#we don’t suddenly hold them to different standards that are impossible to meet

[finrays]

The sad truth of the world is that nobody, absolutely nobody, likes a smart woman.

[mollywog]

Another Reunion

“Always.”

In the twilight of morphling, Peeta whispers the word and I go searching for him. It’s a gauzy, violet-tinted world, with no hard edges, and many places to hide. I push through cloud banks, follow faint tracks, catch the scent of cinnamon, of dill. I feel his hand on my cheek and I trap it, nuzzling it to my face.

At the physical proof of his presence, I begin to surface, blinking awake to find myself in a sterile hospital room in 13. Peeta’s seated in a chair to my right, leaning over the hospital bed asleep. I release a shaky breath of relief and am greeted by a sharp pain on my left side.

That’s right; I was shot.

My free hand fumbles over the thick bandages encasing my ribs. The morphling haze is slowly ebbing making it impossible to ignore the ache.

Peeta stirs at my motion. Lifting his head, his gaze meets mine, “It’s good to see your eyes again.” I give a soft smile and run my hand through his hair. He exhales at my touch, before his lids droop shut, “you scared me.” Tears prick my eyes and I’m suddenly very grateful to be here at all.

The moment is over too soon as a nurse sweeps in to assess me. She looks to be about my mothers age with light brown hair pulled tightly out of the way of her stony expression. She's efficient, just like everything in 13, barking staccato commands: ‘deep breath’, ‘arm’, ‘roll to your side’ as I numbly obey. She asks questions about my comfort in a tone that suggests she couldn’t care less about my answer except to be able to record them. It’s so different from the way I’ve watched my mother and Prim treat patients. I wonder if after enough time down here, they’ll begin adopting the same manner; I doubt it. Prim could never.

Peeta stands out of the way as she works and I notice he’s not wearing the standard issue gray jumpsuit, but a hospital gown.

The nurse turns to leave, until she finally seems to notice Peeta. My stomach drops. She’ll kick him out for sure, and I’ll be here alone, but to my surprise, her lips upturn just the slightest. “Are you where you’re supposed to be, patient Mellark?”

He scans his surroundings, “Is this not my room?”

She tisks.

“Come on, Mave. Can’t a guy grab lunch with his girl around here?”

She snickers, a sound I wouldn’t have assumed she was capable of only a minute ago, “I’ll let it slide if you promise to be back in your room before the 13:30 rounding.”

“Yes, mam,” Peeta says, flashing a boyish smile that has me rolling my eyes. I don’t know why Plutarch bothers with me, Peeta’s clearly the one with the real charm.

He moves back towards the bed as the door clicks closed. “What’s this about?” I ask, grasping his wrist to read the plastic bracelet: ‘mentally disoriented’. I frown, “I thought you were discharged before I left.”

“It was a compromise; This or handcuffs.” My frown deepens. “I didn’t take the whole watching-you-get-shot thing very well.” He runs his hands down his face, “I didn’t like much before that either, but that was the kicker. I was in Command when it happened and had some… unpalatable things to say. Haymitch convinced Coin that I was still mentally fragile as a result of my Capital imprisonment, rather than a traitor.”

I wince, “Sorry.”

“I wish I could be mad at you; That it was just you being reckless, but you were only doing what they told you to. Even if they hadn’t, I would have done the same if it meant saving lives.” He shakes his head. “It’s like we never left the arena.”

I can’t deny the same thought hasn’t crossed my mind, but I hate seeing Peeta look so defeated, “It’s not that bad.”

“Katniss, you were shot. You lost a spleen.”

“I don’t think that’s an important one.”

“How about your ribs?”

“Broken?”

“Bruised, but that’s not the point.” He sighs, “what I said in the arena still holds. Now more than ever: there’s no life for me without you. We may not be able to control things anymore than we could before, but we’re better as a team. So, from now on we stick together; where you go, I go.”

I reach out and lace our fingers, “okay.” It’s an easy enough concession, it’s what I want too and it will be easier to keep him safe if I know where he is.

Two trays of what District 13 considers a meal arrive. I hadn’t been in 2 long, but I’d let myself get used to food from the surface. I gingerly scoot to the left and Peeta slips into the cot beside me. It’s a tight fit, with our shoulders, hips, and thighs touching, but it’s a comfort to be so close. It’s reminiscent of those mornings in my bed working on the plant book, although I don’t suppose Peeta would consider sharing a meal in the hospital wing ‘normal’. It reminds me of something else he’s said recently and I frown down at the trays, “Guess we’ll have to wait on that date, huh?”

“I should have known it was too much to ask,” Peeta says with a laugh, “I’m tired of being star-crossed. We’re together, alone, out of immediate imminent danger, with a meal, let’s call this a date.” He pauses, turning his head to face me fully, “unless you’ve changed your mind. Do you still want this?”

“I do,” I say, leaning in to punctuate my declaration and for a few delicious minutes, our lunch is forgotten.

As previewed in Snippet Sunday a non-Hijacked District 13 AU

Reunion

Peeta.

Alive and well — maybe not well but alive and here. Away from Snow. Safe. Here. With me. In a minute I can touch him. See his smile. Hear his laugh.

Haymitch’s grinning at me. “Come on, then,” he says.

I’m light-headed with giddiness. What will I say? Oh, who cares what I say? Peeta will be ecstatic no matter what I do. He’ll probably be kissing me anyway. I wonder if it will feel like those last kisses on the beach in the arena, the ones I haven’t dared let myself consider until this moment.

Peeta’s awake already, sitting on the side of the bed, looking bewildered as a trio of doctors reassure him, flash lights in his eyes, check his pulse. I’m disappointed that mine was not the first face he saw when he woke, but he sees it now. His features register disbelief and something more intense that I can’t quite place. Desire? Desperation? Surely both, for he sweeps the doctors aside, leaps to his feet, and moves toward me. I run to meet him, my arms extended to embrace him. His hands are reaching for me, too.

He’s thin. Reminiscent of the dying boy I found by the stream, yet his embrace still engulfs me. I wrap my arms around his waist. It’s not enough and I rub my hands up his back until I can touch flesh. The nape of his neck is clammy, but it doesn’t stop my palms from resting there, nor do the damp matted locks deter my fingers from caressing his hair. My nose is buried in his chest, where the antiseptic and plastic scents of the hospital are masked by the stench of blood, sweat, and chemicals. If he smelled of cinnamon and dill I would know this was a dream, so I breathe him in as more proof of his existence. I turn my head, nuzzling my ear to his chest, finding the quick but steady drum of his heart; My new favorite sound.

After some time, Peeta pulls away. A strangled whine escapes my lips and I grasp the front of his tattered shirt, clinging so he can’t move far. He doesn’t mean to, instead he gently cups my face in his hands, tilting it up. I lick my lips, expecting him to kiss me, but he only stares down at me. I realize he’s still emerging from the gas as his pupils adjust and his dazed look turns to one of intense concentration. “You’re real,” he finally whispers, letting his forehead sink to mine as his eyes flutter closed.

“So are you,” I croak out. I reach up to touch his face, tilting my own up further for a brief press of lips. I move next to his jaw where I’d first kissed him a year ago, then to his cheek, next to his ear, then his palms. A constellation of kisses telling the story of past suffering.

I switch my attention to the fresh wounds, dotting feather light kisses to the path of cuts and bruises, willing his pain away.

Haymitch clears his throat and Peeta’s eyes fly open. He blinks rapidly, before catching sight of our mentor and leveling him with a glare. His hands encircle me protectively, “Annie and Johanna?”

“Rescued as well.”

Peeta releases a small breath, “how are they?”

“We saw them on our way through,” I interject. “Annie’s with Finnick and Johanna was headed to surgery.” I think of Johanna, emaciated, unconscious, with no loved ones waiting for her. I swallow back a sob and grip on Peeta tightens.

He looks down at me, frowning as he absorbs what I’ve said and comes to a similar conclusion. He averts his attention back to Haymitch, “You’ll be there when she wakes.” It’s a statement, not a request.

Haymitch nods his assent, reaching out to give Peeta’s arm a squeeze before turning to leave, “good to have you back, kid.”

“We’ll talk later,” Peeta’s voice is firm. My resentment towards Haymitch has all but vanished, his is still fresh.

Peeta looks back down to me, lips twitching in the smallest of smiles. I thought I had exhausted them all, but tears prick the corners of my eyes.

“Excuse me, Mr. Mellark,” an unfamiliar voice comes from behind me and I whip around, assuming a defensive posture between Peeta and the source of our disruption. The youngest of the trio of doctors stutters backwards a step.

Peeta steps out from behind me. “Yes?” he addresses the doctors. I grab for his hand and lace our fingers.

The man looks between us wearily, “We’d like to complete your exam so we can begin a treatment plan. Miss you need to leave.”

Anyone who thinks I’ll willingly go now that I have Peeta back must be mad and I tell the doctor as much. Peeta’s hand locked firmly in mine reassures me of our shared resolve.

Another of the doctors, an older woman with frown lines and a tight bun steps in, “we let you have your little reunion as a courtesy, but now it’s time for us to do our jobs. Protocol dictates that only a family member may be present outside of regular visiting hours. Until then you are not authorized to be here.”

Dread pools in my stomach at the mention of family, instantly replacing my fury at the woman. I hadn’t let myself imagine more than these first few minutes. Now I’m wishing Haymitch hadn’t left so he could be the one to deliver the news. But one glance at Peeta’s face tells me he already knows. I’ll be damned if I leave him now.

I square my shoulders, “I am his family.”

“That’s not what our records indicate,” The woman says unmoved. The two other doctors behind her look down at their clipboards, leafing through pages. They won’t find anything there, but then a memory of something Peeta told Caesar echoes in my mind:

‘And to us, we’re more married than any piece of paper or big party could make us.’

I latch onto the idea, “I’m his wife.”

The woman purses her lips and the other doctors shoot each other nervous glances.

“I know you watch the games down here. You must have seen the interviews. We’re married, he said so himself.”

“Yes, I’ve seen all his interviews. He’s had a lot to say recently.”

My nostrils flare and I’m deciding whether to lunge at her or just volley a slew of insults, when Peeta speaks, “Could you give us a minute?” He steps in front of me, saving the doctor from bodily harm while never letting go of my hand. “You should speak to Haymitch Abernathy on the matter in the meantime,” he says, neither confirming nor denying my assertion. Regardless of his feelings towards our mentor, Peeta at least trusts him to know how to handle this.

The doctor stares at us for a long beat, before giving a terse nod, “We’ll be back as soon as we clear this up.”

The door clicks and Peeta turns towards me, an unreadable expression on his face. So I parrot his words from so many weeks ago, “Is there anything I have to apologize for?”

[tennessoui]

40 or 43 if you’re still taking prompts! i love ur AUs they’re so beautiful and contain so much brilliance within a short snippet!

it's been so long, anon, you probably forgot you sent this but here is prompt 40, exes meeting after not seeing each other for a long time. in true tennessoui fashion, they don't. actually. meet and/or see each other in this snippet. also in true tennessoui fashion, all tennessoui needs to decide to continue this is one (1) validation.

the backstory here is something i have been thinking about for days after a discord convo, where during the fight on mustafar, obi-wan hits anakin hard enough in the head that he loses all of his memories. obi-wan takes him with him for a few months but the wounds of Order 66 and vaderkin's role in what happened is too fresh for obi-wan to (understandably) get over, even if this anakin doesn't remember doing it, so they separate. this is set 8 years after Mustafar.

(1.7k)

“Kenobi won’t come,” the fighter pilot says immediately upon disembarking from his craft.

One commander lets out a groan. Someone else hits the durasteel side of the closest x-wing with a closed fist.

“Do we really need him?” Anakin demands, crossing his arms over his chest. “It’s been eight years since the rise of the Empire. Surely a washed-up Jedi General from the Clone Wars won’t have people jumping to join the Rebellion!”

No one meets his eye. In fact, the air room suddenly feels very, very uncomfortable.

Organa exhales heavily and turns to look at Anakin, which is rare because the man never voluntarily looks at Anakin. “There are few names from that time that still carry an untainted weight in the eyes of the galaxy. Obi-Wan Kenobi is one of them.”

“I grew up hearing about The Team!” A teenager says eagerly. “I’d join any resistance movement if I knew both of ‘em were fighting with me!”

“You’re already a part of a resistance movement,” a girl next to him pointed out waspishly.

The boy waves her off. “Skywalker and Kenobi, saving the galaxy! It’d be wizard to be a part of that, and you know it, Aasha!”

Anakin’s throat tightens at that name. Skywalker. His name. Or, his old name. He has no more connection to it now than he does to the name Kenobi or Organa. They’re just letters.

He catches Organa’s eye. The man is looking at him with a mix of curiosity and wariness. Anakin knows instinctively that this is another one of the man’s tests. Will this time be the time that whatever injury has kept his memories suppressed for eight years is undone, and his previous life comes thundering through his mind?

He’s sick of these tests. He’s never failed one, but Organa never comes closer to trusting him afterward. He can only assume that whatever Anakin Skywalker had done in his last few days alive had been so terrible that only a few people knew the truth, and those who did would never forgive any version of him for it.

Organa certainly knew, though he had never shared that information with Anakin. And.

And Kenobi did as well. That was clear. They’d only been together for five standard months, sharing a small spacecraft made smaller by the fear, agony, grief, fury, and hurt radiating off of his companion into the space around them.

It had been hard to tell at the time if one of the things Obi-Wan Kenobi had been grieving was the loss of Anakin Skywalker. Anakin isn’t sure Kenobi would have been able to answer that either.

Some part of him that usually rests dormant in the back of his mind stirs and hisses that it had to have been. That Skywalker’s loss had torn Kenobi’s soul to shreds.

This doesn’t necessarily feel like his own thought, but it’s quite hard to ignore. He wants to rub a hand against his aching head, but that surely would tip off Organa that something’s--what? That he’s having thoughts?

Perish the very idea.

One would think Anakin hadn’t joined the Rebellion of his own free will. That Anakin hadn’t spent three standard months on the planet Kenobi had left him on before catching wind of the existence of the Rebel Alliance, that he hadn’t risked life and limb (more limb, apparently, given his missing flesh hand) to find them afterwards. He hadn’t known much anything about himself, but he had known that he hadn’t liked what the Imperial troops were doing, how much destruction they were causing, how the people they were supposed to be protecting hid in fear of their white armor.

Something in Anakin had rebelled at that, had thought it wrong and twisted. Someone needs to stop them, he’d thought. So he had found the people that were trying to.

And yes, a small part of him had thought--perhaps hoped--that Obi-Wan Kenobi would be a part of the Rebel Alliance by the time Anakin made his way to their biggest base. He had thought--perhaps hoped--that he would be able to prove himself to the other man. Look, he had wanted to scream at Kenobi, I’m not like that other Anakin, I would never do what he did. You can trust me. You can look me in the eye, I won’t stab you in the back.

Because something in him had yearned, still yearns, for Kenobi’s approval. For the weight of his gaze settling warmly around his shoulders. For his small smiles, his calloused hand clasping the back of Anakin’s head to bring their foreheads together in a gentle tap hello.

These are things Anakin knows he’s never experienced. But he must have in his past life, because his whole body will ache for them like a phantom limb. It’s been seven years and a few months since he last saw Kenobi.

“I’ll go,” Anakin says, which is what he said the last time they were standing like this, huddled around a fighter pilot delivering the same message of failure.

Organa’s mouth tightens in displeasure, and Mothma places a hand on his arm in warning.

Everyone else falls silent around them, as if recognizing the fact that they’re in the middle of a brewing storm, and they’re lucky to be in its eye right now.

“I do not think--” Organa starts, but Anakin cuts him off, crossing his arms even tighter over his chest, as if to hold himself back. The force suppression collar around his neck grows warmer, but it holds. It always holds.

“You’re already sending men who look like me to him!” Anakin points out irately. “The last four men could have been related to me!” It’s something Anakin’s thought about in the past but never said out loud. He’s glad to say it now though, especially because Organa flushes a bit which means Anakin’s right. “Just send me! If it doesn’t work, nothing in the galaxy will!”

Now, Anakin isn’t sure that’s true at all. He’s taking a huge leap with this, but it’s been seven years and a few months since he saw Obi-Wan Kenobi in person, and every part of him is aching with the desire to lay eyes on the man again. Will he hate him still? Will he see all the differences Anakin’s made to his appearance? Will he like them? He fights the urge to run a hand over his shorn hair.

Will Obi-Wan even let him through the door?

The people around them are murmuring now. They don’t know what Organa knows, what Anakin has guessed at: that Skywalker died a traitor to the Republic, that he had tried to strike down Obi-Wan like the Emperor struck down the rest of the Jedi. To them, these fortunate outsiders, they’re wondering why Anakin Skywalker hasn’t already been sent to locate and bring back their errant General.

Before, Anakin’s offer had been quiet, easily ignored over someone else’s. Now he’s loud and confident. Impossible to turn away without making a public scene, without explaining why. And Organa has tried very hard not to do that. For whatever reason, Anakin doesn’t know. All he knows is that after he’d been examined by a battalion of med droids and interrogated by all three leaders of the Rebellion, Organa had given him a list of rules he had to follow in order to join the Rebel Alliance. Firstly, never remove his cuffs and collar.

It’s not a slave collar and it won’t electrocute you if you touch it or try to take it off, Organa had told him when he’d blanched away at the sight. But I have been informed by a trusted ally that the Chance--the Emperor knows your Force Signature intimately. We cannot risk being found. It would kill all hope for us.

Secondly, never confirm his identity. Never talk about who he used to be.

People will know, Organa had grudgingly admitted. Skywalker was one of the faces of the Clone Wars. But you cannot confirm it. In fact.

Thirdly, give up the name Skywalker. Pick another last name, if not first as well.

But Anakin had been attached to his first name for some reason he didn’t know how to begin to question, so even after he toyed with the idea of changing it completely, he couldn’t go through with it. Weeks later he had shown up in Organa’s makeshift office.

I had a mother, didn’t I? He had asked, causing Organa to stiffen immediately.

Do you remember? Organa had interrogated immediately, his standard greeting for Anakin. Anakin had gotten the feeling, especially in those early days, that Organa was waiting with baited breath for Anakin to remember so he could try him for war crimes or treason or whatever it was that Skywalker had done.

No, he had responded honestly. Just a feeling. If I am to take a new last name, I want her name.

A few days later, Anakin had stumbled into his bunk, tired from a day of hard training, to see a packet of documents on his pillow.

Anakin Shmison was written at the top of the first page.

The list of rules goes on and on.

But nowhere does it say that Anakin Shmison isn’t allowed to mention Obi-Wan Kenobi in public. He just never has, because even the sound of the man’s name makes him feel very nauseous, a combination of butterflies and adder snakes wrestling around inside his stomach.

Bail Organa is looking like he’s regretting that oversight right now, but Anakin has backed him quite solidly into a proverbial corner. Either finally tell everyone what happened between Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi in the last few hours of the Republic, or give Anakin Shmison leave to retrieve Kenobi.

“Fine,” Organa gets out, jaw locked and vein throbbing in his temple. Anakin has the distinct feeling he’se spent a lot of his life on the receiving end of that expression. “Have this X-Wing refueled, and leave tonight.”

“No sir,” Anakin says, enjoying the way one of the man’s eyebrows shoot up in angry incredulity.

“No?” Organa asks. “Would you like more beauty rest, perhaps, Shmison?”

“No sir, I don’t need it,” this time he doesn’t resist running a hand through his hair, messing with its part so his longer bangs fall to one side and balance out the mysterious scar that bisects his eyebrow. He grins. “But I will need a craft that sits two. For the return trip.”

[mythicamagic]

Snake Charmer: Sesskag fic

Summary: Sesshoumaru is extremely amused by the prey currently trapped in his den. Kagome just wanted a vacation. Naga Sesshoumaru fic. Sesskag AU.

Rated M

Read on Ao3, fanfiction.net or Dokuga

AN: Sooo I might make a series of stories featuring Monster! Sess or Monster! Kagome. I've already written a vampire one and a werewolf one. Shall see! I hope you enjoy this. 

