest of the village as well, to varying degrees. Some, especially the younger males, never got past a reddish orange, while others got to the same brilliant crimson hue as Nor’s.

While it garnered some sort of notice and people seemed pleased about it, no one was talking about what it actually meant. It clearly meant something, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on why it was so important.

Eventually, after some time of trying to figure out what it meant on my own, I broke down and decided to ask Nor. “Your tail changed color,” I said as we headed back into the house from the garden.

“You noticed,” Nor said. His tone was utterly unreadable.

“Well, it’s a bit hard to miss. It’s a very bright color.” Nor’s unreadable expression shifted into one of clear embarrassment. “Is it something I shouldn’t mention? It seems to signal something, but I wasn’t sure what it was-”

“No, no. I mean, I guess I should have expected you to ask about it. You’re not a harpy, so you never would have been told.” He set the herbs he’d collected down on the table and turned to me, giving me his full attention. “It’s almost spring, which means that we’re approaching our mating season.”

I felt sort of stupid for not hitting upon that idea earlier. Of course. The red was to attract a mate. Was commenting on it some kind of social faux pas? As I tried to come up with that to say next, Nor continued. “We’ll have a mating ceremony soon, with the other local villages. It’s a big event, so everyone’s getting rather excited about it.”

“A… mating ceremony?” I repeated. How carnal were we talking? Was I going to have to make myself scarce for… how long did the mating ceremony last, anyway?

“It’s not as bad as you’re thinking,” Nor added hurriedly. “It’s more of a competition? Or a show, really. It lasts about a week, and the first six days are more of a festival than anything. Lots of feasting, games, shows. It’s more about getting to know the other villages and the people from them. It’s quite fun. The festival ends with the mating ceremony. It used to be a more literal interpretation of that, a long time ago. But now it’s really more of a show. Men fly around and show off, but it’s less to attract a mate and more to show off to someone you already have an attraction to. Or to get someone to ask you out, sometimes. It’s more for the fun of it and the tradition.”

“It sounds interesting,” I said.

“It should start in a couple of weeks. That’s the peak of the season,” Nor said. “I can show you around a bit, if you’d like.”

“Sure. If you’re not going to be too busy trying to find a soulmate,” I said, nudging him playfully in the side. He shrugged, glancing away.

“I’ve never actually participated all that much in it,” he said. “I’ve been kind of focused on my studies with my aunt. I spent most of my time at the last few festivals working with the other healers.”

“You should get out more, then. I can help your aunt out, if you want. Then you can go off and see the sights.”

“I already told you I’d show you around,” Nor protested. “And it’ll be your first festival.”

“Look, at least get a little time to yourself,” I said. “I can help out, you know.”

“We’ll see,” Nor said, which was as close to agreeing as I thought he was going to get.

The weeks passed slowly, with excitement ramping up as the festival got closer. I could almost feel the tension buzzing in the air, getting ready to overflow. By the time it had arrived, I was almost swept up in the rising excitement.

The fairground for the festival was a large clearing in the center of the island. It had an impressive view of the sky, and the ground was almost entirely covered in tents and attractions. Nor and I were toward the edge of the grounds, in a sort of makeshift medical tent. “We probably won’t be called on for a little bit,” he said once we’d finished setting everything up. “I can show you around.”

“Sure,” I agreed. Nor trotted off, and I followed after, looking around the festival with interest.

Most of it seemed like the sort of festivals I’d seen once or twice when I’d been young. Ever since my chest troubles had set in fully, I’d rarely gone far from my house. It looked mostly like a very fancy market. People showed off their most interesting wares, their most brightly colored or intricately designed trinkets. There were several people slightly younger than Nor picking up things that I assumed were for potential sweethearts. There were also several games, most of them for children, but a few clearly styled for adults. The food was the usual hearty fare that I’d seen at other festivals, enormously delicious and decadent.

“And this all lasts a whole week?” I asked as we made our way back to the healer’s tent. We had gotten sidetracked a few times- there were several musical performances and talent shows, and even a few classes that I’d been interested in taking.

“Well, the first and last days are the biggest ones. But yes, the whole week. For the most part.”

“Then you can take a day or two off and enjoy all this, can’t you?” I said. Nor hesitated for a moment. “I can handle things at the tent. Why don’t you take tomorrow off? It’ll be good for you to get a break.”

Nor hesitated. “I’ll have to ask my aunt.”

“I’ll make sure she says yes,” I said. “You deserve it. Especially after having to take care of me for so long.”

Nor shrugged and mumbled something about it not being a big deal. I laughed clapping him on the shoulder.

“Just take some time off. Okay?”

He agreed, finally, and we returned to the tent. There were a few injuries, of course, mostly young people trying to show off for their potential lovers, but nothing we were overwhelmed with. It took only a bit of persuading for Aerath to give Nor the next day off.

Nor went out only after making sure I kept my infusion on me. “Just be careful,” he said.

“I’m always careful,” I told him. “Now, go. And stop worrying so much.” He made a face, but left for the rest of the fairgrounds, leaving me with Aerath and the other healers.

I only spotted him a few times during the day. He seemed to have attracted a small group of friends by noon. It seemed he could get along well with others, as long as he managed to get out. Well, I reflected, he was a sweetheart. It wasn’t hard to believe that he was able to get along with others.

I’d been breathing relatively easy for so long that I hadn’t really been expecting another attack. So, when the bout of tightness came on with no warning, I was so shocked I couldn’t think of what to do for several panicked moments.

My wheezing attracted Aerath’s attention. She grabbed my shoulder and shoved me down onto a cot. I fumbled for the infusion, and Aerath helped me unstopper it and press it to my lips.

The infusion helped, but my chest still felt tight. I could draw in air, but it wasn’t enough. Black spots started to pop in front of my vision. My chest screamed with pain. I was dying. That thought sat clear and calm in my brain, rising above all the panic like foam over a tide. I’d known it was going to happen. I’d hoped it would take longer. But at least… at least the last few months of my life had been nice. My mind drifted to Nor. Hopefully he wouldn’t blame himself. He didn’t deserve that. He’d been wonderful.

Nor’s face was suddenly over mine. I blinked up at him. Ha. A nice hallucination before everything ended.

“Breathe!” Distantly, I could feel a hand on my chest, another at my mouth. Something sharp and bitter flowed past my lips and I choked, sputtering. My chest loosened abruptly and I sucked in a great breath, coughing and choking.

Nor, who I was gradually realizing was actually there and not just a hallucination, rolled me onto my side. Some of the solution drained from my mouth as I coughed it up. Nor rubbed my back vigorously, prompting another round of coughing.

Gradually, the tightness eased to just a faint raspiness and a raw pain. I sat up as Nor sank into a seat, weak with relief. “I thought you were going to die,” he said faintly.

“I did too.” My voice was gravely and everything felt raw. “The infusion wasn’t working. What did you use?”

“It was experimental,” Nor said a little sheepishly. “I’ve been trying to make it stronger, something that works better.”

“Thank goodness it did,” I said. I got slowly off the cot where I’d collapsed. Nor stood as well, staying close by like he was preparing to catch me.

“Maybe we should fine somewhere to rest,” Nor said. “The attack probably took it out of you.”

Despite your protests, Nor followed you back home and insisted on staying with you. “Just in case,” he kept repeating.

Nor kept near my side for the next few days, even when I tried to gently push him to spend time elsewhere and enjoy the event. The only times he seemed willing to leave was when I was going with him, at which point he took great enthusiasm in showing me around the various games and events that were being held. Being near him allowed even me to make some new friends- those who would have been unsettled by the sight of some strange, wingless creature seemed reassured enough by Nor’s friendly presence to approach.

Despite his insistence on sticking with me, I did convince him to take another day off for the last day of the festival. It was the day of the mating ceremony, and, given that Nor was of proper age, possibly even a little old, to participate in it, I wanted to give him time to do so.

The showing started at noon sharp, when the sun was at its zenith. Most of the people flying were male, though a few women had painted their tails red and were flying as well. A few would take off at a time and move in carefully coordinated dances. Some were conservative and simple, others were aggressive and risk-taking. Eventually, they would land back in the throng of people staring at the sky. Some of them landed and slipped off with a single partner. Others landed and seemed to attract a group, each of the admirers vying for attention.

After about an hour, I meandered off to the bank of a nearby river. Watching harpies fly was interesting, but it did get old after a while and I was getting a crick in my neck from looking up.

I had only been soaking my feet in the river for a few minutes when Nor walked up to me and sat down next to me. “Wondered where you’d gone,” he said. “Doing all right?”

“Fine. You don’t need to be so worried.”

Nor dipped his talons into the water. “Mm. I guess. But I do anyway.”

“I wish you wouldn’t,” I said. “You spent half of the festival trailing after me like I would collapse the instant you took your eyes off me. And now you’re missing out on the flight ceremony.”

It was hard to tell with his deeply tanned skin, but I thought Nor went a little pink. “I wasn’t really planning to fly anyway,” he said.

“No one caught your eye?” I asked. There was a long pause. “Nor?”

“Not as such,” he said. “I mean… Sort of.”

“And you’ve been spending all your time trying to look after me instead of enjoying the festival with her,” I said. “You know, I don’t need you to hover around me. You don’t need to feel guilty if anything happens to me. I’ve known I’m probably not going to live that long.”

Nor’s expression twisted a little bit. “I’ve been trying to fix that. I think I’ve got a concoction right. If you take it daily, it should help you-”

“Okay, okay,” I said. “Hey. You don’t need to spend all your time on me, you know? You can have a life. You’re not responsible for me.”

“It’s not about that,” Nor said. “I wasn’t worried about you. Well, not just that. I…” He stopped for a moment. “I wanted to spend time with you.”

Oh. That created a runny sensation in my chest, like my heart flipped over. “You wanted to-”

“Don’t be that surprised. I haven’t really been subtle about it,” Nor said. “Yes. I like being around you. Why did you think I kept inviting you to do stuff with me and stayed with you instead of going to the festival?”

“I thought you just wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to suffocate in your absence,” I said.

“A little bit. But mostly because I like you,” he said. He peered into my face, a tentative smile on his lips. “You don’t seem upset?”

“I’m not,” I said. “I’m pleased, actually.”

“Really?” Nor’s face was quite close to mine. His lips were parted. I could feel the soft warmth of his breath.

“Really.” Our lips were quite close to touching. Just before making contact, Nor seemed to stall, hesitation overcoming desire. I smiled and leaned in, pressing our lips together in a gentle moment of contact.

Neither of us had much experience kissing, so it was a bit clumsy and we clacked teeth more than once. Still, when we broke apart, I felt breathless in the most positive way I’d ever experienced.

“We should go back,” Nor said, still staring at me. “I… I think I want to participate in the ceremony after all.”

I smiled. “I’ll be watching.”

#exophilia #harpy #harpy boyfriend #harpy lover #monster boyfriend #monster lover #ocXoc #MxF #Nor

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ohnopoe · 4 years ago

Text

Alone, Together | Din Djarin

Ship: Din Djarin x Reader Summary: Sometimes it’s the strongest people who just need someone to be strong for them. Word Count: 2.2k+ Warnings: Spoilers for the season 2 finale!! Angst. Author’s Note: This was meant to be hurt/comfort... I failed miserably... enjoy your angst and heartache! I also have not proof read this in the slightest... I am lazy and sorry

The silence echoed through the command centre, holding a weight upon your chest that felt akin to drowning. It seemed as though time itself was standing still as you stood there, engulfed in what had just happened, in the anguish that was threatening to creep in.

Of course, you had half expected something like this from the very beginning, it was the plan, after all. Grogu was with his kind now, with a jedi who could train and protect him so much better than you and Din ever could. You’d spent so long trying to convince yourself not to get attached, to enjoy the moments you shared with the curious child with a safe protective layer between you, but that was never really going to work, now, was it?

