#what is behind your ear nik?

[witchcraftandgeekness]

Kol Mikaelson Headcanon

Okay, so I just thought about it. We know that Kol was a witch during his mortal life, and after his vampire transition he was studying all kinds of magic to compensate disability to perform it himself. And I thought, what is possibility that his interest also applied to human magic as well?

Kol was described as a trickster and he has this fascinating mischievous nature. I can definitely imagine Kol, accidentaly witnessing how magician performs tricks with disappearing coins/cards that change and etc. and Kol was surprised. Then he approached the magician and asked how did he perform it. And after learning that magician is actually not a witch, he compelled him to show him all the hand tricks he knows.

So, basically, I imagine in the present day little Hope once mentioning that she feels bad about Kol not having his magic because he loves it so much. And Kol be like, "Oh, darling, but I do have magic!" And proceeds with making coin vanish in his palm.

And here come hours of Kol amusing his little niece by card tricks, guessing what card Freya selected in her mind ("You can't do this, do you, sister?") and making fork bend and re-straighten by mere "power of his mind" ("Don't be such a buzzkill, Elijah, you can sacrifice few forks for the entertainment").

I bet he would be so smug to see surprise written all over faces of powerful witches and joyful as a young boy to know he can do things that little number of people can. Ofc, it is not REAL magic but at least something. It can't really be full replacement for what he lost but for short amount of time he can forget about it and just be "mighty magician".

[sierrale8ne]

paige bueckers x nika mühl x fem!reader

nsfw // pure smut, voyeurism, dom(ish)!paige, dom!nika, sub!reader, fingering, degradation, oral, orgasm denial, mentions of strap, paige and nika are both intoxicated, ts i really freaky guys i’ll go pray i’m sorry.

You fucked up. Bad.

Your relationship with the two athletes was confusing, admittedly, you were sleeping with the both of them without the other knowing. It worked well in your sick and twisted mind. Paige gave you what you needed and when she was unavailable Nika did so as well.

A knock on your door drew your attention away from whatever it was that you were doing. You walked to the door, looking through the peephole cautiously. There stood Paige, her hands stuffed in the pockets of her grey Essentials sweats, a black t-shirt on her body and a sliver cross chain on her neck.

A smile appeared on your face, even though you weren’t expecting her tonight. You unlocked the door and swung in open. A smirk formed on the blonde’s face that only widened when her friend came into view. Your eyes widened and a look that could really only be described as fearful took over your face.

Your voice got caught in your throat and you froze in place, eyes moving from Nika’s to Paige’s.

The blonde was the one who made the first move. She stepped into your apartment and placed and hand onto your hip, pushing you further and further into your own apartment and Nika followed swiftly behind her.

“Don’t look so scared, princess.” She teased. You could smell the alcohol off her breath. “If you’re a good girl tonight, then we can make this quick. It’s up to you.”

Nika reached for your hand, dragging you behind her as she approached your bedroom. She didn’t say a word.

And that’s when you knew you really fucked up.

Nika had stripped you bare. Your silky pink pj’s scattered along the floor. Your bra joining it and panties stuffed into her pocket. You were the only one nude, which put you at yet another disadvantage in comparison to the athletes that towered over you.

It was Paige who sat off to the side while Nika positioned you on her leg. She sat on the edge of the bed, your back pressed up against her chest with you situated over one of her thighs. She gripped your legs and forced them apart as wide as they could go, putting you on display for not only yourself but also blonde sitting in the desk chair directly in front of you.

“You’re fucking pathetic.” Nika rasped in your ear. Her hand reached over to give a harsh slap to your cunt, making you thrash on her thigh. “So wet. Who gets you this wet, princess?”

“Nika.” Paige warned.

“What? She was using both of us, I think I deserve to know who does it better. Right?” Nika cooed. She was so sinister, and the way you whimpered against her only fueled her sick and twisted fantasies. She trailed her hand back to your entrance, wasting no time and slipping two of her long fingers inside.

“I—Nika, fuck.” You groaned. Your head fell back onto her strong shoulder, eyes shutting tightly at the instant pleasure that shot up your body. “Feels so good, Nik.”

Her free hand gripped your chin, forcing you to face Paige once again. “Look at her, baby.” She demanded, “let her know how much of a fucking slut you are.”

Your eyes blinked open and you were met with the sight of Paige staring at you, deep into your eyes as she slightly shook her head. She was obviously disappointed with you, sure it was “just sex” but the fact that her teammate had you the same way she did was infuriating.

Nika’s fingers pushed into you faster, curling with each thrust. Your eyes watered, jaw falling slack.

“She makes you feel better than me?” Paige asked. You watched as he hand trailed the under her sweats. You couldn’t see the way her fingers pressed to her clit, but the way her breath visibly hitched was more than enough for you.

“Paige—”

“—Answer the question, princess.” Nika asked you. She was sweet with it, a huge contrast to the way her fingers split you open.

You were soaking wet, each rapid push of Nika’s fingers pulled out more of that silky fluid. It stained her leggings and you knew she would make fun of you for it. Your mind was so focused on the pleasure you were feeling that you forgot to answer Paige’s question.

You refused to answer the question.

The situation you already put them in was bad enough, but to have Paige seated in front of you, asking if herself or one of her best friends fucked you better was almost ten times worse. Your heart nearly beat out of your chest and your legs trembled where you sat.

“Fuck, Paige, I’m sorry.”

“Now you’re sorry?” Nika shot back, not giving you a second to get accustomed to her stretching you out before adding another finger. “What about me? I don’t get an apology?”

You whimpered and thrashed and clenched harshly around her fingers, your climax building up in your core. Nika was so mean and relentless with it, her fingers mercilessly stabbing into your core. Fucking you like you were a toy for her enjoyment. Your eyes rolled, submitting to your punishment.

“Nika, m’ so sorry!” You moaned, something like a cry and a scream. “Gonna cum. M’ cum— Nik! Please, baby.”

They both laughed at you. The ringing of Nika’s laugh loud in your ears. The alcohol on her breath blinded you and she slipped her fingers out of your tight cunt.

“You think you’re getting off that easy?” The brunette asked. “You fuckin’ whore, so needy to cum, huh? Move.” She pushed you off her lap, probably harder than intended but in the moment she didn’t care.

She moved you hard enough that your body tumbled towards Paige’s direction, her strong hands steadying you between her legs.

Paige admired your body shamelessly, veiny hands trailing up to your tits. To your waist and thighs. The way your clit peered innocently at her through your folds. She wanted to ruin you, and her silence let you know exactly what you were in for.

“P, I’m sorry.” You apologized.

“You’re sorry you got caught.” She chuckled. Her hands dropped behind you, gripping every available surface of your ass. Her blue eyes looking over at her brunette teammate as they spoke with her eyes. “You fuckin’ piss me off. I can’t even believe you.”

“I’m sorry.” You stuttered, the apology again falling on deaf ears.

Your hands reached to cup her face but Paige backed away into her seat, her hands pushing yours off of her. “Show me how sorry then. Get on your knees, right here.” She demanded. And you knew better than to piss her off again.

You cautiously sunk to your knees, aware of Nika sitting on the bed watching you. The carpet thankfully cushioning your fall. Though Paige was in front of you, a sight that you loved deeply, your mind kept wandering to Nika. Your head turned slightly, seeing that the brunette had discarded her clothes and sat patiently in her bra and panties. Her breasts cupped beautifully into the material of her bra, legs crossed daintily as she tried to soothe the pressure between her legs.

“Nah don’t look at her.” Paige grunted. Her hand sunk deep into your hair, griping in and tugging you back to face her. Your eyes had been so glued to Nika you didn’t even notice how Paige had pulled down her sweats and boxers until they pooled at her ankles. Her cunt greeted you eagerly, her clit swollen and hidden behind wet folds. “C’mon then. Show Nika how good you eat this pussy, ma.”

The thought of eyes watching you made you nervous, and you cautiously spread the blonde’s legs further. Your palms clammy up against her thighs. You leaned forward slightly, just enough to feel her clit throb against your lips. You sheepishly broke eye contact and diverted your attention to her cunt.

Your tongue darted out, licking from Paige’s entrance up to her clit and back down again. You hummed at her taste before continuing the movement. Her hand dug into your scalp, pushing your face into her more and finding that perfect point of pressure. She used your face, grinding and humping against your soft lips and wet tongue.

“Uh, fuck!” Paige threw her head back as she let out a rather loud moan that made your abused cunt throb even more.

“Such a fuckin’ slut for it, baby.” You hear the Croatian accent ring loudly in your ears. She was directly behind you, watching as her teammate fucked your face as punishment. “Do it like you mean it, stick your tongue out.” She instructed.

You listened, knowing better than to disobey either one of them. Your tongue lolled out of your mouth and you innocently looked up at the blonde. Her eyes were shut and her eyebrows furrowed in pleasure. Your hand trailed up to her shirt, pushing the hem higher to look at her abs, shining in sweat and convulsing rapidly.

“Good, baby. Gonna—mm gonna make me cum.” Paige whined. Her head raised just briefly looking down at you and how your head moved. Your tongue, a pretty pink, circling around her clit.

You nodded in response, eyes falling shut again as you let her grip harshly on your scalp. “Want it, P.”

“Yeah?”

“Say please, princess.” Nika cooed in your ear. You tried to pull back to speak, but Paige was clearly against it, holding your head even closer to her dripping core.

“Please.” Your begging was muffled. “Please, please, I’ll be so good.”

You watched the gears turn in the blonde’s head as you eagerly continued lapping at her cunt. Nika was eagerly feeling your tits behind you. Your mind ran a thousand miles a minute, completely overwhelmed.

That was until Paige’s hand tugged you away from her. A pout graced your wet lips. The blonde focused on catching her breath and Nika focused on regaining her dominance.

“I don’t think you begged hard enough, pretty girl.” She teased you. She towered over you as she stood up. 5 feet and 11 inches of pure beauty.

“Apology was weak too.” Paige grumbled.

“Since you’re getting punished all night. Maybe you can show P how good you take my cock.” She shrugged. Her slender fingers ran through your hair. You felt so small under her gaze she peered at you like a dominatrix mocking you were you kneeled.

Paige stood up from her spot, ridding her self of what was left of her clothes as she also towered over you. “Maybe you could even let us know who does it better.”

author’s note this one is kinda short bc i don’t know how to write threesomes but that is exactly what growth is for 🙂‍↕️ some nastiness with my nika baby PLS SAVE ME NIKA 😩😩

[charliemwrites]

Part 4!! (No content warnings)

Fuck these men :)

You roll your neck, trying to loosen muscles tense from keeping your head locked in place. Hard work denying natural instinct to look at whoever is speaking, but the 141 doesn’t deserve any more of your attention than they’ve already stolen. Even if they didn’t know they had it at the time.

You’ll have to ask Nikto if he’ll massage out the knot forming there. He’s handy with anatomy like that.

“Listen, about what happened…” Gaz starts.

“Not relevant,” you snap, crouching behind a barrel.

“I’d say it’s pretty relevant,” he replies. “It’s not right, how we left things.”

You nearly snarl. ‘Not right’ is the understatement of the bloody century.

You twist on him. “You’re being unprofessional. Shut up and take this seriously, Garrick.”

You duck as a sniper shot pings dangerously close to your head. Spot Nikto across the way, hand-signaling to ask if you need back up. You reply with a ‘no’ and turn back to Gaz.

Thankfully, it seems he’s caught the message and keeps his mouth shut for the rest of the stupid drill. You resist a snappish comment when it’s over. Up until Gaz starts up again.

“I just think you deserve—”

“I don’t care what you think I deserve,” you interrupt. “I know what I deserve. And it’s a partner that can keep their feelings in their vest.”

Speaking of, Nikto appears at your side like a shadow in shifting light. There’s a disapproving tilt to his head, aimed at Gaz. You shake your head and tap your knuckles against his.

“Need a water break?” You ask, worried about how long he’s been under the helmet.

He shakes his head, then surprises you by bumping his forehead against yours — his version of a kiss. Even in private those are rare. You hum at him.

“Thank you, Nik.”

You have to run the next drill with Soap. Know from the start he’s going to be a stubborn prick about it. Can see it in the set of his jaw and the flicker in his eye.

“Didnae have to be a knob to Gaz,” he says.

You don’t respond, slipping away as the exercise begins. He calls after you and hurries to catch up, nearly blowing your cover.

“He feels bad enough for what happened, ye know.”

You level him a cool, blank stare. “You speak for him now?”

His eyes narrow. “If you won’t give him the chance to, aye.”

You knock his leg out from under him and fire at the “enemy” combatant, Nova. She sportingly goes down, but mutters that you should have let her take the shot. You should have.

“You compromise this drill again,” you tell a toppled Soap, “I’ll tell Laswell direct that you don’t belong on this mission.”

You spin on your heel and continue the exercise, ignoring any and all attempts by Soap to get you to speak again. At the very least, he picks up the slack, earns his callsign.

Nova finds you again when it’s over, arms around your neck and chest plastered to your back.

“Look’it you go, mamas,” she coos. “Shot me through the heart all over again.”

You laugh bending your legs to let her hop up for a piggy back ride. Yeah, you’re tired. But never too tired to carry your girl around. She giggles in your ear as you carry her off back to your captain for her next drill.

“With Price now,” he says, tucking your hair behind your ear.

“Sure thing, boss,” you answer, doing a good impression of enthusiasm.

You know your place, settle into position just behind Price’s left side. No overtures about the past this time. Whatever iota of lingering respect you have for him grows as you complete the drill flawlessly. When it’s over, the two of you are at the furthest point from the designated “start”. And that’s when he decides to open his stupid mouth.

“It wasn’t personal, you know,” he says.

You smooth out your expression even though you don’t turn to him, already starting back.

“Okay.”

“It was the best call,” he explains, falling into step with you.

You tilt him a sideways look, don’t even bother with your full gaze. Spent far too much time looking up to him, by your estimate.

“Okay.”

“I look out for my soldiers.”

You turn forward again. “I wouldn’t know.”

Your captain happens to intercept, sweeping you up with one arm. You yelp, though can’t help grinning as you hook your fingers in one of his chest straps.

“Shouldn’t sneak up like that, sir,” you scold.

“That’s how I’ll know when I need to retire,” he replies with a crooked grin. “When I can’t sneak up on you anymore.”

You huff, snatching his sunglasses off his face to wear all the way back to the start point. Keegan meets you, looks directly at you as he salutes.

“Captain,” he says.

You laugh, give your CO his glasses back.

“Keeping fuckin’ around, Russ,” the captain rumbles, “I’ll take it out of your ass later.”

You gasp, scandalized, and laugh as the little skin visible through his smearing face paint turns pink.

“Off with you, girl,” your captain says. “We’re done after this, so keep it quick and clean.”

“Yessir,” you reply, jogging off to meet Ghost.

Fucking Ghost.

You don’t spare him a single look as you set up for the exercise. If nothing else, you have every expectation that he won’t say a single goddamn thing to you. No attempted apologies, no reprimands, no justifications. Just radio silence, like always.

What you don’t expect is for him to treat you like nothing’s changed. Like you’re still a fresh transfer that can’t watch their own six. You consider just putting your “gun” away and trailing after him until the exercise is over, but that would be just slightly too immature.

So you suck it up, grit your teeth, and do your job. Up until he gets in the fucking way. You’re about to get a sneaky shot on Keegan — a rare thing indeed — but Ghost moves. Goes out of his way to get the shot you already had and loses you both the element of surprise.

“Fucking oaf,” you snarl, scrambling behind a wall. “Is this your first fucking day or something?”

His eyes flash across the corridor. “What the fuck did you just say?”

You don’t reply, getting low and kicking your boot off, carefully sneaking it towards the corner like you’re trying to peek out. Keegan comes around, aiming too high and in the wrong direction, and Ghost shoots him.

Keegan “goes down” — goes out of his way to land on you, actually. You huff and shove at him.

“It’s not nap time,” you groan.

“Can’t hear you, I’m dead.”

You snort and shimmy out from under him. Not so different from most mornings, actually.

“If you two are done…” Ghost growls.

You suck your teeth and stalk off, giving Keegan one last pat to the back. The rest of the drill is barely civil, Ghost’s eyes more on you than on the training grounds.

When it’s finally, finally over, you sigh and pause, trying to work out that knot again.

“Haven’t changed a bit, have you?” Ghost sneers.

It’s meant to hurt. Meant to piss you off. Maybe remind you of the last things he said to you. You don’t look at him, bending to re-lace your boots. Thrilled to realize it’s like poking at an old scar. The skin is deadened, even though a mark remains.

“Fuck you’re so immature,” he growls.

You straighten and just start walking. Keegan finds you almost instantly.

“The hell was that about earlier?” He asks, frown audible.

“Ugh, he got in the way. I would have fuckin’ had you, otherwise.”

His eyes spark with outrage. “He fuckin’ what?” He snarls, turning like he’s about to say something to Ghost. Which… no. Just not worth it.

“Keegs,” you sigh, “c’mon, I told you this would happen. He’s not worth it.”

He scoffs, laces his fingers with yours. “‘Course he’s not. Don’t waste bullets on the dead, right?”

You snort and tug him along. The rest of your team will be waiting.

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Masterlist

[vendrea]

Who Would’ve Thought I’d Get You?

something short n’ sweet

ෆ ෆ ෆ

pairing: nika mühl x fem!reader

wc: 500

fluff & angst | reassurance

ෆ ෆ ෆ

Three knocks.

Nika made her way to the door of her apartment, revealing you in an incredibly distressed state. Tears running down your flushed face and your lips quivering, the brunette was looking at you in sympathetic awe.

“Baby? What’s wrong?”

You took a step forward as Nika closed the door behind you, falling into her chest.

“Me and my dad got into a huge argument,” You said in between your hyperventilating. She rubbed your back in efforts to calm you down,

“What’d you fight about? C’mere let’s sit on the couch.” She says softly as she guided you to the living area, her large hands on the small of your back.