Snake Charmer pt. 1

Impossibly blue skies free from clouds stretched out above her head that bright and cheerful morning. It was hot. Uncomfortably so, but Kagome welcomed it despite the sweat beading at the back of her neck. Clad in a two-piece bikini hidden by her cute blue summer dress, the cotton thankfully thin and breezy, she drank in the sunny scenery greedily.

Hawaii sprawled out, with its rolling hills, high cliffs and exotic greenery. True, it was a little tourist-centric where they were staying, but the Japanese college students could hardly complain.

"I'm so excited for cliff diving~" Eri grinned, practically buzzing as they walked down a road beside the ocean. "Kyle said he'd meet us there, right? Do you think he'd be more attracted to a confident girl, or should I pretend to be scared?"

Yuka rolled her eyes, adjusting the strap of her bag over one shoulder. "From the way you were flirting last night at the hotel, I don't think he'll care either way."

"Maybe just fake a dizzy spell so he can catch you in his big strong arms~" Ayumi giggled.

"And what about you? I'm sure his friend will be there."

"Oh, don't get my hopes up!"

The three laughed, noticing their friend's silence once the girlish giggles died down.

"What's wrong, Kagome?" brows knitted with concern, Ayumi gently tapped her shoulder.

Shaken from her reverie, Kagome dragged her distracted gaze away from the ocean. "Hm? Oh… nothing," she smiled. "I was just thinking about what that man tried to say to us."

"You mean the Native we saw earlier?" Yuka arched a brow. "Forget it, none of us know Hawaiian and when he switched to English it was a lost cause. None of us can string a sentence together."

"It's true, I forget most of mine when we left school," Ayumi sighed mournfully.

"I flunked English," Eri smirked.

Shaking her head, Kagome folded her arms and frowned, "maybe so, but I could pick out a few of his words. 'Water' and 'no' with some kind of motion with his hands. He approached us while Kyle was talking to us about the cliff diving location with that map. Maybe it's a dangerous area, and the man was trying to warn us?"

"If it was a warning, Kyle would have told us. He said it was fine, just that we should be wary of any rocks, but he knows the area. It's standard stuff," waving this off, Eri quickened her pace, heels clanking on the hot road.

"He knows the area better than a guy who lives here?" Kagome drawled, sharing a glance with Ayumi. Her more sensitive friend bit her lip, giving a weak shrug.

"Let's at least check it out," she said, adding more under her breath; "Eri is really excited. We can humour her a little by meeting with Kyle again today. None of us has to jump."

Releasing a breath, Kagome set her concerns aside for now. It wasn't like she wanted to be a wet blanket about it. Still, the man's wide, imploring brown eyes continued to nag at her mind. Such an expression could bridge the gap in communication. She'd practically felt his concern.

---

Kyle was a tanned, brown-haired boy travelling around the world. He struck Kagome as the adrenalin junkie type. Eri fawned over him, positively smitten. It was rare for a foreigner from London to be so well versed in Japanese, and they'd met through an online dating site, organising a get together while he was in Hawaii. Thus Kagome and the others had been dragged along. Kyle was practically their tour guide and means of verbal communication with English speakers.

His friends were less fluent in Japanese. The three shirtless blonde-haired young men flustered both Yuka and Ayumi, talking in broken sentences.

Kagome couldn't say she minded the male attention as they walked together to the cliffs. Obviously, they weren't up for anything permanent, just fooling around. Kagome had indulged in that sort of thing before. Unfortunately, it was quickly becoming boring. Men just couldn't get a clue. Whether it was a long-term boyfriend or a one-night stand, a playboy or attentive virgin, she found her experiences frustrating on a level she couldn't quite understand. It was lacklustre.

Perhaps today would be different. It would've been nice to hang out with Kyle's friends and get to know them if she could just rid herself of the man's warning.

"This is the spot," Kyle grinned, showing his dimples.

The group had stopped atop a cliff with a few trees littered near the edge. Yuka peered over the lip of the side, holding onto a branch.

"Wow, that's uh… quite a drop."

Kyle rolled his shoulder, muscles coiling. "It looks worse than it is. So! Who's going first?" he grinned wider, clapping his hands and rubbing them together.

Eri laughed nervously, hugging his arm, "shouldn't you go, oh fearless leader?"

"I believe in ladies first," sea-foam blue eyes strayed to Kagome, who remained a little uncomfortable.

"What about your friend?"

"Ah- she's a little afraid. I don't think she'll be jumping," Eri dismissed.

"Aww c'mon," Kyle broke away from her to gesture to Kagome, inviting her closer. "At least take a look. No point in walkin' all the way here and not seeing the view at least."

"I can see it fine from here," Kagome gave a smile that showed her teeth. "Thanks anyway."

"Kagome."

Judging from her friend's expressions, they clearly wanted her to act more respectful.

Biting back a sigh, Kagome forced a more amiable smile upon her lips and stepped closer to the edge, peering down.

To Kyle's credit, it was a stunning view. She'd never seen water so crystal clear and blue. She couldn't tell how deep it plunged, but the waves rolled pure white, not a blemish in sight. No deadly rocks either.

What had the man been warning us about?

"What do ya think?" a playful voice rasped close to her ear. Kagome felt the heat of his body draw near.

Her lips pursed, "it's beautiful," she allowed. Maybe she was being too much of a stick in the mud, it wasn't like her.

"Then- why not take a closer look?"

Hands shoved.

Blue eyes flew wide as Kagome felt her body careen forward, hair swooping back. Letting out a fearful scream, Kagome felt her feet drag and fly free from solid earth. Gravity pulled her down.

Falling was surreal, disorientating. She'd pretty much left her stomach back with her friends it lept so violently. She couldn't tell up from down, but the ocean swooped in closer and closer.

Instinctively, Kagome sucked in a huge breath.

Making impact with warm waters, she plunged deep beneath the surface, bubbles obscuring her vision.

Almost immediately, still, serene waters swirled into motion.

Kagome's heart thundered with alarm, bracing herself. She mindlessly kicked her legs out of instinct the second something started pulling her downwards. Trying hard to break away from the current, her efforts proved to be in vain as it swept her up like a whirlpool.

Kagome closed her eyes. It became impossible to know where she was, how far the surface lay beyond her reach. Her lungs strained.

Getting desperate, Kagome abandoned all logic and started to swim with the current rather than fight it. If she was going to die, she'd rather it be while doing something. Staying motionless didn't suit her.

Aching lungs grappled for air, and Kagome felt herself weaken. Desperate motions slowed. Her mind hazed with fog, becoming dizzy.

Gradually, she began to resemble a motionless rag-doll.

Something strong and sturdy wrapped around her waist, pulling her body.

Kagome weakly felt the sensation of being yanked. Shadows entered her murky gaze like she'd passed through a tunnel, lights soon reaching her again. And then she was suddenly flicked up and released.

Gasping the second her head broke free from salty waters, she sucked in sharp breaths and coughing violently. Kagome then promptly collapsed.

She blearily noticed the dim lighting and smooth rock she found herself splayed upon, shuddering. I almost died.

It took a few moments to adjust and control her breathing, but eventually, after laying there and recovering from the experience, Kagome shakily roused herself enough to sit up. Looking around, she found a cavern of sorts awaiting her. The layout was spacious. Rock walls sprawled around her, a single circular opening high above in the ceiling allowing a circle of concentrated sunlight to pour down into the ocean pool she'd surfaced in.

Kagome pulled herself onto a rocky platform, following a walkway around the water and leaving wet footprints on cool stone in her wake. Thick shadows lay beyond the opposite side of the pool, with a multitude of paths in the rock-face branching off in different directions. They looked as though they'd been hollowed out by a huge earthworm. Kagome wagered they were a maze of sorts.

No way am I going in there.

Glancing up at the natural skylight, Kagome bit her lip. Such smooth rock would be too steep and slippy to climb, and she doubted a helicopter passing overhead could spot her inside. She wasn't even sure how far she was from the mainland. Silence reigned within the lonely cavern, save for lapping water within the glittering pool. She couldn't hear any tourists or speedboats outside.

Kagome swallowed.

The pool.

She didn't exactly like the idea of chancing another swim. However, diving in again to reach the open ocean could be her only chance of finding help.

Putting it off for now, Kagome wandered around the edge of the pool, rubbing her arms absentmindedly. She felt shaken from the high fall alone, never mind nearly dying from a random whirlpool.

"That's what that man was trying to warn us about," she mused to herself, glancing at the water. "I hope Kyle doesn't push anyone else in. That bastard!" she seethed. She'd always been a strong swimmer, but if he had pushed in Ayumi, even with regular waters, the situation could've been dangerous. The idea of it only pissed her off even more. "When I get outta here, I'm giving him a piece of my mind. I bet he'll say - 'ohh it was just a joke.' Ha! You can tell that to my fist, buddy!"

A shadow moved to her left.

Kagome jumped, snapping her gaze to it. Sweat pricked at the back of her neck.

"H-hello?"

Nothing.

Well, it had been out of her peripheral vision. What a convenient time for her mind to start playing tricks on her.

Taking a deep breath, Kagome let the air whoosh out of her lungs. "And now I'm seeing things," she rambled, grasping her hair and wringing out excess salty water. "That's not unusual though, heck I think I see things passing by in the kitchen all the time. Totally nor- AH!" Kagome started badly, looking directly at the shadows. A sleek, long thing swept out into bright sunlight across the floor before retreating smoothly. It had been pale, covered in a sheen that resembled scales.

Was that a… tail?

Kagome took one step back. Then another. Whatever it was, it had been quite large.

She didn't want any of that. None.

Pivoting sharply, Kagome hurried directly towards the pool. Climbing down a rocky incline, she bent her legs, muscles coiling and springing free as she leapt, body arching into a dive.

She made it into warm waters, kicking her legs madly. Gliding down from rippling surface to murky bottom of the pool, Kagome swam towards an opening in the rock wall. Something large and solid slid beneath her stomach then- closing around her waist and yanking.

Kagome's mouth opened in a gasp- pulled from the water with a hard tug. She coughed the second she surfaced, spitting out saltwater and holding onto the thing wrapped around her waist.

The tail.

Kagome's eyes widened, squirming and trying to get free as water dripped from her body, watching the pool drift further away as she ascended. The white scales felt smooth, warm beneath her touch.

Gritting her teeth, Kagome tried to dig her nails in, only to find them repelled by deceptively firm coils.

"You do not possess claws nor fangs sharp enough to cut through my hide, little human."

Kagome jolted, whipping her head up.

Half-lidded, piercing golden-yellow eyes stared back.

She gaped.

Slit pupils dilated.

The man observing her with a wry smile possessed beautifully ethereal features. Pointed ears, exotic magenta marks slashing across his pale cheeks. A silver fall of long hair spilt down over broad shoulders, hanging off the high rock he lounged upon that overlooked the pool. He'd propped both elbows on his bent tail, resting a strong chin upon one hand. The tips of his fingers resembled long, frighteningly sharp claws. Kagome blinked, trying to make sense of his form. His head and torso resembled a human male- physique impressive. From the waist down, however, an impossibly long snake tail sprawled out. She wasn't sure how vast it spread, a little preoccupied.

"Listen pal, I don't know what stage play I've stumbled across, but great effects. Top-notch. The puppet feels really lifelike," she minded some slick hair from her face. "The contacts are hot too, but I'd really like to be set down now."

"Would you?" he purred silkily, tail twisting to flip her upside down. Kagome gasped as black hair cascaded in front of her face, hanging towards the distant pool. "Unfortunately, this one has no interest in releasing you. It has been some time since prey has willingly stumbled into my den like a lost filly."

Kagome's mind raced. Prey. Shit.

"I-I didn't stumble in. The whirlpool-"

"Ah, yes," he hummed, rising from his perch languidly. His form moved smoothly, top half easing closer without fear of toppling from the rock his larger half wrapped around.

"Hn… few mortals are foolish enough to jump from that cliff at noon."

"I was pushed," Kagome seethed, bristling as he prodded and turned her like prized meat hanging off a hook. "Hey! Watch it!" She swiped an arm out, cheeks flushing. "Put me down this instant!"

The Snake-man tilted his head, "curious that of all people, my prey this time happens to be a woman from my homeland."

Kagome had been too startled to really think about it, but they were indeed conversing in Japanese.

"So you're a Japanese demon, huh?" she squeaked. "Awesome. We can talk more about that when the blood isn't rushing to my head. Put. Me. Down," a growl hissed free from her teeth.

His lips spread into a half-smirk, half sneer, exposing sharp, glistening fangs. He turned her upright once more, only to coil more segments of his strong, pale tail around her. A part of it twisted and slid around her knees, parting them.

Something twinged between her legs- a bead of sweat, hot and salty where it rolled down her thigh in a lazy trickle.

Kagome's eyes widened as the moving tail constricted beneath her chest, restricting the use of her arms and squeezing the air from her lungs like he'd trapped her within a huge fist.

His body loomed close, face hovering near. His touch felt oddly human upon her chin: grip as firm as any other arrogant male's.

"The harder you struggle, the tighter my grip," he uttered, gaze and voice almost gentle in their rich cadence.

Kagome fought to keep her breathing even, becoming still. He seemed intelligent and well spoken. If that was the case, talking her way out of the situation might be her best bet.

"For the record, I'm Kagome," she said, trying not to tremble. "W-what's your name, Mr Snake man?"

Ivory lashes fell shut and swept open in a slow blink. His lips parted, hesitating, as though out of practice with speaking it aloud.

"Sesshoumaru."

The Killing Perfection.

It sounded like a bad omen.

Kagome swallowed and kept blabbing. "Oh, that's cool. Your parents must've been anticipating a nice blood thirsty baby. I'm sure they're very proud."

His expression darkened, and Kagome quickly shut up. Clearly, that had been the wrong thing to say.

Sesshoumaru tipped his head to the side, breath fanning over her ear. "For the record," he uttered, archaic speech clearly unfamiliar with the term but imitating her, "my kind are not referred to as 'Snake Men.' I am a species of Naga."

"I-I see, sorry for using the wrong term," Kagome jolted as something flicked out close to her ear, nearly brushing the shell.

His tongue. Was he tasting the air?

Sesshoumaru made a low, pleasurable noise in his chest.

"You know… unless you're into playing with your food, maybe there's a reason you haven't eaten me yet," Kagome was ever the optimist.

"Pray tell: what would that reason be?" he asked, nose brushing and gliding into her hair. She felt his body roll as he inhaled deeply, having a ripple effect down his entire tail.

Kagome shivered. Oddly, the heat of him wrapped around her sent thrills racing up her spine due to every movement being intimately felt. The anticipation, fear and adrenaline mixed into a cocktail of absurdity. She felt its effects pour liquid heat into her lower abdomen.

"You want someone to talk to. Even people called 'The Killing Perfection' can get lonely. A-am I right in thinking you're the one who pulled me from the water?"

"Indeed."

Though she knew it wasn't out of any concern for her, Kagome nonetheless felt a stab of gratitude. "Thank you for that, I mean it. You're terrifying but much preferable to drowning."

Golden eyes danced. "Your compliments leave much to be desired."

Kagome's lips twitched. "Do you see what I mean, though? Maybe you just want a delightful conversationalist."

"Hn, perhaps," Sesshoumaru adjusted her, so that she loomed above him, his head dangerously close to her chest, "or perhaps I do just enjoy playing with my food."

Kagome jolted and gasped as a regal nose glided up the valley between her breasts, lips skimming, a teasing drag. She tried to squeeze her thighs together- prevented by a segment of his tail that rose and undulated slowly against her core, rubbing. Shamefully, Kagome moaned. Her wet dress, plastered to her form- pitifully could not hide the hard peaks of her nipples as her body heated.

"You respond quite enthusiastically to me, woman," Sesshoumaru purred, tongue flicking out to lick a long, wet arch up her chest, collarbone and neck. "Have you considered...you might enjoy my 'playing' with you?"

Panting, she quickly stopped her squirming hips. "L-let's talk about this," she swallowed, catching her breath. "We could make a game out of it. A real one."

Thankfully, his tail stopped.

"I am listening."

Okay, keep talking Kagome. She shifted, looking at the glittering slashes of magenta cutting over his tail like stripes. It was safer than getting distracted by his enchanting eyes.

"Is there a way out of here other than the pool?"

His silky voice caressed her hearing. "Yes."

"T-then let me run for 15 minutes. If I find the exit- you let me go. If you catch me, then fair enough, I'm yours to eat or... or whatever," Kagome muttered, cheeks heating. "But I can and will defend myself during the run."

Sesshoumaru's claw-tipped fingers grasped her chin, turning her face back to look at him.

His eyes were hypnotic in their richness of colour. Slit, inhuman pupils only drew her in instead of repelling. They smiled even as his lips remained still.

"Nothing would please me more," he purred, free hand gliding down her stomach, making it twitch. "You possess a silver tongue, girl. I have not met a prey that could hold a conversation before."

"Thanks, you're not so bad yourself- when you're not talking about eating me."

Chuckling with rich tones, the Naga loosened his tail, unwinding it so that she slid over his coils down to the walkway next to the pool.

Standing on her own two feet again, Kagome righted herself, glancing up at the looming Naga.

"Run along, little filly," he uttered languidly. His soft, masculine voice oddly put her at ease even as she prepared to run for her life. Perhaps this was how he lulled prey. Kagome chose not to examine why she'd responded so... favourably to him. It was the humidity. The adrenaline.

Kagome headed for a tunnel, realising half-way her mistake. It was pitch black inside, and she had no light.

Almost as immediately as she'd stepped inside- green flames flickered to life upon the walls. Torches lit her way, scattered further ahead.

Steeling herself, Kagome took a breath, bursting into a run.

[wtfsaidthefox]

Can’t sleep?

Duskwood - Jake x MC - 1779 words - Spoilers for Ep7!

Starts out with MC (who I randomly decided to name Sam) struggling after the events of Ep7, and Jake wanting to comfort her. Ends in self-indulgence fluff, because apparently that's the only way I can imagine Jake.

Under „read more" due to length~

Middle of the Night. She could hear rain coming down, beating against the open window of her bedroom. It wasn't all that cold, but she felt cold, even with her blanket pulled up halfway over her head. There was just a shiver going through her she couldn't shake. By now, she must have been lying in bed for a few hours, trying to find some sleep but dreading it all the same.

It had only been yesterday. Someone she had come to call a friend and care about in these last days… killed, right in front of her. It still didn't feel real. Then again, it felt like the only reality she had left. The pictures didn't leave her. Richy, coughing up blood. Richy, his face slowly growing still and lifeless. The panic taking over her, her heartbeat too loud and too fast in her own ears, that one thought hammering in her head, „do something, do something, do something".

If she'd try to recall her own actions right now, she barely could. She told the others. Desperate, incoherent syllabyles and half sentences. They went through disbelief, shock and denial all in a few seconds, but one of them managed to call the police. They had barely spoken since Richy's body was found, and on her end, she couldn't blame anything but guilt. Maybe they had pushed too much. Maybe it was her fault. Maybe she could have done something.

With a small, low groan she reached for her phone. Sleep wouldn’t come, and if, it would come with the same nightmares of last night, so she was tired of fighting for it. Anything else would do.

Opening her phone, she realized that she had an unread message.

Jake.

Between everything falling apart and coming undone, Jake had tried his best to stay calm. But it was even hard for him. ‚He must be so worried‘, she thought, ‚what this could mean for Hannah. Is Hannah dead already too, after all? Will everyone abandon the search for his sister?‘. In truth, he was worried for her.

„Hello Sam. You're probably asleep by now, at least I hope so. I just wanted to ask if you were alright. I mean, whenever you wake up. Please just let me know.“

A slight smile ghosted over her lips. Had someone told her after that first voice distorted phone call that the man under that hoodie would turn out to be such a sweetheart, she'd have laughed at them. But there was really no other word more fitting for Jake. Going through the best, most convincing „I'm all good" standard responses in her head, she noticed the little green dot next to his name. He was online. And just a few seconds later, another message popped up, he had seen her being online too.