From the moment you had joined the Mandalorian on the Razor Crest, the duo had captured your heart, no matter how hard you tried to convince yourself otherwise.

It had taken a surprisingly short amount of time to truly feel apart of the odd little crew. With such a stoic being as Din leading the charge, and a fifty year old child enamoured by his every shiny movement, you had thought it would simply be a job, just another in a long line of careers you had dabbled in throughout the galaxy. But it was so much more.

Looking after Grogu had been so much more than a job, it had been a delight, even in when he was determined to throw a tantrum when you all desperately needed sleep. It wasn’t long before the child became something akin to a friend, albeit a small, incoherent, gnawing on anything that shouldn’t go anywhere near a mouth, friend, but a friend nonetheless.

And somewhere along the line, the Mandalorian followed.

It was in the soft utterances that were barely heard, the gentle actions that weren’t necessary, but were always welcomed with a beaming smile. He wasn’t one for words, but he would show how he cared day by day.

A fruit you enjoyed on a random planet just so happened to be amongst the groceries after you exclaimed your joy upon tasting it. A new pillow was sitting on your bed a few days after he noticed you rubbing your stiff neck in the mornings. And when he found you nervous to be left alone on the Crest on a particularly dangerous planet? Well, suddenly there was time to take a day off to make sure you were comfortable with not only the weapons to defend yourself, but the controls of the Crest should you need to get yourself and the child out of there.

Yes, somewhere along the line, you had forged something of a friendship with the very same man who had unintentionally frightened you silent upon your first meeting. And if at some point your feelings for him had started to slip to something less platonic, well, that was neither here nor there.

Especially now, as you stood by his side in that same pained silence that still echoed through the Imperial ship.

Now, he needed a friend.

His helmet had been removed for the child, he had destroyed his creed, and, as tempting as it might have been, you had kept your gaze firmly on the ground the entire time, determined to respect his beliefs right down to the end.

The pain and anguish you felt at the sight of those gigantic sad eyes as Grogu had left was incomparable, but, even in your pain, you knew it was nothing compared to the hurt the Mandalorian at your side must be feeling.

There were too many in the room, battle hardened warriors each one of them, and you knew words of comfort or sympathy would do little at such a time, so you did the only thing you could think of.

With your gaze still firmly fixated on the floor, you pushed the pain aside, something to be addressed later, when you were alone, when you didn’t have to be the rock for the same man who had unknowingly been the same for you time after time in his own resilient manner.

Your hand barely moved, slow and subtle as you reached across the small distance to him. Unhurried, gentle, as if trying not to scare a wild animal, your fingers found his, curling into his hold in a silent show of camaraderie that had the heartbroken man turning his head towards you.

With your gaze still focused on the floor at your feet, you didn’t see the way those deep brown eyes took you in, savouring the sight, awed by the way you remained diligently refusing to glance his way. You didn’t see the years of pain and heartbreak that swam in that tear stung gaze, didn’t see the anguish that flittered there, fighting against an unwavering affection for you that seemed to have made its home there long ago.

But you did feel the way his hand clasped around yours, large and warm, even through the leather of his gloves. It practically engulfed your own hand, and yet, the desperate hold almost made it seem small, uncertain, as if this one action, your hand in his, was the only thing keeping him together as his world fell apart once more.

Time that had moved so slowly seemed to suddenly fly into overdrive. Boba was back to pick up Fennec, Bo was, begrudgingly, focusing on what could be salvaged from the Imperial ship, Cara was setting off with Gideon, and, while you certainly seemed to be taking in whatever was thrown your way, it still felt a world away.

A decision had to be made, and before you knew it you were walking behind Cara and her new prisoner, still hand in hand with the Mandalorian who hadn’t dared let go of your hand since the moment you had offered it.

Somewhere along the way you had made it clear that you would remain with the Mandalorian, no matter what was to come, although you weren’t entirely certain the words had ever actually been spoken aloud. But any alternative was practically laughable. How could you possibly leave him now? How could you ever?

And then you were on the ship, when had that happened? And Gideon had been silenced once more with a hasty gag that was a desperate plea for what little sanity your little trio had left to not run astray (and possibly to keep Cara from killing him before she could make it to the New Republic). And then? Well, then was now wasn’t it? Alone in the cramped personal quarters of the shuttle, truly alone for the first time in weeks.

There was a time when being alone felt rejuvenating, refreshing even. The quiet solitude a haven from the chaos of so many busy planets, of so many people. When had that changed?

With a sad smile, you almost scoffed at the question the moment it flittered into your mind. You knew damn well when.

Silence had never lasted all that long on the Crest, no matter how tired you and Din might have been, the little green eared monster was determined to run amok, causing a clamouring of sounds in his wake. It was so easy to find it irritating when you were woken from only two hours of blissful sleep after days of being forced awake. It was easy to sigh and grapple with the playful child and remind him that this was sleep time, not play time, and if he wasn’t going to get some rest he had to at least let you get some.

But now, in the eerie silence of the Imperial shuttle you had commandeered in an effort to save the frog eating little bugger, you longed for those sounds. The chaos and cacophony of Grogu was a part of what had become your home, and now, yet another part of it was gone forever.

You couldn’t say when the tears had begun, or when they had slipped from silent streams to harsh sobs that wrecked their way through your body. But, curled up on the militantly neat bunk bed you had claimed as your own, you couldn’t have cared less.

Finally, you were alone, after hours of planning and debating, hours of being the solid rock for the man you had come to care so deeply for. Now was your chance to grieve everything you had lost, in the solitude of the clinically white cube someone had deigned appropriate to be a bedroom.

Visions of green ears and large eyes swam through your mind, memories entangled with daydreams as you thought about what had been, and what was to come for the small child you had grown to love.

But he was gone now, along with the Razor Crest that had become your home, although, thankfully, in a much less dramatic fashion.

Would that just be the way for all the things you loved? Would the same soon follow for Din?

A sound, far harsher than a sob, rattled its way from your chest at the thought. Surely he would be the next to leave, returning to his old life or helping rebuild Mandalore… either way, he no longer had a need for you now, did he? What use would he have for a glorified babysitter with no baby?

The sound of your tears would have been harrowing, were it not for the safety of those Imperial walls that surrounded you. Sobs and groans slipped from one to another as your tears soaked the stark white pillow beneath you. Curled up into the smallest ball you could manage, you let go.

That pain you’d pushed away earlier? Well, it was back, tenfold.

This was why you had never meant to get attached, this, right here, the aching hole that wanted to consume you, yet seemed to echo out from your very chest. It was a pain like no other, grief mixed with fear, sorrow mixed with a loneliness you could never put into words. A profound war of emotions that had your body shaken, and your mind so lost in its anguish, that you didn’t even hear the way the doors slid open, or the heartbroken sigh that followed.

Din was used to being alone. Even with you and Grogu aboard the Razor Crest with him, he would often find himself focused on a job while you distracted the little womp rat in the hull. It was just a part of life, until it wasn’t. Until he found himself working down there alongside you, until he found himself seeking out the joyful sounds of you playing with the child who was somehow older than either of you.

But even still, he was used to your absence, no matter how desperately he wished he weren’t.

So, as much as he desperately wanted to follow you when you claimed to need some rest, no matter how much he wanted to cling to your hand, to the intense amount of comfort such a small gesture had given him, he had let you go.

But that was nearly an hour ago now, and he couldn’t bare it any longer, and a small part of him hoped beyond all things that maybe, just maybe, you couldn’t either.

As the door slid open, and the broken sound of your tears perforated the air, a small sliver of what was left of his heart broke.

You had been so strong, had remained diligent and determined, had been the support he could never ask for, but desperately needed in his dark hour, and here you were, breaking apart alone.

It wasn’t until the harsh mattress beneath you shifted that you even realised you were no longer alone. Turning quickly, panicked and wide eyed, you gazed through blurry eyes at the foreign site before you.

Din still had all his armour in place, his helmet having returned to his head long ago, but his very being looked so different. It was in the way he stooped forwards, his elbows balanced on his knees as if the weight of the world was quite literally weighing him down. It was in the way his head hung low, but still faced you determinedly, as though he couldn’t decide what was worse, watching your broken wails, or turning away from them.

A harsh intake of breath. A desperate rub of your sleeve against your eyes in some plea that it might somehow make you look somewhat put together. You couldn’t meet his gaze, even behind the wall of his visor, but you would do what you had to in order to try and appear composed.

But he was shaking his head, slowly, reassuringly. You couldn’t be certain he was even aware of his actions as his hand found your leg, squeezing gently.

“Don’t,” his voice sounded harsher than usual, as if it had been filtered through sandpaper on its way through his helmet, and the rough sound had him pausing once more, as if startled to hear his own voice.

But he persisted nonetheless, pushing past the way his throat felt dry, past the ache each word brought forward.

“It’s ok to cry,” his voice was quieter now, an attempt at softness even through the pain he felt. “You don’t need to hold it in, not for me, not for anyone.”

#din djarin x reader #din djarin #the mandalorian #the mandalorian x reader #star wars #my fic

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straycat-writes · 5 years ago

Text

till death do us part (dazai osamu)

requested by: @lilli-chae

notes: the title is misleading because this might just be the fluffiest, most sickeningly sweet thing i’ve ever written.

You fiddle with your hands nervously, looking at yourself in the mirror as someone fixes your hair for you.

The long white dress fits you perfectly, accentuating all the right curves and flowing down from your waist to the floor in a smooth wave. With soft makeup done to perfection, it is certainly a mesmerizing sight.

But you aren’t really registering it. You aren’t really registering anything at all, except for the thoughts wreaking havoc in your head, threatening to run away with you.

What if something goes wrong? Oh, no, I feel sick. What if the minister doesn’t turn up? Oh, God, what if Dazai –

“Hey, (y/n)!”

The bright, chirpy voice pulls you out the chaos in your head, and you look up to see Atsushi at the entrance of the room, smiling at you.

“Oh, hey, Atsushi.” You say shakily.

He comes over to stand beside you, “Wow, you look stunning.”

“Th-thank you.” You say shyly, but the frown doesn’t leave your face, and you continue to nervously fiddle with your dress.

Atsushi frowns, “What’s wrong, (y/n)? Aren’t you happy?”

“It’s not that.” You say quickly, “Of course, I’m happy. I’m getting married to the love of my life. But…”

He continues to look at you with curious eyes, silently encouraging you to go on. You sigh.

“It’s just that…what if something goes wrong, Atsushi? What if something happens?”

“I don’t understand. What could go wrong?” he asks, confused.

You scoff, “When was the last time we had a day without some kind of incident?”

“Huh, true.” He mutters, but then quickly changes tracks, “But you’re worrying too much! Even if something does happen to disrupt your wedding, which, I’m sure it won’t, you have all of us here to deal with it, right? Me, Kunikida-san, Dr. Yosano, Jun’ichiro, Kenji, Kyouka…We’re all here for you and Dazai.”

“I know…” you murmur.

It’s true. You know these guys would turn the whole city upside if that’s what they have to do to see the two of you get married. But there is still something nagging at the back of your mind.

“Um, Atsushi?”

“Yeah?”

“What if…” you inhale shakily, “What if Dazai changes his mind?”

There is silence in the room for one painstakingly long moment. Atsushi looks at you, a frown slowly making its way to his face to mirror yours.

“Why do you think so?”

You shrug, “I don’t know. I just feel like he might. Marriage is a big commitment, you know? What if he thinks he has made a mistake?”

“Bullshit.” He says suddenly, and with such ferocity that you almost take a step back. “That’s the most senseless conjecture I’ve ever heard in my life.”

You look at him in mute surprise, and if you hadn’t already been dying anxiety, you might even have been a bit offended. But he continues before you can say anything.

“(Y/n), do you have any idea how much Dazai loves you?”