“He’s moving across the fucking country to Arizona. Next week.” You say blantly as you plopped down on the couch, your head in your hands.

“What the hell? Are you serious? Why’s he moving all of a sudden?” Nika questioned, starting to match your hysteria.

“Apparently he’s been in the works of a new job two months and he just bought a house there. Not only is it fucking crazy how he’s now telling me, but he’s taking Helena too!” Tears pricking as you voice the reminder.

Helena being your younger sister, there’s no way you could live being kept away from her in such long periods of time. Storrs to Phoenix was a 6 hour flight away!

“Dude that’s such bullshit. That isn’t fair to you and your sister at all. I’m sorry baby, you guys don’t deserve that.” She strains, her heart aching for you as she saw you become more visibly upset. She removed your hands from your face and brought them to her lips, planting reassuring kisses.

You looked at the ‘Baby M’ tattoo she had on the side of her hand and remembered how the Croatian has been in your shoes before. “How’d you do it Niks? You came here all the way from Croatia, without seeing your family for years.” You ask her, hoping her words would ease your discomfort in some way.

“Well, I did come to practice crying everyday at first. It was hard, really hard” She says, letting out a faint laugh making you softly smile at the idea of your girlfriend’s tough facade falling.

“—But, it got easier eventually. Good thing the technology exists y’know, I still got to FaceTime them and all that stuff. I just had to remind myself the future I’m building for myself here is also for my family back in Zagreb. And I also got to meet you.”

You listened to her intently, playing with her fingers to aide your anxiety. Your ears perked up at her last comment, leaving you cheesed.

“That’s a smile I like to see.” Nika complimented

“What would I do without you? I’m so glad I met you.” You felt so in love with the girl beside you, she made you feel so seen.

“I love you.” she spoke with a kiss placed on your forehead

“I love you more.”

[stoirmeachapas]

just enough

warnings: nightmares and paige being annoying but thats lowkey it this ones kinda cute

request: hi!!! i loved you nika headcannons. would you be open to writing about her? i rlly feel like you’re hc abt her match up so well

nika mühl x reader

the warmth of my blankets encompassed me in, the weight of the soft fabric holding me down. i don’t really know how i was still awake, considering it was almost 1 a.m.

its not like i was staying awake, i was actually trying to sleep.

my room was small, but comfy. the only light was a streetlight gleaming through the window. it had one bed, a nightstand and, a dresser. a uconn ncaa banner was pitched above the bed. my dorm-room was surprisingly quiet, the only sound being a small floor fans whirring.

the silence was interrupted was a quiet jingle from the door handle. the metal clicked and the door creaked open, and a tall brunette girl poked her head in. “hey niks. couldn’t sleep again?”

“how’d you know?” she spoke sarcastically, shrugging while she walked in. the door closed quietly behind her. sometimes when nika can’t sleep, she finds her way into my room. after what was probably the 20th time this happened, i gave her an extra key so i didn’t have to get up to let her in.

i scooted closer to the wall to make space as she stumbled her way over. nika lifted the covers up and slipped under them, instantly moving closer to me. she gave me a quick smile before rolling over, facing away. “thanks. for you know. this?”

“yeah… i don’t mind,” i traced little shapes on her back while we talked. i drew a dog and a house and two girl standing outside of it before she moved. nika sunk further into the bed, “i was kind of worried you would.”

“why would it bother me? its really nice when you’re here.” she giggled before turning back towards me, making eye contact in the dark. “do you really think i would give you a key if it bothered me?”

she had really nice eyes, and they were looking right in mine. and the way she talked was so perfect, “i guess i never thought about it that way.” she blinked and it broke me out if my trance, but i was pulled back in the second i could see them again. the chocolate brown swirled around, darker on the inside and lighter on the outside. it had such a sweet look to it and the colour highlighted her face.

nika sighed and then we just layed there in silence, but it wasn’t awkward. nothing needed to be said. the presence of each other being there was just enough.

but i had to break it. i don’t really know why. “are you sure your doing okay?”

she seemed taken aback, her eyes loosing the happiness they had seconds prior to my words. “i- why wouldn’t i be?” she was laying so close to me that i could feel her breath shaking while she spoke, a nervousness coating her expressions.

“niks, i’m just worried about your sleep and stuff. you come in here saying that you cant sleep more often then not,” she pulled the covers slightly closer, twisting the edge lightly with her fingers. “and theres nothing wrong with you coming in here, but is something keeping you up at night?”

“its not like its important or anything.”

“yes it is.”

even though she was laying down she still crossed her arms and gave me a you should be quiet look. “why?”

“because your important. and i care.” a strand of hair fell in front of her face and she blew at it to try and get rid of it, but it kept ended up right back in her face. frustration grew over her face. after she started mumbling swears at it, i tucked it behind her ear.

“why do you care?” she spat, calmness buried underneath her mean tone.

“i don’t know, why are you interrogating me now?”

“you know i didn’t come here for a heart to heart. i came here to sleep.”

“i guess we don’t always get what we want.”

she took in a deep breath, “i’ve been have these nightmares, where i cant do anything right. and coach gets mad at me, then the rest of the team follows,”

“and nobody will talk to me, because i keep messing the plays up. not even you will talk to me.”

“and it gets to the point where nobody will look at me, because they’re ashamed for me. or at me, i’m not really sure. and in the end, i just stop loving basketball.” her voice cracks with those last words and it breaks my heart. and as the tears she was holding back slowly make their way over her waterline and onto her face, i pull her into a hug.

her voice was all squeaky and wobbly, “i just don’t want to be a failure.” nikas face was pressed against my chest, a wet spot appearing on my t-shirt.

“no. look at me,”

nika peered up at me, eyes still glossy with tears. “you are not a failure. you never will be, okay? we all love you so much. i love you so much.”

“yeah.” she sniffled out. my hand held her head close the myself, playing with her hair. my other hand scratched her back, trailing under her shirt slightly.

she wiped her tears with her sleeve before cuddling back in, “your a good friend.” she mumbled into the crook of my neck, her lips brushing lightly over my skin as she spoke.

she was still there when i woke up, snoring lightly. her leg was thrown over me and her arms were still wrapped around my waist. nika was practically a koala, but i didn’t mind.

i was just glad she was there.

most if the time when she came in the night, we wouldn’t talk at all and she would be gone by the time i was awake. usually i was asleep when she got there too. sometimes i didn’t even know she was in my room until she mentions it sometime during the day.

i trusted her, entirely.

it didn’t matter to me if she came in and out throughout the night and the morning.

after awhile, we just stopped talking about it. if she was there, then cool. we didn’t need to have a conversation about why.

im not sure what was different about last night and this morning. but i liked it. i liked talking to her, and i liked having her with me.

she was a cute sleeper too. her messy hair still looked perfect. i could just lay there forever, it was peaceful. but we weren’t going to, because nika woke up. she yawned and stretched her arms up, nudging me in the face with one. “g’morning.”

she peeled herself off of me, smiling up. “good morning. whats the time?”

i shrugged, “i dunno.”

nika got out of the bed, grabbing my hands and pulling me up with her. she didn’t let go when she started to talk, “hey, I’m sorry about last night.”

i smiled at her, it was more of a sad smile though. my thumb traced over her hand, “don’t be. everybody needs somebody.”

she squeezed both of my hands before pulling me into a hug, pressing a quick kiss to the side of my head. “no, i- you said you loved me, and i didn’t say it back. so i’m sorry about that.”

“its fine.”

she spoke quietly, almost like a whisper, “i do love you too, by the way.” she smiled.

i held her face in my hands, “good.” i pressed a light kiss to her chin. “you better love me.”

god, her smile was perfect too. she giggled and smiled again. “ill see you at practice?”

“three hours mühl. trust me, ill be there.” she pulled me into a hug, patting my back.

she pulled away, heading towards the door. “bye bye!”

i walked into practice with my bag slung over my shoulder, barely awake.

i had fallen asleep again after nika had left, only waking up because paige barged into my room, woke me up by scaring me, then still made fun of my scream.

then she forced me to make her waffles, then complained that i had no butter. like…?

i held my head in my hands, rubbing my temples. “p be quiet, for one second please?”

“but-”

“paige. shh.” i took a sip of water and began walking towards the court, not realizing she was multiple steps behind me. at that point, it was too late.

she ran at me and jumped onto my back which sent up both onto the floor, laughing hysterically. i was curled into a ball holding my stomach because it was so funny it hurt. “paige, why?” i laughed out, hitting her over the head for payback.

“oh you did not”

she shot onto her feet and grabbed me, hoisting me onto my feet. i wiggled out of her grip and started to run away, laughing at her as she chased after.

i ran into a brunette girl, grabbing her shoulders in putting her between me and paige. “help! nika, help me please.”

“what did you do?”

i wheezed as i spoke because i was out if breath. “i-”

the blonde girl cut me off, “she hit me.”

“you practically tackled me!”

paige smirked before running around nika towards me, hitting me over the head. she laughed as she ran away, “paige! i’m done.” i spoke as i lied on the floor, staring up at the ceiling.

nika leaned above me, shaking her head while smiling, “get up,” she spoke, dragging out her words.

i groaned and rolled over onto my stomach, ignoring her.

her hands wrapped around my waist, trying to pull me onto my feet. “put me down. its colder on the floor.”

“no.”

once my feet were on the ground, i turned around to face her. i didn’t realize how close she was, because our faces were an inch apart. “not so bad up here, huh?”

“its horrible. i’m getting water.”

she snickered as i walked away, finding paige again. i walked over to the benches, grabbing my water from my bag.

“hm. look what the cat dragged in”

i turned to face the girl, “paige. what?” i sighed, “what are you talking about?”

“nevermind. i have a question.” the blonde sat down next to me, leaning to whisper into my ear, “what up with you and niks?”

“nothing! what?”

“you know what i mean,” she wiggled her eyebrows at me, “i mean she totally likes you.”

“first of all, shes just my friend and my teammate. second of all, this is very random.”

she stood up, putting her hands on her hips. “it would be cute.”

“i guess.”

paige made an explosion sound and motion with her hands. “so you admit to it?”

“fine, yes. shes cute.” the blonde pulled me into a hug and swayed back and forth. “ill make it happen.”

im shutting this idea down. “no, p. your doing nothing.”

“but-” i held a single finger to her lips, silencing her, “shhh.”

“please just let me! trust me it will go perfect.”

i closed my water bottle, placing it down next to me. i went to answer her but coach walked in, the rest of the ream following behind. “alright. lets get started! running laps! go!”

i was so sore. my legs felt like jello and everything hurt. i was laying on my bed on my stomach, scrolling on my phone. it was quiet, until nika came to my dorm again. she normally never came twice in a row, but i didn’t mind. “hey. whats up?”

“i need to talk to you.”

she was fiddling with her fingers and sweatshirts sleeves, a nervous expression pasted over her face. “i was talking to paige after practice today, and i-, uhm.”

“oh god.” i pulled my knees to my chest while sitting up in bed. breaking my eye contact with nika.

she closed the door and sat down in the beanbag chair in the corner of my room. “is it true?”

“yes,” i think i might kill paige. “niks, i don’t want things to to be weird.”

she stood up from the beanbag chair on the floor and walked over to the bed, sitting down next to me. “it wont be.”

“why, i thi-” i never got to finish my sentence.

nika grabbed the side of my face and placed her lips on mine, smiling into it. my hands made their way to her neck before she pulled away. “thats why.”

[sl8yter]

Find Your Love - Mühl

Nika Mühl x Fem Reader

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𝑰'𝒎 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏

𝑹𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒏

You and Nika had a very long history. Including the fact that you had been her very first kiss and her yours. Every second you had with eachother was filled with tension but you two were so used to it that everybody saw it but you, including Nikas boyfriend who had been against you since day one. Its obvious you like Nika. Its unknown if the feelings are reciprocated until after a few too many drinks after the Big East Championship win, where Nika speaks on her sober thoughts

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Beboooo”

A loud familiar accented voice shouts from behind. The corners of my mouth instinctively curl as I turn around to see my Croat with a shotgunned twisted tea in her grasp as she reaches her arms out to wrap them around my neck

“Bebo i’ve been looking everywhere for you. You know I hate to drink without you” She speaks loudly unaware of her surroundings. Her breath fills my nose with tinges of alcohol.

“Niks I just got here, its packed and traffic got in the way” I reply in a sorry tone as I grab her hips to move her closer to me inside the bar. People were everywhere celebrating the win with our huskies.

“Also quiet down a bit, I dont want your boyfriend to complain about me again” I add on.

“Who cares about him. Tonights about me and I want to be with you” Nika replies quickly, never breaking eye contact. Nika Mühl, my bestfriend who is so incredibly hard to resist and equally confusing told me she wants to be with me.

“You always say that when you drink” I say laughing while I release my grasp on her hips only to grab her hand instead and lead us to the bathroom

“Cause its always what im thinking” She says trailing behind me as we go into the big stall

“You’re so flirty when you’re drunk Niks. I wish I had drunk yous confidence.” I say locking the door behind me

“Me too” She whispers and sits on the toilet seat which illicits a slight chuckle from me. I can feel her eyes boring holes into my back but I choose to ignore it

Shes just had too much to drink

I walk towards the sink right next to her and grab a paper towel to wet. Grabbing the now wet towel I kneel to put it against Nikas face holding it in place as I use my other hand to move strands of her hair out of her face. Nika raises a hand to hold against mine. The towel drips a few drops from the added pressure as make eye contact with her.

“You take such good care of me.” She whispers and leans in.

Im stuck

I try to move my head to create some distance but I can’t. Instead I speak

“I try my best”

“Well its better than anyone else. I think about you, you know. Like all the time.” She answers honestly closing her eyes softly as if to go to sleep

My heart skips a beat at her confession

Of course she thinks about you. You’ve been friends forever

“I would hope you think about your friends most of the time” I reply putting a hand on her back and moving in a circular motion to which

“Youre hearing me bebo but you got to really listen.” She whispers into my ear as she lays her head into the crook of my neck. I can feel her soft lips against my skin making me grip back just slightly.

“Take me to yours please.” She manages to mumble out.

“Yea lets go” I say to her as I stand up picking her up with me. As we walk out the bar she continues to mumble unintelligible words. The whole car ride back to the dorms she was yapping but not loud enough to be understood. By the time I managed to lay her on my couch she was practically knocked out and exhausted from talking.

“Were you paying attention?” She whispers as I sit on the couch next to hers

“Yup”

“What was I saying?”

“How amazingly amazing I am” I say looking at her. The dimmed lights and the tired look on her face made her 100x more beautiful. It was hard to look away

“I love the way you look at me” Nika confesses

I’m silent for a moment. I didnt realize I was that obvious. I figure by now if she knew I was practically in love with her she would of left me by now. She stands up from the couch to stand infront of me. The things she does leaves me in shock , they always do but this time I felt not in control.

I don’t want her to stop

“You’re so obvious and I was so oblivious. I started noticing the things you did for me so late. Im so sorry Bebo” She says whispering to me in an almost sultry tone that was hidden behind her sorrowful mask. She takes her chance to sit on my lap, straddling me as she grabs the sides of my face with her hands

“You’re drunk Nika and Nahiem wouldn’t nt like this” I manage to muster the strength to speak. Her breath dances on my lips and I can feel her warm body radiate on mine.

She had a lot to drink, she is tipsy, and she has a boyfriend.

“I only got with him to make you jealous. I only pretended to drink so you could take care of me. I hate how you always say friend or best friend when referring to me. I want to be more. I want you. I want you to love me openly so I can love you openly bebo. Volim te.”

“How long?”

“A couple months” She answers honestly

“Try a few years then you can say you hate being called a friend” Gripping her thighs I slide them up to her waist as I go in for a hug, my face going into the nook of her neck as I give her a slight kiss to which she lets out a slight sigh

“Really bebo we confess our love and you go for a hug that is so you.” She laughs her arms squeezing me with each bounce of her body

“Well if you were hoping for a kiss Id rather wait until after we go on a date. You know I love a good build up.” I say as I release my grip but not my grasp and go to look at her, my Nika.

“So you’re basically trying to say my confession wasn’t enough.” She asks jokingly. Her eyes switching from my eyes to my lips as if she couldn’t make up her mind.

“No it definitely was. You’re right I think you do deserve a kiss” I say smugly as I look up at the girl on my lap

“Good” She says her hand cupping my face as she pulls me in. Our lips touch and I can feel her smile as her other hand goes to grasp my hair. My hands grip her waist a little too much. She lets out a groan and slightly grinds on thigh.

“Wait” I say opening my eyes and releasing myself from her grasp

“Whats wrong bebo, im sorry did I go to far” She ask me in an earnest tone

“No, trust me I want to but I really do mean it when I say I wanna take you on a date first. Let me spoil you baby then we can see what follows I promise.” I tell her honestly

“I should of just pounced on you when I first started liking you” Nika admits with a large smile on her face, her blush evident even with the lack of light

“Even then I would of still found a way to treat you out first” I say before going in for another kiss of her pink lips

𝑰 𝒃𝒆𝒕 𝒊𝒇 𝑰 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒚 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈'𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒂 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒖𝒔 𝒂𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My first fic on tumblr yayyy.

Send in request yall. What i lack in creativity I make up for with interpreting. Most fics that arent based on request will be based on songs so pretty big common theme. Thank you for reading 🙏

[on-a-lucky-tide]

teehee its my birthday buuuuuut i am here clawing for nikprice on the ground like a chicken. anyway i wonder how would a nikprice drunk confession go. i just love that trope to death lol

It's your birthday? Happy birthday, mate! A small gift...

Price gets a medal and then gets drunk at the after party. Nik is surprised to hear what he has to say. No one else - and I mean, no one else - is.

cw: alcohol, drunken kiss.