„Can't sleep?“

„No. Do you ever sleep?“

„Some times?“

There was a bit of a break. She didn't know what to say, her thoughts a mess and her fingers shaky. Jake started typing. Stopped. Erased the Text. Then again.

„If you can't sleep Sam, I'm here for you.“

„You're sweet Jake.“

This was bittersweet, if she was honest. His care for her made her feel warm for the first time since she crawled under her blanket. But she was also at a loss for words. Shouldn't he focus on Hannah? Did she really deserve his support now? And most of all… how? How could he help her, far way, at some place she didn't even know. But she’d bite her tongue off before admitting to that thought.

„Do you want to talk?“

„You mean Smalltalk? 🤭“

Well, this sounded familiar.

„I would love to Jake, it's just…. I don't even know about what. Anything else would do, but I'm only coming up blank.“

„I'd know something.“

Oh? Now this was new. Curious, she asked him to go ahead.

„While I was in hiding, the only thing I could think of was you. How much I missed you. All the things I wanted to tell you. All the things you didn't know about me yet, but that I wanted to share. Even if I never shared them before, or couldn't even say why it suddenly meant so much to me to tell you. And more then that, all the things I didn‘t yet know about you. All the things I wanted to ask for no other reason then that I want to know you.“

He straightened up in front of his PC. Close to 2 in the night, he hadn't even moved away from his desk yet. Sleep, especially good sleep, had been a stranger to him for so long now, he had given up trying. There was always something on his mind, something to be done, one potential mistake to double check, one preparation more to make. If he was honest, most often, it was pointless. Nothing but his own ghosts from these last months on the run from the governement keeping him awake.

But this time was different. This time, the reason was right.

„You can ask me anything you want Jake“

„What makes you happy?“

Unexpected. Again. She furrowed her brows as she pondered the answer to his question.

„That's a hard one to answer"

„I know. I don't think I could have answered it myself just a short time ago.“

The implication was obvious enough, but still, she needed to hear it. Hear it spelled out.

„But you do now?“

„I do. You. You make me happy.“

She read those words a few times, with a smile on her face, aloud, or in her head in what she imagined his voice to sound like. Jake was normally not too good at reading other peoples emotions, but she couldn't help wondering if he knew how much she had needed to hear that. What those words meant, especially now, when all she was capable of was blaming and doubting herself.

„You make me happy too Jake“

„And that means more to me then I can say. But still, I'd love to hear what else does.“

„Are you planing to use that information against me?“

„Yes. Repeatedly and without fail :)“

How cute could he get? Laughing, she shoke her head and decided to just list everything randomly that would spring to mind.

„Well…. My neighbours, they have this little dog, and every time it sees me in the hallway it's all excited and overjoyed and adorable. That's just infectious. And the first flowers coming out in spring. Every year. Getting to sleep in on Sundays. Getting to hug my friends and family, especially if I haven't seen them for a long time. And seeing them smile. Oh, and you know what? Giving them a present that was just right. You know this horrible feeling of anxiety and impending failure every time you fret over what best to get a loved one for their birthday or on christmas? But then when you hit the nail on the head, and they love it – that has to be one of the best feelings in the world!“

„Of course you would", he answered to the last bit, before she could go on.

„I would what?“

„List giving others presents over receiving them.“

„Well, I'm not complaining about that either 😛 oh, and before I forget to add: parks, forest, beaches – just taking a walk through any of those. Or sitting down for a picnic and just watching the sky. It’s been way too long since I did that last. Have you done that before?“

„No, at least not for a very long time. But I would love to do that with you.“

„As a warning: I will tell you how every single cloud looks like a bunny, or a duck, or my old angry math teacher"

„What if I can identify those clouds first?“

„Then I'm impressed and you get points"

„And what do I get if I have more points then you and win?“

„An actual cloud. So cotton candy.“

She really was the only person that could still make him smile. Just like she was the only one that still made him feel like one day, he could be genuinely happy again himself. That there were people in this world he could trust, no second guessing, no double checking, no constant overthinking every word he said. Talking to her was easy. It made him feel weightless and light-headed, and he had no idea anymore how he had managed to fight those feelings for one second in the beginning.

He had started to tell her, trying to write down just what she meant to him, but in the most unfair contradiction, finding the right words for that was impossibly hard. And given what had just happened, was this really the right time?

Before he could finish debating on hitting send or not, another message popped up.

„Jake…. Is there really a chance for that? Can I really meet you, one day? Because… I wished you were here"

„I know. I wished that too. So I could be with you and support you, more then just with a few words. But I promise you, once this is all over, I'll find a way.“

Yes, he would. He had started to think about how while he had been on the run, and he knew he could make it happen. There was simply no other choice.

Realizing this again, he had deleted his previous attempt at telling her just what exactly she meant to him. Maybe the time wasn't wrong, but the how was. He’d tell her in person. He’d tell her in his own voice, looking into her eyes and seeing her reaction on his face after every single word. And then he‘d tell her again, until she was tired of hearing it.

Which she would probably never be. She felt herself exhaling, letting go of a breath she hadn't even realized she was holding in, as she read his answer to the question she had been so afraid to ask. Which she should have asked sooner, because his answer brought her more relief then she could have hoped. It was exactly how he could help her, more then anyone else, no matter where he was right now.

„Thank you Jake"

„:)“

„I'll reserve all the prettiest picnic places in all the nearby parks 😉“

„Well I hope there are a lot, so we get to spent a lot of time together.“

„There are! Though at some point we will probably also have to think of something else 🤭“

„Looking back at your previous reply, I guess I’d get you flowers next. Or hugs. Or a dog. I'll decide spontaneously :P“

[fandom-puff]

An Unmarried Lady

Pairing: sandor clegane x Lannister! reader

Requested by: anon

Prompts: //

Summary: A Lannister woman with no husband was odd... Cersei and Tywin are determined to marry you off...

AN: ah! I haven’t written for Sandor clegane I’m so long!! This is my first like,,, imagine with him so I hope you enjoy it 💕 also, the reader is younger than Tyrion here ( I know he’s the youngest in the books and TV series but... just go with it okay :p)

Warnings: swearing, mentions of sex, Joffrey Baratheon

Wine flowed freely when your nephew was in a good mood. A rebellion in the city had been quashed and Joffrey was adamant that a party be thrown to honour his victory. You rolled your eyes. Stupid boy. Still, it gave you an excuse to drink and dance without worrying so much about your reputation as the King’s Aunt. You might even be able to sneak away with Sandor...

Unfirtunately, your father and sister spent a lot of their time during these events conspiring about which knight or noble to shove in your direction. You sighed, taking a deep drink from your wine as Tywin walked over to you, a tall, dark haired man in his wake. Your eyes flickered briefly to Sandor before you plastered a sweet smile on your face as your father presented you to one another. “My youngest daughter, YN Lannister,” he said, eyes flicking between you both. You arched your eyebrows at your father as the man grasped your hand and pressed a wet kiss to your knuckles. You were clearly unimpressed.

“Are you not going to introduce yourself, Ser?” You smirked, knowing full well he was a Lord, not a Ser.

“I’m not a Ser!” He said, just as you predicted. Tywin sighed. “I’m Lord-”

“A lord?” You said in a mock-surprise tone. “You certainly don’t act like one, slobbering over my wrist. I’ve had better trained dogs,” you said slyly.

Tywin looked up to the ceiling, composing himself. “Lord Pyne. Go,” he said sharply as you turned to him, your hands on your hips.

“Your standards are slipping, father,” you said coldly, making to walk away but he grabbed your arm.

“It’s very hard to uphold such high standards when you refuse every suitor within two minutes of meeting him,” he said, glaring down at you. You stared back, challenging him. His eyes softened slightly- the perks of being the baby sister in the family.

“When you can find me a good, honest man who isn’t an arrogant bastard, father, then I’ll consider letting him court me,” you said, eyes not leaving his.

He sighed, exhasperated. As far as he knew, you had been single for far too long. “YN. You must understand, an unmarried Lannister woman... you haven’t been courted since your first bleeding,” you flushed slightly. “People talk, YN,”

“People talk about Cersei and Jaime fucking, father,” you hissed, tugging your arm out of his grasp. “People talk about Tyrion frequenting whore houses and burning his way through the people’s taxes in fortified wine. I am the only child of yours who hasn’t got a poor reputation for incest and whoring. Your grandson is King of the seven kingdoms, each of your sons hold a position on the small council. Your oldest daughter was married off for the family’s gain. There are no more positions, no more seats for me to take. Focus on controlling that tyrant up there,” you nodded to the throne, “before you even THINK about marrying me off to some dimwitted lord who can’t tell his arse from his elbow,” you turned on your heel and stormed away from your father. He shook his head and receded back to Cersei as you went to find your favourite brother.

You breezed past Sandor, brushing against him, even though you didn’t really need to. You could just imagine his slight smirk as your skirts fluttered about his ankles and your hair flowed behind you.

Finding Tyrion, you huffed and sat next to him, stealing his goblet and taking a sip.

“Hey now, dear sister, get your own,” he said teasingly, though he grabbed another goblet from a serving girl. “Who has Father tried to pawn you off to now?” He smirked, knowing that was the only thing that could get you so riled up.

“Lord Pyne,” you said, rolling your eyes. Tyrion roared with laughter.

“Him? Ha! I bet he still has his mother’s milk in his belly!” He grinned, causing you to crack a small smile. “Ahhh, there she is, that beautiful smile. You break hearts, you know, YN, keeping that smile to yourself,”

You shook your head slightly. “I want to marry someone I love, Tyrion,” you sighed. “I don’t see the point in marrying me off to some Lord,”

Tyrion smirked. “Do you not want a lord, YN?” He nudged you. “Would you rather we get you a prince? A warlord? A great Dothraki warlord to carry you off on his horse and fuck you amongst the heathens?”

You rolled your eyes. “Don’t you dare suggest that to father,”

“Suggest what to father?” You turned to see your sister standing over you.

“Tyrion’s had the bright idea to whore me out to the Dothraki, seeing as you and father cannot find a suitor who doesn’t wear his arse as a cap,” you said, smirking. Cersei scrunched her nose up.

“He isn’t that desperate,” she said, sitting down with you, fussing over your gown.

“I beg to differ,” you said, batting her hands away. “Honestly, Cersei, I’ve just turned twenty two. Must you fuss over my dress like that?”

“Yes! We must be presentable. And you really ought to start wearing your hair up like mine,”

You snorted. “Cers, I have much better things to do than preening myself for hours on end,” you tucked your hair behind your ear. You did not favour the high hairstyles that your sister so often sported. You preferred to wear it down with simple plaits and discrete jewels for decoration.

“You need a husband, YN. You ought to have been wedded and bedded as soon as you bled,”

“I bled when I was twelve, Cersei,” you growled, sitting a little straighter, eyebrows knitted together in a deep frown.

“Our little sister wants to marry for love, Cersei,” Tyrion said quickly diffusing the situation, draining his cup. Cersei was about to argue when Joffrey spoke up.

“Aunt YN. Come,” you sighed, glaring at Cersei before pushing through the crowd to your nephew. You sunk into a slight curtsey, never going as low as you should.

“Your highness?” You said, looking him in the eye. He may be your king, but you were still his aunt.

“I’m bored. My dog here says he has never danced. I want to see him dance,” you flushed as the room went silent. Sandor stood staring straight ahead, and you swallowed.

“My lord?” You said, standing tall and staring him down.

“No man would allow his wife to dance with such a creature. But you have no man, do you, Aunt YN?” His lips curled into a sadistic smirk as you gritted your teeth.

“No, your highness,” you said stiffly.

“Hound. Dance with my Aunt YN. Perhaps you will scare here into wedding and bedding a lord,”

The room was silent. You flashed your eyes to your father briefly, but he was glaring at the King. Cersei has her lips pursed and Tyrion looked thunderous.

“Yes, my Lord,” you said sweetly, nodding slightly at Sandor.

“Play something!” The king demanded, clapping his hands and lounging in his throne. Sandor took your hand and you guided him into the proper dancing position. “Closer, Hound!” Joffrey snapped. “Show my court what a good little wife she would make,”

“Your majesty,” Tyrion said lowly, warningly.

“Quiet, uncle! Play!”

You took a deep breath as the music started, dancing the steps perfectly, the way you had learned since you were a little girl, while Sandor just stepped along, holding you. If the entire court wasn’t watching and Joffrey wasn’t demanding a circus performance, it would have been quite nice. Sandor’s jaw was tight as you danced, and he squeezed your hand and hip.

Joffrey clapped, laughing at his clever little performance that he had coordinated. The court began to laugh along nervously, and you shut your eyes, looking at your feet, unable to show Sandor how humiliated you felt. “Tell my court, Hound! Tell my court how she feels! Would she make a good wife? A good slut for a lord?”

“Enough!” You suddenly snapped, tugging away from sandor’s strong grip. The room suddenly descended into silence again as you turned to the court. “The King is tired!” You announced. “Ser Trant, Ser Moore, escort the king to his quarters, and ensure he eats his supper,” the king spluttered as the two kingsguards looked frantically to Cersei and Tywin. They nodded, and soon the king was escorted to his room like a spoilt child. “Play on,” you said, clapping your hands and smiling sweetly, gesturing for people to commence dancing. Tywin offered his hand to a highborn lady and soon others followed his lead. You stared up at Sandor with wide eyes.

“I’m sorry,” you whispered, but he simply grabbed your hand and took you away from the dancing, sitting with you in an alcove, away from prying eyes.

Well, most of them.

“Father,” Tyrion said, smirking at his father and sister. “The next suitor shouldn’t be a Lord, or even a Ser,” he said, nodding over to the alcove, where you pressed a chaste kiss to the scarred side of sandor’s face. “I think we’ve solved the mystery as to why sweet YN has been impossible to court,”

Tag list : @diksy1112 @zodiyack @soleil-dor

[americancowgirl19]

She’s the Alpha - Part One

Series Summary: Gen and Y/n have been together since they were in high school. They’re true mates. Only problem is that they’re both female and are unable to satisfy the other’s heat/rut. When Gen gets a job on Supernatural they meet Alpha Jensen and his Omega Jared.

Part Summary: By the time you turned 18 you have gone through two life changing events. The first being when you presented as an alpha. The second is when you found your omega.

Warnings: Y/n treated like an OC, cursing, bullying/harassment, homophobia, angst, fluff, abuse, hint at smut/intimacy, light girl on girl,

Reader: Alpha Female Reader

Pairings: Alpha Female Reader x Omega Genevieve, Eventual Alpha Jensen x Omega Jared x Alpha Female Reader x Omega Genevieve

Word Count: 5,662

A/n: Jensen and Jared won’t show up until the next part. This chapter is character background and a lot of Gen x Reader. Possibly a 15 part series!

Masterlist

Part Two

Presenting

The weeks prior to presenting were tense to say the least. You felt as if everyone was testing your patience, especially your twin brother, Ashton. You withdrew from your friends and family. The last thing you wanted was to get into screaming matches with your parents like Ash had been doing.

Despite the obvious signs, nobody expected you to present as an alpha. Female alphas are much rarer than male omegas. Although, presenting as an omega didn’t seem likely either. You were stronger willed than the omegas your family interacted with. Becoming a beta is what was expected of you. Albeit, doing what was expected of you was never really your thing.

Frankly, you would rather be a beta than an alpha. Your family held alpha’s to a higher standard compared to beta’s and omega’s. A standard you didn’t care to be held to. To be honest, your family was ridiculous when it came to alphas.

However, all thoughts of an easy going beta life flew out the window on your 16th birthday. Finally, the moodiness and the short fuse you had recently acquired made sense. 

To say that this complicated things is an understatement. Presenting as an alpha completely changed your world. One day you were the girl who remained unseen in the background. Now, you’re the girl trying to survive your alpha father and alpha brother. Three alpha’s under one roof is recipe for disaster.

Senior Year

“I cannot wait until I can pack up and leave this place in my rear view mirror,” Ash grumbles walking beside you down the road. The further the two of you walked from home the less weight seemed to be on your shoulders.

“You need a car to have a rear view mirror,” You tease him while keeping a watchful eye on your younger siblings a little ways in front of you. Ash rolls his eyes and shoves his hands in his pockets. “All I want is to get out of that damn house. I don’t care where I go,” You comment with a small shrug.

It didn’t matter if you moved into the house next door or in an apartment on the other side of the world. As long as you weren’t under your parents roof, you would be happy. You craved independence. You craved separation from your parents. Yet you didn’t want to be too far from your siblings but at the same time you didn’t mind putting more distance between you and them.

“I’m not going to be able to listen to dad’s bullshit for very much longer,” You hum in agreement. You remember a time when your dad had been your hero. Now, you couldn’t wait to get as far as possible from the man.

Your father made it his mission to make you and your brother the toughest alpha’s in town not only mentally but physically as well. He’s even tried to make you both arrogant assholes, like typical alpha’s, with all his ‘alpha’s are above others’ speeches. 

There was also a point in time when your father had tried to pin you and your brother against each other. You hated to admit that it worked for almost an entire year before the two of you figured out that you were stronger when you had each others backs.

“We just have to make it through graduation,” You tell him.

“Yeah,” Ash scoffs. “Another ten damn months,”

“No one said it was gonna be easy,” 

A couple minutes later you were at the school. Your two younger siblings had dashed off but you didn’t care. You made sure they got to school, your job was over.

The moment you entered the high school you sensed something was different. You didn’t know what it was and tried to ignore the feeling but it was damn near impossible.

You caught yourself looking around as you and Ash walked to your lockers. You didn’t know what you were looking for but assumed you would know when, or if, you found it.

“Do you know if anyone presented alpha recently?” You ask your brother.

“God, I hope not,” Ash groans closing the door. “The last thing we need is another damn alpha walking around,”

There’s three other alphas in your school, excluding you and your brother. One of the alpha’s, Julian, is chill and keeps to himself. The other two, however, are always competing for top dog. The last thing this school needed was yet another alpha to add into the mix.

“Why do you ask?” Ash asks, the two of you walking to your first class.

“I don’t know,” You sigh. “I just feel like something’s different,” Ash glances at you but doesn’t say anything.

All throughout the day you felt on edge. Ash could pick up on your tenseness causing his own mood to turn more alert. It wasn’t until the end of the day did you find the answer to why the both of you were so apprehensive.

You and Ash were at your lockers preparing to leave school. Ash was suggesting that you went to The Dutch, a local bar and grill. It had been a long and tense day, the last thing he wanted to do was go straight home where the environment is even more stressful.

You muttered a response not really listening to what he was saying. Ash talked 90% of the day, whether you were in class or not, and you had learned to tune him out. Instead of paying attention to Ash, your eyes were trained down the hall. In the corner stands a shorter girl with beautiful, long, dark hair. She had your complete attention from the moment you laid eyes on her.

Unfortunately, you weren’t the only one with eyes on her. Andrew, one of the schools asshole alpha’s, had her in his sights. The moment he came into your eye sight you knew what he was planning. The thought of him even standing next to her angered you.

“Y/n, where are you going?” Ashton questions when you suddenly walk away. You don’t answer him. He grumbles but quickly follows after you. It wasn’t until you got closer to the girl did you realize that she’s an omega.

“I’m not interested,” She tells Andrew. You ignore the affect that her voice has on you.

“Not yet but I can change your mind,”

“What is it with you morons and not understanding the meaning of the word ‘no’?” You ask, gaining Andrew’s attention. He turns toward you. His eyes flicker from you to Ashton, who’s standing behind you. “No, means, no, asshole,” Andrew glares at you trying to be intimidating. However, you weren’t intimidated by boys trying to be men.

“Why don’t you just move along?” Andrew suggests, wanting to continue talking to the omega but also wanting to avoid you and Ash. “I’m trying to have a conversation with her,”

“You’re not exactly conversation material,” The girl speaks up. Your gaze, along with Andrew’s, returned to the smaller girl. She spoke to Andrew before her eyes flickered to you. The moment your eyes met, a small small comes to your lips. “The last thing I want to do is lose IQ points,” She comments, looking back at Andrew. She adjusts her bookbag on her shoulders and tries to talk around him but he quickly grabs her arm. The smile that had come to your face quickly washed away when you saw Andrew grab her as roughly as he had.