“I do…but – “

“I don’t claim to understand him better than anyone else. God knows it’s impossible to understand that man anyway. But if there’s one thing I do know about him, it’s that being with you is the closest to happiness he has ever been.” He puts both hands on your shoulders and bends down slightly to look you in the eyes, “You’re good for him, (y/n). I don’t know exactly what it is, but he seems more…real, somehow, when he’s talking about you.”

Your lower lip trembles a little, “Is that…really so?”

He nods, them smiles, “Dazai Osamu is head over heels in love with you, and believe me when I say this, he would set the whole world on fire if it means he gets to be with you.”

Atsushi sighs as he closes the door of her dressing room behind him. Of course, he knows getting married is a big deal, but he hadn’t expected her to be so very nervous. He shakes his head. To think that such a thought would even cross her mind.

Which reminds him, maybe he should check up on Dazai too…

“Kunikida-kun ~!! I think I’m going to die!”

“Shut up, you waste of space! Of course, you’re not going to die.”

The voice reaches him before he can even enter Dazai’s room, and Atsushi rolls his eyes. He steps inside to see Kunikida fixing Dazai’s tuxedo, while the latter refused to shut up.

“If anything,” Kunikida mumbles, “Today is the one day I will absolutely not allow you to die, so you better not try anything.”

“Exactly.” Atsushi butts in just as Kunikida leaves to fetch something, “Are you ready, Dazai-san?”

“What a stupid question, Atsushi.” He deadpans, then puts one hand on his forehead dramatically, “I don’t think I will ever be ready enough to face my belladonna!”

“Of course.” He says in an equally deadpan manner, then sighs, “Tell me how you’re really feeling.”

“I told you! I – “

“For once in your life, Dazai-san…Tell the truth.”

Dazai gives him a blank look, but surprisingly, Atsushi holds it. Finally, Dazai sighs.

“I’m…scared.” He says slowly, “Just because I have her doesn’t mean I deserve her.”

Atsushi frowns, “What…do you mean by that?”

“I mean,” Dazai rolls his eyes, looking away from the younger boy, “ – that she deserves so much better than me. Have you met her, Atsushi? She’s perfect, while I’m this…this defective excuse of a human being, fucked up in more ways than I can count, and I… I’m just not sure whether I can give her everything she deserves.”

“But…you do love her, right?”

“Of course, I love her.” Dazai shoots him a sharp look, “More than anything else.”

“Then that’s enough.”

Dazai blinks, startled a little but Atsushi smiles softly at him.

“She loves you a lot too, Dazai-san, perhaps more so than you realize. The two of you have stuck by each other’s side for so long, and you have never been anything but good for each other. She brings out the best in you, and you in her. And you might try to deny it, but I know for a fact that she makes you feel at least a little bit more human.”

Dazai’s eyes widen a little in surprise. He hadn’t thought Atsushi to be so perceptive. Still, it was true. Whatever little humanity he thought there was left in himself, she brought it to the surface. He sighs, then smiles slightly.

“Yes, I suppose you’re right…”

“Damn right, I am.” Atsushi nods, lightly brushing something off from Dazai’s shoulder. Then he gives him a sickly-sweet smile, “So, if you don’t want to die a very painful death at the hands of the agency, you better not be getting cold feet about this.”

“I – I won’t!”

“Good.”

Dazai’s heart almost stops in his chest the moment he lays eyes on her. The word beautiful doesn’t even begin to cut it. She has always been beyond gorgeous to him, whether it’s when she gets home after a long day, completely exhausted, or when she first wakes up in the morning, hair looking like a bird’s nest and sleep still lingering in her eyes. To him, she always looks absolutely magnificent, no matter what.

But right now, as she climbs the alter to stand in front of him, white dress flowing behind her, she quite literally takes his breath away.

She’s blushing like no tomorrow, and despite the hammering of his own heart, Dazai can’t help but smirk, “You look stunning, belladonna.”

The officiant begins saying something, but the fluttering of his heart and the static in his head is too loud to let him make out any of it. He only tunes back in when she starts to speak.

“Dazai, you and I have been by each other’s side for years now. I know how you feel about life and this world, I know how you feel about yourself and all those things that you think make you…damaged. I’m not so arrogant as to think I can save you from any of it. What I can do, however, is be with you, while you either drown or save yourself. I love you, Dazai, and I promise to never stop loving you, even if they drag us down to hell for it.”

His vision blurs a little in front of him, and it takes him a while to realize that it’s because he’s tearing up a little. He clears his throat.

“Ah, belladonna. How can I ever hope to match these breathtaking words you’ve graced me with? I’m sure don’t deserve any of it. All I can hope to say is…thank you. For being with me, for loving me even after knowing what I am. For not leaving.”

A silent tear slips down from her eye, and Dazai smiles.

“I love you, belladonna, more than I’ve ever loved anything in my entire life, and if I ever were to lose you, I don’t know what I’d do with myself.”

It’s silent in the alter for a while. There aren’t many people there to begin with. Just the agency members, and a few other friends, and they all watch with bated breath as the officiant continues and the ceremony concludes.

“You may now – “

Dazai doesn’t even wait for him to complete the sentence, leaning forwards and capturing her lips in a long overdue kiss, filled with gentle longing and affection.

He doesn’t really remember what he did or said after that. He has never been good with words anyway. What he does remember is feeling something very weird bubbling up slowly in his chest, threatening to burst out.

He thinks it might be called happiness.

#ugh who knew i was capable of writing such tooth rotting fluff...#dazai osamu #dazai x reader #bsd x reader #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #bsd #scenario #one shot #wedding #fluff #imagines #fanfiction

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babyloontrash · 5 years ago

Text

Eleven (C.H.)

Summary: Friends with benefits type of situation with Cal. He’s kind of an ass but he pounds you good and that’s what matters in fics like these.

Warning: SMUT

Words: 4,7k

His head was pounding softly when he finally opened his eyes. One short glance to his bedside table told him it was already ten o’clock and he couldn’t stop the curse from falling from his lips. Rubbing his face, he turned to the other side and looked at the girl lying beside him.

The eye make-up she had been wearing was nothing more than just a smudge, and her dark hair was all over her face. When his eyes moved lower, he could see the marks his lips and teeth had left on the pale soft skin on her neck and chest. A tiny smirk appeared on his face when he thought back to the way she had moaned when he was making them and how wet her core had been under his fingers. There were faint bruises on her hips from his hands when he had held her still.

Last night was a success.

Carefully, he reached out his hand to brush some of her hair away from her face. His lips had already parted as he was about to talk to her, but he froze for a second, realising that her name had somehow slipped out of his mind.

“Hey…,” he finally said in the end while he lightly stroked her cheek. “Wake up.”

She murmured something towards him in response, keeping her eyes closed still. Calum sighed quietly to himself before talking to her yet again, trying to awaken her. Her chest looked incredible when she suddenly reached her arms out and went for a stretch. It caught him by surprise when she suddenly rolled over and set herself down right on the top of him. She kissed his chest while her hips moved slowly against him.

“How about you wake me up properly, huh?” She suggested to him in a sleepy voice as she looked up to his face. “Then we can go get something to eat because I am absolutely starving after last night.”

He just stared at her, taking quite a long time to consider this offer. The right answer to it was supposed to be rather obvious, and yet…

“You need to leave.”

This was clearly not the type of awakening she had been hoping for, but it seemed to work out just as well. Maybe even better. She was now staring at him with her eyes opened wide while propping herself up on his chest.

“Wait… Are you being serious right now?”

“Mhhm.”

Her nails dug into his chest and somehow, in this instance he found this way less pleasurable than he had done during the night. Finally, she got off from the top of him, making him hiss out in pain once more.

“You are such an ass.”

“Okay.” He nodded, sitting himself up on the bed so he was now leaning against the headboard.

“Okay? That’s all you are going to say?” He heard the disbelief in her voice when she said that and wondered what kind of reaction, she had expected from him. If this was her opinion of him, that was all right, she was entitled to have one. He would not argue with her.

“The shirt is over there,” Calum said eventually, pointing towards the place by the door where her t-shirt was lying on the bag with his football gear. Instead of thanking him, the girl just scoffed before going to get it. He might have been an ass, but she was not with the best manners either. His guess was that she would leave this part out though when telling about this to her friends. To be honest, he didn’t really understand what was all the dramatical sighing, stumping around and sending him offended looks about.

They have met yesterday. It was obvious what was the whole interaction leading to and no matter how hard he had tried; he couldn’t think of anything that could have given her the idea that this would be anything more than a one-night stand.

“I suppose you don’t really care about my number, do you?”

If he really was such an ass as she claimed him to be, he would have laughed right then, but he didn’t. Did she really need to ask that? Chewing on his lip to stop himself from chuckling, Calum slowly shook his head. “Not really,” he admitted.

“Sorry,” he then quickly tried to add but it most probably got drowned in the shower of names she was addressing him with to herself. About a minute later, she was gone with a loud slam of the door and instead of being overflown with guilt, Calum was just very much relieved that she had finally left.

When he later met up with his friends at a party, one of them was throwing, they were all quite eager to hear about how his night had gone, considering that he had left them in the pub without saying a single word. He had been there on the bar stool one second, chatting the girl up with his usual ‘let me fuck you up’ look and when they had wanted to check how he was holding up, the pair had already gone.

Calum was never one to keep his bedroom adventures for himself. After all, what guy wouldn’t enjoy being patted on his shoulder for what a man he was. If the number of girls one had slept with was the true indicator of their worth was another thing he better decided not to dive into though. At the time being, he was happy with everything as it was. No need for any changes whatsoever.

“You know, if she hadn’t started with the let’s go for breakfast together thing, there’s a big chance I would have given in,” Calum admitted with a shrug taking a long drag from his cigarette. He felt the need to defend himself after Luke called him an idiot for passing on the opportunity of a good morning sex.

“Take a girl out for a meal after you spent a night with her, and you will not get rid of her. Isn’t that right, Ash?” His friend flipped him off for mocking him like this, even though that there could have been no doubts about that he was happy in the relationship he had gotten himself into by basically a complete accident.

“Laugh at me all you want. I’m just here waiting for the time when some girl loses her shit and kicks your ass.”

“Or her boyfriend,” Michael chirped in, making everyone except Calum laugh. “I’ll never forget how Kyle dragged you out of that pub in front of everyone. You had a big-ass black eye already forming up by the time you had realised what was going on… I’m telling you. It’s just a matter of time before you end up sleeping with someone you shouldn’t have and paying for it.”

“The mistake was on her part. Not mine. Who the fuck comes up to their boyfriend crying and tells them about how they had just gotten dumped?”

“Who have you left crying again? Please, don’t tell me it was Kelly from English lit. The last time you screwed her over I had to pay for it by making the analysis all by myself because she wouldn’t stop bawling her eyes out.” The girl who just joined them sat up on the kitchen counter right beside to where he was standing and Calum couldn’t help but let his head hang down low, rubbing the bridge of his nose. She would never forgive him for this one.

“I’ve already apologised to you for this.”

“I don’t need you to apologise. I need you to stop fucking people I know, darling,” she informed him simply with a sweet smile.

“I don’t think you knew this one,” Luke was the one to bring her peace and she could let out a relieved sigh.

“Good. Thank you.” She nudged Calum lightly with her foot, and he flashed her a tiny smile.

“Anything for you.”

She always laughed at him when he said this, assuring him that there was no need for him to try to sweet talk her, but the truth was that he meant these words more than anything. She and what they had together was incredibly precious to him. He would be damned for even risking losing something like this. Risking to lose her.

She knew how he was, and she adored him exactly that way. Accepted him with his flaws and all. Never even suggested that he should change anything about the way he lived. And he did the same thing for her.