"I hate these bloody things," Price mumbled into his scotch, staring bleary-eyed at his own reflection in the mirror behind the bar. His speech had been short, concise, and he had spent the majority of it talking about the bravery and dedication of his Task Force. The rest of 'em had prattled on for ages about themselves, preening their egos with the new metal on their chests.

"It is a party in your honour, captain. You did a brave thing. And," Nik leaned back to pluck a canapé from the tray of a passing waitress, "there is free food." He pulled the honey-soaked sausage off the cocktail stick and chucked it in the air, catching it in his open mouth, much to the consternation of a gaggle of RAF officers nearby.

None of them were brave enough to let Nikolai see or hear what they thought of him, because they had all heard enough whispers of his service record to steer well clear. Even top brass were scared enough of him to overlook his multiple active Interpol arrest warrants so that he could attend.

Price smiled as Nik chewed, clearly pleased with his feat of dexterity, and then proceeded to slosh his scotch all over himself as he leaned his elbow against the bar... but missed said bar by about an inch and a half. "Bollocks," he growled, as expensive alcohol soaked into the equally expensive wool of his number one uniform.

Nik chuckled, snatching up a handful of serviettes from the bar. "I am starting to think you are a lightweight," he said, swivelling around in his bar stool so that his knees bracketed Price's, a folded serviette pressed to Price's chest to soak out some of the scotch.

"'M not," Price... slurred, fuck, maybe he was. "You wearin' cologne?"

"Da, number one majesté impériale."

"Sounds posh," Price said, lifting his scotch for another swig.

"Hm, it is $215,000 a bottle."

Price choked on his drink, spluttering it back into the glass. "You spent nearly four times my salary on some cologne?" He wheezed.

"It is a special occasion."

"Bloody fucking christ, Nik. It's a medal ceremony, not a bloody coronation."

"It is more important to me," Nik said, "because it is you."

Price felt his cheeks and ears warm. It didn't help that Nik's big hands were still on his chest, careful to pluck away the stray fibres of serviette from where it clung to the damp wool. This close, Price couldn't help but stare.

Fuck, he was so... handsome.

Nik had made an effort to look, and smell, his best. In his expensive tailored three-piece, no tie, because... well, who would be brave enough to tell Nikolai to put on a fuckin' tie? The open top button gave Price a really good view of his chest hair peeking through at the top. Oh, fuckin'... Hot, it was hot in here. Damn uniform.

"Careful, captain, you will fall," Nik said softly, palm pressed to the centre of Price's chest. Price had been leaning forward. Leering. Oh, this was embarrassing. He cleared his throat, shuffled back, and beckoned the barman over for a refill.

Two more glasses, one of vodka and another of scotch, and Price chanced a glance over at Nik again. "Thanks... for, uh, coming to this. The boys like the schmoozin', Simon doesn't stay longer than the talks, don't blame him, but, I, uh..."

"You find it hard to navigate the politics because you are honest and they," Nik waved his hand vaguely around the room, "are not."

Price smiled faintly. "Yeah, guess so. Full of compliments today, Nik. Man might get the wrong idea."

"Or... the right idea."

Price froze with the glass halfway up to his mouth. Even through the drunken dog, he managed to parse the meaning behind that. In payment, however, his brain had decided to bury his entire knowledge of the English language, so all he could do was make a small noise in the back of his throat, which he smothered with a large mouthful of scotch.

Nik hadn't turned in his stool, his knees still spread wide either side of Price's, and Price wanted to shuffle a little closer. He wanted those hands back on his chest, and he wanted... Christ, he just wanted. He had wanted for a long fuckin' time.

"Here," Nik said, sliding a plate of sausages over to Price. "It will absorb some of the scotch."

"Urf, naw, can't stomach that shit..."

"Then we shall go elsewhere."

"Wot?"

"Come, captain. The sergeants left for the clubs ten minutes ago."

"They did? Bastards..."

"Da. I will get your coat."

The fresh evening air hit Price like a sledge hammer to the face, and he was pretty sure he would have fallen in the gutter without Nikolai to lean on. He was intimately aware of the strong arm around his waist, one of his hands clinging onto Nik's expensive wool coat as they staggered into the local Maccy D's for a Big Mac and chicken nugget share box.

Nik paid for it, flashing his most charming smile at the young girl behind the counter as he collected the highly decorated SAS captain from where he was clinging onto a nearby condiments bench for support, takeaway bag in hand.

They ended up sat on a bench by the Thames, dressed to the nines, Nik smelling of thousand dollar cologne as he wolfed down over-salted MacDonald's chips at Price's side, and Price couldn't stop staring at him.

Nik could be anywhere else. Anywhere. He could be partying with the wealthiest men and women in the world, walking among the elite, and yet here he was sitting in London eating shitty fast food with a drunk soldier. He chose Price every time. Every time. Price felt tears prickle at the corners of his eyes. "Nikolai..."

"Da, captain."

"I think I love you."

Nik grinned, huffing a soft chuckle. "Mmhm."

"No, no," Price swiped his beret off, which had somehow managed to cling onto his head while they had staggered through the mean streets of Westminster. "I... I'm serious. I... I love you. Have for, uh," he hiccuped, fucking hiccuped, tried to recover by puffing into his clenched fist, "...have for a while," he squeaked. Oh, fuck, was that indigestion?

Nik put his box of chicken nuggets aside and turned, arm draped over the back of the bench. He slid a gloved hand under Price's chin and turned his head up. Seconds later, they were kissing. Fucking... Nik's fucking lips were on Price's and, and...

Price hiccuped again.

Nik chuckled into his mouth, before drawing away to smooth his thumb through Price's beard. "This is not how I imagined it, but it is... somehow, right."

Price's face was bright red, he could feel it burning, and his eyes were wide. "You, uh... You..."

"For many, many years, solnyshko."

"We've... that's a... a long time." Price said softly.

"I am a patient man. And you are worth waiting for."

After that, Price didn't really recall much. The MacDonald's hit the deck and Price climbed Nikolai like a bloody tree. They ended up in his hotel room, with Nik's expensive suit and Price's (honestly, perhaps slightly less) expensive uniform on the floor. It might have gone further than boyish fumbling if Price hadn't fallen asleep face down in the pillows after saying he didn't want to take advantage of Nik in his current state. Nik had chuckled at that and laid down next to him, stroking his hair.

Price woke up in the morning with a sore head and a dry mouth, and found Nik sitting by the open window in a hotel dressing gown. "Nik, did I..."

"Nyet, captain. You were an absolute gentleman." Nik put the newspaper aside and took his glasses off, delivering the waiting pint of water and aspirin to Prices hands. "Do you... remember what you said?"

Price's cheeks reddened. "Yeah, look, I'll understand if--"

He didn't get to finish. Nik kissed him squarely on his stupid mouth, stroking a big palm through his hair. When he drew back, he hummed softly. "Drink that and then we will go to breakfast," he said, walking away. Price couldn't help but stare as the dressing gown slid down his broad back, revealing a full arse framed in black boxers. "And brush your teeth."

Price downed the water and staggered from beneath the duvet. He was ready to head down within ten minutes, desperate for a strong coffee and a greasy sarnie. Unfortunately, the rest of his task force, Los Vaqueros, Chimera, Laswell and a handful of her agents happened to be in the dining room already.

"Eyy, there he is!" Gaz called, toasting his mug of coffee.

Soap looked round, glanced at Nik and then back at Price. "Fuckin' finally."

Laswell rested her chin on her palm. "Bagged your man then, Nik. Well done."

Price blinked, squinting in the bright morning light. "So you all--"

Simon walked past, his plate heaped with bacon and eggs, and shoved a coffee into his captain's hand before patting his shoulder. "Yeah. Everyone did 'cept you."

Price looked at Nik for help, only to receive a shrug and a quirked eyebrow before Nik wandered off to the buffet.

"Bloody bastards," Price muttered, glancing at each triumphant face, thumbs up and smirk, before slumping into a nearby chair. Bloody. Bastards

[mossygirl333]

Crême Brûlée and lavender tea for Nikto please? 👁️

AN: @/cafekitsune for the wonderful dividers and low-key kinda bad ending but I've been struggling to write recently

Bakery Order: Crême Brûlée- “shhh, wouldn’t want them to hear would you?” + Lavender Tea- Somnophilia

Nikto x F!soldier!reader

TW/CW: DUBCON, slight stalking, somno, lots of whimpering, soft sleepy sex, reader is described as short-tempered, relationship spoke upon: fwb?, I've never written Abt nikto or read much fanfic for him so I did a tad bit of research so I didn't mess this up (I know he has DID from what I read? So I made him use plurals like us instead of me)

SMUT UNDER THE CUT!!

Nikto watched as you slept. It was almost a daily occurrence nowadays, sneaking into your dorm room. He couldn't exactly help himself, your lips parted, eyes shut. Head tilted back into white soft pillows, half buried in your warm blankets.

You never woke up when he watched you, desperate to reach out and touch warm skin. You'd never let him be sweet with you if you were awake. A hot-headed stubborn soldier, you didn't need kindness or warmth or love. Quick fucks in the bathroom and that was the most of your relationship.

But when you were asleep...oh how he loved you when you were asleep. The anger and tension gone, you looked young. You had such pretty features too, he just couldn't help himself.

Shifting around, you pushed the covers off of you, rolling over onto your stomach. Prone, he could work with that.

Your eyes open immediately, feeling someone on top of you. You open your mouth but it's covered by a warm hand. A memory flashed in your mind when you finally smelled him and heard his voice.

"Shh...don't want them to hear would you?" He whispers against your ear, puffs of warm air sending tingles down your spine. Resting your chin on the pillow below you, you felt your legs spread. Sleep shorts pulled down and kisses being placed on the back of your neck.

"Nik-" Your eyes flutter, bleary. Your muscles felt weak, pliable under his rough paws. Gripping and squeezing at any fat he could find.

"Let us take care of you." He interrupts. You closed your eyes, feeling his cock twitch against your bare thigh, a streak of precum left behind.

Your hands ball up, feeling his tip bump against your clit. Sliding through your folds, weak whimpers buried into the fabric.

His chest rests against your back, heavy on top of you, his hands collecting your wrists and pining them above you.

Your mouth got dry, breathing heavily as he settles into your heat, breathing you in. "You're so pretty f'me...when you sleep..."

It would've freaked you out, if he wasn't being so soft about it. So sweet. Settling into you, twitching and throbbing. Laying there so peacefully with his head tucked into your shoulder.

You whine, bucking your hips back against him, wanting some sort of friction. An ache settling between your legs.

His hands rest heavy on your hips, eyes fluttering as he lazily starts to grind, slow in and outs. Awkward pauses where he practically fell asleep. Tiny high-pitched hiccups leaving your lips, clawing slightly at the blankets. Your chest felt tight, like you couldn't get enough oxygen. Head swimming, your nose overwhelmed with the smell of him.

Eyes flutter closed as you melt into the bed, you could finish this later. He's already asleep, warm and comforted by the steady throbbing. Curled up around your form.

Soft and sweet~

[cod-dump]

This could very much be an odd idea but thoughts on Nik not trusting barbers to get his hair or beard right (the word "beard" is used loosely) so he just does it himself, straight razor and all. Eventually Price finds out about this and, being a man of duty, takes it upon himself to take care of his partner. This ends up with Price sitting on Nik's lap with all of Nik's shaving tools laid out and Price sternly telling him to "shut up and sit still" everytime he tries to make a joke about their proximity

Date Night

PriceNik

———

Nik won’t cut his hair or shave until he considers it bothersome. And when he does it’s all coming off. And Price hates it. Nik would just take it all off at once and Price wouldn’t even recognize him. They made their current arrangement years ago after Price finally had enough.

Now they had a system. Nik would tell Price when his hair and scruff would be bothering him and Price would quickly arrange a time they could sit down and he would take care of it. Nik liked to consider it date night for them because it was always so tender. The way Price would hold his face and get close? He looked forward to it ever since the first time.

He would get drinks for them (afterwards on Price’s insistence) and order in food. He would have some music lined up that would be soft, something Price liked and enjoys. Nik took date night seriously, especially since it was an opportunity to get Price to relax.

“What did you order this time? Smells amazing,” Food had gotten here sooner than expected, an error on Nik’s part. So now the delicious aroma was haunting them before Price had even started trimming his hair.

“Indian, your favorite.”

Nik made sure to go the extra mile to get food from Price’s favorite place, a whole country away. But nothing was too much for him to get something that’ll make Price’s night. Nik had one of his men go out and get it for him with the promise of giving him enough money to get himself something extra (be it food or something else entirely).

“We’re already married, you don’t have to keep trying to impressing me,” Price joked as he made sure he had everything he needed before he started on Nik’s hair.

“Nonsense, have to make sure you know you made the right choice.”

“Again with the charming.”

Price had turned away, confirming that Nik had him blushing. It was one of Nik’s favorite hobbies and one that he’s only allowed to do behind closed doors. He made Price blush once in front of the boys and that’s all they needed to torment the man for weeks on end. Price hasn’t forgiven him and sworn him from flirting in public. Nik had to play nice to get back the right to be affectionate in the common area again.

“Seeing some silver here.”

Nik almost melted when he felt his husband’s fingers touch his hair, his nails light scraping his scalp as he combed through with his fingers. Nik easily could fall asleep with Price petting his hair, but Price wasn’t allowing him and tugged a strand harshly.

“Sit up straight.”

“Bossy,” Nik teased which immediately earned him another tug. Nik sat up straight and allowed Price to comb through his hair before he started trimming.

Price was surprisingly very good with hair. Nik suspected he started when Ghost was brought home, very traumatized and unable to look himself in the mirror or go out in public. Price had taken it upon himself to help the man keep up with his appearance. Once Ghost gotten better, Price seemed to turn his new skill onto Nik.

“You would make a good living in a hair salon. Just need to get practice with color.”

Price hummed as he cut Nik’s hair, “You offering?”

“Hm, no. I might just keep the grey, remind myself how far I’ve survived.”

Price finished with his hair, now just under his ears. Price gently fluffed his hair, perhaps admiring his work or being affectionate.

“Could get some orange in there.”

Nik snorts, “Orange?”

“Maybe some purple, too.”

“I like Halloween but not that much,” Nik laughed, once again melting against Price’s touch. Price’s laugh was heavenly and Nik couldn’t stop grinning.

Price deemed Nik’s hair acceptable before he went to prepare to shave and trim the scruff on his face. Nik wasn’t as gifted in growing facial hair as Price but it still needed to be maintained to look presentable. Nik was just shaving it all off but Price had mentioned he liked it on him, so it stayed. And now Price tended to it, Nik happily letting him do whatever he wished.

Price used to stand over him to shave and trim the scruff, but they both found that the process was much easier and faster with Price on Nik’s lap.

“Keep your hands to yourself.”

Nik grinned at the warning, “I’m used to you not having so much clothing when you’re like this.”

Price smacked his head with a glare, Nik continuing to grin. Price being so close to his face, holding it and using sharp objects — It was safe to say that he was the only person Nik had ever let get this close. He was one of the only people Nik would ever trust to do this. Price knew that, Nik could tell with how he touched him. How his fingers stroked his cheek, how soft his eyes were.

Price knew how much Nik trusted him, how much he loved him. Moments like this meant so much to them. These moments allowed them to demonstrated how much they meant to the other, how much trust and love they had. Nik had closed his eyes, the ultimate sign of him allowing himself to be completely vulnerable and open to Price. It was a gift, something Price returns fully.

“There,” Price leaned back on Nik’s lap, hands on the man’s shoulders. The movement caused Nik to open his eyes, greeted by Price’s eyes which were full of love, “Much better.”

“Still has handsome as the day we met?” Nik asked, completely at Price’s mercy.

“No. Much more now than ever.”

Nik couldn’t help but laugh, quickly silenced by a kiss to his lips. The kiss was short, Price pulling away and pressing a kiss to his nose before moving up and kissing his forehead. The sweet, simple act made Nik shudder, he had never expected himself to fall so deep for someone.

“Я тебя люблю,” Nik said without thinking, a phrase he has said countless times in his life, and the majority of it was for the man currently on his lap and destroying every wall he has ever built.

“I love you, too.”

There was moment of silence, of them staring into each other’s eyes, before Price pulled away and got off Nik’s lap.

“Go clean up so we can eat. I’m starving.”

Nik laughed and did as he was told. As he strip himself of his clothes and went to shower, he couldn’t help but smile and think about how much he adores these moments.

[yarafic]

Imagine: Kol taking you to meet his family

Staring at your feet, bundle of nervous mingling in the pit of your stomach. You have never react such a way when meeting new people but knowing you are going to meet the family of your partner. That hit a nerve, when he ask you to be introduced to his family; you stood their gobsmacked with the news. You just hum to the agreement but deep inside you were mortified. What if his family doesn't like her because she is a mere human? Or what if their isn't anything captivating about her. They are just gonna find her boring.

In snail-like pace, she walks to the door as she goes to knock the door was immediately open by Kol. By seeing his face, she let out a breath that she didn't know she was holding. She quickly goes for an embrace to persuade  herself that everything is going to be fine. Kol snicker at her reaction and pulls her inside. He knew how she was feeling right now that she is meeting his family. He finds in absolutely adorable how she is freaking out.

He lowers himself to whisper in her ear, "Everything is going to be alright, darling." He leaves a peck on your temple maybe that would ease the jitters.

"Is she here already?" A voice asked, the foot steps began louder and louder indicating the person was coming closer. Y/n didn't know what to do, she moves behind Kol to hide.

"Don't be afraid, darling." Kol states, which she finds absurd that he is telling her to not be terrified that she is dating a thousand year old vampire. In an instant his sibling could and will kill her in a blink of an eye. To be scared to death is a statement that she knows down in her soul could happen, if ever dared to be annoying or disrespectful.

"Kol, Where is our guest?"

"She is right behind me dear sister." Kol moves to aside to show his sister that his lover is behind scared out of her mind. Rebekah softens seeing the state that her brother's girlfriend was in.