His hand only held her arm for a fraction of a second before you had removed it. Your hand grabbed his wrist tight enough to leave a nasty bruise. You twisted his arm until he was forced to release her and slammed him against the lockers. 

Andrew easily got out of your grip but before things could escalate Ashton jumps between the two of you. Ash knew you could handle yourself against Andrew but he also didn’t want a fight breaking out. A fight would send you to the principle which would force your father to get involved which would end in a situation neither of you wanted to be in.

“Just walk away,” Ashton advices Andrew. “We wouldn’t want a repeat of Junior year, would we?” Andrew growls stepping forward but a teacher speaks up before anything could happen.

“Life would have been much simpler if I had just been a beta,” The girl whispers under her breath. You hummed in agreement. Your eyes glancing to her when you’re confident Andrew wasn’t going to attack your brother. “Thanks,” She says, looking up at you.

“You look like you could handle yourself,” You tell her with a small smile. She blushes a bit which causes your heart to soar. The longer you stood beside her the less confident you became. Not many people made you nervous but this girl could make you weak to the knees with a single glance.

“Genevieve,” She introduces herself. She holds her hand out and you stare at it for a moment. Ash gives you a gently shove which snaps you out of your haze. Gen giggles a bit when you hand reaches out and grips her tightly. “But you can call me Gen,” She giggles again when you shake her hand quickly.

“Gen,” You whisper, smiling softly. “Oh, uh, Y/n,” You stutter while releasing her hand with a blush. “That’s uh... that’s my name,” You hand brushes through your hair.

“I figured,” Gen continues to smile at you. “It’s nice to meet you,”

Date Night

“How does this look?” You ask, your younger sister. 

“Like you’re trying too hard,” Naomi comments, hanging upside down on the edge of your bed.

“Really? I think I look cute,” You say standing in front of you full length mirror. You were wearing a nice dress. It’s the most feminine thing you’ve worn in a long time.

“You’re only going to the movies,” She tells you. “Besides, it doesn’t really look like you. You should wear some leggings and that cute jacket you got last month,”

“I’m with Naomi on this,” Ash says, walking into your room. You sigh but give in knowing they were more corradiated than you.

“If he coming to pick you up?” Naomi asks shifting onto her stomach when Ash sits beside her. You share a look with your twin.

“Uh, no,” You shake your head. “I’m meeting them at the movies,” You say carefully.

Ash is the only one that knows you were going on a date with a girl. On top of that it’s an omega that had asked you out. You could only imagine the shit show that would happen if your father found out. He would go on and on about how you needed to be with a man. Once he got past that he would tell you how un-alpha-like it is to be asked out by an omega. You, being the alpha, were the one who was supposed to ask the omega out.

You knew your younger siblings wouldn’t care but they also couldn’t keep a secret. The only concern your mother would have is the fact that she wouldn’t be able to satisfy your ruts and you wouldn’t be able to satisfy her heats. It wouldn’t be a problem now, or any time soon, but down the road you would need someone to help you. 

You didn’t ant to think about that right now. You just want to have fun with Gen. You liked her a lot. You could run your hands through her soft hair all day. She smelled as if she had come straight from heaven. Her skin also felt very smooth and perfect against yours. 

From the moment you two met you had grown to be very close. You would stay close during school and after school you would be together at her home. Her family was much more relaxed and open than yours.

The two of you had been cuddling in her bed while watching your favorite movie when she asked you out on a date. It had caught you off guard but you accepted.

Almost everything Gen did caught you off guard, in a good way. She was so unlike any omega you had met. She was outgoing and blunt. She could hold her own and didn’t need an alpha to cling too. She didn’t need you but she wanted you. You tended to be on the more reserved side but being around Gen brought you out more.

“What movie are you seeing?” Naomi asked. You answered all her questions as you finished getting ready. Ash picked out your shoes while Naomi helped with your makeup. You didn’t wear much makeup but a little bit to stand out.

“Good luck,” Ash says, helping you leave without being noticed by your parents. Your parents knew you were leaving but you didn’t want to go through 20 questions with them.

“Thank,” You smile at him before getting into your moms car and driving to the movies. You instantly found Gen. It was like there was this magnet on her that drew you to her. “You look amazing,” You compliment. She wasn’t wearing anything too fancy but it hugged her hips.

“Thank you,” She says before inspecting your new jacket. You did a spin causing her to grin even wider. “Adorable,” She says kissing your cheek causing you to blush. She links your arms and pulls you to the ticket booth with a little hop in her step. There you insisted, and won, on buying the ticket. She ended up buying the popcorn before the two of you took your seats.

Throughout the movie the both of you shared small, yet intimate, touches. You would hold hands or rest your hand on her thigh. Eventually you wrapped an arm around her. The touches only got worse when the movie was over and you drove her home. Her mother had dropped her off allowing you the opportunity to spend more time with her.

“Hey, Y/n?” Gen asks, glancing at you as you drive down the road. You hum sparing her a glance. “What happened junior year?” She asks.

“Can you be a little more specific?” You ask, with a small laugh. “Junior year was a long year,”

��Ash said something to Andrew about not wanting a repeat of Junior year... Remember?” Gen asks, your mind goes back to when you first noticed Gen. Gen and you have been in the same school for years but you didn’t truly notice her until she presented. When she did present she ended up being an omega. There’s only 7 omega’s in the school and of course she had caught Andrew’s attention.

“Junior year Ash, Andrew, and I were still pretty new at the whole alpha thing. We’re still not perfect but junior year our emotions and instincts were all over the place. At that time Ash and I weren’t talking. We were fighting constantly and it just wasn’t a good time for us.�� You begin to explain to her. “Being an alpha our natural instinct is to be the alpha. It’s an instinct my father did everything he could to amplify,”

“Why?” Gen asks frowning her eyebrows. You let out a low sigh.

“My father expects Ash and I to be the top alpha in everything we do. One of the problems with that is that feeding into our newly heightened instincts with other alpha’s under the same roof only causes disruption and chaos. The three of us were constantly at each others throats and when we went to school Ash and I were still going at it but we were also going at Andrew as well,” Gen slowly nods not completely understanding but wanting to hear the rest of it. “One day Andrew and I came to blows. I think we were fighting over something like he had sat in my seat at the cafeteria.” You said not completely sure if that was true but it was close enough. “Anyways, Andrew is stronger and a better fighter, I didn’t really have a chance but I gave it my all. Ash saw what was happening and he jumped into the fight. The two of us could just tell what the other was about to do and we worked together fluently. Kicked Andrew’s ass,” You smirk a bit. “We not only asserted our dominance as head alpha’s in the high school but it’s the first time Ash and I started to mend our relationship and work together,”

“So, now you and Ash are ok?” Gen asks. “You two seem to get along great,”

“Yeah, it took us a while to get to where we are now but now it’s just natural,” You shrug. “It’s like I have this sixth sense when it comes to Ash and him to me. Sure we have our competitive streaks but it’s all good natured,” Gen smiles at you and you glance at her. “Did I tell you that you look beautiful tonight?” You ask.

“Maybe once or twice,” Gen smiles widely. You smirk pulling into her driveway.

“I had a really great-” You said, turning your head towards her. The instant you looked at her, her lips were on yours. The two of you had yet to get out of the car and had to lean over the middle console. 

Her lips were soft compared to your chapped ones. Her sweet scent seemed even more intense while kissing her. You wondered how she could get any more perfect. 

“I had a great time too,” Gen whispers pulling back. “And you look just as beautiful,” She winks at you.

You didn’t care what you had to do, you had to keep her. You’d known her a little less than four months yet you were completely smitten. You were in this for the long haul.

Caught

“Hi Gen!” Naomi shouts, when you and Gen enter the house. Gen barely greets her back before your little sister darts into the next room.

“Omi! Get back here, you little shit!” You other little sister, Haley, practically screams as she races after the youngest.

“Come on,” You place an innocent hand on Gen’s back. You gently push her towards your room. The two of you have been together for a couple of months and have successfully kept it from your parents and younger siblings. Honestly, if Naomi wasn’t so gullible, you would have been found out by now.

“Are your parents home?” Gen asks, you shake your head.

“No, probably won’t be for a while,” You tell her. You shut the bedroom door behind you.

“Good,” Gen smiles turning to you. You match her grin and pull her close. “I’ve been wanting to kiss you,” 

“No ones stopping you,” You whisper leaning down to connect your lips to hers. Gen cups the back of your neck and presses her hand against you chest as she leans into you. You tighten your grip around her waist. “You smell so good,” You whisper burying your head in her neck.

“Come on, we have to get started on this project,” Gen reminds you. You whine refusing to let her go. Gen laughs quietly and doesn’t attempt to leave your snug embrace.

“We can start tomorrow,” You whisper.

“Oh, no, we’re not procrastinating on this,” Gen says wiggling away from you causing you to pout. “Let’s get this started and then we can cuddle,”

“You drive a hard bargain,” You wink at her. Gen rolls her eyes and sits on your bed. You smirk and move in behind her. “Are you sure we can’t start a little later?” You ask, brushing all of her hair to one side. “Surely, we’re smart enough to get it done in a little bit,” Gen tilts her head a bit as your lips lightly press against her skin. “You’re certainly smart enough. You’re a junior in a senior science class,”

“It’s not that impressive,” Gen whispers. “There’s plenty of juniors in senior classes,”

“I’m lucky to be in the 12th grade, it’s impressive,” You tell her. “You’re so smart,” You praise. “So beautiful, kind and funny.. So talented,” Your lips travel up her neck as you hand gently grabs her chin. “So mine,” 

“Alpha,” Gen whines causing you to growl and press your lips to hers. She falls back on the bed and you shift follow after her. Your entire focus was on her that you didn’t even notice your father coming to your room to talk to you.

“Y/n-” He barely gets your name out when he opens your door. Your head pulls away from Gen’s quickly and snaps towards him. Both you and Gen tense. You father looks at you in shock but the shock quickly turns into anger. “What in the damn hell is going on here?!” He shouts. 

You and Gen jump off the bed. Your protective instincts kick in and you stand in front of her. She grips the back of your shirt. Her distress only amplifies your protectiveness. 

“I can explain-” You try to say but your father isn’t in a listening mood. You watch as his face begins to glow red and his eyes narrow.

“The fuck were you doing with her?!” Cyrus, your father, shouts. You knew that if you tried to lie it would only be worse. You had to come clean.

“I was kissing her... my girlfriend,” You add, quietly. A deep, threatening growl leaves his chest. Your hand reaches back to rest against Gen. The movement was not only to reassure you that she was behind you but an attempt to calm you down. Gen always had a calming affect on you but with your father radiating threatening vibes being calm is the last thing on your mind.

“Girlfriend?!” He shouts marching up to you. You growl back trying to warn him to stay back.

“Yes, girlfriend!” You shout back not liking being threatened. “She’s my girlfriend, my omega!”

“She’s a girl! She cannot be your omega!”

“She is,” You tell him clenching your fists. “I know she’s my omega, my true mate.” You state with absolute certainty. You knew that same sex true mates aren’t nonexistent but they certainly weren’t heard of.

“A female alpha is never mated to an omega female! It doesn’t work!” 

“It does. We work.” You insist. “She’s my girlfriend and I’m not letting her go,”

“Oh, yes you are. No daughter of mine will ever be with another girl! You’re an alpha, you need to be with a beta or male omega.”

At this point your family is gathering in the doorway. Your two little sisters were poking their heads in but mainly hiding behind the wall in the hallway. Your father took intimidation and scary to a whole new level when he’s angry. Even your mother was using the wall as a hiding spot. Your brother, however, was standing in the center of the doorway ready to help defend you and Gen if need be.

“Fuck who you think I’m supposed to be with,” You spit. “I want to be with Gen and she wants to be with me,” You growled. “And I’m not going to let you get in between us,”

“Y/n!” Gen shouts when your father grabs you shirt, rips you away from Gen and pins you against the wall. You growl slamming your head into his and manage to shove him away. He doesn’t go far but far enough for you to duck away and move from the wall.

“Alright, let’s just calm down!” Ash shouts getting between you and your father.

“Step down,” Cyrus, demands staring you twin brother down. Ash glares back fighting against the urge to move away. “I said, step down,” Cyrus snapped grabbing the back of Ash’s neck and tossing him to the side.

“Hey!” You shout shoving him away from your brother. 

However, tossing him from Ash made Cyrus get closer to Gen which you didn’t like. You held your hand out and Gen instantly comes to your side. Her fingers intertwine with yours. Her arm hugs your arm while she steps a bit behind you.

“I love Gen,” You tell him as he regains his stability. “I’m going to stay with her for as long as she’ll have me. There’s nothing you can do,” 

Cyrus steps toward you and lashes out. Gen whimpers holding you tightly as a stinging pain comes to your cheek. Before he could do anything else Gen is moving in front of you. She’s trembling despite the strong look she tries to display. Your heart swells at her trying to protect you but you didn’t want your father hurting her either.

“I won’t let you hurt her,” Gen whispers, pressing her back into your chest wanting to stay as far away from him but wanting to protect you as well. Cyrus is obviously taken back by Gen. Omega’s aren’t normally the ones protecting the alpha. In his eyes it’s just another disgraceful act while it only makes you fall more in love with her.

“You either get rid of Gen or you leave,” He tells you. Your heart drops. You knew he would be made but you never expected him to give you this ultimatum. You didn’t want to make the choice despite already know what you would choose.

“Dad, please,” You whisper moving back in front of Gen. “I love her and I love this family, please don’t make me choose,” You beg him. “I’m still your daughter, loving Gen doesn’t change that,”

“This is not how I raised you. This is not how an alpha is supposed to act.” Cyrus tells you. “This is unacceptable and I will not have you disgracing this family. Get rid of Gen or move out,” Cyrus says. He stands there for a moment before pushing past you and into the hall.

“Baby,” Gen whispers, moving in front of you. Your zoned out eyes focus on her. “I don’t want to get in between you and your family-”

“You are my family,” You whisper. “You’re my omega, I know you are,” You say confidently. “Am I your alpha?” You ask, trepidatiously. 

“Yes, you are,” Gen nods, caressing your cheek. Her eyes soften as she looks at your reddened cheek. “I just want you to be happy... I don’t want to take you from them,” She nods towards your brother, sisters and mother.

“I’ll talk to him, ok?” Molly, your mother, speaks up, coming up to you. You stare into Gen’s eyes for a moment before turning to her. “You are not disowned and you do not have to leave Gen,” Molly gives your girlfriend a smile.

“I don’t think I can stay here mom,” You tell her. “Even if you do talk him down, things are only going to keep getting worse. Him and Ash are already to a boiling point, this is only going to push all of us over the edge. I’m not staying,”

“I don’t know how I’m going to be able to stay either,” Ash growls.

“There’s only a couple more months, just avoid him,” You advice him.

“Easier said than done,” Ash grumbles still seething at the fact that Cyrus had attacked you, again.

“I’ll keep him from you, just don’t leave yet,” Molly pleads hating the fact that her mate is chasing her children away. Ash’s face softens slightly towards his mother. He sighs but nods agreeing to stay just a little longer for her sake. “Where will you go?” Molly asks, wanting to make sure you went somewhere safe.

“She can come with me,” Gen says. You open your mouth to object but she doesn’t let you. “My mother adores you, so do my siblings. They’d love to have you around,” Knowing you needed somewhere to go, you agree.

“I love you,” Molly whispers, hugging you when you made your decision. “I’ll talk to your father, you and Gen are always welcome here,” She promises.

Claiming

“Happy birthday, baby,” Gen whispers waking you up with her light kisses. You smile snuggling into her chest. She grins holding your larger figure the best she could.

“Skip school,” You mumble. “Spend the day with me,” Gen smiles kissing the top of your head.

You and Gen have been together for over a year. You’ve graduated high school while Gen is halfway through her senior year. The two of you lived in Gen’s mother’s home. You’ve lived there since your father kicked you out.

Your mother stayed true to her word and talked to him. It took him months to even talk to you and even longer to invite you back. You never accepted his offer. The two of you had a very tense relationship and you didn’t want to go back to living under his roof with his rules.

The second you and Ash graduated, Ash moved out. He moved out of the house and out of the state. You still talk daily but you hadn’t seen him in a little bit. However, you felt happy knowing that he’s happy and much more relaxed.

While you would rather move out of this small town you were happy to be with Gen. Her mother and siblings absolutely adored you. Her two brothers were beta’s while her sister and mother were omega’s. 

Having you, an alpha, around brought a sense of peace to the household. Your presence comforted the other omega’s. They felt more relaxed, more secure with you around than before you moved in. It didn’t matter that you were only romantically involved with Gen, you were still an alpha and they were still omega’s. Your presence comforted them in a way beta’s, like the brothers, couldn’t quite understand.

It took a while to gain the brother’s trusts but when they realized how much weight lifted off of their mother’s shoulders with your company and how you protective you were of the sister’s you quickly gained their approval.

At your family home you were constantly fighting to be alpha. Here, however, you quickly earned the position of alpha when you gained their trust. Gen’s mother still mothered her children but you looked after Gen’s sister and helped pay the bills while making sure the other alpha’s left the family alone.

“You, Y/n Y/l/n, are a very bad influence,” Gen whispers causing you to smirk.

“You love it,” You breathed against her neck. Gen shivers feeling your hot breath against her cool skin making you grin even wider.

“I love you,” She whispers. You lift your head and look at her through hooded eyes.

“I love you too,” You whisper puckering your lips. She giggles.

“Lazy,” She whispers, connecting your lips. “We need to brush our teeth,” She murmurs against your lips.

“We can be nasty together,” You whisper pushing her onto her back. Gen relaxes under you as your lips reconnect. Her moans encourage you to kiss her deeper.

“I want to be yours,” Gen whispers, you kiss down her neck towards her chest.

“You are mine,” You say. “Just as I’m yours,” 

“Y/n,” She whispers. You lips gently pepper kisses down her chest. “Y/n,” She says sternly.

“Yes, baby?” You lift your head pinching your eyebrows at the serious look on her face.

“I want to be yours,” She stresses. It takes a moment for her words to sink in.

“Mine?” You asks and she nods biting her lip. You lean over her and press your forehead against hers. “You sure, baby? There’s no going back, no getting rid of me,” You remind her. Gen smiles gently caressing the side of your face.

She knew that ever since your father completely turned his back to you that you had developed a fear of abandonment, a fear of people pretending to want you only to change their minds. You didn’t want to trap Gen with you. You worried that down the road she wouldn’t want you and if you claimed her she wouldn’t be able to leave causing her to be unhappy. It’s the main reason you hadn’t claimed her yet.

“I love you. I want you, no one else. Please, alpha,” You eyes darken and a low growl comes from your chest. She begins to whine amplifying her scent. Your head ducks down to her neck. You breath in her sweet smell. “Please, mark me, Alpha. Please,” She begs slowly breaking your resolve. “I want to be yours, completely and forever. I don’t want no one else,” You could sense her desperation begin to rise.

“Shh, omega, I’ve got you,” You whisper, trying to soothe her. “I’ll mark you, I’ll make you mine forever,” Gen smiles, slowly relaxing. “Only if you mark me, as well,” Gen’s eyes widen.

“Are you sure?” She whispers, you nod pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead.

“100%... If you’re going to be mine and bare my mark, I want to be yours with your mark,” Gen slowly grins and nods.

“Ok,” She whispers. You grin and press your lips to hers.

“You’re perfect, Genevieve,” You whisper, moving your lips back to her neck. “Everything I could ever want,” Gen smiles, pulling your shirt over your head.

“Alpha, please, I need you,” She whines, clawing at your back.

“I’m right here, ‘mega... I’m right here,” You whisper, soothingly.

“Mark me, please,” She begs.

“Patience,” You whispers, a smirk on your lips. Your hands unclothe her before your eyes memorize every inch of her body. You couldn’t believe the woman in underneath you is going to be yours forever. Gen smiles, a light blush on her cheeks and her teeth chewing her lower lip.