“Keep that mind because I might need your help,” she told him. “There’s a guy over the- No! Don’t look. Not now, at least!” She quickly stopped him when he was turning his head in the direction she was carefully pointing at with her thumb. “We’ve been talking over texts for a while. He seemed fun over the phone, but I’m not sure I’m still feeling it. I’m giving him an hour. If things don’t get better and I am still bored out of my mind – you step in.”

Ashton chuckled from few meters away. “And how is he supposed to know, if you are enjoying yourself?”

“It’s easy. If I am not, I’ll have the same expression I wear when listening to you.”

Calum choked on his beer a little and then nodded his head in agreement when she gave him a pressing look. “Of course. I’ll come and save you when necessary.”

When he had agreed to this, however, he couldn’t have known that one of the most beautiful girls at the party would strike up a conversation with him. Conversation, which was getting partly disturbed by him constantly searching for his dear friend in the crowd.

“Are you looking for someone?” The girl asked, not leaving his darting eyes without a comment anymore.

“No,” Calum told her with a grin, casually shrugging his shoulders and then paid extra attention to the beauty in front of him. It lasted only for a moment, and he soon began to squirm. “Well, yeah, I am actually,” he eventually admitted. “My friend. She asked me to keep an eye out on her. She’s here with a guy she doesn’t know too well.”

It was a truthful explanation, but the girl didn’t seem too convinced and eventually moved on to someone else, who wasn’t examining the crowd for some other girl. He didn’t get to be annoyed and disappointed for too long, though. Within just a few minutes, his phone buzzed in his pocket with a message from her.

We’re on the roof. Thought he was bringing me here to make out, but he won’t shut up about stars. Come to help asap.

Was it bad that he laughed and wanted to leave her there suffering for a bit longer as a payback for ruining his possible lay? Maybe. But he was an ass, and so he didn’t feel bad about leaving her there for a few more minutes.

The door leading to the roof creaked loudly when he opened them. However, the guy didn’t seem to be bothered by it a single bit. His hand remained pointing up towards the sky with his head tilted back, while his date was sitting down on the concrete, chipping on her nail polish. She had been right. She looked the same way she did when Ashton started with one of his never-ending rants.

“Here you are!” Calum finally spoke out, making the pair turn their heads towards him. A relieved look appeared on her face, while the guy’s chin dropped slightly.

“Hey! Calum!” She spoke out, pretending to be surprised to see him there. He made a mental note to tease her later about her acting skills.

“Hi.” He waved a little and then shook his head. “I didn’t mean you though.” He shrugged and looked at the guy. “Billy is looking for you. Told me you should meet him in the kitchen.”

“Billy?” The guy looked absolutely confused and Calum had to try hard to keep it together. “I don’t think I know any-.” Calum cut him off.

“I don’t know, man. He told me to find you and looked pretty upset.”

“Oh… Okay,” the guy eventually nodded, remaining to look rather puzzled. “I’ll be right back,” he assured her before rushing towards the exit.

The two stayed quiet until the door shut closed behind him. “Who the fuck is Billy?” She asked, but he just shrugged while walking closer.

“Dunno. You said you wanted to make out on a roof. I can help,” he offered nonchalantly, making her laugh. She said nothing to that and just pulled him in for a kiss.

This was not an unexplored territory for them. There was a big difference between a simple fun, lust and love, and they were both very good at not overstepping these lines.

His kisses were leaving her weak in her knees, and he was breathless every time she pulled away. They had spent countless nights tangled in the sheets together, moaning each other’s names into the dark. There were no romantic feelings involved, but their bond was still more special than anything either of them had ever experience. They could be unconditionally themselves and didn’t have to worry about anything.

“You owe me, by the way,” he muttered out after their lips separated.

“What for?” She asked and wiped some of her lipstick away from his skin.

“I could’ve been leaving with a ten tonight. I had to drop her because of you.” Looking at him, it was very difficult to not burst out laughing, but somehow, she managed.

“Well, I am incredibly sorry.” She nodded her head. “Your sacrifice is deeply appreciated.”

Calum smirked a little. “I don’t need you to apologise. I need you to make up for that, darling.” Seeing her roll her eyes in a playful annoyance made his smirk turn into a genuine grin.

“You are an ass.”

“So I’ve been told,” Calum admitted casually, making her roll her eyes yet again.

She leaned closer to him, kissing the smirk that pissed her off away from his face.

“How about you tell me what you would do the ten you wanted to bring to your dorm?” She whispered after a moment and he smiled against her lips.

“I think I’d prefer to show your, actually.” He gave her a peck before stepping away and grabbing her hand.

Together they left the roof, eager to leave this place as quickly as possible. They were just rushing down the stairs when someone called them in the hallway. That someone being her rather disappointing date, who stared at Calum rather annoyed because there was no Billy waiting for him.

She hit Calum’s side with her elbow when he started to laugh as soon as they left the apartment building. “He was boring, but he didn’t deserve that.”

“He didn’t deserve you,” he objected, rubbing his ribs while they walked on the empty, quiet street. Luckily enough, Ashton lived close to the campus so the journey wouldn’t take them longer than ten minutes.

“Quit it,” she shut his argument immediately.

“That’s the ‘ten treatment’. I’m nice and polite, I pay compliments…”

“So the ‘ten treatment’ comprises lying and pretending you are something you are not?”

He took a second to think about it and then nodded. “Basically.”

“I’m sure your mom’s proud.”

“She is. Because she doesn’t know about any of this. And she is never going.”

She laughed. “I had a feeling that that’s how this works.”

Calum gestured his hands in the air, stopping her from saying anything. “Enough about me, though…. You look absolutely stunning tonight. I could hardly take my eyes off you back in there.” His voice was usually slow and calming, but the tone he used right now really got to her. And when a corner of his mouth moved up in this cute half-smile while his eyes quickly looked away, almost as if he was ashamed, she was honestly kind of stunned.

“Damn. You really are good.”

He chuckled and wrapped one of his arms around her shoulders, pulling her to his side. “The best,” he said somewhat smugly before placing a soft kiss to the top of her head.

They walked peacefully together; him stopping her to steal a kiss or two everyone once and then. Once they finally stood in front of the dorm, he let her pull away from him so he could fish for the key card to let them in.

It all happened so quickly; she honestly didn’t even get much of a chance to wrap her mind around it. One moment he had his hand on the small of her back while holding the door open for her and the next one, he had her pressed against the wall.

He was inches away from kissing her, and she was so damn eager for him to just do it. His hand roamed over her ass and squeezed it roughly over the jeans. He dipped his hand down to the crook of her neck and placed one wet kiss right there before looking up to her face somewhat sheepishly. “You are going to make me so happy tonight.”

It was a matter of seconds during which his expression changed into a more serious one, and she could see the hunger in his eyes. She knew that look well enough.

She tilted her head ever so slightly, inviting him to come kiss her again. Calum took up on that, teasing her with his tongue before finally giving in after hearing her annoyed hums. The automatic light in the entrance hall had already turned off, but it was the last thing the two seemed to care about. They were way too lost in the taste of one another and nothing could make them pull away. Nothing except urge to get even closer to each other. Even through all the layers of clothing, she could feel him getting harder and the anticipation to touch his naked body was driving her wild. Both of them were out of breath when they pulled away, and he wouldn’t take his hands off of her for a single moment while they were heading towards his room. They would definitely make it there much faster if they could only keep their hands to themselves.

Where would be the fun in that though, right?

As they stopped in the middle of the hall yet again, Calum’s warm hand sneaked under her shirt and traced her breast covered with her bra. He smirked into their kiss when he found her hard nipple poking through the fabric. “Someone’s excited,” he muttered in a shaky breath.

“You have no idea.”

He locked his eyes on his face while she grabbed his hand and guided to the hem of her jeans. With a swift movement, she undid the button and led him under the lace of her panties. Right there and then Calum realised that bringing her with him was undoubtedly the best thing he could have done. She shivered as his fingers slowly brushed over her soft skin and her clit. He got a good idea about her eagerness soon enough when he felt how wet she was. The way his body reacted to this discovery was almost painful. As if she could read his mind, she reached towards him and stroked his throbbing cock through his jeans. His jaw tensed with him trying to keep his composure and not say a single word.

This was not the right place to be something like this.

And yet he still slid his finger between her folds and then spreading the wetness around her clitoris before giving it few circular rubs. It made her gasp. Quickly, he raised his other hand up and placed it to her mouth as a reminder to not make a sound. She gave him a light nod, letting him know she understands that she must remain quiet. However, it proved to be more difficult than not with his skilled fingers picking up their pace and pressing against her much harder. A quiet whimper slipped out of her mouth, making him glare at her warningly.

“Do that again and I will not let you cum tonight,” he whispered to her ear while his thigh made her step her legs further apart. She was digging her fingers to his hips, rather closing her eyes when she felt his fingers moving closer to her entrance. When he pushed two of them inside, she didn’t dare to even breathe for a second. She expected him to pull them out again, but they curled inside her, repeatedly pressing against the spot which made her head spin. She was just a moment away from coming all over his hand when suddenly the lights in the whole corridor turned on. The light burned against her eyelids and caused her to open her eyes. The guy could not have picked the worst timing to go to the bathroom.

Calum didn’t hesitate for even just a second to position himself better so the intruder couldn’t see anything he was not supposed to. A thing he did not do however was pulling his fingers from inside her. They continued to move inside her as if they could not get exposed any second, and she wasn’t sure if she loved him or hated him for it. Probably both. His whole hand was now pressing against her mouth since her rapid breathing and shaky legs gave it away that the high was within a reach.

Seeing her like this, feeling her shake and squirm under his touch was way too intoxicating for him to stop now. He was dying to have her come apart for him. And so, when she did just a second later it took all the strength, he had to stop himself from coming inside his pants.

Finally, bathroom door finally closed behind that guy and they both gasped for a breath at the same time. Calum smiled at her as he took a step back and licked off the glistening juice from his fingers before he motioned for her. “Come.”

She wanted to punch him. Seriously. But she quickly closed the button on her jeans again and followed him into his room, which was only a few meters away.

“I can’t believe you’ve done that,” she once they got inside.

“I did nothing. You are the who came all over my hand while some random guy walked past you,” Calum said with a grin. When he noticed that she was not grinning back at him though, he stepped closed and kissed her lips softly. “You are not really mad, are you?” He wondered quietly.

She wanted to say yes just to make him feel a bit bad for what he had done, but the truth was that she wasn’t, not really, and so she gently shook her head at him.

“See.” A bright smile appeared on his face once again. “I know you are kinky. That’s why I like you so much.”

She rolled her eyes at him and nudged him with her his as she moved past him. “Get naked, you dumbass.”

He didn’t need to be asked twice to do this. His jeans were painfully tight now, and he couldn’t wait to get rid of them. By the time he finally got disposed of all the clothing just like she had asked him, she was already sitting on the bed in nothing but her panties. One time he had mentioned how much he enjoys taking the panties off. She had laughed at him when he had said that it is like unwrapping a present, you wouldn’t want someone else to do that for you either. It made him smile.

When he got onto the bed, he pushed her to lie back. Gently, he made her to rise her hips up so he could take the lacy underwear off. He took his time, taking in the sight in front of him as the tips of his fingers glazed over her skin. He let the panties fall to floor and abruptly tugged her hips closer to him. He was about to reach out for a condom, but she was already handing one to him. He put it on easily and after that he could finally do what he had been yearning for. There was no need for them to rush this. His cock pushed inside her slowly, and he cursed at the heavenly feeling that washed over him. He kept her legs spread open in the air as he rocked his hips forward and back, looking for the best pace for them. As his moves became faster, the sound of their groans and moans echoed through the room. He loved how she wasn’t ashamed of touching herself when he fucked her. With one of her hands working her clit and the other pinching one of her nipples, she looked absolutely perfect. Calum shifted his body for a bit and set her feet on the mattress. He wanted to kiss her, trace his tongue all over her breast, which kept moving up and down in a mesmerising motion because of his thrusts. She smiled at him when his face got closer to herself and watched him take one of her nipples into his mouth. Her body moved against his, her hips buckling up to meet him forward just so she could feel him insider her a bit longer. He was making her see stars, and she was going back and forth between squeezing his bedsheet and gripping his shoulders. It was put to a stop by him when he suddenly took her wrists into his hands and put them above her head.