"Hello, I'm Rebekah but you can call me Beka." She introduces to the shy girl.

"Hi, I'm y/n... it's nice to meet you." She says softly scared to speak a little louder.

"Don't be shy, love. We will never hurt you." Rebekah tells her, Y/n reminds her of herself when she was still human. Sweet and innocent. Until her world became darker and cruel, she needed to learn and adapt so she wouldn't be this scared little girl.

Now Rebekah can defend herself from their enemies and anything that gets in the way of her and family.

Rebekah got closer to Y/n and throw her arms around to embrace her warmly hug. She felt Y/n tense underneath her but slowly found comfort in the hug. She lets her go and sees she much more relaxed.

She turns to Kol and says, "I like her already."

Kol smiles brightly from the interaction his sister and girlfriend were having. He knew they were going to be best of friends. He goes up to her to clasp her hand in his and guide her throughout the house until they arrived to go to the patio where their little dinner was going to be held at. Y/n was kind of starstruck with how beautifully decorated was the backyard. It felt like it was straight out of a Disney film, she will never get over on how breathtaking it is. Kol notice her reaction and shakes his head softly, guides to the table.

"Ah! Our guest has arrived." Klaus announces excitedly, he wants to see the woman that has made his brother carefree. He would like to thank her for loving his unconditionally. He knows how difficult and stubborn his dear brother can be.

Y/n turns around to see Kol's brother approaching them, she was stun to see that his brother is as well attractive. She wonders were this family blessed to look this drop dead gorgeous.

"Hello love, I'm Klaus but you can call me Nik." He says, he shakes her hand. He could tell how nervous she is. It made him smile softly, he knows Kol admired those type of woman with sharp tongues and confidence that are killer. But what made him fall in love with a girl who is this shy of a mouse. That truly did intrigue him so much.

"It's so nice to meet you! I'm Y/n." She greets him, now with a new found confidence. Her in mind she was thanking Rebekah, who have gave her the reassurance that everything was going to be alright. Yet again, she was thankful that she met her first then others. Rebekah and Kol stood there still weirded out the interaction that was taking place. Mostly,  of their brother, Klaus. He has never allowed anyone call him, Nik. Only his siblings. Which this whole situation is all out of character for their brother.

"Come on, darling. Let's go and sit. We have to wait for my other two siblings." Kol says to her as he guides her to the table.

Y/n sits down and looks at Kol, then says, "How many siblings do you have?"

"I have seven siblings but two of them have fallen." He replies to her while leaning in to give her a kiss on the cheek.

"Seven!" She exclaims.

"I admire that's all the information she took in." Klaus replies to Kol. Kol shook his head while laughing, he couldn't deny how adorable you look at this very moment. He can say that he is quite lucky to have found someone like you. You are the light to brighten up his darkest of days. The reason why he fought to change himself to be a better man because you made him want to change. You are the reason why he wants to exist in this pathetic world.

"We truly apologize for arriving late." A man in a suit said, while behind him stood two women. One of those women is holding cute baby... y/n heart swell when she saw the small child. Kol look at her and smiled sadly. Knowing that he will never be able to give the children she would desire to have. Y/n looks up toward Kol and saw the frown on his face, she gently pecks his cheek. He looks down at her and kisses her forehead, she whispers to him softly, " I am amazed."

"Why?" He whispers back to her. He got curious as to why she was amazed, they haven't done anything out of the extraordinary nor have they began chatting among with his family.

"How come everyone is so fucking attractive. I feel like it a crime." She whispers back.

Laughter was heard around them, they both look up to them staring Y/n; she shyly look down.

"Don't fret, love. I always have been told I was a god." Klaus replied, everyone knew his ego.

"Yes, dear brother. They have called you a god of short temper." The one in the suit says back to his brother.

Which everyone laughs, Klaus rolls his eyes at everyone. Y/n

"How rude of me! Hello, I'm Elijah." He says as he extends out his hand for a shake. Timidly shakes his hand and smiles softly, she waves at the two ladies.

"These three are Freya, Hayley and lastly, the baby is Hope." He says, as he gestures at them. The women smile softly, Hayley walks toward Klaus and hands him Hope. Hope giggles in the arms of Klaus, Y/n understood right there that Hope is his child. She did a small cutesy wave to Hope.

"Do you want to hold her, little dove." Klaus ask her, with a brow raised.

Y/n leans her head to the side, curious as to why he calls her little dove. She looks at the face of everyone at the table and they all had the same face. They were all confuse with the fact he gave her a nickname.

"Why little dove?" She asks.

"Because among all of us, you are the purest. Dove are a symbol of purity." Klaus states, as he hands hope to her. She gently embraces Hope into her arms, she began making funny faces.

"Now, let's begin." Freya announces, as she gestures for the waiter to begin bring out the food.

"Where is Y/n?" The older brother of Kol asked, they had a lovely time getting to know her. They truly believe, not only them believe that Y/n change him for the better. Klaus knew that having her around will also bring his family a little closer to humanity.

"She is upstairs, we were thinking about watching a film." Kol replies, he knew that Elijah and his two sisters approve of their relationship. He was ecstatic to hear the news but he was entirely scared of what Klaus would think. He demand to know his brother impression about their entanglement.

"I can say little brother that you have found the one. I hope you keep in mind to cherish her forever." Klaus adds, he places his hand on his shoulder to assure him that it is alright. He has to not worry of any aggressions he might do. Meeting the human girl, he felt as she was like another sister. He vowed to himself that he will help Kol protect her from the harms that come from being involve in this family.

_____

"What did you think about my family?" Kol asks.

"What do I think about them, it's more likely what do they think about me?" She says dramatically, as she points at herself. Throughout the whole dinner she kept on worry with the fact she would mistakes or embarrass herself. Which she is great on doing so, Kol laughs at her and shakes his head; he leaves her there on the bed so he can go get the remote.

"Stop laughing at me!"She shouts while tugging on her hair. She across her on top of her chest and pouts she hates it when he never takes her seriously. Kol jumps back on bed and pulls her to him, he cups her face with her hands to place a soft kiss on her plump red lips. He can never get enough from kissing her, every kiss felt it was the first.

"Don't worry. I know for a fact they love you."

[brokenpieces-72]

Older arctic fox reader, a good friend of Nikolai's, helps the 141 with a mission in Russian territory, and meeting our little wendigo as well.

Do what you want with this.

The reader is male, since I don’t usually do male readers. I’m definitely not imagining this guy looking like the anime KFC guy with fox ears and a bomber jacket…definitely not. Also lets access a different branch of the military with Special Investigations unit.

Fäks

You and Nik go back, and pretty far back. You served together in Russia and when he started working more “freelance” you got him whatever he needed to get whatever he needed. How did you two meet well funny story…he flirted with you. In his defence this was some time ago. Nik wasn't exactly sober either. Your hair was longer then and your body shape was slimmer than most. You’d been called beautiful by more than a few men before they noticed you were male. You started hitting on him back to see if he would pick up on your masculinity, before just asking Nik if he had figured it out yet. Nikolai saying you were very foxy for man is what cemented your relationship.

Nik didn’t tell you everything, but he kept in touch even after you parted ways. When a mission came up, and your commanding officer told you to stand down or to let it go, you reached out to Nik. Off the record wasn't uncommon for you, to the point you'd acquired a few safehouses for your own safety. You contacted Nik to see if you could get some help with your business trip, and he could deliver. When he told you the hybrids he could invite to your vacation home, your tail flicked. A wendigo, a dragon, a werewolf. You had to keep the list a little short but Nik wasn't about to just chauffer.

You stood outside the small base as the chopper landed, a smile on your face, under your scarf. Ice flecks whipped up around you, forcing you to raise your arm to protect your eyes. You didn’t approach until the rotors stopped. The rest shuffled out while Nik wasted no time coming to greet you.

“My brother.” Nik said, clasping your hand and providing a bear hug, which you return with a grin.

“Good to see you again comrade. This must be your friends.” You said, turning your attention to the newcomers.

“Captain.” Nikolai said, inviting Price over. “Meet Fäks. A good friend of mine.”

The dragon hybrid came over and shook your hand. He was bloody big, his horns making it difficult to keep a beanie on his head. You smiled, regardless of being a little intimidated.

“Welcome to Russia captain. It’s a pleasure.” You says.

“Pleasure is mine, Private Fäks.” Price said, nodding. All business this one. You were introduced to each one as friends. If there was a human who could bring hybrids together, it was Nik. Sure any human could arrange a meeting but Nik was special, looking past the hybrid while showing respect to it as well. As the soldiers filed out you noted each one. Gaz came up behind Price, shaking your hand in respect. Another human, Rudy greeted you next before going with Gaz towards the safe house. The final two exited the helicopter. A werewolf with his tail sticking out, saying to call him Soap. Behind him was a smaller soldier, with antlers and rabbit ears, calling herself Spirit. As the wolf and jackelope hurried inside, you took note of how Spirit was tagging along after Soap.

“Recruiting rather young.” You commented. Price nodded, his expression tells you it wasn't exactly his idea.

"Those two are a vision in the field." Price assured you. You looked forward to it.

Once inside and rooms sorted you wandered about, being as good of a host as you could. Nik would be sticking around to assist with extraction for this mission. You hadn’t gotten a chance to see the men with their jackets, scarves and toques off. The next day would be plenty of planning and decision making, figuring out how to break into a facility that was extracting various illegal materials and bi products from hybrids. This was a little personal for you, as you’d nearly had your own tail cut off or someone shave it for some sick mink.

There is a small lounge that could pass as a living room and you see the men have made themselves at home. You smiled reclining in a seat and immediately being asked by the harpy, about how you and Nik met. Nik loudly groaned, and buried his face in his hands, as you leaned forward ready to embarrass the shit out of him. Kyle already had a grin on his face.

“I was minding my own business whe-how old are you?” You said, interrupting yourself when Spirit walked in. She had a book in her hands, eyes wide like a deer in headlights.

“Uh…haven’t looked.” Spirit said. You looked at Nik.

“Not my idea.” Nik said shrugging.

“Apologies malen'kiy. Not used to such a young soldier.” You said. Didn’t mean to startle her.

“Come in Spirit, you’ll want to hear this story.” Gaz called to her. Spirit’s eyes went from wide to bright as she hurried to sit with Kyle. It’s cute how cozy she looked, with Gaz letting her snuggle up. Reminded you of someone else. You needed to focus on what was before you. Mission first, personal stuff later.

“Where was I…right I had a drink. Was enjoying some water, when Nik comes up and sits down like any old stranger.” You continued.

Originally Nik sent you a few files for the mission, since you would be leading it. Turns out he neglected to tell you what the wendigo was supposed to be. You were expecting a lanky humanoid, and when you were planning the mission that image remained.

“Wall here is pretty weak. I can find a hole nearby I’m sure.” You suggested when going over the plans. You looked up at Soap. “Unless a werewolf can?”

“I could do it.” Spirit suggested. “Wait, how much do I need to break it?”

You stood there for a moment, and looked up at the team. None of them said anything. The little jackalope just gave an expectant look. Were you missing something? You decided to take her at her word, but breaking the wall wasn't exactly what you were going for.

“On the other side is a lab. Not sure what’s in it but based on some of the cargo and shipments I’ve seen going in and out there’s a chance of explosives.” You continued.

“Door access might be easier.” Price suggested. Spirit looked a little disappointed.

“My thoughts as well.” You said.

“So breaking in from the outside is a no go?” Kyle asked. Certainly seemed more risky. So far breaking in with what access points you could reach would be more complicated with others but you couldn’t do this mission alone.

“I hate to suggest it, but could we slip in undetected?” Price asked. You considered that but didn’t like the idea.

“It would involve cages, some good acting, and a prayer.” You said. “Nik could drive a vehicle in with us in the back as cargo but the downside is we would need to either be drugged or knocked out. They won’t take “subjects” that are too active, and don’t want anyone knowing their way around in or out of the facility. Every stake out, all I could hear was breathing, no calls or cries. Overheard some drivers talkings about it with the guards.”

“Can we play dead?” Spirit suggested before looking at Soap. “No offence.”

Kyle snickered at Soap’s rolling eyes. You continued, “No, they test to ensure the hybrids are drugged. Guards will enter the truck for inspection before any of them go through.”

The young soldier seemed to shift from foot to foot. You could hear her heart picking up. When Soap put an arm over her shoulders she seemed to relax. The thought of cages made you a little uneasy as well, but it was easiest way.

“I don’t mean to devalue anyone, I have great respect for your work truly, but is bringing someone so young along a good idea?” You asked aloud.

“I’ll be fine.” Spirit said. You could hear her let out a huff, eyes firmly on the map. A strong malen’kiy.

Day before the mission you found yourself in the living space again, with Spirit sitting and drawing in her sketchbook. You had brought a sort of peace offering in the form of a muffin. She accepted it politely.

“Apologies for any offence I may have given you. It was not my intention.” You said. Spirit looked up a friendly expression on her face.

“I wasn’t offended.” Spirit said. You nodded and sat down, eyeing what she was working on. An arctic fox.

“Nik tells me you are a part of a program?” You asked. She nodded but fidgeted a bit. “Bad memories?”

“A bit.” She said, more focused on the sketch. You smiled.

“Do you need me to pose?” You teased. She looked at you smiling and shaking her head.

“I noticed you looking uneasy. While we were briefing.” You asked. When cages were brought up Spirit seemed to shift from foot to foot. Rudy would be a driver, along with Nikolai. You, Spirit, Price and Soap would be in cages and drugged. Gaz would provide overwatch. “If you don’t feel comfortable, you could always go in a cage with someone else, if it makes you feel safe.”

“You’re sure the drugs will be a lower dose?” She asked. You checked and double checked almost every hour, the doses were specific and precise, so they’d wake when they needed to, and wouldn’t be out any longer. You put a hand over your heart looking the young hybrid in the eyes.

“On my honour."

The truck is chilly but cold doesn’t bother you, nor does it bother Soap. Spirit had opted for staying in the same cage as Price who seemed a little chilly. Before the doses were administered, she curled up closer. Spirit insisted on having her poncho. Soap was also adamant on this.

“You have a little comrade captain.” You commented. Price nodded while Spirit gave a proud and smug look.

“Always.” Price said, his wing covering Spirit. You hear a small laugh, and quiet words from Price. Gaz went to each of you, injecting the dose. It would put you all to sleep. When you woke it was go time. You and Soap would be in one part of the lab, while Spirit and Price would be in another. Horns and antlers were valuable, as were scales. Furs had value but only so much. You notice Spirit getting nervous, can hear her breathing becoming unsteady. Price was there to keep her calm.

“You got this milan’kiy.” You told her. The needle goes in, she winced and then leaned back against Price. Price adjusted her to keep her from falling before Nik injected him. Soap was fidgeting in his own box as Rudy put the needle in him next.

Then it was your turn…and you…fall……asleep.

When you awoke you were close by to Soap who was already assessing the cage. He was focused, and ready. There was an extraction team on the way, but getting the other hybrids to safety was top priority. You started to pick the lock when you heard the horrible screech of bending metal. Soap was half shifted.

“That works.” You said and hurried out leading him to some more cages to assess the situation and get some files. Import records, profiles, transactions, whatever you could do to get to the root. You lift blankets on cages to check and see plenty of younger hybrids. The program was about to have a long week. Soap was getting the security system turned off. You were a “late shipment” which meant you had some time. No one would come to assess you for testing or anything like that which made for a perfect opportunity to get as many out as you could.

“How are those cameras?” You asked.

“What cameras?” Soap responded. You gave him a chuckle as he joined you, peeking under a blanket. Another fox hybrid, shivering, and looking newly shaved. Seeing soap, fhe fox cowered. Soap backed off, as you hushed the young kid.

“Не волнуйся. Мы здесь, чтобы помочь вам. Просто держись крепче.” You said. The kid nodded, eyes a little brighter. The blanket goes back down, and you stand up.

“Aye, Fäks. Found some shipments.” Soap called over. You came up to him, seeing the crates with smaller containers. The labels were going to a few high end companies. Disgusting, all of it. There was a barking sound. The two of them turned and saw the white Cadejo. Rudy had returned, which meant the guards wouldn’t be an issue. Soap got to the door and knocked, getting a response from Rudy immediately and letting him in.

"Find everything?" He asked.

"Downloading now." You informed him seeing the loading bar come up. Of course their tech was old and slow.

"Nikolai is on the other end." Rudy mentioned standing next to you, to see the progress himself.

"How is fairing?" You asked. There was a loud bang which told you something wasn't going right.

"Soap, Rudy, stay here." You instructed immediately. If there was one thing you didn't like it was sitting and waiting, and right now there was a chance a good friend of yours was in danger. You don't wait for their response as you leave the room and see a couple guys in lab coats rushing out. You drew a knife from your boot, shanking them both with quick and simple agility. You can hear odd noises and when you get the chance to look inside, you see Spirit's wendigo form, roaring and growling at whatever guards decided to poke her with a stick. Or cattle prod. Clearly they'd taken her out of the cage, intending to do some last minute assessment or maybe to get her antlers off. Price was taking out any guards that tried to go for him while Spirit tried clawing at them. Nik still had a weapon from his disguise, firing from whatever cover he could find from the tables and empty cages.

You don't hesitate to get more primtive, your blade doing only so much when it comes to armoured gear. You claw and bite, yes you have teeth, and you aren't afraid to dive into smaller space to remove anyone wanting to use the element of surprise. Thankfully, the fighting doesn't last long and you don't have too much blood in your mouth.

"Anyone broken?" Price called, taking a moment to catch his breath.

"Good here." You said.

"Fine here captain." Nik called, as you gave him a hand up.

Spirit made a cooing sound, shuffling from foot to foot. You approached her and she looked down at you tilting her head. A jackelope wendigo hybrid. Certainly a new one. Seeing the scraps of her clothes, you understand why she wore the poncho. Spirit shifted back to her more human state, retrieving a weapon from one of the guards. Still seemed a little shaken, but ready and at attention.