“Alpha,” She whines, pulling you close. “Please,” You gently begin peppering her neck. You can feel her heartrate skyrocketing and her breathing escalate. 

“You’re gonna be all mine, baby girl,” You whisper nipping at her neck.

“Please,” She whimpers pressing her neck against your lips. She gasps, your teeth dig into her neck. “Alpha,” She cries.

“All mine,”

@akshi8278​

[nightswithkookmin]

Imo there is enough to support the possibility of a romantic relationship, but you are writing full on narratives with impossible specificity. You know what confirmation bias is but some young impressionable people dont yet . Forgive me but misleading with ' alt facts' can hurt someone even if you dont mean it. I think you are a good person not looking to hurt anyone. But the way you postulate without any evidence makes your actions a little but like those of a charlatan. Peace and kindness

All these kind words you spew...

It feels more like an advice than a question so I'm not sure how to respond to it...

Let me just say thank you? I never quite understood what the brouhaha was about with my posts but after talking to a few people, 'on the other side' lol and reading your Ask, I think I'm starting to get a better sense of what the problem is.

Something about young impressionable minds or people?

Let the council of elders know, those are not my audience please. I cater to a much more mature audience- at least so far. The people that I interact with and engage with on my posts on and off Tumblr are very mature and not impressionable at all.

They are People with brains who can tell an opinion from fact and can engage in deep complex controversial conversations without throwing up, shedding tears or cussing through to the heavens.

If there are 'impressionable people' reading my blogs- they do so at their own risk. If you know any such people or they run to you with my theories kindly point out to them it's just theory because that's what my opinions are.

I think the best thing you can do is to advice such people to grow up if they are going to sit at the adult table or not read my posts at all. I think you need to learn to hold the right people accountable for their actions.

The best I can do in this case- to hold myself accountable, is to put up a disclaimer on my posts to let people know what it is that they are reading- something I do quite often. But I will make conscious efforts to put up those disclaimers each time henceforth. Thank you.

That I write full on narratives with impossible specificity:

Is this Latin for, 'you write fiction get the fuck outta here?' Chilee.

I don't even know what you mean by this exactly so I may not be able to respond to it to your satisfaction. Bare with me.

So what if I write fiction? What is wrong with writing fiction? Do you hate fiction writers? I don't get what the hate is with these complaints honestly. Do you want me to put up a disclaimer stating my blogs are fiction? Would that help? I would glady do it.

If it helps you sleep at night think of my blogs as fiction- a rose by any other name. I've been keeping up with Shakespeare. Lol.

I don't think it's that deep. Listen, you gotta understand that just because we both 'ship' Jikook don't mean we are on the same team...

Most alt shippers I know and who read my posts and engage with it are not even Army to begin with, for your information. They could care less about these shipping politics of yours. Have you thought about that?

Some simply ship JK and JM and support them because they believe they are members of the LGBTQ plus community not because they are part of BTS.

There are different communities out there who are also into Jikook- for very different reasons. You gotta respect that.

To you, Jikook is just a ship within BTS that may or may not be real, but to some of us they have very much outgrown that description...

They are a brand of their own, a power couple and members of the LGBTQ plus community- Gay Icons extraordinaire. I think we take very different stock in Jikook. So stop trying to fit us all into one box.

It's disrespectful to try and control the way that people perceive their OTP and support them. Jikook don't just belong to Army Jokers, they belong to different communities outside Army. Are you aware of that?

And please don't confuse the intersect. I am an alt-shipper yes but I just so happen to be an Army too. But if I wasn't an Army, I'd still pretty much 'ship' and support Jikook- make no mistake. There are quite a few of us running around these streets, you know?

So you have every right to want to gatekeep your Army Jikook- but you have to do that without infringing on other rights of other 'Jikook communities.'

Throughout my blogs I have tried to shed light on what altshipping is because I thought it would help bridge the gap but clearly that hasn't worked. Sigh.

Misleading alt facts

Do you not know what it means or you are just being ironic?👀

Why is it ok for you to believe and proclaim that JK and BigHit lied about JK dating the Tattoo artist but it's not ok for me to believe JK is telling the truth when he says he didn't date her and that BigHit saw an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone- hence why they didn't press charges against the shop for breach of privacy like they had said they were going to do. Instead, they had asked the shop to keep calm till the scandal died down on it's own?

You start your piece off with the whole, 'there is enough evidence to support a romantic relationship' between JK and the tattoo shop lady- I assume.

For context, this Ask by this anon is in response to my recent post/ answer on the tattoo girl scandal where the topic of discussion was on BigHit, JK and the tattoo artist and not Jikook perse.

A statement that is in direct conflict with JK's statement, BigHit's and the lady in questions, all denying that there was a romantic relationship between her and Jungkook- and somehow I am misleading who- who now with my theory??? Chileee.

Do you see the problem here? Double standards- the hallmark of bigotry. Lmho. You are literally doing the very thing you are accusing me of. Making confident assertions and claiming you know more about JK and the Lady's relationship and even have 'enough evidence' contrary to BigHit, JK and the Tattoo artist's statements denying the rumors- at least when I theorize I admit I'm being delusional. What's your excuse? When you say charlatan are you referring to yourself? You must be. Lmho.

Now I'm confident in my comprehension skills and intelligent enough to know when you make an assertion like this- it is your opinion and you are just stating your opinion. If you are not then honey you'd be opening yourself up to some serious litigation... goodluck I guess. Lol.

You are allowed to form an opinion about a topic. There is nothing wrong with that. If to you, JK and this person dated that is fine. I am not going to cyber bully you, stalk you, throw slurs at you, harrass you, dox you, slid into people's Dms to spread hate and lies about you just because I don't agree with your opinion. And for the record, I don't agree with your opinion. Hehehehe.

I have stated my opinion on the matter. I said I think JK and this person did hang out, go on dates but that there was no romantic sexual relationship between them because I believe that would have had much serious consequences and effects on Jikooks dynamics no matter how much they tried to keep a cool facade. Whoever felt cheated on would have acted more insecure than usual post the incident- how does this make me a charlatan? Are you saying it's wrong it have an opinion? Chileee.

Now if you can produce 'evidence' of them having sex or even kissing, then I will gladly change my mind on the topic and not sweat it.

Jikook have done way worse questionable things in 7 good years and people still don't believe they are dating. Jk hangs out with a female friend a few times in less than a month and suddenly he is dating her? Lmho.

You don't need me to tell you people are more eager to accept a heterosexual relationship than wrap their heads around the fact that two male idols are gay and in a gay relationship with eachother. Don't you just love it when homophobia meets heteronormativity and stinks? I do. Lol.

I mean this is a fandom that thinks JK is 'too touchy' and doesn't respect his boundaries- they practically swear JK is cheating on Jimin with every member any time he hugs, kisses, wings at within the group. You think they will be 'objective' about JK hanging out with a girl? Even if it happened once?

You said something about confirmation bias.... I will not touch it. Lmho.

This is not the first time JK has gone on a date with a girl. This is not the first time he has 'dated a girl', he has hand girls on his laps or whatever- what is a back hug? I think people need to stop defining Jikook's lives by their own standards. If a backhug is intimate to you. Thats you. If you think a grown ass man cannot hang out with a female friend, that's equally you.

You think if he thought it was inappropriate and risky he would do it 'in public?' Get with Kpop Idol dating culture. Lmho.

Do you know the lengths they go through to keep their relationships a secret? Especially non celebrity girlfriends? Chen from EXO got married and where is his wife? They keep their flings tighter than Trump keeps his toupee on his head. Lol.

They hide them not out of shame but out of love and the need to protect their loved ones. These idols have family members who have their restaurants and businesses shut down because they want to keep their privacy.

You think JungKook's girlfriend would- on her own, issue a statement regarding a scandal that Jungkook's agency had specifically directed her and her shop to keep quiet about and lay low till it blew away on its own? And later, started liking couple posts about her and JK? If they were dating, certainly JK would have dumped her after that move. In my opinion.

You think JK would let his fandom drag the person he is in a relationship with to the extent she loses her Job- when in his Itaewon gay pub scandal BigHit referred to the issue as his private affair immediately it happened? They could have kept the same energy with her, no?

They handled his gay pub scandal much better, with much respect and consideration for his privacy- if he dated her sorry but she mustn't have meant much to him at all. And if I were her I would have dumped him for that shit and not stay liking couple posts about us. Damn- But do you.

Taehyung was in a scandal with a girl too- did you see her liking posts and shit and going out of her way to do the most? Did you see how BigHit handled that scandal?

Nothing wrong if JK is 'dating' her or had 'dated' her and whatever person he decides he wants to be in a relationship with I will support him- that's why I support Jikook.

But your opinion is equally valid my guy. Just don't call me a charlatan for mine. You believe they dated, I believe they didn't- and to your impressionable young minds, I hope you are not selling them anything contrary to BigHit and JK's statement. That would be very irresponsible of you. Lol.

What else did you say?

Oh postulating without evidence...

Next time I write a theory based on my observations about Jikook, remind me to break off a piece of my brain and attach it to it- I guess that way people would finally understand when I say things like 'I think' 'in my opinion' 'I feel' 'I believe' that these are just my thoughts and opinions and not facts.

Let me leave you with this:

Peace and kindness. Namaste.

Signed,

GOLDY.

[bethansfandoms]

a meet ugly (like meet cute but def not cute) whereas the lads meet in a mosh pit of a rock concert but someone breaks someone else’s nose by accident while dancing and they get to know eachother and then boom they’re dating (idk if this makes sense)

“Come on Remus it’ll be fun!” Lily said, grabbing his hand.

Remus didn’t quite see how it’d be ‘fun.’ He hadn’t even wanted to go to this stupid festival. He especially had no interest in watching this specific band, let alone to stand in close proximity to random strangers and jump around to a song he wasn’t particularly enjoying.

“Marlene is in there all by herself, come on I said we wouldn’t leave her,” pleaded Lily.

“I’m not stopping you! I’ll stay here.”

“No because then you’d be alone, silly. If we loose you we probably won’t find you again until this evening back at the tents!”

Remus groaned in frustration and refrained from commenting on how the situation she’d described sounded pretty ideal. He downed the rest of his drink and followed Lily into the crowd.

Remus’s preconceptions to the horrors of a mosh pit had been entirely correct. It was hideous.

Lily and Marlene were jumping enthusiastically and screaming along. Remus had taken to bobbing rather awkwardly and trying to stay out of everybody’s way, a task that proved most impossible.

It seemed he was pointlessly apologising to everyone he bumped into every few seconds, not that they could hear him over the music, which he still considered rather awful.

“Lily i’m gonna go,” Remus shouted at her a couple of songs later.

“What?” she yelled back.

“I’ll be in my tent!”

Lily pouted but let him go, they could hardly hear each other anyway so there was no way she’d convince him to stay.

He awkwardly shuffled through the crowd, avoiding everyone he could and muttering “excuse me,” as he forced his way through.

A large group of girls didn’t seem to hear his plead to get out of the way so he spun around to try and find a different route out.

Unfortunately he span right into a man’s elbow.

Remus’s eyes began to water because of the sheer impact of it. He clapped a hand over his nose which was now bleeding and staggered slightly.

“Nice job, dickhead,” a voice nearby shouted.

“Piss of James! Are you okay?” Remus’s vision seemed to take a while to focus on the man speaking to him. He had long, dark black hair and his grey eyes were full of concern.

“You don’t look too good, mate.”

Remus couldn’t really form a response. His head had gone all fuzzy and his legs felt weak.

Suddenly an arm was around his torso and Remus was being guided out of the crowd, his hand still clutching his bleeding nose.

“Shit,” the man who was half carrying him muttered, “first aid tent, first aid tent,” he spun slowly on the spot trying to get his barrings. “Ah, yes.”

He quickly walked them further and further away from the stage.

“I am so sorry!” he said as soon as they were far enough away to hear each other. “I didn’t see you there.”

“It’s okay,” Remus mumbled, his hand obscuring his mouth slightly. “Didn’t see you either.”

The first aid tent was set up, thankfully, not too far away from the main stage. A woman with a name tag reading ‘Poppy’ rushed over to them.

“What happened here?” she asked, rummaging around in a cool box before handing Remus an ice pack.

“I elbowed him in the face,” the dark haired man explained, “not on purpose,” he added quickly.

Remus couldn’t really elaborate on the situation much as one hand was holding a tissue to his nose, the other an ice pack.

“Are you two here together?” Poppy asked, indicating for Remus to sit down.

“No, don’t even know the guy. What’s your name?”

“Remus,” he replied as best he could.

“I’m Sirius. I’m also really sorry about your nose, it’s not broken or anything is it?”

Poppy knelt down next to Remus and lifted the ice pack to examine it. “Actually, I think it might be.”

Remus sighed, “brilliant, that’s really topped off my weekend.”

“I- i’m so sorry,” Sirius said again, “but hey, I mean, it doesn’t look too bad, right Poppy?”

Remus had a distinct feeling that it probably didn’t look great.

“Okay Remus,” Poppy said, “i’m just going to apply sone tape to your nose so it’ll heal faster. This may hurt a bit.”

After a while, the bleeding had mostly stopped and Poppy seemed to have done everything she could to his nose. “Right, you’re good to go,” she announced. “Just try not to knock it or anything. If you need any more help you know where to find us. It should heal within a few weeeks. probably worth going to your local A and E once you’re back home though.”

Remus thanked her and walked out the tent, Sirius close behind.

“I really am sorry.”

“Stop apologising, probably my fault, I did sort of walk into you.”

“Yeah...” Sirius said slowly, “you’re right it’s totally your fault.”

Remus shoved him gently which set the shorter man off laughing.

“I’m kidding. Let me make it up to you! There’s a bar somewhere right? Let me buy you a drink.”

Remus almost laughed, most people in this scenario would just apologise and have it over and done with. Sirius had not only gone with him to the first aid tent but was now offering to buy him drinks.

“Make it two drinks and you have a deal.”

Sirius grinned, “two drinks it is!”

“Throw in a new nose whilst you’re there?”

Sirius laughed, “no can do i’m afraid. You look fine stop stressing.”

“I look like i’ve been in a fight!”

“You look like you lost a fight,” Sirius muttered.

“I’m kidding,” he added upon seeing Remus’s unimpressed look, “you look cute. Right, drinks?”

If Remus hadn’t known better, he’d have thought that this stranger who broke his nose was actually flirting with him.

Sirius was, however, good looking. Good looking guys didn’t fall for Remus Lupin. He shrugged it off and followed Sirius to the bar.

Later on it made a pretty funny story when they had to answer the standard couple question of “so how did you two meet.”

James actually threw it in his best man speech years later.

[horansqueen]

It Feels Like Christmas - Part 3

It feels like Christmas Just like Christmas It feels like Christmas with you...

Click Here if you want to be on the update list

MIMI

I woke up in Niall's arms and I couldn't pretend it didn't feel good. He kept me warm and I felt safe in a way I hadn't felt in a long time. How could someone I had just met make me feel so good was beyond me but I kept my eyes closed and moved closer to him slowly, trying not to wake him up. He groaned low and his arm tightened around me, pulling me against him.

My eyes fluttered open and I held my breath when I realized how close he was. I licked my lips and slowly brought my hand to his cheek, running my fingertips lightly again his stubble. I felt a sudden wave of affection for him and for all he did and said to me the night before. He could have left. In fact, I believe that most men would have left after I said I wouldn't sleep with him... the few who would have stayed would have probably hoped to make me change my mind. It's not that I was very popular or that men would tend to be interested in me, but it was still happening to me at that exact moment, and this kind of fairytale was not something I really thought was possible. In fact, I was pretty sure it would end as fast as it started, and that's why I was enjoying every second of it.

Niall was pretty. In fact, he was even prettier from up-close, and I started nibbling on my bottom lip as I looked at him. It was a shame his eyes were closed because I was in love with every damn shades of blue I had seen them turn, but I couldn't deny how my stomach twisted at the proximity of our bodies and the peaceful look of his face. It was ridiculous. No one I dated had ever made me feel like that, let alone a stranger, and I bit my lip harder, telling myself it was probably all the alcohol I had swallowed only a few hours ago.

I suddenly felt intensely stupid and embarrassed. Did I really spill all these facts and stories about my life to Niall, the night before? The things I could say when I was intoxicated or even just slightly tipsy was pathetic and I grimaced, letting out a low groan. He would probably wake up and rush out to be as far away from me as possible. So Mimi Armstrong had a moment of weakness in front of a complete stranger. that could happen to anyone, right?

I heard him groan too and he moved slightly. I held my breath as he opened his eyes and as soon as they met mine, his lips curled. Could I be wrong? Was it possible that a man like him didn't just want to run away from me and never look back?

"Good mornin' Mimi Armstrong." he whispered, making me press my lips together.

"Good morning, Niall Horan."

I brought my hand back, realizing my fingertips were still slightly touching his cheeks, and he smiled more. I cleared my throat and looked away until I heard his voice again.

"I'm sorry, it wasn't the best position to sleep in."

"Oh, no, actually, I slept well."

"Good." he replied just in time before we both heard his phone ring. He seemed to hesitated but he finally sat up and checked it up. I sat up too as he seemed to search for something on his phone and when he looked up at me, he smiled again.

"My flight is in an hour, I should hurry."

He got up and searched for his wallet before grabbing his coat and his hat. I stared at him, barely moving or even blinking, and when he put his scarf around his neck, I licked my lips.

"I'm sorry for rambling last night." I quickly said, straightening my back.

His gaze met mine again and he smiled. "No need to apologize, It was the best night I had in a very long time."

For a second, I started doubting everything. Did something happen between us and I couldn't remember? No. It was impossible. I was drunk, but I remembered everything, even if there are some embarrassing things I would love to forget.

"Really?" I asked suspiciously, frowning a bit.

"Yea!" he chuckled. "I thought I'd be stuck once again at the airport, alone and bored, and I ended up spending the night with the most interesting girl I've ever met. I'd call that a win."

"We... we didn't... you know.."

"Oh no! Don't worry we didn't... we just talked."

And cuddled. And slept. But I didn't mention it. I felt my cheeks burn a bit and noticed the left corner of his lips was raised up in a tiny but amused smile. It's only when he pushed his hands in his pockets that I quickly got up and walked up closer to him, but still stayed out of reach.

"Thank you, Niall, for that night.. whatever it was."

"Hey, thanks to you." he just replied before raising his eyebrows. "Come on, grab your stuff."

I raised my eyebrows and when he noticed my questioning look, he did the same.

"Why?"

"We're gonna share a cab to the airport."

My surprised expression turned into a fond one and without thinking, I rushed around and grabbed all my stuff. We remained silent in the taxi but I kept glancing at him. He was looking by the window at the snow falling and I tried to memorize the way he looked and the night we had.

The airport was crowded, most planes were about to take off now that it was safe, and we stood in the middle of the place, facing each other, as everyone around us ran and talked loud. We remained static in the whole airport frenzy and I sent him a smile as I felt my heart twist in my chest.

"Well, it was nice meeting you." I just told, nodding a bit with a smile.

"I was thinking, maybe we could trade phone numbers." he proposed, making my heart skip a beat and my lips part.

"Uhm, no, it's better we don't." I replied after a few seconds, making him frown. I sighed low and my shoulders fell as I tilted my head. "Trust me, Niall. You don't want someone like me in your life. But thank you. For everything."

Enumerating everything I was thankful for would be embarrassing and I reached for his upper arm, squeezing it slightly. "Maybe we'll cross path again, who knows. It's a small world, I heard."

I thought about how special he made me feel the night before and about how I felt when I woke up and he was holding me. I could keep in touch with him, but what for? To end up being disappointed, or disappointing him? Perhaps it was better to end this whole fairytale before it would turn into a nightmare.

I sent him a small smile and turned around, but just as I was about to leave, I heard him say my name. It was low but it did something to me and when I turned around, I felt his arms wrap around me, pulling me close to him. He smelled good despite the fact that he hadn't showered and I just hoped I didn't smell too bad. Instead to let me go after a few seconds, his grip tightened around me and he leaned his cheek on top of my head, his arms around my neck. Slowly, I hugged him back, my palms pressed on his back and my nails digging in his coat. It was ridiculous to be so attached to someone I didn't even know.