Not because he didn’t enjoy being touched by her, god no, he loved the feeling of her hands. But he also loved to see her battle with herself, struggle to keep her arms up and not to move. Especially when the excitement was taking over. She never lasted long, but she always at least tried, which was honestly somewhat endearing.

There was nothing that would rile her up more than this, and so sharing his thoughts was exactly what he went with.

“You’re cute,” Calum said as he moved his mouth to her other breast. Her lips that had been previously forming a perfect ‘o’ now shut together and before he knew it her hands had shot up to grip on his hair, making him hiss quietly as she made his head tilt back.

She made him change the position, determined to ride him so she could show him how ‘cute’ she truly was. He would have to be a complete dumb ass to complain. He was more than willing to let her have her way and as soon as she sunk down on him, he was burying his head back into the pillows. She always went all on in, taking him deep inside her and then just rolling her hips around. This time was no different.

He had tried, he really did, but with everything that had happened, the image of her reaching her climax in the middle of that corridor still fresh on his mind, he couldn’t fight it much longer. Not if she would not take it easier on him.

“Babe…,” his voice was hoarse, knowing him as well as she did, she had to know what he was planning on saying.

She did not seem to care though, and by the way she smiled at him, he had a feeling this was a revenge for earlier. Since he had not given her a chance to hold it together before, she would not give him one either.

When he burst into the condom inside her, he decided to think of it as her loss more than anything else. By being petty, she had just ruined her chances to have even more fun.

But man, was he wrong. She touched herself in front of him over and over again. No matter how exhausted and drained he was feeling, she somehow got him hard a few more times by putting on such a show.

The sun was already coming up when both of their heads hit the pillow with the plan to go to sleep. Calum was slowly drifting off when she spoke out.

“What’s my number, anyway?” Her voice sounded playful, but she was genuinely curious.

He took a second to think about it before answering. “Eleven,” he finally decided.

“And what do those get?”

“I take them out for breakfast. Now go to sleep.”

#calum hood #calum 5sos #calum hood smut #5sos smut #5sos fic #5 seconds of summer smut #5 seconds of summer fic #calum hood one shot #calum hood fic #5sos one shot

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milknette · 4 years ago

Text

chapter 02 - rebellion

i move slow and steady, but i feel like a waterfall.

tumblr month: @adrinetteapril

links: ao3 | ff.net chapter: previous | next

ALYA'S the one to pick her up from Ms. Mendeleiev’s class, waiting outside the door so that she can’t actually get out escape her.

She smiles as soon as Marinette exits, and the latter can’t quite swallow down the grin that threatens to escape her lips as she sees her friend’s hands crossed over her chest.

“So…,” Alya starts, as they begin to walk down the hallway. “I skipped class an hour ago.”

“ Ah, ” the mermaid only says offhandedly, “you know, you shouldn’t be skipping. That’s not the kind of role model behavior you should have for your ward .”

“Right,” the girl only nods alongside her. “It’s just that I was trying to help out a friend, so I rushed down to the quad with tons of towels in hand— looking absolutely insane , might I add… and imagine my surprise when she wasn’t there!”

“Shocker!” Marinette only responds drily, eyes widening unrealistically in shock. “I mean, to her defense, she would’ve been late if she’d waited. At least one of us should’ve been a good student today.”

Alya only narrows her eyes, before lightly bumping her companion to the side. “ You know , I’m thirsty,” she starts, slowly grabbing a bottle from the side of her backpack as she opens it.

Marinette takes a brief step back, and glares. “You wouldn’t dare .”

They have a brief staredown for a second, with Alya raising the bottle up… before simply taking a sip and immediately putting it away. She rolls her eyes as Marinette relaxes, laughing lightly as she hooks her arm around hers. “Come on, you didn’t really expect me to do that to you, did you?”

“Wouldn’t put it past your species,” she only responds curtly.

��Oh yeah, I forgot. All us land mammals suck, huh?”

A brief pause, before Marinette nods.

(But not brief enough— as Alya’s head flips towards her direction, an eyebrow raised and excitement almost bubbling out of her expression.)

“Hey,” she starts slowly, as they come to a standstill in the middle of the hallway. Alya moves uncomfortably close to her face, scrutinizing her friend’s expression. “What was that?”

Marinette doesn’t answer, instead looking in the other direction. “What do you mean?”

“That pause.”

She still refuses to look at her directly. “What pause?”

“When I said that you hated land mammals, you hesitated .”

She scoffs. “I did not .” Marinette struggles to get herself out of Alya’s grasp. (She has absolutely no problem swimming against strong currents in the ocean, but was increasingly realizing that her human body was largely just a useless and inefficient lump of flesh.)

“Yes, you did ,” Alya protests back, eyes squinting as she tries to make out what her friend’s expression means.

Marinette tries not to let anything show. Thinks about anything else. Not about the very cute TA, or the way he carried her, or the way his god-awful puns made her laugh like he’d just told the funniest joke in the world. Not about Adrien, and especially about the way he made her feel — ah, crap .

The red on her cheeks is subtle, but it doesn’t go unnoticed.

(Damn Alya and her investigative skills.)

“You met someone,” her friend finally deduces, voice slowly increasing in volume. “Do you have a crush on a human!?”

At that, Marinette manages to free herself (the power of embarrassment does wonders to the human body, she realizes), and pulls Alya to one of the empty classrooms. “Do humans always feel the need to speak so loudly? Mermaids are never this noisy.”

“That’s because you don’t have lungs ,” Alya only responds, rolling her eyes — before grabbing her friend’s hand, and using the other to point at the mermaid accusingly. “And don’t you even try changing the subject; I need to know everything. Right now.”

Marinette shakes off her arm, opting to lean upon one of the desks. “There’s nothing to say! You’re just making things up from thin water.”

“Thin water?”

“Yeah. Like when you make something up without any basis? Do humans not have expressions like that here — “

“No, yeah, we do, but that’s not…,” Alya pauses, then exhaustedly rubs at her forehead. “Look, we’ll get into human and mermaid language later. A lot more interesting is that a mermaid has fallen for one of us .”

“I did not fall for him…!” Marinette stops in her tracks, realizing with her friend’s smirk that she’s fallen right into her trap.

“Ah, so there is a he to fall for?”

Marinette scoffs, tries to find an excuse or brush it off, before realizing that it’ll ultimately be a fruitless effort. Running a frustrated hand down her still-damp hair, she sighs. “Fine!” She finally mutters, defeated. “Look, it’s not a big deal. I just found him cute, that’s all.”

Alya raises an eyebrow. “Not a big deal?” She asks, shaking her head. “You’ve been here for a month , and I haven’t even seen you be interested in talking to humans, much less making friends,” she points out. “Actually talking to a guy without wanting to murder him, and finding him cute… now that’s what we call progress.” She grins, then leans forward.

Personal space, Marinette figures, is likely a concept that she isn’t all too familiar with.

“What’s his name?”

“I don’t —. “

“ Marinette ,” she finally deadpans. “We both know that you’re gonna end up telling me, or at the very least, I’ll end up figuring it out with my amazing detective skills, so let’s save the time on our part and just… tell me who he is.”

(She wants to say she knows Alya’s bluffing. But the determined look in her eye and tilt to a smile, and the fact that she knew how stubborn her best friend could be when it came to getting the “latest scoop”, as it is — makes her know that the statement is nothing short of the truth.)

“Adrien,” she finally breathes. “I don’t know his last name, but — “

“Agreste?” Alya suddenly interrupts, eyes widened in slight surprise. “Adrien Agreste?”

“Look, I can’t tell you if it is — “

“Blonde, green eyes, model figure, speaks only in corny puns but somehow endearing, and basically drop-dead gorgeous?”

“I — ,” Marinette pauses, trying to get her thoughts together. “How did you know that?”

To the former’s surprise, Alya doesn’t even respond. At least not with words.

Instead, she bursts into a fit of laughter . “Of course, it’s him,” Alya only cackles. “Of course it’s Agreste, isn’t it?” She pauses, then mutters to herself: “can’t believe I didn’t figure that out earlier on.”

“What do you mean?” Marinette only insists, trying to stop herself from mentally drowning her best friend. “Do you know him?”

“Adrien?” She finally catches her breath, before cackling again. “I think the better question to ask, Marinette, is who doesn’t ?”

“ Stop laughing! ” Marinette huffs, evidently getting more irritated. “What? Is he popular or something?”

Noticing the mermaid’s growing annoyance with the situation, Alya finally calms herself down, wiping a stray tear from her eye. “Adrien? He’s not just popular. He’s like the equivalent of an actual prince we have here in Francois-Dupont.”

“A prince?”

“Ever heard of the Agrestes? His dad’s on the board of directors here, and they’re loaded . Piss off Adrien, and he could definitely have you expelled in a second,” Alya states, before shaking her head. “Not that he would ever do it; Adrien’s one of the kindest people here — there are rumors that he’s actually an angel who’d come to visit us mortals.”

“Now that’s a little farfetched.”

Alya pauses, then stares her down while gesturing at her feet. “ Really? And a shapeshifting mermaid with supernatural powers is absolutely normal?”

Marinette looks at herself, then begrudgingly nods. “You have a point. But go on .”

“Well, that’s it, really,” she only says. “Adrien Agreste’s what you’d call your token golden boy . He even has a fanclub — “

“Really? There are a bunch of girls who set up a fanclub here?”

“ Oh ,” Alya shakes her head. “Not just here. It’s an international fanclub, and they have like, different branches or arms within and outside university. I’m honestly surprised he hasn’t made it to mermaid media yet.”

“Mermaids don’t really care about the human world,” she only mutters, head still reeling from the onslaught of new information. “All they really want is to be left alone, remember?”

“Right,” Alya states, then suddenly looks at her in worry. “Are you okay?” She finally asks. “Don’t worry about having a lot of competition,” she points out. “He’s nice, but he hasn’t shown interest in any of them. You still have a chance.”

“Look, I don’t care about that,” Marinette only mutters. “I just want to be friends.”

Alya rolls her eyes. “Sure,” she drawls, “just be friends, says the girl who’s curiously asking about his life.”

Marinette stares back at her, deadpan. “Yes, and also that same girl who’s going through more than enough just by being the sole mermaid for miles.” She shakes her head, willing the thoughts of the blonde boy to escape her mind. “I’m not fanning the waves by going after someone who I’m sure has relationship drama following wherever he goes.”

“Okay,” Alya starts, “we’re going to circle back to ‘fanning the flames ’ later, but come on! Shouldn’t you chase after love regardless of the obstacles?”

Marinette can’t quite hide the disgust in her eyes. “Who talks like that? Are all you humans so cheesy?” Alya looks unimpressed with the response, but simply shakes her head. “I’m thinking strategically. Adrien’s cute, sure , but he’s not worth starting a revolution for.”

“A revolution? Aren’t you being a little too dramatic?”

“Fine then,” Marinette instead amends. “A rebellion.” She walks over to the window, starkly aware of the amount of people who’d prefer she not be here at all. “There’s already a manhunt over me, and I just want to finish the rest of this program in peace.”

“But…!”

She finds her way back to Alya, taking the latter’s hand and interlocking it. “See? You’re more than enough for me.”

“Initiating touch with a disgusting land mammal like me?” Alya dramatically puts a hand to her forehead, voice accentuated to sound like some stereotypical damsel-in-distress in early black-and-white movies. “Am I dreaming?”