"Files should be finishing up. We have plenty of hybrids to extract." You said.

"Let get to it." Price said.

Plenty of reports and paperwork to write and sign for this side mission. The hybrids were either put into a program like Spirit's or were waiting for their family to retrieve them. You checked up on Nikolai, and as always he was still holding strong. After completing your last signature for the day, you got up to go find him. Knowing him, he'd likely have a drink, and you could use one.

"Figured you'd need one." Nik said, offering you a poured glass. As always, he'd thought of everything. You took off your jacket, letting it rest on your shoulders as you sat with him at the table. "Long day."

"Indeed." You said taking a long sip. The two of you nursed your glasses.

"How are you?" Nik asked you.

"That's your best pick-up line?" You asked, recalling the night you two had met. Nik laughed. "I'll be fine."

"You see your little one at all these days?" He asked.

"I avoid it." You admitted. Nik shook his head, pouring you another.

"You should see them. Wait a little, but go see them." Nik said. You could never turn him down. Even when you two first met. He was right though. You should go see your little one. Spirit had reminded you of them, and they deserved to have you around even if you didn't think so.

"I will. They're still reading, and I've started doing it too. Plenty to talk about I'm sure." You said. Nik nodded, and you spent the rest of the evening, catching up, inviting the others to join, and remembering the good times.

Taglist: @yourlovely-moon @kaoyamamegami @h0n3y-l3m0n05 @sans-chara @1mommyrose4ever29 @smitten-haematite-quartz @talia-the-gemini @yuki2129 @whitetiger846 @graystorm444 @chibiduck @reaperxxxxzz @danielle143 @sobbingnshtting @cringeycookies @cryingpages @dcnocap207 @reaper-chan666 @bestbookfriends @thriving-n-jiving

[nrdmssgs]

Constellation

Masterlist Fluff mostly Pairing: PriceXReaderXNikolai Summary: Cuddles and make out session. AN: My periods wrote this.

“It's alright.” Johns fingers graze lightly down your shoulder.

“We are fine. We are here, together. You are safe, little star.” Nik's warm breath tickles the back of your neck.

But you can't stop the tears. A wet spot on Price's pillow grows wider under your cheek. John cups your face and guides you to look up at him. His gaze meets your tired red eyes and he sighs ruefully. John brings you closer in kisses your forehead, glancing at Nikolai.

There are many things in your decade long friendship that could have made others uncomfortable in your place. Others, but not you, John and Nikolai. You wouldn't let anything ruin the most treasured thing you have - this friendship. So forehead kisses are fine, ‘this reminds me of you’ photos of beautiful things are fine, dancing in the kitchen while you three are cooking is fine. Letters, that you receive from them from all over the world, ‘just because’ flowers, surprise hugs from behind - it's all fine. These things won't ever hurt your friendship. 

Even falling for both of them slowly and inevitably won't do so. As long as you keep it to yourself. Which is not the easiest thing to hide, when you find out, John came back from a deployment injured.

A friend might have made sure, Price is actually doing fine and just needs a few days of bed rest, and visited him with a care package. A girl, who was desperately in love, came to him as soon as her working day was over and cried ugly, curled up next to him. You started calming down only when Nikolai came, climbed on his friend's bed and scooped you in a tight hug.

And so you three are lying: Nik's arms around your waist, your face in Price's hands. Time to time, one of them half whispers something soft to you. And with each ‘we are fine’, ‘you are safe’, ‘It's going to be alright’ you return to normal little by little. 

It's their voices working their magic on you. Husky, low, rich and warm tones. If only these men knew, what can they do to you just with a short whisper. Sure they calm you down now, but they can drive you crazy as well, lead your mind to the places, you're too ashamed to acknowledge.

John wipes away your tears with his wide warm thumbs, Nikolai hums a melody over your ear. You remember it vaguely. Something in Russian. Something about a star, that he begs to shine on no matter what. It's not a lullaby, but always brings you peace and he remembers it.

They distract you: telling you little silly stories about their deployments, arguing, jokingly grumbling at each other. You even start laughing. Then Nikolai brings tea for you and meds for John. Price immediately puts on his most suffering and dissatisfied expression, and you with Nik barely hold back the laughter.

You try a good dozen of ways to convince Price to behave like a grown up and just swallow all his pills finally. Everything from plain flattery to threats is thrown at the grumpy man. And then you resort to bargaining.

“Eat your meds now, and I will kiss you.” You laugh. Nikolai chuckles. 

But John looks serious.

He scoops all the remaining meds and throws them into his mouth, topping it up with the remaining water. All not breaking an eye contact with you. 

“Done.” After one Price's word, the room falls silent. 

It's only then, when your own word sink in. You promised him what once again? Unable to bear his gaze, you hide your eyes, looking down his wide neck, to the concave, the point, where the outlines of his muscular chest begin to show. 

This neck is made for grabbing onto it in search for a stabilizing point, while this man is…

Your face is burning. It's hot, suffocating hot in here. Not just because the man, you've been dreaming to kiss, waits for your touch, but also because the other man, you've been dreaming to kiss is burning your back with his gaze. 

John doesn't move closer, since the distance between you two is already almost non-existent. He would never force you. But he doesn't move away either. 

And your wildest hopes and dreams are screaming, that's because he wants this. But you would rather die than do anything stupid and lose Johns and Nikolai's friendship.

You stretch your arm and touch his cheek, moving to his eye level. It's not that easy, giving the fact, that you have to balance on a pile of soft bed covers between two men, pushing the mattress down to both sides around you just with their weight. 

You frantically plan how to turn this all into a joke, when you feel it. Very soft, but absolutely intentional. A push right between your shoulder blades. You lose your balance and fall forward.

The world around you cuts out, when your lips meet. First you feel his warmth engulfing and penetrating you at the same time. Then you hear him breathing you in. You don't move - it is enough for you just lay like this next to him, lips pressed to his as he takes another deep breath in, steadying himself. 

You drown in a mix of scents: Johns aftershave, a hint of Niks cologne, cigar smoke and a light musk, almost disappearing, but still daring, seducing. It takes you some time to force yourself to move back. Not far - just a few centimeters, so that when John speaks again - his hot breath rolls down your lips.

“Wait.” John's hands gather your small frame and bring you back.

The second kiss is so much more. There is a lot of holding back, but behind it all you feel a need, a borderline desperation in every motion. Every time his lips catch yours in another intoxicating touch - you feel a promise.

A promise of so much more to come, if you just let him closer, if you trust him enough. But when his tongue leaves a short warm wet trail between your lips - you forget even about the promises, his body gives you. John Price doesn't taste like a black tea, smoke and meds - he tastes like the end of you. And such a beverage is better savored in little sips, so it doesn't go out in a second.

You make an incredible effort to stifle the groan that is tearing out. Your breathing is labored, your cheeks are burning with heat. But all that matters right now: John's lips on yours, his hands pulling you closer by your waist... and another hand gently brushing the hair off your shoulder, exposing the back of your neck.

This feeling paralyzes you, like a lightning, rolling down your spine, echoing in every single nerve. Nikolai. The one to turn you into an absolute mess with just one touch. You are afraid to admit, how good his touch feels, when you're kissing John. It simultaneously soothes and provokes you. John touches your lips once again, and you open your mouth wide enough to let his tongue slip deeper.

This time you both can't hold back your quiet moan and his velvety growl. But your mind slowly comes back to the point, where you can draw a connection between kissing one of your best friends and losing both of your best friends.

You pull away. Panting, you manage to muster only one word. For John, for Nikolai, for yourself.

“I'm sorry.”

“What's wrong, little star?” Nik presses his broad chest against your back, and you immediately feel small and helpless.

“We overstepped?” John lets go of your waist, giving you full freedom of movement.

Did he just say ‘we’?

You look him in the eyes, the most beautiful blue eyes, the universe could ever create, and feel so deeply ashamed, it makes you want to die right here and now. You love John, deeply and dearly, but…

“Talk to me, little star.” 

There it is. The “but”. It's not Nikolai's fault, you love him as madly as John. There must be something wrong with you, because this kiss, you've been dreaming of for so long, still feels incomplete. And it won't feel complete until you feel Niks lips just as you felt Johns.

“I'm sorry, I should have…” You can't even muster a coherent answer as you feel a heavy lump, coming up your throat and stinging your eyes. You can't even explain to them, how deeply fucked are you.

 “No-no-no, what's with the horrified eyes, zvezdochka*?” Nikolai cups your face gently, and you turn fully to him. “No, don't worry. You see, John is already much better. I think, he will take his meds religiously from now on. Don't you, Price?”

“I will.” John's voice is still breathy and gruff.

“I just… Can we forget-”

Nik cuts you off by planting a soft, caring kiss on your forehead. He had this habit of kissing your face innocently for ages, but right now his touch means so much more than ever before.

Forgiveness. Maybe even approval.

He doesn't move away, and you hide in a shadow under his chin.

“Talk to me, little star. What brought you down? What made you cut off such a beautiful kiss?”

You feel Nikolais deep voice reverberating in his chest, you relax under Johns palm, resting on your back. And then you find a courage to speak.

“I didn't want you to feel left out. This must sound disgusting, it's so complicated to tell it in a way, it would sound  normal.”

“Mind if I help you?” You feel his lips forming every syllable as he still presses them against your skin. 

You nod and feel his smile.

His lips travel down your left cheek, leaving a trail of feather kisses. You didn't even think, that this man can be so tender. You close your eyes, letting him take away all your doubts one by one.

There's only his breath hitching with little chuckles between the kisses, the cradle of his palms, bringing you closer, the comfort of his voice, when his lips hover over yours.

“May I kiss you?”

You're too deep in the embrace of his grace to remember, that it's supposed to be wrong. Another nod, a subtle one, but it's enough. Nikolai doesn't just kiss - he tastes, explores your lips, while the easy caress of his fingers is mapping over the places where you’re tense and knotted. Every touch is intoxicating, it lures you even further until you give in and relax completely. Your hand snakes to the back of his head, fingers drown in his dark hair, and Nikolai purrs into your mouth. He's so attentive to your desires, that he parts his lips right away, when he feels the touch of your tongue.

Go on. Try him. Have him the way you wanted for so long.

As you indulge yourself in this lasting kiss, a wave of heat awakes on the back oh your shoulder and runs in every direction of your body. John was so quiet, so soft, that you didn't even notice him, until he tugged the collar of your shirt down and placed a long kiss against your exposed skin.

But when you realize what is happening, your brain refuses to keep functioning. You're trapped between their warm figures dwarfing your body, but you feel free for the first time around them. You catch John's head blindly in a silent plead to not leave you and to your joy, he only closes the gap between you two. You feel lightheaded as their lips leave wet trails on your face, neck and shoulders. 

“A wildly beautiful little star. So gentle, so generous for us.” You practically feel Nikolai's content smile before he nips your skin lightly, drawing a sharp inhale from you.

“I don't want to leave this bed. Ever.” John's husky rumble echoes inside your chest.

Each time you turn your head to either of them and your lips meet yet again - you hear their low hums, growing into nearly moans. They don't mind sharing. Quite the opposite, to be precise: they welcome the idea. But each of them is just so hungry for more of you - their voices give them away. 

“You smell bloody delicious, darling.” Price's beard tingles your jaw, as he speaks.

“You taste delicious,” tops up Nikolai.

As if their lips weren't enough to drive you to the edge - their hands become more demanding with every next little squeeze, every brush of fingertips against the exposed skin. You barely control yourself, trying to hold on to both of them. But they make sure, you're being taken care off carried away from the world in their arms. 

It feels so good - it's almost too much. You can't even remember yourself, when a long moan escapes you. And they both stop. Still holding you gently, still stroking your hair, they both give time and space to find yourself in this very moment. But instead of that, your mind in being swarmed with a million of questions immediately.

Do they hate you now? Think you're insane? Is this the end of your friendship?

“I need to stop.” You freeze in horror, thinking that they will let go of you right there.

But they don't. They still hold you, just don't try to kiss you again.

“I'm sorry, I-”

“Don't be.” John brushes a strand of hair from your forehead.

“Little star is absolutely right to put this on pause, John. We need to take things slow, if we don't want to fuck any of this up.” Nikolai looks from Price back to you and smiles. “Both me and John been waiting for a long time, zvezdochka. Seems like forever. Just for a single touch. For a single minute spent this close.”

You turn to John with eyes full of disbelief. And he speaks to you.

“A last thing, I would want, is to rush into this, and push, and… bloody lose this.” He runs his fingers down your cheekbone and touches the very corner of your shy smile. “So how about we call this a goodnight kiss? You can stay here, I'll go crash on a couch.”

“Or I can drive you home, if you feel like you need time alone to let things settle in, little one,” adds Nik, pressing you against his chest.

You freeze in uncertainty for a moment. And then a question emerges from the deepest layers of your uncertainty.

“Was it a good kiss?”

Price smiles, bringing his face once again closer to yours. 

“The first thing I do tomorrow - I write Nikolai, asking if today wasn't my feverish dream. That's how good it was. Then we will start to figure out, how to ask you for a date. Not a friend date - a real one. I will be eating my meds like a happy idiot, smiling to the memory of you here. And I will count hours to that date, should you say yes. That's how good it was.”

You close your eyes to his lips touching against your cheeks.

Later that evening Nik will drive you home and you will ask him, if hes not disappointed by everything, that happened, or not happened.

“Disappointed?” He will chuckle. “I've had the best nights I have had in… cant remember, how long.”

He will keep things sweet and relatively soft on your threshold: just a few lingering, but not too long kisses.

“Give us just a little time, my star, let us believe in our own luck, realise, that you do indeed want the same thing as we two - and we will take you on the best date, you ever had.”

*zvezdochka - little star

[corpsebasil]

Modern Prince Nikolai Part Fouuuur

Warnings: smut anyways

The trip couldn’t come soon enough, and the first day was a nightmare.

Nikolai had picked you up, as promised, and you spent the uncomfortable ride to the airport together with small-talk and updates on what the both of you had been doing since your breakup. For Nikolai, lots of meetings, travel, and work on his graduate school degree. For you…mostly nothing.

Lovely.

Thank God for Oliver and Jenna, though. They’d met the two of you at the private airport and had spent the entire time talking your ear off, forcing you to play card games and drink way too much champagne. For a few hours it had felt like old times. When it was time for bed and you’d curled up in the luxurious area on the plane, it’d felt like so many flights before with the royals around you.

And as you’d closed your eyes, the bed across from yours being Nikolai’s, you could’ve sworn he’d been watching you before you’d fallen asleep.

-

The moment you’d landed Hell had broken loose. Nikolai’s mother embarrassed everyone involved by apologizing profusely for the entire scandal and, with teary eyes, swore she saw you as a second daughter. It had taken everything in you not to cry as you forced a smile, Nikolai reaching out to press a reassuring hand to the small of your back before he thought better of it.

He hadn’t touched you since the cafe.

That night there was an excruciating dinner where Oliver’s friends had asked questions about the, as they referred to it, ‘Commoner Dating Thing’. The drunker they’d gotten the worse they were until Oliver, drunk himself, threatened to personally hang the next person who brought up your relationship.

You’d loved Oliver more than ever before in that moment.

Nikolai, though, had offered to take you home alone in his private car that night. You, feeling humiliated and exhausted, accepted.

“I’m sorry.” He’d whispered, head tipped close to yours as the car drives silently towards your hotel. You could only imagine how Olly’s limo looked then; there was a stripper pole and way too many bottles of champagne—as is usual for Lantsovs—inside of it the last time you saw it. “I’m sorry for them.”

You sighed, leaning your temple against his on instinct as you drove along. Somehow—you weren’t sure when—his hand had ended up on your knee. His thumb was caressing the joint leisurely, his lips brushing your ear as he spoke.

“They’re idiots.” He said, thumb stroking a bit higher up your thigh. “They don’t know what they’re talking about.”

“People wonder, Nik.” You said back, your eyes finding his in the near blackness of the tinted car. “People are always going to talk about what you did.”

“I know, I know.” Nikolai sighed, reaching up to tuck your hair behind your ear. His fingers lingered, threading the stands through the digits. “But I’m going to have to get you to forgive me.”

You laughed, only half amused, and shook your head.

“Nikolai, I don’t—”

“Forgive me.” He murmured, voice warm and sweet as honey. “Love me again, Y/N.”

His hand slid to the back of your neck and tilted your face up to his, eyes scanning yours for permission. When you only stared back, slightly breathless, he made a small noise of relief and pressed his mouth to yours.

Your heart dropped into your stomach.

Oh, You.

“Y/N,” he sighed, kissing you deeper as his fingers tightened. Nikolai, your mind echoed. Nikolai, Nikolai, Nikolai.

His lips were warm and soft, roving over yours with a gentleness you hadn’t expected. He was taking his time, his tongue sliding carefully against your own as your eyes practically rolled back into your head. Making another small sound he tugged your leg up over his, his other hand darting to your seatbelt. With a click you were pulled onto him, your thighs sliding around his as he yanked you even closer, fingers digging into your skin.

“Mmm..” you hummed into his mouth, his hands sliding up under your shirt to feel along your ribcage, his warm palms seeking the underside of your breasts. “Nik—”

“Ssshh.” He murmured, thumbs gliding over your nipples as you gasped, clutching the front of his t-shirt.

Oh.

As you gripped him his left hand traveled south, his mouth finding yours again as he dipped his fingers below the hem of your leggings. At the first stroke of his fingers against your clothed center you jolted, a small groan leaving Nikolai as he felt how damp you already were for him.

“Let me touch you.” He begged, thumb pressing hard against your clit and circling the lace hiding it from him. You moaned involuntarily, lips moving to his neck. “Please, I—”

Was that a fucking cough in the background?

At the same time you both turned your heads to glance at the tinted partition between yourselves and the driver; when that had been rolled up, you couldn’t recall. Embarrassed and pink in the face you turned back to Nikolai, another sharp gasp leaving you when he ducked his head to suck one nipple between his lips.