----

"Darling you're finally home!"

My mom pulled me into a hug and I laughed, hugging her back right after letting my bags fall on the wood floor. It should feel good to be back but I felt nervous for a reason I ignored and when my dad walked down the stairs, I tried to push that feeling away.

"My Mimi!"

"Hey dad." I let out in a low tone, tilting my head as he took me in his arms too, holding me close against him. "What were you doing?"

"Preparing your room. Your mom's back hurts and I wanted to help her." he explained, making me smile a bit.

They had always been like that, they took care of each other, and that brought my standards of a relationship very high. I didn't think it was a bad thing, though. Better be alone than in bad company, right?

I took my boots and coat off and we walked to the kitchen as they brought food and poured a few glasses of wine. I looked at them, the two persons the closest to real parents I ever had, and I felt lucky despite everything that had happened to me in my childhood. I could have ended in a bad family but here I was, and I still meant what I had told Niall the night before : I didn't turn out so bad for someone who had 8 different families all in all.

"Sweetheart, you must be exhausted." my dad said, handing me a glass. "Do you want to nap before dinner?"

I smiled but shook my head, taking a sip of wine. It was a miracle that my system would even allow me to drink anything that was not water.

"No but I'd love a shower." I chuckled. "I didn't have time to take one at the hotel."

"Of course, it's your home, do as you please!"

I brought my stuff upstairs and sat on my bed, looking around what used to be my bedroom. It was more simple now, less decorated and much more neutral, but it smelled exactly like I remembered. I opened my bag and searched for clean clothes in it as Niall's face appeared suddenly in my mind. It made me realize that I regretted not asking him for his phone number. I knew nothing good would probably have came out of this and I was aware that it was better this way, but there was something special about Niall, something I felt like I wouldn't see in anyone else ever again. I looked at my bag again, feeling something stir in my stomach but even if I really wanted something magic to happen, I knew it wouldn't. Niall hadn't left a message for me in my bag, he didn't drop something of his in my stuff either. Reality was that I met an incredible guy that made me feel special for a few hours and now he was gone. Wasn't that something most girls go through in their life? Except when they get pregnant and the guy suddenly disappears. Or when she realizes after a few years that the man she thought was perfect was actually cheating on her with his secretary. Or simply that he was an asshole that didn't deserve her. These stories always ended the same way, didn't they?

"It's better this way, Mimi." I whispered to myself.

Even if I wanted to find him again, it was barely possible. I didn't know where he lived or who he really was. I didn't know much about him and it was creepy to even think about trying to find him. Being a stalker was clearly not a skill or a will I had. Still, I couldn't lie and say that I didn't regret not giving him my phone number.

"Mea Culpa. Mea Maxima Culpa." I simply breathed out before getting up and reaching the bathroom.

After all, I couldn't blame anyone else but me, and even if I kept repeating to myself that it was better this way and that he'd probably end up betraying me anyway, I still had this tiny part of me that was still naïve and believed in real love. I also knew no one would ever really love me that way, and even if it had been years since I realized that, I still was not totally okay with it. There was always this minuscule part of me that wanted to grow... that very very small part of me that still had hope. But I quickly swallowed it and pushed away the image of Niall in my mind. That was not worth being hurt. Nothing was.

[dirtyoatmeall]

Unexpected Meeting pt 2 (Kaminari x reader)

A/N: It’s here! I set this up with the possibility of doing more parts, I hope this is good. If you guys would like to send in requests, just send in an ask! 

Part 1

Pairing: Kaminari Denki x Bakugo sister! reader (female pronouns)

Word Count: 1548

Warnings: Mentions of alcohol, allusions to past trauma (kind of), swearing ofc, Everyone is 21+