Marinette cracks a small smile, then rolls her eyes. “All humans are so dramatic.”

“ Not all of us ,” a third voice suddenly chimes in, making the two pause in their tracks.

Leaning upon the door’s entrance, the so-called golden boy enters the room, eyes bright with visible amusement. “You know, students aren’t allowed to use the rooms without a permit.” His eyes gloss over to land on one figure in particular. “ Water you doing here?”

Oh, that’s objectively terrible.

Yet she finds herself smiling anyway.

Damn it.

“I was— I mean, we were, uh…”

Alya looks at her companion in evident surprise (she’d never seen Marinette quite so… adorable , if she were being honest), then stifles a laugh.

Marinette makes a mental note to throw her in the swimming pool later.

“We were just looking for Madame Bustier!” Alya finally responds easily, “she told us to meet her after she finished class, but we must’ve been in the wrong classroom. Sorry about that .”

Adrien looks at the two of them for a moment— perhaps looking at one not-person, really, then breathes a light chuckle. “She’s having lunch right now, but you can visit her office later if you still need to schedule an appointment.”

Busted.

“Thanks!” Alya only responds brightly, choosing to skip over how easily she was caught in her lie. “I guess we should take a head start, then.” She pulls Marinette, who seems to be paralyzed in place. “Let’s go , Marinette—!”

“ Actually , if it’s okay with you, I’d love to talk to her for a bit,” Adrien says, cutting them off. They both pause, and after a mental conversation between them (more on with Marinette saying something along the lines of ‘don’t leave me with him’ , and Alya either not understanding or willingly ignoring the statement— she really bets it’s the latter), giving an obnoxious thumbs up and nodding.

“Then I’ll see you later, Mari!”

Marinette updates the mental note. Throw her into the ocean , then.

“I’m starting to think your hobby’s eavesdropping on my conversations, huh,” she finally says, hands folded over her chest in an admittedly feeble attempt to assert dominance. Then, in a slightly more meek (and panicked, really) volume: “what did you hear?”

“Just dew- ing my job,” he grins back. She can’t even comment on how awful the pun is. “Can’t have you getting into more trouble.” Then, a thoughtful pause. “And don’t worry, I only got in when you called us disgusting land mammals.”

“Wait but that wasn’t me, that was Al—!”

She pauses, noticing the amused smile on his face. “And you’re messing with me, huh?”

“You need to learn how not to take things so sea riously,” he jokes. “Just go with the flow .”

Marinette huffs. “I can absolutely go with the flow…”

“Really?”

“De fin itely.”

The pun escapes her mouth before she can think about it, but it’s more than enough to make Adrien grin like an absolute maniac. “Then prove it over dinner? Tomorrow?”

“I don’t want to start a rebellion, though…”

They both pause.

Now why exactly did that come out?

He laughs. “I don’t know what you mean, but what do you have against rebellions?” Adrien pauses for a moment, thoughtful. “You’ll never get what you want or need by not doing anything about it.”

“So you’re telling me that…?”

“Well I don’t want to incite a whole-out war, but I think there are some things worth fighting for.” He turns to face her, eyes still beaming with a look that she can’t describe as anything other than kind . “Don’t you think?”

Marinette stops in her tracks, thinks, then carefully offers a hand.

“What time?”

“Hm?”

“The time,” she repeats. “For dinner tomorrow, I can meet you there.”

She hadn’t known it to be possible, but the smile on his face widens. “ Seaven,” Adrien says brightly. “I can pick you up at the girls’ apartment. You live there, right?”

Marinette nods.

“Fintastic,” he responds, still grinning as he jokingly bows and tips an invisible hat in his direction. “Until then, Marinette.” Adrien concludes, before walking away, a little bounce in his step, as she’s left to her own devices.

Marinette knows she’s going head over tails for him.

But she’s surprised to find that she doesn’t quite mind it.

#sandbar nine #adrinetteapril2021 #adrinette april #adrinetteapril #adrinette #adrienette #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #alya cesaire #ml #miraculous ladybug #milk writes #ml fic #ml fanfic

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katsukisbeatingheart · 5 years ago

Text

and far away

Where two points meet in the wrong place, and second chances are inevitable.

word count: 3,090

warnings: angst, mentions of death, but it ends fluffy (and dramatic), i promise

ao3

a/n: aright this was the first soulmate au i wrote and look at it not being the first i post, comin atcha live from the wake of deadline after deadline.

Anyway. i don’t even know what kinda soulmate au this is i just sorta threw it up bc i had a dream abt this and i couldn’t get it out of my head and i had to rework it until i got it right.

thank u.

shinso

dabi

sero

You know that weird feeling you get, hearing about a piece of your little big world disappearing—how maybe you took it for granted, because it was inconsequential to your immediate life, yet it was still always just there?

Things you never thought about, but they’re gone and they’ve left behind an incalculable, gaping hollow.

You take notice, and your life changes forever.

That one flower shop you would pass by on your way to work in the morning burned down last week. You’d never considered stepping foot in to it once and yet the lingering aroma of hydrangea, bishop’s lace, and caspia melded with smoke reminds you harrowingly of the crisped possibility of something beautiful growing.

The statue sitting obscurely just at the edges of town—the one you’d see very briefly through the train car windows as it blurred into distance and hapless memory—the lightrail broke down in front of it one time, you could see it had garish red spray paint at the base—toppled over a few nights ago. You must have seen and missed it a hundred times and now it would never stand tall again.

Or, a person.

The hero surging up the ranks, commanding noise and shaking the earth with a violently righteous heart and power of will—had died last night.

He won to save.

For the first and last time, he lost to save.

You'd have expected sadness, of course—after all, he was a hero—and a person.

That empathetic sense of loss was inevitable, no matter who it could be.

But a piece of you had been broken in that moment.

You woke in a cold sweat, heart hammering in your ribcage, cheeks soaked under silent tears a thunderstorm couldn’t feel coming. The grief outweighed the confusion.

Recollections of a smoky scene billowed in and out of your consciousness, the rumbling and rubble in fresh vibrations on your skin. Though when you tried to remember—when you tried vehemently to clutch at the broken pieces—your head throbbed with an unknown ache.

It was like trying to recall memories from a life that wasn’t yours.

You were listless in your haze to the kitchen, pulling down a glass to fill with water. The coolness slipped down your throat to satiate flames you didn’t ignite.

By some spell only the universe and the promise mark branded across your heart of hearts knew, you clicked the television on through cold fingers. You can’t say that you remember fishing around the couch cushions for the remote, and you clutched to it like it was the only physical thing available. A flimsy, breakable anchor and a key to your undoing. The buttons stilled and your expression grew stony upon the red headline glaring through the room at 2:14 a.m.

The glass slipped from your fingers and you fell to your knees in the fractures.

The explosion you knew ended it all echoed in your ears, its knell a salient cackle without a voice, and existence a weightless pressure on your chest and head—places he’d have to wait to kiss for another lifetime.

You’d never focused on soulmates, the mere idea of one a luxury you could not afford.

And now a cruel, implacable taunt you could not bear.

Yours was miles away, apparently, and even before this moment you were more than a little skeptical about the idea of them. You’d heard the stories—promises from and to the universe conquering distance and time.

And love.

Love so overwhelmingly pure it stretches across ages your world just didn’t have.

To you, it seemed merciless—doomed to tie with souls you could miss in more than a few incarnations. Maybe some had multiple soulmates, you’d thought. You couldn’t be sure you were one of those people—if that was at all possible—but then again you weren’t sure how to tell.

All you knew, was right then and there, you at least had one.

It killed you knowing it took losing something you never even knew you had, to want it so, so desperately bad.

The truth curled at your throat venomously, asphyxiating a slow and decadent anguish incomparable to anything you’d ever felt before. Rip a limb, a lung, all limbs, both lungs—pull your heart right through the skin of your chest in a spiked, poisonous vice; nothing could destroy you more than this.

He was gone, and you were certain it was the kind of gone you would feel the next life over.

You barely had any strength in you to curse the stars swimming in your vision; barely any will to pray for a tear in existence—a loophole to bring him back.

Another chance.

Dilapidated and barren, you had spread out over the broken glass, impervious to what can only dream of harming you.

•.•.•.•.•.•.

The crowd swirled around you, passing faces and brushing shoulders with hardly an 'excuse me', or ‘coming through'.

One particularly harsh shoulder check sent you back a step, and you whirled to get a better view at who had crashed into you.

A man in a red turtleneck, donning a tan trench coat and a frustrated growl checked his wristwatch, before looking back up to you with kindling in his eyes. They were sharp, even as he glanced down at you rather indifferently, eyebrows pulled into a harsher expression than expected for someone who had been so kind as to gratingly remind you of your place in the crowd. Just another bit of space to skirt around into the next person, most likely.

Suddenly he relaxes, eyebrows raising up the slightest.

“Hello there, stranger.”

Your heart leaps to your throat and the tears flow—an unknown relief flooding through and you feel grief from another lifetime dissipate. You launch as best as you can into his arms, and he gathers you into palms that smell like caramel and sugar and ink and brass—in a hold that makes you feel safe.

And very warm.

You feel his hands at the top of your head and pressed into your back. They're big and steady, something you hadn’t realized you needed until they were on you.

It was as if all your life you had woven insipidly day to day on a tumultuous mundanity cracking at your feet.

And now with the hand that guided you into every curve and fold of the blazing man at your fingertips were you unshakable.

You blink and the fire flickers behind his eyes. He’s staring at you intensely—as though he’d silently asked you a question only you knew the answer to. Like it would disappear from existence if he were to look away now.

That much was probably true, as his skin paled to cumbersome bewilderment and an uncertainty to make a willow tree quiver. He had frozen, as if he could see the universe unwinding on your face.

Your voice echoed a hollow “I’m sorry”, and the crowd separated you like the tide pulling from the shoreline.

•.•.•.

You didn’t know what the sea did with the waves once they took them from the coast, but you did know that aching familiar feeling of impermanence. How an undercurrent can feel like a lifetime, and yet no amount of splashing can save a riptide. Not from brevity or grief in the same short breath.

It was still that recognizable body of water. The jolt of a new ripple in a single spot designing the whole thing entirely different, even if just for that one spot. That one moment.

A lot of it was in chance, you figured; chance that was so somberly beautiful in it’s immanence and what ifs.

Work swept you by with a complicated ease. You recall people communicating to you—you just don’t remember what they had said. Or needed. Or asked. Or pleaded. Behind calls of a name that sounded nothing like yours, yet you for some reason still answered to. Your attention fixated on the improbable, and you lived your day in a vacuum. You’d been shaken up so bad and filled by so much longing that by the end of it, you couldn’t tell your own headache from the strain of the city around you.

Your step from the platform onto the train car was cement, but you willed yourself forward for the certainty of routine and familiarity in the wake of tomorrow. The presence of other people around you was vague, and you thought to yourself how you would rather be anywhere else in the world than right there.

When the doors sliding closed behind you sounded a little too final—like the angry clank of a set of iron bars—you jerked your chin up, and leapt forward to press your fingertips to the glass.

On the other side, was the man with red eyes. His blonde hair bristled, almost as if he’d felt what you were feeling. Electric. Scared.

The cement in your step earlier felt like a ball and chain now.

You pressed further desperately against the completely solid and completely flat surface, as though you could singlehandedly figure a way to defy all known laws of earthen physics and somehow permeate through the doors. It was like watching a tsunami form, feeling the flood come and go and the wind push against your face. The motions were slow—his gaze using an eternity to find you again for the second time in this life—and you could feel yourself beginning to drown.

His eyes meeting yours became the catalyst to your fifty-second undoing. The undertow touched your face, laced your ankles, and pulled you under with the abruptly unwelcome motion of the train.

You watched each other through the window.