“Stop.” You warned, red and breathless as you climbed off, buckling yourself back up. “Control yourself.”

“I cant around you.”

Despite yourself you’d smiled, crossing your arms over your chest as you caught your breath.

Y/N: Good lord

Sorry guys I couldn’t wait any longer

[roosterr]

guardian angel ✹ ch 1

note: as promised, here it is!! inspired of course by the wonderful @sofasoap and their lastochka series, which is the entire reason i'm kinda obsessed with nik now tbh. this fic came to me in a vision from god, this might be the fastest i've ever written anything. anyways enjoy and i hope i can indoctrinate a few more people into the loving nik cult

pairing: nikolai x gn!reader

word count: 3.6k

no use of y/n, no description of reader

readers callsign in kilo '0-9'

summary: after a headache of a mission, being shot at by your ride isn't quite the picture perfect ending you had in mind; but hiding out in the desert with him, now that's something you can get behind

warnings: descriptions of injuries, canon-typical violence, fluff, soft nik, minor character death, my poor duolingo knowledge of russian, nik relentlessly flirting with you, reader being a little bit of a mess

ao3

[two]

your breathing was ragged, blood rushing hot in your ears and every sense on high alert. the ground felt like it might slide from under you, built up exhaustion of the last few days weighing heavily on your overworked mind. being stranded in less than friendly territory with no solid idea of when help was coming – if at all – had done a serious number on your composure; but it was so close to being over, the exfil site was up ahead, the tall office-looking building was within your sights now. all you had to do was make it to the roof and you'd be home free.

you weren't even sure if you were still being tailed, the frantic beating of your heart drowning out any noise from around you. though considering you hadn't been shot at in quite some time, you had to assume you'd lost your assailants at some point during your escape. your hand was beginning to ache from the iron grip you have on your gun, but you don't dare holster it – your guard wouldn't be down until you were safely within the walls of your own base, whenever that may be.

you skid to a stop just before the glass doors of the building, pressing yourself to the wall and slowly peeking around the corner. you don't see anyone inside, so you carefully push through the door and step inside, letting it click shut behind you.

you're just about to head for the entrance to the stairway along the back wall, when from the corner of your eye something grabs your attention; the short, almost undetectable glint of sunlight reflecting off metal, just slightly poking out from around the corner.

your heart misses a beat, eyes widening in the fraction of a second it takes you to throw yourself to the floor, narrowly missing the bullet that whizzes past and shatters the glass behind you. the shards rain down on your back and the ground, digging into your palms as you push yourself to crouch and point your gun in the direction the shot came from. whoever was there had disappeared around the corner again, bringing a frown to your face.

"you gonna fight me like a man, or stay hiding over there all day?" you taunt, masking the tiredness in your voice with aggression. or at least that's what you try to do; you're not sure how believable it is paired with the undeniable shake in your hands. you see a few drops of blood fall from them, silently cursing yourself for acting so carelessly. you could feel the tiny shards under your skin as you tighten your grip around your weapon, never once taking your eyes off where you'd seen the gun.

"those are fighting words, 0-9," a voice breaks the silence, deep and heavily accented. you narrowed your eyes – he sounded very russian, exactly like the people you'd been running from for the last three days.

"how do you know me?" you demand, your overworked muscles aching from where you were crouching. you hear footsteps, tensing your arms again, and the mystery shooter sidesteps into your view, his arms raised next to his head and gun firmly in its holster at his hip.

"i am nikolai, a friend of the commander." he offers, giving you a small, lopsided smile. your glare doesn't waver as you examine his appearance; the aviators hanging from his collar and the clunky headset around his neck suggested that he was a pilot, and farah had told you it was too dangerous to send more than one person to rescue you – and to top it all off, you can't deny that he's attractive.

uh oh. that's not a great thought to have about a stranger you just met, and in enemy territory no less.

"you expect me to believe that?" your voice is lower, testing. his smile grows, and he nods in an exaggerated, almost amused, manner.

"if i wasn't, would we still be talking?" he asks, beginning to lower his hands, but when you move your gun up to point between his eyes, he continues, "i will get you home in one piece, farah karim's orders."

you say nothing for a moment, considering your options. he hadn't given you any concrete evidence that he really was friendly, and not just tricking you – aside from knowing farah's name – but then again, your enemies so far had been much more keen on killing you than transporting you to a secondary location. that, and he was currently your only way out of here which meant you were summarily out of options. you'd have to have a talk with farah about codewords once you get back.

you sigh, lowering your gun, "i guess i just have to trust you then, huh?" he walks over to where you're still on the floor, and you hold your suspicious glare on him as he approaches.

"i guess you do." he's still smiling – though it's smaller now, more natural – even as he grabs your free hand and hauls you to your feet. you wince at the sharp sting of his hand digging into the countless slices in your palm, holstering your gun and meeting his eyes again. "even if i wasn't your ally, it would be a crime to ruin such a pretty face." he adds, and you realise in that moment how close he was standing to you – his chest almost touching yours, near enough that you could see the reflection of yourself in his deep brown eyes.

"i– you, uh–" for a moment all you can do is sputter, feeling the heat rising in your cheeks. you snap yourself out of it with an exasperated shake of your head, you turn and march towards the stairwell, hoping he couldn't tell how thrown off you were. "let– let's go already, we don't have time for this…" you call over your shoulder, focusing your mind back on the situation at hand, and not on the way his smile makes your heart feel light.

he chuckles at your reaction, low and rumbling in his chest, before following after you. "of course, милая." he says, and you don't have to turn around to know he has that zealous grin on his face.

you'd barely slept for the last three days, only being able to get in two or three hour power naps every now and then, and as a result your body and mind were both well and truly at their limits. if you thought your legs were tired while you were running, they were positively agonising going up the seven flights of stairs to where nikolai's helicopter was waiting. the man in question didn't say anything more as you ascended the stairs, perhaps because he could sense your fatigue, which you appreciated. when the two of you finally got to the roof, it took all of your self control not to collapse onto the flat ground, but you manage to hold yourself together just a little bit longer as you approach the helicopter.

"the flight will be a few hours, you should use the time to rest, милая." nik says, sliding open the door and stepping up onto the chopper. he offers you a hand, which you gladly accept, letting him pull you up alongside him. you're again reminded of the cuts in your hands, but elect to ignore it until you're not about to pass out.

"way ahead of you, i'm gonna sleep like a corpse after this." you reply, groaning as you flop down into one of the seats. the noise of the engines wouldn't be able to keep you awake, not what you'd been through on this mission.

he laughs again as he slides the door shut, sending your heart fluttering, but thankfully he's already sitting in the pilot's seat, so he can't see the way you fluster at the sound. you busy yourself with putting on a headset and strapping yourself in while he starts the engines.

you're up in the air in no time, and true to your word, you're out like a light almost immediately and stay that way for the duration of the flight. your dreams – fortunately or unfortunately – are completely occupied by a certain black–haired russian, whose first impression seems to have had a very strong effect on you. it's almost strange, how much you liked nikolai right out the gate, the two of you had just met and you could already feel yourself getting attached.

✹✹✹

your much needed slumber is interrupted by the man himself, his hand on your shoulder gently shaking you back to consciousness. you open your eyes, blinking away the residual sleep and your eyes water a little with the sting of how tired you still are.

“we’re here, sergeant, time to get up.” nik is quiet, crouched in front of you with his sunglasses perched on his nose. you groan, your sleep addled brain not quite back up and running yet, but you push yourself up from your slouched position

“five more minutes…” you mutter, freeing yourself from your seat and earning a low chuckle from nikolai. your stomach flips at the sound. you stretch as you stand, feeling the substantial ache in every limb, your eyes following nik as he places both headsets back on their hooks. he must’ve taken yours off while he was trying to wake you up, you note.

“you weren’t lying,” he says, and you can hear the smile in his voice even before he turns to look at you, “you really did sleep like a log, i'm a little impressed.” you return his grin as he slides the door open and gestures for you to jump down first.

“what can i say? your driving was just that smooth.” you comment, revelling in the feeling of the urzikstanian sun on your face.

he hops down after you and opens his mouth to respond, but before he can get any words out another voice cuts him off by calling out your name. the two of you turn in the direction of the voice, and you smile at the sight of farah walking towards you with alex in tow.

“glad to see you made it back in one piece,” she places a reassuring hand on your bicep, before bringing you into a brief hug.

“glad to be in one piece,” you reply, pulling back from farah and giving alex a quick hug too, “though i'd be lying if i said it wasn't painless.” you look back at nikolai with a pointed stare. farah lets out a small laugh at his bashful, if slightly guilty, grin and guides you with a hand on your shoulder to walk alongside her.

"we should get moving, we're still not safe here. you can fill me in on the details when we get back to base." she leads you to the truck you assume she and alex arrived in, moving around to lower the tailgate and unload the two motorcycles secured on the back.

"it's too dangerous to continue by air," alex explains, helping the commander move the bikes and closing the tailgate, "you two can take the truck, farah and i will scout ahead on the bikes."

you glance back at nik before giving alex an affirming nod, walking around to the passenger side and opening the door.

"you're driving, unless you want me to pass out behind the wheel." you call out to him, a playful smirk gracing your lips. he returns the look, raising his hands in mock surrender and making his way to the other door.

"your wish is my command," he teases, settling into the drivers seat and as you click your seatbelt, you see him give you a wink over his sunglasses, once again sending your head floating. you quickly face forward again as you set off, watching the others disappear ahead of you and pretending your heart isn't beating wildly out of control.

✹✹✹

the drive is peaceful, a very welcome change to the pure chaos you'd been dealing with lately. you gaze out the windows, watching as the sun slowly lowers in the sky, casting the scenery in a golden glow. occasionally, you spare a glance at nikolai's profile, and with the way a tiny smile tugs at his lips whenever you look over, you can tell he notices your eyes on him. you both choose not to acknowledge it, much to your relief; you might just go into cardiac arrest if he flirts with you any more.

almost an hour of blissful peace and quiet goes by before you hear any news.

"there's a convoy headed your direction," you and nik share a look as farah's voice sounds through the radio, "find some cover and wait for them to pass, we can't afford a confrontation with them."

"copy that, commander." nik replies. the quiet between you was slightly more tense now, as you both scan the environment for somewhere you can take cover. the sun hadn't dipped below the horizon yet, but it would soon and the last thing you wanted was to be caught off guard in the dark.

"over there," you call out, pointing a ways ahead at a place where the ground dips behind a large rock outcropping, "we can park behind those rocks."

nik pulls off the road, coming to a bumpy stop next to the twiggy foliage as close to the rocks as he could get, and cuts the engine. you unbuckle and hop out, jogging around the back of the truck and kicking dirt over the tyre tracks you'd left behind, breaking off a stick from a nearby bush to scratch away your boot-prints. chances are the convoy wouldn't be paying that much attention, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

after sufficiently covering the evidence of the truck, you make your way back to stand with nik as he updates farah on your location. he dropped the radio into the back of the truck and turned to you, opening his mouth to say something, but pausing once his eyes land on you.

“your hands, милая,” nikolai's gravelly yet soft voice brings you back to reality, as he takes your bloody fingers into his own. “you are still hurt.” he looks up to meet your eyes, and even through his sunglasses, you can see the worried look in his eyes.

“yeah, never got around to patching them up.” you mutter, your gaze falling to your wounds as the pain starts to set in. you'd been so tired, paired with the adrenaline from earlier, that you completely forgot about the cuts and glass still littering your hands. nik gently squeezes your wrists, bringing your attention back to him.

“please, allow me.” he's lost the usually teasing tone, and the intensity in his gaze has you fidgeting in his hold. 

“oh– uh, sure…” you stutter, burning heat rising up your neck to the tips of your ears at the tiny smile your words evoke. he lets go of your hands, opening the door of the truck and rummaging through the compartments for a minute. shutting the door again, he returns to your side with a small med kit in his hand.

he gestures for you to sit, and you get as comfortable as the hard desert ground will allow as he crouches next to you. your non-dominant hand is significantly more cut up, so he starts with that one; gently pulling it closer to him and wiping away all the blood and dirt that had built up.

"извините," he looks up and meets your eye with the same bashful look from earlier as he picks the glass out of your hand, "for almost shooting you."

"is that an apology?" you wince slightly as he starts to wrap a bandage around your palm, and he nods. "well, you missed, so I'll let it slide." you smile, watching him patch you up in the orange light.

he laughs, grinning at you as he moves on to your other hand. "so gracious, милая."

"what is that?" you ask, and he looks up to you with a questioning expression. "mee-la-ya? you keep calling me that." you continue, wincing again at the feeling of the antiseptic in your cuts.

"милая. it means 'darling'." he smiles, and carries on patching up your had like he hadn't just caused your stomach to erupt into butterflies. for a moment, all you can do is stare at him, mouth agape and any words you could come up with dying on your tongue.

"you, uh– you call all of your almost-homicides that? or do i get special treatment?" you try to ignore the stutter in your voice that betrays your nerves, and you can only hope that nik can't feel how your hands are shaking.

"нет. just you, моя дорогая." he's still smiling as he meets your eye again, soft and kind, and you get the feeling he's not teasing you this time. he's finished cleaning up your cuts, but he still holds your hand in his, a gentle touch you can't say you're used to experiencing. you choose not to question him on the new phrase, you're not sure your poor heart could take the answer.

"i'm, uh– flattered…" the words come out as a whisper, and you're suddenly very aware of how close the two of you are to each other; you can feel the heat radiating from him, see the way his eyes watch you from behind his sunglasses, and if you leaned forward ever so slightly…

the moment is interrupted by the low rumbling of cars in the distance, steadily growing louder and louder as they approach your position. although it's unlikely they'll spot you in the dim light of the setting sun, you still hold your breath as you listen to them drive past your cover. the groaning of the engines rolls past without faltering, and you release a breath you didn't realise you were holding.

neither of you dare to move until they're safely past where you're hiding. nik is first to break the silence, as you pull yourself up to mirror how he's crouching.

"looks like…" his words fade into white noise as you spot a shadowed figure over his shoulder, standing unmoving next to a motorcycle at the side of the road.

a moment passes, and at first you thought it might be alex, or farah, but you realise that they're both a couple miles up the road from where you are. but then your eye catches the orange glint of the sun reflecting off something in the figures raised arm, pointing directly at nikolai's back–

"nik!" you react on impulse, shouting his name as you shove him to land on his back with you over him, pulling your gun from its holster with one hand and holding yourself up with the other. your finger squeezes the trigger without hesitation, a bullet landing firmly in your target's chest. 

their body makes a dull thud when it hits the ground. you look down, finding nik already looking up at you with a sufficiently shocked expression.

"бляаты…" he mutters, twisting his neck to look at the body a few metres away, before looking back up at you. "you saved my life,"

"let's call it even, then." you smile, shifting to get off of him, but he stops you with a hand on your waist before you can get too far. you freeze, his touch igniting sparks under your skin despite the layers separating you.

"how about i call you my guardian angel instead?" he utters, returning your smile with a suave one of his own. he lifts his sunglasses with his other hand, hooking them into the collar of your shirt and using them to gently tug you down closer to him.

"wha… y-you– i don't– uh–" you sputter, jumping away from him and falling backwards onto the dusty ground in your haste to get away. your brain feels like it's short circuiting as you cover your burning face with your hands, an embarrassed whine leaving your throat.

"why are you covering your face?" nik chuckles and you hear him shuffle slightly closer. you're glad you can't see the smug face you're sure he's making at you.

"...you fluster me." you mumble through your fingers. part of you hopes he didn't hear you, but the way he pulls your hands away from your face makes it clear that he did. his grip is featherlight, as if he were afraid you'd shatter if he was too rough. you will yourself to meet his eyes again, seeing him looking at you with such an intensity it has you wanting to cover your face again.

"you fluster me more, милая," he utters, his face so close to yours you can feel his breath on your face. you're almost worried you might burst into flames with how hot your face is.

"i think you're just saying that to make me feel better…" you mumble, your eyes involuntarily darting to his lips, inches from your own, and back up to his dark eyes.

"maybe," one of his hands comes up to your face, his thumb gently your cheek as you stare him down. "come, люблю, we should let the commander know we're okay." he stands, tugging your wrist to bring you up with him and retrieving the radio from the back of the truck.

he talks to farah while you stay by the truck, your eyes following his form as he inspects the man you shot; and you can't help the way your pulse skyrockets as you wonder, what have you gotten yourself into?

[on-a-lucky-tide]

in the mood for angst today but imagine nikprice having to hide their relationship and trying to act 'normal' (as they can be) because what if the news of a british captain and a russian criminal/fugitive gets out and becomes a scandal?

Your wish is my command.

cw: SAS-style shovel talk?

John stood in front of Major General MacMillan's desk and watched the second hand tick by on the clock above the Major's head. Waiting. He knew what this was about. He could feel the nausea roiling in his gut like poison, more full of dread than he had been before Pripyat.

"'M sorry tae have tae ask ye this, John. I wouldnae if it were not a matter of national security," MacMillan said. Mac was a pragmatic man and he had enough spine to look at his protegé when he asked. "Are ye an' Nikolai an item?"

John swallowed the knot in his throat and dropped his gaze to meet the Major General's eye, his fingers tightening on his wrist behind his back. There was no point in lying. MacMillan knew. This was only to hear it from John's mouth before telling him it had to end. The poison felt like it was clawing up John's gullet. He wanted to be sick. "Yes, sir."

MacMillan leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes, his clean shaven jaw, and then looked at the wall on his left. It was covered in photographs, certificates and medals of valour. There was only one image he was looking for. The photograph they took after surviving a bad encounter in the Congo; the relief to be alive was palpable from the look on their faces alone. "Aye, well, tha' complicates things," he said finally.

John said nothing. His eyes fogged over and he swallowed again. Keeping it together through sheer willpower and self discipline forged through twenty-one years of service. He would rather be anywhere else in the world at that moment, including a KorTac detention site.