Taglist: @doubled-up-jeans

~~~~~

Laughter surrounded you as your eyes held fast to Kaminari’s. You weren’t sure what you did to deserve this, and you internally cringed thinking back to what you told your brother and his boyfriend about that night. You can vaguely hear Bakugo saying something in a disgusted voice, probably about what you said earlier.

Your face still beet red, you grabbed the blonds hand and dragged him into the kitchen, suddenly glad your apartment wasn’t open concept. After a moment you realize you’re still holding his hand, and you let go, face flushing impossibly redder, and you took a step back. Kaminari seemed to have recovered quickly, possibly from the fact he was no longer in your brother’s presence. He smirked and looked you over, like he hadn’t seen you naked last night.

“So, come here often?”

You rolled your eyes but couldn’t hide the fact your lips twitched up. His smile widened, taking a step closer to you. “I take it this is why you couldn’t go out to dinner with me tonight?” You nodded, and raised your chin a little to look into his eyes.

“It is, and you were planning on skipping this dinner if I had said yes?” He sheepishly scratched the back of his neck, “I actually forgot about this dinner, my roommate reminded me after I got home.” You smiled, face finally returning to a normal temperature. “Well, I’m glad they did, or else I wouldn’t of been able to see the absolute look of disgust on my brother’s face.” Kaminari laughed at your words before getting a mischievous look. “And I wouldn’t of been able to hear that you told them I’m the best you’ve had?” Well, that didn’t last long you thought as your faced flushed for the umpth time that night.

“Okay, well you weren’t supposed to hear that, but I’m not going to retract my statement.” You looked everywhere but him as he made a quite “oh?” and stepped closer to you. Brow arched, he grabbed your chin gently between his thumb and finger, bringing your attention to his now heated gaze. It seemed like time slowed as his face came closer to yours. You felt a slight tingle of electricity as your lips barely brushed, but before you could deepen the, a voice sounded out from the entryway.

“Are you fucking kidding me? No, stop, I’m going to literally fucking throw up get away from the food.” Your brother demanded as he walked over to get the food that was on the counter next to you. You and Kaminari broke apart, you made a face at your sibling as you handed him the food. “I’m keeping this in mind the next time you and Kiri forget that I live here too.” Bakugo made a face right back and turned to go back to the dining room, muttering about you going back to Europe.

You sigh and turn back to , well, whatever this was, and smiled, gesturing in the direction your brother went. “ I guess we should join them before Bakugo has an aneurysm.” Kaminari snorted as he followed you back into the dining room.

Honestly you don’t know why you expected better. Of course, everyone is seated by now, with two empty seats sandwiched between Kirishima and your brother’s pink haired friend. It’s better than being next to your brother you think, as the pair of you get seated, ignoring the smirks the rest of the table (excluding your brother, who still grimaced every time he looked at the two of you). The attention slowly shifted from you and Kaminari to just you, and you finally got introduced to everyone.

As the conversation lulled, Ashido shifted slightly in her seat to face you, speaking after she finished chewing her food. “You were in Europe right? What’d you go there for?” You smiled, setting down your drink before turning your attention to her. You saw Kaminari out of the corner of your eye, sipping the alcoholic seltzer they had brought as a house warming gift.

“Oh, I went to study abroad! I was pretty much there for my whole first year, which is why I hadn’t met you guys sooner. But basically me and a small group of other students went to different countries and got to see their education models in action, for example, Finland doesn’t really assign homework or focus on standardized testing, while the US focuses heavily on them.” You rattled off some other facts about what you learned during study abroad before taking a breath and taking a drink. You could probably talk about this all night long. When Ashido had first spoken to you, everyone was in their own little conversations, but at the end of it, everyone was focused on you. Your cheeks turned pink, and you tucked a piece of your hair behind your ear, figuring out what else you could say, when Sero spoke up.

“Oh rad! So you’re an education major? What do you want to specialize in? My mom’s an Asian studies professor!” You eyes widened and you got giddy. “Woah really? That’s so cool! Honestly I’m really stuck between literature and history, but definitely high school or college, I can’t handle little kids having accidents and middle schoolers would make me cry.” Everyone snickered at your completely serious statement, and you gushed some more, talking about how you’d always loved history since you and Bakugo were kids but Literature was such a great subject, when Mina gasps in shock.

“Wait, you and Bakugo are twins?” You looked at her quizzically and nodded, you had figured that was obvious. “Well duh Pinky, she just mentioned coming back to Japan for her second year of college, and we’re all in our second year of college” Bakugo speaks up from Kirishima’s other side, the red head rolling his eyes at his boyfriend’s refusal to call their friends by their names.

While Mina is still bickering with Bakugo, Sero turns his attention to you. “So does that mean you two have the same quirk?” That caught Mina and Kaminari’s attention easily, the three looking at you eagerly. But before you could explain, your brother speaks up. “Psh, of course not, no one has a quirk as great as mine.”

You rolled your eyes and turned back to them “No, While Bakugo pretty much has a perfect combination of our parent’s quirks, I take after my mom and can secrete glycerin from my skin. It’s not very flammable at low temperatures, so it’s better for like moisturizing and can help heal small burns.” The two boys nod in understanding while Mina gets excited. “Wow! So you like never have to pay for moisturizer? That’s so cool! That explains why your skin looks so great!” You smile and nod, “Its pretty nice, but I have to admit, sometimes I wish I had a more offensive quirk, I can’t really moisturize a bad guy into leaving me alone.” You chuckled light heartedly, but Kaminari could see the pain hidden in your gaze, did something happen? Before he could ask, Kirishima, having stayed mostly quiet during dinner, speaks up. “Well that’s why you have us silly. But enough of pestering (Y/N), lets watch a movie!”

Bakugo goes to set up the movie, you can hear him in the living room bickering with Mina over movies choices, while you pick up the dishes to take into the kitchen. Kaminari wordlessly helps, following you into the kitchen with dirty plates in hand. He dries as you wash, a comfortable silence enveloping the two of you. You hum softly and bump your hip into his, smiling up at him, lovesick gaze rendering him speechless. You were so pretty, and Kaminari was thinking of ways to ask you out before you spoke.

“I know I already said it earlier, but I’m really glad you came tonight. I’d really like to see you again, maybe without my brother and everyone else.” You wink before turning back to the dishes, a faint blush dusting both of your cheeks. He nods, even though you can’t see him. “I’d-uh-I’d really like that.”

You smile to yourself as you watch him dry the last dish, turning your body towards him as he places the dishtowel back oh its hook. You meet eyes, and he takes a step closer, placing a hand on the counter on either side of you, caging you. You rest a hand of his chest, slightly twisting the fabric as you bring him down to your height. “I figured we could pick up where we left off last time we were in here.” Denki smirked, eyebrow raising slightly as he looked from your eyes down to your lips, licking his own. “Oh really? I was thinking the same thing actually.” He sighs as he closes the gap between the two of you. This time you felt the slight tingle of electricity on your lips it only made you smile into the kiss, shifting your arms to wind around his neck, pulling him closer as his own hands moved onto your waist, dipping under the fabric of your shirt.  Yeah, you definitely wanted to see him again.

[youngdreamer3214]

Robrae prompt number 13

Assume Standard Disclaimer

Tumblr Prompt #13. “It was always you."

I hope you enjoy reading this. Please read and review.

Robin + Raven Pairing

Fluff alert!

0O0O

Ahem, ahem

Raven looked up from the book in her lap with an irritated sigh, just when the plot was becoming interesting. She took a deep breath calming her emotions as she took in the sight in front of her; irritation and anger were replaced by affection and surprise.

In front of her was Robin, her best friend and leader standing with a million dollar smile, his unusually bare blue eyes, twinkling as he looked at her. She tried to calm her rapidly beating heart and tried to remain stoic and raised her eyebrow in question.

When her heart started behaving like this around him, even she didn’t know. Maybe it was after he braved through hell to find her, or when he started confiding in her, or when he gained her trust or maybe she always felt this way. Maybe her heart always did flutter around him only she didn’t notice until recently.

He was someone she trusted, someone who understood her no matter how different she was. He never judged her, always made her feel comfortable. He made her feel like she belonged.

She slowly started opening up and he was there to support and guide her through these uncharted waters, it took time but he patient and slowly closeness developed between the two. Something that not many people could understand, mistaking them for a couple but that didn’t matter to them.

It was theirs and that’s all they cared about.

His grin got wider and her knees felt weak, suddenly she was thankful that she was sitting. He took a couple of steps towards her, his one hand behind him making her look at him in question.

“What is it?” she asked impassively, trying to maintain her monotone voice but it getting difficult by the minute with him flashing his heart stopping smile.

“I found myself near a bakery…and when I saw these I thought of you.” He says handing her the package he was hiding behind him.

She eagerly took the package from his hands and smiled looking at the cookies in the bag and grinned at him. It was a well-known fact that Raven had a massive sweet tooth, but her extreme fondness for cookies was something only he knew.

Affection was swooning inside her, going on about his thoughtfulness and how he knew her better than anyone else, even her. She was edging Raven to confess her feelings to him, like she had been doing for the past year and a half but the fear of rejection won over.

Like always.

She wondered if she would ever get enough courage to confess her feelings or if she would live in the fear of rejection forever.

She snapped out of her thoughts when he quickly stole a cookie for himself and took a bite before she could say anything and grinned at her. She frowned at him and his smile got even wider, he knew how much she hates sharing her sweets with anyone.

“You just declared war.” She stated and took a couple of steps towards him making him step back, that cheeky grin still on his face.

“Hey I got them for you…you can share one.” He replied and started running a bit when he saw her approach him quickly. She chased him around tower, suddenly thankful that the rest of the team had gone out or they would have gotten teased endlessly.

Robin’s laughter echoed through the silent hallways of the tower with Raven letting out a few smiles of her own. After a little while, getting tired of the chase, Raven summoned her powers and teleported in front of him.

The raven haired man looked back expecting to see the dark beauty running behind him but stopped when he couldn’t hear her thundering footsteps. Before he could understand her strategy she materialized in front of him and had the pleasure of seeing him startled. There weren’t many things that could startle their fearless leader and Raven smiled at achieving this.

She took a step forward but unknowingly stepped on something slippery and fell, bracing herself for impact she was about to summon her powers when something stopped her fall. Amethyst met blue and her heart stopped with their proximity.

She could feel his warm hands on her waist, his touch seeping through her clothes and burning on her skin. She reached up and placed her hand on his chest, feeling his heart beat fast and strong beneath making him tighten his hold on her, bringing them closer.

His eyes were twinkling as he slowly leaned in and Raven closed her eyes as his lips touched hers. Current flowed through her body as he deepened the kiss, his arms wrapping tightly around her pulling her even closer.

The empath slowly started to respond; all her senses just shut down focusing on him and only him as her hand which was resting on his chest slowly wrapped around his broad, muscular shoulders as her other hand tangled themselves in his dark locks.

Slowly they parted for air, as he started kissing her all over her face, peppering her with his affection. Both of their chests were heaving and just as Robin leaned down and started kissing her neck Raven snapped back into her senses and pushed him, standing straight and taking a few steps back from him.

She tried to contain her flustered state as she looked at him, his muscular chest heaving a little and his muscles rippling as he ran his hand through his hair, a habit of his when he is nervous or confused.

“What are we doing Richard?” she asked, trying to contain her nervousness.

“What I have always wanted to do but have never had the courage.” He said slowly walking towards her.

“What about Starfire?” She asked, remembering all the pain and heartache she got when she looked at both of them together, sharing a closeness that she could never even fathom having with anyone, let alone him.

“She’s my friend…there is nothing between us.” He answered standing just a few paces away from her.

“But she is so much better for you than me.” His heart broke when he saw that she truly believed her words, that she felt that she wasn’t good enough.

“But she is not you Raven.” He said tilting her face so that he could look into her eyes and he hated the defeat he saw in them. “You are the one of most amazing people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting, you are kind even if you don’t like to show it, you are brave, strong and the most understanding person in my life.”

“Raven, you are someone I connect with, someone who understands me and the one who I love.”

Her eyes snapped up to meet his and he smiled at her and said “It was always you, Raven…always you.”

She smiled and leaned up, claiming his lips with hers and wrapping her arms around him, pressing their bodies together. He devoured her lips as he lifted her and trapped her between the wall and his muscular body. She wrapped her legs around his waist as once again her senses dimmed away only focusing on him. Electricity flowed through their veins as their kiss deepened, their bodies pressed impossibly closer not knowing when one started and the other ended.

She slowly parted getting a little space between them as their chests heaved but didn’t stray from their position as she leaned forward and lightly kissed his ear, smiling when she felt him shiver and whispered in his ear, like it was a secret for them and only them “It was always you for me too Richard…always.”

He smiled before claiming her lips again.

Fin.

[pangzi]

ooooohhh what about some nielan for prompt 48

48. “I can braid your hair for you…if you’d like.

Xichen was in Qinghe for a conference when the lockdown was announced. His flight home got cancelled and he would soon be kicked out of his hotel room. It was somewhat a blessing in disguise, as his only option now was to move in with his best friend, Mingjue, who lived in Qinghe. 

Usually, they met up every time either Xichen was in Qinghe or Mingjue in Gusu, but this time Mingjue was on a business trip himself until a few days before Xichen’s conference was over and their busy schedules just made it impossible to meet up. At least this way, they’d get to really catch up. It was a bit scary, having to move in with his best friend, and lifelong crush, just like that. But the lockdown wasn’t going to last very long, right?

Right… Three months later and Xichen was still stuck in Qinghe. Living together with Mingjue was nice though. They balanced each other nicely, knew each other well enough to know when to leave the other alone. There had been moments of tension, a few arguments, of course, but nothing that wasn’t solved a few hours later. Surprisingly, the hardest thing for Xichen was keeping his feelings in check. Well, his feelings and his hair. 

It was too often that Xichen had caught himself nearly confessing his love to his friend by accident. Often in moments that felt just a tad too domestic. When they were cooking together, for example. Xichen couldn’t even count the number of times he’d wanted to wrap his arms around Mingjue’s waist and press a kiss to the back of his neck while Mingjue was cooking. His hands often betrayed him in those moments, reaching for the other man’s waist. Only the soft hum Mingjue always made whenever it happened made Xichen realise what was happening, he usually played it off as wanting to move Mingjue aside to look at what they were cooking. Another time he almost expressed his romantic feelings towards his friend was when whenever either of them was having a hard time with the situation they were in. The last time was when Xichen had received a call from his little brother, only then realizing how much he missed him, how scary this entire situation was. Mingjue had taken him in his arms then, held him until he had calmed down and talked him through it. They had talked about how much they both missed their brothers, as Mingjue’s little brother had only moved out a few weeks ago and Mingjue was still adapting himself to life without his little brother around at all times. After that they had gone quiet, but Mingjue hadn’t let go of Xichen, clearly needing the embrace as much as Xichen did at that moment. It was when Xichen was looking up at his friend that the words nearly slipped from his lips. He hadn’t let more than his name escape before stopping himself. Hearing his name, Mingjue looked at him, too, smiled at him. The words were fighting to hard to escape Xichen’s mouth but he wouldn’t let them, too afraid of what it would mean if Mingjue didn’t feel the same. He had replaced them with a thank you. 

Xichen had started getting frustrated with himself after a while, Mingjue noticed soon enough. Xichen always played it off as being frustrated at the situation, or funnily enough, at his hair. Everyone knew Xichen liked keeping his hair short, he planned his hair appointments accordingly so his hair would never be long enough to hang in front of his eyes. But three months without cutting it meant his hair was long now, very long for his standards and it annoyed him. It was always obstructing his vision, tickling his face when he was trying to work, only adding to the stress he was already feeling. 

In his frustration and stress he had started pushing Mingjue away too,  throwing himself into his work, keeping his interactions with his friend as low as possible. It didn’t take Xichen long to break, though. The endless mails of everything that was going wrong in the company, the endless video calls with shareholders who always thought they knew better, the anxiety of not knowing how long this would last, not allowing himself a break… It got to him way faster than expected, though he shouldn’t have been surprised by it. 

It was in the middle of an online meeting with some of the most obnoxious shareholders. Their demands were ridiculous, their opinions even more ridiculous and their proposal made absolutely no sense. It didn’t help that Xichen’s mind kept wandering off to how much he missed talking to Mingjue. Xichen was triple annoyed, twice at himself and once at the shareholder who just kept talking and talking. Xichen just wanted to turn off his computer right now, grab some scissors, cut his hair off and then just… be with Mingjue. But he couldn’t, he couldn’t because he had to be a good businessman and smile and listen, he couldn’t because a choppy haircut would be worse than his hair hanging in his face, he couldn’t because he couldn’t be around Mingjue anymore without needing to confess. 

Xichen felt it all gnawing at his insides, becoming too much. Breathing was suddenly a bit more difficult and tears started to well up in his eyes. 

“Mister Zhang, I’m sorry but I’m currently not feeling very well, could we finish this another time? It is quite late.” Xichen apologised softly, pushing his hair out of his face for what felt like the millionth time that hour, trying not to show Mr. Zhang how horrible he felt exactly.

Mr. Zhang seemed to think it over for a moment before nodding. “You’re right, I will just send you the proposal and you could look it over when you feel better, Mister Lan” Xichen nodded, said his goodbyes and then closed the conversation and his laptop as soon as he could. He immediately felt worse, the tears were impossible to hold back anymore. He felt frustrated, angry, annoyed. He pulled his hair for a bit before pushing it back once again after which he slammed the table before pulling his legs up against his chest, embracing them tightly. 

It didn’t take long for a comforting hand to be placed on his back. Mingjue rubbed his back softly for a bit before making Xichen get up and sit on the bed. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Mingjue asked softly. It only made Xichen feel worse, instead of words, a quite helpless sob left Xichen’s mouth. Mingjue just sighed, pushing a strand of hair that had fallen in Xichen’s eyes again to the side. 

“I can braid your hair for you…if you’d like.” Mingjue said. “It’s clearly not the only thing bothering you, but it might be the only thing I can help you with and it’s quite soothing to have someone play with your hair.” Xichen couldn’t help but smile a bit at that, and even though his anxiety told him not to, he couldn’t help but nod while wiping some of the tears away. 

Mingjue disappeared to the bathroom for a quick moment, before coming back with a brush and some hair ties. He sat down behind Xichen and immediately started brushing his hair softly. He took his time, brushing his hair with the brush first, then going through it with his fingers, massaging his scalp a bit and Xichen couldn’t help but relax a bit. The tears were still coming but his body didn’t feel as tense anymore. When he finally started braiding, his fingers were swift and confident, as if he did this every day, and Xichen couldn’t help but ask how he had learned. 

“Huaisang always liked to have his hair quite long”, Mingjue explained, “But sometimes he’d want it out of his face, and he would always force me to braid it for him. Made me do it so often I couldn’t help but learn all kinds of different braids.” He could hear the love and adoration Mingjue felt for his brother in his voice, which only made Xichen fall for him even more. Everything Mingjue did just made Xichen fall harder and harder. He had fallen so deep there was no way of getting out and still he kept falling and falling. The tension returned to his body when Xichen thought about his feelings again, the fear of losing his friend once again washing over him, right when Mingjue fastened the last braid with a hum. Immediately, Xichen felt like curling into himself again, but Mingjue noticed the small change and pulled his friend against his chest. 

“C’mere you”, he muttered, wrapping his strong arms around Xichen tightly. Xichen had no choice but to melt into the embrace. “Please stop pushing me away” Mingjue hid his face in Xichen’s hair as he said it. 

Mingjue was about to say something else but Xichen didn’t let him. “I don’t want to lose you”, it was barely a whimper but Xichen had said it. Mingjue tensed up behind him. 

“You could never lose me, Xichen. Why- What-” Mingjue stuttered, Xichen wiped some of his own tears away. “Xichen” Mingjue begged as Xichen freed himself from the embrace. 

Xichen swallowed thickly. “I love you” Even though not touching anymore, Xichen could still feel the way Mingjue’s entire body froze behind him. It was enough for Xichen get up and leave, he didn’t dare to look at Mingjue as he started moving towards the door. He didn’t make it far, though, before Mingjue grabbed his arm. 

“You love me?” Mingjue asked. Xichen just nodded, still too afraid to look at him. “As more than a friend?” Again, Xichen just nodded. It wasn’t until he heard Mingjue chuckle behind him softly, he dared to look over. His eyes were filled with tears but he was smiling brightly, his beautiful dimples on full display. Xichen’s heart jumped. Maybe he did feel the same.

“You love me.” Mingjue chuckled softly, pulling Xichen towards him. “I can’t believe I’m the luckiest man alive” He tucked Xichen tightly against his chest as he laughed. Xichen could feel his chest rumble as he laughed.

“Mingjue”, Xichen said, still a bit confused about his friend’s feelings even now. Mingjue just looked at him with a bright smile, a single tear slipping from his eye. 

“Xichen”, Mingjue replied, “My Xichen” He sighed deeply and pressed a firm kiss to Xichen’s forehead. “You don’t know how long I’ve been dreaming about you loving me back that way”

“So you love me?” Xichen asked. 

Mingjue nodded with a bright smile on his face. “Of course I do, Xichen, how could I not?” 

Xichen could feel his cheeks heating up, hiding his face against Mingjue’s chest in shame. The implication that Mingjue couldn’t find any reason why not to love Xichen just too much to bear, as there were so many. 

“Is that why you were pushing me away?” Mingjue asked, as if suddenly come to the realization. 

Xichen nodded and Mingjue sighed. “You have no idea how often I nearly confessed to you these past months, Mingjue. It only started to happen more often and I was so scared of saying it, and you not feeling the same and losing you” Xichen rambled. 

Mingjue softly caressed his cheek, which shut Xichen up immediately. “Mn, but I do feel the same, and now you definitely are never getting getting rid of me.” 

Xichen smiled and pressed a kiss to Mingjue’s cheek. “Good, I’d never want to anyway” 

Mingjue grinned. “Did I tell you already that the braids look really good on you? My best work, if I may say so myself”

[raevenlywrites]

The Ties That Bind 14 of ???

I sat in a stunned static as the world moved around me. Soldiers departed--some with my mother, some to meet up with Karashan and escort the serpiente guards here--a meal was prepared from the efforts of this morning’s foraging--had it only been this morning?--and the gentle atmosphere of the Lyssia house returned like a fire re-stoked in the early morning. A bowl of stew was set before me, a body sat down on either side, and still I felt detached, unreal. The silvery visions of my mother’s face, of white scales winking red in the fire light, of a voice so familiar yet not heard in centuries dominated my thoughts, pulled at me in subtle whispers, urged me to follow them down untold rabbit holes. And as the worries of my real life loomed impossibly high and higher, the temptation to yield to the memories grew ever stronger.

”--Dani won’t want any of that. Pass it over.”

Rei’s hand and voice cut through my thoughts, reaching over my bowl for the platter Zane was holding. The rich smell of roast rabbit suddenly assaulted me, making me viscerally and unpleasantly present in my own body once more.

Zane held the platter out of reach, regarding me instead of Rei.

“And does your pair bond cut your meat for you as well as select it?” he asked, that smugly amused tone clearly meant to get under Rei’s skin. I felt my cheeks flush, and the heat did nothing for my sense of my well-being.

“He’s not my alastair yet,” I choked out, breathing in shallow pants. “And I don’t eat meat. And he wouldn’t cut it for me if I did. And please get that tray away from me.”

 Rei stood slightly from the bench and took the platter, which Zane was finally offering up. Adelina snickered.

 “I’d wondered why they were cooked separately. Here I thought your kind just didn’t know the value of seasoning.” She raised her bowl in salute or toast to the elder Elanor, seated at the far end of the table. “I’m quite delighted to be proven wrong on that count. I’ll go rabbit hunting for you any day, Mistress Lyssia.”

 “When did you have time to catch a rabbit?” someone muttered, but my attention was too focused on Zane--who’s attention was still too focused on me for my comfort--to catch who. The friendly table chattered resumed, and I snapped under my breath to Zane, “Can I help you?”

 Zane stared a moment longer than was really polite by anyone’s standards, I thought, and finally murmured, “Just trying to make sense of what I’m sensing. You’re quite the tangle of emotions, Danica. And rightly so. But one worries, and would like to help, if there’s anything I can do.” He reached for his spoon and added, “That was quite a display the pair of you put on out there. I would think a good hearty meal should help replenish what was lost.”

 I blinked, somehow surprised to learn that Zane had sensed it. The cobra garnet was rumored to have all sorts of magic of its own, but it seemed wrong to me somehow that the Shardae magic should be something he could sense. Then again, it seemed wrong to me that anyone could read another emotions, so what did I know. I wished I could clutch my aura tighter, like a blanket or a dressing gown. I felt naked when he talked so frankly about trying to untangle my emotions. He didn’t have any right.

 “Don’t.”

 His soft word came with an equally soft brush against my hand. I jerked it back out of habit, though I’d held it for strength and solidarity not but hours before. I took a deep breath to steady myself and put my hand deliberately back exactly where it had been. Zane’s lay less than an inch from mine, but I couldn’t bring myself to hold his hand at the dinner table. There was no reason to--and so many reasons not to. Including the very large, very tense one growing more and more tense on the other side of me.

 “Don’t what?” I asked, more lightly than I felt. If Rei had a problem with me talking to Zane while we ate--well, on the one hand it was perfectly acceptable alastair behavior. But on the other, he knew me, and knew I had certain duties, which meant certain things he couldn’t protect me from. Forging a good relationship with the king I was trying to build a peace with was one of them.

 “Don’t hide from me.”

 His voice was tired, and in a weird flash of insight, I realized that was probably the real Zane. Oh, I didn’t doubt that all faces Zane presented came from a place of truth. More like, this is who and what Zane would be in exactly this moment if free from any other pressures or concerned. What an interesting notion, to be “just Zane”, or “just Danica” even. Who would we be if not the young rulers of dying courts, trying to wrest away the momentum of generations of tradition?

 It was only after his brows rose in question, his face tilting ever so slightly, that I processed the meat of what he’d really said and not just how he’d said it. Don’t hide from me. Yes, I could see why my sitting silent in response to that would merit this questioning look.

 “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.”

 I’d uttered that phrase countless times in court, with perfect blandness and blankness that I’d practiced hard to copy from my mother. One in her quiver of ambiguous statements that I had finally mastered. Except, I didn’t say it with courtly decorum. I said it with a little smile, and a sideways glance through my lashes, and the hint of a tone I hoped came across as playful.

 Zane rewarded my effort with a small smile of his own, though his was touched with a wistful sadness that I wished I could chase away. I liked the Zane that laughed and flirted outrageously and waved from hilltops giddy with excitement over a historical find. The Zane that had seen too much sadness in too few years made me want to flirt outrageously, just to make him laugh at my ridiculous effort.

 “That’s a good start, though a little heavy handed.”

 I straightened, dropping my playact and actually engaging in the conversation. It was a nice change from dwelling in my own thoughts.

 “So you can feel the difference then, between a true emotion and one exaggerated for show?”

 He made a waffling noise, mirroring it with a wave of his hand. It settled further from mine, I noticed, but it also seemed more natural now, his whole body language more at ease.

 “Emotion is as subtle and varied as hues, or scents. Can you honestly say that you know your own heart, clearly and categorically, at all times?”