There was a spark of motion—he had dropped whatever was in his hands in a hastened mess—and you both took off in different directions to the same apex.

You skipped and hurdled around people cramped like bricks, strewn about like greenbriers, and stretched about like tripwire. You weren’t sure if you were actually saying anything, but your mouth moved like it was trying to apologise as you zipped down the opposite end of the train, eyes never leaving the man quickly slipping through your fingers ag—

Again.

The word rang in your ear like the piercing peal after an eruption.

Dread filled your chest as you watched the end of the train come into view, and the man in red ran out of platform to chase after you to. He stopped and stared in absolute dismay, as the light catching on your face from behind the window faded into the darkness of the tunnel.

You, in turn, leaned against the back window, throwing your shoulders around to slide to the floor. People stared and murmured, their curious gazes and exchanges doing nothing to penetrate the frenzy lurching you back and forth.

Your breath stung—but not anymore than your eyes.

He might be back. Tomorrow. You never know what'll happen tomorrow, your heart reasoned. Lucky for it, it hadn’t realized the both of you had already broken to pieces. Your skin stung and prickled with a vengeance, as though barrages of glass were sprouting where your nerves would be.

Never seen him there before. This was probably just a one-time thing, the hollow muttered. It was a bitter thing absolutely none of you needed to hear, but you figured it was the truth. After all, what are the chances of finding one man you’d never run into before in your life, among the thousands you see every day?

Way easier to give in than to hope for this ephemeral nonsense.

You hardly recognized the echoed, tin voice bleeding through the intercom, announcing that you had arrived at your destination. You briefly wondered how a trip that had felt so achingly long had gone by so fast—especially now that you realized you weren’t where you were supposed to be.

Collecting yourself as best you could, you rolled up slowly, pulling your coat around you tighter. You cleared the platform and stepped glacially up the steps, taking a moment to fix your eyes on the sunset tearing a beautiful orange, red, and yellow across the usually blue sky. It was an inferno against the usual insipidness.

You fixated on the rolling greens surrounding the scar the city made with it’s cracked sidewalks and taunting buildings and yelling cars and angry people and empty promises and—

“Hey.”

Broken hearts weren’t supposed to beat so loudly but yours did. You spun on your heal to face him.

You choked and felt unbearably like you should leap into his arms, as though something was imploring you to.

“Hey there, stranger,” you whispered, with a meek crack on the end of your breath. You were facing the beginning of the rest of your life and all you could say was hey back.

The man in front of you seemed to get the same idea, because he moved closer, sauntering up the slope to close the small distance like he had all the time in the world. Though, part of that might have been exhaustion, and part fear that the wind would catch you and steal you away. His legs trembled and you wondered what reason dominated the better bit of that.

He stopped in front of you, his hands in his pockets and shoulders slouched in a resolved curve, the smallest of smiles playing at the corners of his lips. You were certain you didn’t know him, and yet you were perfectly ready to believe that little bend in his face wasn’t a usually welcome guest. It looked so foreign on a face you weren’t supposed to have any recollection of.

His voice is like crackling and smoking tinder, deep and rich and roaring. It was getting to you in ways you never expected a sound to find.

“Don’t tell me I ran the better part of an entire city just for some shitty 'hey there'.”

You don’t think you’ll ever get over your shock and awe, but you collect your wits to square yourself against him. Your movements are sinuous as you slide forward, damn near chest to chest when you raise your face again.

“Well,” you sigh, letting a not-unkind smirk slip into your features, “looks like you’ll have to stick around longer if you want more than that.”

“Oh, I don’t think it’s a matter of want, but more a matter of deserve,” he grumbles. You snort at that, mindlessly catching a loose strand of his hair between deft fingers.

“Is that so? What makes you so entitled?” you tease.

His expression falls and some kind of grief pulls his brows down.

“I don’t know,” he murmurs. “I just feel like I’ve been missing something.”

For the first time in a while, you breathe evenly. It’s an odd feeling, but not unlike that moment of clarity you imagine tides have just before becoming a whole ocean again. Like the one you’d been dreaming of for so long.

Your raindrop fingertips find the smoothness of his skin, brushing along his cheekbones to roll down and splay across the sturdy planes of his chest. The quiet is cacophonous but you inhale gently and smile the most genuine you feel you could possibly muster.

“Hi,” you begin again, eyes sweeping the fabric of his sweater, to try and find confidence in the material. You raise your gaze to his—burning through your eyelashes—and he’s glaring at you with a quirked brow that doesn’t feel at all the threat you imagine it would be in different circumstances.

“I don’t know how to describe this, but I think… there’s this something that’s telling me I’m supposed to be with you— someway.” You glide your fingers down the curve of his arms, linking very lightly around his wrist.

“I feel like you’re someone I’ve lost a long time ago—” your fingers tangle into the cracking skin along his hands,

“—and I’m being offered this one chance to find you again.”

You measure up your hands, placing them palm to palm and he stares like they’re all he can see.

“If I don’t take it you’ll be gone for good,” you whisper in a voice so frangible.

A cheekier smirk cracks his mask from ear to ear.

“In that case, I’m definitely entitled to something, then.”

“Like what?”

Tender wouldn’t have been the first choice of words the moment you crashed into the scowling man on the street—but here he was now, cantankerousness replaced with a compassion you shouldn’t be surprised he could hold—considering you’d never met, after all.

“Your name.”

You tell him with a resounding crest in his chest and when the lightning strikes, his smile actually shows teeth that aren’t grit into a grimace. The first drop of rain spills down your face, and the man in front of you catches it with his thumb.

“Katsuki.”

It was loud, hearing that name in your ears. Like being trapped inside a clock tower—the reverb of each cog shifting and clicking into place with a harsh clang, succeeding rolling tones in succinct phrases you’d been hearing all your life.

Or rather—lives.

Your places in existence swirling in and out of mosaic focus of one another, to finally comix as clandestine breaths and fluttering of skin on skin.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Katsuki,” you smile.

#bnha #bnha x reader #bnha soulmate au #my hero academia imagines #my hero academia x reader #mha x reader #boku no hero academia x reader #boku no hero imagines #katsuki bakugou #bakugou katsuki x reader #bakugo katsuki x reader #bakugou katsuki #bnha reader insert #bnha x you #why am i so dramatic with bakugou????#this is ridiculous somebody please come stop me #im rlly out here i guess

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succulentsunrise · 4 years ago

Text

Where the Fire Lilies Grow

Content: SFW!

Did I ignore school work to make a new chapter? yes, yes I did Tani meets Mereoleona for the first time! 🥰

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Chapter 2: Festival Sparks

“There is never a time or place for true love. It happens accidentally, in a heartbeat, in a single flashing, throbbing moment.”

Sarah Dessen

“What do you think of this one?”

Three women were gathered in Icree’s room, which was now filled with shirts, dresses and pants. It had been her idea, after all, to dress up together for the festival. Tani suspected it was Icree’s ploy to make Klidona feel more welcome and comfortable. It had only been a few days since the purple-haired girl had joined the Azure Deer, and with everyone else busy on their own, Icree had taken the girl under her wing.

“It’s quite the show-off,” Tani answered, her eyes darting up and down the flashy red dress that her friend was showing.

Kliodna looked absolutely bedazzled by it. She moved her hand a little to get the attention of the other two, and then pointed at her chest, quickly moving it away and wiggling her fingers.

“Sparkly?” Icree asked with a grin.

Kliodna nodded happily. Though Tani did not know sign language, it had been a stroke of luck that Icree did. Honestly, she would be surprised if there was something Icree didn’t know at this rate. When Kliodna had asked how Icree had learnt sign language, she had merely shrugged and said she learnt it for a friend. There was no need for a more complicated explanation. Since Kliodna had also learnt to sign so that she could save her already broken voice, that was what they used for now.

“Too sparkly?” Icree questioned, looking at both of the other women in the room.

Tani and Kliodna both nodded, condemning the dress to be rejected for the evening’s festivities.

“I’m really taking the most time out of us all, aren’t I?” Icree laughed. “It’s because you two reject everything.”

Tani laughed with her, waving her hand in a denying manner. She was already dressed in tight, black pants and a loose top stuffed into them, showing off her toned arms. Her curly brown hair was too short to be done anything special about, but instead she had decked out in accessories. Tani had a special place in her heart for earrings of all kinds - but mostly for hoop earrings- as well as necklaces and rings. She was wearing her favourite jewellry, opting to not wear a necklace that day. Kliodna wore a much simpler outfit: just a white summer dress with flower embroidery on it, and her long purple hair free from its usual ponytail. Kliodna looked at the piles of clothes around them, wearing a bright, happy smile on her face, and picked up a wine red pencil skirt. Her large, sorrowful eyes looked at Icree with excitement.

“No, no,” Icree said, shaking her head. “I’ll need to be way too careful how I sit with that thing. Though it does give me an idea.”

She quickly went through her wardrobe, pulling a patterned, white shirt and a darker red wrap skirt out. The wrap skirt was wrapped in a manner that left the right leg quite a bit exposed.

“This would allow me to show some leg while being comfortable!”

Tani, already tired by the dress up game, gave her approval for the combination. Kliodna seemed a little surprised by how much leg the dress showed, but gave thumbs up to the outfit in any case.

“Well, if we are ready, I need to go help Luka with his outfit,” Icree announced happily. “Kliodna, do you want to come with me?”

Kliodna, not yet tired of the fun she was having, eagerly nodded her head.

“I’ll clean up for you then,” Tani said with a dramatic sigh, pretending to be burdened by it.

“Thank you, darling,” Icree smiled sweetly to her, grabbed Kliodna, and quickly fled the room.

Tani felt a slight wave of relief as the door closed behind them. Getting a little moment to just be without having to speak and consider others was a blessing. They had talked and hung out the whole day together, and would do so also in the evening. A little time alone, even if spent cleaning a room, did good for her. Sometimes she wished she had a friend with whom she could just simply...be. Just enjoy the wildlife with. Though Luka was a silent friend to hang out with, he hung in his studio, and not much outside of it. Icree would rarely stop talking if Tani managed to lure her out for a walk. Perhaps the next day she would sneak to walk in the wilds. For now, however, she had a room to clean, and after that - a festival to enjoy.

Evening came quickly. As the sun began to set behind the clouded skies, new lights began to shine all over the capital. All kinds of lamps were hoisted next to the festival stalls inviting the people to come eat or to play small games. Performers entertained people on the sides, gathering lively crowds around them. There was singing, acrobatic tricks and dances. The four of them walked the streets chatting happily, stopping every now and then to grab a bite of something delicious or participate in a game. Luka had joined them, though reluctantly. He often simply put on what was near him, but Icree and Kliodna had picked out for him a nicely long, patterned vest with a little ruffle. He looked noble enough in it - which was rare for Luka. The only times he put effort into looking regal was when his position demanded it. Being the only child of demanding noble parents wasn’t easy, but Luka was given anything he asked for. Tani thought it was a rather fair exchange, but she never voiced that opinion to her friend. It wouldn’t achieve much more than stressing Luka out. The man was already worried about their placement in the squad rankings, as somewhere within this large mass of people were his parents. The same parents that expected him to single-handedly lift their position in this world and bring prosperity to them. Luka’s tired, brown eyes searched constantly for familiar figures in the crowds, even as he laughed at their jokes. As far as Tani had understood, Luka dearly loved his parents, which was the only reason he went along with their plans and tried his best when it counted. Luka didn’t speak much of it, and Tani didn’t push.