MacMillan tapped the files on his desk, fingers drumming like the herald of an execution in John's ears. "Ye need tae keep it quiet. Be discreet," MacMillan said. "Ye understandin' me, John?"

John let out a shaky breath, his fingers gripping tighter. "You're not tellin' me it has to end?"

MacMillan snorted. "An' if ah did tha', would it?"

John said nothing.

"Aye, thought not," he said. "This is damage control. He's 'n international arms dealer, a criminal, John. With links tae our feckin' enemy, I--"

"He's not like that." It came out of Price's mouth before he could stop it, and MacMillan levelled him with a disgruntled look. "Nik would never." Price had never felt such faith in something in his entire life. Nikolai would never betray him. Not for anything in this world or the next.

"Love makes us blind," MacMillan said. "'M sure he's an upstandin' fella, but if this gets out, then there will be talka honey traps, of spies, of..." He waved his hand and slumped back in his chair. "Ye stupid bastart, couldnae get yersel' a bonnie northern lad, eh? Had tae be the insane Russian fixer."

Price said nothing. He tried. His mouth opened, but there was a knot in his throat choking the words. Was it relief? He wasn't sure.

"Aye," Mac huffed. "'Course it had tae be. Shouldn' expect 'nythin' else." He stared at the wall again and then shook his head. "'e's good tae yer, by reports."

"Yessir." It didn't surprise John at all that Mac had collected his intel first. He would have spoken to the 141. In fact, Ghost had told him as such only two days ago.

"Good. Ye deserve tha'. Deserve someone tae treat yer right."

John drew in another stuttering breath, trying to read his superior's face. Mac had changed through the years. A desk did that to a soldier; the politics wormed under the skin and injected its venom, and suddenly you were doing and saying things the soldier in the field would have never dreamed of. It was difficult to predict which way he would go, but it seemed some of the old Mac that had fought at John's side was still there.

"This is ye only warnin'. Discreet. Keep all yer emails locked down, everythin'. He has no passwords, no access. No social media, no introducing him to your folks, nothin'. Don't gimme tha' look. This is due diligence."

"Sir."

"If this gets oot, even tae th' wider service, people bigger 'n' me will be lookin' tae broker a more permanent solution," Mac sighed. "Dismissed."

John turned to leave. His eyes stung. As his hand reached the door handle, Mac called over.

"An' John," he murmured, picking up his pen, "if ah get even a sniff tha' he's betrayed us, that he's turnin', 'll put a bullet in him mesel'."

John nodded.

Actually, there were two things in life of which John Price was certain: that Nikolai would never betray him, and that Major General Rory "Baseplate" MacMillan wouldn't even blink when he pulled that trigger.

[imhereformysciencefriends]

Blow this popcicle stand

My gift for @missycolorful for the @technoblade-gift-exchange

Read on AO3 here!

I had a total blast writing this! I hope you enjoy as well. I admit I kinda smushed together a couple of your prompts, but I am very happy with the result. Enjoy! <3

**

Phil was, historically, better at the talking-to-people thing. Not necessarily the being-reasonable thing, Techno did often have to sit in on all of Phil’s meetings in order to prevent unnecessary bloodshed due to, quote, “it’d be funny, mate,” unquote. But talking to people, talking was something Phil could and did do. Techno? Not so much. He didn’t, he didn’t really care for it, you know. Wasn’t really his forte.

But Phil was busy in a month-long series of meetings negotiating a new peace agreement with a nation that wanted regular access to the moon portal (financially a very good move for the Empire, logistically a nightmare). And while Techno would really prefer to be in those, both to have a comprehensive set of expectations for what would be happening in the future and to keep an eye on his partner, it wasn’t the only nation that wanted the Empire’s attention.

And Techno was, if not suited, at the very least capable of trade negotiations with one of their friendlier allies.

Even if he hated the idea.

His thick, heavy, fur-necked cape moved with his arms as he pulled his long hair back into a ponytail, the sound of his hooves ringing out against the arctic stone rather slowly as he approached the meeting room. Almost like he was dragging his feet. But jokes on you, Chat, Techno didn’t have feet to drag! So clearly he was getting there at a very reasonable pace. And wasn’t stalling. No chance of that, not with him, haha, nope!

Despite it being his literal actual destination, Techno found himself surprised when he was suddenly in front of the meeting room door. Who authorized this? Ninja doors, sittin’ around jumpscaring good hardworking emperors. Probably Phil, the weeb. Actually, Techno should try to remember this bit for later, he was sure Phil would love the notion of a ninja door. Get a good laugh outta that one.

Focus. He did still have to, you know, open the door. Have the pre-scheduled and entirely-foreseen meeting that would take place behind it.

Was that the alarm bell he heard? Off in the distance? Wayyyyy far away in the distance? No? Just him then? Alright.

No, Chat, he wasn’t stalling. He was just securing the perimeter with his superior hearing before engaging with outside forces. Yes he had superior hearing, look at the pink shell of his ears, sticking out of his face like that. What, no, he was not a bishounen, Chat, under no circumstances was anyone allowed to call him that. Honestly, the ideas that Chat got in their heads, smh.

Okay! Okay! He wasn’t stalling! He was opening the door now!

Inside the meeting room was the Essempi convoy, its three main representatives seated on the couch that faced the massive armchair Techno took. Next to his was a significantly smaller armchair, specifically designed to accommodate a man’s wings.

Not for nothing, Techno wished Phil was here.

“Welcome to the Empire,” he started, because that sounded most appropriate. Already, the back of his neck felt hot and damp with sweat. That’s why he put his hair up, he supposed.

“Thank you for having us,” replied the woman in the middle, leaning forward across the low table to extend her hand. Shoot, handshakes, should he have done that before he sat down? Did Phil normally do that? Techno was suddenly blanking on any social interaction he’d ever had prior to this one in his life.

Her hand was firm, warm, and had shallow calluses. The strong grip of a woman who worked and wasn’t intimidated by Techno in the slightest. Would it be easier for him if she was intimidated? More importantly, had Techno met her before? Her voice seemed… familiar. Ish. Familiarish.

Niki! That’s Nihachu Her name is Nikki, you’ve met her before Niki! Nikki? I never know which it is

“Uh, Niki, is it?”

She laughed, and it wasn’t a mean sound. Techno felt his face heating up anyway. “You remembered!” The look on her face wasn’t pity, nor offense, but she gave off the impression of being very knowing of what was going on in Techno’s brain, “My hair was brown last time we met, with the blonde in the front.”

Oh! Okay, yes, Techno could place her now. She’d been invited to the same weird political shindig festival party thing that Phil had dragged him to.

“Nice to see you again,” he said, a little more sincerely. And a touch relieved.

“You as well,” she said warmly, then gestured to the woman to her right. Er, well, to her left, Techno’s right—didn’t matter. “This is Captain Puffy, she’s a state-sponsored merchant we’ve been working closely with. She’s interested to see if she’d be a good match for this route, depending on what we work out.”

“Yo!”

Captain Puffy was an extremely short woman (maybe even shorter than Phil), though far from petite. Her big curling hair and big curling ram horns and big sunglasses and big captain’s coat all spoke to a relatively large personality, and the big smile she flashed him did not actually help settle Techno’s nerves. Maybe he should’ve had some tea or something before all this. She was also slouching, leaned against the arm of the couch with all the debonair swagger of a woman entirely at ease around important people. As an emperor of one of the world’s fastest growing empires, Techno could probably stand to take a page from her book.

Whose idea had it been to put him in charge, again? Oh right, his.

Gesturing to her other side, Niki continued, “And this is Ranboo. He’s something between a pupil and a little brother, to me; he’s mostly just here for this to be a learning experience.”

As short as the captain was, Ranboo was tall. Wraith-thin with too-big eyes and an air about him that seemed even more nervous than Techno felt. Techno at least had his flat affect and “monotone” voice (he still didn’t get that, but enough people had told him that he had a monotone by now that he just accepted it) to act as buffer. This kid (and Techno got a very strong impression that he was young, despite not knowing much about Ender ages (well, maybe he knew more than most, given the Empire’s plot-relevant access to the moon)) wasn’t so much as wearing his heart on his sleeve as he was stringing it up on a chandelier.

“Nice to meet you both,” Techno said, the captain giving him a lazy salute and Ranboo nodding so stiffly it looked like his neck might snap.

“Shall we get straight to it, then?” Niki asked, and Techno nodded, so incredibly thankful that someone else was comfortable taking charge of a conversation.

And then they sank blissfully into the thing that was Techno’s strong suit: his stuff. Techno had a good head for what items were worth, and while he wasn’t the most organized person (he had goons for that) he absolutely knew how much he had of what, and what the Empire could afford to spare in trading efforts, provided they received what they were promised in return. Now, storms could sink even the most experienced ships, and fleets could get blown off course, so he had to factor in wiggle room and contingency plans as well.

Another strong suit. Techno was a beast at contingency plans. Nobody could plan a contingency plan like Techno planned his plans.

The deeper they got into the numbers game and talk of resources, the more Techno chilled out. This wasn’t socializing, not really. He was mostly just indulging in his inventory vices while other people were in the room.

Something Essempi had in plenty that the Empire desperately needed was food. More specifically: vegetation. They had their arctic, thick-furred cows, their fluffy chickens, their heavy-hided boars, their densely-wooled sheep, and their round the clock fisheries. Nothing would breed too close to the moon portal, but here at the castle their herds and flocks were thriving just fine. But plants? That took underground greenhouses with low ceilings and constant torchlight to do anything. And a growing empire was a hungry thing: greenhouses alone weren’t going to be sustainable. Not long term.

Techno had his reservations about putting too much faith in their allies. A resource as important as food needed more than one source.

But. Techno’s reservations wouldn’t spontaneously feed everybody, and Essempi had been friendly and amicable all through negotiations. All things considered, they were probably the closest and most trustworthy ally the Empire had.

And their representatives didn’t make Techno want to melt into a puddle or stab anybody! So. Points all around in their favor. Niki did most of the talking, her voice soft and cheery, clearly the most familiar with Essempi resources and used to political negotiations. The captain would chime in mostly around the actual act of trade itself, naval logs and star charts and detailed maps crowding her end of the low table. Ranboo, as Niki mentioned, didn’t say… anything at all, the whole meeting. He just sat, straight-spined enough to put the strictest governess to shame and making eye contact with nobody, scratching notes into a book he’d brought.

Essempi was offering them good deals. More than fair, if Techno was being entirely honest. And he knew he didn’t have any personal charm to thank for that. He filed that away for future reference. Either Essempi was even more well off than rumors suspected, or there would come a day when they asked the Empire to pay back their generosity (likely with swords and soldiers, if the history books held any credence).

But that was fine. In the now, they were offering lucrative details for necessary resources. (In the future, Phil would need enrichment anyway (Techno, too, he did love a good fight)). Techno would still probably want to set up a couple additional trade agreements with other nations, just in case, just to cover all his bases. And the greenhouses obviously weren’t going anywhere, Techno would not be sacrificing even an ounce of pre-established self-sufficiency.

But even Techno, of all people, had to admit that he was feeling pretty optimistic by the time they all stood and shook hands in parting. He remembered to shake Puffy’s and Ranboo’s this time, Puffy’s hand tiny and grip strong, Ranboo’s slender fingers still faintly trembling with nerves but his smile seeming at the very least half-genuine.

Woof. Ough. His back. The time! The sun set early here, but he was still surprised to see that it had sunk below the horizon while he was squirreled away looking at documents and maps and an antique abacus. His staff seemed to agree, yawning and musing over dinner plans as the two groups dispersed, the Essempi convoy headed towards the guest quarters and Techno and his officials wandering further inwards of the castle.

“Well done in there, Your Majesty!” praised one of Techno’s staff while he wasn’t looking, and he was too embarrassed to admit that he hadn’t quite managed to catch who was talking, so he just raised a hand and gave a vague “Ayup” before leaving quickly. Much quicker than he had arrived, as it happened. So interesting, that things worked out like that.

“Busy day?” Phil asked as the door to the royal quarters clicked shut. Techno sighed heavily and let his head thunk back against the heavy wood. Phil, the intolerable jerk, giggled at him.

“Why weren’t you the one handling that again?”

“Because the little stunt we pulled was just a biiiiiit too successful,” Phil reminded with another chuckle, and Techno groaned as he shoved off the door.

It had been a gambit, but as a fledgling nation the Antarctic Empire had needed to gain the attention of the rest of the world, and gain their attention they had. An extremely brief, brutal, there-then-gone conquest that had left the vast majority of the world temporarily under the Empire’s claim. It served two purposes, each a message:

Do not, under any circumstances, make enemies of the Empire.

Probably a good idea to play nice and make friends, though.

Most of the world had taken the first message very much to heart, and the testing nudges they’d been making abruptly vanished. Some nations, like Essempi, had quickly jumped to playing nice, eager to make powerful allies (and perhaps just as eager to make sure they didn’t have a powerful enemy).

A couple nations had taken message number one as a challenge, and readied warships with bloodied thirst.

Not that the Empire couldn’t handle a bit of… rough play, but it did mean that after squashing attempts at overthrowing or subjugating them, Phil got saddled with miles of paperwork establishing the enemy’s surrender and the Empire’s new normal.

“I thought you were meeting with the guys who wanted moon access today?” Techno asked as he approached. Phil’d had dinner brought to their rooms, as they did most nights when they weren’t expected to make an appearance, and Techno let into the meat and eggs with gusto.

“That’s tomorrow. Tonight was more surrender talk.”

“So that’s why you double booked us. You wanted ‘em alone in a room with you.”

Phil giggled, waggling his fingers so as to make a show of his talons.

Techno gave a very half-hearted kick to his shin. Quarter-hearted. Maybe even sixth-hearted. Phil cackled at him.

“Can’t let you outta my sight for ten minutes,” Techno groused around a mouthful of chicken. Phil popped a handful of red berries into his mouth (some of the only vegetation that could be grown outside of the greenhouses), and he looked altogether too smug.

“How’re things with Essempi going? Off to a running start?”

“Actually? Yeah.”

“Yeah?”

“I like the representative they sent over, Niki, she’s got a good head on her shoulders, and so far they’ve been fair, if not generous.” Techno gave his partner a meaningful glance. “We should probably expect a request for military aid, sometime in the future.”

Phil shrugged, entirely unfazed. “We’ve always known that’s a possibility. And we’re not exactly hurting for it.”

“Figured as much.” Techno lifted his plate to slide the eggs into his open mouth, the fork method far too slow. “Honestly don’t think this deal is gonna take too long to finalize. Week, probably?”

“For you? That’s a goddamn miracle, mate.”

Techno snorted. “I know, right? She’s got a pupil along with her, skinny guy named Ranboo. Showin’ him the ropes.”

Phil spluttered a laugh. “And she chose you for a practice round!?”

“I know right? Like, c’mon, cut the guy some slack. He looked ready to shake out of his skin. Don’t just throw him off the deep end chanting ‘blood for the blood god’ like there’s gotta be less intimidatin’ guys than me out there.”

Phil giggled and Techno continued, “Brought a ship captain too, Puffy, shorter than you and louder. She’s been a good help settin’ realistic expectations, but I dunno how involved she’s gonna be in the rest of our meetings.”

“Sounds like you’ve got a pretty good handle on it, mate. Good for you, good for you.”

Techno snorted. “Never thought we’d see the day.”

“Aww, I knew you could do it.” Techno cast him yet another look. He giggled. “Eventually.”

Techno guffawed and set his plate down, dropping his head back. By the Blood God, he felt tired.

“Well,” Phil continued, stretching his arms above his head and his wings out to each side, “nobody got attacked and no emergencies happened, so I’ll call this day a win.”

“Ah, but I did get attacked,” Techno said with a raised finger, remembering his joke from earlier.

“Oh?” Phil asked, with all the sharp-eyed curiosity of a man who knew a punchline was coming, but was trying to tell where from.

Techno heaved his head back up. “In the halls of our own very castle. I was caught off-guard—very brutally, I should add—by a ninja door.”

Phil broke immediately into cackles.

“Snuck up on me while I was just innocently walkin’ down the hall, Phil. Never would’ve expected it. One of our own doors. The betrayal was immense.”

“whAT?” Phil giggle-shouted, his feathers poofing and his shoulders shaking.

“I was just mindin’ my own business when bam! Suddenly the door was right there. Scared the life out of me. Don’t worry, Phil, I showed it who was boss. I twisted that handle like I was born for it.”

Phil was now laughing so hard tears gathered in the corners of his eyes.

Techno grinned, warmth glowing in the center of his chest. Truthfully, it probably wasn’t that funny of a joke, but the combination of fatigue, the subject being unexpected, and Phil being an easy audience made it sound like ninja doors were the funniest thing in the whole world.

The night was still young, but Techno was utterly drained from the day of talking (and tomorrow would be much the same) so he called it an early night. Phil, equally tired from twisting arms into surrender (and maybe getting to play a little mean with his talons, who knew. Not Techno! Techno hadn’t been there to reel him in!) was more than happy to agree.

This far south, sleeping in your own bed was about as smart as wandering the town naked. Too much warmth leached out that way. It was only sensible that family members shared a bed together, with drapes around the edges to keep the air captive.

Techno had no family to speak of, except the one, so the two emperors dressed for the night and crawled in together, Phil’s top wing spread out over them like an added blanket and his icy little feet pressed up against Techno’s leg.

“Why are you always an ice cube?” Techno groused, gathering his friend in his arms.

“Shhhh, you’re just a friggin’ blast furnace, mate. Go to sleep.”

Techno huffed, breath stirring Phi’s hair and making him chuckle, then nuzzled down into the blankets and his companion, wishing he could hibernate the day off. Blood God himself, he was tired.