 Certainly not. Not even at most times. I said as much. “No one can, I don’t think. A child might have emotions simple enough, but they’d lack the framework to name and define them. And the very act of naming and defining them requires a certain amount of distance, thereby changing the emotion before it’s even properly labeled.”

 Zane smiled. “Very well put, philosophical Danica.” He gave me a smile to match mine from earlier, and a wink that was all his own.

 “Well,” I answered in kind, “at least its a nickname based on my intellect and not my physical attributes.”

 Zane chuckled. “Oh, I could happily dwell on those as well, luscious D--“

 “Danica would you like some more peas?” Rei asked abruptly. The murmur of friendly table chatter fell to a sudden silence, cut only by Adelina’s deep and unfiltered laughter.

The Ties That Bind Tag list: @thehellinsideyourhead @therecouldbecolorsandlove @adventuresofacreesty @writing-with-melon @rainydaydarling @faithfire

Raev’s Gen Tag List (should I tag you guys in this? It IS a thing I wrote. I’m gonna say yes unless you guys are like “no of course not we’re sick of hearing about your stupid fic for a twenty year old book XD)

No one has complained yet so yall gonna keep getting tagged :P

List is currently: @lordkingsmith @writinglyra @drbibliophile @mperialscribe @adie-dee @adie-dee @lexiklecksi @writinginslowmotion @raenawrites @apollon-arium @anika-writes @faithfire

[mistymark]

VIGILANTE/S III

part three // 2.4k words // superpowered!au // series masterlist

summary; in which you consider yourself somewhat of a vigilante.

warnings; mentions of blood, depiction of some violence

notes; I can't write fight scenes for shit but I hope this makes some sense x

You’ve only had about 5 hours of sleep, but Doyoung’s voice in your head is enough to get you moving in the morning. Other than the repeated “wake up” and shouts of your name, you swear you can hear him laughing. It’s not something you expected to hear, but the sound is comforting.

You slide a simple long-sleeve shirt over your head and a pair of Donghyuck’s sweatpants up your legs, tightening the drawstrings as tight as you can and trying not to think about the fact that you are wearing a dead man’s clothes. When you walk down the corridor to the main part of the warehouse, you feel a power you hadn’t before and you realise just how thick the walls between the bedrooms are when you’re overwhelmed by the power coming from a few doors down. The familiar dull ache of power you felt around Supers had been dimmed within your room, reducing the amount of power you could feel when you were inside.

You want to pry, to see what it is, but you ignore the surge of power that beckons you and continue on your journey to find breakfast.

Jaehyun is back in his office, back from his late-night trip, and his eyes meet yours through the transparent glass of his office as he listens to Johnny.

A few of the other team members are already awake, sitting at an absurdly long table and eating their breakfasts. The sight of these dangerous killers eating their chocolate-flavoured cereal almost makes you laugh.

“You’re new,” one of them says, as if it weren’t obvious. You’d seen him last night.

“Yeah.”

“So, what? You’re a part of the team now?”

“Uh, yeah?”

“I’m Jaemin.”

“I’m-”

Your gaze is lifted to Johnny, who had just exited Jaehyun’s office, and your mouth drops open. He’s holding a gun, aiming it straight at Jaemin, who hasn’t even turned around in his seat yet. Before you can warn him, Johnny shoots and you expect the boy beside you to – well – die, but instead, he vanishes. The bullet flies past you, missing your arm by a few inches. You look from where he’d just been sitting to Johnny in shock, only to see Jaemin standing in front of him, the gun Johnny had been holding now pointing directly at him in a menacing way. Super speed.

“Very nice,” Johnny nods, approvingly. “You’re getting faster.” He raises a hand, and a stopwatch dangles from his fingers. Jaemin gently takes the stopwatch from Johnny’s hand and tosses him the gun, smiling at the time displayed across the tiny screen. You hadn’t expected someone so dangerous to have such an innocent smile.

If you were being honest, you had yet to recover from the shock. Madmen. All of them.

Trying to hide the fact you’re still attempting to catch your breath, you look to the boy emerging from the dark hall, his hair a mess and deep bags under his eyes. “Morning,” he greets, though he barely looks towards the table as he walks through the room to Jaehyun’s office. As soon as he steps inside, the walls darken to their opaque grey, and you’re forced to look away.

“Training begins in an hour,” Johnny nods at the two other boys who have just stepped into the room as he makes his way down the corridor.

“Do you know how to fight?”

You turn to the person asking. You’d seen him last night, too. His black hair falls over his eyes, but you can still tell his eyes could probably turn people to stone. Yet the feature that catches your eye is his hands, bruised and bloody even in the morning.

He cracks a sadistic smile when he notices you staring at his hands, “You won’t be fighting me, don’t worry.”

You offer him a polite smile back, opting to answer his question, “No, I don’t know how to fight.”

He shrugs, turning back to his bowl of cereal, “Johnny’s a good trainer. You’ll catch up.” He pauses a moment, then frowns, “Who are you?” He looks at you from the corner of his eye as he spoons a mouthful of cereal into his mouth.

“Y/n.”

“Jeno.” He says the name like he has no attachment to it, and you wonder if he’s lying. Part of you wonders if you should have lied about your name, too.

“Good morning,” one of the newcomers sits across from you. His tone neither implies that it is a good morning nor it is otherwise – monotonous. The other doesn’t even spare you a glance as he sits down at the end of the table. Jaemin sits down again, dropping into the seat between yourself and Jeno. They begin talking about training, and you try to pick up as many clues about them as possible.

“Is Doyoung training with us?” Jaemin asks, and you subconsciously look at him. Ever since he’d blocked you from using his power, you couldn’t feel his presence anymore, the surge of power that came from him. You were no longer able to tell when he was around.

“Jaehyun has him running an errand.” The way Jeno says it makes you think Doyoung’s not picking up the dry cleaning or going grocery shopping.

“Who?”

“I don’t know, he didn’t say. Someone from the Den.” Definitely not grocery shopping.

One by one the boys leave, Chenle – Jaemin referred to him as such – departs without uttering a word, though he’d been silent during breakfast, anyway, so you weren’t expecting anything. The boy who had greeted you, Mark, at least had the decency to nod as he left, even if it was somewhat awkward.

Jeno and Jaemin leave together, and you can hear Jaemin laughing loudly down the corridor, though Jeno remains quiet. When you’re sat alone at the table, playing with the leftover food on your plate, Jaehyun emerges from his office. The walls are still dark, and you wonder if the other Super is still in there.

He’s dressed in another pressed suit, though this one is a dark blue. The colour looks good on him. He sits across from you, but he doesn’t make any move to eat. You knew he’d been out later than you last night, and had less sleep than you, yet it was impossible to tell. He didn’t look the least bit tired.

“Good morning,” he says, stiffly, and part of you wonder if he’s uncomfortable.

“Morning,” you respond, though it sounds more like a question.

He clears his throat, “I’m sorry I won’t be able to oversee your training today.” The way he speaks makes you remember what you’d seen in his mind last night – his upbringing. You try not to think about it, feeling invasive.

You raise an eyebrow, “Do you normally oversee training?”

“When we get a new recruit, yes. I like to see what I’m working with.”

You shovel another forkful of food into your mouth, “You know what I can do.”

“Escapism and combat are two different things.”

You pause as you chew. Pointing your fork at him, you shake your head, “You don’t think I could have taken you down last night?”

“You were weak and desperate. Definitely not.”

You’re taken aback by his words. He’s clearly not one for sugar coating.

“Don’t tell the rest of the team what your ability is.”

“What?”

“Let them find out for themselves. You’re weaker, slower and less experienced. You need the advantage.”

You stand up, taking your plate to the sink you’d seen the others put their dishes in. “I’ll be fine on my own, thank you.” You leave him sitting at the table, making your way back to the room you’d been shown to last night.

Somehow, you’d gotten used to the bloody sight, and changed into training clothes without a thought. Jaehyun’s words rolled around in your head as you prepared for training.

“Welcome to training,” Johnny claps his hands together. He’s standing in the large ring in the centre of the warehouse while you and the others stand outside. It’s bigger than most fighting rings, but it’s the standard size for Super fights. It looks exactly like the one in the Den, and the thought almost makes you shudder. “Jeno, you’re up.”

Jeno steps up into the ring, and you watch as they back away from each other, and Johnny presses a button on the outside of one of the posts. A large analogue clock blinks to life on the wall opposite you, its bright red letters beginning to count the seconds that pass. Jeno begins to circle around the ring dangerously.

“10 on Jeno,” Jaemin whispers. When you look to him in shock, he smiles, though he doesn’t look back at you. His eyes are trained on the dangerous dance in the ring.

When you don’t say anything, he glances down at you quickly, “You don’t think Johnny can win?”

You watch them for a moment, and you can feel their power. Super strength versus precognition. Jeno has a physical advantage, but Johnny has his own advantage.

“I don’t know,” you answer truthfully. Just as those words leave your mouth, Jeno lunges at Johnny and suddenly the ring is a blur of punches and dodges.

“Word to the wise,” Jaemin begins, as he watches his friend in the ring. Jeno’s strong but Johnny’s fast, easily dodging the onslaught of punches coming from the fighter. Just as Jeno goes to punch Johnny in the face, a punch that would knock him out for hours, most likely, Johnny swiftly dodges, grabs and slams Jeno’s body down against the floor. “Johnny always wins.”

You stare in silence as Jeno lets his head rest against the floor in defeat, his chest heaving with the exertion.

“Johnny can see what you’re going to do the second you think about it. It’s not so much fighting to win as it is fighting for your own survival.”

Jeno slides out of the ring with a huff, the hair hanging over his forehead sweaty. Shaking it out of his face, he disappears down the corridor, and you hear the distinct noise of someone punching something and an unexpected metallic sound.

“Is that it? Is he done?” You watch him disappear before looking to Jaemin in surprise.

“Nah, he’s training by himself. He’s trying to increase his strength.” Jaemin laughs when you raise your eyebrows. His gaze shifts to Johnny, who is cooling down after the fight while writing something in a notebook at the edge of the ring. “Johnny knows he can fight, he rarely trains with us.”

“Y/n, your turn.”

You look at Jaemin and he offers a smile, though it looks more like a cringe. He can’t hide the concern on his face, and you begin to realise that he’s the only one here who can’t hide his emotions like the rest. Chenle and Mark watch as you step into the ring, and you can feel their eyes on you, though they offer no support. At least Jaemin had the decency to look worried.

Johnny’s taken off his shirt, and you gulp at the sight of the scars and bruises that decorate his body. He’s a fighter through and through, and he’s intimidatingly large. He hunkers down, moving lightly on his toes as he watches you. You’ve never had any official training, but you’ve had your fair share of fistfights. Granted, they barely lasted ten seconds, and Jeno had spent minutes in here. Matching Johnny’s pose, you step sideways around the ring.

He watches you, analysing your movement. He doesn’t make a move towards you. He’s playing defence, not offense. He won’t move unless you do.

You step forward and swing, and he easily blocks it, and before you know it, you’re on the floor.

“Up. Again.” He turns around, waiting for you to stand and wipes his forehead once before returning to his original position.

Over and over again, every time you try and attack him, he easily deflects and overpowers you. The screen on the wall continues to count upwards. Johnny can see what you’re going to do the second you think about it.Jaemin’s words echo in your mind as you stand up for the tenth time. Your body aches in places you didn’t even know existed, and you can taste blood in your mouth. You ready yourself once again.

The only way you’re going to beat him is if you don’t think, you realise. Then, another thought crosses your mind. You move around the ring, light on your feet. Johnny mirrors your movements, and it looks like some kind of sick dance.

You think about punching him. Landing it, this time. As you move forward, Johnny moves to defend himself, ready for the punch he’s already seen coming. Yet, your fist doesn’t even come close to his body. You draw on Jaemin’s power to dart behind Johnny. The familiar sensation of power runs through your body as you draw on the boys’ abilities. The ball of fire you conjure leaves your hand and hits him square in the back. With a yell, he drops to the floor. The clock above you stops timing, and flashes brightly. Your turn is over.

The fire diminishes within a second, leaving no trace of smoke. The skin of Johnny’s back is red, but he isn’t burnt. Outside the ring, Chenle’s hands are raised, his eyes wide. He’d tried to remove the heat from the flames as soon as he’d seen the fireball.

It takes Johnny a moment to collect himself as he stands, but he doesn’t look at you, “Y/n. Out. Mark.” He cocks his head to something behind him, and Mark steps into ring. When you turn to exit, there’s fire in Chenle’s eyes as he stares at you.

You don’t know what to do when you leave, so you just stand beside Jaemin again. He’s speechless, staring at you with his mouth open. You notice Johnny nod at Chenle in thanks, before he starts the timer again, facing Mark.

Jaemin somehow finds his voice, “What the fuck was that?”

“I suck at hand-to-hand combat,” you respond, though your voice is shaky.

“So you decide to roast your trainer?”

“That’s not how you do things here?” Your attempt at humour lands successfully, and your uneasiness is settled when he cracks a smile, though it’s only a small one.

[pearlsephoni]

When Immortal Meets Ineffable

Can also be read on AO3 

Rating: G 

Fandoms: Good Omens, The Old Guard

Pairings: Joe/Nicky, Aziraphale/Crowley (ofc)

Summary: Nicky's love for books has introduced him to many wonders, but he never anticipated meeting a pair of men whose existence seems just as impossible as his own. Or: a gay, immortal couple walks into an old bookshop owned by a gay, angel/demon couple. 

A/N:  The sign on Aziraphale's bookshop door is real, I copied the text from here lol And I owe my life to this 3D recreation of the shop Also this is my first time attempting to publish a fic on here, so pardon any formatting weirdness. More author’s notes can be found on the AO3 page!

Immortality was exhausting. It was impossible to build a normal life and settle down without sparking suspicion, so no single place could be “home” for very long. They couldn’t build a family, or climb the ladder of a career, or even build many friendships outside of their core group. 

Without the more…“standard” goals available to them, each member of the Old Guard ended up setting their own personal quests. Andy learned every language and style of martial arts she could. Booker challenged himself to try a new whiskey at every bar they visited. Joe was close to completing his goal of visiting every possible art museum in Eurasia, and would soon be expanding his scope to the world. And Nicky was determined to read as many of the world’s books as possible. 

But that wasn’t the only reason why he and Joe ended up seemingly visiting every bookshop in Europe. Living forever meant you had an infinite amount of time to lose and find things, and unfortunately for Nicky, his list of lost items included a near-first edition copy of Dante’s Divine Comedy. 

Books didn’t hold the same appeal for Joe, but he was still always willing to join his life partner in his visits to bookshops. What caused him chagrin wasn’t the visits, but the seemingly futile quest to find such a rare copy of a classic book. So when Nicky immediately tugged his jacket back on to head into London, Joe was a bit more reluctant than usual. 

“Hayati, wouldn’t we have better luck looking in museums for something so rare?” 

“I’m not just looking for La Commedia, my heart,” Nicky reminded him with a small smile. “I need a new book to read, too.” 

“Of course, and that’s why you are going to Waterstones and not another small, old bookshop?” That small smile turned guilty, and Joe couldn’t help letting out a sigh. “Do you have a destination in mind, or will you be wandering again?” 

“Why don’t you come with me and find out?” 

It wasn’t fair of Nicky to use his rare, broad smiles to win their smaller bickers, he knew it. But even a relationship with the love of his life wouldn’t have lasted almost a millennium without the occasional cheap trick. And it was so hard to feel guilty when his little tricks resulted in Joe’s hand warmly wrapped around his as they walked through London. 

As it so happened, he did have a destination in mind: A.Z. Fell & Co., an old bookshop that he remembered seeing on a random street corner in London. It had been closed the first (and last) time he tried to pay it a visit, all those years ago, and the sign on the door detailing the store hours simply raised more questions than answers for Nicky: 

Bookshop Opening Hours: 

I open the shop on most weekdays about 9:30 or perhaps 10am. While occasionally I open the shop as early as 8, I have been known not to open until 1, except on Tuesday. I tend to close about 3:30pm, or earlier if something needs tending to. However, I might occasionally keep the shop open until 8 or 9 at night, you never know when you might need some light reading. On days that I am not in, the shop will remain closed. On weekends, I will open the shop during normal hours unless I am elsewhere. Bank holidays will be treated in the usual fashion, with early closing on Wednesdays, or sometimes Fridays. (For Sundays see Tuesdays.) 

-A.Z. Fell, Bookseller 

“It’s a miracle this place is still running,” Joe muttered now, squinting at the wordy sign. Nicky was more interested in the sign hanging next to it, blissfully simpler and blessedly flipped to read, “Open.” The door was unlocked, and rang with a cheerful jingle as the immortals pushed it open. 

“Hello there! Welcome to A.Z. Fell & Co!” 

Nicky had barely been able to fully take in the warm, crowded space of the bookshop before his attention was pulled to a small, pale man dressed in a white suit. He seemingly appeared out of thin air from behind a small desk next to a bookshelf to the left. He had a bright, welcoming smile, and looked positively cherubic with his light blonde curls and rosy cheeks. “How may I help you today?” 

“Oh, I-” 

“We’re just looking,” Joe cut in, giving Nicky a gentle nudge. It was a reminder enough not to draw attention with their unusual search. “Wanted to see what we could find in such a unique shop.” 

“Lovely! Well, if you need any help at all, don’t hesitate to ask!” 

“Thank you,” Nicky replied with a smile, before wandering over to the cluster of bookshelves on their right, pulling Joe with him. 

He always lost track of time in bookshops. Even Joe, for all he insisted that Nicky was the reader, could get lost in the trinkets and random findings to be seen in an old shop. Maybe that was why, for all their battle-honed instincts and attention to detail, they didn’t realize someone else had entered the store until a new voice broke the comfortable silence.

“Angel!” 

“Ah, Crowley! What a pleasant surprise! What’re you doing here?” 

“Just wanted to see what you’ve got in stock.” 

“Really?”

“No, of course not, I was going to ask you to lunch.” 

“Oh! Well...that’s very kind of you, but I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“I can’t just close my shop in the middle of the day!”

“Yes you can, it’s your shop, if anyone can, it’s you.” 

“But I have customers! Like...like these young men!” 

Nicky, with a thousand years of life behind him, never thought of himself nor Joe as “young.” No matter how ageless they were, every year weighed on them, a burden that was only bearable because they didn’t have to weather it alone. So it didn’t occur to him that they were the “young men” the shop owner referred to, until the small, pale man suddenly appeared at his elbow. “Hello there! May I help you with anything?” 

A Genovese curse flew from his lips, followed by a grunt after Joe gently pinched him. Nicky smiled apologetically at the owner. “Sorry, ah...we’re alright, just looking.” 

“Yes, well…” The shop owner had a confused tilt to his eyebrows, at odds with his kind smile. “I’m so sorry, I don’t mean to be nosy, but...was that Old Genovese you were speaking?”

“You recognize it?” Nicky blurted out before he could stop himself. It had been centuries since either of the immortals had met someone else who knew the language. 

“Oh, I don’t know, it’s been a while since I’ve heard it.” A pink tint had risen to the small blonde’s cheeks, and his eyes now had a proud glint to them. “That’s very impressive, I didn’t think anyone spoke it anymore!”  

“No...neither did we.” He glanced at Joe, and was met with eyes that looked as disconcerted as he felt. 

“Well, I’ll leave you to it. Please let me know if you need help with anything!” The shop owner cheerfully strolled back to the counter, where his friend - Crowley, Nicky remembered - was staring at him and Joe with what felt like suspicion, even through his sunglasses. The redhead murmured something to the blonde that made the latter glance back at them with another smile, one that Nicky returned before he quietly urged Joe behind another bookshelf. 

“What the hell?” Joe hissed as soon as they were out of eyeline of the shop owner. 

“Language, tesoro mio.” 

Joe’s words switched to old Maghrebi, but remained just as confused and indignant. “Nico, we haven’t met anyone else who speaks Genovese in decades, maybe even centuries, if we don’t count linguists.”

“I know.” 

“So how does an owner of an old bookshop recognize it?” 

“We’ve seen some books that are much older than what we usually see in a shop like this. Maybe he recognized it from a book?” Even as he uttered the words, Nicky knew the explanation was pathetic. The look of disbelief he received from his lover let him know he wasn’t alone in thinking that. 

“He said it’s been a while since he’s heard it,” Joe reminded him. “And he recognized it as it was spoken, not written down somewhere.” 

“What are you trying to say? That he’s another immortal? One we somehow haven’t dreamed of in all this time?” 

“No, of course not...but…” Joe peered at the shop owner and his friend through a gap in the books. “Maybe there’s something different about him. Maybe immortals aren’t the only strange people in the world.” 

“Even if that were true, Yusuf, don’t you think we would have run into one before? Our abilities have been noticed before, by people who didn’t know what to look for. We of all people would have noticed if there were other powers out there.” 

“Unless they do as much as we do to stay out of notice.” 

It was Nicky’s turn to peer at the odd couple through the books, except this time, the redhead, Crowley, was looking right at him. Or at least, in their direction. He jerked away from the bookshelf and immediately moved deeper into the shop, tugging Joe with him. “We can talk with the others about it later. For now, let’s buy something and leave.”

“Still determined to find your book?”

Nicky offered a sweet smile to Joe, but didn’t bother hiding the mirth in his eyes. “Of course, my heart.” 

He didn’t end up finding the book he was looking for, much to his disappointment and Joe’s quiet amusement. But he did find an old, old Italian Bible that stirred distant memories of a classroom reciting verses, and that was enough to justify the visit. 

Satisfied in his choice, he moved towards the cashier register, only to be pulled up short by Joe. Nicky furrowed his brows in confusion - for someone who had been so reluctant to come, Joe suddenly seemed very keen on staying. He glanced back at him to find those dark eyes trained on the men behind the counter, one finger to his lips. Battle instincts kicked in, and he obediently trained his hearing to the low muttering coming from the other men. 

“Now really, Crowley, it’s simply not possible! Even if the Almighty really did send spies after us, I would at least recognize them. I’ve never seen those men in my life!” 

“Then maybe they’re demons. We’ve always had better corporeal disguises anyway. Would explain why we don’t recognize them.” 

“Have you ever seen demons behave like that with each other?” 

“Like what?” 

“Oh come now, you must have felt it. The energy around them is downright bursting with love! It’s just like…”

“...Angel, like what?”

“W-well...like two people in love. Nothing at all like you demons behave.”

“‘You demons’? Might I remind you of who saved the most valuable books here, Aziraphale?” 

It could’ve been just another argument between an old couple, especially an old married couple. There was no mistaking the love and pure affection that drenched every bickering phrase between them. But where Nicky had thought “Angel” was a sweet nickname, the casual use of terms like “demons” and “the Almighty” stirred a deeper sense of suspicion awake in him...and a rush of exhilaration. The sensible majority of his mind told him there was no earthly way he was staring at an angel and a demon. Even if angels and demons were real, they wouldn’t own an old bookshop, or walk around dressed like a dandy or an aged member of a rock band. 

But a small part of him, the part of him that had him wandering to a church on calm Sundays and uttering panicked prayers over Joe’s body in the middle of battle, felt a thrill at the idea that he was staring at proof. Proof that his centuries of faith, his short-lived livelihood in the church, wasn’t in vain. When he finally tore his eyes away from the odd couple to look at Joe, he was met with a small smile of understanding under an unsure gaze. Of course his love understood what was running through his mind, even without a single word uttered between them. 

Nicky took a steadying breath before he finally nodded at Joe, giving his hand a light squeeze. The shop owner and his...friend (partner?) were still bickering when they approached the cashier, and Nicky caught snippets of something about a church, a bomb, a satchel of books, before the argument was cut short by their arrival at the counter. 

“Ah, gentlemen, hello again! Did you find everything alright?” the small blonde man - Azira...phale..? - greeted them with a wide smile, while Crowley simply stared at them with an unnervingly straight face. His gaze prickled at Nicky’s awareness, despite his best attempts to ignore him and return Aziraphale’s smile. 

“I didn’t find the book I was looking for, but you have many rare gems here.” 

“Oh, I’m sorry you couldn’t find it!” 

“Don’t be. We have visited almost every bookshop in Europe in search of it,” Joe snorted with a grin. “At this point it’ll take a miracle to find it.” 

Aziraphale perked up at Joe’s response, and glanced eagerly at Crowley...who returned the blonde’s hopeful smile with a stony stare. A moment of silence passed before the redhead finally muttered, “Sounds like you won’t be finding it any time soon.” 

“No, but that’s alright. Seeing all these wonderful little shops offers a special kind of joy,” Nicky murmured with a reassuring smile to Aziraphale. “You should be proud of this shop. It’s a lovely refuge in this city.” 

The owner looked a bit crestfallen, but brightened at Nicky’s smile and words. “That’s very kind of you to say! I’ve had it for quite a while, so it’s turned into a home of sorts for me. I’m so glad it feels that way to my patrons as well!” 

Crowley’s attention was back on Nicky, and even though he couldn’t see the redhead’s eyes, he didn’t feel as burdened by the scrutiny anymore. It felt somehow softer now, more of a mild annoyance as the transaction was carried out. Crowley had been so quiet throughout their visit that when he suddenly spoke up, the surprise nearly made Nicky drop the small paper bag containing his book. “Just out of curiosity...what book were you looking for?” 

“Ah...an early edition of The Divine Comedy in the original Italian. First edition, if possible.” 

“...Dante’s Divine Comedy?” Crowley repeated, skepticism practically dripping off his words. “You’re looking for a first edition from the late Middle Ages?” 

Nicky could hear the rustle of Joe straightening just behind him, ready to defend his admittedly-futile quest. He shifted just enough to hook their pinkies together in reassurance while he shot a small smile at Crowley. “More just seeing if it’s possible to find outside of a museum.” 

Crowley nodded, but he still had a small frown of disbelief on his lips as he wandered towards the bookshelves at the very back of the shop. Aziraphale watched him meander away with wariness and hope lining his eyes, a combination of emotions that made Nicky wonder what kind of history the odd couple shared to prompt that kind of response. 

“Nicolo,” Joe murmured, pulling him out of his idle curiosity. “We should be going. Andy will wonder what happened to us.” 

“Right...yes, of course.” Nicky smiled again at Aziraphale, who suddenly looked panicked at their impending departure. “Thank you again.” 

“Oh, are you leaving so soon? A-are you sure I can’t help you find anything else? I have other first editions that might interest you!” 

“Really, it’s alright-” 

“Here we are.” Crowley was suddenly back at Aziraphale’s side, tossing a book onto the countertop with a carelessness that became alarming when Nicky realized what he was staring at: an old, worn volume, the cover made of what used to be red leather, but was now faded into a dull brown. Pressed into the leather, and traced with gold flakes, were the words “La Commedia.” Nicky reached out to brush the worn cover, gingerly lifting it to reveal the title page, where he could read the publication date: 1438. “This...this is…” 

“Not quite first edition, but about as good as you’re gonna get outside of a museum.” Crowley’s voice was casual, as if he had simply found any old book. But his smirk was smug, the gravity of his achievement definitely not lost on him, especially when Aziraphale was staring at him in what could only be described as adoration. 

“How...how did you find this?” 

“Call it a little miracle. How much does a little miracle cost, angel?” 

“Oh, ah...well, the best miracles are priceless, wouldn’t you say?” 

Nicky’s gaze jerked away from the book to stare at Aziraphale in shock. “No, I’m sorry, I cannot in good faith take this without paying you.” 

“No, really-”

“Please, I insist-” 

The shopowner was strangely reluctant to give Nicky a price, but with Joe’s help, they were able to settle on an amount. By the time they left the bookshop, it was even later than they had planned on leaving, but Nicky was in such a daze of disbelief over his luck, Joe ended up being the one to call Andy. 

“Boss, we know, we’re sorry, but you’ll never believe- no, trust me, even Booker will get excited over this. We’ll be there soon, it will be worth the wait, I promise.” He laughed as he tucked his phone away, shaking his head fondly at Nicky. “Well, my heart, I hope this find is worth Andy’s wrath. She is not happy with us.” 

“Yusuf...who were those men?” Nicky was staring numbly into the bag, still not believing the impossibly old book he held in his hands. 

“What do you mean?” 

He finally looked away from his new treasure to meet Joe’s eyes. “Do you think...that maybe…” 

“What? That an angel and demon helped us find a book?” 

“Stranger things have been true.” 

“Perhaps…” Joe’s arm wrapped around Nicky’s waist, tucking him against his body to drop a kiss to his temple. “Whatever those men were, they were kind. I hope the bookshop continues to do well.” 

“Mm...thank you for coming with me.” Nicky’s smile was full of adoration, and earned him another kiss, this time on his lips. 

“Of course, hayati. Anything for you.” 

“Anything? Well, there’s another book I’ve been looking for-” 

“Buuuuut Andy and Booker might not approve.” 

After almost 1000 years, he should have been able to better resist the effect of Joe’s cheeky smile. But after almost 1000 years, Nicky wasn’t in the habit of denying himself the little joys to be found in life, especially when they came from this impossible man.