When the time came for the scoreboards, the group stole seats from a nearby stall meant for food and drinks. They mostly ordered drinks, with Tani enjoying hard beverages, Icree wine, and Luka as well as Kliodna ordering water. Being at the end of the scoreboard would sting, but at least they’d get to see all the captains together again. They were a little further away, not having bothered fighting the crowd to get to the front row, but they still had a good view of the platform where the captains would appear. Soon enough, the voice of the Wizard King, Julius Novachrono, boomed across the air. He was a tall man with handsome, sharp facial features and an aura of gentle confidence. He was beloved by the people, and for no small reason: he was the reliable protector of Clover Kingdom. The title of Wizard King wasn’t bestowed lightly. Julius Novachrono was the strongest mage in all of the Kingdom, and fit to lead all of its Magic Knights. It was new that he came in person to announce the ranks, but it was perhaps to give hope to the people. After all, he was a symbol of strength and unity.

“I’d like to thank you all for coming,” the pleasant voice of the Wizard King began, almost drowned out by the cheers.

Tani listened quietly, drink in hand, as he appealed to the people to stand strong despite the recent attacks. Invasions by their neighbouring kingdoms, disappearing children and the terrorist attack almost cancelled the festival altogether. The Wizard King claimed the festival was to honour those that fought for the Kingdom, but Tani believed it was simply to show-off to the citizens. It was as if to say: Look, these are our best of the best. They’ll keep you safe. Don’t be afraid. She took a large sip of her drink, grimacing a bit. She would have to practise more. She would have to be better. The cheers of the crowd grew stronger as the Wizard King called for the captains to come on stage. She heard Icree shouting for their captain, Rill, with excitement. The seven captains entered together, all walking next to each other. There should have been nine of them, but it looked like the captains of the Black Bulls and the Blue Rose were missing. Rill was on the right side, standing with a goofy smile on his young face. His light blue hair was a mess as always. Compared to the other captains, he always looked slightly like he didn’t belong.

“The captains of Crimson Lion Kings and Purple Orcas are new!” someone shouted from the crowd.

Tani glanced at the newcomers. One of them she had seen before. She couldn’t remember for the life of her the name of the man - but he was a member of the Purple Orcas. She didn’t think about it much, however, as her eyes landed on the new captain of the Crimson Lion Kings. She hadn’t seen her before. The woman was clearly a Vermillion - the brilliant red hair and the markings around her eyes were exactly like the two Vermillion brothers’. Her facial features were strong, even when her gaze scanning the crowd was indifferent and perhaps even bored. She was new to Tani, and she was fascinating. It was hard for Tani to describe it: indeed, she had no words to explain why she felt drawn to the woman’s appearance.

“Here come the squad rankings,” Icree said next to her, nervously playing with her glass of wine.

Tani nodded, diverting her eyes from the captain of the Crimson Lion Kings back to the Wizard King. Still, she couldn’t help but occasionally glance at the woman. She wanted to know who that was and what they were like. Tani looked at Icree briefly, considering her options. Icree would tease her to high heavens if she asked.

“If you are wondering who the two new captains are, they are Kaiser Granvorka and Mereoleona Vermillion,” Luka’s quiet voice pierced her thoughts.

Tani ignored the announcement that the Golden Dawn had the most stars - they always did - and turned to Luka. His brown eyes were fixed on her, as if he had known her thoughts. A slight warmth rose to her freckled cheeks.

“The little birds told me that she had returned to the capital, but not that she had taken over as the captain,” Icree commented happily. “She’s the oldest of the siblings, right?”

“Oldest and strongest, one could argue,” Luka answered. “I’ve never met her, but the stories say she is ferocious in battle.”

“Found a muse for yourself finally, Luka?” Icree teased him.

Tani’s smile twitched a little. Usually the answer was no, but what if--?

“No,” Luka replied determinedly. “She doesn’t have what I seek.”

“The hunt continues!”

Tani took a sip of her drink, her eyes turning back to the stage. The second best squad had been announced. Thanks to Icree’s intel, the surprising rise of the Black Bulls did not stun them like the rest of the crowd. The murmurs began quickly. Though it wasn’t quite audible to where the four were sitting, Tani had a good idea of what they were talking about. One could always trust the nobles to have a fit over commoners succeeding in something. Her eyes darted once more to the new captain Vermillion. This festival would be the best chance she’d have to talk to her, most likely. A surge of mana suddenly appeared near the captain: the new recruit of Golden Dawn seemed to be showing off. Icree whistled next to her.

“You two keep teasing me about finding a muse and inspiration, but no one notices Tani staring at the new Crimson Lion King’s captain constantly?” Luka asked sharply.

Tani tensed, the warmth returning to her cheeks. Icree turned her gaze from the stage to them.

“What?” she asked, a devilish grin appearing on her face. “Tani?”

“Come on,” Tani said, flustered. “This is the first time I’ve seen her. Of course I’m curious.”

“You aren’t commenting at all on this whole debacle between nobles and commoners,” Luka pointed out. “Usually you have at least one sarcastic comment.”

“Well, it’s old news!” she declared, glancing back to the stage. “Plus, they’ve already resolved it.”

All four of them could hear the Wizard King speak for the new recruits. He was good at making people stand together - and that was what he was doing. He called upon them to unite and overcome their differences in rank. Tani sighed.

“I haven’t seen her before, that’s all.”

“Sure, sure,” Icree laughed and patted her on the back gently. “Perhaps you’ll get a chance to talk with her when they come down from that stage, hm?”

“Yes, well, we’ll see,” Tani answered noncommittally. “They are announcing the rest of the scores, let’s listen again.”

Though Icree looked like she had still more to say, the names of the squads distracted her. Tani attempted to not be so obviously staring as before, but she found her gaze wandering back as the Crimson Lion Kings were proclaimed as fifth on the scoreboard. The look on the captain’s face was no longer indifferent - instead, Tani could see angry disappointment plastered on it. It was a rather fierce look. Clearly captain Mereleona Vermillion cared about the squad’s placement. Tani smiled a bit to herself. If only their captain cared that much. Well, most of her squadmates wouldn’t agree. They liked the carefree environment, where everyone did their own thing. It was an idyllic atmosphere, but not something Tani thought fit Magic Knights. Maybe it was her that didn’t fit the Azure Deer.

“Ah, time for the Royal Majesty,” Icree observed, cutting Tani’s thoughts short.

“More like Royal Travesty,” she said quietly, rising her arms onto the table and leaning her head on them.

None of them had too high an opinion on the King of Clover Kingdom, Augustus Kira XIII. Perhaps it was better to say that no one in the Clover Kingdom had a high opinion of the King. Next to the Wizard King, who always worked for the people, the Royal King seemed petty and self-conceited. He had all the clothes and mannerisms of a king, but lacked the presence and confidence to be one. It wasn’t the first time that he tried to command respect verbally - by literally commanding people to glorify him. Even now, the Royal King went again on one of his rants about how much greater he was than the citizens or even the Wizard King. An uncomfortable silence fell over the crowd.

“It’s a tough act for the Wizard King,” Tani commented. “He has to pretend to not be annoyed that the Royal King ruins all his attempts at unifying the people.”

Kliodna looked a little sad. Her fingers moved to sign a little quicker. She pulled them together on both hands, just to separate her fingers widely the next second, following it with sharply dropping her arms down. Her lips moved at the same time as if to produce the words without sound. Kliodna then lifted two fingers up on her right hand, the index and the middle finger, and moved them from her left shoulder to her right hip, mouthing “king” at the same time. Tani glanced very quickly to Icree, while Kliodna continued signing. She had gotten herself a book on sign language, but a day’s learning was not enough for her to keep track of it.

“You wish the Wizard King would be the Royal King?” Icree confirmed after Kliodna had finished.

Kliodna nodded empathetically, looking back at the two figures standing on the stage.

“Don’t we all?” Tani sighed, her eyes returning there as well - though not to the two royals.

Then, they all jolted to attention, as the King made an unexpected announcement.

“The hideout of the Eye of the Midnight Sun has been located,” he proclaimed proudly. “Until now, we have been subject to many of their attacks, and they held initiative in every battle. However, this time things are different! We’re launching an all-out attack on the enemy at last!”

The group’s reactions were slightly different. Luka did not truly care, as he was still down about them ranking last. Icree looked incredulous, while Kliodna was slightly afraid. She had just joined, after all. Tani reacted the most strongly of them, tensing up and almost rising from her seat. An attack against the enemy. Who would be taken? Surely they wouldn’t just send one squad.

“To that end, I have decided to gather an even more select group from among the magic knights and form the ultimate, hand-picked unit!” the King continued. “One week from now a test will be held for all the magic knights. Only those who pass the test will be allowed to join these Royal Knights.”

Royal Knights. The best of the Magic Knights. Tani was fully standing now, listening to the King more intently than she ever had before. What if she could become a Royal Knight? She didn’t know any offensive spells. Surely they needed reinforcing magic as well. What would the test be like? Her thoughts wandered off as one of the new recruits challenged the King’s authority. The King was all talk, of course, but the Wizard King wouldn’t allow him to do anything stupid. Would the Wizard King be the one to choose those that would be recruited? Who would lead the squad? Surely not the King or the Wizard King. They were important at the heart of the Kingdom. Well, one of them was.

“I better go see my siblings,” she hazily heard Icree say.

Icree had a large family with three younger sisters and one younger brother. Luka also rose to get up at the same time.

“I will come with you. It’s likely I’ll find my parents that way,” he sighed heavily.

Kliodna looked uncertainly at the two and Tani. Enough for Tani to notice that everyone else was leaving.

“I’ll stay still for a little while,” she decided. “I need to finish my drink still.”

“And wait for one captain to appear?” Icree winked, earning a little friendly glare from Tani.

“You should come with us, Kliodna,” the red-head continued. “Let Tani think in peace and come meet my family.”

Kliodna nodded, following Icree and Luka into the crowd. It was likely for the best. For now, Icree was the only one to understand her signs. Tani wouldn’t let it be like that for a long time. Though, now her thoughts were filled with the Royal Knights and the test. She’d have to train quite a bit. Maybe she’d ask Rill about it. Maybe if the new Vermillion would walk past, she could ask-- Tani quickly shut down the thought with a gulp of her drink. She would finish her drink, enjoy the festival, and totally not wait to see if Mereoleona Vermillion would appear somewhere. After all, even if she didn’t meet her here, surely she’d have another chance to make acquaintance. Well, perhaps that was a ridiculous idea. It was not like she met the previous Crimson Lion King’s captain anywhere. Tani took another big gulp of her drink. She was just enjoying the festival. Better to not have any expectations.

The first hour went well, mostly. Tani drank slowly and in moderation, watching people walk by with their families and beloved ones. She reminded herself that she’d have to go visit her family in Kikka. They had told her they’d not bother coming to the festival, as they had early hours the next day. Helee, her younger sister, admired Magic Knights, but never wanted to become one herself. The second hour that went by was a little rougher. Tani convinced herself that walking would do good for her, and she was definitely not looking for Mereoleona Vermillion. She walked all over the festival, only to end up drinking in a different booth. There was no sight of the one she sought. Tani was half-certain that the captain had already left. The stalls were closing and people were leaving for their own private parties. She paid for her drink and wandered some more. At that moment, she felt rather lonely and frustrated. She was done fooling herself that she was anymore enjoying the festival. All she wanted was a glimpse or even a small talk with the Vermillion lady. Her feet ached and she desired nothing more than a warm bath. Tani leaned against one of the streetlamps tiredly. Suddenly, from the corner of her eye, she saw movement. Red, slightly wavy hair, and pure fire radiating from it. Hope started in her heart, and then - dimmed. The fiery paws were holding onto people. Mereoleona Vermillion’s steps were confident as she dragged them with her, her entire squad walking behind them. They were clearly exiting the festival to go somewhere else.

“Well, that’s my dreams crushed,” Tani said to no one in particular.

The air had grown cold, even when the alcohol kept her warm. At least she had gotten a glimpse. It would be a long, sad walk back to the dorm.

#Where the Fire Lilies Grow #black clover fanfiction #is it sad #maybe

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