But wake the next morning he did, and the next, and the next after that. Essempi eventually embarked for their home, along with the first shipment of goods from the Empire. More countries entered peace treaties with them, or at the very least non-aggression pacts, particularly as more nations fell to the Antarctic Empire’s might. Trade was good, their people sleeping with full bellies and a more or less nutritionally balanced diet. The Empire produced plenty of coal, in its cavernous depths, and many nations of warmer climates had want for the ice they so easily chiseled up from around them.

Things were good.

Techno was getting… better, about the whole talking to people thing. After the first few days, Ranboo had started speaking, and Techno had found a kindred spirit in him. The two now exchanged regular correspondence. Mostly about books, but sometimes they’d share personal stories or gossip (apparently Captain Puffy was working very closely with a certain someone, indeed). Meetings were no longer torments summoned directly from hell (not that Techno liked them, but Techno was pretty sure he was never actually going to like meetings (honestly, he was pretty sure nobody did)). He and Phil were getting a pretty good handle on this whole, “being emperors” thing.

That said, politically motivated social functions were still the worst. But Essempi was, to date, still their closest and friendliest ally, and Techno knew enough about court niceties by now to know that regardless of how much he might’ve wanted to, he and Phil could not turn down their invitation to a ball.

“What even is the point of balls,” Techno groused as he examined the flimsy nothings the tailor had made for him to wear there. Too thin of a material, not nearly enough fur around his neck, he’d freeze to death in this in an instant. He… did like the gold bits, though. He’d conceded on that. And the jewelry. Those parts were nice. The rest of it was like walking around in wet paper, though.

“Maintaining positive social ties with political figures we’ve already established with and makin’ new friends with new people at a designated function for doing so—”

“I was bein’ sarcastic, Phil,” Techno cut off the overly-formal lecture, making Phil cackle. “It’s called a rhetorical question, Phil, ever heard of it?”

“Can’t say I have, mate,” Phil lied with a giggle.

“A rhetorical question is a—” Techno started, overly-formal lecture of his own primed and at the ready, and Phil swatted him with a big black wing, setting them both to laughing.

The boat ride to Essempi went about as well as anticipated. Phil flitted about, happily assisting with the crow’s nest and upper rigging, and Techno spent about half of it bent over the railing, the other half desperately attempting to coax water and ginger teas into his stomach that he didn’t immediately upend.

“We should build a land bridge,” Techno groused when his friend came over to both hydrate and mock him.

Phil, predictably, laughed, “Mate, I don’t know if even we mine up enough stone for that,” he said as he passed a water flask over. Techno swished it around his mouth and spit, trying to rid himself of the now everpresent taste of bile, then sipped slowly and delicately, his stomach groaning pathetically and churning at even that.

“Then we’re building flying machines and we’re taking those. Planes, blimps, hot air balloons, I don’t care, this is the last trip I sail anywhere.”

“Blimp’s not a bad idea,” Phil mused as Techno shut his eyes, bracing himself against the railing with renewed force and willing the nausea to pass him over without taking his water with it. “It’d be more regal and dignified than staggerin’ off a boat dehydrated and starved and swaying.”

“Gonna punch you for that.”

“Are you now?” he asked with a giggle.

“Ayup. Just give me three to five business days to get off this railing and then it’s over for you. It’s so over for you.”

More laughter. “I’ll be sure to keep that in mind. Well, I’m off to go perch in the crow’s nest again, have fun pukin’ your guts out.”

“Death. Death and violence.”

His friend’s retreating laughter left him and he stewed in abject misery for the rest of the trip. By the time they hit land and Techno was able to collapse into a bed that wasn’t swaying every which way, he was even looking forward to the party, since it meant not being on the boat.

The flimsy cheesecloth the tailor had prepared for him made more sense in this warmer climate, and now that he wasn’t being a stubborn child about it he had to admit: he cleaned up good. Deep red and gold and black, Phil his match but green, they were striking, appearing wealthy and deadly and even, somehow, regal.

Despite, y’know, it being the two of them.

The party goers were respectful, nobody jumping at the chance to speak with the Antarctic emperors but no one intentionally snubbing them either, and Techno mostly just had to loom behind Phil with a ridiculously shatterable little wine flute pinched delicately between his fingers and listen. Answer the occasional polite question that was directed his way, make sure Phil didn’t get too excited at any perceived slight, it was almost even normal.

He was at the food table, piling high a plate he intended to share with his co-emperor, when he heard a familiar, boisterous voice.

“Emperor Technoblade!”

“Captain,” he greeted, turning to her. She extended her drinking glass, and he gently clinked his against it. “They’re lettin’ riffraff like you in here?”

Puffy barked a sharp laugh, loud and unabashed. “I’m a plus one.”

“Oh?” Techno raised an eyebrow. “You and Niki official, then?”

Puffy squinted. “And how exactly do you know about that?”

Techno smirked behind the rim of his glass. “I have informants everywhere.”

Puffy laughed, once again boisterous and booming, and landed a playful punch just barely above Techno’s elbow. Haha why are you so short.jpeg. Oh c’mon Chat that joke is not old that’s still peak comedy right there.

“Man, I can’t believe everyone’s so intimidated by you.”

“You wouldn’t say that if you saw me in a fight,” Techno countered, amused.

“And you wouldn’t say that if you saw me in one, blood boy!”

Techno arched an eyebrow. “Blood boy,” that was a new one. In their trade with Essempi, Techno and Phil had gotten to know the sea captain a little better each time she was in their port, and she’d taken to treating them with the same friendly irreverence she spoke to everyone with.

Techno set his plate down on the edge of the table, largely crowded out by the serving dishes but finding just enough space for it to not go falling over. Intentionally, he loomed over her, his impressive height casting her fully in shadow, and let himself grin.

“Careful, Captain. It’s not smart to threaten me with a good time.”

As tolerable as the party was thus far, Techno would be lying if he said he wouldn’t ditch in half a heartbeat to go screw around. And after the miserable journey here, a good friendly sparring match with a spunky lady sounded like even more fun than usual.

Puffy rocked up on her hooves, and even on the tips while Techno was stooping down she couldn’t really get “in” his face but he understood the gesture. His grin widened. It matched her own.

“What’s the matter, big boy, don’t think you could take me?”

“Miss Puffy, um, you promised Miss Niki you wouldn’t cause a scene,” came a timid voice from nearby, and both Techno and Captain Puffy perked.

“Ranboo,” Techno greeted, scooping up his plate of food and crossing the distance to his young friend.

“Hello, Emperor Technoblade, it’s nice to see you, please don’t encourage her.”

“Good to see you too,” Techno said warmly, meaning it. Through their letters, Techno had come to regard the young Enderian as a good friend.

Puffy gasped as she trotted over, and shoved right up into Ranboo’s space. “Are you the nark?”

“Um,” Ranboo said, backing slowly away only to be further crowded by a sheep woman half his height, clearly confused, “no?”

“Yeah, Captain, what’s with this baseless accusation you’re makin’ against my good pal Ranboo?”

“I can’t believe this. Betrayed by my own girlfriend’s tagalong.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about??”

“Eh, don’t worry about it,” Techno said, slinging an arm over Ranboo’s shoulders and nearly bowling the guy over with its weight. Techno had seen bamboo shoots with more structural integrity, smh.

“E-either way, please do not help Miss Puffy make a scene. Miss Niki specifically instructed her not to do that.”

“Guess we’ll just have to go somewhere there’s nobody else around,” Puffy said, still full of good cheer.

“True. Can’t make a scene if there’s no one to see it.”

“Oh, no. I. I’m going to go get Miss Niki.” Techno barked a laugh but released Ranboo to go do so, and Puffy waggled her fingers at his retreating backside.

“Kayyyy. We won’t be here when you get back!”

Techno glanced down at the plate in his hand. Hm. Well, he couldn’t just return it all to the serving dishes, he’d already touched it. Puffy nudged him with her elbow, and when he glanced her way he found her pulling at her wide neckline and winking at him. With her other hand, she lifted the neck of a bottle of what surely must be rum, and he caught on immediately. Using one of the overly-fancy napkins, he bundled his snacks and passed them to her, watching her disappear them into her clothes. That was so smart, he’d have to talk to his tailor about providing him that kind of opportunity in future outfits.

His loyalty to his co-emperor did him in, though. Puffy was already heading out one of the patio doors, sneaking off into a well-maintained garden, but Techno detoured to grab Phil, knowing if there was going to be any fighting, for fun or for murder, he’d be heartbroken if Techno left him out.

“Emperor Technoblade,” greeted Niki from behind him while he was trying to wait out the conversation Phil was currently engaged in. She sounded icier than when she’d been in his antarctic home, negotiating trade.

Busted.

“Hello, Niki,” he returned. Definitely not sounding guilty. Nothing going on over here officer, no suspicious activity whatsoever.

“It seems my partner for the evening has vacated the premises. Would you care to dance with me in her place?”

“Uhhhhh.” Techno wasn’t the best at court niceties, but he knew a request from a “request.” He took her outstretched hand.

“What uh—why the sudden interest?” Oh that sounded so suspicious he could stab himself.

“Can a lowly civic servant not ask an emperor for a dance?”

“Uhhhh no, no that’s fine. That’s uh, that’s fine, just, haven’t uh—how you been, Niki, haven’t seen you in a while!” he not-so-subtly changed the subject.

“I have been alright. Times have been better for us than in a long time, and I have been kept busy making sure it all stays in running order.”

“Not too busy, I hope?”

Niki laughed, but it wasn’t the most mirthful sound he’d ever heard.

In some of Ranboo’s letters, he’d voiced concern for his mentor/sister figure, writing of nightmares and insomnia that was only partially due to her high workload.

“Cause stressin’ yourself out can take a toll on the body, you know,” Techno pushed, not sure if it was his place to or not, but eh. He liked Niki. She was a good sensible woman who (normally) didn’t make him feel like dying or killing out of sheer mortification. And during negotiations, she’d been friendly. “It’s important to take breaks and have fun, every now and then.”

She pursed her lips in a frown, and it looked so much like she was pouting that he chuckled. “C’mon, take a load off.” He grinned at her, playful and a little teasing. “There’s a very pretty girl outside who I know would just love to have you come goof off with us.”

“Well now that’s not out of the ordinary. That very pretty girl is always trying to get me to goof off.”

“Maybe you should listen to her more often.”

Niki sighed and let Techno spin her, the dress she’d chosen for the party flaring nicely. “Maybe I should.”

“Yeahhhhhhhh that’s the spirit! Come join us! We’ll make, like, a bookclub or something.”

Niki let out a “pfft,” and then giggled quietly. “I should put that in my credentials somewhere. ‘In a bookclub with an emperor.’”

“Two emperors if I can get him away from those—what are they, petty nobles?”

“Ambassadors from Kpop.”

“Cringe. We gotta get outta here, Niki, I can feel my viewership dropping by the moment.”

“I don’t know what that means—Technoblade!”

In a grand sweeping movement that was definitely not typical but could still technically be considered dancing, Techno rushed the two of them towards the patio, catching Phil’s eye just briefly enough to give a jerk of his chin, watching his friend’s eyes light up with curiosity and mirth.

Okay, good, Phil was coming.

“Really,” Niki scolded, but she wasn’t resisting him at all as he dragged her along, out into the privacy of the manicured foliage and beyond.

“Ehhh, relaaax. Nobody saw us leave. Probably.”

“I am quite sure a great many people saw us leave.”

“Eh. Phil and I already talked to everybody important that would get, like, big mad if we didn’t. We can ditch.”

“I am part of the hosting party.”

“Aaaaaaaaand now you’re not. So it’s fine, it’s fiiiine.”

Niki giggled, and it sounded just a little more genuine. Good. He was getting a good grade in cheering Niki up, something reasonable to want and possible to achieve.

“Heyyyyyy, look what the pig dragged in!” Puffy cheered, bottle open in one hand and waving excitedly with the other.

“You are incorrigible. I cannot believe you dragged an emperor in on your shenanigans.”

“This is actually pretty consistent with my character honey, I don’t know what to tell you.”

Techno barked a laugh and snagged the bottle from her, taking a big gulp before extending it towards Niki.

“I am surrounded by ruffians,” she said, but he noted she took the bottle and a big drink of her own.

“Ehhh, I wouldn’t really call two people ‘surrounded,’ maybe sandwiched?” A familiar sound of wings had Techno’s elbow angling up on instinct, and soon he had a shoulder full of best friend. “Okay, Phil’s here, now you’re surrounded.”

“Who’re we surrounding?”

“We’re forcing Niki to take a load off and have a nice evening.”

“Pog.”

“Cheers to that, Emperor number two!”

Phil spluttered around laughter as he hopped from his perch. “I’m just the number two now, am I?” He took the bottle from Niki, who went and leaned on her laughing girlfriend and pressed a kiss atop one of her horns.

The sound of footsteps and not-so-subtle huffing and puffing had them all turning to look. It was far too loud to be any kind of assassin, so nobody was on guard, and Phil took another swig of rum as Ranboo rounded a hedge.

Realizing his late entry made all eyes fall on him, Ranboo flushed. Huh. He turned kinda greenish on one side and a more typical red on the other. Pogchamp, Techno supposed.

“Uh,” he said, still catching his breath a bit. “Um. Miss Niki, you, uh, left the party.”

“Sorry Ranboo,” she said, looking honestly chagrined. “I did not mean to leave you there on your own.”

Ah. Left alone by the extrovert that adopted you at a party that wasn’t your idea to attend in the first place. A fate worse than death, which Techno would not wish on his worst enemy, much less friend.

“Um. Why is, everyone here, and not, inside?” he asked, tail twitching and lashing with his agitation.

“We’re ditching,” Techno said, slinging an arm around the little beanpole once again. “You are too.”

“I’m—what?” Ranboo spluttered as Techno dragged him forward, starting the group into a slow amble further from the noises of the party, Niki looking at him with apology and Puffy cheering around a laugh.

“Yeah, mate, you’re a delinquent now!” Phil said brightly, pushing Ranboo from behind while Techno pulled. “Gotta play hookie with us.”

“I, um, I uh, well,” he stammered, twisting his fingers, looking about between them and finding absolutely no help.

“You’re bein’ peer pressured. We’re peer pressurin’ you. Just come goof off with us, Ranboo, join the dark side, we have cookies.”

“We do, actually,” Puffy said, taking the rum back and finishing off the bottle. “I’ve got enough snacks hidden in my various pockets to feed an army.”

“Absolute pogchamp.”

“Oh I knew you were up to something!”

“Always,” Puffy said with a wink, rising up onto her hooftips to kiss Niki’s cheek.

“I, uh…” Ranboo sighed. It was a great heaving thing, making him sound more and more like a dejected cat.

“Yeahhhh! One Ranboo, officially roped into our nonsense. Gang’s all here now, gang’s all here.”

“So what’re we doing?” Phil asked cheerfully, crossing his wrists behind his head in a strikingly anime fashion.

“Well, the captain and I were gonna fight—” Phil’s eyes lit up in an excited glint, drawn to the allure of playful violence, “—but since we’ve got Niki and Ranboo now I say we just goof around on the beach.”

“That… does actually sound kind of nice,” Niki admitted, and Ranboo’s whole body perked hopefully. Techno gave one noodle arm a nudge with an elbow and sent him a quick wink. They’d get that girl to take a load off and enjoy herself, even if it took all four of them to do it.

A rustling, too large to be a rabbit, came from a bush ahead of them, just on that seam of land where dirt shifted into sand. Not a moment later, out spilled a man, a man wearing a bright blue onesie.

“Connor?!?” asked all five of them, equally shocked.

“Hey heyyyyyyy, guyyyyys,” Connor said, one leg still trapped inside the bush, splayed out on his back and craning his neck back to look at them, lifting a hand in a peace sign. “How’s it going?”

“Connor, what are you doing here?” Niki asked, concerned.

“Wait, how do you know Connor?” Phil asked.

“How do you know Connor?” Ranboo countered, Niki helping pry the man loose from the bush’s terrible clutches and more or less right himself on his feet.

“Oh, I get around a lot,” Connor said blithely, “At this point I know most people.”

For a moment, they stood in a loose circle, staring silently at one another.

A bottle uncorked and attention turned to Puffy. “I mean, I also know Connor,” she said, taking a swig of something new. “Wanna come screw around on the beach with us? I brought snacks.”

“Oh fuck yeah.”

And screw around they did. Mostly just walking and talking under starlight, the ocean breeze cool but only as much to be pleasant. They found a nice flat rock to take a sit on and Puffy shared the many treats she’d secreted, everyone chowing down and laughing around jokes and conversation. Phil and Puffy got into a wrestling match in the sand at one point, Connor braided uneven sections of Puffy’s hair while Niki pleated nice, neat rows, Techno and Ranboo discussed the recent installment of a book series they’d both been following and that Ranboo had shipped a copy of, knowing Techno would want one and wouldn’t want to wait long enough to place the order all the way from Antarctica.

Phil perched on Techno’s shoulders for no reason other than to feel tall, Connor relayed a tale so wild no one was sure if Connor could actually have survived that sort of thing, or if he was just making up shit as he went along, and Niki was laughing with her whole chest, flush to her cheeks and a weight lifted from her.

It was a good evening. A good night, as the moon rose higher and the distant, far-off sounds of partying wound lower. Their group was winding down as well, conversation fading into companionable silence.

Niki’s weight slumped against Techno’s side, and he glanced down to find the woman asleep.

“Gotter,” he teased softly, nudging Ranboo on his other side.

“Oh, good,” he said fondly, peering around Techno and ending up leaning on him too, as a result. Phil chuckled from above, still perched on Techno’s shoulders. Connor munched away at the remaining snacks, seated on the sand in front of the flat stone, and Puffy leaned contentedly back on her hands on Niki’s other side, staring up at the starlight.

Techno still might not be the best at talking to people, but even he had to admit: if it meant getting him here, on a night that he would’ve otherwise slogged through in a stuffy party full of people he didn’t know, he was pretty glad he’d done so.

Ayup. Not a bad place for him to be.